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Turkey in Europe SOUTH AMERICA Germany (Western) ASIA AUSTRALIA. Outlines of the above with Lines of Latitude and Longitude, Is. MANCHESTER: JOHN HEYWOOD, 141 & 143, DEANSGATE: EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT, 141, DEANSGATE. LONDON : SmrKi*, MARSHALL, & Co. ; J. C. TACEY. John Hey wood's Educational Works- pitta* Latin Language. One of the "Extra Subject" series of Class Booka for Standards IV., V., & VI. of the New Code. By DR. SNAITH and H. MAJOR, B. A. In Three Parts. F cap Svo. Price 3d. each. Com- / plete, price 9d. ; or cloth limp, Is. (Parts I. and II. ready.) The National Method of Vocal Music for Elementary Schools. By W. W. PEARSON, G.M., Author of numerous musical pieces. A simple and effective plan of teaching children to read music from the established notation ; containing every information and explanation calculated to render the subject easy to teacher and pupil; with more than 200 Exercises, Songs, and Rounds carefully arranged and graduated. (In the Press.) 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Dedicated, by pcrmissi oil to the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Manchester. Price One Halfc penny, or 3s. per hundred. The Church Catechism. Authorized Text. 32mo, One Halfpenny. The Church Catechism in Verse. Price One Penny. Scripture Conundrums, Mental Pictures, &c.. in Verse. Price ed. Analysis Of Scripture History. Designed for the use of Pupils pre- paring for Diocesan, Oxford and Cambridge Local, Pupil Teachers', or Theological Examinations. Is. 6d. MANCHESTER : JOHN HEYWOOD, 141 & 143, DEANSOATE ; EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT, 141, DEANSOATE. LONDON: SJMFKIN, MARSHALL, & Co.; J. C. TACEY. THE SUPPLEMENTARY MANCHESTEE READERS. THE SCIENTIFIC KEADEB. Eepresentative Men of Science > JOHN HEYWOUD'S SUPPLEMENTARY MANCHESTER READERS: AN ADDITIONAL SERIES FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF ALL GRADES THE SCIENTIFIC READER: COMPILED TO SUIT THE REQUIREMENTS OF Standards V. and VI. of the New Code. MANCHESTER : JOHN HEYWOOD, 141 & 148, DEANSGATE ; EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT, 141, DEANSOATB. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO.; J. C. TACEY, CITY ROAD. FIFTH AND SIXTH STANDARDS OF EXAMINATION, ACCORDING TO THE NEW CODE OF REGULATIONS, 1871. STANDARD V. Heading. A short ordinary paragraph in a newspaper or other modern narrative. Writing. Another short ordinary paragraph in a newspaper or other modern narrative, slowly dictated once, by a few words at a time. Arithmetic. Practice or bills of parcels. STANDARD VI. Residing. To read with fluency and expression. Writing. A short theme or letter, or an easy paraphrase. Arithmetic' Proportion and vulgar or decimal fractions. :i - r ' '- O %* In all schools, the children in Standards V. and VI. should know the principles of the Metric System, and be able to explain the advantages to be gained from uniformity in the method of forming multiples and sub-multiples of the unit. PKEPAOE, As many teachers have expressed a wish to have more than one reading book in the MANCHESTER READERS suitable to the requirements of Standards V. and VI. , the Publisher, in deference to their desire, has caused some Readers on special subjects to be prepared, which may be considered as Supplementary to the "FIFTH MANCHESTER READER," and which meet in every respect the requirements of the Standards to which reference has just been made. Thus there will for the future be no necessity for obliging learners to go over the same ground again and again until teacher and pupil are wearied of the reiteration, but as soon as the Fifth Book has been thoroughly mastered the learners may pass onward to the SUPPLEMENTARY MANCHESTER READERS, which will open up to them new fields of information of interesting and varied character. Of these Supplementary reading-books the SCIENTIFIC READER is the first. In this will be found reading lessons in most branches of science to which it is desirable to call the attention of the youthful learner. It will be at once understood that the leading principles only of the various sciences that are brought under consideration are touched on, as it is manifestly impossible to do more in a lesson which is intended rather for class reading than for private study, with a view to examination in science subjects. The SCIENTIFIC READER is intended, in fact, to serve the purpose of a finger-post to the sciences, and not that of a treatise or series of treatises on the sciences themselves ; but for those who require further information in detail care has been taken to point out where such information may be found by direct references to the " CLASS BOOK OF MODERN SCIENCE," in which it may be found. To show the range of subjects embraced in the SCIENTIFIC READER it will be sufficient to say that lessons bearing on Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, Astronomy, Architecture, and Physical Geography are given, in combin- ation with others on the Properties of Matter, the Laws of Motion, Mechanics, the Pressure and Motion of Liquids, the Atmosphere, Sound, the Eye, Heat, Meteorology, Electricity, and Chemistry. In the Notes that follow many of the lessons, brief biographical sketches have been given of the principal men of eminence mentioned in the text, with other