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is capable of exerting a most astonishing force, sufficient to break the strongest vessels. The transmission of heat through space-from the sun to the earth, from burning bodies to those in their neighborhood-seems to imply the capability of its being endued with the power of rapid motion. It is thus that heat is considered as a fluid, destitute of weight, of an exceedingly subtle and elastic nature, whose particles mutally repel each other, and are attracted by particles of matter.

4. The general effect produced upon bodies by the acquisition of heat, is expansion. There are some singular exceptions to this law, of much interest and importance, which will be mentioned in the sequel.

The

4. Take a common Florence flask, and support it in a basin of water, as represented in the cut; pour boiling water upon it. heat will expand the air and drive it out of the flask. When cool, the water will rise by the pressure of the atmosphere to supply the place of the air driven off by the heat.

5. The Blacksmith makes the tire smaller than the circumference of the wooden part of the wheel; before putting it on he expands it by heat; when suddenly cooled, the parts of the wheel are bound together with great force by its contraction. The walls of buildings which are liable to be thrust outwards by the weight of the roof, may be drawn into their perpendicular position and preserved in that situation, by bars of iron passed through the side walls of the building, and provided with screws and nuts at their extremities. The bars are lengthened by means of the heat of lamps, and when thus expanded the nuts are screwed tight up to the wall; when the bars cool, they contract with irresistible force and draw the walls together. The iron plates employed in the construction of large boilers, are riveted together by means of red hot rivets. As the rivets cool they draw the seams of the plates still closer together.

6. Early in the Spring the fresh shoots of trees and smaller vegetables are often "nipped by the frost." The death of the shoot is frequently due to the sudden expansion of gasses contained in the sap, by the warm rays of the sun falling upon them, tearing open the minute vessels in which the sap is enclosed. If the sky is clouded early in the morning, the shoot is not destroyed, because the gasses contained in the sap, expanding slowly, are enabled to escape gradually through the pores of the bark or leaves.

7. When different bodies receive accessions of heat, they do not increase in bulk in the same ratio. Three hundred and fifty cubic inches of lead, at the temperature of melting ice, become three hundred and fifty-one cubic inches at the temperature of boiling water. 800 cubic inches of iron, and 1000 cubic inches of glass, become respectively 801 and 1001 cubic inches, under similar circumstances. The same change in temperature cause 1000 parts of water to become 1046 1000 alcohol air (and all gasses) 1373

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8. When a bar of iron is increased in length by heat to the extent of one inch, it exerts a force of expansion against any obstacle opposing it, equal to the mechanical power required to draw it out the same length-which is, as ean be easily imagined, enormous. Engineers, therefore, in constructing bridges or buildings of iron, never attempt to control this force, but always give it free play. The tubular bridges over the Straits of Menai increase about three inches in length during a hot summer's day allowance is made for this expansion in the masonry upon which their extremities rest. During the changeable weather in spring and autumn, they may be said to be continually in motion, constantly expanding and contracting with every change of temperature.

9. The most remarkable exception to the almost universal law of the expansion of bodies by heat, and their contraction by cold, occurs in water. Water not only expands with irresistible force when changed into ice, but it increases in volume during the act of cooling, long before its temperature is reduced so low as that of the freezing point. (See modes of measuring heat.) Water is most dense, and consequently heaviest at 40°; it then begins to expand until it assumes the solid state of ice. Hence ice floats,

and water at 40 descends to the bottom of rivers, lakes and oceans, being then heavier than at any other temperature. In this singular exception of water to the law of expansion by heat, we discover a sublime provision for the preservation of the world as the abode of happy and intelligent beings. If ice did not float, it would fall to the bottom as soon as formed, and there find shelter from the heat of the sun; thus layer after layer of ice subsiding to the bottom, would soon convert streams, seas and lakes into solid and immoveable masses, changing the climate and rendering uninhabitable the most fertile and delightful regions of the globe.

ON THE MODE OF MEASURING DEGREES OF HEAT. 10. The expansion and contraction of bodies, when submitted to a change of temperature, offer a simple means of measuring the quantity or degree of that change. Such an instrument is called a Thermometer or measurer of heat. It consists of a long and very narrow perforated tube of glass, terminating in a Fig. 2. small bulb. (See Fig. 2.) The bulb and a part of the tube are filled with quicksilver or alcohol. The instrument is then plunged into water containing melting ice, and a mark made upon the wooden support of the glass tube, indicating the height of the quicksilver. The temperature of melting ice is called the freezing point. The instrument is then plunged into boiling water, and the height of the quicksilver again recorded on the wooden support; this is called the boiling point. The space between the freezing and boiling points is divided into 180 parts. It was at one time supposed that the greatest degree of cold was produced by the mixture of snow and salt. Into this mixture. Fahrenheit, the inventor of this scale, plunged his thermometer and marked the position of the quicksilver by 0, or zero, and found it to be 32 parts below the freezing point of water. It is now known that a much greater degree of cold than that represented by 0, or zero, is experienced in various countries. It is usual to express low temperatures in the following manner:-10°,—12°, 50°, &c., which are read 10 degrees; 12° degrees, 50° degrees below zero, and signify that the temperature is 42, 52, 82°, &c. below the freezing point of water.

