'(é. ' -7:

STUDIES

OF

NATURE.

VOL. T.

ri J J :i : ( .) ' ' L \'\ ■" / // ///f , / )/r///^,

y^'/.^.AMOS,

/f jj.i ///.<«.)■;•.-

STUDIES

OF

NATURE

BY

JAMES - HENR V- BERNARDIN

DE SAINT -PIERRE.

• MISERIS SUCCURERE DISCO.

TRANSLATED liY

HENRY HUNTER, D. D.

MINISTER OF THE SCOTS CHURCH, LONDON-WALL.

IN FIFE FO LUMES.

VOL. I.

Eonûon:

PRINTED FOR C. DILLY, IN THE POULTRY.

MDCCXCVI.

-L W

•r-n-3

PREFACE.

\ MAN who has hlmfelf derived
•^ ^ pleafure, or inftru6lion, from the
perufal of- a Book, naturally wifhes to
have thefe advantages communicated to
others ; for we prefume, that what has
lingularly affecîted ourfelves, is likely to
produce a fimilar impreffion on the reft
of Mankind. I have read few Perform-
ances with more complete fatisfaftion,
and with greater improvement, than the
Studies of Nature: in no one have I
found the ufeful and the agreeable more
happily blended. What Work of Sci-
ence difplays a more fublime Theology,
inculcates a purer Morality, or breathes
a more ardent and more expanlive Phi-
lanthropy? Salnt-Plerre has enabled

A3 me

vi PREFACE.

me to contemplate the Univerfe with
other eyes, has furnifhed new arguments
to combat Atheifm, has eflabhfhed, be-
yond the power of contradiction, the
doftrine of an univerfal Providence, has
excited a warmer intereil: in favour of
fuffering Humanity, and has difclofed
fources, unknown before, of moral and
intellecîlual enjoyment. Unfettered by
Syflem, unawcd by Authority, he looks
immediately into Nature ; he obferv^es,
he thinks, he reafons for himfelf, and
teaches his Reader thus to obferve,
think, and reafon.

Like every one who has the courage
to attack eftablifbed error, and to ad-
vance new truths, he has been treated,
in his own Country, with affecfted con-
tempt, has been traduced, has been ri-
diculed. But time, and farther obfer-
vation and experience alone muft deter-
mine,

PREFACE. vil

mine, whether his, or the received
Theory of the Tides, that great engine
of Nature, be moft conformable to the
real order of the Globe. He no where
difcovers the fpirit of an adverfary; he
contends not for triumph, but for what
he deems to be truth ; he honours the
virtues of thofe whofe opinions he finds
himfelf conflrained to oppofe ; for, with
him, Goodnefs is ever in higher eftima-
tion than Science, and Probity than
Talents.

He difcovers more than one trait of
refemblance to his illuftrious friend, and

fellow-labourer in the field of Nature,

*

John-James Rouffeau\ the fame over
acute fenfibility, the fame occafional fits
of queruloufnefs, the fame irritability
under the flea-bitings of anonymous
criticifm. Saint^P terre ought to have
known that his im. mortal Work was

A 4 to

viii PREFACE.

to be tranfmitted for the inftruftion and
delight of ages and nations unborn, long,
long after the diurnal and menftrual ef-
fufions of anonymous journalifts had funk
into everlafting oblivion. He ought to
have held on the majeftic " tenor of his
way," equally regardlefs of their notice
and of their negleft, of their cenfure
and of their approbation, of their flat-
tery and of their frow^n. What matters
it to fuch a man, whether Etudes de la
Nature be abufed or extolled in the
Journal de Paris f He has unwittingly
conferred on his critics an immortality
not their own. One Home?^ has formed
ten thoufand critics, but all the critics
that ever exiiled could not conftitute
tlie ten thoufandth part of one Homer,

It is a Angular phenomenon in the
Hiftory of the prefent Period, that the
Author of Studies of Nature^ the

profefl^ed

PREFACE. Ix

profeffed Panegyrift and Penfioner of
the ill-fated Louis XVI. fhould be ca-
reffed, fliould be refpedled, fliould be
promoted to honour, by that very Na-
tional Convention which degraded, de-
throned, decapitated his patron and be-
nefactor. Can a flronger teftimony be
borne to wifdom and virtue?

Unfortunately for the Tranflator, the
times admitted not of opening a corre-
fpondence with the Author, by which
he might have availed himfelf, for ob-
taining a folution of many difficulties
and doubts that arofe in the execution
of his taik, and by which he might have
rendered the Tranflation lefs unworthy
of the Original. The fame caufe for-
bade the gratification of a wifli which
he fondly entertained, that of prefenting
the Englifh Reader with an engraved
portrait of the form of the Man, with

whofc

X PREFACE.

whofe mind he was endeavouring to
make him acquainted. I have not even
been able to difcover whether a portrait
of him aâually exifts ; at any rate, the
prefent ftate of things rendered imprac-
ticable every attempt to procure a copy
of it.

After what the Author has himfelf
faid, in his advertifements, of the recep-
tion which his Book has met with on
the Continent, it would be impertinent
to trouble the Reader with any Hiftory
of the Publication. The incenfe which
has been offered to him, and the abufe
he has fuftained ; the rapid fale of his
own fucceffive Editions, and the multi-
plied piratical depredations committed
upon him, conftitute together an irre-
fuliible proof of the merit of the Work.
How it is to be relilhed by the Eng-
lifli Public, mufl: be fubmittcd to the

deter-

PREFACE. xi

determination of time. The Tranflator
dares not to flatter himfelf with the
beUef, that the enthufiafm of the Reader
of this Verfion is to keep pace with his
own admiration of the Original ; but if
he may judge of the general mind from
the fentiments occafionally exprefTed, by
perfons of various defcriptions, and of
both fexes, to whom a confiderable part
of the Book was fubmitted, in the pro-
grefs of Tranflation, he is not deftitute
of hope that it may excite fomething of
that interefl, and produce a part of that
effeâ, in England, which have attended
the feveral French Editions.

Samt-PieîTe, Frenchman as he ar-
dently profefles himfelf to be, omits no
occaiion to do juftice to the Englifh
Charar5ler. If he combats an agrono-
mical Theory of our defervedly boafted
■Newton^ he befto ws unreferved praife

on

xii PREFACE.

on his real cllfcoveries, and on what he
prizes ftill more highly, the great quaU-
ties of his heart and mind. If he feems
to have acquired any advantage over
the Prince of Philofophers, he himfelf
afcribcs it cliiefly to the weapons fur-
nifhed him by Englifh Obfervers and
Navigators, particularly T)ampiei\ Ellis^
Anfon^ Carteret^ Byron^ Coohe^ Gierke^
Wales ^ and the great Newton himfelf.
Thus, in a noble and liberal mind, can-
dor and acutenefs of invefligation walk
hand in hand.

I have endeavoured to profit by all
the foreign Editions which I was able to
procure. The few notes which I have
prefumed to introduce, are marked with
my initials, to diftinguifh them from
thofe of the Author. With all my at-
tention to the prefs, a few flips, I am
forry to obferve, have crept in. In the

hurry

PREFACE. xiii

hurry of tranfcription, the proper name
Samos, in Vol. I. page 1 04, has been inad-
vertently fubftituted in place of Le?n?70s,
and in page 178, line 7, from the bot-
tom, the words do not ought to have been
omitted ; and toward the conclufion of
Paul ajicl Virginia^ in a reference to the
IJle of France^ or Mauritius^ which is
an African Ifland, inflead of the general
term Colonies^ the phrafe Wejl-India
IJlands is improperly ufed. The names
of feveral Tropical vegetables, fiflies,
quadrupeds, and birds, in a great mea-
fure unknown to Europe, are exactly
tranfcribed, or tranflated, according as
the cafe required. I have, in a few
inflances, adopted the Author's ortho-
graphy of certain names of Places, in
preference to our own, becaufe it
feemed more agreeable to the eye, and,
at the fame time, conveyed a more di-
ilinél found to the Ear. If I have

failed

xiv PREFACE.

failed in doing juflice to my great Ori-
ginal, it is to be imputed neither to
want of zeal nor to wilful inattention :
To what then ? — capacity inadequate to
an undertaking fo arduous.

H. H.

Bethnal-Green Road,
â^th Nov, 1795.

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

OF VOL. I.

Page

ADVERTISEMENT, refpeaing this Edition, and
the Work in General — — — i

Explanation of the Plates.
Frontifpiece, Plate I. — — " xxvii

Atlantic Hemifphere, Plate IL — xxix

STUDY I. Immenfity of Nature. Plan of my Work i

STUDY II. Beneficence of Nature — • 125

STUDY III. Objeftions againft Providence —— 1 39

STUDY IV. Replies to the Objeélions againft Providence 147
Replies to the Objeftions founded on the
Diforders of the Globe ' 15»

STUDY V. Replies to the Objeftions againft Providence,
founded on the Diforders of the Vege-
table Kingdom ■ — 277

STUDY VI. Replies to the Objeftions againft Providence,
founded on the Diforders of the Animal
Kingdom ■"■■' ' 311

£9016

/■

ADVERTISEMENT ^'

RESPECTING

THE PRESENT EDITION,

AND

THE WORK IN GENERAL.

THE firfl Edition of this Work, publiHied
in December 1784, was nearly out of print
in December 1785. It run it's natural courfe,
in about the fpace of a year, without my having
employed any one trick of the trade to pufF it off,
to accelerate the fale, or to fend it abroad for a
market : I may therefore flatter myfelf, that it has
been gracioufly received in my own Country. It
appears likewife to have been reliflied by ftran-
gers ; for, within thefe fix months, pirated im-
preflions of it have appeared at Geneva and Avig-
non ; and this literary plunder might have' injured
me, had not M. Laurent de Filiedeuily then Direc-
tor-general of the Prefs, now Intendant of Rouen,
and univerfally known for the ftriaicfb honour and
probity of charader, given, on my fimple requeft,
VOL. I. a the

11 ADVERTISEMENT.

the mod peremptory orders to prohibit the admif-
fion of thefe pirated copies into the Kingdom "*.
Farther, the publication of this Work afforded an
opportunity to Meffrs. the Count de Fergennes, the
Baron de Breteuiiy and de Calonne, my ancient and
illuftrious fubfcribers, at the foHcitation of my re-
fpe6lable friends, Meffrs. Hennin and Mefnard^ of
Conichard, of procuring for me, or for my family,
fome annual marks of the King's benevolence.

This fuccefs ought, undoubtedly, to have fatis-
fied me ; but T am no lefs fo with the honourable
profeflions of friendfliip which have been tendered
to me, by perfons of all conditions, and of both
fexes, mod of whom are unknown to me. Some
diftinguiflied me by their viiits ; and others, by
epiftolary addreffes the mod affeding, conveying
their thanks for my Book, as if, in giving it to the
Pubhc, I had conferred a perfonal obligation on
themfelves. Several of them have invited me to

* I have been informed, that, within thefe four months,
they had found their way to Lyons, to Marfeilles, to Toulon,
and, undoubtedly, to other places ; fo that the bookfellers of
thofe cities have not been provided, for four months paft, with
copies of my Edition, by which the fale of it has been confider-
ably checked. An infringement fo unjuftifiable of the rights of
property of Authors, and of their privileges, and fo contrary to
Royal authority, ought certainly to be difcouraged. And r^ook
for redrefs againfl thefe afts of injuftice from the equity of the
Ma^iftrate who prefides over the Prefs.

take

ADVERTISEMENT. Ill

take np my refidence at their country-feats, and to
enjoy tliofe rural fcenes, of which, as they are
pleafed to fay, 1 am fo paffionatelyfond. Yes,
undoubtedly, I fliould dearly love a country refi-
dence, but a refidence which 1 could call my own,
and not another man's.

I made the beil acknowledgment in my power,
to tenders of fervice fo flattering ; but could avail
myfelf only of the good-will which they breathed.
Benevolence is the flower of friendfliip, and it's
perfume always lafts while you let it remain on
the ftem, without gathering it. The affliâied fa-
ther of a family has informed me, that my Studies
were to him the fvveeteft fource of confolation in
his diilrefs. An Atheift, of a city far diftant from
Paris, has paid me frequent vifits, flruck even to
admiration, as he faid, at the harmonies of plants
which I had indicated, and of which he had recog-
nized the exiftence in Nature.

Perfonages of real importance, and others who
wifhed to pafs for fuch, have endeavoured to allure
me to them, by holding out gilded profpeds of
melioration of fortune : but as long as I can attain
the rare felicity of being beloved, and, what is of
flill greater importance to me, the power of being
ufeful, fo long ihall I fly, if I can, the calamity fo
common, and fo humiliating, of being under pro-

a 2 tection.

IV ADVERTISEMENT.

te(5lion. I fpeak not thus out of vanity, but to ex-
prefs my gratitude, in the beft manner I am able,
as my cuftom is, for the flighteftjmarks of kind-
nefs fhewn me, provided 1 can beHeve them lin-
cere.

I have reafon to believe, then, from thefe con-
curring fuffrages of perfons of charader, that GOD
has been pleafed to blefs my labours, though
chargeable with manifold imperfeftions. I confi-
der it to be my duty to render the Work as worthy
of the public efteem as 1 can : accordingly, I have
correfted, in this New Edition, the errors of the
Prefs, the blemifhes in point of ftyle, and the ob-
fcurities in point of meaning, which I remarked
in the firft ; and this partly by myfelf, partly with
the afiiftance of certain well-informed friends,
without, however, retrenching any thing material,
and this too in conformity to their wifhes. I have
only taken the liberty, for the (like of perfpicuity,
to make fome tranfpofitions in the notes. In the
fame view I have added fome others, and among
thefe, in the explication of the plates, a geome-
trical figure, which renders perceptible to the eye
the miftake of our Aftronomers, refpecfling the
flatnefs of the Earth at the Poles, and affords new
proofs of the alternate and half-yearly courfe of
the Atlantic Ocean, by the melting of the polar
ices. Finally, 1 have employed a fct of new and

beautiful

ADVERTISEMENT. V

beautiful types of the foundery of M. Didot the
younger, that the reputation of this Artift might
contribute it's fhare toward the celebrity of the
Work.

I fliould have deemed myfelf happy to derive
information refpeding the fubjed of my Book,
from the illumination, and candid decifions, of li-
terary Joiirnalifts. Gentlemen of this defcription
have been left, for this purpofe, entirely to their
own difcretion ; for I have neither by myfelf, or
others, folicited approbation, or deprecated criti-
cifm ; but they have, for the moft part, confined
themfelves to obfervations of no effential import-
ance. That Journal which contains, of ali others,
the greateft variety of articles, and which, from
the great talents of the perfons engaged in con-
ducing it, feemed mofh likely to inftruct me,
finds fault with me for having affirmed, That ani-
mals were not expofed, by Nature, to perifli, like
Man, by famine; and it has objeded to m.e, the
cafe of partridges and hares, in the vicinity of
Paris, which fometimes die of hunger in the Win-
ter. But as, on the one hand, thefe animals are
multiplied without end, all around Paris ; and as,
on the other_, we mow down every thing, even to
a blade of grafs, it neceflarily muft, fometimes,
happen, that they periili with hunger, efpecially if
the Winter is fomewhat long. The famine, there-

a 3 fore.

VI ADVERTISEMENT.

fore, which they endure in our fields, is occa-
-fioned by the inconfideratenefs of Man, not the
improvidence of Nature. Partridges and hares
do not die of hunger in the forefts of the North,
where the Winter lafts for fix months together:
they know well how to find under the fnow, the
herbage and fir apples of the preceding year, which
Nature has buried there to ferve them as a feafon-
able fupply.

The other objeflions raifed, againft fome of my
pofitions, by the Gentlemen Journalifts, are nei-
ther more important, nor much better founded.
Mod of them treat as a paradox the caufe of the
flux and reflux of the Sea, which I afcribe to the
alternate fufion of the polar ices ; which ices, in
the Winter proper to each Hemifphere, are from
five to fix thoufand leagues in circumference, but
in their Summer, are not above two or three thou-
fand. But as no one of them has produced a fingle
argument, either againft the principles of my theory,
or againft the fads by which I fupport them, or
againft the confequences which I thence deduce,
I have nothing to fay in reply, unlefs that, as to
the point in queftion, they have pronounced a de-
cifion, without having examined into the merits
of the caufe ; an expeditious, indeed, but not per-
feélly equitable, method of adminiftering juftice.

The

ADVERTISEMENT. Vil

The Gentleman who has the greateft number of
fupporters, and who, undouDtedly well merits
that rupporr, for the tafte which he difplays, in
his daily criticifms of liternry produftions, has ob-
jecfbed to me, tranfiently, that I deftroy the adion
of the Moon, which is in fuch perfed harmony
with the phenomena of the tides. It is evident,
that he has not taken the trouble to inform him-
felf, either refpecling my new Theory, or the old
one. I deftroy nothing of the Moon's aftion on
the Seas ; but, inftead of making her to aél on the
fluid Seas of the Equator, by an aftronomical at-
tradion, which produces not the flighteft efFed
on the mediterraneans and lakes of the torrid Zone
itfelf, I make her to ad on the frozen Seas of the
Poles, by the refleded heat of the Sun, acknow-
ledged by the Ancients *, demonflrated by the

Moderns,

* " The Moon difTolves ice by the humidity of her influ-
*' ence." Pliny's Natural Hiilory, book ii. chap. loi. When
the Moon fliines, in the nights of Winter, in all her luftre, it
freezes, no doubt, very fhai-ply : becaule that, in this cafe, the
North wind, which occafions this ferenity of the air, checks the
warming influence of the Moon ; but if the wind is flilled ever
fo little, you fee the Heavens covered with vapours which ex-
hale from the Earth, and you feel the Atmofphere foftened. I
afcribe, as Pliny does, to the light of that Star, a particular ac-
tion on the frozen waters of the Earth and on the Air ; for I
have frequently feen, in the fine nights of the torrid Zone, all
the clouds of the Atmofphere difperfe, in au afcending dii-ec-
a 4 tion,

Vlll ADVERTISEMENT.

Moderns, and which every man may experimen-
tally demonftrate to himfelf, with a glafs of
water.

Befides, it is far from being true, that the phafes
of the Moon are, all over the Earth, in harmony
with the movements of the Seas. The flux and
reflux of the Sea, on our coafts, follow rather the
mean, than the real motion of the Moon. In other
places, they are fubjedt to different laws, which
obliged Nezvton himfelf to admit, " That there
*' mufl of necefTity be, in the periodical return of
" the Tides, fome other mixed caufe, hitherto

tion ; which fuggefted the proverb in common ufe among failors,
the M-oon is eating up the clouds.

Befides, our Naturalifts contradict themfelves, in fuppofing
that the Moon moves the Ocean, while they refufe it all manner
of influence, not only on the ices, but on plants, becaufe, fay
thev, it's heat does not make the fluid to afcend in the thermo-
meter. I do not know, in faCl, whether it does, or does not aft,
on fpirit of wine : but what conclufion can be deduced from
this ? The igneous particles contained in pepper, cloves, pimento,
cauftics, &c. which have fuch a powerful action on the fluids of
the human body;, would they communicate to fpirit of wine the
flighteft tendency to afcend, by making an infuhon of them with
that fluid ? Fire, as well as the other Elements, undergoes com-
binations, which multiply it's aftion, in fuch and fuch an alli-
ance, arid reduce it to mere nothing in a different fituation. Wc
mud not pretend, then, with our inftruments of Philofophy, to
arrive at the capability of determining the effefts of natural
caufes,

*' undifcover-

ADVERTISEMENT. ijÇ

" undifcovered *." The explanation of thefe phe-
nomena, which bid defiance to the Aftronomic
Syftem, are in perfeél harmony with my natural
Theory, which afcribes to the alternate heat of the
Sun, whether direâ:, or refleifled by the Moon, on
the ices of the two Poles, the caufe, the variety,
and the conftant return, of the Tides; and, efpe-
cially, of the general and alternate Currents of the
Ocean, which are the immediate moving prin-
ciples of thefe Tides. Our Aftronomers, not-
withftanding, have never attempted to give any
account of the half-yearly verfatility of thefe ge-
neral Currents, fo well known in the Indian
Ocean ; nay, they appear to have been hitherto
ignorant, that there exifted fimilar Currents in the
Atlantic. This is, however, a fafl which can no
longer be called in queftion, after the new proofs
which I exhibit at the end of the Fourth Volume
of this Work.

I have advanced, then, no paradox, refpeâiing
caufes fo evident ; but I have oppofed to an aftro-
nomical fyftem, totally deflitute of phyfical proof,
fa6ts incontrovertible, deduced from all the king-
doms of Nature ; fads which have a multitude of
correfpondencies in the fiux and reflux of all rivers
and lakes which are fed from icy mountains, and

* Ne'TJuton^s Philofophy, chap. xxv.

which

X ADVERTISEMENT.

which I could eafily multiply, and exhibit in new
lights, relatively to the Ocean itfelf, if there were
occafion, and if health permitted.

One Journal which, from the title it afTumes,
would feem deftined to inform all Europe, as well
as that which, from it's title, would be thought
referved for the ufe of the learned, have thought
proper to maintain a profound filence, not only
with regard to natural truths fo new, and fo im-
portant, but even with refpedt to my whole Work.
Others have oppofed to me, as a complete refuta-
tion, the authority oï Newton, who did not think
as I do. I refpeâ: Newton for his genius and for
his virtues, but I refpeâ: truth ftill much more.
The authority of great names ferves but too fre-
quently as a ftrong hold to error. It is thus that,
on the faith of a Maiipertiiis, and of a Condamine,
Europe has till now believed, that the Earth was
flattened at the Poles. I demonftrate, after their
own operations, in the explication of the plateSj at
the end of the firft volume, that it is lengthened
out at the Poles. What anfwer is it poffible to
give to the geometrical demonftration which I
produce of it ? For my own part, I am perfeâ:ly
convinced, that Newton himfelf would, at this day,
renounce fuch an erroneous opinion, though he
was the firft who broached it, if the truth muft be
told.

The

ADVERTISEMENT. XI

The Reader will be, undoubtedly, very much
furprized, to find men, of fuch celebrity, falling
into contradiction fo unaccountable ; a contradic-
tion adopted on their affertion, and publicly
taught in all the Schools of Europe ; and that no
one (hould have appeared to refute the error, and
armed with fufficient courage to maintain the
truth. I was fo aftonifhed at it myfelf, that I re-
mained for fome time under the belief that I, and
not they, had, on this article, loft every fentiment
of evidence. I dared not even to difclofe my
thoughts to any perfon refpecling this, any more
than the other objedls of thefe Studies ; for fcarcely
have I met, in my progrefs through life, any but
men fold to the fyftems which have led to fortune,
or to thofe which promife to do fo. Accordingly,
the more I was in the right, being alone and not
backed by puffers, the more difadvantageous was
the ground on which I had to combat them. Be-
fides, how is it poffible to reafon with perfons,
who fhroud themfelves in the clouds of equa-
tions, or of metaphyfical diftindlions, if you prefs
them ever fo little by the fentiment of truth ?
When fuch refuges fail, they overwhelm you with
authorities innumerable, which have fubjugated
themfelves, without a procefs of reafoning ; and
by which they mean to fubdue, in their turn, the
man efpecially who has not joined himfelf to any
party.

What

Xll ^ ADVERTISEMENT.

What then could I have done in this crowd of
men, vain and intolerant, to each of whom an
European education fays, from the days of in-
fancy. Be the firft ; and among fo many Doctors
titled, and without titles, who have appropriated
to themfelves the right to freedom of fpeech, un-
lefs it were to (hut myfelf up, as 1 frequently do,
in my freedom of filence ? * If I fpeak there, it is
of few things, or of things of flight importance,

In the folitary and unconftrained paths, how-
ever, through which 1 followed truth, I recovered

* In fuch fociety, a man is not permitted to remain long
in pofTeffion of his right of filence ; for they who fpeak chufe
to have no hearers but fuch as are difpofed to applaud.

I have remarked, that the degree of attention which the world
pays to it's orators, is always in proportion to the degree of
power, or of malignity, which it fuppofes them to poflefs:
Truth, reafon, wit itfelf, in that cafe, go for nothing. Ifyoii
would make the world liflen to you, you mufl make yourfelf
feared. Thofe, accordingly, who fliine in it, frequently em-
ploy turns of phrafeology which give you to underftand, that
they are powerful friends, or dangerous adverfaries. Every
plain, modeft, candid, good man, is, therefore, reduced to filence
before them : it is in his power, however, to get deliverance '
from this ftate of conftraint, if he can bring himfelf to flatter his
tyrants. But this would, in me, produce the diametrically op-
pofice effeft, for I can flatter only where I love.

Fly from the world, then, ye who will neither flatter nor
malign ; for you will lofe in it, at once, the good which you
expe(^ed from it, and that which is the gift of your own con-
fcience.

my

ADVERTISEMENT. XlU

my confidence, with the new rays which her hght
diffufed, recolle6ling diat die mofl: celebrated fcho-
lars had been, in all ages, as much blinded by their
own errors, as the illiterate are by thofe of other
people. Befides, in order to deted the inconfequent
reafoning of modern Aftronomers, it was neceflary
to employ only fome principles of Geometry, which
are level to my capacity, and to that of all m.ankind.
Accordingly, having full conviftion, from a mul-
titude of obfervations, meteorological, nautical,
vegetable, and animal, that the waters of the polar
ices had a natural proclivity fouthward as far as
the Equator, and vexed at being contradidled by
the operations, more celebrated than they deferve
to be, of Geometricians, I had the courage to exa-
mine their refults, and became convinced, that
they ought to be the fame with my own. In a
former Edition, I prefented both the one and the
other to the Public : theirs remain without a de-
fence, and mine (land un impeached, though with-
out declared partifans. In a fécond Edition, I
have demonftrated their error on the principles of
Geometry ; I now expeâ: a decifion from the
confcience of every candid Reader.

By the prejudices of education our Aftrono-
mers have been thus mifled ; thofe prejudices
which, from infancy, attach us, without refleding,
to fafhionable errors, that lead to fortune, and

which

XIY ADVERTISEMENT.

which engage us to rejed folitary truths that lead
to none. They have been feduced by the reputa-
tion of Newton, which has been objefted to my-
felf, and Newton had himfelf been feduced, as
ufually happens, by his own fyftem. That fu-
blime Geometrician proceeded on the fuppofition,
that the centrifugal force, which he applied to the
motion of the Stars, had flattened the Poles of the
Earth, by acting upon it's Equator, Norwood, a
Mathematician of England, having found, by
meafuring the Meridian from London to York,
the terreftrial degree to be eight fathom greater
than that which Cajfini had meafured in France,
** Newton^^ fays Voltaire, afcribed this fmall ex-
*' cefs of eight fathom, in a degree, to the figure of
*' the Earth, which he believed to be that of a
*^ fpheroïd flattened toward the Poles ; and he
" concluded, that Norwood, having taken his Me-
*' ridian in a region to the northward of our*s,
** muft have found his degree to be greater than
*' that of CaJfini, as he fuppofed the curve of the
*' Earth meafured by Norzvood to be the longer of
" the two." * It is evident that, the degree being
greater, and the curve longer, toward the North,
Newton ought to have concluded that the Earth
was lengthened out at the Poles ; but he deduced
the diredly oppofite conclufion, namely, that it

* Newton's Philofophy, chap, xviii,

was

ADVERTISEMENT. XV

was flattened there. The truth is, his fyftem of the
Heavens occupying all the faculties of his vaft ge-
nius, prevented his detefling on the Earth a geo-
metrical inconfequence : he adopted, therefore,
without examination, an experiment which he
thought favourable to his fyftem, not perceiving
that it was diametrically oppofite to him. Modern
Aftronomers have, in their turn, fuffered them-
felves to be feduced by the reputation of Newton^
and by a weaknefs fo apt to warp the human
mind, that of attempting to explain all the opera-
tions of Nature by a fmgle law. Boiigiier himfelf,
one of their co-operators, in his T^reatije on Navi'
gatioHy bookv. chap. v. §. 2. page 435, fays ex-
prefsly, that, " on this difcovery of the flattening
" of the Poles, the whole of Phyfics, almoft, de-
*' pends."

Our Aftronomers, then, have fet out on a
ramble to the extremities of the Earth, in queft of
phyfical proofs of a celeftial fyftem, happy and
luminous ; and they were fo dazzled with it be-
forehand, that they miftook, in their turn, the
truth itfelf, which, far from the prejudices of Eu-
rope, had, in deferts, juft fought refuge under
their wings. If the moft illuftrious of modern
Geometricians, could fall into fo grofs an error in
his peculiar Science ; and if Aftronomers, in other
refpefls, abundantly filled with a fenfe of their

OvVn

XVI ADVERTISEMENT.

own fagacity, have, under the influence of his
name merely, deduced from their own opera-
tions a falfe conclufion in fupport of that er-
ror ^ rejeded the preceding experiments of their
Schools, refpeding the (inking of the barometer
in the North, v/ith the other geographical ob-
fervations which contradided it; eflablifhed on
it the bafis of all future phyfical knowledge; and
have given it afterwards, by the weight of their
own reputation, an authority which has not left,
to the reft of the Learned World, fo much as the
liberty of doubting ; it behoves us, poor, ignorant,
and obfcure men, to take good care of ourfelves,
we who fearch after truth fingly for the happinefs
of knowing it. Let us miftruft, then, in our re-
fearches after it, all human authority, as Dejcartes
did, who, by doubting only, diffipated the Philo-
fophy of the age in which he lived, which had fo
long concealed the laws of Nature from the eyes
of all Europe, by means of the prejudice of the
name of Ariftotle, then held facred in every Uni-
verfity : and let us affume as a maxim, that which
led 'Newton himfelf to fo many real difcoveries,
and after him the Royal Society of London, who
have taken it for their motto: Nullius in
Verba.

To return to literary Journals, if they have, as it
were in concert, with-held their approbation from

the

ADVERTISEMENT. Xvli

the natural objeds of thefe Studies, one of them has
advanced, as I am told, that I had borrowed my
Theory of the Tides by means of the polar ices,
from certain Latin Authors. This Theory is at
laft, it feems, gaining profelytes, fince it is exciiing
envy.

To that imputation this is my anfwer. Had I
known of any Latin Author who afcribed the Tides
to the melting of the polar ices, I would certainly
have named him, as a piece of juftice, which the
defign of nay Work, as well as every principle of
confcience, demanded of me. I have not had, like
fo many Philofophers, the vanity of creating, at my
eafe, a World after my own fancy : but 1 have en-
deavoured, with no fmall labour, to colle<5t the
feveral pieces of the plan of that in which we live,
difperfed among the men of all ages, and of all
nations, who have obferved it with the greateft
care. Accordingly, I have taken my ideas of the
allongration of the Earth at the Poles, from Chil-

drey, Kepler, Tycho-Brhaé, Caffini and above all,

from the operations of modern Aftronomers j of
the extent of the frozen Oceans which cover the
Poles, from Denis, Barents, Cook, and all the Na-
vigators of the North and South Seas ; of the an-
cient deviation of the Sun from the Ecliptic, from
Egyptian Traditions, Chinefe Annals, and even
from the Grecian Mythology ; of the total fufion

VOL. I, b of

XVIU ADVERTISEMENT.

of the polar ices, and of the unlverfal Deluge
which it produced, from Mofes and Job ; of the
heat of the Moon, and it's effects on ice and wa-
ter, from Pliny\ and from recent experiments made
at Rome and at Paris ; of the Currents and Tides
which flow alternately from the Poles toward the
Equator, from Chriftopher Columbus, Barents ^ Mar-
ten, Ellis, Lirifchotten, AbelTaJman, Dampier^ Pen-
nant, Rennefort, &c. I have quoted all thefe Ob-
fervers in terms of high approbation.

Had I known of any Latin Author, who afcrlbed
to the melting of the polar ices the caufe of the
Tides, in fo much as any one part of the Ocean,
1 would have quoted him in like manner, re-
ferving to myfelf the glory of the Archited, that
of combining, and arranging thefe detached ob-
fervations ; of allotting them to their peculiar fea-
fons and latitudes, in order to clear them of the
apparent contradictions, which had hitherto pre-
vented the deduction of any fair confequence from
them ; and, in a word, to afiign a caufe, and evident
means, for effeds which, during fo many ages,
had been involved in myftery. I have formed,
then, one Whole of all thefe fcattered truths, and
have deduced from them the general harmony of
the movements of the Ocean, of which the heat
of the Sun is the firfh caufe, the polar ices are the
means, and the half-yearly and alternate Currents

of

ADVERTISEMENT. XlX

of the Seas, with the diurnal Tides on our coafts,
are the effeâîs'--. Accordingly, if fome perfons
before me, have affirmed, that the Tides are pro-
duced by the melting of the polar ices, which I am
to this hour ignorant that any one ever did, I, ac
leaft, am the firft who demonftrated it. Other
Europeans, prior to ChriJIophe)- Columbus, faid that

* It will be a matter of fome difficulty for many perfons,
to conceive how our Tides fliould poffibly, m Summer, re-
afcend toward the North Pole, at the very feafon when the
Current which produces them is rufliing down from that Pole.
They may fee a very fenfible image of thefe retrograde effeéls of
running waters, at the bridge of Notre-Dame, at the opening
of the arch which is fupported by the Quay Pelletier. The
Current of the Seine, direfted obliquely by a kind of dam,
againfl: a pile of that arch, produces there a counter-current,
which conflantly re-afcends againft the courfe of the river, up
to the very bubbling over of the dam. In like manner, the
meltings of the northern ices defcend, in Summer, fi-om the
bays adjacent to the polar Circle, going at the rate of from
eight to ten leagues an hour, according to EUis, Lin/^fchotten, and
Barents ; they flow toward the South, in the middle of the At-
lantic Ocean ; but coming to meet on their fliores, almofl ia
front, Africa and America, where they proje6l on both fides, a
violent reflux is produced, to right and left, along the coafts of
both Continents, which is forced northward above the Capes
BoYador and St. Auguftin, which are rendered famous by their
Currents. Now, as the fources from which they iflue have an
intermittent flux of acceleration and retardation, occafioned by
the diurnal and noclurnal aftion of the Sun on the ices of the
eaftern and weftern Hemifphere of the Pole, their lateral coun-
ter-currents, that is, their Tides, have likevvife a fimilar inter-
mittent flux.

b 2 there

XX ADVERTISEMENT.

there was another World ; but he was the firft who
landed upon it. If others, in like manner, had
affirmed, that the Tides have their origin at the
Poles, no one had believed them, becaufe it was
an affirmation deftitute of proof.

Before it was poffible for me to collcâ: and to
complete my proofs, and to render them perfedly
luminous, it became neceflary to difpel thofe thick
clouds of venerable errors, fuch as Poles flattened,
and wafhed with Seas clear of ice, which our pre-
tended Sciences had fpread between truth and us,
and which were fufficient to involve all our Phyfics
in an eternal night. Here, then, is the glory at
which I afpire, that of aflembling fome of the
harmonies of Nature, in order to form a concert
of them, which (hould elevate Man toward the
great Author of All : or, rather, I have aimed
only at the felicity of knowing them myfelf, and of
pointing them out to my fellow-creatures ; for I
am ready to adopt any other fyftem, which fliall
prefent to the human underftanding a higher de-
gree of probability, and , to the heart of Man a
purer confolation.

To GOD alone glory is to be afcribed, and
peace is Man's choiceft pofTeffion, which is never
fo pure and fo profound as in the perception and
the feeling of that very Glory which governs the

Univerfe.

ADVERTISEMENT. XXI

Univerfe. My higheft' ambition is the delight of
difcovering fome new rays of it, and, hencefor-
ward, my moll ardent vvifli is to have the remainder
of my days illuminated by it, to the exclufion, as
far as I am perfonally concerned, of that vain,
fantaftical, unfatisfying, inconftant glory, which
the world gives and takes away at pleafure.

I have been thus difFufe on the right which I
claim to the difcovery of the caufe of the Currents
and Tides, from the melting of the polar ices, be-
caufe, having oppofed to moft of the received
opinions on that fubjeâ:, many obfervations which
I challenge as my own, if each required a fpecial
manifesto, to afcertain my property in it, there
would be no end to my advancing fuch preten-
fions. Befides, if they (liall acquire fo much ce-
lebrity as to procure me, according to the fpirit
of the age in which we live, perfidious applaufc,
underhand perfecution, affeded commiferation,
all calculated to blaft my uncertain, tardy, and hi-
therto hardly budding fortunes, I folemnly de-
clare that, aflbciated with no party, and able to
oppofe no one but myfelf fingly to every new ad-
verfary, inftead of cramming the public prints, as
the cuftom is, with recrimination, abufe, com-
plaint, lamentation, the wafte of time, I fhall de-
fend myfelf only on my own ground, and fliall
oppofe to my enemies, whether fecret or avowed,
b 3 Truth ;

XXll ADVERTISEMENT.

Truth ; and nothing but Truth. It's mirror fhall
be my Egis ; and their image refleded from it,
(hall become to each a Medufa's head. Or rather,
may it be iny lot, far remote from fickle and
treacherous Man, under the roof of a fmall ruftic
cot, which I can call my own, on the border of a
wood, elicite the ftatue of my Minerva from the
trunk of her own tree, and place, at laft, a whole
Globe at her feet.

Farther, if the Gentlemen Reviewers have with-
held from me their fuffrages, refpefting objeds of
fo much importance to the progrefs of natural
knowlege, and if others have got the dart of me,
in precluding my claim to thofe of the Public, I
can already boaft the concurrence of illuftrious
names, among all conditions of men. The Sor-
bonne, to whom I am perfonally unknown, has
done me the honour of adopting the new proofs of
the Univerlal Deluge, which I have deduced from
the total fufion of the polar ices : thcfe proofs
have been laid down as axiomatical, in one of it's
thefes, maintained, for the firft time, by the Abbé
de Ffguerûs, in his academical exercife of the 6lh
July, 1785.

After all, fuppofing my friends the Reviewers
to have expreffed ftill more reludance to give an
account of opinions, which contradiâ: thofe of

Academies^

ADVERTISEMENT. XXVll

Academies, and ftrange even to mod of them-
felves ; and which mud have had a fufpicious ap-
pearance, from their very novelty, they have made
me moft ample compenfation, in applauding me,
far beyond my defert, for moral qualities, infi-
nitely beyond the value of phyfical difcoveries,
and which I fhould deem myfelf fingularly happy
to attain '^',

All that is left me, therefore, is to congratulate
myfelf on the general intereft, with which the
Public has received the moral part of this Work.
I have, however, left untouched the great objedts
of political and moral reform ; the one, becaufe it
was not permitted me to treat them as my con-
fcience would have diredled ; and the other, be-
caufe my plan could not comprehend them. T
have reflriâ;ed myfelf merely to abufes, which it
is in the power of Government to redify : but
there are others, as univerfal, which depend en-
tirely on national manners. Such is, among others,

* I ought, undoubtedly, to diftinguifli, in the number of my
panegyrifts, the two firfl Writers who have given an account of
my Work. The one, notwithftanding the fmallnçfs of his page,
and his propenfity to find fault, has announced it in a manner
the moft flattering ; and the other, devoted to the defence of
morals and religion, has placed me by the fide of a man, at
w hofe feet I would have thought myfelf happy to fit, had Pro-
vidence beftowed on me the blefling of being his contemporary.

b 4 the

XXIV ADVERTISEMENT.

the celibacy of mod domeftic fervants. Had it
been in my power to have enlarged on this topic,
I could have demonftrated, that the arrangements
of iiociety never can contravene the laws of Na-
ture ; that it is the inteieft of mafters to have their
domeftics marry, becaufe they pay, let them do
their beft, the expenfe of the fmuggled libertinifm
of fervants, much more exceffivc, beyond all quef-
tion, than that of an honeft fettlement, for the
flrumpet always will fpend more than the woman
of charader.

I could have demonftrated the pernicious influ-
ence which the bad morals of unmarried fervants
have on the children of their mafters. I could,
likewife, have dilated on the harfhnefs of our pre-
tended Fathers of families, who abandon their fer-
vants, on the firft attack of ficknefs, or the ap-
proach of old age, or when they become parents;
on the obligations under which they lie, to pro-
vide for the neceffities of thefe men, who are their
natural friends, the vidims of their ill temper, the
witnefTes of their weaknefs, and the fources of
their reputation, whether good or bad. I could
have infifted on the neceffity of re-eftablifliing in,
at leaft, the firft rights of humanity, the unfortu-
nate wretches deprived of moft of the privileges
of citizens. I could have demonftrated what an
influence their happinefs has on the happinefs of

fiimilies,

ADVERTISEMENT, XXV

families, and on national felicity, from what I have
feen in iome Pruffian families, where you find, in
general, domeftics zealous, atfedionate, refpeélful,
and attached to their mailers ; for they are born,
they marry, and they die in the houfe of the maf-
ter ; and you frequently find under the fame roof
a fiiccefiion of fathers and fons, who have been
mafters and fervants for two or three centuries fuc-
ceffively.

Once more, if I have been fomewhat diffufe on
the diforders and intolerance of AfTociations, I
have refpefted States j I have attacked particular
bodies of men, in the view of defending my coun-
try, and above all, in fupporting the corps of
Humanity. Of this we are all members in par-
ticular. But GOD forbid that 1 fliould think of
giving a moment's pain to any one individual
polfeiTed of fenfibility : I who have 'iflumed the
pen, only to fupport the motto prefixed to my
Work ; Miferis fiiccurrere difco ; [the experience of
mijery has taught me to fuccour the mijerable.)

My dear Reader, whatever, then, may be your
fituation in life, I (hall cheerfully fubmit to your
decifion, if you judge me as a man, in a Work
whofe leading objeâ: is the happinefs of Mankind.
If, on the other hand, I have attained the glory
of communicating to you fome new pleafures, and

of

XXVI ADVERTISEMENT.

of extending your views into the unbounded and
myfterious field of Nature, refleâ; that, after all,
thefe are the perceptions but of a man ; that they
are a mere nothing compared to that which is ;
that they are the Ihadows only of that Eternal
Truth, colleded by one who is himfelf a fhadow,
and that a fmall ray of that Sun of intelligence
which fills the Univerfe, has been playing in a
drop of troubled water.

J\Iulta ahfcondita funt majora his : pauca enim vidimus operum ejus.

There are yet hid greater things than thefe be ; for we have feen
but a few of his Works. Ecclesiasticus xliii. ^2^

EXPLA-

EXPLANATION of the PLATES,

FRONTISPIECE.

PLATE FIRST.

THE Frontirpiece reprefents a folitude in the moun-
tains of the Ifland of Samos. Ar attempt has been
made, notwithftanding the fmallnefs of the field, to intro-
duce, and to difplay, fome elementary harmonies, peculiar
to iflands and to lofty mountains. Clouds of fand, formed
by the winds on the fhores of the Ifland, and of water,
pumped up by the Sun from the bofom of the Sea, are
wafted toward the fummits of the mountains, which arreft
them by their foflil and hydraulic attrailions.

In the fore-ground of the landfcape are prefented fome
of the trees which thrive in cold and humid Latitudes,
among others, the fir-tree and the birch. Thefe two fpe-
cies of tree, which, in fuch fituations, are almoft always
found in company, exhibit different contrails in their co-
lours, their forms, their port, and in the animals v.hich
they nourifh. The fir raifes into the air his tall pyramid,
clothed with leaves ftiff, filiform, and of a dark verdure :
and the birch oppofes to thefe a pyramidical form inverted,
with leaves moveable, roundifh, and of a light-green
colour.

The

XXVIU EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

The fquirrels are playing along the ftem, and among
the boughs of the fir ; and the female of the heath-cock
makes her neft in the mofs which covers the roots. Tlic
beavers, on the contrary, have built their habitation at the
foot of the birch ; and a bird of that fpecies which eats
the buds, is fluttering round the branches. The fir acco-
modates it's quadrupeds in it's boughs, and the birch finds
lodging for it's gueft upon it's roots. The habits of their
refpeélive birds are equally contrafted. Among all thefc
animals, however, the moft perfeâ: harmony fubfiils. The
dog is looking quietly at their different employments, and
expreffes, by the liftleffnefs of his attitude, the profound
peace which reigns among the inhabitants of this defert.

At the entrance of a grotto formed in the fide of the
mountain, is reprefented a man bufied in carving a ftatue
of Minerva in the trunk of a tree. The figure of this
Goddefs, the fymbol of Divine Wlfdom, and the fubftance
out of which it is formed, here charafterize the Supreme
Intelligence manifefted in the harmony of vegetables.
This Philofopher is Philocles. His hiftory is to be found
in Telemachus, Books XIII. and XIV.

ATLANTIC

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. XXÎX

ATLANTIC HEMISPHERE.

PLATE SECOND.

Volume I. Page i88.

THIS Plate reprefents the Atlantic Hemifphere, with
it's Sources, it's Ices, it's Channel, it's Currents, and it's
Tides, in the months of January and February.

Though I am under the necefîîty of here repeating fe-
veral obfervations which have a place in the text, to thefe
I am going to fubjoin fome others, worthy, I am bold to
fay, of the Reader's mod ferious attention.

Obferve, in the firft place, that the Globe of the Earth is
not reprefented, here, after the manner of thofe Geogra-
phers, who, in their maps of the World, exhibit it as a
cavity, in order to give the retreating parts the appearance
of being on a great fcale. Their projedlion conveys a
falfe idea of the Earth, by fhewing the retiring parts of
it's circumference, as the wideft ; and, on the contrary,
the prominent parts of the middle, as the narrowefl. They
prefent, not a convex Globe, but a concave. This figure
reprefents it, fuch as it would appear to an eye placed in
the Heavens, when the Atlantic Ocean is turned to it, and
in our Winter.

You may diftinguifh in it the fources of the Atlantic
Ocean, which ifTue, in Summer, from the North Pole ;

it's

XXX EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

it's channel formed by the proj edging and retreating parts
of the two Continents; and it's difcharge comprehended
between Cape Horn, and the Cape of Good-Hope, by
which this Ocean empties ilfelf, in Summer, into the In-
dian Ocean.

The oppofite fide of this Hemifphere, though ftill, in a
great meafurc, unknown to us, would prefent, as well as
the Northern, a fluviatic channel with all the fame accef-
fories ; fources, ices, currents, and tides, formed, not by
Continents, but by the projetions of il'ands, and of it's
ileep beds, which dire£l, during our Winter, the courfe of
the Southern polar-efFufions into the Indian Ocean. How-
ever interefting thefe newproje6lions of the Globe may be,
it was impofllble for me to make the expenditure ncceffary
to procure engravings of them. It would have been ex-
tremely defirable to have exhibited a reprefentation of both
Hemifpheres, each in it's Summer and in it's Winter, in
order to fee their different Currents at each feafon, and to
have prefented a bird's-eye view of the Poles themfelves,
as well in Winter as in Summer, in order to convey an
idea of the extent of the cupolas of ice which cover them,
and the currents which iflue from them, at the different
feafons of the year. Thefe different feétions would have
required at leafl eight plates on a fcale greater than this,
perceptibly to unfold the harmonies of this fingle branch of
my Studies of Nature. Befides, this increafe of charts
would have led to more particular and more copious de-
tails, refpedling the diflributions of the Globe, which I
did not mean to treat in this Work, except as the fubjedl
Occafionally prcfenttd.

The

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. XXxl

The fimple afpcil of the Atlantic Hemifpherc, in the
months of January and February, will be fufficient to ren-
der intelligible what we have faid refpedling the polar ices,
and their periodical efFufions. We fhall treat, in their
order, of the fources of the Atlantic, of it's ices, of it's
channel, of it's currents, of it's tides, and even of it's dif-
charge.

The Sources of the Atlantic Ocean, are, in Summer, at-
the North Pole. They are fituated in the Baltic Sea, the
bays of Baffin and Hudfon, at Waigats Strait, &c. It
may be remarked on a Globe in relief, that thefe fources,
which conflitute the origin of the Atlantic Canal, turn
round the Pole in a winding courfe, nearly fimilar to the
circuitous current of a river round the mountain from
which it defcends ; fo that they colleft, in this part, all the
difcharges of the rivers which empty themfelves to the
North, and carry their waters along into the Atlantic
Ocean. From this arifes a prefumption, that there is, in
proportion, much Icfs polar effufion in the part of the
•South Seas which is oppofite to it. We ihall farther fee,
that Nature has fubjedled to the Atlantic channel the ex-
tremities of the two general currents of the Poles, which
there terminate, after having made the circuit of the
Globe ; and it is by way of oppofition to the fources from
which thefe currents ifTue, that I give to the extremities
of their courfes the name of mouth. But let us at prefent
confine ourfelves to the fubjed: of their fources.

We conceive that the waters of thefe fources muft flow
toward the Line, whither they are carried to replace thofe
which the Sun is there every day evaporating ; but they

have.

XXXII EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

have, befides, an elevation vv'hich facilitates their courfe.
Not only are the ices from which they proceed very con-
Cderably elevated over the Hemifphere, but the Poles have
themfclvcs a great elevation of foil. I ground this affertion,
in the firft place, on the obfervations of Tycho-Brhaé and
Kepler, who faw the fhadow of the Earth oval at the Poles,,
in central eclipfes of the Moon \, and on the authority of
Caffïniy who aiïigns fifty leagues more to the axis of the
Earth, than to its diameter in any other diredlion. In the
fécond place, I have on my fide authentic experiments, col-
ledled by the Academy of Sciences, but which have no
longer been referred to fmce the opinion became prevalent^
that the Earth was flattened at the Poles.

For example, it is well known, that in proportion as.
you afcend on a mountain, the mercury on the barometer
fubfides : now, the mercury finks in the barometer, in
proportion as you advance northward. It falls about one
line, in our Climates, when you afcend to an elevation of
eleven fathom. According to the Hiftory of the Academy
of Sciences, for 1712, page 4, the weight of one line of
mercury, at Paris, is equivalent to an elevation of ten fa-
thoms and five feet, whereas, in Sweden, you have to
afcend only ten fathom, one foot and fix inches, to make
the mercury fink one line. The Atmofphere of Sweden^
therefore, is not fo high as that of Paris, and confequently
the ground of Sweden is higher.

To thefe obfervations may be farther fubjoined, thofe
made by the Navigators of the North, who have always
feen the elevation of the Sun above the Horizon greater,
the nearer they approached to the Poles. It is impoflible

to

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES-, X)eX>iu

io afcribe thefe optical efFeds to the fimple laws of the re-
fradion of the Atmofphere. According to Bougucr, a
.well-known Academician, in his Treatife on Aavigatiofjf
book iv. chap. 3. fedion 3. *' Refra£lion elevates the ftars
^' in appearance ; and we are af Fared, by an infinite num-
*' ber of certain obfervations, that when they appear to us
** in the Horizon, they are, in reality, 33 or 34 minutes

*' under it In regions where the air is more denfe, ths

*' refradions mud be fomewhat ftronger, and they are,
** like wife, every thing fclfe being equal, fomewhat greater
** in Winter than in Summer. In the pra6lice of naviga-
■" tion that difference may be entirely negleded, and per-
** petual recurrence may be had to the fmall table placed
*' on the margin."

You fee, in facl:, at this part of his work, a fmall table,
in which he lays down the greatefl refraélion of the Sun in
ihe Horizon, at 34 minutes, for all the climates of the
Globe. But how came it to pafs that Barents fhould have
feen the Sun above the Horizon of Nova Zembla, on the
24th of January, in the fign of Aquarius, at five degrees,
twenty-five minutes, whereas he ought to have been there,
in fixtecn degrees, twenty-feven minutes, in order tj be
perceived in the fevent3^-fixth degree of northern Latitude,
where Barents then was ? The refradion of the Sun, then,
above the Horizon, was nearly two degrees and a half,
that is, four times as great, nay, more than Bouguer fup-
pofes it to be, as he afligns only thirty-four minutes, or
nearly, for every climate In general.

Barents^ in truth, was very much aflonifhed to fee the
Sun fifteen days fooner than he expedled \ and he could not
be perfuaded that it actually was only the 24th of January,

VOL. I. c but

XXXIV EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

but, by obferving that very night the conjundion of the
Moon and Jupiter, announced for the Latitude of Venice
at one hour after midnight, in the ephemeris of Jofeph
Scala, and which took place that very night, at Nova
Zembla, at fix of the clock of the morning, in the fign of
Taurus; which gave him^ at once, the longitude of his
hut in Nova Zembla, and the certainty tliat it muft be the
24th of January.

A refra£lion of two degrees and a half is undoubtedly
very confiderable. We may, in my opinion, afcribe one
half of it to the apparent elevation of the Sun ih the very
refradlive Atmofphere of Nova Zembla, and the other
half, to the real elevation of the Obferver above the Ho-
rizon of the Pole. Barents, accordingly, obferved, from
Nova Zembla, the Sun in :he Equator, juft as a man fees
him earlier from the fuinmit of a îîiountain, than at it's
bafis. It is, bcfidcs, a principle which admits of no ex-
ception, of the harmonic laws of the Univerfe, that Na-
ture propofes to hcrfelf no one end, without conftraining
all the elements to concur, at once, to the produ6lion of it.
Of this we have adduced manifold proofs in the courfc of
this Work. Nature, accordingly, having determined to
indemnify the Poles for the abfence of the Sun, makes the
Moon pafs toward the Pole, which the Sun abandons ;
She cryftallizes, and reduces into brilliant fnows, the wa-
ters which cover it : rtie renders it's Atmofphere more re-
fra£livc, that the prefence of the Sun may be detained
longer in it, and reflored fooner to it : and hence, alfo, there
is reafon to conclude, that Ihe has drawn out the Poles of
the Earth themfelves, in order to beftow on them a longer
participatinji of the influence of the Orb of Day.

Cortoiii

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. XXXV

Certaih celebrated Academicians have, h is true, laid it
down as a fundamental principle, that the Earth was flat-
tened at the Poles. Hear what the Academician, whom
I laft quoted, fays on this fubjed. He had been employed,
with fome others, to meafure a degree of the Meridian,
near the Equator, which they found to contain 56,748 fa-
thoms : *' But," continues he, " what is well worthy of
** attention, the terreftrial degrees have not been found of
^* the fame length, in otlier regions, where fimilar operations
*' have been performed, and the différence is too great to
*' be afcribed to the unavoidable errors in obfervation. The
*' degree upon the polar Circle is found to be 57,422 fa-
" thoms. Accordingly, it follows, beyond contradidtion,
** that the Earth is not perfectly round, and that it muft be
*' higher toward the Equator, than toward the Poles, con-
** formably to what other experiments indicate, which it Is
** not neceffary here to detail. The curving of the Earth
** is more fudden toward the Equato?- in the dire6lion of
*' North and South, as the degrees are fmaller there : and
*' the Earth, on the contrary, is flatter toward the Poles,
*' becaufe there the degrees are greater." Bonguers Ti'ea-^
tife on Navlgatioiiy book ii. chap. 14. art. 29.

I deduce, without hefitation, a conclufion diametricalh'
oppofite, from the obfervations of thefe Academicians, I
conclude that the Earth is lengthened out at the Poles, prc-
cifely for this reafon, that the degrees of the Meridian are
greater there than under the Equator. Here is my demon-
llration. If you place a degree of the Meridian, at ths
polar Circle, over a degree of the fame Meridian at tlie
Equator, the firft degree, which is 57,422 fathoms, would
exceed the fécond, which contains only 56,748 fathoms,
by 674 fathoms, conformably to the operations of the
c ^ Academicians

XXXVl EXPLANATION OF THE PLATER.'

Academicians themfelves. Confequently, if you Avcrë to
apply the whole arch of the Meridian, which crowns the
polar Circle, and which contains 47 degrees, to an arch of
.47 degrees of the fame Meridian, near the Equator, it
would produce a confiderable protuberance, it's degrees
being greater. This polar arch of the Meridian could net
extend, in length, over the equinoélial arch of the fame
Meridian, becaufe it contains the fame number of degrees,
and, confequently, a chord of the fame extent. If it ex-
tended in length, exceeding the fécond at the rate of 674.
fathoms for each degree, it is evident that it would, at the
extremity of it's 47 degrees, get out of the circumference of
the Earth ; that it would no longer pertain to the circle on
\vhich it was traced, and that it would form, on applying
it to one of the Poles, a fpecies of flattened mufhroom,
which would proj eft round and round, it's brim touching
the Earth in no one point.

In order to render the thing ftill more apparent, let us
always fuppofe that the profile of the Earth at the Poles, is
an arch of a circle, and that it contains 47 degrees, is it not
evident, if you trace a curve on the infide of this arch, as
the Academicians do, who flatten the Earth at the Poles,
that it mufl be fmaller than this arch within which it is de-
fcribed, as being contained in it ; and that the more this
curve is flattened, the fmaller it becomes, as it will ap-
proach more and more to the chord of the arch, that is to
a ftraight line? Of confequence, the 47 degrees, or divi-
fions, of this interior curve, will be, each in particular, as
they are when taken together, fmaller than the 47 degrees
of the arch of the containing circle. But, as the degrees of
the polar curve are, on the contrary, greater than thofe of
an arch of a circle, it muft follow, that the whole curve

fliould

PXPLANATION OF THE PLATES,

XXXVll

fhould, likewife, be of greater extent than an arch of a
circle : now, it cannot be of greater extent, but, on the
fuppofition of it's being more protuberant, and circum-
fcribed round this arch ; the polar curve, of confequenccj
forms a lengthened ellipfis,

I here prefent a figure of the Globe, which I have got
engraved, in order to render the miftake of our Aftronomers
perceptible to every eye.

ARCTIC POLE.

X

Polar ArcticXcircle

Tropic of Èancer/

E(][uator <j ""**'..,

Tropic of capricora
PolarAntarctic-circle

ANTARCTIC POLE.

LetA'be the unknown arch of the Meridian compre-
hended above the arclic polar circle ABC, and let D E F
be the arch of the fame Meridian comprehended betweenj.

c ^ the

XXXVIU Ï-XPLANATÏON OF THE PLATES.

the Tropics. Thefe two arches are, it is well knovva,
cacli of 47 degrees. But though they both are fubtendcd by
equal angles, A G C and DGF, they are by no means of
equal expanfion : for, according to our Aftronomers, a de-
gree of the Meridian at the polar Circle is greater, by 674
fathoms, than a degree of the fame Meridian near th©
Equator. It follows, therefore, that the unknown polar
arch X of 47 degrees, exceeds, in extent, the equinodlial
archDEF, which likewife contains 47 degrees, by 47
times 674 fathoms, which amount 1031,678 fathoms, or
twelve leagues and two thirds. The queilion now to be
determined, then, is, whether this unknown polar arch x is,
contained within the circle, in the curve A ^ C, or coincides
with it, as A B C, or falls vvithout it's circumference, in
the direilion A / C,

The unknown polar arch x cannot be contained within
the Globe, as A /■ C, as is pretended by our Aftronomcrs,
who will have \X. to be flattened there : for if it were con-
tained, it would be evidently fmaller than the fpherical
arch A B C, which furrounds it, conformably to this axiom,
that the thing contained is fmaller than what contains it ;
and the more this curve A h C fhall be flattened, the lefs
will be it's extent, as it will approach nearer and nearer tqi
it's chord, that is, the ftraight line A K C.

On the other hand, this polar arch x cannot coincide witl^
the fpherical arch ABC, for it exceeds it by twelve leagues
and two thirds. It muft belong, therefore, to a curve
which falls without the circumference of the Globe, as in,
the diredion A/C. The Globe of the Earth, then, is
lengthened at the Poles, as degrees of the Meridian are
greater there than at the Equator. Aftronomers have con-

fequcntly

EXPLANATION Ot THE PLATES, XXxix

fequently erred, in concluding, from the magnitude of thofe
degrees, that the Poles were flattened.

I fhall conclude this demonftration by an image more
trivial indeed, but equally fenfible. If you divide the two
circumferences of an egg, in length and in breadth, each
into 360 degrees, would you conclude that this egg was
flattened toward it's extremities, becaufe the degrees of it's
circumference in length, were greater than the degrees of
it's circumference in breadth ? What is very Angular here,
is, that Academicians employ the fame figure nearly, to de-
duce refults which flatly contradidl each other. They re-
prefent the Globe of the Earth like a Dutch cheefe. They
take it for granted that the Globe is very elevated over the
f^quator. *' The curve of the Globe," fays Boiiguer, in
the paflage above quoted, " is more fudden toward the
*' Equator, in the dire6lion of North and South, becaufe
" the degrees there are fmaller : and the Earth, on the
*' contrary, is flatter toward the Poles, becaufe the degrees
*f there are greater. One would imagine that the Equator
" was diltinguiflied only by the greateft rapidity of motion
** performed in the fpace of twenty-four hours ; but it is
" marked by a diflin6lion ftill more real, namely, a con-
*' tinued elevation, which mufc be about fix marine leagues
** and a half quite round the Earth, and every where at an
** equal diflance from both Poles."

We here fee the fl:range confequence deduced, at once,
from the flattening of the Earth at the Poles, and from
the magnitude of the degrees of the Meridian at that part,
which neceflarily give to the polar circle a projedlion be-
yond it's circumference : thofe which may be deduced from
the elevation and more fudden curve of the Equator, would

c 4 be •

XÎ EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

be no lefs extraordinary. They are precifely thefe, if both
the one and the other exifted, there would be no Sea under
the Equator ; bccaufe the courfe of the waters would be in
this cafe determined, by the elevation of fix leagues and a
half, and by the more fudden curvature of thit part of the
Earth, to witiidraw from it, and, by the power of gravity,
to flow toward the flattened Poles, nearer to the centre, and
there to re-eftablifh the fpherical fegment which the Acade-
micians have cut off". Accordingly, on this hypothefis, the
Seas would cover the Poles, and would there be of a pro-
digious depth, whereas we fhould have nothing but elevatec^
Continents under the Line. But Geography dcinonfl;rates
the direci contrary ; for it is around the Line that we find
the grcateft Seas, and a great quantity of Land barely up,
to their level ; and, on the contrary, elevated countries and^
lofty beds of water are very frequent, efpecially toward the.
North Pole»

Let us now proceed to confider the polar ices. Though
they are here reprefented, precifely in the fugitive, and leaft
vifible, parts of the Globe, it is eafy to form a judgment of
their very confiderable extent from the arch of the Meri-
dian which embraces them. At the South Pole, where
they are in a fmaller quantity, having jufl: undergone all
the ardor of the Summer of that Hemifphere, they itlU ex-
tend from that Pole to the 7otK degree of fouthern Latitude
at tlie lead. They there form, accordingly, a cupola, of an
arch of more than 40 degrees, which, at the rate of twenty-
five leagues, at Icaft, to a degree, for degrees at this part ot
the Globe, conformably to the experience of our Academi-
cians, are greater than toward the Equator, give a breadth
of more, than a thoufand and twenty leagues, or a circum-
fejencc of more tiian three thoufand. It is impofliblc to

call

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. xli

call in queftioii thefc dimenfions, for they are taken from
the lad obfervations of Captain Cooky who made the tour of
this cupola during their Summer.

The ices of the North Pole are much more extenfive,
becaufe they are reprefented in their Winter. On both the
one and the other, a creft is exprefled, of about twenty
leagues of elevation, at the Poles. I fliall not here repeat
what I have already faid refpe6ling the height of thofe ices
which are difcovered floating at the extremities of their cu-
polas, the elevation of which extends to twelve, nay, to
fifteen hundred feet. I was exceedingly defirous of pro^
curing a reprefentation, around thefe ices, of an irradia-
tion, or kind of Aurora Borcal'is, which might have ren-
dered perceptible their circular extent, and have heightened
the pidurefque efFe£l of the Globe, by rendering it's Poles
radiant ; for the South Pole, too, emits nodlurnal corufca-
tions, as Cook obferved ; and it appears that thefe glories
owe their origin to the ices. But M. Moreau the younger,
who made the drawings for the plates of this Work, and
particularly thofe under review, with all the intelligence
and complaifance which characterize him, made me fen-
fible that the Chart had not a field fufficiently ample. He
has, in other refpefts, rendered thefe polar ices abundantly
luminous, to make them diftinguifhable, without eclipfing
the contours of the iflands, and of the Continents which
they cover.

As to the Atlantic channel, you can eafily diftinguifli in
it, the prominent and the retreating parts of the two ContU
nents, in correfpondence with each other. If to this you
add the fmuofity of it's fource to the North, which feems to
purfue a ferpentine progrefs round our Pole, and it's wide

and

Xlii EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

and divergent mouth, formed by Cape Horn on the one
fide, and the Cape of Good-Hope on the other, by which
it difcharges itfelf, for fix months, into the Indian Ocean,
as we fhall prefently fee, you will perceive in it all the
proportions of a fluviatic canal. As to it's declivity, in
taking it's departure from the Pole, to empty itfelf even ia
the Indian Ocean, and South-Sea, by the Cape of Good-
Hope, I believe it to be, as I have faid in the text, nearly
the fame with that of the courfe of the Amazon.

Let us now confider the courfe of the polar efFufions,
produced by the a6lion of the Sun on the ices of the Poles.
There ilfues every year, a general Current from that which
is heated by the Sun : and as that great Luminary vifits
them alternately, it follows that there muft be two general
cppofite currents, which communic?,te to the Seas their
movement of circulation, and which are known in India
by the name of the eafterly and wefterly monfoons, or Win-
ter and Summer.

This being laid down, let us examine the efFufions of
the South Pole, which is here reprefented in it's Summer.
The general Current, v/hich ilTues from it, divides into two
braiiches, the one of which fets in toward the Atlantic
Ocean, and penetrates even to it's northern extremity.
When this branch comes to force it's way between the pro-
minent part of Africa and America, finding itfelf ftraitened
on pafTing from a wider to a narrower fpace, it forms, on
the coaft, two counter-currents, or vortices, which proceed
in contrary diredtions. The one of thefe counter-currents
runs to the Eaft, along the coafls of Guinea, up to the
fourth degree South, according to the teftimony of Datfipie?:
The other takes it's departure from Cape St. Augufiiin,

proceeds

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. xlii^

proceeds to the South- Weft, along the coafts of Brafil, up
to Maires-Strait inchjfively. This cfFedl is the refult from
a law in Hydraulics, the operation of which is generally
known : it is this, that as often as a current pafles from a
wider channel into a narrower, it forms on the fides two
counter-currents. The truth of this may be afcertained,
by obferving the current of a brook, to the palfage of the
water of a river under the arches near the abutment of a
bridge, &c. Accordingly, the current bears to the Eaft,
along the coafts of Guinea, and to the South- Weft, along
the coafts of Brafil, during the Summer of the South-Pole.
But in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and beyond the
ftrait of the two Continents, it pufties on to the North in
full force, and advances to the very northern extremities
of Europe and of America, bringing us twice every day,
along our coafts, the tides of the South, which are the
half-daily effufions of the two fides of the South Pole.

The other branch, which ilfiies from the South Pole,
takes a dire(51:ion to the weftward of Cape Horn, rufties
into the South Sea, produces in the Indian Ocean the
Eaftern monfoon, which takes place in India during our
Winter; and having made the tour of the Globe by the
Weft, comes to the Eaft, to unite itfelf by the Cape of
Good-Hope, to the general Current which enters into the
Atlantic Ocean. It is poflible, partly, to trace on the
Chart this general Current of the South Pole, with it's two
principal branches, it's counter^currents and it's tides, by
the arrows which indicate it's diredl, oblique, and retro-
grade movements.

Six months after, that is, in our Summer, commencing
toward the end of March, when the Sun, at the Line,

begins

XÎÎV- iXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

begins to forfake the South Pole, and proceeds to^warm the
North, the efFufions of the South Pole are ftayed ; thofe-of
our Pole begin to flow, and the Currents of the Ocean
change in all Latitudes. The general Current of the
Seas then takes it's departure from our Pole, and divides,
like that of the South, into two branches. The firfi: of
thefe branches derives it's fourcesfrom Waigats, Hudfon's-
bay, &:c. which then flow, in certain flraits, with the rapi-
dity of a fluice, and produce, to the North, tides which
come from the North, from the Eaft, and from the Weft,
to the great aftonifliment of Linjchotien^ Ellis, and other
Navigators, who had been accuflomed to fee them come
from the South along the coafts of Europe.

This Current, formed by the fufion of mofl of the ices
pf the North of America, of Europe, and of Afia, which,
at that feafon, prefent a circumference of almoft fix thou-,
fand leagues, defcends through the Atlantic Ocean, pafles
the Line, and finding itfelf confined at the fame Strait of
Guinea and Brafil, it forms on it's fides, two lateral coun-
ter-currents, which fet in northward, as thofe formed, fix
months before, by the Current of the South Pole, fet in
foutbward. Thefe counter-currents produce, on the coafts
of Europe, the tides which always appear to come dircdly
from the South, though they adually come, at that feafon,
from the North.

The branch which produces them advances afterward to
the South, doubles the Cape of Good-Hope, takes it's
courfe eaft ward, forms, in the Indian Ocean the wefterly
monfoon ; and having encompafled the Globe, even to the
Soutlv-Sea,-lt proceeds to Cape Horn, re-afcends along the
coaft of Brafil, and there produces a current which termi-
nates

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. xlf

liâtes at Cape St. Auguftin, and is oppofcd to the principal
Current, which dcfcends from the North.

The other branch of the Current, which, in Summer
flows from our Pole, on the oppofite fide of our Hemi-
fphere, iflues through the pafTage called the North-Strait,
fituated between the mod eafterly extremity of Afia, and
the moft wefterly of America. It defcends into the South-
Sea, where it is re-unite4 to the firft branch, which thea
forms, as has been faid, the weflerly monfoon of that Sea.
Befides, this branch, which ifllies by the North-Strait, re-
-ceives much lefs of the icy effuiions than that of the At-
lantic Ocean, becaufe the deep bays which are at the
fources of that Ocean, and the contours of thefe fame
fources, which furround the Pole fpirally, receive, as we
have feen, the greateftpart of the icy efFufioas of the North
Pole, and pour them into the Atlantic Oceam

The Ocean, accordingly, flows, twice a year round the
Globe, in oppofite fpiral direâions, taking it's departure
alternately from each Pole, and defcribes on the Earth, if
I may venture to fayfo, the fame courfe which the Sun
does in the Heavens.

