306 Natural TJieology. 



light!' Light is not spoken of as something created, 

 but as a result. 



When the materials of which this globe is com- 

 posed were brought together by gravitation, the 

 simple condensation and chemical action both com- 

 bined to produce light and heat. The rocks and 

 waters of the globe are the result of combustion. 

 We have seen the compound blow-pipe in which 

 iron burns like straw, and platinum vanishes in 

 vapor. That flame is simply the union of oxygen 

 with hydrogen when only enough combines to form 

 a few drops of water. Who can conceive of the 

 heat produced when the waters that fill the ocean 

 were formed ? We have seen the light when the 

 fine wire of iron or steel or magnesium is burned ; 

 how must the very heavens have been filled with 

 light when the materials of which all our rocks were 

 formed were burning! We think of the waters and 

 rocks as incombustible, but we must constantly 

 remember that they are the products of combustion ; 

 and all we have to do is to decompose them and 

 bring the elements together again, to have that in- 

 tense combustion on a small scale which lighted up 

 primeval darkness, when the mighty mass of ele- 

 ments that compose this globe was brought into 

 action. For ages the earth must have remained a 

 blazing gaseous globe. It may be said this is theory ; 

 but it is a theory that rests upon a most substantial 

 basis, the chemical nature of the water and the 

 rocks of the earth. We only state what we believe 

 to be the necessary result of bringing the materials 



