THE BREATH OF LIFE 



braries. The ultimate parts — the atoms and mole- 

 cules of all literature, so to speak — are the letters 

 of the alphabet. How often by changing a letter in 

 a word, by reversing their order, or by substituting 

 one letter for another, we get a word of an entirely 

 different meaning, as in umpire and empire, petri- 

 faction and putrefaction, malt and salt, tool and 

 fool. And by changing the order of the words in a 

 sentence we express all the infinite variety of ideas 

 and meanings that the books of the world hold. 



The eighty or more primordial elements are Na- 

 ture's alphabet with which she writes her "infinite 

 book of secrecy." Science shows pretty conclusively 

 that the character of the different substances, their 

 diverse qualities and properties, depend upon the 

 order in which the atoms and molecules are com- 

 bined. Change the order in which the molecules of 

 the carbon and oxygen are combined in alcohol, and 

 we get ether — the chemical formula remaining the 

 same. Or take ordinary spirits of wine and add four 

 more atoms of carbon to the carbon molecules, and 

 we have the poison, carbolic acid. Pure alcohol is 

 turned into a deadly poison by taking from it one 

 atom of carbon and two of hydrogen. With the 

 atoms of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, by combin- 

 ing them in different proportions and in different 

 orders, Nature produces such diverse bodies as 

 acetic acid, alcohol, sugar, starch, animal fats, vege- 

 table oils, glycerine, and the like. So with the long 



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