Year: 1873

may expect a calmity indeed Gluttons,
tobacc-ehewers and smokers and tight
Iacing young ladies viii never survive
the perihelion of all the large planets of
the solar system. So says the dreadful
DR.. Trail.


| PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF SINGING
FLAMES. " singing flame, which
at first view might seem to be merely a
curious phenomenon, is found to be, in
fact, a discovery of very high impor-
tance for science and the useful arts.
One of the latest applications of this
principle is that made by Dr.. A. K. Ir-
vine, of the British Iron and Steel In
stitute, who makes use Of the singing
flame in the construction of a safety
| lamp for mines. If an explosive mix
ture of infaminable gas and air be
passed through and ignited on the sur
face of disk of wire gauze too fine to
suffer the flame to traverse 1t, and then,
surrounded by a chimney, to prevent
air from entering, save through the
gauze, the flame vibrates, and, the Vi
bration being communicated to the as
cending gases, produces a sound vary
ing in pitch and intensity according to
the height and caliber of the chimney.
A lamp constructed on this principle
will give timely warning to the miner
whenever the atmosphere and the fire
damp are coming together IN the pro
portions requisite for an explosion.


SCIENCE AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOP
AENT.-It is not, however, merely the
material wants Of man that are gratified
by the results of science; it admins
ters also to his highest intellectual de
velopment. Placed in a universe of
constant change, on an isolated globe,
surrounded by distant celestial objects
on all sides, subjected to influences Of
various kinds, it is a sublime Occupa-
ton to measure the earth and weigh the
planets, to predict their changes, and
even to discover the materials of which
tbev are composed; to investigate the
causes of the tempest and volcano, to
| bring the lightning from the clouds, to
submit it to experiment by which it
shall reveal its character, and to esti-
mate the size and weight of those inVis-
ible atoms which constitute the universe
! of things 1t is the pursuit, above all,
which impresses US with the capacity Of
man for intellectual and moral progress,
and awakens the human intellect to as
pirations for higheT condition of hu-
manity, and gives a pleasurable con-
sciousness to those who successfully
pursue it, of contributing, in however,
small a degree it may be, to such de
sirabIe consummation. The effect OF
such pursuits on the mind of the indi-
vidual himself can not be otherwise
than saIutary While it exists the IN
derstanding, it exercises the imagina-
ton. and awakens and constantly cher
ishes a love of truth for its own sake.
The man imbued with the proper spirit
of science does not seek for Immediate
pecuniary reward from the practical
applications of his discoveries, but de-
rives sufficient qualification from his
pursuit and the consciousness of en-
Iarging the bounds of human contem-
platiOn, and the magnitude of human
power, and leaves to others to gather
the golden fruit he may strew along his
pathway.


PHYSICAL SCIENCE AS A CTvILIzDG
| FoRCE.-It is said that a hundred thou
sand slaves were employed at one time
in the construction of the Pyramids of
Egypt; one hundred and twenty thou
sand were engaged in hewing the obe-
/ Iisks of Thebes, and an equal number
/ in digging the ancient canal which join
ed the Nile and the Red Sea. These
slaves were treated as beasts of burden,
or as mere machines, of which Athens,
in her palmy days, had four hundred
thousand, and but twenty thousand free
men. Now, we owe the abolition of
this condition of humanity, in the high
er civilized nations Of the world at the
present day, to the study Of the laws of
the operations of nature. BY know
/ ledge of these laws the energies of the
elements of nature are substituted for
human labor, and by this substitution
mankind is not only relieved from


brute-Iabor. but also given control Of
enerpies which enable him to produce


effects which could only result from the
muscular power Of beings of a superior
order. 1t may be shown by a simple
calculation that about fifteen tons Of
anthracite coal burned IN the furnace If
one of our best steam-engines ezerts an
energy equal to that of an able-bodied
slave, working ten hours a day for thir-
ty years Of his active life 1t Is tins
substitution of the energies Of nature
for the power Of human muscle that, as
we have said, has abolished slavery and
elevated humanity to a higher plane
than was ever dreamed of by the wisest
sages of ancient times To illustrate
this, few examples viii suffice. As
one of these, we may refer to the pro-
gress of the arts of locomotion and the
means which science has afforded for
theinstantaneousi interchangeof thought
between men in the most distant parts
of the earth; as another, to the produc-
tion of clothing fabrics, in which a sin
, gle individual directing the energies Of
an engine of 'one-Inan power, IS capable
} of doing three thousand times the work
l of an ordinary weaver. As third eZ-


ample, we may point to the art OF print


ing by means of the steam press, IN


which a single man will make more CO.


pies in a given time of a composition


than a million Of ancient transcTlbers
-