
262 
KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 

into rain, and from it rain is falling. Yet 
the upper part is generally unseen, except 
in partial showers ; for its base most com- 
monly spreads out into one con‘inued sheet, 
and obscures the sky. When this sheet 
breaks, and the sun’s bright rays dart through 
the opening, our hearts grow more light, and 
nature seems more beautiful than ever; for 
this, as we well know, is the sign that 
the rain is about to cease. This breaking- 
up of the sheet of cloud is not entirely 
caused by the sun’s power, as one might 
imagine, but by the clouds ceasing to arrive 
in sufficient quantities to keep up the con- 
densation of the vapor into rain. On the 
gathering of a storm, the cumulo-stratus often 
presents a magniticent bank of clouds. This 
in different parts becomes converted into the 
nimbus. From the latter the lightning 
flashes, frequently causing it to appear in 
one blaze of light, from the base to the crown. 
Such is the case in storms. But showers are 
often caused without the different kinds of 
cloud uniting into one. Whenever there are 
two layers of cloud spreading out, one above 
the other, condensation may take place; the 
rain-cloud may form, and a shower of rain 
descend upon the earth. 
The course of the clouds is as fleeting as 
the wind; for it is the wind that bears them 
along. We have often seen one layer of 
cloud moving in one direction through the 
sky, while, above this, another layer is 
moving in just the opposite direction. They 
are wafted along by the currents of the wind, 
and these blow from all points of the sky. 
Whenever they strike against the summits 
of the mountains, they become condensed, 
and fall as rain. And it is because the pre- 
sence of mountains favors the condensation 
of the clouds, by changing the direction of 
the currents of air, that mountainous coun- 
tries are so subject to rain. 
These particulars are carefully abridged 
from ‘‘ Hogg’s Instructor,’ a publication of 
which we have several times spoken in terms 
of praise. 

EPITAPH ON AN INFANT. 
— 
Art thou so soon, sweet infant, laid to sleep 
In the cold lap of death, to wake no more ?— 
"Tis for ourselves, not thee, that we must weep. 
For thee the world no sorrow has in store, 
No care ;—nor wilt thou ever feel again 
The bitter lot of sickness or of pain. 
And oh! how blest! Ere sin thy soul could harm 
Thou wast borne hence, where faith may thee 
behold 
Encircled by thy gracious Saviour’s arm,— 
One of the flock within his peaceful fold. 
He leads them all; but in his bosom bears 
The tender lambs. Such blessedness is theirs ! 

DO WE “ LIVE,’—OR “EXIST?” 
SEASONABLE THOUGHTS ON VENTILATION, 
ETC., HTC. 
How MANY INDIVIDUALS ARE THERE, 
who die every year from the circumstance 
of their breathing foul air ! 
THE effects which air, pure air, produces 
on the health of man; on the discharge of 
his mental and bodily functions; on his 
spirits, his temper, almost his disposition ; 
on the vigor of his memory, the correctness 
of his judgment, the brilliancy of his 
imaginings—are so great, that we make no 
apology for bringing before our readers the 
following observations, suggested by the 
perusal of a valuable medical work (to which | 
we have more than once been indebted) by 
Dr. Robertson, of Buxton. 
The importance of ventilation, much as it 
has been urged on public attention, is not yet 
sufficiently estimated. Are not bed-rooms 
still built much too dow and small? Are 
not beds still surrounded with closely-drawn 
curtains? Are not bed-rooms still crammed 
with furniture, and their floors covered with 
carpeting—at times even under the beds, 
where a carpet is not, cannot be wanted? 
Do not people sleep with the door and 
windows of the bed-room closed, with a light 
—and frequently, that light gas, burning in 
their bed-rooms ? Can it be contended that 
they either understand ventilation, or appre- 
ciate its value ? 
The atmospheric air, composed principally 
of two elements, oxygen and nitrogen, is 
changed by respiration; and _ consists, 
before inspiration, of twenty-one parts of 
oxygen to seventy-nine parts of nitrogen, or 
twenty one per cent. of oxygen. It contains 
after expiration, probably at the lowest 
computation, three anda half per cent. of 
carbonic acid. Thus on an average, twenty- 
seven and a half cubic inches of carbonic 
acid are evolved from the lungs every 
minute, or about forty thousand cubic inches 
in twenty-four hours, which weigh nearly 
three pounds, and contain about eleven 
ounces. of carbon. 
Now the rapidity with which this viti- 
ation takes place, may be conceived by 
knowing the fact that at each respiration 
sixteen cubic inches of air are, on an average, 
deteriorated; and that about twenty such 
respirations are taken in a minute; therefore 
three hundred and twenty cubic inches of 
air are each minute poisoned by every indi- 
vidual, and rendered unfit for the support of 
life. The consequences which must follow, 
even on a simply chemical view of the 
matter, if a man is confined eight hours in a 
shut-up bed-room, are obvious enough. But 
this is not all: with the expired air a large 
quantity of watery vapor is exhaled from the 
