g6 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



the relation, for example, in which two well-known 

 substances stand to each other — Tea and Strych- 

 nia. The active principles of these two substances, 

 " Theine " and " Strychnine," are identical so far 

 as their elements are concerned, and differ from 

 each other only in the proportions in which they 

 are combined. Such is the power of numbers in 

 the laboratory of Nature ! What havoc in this 

 world, so full of Life, would be made by blind 

 chance gambling with such powers as these ! What 

 confusion, unless they were governed by laws 

 whose certainty makes them capable of fine ad- 

 justment, and therefore subject to accurate con- 

 trol ! How fine these adjustments are, and how 

 absolute is that control, is indicated in another 

 fact — and that is the few elements out of which 

 all things are made. The number of substances 

 deemed elementary has varied with the advance 

 of Science ; but as compared with the variety 

 of their products, that number may be con- 

 sidered as infmitesimally small ; whilst the pro- 

 gress of analysis, with glimpses of laws as yet 

 unknown, renders it almost certain that this 

 number will be found to be smaller still. Yet out 



