The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-01
----e-477-e----
THE PART LIGHTNING PLAYS.
In the Nutrition of Human ard other
Life,

publican.
In the largest portion of all animal t's-
sues, as leon meat, nitrogen enters into il
to form an essential ingredient and to
furnish # to animal life it must be formed
in vegetation, and especially so it is found
in the rich grasses, in our corn and other
cereals where ii is stored as gluten In the
seeds, and on being used as food, pro-
| duces the muscular and Other tissues.
In The first step of this process, we find
nitrogen as an element of the air, which
IS four parts in the five of the entire air
of our globe. This is in the elementary
state and as such cannot be used to form
either vegetable or animal tissue. A pre-
paratory process becomes necessary, TO 1T
IL for food for vegetable life; and as veg
citation is a servant to the animal king
dom to prepare It's food by so compound
ing and modifying the chemical stable
compounds as to ut them for rs use. The
various steps of the process Of how our
food is prepared from the various elc-
ments of earth, and the various workmen,
or the forces Of nature, and how they
work to perform this task, each and all
is a very interesting study.
There was a time In the history of our
world when there was no vegetation, ana
no animal life, when chemical affinity
was the controlling force in nature, as car
bon, Nitrogen, Oxygen and hydrogen. COM
bined to form stable-compounds of more or
less compleXity. Science teaches that as
the earth cooled down, ages before animal
or vegetable life were found on our earth,
water was formed as a mist, aud later as
the cooling process continued. as water.
At this early stage of our worlds history
carbonic dioXide (carbonic acid gas) was
formed in such superabun1ance in the air
That animal life could not exist. 1t fur
nished the carbon for the vegetable king
dom of the carboniferous uge, which In
time was changed 20 coal and was stored
up for our use. The concentration or
these deadly poisons into coal so purified
the air that it gradually became fitted
trst for the lower orders of the animal
kingdom, and subsequently for man.
The friction produced by the turning of
the wheel of an electric machine. which
rubs against silk cushion produces el@c-
trtcity on a small scale. The dynamos of
our electric plants produce 1t in much
larger quantities for electric motors and
electric lights. The earth. as 1t revolves
on its axis al the rate of over 200 miles
an hour, produces it by the friction of the
air currents against the earths surface
and The objects more or less raised above
the surface, the air, and especially the
cold ar OF the upper regions, acts as the
reservoir and stores 1t for a time, Cold
air VIII retain a greater amount of IL
than warm air, and for this reason we
seldom have thunder and lightning in the
winter, but during the hot DAYS of sum-
mer, when vegetation is growing fast. and
needs fresh supplies of plant food then
me cold currents of air, charged with
electricity, meet the warm currents laden
with moisture and .
where the unequally stored electricity
passes from one cloud to another and pro-
duces the heavenly pyrotechnics that NAV
be seen with fearful Vividness which is
followed by the thunder that contrasts
the power OF Deity with that of feeble
man, AS the electricity passes from cloud
70 cloud. certain portions of the watery
vapor or mist, that constitutes the clouds
are decomposed into their constituent
gases, hydrogen and oxygen. These being
IN a nascent state, at once combine with
the tree nitrogen of the air, to form am
mona "a. NJ, which is at once alb
sorbed by the watery vapor which do
sends rs rain to water and fertiliza the
earth. This ammonia, on being absorbed
Dy the soil, Is taken up by the rootlats or
Vegetation and constitutes part of miami
food that nourishes the gluten-producinr
portion of vegetation.
A portion Of the oxygen set free fror,
~ IN
cloud mist, unites with portion of the nj
trogen TO form heterogeneous and nitric
acius, mat one being absorbed bv the Va
por or the clouds, comes down in the rain
ana helps to form vegetation humus or
the decayed vegetation found in the soil
Anolher portion OF the oxygen combines 10
form ozone. oxygen as found in the air is
0. ?, but ozone is o. g. an overloaded moi
cule, which, like an overloaded load Of
hay, is every ready to slide off. So ozona
is an overloaded molecure that is always
ready to unload, and as il does so II nzi-
dies almost anything which can be acted
on by it.
Thus we see how the forces Of patpro
even in the fearful lightning of the sLv
are utilized by nature for the use OF rnan
that he may eat and enjoy the fruit Of his
labor The same forces of nature that bel0
tic the earth for mans use have continue1
TO supply the necessary nitrogenous mat
rial as needed so that. NOTWITHSTANDING
the vast amount that is i'm a fixed state
as contrasted with that at the beginning
Of animal life on the earth, there IS me
same chaos (the air) from which mo
electric forces Of nature are from wear 10
year condenslng to maintain the demand
for new supplies as the number of indf-
viduals of the animal kingdom increases.
chat IS, tho supply is always equal 10 mo
demand. The ancients believed the thun-
der and lightning We're but the messon-
gers Of the wrath of God, but we see thai
without these exhibitions Of Gods mower
the earth would in time cease to be abba
to supply the necessary demand for This
Indispensable part of our food supply.
Chemism by the forces of nature eIab
crate the elements Of earth into stable
compounds. carbonic dioxide ammonia
ana the like; vegetation celebrates these
into vegetable proximate principles. as
starch, sugar gluten and the like; and an
mals untihze these for food for the growth
Of their tissues. Thus we see the forces OF
nature working harmoniously for the good
Of the whole
Purest Beer