information specially referring to points touched on therein. To some of the lessons a Glossary Of Difficult Words and Scientific Terms has been prefixed, giving the appropriate meaning and derivation of each word ; to others lists of words of a similar kind have been appended as Exercises in Meanings and Derivation for the pupil to prepare after the manner of the Glossaries. It may be suggested to teachers that these exercises may be used as Class-lessons in Dictation ; the teacher giving out each word in such a manner as to mark clearly its division and accentuation, following this with its mean- ing and derivation. The derivation of almost any word that does not readily suggest itself may be obtained from " Chambers's Etymological Dictionary of the English Language," a work that should be in the hands of every teacher and pupil- teacher. When necessary, the text has been illustrated by diagrams, and occasional Exercises in Dictation have been introduced embodying interesting facts connected with science. 541339 CONTENTS. PAGE. Air : Its Mechanical Properties 132 Animal Life 16 NOTES : Cuvier, Parry. Atmosphere, The 156 Barometer, The 166 Botany and its Uses 33 Cachalot Whale, The 175 NOTES '.Cachalot, Grant. Candle and Combustion, The 43, 48 NOTES : Black Hole of Calcutta, Lavoisier, Capillary Attraction. Chalk and Coal Districts, The.. 151 Chemical and Mechanical Action 22 NOTES : Glass, Lever, Soap. Clocks : Their Origin and In- vention 108 NOTES : Harrison, Huygens, Haroun Alraschid, Paul I. , Pepin. Clouds and Rain 214 Coals and Coal Fires 25 NOTES: Absorption, Caloric, Combustion, Conduction, Ra- diation, Reflection, Smelting. Comets 64 NOT ES : Pythagoreans , Peripa- tetics, Parallax, Astronomers, Whiston. Equilibrium of Fluids 52 NOTES: Cohesion, Equilibrium, Particles. Eye and its Structure, The : PART I. The Formation of the Eye 195 PART II. Imperfections of Sight 198 NOTES : Addison, Aristotle, Homer. Five Orders of Architecture, The : PART!. The Pedestal Column and Entablature 179 PART II. The Characteristics of the Orders 184 NOTES '.Palladio, Vitruvius. Fossils and Caverns 100 Geology, and what it Teaches .. 59 Glass: Its Composition and Use 124,129 NOTES : Acids, Alkalies, Berze- lius, Faraday, Nero. Gold and Silver 217 NOTE: Some account of the British Coinage. Insects: Their Structure and Habits : PARTI. Jaws, Antennae, and Eyes 69 PAGE. PART II. Arms, Legs, and Feet ; Wings ; Ovipositors 75 PART III. Organs of Sensa- tion ; Hairs and Spines; Organs of Respiration .... 80 PART IV. Blood Vessels ; Motion 86 NOTES : Cow per, Huber, Kirby, Reaumur, Amboyna, Home, Linnaeus, Bradley, Circulation of the Blood, Lyonnet, Spence. Iron and Steel 159, 163 Locomotive Power of Animals, The 137,143,146 NOTES : Mammalia, Animal- cules, Conchifera, Gasteropoda, Myriapoda, Univalve and Bivalve, Vesicles. Materials of Nature, The 37 NOTES -.Electricity, Elementary Bodies. Mineral Veins and Beds 202 Ocean, The : PARTI. Its Purposes, Surface, and Extent Ill PART II. Its Colour, Salt- ness, and Temperature ; Icebergs, and Luminous- ness 116 PART III. Its Incessant Motion and Currents 119 NOTES : Humboldt, Scoresby, Charybdi*, Godwin Sands, Leviathan, Maelstrom. Pleasures and Advantages of Science, The 7 NOTES. Arkwright, Brougham, Davy, Potassium, Safety Lamp, Watt. Pumps: Their Principles of Construction 30 Sea Anemone, The 55 Serpents: Their General Me- chanism : PART I. Habits and Struc- ture of Body 207 PART II. Structure of the SkuU 211 Spermaceti and Ambergris .... 169 NOTES : Chevreul, Fourcroy, Lacepede. Sugar: Its Properties and Manufacture 189 Tea-kettle and its Teachings, The 92 THE MANCHESTER SCIENTIFIC BEADER. THE PLEASURES AND ADVANTAGES OF SCIENCE. [Abridged from Lord Brougham's treatise " On the Objects, Pleasures, and Advantages of Science."] Man is composed of two parts, body and mind, connected indeed together, but wholly different from one another. Each has its uses, and each has its peculiar gratifications. The bounty of Providence has given us outward senses to be employed, and has furnished the means of gratifying them in various kind and in ample measure. As long as we only taste those pleasures according to the rules of prudence and our duty, that is, in moderation for our own sakes, and in harmlessness towards our neighbours, we fulfil rather than thwart the purpose of our being. But the same bountiful Providence has endowed us with the higher nature also with understanding as well as senses with faculties that are of a more exalted order, and admit of more refined enjoyments than any to which the bodily frame can minister ; and by pursuing such gratifications, rather than those of mere sense, we fulfil the most exalted ends of our creation, and obtain both a present and a future reward. These things are often said, but they are not therefore the less true, or the less worthy of deep attention. Let us mark their practical application to the occupations and enjoyments of all branches of society, beginning with those who form the great bulk of every community, the working classes, by what names soever their vocations may be called professions, arts, trades, handicrafts, or common labour, g MANCHESTER SCIENTIFIC READER. rnt object ,of 0Yejry -man who has to depend upon his own exertions must needs be to provide for his daily wants. All other pursuits must give way to this ; the hours which he devotes to