108 
AMERICAN AG-RICULTURIST. 
[SLLRcn, 
TICK! TICK! TICK! — Engraved for the American Agricxtlfurist. 
Two wonderful playthings I The child listens with 
astonishment and deligiit to the "tick, tick," of the 
walclv — the grandfather's smile of happiness, shows the 
pleasure he enjoys witli his precious little plaything, the 
baby. The cliild may well be interested by the wonder- 
ful instrument; it is a triumph of ingenuity, requiring 
the efforts of many men for a long period of lime to 
make it so nearly perfect. It appears almost like a living 
thing ; but it must be wound up every ilay. xi\\\X at last it 
will be worn out and useless. The child is animated by 
a power that will never cease. It \^ ill keep the body in 
nintion for many years perhnps, just as the main spring 
causes the wheels and the hands of the watch to revolve. 
You can feel the "lick" of this life clock, by placing 
your hand upon the wrist, or over the heart. At some 
lime those cunning fingers that now grasp the playtliing, 
tlie eyes that are lit up with pleasure, the lips moving 
with winning words, will be stilled by death, but the 
main spring, the spirit, will yet be active ; it is xvound -up 
for eternity. Nothing in this beautiful picture is more 
interesting, or more clearly shows tlie skill of the artist, 
t!ian the likeness of the two faces. Although many years 
are marked in deep lines on the clieeks of the old man, a 
heart full of love has kept his features pure and bright. 
No selfishness, or evil passion is there ; it is a face that 
any child would trust, and when the spirit that has made 
it so attractive passes :uvay, who can doubt that it will 
be beautiful, and fitted to live in a brighter world? 
Expansiou l>y Heat — Exception. 
We can hardly explain why., but it is a fact that almost 
every thing is expanded or made larger by heat. The 
blacksmith makes the wagon tire a little smaller than the 
wheel, and then heats it. The heat expands the iron 
and makes the tire so large that it will easily slip over 
the rim of the wheel. He then cools it quickly, so as not 
to burn the wood, and it siiilnks up with great power, 
binding the fellies, spokes and hub'togelher very strongly. 
The iron rails of the railway expand so as to touch each 
other in waim weather, and contract so much in very 
cold weather, that you can almost put your finger 
between the ends of the rails. The clock pendulum be- 
comes longer in warm weatlier and swings slower, while 
it shortens in cold weather and goes faster ; so with a 
watch spring. A dish of water even full when cold, will 
expand so as to overflow when heated, even far below 
boiling.— But between 39^^ and 32^, water expands. 
Seven quarts of water will expand so mucli by freezing 
that it will make eight quarts of solid ice. This is a very 
remarkable exception to the general rule that heat ex- 
pands and cold contracts bodies, and we can see the wis- 
dom of tlie Creator in so ordering it. If w ater kept con- 
tracting down to the ice point (32°) it would of course 
grow heavier and sink to the bottom, and tlie consequence 
■\\ould be that our rivers and lalies would become solid 
masses of ice, which would not thaw out in a whole sum- 
mer. Instead of tliis, tlie expanded, lighter ice floats on 
the surface, and being a noa-conducter of heat, it pro- 
tects the water below it from giving off much heat, and 
thus keeps it from freezing. As the water in freezing be- 
comes one-seventh part ligliter, one-eighth part of a cake 
of ice will float above the surface. So if we see an ice- 
berg, or a cake of ice, we may know that there is seven 
times as mucli ice in tlie water, as there is above it. — 
Questions, If an iceberg is one mile square and rises 100 
feet above the surface. (1) How many cubic feet of ice 
are there in all ? (2) How many pounds does it weigh, 
allowing a pint of water to weigh a pound, and one gal- 
lon to measure 231 cubic inches? Remember to cal- 
culate for the expansion of the water in freezing. 
ISraiiss are tlie Best /Fools. 
JIany of our readers will remember liow the mam- 
moth steamer Great Eastern was saved from shipwreck 
a few years ago, by the skill of an American engineer 
who happened to be a passenger on board. Some de- 
rangement of the rudder liad occurred during a severe 
storm. Tlie huge structure became unmanageable, and 
was being helplessly rolled about like a log by the furi- 
ous waves. The ship's carpenters had exhausted their 
ingenuity in trying to remedy the defect, and the case 
seemed almost hopeless, until Mr. Towle, the American 
referred to. contrived a very simple apparatus by which 
the sailor were enabled to control the ship's movements, 
and bring her safely to port. lie had learned how to use 
his brains. A young man lost the use of his right arm, 
by paralysis ; but his brains are left, and right serviceable 
he has made tiiem. They have furnished the industiy, 
perseverance and pluck, by which his left hand has been 
trained to guide the pencil and brush of the artist, and 
his name already ranks high in the profession. The 
Agriculturist owes some of its finest embellishments to 
his talent. A blind man invented one of the most suc- 
cessful attachments to the reaping machine ; another by 
his observations on bees, awakened an interest on the 
subject that has led hundreds of sharp-eyed investigators 
to make tlicir curious habits a study, adding important 
ideas to the worhl's knowledge, and luxuiy and wealth 
to its stores. The list of such is too long to recount 
here, but it is by no means yet complete ; many as 
yet unknown are preparing to enter it : your brains, 
young reader, rightly used may help to swell the number 