This Theory, I confidently afErm, is fo luminous, that,
by means of it, a multitude of difEculties may be refolved,
which involve m much obfcurity the journals of our Navi-
gators. Froger, for example, fays, that in Brafil the Cur-
rents come in confomuity to the diredion of the Sun ; that
is, they run northward, when he is in the northern figns of
the Zodiac, and fouthward, when he is in the fouthern
i)gns. It is impoinble, affuredly, to explain this verfatile

elfecl.

XÏvi EXPLANATION Ot THE PLATES.

cfFe£l, from the prelTure, or the attradion of the Sun and
of the Moon between the Tropics, as thefe two Luminaries
never tranfcend their bounds, and always proceed in one
direftion, from Eafl: to Weft : but here is the folution.
When this Current of Brafil runs to the South in our
Winter, it is the general counter-current of the South Pole,
which is then fetting in to the North ; and when this Bra-
rdian Current runs to the North in our Summer, it is the
extremity of this fame general Current, wliich returns by
Cape Horn.

The fame thing does not take place refpeding the Cur-
lent in the Gulf of Guinea, which is oppofite, and which
runs always to the Eaft, though it be in precifely the fame
Ctuation : for, in our Winter, this Current in the Gulf of
Guinea, is the extremity of the general Current of the
South Pole, which returns by the Cape of Good-Hope, and
which, at that feafon, fets in to the North, along the coafts
of Africa, from the thirtieth degree of South Latitude, as
far as to the folirth degree of the fame Latitude, according
to the teftimony of Dampicr. But this extremity of the
general Current which fets in to the North, and which
then takes it's departure from the fourth degree South, to
join the general Current, does not enter into the Gulf
of Guinea, becaufe of the prodigious retreat of that Gulf;
fo that, in this part only, the Sea flows always to the Eafl,
conformably to the obfervation of all African Navigators.

I fhall fupport the principles of my Theory by well-au-
thenticated faéls, fupplicd by Navigators of the higheft cre-
dit. Hear what Dampier fays of the Currents of the Ocean,
in bis Treahje of Winds y pages 3S6 and 3 S "7-

" Befides,

fXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. xlvii

«< Befides, it is certain, that, univerfally, Currents change
*f their conrfes at certain feafons of the year : in the Eail-
<* Indies, they run from Eaft to Weft one part of the year,
*' and from Weft to Eaft the other part. In the Eaft-
" Indies, and in Guinea, they change only about the time
** of full Moon. But this is to be underftood of the parts
" of the Sea which are at no great diftance from the coaft :
" not but that there are, Hkewife, very powerful Cur-
*'^ rents, in the great Ocean, which are not fubje£led to
*' thefe laws ; but that is not common.

" On the coaft: of Guinea the Current fets in to the
*' Eaft, except at full Moon, or about it. But to the South
** of the Lincj from Loango Up to 25 or 30 degrees, it
*' runs with the wind from South to North, except toward
*« full Moon.

** To the Eaft of the Cape of Good-Hope, from tlic
*' thirtieth degree to the twenty-fourth South Latitude, the
*' Current fets in to the Eaft, from the month of May to
*' October, and the wind blows during that period from
*' Weft-South- Weft, or South-Weft ; but from 06lober to
*' May, when the wind is between Eaft-North-Eaft, and
«' Eaft-South-Eaft, the Current fets in to the Weft ; and
** this is to be underftood of five or fix leagues diftance from
** land, up to fifty, or thereabout ; for at five leagues from
" land, there is no Current, but we have a tide ; and be-
■*' yond fifty leagues from land, the Current entirely ceafes,,
** or becomes iinpercepiible.

" On the coaft of India, to the North of the Line, the
" Current runs with the monfoon. But it does not change
^^ quite lo foon, fometimes by three weeks or more ; after

" that.

Xlviii EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

** that, it changes no more till the monfoon is fixed in the
" oppofite dire6lion. For example, the weftern monfoon
*' commences about the middle of April, but the Current
** does not change till the beginning of May ; and the eaf-*
<* tern monfoon commences about the middle of Seplember,!
** but the Current changes not till October has begun."

Dampler feems to afcribe the caufe of thcfe Currents to
the winds, which he calls Monfoons. But this is not the
proper place for invcfligating the caufe of the atmofpheric
revolution, which, however, likewife depends on the Poles,
whofe Atmofpheres are more or lefs dilated in Winter and
in Summer, and whofe revolutions muft precede thofe of
the Ocean. I fhall confine my attention, at prefent, to tho
retardation of the wefterly Current, which does not afFedl the
Indian Ocean till the month of May, in order to demon-
llrate, that it is the fame which takes it's departure from
our Pole, in the month of March, and which takes place
in various regions of India at eras proportional to the dif-^
tance of the point from which it fets out.

This Current arrives, then, toward the month of April,
at the Cape of Good-Hope ; and this it is which renders
the pafTage round the Cape fo difficult to velfels returning
from India in Summer. I fhall once more fupport myfelf,
on this ground, by the authority of Dmnpier, in his Voyage
round the Worldy vol. ii. chap. 14. This was on his return
from India to Europe.

*' We loft time in trying to reach the Cape, which wc
'* could not make till th.c month of October or November ;
*< and it was now only the end of March. In fa£l, it is
*' not ufual to make the Cape after the tenth of May."

In

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. xîÎJC

In addition to this, the Dutch Eaft-India Company do not
permit their fliips to remain there later than the month of
March, becaufe from that -period the Winds and the Cur-
rents fteadily fet in from the Weft, which drive the (hip-
ping oft the coaft : hence we fee, that this Current, which
comes from the Weft, in doubling the Cape, arrives there
in the month of April.

'From the preceding pâflage, in Dampiers Treùi'ife on
■IVinds, we have feen that this wefterly Current reached the
coafts of India toward the middle of May : I fliall produce
lïnothcr authority to prove that it reaches, about the middle
of June, the ifland of Tinian, which is much farther to the
Eaft. I ç.\Xx-iidi\\.{xQVL\ AnJGiis, Voyage^ chap. 14; in the
year 1742, dr^. the fubjed of the ifland of Tinian. " The
** only good anchoring ground for large fliips is off the South-
** Wcit part of the rfland. The bottom of this road is
" filled with rocks of coral, very iharp poititcd. It is unfafe
*' to anchor there from the middle of June to the middle of
^* Oclober, which is the feafon of the wejlerly ?nsnfoons ;
** and the danger is farther increafed by the extraordinary
** rapidity of the current of the tide which fets in to the
** Saxiih-fVeJly between this ifiand and that of Agnigan.
** During the other eight months of the year, the weather
** there is fteady." Obferve, by the way, that while the
monfoon, or the current, comes from the Weft, the tide
bears in a contrary direction between thofe two illands ;
which is a confirmation of what we have faid, that tides are,
for the moft part, only the counter-currents of general Cur-
rents forced through narrow ftraits.

It is, accordingly, evident that this Current, which leaves

our Pole in March, reaches the Cape of Good-Hope in

VOL. I. d April,

1 EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

April, the coafl of India in May, the ifland of Tinian by
the middle of June; and that it traces round the Globe,
the fpiral line ^vhicH I have indicated. It might be pofhble
to calculate the velocity, by the time employed in running
over thefe feveral diftances, and in reaching the other
points of Latitude, till it gets up with Cape Horn, from
which it fets in to the North, as far as Cape St. Auguftin,
where it meets the general Atlantic Current toward the end
of July. But the detail of fo many curious circumftanccs
would carry mc too far.

In no one refpefl is it polfible to afcribe the general Cur-
rents of the Indian Ocean, which, as has been faid, fets in,
for fix months, to the Eaft, and fix months to the Weft, to
the attradion or preflure of the Sun and of the Moon, be-
tween the Tropics ; for thcfe Orbs move invariably in one
diredion, and their action is the fame at all times, within
the extent of that Zone to which their motion is reftri£led.
Befides, if their a£lion were the caufe of it, when the Sun
is to the North of the Line, the wefterly monfoon ought to
be felt on the coafts of India, as. early as the month of
March, for the Sun is then nearly in the Zenith of the In-
dian Ocean ; but it becomes not perceptible till fix weeks
after, that is, till the month of May.

On the contrary, when the Sun is to the South of the
Line, and at the greateft dîlîance from the Indian Ocean,
the monfoon takes place there a little after our autumnal
Equinox, that is, in the month of Oftober. Hence it is
evident, that thefe revolutions of the Indian Ocean have
not their focufes under the Equator, but at the Poles ; and
that the revolution of the month of March, which proceeds
from the North by the Weft, takes fix weeks to render itfelf

perceptible

kXPLÀNATION QF THE PLATES. Il

V)erceptîble in India, becaufe of the vaft circuit which it is
t)bh'ged to make round the Cape of Good-Hope ; whereas
that of the South Pole, which commences in the month of
Septeihber, arrives much fooner, becaufe it has no circuit
to make : and, finally, that the era of thefe verfatile revo-
lutions commences precifely at the Equinoxes, that is, the
very moment when the Sun withdraws from the one Pole,
ton his way to warm the other»

It is manifeft, therefore, that the half-yearly and alter-
hate Currents of the Indian Ocean derive their origin from
the half-yearly and alternate fufion of the ices of the North
and South Poles ; and that their direilion from Eaft to
XVefl, and from Weft to Eaft, is determined, in this Ocean,
by the very proje6lion of the Continent of Afia.

The Atlantic Ocean has, in likemanner, two half-yearly
and alternate Currents, which have the fame origin, but
one natural diredlion from North to South, and from South
to North, though with fome deviation from Weft to Eafl>
and from Eaft to Weft, by the very projedion of the At-
lantic channel. Our Navigators go on the fuppofition that^
in this channel, there is but one perpetual Current, which,
in our Hemifphere, always runs from South to North.
Into this miftake they have been led by the courfe of the:
tides, which, in fa6l, always do fet in to the North along
our coafts, and thofe of Bahama ; but efpecially, by our
Aftronomical fyftem, which afcribes all the movements of
the Ocean to the adlion of the Moon, between the Tropics.

How many errors may one fingle prejudice introduce
into the elements of human knowledge ! It blinds even the
moft enlightened of Mankind, to fùch a degree, as to make

d 7 them

In EXPLANATION OF TKL PLATES.

them refill the clearefl evidence, and to reje£l, for a long
feries of ages, the experience which every year is accumu-
lating.

I have colle6led from a muhitude of Sea Voyages, and
principally from thofe which Captain Cool performed round
the World, with equal fagacity and intelligence, a great
variety of nautical obfervations, which demonftrate, that
the Currents of the Atlantic Ocean are alternate and half-
yearly, like thofe of the Indian Ocean. Notwithftanding,
the very perfons who made and who relate thefe obfervations,
milled by the prejudice, that the action of the Moon be-
tween the Tropics alone communicates motion to the Seas,
and unable to reconcile their Currents with the courfe of
that Luminary, deduced only this conclufion, that they
were naturally irregular, and their caufe inexplicable.

Hade they adhered to their own experience, which af-
fured them that thefe Currents changed twice every year ;
that, in the Indian Ocean, they run for fix months in the
fame diredion with the courfe of the Moon, and fix months
direélly oppofite to it ; and, in the Atlantic Ocean, in di-
reélions which have no relation whatever to the courfe of
that Star \ that they are much more rapid as you approach
the Poles, than between the Tropics, under the very gravi-
tation of the Moon \ and, finally, that they diverge from
the Pole that is heated by the Sun, toward that which he has
deferted \ they would then have referred the caufes of thefe
variations to the Summer and Winter of each Hemifphere ;
and they would have diflipated, in part, that cloud of error,
with which our pretended Sciences have veiled the opera-
tions of Nature.

e

Though

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. lilfl

Though thefe nautical obfervations aredecifive as to my-
felf, for they have been made by enlightened partifans of the
Aftronomical Syftem which they totally fubvert, while they
confirm the truth of my theory, I fhall, however, quote
two ftill more curious, more authentic, and more impartial
than all the others, becaufe they have not been picked up
by men bred to the Sea, and who, confequently, have nei-
ther the prejudices nor the fyftems of the profeffion. The
one has the inhabitants of a whole kingdom to vouch for
him ; and the other, one of the moft terrible epochas of the
naval Hiftory of Europe : and both of them wonderfully
confirm one of the moft agreeable harmonies of the vege-
table Hiftory of Nature, the elements of which I have pre-
fented in the emigration of plants.

From the firft of thefe obfervations, we fhall demonftrate,
that the Atlantic Current comes, in fa6l, from the South,
and fets in northward, as Navigators believe, but this only
during our Winter. It is, accordingly, produced, in this
dire6lion, by the efFufions of the ices of the South Polei
which, in our Winter, flow toward the North ; and not by
the adlion of the Moon between the Tropics, according to
our Aftronomers, becaufe, at that very feafon, the Naviga-
tors of the Southern Hemifphere have found, beyond the
Tropics, this fame Current coming from the South, which
affuredly could not take place, if this Current were pro-
duced by the a6lion of the Moon on the Equator ; for, on
this hypothefis, it would flow in a contrary direction in the
Southern Hemifphere. But this is by no means the cafe,
as I am able to prove, by the Journals of Abel Tofman, of
Dampier, of Frafer, of Cook^ Sic. wlio found beyond the
Tropics, in the Southern Hemifphere, this Current fetting
in from the South, but only during our Winter.

d 3 By

fiv EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

By the fccond of thefe obfervations we fhall demonfiraîe^
that the Atlantic Current comes from the Nortli, and fcts in
fouthward in our Hemifphere, contrary to the opinion of
Navigators, but only during Summer. Of confequence,
it then proceeds directly from the effufions of th,e ices of
the North Pole, which, in our Summer, flow toward the
South : and it evidently dcftroys, by this direction toward
the Equator, the prete^nded aâion of the Moon between
the Tropics, which, according to our Aftronomers, im-
prefles on the Ocean a motion toward both Poles.

The firfi: of thefe obfervations is related by Mr. Thomas,
Fennanf, a well-informed Englifli Naturalift, unfetterecl
by prejudice and by fyftem, at lead as far as this important
fubjedl is concerned. It is extrafted from his Voyage, iri
1772, to the Hebrides, fmall iflands on the Weft of Scot-
land*. ** But," fays this enlightened Traveller, *' what
*' is more real, and more worthy of attention, is this, that
*' there are frequently found herç (on the Ifland o|" Hay) on
*' the coafts of all the Hebrides and Orkney Iflands, the feed^
** of the plants which grow in Jamaica, and the adjacent
** Illands ; fuch as thofe of the dol'tchos urens, giiilandina
*' benduc, bonduceitUy the mimoja fcandem of LlNN^US.
•* Thefe feeds, which are here called Molucca beans, grow
*' on the banks of the rivers of Jamaica ; and thence wafted
" along by the wefterly winds and ciirrents, which predo-
*' minate for two-thirds of the year, in that part of the At-
** lantic, they are driven even to the fliores of the Hebrides.
** The fume thing fometimes happens to the turtles of

* Printed at Gentva in 1785, in a Colle6tion of Voyages and Tra-
vels to the Mountuins ar.d lilands cf Scotland j Paiis, Nyon iliiior,
* vols. Svo. vol. 1. page 216 and zi-,

'^ America,

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. Iv

" America, which are caught alive on thefe coafts ; and
** this is put beyond the reach of doubt, fince there was
" found, on the coaft of Scotland, a part of the mad of the
<« Tilbury man of war, which took fire, and was burnt near
** Jamaica."

Mr. Pemmnt has negle£led to inform us at what feafon
thofe feeds, and thofe turtles, reach the weftern coaft of
Scotland. Such omifîion of dates is an eflential defe6l,
though very common with Travellers, who frequently ne-
glcd thofe of even their own particular obfervations. It is
only, however, by means of thefe dates, that we are enabled
to take a glimpfe of the combined harmonies of Nature.
What fliall we think, then, of the tafte of our Compilers
of Voyages and Travels, who retrench thefe as tedious and
unimportant circumftances ? It is eafy to fee, notwith-
standing, in the prefent cafe, that the feeds from the rivers
of Jamaica, and the turtles of America, arrive in Winter
on the coafts of the Hebrides and of the Orkneys, being
driven thither, according to Mr. Pennant , by the " wefterly
" winds and currents," which " predominate there," fays
he, *^ two-thirds of the year."

Now, it is well known that the wefterly winds blow
there all the Winter through \ which is confirmed, in this
relation, by it's own proper teftimony, and, in the fame
Colledion, by other Travellers to Scotland. After all, it
cannot poflibly be the Weft-wind which wafts thefe feeds
and thefe tortoifes fo far from Jamaica northward. The
winds have no hold of bodies level with the furface of
the water ; and, afturedly, thofe from the Weft could not
drive them to the North. Nay, Currents from the Weft
could not polFibly produce this effect, for they would hurl

d 4 them

Ivî EXPLANATION OF THE PLAIES.

them to the Eafl ; and as Jamaica is about i8 degrees to,
the North of the Line, tiiefe feeds and tortoifes would be
driven afhorc on the coafl; of Africa of the fame Latitude,
and not in the 59th degree North, oij the çoalls of the
Hebrides and Orkneys, where, in fact, they çlo come
afhore.

The Current, therefore, whi-ch v/afts them along, pro-
ceeds in a northern diredlion, tending a little toward the
Eaft, precifely as the Atlantic channel itfelf does, in that
part of it. Accordingly, the important ol?fervations of
the inhabitants of Scotland, on the fubjecl of the grains of
the Ifland of Jamaica, of the turtles of America, and of a
fragment of the maft of the Tilbury^ thrown upon their,
coafts, inconteftably prove that thç Atlaotiç Current cornea
from the South, and fets in to the North, as Navigators arc
difpofed to believe. But it has this direftion only in, our Win-
ter ; for I am going to demonflrate by another obfç.rvation,
no lefs curious, that in Summer, and in the fame Latitudes,
the Atlantic Currerit comes from the North, and fets in to
the South, in dire6l oppofition to the pretended aclion of
the Moon between the Tropics, and contrary to the opi-
nion of Navigators. But I ought not to fay opinion^ fo^.
they have not a well-informed opinion on the fubjecl.

We have already produûed the teftimony of the moft re-
fpcclable northern Navigators, who unanimoufly bear wit-
nefs, that the Atlantic Current comes from the North, and
fets in to the South in Summer, in it's northern extremity :
fuch are thofe of EJlisy of Barents^ of Linjchotleriy &c. who,
having navigated, in Summer, toward the vicinity of the arc-
tic polar Circle, attelt that the Currents, and even the ticks
have a foutherly dircèlion, anddcfcend from the North, or,

at

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. Ivii

at moft, from the North-Weft, or North-Eaft, according
TO the bearing of the bays into which they have pene-
trated.

We have bcfides adduced, in fupport of this important
truth, the teftimony of the Navigators of North- America,
quoted by Denis, Governor of Canada, who atteft that the
Currents of the North annually convey, in Summer, to-
ward the South, long banks of floating ices, of a very con-
fiderable depth and elevation, which run a-ground fo far to
the South as the banks of Newfoundland : and, finally, we
have quoted the obfervation of Chrijiopher Columbus, who,
in a much more fouthern Latitude, nay, approaching to
the Tropic of Cancer, found, by experience, in September,
that the middle of the Atlantic channel run fouthward, and,
Confequently, defcended from the North. To thefe autho-
rities we might fubjoin thofe of a multitude of other Navi-
gators, who paid attention only to the driving of their fhips,
and were convinced, in Summer, of the exiftence of this
northern Current, without daring to admit it, or venturing
to oppofe their own experience to an Aftronomical Syftem,
which had got into vogue.

But that I may omit notliing relating to a fubje£l fo ef-
fcntial to Navigation, and to the ftudy of Nature, and to
remove every poflibility of doubt as to the exiftence of this
northern Current in Summer, we iliall confine ourfelves to
a iingle obfervation, but connei^ed with a well-known hi-
llorical event. This obfervation is the lefs liable to fuf-
picion, that it is related without an intention tg favour any
one Syficm, by a Traveller, who was neither Pvlarincr nor
Naturalifi, and who deduced no other confequences from it,
except thpfe which concerned his fortune and his liberty.

^ it

Iviii EXPLANATION' OF THE PLATES.

It is that of Souchu de Remieforty Secretary to the Supreme
Council of Madagafcar, on leaving the Azores, the 2oth of
June, 1666, at that time on his return to Europe. Hijhij
of the Eajl-lndies. Book iii. chap. 5.

*' From 40 degrees," fays he, "up to 45, we faw
** broken mafts, fail-yards, and round-tops of fhips, which
" awakened an apprehcnfion that fome dreadful naval dif-
*' after had taken place. We were not a little afraid that thefe
" fragments might have run toul of one of our convoy, a
*' veflel of conilderable burden, called the Virgin, an old
*' crazy Ihip, and very leaky. It has been fince afcerr
*' tained, that this wreck was occafioned by the naval com-
" bat which took place between the French and Dutch on
*' one lide, and the Englifh on the other. It would have
** been a happinefs to thofc concerned to have known this
** fooner."

In fatSl, the vefiel on board of which Rennefori was, and
to whom it was unknown that France and England were
at war, had the misfortune to be taken and funk by an
Englifh frigate, as far up the channel as Guernfey, ten
days after this obfervation, that is the 8th of July.

This horrible devaftation, fcattered over the Ocean,
through a fpace of three degrees, or 75 leagues, was the
effeél of the moft obftinate and bloody combat that ever
took place on that element, between the Englifli and the
Dutch. It begun the nth of June, and lafted four days.
The Englifh fleet confiited of 85 fhips of war, and the .
Dutch fleet of go, commanded by De Ruyter. There were
21 thoufand men nearly on each fide, and 4,500 pieces of
cannon. In that engagement the Englilh loft 23 fliips, mofl

of

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. !}](

of which were burnt or funk, and the Dutch only 4 ; but
there was fcarcely a fhip which did not lofe her marts ii;
whole, or in part. Nine thoufand men, nearly, pcrifhed
on both fides. The Hiflorians of each Nation, as ufual,
exalted the glory of their own fleet up to the (kies. One
thing is certain, that nine thoufand human bodies, mutilated
and half burnt, given up to Iharks and fea-dogs, prefented,
to the monfters of the deep, the fpe6tacle of a ferocity which
has no example, except in the annals of the Human Race ;
and that this prodigious number of round-tops, fail-yards,
and marts, floating about, mixed with flags bearing red
crofles and white crolfes, muft have conveyed fome infor-
mation to the Barbarians of all the Southern regions of the
Atlantic Ocean, in what manner the Powers, who pretend
to be fubjefted to the laws of Jesus Christ, fettle their
quarrels *.

Thefè

* Thefe wrecks were, undoubtedly, carried farther than the Azores.
It is probable that, at this fealbn, a confiderable part of them floated as
far as the coafts, and the wellern iilands of Africa. Now the ground of
this quarrel between England and Holland was precifely the Africai\
Slave-Trade. Thofe Powers had commenced hoftilities the year before,
on the coafts of Guinea, and at the Cape-de-Vtrd Iflands, to the ruin of
thefp Countries. I fuppole, therefore, that thoi'e awful monuments, of
the battle off Oftend, muft have paflçd through the Cape-de-Verd
Iflands, ar\d near to that of St. John, which is fo little frequented by
Europeans, that the Portugueze call it Brave, or favage. It's good
and hofpitable inhabitants, according to an Englifh Navigator, of the
tiarne oï Roberts, who had a moft delightful opportunity of putting thefe
amiable qualities to the teft, are fo humble, that they look on men of
their own colour as fubjefted, by the authority of Gon himfelf, to the
yoke ot white men. In this opinion they are confirmed l)y oblerviiio-
the balance of European commerce, one of the beams of which prelcnts
to Europe benefits only, while the other, weighed dov/n by calamities,
continually preflcs on wretched Africa.

But

IX EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES,

Thefe wrecks, fcattered over 75 leagues of Sea, came
from about twelve miles to the North-weft of Oftend,
where this naval combat was fought, and were carried as

far

But when from the fummit of their rocks, under the fliade of their
cotton-trees, and of their plantains, they beheld, along their peaceful
fliores, this frightful train of mafts, yards, galleries, poops, prows, halt
burnt, ftained with human blood, and intermingled with European ftan-
dards, they then faw the fcale, loaded with the miferies of Africa, rife
for a moment, and the other, in it's turn, fink with an oppreflTive weight
on Europe: and from this re-a£tion of calamity, they, undoubtedly,
perceived that an univerfal Juftice governs, by equal laws, all the Na-
tions of the Globe.

A King of France, it has been fald, ordered the bodies of malefac-
tors to be thrown into the river, marked with this difmal infcription :
Let the King's Jujlke pafs. The Chinefe and Japanefe punifh, in the
fame manner, the pirates who infeft the navigation of their rivers. Thus
the wrecks of thefe fhlps of war, which had fo often fcattered terror
over the Atlantic Ocean, were hurried along by it's Currents ; and
their enormous bulging hulks, blackened by the fire, reddened with
human blood, and become a fport to the billows of Africa, fpoke
much more diftinélly than any infcription could, to the opprefled inhabi-
tants of thofe fliores : Behold koiv, O, ye black men ! the glory of the
Whites, and the Jujiice of Gov» , poffmg along.

It would be a calculation worthy, I do not fay of our modem Poli-
ticians, who no longer fet a value on any thing In the World, except
cold and power, but of a friend of humanity, to afcertain. Whether
the Negro Slave-trade has not occafioned as many woes to Europe as to
Africa; and, What are the benefits of which it has been produftive to
thefe two divifions of the Globe.

In the firll place, it would be neceflary to take into the account, of
the calamities of Africa, the wars wlilch it's Potentates wage with each
other, in order to find a fupply of flaves to anfwer the demand of Euro-
pean traders ; the barbarous defpotifm of" it's Sovereigns, who, for the
attainment of this object, deliver up their own fubjefls ; the unnaturally
degraded chara6ter of their fubjeds, who, after their example, fre-
quently drag to thefe inhuman markets their wives and their children ;

the

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. Ixi

far as the Azores, which Renneforfs fquadron was leaving,
when he fell in with them. Oftend is about 51 degrees
North ; and the Azores about 40, and far to the Weft.

The

the depopulation of moft of the maritime co\nitries of Africa, reduced
to a delcrt, by the emigration of their inhabitants, who have been
fweeped away into flavery ; the mortality of a very confiderable propor-
tion of thefe wretches, who perifh on their paflîige to America and the
Weft-Indies, by imwholefome food and the fcurvy, exceflive labour,
fcantinefs of provifions, the mercilefs whippings, and other punirtmients
which they are doomed to endure in our Colonies, and which deftroy the
greateft part, with mifery, mortification and defpair.

Here, undoubtedly, is a fad detail of tears and blocdflied, on the
African fide of the account. But it is balanced, at leaft, by an equal
train of evils on that of Europe : if you ftate on this fide, the very navi-
gation of the coaft of Africa, the corrupted air of which carries off the
lèamen of our trading veffels by whole crews at once, as well as the gar-
rlfons of our fettiements on the coaft, and up the country, by the dy-
fentery, the fcurvy, putrid fevers, and efpecially by a fever peculiar to
the coaft of Guinea, which brings the ftouteft man to his grave in three
days. To thefe phyfical evils may be added, the moral maladies of
Slaver^', which deftroy, in our American Colonies, the very firft feelings
of humanity; becauii?, wherever there are flaves, tyrants fpring up,
together with the influence of this moral depravation upon Emope. Add
to the evils of this quarter of the World, the refources, in the field-
employments of America, from which our own commonalty and peafantry
are excluded, multitudes of whom are languiihing at home, in wietch •
ednefs, for want of employment, and the means of fubfiftcnce ; the wars
which the Slave-trade kindles among the maritime Powers of Europe,
their fettiements taken, and retaken ; their naval engagements, which
fweep away nine thoufand men at a ftroke, without reckoning thofe
who are maimed for life ; their wars which, like a ptftilence, are com-
municated to the interior of Europe, by their alliances, and to the reft of
tlie World by tlieir commerce ^ whju ail thefe are taken into the ftate-
ment, it muft be allowed that the amount of European evils is a com-
plete balance to thol'e of Africa.

Aa

îxiî EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

The firfl of thefe wrecks were put in motion, from the
North-weft of Oftend, on the nth of June, which is the
(late of the beginning of the engagement, conformably td
De Ruyter's letter, and the Hiftory of France, and they were
found near the Azores by the 2oth of the fame month at
fartheft, as muft be concluded from the relation of Renne^
forty though the date of every day, in particular, is not in-
ferted. The Currents from the North had, accordingly,
wafted them along, in nine days, more than 275 leagues to
the South ; without taking into the attount, the confider-
able progrefs which had been made to the weftward, on
the whole amounting to much more than 34 leagues
a day.

As to the balance of benefits, it js reduced, on both fides, to a ver/
narrow compafs. It is impoflibiei with a good confcience, to enumerate
among the bleffings which the inhabitants of Africa derive from the fale
of their compatriots, our iron iabres, with which they mangle each
"other, our wretched firelocks, with which they contrive to knock one
another on the head, and our ardent fpirits, which deftroy their reafon
and their health : the whole then is reduced, in their favour, nearly, to
a few paltry mirrors and tinkling-bells.

With refpeft to the benefits derived from this trade to Europe, there
is fugar, coffee, and cotton, with which America and it's Iflands fupply
lis, by means of the labour of negro flaves ; but thefe rude and formlefs
produélions can iland no manner of comparifon with the perfected ma-
suifailures, and the crops of every kind, which might be derived from
the fame fields, by free, happy, and intelligent, European cultivators.

It appears to me, that, if this balance of evils fo cpprcflive, and of
benefits To trivial, were prefented to the maritime and Chriftian Powers
of Europe, they would difcover, at length, that it is not fufficient to
have baniflied Slavery from their ov.-n territories, in order to render their
fubjefls induftrlous and happy ; but that they muft likewife profcribe
k in their Colonies, for the fake of thefe very fiihjefts therafelves, for
*kat of the Human Race, and for the glory of their Religion.

It

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. IxiU

It was not the wind, fiirely» which hurried thofe frag-
ments toward the South-Well with fo much rapidity : the
prevailing wind, at that feafon, was contrary to them.
^r;7«r/s//'s fquadron, which had juft met them, were fcn-
iible of no other wind, but that which was carrying them
to the North-Eaft ; and De Ruyter, in his difpatches, makes
mentioft only of the South-Welt winds, which blew during
the engagment. Befides, as has been formerly obferved,
what hold could the winds have of bodies, level with the
water ? Much lefs could they have been carried fouthward,
by the tides, which then fet in to the North, on our coalls :
it muft have been, therefore, a diredl Current from the
North which carried them to the South, even in oppofition
to the tides, and fomewhat to the Weft, by the diredlion of
the Atlantic channel. The Atlantic Current, therefore,
fets in to the South, in Summer, notwithftanding the pre-
tended adion of the Moon between the Tropics, and it's
courfe, at that feafon, can be afcribed only to the melting
of the northern polar ices.

Thefe two obfervations, fo authentic, farther confirm a
pofition elfewhere laid down, that iflands are placed at the
extremities of currents. Linjchotteriy who had fojourned at
the Azores, remarks, that the fragments of moft of the
Ihipwrecks fufïered in the Atlantic Ocean are thrown upon
their coafts. The fame thing happens on the fhores of the
Bermudas, on thofe of Barbadoes, &c. Thefe floating bo-
dies are wafted to prodigious diftances, regularly and aiter-
Jiately, as the Currents of the Ocean themfelves are- The
feeds of the illand of Jamaica are, accordingly, conveyed,
in Winter, as far as the Orkneys, that is more than 1060
leagues from South to North, and a diftance of more than
1800 leagues, by the flux, of the South Pole; and, beyond

a doubt/

Ixîv rXPLANATION OF THE PLATSS,

a doubt, the fluviatic feeds of the Orkneys are carried along,
in Summer, to the fhores of Jamaica, by the flux of the
North Pole.

Thefe felf-fame correfpondencies mufl fubfift between
the vegetables of Holland and of the Azores. I am not
acquainted with any of the feeds peculiar to the rivers of
Jamaica ; but I am abfolutely certain, that they poflefs the
nautical characters which I have obferved in thofe of all
fluviatic plants. Here, then, is a new confirmation of the
vegetable harmonies of Nature, founded on the emigration
of plants. It may be likewife applied to the emigration of
fifhes, w^hich purfue fuch long and winding diredions
through the open Sea, guided, unquefl;ionably, by the float-
ing feeds of fluviatic plants, for which they have, in all
countries, a decided preference of tafl:e, and which Nature
produces on the banks of rivers particularly, with a view to
their nourifhment.

It appears to me poffible for Mankind, by means of the al-
ternate Currents of the Ocean, to maintain a regular mutual
correfpondence, free of all expenfe, over all the maritime coun-
tries of the Globe. It might, perhaps, be pofllble, by thefe
means, to turn to very good account thofe vaft forefls which
cover the northern diftri£ls of Europe and of America,
confifting moftly of fir, and which rot on the face of thofe
deferted lands, without producing any benefit to Man.
They might be committed, in Summer, in well-compà£ted
floats, firlt to the current of the rivers, and afterward to that
of the Ocean, which would convey them, at leaft, to the
Latitude of our coafts which arc ftrippeU of planting, as the
courfe of the Rhine pours every year into Holland, prodi-
gious rafts of oak, felled in the forefts of Germany. The

wrecks

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. IxV

wrecks of the naval engagement off Oftend, conveyed with
fuch rapidity as far as the Azores, difcover, in feme degree,
the extent of the refources which Nature offers to fupply in
this way.

Geography might, likewife, make this a fource of many
future ufeful and important difcoveries. To the effedls of
thofe Currents is Chrijiopher Columbus indebted for the dif-
covery of America. A fimple reed of foreign growth,
thrown on the weftern coafls of the Azores, fuggefled to
that great Man, the probability of the exiflence of another
Continent to the Wefl. He farther thought of availing
himfelf of the Currents of the Ocean, on his return from
his firft voyage to America ; for, being in imminent danger
of perifhing in a ftorm, amidft the Atlantic Ocean, without
having it in his power to inform Europe, which fo long
flighted his fervices, and derided his enlightened theory,
that he had adlually, at length, found out a New World,
he inclofed the Hiflory of his difcovery in a cafk, which he
committed to the waves, confident that, fooner or later, it
would reach fome fhore.

A common glafs bottle might preferve fuch a depofit for
ages on the furface of the Deep, and waft it repeatedly from
Pole to Pole. It is not for the fake of our haughty and un-
feeling Academicians, who refufe to fee any thing in Nature,
which they have not imagined in their clofet, it is not for
them that I thus dwell on the detail, and the application of
thefe oceanic harmonies ; no, it is for your fake, unfortu-
nate mariners ! It is from the mitigation of the woes to
which your profeiïion expofes you, that I one day expert
my noblefl and moft durable recompence. One day, per-
haps, a wretched individual of your defcription, fhip-

VDL. I. e -wrecked

Ixvi EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

wrecked on a defert ifland, may intrufl to the Currents of
the Seas, the fad tafk of announcing to the habitations of
Men, the news of his difafler, and of imploring afliftance.
Some Cëyx, perhaps, perifliing amidft the tempefts of Cape
Horn, may charge them to waft his expiring farewel ; and
the billows of the Southern Hemifphere fliall fpeed the
tender figh to the Ihores of Europe, to foothe the anguifh of
fome future Alcyone.

After the fails which I have jufl: detailed, it is no longer
poflible to doubt, that the Indian and Atlantic Oceans have
their fources in the half-yearly and alternate fufions of the
ices of the South and North Poles ; as they have half-
yearly and alternate Currents perfectly correfponding to the
Summer and Winter of each Pole. Thefe Currents, it
may well be believed, flow with much greater velocity, than
the floating bodies on their furface. There is produced, at
the Equinoxes, a retrogreflive impulfion in the whole mafs
of their waters at once, as appears, at thefe eras, from the
univerfal agitation of the Ocean in all Latitudes. This
total, and almofl: inftantaneous fubvcrfion cannot pofliîbly be
produced by the operation of the Moon and of the Sun,
which proceed always in one diredion, and are conftantly
confined within the Tropics : but, as I have again and
again repeated, it is produced by the heat of the Sun, which
then pafles almofl inftantaneoufly from the one Pole to the
other, melts the frozen Ocean which covers it, communi-
cates, by the effufion of it's ices, new fources to the fluid
Ocean, oppofite direâions to it's currents, and inverts the
preceding preponderancy of it's waters.

Much lefs is it pofTiblc to deduce, as has been done, the
caufe of the tides, from the adion of the Sun and of the

Moon

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. Ixvil

Moon Upon the Equator ; for, if this were fo, they muft
be much more confiderable between the Tropics, near to
the focus of their movements, than any where elfc : but
this is by no means the cafe. Hear what Damper fays,
refpeéling the tides on the coafts of India, near the Equa-
tor, in his Treat if e on the IVindsj page 378.

" From Cape Blanc, on the coafts of the South-Sea,
" from the third to the thirtieth degree of South Latitude,
" the flux and reflux of the Sea is only a foot and a half,

" or, at moft, two feet The tides in the Eaft-Indles rife

*' very little, and are not fo regular as with us, that is, in

"Europe: They rife," fays he, in another place, "to

" four, or, at moft, five feet." He afterwards informs us,
that the higheft tide which he ever obferved on the coaft of
New Holland, did not take place till three days after the
full, or new Moon.

The weaknefs, and the very confiderable retardation of
thefe Tides, between the Tropics, evidently demonftrate,
therefore, that the focus of their movements is not under
the Equator ; for if it were fo, the tides would be tremen-
dous on the coafts of India, which are in it's vicinity, and
parallel to it : but their origin is near the Poles, where they
rife, in fad, from twenty to twenty-five feet, near Magel-
lan's Strait, according to the Chevalier Narhroughj and to a
height equally confiderable at the entrance of Hudfon's-
Bay, if we may believe EHis.

Let us make a brief recapitulation. The tides are the
half-daily cff'ufions of the ices of one of the Poles, juft as
the general Currents of the Ocean are it's half-yearly eff"u-
fions. There are two general oppofite Currents annually,

e 2 becaufe

Ixviii EXPLANATION OF THE PtATES.

bccanfe the Sun warms by turns, in the courfe of one year,
the fouthern and northern Hemifpheres ; and there are two
tides every day, becaufe the Sun warms, by turns, every
twenty-four hours, the caftern and the weftern fide of the
Pole that is in fufion. The fame efFe6l exactly is vifible in
many lakes fituated in the vicinity of icy mountains, which
have currents, and a flux and reflux in the day-time only.
But it cannot admit of doubt, that, if the Sun warmed,
during the night, the other fide of thofe mountains, they
would produce, likewife, another flux and reflux in their
lakes, and, confequently, two tides in twenty-four hours,
like the Ocean.

The retardation of the tides of the Ocean, which is about
twenty four minutes the one from the other, arifes from
the daily diminution of the diameter of the icy cupola of the
Pole in fufion. Accordingly, the focus of the tides is re-
moving farther and farther from our coafts. If their inten-
fity is fuch, according to Boiiguer, that our evening tides
are the ftrongefl: in Summer, it is becaufe they are the diur-
nal efi'ufions of our Pole, produced by the heat of the day in
the fultry feafon. If, at that feafon, they are lefs ftrong in
the morning than in the evening, it is becaufe they are the
nodlurnal cfFufions which come from the other part of the
Pole, and difcharge themfelves into the fources, in the fpiral
diredlion of the Atlantic Ocean, but in a fmaller quantity.

If, on the contrary, at the end of fix months, the ftrongefl
tides, that is, thofe of the evening, becoine the weakeft ; and
the weakeft, that is, thofe of the morning, become the
flronged : it is becaufe they are then produced by the ac-
tion of the Sun on the South Pole, and the caufe being op-
pofite, the efFe6ls mufl be fo likewife. If the tides are

ft ronger

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. Ixîx

flronger one day and a half, or two days after the full
Moon, it is becaufe that Luminary increafes by her heat
the polar efFufions, and, confequently, the quantity of water
in the Ocean. The Moon poflefles a degree of heat which
not only evaporates water, as was afcertained by recent ex-
periments at Rome and at Paris, but which melts the ices,
as Pliny relates, in conformity to the obfervations of Anti-
quity. *' The Moon produces thaw, refolving all ices and
** frofts by the humidity of her influence." Natural Hijlory,
Book ii. chap. loi. Finally, if the tides are more con-
fiderable at the Equinoxes than at the Solitices, it is be-
caufe, as has been obferved, at the Equinoxes, there is the
greateft poflible mafs of water in the Ocean, for the greateft
part of the ices of one of the Poles is then melted, and
îhofe of the oppofite Pole then begin to diffolve.

We are not to imagine that every tide is a polar effufion
f)f the particular day when it happens ; but it is an effedl of
that feries of polar efFufions which perpetually fucceed to
each other ; fo that the tide which takes place to-day on
our coafls, is, perhaps, part of that which takes place, it
may be for fix weeks together ; and it's motion is kept up
by thofe which flow every day in it's feries. Thus in a row
of balls placed on a billiard table, the firfl: which receives
an impulfion, communicates it to the next, and that one to
the following, and fo through the whole feries, and the laft
only is detached from the row with what remains of the
moving force. But here, too, we mufl admire that other har-
mony which pervades the moft remote effedls of Nature : it is
this, that the evening and morning tides take place on our
coafts, as if they iffucd that very day from the higher and
lower part of our Hemifphere ; and that the tides of Sum-

e 3 mer

IXX EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

merare precîfely oppofitc to thofe of Winter, as the Poles
themfelves from which they flow.

I could fupport this new theory by a multitude of fafls,
and apply it to moft of the nautical phenomena which have
hitherto been deemed inexplicable ; but the time and the
fpace left me forbid it. It is fufficient for me to have de-
duced from it the principal movements of the Seas. I was
under the neceflity of tracing the windings of this labyrinth
with an application and labour of which the Reader can-
not eafily form an idea. I have fliewn him it's entrance
and outlet, and prefent him with the clew. He will be
able, undoubtedly, to go much farther without my affift-
ance. I can venture to aflTure him, that, by taking advan-
tage of thefe principles, in perufing journals and Sea voy-
ages, that pretend to any thing like exa6lnefs in dates and
obfervations, fuch as thofe of Abel Tafman, of Hugues, of
Linfehotten, of General Beatilieu, of Froger, of Frajer, of
Dampicr, of Ellis, See. he will find a new light difFufed over
thofe palfages of marine journals, which are, for the moil
• part, fo dry, and fo obfcure.

Had time and means been granted me to unfold this part
of my fubjedl, and to difplay it in all the luminous fimpli-
city of which it is fufceptible, I have the vanity to think
that I could have rendered it, in many other refpe6ls,
highly intcrefting. I would have procured a reprefentation,
on two large folid globes, of the two general Currents of
the Ocean, in Winter and in Summer, with arrows which
fhould have cxprefied the exacl intervals between one tide
and another ; and of their counter-currents, lateral to the
pallagc of all flraits, which produce on different fhores the

counter-

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. Ixxi

counter-tides, half-daily, dally, weekly, lunary, half-yearly.
Thefe counter-tides fliould have produced others, on the
return, at the paffage of iflands ; fo that the Ocean would
have been reprefented as a vaft fluid liTuing from each Pole,
to make the circuit of the Globe, and forming, on it's
fhores, a multitude of counter-currents, and counter-tides,
all dependant on the efFufions of one Pole fingly. I fliould
have employed for this purpofe the beft authenticated ma-
rine Journals.

It would, then, have been evidently clear, that the bays of
Continents, and even of Iflands, are fheltered from the ge-
neral Currents ; and I would have demonfl:rated, on the
contrary, that the courfe and the diredllon of all rivers are
adapted to thofe Currents and thofe tides of the Ocean, in
order to accelerate them in certain places, and to retard
them in others, jufl: as the courfe of brooks and rivulets is
itfelf adapted to the current of rivers, and for the fame end.

I would have done more ; in order to vindicate Geo-
grapy from the charge of drynefs, and to unite the graces
which all the kingdoms of Nature communicate to each
other, inftead of arrows, I fliould have illuflirated my fub-
jecl by figures more analogous to the Seas, and have added
new proofs to the theory of thofe polar eff'ufions, by a repre-
fentation of feveral fpecies of fifhes of paflTage, which, at
certain feafons of the year, refign themfelves to their cur-
rents, in order to pafs from tlje one Hemifphere to the
other.

This much is certain, that the principal point of their
union, as well from the one Pole as from the other, pre-

c 4 cifcly

Ixxii EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

cifcly ÎS at the ftrait formed by Guinea and Brafil, where,
as has been faid, are formed thofe two great lateral coun-
ter-currents which return toward the Poles. There is the
rendezvous of the fifties from the North Pole, and from the
South. Herrings, whales, and mackareî, are, in Summer,
found in great abundance on thofe fliores. The whales of
the North have formerly been fo common at Brafil, that,
according to the report of Navigators, the fifliery on it's
coafts was farmed out, and produced a confiderable revenue
to the King of Portugal. I know not how it may be at
prefent : perhaps the noife of European artillery may have
chaced them away from thofe coafts. A very productive
cod-fifliery was likewife carried on there, known all over
America by the name of the Brafil cod.

On the other hand, according to the teftimony of Bofman,
a Dutch Navigator, who has publifhed a very good account
of Guinea, the w^hales of that fpccies which is called North-
taper are found in great abundance on the coafts of Guinea.
He alleges that they refort thither to bring forth their
young : Artus has favoured us with a catalogue of the fifties
of paftage which appear on that coaft during the different
months of the year. Though it is very imperfeâ, we are
enabled by it to diftinguifti the fifties which arc peculiar to
each Pole. In the months of April and May, it is a fpecies
of ray which rifes to the furface of the water : in June and
July, a fort of herring, in fuch quantities that the Negroes,
on throwing among them a fimple leaden weight, at the ex-
tremity of çi long line, furniftied with hooks, always draw
up a confiderable number at every throw. During the fame
months they catch a great many lobfters, fimilar, fays Artus,
to thofe of Norway,

In

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. Ixxîiî

In September, innnmerable legions, and various fpecies,
of mackarel arrive there. At that feafon, too, appears a
kind of mullet, which, unlike all other filhes, who delight
in filence, flock to noife. The Negros avail themfelves of
this inftinft as the means of catching them. They tie to a
piece of wood furrounded w^ith hooks, a fort of cornet with
it's clapper ; thus furnifhed, it is thrown into the fea ; and
the motion of the waves tolling about the cornet, produces
a certain noife, which attra6ls the fifli in queftion, fo that,
in attempting to lay hold of the piece of wood, they are
thus themfelves caught. Kind Nature, accordingly, thus
furniflies to the poor Negroes a filhery adapted to their ca-
pacity and induftry.

This fpecies of mullet appears, from it's inftinft, def-
tined to travel through turbulent feas, and at noify feafons,
for he is vifible only about the autumnal Equinox, at the
revolution of the feafons. But in the months of Odlober
and November, thofe fhores are crouded with fifties, whofe
names and manners are unknown to Europe, and which
feem to appertain to the South Pole, whofe Currents are
then in a date of acSlivity. Such are, a fea pike or jack,
the teeth of which are extremely fharp, and the bite very
dangerous : a fpecies of falmon, with white flefh, and of an
exquifite flavour : another called the ftar of the fea : a fpe-
cies of fea-dog, which has a very large head, and the throat
in form of a warming-pan ; it is marked on the back with
a crofs : fome of them grow to fuch a fize, that a fingle one
is fuflicient to load two or three canoes. In December ar-
rive vafl: quantities of the korkofedo, or moon-fifh ; they
appear likewife in June. The korkofedo feems to regulate
his progrefs by the folfliices. He is as broad as long ; and
|s caught by a bit of fugar-cane fixed on a hook. The tafle

which

Ixxiv EXPLANATION Of THE PLATES.

•which this fifli has for the fugar-cane is another proof of
the harmonies eftabliflied between fiflies and vegetables.
Finally, in the months of January, February, and March,
may be feen, on the coail of Guinea, a fpecies of fraall fifh
with large eyes, which Jr/us fuppofes to be the oculus, or p'tf-
cis oculatus (eyed-fifh) of Pliny. This, too, is an inhabitant
of the boifterous equinoctial Seas, for he frilks and jumps
about with a great deal of noife.

Had time permitted, I would have extended thefe ele-
mentary concords to the different inhabitants of the depart-
ments of the Ocean. We fhould have feen, for example,
the caufe of the alternate tranfition of turtles, which, for
fix months of the year, take up their abode in certain
iilands, and which are found again, fix months after, in
other iilands, feven or eight hundred leagues diftant, put-
ting it beyond the power of imagination to conceive how
an amphibious animal, fo (luggifh and unwieldy, fliould be
able to make a paflage fo immenfe toward places which it
is impolfible fhe fhould perceive. We fliould have feen
their heavy-failing fquadrons committing themfelves, al-
moft without motion, in the night-time, to the general Cur-
rent of the Ocean, coafling by moon-light the gloomy pro-
montories of idands, and feeking, in their deferted creeks,
fonie fanJy and tranquil bank, where, far from din, they
may undifturbedly depofit their eggs.

Others, fuch as the mackarel, never fail to arrive, at the
uccullomcd feafon, on other fhores, conveyed by the fame
Currents, becaufe tj'.cu they arc blind. *' When the macka-
" rel come to the coalls of Canada," fays Denis, formerly
Governor of that country, " they have not the leaft
'^ glimmering of fight. They have a fpeck on their eyes,

" which

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. IxXV

•< which does not fall off till toward the end of June ;
*' thenceforward they fee, and are caught by the line*."
His teftimony is confirmed by other Navigators, though
there was no neceflity for it.

Other fiflies, fuch as herrings, expofe their filvery legions
to glitter in the Sun on the northern ftrands of Europe and
America, fhaded with firs, and advance forward and for-
ward, till they reach even the palm-groves of the Line,
forcing their way along the fhores, in oppofition to the
tides of the South, which are continually fupplying them
with frefli pafture.

Others, as the thunny, make their way, by favour of
thefe very tides, and enter, in the Spring, into the Mediter-
ranean, of which they make a complete circuit ; and,
though they leave no trace on their watery way, they do not
fail to render themfelves vifible in the darkefl: night, by
means of the phofphoric lights which their motion excites.
It is by thofe fame gleams of light that we perceive, in the
night-time, the turtle with their dufky colour, on the fur-
face of the waters. You would imagine that thefe ani-
mals, furrounded by light, had flambeaus affixed to their
fins and tails. The phofphoric qualities, accordingly, of
the fea-water, are in unifon even with the noélurnal voyages
of fifhes.

The Sun is the grand mover in all thefe harmonics.
Arrived at the Equinox, he abandons one Pole to Winter,
and gives to the other the fignal of Spring, by the fires with
which he environs it. The heated Pole pours out, in every

* Natural Hiftory of North- America, chap. ii.

dire£lion,

Ixxvi EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

dire£lion, torrents of water, and of melted ices, into the
Ocean, to which it fupplies new fources. The Ocean then
changes it's courfe ; it draws into it's general Current moft
of the fifties of the North toward the South ; and by it's la-
teral counter-currents, thofe of the South toward the North.
It attra£ls others even from the Continent, by the alluvions
of the land, which the rivers difcharge : fuch are the fifties
with fcales, as falmon, which love, in general, to make
their way upward ?gainft the courfe of rivers,

Thefe floating legions are attended by innumerable co-
horts of fea-fowls, which quit their natural climates, and
hover around the fifties, to live at their expenfe. It is then
that we find the fea-fowls of the South flocking to the ftiores
of the North, as the pelican, the flamingo, the heron, the
ftork: and thofe of the North finding their way to the South,
as the lomb, the burgomaller, the cormorant. It is then
that fands and ftiallows the mofi: deferted, are crouded with
inhabitants, and that Nature prefents new harmonies on
every ftiore.

If the voyages of the inhabitants of the Seas would have
diffufed new light on the Currents of the Ocean, thefe fame
Currents would have furniftied us with new light refpe£ling
the form.s and manners of fifties, which have to us fuch an
imcouth appearance. Moft of thefe fifties caft their fpawn
in fuch abundance, that the Sea is frequently covered by
it for feveral leagues together. The Currents carry off
this fpawn to prodigious diftances, and while the fathers and
mothers unconcernedly indulge in the dalliance of love, on
the coafts of Norway, their fry are hatching on thofe of
Africa or Brafil.

' We

EXPLANATION OF THE TLATES. IxxVU

We fhould have feen their categories, fo wonderfully va-
ried, of a configuration perfedlly adapted to the different
fîtes of the Ocean : fome, cut out into long fword-blades,
like the African fifh which bears that name, take pleafure
in penetrating into the narrowed crevices of rocks, and in
ftemming the moft rapid currents : others, equally flat, are
cut into a circular form, with two long horns, like fail-
yards, ifluing from the head, and inverted behind, to ferve
them as a helm, as the filvery moon-fifli of the Antilles.
Thefe moon-fifh are continually fporting among the bil-
lows which break upon the rocks, without a fingle inftance
being known of any one thrown afhore. Other fiflies of a
triangular fhape, and cut into the form of the cheft whofe
name they bear, advance into the very middle of the (helfy
ground upon the fhore, where there is fcarcely any water,
and difplay, in the bofom of the dufky rocks their blue
fliining robes, befpangled with flars of gold.

While fome, perpetually reftlefs, fcratch and fcrape into
every chink along the beach, in queft of their prey ; others,
in perfeél tranquility refpedling their provifion, remain
immoveable, on a fixed ftation, expelling it. Some, in-
crufted in lumpifh habitations of flone, pave the ground of
the fhores, as the hehnet, the Iambi, and the thu'iUe ; others,
attached by threads to little pebbles, ride at anchor at the
mouths of rivers, as the mufcle ; others glew themfelves to
each other, as the oyfter; others fix themfelves as the heads
of nails to the rocks, to which they cling by fudlion, as the
limp'it ; others bury themfelves in the fand, as the harpe, the
cockle, the knife-handle ; and moft of the fhell-fifh whofe
exterior garments are clear and brilliant \ others, as the
lobfter and the crab, armed with bucklers and corflets, lie

ia

Ixxviii EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

in ambufh among the ftones, w here they prefent to view
only the extremities of their horns and their great claws.

Had it been in my power, I would have ftudied the con-
trafts which thofe innumerable families form on the (lime
and on the rocks, where their fhells fparkle with the fires of
Aurora^ and with the luftre of purple and of the lapis-lazuU.
I would have defcribed thofe fea-covered regions, clothed
with plants of an infinite variety of forms, which never
receive the rays of the Sun but through the medium
of water. Their very valleys, where the currents gufli
with the rapidity of fluices, produce plants elaftic, and per-
forated, fuch as the leaves of the fea-peacock, through the
apertures of which the waves pafs as through a fieve. I
would have reprefented their rocks, rifing from the depth
oftheabyfs, like mounds incapable of being moved, with
cavernous fides, prefenting briftly beds of madrépores, and
feftooned with moveable garlands oïfucusy alga-marinuy and
other fea-weeds of all colours, which ferve as fhelter, and
bedding, for the calves and horfes of the Sea.

During florms, their dark bafcs are covered with clouds of
a phofphoric light ; and founds unutterable, ifluing from their
untraceable mazes, invite to the prey the filent legions of the
inhabitants of the mighty Deep. I would have endeavoured
to force my way into thofe palaces of the Nereids, in order to
unveil myfterics hitherto concealed from the human eye, and
to contemplate from afar the foolfteps of that infinite Wis-
dom which are imprcflcd on the oozy bottom of the Ocean.
But rcfearches fo laborious, though fo delightful \ of fuch
importance to our fiiheries, and fo fertile of materials for
natural Hiftory, far tranfcend the fortunes and the exertions
of a Solitary.

I have

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. IxxlK

I have the confidence, however, to flatter myfelf with
the belief, that the new Theory which I have prcfented, rc-
fpeding the caufes of the general Currents, and of the Tides
of the Ocean, may be rendered ufeful to Navigation. It
appears to me, that a vefTel taking her departure hence in
the month of March, with thecourfe of our polar effufions,
and keeping in the middle of the Atlantic channel, might
proceed, in Summer, all the way to theEaft-Indies, conti-
nually favoured by the current. This I am able even to
prove by the experience of various -Navigators. It is true
that, during the feafon which is the Winter of the South
Pole, the weathering of the Cape is dangerous, becaufe the
wefterly monfoon, which then predominates, in thofe Seas,
excites in them frequent ftorms, as well as on the coafts of
India, which are oppofed to it ; but I believe thefe incon-
veniencies might be avoided, by ftretching out into a higher
Latitude.

The fame veflel might return from the Eaft-Indies, fix
months afterwards, during our Winter, aided by the eiFu-
fions of the South Pole. Advantage might be taken, on the
contrary, of the counter-currents of the general Currents,
or of their lateral Tides, to go or return, at the interme-
diate feafons, by coafting along the Continents. It is eafy
to deduce from this theory other means of information for
the navigation of all Seas : for example, affiftance might
be derived from thofe currents for the difcovery of new
iflands ; for every ifland is fituated at the extremity, or at
the confluence of one or more currents, as every volcano is
placed in a counter-tide.

Here I clofe thefe nautical difquifitions, in which there
are undoubtedly, inaccuracies of flyle, and manifold im-

perfedions

IXXX EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

perfeftions of various kinds ; but determined by particular
circumftances to bring this Work, without delay, before
the tribunal of the Public, I have haftened to prefent my
Country with this laft teflimony of my attachment. I
reckon on the indulgence of the really intelligent, and pre-
fume to hope they will have the goodnefs to redify my
miftakes.

STUDIES

STUDIES

OF

NATURE.

STUDY FIRST.

IMMENSITY OF NATURE: PLAN OF MY WORK.

SOME years have elapfed, fince I formed the
defign of compofing a general Hiftory of
Nature, in imitation of Arijlotky Pliny, Chancellor
Bacon, and feveral illuftrious modern Authors. The
field appeared to me fo vaft, that I could not be-
lieve the poffibility of it*s being entirely pre-occu-
pied. Belides, Nature invites to the cultivation of
herfelf, perfons of every age and country ; and if (he
promifes the golden harveft of difcovery, only to
men of genius, flie referves fome gleanings, at
lead, for the fimple and unlearned ; for fuch, efpe-
cially, as, like myfelf, are making a paufe every
ftep they advance, tranfported at the beauty of her
divine produdions.

I was farther prompted to the execution of my

great defign, in the view of rendering an cijcept-

voL. I. B able

2 STUDIES OF NATURE.

able fervice to my fellow creatures, and of meriting
their approbation ; particularly that of Louis XVI.
my illuftrious benefactor, who, after the example
of Titus and Marcus- Anreliiis, devotes bis whole at-
tention to the felicity of mankind.

In Nature herfelf alone we muft expeft to find
the laws of Nature; and we plunge into difficulty
and diftrefs, only in proportion as we deviate from
thefe laws. To ftudy Nature, therefore, is to a6t
the part of a good fubjed, and of a friend to hu-
manity. 1 have employed, in my refearches, all
the powers of reafoning I poffefs ; and, though my
means may have been flender, I can fay, with truth,
that 1 have not permitted a fingle day to pafs,
without picking up fome agreeable, or ufeful, ob-
fervation.

I propofed to begin the compofition of my
Work, when I had ceafed from obferving, and
when I fhould have colleded all the materials ne-
celTary to a Hiftory of Nature; but 1 found my-
fclf in the condition of the child, who, with a
ftiell, had dug a hole in the fand, to hold the
water of the Ocean.

Nature is of unbounded extent, and I am a hu-
man being, limited on every fide. Not only her
general Hiftory, but that of the fmalleft plant, far

tranfcends

STUDY I. 3

tranfcends my higheft powers. Permit me to re-
late, on what occafion I became fenfible of this.

One day, in Summer, while I was bufied in the
arrangement of fome obfervations which I had
made, refpedting the harmonies difcoverablc in
this Globe of ours, I perceived, on a ftrawberry
plant, which had been, accidentally, placed in my
window, fome fmall winged infeds, fo very beau-
tiful, that I took a fancy to defcribe them. Next
day, a different fort appeared, which I proceeded,
likewife, to defcribe. In the courfe of three weeks,
no lefs than thirty-feven fpecies, totally diftind,
had vifited my ftrawberry plant : at length, they
came in fuch crowds, and prefented fuch variety,
that I was conflrained to relinquiOi this fludy,
though highly amufing, for want of leifure, and,
to acknowledge the truth, for want of expreifion.

The infedls, which I had obferved, were all di-
ftinguifhable from each other, by their colours,
their forms, and their motions. Some of them
flione like gold, others were of the colour of filvcr,
and of brafsi fome were fpotted, fome ftriped ;
they were blue, green, brown, chefnut coloured.
The heads of fome were rounded like a turban,
thofe of others were drawn out into the figure of a
cone. Here it was dark as a tuft of black velvet,
there it fparkled like a ruby.

B 2 There

4 STUDIES OF NATURE.

There was not lefs diverfity in their wings. Tn
fome they were long and brilliant, like tranfpa-
rent plates of mother-of-pearl; in others, fliort
and broad, refembling net-work of the fineft
gauze. Each had his particular manner of dii-
pofing and managing his wings. Some difpofed
theirs perpendicularly ; others, horizontally ; and
they feemed to take pleafure in difplaying them.
Some flew fpirally, after the manner of butterflies ;
others fprung into the air, direding their flight in
oppofition to the wind, by a mechanifm fomewhat
fimilar to that of a paper-kite, which, in riflng,
forms, with the axis of the wind, an angle, I think,
of twenty-two degrees and a half.

Some alighted on the plant to depofit their eggs;
others, merely to flielter themfelves from the Sun.
But the greatefl part . paid, this vifit from reafons
totally unknown to me : for fome went and came,
in an inceflant motion, while others moved only
the hinder part of their body. A great many of
them remained entirely motionlefs, and were Hke
me, perhaps, employed in making obfervations.

I fcorned to pay any attention, as being already
fufficiently known, to all the other tribes of infeds,
which my flrawberry plant had attraded ; fuch as
the fnail, which neftles under the leaves; the but-
terfly, which flutters around i the beetle, which

digs

STUDY I.

digs about it's roots; the fmall worm, which con-
trives to live in the parenchyme, that is, in the mere
thicknefs of a leaf; the wafp and honey-bee, which
hum around the bloflbms ; the gnat, which fucks
the juices of the flem ; the ant, which licks up the
gnat ; and, to make no longer an enumeratioo,
the fpider, which, in order to find a prey in thefe,
one after another, diftends his fnares over the
whole vicinity.

However minute thefe objefts may be, they,
furely, merited my attention, as Nature deemed
them not unworthy of her's. Could 1 refufe them
a place in my general Hiftory, when (he had given
them one in the fyftem of the Univerfe ? For a ftill
ftronger reafon, had I written the hiftory of my
ftrawberry plant, 1 muft have given fome account
of the infedts attached to it. Plants are the habi-
tation of infeds ; and it is impofiible to give the
hiftory of a city, without faying fomething of it's
inhabitants.

Befides, my ftrawberry plant was not in its na-
tural fituation, in the open country, on the border
of a wood, or by the brink of a rivulet, where it
could have been frequented by many other fpecies
of living creatures. It was confined to an earthen
pot, amidft the fmoke of Paris. T obferved it only
at vacant moments. I knew nothing of the infeds

B 2 which

6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

which vifitecl it during the courfe of the day; flill
lefs of thofe which might come only in the night,
attraéled by (impie emanations, or, perhaps, by a
phofphoric light, which efcapes our fenfes. I was
totally ignorant of the various fpecies which might
frequent it, at other feafons of the year, and of the
endlefs other relations which it might have, with
reptiles, with amphibious animals, fifhes, birds,
quadrupeds, and, above all, with Man, who un-
dervalues every thing which he cannot convert to
his own ufe.

But it was not fufficient to obferve it, if I may
ufe the expreffion, from the heights of my great-
nefs ; for, in this cafe, my knowledge would have
been greatly inferior to that of one of the in-
feds, who made it their habitation. Not one of
them, on examining it with his little fpherical eyes,
but muft have diftinguifhed an infinite variety of
objeds, which I could not perceive without the
affiftance of a microfcope, and after much laborious
refearch. Nay, their eyes are inconceivably fupe-
rior even to this inftiument ; for it fhews us the
objeds only which are in it's focus, that is, at the
diftance of a few lines ; whereas they perceive, by
a mechanifm of which we have no conception,
thofe which are near, and thofe which are far off,
Their eyes, therefore, are, at once, microfcopes
and telefcopes. Befides, by their circular difpoli-

tion

STUDY I. 7

tion round the head, they have the advantage of
viewing the whole circuit of the heavens at the
fame inftant, while thofe of the Aftronomer can
take in, at moft, but the half. My winged infefts,
accordingly, muft difcern in the ftrawberry plant,
at a fingle glance, an arrangement and combina-
tion of parts, which, aflifted by the microfcope, I
can obferve only feparate from each other, and in
fucceffion.

On examining the leaves of this vegetable, with
the aid of a lens which had but a fmall magni-
fying power, 1 found them divided into compart-
ments, hedged round with briftles, feparated by
canals, and ftrewed with glands. Thefe compart-
ments appeared to me fimilar to large verdant in-
clofures, their briftles to vegetables of a particular
order; of which fome were upright, fome inclined,
fome forked, fome hollowed into tubes, from the
extremity of which a liquid diftilled ; and their
canals, as well as their glands, feemed full of a
brilliant fluid. In plants of a different fpecies,
thefe briftles, and thefe canals, exhibit forms, co-
lours, and fluids, entirely different. There are even
glands, which refemble bafons, round, fquare, or
radiated.

Now, Nature has made nothing in vain. Where-
ever fhe has prepared a habitation, ftie immedi-

B 4 ately

3 STUDIES OF NATURE.

ately peoples it. She is never ftraitened for want
of room. She has placed animals, furnifhed with
fins, in a linglc drop of water, and in fuch multi-
tudes, that Leewenhoek, the natural Philofopher,
reckoned up to thoufands of them. Many others
after him, and, among the reft, Robert Hook, have
feen, in one drop of water, as fmall as a grain of
millet, fome lo, others 30, and fome as far as 45
thoufand. Thofe who know not how far the pa-
tience and fagacity of an Obferver can go, might,
perhaps, call in queftion the accuracy of thefe ob-
fervations, if Lyonnct, who relates them in Lejjer*i
Theology of Infeéts *, had not demonftrated the
poffibility of it, by a piece of mechanifm abun-
dantly fimple. We are certain, at leaft, of the
exiftence of thofe beings whofe different figures
have aftually been drawn. Others are found,
whofe feet are armed with claws, on the body of
the fly, and even on that of the flea.

It is credible, then, from analogy, that there are
animals feeding on the leaves of plants, like the
cattle in our meadows, and on our mountains ;
which repofe under the fhade of a down imper-
ceptible to the naked eye, and which, from gob-
lets formed like fo many funs, quaff nedar of the
colour of gold and filver. Each part of the flower

* Book IL chap. 3. See the laft note.

muft

STUDY I.

muft prefent, to them, a fpeflacle of which we can
form no idea. The yellow anthers of flowers, fuf-
pended by fillets of white, exhibit to their c^'es,
double rafters of gold in equilibrio, on pillars
fairer than ivory ; the corolla^ an arch of unbounded
magnitude, embellidied with the ruby and the to-
paz ; rivers of nedar and honey ; the other parts
of the flowret, cups, urns, pavilions, domes, which
the human Architeâ: and Goldfmith have not yet
learned to imitate.

1 do not fpeak thus from conjeélure: for having
examined, one day, by the microfcope, the flowers
of thyme, 1 diftinguilhed in them, with equal fur-
prize and delight, fuperb flagons, with a long
neck, of a fubftance refembling amethyft, from
the gullets of which feemed to flow ingots of liquid
gold. I have never made obfervation, of the co-
rolla Amply, of the fmalleft flower, without finding
it compofed of an admirable fubftance, half tran-
fparent, ftudded with brilliants, and fliining in the
moft lively colours.

The beings which live under a reflex thus en-
riched, muft have ideas, very different from ours, of
light, and of the other phenomena of Nature. A
drop of dew, filtering in the capillary, and tran-
fparent, tubes of a plant, prefents, to them, thou-
fands of cafcades ; the fame drop, fixed as a wave

on

lO STUDIES OF NATURE.

on the extremity of one of it's prickles, an Ocean
without a fhore , evaporated into air, a vaft aerial
Sea. They muft, therefore, fee fluids afcending,
inftead of falling ; affuming a globular form, in-
ftead of finking to a level; and mounting into the
air, inftead of obeying the power of gravity.

Their ignorance muft be as wonderful as their
knowledge. As they have a thorough acquaint-
ance with the harmony of only the minuteft ob-
jets, that of vaft objeds muft efcape them. They
know not, undoubtedly, that there are men, and,
among thefe, learned men, who know every thing,
who can explain every thing, who, tranfient like
ihemfelves, plunge into an infinity on the afcending
fcale, in which they are loft; whereas they, in vir-
tue of their littlenefs, are acquainted with an op-
pofite infinity, in the laft divifions of time and
matter.

In thefe ephemerous beings, we muft find the
youth of a fingle morning, and the decrepitude of
one day. If they poflefs hiftorical monuments,
they muft have their months, years, ages, epochs,
proportioned to the duration of a flower; they
muft have a chronology different from ours, as
their hydraulics and optics muft differ. Thus, in
proportion as Man brings the elements of Nature
near him^ the principles of his Science difappear.

Such,

STUDY I. I I

Such, therefore, muft have been my ftrawberry
plant, and it's natural inhabitants, in the eyes of
my winged infecfts, which had alighted to vifit it ;
but though I had been able to acquire, with them,
an intimate knowledge of this new world, I was
flill very far from having the Hlftory of it. I muft
have, previoully, ftudied it's relations to the other
parts of Nature; to the Sun which expands it's
bloflbm, to the winds which fow it's feeds over and
over, to the brooks whofe banks it forms and em-
bellifhes. I muft have known, how it was pre-
ferved in Winter, during a cold capable of cleav-
ing ftones afunder ; and how it (hould appear ver-
dant in the Spring, without any pains employed to
preferve it from the froft ; how, feeble and crawl-
ing along the ground, it fhould be able to find it's
way, from the deepeft valley, to the fummit of the
Alps, to traverfe the Globe from north to fouth,
from mountain to mountain, forming, on it's paf-
fage, a thoufand charming pieces of chequered
work, of it's fair flowers, and rofe-coloured fruit,
with the plants of every other climate ; how it has
been able to fcatter itfelf from the mountains of
Cachemire to Archangel, and from the Felices, in
Norway, to Kamfchatka; how, in a word, we find it,
in equal abundance, in both American Continents,
though an infinite number of animals is making
inceffant and univerfal war upon ir, and no gar-
dener is at the trouble to fow it again.

