FOUNDATION OF NATURE. 221 



late viewless in every current of the air, every rush 

 of the water, every motion of sap in the plant, and 

 every pulse of life in the animal, to the giant pine of 

 Western America, which stands proudly in mid-air, 

 towering over the forest, as some tall cliff does o'tr 

 the pebbles at its base ; or. the Indian fig, which ex- 

 tends its ever multiplying stems over acres of space, 

 and braves the vicissitudes of a thousand years, or 

 be it in the animated tribes, from the small tenants 

 of water tinged with sour paste, to which a single 

 drop is the same for space and scope as an ocean to 

 a whale, to that giant of living creatures : be it in 

 any or in all of these, or in any thing within their 

 limits, or any limits to which the most discursive 

 fancy can extend, even in its farthest flight, there is 

 not a thing done, not a pulse of life, not a hair's 

 breadth of growth, not a tint of colour, not a trace 

 of motion, not a shadow of change, in which air and 

 water (or one or other of them) are not present, and 

 contribute to the result. 



The observation of Nature is, therefore, very lit- 

 tle else than the observation of air and water, simply 

 or in their combinations. So far as we are able to 

 judge, that has been the case in the formation of all 

 the solid and permanent parts of the earth ; for even 

 the oldest mountain rock bears distinct evidence 

 that its parts have been crystallized from a watery 

 solution; and though in many places we can dis- 

 cover rocks that have been molten by fire, yet these 

 are merely changed rocks that had previously ex- 

 isted; and, if we wish to trace them back to the 

 first working of Nature's hand upon them to that 

 mysterious boundary where creation is creation 

 still, though our present capacity will go no further 

 it is in the waters we must take our farewell of 

 them. So true, even literally, is the declaration of 

 Holy Writ, " He hath laid the foundation thereof 

 upon the waters." 



The softer and, as we may say, the younger strata 

 T2 



