MATTER AND FORCE. 71 



tern of nature. Flowers bloomed before men saw them, 

 and the quantity of power wasted before man could 

 utilise it is all but infinite compared with what now 

 remains. We are truly heirs of all the ages; but as 

 honest men it behoves us to learn the extent of our in- 

 heritance, and as brave ones not to whimper if it should 

 prove less than we had supposed. The healthy atti- 

 tude of mind with reference to this subject is that of 

 the poet, who, when asked whence came the rhodora, 

 joyfully acknowledged his brotherhood with the 

 flower 



Why them wert there, O rival of the rose ! 



I never thought to ask, I never knew, 



But in ray simple ignorance supposed 



The self-same power that brought me there brought you.* 



A few exceptions to the general state of union of 

 the molecules of the earth's crust vast in relation to 

 us, but trivial in comparison to the total store of which 

 they are the residue still remain. They constitute 

 our main sources of motive power. By far the most 

 important of these are our beds of coal. Distance still 

 intervenes between the atoms of carbon and those of 

 atmospheric oxygen, across which the atoms may be 

 urged by their mutual attractions; and we can utilise 

 the motion thus produced. Once the carbon and the 

 oxygen have rushed together, so as to form carbonic 

 acid, their mutual attractions are satisfied; and, while 

 they continue in this condition, as dynamic agents they 

 are dead. Our woods and forests are also sources of 

 mechanical energy, because they have the power of 

 uniting with the atmospheric oxygen. Passing from 

 plants to animals, we find that the source of motive 

 power just referred to is also the source of muscular 

 power. A horse can perform work, and so can a man; 

 Emerson. 



