FORMATION OF MATTER. 207 



action resulted in the conversion of the gaseous nitrogen into 

 ammonia, — then, at the present day, during every moment, am- 

 monia must be forming, and the amount of that previously exist- 

 ing will be increased. It is natural to the mind of man to 

 endeavor to solve questions of this kind, however small may be 

 the expectation of success. It is known that the crust of the 

 earth consists of compounds of oxygen with metals or with other 

 radicals ; and the view appears quite admissible, that silica has 

 been formed from silicon and oxygen ; peroxide of iron from 

 iron and oxygen ; and, to follow up the idea, magnesia and potash 

 have been produced from oxygen, magnesium, and potassium. 

 And yet it is utterly impossible to assign a cause which prevent- 

 ed the union of the oxygen with potassium or magnesium before 

 the time that this combination actually took place. Was there, 

 it may be asked, a time when the individual elements floated to- 

 gether in Ghaos, without possessing any kind of affinity ? In 

 what condition then was the chlorine of common salt or the carbon 

 of carbonic acid ? It is obvious that no answers can be given to 

 questions respecting the origin of matter. If, then, we are una- 

 ble to afford any more satisfactory explanation of the origin of 

 ammonia, than we are able to do of the other compounds occur- 

 ring upon the earth, we must rest satisfied that these questions 

 will either never be solved, or that they will not be so until a 

 future period. 



The ferruginous earths in the primitive rocks of South Ame- 

 rica (Boussingault), and of Sweden (Berzelius),— in fact all 

 ferruginous earths hitherto examined, — yield, on being heated, 

 a certain amount of water containing appreciable quantities of 

 ammonia. Whence has this ammonia had its origin ? Accord- 

 ing to the logic of Aristotle, the occurrence of ammonia in the 

 ferruginous earths was susceptible of a satisfactory explanation. 



We may assume that water is the only original compound of 

 hydrogen occurring in nature ; other bodies containing that ele- 

 ment are products of the decomposition of water, from which 

 they have procured this hydrogen. 



Ammonia has been formed like other compounds of hydrogen ; 

 the ferruginous eaith was formerly iron, which we may suppose 

 to have become oxidized at the expense of water, in which case 



