Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-09-10
MiTTER


NO. -
Could some superior being with omnipo-
tent vision be placed upon the planet Mars
with the earth in inferior conjunction look
ing downward to the earth he would see an
atmosphere agitated locally by different de-
grees of heat and cold, in other places in the
condition of rest. As motion is a law of the
universe, it is not impossible that each atom
would be seen to change position with its
neghbor when to the human sense no move
ment is apparent, as if the whole mass were
vast collection of living atoms, eager, like
organic beings, to conserve themselves by re-
moyal to n new and more congonial locality.
Terrestrial activities communicate motion to
the air, producing audible waves through
many horizontal miles, and pcrpondicularly
to an unknown distance Near the earth
clouds and vapors would be seen in state of
constant unrest driven by every breeze, and
elevated or depressed by the changing densi-
ty of the atmosphere. Beneath the clouds
vapors would be seen to ascend to replenish
these floating reservoirs OF water; or, MS
soon as the atmosphere is surcharged to de
scend IN the moro substantial rain to water
the earth.
The earth also presents the condition of
ceasl less motion. Men aud animals are hur-
rying in all directions in quest of food or
pleasure, impclled 10y the natural desire of
self conservation. When night overtakes them
and they lie down to rest, muscular activity
has ceased; yet unremitting motion is in
progress in the circulation of the blood and
in the respiration. Moreover, the atoms that
compose the body are leaving their compan-
IONS one by one, in sleeping as in waking
hours at the same time new ones nre con-
stantly taiang their places. These inter
changable activities are conservative and so
long US new atoms are supplied as fast as old
ones disappear, there is life, health and
strength. When d. ath ensues, the interchange
of atoms ceases the loss is no longer sup
piled with new aud living matter. These in
terchangeable motions are now succeeded by
n series of destructive motions of greater or
lessrapidty, controlled by external conditions,
and will continue until decomposition is com
plcte. Decomposition, then, is neither more
nor less than the motion of the atoms of the
decaying body. Now the elements have lost
their affiuity and are striving to extricate
themselves from each other, form new asso-
Citations, or return TO the several fountains
from which the organic body had been built
up; before, they strove to maintain their CO
partnership and permitted the cxtrusou
of atoms no faster than new ones could be
supplied.
In the vegetable kingdom, motion, though
less nctive aud less visible. is everywhere ap-
parent Like men and animals these organ
ic bodies are formed of atoms that have been
added through the circulation and inhalation
of gaseous matter 10y the leaves and they are
subject TO the same law of Interchange.
When age comes un and death ruverscs these
conservative motions, analysis Of the atomic
structure will continue until every elemen Mt has
been delivered up and prepared to begin de
H0rO similar process Of building mp organic
life.
That prolific German author, Baron ID
Holbach, lays down the broad postuate that
absolute rest is now here to be found. Wheth-
er this is correct or not it is certain that mo-
tion is separable from matter, if at all, only |
10y the intervention of a second law more po-
tent than the first The tendency of stone
is to tie enrths centre of gravity; intcrvcn-
ing matter keeps it upon the surface. Water |
will flow down an inclined plane forever; it |
is only when checked by barriers of earth |
aud a lake is formed that its course is arrest
ed. Presently the lowest point of the barrier |
is reached and the restless waters flow onward |
to the sea Here there is no rest. Ocean |
currents and waves lashed into fury by wind |
and storm keep up continual movement |
even in the greatest calm there is no perfect |
rest. The inhabitants of the deep, ever in |
motion themselves, impart agitation to the |
waters and thus aid in the execution of the |
law under consideration.
1t was observed in previous article that |
the rocks are being slowly eroded, the COM
mnuted particles finding their lodgment in
the sea. The soil, sand and gravel are car
ried away with far greater rapidity, washed |
into the streams aud rivers, which, At the
same time they are carrying away the matter
committed TO them, are eating away their
banks aud thus swelling the volume of allu.
vium ut their mouths The deltas of the |
Mississippi the Nile aud other large rivers
are remarkable as showing the changes tax
ing place upon the earth's surface. When it |
is considered that the delta of the Mississippi |
has an area of over IL, 900 square miles, and |
contains >, 500 cubic miles, requiring in its
formation II, 300 years, faint idea may be
had Of law of matter everywhere active,
sometimes conservative, sometimes destruc-
tive but whether conservative or destruc-
tive, always tending to the preservation of |
order, harmony and organic life as the ulh-
mate result.
The earth's crust is never at rest it is ris-
lag or falling with different degrees of rapid |
ity in different parts of the globe. In North
ern Europe ii rises four feet in a century, At |
the same time Greenland has been sinking |
for 400 years, and buildings and coast islands |
are submerged. The southern part of South |
America has been raised from 100 to 400 feet |
the shores of the Baltic sea and Northern |
ocean have been raised 600 feet as shown by |
marine shells at that elevation above the wa
ter-leyel, and portions of England have been
elevated from 20 to 200 feet.
Through these perpendicular motions of the |
earth's crust, islands and continents appear
and disappear in the course of unnumbered |
millions of years, leaving testimony more or
less substantial of the occurrence. The con-
tiuent of Lemuria is supposed to have ex-
tended from eastern Africa to eastern Asia,
but is now submerged by the Indian ocean.
In the Pacific a continent is believed to be
rising from its aqueous bed of millions of
years, the many islands being the mountain
submits of a ''new world, possibly to support |
a different fora and fauna from those prevail |
ing in past or present epochs.
While these individual motions and many |
others are in constant activity, there is an
axial and orbital motion of our planet itself,
and of all the planets in the universe. More
over, it is not improbable that whole systems
revolve around fixed or movable centres in a