instruction, and of the complete and satisfactory nature of the conclusions which it evolves, but overlooking the difference in the nature of the truths on which science and religion are respectively engaged, and the fact that the discoveries of the former are but steps in a preparatory process, the value of which consists mainly in its aiding to develope the practical fruits of the latter-has suffered his faculties to become so engrossed and confined in the narrow limits of sense, and the apprehension of objects within his immediate grasp, as not to recognise the existence of any creature beyond the confines of his own knowledge and experience,-becoming, as it were, blind to the teeming millions that people the illimitable regions of space, expanding on every side, and amidst which his own insignificant acquirements are but as a sand-grain in the sea, a gasp of breath in the infinitude of eternity!

Happily, however, such examples are rare; and will doubtless become rarer still, as the proper positions of both parties are better understood: for surely never idea was more delusive than that Science and Religion are naturally hostile to each other. That "ignorance is the mother of devotion" is indeed so pitiful a thought, as we conceive but few can now entertain: it is such at least as none would venture to avow. But we apprehend that in many minds, whose piety demands our respect, and whose scrupulous concern for the interests of truth is to be commended, there still dwells a lingering consciousness of dread for the possible consequences of that bold and unflinching spirit of investigation and decision, which characterizes the scientific tendencies of the age. Knowledge, we know, is power; and like every other description of power, is capable of being converted to good or evil purposes. Science is now no longer content timidly to creep along the flowery, but narrow paths of childhood; she no longer submits to be led by the tender, but steadfast hand of parental guidance, but with all the wild eagerness of youth, longs to stretch forth her arm-to pluck the goodliest of flowers to roam the most inviting fields-to penetrate the most entangled forests-to dive the deepest valleys, and mount the highest alps, with no other spirit for her guide, than her own fearless recklessness of resolve with no other law for her restraint or control, than the utter insatiableness of her own desire. But any fear on this point may be moderated by the consideration that imperfect science carries with it its own antidote, in the confusion and discomfiture ever attendant on ignorance and imposture; and that no legitimate interpretation of natural phenomena can by possibility be opposed to any correct exposition of scriptural revelation, seeing that both are equally enunciations of the same divine author; and that if any discrepancy should appear between them, it must be because it is by human reason alone that the meaning of each is, and must after all be determined. Nor does Science occupy merely neutral ground: its results are often strongly corroborative of Scripture statement and truth. Respecting the creation the most extravagant and improbable conjectures were received as truth by the heathen philosophers; some of whom held, among other absurdities, that the world was formed by the spontaneous copulation, or cohesive attractions of atoms-which their own fancy created as occasion required; others, that it was a thinking animal, having a mind, which made-se et ipsam-both itself and it ;-and all, who were not professed atheists, believing it to be very God! Scripture, however, declares it to have been the work of God-to have been created "without form and void," that is in a state widely different from the present-to have been

subsequently made capable of supporting animal existence-and finally made the abode of man himself,-all which has been most strikingly and abundantly confirmed by the recent discoveries of Geological Science; it being now universally admitted as an established truth, capable of rigid demonstration, quite independently of Scripture testimony, that the world must have undergone all these several stages of progression before it became the seat of the human race. Equally satisfactory, and not less valuable, are the physical proofs of the deluge, which the same noble Science so plentifully supplies. To Science, too, we are indebted for those beautiful investigations, which have so triumphantly established the authority of revelation, by demonstrating the proud pyramids of Egypt to be themselves monuments to the veracity of the Hebrew record; and the statements of even heathen historians to be confirmatory of the prophecies and narratives of the sacred writers, whose language and dialect, philology further enables us to show are such as have been neither spoken nor written at any other periods than those at which the several works profess to have been composed;-all of these circumstances affording strong and scientific proofs of the genuineness, truth, and philosophical accuracy of their inspired productions. Nor has Science vainly attempted to cope with superstition in proving the general course of providence to be in strict accordance with natural laws neither the offspring of chance, nor the working of a blind and unmeaning necessity-but the intelligent government of a God! The doctrine, now generally received, that every event in the physical, organic, and moral worlds, takes place by virtue of such laws, operating with absolute uniformity in that particular department of nature, but with as perfect independence of the other two, is perhaps, when considered in all its bearings, and all the applications of which it is susceptible, the most important that the human mind, unaided by the light of inspiration, has ever attained. As connected with our present purpose, it may be sufficient to instance the happy solution which Science here gives of one of the most perplexing difficulties in the way of practical religion;-viz., the apparent inequality of the divine dispensations, in not unfrequently afflicting the most pious and consistent Christians with the greatest amount of physical suffering and misfortune. Even to the eye of faith, this wears the appearance of "inscrutable mystery;" while to that of scepticism it is positive injustice or cruel caprice. But when we learn that physical happiness is to be secured only by a corresponding conformity to physical laws, and that the most perfect obedience to moral requirements is of no avail, so long as this condition is unobserved, we see at once that our happiness or unhappiness, so far as it respects the present life, is determined chiefly by our own conduct in relation to the circumstances in which we are placed; and we are enabled to perceive the reason and the justice, though we cannot comprehend the motive, or the end of this arrangement:—and all again seems equable and divine. Science, moreover, enables us in some measure to apprehend the theory of Christian duty, by demonstrating the course of conduct it prescribes to be precisely that which produces the greatest amount of happiness-here, as well as hereafter-a conclusion, which, it must be owned, is strongly in favour of its divine original-and that consequently the requirements of religion are not merely arbitrary exactions, but really wise and benevolent institutions, and not less conducive to our own true enjoyment, than to the honour of the Deity whom we profess to worship and obey. Such are a few of the special services which modern Science

