The Temple of Nature; or, the Origin of society: a poem, with philosophical notes

Preface

. 1 HE Poem which is here offered to the Public, does not pretend to instruct by deep researches of reasoning; its aim is simply to amuse, by bringing distinctly to the imagina tion the beautiful and sublime images of the operations of Nature, in the order, as the Author believes, in which the progressive course of time presented them. The Deities of Egypt, and afterwards of Greece and Rome, were' derived from men famous in those early times, as in the ages of hunting, pasturage, and agriculture. The histories of some of their actions recorded in v Scripture, or celebrated in the heathen my thology, are introduced, as the Author hopes, without impropriety, into his account of those remote periods of human society.

PREFACE.

. In the Eleusinian mysteries, the philoso phy of the works of Nature, with the origin and progress of society, are believed to have been taught by allegoric scenery, explained by the Hierophant to the initiated, which gave rise to the machinery of the following Poem. Priory, near Derby, January 1, 1802.

Canto I. Production Of Life

CONTENTS. I. Subject proposed. Life, Love, and Sympathy, 1. Four past Ages, a fifth beginning, 9. Invocation to Love, 15. II. Bowers of Eden, Adam and Eve, 33. Temple of Nature, 65. Time chained by Sculpture, 75. Proteus bound by Menelaus, 83. Bovvers of Pleasure, 89. School of Venus, 97. Court of Pain, 105. Den of Oblivion, 113. Muse of Melancholy, 121. Cave of Trophonius, 12$. Shrine of Nature, 129. Eleusinian Mysteries, 137. III. Morning, 155. Procession of Virgins, 159. Address to the Priestess, 167. Descent of Orpheus into Hell, 185. IV. Urania, 205. God the First Cause, 223. Life began beneath the Sea, 233. Repulsion, Attraction, Contraction, Life, 235. Spontaneous Production of Minute Animals, 247. Irritation, Appetency, 251. Life enlarges the Earth, 265. Sensation, Volition, Association, 269.

Scene in the Microscope; Mucor, Monas, Vibrio, Vorticella, Proteus, Mite, 281. V. Vegetables and Animals improve by Reproduction, 295. Have all arisen from Microscopic Animalcules, 303. Rocks of Shell and Coral, 315. Islands and Continents raised by Earthquakes, 321. Emigration of Animals from the Sea, 327. Trapa, 335. Tadpole, Musquito, 343. Diodon, Lizard, Beaver, Lamprey, Remora, Whale, 351. Venus rising from the Sea, emblem of Organic Nature, 371. All Animals are first Aquatic, 385. Fetus in the Womb, 389. Animals from the Mud of the Nile, 401. The Hierophant and Muse, 421—450.

CANTO I. PRODUCTION OF LIFE.

I. X>Y firm immutable immortal laws Impress'd on Nature by the Great First Cause, Say, Muse ! how rose from elemental strife Organic forms, and kindled into life ; How Love and Sympathy, with potent charm, Warm the cold heart, the lifted hand disarm j Allure with pleasures, and alarm with pains, And bind Society in golden chains. Four past eventful Ages then recite, And give the fifth, new-born of Time, to light; 10 The silken tissue of their joys disclose, Swell with deep chords the murmur of their woes ; Their laws, their labours, and their loves proclaim, And chant their virtues to the trump of Fame. Immortal Love ! who ere the morn of Time, On wings outstretch'd, o'er Chaos hung sublime ; B 1. 10 Warm'd into life the bursting egg of Night, And gave young Nature to admiring Light! — You ! whose wide arms, in soft embraces hurl'd Round the vast frame, connect the whirling world ! 20 Whether immers'd in day, the Sun your throne, You gird the planets in your silver zone ; Or warm, descending on ethereal wing, The Earth's cold bosom with the beams of spring; Press drop to drop, to atom atom bind, Link sex to sex, or rivet mind to mind ; Attend my song ! — With rosy lips rehearse, And with your polish'd arrows write my verse !— * So shall my lines soft-rolling eyes engage, And snow-white fingers turn the volant page ; 30 The smiles of Beauty all my toils repay, And youths and virgins chant the living lay.

