The Van Buren press., 1876-02-29


iously attending to catch the words as
they fall from my lips Yes my beloved,
il the Spirit of Him. who preferred to be
sacrificed to death, than to live at the
sacrifice of truth. should guide my spirit
in this attempt, feel sure that the truth
will be ours.
"As you have already heard, nature is
the criterion of truth, then. whenever any
thing is to be understood, we succeed in
this as we are successful in finding out
nature; IL anything is to be done, we
are successful in the undertaking, just in
proportion as we apply ourselves and
lind out its nature. Every failure is the
want of the application OF the principles
of the nature Of the subject. In the art
of the improving on nature, nature, her
self, is the guide whether in the rearing
ofa child. or the cultivating of plant,
To illustrate these facts--at boarding
! house, where / stayed in my school days,
one evening there was quite sensation,
produced by the smoking of lamp, the
cause of which was not at first perceived.
The lamp had been often used, and had
proved to be ofthe best quality; when
lit that evening, it sent up dark volume
of smoke. 1t was examined thoroughly,
as they thought; it was seen that the
light shown through the perforations for
the supply Of air to the fame. In spite
of the cleaning, and careful attention, it
continued to smoke As the boarders
gathered round to learn the cause Of the
trouble, some said it was bewitched, 9TH
ers, that it alarmed them they feared 1t
was bad omen; others said it was non.
sense to talk Of such things, that there
was natural cause for the condition of
the lamps smoking. which would explain
the difficulty, as soon as discovered
The attention of the Chemist was called
to the lamp he said Immediately, that it
was for the want of draft of air he look
ed at the perforations; light shone
through them; then, taking u pin and
passing it through one of the perforations
he found that they we're closed with a
clear balsam. which the other persons
had failed to discern. 1t came to light
that bright little boy had done the trick,
to try an experiment, as he had it sug
gested to him in some of his books. He
had applied preparation ofCanada Bal
sam in fine film over the perf0rations
in the burner, which soon hardened, and
being transparent was not readily observ-
ed. The Chemist took occasion to make
a brief explanation of the phenomena OF
combustion how that one of the gases
of the atmosphere WAS necessary, and
combined with the elements of the oil,
also, converted by the heat into gas !;
these gases meeting molecule to molecule.
with most vehement attraction, by which
great energy is developed, causing heat
and light, each Of which furnish scope
for themes OF great interest to the mind.
He also spoke of the energy developed ;
and said that science had disclosed the
fact Of the persistence Of energy; that
this energy we witness developed in com
bustion, is persistent, that Is, it is never
destroyed, but is treasured up in another
form, viz in the water, and carbonic di
oxide gas, which are the new products Of
the burning Of an oil lamp
This anecdote fugnishes US with two
important lessons; that by matter. is de-
veloped energy, and that we here witness
three dispositions of mind: the supersti
tious, the empirical and the philosophi
cal-the first, condition Of mind is the
lowest, the last the highest.
Again; suppose that before an assem-
blsge of all degrees Of intelligence and
experience. we have a number Of cannons
loaded as follows; viz: the first charged
and primed with powder, it is fred by
the application ofa portfire the second
is loaded as the other, but fired by the
friction primer "a third is charged and
primed with powder. like the first, except,
that in the priming, is placed minute
portion Of u lead colored metal, called po-
tassum to fire this gun, a small drop of
water is applied to the metal, which has
such an affinity for one of the elements
of which water is composed, that it sep
crates it with such energy, that it bursts
into blaze, immediately, thatit is touch
ed by the water, setting the powder on
fire. causing the discharge Of the gun ;
another, loaded and primed as this last,
is fired by using an icicle, instead of a
drop of water; the GOODNESS of the ice
making no perceivablc difference so
far the fire and smoke have issued from
the guns, as they were lit off the next,
is loaded with mixture Of the two gas
es. of which water is composed, when
chemically united; by means of the elec
trio spark, these gases are exploded; by
the initial expansion, these rush in a
name out of the guns, but is attended vita
no smoke. Then, if all the guns be ex-
amined, all but the last one will show the
remains of the burnt powder and damp.
ness; the last, which had been loaded
with the gases. showed a dewy damp
ness, without any other change.
Now among the throny that witness
this exhibition. it will be looked on in va
rious ways-oft those who have no knowl
edge of the means employed, it may
be looked on as inexplicablc, and beyond
the laws of nature-to Others, it would
be interesting, or astonishing, according
as they had been familiarizsd with ito
the mind of the philosopher, they are all
intensely interesting, however familiar
he may have been, with such exhibitions.
In this case, familiarity breeds no con-
tempt; because his mind takes delight in
launching into the contemplation Of all
the varied phenomena, the reasons for
which, he endeavors to discover, if not
already attained while the supersti-
4