costly palaces, fade away and are nothing. At first the eastern region of heaven, clothed in the purple of Aurora, announces the approach of the sun. The sky gradually assumes the tints of the rose, and soon flames with a fiery brilliancy; then the rays of light piercing the clouds, the whole horizon becomes luminous, and the sun opens upon us in unrivalled splen dour, gradually rising in the heavens; whilst every creature rejoicing seems to receive new life and being; the face of the earth is smiling, and the music of the birds fills the air; every animal is in motion, and expresses its joy by playful gambols and increased animation. May the aspirations of my soul be raised to the throne of God, and the songs of my praise ascend up to Heaven, the seat of Him at whose command the suu first rose, and whose hand still directs his annual and diurnal course; from which result the revolution of day and night, and the regular succession of the seasons. Raise thyself, O my soul! to the Father of Glory, and celebrate his majesty; acknowledge thy dependence upon him, and celebrate his praise by actions which are pleasing in his sight! Behold! all nature proclaims order and harmonious regularity. The sun and all the stars accomplish their course; each season brings forth its fruits, and every day re news the splendour of the sun; and shall we be the only creatures who neglect to praise the Creator, by the virtue of our actions and the integrity of our con duct? Let the propriety of our lives and the fervency of our piety exalt the goodness of God, and teach the infidel how great and worthy of admiration is that Deity which he professes to despise; and let the peaceful calm and purity of our minds teach the vicious man the beauty of holiness, and the mild and merciful nature of that God before whom he trembles. Let us act towards our fellow-creatures as God does towards us, and be to them what the sun is to the whole universe. As he daily diffuses his benign influence over the earth; as he shines upon the ungrateful as upon the righteous; and as he gilds the bosom of the valley as well as the lofty summit of the mountain; so let our lives be useful, beneficent, and consolatory to all our fellow-creatures! May each returning day renew the charitable emotions of our heart, and may we do all the good in our power, and endeavour so to live and to act, that our lives shall be a blessing to mankind! APRIL V. Curious Structure of the Ear. ALTHOUGH the ear is less beautiful than the eye, its conformation is as well adapted to its design, and it is equally admirable and worthy of the Creator. The position of the ear bespeaks much wisdom; for it is placed in the most convenient part of the body, near to the brain, the common seat of all the senses. The exterior form of the ear merits considerable attention ; its substance is between the flexible softness of flesh and the firmness of bone, which prevents the inconvenience that would have arisen had it been either en. tirely muscular or wholly formed of solid bone. It is therefore cartilaginous, possessing firmness, folds, and smoothness, so adapted as to reflect sound; for the chief use of the external part is to collect the vibra tions of the air, and transmit them to the orifice of the ear. -The internal structure of this organ is still more remarkable. Within the cavity of the ear is an opening called the meatus auditorius, or auditory canal, the Curious Structure of the Ear. 181 entrance to which is defended by small hairs, which prevent insects and small particles of extraneous mat ter penetrating into it; for which purpose there is also secreted a bitter ceruminous matter, called ear wax. The auditory canal is terminated obliquely by a mem brane, generally known by the name of drum, which instrument it in some degree resembles; for within the cavity of the auditory canal is a kind of bony ring, over which the membrana tympani is stretched. In contact with this membrane, on the inner side, is a small bone, called malleus, or the hammer, against which it strikes when agitated by the vibrations of sound. Connected with these are two small muscles: one, by stretching the membrane, adapts it to be more easily acted upon by soft and low sounds; the other, by relaxing, prepares it for those which are very loud. Besides the malleus, there are some other very small and remarkable bones, called incus or the anvil, os orbiculare or orbicular bone, and the stapes or stirrup their use is to assist in conveying the sounds received upon the membrana tympani. Behind the cavity of the drum is an opening, called the Eustachian tube, which begins at the back part of the mouth with an orifice, which diminishes in size as the tube passes towards the ear, where it becomes bony; by this means sounds may be conveyed to the ear through the mouth, and it facilitates the vibrations of the membrane by the admission of air. We may next observe the cochlea, which somewhat resembles the shell of a snail, whence its name; its cavity winds in a spiral direction, and is divided into two by a thin spiral lamina and lastly is the auditory nerve, which terminates in the brain, The faculty of hearing is worthy of the utmost admiration and attention: by putting in motion a very small portion of air, without even being conscious of its moving, we have the power of communicating to each other our thoughts, desires, and conceptions. But to render the action of air in the propagation of sound more intelligible, we must recollect that the air is not a solid but a fluid body. Throw a stone into a smooth stream of water, and there will take place undulations, which will be extended more or less according to the degree of force with which the stone was impelled. Conceive then that when a word is uttered in the air, a similar effect takes place in that element as is produced by the stone in the water. During the action of speaking, the air is expelled from the mouth with more or less force: this commu. nicates an undulatory motion to the external air which it meets; and these undulations of the air en. tering the cavity of the ear, the external parts of which are peculiarly adapted to receive them, strike upon the tympanum or drum, by which means it is shaken, and receives a trembling motion; the vibra tion is communicated to the malleus, the bone imme. diately in contact with the membrane, and from it to the other bones; the last of which, the stapes or stirrup, adhering to the fenestra ovalis, or oval orifice, causes it to vibrate; the trembling of which is com. municated to a portion of water contained in the ca. vity called the vestibulum, and in the semicircular canals, causing a general tremor in the nervous expan sion contained therein, which is transmitted to the brain and the mind is thus informed of the presence of sound, and feels a sensation proportioned to the force or to the weakness of the impression that is made. What great cause we have to rejoice in possessing the faculty of hearing; for without it our state would be most wretched and deplorable; in some respects more sorrowful than the loss of sight: had we been born deaf, we could not have acquired knowledge sufficient to enable us to pursue any art or science! Let' The Milky Way. 183 us never behold those who have the misfortune to be deaf without endeavouring better to estimate the gift of which they are deprived and which we enjoy, or without praising the goodness of God, which has granted it to us; and the best way we can testify our gratitude is to make a proper use of this important blessing. APRIL VI. The Milky Way. Ir we observe the heavens during a clear night we discover a pale irregular light, and a number of stars, whose mingled rays form the luminous tract which is called the Milky Way. These stars are at too great a distance to be perceived by the naked eye; and amongst those which are visible with a telescope, there are spaces apparently filled with others in im. mense numbers, though not distinctly perceptible through a telescope. Though the number already discovered is prodigious, if we could make our observations from another side of the globe, nearer to the antarctic pole, we should be able to make still more discoveries, and see a number of stars which have never appeared upon our hemisphere; and yet we should not even then be able to discover the half, or the thousandth part, of those radiant bodies which shine in the immense firmament of heaven. All the stars which we perceive in the milky way appear no more than so many luminous points, though each one may be much larger than the whole terraqueous globe. If we use instruments of the utmost power, they never appear larger then when seen by the naked eye. Were an inhabitant of this earth to ascend into the air one hundred and sixty millions of |