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served, that it originates in a too slight and undigested view of the subject. The human hearts mentioned in the objection, are such as are impregnated with the corrupt waters of an evil, carnal mind, and therefore they bring forth evil fruits in abundance; and they are truly typified by low marshy grounds, which are made rotten by stagnant and putrid waters, such as are figuratively mentioned in Ezekiel, ch. xlvii. viz. But the MIRY PLACES thereof, and THE MARISHES thereof, shall not be healed; they shall be given to SALT." That is to say, carnal wisdom typified by NITROUS SALT, as I fully believe. -See Essay on Chemistry.

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But the deserts of Arabia are symbolical of a heart, and animal nature, which is neither impregnated by sweet and vital waters of mind, nor by corrupt and putrid mind: that is to say, of a heart which is quite destitute of any rational mind. In short, it is precisely the image of the abstract kind of heart and animal nature, which I state above in my supposition, by way of illustration of the essential difference between the two grand divisions of water and dry land, or mind and heart, in both scales, moral and natural.

Now, it is evident, that such a kind of soil, if its parallel be required in human nature as it is, can typify none but the heart of an idiot, or a lunatic; and of these it appears to be a precise

and accurate emblem. For every plant and ve- The Earth. getable in the natural world, which springs from the earth by the co-operation of water, even to a blade of grass, is an ORGANIC SYSTEM. It has a root, a stem, a leaf, a flower, a seed, and a circulation of sap. Now, every such system requires and announces water; that is to say, figuratively speaking, MIND, tinctured more or less with reason, (IRON.) The thing is self-evident, for a perfect system of any kind, whether good or evil, denotes reason, or the comparing balance. Hence it is manifest, that the earth, or the heart and animal nature of an idiot, or an irrational person, whatever internal motions it may have, or whatever animal feelings it may possess, having no rational mind or water, cannot produce any such system; not even such as may be typified by a blade of grass. It may burn with passion, it may be raised up into clouds and storms of moral dust, or brutal error and wild mischief, by those burning winds or spirits, like the deserts of Arabia; but it has no rational system of mind, no water, and therefore it can produce no vegetable substance, figuratively speaking; the case of the lunatic, while such, appears similar. He is raised into madness, fury, and mischief, by the raging spirit which sweeps his heart, but he has no rational mind, or water, and therefore he produces no perfect system

The Earth. of thought, or of action, or vegetable production.

Again, the original character or temperament of the heart is inherent, obstinate, and predominant through life; it may in some degree be modified and veiled, rather than changed by human culture or education; but the original soil, both in body and spirit of each individual, being by nature particularly disposed and prepared to attract, admit, and obstinately retain, a peculiar combination of desire and affection, or mode of self-love, this congenial spirit will ever enter and abide in it, more readily than any other, whether it be pride, or vanity, or avarice, or any other vice; mingled nevertheless, with the corresponding human moral virtues of generosity, or prudence, or public spirit, &c. because, from moral climate, also, which depends on moral latitude and longitude; and from heat and cold, resulting from a more vertical, or a more oblique position of the human sphere to the Sun of Righteousness, there must be derived an original sympathy, or attraction of desire, (as well as repulsion of aversion,) between the soil or constitution of the heart, and the spiritual air, or combination of airs, which are most prevalent in it by its nature, and which can never be entirely excluded or subdued by less than the power of omnipotence.

This appears to be equally the case with the

various soils of the natural earth; they may be, The Earth. in a certain degree, externally or superficially altered by manuring and mixing, but still the natural or original soil or temperament will always have a tendency to predominate, and will infallibly do so, unless we repress it continually by incessant labour of cultivation. It is to be supposed, that the soil extends to a considerable depth, and that its character is more firm and decided according to circumstances, in proportion as we descend; and therefore that peculiar combination of airs, or aëriform fluids, which is congenial to the soil, whether good or bad, and forms its appropriate character, will be continually rising up from beneath, together with its internal waters, saturated with the same fluids, and swallow up the transient effects of our superficial labours.

I might now proceed, by the help of my books, and in humble faith, to analyse the different chemical earths, and to compare them analogically, showing what particular temperaments of body and soul are symbolised by magnesia, clay, barytes, stones, and lime: but this would swell the present elementary essay to an immoderate size; and it has been subsequently attempted at large in an essay on analogical chemistry. For the present, therefore, I shall beg my reader to consider the several hints already given respecting the earth, adding

The Earth. only, that I consider magnesia as emblematic of the sanguine, barytes as that of the melancholic, stones as that of the choleric, and clay as that of the phlegmatic temperament.

The water, or imagi

nation.

But, it is quite otherwise with the mind, and particularly with the power of IMAGINATION, the most active, fluent, and prime faculty, I suppose, of the mind. Far from possessing that obstinate, unbending character of the solid affections, and porcine appetites of the heart and animal nature, as modified by love and selfishness, its peculiar character is mobility, versatility, fluency of thought and speech; it is to assume with equal ease all kinds of forms, even the most opposite, and seemingly irreconcileable, in the most rapid succession. It is a Proteus, a complete system of fluxions, to us infinite, and infinitely various, whose laws cannot be developed but by a specific and appropriate species of calculation.

Let us, for instance, examine cursorily and superficially, (which is all that the ability of the writer can presume to attempt,) the emblematic picture of imagination presented by a lake of water. Supposing it to be perfectly at rest from without; that is to say, unagitated by any wind (or spirit) from our natural heaven, it is evident that it will reflect the images of all the natural objects which can be thrown upon it in straight lines, drawn from those objects,