454 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



cheap a rate, they have become objects of general ornament as well 

 as of convenience ; and the more expensive ones show the progress of 

 time with an accuracy that would once have been deemed incredible. 

 WATER. Water was once considered one of the four elements, 

 and in common language, is still frequently so termed. Water, how- 

 ever, is known to be a compound substance, consisting of hydrogen 

 and oxygen. When pure, it is colorless, transparent, inodorous, and 

 insipid. Like all other fluids anc substances, it expands by exposure 

 to an increase of temperature ; and with a curious exception, the dila- 

 tation, within certain limits, is proportionable to the degree of heat 

 to which it is subjected. When water is heated to a certain point, it 

 acquires the greatest volume it is capable of assuming ; it then boils, 

 and is converted into steam. This point is indeed an arbitrary one, 

 being what is called 212 on the scale of Fahrenheit's thermometer. 

 Steam, at this point, occupies about 1700 times as much space as the 

 water does from which it is generated. It is upon the elastic force of 

 steam communicated by heat, or water thus converted into vapor, and 

 the annihilation of it by cold, that the working of the steam engine 

 depends. 



Water is seldom found in a state of entire purity, but, from its 

 great solvent and absorbent power, it is impregnated with a variety of 

 saline substances, either living or undergoing a process of fermentation. 

 The effect of these is to communicate different properties, and gene- 

 rally give it a peculiar taste, and not unfrequently an odor, which, if 

 not cognizable by the blunted senses of man, is so by animals, espe- 

 cially the camel, which can scent water at a great distance in the desert. 

 The specific gravity is often much increased, especially that of sea 

 water and of mineral waters, from the saline ingredients, and of some 

 of the great rivers, from the quantity of mud and other matters which 

 they contain. Rain water is commonly reckoned the purest ; but that 

 is by no means so free from accidental impregnations as is generally 

 supposed. Whatever foreign ingredients exist in the atmosphere of 

 any place, are brought to the grounq^ by the first rain that falls. Rain 

 water, however, from its comparative great purity, has high solvent 

 powers, which fit it well for the part it has to perform in the economy 

 of nature, and also for many operations in the laboratory. In this re- 

 spect, it is nearly equal to distilled water. The surface water of sandy 

 districts, is the purest that can be obtained naturally. 



Who can count the diversified uses that come from water ? The 

 Christian philosopher never beholds a limpid current of it, or a gurg- 

 ling rill, without an emotion of pleasure and of gratitude to the Author 

 of it. Let us remember that every drop of rain, which we see fall, 

 bears into the bosom of the earth a quality of beautiful fertility ; re- 

 member that each glorious tree, and herb, and shrub, and flower, owes 

 to those drops its life, its freshness, and its beauty ; remember that half 

 the loveliness of the green world is all their gift ; and that without 



