20 SCIENCE PRIMERS. [MATERIAL 



13. A Tumbler of Water. 



Suppose we have a tumbler half- full of water. The 

 tumbler is an artificial object (5); that is to say, 

 certain natural objects have been brought together 

 and heated till they melted into glass, and this glass 

 has been shaped by a workman. The water, on the 

 other hand, is a natural object, which has come from 

 some river, pond, or spring; or it may be from a 

 water-butt into which the rain which has fallen on 

 the roof of a house has flowed. 



Now the water has a vast number of peculiarities. 

 For example, it is transparent, so that you can see 

 through it ; it feels cool ; it will quench thirst and dis- 

 solve sugar. But these are not the characters which 

 it is most convenient to begin with. 



14. Water occupies Space ; it offers Resist- 

 ance; it has Weight; and is able to transfer 

 Motion which it has acquired ; it is therefore 

 a form of Matter. 



The water, we see, fills the cavity of the tumbler 

 for half its height, therefore it occupies that much 

 space, or has that bulk or volume. If you put the 

 closed end of another tumbler of almost the same size 

 into the first, you will find that when it reaches the 

 water, the latter offers a resistance to its going down, 

 and unless some of the water can get out, the end of 

 the second tumbler will not go in. Any one who falls 

 from a height into water will find that he receives a 

 severe shock when he reaches it. Water therefore 

 offers resistance. 



If the water is emptied out, the tumbler feels much 



