32 THE CHEMISTRY OF CREATION. 



do they differ so strikingly from one another? 

 Because air is only a mixture of the two ele- 

 ments, laughing gas is a true chemical compound 

 of the same, and nitric acid is also a chemical 

 compound, but has five times the quantity of 

 oxygen possessed by the laughing gas. But 

 these are familiar examples. A more surprising 

 vein of thought is opened when it is stated that 

 chemistry is acquainted with substances which 

 are absolutely identical, in the number and 

 relative proportions or quantities of their ele- 

 ments, yet are as totally unlike one another in 

 their sensible properties, such as colour, odour, 

 and taste, as might be conceived of substances 

 in noways related to them. 



Such then is that peculiar and most wonder- 

 ful feature in the constitution of creation, the 

 accomplishment of astonishing variety out of 

 the fewest materials, which at the very onset 

 chemistry presents to our admiration. And 

 such in fact is the universal language of science ; 

 it may be called the economy of the creation. 

 The Creator has taken, as it were, a mere handful 

 of elements, and has formed out of them not only 

 the gorgeous structure on which we dwell, but 

 also ourselves, that is our material bodies, and 

 our fellow-occupants of the earth, and the inha- 

 bitants of the air and the sea. Chemistry alone 

 can disclose this fact, because it has found it out 