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The following table points out the effect of heat upon various substances, according to the scales of Fahrenheit's thermometer, the one universally used in England and America:

Water boils at 212 degrees.
Alcohol boils, 174".
Bees' Wax melts, 142".
Ether boils, 98o.

Heat of the human blood. 98".
Medium temp're of the globe, 50o.

ture.

Ice melts at 32".

Milk freezes at 30°. Vinegar freezes about 28°

10 20

160

Mixture of weak oil of vitriol and

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11. Quicksilver boils at a temperature of 660 degrees; It cannot therefore be used for measuring very high degrees of temperaVarious instruments have been proposed for estimating the temperature of bodies hotter than boiling quicksilver. Such instruments are called Pyrometers, or measurers of fire. The Register It Pyrometer, invented by Daniell, is probably the most accurate. depends upon the expansion of bars of metal, connected with an index. The melting point of cast iron is thus ascertained to be 27869; the highest temperature of a good furnace 3300o. To be continued.

Educational Intelligence.

CANADA

Educational Items from Various Sources.-Mr. Johnston of Port Hope has been selected as Master of the Port Dover Grammar School. Ten candidates competed but the real contest was between Messrs Johnston, R. Robinson, and Bogue-The Rt. Rev. Dr. Strachan has returned from England, having realized £16,000 in aid of the new Church University. It is stated that he has purchased 20 acres near Toronto as the site of Trinity College. The buildings will likely be ready next October. Two or more Professors from England have been engaged. The Medical Department of the College was opened on on the 7th inst.The first B. C. L. degree ever granted in Lower Canada has been conferred by McGill College on Mr.

C. C. Abbott-Drs. Arnoldi and Sewell have been appointed to fill the chairs vacated in McGill College by Drs. Badgely and McDonnell who have removed to Toronto-- -The chair of Practical Anatomy in the University of Toronto, vacant by the death of Dr. Sullivan, has been filled by the appointment of J. H. Richardson, M. B.- -The Professorship of Agriculture is also about being filled and land procured for experiments, &c.

The following is a list of the successful competitors, for exhibitions in the University of Toronto: Brown, Jas., University Classical Scholar · Bayley, Richard, University Mathematical Scholar: Blake, D. E., U. C. College Scholar: Freeland, Wm., U. C. College Scholar: Marling, S.A. Home District Scholar-The School riots at St. Michel d'Yamaska, L. C., have been quelled, and a better spirit seems to manifest itself— The Rev. Dr. Cramp, late President of the Baptist College, Montreal, is about to assume the Presidency of Acadia College, Nova Scotia. £2,000 towards paying off the debt of the College have been realized-Examination of the following Common Schools in U. C. have been reported in local papers, viz.: Junction School, Township of Westminster, Mr. D. Watson, Teacher; S. Section, No. 17, Township of London, Jas. Wood, Teacher; Union Central School, Town of London; S. Section, No. 2, Simcoe, Mr. D. Haskins, Teacher-The Teachers' Institute of the County of Renfrew has issued an address to the Teachers of U. C. It is a well written document--The examination of the Prescott Grammar School on the 24th ult., is highly eulogized by the leading persons of that Town in a written address-The other day, after dinner, an artisan in town put sixteen dollars into his pocket to pay his deposit in one of the Building Societies, but, unfortunately, on his way to Yonge street, he dropped the money. Thinking that he might have dropped it before leaving the house, a messenger was immediately sent to inquire, but it was gone. However, towards evening, while with rueful countenance he was describing to a friend, in passing near to his own dwelling, the loss he had sustained, a lady observed him from her window and coming out inquired if he had lost anything. The matter was soon explained. Her little boy in going to school had picked up the money; and when the overjoyed artisan pulled out some silver to reward the little fellow, it was politely refused. It is pleasing to record such instances of true nobility in youth. We trust that the practical lesson of integrity which he thus received from an affectionate parent will rivet on his memory through life the important aphorism honesty is the best policy"--The Toronto St. Andrew's Society have it in contemplation to endow Scholarships in the Toronto University--The University Convocation held on the 28th instant, in the Hall of the Legislative Assembly proved highly interesting-A strong effort is being made by the new Boards of School Trustees in Hamilton and Brockville to erect a better description of School Houses in these towns The Teachers' Association in Whitby is stated to be in vigorous operation-Various important changes in the internal discipline of the U. C. College are reported.

