Robert Hunt

“ Every animal and every plant alike proclaim that life and health are due to light; and even the crystallizing forms of inorganic matter, by bending towards it, confess its all-prevailing sway. From the sun to each planet revolving around that orb, and to the remotest stars which gleam through the vast immensity of heaven, we discover this power still in its brightness, giving beauty and order to these unnumbered creations; no less completely than to this small island of the universe which we call our Earth. ”

“ To take our examples from inorganic nature, the granite rock which presents its uplifted head in firmness to the driving storm, the stones which genius has framed into forms of architectural beauty, or the metal which is intended to commemorate the great acts of man, and which in the human form proclaims the hero’s deeds and the artist’s talent, are all alike destructively acted upon during the hours of sunshine, and, but for provisions of nature no less wonderful, would soon perish under the delicate touch of the most subtile of the agencies of the universe. ”

“ The regulation which disposes the arrangements of matter on this earth, must exist through the celestial spaces, and every planet bears the same relation to every other glittering mass in heaven’s o’erarching canopy, as one atom bears to another in the pebble, the medusa, the lion, or the man. An indissoluble bond unites them all, and the grain of sand which lies buried in the depth of one of our primary formations, holds, chained to it by these all-pervading forces, the uncounted worlds which, like luminous sand, are sprinkled by the hand of the Creator through the universe. ”

“ Every tree spreading its green leaves to the sunshine, or exposing its brown branches to the air—every flower which lends its beauty to the earth—possesses different absorbing and radiating powers. The chalice-like cup of the pure white lily floating on the lake—the variegated tulip—the brilliant anemony—the delicate rose—and the intensely coloured peony or dahlia—have each powers peculiar to themselves for drinking in the warming life-stream of the sun, and for radiating it back again to the thirsting atmosphere. ”

“ Geology teaches us to regard our position upon the earth as one far in advance of all former creations. It bids us look back through the enormous vista of time, and see, shining still in the remotest distance, the light which exposes to our vision many of nature’s holy wonders. The elements which now make up this strangely beautiful fabric of muscle, nerves, and bone, have passed through many ordeals, ere yet it became fashioned to hold the human soul. No grain of matter has been added to the planet, since it was weighed in a balance, and poised with other worlds. ”

“ The mind thus exercised during the mid-day of life, will find in the twilight of age a divine serenity; and, charmed by the music of nature, which, like a vesper hymn poured forth from pious souls, proclaims in devotion’s purest strain the departure of day, he will sink into the repose of that mysterious night which awaits us all, tranquil in the happy consciousness that the sun of truth will rise in unclouded brilliancy, and place him in the enjoyment of that intellectual light, which has ever been among the holiest aspirations of the human race. ”

“ By the dispersive powers of this medium, sunlight is converted into daylight; and instead of unbearable, parallel rays illuminating brilliantly, and scorching up with heat those parts upon which they directly fall, leaving all other parts in the darkness of night, we enjoy the blessings of a diffusion of its rays, and experience the beauties of soft shades and slowly-deepening shadows. Without an atmosphere, the sun of the morning would burst upon us with unbearable brilliancy, and leave us suddenly, at the close of day, at once in utter darkness. ”

“ Yonder exquisite specimen of the skill of man, in which mind appears to shine through the marble,—that distant mountain which divides the clouds as they are driven by the winds across it,—those trees, amid whose branches the birds make most melodious music,—this flower, so redolent of perfume, so bright in colour, and so symmetric in form,—and that lovely being who, a model of beauty and grace, walks the earth an impersonation of love and charity blended, making, indeed, “a sunshine in a shady place,” are not realities. ”

“ The spirit floating over these forms of beauty, and adorning them with all the richness of colour—painting the rose, and giving perfume to the violet—is, in the poet’s mind, one which ascends to nearly the highest point of etherealization, and which becomes, indeed, to him a spirit of light; they ride upon the zephyrs, and they float, in all the luxury of an empyreal enjoyment, down to the earth upon a sunbeam. ”

