Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-01-23

obtained as you can get from loo
sperm candles burning day and nigh
for twelve months It is coal ths
sparkles in our street lamps as wei
as In the diamonds that adorn tn
neck of duchess. For be it remem
bered that the diamond is only Goa
in its purest form; you have yer,
good proof of this in the fact that, b.
burning l lb, of diamonds-which, o
course, would be rather an expensiv,
luxury,--or lb. of charcoal, or l ID
ofplumbago, the same results will b,
produced in each case, namely, til,
production of 4 lbs. of cnrbon acid
1t is coal that enables us to breakfast
in Bristol and dine at Lands End Of
in Scotland, and thus gives, in m,
opinion, reality to romance.
Let me ask you, is not the recort
of the rocks marvellous one? Ha,
not the finger of Jehovah writer
thereon history full of interest ant
instruction? Human history is writ
ten in books, but geological history
is written like the moral law, OF
stone, every chapter of which
proves the wisdom and benevolenc,
Of the great Creator, but no chap
ter of that history il more full
of interest than the carboniferous era
May I carry you in imagination jus,
q step further? We have burnt ouI
coal, distilled its elements, and OBJ.
tanned from it the fifty and more sub.
stances that it contains. What then
Is it done with? Does it no longer
exist? Nay, verify, it is not given to
frail man, much as we sometimes
talk of our power over nature to de-
stroy anything that God has created
Change it we may, destroy u We
cannot. II is fact not only Of Scrip.
ture, but of science. that "He alone
can create and He destroy" Had we
been trusted with the power of de-
struction, SO great is the bump of
destruction developed in poor human
nature, that the world and all in it,
would have been destroyed long ago.
Fortunately for those who come af-
ter us we have not this power, We
can resolve the coal, with which q
gracious Providence has blessed us,
into its original elements, and,
while thus changing its charac-
ter, make it minister to our
wants in q thousand ways. And
what then? Here chemistry again
comes to our aid, and tells us that ev-
cry grain of hydrogen we liberate
from coal, or anything else, will COM
bine with 8 grains Of oxygen in the
air, and form water. This falls in
the shape of rain, and makes vegeta-
ton grow, by means of which animal
life is sustained-the COW eats the
grass, and we eat the cow, and thus
the process goes on. So, also, three
grains of carbon liberated from
coal when burnt combines with 8
grains of oxygen, and forms
carbonic acid, which, rs we all know,
forms the nutriment of plants, and,
for aught l know, may again form
the vegetation out of which future
coalfields may be developed. Here,
then, is noble theme for the stu
dents in this school to take up.
earnestly invite you to its study,
and feel certain that you will
never have cause to regret hav-
ing done SO. May I venture on
one moral, or rather on one deli
cate, but pregnant suggestion,
growing, as think out Of this train
of thought, namely, Have we not in
the future combinations of the ele-
ments liberated by the use of our coal
a pledge that in the moral and spirit
ual world, like the material, there will
be no such thing as destruction, but
that every intellectual and spiritual
element of our natures will combine
with other intellectual and spiritual
natures in the universe of Jehovah,
and that thus this life shall become
what l believe it was intended to be,
a stepping stone to something higher
and nobler in the future Of our be-
ing.