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Education in the County of Leeds and Grenville-Extract from the Warden's recent Address:-As there is not, in my judgment, any subject, which should more constantly occupy the public mind, and especially the attention of Municipal Councillors, than the state and progress of Education, so I shall place it first upon the list of topics, upon which I mean to address you. It has been said, and said truly, that "Knowledge is Power" but I would say, that it is not only power, but it is pleasure also; for the ignorant man is not only a weak man, and easily imposed upon, but when brought into contact with books which he cannot read, with systems which he eannot comprehend, or even into conversation with an educated fellow-being, he then feels his own inferiori.y, and forms some estimate of the loss, which neither wealth nor patronage can supply. Whatever else you may neglect, neglect not the education of the rising generation-it is the best fortune you can bestow upon your children- it is the greatest blessing you can diffuse through the country-and it is the noblest gift you can bequeath to posterity. I have looked attentively at the statistics connected with this important subject, and I find with pleasure that, comparing the returns of 1847 with those of 1849, our High Schools have advanced from one to six, and our Common Schools from 188 to 196; being an increase in the two years, in the former of five, and in the latter of eight. Would that I could add, that this was but a tythe of the increase! I trust that as I am now speaking to gentlemen, with whom I have so often had opportunities of conversing upon this all-important subject, it will be deemed unnecessary, that I should dwell at greater length upon it; as you must be all convinced of the primary importance of contributing, by every means within your power, to its promotion and encouragement. The new School Act, (which taken as a whole, I esteem as a good one,) will I hope, be allowed to remain, (even though it may be found to contain some defects,) until the system shall be brought into full and vigorous operation, and its working well tried by the test of experience. The constant changing of the laws, to which of late years we have been subjected, has given a character of great iustability and uncertainty to all we do; and such changes are often found to work greater evils, than the defects they were intended to remedy. I observe, that by the 28th Section of the new

Act, provision is made for the division of the County, into what are called "School Circuits," with the power of appointing a Local Superintendent to each Circuit. It is further provided in the same Section, that such divisions shall be made to correspond, with the number of County Grammar Schools in the County. In order to assist your investigations upon this subject, I have to inform you, that our County Grammar Schools, are four in number; namely, Brockville and Gananoque in the County of Leeds, and Prescott and Kemptville in the County of Grenville; and that of course, your circuits will have to corr spond in number with the Grammar Schools.

Literary and Scientific Entelligence.

Literary and Scientific Items from Various Sources.-" Canada, Past, Present, and Future" is the title of an elaborate work by W. H. Smith, author. of the "Canadian Gazetteer," just published in Toronto by Mr. Maclear-"Rig Veda Sanhita, or Sacred Hymns of the Brahman's," is the title of a magnificent work lately issued from the University Press, Oxford, England, towards the publication of which the Hon. East India Company contributed $10,000. The hymns are more than 1,500 years old, and are the most ancient and most important of the literary monuments of the old Hindoos. The work is edited by Dr. Max Muller, a son of the celebrated German Poet, Wilhelm Muller-Sir F. B. Head is publishing a work in England on the Defenceless State of Great Britain -James, the Novelist, declines becoming an American citizen. He is now writing a serial for a New-York Magazine-The eloquent Bishop Bascom of the M. E. Church, South, died lately at Louisville, Ky.Poems by Alfred the Great, tuned in English metre, have been lately published in England by M. F. Tupper, the Poet--M. Guizot has just published a work of 2 Vols. on the synonyms of the French language. It is distinguished by great precision of thought and lucidity of arrangement. M. Guizot is said to be again the Editor of the Journal Des Debuts, and Lamartine of Le Siccle---Lamartine has returned from England to France, and is now publishing a series of papers under the title of England in 1850." He discusses the Pauper question at some length-There are forty-seven different religious churches and sects in the United States-The French Academy of Sciences has under consideration the feasibility of constructing a Suspension Bridge between France and England. Strong abutments are to be constructed on either side of the Straits to which to attach the platforms. At the distance of every hundred yards four barges heavily laden would be sunk, and to which chains of peculiar construction would be attached. An apparatus of balloons, ofan elliptical form, firmly secured, would support in the air the extremities of these chains, which would be fastened to the abutments on the shore by other chains. The chains supported in the air at regular distances would support the fairy bridge, along which an atmospheric railway would be propelled. The bridge, &c., would cost $10,500,000-The famous library of Hebrew works, known as the "Michael Collection," numbering 5,000 vols. has been added to the British Museum. A novel classification by which to distinguish the departments of literature has been introduced. It consists of various colored bindings, with a label of a special color to mark the subdivision of subjects --Carlyle is about to issue another Latter Day Pamphlet" intituled, Jenny Lind Lunacy-The Neapolitan Government has granted a sum of 20,000 ducats for continuing the excavation of Pompeii-An "Addisonian Literary Society" is about being formed at Montreal, with a view of affording young men an opportunity of cultivating Polite Literature-Some faint traces of Sir John Franklin have been discovered. The remains of an encampment have been discovered at Cape Reilly and Beechey Island by the Capt. of the Prince Albert, but it is thought that the debris discovered belong to an earlier period than 1849, probably 1846-Two pigeons from Sir J. Ross' Expedition have returned after travelling 2,000 miles. They brought no news.