“ The glorious sun by day, and the moon and stars in the silence and the mystery of night, are felt to influence all material nature, holding the great Earth bound in a many-stranded cord which cannot be broken. The tidal flow of the vast ocean, with its variety of animal and vegetable life, the atmosphere, bright with light, obscured by the storm-cloud, spanned by the rainbow, or rent with the explosions of electric fire,—attest to the might of these elementary bonds. ”

“ The sylph moistening a lily is a sweet dream; but the thoughts which rise when first we learn that its broad and beautiful dark-green leaves, and its pure and delicate flower, are the results of the alchemy which changes gross particles of matter into symmetric forms,—of a power which is unceasingly at work under the guidance of light, heat, and electrical force,—are, after our incredulity has passed away—for it is too wonderful for the untutored to believe at once—of an exalting character. ”

“ The poet may pay the debt of nature,—the philosopher may return to the bosom of our common mother,—even their names fade in the passage of time, like planets blotted out of heaven but the truths they have revealed to man burn on for ever with unextinguishable brightness. Truth cannot die; it passes from mind to mind, imparting light in its progress, and constantly renewing its own brightness during its diffusion. ”

“ That martyr to sensibility, Keats, who longed to feel the flowers growing above him, drew the strong inspiration of his volant muse from those delicate creations which exhibit the passage of inorganic matter into life; and other poets will have their sensibilities awakened by the æsthetics of flowers, and find a mirror of truth in the crystal dew-drop which clings so lovingly to the purple violet, and draws fresh beauties from its coloured petals. ”

“ Lifting our searching gaze into the measureless space beyond our earth, we find planet bound to planet, and system chained to system, all impelled by a universal force to roll in regularity and order around a common centre. The pendulations of the remotest star are communicated through the unseen bond; and our rocking world obeys the mysterious impulse throughout all those forces which regulate the inorganic combinations of this earth, and unto which its organic creation is irresistibly compelled to bow. ”

“ In the vast area of its action, which opens before the eye of the mind, we see a power spanning all space, and linking together every one of those myriads of worlds which spangle the robe of the Infinite, and we are compelled to pause. Is this principle of gravitation a property of matter, or is it a power higher than the more tangible forces, is the question which presses on the mind. If we regard it as a subtile principle pervading all space, we compel ourselves to look beyond it for another power yet more refined ”

“ In the rounded pebble which we gather from the sea-shore, in the medusa floating bright with all the beauty of prismatic colour in the sun-lit sea,—in the animal, mighty in his strength, roaming the labyrinthine forests, or, great in intelligence, looking from this to the mysteries of other worlds,—in all created things around us, we see direct evidence of a beautiful adjustment of the balance of forces, and the harmonious arrangement of properties. ”

“ The human mind naturally delights in the discovery of truth; and even when perverted by the constant operations of prevailing errors, a glimpse of the Real comes upon it like the smile of daylight to the sorrowing captive of some dark prison. The Psychean labours to [Pg xi] try man’s soul, and exalt it, are the search for truth beneath the mysteries which surround creation,—to gather amaranths, shining with the hues of heaven, from plains upon which hang, dark and heavy, the mists of earth. ”

“ The work of life is now at its maximum, and every energy is quickened throughout the organic creation. The laws of nature are arranged on the principle of antagonistic forces, the constant struggle to maintain them in equilibrium constituting the sensible phenomena of existence. Heat and light, with chemical power and electricity, have been quickening the unknown principle of life, until it has become exhausted in the production of new parts—in the strange phenomenon of growth—the formation of organized matter from the inorganic stores of creation. ”

“ The cultivators of modern science are a bold race; not contented with endeavouring to understand the physical earth, they are endeavouring to comprehend the condition of the solar surface. The mind of man can penetrate far into nature, and, as it were, feel out the mysteries of untraversed space. The astronomer learns of a peculiar condition of light, which is termed polarisation, and he learns by this, too, that he can determine if from a bright luminous disc the light is derived from a solid mass in a state of intense ignition, or from vapour in an incandescent condition. ”