BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 16? 



in the very bowels of the earth, or swim in the im- 

 measurable depths of the sea, yet it has been demon- 

 strated by experiment, that no sooner are they total- 

 ly deprived of air than they cease to live. By the 

 same air, also, that preserves animal life, flame is 

 fed and cherished. We all know the utility of fire, 

 and the many inconveniences to which we would 

 be exposed, were we deprived of that necessary ele- 

 ment ; but without air, in vain would the faggots be 

 piled in a heap, in vain would we apply the lighted 

 torch. Every attempt to set the hearth in a blaze, 

 in order to render our habitations more comfortable 

 during the chilling damps of winter, and every effort 

 to dispel the midnight gloom by the cheering can- 

 dle, would prove abortive. Take but away the sur- 

 rounding air, life expires, and the lighted taper goes 

 o'ut in darkness; for even an ordinary candle is said 

 to consume about a gallon of air in a minute. 



Plants are also dependent on the air for support 

 and nourishment, and they cannot possibly exist 

 without it. They are continually imbibing fresh nu- 

 triment from the atmosphere It is this wondrous 

 fluid that helps to transfuse vegetable vigour into the 

 trunk of the mighty oak, and gives a blooming gaiety 

 to the spreading rose. 



And how wisely is its consistence calculated for 

 answering these important purposes! It is neither 

 too thick nor too thin ; too gross nor too attenuated. 

 It rushes with ease into our lungs, in order to inflate 

 them in the act of respiration ; it forces its way into 

 the most minute tubes of the vegetable tribes. In 



