36 THE CHEMISTRY OF CREATION. 



its indifference to the other elements, not rea- 

 dily uniting with the majority of them. But 

 when under proper management it is made to 

 combine with oxygen, the resulting substances 

 are possessed of the most intense energies. 

 United with the gas, hydrogen, it forms the 

 important substance ammonia, upon which the 

 life of vegetation, and, indirectly, of man 

 himself and the animal world, appears to be 

 dependent. 



Finally, the element, Carbon, must also be 

 considered important. It exists in minute 

 proportions in union with oxygen in the at- 

 mosphere, as a gas, and in the solid form it 

 composes, together with the elements of water 

 and nitrogen, the chief part of the woods and 

 vegetable clothing of the present, and of the coal 

 formations belonging to a former period in the 

 history of the earth. 



Such is a short and simple outline of the 

 characters of the most active and abundant 

 elementary substances entering into the com- 

 position of the animal and vegetable worlds. 

 In the mineral world we find a greater number 

 of substances taking a prominent part in the 

 chemistry of nature. The most important of 

 these are silicon, calcium, magnesium, potas- 

 sium, sodium, aluminum, iron, phosphorus, and 

 sulphur. As we proceed we shall have sue- 