A new theory in Medical Science has been started by the Rev. J. Harrington, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He states that disease can be detected and cured by mere manipulation. The theory is, that every organ in the human body is magnetically connected with the spinal marrow, where each has its pole. A properly sensitive person, by passing the hand over the vertebræ, can in this way tell whether there is any irregular motion in any organ, and by other passes of the hand, rectify the disturbance-Various beautiful meteoric phenomena have been lately witnessed in various parts of Upper Canada--Mr. Wyld, M.P., is about to construct for the Great Exhibition of 1851 a globe 50 feet in diameter, upon the inner surface of which will be depicted an accurate map of the world-The Montreal Industrial Exhibition has been highly successful. The specimens of industry exhibited seemed to have excited feelings of pleasing surprise at the very promising and satisfactory character of Canadian ingenuity and art, even in their infancy. Several of the prize articles have been selected for the London Exhibition-The allotment of space in the Hyde Park Crystal

Palace is as follows:-The United Statee, 85,000 feet; India, 60,000, other British Colonies, 47,050; France has applied for 100,000 feet, the City of Hamburgh for 28,800. Commissions have been formed in Austria, Spain, and Turkey. It is proposed to send to the Exhibition, bound together, a specimen copy of each of the Canadian newspapers published about the first of January next: also specimens of the leaves of some of the most beautiful American trees and plants. Specimens of the mineral products of England will be exhibited--The wires of the submarine telegraph between France and England having been found too weak, they will hereafter be encased in a ten-inch cable, composed of what is called

whipped plait," with wire rope, all of it chemically prepared and galvinized so as to protect it from rot--A new great seal of Ireland has been constructed of Gutta Percha--Two new Colleges will be opened in Scotland this month; a Free Church one in Edinburgh, and one designed for the Commercial classes in Glasgow-The Pope has concurred in the Memorial from the Synod of Thurles, and refuses his sanction to the Queen's University Colleges in Ireland. Meanwhile the attendance of Roman Catholic, and other students is highly satisfactory-Statues of Newton, Shakspeare, Milton, and Bacon are about being erected in front of the British Museum, which is to be enclosed by an iron railing. A portion of the pediment, representing the progress of man, from the time when "wild in the woods the naked savage ran," up to the highest state of civilization, is completed Statues of the great statesman, Sir Robert Peel, are about being erected in various parts of England-The plan of auction sales of pictures in Paris, which originated just after the last Revolution as a dernier resort of artists, has proved eminently successful. They will be the rule instead of the exception hereafter-Beautiful engravings can be produced on black marble by scratching the polished surface with a steel or diamond point, producing a white mark of different degrees of intensity according to the depth of the graving-An inquiry has been instituted at Rome to ascertain the nature and extent of the damage done to works of art during the late political troubles. The loss is estimated at 440,000 francs-Gervinus, the recent historian of German literature, has just published a work on Shakspeare, which has produced a great sensation in Germany-M. Guizot has been elected Director of the French Academy for the year-The total cost of the Britannia Suspension Bridge is £601,865 sterling. The weight of the two iron roadways is 12,000 tons, supported by a mass of masonary of 1,500,000 cubic feet, erected at the rate of three feet a minute-Lines of electric telegraph are extending rapidly over Central Europe. Within four months 1,000 miles have been spread in Austria, making 2,000 miles in that empire. Another 1,000 miles will be ready next year. The telegraph now works between Cracow and Trieste, 700 miles-The Senate of the University of Padua is about to issue, from MSS. in its library, editions in Hebrew of Dante's Divina Commedia' and Ovid's Metamorphoses'-The 1st vol. of Har per's New Monthly Magazine has been completed. It has reached an edition of 50,000 copies!--Newspapers in England absorb so much of the literary talent of the country that articles in the Reviews have dwindled down in importance and interest; so much so that the two chief English Quarterlies scarcely pay their expenses. An article on the French in the current No. of the Edinburgh (attributed to Lord Brougham) has attracted a good deal of attention--Two new works by Guizot are announced: one on the fall of the Republic in England in 1660, under Gen. Monk; and the other, the rise of the Republic in America, under Gen. Washington--An ærial voyage is proposed to be made from Madrid to England, and over Europe, by a Spaniard, named Montemaynor--The English engineer, Stephenson, is in Egypt, surveying the canal route between the Mediterranean and Red Seas---Asphaltum and iron have been found in abundance in New Brunswick by the Provincial Geologist, Dr. Gesner--The number of periodicals at present published in Russia amounts to 164; 64 of which are published at Petersburg, 13 in Moscow, 5 in Odessa, 22 in Courland and the adjoining provinces, and 50 in the remaining parts of the empire; 108 of these are published in the Russian language, twenty-nine in German, 8 in French, & in Italian, 5 in Polish, and 3 in Latin--It is in contemplation to erect a monument in Brantford to the celebrated Canadian Indian warrior, Theyandanegea, Joseph Brant--A subscription has been started at Madrid to erect a Colossal statue of Columbus in that city, 20 feet high, of Florentine bronze, at an estimated cost of £20,000.-The Prospectus of a literary and industrial paper, entitled, the Canadian Journal has been issued in Toronto, under the auspices of the Mechanics' Institute. Price 12s 6d. per annum.-A statue in honour of the hero Wallace is about being erected in Edinburgh-A great Chess match, to be played by amateurs of all nations during the Exhibition of 1851, is being arranged. mummy brought from Thebes by Sir J. E. Tennant, has been unrolled at the Belfast Museum.-A monthly Magazine has been announced in England as the organ of the advanced section of the Non-conformists.A monument in honour of Stephenson, "the father of Railroads," is about being erected at Newcastle-upon-Tyne.-The Koh-i-noor diamond, will likely be exhibited among the minerals at the great Exhibition.-Vol

