130 
THE FAIRY-LAND OF SCIENCE. 
would strike on our earth, the air would move rest- 
lessly to and fro, the water drops would rise and fall, 
the valleys and ravines would still be cut out by 
rivers, if there were no such thing as life upon the 
earth. But without living things there could be none 
of the beauty which these changes bring about. 
Without plants, the sunbeams, the air, and the water 
would be quite unable to clothe the bare rocks, and 
without animals and man they could not produce 
light, or sound, or feeling of any kind. 
In the next five lectures, however, we are going to 
learn something of the use living creatures make of 
the earth; and to-day we will begin by studying one 
of the ways in which we are affected by the changes 
of nature, and hear her voice. 
We are all so accustomed to trust to our sight to 
guide us in most of our actions, and to think of things 
as we see them, that we often forget how very much 
we owe to sound. And yet nature speaks to us so 
much by her gentle, her touching, or her awful sounds, 
that the life of the deaf person is even more hard to 
bear than that of a blind one. 
Have you ever amused yourself with trying how 
many different sounds you can distinguish if you lis- 
ten at an open window in a busy street? You will 
probably be able to recognise easily the jolting of the 
heavy wagon or dray, the humming of the trolley cars, 
the smooth roll of the private carriage, and the rattle 
of the light butcher's cart ; and even while you are lis- 
tening for these, the crack of the carter's whip, the cry 
of the passing vender, and the voices of the passers 
by w r ill strike upon your ear. Then if you give still 
