San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-10-26
The atmosphere.

The miracles of life attract no atten-
ton, because habit has dulled our sensi-
bilities; but they are none the less ex-
traordinary, none the less cogent as ar-
guments in behalf of a first great cause.
For an illustration, take the atmosphere.
In this subtle fluid, which overhows land
and deep, like another ocean, all breath
ing 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 60 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
ed receiver of an air-pump. To the at
mosphere we are indebted for the vital
principle that feeds our fires. We cook
our food, warm our dwellings, and drive
our locomotives through the direct aid
of the atmosphere. 1t is the atmosphere
in motion that propels ships across the
deep, or brings us cooling gales in the
heats of summer. Light is reflected by
the atmosphere, so that weowe to it the
painted clouds of sunset and the reful-
gent tints of dawn. The atmosphere is
the principal agent in modifying climate.
The rains of spring, the SHOWS of winter,
the gentle dew, the pelting shower, all
owe their origin to the atmosphere.
Lieut.. Maury has felicitously described
it as the mighty pumping machine,
drawing water up from the ocean, carry
ing 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 Pacific trop-
les during the winter of our northern
hemisphere, evaporate immense quanti-
ties of water from the ocean, which as
cending to the high strata of the atmos-
phere, are borne on aerial currents to
the northeast, till striking the Rocky
Mountains, they are condensed by the
greater cold of those enormous eleva-
tions, and the copious falls of hail, snow
OF rain are the result. 1t is the atmos-
phere. bringing us the warm vapors of
the southern summer, which are, on
their arrival here in winter, converted
into snow or rain, which fills our rivers,
irrigates our fields and secures 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 vegetable
world is indebted for its food. Plants
live on carbon as men live on oxygen,
and it is the atmosphere which distrib-
utes both. An eloquent writer has said
that the gas which we breathe to-day
was distilled for lis, yesterday perhaps,
OF the rhOdOdendrOns OF Carolina, or the
palms of the Orient. Animals can go
and seek their food, but vegetables must
have it brought to them; and, therefore,
without the atmosphere, 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 eyesight. 1t is the atmosphere which
purifies pestilential regions by sending
it's currents, scavenger-like, to sweep
foul gases. Yet how little is this all-per-
vading influence of the atmosphere real
lied! Were any new agent to appear,
whose power was but 1.-THE as extern
sive, the whole civilized world would be
lost in anxiety and wonder; but because
men have become habituated to the
functions of the atmosphere, its daily
miracles pass without awakening
thought.
The OLDEST Nan in the u Orid.