36 CONDITIONS OF MATTER. 



betrays the great secret, that the mystery of life is the 

 same in all, a pervading spiritual essence associated 

 with matter, and modifying it by the master-mechanism 

 of an Infinite mind. 



In the vegetable clothing of the surface of the earth, 

 which fits it for the abode of man and animals from 

 the confervas of a stagnant pool, or the lichen of the 

 wind-beaten rocks, to the lordly oak or towering palm 

 a singularly beautiful chain of being presents itself to 

 the contemplative mind, and we cannot but trace 

 the gradual elevation in the scale of organization. 



In the inorganic world, where the great phenomena 

 of life are wanting, we have constantly exhibited the 

 working of powers of a strangely complicated kind. 

 The symmetrical arrangement of crystals the diversi- 

 fied characters of mineral formations the systematic 

 aggregations of particles to form masses possessing pro- 

 perties of a peculiar and striking nature all prove, that 

 agencies, which science, with all its refinements, has not 

 yet detected, are unceasingly at work. Heat, electricity, 

 chemical power whatever that may be and the forces 

 of cohesion, are known to be involved in the production 

 of the forms we see ; but contemplation soon leads to 

 the conviction that these powers are subordinate to 

 others which we know not of. We know only the 

 things belonging to the surface of our planet, and these 

 but superficially. The geologist traces rock-forma- 

 tions succeeding each other (from the primary strata 

 holding no traces of organized forms, through the Paleo- 

 zoic series, in which, step by step, the history of animal 

 life is recorded,) to the more recent formations, teeming 

 with relics, which, though allied to some animal types 

 still existing, are generally such as have passed away. 

 The naturalist searches the earth, the waters, and the 

 air, for their living things ; and the diversity of form, 

 the variety of condition, and the perfection of organiza- 

 tion which he discovers as belonging to this our epoch 



