V.ijr. .cu\^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // %^ .^^ 1.0 1.1 11.25 2.0 14.0 U ■IMU 4" I Photographic Sciences Corporation ■^^ V ;\ 23 VnST MAIN STRHT WIBSTIR,N.Y. 145t0 (716)S7a-4S03 4^ <^^ ^ I <\ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICIVIH Collection de mi Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductiont / Institut Canadian da microraproductions hiatoriquas Tachnical and Bibliographic Notas/Notaa tachniquaa at bibliographiquaa Tha Inatituta haa attamptad to obtain tha baat original copy availabia for filming. Faaturaa of thia copy which may ba bibliographicaHy uniqua. which may altar any of tha imagaa in tha raproduction. or which may aignificantly changa tha usual mathod of filming, ara chackcMl balow. HColourad covers/ Couvartura da coulaur I I Covars damagad/ D □ D D Couvartura andommagAa Covars rastorad and/or laminatad/ CouvartLra raataurte at/ou palliculAa I — I Covar titia missing/ La titra da couvartura manqua □ Colourad maps/ Cartas gAographiquas an coulaur □ Colourad ink (i.a. othar than blua or black)/ Encra da coulaur (I.a. autra qua blaua ou noira) r~| Colourad plataa and/or illustrations/ Planchas at/ou illustrations •n coulaur Bound with othar matarial/ RaliA avac d'autraa documants Tight binding may causa shadowa or distortion along intarior margin/ La r9 liura sarrie paut causar da I'ombra ou da la distortion la long da la marga intAriaura Blank laavas addad during raatoration may appaar within tha taxt. Whanavar poasibla. thasa hava baan omittad from filming/ II sa paut qua cartainas pagas blanchas ajoutiaa lors d'una rastauration apparaiaaant dans la taxta. mais, lorsqua cala Atait poasibla, cas pagaa n'ont pas AtA filmiaa. Additional commants:/ Commantairas supplAmantairaa: L'institut a microfilm* la maillaur axamplaira qu'll lui a *tA poaaibia da sa procurar. Laa details do cat axamplaira qui aont paut-itra uniquaa du point da vua bibliographiquo. qui pauvant modifiar una imago raproduita. ou qui pauvant axigar una modification dana la mAthoda normals da f ilmaga aont indiqute ci-daaaoua. D D D D D D D n Colourad pagaa/ Pagaa da coulaur Pagas damagad/ Pagaa andbmmagias Pagaa raatorad and/or laminatad/ Pagaa raatauriaa at/ou palliculAaa Pagas discolourad, stainad or foxad/ Pagas dAcolortes, tachatAas ou piqutes Pagas datachad/ Pagas ditachtes Showthrough/ Tranaparanca Quality of print varlas/ Qualit* inAgala da I'imprassion Includas supplamantary matarial/ Comprand du material suppMmantaira Only adition availabia/ Saula Mition disponibia Pagaa wholly or partially obscured by arrata slips, tissuas, ate, hava baan rafilmad to anaura tha bast possibia imaga/ Laa pagaa totalamant ou partialiamant obscurcias par un fauillat d'arrata, una palura, ate, ont AtA fllmAas A nouvaau da fapon i obtanir la maillaura imaga possibia. Thia itam is filmad at tha reduction ratio chackad balow/ Ca document est film* au taux da rMuction indiqu* ci-daaaoua. 10X 14X 18X 22X MX aox T 12X 16X 20X a4x 2»( 32X Th« copy filmed h«r« hat b—n rcprodi'cad thanks to tha o*naroaity of: Stminary of Quabtc Library L'axampiaira film* fut raproduit grica k la ginirotit* da: S4minairt dc QuAbcc BibliothAqiit Tha imagar appaaring hara ara tha baat quality possibia contidaring tha condition and iagibility of tha original copy and in kaaping with tha filming contract spaciflcations. Laa imagas sulvantaa ont Ati raproduitaa avac la plus grand toin. compta tanu da la condition at da la nattetS da I'axamplaire filma. at an conformitS avac las conditions du contrat da filmaga. Original copias in prin.„J papar covara ara filmad baginning with tha front covar and anding on tha last paga with a printad or illuatratad impras- sion, or tha back covar whan appropriata. All othar original copias ara filmad baginning on tha first paga with a printad or lllustratad impras- sion. and anding on tha last paga with a printad or illustratad imprassion. Las axamplairas originaux dont la couvartura •n papiar ast imprim4a sont fiimis an commandant par la pramiar plat at 9n tarminant soit par la darnlAra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'Impraasion ou d'illustration. soit par la sacond plat, salon la cas. Tous las autras axamplairas originaux sont filmis an commandant par la pramlAra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'imprassion ou d'illustration at 9t% tarminant par la darniira paga qui comporta una talla amprainta. Tha last racordad frama on aach microficha shall contain tha symbol — »> (maaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha aymbol ▼ Imoaning "END"), whichavar applias. Un daa symbolas suivants apparaitra sur la darniAra imaga da chaqua microficha. salon la caa: la symbols — ^ signifia "A SUIVRE". la aymbole V signifia "FIN". IMaps. platas. charts, ate. may b« filmad at diffarant raduction ratios. Thoaa too larga to ba antiraly includad in ona axpoaura ara filmad baginning in tha uppar laft hand cornar. laft to right and top to bottom, as many framaa as raquirad. Tha following diagrama illuatrata tha mathod: Las cartas, planchas. tablaaux. ate pauvant Atra fiimAs A das taux da reduction diff grants. Lorsqua la documant ast trop grand pour itra raproduit un un saul clichA. il ast film* i partir do I'angla supAriaur gaucha. da gaucha A droita, at da haut an baa, mn pranant la nombra d'imagas nAcassaira. Las diagrammas suivants illustrant la mithoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 rilt^ ^ t f. / i t.-tr^ a ■..^3 ' i fr'-r75a, .4lT. XICIRUAS STREET. 3, ^^'' i;^o(>;'Vo£« V\v ) cs^;^;^: C£r; :: r.t5 C£,;;;;=^y (v»<--.^3 <:-: X A LECTURE on NATURAL, MORAL AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, DELIVERED BEFORE THE HEMMINGFORD MECHANICS I^^STITUTE AND LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, (CANADA EAST,) WEDNESDAY, 28bd JANUARY, 1866, m FRANCIS DRUMMOND BIBLIOTHEQUE " Scire tuum nihil ebt, nisi to scire hoi " Scienco is not science till revealed Drji Iflontreal ; PRINTED BT JOHN LOVELL. ST. NICB0LA8 STBEET, 1856. M.L'ABBE VERREAU ^^^*^m^^0tm Thb following Lecture, (wliich is necessarily in a great measure a compilation from different statistical tables,) was one of a course delivered before the Hemmingford Mechanics Institute and Library Association, during the months of January, February and March. Amongst the other Lecturers were the President of the Societyi Julius Scriver, Esq., the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Montreal, R. B. Somerville, Esq., Representa- tive ©f the county, the Mayor of Hemmingford, Dr. Verity, and several strangers who kindly came from a distance. Owing to the unusual severity of the weather this winter, and the scattered nature of the population, the attendance was not so large as might have been assembled under more favorable circumstances ; still, however, the number present averaged about 150, the majority coming distances of from four to seven miles. The Institution is still in its infancy, having been started in the early part of 1866. It now numbers about 100 Members, and possesses a well selected Library of between 800 and 400 volumes of the works of standard authors, both British and American. The Society is supported /i by a Oovernmont grant obtained Uirongli the exerliont of Mr. Sonierville, and by tho iiubHcriptionH of the Mem- bers. The tiffain of tlie Institution are managed by a Committee elected by the Members, who choose a President amongst themselves. The otlier officers of the Society are the Secretary-Treasurer and the Librarian. When we take into consideration the fact that at the time of the American War, in 1812, there were not above twenty-five inhabitants in a township which has now a population of nearly 7000, composed for the most part of emigrants from the United Kingdom, we may reflect with satisfaction, (witliout pretending to come into any comparison with the higher offices of religious teaching and training,) upon the steps which they are thus early taking to encourage education, literature and science, thereby laying the surest foundations of peace and morality