American Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1855-1860, 1855-11-01
WONDERS or THE ArMosPnERE.

The atmosphere forms spherical shell
surrounding the earth to depth which is
unknown to us by reason Of its growing
tenuity as it is released from the,pressure,
Of its own experimentation mass. Us upper
surface cannot be nearer TO US than fifty
and can scarcely be more than FIVE hund-
red miles, 1t surrounds us on all sides,
yet We see it moi; it presses on us with a
load offifteen pounds on every square inch
ofsurface Of onr bodies, or from seventy to
one hundred tons on US yet we not so much
as feel its weight. Softer than the finest
down, more impalpable than The finest gns-
samer, it leaves the cobweb undisturbed,
and scarcely siirs the lightest flower that
feed on the dew It supplies: it bears the
fleets Of nations on its wings around the
world and crushes the most refractory
substances with its weight. When in mo-
ton IFS force is sufficient to Level the most
stately forest and stable buildings with The
earth, TO raise the waters Of tile ocean into
ridges like mountains and dash the strong
est ships to pieces like toys. Il warns
and cools by turns the earth and the living
creatures that tinhabit it. 1t draws up va
pors from the sea and land. retains them
dissolved in itself or suspended in cis:erns
OF clouds, and throws them down again as
rain or dew when they are required. 1t
bends the rays Of the sun from their path
TO give. us the twilight of evening and of
dawn; it disperses and retracts their yari-
Gus tints to beautify the spproach and the
retreat ofthe orb Of day. But for the at
mosphere, sunshine would burst upon ms
and fail us at once:-at once remove us
from midnight darkness TO the blaze Of
noon. We should have no twilight to sof-
ten and beautify the landscape, no clouds
to shade us from the scorching heat; but
the bald earth as it revolved on its axis,
would turn its tanned aad weathered front
to the full and unmi.igated rays OF the
lord of day. II affords the gas which yiv-
ifies and warns our frames and receives in
TO itself that which had been polIu:ed by
use aud is thrown off as noxious. 1t feeds
the fame of life exactly as it does that Of
fire; it iS in both cases consumed and af-
fords the food Of consumption, in both cas-
es it bctomes combined with charcoal.
which requires itfor combustion and is re-
moved by it when it is over.
n is only the girding, eneirclng air. "
says writer in the North British Review,
that floats above and around US, that makes
the whole world kin. The carbonic- c-acid
with which to-day our breathing fills the
air, tomorrow seeks its way around tho
world. The date trees that grow around
the falls of the Nile will drink lin by their
, leaves; the csdars Of Lebanon viii take il
, to add to their stature: the cOGoanu,s o
= Tahiti will grow rapidly upon it and tn,
Z palms and bananas Of japan viii change
4 into flowers. The oxygen we are breath
ing vas distilled for us some short timo a
a go by the msgnolias Of the Susquohannl
h and the great trees that skirt the Oronoc
q and the Amazon, the giant rhododendron
of the Himalays contributed to it. aud til
roses and myr.les of Cashmere, the cinna
! mon trees, of Ceylon and the forest olde
h than the food, buried deep in the heart @
!, Africa, faT behind the mountains Of tn
n Moon. The rain We see descending wa
!, thawed for us out Of the icebergs whicI
have watched the polar star for ages; an
the lotus lilies have soaked DIP from tn
Is Nile an1 exhaled as vapor, SHOWS shat res,
C ed on the submits of the Alps"
't THE atmosphere" says Mann, "whic
g forms the outer surface Of the habitAB
at world is vast reservoir, into which tn
at supply of feod designated for living ere;
= lures is thrown: in one word. it is itself ii
'T food in its simple form. of all living ere,
rs lures. The animal grinds down ih0 6br
y and the tissue Of the plsnt. or the nutr
le tious store that has been laid up within i,
y cells, ,and converts these into the substanc
lie of which its own organs are composed
8 The plant acquires the organs and nutriI
he ous store thus yielded up as food 10 the al
NJ imals, which are furnished with the NEAR
r of locometion and seisure-ihey can az
at proach their food and lay hold and swallo
fe it--plants must wait ill their feod come
re to them. No solid PARTICLES find access
nj their frames; the restless, ambient al
m which rushes past them loaded with Il
lis carbon, the hydrogen, the oxygen, the WI
IN ter, every thing they need in the shape
ne supplies is constantly at hand 10 minist'
ce TO their wants, not only TO afford them foe
It's n due season. bat in the shape or fashio
c. n which it alone can avail tnem."