Suppofing

12 STUDIES 01-' NATURE.

Suppofing all this knowledge acquired, I fliould
ftill have arrived no farther than at the hiftory of
the gemiSy and not that of the /pedes. The va-
rieties would yet remain unknown, which have
each it's particular character, according as they
have flowers Tingle, in pairs, or difpofed in cluf-
ters ; according to the colour, the fmell, and the
tafte of the fruit; according to the fize, the figure,
the edging, the fmoothnefs, or the downy clothing
of their leaves. One of our moft celebrated bora-
nifts, Sebdftian le Faillant*, has found, in the en-
virons of Paris alone, five diftind fpecies, three of
which bear flowers, without producing fruit. In
our gardens, we cultivate at leaft twelve different
forts of foreign ftrawberries ; that of Chili, of Peru;
the Alpine, or perpetual ; the Swedifli, which is
green, &c. But how many varieties are there, to
us totally unknown ! Has not every degree of la-
titude a fpecies peculiar to itfelf? Is it not pre-
fumable, that there may be trees which produce
ftrawberries, as there are thofe which bear peafe
and French-beans ? May we not even confider as
varieties of the ftrawberry, the numerous fpecies of
the rafpberry and of the bramble, with which it has
a very ftriking analogy, from the fliape of it's
leaves ; from it's fhoots, which creep along the
ground, and replant themfelves; from the rofe-

* Botanicon Parifienfe.

form

STUDY I.

13

form of it's flowers, and that of it's fruit, the feeds
of which are on the outfide ? Has it not, befides,
an affinit)' with the eglantine and the rofe-tree, as
to the flower ; with the mulberry, as to the fruit;
and with the trefoil itfelf, as to the leaves ; one
fpecies of which, common in the environs of Paris,
bears, likewife, it's feeds aggregated into the form
of a fl:rawberry, from which it derives the botanic
name of tnfoUum fragiferum^ the fl:ravvberry-bearing
trefoil ? Now, if we refleâ:, that all thefe fpecies,
varieties, analogies, affinities, have, in every parti-
cular latitude, neceflary relations with a multitude
of animals, and that thefe relations are altogether
unknown to us, we fl:iall find, that a complete Hif-
tory of the ftrawberry-plant would be ample em-
ployment for all the Naturalifts in the world.

What a tafk, then, would it be, to write the
Hifl:ory, in like manner, of all the fpecies of vege-
tables, fcattered over the face of the whole Earth ?
The celebrated Linndm reckoned up from feven
to eight thoufand of them ; but he had not tra-
velled. The famous Shcrard, it is faid, was ac-
quainted with fixteen thoufand. Another Botanifl
fwells his catalogue up to twenty thoufand. Finally,
one fliill more modern, boaflis of having himfelf
made a colledion of twenty-five thoufand ; and he
eflimates the number of thofe which he has not
feen, at four or five times as many. But ail thefe

enumerations

14 STUDIES OF NATURE.

enumerations muft be extremely defedllve, if it is
confidered, as has been remarked by this lad Ob-
ferver himfelf, that we know little or nothing of
the interior of Africa ; of that of the three Ara-
biaSj and even of the two Americas ; very little of
New Guinea, New Holland and Zealand, and of
the innumerable iflands of the South Sea, the
greateft part of which are themfelves ftill undifco-
vered. We know hardly any thing of the Ille of
Ceylon, except a little of the coafl; of the great
ifland of Madagafcar ; of the immenfe archipela-
gos of the Philippines and Moluccas, and of al-
moft all the Afiatic iflands. As to that vaft Con-
tinent, with the exception of fome great roads in
the interior, and fome parts of the coaft relbrted
to by the trafEck of Europe, we may affirm that
it is wholly unknown to us.

How many immenfe diftrids are there in Tar-
tary, in Siberia, and even in many of the king-
doms of Europe, where the foot of Botanift never
trod ! Some, indeed, have given us a herbal of
Malabar, Japan, China, &c. but if we refleâ:, that,
in thefe countries, their refearches never penetrated
beyond the fea-coaft, and were generally confined
to one feafon of the year, when a part only of the -
plants, peculiar to each climate, appear j that they
have vifited only the narrow regions adjoining to
our European fadories ; that they have never dared

to

STUDY I.

15

to plunge into deferts, where they could have
found neither fubfiftence nor guide ; nor ventured
themfelves among the numerous tribes of barba-
rous Nations, whofe language they did not under-
ftand ; we fhall find reafon to conclude, that their
boafted colleâiionsi however valuable, are flill ex-
tremely imperfed.

In order to be convinced of this, we have only
to compare the time employed by them, in making
their collecflions of plants, in foreign countries, with
that which it coft Le Vaillant to colled thofe of the
vicinity of Paris only. The learned Tournefort had
already made this a particular fludy ; and, after a
mailer fo indefatigable had completed his Work,
all the Botanills of the capital, it was thought,
might have gone to reft. Le Vaillant y his pupil,
had the courage to walk over the fame ground
after him, and difcovered fuch a confiderable quan-
tity of diftinét fpecies, overlooked by 'Tournefort,
that he doubled, at leaft, the catalogue of our
plants. He made it amount to fifteen or fixteen
hundred. And even then, he did not include in
this enumeration, thofe which differ only in the
colour of the flowers, and the fpots of the leaves,
though Nature frequently employs fuch ligns as
thefe, in the vegetable world, to diftinguilh the
fpecies, and to form their true charaders. Hear

what

lb STUDIES OF NATURE.

what Boerhaave, his illuftrious Editor, fays of his
laborious refearches :

Inciibuit qtiippe huic labor i ab anno 1696, ttfque in
Mariium 1722; toto qiiidem tanti decurju temporis in
eo occupatus Jemper^ nullum prateriens unquaniy ciijus
plantas hand excuteret, angulum : vias, agros, valles,
monies, borios, nemora-tjiagna, paludes^Jîiimina, ripas,
fojjas, puteos, undequaque Injirans. Contigit ergo,
crebro, ut detegeret maximi qua Toiirnefortii inten-
tijfimos oculos effugerant *. (Preface to the Botani-
con Parijienjey page 3 and 4.)

Sebajîian le Vaillant, accordingly, employed no
lefs than twenty-fix whole years, in his own coun-
try, and with the affiflance of his pupils, in com-
pleting his botanical defcription of the plants of a
fevv fquare leagues ; whereas the perfons who pre-
tend to give us the Botany of many foreign coun-

* He devoted his whole attention to this laborious under-
taking, from the year 1696 to March 1722. During a period
of fuch length, he was conftantly and unweariedly employed in
it, never paffing by the fmallefl corner without examining what
plants it contained. With the eye of an Obferver, he pried into
every place, the roads, fields, vailles, mountains, gardens, forefts,
pools, morafles, rivers, their banks, ditches, wells : hence he
had, frequently, the good fortune, to difcover many things
which efcaped even the eager eyes of the great Tournefort.

tries,

STUDY I.

Ï7

tries, were alone and unaffifted,and difpatched the
bufinefs in a few months. But. though his faga-
city and perfeverance feem to have left us nothing
more to wifh for, I have my doubts, whether he
has made a complete colleftion of all the gifts
which Flora fcatters over our plains ; and whether
he has feen, if I may ufe the expreffion, to the
bottom of her bafket. Pliny obferved plants, in
places not comprehended in Boerbaave's enumera-
tion, and which grow on the tiles that cover our
houfes, on rotten fieves, and the heads of ancient
flatues. It is, undoubtedly, certain, that we are,
from time to time, difcovering fome, at no great
diftance from Paris, which have no place in the
Botanicon of Le Vaillant,

For my own part, if I might be permitted to
hazard a conjedure, refpecling the number of the
diftinft fpecies of plants, fpread over the Earth,
fuch is my idea of the immenlïty of Nature, and
of her fubdivifions, that 1 am difpofed to believe,
there is not a fquare league of earth, but what
prefents fome one plant peculiar to itfelf, or, at
leaft, which thrives there better, and appears more
beautiful, than in any other part of the world.
This makes the number, of the primordial fpecies
of vegetables, amount to feveral millions, difFufed
over as many millions of fquare leagues, of which
thefurface of .our Globe confifts. The farther fouth

VOL. I. c we

l8 STUDIES OF NATURE,

we advance, the more their variety increafes within
fpaces of the fame dimenfion. The Ifle of Taïty,
in the South Sea, was found to have a botany pe-
cuHar to itfelf, and which had nothing in common
with that of the places in Africa and America,
which are lituated in the fame latitude ; nay, to-
tally different from that of the adjacent iilands.
And if we now reflect, that each plant has feveral
different names, in it's own country ; that every
Nation impofes particular denominations, and that
all thefe names, at lead the greater part, are va-
rying every age, what difficulties does not the vo-
cabulary alone oppofe to the ftudy of Botany ?

All thefe preliminary notions, however, would
ftill form only a ufelefs Science, did we even know,
in the mofl complete detail, all the parts of which
plants are compofed. It is the combination of
thefe parts, the attitude of the plants, their port,
their elegance, the harmonies which they form,
when grouped, or in contrail with each other,
which it would be interefting to determine. I do
not know that any thing has been fo much as at-
tempted on this fubjed.

As to their virtues, it may be affirmed, that they
are, for the moft part, unknown, or negleded, or
abufed. Their qualities are often perverted, in
making cruel experiments on innocent animals,

while

STUDY I.

19

while they might be ufefully employed as miracu-
lous remedies, to counterad the ills of human life.
We have preferved, for example, in the Royal Ca-
binet at Paris, arrows more formidable than thofe
of Hercules, though dipped in the blood of the
fnake of Lerna. Their points are impregnated
with the juice of a plant fo venemous, that, though
expofed to the air for many years, they can, with
the flighteft pundure, deflroy the moft robuft of
animals, in a few minutes. The blood of the crea-
ture, be the wound ever fo trifling, inftantly con-
geals. But if the patient, at the fame inftant, is
made to fwallow a fmall quantity of fugar, the cir-
culation is immediately reftored. Both the poifon
and the antidote have been difcovered by the fa-
vages which inhabit the banks of the Amazon ;
and it is of importance to obferve, that they never
employ in war, but only in the chace, this murder-
ous method of deftroying life.

Wherefore do not we, who pretend to fo much
humanity and illumination, endeavour to afcer-
tain, by experiment, whether this poifon might
not be rendered medicinal in cafes of a fudden
diflblution of the blood ; and fugar, in cafes of
fudden coagulation ? Alas ! how is it to be ex-
peâ;ed we lliould apply to the prefervation of
Mankind, the malignant and deftrudive qualities
of a foreign vegetable, we who are continually

c 2 abufmg.

20 STUDIES OF KATURË.

abufing, for mutual deftruftion, the precious gifts
which Nature has beftowed, in the view of ren-
dering human hfe innocent and happy ? The ehn
and the beech, under the fliade of which our fliep-
herds and their mates delight to dance, are hewn
down into carriages, for mounting the thundering
ordnance. We intoxicate our foldiers into mad-
nefs, that they may kill each other, without hatred,
with that very juice of the vine which Providence
has given to be the means of reconciliation among
enemies ? The lofty fir-trees, planted by the be-
nignant hand of Nature, amidft the fnows of the
North, to flielter and warm the inhabitants, are
converted into mads, for the veilels of Europe, to
carry the flames of devouring fire againfl the peace-
ful inhabitants of the Southern Hemifphere ; and
the canvas, defigned for the humble clothing of the
village-maid, becomes a fail for the plundering
corfair, to extend his ravages to remoteft India.
Our crops, and our forefts, are wafted over the
Ocean, to fpread defolation over both the Old and
New Worlds.

But let us drop the hiftory of Man, and refume
that of Nature. If, from the vegetable, we make
a"tranfition to the animal kingdom, a field of in-
comparably greater extent prefents itfelf. An in-
telligent Naturalift, at Paris, fome years ago^ an-
nounced, that he was in polTeflîon of more than

thirty

STUDY I. 21

tliirty thoufand diflinâ: fpecies of animals. I
know not whether the King's magnificent Cabinet
may not contain more ; but I know well, that his
Herbals contain only eighteen thoufand plants^
and that about fix thoufand are in a ftate of culti-
vation in the Royal Botanic Garden. This num-
ber of animals, however, fo fuperior to that of ve-
getables, is a mere nothing, in comparifon with
what exifts on the Globe.

When we recolleâ:, that every fpecies of plant
is a point of union for different genera of infecls,
and that there is not, perhaps, a fingle one, but
which has, peculiar to itfelf, a fpecies of fly,
butterfly, gnat, beetle, lady-bird, fnail, &c. that
thefe infedts ferve for food, to other fpecies,
and thefe exceedingly numerous, fuch as the fpi-
der, the dragon-fly, the ant, the formicaleo j and
to the immenfe families of, fmall birds, of which
many clafies, fuch as the wood-pecker, and the
fwallow, have no other kind of nourifliment ; that
thefe birds are, in their turn, devoured by birds
of prey, fuch as kites, falcons, buzzards, rooks,
crows, hawks, vultures, &c. that the general fpoil
of thefe animals, fweeped off by the rains, into the
rivers, and thence to the Sea, becomes the aliment
of almofb innumerable tribes of fifhes, to the
greateft part of which the Naturalifts of Europe
have not hitherto given a name 5 that numberlefs

c 3 legions

22 STUDIES OF NATURE.

legions of river and fea-fowls prey upon thefe
fiflies : we fhall have good ground for believing,
that every fpecies of the vegetable kingdom ferves
as a bafis to many fpecies of the animal kingdom,
which multiply around it, as the rays of a circle
round its centre.

At the fame time, I have not included in this
fuperficial reprefentation, either quadrupeds, with
which all the intervals of magnitude are filled,
from the moufe, which lives under the grafs, up
to the camelopard, who can feed on the foliage of
trees, at the height of fifteen feet ; or the amphi-
bious tribes ; or the birds of night ; or reptiles ;
or polypufes, of which we have a knowledge fo
flender; or fea infedts, fome families of which,
fuch as the crab-iifh, fhrimp, and the like, would
be alone fufficient to fill the greateft cabinets, were
you to introduce but a fingle individual of every
fpecies. I do not include the madrépore, with
which the bottom of the fea is paved between the
Tropics, and which prefent fo many different fpe*
cies, that I have feen, in the llle of France, two
great halls filled with thofe which were produced
in the immediate vicinity of that Tile, though there
was but a fingle fpecimen of each fort.

I have made no mention of infeds of many-
kinds, as the loufe and the maggot, of which every

animal

STUDY I.

23

animal fpecies has its particular varieties, proper
to itfelf, and which triple, at lead, the kingdom
of creatures exilling by refpiration. Neither have
I taken into the account, that infinite number of
living things, vifible and invifible, known and un-
known, which have no fixed determination, and
which Nature has fcattered about, through the Air,
over the Earth, and along the depths of the Ocean.

What an undertaking, then, would it be, to
defcribe each of thefe beings, with the fagacity of
a Reaumur ^ The life of one man of genius, would
be fcarcely fufficient to compofe the Hiftory of a
few infedts. However curious may be the memoirs
tranfmitted to us, after the mod careful refearch,
refpeding the manners, and the anatomy, of the
animals moft familiarly known, in vain do we ftill
flatter ourfelves with our having acquired a com-
plete acquaintance. The principal requifite, in my
opinion, is yet wanting; I mean, the origin of
their friendfhips and of their feuds. Tn this
confifhs, if I am not miftaken, the efi^ence of
their Hiftory, to which muft be referred- their in-
ftinds, their loves, their wars; the attire, the arms,
and the very form which Nature gives them. A
moral fentiment feems to have determined their
phyfical organization. I know not of any Natu-
ralift who has engaged in a refearch of this fort.
The Poets have endeavoured to explain thefe

■c 4 wonderful

24 STUDIES OF NATURE.

wonderful and innate inftinds, by their ingenious
fiftions. The fwallow Progné flies the foreft ; her
fifter Philomela delights to fing in folitary places.
Prognc thus, one day, addfefles her :

Le défert eft-il fait pour des talens fi beaux?
Venez faire aux cites éclater leurs merveilles :
Auffi bien, en voyant les bois,
Sans cefTe il vous fou\'ient que Térée autrefois,
Parmi des demeures pareilles.

Exerça fa fureur fur vos divins appas.

Et c'efl le fouvenir d'un fi cruel outrage,
Qui fait, reprit fa fœur, que je ne vous fuis pas:
En voyant les hommes, helas !
Il m'en fouvient bien davantage. *

I never hear the enchantingly melancholy fong
of a nightingale, fhrouded in (hrubbery, and the
lengthened piou-piou, which interrupt, like fighs,
the mufic of that folitary fongfter, without be-
lieving, that Nature had revealed her adventure to

* Thus imitated :

Why wafte fuch fweetnefs on the defert air !

Come, charm the city with thy tuneful note.
Think too, in folitude, that form fo fair

Felt violation : flee the horrid thought.

Ah ! fifler dear, fad Philomel replies,

'Tis this that makes mc fliun the haunts of men :

Terëus and Courts the anguifli'd heart allies,
And haflcs, for flielter, to the woods again.

the

STUDY I.

25

the fublime La Fontaine, at the time fhe infpired
him to compofe thefe verfes. If thefe fables were
not the hiftory of men, they would be, to me, at
lead a fupplement to that of animals. Philofo-
phers of name, unfaithful to the teftimony of their
reafon and confcience, have dared to reprefent
thern as mere machines. They afcribe to them
blind inftinds, which regulate, in a manner per-
fedly uniform, all their adions, without paffion,
without will, without choice, and even without
any degree of fenlibility. I one day exprefled my
aftoniQiment at this to J. J. Roujjeau ; and faid to
Jiim, it feemed exceedingly ftrange, that men of
genius fhould maintain a pofition fo extravagant.
He very fagely replied, The Jolution is this^ When
Man begins to reafon, he ceafes to feel.

In order to confute the opinions of fuch Philo-
fophers, I Ihall have recourfe, not to thofe animals
whofe fagacity and induftry excite our admiration,
fuch as the beaver, the bee, the ant, &c. I (hall
produce only one example, taken from the clafs of
thofe which are moft indocile, fuch as fiflies, and
fliall feled it from among a fpecies, governed by
an inftind the moft impetuous and the mofi: flupid,
which is gluttony.

The fhark is a fifli fo voracious, that he will not
only devour his own fpecies^ when preffed by hun-
ger.

2.6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

ger, but he fwallows, without diftindion, every
thing that drops from a fhip into the fea, cordage,
cloth, pitch, wood, iron, nay, even knives. Ne-
verthelefs, I have been a frequent witnefs of his
abftinence, in two remarkable circumftances ; the
one is, however urged by famine, he never touches
a kind of fmall fi(b, fpeckled with yellow and
black, called the pilot fifli, who fwim juft before
his fnout, to guide him to his prey, which he can-
not fee till he is clofe to it ; for Nature, as a coun-
terbalance to the ferocity of this fifli, has rendered
him almofl blind. The other cafe is this, v/hen
you throw into the fea a dead fowl, the noife brings
him to the fpot, but on difcovering it to be a fowl,
he immediately retires, without devouring it ; this
has furnilhed failors with a proverb : The Jhark fees
from the feather. It is impofiible, in the firft cafe,
not to afcribe to him fome portion of underftand-
ing, which repreffes his voracity, in favour of his
guides ; and not to attribute, in the fécond, his
averfvon to feathered fleQi, to that univerfalreafon,
which, deftining him to live along the fliallows,
where cadaverous fubftances, of creatures perifhing
in the fea, fall and are depofited, infpires him with
an averfion for feathered animals, that he may not
deftroy the fea-fowls, which refort thither in great
numbers, employed, like himfelf, in looking out
for a livelihood, and in cleanfmg the fliores from
impurities.

Other

STUDY I.

27

Other Philofophers, on the contrary, have afcrib-
cd the manners of animals, as thofe of men, to
education ; and their natural afFeftions, as well as
their animofities, to refemblance or diffimilitude
of form. But if friendlliip is founded in fimili-
tude of form, how comes it, that the hen, who
walks in fecurity, at the head of her brood, among
the horfes and oxen of a farm-yard, though part
of her family is fometimes accidentally crufhed by
the feet of thofe animals, collefts her young with
anxious inquietude at fight of the hawk, a fea-
thered animal like herfelf, who appears in the air
but as a black point, and whom, perhaps, fhe
hardly, if ever, faw before ? Why does the dog,
in the yard, fall a barking, in the night time, at
the fmell only of the fox, an animal which has a
flrong refemblance to himfelf ? If habits of long
ftanding could influence animals, as they do men,
how has it been poffible to render the oftrich of
the defert familiar to fuch a degree, that he has
been made to carry children on his plumelefs crup-
per ; whereas no fkill has, hitherto, been able to
tame the fwallow, a bird which has, from time
immemorial, built his neft in our houfes ?

Where can we find, among the Hiflorians of
Nature, a Tacihis, who fliall unveil to us thefe
myfteries of the Cabinet of Heaven, without an
explanation of which, it is impoflible to write the

Hiilory

28 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Hiftory of a fingle animal on the Earth ? We find
no one fpecies deviating, hke the human, from the
laws impofed on it by Nature. Bees, univerfally,
live in republics, as they did in the time of EJop.
The common fly has always been a vagabond, a
herd without any police or reftraint. How comes
it that, among thefe, no Lycurgiis has ever yet
arifen, to reduce them into order, for the general
good ; and to prefcribe to them, as Philofophers
tell us the firfb Legiflators among men did, laws
didated by their weaknefs, and by the neceffity of
uniting in fociety ?

On the other hand. Whence is it, as Machiavel
affirms of Nations pofleffing too much happinefs,
that among the canine fpecies, exulting in the fu-
periority of their ftrength, no Catiline arifes, to
impel his affociates to take advantage of the fecu-
rity of their mafteis, and deftroy them at once;
no Spartacus to roufe them to liberty by his howl-
ing, that they may live as fovereigns of the foreft,
they to whom Nature has given arms, courage,
and fkill to fubdue, in whole armies, animals the
moil formidable ? When fo many trivial laws of
Nature are, under our very eyes, unknown, or
" mifunderftood, how dare we to aflign thofe which
regulate the courfe of the ftars, and which embrace
the immenfity of the Univerfe ?

To

STUDY I. 29

To the difficulties oppofed to us by Nature, let
us add thofe which we ourfelves throw in the way.
Firft, methods and fyftems of all forts prepare, in
every man, his manner of viewing objefts. I do
not fpeak of Metaphyficians, who explain all by
means of abftraâ: ideas ; nor of Algebraifts, with
their formules ; nor of Geometricians, with their
compaffes ; nor of Chymifls with their faits ; nor
of the revolutions which their opinions, though
intolerant in the extreme, undergo in every age.
Let us confine ourfelves to notions the moft uni-
verfally admitted, and fupported by the higheft
authority.

To begin with Geographers. They reprefent
the Earth as divided into four principal parts,
whereas, in reality, there are only two. Inftead
of the rivers which water it, the rocks which form
it's barriers, the chains of mountains which divide
it into chmates, and other natural fubdivifions,
they exhibit it fpeckled all over with parti-co-
loured lines, which divide and fubdivide it into
empires, diocefes, principalities, elediorates, bailli-
wicks, falt-magazines. They have disfigured the
originals, or fubftituted names without a meaning,
in place of thofe which the native inhabitants of
every country had given them, and which fo well
exprefTed their nature. They call, for example, a
city, near to that of Mexico, where the Spaniards

Ihed

30 STUDIES OF NATURE.

filed fuch oceans of human blood, the City of
Angels, but to which the Mexicans give the name
of Cuet-lax-coi4pan, that is, the fnake in the water,
becaufe that of two fountains, which iflue from
thence, one is poifonous ; they call the MiJJîJfipi,
that great river of North America, which the na-
tives denominate MéchaJJipiy the father of waters ;
the Cordelières, thofe high mountains bordering on
the South Sea, which are always covered with
fnow, and which are called by the Peruvians, in
the royal language of the Incas, Ritifiiyu, fnow»
ridge ; and fo of an infinite number of other pro-
per names. They have ftripped the works of
Nature of their diftindive characters, and Nations
of their monuments.

On reading thefe ancient names, with their ex-
planations, in Garcillafo de la Vega, in Thomas Gage,
and the earlieft navigators, you have impreffed on
the mind, by means of a few fimple words, the land-
fcape of every country, and fomething of it's natural
Hiftory : without taking into the account, the re-
fpe(5t attached to their antiquity, for this renders
the places, which they defcribe, ftill more vene-
rable. Thofe only of the Chinefe, who traffic with
the Europeans, know that their country is called
China. The name given it by the inhabitants is
Chiiim-hoa, the middle-kingdom. They change the
iiame of it, when the families of their fovereigns

become

STUDY I.

31

become extinâ;. A new dynafty gives it a new
name -, thus the law has determined, to inftruâ:
Kings, that the defliny of their people was at-
tached to them, as that of their own family. Eu-
ropeans have deftroyed all thefe correfpondencies.
They Ihall for ever bear the punifhment of this
injuilice, as well as that of fo many other of
their violations ; for, obftinately perfevering in
giving what names they pleafe to the countries
which ihey feize, or in which they fettle, it comes
to pafs that, when you fee the fame countries on
maps, or in Dutch, Englifh, Portuguezc, Spanifli,
or French books of travels, you are utterly inca-
pable of diftinguifhing any thing. Their very
longitude is changed, for every Nation now makes
its own capital the firft meridian.

Botanifts miflead us dill more. I have fpoken
of the perpetual variations of their diâiionaries;
but their method is no lefs faulty. They have de-
vifed, in order to diftinguilh plants, characters the
moft complicated, which frequently deceive them,
though derived from all the parts of the vegetable
kingdom, while they have never been able to ex-
prefs, by a lingle defcriptive term, their combina-
tion, from which the unlearned can diftinguifli
them at firft fight. They mud have magnifying
glafles and fcales, in order to clafs the trees of a
foreft. It is not fufficient to fee them ftanding

ançL

32, STUDIES OF NATURE.

and covered with leaves, the Botariill mufl: exa-
mine the flower, and frequently the fruit too. The
clown knows them all perfedly, in the boughs
which compofe his faggot.

In order to give me an idea of the varieties of
germination, I am fliewn, in bottles, a long feries
of naked grains of all forms , but it is the capfule
which preferves them, the downy tuft which re-
fows them, the elaftic branch which darts them to
a diftance, that it imports me to examine. To
(hew me the charafter of a flower, it is prefented
to me dry, difcoloured, and fpread out on the leaf
of a herbary. Is it in fuch a ftate that I can diftin-
guifli a lily ? Is it not on the brink of a rivulet,
raifing it's flately ftem over the verdant declivity,
and refleding, in the limpid ftream, it's beautiful
calix*, whiter than ivory, that 1 difcern, and ad-

• mire,

* According to Botanifts, the lily has no calix, but only a
cordhiy confifting of many petals. They call the flower a corolla,
and the cafe which contains the flowers a calix. This is, evi-
dently, an abufe of terms. Calix^ in Greek, and in Latin, means
a cup ; and corolla^ a little crown. Now, an infinite number of
flowers, as the cruciform, the papilionaceous, thofe with long
throats, and a multitude of others, are not formed like a coronet,
nor their cafes like cups. I dare venture to affirm, that if Bota-
nifts had given the fimple name of cafe, or wrapper, to the parts
of the plant which inclofe and proteft the flower before it blows,
they would have been on the road to more than one curious

difcovery.

STUDY I»

33

thire, the king of the vailles ? Is not it's incompa-
rable whitenefs rendered ftill more dazzling, when
fpotted, as with drops of coral, by the little, fcarlet,
hemifpherical lady-bird, garnilhed with black
Ipecks, which conftantly reforts to it as an afylum?
Who can difcover the queen of flowers in a dried
rofe ? In order to it's being an objeâ:, at once, of
love and of philofophy, it mud be viewed when,
ifTuing from the cleft of a humid rock, it fliines
on it's native verdure, when the zephyr balances
it, on a Item armed with thorns; when Aurora has
bedewed it with her tears ; when, by it's luftre and
it's fragrance, it invites the hands of lovers. A
cantharide, fometimes, lurking in it's corolla,
heightens the glowing carmine, by prefenting the
contraft of his emerald-coloured robe j it is then
this flower feems to fay, that, fymbol of pleafure,
from her charms, and the rapidity of her decay,
like pleafure too, (he carries danger around her,
and repentance in her bofom.

Naturalifts betray us into fl.ill wider deviations
from Nature, in attempting to explain, by uniform

difcovery. This impropriety of elementary terms in the Sciences,
is the firft twift given to human reafon ; it is thereby put, from
the very firft fetting out, entirely afide from the path of Nature.
See Fol. II. Study XI.

VOL, I. D laws.

34 STUDIES OF NATURE.

laws, and by the mere aflion of air, water, and
heat, the expanfion of fo many plants, growing on
the fame dunghill, of colours, forms, favours, and
perfumes fo different. Do they try to decompound
the principles of them ? Poifon and food prefent,
in their floves, the fame refults. Thus Nature
fports herfelf with their art, as with their theory.
The corn plant alone, gathered in handfuls only
by the vulgar, anfwers a thoufand valuable pur-
pofes, while a multitude of vegetables have re-
mained entirely ufelefs, in the laboratories of the
learned.

I remember my having read, many years ago,
feveral grave difTertations on the manner of em-
ploying the horfe-chefnut as food for cattle. Every
Academy in Europe has, at leaft, propofed it's
own ; and the refult of all their learned difqui-
fitions was, that the horfe-chefnut was ufelefs, un-
lefs prepared by a very expenfive procefs, and that,
even then, it was good only in the manufafture of
tapers and hair pov/der. 1 was aftoniflied at this,
not that Naturalifts fhould be ignorant of it's ufe,
and that they hid ftudied it merely as an article of
luxury, but that Nature Ihould have produced a
fruit of no ufe even to the brute creation. But I
was, at laft, cured of my ignorance, by the brutes
themfelves. 1 happened to take my walk, one day,

to

STUDY I. 35

to the Bois de Boulogne *, with a branch of thehorfe-
chefnut in my hand, when I perceived a goat feed-
ing. I went up, and amufed myfelf with flroking
her. As foon as fhe perceived the horfe chefnut
bough, fhe feized, and fnapped it up, inftantly.
The lad who tended her told me, that the goats
were all very fond of this plant, and that it con-
tributed greatly to the increafe of their milk. I
perceived, at fome diftance, in the chefnut alley,
which leads to the Château de Madrid^ a herd of
cows eagerly looking for horfe- chefnuts, which
they greedily devoured, without fauce or pickle.
Thus, our learned and ingenious fyfliems conceal
from us natural truths, with which every peafant
is acquainted.

What a fpedacle do our cabinets of preferved
animals prefent ? To no purpofe has the art of a
Daiibenion endeavoured to keep up the appearance
of life. Let induftry do it's utmofl to preferve
the form, their ftifFand motionlefs attitude, their
fixed and flaring eyes, their briftly hair, all de-
clare that they have been fmitten with the ftroke
of death. In fuch a ftate, even beauty itfelf in-
fpires horror \ whereas objeds the mofl homely are
agreeable, when placed in the fituation which Na-

* The Bois de Boulogne^ and Chateau de Madrid^ are a wood,
and caflle, not many miles from Paris.

D 2 tu re

36 STUDIES OF NATURE.

ture has afllgned them. I have been often highly
diverted, in the Weft-Indies, at the fight of a crab-
on the fand, ftraining, with his claws, to break
into a huge cocoa-nut ; or a fliaggy ape balancing
himfelf on the fummit of a tree, at the extremity
of a lianne, loaded with pods and brilliant flowers.

Our books of Natural Hiftory are merely the ro-
mance of Nature, and our cabinets her tomb. Ta
what a degree have our fpeculations and our pre-
judices degraded her? Our treatifes on Agriculture
fhevv us, on the plains of Ceres, nothing but bags
of grain ; in the meadows, the beloved haunt of
the nymphs, only bundles of hay j and in the ma-
jeftic foreft, only cords of wood and faggots.

What fliall we fay of th-e violence done to her by
Pride and Avarice ? How many charming hills
have been reduced to a ftate of villanage, by our
laws ! What majeftic rivers degraded into fervi-
tude by impofts !

The Hiftory of Man has been disfigured in a
very different manner. If we except the intereft
which religion, or humanity, has prompted fomc
good men to take, in favour of their fellow-crea-
tures, the reft of Hiftorians have written under the
■ im.pulfe of a thoufand different pafiSons. The Po-
litician reprefenls Man, as divided into nobility

and

STUDY I.

37

and commonalty, into papifls and huguenots, into
foldiers and flaves ; the Moralift, into the avari-
cious, the hypocritical, the debauched, the proud;
the Tragic Poet, into tyrants and their viâiims ;
the Comic, into drolls and buffoons ; the Phyfi-
cian, into the pituitous, the bilious, the phlegma-
tic. They are univerfally exhibited as fubjefts of
averfion, of hatred, or of contempt : Man has been
univerfally differed, and now nothing is flievvn of
him but the carcafe. Thus the mafter- piece of
Creation, like every thing elfe in Nature, has been
degraded by our learning.

I do not mean to affirm, however, that from
fuch partial means, no ufeful difcovery has pro-
ceeded : but all thefe circles, within which we
circumfcribe the Supreme Power, far from deter-
mining it's bounds, only mark the limits of human
genius. We accuftom ourfelves to crowd all our
own ideas into that narrow fpace, and difnoneftly
to rejed: all that does not accord with them. We
3.0: the part of the tyrant of Sicily, who fitted the
unhappy traveller to his bed of iron : he violently
ilretched, to the length of the bed, the limbs of
thofe who were fhorter, and cut fliort the limbs
of thofe who were longer. It is thus we apply all
the operations of Nature to our pitiful methods,
in order to reduce the whole to one common ftan-
dard.

D 3 Hurried

38 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Hurried away myfelf, by the fpirit of the age in
which I live, I gave, at the end of the journal of
my voyage to the Ifle of France, a fyftem of bo-
tany, in which I pretended to explain the expan-
fion of plants, as our Naturalifts explain that of
madrépores, from the mechanifm of the fniall ani-
mals which conftitute them. I quote this Work,
though I compofed it merely as an amufement, to
prove how eafy it is to fupport a falfe principle by
true obfervations ; for having communicated it to
y. y. Roujeau, who was, it is well known, a great
proficient in Botany, he faid to me; / do not adopt
your Jj ft em ; but it would coft me^ at kqft^fix months to
refute it ; and even then, I could not flatter myfelf
with the certainty of having fucceeded. Had the de-
cifion of this candid gentleman been wholly unre-
ferved, it could not have jullified my libertinifm.

Fi6lion embellifhes the hiftory of Man onl}'-, it
degrades that of Nature. Nature is herfelf the
fource of all that is ingenious, amiable, and beau-
tiful. By applying to her the violence of our
imaginary laws, or by extending to all her opera-
tions, thofe with vi^hich we are acquainted, we con-
ceal others, worthy of the higheft admiration, with
which we are totally unacquainted. We add, to
the cloud with which (he veils her divinity, that of
our own errors. They get into credit by time, by
profeflTorlhipSj by books, by protedtors, by affo-

ciations,

STUDY I. 39

dations, and efpecially by penfions ; whereas no
one is paid for fearching after truths, which have
the improvement of Mankind for their only ob-
objeâ:. We carry with us, into refearches fo in-
dependent and fo fublime, the pafllons of the col-
lege and of the world, intolerance and envy.

Thofe who enter firft on the career, oblige thofe
who come after them to walk in their footfteps, or
to give it up ; as if Nature were their patrimony,
or, as if the ftudy of Nature were an exclufivc
trade, that did not admi"- of every one's participa-
tion. What trouble did it coft to eradicate, in
France, the metaphyfics of Arifiotle^ which had be-
come a fpecies of religion ? The philofophy of
DefcarteSy which fupplanted it, might have fub-
fifted to this day, had it's revenues been as ample.
That of Newton^ with it's attractions, is not more
folidly eftablidied. I have an unbounded refped
for the memory of thefe great men, whofe very de-
viations have affifted us, in opening great high-
ways through the vafl empire of Nature; but, on
more occafions than one, I fhall combat their prin-
ciples, and, efpecially, the general applications
which have been made of them, in the full perfua-
fion, that, if I renounce their fyftems, I promote
their intentions. It was the ftudy of their whole
life to raife men toward the Deity, by their fu-
blime difcoveries, without fufpedling, that the

D 4 laws

40 STUDIES OF NATURE.

laws which they were eftabHfliing in Phyfics,
might, one day, ferve to fubvert thofe of Morality,

In order to form a right judgment of the mag-
nificent fpcdacle of Nature, we muft fuffer every
objeft to remain in it's place, and remain ourfelves
in that which ihe has affigned to us. It is from a
regard to our happinefs, that ihe has concealed
from us the laws of her Omnipotence, How is it
poflîble for a being fo feeble as Man, to embrace
infinite fpace ? But fhe has brought within our
grafp what it is at once ufeful and delightful to
know: namely, theemanationsfrom her beneficence.
In the view of uniting Mankind, by a reciprocal
communication of knowledge, flie has given to
each of us, in particular, ignorance, treafuring up.
Science in a common fhock, to render us neceflary
and interefting to each other.

The Earth is covered over with vegetables and
animals, the fimple vocabulary of which no Scho-
lar, no Academy, no one Nation, will ever be able
perfectly to acquire; but it is to be prefumed,
that the human race is acquainted with all their
properties. In vain do enlightened Nations boaft,
that they are the great repofitories of all the Arts
and Sciences. It is to Savages, to men utterly un-
known, that we are indebted for the firft obferva-
tions, which are the fource of all Science. It is

neither

STUDY I.

41

neither to the polifhed Greeks nor Romans, but
to Nations which we denominate barbarous, that
we owe the ufe of fimples, of bread, of wine, of
domeftic animals, of cloths, of dye-ftuflfs, of me-
tals, and of every thing moft ufeful, and moll:
agreeable, for human life.

Modern Europe glories in her difcoveries ; but
the invention of the art of Printing, one of the
faireft titles to immortality, is to be afcribed to a
perfon fo obfcure, that feveral cities of Holland,
of Germany, nay, of China, have claimed the dif-
covery as their own. Galileo would never have
calculated the gravity of air, but for the obferva-
tion of a fountain-player, who remarked that wa-
ter could rife only up to thirty-two feet in the
tubes of a forcing engine. Newton had never read
the ftarry heavens, unlefs a fpeftac le -maker's chil-
dren, in Zealand, had, at play, with the lenfes in
their father's (hop, fuggefted the firft idea of the
telefcopic cylinder. Our artillery would never
have fubjugated the New World, but for the ac-
cidental difcovery of gun-powder by a lazy monk;
and whatever glory Spain may pretend to derive
from the difcovery of that vaft Continent, the Sa-
vages of Afia had planted Empires there, long be-
fore the arrival of Cbrifiopher Columbus. What mud
have become of that great man himfelf, if the
good and fimple inhabitants whom he found in the

country

42 STUDIES OF NATURE.

country had not fiipplied him with provifions ?
Let Academies, then, accumulate machines, fyf-
tems, books, elogiums : the chief praife of all is
due to the ignorant, who furnilhed the firft ma-
terials.

Advancing no higher claim, I prefume to con-
tribute my humble offering. It is the fruit of
many years of application, which, amidft ftorms
long and fevere, ftole away in thefe calm refearches,
like a fmgle day of ferenity. I earneftly wifhed, if
it fhould not be permitted me to reach a boun-
dary, at which to ftop, to communicate to others, at
lealt, the pleafure which I had enjoyed on my way.

I have conveyed my obfervations in the beft
ftyle of which 1 am capable ; frequently ftepping
afide to the right hand and to the left, as the fub-
jeâ: carried me ; fometimes abandoning myfelf to
a multitude of projets, which the infinite intelli-
gence of Nature infpires ; fometimes dwelling
with complacency on happier feafons and fitua-
tions, which are never more to return ; fometimes
plunging into futurity, panting after a more fortu-
nate ftate of being, of which the goodnefs of Hea-
ven affords us now and then a glimpfe, through the
dark clouds of this wretched life. Defcriptions,
ccnjeâiures, perceptions, views, objeélions, doubts,
nay, my very ignorances, I have heaped all ori one

pile i

STUDY I. 43

pile ; and I have given to thefc ruins the name of
Studies, as a Painter does to the fludies of a great
original, to which he was unable to give a finifliing.

Amidfl this diforder, it was necelTary, however,
to adopt fomething like method, without which,
the confufion of the matter muft have ftill more
increafed the infufficiency of the Author. I have
followed the moft fimple. Firft, I endeavour to
refute the objeftions raifed againft a Providence;
I, then, proceed to examine into the exiftence of
certain fentiments, which are common to all men,
and which conftrain us to acknowledge, in all the
works of Nature, the laws of her wifdom and
goodnefs ; and, finally, I make application of
thefe laws to the Globe, to Plants, to Animals, and
to Man.

Such, from the outfet, is the manner in which
I propofe to direct my courfe. If, in the rapid
fketch I am going to prefent of it, the Reader
fhould be difgufted with its drinefs, I muft intreat
him to refled, that the fame complaint muft lie
againft all abridgments ; that, in return, I fpare
him the fatigue of a preface ; and that Pliny, who
had a much better head than mine, has not he-
fitated to make up the firft book of his Natural
Hiftory, of the bare tides of the Chapters which
compofe it.

I {M,

44 STUDIES OF NATURE.

I faid, then, to myfelf : In the first part of
my Work, I will difplay the bleflings beflowed by
Nature, on the age in which we live ; and the ob-
jeftions which have been ftarted in it, againft the
Providence of it's Author. I will conceal no
one of thefe that I know of; and in order to give
them greater force, I will exhibit them in their
combination. I will employ, in refuting them,
not metaphyseal reafonings, like thofe of which
the objediions confift, and which never brought
any difpute to a termination, but the facts them-
felves of Nature, which admit of no reply. With
thefe fame fails, I will raife, in my turn, difficul-
ties which militate againft the principles of human
Science, and which have been deemed infallible.
I will from thence proceed to infer the feeblenefs
of our reafon ; 1 will enquire whether there be
univerfal truths, and what we are to underftand
by order, beauty, correfpondency, harmony, plea-
fure, happinefs, and their contraries ; and, finally,
what an organized body is.

From this examination of our faculties, and of
the effects of Nature, will refult the evidence of
many phyfical laws, conftantly diredted to one
fmgle end, and that of a moral law, which afic(5ts
Man alone, and the fentiment of which has been
univerfal, in all ages, and among all Nations.
Thefe are neceffary preliminaries. Before we at-

tempt

STUDY I.

45

tempt to rear the fabric, the ground muft be clear-
ed, and the foundation laid.

In the SECOND part, I (hall make application
of thefe laws to the Globe ; I fhall examine it's
form, it's extent, the divifion of it's Hemifpheres,
and as it is compofed, like every other organized
work of Nature, of parts fimilar, and of parts con-
trarj'. I (hall confider, fuccefTively, it's different
elements, and the manner of their adaptation to
each other, the fire to air, the air to water, the wa-
ter to the earth. This order eftablifhes among
them a real fubordination, of which the Sun is the
principal agent. But he is not the only mover in
Nature, and ftill lefs the Sovereign Difpofer. His
uniform adion on the elements would, at laft, fe-
parate or confound them. Other laws counter-
balance his, and maintain the general harmony.

I (hall point out the admirable variety of his
courfe, the effe6ts of his heat and light, and the
wonderful manner in which they are weakened or
multiplied in the Heavens, in the inverfe ratio of
latitudes and feafons. I fhall fpeak of the great
reverberations of Heaven, of the Moon, of the
Aurora Borealis, of the Stars, and of the myfteries
of Night, only fo far as the human eye is permitted
to perceive them, and the heart to feel their im-
preffion.

I (liall

46 STUDIES OF NATURE.

I fliall fpeak, likewife, of the nature of Fire^
not to explain it, but to evince our profound ig-
norance of the fubjed:. This element, which ren-
ders all things elfe perceptible, itfelf eludes our
moft eager refearches. We fhall demonftrate, that
there is neither animal, nor plant, nor even foffil,
capable of fubfifling any length of time in it. It
is the only being which increafes it's bulk by com-
municating itfelf. It penetrates all bodies, with-
out being penetrated by them. It is divifible only
in one dimenfion. It has no gravity. Though
nothing attracts it to the centre of the Earth, it is
diffufed through all the parts of the "Globe. It's
nature differs from that of all other bodies. It's
deftruflive and indefinable character feems to fa-
vour the opinion of Newton, who confidered it
only as a motion communicated to matter, and
thereby reduced the number of Elements to three.
However, as it is one of the four general prin-
ciples of life, in every living creature; as we often
difcover it, in others, in a dormant ftate, and as
there is no one, as we fhall fee, but what has or-
gans, or parts, difpofed to weaken, or to multiply
thefe effefls, we mufb acknowledge it not only to
be an Element, but Nature's primary agent.

From the Fire I fhall pafs to the Air. I fhall
examine the quality which it has of expanding and
contraéling, of heating and cooling ; and the ef-
fets

STUDY I.

47

feds of that vaft flratum of frozen air which fur-
rounds our Globe, about a leagife above the fur-
face, and of which hardly any one of the pheno-
mena has hitherto been explained.

I (hall, next, confider the effeds of Water: in
what manner heat evaporates, and cold fixes it;
it's different exiftences ; of volatility in the air, in
clouds, in dew, and in rain ; of fluidity on the
earth, in rivers, and in Seas ; of folidity at the
Poles, and on lofty mountains, in fnow and ice.
I (hall enquire, how the Seas, which are the great
refervoirs of this element, are diftributed, with re-
lation to the Sun ; how they receive from him,
through the mediation of the air, a part of their
movements ; in what manner they continually re-
new their waters, by means of the ice accumulated
at the Poles ; the annual or periodical fufion of
which, maintains their flux and reflux as con-
Itantly, as the fufion of the ices on the fummit of
high mountains renews and fupplies the waters of
great rivers. I fliall hence deduce the phenomena
of the Tides, of the Monfoons in the Indian
Ocean, and of the principal Currents of the vaft
watery Element.

I (hall, afterwards, hazard my conjedures re-
fpefting the quantity of water which furrounds the
Earth, in the three liâtes of volatility, fluidity,

and

48 STUDIES OF NATURE.

and folidity ; and fliall examine whether it is pof-
fible, that, on being all reduced to a ftate of
fluidity, they fhould entirely cover the Globe.

I fhall confider in what manner all the parts of
the Earth, that is, the dry land, are diftributed
with relation to the Sun ; fo that there (liould be
no cavity of valley, nor elevation of rocky moun-
tain, but what muft be, at fome feafon of the year,
expofed to his rays, and difpofed, at the fame
time, in the moft perfeftly adapted order, to mul-
tiply, or to mitigate his heat, by it's form, or even
by it's colour. 1 will demonftrate that, notwith-
ftanding the apparent irregularity of the different
parts of this Globe, they are oppofed, with fo
much harmony, to the different currents of air,
that there is no one but what is, by turns, venti-
lated by winds, hot, cold, dry, and humid ; that
the cold winds blow moft conftantly into warm
countries, and warm winds into cold countries ; that
thefe countries, in their turn, re-aél on the air ; fo
that the caufe of the winds is not to be fought, ac-
cording to the received opinion, in the places
whence they proceed, but in thofe which they vifit.

I fliall, after that, fpeak of the dire6lion of
mountains, of their declivities, and of their af-
pefts, with relation to the lakes and Seas, whofe
emanations their different ridges are all adapted to

receive ;

STUDY I.

49

receive ; of the matter which attrafls them, and
fixes round their peaks, rifing like fo many elec-
tric needles.

Finally, I fhall examine, For what reafon Na-
ture has divided the Globe into two Hemifpheres ;
what means (he employs to accelerate, or retard,
the courfe of rivers, and to prote6t their mouths
againft the movements and currents of the Ocean.
I fliall treat of banks, of fhallows, of rocks, of
ifles, whether in feas or rivers ; and I (hall prove,
I am confident to fay, to a demonftration, that
thcfe parcels detached from the Continent, are no
more ruinous fragments, violently feparated from
them, than bays, gulfs, and inland-feas, are violent
irruptions of the Ocean.

I (hall terminate this part, by indicating the
principal agents, employed by Nature, in repairing
her works : how (lie makes ufe of fire to purify,
in the form of thunder, the air, fo frequently
loaded with mephitic vapours during the violent
heats of Summer ; and the waters of great lakes
and Seas, by the volcanos which (he has placed in
their neighbourhood, at the extremity of their
currents, and which flie has multiplied in warm
countries ; how (he cleanfes the bafons of thefe
very waters, which, in the courfe of a few ages,
would be choked up by the accumulated fpoils of

VOL. I. s the

so

STUDIES OF NATURE.

the Earth, by means of tempefts and hurricanes^
which agitate them to the very foundation, and
cover their banks with the wreck i and how, after
having redored thefe wrecks to their firft ele-
ments, by fires in the air, by volcanos, and the
perpetual motion of the waves, which reduces
them to fand, and to an impalpable powder on the
fliore of the Sea, Ihc repairs, by means of winds
and attractions, the inceffant diminution of the
mountains, occafioned by the rains and torrents.

I {hall demonftrate, in a word, that, notwith-
ftanding the enormous maffes of the mountains,
the profundity of the vaUies, the tempeftuous
Oceans, and temperatures the mod oppofite,
which enter into the compofition of this Globe,
the communication of all it's parts has been ren-
dered eafy to a being fo fmall, and fo feeble, as
Man, and is poffible only to him. This lad view
will furnidi me with fome curious conjedlures re-
fpeding the earlieft voyages undertaken by Man-
kind.

I flatter myfelf, that I have faid enough to
fhew, in this fimple profpe6lus, that the fame In-
telligence, whofe productions we fo juftly admire
in plants and animals, prefides^ equally in the edi-
fice which we inhabit. The Earth has, hitherto,
been confidered as only in a flate of ruin j and it

is

STUDY I.

51

is this prejudice which renders the ftudy of Geo-
graphy fo infipid ; but I venture to affirm that,
after perufing my trivial obfervations, the courfe of
a rivulet, on a map, will appear more agreeable thaa
the port of a plant in a Botanift's herbiil, and
the topography of a place, as interefting as it's
landfcape.

In the THIRD PART of this Work, I will (hew
how the different parts of plants are difpofed in
correfpondence with the Elements, in fuch a man-
ner that, far from being a neceffary produdlion of
theirs, as fome Philofophers pretend, they are, on
the contrary, almoft always in oppofition to their
adtion. I (hall refer, therefore, their flowers to
the Sun j the thicknefs of their barks, the fcurf
which covers their buds, the hair, the down, the
refinous fubftances with which they are cloth-
ed, to the abfence of folarheatj the pliancy, or
ftiffnefs, of their fhems, to the different impulfions
of the Air; their leaves, to the waters of Heaven ;
finally, their roots, to fands, to mires, to rocks, by
their fibres, their pivots, and their long cordage.
This lad relation of plants to the Earth is, if I
may judge, the moft important of all, though the
leafl obferved, for there is not a fingle one, but
what is attached to it, whether it floats in water^
or balances itfelf in the air; no one but derives
part, at leafl, of it's nutriment from thence, and,

E 2 in

52 STUDIES OF NATURE.

in it's turn re-adts on the Earth, by the (hade
which contributes to it's freflinefs, by the ofFal
which fertilizes it, and by the roots which bind
it's different 7??77/i7.

I fhall adhere, however, to the exterior charac-
ters by which Nature feems to divide them into
different genera. Their principal charafler, it is
very difficult to determine, not only becaufe the
fimpleft plant unites a very great variety of rela-
tions to all the Elements, but becaufe Nature does
not place the charaâier of her works, in any one
of the parts, but in their combination. We fhall
feek that of each plant, therefore, in it's grain,
which, as being the principle, muft unite every
thing proper for it's expanfion, and determine, at
leaft, the Element in which it muft grow. Thofe,
accordingly, which have grains extremely volatile,
or furnifhed with tufts of down, pinions, fails, &c.
fhall be referred to the Air. They grow, in fadt,
in places expofed to the wind, as moft part of the
gramineous, of the thiftle tribe, &c. Thofe which
have fins, floaters, and other inftruments of fwim-
ming, fliall be affigned to the Water ; not only
fuch as the fucus, the alga, and other fea-plants,
but the cocoa tree, the walnut, the almond, and
other vegetables which affeâ: the Water's edge.
Thofe, finally, which, by their roundnefs, and
other varieties of form, are adapted for rolling,

fpringing,

STUDY I. 53

fpringing, catching, &c. and are fufceptible of va-
rious other movements, (hall be allotted to the
Earth, properly fo called.

This reference of plants to Geography, prefents
to us, at once, a great general order of eafy com-
prehenfion, and a multitude of fubdivifions, which
we may run over, very agreeably, in detail. Firft,
their genera divide themfelves, like thofe of ani-
mals, into aerial, aquatic, and terreftrial. Then,
their clafles are fubdivided relatively to the Zones,
and to the degrees of latitude of each Zone ; fuch
are, to the South, the clafs of palms, and, to the
North, that of firs ; and their fpecies to the terri-
tory of that Zone, according as it is champaign,
mountainous, rocky, marfliy, &c. Accordingly,
in the clafs of palms, the cocoa- tree of the fea-
fliore, the latanier on the ftrand, the date of the
rocks, the palmift of the mountains, and fo on,
crown the various fites of the torrid Zone; whereas
in that of firs, the pine, the fpruce, the larch, the
cedar, &c. divide among themfelves the empire of
the North. This order, by putting every vege-
table in it's natural place, furnifhes us, befides,
with the means of tracing the ufe of all it's parts ;
and, I am bold enough to affirm, of tracing the
reafons which have determined Nature to vary
their form, and to create fo many fpecies of the
fame genus, and fo many varieties of the fame fpe-

E 2 cies.

54 STUDIES OF NATURE.

cies, by d.Tcovering to ns the admirable correfpon-
dency which they have, in every latitude, with the
Sun, the Winds, the Water, and the Earth.

On this plan, we have a glimpfe of the light
which Geography may diffufe over the ftudy of
Botany j and of the light with which Botany, in
it's turn, may illuminate Geography ; for,- fup-
pofmg we were enabled to form botanical charts,
in which, by colours and figns, fliould be repre-
fented, in each particular country, the reign of
each vegetable there produced, by determining it's
centre and limits, we might perceive, at once, the
fecundity proper to each diftriâ;. This knowledge
would fupply very ample means of rural economy,
as we might fubftitute to the indigenous plants
which were there in greateft abundance, and moft
vigorous, fuch of our domeftic plants as are of the
fame fpecies, and which would there infallibly fuc-
ceed. Befides, thefe different claffes of vegetables
would, in their various natural arrangement, indi-
cate the degrees of the humidity, of the drinefs, of
the cold, of the heat, and of the elevation of each
diftriâ;, with a precifion which our barometers,
thermometers, and other phyfical apparatus, can
never attain. I omit a multitude of other relations,
produftive of pleafure and of utihty, which would
refult from fuch claffification, but which I fhall en-
deavour to unfold in their place.

In

STUDY I.

55

In the FOURTH part, which treats of Animals,
I fhall purfuethe fame track. I fhall prefent, firfl,
their relations to the Elements. Beginning with
that of Fire, I fliall confider the relation which
ihey have to the Luminary which is the fource of
it, from their eyes furnifhed with lids and lafhes,
to moderate the luflre of his light; from that
flate of torpitude, called fleep, into which moft of
them fall, when he is no longer above the Hori-
zon ; and by the colour of their fkin, and the
thicknefs of their furs, correfponding to their dif-
tance from him,

We fhall then trace the relations in which they
ftand to the Air, by their attitude, their weight,
their hghtnefs, and the organs of refpiration ; to
the Water, by the various curves of their bodies,
the unduofity of their hair and plumage, their
fcales and fins ; and, finally, to the Earth, by the
form of their feet, fometimes forked, or armed with
prongs and claws, adapted to a hard foil, fome-
times broad, or furniflied with a hide, fuited to a
yielding foil, and by other means of progreffion-,
which Nature has varied, in proportion to the ob-
flacles which are to be furmounted.

On the whole of this we fhall obferve, as in the
cafe of Plants, that fo many configurations, fo dif-
ferent, far from being, in animals, mechanical ef-

E 4 fects

56 STUDIES OF nature;

feds of the adion of the Elements in which thejr'
live, are, on the contrary, almoft ahvays, in the
inverfe ratio of thefe very caufes. Thus, for ex-
ample, a great many fiflies are cafed in rough and
hard fliells, in the bofom of the waters ; and many
animals, the inhabitants of the rocks, are clothed
with foftfurs. We fhall divide animals, therefore,
as we did vegetables, by referring their genus to
the Elements, their clafTes to the Zones, and their
fpecies, to the different Diftrids of each Zone.
This arrangement, at once, puts every animal in
it's natural place ; but we fliall reduce it to a fixed-
nefs of determination, flill more precife, and more
interefting, by referring the fpecies of animal to
that of the plant which a particular Diftrid pro-
duces in greateft abundance.

Nature herfelf indicates this order. She has
adapted to plants, the fmelling, the mouths, the
lips, the tongues, the jaws, the teeth, the beaks,
the flomach, the chylification, thefecretions which
cnfue, in a word, the appetite and inftind of ani-
mals. It cannot, indeed, be affirmed with truth,
that every fpecies of animal lives on one fingle fpe-
cies of plant ; but any perfon may convince him-
felf, by experiment, that each of them prefers
fome one to every other, when permitted to choofe.
This preference is particularly remarkable, at the
feafon when the produdion of their young engages

attention.

STUDY T.

SI

attention. Then they are determined in favour of
that which provides them, at once, with nutri-
ment, litter, and fhelter, in the moft perfeâ: fuit-
ablenefs to their fituation. Thus the goldfinch
affeds the thiflle, and hence, in the French lan-
guage, derives his name from that of the plant*,
becaufe he finds a rampart in it's prickly leaves,
food in it's feeds, and materials for his nefh in it's
down. The bird-fly of Florida, for fimilar reafons,
prefers the bignonia : this is a creeping plant,
which finds it's way to the tops of the higheft
trees, and frequently covers the whole trunk. He
builds his neft in one of it's leaves, which he rolls
into the form of a cornet ; he finds his food in it's
red flowers, refembling thofe of the foxglove, the
neétareous glands of which he licks ; he plunges
his little body into them, which appears in the
heart of the flower, like an emerald fet in coral ^
and he gets in, fometimes, fo far, that he fuflers
himfelf to be furprized there, and caught.

In the nefts of animals, then, we fliall look for
their charafler, as we fought that of plants in their
grains. It is from thefe we fhall be enabled to de-
termine the Element in which they mull live, the
proper fite of their habitation, the aliment bed
adapted to their conftitution, and the firfl: leflTons

* In French, goldfinch is chardonneret, and thiftlc chardon.

of

5S STUDIES OF NATURE.

of induftry, of love, or of ferocity, which they
receive from their parents. The plan of their life
is contained in their cradles. However ftrange
thefe indications may appear, they are thofe of
Nature, who feems to tell us, that we may diftin-
guifh the character of her children, like her own,
in the fruits of love, and in the care which they
take of their pofterity.

She, frequently, lodges under the fame roof,
the vegetable and animal life, and unites the def-
tiny of the one to that of the other. We fee them
burfting together from the fame fhell, blowing,
expanding, propagating, dying, in a fimilar pro-
greffion. At the fame inftant of time they prefent,
if I may be allowed the expreffion, the fame meta-
morphofes. While the plant is unfolding, in fuc-
ceffion, it's germs, it's buds, it's flowers, it's fruits,
the infe(5t is difplaying, fucceffively, on one of it's
leaves, the egg, the worm, the nymph, the butter-
fly, which contains, like it's parents, the feeds of
it's pofterity, with thofe of the plant which nou-
riflied it. It is thus that fable, far lefs marvellous
than Nature, inclofed the life of the Dryad within
the bark of the Oak.

Thefe relations are fo fl:riking, in infefls, that
Naturalifts themfelves, notwithftanding their pro-
digious number of ifolated, and indeterminable

claflTes,

STUDY ï.

S9

clafles, have charaâ:erized fome of them by the
name of the plant on which they Hve ; fuch are the
caterpilhir of the tithymale, and the filk-worm oF
the mulberry. But 1 do not believe there is a
lingle animal which deviates from this plan, not
even excepting the carnivorous. Though the life
of thefe laft appears to be, in fome meafure, in-
grafted on that of the living fpecies, there is not
one among them, but what makes ufe of fome fpe-
cies of vegetable. This is obfervable, not only in
dogs, which feed on the grafs that bears their
name, and in wolves, foxes, birds of prey, which
eat the plants denominated from the names of the
refpeftive animals, but even in the fifhes of the
Sea, which are entire ftrangers to our Element.
They are attracted, at firft, to the banks, by in-
feds, whofe fpoils they colleft, which eftablifhes
between them and vegetables, intermediate rela-
tions ; afterwards by the plants themfelves, for
mod of them come to fpawn on our coafts, only
when certain plants are in flower, or in fruit. If
thefe happen to be deflroyed, the fifties vifit us no
longer.

Denis, Governor of Canada, relates, in his Na-
tural Hiftory of North America *, that the cod,
which, in fhoals, ufedto frequent the coafts of the

f Vol. II. chap, S2. page 350.

Ifland

6ô STUDIES IN NATURE.

Ifland of MifcoLi, difappeared in 1669, becaufe in
the year preceding, the forefts had been devoured
by a conflagration. He remarks, that the fame
caufe had produced the fame effect in different
places. Though he afcribes the difappearancc of
thefe fiflies to the particular effeds of fire, and is,
in other refpeds, a very intelligent Writer, we
fhall demonftrate, by other curious obfervations,
that it mufl have been occafioned by the deftriic-
tion of the vegetables which ufed to attrad them
to the fhore. Thus, every thing in Nature is in
ftrid alliance. The Fauns, the Dryads, and the
Nereids, walk, every where hand in hand.

What a charming fpedacle would a botanical
Zoology prefent ? What unknown harmonies would
be refleded from a plant to an animal, and from
an animal to a plant ! What pidurefque beauties
would appear 1 What relations of utility, of every
fpecies, contributing either to pleafure or to profit,
would refult from it ! The introdudion of a new
plant into our fields, would be fufïicient to allure
a new fct of fongfters to our groves, and flioals of
unknown fiQies to the mouths of our rivers. Might
it not be pofTible to increafe even the family of
our domeflic animals, by peopling the glaciers of
the lofty mountains of Dauphiné, and of Au^
vergne, with herds of rein-deer, an animal (o va-
luable in tlie northern parts of Europe j or with

the

STUDY I. 6î

the lama of Peru, who delights in the fnows at the
foot of the Andes, and whom Nature has clothed
in the fined of wool ? A little mofs, a few rufhes
of their own country, would be enough to fix them
in ours.

Attempts have frequently been made, I admit,
to propagate the breed of foreign animals in our
parks, by obferving even the choice of thofe fpe-
cies whofe native climate came nearefl to ours ;
but they all languifh and die, becaufe no care was
taken to tranfplant with them their proper vege-
table. You fee them always reftlefs, with the
head hanging down, fcratching up the ground, as
if demanding from it the nourifhment which they
had loft. A fingle herb would have been fufHcient
to quiet them, by recalling the taftes of their early
life, the breezes which ufed to fan them, the cool
fountains and refrefhing fhades of their native coun-
try: lefs unhappy, hovvever, than Man, who can be
cured of regret only by the total lofs of memory.

In the FIFTH PART, we fliall fpeak of Man.
Every Work of Nature has prefented to us, hi-
therto, only partial relations; Man will furnifh
fuch as are univerfal. We (hall examine, firft,
thofe which he ftands in to the Elements. Be-
ginning with that of Light and Fire j we fhall
obferve, that his eyes are turned, not towards

Heaven,

62 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Heaven, as the Poets, and even fome Philoropliers,
allege, but to the Horizon ; fo that he may view,
at once, the Heaven which illuminates, and the
Earth which fupports him. His vifual rays take
in near half of the celeftial Hemifphere, and of
the plane on which he treads, and their reach ex-
tends from the grain of fand, which he tramples
under foot, to the flar which (liines over his head,
at an immeafurable diftance.

He alone, of animals, can enjoy equally the day
and the night j he alone can bear to live within
the torrid Zone, and upon the ice of the frigid.
If certain animals are partakers with him in thefe
advantages, it is only by means of his inftrudions,
and under his protedion. For all this he is in-
debted to the Element of Fire, of which he alone
is the Sovereign Lord. Some Authors pretend,
that certain of the brute creation underftand the
management of it, and that the monkeys in Ame-
rica keep up the fires kindled by travellers in the
forefts. No one denies that they love it's heat,
andrefortto it for warmth, when Man retires. But
as they have perceived it's utility, Why have they
not preferved the ufe of it ? However fimple the
manner of keeping up fire may be, by fupplying
it with fuel, not one of them will ever attain to
that degree of fagacity.

The

STtTDY I. 63

The dog, much more intelligent than the mon-
key, a witnefs every hour of the effeds of fire ;
accuftomed, in our kitchens, to live only on meat
that is dreffed, if you give him raw fiefli, will never
dream of going to roaft it on the coals. This barrier,
which feparates Man from the brute, weak as it may
appear, is infurmountable to animals. And this is
one of the great bleflings of Providence, beftowed
for the general fecurity ; for how many unforefeen,
and irreparable conflagrations would take place,
were Fire at their difpofal ? God has intruded the firfl
agent in Nature, to that being alone who, by his
reafon, is qualified to make a right ufe of it.

While fome Hiftorians beftow this faculty on
the brutes, others deny it to Man. They allege,
that many Nations were entirely deftitute of it,
till the arrival of the Europeans among them.
To prove this, they quote the inhabitants of the
Marianne Iflands, otherwife called the Ifie of
Thieves, by a calumnious imputation fo common
among failors ; but this afiertion is grounded on
bare fuppofition ; namely, on the very natural
aftonifliment expreffed by thefe Iflanders, on fee-
ing their villages fet on fire by the Spaniards *,

* See the Hillory of their Difcoveries, by Magellan; the
Hiftory of the Marianne Ifles, by Father Gobien, vol. ii. page
44; and that of the Weft-Indies, by Herrera, vol. iii. page 10
and 712.

whom

64 STUDIES OF NATURE

whom they had recived with kindnefs. They con-
trad i(ft themfelves, at the fame time, by relating,-
that thefe very people ufed canoes, daubed over
with bitumen, which neceffarily fuppofes, in the
cafe of favages unacquainted with iron, that fire
had been employed in the hollowing of their ca-
noes, or, at leaft, in careening them. Finally, we
are told, that they fed on rice, the preparation
of which, however fimple, requires, of neceffity,
the application of fire.

This Element is univerfally neceflary to human
exiftence, even in the hotted climates. By means
of fire alone, Man guards his habitation, by night,
from the ravenous beafts of prey ; drives away the
infeds which thirft for his blood ; clears the
ground of the trees and plants which cover it, and
whofe ftems and trunks would refift every fpecies
of cultivation, (hould he find means, any other
way, to bring them down. In a word, in every
country, with Fire he prepares his food, diffolves
metals, vitrifies rocks, hardens clay, foftens iron,
and gives, to all the produftions of the Earth, the
forms, and the combinations, which his neceflities
jequire.

The benefits which he derives from the Air arc
no lefs extenfive. Few animals are, like him, ca-
pable of refpiiing, with equal eafe, at the level of

the

STUDY I. 65

the Sea, and on the fummit of the loftlefl moun-
tains. Man is the only being who gives it all the
modulations of which it is fufceptible. With his
voice alone, he imitates the hiffing, the cries,
the finging of all animals ; while he enjoys the
gift of fpeech, denied to every other. Some-
times he communicates fenfibility to the Air ; he
makes it figh in the pipe, to complain in the flute,
to threaten in the trumpet, and to animate to the
tone of his paffions the brafs, the box-tree, and the
reed. Sometimes he makes it his flave ; he forces
it to grind, to bruife, and to move, to his advan-
tage, an endlefs variety of machinery. In a word,
he yokes it to his car, and conftrains it to waft
him even over the billows of the Ocean.

That Element, in which few of the inhabitants
of Earth are able to live, and which feparates their
different clafles, by a boundary more infurmount-
able than that of Climate, prefents to Man alone
the eaiieft of communications. He fwims in it,
he dives, he purfues the fea-monfter to the abyffes
of the deep j he hunts and flabs the whale even
under mountains of ice j and alights on every
ifland in the bofom of the Sea, and aflerrs his em-
pire over it.

But he had no need of that which he exercifes

over Air and Water, to render his fovereigniy

VOL. I. F univerfal.

66

STUDIES OF NATURE.

univerfal. He has only to remain on the Earth
where he was born. Nature has planted his throne
on his cradle. Every thing that lives comes thither
to, pay him homage. There is not a vegetable but
what fixes it's roots under his feet, not a bird but
there builds his neft, not a fiQi but there depofits
her fpawn.

Whatever irregularity may appear on the furface
of his domain, he is the only being formed with
the capacity of pervading all it's parts. And what,
in this refpeâ;, excites the higheft admiration,
there is eftabliflied, among all his limbs, an equi-
librium fo perfeâ;, fo difficult to be preferved, fo
contrary to the laws of our mechanifm, that there
is no Sculptor capable of forming a ftatue refem-
bling Man, broader and heavier above than below,
which fliall be able to maintain an ered pofition,
and remain immoveable, on a bafis fo fmall as his
feet. It would be quickly overfet by the llighteil
breath of wind. How much more, then, would
be requifite to make it walk like Man ? There
is no animal whofe body is fufceptible of fo many
different movements ; and I am tempted to be-
lieve, that he unites in himfelf all the poflible va-
rieties of animal motion, on feeing how he bends,
kneels, creeps. Hides, fvvims, tumbles himfelf into
the form of an arch, rounds himfelf like a wheel,
like a bowl, walks, runs, leaps, fprings, mounts,

defcends.