amongst their homes, so that their men- tal growth may be in proportion to their worldly pros- perity. It is also gratifying to see the interest which it most generally taken in the Institution, the books being eagerly read, and allowed but little repose upon the shelves of the Library. And from the books b^ing carefully > selected, and of a superior order, — consisting for the most part of such works as Macaulay's and A.lison's Histories, Hallam*s Middle Ages, Lord Camp- beirs Lives of the Lord Chancellors, the Encyclopedia Americana, Lieut. Maury^s Scientific Works, the Che- mistry of Common Life, Travels and Biographies of dis- tinguished or remarkable persons, — it is to be hoped that much good may result from the efforts of the Institution, amongst the rising generation of a country in itself second to none in the world, and be the means of train- ing them up in such a manner that they may not be Mhamed when they meet with the citizens of other coui won wor Wc sine the U3 1 countries; unci that the Imid, from whence their fathert went forth to ntruggle with the difHcuities of a new worUI, may UnAi. with prido upon her colony in the Far Went ! not forsxetting the words of a learned man long since jjone to his rcRt, that *' the reading of looks, and the daily occurrences of life, are continually furnishing U3 with matter for thought and reflection." F. D. FULFORD. list March, 1856. T« «▼< rei to pr( tot no inl is "W «k Tl b( al •I LECTURE lATVBALt HOBAL AID PUTSICAL GEOGRAPHY. Th iQbi«et which I intend to bring b«for« your notic« tliif creDing, (though from th« time allotted to me oeceararily in • very brief and superficial manner,) is one of the most important to which we can direct our attention. Laiit week,Be?eral, naj^ probably the greater part of those now present, heard a Terj interesting and able Lecture upon the Human Body : nay purpoea now is to tell you aomething about the earth whieh that body inhabits, the atmosphere it breather, and the objects by which it is surrounded. You are well aware that 6860 years ago the Almighty Will framed and designed this terrestrial planet out of no* thing ; it pleased Him in His supreme wisdom to oreate this Tisible world. The decree went forth: disorganised matter beonme arranged, and tiled the great roid; even the Ancients, although they had no knowledge of revelled raligion, had soma superstitious ideas oonnected with the creation of the werld which have been embodied in the words of a Poet : " From sir, from ocean, from each distant clime, " The summoned Genii heard the muttered rhyme* " Eaoh fkiry shape the mystic spell obeyed,— "A perfeo* world in beauty stood arrved." I ' Physical or Natural Qeogrophy, the subject of my Lecture this night, treats of the general features upon the face of the earthy the arrau;;emeat of the inorganic matter of the globe, and the dis- tribution of organic life, the phenomena of the atmosphere, and its relation to tlie varied animal and vegetable productioU:^ wit!i which thf> earth is replenislied. The limits of thia department of science are not stiictly defined ; the connection is so intimate with Astronomy, Geology, Botany and Zoology, that a trespass upon them is unavoidable in prosecuting this branch of physical enquiry. \_^ The surface of our planet consists of unequal portions of land and water, the water preponderating to a great extt-nt; in fact the fluid proportions are as J to J- solid ; a prepoudor- auce of laud beiug in the northern hemisphere or division. To large continuous musses of land is given the name Continent of which there are four, viz : Europe, A.sia, Africa and Amcriea ; Europe being towards the north, Africa to the soutli, Asia the east, and America to the west. Some persons have given the name of Continent to Australia, but it is more strictly speaking an immense island, comprising with numerous groupes of islands lying around the fifth division of the globe, under the name Oceapica, from their being situated in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Islands are those portions of huid entirely surrounded by water ; a peninsula is a neck of laud surrounded ou three sides only by water, and an isthmus is the narrow neck washed on two sides which connects two larger masses of land together ; capes are extreme points and promontaries ; points nnd headlands are the names given to inferior projections • there are also gulfs, bays, sounds, and many other terms in use to express different portions of the earth or sea. The flat view of the land as we travel through a comparatively level country, and the side view as seen in cuttings and the pides of mountains, exhibit a great variety of substauces of rock differ- ently arranged. Popularly the term rook is applied only to the more solid portions of the globe ; geologically speaking! I extends to every kind of formation, to loose sands, clays and gravels, as well as to the limestones and granites. The perforations of the miner extend to scarcely more than 2000 feet below the level of the sea. There is, however, a mine in Bohemia which, before it was abandoned, attained to the great depth of 8545 feet. But in consequence of fovmatiuns ht^iog been brought to th« Burfaoo of tbo «nrth by i\\6 actloti of subterranean force, the Geologist han attained a knowlcdgo of the structure of the globe to a depth of about ten inilen. Rocks, in the original sense of the word, are composed of min- erals which, na they are met with together in ditTerent com* biiiatioud give ua either granite or limestone, snndstone or ohulk, or some other different formation. Wlint we call soil is, properly speaking, merely the crust of the earth, whioii, by the action of air and water, has become pulverized. The seeds of plants have been sprinkled there by the wind?, have ger- minated and sprung up; animals and birds have C(mie and fud upon tticm, and both plants and animals died and decayed away, so that the soil, which we now see upon the surface of the earth, hsL>i become a mixture of vegetable and mineral sub-^tancea* DitTerent combiuulions are recpiired for different plant:^: this we see exemplified every day ; wo see poaa growing luxuriautly, where lust yeur there was a struggling scanty cr(»p of wheat; we eec the straw look weak an I thin, and know that the lima ingredient of that soil has been exhiiu^ted, and must be renewed by artificial means. It is in res^toring the exhau.sted powers of nature, that we see the vasi influence which man exercises over the eurth whereon he dwells. In this country particularly wa see this exeaiplified, and more so in the neighbouring country of the United States. The settler goes forth and takes all that a generous soil can give, and then goes off to pursue the same course afresh. But in lime, as the countries increase in inhabitants, this is not sn easily done, and then he has to look to the renovating of the exh. Mste«l earth, less rapid in this process, but not leas sure than the work of destruction. Science and perseverauou restore the land to its original state. Islands rarely occur alone; of the exception are Ascension and St. Helena, but in general they are connected with the main land. There is no doubt that at some period or other England formed part of the continent of Europe; for the formation of the Cliffs at Dover and tlw shores on the opposite side at Calais are precisely similar, both being composed of chnlk, with the same layers lying in the same order underneath, so that it would seem that the action of the sea had worn away a passage for itself in its attempts to reach the Atlantic. Those islands which rise up alone in the midst of the sea are generally volcanic; and within the tropics we also find coral islands, which consist of th« 2a 10 f^Maidn of a departed race of polypi, com^wsed of carbouat« of lime secreted from the ocoaa and cemented into a hard c«lcareou!« rock; and which are no\r the habitation of the coral insect; an insect which cannot exist if left dry, or at a greater depth than from twenty-five to thirty fathoms. Mountains, to which we are indebted for sublime and sarage or picturesque and beautiful scenery, are the loftier protuber* nnces of our planet. They cxi.