| OCR Text |
Show 88 PRECAUTIONS IN OBS·ERVING NATURE. SECTION IV. Precautions tn observing Nature. THE precautions necessary to be observed iu contemplating the works of nature are very few. It is not necessary to allude to personal safety; because it may be presumed that everybodr ca:r;t attend to that, by keeping out of dangerous situatw~s, and from eating unknown vegetables. But still, there are some prejudices to be avoided, as well as some ueneral laws which must not be violated, else in either case the result of our observation will be error, and not knowledge. However tastes may differ,-and t~stes, whi~h are habits formed by the thoughts runmng more In one direction than in others, are perhaps as often founded in error as in truth,-there is really no urrliness in nature unless it is actually made by the observers themselves. The exercise of the senses, and especially that of the sense of sight, i~ alw~ys pleasing-a gratification, and th~ Only war 111 W~ICh both mind and body can be gratified. It IS gratifyinu because the probability is, that sensation is in jt;~lf a direct renewal of the organ of sense. It is ·Jrobable that the exceedingly small and delicate .,exture in the eye feeds upon and drinks up the eolours of the landscape, or whatever else it sees, ~ n the same manner that the mouth receives food -tnd drink for repairing the genEral waste of '!lo~e rude and common parts of the body ; and 1t IS ~qually probable that the immediate organs of all .,ne other senses receive the same renewal from exercise ; and that. as the eve gets healthy, and fat, and FEEDING THE SENSES. 89 vigorous, by beautiful views, just so does tne ear fatten upon sweet sounds, and the nose upon grateful perfumes. We must not be startled at the immeasurably small quantity which is added, or passes from object to organ in these cases, because supposing that size and weight are necessary for the accomplishment of nature's purposes, and that the purpose effected is in proportion to either of these. are a!llong the prejudices against which we must espeCially guard. In common materials, size and weight are ~o far the mea:Sures of strength, but beyond a certam extent they become weaknesses; and there is an elevation, and not a very high one, to which, if reared, a tower would crush its foundations, though of adamant, or a mountain reduce its granite to dust. But, in all cases where there is natural action, we mt~st bear in mind that size and weight, instead of bemg elements of that action, or assistants to it, are clogs ~nd hinderances, ~nd pr?bably the only clogs and hmderances by which It IS restrained and diminished. It is, indeed, the same in all action, whether natural or artificial. Action is exactly the 5ame thing wi~h Il_lOtion ; and in. all cases of change of matter, which IS the only evidence we can have of action, there is change of place, though in many instances that change is so small that we are unable to perceive it. When brine, that is, water holdinu common salt diss0lved or in a liquid state, is boiled and allow~d to. evapor~te until the salt crystallize~ or forms mto little solid lumps, there is motion in t~c case ; and we can trace the process backward hll we find motion, and motion alone, for which we cannot account. The invisible atoms of salt which were scattered through the clear brine must move towards each other in ?rder to form the little crystals ; a~d the law w h1ch regulates their invisible march 1s as perfect and as uniform as that which regulates the motion of the earth upon its axis or round the sun; for, unless in cases where we can H2 |
