Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Randolph County, Ind.) 1855-1862, 1858-08-26

In the great universe, 10 Whatever
part of it we turn, one controlling
principle is ever apparent. one senti
ment seems TO pcrvade the whole
economy; and SO forcibly does this
strike the attention Of every one of US.
that we have expressed it in proverb
and use it as a motto, Waste not,
want not" The flowers are ever ready
to receive the DEVELOPS, and when
they have done with them, the morn
ing sun cvaporates and keeps them in
the clouds ready for use again. Matter
is indestructible, and although we can
by fire and other means render it in
visible, what is our surprise to find
that it has assumed gaseous form,
and the piece Of charcoal that we burn
ed is now floating in the room mixed
with the atmosphere we arc breathing.
Matter is ever changing. The forces
of nature which we call chemical ac-
tion, gravity, electricity. light, heat,
and life are increasingly efiecting the
transmutation of substances; thus, for
example, ages long since rolled away.
myriads Of little creatures with shells
not larger than pins head, acted as
the scavengers of the ocean, they died,
and sunk TO the bottom Of the deep,
and to-day we find their shells as chalk
and limestone all over the world, and
naturalists tell us that on the sea bot
tom Of the Gulf of Mexico, and in va
rious parts of the Gulf Stream, there
are limestone beds being formed by the
modern representatives of ancient Fo-
rominifero.
The lovely tints that deck the leaves
in the Fall, and give to our autumnal
scenery such distinctive beauty. is
due to some bed of iron ore, which has
lain hidden beneath the rocks for CEN
turies. Some little brook first found
it out, and carrying it away bit by bit
has spread it over the soil, gradually
the iron ore crumLles, and. the winds
dispcrse it, the trees feed upon it, and
in the autumn it shows that it is there,
by the color of the leaves. When
trees shall have decaycd, and what is
now dry land shall have been dcpress-
ed and upheaved. covered by the sea
and scorchcd by the sun, who knows
but that same iron may form a nodule
or ball in bed of coal, and be worked
and smcltcd for the use of man. All
these changes work together harmo-
niously. All goes on in exact proper
tions. No waste, no want!
"What is one mans meat is anoth
er's poison" is another maxim which
the economy of nature teaches, and one
simple illustration will quickly make
it plain. The solid portion of living
things, if we except the skeleton, is
carbon-charcoal This all animals
must have in their food and from the
food the digestive organs take as much
as is necessary to make muscle, flesh
and tissue, throwing the rest away
from the lungs as an invisible gas,
poisonous and deadly. When we for
moment think of the number of be-
ings who are every moment breathing
into the common atmosphere such vast
quantities of this gas. and have been
doing it for centuries. we ask, How
is it, then. that we can live?" In the
quiet and still night when men and
animals sleep, the plants are greedily
and eagerly absorbing all this carbonic
acid, and with care taking every par
ticle of carbon for their own nourish-
ment, they throw off as useless that
which is most necessary to the support
Of animal life-oxygcn. So the prov
erb is illustrated, for what is the poi
SON of tho animal is the food of the
plant.
In this way, lessons may be learned
by studying the workings of the natu-
raj forces, and by initiating the ccono-
my of nature, VIC shall ever be healthy.
happy and content.-SctcRtJic Amer-
icon.
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