-^t either in ranges as we see thenl in the Green Mountains, or else rising singly out of a dead level, as Beloeil. The last are of the most rare occurrence. The high est point of the globe, Dhnwalagiri, one of the Himalayas in India, is 28,000 feet above the level of the sea. The highest point on the western continent ia the Nevada Sorata in Boli« via, 26,250. 22,9uO is the greatest height ever attained by ' a balloon, which was accomplished in the ascent of Mens. Gay Lussac from Paris in 1804. Feet. Highest fli«?ht of the condor,' 21,000 Highest point roachori by Humboldt, 19,500 Bushes soon in the Himalaya,, 17,000 Mines of Poto»i,. 16.080 Gk>od crops of wheat raised in Chinese Tartary, lfl,000 Highest snow-line of tho Himalaya, 16,500 J Highest snow-lino of Andes, 15^00 ^ Highest habitation of man in the old world. Table Land, Thibet,. 13,600 Highest inhabited spot on the Andes, ft.nn of Antisana, 13,430 Highest point in tho southern regions, Kount Erebus n Volcano, 12,400 Highest point of Great Britain, Ben Nevis, 4,368 England and Wales, Snowdon, 3,571 The above will give you some idea of the relative height of places. Ohains of mountains are intersected at their base by valleys. Caverns and fissures frequently occur in mountainous districts, evidences of some violent convulsion having taken place in our planet, or the slow but certain wearing away of - time. Among the more notable cavea are Fingall's on the coast ' of Scotland, Mc Alister's Cave in the Isle of Sky, the Woodman's * Cave in the Hars Mountains, the Grotto of Antiparos in tht Greek Archipelago, the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, and one at Schoharie, near Albany, in the State of New York. Almost all important caverns are found in linicstone. In the Bible we read ' of their being u:«ed as places of burial : in the 28rd eliap. of n II >uat« of a hard phe coral greater sarage rotuber* ee tiiera ad level, he high lavas in highest in Boli- ned by >n3. Gaj net, IJOO 500 000 080 000 500 SOO 300 iSS m m '. n iight of 186 by >ainoua taken ^ay of i coast iman'fl in tht id one OBtall eread ip. of OcDesia, we Jread of the tifrM Patriarch, Abrahain,' att«ifidin|; with sorrow upon the fui;" -ites of hU deceased wit«^ Sarah, having prerioii^ly purchaflo< . oi the sons of Heth Die Cave of Mao* petah, as a fit resting place ; we also read, further on, in the 18th chapter of Kings, of the (Jd Prophet making the following touching request upon his death bed : " When I am dead, theo bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of (lod is buried ; lay my bones by the side of his bones." But I will quote but one other instance, that of our blessed Lord, who after \be agony of his last mortiil hour was past, was reverently laid within the recesses of a newly hewn cave. And such caverns are of more than passing interest, for where they have been used as sopulchree, we often find engraved upon them the records of long departed nations, together with various articles of ornamental or domestic Qse, which afford us a great insight iuto their manners and customs. We next come to the consideration of volcaBoes, (derired from the name which the Romans gave to their imaginary Qod of Fire, Vulcan.) which name denotes a peeuliardass of mountains, emitting from their summit or sides molten mineral matter, and columns of flame, smoke and ashes ; they are aptly termed in various languages burning mountains. They are usually of a conical or sugar loaf form, with a eauldron^like hollow at the summit, called the crater or cup. The most important volcanoes are Stromboli, Vesuvius, Hecla, Etna, Teneriffe, Popoeatopelt, Mount Elias, and Catopaxi, varying in height from 2967 to 18,877 feet. What can be more apalling than one of these eruptions ! The land at the base of these mouutains is usually of a veiy fertile description, adorned with churches and villas, ▼incyards and villages. Imagine yourselves for one instant the dwellers in one of these southern paradises, surroundeil by every luxuriance that a bounteous nature can lavishly bestow ; day After day a solemn stillness and an oppressive enervating heat come on, not one breath of air to cause a ripplo upon the glassy deep blue sea, or to give relief to the p.inting spell-bound Tine dressers, for as the danger becomes more imminent, all ae* tive exertion is paralyzed : as the basilisk eye of the serpent fasnnates ita entranced victim, so is the inhabitant of the ▼olcanic district exhausted and unnerved, till at last he is unable to flee from the impending destruction. The moun* tain has begun to send forth flames and pmokc : terrific thua- ^a^^'V It derings arc benni ; even llio vetry rounJntion!* of tho enrtb firtf agitated, tremMing a8 it wcr* with ofjony at the knttwledge uf the coming ruin. At last tlic long-watched for, dreaded hour is coine ; Btrcam after Btrcam of molten fire puura forth unceasing and unchecked, and large nMHi^et of rock are Inirled down. The flumes abate ; a stately column of Bmoke rises upward Bileutly to heaven, bearing with it the agonizing prayers of widowed mothers, or the piteow cries of orphan bubeH ^ unrelcntiug, undesci-iminating, tlie fatal stream has flowed its course, and where but a few brief hours before the light of plenty shone and nature smiled, all — all is waste. Thankful should we be then that, although beset with many hardships,, our lot has beeDca^t in a load where none of these calamities take place. In connection with this subject I will just make a few remarks upon earthquakes, and then pass on to that portion of ttie Lecture which relates to water. Between volcanoes and «!arthquake8 there evidently exists some affinity. The concus- sions arising from earthquakes most frequently take place in volcanic regions, but the shocks are most severe in places dis- tant from active volcanic sites the vents of the latter, acting as a sort of safety valve to the elastic force which, pent up, agitati'A the crust of the earth in its attempt to escape. Dreadful, a»I have described toyou, are the effects of eruptions; much more so is an earthquake, for it commences without tha slightest warning { the shocks follow in quick succession, the first or second being usually the most tremendous ; and almosit at the same instant a vu^t extent of country is involved in disaster from the oscillation. Some of the most notable earthquakes are those which have taken place at Lisbon, Nov. Ist, 1'755, which catastrophe destroyed the city and 60,000 inhabitants, shook Europe, and rocked the waters of Lake Ontario, and was over in six minutes. The desolation of Caraecas, March *26tb> 1812, felt 00 the banks of the Magdalena River, oceupied less time : in the space of fifty seconds three great shocks shattered the city, and killed 10,000 of its inhabitants, and covered th« province with ruins. The earthquake of Gauduloupe, Feb. 8tk, 1842, was felt along a right line from 60 to 70 miles in breadth and SOOO miles in length, extending from the mouth of the Amason into South Carolina. Though unable to trace the intimate connection of earthquakes, volcanoes, hot waters, the m [rt& are fwletJge iieadcil i« forth Inirlori l^e rises foiiiziug; babes ^ J»wed its [light of Jlinnkful [rdshipa^ ic«take a few •rtiou of es and coneus- place i» ces dis- '". acting h, pent escape. iptions; out tha Jtjn, the almost lii^aster quakes , 1156, )itant8, id waa 1 26th, d IcM ttered d th« 3. 