MATTER AND FORCE. 89 



union whose mutual attractions are satisfied. Granite, 

 for instance, is a widely-diffused substance, but granite 

 consists, in great part, of silicon, oxygen, potassium, cal 

 cium, and aluminum, the atoms of which substances met 

 long ago in chemical combination, and are therefore dead. 

 Limestone is also a widely-diffused substance. It is com 

 posed of carbon, oxygen, and a metal called calcium. But 

 the atoms of those substances closed long ago in chemical 

 union, and are therefore dead. And in this way we might 

 go over the whole of the materials of the earth s crust, and 

 satisfy ourselves that though they were sources of power in 

 ages past, and long before any being appeared on the 

 surface of the earth capable of turning their power to 

 account, they are sources of power no longer. And here 

 we might halt for a moment to remark on that tendency, ^ 

 so prevalent in the world, to regard every thing as made for 

 human use. Those who entertain this notion hold, I think, 

 an overweening opinion of their own importance in the 

 system of Nature. Flowers bloomed before men saw them, 

 and the quantity of power wasted before man could utilize \, 

 it is all but infinite compared with what now remains to be 

 applied. The healthy attitude of mind with reference to 

 this subject is that of the poet, who, when asked whence 

 came the rhodora, replied : 



&quot; Why thou wert there, rival of the rose ! 



I never thought to ask, I never knew, 

 But in my simple ignorance supposed 



The self-same power that brought me there brought you.&quot; 1 



A few exceptions to this general state of union of the 

 particles of the earth s crust all-important to us, but trivial 

 in comparison to the total store of which they are the resi 

 due still remain. They constitute our main sources of 

 motive power. By far the most important of these are our 



1 Emerson. 



