standing merely upon the threshold of its newly-opened portal, if he temper his little knowledge with humility, he may witness and understand many of the gigantic and refined operations therein proceeding, under the guiding and protecting hand of Almighty God, for maintaining the regularity and order of the Four Seasons.
The most prominent features of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, may be thus briefly enumerated:In Spring the earth is covered with verdure; buds and blossoms vary and adorn its surface; soft showers descend; the air is clear; sunshine glads the heavens, and steadily increases in power unto the fervent glow of Summer; then, generally speaking, vegetation has attained its fullness; the earth is crowned with foliage and flowers; the fields are becoming ripe for the sythe and sickle; and soon the sultry noon-tide heat, the refreshing night dew and the lowering thunder-cloud, herald the advent of Autumn; it comes, laden with purple fruit and golden grain; it yields its bounteous store; it passes, and then sunshine is pale and languid, winds are bleak and cold, trees become leafless, streams are fast bound with ice, hoar-frost and snow form the winter mantle of the earth.
These Four Seasons, these miraculous changes in the aspect of the globe, these definite periods of Germination, of Growth, of Maturity, and of Repose, familiar to all men, yet unheeded by many, present the votary of chemistry with magnificent illustrations of facts regarding the powers and properties of matter, which he has discovered upon a minor scale by experiments in his laboratory.
To him, who comes with a mind duly prepared and fitted to the business of the interpretation of Nature, in accordance with the axioms of Inductive Philosophy,