INTRODUCTION. 



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

 has recognized three kingdoms of nature, — the animal, the vege- 

 table, and the inorganic ; or, naming them from the forms charac- 

 teristic of each, the animal-kingdom, the plant-kingdom, and the 

 crystal-kingdom. An individual in either kingdom has its sys- 

 tematic 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. 



2. 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 condi- 

 tions, movements, and changes ; and, although Infinite Mind has 

 guided all events towards 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 indivi- 

 duality, not, indeed, in either of the three kingdoms of nature 

 which have been mentioned, but in a higher, — a World-Kingdom. 



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