298 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
More About Breath — Experiments. 
The experiments described last mouth on page 261, 
proved that breath coming from the lungs is a very dif- 
ferent thing from the air which enters them. They 
showed that air supports a flame, but breath will extin- 
guish it ; and that breath is heavier than air. Very many 
experiments have proved that whatever will not support 
a flame, is not fit to be 
breathed, but is destructive 
to life. A mouse dropped 
into a jar filled with your 
breath, would die if kept 
there a short time. Or if it 
or any other animal were 
simply placed in an air-tight 
bos, it would soon spoil the 
air by breathing it, and die 
unless fresh air were ad- 
mitted. A close room, wbere 
the air can not enter freely, 
is unfit for human beings. 
The first symptoms of being 
poisoned by breathing again 
what has passed from the 
lungs, is a dull, heavy feel- 
ing, accompanied by head- 
ache; this is followed by 
sickness at the stomach, 
fainting, andby death unless 
relief be given. Thousands 
of persons are partially poi- 
soned every day by the want 
of ventilation in rooms. 
Some thoughtful boy or girl 
may ask, "If this is true, 
why has not all the air in 
the world been spoiled long 
since, by the millions of hu- 
man beings and animals that 
have breathed it ?" Because 
the Creator has arranged a 
wonderful process by which 
the poisoned air is purified. 
To give a clear idea of this 
we must first know some- 
thing of what breath is. 
Two experiments will help 
us somewhat. Take a small 
handful of quicklime, pour 
water enough upon it to 
slake it, and also to have a 
quart or two remain in the 
vessel after the lime is slak- 
ed; it will settle, leaving 
the water looking nearly as 
clear as before, hut still con- 
taining a little of the lime 
dissolved. Pour this clear 
fluid into a wide mouthed 
jar. Next put some air- 
slaked lime into a bottle. 
Have a cork for the bottle 
fitted with a tube passing 
through it, conveniently 
bent, and long enough for 
one end to pass to the bot- 
tom of the jar containing the 
"lime-water," while the 
other end with the cork is in 
the bottle. Pour some vine- 
gar into the bottle, and im- 
mediately stop it with the 
cork and tube, and place the other end of the tube at the 
bottom of the jar of lime water. Bubbles will soon 
begin to pass up from the tube, the lime water will 
lose its transparency, and become of a milky color. 
Second Experiment.— Blow through a tube into the bot- 
tom of another jar of clear lime water for a minute or so, 
and that will also turn milky in appearance. Then it 
seems that what passed from the bottle through the bent 
tube into one jar of lime water, and what was sent 
through the other tube from the lungs, must be some- 
what alike, for they produce similar effects upon the lime 
water. Find out something more about this by reading 
or asking questions, before we have room to tell you 
more about it, and you will become more interested. 
The Home Guards. 
Oh, such fun I Mr. Editor. Ton see cousin George, 
from the City, is spending the summer at our house, and 
his father, who used to be one of the Zouaves, sent him 
over so many fireworks, and a whole suit of soldier 
clothes to keep up Fourth of July with. Then George 
■firast haven "training" he said, and we, that is, his? five 
cousins, must be his soldiers. " I can make a soldier 
cap," said Edward, and he soon folded one up from a 
newspaper, and stuck some lily leaves into it for a feath- 
er. Then he took the poker for a gun, Kate seized the 
shovel, Susie the tongs, Fanny the toasting fork, and I 
took father's cane, and at it we went pell mell. But Cap- 
tain George soon brought us into line, and we had regular 
fun, with " shoulder arms," "order arms," "present 
THE HOM 
(j U A R D S . — Drawn and Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
arms," etc. Here's a picture to show how we looked " at 
rest." But we did not stay at rest, for soon a pig came 
into the garden, through the gate which we had left open, 
and our Commander gave the order " charge," in a hurry. 
