very grand, (see the plate) the lake here forms a basin, which is nearly closed by a projecting point, that seems to unite with the opposite side. Beyond this are two more similar reaches, before we come to the situation of Tarbet. The inequalities of the road, though not well calculated for the ease of the traveller, yet in a great measure repay him by the diversity of prospect which it affords; sometimes mounting up a considerable height, then sinking to the margin of the lake, and again wind- | ing under high masses of overhanging rocks, in the bare cliffs of which the birch and oak are seen struggling for existence. A stone bearing the inscription "20th Regiment, 1753." shews to whom the public are indebted for the formation of this road. On the opposite side of the lake, the flying vapours sometimes yielded a transient view of the summit of Ben Lomond, overtopping the neighbouring hills, and rising, by computation, to the height of 3200 feet above the surface of the lake. From Tarbet to Luss, the loch forms another reach, beyond which it expands to a great width, interspersed with islands, which hardly compensate for the loss of the grandeur of its more northern parts. Those who take the fashionable route from Dunbarton, generally turn off at Tarbet, and take the Inverary road; and thus lose all the more sublime beauties of the upper part of the lake. The natural divisions of this end of Loch Lomond give it a fine sweeping outline, each part forming a complete whole, which blends its rocky knolls, its woody island, and its huge masses of moss-covered stones that have tumbled from the eminences above, with the magnificent accompaniments of the succeeding part, producing altogether an effect that may vie with the most sublime scenery of Europe. The hills on the eastern side of the lake are a part of the Grampian mountains, which extend from hence eastward to the county of Aberdeen. In the evening I returned by the way I came to Trefalloch, the weather being showery and unpleasant. Monday, August 1st.-Remained at the inn the whole day, in consequence of the bad weather, a circumstance which every traveller who visits this country must be prepared for; though | every one did not seem to have made the proper allowance for it, as most of the windows in this part were scribbled over with poetic effusions of spleen and impatience. Rain is a natural effect of mountainous countries, and those who wish to see the beauties of the one must be content to endure the inconveniences of the other. But from this circumstance often arises the grandest effects: transient showers, as well as flying clouds, frequently produce the most beautiful brilliancy of colouring; the mountain, imperfectly seen through a misty rain, is an object of grandeur; but the sweet effects of partial gleams, when meliorated by the hand of nature, are beauties which few eyes can pass over with indifference, or without emotions of delight. (To be continued.) THE WISDOM OF GOD IN THE FORMATION OF MAN. If the various parts of a complex piece of machinery were shewn, and their uses explained separately, to a person ignorant of the machine collectively, he would gain but imperfect notions of the whole. Such a machine is Man, of which we will take a general view before we proceed to particular parts. It will perhaps be no bad way of proceeding, to put together the more essential parts of the machine, before a person who is desirous of understanding its operations. 1. Let us in our own minds make a man, and let us suppose at first that we wish to form him for only an hour's existence; this will make it unnecessary in the very beginning to provide for his nutrition. 2. We must give him a form, and unless we mean that he should have only the motion and posture of a worm, we must have some hard frame which may give a determined shape and support to the body, and to which we may affix the moving powers. 3. We observe that nature has given such frames to all animals, except those of the lowest orders, whose motions are exceedingly confined: but she has placed it differently in various creatures. 4. For instance, in many she has placed the hard frame on the outsid which at the same time serves the purposes above-mentioned, and affords a firm defence for the body. The lobster, turtle, and a vast number of animals, are provided with such frames. 5. But this admits only of confined motions, and almost precludes sensation; and an animal so armed, though it be very secure from the injuries to which from its way of life it is naturally liable, has probably but very indifferent perceptions of what is going on around it. 6. We will therefore place our frame on the inside, and as the materials which nature uses, serve the purpose excellently, we will suppose ourselves able to form bone, and will put a frame of it in our imaginary being,-a frame of bone. 7. Now as we have, I suppose, in our minds determined the size of our man, we must have our frame of a certain size, and of a certain strength; but it is of consequence to us to make it light, that the motions of the body may be easily and readily performed. There is a way to make these points agree it is to make our frame, where its uses admit of it, hollow and cylin drical. 8. But we must not leave it wholly vacant, or the pressure of the atmosphere will force its sides together: with what shall we fill it? oil will serve our purposes; it is light:-and by using it we shall provide reservoirs of nourishment for the body, as will be seen afterwards. 