has been a stumbling-block to many eminent writers, is thus ingeniously cleared up by our author. 6 "The light of which Moses speaks in the first day, 'proceeded from the same solar fountain of light' that has always illuminated this world, but ignorance on the one hand, and system and hypothesis on the other, have variously contrived to perplex or pervert this simple recital.' The late Sir William Herschel discovered that the body of the sun is an opaque substance, and that its light and heat proceed from a luminous atmosphere attached to its surface. "So that the creation of the sun as a part of the host of heaven,' does not necessarily imply the creation of light, and conversely, the creation of light does not necessarily imply the creation of the body of the sun. In the first creation of the heaven and the earth,' therefore, not the planetary orbs only, but the solar orb itself, was created in darkness, awaiting that light which by one simple divine operation was to be communicated at once to all. When, then, the almighty word, in commanding light, commanded the first illumination of the solar atmosphere, its new light was immediately caught and reflected throughout space, by all the mem-' bers of the planetary system. And well may we imagine, that, in that first sudden and magnificent illumination of the universe, The morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy !"" "The body of the sun itself, however, or rather its luminous atmosphere, was still concealed from the earth by the waters on its surface, and the exhalations which the sun's heat raised from them. It was not till the fourth day, that the cause of light was to be visibly revealed to the earth. But its effects, and the alternation of light and darkness, subsisted from the first day, when both the solar fountain of light was opened in the heavens, and the earth received its first impulse of rotation on its axis, and in its orbit:' and consequently, time, which only exists in reference to that revolution, began with the creation of the globe, and the commencement of its revolution in darkness; and the creation of light succeeded at that proportion of distance in time, which was thenceforth to constitute the petual diurnal divisions of the two." 66 per The philosophy of Bacon and Newton is in perfect unison with the sound learning and criticism of Rosenmuller, and concurs with him in concluding, that the days of creation were not, as the chaos of the mineral geology requires, indefinite measures of time, but natural days-beginning from one evening, and ending with the next; and he equally coincides with those illustrious men in reprobating, in the strongest terms, the preposterous inference of a chaos from the language of Moses. "The division of the waters from the waters,' by the firmament, is explained to mean the separation of the watery vapours from the waters covering the earth, by the creation and interposition of the aërial atmosphere; but this vapour, in the form of congregated clouds, still prevented the sun itself from being visible. "The mode of the gathering together of the waters into one place,' on the third day, forms a remarkable feature in our author's exposition of the sacred text. This he considers to have been effected by a violent disruption and depression of the solid parts, which were to be deepened, in order to form the bed of the sea, into which the waters were now to be collected. "The solid framework or skeleton of the globe' was therefore, burst, fractured, and subverted, in all those places where depression was to produce the profundity; and it carried down with it, in apparent confusion, vast and extensive portions of the materials which had been regularly deposited or com pacted upon it, leaving other portions partially dislocated and variously distorted from their primitive positions. So that the order of the materials of the globe, which, in the reserved, unaltered, and exposed portion, retained their first positions and arrangement, was broken, displaced, and apparently confounded in the other portion, which was to receive within it the accumulated waters." On the same day, the newly-exposed portion was, by the immediate creative act of God, covered with the maturity of vegetation-'the herb yielding seed, and the tree yielding fruit,' each after its kind, in complete and instantaneous perfection. On the fourth day, the clouds were dispelled and the sun became visible in the heavens, in the full manifestation of its effulgence.' The moon also became visible on this day, that js, on the third evening of the earth's revolution, according to common computation, which answers to the fourth evening of the Mosaical day, or Nycthemeron. Thus the Creator re served the exposure of his heavenly calendar, for the day when the planet