forms hydrogen gas. It is one of the constituent parts of water; for it has been completely demonstrated by experiment, that water is composed of 85 parts by weight of oxygen, and 15 of hydrogen, in every hundred parts of the fluid. This gas was formerly known by the name of inflammable air. It is distinguished among miners by the name of re-damp; it abounds in coal-mines, and sometimes produces the most tremendous explosions. it is incapable, by itself, of supporting combustion, and cannot be breathed without the most imminent danger. It is the chief constituent of oils, fats, spirits, ether, coals, and bitumen; and is supposed to be one of the agents which produce the ignes fatui and the northern lights. It is the lightest of all ponderable bodies; being from twelve to fifteen times lighter than common air. A hundred cubic inches of it weigh about 24 grains. On account of its great levity it is used for filling air-balloons. In contact with atmospheric air, it burns with a pale blue colour. When mixed with oxygen gas, it may be exploded like gunpowder, with a violent report. Carburetted hydrogen gas, which is carbon dissolved in hydrogen, is that beautiful gas, which is now employed in lighting our streets, shops, and manufactories.

Carbon is another simple substance extensively diffused throughout nature. It is found pure and solid only in the diamond; but it may be procured in the state of charcoal, by burning a piece of wood closely covered with sand, in a crucible. Carbon enters into the composition of bitumen and pit coal, and of most animal and some mineral substances; and it forms nearly the whole of the solid basis of all vegetables, from the most delicate flower to the stately oak. It is also a component part of sugar, and of all kinds of wax, oils, gums, and resins. It combines with iron in various proportions, and the results are cast iron and steel. Black lead is a composition of nine parts of carbon to one of iron; and is, therefore, called a carburet of iron. Carbon is indestructible by age, and preserves its identity in all the combinations into which it enters. Carbonic acid gas is a combination of carbon and oxygen. It is found in a state of combination with lime, forming limestone, marble, and chalk; and may be separated from them by heat, or by means of the mineral acids. This gas, which was forwhich was for merly called fixed air, is found in mines, caves, the bottoms of wells, wine cellars, brewers' vats, and in the neighbourhood of lime-kilns. It is known to miners by the name of the choke-damp, and too frequently runs on deadly errands. It extinguishes flame and animal life. It is the heaviest of all the gases; being nearly twice the weight of common air, and twenty times the weight of hydrogen. It may, therefore, be poured from one vessel to another; and if a small quantity of it be poured upon a lighted taper, it will be instantly extinguished. It is a

powerful antiseptic, or preserver from putrefaction. Meat which has been sealed up in it (says Mr. Parkes) has been known to have preserved its texture and appearance for more than twenty years. There is no substance of more importance in civilized life than the different forms of Carbon. "In nature," says Sir. H. Davy, "this element is constantly active in an important series of operations. It is evolved in fermentation and combustion, in carbonic acid; it is separated from oxygen in the organs of plants ; it is a principal element in animal structures; and is found in different forms in almost all the products of organized beings."

Sulphur is a substance which has been known from the earliest ages. It was used by the ancients in medicine, and its fumes have, for more than 2000 years, been employed in bleaching wool. It is found combined with many mineral substances, as arsenic, antimony, copper, and most of the metallic ores. It exists in many mineral waters, and in combination with vegetable and animal matters, but is most abundant in volcanic countries, particularly in the neighbourhood of Vesuvius, Etna, and Hecla in Iceland. It is a solid, opaque, combustible substance, of a pale yellow colour, very brittle, and almost without taste or smell. Its specific gravity is nearly twice that of water; it is a con-conductor of electricity, and, of course, becomes electric by friction. When heated to the temperature of 170° of Fahrenheit's thermometer, it rises up in the form of a fine powder, which is easily collected in a proper vessel, and is named the flowers of sulphur. It is insoluble in water, but may be dissolved in oils, in spirit of wine, and in hydrogen gas. When sulphur is heated to the temperature of 302° in the open air, it takes fire spontaneously, and burns with a pale blue flame, and emits a great quantity of fumes of a strong suffocating odour. When heated to the temperature of 570°, it burns with a bright white flame, and emits a vast quantity of fumes. When these fumes are collected, they are found to consist entirely of sulphuric acid; so that sulphur, by combustion, is converted into an acid. It is the base of several compound substances. It unites with oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus, the alkalies, the metals, and some of the earths. This substance is of great importance in medicine, as it is found to penetrate to the extremities of the most minute vessels, and to impregnate all the secretions. It is also used in the arts, particularly in bleaching and dying; it forms a very large proportion of gunpowder; and one of its most common, but not least usefu! properties, is that of its combustibility, by which, with the help of a tinder-box, light is almost instantaneously produced. As this substance has not yet been decomposed, it is considered by chymists, in the mean time, as one of the simple. substances,