learning must be after he has done his work ; his independence, without which he is not fit to be called a man, requires first of all that he should have insured for himself, and those dependent on him, a comfortable subsistence, before he can have a right to taste any indulgence either of his senses or of his mind ; and the more he learns the greater progress he makes in the sciences the more will he value that independence, and the more will he prize the industry, the habits of regular labour, whereby he is enabled to secure so prime a blessing. In one view, it is true, the progress which he makes in science may help his ordinary exertions, the main business of every man's life. There is hardly any trade or occupation in which useful lessons may not be learnt by studying one science or another. To how many kinds of workmen must a knowledge of Mechanical Philosophy be useful. To how many others does Chemistry prove almost necessary. Every one must with a glance perceive that to engineers, watch-makers, instrument-makers, bleachers, and dyers, those sciences are most useful, if not necessary. But carpenters and masons are surely likely to do their work better for knowing how to measure, which Practical Mathematics teaches them, and how to estimate the strength of timber, of walls, and of arches, which they learn from Practical Mechanics ; and they who work in various metals are certain to be the more skilful in their trades for knowing the nature of those substances, and their relations to both heat and other metals, and to the gases and liquids they come in contact with. Nay, the farm servant or day labourer, whether in his master's employ or tending the concerns of his own cottage, must derive great practical benefit must be both a better servant and a more thrifty and therefore comfortable cottager, for knowing something of the nature of soils and manures which Chemistry teaches, and something of the habits of animals, and the qualities and growth of plants, which he learns from Natural History and Chemistry together. This, then, is MANCHESTER SCIENTIFIC READER. 9 ihe first use of learning the principles of science : it makes men more skilful, expert, and useful in the particular kinds of work by which they are to earn their bread, and by which they are to make it go far and taste well when earned. But another use of such knowledge to handicraftsmen is equally obvious : it gives every man a chance, according to his natural talents, of becoming an improver of the art he works at, and even a discoverer in the sciences connected with it. Very few great discoveries have been made by chance and by ignorant persons ; much fewer than is generally supposed. It is commonly told of the steam- engine, that an idle boy being employed to stop and open a valve, saw that he could save himself the trouble of attending and watching it by fixing a plug upon a part of the machine which came to the place at the proper time in consequence of the general movement. This is possible, no doubt, though nothing very certain is known respecting the origin of the story ; but improvements of any value are seldom indeed so easily found out, and hardly another instance can be named of important discoveries so purely accidental. They are generally made by persons of com- petent knowledge, and who are in search of them. The improvements of the steam engine by Watts resulted from the most learned investigation of mathematical, mechanical, and chemical truths. Arkwright devoted many years, five at least, to his invention of spinning jennies, and he was a man perfectly conversant in everything that relates to the construction of machinery : he had minutely examined it and knew the effects of each part, though he had not received anything like a scientific education. If he had, we should in all probability have been indebted to him for scientific discoveries as well as practical improvements. The most beautiful and useful inventions of late times, the safety-lamp, was the reward of a series of philosophical experiments made by Sir Humphrey Davy, one who was thoroughly skilled in every branch of chemical science. But in so far as chance has anything to do with discovery, surely it is worth the while of those who are constantly working in particular employments to obtain the knowledge 10 MANCHESTER SCIENTIFIC READER. required, because their chances are greater than other people's of so applying that knowledge as to hit upon new and useful ideas : they are always in the way of perceiving what is wanting, or what is amiss in the old methods ; and they have a better chance of making the improvements. This, then, is the second great use of learning the sciences : it enables men to make improvements in the arts, and discoveries in philosophy, which may directly benefit themselves and mankind. Now, these are the practical advantages of learning ; but the third benefit is, when rightly considered, just as prac- tical as the other two the pleasure derived from mere knowledge, without any view to our own bodily enjoyments ; and this applies to all classes, the idle as well as the industrious, if, indeed, it be not peculiarly applicable to those who enjoy the inestimable blessing of having time at their command. That every man is capable of being delighted with extending his information upon matters of science will be evident from a few plain considerations. Reflect