Where the untrained eye will see nothing but mire and dirt
(says Sir John Lubbock), science will often reveal exquisite
possibilities. The mud we tread under our feet in the street
is a grimy mixture of clay and sand, soot and water. Separate
the sand, however, as Ruskin observes--let the atoms arrange
themselves in peace according to their nature--and you have
the opal. Separate the clay and it becomes a white earth, for
the finest porcelain; or if it still further purifies itself
you have a sapphire. Take the soot, and if properly treated it
will give you a diamond. While, lastly, the water purified and
distilled, will become a dew-drop or crystallize into a lovely
star. Or, again, you may see in a shallow pool either the mud
lying at the bottom or the image of the sky above.--_Public
Opinion._
(2839)
=Scripture=--See CONSCIENCE.
=Scripture and Experience=--See INTERPRETATION BY EXPERIENCE.