it is that they may contribute to the greater perfection of the whole. In order to judge of the works of the Lord, and to acknowledge the wisdom of them, they must not be considered only in one point of view, but taken in the whole. Many things we think hurtful, are notwithstanding certainly of use. Others appear superfluous; and yet, if they were wanting, they would leave a void in the plan of the creation. How many things appear to us insignificant, only because we do not know the real use of them! Put a loadstone into the hands of a man who does not know its virtue, sand he will scarce deign to look at it; but tell him that we owe to that stone the progress of navigation, and the discovery of a new world, and be will then be of a very different opinion. It is the same with respect to a million of things which we despise, or judge ill of, because we do not know the use of them, nor see the connection they have with the whole.

Lord! The earth is full of thy blessings; every thing that is upon it or under it. The very dust is planned with wisdom!

ALL observation confirms to us that the moon has a particular motion of turning round the earth from west to east. For after having placed itself between us and the sun, it retires from under that body, and continues to go back towards the east, changing from day to day the place of rising. At the end of fifteen days it will have reached the most eastern part of the horizon at the time the sun sets with us. It is then in opposition. In the evening it rises above our horizon when the sun retires below it, and it sets in the morning about the time the sun rises. If, then, it continues to describe the circle which it has half finished round the earth, it removes visibly from its point opposite to the sun, it will draw nearer to the sun, and will appear later than when in opposi. tion, till by degrees it will only be seen a little before sun rise. The revolution of the moon round the earth explains why it rises and sets at such different times, and why its phases are so various, and yet so regular. Every body knows that a globe illuminated by the sun, or by a flambeau, can only receive the light directly on one side. We perceive, at first sight, that the moon is a globe which receives its light from the sun.When, therefore, it is in conjunction, that is to say, placed between the sun and us, it turns all its illumined side towards the sun, and its dark side towards us, and is then of course invisible. It rises and sets with the sun in the same region of the sky. This is what we call new moon, or the conjunction. But when the moon retires from under the sun, and goes back towards the east, it has then no longer all its dark side turned towards us; a small part of it, a little border of the lighted half, begins to appear. This illumi. ned border we see on the right-side towards sunset, or even before it. The horns of this crescent turn to the left, or facing the east. The farther the moon removes from the sun, the more visible it becomes to us. At the end of seven days, when it has reached a quarter of its course round the earth, it discovers more and more of its illunined side till it shews us half of it. The light

part is then turned towards the sun, and the dark. part casts no light on us. Exactly half the moon is then illumined. The half of that half can only be the quarter of the whole globe, and it is in reality this quarter which appears to us. The moon is then in its first quarter. By degrees as the moon removes from the sun, and as the earth comes between them, the more of that part of the moon which faces us becomes light. At the end of seven days, reckoning from the first quarter, it is almost directly opposite to the sun, and then its whole illumined disk presents itself to us. It then rises in the east exactly at the moment the sun sets in the west, and we have a full moon. Next day the lighted half is already a little turned from us, and we no longer see it at all. The light gradually leaves the western side, extending itself in proportion on the half not fa⚫cing the earth. This is the decrease of the moon, and the more it goes forward, the more the dark. side increases, till at last half the dark side is turned towards the earth, aud consequently half the light side. It has then the form of half a circle, and is what we call the last quarter.

By the admirable harmony which subsists be tween the motion of this planet on its own axis, and its course round the sun, it so happens, that the moon still shows us the same half of a globe which it has shewn since the beginning of the world. During so many thousands of years, this * globe has constantly, and without deviating from the same course, finished its revolution in 27 days and eight hours. Regularly, and at the same periods, it has lighted sometimes our nights, and sometimes those of remotecountries. With how much goodness has it pleased Divine Wisdom to grant to our carth a faithful companion to light almost

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half our nights! Alas! we are not properly sensible of the value of this wise plan of the Creator. But there are people who are more so than us, and to whom this light is indispensible. They must certainly be more grateful for this blessing than we generally are.

The continual changes of the moon, both in respect to its phases and its course, are lively images of the revolutions to which all earthly things. are liable. Sometimes health, spirits, plenty, and a thousand other blessings, concur to make us happy, and we walk in a blaze of light, to express it so; but, at the end of a few days, all this. splendour vanishes, and there remains only the sad remembrance of having enjoyed those frail bless-ings. How ardently therefore ought we to wish to go from this uncertain world, to those happy regions where every blessing will appear to us so much the more valuable, as they will never be subject to change.

JULY XIV.

MINERAL WATERS.

WHETHER we consider mineral waters in respect to their formation, or the benefit that accrues to us from them, they are certainly vaInable blessings bestowed upon us by God. But even the places where these salutary springs flow are seldom what they ought to be, places consecrated to praise and gratitude towards Heaven.. Let the following reflections make us more grateful to our heavenly Benefactor: In the first place, are not the springs from whence we draw the common salt to season our food, worthy our attention?

It is probable that these springs originate from the mineral salt, which the waters dissolve under ground. The mineral hot baths are not less remarkable: There is not only so great a number of them, that in Germany alone they reckon about six score, but they are also so hot, that it is necessary to let the water cool for twelve, and sometimes eighteen hours, before they are fit to bathe in. What is the cause of this extraordinary heat? It certainly is not the sun; for if it were, the waters would only preserve their heat in the daytime when the sun shines, and they would grow cold in the night or in winter. Neither can it be attributed to subterraneous fires; for then it would still be necessary to account for the medicinal virtue of these baths. The most simple cause we can give is this, that the waters, passing through ground mixed with sulphur, fire-stones, and metals, acquire this degree of heat. When the water falls on those quarries, the sulphureous and ferruginous particles which it dissolves, heat and take fire by the friction and re-action of their principles, and communicate this heat to the water. Medicinal waters, particularly the acids, are produced by the dissolving and mixing with the minerals they wash away. They are found particularly in places where there is abundance of irón, copper, sulphur, or charcoal. This is the reason there is such difference both in the effect and taste of them, in proportion as they are more or less mixed with these. They are bitter when they are produced by bitter roots, saltpetre, or copper. They are cold when they come out of rocks, or are impregnated with sal-ammoniac, salt-petre, alum, &c. Oily and bituminous substances. make them oleaginous; brimstone, mixed with

acids, makes them sulphureous.

Let

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