110 CRITIQUES AND ADDRESSES. (v. 



carbonic acid, water, ammonia, and mineral matters, 

 exactly equal in weight to the coal. But these are the 

 very matters with which Nature supplied the club-mosses 

 which made the coal. She is paid back principal and 

 interest at the same time ; and she straightway invests 

 the carbonic acid, the water, and the ammonia in new 

 forms of life, feeding with them the plants that now live. 

 Thrifty Nature ! Surely no prodigal, but most notable 

 of housekeepers ! 