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canic eruptions continue to take place from Mounts St, Helen and Baker, in Oregon. An admirable address delivered by the Hon. Justice Day, before the Provincial Industrial Exhibition, appears in the Montreal Pilot in extenso.

Geological Survey of Canada.-Mr. Logan, the provincial geologist, and his assistants, are slowly but scientifically continuing their survey of the Canadas. Messrs. Logan and Murray have passed several months upon the shores of Lake Huron, and are examining the physical structure of the Green Mountains of Vermont in their prolongation into Canada. Their report shows that Lake Superior is nearly 274 feet higher than Lake Huron, of which rise 18 feet is at the Sault St. Marie. Tobermany, near Cape Hurd, is described as an excellent harbour, but with the exception of Goderich harbour, at the mouth of the Hartland, and the basin at the exit of the Riviere au Sable (south) there is not a single place of security for any kind of vessel on Lake Huron between the River Sangume and the St. Clair. Gypsum and hydraulic lime are stated to be plenty, but no coal has been discovered in any part of Canada. The surveying party ascended the Spanish River to the distance of 60 miles from Lake Huron, and found it navigable for 30 miles for vessels drawing 5 feet, with 5 cascades of 127 feet rise, in the next 30 miles. Mr. Logan remarks that the extent and value of the pine forests in this region, the facility afforded by the river for water communication, the water power to be found on the main stream and all its tributaries, and the capabilities of the soil for raising most of the necessaries of life, all tend to indicate a probability that this district is destined to become of great commercial importance.

A Canadian Microscope.-We copy the following, with great pleasure, from the Kingston British Whig of the 12th inst.: "Mr. Smith, watchmaker, has, at the expense of much labor and money, completed a very powerful oxy-hydrogen microscope, the first ever made in Canada; which magnifies the object upwards of ten million times. At a private exhibition at the Lambton House, a variety of insects and other minute objects were submitted to the powers of the microscope, and the result was truly surprising and wonderful. A fly's wing was rendered so enormous, that only a very small portion of it could be contained on the large screen, and its minute and delicate structure was beautifully developed.