8»h, eadth f the i the a, the dJsenjifncfenicnt of hot noxious vapours, Btf^am, and infl.imnm(>l« gHBsoa, it is impossible to doubt their direct rtdation-hip and mutual dvpeudaace upon one grand phenomenon, n prevail' in^ high temperature in the interior of.chc earth at an uuknowa distance frotn the surface. Thermometricftl «xperimput« nuido in mines show that at a certain depth the thermometer riqcs and goes on rising proportionably to the depth descended. I^aron Humboldt finely records the peculiar iuiprc.Hsiou produced by earthquakes experienced for tlie first time ; " From enrly child- hood we have l)een habituated to the contrast between the move* able element water and the immove&bility of the hoII on which we stand. All the evidences of our senses have confirmed this belief ; but when suddenly the ground begins to rock beneath iw, the feeling of an unknown ntysterious power in nature com- iui^ into action and shaking the solid globe arises in the mind. Tltc illusion of the whole of o^ir earlier life is annihilated iu an instant; we are undeceived as to the repose of nature ; we feel ourselves transported to the realm, and made subject to the empire, of destructive unknown powers." Had I time I might say something upon the devastat- ing elfects of land-slips, but which from their name you can sufTicieutly understand without further delay iu noticing them. The most remarkable have been at Mount Oremei*, in Savoy, in 1248, when part of the mountain fell, burying five paii hot) and covering an extent of nine square leagues with its ruins, now called Les Abymes de Myaus. In 1806 the Vale of Qoldan iu Switzerland, with 97 houses and 484 persons, wne overwhelmed by the fall of the Rossberg. In 1826, after violent rains following a dry season, an extfusire land-slip occurred in the Whitu Mountains, a part of the Alleghanies. Ou the 20th Dec, 1846, a hill odled the Bingclcr Kopf on t:.e Rhine, which rises 380 feet above the river, gave way. Water, one of the most important and abundant substances in nature, very widely diffused, is found iu each of the three forms which bodies are capable of assuming : vaporous in the atmosphere, solid iu ice and saow, and liquid in rivers and seas.^ Science deals with it chiefly in the last condition. Water is essentially a compound of two gosses, hydrogen and oxygen, in the proportion of one part of the former to eight of the latter. It seldom occurs, however, in a state of perfect purity, but variously impregnated witli iugredierits derived from the 4tmosphere, from strjifa in contact with it, or from decohipoBetl and living animal and vegetable flulwtancep. Though tastcleM and without Braell when pure, the foreign ingredients impart to it a peculiar taste, frequently an odour also, which the Penses of manmay failtodetect,but is readily observed by certain animnlH: at a irreat distance in the desert the Bcent of water is recognieed by the camel. The nraount of fresh water compared with the Bait is utterly in«ignificntit, wliile the lakes of North America comprise one-half the fresh water on the face of the globe. The universal oeonn is salt, and by a process of evaporation a considerable portion of our common salt is procured from ita waters. Tlie origin of the saline quality of the ocean is a question involved in obscurity ; we merely know that varioui Baits nnd immense mas-^cs of rock salt are constituent parts of the earthly system, a largo quantity of which has come in con- tact with the ocean and been dissolved by its waters. The salt ingredients render sea water more bouyant than fre^'h, and consequently better adapted for navigation, While a larger area is preserved from being ice bound. Fresh water freezes at the temperature of 82"; salt water requires a lower temperature to be frozen, or 28}°. Besides^ the ocean salt water has an extensive distribution on land, in lakes and springs the salts occurring much stronger than in the sea. Amongst the salt lakes are the Caspian Sea; Lakes Aral, Urumah, Torizla, Elton, and the Dead Sea occur in the Asiatic region. Some of these waters are so excessively saline as to irritate the skin. Fish cannot live in them, and if a bird dips on their surface its wings are encrnsted with salt on drying. Wattr appears at the surface of the globe at every temperature from the freezing to to the boiling points. The springs of Bath have a temperature of 1Q9 to 117°; the h.^ -^st permanent springs in America range from 204 to 20*7", and flow remote from all volcanoes. The waters of.tlie globe exhibit different colours, which depend tipon a variety of circumstances. The true colour of the sea is ultramarine; in the Qulf of Guinea it is white, in the Maldive Islands black ; purple, red and rose, in the higher parts of th« Mediterranean. Lake waters in mountainous districts are frequently very transparent and of the purest azure hue ; others are intensely green, others are brown, and 6ome black. River waters exhibit a similar diversity, even those that are most apart from earthy admi:stures. The different hues of clear and (onipnrrtivoly flmlUtw waters arc perhaps generally rc^rabl* to the character of thoir beds. Rivers have their oriKin in npriiig^, a number of which coninn)nly unite their waters to form a stream, so that it is difficult to single out the hear! fountain ; or they flow from lakes, or have their source in the melting of ice and snow. They are groat assistants to civiliza- tion, aH means of communie.Uion between inland nations, and channels of commerce arc rendered vastly more efficient in these respects since the discovery of steam, which, overcoming the power of the current, admits of the most rapid floods b<'ing readily ascended. From the days of the Ark to the present time rivers and lakes have been URed as a great means of tran.*it, whether in the wicker coracle of the ancient Briton or the unwieldy barque of Christopher Columbus. Rivers are either oceanic or continental: oceanic rivers are those which run into the sea; continental rivers arethos^ whieh never reach the ocean, but let themselves out into lakes that are unconnected with it, or are absorbed and lost in sandy deserts. The course of rivers in general is very winding, apparently a disadvantage, but in reality one of the numberless acts of wisdom on the part of Providence, f»)r not only is a larger tract of country provided with the means of intercommunication, but the rush of the body of water is prevented, which would render navigation altogether iraprncticable. The form of the channeh the slope of the bed, and the volume of water, are the elements upon which the velocity of rivers depends. If the banks offered ■ no obstruction, and the water were not checked by friction with the sides and bottom of the bed, the accelerating force of gravity would convert gently flowiug streams into irresistible torrenti perfectly [impassable to the inhabitants of the opposite banks. When water has once received an impulse, by follf)wing a descent, the simple pressure of the particles of water upon each other is sufficient, to keep it in motion, long after its bed has lost all inclination. A slope of one foot in 200 in the bed of a river renders it unnaviguble, a greater inclination produces a rapid, and one still greater, approaching the perpendicular, a cataract. Rapids occur in most principal rivers, the navigation being carried on by means of barges along the banks, or by ai tiflcial canals ; but in some instances they are surmounted by the aid of the tide. The Richelieu Rapids, opposite Sorel, appear and disappear with the ebb and flow of the tide. »■ u Cataracts depend for their sublimity, not tipon tlic lieigbt of tlitf fnlli*, but raaiiily upou the 'mn^'iiitudu of the volume of wator> The fulls, one of the {^raDdceit uutural spectacles of the globe, occur, as you are well awnre, on tba River Niagara, which con* necta Lnku Erie with Luko Ontario, and dividct) Upper Canada from the State of New Yoik. The river, about J of a mile wide, iirst dosccndfl over a rugged litncntone bed about 60 feet in less thiui a mile, forming rapids, and is then throwa down perpendicularly. Goat Island, near the centre of the stream, dividing the fuiie. The largest of these, on the British side, called the Horse Shoe Fall, from its shape, is 1800 feet broad and 153 in height; the American P'all is 600 feet in breadth and 164 feet high. It has long been supposed that the falls were first situated at the present opening of the gorge, to which the Niagara floweil in a shallow ehr.nnel from Lake Erie, and that the river has been slowly eating its way backwards through the rocks for a