The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1867-05-10
@isfellauenus.
VERY LITTLE THINGS.

W'U's, W Wo cOCA ~ usc Wutcu usaA'f
just one hundred seconds ahead Of the
clock, was my watch. So then must
touch tho regulator jus, Tiny bit. ] dill
"a, anil now my watch, in two days gains
just four seconds. That's close enough
ior any man; and - began to think
about The tick and the regulator. The
witch ticks:
In second. times
Ia minute 4 Z 60 2ao I"
In an hour $40 GO it.4oo I"
In . day II, 400 - 3i3. 800
In two days SOL 100 Z"
Have Eos these figures right boys'
Hut my watch made 400 too many at first;
and aner touched the regulator, J, made
each tick q wee grain longer; how much
longer, think you! Can any Of you ci-
pher il ou,' Now ! win only tell you
,ha, 1 only heightened each tick less than
the fifteen hundredth part Of tick, or the
xix ,housandih pan Of Q second. That 10
very small timo, indeed, and yet my rcgu.
lator measures it. Il 10 wonderful how
small .o,nc things are, and ye, men can see
and measure them.
Do you know what chairs breadth"
is? heard man shy that bullet ''cnmc
within hairs breadth Of his nose" How
close b that That depends on how coarse
the hair h. About thirty coar>e horse
hairs, laid side by side, will cover an inch
broad. Finy hairs Of mine will not quite
cover an inch. And q thousand spider
threads Of the fines, kind. will not he an
inch broad, if laid side by side. Now any
ofus can see spider line, and 50 we know
that our eyes can sec the thousandth part
ofan inch without help from the micro.
scope. Sharp eyes we have got, to be
sure.
But once saw man measuring OF nc
curately the hundred thousandth pan Of IN
inch! The finest spider line split into one
hundred separate strands. lie could not
zee one Of them, hut no could measure
them. saw him do IL, but cannot tell
how he did il, in words that you can under.
stand.
Ayoung lady came into the room. n large
room, and there was pleasant perfume
filed the whole room, from her handker-
chief Then she went to another room
aud pcrihined that. She rode in carriage
aud The air was fragrant for mile, rs she
rode along. Yet she put only three drops
of,hc sweet smelling stuff on her handker-
chief And ! began TO think, what little,
very little part Of one drop il takes to fill 4
room full Of odor. Why, eau smell the
tenth million,h part Of single drop! That
il almost too small to think about.
And my tongue and mouth can taste
very little things. You have heard Of
sirychnino to kill dogs with. Sometimes
il get. into whisky and kills men. Il is
very bitter and very poisonous. II is very
pretty, clean. snow-whitc powder, every
grim beautiful httlc crystal Now if you
should take about rs much Of il rs will lie
on half Of penknife hlade-one grim
aud throw il into q barrel Of pure water,
aud stir il thoroughly, and then bring me n
glass of water, could taste the bitter. One
grain IL twenty five or thirty gallons Of wa.
ter. and you can ,as,c t. And if you should
pui only nine grains-which is less than
III, fiilieth par, Of an ounce-into barrel
fall Of water, and then put little frog in,
too. the poor little creature would have
s,s,s,ns, and kick around and die! 30 you
20 what little, very liti'e poison can be
tasted, that is strong enough to kill a frog.
And we can feel with our fingers things
that arc too small To be seen. lfyour moth
rr or sister, who has long hair, will give
YOU just one hair from her head, you may
lnk MT il. aud il sccn,s all smooth and even.
Hut shut your eyes, and take the hair be-
tween your thumb and finger, pinch ID tight
aud then pull ], through from end to end,
back and forth. As you pull one way tho
hair slips along smooth rs oil. But pull il
the other why. and Il feels rough and sticks.
10 you can tell by tho touch which Is the
rnd that grew nearest the head. Pull the
hair through from the point toward the
ro,, and Il 10 rough; but pail from root to
point and Il II smooth.
And when barber has whe,tcd his ruzor
ill the edge 10 80 fine tina, he cannot SEQ !,
n, all, no feels Of ], by drawing il over the
niyc Of his thumb nail; and if tho edge Is
the least atom rough, he can feel Il. though
Ice cannot eco d. So the sense Of touch Is
finer than sycsight.
And the ear can hear very, very little
things. Two mosquitoes come and sing by
my ear. The song Of one 10 high and fine,
that OF the other 10 lower. One is u little
fellow, and the other 10 larger. Bat they
arc both 81 them very hungry. The noise j
hear 10 msde BY their wings, which move
10 fasi thss no eye can sec them nj all. Hut
my ear cen tell that tho liule fellow moves
his tho As,es. And sometimes, when a
little suai comes squeakiug close to my ear,
I can hear his wings making noise away
up higher thu tho li,tlo hungry musquiio.
Some Of You have p iano or melo'ieon
in your house. Go to il and sound the
letter c, in tho middle Of tho key board.
To make that sound. tho piano-string vi
bra,es 26i times in . second. The Z
above that. on my inclodeon. sounds like
big musqui,o, to me, and that tone comes
from SO vibrations. Go to tho next G, and
the sound IS just like tiny gnat right in