II. Where Eden's sacred bowers triumphant sprung, By angels guarded, and by prophets sung, Wav'd o'er the east in purple pride unfurl'd, And rock'd the golden cradle of the World ; Cradle of the world, 1. 56. The nations which possess Europe and a part of Asia and of Africa, appear to have descended from one family ; and to have had their origin near the banks of the Mediterranean, as pro bably in Syria, the site of Paradise, according to the Mosaic history. This seems highly probable from the similarity of the structure of the lan guages of these nations, and from their early possession of similar reli gions, customs, and arts, as well as from the most ancient histories ex tant. The two former of these may be collected from Lord Monboddo's Canto 1. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 11 Four sparkling currents lav'd with wandering tides Their velvet avenues, and flowery sides ; On sun-bright lawns unclad the Graces stray'd, And guiltless Cupids haunted every glade ; 40 Till the fair Bride, forbidden shades among, Heard unalarm'd the Tempter's serpent-tongue ; Eyed the 6weet fruit, the mandate disobey'd, And her fond Lord with sweeter smiles betray'd. Conscious awhile with throbbing heart he strove, Spread his wide arms, and barter'd life for love ! — Now rocks on rocks, in savage grandeur roll'd, Steep above steep, the blasted plains infold ; The incumbent crags eternal tempest shrouds, And livid lightnings cleave the lambent clouds ; 50 Round the firm base loud-howling whirlwinds blow, And sands in burning eddies dance below. learned work on the Origin of Language, and from Mr. Bryant's curious account of Ancient Mythology.

The use of iron tools, of the bow and arrow, of earthen vessels to boil water in, of wheels for carriages, and the arts of cultivating wheat, of coagulating milk for cheese, and of spinning vegetable fibres for clothing, have been known in all European countries as long as their histories have existed ; besides the similarity of the texture of their languages, and of many words in them ; thus the word sack is said to mean a bag in all of them, as o'a.x.x.ot in Greek, saccus in Latin, sacco in Italian, sac in French, and sack in English and German. Other families of mankind, nevertheless, appear to have arisen in other parts of the habitable earth, as the language of the Chinese is said not to resemble those of this part of the world in any respect. And the inhabitants of the islands of the South-Sea had neither the use of iron tools, nor of the bow, nor of wheels, nor of spinning, nor had learned to coagulate milk, or to boil water, though the domestication of fire seems to have been the first great discovery that distinguished man kind from the bestial inhabitants of the forest. 1. 12 Hence ye profane! — the warring winds exclude Unhallow'd throngs, that press with footstep rude ; But court the Muse's train with milder skies, And call with softer voice the good and wise. — Charm'd at her touch, the opening wall divides, And rocks of crystal form the polish'd sides ; Through the bright arch the Loves and Graces tread, Innocuous thunders murmuring o'er their head ; 60 Pair after pair, and tittering, as they pass, View their fair features in the walls of glass ; Leave with impatient step the circling bourn, And hear behind the closing rocks return.

Here, high in air, unconscious of the storm, Thy temple, Nature, rears its mystic form ; From earth to heav'n, unwrought by mortal toil, Towers the vast fabric on the desert soil; O'er many a league the ponderous domes extend, And deep in earth the ribbed vaults descend ; 7*0 A thousand jasper steps, with circling sweep, Lead the slow votary up the winding steep ; Ten thousand piers, now join'd and now aloof, Bear on their branching arms the fretted roof. Unnumber'd aisles connect unnumber'd halls, And sacred symbols crowd the pictur'd walls ; Pictur'd walls, 1. 76. The application of mankind, in the early ages of society, to the imitative arts of painting, carving, statuary, and the Canto 1. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 13 With pencil rude forgotten days design, And arts, or empires, live in every line.

While chain'd reluctant on the marble ground, Indignant Time reclines, by Sculpture bound ; 80 And sternly bending o'er a scroll unroll'd, Inscribes the future with his style of gold. — So erst, when Proteus on the briny shore, New forms assum'd of eagle, pard, or boar; The wise Atrides bound in sea-weed thongs, The changeful god amid his scaly throngs; Till in deep tones his opening lips at last Reluctant told die suture and the past. Here o'er piazza'd courts, and long arcades, The bowers of Pleasure root their waving shades; 90 Shed o'er the pansied moss a checker'cl gloom, Bend with new fruits, with flow'rs successive bloom. casting of figures in metals, seems to have preceded the discovery of let ters; and to have been used as a written language to convey intelligence to their distant friends, or to transmit to posterity the history of them selves, or of their discoveries.

