Christian Science found me a steamship engineer. When first led to accept Mind as the only Causation, a field of interesting illustration was at once opened up in my immediate surroundings. For a long time previously, water in its different states and conditions had been an especially attractive study to me; it now had a new and more intelligent meaning.
It has three stages solid, fluid, and vapor (ice, water, and steam) all of which are identical in chemical analysis, namely H.O. (Both of these two components are by themselves inappreciable to any of the physical senses, being without color, taste, odor, sound, or outline,) The difference between these three stages, therefore, is one of temperature only. We see from this that water has no power to change itself into different forms, but is wholly under the influence of surrounding conditions. Few things present a more peaceful appearance than a large expanse of water when undisturbed by external forces. Yet if its latent energy is brought into play by a thermal change and not properly restrained, the result may be extremely violent. An experiment was once tried with a solid cannon ball; a small hole was bored into the center and a few drops of water poured in the hole was then hermetically sealed by means of a screw plug. The ball was placed in an open field and a tire lighted beneath it. The spectators retired to a distance to watch the result; before long the ball exploded,— no part of it remained to be seen. This shows practically that no material known is strong enough to resist the expansion of steam if heated sufficiently to bring out its internal forces. Ice has an almost equal bursting capacity; water occupies less space when fluid than when frozen, consequently if it is confined in a limited space the walls must give way under the influence of frost.
Water is spoken of by our Leader as a type of mortal mind. The only time the latter seems to be peaceful and harmonious is when it is entirely undisturbed by Truth and its own discordant,latent elements allowed to remain dormant. I wish here to mention the fact that all these so-called material forces are without exception self-destructive; even in the best designed and most economical machinery, a very high percentage of power is lost or absorbed in internal friction.