how many parts of the reading, even of persons ignorant of ah! sciences, refer to matters wholly uncon- nected with any interest or advantage to be derived from the knowledge acquired. Everyone is amused with reading a story ; a romance may divert some, and a fairy tale may entertain others ; but no benefit beyond the amusement is derived from this source. The imagination is gratified ; and we willingly spend a good deal of time and a little money in this gratification, rather than in resting after fatigue, or in any other bodily indulgence. So we read a newspaper without any view to the advantage we are to gain from learning the news, but because it interests and amuses us to know what is passing. This pleasure is greatly increased when the information is such as excite our surprise, wonder, or admiration. Most persons who take delight in reading tales of ghosts, which they know to be false, are merely gratified, or rather occupied, with the strong emotions of horror excited by the momentary belief, for it can only last an instant. Such reading is a degrading waste of precious time, and has even a bad effect upon the feelings and judgment, But true stories of horrid crimes, MANCHESTER SCIENTIFIC READER. H as murders and pitiable misfortunes, as shipwrecks, are not much more instructive. It may be better to read these than to sit yawning and idle much better than to sit drinking or gaming, which, when carried to the least excess, are crimes in themselves and the fruitful parents of many more. But this is nearly as much as can be said for such vain and unprofitable reading. If it be a pleasure to gratify curiosity, to know what we were ignorant of, to have our feelings of wonder called forth, how pure a delight of this very kind does Natural Science hold out to its students. Eecollect some of the extraordinary discoveries of Mechanical Philosophy. How wonderful are the laws that regulate the motion of fluids ! Is there anything in all the idle books of tales and horrors more truly astonishing than the fact that a few pounds of water may by mere pressure, without any machinery, by being merely placed in a particular way, produce an irresistible force ? What can be more strange than that an ounce weight should balance hundreds of pounds by the intervention of a few bars of thin iron 1 Observe the extraordinary truths that Optical Science discloses. Can anything surprise us more than to find that the colour of white is a mixture of all others that red, and blue, and green, and all the rest, merely by being blended in certain proportions, from what we had fancied rather to be no colour at all, than all colours together ] Chemistry is not behind in its wonders. That the diamond should be made of the same material with coal ; that water should be chiefly composed of an inflam- mable substance ; that acids should be, for the most part, formed of different kinds of air, and that one of those acids, whose strength can dissolve almost any of the metals, should consist of the self-same ingredients with the common air we breathe ; that salts should be of a metallic nature, and composed in great part of metals such as potassium, &c., yet lighter than water, and which, without any heating, take fire upon being exposed to the air, and by burning form the substance so abounding in saltpetre and in the ashes of burnt wood. These, surely, are things to excite the wonder of any reflecting mind^ nay, of any one but little accustomed to reflect ; and yet these are trifling when 12 MANCHESTER SCIENTIFIC READER. compared to the prodigies which Astronomy opens to our view : the enormous masses of the heavenly bodies ; their immense distances ; their countless numbers, and their motions, whose swiftness mocks the uttermost efforts of the imagination. Akin to the pleasure of contemplating new and extraor- dinary truths is the gratification of a more learned curiosity, by tracing resemblances and relations between things which, to common apprehension, seem widely different. It is surely a satisfaction, for instance, to know that the same thing, or motion, or whatever it is, which causes the sensa- tion of heat causes also fluidity, and expands bodies in all directions ; that electricity, the light which is seen on the back of a cat when slightly rubbed on a frosty evening, is the very same matter with the lightning of the clouds ; that plants breathe, like ourselves, but differently by day and by night ; that the air which burns in our lamps enables a balloon to mount, and causes the globules of the dust of plants to rise, float through the air, and continue their race in a word, is the immediate cause of vegetation. Nothing can at first view appear less like, or less likely to be caused by the same thing, than the process of burning and of breathing the rust of metals and burning an acid and rust the influence of a plant on the air it grows in by night, and of an animal on the same air at any time ; nay, and of a body burning in that air. And yet all these are the same operation. It is an undeniable fact that the very same thing which makes the fire burn makes metals rust, forms acids, and enables plants and animals to breathe ; that these operations, so unlike to common eyes, when examined by the light of science are the same the rusting of metals the formation of acids the burning of inflam- mable bodies the breathing of animals and the growth of plants by night. To know this is a positive gratification. Can anything be more strange to contemplate ] Is there, in all the fairy tales that were ever fancied, anything more calculated to arrest the attention and to occupy and to gratify the mind than this most unexpected resemblance between things so unlike to the eyes of ordinary beholders 1 What more pleasing occupation than to see uncovered and MANCHESTER SCIENTIFIC READER. 