make nests for themselves, by spinning webs, rolling up leaves, and various other operations; but these are trifling labours compared with the labours of the birds; and while they are in the state of caterpillars, the state in which birds feed most abundantly upon them, they have no labour to perform but such as tends to the maintenance of the individual. The labour, if labour it can be called, which is the mere depositing of their eggs, is, in the annual ones, performed in the previous Autumn; so that one may say, that those eggs have no more self-exertion in coming to maturity than a seed has in sprouting or a fruit in ripening.

The more abundant that insects and small animals. are during the breeding season of birds, as compared with what they are at other times of the year, the more completely are they seasonal; and the less labour is required of any one single species for the production of their myriads. They are the children of the season, called forth by the general warmth of the sun; and if that warmth did not come upon them and excite them, they would lie dormant for centuries, indeed for ever. It is true that every germ is from a parent, for without this there can be no production of even the smallest animal; but still the germ would be nothing availing without the excitement of the season. We must not, therefore, be too severe upon the ancients, ignorant as they were of the true nature of God, and his attributes and superintending providence, for having conjectured that the actual production of these creatures was equivocal or spontaneous, resulting from the influence of

the sun upon the mud as its first origin-for this is what is seen; and without the knowledge of the truth, that there can be no species of creature without creation by God, there was nothing to induce or guide men to the previous and obscure part of the insects' history, until God had revealed himself in his word.

CHAPTER IX.

INFLUENCE OF THE SPRING UPON MAN AND HIS

LABOURS.

THE reviving energy of the Spring has a different influence upon man from what it has upon any other member of the terrestrial creation. This follows from the compound nature of man. As possessing a material and mortal body, he is as much under the influence of the sun, and of every other natural cause and agent of the seasons, as any other creature formed of flesh and blood. But as possessing an immortal spirit, which is not matter, nor subject to any of the laws of matter, he is beyond or above the influence of natural causes. It is true that the mind sympathizes in every sensation of the body, whether pleasurable or painful, constantly, though in a manner so mysterious, that we cannot understand it any more than we can understand the connexion between the two parts of our compound nature. The mind seems to mourn under the anguish of the body, and to be uplifted in the body's enjoyments. But, notwithstanding this, we cannot believe that the mind in itself undergoes the slightest change; for being simple and immortal, and beyond the action of every

physical agency, however great, we know of nothing that can change it, but the power of that Almighty One to whom it owes its being. Consequently, it must be in the connexion between the two, that this apparent sympathy of the mind with the body lies. When we say that the mind is energetic and happy, all that we can mean is, that the impressions of the body are imparted to it, freely and fully. When we say that the mind desponds, or sinks down under the pressure of any bodily state, all that we can mean is, that some physical derangement of the body, or some distraction of the senses from their proper objects and mode of working, prevents it from conveying to the mind those clear and forcible perceptions which it conveys when healthy and composed. In like manner when in the extreme decrepitude of human life, or under the pressure of severe and long protracted disease, we say that the mind is enfeebled, or that it is gone, all that we can mean is, that the frail body is so exhausted that it can no longer act the part of that ready and obedient servant to the mind, which it did in the days of health and vigour.

These are distinctions which we must constantly bear in mind, when we would examine the influence which any season, state, or change of the physical world has upon man; because, if we omit the distinction, we necessarily judge of man as of the beasts that perish, and consequently our judgment is erroneous.

In this compound nature, man has an advantage over every other terrestrial creature, which is immeasurably great; for it does not differ in degree merely,

it differs in kind. The human body, taking it in all its organization, is the most perfect body in animated nature. Of other living creatures, some excel it in one particular faculty or capacity, and some in another; but there is none which, throughout the whole frame, is furnished with such general sensibility, or of which the senses, whether seated in particular organs, or partaken in by all parts of the system, are capable of bringing in so much and so varied information. The eye of the eagle, for instance, is more keen than the eye of man, and it [discerns a little animal down in the valley, from a height above the mountain-top, from which man could with difficulty discern any but large objects. But the eye of the eagle, notwithstanding all its keenness, has no perception of the beauty of that landscape which it commands from its lofty post in the sky. The eagle is said, incorrectly no doubt, but still it is said, to be capable of gazing on the sun. But even were it true, as it is not, the eagle's gaze could never make the slightest effort toward determining the distance or the magnitude of that luminary, or its influence upon the economy of the earth. The bloodhound can track the prey upon the slot, with a certainty and a perseverance which are perfectly incomprehensible to us; but he has no perception of fragrance, and no knowledge of that which is delightful or offensive to the smell; for he will pass the sweetest flowers with the most perfect indifference, to proceed eagerly upon the scent of tainted carrion. is the same in the case of every animal: all their senses and faculties contribute merely to the preservation of

It