The Sentinel. [volume] (Trenton, N.J.) 1880-1882, 1882-10-07


enjoy millenniums of sunlight, and to
be clothed with verdant grasses, and
adorned with mighty forests, and
again tosink beneath the waves and
enjoy repose, while old ocean covered
them with fresh strata. Geology is the
science Of the periodicitysof our globe.
The law Of periodicity is the law of
the life of the world. This law of rev.
olutions and alterations is universal
and perpetual. Everything known to
man is subject to the law of periodicity.
The light of the stars in the remotest
heavens pulsates in undulations as reg
ular as those which impel the life
blood OF the mortals who behold it.
The moon makes her monthly voyage
with more regularity than the mer
chant ships, which avail themselves
of the spring tides which she produces
to sail up our bays, and, after the tos-
sings of the ocean storms, enter the
| longed.for haven of rest. The spots
on the surface of the sun revolve in
their mysterious cycle, affecting the
vast plains of Australia and the noun.
tains and plains of California, now
with arid drought, and again blessing
them with the rain of plenty. The
smaller cycles of periodicity in the
heavens are equally identified with
those of every substance upon earth.
Not only is the cycle of sun-spots re-
flected in the great magnetic earth
storm the daily current of earthly
magnetism, Influenced by the daily
| rotation of the earth, Is measurably af-
fected by the darkness of the night /;
and all the minerals and crystals are
formed by it, subject to the law of peri
odicity. 1t has been long known that
all crystals are formed subject to fixed
laws, which prescribe their respective
forms of cube, or pyramid. or prisms
but only recently have experiments
demonstrated that the crystals ofiron,
and theoretically all other crystals, are
as dependent upon the laws of periodi-
city for their lifeas upon the laws of
chemistry for their form.
As this discovery of the periodicity
Of crystals Of iron, has an immediate
bearing upon the Sabbath rest, it Is
worth while to narrate it. The North.
western Railroad Company of Eng
land employ several thousand cars.
Twenty years ago the company suffer
ed continual losses from the breaking
! of railway axles, and dire :ted their
| chief engineer to make thorough in
vestigation of the cause. He found,
upon careful examination, that the
CRYSTALS of the axles in the broken
iron had changed their form. When
bar of wrOught-iron is nicked around
with chisel, and broken with blow
of sledge- hammer, you can see the
crystals quite distinctly, large and reg
ular and, when beaten and bent, they
draw out into tough ibers. But, In
the broken axles no fibrous appearance
was visible; and tie crystals had
changed their size and color, so that
they were now small and brittle, and
broke off short, like glass. The cause
Of this change of structure the engi-
neer demonstrated to he, the incessant
activity of the axle, and the con &c.
quent continual concussion against
thebox, caused by the wheels striking
the points of the rails. He subjected
bar of iron to the lncessant
hammering of light hammer, sus-
pended from the working beam of an
engine, and produced similar de-
struction of the life of the iron by
change ofits specialization. Heshowed
that the only method of preventing
the destruction of iron was, to allow it
to cool off thoroughly every eight
days /; in short, to allow the railway
axle 3 Sabbath rest. .TE arr
AS we advance to higher organi4a.
tons, the law of periodicity asserts it's
authority still more emphatically and
visibly. In the vegetable world we
observe the law presenting itself with
greater prominence than among the
minerals. The trees bud and blossom,
and then ripen their fruit, and east
their fruit and their leaves, and retire
within themselves for the rest of the
winter. They do this even in San
Francisco and in the Tropics, where
no necess ity of climate w1thers their
leaves, they, drop them and rest from
necessity of nature. The nursery
man viii tell you, that even those
roses called perpetual" must be al
lowed two months of rest FROM bloom
ing, if you would enjoy the full beauty
and fragrance of their flowers for any
length of time; otherwise they will
soon flower themselves to death.
Human life Is sustained by breath
ing the air, the breath of life; and is
speedily exhausted ii the air is shut
off or poisone by impure gases. The
breath of life is composed of twenty
or, -,