Of the importance of Water in the scheme of creation, man generally entertains an imperfect conception. It is simply supposed to afford moisture to plants, drink to animals, and to promote salubrity by its cleansing properties. Let us, however, contemplate man as he stands before us, noble in form, erect in position, full of strength, joy, ambition. How much of that noble form is composed of water? Suppose that it could all be instantaneously withdrawn--not the oxygen and the hydrogen, which might combine to form water--but the fluid that exists in his body as _water_, unchanged--except by mechanical admixture with the secretions of the body--Why then that beautiful temple would collapse and become a mere shred, so thin, that it would seem but a shadow of the body as it existed before, and the beholder might doubt whether life ever inhabited a frame whose structure was so frail. It is said that _three-fourths_ by weight of the human body consist of _water_. Thus, if man weighs 120lbs., 90lbs. consist of water, and this subtracted, only 30lbs. of solid matter remain. This statement is rather under than over the fact. The assertion is startling, but so true that it can be verified by simple experiment. A piece of lean flesh--say of beef--cut an inch thick, and placed in a slow oven, and allowed to remain until all its water was driven off in vapour, would become as thin as a wafer, and as light as a cork. With a more scientific arrangement, it would be possible to collect the water, and the weights of the condensed vapour, and of the solid residue, would together make up the weight of the beef: if the piece weighed sixteen ounces, the weight of the water would be about 14 ounces, and the _solid matter_ about _two ounces_.