distance of seven miles. It is known that the falls have retreated slowly during the period of modern observation. As to the problem of the fallshaving retreated seven miles from their original situation at Queenstown, it is very possible, were it not for one fact, viz: that at the rate at which they recede now, they must have commenced marching backwards just 30,000 years before the creation, or six times as far back as the world has been in existence. Were it not for this one objection, I think from the appearance of the banks that we should be justified in stating that the f.dls had once existed seven miles lower down the river. It was here last summer that I was permitted to witness the grandest sight which perhaps human eyes can behold, — the falls under the influence of a terrible thunder-storm ; the two antagonistic elements of fire and water raging furiously together. It was about eight o'clock in the evening, and was as dark a:^ night, save when the sheets of fire burst forth, and the green tint^of the falls, crested with white foam stood forth in bold relief. Shortly the storm abated, and like a petted child smiling through its tears, the moon arose nnd shone over the mistj vapour of the fall. Never before in all my travels over land or sea, have I ever beheld anything which can compare in suhr limity to the scene which I that night witnessed ; nor do I sup- pose in the whole course of my life, shall I ever be permitted to do so again. M of tiie }f water. 'e globe, I'ch con* Canada P a mile tbout 60 tlirown stream, sh side, t broad bieadih lie falb which ■Je, nnd tbroiigh '»at tiio riiodcra west. A ityatcm of lakes commences in Great Britain, extondn throui^h Noi'w:iy au'l Sweden alonjj the south cofiat of thi; Biiltic, through Finland, North lliHsia, North Siberia to Bchrinf^'ii Strait. The areas of the most important are Sarinas in Finland, 1602 square miles; Woner in Sweden, 2186; Onega. 8280; and Ladoga, 6330, in Ilu-jsio. A second pystem extends principally north of the mountain spine of the old world, and includes the Lakes of the Pyrenees, Alps, Apennines, Bavaria, Austrian Empire, Western and Central Asia. The Ca pian Sea, the largest lake in the world, belongs to this band, and has an area of IGO.OOO square nules, — nearly equal to tlie Kingdom of Spain ; the second in point of extent. Lake Aral, has an area computed at 21,000; the third, Lake Baikal, 1793 feet above theseu, and 1200 miles in circumference. A third nystera comprises the great Canadian masses of frch^h water, with their dependencies, which are continuous, connected by rivers : Lake Superior, 43,000 square miles, — nearly equal to England ; Huron, 25,'^00 ; Michigan, 25,000 ; Erie, 11,000 ; Ontario, 10,000. The dilferent level of these lakes marks the descent of the country, and the iuolination of the uniting rivers. The surface of Lake Superior is tt27 feet above the level of the sea ; Huron and Michigan, 696 feet ; Lake Erie, 666 ; Lake Ontario, 231. A fourth system, north-west of the former, ex* ttmds from the Lake of the Woods to .the icy shores of the Aretio Ocean, including Lake Winnipeg, area 9000 square miles ; Athabaska, 3000; €lreut Slave Lake, 12,000; and Great Bear Lake, 8000. Independent of these systems there are a Tast nnmber of lakes in Northern, Central, and Southern America; some of very considerable extent in Africa, others in China, as the celebrated Mer des Etoiles, the mysterious sources of the Houngo. The water of these lakes is obtained from rivers running into them, or from internal springs. The Caspian Sea has several shallows, but at one place in the middle no bottom has been found at 2800 feet ; Maggiore, 2625 ; Lake Ontario, the general depth varies from 16 to 600 feet, but in the middle it exceeds 600. The depths of other lakes vary from 66 to 2700. The water* whiub larrouad the iHlaod aod continental niMeee form a linn^le ocean, but fur conrenienoe are divided into tereral gnat Hectiuns, an arrangement rendered VAnj by the irregular distribution of the nolid portions of the eurfnc*. Thus we haT« the Arctic, Indian, Atlantic, Pacific, and Antarctic Oceania banins. Tlie Arctic basin, surrounding the North Pole, is bounded by the northern Bhorcn of America, Europe and Asia. Princi* pal branches arc Baffin's Bay, the White Sea, Sea of Kara, Gulf of Obi, Bohring's Strait. Tlie Atlantic ba^in lies between America on the west, Europe and Africa on the eant, and the Polar Circles to the north and Houth. Tlio Equator, an imaginary lice running for geographical purp>ec'S round the centre of the globe, dividea it into the North ai:d South Atlantic. Principal branches, the Baltic, the German Ocean, the Mediterranean and Black Seas, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Guinea. The Indian basin has for its boundaries, Africa on the west, Persia and Himloostan on the north, the Sunda Isles and New Holland on the east, and the Antarctic Ocean on thu eouth. Principal branches, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Bay of Bengal. The Pacific basin is enclosed between America on the easit, Asia, the Sunda Isles and New Holland on the west, and the Antarctic Ocean on the south. The Equator dividea it also into the North and South Pacific. Prineipal branches, Sea of China, Yellow Sea, Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk, Gulf of California, Gulf of Panama. The Antarctic Ocean is confined between the South Pole and the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Ocean is elosed to navigation in its higher lati- tudes by eternal frosts ; but as the Arctic winters vary in severity, like those of temperate eountries, though not so extensively, the area of the ice formed varies accordingly. Hence some navigators have found an open ocean where to others it has presented an impassable icy barrier at the same period in a different year, and have been unable to penetrate to the high latitudes reached by the former. It has long been the object of scientific men to discover, if posesible, some paa- •age in these northern regions, whieh might obviate the present lengthy royages by way of Oape Horn and the Oape of hi |tal nuum^t ic oceaaie bounded Princi- I of Kara, •8 to tha '"unninj globe, 'rincipai lean and Guinea. 'e weat, pes and on th« Bajrof « cast, ti and I'vides noheg, .Gulf Band latj. r in t so > to me at« «D IS- Q* of Good Hope. Many brave and daring men iiare tpfnt mneh time and (tufferud much hardship inthiti undcrUikiiii;, furomont amoiit^ whom Htanda the lamented 8ir John Franklin, an acconnt of whoxe death, after lenu'thcned uj^ony and privHiion, ha«« lat«'ly reached u«. A pansage hiw been dincuvercd by Captain McClure, but it it found to annwor no praoticiil end. It would lecm an tiou^h, for Home unknown purpof^p, the Alnkighty bad decreed, " Thus far shalt thou come but no farther." The Atlantic Ocean rolls in the ijreat valU-y which aeparatee the ea'8, and at the same season of the year have seen the deck inches thick in ice and enow. I have risen in the morning in a perfect calm, not a ripple on the water, and I have gone to sleep at night iu a perfect hurricane. It is extremely dangerous, from the vast quantitiea of drift ice and icebergs that are met with at certain seasons of the year. The Indian Ocean has no distinct character excepting its hurricanes and monsoons, or periodical wind storms. The Pacific was so named because, vrhenjint discovered, it presented R very calm and pacific appearance. The ocean is subject to three distinct general movements, of waves, tides and currents, the onuses of which are independent. The wave movement is of an inconsistent and transitory character! occasioned by the wmds ; that of the tides is regular and perir>d* ical, the result of the attractive influence of the moon modified by that of the sun ; while the currents are the effect of various eiroumataooea, »nd permanently flowing resembL gre«t rivers in 20 th« nfft. By etperimenti mado In 188« It wm fonml that in wnlor 12 U'A doop. wnToi 9 inches hij(h and 4 or 5 foPt long (litore the equilibrium of the surface of the ocean. The velocity uf a drift current is in general half a mile an hour, that of r. stream ourrent is usually greater, often amouti'ii' v: to five mile*« an hour. The oceanic cuirents have exerted an important iuiluenee in the past hi'^tory of the globe, and are necessary to itH occupation >>y the kumnn race. The productions of l3)e vegetnble kingdom have b^en widely diffused by the transport of seeds in the waters from ore rt;;<<)n to another. In like manner animals have been removed i :'»'oluntnrily to r. fresh home on floating ice; and oanoes of b:%\ wi wcxtii, driyiiu out to lea by the winds, haye got ft ''**""'» thnt in the otTerl of •"■' t'»« <» ;t|, •ff Austrftlirj. >r «form«, 40 ^ /'••ot abovo ^'fiest waveg t. ■'^'ntf fo fho « "Hridiun 'in »he tro. '''• ottrao- varied by >''mmneiit a«ltin>f of '<"■ minor 'nuiiDeat '» impel. >'«tacle, *n accu. • a drift •llectecl ocean. J hour, ti'ifj' to I •ntan;'^' \ in it« powerful ptrcam*, nnj l>. en borne tolandu !M«foro withuiii a liiirnRii tenant, but tlirinvfnrth to \wi evtubliKbod io tbeni. Mfttcriulrt (iriflod ftcrodrt tlio Alia c to th.' V ""♦•icon- filmed Columbus in hit duiti^n !