132 WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. [1855- 



ent points of their path of approach. If the atoms of any 

 part of the material universe are in the condition of the atoms 

 of oxygen and hydrogen after they have united to form 

 water — that is, in the closest approximation and a complete 

 neutralization of their affinities — the matter in this portion 

 of space will be entirely inert, and unless disturbed by ex- 

 traneous force, no change can take place among its parts. 

 Matter wanting that peculiar characteristic which eminently 

 distinguishes mind, namely, spontaneity of action, all will 

 be in perfect quiescence. 



From the researches of the geologist, the chemist, and the 

 physicist, we are enabled to assert that such is the condition 

 of our earth and its attendant satellite. All the chemical 

 elements which are found in the crust of the globe have 

 gone into a state of permanent quiescence. The metals and 

 oxygen have united to form oxides, and these with the 

 acids to form other stable compounds; and were it not for 

 the disturbing influence of the impulses from the sun, the 

 present system of continued change, of growth and decaj', 

 of storms and of calms, would cease, and the whole surface 

 of our planet would exhibit a dreary desolation of darkness 

 and stillness, of silence and death. Indeed as it is, the 

 changes and ever-varying phenomena in which we are so 

 much interested, and a knowledge of which constitutes the 

 highest earthly wisdom, are confined to an almost infinitesi- 

 mal pellicle at the surface of the earth. Organic matter is 

 found but a few feet below the surface of the soil, and plants 

 cannot exist in the ocean beyond the depth to which the 

 rays of the sun penetrate. But this state of things has not 

 always existed. It is conclusively proved by the past his- 

 tory of the globe, as written upon the rocks which form its 

 outer strata, that its atoms were once in a state of intense 

 agitation, or in other words, that the globe was in a con- 

 dition of high temperature, and that the vibrations have 

 been imparted to the surrounding setherial medium and 

 and thus radiated off into space. We arrive at this conclu- 

 sion, not only from an examination of the condition of the 

 strata, but from the fact that wherever we penetrate beneath 



