orders and gradations of intelligences that may people the universe, the magnificent scenes that may be displayed in every world, their moral economy, and the important transactions that may have taken place in their history under the arrangements of the Divine government!

Such are some of the scenes of grandeur which science unfolds to every enlightened mind. The contemplation of such objects has an evident tendency to enlarge the capacity of the soul,-to raise the affections above mean and grovelling pursuits, to give man a more impressive idea of the dignity of his rational and immortal nature, and of the attributes of that Almighty Being by whom he is upheld, and to make him rejoice in the possession of faculties capable of being exercised on scenes and objects so magnificent and sublime.

In the fourth place, science administers to our enjoyment by the variety of novel and interesting objects it exhibits. Almost every department of natural science presents to the untutored mind an assemblage of objects, new and strange, which tend to rouse its faculties, and to excite to important inquiries and interesting reflections. The science of mechanics presents us with many curious combinations of mechanical powers, which, from the simplest principles, produce the most powerful and astonishing effects. "What can be more strange (says a profound and energetic writer*) than that an ounce weight should balance hundreds of pounds by the intervention of a few bars of thin iron ?" And when we consider that all the mechanical powers may be reduced to the lever, the wheel and axle, the pulley, the inclined plane, the

* Lord Brougham.

wedge and the screw, how astonishing are the forces exerted, and the effects produced, by their various combinations in wheel-carriages, mills, cranes, thrashing-machines, and pile-engines! Hydrostatics teaches us the wonderful fact, that a few pounds of water, without the aid of any machinery, will, by mere pressure, produce an almost irresistible force; or, in other words, that any quantity of fluid, however small, may be made to counterpoise any quantity, however large; and hence a very strong hogshead has been burst to pieces, and the water scattered about with incredible force, by means of water conveyed through a very small perpendicular tube of great length. On the same principle, and by the same means, the foundations of a large building might be shattered, and the whole structure overthrown. Magnetism discloses to us such singular facts as the following:-that a small piece of steel, when rubbed by the loadstone, and nicely poised, will place itself in a direction nearly north and south, so as to point nearly towards the poles of the world, that the north and south poles of two loadstones will attract, and two north or two south poles repel each other; and that the power of a magnet will pass through a thick board, and turn round a compass-needle, with great velocity, though placed at a considerable distance.

The science of optics likewise discloses a variety of astonishing truths, and is no less replete with wonders. How wonderful the fact, that light proceeds from the sun, and other luminous bodies, with a velocity of 195,000 miles in a moment of time; that myriads of myriads of rays are flying off from visible objects towards every point of the compass, crossing each other in all directions, and yet accurately depicting the same images of external objects in thousands

of eyes at the same moment,-that the thousands of millions of rays of light which proceed from any particular object must be compressed into a space not more than one-eighth of an inch in diameter, before they can enter the pupil of the eye, and produce vision, that the images of all the objects which compose an extensive landscape are depicted on the bottom of the eye, in all their colours and relative proportions, within a space less than half an inch in diameter,—that the eye can perceive objects distinctly at the distance of six inches, and likewise at the distance of ten, fifty, or an hundred miles, serving the purpose both of a microscope and a telescope, and can be instantaneously adjusted to serve either as the one or as the other,—and that the variegated colouring which appears in the scenery of nature is not in the objects themselves, but in the light which falls upon them, without which all the scenes of creation would wear an uniform aspect, and one object would be undistinguishable from another!

The instruments which the science of optics has been the means of constructing, are also admirable in their effects and productive of rational entertainment. How wonderful, that, by means of an optic lens, an image is depicted in a dark chamber, on a white table, in which we may perceive the objects of an extensive landscape delineated in all their colours, motions and proportions, and so accurately represented, that we even distinguish the countenances of individuals at the distance of a mile,-that we can see objects distinctly when a thick board, or a piece of metal, is interposed between them and our eye,—that the images of objects can be made to hang in the air either upright or inverted, and that representations either of the living or of the dead can be made to start up in

stantly before the view of a spectator in a darkened room,-that, by admitting into a chamber a few rays of white light from the sun through a prism, all the colours of light may be seen beautifully painted on a piece of paper, that a single object may be multiplied to an indefinite number, and that a few colour. ed bits of glass may be made by reflection to exhibit an infinite diversity of beautiful and variegated forms! How admirable the effects of the telescope, by which we may see objects as distinctly at the distance of two or three miles as if they were placed within a few yards of us, by which we can penetrate into the celestial regions, and behold the distant wonders of the planetary system, and the millions of stars dispersed through infinite space, as distinctly as if we were actually transported by a supernatural power several hundreds of millions of miles into the regions of the firmament! And how curious the circumstance, that we can, by this instrument, contemplate such objects in all directions and positions,-that we can view them either as erect, or as turned upside down,—that we can perceive the spires, houses and windows of a distant city when our backs are turned directly opposite to it, and our faces in a contrary direction-the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter, when we are looking downwards with our backs turned to these objects, -that we can make an object on our right hand or our left, appear as if directly before us, and can cause a terrestrial landscape to appear above us, as if it were suspended in the sky.* By the help of the mi

* This is effected by means of the "aerial reflecting telescope," lately invented by the author. The following is a general representation of this telescope in profile :

croscope we can exhibit to a number of spectators at the same moment, a small animal scarcely distinguish

AB is a tube of mahogany about three inches long, which serves as a socket for holding the speculum; CD an arm attached to the tube, about the length of the focal distance of the mirror, consisting of two separate pièces C and D, the latter of which slides under the former, through the brass sockets EF. To the under part of the socket F is attached a brass nut with a female screw, in which the male screw ab acts by applying the hand to the knob C, which serves for adjusting the instrument to distinct vision. G is the brass tube which receives the eye-pieces. In looking through this telescope, the right eye is applied at the point H, the back is directly towards the object, and the observer's head is understood to be uncovered. When a diagonal eye-piece is applied, the object may be seen either to the right or to the left, or at right angles to its true position; or, it may be made to appear either upwards, as if hanging in the air, or down

H