Year: 1861

| IIlo SlupICo SlODSJ MAluOub WAt0E


there could be no life, as we under


stand the term-no stir and hustle.


"Death would reign everywhere,


silence and stiffness would have


taken the place of that universal


movement which now character


ICES our earth. The face of nature


would present a dreary blank, in


which the intensest glare of sun


shine would alternate with the in
tensest blackness of perfect night"


Of all the agents concerned in the
transformation continually going
on in our earth, the first place must
be assigned to water Magnetism,
central heat-if there be such .
power the earthquake, and the
volcano, play their parts; but one
far inferior to that effected by this
mighty fluid, without the aid of
which the earth would be no better
fitted for the home of animated be-


ings than in the days when, q


boundless waste of rocks, glowing


like a furnace, it swept through the


cold and silent fields of ether.
Of the human frame, water forms


so large a component part, that the


most thoroughly smoke-dried old


crone that ever ran the risk of be-
ing burned for O. witch, would


shrink very materially if the water


We're abstracted from her withered


frame. A gentleman of comforta-


Bile Dimensions, if subjected to dry


distillation, would be transformed


into respectfully mummy;


the famous Daniel Lambert, under


his process, would have dwindled
to the weight of small young
gentlemrn in Knickerbockers. A
ton of grass represents two hundred
weight of hay, and t4is, when de.
prived of the remaining radical
moisture, sinks to a still smaller
figure; while some plants and fruits,
such as the watermelon, are al.
most entirely composed of water.


And whether it is launched in
the soft mud ofthe volcano, spread.
ing destruction over the laboH of
man, or is boiled in the geyser:
whether it thunders down the cat.
aract, or stagnates in the torpid
Jungle; it is the same invaluable
mysterious agent, wearing down the
old world, and building up thenew:
refreshing the worn-out soil with
vitalizing matter, and changing
the sandy waste or barren heath in
to a land smiling with plenty
The great mammoth cave of Ken
lucky, and the vast caverns of the
the Adelsberg; the labyrinth Of
Crete, and the wonders of the
Peak, are alike due to the action Of
water upon limestone. The vast
beds of egg-stones (oolite) were
formed by some nameless shallow
quiet sea rolling regular coating
of lime round myriads of small
nuclei, some tiny shell or skeleton;
the beautiful deposits in the hot
springs of Iceland are owing to the
silica in the water. Nature has al
ways plenty of the material on
hand; the sea contains in solution.
besides as much EPSON salts a
would physic the inhabitants Of
earth-fve hundred millions Of
tons of flint.


So thoroughly does watsr enter
into all the doings ofthis sublunary
sphere, that we find italike in the
icy winds that sweep over the Arc
tic regions, and in the hot simeon.
The east wind, which proverbially
dries up the skin, and makes q
horses coat stare, contains its due
proportion of moisture, just as air
does after rain; in fact, almost i'm
mediately after parting with its
water, the temperature of the at
mosphere rises, and part of the
water is reabsorbed. But the air
is not merely modified by the water
in it: it is greatly influenced BY
that beneath it. Thus, while the
shores of Labrador lie buried in
ce and fog, the coasts Of England
md Ireland, In the same latitude
lnder the-vitalizing warmth of the
9ulf stream, smile in perennial YER
lure.-AH the Year Round.