to the provisions which have been bountifully made, in external nature, for affording scope to these faculties, we shall find additional cause of devout admiration. The first thing worthy of remark, in this department of the subject, is, that, speaking generally, the materials by which exposure to the inclemency of the season may be obviated, lie patent and abundant in those climates where such inconveniences are liable to be felt. In proportion as we penetrate into the colder regions, animals are found in greater plenty, whose coats, of soft and downy fur, furnished beneficently by their Creator, for their own protection, when transferred to the human body, defy the wintry storms. If we approach still nearer the polar circle, we discover a provision which renders even these regions of gloom and intense cold, habitable during the severest part of the year. The enormous tenants of the icy seas, which surround these inhospitable coasts, not only furnish the inhabitants with food; but, being enveloped in immense loads of fat, yield to them all that is needful, both for light and heat, in their dark and chilly winter months. Nay, the very snow, which clothes Nature as in a winding-sheet, and seems to augur nothing but desolation and death, is converted, by the ingenuity of man, into a comfortable habitation, and thus becomes a preserver of life, and a means of enjoy ment. Then, again, if we speak of fuel, how bountiful is Providence in supplying those exhaustless forests of pine in the northern regions of Europe, and those immense fields of coal in Britain, and other similar climates, by which frost is charmed away from the dwellings of the inhabitants! Can we believe it to be without a beneficent design, that such amazing magazines of combustible matter should be deposited within our temperate zones? And does it not add to the wonder of this provision, that coal is known to be a vegetable production of a climate altogether different from that in which it is found,—a climate probably not inferior in warmth, and in the power of nourishing vegetation, to the most favoured of our tropical regions? When, and under what circumstances, did that profusion of gigantic trees and plants cover the face of the earth, and luxuriate in the sunshine and the shower of a blessed climate, which, under the name of Surturbrand, has erected the platform on which northern Iceland rears its burning mountain, and spreads its rugged hills and plains; and in Britain, the land of manufactures, and America, that new country, buoyant with youthful enterprise, has laid up those amazing stores of fuel, which many centuries of human toil and industry can scarcely be said to diminish? A mystery hangs over the subject, which the geologist, with all his zeal and acuteness, shall probably in vain attempt to penetrate; but it is enough for our present purpose to know the fact. By whatever natural catastrophe these ancient woods and forests were submerged, there they are, collected, in the most convenient localities, at once for furnishing the means of comfort during the rigours of an ungenial winter, and for affording facilities to the increase of human power, in the cultivation and improvement of the arts of life. Is it too much to say, that here is the hand of a Paternal Providence? Fuel implies the use of fire, and this leads us to look at some of the properties of that wonderful element, which, on the hearth and in the lamp, contributes so materially to the comforts of winter. This is the very same element, which, by its subtle and all-pervading powers, gives light and warmth to the world, and the effects of which, the poet of the Seasons so beautifully describes, in speaking of the adorable power and goodness of the Creator, when he says, that His mighty hand "Works in the secret deep; shoots, steaming, thence The fair profusion that o'erspreads the spring, In the treatise on Heat, published in the " Library of Useful Knowledge," there are the following introductory observations, which describe, in a popular manner, some of the most obvious effects of this remarkable agent :— "In all our excursions over the surface of the globe, innumerable objects excite our admiration, and contribute to our delight. But whether our gratitude is awakened by the verdure of the earth, the lustre of the waters, or the freshness of the air, it is to the beneficial agency of heat (under Providence), that we are indebted for them all. Without the presence and effects of heat, the earth would be an impenetrable rock, incapable of supporting animal or vegetable life; the waters would be for ever deprived of their fluidity and motion, and the air of its elasticity and its utility together. "Heat animates, invigorates, and beautifies all Nature. Its influence is absolutely necessary, to enable plants to grow, put forth their flowers, and perfect their fruits. It is closely connected with the powers of life, since animated beings lose their vitality when heat is withdrawn. Such is the universal influence of this powerful agent in the kingdoms of Nature; nor is this influence diminished in the provinces of art. It is with the aid of heat that rocks are rent, and the hidden treasures of the earth obtained. Matter is modified ten thousand ways by its agency, and rendered subservient to the uses of man, furnishing him with useful and appropriate instruments, warm and ornamental clothing, wholesome and delicious food, needful and effectual shelter." Heat is the principle of fire, under whatever modification it may appear; and nothing can be more worthy of admiration, than the fact, that an element of such tremendous power, whose operations are on so vast a scale, and whose mastery is so fearful, should yet be capable of being subjected to the service of man, in the most menial offices, and, in that capacity, should become so mild and tractable. What human mind, in the wildest flights of its fancy, could, previous to experience, have conceived the existence of an agent, which appals nature with its angry roar, and, rending the clouds, darts its livid bolts from heaven to earth, or uprears mountains in its throes, and, opening the solid crust of the globe, overwhelms whole regions with torrents of melted rock, poured forth like water; or, more amazing still, which displays its might and glory in shedding the effulgence of day over the smiling earth, and regulating the changes of the seasons, and calling the wonders of vegetation from the solid land, while it causes the liquid seas to flow,-which performs all these wonders, and a thousand more, and yet is so entirely under the control of man, and so subservient to his use, that it remains meekly glimmering amidst smouldering ashes in the grate, ready at his command, to cheer and enlighten his winter evenings, by blazing from a taper, or to employ its obsequious powers, for whatever purpose of culinary preparation, or of genial warmth, his necessities or enjoyments may require. What amazing power and wisdom is here, tempered, not less wonderfully, with all the tender condescension of Paternal kindness! NINTH WEEK THURSDAY. III. MAN IN WINTER.-ADAPTATION OF HIS CONSTITUTION TO THE SEASON. BESIDES the adaptation of external nature to the relief of man from the severities of winter, we have another proof of beneficent intention in the adaptation of the human constitution itself to the endurance of these severities. All animals are more or less endowed with this power of accommodation, yet none so much as those which are destined to be the companions and the aids of man; and man himself, assisted by the contrivances which his intellectual powers suggest, stands in this respect pre-eminent above them all. It was consistent with the beneficent intentions of the Creator, that the only rational race of beings on our globe, should be dispersed over every climate, and should carry intelligence and mental enjoyment, and a heart capable of feeling and acknowledging the Almighty Benefactor into every corner of the earth. We accordingly find, that the human frame can exist, not only under the vertical sun of the tropics, but under the chilling blasts and wide-spread snows of the polar regions. It may be difficult for the physiologist to discover in what this power of accommodation lies; but, that it does actually exist in a remarkable degree, the slightest acquaintance with the history and condition of the human race demonstrates. Every climate, indeed, and almost every country, exhibits some peculiarity in the constitution, and even in the external appearance, of the inhabitants, which indicates this power. The well known varieties in the colour of the skin, with its different shades of white, yellow, red, brown, and black, is an example of this. The colour of the eyes, and of the hair, and the shape of the nose, the cheek-bones, and the lips, are other familiar instances of a distinction of races in connection with food and climate, as well as other local circumstances. I mention these as mere indications, for I do not know how far, or in what respects, any of them contribute to the accommodation in question. But the profuse perspiration of the Negro, under the heat of the tropics, and the stunted growth, and thick-set form of the Laplander, and native of Greenland, where food is scanty, and the cold intense, are less equivocal marks of wise and beneficent design. The perspiration diminishes the heat of the one, while the concentrated frame of the other, on the contrary, preserves the animal warmth; and, while it probably increases the bodily strength, and thus gives additional power both of exertion and endurance, affords the faculty of existence on a diminished quantity of food. The state of the Negro is well known, and therefore need not be dwelt on; but, |