26 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
leisure moments in devising new schemes 
for plunder, or, as the poet says— 
"E'en in penance planning sins anew." 
But when the ordinary prisoner, who has 
not adopted crime as a "profession," 
leaves the jail, he finds that the- work 
which occupied his mind there is no 
longer of any use to him, and therefore 
he is obliged to fall back upon crime in 
order to maintain his existence. All this 
points to the great lesson that every man 
should be taught some useful trade or 
profession, and that every boy should be 
encouraged to use his hands as well as 
his head. Our prison statistics show that 
very few criminals ever learned a trade. 
Indeed, a good trade may be said to be 
the great preventive of crime, and if our 
prisons are to be anything more than 
mere houses of punishment, if they are 
to be made in any sense reformatories, 
they must become some great trade- 
teaching schools. 
We make no apology for bringing these 
truths to the notice of our boys. The 
boys of to-day will be the rulers of to-mor- 
row, and it is necessary that they should 
be imbued with clear and sound ideas on 
all these points, and not be at the mercy 
of demagogues and politicians. It is not 
the province of the Young Scientist to 
teach political economy, but when this 
department of science touches subjects 
with which we have to do, it would be 
wrong to ignore it. 
One of the greatest difficulties that 
besets the path of the amateur mechanic 
is the care and attention demanded by 
his tools. When a new tool is obtained 
in good working order, the young ama- 
teur is apt to think it should continue to 
remain in that condition for an unlimited 
period. We frequently find the first work 
executed after a new supply of tools has 
been received, to be of a better quality 
and finer finish than subsequent produc- 
tions. It will puzzle many to understand 
why this is so ; but if the tools of the oper- 
ator should be examined, and compared 
wath the condition they were in when first 
used, the mystery will vanish, as the 
tools will be found blunt, out of shape, 
and perhaps full of small breaks. The 
"soles," or bottoms of the planes— if of 
wood— will be found out of truth, twisted, 
sprung, or hollow transversely ; the saws 
dull, or, if an attempt has been made to 
file them, the teeth are unequal in length, 
irregular in size, and filed to all kinds of 
angles and shapes; the oil-stone will be 
clogged up with oil and dirt, and the 
squares, chisels, gauges, and other tools 
will be found scattered about the work- 
shop or bench in beautiful confusion. 
The most expert workman can not make 
good work with tools out of order; he 
may make good work with inferior tools, 
as his skill as a workman will enable him 
to put them in order for the occasion. 
How difficult, and how discouraging, 
then, must it be for the young amateur 
to make fair work, with tools in bad 
order ? Three-fourths of the discourage- 
ments that take place in amateur work 
are the results of using inferior tools, or 
tools out of order ; and we propose to aid 
the young— and old— amateurs, through 
the columns of the Young Scientist, to 
overcome these difficulties, by giving- 
them reliable information regarding the 
care of tools, and also of the kind and 
quality of tools most suitable for their 
purposes. To accomplish this we have 
secured the services of a person whose 
knowledge of the use of tools is very ex- 
tensive, and who, under the incognito of 
"Our Ned," will monthly discuss these 
matters in our columns in a way that 
may be easily followed by our youthful 
readers. 

Among the Stars. 
JANUAKY, 1883. 
(All Computations are for the Latitude and 
Meridian of New York City.) 
Mercury is brightest as an evening star Jan- 
uary 19-22, being at greatest angular distance 
(18" 32'), east of the Sun on the 22d. He is situ- 
ated in tiie 20th degree of Capricornus, 20° S.W. 
of the A of Aquarius. The bright star, Fonial- 
haut, in the Southern Fish, which is further 
south and sets 19 m. later, will not be as bright. 
Mercury sets : 
D. H. M. H. M. 
Jan. 15 6 17 eve. 1 19 after sunset. 
" 20 6 32 " 1 28 
" 25 6 35 " 1 25 
in each case 6° 13' north of the sunset point. 
