INTRODUCTION. 7 



tions of vegetable growth, by which earth and air are 

 converted into food for man and beast, and thus places 

 us on the highway of sure and rapid improvement. 



These practical results, which are the "basis of that 

 material prosperity in which taste, and literature, and 

 the graces of life find their natural growth, are "by no 

 means to be disregarded. But this is not all. The 

 study of chemical science reveals to the mind a beauty 

 and harmony in the material world, to which the unin- 

 structed eye is blind. It shows us all of the kingdoms 

 of nature contributing to the growth of the tiniest plant, 

 and feeding the germ, as it were, by the inter-revolution 

 of their separate spheres. It shows us how through 

 fire; or analogous decay, all forms of life are returned 

 again to the kingdoms of nature, from which they were 

 derived. Without encroaching upon the domains of 

 the astronomer, it reveals to us still more wonderful 

 relations of distant orbs, which affect not only the out- 

 ward sense, but supply the very forces which we em- 

 ploy in our contest with the powers of nature. It un- 

 veils to us a thousand mysteries of cloud and rain, of 

 frost and dew, of growth and decay, and unfolds the 

 operation of those silent yet irresistible forces which 

 are the life of the world we inhabit. 



But the study of nature is worthy of being pursued 

 with a still nobler aim. The glory of the Deity shines 

 in every crystal and blooms in every flower. Every 



