254 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Opp 



ence over all within its reach. This object acts upon them 

 somewhat as the porous platinum acts on gases. We know the 

 porous platinum absorbs them, and condenses them so power- 

 fully together into its pores that the atoms of two different gases 

 often approach each other sufficiently near to combine together 

 chemically. Hydrogen and oxygen are in this instance com- 

 pelled to unite, and it can force many other gases, which will 

 not directly combine with each other, to enter into combination. 

 So a noble object draws into the bonds of the closest associa- 

 tion individuals who, but for its influence, would remain for ever 

 in isolation or perhaps in opposition to each other. Welcome, 

 then, to the combining forces of society ! PR. 



The Resemblance of Opposites. 



The crocodile's egg will be about two inches and five lines in 

 its greatest diameter, and in its least diameter one inch and 

 eleven lines ; oval and whitish. It is cretaceous in substance, 

 and like the eggs of birds. Yet with this resemblance, what 

 a horrid contrast there is ! The egg gets hatched without any 

 attention of the parent ; and in due time, instead of a beautiful 

 singing-bird, it produces an infant crocodile about six inches in 

 length, which very rapidly becomes a monster fourteen feet 

 long. Its teeth are formidable, and the scales on the back are 

 proof against even a bullet from a gun. It is amphibious, and 

 watches even in the night for its prey. Such is the outcome 

 of an egg resembling that of the world's loveliest songsters. 

 Here we have a lesson upon the resemblance of opposites. Do 

 not be guided only by the shell of things. Consider all the 

 surrounding circumstances. If your egg has not been found in 

 a place associated with ideas of goodness and beauty, but in a 

 suspicious locality, beware lest it belongs to a moral crocodile. 

 Two human faces may look to the uninitiated very much alike, 

 but as the developing period advances, the one character will 

 become harmonious and spiritual, and the other hard, rapacious, 

 and crocodile-like. RE. 