Hence the origin of the hieroglyphic figures which crowded the walls of the temples of antiquity ; many of which may be seen in the tablet of Isis in the works of Montfaucon ; and some of them are still used in the sciences of chemistry and astro nomy, as the characters for the metals and planets, and the figures of animals on the celestial globe. So erst, when Proteus, 1. 83. It seems probable that Proteus was the name of a hieroglyphic figure representing Time ; whose form was per petually changing, and who could discover the past events of the world, and predict the future. Herodotus does not doubt but that Proteus was an Egyptian king or deity ; and Orpheus calls him the principle of all things, and the most ancient of the gods; and adds, that he keeps the keys of Nature, ( Danet's Diet.) all which might well accord with a figure representing Time. 1. 14 Pleas'd, their light limbs on beds of roses press'd, In slight undress recumbent Beauties rest ; On tiptoe steps surrounding Graces move, And gay Desires expand their wings above.

Here young Dione arms her quiver'd Loves, Schools her bright Nymphs, and practises her doves; Calls round her laughing eyes, in playful turns, The glance that lightens, and the smile that burns ; 100 Her dimpling cheeks with transient blushes dyes, Heaves her white bosom with seductive sighs; Or moidds, with rosy lips, the magic words That bind the heart in adamantine cords. Behind, in twilight gloom, with scowling mein, The demon Pain convokes his court unseen ; Whips, fetters, flames, pourtray'd on sculptur'd stone, In dread festoons adorn his ebon throne ; Each side a cohort of diseases stands, And shudd'ring Fever leads the ghasdy bands; 110 O'er all Despair expands his raven wings, And guilt-stain'd Conscience darts a thousand stings, Deep-whelm'd beneath, in vast sepulchral caves, Oblivion dwells amid unlabell'd graves; The storied tomb, the laurell'd bust o'eiturns, And shakes their ashes from the mould'ring urns.

Canto 1. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 15 No vernal zephyr breathes, no sunbeams cheer, Nor song, nor simper, ever enters here ; O'er the green floor, and round the dew-damp wall, The slimy snail, and bloated lizard crawl; 120 While on white heaps of intermingled bones The muse of Melancholy sits and moans t Showers her cold tears o'er Beauty's early wreck, Spreads her pale arms, and bends her marble neck. So in rude rocks, beside the Ægean watfe, Trophonius scoop'd his sorrow-sacred cave; Unbarr'd to pilgrim feet the brazlen door, And the sad sage returning smil'd no more. Shrin'd in the midst majestic Nature stands, Extends o'er earth and sea her hundred hands; 130 Tower upon tower her beamy forehead crests, And births unnumber'd milk her hundred breasts ; Drawn round tier brows a lucid veil depends, O'er her fine waist the purfled woof descends ; Trophonius scoop'd, 1. 126.

Plutarch mentions, that prophecies of evil events were uttered from the cave of Trophonius ; but the allegorical story, that whoever entered this cavern were never again seen to smile, seems to have been designed to warn the contemplative from considering too much the dark side of nature. Thus an ancient poet is said to have written a poem on the miseries of the world, and to have thence become so unhappy as to destroy himself. When we reflect on the perpetual destruction of organic life, we should also recollect, that it is perpetually renewed in other forms by the same materials, and thus the sum total of the happiness of the world continues undiminished ; and that a phi losopher may thus smile again on turning his eyes from the coffins of nature to her cradles. 1. 16 Her stately limbs the gather'd folds surround, And spread their golden selvage on the ground.

From this first altar fam'd Eleusis stole Her secret symbols and her mystic scroll ; With pious fraud in after ages rear'd Her gorgeous temple, and the gods rever'd. 140 — First in dim pomp, before the astonish'd throng, Silence, and Night, and Chaos, stalk'd along ; Dread scenes of Death, in nodding sables dress'd, Froze the broad eye, and thrill'd the unbreathing breast. Then the young Spring, with winged Zephyr, leads The queen of Beauty to the blossom'd meads ; Fam'd Eleusis stole, 1.137. The Eleusinian mysteries were inventad in Egypt, and afterwards transferred into Greece along with most of tha other early arts and religions of Europe. They seem to have consisted of scenical representations of the philosophy and religion of those times, which had previously been painted in hieroglyphic figures, to perpetuate them before the discovery of letters ; and are well explained in Dr. War burton's Divine Legation of Moses ; who believes with great probability, that Virgil, in the sixth book of the Æneid, has described a part of these mysteries in his account of the Elysian fields.

