240 



Desultory Reading. — Painting Houses. 



Vol. VI. 



Desultory Reading. 



How much of the reading, even of persons 

 igfnorant of all science, refers to matters 

 wholly unconnected with any interest or ad- 

 vantage to be derived from the knowledge 

 acquired ! Every one is amused with read- 

 ing a story ; a romance may divert and a 

 fairy-tale may entertain, but no benefit be- 

 yond the amusement is derived from this 

 source ; the imagination is gratified, and we 

 willingly spend a good deal of time in this 

 gratification, rather than in resting after fa- 

 tigue, or in any other bodily indulgence. 

 And so we often read a newspaper without 

 any view to the advantage we are to gain 

 from learning the news, but because it amuses 

 us to know what is passing. Accidents, ad- 

 ventures, anecdotes, crimes, and a variety of 

 other things entertain us, independent of the 

 information we receive respecting public af- 

 fairs in which we feel interested as citizens 

 of the state, or as members of a particular 

 body. It is of little importance to inquire 

 why these things so excite our attention: the 

 fact is certain, and proves clearly that there 

 is a positive enjoyment in knowing what we 

 did not know before; and this pleasure is 

 greatly' increased when the information is 

 such as excites our surprise, wonder or admi- 

 ration. Persons who take delight in reading 

 tales of ghosts which they know to be false, 

 and feel all the while to be silly in the ex- 

 treme, are merely gratified or rather occ?;pier/ 

 with the strong emotions of horror excited by 

 the passing fancy, for it can only last an in- 

 stant. All such reading is a degrading waste 

 of precious time, and has a bad effect upon 

 the feelings and the judgment ; and children's 

 books have too often been made upon the per- 

 nicious plan of exciting wonder, generally 

 horror, at whatever risk. But true stories 

 of horrid crimes, murders, and pitiable mis- 

 fortunes, shipwrecks, &c., are not much more 

 instructive; it may possibly be better to read 

 these than to sit drinking or gaming, which, 

 when carried to excess, are crimes themselves 

 and the fruitful parents of many more, but 

 this is nearly all that can be said for such vain 

 and unprofitable reading. But if it be a plea- 

 sure to gratify curiosity, to know what we 

 are ignorant of, to have our feelings of won- 

 der called forth, how pure a delight of this 

 very kind does Natural Science hold out 

 to its students! Now recollect some of the 

 extraordinary discoveries of mechanical phi- 

 losophy ; how wonderful are the laws that 

 regulate the motions of fluids! Is there any 

 thing in all the idle books of tales and horrors 

 more truly astonishing than the fact, that a 

 k\v pounds of water m;iy, by more pressure, 

 without any machinery, by merely being 

 placed in a particular way, produce an irre- 



sistible force ■? What can be more strange 

 than that an ounce weight should balance 

 hundreds of pounds by the intervention of a 

 few bars of thin iron ? And then observe the 

 extraordinary truths which optical science 

 discloses! Can any thing surprise us more 

 than to find that the colour of while is a mix- 

 ture of all others ? that red and blue and 

 green and all the rest, merely by being blended 

 in certain portions, form what we had ftncied 

 to be no colour at all, rather than all colours 

 together ! And chemistry is not behind in 

 its wonders — that the diamond should be made 

 of the same material as coal ; that water 

 should be chiefly composed of an inflammable 

 substance ; that acids should be, for the most 

 part, formed of different kinds of air, and that 

 one of these acids, whose strength can dis- 

 solve almost any of the metals, should consist 

 of the self-same ingredients with the common 

 air we breathe; that salts should be of a me- 

 tallic nature, and composed in great part of 

 metals, fluid like quicksilver but lighter than 

 water, and which, without any heating, take 

 fire upon being exposed to the air, and by 

 burning form the substance so abounding in 

 salt-petre and the ashes of burnt wood : — 

 these surely are things to excite the wonder 

 of any reflecting mind — nay, of any one but 

 little accustomed to reflect; and yet these 

 are all trifling when compared to the prodi- 

 gies which Astronomy opens to our view ! 

 the enormous masses of the heavenly bodies; 

 their immense distances ; their countless 

 numbers and their motions, whose swiftness 

 mocks the uttermost efforts of the imagination! 

 To learn these things, and to reflect upon 

 them, occupies the faculties, fills the mind, 

 and produces certain as well as the purest 

 gratification. — Selected. 



Painting Houses. 



It has long been a subject of inquiry as to 

 the best time to apply paint to the clapboards 

 of houses for durability. Repeated experi; 

 ments have been made, within twenty-five* 

 years past, which have resulted in theconvic- [ 

 tion. that paint applied between November ; 

 and March, will stand more than twice as lon^ " i 

 as that which is spread in the warmest wea- 

 ther. The reason is obvious ; for in cold wea- 

 ther the oil and the component parts of the • 

 paint,, form a hard substance on the surface 

 of the clapboard, nearly as hard as glass, and 

 not easily erased or even cut with a sharp 

 knife, and will not soon wear off"; whereas 

 paints applied in the months of July and Au- j 

 gust, and more especially if in a severe | 

 drought, the oil in)inediately penetrates into ) 

 the wood like water into a sponge, which | 

 leaves the lead nearly dry which will soon i 

 crumble off) 



