AND AGRICULTURE. fid 



whereby the carbon of plants is changed into car- 

 bonic acid. 



Thus it is seen how wisely Infinite Wisdom 

 has adapted every fact in nature to some purpose 

 of good. Animals produce and throw off car- 

 bonic acid and water, and plants take in and live 

 upon the carbon thus thrown off. Having drank 

 in the carbonic acid by its numberless mouths, 

 the plant transforms it and water into starch, 

 sugar, etc., upon which animals live. 



The fibre of wood, starch, sugar and gum, 

 contain carbon and water only ; water is only 

 oxygen and hydrogen. Nine pounds of water 

 contain about eight pounds of oxygen and one 

 pound of hydrogen. Water, as you know, ex- 

 tinguishes fire ; and yet it is composed of two 

 gases, one of which, the hydrogen, burns very 

 readily, and in the other, the oxygen, bodies 

 burn with increased brilliancy. This fact ap- 

 pears wonderful, but there are many other sub- 

 stances whose composition is equally astonishing. 

 While starch consists of black charcoal and 



Questions. By whom is carbonic gas thrown out? 

 W hat do plants do with the carbon thrown off by animals ? 

 What does water consist of? In about what proportions? 

 Of what does starch consist ? 



