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Juvenile Department,

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WATER, till a comparatively late date, was considered as a simple substance, and one of the four great elements. From earth, water, air, and fire, all other substances were supposed to be compounded, in the countles varieties that adorn and enrich the universe. This opinion carried with it a seducing simplicity, and could only be exploded by actual demonstration. In the progress of science, however, it has become evident, that water is itself a compound of oxygen and hydrogen, in the proportions, by weight, of 88 of the former and 12 of the latter, in every 100 parts of the fluid.

Oxygen is not only a constituent part of water, but the basis of vital air. It is essential to life and heat, and greatly contributes to the most important changes that perpetually take place among minerals, vegetables, and animals.

Hydrogen is the basis of what was called inflammable air, and in its æriform state is incomparably light. It unites with oxygen only in one proportion, and water is the produce of such union: It may be proper to add, that though water is composed of one part of hydrogen and 71⁄2 of oxygen, by weight, as already observed, it contains 2 parts of the former to

1 of the latter, by measure; so light is hydrogen.

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"The decomposition of water, and its subsequent reformation," says Mr. Parkes, in his interesting Catechism, may be shown by the following easy experiment: Add gradually one ounce of sulphuric acid to four ounces of water in a large phial, containing a few iron filings. The temperature of the mixture will be so much raised by the union of the water with the acid, as to enable the iron to decompose a part of the water. If a hole' be neatly made through a cork which fits the mouth of the phial, and a piece of tobacco-pipe with a very small orifice be fitted into it, and the whole cemented into the phial with a mixture of resin and bees' wax, the hydrogen gas, as it is separated from the water, will pass in a continued stream through the pipe, and may be set on fire by the flame of a candle brought in contact with it. The gas will continue to burn with a blue lambent flame, as long as the decomposition goes on. This shows that the gas is really hydrogen, and that it arises from the decomposition of the water. That water may be reformed by the combustion of this gas, may be shown by holding a glass bell over the flame of the gas: as the hydrogen burns, it unites with the oxygen of the atmosphere, and the union of the two gases produces water, which will soon be seen to deposit itself like dew on the inside of the glass. It is advisable to fold a cloth round the bottle to prevent any injury from the fragments of glass, in case of an explosión."

In what an interesting light do the studies of philosophy place the works of nature! By the improving lessons of that most useful of the sciences, chemistry, we behold this earth as one of the grand laboratories of the great

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again displayed in the slow process of its congelation, the sad effects of too hasty transitions are avoided, and the escaping caloric happily mi tigates the severity, and retards the progress of frost. Nor should it be overlooked, that while other substances become more dense in proportion as they part with their caloric, the law is reversed in the case of water, owing to the air-bubbles

Hence ice, instead of sinking, swims on the surface of water; had it been otherwise, one mass of ice after ano ther, would have sunk in our lakes and rivers, till, in a severe winter, no liquidity had remained; nor could the heat of the hottest summer have thawed such channels of ice, from which must have resulted effects more direful than even imagination can conceive; but the great Architect saw all things from the beginning.

Creator, in which he is constantly carrying on his vast operations! How desirable it is that the youth who is captivated with the charms of rural objects, should not merely gaze at the useful plant and beauteous flower, unconscious of the operations to which they silently conduce. It could be wished that, as he plants the fragrant shrub, or plucks the blooming flower, he should know, that he aids or inter-produced in the act of freezing.— rupts effects the most salutary and wonderful, for all vegetables decompose water by a secret and peculiar process, when assisted by the rays of the sun. The hydrogen of such decomposition is absorbed by the plants themselves, in forming their oils and resin, and that portion of oxygen which is not retained to form the sugar and acid of these vegetables, unites with part of the caloric of the solar rays, and flies off in the state of oxygen gas; thus recruiting the stock of oxygen of which the atmosphere is continually deprived, by respiration. Bearing in mind the countless myriads of leaves that cover the innumerable trees that adorn our globe: how important and how extensive this process :"Surely," says the interesting writer already named, "nothing short of consummate wisdom could have conceived any thing half so beautiful in design, or extensively and superlatively useful in effect !"

Not only vegetables, but also fish, and cold-blooded amphibious animals, are supposed to possess the same power, and the violent rains that frequently accompany thunder storms, have been attributed to the sudden combustion of oxygen and bydrogen gases, with the latter of which the atmosphere is supplied from every kind of animal and vegetable decay, as well as from mines, volcanoes, &c. Who, but a God, infinitely wise and merciful, would have so admirably disposed of the very refuse of nature!

Water is found in four states: in those of ice, liquidity, steam, and in composition with other bodies.

Of these, ice is the most simple, having then parted with a large portion of its caloric to the surrounding atmosphere. Divine goodness is

Water in its ordinary state of liquidity is 825 times heavier than atmospheric air, A pint is found to weigh rather more than a pound, a cubic foot about 624lbs. avoirdupois. Its chief physical properties are insipidity, transparency, want of smell and colour. Rain water approaches nearest to a state of purity, and gentle rain is found more pure than that which falls in storms. The water that washes the surface of the earth, or flows within it, is more or less encumbered with other matter, as that of the ocean and mineral waters.

