154 A PEEP AT 



take tlie lowest priced railway carriages ; and in this 

 way we have endeavored to keep ourselves from being 

 involved in serious debts. 



I have spent a good deal of money on books and 

 instruments for the illustration of some parts of my 

 writings, and erected an observatory for the same 

 purpose; and if my writings be of any value, the pub- 

 lic have partly derived the benefit of such expendi- 

 ture. In consequence of repeated attacks of illness, 

 I have written nothing for the press for two or three 

 years past. About two months ago, I had to undergo 

 a severe surgical operation on my breast, from which 

 a large tumor was extracted ; but the wound is now 

 healed, and, thanks to God, I enjoy at present good 

 health and spirits. You have somewhat mistaken my 

 age. Though I am a few years beyond seventy, I am 

 not yet on the verge of eighty. 



With the most grateful acknowledgements for all 

 your kind attentions, I am, my dear Sir, 



Yours, most sincerely, 

 Thomas Dick. 



Mr. Henry M. Paine, of Worcester, a machinist, 

 has succeeded in evolving oxygen and hydrogen gases 

 from water, through the agency of electricity. 



