But with respect to the cold as well as to the heat, there are some countries which are an exception to the general rule. At Senegal, Guinea, Angola, and probably in every country where the natives are black, as in Nubia, the country of the Papous, New Guinea, &c. it is certain that the heat is greater there than in any other part of the earth; but this arises from local causes and therefore in those particular climates where the east wind reigns during the whole year, passes over a very considerable track of land, and receives a scorching heat before it arrives to them, it is not surprising that the heat is found 5, 6, and even 7 degrees greater than it is elsewhere. The excessive colds of Siberia, are also to be attributed to that part of the surface of the globe being much higher than that which surrounds it. "The northern Asiatic countries (says the Baron Strahlenberg in his description of the Russian Empire) are considerably more elevated than the European. They are like a table, in comparison of the bed on which they appear so be placed; for on coming from the west and leaving Russia, we pass to the east by the mountains Ripha and Rymnikas to enter Siberia, and constantly advance to an ascent." “There are many places in Siberia,” says M. Gmelin, “which are not less elevated above the rest of the earth, nor less remote from its centre, than are many high mountains in many other regions.” These plains of Siberia, appear, in fact, to be as high as the summit of the Riphean mountains, on which the ice and snow do not wholly melt during summer; and if the same effect do not happen in the plains of Siberia, it is because they are less detached, for this local circumstance also adds much to the duration and to the intensity of cold and heat. A vast plain once made hot will retain its heat longer than a detached mountain, though both are alike elevated; and for the same reason the mountain once cooled will retain its snow or ice longer than the plain.
But if we compare the excess of heat with that of cold produced by these particular and local causes, we shall be surprized to find, that in Senegal, &c. where the heat is greatest, it never exceeds seven degrees beyond the summer heat in other countries, which is 26 degrees above the freezing point, while on the contrary, the colds of Siberia sometimes reach 60 or 70 degrees below it, and that at Petersburgh, Upsal, &c. under the same latitude as Siberia, the greatest cold is not more than to 25 or 26 degrees below the freezing point; therefore, we must conclude, that these local causes have much more influence in cold than in hot climates. Although we cannot pretend to determine what this great difference in the excess of cold and heat may produce, yet by reflecting on it, it appears that we may easily conceive the reason of this difference. The augmentation of the heat in such a climate as Senegal can only proceed from the action of the air, the nature of the soil, and the depression of the ground; for this country being almost on a level with the sea, it is in a great measure covered with scorching sands, over which an easterly wind continually blows; this, instead of refreshing the air, only renders it more burning, because it traverses over more than 2000 leagues of land in its way, and consequently acquires a considerable degree of heat. But in such countries as Siberia, where the plains are elevated like the summits of mountains above the level of the rest of the earth, this sole difference of elevation must produce an effect proportionally greater than the depression of the ground of Senegal, which cannot be supposed more than that of the level of the sea; for if the plains of Siberia be only elevated 4 or 500 fathoms above the level of Upsal, or Petersburgh, we must cease from being astonished that the excess of cold is so great there; since the heat which emanates from the earth, decreases at each point as the space increases, and this elevation of the ground alone suffices to explain this great difference of cold under the same latitude.
On this point there remains only one interesting question. Men, animals, and plants, may, for some time, support the rigour of this cold, which is 60 degrees below the freezing point; but could they also support a heat which should be 60 degrees above it? To this we answer, yes, provided we knew as well how to guard against the heat as we do to shelter ourselves from the cold; and if the air could, during the remainder of the year, refresh the earth, in the same manner as the emanations of the heat of the globe warms the air in cold countries. We know of plants, insects, and fish, which live and grow in baths of 45, 50, and even 60 degrees of heat; there are, therefore, species in living nature which can support this degree of heat; and as the negroes are in the human race those whom a strong heat the least incommodes, might we not conclude, according to this hypothesis, that the earth has continued to decline from its original heat, and that the race of negroes are more ancient than that of white people?
FIRST VIEW.
NATURE is that system of laws established by the Creator for regulating the existence of bodies and the succession of beings. Nature is therefore not a body, for if it were so, it would comprehend every thing; neither is it a being, for in that case it would necessarily be God. We must rather consider Nature as an immense living power, which is in subordination to the Supreme Being, and by his command animates the universe, and whose actions are dependent on, and continued by, his concurrence or consent. This power is that part of Divine omnipotence which is manifested to mankind; it is the cause and effect, the mode and substance, the design and execution. Extremely different from all human art, whose productions are inanimate, Nature is herself a work perpetually alive, an active, an unceasing operator, who knows how to make use of every material, and whose power, though always employed on the same invariable plan, instead of suffering diminution, is perfectly inexhaustible: time, space, and matter, are her means; the universe her object; and motion and life her end.
Every object in the universe is the effect of this power. Those springs which she makes use of are active forces which time and space can only limit but can never destroy; forces which unite, balance, and oppose, but are incapable of annihilating each other. Some penetrate and connect bodies, others heat and animate them. It is principally by attraction and impulsion, that this power acts upon brute matter, while heats and organic molecules are her chief active agents, which she employs in the formation and expansion of organized beings. Aided by such instruments, how can the operations of Nature be limited? She only wants the additional power to create and annihilate to become omnipotent. But these two extremes the Almighty has reserved to himself alone; the power of creating and annihilating are his peculiar attributes; while that of changing, destroying, unfolding, renewing, and producing, are the only privileges he has conferred on this or any other agent. Nature, the minister of his irrevocable commands, the depositary of his immutable decrees, never deviates from the laws he has prescribed to her; she never changes any part of his original plan, but in all her operations she exhibits the will and design of the eternal Lord of the universe. This grand design, this unalterable impression of all existence, is the model upon which she invariably acts; a model of which all the features are so strongly impressed, that they can never be effaced; a model which the infinite number of copies, instead of impairing, only serve to renew.