13 bared before our eyes the very instrument and the process by which Nature works 1 Then we raise our views to the structure of the heavens, and are again gratified by tracing accurate but most unexpected resemblances. Is it not in the highest degree interesting to find that the power which keeps this earth in its shape and in its path, wheeling upon its axis and round the sun, extends over all the other worlds that compose the universe, and gives to each its proper place and motion ; that this same power keeps the moon in her path round our earth, and our earth in its path round the sun, and each planet in its path ; that the same power causes the tides upon our globe, and the peculiar form of the globe itself ; and that, after all, it is the same power which makes a stone fall to the ground ] To learn these things and to reflect upon them occupies the faculties, fills the mind, and produces certain as well as pure gratification. The highest of all our gratifications in the contemplation of science remains : we are raised by them to an under- standing of the infinite wisdom and goodness which the Creator has displayed in his works. Not a step can we take in any direction without perceiving the most extraor- dinary traces of design ; and the skill everywhere con- spicuous is calculated, in so vast a proportion of instances, to promote the happiness of living creatures, and especially of our own kind, that we can feel no hesitation in conclud- ing that, if we knew the whole scheme of Providence, every part would be found in harmony with a plan of absolute benevolence. Independently, however, of this most con- soling influence, the delight is inexpressible of being able to follow, as it were, with our eyes the marvellous works of the great Architect of Nature to trace the unbounded power and exquisite skill which are exhibited in the most minute, as well as the mightiest, parts of His system. The pleasure derived from this study is unceasing, and so varied that it never tires the appetite. But it is unlike the low gratifications of sense in another respect : while those hurt the health, debase the understanding, and corrupt the feelings, this elevates and refines our nature ; teaching us to look upon all earthly objects as insignificant and below our 14 MANCHESTER SCIENTIFIC READER. notice, except the pursuit of knowledge and the cultivation of virtue ; and giving a dignity and importance to the enjoyment of life, which the frivolous and the grovelling cannot even comprehend. Let us, then, conclude that the pleasures of science go hand in hand with the solid benefits derived from it ; that they tend, unlike other gratifications, not only to make our lives more agreeable but better ; and that a rational being is bound, by every motive of interest and of duty, to direct his mind towards pursuits which are found to be the sure path of virtue as well as of happiness. %* The following notes relate to persons and things mentioned in the preceding Reading Lesson. They have been collected at the end of the Lesson instead of being placed as foot-notes in the pages in which the names occur, as foot-notes frequently tend to draw away the attention of the rest of the class from the paragraph to which a note refers, while the paragraph in question is being read aloud by one of their number. The notes are placed in alphabetical order, and no reference is made to them in the text designedly, as it will afford a useful exercise for the pupils to look back through the Lesson after reading it, and pick out the paragraphs to which the notes refer. This course will be adopted in all lessons to which notes may be required. Notes. 1. ARKWRIGHT, Sir Richard, an eminent manufacturer, who advanced himself, by his me- chanical inventions for carding and spinning cotton, from the humble station of a country barber to the foremost rank of society. He may be said to have been the founder of the immense trade in manufactured cotton which is carried on by Great Britain at the present day. Born 1732; died 1792. 2. BROUGHAM, Henry, Lord, an eminent lawyer and writer on mathematical and physical science, was born at Edinburgh in 1779. He was called to the Scottish bar in 1800, and to the English bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1808. He entered the House of Commons in 1810, and was raised to the House of Lords as Lord Chancellor in 1830. In 1827 he laid the foundation, in conjunction with Mr. Charles MANCHESTER SCIENTIFIC READER. 15 Knight and others, of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge ; and was mainly instrumental, with Dr. Birkbeck, in founding Me- chanics' Institutes, for the promotion of knowledge among the working classes. He died at Cannes, in the south of France, in 1868. 3. DAVY, Sir Humphry, a famous chemist, born in Corn- wall in 1778. He was made professor of chemistry in the Royal Institution of London, where he delivered his first lecture in 1802. He discovered several of the principles of voltaic electricity, and by this power reduced certain earths and alkalies to a metallic state. Sir Humphry died of apoplexy at Geneva, in 1829. 