Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1849-11-02
The Nature andSReiation Of
Wafer.

uents of the various parts of the SYSTEM.
To so great an extent does this go, that
| in a thousand parts of humln blood, near
liy eight hundred are pure water. The
ldistribution Of organized beings all over
NE world is to a great extent regulated
by itssabundance or scarcity. 1t seems
as ifthe psaperlies Of this substance mark
out the plan ef animated natures. From
man at the head of all, to the meanes,
vegetable that cansgrow on a bare rock,
| through all the various orders and tribes
this ingredient is ever required. Insipid
and inodorous in itself, itpartakes oflhe
peculiarities of all other bodies; assumes
with readiness the sweetness ofsugar, and
the acidity of vinegar. Distilled with
flowers, or the aromatic parts of plants,
it contracts from them their fragrance
and with equal facility becomes the vehi
Gle of odors the most offensive to our sen
ses. J.
We talk about the use of water, and
imagine that nature furnishes us peren.
NAL supply. The common PHILOSOPHY
of the people is doubtless advanced SO fal
as to admit that, in an unknown manner
this substance is created in the clouds, de-
scends as rain for the use of animals and
plants; but whence it came or where il
goes never enters into their cons liberation.
Men constantly forgetthat in this world
nothing is ever annihilated; an atom once
created can by no process be destroyed
The liquid that we drink to-day, has been
drunk 2 thousand times before; the clouds
that obscure the sky have obscnred it a
gain and again; and if the sorrows oil
mankind are as many as the pIlilantllro-
pist may well fear, he might suspect a
great part of the ocean is, perhaps, made
up Of tears that have fallen from the hu-
man family. In the air their signs die
away, and in the ocean their tears are all
lost. This using over and over again is
striking characteristic of the ways Of
nature. the beautiful and the vile-the
great and the small-are all mingled to-
gether, the tears that you shed in the
depths of grief to-day, may be squirted
Tomorrow through a hose-pipe to clean
the dirt of the streets, or whistled away
through the squeak of locomotive, to
scare some dilatory COW off the track.
/ So much for the sorrows of man.
What then becomes of the immense
quantities of water, which thus entering
as constituent of the bodies of animals,
| giyes to their various parts that fexibility
which enables them to execute move
ments, or combining with vegetable sruc-
ture, fits them for carrying on their vital
process! After the course of a few years,
all existing animals and vegetables en-
tirely pass away, their solid constituents
disintegrate and take on other conditions.
and the waters, lost perhaps for time
in the ground, at last escape in the form
of yapor into the air. Ia. that great
and invisible receptacle. all traces. Of its
ancient relations disappear; it mingies
with other vapors that are raised from
the sea by the sun. From the bodies OF
living animals and plants immense guam
titles are hourly finding their way into the
reservoir.
In a crowded city, from the skin and
| by the breath OF lis numerous inhabit-
aats, clouds of vapor are continually es-
Gaping; we see this visibly going on in
the cold weather of winter, and, though
invisible, the process is equally active in
snmmer-the escape arising from the
dsink we take, or from all those various
portions of the system that are dying
eilch moment, for the life of individual
being is made up Of the successive death
OF all its constituent particles. In the
same manner, from the forests and mead
ows, and wherever vegetables are found,
water is continually eyaporating, and
that TO an extent far surprising what we
might at first be led to suppose. In a
single day, sunflower Of moderate size
throws from its leaves and other parts
nearly 20 ounces weight.
How enormous, then, must be the guam
1 tity which escapes from the surface Of a
great continent! Yet all this is thrown
into the air, and there it mingles with 9TH
err portions, some of which are coming
from living races, and some derived from
4 the surface of the ground, and some fro0r
the remote regions of the sea, Hs66m5
as if nature had taken SURG means that
here all identity SHOULD BE losx The
winds, proserbially in0bnstant, blow at
one tlme from Africss AZ another from
Asia.
In the repusao,f .hs universe there
is a stern cquali1f. The breath or the
king .intermip with the breath Of the
beggar; and ~ game quiet atmosphere
receives th fiahtions of the American.
the Eueqfean, the Asiatic and the Afri,
can. PARTICLES that have risen from
the ds interminyle with those rom the
livia and il this werssaot enough. he
wi + and the tempests oblsEr.,e avsrv
Whnction, and dash in one co :ninnas .S,n
fsion these relics Of every part Of sis.l
Hlobe.
Aman of average size requires d half
ton weight of water year; when he has
reached the .meridiaYof life, he has con-
spmed nearly three hundred times his
own weight of this liquid. These are
statements which may seem to those who1
hear them for the first time, very wodz3y
derful, and as they are easily veri6et;
might lead you to Aoubt whether ~ OK
isting order Of pature. as depep<sa at on
the waters Of he sea, could i0r any
lar,rtb nc f;xoaS ha la,ts 49,. c,,,,h !,