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Untitled Article
indestructibility and unchangeable nature of the several elements of that matter of which the earth and its various productions are composed . The consideration of this
subject , in my opinion , cannot put afford a strong and satisfactory analogical argument in favour of human resuscitation . 1 there *
fore make no apology for attempting to place it in a clearer light lhan that in which it has hitherto been generally viewed In looking around us we perceive that the Creator has formed
a world , admirably adorned with every thing to gra-tify the senses , and with an abundant variety to minister to the comfort of its inhabitants , and though the materials of which it is composed are suffering continual changes , and even revolutions of tlie most
formidable kind , still the elements of those materials are so constituted , that they remain immutable and indestructible ; and can at any time be recalled by their great Author to recomposition , or to fulfil any other of his unerring purposes .
The man who has accustomed himself to an attentive examination of the works of nature , will perceive on every side sufficient evidence of this truth ; for , notwithstanding our limited
knowledge of the laws of the universe , a variety of facts might easily be adduced from the vegetable , the mineral , or the animal kingdom , to substantiate and elucidate it .
' * Water is composed of two solid substances , oxygen and hydrogen , rendered flui ^ L by a chemical combination with the matter of heat . f The oxygen is the only part of the atmosphere that promotes combustion , or contributes xo the support of animal life . £ Hydrogen gas \ s what was formerly calle 4 inflammable air ; it is formed by the union of hydrogen ( one of the cpmponent parts of water ) with caloric , or the matter of heat .
Untitled Article
The following examples will he sufficient for our present purpose ^ Take a plant of any kind , place it in a situation where you can mark its progress , and water it with pure water . In a short time
the water will be absorbed , and the vegetating organs of the plant will have decomposed it , and separated it into its original eJe- ' ments * . 'It is now " no longer water , but oxygen and hydrogen , the former of which is , for the
most part given out by the respiration of the leaves , in the form of oxygen gas , and contributes la an eminent degree to the renovation of the atmosphere f : while the latter is transformed , by some
unknown and inconceivable process into gum wax , oil or sugar ; which becomes solidified in and identified with the bod y of the plant . In this way the vegetable will continue to grow and thrive until it advances to maturity .
The period now arrives for its death and decay . If suffered to remain upon the ground , this decay «* will probably be gradual ; and as the various ties which
united the curious fabric dissolve , it fails not to repay the hydrogen , which it had onlv borrowed for its temporary support . The rays of the sun now convert this hvdrogen into hydrogen gas J , which
ascends , in consequence of its natural levity , to the higher regions of the atmosphere , where it again combines with oxygen , by means which nature hulh appointed , and water , in its original quan-
Untitled Article
Mr . Parkes , on the Indestructibility of Matter . it
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1809, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1732/page/21/
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