has rendered to the cause of Christianity; although perhaps cultivated extensively with a view to very different results. Of how much more value then may we suppose such an agency capable of becoming in the hands of men devoted to the interests of truth, and as earnestly intent on achieving that sublime of human lore

"To vindicate the ways of God to man!"

But, irrespective of these particular adaptations of scientific truths to the purposes of religion, the general effects of Science on the minds and manners of men are such as to render its extensive diffusion a most important and powerful auxiliary to the direct inculcation of Christian doctrine and duty. Foremost among these beneficial influences, must be ranked its pacific tendency. Science and Christianity are indeed equally bound up in the cause of peace-which they severally serve to promote and nourish, as by it they are protected and fostered in return. To the calm and contemplative pursuits of the one, or the mild and gracious precepts of the other, what can we conceive more hostile and destructive than contentiousness and war? The Roman poet doubtless spoke the result both of his own experience and observation, when he said, that

And if this were true of the scanty measure of Science possessed in his day, with what increased force does the observation apply to the present advanced state of every department of human knowledge? But an enlightened acquaintance with modern Science is capable of effecting much more than the mere refinement of manners. Civilized habits are indeed valuable for their own sake, but chiefly as indications of an educated mind; and this again is invariably accompanied by a corresponding improvement in the moral feelings, tastes, and dispositions. No man's mind can be made the receptacle of lofty and ennobling truths, without his heart becoming at the same time the depository of more pure and generous emotions. It is impossible for any one to become familiar with the many beautiful and instructive discoveries of Science, without having his conceptions of the power and wisdom of the Deity enlarged and refined; or without being led to perceive on every hand new and striking evidences of his benevolence in adapting the constitutions of his creatures to the circumstances in which they are to live, and in providing for their various necessities and wants, as well as of his perfect justice and fairness in administering the government of the universe at large. Nor can any one contemplate the various applications of these discoveries to purposes of usefulness and economy, or of sanitary protection, without being inclined to take brighter and more kindly views of life-without feeling himself a happier, as well as wiser, man-without becoming conscious of a new source of sympathy with all ranks and classes of humanity. Look, for instance, at that unpretending, yet truly noble instrument-the miner's safety-lamp,-carrying light and life, and industry, into the very bowels of the earth, and setting the most rebellious spirits of nature at defiance. Look at steam-generating itself— annihilating time and space-bringing seas and continents together-grinding rocks to powder, and even converting, with electric speed, water itself into fire-every way working wonders-and, Christianity alone excepted, operating as the most powerful means for the promotion of social progress and civilization that the world has ever witnessed. Next look at the

press, that most noble of human inventions,-giving permanence to the evanescence of fancy, and body to the spirituality of thought

"to airy nothing,

A local habitation, and a name:"

preserving the wisdom and experience of past ages as our own, and waiting to transmit our present conceptions and characteristics to future times,informing the ignorant, gratifying the learned, and benefitting all. Contemplate these triumphs of mind over refractory matter; investigate their origin, and the causes which have combined to their production; study their history, and examine the principles on which they rest; then look at the recent, and still increasing, accessions to that class of phenomena, which Science demonstrates to be guided by the operation of certain fixed and ascertainable laws; consider further the admirable simplicity, the uniformity and universality of these natural requirements; their wonderful adaptation to the purposes of human economy and happiness, and their perfect harmony with the divine institutions of providence and grace; and then say whether we have not here evidences of an agency of incalculable power, of inestimable value, and an importance that can scarcely be overrated-placed by God himself in human hands, as if for the express purpose of awakening mankind to a sense of their true position, in relation both to the world and himself, and at the same time of furnishing them with a principal means of attaining it. We have seen some of the wonders which Science has already accomplished, so that its power is unquestioned; we have seen the great and growing influence it bids fair to exercise over the conduct and opinions of men; its importance, therefore, cannot be denied: we have seen too that its tendencies are of the most beneficial kind, and not less conducive to the physical improvement, than the moral regeneration of mankind; hence its value is determined.

