138 PROCEEDINGS OF PROVINCIAL SOCIETIES. 



tural facts, finds neither novelty nor beauty in the different changeit 

 daily occurring around ; but when once a taste for scientific inquiry 

 has been imbibed, and reason solicited to trace the effects of general 

 causes, and to notice the exemplification of general laws, then every 

 object wears a more interesting aspect, and minute changes are accu- 

 rately scrutinized as being a part of some universal economy in na- 

 ture : while the pleasure derived from such pursuits entirely ex- 

 cludes that craving after artificial excitement which too often leads 

 to frivolous and unworthy occupation. Man commences his career 

 in this world by observation : his senses, called into activity by the 

 objects about him, and always alive to external impressions, is soon 

 informed of various motio?is and changes which are in continual pro- 

 gress without his aid or interference. But custom reconciles him 

 to these : the constant regularity by which many of them are cha- 

 racterized begets a habit of indifference, and they are regarded as 

 merely matters of course with which he has nothing to do. They 

 occur, pass over, and are forgotten. But it is not so with those 

 who investigate the secret springs of Nature's multifarious opera- 

 tions : they are soon taught to regard even the most trifling change 

 as the result of the active interference of certain physical energies or 

 powers to which all the materials of her workmanship are, in one 

 way or another, subservient. 



If we survey the various objects placed within the sphere of our 

 observation, two very obvious conditions may be remarked in them 

 — motion and rest !^Iotion includes a change either in the position 

 of an object, or in the arrangement of its several parts, and any 

 such change implies the existence of a power capable of making it. 

 Rest, on the other hand, is the opposite to motion, and gives us an 

 idea of the absence of all power whatsoever. To the casual ob- 

 server, all inanimate objects appear inert, and incapable, of them- 

 selves, of originating, or even experiencing, any change, except by 

 man's interference. A little investigation will dispel this notion, 

 and convince any one that the particles of matter are endowed with 

 curious and extraordinary powers, by which constant, though, per- 

 haps, often unobserved, changes are brought about. When we see 

 a chair or a table stand fixed before us, we do not regard it as com- 

 posed of materials possessing physical powers, yet this is the fact ; 

 the genescent condition of such objects arises not from the absence 

 of physical power, but from an equilibrium of opposing energies. 

 An object retains its shape and form by the cohesive power of the 

 materials of which it is composed. It is fixed in the position in 

 which it is placed by the power of gravitation, and all other changes 

 are opposed by a balance in the chemical affinities of its component 

 atoms. But observe what takes place when this equilibrium, this 

 balance, is overturned or destroyed : then the physical energies of 

 matter are very apparent ; in the case of combustion, at a certain 

 temperature, the oxygen of the atmosphere begins to act, vast quan- 

 tities of solid materials are rendered ajriform, steam and carbonic 

 acid largely generated, and, silently mingling themselves with ih& 