STUDY I. 67

defcends, climbs; in a word, how his frame is
equally adapted to clamber to the fummit of the
rock, and to walk on the furface of the fnow; to
traverfe the river and the foreft, to pick the mofs
of the fountain, and the fruit of the palm-tree ; to
feed the bee, and to tame the elephant.

With all thefe advantages. Nature has collefled
in the human figure every thing that is lovely in co-
lour and form, whether from harmony or from con-
trail. To thefe flie has added movements the moft
majeftic and the moft graceful. From an accurate
obfervation of this, Virgil has been enabled to
finifh, by a mafter-ftroke, the portrait of Venus
difguifed, talking with Eneas, who remained ig-
norant who fhe was, while beauty only was dii-
played, but diftinguilhed her the inftant fhe began
to move : Fera incejfu patuit Dea ; *' Her gait de-
clared the Goddefs." *

The Author of Nature has united in Man
every fpecies of beauty, and has formed of thefe a
combination fo wonderful, that all animals, in

* Milton's defcription of Eve is ftill more chara(fleri{lic of
female majefty :

Grace was in all her fteps, Heaven in her eye ;
In every gefture, dignity and love.

Par. Lost, Book IV,

F a. their

68 STUDIES OF NATURE.

their natural ftate, are ftruck, at fight of him, with"
love, or terror; this we fhall demonftrate by more
than one curious remark. Thus, too, is fulfilled
the Word which conferred on him the original
fovereignty of the World : -^ *' And the fear of
** you, and the dread of you fluall be upon every
*' beaft of the Earth, and upon every fowl of the
" Air, upon all that moveth upon the Earth, and
" upon all the fiflies of the Sea: into your hand
*' are they delivered."

As he is the only being who has the difpofal of
Fire, which is the principle of life, fo he alone
pradlifes Agriculture, which is it's fupporr. All
frugiverous animals have, like him, occafion for it,
moil of them the experience, but no one the prac-
tice. The ox never thinks of refowing the grain-
which he treads out in the barn floor, nor the
monkey, the maize of the field which he plunders.
We are prefented with far-fetched theories of the
relations which may fubfift between brutes and
Man, in the view of reducing them to a level,
while the trivial differences are overlooked, which
arc continually before our eyes, and interpofe be-
tween us and them an immcafurable interval, and.
which are the more wonderful, the more eafy it
appears to furmount the difficulty.

* Genefis ix. z.

Every

STUDY I, 69

Every one of the brute creation is clrcumfcribed
within a narrow fphe re of vegetables, and of means
neceflary to gather them. No one extends it's in-
duflry beyond it's inftind, be it's wants what they
may. Man alone raifes his intelligence up to that
of Nature. He not only purfues her plans, but
recedes from them. He fubftitutes others in their
place. He covers regions deftined for forefts with
corn and wine. He fays to the pine of Virginia,
and to the chefnut of India, *' You (hall grow in
'* Europe." Nature féconds his efforts, and feems,
by her complaifance, to invite him to prefcribe
laws to her.

For him fhe has covered the Earth with plants,
and though their fpecies be infinite, there is not a
fmgle one but may be converted to his ufe. She
has, firft, feledled fome out of every clafs, to mi-
nifter to his pleafure, or fupport, v/herever he
pleafes to fix his habitation : from among the
palm-groves of Arabia, the date ; among the ferns
of the Moluccas, the fago; among the reeds of
Afia, the fugar-cane ; among the folanums of
America, the yam ; among the lianne tribe, the
vine; among the papilionaceous, the French-bean
and the pea ; finally, the potatoe, the manioc, the
maize, and an innumerable multitude of fruits,
grains, and roots, proper for food, are diftributed

F 3 'for

70 STUDIES OF NATURE.

for him, in every famil)^ of vegetables, and over
every latitude of the Globe. She permits the
plants v^'hich are moft ufeful to him to grow in all
climates ; the domeftic plants, from the cabbage
up to the corn, alone, like Man himfelf, are citi-
zens of the World. The others ferve for his bed,
for his roof, for his clothing, for medicine, at
leaft for fuel. And, in order that there might be
no one but what (hould contribute to the fupport
of his life, and that the diftance, or ruggednefs of
the foil in which they grow might interpofe no ob-
obftacle to his enjoyment of them. Nature has
formed certain animals to feek them out for him,
and to convert them to his ufe.

Thefe animals are formed, in the moft wonder-
ful manner, at once to live in fituations the moft
rugged, and, animated by an inftindt the moft
tradlable, to affociate with Man. The lama of
Peru, with his forked feet, armed with two fpurs,
fcrambles over the precipices of the Andes, and
bring^s back to him his rofe- coloured fleece. The

O

rein-deer, with her broad and cloven hoof, traverfes
the fnows of the North, and fills for him her dugs
diftcnded with cream, in the mofly paftures. The
afs, the camel, the elephant, the rhinoceros, are
detached, on his fervice, to the rocks, to the
fands, to the mountains, and to the m.oraffes of the

torrid

STUDY I.

71

torrid Zone. Every region is fupporting a race
of fervants for him ; the roughed, the moft ro-
bufti the moft patient, the moft ungrateful.

But animals alone, in which are united the
greateft number of utilities, live with him over the
whole face of the earth. The lluggiQi cow paf-
tures in the cavity of the valley, the bounding
ilieep on the declivity of the hill. The fcram-
bhng goat browzes among the fhrubs of the rock;
the hog, armed with a fnout, turns up the founda-
tion of the marftiy ground, with the help of an
appendage of fpurs, which Nature has planted
above his heels, to prevent his finking in it ; the
fwimming duck feeds on the fluviaiic plants ; the
hen, with attentive eye, pitiks up every grain fcat-
tered about, and loft in the field ; the pigeon, on
rapid wing, colleds a fimilar tribute from the re-
fufe of the grove, and the frugal bee turns to
account, for Man, even the fmall duft on the
flower.

There is no corner of the Earth where the
whole vegetable crop may not be reaped. Thofe
plants which are rejefted by one, are a delicacy to
another ; and even to the finny tribes, contribute
to their fatnefs. The hog devours the horfe tail
and hen-bane ; the goat, the thiftle and hemlock.
AU return, in the evening, to the habitation of

F 4 Man,

72 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Man, with murmurs, with blcatings, with cries of
joy, bringing back to him the dehcious tribute of
innumerable plants, transformed, by a procefs the
mod inconceivable, into honey, milk, butter, eggs,
and cream.

Man fubjefts, to his dominion, not only the
whole vegetable, but the whole animal creation,
though their fmallnefs, their fwiftnefs, their
ftrength, their cunning, nay, the very Elements,
may feem to exempt them from his jurifdidion.

To begin with the infinite legions of infeds, his
duck and his hen feed upon them. Thefe fowls
fvvallow even various forts of venemous reptiles,
without fuftaining the flighted injury. His dog
fubdues for him every other fpecies of brute. The
numerous varieties of that animal are evidently
adapted to their feveral ufes and ends ; the fliep-
herd*s dog, for the wolf; the terrier, for the fox ;
the grey-hound, for animals of the plain ; themaf-
tiff, for thofe of the mountain ; the pointer, for
birds ; the vvater-fpaniel, for the amphibious race;
in a word, from the little lap-dog of Malta, formed
only for amufement, up to the huge hunter of the
Indies, who, according to Pliny and Plutarch,
fcorns to attack any thing inferior to the lion or
the elephant, and whofe breed ftill fubfifts among
the Tartars, their fpecies are fo varied, in form, in

fize,

STUDY I. 73

ûze, in rcfpect of inftinct, that I am conftrained to
believe, Nature has produced as many forts of
them, as Ihe has produced animal fpecies to be
fubjugated. We crofs the breed of cats, of goats,
of fheep, ofhorfes, a thoufand different wa3'S5 and
after all our efforts and combinations, we can pro-
duce only a few trivial varieties, which deferve, in
no refpeét, to be compared with the natural va-
rieties of the canine fpecies.

While fome Philofophers afîign to every fpecies
of dog a common origin, others afcribe a diffe-
rence of origin to Man. Their fyftem is founded
on the variety of fîze and colour in the human fpe-
cies ^ but neither colour, nor ftature, are diftinâiive
charadlers, in the judgment of all Naturalifts.
According to them, colour is merely accidental j
fuperior ftature only a greater expanfion of forms.
Difference of fpecies arifes from the difference of
proportions : now this characterizes that of dogs.
The proportions of the human body no where
vary; the black colour, within the Tropics, is
(imply the effeâ: of the heat of the Sun, which
tinges him in proportion as he approaches the line.
And it is, as we fliall fee, one of the blefllngs of
Nature. His fize is invariably the fame in every
age, and in all places, notwithftanding the influ-
ence of food and climate, by which other animals
î^re fo povyerfully affeded. There are breeds of

horfes

74 STUDIES OF NATURE.

horfes and of black cattle, double the fize the one
of the other, as any one may be convinced, by
comparing the large artillery horfes of Holftein,
with the fmall poneys of Sardinia, no taller than
fheep; and the huge Flanders ox with the dimi-
nutive one of Bengal ,• but from the talleft to the
fhorteft of the human race, there is not, at moft,
the difference of a foot. Their ftature is the fame,
at this day, as it was in the time of the Egyptians ;
and the fame at Archangel as in Africa, as is evi-
dent from the length of mummies, and that of the
tombs of the ancient Indians, found in Siberia,
along the banks of the river Petzora,

The fomewhat contraded ftature of the Lap-
landers is to be imputed, I prefume, to their fe-
dentary mode of living; for I have obferved,
among ourfelves, a fimilar contraction of fize in
perfons of certain occupations, which require little
exercife. That of the Patagonians, on the con-
trary, is more expanded than that of the Lapland-
ers, though they inhabit a latitude as cold, from
their greater difpofition to be moving about. The
Laplander pafles the greater part of the year (hue
up amidft his herds of rein-deer ; whereas the Pata-
gonian is perpetually a ftroller, for he lives entirely
by hunting and lifliing. Befides, the firft travel-
lers to whom we are indebted for our knowledge
of thefe two nations^ have greatly exaggerated the

fmallnefs

STUDY I.

75

fmallnefs of the one, and the magnitude of the
other, becaufe they faw the Laplanders fquatted
on the floor of their fmoky huts ; and the Patago-
nians in a polition which magnifies every objedl,
namely, at a diftance, on the fummit of their
rocky Ihores> whither they flock as foon as a veflTel
appears, and through the fogs which are fo fre-
quent in their climates, and which, it is well
known, greatly increafe the apparent fize of all bo-
dies, eipecially when in the Horizon, by refrading
the light wherewith they are furrounded.

The Swedes and Norwegians, who inhabit fimi-
lar latitudes, in which the cold prevents, as it is
alleged, the expanfion of the human body, are of
the fame fl:ature with the natives of Senegal, where
the heat, for the oppofite reafon, ought to favour
growth ; and neither the one nor the other is taller
than we are. Man, over the whole Globe, is at the
centre of all magnitudes, of all movements, and
of all harmonies. His ftature, his limbs, his or-
gans, have proportions fo adjufted to all the works
of Nature, that (he has rendered them invariable
as their combination. He conftitutes himfelf
alone, a genus which has neither clafs nor fpecies,
dignified, by way of excellence, with the title of
Mankind.

He

76 STUDIES OF NATURE,

He forms a real family, all the members of
which are fcattered over the face of the Earth, to
coiled: her produftions, and are capable of main-
taining a moft wonderful correfpondence, adapted
to their mutual neceffities. Man has been, in
every age, the friend of Man, not merely from
the interefls of commerce, bur by the more facred,
the more indiffbluble, bands of Humanity. Sages
appeared, two or three thoufand years ago, in the
Eaft, and their wifdom is now illuminating us at
the remoteft verge of the Weft. To-day, a favage
is opprefled in the wilds of America ; he fends his
arrow round from family to family, from nation to
nation, and the flame of war is kindled in the four
quarters of the Globe. We are all bondfmen for
each other,

We fhall frequently recur to this great truth,
which is the bafis of the morality of Subjedts as
well as of Sovereigns. The happinefs of every in-
dividual is attached to the happinefs of Mankind.
He is under obligation to exert himfelf for the ge-
neral good, becaufe his own depends on it. But
intereft is not the only motive which renders vir-
tue a duty to him; to Nature he is indebted for
it's fublimeft leffons. Being born deftitute of in-
ftincl, he was laid under the neceffity of forming
his intelleft on her productions. He could ima-
gine nothing but after the models of every kind

with

STUDY I. 77

with which fhe had prefented him. He was in-
ftrufted in devifing and perfeding the mechanic
Arts, from plans fuggefted by the induftry of ani-
mals; and in the liberal Arts and Sciences, after the
model of Nature's own immediate harmonies and
plans. To her fublime {Indies he is indebted for
a light which illuminates no other animal. Inftind
difcovers to the animal it's neceffities only ; but
Man alone, has raifed himfelf from the dark womb
of profound ignorance, to the knowledge and be-
lief of a GOD.

This knowledge has not been confined to a So-
crates, or a Plato : No, they have it in common
with Tartars, Indians, Savages, Negros, Lap-
landers ; with men of every defcription. It is the
refult of every contemplation, whatever be the ob-
jed, a grain of mofs, or the Sun. On it are
founded all the affociations of the human race,
without a (ingle exception.

As Man has formed his intelled on that of Na-
ture, he has been obhged to regulate his moral
fenfe by that of her Author. He felt, that, in
order to pleafe Him who is the principle of all
good, it was neceffary to contribute to the general
good ; hence the efforts made by Man, in every
age, to raife himfelf to GOD, by the praftice of
virtue. This religious charader, which diftin-

guilhes

78 STUDIES OF NATURE.

guiflies him from every other fenfible being, be-
longs more properly to his heart than to his un-
derftanding. It is, in him, not fo much an illu-
mination as a feeling, for it appears independent
even of the fpedlacle of Nature, and manifefts it-
felf with equal energy in thofe who live moft re-
mote from it, as in thofe who are continually en-
joying it. The fenfations of the infinity, of the
univerfality, of the glory, and of the immortality
with which it is conneded, are incelTantly agi-
tating the inhabitants of the city, as well as thofe
of the country. Man, feeble, miferable, mortal,
indulges himfelf, every v^herc, in thefe celeflial
pafiions. Thither he directs, without perceiving
it, his hopes, his fears, his pleafures, his pains, his
loves ; and paffes his life in purfuing, or combat-
ting, thefe fugitive impreffions of Deity.

Such is the career which I have prefcribed to
myfelf. But as, in a long voyage, we fometimes
perceive, on our way, flowery ifles, in the bofom
of a great river, and enchanting groves on the
fummit of inacceflible precipices : in like manner,
the progrefs we fliall make in the ftudy of Nature,
will gradually difclofe to us fome delightful prof-
peds. With thefe we fliall, at leaft:, feaft; the eye
as we pafs along, if we are not permitted to flop,
and furvey them at leifure. We fhall have fre-
quent occafion to remark, that the works of Na-
ture

/^

STUDY I. 7^

turc exhibit contrafts, harmonies, and tranfitions,
which wonderfully unite their different empires to
each other.

We (hall examine by what magic it is, that the
contrafts are produdive, at once, of pleafure and
pain, of friendfhip and hatred, of exiftence and
deftrudlion. From them proceeds that great prin-
ciple of Love, which divides all the individuals
into two great clafles, objeds loving, and objeds
beloved. This principle extends from animals
and plants, which are diftinguilhed by fex, down
to infenfible foffils j as metals, which have mag-
netic powers, moft of which are ftill unknown to
us ; and from faits which ftrive to unite in the
fluids where they fwim, up to the Globes, which
have a mutual attradion in the Heavens. It op-
pofes individual to individual by difference of fex,
and genus to genus by difference of forms, in or-
der to extrad from them harmonies innumerable.

In the Elements, Light is oppofed to Darknefs,
Heat to Cold, Earth to Water, and their accords
produce days, temperatures, views, the moft
agreeable. In vegetables, we Ihall fee, in the fo-
refts of the North, the thick and gloomy foliage,
the tranquil attitude and the pyramidical form of
the fir, contraft with the tender verdure, and
moveable foliage, of the birch, which, from it's

fpreadjng

So STUDIES OF NATURE.

fprcading top and flender bafe, prefents the ap-
pearance of a pyramid inverted. The forefts of
the South will exhibit fimilar harmonies, and we
(hall find them even in the herbage of our mea-
dows.

The fame oppofitions reign in the animal king-
dom ; and, to inftance only in fuch as are mod
familiar to us, the bee and the butterfly, the hen
and the duck, the indigenous fparrow and ram-
bling fwallow, the nimble courfer and fluggifh ox,
the patient afs and capricious goat ; in a word,
the cat and dog, difplay an endlefs contrafl, on
our flower-beds, in the meadow, in our houfes, of
forms, of movements, of inftinéls.

I do not comprehend, in thefe harmonical op-
pofitions, the carnivorous animals, which make
war on the others, and whofe correfponding inter-
courfe regards them not as living, but as dead. I
underfland by contrafl, that which Nature has
eflablifhed between two clafTes, different in man-
ners, in inclinations, and in figures, and to which,
neverthelefs, fhe has given certain fecret fympathe-
tic fcnfibilities, which engage them, in their natu-
ral flate, to inhabit the fame places, to affociate
together, and to live in peace. Such is the con-
trafl of the horfe, who delights to gallop about in
the fame field where the ox walks gravely on, ru-
minating

STUDY I. Si

minating as he goes. Such, again, is that of the
afs, who, well-pleafed, follows, with a flow and
meafured pace, the nimble-footed goat, up to the
very precipices over which llie fcrambles. From
the bee and the butterfly, up to the elephant and
the camelopard, there is not a lingle animal on the
Earth but what has its contraft^ Man only ex-
cepted.

The contrafts of Man are all within himfelf.
Two oppofite paffions, Love and Ambition, ba-
lance all his adions. To Love, are referable all
the pleafures of the fenfesj to Ambition, all thofe
of the foul. Thefe two paffions are in perpetual
counterpoife in the fame fubjecl ; and while the
firft is accumulating on Man every kind of corpo-
real enjoyment, and infenfibly linking him below
the level of the beafts j the fécond prompts him
to aim at univerfal dominion, and to exalt himfelf,
at length, up to the Deity. Thefe two contra-
didtory effefts are obfervable in all men, who have
it in their power, without obftruftion, to follow
thefe oppofite impulfes, whether in the clafs of
Kings, or that of Haves. The Neros, the Caligu-
las, the Domi/iûns, lived like brutes, and exafted
the adoration due to Gods. We find in Negros
the fame incontinence, the fame pride, and the
fame flupidity.

VOL. I. G Nature,

$Z STUDIES OF NATURE.

Nature, however, has beftowed thefe two paf-
fions on Man, as a fource of happinefs. She pro-
duces an equal number of each fex, in order to
diredt the love of every man to a fingle objeâ:,
and in that objed flie has united all the harmonics
which are fcattered over her mofb beautiful pro-
duâiions. There is between Man and Woman a
wonderful analogy of forms, of inclinations, and of
taftes ; but there is a difference ftill greater, of
thefe very qualities. Love, as we fhall have occa-
lion to obferve, refults only from contrails, and the
greater they are, the more powerful is it's energy.
1 could eafily demonftrate this, by the evidence of
a thoufand hiftorical fafts. It is well known, for
example, with what a mad excefs of paflion that
tall and clumfy foldier Mark Anthony loved, and
was beloved by, Cleopatra ; not the perfon whom
our Sculptors reprefent, of a tall, portly, fabine
figure, but the Cleopatra whom Hiftorians paint,
as little, lively, fprightly, carried, in difguife,
about the ftreets of Alexandria, in the night-time,
packed up in a parcel of goods, on the (houlders
OÏ AppollodoruSy to keep an affignaiion with Julhis
Ccffar.

The influence of contrafts, in Love, is fo cer-
tain, that, on feeing the lover, it would be ealily
poflîble to draw the portrait of the beloved objeâ:,
without having feen it, provided only it were

known

STUDY I. S

J

known that the paffion was extremely violent. Of
this I myfelf have made proof, on various occa-
fions ; among others, in a city where I was entirely
a ftranger. A gentleman of the place, one of my
friends, carried me to vifit his filler, a very virtu-
ous young lady, and he informed me, as we were
going, that flie was violently in love. Being ar-
rived at her apartments, and Love happening to
become the fubjed of converfation, it came into
my head to fay to her, that I knew the laws which
determined our choice in love, and that, if Ihe
would permit me, I could draw her lover's picture,
though he was utterly unknown to me. She bid
me defiance : upon this, taking the oppofite to her
tall and buxom figure, to her temperament and
charadler, which her brother had been defcribing
to me, I painted her favourite as a little man, not
overloaded with flefh, with blue eyes, and fair hair,
fomewhat fickle, eager after information. Every
word I uttered made her blufli up to the eyes, and
fhe became ferioufly angry with her brother, ac-
cufing him of having betrayed her fecret. This,
however, was not the cafe, and he was fully as
much aftonifhed as herfelf.

Thefe obfervations are of more importance than
we, generally, imagine. They will enable us to
demonftrate, to what a degree our Infhitutions de-
viate from the Laws of Nature, and weaken the

G 2 power

84 STUDIES OF NATURE.

power of Love, when they aflign to Woman the
fludies and the employments of Man. Virtue alone
knows how to turn thefe contrails to good ac-
count, in the married ftate, in which the duties of
the two fexes are fo very different. There, too,
flie prefents to their natural ambition, a career the
mod fublime, in the education of their children,
whofe reafon it is their duty to form ; and their
fweeteft recompenfe to receive, in exchange, the
firft fentiments of filial afTedion. In the hearts of
their children their memory is to be perpetuated
on the earth, in a manner more afFefting, and in-
finitely more indelible, than the memory of Kings
on public monuments. What power can equal
that which confers exiftence, and the power of
thought ; and what recoUeftion can laft fo long as
that of filial gratitude ?

The government of a good King has been com-
pared to that of a Father ; but the empire of a
virtuous Father can be compared only to that of
God himfelf. Virtue is, to Man, the true law of
Nature. It is the harmony of all harmonies. Vir-
tue alone can render Love fublime, and Ambition
beneficent. It can derive the pureft gratification
even from privations the moft fevere. Rob it of
Love, Friendfhip, Honour, the Sun, the Ele-
ments, it feels that, under the adminiftration of a
Being jufl and good, abundant compenfation is

referved

STUDY I. 85

referved for it, and it acquires an increafe of con-
fidence in GOD, even from the cruelty and injuf-
tice of Man. It was virtue that fupported, in
every fituation of life, an Antoninus, a Socrates, an
EpiBetus, a Fenelon ; that rendered them, at once,
the happieft, and the moft refpedable of Man-
kind.

If, on the one hand. Nature has eftabliflied con-
trails, in all works, on the other, (he has deduced
from them harmonies which re- unite them all
again. It would appear that, having fixed upon a
model, it was her intention to communicate to all
places a participation in it's beauty. The light and
diik of the Sun are, accordingly, refleâed a thou-
fand different ways, by the planets in the heavens,
by the parhelions and rainbow in the clouds, by
the Aurora-borealis in the ices of the North ; in a
word, by the refradions of the Atmofphere, the
reflexes of the waters, and the fpecular reflexions
of mofl: bodies on the Earth. The iflands, in the
midft of the Ocean, reprefent the mountainous
forms of the Continent; and the mediterranean
Seas and Lakes in thebofom of mountains, repre-
fent the vaft plains of the mighty Deep.

Trees, in the climate of India, affed the port of
herbs ; and the herbs in our gardens that of trees.
A multitude of flowers feem modelled after the rofe

G 3 and

86 STUDIES OF NATURE.

and the lily. Among our domeftic animals, the
cat appears to be formed on the model of the ty-
ger, the dog on that of the wolf, the Iheep on that
of the camel. Every fpecies has its correfpondent.
Mankind only excepted. That of the monkey,
which fome would make a variety of the human
fpecies, has relations, much more direél, to other
animals. The man of the woods, with his long
arms, his meagre feet, his fleflilefs paws, his flat-
tened nofe, his liplefs mouth, his round eyes, his
abominable hairy coat, has, certainly, a very im-
perfect refemblancc to the Apollo of the Vatican ^
and whatever inclination one might have to reduce
Man to the beaft, it would be difficult to find, in
the female of that animal, a fécond model of the
human figure, which (hould come near the Venus
de Mcdicis, or the Diana of Allegrain, which is
fhevvn at Lucienne. But I have feen monkeys
which had a fl:rong refemblance to the bear, as the
bavian of the Cape of Good-Hope ; or to the
greyhound, as the maki of Madagafcar. Some are
formed like little lions ; fuch is a very handfomc
white fpecies, with a mane, found in Brafil. I
prefume that moft fpecies of quadrupeds, efpe-
cially among the ferocious kinds, have their coun-
terparts in ihofe of the monkey tribe.

Thefe fame correfpondencies are likewife dif-
cernible in the numerous varieties of parrots,

which.

STUDY 1,

87

which, in their forms, their bills, their daws, their
fcream, and their fports, imitate, for the moft part,
birds of prey. Finally, they extend even to the
plants, denominated, for this very reafon, mimofas,
which reprefent, in their flowers, or in the aggre-
gation of their grains, infedts and reptiles, fuch.
as fnails, flies, caterpillars, lizards, fcorpions, &c.

Nature, in forming and prefenting thefe corre.
Ipondencies, muft have fome intention, which I do
not comprehend. What is very remarkable, they
are common only between the Tropics, where the
forefts fwarm with every fpecies of the monkey
and parrot race. Perhaps fhe meant to exhibit,
under harmlefs forms, thofe of the noxious ani-
mals, which are there found in great numbers, in
order to expofe to the light of day the terrible
figure of thofe fons of darknefs and carnage, and
that none of her produftions fhould remain con-
cealed, in the womb of Night, from the eyes of
Man.

Whatever may be in this, no one animal, on
the face of the Earth, is formed on the noble pro-
portions of the human figure ; and if Man, under
the impulfe of pafTion, frequently degrades himfelf
to the level of the beafls, his reftlefsnefs, his intel-
ligence, and his fublime affcvflions, fufficiently de-

G 4 monltrate.

88 STUDIES OF NATURE.

monftrate, that he hnnfelf is the counterpart of
the Deity.

Finally, the fpheres of all beings have a com-
munication, by means of rays, which feem to unite
their extremities. We fhall remark on the ftalac-
tities and chryftallizations of foflils, the procefles
of vegetation j and I think we may perceive even
the movement of animals in that of their magne-
tic influence. On the other hand, we fhall fee
plants forming themfelves, after the manner of
foflils, without any apparent organization ; fuch is,
among others, the truflle, which has neither leaves,
nor flowers, nor roots. Others reprefent, in their
flowers, the figure of animals, as the orchites ; or
their fenfibility, as the fenfitive plant, which lets
fall, and fliuts it's leaves at the flightefh touch ; or
their inftinâ:, as the dionaa mufcipula, which catches
flies. The petals of this plant are formed of op-
pofite little leaves, impregnated with a fu-
gary fubRance, which attrads the flies ; but the
infl:ant they alight, thefe little leaves fuddenly clofe
together with a fpring, like the jaws of a fox-trap,
and pierce the fly with their prickly edges.

There are others Rill more aftonifliing, as hav-
ing within themfelves the principle ot motion ;
fuch is the hedyjarum moveiiSy or kmim cbanda/i,

imported

STUDY I.

89

imported, fome years ago, from Bengal into Eng-
land. This plant moves, alternately, the two pen-
dent lobes which are attached to it's leaves, though
no exterior or apparent caufe contributes to this
fpecies of ofcillation.

But, without going fo far in queft of wonders,
we iliall find, perhaps, in our common gardens,
appearances of Nature ftill more furprizing. We
/hall fea the pea, for example, pufhing out it*s
tendrils, precifely at the height where they begin
to ftand in need of fupport, and curling them
round the boughs, with an addrefs which can
hardly be afcribed to chance. Thefe relations
feem to fuppofe intelligence ; but we fhall find
others ftill more amiable, which are a demonftra-
tion of good nefs, not in the vegetable, but in the
hand which formed it. The Jylphiumy of our gar-
dens, is a great ferulaceous plant, which refembles,
on the firft glance, what is known by the name of
the fun-flower. It's capacious leaves are oppofed
at the bafe, and their cavities uniting, form an
oval cup, in which the rain water colleds, to the
quantity of a pretty large glafs-full. They are
placed in ftories, not in the fame direftion, but at
right angles, in order to receive the rain water
that falls in the whole extent of their circumference.
It's fquare ftem is very commodious for being
firmly caught by the claws of birds j and it's

flowers

JO STUDIES OF NATURE.

flowers produce feeds of which many of them arc
exceflîvely fond, particularly the thrudi. So that
this whole plant, like the perch of a parrot-cage,
prefents, at once, to the birds, a refling place, and
meat, and drink.

We fliall, likewife, fpeak of the fmell and taftc
of plants. We fhall remark, under thefe rela-
tions, a great number of botanical characlers,
which are not the leaft certain. It was from the
fmell and tafte that Man acquired the firft know-
ledge of their poifonous, medicinal, or nutritive
qualities. Nay, the very founds of plants are not
to be overlooked; for, when agitated by the
winds, moft of them emit founds peculiar to
themfelves, and which produce harmonies, or con-
trails, the mofb agreeable, with the fîtes of the places
where they ufually grow. In India, the hollow
canes of the bamboo, which fhade the banks of
rivers, imitate, as they ruftle againft each other,
the gufhing noife excited by the motion of a fhip
through the water ; and the pods of the cinna-
mon, agitated by the winds on the mountain's top,
the tic-tac of a mill. The moveable leaves of the
poplar convey to our ears, in the wood, the bub-
bling of a brook. The green meadows, and the
calm forefls, fanned by the zephyrs, reprefent, in
the hollow of the valley, and on the declivity of
the rock, the undulations and murmurs of the

waves

STUDY I.

9Ï

waves of the Tea breaking on the fhore. The early
inhabitants of the Globe, ftruck with thefe myfte-
rious founds, imagined that they heard oracles
pronounced from the trunk of the oak, and that
Nymphs and Dryads, inclofed in the rugged bark,
inhabited the mountains of Dodona.

The fphere of animals extends flill farther thefe
wonderful harmonies. From the motionlefs fhelly
race, which pave and ftrengthen the capacious bed
of the Sea, to the fly who wings his way by night,
over the plains of the torrid Zone, glittering with
rays of light like a ftar, you will fmd in them the
configurations of rocks, of vegetables, of ftars. A
thoufand ineffable paflions, a thoufand inftinds
animate them, which they exprefs in fongs, in
cries, in hummings, nay, even in the articulate
founds of the human voice.

Some of them compofe noify republics, others
live in a profound folitude. The whole life of
fome is employed in waging war, that of others in
making love. In their combats they ufe every
imaginable fpecies of armour, and every pofTible
method of availing themfelves of the weapons
with which Nature has furniflied them, from the
porcupine, who darts his pointed arrows at the
foe, to the torpedo, who invfibly fmites his af-
failant, as with a ftroke of eledlricity.

Their

gi STUDIES OF NATURE.

Their loves arc not lefs varied than their animo-
fities. One muft have his feragHo ; another is fa-
tisfied with a tranfient miflrefs ; a third unites
himfelf to a faithful companion, whom he never
abandons till death makes the feparation. Man
unites, in his enjoyments, their pleafures and their
tranfports; and, fatiated, lighs, and demands of
Heaven felicity of a different kind.

We (hall examine, fimply by the light which
reafon fupplies, whether Man, fubjeâied, by his
body, to the condition of the animal creation, all
whofe neceffities he unites in himfelf, is not, by
his foul, allied to creatures of a fuperior order :
whether Nature, who has affigned the jurifdiftion
of the immenfity of her produftions on the Earth,
to a being naked, deftitute of inftin6t, and who
muft undergo an apprenticefliip of feveral years
in learning to walk only, has reduced him, from
his birth, to the alternative of ftudying their qua-
lities, or of perifliing ; and whether (he has not re-
ferved to herfelf fome extraordinary means of in-
terpofing for his relief, amidft the evils of every
kind which checker his exiftence, even amoag
beings of the fame fpecies with himfelf.

On reviewing the tranfitions which unite the
different kingdoms, and which extend their limits
to regions hitherto unknown, we fliall not adopt

the

STUDY I.

93

the opinion of thofe who believe, that the works
of Nature, being the refults of all poffible combi-
nationsj muft prefent every poffible mode of exift-
ence. *' You will find in them," fay they,
" order, and, at the fame time, diforder. Throw
" about the charadlers of the alphabet, in an in-
'* finite variety of manners, and you fhall form of
'* them the Iliad, and poems fuperior even to the
** Iliad ; but you will have, at the fame time, an
" infinity of formlefs aflemblages." We adopt
this comparifon, obferving, however, that the
fuppofition of the twenty-four letters of the alpha-
bet fuggefts a previous idea of order, which it was
neceffary to admit as a foundation even to the
hypothefis of chance. If, then, the multiplied
throws of thefe twenty-four letters gave, in fad,
an infinite number of poems, good and bad, how
many muft principles, much more numerous, of
exiftence in itfelf, fuch as the elements, colours,
furfaces, forms, depths, movements, produce of
different modes of exifting, were we to take but
a fingle hundred of the modifications of each pri-
mordial combination of matter !

We ftiould have, at leaft, the general tranfitions
of the different kingdoms. We fhould fee plants
walking on feet like animals ; animals fixed in the
eiirth by roots like plants ; rocks with eyes ; herbs

which

94 STUDIES OF NATURE.

which vegetated only in air. The chief intervals
of the fpheres of exiftence would be filled up. But
every thing poflible does not exift. There exifts
nothing but what is ufeful relatively to Man. The
fame order which pervades the general combina-
tion of the fpheres, fubfifts in the parts of each of
the individuals which compofe them. There is
not a fingle one which has, in its organs, either
deficiency or redundancy.

Their mutual adaptation is fo perceptible, and
they poffefs chara6ters fo very ftriking, that if you
were to fhew to a Naturalift of ability any repre-
fentation of a plant, or animal, which he had never
feen, he could tell, from the harmony of it's parts,
whether it were a creature of the imagination, or a
copy after Nature. One day, the ftudents in Bo-
tany, wifhing to put to trial the knowledge of the
celebrated Bernard de Juffieu, prefented to him a
plant which was not in the colledion of the Royal
Garden, requefting him to indicate it's genus and
fpecies. The moment he caft his eyes on it, he
replied, *^ This plant is artificially compofed ;
" you have taken the leaves of one, the flalk of
*' another, and the flower of a third." This was
the fa6t. They had, however, feledted, with the
greateft art, the parts of fuch as had the mofl
jftriking analogy.

lam

STUDY I. 9^

I am confident to affirm, that, by the method
which I fliall propofe, the Science may be carried
ftill much farther, and that we fhall be enabled,
by it, to determine, at fight of an unknown plant,
the nature of the foil in which it grew ; whether it
is a native of a hot or a cold country ; whether it
is an inhabitant of the mountain, or of the ftream;
and, perhaps, even the animal fpecies to which it
is particularly allied.

In fhudjdng thefe laws, mofl of which are un-
known, or neglefted, we fhall rejed others, which
are founded only on particular obfervations, and
which have been too much generalized. Such
are, for example, the following ; that the number
and fecundity of created beings are in the inverfe
ratio of their magnitude ; and that the time of their
decay is in proportion to that of their increafe.
We fhall fnew, that there are molTes lefs prolific
than the fir, and fliell iifh lefs numerous than
whales : fuch is, to name only one, the hammer-
fifli. There are animals which grow very faft,
and decay very flowly : this is the cafe of moffc
fifhes. I fhould never have done, if I went about
to prove, that the longevity, the ftrength, the fize,
the fecundity, the form, of every being, is adapted,
in a moft wonderful manner, not only to it's indi-
vidual happinefs, but to the general happinefs of
all, from which refults that of Mankind.

We

96 STUDIES OF^iîATURE.

We fliall, likewife, rejeâ: thofe analogies. To
commonly admitted, which are drawn from cli-
mate and foil, in order to explain all the opera-
tions of Nature by mechanical caufes ; for I fhall
demonftrate, that (he frequently produces in thefe,
both vegetables and animals, whofe qualities are
diametrically oppofite to thofe of their climate and
foil.

The tubulous and dried plants, fuch as reeds,
ruflies, as well as the birch, whofe bark, fimilar to
leather overlaid with oil, is incorruptible by humi-
dity, grow by the water fides, like boats provided
for croffing over. On the contrary, plants with
the richefb juices, and the moft humid, grow in
the drieft lituations, fuch as the aloe, the taper of
Peru, and the lianne impregnated with water;
which are to be found only on the parched rocks
of the torrid Zone, where Nature has placed them
like fo many vegetable fountains.

Even the inftinfls of animals appear to be lefs
adapted to their own perfonal utility, than to that
of Man ; and are fometimes in harmony with the
nature of the foil which they inhabit, and fome-
times in oppofition to it. The gluttonous hog
delights to live in the mire, from which he is in-
tended to purify the habitation of Man ; and the

fober

STUDY I. 97

fobcr camel, to force his way through the burning
fands of Africa, impervious, but for him, to every
effort of the traveller. The appetites of thefe ani-
mals do not grow out of the places which they in-
habit; for the oftrich, who is a fellow-tenant of
the fame deferts with the camel, is ftill more vora-
cious than the hog.

No one law of magnetifm, of gravity, of attrac-
tion, of eleftricity, of heat, or of cold, governs the
World. Thefe pretended general laws, are nothing
more than particular means. Our Sciences mif-
kad us, by afcribing to Nature a falfe providence.
They put the balance into her hand, it is true,
but not of juftice j no, it is only the balance of
commerce. They weigh only the faits and the
maffes, but put afide the wifdom, the intelligence,
and the goodnefs. They are not afraid of exclud-
ing from the heart of Man that fentiment of the
divine qualities, which communicates to him fo
much force J and of accumulating on his mind,
the weights and movements which opprefs him.
They put in oppofition the fquares of times and
velocities, but they negleâ: thofe wonderful com-
penfations with which Nature interpofes for the
relief of all beings, having beftowed the moft in-
genious on the moft feeble, the moft abundant on
the pooreft, and having united all for the relief of

VOL. I. K the

98 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the Human Race, undoubtedly, as being the moft
wretched fpecies of all.

We can know that only which Nature makes
tîs feel; and we can form no judgment of her
Works but in the place, and at the time, flie is
plcafed to difplay them. All that we imagine, be-
yond this, prefents only contradicflion, doubt, er-
ror, or abfurdity. I do not except, from this de-
fcription, even our imaginary plans of perfedion.
For example, it is a tradition common to all Na-
tions, fupported by the teftimony of the Holy
Scriptures, and founded on a natural feeUng, that
Man has lived in a better order of things, and that
we are deftined to another, which is ftill to fur-
pafs it. We are incapable, however, of faying any
thing of either the one or the other. It is impof-
fible for us to retrench any thing from that in
which we live, or to add any thing to it, v/ithout
rendering our condition worfe. Whatever Nature
has introduced into it, is neceffary. Pain and
death are among the proofs of her goodnefs. But
for pain, we fhould be bruifing ourfelves, every
fhep we took, without perceiving it. But for death,
new beings could not be raifed into exigence ;
and fuppofing thofe which already are in the world
could be rendered eternal, that eternity would in-
volve in it the ruin of generations, of the configu-
ration

STUDY I» 99

ration of the two fexes, and of all the relations of
conjugal, filial, and parental affeftion ; that is to
fa}'', of the whole fyllem of adual happinefs.

In vain do we fearcli, in our cradles, for the
archives which our tombs deny us : the paft, like
the future, covers our myfterious deftiny with an
impenetrable veil. In vain do we apply to it the
light which illumines us, and feek, in the origin of
things, the weights, the times, and the meafurcs,
which we find in their enjoyment j but the order
which produced them has, with relation to God,
neither time, nor weight, nor meafure. The divi-
fions of matter and time w^ere made only for cir-
cumfcribed, feeble, tranfient Man. The Univerfe,
faid NezvtoHj was produced at a fingle caft. We
are feeking for youth in what was always old, for
old age in what is always young, for germs in fpe-
cies, births in generations, epochs in nature; but
when the fphere, in which we live, ilTued from the
hand of it's divine Author, all times, all ages,
all proportions, nianifefled themfelves in it ac
once.

In order that Etna might vomit out it's fires,
from the very firft conftruclion of thefe tremen-
dous furnaces, lavas muft have been provided
which had not yet begun to flow. In order that

II 2 the

100 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the Amazonian river might roll it's ftream acrofs
America, the Andes of Peru muft have been, from
the beginning, covered with the fnows, which the
winds of the Eaft had not yet accumulated upon
them. In the bofom of new-created forefts, an-
cient trees muft have fprung up, that infeâis and
birds might find their proper aliment on the an-
tique rind. Carrion muft have been created for
the fupport of carnivorous animals. There muft
have been produced, in all the kingdoms of Na-
ture, beings young, old, living, dying, and dead.
All the parts of this immenfe fabric muft have ap-
peared at the fame inftant ; and if there was a fcaf-
folding, to us it has difappeared.

Let others extend the boundaries of our Sciences,
I fliall confider myfelf as having rendered a more
ufeful fervice to my fellow-creatures, if I am en-
abled to fix thofe of our ignorance. Our illumi-
nation, like our virtue, confifts in defcending :
and our force in becoming fenfible of our feeble-
nefs. If I do not purfue the road which Nature
has referved for herfelf, I fliall, at leaft, walk in
that which Man ought to take. It is the only one
which prefents him eafy obfervations, ufeful difco-
veries, enjoyments of every defcription, without
inftruments, without a cabinet, without metaphy-
fics, and without fyftem.

In

STUDY I. lOI

In order to be convinced how agreeable it is,
let us conftruâ:, in conformity to our method,
any group, with the fîtes, the vegetables, and the
animals, moft commonly to be found in our Cli-
mates. Let us fuppofe a foil the moft obdurate,
a craggy protuberance on the coaft, where a river
difgorges itfelf into the Ocean, prefenting a fteep
toward the fea, and a gentle declivity toward the
land : that, on the fide turned toward the fea, the
billows cover with foam rocks clothed with fea-
weed, fucufes, alga-marinas, of all colours, and of
all forms, green, brown, purple, in tufts and gar-
lands, as I have feen them on the coafts of Nor-
mandy, affixed to the rocks of white marl, which
the fea detaches from the main fliore. Let us far-
ther fuppofe, that, on the fide of the river, we fee
on the yellow fand, a fcanty verdure, mixed with
a little trefoil, and here and there a fprig of marine
wormwood. Let us introduce fome willows, not
like thofe which grow in our meadows, but the
native crop of the foil, and fimilar to thofe which
are to be icQix on the banks of the Spree, in the
vicinity of Berlin, with broad budiy tops, and
rifing to the height of more than fifty feet. Let
us not forget, in this arrangement, the harmony
of different ages, which it is fo agreeable to meet,
in every fpecies of aggregation, but efpecially in
that of vegetables. Let us obferve, of thefe wil-
lows fo fmooth and full of moiflurej fome pufliing

H 3 their

I02 STUDIES OF NATURE.

their young branches into the air, and others of an
aged form, with pendent top and hollow trunk.

Let us add to ihefe their auxiliary plants, fiich
as the green moffes and gilded lichen^ which
marble their gray rind, and fome of the convolvu-
lufes, vulgarly called lady's-fmock, which delight
to fcramble along their trunk, and to embellifli
the branches, which have no flowers of their own,
with leaves in form of a heart, and flowers white
as fnow, hollowed into the fliape of a fpire. Let
us, finally, introduce the inhabitants natural to the
willow, and it's acceflbry plants, their butterflies,
their flies, their beetles, and other infeds, toge-
gether with the feathered animals which make
war on them, fuch as the water-hen, poliflied like
the burnilhed fl:eel, which catches them in the
air ; the wag-tail, which purfues them on the land,
making the movement from which he derives his
name ; and the king's-fiflier, who hunts for them
along the lurface of the water; and you will fee a
multitude of agreeable harmonies arifing out of
one fingle fpecies of tree.

They are, however, fl:ill imperfed. To the
willow let us oppofe the alder, which likewife af-
feds the bank of the river, and which, by it's
form refembling; that of a long tower, it's broad
foliage, it's dufky verdure, it's flefliy roots, formed

like

STUDY I.

103

like cords running along the banks, and binding
together the foil, forms a complete contrafh with
the extended mafs, the light foliage, the white-
ftreaked verdure, and the trundling roots of the
willow. Add to this the individuals of the alder,
of different ages, rifing like fo many verdant obe-
lifks, with their parafite plants, fuch as the maiden-
hair fpreading into ftars of verdure over the hu-
mid trunk, the long hart's-tongue hanging from
the boughs down to the ground, and the other ac-
ceffories of infeâs and fowls, and even of quadru-
peds, which, probably, contraft as to form, co-
lour, gait and inftind, with thofe of the willow ;
and we ihall have a delicious concert of vegetables
and animals, compofed of two trees only, together
with their accompaniments.

If we illuminate our little plantation with the
firft rays of Aurora, we (hall behold, at once,
Ihades deep and fhades tranfparent, diffufed over
the verdure ; a duiky and a filvered verdure inter-
fedl each other, on the azure of the Heavens, and
their foft reflexes, blended together, moving along
the bofom of the waters. Let us, farther, fuppofe,
what neither poetry nor painting can pretend to
imitate, the odour of the plants, and even the
fmell of the fea, the ruftling of leaves, the hum-
ming of infefls, the matin-fong of the birds, the
hollow murmuring noife, intermixed with fiience,

H 4 of

104 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of the billows breaking on the fhore, and the re-
petitions of all thefe founds, repercuffed by the
diftant echos, which, lofing themfelvcs in the fea,
refemble the voice of the Nereids : Ah ! if Love,
or Philofophy, fhould ever tempt you to fuch a
folitude, you will find in it an afylum more deli-
cious than the palaces of Kings can befcow.

Would you wifli that fenfations of a different
order fhould 1>e excited ? Would you wifh to
hear the voice of paffion and fentiment burft from
the bofom of the rock ? Let the tomb of a vir-
tuous and unfortunate man ftart up amidft the
weeping willows, prefenting this infcription to die
eye : — Here reJIs J. J. Rousseau.

Would you wiQi to ftrengthen the impreffion of
this pi'flure, without, however, doing violence to
Nature, as to the fubjeft ? Change the time, the
place, the monument ; let this ille be Samos ; the
trees of thefe groves, laurels and wild olives, and
this tomb the tomb of Pbilo^etes. Look at the
grotto, which ferved as a habitation to that great
man, when abandoned by the Greeks, whofe bat-
tles he had fought ; his woodeii pot, the tatters
in which he was clothed, the bow and arrows of
Hercules, which, in his hands, had fubdued fo
many monfters, and with which he, at laft,
wounded himfelf : and you will be impreiTed with

two

STUDY I.

105

two powerful fenfations at once, the one phyfical,
which increafes in proportion as you approach the
works of Nature ; becaufe their beauty difclofes
itfelf only to the eye which examines it ; the other
moral, which grows upon you, in proportion as
you retire from the monuments of Virtue, becaufe
to do good to men, and to be no longer within
their reach, is a refemblance to the Deity.

What would it be then, were we to take a
glance of the general harmonies of this Globe ?
To dwell only on thofe which are beft known to
us, behold how the Sun conftantly encircles with
his rays one half of the Earth, while Night covers
the other with her (liade. How many contrafts
and concords refult from their ever changing op-
pofitions ? There is not a fingle point in the two
Hemifpheres, in which there does not appear, by
turns, a dawn, a twilight, an aurora, a noon, a
fetting of burnifhed gold, and a night fometimes
ftudded with ftars, fometimes clothed in a fable
mantle.

The Seafons walk hand in hand under his eye,
like the hours of the day. Spring, crowned with
flowers, precedes his flaming car; Summer fur-
rounds it with her golden Iheaves ; and Autumn
follows it, bearing her cornucopia running over
with gloliy fruit. In vain would Winter and

Night,

I06 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Night, retiring to the Poles of the World, attempt
to fet bounds to his majeftic career: In vain do
they raife out of the bofom of the polar Seas of
the North and of the South, new Continents with
their vallies, their mountains, and their icy coruf-
cations : the Father of Day, with his fiery (hafts,
overturns the fantaftic fabric ; and without de-
fcending from his throne, refumes the empire of
the Univerfe. . Nothing can fcreen itfelf from his
prolific heat.

From the bofom of the Ocean, he raifes into
the Air, the rivers which are afterwards to flow
through the Old and New Worlds. He gives
commandment to the Winds to diftribute them
over iflands and continents. Thefe invifible chil-
dren of the Air tranfport them, from place to place,
under a thoufand capricious forms. Sometimes
they are fpread over the face of Heaven like veils
of gold and flreamers of filk ; fometimes they are
rolled up in the form of frightful dragons, and
roaring lions, vomiting out torrents of fire and
thunder. They pour them out on the mountains
in as many different ways, in dews, in rains, in
hail, in fnow, in impetuous torrents.

However extravagant the mode of performing
their fervices may appear, every part of the Earth
annually receives from them neither more nor lefs,

than

STUDY I. T07

than it's accuftomed portion of water. Every
River fills his urn, and every Na'iad her fliell. In
their proorefs, they imprefs on the liquid plains of
the Sea, the variety of their charaders. Some
hardly ruffle the fmooth expanfe ; others fwell it
into billows of azure j and others turn it up from
the bottom with a dreadful noife, and dafh it
foaming over the rocky promontory.

Every place poffefles harmonies peculiar to it-
felf, and every place prefents them in rotation.
Run over, at pleafure, a Meridian, or a Parallel,
you will find on it mountains of ice, and moun-
tains of fire; plains of every kind of level, and
hills of every curve ; iilands of all forms, and ri-
vers of all currents ; fome fpouting up, as if they
iflued from the centre of the Earth, others preci-
pitating themfelves down in catarads, as if they
were defcending from the clouds. Neverthelefs,
this Globe, agitated with fuch a variety of convul-
five movements, and loaded with fuch a variety of
burdens, apparently fo irregular, advances in a
fteady and unalterable courfe through the immen-
iity of the Heavens.

Beauties of a different order decorate it's Archi-
teâiure, and render it habitable to fenfible beings.
A girdle of palm-trees, to which are fufpended
the date and the cocoa, furrounds it between the

burning

loS STUDIES OF NATURE.

burning Tropics ; and forefls of mofly firs begird
k under the Polar Circles. Other vegetables ex-
tend, like rays, from South to North, and, having
reached a certain latitude, expire. The banana
advances from the Line to the fouthern (bore of
the Mediterranean. The orange croffes that Sea,
and embeiliflies, with it's golden fruit, the fou-
thern extremities of Europe. The moft neceffary
plants, fucli as corn and the gramineous tribes,
penetrate the fartheft, and,{lrong from their weak-
nefs, ftretch, in the fl:ielter of the vailles, from the
banks of the Ganges to the ûiores of the Frozen
Ocean.

Others, more hardy, take their departure from
the rude climates of the North, advance over the
fummit of Mount Taurus, and make their way,
under favour of the fnows, into the very bofom of
the Torrid Zone. The fir and the cedar clothe the
mountains of Arabia, and of the kingdom of
Cachemire, and view at their feet the fcorched
plains of Aden and Lahorj where the date and the
fugar-cane are reaped. Other trees, equally averfe
to heat and cold, have their centre in the Tempe-
rate Zones. The vine languifhes in Germany and
Senegal. The apple, the tree of my own country,
never faw the Sun perpendicularly over it's head ;
or defcribing round it the complete circle of the
tïoïizon, to ripcii it's beautiful fruit.

But

STUDY ï.

109

But every foil has it's Flora, and it's Pomona,
The rocks, the morafles, the mire, the fand, have
each vegetables peculiar to itfelf. The very (hal-
lows of the fea are fertile. The cocoa-tree thrives
only on the ftrand, and fufpends it's milky fruit
over the billows of the briny Deep. Other plants
are adapted to the winds, to the feafons, to the
hours of the day, with fuch exacft precifion, that,
by means of them, Linnets conftruded botanical
almanacks and time-pieces.

Who is capable of defcribing the infinite va-
riety of their figure ? What cradles, arches, ave-
nues, pyramids of verdure, loaded with fruits,
prefent the mod enchanting habitations ! What
happy republics lodge under their tranquil (hade \
What delicious banquets are there prepared ! No-
thing of them is lofi:. The quadrupeds eat the
tender foliage, the feathered race the feeds, and
other animals the roots and the rind. The infefts
feed on the offal. Their infinite legions are armed
with every kind of infiruments for colleéling it.
The bees have their thighs furnifhed with fpoons,
lined with hair, for picking up the fine powder of
their flowers : the fly is provided with a pump for
fucking out the fap : the worm has an augre, a
wimble, a file, to feparate the folid parts ; and the
ant has pincers for carrying off the crumbs. On
confidering the diverfity of form, of manners, of

governments.

no STUDIES OF NATURE.

governments, of all thefe animals, and the continual
wars which they wage, you would fuppofe them a
multitude of foreign and hoftile nations, who are
on the point of deftroying each other. From their
conftancy in love, the perpetuity of their fpecies,
their wonderful harmony with all the parts of the
vegetable kingdom, you would receive the idea of
a fingle people, which had it's hereditary nobi-
lity, it's carpenters, it's pump-makers, and other
artifans.

Other tribes hold vegetables in contempt, and
are adapted to the Elements, to Day, to Night, to
Tempefts, and to different parts of the Globe. The
eagle trufts her nell to the rock which lofes itfelf
in the clouds ; the oflrich, to the parched fands
of the defert ; the rofe-coloured flamingo, to the
mires of the Southern Ocean, The white bird of
the Tropic, and the black frigat, take pleafure to
fweep along, in company, over the vafi extent of
the Seas, to view, from the higheft regions of the
Atmofphere, the fleets of India toiling after them
in vain ; and to circumfcribe the Globe from Eaft
to Weft, difputing rapidity of flight with the Sun
himfelf.

In the fame latitudes, the turtle dove and the
perroquet, lefs daring, travel only from ille to ifle,
having their young ones in their train, and picking

up,

STUDY I. Ill

up, in the forefls, the grains of fpicery which they
brufh off as they hop from branch to branch.
While fowls of this defcription preferve an equal
temperature, under the fame Parallels, others find
it in the track of the fame Meridian. Long
triangles of wild-geefe and of fwans go and come
every year from South to North, flop only at the
hoary limits of Winter, hurry, without defire, or
aflonifliment, over the populous cities of Europe,
and look down with difdain on their fertile plains,
prefenting the furrows of green corn in the midft
of fnow : to fuch a degree does liberty appear pre-
ferable to abundance, even in the eyes of the ani-
mal creation !

On the other hand, legions of heavy quails
crofs the Sea, and go to the South, in queft of the
Summer's heat. Toward the end of September,
they avail themfelves of a northerly wind to take
their departure from Europe, and flapping one
wing, while they prefent the other to the gale,
half fail, half oar, they graze the billows of the
Mediterranean, with their fattened rump, and bury
themfelves in the fands of Africa, to ferve as food
to the familhed inhabitants of Zara.

There are animals which travel only by night.

. Millions of crabs, in the Antilles, defcend from

the mountains by the light of the Moon, clartiing

their

Ill STUDIES OF nature;

their claws ; and prefent to the Cara'ibs, on the
fteril ilrand of their ifles, innumerable (hells re-
pleniihed with exquifite marrow. At other fea-
fons, on the contrary, the tortoife quits the Sea,
and lands on the fame fliores, to accumulate layers
of eggs in their barren fands.

The very ices of the Pole are inhabited. We
find in their Seas, and under their floating pro-
montories of cryftal, the black enormous whale,
with more oil on his back than a whole plantation
of olives could produce. Foxes clothed in pre-
cious furs, find the means of living on fliores
abandoned by the Sun ; herds of rein-deer there
fcratch up the fnow in fearch of mofs, and advance,
braying, into thofe defolate regions of night, by
the glimmering light of the Aurora Borea/is.
Through a Providence, worthy of the highefl; ad-
miration, places the mod unprolific, prefent to
Man, in the greatefl; abundance, provifions, cloth-
ing, lamps, and firing, not of his own produc-
tion.

How delightful would it be to behold the Hu-
man Race coUeding all thefe various bleflings, and
communicating them to each other, in peace, from
Climate to Climate ! We look with expeftation,
every Winter, to the period when the fwallow and
the nightingale fliall announce to us the return of

ferenity.

STUDY I.

IIJ

ferenity. How much more affecling would it be,
to behold the People of diftant Lands arrive, with
the Spring, on our fliores, not with the dreadful
noife of artillery, like modern Europeans, but
with the found of the flute and the hautboy, as
the ancient Navigators, in the earlier ages of the
World ! We (hould behold the tawny Indian of
Southern Afia, forcing his way, as formerly, up
it's mighty rivers, in his leathern canoe ; penetrat-
ing, through the current of the Petzora, to the
extremities of the North, and difplaying, on the
frozen fhores of the Icy Sea, the riches of the
Ganges. We ihould fee the copper-coloured In-
dian of America, in his hollowed log, traverfing
the extended chain of the Antilles, conveying
from ifle to iile, from (hore to fliore, perhaps to
our very Continent, his gold and emeralds. Nu-
merous caravans of Arabs, mounted on camels and
oxen, would arrive, following the courfe of the
Sun, from pafture to pafture, recalling the me-
mory of the innocent and happy life of the ancient
Patriarchs.

Winter itfelf would be no interruption to the
communication of mankind. The Laplander, co-
vered with warm fur, would arrive, under favour
of the fnow, in his fledge drawn by the rein-deer,
and expofe for fale, in our markets, the fable fkins

VOL. T. I of

114 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of Siberia. Did men live in peace, every Sea
would be navigated, every region would be ex-
plored, all their productions would be colle6led.
What a gratification of curiofity would it be to
liften to the adventures of thefe foreign travellers,
attraded to us by the gentlenefs of our manners !
They would not be flow in communicating, to
our hofpitality, the fecrets of their plants, of their
induflry, and of their traditions, which they will
for ever conceal from our ambitious commerce.

It is among the members of the vaft family of
Mankind that the fragments of their Hiftory are
fcattered. How interefting would it be to learn
that of our ancient feparation, the motives which
determined each tribe to choofe a feparate habita-
tion, on an unknown Globe; and to traverfe, as
Chance direded, mountains which prefented no
path; and rivers which had not yet received a
name ?

What pidures would be prefented to us in the
defcriptions of thofe countries, decorated with a
pompous magnificence, as they proceeded from
the hands of Nature, but wild, and unadapted to
the neceffities of Man deftitute of experience !
They would paint to us the allonilhment of their
forefathers, at light of the new plants which every

new

STUDY Ir 11^

new Climate exhibited to their view, and the trials
which they made of them, as the means of fubfift-
ence; how they were aided, no doubt, in their
necefTitous circumftances, and in their induftry,
by fonie celeftial Intelligence, who commiferated
their diftrefs; how they gradually formed an efta-
blifhment; what was the origin of their laws, of
their cuftoms, and of their religions.

What afts of virtue, what inftances of generous
love have ennobled the deferts, and are unknown
to our pride ! We flatter ourfelves, that we have
got a clear infight into the Hifhory of foreign Na-
tions, becaufe we have collefled a few anecdotes,
picked up at random by travellers. But this is
much the fame, as if they were to compofe ours
from the tales of a mariner, or the artificial repre-
fentations of a courtier, amidft the jealoufies of
war, or the corruptions of commerce. The know-
ledge and the fentiments of a Nation, are not de-
pofited in books. They repofe in the heads, and
in the hearts, of it's fages ; if there be on Earth
fuch a thing as a fecuie afylum for Truth. We
have already employed ourfelves fufficiently in paf-
fing judgment on them ; it would be of more im-
portance for us, to fubmit to be judged by them,
in our turn, and to profit by their expreffions of
aftonifhment, at fight of our Cuftoms, of our
Sciences, and of our Arts.

I 2 If

Il6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

If it be delightful to acquire knowledge, it is
much more delightful ftill to diffufe it. The
nobleft reward of Science is the pleafure of the
ignorant man inftrufled. What a fublime fatis-
fadtion (hould it be to us, to enjoy their joy, to
behold their dances in our public fquares, and to
hear the drums of the Tartar, and the ivory cornet
of the Negro re-echo round the flatues of our
Kings ! Ah, if we were good, I figure them, to
myfelf, ftruck with aftonifliment and forrow, at
the exceffive and unhappy populoufnefs of our
cities, inviting us to fpread ourfelves over their
folitudes, to contract marriages with them, and by
new alliances to re-unite the branches of the Hu-
man Race, which are unhappily feparating farther
and farther, and which national prejudices dif-
unite ftill more than Ages and Climates !

Alas ! bleflings have been given us in common,
and we communicate to each other only the ills of
life. Man is every where complaining of the
want of land, and the Globe is covered with de-
ferts. Man alone is expofed to famine, while the
animal creation, down to infects, are wallowing in
plenty. Almoft every where he is the ilave of his
equal, while the feebleft of animals maintain their
liberty againft the ftrongeft. Nature, who de-
figned him for love, denied him arms, and he has
forged them for himfelf, to combat his fellow. She

prefents

STUDY I.

117

prefents to all her children afylums and feftivals ;
and the avenues of our cities announce our ap-
proach to them only by the fad fpeâ:acle of wheels
and gibbets. The Hiflory of Nature exhibits
bicffings only, that of Man, nothing but robbery
and madnefs. His heroes are the perfons who
have rendered themfelves the moft tremendous.
Every where he defpifes the hand which fpins the
garment that clothes him, and which cultivates for
him the fertile bofom of the Earth. Every where
he efteems his deceiver, and reveres his opprefTor.
Always diflatisfied with the prefent, he alone of
beings regrets the paft, and trembles at the thought
of futurity. Nature has granted to him alone, the
knowledge of a Deity, and fwarms of inhuman
religions have fprung up out of a fentiment fo
limple and fo confolatory. What, then, is the
power which has oppofed barriers to that of Na-
ture ? What illufion has milled that marvellous
reafon, which has invented fo many arts, except
the art of being happy ? O ye Legiflators ! boaft
no longer of your laws. Either Man is born to
be miferable ; or the Earth every where watered
with his blood, and with his tears, accufes you all
of having mifunderftood thofe of Nature.

'&

He who adapts not himfelf to his Country, his
Country to Mankind, and Mankind to GOD, is
no more acquainted with the laws of Politics, than

I 3 he

Il8 STUDIES OF NATURE.

he who, forming a fyftem of Phyfics for himfelf
alone, and feparating his perfonal relations from
all connedion with the Elements, the Earth, and
the Sun, is acquainted with the Laws of Nature.
To the invefligation of thefe divine harmonies, I
have devoted my life, and this Work. If, like fo
many others, I have gone aftray, at leaft my errors
fliall not be fatal to my religion. It alone appears
to me the natural bond of Mankind, the hope of
our fublime pafiions, and the complement of our
miferable defliny. Happy, if I have been able
f^metimes to prop, with my feeble fupport, that
facred edifice, afiailed as it is, in thefe times, on
every fide ! But it's foundations reft not on the
Earth, and to Heaven it's ftately columns rear
their heads. However bold fome of my fpecula-
tions may be, they have nothing to do with bad
people. But, perhaps, more than one Epicurean
may difcern in them, that Man's fupreme pleafure
is in Virtue. Good citizens will, perhaps, find in
them new means of being ufeful. At lead, I fliall
have the full rccompenfe of my labour, if fo much
as one unfortunate wretch, ready to fmk at the
melancholy fpedacle which the World prefents,
fliall revive, on beholding, in Nature, a Father, a
Friend, a Re warder.

Such was the vail plan I propofcd to execute. I
bad colieded, in this view, more materials than I

had

STUDY I,

119

had occafion for. But a variety of obftacles has
prevented my making a complete arrangement of
them. I iliall, perhaps, refume this employment
in happier times. 1 have, meanwhile, feleded as
much as was fufficient to convey an idea of the
harmonies of Nature. Though my labours are
here reduced to fimple Studies merely, I have,
however, been careful to preferve fo much order,
as was neceflary to unveil my original defign.
Thus, a periftyle, an arcade half in ruins, avenues
of columns, fimple fragments of walls, prefent {lill
to travellers, in an ifle of Greece, the image of an
ancient temple, notwithftanding the ravages of
time, and of the barbarians who demoliihed it.

In fetting out, I change fcarcely any thing of
the Firji Part of my Work, the arrangement ex-
cepted. I there difplay, in the firft place, the be-
nefits conferred by Nature on our World, and on
the Age we live in ; and the objedions which
have been raifed to the Providence of their Au-
thor. I, next, reply fucceffively to thofe which
are ftarted from the diforder of the Elements, of
Vegetables, of Animals, of Man ; and 10 thofe
which are levelled againft the nature of GOD
himfelf. I am bold to affirm, that I have treated
thefe fubjefls, without any peribnal, or extraneous,
confideration whatever. Having replied to thefe
objedions, I propofe fome, in my turn, to the

1 4 elements

120 STUDIES OF NATURE.

elements of human Science, which we deem infal-
lible ; and I combat that pretended principle of
our knowledge, which we call Reafon,

After having cleared the ground of our opi-
nions, in my firft Studies, I proceed, in thofe that
follow, to rear the fabric of human Knowledge. I
examine what may be the portion of our intelli-
gence, at which the light of Nature fixes it's boun-
dary ; and what we underfland by the terms
Beauty, Order, Virtue, and their contraries. I de-
duce the evidence of it, from feveral laws, phyfical
and moral, the fentiment of which is univerfal
among all Nations of the Globe. I afterwards
make application of the phyfical laws, not to the
order of the Earth, but to that of Plants.

I balanced long, I acknowledge, between thefe
two orders. The firft would have exhibited, I
confidently affirm, relations entirely new, ufeful
to Navigation, to Commerce, and to Geography.
But the fécond has prefented me with relations
equally new, equally agreeable, more eafily de-
monftrable to the generality of Readers, of high
importance to Agriculture, and, confequently, to
the moft numerous defcription of Mankind. Be-
fides, fome of the harmonic relations of this Globe
are to be found difplayed in my replies to the ob-
jedions againft Providence, and in the elementary

relations

STUDY I. I2Î

relations of Plants, in a manner fufficiently lumi
nous to demonftrate the exiftence of this new or-
der. The vegetable order has, moreover, furnifhed
me with occafion to fpeak of the relations of the
Globe, which extend diredly to animals and to
men ; and, likewife, to fuggeft fome hints refpeft-
ing the earlieft voyages of the Human Race, to
the principal Quarters of the World.

I apply, in the following Study, the laws of Na-
ture to Man. I eftablifh the proofs of the immor-
tality of the foul, and of the exiftence of the
Deity, not on the principles of our reafon, which
fo frequently mifleads us, but on an intimate feel-
ing, which never deceives nor betrays. I refer to
thofe phyfical and moral laws, the origin of our
predominant paflions. Love and Ambition, and
even the caufes which interrupt the enjoyment of
them, and which render our joys fo tranfient, and
our melancholy fo profound. I flatter myfelf with
the belief, that thefe proofs will intereft the Reader,
both by their novelty, and by their fimplicity.

I proceed, afterwards, from thefe notions, to
propofe the palliatives, and the remedies, adapted
to the ills of Civil Society, the reprefentation of
which is delineated in the firft Volume. It was
not my wifh to imitate the example of moft Mo-
ralifts, who fatisfy themfelves with lafhing vice,

or

122 STUDIES OF NATURE.

or with turning it into ridicule, without either af-
figning the principal caufes, or indicating the re-
medies : much lefs fliall I aft the part of our mo-
dern Politicians, who foment vice, in order to
make a gain of it. I am vain enough to hope,
that this laft Sludy, which has been a mod agreeable
one to myfclf, will exhibit fome views, which may
be rendered highly beneficial to my Country.

The rich and the great imagine, that every one
is miferable, and out of the World, who does not
live as they do ; but they are the perfons who,
living far from Nature, live out of the World.
They would find thee, O eternal Beauty ! always
ancient, and always new * ; O life, pure and blifs-
ful, of all thofe who truly live, if they fought
thee only within themfelves ! Wert thou a fleril
mafs of gold, or a viélorious Prince, who fhall not
be alive to-morrow, or fome attracftive and deceit-
ful female, they would perceive thee, and afcribe
to thee the power of conferring fome pleafure
upon them. Thy vain nature would employ their
vanity. Thou wouldft be an objeft proportioned
to their timid and grovelling thoughts. But, be-
caufc thou art too much within themfelves, where
they never choofe to look, and too magnificent
externally, dilfufing thyfelf through infinite fpace,

* St. Auguftin's City of God.

thou

STUDY I. 123

thou remainefl to them an unknown GOD *. In
lofing themfelves, they have loft thee.

The order, nay, the beauty, with which thou
haft invefted all thy creatures, to ferve as fo many
fteps by which Man may raife himfelf to thee, are
transformed into a veil, which conceals thee from
his fickly eyes. Men have no fight but for vain
fhadows. The light dazzles them. Mere no-
things are to them every thing ; and all-perfedlion
pafles with them for nothing. Neverthelefs, he
who never faw thee, has never feen any thing ; he
who has no relilh for thee is an utter ftranger to
true pleafure ; he is as if he were not, and his
whole life is only a miferable dream.