•• naTi^uti ' '^nd led <> th« gatt'H «>f a now world bt-inif openevl. The current^) r the polar roi^idoa, to mo>le atmosphere, and reduce the habitablo parts of tit« earth to the condition of a doHcrt. We now come to the consideration of the atmosphere. Unlik* the great divisions of land and water, it is imperceptible to th« touch, unlePH in agitati(m, and only visible when the watery par- ticles are collected in clouds and vapours. It performs the most important functions in the economy of nature, for u|M>n ite chemical cnuHtitution all organic life absolutely depends, while its mechanical agency, as indicated by winds and temperature, is not le-'H essential to the preservation of the animal, vegetable and human races. The atmosphere consists of dry air and the vapour of water. The air is eflsentially composed of oxygen and nitrogen in definite proportions, gases which are highly injurious when inhaled separately. It wa^ surmised as early - as the age of Aristotle that air had weight, but the truth of this fact was not confirmed till the former part of the seventeenth century. The atniosphero, it is now known, exerts a pressure or weight of about 16 lbs. on every square inch of the earth's sur* face, which is e^viaX to the weight of a column of mercury one inch square and 30 inches high, or a column of water of the same base, and t4 feet high. The pres-sure of the atmosphere was noticed by Galileo, but demonstrated by his pupil Toricelli, who invented ti»« barometer, a simple instrument consisting of a column of mercu y poised or pressed upwards into a vacuum by the weight of the atnuisphere. The pressure varies owing to fluetuadons of temperature, (be. This ie indicated by the barometer. Ihe meretir;r h '•nmmooly high iu calm and fiur 22 weaUior ; it falU when it is wet and stormy, and h«noe th« use of tbe instrument as a weather glass. The height of the atmosphere is not known, but it is suf )po8ed to extend to about fifty miles. Tet by far the greater part of it is within fifteen or twenty miles, and at a much less distance it becomes so rarified as to be incapable of supporting life, and as we descend into mines below the surface of the earth the pressure is increased in an equal proportion. The atmos- phere is naturally colourless; the hue of the sky, however, prenents all imaginable shades, from deep blue in the bearensto paler tinges and complete whiteness towards the horizon. Rain is produced by tbe continued condensation of vapour. Rain may have begun to fall, and yet not reach the groundi being changed back again into invisible vapour before it reaches the earth. For the same reason rain drops may become smaller in their descent, a portion being evaporated ; and less ritin arrives at the general surface than at a certain height. Usually the drops increase in their descent, bringing with them the low temperature of tbe upper regions, and condensing on their surface the vapour in the lower aud wanner strata of the atmosphere. More rain falls in moiintainous regions than level districts, because mountains arrest the course of the clouds, and a condensation of vapour ensues from collision with their cold summits. There are extensive tracts of the globe in which rain is unknown; in some districts it falls periodically, and in others it may be said to be constant. Snow is nothing more than the frozen visible vapour of which the clouds are composed. A quantity of very minute crystals of ice having been formed, they are enlarged by the con- densAtion sod freezing of vapour, and, merging together, con- stitute flakes which increase in size during the period of their descent. Snow falls to the ground when the temperature of tbe atmosphere down to the earth's surface is sufficiently cold, but if the lower strata of air are too warm, it melts in traversing them, and we have rain below while it snows above. Dew, the moisture thrown off during the night in the form of minute gh>bules on the surface of plants and other bodies, is the effect of those bodies being cooled by nocturnal radiation, several degrees below the tumperature of the air in contact with them; chilled by the cold embrace, the srial particles are no onger able to support the same quantity of dampness in the ■— WB J hmoo the U8« otitis supposed e greater part ch less distance jpportiog life^ e of the earth • The atmoB- *^y, however, tJ>e heareDs to horiron. >n of vapoar. the ground, '>re it reachea •^aj become «d ; aod lew ■tain height. ? with them ndensing on *n»ta of the 3 than level clouds, and 1 their cold which rain i in others vapour of ry minute y the con. iher, con- I of their re of the Jold, but ftversing 23 ■tato of traofiparent vapor, and a portion isi deposited. It is precisely the same phenomenon occurring on a great scale, at the forming of vapor on a decanter uf water fresh filled from the well, and brought into a heated room. Hoarfrost i« the ice of dew : when the objects upon which the vapor of water is deposited are cooled below 32 ° , the troeziug point, the vapor can be no longer deposited in a fluid state, but iu the form of icicles. That meteoric display which is so frequently seen in our hea* vens, the Aurora Borealis or Northern Light, is unquestionably of electro-magnetic origin, for it may be artificially imitated. Auroral displays are very diversified, not only at different periods, but the same exhibition usually shifts through a succes- ■ion of phases ; sometimes only flicking lights are seen stream- ing up from beneath the horizon, at other times a perfect arch stretching like a rainbow across the heavens. The aroh seldom remains stationary for more than a few minutes, but extends itself laterally, or rises and falls,.or breaks in various places, or bends like a ribbon exposed to the wind, while rays of almost every hue are incessantly darting from it towsrda the zenith, the merry dancers of the northern sky. We now come to treat of the geographical distribution of vegetables, in doing which we have to mark the general arrange- ments indicated, and the agencies that have evidently operated in promoting the diffusion of floral tribes. Vegetation occurs over the whole globe, therefore under the most opposite condi- tions. Plants flourish in the bosom of the ocean, as well as on land, under the extremes of cold And heat, on the hardest rocks and softest plains, amidst the perpetual snow of lofty mountains and in springs at the temperature of boiling water, iu situations never penetrated by the suns rays, as caverns, mines, the walls of the dark vaults of death, as well as freely exposed to the influence of light and air. There is only one state whieh seems fatal to the existence of vegetable life, the entire absence of damp ; and here I will pause to point out for one moment an instance of the wonderful economy of nature, with regard to the suste- nance of plants. As I told you just now the air was composed of the ga^es