Scientific Wonders.-The general faith in science as wonder worker, is at present unlimited; and with it there is cherished the conviction that every discovery or invention admits of a practical application to the welfare of man. Is a new vegetable produet brought to this country from abroad, or a new chemical compound discovered, or an anatomical or physical phenomenon recorded, the question is immediately asked, cui bono? What is it good for? Is food or drink to be got out of it? Will it make hats, shoes, or cover umbrellas? Will it kill, or heal? Will it drive a steam engine, or make a mili go? And this truly cui bono question has of late been so satisfactorily answered, that we cannot wonder that the public should persist in putting it somewhat eagerly to every discoverer and inventor, and should believe that if a substance has one valuable application, it will prove, on further investigation, to have a thousand. Gutta percha has not been known in this country ten years, and already it would be more difficult to say what purposes it has not been applied to than to enumerate those to which it has been applied. Gun cotton had not proved in the saddest way its power to kill, before certain ingenious Americans showed that it has a remarkable power of healing, and forms the best sticking plaster for wounds. Surgeons have not applied ether or chloroforms as an anæsthetic for three years; and already an ether steam engine is at work in Lyons, and a chloroform engine in London. Of other sciences we need scarcely speak. Chemistry has long come down from her atomic altitudes and elective affinities, and scours, and dyes, bakes, cooks, and compounds drugs, with contented composure. Electricity leaves her thunderbolt in the sky, and like Mercury dismissed from Olympus, acts as letter carrier, and message boy. Even the mysterious magnetism, which once seemed, a living principle, to quiver in the compass needle, is unclothed in mystery, and set to drive turning lathes. The public perceives all this, and has unlimited faith in man's power to conquer nature. The credulity which formerly fed upon unicorns, phoenixes, mermaids, vampires, krakens, pestilential comets, fairies, ghosts, witches, spectres, charms, curses, universal remedies, pactions with Satan, and the like, now tampers with chemistry, electricity, and magnetism, as it once did with the invisible world. Shoes of Swiftness, seven leagued boots, and Fortunatus wishing caps, are banished even from the nursery, but an electro-magnetic steam fire balloon, which will cleave the air like a thunderbolt, and go as straight to its destination as the crow flies, is an invention which many hope to see realized, before railways are quite worn to pieces. A snuff-box full of new manure, about to be patented, will fertilize a field; and the same amount of the new explosive will dismantle the fortifications of Paris. By means of a fish-tail propellor, to be shortly laid before the Admiralty, the Atlantic will be crossed in three days.-[Edinburgh Review.

Editorial Notices, &c.

SECOND TRIUMPH OF THE FREE SCHOOL QUESTION IN THE STATE OF NEW-YORK.

Our readers are aware that owing to some slight dissatisfaction expressed by a section of the people of the State of NewYork against the system of Free Schools, the Legislature decided upon again submitting the question to the people at the autumn elections. The result of that step is announced in the following paragraph from a New-York paper. We congratulate our neighbours on the result of this second deliberate vote, and on the decisive success of so important a national movement. We ardently hope that Canada will also, ere long, boldly and patriotically assent to the universal diffusion of education among all classes of her people, upon the same terms as have a second time been agreed upon by the great mass of the people in the State of New-York.

"We announce with no common satisfaction, the signal triumph of Free Schools at the recent election. Our returns are as yet very imperfect and scattered, but they induce us to believe that the State canvass will show a majority against the Repeal of the Free School Law' of 50,000 to 100,000. We hear of majorities for Repeal in very few localities, while majorities against Repeal are numerous and abundant. We think this city has given at least thirty thousand majority against Repeal; had a full vote been polled, it would have been forty thousand. Many votes were lost through inattention, some for want of ballots. However, 'enough is as good as a feast,' and we feel confident that Education Free to All has been re-affirmed as a cardinal principle of our political system by a large majority. Now let the new Legislature silence all constitutional cavils by re-enacting the law, with whatever modifications and improvements experience may have suggested. and New York will have set her sister States South and West of her a noble example. Free Schools for all and for ever!

THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TEACHING:

Or the Motives and Methods of Good School Keeping: By D. P. PAGE, Esq., A.M., late Principal of the State Normal School, Albany. 12th edition, New York. A. S. BARNES & Co. 8vo., pp. 349.

In a practical educating age like this, few professional books on the subject of education seem to be so admirably adapted to the purposes for which it is designed, as the volume before us. There are 15 chapters in the book devoted to various important subjects connected with "Good School Keeping." The work would prove a valuable book of reference for local Superintendents in their preparation for the delivery of lectures in the various School Sections under their charge. As a manual for Teachers it is unequalled among the many rival books on the subject as it contains the result of many years of practical teaching by the gifted and lamented Master of the New York Institution, designed for the especial training of Common School Teachers. The book may be obtained at this Office. Price 5s.

Two LECTURES ON AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY:

By H. Y. HIND, Esq., Mathematical Master, etc., Normal School,
Toronto. H. SCOBIE, 12mo., pp. 84.

