46 THE CHEMISTRY OF CREATION. 



stand on this fair spot, and of the whole, the 

 round world and all that therein is, are com- 

 posed, we have indeed learned much of the 

 chemistry of nature. We can take up a stone 

 and say. Such and such substances form it; or 

 we can point to the tumbling waters of that 

 cascade, and say, It is after all chiefly oxygen 

 and hydrogen. We can say more we can 

 declare that the elements which go to form all 

 this lovely creation are under certain laws 

 which we can lay down with the utmost pre- 

 cision. This is to know much more still of 

 this interesting subject. But this is not all. 

 Had these blades of grass a voice, they would 

 echo back, This is not all. Had the sunbeam 

 a tongue, it would cry, This is not all. Had 

 those fleecy clouds which have crept up from 

 the horizon, and are now gently sailing above 

 us, had these the power of speech, they too 

 would cry, This is not all. Nay, could these 

 very rocks cry out, they must tell the same 

 truth, and say, This is not all. We should be 

 very ignorant of what is going on all around us 

 if we alone were to answer back, This is all. 

 No ! there are wonderful forces in active ope- 

 ration on every side, so delicate in their mode 

 of action, and so subtle in their nature, that 

 until we are informed of their existence, it 

 were scarcely to be wondered at if we were 



