CHEMICAL CHANGES INCESSANT. 67 



falling in fine particles to become united with 

 that of the plains at their feet. The green 

 sward, though apparently the same, is in reality 

 not so even from year to year ; its materials are 

 being constantly removed, altered, and re-depo- 

 sited. The air we breathe is incessantly altered 

 in composition, and restored again, and its par- 

 ticles are in constant commotion and change 

 of place and condition. The ocean is the scene 

 of similar events. 



The face of the earth is for ever renewed, 

 altered, and re-formed. Generations of men, 

 animals, and plants, perish and pass away, and 

 with the fall of each, the constituents and cha- 

 racter of the surface perpetually vary. All is 

 in process of change ; yet all presents the 

 appearance of a profound repose. All things 

 are working together and without cessation, 

 even in the natural kingdom, and for good. 

 The chemical energies know no such condition 

 as quiescence in nature. They take no rest; 

 the cessation of one process is only the com- 

 mencement of another ; there is no absolute 

 rest. They could cease from action only when 

 they had reduced the whole earth to a smooth, 

 level ball; and all that it contains to a certain 

 fixity of composition. But there are wise 

 counteracting causes which forbid such a result, 

 and these very laws of change often also react 