In the first part of this scenery was represented Death, aijd the de struction of all things ; as mentioned in the note on the Pordand Vase in the Botanic Garden. Next the marriage of Cupid and Psyche seems to have shown the reproduction of living nature ; and afterwards the procession of torches, which is said to have constituted a part of the mysteries, probably signified the return of light, and the resuscitation of all things. Lastly, the histories of illustrious persons of the early ages seem to have been enacted ; who were first represented by hieroglyphic figures, and afterwards became the gods and goddesses of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Might not such a dignified pantomime be contrived, even in this age, as might strike the spectators with awe, and, at the same time, explain many philosophical truths, by adapted imagery, and thus both amuse and instruct ?

Canto 1. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 17 150 !> 160 iro Charm'd in her train admiring Hymen moves, And tiptoe Graces hand in hand with Loves. Next, while on pausing step the masked mimes Enact the triumphs of forgotten times, Conceal from vulgar throngs the mystic truth, Or charm with Wisdom's lore the initiate youth ; Each shifting scene some patriot hero trod, Some sainted beauty, or some saviour god. III. Now rose in purple pomp the breezy dawn, And crimson dew-drops trembled on the lawn ; Blaz'd high in air the temple's golden vanes, And dancing shadows veer'd upon the plains. — Long trains of virgins from the sacred grove, Pair after pair, in bright procession, move, With flower-fill'd baskets round the altar throng, Or swing their censers, as they wind along. The fair Urania leads the blushing bands, Presents their offerings with unsullied hands ; Pleas'd to their dazzled eyes in part unshrouds The goddess-form ; — the rest is hid in clouds.

" Priestess of Nature! while widi pious awe Thy votary bends, the mystic veil withdraw; Charm after charm, succession bright, display, And give the Goddess to adoring day ! So kneeling realms shall own the Power divine, And heaven and earth pour incense on her shrine. c 1. 18 " Oh grant the Muse with pausing step to press Each sun-bright avenue, and green recess ; Led by thy hand, survey the trophied walls, The statued galleries, and the pictur'd halls ; Scan the proud pyramid, and arch sublime, Earth-canker'd urn, medallion green with time, Stern busts of Gods, with helmed heroes mix'd, And Beauty's radiant forms, that smile betwixt. 180' " Waked by thy voice, transmuted by thy wandr Their lips shall open, and their arms expand ; The love-lost lady, and the warrior slain, Leap from their tombs, and sigh or fight again. — So when ill-fated Orpheus tun'd to woe His potent lyre, and sought the realms below ; Charm'd into life unreal forms respir'd, And list'ning shades the dulcet notes admir'd " Love led the Sage through Death's tremendous porch, Cheer'd with his smile, and lighted with his torch ; — 190 The statued galleries, I. 176.

The art of painting has appeared in the early state of all societies before the invention of the alphabet. Thus when the Spanish adventurers, under Cortez, invaded America, intelli gence of their debarkation and movements was daily transmitted to Montezuma, by drawings, which corresponded with the Egyptian hie roglyphics. The antiquity of statuary appears from the Memnon and sphinxes of Egypt ; that of casting figures in metals from the golden calf of Aaron ; and that of carving in wood from the idols or house hold gods, which Rachel stole from her father Laban, and hid beneath her garments as she sat upon the straw. Gen. c. xxxi. v. 34. Love led the Sage, 1. 189. This description is taken from the figures Canto 1. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 19 Hell's triple Dog his playful jaws expands, Fawns round the God, and licks his baby hands ; In wondering groups the shadowy nations throng, And sigh or simper, as he steps along ; Sad swains, and nymphs forlorn, on Lethe's brink, Hug their past sorrows, and refuse to drink ; Night's dazzled Empress feels the golden flame Play round her breast, and melt her frozen frame ; Charms with soft words, and sooths with amorous wiles, Her iron-hearted Lord, — and Pluto smiles. — 200 His trembling Bride the Bard triumphant led From the pale mansions of the astonish'd dead ; Gave the fair phantom to admiring light, — Ah, soon again to tread irremeable night !"

IV. Her snow-white arm, indulgent to my song, Waves the fair Hierophant, and moves along. — High plumes, that bending shade her amber hair, Nod, as she steps, their silver leaves in air ; Bright chains of pearl, with golden buckles brac'd, Clasp her white neck, and zone her slender waist ; 210 Thin folds of silk in soft meanders wind Down her fine form, and undulate behind ; on the Barbarina, or Portland Vase, where Eros, or Divine Love, with his torch, precedes the manes through the gates of Death, and reverting his smiling countenance, invites him into the Elysian fields. Fawns round the God, 1. 192. This idea is copied from a painting of the descent of Orpheus, by a celebrated Parisian artist. 1. 20 The purple border, on the pavement roll'd, Swells in the gale, and spreads its fringe of gold.

