The reason why : $b a careful collection of many hundreds of reasons for things which, though generally believed, are imperfectly understood. A book of condensed scientific knowledge for the million
John Stuart Mill · en
The bodies of those many millions are dissolved in the air, in
vapours and gases which, before the dissolution of each corporeal
organism is complete, begin to live again in the various forms of
vegetable and animal life.
Of the number of animals living and dying upon the face of the
earth, we can form no adequate estimate. Of mammals there are
about 2,000 ascertained species; of birds 8,000 species; of
reptiles 2,000 species; of fishes some 8,000 or 10,000 species;
of molluscs some 15,000 species; of shell fish 8,000 species; of
insects 70,000 species. And, including others not specified here,
the total number of _species_ of animals probably amounts to no
less than 250,000,--each species consisting of _many millions_ of
living creatures.
In the area of London alone, no less than 200,000 tons of fuel
are annually cast into the air in the form of smoke. And if we
take into account the vast operations of nature in evaporation,
fermentation, and putrefactive decomposition, we may be enabled
to form a conception of the mighty part which that _thin air_, of
which we think so little, plays in the grand alchemy of nature.
[Verse: "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made; marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right
well."--PSALM CXXXIX.]
In addition, also, to the facts already communicated, respecting
the sound-bearing and light-refracting properties of air, it
must be remarked, that but for the atmosphere, and the general
refraction of light by its particles--each atom as it were
catching a fairy taper, and dancing with it before our view--the
condition of vision would be widely opposite to that which exists,
and totally unsuited to our wants. The various objects upon
which the illuminating rays of the sun fell, would be lighted up
with an intense glare, but all around would be darkness, just as
when a single ray of light is passed into a dark chamber, and
directed upon a solitary object. The air, without becoming itself
visible, _diffuses luminous rays_, in modified intensity, in every
direction. If the air reflected so much light as to render _itself
visible_, it would appear like the glittering surface of the water
reflecting the solar rays, and we should then be unable to see the
various objects which surround us.