such a diversity of forms, shades, and colours, are ine result of the combinations of "four or five natural substances-caloric, light, water, air, and carbon." "When we consider," says Mr. Parkes, "that the many thousand tribes of vegetables are not only all formed from a few simple substances, but that they all enjoy the same sun, vegetate in the same medium, and are supplied with the same nutriment, we cannot but be struck with the rich economy of Nature, and are almost induced to doubt the evidence of those senses with which the God of nature has furnished us. That it should be possible so to modify and intermingle a few simple substances, and thence produce all the variety of form, colour, odour, &c. which are observable in the different families of vegetables, is a phenomenon too as tonishing for our comprehension. Nothing short of Omnipotence could have provided such a paradise for man.' .”—Chymical Catechism, chap. 9.

Soft roll your incense, herbs, and fruits, and flowers,

In mingled clouds to Him, whose sun exalts, Whose breath perfumes you, and whose pencil paints." Thomson.

What an admirable view is here opened up of the economy of divine wisdom, and of the beneficent care which has been taken to secure the comfort and happiness of every living creature: and how ungrateful a disposition must it indicate in rational beings to overlook such benevolent arrangements! It is highly probable, that in all other worlds disposed throughout the universe an infinite diversity of scenery exists, and that no one globe or system exactly resembles another; and yet, it is probable, that the primary elements of matter, or the few simple substances of which our world is composed, may be of the same nature as those which form the constituent parts of every other system; and may give birth to all the variety which exists throughout the wide extent of creation, and to all the changes and revolutions through which the different systems may pass, during every period of infinite duration.

2. From this science we have every reason to conclude, that matter is indestructible. In the various changes that take place in material substances, the particles of matter are not destroyed, but only assume new forms, and enter into new combinations. When a piece of wood, for example, is burned to ashes, none of its principles are destroyed; the elementary substances of which it was composed are only separated from one another, and formed into new compounds. Carbon, as already stated, appears to be indestructible by age, and to preserve its essential properties in every mode of its existence. That Being, indeed, who created matter at first, may reduce it to nothing when he pleases; but it is highly improbable that his power will ever be interposed to produce this effect; or that any

particle of matter which now exists will ever be annihilated, into whatever new or varied combinations it may enter. When any particular world, or assemblage of material existence, has remained in its original state for a certain period of duration, and accomplished all the ends it was intended to subserve in that state, the materials of which it is composed will, in all probability, be employed for erecting a new system, and establishing a new series of events, in which new scenes, and new beauties and sublimities, will arise from new and varied combinations. the Creator does nothing in vain. But to annihilate, and again to create, would be operating in vain; and we uniformly find, that in all the arrangements of Deity in the present state of things, Nature is frugal and economical in all her proceedings; so that there is no process, when thoroughly investigated, that appears unnecessary or superfluous.

For

From the fact, that matter appears to be indestructible, we may learn, that the Creator may, with the self-same materials which now exist around us, new-model and arrange the globe we inhabit, after the general conflagration, so as to make a more glorious world to arise out of its ashes; purified from those physical evils which now exist; and fitted for the accommodation either of renovated men, or of other pure intelligences. From the same fact, combined with the consideration of the infinite diversity of effects which the simple substances of nature are capable of producing, we may be enabled to form a conception of the ease with which the Creator may new-model our bodies, after they have been dissolved in the dust; and how, from the same originai atoms, he may construct and adorn them with more glorious forms and more delightful and exquisite senses than they now possess.

In short, the rapid progress which chymical science is now making, promises, ere long, to introduce improvements among the human race, which will expand their views of the agency of God, counteract many physical evils, and promote, to an extent which has never yet been experienced, their social and domestic enjoyment. The late discoveries of chymistry tend to convince us, that the properties and powers of natural subjects are only beginning to be discovered. Who could have imagined, a century ago, that an invisible substance is contained in a piece of coal, capable of producing the most beautiful and splendid illumination-that this substance substance may be conveyed, in a few moments, through pipes of several miles in length-and that a city, containing several hundred thousands of inhabitants, may be instantly lighted up by it, without the aid of either wax, oil, or tallow? Who could have imagined, that one of the ingredients of the air we breathe is the principle of combustion that a rod of iron may be made to

