surface were smooth and level, the reflected light would not have been so luminous and diffusive, and the Earth would have been but indifferently supplied with light in the absence of the Sun. But owing to her surface, this inconvenienee is prevented. Her stupendous range of mountains, whose summits rise to an immense height; her lofty, rugged, bare, perpendiculår, and in some parts bold and projecting rocks; her numerous, deep and extensive hollows or cavities containing insular mountains, whose towering tops receive the first rays of the Sun, lofty ridges; or rather mountains, encircling these deep hollows or cavities; all contribute to reflect the rays of the Sun to all sides, and to diffuse light to every part of the Earth in the course of every lunation.

The diameter of the Moon is two thousand one hundred and sixty-one miles; and as solid bodies are to each other as the cubes of their diameters, the magnitude of the Moon is to that of the Earth as one to forty-one.

The Moon is two hundred and forty thousand miles from the centre of the Earth, and moves from any fixed star to the same star, in twenty-seven days, seven hours, forty-three minutes, and eleven seconds. This is called her sideral revolution.

This

Her periodical revolution is the time in which she passes through the twelve signs of the zodiac, or from the equinoctial point to her return to the same. is performed in twenty-seven days, seven hours, fortythree minutes, and four seconds. The difference between her sideral and periodical revolution is caused by the precession of the equinoxes.

Her synodical revolution is the time in which she passes through her different changes, or from one conjunction with the Sun to the other. This is performed in twenty-nine days, twelve hours, forty-four minutes, and two seconds.

PHILIP GARRETT.

Moderation may be considered as a tree of which the root is contentment and the fruit repose.

CABINET OF NATURE.
(Continued.)

VARIETY OF NATURE.

To convey an adequate conception of the number of ideas, as exhibited on the globe in which we live, would baffle the arithmetician's skill, and set his numbers at defiance. We may, however, assist our conceptions a little, by confining our attention to one department of nature; for example,. the ANIMAL KINGDOM. The number of the different species of animals, taking into account those which are hitherto undiscovered, and those which are invisible to the naked eye, cannot be estimated at less than 300,000. In a human body there are reckoned about 446 muscles, in each of which, according to anatomists, there are at least ten several intentions, or due qualifications to be observed-its proper figure, its just magnitude, the right disposition of its several ends, upper and lower, the position of the whole the insertion of its proper nerves, veins, arteries, &c. so that in the muscular system alone, there are 4,460 several ends or aims to be attended to. The bones are reckoned to be in number about 245, and the distinct scopes or intentions of each of these, are above 40; in all, about 9,800; so that the system of bones and muscles alone, without taking any other parts into consideration, amounts to above 14,000 different intentions or adaptions. If now, we suppose, that all the species of animals above stated, are differently constructed, and, taken one with another, contain, at an average, a system of bones and muscles as numerous as in the human body-the number of spcies must be multiplied by the number of different aims or adaptations, and the product will amount to 4,200,000,000. If we were next to attend to the many thousands of blood vessels in an animal body, and the numerous ligaments, membranes, humors, and fluids of various descriptions-the skin with its millions of pores, and every other part of an organical system, with the aims and intentions of each, we should have another sum of many hundreds of millions to be multiplied by the

former product, in order to express the diversified ideas which enter into the construction of the animal world. And, if we still farther consider, that of the hundreds of millions of individuals belonging to each species, no two individuals exactly resemble each other-that all the myriads of vegetables with which the earth is covered, are distinguished from each other, by some one characteristic or another, and that every grain of sand contained in the mountains, and in the bed of the ocean, as shown by the microscope, discovers a different form and configuration from another-we are here presented with an image of the infinity of the conceptions of Him in whose incomprehensible mind they all existed, during countless ages, before the universe was formed.