This admirable brochure contains a very concise summary of facts and principles illustrative of the Science of Agriculture. The style of the author is remarkably clear and elegant. His propositions are distinctly and popularly elucidated, and even to the general reader they will rarely be found obscured by the use of a purely technical phraseology. The Lectures were originally delivered by Mr. Hind while on a tour last summer for the purpose, in conjunction with the Head Master of the Normal School, of holding preliminary Teachers' Institutes in the several Counties of U. C. They are interspersed with interesting and striking statistics collected from various Canadian and other sources. Indeed, the general adaptation of these Lectures to the wants of the Canadian Agriculturist has impressed us very favourably. We cordially recommend the Lectures to this class of our readers, as well as to Teachers and local Superintendents generally. No Teacher should be without a copy: the work may be procured at this Office, price 1s. 3d., and can be transmitted by post.

NOTICE TO COUNTY CLERKS AND LOCAL SUPERINTENDents.Boxes containing copies of the last Annual Report of the Chief Superintendent, for the several Municipal Councils and School Corporations, Trustees, Local Superintendents, and Boards of School Trustees, in Upper Canada,-Blank Forms of School Reports for 1850,--Copies of the work on "School Architecture," designed for the several Municipal Corporations, and also of the School Act, Forms, Circulars, &c., have been sent by Steamboat and Express to the Clerks of the several Counties in Upper Canada.

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JUST PUBLISHED.-Two Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry.
By HENRY YOULE HIND, Mathematical Master and Lecturer on
Chemistry and Natural Philosophy, Provincial Normal School, Upper
Canada. Price-18. 3d. Toronto:-HUGH SCOBIE, 16, King Street East,
and Sold by all Booksellers.
November 18, 1850.

WANTED.-A Young Man whose present engagement will

terminate about the middle of December next, will want a situation in a Grammar School, a good Common School, or as an Assistant in some higher Institution. He has had several years experience in the business of Teaching-about two years of the time in one of the Provincial Colleges. He is qualified to teach the common and higher branches of an English Education. The Classics, so far as is necessary for entering on the regular Collegiate course. The French language and the most useful branches of the Mathematics. He teaches on the Normal School system.-Address, R. T. C., Grimsby, C. W.

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WANTED.-A Teacher who received a regular University Education in Edinburgh, has had extensive experience in conducting large Classes in that City; and who is well acquainted with the most approved systems of Education both in England and Scotland. He finished his French Education in Paris.

Numerous Testimonials from Gentlemen of high respectability and talents, both in Edinburgh and in this country may be seen by applying to J. George Hodgins, Esq., Education Office, Toronto. If by letter, postpaid, or to R. N., London Post Office, C. W.

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THE SCIENTIFIC SECTION.

PUBLISHED BY A. S. BARNES & Co., NEW-YORK.

THE Messrs. Chambers have employed the first professors in Scotland in the preparation of these works. They are now offered to the schools of this country, under the American revision of D. M. REESE, M.D., LL.D., late Superintendent of Public Schools in the City and County of New-York.

I. CHAMBERS' TREASURY OF KNOWLEDGE.

II. CLARK'S ELEMENTS OF DRAWING AND PERSPECTIVE.
III. CHAMBERS' ELEMENTS OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY,
IV. REID AND BAIN'S CHEMISTRY AND ELECTRICITY.
V. HAMILTON'S VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY.
IV. CHAMBERS' ELEMENTS OF ZOOLOGY.
VII. PAGE'S ELEMENTS OF GEOLOGY.

Toronto: Printed and published by THOMAS H. BENTLEY. TERMS: 5s. per annum in advance. No subscription received for less than one year, commencing with the January Number. Single Nos. 7d each. Back Numbers supplied to all new Subscribers. The 1st and 2nd Vols., neatly stitched, may be obtained upon application, price, 5s. each.

All Communications to be addressed to Mr. HODGINS, Education Office, Toronto.

JOURNAL OF
OF EDUCATION

VOL. III.

FOR

Upper Canada.

TORONTO, DECEMBER, 1850.

THE GIFTS OF SCIENCE TO ART. STEAM-DAGUERREOTYPE - LIGHTNING CONDUCTORSTHE SAFETY LAMP-ELECTRO-PLATING AND GILDING -THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

Each succeeding age and generation leaves behind it a peculiar character, which stands out in relief upon its annals, and is associated with it for ever in the memory of posterity. One is signalized for the invention of gunpowder, another for that of printing; one is rendered memorable by the revival of letters, another by the reformation of religion; one epoch is rendered illustrious by the discoveries of Newton, another by the conquests of Napoleon. If we are asked by what characteristic the present age will be marked in the records of our successors, we answer, by the miracles which have been wrought in the subjugation of the powers of the material world to the uses of the human race. In this respect no former epoch can approach to competition with the present.

