72 



THE EEASCN 



" I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever : nothing can be put to 



it, nor anything taken from it ; and God doeth it that men 



should fear before him." ECCLES. ill. 



No ; there is no such thing 1 as " loss " in the operations of nature. 

 Every particle of the candle, now invisible, exists either in the 

 form of gas, vapour, or water, with, perhaps, a few solid particles 

 that may be called ashes, but which are too minute to excite 

 attention. 



The economy of nature should teach us a very impressive lesson nothing 

 is suffered to be wasted, not even the slightest atom. As soon as any body has 

 fulfilled its purpose in one state of being, it is passed on to another. The 

 candle, existing no longer as a candle, is flying upon the wings of the air as 

 carbonic acid gas, and as water. These probably find their way to the garden 

 or the field, where the carbonic acid ,t?as forms the food of the plant, and the 

 water affords it a refreshing drink. And can it be supposed that the Almighty 

 Being, who has thus economised the existence of the material creation, should 

 be less mindful of the immaterial soul of man? There is an eternity before 

 us, the certainty of which is evidenced even by the laws of the material 

 creation. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



271. What is coal? 

 Coal is a " vegetable fossil. 



272. What is meant ly a vegetable fossil f 



It is a substance originally vegetable, which, by pressure and 

 other agencies within the earth, has been brought to a condition 

 approaching that of mineral or earthy matter. 



273. Why do we know that coal is of vegetable origin? 

 By the chemical components of its substance ; and also by the 



vegetable forms that are found abundantly in coal beds. 



Professor Buckl.and, in his Bridgewater Trarfise, speaking of the impressions 

 of plants found in the coal mines, says : " The finest example I have ever 

 witnessed is that of the coal mines of Bohemia. The most elaborate imitations 

 of living foliage upon the painted ceilings of Italian palaces bear no comparison 

 with the beauteous profusion of extinct vegetable forms with which the galleries 

 of these instructive coal mines are overhung. The roof is covered as with a 

 canopy of gorgeous tapestry, enriched with festoons of most graceful foliage, 

 ttuffg in wild irregular profusion over every part of its surface. The efi'eet is 

 heightened by the contrast of the coal-black colour of these vegetables with tne 

 light ground-work of the rock to which they are attached. The spectator feels 

 himself transported, as if by enchantment, into the forests of another world ; he 

 beholds trees, of forms and characters now unknown upon tie siirfade Of th 



