Conditions of Matter--Variety of organized Forms--Inorganic Forms--All matter reducible to the most simple conditions--Transmutation, a natural operation--Chemical Elementary Principles--Divisibility of Matter--Atoms--Molecules--Particles--Molecular Force includes several Agencies--Instanced in the Action of Heat on Bodies--All Bodies porous--Solution--Mixture--Combination--Centres of Force--Different States of Matter (Allotropic Conditions)--Theories of Franklin, Æpinus, and Coulomb--Electrical and Magnetic Agencies--Ancient Notions--Cohesive Attraction, &c. In contemplating the works of nature, we cannot but regard, with feelings of religious admiration, the infinite variety of forms under which matter is presented to our senses. On every hand the utmost diversity is exhibited; through all things we trace the most perfect order; and over all is diffused the charm of beauty. It is the uneducated or depraved alone who find deformities in the creations by which we are surrounded. The three conditions of matter are--the solid, the fluid, and the aëriform; and these belong equally to the organic and the inorganic world. In organic nature we have an almost infinite variety of animal form, presenting developments widely different from each other, yet in every case suited to the circumstances required by the position which the creature, occupies in the scale of being. Through the entire series, from the Polype to the higher order of animals, even to man, we find a uniformity in the progress towards perfection, and a continuity in the series, which betrays the great secret, that the mystery of life is the same in all,--a pervading spiritual essence associated with matter, and modifying it by the master-mechanism of an Infinite mind. In the vegetable clothing of the surface of the earth, which fits it for the abode of man and animals--from the confervæ of a stagnant pool, or the lichen of the wind-beaten rocks, to the lordly oak or towering palm--a singularly beautiful chain of being presents itself to the contemplative mind, and we cannot but trace the gradual elevation in the scale of organization.