hydrogen and nitrogen ; combined with these is a small portion of carbonic acid gus, most hurtful to man, but most necessary to the existenoe of plants. So, to make this •mall portion, comparatively speaking, eflective, plants have m been provided all over their leaves with numberlesa pores to absorb this gas, and to create a further supply. After a man has breathed in a lung full of fresh air, the refuse air that he breathes out again is mainly composed of this carbonic acid gas, an ins^redient of the hydrogen and nitrogen, which are neces- ■ try for his existence. The known number of species in the vegetable kingdom has been gradually enlarged by the progress of maritime and inland discovery, but owing to great districts of the globe not having yet been explored by the botanists, the in- terior of Africa and Australia with sections of America, Asiat and Oceanica, it is impossible to state the exact number. That they have considerably increased, however, will be shown from the following facts : the Greek, Roman, and Arabian bot- anists knew of 1400 npecies ; we know of about 100,000. Vege- table form!) are divided into three great classes, which differ materially in their structure. Ist. Those which have no flowers, properly so speaking : mosses, lichens, fungi, and ferns ; as distinguished from those which are flower bearing, to which the following classes belong. 2nd. Those which have stems increasing from within, as the numerous grasses, lilies, and palm family. Srd. Those plants which have stems growing from withont, the most perfect, beautiful, and numerous class, embracing the forest tress and most flowering shrubs and herbs. Plants capable of extended naturalization, and serviceable as articles of food, or luxury, have been widely disseminated by the human race in their migrations. The corn ppecies aflord a striking example. These important grasses, known to the Ancients, wheat, barley, oats and rye, were the gifts of the old world to the new. 1'hey are also importationB into Europe, but the loose reports of the Ancients, and the diligent researches of the Moderns, alike leaveu s in ignorance of their Dative seat. Probability points to the conclusion that they have spread from the neighbourhood of the great rivers of Wes- tern Asia, the primitive location of the human family; and it is not impossible that in that imperfectly explored land, or further eastward, some of the cereals may be fo md growing spontan. eou^ly. The first wheat sown in North America consisted of a few grains found by a negro slave of Cortes, among the rice taken fur the support of his army. orl less pores to er a man has »"• that he nic acid gas, are neccs- 'cies in the the progress t districts of »8t8, the in- •"cft, Asia* 't number. 1 be shown rabian bot- >0. Vege. 'inch differ speaking ; *om those 58 belong, ^in, as the 1 withont, acing the ceable as lated by 63 afford 1 to the i of the >n8 iuto diJigtnt , of their it they ►fWes- id it is further •ontan. id of a 9 ric« 25 The arran;fement of the animal kingdom distributes the forms of animal life into four grand divisions, which are subdivided into nineteen orders : Istly. Animals having a spinal column like tlie back bone, which, with its termination, the skull, encloses and protects the brain and spinal cord, the central organs of the nervous nyetera. 2ndly. Animals of a soft texture and no skeleton, having the muscles attached to the skin, which produces in many species stony coverings or shells, as the snail or oyster. Srdly. Animals consisting of a number of joints or rings, soft or hard, supplying the place of a skeleton, like a worm. 4thly. Plant animals, from the resemblance of some families to vegetable forms such, a? the coral, tape-worm, madrepores, (fee., those little creatures invisible to the naked eye, which abound in stagnant water, mud and rain. These are the lowest order of living things. Fish, the cold-blooded inhabitantg the d(»nicsticated, the fox is the most extensively diffused, from the highest northern latitudes, through a gi'eat part of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Amoricn. TIks various species are provincial; the red fox, distinct from the European, inhabits the forest district of North America ; the black fox the Siberian woodlands; and the wliite or arctic fox, the polar regions, coming down in midwinter for food to near the parallel of 50 ® , in the western world. Cats : Europe has no reprei=entative of the feline tribe in a state of wildness, but the cat and lynx. The wild cat occurs in most of its woody coun- tries, and is found also in Northern Asia, India, and Southern Africa. The feline tribe appears to have no representative whatever in Australia and Oceanica. But the tropical regions of both continents are occupied by powerful animals of the, class, lions, tigers, leopards and lynxes. The African lion is found through the whole of that vast peninsula, excluding the Libyan Desert, the Nile country, and some adjacent districts. The Asiatic lion specifically distinct, has much smaller domain.stretch- ing from Persia into India; the American lion, the puma, a widely different animal, ranges from Patagonia to the Canadian lakes. The tiger is exclusively Asiatic, occupying the soutii- eastern countries, with the islands of Sumatra and Java, appear- ing westward in Persia, and northward in the vicinity of Lake Baikal. Tlie leopard and panther, two closely related animals, if not specifically the same, chiefly inhabit Senegambia, the Oases of the Great Desert, India and its islands. The jaguar, sometimes called the American panther, a distinct animal, is peculiar to the south part of the continent, and is principally found in Brazil and Paraguay. Lynxes are common to Europe» Asia, Africa and America, but the species are different. The thick-skinned group comprises the laigest and most powerful of all land animals, with some of the most useful as domesticated by man: they consist of the elephant, rhinoceros and hippopota. mus. The remaining important form are those of the horse and hog ; and the group of ruminating animals, characterized in their iaterual econumy by four stojuache, for tbe purpose of chewing the cud, comproliend* various tribes reiimrkabic fur elegance of ^jrm, and utility to man, as articles of food and beasts of burden, in climntos of the most extreme heat and cold ; the camels» the llamas, the giiaffes, deers, musk deers, antelopes, goat^i sheep, and oxen. Tlie last group are the whale kind. Contrasting the quadrupeds of the western and eastern heniij'pheres. wc find a much smaller proportion of those that are useful to man iu the former than in the latter. The llama, turkey, some pheep and dogs, comprise all the important contributions made by America to the domestic otcck of animals, wliieh are vastly in- ferior to the domesticated races it has received from the old "world. In point also of size, courage and power, tho land ani- mals in the new world are inferior to those of the old. The con- clusion that we may draw from the facts of zoological geography are the same as those drawn from the circumstances of vegeta- ble distribution, viz: that certain tribes of the animal creation ■were originally placed in particular regions, and have since remaijjed attached to tliem, or to some extent been disperi^ed according as their powers of locomotion, their capacity to endure change of climate, and the absence of physical obstacles to migra- tion, have enabled them to wander. Man has largely contri- buted, voluntarily and involuntarily, to extend the sjihere of various races, diffusing the domestic tribes through the civilized world, and planting them on lonely islands, as a source of supply to future visitors. But man, on the other hand, has immensely restricted or modified the natural sphere of many animals both of the useful and dangerous class. The Asiatic lion, now cod* fined to the country beyond the Euphrates, once roamed in num- bers through Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Macedoiiia and Thraco. The bear, beaver, and the wolf, once