ON THE STUD T OF PHYSICS. 2] 9 
written upon a slip of paper and handed in to the secretary, 
who afterward read all the questions aloud. A number of 
teachers were usually present, and they and the boys made 
a common stock of their wisdom in furnishing replies. 
As might be expected from an assemblage of eighty or 
ninety boys, varying from eighteen to eight years old, 
many odd questions were proposed. To the mind which 
loves to detect in the tendencies of the young the instincts 
of humanity generally, such questions are not without a 
certain philosophic interest, and I have therefore thought 
it not derogatory to the present course of lectures to copy 
a few of them, and to introduce them here. They run as 
follows: 
What are the duties of the astronomer royal? 
What is frost? 
Why are thunder and lightning more frequent in summer 
than in winter? 
What occasions falling stars? 
What is the cause of the sensation called " pins and 
needles ?" 
What is the cause of waterspouts? 
What is the cause of hiccough? 
If a towel be wetted with water, why does the wet 
portion become darker than before? 
What is meant by Lancashire witches? 
Does the dew rise or fall? 
What is the principle of the hydraulic press? 
Is there more oxygen in the air in summer than in 
winter? 
What are those rings which we see round the gas and 
sun? 
What is thunder? 
How is it that a black hat can be moved by forming 
round it a magnetic circle, while a white hat remains 
stationary? 
What is the cause of perspiration? 
Is it true that men were once monkeys? 
What is the difference between the soul and the mind ? 
Is it contrary to the rules of vegetarianism to eat eggs? 
In looking over these questions, which were wholly un- 
prompted, and have been copied almost at random from 
the book alluded to, we see that many of them are sug- 
gested directly by natural objects, and are not such as had 