9. We must not form our frame of one continued bone; such a form is incompatible with loco-motion; we must have it divided into a variety of pieces of different shapes and sizes, some moveable, others fixed. 10. Where we would have the parts move, we must recollect, that two rough surfaces, as of bone, will move very ill on each other: we will therefore tip them with a smooth matter, which we will call cartilage: we will have this besmeared constantly with a very smooth oily liniment which we will call synovia, to produce which, and at the same time to confine it to the part where it is wanted, we will place a membranous bag round the cartilaginous ends of the two bones. 11. We must also have something to fasten the two ends of the bone to each other, and to limit their motions, and this we will call ligament: the membranous bag is insufficient for the purpose. 12. Such a structure as we have just mentioned, i. e. two ends of bones tipped with cartilage, joined by ligaments, and besmeared with synovia, which is secreted, and at the same time prevented from escaping by a membranous bag fixed round the ends of the bone, we will call a joint. 13. We will likewise make use of this same matter, bone, for defending some parts of the highest consequence to the animal ;-its brain, for instance. Though it is sensation that makes motion necessary, yet we will give our man organs of motion first, as we are only at present endeavouring to get clear ideas of the general structure of the body. We come now then to the moving powers; and following our ancestors, even in their absurdities, we will call the organs we provide for the motion of the body, muscles. They called them so from some fancied resemblance in their shape to a mouse. Some muscles indeed, when out of the body, have an appearance which in some degree warrants the name: but that no name taken from shape can with propriety be applied to the muscles will be evident, as soon as we shall see that scarcely any two pairs of muscles in the body are alike in any considerable degree. We will form our muscles of threads of flesh, laid in various manners, sometimes nearly parallel, sometimes converging, sometimes diverging, according to their offices. These threads of flesh shall be called muscular fibres. Now it is evident, if we fasten the ends of these fibres to different pieces of bone in our frame, that, should the fibres be shortened, the most moveable piece will be drawn towards the more fixed. Such is muscular motion: the manner in which the shortening of the fibres has been supposed to be produced, will be spoken of hereafter. Shall we fix our muscular fibres to the bones, then? They would take up a vast deal of room. We had better fix a rope to the bone to be moved, and attach our muscular fibres to that. Such a rope we will call a tendon.-So if I had a felled tree which I wished to move, and had 50 men to perform the service, I would not make them take hold of the tree, but I would tie a rope to it, by taking hold of which they might all work to advantage. Well, then, the shortening of the muscular fibres will move our frame. But motion will be of little use, unless it is subservient to the will, i. e. unless the animal can move himself towards what is pleasing, and avoid what is disagreeable and injurious. We will then make our muscles subservient to the will, and this we will do by means of hollow strings, that shall pass from the brain (which we will make the seat of the mind) to every muscle, and every fibre of muscle, and carry its commands to them. These hollow strings we will call nerves: and we will make use of them not only to carry the commands of the mind, but also to carry intelligence from every part of the body to the mind, giving notice of any impressions made on the body. Shall we make the muscles exceedingly sensible? no; for if we do, their necessary motions will be painful; but by placing a sensible covering over them, notice will be given to the mind, of any injury from without, which is likely to befall them. To attach the fibres of the muscles to each other, we will make use of a soft reticulated substance, which we will call the cellular substance: it shall also envelop every single fibre, and every muscle collectively; preventing their rubbing against each other in their motions, and keeping each fibre in its place. This cellular substance shall be constantly moist. We will make much farther use of this cellular substance. By laying many folds of it on each other, and compacting them together, we will form membranes, such as we used to surround our joints. Blood-vessels also, (though they should not be spoken of here,) we will form of these membranes convoluted. And indeed, there shall be no soft part of the human body of perceptible magnitude to be shewn, in which cellular substance shall not be employed. Where much motion is necessary among the muscles, we will place soft cushions of oily fat, contained in an areolar membrane. We will cover the whole body with an exquisitely sensible membrane, to give notice when any injury is likely to be done to it. Some parts which serve a subaltern purpose, will be spoken of when we come to treat particularly of the parts to which they are subservient. [To be continued.] 