304 
Annual Report of the 
tence and activities from the changes going on in matters before 
our eves. 
If now we take our stand squarely on scientific ground, and pur¬ 
sue our investigations with scientific appliances, the first tangible 
form of reconstructed matter that we find in the soil will be a small 
speck or granule of matter, microscopic at first, but by rapid growth 
soon within the range of vision. This little speck of matter, scien¬ 
tific men would call a structureless bit of Protoplasm, or Germinal 
matter; but to the casual observer it looks like the product of the 
mineral kingdom, a little crystal for instance such as we often find 
forming from mineral solutions. A little farther developed, how¬ 
ever, and we notice its cellular structure; then we know it is not a 
mineral, not the work of chemical forces, for it is assuming the form 
of living matter. If, however, we analyze this speck of matter, it 
will, we are told, separate into water, carbonic acid and ammonia. 
These compounds are the work of chemical forces, but to bring 
them together into this more complex form of matter, is the work 
of a higher class. Here we find ourselves on the line that separ¬ 
ates the inorganic from the organic, and to follow this speck of 
matter further, we must step into the vegetable kingdom. Here it 
assumes a Germinal form, and under the influence of moisture and 
heat, we notice a little root starting down into this thin layer of 
soil-forming material. From this root starts out in every direction 
little rootlets or numberless little thread-like fibers, traversing the 
soil in all directions in search of plant-forming matter, which it 
conveys to the plant for its support. At the same time, or nearly 
so, starts a little blade upward through the soil into the air and sun¬ 
light. It is now to all intents and purposes a little plant with its 
roots fastened in the soil in the presence of solvents and compounds, 
and its blade and branches bathed in an atmosphere of moisture 
and sunlight. This plant is endowed with wonderful powers or 
forces by which the plant-forming matter of the soil, and the plant 
forming matter of the air is drawn towards it, by an elective at¬ 
traction possessed alike by the roots and the blade, and it absorbs 
from both sources the material necessary for its growth and develop¬ 
ment. 
Here we have one of the most refined processes of u Natural Metli- 
ods. 11 The plant is an instrument by which this widly-diffused mat¬ 
ter is brought together, mixed in given proportions and then un- 
