and nature is entombed in a vast cemetery, whiter and colder than Parian marble.

Yet, even in this apparently frightful and inhospitable season, there are means of pleasure and improvement, which render it scarcely inferior to any other period of the revolving year; while proofs of the power, wisdom, and goodness of the great Creator are not less abundantly displayed to the mind of the pious inquirer. With reference to the angry passions of the human race, it is said that God 66 causes the wrath of man to praise him, and restrains the remainder of wrath ;" and a similar remark applies with a truth equally striking to the troubled elements. The Almighty sets bounds to the raging ocean, saying, "Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." He regulates by his wisdom the intensity of the tempest, "staying his rough wind in the day of the east wind." All the active powers of nature are his messengers: "Fire and hail, snow and vapour," as well as 66 stormy winds, fulfil his word." Nothing, indeed, can be more worthy of admiration than the manner in which the rigours of winter are tempered, so as to contribute to the subsistence and comfort of living beings.

It is true that, even in the ordinary occurrences of life, there are, in winter, probably more distressing and fatal incidents than during the other quarters of the year. A snow-storm may sometimes overwhelm a shepherd and his flock; a tempest may cause a gallant vessel and its crew to perish; a fire may lay a village in ashes; disease, attendant on exposure to a rigorous climate, may invade the unwholesome and comfortless huts of the poor; or, in a season when the wages of agricultural labour cease along with the power of working in the open air, famine may emaciate and destroy whole families; but such events as these, melancholy as they are, must be ranked among the common evils of life, and belong to a class, marking a peculiar feature in the government of this fallen world, to which I have previously

adverted, and which can never be far from the mind of the accurate observer of nature. At present let us take. a rapid glance at the other side of the picture, and we shall see enough to prove, that, even in these gloomy months, the paternal care of an all-wise and beneficent Governor is not less conspicuous than in other periods of the year. **

If we look at the lower animals, how wonderful are the kind provisions of Providence. Among the numerous tribes of insects, reptiles, birds, and quadrupeds, there appears to be a general presentiment of the coming desolation. Some, impelled by a wonderful instinct, provide for themselves comfortable retreats, each tribe adapting its accommodation to its peculiar circumstances, burrowing in the earth, or boring beneath the bark of trees and shrubs, or penetrating into their natural hollows, or lodging in crevices of walls and rocks, or diving beneath the surface of the water, and lying immoveable at the bottom of pools, lakes, or marshy streams. Here they are preserved during this barren period, either by feeding on the stores which, with a foresight not their. own, they had collected in the bountiful weeks of harvest, or by falling into a deep sleep, during which they become unassailable either by the attacks of cold or of hunger, or by issuing daily or nightly from their resting places, and gathering the food which a providential care has reserved for them, and taught them how to seek. Others, chiefly belonging to the winged tribes, are taught to migrate, as the rigours of winter approach, to more genial climates, where abundant food and enjoyment are provided for them, and where they are thus permitted to expatiate in all the advantages of a perpetual yet varied summer; while these again have their places supplied by hardier species of the feathered family, which the gathering storms of more northern regions had warned to leave their summer haunts.

If from the inferior animal creation, we turn to man, the same traces of a paternal hand are seen in providing

against, or compensating for, the privations of winter. If our natural instincts and defences are not so numerous as those of the brutes, reason and foresight amply supply their place. Influenced by these, we build comfortable houses, of materials which are every where to be found, and collect supplies of fuel from bogs and forests, or dig them out of the bowels of the earth, where they are laid up as in storehouses; and we rear flocks and herds to furnish us with the means of food and clothing. Meanwhile, necessary industry occupies and cheers the dreary season; and books or social intercourse improve and exhilarate the mind..

All these proofs of paternal care deserve and will obtain a separate consideration; but the simple mention of them is calculated to call forth sentiments of pious admiration and gratitude. “Who knoweth not in all these, that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this."

SECOND WEEK-MONDAY.

PHOSPHORESCENCE.