4. POTASSIUM, the lightest metal known. A curious in- stance of the fallacy of our senses occurred as Sir Humphry Davy was, for the first time, exhibiting to another accom- plished chemist the metal potassium, which he had just discovered. His friend admired its perfect metallic character, and, poising it upon his finger, exclaimed, " How heavy ! " whereas, potassium is so light that it floats, like cork, on water ; but, until then, all the known metals were heavy bodies, and, consequently, the idea of gravity was intimately associated in the mind with metallic lustre. At present, the metals include the heaviest and lightest solids known platinum and potassium. 5. SAFETY LAMP. Sir Humphry Davy, in order to prevent accidents in coal mines, instituted such experiments as led him to discover and apply the principles of the Safety Lamp. Its construction may be thus stated. The fire-damp is a species of inflammable gas (carburetted hydrogen) , which, when mingled with atmospheric air in certain proportions, explodes on contact with flame. To prevent this, Sir Humphry enclosed a lighted lamp within a perfect cage of wire gauze, by which means no flame is enabled to penetrate from within to the surrounding medium, in consequence of the cooling power of the metallic tissue, which is referable to its excellent conducting properties for heat, of which it becomes a powerful radiator. 6. WATT, JAMES, a civil engi- neer, born at Greenock in 1736. He was originally a mathe- matical instrument maker, but ultimately turned his attention to the improvement of the steam engine, which he was mainly instrumental in bring- ing to its present pitch of per- fection. He was equally famous as a surveyor and engineer, and constructed many canals, bridges, harbours, etc. He died in 1819, after a long and useful life of eighty-three years. 16 MANCHESTER SCIENTIFIC BEADER. ANIMAL LIFE. %* The following Glossary of Scientific Terms should be mastered by the pupil before reading the Lesson. This and similar Glossaries at the commencement of some of the Reading Lessons are intended as models ; after which the list of words given in the Exercises on Meanings and Derivation at the end of others should be prepared by the pupils with the aid of an Etymological Dictionary, or by the master, if the pupil be not sufficiently advanced. GLOSSARY OF SCIENTIFIC TERMS, &c. ra'-di-a-ted../0r?ned with rays or arms like rays proceeding from a common centre, like the star-fish. [Lat. RADIUS, a ray or spoke of a wheel.] ner'-vous sys'-tem a term applied in anatomy to the brain, spinal cord, and nerves taken collectively. [Lat. NER- vus, a nerve or sinew. Gr. SYSTEMA, an orderly arrange- ment.] di-gest'-ive or'-gan the stomach, so called because food is digested or softened and dissolved therein, and rendered fit to be taken into the blood. [Lat. DIGERO, I arrange. Gr. ORGANON, a means of opera- tion, or by which anything may be done.] ni'-tro-gen.. a gas which is so called from entering largely into the composition of nitre. It forms nearly four-fifths of the air. [Gr. NITRON, nitre ; GENNAO, I generate or pro- duce.] com-po'-nents parts or substances of which anything is formed. [Lat. CON, to- gether ; PONO, I place.] flin'-gi mushrooms, toad- stools, &c.; so called from their spongy growth and appearance. [Gr. SPONGOS, a sponge.] Cru'- ci-f 6nn shaped like a cross. The radish, cabbage, &c., are called cruciform plants, as their flowers con- tain four petals arranged like the arms of a cross. A II plants which possess cruciform blossoms are fit for food. [Lat. CRUX, a cross; FORMA, shape.] Ca-fe'-ine.-.^e active principle of coffee, consisting of a bitter substance which readily crys- talises. [Fr. CAFE, coffee.] re-spi-ra'-tion the act of breathing out or sending out the breath. [Lat. RE, back ; SPIRO, I breathe.] flic'-tion ..-.the act of rubbing. [Lat. FRICO, I rub.] Sen'-tl-ent capable of feeling or having the faculty of perception and sensation. [Lat. SENTIO, I feel.} af-fin'-i-ties connections, mutual attractions. [Lat. AD, to ; FINIS, a border or limit.] MANCHESTER SCIENTIFIC READER. 17 l. . . .containing ammonia, a pungent alkali, so called because it was at first obtained near the temple of Jupiter Ammon in Egypt. [Lat. AMMON, a name of the heathen god Jupiter.] SUl-phu-ret'-ic containing sulphur, a brittle yellow mine- ral. [Lat. SULFUR, brim- stone.] ther-mom'-e-t er ... .an instru- ment used to measure heat and cold. [Gr. THERME, heat ; METRON, a measure.] Cu'-ti-cle the outer skin. [Lat. CUTIS, skin.] car'ybu-ret-ted combined with carbon or pure charcoal. [Lat. CARBO, coal.] as-sim'-i-la-ting. . . .converting into a like substance, as food by digestion is converted into the substances of which our bodies are formed. [Lat. AD, to ; SIMILIS, like.] ab SOr'-bentS bodies that readily take in moisture or fluid of any kind. [Lat. AB, from ; SORBEO, I suck in.] Living bodies are usually divided into the animal and vegetable kingdoms. It may seem at first sufficiently easy to make the distinctions between an animal and a plant ; and, as long as we confine our views to the higher order of animated beings, there is no room for doubt. But when we descend in the scale to the radiata, or radiated animals, which