Science, Invention, Discovery. 



Alcoholic Drinks. The number of 

 alcoholic drinks is surprisingly large and 

 varied. The following are the principal : 

 Agua ardiente, made in Mexico, from the fer- 

 mented juice of agave ; arrack, made in India 

 from the juice of the palm and from rice ; 

 araka, made in Tartary, from fermented mare's 

 milk ; araki, made in Egypt from dates ; 

 brandy, made in nearly all wine countries from 

 wine and from fruits ; Geneva or Holland gin, 

 made in Holland from malted barley or rye, rec- 

 tified on juniper berries ; gin made in England 

 from malted barley, rye, or potatoes, and recti- 

 fied with turpentine ; goldwasser, made at 

 Dantzic from various kinds of corn and recti- 

 fied with spices ; kirchwasser, made in Switz- 

 erland from the Mahaleb cherry ; lau, made 

 in Siam from rice ; maraschino, made in Dal- 

 matia from the Macarska cherry ; Mahwah 

 arrack, made in India from the flowers of the 

 madhuca tree ; rum, made in the West Indies 

 .and South America from cane sugar and mo- 

 lasses ; rakia, made in Dalmatiafrom the husks 

 of grapes, mixed with aromatics ; rossolio, 

 made at Dantzic from a compound of brandy 

 with certain plants ; slatkai-trava, made at 

 Kamtschatka from a sweet grass ; show-choo, 

 made in China from the lees of rice wine ; 

 trosta, made in the Rhenish provinces from 

 the husks of grapes fermented with barley and 

 rye ; tuba, made in the Philippine Islands 

 from palm wine ; vino mescal, made in Mexico 

 by distilling the fermented juice of the agave ; 

 whisky, made in Scotland, Ireland, and United 

 States from raw and malted grain, and south 

 of France from sloes. 



Air. The gaseous envelope of the earth. 

 Our planet has two coverings : one the water, 

 which is distributed as lakes and seas, filling 

 up the deep cavities of the solid surface, tend- 

 ing to produce a more level superficies ; the 

 second covering is the air or atmosphere, which 

 rests upon the top of the water and the dry 

 land, enveloping the highest mountains, and 

 rising upwards to an altitude somewhat above 

 forty-five miles; it is a true, aeriform ocean 

 surrounding our earth and has upon its upper 

 surface waves and tides, and, throughout its 

 mass, currents flowing in constant and vari- 

 able directions, precisely as those of the ocean 

 comport themselves ; it is held down to the 

 surface of the earth by attraction, and rotates 

 with the planet ; its density varies with its 

 actual height at the place of observation, of 

 which the barometric pressure is the evidence. 



the sea increases, owing to the upper portions 

 of the atmosphere pressing upon and condens- 

 ing the lower strata, so much so y that one half 

 the actual weight of the atmosphere is com- 

 prised within the space of the lower five miles 

 of its total height, the remaining forty miles 

 in height containing the other half. The air 

 is highly compressible and elastic, and its 

 volume diminished inversely as the pressure 

 increases. This accounts for the facility of 

 setting it in motion and its velocity. Like 

 fluids, it presses equally in every direction, and 

 when it comes in contact with a more expanded * 

 and therefore lighter portion of air, it pushes 

 it up and occupies its place, producing cur- 

 rents of air and winds when it flows in streams, 

 and sounds when it is thrown into vibrations 

 or undulations. The air is warmed solely by 

 the earth, and not by the transmitted rays of 

 the sun, hence warm air exists within the 

 tropics, and diminishes towards the f)oles, and 

 insensibly decreases every three hundred and 

 fifty feet of elevation. 



Acoustics. The doctrine of the different 

 sounds of vibrating strings, and the communi- 

 cation of sounds to the ear by the vibration of 

 the atmosphere, was probably first explained 

 by Pythagoras, about 500 B. C. Mentioned 

 by Aristotle, 330 B. C. The speaking trum- 

 pet is said to have been used by Alexander the 

 Great, 335 B. C. The discoveries of Galileo 

 were made about 1600 A. D. The velocity of 

 sound was investigated by Newton before 1700. 

 Galileo's theorem of the harmonic curves was 

 demonstrated by Dr. Brook Taylor, in 1714 ; 

 and further perfected by D'Alembert, Euler, 

 Bernoulli, and LaGrange, at various periods of 

 the eighteenth century. 



Algebra. Where Algebra was first used, 

 and by whom, is not precisely known. Dio- 

 phantus first wrote upon it, probably about 170 

 A. D. ; he is said to be the inventor. Brought 

 into Spain by the Saracens, about 900 ; and 

 into Italy by Leonardo of Pisa, in 1202. The 

 first writer who used algebraical signs was 

 Stifelius of Nuremberg, in 1544. The intro- 

 duction of symbols for quantities was by Fran- 

 cis Vieta, in 1590, when algebra came into 

 general use. The binomial theorem of New- 

 ton, the basis of the doctrine of fluxions, and 

 the new analysis, 1668. Descartes applied al- 

 gebra to geometry about 1637. 



Almanacs. The Egyptians computed 

 time by instruments. Log calendars were 

 anciently in use. The word almanac is of 



This pressure qimiuishes a.sth.e elevation above ( Saxon origin. Michael Nostradamus, the as- 



