That all living substances, whether vegetable or animal, are composed more than two-thirds of water.
That more than two-thirds of the entire quantity of food taken daily into the animal economy consists of water. That is to say, we feed on more than two-thirds of water.
Nothing living can maintain its existence without two-thirds of water.
Second.
All the material taken from the earth’s surface, or from the interior of the earth’s crust, for any purpose whatsoever, no matter how great the weight or volume may be, does not increase the weight of this earth, or diminish it. The material has simply been moved from one place and deposited in another.
The building of one city, or ten thousand cities or more, would not add one pound more or less to the entire weight of this earth.
All the stone, coal, iron, copper, silver, gold, lead, and all other mineral substances, used either in building, machinery, or anything human ingenuity can make or invent—all belong to this earth. No matter how great the bulk or quantity, it does not influence this earth one particle.
Moreover, this earth would not be in the slightest inconvenienced in its motion or evolution whether there were sixteen billion of persons on its surface, or ten million times as many.
Nor would it make the slightest difference to this terrestrial globe whether the entire animal creation was destroyed, or increased indefinitely. It would neither slacken its pace, increase its weight, diminish its size, change its poles, alter its seasons, nor in any other way be affected.