Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1858-08-18
The Economy Of Nature.

In the great universe, to whatever part of it
We turn, one controlling principle is ever ap-
parent, one sentiment seems to pervade 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
motto, 'sW aste not, want not" The flowers
are ever ready to receive the dew-drops, and
when they have done with them, the morning
sun evaporates and keeps them in the clouds
ready for use again. Matter is indestructi5lc,
and although we can by fire and other means
render it invisible, what is our surprise to find
that it has assumed gaseous form, and the
piece of charcoal that we burned is now float
ing in the room, mixed with the atmosphere
We are breathing. Matter is ever changing.
The forces of nature which we call chemical
action, gravity, electricity, light, heat, and
life, are increasingly effecting the transmuta-
tion of substances; thus, for example, ages
long since rolled away, myriads of little 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 lime
stone all over the world, and 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 the ancient ForamiRifera.
The lovely tnts that deck the leaves in the
Fall, and give to our autumnal scenery such a
distinctive beauty, is due to some bed of iron
ore, which has lain hidden beneath 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 crum-
bles, and the winds disperse il, 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 dccayed, and what is now dry land
shall have been depressed and upheaved, COW
cred by the sea aud ScOrched by the sun, who
knows but that that same iron may form nod
ule or ball in q bed of coal, and be worked and
smelted for the use of man. All these chan
ges work together harmoniously. All goes on
in exact proportions. No waste, no want!
'sWhat is one mans meat is another's poi
son" 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 "a
way from the lungs as an invisible gas, poison
Gus and deadly. When we for moment
think of the number of beings who are every
moment breathing into the common atmo-
sphere such vast quantities of this gas, and
have been doing it for centuries, we ask, s'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 ev-
cry particle of carbon for their own nourish-
ment, they throw off as useless that which is
most necessary to the support of animal life
oxygen. So the proverb is illustrated, for
what is the poison of the animal is the food Of
the plant.
In this way lessons may be learned by stu
dying the workings of the natural forces, and
by initiating the economy of nature, we shall
ever DC healthy, happy and content.