Our World, And What It Is Composed Of

Owins; to the indofatigable iuvestigation of the analytical chemists, and to their zeal in the cause of science, there is scarcoly a subatance in the world that has uot pasaed through the ordeal of their cruciblfcs'aud test tubes. Trom them we learnMiat our world is made up of bilt comparatively few substaneea ; so few indeed, that we are struck with wonder and astonishment when we consider the innumerable variety of form and character into which those elementa are capable of being rnolded. We have all the anímate and in anímate creation, the plants, the animáis ; we have the rocka, the earths, the air and water, in their endlesa variety ; and yet the aubstances of whieh they are composed do not exceed sixty. On closer examination our wonder increases as we learn that of these elementa no lesa than forty-six are metáis, in the ordinary sense of the world ; five are gaseous bodies, like the air - which indeed consista of two gases out of these five ; and the remainder are substanoea of an intermedíate character, of which sulphur and charcoal are the types. We know of no one aubstance that oontsins more ihan aix of those elements ; and in a general wny there are rarely more than two or three, blended together to produce one result. Thua, the white of an egg ia made of six elements ; a flint stone of only two ; a piece of wood consista of three elements. These three material are the types of the portions of the world to which they bolong. Though one stone diffors from another stone, and one wood from another wood, and one flesh from another flesh, yet their composition is similar, and of nearly the same elemento. It is the nature, quality, and proporty of these several elements that constitute the study of chomistry, - not medicine, for that ia but a mere branch of chemistry - the composition of all things. By analogy, the analytical ehemist can state with certainty the principal qualities and compoaition of everything placed in his lmnds, what use to make of it, and how it is to be appliod for the welfare and benefit of his fellow man.