Heat and mechanical energy (work) are the same, convertible.

Energy is a constant, neither created nor destroyed.

The solar system evolved from a mass of nebular matter.

A corollary theory about the multiplication of suns like our own.

The age of the earth and the periods of its formation are

established through the evidence of fossil records, and

The rise and fall of the seas through periods of global warming

and cooling causes ice rivers to advance and recede scarring

and gouging the mountains and leaving glacial lakes and deposits.

The array of many species of plants and animals is established.

Their distribution over space and (later with Darwin) time.

By the laws of thermodynamics, we can measure the chemical

elements flowing in and out of plants and animals: oxygen,

carbon dioxide, water, carbon, etc. They provide the energy

that allows horses and humans to work, move, reproduce, etc.

Photosynthesis and respiration, the correlative energy processes.

In a gigantic leap of scientific journalism, Chambers makes a

synthesis of all these fields of discovery and maps out a

relatively complete integration of the sciences, a cosmic form

of manifest destiny inherent in the divine plan.

After a lifetime of exploration of the new world as a laboratory

of related natural histories, he publishes his compilation of

ecological findings as Cosmos. Real ecology begins c. 1890.

1855 Leaves of Grass