The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1897-05-16
Young People and. Children Of Larger
6TeWlh May Read With Profit.
SIMPLE, INSTRUCTIVE EXPERIMENTS
no Laboratory Required TO Demon.
strate che Constituent Elements of
Wnicr-A mitch aud II Tun,blcr
NeecRsnry-Wntcr TINT 10 In Solid
Form but IL Not Frozen.
written FOR the Sunday Virginian by TO-
tI.s.4 Seph II, Nnn Biene.l

esunG. We make the tea with II, we wash
cola t ous Shall iI'S We so say in it.
cory glance at the subject We must fain
Y confess. that. water seems neither n ro-
mantle, nor enthralling theme to think
Now that is just the vital point OF the
question. II we take Cursory glance;
6 !his7 What prevents our giving an hours
& thought to-water7 Do you think II viii
n which all the millionaire's coin could not
IL buy back? If you do. you are In error.
1T VII not be time wasted at all. 1t viii
s be well spent. II will be returned In value
i at Q higher rate OF interest, than any
1 bank can pay fer money.
S Your little capital. viz: An hours study,
& put into the bank or deposited rs 1t were,
Il VIII give you golden reward mentally In
return.
s NATURE IS a GENTLE GODDESS,
Nature Is such gentle goddess. All
y win her. Yet no one can be jealous OF
q The Others q ,e The love she gives Is pure,
IN spiendour. 1t outrivals the roses in
4 beauty and aroma, Ask her any question.
\ and II YOU ,, but do so patiently and earnest
t5 ~, you Will be answered plainly and truly
Il She knoweth neither n lie nor a evnrica-
h ton. 1t Is to this chns,e goddess that we
We Will approach with Difference, or stay,
B you shall let me be the spokesman, and
sns Ana ndSs truly II son ss
" and credulously accept all tell YOU.
Without even asking her one poor question
1 hers: No student must be too cred uious.
8 Doubt q little. Ii Is good TO doubt Thcn
asn believe VIII all the power ''s Of yoas
WHAT IS WATER?
What is water?
"A colorless. odorless liquid. There 1t Is
M II tae pHna 9r the river or the ocean
{ ful Of interest all the same.
It Is colorless: that is, In small quantities.
lakes. it is distinctly blue We must ;It II.
fvestigate this II cannot be both colorless
Nov let us m nH Gs 9ne or the oh
Reasoning the question out Is one way OF
& eommuning with Nature. For Nature is
and beautiful degree.
Now large lake Is blue. Half of It
however small, must be blue A Elassfui'
Il however. seems coorlcss That is because
the eo1or is too faint to affect our vision
4tI Water IS family blue. 1t requires the
enormous quantity found In lake for the
u.s.. Our sight is not by any means per-
Il feet. Thus water is blue.
$5 NOW. IT this conclusion should ever be
found TO be incorrect we may console our
6 h selves by remembering that, although Ma
] ture Is always truthful,y.at She has a habit
Of whispering. and occasionally 1t takes
: ages upon ages for us to rightly grasp the
meaning of her almost inaud,ble murmur
That water Is odorleSs is not vet prov
s. 90, put to all tntentS and purposes 1t is.
WATER MADE WORDS.
smell In pure water, then 1t Is practically
& ,odorless. Anyway the point Is too trivial
liquid, for our definition OF q liquid was
found by eXnmining water Itself, SO that
I. strange as 1t may appear, water was a
factor In making language.
w o5H Ta uSids Ya'eT we invented the
wet" moisture" damp
st drought" "parched."
MeteS
4 Hes "hydrophobla" and a host Of 81 otis
ese with the ,r worS wa nhed in their
I. In olden times they used TO call EARTH"
Is ''air. fire" and water" the four Gle
do that IN q conventional or poet.eai
style: We know better now Not one OF
oq Is + sn Geay Sc sps for ee
8 position that no manner Of experiment. Of
any King nc wh,atever can divide it into two
ss all the way through. The chemist deals
with these things exclusively.
tf} for q few moments. Water IS not an elc-
q ment because we can get two distinct sub
q stances out of it-.oxygen and hydrogen
IN such an intimate way that they com
n hine chemically Chat Is the CHEMISTS way
II Of putting it. 1t means nothing more than
that they actually JON. and stick closely
Il together, then you obtain water.
a PRETTY EXPERIMENT..
XII !, 4 nice, easy way of proving that, IS to
Il light q lucfer match and hold a cold dry
( tumbler over it. The tumber is slightly
e dimmed, and by touching with the finger
the spot which Is dimmed, it will be fo,Ind
81 Slightly n,nist-moist by the presence OF
&s water. Ino reason is not far to seek Tn
81 tWcuo or the match contains hydrogen, the
s58 cir OF the room contains oxygen. When
k;5 you bring the two in cLEtact they colo iIifn
a chemically.
@s. In fact, burning is nearly always what
al&tfie chemist means when he speaks of
NS chlmtcal combination. Water is produced
53F by this Joining Of the matcl's hydrogen
S8 and the airs oxygen.
I#s555s It Is very simple, yet people make q Iot
;S OF russ, and pretend that they can't learn
NJ anything about It without going in for
81 Science, and using Il lot Of hard words
sE.E II you burn whole candle away ana
~ Keep glass over 1t while it Is aliEht and
~ arrange to catch the DROPS and Keen the
glass sooi quite considerable quantity of
rs pure drinking water may be obtained
5S2 There is, OF course, no denying tina more
Si@ elaborate experiments with expensive an
s. paratus may be made, but I think thnt
b with. ~ '''il
II a soda water bottle be taken one
n which Is empty and thoroughly dry and a
ST mixture Of oxygen and hydrogen be intro.
duSed and match applied, an explosion
Will occur. and water be formed. The in.
81 glde5 being .dimmed will prove that. Still.
q. this ex pertinent, except in experienced
$fi hands, had better not be attempted a S,s
~ astrous explosion as one Of Natures rn