These then are the grounds on which we would rest the claims of Science, to be considered the grand coadjutor of Christianity; and on which we would commend it to all who are concerned in spreading the pure and holy doctrines of the latter, as the most natural and efficient means they can possibly use to awaken and interest the irreligious mind, and thus bring it within the sphere of Christian operations, and, by suitable preparatory culture, render it more disposed to the reception of sublimer, though congenial, truths. But while we look upon this as the natural course, far be it from us to assert the erroneous doctrine that Religion should stand idly by till Science has performed her part in the work of reformation: it is only by co-operating as fellow-labourers, that either can secure complete success. The tree of knowledge may indeed strike its roots deep into the fastnesses of earth, but it is by the sunbeams and dew of heaven that its fruit must be matured and ripened; and although the seed of the word be sown in the hearts of the children of men,-unless the hand of the husbandman has been also diligent in preparing the soil for its reception,-the bounteous showers of heaven will haply descend upon the thorns and brambles, instead of the tender plant, which they choke in its fruitless efforts to reach the light and liberty of day. But when the votaries of Science shall aim at rendering their discoveries the means of advancing and illustrating divine truth, and the recognised teachers of sacred things shall likewise enforcé the precepts of a sound philosophy with the sanctions of religion, then may we hope that man will assume his station as a rational being, and Christianity achieve her triumph."

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PAPERS ON NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.

CENTRE OF GRAVITY.

WE stated, in a former number, that the attraction of gravitation was to be estimated from the earth's centre, which is in fact the point about which all the other parts balance each other, or "the centre of gravity." This definition equally applies to other bodies. In the case of dense masses, we may support or suspend them by a single point, which we consider to bear all the burden, and therefore term the centre of weight or gravity; and, in the case of liquids, the like might be effected but for their less cohesive attraction. If the centre of gravity be beyond the base of the body-which is ascertained by drawing a perpendicular line from it-its upright position cannot be maintained, and its security may be estimated by the nearness of the perpendicular line to the centre of the base. It is matter of no small moment in many instances rightly to estimate the true position of the centre of gravity, particularly in the case of heavily-laden wagons, which have to traverse rough roads; we frequently observe them, and also stagecoaches, piled to such a height as to endanger the safety of all the travellers. Equally so is it with buildings, only the hazard here is somewhat abated owing to the cohesion subsisting between their several parts, and which will frequently prevent the building from falling, even though the line of direction (as this perpendicular is termed,) be beyond the base. The leaning tower of Pisa is a curious example; and, as an illustration of the nicely-balanced position of the centre of gravity, we cannot give a better than the celebrated Stonehenge.

THE MECHANICAL POWERS.

The powers termed mechanical, are simply contrivances for applying force in the most advantageous manner. In number they are six; and all the movements of nature, whether in reference to anatomy, astronomy, or any other branch of physics, as well as in machinery, produced by art, however complex or intricate, each movement can be reduced to the influence of the lever, the wheel and axle, the pulley, the inclined plane, the wedge, and the screw, and even some of these are but compounded of others. There is a grand axiom to be considered in the application of these powers, viz., "That what is gained in power is lost in time," which however, it must be confessed, is rather an ambiguous definition. We know that the velocity of a body is the rate of its motion over a certain space; and, therefore, we think that this axiom would be more clearly expressed by saying, "That advantage is gained in proportion as the velocity of the power exceeds the velocity of the weight," and vice versa. A few illustrations, as we proceed, will exhibit the truth of this definition.

The first mechanical power then is the lever, of which there are three descriptions. 1st. There is the lever which has the fulcrum between the weight and the power.

Suppose A B to represent a lever, the point c being its centre of motion; on the fulcrum of which, if the lever turn, в comes into the position D, and at the same time A to E. We perceive, in this case, no advantage is gained, because A C, and C B. being equal, they both

D

B