cocklemuir, for instance, where the footsteps of primeval animals have been discovered, it is evident that the whole upper surface of the strata has been forcibly torn off before the diluvial soil was deposited, and among that soil are found large portions detached from the living rock.

In considering the whole subject of the deluge, including not only its physical appearances, unfolded by geological research, but its moral cause, as declared by the inspired volume, we cannot too much admire the Divine wisdom and goodness which has caused such a tremendous judgment to end in an arrangement so beneficial. The beautiful scenery of the earth, with its wide spread valleys and swelling hills, covered with a green carpet of grass, and adorned with flowers, or waving with lofty forests, or gracefully interspersed with the smooth expanse of lakes, reflecting surrounding nature on their peaceful bosom, or with streams rolling their ever-flowing tide to the ocean; while the distant horizon melts away into blue mountains, whose tops reach the clouds,—all this is the result of that dreadful convulsion which offended justice inflicted as a deserved punishment on accumulated and increasing guilt; but which a paternal hand controlled, and an all-wise Providence converted to purposes of mercy and of love.

There is something unspeakably gracious in the promise made to Noah, when he and his family issued from the ark, and set their foot for the first time on a submerged, but renovated world. "I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between Me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember my covenant which is between Me and you, and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh."-" While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

With what a fine vein of poetic feeling has our most

celebrated living poet alluded to this sublime and paternal declaration, in his address to the Rainbow:

WITH us the sun now scarcely remains six hours above the horizon, and even during that short period the comparative intensity of his light and heat is much decreased. Were the influence of the sun, and the length of the day to continue in this state, the whole organized world, in the climate which we inhabit, would quickly be destroyed. But the year may be said to have already recommenced its annual round; and nature, which is

VOL. I.

да

beneficently accommodated to the changes of season, and has been taking its rest, is even now preparing for its coming labours.

The repose of plants, and even of many animals, in this dreary season, reminds us of the salutary provision, of a similar nature, which is made for the diurnal recruiting of exhausted strength by the alternation of night with day. That this arrangement is adapted to the constitution of animal and vegetable existences will be readily admitted; and, on examining particulars, we shall be confirmed in our general conclusion. It is not merely true that nature requires a frequently recurring period of rest, but that the actual period of twenty-four hours, divided between activity and repose, is the best suited for this end. If this be so, it implies a Designing Cause; for such a period is arbitrary; that is to say, no reason can be assigned, in the nature of things, either why the earth should complete her daily revolution in twenty-four hours, or why animals and vegetables should require a season of rest in that precise interval. As to the former, no mechanical or physical necessity requires that our earth should complete three hundred and sixty-five revolutions in a year. She might, apparently, either move faster or slower, without the slightest inconvenience to the system with which she is connected. Jupiter and Saturn revolve on their axes each in ten hours, which, considering their bulk, must carry their equators round with a velocity immensely greater than that of the earth, while Mercury, which is so much nearer the sun, and so much smaller, has its day and night nearly of the same length as our own.

Now, if we look at the vegetable world, we shall find, as already observed, a remarkable adaptation of this arbitrary period of twenty-four hours to the constitution of its various productions. In some plants, indeed, this is not so obvious; but there are others which clearly show that they are endowed with a periodical character, corresponding with the average length of our

day. Linnæus classified a number of plants according to their time of opening and shutting, with reference to the hour of the day, and found that there are some which change their hour of opening and shutting as the day becomes longer or shorter, while there are others which do not seem to be affected by the actual state of the light and heat, but have a daily period of their own, independent of these influences, expanding their leaves, and closing them, at a particular hour, whatever be the state of the weather, or the length of the day. Both of these instances prove an adaptation to the diurnal revolution of the earth, which could not be the effect of chance, and must, therefore, have been the work of an Intelligent Cause.

This adjustment is still more remarkable in the animal world. A period of sleep is necessary for the health and vigour of living beings; and the alternation of night and day, which actually takes place, seems, from various considerations, to be that which is best fitted for them ; or, at all events, any very great deviation from the arrangement actually established, would be prejudicial. When a workman retires from his twelve hours' labour, he is sufficiently inclined to take rest; and, although it is possible for him to encroach on the night, without much inconvenience, and to extend his exertions, if not immoderate, to fifteen or sixteen hours, a longer period, without an interval of repose, would incur the risk of undermining the constitution. It is certain, at least, that a considerable proportion of time, spent in sleep during the four and twenty hours, is of importance to the health both of body and mind; and that, if our day were extended, for example, to the length of two, the human powers would droop under the prolonged period which would thus occur between the intervals of rest.

To the lower animals also, the alternation of day and night, as it actually exists, is wisely adapted. To some of these, the day is the season of collecting their food; to others, the night: but, whatever be the instincts which

guide them in this respect, we cannot but perceive that the adjustment between their constitution and habits, on the one hand, and the period of light and darkness, on the other, is such as to show that the one bears reference to the other, and to indicate benevolent contriv

ance.

It is no valid objection to this view, that the relative length of the days and nights vary very considerably in our climate, and still more in higher latitudes; because, where this is the case, we find adaptations and adjustments of a different kind, which, in some degree, compensate for these variations; and because, except in regions approaching very near the poles, the revolution of day and night is uniformly comprised in twenty-four hours; and the only difference consists in a longer or shorter time during which the curtains of night are drawn—an inconvenience which the ingenuity of man removes by artificial means, and to which the habits and wants of the lower animals, and of plants, are wonderfully accommodated.

On the whole, we have here another proof of an Intelligent Creator, who has suited the organized beings he has called into existence, to the circumstances of the material world, in which he has been pleased to place them. The observations of Mr Whewell, on this subject, to whose judicious statements we have so frequently had occasion to refer, are entirely to the "The purpose. hours of food and repose,” says he, “ are capable of such wide modifications, in animals, and, above all, in man, by the influence of external stimulants and internal emotions, that it is not easy to distinguish what portion of the tendency to such alternations depends on original constitution. Yet no one can doubt that the inclination to food and sleep is periodical, or can maintain, with any plausibility, that the period may be lengthened or shortened without limit. We may be tolerably certain that a constantly recurring period of forty-eight hours, would be too long for one day of employment, and one period