1857.] TJie Raw Material. , 63 



which science has stolen from Jupiter Tonans — or the burning fiery 

 furnace, without losing its identity, then it is ennobled to the rank 

 of an element. For instance, take the metal iron. A piece of it 

 exposed to the air, in process of time loses its great strength, and 

 crumbles into a red powder, but it is not decomposed ; it has mefely 

 united with oxygen, which can be expelled, and the bright, strong 

 iron be brought to view again. So, if it is dissolved in an acid, or 

 submitted to the electric current from the battery, or intensely heat- 

 ed in the furnace, it may unite with other substances, but it shows 

 clearly that it is made of nothing but iron, and it is therefore an 

 element. 



Chemists, having treated every substance upon which they could 

 lay their hands, after this fashion, have come to the conclusion that 

 there are some sixty elements, instead of the four of the old Philos- 

 ophers ; and each of these is either metallic or non-metallic. There 

 are over forty metals, but many of these are rarely met with, and 

 need not be mentioned in this connection, as they have but little or 

 nothing to do with agriculture, while those that are concerned in 

 vegetable growth, will be considered under the head of the ' earths.' 



The non-metallic elements are mostly abundant and active in the 

 organic world, the world of life. Even here, however, most of them 

 are only occasionally discovered. The vital power, ' the breath of 

 life,' having over sixty elements to choose from, forms nearly all its 

 multitudinous products with only four, viz: Carbon, Oxygen, Hydro- 

 gen and Nitrogen. As the last named element is found only in 

 small quantities, we may say that the vast vegetable growth of the 

 world is made up of charcoal and water — being the product of the 

 first three. 



Water is the great carrier or medium of exchange among the 

 elements; or rather, the vehicle which transports the atoms in their 

 journey about the earth's crust. No doubt every one, in these 

 temperance days, thinks he knows all about water ; but it has some 

 curious properties which are not so well known. One of these, is, 

 its power of combining with many substances, and becoming perfect- 

 ly solid, and remaining so even at high temperatures. Some of our 

 hardest minerals, contain water chemically combined. When we 

 purchase one hundred pounds of common salt, a portion of our 

 purchase money goes for water that we might find much cheaper in 

 the well or river. So with saltpeter, soda, and other salts. We 

 cease, then, to regard water as necessarily a liquid at ordinary tem- 

 peratures. When its particles are bound to other materials, by the 



