Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-06-05


thing is we do not know, and perhaps
never will. The Bible teaches us that God
treathed into the nostrils of man the breath
of life, and leaves US to infer its divine
origin, but says Mr.. Nicholson, in the work
before US, sit is possible, though highly
improbable, that future discoveries may
demonstrate that it is merely a subtle mod
ifcation of some physical force"
We know of no better text book on
Zoology, and feel that we are doing our
readers a favor in calling their attention to
work OF such transceDdent ability and
worth.
For sale by W. T. Berry & Co.
Astronomy and Geology Compared, by
Lord Ormathwaite. New York: D. APP
pleton & Co.
The author of the above work is an En-
glish statesman who served in the House Of
Commons as Sir John Walsh. He was
raised to the peerage in 1868. He says in
explanation: "The decay of my eyesight
has within the last year incapacitated me
from reading or writing" Cut off by this
atfiiction, he has found relief in debating
these essays to shorthand writer.
While the spectacle which Geology pre-
sents to the mind is very sublime one,
and widens to an immense degree our ideas
of time, yet its great imperfection is the
vagueness of the chronology. Sir Charles
Lyell, for instance, in his "Antiquity of
Man" has succeeded in unsettling all our
previous ideas upon the subject, yet he has
not substituted any other of fixed char
acter. He does not inform US whether
man has lived upon the earth 10000 or
100000 years. The advantages in point of
certainty, our author concludes, large
ly predominates in favor of Astron-
omy. The retrospect to which Geology
points is a noble one, suggesting spec
ulatiOns upon the birth and youth Of crea-
ton. But Astronomy, still grander, points
beyond all these, dealing not alone with the
earth but with the universe; and so far as
our solar system extends reduces the whole
to mathematical certainty. The work is
suggestive, free from technical tel ms, writ
ten in lively animated style and is happy
in its comparisons and orthodox in its prin-
ciples. 1t affords quite pleasant reading
for persons of a scientific turn and is well
calculated to awaken an interest in the
subjects discussed. Two other papers are
appended both germane to the first; one on
the theories of Mr.. Darwin and Mr.. Buckle,
and the second on progress and ciViliza-
ton.
For aale by W. T. Kerry 8 Co.
SCIENCE PRIAIERs-ChemistF and Phys
les. Edited by Professors Huxley, ROs-
coe, and Balfour Stewart. New York !:
d. Appleton & Co.
We have here two volumes Of great prac-
tical use; practical because they will lead
the minds Of children from the simple opera
tions of nature to the most complex. The
ultimate problem of physics, says that poet
of science, Prof Tyndal, is to reduce mat
ter by analysis to its lowest condition of
divisibility, and force TO its simplest man
iteStations, and then By synthesis to con-
struct from these elements the world as it
stands. These two little volumes contain
the first steps by which the mind ascends
to the final solution of this problem.
To show the simplicity of style, we open
the volume on chemistry and find an
account of what happens when candle or
taper burns:
1.-THE wax as well as the wick of the
taper gradually disaspears as the taper
burns, aud at last all is gone, wick, wax and
all. What has become of the wax it has
disappeared. Is it lost? So far as our eyes
are concerned it is certainly lost, but so is
the ship which sails away upon the sea and
yet we know that the ship Still exists
though we do not see it; and so the lump of
sugar appears to be lost when we put it in
a cup of hot tea, and ye5 we know that the
sugar is not really lost because the tea is
made sweet. Now We must look for the
wax of our taper in another way; we must
put a Question to Nature for her to answer,
and we shall always find that our question
if properly asked is always clearly and GER
tainly answered.. We must mage an eppe-
Timent, and if this is properly made, we
shall never fail in the end to get the infor-
nation We want"
The question as to where the candle goes
is then asked of and answered by nature in
the following manner A taper is burned
ina glass bottle. The fame soon dies out.
Why? The air is not the same. How is
that ascertained? Pour some Eipe. luqter in
q bottle where no candle has been burnt.
There is no change. Pour it into the one
in which the candle was burnt and it becomes
milky. This milkiness is chalk. and chalk
is made up of lime and carbonic acid.
Therefore part of the candle has been con-
verted into carbonic acid; that is the car
bon or charcoal of the burnt wax is to be
found in this invisible gas; some of it goes
away in smoke. Water is also formed as
may be shown by holding cold dry glass
over the fame of the taper and little
drop of water will bedew the inside of the
glass. Aud so from the burning of taper
those four things are taught:
1. That the candle goes out if it be burn
ed in bottle Of air.
2. Carbonic acid is formed.
5. Carbonic acid comes from the SCOT or
carbon contained in the wax.
4. Water is formed.
And so the little work continues, expert
ment after experiment with fire, air, earth
and water, impressing in this manner chem
ical truths which will prove a great benefit
to every class of persons.
At the close of the volume a list of the
apparatus required for each experiment is
given, with the price annexed; also list of
chemicals. The whole may be bought for
an inconslderable sum, and we can imagine
no money spent by teacher or parent that
would so rapidly advance the pupil in the
growing science of chemistry.
TIE second volume, the third in the
series, is written on the same plan and en-
ters graphically into a description of the
chief ttrces of ma ure-hOw gravity acts, the
three states of matter, the properties of
each, moving bodies, heated bodies, electri-
fed bodies, ETC., etc. The subject matter in
this volume is what is usually embraced in
natural philosophy with experiments all
through the volumes. We heartily CON-
mend these live little volumes, and would
like to see them adopted in all our primary
schools, feeling assured that many a youth
would have his desire quickened and mind
excited to enquire into the mysteries of ma
ture and rev. al to mankind the great
truths that lie hid because nature has not
beer, interrOoated Alright,