105 



The developement of man's immortal condition is not in the prov- 

 ince of a secular theme like the present ; that is left for the pulpit and 

 the preacher. It is a branch of this subject that might fill a volume 

 and send joy into minds that are darkened with doubt, but it is toa 

 sacred to be lightly dealt with, or simply passed over, as the limits of 

 an occasion like this would permit. 



The permanent edifice of the world's education seems to patiently 

 await the time when men shall tire of fashioning useless building stuff 

 from their crumbling theories, and revert to the basal granite of which 

 the everlasting foundations are laid, caring only to shape the super- 

 structure by the Master Architect's plan. The movement of vital 

 energy is man-ward, and the cry of mankind is God-ward. Excelsior t 



OXYGEN— ITS ROLE IN NATURE. 



The above is the title of a lecture delivered before the Ottawa 

 Literary and Scientific Society upon Thursday evening, 21st November, 

 by Mr. F. T. Shutt, the chemist of the Dominion Experimental Farms. 

 This lecture, ^which was upon Oxygen, as the most important 

 constituent of Atmospheric air, formed a fitting sequel to Mr. Shutt's 

 lecture of last year, the subject of which was water, including tho 

 chemistry of Hydrogen. 



Having given a concise statement of the ground he was about to 

 cover, the lecturer began by giving a short resume of his last year's 

 lecture before the society, in order to show the connection between the 

 two subjects. Previous to 1774, when Oxygen was discovered by 

 Priestly, it was supposed that the air we breathe was one single gas — 

 an element. The same experiment by which Priestly made this im- 

 portant discovery, namely, heating red oxide of Mercury, was performed 

 before the audience. The Oxygen was given off as gas, which kindled 

 to a flame a glowing ember placed in the mouth of the test-tube,^while 

 the mercm-y was deposited in a film on the sides of the glass. The 

 lecture was earnestly listened to throughout, and there were frequent 



