INORGANIC MATTER.

IN the Creation of this Earth, the Deity had prospective intentions. But a small part of his design was accomplished when he had given being to the materials of which it is composed. The power which he exerted was under the direction of that Wisdom which meets every purpose with adequate means for its completion. The quantity of matter created, the diversity of its essential properties, their order and proportions, and the general modification of the whole, were perfectly adjusted to those future arrangements which he had determined to give them.

The general form given to this vast mass of materials, is the first thing to be noticed. It was to be such as to allow of changing seasons, a diurnal revolution, and the ebbing and flowing of tides. Every possible shape was within the power of Omnipotence, and one as easy of accomplishment as another; but which of these forms is the most suitable to the

FORM OF THE EARTH.

purposes just mentioned? We can conceive of no one in all respects so fit as the globular. Every other would have been attended with obvious inconvenience. Had it been cubical, or an extended plane, or cylindrical, or conical, or prismatic, or any other within the reach of our imagination, these essential results could not have taken place with equal order and facility.

Now that such is really the form of the earth, is incontrovertible. For if a ship be sailing from a person placed on the shore, he first loses sight of her hull, then of her masts gradually from the lower parts, till she quite disappears. If, again, a ship set off in an easterly direction, she will circumnavigate the earth, and return by the west. A lunar eclipse is occasioned by the shadow of the earth falling upon the disk of the moon; and that shadow always forms a dark circle, more or less perfect, in proportion to the extent of the eclipse. But these phænomena could not take place unless the earth were spherical. It is not indeed a regular globe, but an oblate spheroïd; and its diameter at the poles is something less than at the equator. The shape of the earth very much resembles that of an orange, its flatted sides corresponding with the polar regions.

An objection may be made to what has been mentioned, and some difficulty may arise in the mind respecting the spherical shape of the earth, on account of those vast mountains and deep vallies which

THE EFFECTS OF THE CENTRIFUGAL FORCE

abound in most countries. But when it is considered how small a proportion these bear to the whole superficies of a globe whose circumference is twentyfour thousand miles, it will be obvious that the highest mountains no more prevent its being spherical, than a few particles of sand sprinkled upon an artificial globe of twelve inches in diameter, would destroy its rotundity.

The Matter, of which this globe is formed, was perhaps originally in a soft or pulpy state. Its rotatory motion on its own axis from west to east, which is extremely rapid, has generally been supposed to have occasioned this shape, as that motion would make the soft matter to rush towards the equator with a disposition to fly off by the centrifugal force. However, a modern writer on this subject has attempted to show that this earth was made FOR such a motion, and not so shaped By it, in order that the water might be kept from accumulating at the polar regions, and be thrown towards the equator, as its presence there is essentially necessary. There is considerable force in this observation; and if true, it affords an additional discovery of divine wisdom and goodness, in the structure of the earth. However, I feel disposed to think that it received its present formation both BY this motion, and in order to it. Admitting the accuracy of the Mosaic account of the Creation, we shall not dispute that the surface, at least, of this earth was in a soft state. And as it seems

COMPONENT PARTS OF THE EARTH.

that its diurnal rotation on its own axis was then communicated to it, and as it will not be disputed by any who are acquainted with the natural effects of that motion, that an accumulation of matter would take place towards the equator, so it will follow that such a shape as I have mentioned would be the consequence. In the mean time that the more ponderous materials of this globe were accumulating towards the equator, the water was retiring into its appointed channels. The earth acquiring a state of solidity, the process would gradually cease; otherwise, such must have been its protuberance at the equator, that it would have assumed the shape of a circular superficies, whose polar diameter would have borne but a small proportion to its equatorial, and the consequence would have been an entire unfitness for the purposes of its creation; and hence a defect of wisdom in the great first cause would have been evident.

Having mentioned the Shape of the earth, let us now consider the various Materials of which it is composed, which affords a striking discovery of foresight and design. These materials present a surprising diversity of substances, which, when combined with each other, and with all the varieties of their own species, constitute an almost infinite variety of substances;-a variety so great, that chemistry, even in its present improved state, embraces probably but a small part of it.

NUMBER OF ELEMENTARY BODIES.

The Elementary Bodies, or those which are incapable of decomposition, at present known, are fortyseven. Of these, thirty-eight are metals; six are inflammable bodies; and three, substances which unite with metals and inflammable bodies, and form with them acids, alkalies, earths, or other analagous compounds. The Chemical Elements acted upon by attractive powers, combine in different aggregates. In their simpler combinations, they produce various crystalline substances, distinguished by the regularity of their forms. In more complicated arrangements they constitute the varieties of vegetable and animal substances, bear the higher character of organization, and are rendered subservient to the purposes of life. And by the influence of heat, light, and electrical powers, there is a constant series of changes;-matter assumes new forms; the destruction of one order of beings tends to the conservation of another; solution and consolidation, decay and renovation, are connected; and whilst the parts of the system continue in a state of fluctuation and change, the order and harmony of the whole remain unalterable."

I shall consider the Inorganic Bodies belonging to the globe, as either SOLIDS or FLUIDS.