Although the credit of the invention of the steam-engine must be conceded to the generation which preceded us, its improvement and its most important applications are unquestionably due to our contemporaries. So little was the immortal Watt himself aware of the extent of the latent powers of that machine, that he declared, upon the occasion of his last visit to Cornwall, on ascertaining that a weight of twenty-seven millions of pounds had been raised one foot high by the combustion of a bushel of coals under one of his boilers, that the ne plus ultra was attained, and that the power of steam could no further go. Nevertheless, the Patriarch of the steam-engine lived to see forty millions of pounds raised the same height by the same quantity of fuel. Had he survived only a few years longer, he would have seen even this performance doubled, and still more recently it has, under favorable circumstances, been increased in a threefold ratio.

But it is not in the mere elevation of mineral substances from the crust of the globe, nor in the drainage of the vast subterranean regions which have become the theatre of such extensive operations of industry and art, that steam has wrought its greatest miracles. By its agency coal is made to minister in an infinite variety of ways to the uses of society. Coals are by it taught to spin, weave, dye, print, and dress silks, cottons, woollens, and other cloths; to make paper, and print books on it when made; to convert corn into flour; to press oil from the olive, and wine from the grape; to draw up metal from the bowels of the earth; to pound and smelt it, to melt and mould it; to forge it; to roll it, and to fashion it into every form that the most wayward caprice can desire. Do we traverse the deep ?— they lend wings to the ship and bid defiance to the natural opponents, the winds and the tides. Does the wind-bound ship desire to get out of port to start on her voyage ?-steam throws its arms round her, and places her on the open sea. Do we traverse the land?-steam is harnessed to our chariot, and we outstrip the flight of the swiftest bird, and equal the fury of the tempest.

The great pyramid of Egypt stands upon a base measuring seven hundred feet each way, and is five hundred feet high. According to Herodotus, its construction employed a hundred thousand labourers for twenty years. Now we know that the materials of this structure might be raised from the ground to their present position by the combustion of four hundred and eighty tons of coals.

The Menai Bridge consists of about two thousand tons of iron, and its height above the level of the water is one hundred and twenty feet. Its entire mass might be lifted from the level of the

No. 12.

water to its present position by the combustion of four bushels of coal!

Marvellous as the uses are to which heat has been rendered subservient, those which have been obtained from light are not less so. Ready-made flame is fabricated in vast establishments, erected in the suburbs of cities and towns, and transmitted in subterranean pipes through the streets and buildings which it is desired to illuIt is supplied according to individual wants, in measured quantity; and at every door an automaton is stationed, by whom a faithful register is kept of the quantity of flame supplied from hour to hour!

minate.

It resulted from scientific researches on the properties of solar light, that certain metallic preparations were affected in a peculiar manner by being exposed to various degrees of light and shade. This hint was not lost. An individual, whose name has since become memorable, M. Daguerre, thought that as engraving consisted of nothing but the representation of objects by means of incisions on a metallic plate, corresponding to the lights and shades of the object represented and as these same lights and shades were shown by the discoveries of science to produce on the metals specific effects, in the exact proportion of their intensities-there could be no reason why the objects to be represented should not be made to engrave themselves on plates properly prepared!! Hence arose the beautiful art now become so universally useful, and called after its inventor-Daguerreotype.

But of all the gifts which Science has presented to Art in these latter days, the most striking and magnificent are those in which the agency of electricity has been evoked.

From the moment electric phenomena attracted the attention of the scientific world, the means of applying them to the useful purposes of life were eagerly sought for. Although such applications had not yet entered into the spirit of the age as fully as they have since done, it so happened that in this department of physics, & volunteer had enlisted in the army of science, the characteristic of whose genius was eminently practical, and soon achieved, by his discoveries, an eminence to which the world has since offered universal homage.

Art often presses into its service the discoveries of Science, but it sometimes provokes them. Art surveys the fruit of the toil of the philosopher, and selects such as suits her purposes; but sometimes not finding what is suitable to her wants, she makes an appeal to Science, whose votaries direct their researches accordingly toward the desired objects, and rarely fail to attain them.

One of the most signal examples of the successful issue of such an appeal presents itself in the safety-lamp.

The same gas which is used for the purpose of illumination of our cities and towns (and which, as is well known, is obtained from coals by the process of baking in close retorts) is often spontaneously developed in the seams of coal which form the mines, and collects in large quantities in the galleries and workings where the coalminers are employed. When this gas is mingled with common air, in a certain definite proportion, the moisture becomes highly explosive, and frequently catastrophes, attended with frightful loss of life, occurred in consequence of this in the mines, The prevalence of this evil at length became so great, that Government called the attention of scientific men to the subject, and the late Sir Humphrey Davy engaged in a series of experimental researches with a view

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