CONTENTS. PAGE 5 ASTRONOMICAL VIEW OF THE EARTH GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE EARTH GEOGRAPHICAL VIEW OF THE EARTH Plains, 35; Table Lands, 36; Deserts, 38; Steppes, The Rainbow, 137; Looming, &c., Aurora Borealis, St. Elmo's Fire Fireballs, Aerolites, &c. 131 137 138 139 140 Races, 196; Age of Man, 198; Stature of Man, 200; Weight of Man, 203; Strength of Man, 204; Mental Power of Man, 207; Population, 210; Habitations of Man, 214; Food of Man, 215; Prodigies, 220; Voice of Man, 222; Ven- triloquism, 222; Sleep, 222; Dreams, 226; Som- Physical Varieties of the Human Race General Observations on the three Kingdoms MAN IN HIS SOCIAL AND MORAL CHARACTER Grand Divisions and Nations of the Globe THE WORLD AND ITS INHABITANTS. IF a being of some other sphere, gifted with the powers of traversing the regions of space, should chance to meet with our earth in one of his trackless voyages, we may suppose that he would pause to contemplate the new world he had thus discovered. Under such circumstances, we may imagine that his attention would be arrested by the diurnal revolution of the strange planet, and the wondrous spectacles which this movement would unfold. The transition from a world enveloped in darkness and slumber and seeming death, to a world of life and beauty and action and rejoicing, could not fail to impress the beholder with curious and pleasing wonder. We can easily imagine, that, enchanted with the scenes disclosed by the rising of the sun upon the earth, he would accompany that glorious luminary, at least for a single day, and thus survey the various regions upon which he pours his beneficent light, and heat, and power. Having contemplated these sublime phenomena, we can readily believe that the stranger would lift his hands and heart in adoration of the skill, and wisdom, and goodness of that Being, who had thus not only created a sun, but a world, and peopled it with myriads of living, sentient beings, adapted to live, and breathe, and rejoice in its beams. Under such circumstances, the soul of the voyager would not be chilled with atheistic doubts, nor could his mind stumble upon the apprehension that all this beautiful machinery, so admirably adapted to useful and benign ends, could be the work of blind accident or unthinking chance. His mind enlightened, his bosom elevated by the glorious view, he would as readily trace in its results the evidence of an omnipotent and benignant Designer, as if he had seen him at his work. May we not suppose that, under the impulse of the moment, he would exclaim, "Yonder glorious orb, and this revolving planet, are indeed wisely adapted to each other. Upon this earth, which, but for the sun, would be shrouded in everlasting darkness, are myriads of living beings, which could not live without its light and heat; yet, every day, that luminary comes to bestow these blessings. If we see benignant care in a parent who daily provides food for his children, can we behold an inferior degree of beneficent design in the creation of myriad races to enjoy light and heat, and the provision of an exhaustless and daily returning fountain of these benefits?" Such, we may suppose, would be the impression made upon the spirit-voyager, who, in its pathless journey, should chance to discover our earth. And shall we, tenants of this planet and bound to the common destiny of its inhabitants, take a humbler or less philosophic view of the theatre in which we make our appearance on the stage of immortal existence! Is it not fit that in beginning our contemplation of the "World and its Inhabitants," we should start with a due sense of the sublimity of that system of which we are a part, and the mighty machinery of which we have minds to comprehend? And let us not fail to reflect with due sensibility upon the fact, that such powers cannot have been given but to be rightly used; but to appreciate and feel and enjoy the works of God; to acknowledge his goodness; and to fulfil his purposes by giving the utmost growth and elevation to the nobler endowments of our nature! "Our globe," says Turner, "consists of its earthy structure, of the etherial fluids which move upon it and above it, of the watery masses and effusions, - of the vegetable kingdom,—and of the animated races. It is subject to the potent and varied agencies of the sun and moon. It rolls, with undisputed and unsupported freedom, through a boundless space; and it is connected by immediate relations with the planets of our system; more remotely, with the splendid stars, whose nature and numbers we have not yet ascertained; and occasionally, at intervals, with the rapidly. moving comets, some of which are recurrent. These rush suddenly and unexpectedly, for the most part, into our visible heavens, by laws and for purposes yet unknown; rather advertising us of their existence, and amazing us by their appearance, than exercising any perceptible effect, or imparting any knowledge of their composition, of the causes of their journey, or of the places from which they come and to which they so mysteriously depart. In this grand system of existence, man is the most intelligent being that is visible to our material sense. Regarding our earth in this light, we shall proceed to consider it as a member of the solar system, and of the great brotherhood of stars with which it is so wonderfully allied. |