which, by his own laws, was to rule the night, had acquired by those same laws the position which first enabled it to display its domination.' Whence we infer, that at the moment of their creation on the first day, the sun and moon were in that particular relation to the earth, which astronomy calls inferior conjunction, and that in its diurnal revolution they first acquired, by their separation, that relative aspect which qualified them to be manifested together, as the two great indices of annual and menstrual time, but for which manifestation, both would not have been prepared on an earlier day?' Thus the first day of creation was the first day of the first solar year, and the first day of the first lunar month; and, as we learn afterwards, by the sanctification of the seventh day, the first day of the first week; and it is sufficiently manifest, from the concurring authorities of learning and philosophy, that the solar light which, upon the fourth day of creation, was transmitted immediately and optically from the solar orb, was the same light that, during the three preceding days, had been transmitted through a nebulous medium, interposed between it and the earth.' "But we must forbear to travel thus, step by step, with our author; and, painful as the exertion is to quit even for a short time so delightful a companion, we must leave him to comment alone on the great events which yet remained to be accom plished in the fifth and sixth days, namely, the creation of the animal kingdom, closing full in man,' each individual in full maturity and perfection, by the immediate and instantaneous act of God; and to shew, in the concluding chapter of this part, how positively the philosophy of Bacon and Newton decides the first great question, the mode of first formations, in favour of the Mosaical geology. One important fact, however, we must remind the reader to keep in his recollection, viz. the structure of the bed of that ocean, on whose ruptured slimy bottom were now deposited, in abundance, marine matter of every kind, vegetable and animal, and which continued to increase, in a multiple ratio, during a period of more than sixteen centuries. (To be continued.) BOTANY. The following were the principal plants in flower, in the Bo tanic Garden, Serampore, in January 1824. Monandria Monogynia. Canna indica, Can. polymorpha, Can. latifolia, Can. coccinea, Can. coccinea maculata, Can. nepalensis, Can. limbata ;* Lopezia mexicana.† Diandria Monogynia.-Jasminum Zambac, Jasm. pubescens; Justitia Adhatoda, Jus. speciosa. Triandria Monogynia.-Gladiolus segetus; Antholyza æthiopica; Iris sibiria. Tetrandria Monogynia.-Spermacoce tenuior, Sp. teres. Pentandria Monogynia.-Porana paniculata; Lettsomia splendens, Lett. strigosa; Convolvulus gangeticus, Con. purpureus, Con. bicolor; Ipomoea sepiarea, Ip. phenicia, Ip. pes *Most of these plants are in flower the whole year. The Cannæ amount to twelve species, all of which, except two, have been introduced since the year 1818. + This plant appears to have been introduced in 1809, but was immediately lost, and has been again introduced, during the past year, from North America. tigridis, 1p Quamoclit; Campanula bononiensis; Coffea arabica, Cof. bengalensis; Paederia foetida; Datura Stramonium, Dat. Metel; Nicotiana Tabacum, Nic. angustifolia, Nic. petiolata; Physalis flexuosa; Solanum spirale, Sol. Melongena, Sol. hirsutum; Cedrela Toona;* Mangifera indica, Man. oppositifolia; Viola primulifolia, Vio. cucullata; Impatiens Balsamina; Celosia argentea, Cel. cristata, Cel. comosa, Cel. cernua, Cel. nodiflora; Allamanda cathartica. Hexandria Monogynia-Pittcairnia angustifolia; Narcissus orientalis, Nar. Tazetta; Crinum erubescens; Hymenocallis caribbea, Hym. speciosa; Lilium concolor; Asparagus racemosus; Scilla romana; Albuca vittata; Hippeastrum Johnsoni, Hip rutilo-equestri-vittatum; Hypoxis stellata; Lachenalia quadricolor. Octandria Monogynia.-Tropaeolum majus. Decandria Monogynia.-Bauhinia variegata; Tribulus lanuginosus; Dianthus asper, Dian. discolor; Oxalis cernua, Ox. variabilis. Icosandria Monogynia.-Cactus Toona. Icosandria Polygynia.-Rosa chinensis, Ros. centifolia, Ros. semperflorens; Mesembrianthemum cordifolium; Potentilla argentea. Polyandria Monogynia.-Papaver somniferum, Pap. dubium, Pap. Rhocas; Argemone mexicana. Polyandria Trigynia.-Delphinium Ajacis. Didynamia Gymnospermia.-Lavandula multifida; Stachy annua; Leonotis leonurus. Didynamia Angiospermia-Penstemon campanulata; Maurandia semperflorens; Celsia coromandeliana; Thunbergia fragrans; Lantana aculeata. Monodelphia Heptandria-Pelargonium inquinans; Malva hispanica; Malachra capitata, Mal. heptaphylla; Hibiscus esculentus; Achania pilosa. ** The first tree that produces its leaves in the Spring; the buds frequently opening in December, |