THE meteor known by the name of ignis fatuus, is connected, as I observed in the paper of Saturday, with some other luminous appearances, by this common property, that it gives out no sensible heat. Among other animals which possess the property of shining with a cold light, I mentioned the Medusa class, which some*times illuminate the whole surface of the sea, and, in a dark night, show like a stream of liquid fire in the wake of a ship. But, besides these, there is a great variety of the larger inhabitants of the ocean, which have it in their power to emit a kind of phosphoric light from their bodies at pleasure; and this remarkable property is probably given them by the Creator, to enable them to pursue their prey in the dark abysses of the sea, where the beams of the sun cannot penetrate. Among shoals of

herrings and pilchards, flashes of light have been frequently observed to dart, so as to cast a sudden brilliancy across the whole; and oyster-shells, as well as a variety of minerals, have become phosphorescent at certain temperatures. These appearances have been attributed to electricity, which is rendered probable by various circumstances, and seems to be confirmed by the fact, that the electric shock causes substances of the kind last mentioned, to exhibit the same luminous appearance. However this may be, there can be no doubt, that the presence of the electric fluid is not unfrequently shown by the production of a harmless light, similar to that of the ignis fatuus. Sailors are not unacquainted with this phenomenon, which they regard with awe, and which is seen at night in the form of a star, illuminating the topmasts and yard-arms, or gliding along the ropes of ships. This light the ancients superstitiously distinguished by the name of Castor and Pollux, considering it a lucky omen. Mrs Somerville mentions, that, in 1831, the French officers at Algiers were surprised to see brushes of light on the heads of their comrades, and at the points of their fingers, when they held up their hands.

One of the most striking appearances of this kind, which occurred at sea, is thus graphically described by the talented authoress above alluded to:

66

Captain Bonnycastle, coming up the Gulf of St Laurence, on the 7th September 1826, was roused by the mate of the vessel, in great alarm from an unusual appearance. It was a star-light night, when suddenly the sky became overcast, in the direction of the high land of Cornwallis County, and an instantaneous and intensely vivid light, resembling the aurora, shot out of the hitherto gloomy and dark sea, on the lee-bow, which was so brilliant, that it lighted every thing distinctly, even to the mast-head. The light spread over the whole sea, between the two shores; and the waves, which before had been tranquil, now began to be agitated. Captain Bonnycastle describes the scene as that of a blazing sheet

of awful and most brilliant light. A long and vivid line of light, superior in brightness to the parts of the sea not immediately near the vessel, showed the base of the high, frowning, and dark land, abreast. The sky became lowering, and more intensely obscure. Long tortuous lines of light showed immense numbers of very large fish, darting about, as if in consternation. The spritsail-yard and mizen-boom were lighted by the reflection, as if gas-lights had been burning directly below them; and, until just before day-break, at four o'clock, the most minute objects were distinctly visible. Day broke very slowly, and the sun rose of a fiery and threatening aspect. Rain followed. Captain Bonnycastle caused a bucket of this fiery water to be drawn up: it was one mass of light, when stirred by the hand, and not in sparks, as usual, but`in actual coruscations. A portion of the water preserved its luminosity for seven nights. On the third night, the scintillations of the sea reappeared; this evening, the sun went down very singularly, exhibiting in its descent a double sun; and, when only a few degrees high, its spherical figure changed into that of a long cylinder, which reached the horizon. In the night, the sea became nearly as luminous as before; but, on the fifth night, the appearance entirely ceased. Captain Bonnycastle does not think it proceeded from animalculă, but imagines it might be some compound of phosphorus, suddenly evolved, and dispersed over the surface of the sea; perhaps from the exuvia or secretions of fish connected with the oceanic salts,-muriate of soda, and sulphate of magnesia."*

Such are some of the facts connected with what has been called phosphorescence. I shall make no attempt to theorize on the subject. When science is further advanced, it may probably be found, that phosphorescence, the ignis fatuus, and other innoxious illuminating substances, depend on some common property, which may serve to illustrate the mysterious subject of light and "Connexion of the Physical Sciences," 303, 304,

VOL. I.

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