e kingdom
on each other, that the air continues always fit for respiration. But
you will understand this better when I have explained the effect of
water on plants.

I have said that water forms the chief nourishment of plants; it is the
basis not only of the sap, but of all the vegetable juices. Water is the
vehicle which carries into the plant the various salts and other
ingredients required for the formation and support of the vegetable
system. Nor is this all; part of the water itself is decomposed by the
organs of the plant; the hydrogen becomes a constituent part of oil, of
extract, of colouring matter, &c. whilst a portion of the oxygen enters
into the formation of mucilage, of fecula, of sugar, and of vegetable
acids. But the greater part of the oxygen, proceeding from the
decomposition of the water, is converted into a gaseous state by the
caloric disengaged from the hydrogen during its condensation in the
formation of the vegetable materials. In this state the oxygen is
transpired by the leaves of plants when exposed to the sun's rays. Thus
you find that the decomposition of water, by the organs of the plant, is
not only a means of supplying it with its chief ingredient, hydrogen,
but at the same time of replenishing the atmosphere with oxygen,
a principle which requires continual renovation, to make up for the
great consumption of it occasioned by the numerous oxygenations,
combustions, and respirations, that are constantly taking place on the
surface of the globe.

EMILY.

What a striking instance of the harmony of nature.

MRS. B.

And how admirable the design of Providence, who makes every different
part of the creation thus contribute to the support and renovation of
each other!

But the intercourse of the vegetable and animal kingdoms through the
medium of the atmosphere extends still further. Animals, in breathing,
not only consume the oxygen of the air, but load it with carbonic acid,
which, if accumulated in the atmosphere, would, in a short time, render
it totally unfit for respiration. Here the vegetable kingdom again
interferes; it attracts and decomposes the carbonic acid, retains the
carbon for its own purposes, and returns the oxygen for ours.

CAROLINE.

How interesting this is! I do not know a more beautiful illustration of
the wisdom which is displayed in the laws of nature.

MRS. B.

Faint and imperfect as are the ideas which our limited perceptions
enable us to form of divine