66 ANIMADVERSIONS ON A DISSERTATION ON GEOLOGY." Imperial Magazine, October 30, 1819. The following Animadversions were written, when only the first part of the 66 Dissertation on Geology" was published. Now that other two parts have succeeded, and another is yet to come, I submit my remarks to the judgment of all who may see them, whether they have not anticipated, and even in a manner overturned the whole of this flimsy system. "Some drill and bore Cowper. MR. EDITOR, SIR,-As the subject of Geology and the Formation of the Earth, has with me been long an object of particular study; and as these studies have now furnished many original observations founded on the soundest principles, which I purposed shortly to lay before the public; I could not avoid feeling interested in the Dissertation on Geology in your Magazine of October last. With the freedom of a friend of truth, therefore, I would, with your permission, propose the following remarks on the Dissertation, and the general view it seems to take of the subject. 1. I highly approve of your author's sentiments in his outset. That the truths of Nature, when rightly understood, never contradict, but harmonize with, those of Revelation. A position, we might a priori suppose, if both are the work of the same Almighty and infinite Being. That the latter is indeed the work of God, has been demonstrated by many infallible proofs, which no gainsayer will ever be able to overturn; and that the former, in like manner, bears evident characters of an intelligent and divine origin, I believe no human being under the right exercise of his intellect, is able to deny. Marks of infinite wisdom and almighty power, of the profoundest intelligence and design, are the livery which Nature universally wears; and the sceptic on either topic will be found to be without excuse. I hope, therefore, that your Miscellany, Sir, by unfolding such principles, will prove a bulwark against error, and a happy vehicle of conveying a connected view of physical with revealed Truth; which ought never to have been separated. 2. My second remark is not so propitious to your author's system. Not that I object to the principle, That the earth's structure is the grand source of geological investigation. But I question the assertion, that "a superficial view;" nay, I will venture to say, even the profoundest views of geological facts it is possible to obtain, will lead to unerring and satisfactory conclusions respecting the formation of the globe. They will furnish, I allow, abundance of materials for speculation; but as to their leading to correct and infallible conclusions respecting the times, and the causes, and the circumstances, and the manner of the formation, in my opinion there can be nothing more fallacious than such a supposition. I grant, when I see extraneous substances, such as the remains of vegetables and animals in the heart of a rock, and these remains themselves converted into stone similar to that in which they are imbedded, I conclude that such formations must be of recent production; that is to say, they must have taken place subsequent to the period when these vegetables and animals existed upon the earth's surface; as without the smallest doubt we may presume they once did. This, however, is no reason why I should conclude that other rocks, in which are no traces of extraneous bodies, were formed in the same manner. 3. Again, when I am told that vast beds of carbonaceous matter, which is ascertained to be the base of vegetable substances, are situated beneath the rocks containing the fossil remains of animals, and above those termed primitive; am I to conclude that there was once a period in the annals of this globe when its only production was vegetables? and that these succeeded and flourished for countless ages subsequent to the formation of the primitive rocks, in order to form this carbonaceous stratum? When I am further told, That the remains of alligators and other amphibious and aquatic animals, occupy the undermost stratum containing fossil animals; am I in like manner to conclude, That there was once a time when the globe supported no other animals but alligators, &c.; and that these tribes long enjoyed the sole and undisturbed possession of it, in order that they might have time to propagate and increase their numbers for the formation of the said stratum? Investigating the globe thus, and proceeding from below upwards, suppose I then were to meet with some marine animals and fresh-water fish, forming a stratum exterior to the preceding; am I to infer that these marine animals succeeded the alligators, and enjoyed for a period the whole globe for their portion, that they might likewise have time to increase their species in sufficient numbers for the formation of another stratum? And suppose I were to find oviparous quadrupeds in the same stratum; am I to say, that oviparous quadrupeds therefore began to exist along with the fish? If I find mammiferous sea-animals occupying another stratum, but wherein are no mammiferous land animals; am I to conclude that the former existed in the manner described above, and were deposited in their situation, before the others began to exist? Further, if I compare those fossil animals with the animals which still exist alive on the earth, and perceive, as I think, a difference in their structure; am I to say, that the former