I myfelf, O my God, milled by the prejudices
of a faulty education, puriued a vain felicity, in
fyftems of Science, in arms, in the favour of the
Great, fometimes in frivolous and dangerous plea-
fures. In all thefe agitations, I was hunting after
calamity, while happinefs was within my reach.
At a diftance from my native Land, I fighed for
joys which it contained not for me j and, never-
thelefs, thou wert beftowing on me bleffings innu-
merable, fcattered by thy bountiful hand over the
whole Earth, which is the Country of Mankind.
I difquieted myfelf to think that I had no power-

* Fenelon, on the Ex jjîence of Gov>,

ful

1Z4 STUDIES OF NATURE.

ful proteélor, that I belonged to no corps ; and
by Thee I have been proteded amidfl a thoufand
dangers, in which they could have afforded me no
afliftance. It grieved me to think of living foli-
tary, unnoticed, unregarded ; and Thou haft
vouchfafed to teach me, that Solitude is far pre-
ferable to the buftle of a Court, and Liberty to
Grandeur. It filled me with many a painful ré-
flexion, that I had not the felicity of being di-
redled to fome fair fpoufe, to be the companion of
my life, and the objed of my affedion ; and thy
wifdom invited me to walk to her habitation, and
difcovered to me, in each of her produftions, an
immortal Venus.

I never ceafed to be happy, but when I ceafed
to truft in Thee. O my God ! give to thefe la-
bours of a man, I do not fay the duration, or the
fpirit of life, but the freflinefs of the leaft of thy
Works ! Let their divine graces be transfufed into
my writings, and bring back a corrupted Age to
Thee, as by them I myfelf have been brought
back ! Oppofed to Thee, all power is weaknefs ;
fupported by Thee, weaknefs becomes irrefiflible
ftrength. When the rude northern blafts have
ravaged the Earth, thou calleft for the feebleft of
winds ; at the found of thy voice, the zephyr
breathes, the verdure revives, the gentle primrofe,
and the humble violet cover the bofom of the bleak
rock with a mantle of gold and purple.

STUDY

STUDY II

125

STUDY SECOND.

BENEFICENCE OF NATURE.

MOST men, in policed Nations, look on Na-
ture with indifference. They are in the
midft of her Works, and they admire only human
grandeur. What charm, after all, can render the
Hiftory of Men fo interefting ? It has to boaft of
vain objeâis of glory alone, of uncertain opinions,
of bloody viftories, or, at mofb, of ufelefs labours.
If Nature, fometimes, finds a place in it, we are
called upon to obferve only the ravages which fhe
has committed, and to hear her charged with a
thoufand calamities, which may be all traced up to
our own imprudence.

With what unremitting attention, on the con-
trary, is this common Mother providing for us
the means of happinefs ! She has diffufed her bene-
fits over the Globe, from Pole to Pole, entirely in
the view of engaging us to unite in a mutual com-
munication of them. She is inceffantly recalling

us.

126 STUDIES OF NATURE.

US, from the prejudices, which unhappily feparate
Mankind, to the univerfal laws of Juftice and Hu-
manity, by frequently putting our ills in the hands
of the fo highly vaunted conquerors, and our plea-
fures in thofe of the oppreffed, whom we hardly
deign to favour with fo much as our pity.

When the Princes of Europe ilTued forth, with
the Gofpels in their hand, to ravage Afia, they
brought back with them the peftilence, the le-
profy, and the fmall-pox ; but Nature pointed out
to a Dervife the coffee plant, in the mountains of
Yemen, and produced, at one and the fame time,
our plagues from our Croifades, and our delicious
beverage from the cup of a Mahometan monk.
The fucceffors of thefe Princes fubjugated the
American Continent, and have tranfmitted to us,
by means of this difcovery and conqueft, an inex-
hauftible fucceffion of wars and venereal difeafes.
While they were exterminating the inoffenfive in-
habitants of it by their murderous artillery, a Ca-
raib, in token of peace, fet the failors a fmoking
his calumet ; the perfume of tobacco diffipated
their chagrin, and the ufe of it is difleminated over
the whole Earth ; and while the miferies of two
Worlds are illuing from the cannon's mouth,
which Kings call their ultima ratio, the confo-
lations of the civilized States of Europe, flream
from the pipe of a Savage.

To

STUDY II. 127

To whom arc we indebted for the ufe of fiigar,
of chocolate, of fo many agreeable means of fub-
fiftence, and fo many falutary medicines ? To
naked Indians, to poor Peafants, to wretched Ne-
gros. The fpade of flaves has done more good,
than the fword of conquerors has done mifchief.
But in which of our great fquares are we to look for
the flatues of our obfcure benefadors ? Our Hifto-
ries have not vouch fafed fo much as to preferve their
names. We need not, however, to go fo far, in
queft of proofs of the obligations under which we
lie to Nature ; Is it not to the ftudy of her laws,
that Paris is indebted for fuch multiplied illumi-
nation, collefled from every quarter of the Globe,
combined a thoufand different ways, and refledied
over Europe in Sciences the moft ingenious, and
enjoyments the moft refined, of every fpecies ?

Where is now the time, when our forefathers
leaped for joy at finding a wild plumb-tree, on
the banks of the Loire ; or at catching a poor roe
in the chace in the vaft plains of Normandy ? Our
fields, now fo richly clothed with harvefts, and
orchards, and flocks, did not then produce the
common necefTaries of life. They wandered up
and down, living on the precarious fupplits of
hunting, and not daring to truft to Nature. Her
limpleft phenomena filled them with terror. They
trembled at the fight of an eclipfe, of an ignis-

fatt'.uSj

123 STUDIES OF NATURE.

fatunSy of a branch of mifletoe on the oak. Not
that they believed the affairs of the World to be
furrendered to Chance. They recognized every
where Gods pofTeffed of intelligence ; but not
daring to believe them good, while cruel priefts
were their only inftruflors in religion, thefe unfor-
tunate people imagined, that the Gods took plea-
fure only in tears, and immolated to them human
vidims, on the very fpot, perhaps, on which now
ftands a receptacle for the wretched *.

Let

* Some Writers, of our own, have comp>ofed the elogium of
the Dniids. I fliall oppofe to them, among other authorities,
that of the Romans, who, it is well known, were abundantly to-
lerant in matters of religion. Cefar, in his Commentaries, in-
forms us, that the Druids, in honour of their Gods, burnt men
in bafkets of ofier ; and that when criminals were wanting for
this horrible purpofe, they facrificed even the innocent. Sueto-
nius, in his life of Claudius, gives this account of the matter :
" The religion of the Druids, too cruel, it muft be confefled,
" and which, from the time of Auguftus had been fimply for-
*' bidden, was by him entirely abolifhed." Herodotus had, long
before, loaded them with the fame reproach.

All that can be oppofed to the teltimony of three Roman Em-
perors, and to that of the Father of Hiftory, is the filly evidence
of the romance of Aftraea. Have we not faults enough juflly
chargeable on ourfelves, without undertaking the difficult talk of
juftifying thofe of our anceftors r They were not, indeed, it muft
be allowed, more culpable than other Nations, who all prefented
human facrifices to the Divinity. Plutarch reproaches the
Romans themfelves, with having immolated, in the earlier times
of the Republic, two Gauls and two Greeks, whom they buried
alive. Is

STUDY II. 129

Let me fuppofe, that a Philofopher, fuch as
Newton, were, then, to have treated them with the
fpectacle of fome of cur natural Sciences, and to
have fhewn them, vvith the microfcope, forefts in
mofs, mountains in grains of fand, thoufands of
animals in drops of water, and all the wonders of
Nature, which, in a downward progrefs to no-
thing, multiplies the refources of her intelligence,
while the human eye becomes incapable of per-
ceiving the boundary : Let me go on to fuppofe,
that afterwards, difcovering to them, in the Hea-
vens, a progreffion of greatnefs equally infinite,
he had (hewn them, in the planets, hardly percep-
tible to the naked eye. Worlds much greater
than ours, Saturn, three hundred millions of
leagues diflant ; in the fixed ftars, infinitely more
remote, Suns which, probably, illuminate other
Worlds ; in the whitenefs of the Milky Way,
ftars, that is Suns, innumerable, fcattered about
in the Heavens, as grains of dull on the Earth,
without Man's knowing whether all this may not

Is it poffible, then, that the firft fentiment of Man, in a ftate
of nature, could have been that of terror ; and that he muft
have believed in the Devil before he believed in God ? O ! no.
It is Man who, univerfally, has mifled Man. One of the great
benefits for which we are indebted to the Chriftian Religion, has
been the deftruftion, in a confiderable part of the World, of
thefe inhuman doélrines and facrifices.

VOL. I. K be

130 iSTUDlES OF NATURE.

be more than the threlhold of Creation merely j
with what tranfports would they have viewed a
fpedlacle which we, at this day, behold without
emotion ?

But I would rather fuppofe, that, unprovided
with the magic of Science, a man like Fenelon had
prefented himfclf to them, in all the majefly of
Virtue, and thus addreffed the Druids : " You
" frighten yourfelves, my friends, with the ground-
" lefs terrors which you inftii into the people.
** God is righteous. He conveys to the wicked
" terrible apprehenfions, which recoil on thofe
" who communicate them. But He fpeaks to all
*' men in the bleffings which He beftows. Your
*^ religion would govern men by fear ; mine draws
" them with cords of love, and imitates his Sun
** in the firmament, whom He caufes to (hine on
" the evil and on the good." Let me, finally,
fuppofe, that, after this, he had diftributed among
them the fimple prefents of Nature, till then un-
known, ilieaves of corn, flips of the vine, flieep
clothed with the woolly fleece : Oh ! what would
have been the gratitude of our grandfathers ! They
would, perhaps, have fled with terror from the
Inventor of the telefcope, mifl:aking him fora Spi-
rit; but, undoubtedly, they would have fallen
down,and worfliipped the Author of Telemachus.

Thefe

studv II. 131

Thefe, after all, are only the fmalleft part of the
blefllngs for which their rich defcendants fland
indebted to Nature. I fay nothing of that infinite
number of arts, which are employed at home, to
difFufe knowledge and delight ; nor of that ter-
rible invention of artillery, which fecures to them
the enjoyment of thefe, while the noife of it dif-
turbs their repofe at Paris, only to announce viflo-
ries ; nor of that new, and ftill more wonderful,
art of eledricity, which fcreens * their hotels from

the

* On the fubjeél of the efFeiHis of Eleftricity, a thought abun-
tlantly impious has been exprefled, in a Latin verfe, the import
of which is, that Man has difarmed the Deity. Thunder is by
no means a particular inftrument of divine Juftice. It is necef-
fary to the purification of the air, in the heats of Summer. God
has permitted to Man the occafional difpofal of it, as He has
given him the power of ufing Fire, of croffing the Ocean, and of
converting every thing in Nature to his advantage. It is the
ancient Mythology, which, reprefenting Jupiter always wielding
the thunder, has infpired us with fo much terror. We find, in
the Holy Scriptures, ideas of the Divinity much more confo-
latory, and a much founder Philofophy. I may, perhaps, be
miftaken, but I do not believe there is a fingle paflage in the
Bible, in which thunder is menrioned as an inftrument of divine
Juftice. Sodom was deftroyed by fliowers of fire and brimftone.
The ten plagues, with which Egypt was fmitten, were the cor-
ruption of the waters, fwarms of reptiles, lice, flies, the pefti-
lence, ulcers, hail, caterpillars, thick darknefs, and the death of
the firft-born. Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, were confumed by
fire ifluing out of the Earth. When the Ifraelites murmured in
the wildernefs of Paran; the fire of the ho-&.v> burnt among theniy

K 2 and

1^1 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the thunder; nor of the privilege which they haVe^
in this venal age, of prefiding, in all States, over
the happinefs of men, when they believe they
have nothing more to fear from the powers of
Earth and Heaven.

But the whole world is engaged only in the pur-
fuit of pleafure. England, Spain, Italy, the Ar-
chipelago, Hungary, all Southern Europe, is add-
ing, every year, wools to their wools, wines to their
wines, filks to their filks. Afia fends them dia-
monds, fpices, muflins, chintzes, and porcelain -,
America, the gold and filver of her mountains,
the emeralds of her rivers, the die-ftuffs of her
forefts, the cochineal, the fugar-cane, and the
cocoa-nut of her fervid plains, which their hands
did not cultivate; Africa, her ivory, her gold, her

and confumed ihem that ivere in the uttenmjl parts of the camp^
Numb. xi. I. In the threatenings denounced againft the people
in Leviticus, no mention is made of thunder. On the contrary,
it was amidfl the noife of thunder that GOD promulgated his law
to his chofen people, from Mount Sinai. Finally, in that fu-
blime piece of poetry, wherein David fummons all the works of
JEHOVAH, to praife him, he calls, among the reft, upon the
thunder ; and it is not foreign to our purpofe to remark, that
he includes, in his fummons, all the meteors which enter into
the neceflary harmony of the Univerfe. He qualifies them with
the majeftic title of the Angels^ and Hojîs of the Most High,
See PJahn cxiviii.

very

STUDY II. 133

very children, which fervc them as beads of bur-
den all over the Globe.

There is not a fpot of the Earth, or of the Sea,
but what furnifhes them with fome article of enjoy-
ment. The gulfs of the Ocean provide them pearls,
it's Ihallovvs, ambergris, and it's icy promontories,
furs. At home, they have reduced the rivers and
mountains to a ftate of vaflalage, in order to re-
ferve to themielves feudal rights to fiftieries and
chafes. But there was no occafion to put theni'
felves to fo much expenfe. The fands of Africa,
where they have no game-keeper, fend them, in
clouds, quails, and other birds of paffage, which
crofs the Sea in Spring, to load their table in Au-
tumn. The Northern Pole, where they have no
cruifer, pours on their fliores, every Summer, le-
gions of mackerel, of frelh cod, and of turbots,
fattened in the long nights of Winter.

Not only the fowls and the fifhes change, for
them, their climate, but the very trees themfelves.
Their orchards, formerly, were tranfplanted from
Afia, and, now, their parks from Am.erica. In-
ftead of the chefnutand walnut, which furrounded
the farms of their vaflals, in the ruftic domains of
their anceftors, the ebony, the forb-apple of Ca-
nada, the great chefnut of India, the magnolium,

K 2 the

134 STUDIES OF NATURE.

rhe tulip-bearing laurel, encircle their country-
palaces with the umbrage of the New World, and,
ere long, of its folitudes. They have fummoned
the jafmin from Arabia, the orange from China,
the pine-apple from Brafil, and a multitude of
fweet-fcenred plants, from every region of the
torrid Zone. They have no longer occafion for
funs : they can difpofe of latitudes. They can
convey, in their hot-houfes, the heats of Syria to
exotic plants, at the very feafon when their hinds
are pcrifliing with the cold of the Alps, in their
hovels.

No one of the productions of Nature can efcape
their avidity. What they cannot have living, they
contrive to have dead. The infeds, birds, (helU
fi(h, minerals, nay, the very foil, of the moft dif-
tant lands, enrich their cabinets. Painting and
engraving prêtent them with the profpeâ:, and
procure them the enjoyment, of the Glaciers of
Switzerland, during the burning heat of the Dog-
days ; and of the Spring of the Canaries, in the
midft of Winter. The intrepid Navigator brings
them, from regions into which the Arts dare not
to penetrate, journals of voyages, ftill more inte-
refting than the produdtions of the pencil ; and
redouble the fjlence, the tranquillity, the fecurity
of their nights, fometimes by a recital of the

horrible

STUDY II. 13^

horrible tempefts of Cape-Horn, fometimes by
that of the dances of the happy Illanders of the
South-Seas.

Not only every thing that aélually exifts, but
Ages paft, all contribute to their felicity. Not
for the Temple of Venus only did Corinth invent
thofe beautiful columns, rifing like palm-trees;
no, but to fupport the alcoves of their beds.
There voluptuous Art veils the light of the day
through taffetas of every colour ; and imitating,
by foftened reflexes, either of moon-light, or of
fun-rifing, reprefents the objeds of their loves like
fo many Dianas or Auroras. The art of Phidias
has for them produced a contrafl to female beauty,
in the venerable bulls of a Socrates and a Plato.

Obfcure fcholars, by efforts of labour, which
nothing can remunerate, have, for them procured
the knowledge of the fublime geniufes, who were
ornaments of the World, in times nearer to the
Creation ; Orpheus, Zoroafler, Efop, Lokman,
David, Solomon, Confucius, and a multitude of
others, unknown even to Antiquity. It was not
for the Greeks, it is for them, that Homer ftill fings
of Heroes and of Gods, and that Virgil warbles
the notés of the Latin flute, which raviflied the
ears of the Court of Auguftus, and there rekindled
the love of Country and of Nature. For them it

K 4 is

136 STUDIES OF NATURE.

is that Horace, Pope, Addiron,Ila Fontaine, Gef-
ner, have fmoothed the rough paths of Wifdom,
and have rendered them more acceffible, and more
lovely, than the treacherous fteeps of Folly.

A multitude of Poets and Hiftorians of all Na-
tions, a Sophocles, an Euripides, a Corneille, a
Racine, a Shakefpear, a TafTo, a Xenophon, a
Tacitus, a Plutarch, a Suetonius, introduce them
into the very clofets of thofe terrible Potentates,
who bruifed, with a rod of iron, the head of the
Nations, whofe happinefs was intruded to their
care, and call them to rejoice in their happy def-
tiny, and to hope for a better ftill, under the reign
of another Antoninus. Thofe vafh geniufes, of all
Ages, and of all Countries, celebrating, without
concert, the undecaying luftre of Virtue, and the
Providence of Heaven, in the punifhment of Vice,
add the authority of their fublime reafon to the
"univerfal inftinâ: of Mankind, and multiply a
thoufand and a thoufand times, in their favour,
the hopes of another life, of much longer duration,
and of more exalted felicity.

Does it not feem reafonable, that a chorus of
praife Hiould afcend, day and night, from the
dome of every hotel, to the Author of Nature ?
Never did ancient King of Afia accumulate (o
many means of enjoyment, in Suza, or Ecbatana,

as

STUDY II.

137

as our common tradefmen do in Paris. Thefe Mo-
narchs, neverthelefs, every day paid adoration to
the Gods ; they would engage in no enterprize
till the Gods were confuked ; they would not fo
much as fit down to table, until the libation of
religious acknowledgment was poured out. Would
to GOD that our Epicureans were chargeable with
indifference only to the hand which is continually
loading them with benefits ! But it is from the
very lap of plenteoufnefs and pleafure, that the
voice of murmuring againfi: Providence now arifes.
From their Libraries, ftored with fo many fources
of knowledge, iflfue forth the black clouds which
have obfcured the hopes and the virtues of Eu-
rope.

STUDY

STUDY III.

'3?

STUDY THIRD.

OBJECTIONS AGAINST PROVIDENCE.

^^ npHERE is no God,'* fay thefe felf-con-
JL ftituted fages. . " From the work form
*' your judgment of the workman "*. Obferve,
** firft of all, this Globe of ours, fo deftitute
" of proportion and fymmetry. Here it is de-
** luged by vaft feas ; there it is parched with
** thirft, and prefents only wildernefTes of barren
" fand. A centrifugal force, occafioned by it's
*' diurnal rotation, has heaved out it's Equator
*' into enormous mountains, while it flattened
" the Poles : for the Globe was originally in
** a flate of foftnefs ; whether it was a mud re-
*' covered from the empire of the Waters, or,
** what is more probable, a fcum detached from
" the Sun. The volcanos, which are fcattered
*' over the whole Earth, demonftrate, that the
f fire which formed it is Hill under our feet. Over

* See replies to this objedion in Study IV.

this

140 STUDIES OF NATURE.

*' this fcoria, fo wretchedly levelled, the rivers run
" as chance direfts. Some of them inundate the
" plains i others are fvvallowed up, or precipi-
*' pitate themfelves in cataradls, and no one of
" them prefents any thing like a regular current.
'' The Iflands, are merely fragments of the Conti-
*' nent, violently feparated from it by the Ocean ;
'* and what is the Continent itfelf, but a mafs of
** hardened clay ? Here the unbridled Deep de-
*' vours it's fhores j there, it deferts them, and
" exhibits new mountains, which had been formed
*' in it's womb. Amidft this conflicl of contend-
" ing elements, this baked lump grows harder and
" harder, colder and colder, every day. The ices
" of the Poles, and of the lofty mountains, ad-
" vance into the plains, and infenfibly extend the
*' uniformity of an eternal Winter over this mafs
*' of confufion, ravaged by the Winds, the Fire,
*' and the Water.

" In the vegetable World, the diforder increafes
" upon us *. Plants are a fortuitous producflion,
" of humid and dry, of hot and cold, the mould
*' of the Earth merelv. The heat of the Sun makes
" them fpring up, the cold of the Poles kills
" them. Their fap obeys the fame mechanical
** laws with the liquid in the thermometer, and in

* The reply is in Study V.

«' capillary

STUDY III. 141

** capillary tubes. Dilated by heat, it afcends
" through the wood, and re-defcends through the
«' rind, following in it's diredion the vertical co-
** lumn of the air which imprefles that direflion.
" Hence it is that all vegetables rife perpendicu-
" cularly, and that the inclined plane of a moun-
*^ tain can contain no more than the horizontal
*' plane of it's bafe, as may be demonftrated by
" Geometry. Befides, the Earth is an ill-afforted
'^ garden, which prefents, almoft every where,
*' ufelefs weeds, or mortal poifons,

" As to the animals, which we know better,
*' becaufe they are brought nearer to us, by fimilar
'' affedlions, and fimilar wants, they prefent ftill
*' greater abfurdities *. They proceeded, at firft,
" from the expanfive force of the Earth, in the
" firft Ages of the World, and were formed out of
" the fermented mire of the Ocean and of the
" Nile, as certain Hiflorians aflure us ; among
" others Herodotus, who had his information
" from the Priefts of Egypt. Moft of them are
" out of all proportion. Some have enormous
** heads and bills, fuch as the toucan ; others long
*' necks and long legs, like the crane : thefe have
'^ no feet at all, thofe have them by hundreds ;

* The reply to this is in Study VI.

"^ others

14a STUDIES OF NATURE.

*' Others have theirs disfigured by fuperfluous ex-
" crefcences, fuch as the meaninglefs fpurs of the
*' hog, which, appended at the diftance of fome
*' inches from his feet, can be of no fervice to him
** in walking.

*' There are animals fcarcely capable of motion,
'* and which come into the World in a paralytic
*' flate, fuch as the floth or fluggard, who cannot
" make out fifty paces a day, and fcreams out la-
'* men tab) y as he goes.

*' Our cabinets of Natural Hiflory are filled
*' with monflers ; bodies with two heads ; heads
*' with three eyes, flieep with fix feet, &c. which
" demonftrate that Nature ads at random, and
*' propofes to herfelf no determinate end, unlefs it
** be that of combining all poflible forms : and,
" after all, this plan would denote an intention
** which it*s monotony difavows. Our Painters
** will always imagine many more beings than can
*' poffibly be created. Add to all this, the rage and
" fury which dcfolate every thing that breathes :
" the hawk devours the harmlefs dove in the face
*' of Heaven.

** But the difcord which rages amons: animals
'* is nothing, compared to that which confumes

*' the

STUDY III.

^43

"* the human race *. Firft, feveral different fpecies
** of men, fcattered over the earth, demonftrate
** that they do not all proceed from the fame ori-
" ginal. There are fome black, others white, red,
" copper-coloured, lead- coloured. There are fome
" who have wool inftead of hair ; others who have
" no beard. There are dwarfs and giants. Such
*' are, in part, the varieties of the human fpecies,
** every where equally odious to Nature. No
*' where does flie nourifli him with perfe6t good-
**' will. He is the only fenfible being laid under
" the necefllty of cultivating the earth, in order to
" fubfift : and, as if this unnatural mother were
*' determined to perfecute, with unrelenting feve-
" rity, the child whom fhe has brought forth, in-
*' fedts devour the feed as he fows it, hurricanes
** fweep away his harvefts, ferocious animals prey
*' on his cattle, volcanos and earthquakes deftroy
" his cities ; and the pellilence which, from time
** to time, makes the circuit of the Globe, threat-
*' ens, at length, his utter extermination.

*' He is indebted to his own hands for his intel-
** ligence, his morality is the creature of climate,
" his governments are founded in force, and his
*' religion in fear. Cold gives him energy; heat
" relaxes him. Warlike and free in the North,

* The reply is in Study VII.

he

144 STUDIES OF NATURE.

*' he is a coward and a flave between the Tropics.
*' His only natural laws are his paffions. And,
*' what other laws fhould he look for ? If they
" fometimes lead him aftray, is not Nature, who
*' beftowed them upon him, an accomplice, at
*' leaft, in his criminality? But he is made fenfible
'* of theit impulfe, only as a warning never to gra-
" tify them.

*' The difficulty of finding fubfiftence, wars,
'* impofts, prejudices, calumnies, implacable ene-
*' mies, perfidious friends, treacherous females,
" four hundred forts of bodily diflemper, thofe of
*' the mind, both more cruel and more numerous,
*' render him the moft wretched of creatures that
*' ever faw the light. It were much better that he
" had never been born. He is every where the
'' vidim of fome tyrant. Other animals are fur-
*' nifhed with the means of fighting, or, at leafl,
'' of flying ; but Man has been tofTed on the Earth
*' by chance, without an afylum, without claws,
** without fangs, without velocity, without inflind,
** and almoft without a fkin ; and as if it were not
'* enough for him to be perfecuted by all nature,
" he is in a flate of perpetual war with his own
" fpecies. In vain would he try to defend himfelf
*' from it. Virtue ftcps in, and bind his hands,
•' that vice, in fafety, may cut his throat. He
*' has no choice but to fuffer, and to be filent. ■

" What

STUDY 111. 14^

" What, after all, is this virtue, about which
** fuch parade is made ? A combination of his im-
"beciliry; a refult of his temperament. With
*' what illufions is flie fed ? Abfurd opinions,
*' founded merely on the fophifms of defigning
** men, who have acquired a fupreme power by
" recommending humility, and immenfe riches
*' by preaching up poverty. Every thing expires
" with us. From experience of the paft, let us
*' form a judgment of the future; we were no-
" thing before our birth ; we fhall be nothing after
*' death. The hope of our virtues is a mere hu-
" man invention, and the inftinâ: of our paffions
*' is of divine inftitution.

" But there is no GOD *. If there were, He
" would be unjuft. What being, of unlimited
" power and goodnefs, would have expofed, to fo
" many ills, the exillence of his creatures j and
" laid it down as a law, that the life of fome could
" be fupported only by the death of others ? So
** much diforder is a proof that there is no GOD.
" It is fear that formed him. How muft the
*' World have been aftoniflied at fuch a metaphy-
" fical idea, when Man firfb, under the influence
'* of terror, thought proper to cry out, that there

* The reply is in Study VIII. '
VOL. I. L ** was

146 STUDIES OF NATURE.

" was a GOD ! What could have made him
'' GOD ? Why fliould he be GOD ? What plea-
*' fure could he take in that perpetual circle of
" woes, of regenerations, and deaths *.'*

* The refutation of thefe objeflions will be found by the
numeral charafters, which correfpond lo each particular Study.
All of them are there refolved dirci^ly, or indireélly : for it
was not poffible to follow, in a Work of this kind, the fcholaftic
order of a fyflem of philolbphy.

STUDY

STUDY IV. 147

STUDY FOURTH.

REPLIES TO THE OBJECTIONS AGAINST PROVIDENCE.

SUCH are the principal objeftions which have
been raifed, in almoft every Age, againft a
Providence, and which no one will accufe me of
having dated too feebly. Before 1 attempt a re-
futation of them, I muft be permitted to make a
few refledtions on the perfons who maintain them.

Did thefe murmurings proceed from fome
wretched mariners, expofed at fea to all the re-
volutions of the Atmofphere, or from fome op-
prelfed peafant, labouring under the contempt of
that fociety whom his labour is feeding, my afto-
ni(hment would be lefs. But our Atheifts arc,
for the mofl part, well iheltered from the injuries
of the Elements, and efpecially from thofe of For-
tune. The greateft part of them have never fo
much as travelled. As to the ills of Civil Society,
they mod unreafonably complain ; for they enjoy
it's fweeteft and molt refpeélful homage, after

L 2 having

I4S STUDIES OF NATURE.

having burJl afunder all it's bands, by the propa-
gation of their opinions. What have they not
written on Friendfliip, on Love, on Patriotifm,
and on all the Human Affeftions, which they
have reduced to the level of thofe of the beads,
while fome of them could render human affedion
almofl divine by the fublimity of their talents !

Are not they, in part, the veryperfons to whom
many of our calamities may be juftly imputed,
for their flattering, in a thoufand different ways,
the paffions of our modern tyrants, whilft a crofs,
rifmg in the midft of a defert, comforts the mi-
ferable ? It is a matter of no fmall difficulty to re-
tain thefe laft in a rational devotion ; and it is a
moral phenomenon which appeared to me, for a
long time, inexplicable, to behold, in every Age,
atheifm fpringing up among men who had moft
reafon to cry up the goodnefs of Nature, and
fuperfticion among thofe who have the jufteft
ground of complaint againft her. It is amidft the
luxury of Greece and Rome, in the bofom of the
wealth of Indoftan, of the pomp of Perfia, of the
voluptuoufnefs of China, of the overflowing abun-
dance of European Capitals, that men firft ftarted
up, who dared to deny the exiftence of a Deity.
On the contrary, the houfelefs Tartars ; the Sa-
vages of America, continually prefled with fa-
mine ; the Negros, without forefight, and without

a police ;

STUDY IV.

149

a police ; the inhabitants of the rude climates of
the North, fuch as the Laplanders, the Green-
landers, the Efquimaux, fee Gods every where,
even in a flint.

I long thought that atheifm, in the rich and
luxurious, was a diftate of confcience. ** I am
" rich, and I am a knave," muft be their reafon-
ing, " therefore there is no GOD." " Befides,
" if there is a GOD, I have an account to ren-
" der." But thefe reafonings, though natural, arc
not general. There are atheifts, who poffefs legi-
timate fortunes, and ufe them morally well, at
leaft externally. Befides, for the contrary reafon,
the poor man ought to argue thus ; *' I am induf-
*' trious, honeft, and miferable ; therefore there
** muft be no Providence." But in Nature herfelf
we muft look for the fource of this unnatural ra-
tiocination.

In all countries, the poor rife early, labour the
ground, live in the open air, and in the fields.
They are penetrated with that adtive power of Na-
ture vvhich fills the Univerfe. But their reafon^
finking under the preflure of calamity, and di-
flraded by their daily occafions, is unable to
fupport it's luftre. It ftops fliort, without genera-
lizing, at the fenfible effeds of this invifible caufe.
They believe, from a fentiment natural to weak

L 3 minds.

150 STUDIES OF NATURE.

minds, that the objeâ:s of their religious vvorfhip
will be at their difpofal, in proportion as they are
within their reach. Hence it is that the devotions
of the common people, in every country, are pre-
fented in the fields, and have natural objeds for
their centre. It always attracts the religion of the
peafantry. A hermitage on the fide of a mourv-
tain, a chapel at the fource of a ftream, a good
image of the Virgin, in wood, niched in the trunk
of an oak, or under the foliage of a hawthorn,
have, to them, a much more powerful attradtion
than the gilded altars of our Cathedrals. I except
thofe, however, whom the love of money has com-
pletely debauched, for fuch perfons muft have
faints of filver, even in the country.

The principal religious aéls of the people in
Turkey, in Perfia, in the Indies, and in China,
are pilgrimages in the fields. The rich, on the
contrary, prevented in all their wants and wiflies
by men, no longer look up to GOD for anything.
Their whole life is pafled within doors, where
they fee only the produdions of human induftry,
luftres, wax-candles, mirrors, fecretaries, parafites,
books, wits. They come infenfibly to lofe fight
of Nature; whofe productions are, befidcs, almoft
always exhibited to them disfigured, or out of
feafon, and always as an effed of the art of their
gardeners, or artifans.

They

STtJDT IV, t^t

They fail not, likewife, to interpret her fublimc
operations, by the mechanifm of the arts moft fa-
miliar to them. Hence fo many fyftems, which
eafily enable you to guefs at the occupation of
their authors. Epicurus, exhaufted by voluptu-
oufnefs, framed his world and his atoms, with
which Providence has nothing to do, out of his
own apathy J the Geometrician forms it with his
compaffes ; the Chymifb compounds it of faits ;
the Mineralogift extrads it from the fire -, and
they who apply themfelves to nothing, and thefe
are not few in number, fuppofe it, like themfelves,
in a ftate of chaos, and moving at random.

Thus, the corruption of the heart is the original
fource of our errors. Afterwards, the Sciences
employing, in the inveftigation of natural things,
definitions, principles, methods, invefted with a
great geometrical apparatus, feem, by this pre-
tended order, to reduce to order what widely de-
viates from it. But fuppofmg this order to exift,
fuch as they prefent it to us, of what ufe could ic
be to Man ? Would it be fufficient to reftrain, and
to confole, the miferable; and what intereft will
they take in that of a fociety which tramples them
under foot, when they have nothing to hope from
that of Nature, who abandons them to the laws of
motion ?

L 4 I now

152 STUDIES OF NATURE.

I now proceed to anfwer, one after another, the
objeflions, formerly ftated, againft Providence,
founded on the diforders of the Globe ; of vege-
tables, of animals, of Man, and on the nature of
GOD himfelf.

Replies to the Objctiions againft Providence ^ founded
on the Diforders of the Globe,

Though my ignorance of the means employed
by Nature, in the government of the World, is
greater than I am able to exprefs ; it is fufficient,
however, to throw one's eyes on a geographical
chart, and to have read a little, to be enabled to
demonftrate that thofe, by which her operations
are pretendedly explained to us, have no founda-
tion in truth. From human infufficiency fpring
the objeclions levelled at the divine Providence.

Firft, it appears, to me, no more natural to com-
pofe the uniform motion of the Earth through the
Heavens, of the two motions of projeftion and
attraction, than to attribute to fimilar caufes, that
of a man walking on the Earth. The centrifugal
and centripetal forces feem, to me, no more to
exift in the Heavens, than the two circles denomi-
nated the Equator and the Zodiac. Howeyer in-
genious

STUDY IV.

153

gênions thefe hypothefes may be, they are only
fcaffbldings imagined by men of genius, for rearing
the fabric of Science, but which no more affift us
in penetrating into the fancftuary of Nature, than
thofe employed in the conftruélion of our churches,
can introduce us into the fanéluary of Religion.
Thefe combined forces are no moie the movingr
principle of the courfe of the ftars, than the cir-
cles of the fphere are their barriers. They are
Cgns merely, which have, at laft, ufurped the place
of the objedts which they were intended only to
reprefent, like every thing elfe of human efta-
blifhment.

If a centrifugal force had fwelled the mountains
of the Globe, when it was in a ftate of fufion,
there muft have been mountains much more ele-
vated than the Andes of Peru and Chili. That of
Chimboraco, which is the higheft of them, is only
3220, or 3350 fathoms in height, for the Sciences
are not perfectly agreed, even in matters of obfer-
vation. This elevation, which is nearly the greatefl:
known on Earth, is lefs perceptible on it than the
third part of a line would be on a globe of fix feet
diameter. Now, a mafs of melted metal prefents,
in proportion to it's fize, fcorias much more con-
fiderable. Look at the anfraftuofities of a fimple
morfel of iron-drofs. What frightful fwellings,
then, muft have been formed on a globe, of hete-
rogeneous

154

STUDIES OF NATURE.

rogeneous and fermenting materials, more than
three thoufand leagues thick ? The Moon, whofe
diameter is much lefs confidcrable, contains, ac-
cording to Cajfmi, mountains three leagues high.
But what would be the cafe if, with the adion of
the heterogeneoufnefs of our terreftrial materials,
all in fufion, we fhould befides fuppofe that of a
centrifugal force, produced by the Earth's rota-
tory motion round it's axis ? I imagine that this
force muft have been neceflarily exerted in the di-
reftion of its Equator, and inftead of forming it
into a globe, muft have flattened it out in the
Heavens, like thofe large plates of glafs which
glafs-blowers expand with their breath.

Not only the diameter of the Earth, at the
Equator, is no greater than under it's Meridians,
but the mountains there are not more elevated than
elfewhere. The noted Andes of Peru have not
their commencement at the Equator, but feveral
degrees beyond it, toward the South ; and coafting
along Peru, Chili, and Magellan's land, ftop at
the tifty-fifth degree of Southern Latitude, in the
Terra del Fuego, where they prefent to the Ocean
a promontory of eternal ice, of a prodigious
height. Through the whole extent of this im-
menfe track, they never open but at the Straits of
Magellan, forming throughout, according to the

teftimony

STUDY IV.

155

teftimony of Garcilla/o de la Vega *, a rampart for-
tified with pyramids of ice, inacceffible to men,
to quadrupeds, and even to birds.

The mountains of the iflhmus of Panama, on
the contrary, which are nearly under the Line,
have an elevation fo fmall, in comparifon with the
Andes, that Admiral An/on, who had coafted along
the whole, relates, that on his arriving at thefe
heights, he experienced flifling heats, becaufe the
air, fa5^s he, was not refrelhed by the Atmofphere
of the lofty mountains of Chili and Peru.

The hlgheft mountains of Alia are entirely out
of the Tropics. The chain, known by the names
of Taurus and Imaus, commences, in Africa, at
Mount Atlas, toward the thirtieth degree of nor-
thern latitude. It runs acrofs all Africa and all
Afia, between the thirty-eighth and fortieth de-
gree of north latitude, having it*s fummit covered,
for the moft part, through that immenfe extent,
with fnows that never melt ; a proof, as (hall after-
wards be demonftrated, of a very confiderable
elevation.

Mount Ararat, which makes part of this chain,
is, perhaps, more elevated than any mountain of

* Hiftory of the Incas. Book I. chap. 8.

the

136 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the New World, if we form a judgment from the
time which Tournefort^ and other travellers, took
to perform the diftance from the bafis of that
mountain, up to the commencement of the fnow
which covers it's fummit, and, which is lefs arbi-
trary, from the diftance at which it may be feen,
and that is, at leaft, fix days journey of a caravan.

The Peak of TenerifF is vifible forty leagues off.
The mountains of Norway called Felices, and, by
fome, the Alps of the North, are vifible at fea
fifty leagues diftantj and, if we may believe an
ingenious Swedilh Geographer, are three thoufand
fathoms high.

The peaks of Spitzberghen, of New-Zealand,
of the Alps, of the Pyrennées, of Switzerland, and
thofe on which ice is found, all the year round,
are exceedingly elevated ; though moft of them
very remote from the Equator. They do not even
run in diredtions parallel to that circle, as muft
have been the cafe, on the fuppofition of the ef-
feâ: produced by the rotation of the Globe ; for if
the chain of Taurus, in the ancient Continent, runs
from Weft to Eaft, that of the Andes, in the new,
runs from North to South. Other chains proceed
in other diredions.

But

STUDY IV. 157

But if the pretended centrifugal force had, once,
the power of heaving up mountains, why does it
not poflefs, at this day, the power of tofling up a
ilraw into the air ? It ought not to leave a fingle
detached body on the fur face of the Earth. They
are affixed to it, I fliall be told, by the centripetal
force, or gravity. But if this laft power, in fadl,
forces every body toward ir, why have not the
mountains too fubmitted to this univerfal law,
when they were in a ftatc of fufion? I cannot con-
ceive what reply can be made to this twofold ob-
jedion.

The Sea appears, to me, not more adapted to
the formation of mountains, than the centrifugal
force is. How is it poflible to imagine the pofli-
bility of it's having thrown them out of it's womb?
It is incontrovertible, however, that marbles, and
calcareous ftones, which are only paftes of madre-
pores and of fhells amalgamated; that flints, which
are concretions of thefe -, that marles, which are
a dilTolution of them ; and that all marine bodies,
which are found in every part of both Continents,
have iflued out of the Sea. Thefe matters ferve
as a bafis to great part of Europe ; hills of a very
confiderable height are compofed of them, and
they are found in many parts of both the Old and
New Worlds, at an equal degree of elevation.
But their ftrata cannot be explained by any of the

aduai

138 STUDIES OF NATURE.

aétual movements of the Ocean. In vain would
we afcribe to it revolutions from Weft to Eaft ;
never will it have the power of railing any thing
above it's level. If certain ports of the Mediter-
ranean are produced as inftances, which the Sea
has adlually left dry, it is no lefs certain, that there
is a much greater number, on the fame coafts,
which the water has not deferted. Hear what is
faid on the fubjed by that judicious Obferver
Maundrely in his journey from Aleppo to Jerufa-
lem, in 1669 : " In the Adriatic Gulf, the light-
" houfe of Arminium, or Rimini, is a league from
'* the fea j but Ancona, built by the Syracufans,
'' is ftill clofe to the (hore. The arch of Trajan,
*' which rendered it's port more commodious for
** merchants, is fituated immediately upon it. Be-
'^ ritta, the favourite fpot of Auguftus, who gave
" it the name of Jtdia Felix, preferves no remains
** of it's ancient beauty, except it's fituation on
" the brink of the Sea, above which it is elevated
" no higher than is neceflary to fecure it againft
** the inundations of that element."

The teftimony of travellers the moft accurate,
is conformable to that of this ingenious Englifli
gentleman. His compatriot, Richard Pocock, who
travelled into Egypt in 1737, with lefs tafte, but
with ftill greater accuracy, attefts, that the Medi-
terranean has gained fully as much ground as it

has

STUDlT IV.

159

has loft*, ''Nothing more is neceflary," fays
** he, " to produce a conviâiion of this, than to
*' examine the coaft ; for you will fee, under wa-
*' ter, not only a variety of artificial productions,
*' manufadured in the rock, but, likewife, the
" ruins of many edifices. About two miles from
^* Alexandria are to be feen, under water, the ruins
•* of an ancient temple."

An anonymous Engliih traveller, in the journal
of a voyage ftored with excellent obfervations, de-
fcribcs feveral very ancient cities of the Archipe-
lago, fuch as Samos, the ruins of which are clofe
to the Sea. Hear what he fays of Delos, which is,
as every one knows, in the centre of the Cyclades-f-,
" We found nothing elfe, all along the coafl, but
*' the remains of fuperb edifices, which had never
** been completed, and the ruins of others which
*' have been deftroyed. The Sea appears to have
*' gained on the Ifle of Delos; and the water be-
** ing clear, and the weather calm, we had an op-
*' portunity of obferving the remains of beautiful
" buildings, in places where now the fifhes fwim
" at their eafe, and on which the fmall boats of
** thefe cantons row, to get at the coaft."

* Travels into Egypt. Vol. I. page 4 and 30.
t Voyage into France, Italy, and the Iflands of the Archi-
pelago, in 1763. Vol. iv. Letter cxxvii. page 256.

The

l6o STUDIES OF NATURE.

The ports of Marfeilles, Carthage, Malta,
Rhodes, Cadiz, &c. are ftill frequented by Navi-
gators, as they were in the remoteft Antiquity.
The Mediterranean could not have funk at any
one point of its fliores, without finking at every
other, for water in the bafon always comes to it's
level. This reafoning may be extended to all the
coafts of the Ocean. If there are found any where
tracks of land abandoned, it is not becaufe the Sea
retires, but becaufe the Earth is gaining ground.
This is the effeâ: of allufions, occafioned frequently
by the overflowing of rivers, and fometimes by the
ill-advifed labours of Man. The encroachments of
the Sea on the Land are equally local ; and are the
effed of earthquakes, which can be extended to no
great diftance. As thefe reciprocal invafions of
the two Elements are particular, and frequently in
oppofition on the fame coafts, which have, in other
refpeds, conftantly preferved their ancient level,
it is impofTible to deduce from them any general
law for the movements of the Ocean.

We (hall prefently examine, how fo many ma-
rine foffds could have been extraded from it's
bed ; and I confidently believe that, conformably
to refpedable traditions, we fliall be able to ad-
vance fomething on this fubject, not unworthy of
the Reader's attention. To return, then, to other
mountains, fuch as thofe of granite, which are the,

higheft

STUDY IV. t6t

higheft on the Globe, and the formation of which
has not been imputed to the Sea, becaufe they con-
tain no depofit to atteft fuch tranfition, the fame
Naturalifts employ another fyftem to account for
their origin. They fuppofe a primitive Earth,
whofe height equalled that of the prefent elevation
of the higheft peaks of the Andes, of Mount Tau-
rus, of the Alps, &c. which remains fo many evi-
dences of the exiftence of that primeval foil : after
this, they employ fnows, rains, winds, and I know
not what befides, to lower this original Continent
down to the brink of the Sea ; fo that we inhabit
only the bottom of this enormous quagmire. This
idea has an impofing air ; firft, becaufe it terrifies ;
and then, becaufe it is conformable to that pifture
of apparent ruin which the Globe prefents : but it
vanilhes away before this limple queftion, What
has become of the earth and the rocks of this tre-
mendous ridance ?

If it is faid, they have been thrown into the Sea.
We muft fuppofe, prior to all degradation, the
exiftence of the bed of the Sea, and it's excavation
would then prefent a great many other difficulties.
But let us admit it. How comes it that thefe ruins
have not, in part, accumulated ? Why has not the
Sea overflowed ? How can it have happened, on
the contrary, that it (hould have deferted fuch im-
menfe tracks of land, as are fufficient to form the

VOL. I, M greateft

102 STUDIES OF NATURE.

greateft part of two vafl: Continents ? Our fyftems,
therefore, cannot account for the fteepy elevation
of mountains of granite, by any kind of degrada-
tion, becaufe they know not how to difpofe of the
fragments J nor for the formation of calcareous
mountains, by the movements of the Ocean, be-
caufe, in it's adual flate, it is incapable of cover-
ing them.

Befides, it is not an opinion of yefterday, that
Philofophers have confidered the Earth as a de-
caying edifice. Hear what Baron Bii/heqiiius fays
of the opinion of Polybius, in his curious and en-
tertaining letters : " Polybiiis pretends to have
" proved, that the entrance of the Black Sea
** would, in procefs of time, be choked by the
" banks of fand, and by the mud, which the Da-
** nube and the Boriflhenes were conftantly forcing
" into it : and that, confequently, the Black Sea
" would be rendered inacceffible, and it's com-
" merce entirely deftroyed. The fea of Pontus,
" neverthelefs, is juft as navigable at this hour as
** in the days of Polybiiis *."

Bays, gulfs, and mediterranean feas, are no more
the effedts of irruptions of the Ocean into the
Land, than mountains are produftions of the cen-

* Letter I. page 131.

trifugal

STUDY IV. 163

tiifugal motion. Thefe pretended diforders are
neceflary to the harmony of all the parts of the
Earth. Let us fuppofe, for example, that ihe
Straits of Gibraltar were clofed, as it has been faid
was formerly the cafe, and that the Mediterranean
exifted no longer. What would become of fo
many rivers of Europe, Afia, and Africa, whicii
are kept flowing by the vapours which afcend
out of that Sea, and bring back their waters to it,
in a wonderful exa6tnefs of proportion, as the cal-
culations of many ingenious men have demon-
ftrated .'* The North winds, which conftantly re-
frefh Egypt in Summer, and which convey the
emanations of the Mediterranean as far as the
mountains of Ethiopia, to fupply the fources of the
Nile, blowing, in this cafe, over a fpace deflitute
of water, would carry drought and barrennefs over
all the northern regions of Africa, and even into
the interior of that Continent.

The fouthern parts of Europe would fare flill
worfe ; for the hot and parching winds of Africa,
which load themfelves with fo many rainy cloud-,
as they crofs the Mediterranean, now blowing over
the dry bed of that Sea, without tempering the
hear by humidity of any kind, v/ould blafl, with
fcorching fterility, all that vaft region of Europe,
which extends from the Straits of Gibraltar to the
Euxine Sea, and utterly dry up all the countries

M 2 though

164 STUDIES OF NATURE.

through which, at prefent, flow a multitude of
rivers, fuch as the Rhone, the Po, the Danube, &c.

Befides, it is not fufficicnt to fuppofe, that the
Ocean forced a paffage into the bed of the Medi-
terranean, as a river fpreads over a champaign
country, after having overflowed it's banks ; it:
muft farther be fuppofed, that the track of land
innundated was lower than the Ocean, a pheno-
menon not to be met with in any other part of the
terra-firma, all of which is above the level of the
Sea, thofe parts excepted which have been wrefted
from the Deep by means of human induftry, as is
the cafe in Holland.

It mufl Hill farther be fuppofed, that a lateral
finking of the Earth muft have taken place all
round the bafon of the Mediterranean, to regulate
the circuits, declivities, canals, and windings of
fo many rivers, which come from fuch a diftance
to empty themfelves into it, and that this linking
mufl have been effected with admirable propor-
tions : for thefe rivers, iffuing, in many cafes, from
one and the fame mountain, arrive, by the fame
declivities, to diftances widely different, without
their channel's ceafmg to be full, or their water's
flowing too fafb or too flow, notwithftanding the
difference of their courfes and levels.

It

STUDY IV. 165

It is not, then, to an irruption of the Ocean that
we are to afcribe the Mediterranean, but to an ex«
cavation of the Globe, more than twelve hundred
leagues long, and above eight hundred broad,
which has been executed with difpofitions fo happy,
and fo favourable to the circulation of fo many la-
teral rivers, that if time permitted me to trace
the courfe of any lingle one, it would be evident
how deftitute of all foundation the fuppofition is
which I am combating. Earthquakes, indeed,
produce excavations, but of fmall extent; and
which, far from forming channels for rivers, fome-
times abforb the courfe of rivulets, and change
them into pools, or marfhes.' Thefe hypothefes
may be applied to all gulfs, bays, great lakes, and
mediterranean feas ,• and we fliall be convinced,
that if thefe interior waters did not exift, not a
fountain would remain in the greateft part of the
habitable Globe.

If we would form a juft idea of the order of
Nature, we mult give up our circumfcribed ideas
of human order. We mufl renounce the plans of
our Architedture, which frequently employs flraight
lines, that the weaknefs of our fight may be en-
abled to take in the whole extent of our domain at
a fingle glance ; which fymmetrizes all our diftrl-
butions, and which, in conftrutfling our houfes,
places wings to the right, and wings to the left,

M 3 that

l66 STUDIES OP NATURE.

that all the parts of our habitation may be com-
prehended in a fingle view, while we occupy the
centre ; and which levels, fits to the plummet,
fmooihs, and poliQies the ftones employed in
building, that the monuments we raife may be foft
to the eye and to the touch. The harmonies of
Nature are not thofe of a Sybarite ; but they are
thofe of Mankind, and of all beings. When Na-
ture raifes a rock, fhe introduces clefts, inequali-
ties, points, perforations. She hollows and roughens
it wiih the chifel of Time, and of the Elements ;
fhe plants herbs and trees upon it ; fhe flores it
with animals, and places it in the bofom of the Sea,
in tne very focus of florms and tempefts, that it
may there afford an afylum to the inhabitants oi
the Air and of the Waters.

When Nature, in like manner intended to fcoop
out bafons to receive the Seas, (lie neither rounded
the borders, nor applied the line to them ; but
contrived and produced deep baj'-s, flieltered from
the general currents of the Ocean, that, during
ftormy weaiher, the rivers might difcharge them-
felves into it in fecurity ; that the finny legions
might refort thither, for refuge, at all feafon?,
there lick up the alluvion of the earth, carried
down by the frefh water; come thither to fpawn,
mounting upward and upward, many of them,
toward the very fource, where they can find botli,

food

STUDY IV. 167

food and fhelter for their young. And for the
preCervation of thefe adaptations it is, that Nature
has fortified every (bore with long banks of fand,
flielves, enormous rocks, and iflands, which are
arranged round them, at proper diftances, to pro-
tea; them from the fury of the Ocean.

She has employed fimilar difpofitions in forming
the beds of rivers, as we fhall (liew in the fequel
of this Study, though we have room only to glance
at a fubjeâ; fo new, and fo fertile in obfervation.
Accordingly, (he has made the current of rivers to
flow, not in a ftraight line, as they muft have run,
had the laws of Hydraulics been obferved, becaufe
of the tendency of their motions toward a fingle
point ; but Ibe makes them wind about for a long
time through the bofom of the Land, before they
pour themfelves into the Sea.

In order to regulate the courfe of thefe rivers,
and to accelerate or retard it, conformably to the
level of the countries through which they flow, ihc
pours into them lateral rivers, which accelerate
it in a flat country, when they form an acute angle
with the fource of the main river; or which retard
it in a mountainous country, by forming a right,
and fometimes an obtufe, angle, with the fource
of the principal flream. Thefe laws are fo infal-
lible, that a judgment may be formed, fimply from

M 4 the

l68 STUDIES OF NATURE.

th,e map, whether the rivers which water any
country are flow or rapid, and whether that coun-
try is flat or elevated, by the angle which the conr
fluent rivers form with their courfes.

Thus, moft of thofe which throw themfelves
into the Rhone, form right angles with that rapid
river, to check its impetuofity. Some of thefe con-
fluent rivers are real dikes, which crofs the main
river from fide to fide, in fueh a manner, that the
river crofled, which was running very rapidly
^bove the confluence, flows very gently below it.
This obfervation applies to many of the rivers of
America, and remarkably to the Mechafllpi. From
thefe fimple perceptions, which I have, at prefent,
only time to indicate, it may be concluded, that it*
is eafy to retard, or accelerate the eourfe of a river,
by fimply changing the angle of incidence of it's
confluent rivers. I produce this not as a matter of
advice, but as a very curious fpeculation ; for it is
always dangerous for Man to derange the plans of
Nature.

The rivers, on throwing themfelves into the
Sea, produce, in their turn, by the direction of
their mouths, acceleration, or retardation, in the
ÇGVirfe ©f the tides. But I muft not launch farther
out into the fludy of thefe grand and fublime har-r
monies, J fatisfy myfelf with having faid enough

to

STUDY IV. 169

to convince the candid Reader, that the bed of the
Seas was fcooped out, exprefsly for receiving them.

Neverthelefs, I muft produce one argument
more, calculated to remove every poffibility of
doubt on the fubjedt. Had the bed of the Seas
been formed, as is fuppofed, by a finking down of
the folid parts of the Globe, the fhores of the Sea,
under water, would have the fame declivities with
the adjoining Continent. Now, this is not found
to be the cafe on any coaft whatever. The decli-
vity of the bafon of the Sea is much fteeper than
that of the bounding lands, and by no means a
prolongation of it. Paris, for example, is raifed
above the level of the Sea, about 26 fathoms,
^reckoning frorn the bafe of the bridge of Notre-
Dame. The Seine, accordingly, from this point,
to where it empties itfelf into the Sea, has a decli-
vity of little more than 130 feet, in a diftance of
forty leagues ; whereas, meafuring from the mouth
of the river, out into the fea, only a league and a
half, you find, at once, an inclination of from 60
to 80 fathom, for this is the depth at which vefTels
anchor, in the road of Havre-de-Grace.

Thefe differences of level at Land, from the le-
vel of the bed of the Sea, in the fame line of direc-
tion, are to be met with on all eQafl:s, more or

lefs.

J']0 STUDIES OF NATURE.

lefs. Dampier, an Englifh Navigator, has, indeed,
obferved, that Seas which wafli fteep coafts are
much deeper ; and that along flat fhores their
depth is fmall; but this flriking difference is uni-
verfally obfervable, that along flat coafts, the bed
of the Sea is much more inclined than the foil of
the adjoining Continent, and that along high lands,
fometimes, no bottom is to be found.

This clearly demonftrates, therefore, that the
beds of the Seas were hollowed out exprefsly to
contain them. The declivity of their excavations
has been regulated by laws infinitely wife; for if
it were the fame with that of the adjacent Lands,
the billows of the Sea, whenever the wind blew to-
ward the fliore, however lightly, would confider-
ably encroach on -the Land. This aAually hap-
pens in the cafe of ftorms and extraordinary tides,
the waves overflow their ufual bounds; for then,
meeting a declivity fiat and gentle, compared to
that of their bed, they fometimes inundate the
Land to the diflance of feveral leagues. This hap-
pens, from time to time, in the ifland of Formofa,
the natural ramparts of which, fuch as the man-
glier, the inhabitants, it is probable, formerly de-
llroyed. Holland, for nearly a fimilar reafon, is
expofed to inundations, becaufe it has encroached
on the very bed of the Sea,

It

STUDY IV. 171

It is principally on the fliores of the Ocean that
the invifible boundary is fixed, which the Au-
thor of Nature has prefcribed to its waves. It is
there you perceive, that you are at the interfedlion
of two different planes, the one of which termi-
nates the declivity of the Land, and the other
commences that of the Sea.

It cannot be alleged, that it was by currents of
the Sea the bed was hollowed out ; for where
could the earth that filled it before be depofited ?
They could raife nothing above their own level. It
cannot even be alleged, that the channels of rivers
have been excavated by the current of their own
ftreams, for there are feveral which have found a
fubterraneous paflage through maffes of folid rock,
fo hard and fo thick, as to bid defiance to the
pick-axes and the mattocks of our labourers. Be-
fides, on the fuppofition which we are examining,
thefe rivers muft have formed, at the place of their
falling into the Ocean, banks of fand, and accu-
mulations of earthy fubftances, of a magnitude pro-
portional to the quantity of ground which they
muft have cleared away, in forming their channels.
Moft of them, on the contrary, as has been already
obferved, empty themfelvesat the bottom of bays,
hollowed for the exprefs purpofe of receiving
them.

How

172 STUDIES OF NATURE.

How is it that they have not completely filled
up thefe bays, as they are IncefTantly hurling down
into them fubflances feparated from the land ?
Why is not the very bed of the Ocean choked up,
from the conllant accumulation of the fpoils of
vegetables, fands, rocks, and the wreck of earth,
which, on every fhower that falls, tinge with yel-
low the rivers which fall into it ? The waters of
the Ocean have not rifen a fingle inch fince Man
began to make obfervations, as might eafily be
demonflrated from the ftate of the moft ancient
fea-ports of the Globe, which are ftill, for the moft
part, at the fame level.

Time permits me not to fpeak of the means em-
ployed by Nature for the conftruflion, the fup-
port, and the purification, of this im-menfe bafon :
they would fuggeft frefh fubjedt of admiration.
Enough has been faid to prove, that what in Na-
ture may appear to us the effeâ; of ruin, or chance,
is, in many cafes, the refult of intelligence the moft
profound. Not only, no hair falls from our head,
and no fparrow from Heaven to the ground, but
not a pebble rolls on the fliore of the Ocean, with-
out the permiffion of GOD : according to that
fublime expreflion of Job : Tempus pofuit tenehris,
y îmiverfonim finem Ipfe confiderat, lapideni quoque
€alipnis, ^ umbram mortis^. *' He fetteth an end

* Job xxviii. 3.

to

STUDY IV. i^3

** to darknefs, and fearcheth out all perfeftionj
** the ftones of darknefs, and the (hadow of death :'*
He likewife knows the moment when that ftone,
buried in darknefs, muft fpring into hght, to ferve
as a monument to the Nations.

Independent of geographical proofs, without
R-umber, which demonftrate, that the Ocean, by
it's irruptions, has not hollowed out one fingle bay
on the face of the Globe, nor detached any one
part of the Continent from the reft, there are ftill
many more which may be deduced from the vege-
table and animal kingdoms, and from Man.

This is not the proper place for dwelling on
the fubjeél : but I Ihall quote, on my way, an
obfervation from the vegetable World, which
proves, for example, that Britain never was united
to the European Continent, as has been fuppofed,
but muft have been, from the beginning, feparated
by the Channel. It is a remark of Cefar's, in his
Commentaries, that during his ftay in that Ifland,
he had never feen either the beech tree or the
fir; though thefe trees were very common in
Gaul, along the banks of the Seine, and of the
Rhine. If, therefore, thefe rivers had ever flowed
through any part of Britain, they muft have car-
ried with them, the feeds of the vegetables, which
grew at their fources, or upon their banks. The
beech apd the fir, which, at this day, thrive ex-
ceedingly

174 STUDIES OF NATURE.

ceediiigly well in Britain, mud, of neceflity, have
been found growing there in the time of JuHus
Cefar, efpecially as they would not have changed
their Latitude, and being, as we (hall fee, in
the proper place, of the genus of fluviatic trees,
the feeds of which refow themfelves, through the
afliftance of the waters. Befides, from whence
could the Seine, the Rhine, the Thames, and fo
many other rivers, whofe currents are fupplied
from the emanations of the Channel, from whence,
I fay, could they have been fed with water ? The
Thames, then, muft have flowed through France^,
or the Seine through England ; or, to fpeak more
conformably to truth and nature, the countries
now watered by thefe rivers, would have been
completely dry.

By our geographical charts, as by mofl other
inftruments of Science, we are milled. Obferving
in thefe fo many retreatings and projetions along
the coafts of the Continent, we have been induced
to imagine, that thefe irregularities muft have been
occafioned by violent Currents of the Sea. It has
jufb been demonftrated, that this effed was not
thus produced ; I now proceed to fliew, that it
could not pojjibly have been the cafe.

The Englifh Dampier, who is not the firft Na-
vigator that failed round the Globe, but who is,

in

STUDY IV. Tf^

in my opinion, the bed of the travellers who have
made obfervations on it, fays, in his excellen trea-
tife on winds, and tides : * " Bays fcarcely have
" any currents, or if there be fuch a thing, they
*' are only counter-currents running from one
** point to another." He quotes many obferva-
tions, in proof of this, and many others, of a fimilar
nature, are found fcattered over the journals of
other Navigators. Though he has treated only of
the Currents between the Tropics, and even that
with feme degree of obfcurity, we fhall proceed
to generalize this principle, and to apply it to the
principal bays of Continents.

I reduce to two general Currents, thofe of the
Ocean. Both of thefe proceed from the Poles, and
are produced, in my opinion, by the alternate fu-
fion of their ices. Though this be not the place
to examine the caufe of it, to me it appears fo na-
tural, fo new, and of fuch curious inveftigation,
that the Reader, I flatter myfelf, will not be angry
with me, if I give him an idea of it, on my way.

The Poles appear to me the fources of the Sea,
as the icy mountains are the fources of the princi-
pal rivers. It is, if 1 am not miftaken, the fnow
and the ice which cover our Pole, that annually

* Vol. ii, page 385.

renovate

176 STUDIES OF NATURE.

renovate the waters of the Sea, comprehended be-
tween our Continent and that of America, the
projeding and retreating parts of which have, be-
fides, a mutual correfpondence, hke the banks of
a river.

It may be remarked, at firft fight, on a map of
the World, that the bed of the Atlantic Ocean,
becomes narrower and narrower toward the North,
and widens toward the South ; and that the pro-
minent part of Africa correfponds to that great
retreating part of America, at the bottom of which
is fituated the Gulf of Mexico ; as the prominent
part of South America correfponds to the vaft
Gulf of Guinea ; fo that this bafon has, in it's
configuration, the proportions, the finuofities, the
fource, and the mouth, of a vaft fluviatic channel.

Let us now obferve, that the ices and fnows
form, in the month of January, on our Hemi-
fphere, a cupola, the arch of which extends more
than two thoufand leagues over the two Conti-
nents, with a thickncfs of fome lines in Spain, of
fome inches in France, of fevcîal feet in Germany,
of feveral fathoms in Ruffia, and of fome hundreds
of feet beyond the fixtieth degree of Latitude, fuch
as the ices which Henry Eilis *, and other Naviga-

* Ellis's Voyage to Hudfon's-Eay.

tors

STUDY IV*

177

tors of the North encountered there at Sea, even
in the midft of Summer, and of which feme, if
Ellis is to be believed, were from fifteen to eighteen
hundred feet above it's level j for their elevation
mufl: probably go on increafmg, up to the very-
Pole, in conformity to the proportions obfervable
in thofe which cover the fummits of our icy moun-
tains ; which mufl: give them, under the very
Pole, a height which there is no pofTibility of de-
termining.

From this fimple outline, it is clearly percep-
tible what an enormous aggregation of water is
fixed, by the cold of Winter, in our Hemifphere,
above the level of the Ocean. It is fo very con-
liderable, that I think myfclf warranted to afcribe
to the periodical fufion of this ice, the general
movement of our Ocean, and that of the tides.
We may apply, in like manner, the effeds of the
fufion of the ices of the South Pole, which are
there ftill more enormous, to the movements of
it's Ocean.

No conclufion has, hitherto, been drawn, rela-
tively to the movements of the Sea, from the two
mafles of ice fo confiderable, alternately accumu-
lated and diflblved at the two Poles of the World.
They neceflarily mufl, however, occafion a very
perceptible augmentation of it's waters, on their

VOL. I. N return

173 STUDIES OF NATURE.

return to it, by the adion of the Sun, which partly
melts them once every year j and a great diminu-
tion, on being withdrawn, by the efFedt of the
evaporations, which reduce them to ice at the
Poles, when the Sun retires.

I proceed to lay before the Reader, fome ob-
fervations and refleflions on this fubjedl, which I
have the confidence to call highly interefting ; and
Ihall fubmit the decifion to thofe who have not
got into the trammels of fyftem and party. I fhall
endeavour to abridge them to the utmoft of my
power, and flatter myfelf with the hope of forgive-
nefs, at leaft, in confideration of their novelty. I
am going to deduce, merely from the alternate dif-
folution of the polar ices, the general movements
of the Seas, which have hitherto been afcribed to
gravitation, or to the attradion of the Sun, and of
the Moon, on the Equator.

It is impoffible to deny, in the firft place, that
the Currents and the Tides do not come from the
Pole, in the vicinity of the polar Circle.

Frederic Martens, who, in his voyage to Spitz-
bergen, in 1671, advanced as far as to the eighty-
flrfl degree of northern Latitude, pofitively aflerts,
that the Currents, amid ft the ices, fet in toward
the South. He adds, farther, that he can affirm

nothing

STUDY IV.

179

nothing with certainty refpeding the flux and re-
flux of the Tides. Let this be carefully remarked.

Henry Ellis obferved with aflonifhment, in his
voyage to Hudfon's-Bay, in 1746, and 1747, that
the Tides there came from the North, and that
they were accelerated, inftead of being retarded,
in proportion as the Latitude increafed. He af-
fures us that thefe efFecfts, fo contrary to their ef-
fedis on our coafts, where they come from the
South, demonftrate that the Tides, in thofe high
Latitudes, do not come from the Line, nor from
the Atlantic Ocean. He afcribes them to a pre-
tended communication between Hudfon's-Bay
and the South-Sea: a communication which, with
much ardor, he fought for, and which was, indeed,
the objeâ; of his voyage ; but now we have com-
plete affurance that it does not exift, from the fruit-
lefs attempts lately made by Captain Cook to find it
by the South-Sea, to the north of California, in
conformity to the advice, long before given re-
fpeding it, by the illuftrious Navigator Dampier,
whofe fagacity and obfervations have, by the by,
greatly aflifted Captain Cook in all his difcoveries.

Ellis farther obferved, that the courfe of thefe
northern Tides of America, was fo violent, at /F^-
^fr'j Strait, which is about 65^ 37' North Lati-
tude, that it run at the rate of from eight to ten
N 2 leagues

lôO STUDIES OF KATURE.

leagues an hour. He compares it to the iluice of
a mill. He remarked that the lurface of the wa-
ter was there very fmooth, which puzzled him ex-
ceedingl)'^, by damping his hope of a communica-
tion between this Bay and the South-Sea. He re-
mained, neverthelefs, convinced of the exiftence
of fuch a paflage ; fuch is the pertinacity of Man
in favour of pre-conceived opinions, in the very
face of evidence.

John Hugiiez de Linfchottetu a Dutchman, had
made nearly the fame remarks on the currents of
the northern Tides of Europe *, when he was at
Wai gats Strait, at 70^ 20' North Latitude. In the
two voyages which that exaâ: Obferver made to
this Strait, in 1594 and 1595, undertaken in the
view of difcovering a paflage to China by the
North of Europe, he repeated the fame obferva-
tions : " We obferved," fays he, " once more,
" from the courfe of the tide, what we had al-
*' ready remarked with much exadnefs, that it
" comes from the Eaft." He likewife obferved,
that there the water was brackilh, or half fait;
this heafcribes to the fufion of a prodigious quan-
tity of floating ice, which flopped his paflage at
Waigats Strait ; for the ice formed even of fea-

' * See the firft and fécond Voyages to Waigats, by H. J. Lin-
/(hotten. Voyages to the North, vol. iv. page 204.

water

STUDY IV. iSl

water is frcfli. But Linfchotten draws no conclu-
fion, any more than Ellis^ from thefe tides of wa-
ter half frefh, which defcend from the North; and
full of his objeâ:, like the Englifh Navigator, he
afcribes them to a Sea, which he fuppofes open to
the Eaft, beyond Waigats Strait, through which
he propofed to find his way to China.

His compatriot, the unfortunate William Ba-
rents '^, who made the fame voyages in the fame
fleet, but in another vefTel, and who ended his days
on the northern coafts of Nova Zembla, where he
had wintered, found, to the North and to the
South of that illand, a perpetual current of ice,
fetting in from the Eaft, with a rapidity, which he
compares, as Ellis does, to a flu ice. Some of thefe
ices were to 36 fathoms of depth under water, and
16 fathoms high above the furface. This was at
Waigats Strait, in the months of July and Auguft.
He found there fome Ruffian filherraen from Pet-
zorah, who navigated thefe Seas, covered with
floating rocks of ice, in a boat made of the bark
of trees fewed together. Thefe poor people made
prefents of fat geefe to the Dutch mariners, with
ftrong demonftrations of friendfliip ; for calamity

* Confult the fécond and third Voyages of the Dutch by the
North, in the fir ft vohime of the Voyages of the Eaft-India
Company.-

N Î has,

l82 STUDIES OF NATURE."

has, in all Climates, a powerful tendency to conci-
liate aflfedtion between man and man. They in-
formed him, that this fame Strait of Waigats,
which was then difgorging fuch immenfe quanti-
ties of ice, would be entirely Ihut up toward the
end of Odober, and that it would be poflible to
go into Tartary over the ice, by what they called
the Sea of Marmara.

It is incontrovertible, that all thefe effeds which
1 have been relating, can proceed only from the
effufions of the ices which furround the Pole. I
fhall here remark, by the way, that thefe ices,
which flow with fuch rapidity to the north of
America and of Europe, towards the months of
July and Auguft, greatly contribute to our high,
equinodial tides, in September ; and that when
their effufions are flopped in the month of Odo-
ber, like thofe of Waigats, this too is the time
when our Tides begin to diminifh.

I may now be aiked, Why the tides come from
the North and the Eaft to the north of America,
and of Europe ; and from the South, on our
coafts, and on thofe of America which are under
the fame Latitudes ?

