SHIPPING LEAD TO CHINA. 607 



carbon. All animal carbon is derived from the atmosphere. Say a tiger 

 dines off a cow, the carbon and nitrogen of her flesh have been obtained 

 from vegetation, which in turn extracted them from the air; so that we 

 have a kind of physiological '' House that Jack built," " This is the Tiger 

 that ate the Cow that devoured the G-rass that absorbed the Carbon," etc. 



Any considerable difference in tMe volume of carbonic acid must result 

 in diminution of animal life. Yery little above the ordinary standard car- 

 bonic acid in air becomes a deadly poison to all warm-blooded animals. If 

 diminished vegetable life would languish, graminivorous animals would die 

 of starvation, and finally the carnivora. being obliged to prey upon each 

 uther, would of course become extinct. The result would be a completely 

 barren and desolate planet, perhaps in some degree resembling the moon. 



Oxygen is the next in importance as a geological agent. Percolating in 

 rocks, dissolved in rain ^ater, it quickly reacts on all oxidizable substances. 

 Carbonates and protosalts are converted to peroxides ; sulphides are changed 

 into sulphates, and sometimes alums are formed. 



Carbon and oxygen are thus antagonistic in their action on rocks and 

 minerals, and are thiis keeping up a circulation between the earth and the 

 air. The carbon always reduces the oxides, and the oxygen replaces the 

 carbonic acid of carbonates with the same inveteracy. 



The ammonia existing in the air is absorbed by plants, and b}' their de- 

 composition forms nitrates. "And now," Mr. Hardman says in conclusion, 

 •' it will be seen what an all-powerful agent the atmosphere we bieathe is. 

 Without its aid we sttould know never a stratified formation, and would 

 simply form a ball of truly primitive rock. We should have no coal, no 

 metalliferous deposits, no rivers or seas, and no rain— consequently no de- 

 nudation by rain and rivers — for the vapor of waters could not ascend into 

 empty space. We should have— but, last and worst of all, there would be 

 no " we." Life would be impossible, and the earth would finally degenerate 

 into a pale-faced moon." That this is probably her mission cannot be de- 

 nied; and probably before Saturn and Jupiter have cooled down to a hab- 

 itable temperature, the senescent earth will roll through space — cold, void, 

 and aii'less. — Scientific American. 



SHIPPING LEAD TO CHINA. 



The Belgic, which left San Francisco for China and Japan October 23d, 

 as part of her cargo, had 83,852 pounds of lead. If this amount of lead was 

 raw, which it probably was, unless to fill an order, it will hardly prove a 

 better speculation than the large shipments made in the beginning of the 

 year. As we stated over a month ago, China is not a large consumer of lead in 

 any other form than as tea-lead. The Eichmond Company at Eureka, ISTev., 

 is the largest Pacific coast producer of lead, and to that ^company, the con- 

 version of a portion of its immense production into tea-lead, the benefit 

 would be vast. Since the freights eastward are enormously high, by going 