In the state of vapour, it is combined with an increased portion of caloric, becomes of a gaseous form, and acquires an expansive force even beyond that of gunpowder, as appears from those volcanic eruptions, in which, there is reason to believe, the sea has communicated with the subterraneous fires. In this state it also receives a capabilityof supporting immense weights, abundantly manifested by the application of the steam engine. This expansive force accounts for the peculiar appearance of water in the act of boiling. The vapour be ing first formed at the bottom of the vessel, rises, and, in escaping, causes the ebullition, which being so common, seldom excites our curiosity. Beyond this degree, water cannot be heated in an open vessel, every at

tempt to augment the heat serves but to accelerate the vaporization.

a prophet, and another to pay the tribute money, that should show his obedience to the powers that be. From the survey of such wisdom, power, and mercy, let us learn to exercise unbounded confidence in his promise, and eagerly peruse the direct revelation of his will that we may learn what those promises are. N. N.

In combination with other bodies, as in mortar and cement, water becomes more solid than ice, parting with still more of its caloric than in the frozen state: the heat given out in the making of mortar is the escape of caloric from the water. Quick lime has so remarkable an affinity to water, that it absorbs one-fourth of its own weight of the liquid, without being moistened by the addition.- REFORMATION ANECDOTES. It also requires solidity in combination with various salts, many of which lose their transparency and crystalline form when deprived of it. How numerous, then, how incalculable, are the advantages we derive from this fluid,

"That chief ingredient in Heaven's various works,
Whose flexile genius sparkles in the gem,
Grows firm in oak, and fugitive in wine."

ARMSTRONG.

Richard II. a council was held in St. In the year 1377, in the reign of Paul's Church, London, for the purWickliff. Upon the day appointed, pose of condemning the doctrines of Wickliff went thither, accompanied by the Duke of Lancaster, and Lord Percy, Earl Marshall of England.A vast concourse of people had assembled, so that it was with dif While it affords one of the most use- ficulty and not without some tumult ful supports of animal life, it emi- that he and his noble protectors nently improves our health, being the could press through the crowd.→ great means of cleanliness and com- "When the Bishop of London (says fort. It is one of the principal agents Fuller,) saw, contrary to his expecin vegetation, and is continually em- tations, Dr. Wickliff enter the court, ployed as a solvent for numerous supported by persons of so elevated solids. It greatly conduces to the rank, and such great authority, his salubrity of our atmosphere, and, | malevolent passions were highly exserving as a vehicle for vessels, opens cited, and hurried away by the im a communication between the most petuosity of angry passion, he addistant regions, and thus affords a dressed Lord Percy in terms so means of endearing mankind to each haughty and insulting, that the lofty other, the greater part of whom, other-spirit of Lancaster was provoked to wise, though the children of one answer the Bishop with a tart reply. common parent, must be inaccessible A fine dispute ensued. to each other, and as they are beyond the reach of the senses, and consequently ignorant of each others' existence, could not assist in the supply of their reciprocal wants, nor exercise those exquisite sympathies which will be increasingly manifested as genuine Christianity prevails. Nor must we forget, that in the ocean it forms, as it were, a world within itself, teeming with a countless population, the contemplation of which is calculated to fill the mind with admiration, at the omnipotence of Him, who, when on earth, perfecting his merciful intentions, could walk on its impetuous billows, and bid its waves be still, or summon its finny tribes to the nets of his disciples, or cause one of its inhabitants to preserve the life of

Bishop Courtenay. Lord Percy, if I had known what maisteries you would have kept in the church, I would have stopt you out from coming hither.

Duke of Lancaster. He shall keep such maisteries here, though you say

nay.

Lord Percy. Wickliff, sit down, for you have many things to answer to, and you need to repose yourself upon a soft seat.

Bishop Courtenay. It is unreasonable, that one cited before his ordinary should sit down during his answer. He must, and shall stand.

Duke of Lancaster. The Lord Percy his motives for Wickliff is but reasonable.

And as for you, my Lord Bishop, you are grown se

proud and arrogant, I will bring down the pride not of you alone, but of all the prelacy in England. Bishop Courtenay. Do your worst, Sir..

Duke of Lancaster. Thou bearest so brag upon thy parents [his father was Earl of Devonshire] which shall not be able to help thee, they shall have enough to do to help themselves.

Bishop Courtenay. My confidence is not in my parents, nor in any man else, but only in God, in whom I trust, by whose assistance I will be bold to speak the truth.

Duke of Lancaster. Rather than I will take these words at his hands, I would pluck the bishop by the hair out of the church.

The latter words, spoken in a low tone, were overheard by the byc-standers, and a violent commotion ensued; the Londoners took the part of Courtenay, declaring aloud, that they would oppose even with their lives any insult offered to their bishop. The tumultuous proceedings obliged the delegates to break up the court without proceeding to the examination of Wickliff."-Fuller's Church History, book iv. cent. xiv.

