In his magic mind the unfathomable revealed its depths and the illimitable its boundaries; metaphysics took on the simplicity of the ponderable, and man himself occupied a new and more dignified place in the Cosmos.
"The Law and the Word"
Thomas Troward
With these, and a few other exceptions, all the minerals hitherto discovered contain oxygen as an essential element; and so large is the proportion of this gas which enters into union with other elements to constitute the various minerals of which the rocks are composed, that it forms at least one-half of all the ponderable matter near the earth's surface.
"Geology"
James Geikie
We need not here discuss the question of the possible transformation of matter into ether, or of ether into ponderable matter.
"The Mechanism of Life"
Stéphane Leduc