The Earth
THE NATURAL EARTH
- Chapter 9 -
The spleen of the Earth
After the lungs, one of the most important organs for every animal is the spleen, the actual stove in each and every animal body. The spleen is just as important for the maintenance of life as are the heart, stomach, and lungs; without the spleen the other organs would die. In every house the stove serves the dual purpose of cooking meals and heating rooms (written in 1847 - ED.). The stove in the body resolves all the nutrients into their constituent parts and drives them by its force farther into the vessels. From there they pass over into the blood, from thence to the heart, and from thence to their intended purpose.
The spleen consists of a loose mass. It has the ability, with its criss-cross interwoven cellular tissue, to produce and maintain the electro-magnetic fire. The spleen, through a continuous internal friction, creates an electro-magnetic fire and retains it in its numerous bag-shaped receptacles as if in little bottles. The spleen is always satiated with an electro-magnetic fire, so that at any time it can supply the negative electricity to the stomach and the positive electricity to the heart.
Even in the Earth such a viscera exists which rightfully may be called the Earth's spleen. This spleen is located close to the stomach, just as it is in an animal body, and it is also in close contact with the Earth's heart. Besides the stomach, which obtains its warmth for digestion from the spleen, the heart must likewise obtain its pulsating power from this main viscera. Further, the activity of the lungs is no less derived from the spleen, although half of the lungs' movements are independent, such as are connected to the will of the soul, for example; that is the reason why a human being can arbitrarily breathe faster at one time and slower at another.
What kind of effects does the Earth's spleen bring forth? Look at the volcanic mountains of the Earth. They are indeed only unimportant chimneys of this principal fireplace, but they can offer a convincing view of the phenomena taking place in the main fireplace of the body of the Earth. It is one of the effects that manifests on the surface of the Earth.
Then observe the springs of boiling hot water which also take their warmth from the Earth's spleen, though only indirectly, through those fiery canals which are in close contact with this part of the bowels of the Earth. This, then, is the second effect on the surface of the Earth.
Let us observe, further, the clouds, the formation of fog, and the winds which move: all of this is an effect of the Earth's spleen, because its main central fire penetrates the Earth and warms up all her parts. If someone were to enter the Earth and travel only a few miles deep, he would be able to see for himself how extremely effective this inner heating organ is. When water penetrates into these depths, it soon dissolves into steam. This steam inflates the Earth's skin and gradually penetrates through the pores, crevices, and other clefts in the Earth's crust as gases or steam. These fill the air and disturb its equilibrium. Through this, winds develop. When aqueous steam and gases, which form in the interior of the Earth, overfill, and, consequently, make a violent escape, this often results in a larger or smaller earthquake; hurricanes develop in the region of the escape. Here we have another vivid phenomenon upon the surface of the Earth caused by this earthly organ.
The surging and stormy motions of the oceans (though not their ebb and flow) and the currents develop in a similar manner from this viscera; the salt of the oceans may only enter into the water when certain substances are dissolved by the fire, and are forced up through numerous organs and salt the ocean. All the meteorological phenomena which may be observed in the atmosphere of the Earth, as well as her power of vegetation, have the same origin.
We have shown some of the main effects of the Earth's spleen. In order to understand its deeper significance, we shall take a little excursion into this organ to explore how the Earth's spleen is structured, and from whence it obtains its fire and the material for that fire.