present no distinct nervous system, no organs of sensation, no observable mode of communication with the external world it then becomes necessary to inquire more accurately into the peculiar points which should decide us to arrange them under the one class or the other. Perhaps the most certain of these is the presence of a digestive organ. Cuvier mentions three other marks of distinction, which, however, are by no means so general. They are the presence of nitrogen, as one of the chemical components of all animal bodies ; the existence of a circulation ; and respiration. Nitrogen does exist in all animal bodies, but some vegetables contain it, as the extensive classes of fungi and cruciform plants ; and in cafeine, a principle extracted from coffee, there is actually a greater quantity of it than in most animal substances. Circulation is not found to exist in the lowest class of animals. As for respiration, the leaves of plants so exactly resemble in their action the lungs of animals, that they are now familiarly spoken of by vegetable physiologists as respiratory organs. 13 MANCHESTER SCIENTIFIC READER. What life is we know not ; what life does we know well. Life counteracts the laws of gravity. If the fluids of our bodies followed the natural tendency of fluids they would descend to our feet when we stood, or to our backs when we lay. The cause why they do not may be referred immediately to the action of the heart and vessels ; but it is evident that they derive that power from life. Life resists the effects of mechanical power. Friction, which will thin and wear a dead body, actually is the cause of thickening a living one. The skin on a labourer's hand is thickened and hardened to save it from the effects of a constant contact with rough and hard substances. The feet of the African, who, without any defence, walks over the burning sands, exhibit always a thickened covering ; and a layer of fat, a bad conductor of heat, is found deposited between it and the sentient extremities of the nerves. Pressure, which thins inorganic matter, thickens living matter. A tight shoe produces a corn, which is nothing more than thickened cuticle. The same muscle that with ease raised a hundred pounds when alive is torn through by ten when dead. Life prevents chemical agency. The body when left to itself soon begins to putrefy ; the several parts of which it is composed, no longer under the influence of a higher controlling power, yield to their chemical affinities ; new combinations are formed ; ammoniacal, sulphuretic, carburetted, and other gases are given off, and nothing remains but dust. This never happens during life. Life modifies the power of heat. Beneath a tropical sun, or within the arctic circle, the temperature of the human body is found unaltered, when examined by the thermometer. Some have exposed themselves to air heated above the point at which water boils ; yet a thermometer placed under the tongue stood at the usual height of about 98 ; and the sailors who, under Captain Parry, wintered so near the North Pole, when examined in the same way, con- stantly afforded the same results. Finally, life is the cause of the constant changes that are going forward in our bodies. From the moment that our being commences none of the materials of which we .MANCHESTER SCIENTIFIC READER. 19 are composed continue stationary. Foreign matter is taken in, and, by the action of what are termed assimilating functions, becomes part of our composition ; while, on the other hand, the materials of which our frame has been built up, being now unfit any longer for the performance of the necessary duties, are dissolved, as it were, into a liquid or gaseous form conveyed by the absorbents from the place which the new matter comes to occupy, and finally expelled from the system. Notes. 1. CUVIER, George (Baron). Born in Switzerland, 1769; died in Paris in 183 2. No man, since the great Grecian natural- ist, Aristotle, has so enlarged the boundaries of human know- ledge, respecting the structure of the animal creation, as Cuvier. Of unconquerable in- dustry in heaping up materials, with profound judgment and lucid ideas of arrangement, and eloquent in the expression of his results, he is universally allowed to be the first zoologist of modern times. 2. PARRY, Sir Edwd. William, an admiral in the royal navy, born at Bath in 1790, died in Germany, at Ems, in 1855, and was buried at Greenwich. He accompanied Sir James Ross in 1818, in a voyage to Baffin Bay, for the discovery of the North-west Passage, and com- manded the Hecla and Griper in the year following on a similar expedition. After two other voyages on a like errand he went, in 1827, on an expe- dition to try to reach the North Pole, and succeeded in going as far as 82 45' north latitude, the highest latitude that had then been attained. He finally became lieutenant-governor of Greenwich Hospital, now the Royal Naval College. WHITE AND RED ANTS OF INDIA. The white ants are more to be dreaded than the devouring element of fire. These industrious perforators will achieve wonders in a short time, and if once they get into the timbers of a building, inevitable destruction follows ; for, as they work within the timber, the mischief is done before you suspect their presence. I was one day induced to go out upon the top of a verandah at Gusserah, and no sooner 20 MANCHESTER SCIENTIFIC READER. had I