races of animals had no relation to the present; that they were quite of different species and genera, which have become extinct, and have been repeatedly swept from the earth's surface, leaving only these remains to testify their extraordinary nature and antiquity? Am I to say, that a few of the species now known, had not their existence till long after the others had been ingulfed by some convulsion of nature; and that by far the greater number are of a still later date, and probably contemporary with the present order of the earth's surface? And lastly, because I do not find the bones of men sepulchred and preserved among those venerable relics of antiquity, the brutes; am I to say, that Man, compared with these is but of yesterday ;- -an upstart in the scale of being, and a usurper of a dominion over the animals to which none of their more highly favoured predecessors were subjected? These, unquestionably, would be bold conclusions, and such as might well excite a suspicion whether any facts in Geology will really warrant.* The premises indeed would require to be well founded, ere such conclusions should be granted; as the least flaw in the one must create the greatest uncertainty in the other. But I strongly suspect that the premises are without | sufficient foundation. It has never yet been demonstrated that the globe, in point of fact, is composed of strata in that regular and orderly manner which geologists point out in the fabrication of their systems. When we examine nature, we find it assuming the boldest appearances, forming mountains and precipices of the very rocks which are considered primitive, and which, to accord with the theories, at least with that of Werner, should be even and uniform all over the globe. Where we investigate the strata which are so much talked of, we do not find them piled one above another, containing various animals as we find them represented in books; but the same animals are found in different parts of the globe in different situations; and frequently so indiscriminately mixed as to afford no criterion of the order of their deposition. Yea, even M. Cuvier himself, the founder of this department of physical science, deplores the impossibility of arriving at clear and unequivocal satisfaction on this head. He ingenuously owns, that in most cases it was only from bones, sometimes only from insulated fragments of bones, or from drawings of them, that he derived his information; for that it was impossible for him personally to visit all the places where they were found ; and that it frequently happened that the people, such as labourers, into whose hands they fell, did not understand the subject so as to afford any satisfactory information. Which concession is better than a thousand arguments against these theories. It shews exactly where their strength lies, that is to say, rather in the confident assertions of men, than in any thing clearly demonstrated in Nature; and it tends to preserve the mind of a Christian easy indeed, when he finds that an upstart system, appearing with such a menacing aspect as if it would entirely destroy the foundation of his hope, can be so easily They are, however, the prevailing conclusions of Geologists in the present day. stripped of its threatening appearances, and reduced to a question yet to be investigated even by the learned. The position which has been thus gratuitously assumed, I cannot but consider as exceedingly preposterous. And I conceive it incumbent upon the abettors of it, before they harangue us any more with this disjointed and piece-meal-like succession of animals, to suggest some feasible and probable method by which such a succession could be effected. Certain we are there is nothing similar in nature going on now. But are not these men, who style themselves philosophers, professed observers of nature? Why then do they desert nature's guidance, and refuse to walk hand in hand with her as she uniformly goes; and without any explanation assume an hypothesis which implies an impossibility? When did the world behold successions of animals produced, excepting from one another? Yes, says Cuvier and the abettors of his system, they have been produced. We have demonstrated many different races to have been again and again swept from the earth's surface. We have shewed that it has been continually changing its inhabitants, and undergoing prodigious revolutions. And we have made it appear, that the present race of animals is not at all like the former races; nor could the one be the progenitors of the other. Could they then be produced without progenitors? This is the question.-Into such a dilemma does their system involve them, that they must remain silent. They chimerically suppose a thing which has no precedent in Nature, all the while they fancy themselves to be penetrating deep into her secrets. The very men who will have no conductor but reason, abandon reason, and assume a position, for which, from reason, they never will be able to produce a single argument. (To be continued.) ON CHEMICAL ATTRACTION. THE term attraction, signifies that power by which bodies have a tendency to approach each other, and to become more or less intimately united. Various species of this power are known to exist, and these species are regulated by different laws, and produce very different phenomena. Some, however, have contended, that they are |