AS RELATED TO WEALTH. 103 



upon inorganic elements. We may analyze our 

 food, determine its exact composition, but it will 

 not enable us to feed on minerals. We may prove, 

 with all the science of a Liebig, that charcoal and 

 air and water contain all we need, but we know 

 they would form poor fare for our tables. We may 

 call in the aid of Chemistry, with all its power to 

 produce transformation give it a magazine of the 

 pure elements and it can not furnish us with a 

 single grain of starch nor crystal of sugar, nor with 

 any thing to be a substitute for them. The plants 

 are the only chemists that can take up these 

 inorganic materials, and in the wonderful laboratory 

 of their living tissues mold them into forms to 

 support animal life. All that I have said of 

 nutritive plants might also be said of those having 

 medicinal properties, and of use in the arts. Our 

 fine fabrics, our brilliant dyes, our most grateful 

 perfumes, come in a large proportion from this 

 kingdom. Here have been found those wonderful 

 modern-discovered substances India-Rubber and 

 Gutta-Percha. How long these and other valuable 

 products remained unknown ! How many more are 



