point, and so nicely is this adjusted, that when, from any extraneous cause, they become overloaded, they are apt to come away with a crash; as in the case of the ancient forest in Italy, which, recently, had every tree stripped of its branches by the ice with which they were weighted. A slight wind was all that was necessary to convert into bare poles the stately trees of a forest, that claimed a classic antiquity. A striking illustration of the same thing, is seen at the Falls of Niagara. The spray incrusts with ice the branches of the trees in the neighbourhood, so that if they extend beyond a certain point, they are broken off. This accounts for their bare and stunted appearance. In the moon, however, trees could safely throw out their branches to a much greater extent, simply for the reason that they are so much lighter. It is a great feat in architecture, to construct a spire or factory chimney a few hundred feet high; and when such structures exceed a certain height, there is danger of their toppling over, or of being crushed by their own weight. But in the moon, the colossal chimneys of our manufacturing towns, would be altogether dwarfed, standing, side by side, with the chimneys of the lunar factories. Then, as to the alternation of day and night, how singularly constituted must the forms of life be, to bear a fortnight of unmitigated sunshine, and then a long dreary night of similar length. Scorching is avoided, on our globe, by our turning away from the central fire after twelve hours'
