300 
Annual Report of the 
is to enter into vegetable and animal life. Indeed we find also, 
imprisoned in these compounds, some of the forces that are to play 
an important part in reducing them to soil, and then elevating this 
matter into organized forms. 
Beautiful indeed, we are ready to say, as we stand upon the sur¬ 
face of this newly-risen rock, this crystalline aggregate of finely fin¬ 
ished minerals, and watch the bright rays of the sun as they fall for 
the first time upon its light-reflecting crystals. At this point let us 
dwell for a monieut, for it is here where our study of minerology 
ends, and where we must begin with the elements of organography. 
The surface of this rock is now clear above the waters, and fully 
up in the region of atmospheric air, sunlight and other physical con¬ 
ditions unknown in the mineral kingdom. These new forces com¬ 
mence at once to play upon its crystalline structure, and changes are 
already visible. The crystalline faces of the minerals composing 
this rock, once bright and beautiful, are growing dim. The work 
of disintegration has begun. The elements and atoms forming those 
beautiful crystals in the mineral kingdom, under the influence of her 
laws, are now freed from their bond of union, and upon this once 
hard crystalline rock they lie mechanically mixed in common dust. 
This little film of dust, so thin that we can remove it with our fin¬ 
ger, is soil in its first stages of formation. 
Slowly, but effectually, these forces work; and slowly but grad¬ 
ually this little film of dust thickens on the surface of the rock. If 
here w r e watch this process carefully, we notice that not only upon 
the hard crystalline rock, but upon the dust itself are these forces at 
work, reducing it to states of finer division, until particle by parti¬ 
cle it passes beyond the range of vision, and is held in solution by- 
the water imprisoned in this disintegrated rock, this new-made 
earth. 
By this process, those beautiful compounds, the work of the min¬ 
eral kingdom are destroyed, completely destroyed, as though they 
were made in vain. The material, however, is not lost, but removed 
—as men of science tell us—to the region of molecular forces, where 
it will undergo molecular changes, and may be returned to us in 
new forms. 
In this stage in “Nature’s Methods” let us pause and consider 
for a moment some of the facts brought to light by modern science. 
It has been known to the world for many years that matter is 
