THE METAMORPHOSES OF MATTEE. 107 



tine and lemons ; materials, strange to say, not only identical 

 as to components, but also relative amounts of components. 

 Then again all the so-called mineral oils, bodies now so ex- 

 tensively used for illuminative purposes (and of these there 

 are myriads), are nothing else than compounds of carbon and 

 hydrogen. 



India-rubber and gutta-percha swell the list ; the number 

 of which would fill a large volume, were they all enumerated. 

 United with oxygen, carbon yields carbonic acid and carbonic 

 oxide, both gases as we ordinarily obtain them, but the first 

 capable of being solidified without farther union ; and in union 

 with various materials, especially lime, giving rise to some of 

 the most fixed and solid materials of our planet's crust. Add 

 hydrogen, and another protean phase of strange metamor- 

 phosis comes before us. Sugar and starch are materials of this 

 constitution, both harmless in one sense nutritious ; but crys- 

 tallised oxalic acid has exactly the same elements, only in dif- 

 ferent proportions. Oxalic acid, again, is a deadly poison; 

 but unite it with lime (another poison), a wholly innocuous 

 compound results ; one that occurs naturally in each member 

 of the rhubarb tribe. To the triad of carbon, oxygen, and 

 hydrogen, add by combination nitrogen, this in its simple 

 state the most inert of all the elements, and other series come 

 upon the scene : quinine and cinchonine so useful in medi- 

 cine, prussic acid, strychnine, and a host of deadly poisons. 

 Yes, it is a strange matter for contemplation, but not more 

 strange than true, that an old boot, the lean of a mutton-chop 

 or a beefsteak, contains all the elements necessary to form 

 prussic acid, and out of which prussic acid may readily, by the 

 chemist's skill, be eliminated. 



The most familiar aspect under which carbon meets our 

 view is pit-coal. Pit-coal let us contemplate it. Seen day 

 by day, this very wonderful material is completely vulgar- 

 ised ; but reflected upon, is soon found replete with poetry, 

 marvel, and mystery. It is suggestive of awe-inspiring 