Away went piggy, over flower beds, among cabbages, and 
through the currant bushes, retreating in great disorder, 
and he was soon routed out of the garden. Nobody was 
wounded on our side, except Fanny, who fell into a rose 
bush and scratched her arm. After repairing the damage 
done by the enemy upon our earthworks, we marched in 
good order into the house, where we were reviewed by 
father and mother, and treated to a grand complimenta- 
ry dinner, which was properly disposed of. — Maf.y. 
[We print the above lively account of the exploits of a 
section of Home-guards, that their comrades throughout 
the country, who are fond of military exercise, may 
enjoy their share of the sport and the glory. — Ed.] 
A Freedman from down South was lately inspect- 
ing a horse-power in operation, driving a threshing ma- 
chine, when he broke out thus: "Mister, I have seen 
heaps of tilings in my life, but I never saw anything whar 
a horse could do his own work aud ride hisself too.** 
Our News-tooy Correspondent. 
. For some year or two past there have appeared from 
time to time articles in the Agriculturist from a cor- 
respondent then personally unknown to the editors. "We 
had a pleasant call from him a few weeks ago, and as fce 
was leaving he said : " This ground was very familiar to 
me some 20 years ago." Knowing that our office stands on 
the ground which the "Old 
Brick Church " occupied, 
we said: "You used to at- 
tend Dr. Spring's church.per- 
haps?" — "No," said he, 
"notmwcA — in those days — I 
nsed to sleep in the grass in- 
side the railing." — He went 
on to tell how he used to sell 
papers and black boots all 
day— spend his few pennies, 
some for food and the rest to 
get admission to some place 
of amusement or show in the 
evening, and sleep in the 
street at night. The narrow 
grass plot around the church 
made a very soft bed for tired 
boys, if the police did not 
notice them and drive them 
out. He told us, too, how he 
had, by avoiding bad com- 
panions and by diligence 
in business, acquired a com- 
petence and good education. 
The little boot-black he em- 
ployed looked up to him 
with mingled reverence and 
wonder, when he told him 
that at his age he nsed to 
brush boots for one to three 
cents, and never thought of 
getting five or ten cents as 
"boys do now-a-days. So he 
called to a mate, saying: 
"Look-er here, Big Billy, 
aint this a fine gent'man to 
ha' used to shine boots in 
the streets, same as us?" 
Xlie Great Fami- 
ly Meeting-. 
The newspapers for some 
months past have been filled 
with accounts of the great 
" Exposition," at Paris. 
How many of our young 
friends have taken pains to 
look out the exact meaning 
of that word "Exposition"? 
If yon examine it properly 
you will find it has a root 
and branch — (prefix, the 
grammarians call it,) — which 
together signify placing out. 
"When Mary invites hei 
young friends to tea, and 
brings out her new doll, her 
china dishes, and other treas- 
ures to show them, she has 
an "Exposition." The Em- 
peror Kapoleon invited all 
the world to come and see 
the fine things made in 
France, aud to bring with them what their countries 
could furnish to add to the show. People from every 
part of the globe accepted the invitation, and a very 
grand time they are having. Americans are proud to find 
that they have taken so many prizes, some of them for 
things which Europeans thought could be made nowhere 
as well as by workmen on their side of the Atlantic. 
But we think the best part of the whole performance is 
the family meeting. Brothers and sisters come together 
there, from almost every nation and race under the sun. 
The brown Japanese shakes hands with the sooty African 
and the white Englishman ; Egypt embraces Australia ; 
the Islanders of the Pacific exchange greetings with the 
Tartars of Asia, and men of different manners, customs, 
and religions, are learning that all belong to one great 
family. Kings and Emperors come together and talk 
over national affairs, and a kindly feeling is awakened 
which will do much to prevent wars in the future. All 
are learning that the skill, the wisdom and the excel- 
lence of the world is not confined to their own 
country, but that each nation has its share, more or 
less, and so they come to respect and sympathize 
with each other, find nckuowlcdse their brotherhood. 