I might fatisfy myfelf with having faid enough
to demonftrate, that all the Tides do not proceed

from

STUDY IV. lS3

from the prefTure, or the attradion of the Sun,
and of the Moon, on the Equator ; I (liould have
proved the imperfedlion of our fcientific fyftems
which afcribe them to thefe caufes : but I proceed
to repair what I have been pulling down, by other
obfervations ; and to demonftrate, that there is no
one Tide, on any coafl whatever, but what owes
it's origin to polar effufions.

An obfervation of Dampier*% * will ferve, at firft,
as a bails to my reafonings. That careful and in-
genious obferver diftinguilhes between Currents
and Tides. He lays it down as a principle, found-
ed on many experiments, of which he gives the
hiflory, that Currents are fear cely ever felt but out at
Sea^ and Tides îipon the Coajis, This being laid
down : the polar effufions, which are the Tides of
the North and of the Eaft, to thofe who are in the
vicinity of the Poles, or of bays which have a
communication with it, take their general courfe
to the middle of the channel of the Atlantic
Ocean, attraded toward the Line by the diminu-
tion of the waters, which the Sun is there incef-
fantly evaporating. They produce, by their ge-
neral Current, two contrary Currents, or collateral
Whirlpools, fimilar to thofe which rivers produce
on their banks.

* See Dampiei's Treatife on "Winds and Tides,

N 4 I am

'184 STUDIES OF NATL-RE.

I am not taking for granted, without any foun-
dation, the exiRence of thefe counter-currents, or
vortices^ after the manner of Syflem-makers, who
create new caufes, in proportion as Nature prefents
them with new effedts. Thefe vortices are hydrau-
lic re-aflions, the laws of which Geometry ex-
plains, and the reality of which is completely afcer-
tained by experience. If you look at a fmall run-
ning brook, you will frequently fee ftravvs floating
along the brink, and carried upward in a direélion
oppofite to the general current of the ftream ; and
on arriving at the points, where the counter-cur-
rents crofs the general, you obferve them agitated
by thefe two oppoled powers turning and fpinning
round a confiderable time, till they are at lad car-
ried down the general current.

Thefe counter-currents are fiill more percep-
tible, when fuch a rivulet flows through a bafon
which has itfelf no flux ; for the re-adion is, in
that cafe, fo confiderable round the whole circum-
ference of the bafon, that the counter-currents
carry about all bodies floating in i*;, to the very
place where the rivulet difengages itfelf

Thefe lateral counter-currents are fo perceptible
on the banks of rivers, that the watermen fre-
quently take the advantage of them, to make their
way in the diredion oppofite to the general courfe.

They

I
I

STUDY IV. 185

They are ftill more decidedly remarkable on the
banks of lakes. Father Charlevoix^ who has given
us many judicious obfervations refpeding Canada,
informs us, that when he embarked on Lake Mi-
chigan, he made out eight good leagues a day, by
the affiftance of thefe lateral counter-currents,
though the wind was contrary. He fuppofes, and
with good reafon, that the rivers which throw
themfelves into this lake, produce, in the middle
of it's waters, ftrong contrary currents : " But
" thefe ftrong currents,*' fays he,* " are percep-
" tible only in the middle of the channel, and
" produce on the banks, vortices, or counter-cur-
** rents, of which thofe avail themfelves who have
** to coaft along the fhore, as is the cafe with per-
" fons who are obliged to take the water in canoes
** niade of bark."

Dampier's Work is filled with obfervations on
the counter-currents of the Ocean, which are very
common, efpecially in the ftraits of iflands fitu-
ated between the Tropics. He fpeaks frequently
of the extraordinary effeâis produced by the meet-
ing of the particular currents which occafions
them ; but as he does not confider the Tides them-
felves, as vortices of the general Current of the
Atlantic Ocean ; and as I believe he did not fo

* Charlevoix^ Hiflory of New France. Vol. vi. page 2.

much

tS6 studies of nature.

much as fufpeft the exiftcnce of it's general Cur-
rent, though he has thoroughly inveftigated the
two Currents, or Monfoons, of the Indian Ocean,
I (hall proceed to adduce certain fafts, which efta-
blifli the mofl perfed conformity between the
Atlantic Current and thofe which he himfelf ob-
ferved in the Indian Ocean, and in the South Sea.

Thefe fads will farther prove, to a demonftra-
tion, the exiftence of thefe polar effufions : for,
univerfally, wherever thefe effufions happen to
meet, in their progrefs fouthward, their own coun-
ter-currents which are fetting in toward the North,
they produce, by their collifion, Tides the moft
tremendous, and whofe diredion is diametrically
oppofite.

Let us confider them only at their point of de-
parture to the North of Europe, where they begin
to leave our coafts, and to ftretch out into the open
Sea. Poni Oppidan fays, in his Hiftory of Nor-
way, that there is above Berghen a place called
Alûle/Irom, very formidable to mariners, where the
Sea forms a prodigious vortex of feveral miles dia-
meter, in which a great many veffels have been
fwallowed up. James Beverell * fays pofitively,
that there are in the Orkney iHands two oppofite

* Stt James Beverdl, Beauties of Scotland, vol. vii. page 1405.

TideSj

STUDY IV. 187

Tides, the one running from the North-Weft, and
the other from the South-Eaft ; that they dafli
their roaring billows up to the clouds, and con-
vert the feparating ftrait into an enormous mafs of
foam. The Orkneys lie a httle under the Latitude
of Berghen, and in the prolongation of the nor-
thern coaft of Norway, that is, at the confluence
of the polar effufions and of their counter-cur-
rents.

Other illands of the Sea are in fimilar pofitions,
as we could prove, did room permit. The channel
of Bahama, for example, which runs with fo much
rapidity to the North, between the Continent of
America and the Lucayo iflands, produces, round,
thofe illands, by it's encountering the general Cur-
rent of that Sea, Tides the moft tumultuous, and
limilar to thofe of the Orkneys.

Thefe counter-currents to the courfe of the At-
lantic Ocean produce, then, our European and
American Tides, which fet In to the North on the
coaft, while it's general Current runs fouthward,
at leaft in the Summer time. I could adduce a
thoufand other obfervations refpeding the exift-
ence of thefe contrary Currents , but a fingle one,
more general than thofe which I have quoted, will
be fufficient for my purpofe, both from it's import-
ance and it's authenticity, being the firft of all thofe

which

l88 STUDIES OF NATURE.

which have been made in Europe, and perhaps
the only one : it is that of Chrijiopher Columbus ^
fetting out on the difcovery of the New World.

He fet fail from the Canaries about the begin-
ning of September, and fleered to the Weft. He
found, during the firft days of his voyage, that
the currents carried him to the North-Eaft. When
he had advanced two or three hundred leagues
from land, he perceived that their direction was
fouthward. This greatly terrified his companions,
who believed that the Sea was there driving to a
precipice. Finally, as he approached the Lucayo
lilands, he again found the currents fetting in
northward. The journal of this important voyage
may be found in Herrera,

My opinion is, that this general Current, which
flows from our Pole, in Summer, with fo much
rapidity, and which is fo violent toward it'sfource,
according to the experience of E/Iis and Linjchot-
ten J crofles the equinoftial Line, in as much as
it's flux is not ftemmed by the effufions of the
South Pole, which, at that feafon are confolidated
into ice. I prefui^e, for the fame leafon, that it
extends beyond trié -Cape of Good Hope, from
whence it is direfted toward the torrid Zone, to
vi'hich it is attracted by the diminution of the wa-
ters, which the Sun is there inceflantly pumping

up ;

ATXA3S-TIC Hemisphere: vcijji,.,rM.

«iai ,Ar (Vumruf, t/i-Jhej-, id- atrrmip. i, itù- TtWe^. ui f/te Montais o/-Jcuuuuy i: ^eôruajy

i<,-

STUDY II. 189

up ; and that being diredled eaftward by the pofi-
tion of Africa and of Afia, it forces the Indian
Ocean into the fame direftion, contrary to it's ufual
motion. I confider it, therefore, as the prime
mover of the weflerly Monfoon, which takes place
in the Seas of India, in the month of April, and
ends not till the month of September.

I am likewife of opinion, that the general Cur-
rent which iflues, during our Winter, from the
South Pole, at that time heated by the rays of the
Sun, reftores the Indian Ocean to it*s natural mo-
tion weftward, which is befides determined, on this
fide, by the general impulfions of the eafterly
winds, which ufually blow in the torrid Zone,
when nothing deranges their courfe. I, farther,
prefume, that this current, in it's turn, penetrates
into our Atlantic Ocean, directs it's motion north-
ward by the pofition of America, and produces
various other changes in our Tides.

In fad, Froger fays that, in Brafil, the Currents
follow the Sun. They run fouthward when he is
in the South, and northward when he is to the
North *. Thofe who have had experience of
thefe effufions of the South Pole, beyond Cape
Horn, have found, that, in the Summer of the

* Voyage to the South Sea.

Southern

ipO STUDIES OF NATURE.

Southern Hemifphere, the Tides fet in northward,
as was obferved by William Schotiten, who, in Ja-
nuary 1 66 1, difcovered Maires Strait. But fuch,
on the contrary, as have gone thither in the
Winter of thofe regions, have found that the Tides
run fouthward, and came from the North, as was
obferved by Frajer in the month of May of the
year 1712.

It now feems, to me, poflible to explain the
principal phenomena of our Tides, from thefe po-
lar efFufions. It will be evident, for example,
why thofe of the evening (hould be ftronger, in
Summer, than thofe of the morning ; becaufe the
Sun aâ:s more powerfully by day than by night,
on the ices of the Pole, which are on the fame
Meridian with ourfelves. This efFed refembles
the intermittance of certain fountains which are
fupplied from mountains of ice, and flow more
abundantly in the evening than in the morning.
It will, farther be evident, how it happens that our
morning Tides, in Winter, rife higher than thofe
of the evening ; and why the order of our Tides
changes, at the end of every fix months, as Bou-
guer * has well remarked, who thought the fadl
afloniQiing, but without affigning any reafon for
it ; becaufe the Sun being alternately toward both

* Bouguer, Treatife of Navigation, page 153.

Poles,

STUDY IV. 191

Poles, the efFedts of the Tides muft neceflarily be
oppofite, like the caufes which produce them.

But I beg leave to fugged harmonies, between
'the Ocean and the Poles, ftill more extenfive and
more flriking. At the Solftices the Tides are
lower than at any other feafon of the year ; and
thefe, likewife, are the feafons when there is mod
ice on the two Poles, and, confequently, leaft wa-
ter in the Sea. The reafon is obvious. The
Winter SolRice is, with refped to us, the feafon
of the greateft cold ; there is, accordingly, at that
time, on our Pole, and on our Hemifphere, the
greateft poffible accumulation of ice. It is, in-
deed, at the South Pole, the Summer Solftice ;
but there is little ice melted on this Pole, becaufe
the adion of the greateft heat is not felt there, as
with us, but when the Earth has an acquired heat,
fuperadded to the adual heat of the Sun, which
takes place only in the fix weeks that follow the
Summer Solftice ; and thefe giye us, likewife, in
our Summer, the hotteft feafon of the year, which
we call the Dog-Days.

At the Equinoxes, on the contrary, we have
the higheft Tides. And thefe are precifely the
feafons when there is the leaft ice at the two Poles,
and, of courfe, the greateft mafs of water in the
Ocean, At our autumnal Equinox, in September,

the

192 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the greateft part of the ices of the North Pole,
which has undergone all the heats of Summer, is
melted, and thofe of the South Pole begin to dif-
folve. It is farther remarkable, that the tides at
our vernal Equinox, in March, rife higher than
thofe of September, becaufe it is the end of Sum-
mer to the South Pole, which contains much more
ice than ours, and, confequently, fends to the
Ocean, a much greater mafs of water. And it
contains more ice, becaufe the Sun is fix days lefs
in that Hemifphere, than in ours. If I am afked.
Why the Sun does not communicate his light and
heat, in exaftly equal proportions, to both Poles ?
I fhall leave it to the learned to aiTign the cmife^
but fliall afcribe the reafon of it to the Divine
Goodnefs, which has been pleafed to beftow the
larger fhare of thefe bleflings, on that half of the
Globe which contains the greateft quantity of dry
land, and the greateft number of inhabitants.

I fliall fay nothing of the intermittance of thefe
polar elfufions, which produce, on our coafts, two
fluxes and two refluxes, nearly in the fame time
that the Sun, making the circuit of the Globe,
over our Hemifphere, alternately heats two Conti-
nents and two Oceans, that is, in the fpace of
twenty-four hours, during which his influence twice
a(5ls, and is twice fufpended. . Neither fhall I
fpeak of their retardation, which is nearly three

quarters

I

STUDY IV. 193

quarters of an hour from one day to another, and
which feems to be regulated by the different dia-
meters of the polar cupola of ice, the extremities
of which, melted by the Sun, diminifh and retire
from us every day, and whofe effufions muft, con-
fequently, require more time to reach ihe Line,
and to return from the Line to us. Neither (liall
I dwell on the other relations which thefe polar
periods have to the phales of the Moon, efpeciuUy
when fhe is at the full; for her , rays poiTefs an
evaporating heat, as the late experiments, made at
Rome and at Paris, have demc^nftrated : for this
would lay me under the neceffity of detailing a
feries of obfervations and fads, which might carry
me too far.

Much lefs Qiall I involve myfelf i n a difcuffion
of the Tides of the South Pole, which, in the
Summer of that Pole, in the open Sea, come im-
mediately from the South and South-weft, in vaft
furges, conformably to the experience of the Dutch
Navigator, Abel Ta/tnan, in the months of January
and February 1692; and of their irregularity on
the coalts of that Hemifphere, fuch as thofe on
the coafts of New Holland, where Dampier, in
the month of January 1688, found, to his great
aftonifhmentj that the higheft Tide, which fet in
from eaft- quarter-north, did not com.e till three
days after full moon, and where his fhip's com-
voL. I. o pany,

194 STUDIES OF NATURE.

pany-, ftruck with conflernation, were, for feveral
days together, under the apprehenfion that their
veflel, which they had hauled up on the beach to
be refitted, could never be got afloat again *. I
(hall fay nothing of thofe of New Guinea, where,
toward the end of April, the fame Navigator ex-
■perienced feveral, on the contrary, in the fpace of
a fingle night, which extended, in diredl oppoli-
tion to ours, from North to South, and came from
the Weft in very rapid fwells, tumultuous, and
preceded by enormous furges, which did not
break; nor of the inconfiderable elevation of thefe
Tides on the coaft of Brafil, and in moft of the
iflands of the South-Sea, and of the Eaft-Indies,
where they rife only to 5, 6, 7, feet, whereas Ellis
found them 25 feet high at the entrance of Hud-
fon's-Bay, and the Chevalier Narbrougk, 20 feet at
the entrance of Magellan's Straits.

Their courfe toward the Equator in the South-
Sea, their retardations and accelerations on thefe
fhores, their direftions, fometimes call ward, fome-
times weftvvard, according to the Monfoons;
finally, their rife, which increafcs in proportion as
we approach the Pole, and diminifli in proportion
to out diftance from it, even between the Tropics,

* Dtimpier\ Voyages : Treatife on Winds and Tides, pages
•378 and 379.

demonftrate,

STUDY IV.

195

demonftrate, that their focus is not under the Line.
The caufe of their motions depends not on the at-
traflion, or the prelTure, of the Sun and of the
Moon, on that part of the Ocean ; for thefe forces
would, undoubtedly, aft there with the greateft
energy, and in periods as regular as the courfe of
thefe two luminaries ; but it feems to depend en-
tirely on the combined heat of thefe fame lumina-
ries, on the Poles of the Globe, the irregular effu-
fions of which, not being narrowed in the fouthern
Hemifphere, as in ours, by the channel of two ad-
jacent Continents, produce, on the (liores of the
Indian Ocean and South Sea, expanfions vague
and intermitting.

It is fufficient, therefore, to admit thefe alter-
nate effufions of the polar ices, which it is impof-
fible to call in queftion, to explain, with the
greateft facility, all the phenomena of the Tides,
and of the Currents of the Ocean. Thefe pheno-
mena prefent, in the journals of Navigators the
moft enlightened, a perpetual obfcurity, and a
multitude of contradidions, as often as thefe fame
Navigators perfift in afcribing the caufes of them
to the conftant prciTure of the Moon and of the
Sun on the Equator, without paying attention to
the alternate Currents from the Poles, which direft
their courfe to that fame Equator ; to their coun-
ter-currents, which returning toward the Poles,

o 2- produce

196 STUDIES OF NATURE.

produce Tides; and to the revolutions which
Winter and Summer effect on thcfe two move-
ments.

It has been luppofed, indeed, in modern times,
that the Sea mud be clear of ice under the Poles,
and this is founded on the groundlefs affertion,
that the Sea freezes onlv along; the fhore ; but this
fuppofition is the creature of men in their clofets,
in c on trad i (51 ion to the experience of the mod ce-
lebrated Navigators. The efforts of Captain Cooky
toward the South Pole, demonftrate it's erroneouf-
nefs. That intrepid mariner, in the month of Fe-
bruary, the Dog- Days of the Southern Hemifphere,
never could approach nearer to that Pole, where
there is no land, than the 70th degree of Latitude,
that iS', no nearer than five hundred leagues, though
he had coafted round it's cupola of ice for a whole
Summer -y befides this diftance did not compofe half
the magnitude of the cupola, for he was permitted
to advance fo far only under favour of a bay,
opened in a part of it's circumference, which
every where elfe was of much greater extent.

Thefe bays, or openings, are formed in the ice,
merely by the influence of the neareft adjacent
lands, where Nature has diftributed fandy zones,
to affifi: in accelerating the fufion of the polar ices,
at the proper fcaion. Such are, to throw it out

only

STUDY IV. 197

only on our way, for time permits me not here to
unfold all the plans of this wonderful Architec-
ture ; fuch, I fay, are thofe long belts of fand which
encompafs South America, in Magellan's L-md ;
and thofe of Tartary, which commence in Africa,
at Zara, or the Defert, and proceed forward till
they terminate in the north of Afia. The winds,
in Summer, convey the igneous particles, with
which thofe Zones are filled, toward the Poles,
where they accelerate the action of the Sun upon
the ices.

It is eafy to conceive, independent of experience,
that the fands multiply the heat of the Sun, by the
refledions of their fpecular and brilliant parts, and
preferve it a long time in their interftices. It is
certain, at leaft, that the greateft openings in the
polar ices are always to be found in the direftion
of the warm winds, and under the influence of
thefe fandy tracks of land, as I could eafily de-
monftrate, were this the proper place. But we may
fee examples of it, without quitting our own Con-
tinent, nay, in our very gardens. In Ruffia, the
rivers and lakes always begin to thaw at the banks,
and the fufion of their ices is accelerated, in pro-
portion as the ftrand is more or lefs gravelly, and
as they meet, relatively to the ftrand, in the direc-
tion of the South wind.

o 4 We

193 STUDIES OF NATURE.

We obferve the fame effecls in our own gardens,
toward the clofe of Winter. The ice which covers
the gravel on the alleys, melts firfl ; afterward
that which is on the earth, and laft of all, that
which is in the bafons. The fufion of this, too,
begins at the brink, and the length of time necef-
fary to complete it, is in proportion to the extent
of the bafon ; fo that the central part, or that
which is fartheft from the earth, is, likewife, the
laft that dilTolves.

There can remain, therefore, not the flighted
fhadow of doubt, that the Poles are covered with
a cupola of ice, conformably to the experience of
Navigators, and the dilates of natural reafon. We
have taken a glance of the icy dome of our own
Pole, which covers it, in Winter, to an extent of
more than two thoufand leagues over the Conti-
nents. It is not fo eafy to determine it's elevation
at the centre, and under the very Pole -, but the
height muft be immenfe.

Aftronomy fometimes prefents, in the Heavens,
an image of it fo confiderable, that the rotundity
of the Earth feems to be remarkably affefted by it.

I take the liberty of quoting, what I find, on
this fubjeél, in an Englifli Author of note,

Chi/drey,

STUDY IV.

199

Childrey *. This Naturalift fuppofes, as I do, that
the Earth, at the Poles, is covered with ice, to
fiich a height, that it's figure is thereby rendered
fenfibly oval. This he proves by two very curious
aftronomical obfervations. *' What obliges me,
" befides," fays he, " to embrace this paradox, is,
'' that it ferves to refolve admirably well, a diffi-
" culty of no fmall importance, which has greatly
'' embarrafled Tycho Brhaë and Kepler^ refpeding
** central eclipfes of the Moon, which take place
*' near the Equator ; as that was which Tycho ob-
** ferved in the year 138 8, and that obferved by
^^ Kepler in the year 1624: of which he thus
*^ fpeaks : Noiandum ejl hanc Luna eclipfwi {inftar
^' illius quam Tycbot anno 1588, obfervavit totalem,
' ' iS proximam centrali) egregie caladumfefellijjè ; nam
'* nonfolum mora tot ins Luna in tenebris brevis fuit,
''^ fed et diiratio reliqua multo magis ; perindè qiiafi
'' tellus ellipiica effet ^ demetientem breviorem habens
^^ fiib jEquatorey longiorem a polo uno ad alteram,
** That is, // is zvorthy of remark^ that this eclipfe
^* of tbe Moon^'' (he is fpeaking of that of the 26th
" September, 1624) like the one which Tycho ob'
^^ ferved, in the year 1588, which was totals and very
" nearly central, differed widely from the calculation ,
*^ for not only was the duration of total darknejs eX'
" tremely fijort, but the rejl of thç duration, previous j

* Natural Hiftory of England, pages 246 and 347.

o 4 " and

200 STUDIES OF NATURE.

" and pojierior, to the total obfciirationy wasjlilljhort-
" er ; as if the fgure of the Earth were elliptical,
** having the fni aller diameter under the Equator y and
" the greater, from Pole to Pole.^'

The detached maffes, half melted, which are
every year torn from the circumference of this cu-
pola, and which are met with, floating at fea, pro-
digioufly diftant from the Pole, about the 55th
degree of Latitude, are of fuch an elevation, that
Ellis^ Cook^ MartenSy and other Navigators of the
North, and of the South, the moll accurate in
their details, reprefent them as, at leaft, as lofty as
a fhip under fail : nay, Ellis, as has already been
mentioned, does not hefitate to affign to them an
elevation of from 1500 to 1800 feet. They are
unanimous in affirming, that thefe vaft fragments
emit coirufcations, which render them perceptible
before ihey come to the Horizon. I fhall remark,
by the way, that the Aurora Borealis, or Northern
Light, may, very probably, owe it's origin to fimi-
Jar rcfleârions from the polar ices, the elevation of
which may, perhaps, one day be determined by
the extent ot thefe very lights.

Whatever may be in this, Denis, Governor of
Canadi, freaking of the ices which defcend, every
Summer, from the North, noon the great bank of
Newfoundland, fays that they are higher than the

turrets

STUDY IV. 20I

turrets of Notre-Dame, and that they may be feen
at the diftance of from 15 to 18 leagues. Their
cold is felt on fhip-board at a fimilar diftance.
** They are," according to his account*, ** fome-
*' times in fuch numbers, being all carried for-
" ward by the fame wind, that there have been
'* veffels, making toward the land to fifli, which
" fell in with fome of them, in a feries of a hun-
" dred and fifty leagues in length, and upward ;
'* which coafted along them for a day or two, the
** night included, with a frefli breeze, and every
" fail fet, without being able to reach the extre-
*' mity. In this manner they keep on under way,
" looking for an opening through which the vef-
" fel may pafs ; if they find one, they crofs it, as
" through a ftrait ; otherwife, they muft get on,
*' till they have outfailed the whole chain, in order
" to make good their pafTage ; for the way is
*' throughout blocked up with ice. Thefe ices do
*' not melt, till they meet the warm water toward
"the South, or are forced by the wind on the land
" fide. Some of them run aground in from 25
** to 30 fathoms of water ; judge of their height,
*' exclufive of what is above water. The filher-
'* men have aflured me, that they faw one aground,
** on the great bank, in 45 fathom water, and

* Natural Hiftory of North- America. Vol. ii. chap, i;
page 44 and 45.

which

202 STUDIES OF NATURE.

" which was, at leaft, ten leagues round. It muft
" have been of a great height. Ships do cot
** come near thefe ices, for there is danger left
** they fliould overturn, according as they diifolve
*' on the fide expofed to the greateft heat.'*

It is to be obferved, that the ices in queftion
are already more than half melted by the time they
reach the banks of Newfoundland ; for, in faft,
they fcarcely go any farther. It is the Summer's
heat which detaches them from the North, and
they are enabled to make even fuch a progrefs
fouthward, only by means of their floating down
the current, which carries them toward the Line,
■where they arrive, in a ftate of diffolution, to re-
place the waters which the Sun is continually eva-
porating in the torrid Zone.

Thefe polar ices, of which our mariners fee only
the borders and the crumbs, muft have, at their
centre an elevation proportioned to their extent.
For my own part, I confider the two Hemifpheres
of the Earth as two mountains with their bafes ap-
plied to each other at the Line, the Poles as the
icy fummits of thefe mountains, and the Seas as
rivers flowing from thefe fummits.

'&

If, then, we reprefent to ourfelves the propor-
tions which the glaciers of Switzerland have to

their

STUDY IV. 203

their mountains, and to the rivers which flow from
them, we fliall be able to form fome faint idea of
thofe proportions which the glaciers of the Poles
bear to the whole Globe and to the Ocean. The
Cordeliers of Peru, which are onl}'^ mole -hills, com-
pared to the two Hemifpheres, and the rivers, which
ifTue from them, only rills of water compared to
the Sea, have felvages of ice, from twenty to thirty-
leagues broad, briftled, at their centre, with pyra-
mids of fnow from twelve to fifteen hundred fa-
thoms high. What, then, muft be the elevation
of thefe two domes of polar ice, which have, in
Winter, bafes of two thoufand leagues in diame-
ter ? I can have no doubt, that their thicknefs, at
the Poles, muft have reprefented the Earth as oval,
in central eclipfes of the Moon, conformably to
the obfervations of Kepler and Tycho Brhaë,

I deduce another confequence from this confi-
guration. If the elevation of the polar ices is ca-
pable of changing in the Heavens the apparent
form of the Globe, their weight muft be fuffi-
ciently confiderable to produce fome influence on
it's motion in the Ecliptic. There is, in faft, a
very fingular correfpondence between the move-
ment, by which the Earth alternately prefents it's
two Poles to the Sun, in one year, and the alter-
nate effufions of the polar ices, which take place
in the courfe of the fame year. Let me explain

my

204 STUDIES OF NATURE.

my conception of the way in whi h this motion of
the Earth is the effecl of thefe effafions.

Admitting, with Aftronomers, the laws of At-
tradtion among the heavenly bodies, the Earth
muft certainly prefent to the Sun, which attr^dts it,
the weighticft part of it's Globe. Now, this
weightieft part mull be one of it's Poles, when it
is furcharged with a cupola of ice, of an extent of
two thoufand leagues, and of an elevation fuperior
to that of the Continents. But as the ice of this
Pole, which it's gravity inclines toward the Sun,
melts in proportion to it's vertical approximation
to the fource of heat, and as, on the contrary, thç
ice, of the oppofite pole, increafes in proportion to
it's removal, the necclfary confequence muft be,
that the firft Pole becoming lighter, and the fé-
cond heavier^ the centre of gravity paffes alter-
nately from the one to the other, and from this
reciprocal preponderancy muft enfue that motion
of the Globe in the Ecliptic, which produces our
Summer and Winter.

From this alternate preponderancy, it muft like-
wife happen, that our Hemifphere, containing
more land than the fouthern Hemifphere, and be-
ing, confequently, heavier, it muil incline toward
the Sun for a greater length of time ; and this,
too, correfponds to the matter of fad, for oi^r

Summer

STUDY IV.

£05

Summer îs five or iix days longer than our Winter.
A farther confequence is, that our Pole cannot lofe
it's centre of gravity, till the opp'^fite Pole becomes
loaded with a weight of ice fuperior to the gravity of
our Continent, and of the ices of our Hemifphere ;
and this, likewife, is agreeable to fad, for the ices
of the South Pole are rnore elevated, and more
extenlive than thofe of the northern ; for mariners
have not been able to penetrate farther than to
the 70th degree of Soudi Latitude, whereas they
have advanced no lefs than 82^ North.

Here we have a glimpfe of the reafons by which
Nature was determined to divide this Globe into
two Hemifpheres, of which the one fhould con-
tain the greateft quantity of dry land, and the
other the greatefl quantity of water ; to the end
that this movement of the Globe fhould poffefs,
at once, confiftency and verfatility. It is farther
evident, why the South P;le is placed immediately
in the midft of the Seas, far from the vicinity of
any land ; that it might be able to load itfelf with
a greater mafs of marine evaporations, and that
thefe evaporations accumulated into ice around it,
might balance the weight of the Continents with
which our Hemifphere is furcharged.

And here 1 lay my account with being oppofed
by a very formidable objedion. It is this. If the

polar

206 STUDIES OF NATURE.

polar effu fions occafion the Earth's motion in the
Ecliptic, the moment would come in which, it's
two Poles being in equilibrio, it could prefent to
the Sun the Equator only.

I acknowledge that I have no reply to make to
that difficulty, unlefs this be one ; We muft have
recourfe to an immediate will of the Author of
Nature, who is pleafed to deftroy the inftant of
this equilibrium, and who re-eftablifhes the ba-
lancing of the Earth on it's Poles, by laws with
which we are unacquainted. Now, this conceffion
no more weakens the probability of the hydraulic
caufe, which I apply to it, than that of the prin-
ciple of the attradion of the heavenly bodies,
which attempts to explain it, I am bold to fay,
with much lefs clearnefs. This very attradion
would foon deprive the Earth of all manner of
motion, if it alone aded in the ftars. If we would
be fincere, it is in the acknowledgment of an in-
telligence, fuperior to our own, that all the me-
chanical caufes, of our moft ingenious fyftems,
muft ifTue. The will of GOD is the ultimatum of
all human knowledge.

From this objedion, however, I fhall deduce
confcquences, which will diffufe new light on the
ancient efieds of polar effufions, and on the man-
ner

STUDY IV,

207

ner in v/liich they might have produced the De-
luge *'.

* ThePriefts of Eg^'pt maintain, accc-drng to Herodotus,
that the Sun had feveral times deviated frd . liis courfe, accord-
ingly our hypothefis has nothing new in it. They had, per-
haps, deduced the fame confequences from this, that we have
^one. One thing is certain ; they believed that the Earth
would, one day, perilli by a general conflagration, as it had been
overwhelmed by an univerfal deluge. Nay, I believe it was one
of their Kings, who, as a fecurity againft either one or the other
of thefe calamities, had two pyramids built, the one of brick,
a prefervative againft fire ; the other of ftone, a prefervative
againft an inundation. The opinion of a future conflagration
of Nature is dittufed over man^f nations. But effefts fo terrible,
which would fpeedily refult from the mechanical caufes, by
which Man endeavours to explain the laws of Nature, can
take place only by an immediate order of the Deity. He pre-
ferves his works conformably to the fame Wifdom with which
they were created. Aftronomers have, for many Ages, been
obferving the annual motion of the Earth in the Ecliptic, and
never have they feen the Sun fo much as a Angle fécond fliort
of, or beyond, the Tropics. GOD governs the World by va-
riable powers, and deduces from thefe, harmonies which are
invariable. The Sun neither moves in the circle of the Equa-
tor, which would fet the Earth on fire, nor in that of the Meri-
dian, which would produce an inundation of water ; but his
courfe is traced in the Ecliptic, defcribing a fpiral line between
the two Poles of the World. In this harmonious courfe, he
difpenfes cold and heat, drynefs and humidity, and derives from
thefe powers, each of them deftruftive by itfelf. Latitudes fo
varied, and fo temperate, all over the Globe, that an infinite
number of creatures, of an extreme delicacy, find in them,
every degree of temperature adapted to the nature of their frail
exiftence.

On

20S STUDIES OF NATURE,

On the fuppofition, then, of the re-eftablifliment
of the equilibrium between the Poles, and of the
Earth's conftantly prefenting it's Equator to the
Sun, it is extremely probable, that, in this cafe, it
would be fet on fire. In fact, on this hypothefis,
the waters which are under the Equator, being
evaporated by the unremitting action of the Sun,
would become irrevocably fixed in ice at the Poles,
where they would receive, without effeft, the in-
fluence of that luminary, which would be to them
conftantly in the Horizon. The Continents being
thus dried up, under the torrid Zone, and in-
flamed by a heat every day increafing, would
quickly catch fire. Now, if it be probable that
the Earth would perifh by fire, were the Sun's
motion confined to the Equator, it is no lefs pro-
bable, that it muft be deluged with water, if the
courfe of the Sun were in the diredtion of the Me-
ridian. Oppofite means produce contrary effedls.

We have jufl; feen, that the alternate effufions of
part of the polar ices merely, are fufficient for re-
newing all the waters of the Ocean, for producing
all the phenomena of the Tides, and for effefting
the balancing of the Earth in the Ecliptic. We be-
lieve them capable of entirely inundating the Globe,
were the fufion to take place all at once. Let
it but be remarked, that the eifufion of only a part
of the ices of the Cordeliers, in Peru, is fufficient

to

STUDY IV. 209

to produce an annual overflow of the Amazon, of
the Oroonoko, and of feveral other great rivers of
the New World, and to inundate a great part of
Brafil, of Guiana, and of the Terra Firma of Ame-
rica ; that the melting of part of the fnows on the
mountains of the Moon in Africa, occafions every
year the inundations of Senegal, contributes to
thofe of the Nile, and overflows vaft tracks of
country in Guinea, and the whole of Lower
Egypt ; and that fimilar efFedls are annually re-
produced in a confiderable part of fouthern Afia,
in the kingdoms of Bengal, of Siam, of Pegou,
and of Cochin-China, and in the diitridls watered
by the Tigris, the Euphrates, and many other
rivers of Afia, which have their fources in chains
of mountains perpetually covered with ice, namely,
Taurus and Imaiis. Who, then, can entertain a
doubt, that the total fufion of the ices of both
•Poles, would be fufficient to fwcllthe Ocean above
every barrier, and completely to inundate the two
Continents ?

The elevation of thefe two cupolas of polar ice,
vafl: as Oceans, mufb it not far furpafs the height
of the higheft land, when the fimple fragments of
their extremities, after they are half diflTolved, are
as high as the turrets of Notre-Dame ; nay, rife to
the height of from fifteen to eighteen hundred feet
above the Sea ? The ground on which Paris ftands,

VOL. I. p at

210 STUDIES OF NATURE.

at forty leagues diftance from the (liore of the Sea,
IS only twenty-two fathom above the level of neap-
tides, and no more than eighteen above the higheft
fpring-tides. A great part of both the Old and
New World is of an elevation much inferior even
to this.

For my own part, if I may venture to declare
my opinion, I afcribe the general Deluge to a to-
tal effufion of the polar ices, to which may be added
that of the icy mountains, fuch as the ices of the
Cordeliers and of Mount Taurus, the chains of
which extend from twelve to fifteen hundred
leagues in length, with a breadth of twenty or
thirty leagues, and an elevation of from twelve to
fifteen hundred fathom. To thefe may be ftill
farther added the waters diffufed over the Atmo-
fphere, in clouds, and imperceptible vapours,
which would not fail to form a very confiderable
mafs of water, were they collefted on the Earth.

My fuppofition then is, that, at the epocha of
this tremendous catraftophe, the Sun, deviating
from the Ecliptic, advanced from South to North*,

and

* I find an hiftorical teftimony in fupport of this hypothells,
in the Hiftory of China by Father Martini, Book I. " During
*' the reign of Tails, the feventh Emperor, the Annals of the
" Country relate, that for fix days together the Sun never fet,

" fo

STUDY IV. 211

arid purfued the direflion of one of the Meridians
which pafles through the middle of the Atlantic
Ocean and of the South-Sea. In this courfe he
heated only a Zone of water, frozen as well as
lluid, which, through the greatefl part of the cir-
cumference has a breadth of four thoufand five
hundred leagues. He extraded long belts of land
and fea fogs, which accompany the melting of
all ices, of. the chain of the Cordeliers, of the
different branches of the icy mountaints of Mexico,
of Taurus, and of Imai'is, which like them run
South and North ; of the fides of Atlas, of the
fummits of Teneriff, of Mount Jura, of Ida, of
Lebanon, and of all the mountains covered with
fnow, which lay expofed to his dire<5t influence.

He quickly fet on lire, with his vertical flame,
the Conftellation of the Bear, and that of the
Crofs of the South; and, prefently, the vaft cupo-
las of ice, on both Poles, fmoked on every fide.
All thefe vapours, united to thofe which arofe out

*' fo that a general conflagration was apprehended." The re-
fait, on the contrary, was a deluge which inundated the whole
of China. The epoch of this Chinefe deluge, and that of the
Univerfal Deluge, are in the fame century. Taiis was born
2307 years before Christ, and the Univerfal Deluge happened
2348 years before the fame epoch, according to the Hebrew
computation. The Egyptians, likewife, had traditions refpeding
thefe ancient alterations of the Sun's courfe.

P 2 of

212 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of the Ocean, covered the Earth with an univcrfal
rain. The adion of the Sun's heat was farther
augmented by that of the burning winds of the
fandy Zones of Africa and Afia, which blowing,
as all winds do, toward the parts of the Earth
where the air is moft rarefied, precipitated them-
felves, like battering rams of fire, toward the Poles
of the World, where the Sun was then afting with
all his energy.

Innumerable torrents immediately burfl from
the North Pole, which was then the moft loaded
with ice, as the Deluge commenced on the 17th
of February, that feafon of the year, when Winter
has exerted it's full power over our Hemifphere.
Thefe torrents ifTued all at once from every flood-
gate of the North ; from the ftraits of the Sea
of Anadir, from the deep gulf of Kamfchatka,
from the Baltic Sea, from the ftrait of Waigats,
from the unknown fluices of Spitzbergen and
Greenland, from Hudfon's-Bay, and from that of
Baffin, which is ftill more remote. Their roaring;
currents ruflied furioufly down, partly through the
channel of the Atlantic Ocean, hurled it up from
the abyfTes of it's profound bafon, drove impetu-
oully beyond the Line, and their collateral coun-
ter-tides forced back upon them, and increafed by
the Currents from the South Pole, which had
been fet a flowing at the fame time, poured upon

our

STUDY IV.

213

our coafts the moft formidable of Tides. They
rolled along, in their furges, a part of the fpoils of
the Ocean, fituated between the ancient and the
new Continent. They fpread the vaft beds of
fhells which pave the bottom of the Seas at the
Antilles and Cape-Verd Iflands» over the plains of
Normandy ; and carried even thofe which adhere
to the rocks of Magellan's Strait, as far as to the
plains which are watered by the Saône. Encoun-
tered by the general Current of the Pole, they
formed at their confluences horrible counter-tides,
which conglomerated, in their vaft funnels, fands,
flints, and marine bodies, into malfes of indigefted
granite, into irregular hills, into pyramidical rocks,
whofe protuberances variegate the foil in many
places of France and Germany. Thefe two gene-
ral Currents of the Poles happening to meet be-
tween the Tropics, tore up, from the bed of the
Seas, huge banks of madrépores, and toffed them,
unfeparated, on the fliores of the adjacent illands,
where they fubfift to this day *.

In

* I have feen in the Ifle of France, fome of thefe great beds
of madrépores, of the height offevea or eight feet, refembling
ramparts, left quite dry, more than three hundred paces from
the fhore. The Ocean has left, on eveiy land, fome traces of
it's ancient excurfions. There have been found, on the fteep
ftrand of the diftriA of Caux, fome oi" the fliells peculiar to the
Antilles Iflands, particularly a very large one, called the Thuilée;

p 3 in

214 STUDIES OF NATURE.

In Other places, their waters, llackcned at the
extremity of then- courfe, fpread thenifelves over
the furface of the ground in vaft fheets, anddepo-
fitedj by repeated undulations, in horizontal layers,

in the vineyards of Lyons, that which they call the cock and
hen, which is caught alive in no Sea whatever but the Straits
of Magellan ; the teeth and jaws of fliarks, in the fands of
Eflampes. Our quarries are filled with the fpoils of the Sou-
thern Ocean. On the other hand, if we may believe the
Memoirs of Father le Comte, the Jefuit, there are in China
ftrata of vegetable earth from three to four hundred feet deep.
This Miffionary afcribes to thefe, and with good reafon, the ex-
treme fertility of that country. Our befl foils in Europe are
not above three or four feet deep. If we had Geographical
Charts which fliould reprefent the different layers of our foffil
fliells, we might diftinguifli in them the directions and the fo-
cufes of the ancient currents which lodged them. I fliall purfue
this idea no further; but here is another, which may prefent
nev,' objefts of curiofity to the learned, who put greater value
on the monuments raifed by Man, than on thofe of Nature. It
is this, As we find in the foflils of thefe VAcftern regions, a mul-
titude of the monuments of the Sea, we might, perhaps, be able
to trace thofe of our ancient Continent, in thofe lirata of vege-
table earth, of three and four hundred feet depth, in the coun-
tries of the Eaft. Firft, it is certain, from the teftimony of the
]Mifiionary above quoted, that pit-coal is fo common in China,
that moft of the Chinefe make ufe of no other fuel. Now, it
is well known that pit-coal owes it's origin to the forefts which
have been buried in the bowels of the Earth. It might be pof-
fible, therefore, to find araidfi: thefe wrecks of the vegetable
creation, thofe of terreftrial animals, of men, and of the firft
arts of the World, fuch, at lead, as poflefled fome degree of
folidity.

the

STUDY IV. 215

the wreck and the vifcidities of an infinite number
of fillies, fea-urchins, fea-weeds, fhells, corals, and
formed them into ftrata of gravel, paftes of
marble, of marie, of plafher and calcareous fiones,
which conflicute, to this day, the foil of a confider-
able part of Europe. Every layer of our foffils
was the effe6t of an univerfal Tide. While the
effufions of the polar ices were covering the wef-
terly extremities of our Continent with the fpoils
of the Ocean, they were fpreading over it's eafterly
extremities thofe of the Land, and depofited on
the foil of China, ftrata of vegetable earth, from
three to four hundred feet deep.

Then it was that all the plans of Nature were
reverfed. Complete iilands of floating ice, loaded
with white bears, run aground among the palm-
trees of the torrid Zone, and the elephants of Africa
were toffed amidft the fir-groves of Siberia, where
iheir large bones are ftill found to this day. The
vaft plains of the Land, inundated by the waters,
no longer prefented a career to the nimble courfer,
and thofe of the Sea, roufed into fury, ceafed to
be navigable. In vain did Man think of flying
for fafety to the lofty mountains. Thoufands of
torrents ruflied down their fides, and mingled the
confufed noife of their waters with the howling
of the winds; and the roaring of the thunder.
Black tempefts gathered round their fummits, and

p 4 diff'ufed

2l6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

diffufed a night of horror in the very midft of day.
In vain did he turn an eager eye toward that quar-
ter of the Heavens where Aurora was to have ap-
peared : he perceives nothing in the whole circuit
of the Horizon but piles of dark clouds heaped
upon each other ; a pale glare here and there fur-
rows their gloomy and endlefs battalions ; and the
Orb of Day, veiled by their lurid corufcations,
emits fcarcely light fufficient to afford a glimpfe,
in the firmament, of his bloody difk, wading
through new Conftellations.

To the dlforder reigning in the Heavens, Man,
in defpair, yields up the fafety of the Earth. Un-
able to find in himfelf the laft confolation of Vir-
tue, that of perifhing free from the remorfe of a
guilty confcience, he feeks, at leaft, to conclude
his laft moments in the bofom of Love, or of
Friendflîip. But in that age of criminality, when
all the fentiments of Nature were ftifled, friend
repelled friend, the mother her child, the hufband
the wife of his bofom. Every thing was fvvallowed
up of the waters : cities, palaces, majeflic pyra-
mids, triumphal arches, embelliQied with the tro-
phies of Kings : and ye, alfo, which ought to have
furvived the ruin even of a World, ye peaceful grot-
tos, tranquil bowers, humble cottages, the retreats
of innocence ! There remained on the Earth no
trace of the glory and felicity of the Human Race,

in

STUDY IV.

217

in thofe days of vengeance, when Nature involved
in one ruin all the monuments of her greatnefs.

Such convulfions, of which traces without num-
ber ftill remain, on the furface, and in the bowels
of the Earth, could not poflibly have been pro-
duced fimply by the aftion of an univerfal rain,

I am aware that the letter of Scripture is exprefs
in refpcd to this ; but the circumltances which
the Sacred Hiftorian combines, feem to admit the
means which, on my hypothefis, effeded that tre-
mendous revolution.

Tn the book of Genefis it is faid, that it rained,
over the whole Earth, for forty days and forty
nights. That rain, as we have alleged, was the re-
fult of the vapours produced by the melting of the
ices, both of the Land and of the Sea, and by the
Zone of Water which the Sun pafled over, in the
diredion of the Meridian. As to the period of
forty days, that quantity of time appears to me
abundantly fufficient to the vertical adion of the
Sun on the polar ices, to reduce them to the level
of the Seas, as fcarcely more than three weeks are
neceflary, of the proximity of the Sun to the Tro-
pic of Cancer, to melt a confiderable part of thofe
on our Pole. Nay, at that feafon, nothing more
feems to be wanting but a few puffs of foutherly,

or

2l8 STUDIES OF NATURE.

or fouth-wefl: wind, for a few days, to difengage
from the ice the fouthern coaft of Nova-Zembla,
and to clear the ftrait of Waigats, as has been ob-
ferved by Martens^ Barents, and other Navigators
of the North.

it is farther faid, in the Book of Genefis, *^ all
" the fountains of the great Deep were broken up,
" and the windows of Heaven were opened." The
expreflion, the fountains of the great Deep, can, in
my opinion, be applied only to an efFufion of the
polar ices, which are the real fources of the Sea, as
the effufions of the ice on mountains are the
fources of all the great rivers. The exprelTion, the
windows, or catarafts, of Heaven, denotes likewife,
if I am not miftaken, the univerfal refolution of
the waters diffufed over the Atmofphere, which
are there fupported by the cold, the focufes of
which were then deflroyed at the Poles.

It is afterwards faid, in Genefis, that after it had
rained for forty days, GOD made a zvind to blow,
which caufed the waters that covered the Earth to
difappear. This wind, undoubtedly, brought
back to the Poles the evaporations of the Ocean,
which fixed themfelves a-new in ice. The Mofaic
account, finally, adds circumftances which feem to
refer all the effeds of this wind to the Poles of the
World, for it is faid Gen. viii. 2,3. " The foun-

" tains

STUDY IV.

219

" tains alfo of the Deep, and the windows of
*' Heaven, were flopped, and the rain from Hea-
*' ven was reftrained ; and the zvaters returned from
" off the Earth continually, and after the end of the
^' hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.'*

The agitation of thefe waters from fide to fide
continually, perfe6lly agrees to the motion of the
Seas, from the Line to the Poles, which muft then
have been performed without any obftacle, the
Globe being, on that occafion, entirely aquatic ;
and it being poffible to fuppofe that it's annual
balancing in the Ecliptic, of which the polar ices
are at once the moving powers and the counter-
poife, had degenerated, at that time, into a diur-
nal titubation, a confequence of it's firft motion.
Thefe waters retired, then, from the Ocean, when
they came to be converted a-new into ice upon the
Poles ; and it is worthy of remark, that the fpace
of a hundred and fifty days, which they took to
fix themfelves in their former ftation, is precifely
the time which each of the Poles annually cm-
ploys, to load itfelf with it's periodical conge-
lations.

We find, befides, in the fequel of this hiftorical
account of the Deluge, expreflions analogous to
the fame caufes : " GOD faid again to Noah,
" while the Earth remaineth, feed time and har-

" veil

220 STUDIES OF NATURE.

*' veft, and cold and heat, and Summer and Win-
'* ter, and day and night, (liall not ceafe *."

There muft he nothing fuperfluons in the Word$
of the Author of Nature, as there is nothing of
this defcription in his Works, The Dehige, as has
been aheady mentioned, commenced on the fe-
venteenth day of the fécond month of the year,
which was among the Hebrews, as with us, the
month of February. Man had by this time
caft the feed into the ground, but reaped not the
harveft. That year, cold fucceeded not to the
heat, nor Summer to Winter, becaufe there was
neither Winter nor cold, from the general fufion
of the polar ices, which are their natural focufes ;
and the night, properly fo called, did not follow
the day, becaufe then there was no night at the
Poles, where there is alternately one of fix months,
becaufe the Sun, purfuing the diredion of a Me-
ridian, illuminated the whole Earth, as is the cafe
now, when he is in the Equator.

To the authority of Genefis, I Ihall fubjoin a
very curious paffage from the Book of Job-f-,
which defcribes the Deluge, and the Poles of the
World, with the principal charaders of them which
1 have juft been exhibiting.

* Gen. ch. viii. ver. 22. t Ch. xxxviii.

4. Ubi

\

STUDY IV. 221

4. Ubi eras quando ponebam fundamenta Ter-
r« ? Indica Mihi, fi habes intelligentiam.

5. Quis pofuit menfuras ejus, û nôfti ? Vel quis
tetendit fuper earn, lineam ?

6. Super quo bafes illius folidatœ funt ? Aut
quis demifit lapidem angularem ejus,

7. Cum manè laudarent fimul Aftra matutina,
& jubilarent omnes Filii Dei ?

8. Quis conclufit oftiis * Mare, quando erum-
pebat quafi ex utero procedens :

* Though the fenfe which I affix to this pafTage, does not
greatly differ from that of M. de Sad, in his excellent tranfla-
tion of the Bible, there are, at the fame time, feveral expref-
fions, to which I affign a meaning rather oppofite to that of
this learned Gentleman.

I ft. Ojîium, properly fpeaking, fignifies an opening, a dif-
gorging, a fluice, a flood-gate, a mouth ; and not a barrier,
according to Saab Tranflation. Obferve how admirably the
fenfe of this verfe, and of that which follows, is adapted to the
ftate of conftraint and inaélivity to which the Sea is reftrided
at the Poles, furrounded with clouds and darknefs, like a child
in fwaddling clothes in his cradle. They are, likewife, expref-
five of the thick fogs which furround the bafis of the polar ices,
as is well known to all the mariners of the North.

adly. The preceding epithets of the foundations of the Earth ;
of the fajlening of the foundations ; of Jlr etching the line upon it ;
of the Sea's breaking firth, as if iffuing from the womb, deter-
mine particularly the Poles of the World, from whence the Seas
flow over the reft of the Globe. The epithet of corner fione^
feems, likewife, to denote more particularly the North Pole,
which, by it's magnetic attradlion, diftinguifhes itfelf from
every other point of the Earth.

9. Cum

222 STUDIES OF NATURE.

9. Cum ponerem nubem veftimentum ejus, &
caligine, illud, quafipannis infantise, obvolverem?

10. Circumdedi illud tcrminis meis, & pofui
veftem & oftia :

11. Et dixi : ufque hue venies, fed non procè-
des ampliùs; & hic confringes tumentes fludlus
tuos.

12. Numquid poft ortum tuum prsecepifti di-
liculo, & oflendifti Aurorœ *, locum fuum ?

13. Et tenuifti concutiens extrema Terrœ, &
excuffifhi impios ex ea ?

14. Reftituetur ut lutum -f- fignaculum, & ftabit
ficut veftimentum.

15. Auferecur ab impiis lux fua, & brachium
excelfum confringetur.

* Aurora locum fuum, the place of the Aurora. The Aurora
Borealis is, perhaps, here intended. The cold of the Poles pro-
duces the Aurora, for there is fcarce any fuch thing between
the Tropics. The Pole is, accordingly, properly fpeaking, the
natural place of the Aurora. In the verfe following, the ex-
preffion, tenuijîi concutiens extrema Terra, evidently charafterizes
the total eflfufions of the polar ices, fituated at the extremities of
the Earth, which occafioned the Univerfal Deluge.

t Rejlituetur ut lutum fignaculum. This verfe is very obfcure
in the Tranflation of M. de Saci. It appears to me here defcrip-
tive of the foffil fliells, which, over the whole Earth, are monu-
ments of the Deluge.

16. Num-

<

I

STUDY IV.

223"

1 6. Numquid ingrefllis es profunda Maris, Sc
in noviffimis AbylTi * deambulâfti ?

17. Numquid apertse funt tibi portée Mortis t,
& oftia tenebrofa vidifti ?

18. Numquid confiderâfti latitudinem Terrse :J ?
Indica Mihi, fi nofti omnia.

* In nmijjimis AhyJJî^ in the fearch (at the fources) of the
Depth, ^rtc/ tranflates it, /;/ the extremities of the Abyjs. This
verfion deftroys the correfpondence, of the expreffion under re-
view, with that of the other polar characters, fo clearly ex-
plained before ; and the antithefis of novij/ima^ with that of
profunda Maris, which goes before, by affixing the fame meaning
to it. Antithefis is a figure in frequent ufe among the Orientals,
and efpecially in the Book of Job. 'Novijfma Ahyjf, literally de-
note, the places which renovate the Abyfs, the fources of the
Sea, and, confequently, the polar ices.

"j" Porta Mortis, & oflia tenebrofa ; the gates of Death, and the
doors of the Jhadoix) of Death, or, the gates of Darknefs. The
Poles, being uninhabitable, are, in reality, the gates of Death.
The epithet dark here denotes the nights of fix months duration,
which hold their empire at the Poles. This fenfe is farther
confirmed by what is fubjoined in the following verfes ; the
locus tenehrarmn, place of darknefs, and the thefaurus nivis, trea-
fures of the fnow. The Poles are, at once, the place of darknefs,
and that of the Aurora,

+ Latitudine?n Terra. Literally : Haft thou perceinjed the
breadth (the Latitude) of the Earth? In truth, all the characters
of the Pole could be known only to thofe who had courfed over
the Earth in it's Latitude. There were, in the times of Job,
many Arabian travellers who went eaftiward, and weflward, and
fouthward, but very few who had travelled northward, that is
to fay, in Latitude.

19. In

X./Î7

224

STUDIES OF NATURE.

1 9. In qua via lux habitet, & tenebrarum quis
locus fit.

20. Ut ducas unumquodque ad terminos fuos,
& intelligas femitas domûs ejus.

21. Sciebas tunc quod nafcitums effes ? Et nu-
merum dierum tuorum noveras ?

22. Numquid ingreffus es thefauros nivis, aut
thefauros grandinis afpexifli ?

23. Qu£e preparavi in tempus hoftis, in diem
pugnce & belli.

Common Verfion of the
Bible.

4. Where waft thou, when I
laid the foundations of the
Earth? Declare, if thou haft
underftanding.

5. Who hath laid the mea-
fures thereof, if thou knoweft ?
Or who hath ftretched the line
upon it ?

6. Whereupon are the foun-
dations thereof faftened ? Or
who laid the corner - ftone
thereof ?

7. When the morning ftars
fang together, and all the Sons
of GOD fhouted for joy.

I'ranjlaiion of
Saint-Pierre'j Ferfton.

4. Where waft thou, when
I laid the foundations of the
Earth ? Tell it Me, if thou
haft any knowledge.

5. Knoweft thou who it is
that determined it's dimen-
fions, and who regulated it's
levels ?

6. On what are it's bafes fe-
cured ; and who fixed it's cor-
ner-ftone ?

7. When the Stars of the
morning praifed Me all toge-
ther, and when all the Sons of
GOD were tranfported with

joy-

8. Or,

STUDY IV.

221

8. Or who flint up the Sea
with doors, when it brake
forth, as if it had iffiied out of
the womb ?

g. When I made the cloud
the garment thereof, and thick
darknefs a fwaddHng band for
it,

ro. And brake up for it my
decreed place, and fet bars and
doors,

1 1 . And faid. Hitherto flialt
thou come, but no farther :
and here fhall thy proud waves
be (laid.

12. Haft thou commanded
the morning fince thy days ?
and caufed the day-fpring to
know his place,

13. That it might take hold
of the ends of the Earth, that
the wicked might be fhaken out
of i- ?

14. It is turned as clay to
the feal, and they ftand as a gar-
ment.

8. Who appointed gates to
the Sea, to fliut it up again,
when it inundated the Earth,
rufliing as from it's mother'3
womb ;

g. When I gave it the clouds
for a covering, and wrapped it
up in darknefs, as a child is
wrapped up in fwaddling-
clothes ?

10. I fliut it up within
bounds well-known to me ; I
appointed for it a bulwark and
fluices,

1 1 . And faid to it. Thus far
fhalt thou come, but farther
thou fhalt not pafs, and here
the pride of thy billows fliall be
broken.

1 2. Is it thou who, in open-
ing thine eyes to the light, haft
given commandment to the
dawning of the day to appear,
and haft fhewn to Aurora the
place where flie ought toarife.?

13. Is it thou who, holding
in thy hands the extremities
of the Earth, haft convulfed
it, and fliaken the wicked out
of it?

14. A multitude of minute
monuments of this event fliall
remain imprelfed in the clay,
and fliall fubfift as the memo-
rials of that devaftation.

VOL. I.

15. And

220

• STUDIES OF NATURE.

15. And from the wicked
their light is with-holden, and
the high arm fhall be broken.

16. Haft thou entered into
the fprings of the Sea ? or haft
thou walked in the fearch of
the Depth ?

1 7. Have the gates of Death
been opened unto thee? or haft
thou feen the doors of the fha-
dow of Death ?

18. Haft thou perceived the
breadth of the Earth ? Declare
if thou knoweft it all.

ig. Where is the way where
light dvvelleth ? and as for dark-
nefs, where is the place there-
of?

20. That thou fliouldeft take
it to the bound thereof, and
that thou fliouldeft know the
paths to the houfe thereof?

21. Knoweft thou it, be-
caufe thou waft then born ? or,
becaufe the number of thy days
is great ?

22. Haft thou entered into
the treafures of the fnow ? Or
haft thou feen the treafures of
the hail ?

23. Which

15. The light of the wickccS
ftiall be taken from them, and
their lifted-up arm fliall be
broken.

16. Haft thou penetrated to
the bottom of the Sea, and
walked over the fources which
renovate the Abyfs ?

1 7. Have thefe gates of Death
been opened to thee ; and haft
thou furveyed the dark dif-
gorgings of the Depth ?

18. Haft thou obferved where
the breadth of the Earth ter-
minates? If thou knoweft all
thefe things, declare them unta
Me.

19. Tell me where the light
inhabits, and what is the place
of darknefs,

20. That thou mayeft con-
du6l each to it's deftination,
feeing thou knoweft their ha-
bitation, and the way that leads
to it.

21. Didft thou know, as
thefe things already exifted,
that thou thyfelf wert to be
born ; and hadft thou then dif-
covered the fleeting number of
thy days ?

22. 23. Haft thou, I fay, en-
tered into the treafures of the
fnow, and furveyed thofe tre-
mendous refervoirs of hail,

which

STUDY IV. 227

23. Which I have referved which I have prepared againft

againft the time of trouble, the time of the adverfary, and

againft the day of battle and for the day of battle and war ?
war ?

The Reader, I flatter myfelf, will not be dif-
pleafed at my having deviated fomewhat from my
fubjeft, that I might exhibit to him the agreement
between my hypothefis and the traditions of the
Holy Scriptures i and efpecially between it and
thofe, though not free from obfcurity, of a Book,
perhaps, the moft ancient that exifts. Our moft
learned Theologians agree in thinking, that Job
wrote prior to Mofes, Whether this be the cafe
or not, furely no one ever painted Nature with
greater fublimity.

We may, farther, arrive at complete aflurance
of the general effed of the polar effufions on the
Ocean, from the particular effecfts of the icy effu-
fions of mountains, on the lakes and rivers of the
Continent. I fhall here relate fome examples of
thefe laft; for the human mind, from it's natural
weaknefs, loves to particularize all the objects of
it's ftudies. And this is the reafon why it appre-
hends, much more quickly, the laws of Nature,
in fmall objeds, than in thofe which are great.

CL 2 AdJifoity

iZÔ STUDIES OF NATURE.

Addijon, in his remarks on Mijon's Tour to
Italy, page 322, fays, that there is in the Lake of
Geneva, in Summer, towards evening, a kind of
jflux and reflux, occafioned by the melting of the
fnows, which fall into it in greater quantities after
noon, than at other feafons of the day. He ex-
plains, befides, with much clearnefs, as he gene-
rally does, from the alternate eifufions of the ices
on the mountains of Switzerland, the intermit-
tance of certain fountains of that country, which
flow only at particular hours of the day.

If this digreffion were not already too long, I
could demonftrate, that there is no one fountain,
nor lake, nor river, fubjeft to a particular flux and
reflux, but what is indebted for it to icy moun-
tains, which fupply their fources. I fliall fubjoin
but a very few words more refpe(fling thofe of the
Euripus ; the frequent and irregular movements of
which fo much embarrafled the Philofophers of
Antiquity, and which may be fo eafily explained
from the icv eifufions of the neip;hbourino moun-
tains.

The Euripus, it is well known, is a flirait of the
Archipelago, which feparates the ancient Beotia
from the ifland of Eubea, now Negropont. About
the middle of this flrait, where it is moft narrow,
the water is known to flow, fometimes to the

North,

STUDY IV. 299

North, fometimes to the South, ten, twelve, fourteen
times a day, with the rapidity of a torrent. Thefe
multiplied, and, very frequently, unequal move-
ments, cannot poffibly be referred to the tides of the
Ocean, which are fcarcely perceptible in the Me-
diterranean. A Jefuit quoted by Spon *, endea-
vours to reconcile thefe to the phafesof the Moon;
but fuppofing the table of them, which he pro-
duces, to be accurate, their regularity and irregu-
larity will always remain a difficulty of no eafy fo-
iution. He refutes Seneca, the Tragic Poet, vvho
afcribes to the Euripus but feven fluxes, in the
day time only :

Dùm lafla Titan mergat Oceano juga.
Till Titan's tired fteeds in th' Ocean plunge.

He adds farther, I know not after whom, that in
the Sea of Perfia the flux never takes place but in
the night-time ; and that under the Arcftic Pole,
on the contrary, it is perceptible twice in the day-
time, without being ever obferved in the night. It
is not fo, fays he, with the Euripus.

I (hall obfcrve, by the way, that his remark
with refpect to the Pole, fuppofing it true, evinces
that it's two diurnal fluxes are the effecfls of the

* Voyage to Greece and the Levant, by %«, vol. ii. page 340.

Q.3 Sun,

230 STUDIES OF nature;

Sun, who aâ:s, only during the day, on the two
icy extremities of the Continents of the New
World, and of the Old. As to the Euripus, the
variety, the number, and the rapidity of it's fluxes,
prove that they have their origin, in like manner,
in icy mountains, fituated at different oiftances,
and under different afpefts of the Sun. For, ac-
cording to that fame Jefuir, the Ifland of Eubea,
which is on one fide of the lirait, contains moun-
tains covered with fnow for fix months of the
year; and we know equally well, that Bcotia,
which is on the other fide, contains feveral moun-
tains of an equal elevation, and even fome which
are crowned with ice all the year round, fuch as
Mount Oëta. If thefe fluxes and refluxes of the
Euripus take place as frequently in Winter, which
is not affirmed, the caufeof them mud be afcribed
to the rains which fall, at that feafon of the year,
on the fummits of thefe lofty collateral mountains.

I fliall enable the Reader to form an idea of
thefe, not very apparent, caufes of the movements
of the Euripus, by here tranfcribing what Spon
relates, in another place *, of the Lake of Liva-
dia, or Copaide, which is in it's vicinity. This
lake receives the firfl fluxes of the icy effufions of

*• Vovage to Greece and the Levant, by Spon, vol. ii. pages
88 and 89.

the

STUDY IV. 231

the mountains of Beotia, and communicates them,
undoubtedly, to the Euripus, through the moun-
tain which feparates them. " It receives," fays
he, '' feveral fmall rivers, the Cephifus and others,
** which water that beautiful plain, whofe circiim-
" ference is about fifteen leagues, and abounds
*' in corn and paftuie. Befides, it was formerly
*' one of the moft populous regions of Beotia.
*' But the water of this lake, fometimes, fwells fo
" violently, by the rains and melted fnows, that it
" pnce inundated two hundred villages of the plain.
" It would even be capable of producing a regular
•' annual inundation, if Nature, afiified, per-
*' haps, by Art *, had not contrived for it an out-

" 1er,

* Spon, undoubtedly, did not confider what he was faying,
when he fuggerted an idea of the poifibiHty of Art affilling Nature
in the conftruetion of five fubterranean canals, each ten miles
long, through a folid rock. Thefe fubterranean canals are fre-
quently met with in mountainous countries, of which I could
produce a thoufand inftances. They contribute to the circula-
tion of waters, which could not otherwife force a paflage through
extended chains of mountains. Nature pierces the rocks, and
fends rivers thi"ough the apertures, jufl as flie has pierced feveral
of the bones of the human body, for the purpofe of tranfmit-
ting certain veins. I leave to the Reader the profecution of this
new idea. I have faid enough to convince him, that this Globe
is not the produéVion of diforder or chance.

I fliall conclude thefe obfervations, with a refledion refpeft-
ing the two Travellers, whom I have been quoting : it may,
perhaps, have a good moral efFed:. Spon was a Frenchman, and

Q 4 George

232 STUDIES OF NATURE,

*' let, by five great canals, under the adjacent
*' mountain of the Euripus, between Negropont
" and Talanda, through which the water of the

George JVheelcr Englifli. They travelled in company over the
Archipelago. The former brought home with him a great col-
Jeftion of Greek infcriptions and epitaphs ; and the literati of
the lafi: age cried him up highly. The other has given us the
names and charafters of a great many very curious plants,
which grow on the ruins of Greece, and which, in my opinion,
convey a very attecling intereft into his relations. He is little
known among us.

According to the defcriptive titles which each of thefe Gentle-
men alTumed, Jacob Span was a Phyfician aflbciate of Lyons,
and an eager inveftigator of the monuments of men. George
Wheeler was a Country Gentleman, and enthufiaftically attached
to thofe of Nature. Their talks, to judge from iîtuations,
cuoht to have been reverfed ; and that the Gentleman fhould
have been fond of monumental infcriptions, and the Phyfician
of plants ; but, as we fliall have occafion to obferve, in the fe-
quel of thefe Studies, our paflions fpring out of contrarieties,
and are, almofi: always, in oppofition to our conditions. It was
from an effete of this harmonic law of Nature, that, though
thefe Travellers were, the one Engliih, and the other French,
they lived in the moft perfeft union. I remark, to their honour,
that they quote each other in terms of the higheft refpeft and
approbation.

Minifters of State, would yo\i form Societies which fliall be
cordially united among themfelves, do not alTort Academicians
with Academicians, Soldiers with Soldiers, Merchants with
Merchants, Monks with Monks, but aflbciate Men of oppofite
conditions, and you will bçhold harmony pervade the aflbcia-
tion ; provided, however, that you exclude the ambitious,
which is, indeed, no eafy tafls., ambition being one of the firft
vices which our mode of education inftils.

" lake

STUDY IV.

233

" lake is gulped up, and throws itfelf into the Sea
*' on the oppofite fide of the mountain. The
" Greeks call this place Catabathra : (the whirl-
" pools.) Strabo, fpeaking of this lake, fays,
** neverthelefs, that there appeared no outlet in his
^' time, unlefs it be, that the Cephifus, fometimes,"
" forced a pafTage under ground. But it is only
" neceflary to read the account which he gives of
" the changes that take place in this morafs, not
" to be furprifed at what he has affirmed of it's
" outlets. Mr. IVheeler, who went to examine
** this fpot after my departure from Greece, fays
" it is one of the greateft curiofities in the coun-
*^ try, the mountain being near ten miles broad,
'* and almoft entirely one mafs of folid rock."

I have no doubt that feveral objedlions may be
flarted againft the hafty explanation which has
■ been given of the courfe of the Tides, of the
Earth's motion in the Ecliptic, and of the Univer-
fal Deluge, by the effufions of the polar ices ; but,
I have the courage to repeat it, thefe phyfical
caufes piefent themfelves with a higher degree of
probability, of fimplicity, and of conformity to the
general progrefs of Nature, than the aftronomical
caufes, fo far beyond our reach, by which at-
tempts have been made to explain them. It be*
longs to the impartial Reader to decide. If he is
on his guaid againft the novelty of fyftems, which

are

2^4 STUDIES OF NATURE.

are not yet fupported by puffers, he ought to be no
lefs fo, againft the antiquity of thofe which have
many fuch fupporters.

Let us now return to the form of the great ba-
fon of the Ocean. Two principal Currents crofs
it from Eaft to Weft, and from North to South.
The firfl:, coming from the South Pole, puts in
motion the Seas of India, and, direâ:ed along the
eaftern extent of the Old Continent, runs from
Eaft to Weft, and from Weft to Eaft, in the courfc
of the fame year, forming, in the Indian Ocean,
what are called the Monfoons. This we have al-
ready remarked ; but what has not been hitherto
brought forward, though it w^ell deferves to be fo,
is, that all the bays, creeks, and mediterraneans
of fouthern Afia, fuch as the gulfs of Siam and
Bengal, the Perfian Gulf, the Red Sea, and a great
many others, are direded, relatively to this Cur-
rent, North and South, fo as not to be ftemmed
by it.

The fécond Current, in like manner, iffuing
from the North Pole, gives an oppofite movement
to our Ocean, and, inclofed between the Conti-
nent of America and ours, proceeds from North
to South, and returns from South to North in the
fame year, forming, like that of India, real Mon-
foons, though not fo carefully obferved by Navi-
gators,

STUDY IV. 235

gators. AU the bays and mediterraneans of Eu-
rope, as the Baltic, the Channel, the Bay of Bif-
cay, the Mediterranean properly fo called ; and
all thofe on the eaflern coaft of America, as the
Bay of Baffin, Hudfon's-Bay, the Gulf of Mexico,
as well as many others which might be mentioned,
are diredled, relatively to this Current, Eaft and
Weft ; or, to fpeak with more precifion, the
axes of all the openings of the Land in the Old
and New Worlds, are perpendicular to the axes of
thefe general Currents, fo that their mouth only
is croffed by them, and their depth is not expofed
to the impulfions of the general movements of the
Ocean.

