Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1833-02-16

n uuOutStmV WANING VI oooAe svee
pages, entitled " Lectures upon Natural Histo-
ry, Geology, Chemistry, the application OF Steam,
and interesting discoveries in the Arts" has
just been issued from the press. The subjects
are Of general interest. turning chiefly ON those
matters of.science aud philosophy which form the
most frequent subjects Of conversation in intel
leetual society. They are treated Of in popu'
lar form. and the aim Of the lectures is to give
clear and precise views OF principles and facts'
ADD to encourage taste for more thorough re-
search and study. The authors name is suttl'
cient voucher for the ability with which it u exc
cuted. Few American writer's are SO well known
at home and abroad as the Rev. TIMOTHY FLINT.
who has, with great labor, collected and arrang.
ed the materials of the work. The following
are the concluding passages Of the preface, which
are fair specimen Of the style Of the work.
Ball. FIN.
s.Ths work turns upon studies which have
been dear to me, since-I possessed the power Of
thought. The universe, thus examined. assumes
new aspect. II Gaien was reclaimed from
atheism, by examining the wonderful adaptation
aud harmony Of the constituent parts OF the hu.
man body in concurring to produce life, mntion
aud thought, what must be the convictions of
the student Of nature, who finds the whole uni
verse every where as replete with these harnn
MES, as the human SYSTEM In enunciating the
views of this work, where the term nature is
used, | would be understood TO mean Providence
or God. In the heavens and the earth, in man
that thinks, and the insect that creeps, | have
found every thing labelled with the single, grand,
all comprehending !erm-God.
To the students. particularly the female stu
dents in our higher seminaries this work is afcc-
tionately inscribed.
1t invites you to study nature in the fields,
meadows and forests. on the mountain side, along
the shores Of streams or of the sea. and IN the
realms Of space above you, through which the
stars roll their everlasting courses. BY holding
forth to you the flowers of science, it would tempt
you not 10 satisfy yourselves with their perfume
and barren beauty, but with industry and energy
to cultivate and gather the matured fruits Of the
harvest With the fondness of one Of their
own children. have loved the wild woods, the
forest.skrted streams. the snow. lad mountains
with their secluded de'Is, the plains and mea.
dows, where plants and flowers spring without a
name from the bUtanist, and without the perlnis.
sion or the aid Of man. | ranged these haunts
10 my vernal day with untiring footsteps, salts.
fed TO see, feel and enjoy them without investi-
eating final causes, or the object Ct the luXurl.
. ance and beauty before me. But, as 4 find my.
self in the scar and yellow leaf Of autumn,
every thing in life has changed its aspect; and |
am compelled either to reinquish. in safety and
WEAKNESS, those haunts and pursuits, which the
habits Of years have rendered dear. or TO seek in
them new and more elevated sourcess OF emily.
ment. [ have found what sought.
have reperused the open volume of nature,
page by page. searching with the elder poets, the
sweet Mantuan, aud the sweeter psalmist of Is-
rae, with Christian philosophers, and all true To-
vers of nature, for the harmonies of this brauti.
full universe; for traces of the finger Of God; for
proofs that divine love and wisdom are equally
discernible in the great and the minute of crea.
ton. have looked upwards into the uniahom.
able depths of space with the astronomer, and
have listened with him to the eternal concord of
the celestial melodies; and the ;nnumerable lamps
Of the sky have lighted me onward through the
ETHEREAL plains to the throne of the Eternal
have returned to contemplate nature with the
physi0lvgist, like another Columbus, discovering
a new world with the solar microscope, liz
shows me oceans with their leviathans, forests
with their winged inhabitants. empires and king
doms with their numberless dweIlers. where thu
naked eye sees but drop OF water, little moul.
diae.s. Or the blue down Of plumb. The truth
radiates from these new realms Of nature, thai
creative love is also there.
Where all seems to the andistnguishing gaz
inextricabe disorder, discover perfect Arrange
n,ent; fni that the tand,, the Oce ..hhl.,
the forest rees. the beast, Of the field; the fo~>
OF heaven, the insects tina, av or crawl. all ha,.
their ranks and orders, which indus rios re>e ,rch
may class into families, aud lnscribe with then
generic names.
Be my walks in nature amid light or darkness,
IN sunshine or storm, in the waste desert or thr
city fuil. radiance, as Of the greater light Of
the sky, has enabled me to find God every where
in 1--we and wisdom, still more than in power.
Even in the sterner aspects of nature, in
storms. inundation. earthquake. and volcanic
eruption. in thu universal deIuge, or the purify
ing baptism Of fire which has left in the past no
trace. Of animated existence, but lzations
in granite, or organic remains mbedded in the
secondary strata of stone, have discovered
purpose to remoald the earth and prepare new
and fairer abode for man, in which may dwell
,rA,.