INTEODUCTION. 



Kingdoms of nature. — Science, in her survey of the earth, has recog- 

 nized three kingdoms of nature, — the animal, the vegetable, and the 

 inorganic; or, naming them from the forms characteristic of each, the 



ANIMAL KINGDOM, the PLANT KINGDOM, and the CRYSTAL KINGDOM. An 



individual in either kingdom has its systematic mode of formation or 

 growth. 



The plant or animal, (1) endowed with life, (2) commences from a germ, 

 (3) grows by means of imbibed nutriment, and (4) passes through a series 

 of changes and gradual development to the adult state, when (5) it evolves 

 new seeds or germs, and (6) afterward continues on to death and dissolution. 



It has, hence, its cycle of growth and reproduction, and cycle follows 

 cycle in indefinite continuance. 



The crystal is (1) a lifeless object, and has a simpler history ; it (2) 

 begins in a nucleal molecule or particle ; (3) it enlarges by external addition 

 or accretion alone ; and (4) there is, hence, no proper development, as the 

 crystal is perfect, however minute ; (5) it ends in simply existing, and not 

 in reproducing ; and, (6) being lifeless, there is no proper death or necessary 

 dissolution. 



Such are the individualities in the great kingdoms of nature displayed 

 upon the earth. 



But the earth also, according to Geology, has been brought to its present 

 condition through a series of changes or progressive formations, and from 

 a state as utterly featureless as a germ. Moreover, like any plant or animal, 

 it has its special systems of interior and exterior structure, and of interior 

 and exterior conditions, movements, and changes ; and, although Infinite 

 Mind has guided all events toward the great end, — a world for mind, — the 

 earth has, under this guidance and appointed law, passed through a regular 

 course of history or growth. Having, therefore, as a sphere, its comprehen- 

 sive system of growth, it is a unit or individuality, not, indeed, in either of 

 the three kingdoms of nature which have been mentioned, but in a wider, — 

 a World Kingdom. Every sphere in space must have had a related 

 system of growth, and all are, in fact, individualities in this Kingdom of 

 Worlds. 



