272 ATTRACTION. — MICROSCOPE. 



As in some ruined fane we strangely feel 



The glorious past across our senses steal. 



But sleep, ye noble ashes of the dead ! 



Old Romans ! Catos ! names still worshipped : 



And ask we now of happier shades 



Some softer records of these glades. 



Here Horace found a calm retreat, 



By love and genius blest ; 

 And here at gentle Cynthia's feet 



His suit Propertius prest. 

 And under Delia's soft and kindling eye, 

 TibuUus tuned to verse each breathing sigh. 

 And here again had Tasso sweetly sung, 

 But from his country's bosom rudely flung. 

 He roams the world — no refuge — haven — rest, 

 Till Pity roused to shame some genial breast. 

 Now, dim with age and sadness, see him come, 



While Fame before his view a wreath displays, 



A phantom still to mock his ardent gaze, 

 Doomed but to droop its leaves above his silent tomb. 



Oh ! Baya's Mount ! — poetical retreat ! 



Voluptuous valley !— sojourn sweet ! 

 Thy songs of love — thy kindling voice of war, 



AH silent ! — not a voice — a breath replies 



Beyond the dashing waves which round thee rise, 

 Or their drear echo from the rocks afar ! 



Thus all is changed — thus all things pass away, 

 A book in which we read our own decay. 

 We leave behind no deeper traces, 



Than this light, idle bark 



On ocean's bosom dark. 

 Which eveiy breath of heaven effaces. 



Attraction. — ^Take two phials marked 1 and 2, filled each with a fluid perfectly 

 colourless, on mixing them together, they will become black ; take another phial. 

 No. 3, containing also a colourless fluid, and pour it into this black liquid, and the 

 mixture will again become perfectly clear, with a little sediment at bottom. Lastly, 

 take another phial. No. 4, containing also a colourless fluid, and by adding a little 

 of it the black colour will be restored. All this is the efiect of attraction. The 

 liquid in No, 1 is an infusion of galls. No. 2 is a solution of copperas (called sal 

 martis, salt of steel.) The iron contained in this green vitriol has a strong attraction 

 for the gall water, and when they are mixed together they unite and become ink. 

 But when the phial. No, 3, containing aqua-fortis (nitrous acid) is poured in, the 

 iron, which has a stronger attraction for it than for the galls, unites with it, and 

 having left the galls the liquid is again clear. Again, No. 4 contains an alkali, as 

 salt of wormwood, in a fluid state. The nitrous acid has a stronger attraction for 

 this alkaline matter than it has for the iron ; it, therefore, drops the iron, which 

 again unites with the matter of the galls, and the fluid resumes its black complexion. 



Microscope. — In order to dissect a leaf for microscopic inspection, place some per- 

 fect ones in a pan with clean water, in which they must remain three or four weeks, 

 after which, if they are soft, and almost rotten, they are sufficiently soaked. They 

 must then be laid on a flat board, and, holding them by the stalk, draw the edge of 

 a knife over the upper side of the leaf, which will take ofi' most of tlie skin. Turn 

 the leaf, and do the same with the under side, then wash out the pulpy matter, and 

 the fibres will be exhibited in a very beautiful manner. This operation is best 

 performed in autumn, the fibres being much stronger, and less liable to be broken. 



