246 Natiiral Theology. 



stars. And when the electric fluid was made to de- 

 velop magnetism at will, and the iron wire was found 

 to be a pathway for the lightning, the conditions and 

 properties were becoming known, that in the end 

 should bring distant nations as near together as 

 neighbors of the same village. The transient mag- 

 netic power of iron, the permanent magnetic power 

 of steel, either of which no man can explain, and all 

 the relations of electricity to iron and air and 

 chemical action, constitute the conditions of this 

 grand triumph of man over the material world. No 

 Arabian tales of magic power, in commanding de- 

 mons of earth and air, can equal the power of man, 

 who, sitting by his battery, calls, by the touch of 

 the finger, " spirits from the vasty deep," and sends 

 them with the speed of light with messages a thou- 

 sand miles away. But iron is the most potent wand 

 he wields. Take this from him and he is almost 

 powerless. 



What need of dwelling on the other materials, 

 that either alone, or in combination, respond to the 

 increasing demands of science and art ? How every 

 property possible to be conceived of as desirable, is 

 found in some ore, or in its alloy. Who can recount 

 the multifarious uses of copper, and lead, and tin, 

 and zinc, and all their combinations, meeting the 

 varied wants of man, but needful to him only as an 

 intellectual being ! 



Nor is it to the metals, alone, that we look for this 

 special relation to man, but to almost every element 

 found in abundance on the globe. We have already 



