The Kanzas news., 1858-09-25
The Economy of Nature.

In the great universe. TO whatever part
OF 1t we turn, one controlling principle is
ever apparent, one sentiment seems to per-
wade the WEole-economy; and so forcibly
does this strike the attention of every one
OF US, that We have expressed it in prov
erb and use it in a motto: .sWaste not, want
not The flowers are ever ready to re-
celye the dew-drops. and when they lave
done with them. the morning sun evapo-
rates them and keeps them in the clouds
ready for use again. Matter is indestructi-
Die; and although we can by fire and other
means render it invisible, what is our sur
prise to find that it has. reassumed gas
eous form, and the piece of charcoal that
we burned is now floating in the room,
mixed with the atmosphere we are breath
ing. Matter is ever changing. The forces
gravity, electricity. light. heat. and life are
increasingly efecting the transmutation of
substances; thus. for example. ages long
since rolled away, myriads of lille crea-
lures 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. Naturalists
tell US that on the sea-bottom of the Gulf
of Mexico, and in various parts of the
Gulf Stream, there are limestone beds being
formed by the modern representatives of
ancient Foraminifera.
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 lam hidden be-
meath the rocks for centuries Some little
brook first found it out. and carrying it
away bit by bit, has spread it over the SOIL
gradually the iron ore crumbles, and the
winds disperse it the trees feed upon it. and
in the auIumn it shows that it is there, BY
the color of the leaves. When trees shall
have decayed, and what is now dry land
shall have been depressed and upheaved,
covered by the sea and scorched by the
sun, who knows but that same iron may
form nodule or ball in bed of coal, and
be worked and smelted for the use of man.
ALI these changes work together harmnni-
Ously. All goes on in exact proportions.
No waste, no want!
''What is ones meat is another's poison, 4"
is another maxim which the economy of
nature teaches, and one simple illustration
will quickly make it plain. The solid pUr
lion of living things, if we except the skel-
eton. is carbon-charcoal. This all ami
mails must have in their food. and from the
food the digestive organs take as much as
is necessary to make muscle, flesh and It's
sue. throwing the rest away from the lungs
as an invisible gas. poisonous and deadly.
When we for a moment think of the num-
Der of beings who are every moment breath
ing into the common atmosphere such vast
quantities of this gas, and have been do
ing it for centuries, we ask, Chow is IL
then we can live ?' In the quiet, still
night, when men and animals sleep, the
plants are greedily and eagerly absorbing
all this carbonic acid, and with care taking
every particle of carbon for their own nour-
ishment, they throw off as useless that
which is most necessary to the support OF
animal life-oxygen.. So the proverb is il
Illustrated; for what is the poison of the an
imal is the food of the plant.
In this way. lessons may be learnt by
studying The workings of the natural forces,
and by initiating the economy of nature,
we shall ever be healthy, happy and con-
tent. -,SientJf; Americ0n.