Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1857-02-10
PoMERoY, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1857

ence answers that the sunbeam is TIN
fountain of all force. Power is of celes
tial origin, and is the property, not OF tn
earth exclusively, but of the universe
The earth furnishes dead, inert matter, ant
the heavens furnish forces that throw tin
to movement and life. The divine plal
is demonstrable to the commonest form O
movement. 1t is impossible to lift th'
hand or wink the eye without employing
particles of force that have traversed hun
dreds of millions Of miles of space. !,
First, let us understand what's the con
stitution of the earth, which turns ovel
daily, presenting every part of its surface
to the action of the radiations from the
heavens. We must know this to under
stand how the radiations link in. We car
inspect the surface of the earth to study
its chemical structure, and we have dug
down about a mile. Geology also gives
us an idea of the composition little fur
ther down, and volcanoes have thrown up
for our inspection melted matter from un-
known depths. We find the earth's crust
to consist generally of granite rocks and
stratifed rocks resting upon the granite,
AS the strata are almost invariably in an
inclined position, we walk on the edges Of
the sheets, and have beneath our feet spec
linens of what exists below. All over the
world the rocks have wonderful identity
The granite of the Alps and the Andes,
the marble of Vermont and of Italy, are
alike to the chemist; sand from Sahara is
just like sand from Coney Island. So it is
with the analysis of sods, which result
from the rotting down of rocks. The
earth as it revolves shows the same mate
rials on every side.
Now, what are these materials? They
number only about sixty, when reduced to
their lowest denominations, as we may di-
vide language, first into books, then into
chapters, into sentences, into words, and
finally into letters or simple sounds
Most Of these primary materials are so
rare that, for our purposes, we have to do
with only ten or dozen. These are iron,
calcium, magnesium, &C., which 60 to
form rocks, never in single elementary
state, but always in pairs. None of the
metals combine with each other alone, but
there is an all pervading substance called
oxygen, which combines with each and
all the materials of rocks-a kind of &C.
ment, by which rocks are bound together.
Oxygen is the most abundant as well as
the most powerful substance in nature
Its proportion in sandstone, limestone and
granite, is one-half; in water, a very abun-
dant substance, eight-nintbs; in the ami
NAL world, three-fourths; in the vegetable
world, four-ffths. At least one-half of
the whole crustof the earth consists of this
one substance. It's natural that we should
have curiosity to know what manner of
thing is this important substance. If it
were before the audience in a glass vessel
it could not be seen. ltmixes up with all
the changes of the earth, acts everywhere
with the most intense energy, and yet
when drawn from its hiding-place by the
sorcery of the chemist, it comes forth,
shrinking from human gaze, an invisible
power. The air around us is full of it
We are constantly breathing it. The air is
made of eighty per cent. nitrogen and
twenty per cen.. oxygen, but the nitrogen
is an inert, lazy substance, and for the pur-
pose of this lecture we may consider the
atmosphere as pure oxygen. Having
wrestled down and embraced the whole
crustof the earth, reducing all in its grasp
to stiffness and death, there is yet a super
abundance of this powerful substance
which constitutes the atmosphere. We
live in it, all the transactions of life are 60
ing on in it, and yet it has only one faculty
it can do nothing but destroy-nothing
but burn, 1t mingles with carbon and hy-
drogen, and burns as it mingles. All the
waters Of the earth are but the ashes of
burned hydrogen. In all combustion there
must be substance capable of combining
with oxygen, but not already combined.
Thus, a candle is made of carbon and hy-
drogen, and its combustion by union OF
these substances with oxygen of the air,
simply changes their form to carbonic ac-
id gas and vapor of water, evolving at the
same time light and heat. Stones will
not burn, because they have already all the
oxygen they want. This is the simple
theory Of all its combustion to the world.
From burned carbon is produced carbonic
acid, and from burned hydrogen, water.
What is the relation of oxygen to the
living body? Every anima, is busy draw
ing in and throwing out air--an increas-
ing tidal ebb and flow. The oxygen of the
air passes through the membranes of the
lungs, is taken up by the blood and carried
to all parts of the body. 1t does here
what it does eyerywhere-it burns. Slow
combustion goes on in the body, and car.
bonic acid and water are produced. This
combustion is necessary to keep up hea
and fever, and the oxygen of the air mus
have carbon and hydrogen, in the form O
food and drink, to feed upon. Cut off {
man from everything but air, and the oxy
gen at every breath will cut away portion
Of his own frame. The most combustiblt
parts are first consumed, he grows lighteI
and more emaciated every hour. First, tn
fat disappears, then the muscles are as
sailed, and lastly, the deyouring giant, OK
ygen, attacks the brain and nerves, delri
um ensues, and death closes the scene
Men say he has starved to death, but tn,
scientific truth is that he has been burnet
to cinders. a1 ,s n ~
4 AL the changes Of combination produc
Il forca "A bushel of coal will nroduc