ourn with a brilliancy that dazzles the eyes that a piece of charcoal may be made to burn with a white and splendid light, which is inferior only to the solar rays-and that the diamond is nothing more than carbon in a crystallized state, and differs only in a slight degree from a bit of common charcoal? Who could have surmised, that a substance would be discovered, of such a degree of levity, as would have power sufficient to buoy up a number of men to the upper parts of the atmosphere, and enable them to swim, in safety, above the regions of the clouds? These are only specimens of still more brilliant discoveries which will, doubtless, be brought to light by the researches of future generations. We have reason to believe, that the investigations of this science will, in due time, enable us to counteract most of the diseases incident to the human frame; and to prevent many of those fatal accidents to which mankind are now exposed. Davy's safety lamp has already preserved many individuals from destruction, when working in coal mines; and thousands, in after ages, will be indebted to this discovery, for security from the dreadful explosions of hydrogen gas. And, we trust, that the period is not far distant, when specific antidotes to the diseases peculiar to the different trades and occupations in which mankind are employed will be discovered; and the health and vigour of the mass of society be preserved unimpaired, amidst all the processes in which they may be engaged. In fine, the rapid progress of chymical discovery carries forward our views to a period, when man, having thoroughly explored the powers of nature, and subjected them, in some measure, to his control, will be enabled to ward off most of those physical evils with which he is now annoyed, and to raise himself, in some degree, to the dignity and happiness he enjoyed before moral evil had shed its baleful influence on our terrestrial system. Such a period corresponds to many of the descriptions contained in the Sacred Oracles of the millenial state of the church; when social, domestic, moral, and intellectual improvement shall be carried to the utmost perfection which our sublunary station will permit; when wars shall cease; when the knowledge of Jehovah shall cover the earth; when every man shall sit under his vine and fig-tree, without being exposed to the least alarm; and when there shall be nothing to hurt nor destroy throughout the church of the living God. And, therefore, we ought to consider the various discoveries and improvements now going forward in this and other departments of science, as preparing the way for the introduction of this long-expected and auspicious era.

ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY.

The general object of both these sciences is to investigate and describe the structure and

economy of the anima! frame. Anatomy dis sects dead bodies, physiology investigates the functions of those that are living. The former examines the fluids, muscles, viscera, and all the other parts of the human body, in a state of rest, the latter considers them in a state of action.

The parts of the human body have been distinguished into two different kinds-solids and fluids. The solid parts are bones, cartilages, ligaments, muscles, tendons, membranes, nerves, arteries, veins, hair, nails, and ducts, or fine tubular vessels of various kinds. Of these solid parts, the following compound organs consist; the brain and cerebellum; the lungs; the heart the stomach; the liver; the spleen; the pancreas; the glands; the kidneys; the intestines; the mesentery; the larynx; and the organs of sensethe eyes, ears, nose, and tongue. The fluid paris are, the saliva, or spittle, phlegm, serum, the chyle, blood, bile, milk, lympha, urine, the pancreatic juice, and the aqueous humour of the eyes. The human body is divided into three great ca vities-the head; the thorax, or breast; and the abdomen, or belly. The head is formed of the bones of the cranium, and encloses the brain and cerebellum. The thorax is composed of the vertebræ of the back, the sternum, and true ribs ; and contains the heart, the pericardium, the breast, and the lungs. The abdomen is separated from the thorax by means of the diaphragm, which is a fleshy and membranous substance, composed, for the most part, of muscular fibres. This cavity is formed by the lumbar vertebræ, the os sacrum, the ossa innominata, the false ribs, the peritonæum, and a variety of muscles. It encloses the stomach, intestines, omentum, or caul, the liver, pancreas, spleen, kidneys, and urinary bladder. Without attempting any technical description of these different pars, which could convey no accurate ideas to a general reader, I shall merely state two or three facts in relation to the system of bones, muscles, and blood-vessels, as specimens of the wonderful structure of our bodily frame.

The Bones may be regarded as the prop-work or basis on which the human body is constructed. They bear the same relation to the animal system, as the wood-work to a building. They give shape and firmness to the body; they support its various parts, and prevent it from sinking by its own weight; they serve as levers for the muscles to act upon, and to defend the brain, the heart, the lungs, and other vital parts, from external injury. Of the bones, some are hollow, and filled with marrow; others are solid throughout; some are very small others very large; some are round, and others flat; some are plane, and others convex or concave ;—and all these several forms are requisite for the situations they occupy, and the respective functions they have to perform. The spine, or back-bone, consists of 24 vertebræ, or small bones connected together by

