cal properties of the elements about us, offer themselves to our notice. The relations of heat and of moisture in particular, which play so important a part, as we have seen, in the economy of our world, have been the subject of various researches; and they have led to views of the operation of such agents, some of which we have endeavoured to present to the reader, and to point out the remarkable arrangements by which their beneficial operation is carried on. That the discoverers of the laws by which such operations are regulated, were not insensible to the persuasion of a Divine care and contrivance which those arrangements suggest, is what we should expect, in agreement with what we have already said, and it is what we find. Among the names of the philosophers to whom we owe our knowledge on these subjects, there are none greater than those of Black, the discoverer of the laws of latent heat, and Dalton, who first gave us a true view of the mode in which watery vapour exists and operates in the atmosphere. With regard to the former of these philosophers, we shall quote Dr. Thomson's account of the views which the laws of latent heat suggested to the discoverer.* "Dr. Black quickly perceived the vast importance of this discovery, and took a pleasure in laying before his students a view of

Thomson's Hist. of Chemistry, vol. i. 321.

the beneficial effects of this habitude of heat in the economy of nature. During the summer season a vast magazine of heat is accumulated in the water, which by gradually emerging during congelation serves to temper the cold of winter. Were it not for this accumulation of heat in water and other bodies, the sun would no sooner go a few degrees to the south of the equator than we should feel all the horrors of winter."

In the same spirit are Mr. Dalton's reflexions, after pointing out the laws which regulate the balance of evaporation and rain,* which he himself first clearly explained. "It is scarcely possible," says he, "to contemplate without admiration the beautiful system of nature by which the surface of the earth is continually supplied with water, and that unceasing circulation of a fluid so essentially necessary to the very being of the animal and vegetable kingdom takes place."

Such impressions appear thus to rise irresistibly in the breasts of men, when they obtain a sight, for the first time, of the varied play and comprehensive connexions of the laws by which the business of the material world is carried on and its occurrences are brought to pass. To dwell upon or develope such reflexions is not here our business. Their general prevalence in the minds

* Manch. Mem. vol. v. p. 346.

of those to whom these first views of new truths are granted, has been, we trust, sufficiently illustrated. Nor are the names adduced above, distinguished as they are, brought forward as authorities merely. We do not claim for the greatest discoverers in the realms of science any immunity from error. In their general opinions they may, as others may, judge or reason ill. The articles of their religious belief may be as easily and as widely as those of other men, imperfect, perverted, unprofitable. But on this one point, the tendency of our advances in the scientific knowledge of the universe to lead us up to a belief in a most wise maker and master of the universe, we conceive that they who make these advances, and who feel, as an original impression, that which others feel only by receiving their teaching, must be looked to with a peculiar attention and respect. And what their impressions have commonly been, we have thus endeavoured to show.

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CHAPTER VI.

On Deductive Habits; or, on the Impression produced on Men's Minds by tracing the consequences of ascertained Laws.

THE opinion illustrated in the last chapter, that the advances which men make in science tend to impress upon them the reality of the Divine government of the world, has often been controverted. Complaints have been made, and especially of late years, that the growth of piety has not always been commensurate with the growth of knowledge, in the minds of those who make nature their study. Views of an irreligious character have been entertained, it is sometimes said, by persons eminently well instructed in all the discoveries of modern times, no less than by the superficial and ignorant. Those who have been supposed to deny or to doubt the existence, the providence, the attributes of God, have in many cases been men of considerable eminence and celebrity for their attainments in science. The opinion that this is the case, appears to be extensively diffused, and this persuasion has probably often produced inquietude and grief in the breasts of pious and benevolent men.

This opinion, concerning the want of religious

convictions among those who have made natural philosophy their leading pursuit, has probably gone far beyond the limits of the real fact. But if we allow that there are any strong cases to countenance such an opinion, it may be worth our while to consider how far they admit of any satisfactory explanation. The fact appears at first sight to be at variance with the view we have given of the impression produced by scientific discovery; and it is moreover always a matter of uneasiness and regret, to have men of eminent talents and knowledge opposed to doctrines which we consider as important truths.

We conceive that an explanation of such cases, if they should occur, may be found in a very curious and important circumstance belonging to the process by which our physical sciences are formed. The first discovery of new general truths, and the developement of these truths when once obtained, are two operations extremely different-imply different mental habits, and may easily be associated with different views and convictions on points out of the reach of scientific demonstration. There would therefore be nothing surprising, or inconsistent with what we have maintained above, if it should appear that while original discoverers of laws of nature are peculiarly led, as we have seen, to believe the existence of a supreme intelligence and purpose; the far greater number of