THE SEASON WHY. 73 



" Surely every man walketh in a vain show ; surely they are disquieted in vain : 

 he hoapeth up riches, and knowcth not who shall gather them." Ps. xxxix. 



earth, presented to his senses almost in the beauty and vigou> of their primeva. 

 life : their scaly stoms and bending branches, with their delicate apparatus of 

 foliage, are all spread forth before him, little impaired by the lapse of countless 

 ages, and bearing faithful records of extinct systems of vegetation which began 

 and terminated in times of which these relics are the infallible historians." 



274. What are the chemical components of coal? 



They consist of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. The 

 proportions of these elements vary in different kinds of coal. Carbon 

 is the chief component ; and the proportions may be stated to be, 

 generally, carbon, 90 per cent. ; hydrogen, from 3 to 6 per cent. ; 

 the other elements enter into the compound in such small 

 proportions, that, for all ordinary purposes, it is sufficient to say 

 that coal consists of carbon and hydrogen, but chiefly of carbon. 



275. What is charcoal ? 



Charcoal consists almost entirely of carbon. It is made from 

 wood by the application of heat, without the admission of air. The 

 hydrogen and oxygen of the wood are expelled, and that which 

 remains is charcoal, or carbon in one of its purest states. 



276. WTiat is animal charcoal ? 



Animal charcoal, like vegetable charcoal, consists of carbon in a 

 state approaching purity. It is made from the bones of animals, 

 heated in iron cylinders. It is commonly called ivory black. 



277. What is the purest form of carbon known ? 



The purest form of carbon is the diamond, which may be said to 

 be absolutely pure. 



Hence we derive another of the beautiful lessons of science a lessou which 

 teaches us to despise nothing tliat God has given. The soot which blackens the 

 face of a chimney-sweep, and the diamond that glistens in the crown of the 

 monarch, consist of the same element in merely a different atomic condition. 

 \Vhat a lesson of humility this teaches to Pride ! The haughty beauty as she 

 walks the ball-room, inwardly proud of the radiance of her gems as they rise 

 and fall upon her breast, little thinks or knows that every breath that is expired 

 around her wafts away the like element of which her treasures are composed. 

 That even in our own flesh and bones the same abounding substance lies hid; 

 and that the buried tree of the primitive world, and the little flower of 

 to-day, are both the instruments of giving this singular element to mail ! 



278. What is coles ? 



Coke is coal, divested of its hydrogen and other volatile parts, by 

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