INTRODUCTION. 



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

 recognized 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 KING- 

 DOM. 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 con- 

 tinues on to death and dissolution. 



It has, hence, its cycle of growth and reproduction, and cycle fol- 

 lows 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 de- 

 velopment, 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 dis- 

 played upon the earth. 



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

 present condition through a series of changes or progressive forma- 

 tions, and from a state as utterly featureless as a germ. Moreover, 

 like any plant or animal, it has its special systems of interior and ex- 

 terior structure, and of interior and exterior conditions, movements 

 and changes; and, although Infinite Mind has guided all events to- 

 ward 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 comprehensive 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 higher, 

 — a World Kingdom. Every sphere in space must have had a re- 

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