It is becaufe of the calmnefs of bays, that fo
many veflels run thither in queft of anchoring
ground ; and it is for this reafon that Nature has
.placed, in their bottoms, the mouths of moft ri-
vers, as we before obferved, that their waters might
be difcharged into the Ocean, without being driven
furioufly back by the diredlion of it's Currents.
She has employed fimilar precautions for the fecu-
rity of even the fmalleft ftreams which empty
themfelves into the Sea. There is not a fingle ex-
perienced feaman who does not know, that there
is fcarcely a creek but what has it*s little rivulet.
But for the Wifdom apparent in thefe difpofitions,

the

236 STUDIES OF NATL'RE.

the ftreams, deflined to water the Earth, muft fre-
quently have deluged it.

Nature employs ftill other means for fccuring
the courfe of rivers, and efpecially for protetfting
their difcharges into the Sea. The chief of thefe
are illands. Iflands prefent, to the rivers, chan-
nels of different diredions, that if the Winds, or
the Currents of the Ocean, fhould block up one
of their outlets, the waters might have a free paf-
fage through another. It may be remarked, that
flie has multiplied iflands at the mouths of rivers
the mofb expofed to this twofold inconveniency ;
fuch as, for example, at that of the Amazon, which
is for ever attacked by the Eaft wind, and fituated
on one of the mod prominent parts of America.
There they are fo many in number, and form with
each other channels of fuch different courfes, that
one outlet points North-eaft, and another South-
eaft, and from the firfl to the laft the diflance is
upward of a hundred leagues.

Fluviatic illands are not formed, as has been
currently believed, of folid fubftances waflied
down by rivers, and aggregated : they are, on the
contrary, for the moft part, very much elevated
above the level of thefe rivers, and many of them
contain rivers and mountains of their own Such

elevated

STUDY IV. 237

elevated iflands are, befides, frequently found at
the confluence of a fmaller and a greater river.
They ferve to facilitate their communication, and
to open a double paflage to the current of the
fmaller river. As often then as you fee iflands in the
channel of a great river, you may be aflured there
is fome lateral inferior river, or rivulet, in the vi-
cinity.

There are, in truth, many of thefe confluent
rivulets which have been dried up by the ill-ad-
vifed labours of men, but you will always find,
oppofite to the iflands which divided their con-
fluence, a correfpondent valley, in which you may
trace their ancient channel. There are, likewife,
fome of thefe iflands in the midfl: of the courfe of
rivers, in places expofed to the winds. I fliall ob-
ferve, by the way, that we recede very widely from
the intentions of Nature, in re-uniting the iflands
of a river to the adjoining Continent ; for it's wa-
ters, in this cafe, flow in only one fingle channel,
and when the winds happen to blow in oppofition
to the current, they can efcape neither to the right
nor to the left ; they fwell, they overflow, inun-
date the plains, carry away the bridges, and occa-
(ion mofh of the ravages which, in modern times,,
fo frequently endamage our cities.

We

238 STUDIES OF ïîATURE.

We do not, then, find bays or gulfs at the ex-
tremities of the Currents of the Ocean ; but, on
the contrary, iflands. At the extremity of the
great eaftern Current of the Indian Ocean is placed
the Ifland of Madagafcar, which protedts Africa
againft it's violence. The iflands of the Terra-del-
Fuego defend, in like manner, the fouthern extre-
mity of America, at the confluence of the eaftern
and vveftern Currents of the South Seas. The nu-
merous archipelagos of the Indian Ocean and
South Sea are fituated about the Line, where the
two general Currents of the North and South Seas
meet.

With Iflands, too, it is that Nature proteâis the
inlets of bays and mediterraneans. Great Britain
and Ireland cover that of the Baltic ; the iflands
of Welcom and Good-fortune cover Hudfon's-
Bay ; the ifland of St. Laurence protefls the en-
trance of the gulf which bears that name; the
chain of the Antilles, the gulf of Mexico; the
ifles of Japan, the double gulf formed by the pe-
ninfula of Goree with the country adjacent. AU
currents bear upon iflands. Moft of thefe are, for
this reafon, noted from their prodigious fwells,
and their gufts of wind : fuch are the Azores,
the Bermudas, the ifland of Triftan, of Acunhah,
&c. Not that they contain within themfelves the

caufes

STUDY IV.

239

caufes of fuch phenomena, but from their being
placed in the focufes of the revokitions of the
Ocean, and even of the Atmofphere, for the pur-
pofe of weakening their effedts. They are in po-
fitions nearly fimilar to thofe of Capes, which are
all celebrated for the violent tempefts which beat
upon them : as Cape Finiflerre, at the extremity
of Europe ; the Cape of Good-Hope, at that of
Africa ; and Cape Horn, at that of America.
Hence comes the fea proverb to double the Cape,
to exprefs the furmounting of fome great difficulty.
The Ocean, accordingly, inflead of bearing upon
the retiring parts of the Continent, fets in upon
thofe which are moft prominent ; and it mud fpee-
dily have deftroyed thefe, had not Nature forti-
fied them in a moft wonderful manner.

The weftern coaft of Africa is defended by a
long bank of fand, on which the billows of the
Atlantic Ocean are continually breaking. Brafil,
in the whole extent of it's fhores, oppofes to the
winds, which blow continually from the Eaft, and
to the Currents of the Sea, a prodigious rampart of
rocks, more than a thoufand leagues long, twenty
paces broad at the fummit, and of an unknown
thicknefs at the bafe. It is a mulket-fhot diftant
from the beach. It is entirely covered at high-
water, and on the retreating of the tide, it exhibits
the elevation of a peak. This enormous dike is

compofed

240 STUDIES OF NATURE.

compofed of one folid mafs lengthwife, as has been
afcertained by repeated borings ; and it would be
impoffible for a veffel to get into Brafil, were it
not for the feveral inlets which Nature has
formed *.

Go from South to North, and you find fimilar
precautions employed. The coaft of Norway is
provided with a bulwark nearly refembling that of
Brafil. Pont Oppidan tells us, that this coaft, which
is nearly three hundred leagues in length, is, for
the mofl part, fteep, angular, and pendant ; fo
that the Sea, in many places, prefents a depth of
no lefs than three hundred fathoms clofe in-fliore.
This has not prevented Nature from proteâiing
thefe coafts, by a multitude of iiles, great and
fmall. *' By fuch a rampart," fays that Author,
" confiding of, perhaps, a million, or more, of
" mafly flone pillars, founded in the very depth
'* of the Sea, the chapiters of which rife only a few
*' fathoms above the furface, all Norway is de-
'^ fended to the Weft, equally againft the enemy,
" and againft the Ocean." There are, however,
fome coaft-harbours behind this fpecies of fea-
bulwark, of a conftruftion fo wonderful. But as
there is frequently great danger, adds he, of fliips
being driven afliore, before they can get into port,

* See Hiflory af the Troubles of Brafil, by Peter Moreau.

from

STUDY IV* 241

from the winds and currents which are very vio-
lent in the (traits of thefe rocks and ifles, and from
the difficuky of anchoring in fuch a vaft depth of
water, Government has been at the expence of
faflening feveral hundreds of ftrong iron rings in
the rocks, more than two fathoms above water, by
which veflels may be fafely moored.

Nature has infinitely varied thefe means of pro-
tedion, efpecially in the iilands themfelves which
proted: the Continent. She has, for example, fur-
rounded the We of France with a bank of madre-
pores, which opens only at the places where the
rivers of that ifland empty themfelves into the Sea.
Other illands, feveral of the Antilles in particular,
were defended by forefts of mangliers which grow
in the fea-water, and break the violence of the
waves, by yielding to their motion. To the de-
ftrudion, perhaps, of thefe vegetable fortifications,
we ought to afcribe the irruptions of the Sea, now
fo frequent in feveral iflands, particularly that of
Formofa. There are others which confift of pure
rock, rifing out of the bofom of the waves, like
huge moles ; fuch is the Maritimo, in the Medi-
terranean. Others are volcanic, as the Ille of
Fuego, one of the Cape de Verd iflands, and fe-
veral others, of the fame defcription, in the South
Sea, rife like pyramids with fiery fummits, and an-
fwer the purpofe of light-houfes to mariners, by

VOL. I. R their

242. STUDIES OF NATURE.

their flame in the night time, and their fmoke by
day.

The Maldivia iflands are defended againft the
Ocean, by precautions the mod aftonilliing. In
truth, they are more expofed than many others,
being fituated in the very midft of that great Cur-
rent of the Indian Ocean, of which mention has
been already made_, and which pafles and repafles
them twice a year. They are, befides, fo low, as
hardly to rife above the level of the water ; and
they are fo fmall, and fo numerous, that they
have been computed at twelve thoufand, and fe-
veral are fo near each other, that it is poffible to
leap over the channel which divides them. Na-
ture has firfl; collefted them into cluflers, or ar-
chipelagos, feparated from each other by deep
channels which go from Eaft to Weft, and which
prefent various paffages to the general Current of
the Indian Ocean. Thefe clufters are thirteen in
number, and extend, in a row, from the eighth
degree of northern to the fourth degree of fouthern
Latitude, which gives them a length of three
hundred of our leagues of 25 to a degree.

But let us permit the interefting and unfortu-
nate Francis Pyrard, who there paffed the flower of
his days, in a fl:ate of flavery, to defcribe the ar-
chitedure of them ; for he has left us the bed

defcription

STUDY IV. 243

defcription which we have of thefe iflands, as if it
were neceflary that, in every cafe, things the moft
worthy of the efteem of Mankind fhould be the
fruit of fome calamity. *< It is wonderful," Hiys
he, " to behold each of thefe clufters encompaffed
** round and round with a great bulwark of ftone,
'* fuch as no human art can pretend to equal in
" fecuring a fpot of ground within walls *. Thefe
** clufters are all roundifli, or oval, and are about
*' thirty leagues each in circumference, fome a
" very little more, others a very little lefs, and are
** all in a feries, and end to end, without anycon-
** taâ; whatever. There are, between every two,
" channels of the Sea, fome broad, others very
" narrow. When you are in the centre of a cluf-
" ter, you fee, all around, that great bulwark of
" ftone, which, as 1 have faid, encompafles it,
" and defends the illes againft the impetuofity of
" the Ocean. But it is truly frightful, even to the
" boldeft, to approach this bulwark, and to behold
" the billows coming from afar, to burft with fury
" on every fide : for then, I affure you, as a thing
" 1 have feen a thoufand and a thoufmd times,
*' the perturbation, or bubbling over, exceeds the
" fizeofahoufe, and is whiter than a fleece of
" cotton : fo that you feem furrounded with a wall

* Voyage to the Maldivias, chap, x:

R 2 *' of

244 STUDIES OF NATURE.

"of brilliant whitenefs, efpecially when Ocean is
" in his majefty."

Pyrard farther obferves, that mofl of the ifles,
inclofed in thefe fubdivifions, are furrounded, each
in particular, by a particular bank, which farther
defends them againft the Sea. But the Current of
the Indian Ocean, which pafles through the paral-
lel channels of thefe cluflers of illands, is fo vio-
lent, that it would be impoffible for Mankind to
keep up a communication between one and an-
other, had not Nature arranged all this in her
own wonderful manner. She has divided each of
thefe cluflers by two particular channels, which
interfed them diagonally, and whofe extremities
exadly terminate at the extremities of the great
parallel channels which feparate them. So that if
you wifli to pafs from one of thefe archipelagos
to another, when the current is eafterly, you take
your departure from that where you happen to be,
by the diagonal canal of the Eafl, where the water
is calm, and committing yourfelf afterward to the
current which pafles through the parallel channel,
you proceed, in a defledling courfe, to land on the
oppofite clufter, into which you enter by the
opening of it's diagonal channel, which is to the
Weft. The mode of proceeding is reverfed, when
the current changes fix months afterwards. Through

thefe

STUDY IV.

245

tliefe interior communications the iflanders, at all
feafons, can make excurfions from ifle to ille, the
whole length of the chain, from North to South,
notwithftanding the violence of the currents which
feparate them.

Every ille has it's proper fortification, propor-
tioned, if I may fay fo, to the danger to which it
is expofed from the billows of the Ocean. It is
not neceflary to fuppofe the water roufed into a
tempeft, in order to form an idea of their fury.
The fimple adtion of the trade-winds, however
uniform, is fufficient to give them, unremittingly,
the moft violent impulfion. Each of thefe billows,
joining, to the confiant velocity imprefled upon it
every inftant by the wind, an acquired velocity,
from it's particular movement, would form, after
running through a confiderable fpace, an enormous
mafs of water, were not it's courfe retarded by the
currents which crofs it, by the calms which llacken
it, but, above all, by the banks, the Ihallows, and
the iflands which break it.

A very perceptible effeft of this accelerated ve-
locity of the waves is vifible on the coafts of Chili
and Peru, which undergo, however, only the
fimple concuffion and repercuffion of the waters
of the South Sea, The fiiores are inacceffible
through their whole extent, unlefs at the bottom

R q of

24^ STUDIES OF NATURE.

of feme bay, or under the (helter of fome ifland
fituated near the coaft. All the illands of that vaft
Ocean, fo peaceful as to have obtained the diftinc-
tive appellation of Pacific, are unapproachable on
the fide which is expofed to the Currents occa-
lioned by the Trade-winds only, unlefs where
fhelves or rocks break the impetuofity of the bil-
lows. In that cafe, it is a fpedlacle at once magni-
ficent and tremendous, to behold the vaft fleeces
of foam, which inceffantly rife from the bofom of
their dark and rugged windings ; and to hear their
hoarfe roaring noife, efpecially in the night-time,
carried by the winds to feveral leagues diftance.

Iflands, then, are not fragments feparated by
violence from the Continents. Their pofition in
the Ocean, the manner in which they are there de-
fended, and the length of their duration, conftitute
a complete demonftration of this. Confidering
how long the Sea has been battering them with it*s
utmoft fury, they muft have been, by this time,
reduced to a ftate of total ruin. Scylla and Ca-
rybdis, neverihelefs, emit to this day their ancient
roarings, fo as to be heard at the extremities of
Sicily.

This is not the proper place to indicate the
means which Nature employs to preferve the
iflands, and to repair them ; nor the other proofs

from

STUDY IV.

247

from the vegetable and animal kingdoms, and
from Man, which evince that they have exifted,
fuch as we now fee them, from the very origin of
the Globe : it will be fufficient for me to give an
idea of their conftrudion, in order to produce
perfedl conviélion in every candid mind, that they
are in no one refpeét the work of chance. They
contain, as Continents themfelves do, mountains,
peaks, rivers, and lakes, proportioned to their
magnitude. For the purpofe of demonflrating
this new truth, I fhall be ftill under the neceffity
of faying fomewhat refpedting the diftribution of
the Globe ; but I fhall not be long, and fhall en-
deavour to introduce nothing but what is abfolutely
needful to make myfelf underftood.

It is, firft, to be remarked, that the chains of
mountains in both Continents, are parallel to the
Seas which wafh their coafts : fo that if you fee
the plan of one of thefe chains, with it's different
branches, you are able to determine the Iliore of
the Sea which correfponds to them ; for, as I have
juft faid, the mountains and thefe are always pa-
rallel. You may, in like manner, on feeing the
fmuofities of a fliore, determine thofe of the chains
of mountains which are in the interior of a coun-
try ; for the gulfs of a Sea always correfpond to
the valleys of the mountains of the lateral Con-
tinent.

R 4 Thefe

248 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Thefe correfpondencies are perceptible in the
two great chains of the Old, and of the New
Worlds. The long chain of Taurus runs Eaft and
Weft, as does the Indian Ocean, the different
gulfs of which it inclofes by branches prolonged as
far as to the extremities of moft of their Capes.
On the contrary, the chain of the Andes, in Ame-
rica, runs North and South, like the Atlantic
Ocean. There is, befides, another thing worthy
of remark, nay, I venture to fay, of admiration,
it is, that thefe chains of mountains are oppofed
to the regular winds which crofs thofe Seas, and
which convey the emanations from them ; and that
their elevation is proportioned to the diftance at
which they are placed from fuch fhores : fo that
the farther they are removed from the Sea, the
greater is their elevation into the Atmofphere.

For this reafon it is, that the chain of the Andes
is placed along the South Sea, where it receives the
emanations of the Atlantic Ocean, wafted by the
Eaft wind over the vaft Continent of America.
The broader that Continent becomeSj the greater
is the elevation of that chain. Toward the ifthmus
of Panama, where the Continent has no great
breadih, and, confequently, the diftance from the
Sea is fmall, the elevation of the mountains is in-
confiderable : but they fuddenly rife, precifely in
proportion as the American Continent widens.

It's

STUDY IV. 249

It's highefl mountains look over the broadeft ex-
panfion of America, and are fituated in the Lati-
tude of Cape Saint Auguftin.

The fituation, and the elevation, of this chain
were equally neceflary to the fertility of this grand
divifion of the New World. For, if this chain,
inftead of extending lengthwife, by the coaft of
the South Sea, had extended along the coafts of
Brafil, it would have intercepted all the vapours
conveyed over the Continent by the Eaft wind ;
and if it were not elevated to a region of the At-
mofphere, to which no vapour could afcend, be-
caufe of the fubtility of the air, and of the intenfe-
nefs of the cold, all the clouds borne by the Eaft
wind would be carried beyond it, into the South
Sea. On either of thefe two fuppofitions, moft
of the rivers of South America would remain dry.

The fame reafoning maybe applied to the chain
of Taurus. It prefents to the Northern and Indian
Oceans a double ridge, with oppofite afpeds, from
which flow moft of the rivers of the ancient Con-
tinent, fome to the North, and others to the South.
It's branches are difpofed in like manner : they
do not coaft along the peninfulas of India, by
their ftiores; but crofs them through the middle
at their full length; for the winds of thefe Seas
do not blow always from one and the fame quarter,

as

250 STUDIES OF NATUHE.

as the Eaft wind in the Atlantic Ocean ; but fix
months in one diredion, and fix in another. It
was proper, accordingly, to divide to them the
land which they were intended to water.

It remains that I fubjoin fome farther obferva-
tions refpeding the configuration of thefe moun-
tains, to contirm the ufe to which they are deftined
by Nature. They are crowned, from diftance to
diftance, by long peaks fimilar to lofty pyramids.
Thefe peaks, as has been well obferved, are of
granite, at lead moft of them. I do not know the
component parts of granite; but I know well,
that thefe peaks attract the vapours of the Atmo-
fphere, and fix them around in fuch a quantity,
that they themfelves frequently difappear. This
is a remark which I have made times without num-
ber, with refpeâ: to the peak of Piterboth, in the
Ifle of France, where I have feen the clouds driv-
ing before the South-eaft wind, turn afide percep-
tibly from their diredion, and gather around it, fo
as fometimes to form a very thick cap, which ren-
dered the fummit totally invifible.

I had the curiofity to examine the nature of the
rock of which it is compofed. Inftead of being
formed of grains, it is full of fmall holes, like the
other rocks of the ifland ; it melts in the fire, and
when melted, you may perceive on it's fyrface

fmall

STUDY IV. 251

fmall grains of copper. It is impoflible to doubt
that it muft be impregnated with that metal -, ^nd
to the copper we muft, perhaps, afcribe the virtue
which it pofleffes of attrading the clouds. For
it is known by experience, that this metal, as well
as iron, has the property of attrading thunder. I
do not know of what materials other peaks are
compofed ; but it is very remarkable, that at the
fummit of the Andes, and on their ridges, are
found the gold and filver mines of Chili and Peru,
and that in general, all mines of iron and copper
are found at the fource of rivers, and in elevated
(ituations, where they difcover themfelves by the
fogs which furround them. Whatever may be in
this, whether this attraâiive quality be common to
granite, and to rocks of a different nature, or whe-
ther it depends on fome metal which is amalga-
mated with them, I confider all the peaks in the
world as real eledric needles.

But it was not fufficient that clouds fhould col-
left and fix on the tops of mountains, the rivers
which have their fources there, could have only an
intermittent courfe. As foon as the rainy feafon
was at an end, the rivers muft have ceafed to flow.
Nature, in order to remedy this inconveniency,
has contrived, in the vicinity of their peaks, lakes,
which are real refervoirs, or cifterns, of water, to
furnifli a regular and conftant fupply to their ex-
penditure.

252 STUDIES OF NATURE.

penditure. Mod of thofe lakes are of an incredible
depth ; they anfwer feveral other purpofes, fuch
as that of receiving the melted fnows of the adja-
cent mountains, which would otherwife flow with
too great rapidity. When they are once full, it
requires a very conliderable time to exhauil them.
They exift, either internally or externally, at the
fource of all regular currents of water ; but when
they are external, they are proportioned, either by
their extent, or by their depth and their difcharges,
to the fize of the river which they are defigned to
emit, as well as the peaks which are in the vici-
nity. Thefe correfpondencies mufh have undoubt-
edly been known to Antiquity ; fori think 1 have
feen fome very ancient medals, in which rivers
were reprefented by figures leaning on an urn, and
flretched along at the bafis of a pyramid ; which
was probably defigned to denote at once their
fource and their difcharge.

If, then, we come to apply thefe general difpo-
fitions of Nature to the particular conformation of
iflands, we fliall fee that they have, like Conti-
nents, mountains with branches parallel to their
bays ; that thefe mountains are of an elevation
correfponding to their diftance from the Sea ; and
that they contain peaks, lakes, and rivers, propor-
tional to the extent of their territory. Like Con-
tinents, too, they have their mountains difpofed in

a fuit-

STUDY IV. 253

a fiiitablenefs to the winds which blow over the
Seas whereby they are furrounded. Thofe which
are in the Indian Ocean, as the Moluccas, have
their mountains toward the centre ; fo as to re-
ceive the alternate influence of the two atmo-
fpheric Monfoons. Thofe, on the contrary, which
are under the regular influence of the Eafl: winds,
in the Atlantic Ocean, as the Antilles, have their
mountains thrown to the extremity of the ifland
which is under the wind, precifely as the Andes
with refpeâ; to South America. The part of the
ifland that is toward the wind, is, in the Antilles,
called cahjierre, as who fliould fay caput terra (the
head of the land) ; and that which is from the
wind bajjeterre (low land) ; though, for the mofl:
part, fays Father du Terre *, this lafl is higher,
and more mountainous than the other.

The ifland of Juan Fernandez, which is in the
South Sea, but very far beyond the Tropics,
being in 33° 40' of South Latitude, has it's nor-
thern part formed of rocks very lofty and very
fteep, and it's South fide flat and low, to receive
the influences of the South wind, which blows
there almofl: all the year round. The defcription
of it is to be found in An/on s Voyage round the
World.

<^ Natural Hiftory of the Antilles, page 12.

The

254 STUDIES OF NATURE,

The iflands which deviate from thefe difpofi-
tions, and which are but few in number, have re-
mote relations ftill more wonderful, and certainly
well worthy of being ftudied. They furnilh, be-
fides, in their vegetable and animal produflions,
other proofs, that they are fmall Continents in mi-
niature. But this is not the place to bring them
forward. If they were, as is pretended, the re-
mains of a great Continent fvvallowed up by the
Ocean, they would have preferved part, at leaft,
of their ancient and vaft fabric. We Ihould fee
arife immediately out of the middle of the Sea,
lofty peaks, like thofe of the Andes, from twelve
to fifteen hundred fathom high, without the moun-
tains which fupport them. In other places, we
Ihould fee thefe peaks fupported by enormous
mountains, proportioned to their magnitude, and
which Ihould contain in their cavities great lakes,
like that of Geneva, with rivers ifTuingfrom them,
fuch as the Rhône, and precipitating themfelves at
once into the Sea, without watering any land.
There fliould be, at the bottom of their majeftic
protuberances, no plains, nor provinces, nor king-
doms. Thefe grand ruins of the Continent, in the
midft of the Ocean, would have fome refemblance
to thofe enormous pyramids reared in the fands of
Egypt, which prefent to the eye of the traveller
only fo many frivolous and unmeaning ftrudures ;
or to thofe vaft royal palaces, which the hand of

iim.e

STUDY IV. 255

time has demolifhed, of which you perceive tur-
rets, columns, triumphal arches ; but the habitable
parts of which are entirely deftroyed. The fage
produflions of Nature are not ufelefs and tran-
litory, like the works of Men. Every Ifland has
it*s champaign country, it's vallies, it's hills, it's
hydraulick pyramids, and it's Naiads, in propor-
tion to it's extent.

Some iflands, it is true, but they are very few,
contain mountains more elevated than the extent
of their territory may feem to require. Such is
that of Teneriff : it's peak is fo high, as to be co-
vered with ice a great part of the year. But that
ifland contains mountains of no great elevation,
which are proportioned to it's bays : that of the
mountains which fupport the peak, fwells up amidfl
the others in form of a dome, not unlike the dome
of the Invalids rifing above the adjacent buildings.
I myfelf obferved it with particular attention, and
made a drawing of it, on my way to the Ifle of
France. The lower mountains are an appertenance
to the illand, and the peak to Africa.

This peak, covered with ice, is fituated diredly
oppofite to the entrance of the great fandy defart,
called Zara, and contributes, undoubtedly, to re-
frefh the fhores and Atmofphere of it, by the ef-
fufion of it's fnows, which takes place in the midft

of

256 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of Summer. Nature has placed other glaciers be-
fides, at the entrance of this burning defart, fuch
as Mount Atlas. Mount Ida, in the llland of
Crete, with it's collateral mountains, covered at all
feafons with fnow, is fituated, according to the ob-
fervation of Tournefort, precifely oppofite to the
burning defart of Barca, which coafts along Egypt
from North to South. Thefe obfervations will
furnifh a farther opportunity of making fome re-
flexions on the chains of icy mountains, and of
the Zones of fand fcattered over the Globe.

I ought to beg forgivenefs of the Reader, for
thefe digreffions, into which I have been infenfibly
drawn ; but I will render them as fhort as 1 pof-
fibly can, though, by abridging them, their clear-
nefs is confiderably diminifhed.

The icy mountains appear to be principally de-
figned to convey cooinefs to the fhores of the Seas
fituated between the Tropics ; and the Zones of
fand, on the contrary, to accelerate, by their heat,
the fufion of the polar ices. We can indicate,
only in a curfory manner, thefe mod wonderful
harmonies ; but it is fufficient to perufe the jour-
nals of Navigators, and to fludy geographical
charts, to be convinced, that the principal part of
the Continent of Africa is fituated in fuch a man-
ner, that it is the wind of the North Pole which

blows

STUDY IV. 257

blows mod conftantly on it's coafts ; and that the
fliore of South America projefts, beyond the Line,
fo as to be cooled by the wind of the South Pole.
The Trade-winds, which prevail in the Atlantic
Ocean, always participate of the influence of both
Poles ; that which is on our fide draws confider-
ably toward the North ; and that which is beyond
the Line depends greatly on the South Pole. Thefe
two winds are not oriental, as has been erroneoufly
imagined, but they blow nearly in the directions
of the channel which feparates America from
Africa.

The warm winds of the torrid Zone blow, in
their turn, the moft conftantly toward the Poles j
and it is fingularly remarkable, that as Nature has
placed icy mountains in it's vicinity to cool it's
Seas, conjointly with thofeof the Poles, as Taurus,
Atlas, the Peak of TeneriiF, Mount Ida, &c. flie
has, likewife, extended a long Zone of fand, in
order to increafe the heat of the South- wind on
it's way to warm the Seas of the North. This
Zone commences beyond Mount Atlas, and en-
compafles the Earth like a belt, extending from
the moft wefterly point of Africa to the moft eaf-
terly extremity of Afia, in a reduced diftance of
more than three thoufand leagues. Some branches
of it deviate from the general diredion, and ad-
vance directly toward the North.

VOL. I. s We

258 STUDIES OF NATURH.

We have alreadj^ remarked, that a region all
fand is fo hot, even in our CHmates, from the mul-
tiphed refledtion of it's brilhant particles, that we
never find the fnow covering it for any confider-
able time together, even in the middle of our fe-
vered Winters. Thofe who have crofled the fands
of Eftampes, in Summer, and in the heat of the
day, know well to what a violent degree the heat
is there reverberated. It is fo ardent certain days
in Summer, that, about twenty years ago, four
or five paviers, who were at work on the great
road leading to that City, between two banks of
white fand, were fufFocated by it. Hence it may
be concluded, from fads fo obvious, that but for
the ices of the Pole, and of the mountains in the
vicinity of the torrid Zone, a very confiderable
portion of Africa and Afia would be abfolutely
uninhabitable, and that but for the fands of Africa
and Afia, the ices of our Pole would never melt.

Every icy mountain, too, has, like the Poles,
it*s fandy girdle, which accelerates the fufion of
it's fnows. This we have occafion to remark, in
the defcription of all mountains of this fpecies, as
of the Peak of TenerifF, of Mount Ararat, of the
Cordeliers, &c. Thefe Zones of fand furround
not only their bafes, but there are fome of them
on the higher regions of the mountains, up to the

very

STUDY IV. 259

very peaks ; it frequently requires feveral hours
walking to get acrofs them.

The Tandy belts have a ftill farther ufe, that of
contributing to the repair of the wade, which the
territory of the mountain, from time to time, un-
dergoes : perpetual clouds of duft iflue from
them, which rife, in the firft inftance, on the (liores
of the Sea, where the Ocean forms the firfb depo-
fits of thefe fands, which are there reduced to an
impalpable powder by the inceffant dalhing of
the waves upon them ; we afterwards find thefe
clouds of duft in the vicinity of lofty mountains.
The conveyance of the fands is made from the
fhores of the Sea into the interior of the Conti-
nent, at different feafons, and in various manners.
The moft confiderable happens at the Equinoxes,
for then the Winds blow from the Sea into the
Land. See what Corneille le Bruyn lays of a fandy
tempeft, in which he was caught, on the fhore of
the Cafpian Sea. Thefe periodical conveyances
of the fand form a part of the general revolution of
the Seafons. But as to the interior of different
countries, partial tranfits take place every day,
which are very perceptible toward the more ele-
vated regions of the Continents.

'to'

All travellers who have been at Pckin, are
agreed, that it is not poffible to go abroad, during

s 2 a part

26o STUDIES OF NATURE.

a part of the year, into the flreets of that City,
without having the face covered with a veil, on
account of the fand with which the air is loaded.

When IJhrand-Ides arrived on the frontiers of
China, at the extremity of the outlet of the moun-
tains in the neighbourhood of Xaixigar, that is,
at that part of the creft of the Afiatic Continent,
which is the mod elevated, from which the rivers
begin their courfes, fome to the North, others to
the South, he obferved a regular period of thefe
emanations. *' Every day," fays he*, " at noon
*' regularly, there blows a ftrong guft of wind,
*' for two hours together, which, joined to the
*' fultry heat of the Sun by day, parches the ground
*' to fuch a degree, that it raifes a dufl almofl in-
" fupportable. I had obferved this change in the
** air fome time before. About five miles above
*' Xaixigar, I had perceived the Heavens cloudy,
*' over the whole extent of the mountains -, and
" when 1 was on the point of leaving them, I faw
" perfeâ: ferenity. I even remarked at the place
*' wheue they terminate, an arch of clouds, which
" fweeped from Weft to Eaft, as far as the moun-
" tains of Albafe, and which feemed to form a fe-
** paration of climate." Mountains, accordingly,
poffefs, at once, nebulous and foffil attractions.

* Journey from Mofcow to China, chap. xi.

The

STUDY IV. 261

The firft furnifh water to the fources of the rivers
which iffbe from them, and the fécond fupply
them wit;h fand, for keeping up their territory and
their minerals.

The icy and fandy Zones are found, in a diffe-
rent harmony, on the Continent of the New
World. They run, like it's Seas, from North to
South, whereas thofe of the Old Continent are di-
reded, conformably to the length wife direction of
the Indian Ocean, from Weft to Eaft.

It is very remarkable, that the influence of icy
mountains extends farther over the Ocean than
over the Land. We have feen thofe of the two
Poles take the dire6lion of the channel of the At-
lantic Ocean. The fnows which cover the long
chain of the Andes, in America, ferve, in like
manner, to cool the whole of the South Sea, by the
adlion of the Eaft-wind which pafles over it ,• but
as part of that Sea, and of it's fliores, which is
fheltered from this wind, by the very height of the
Andes, would have been expofed to an excefllve
heat, Nature has formed an elbow weftward, at
the mofl foutherly part of America, which is co-
vered with icy mountains, fo that the frefh breezes,
which perpetually iffue from them, may graze
along the fhores of Chili and Peru. Thefe breezes,
denominated the foutherly, prevail there all the

s 3 year

262, STUDIES OF NATURE.

year round, if wc may believe the teftimony of
every Navigator. They do not, in truth, come
from the South-Pole ; for if it were fo, no veflel
could ever double Cape Horn ; but they come
from the extremity of Magellan's Land, which is
evidently bent backward, with relation to the
fliores of the South Sea.

The ices of the Poles, then, renovate the waters
of the Sea, as the ices of mountains renovate thofe
of the great rivers. Thefe effufions of the polar
ices prefs toward the Line, from the adlion of the
Sun, who is inceffantly pumping up the waters of .
the Sea, in the torrid Zone, and determines, by
this diminution of bulk, the waters of the Poles
to ruQi thitherward. This is the firft caufe of the
motion of the South Seas, as has been already ob-
ferved. It would appear highly probable, that
the polar effufions are proportioned to the evapo-
rations of the Ocean. But without lofing fight of
the leading obje6t of our enquiry, we fliall examine
for what reafon Nature has taken ftill greater care
to cool the Seas, than the Land, of the torrid
Zone : for it merits attention, that not only the
polar Winds v/hich blow there, but moft of the
rivers which empty themfelves into the South Seas,
have their fources in icy mountains, fuch as the
!^ara, the Amazon, the Oroonoko, &c.

The

STUDY IV. 263

The Sea was deflined to receive, by means of
the rivers, all the fpoils of vegetable and animal
producflions over the whole Earth; and as it's
courfe is determined toward the Line, by the daily
diminution of it's waters, which the Sun is there
continually evaporating, it's fliores, within the
torrid Zone, would have been quickly liable to
putrefadlion, had not Nature employed thefe dif-
ferent methods to keep them cool. It is for this
reafon, as certain Philofophers allege, that the Sea
is fait between the Tropics. But it is likewife fo
to the North j nay, more (o, if we may rely on
the recent experiments of the interefting M. tie
Pages. It is the falteft, and the heavieft, in the
World, according to the teftimony of an Englifli
Navigator, Captain Wood, in 1676,

Befides, the faltnefs of the Sea does not preferve
it's waters from corruption, as is vulgarly believed.
All who have been at Sea know well, that if a
bottle, or a caik, is filled, in hot climates, with
fea-water, it foon becomes putrid. Sea-water is
not a pickle ; it is, on the contrary, a real lixivial,
which very quickly diflblves dead bodies. Though
fait to the tafte, it takes out fait fooner than frefli
water, as our common failors know, from daily
experience, who employ no other, in frefliening
their fait provifions. It blanches, on the (hore,
the bones of all animals, as well as the madrépores,

s 4 which,

Û64 STUDIES OF NATURE.

which, when in a ftate of life, are brown, red, and
of various other colours, but which, being rooted
up, and put into fea-water, on the brink of the
ihore, in a little time become white as fnovv. Nay
more, if you fifh in the fea for a crab, or a fea-
nrchin, and have them dried, to preferve them,
unlefs you firft wafli them in frefh water, all the
claws of the crab, and all the prickles of the ur-
chin, will fall off. The joints by which the limbs
are attached, diflblve in proportion as the fea-
water, with which they were moiftened, evapo-
rates. I myfelf have made this experiment to my
coft. The water of the Sea is impregnated not
only with fait, but with bitumen, and other fub-
flances befides, which we do not know ; but fait
is in it, in fuch a proportion, as to affift the diffo-
lution of cadaverous bodies floating in it, as that
which we mingle with our food afTifts digeftion.
Had Nature made it a pickle, the Ocean would
be covered with all the impurities of the Earth,
which would thus be kept in a ftate of perpetual
prefer vation.

Thefe obfervations will indicate to us the ufe of
volcanos. They do not proceed from the internal
fires of the Earth, but they derive their origin,
and the materials which keep them up, from the
waters. In order to be convinced of this, you
have only to remark, that there is not a fingle vol-
cano

STUDY IV. 265

cano in the interior of Continents, unlefs it be in
the vicinity of fome great lake, fuch as that of
Mexico. They are fituated, for the moft part, in
illands, at the extremity, or at the confluence of
the Currents of the Sea, and in the counter-tide
of their waters. This is the reafon why we find
them in fuch numbers toward the Line, and along
the (hore of the South Sea, where the South-wind,
which perpetually blows there, brings back all the
fubftances fwimming about in a ftate of diflblu-
tion.

Another proof that they owe their fupport to
the Sea is this, that, in their eruptions, they fre-
quently vomit out torrents of fait water. Newton
afcribed their origin, and their duration, to ca-
verns of fulphur, inclofed in the bowels of the
Earth. But that great man had not reflefled on
the pofition of volcanos in the vicinity of water,
nor calculated the prodigious quantity of fulphur,
which the magnitude, and the duration, of their
fires mud have required. Vefuvius alone, which
burns night and day, from time immemorial, would
have confumed a mafs of it larger than the whole
kingdom of Naples. Befides, Nature does nothing
in vain. What purpofe could be anfwered by fuch
magazines of fulphur in the interior of the Earth ?
We (hould find them completely entire in places,
where they are not confumed by the fire. Mines

of

266 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of fulphur are no where found but in the vicinity
of volcanos. What, befides, could renovate them
when exhaufted ? A fupply fo confiant, for keep,
ing up volcanos, is not in the Earth, but in the
Sea. It is furnifhed by the oils, the bitumens, and
the nitres of vegetables and animals, which the
rains and the rivers convey off from every quarter
into the Ocean, where the diflblution of all bodies
is completed by its lixivial water. To thefe are
joined metallic diffblutions, and efpecially thofe of
iron, which, as is well known, abounds all over the
earth. Volcanos take fire, and feed themfelves
with all thefe fubflances.

Lemery, the Chymiil, has imitated their effedls,
by a compofition confifting of filings of iron, ful-
phur, and nitre, moiftened with water, which
caught fire of itfelf. If Nature had not kindled
thefe vafl furnaces on the fhores of the Ocean, it*s
waters would be covered with vegetable and ani-
mal oils, which could never evaporate, for they re-
fill: the adion of the air. You may have frequently
obferved them, when ilagnated in fome undif-
turbed bafon, from their colour refembling the
pigeon's neck. Nature purifies the waters by the
fire of volcanos, as fhe purifies the air by thofe of
thunder; and as ftorms are more common in hot
countries, fhe has in thefe, likewife, multiplied vol-
canos, and for the fame reafon. She burns on the

fhores

STUDY IV. 267

fliores the impurities of the Sea, as a Gardener
burns, at the end of Autumn, the refufe of his
garden.

We find lavas, indeed, in the interior of coun-
tries ; but a proof that they are indebted to the
water for their original is this, that the volcanos
which produced them, became extin6t whenever
the waters failed them. Thefe volcanos were
kindled, like thofe which ftill fubfift, by vegetable
and animal fermentations, with which the Earth
was covered after the Deluge, when the fpoils of
fo many forefts, and of fo many animals, whofe
trunks and bones are flill found in our quarries,
floated on the furface of the Ocean, and formed
prodigious depofits, which the currents accumu-
lated in the cavities of the mountains. It cannot
be doubted, that, in this ftate, they caught fire by
the efFe6t of fermentation merely, juft as we fee
flacks of damp hay catch fire in our meadows. It
is impofTible to call in queftion thefe ancient con-
flagrations, the traditions of which are preferved in
Antiquity, and which immediately follow thofe of
the Deluge. In the ancient Mythology, the hif-
tory of the ferpent Python, produced by the cor-
ruption of the waters, and that of Phaeton, who
fet the world on fire, immediately follow the
hiflory of Philemon and Baucis *, efcaped from

* The Author, undoubtedly, means Deucalion and Pyrrha.

the

«68 STUDIES OF NATURE.

waters of the Deluge, and are allegories of the
peftilence, and of the volcanos, which were the firft
refults of the general dilTolution of animals and
vegetables.

All that now remains is, to refute the opinion of
thofe who maintain, that the Earth is a fecretion
from the Sun. The chief arguments by which
they fupport it are it's volcanos, it's granites, the
vitrified flones fcattered over it's furface, and it's
progreflive refrigeration from year to year. I re-
fpeâ: the celebrated Author who has advanced this
opinion, but I venture to afîjrm, that the grandeur
of the images which this idea prefented to him,
has feduced his imagination.

We have faid enough refpedting volcanos, to
demonftrate that they do not proceed from the
interior of the Earth. As to granites, they do not
prefent, in the aggregation of their grains, the re-
motefh veftige of the adtion of fire. I do not know
their origin ; but certainly there is no foundation
for referring it to that element, becaufe it cannot
be afcribed to the ad ion of water, and becaufe
fhells are not found in them. As this aflertion is
deflitute of all proof, it is unnecefTary to under-
take a refutation of it. I fhall obferve, however,
that granites do not appear to be the produdion
of fire, on a comparifon with the lavas of volca-
nos ^

STUDY IV. 169

nos ; the difference of their fubftances fuppofes
different caufes in their formation.

Agates, flints, and every fpecies of the filex,
feem to be analogous to vitrifications, from their
half-tranfparency, and from their being ufually
found in beds of marl, which refemble banks of
lime extinguifhed ; but thefe fubftances are not
the productions of fire, for lavas never prefent any
thing fimllar. I have picked up, on the flinty
hills of lower Normandy, oyfter-fhells perfeftly
complete, amalgamated with black flints, which
they call bifets. Had thefe bifets been vitrified
by fire, they would have calcined, or, at leaft, al-
tered the oyfter-fhells which adhered to them ;
but thefe were as found as if juft taken out of the
water. The fhelving fea-coaft along the diftriâ:
of Canx, are formed of alternate ftrata of marl
and bifets, fo that, as they are cut perpendicularly,
you would call it a great wall, of which the layers
had been regulated by an Architeâ: ; and with (o
much the greater appearance of probability, that
the people of the country build their houfes of the
fame materials, difpofed in the felf-fame order.

Thefe banks of marl are from one to two teet
broad, and the rows of flints which feparate them,
are three or four inches thick. I have reckoned
feventy or eighty of fuch horizontal ftrata from

the

270 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the level of the Se^ up to that of the Land. The
thickeft are undermoft, and the fmaller a-top,
which, from the fea-mark, makes the aggregate
appear higher than it really is ; as if Nature in-
tended to employ a certain degree of perfpedlive
to increafe the apparent elevation : but, imdoubt-
edly, fhe has been determined to adopt this ar-
rangement from reafons of folidity, which are per-
ceptible in all her Works. Now, thefe banks of
marl and flint are filled with fhells, which have
undergone no alteration from the force of fire, and
which would be in perfe6t prefervation, had not the
prefTure of that enormous mafs broken in pieces
the largeft of them. I have feen fragments ex-
trafted of that which is called the tiiilée^ which is
found alive only in the Indian Ocean, and the
broken pieces of which, when put together, formed
a (hell much more confiderable than thofe of the
fame fpecies which are ufed for holding the holy
water, in the church of Saint-Sulpice, at Paris.

I have, likewife, remarked there a bed of flints
completely amalgamated, and forming a fingle
table, the feftion of which was perceptibly about
one inch thick by more than thirty feet in length.
It's depth in the cliff I did not afcertain; but,
with a little art, it might be detached, and fa-
fliioned into the mod fuperb agate table in the
world. Wherever thefe marls and flints are found,

fhells

STUDY IV. 271

fliells are llkewife found in great quantities, fo that
as marl has been evidently formed of their wreck,
it appears to me extremely probable, that the flints
have been compofed of the very fubftance of the
fifhes which were there inclofed.

This opinion will appear lefs extraordinary^ if
we obferve that many of the comes d'ammon, and of
fingle-flielled foffils, which, from their form, have
refifled thepreflure of the ground, and not being
compreflTedby it, have notejeded, like thedouble-
flielled, the animal matter which they contained,
but exhibit it within them, under the form of cryf-
tals, with which they are ufually filled, whereas
the two-(helled are totally deftitute of it.

The animal fubftances of thefe laft, I prefume,
confounded with their cruQied fragments, have
formed the different coloured paftes of marble,
and have communicated to them the hardnefs and
polidi of which thefe marbles are fufceptible. This
fubftance prefents itfelf, even in fhell-fifh when
alive, with the charaders of agate, as may be feen
in feveral kinds of mother-of-pearl, and among
others, in the half tranfparent, and very hard knob,
which terminates what is called the harp. Finally,
this ftony fubftance is found, befides, in land ani-
mals ; for I have feen, in Silefia, the eggs of a fpe-
eies of the woodcock, which are highly prized in

that

172 STUDIES OF NATURE.

that country, not only becaufe they are a great de^
licacy for the table, but becaufe the white, when
dried, becomes hard as a flint, and fufceptible of
a polifli fo beautiful, that they are cut and fet as
rings and other trinkets.

I could eafily fwell this article, by demonflrat-
ing the geometrical impoffibility that our Globe
fliould have been detached from that of the Sun,
by the tranfit of a Comet, becaufe it muft have,
on the very hypothefis of this impulfion, been hur-
ried along in the Sphere of the Comet's attradion,
or carried back into that of the Sun. It has, in
truth, remained in the fphere of the Sun's attrac-
tion ; but it is not eafy to conceive how it never
came to approach nearer, and how it comes to
maintain the diftance of nearly thirty-two millions
of leagues, while no Comet prevents it's returning
to the place from which it fet out. The Sun, it is
faid, has a centrifugal force. The Globe of the
Earth, therefore, muft be retiring from it. No, it
is alleged, becaufe the Earth has a conftant ten-
dency toward that Luminary. It muft, accordingly
have loft the centrifugal force, which fliould adhere
to it's very nature, as being a portion of the Sun.

1 could go on to fwell the article, by farther de-
monftrating the phylical impoffibility, that the
Earth fliould contain in it's bowels fo many hete-
rogeneous

STUDY IV* 27J

rogeneous fubftances, on the fuppofitlon of It's
being a reparation from a body (o homogeneous
as the Sun ; and I could make it appear, that it is
impoflible they (liould be, in any refpeft, con-
lidered as the wreck of folar and vitrified fub-
ftances (if it be poffible for us to have an idea of
the fubftances from which light ilTues), feeing
fome of our terreflrial Elements, fuch as Water
and Fire, are abfolutely incompatible. But I Ihall
confine myfelf to the refrigeration afcribed to the
Earth, becaufe the evidence on which this opinion
refts, is level to the comprehenfion of all men, and
is of importance to their fecurity.

If the Earth is getting colder and colder, the
Sun, from which it is faid to have been feparated,
muft be getting cold in proportion ; and the mu-
tual diminution of the heat in thefe two Globes,
muft become perceptible in a courfe of ages, at
leaft on the furface of the Earth, in the evapora-
tions of the Seas, in the diminution of rains, and
efpecially in the fucceffive deftrudlion of a great
number of plants, which are killed every day,
merely from the diminution of only a few degrees
of heat, when the Climate is changed upon them.
Not a fingle plant, however, has been loft of all
thofe which were known to Circe, the moft an-
cient of Botanifts, whofe Herbal Homer has, in
fome meafure, preferved for us. The plants cele-

VOL. I. T bratcd

274 STUDIES OF NATURE.

brated in fong by Orpheus, and their virtues, fub-
fift to this day. There is not even a fingle one
which has loft any thing of it's ancient attitude.
The jealous Clytia ftill turns toward the Sun ; and
the beautiful fon of Liriope, Narciffus, continues
to admire himfelf on the brink of the fountain.

Such are the teftimonies adduced from the ve-
getable kingdom, refpedling the uniformity and
conftancy of the temperature of the Globe ; let us
examine thofe of the Human Race. There are
fome of the inhabitants of Switzerland, it is al-
leged, who have perceived a progreffive accumu-
lation of the ices on their mountains. I could op-
pofe to this evidence, that of other modern Ob-
fervers, who, in the view of ingratiating themfelves
with the Princes of the North, pretend, with as
little foundation, that the cold is diminifhing •
there, becaufe thefe Princes have thought proper
to cut down the forefts of their States ; but I fhall
adhere to the teftimony of the Ancients, who could
not pofTibly intend to flatter any one on a fubjecl
of this nature. ^

Tf the refrigeration of the Earth is perceptible in
the life of one man, it muft be much more fo in
the life of Mankind ; now, all the temperatures
defcribed by the moft ancient Hiftorians, as that
of Germany by Tacitus, of Gaul by Cefar, of

Greece

STUDY IV. 275

Greece by Plutarch, of Thrace by Xenophon, are
precifely the fame at this day, as they were at the
time; when thefe feveral Hiftorians wrote. The
Book of Job the Arabian, which, there is reafon
to beheve, is more ancient than the Writings of
Mofes, and which contains views of Nature much
more profound than is generally imagined, views,
the mod common whereof were unknown to us
two centuries ago, makes frequent mention of the
falling of the fnows in that country, that is, toward
the thirtieth degree of North Latitude. Mount
Lebanon, from the remoteft antiquity, bears
the Arabian name of LibaUy which iîgniiîes
white, on account of the fnows with which it's
fummit is covered all the year round. Homer re-
lates that it fnowed in Ithaca when TJlyffes arrived
there, which obliged him to borrow a cloak of the
good Eumeus.

If, during a period of three thoufand years, and
more, the cold had gone on increaling from year
to year, in all thefe Climates, their Winters mufl
now have been as long and as fevere, as in Green-
land. But Lebanon, and the lofty provinces of
Afia, have preferved the fame temperature. The
little Ifle of Ithaca is flill covered in Winter with
the hoar frofb; and it produces, as in the days of
Telemachus, the laurel and the olive.

T 2 STUDY

STUDY V.

277

STUDY FIFTH.

REPLY TO THE OBJECTIONS AGAINST PROVIDENCE,

FOUNDED ON THE DISORDERS OF THE

VEGETABLE KINGDOM.

THE Earth is, fay the Objeflors, a garden
very injudicioufly laid out. Men of wit,
who never travelled, have amufed themfelves with
painting it, proceeding from the hand of Nature,
as if the giants had been a fighting in it. They
reprefent it's rivers flowing at random ; it's mo-
rafles as vaft colleâiions of mud ; the trees of it's
forefls turned upfide down ; it's plains buried un-
der rocks, or overfpread with briars and thorns j
all it's high ways rendered unpaffable^ all it's cul-
ture the puny efforts of human genius. Such re-
prefentations, though pi6lurefque, have, I acknow-
ledge, fometimes afflifted me,becaufe they infpired
me with diftruft of the Author of Nature. To
no purpofe could it be fuppofed that, in other re-
fpefts, He had loaded Man with benefits ; one of

T 3 our

278 STUDIES OF NATURE.

our firft and mod prefling neceffities had been
overlooked, if He had negleded to care for our
habitation.

The inundations of rivers, fuch as thofe of the
Amazon, of the Oroonoko, and a great many
others, are periodicaL They manure the lands
which they inundate. It is well known, befides,
that the banks of thefe rivers fvvarmed with popu-
lous nations, before any European had formed a
fettlement there. The inhabitants derived much
benefit from thefe inundations, partly from the
abundance of the fiflieries, partly from the fertility
communicated to the lands. So far from confider-
ing them as convulfions of Nature, they received
them as bleffings from Heaven, juft as the Egyp-
tians prized the overflowings of the Nile. Was it,
then, a mortifying fpedacle to them, to fee their
deep forefts interfered with long alleys of water,
which they could without trouble traverfe, in all
diredions, in their canoes, and pick the fruits at
their eafe ? Nay, certain tribes, fuch as thofe of
the Oroonoko, determined by thefe accommoda-
tions, had acquired the fmgular habit of dwelling
on the tops of trees, and of feeking under their
foliage, like the birds, an habitation, and food, and
a fortrefs. Whatever may be in this, mofl of
them inhabited only the banks of the rivers, and

preferred

STUDY V.

279

preferred them to the vafl deferts with which they
are furrounded, though not expofed to inunda-
tions.

We fee order only where we can fee corn grow.
The habit which we have acquired of confining
the channels of our rivers within dikes and mounds,
of gravelling, and paving our high roads, of ap-
plying the ftraight line to the alleys in our gar-
dens, and to our bafons of water, of fquaring our
parterres, nay, our very trees, accuftoms us infen-
fibly to conlider every thing which deviates from
our reftangles, as abandoned to confufion. But
it is in places with which we have been tampering,
that we frequently fee real diforder. We fet foun-
tains a playing on the tops of mountains ; we plant
poplars and limes upon rocks ; we throw our
vineyards into valleys, and raife our meadows to
the decHvities of hills.

Let thefe laborious exertions be relaxed ever fo
little, and all thefe petty levellings will prefently
be confounded under the general levelling of Con-
tinents, and all this culture, the work of Man,
difappears before that of Nature. Our Ilieets of
water degenerate into marflies; our hedge-row
elms burfl into luxuriancy ; every bower is chok-
ed, every avenue clofes : the vegetables natural
to each foil declare war againft the ftrangers j the

T 4 ftarry

28o STUDIES OF NATURE.

ftarry thlftle and vigorous verbafcum, ftifle under
their broad leaves the Englilh fhort grafly fod ;
thick crops of rj'^e-grafs and trefoil gather round
the trees of Paleftine; the bramble fcrambles along
their flem, with it's prickly claws, as if mounting
a breach ; tufts of nettles take pofleffion of the urn
of the Naiads, and forefts of reeds, of the forges of
Vulcan ; greenilh fcales of minium corrode the
faces of our Venufes, without paying any refpe6t
to their beauty. The trees themfelves lay (lege to
the caftle ; the wild cherry, the elm, the maple,
mount upon it's ridges, plunge their long pivots
into it's lofty pediments, and, at length, obtain
the viclory over it's haughty cupolas. The ruins
of a park no lefs merit the refleftions of the Sage,
than thofe of an empire : they equally demonftrate
how inefficient the power of Man is, when ftrug-
gling againft that of Nature.

I have not had the felicity, like the primitive
Navigators, who difcovered uninhabited iilands,
to contemplate the face of the ground as it came
from the hand of the Creator ; but I have feen
portions of it which had undergone alterations fuf-
ficiently fmall to fatisfy me, that nothing could
then equal their virgin beauties. They had pro-
duced an influence oji the firft relations which
were formed by them, and had diffufed over thefe
a frelhnefs, a colouring, a native grace inexpref-

fible.

STUDY V. fiSi

fible, which will ever diflinguifh them to advan-
tage, notvvithftanding their fimplicity, from the
learned defcriptions which have been given of
them in modern times.

To the influence of thefe firft afpedls, I afcribe
the ftiperior talents of the earliefl Writers who have
painted Nature, and the fublimeenthufiafm which
a Homer and an Orpheus have transfufed into
their poëfy. Among the Moderns, the Hiftorian
9>( Jnjons expedition. Cook, Banks, Solander, and
fome others, have defcribed feveral of thefe natural
iites, in the iflands of Tinian, Maffo, Juan Fer-
nandisz, and Taïti, which have delighted all per^
fons of real taftc, though thefe iflands had been, in
part, degraded by the Indians and Spaniards.

I have feen only countries frequented by Euro-
peans, and defolated by war, or by flavery ? but I
fhall ever recolle<ft with pleafure two of thefe fîtes,
the one on this fide the Tropic of Capricorn ; the
other beyond the fixtieth degree of North Lati-
tude. Notwithftanding my inability, I am going
to attempt a fkctch of thefe, in order to convey,
as well I can, an idea of the manner in which Na-
ture difpofes her plans in Climates fo very oppofite.

The firft was a part, then uninhabited, of the
Ifle of France, of fourteen leagues extent, which

appeared

aSz STUDIES OF NATURE.

appeared to me the moft beautiful portion of it,
though the black, free-booters, who take re-
fuge there, had cut down, on the fea-fhore, the
lataniers with which they fabricate their huts, and
on the mountains, the palmettos, whofe tips they
ufe as food, and the liannes, of which they make
fi(liing-nets. They likewife degrade the banks of
the rivulets, by digging out the bulbous roots of
the nymphéa, on which they live, and even thofe
of the Sea, of which they eat, without exception,
every fpecies of the Ihelly tribes, and which they
leave here and there on the fhore, in great piles
burnt up. Notwithftanding thefe diforders, that
part of the ifland had preferved traces of it's an-
cient beauty. It is perpetually expofed to the
South-eaft wind, which prevents the forefts that
cover it from extending quite down to the brink
of the Sea ; but a broad felvage of turf, of a beau-
tiful fea-green, which furrounds it, facilitates the
communication all around, and harmonizes, on
the one fide, with the verdure of the woods, and,
on the other, with the azure of the billows.

The view is thus divided into two afpefts, the
one prefenting land, the other water. The land-
profpedl prefents hills flying behind each other, in
the form of an amphitheatre, and whofe contours,
covered with trees in pyramids, exhibit a majeftic
profile on the vault of Heaven. Over thefe forefl:s

rifesj

STUDY V. 283

rifes, as it were, a fécond foreft of palmettos, which
balance, above the folitary valleys, their long co-
lumns, crowned with parti-coloured plumes of
palms, and furmounted with a fpiral peak. The
mountains of the interior prefent, at a diftance,
oval-fhaped rocks, clothed with great trees, and
pendent liannes, floating, like drapery, by every
breath of the wind. Above thefe rife lofty pin-
nacles, round wdiich are continually collefted the
rainy clouds ; and when thefe are illuminated by
the rays of the Sun, you fee the colours of the
rainbow painted on their peaks, and the rain-
water flowing over their duiky fides in brilliant
Iheets of cryftal, or in long fillets of filver. No
obftacle prevents your perambulating the borders
which embellifli their fides and their bafes, for the
rivulets which defcend from the mountains, pre-
fent, along their banks, flips of fand, or broad
plates of rock, from which they have waflied the
earth clean away. Befides, they clear away a free
paflage from their fource, to the place of their dif-
charge, by undermining the trees which would
grow in their channel, and by fertilizing thofe
which do grow on their margin ; and they expand
over thefe, through their whole courfe, great arches
of verdure which fly off" in perfpedive, and which
are vifible from the fliore of the Sea. The liannes
interweave themfelves along the circumference of

thefe

^84 STUDIES OF NATURE.

thefe arches, fecure their arcades againftthe winds,
and decorate them mod beautifully, by oppofing
to their foliage other foliages, and to their verdure
garlands of glolTy flowers, or pods of various co-r
lours. If a tree, wafted by age, happens to fall
down, Nature, which univerfally haftens on the
deftrudioii of all ufelefs beings, covers it's trunk
with maiden-hair of the moft beautiful green, and
agarics undulated with yellow, faffron, and purple,
which feed on it's fpoils.

Toward the fea fide, the turf which borders the
ifland, is up and down fowed with thickets of la-
tanier, whofe palms, formed into a fan, and at-
tached to pliant membranes, radiate in the air,
like fo many verdant funs. Thefe lataniers ad-
vance even into the Sea, on the capes of the illand,
with the land fowls which inhabit them -, while the
fmall bays, fwarming with multitudes of fea-fowl
which fvvim in the water, and which are paved, if
I may be allowed the expreffion, with madrépores
of the colour of the peach-bloffom j the black
rocks covered with rofe-coloured nerits, and fhells
of every kind, penetrate into the illand, and refleâ-,
like fo many mirrors, all the objects of the Land
and of the Heavens. You would imagine that
you faw the birds flying in the water, and the
fiflies fwjmming among the trees, and you would

be

STUDY V. 185

be tempted to fay. Here is the marriage of Terra
and OceatiuSy who thus blend and confound their
domains.

In the greateft part even of uninhabited iilands,
lying between the Tropics, when the difcovery of
them was made, the banks of fand which furround
them were found to be filled with turtle, which
came thither to lay their eggs, and with the fcarlet
flamingos, which, as they fit on their nefts, re-
femble burning torches. They had, befides, a bor-
der of mangliers, covered with oyfters, which op-
pofed their floating foliage to the violence of the
waves, and of cocoa-trees loaded with fruit, which
advancing into the very fea, along the breakers,
prefented, to the mariner's eye, the afpefl of a city
with it's ramparts and it's avenues, and announced
to them from afar the afylum prepared for them
by the God of the Seas. Thefe different kinds of
beauty muft have been common to the Ifle of
France, with many other iflands, and were, in all
probability, deftroyed by the craving necefïïties
of the firfl mariners who landed upon them. Such
is the very imperfeâ: reprefentation of a country,
the Climate of which, according to ancient Philo-
fophers, was uninhabitable, and the foil of which
modern Philofophers confider as a fcum of the
Ocean, or of volcanos.

The

286 STUDIES OF NATURE,

The fécond rural fcenery, which I furveyed with
rapture, and of which I am going to attempt a de-
fcription, was in Ruffian Finland, when I was em-
ployed, in 1 764, on a vifitation of it's fortrefles with
the Generals of the corps of Engineers, in which I
then ferved. We were travelling between Sweden
and Ruffia, through a country fo little frequented,
that the firs had encroached on the great line of de-
markation which feparates the boundaries of the
two countries. It was impoffible to get through
in a carriage, and we were under the neceffity of
employing the country people to cut down the
trees, that our equipages might follow us. We
were able, however, to penetrate, in every direc'
tion, on foot, and frequently on horfeback, though
we were obliged to infpeâ: the windings, the fum-
mits, and the fmallefl recefTes of a great number
of rocks, in order to afcertain their natural capa-
bility of defence, and though Finland is fo covered
with thefe, that ancient Geographers have given it
the furname of Lapidofa (ftony.)

Not only are thofe rocks fcattered about in
great blocks, over the furface of the earth, but the
vailles, and entire hills, are there, in many places,
formed of a fingle mafs of folid rock. This rock
is a foft granite which exfoliates, and whofe fcurf
fertilizes the plants, at the fame time that the

enormous

STUDY V. 287

enormous mafs flielters them from the North-
wind, and refleds on them the rays of the Sun,
by their curves, and the particles of mica with
which it is filled. The bottoms of thefe vallies
were fkirted with long borders of meadow, which
every where facilitate the communication. At the
places where they were pure rock, as in their ori-
ginal ftate, they were covered with a plant, called,
by the natives, Kloukva, which thrives on the
rock. It comes out of the clefts, and feldom rifes
higher than a foot and a half; but it fpreads in all
direâiions,, and extends far and wide. It's leaves
and verdure refemble thofe of the box, and it's
boughs are loaded with a red berry, good to eat,
refembling the flrawberry.

The fir, the birchj and the fervice-tree vege-
tated wonderfully well on the fides of thofe hills,
though, in many places, they found fcarcely earth
fufficient in which to infert their roots. The
fummits of mofl of them were rounded in form of
a fcull-cap, and rendered quite gliftering by the
water which oozed acrofs the long crevices that
furrowed them. Many of thefe fcull-caps were
perfedly bare, and fo llippery, that it was difficult
to walk over them. They were crowned, round
and round, with a broad belt of mofs of an eme-
rald green, out of which ftarted here and there an

infinite

2S8 STUDIES OP NATURE.

infinite multitude of muflirooms of every form,
and of every colour. Some of them were ihaped
like large fcarlet-coloured tweezer-cafes, ftudded
with dots of white ; others were orange-coloured
and formed like a parafol ; others yellow as faffron,
and of the oblong form of an egg. Some were of
the pureft white, and fo well rounded, that you
would have taken them for ivory draughts-men.

Thefe molTes and muflirooms fpread along the
threads of water which flowed from the fummits
of the rocky hills, extended in long rays acrofs
the woods with which their fides were covered,
and proceeded to fkirt their extremities, till they
were confounded with a multitude of flrawberry
and rafpberry plants. Nature, to indemnify this
country for the fcarcity of apparent flowers to
pleafe the eye, of which it produces but few, has
beftowed their perfumes on feveral plants, fuch as
the calamus aromaticus, the birch which, in Spring,
exhales a kind of odour of rofes, and the fir, the
apple of which is fweet-fcented. She has, in like
manner, diffufed colours the mod agreeable, and
the mofl brilliant, of flowers, on the mofl common
of vegetables, fuch as on the cones of the larch,
which are of a beautiful violet, on the fcarlet grains
of the forb-apple, on moffes and muflirooms, and
even on turnip-radiflies.

On

STUDY V. 289

On the fubjed of this lafl vegetable, hear what
the accurate Corneille le Bruyn fays, in his Voyage
to Archangel*: *' During our refidence among
" them (the Samoiédes), they brought us. feveral
*' forts of turnips, of various colours, and ex-
'* tremely beautiful. Some of them were violet-
" coloured, like our plumbs, gray, white, yel-
" lovvifli, all of them ftreaked with red, like ver-
*' million, or the fineft laca, and as grateful to the
*' eye as a pink. I painted fome of them on paper
" in water-colours, and fent fome to Holland, in
" a box filled with dry fand, to one of my friends,
" who is fond of fuch curiofities. 1 carried thofe
*' which I had painted to Archangel, where no one
" would believe they were copied after Nature,
*' till I produced the turnips themfelves : a proof
'* that no great attention is paid there, to the
'* rareft and moft curious productions of Nature.'*

I take thefe turnips to be of the radifli fort, the
bulb of which grows above ground. At leaft I
prefume fo, from the drawing itfelf of Corneille le
Bruyn, and from having feen fuch in Finland ; they
are in tafte fuperior to that of our colewort, and
have a flavour fimilar to the artichoke bottom. I
have produced thefe teftimonies of a Painter, and
that Painter a Dutchman, refpeding the beauty of

* Vol. iii. page 21.

VOL. I. u thefe

290 STUDIES OF NATURE.

thefe coloured vegetables, to correfb the prejudice
with which fo many are hurried away, that in the
Indies only the Sun gives a magnificent colouring
to plants. But nothing, in my opinion, equals
the beautiful green of the plants of the North, in
Spring. 1 have frequently admired, in particular,
that of the birch, of the turf, and of the moffes,
fome of which are glazed with violet and purple.
The folemn firs themfelves, then burfl; into fef-
toons of the moft delicate green ; and when they
come to throw, from the extremity of their
branches, the yellow tufts of flamina, they appear
like vaft pyramids, loaded all over with little
lamps.

We encountered no obflacle in travcrfing their
forefts. Sometimes there lay in the way an aged
birch, laid low by the hand of Time, and inter-
nally confumed by the vvorai ; but in ilepping on
the rind, it fupports you like a piece of thick
leather. The wood of thefe birches decays very
fafi:, and their bark, which no humidity is able to
corrupt, is carried away, on the melting of the
fnows, into the lakes, where it fwims about all in
one piece. As to the firs, when they fall, humi-
dity and the moffes confume them in a very little
time. This country is interfeded with great
lakes, which every where prefent new means of
communication, as they penetrate far into the

land

STUDY V. 291

land by their branching gulfs, and exhibit a new
fpecies of beauty, by refleding, in their ftill wa-
ters, the openings of the vaUies, the mofly hills,
and the pendent firs bending from the promon-
tories over their (hores.

It would be no eafy matter to defcribe the hof-
pitable reception which we found in the folitary
maniions of thefe northern regions. Their mafters
exerted themfelves in every poflible way, to detain
us among them for many days together. They
fent to the diftance often, of fifteen leagues, invi-
tations to their friends and relations, to come and
aflîfl: them to entertain us. The days and the
nights pafled away in dancing and feftivity. In
the cities, the principal inhabitants regaled us by
turns. Amidft this hofpitable conviviality, we
made the tour of the cities of poor Finland, Wi-
burg, Villemanftrand, Fredericklham, Nillot, &c.
The caftle of this laft town is fituated on a rock at
the difcharge of Lake Kiemen, which furrounds it
with two catarads. From it's platforms you per-
ceive the vaft extent of that lake. We dined in
one of it's four towers, in a fmall apartment illu-
minated by windows like gun-ports. It is the very
apartment in which the unfortunate Ivan was fo
long confined, who defcended from the Throne of
the Ruffian Empire, at the age of two years and a
half. But this is not the place to expatiate on the

u 2 influence

292 STUDIES OF NATURE.

influence which moral ideas may diffufe over
Landfcapes.

Plants, then, are not fcattered about at random
over the Earth ; and though nothing has been hi-
therto faid refpedling their general arrangement in
different Climates, this fimple fketch is fufficient
to demonftrate, that there is order in their combi-
nation. If we examine, in like manner, however
fuperficially, their expanfion, their attitude, their
magnitude, and proportions, we fhall find that
there is as much harmony in the aggregation of
their parts, as in that of their fpecies. It is impof-
fible, in any one refpeft, to confider them as mere
mechanical produ6tions of heat and cold, of dry-
nefs and humidity. Our fcientific Syftems have
brought us back precifely to the opinions which
precipitated barbarous Nations into idolatry, as if
it were neceffary that the perfedion of our illumi-
nation Ihould be the recommencement and return
of our darknefs ; conformably to the well-grounded
cenfure of the Author of the Book of Wifdom :
Jut ignem, aui fpiritum, ant citatum aè'rem, aut gyrum
Jîellarum, mit nimiam aquam, aut folem <if lunam, rec-
tor es or bis t err arum Decs putaverimt * ; " They
*' could not out of the good things that are feen,
" know him that is ; neither, by confidering the

* Wifdom of Solomon, chap. xiii. ver. 2.

*' works.

STUDY V.

293

" works, did they acknowledge the Work-mafler:
" but deemed either fire, or wind, or fwift air, or
" the circle of the ftars, or the violent water, or
*' the lights of Heaven, to be the Gods which
** govern the world."

All thefe phyfical caufes, united, could not have
determined the port of one fingle mofs. In order
to be convinced of this, let us begin with exa-
mining the circulation of plants. It has been laid
down as an indubitable principle, that their faps
afcend through the wood, and re-defcend through
the rind. To the experiments which have been
detailed in proof, 1 fliall oppofe only the in-
flance of a great chefnut-tree, in the garden of the
Thuilleries, near the terrace of the Feuillants,
which, for twenty years paft, has had no bark
round it's under part, and which, notwithftand-
ing, is in perfeâ: vigor. Many elms on the Bou-
levards are in the fame flate. On the other hand,
we have feen old hollowed willows, which have
not a bit of good wood left. Befides, how is it
pofTible to apply this principle of vegetation to a
multitude of plants, feme of which are compofed
entirely of tubes, and to others which have no
rind, being enclofed only in dry pellicles ?

