Page:The fairy tales of science.djvu/86

62 “Soon after my arrival at the surface of the earth, I was separated from my brother atoms by the process of combustion, and carried aloft by two members of the great oxygen family. My freedom was of short duration. Nature had set innumerable traps for me, in the shape of living organisms, and by one of them I was soon made captive.

I now became a part of a grain of wheat, and in course of time I found myself in the stomach of a man. In the human frame I passed through a definite course of vicissitude, and was then breathed forth to make room for a new-comer. Once more I enjoyed the pleasures of an aërial life, which, I need scarcely say, were again shared by two atoms of oxygen.

“From the atmosphere I passed into the substance of a tree, which was destined to fall by the hand of man soon after my absorption. By a cunning process the wood was decomposed; its volatile atoms of oxygen and hydrogen were set free, and an aggregate of carbon atoms remained.

“Man had not yet done with me and my dusky brethren; he had separated us from our companions in order that we might be at liberty to unite with certain atoms of iron, and thus produce a substance which he greatly prized. This strange union was effected, and in course of time I became a part of one of those weapons with which man destroys his fellow man.

“I now witnessed some fearful scenes of bloodshed,