Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-04-22

OtBhnlLbu living DRAIN. Ilgnt ana neat are
exceptions. Once these agents were believed
to be material substances, composed of in
hnitely small atoms emanating from the lu-
minous or calorific body. Hence Thomp-
son:
"Prime cheerer lightl
OF all material beings lrst and best;.
EhiuX divine"
Now after many interesting experiments that
cannot be described here, these agents are
considered immateriAl, and are best described
under the term force" or motion pervad-
ing so much Of circumambient space as is
embraced within the influence of the lumin-
Gus or calorifc body.
Matter we have found to be substance"
Of whatever kind. form or density that is ca
pable of producing an impression upon the
organs of sense, and hence perception, and
includes the aroma Of rose as really as a
solid rock or any substantial work Of art.
Locke says that spirit is q substance in
which thinking, knowing, doubling and
power of moving do subsist." Webster de-
fines spirit as an "immaterial substance"
The dilemma of the metaphysicians in their
endeavor to prove that the mind is, and is
not material, was briefly noticed in No. 70,
and will not be reproduced here except to re-
peat that the definition becomes unintellgi.
bic and ambiguous by employing terms un-
meaning and parado1ical.
II is hardly necessary to observe that sci
ence is indebted to matter for its existence,
and rests upon the assumption that natural
law is immutable. II the laws Of nature were
not immutable, science could have no sure
foundation, and hence could not exist ev-
erything would be confusion and uncertain
ty there would be no knowledge Of princ.
pies, nor the relation of different objects to
one another, because principles aud relations
would not exist.
Change does not imply mutability without
order, nor without an end to be subserved.
Every substance in nature, so far as mans
experience extends is subject TO change un-
der natural forces never at rest and it is
change, or motion, guided by law, that con-
serves the stability of the universe. The
forces that induce the change are immutable
and eternal. Sometimes these forces are for
a time destructive yet considered as q final
ity they are conservative. The light and
heat Of the sun and summer showers cause
vegetation to thrive; the same influences in
duce death and decomposition. But death
and decomposition are as necessary in the
endless chain OF cause and effect as birth and
life.
Natural science is founded upon observa-
tion and experiment. OF this nature are
chemistry and astronomy. The chemist has
discovered the composition of air aud water
and the laws of affinity and repulsion by ex-
pertinent only. The astronomer, through
centuries Of observation, can predict eclipses
with unerring certainty, because he has
learned the immutability of nature in the re-
currence Of the same phenomena at regular
periods.
Physical science is the doctrine of causes
and effects through which matter is perpetu-
ally changing by being acted upon by other
substances or influences. In this branch the
student will discover a well-connected Sc
quence, and observe that whatever exists,
whether substance or motion, is the effect of
an antecedent cause. But he is permitted to
see but a few links of the chain that extends
through eternity past and is perpetually be-
ing forged into eternity future.
As far as our experience extends matter is
omnipresent; that is to say, no cubic inch of
space is destitute of II in one or more Of its
forms. In the boundless universe our expert
ence is limited to the speck of earth we inhabit
and short distance aboveit. 1t is probably true
that the atmosphere extends 45 miles or more
above the earth but what there is, il any
thing, above the atmospheric line, is uncer-
tain and conjectural. The Universality of
matter, above, around and beneath us, in
stead of inspiring to investigation and study,
creates indifference in the average man, and
he gropes along over pearls of priceless val
ue, stopping TO gather those only that will
rebound to his material prosperity and graft
fy his aequisitiveness. II we had never be-
held tree nor a rock until now, it would re-
ceive the closest examination, and there
would scarcely be an end of wonder and sur
prise at the new and unaccountable object.
The tree and the rock, nevertheless, contain
hidden sermons Of rare eloquenoe, ready to
be pronounced in golden sentences TO the
attentive listener but their language is un-
ineligible to him who discovers nothing in
them but a means of material wealth and
sensual qualification.
The reader who has had the interest to pc
ruse these articles, may have observed the re-
between the sciences of philoso-
ply, geology, mineralogy and chemistry
and he may have failed to see why they
might not be consolidated, they are 80 init
mately connected aud consecutiyely indis-
pensable in the description of many material
objects. As matter is, generally complex
ity made up of many abstract substances,
and these substances of many elements, ev-
cry part bearing relationship to some other
part, and all necessary to the perfection and
preservation of the aggregate substance so
the natural sciences above named bear the
same relationship TO each other, and all, or
several of them, become necessary in the in
vestigation of many material objects The
philosopher describes a block of granite as
having extension, figure, attraction of graYi-
Lation, held together by the cohesive power
Of its particles. The geologist informs us
that granite is plutonie rock underlying all |
the stratihed rocks that it becomes aceessi-
BILE to man by upheaval of the earth's crust,
and that its constituent minerals are silica,
feldspar and mica. The mineralogist de- |
5cribes these minerals in color, hardness,
texture, fracture and capitalization. Lastly |
The chemist appears with his agents and re-
agents, reduces the minerals to their compo-
nent parts, and these to their elements, and |
describes the properties of the ultimate prin-
,iples.
The higher forms of matter known as ''or-
ganic, are generally believed to be solely en-
titled tu the term 'liying matter" while all
Inorganic bodies are presumed to be dead. !
But inorganic bodies are possessed of life of
ow degree, and the chasm is no greater be-
.ween them and plants than between plants
and animals. Starting with the postulate
hat motion is the index of life, (there is no
life without motion, we discover that in an