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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: But if you were a great chemist, instead of a little boy, you
would be apt to answer me, I am afraid, "Fire burns because the
vibratory motion of the molecules of the heated substance
communicates itself to the molecules of my skin, and so destroys
their tissue;" which is, I dare say, quite true: but it only
tells us how fire burns, the way or means by which it burns; it
does not tell us the reason why it burns.
But you will ask, "If that is not the reason why fire burns, what
is?" My dear child, I do not know. That is Lady Why's business,
who is mistress of Mrs. How, and of you and of me; and, as I
think, of all things that you ever saw, or can see, or even dream.
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