The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-12-01
lust WATER
BY ELBERT HUBBARD.


Service.)
Three-fifths of the surface OF the
earth Is covered with water.
The world seems very much better
adapted to raising fish than men, al
though man In his existence passes
through an aqueous stage, ana 10
degree he never gets out OF It.
His body liz made up OF seventy
nine per cent water. Water Is the
great source of transmission and
transportation. The circulation or
the fluids In the body feeds the It's
sues. The circulation OF water
means weather. climate and all vege-
table and animal life. The flow OF
one thing into another Is what con-
stitutes all life, and the chief agent
in this eternal flow ls water.
Reduce the quantity OF water In
mans body below 10 per cent and
the man dies. Increase It over eighty
two per cent and the man has drop
sy, elephantiasis. Bright's disease.
diabetes. or some or those other
cheerful things that the surgeons
have recently invented and presented
| to US.
A gentleman from Kentucky we
remember. once said. Water Is great
| stuff for bathing In
| Water We are told. Is made up OF
one part hydrogen and two parts
| oxygen. But vh.er "a very seldom
] found pure If we could get water
exactly as 1t Is condensed from the
| atmosphere in the skies, and then
| nberate 1t by natures short-cfrcuit
scheme. otherwise known as the
| thunderbolt. we would have pure wa
ter But on the descent Of water
| from the skies It takes up many i'm
/ al In
| rain-water,. which we used to catch
| in q barrel at the corner OF the house,
| with the help OF board under the
! caves. When We saw shower COM
| ing we ran for that particular board.
And we all remember how, II that
barrel of rain-water was not emptieo
every little while, 1t became fun OF
tifty-seven million varieties of polly
wogs, bugs and microbes.
these things lived their day and died
their death, and then We had the
sweetest smelling combination that
was ever gathered in one particular
| barrelEaber nichtt
| pure water does not decompose.
But in nature things are never found
pure Even virtue. We are told. 10
usually bit off color. Honesty Is
matter of geography. Morality taxes
a tumble when you get the ngures
high enough. And We are all on the
creased chute for the hell-box IL the
Reverend Doctor Forthiey Is correct
in his diagnosis. The precious metals
are never found pure. To separate
the good from the bad, the useful
from the dangerous--this is the task
Of modern science.
i Nv the use Of electricity in smelt-
ing. mountains Of refuse are now CIV
inr up their treasure of gold. silver
and copper, where before the STUN
was regarded as an incubus
4 The Stag from iron smelters ID oelne
utilized for Portland cement. Inc
great packing houses make their mon.
Standard OH company IL touching u
! fifteen cents gallon for an article
which. ten years ago. was q by-pro'
duct ana went a-begging at two cents
a gallon.
great changes Among them all. notn'
Ing IN more wonderful than the elm
instion Of water from rubber by va
cuum process s,r,,,
Heat and water are the great d'sin'
tegrators. Oxygen Is never AT res.
Oxygen La at once the source OF AAe
and the cause OF death. ..
The 0ClGnLl8LS kCAt uS 1884,
,A,f H. a form of life, and that things
are destroyed in order that new Mts
NAV evolve. This Is interesting to tne
theorists, but it gives chill 20 tns
dealers in rubber and the manuIac,
turers who prepare TINS very usciu
product for the use Of the people
water and heat disintegrate, dc'
strov and dissipate. Oxygen eternal
~ eats the heart out Of everything
even an iron bar. Oxygen 10 restless
tireless, Unsuitable. hungry.
nartat,on. Water Is always goint
, somewhere-or coming back. And
YOU think It Is standing still II IS %
cause you do not see that - oeinl
absorbed into the atmosphere.
All vegetable matter contains OH
.rcertare 81 water. This water I
, the disintegrating element that send
the vegetable fiber back Into nature
melting-pot.