The globe on which we live runs over every year a space of two hundred millions of leagues; and in this immense course, its distance from the sun, determined by immutable laws, is exactly proportioned to the degree of the temperature necessary to our feeble nature, and to the successive return of that precious vegetation, without which no animated being could subsist. That celestial body, which fertilizes the seeds of life shut up in the bosom of the earth, is, at the same time, the source of that light which opens to our view the glorious sight of the universe. The rays of the sun run over in eight minutes about thirty millions of leagues: such an impetuous motion would be sufficient to pulverize the largest masses of matter; but, by an admirable combination, such is the incomprehensible tenuity of these rays, that they strike the most tender of our organs, not only without wounding it; but with a measure so delicate and precise, that they excite in us those extatic sensations, which are the origin and the indispensable condition of our greatest enjoyments. Man, in immensity, is only an imperceptible point; and yet, by his senses and intelligence, he seems in communication with the whole universe; but how pleasant and peaceable is this communication! It is almost that of a prince with his subjects: all is animated round man, all relates to his desires and wants; the action of the elements, every thing on earth, like the rays of light, seems to be proportioned to his faculties and strength; and whilst the celestial bodies move with a rapidity which terrifies our imagination, and whilst they hurry along in their course our dwelling, we are tranquil in the bosom of an asylum, and under the protecting shelter allotted us; we enjoy there in peace a multitude of blessings, which, by another wonderful affinity, ally themselves to our taste, and all the sentiments we are endowed with.