cartilages, articulations, and ligaments; of which seven belong to the neck, twelve to the back, and five to the lons. In the centre of each vertebra there is a hole for the lodgment and continuation of the spinal marrow, which extends from the brain to the rump. From these vertebræ the arched bones called ribs proceed; and seven of them join the breast-bone on each side, where they terminate in cartilages, and form the cavity of the thorax or chest. The five lower ribs, with a number of muscles, form the cavity of the abdomen, as above stated. The spine is one of the most admirable mechanical contrivances in the human frame. Had it consisted of only three or four bones, or had the holes in each bone not exactly corresponded and fitted into each other, he spinal marrow would have been bruised, and life endangered at every bending of the body. The skull is composed of ten bones, and about 51 are reckoned to belong to the face, the orbits of the eyes, and the jaws in which the teeth are fixed. There are seldom more than 16 teeth in each jaw, or 32 in all. The number of bones in a human body is generally estimated at about 245; of which there are reckoned, in the skull, head, and face, 61; in the trunk, 64; in the arms, and hands, 60, in the legs, and feet, 60. The bones are provided with ligaments or hinges, which bind and fasten them together, and prevent them from being displaced by any violent motion; and, that the ligaments may work smoothly into one another, the joints are separated by cartilages or gristles, and provided with a gland for the secretion of oil or mucus, which is constantly exuding into the joints; so that every requisite is provided by our benevolent Creator, to prevent pain, and to promote facility of motion. "In considering the joints," says Dr. Paley, "there is nothing, perhaps, which perhaps, which ought to move our gratitude more than the reflection, how well they wear. A limb shall swing upon its hinge or play in its socket many hundred times in an hour, for 60 years together, without diminution of agility; which is a long time for any thing to last-for any thing so much worked as the joints are."

The Muscular System.-A muscle is a bundle of fleshy, and sometimes of tendinous fibres. The fleshy fibres compose the body of the muscle; and the tendinous fibres the extremities. Some muscles are long and round; some plain and circular; some are spiral, and some have straight fibres. Some are double, having a tendon running through the body from head to tail; some have two or more tendinous branches running through, with various rows and orders of fibres. All these, and several other varieties, are essentially requisite for the respective offices they have to perform in the animal system. The muscles constitute the fleshy part of the human body, nd give it that varied and beautiful form we ob serve over all its surface. But their principal

design is to serve as the organs of motion. They are inserted, by strong tendinous extremities, into the different bones of which the skeleton is composed; and, by their contraction and distention, give rise to all the movements of the body. The muscles, therefore, may be considered as so many cords attached to the bones, and the Author of nature has fixed them according to the most perfect principles of mechanism, so as to produce the fittest motions in the parts for the movement of which they are intended.

One of the most wonderful properties of the muscles is, the extraordinary force they exert, although they are composed of such slender threads or fibres. The following facts, in relation to this point, are demonstrated by the celebrated Borelli, in his work, "De Motu Animalium." When a man lifts up with his teeth a weight of 200 pounds; with a rope fastened to the jaw-teeth, the muscles named temporalis and masseter, with which people chew, and which perform this work, exert a force of above 15,000lbs. weight. If any one' hanging his arm directly downwards lifts a weight of 20 pounds, with the third or last joint of his thumb, the muscle which bends the thumb and bears that weight exerts a force of about three thousand pounds. When a man, standing upon his feet, leaps or springs upwards to the height of two feet, if the weight of such a man be 150 pounds, the muscles employed in that action will exert a force 2000 times greater; that is to say, a force of about three hundred thousand pounds. The heart, at each pulse or contraction, by which it protrudes the blood out of the arteries into the veins, exerts a force of above a hundred thousand pounds. Who can contemplate this amazing strength of the muscular system, without admiration of the power and wisdom of the Creator, who has thus endued a bundle of threads, each of them smaller than a hair, with such an astonishing degree of inechanical force! There have been reckoned about 446 muscles in the human body, which have been dissected and distinctly described; every one of which is essential to the performance of some one motion or other, which contributes to our ease and enjoyment; aud, in most instances, a great number of them is required to perform their different functions at the same time. It has been calculated, that about a hundred muscles are employed every time we breathe. "Breathing with ease," says Dr. Paley, "is a blessing of every moment; yet, of all others, it is that which we possess with the least consciousness. A man in an asthma is the only man who knows how to estimate it."

The Heart and Blood-vessels.-The heart is a hollow muscular organ, of a conical shape, and consists of four distinct cavities. The two largest are called ventricles, and the two smallest auricles. The ventricles send out the blood to the arteries; the auricles receive it from the