put my foot on the floor than the beam gave way, crumbling to atoms, and letting me down, with bricks, mortar, &c., a distance of ten feet. Fortunately, I caught hold of another beam, and broke my fall, or the consequence might have been fatal. On examination, nearly all the rafters were found to be completely hollow, the white ants having eaten their way through the whole of them. So destructive are these little depredators, that nothing is safe unless placed on small stone vessels surrounded by a trench of water, and even then care must be taken that the water is replenished before completely evaporated, or the van of the besieging army will storm the trenches, and riot on the spoils of the drawers, trunks, or boxes, as the case maybe. A young gentleman having arrived at my house late one evening, the servants who brought in his trunks left the one containing his shirts, white jackets and trousers, standing on the floor of the entrance-hall all night. The next day, when opened, the most wonderful metamorphosis had been effected upon the contents ; every article of clothing presenting, when held up, the appearance of old- fashioned blonde lace, being pierced with thousands of holes. Each insect working upwards had wrought out for himself (carefully avoiding breaking into his neighbour's path) a covered way to the top, so that though the garments maintained their original shape, yet there could not be found any one piece of cloth as large as a sixpence in the whole of the contents. The order in which these minute sappers and miners move is remarkable ; indeed, their instinct at times almost leads one to suppose they are gifted with reason. The smaller species, or red ants, are constant depredators en the articles of the pantry and cellar, devouring sugar, butter, bread, cheese, and pastry with unsparing voracity. The earth literally teems with them, and the utmost caution and pains are necessary to preserve viands from their destructive jaws. I have often watched their motions with surprise. Sometimes I have laid a piece of sweetmeat on a table, and have picked up an ant, and placed it upon the table also : after reconnoitring the place he has descended by one of the legs, and rapidly seeking his fellows, they MANCHESTER SCIENTIFIC READER. 21 have appeared to understand his communication, and have hastily turned back, and meeting others, they also have spread the news, till at length the announcer of the tidings has returned to the table followed by a long train of his fellow citizens, who, greedily seizing as much as each could conveniently travel with, have, in a continuous line about four a-breast, descended by another leg of the table, so as not to interrupt the approach of the column advancing to the prey. In this manner the whole has been carried off, and when no more remained, the tidings have spread back to the advancing column, who, immediately retracing their steps, have sought other sources of supply. Often have I been astonished at the immense loads they will carry to their stores. I have sometimes seen a, large cockroach steadily advancing perpendicularly up the wall, and upon inspection have discovered hundreds of these little provident insects all busily employed beneath the body, every leg being firmly gripped by as many as could possibly lay hold, the feelers also being used as ropes to drag the huge victim along. Every now and then some change would take place, the tired ants being relieved by others, many walking backwards as well as forwards : when arrived at the hole, and they found the cockroach too large for admission, they speedily dismembered it, and the falling wings, &c., were soon brought up again by fresh detachments, till the whole was safely stored. At such times the words of Solomon have forcibly occurred to my mind : " The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in summer." " Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise." Exercise in Meanings and Derivation. I. Divide and accentuate each word as in the Glossary prefixed to the preceding lesson, and give the meaning and derivation of each. perforators maintained interrupt inevitable original retracing destruction sappers perpendicularly depredators voracity dismembered evaporated viands detachments metamorphosis reconnoitring occurred avoiding announcer admission 22 MANCHESTER SCIENTIFIC READER. CHEMICAL AND MECHANICAL ACTION. GLOSSARY OF SCIENTIFIC TERMS, &c. le'-ver bar of wood or metal used in raising weights. [Lat. LEVO, I raise.] me-chan'-i-cal .performed by the aid of some contrivance to assist labour. [Gr. MECHANE (pronounce me'-ka-ne), a ma- chine, any artificial means.] fa-cil'-i-ta-ting rendering more easy. [Lat. FACILIS, easy.] COR- V6rt'-ed . . . .turned, altered, changed. [Lat. CON, with or together ; VERTO, I turn.] sit-U-a'-tion. . . .place, position. [Lat. SITUS, a site or place.] blit'-tle ? to break, readily broken. [Ang.-Sax. BRYTAN, to break.] diem'-i-cal belonging to chemistry, effected by the agency of natural causes. [Arabio, AL KIMIA, the black art, i.e. magic and witchcraft.] prop'-er-ties peculiarities, or essential qualities. [Lat. PROPRIUS, one's own.] de-COm-pOSed' separated by decay or other means into elementary constituents. [Lat. DE, from ; CON, together ; PONO, I place.] pis'-ton a short cylinder and rod attached to it, moving up and down within another cylinder in pumps, steam engines,