servable, that, for the preservation and multipli cation of species, there is an exact balance between the sexes, so that there is no animal which cannot find its mate. The mineral kingdom serves for the preservation of the animal, and they both tend to the good and benefit of mankind. The most useful plants, such as corn, grow every where, multiply the easiest, and are the least liable to spoil. The animals which are most necessary to mankind are scattered every where in abundance. The productions of the different climates are suited to the particular wants of mankind. Thus the hottest countries abound in cooling fruits. In countries liable to great drought, there are plants and trees, which are, in a manner, springs of water, and which provide enough to quench the thirst of men and animals. Where wood is wanting, there is a great quantity of peat and turf found. If there are countries deprived of rain, and other sources of fertility, they are made amends for it by fruitful inundations, like that of the Nile in Egypt. In mankind also, there is the most exact proportion between the sexes. The proportion between male and female is nearly equal. The number of males to that of females is generally 26 to 25. In civil society, talents and blessings are so admirably distributed, that, as each individual may be happy, according to his circumstances, so there is nothing that is necessary wanting to society in general. If the inclinations and dispositions of men were not so varied; if their tastes and tempers did not make them embrace different kinds of life; if there was not so much variety in their genius, their way of thinking, in their beauty, riches, and other outward circumstances, human society would soon become a melancholy desert. There There is no rank of men who can do without others. Each country has its peculiar advantages and if they were common to all, there would be neither connection nor commerce among men. In a word, on whatever side we cast our eyes under heaven, we every where find the most admirable harmony and proportion. Notwithstanding the infinite variety of creatures, and the continual interruption of many of the laws of nature, it appears, that, in this immense universe, all is perfect, all is planned and contrived for the general good, all is in the most regular and exact order. On whatever side I cast my eyes, I see nothing but the wisest and most delightful harmony. It shines on all sides. It embellishes every thing. Nothing is unconnected. Every thing combines to the same end. The whole is linked together with wonderful art. Wise Author of Nature! We should be unworthy to contemplate the magnificence and harmony of thy works, if we did not adore thee with the most profound admiration. Teach us, above all things, to feel and to adore that ineffable goodness, which has ordained every thing in the manner most beneficial to thy creatures. པརཡན་༢༠་ཐོ...... APRIL XXII. THE INTEGRAL PARTS OF WATER. WHEN we drink water, we think we enjoy a pure and simple element: We are mistaken for the naturalists assure us, that each drop of water is a little world, where the four elements and the three kingdoms of nature unite. There is scarce any water which is not full of heterogeneous matter, very plainly visible when distilled or filtered. However incredible this may appear, it has been proved beyond all doubt, by the most exact and certain experiments. Besides its elementary parts, the water contains several earthy particles: Such, for example, as belong to the mineral kingdom, chalky earth, saltpetre, and different kinds of salts. It cannot be doubted, if we consider how many earthy particles the water must meet every where (both in the air, and on the ground), parts that it dissolves, or draws off and carries along with it. Water also contains inflammable or sulphureous parts, which shew themselves when it corrupts. Without these fiery particles, it would become a solid and compact body; for as soon as all its heat is taken from it, it condenses, becomes heavy, and acquires the hardness of ice. Lastly, that water is also impregnated with air, will be easily acknowledged, if attention is paid to what happens when it begins to boil. Common water contains particles of earth, salts, fiery particles, and air; consequently it may be said with truth, that all the elements meet in a drop of water. But are there also plants and animals in it? It certainly contains the principles of vegetation, as all the plants draw their nourishing juices from water, and can only grow and thrive from thence. As to the animal kingdom, it is evidently distinguished in water. Without mentioning fish, and other aquatic animals, with which it is peopled, there is not a single drop of water without its inhabitants, as may be discovered by a microscope. It is also known how fast insects breed in stagnated water; the seeds of which are undoubtedly concealed in the water; although outward circumstances hin der der them sometimes from coming forth. All this is well calculated to make us reflect on the wisdom and goodness of the Creator. It is not by chance that water is composed of so many parts. It is true, it would be one of the purest drinks, if it was a body absolutely simple: but, on the other hand, its medicinal qualities would be reduced almost to nothing. If we reflect on the manner in which water nourishes plants, it is easy to presume, that it communicates the little nourishment it contains, in the same way to men and animals. Water is not very nourishing in itself, but being very subtle, it dissolves the nutritive parts of food, serves them as a vehicle, and conveys them into the very smallest vessels. It is consequently the most wholesome drink; that which men and animals can least dispense with; and its salutary virtues are experienced on many occasions, even when all other drink would be hurtful to the health. What therefore ought our gratitude to be at every glass of water we drink? With what wisdom God supplies our wants! He has prepared our food, our drink, in the manner best suited to our nature, and best calculated to preserve health and life. He has communicated a beneficent power to the most ordinary and most necessary sustenance. APRIL XXIII. THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS. IN general, vegetables spring from seed; and in most plants it is the flower or blossom which produces the seed, and makes it fruitful. Al most all flowers are folded up in a bud, where they form themselves secretly, and are guarded by their coat, and outside leaves. Then, when sap flows in abundance, particularly towards spring, the blossom grows large, the bud opens, the coat falls off, and the flower appears. At the outside some very small thin leaves are seen of different colours, which serve to defend the organs of fertility, and perhaps also to form the nourishing juice, which enters into those parts. But it is, properly speaking, in the middle of the flower that the fruitful organs are found. There is a thread in it, or a little pillar called pistil, which ises pretty high, particularly in tulips. Round the pistil are the stamina, with heads at the top of them, containing a prolific dust of different colours. These stamina are properly the masculine organs, designed to make the seed fruitful, and the pistil is the female part of generation. It is in a manner the womb which receives the prolific dust. Vegetables propagate also by ingrafting. From a tender branch of a tree, when in sap, they take an eye or a beginning of a branch, with a part of the bark, and they graft it into another tree; that is to say, they insert this eye between the bark and the wood, after which they gently tie up the whole, by rolling worsted two or three times round it. From that eye there comes a branch, which is of the same species as the tree from whence the eye was taken, though the tree into which it is inserted (and which is called wild-stock) should be quite another sort. Trees and other woody plants are also perpetuated by slips. From a willow, for example, they take a slip, that is to say, a single stick or branch, and put it in the ground, after having cut off the little branches, |