the cooling and ameliorating rains, while in Mars vapor appears to be
precipitated only in the form of snow; he is probably past the period
of the summer shower. There are clouds and vapors in the sun itself,--
clouds of flaming hydrogen and metallic vapors, and a rain every drop
of which is a burning or molten meteor. Our earth itself has doubtless
passed through the period of the fiery and consuming rains. Mr. Proctor
thinks there may have been a time when its showers were downpourings of
"muriatic, nitric, and sulphuric acid, not only intensely hot, but
fiercely burning through their chemical activity." Think of a dew that
would blister and destroy like the oil of vitriol! but that period is
far behind us now. When this fearful fever was past and the earth began
to "sweat;" when these soft, delicious drops began to come down, or
this impalpable rain of the cloudless nights to fall,--the period of
organic life was inaugurated. Then there was hope and a promise of the
future. The first rain was the turning-point, the spell was broken,
relief was at hand. Then the blazing furies of the fore world began to
give place to the gentler divinities of later times.

The first water,--how much it means! Seven tenths of man himself is
water. Seven tenths of the human race rained down but yesterday! It is
much more probable that Alexander will flow out of a bung-hole than
that any part of his remains will ever stop one. Our life is indeed a
vapor, a breath, a little moisture condensed upon the pane. We carry
ourselves as in a phial. Cleave the flesh, and how quickly we spill
out! Man begins as a fish, and he swims in a sea of vital fluids as
long as his life lasts. His first food is milk; so is his last and all
between. He can taste and assimilate and absorb nothing but liquids.
The same is true throughout all organic nature. 'T is water-power that
makes every wheel move. Without this great solvent, there is no life. I
admire immensely this line of Walt Whitman's:--