332 ABOUT COMMON WATER. 



water in its more common and domestic forms. On 

 the importance of water it is not necessary to dwell, 

 for it is obvious that upon its presence depends the life 

 of the world. As an article of human diet, its impor- 

 tance is enormous. Not to speak of fruits and vege- 

 tables, and confining ourselves to flesh, every four 

 pounds of boneless meat purchased at the butcher's shop 

 contain about three pounds of water. I remember 

 Mr. Carlyle once describing an author, who was making 

 a great stir at the time, as * a weak, watery, insipid 

 creature.' But, in a literal and physical sense, we are 

 all ' watery.' The muscles of a man weighing one hun- 

 dred and fifty pounds weigh, when moist, sixty-four 

 pounds, but of these nearly fifty pounds are mere 

 water. 



It is not, however, of the water compacted in the 

 muscles and tissues of a man that I am now going to 

 speak, but of the ordinary water which we see every- 

 where around us. Whence comes our drinking-water ? 

 A little reflection might enable you to reply : — ' If you 

 go back far enough you "will find that it comes from 

 the clouds, which send their rain down upon the earth.' 

 ' But how,' it may be asked, ' does the water get up 

 into the cloud region ? ' Your reply will probably be, 

 ' It is carried up by evaporation from the waters of the 

 earth.' 



A great Eoman philosopher and poet, named Lucre- 

 tius, wrote much about atoms, which he called 'the 

 First Beginnings.' When it was objected that nobody 

 could see the atoms, he reasoned in this way : — ' Hang 

 out a wet towel in the sun, and after some time you 

 will find that all the water has gone away. But you 

 cannot see the particles of the water that has thus dis- 

 appeared. Still, it is perfectly certain that the water 

 which, when put into the towel, could be seen, and felt, 



