The native American., 1839-03-16
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
BY PROFESSOR EDWARD FOREMAN.

We do not believe, with NJ Bory de ST. Vim
cent, that atmospheric phenomena e are connect
ed with train of agencies, whose very existence
we can never appreciate, and whose powers are
beyond our means of calculation" Such chang
es, either directly indirectly affect animal and
vegetable life, to extent too great to permit us
TO be convinced that, from some of their manifes-
tatons, their causes will not be developed. The
fixed laws designed by incomprehensible wisdom
TO govern them, and through them to work out be-
nevolent ends, have already been discovered to
exist; the detail Of their operations, and the set
terms by which they may be enunciated, alone
remain to excite philosophical research. When
this knowledge shall have been obtained, we will
be enabled to anticipate the recurrence of atmos-
pheric changes, timely prepare to avoid their
power, or use them in the most propitious man
ner, to increase our happiness and wealth.
The surest guarantee for success in this will be
found in the triumphs accomplished over other
like difficulties. Until late in the eighteenth Gen.
tury the definite proportions in which bodies unite
in chemical combination had not been discovered;
now mathematical feature is as clearly stamped
on the science of chemistry as upon astronomy,
or any other subject of physical research. A
piece of iron left carelessy to rest in the atmos-
phere, unites with the vital principle Of the at
mosphere, according TO an invariabe law, which
measures out the quantity of particles in each
that shall unite and beyond which limits no union
can ensue.
An astronomer beholds a fiery stranger enter
the field of his telescope, whose advent had es-
capped notice in previous years. He watches its
path among the surrounding stellar bodies, calcn-
lates its velocity, traces the eccentricity of its ell
lipse on paper, and assigns il place in the great
system Of our sun. The calculation for the re-
turn of this comet SO exactly verified, is the great
glory of modern astronomy. No. four lustres
ago was this observation recorded and the sue.
cessive periods of It's return, calculated TO mi
nute portion OF time, proves the applicability Of
mathematical laws, 10 explain celestial phenome-
ma. ssGod," says old Euclid, works by ge-
ometry;" claws which govern The material uni
verse are necessarily delivered in the language of
mathematics. The same mode Of induction which
enables philosophers to predict the return of
comet. gives to them the power of predicting the
existence of a new chemical compound which,
not existing ready formed, can be mule by COM
bining its elements in the proper definite quant-
ties.
If all other physical phenomena arc produced
in consequence of the operation Of certain fixed
laws, so also are those OF atmospheric changes
However irregular the tempest or the tornado
may appear 10 the nobservant, some of the con-
ditions Of the air which Tend TO produce them
have been reduced 10 rule.
The atmosphere is composed OF innumerab!e
strata of air. superimposed upon cacl, other, and
diminishing in density as the height increases
above the sea level. From It's rcfractvc influence
on light iron, lis tendency 10 gfavilate 10 tie earth
in one direction, and lis permanent elasticity urg-
ing il from the earth in another, and by cacnlat-
ing the point or liac where these two latter forces
couner5alancc each other, ills found t!lal i! ex-