" First, if you can, celestial Guide ! disclose From what fair fountain mortal life arose, Whence the fine nerve to move and feel assign'd, Contractile fibre, and ethereal mind : " How Love and Sympathy the bosom warm, Allure with pleasure, and with pain alarm. With soft affections weave the social plan, And charm the listening Savage into Man." 220 " God the First Cause ! — in this terrene abode Young Nature lisps, she is the child of God, God the first cause, 1. 223. A Jove principium, musæ! Jovis omnia plena. Virgil. In hint we live, and move, and have our being. St. Paul. Toung Nature lisps, 1. 224. The perpetual production and increase of the strata of limestone from the shells of aquatic animals ; and of all those incumbent on them from the recrements of vegetables and of terrestrial animals, are now well understood from our improved know ledge of geology; and show, that the solid parts of the globe are gradually enlarging, and consequently that it is young, as the fluid parts are not yet all converted into solid ones.

Add to this, that some parts of the earth and its inhabitants appear younger than others; thus the greater height of the mountains of America seems to show that conti nent to be less ancient than Europe, Asia, and Africa ; as their summits have been less washed away, and the wild animals of America, as the tigers and crocodiles, are said to be less perfect in respect to their size and strength ; which would show them to be still in a state of infancy, or of progressive improvement. Lastly, the progress of mankind in arts and sciences, which continues slowly to extend, and to increase seems to evince the youth of human society; whilst the unchanging Canto 1. PRODUCTION OF LIFE. 21 From embryon births her changeful forms improve, Grow as they live, and strengthen as they move. " Ere Time began, from flaming Chaos hurl'd, Rose the bright spheres, which form the circling world ; Earths from each sun with quick explosions burst, And second planets issued from the first. 230 Then, whilst the sea at their coeval birth, Surge over surge, involv'd the shoreless earth ; Nurs'd by warm sun-beams in primeval caves Organic Life began beneath the waves.

" First Heat from chemic dissolution springs, And gives to matter its eccentric wings ; state of the societies of some insects, as of the bee, wasp, or ant, which is usually ascribed to instinct, seems to evince the longer exist ence, and greater maturity of those societies. The juvenility of the earth shows, that it has had a beginning or birth, and is a strong na tural argument, evincing the existence of a cause of its production, that is, of the Deity. Earths from each sun, 1. 229. See Botanic Garden, Vol. I. Cant. i. 1. 107. First Heat from, chemic, 1. 235. The matter of heat is an ethereal fluid, in which all things are immersed, and which constitutes the general power of repulsion ; as appears in explosions which are produced by the sudden evolution of combined heat, and by the expansion of all bodies by the slower diffusion of it in its uncombined state.

Without heat all the matter of the world would be condensed into a point by the power of attraction ; and neither fluidity nor life could exist. There are also particular powers of repulsion, as those of magnetism and elec tricity, and of chemistry, such as oil and water ; which last may be as numerous as the particular attractions which constitute chemical affini ties; and may both of them exist as atmospheres round the individual particles of matter. See Botanic Garden, Vol. I. additional note VII. on elementary heat. 1, 22 With strong Repulsion parts the exploding mass, Melts into lymph, or kindles into gas. Attraction next, as earth or air subsides, The ponderous atoms from the light divides, Approaching parts with quick embrace combines, Swells into spheres, and lengthens into lines. Last, as fine goads the glutton-threads excite, Cords grapple cords, and webs with webs unite j And quick Contraction with ethereal flame Lights into life the fibre-woven frame. — 240 Attraction next, 1. 239.

The power of attraction may be divided into general attraction, which is called gravity ; and into particular attrac tion, which is termed chemical affinity. As nothing can act where it does not exist, the power of gravity must be conceived as extending from the sun to the planets, occupying that immense space ; and may therefore be considered as an ethereal fluid, though not cognizable by our tenses, like heat, light, and electricity. Particular attraction, or chemical affinity, must likewise occupy the spaces between the particles of matter which they cause to approach each other. The power of gravity may therefore be called the general at tractive ether, and the matter of heat may be called the general repulsive ether; which constitute the two great agents in the changes of in animate matter.

