Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1878-01-31
The Atmosphere.

The miracles of life, says DIR. Greg0-
ry. attract no attention, because habit
has dulled our sensibilities; but they
are none the less extraordinary, none
the less cogent as arguments in behalf
of great First Cause. For an illus
tration, take the atmosphere. In this
subtle fluid, which overflows land and
deep, like another ocean, all breathing
creatures live and move, as fish in the
sea. Without the atmosphere the lungs
would cease to play, the blood to keep
pure, pulsation to go on, existence TO
continue. If by any strange alchemy
OF nature, the atmosphere could be sud-
denly extirpated, all created animals
would die, like mice under the exhaust
er of an air-pump. To the atmosphere
we are indebted for the vital principle
that feeds our fires. We cook our food,
warm our dwellings, and drive our To-
comotives through the direct aid of the
atmosphere. 1t is the atmosphere in
motion that propels ships across the
deep, or bring us cooling gales i'm the
heats of Summer. Sight is reflected
by the atmosphere, so that we owe to
IT the painted clouds of sunset and the
refulgent tints of dawn.
The atmosphere is the principal agent
in modifying climate. The rains of
Spring, the SHOWS of Winter, the gen.
tie dew the pelting shower, all owe
their origin to the atm sphere. Lieut.
Maury has felicitously described it rs
the mighty pumping machine, drawing
water up from the ocean, carrying
it in the form of vapor to the land
and precipitating it over the thirsty
fields and dry brooks in the guise of
rain. The heats of our Southern Pa
cific tropics, during the Winter of our
northern hemisphere, eyapOrate i'm
mense quantities of water from the
ocean, which, ascending OH the high
strata Of the atmosphere, are borne OH
aerial currents to the northeast, till
striking the Rocky Mountains, they are
condensed by the greater cold of those
enormous elevations, and copious falls
of hail snow or rain are the result. 1t
is the atmosphere, bringing us the warm
vapors of the southern Summer, which
are, on their arrival here in Winter, con-
verted into snow or rain, which fills
our rivers, irrigates our fields and Sc
cures TO US our harvests. Without the
atmosphere the Mississippi would soon
run out, and even the great lakes dry
up into deserts.
To the atmosphere the entire vegeta-.
BILE world is indebted for its food.
Plants live on carbon as men on oxy-
gen, and it is the atmosphere which
distributes both. An eloquent writer
haS said that the gas which we breathe
to-day was distilled for Us, yesterday
perhaps, of the rhododendrons of Car
olina, or the palms of the Orient. An
imals can go and seek their food, but
vegetables must have it brought to
them; and therefore without the at
nosphere, which serves as their carrier.
they would perish at once. 1t is the
atmosphere which softens the glaring
light OF day, and thus protects the eye
sight. 1T is the atmosphere which puri-
iies pestilential regions by sending its
currents, scavenger-like, 10 sweep
away foul gases. Yet how little is this
all prevailing influence of the atmos-
phere realizedl Were any new agent
to appear, whose pow. was but tithe
as extensive, the whole civilized world
would be lost in anxiety and wonder;
but because men have become habitu-
ated to its functions, its daily miracles
pass without awakening thought.