ECLIPSE

OF THE SUN.

ON Tuesday morning, the 5th of the present month, there is a visible eclipse of the sun; which, in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, commences at fifty-eight minutes after five, and ends at forty-seven minutes after seven, according to apparent or solar time. The first appearance of the eclipse will be distinguished by a small notch about one third from the lower extremity of the sun in ascending on the right hand towards the top, or on that side which is next to the meridian. The greatest obscuration happens about nine minutes before seven, when the quantity of the eclipse is four digits and a half. It is, however, well known, that a solar eclipse is susceptible of some varia- | tion in duration and quantity, ac

cording to the situation of the spec tator, and that, consequently, this eclipse will not be found exactly to correspond with the above account, excepting within a short distance of London. Nevertheless, the difference in the phase of a solar eclipse is not generally very perceptible in places comprised within the limits of this island, unless the eclipse isi either very small or very great, when the distance of a few miles may in the one case make the moon disappear from the sun's disk, and thus render the eclipse invisible; and in the instance of a great eclipse, it may render such eclipse essentially different in its character.

The present eclipse, it may be observed, is the third return of the great eclipse of 1764, according to the period of eighteen years and about eleven days-a period which was first discovered by the Chaldeans, and which was probably the first resource for the computation of eclipses, as it was found to be a period that produced a certain order of eclipses, which order secms also to be produced in every succeeding period of the same description. But the return of the solar eclipses must have been found very much to vary on account of the moon's parallax; and even the lunar eclipses would, after a long succession of years, show that the forementioned period could not afford a suitable standard for correct computation.

The quantity of the eclipse of 1764 was eleven digits and five minutes at London, and it became annular in those parts of the kingdom where the quantity was more than eleven digits, eleven minutes, and a half.-The first return of this eclipse was on the 12th of April, 1782, on which day the sun set about five digits eclipsed.—The second return was at the commencement of the 24th of April, 1800, when the eclipse was invisible, the sun being below the horizon. The third return is on the 5th of the present month, as above stated, the new moon, or ecliptic conjunc tion, happening at 25 minutes and 24 seconds after seven in the morning.

It may perhaps be interesting

to state, that the next solar eclipse
visible at Greenwich will, with re-
spect to degree, make a nearer ap-
proach to the eclipse of 1764 than
any one that has occurred since
that period.
By a computation
from Delambre's Solar Tables and
Burckhardt's Lunar Tables, and by
assuming the polar axis of the earth
at 304, and the equatorial axis at

305, it appears that the greatest ob-
scuration at Greenwich will happen
on Thursday, September the 7th,
1820, at fifty-three minutes and
four seconds after one in the after-
noon, when the quantity of the
eclipse will be ten digits and twenty
seven minutes and the eclipse will
be still greater on the eastern coasts
of this island.
4. F.

Obituary.

SOME ACCOUNT

OF THE

LAST DAYS OF MR. J. TUCK,
Late Deacon of the Baptist Church,

BADCOX LANE, FROME.

he would take possession of the eter nal inheritance, where his holy soul is now engaged in contemplating the mysteries of that redemption, which had been his favourite and constant theme on earth for half a century. He seemed to breathe the air of heaven long before he joined its society, and as he approached the verge of mortality, he became more and more indifferent to all earthly concerns: if obliged to attend a little time to business, he was out of his clement; his pious soul seemed impatient to break from the earth, that it might ascend again to those divine contemplations, which engrossed and fixed all the energies of his soul.

MR. JOHN TUCK was born at Wells, November 30, 1751, where he constantly attended the episcopal church; but, on the removal of bis friends to Frome, he left the Establishment, and united with the Dissenters, as their sentiments and mode of worship were most agree able to his own views of divine truth. He was the subject of serious impressions at a very early period of his life, which were deepened and matured under the ministry of the late Rev. John Kingdon, by whom he was baptized, October 5, 1770, and afterwards received into the church. After occupying the station of a private member nearly twenty-two years, he was called by the unanimous voice of the church to the office of deacon; and never was a man more anxious to fill that office in a becoming manner, more solicitous for the peace and prosper-wished almost to stop the wheels of ity of the church, or more tenacious of its respectability and its honour.

For many months previous to the death of this eminent saint, a rapid religious improvement was evident to all his intimate friends, which, together with an increasing debility of body, induced many of them to suppose, that it would not be long before

For some months before his death, owing to the extreme thirst with which he had been long afflicted, he was accustomed to take a very early breakfast with his family. This season was exceedingly interesting to them all: they were often surprised and delighted with his conversation; itwas wisdom,and kindness, and love, and piety, all blended together; he was often highly animated with his subject, and his wife and children

time in their course, unwilling to close a season so truly interesting.

Coming down stairs one morning, about two months previous to his decease, he asked one of his daughters, if she thought that believers before their death were ever favoured with extraordinary manifestations of divine goodness and

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