had their habita- tion in Britain. The presence of civilized man in North Amer- ica has had a similar marked inilaence upon the natural boun- daries of the brute creation. The buffalo, or more properly the bison, once inhabited the Carolinas, and indeed existed through nearly the whole ( xtent of the United States. But as the set- tler has pushed westward, the animal has lost part of his old domain, and chiefly occurs in force on the plains of the Missouri or on the Pacific side of the Rocky Mountains. The limits o^ the fur-bearing animals have undergone a similar alteration ; and w^en from 80 to 90,000 beaver skins, and upwards of half » million ekios of the musk-rat, arc amiually imported into d9 :;e of iels> foatf, t!ie tind ID iu iheep Europe, it is obvioua that theso races mnst nltinrnfoly divappoar before the persevering purHuit of tliu laititer. MaD is properly separated from all other memhers of the aoi- mnl kingdom, and reufarded as forinini^ an order bv himself, comprising a single species exhibiting nmuy varietiea. The lufist inferior specimen of the human race la ilistinguisbed from any mere animal by a diffiireuce imrnousely greater tluin theehange which species can be supposed to have undergone in the lungcfet periods of timo/and under the influence of the mo.-t varied 'circum- stances. The characteristics of the species arc, erect, two handed, unarmed, rational, endowed with speech, a prominent chin, four incisor leeth above and below. Owing mainly to the flexibility of his constitution, although obtaining much artificial aid, man can subsist under the greatest extremes of climate : the £f:quimaux endure the cold between the parallels of 70 and 80 ; the Afri- can negroes subsist under the burning sun of the equator, while European?, accustomed to an intermediate temperature, have borne the rigour of the highest accessible latitude and the fier- cest heat of the torrid zone. The human race are not confined to any particular kind of food, but subsist in different situations with equal facility on varied diet ; vegetables are the chief food of the natives within the tropics, and animals of the polar tribes, both sources, with no great disproportion, contrihutiiig to support the inhabitants of temperate climntcs. Man is thus adapted for a very wide geograpliical range, and fitted to occupy very discordant regions. In high latitudes, where a mantle of snow covers the ground through the greater portion of the year, and vegetation is very scanty, entire tribes live on fish and seals ; towards the equator, where vegetation flourishes most, vast num- bers thrive with no other articles of support than cocoa nuts, bananas, yams, and rice; in the intermediate district, fie special region of the cereals, and where animal food can as readily be procured, a mixed diet obtains. Respecting the aggregate number of individuals, the estimates made are approximations only, and are very discordant. The following estimate, however, of Maltebrun will shew the relative proportions of the different continents : Europe, Asia, Africa, ... America, Ocesaica, 170,000,000 320,000.000 70,000,000 45,000,000 20,000,000 eao.oootM9 m Thu toliil is ruiiod mucli higher by other authorities, ntul pro- b'il)ly y()(i,()0(i,(i'iO is tho closest a|)i>roxiin!ition. The lemlin^ physical 'liffiMtMJ'es observable ainoii^r niaukiiul refer to varie- ties of sti'oii,;'th, stature, proportion of the limbs, texture of tho (•kin, character of the huir, colour niid form of the HkuU. Dif- ferences occur with reference to the proportional siie of parts of tho bony skoleton, the texture of the skin unu hair : thus examples are eomujon in the negro tribes of the broad flat foot, projecting heel, cucmuber shina, and of the greater length of tho fore arm, measured in proportion to tho upper arm and height of the body. The skin is al^o softer and more velvety, a char- acteristic of some of the South Sea Islanders. The hair has likewise that peculiar character which has led to the i^frican nations being styled in general wooly-hai red, tine, wiry and crisp, while that of tho Mongolian tr'bes is strong, straight, and scanty, and that of Jiluropf-ans, soft, long and flowing. Differences of complexion form the most obvious di>tinctiou8 whidi subsist among mankind, and have been most, relied on as evidencing a descent from different original stoc'aa. Omitting exceptional cases, there is a corrospondenco maintained between the colour- ing of the skin, eyes and hair, which renders their dependence upon the same colouring matter highly jHobable. Light hair is generally in alliance with light blue or grey eyes ; but the hue of the hair and of the skin have an analogy which is almost invariable, the fair transparent skin, which frequently assumes a ruddy tint, being connected with light hair, and the dark com- plexioned skin with dark hair. The argument against the unity of mankind founded upon the differences of colour is com- pletely exploded by the consideration that varieties of hue quite as strongly marked occur in animals of the same species. The last important physical diversity apparent among man- kind refers to the form of the skull, which, very remarkably varies, presenting several well defined shapes, distinctive of great groups of the human population. The limit of the civil- ized man's existence, in the most favourable circumstances, very rarely extends to one century, though most European nations supply a few instances of that boundary being exceeded. That the .average duration of life should be much inferior among tho barbarous races, as compared with the civilized, is adequately explained by a precarious mode of life, physical hardships, igno- rince of remedies in siokoess, and of the habits favourable or adverse to vitalit/. t 81 There are SRG4 known Inogunges and iliiilt'ctfl ou thtj catili, distributed as follows : f i- Europe. ., Asia A I'rica, America, ... Oceanica, .. 687 9.»7 270 1(52 » 210 The specific identity of niankiiul bj no ,nifan.s solvoa ih« problem of their origin, Aether tiiey have nil spruiijir from a single puir, or whether i| iicutt's, tri'licate.s, or other niultiplea of paira were brought into being in tlitloront region'^, formed nuich alilie, that then; should be no specific difference between them. Some very eminent writer.sconcei vet hat tlie latter alteniativen- ay be held, the two first inhabitants of Eden being regarded as the progenitors only of tlie race from whence sprung the Hebrew fam- ily.in harmony with the announcement of the Scriptures ; but tlie tlieory appears to be improbable, and it is quite unnecessaiy to explain the dispersion of the species. Mankind have not, like plant* or animals, a constitution adapted simply to parlicular geograpliieal localities, and there ip no great difficulty connected with the idea of their diffusion from the location of a single pair. Ihe new world noight readily reeoive iidiabitauts from the old acrf)ss the narrow strait which separates them, and likewise by the chain of the Japan, Kurile and Aleutian Archipelagoes, a series of stepping stones extending from China to the north west coast. Canoes diverted by Avinds and current from their course, have borne their occupants into perpetual exile, and contributed to stock remote islands of the ocean with a human population. I have now handed you down step by step through the dif- ferent stages of the phys^iral world. I have placed the different wonders of God before you, as shewn in the creation of his various works. I have endeavoured, as well as my inadequate powers will permit, to put before you w^hat may be termed the economy of nature, the extraordinary manner in which every- thing is destined to fulfil some useful end. I have shewn liow the refuse of one thing forms the vitality of another ; how the northern ice cools the heated atmosphere of the tropics ; how the tortuous banks of rivers restrain their impetuous streams. All these give silent testimony to the wonderful fore-sight and design of some great firet cause, and bo perfect are all theee 82 woi'ka for tbe