Neither is there more truth in the fuppofitioti
that they rife in a perpendicular line, and that to

u 3 this

294 STUDIES OF NATURE.

this direftion they are determined by the aAion of
columns cf air. Some, it mufl; be allowed, do
follow this dire6lion, as the fir, the ftalk of corn,
the reed. But a much greater number deviate
from it, fuch as creeping plants of every fpecies,

vines, liannes, French-beans, &c Olhers afcend

vertically, and having arrived at a certain height,
in an air perfedly unobftrufled, fork off in various
tiers, and fend out their branches horizontally, as
the apple-tree ; or incline them toward the earth,
like firs; or hollow them in form of a cup, like
the fafTafras ; or round them into a mufliroom's
head, like the pine ; or ftraighten them into a py-
ramid, like the poplar; or roll them as wool on
the diftaff, like the cyprefs ; or let them float at
the difcretion of the winds, like the birch.

All thefe attitudes may be feen under the fame
bearing of the wind. Nay, there are fome which
affume forms, that all the art of the gardener could
hardly imprefs upon them. Such is the badamier
of the Indies, which grows up into the form of a
pyramid, and carries it divided into ftories, like
the king of the chefs-board. There are plants un-
commonly vigorous, which, far from purfuing the
vertical line, recede from it the very moment that
they get above ground. Such is the falfe potatoe
of India, which loves to crawl along the fand of the
ihores, in hot countries, covering whole acres in

it's

STUDY V. 295

it's progrefs. Such, too, is the ratan of China,
which frequently grows in fimilar fituations. Thefe
plants do not crawl from weaknefs. The fcions
of the ratan are fo ftrong, that the Chinefe make
cordage of them for their (hipping ; and when
they are on the ground, they ferve as a trap for
the deer, who find it impoffible, with all their
force, to difenga^e themfelves. They are nets
(pread out by the hand of Nature.

I fliould never have done were I to run over,
ever fo haftily, the different ports of vegetables ;
what I have faid is evidence fufficient, that there is
not a fingle one whofe diredlion is determined by
the vertical column of the air. This error has
gained currency, from it's being taken for granted
that plants affected the greateft volume of air ; and
this error in Phyflcs has produced another in Geo-
metry ; for, on this fuppofition, they mufl all
precipitate themfelves to the Horizon, becaufe
there the column of air is much more confiderable
than in the Zenith. We muft, in like manner,
reje6t the confequences v/hich have been deduced
from it, and laid down, as principles of Jurifpru-
dence for the divifion of lands in our boalled ma-
thematical treatifes ; fuch is the following, That
no more wood, or corn, or grajs, can grow on the
declivities of a mountain^ than what would grow on.
the area of it's hafts. There is not a wood-cutter,

u 4 nor

296 STUDIES OF NATURE.

nor hay-maker, in the world, who could not de-
monftrate the contrary from his experience.

Plants, it has been faid, are mechanical bodies.
Well then, try to conftruft a body fo llim, fo ten-
der, fo fragile, as that of a leaf, which (hall for
"whole years refift the winds, the rains, the keened
froft, the moft ardent Sun. A fpirit of life, inde-
pendent of all Latitudes, governs plants, preferves
them, re-produces them. They repair the injuries
which they may have fuftained, and {kin over their
wounds with a new rind. The pyramids of Egypt
are crumbled into powder ; but the grafles which
cloathed the foil, while the Pharaoh's filled the
throne, fubfift to this day. How many Greek and
Roman fepulchral monuments, the ftones of
which were rivetted with iron, have, one after an-
other, difappeared ! Nothing remains around their
ruins, except the cyprefTes which fliaded them.

It is the Sun, fay they, who gives exiftence to
veo;etables, and who maintains that exiftence. But
that great agent of Nature, all-powerful as he is,
muft not be confidered as the only and determining
caufe even of their expanfion. If his heat invites
moft of thofe of our Climates to open their
flowers, it obliges others to ftiut them. Such are,'
of this laft defcription, the great nightftiade of
Peru, and the arbor îrijiis (the fad tree) of the Mo-
luccas,

STUDY V

297

luccas, which flower only in the night-time. Nay,
his remotenefs from our Hemifphere does not de-
ftroy in it the power of Nature. At that feafon
vegetate mod of the mofles which clothe the rocks
with an emerald-coloured green; and then the
trunks of trees cover themfelves, in humid fitua-
tions, with plants imperceptible to the naked eye,
called AInium and Lichen, which give them the ap-
pearance, in frofty weather, of columns of green
bronze. Thefe vegetations, in the very feverity of
Winter, overturn all our reafonings, refpeding the
univerfal effefts of heat, as plants, of an organiza-
tion fo extremely delicate, feem to need, in order
to their expaniion, a temperature the moft gentle.

Again, the fall of the leaf itfelf, which we have
been taught to confider as an effeâ: of the Sun's
abfence, is not occafioned by the cold. If the palm
retains it's foliage, all the year round, in the South,
the fir is equally an evergreen in the North. The
birch, it is true, the larch, and feveral other fpe-
cies of trees, fhed their leaves in northern Cli-
mates, on the approach of Winter ; but a fimilar
depredation is likewife made on other trees, to the
Southward. It istherefinous fubftance, we are told,
which preferves the foliage of the fir in the North :
but the larch, which is likewife a refinous plant,
is flripped of it's verdure in Winter ; whereas the
filaria, the ivy, the privet, and many other fpecies,

which

298 STUDIES OF NATURE.

which arc not rcfinous, continue with us, in fiill
verdure, at all feafons.

Without having recourfe to mechanical caufes,
the effecls of which always contradicfl themfelves,
whenever you attempt to generalize them, why
not recognize, in thefe varieties of vegetation, the
fleady and uniform direftion of a Providence ?
That Providence has affigned to the South, trees
always green, and has clothed them with a broad
foliage, to fhelter the animal creation from the
heat. In another refpeft, likewife, have the ani-
mals of hot climates been tenderly cared for, in
being provided with clothing denuded of hair,
confequently, light and cool ; and in having their
habitations garnifhed with green ferns and liannes,
ever frefh and ever comfortable. Neither has
bountiful Nature negledled the animals of the
North. She has fpread as a roof over their heads,
the ever green firs, whofe lofty and tufted pyra-
mids ward off the fnow from their roots, and whofe
branches are fo well furnifhed with long gray
moffes, that the trunk, is rendered almoft invi-
fible; for a bed, fhe has accumulated a bank of
mofs on the ground, in many places more than a
foot in thicknefs ; and the foft and dry leaves of
many trees, which fall precifely at the approach of
the inclement feafon : finally, their provifion, too,
is laid up in ftore, namely, the fruits of thofe very

trees.

STUDY V.

299

trees, which have then arrived at full maturity.
To thefe ihe has added, here and there, the fcarlet
clufters of the forb-apple, which, fparkling afar
over the whitenefs of the fnows, invite the birds
to an afylum ; fo that the partridge, the moor-
cock, every fpecies of fnow-bird, the hare, the
fquirrel, frequently find, under the fhelter of the
fame fir, a lodging, food, and the means of warmth.

But one of the greateft bleflings of Providence
to the animals of the North, is, the clothing of
them with furred garments of long and thick hair,
which regularly grow in Winter, and fall off in
Summer. Naturalifts, who confider the hair of
animals as a fpecies of vegetation, are at pains to
account for this growth and decay, from the influ-
ence of heat. They pretend to fupport their fyf-
tem by the inftance of the human hair and beard,
which grow rapidly in Summer. But I would afk
them, how it comes to pafs that, in cold countries,
horfes which, in Summer, are fleek and fmooth,
affume, in Winter, a long and fliaggy coat, like
the fleece of a fheep ? To this they reply. It is the
internal heat of their body, increafed by the exter-
nal a6lion of the cold, which produces this won-
derful phenomenon.

This is all very well. But I am under the ne-
ceflity of objeding, that cold does not produce

this

300 STUDIES OF NATURE.

this effeâ: on the human beard and hair, for it re-
tards their growth ; that, befides, in the cafe of
animals on which Providence beftows a clothing
peculiarly warm, the hair is much longer and thicker
on thofe parts of their body that have the leaft
natural heat, fuch as the tail, which is very bufliy
in horfes, martens, foxes, and wolves ; that this
hair is fhortand thin on the parts which have mod
natural heat, as the belly. Their backs, their ears,
and frequently their very paws, are the parts moft
amply furniflied with hair. But I fatisfy myfelf
with merely propofmg this laft obje6tion ; the ex-
ternal and internal heat of an African lion ought,
furely, to be, at leaft, as ardent as that of a Sibe-
rian wolf; whence is it, then, that the firft is
fmooth, as if newly fliaven, whereas the other is
fhagged up to the eyes ?

The cold_, which we have been taught to con-
fider as one of the greateft obftacles of vegetation,
is as neceffary to certain plants as heat is to others.
If thofe of the South could not thrive in the North,
ttiofe of the North would not fucceed better in the
South. The Dutch have made many a vain at-
tempt to make the fir grow at the Cape of Good
Hope, in order to find a fupply of fhips-mafts,
which fell at a very high price in India. Many
planters, in the Ille of France, have made at-
tempts, equally fruitlefs, to raife in that ifland the

lavender.

STUDY V. 301

lavender, the daify, the violet, and other plants of
our temperate climates. Alexander, who tranf-
planted whole nations at his pleafure, could not,
with all his efforts, make the ivy of Greece grow
in the vicinity of Babylon *, though he was very
ambitious of afting, in India, the character of
Bacchus in complete ftyle.

I am perfuaded, however, that it might be pof-
fible to fucceed in effedling thefe vegetable tranf-
migrations, by employing ice, in the South, for
the propagation of northern plants as we employ
floves, in the North, in the propagation of the
plants of hot Climates. I do not believe there
is a fingle fpot on the Globe, in which we could
not, with a little addrefs and induftry, procure
ice, as eafily as we can procure fait. In tne
whole courfe of my travels, I have never met
with a temperature more fultry than that of the
Ifland of Malta, though I have twice croffed the
Line, and have pafled a confiderable part of
my life in the lile of France, where the Sun is
vertical twice a year. The foil of Malta confifts
of little hills of white flone, which refleft the rays
of the Sun with fo much force, that the eye-fight
is fenfibly affefted by it ; and when the wind from
Africa, known by the name of Syroco, which iffues

* See Plutarch and Pliny.

from

302 STUDIES OF NATURE.

from the fands of Zara, on it's way to melt the ices
of the North, comes to pafs over that Ifle, the air
is as hot as the breath of an oven. I recolleifV, at
that feafon, a figure of Neptune in bronze, on the
fea-fhore, the metal of which was heated to fuch
a degree, that you could fcarcely apply your hand
to it. They, however, imported into the illand
fnow from Mount Etna, which is fixty leagues
diftant ; they kept it for months together, laid on
ftraw in vaults, and it was to be bought for a far-
thing a pound weight, even when farmed out.
Since, then, it is poffible to have ice in Malta,
during the Dog-Days, I think it might be pro-
cured in every country of the Globe. Nature,
befides, as we have feen, multiplies icy mountains
in the vicinity of hot countries. I may, perhaps,
be here reproached with indicating the means of
promoting the increafe of luxury ; but as the com-
monalty now live only on the luxury of the rich,
my fuggeftion may tend to promote, at leaft, the
extenfion of the fcience of Nature.

So far is cold from being the enemy of all
plants, that it is in the North we find forefts of the
lalleft growth, and of the greateft extent in the
World. It is only at the foot of the eternal fnows
of Mount Lebanon, that the cedar, the king of
vegetables, rifes in all his majefty. The fir, which
is, next to him, the greateft tree of our forefts, ar-
rives

(

STUDY V. 2^2

rives at a prodigious fize only on icy mountains,
and in the cold climates of Norway and Ruffia.
Pliny tells us, that the largeft piece of timber
which had ever been (een. at Rome, up to his
time, was a vaft log of fir, a hundred and twenty
feet long, and two feet fquare at both ends, which
Tiberius had conveyed from the cold mountains
of Voltolino, in Piedmont, and which Nero em-
ployed in his amphitheatre. You may judge, fays
he, what muft have been the length of the tree as
it grew when a cutting of it had fuch dimenfions.
However, as I believe that Pliny means Roman
feet, which are of the fame dimenfion with thofe
of the Rhine, we muft fubtradt from this meafure-
mcnt about a twelfth part nearly. He quotes, be-
fides, the fir mafl of the vefTel which brought from
Egypt the obeliik that Caligula ordered to be fet
up in the Vatican ; this maft was four fathoms in
circumference. 1 know not where it might have
grown. But I myfelf have feen firs in Rufîia,
compared to which thofe of our temperate climates
are mere twigs. Among others I remember to
have feen, between Peterfburg and Mofcôw, two
logs which exceeded in fize the largeft of our
mafts for fhips of war, though thefe confift of fe-
veral pieces. They were cut from the fame tree,
and ferved as mounting blocks at the gate of a
peafant's farm-yard. The boats which convey
provifions from Lake Ladoga to Peterfburg are

not

304 STUDIES OF NATURE.

not much frnaller than thofe which ply between
Rouen and Paris. They arc conftruded of fir planks
from two to three inches thick, fometimes two feet
broad, and whofe length is that of the whole barge.
The Ruffian carpenters of the cantons where they
are built, make only a fingle plank out of one
tree, timber being in fuch plenty there, that they
do not take the trouble to faw it.

Before I had travelled into northern countries,
I took it for granted, in conformity to the laws of
our Phyfics, that the earth muft there be ftripped
of every thing like vegetation, by the rigor of the
cold. I was very much aftonilhed to find there
the largeft trees I had ever feen in my life, and
growing fo near each other, that a fquirrel could
eafily fcamper over great part of Ruffia, without
touching the ground, by fprlnging from branch
to branch. This vaft forell of fir covers Finland,
Ingria, Eftonia, the whole fpace comprehended
between Peterfburg and Mofcovv, and thence ex-
tends over a great part of Poland j where oaks be-
gin to appear, as I know from actual obfervation,
having travelled through thefe countries. But
what 1 have feen is a very fmall part only of thefe
immenfe forefts, for it is well known that they ex-
tend from Norway all the way to Kamfchatka,
fome fandy deferts excepted ; and from Breflau to
the fliores of the Frozen Ocean.

I fliali

STUDY Vi

105

I (hall conclude this article with refuting an
error alluded to in the preceding Study ; namely,
that cold is diminifhed in the North, in propor-
tion as the forefts are cut down. As this pofition
has been advanced by fome of our mofl celebrated
Writers, and afterwards retailed, as the cufloni is,
by a multitude of others ; it is of importance to
overturn it, as being highly prejudicial to rural
economy. I had long adopted it as inconteflably
certain, on the faith of Hiftory; but I was at
length cured of my miflake, not, however, by
books, but by fimple peafants.

One day in Summer, about two o'clock after
noon, being about to crofs the foreft of Ivry, I
faw fome fliepherds with their flocks, who kept at
a confiderable diftance from it, repofmg under the
fliade of fome trees that were fcattered up and
down through the country. I afked them why
they did not go, with their flocks, to take Iheker
in the forefl:, from the heat of the Sun. They told
me it was too hot there at that time of the day,
and that they never drove their flieep thither, ex-
cept in the morning and evening. Being defirous,
however, of traverfing, in broad day, the woods
in which Henry IV. had hunted, and of arriving
betimes at Anet, to take a view of the country-
palace of Henry II. and of the tomb of Diana of
Poitiers, his miftrefs, I engaged a lad belonging

VOL. I. X to

306 STUDIES OF NATURE.

to one of the fhepherds to attend me as a guide,
which was a very eafy matter to him, for the great
road leading to Anet crofles the foreft in a ftraight
line ', and it is, on that fide, fo little frequented,
that I found it covered in many places, with tufts
of grafs and ftrawberry plants. I felt all the way,
as I walked along, a ftifling heat, and much more
ardent than was at that hour felt in the open
country. I did not begin to refpire freely, till I
had got fairly clear of it, and had made my
efcape from the edge of the foreft more than the
diftance of three mufket (hot. In other refpeds,
thofe fhepherds, that folitude, that filence of the
woods, blended with the recolledion of Henry IV.
appeared to me much more affefting and fublime,
than the emblems of the chace in bronze, and the
cyphers of //i?;^;;)' II. interwoven with the crefcents
of Diana, which embellilh, on all fides, the domes
of the Caftle of Anet. This royal refidence,
loaded with ancient trophies of love, infpired, at
firft, a mixed emotion of pleafure and melancholy,
which gradually fubfided into profound forrow,
on recollecting that this love was illicit; but this
was followed, at laft, by fentiments of veneration
and refpeCl, which took complete poffeffion of my
mind, on being informed that, by one of thofe
revolutions to which the monuments of men are
fo frequently fubjefted, the caftle was then inha-
bited by the virtuous Duke of Penthièvre.

I have

STUDY V. 307

I have fince refleéled on what the fhepherds
told me, refpeding the heat of the woods, and on
what I myfelf had experienced ; and I have, in
fad:, remarked that, in the Spring, all plants are
more forward in the vicinity of woods, and that
you find violets in flower on their borders much
earlier than you gather them on the open plain,
or on a naked hill. Forefts, then, flicker the land
from cold, in the North j but what is equally won-
derful, they flicker it likewife from the heat in
warm countries. Thefe two oppofite effeds are
produced entirely from the different forms and
difpolition of their leaves. In the North, thofe of
the fir, the larch, the pine, the cedar, the juniper,
are fmall, glofly, and varniflied ; their delicacy,
their varnifli, and the endlefs variety of their di*
redion, refle6l the heat around them a thoufand
different ways : they produce nearly the fame ef-
feds as the hair of the animals of the North,
whofe furs are warm in proportion as the hair is
fine and gloffy. Befides, the leaves of fome fpe-
cies, as of the fir and of the birch, are perpendi-
cularly fufpended from the branches by long
moveable membranes, fo that with every breath of
the wind they refledt all around the rays of the Sun,
like fo many mirrors.

In the South, on the contrary, the palms, the
tallipot, the cocoa, the banana, bear large leaves,

X 2 which.

3o8 STUDIES OF NATURE.

which, on the fide next the ground, are rather
rough than glofly, and which, fpreading horizon-
tally, form a deep fhade below, where there is not
the lead refledion of heat. I admit, at the fame
time, that the clearing away of forefts difpels the
coldnefs occafioned by humidity ; but it increafes
the dry and fharp colds of the North, as has been
found on the lofty mountains of Norway, which
were formerly cultivated, but are now uninhabi-
table, becaufe they are completely ftripped of their
woods.

This clearing of the ground likewife increafes
the heat in warm countries, as I have had occafion
to obferve in the Ifle of France, on feveral parts
of the coaft, which are become fo parched, fmce
every fpecies of tree has been fwept away, that they
are at this day abfolutely uncultivated. The very
grafs which puflies away during the rainy feafon,
is in a (hort time quite burnt up by the Sun.
What is flill worfe, there refults from this parch-
ednefs of the coafts, the drying up of a great
many rivulets ; for the trees, planted on the heights,
attradt thither the humidity of the air, and fix it
there, as we (liall fee in the Study on Plants. Be-
lides, by deftroying the trees which are on the high
grounds, you rob the vallies of their natural ma-
nure, and the plains of the pallifades which fhelter
them from the high winds. Thefe winds defolate,

to

STUDY V.

109

to fuch a degree, the cultivation in many places,
that nothing can be made to grow. I afcribe to
this lafl. piece of mifmanagement the fterility of
the heaths in Brittany. In vain has the attempt
been made to reftore their ancient fertility : it
never can fucceed, till you begin with recalling
their Ihelter and their temperature, by re-fowing
the forefts. But there is a requifite prior even to
this ; you mud render the peafantry happy. The
profperity of a country depends, before, and above
all things, on that of it's inhabitants.

X ; STUDY

STUI>Y VI. ^11

STUDY SIXTH.

REPLY TO OBJECTIONS AGAINST PROVIDENCE,

FOUNDED ON THE DISORDERS OF THE

ANIMAL KINGDOM.

WE fhall continue to difplay the fecundity of
Northern Regions, in order to overturn
the prejudice, which would afcribe this principle
of life, in plants and animals, only to the heat of
the South. I could expatiate on the numerous and
extenfive chaces of elks, rein-deer, water-fowls,
heath-cock, hares, white bears, wolves, foxes, mar-
tens, ermines, beavers, &c. which the inhabitants
of the northern diftrifts annually carry on, the
very peltry of which, above what they employ for
their own ufe, fupplies them with a very confider-
able branch of commerce for the markets of all
Europe. But I fhall confine myfelf entirely to
their fiflieries, becaufe thefe precious gifts of the
Waters are prefented to all Nations, and are no
where fo abundant as in the North.

X 4 From

312, STUDIES OF NATURE.

From the rivers and lakes of the North are ex-
trafled incredible multitudes of fîlhes. John
Schaffer^ the accurate Hiftorian of Lapland, tells
us *, that they catch annually at Torneo, no lefs
than thirteen hundred boat-loads of falmon ; that
the pike there grow to fuch a fize, that fome are
found as long as a man, and that every year they
fait as many as are fufficient for the fupport of
four kingdoms of the North. But thefe fiQieries,
however produdtive, fall far fliort of thofe of the
Seas -f-. From the bofom of thefe is dragged the
enormous whale, which is ufually about fixty feet
in length, twenty feet broad over the body and at
the tail, eighteen feet high, and which yields up
to a hundred and thirty barrels of oil. The fat is
two feet thick, and in cutting it off, they are
under the neceffity of ufing great knives, fix feet
long.

From the Seas of the North, annually take
their departure innumerable (hoals of fiflies, which
enrich the fifhers of all Europe ; ftich as cod, an-
chovies, fturgeon, dory, mackerel, pilchers, her-
rings, fea-dogs, belugas, fea-calfs, porpoifes, fea-

horfe, puffers, fea-unicorns, faw-fifli, &:c The

fize of them all is confiderably larger than in tem-

* Hiftoiy of Lapland, by John Schaffer.
t Confult Frederic Martens of Hamburg.

perate

STUDY VI. 313

Derate Latitudes, and they are divided into much
more numerous fpecies. There are computed as
high as twelve fpecies of the whale tribe ; and
plaice are caught in thofe feas of the enormous
weight of four hundred pounds. But I fliall far-
ther confine mvfelf to thofe fifhes which are beft
known to us, herrings, for example. It is an in-
conteftable fad:, that the Seas of the North every
year fend out a quantity more than fufficient to
feed all the inhabitants of Europe.

We are in pofTeffion of Memoirs which prove,
that the herring fiQiery was carried on fo far back
as the year 11 63, in the Straits of Sunda, between
the Iflands of Schonon and Seeland. Philip de
Méfières, Governor to Charles VI. relates, in the
Old Pilgrim's Dream, that in the year 1389, dur-
ing the months of September and Oftober, the
quantity of herrings in thofe Straits was fo prodi-
gious, that, *' For feveral leagues together you
" might," fays he, " have cut them with a fword;
" and it is credibly reported, that there are forty
*' thoufand boats which are employed in nothing
" elfe, for two months, but in catching herrings ;
*' each boat containing, at lead, fix perfons, and
" many not lefs than ten ; and befides thefe, there
'^ are five hundred great and fmall veflels of bur-
" den, employed wholly in picking, faking, and
" barrelling up the herrings." He makes the

number

314 STUDIES OF NATURE.

number of perfons engaged in this fiOiery amount
to three hundred thoufand, Pruflians and Ger-
mans.

In 1 6 10, the Dutch, who carry on the herring-
fifhery ftill farther to the North, where the fifh is
better, employed in it three thoufand boats, fifty
thoufand fifhermen, without reckoning nine thou-
fand other vefTels employed in barrelling, and con-
veying them to Holland, and a hundred and fifty
thoufand perfons, partly at fea, partly on fhore,
engaged in the carrying trade, in preparing and
felling. At that period they derived a revenue
from it, of two millions, fix hundred and fifty
thoufand pounds fterling. I myfelf have witnefTed
in Amfterdam, in 1762, the joy of the populace,
exprefled by difplaying ftreamers and flags over
the (hops where that fifh was expofed to fale, on
the firfl arrivals ; and in every ftreet this was the
cafe. I have been informed in that city, that the
Company eflabliflied for carrying on the herring-
fiQiery was richer, and fed more mouths, than the
Eaft-India Company. The Danes, the Norwe-
gians, the Swedes, the Hamburghers, the EngUfh,
the Irifh, and fome traders of the ports of France,
particularly of Dieppe, fitted out vefTels for this
filhery, but in too fmall a number for a fall of
manna fo plentiful^ and fo eafily gathered.

In

STUDY VI,

315

In 1782, at the mouth of the Gothela, a fmall
river which waflies the walls of Gottenburg, one
hundred and thirty-nine thoufand barrels were
cured by fait, three thoufand feven hundred were
fmoked, and two thoufand eight hundred and
forty-five caiks of oil were extracted from what
could not be preferved. The Gazette of France *,
which contains an account of this fiihery, remarks
that, previous to 1752, thefe fifhes had entirely
difappeared for 72 years together. I afcribe their
defertion of this coaft to fome naval engagement,
which had chaced them away by the noife of the
artillery, as is the cafe with the turtle of the illand
of Afcenfion, which forfake the road for weeks to-
gether, when vefTels paffing that way difcharge
their great guns. It may, perhaps, be likewife
accounted for, from a conflagration of the forefls,
which might have deftroyed the vegetables that
attradted them to the coaft.

The good Bifliop of Berghen, Pont-Oppidan,
the Fenelon of Norway, who introduced into his
popular fermons, complete trafts of Natural Hif-
tory, as being excellent articles of Theology, re-
lates •f-, that when the herrings coafted along the
fliores of Norway, " The whales, which purfue

* Friday the iithOAober, 1782.
■\ Font-Ofpidan% Natural Hiftory of Norway.

" them

3l6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

" them in great numbers, and which dart their
** water-fpouts into the air, give to the Sea, at a
*' diftance, the appearance of being covered over
" with fmoking chimnies. The herrings, in order
" to elude the purfuir, throw themfelves clofe in-
** fhore into every Httle bay and creek, where the
*^ water, before tranquil, forms confiderable fwel-
" lings and furges, wherever they croud to make
** their efcape. They branch off in fuch quan-
*' tities, that you may take them out in bafkets-
'* full, and the country people can even catch
" them by the hand." After all, however, that
the united efforts of all thefe fiOiers can effeét,
hardly any impreffion is made on their great gene-
ral column, which coafts along Germany, France,
Spain, and flretches as far as the Straits of Gibral-
tar; devoured, the whole length of their paffage,
by an innumerable multitude of other fifhes, and
fea-fowls, which follow them night and day, till
the column is loft on the fhores of Africa, or re-
turns, as other Authors tells us, to the Climates
of the North.

For my own part, I no more believe that her-
rings return to the Seas from which they came,
than that fruits re-afcend the trees from which they
have once dropped. Nature is fo magnificent in the
entertainments which (he provides for Man, that Ihe
never ferves up the fame diihes a fécond time.

I prefumc

STUDY VI. 317

1 prefume, conformably to an obfervation of Fa-
ther Lambertiy a miffionary in Mingrelia, that thefe
fifhes accompliOi the circuit of Europe by going
up the Mediterranean, and that the extreme boun-
dary of their emigration is the extremity of the
Black Sea ; and this is the more probable, that
the pilchers, which take their departure from the
fame places, follow the fame track, as is proved by
the copious fiflieries of them carried on along the
coafts of Provence and Italy. " Many herrings,'*
fays Father Lamberti*, *' are fometimes feen in
" the Black Sea ; and in the years when this hap-
*' pens, the inhabitants of the adjacent countries
*' draw a flattering prognoftic of a plentiful ftur-
" geon-fifliing feafon ; and they deduce the oppo-
*' fite conclufion from the non-appearance of her-
** rings. There was feen in 1642 a quantity fo
" prodigious of them, that the Sea having thrown
" them on the fhallows which feparate Trebifond
" from the country of the Abcafles, the whole was
" covered and furrounded with a bank of herrings,
" which was, at leaft, three hand-breadths high.
" The people of the country were under dreadful
" apprehenfions, that the air would be poifoned
" by the corruption of thefe fiflies ; but they were
" prefently followed by enormous flocks of crows
" and rooks, which eat up the herrings, and cured

* Account of Mingrelia, Thevenot's CoUeélion.

«' the

3l8 STUDIES OF NATURE.

*' the honeft folks of their terror. The natives
" talk of a fimilar appearance before that period,
** only the quantity was much inferior."

This immenfe glut of herrings is, undoubtedly,
matter of aftonifhment ; but how is that aftonifli-
ment increafed, when it is confidered, that this co-
lumn is not the half of what annually iffue from
the Seas of the North ! It feparates at the northern
extremity of Iceland, and while one divifion pro-
ceeds to difFufe plenty over the fhores of Europe,
the other pulhes forward to convey fimilar benefits
to the fhores of America. Anderfon informs us,
herrings are in fuch abundance on the coafts of
Iceland, that a fhallop can with difficulty force it's
way through the flioal by dint of rowing. They
are accompanied by an incredible multitude of
pilchers and cod, which renders fifh fo plenty in
the ifland, that the inhabitants have them dried,
and reduced to meal with a grind-ftone, to become
food for their oxen and horfes.

Father Rale, a jefuit, and an American mif-
fionary, fpeaking of the Savages who inhabit be-
tween Acadiaand New-England, tells us*, "That
*' they refort, at a certain feafon, to a river not far
*' diftant, where, for the fpace of a month, the

* Inftruélive Letters, vol. xxiii. page 199.

" fifhes

STUDY VI.

319

*' fifhes force their way upward in fuch quantities,
*' that, with hands fufficient, fifty thoufand bar-
*' rels might be filled in a fingle day. Thefe are
** a fpecies of very large herrings, moft agreeable
*' to the tafte when frefli. They are preffed upon
" each other to the thicknefs of a foot, and arc
" taken out by pails-full, like water. The Sa-
** vages dry them for eight or ten days, and live
" on them during their whole feed-time."

This teftimony is confirmed by a great many
others, and particularly by a Gentleman of Englifh
extradion, but a native of America, who has fa-
voured us with a Hift:ory of Virginia. " In
** Spring," fays he*, " herrings pufh upwards,
** in fuch quantities, along the rivulets and fords
" of rivers, that it is almofi; impoffible to pafs on

" horfeback without trampHng on thofe fifiies

" Hence it comes to pafs, that at this feafon of the
" year, thofe parts of the rivers where the water
*' is frefh, are rendered fetid by the fifh which they
**- contain. Befides herrings, may be feen an in-
** finite number of fhads, roach, fl:urgeon, and a
" few lampreys, which find their way from the Sea
" up the rivers."

It would appear, that another column of thofe
fiflies iflues from the North Pole, to the eaftward

* Hiftory of Virginia, page 202,

of

320

STUDIES OF NATURE.

of our Continent, and pafles through the channel
which feparates America from Afia, for we are
informed, by a miffionary, that the inhabitants of
the land of YafTo go to Japan, to fell, among
other dried filhes*, herrings alfo. The Spaniards,
who have been attempting difcoveries to the north
of California, find all the nations of thofe regions
to be fifli-eaters, and unacquainted with every kind
of cultivation. Though they landed there only
in the middle of Summer, before, perhaps, the
fidiingfeafon had commenced, they found pilchers
in the greateft abundance, the native country and
emigrations of which are the fame, for vaft quan-
tities of a fmaller fize, are taken at Archangel. I
have eaten of them in Ruflia, at the table of Ma-
refchal Count Munich who called them the ancho-
vies of the North.

But as the Northern Seas, which feparate Ame-
rica from Alia, are not much known to us, I (hall
purfue this fifli no further. I muft, however, ob-
ferve, that more than half of thofe herrings are fil-
led with eggs, and if the propagation were to go
on, to it's full extent, for three or four genera-
tions only, without interruption, the Ocean icfelf
would be unable to contain them, it is obvious

* Ecclefiaftical Hiftory of Japan, by Father F. Soliar. Book
xix. chap. xi.

to

STUDY VI. 321

to the firft glance of the eye, that the herring pro-
duces, at leaft, as many eggs as the carp. M. Petit,
a celebrated praditioner in Surgery and Medicine,
has found, by experiment, that the two parcels of
eggs, of a carp eighteen inches long, weighed eight
ounces two drachms, which make four thoufand,
feven hundred and fifty-two grains ; and that it
required feventy-two of thefe eggs to make up the
weight of one grain ; which gives a produd of
three hundred forty-two thoufand, one hundred
and forty-four eggs, contained in one roe weighing
eight ounces and two drachms.

I have been fomcwhat difFufe on the fubjeft of
this particular fpecies of fifh, not in the view of
promoting our commerce, which, by it's offices,
it's bounties, it's privileges, it's exclufions, renders
every article fcarce with which it intermeddles, but
in compaflion to the poorer part of the community,
reduced, in many places, to fubfift entirely on
bread, while Providence is beftowing on Europe,
in the richeft profufion, the moft delicate fifh,
perhaps, that fwims in the Sea*. We are not to
form our judgment from thofe that are brought to
Paris, after the feafon is over, and which are caught

* More than one epicure has already made this obfervation :
but here is another, on which few are difpofed to dwell, it is
this, that in all cafes, and in all countries, thi ?noJi mnmoti things
are the bejl.

VOL. I. Y on

322 STUDIES OF NATURE.

on our coafts ; but from thofe which are caught
far to the North, known, in Holland, by the
name of pickled herrings^ which are thick, large,
fat, with the flavour of a nut, fo delicate and juicy,
that they melt away in the cooking, and are eaten
raw from the pickle, as we do anchovies.

The South Pole is not lefs produdive of fiflies
than the North, The Nations which are neareft
to it, fuch as the inhabitants of the iflands of
Georgia, of New Zealand, of Maire's Strait, of the
Terra-del-Fuego, of Magellan's Strait, live on
fifli, and praâiice hufbandry of no kind. That
honeft Navigator, Chevalier A^(7rZ'n/g'^/, fays, in his
Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas^ that Port-
Defire, which lies in 47°. 48'. South Latitude, is fo
filled with pinguins, fea-calves, and fea-lions, that
any veflel touching there, may find provifions in
abundance. All thefe animals, which are there
uncommonly far, live entirely on fifh. When he
was in Magellan's Strait, he caught, at a fingle
draught of the net, more than five hundred large
fifhes, refembling the mullet, as long as a man's
legs ; fmelts twenty inches long ; a great quan-
tity of fifli like the anchovy : in a word, they
found, ofevery fort, fuch an abundantprofufion, that
they ate nothing elfe during their ftay in thofe parts.
The beautiful mother-of-pearl fliells, which enrich
our cabinets, under the name of the Magellan-

oyfter.

STUDY VI. 3^3

oyfter, are there of a prodigious fize, and excellent
to eat. The lempit, in like manner, grows there to
a prodigious magnitude. There muft be, con-
tinues he, on thefe (hores, an infinite number of
fifhes to fupport the fea-calves, the pinguins, and
the other fowls, which Hve folely on fi(h, and
which are all equally fat, though their number is
beyond computation. They one day killed four
hundred fea-lions, in the fpace of half an hour.
Of thefe fome were eighteen feet long. Thofe
which are only fourteen fwarm by thoufands.
Their flelh is as tender and as white as lamb, and
excellent food when frelli, but ftill better when it
has been fome time in fait. On which I muft make
this obfervation, that the fifli of cold countries
only take in fait cafily, and retain, in that ftate,
part of their flavour. It feems as if Nature in-
tended thus to communicate to all the Nations of
the Globe the abundance of the fifheries which
ilîue from the frigid Zones.

The weflern coaft of America, in that fame La-
titude, is not lefs amply fupplied with fifh. "Along
" the whole fea-coaft," fays the Peruvian Garcil-
lajo de la Vega *, *' from Aréquipa to Tarapaca, a
" track of more than two hundred leagues in
** length, they employ no other manure to dung

* Hiftory of the Incas, book V. chap. iii.

Y 2 " the

324 STUDIES OF NATURE.

*' the land, except the excrement of certain fowls,
" called fea-fparrows, of which there are flocks fo
" numerous, as to exceed all belief. They inhabit
" the defert iflands on the coaft, and by the accu-
'' mulation of their ordure, they whiten them to
** fuch a degree, that, at fome diflance, they might
*' be taken for mounlains covered with fnow. The
" Incas referved to themfelves the right of dif-
*^ pofing of thofe iflands, as a royal boon to fuch
*' and fuch a favourite province." Now this dung
was entirely the produce of the fiflies on which
thofe fowls conftantly fed.

*' In other countries, on the fame coaft," fays
he ■*■, " fuch as that of Atica, of Atitipa, of Villa-
** cori, of Malla, and Chilca, they dung the land
" with the heads of pilchers, which they fow there
" in great quantities. They put them in the
** ground at fmall intervals from each other, along
" with two or three grains of maize. At a parti-
'* cular feafon of the year, the Sea throws upon the
** fliore fuch quantities of live pilchers, that they
*' have an abundant fupply for food, and for ma-
" nure, and this to fuch a degree, that after thefe
'* demands were fatisfied, they could eafily load
" whole fliips with the overplus."

* Confiilt the fame Work.

h

STUDY VI. 325

It is obvious that the coaft of Feru is nearly the
boundary of the emigration of the pilchers which
fet out from the South Pole, as the coafts of the
Black Sea are the boundary of that of the herrings
which iffue from the North Pole. The continua-
tion and diredion of thefe two bands, the pilchers
of the South, and the herrings of the North, are
nearly of the fame length, and their deftinies are,
at laft, fimilar. It would appear as if certain Ne-
reids were annually commiflioned to conduâ:, from
the Poles, thofe innumerable fwarms of fillies, to
furnifh fubfiftence to the inhabitants of the tempe-
rate Zones ; and that, having arrived at the ter-
mination of their courfe, in the hot Latitudes,
where fruits are produced abundantly, they empty
the gleanings of their nets upon the (hore.

It will not be fo eafy a tafk, I confefs, to refer
to the beneficence of Nature the wars which ani-
mals wage with each other. Why fliould beafls
of prey exift ? Suppofing me incapable of refolving
this difficulty. Nature muft not be accufed of
cruelty becaufe I am deficient in mental ability.
She has arranged what we do know, with fuch
confummate wifdom, that we are bound to give
her credit for the fame chara6ler of wifdom, in
cafes where we cannot find her out unto perfec-
tion. I will have the courage, however, to declare
my opinion, and to offer a reply to this queftion ;

Y 3 and

326 STUDIES OF NATURE.

and fo much the rather, as it affords me an oppor-
tunity of prefenting fome obfervations which I
confider as at lead new, if not worthy of attention.

Firft of all, Beafts of prey are neceflary. What
othervvife would become of the carcafes of fo many
animals, which perifh both on the land and in the
water, and which they would, confequently, poifon
with infedion. Several fpecies of carnivorous ani-
mals, it mail be allowed, devour their prey while
yet living. But who can tell whether, in this, they
do not tranfgrefs the law of their nature ? Man
knows very little of his own Hifcory. How is it
pofiible he (hould know that of the beads ? Cap-
tain Cook obferved, in a defert illand of the Sou-
thern Ocean, that the fea-lions, the fea-calves, the
white bears, the fots, the eagles, the vultures,
lived in perfect concord, no one tribe giving the
leaft difturbance to another. I have obferved a fimi-
lar good agreement among the fool and the frigat
of the Illand of Afcenfion. But, after all, we muft
not compliment them too highly on their modera-
tion. It was merely an aflbciation of plunderers j
they lived peaceably together, that they might de-
vour, unmolefted, their common prey, the fifhes,
which they all gulped down alive.

Let us revert to the great principle of Nature.
She has made nothing in vain. She deftines few

animals

STUDY VI. 327

animals to die of old age ; nay, I believe, that (he
permits Man alone to complete his career of life,
becaufe his old age alone can be ufeful to his fel-
low-creatures. To what purpofe would ferve,
among the brute creation, grandfires deftitute of
reflection, to progeny brought into exiftence in
the maturity of their experience ? On the other
hand, what affiftance could decrepit parents find
among children, which abandon them, the inftant
they have learned to fwim, fly, or walk ? Old age
would be to them a burthen from which they are
delivered by the ferocious animals. Befides, from
their unobftrudted generations would arife a pofle-
rity without end, which the Globe is not fufficient
to contain. The prefervation of individuals would
involve the extindion of fpecies.

Animals might always live, T fliall be told, in a
proportion adapted to the places which they inha-
bit ; but in that cafe they muft ceafe to multiply ;
and from that moment farewel the loves, the nefts,
the alliances, the forefight, and all the harmonies
which fubfift among theiïi. Every thing that is
born is doomed to die. But Nature, in devoting
them to death, takes from them that which could
render the inftant of it cruel. It is ufually" in the
night-time, and in thehourof fleep, that they fink
under the fangs and the teeth of their deftroyers.
Twenty fl:rokes, fent home in one inflant to the

Y 4 fources

323 STUDIES OF NATURE.

fources of life, afford no leifure to reiled that they
are going to lofe it. That fatal moment is not em-
bittered to them, by any of the feelings which ren-
der it fo painful to moft of the Human Race, re-
gret for the pad:, and folicitude about futurity.
Their unanxious fpirits vanifli into the Ihades of
night, in the midft of a life of innocence, and fre-
quently during the indulgence of the fond illufions
of love.

Unknown compenfations may, perhaps, farther
fweeten this laft tranfition. I (hall obferve at leaft,
as a circumftance deferving the moft attentive con-
fideration, that the animal fpecies, whofe life is fa-
crificed to the fupport of that of others, fuch as
that of infeds, do not appear poffeffed of any fen-
fibility. If the leg of a fly happens to be torn
away, ihe goes and comes as if (he had loft nothing ;
the cutting off a limb fo ccnfiderable is followed by
no fainting, or convulfion, or fcream, or fymptom
of pain whatever. Cruel children amufe themfelves
with thrufting ftraws into their anus ; they rife
into the air thus empaled ; they walk about, and
perform all their ufual motions, without feeming
to mind it. Others take lady-birds, tear off a
large limb, run a pin through the nerves and carti-
lages of the thigh, and attach them with a flip of
paper to a ftick. Thefe unfeeling infefts fly hum-
ming round and round the ftick, unweariedly, and

without

STUDY VI. 329

without any appearance of fufFerir g pain. Reaumur
one day cut off the flefliy and mufcular horn of a
large caterpillar, which continued to feed as if no
mutilation had taken place. Is it poffible to think,
that beings fo tranquil in the hands of children and
philofophers, endure any feeling of pain when they
are gobbled down in the air by the birds ?

Thefe obfervations might eafily be extended
much farther : particularly to that clafs of fiQies,
which have neither bone nor blood, and of thefe
confift the greateft number of the inhabitants of
the Seas, and they appear to be equally void of
fenfibility. I have feen, between the Tropics, a
tunny, from the nape of whofe neck one of the
failors fcooped out a large flice of the flefh, with
a ftroke of the harpoon, which was forced back-
ward to his head, who followed the fhip for feveral
weeks, and was outdone by no one of his compa-
nions, either in fpeed or in fiifkinefs. I have feen
fharks, after being ftruck with mulket bullets, re-
turn to bite at the hook from which they had juft
before efcaped, with their mangled throat.

We fliall find, befides, a greater analogy be-
tween filhes and infecfls, if we confider that neither
have bones nor blood ; that their flefli is impreg-
nated with a glutinous liquid, and which likewife
appears to be the fame in both, from it's emitting

the

330 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the fame odour when burnt ; that they do not re-
fpire by the mouth, but by the fides, infeds by the
trachea, fidies by the gills ; that they have no au-
ditory organ, but hear by means of the nervous
impreffion made on their bodies by the commo-
tion of the fluid element in which they live j that
they fee all round the horizon from the difpofition
of their eyes i that they equally run to the light;
that they difcover the fame avidity, and are, for
the moft part, carnivorous ; that, in both genera,
the female is larger than the male; that thefe
throw out their eggs, to an infinite number, with-
out fitting on them : that mod fifties pafs, on their
birth, through the ftate of infers, ifTuing frcm
their eggs, in form of worms, and even feme in
that of frogs, fuch as a fpecies of fiOi in Surinam ;
that both are cafed in fcales ; that many fifhes are
provided with beards and horns, like infeds; that
both the one and the other contain, in their cate-
gories, an incredible variety of forms, peculiar to
themfelves ; finally, that their conftitutions, their
metamorphofes, their manners, their fecundity, be-
ing the fame, there is a powerful temptation to
afcribe to thefe two numerous clafTes, the fame in-
fenfibility.

As to animals which have blood, let Malle^
branche fay what he pleafes, they are fenfible. They
exprefs a fenfe of pain by the fame figns which we

do.

STUDY VI. 331

do. But Nature has fenced them with thick hides,
with long hair, with a plumage, which protedt
them againft external blows. Befides, they are
little, if at all, expofed to cruel treatment, except
from the hands of bad men.

Let us now proceed to conlider the generation of
animals. We have i^een that the greateft and mofb
numerous fpecies of the Globe, in the animal and
vegetable kingdoms, are produced in the North,
independently of the heat of the Sun. Let us now
enquire, whether the prolific power of fermenta-
tion be greater in the South. Certain Egyptians
told Herodotus, that particular fpecies of animals
were formed of the fermented mires of the Ocean,
and of the Nile. Whatever refpedl I have for the
Ancients, I abfolutely rejeft their authority in
Phyfics. Mofb of their Philofophers have a fuffi-
ciently ftriking refemblance to our own. They
obferved fparingly, and reafoned copioufly. If
fome of them, in the view of fpeaking peace to vo-
luptuous Princes, have advanced that every thing
proceeded from corruption, and returned to cor-
ruption again, others more honeft and fincere have
refuted them, even in the earlieft times.

It is not only certain, that corruption produces
no one living body, but is fatal to all, efpecially
to thofe which have blood, and chiefly to Man.

No

33^ STUDIES OF NATURE.

No air is unwholefome but where there is corrup-
tion. How could fuch a principle have generated,
in animals, feet provided with toes, nails, and
claws ; ikins clothed with fo many forts of hair and
plumage ; jaws palifaded with teeth cut out into
a form adapted, fome for cutting, and others for
grinding ; heads adorned with eyes, and eyes fur-
niflied with lids to defend them from the Sun ?
How could the principle of corruption have col-
leded thefe fcattered members; unite them by
nerves and mufcles 3 fupport them by bony fub-
ftances, fitted with pivots and hinges ; feed them
with veins filled with a blood which circulates,
whether the animal be in motion or at reft ; cover
them with fkins fo admirably provided with hairy
furs, precifely adapted to the Climates which they
inhabit ; afterwards, make them move by the com-
bined aftion of a heart and a brain, and give to all
thefe machines, produced in the fame place, and
formed of the fame flime, appetites and inftinfts
fo entirely different ? How could it have infpired
them with the fenflition of themfjlves, and kindled
in them the defire of reproducing themfelves by
any other method than that which originally gave
them exifience ?

Corruption, fo far from conferring life on them,
muft have deprived them of it, for it generates tu-
bercles, inflames the eyes, diffolves the blood, and

produces

STUDY VI. 333

produces an infinite number of difeafes in moft
animals which refpire it's emanations *. The fer-
mentation of any fubftance whatever could have

formed

* Of all corruptions, that of the human flefli is mofl noxious.
Of this a very fingular inftance is related by Garcillafo de la
Fegay in his Hiftory of the Civil Wars of the Spaniards, in
the Indies. Vol. i. Part ii. Chap. xlii. He obferves, firfl,
that the Indians, of the Iflands of Barlovento, poifon their
arrows, by plunging the points of them into dead bodies;
and then adds, " I fliall i-elate what I myfelf faw happen in
" the cafe of one of the quarters of the dead body of Carvajal,
*' which was expo fed on the great road to Collafuyu, to the
*' fouth of Cufco. We fet out a walking one Sunday, ten or
*' twelve fchool-fellows of us, all mongrels, that is, the pro-
*' geny of Spanifli men by Indian women, the oldeft not above
*' twelve years of age. Having obferved, as we went along in
" the open country, one of the quarters of Carvajal's body, we
*' took a fancy to go and look at it, and having come up, we
" found it was one of his thighs, the fat of which had dropped
" to the ground. The flefli was greenifh, and entirely corrupted.
*' While we were examining this mournful fpeélacle, a forward
" boy chanced to fay, I could wager no one here dares to touch
" it ; another replied, he would. At laft the ftouteft of all,
♦' whofe name was Bartholomew Monedero, imagining he was
" going to perform an a<?l of courage, plunged the thumb
" of his right hand into this putrid limb, which it eafily pene-
" trated. This bold aélion alloniflied every one, to fuch a de-
*' gree, that we all run away from him, for fear of infedion,
" calling out, ' O abominable ! Carvajal will make you pay
" dear for this raflincfs. He went, however, inftantly to the
" brook, which was clofe by the fpot, waflied his hand feveral
" times, rubbing it over with clay, and fo returned home. Next
" day he returned to fchool, where he fliewed us his thumb,

" which

334 STUDIES OF NATURE.

formed no one animal, nor even the egg from
which it iffued. We find in the dunghills of our
great towns, where {o many fubflances ferment,

organic

" which was fwollen prodigioufly ; but towards evening the
*« whole hand had become inflamed up to the wrift ; and next
*' day, which was Tuefday, the arm had fwelled up to the elbow,
" fo that he was reduced to the neceflity of difclofing the cafe
*' to his father. Profeffional men were immediately called in,
*' who had the arm tightly bandaged, above the fwelling, and
" applied every remedy which art and experience could fuggefl
*' as a counter-poifon. After all, notwithflanding, it nearly
*' cofl the patient his life ; and he recovered not without fufFering
*• intolerable pain, after having been for four months fo en-
** feebled, as to be incapable of holding the pen."

From this anecdote it may be concluded, how dangerous the
putrid emanations from our church-yards muft be to the inhabi-
tants of cities. Parifli Churches in which fo many corpfes are
interred, become impregnated with an air fo corrupted, efpe-
cially m Spring, when the ground begins to grow warm, that I
confider this as one of the chief fources of the fmall-pox, and of
the putrid fevers which are prevalent at that feafon. An un-
favoury fmell then ifTuesfrom it which makes the flomach rife. I
have felt this to an infufferable degree in fome of the principal
Churches of Paris. This fmell is extremely different from that
produced by a croud of living people, for we are affefted with
no fuch fenfation in the Churches of Convents, where few only
are interred.

It would be a curious fubjeél of enquiry to Anatomifts, Why
the putrefaftion of dead bodies lliould deftroy the animal eco-
nomy of moil beings, while it makes no derangement in that of
carnivorous animals. Many fpecies of infefts and fiflies live on
carrion. I remark that the greateft part of thefe have no blood,

which

STUDY VI. 33^

organic particles of every fpecies; entire bodies
of animals, blood, plants, faits, oils, excrements,
fpirits, minerals, fubftances more heterogeneous, '
and more combined by Man in a flate of fociety,
than ever the waves of the Ocean accumulated and
confounded on it's (hores : there was never found
there, however, a fmgle organized body.

It muft not be affirmed, that the heat neceffary
to their expanfion is there wanting, for it exifls in
every poffible degree, from ice up to fire. Salts
cryftallize in them, and fulphurs are formed.
There was picked up in Paris itfeif, fome years
ago, fulphur formed by Nature, in ancient dung-
hills of the time of Charles IX. We fee, every day,
that fermentation may be excited in dung to fuch
a degree, as to catch fire. Nay, it's moderate heat
is fo favourable to the expanfion of germs, that it
is employed for the hatching of chickens. But the
combinations of all thefe fubftances never pro-
duced any thing living, or organized. What do
1 fay ? The firft operations of Nature, which we
with to explain, are covered in fo many myfleries,
that an egg with an aperture ever fo fmall lofes it's

which is the firft fluid that corruption lays hold of, and that the
apertures through which they breathe are not the fame with
thofe by which they take in their food. But thefe reafons, it
muft be allowed, are inapplicable to vultures, ravens, and other
birds of prey.

prolific

33^ STUDIES OF NATURE.

prolific power. The flighted contaft with the ex-
terior air, is fufficient to extinguilh in it the radi-
cal principles of life. It is neither matter, then,
nor degrees of heat, which are wanting to Man, to
imitate Nature in the pretended creation of be-
ings ; and this power, ever young and adtive, has
by no means wafted itfelf, as it is always exerting
itfelf in their re-produdion ; a difplay of omni-
potence equally wonderful with that of conferring
exiftence at the firft.

The wifdom with which fhe has fettled their
proportions, is not lefs worthy of admiration. On
a careful examination of animals, we fhall find no
one deficient in it's members, regard being had to
it's manners, and the fituation in which it is de-
ftined to live. The large and long bill of the tou-
can, and his tongue formed like a feather, were
necelTary to a bird who hunts for infeéls, fcattered
about over the humid fands of the American
ftiores. It was needful that he fliould be provided,
at once, with a long mattock wherewith to dig,
with a large fpoon to colled his food, and a tongue
fringed with delicate nerves, to enjoy the relifli of
it. Long legs and a long neck were necefTary to
the heron, to the crane, to the flamingo, and other
birds, which have to walk in marfliy places, and
to feek their prey under the water. Every animal
has feet, and a throat, or a bill, formed in a moft

wonderful

STUDY Vî. 337

•wonderful manner, to fuit the foil which they have
to tread, and the food by which they are to be fup-
ported. From the different configurations of thefe,
Naturalifts derive the charaders which diflinguidi
beafts of prey from fuch as live on vegetable fub-
ftanceSé

Thefe organs have never been wanting to the
necefïities of animals, and are themfelves indelible
as their inftindls. I have feen, up in the country,
ducks brought up at a diftance from water, for
feveral generations, which, neverthelefs, retained
on their feet the broad membranes of their fpe-
cies, and which, on the approach of rain, clapped
their wings, fcreamed aloud, called upon the
clouds, and feemed to complain to Heaven of the
injuftice of Man, who had baniflied them from
their element. No animal wants any one necefTary
member, or is encumbered with one that is fuper-
fluous. Some philofophers have confidered the
fpurs appended to the heels of the hog as ufelefs,
becaufe they do not bear upon the ground ; but
this animal, dellined to live in fwampy places,
where he delights to wallow, and to make, with
his fnout, deep trenches in the mire, would fre-
quently (ink under the impulfe of gluttony, had
not Nature placed above his heels two prominent
excrefcences, which afTifl him in getting out again.
The ox, who frequents the marfliy banks of rivers,

VOL. I. z is

338 STUDIES OF NATURE.

is provided with nearly fimilar weapons. The hip-
popotamus, who Uves in the water, and upon the
banks of the Nile» is furniflied with a cloven foot,
and, above the paftern, with two fmall horny fub-
flances, which bend backward as he walks, fo that
he leaves on the fand an impreflfion, which feems
to have been made by the preflure of four paws.
The defcription of this amphibious animal may be
feen toward the end of Dampier^s Voyages, j

How was it poffible for enlightened men to
mifunderftand the ufe of thefe acceffory members,
the form of which is imitated by fome of our
country clowns, inflilts; which, from this very
refemblance, they call hogs-feet, and which they
employ in wading through marfhy ground ? Thefe
fame clowns have, in like manner, imitated that
of the pointed and divergent Ipurs of the goat's-
foot, which affift them in fcrambling over the
rocks, in their pikes fhod with two iron points,
contrived to prevent the backward motion of
loaded carriages, on the declivity of mountains.

Nature, who varies her means with the obflacles
to be furmounted, has beftowed the appendix ex-
crefcences on the heels of the hog, for the fame
reafon that flie has clothed the rhinoceros with a
hide rolled up in feveral folds, in the midfl of the
torrid Zone. This clumfy animal has' the appear-
ance

STUD7 VI. 339

aïice of being invefted with a threefold mantle :
but, being deftined to live in the miry morafles of
India, where he grubs up with his horny fnout the
long roots of the bamboo, he would have been in
danger of finking, from his enormous weight, had
he not been endowed with the flrange faculty of
extending, by blowing himfelf up, the multiplied
folds of his ikin, and of rendering himfelf lighter,
by occupying a larger fpace.

What to us appears, at firft fight, a deficiency
in animals, is, you may reft perfedly aflured, a
moft wonderful compenfation of Providence ; and
it would be, in many cafes, an exception from her
general laws, if Ihe had any other than the utility
and happinefs of the beings which (he has formed.
Hence (he has given to the elephant a probofcis,
which ferveshim, like a hand, as he fcrambles over
the rougheft mountains, where he delights to live,
in picking up the grafs of the field, and the foliage
of the trees, which the thicknefs and inflexibility
of his neck would not permit him otherwife to
reach.

She has infinitely varied, among the animal cre-
ation, the means of defence, as well as thofe of
fubfiftence. It is impoffible to fuppofe that thofe
which move flovvly, or which fcream violently, are in
a ftate of habitual fufFering : for how could a race of

z 2 creatures

340 STtJDIES OF NATURE*

creatures always fickly perpetuate itfelf, nay, he-*
come one of the mod univ^rfally diffufed of the
whole Globe ? The fluggard, or floth, is found in
Africa, in Afia, and in America. His tardinefs is
no more a paralytic affeflion, than that of the
turtle and of the fnail. The cries which he utters,
when "you go near him, are not the cries of pain.
But among animals, fome being deftined to roam
about over the face of the Earth, others to remain
fixed on a particular poft, their means of defence
are varied with their manners. Some elude their
enemies by flight ; others repel them by hiffings,
by hideous figures, by poifonous fmells, or lamen-
table cries. There are fome which deceive the eye,
fuch as the fnail, which aflumes the colour of the
walls, or of the bark of trees, to which he flees for
refuge ; others, by a magic altogether inconceiv-
able, transform themfelves, at pleafure, into the
colour of furrounding objeds, as the caméléon.

O, how flerll is the imagination of Man, com-
pared to the intelligence of Nature ! He has pro-
duced no one thing, in any line whatever, of
which he has not borrowed the model from her
Works. Genius itfelf, about which fuch a noife
is made, this creative genius, which our wits fondly
imagine they brought into the world with them,
and have brought to perfe6lion in learned circles,
or by the affiftance of books, is neither lefs nor

more

STUDY VI. 341

more than the art of obferving. Man cannot for-
fake the path of Nature, even when he is deter-
mined to go wrong. We are wife only with her
wifdom : and we play the fool only in proportion
as we attempt to derange her plans.

The graver of Callot, fo prolific of monfters,
never patched up fo many frightful demons, as
the ill aflbrted members of different animals, the
beak of the owl, the jaws of the crocodile, the
body of the horfe, the wings of the bat, the
fangs and the paws which he has united to the
human figure, to render his contrafts more hi-
deous. Our female friends, too, who, fweetly ca-
pricious, amufe themfelves with embroidering
fancy-flowers on the various articles of their
drefs, are reduced to the neceffity of borrowing
their patterns from the garden. Examine, on
their gowns and handkerchiefs, the fportive pro-
ductions of their imagination : there you have the
flower of the pink, on the foliage of the myrtle ;
rofes on the ftalk of the reed ; pomegranates in
the place of ears of corn. Nature alone produces
none but rational harmonies ; and aflbrts, in both
animals and plants only parts adapted to the
places, to the air, to the elements, to the ufes, for
which flîe has deflined them. Never was a race of
monflers beheld ilTuing from the fublimity of her
conceptions.

z ^ I have

342 STUDIES OF NATURE.

I have frequently heard living monflers an-
nounced for exhibition at our fairs ; but I never
had the fortune to fee a fingle one, whatever
trouble I could take to that eifed. One day a
placard was difplayed, at the fair of Saint Ovide,
" a cow with three eyes, and a Iheep with fix
*' feet." I had a curiofity to fee thefe animals,
and to examine into the ufe which they made of
organs and members, to my apprchenfion, entirely
fuperfluous. How, faid I to myfelf, Nature plant
fix legs under the body of a fheep, when four were
amply fufficient to fupport it } At the fame time,
I began to recoiled:, that the fly, who is much
lighter than the flieep, had fix ; and this refledion,
I acknowledge, ftaggered me. But having one
day obferved a fly which had alighted on the paper
before me, I found fhe frequently employed her-
felf in alternately brufhing her head and wings
with the two fore and the two hinder feet. I then
evidently perceived, that fhe had occafion for fix
feet, in order to have the fupport of four, while the
other two were applied to the bru filing fervice,
efpecially on a perpendicular plane. Having
caught, and examined her by the microfcope, I
difcovered that the two middle feet had no bruQi,
but that the other four had. I farther obferved,
that her body was covered over with particles of
duft, which adhere to it, in the atmofphere through

which

STUDY VI. 343

which flie flies; and that herbrufhes were double,
furnilhed with fine hairs, between which flie emit-
ted, and drew back, at pleafure, two claws, fimilar
to thofe of a cat, but incomparably fliarper. Thefe
claws enable the fly to lay hold of the moft po-
liflied furfaces, fuch as the glafs of mirrors, along
which you fee them march upward and downward,
without Aiding.

I was very curious to fee in what manner Na-
ture had attached two new legs to the body of a
fheep, and how flie had formed, in order to put
them in motion, new nerves, new veins, and new
mufcles, with their infertions. The third eye of
the cow perplexed me ftill more. I had nothing
for it, then, but, like other fimpletons, to part
with my money for the gratification of my curio-
flty. The people were coming out in crowds, from
the repofitory of thofe wonders, delighted and
aftoniflied with their pennyworth. At lafl, I too
had the fatisfadion of contemplating the marvel-
lous fight. The two fuperfluous legs of the flieep
were nothing but two flirivelled pieces of fkin, cut
out like thongs, and hanging down from the breafl,
but without touching the ground, and incapable of
being of any ufe whatever to the poor animal. The
pretended third eye of the cow, was a kind of oval
wound in the middle of the forehead, without or-
bit, without apple, without a lid, and without any

X 4 membraa

344 STUDIES OF NATURE.

membrane which prefented one fingle organized
part of an eye. I withdrew, without examining
w\iether thefe accidents were natural or artificial,
for, in truth, it was not worth the trouble.

The monfters which are preferved in cryflal
globes filled with fpirit of wine, fuch as pigs with
the probofcis of an elephant ; children double
bodied, or with two heads, which are exhibited in
cabinets, with a philofophic myfterioufnefs, prove
much lefs a laboured production of Nature than
the interruption of it. No one of thofe beings
could pofTibly have attained a complete expan-
iion : and fo far from demonftrating, that the in-
telligence which produced them had fallen into a
blunder, they atteft, on the contrary, the immuta-
bility of Supreme Wifdom, which has lejefted
them from it's plan, by refufing them life.

There is a benignity, in the conduâ; of Nature
toward Man, which challenges the higheft ad-
miration : it is this, that in defying him, on
the one hand, to infringe the regularity of her
laws, to gratify caprice; on the other, flie fre-
quently perm.its him to derange the courfe of fome
of them, to relieve his neceffities. For inftance,
file connives at the production of the mule from
the copulation of the afs and the mare, becaufe
that animal is fo fcrviceable in mountainous coun-
tries.

STUDY VI. 345

tries, but pofitively forbids the re-produ6lion to
proceed, in order to preferve the primitive fpecies,
which are of more general utiHty.

It is eafy to difcern, in mofl of her works, thefe
maternal condefcenfions, and, may I call them fo?
regal provifions. They manifefl themfelves parti-
cularly in the produftions of the garden. We find
them in thofe of our flowers which have a profu-
sion of corolla, as in the double rofe, which is not
reproduced by feeds, and which, for this reafon,
certain Botanifls have dared to brand with the
name of monder, though it be the fineft of flowers,
in the eftimation of all perfons of tafte and fenfi-
bility. Naturalifls pretend, that it deviated from
the laws of Nature, becaufe it fcorned to conform
to their Syltems : as if the firft of laws, which go-
verns the World, had not for it's objed the hap-
pinefs of Man ! But if rofes, and other flowers,
which have a fuperabundance of corolla, are mon-
gers, fruits which have a fuperabundance of pulpy
flefh, and fugary paftes, of no ufe toward the ex-
panlion of their feeds, fuch as apples, pears, me-
lons, and fruits which have no feeds at all, as the
pine-apple, the banana, the bread-fruit, all thefe
muft likewife be monflers. The roots which be-
come fo plump in our kitchen-gardens, and which
are converted into large balls, into fucculent
glands, into bulbs farinaceous, and of no effedt

toward

34^ STUDIES OF nature:

toward the expanfion of their flems, muft, for-
footh, be all monfters.

Nature feeds the human race, in part, only
with this vegetable fuperabundance, and beflows
it only as the reward of Induftry. However fer-
tile the foil may be, the vegetables of the fame
fpecies with thofe which are produced in the gar-
den, degenerate in the uncultivated plain, grow
wild, and fpcnd themfelves in foliage and branches.
Is it not, therefore, an inftance of wonderful com-
plaifance on the part of Nature, that fhe fliould
transform, under the hand of Man, into pleafant
and wholefome aliment, the fame juices which
would be converted, in the foreft, into lofty flems,
and tough roots ? Were this condefcenfion with-
held, in vain would man fay to the fap of trees,
you (hall flow into the fruit, and you Ihall go no
further. To no purpofe would he, in the mofl
fertile region, prune, crop, nip ; the almond-tree
would refufe to cover it's nut with a flefliy melting
pulp, like that of the peach.

Nature, from time to time, makes Man a pre-
fent of varieties both ufeful and agreeable, which
flie extrads from the fame genus. All our fruit-
trees come originally from the foreft, and no one
there re-perpetuates itfelf in it's fpecies. The
pear called Saint- Germain was found in the foreft

of

STUDY VI. 347

of that name, with it's well-known flavour. Na-
ture culled it, like the other fruits of our orchards,
from the table of the animal, to ferve it up on that
of Man ; and that it might be impoffible for us
to doubt refpedling her bounty and it's origin, it
is her fovereign will that the feeds fliould re-pro-
duce crabs only. Ah ! if (he were to fufpend her
particular laws of beneficence in the gardens of
our mifcreants, in order to eflablilh in them her
pretended general laws, what would be their aflo-
nifhment to find nothing re-produced in their
kitchen-gardens and orchards, but fome miferable
wild carrots, pitiful dog-rofes, harfli pears, and
unfavoury fruits of every fort, fuch as (he pro-
duces, on the mountains, for the coarfe palate of
the wild boar! They would, in truth, find ftems
of trees lofty and vigorous. Their orchards
would be doubled in fize, and the crops reduced
to one half.

The fame metamorphofis would take place in
the animals of their farm-yards. The hen, which
lays eggs much too large in proportion to her fize,
and that for nine months uninterruptedly, con-
trary to all the laws of incubation among the fea-
thered race, would then fall back into the general
order, and would produce, at fartheft, twenty eggs
in the courfe of a year. The hog would, in like
manner, lofe his fuperfluous fat. The cow, which

yields.

348 STUDIES OF NATURE.

yields, in the rich paftures of Normandy, up to
twenty-four quarts of milk a day, would give no
more than a bare fufficiency to fuckle her calf.

To this it is replied, that this profufion of eggs,
of fat, and of cream, from our domeftic animals,
is the effed of their copious feeding. But neither
does the mare give as much milk as the cow, nor
does the duck lay as many eggs as the hen, nor
does the afs clothe himfelf with fat like the hog,
though thefe animals all feed as plentifully the one
as the other. Befides, the mare, the (lie -goat, the
ewe, the fhe-afs, have only two teats, whereas the
cow has four.

The cow, in this refpeifl, deviates, in a very re-
markable manner, from the general laws of Na-
ture ; who has adjufted, in every animal fpecies,
the number of teats in the mother to that of the
young ; fhe, however, is furnilhed with four paps,
though fhe produces but one calf, and very rarely
two ; becaufe the two fupernumeraries were def-
tined to be nurfes to the Human Race. The fow,
it is granted, has only twelve teats, though fhe is
intended to bring up, fometimes, a litter of fifteen
or more. Here the proportion feems defeftive.
But if the firfl has more teats than are requifite to
the number of her family, and the fécond too few
for lier'sj it is becaufe the one is ordained to pre-

fent

STUDY V. 349

fent Man with the furplus of her milk, and the
other with that of her brood. In all countries,
pork is the poor man's meat, unlefs religion, as
in Turkey, or political confiderations, as in the
iflands of the South Sea, deprive him of the benefit
of this gift of Nature. I fhall obferve, with Pliny,
that of all flefh it is by far the moft favoury.
There may be diftinguiflied in it, fays he, up to
fifty different reliflies. It is employed in the
kitchens of, the rich to give flavour to every fpe-
cies of aliment. In every country, I repeatit, that
which is beft is always moft common.

Is. it not pafling ftrange that, when fo many
plants and animals exhibit proportions fo beauti-
ful, adaptations fo wonderful to our neceffities,
and proofs fo evident of a Divine Benevolence,
we fliould fet about colleding fliapelefs abortions,
pigs with a long probofcis, as if our yards teemed
with young elephants, and ceremoniously arrange
them in our cabinets, defigned to exhibit a difplay
of Nature ? Thofe who preferve them as invalu-
able curiofities, and deduce from them confe-
quences and doubts refpecting the intelligence of
their Author, do they not difcover as much want
of tafte, and ad: as unfairly, as one who fhould go
into the workfhop of a Founder, and pick up the
figures which had been accidentally mutilated, the
bubblings over of the melting-pot, and the mere

metallic

350 STUDIES OF NATURE.

metallic moulds which might lie fcattered about^
and triumphantly difplay them as a proof of the
Artift's blundering ignorance ?

The Ancients burnt monflers, the Moderns
preferve them in fpirit of wine. They refemble
thofe ungracious children, who watch their mo-
ther, in the hope of furprizing her in a fault, that
they may arrogate to themfelves a right to do what
they pleafe. Oh ! if the Earth were indeed aban-
doned to diforder, and that after an infinity of
combinations, there fhould at laft appear, amidft
the monfters which covered it, a fingle body well
proportioned, and adapted to the neceffities of
Man, what a fource of fatisfaftion would it be to
creatures at once fenfible and unhappy, to catch
but a glimmering of an Intelligence, fome- /
where, who took an interefl: in their deftiny ?

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

Al,,i