To overlook this amazing scene of Divine intelligence, or to consider it beneath our notice, as some have done-if it be not the characteristic of impiety, is, at least, the mark of a weak and undiscriminating mind. That man who disregards the visible displays of Infinite Wisdom, or who neglects to investigate them, when opportunity offers, acts as if he considered himself already possessed of a sufficient portion of intelligence, and stood in no need of such sensible assistances to direct his conceptions of the Creator. Pride, and false conceptions of the nature and design of true religion, frequently lie at the foundation of all that indifference and neglect with which the visible works of God are treated, by those who make pretensions to a high degree of spiritual attainments. The truly pious man will trace with wonder and delight, the footsteps of his Father and his God, wherever they appear in the variegated scene of creation around him, and will be filled with sorrow, and contrition of heart, that, amidst his excursions and solitary walks, he has so often disregarded "the works of the Lord, and the operation of his hands."

In fine, the variety which appears on the face of nature, not only enlarges our conceptions of Infinite Wisdom, but is also the foundation of all our discriminations and judgments as rational beings, and is of the most essential utility in the affairs of human society,

Such is the variety of which the features of the human countenance are susceptible, that it is probable that no two individuals, of all the millions of the race of Adam, that have existed since the beginning of time, would be found to resemble each other. We know no two human beings presently existing, however similar to each other, but may be distinguished either by their stature, their forms, or the features of their faces; and on the ground of this dissimilarity, the various wheels of the machine of society move onward, without clashing or confusion. Had it been otherwise-had the faces of men, and their organs of speech, been cast exactly in the same mould, as would have been the case, had the world been framed according to the Epicurean system, by blind chance directing a course of atoms, it might have been as difficult to distinguish one human countenance from another, as to distinguish the eggs laid by the same hen, or the drops of water which trickle from the same orifice; and, consequently, society would have been thrown into a state of universal anarchy and confusion. Friends would not have been distinguished from enemies, villains from the good and honest, fathers from sons, the culprit from the innocent person, nor the branches of the same family from one another. And what a scene of perpetual confusion and disturbance would thus have been created! Frauds, thefts, robberies, murders assassinations, forgeries, and injustice of all kinds, might have been daily committed without the least possibility of detection.-Nay, were even the variety of tones in the human voice, peculiar to each person, to cease, and the hand-writing of all men to become perfectly uniform, a multitude of distressing deceptions and perplexities would be produced in the domestic, civil and commercial transactions of mankind. But the all-wise and beneficent Creator has prevented all such evils and inconveniencies, by the character of variety which he has impressed on the human species, and on all his works. By the peculiar features of his countenance, every man may be distinguished in the light; by the tones of his voice, he may be recognized in the dark, as when he is separated from his fellows by an

impenetrable partition; and his hand writing can attest his existence and individuality, when continents and oceans interpose between him and his relations, and be a witness of his sentiments and purposes to future generations.

THE ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY OF

NATIONS.

THE GRECIAN STATES.

THE genius of the Spartans was perfectly martial. Their extraordinary valor gained them a name among surrounding nations. They were distinguished from the other Greeks at the Olympic games. Neighboring people applied for generals to this nursery of heroes. They held the balance between contending states, and were at the head of the Grecian affairs for five hundred years, and for a greater part of that time were deemed invincible. But, notwithstanding the great valor of the Spartan state, it was formed rather for a defensive than an offensive war; and if they had adhered to the defensive system, their power would have been still of longer duration; but prosperity led them to attempt the reduction of all Greece, and to attack the king of Persia. Thus they armed all Greece against themselves, and being broken and dispirited by several defeats, and particularly in the battle of Leuctra, they were at last scarcely able to defend their own city.

Thus have we briefly sketched the rise, progress, and dissolution of Athens and Sparta, the two states, that, in a great measure, engrossed all the power of Greece to themselves; and though several petty states still held their goverments in independence, yet they owed their safety to the mutual jealousy of these powerful rivals, and always found shelter from the one against the oppressions of the other.

After these two commonwealths THEBES lifted up its head, principally renowned for the valor and prudence of Epaminondas, who, with the assistance of Pelopidas, humbled the pride, and reduced the consequence of Sparta, and took the lead in Greece. But