And quick Contraction, 1. 245. The power of contraction, which exists in organized bodies, and distinguishes life from inanimation, appears to consist of an ethereal fluid which resides in the brain and nerves of liv ing bodies, and is expanded in the act of shortening their fibres. The attractive and repulsive ethers require only the vicinity of bodies for the exertion of their activity ; but the contractive ether requires at first the contact of a goad or stimulus, which appears to draw it oft' from the contracting fibre, and to excite the sensorial power of irritation. These contractions of animal fibres are afterwards excited or repeated by the sensorial powers of sensation, volition, or association, as explained at large in Zoonomia, Vol. I. There seems nothing more wonderful in the ether of contraction pro ducing the shortening of a fibre, than in the ether of attraction caus- CAfrro 1.

PRODUCTION OF LIFE 23 Hence without parent by spontaneous birth Rise the first specks of animated earth ; From Nature's womb the plant or insect swims, And buds or breathes, with mycroscopic limbs. 250 " In earth, sea, air, around, below, above, Life's subtle woof in Nature's loom is wove ; Points glued to points, a living line extends, Touch'd by some goad approach the bending ends ; Rings join to rings, and irritated tubes Clasp with young lips the nutrient globes or cubes ; And urged by appetencies new select, Imbibe, retain, digest, secrete, eject. In branching cones the living web expands, Lymphatic ducts, and convoluted glands ; 260 ing two bodies to approach each other. The former indeed seems in some measure to resemble the latter, as it probably occasions the minute particles of the fibre to approach into absolute or adhesive contact, by withdrawing from them their repulsive atmospheres ; whereas the latter seems only to cause particles of matter to approach into what is popu larly called contact, like the particles of fluids ; but which are only in the vicinity of each other, and still retain their repulsive atmospheres, as may be seen in riding through shallow water, by the number of minute globules of it thrown up by the horse's feet, which roll far on its surface; and by the difficulty with which small globules of mercury poured on the surface of a quantity of it can be made to unite with it.

Spontaneous birth, 1. 247. See Additional Note, No. I. In branching cones, 1. 259. The whole branch of an artery or vein may be considered as a cone, though each distinct division of it is a cy linder. It is probable that the amount of the areas of all the small branches from one trunk may equal that of the trunk, otherwise the velocity of the blood would be greater in some parts than in others, which probably only exists when a part is compressed or inflamed. Aortal tubes propel the nascent blood, And lengthening veins absorb the refluent flood ; Leaves, lungs, and gills, the vital ether breathe On earth's green surface, or the waves beneath. So Life's first powers arrest the winds and floods, To bones convert them, or to shells, or woods ; Stretch the vast beds of argil, lime, and sand, And from diminish'd oceans form the land !

" Next the long nerves unite their silver train, And young Sensation permeates the brain ; 270 Absorb the refluent flood, 1. 262. The force of the arterial impulse ap pears to cease, after having propelled the blood through the capillary vessels; whence the venous circulation is owing to the extremities of the veins absorbing the blood, as those of the lymphatics absorb the fluids. The great force of absorption is well elucidated by Dr. Hales's experiment on the rise of the sap-juice in a vine-stump. See Zoonomia, Vol. I. Sect. XXIII. And from diminish'd oceans, 1. 268. The increase of the solid parts of the globe by the recrements of organic bodies, as limestone rocks from shells and bones, and the beds of clay, marl, coals, from decomposed woods, is now well known to those who have attended to modern geo logy; and Dr. Halley, and others, have endeavoured to show, with great probability, that the ocean has decreased in quantity during the short time which human history has existed.

Whence it appears, that the exertions of vegetable and animal life convert the fluid parts of the globe into solid ones ; which is probably effected by combining the matter of heat with the other elements, instead of suffering it to remain simply diffused amongst them, which is a curious conjecture, and deserves further investigation. And young Sensation, 1. 270. Both sensation and volition consist in an affection of the central part of the sensorium, or of the whole of it; and hence cannot exist till the nerves are united in the brain. The motions of a limb of any animal cut from the body, are therefore owing to irritation, not to sensation or to volition. For the definitions of irrita tion, sensation, volition, and association, see Additional Note PRODUCTION OF LIFE. Canto 1. 25 Through each new sense the keen emotions dart, Flush the young cheek, and swell the throbbing heart From pain and pleasure quick Volitions rise, Lift the strong arm, or point the inquiring eyes ; With Reason's light bewilder'd Man direct, And right and wrong with balance nice detect.