192 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
[May, 
TOYS * mm ® 9 WLWMMSo 
The Doctor’s Talks. 
Having in the last two months given a number of illus¬ 
trations of what is meant by the “Center of Gravity,” 
and shown how necessary it is for us to observe the laws 
that govern it, it is time to say 
something about Gravity. Had 
I thought of taking up this sub¬ 
ject, I should have begun farther 
back, and first described some 
other things about matter. Now 
I shall have to answer the ques¬ 
tion that will occur to all of you 
—“ What is matter? ”—It is the 
general name for whatever oc¬ 
cupies space—without regard 
to its kind, everything that we 
can test by our senses, every¬ 
thing that has length, breadth, 
and thickness, comes under 
this general term. A body is 
any separate portion of matter 
whether large or small. Matter 
has several properties, or qual¬ 
ities, belonging to all its forms. 
For example, one of these is 
magnitude; we can not imagine 
jfjg j_GRAVITY any portion of matter so small 
that it does not occupy some 
space, does not have surfaces. Another property of 
matter is called by the rather long name, impenetra¬ 
bility, which means that two bodies can not oc¬ 
cupy the same space at the same time. There are 
several other properties of matter, some of which can be 
Fig. 2. —BOX OF BALLS OF DIFFERENT KINDS. 
shown by interesting experiments, which I hope to tell 
you about at another time, but now we must stick to our 
gravity. We know that matter changes its form and its 
place—it is acted upon by several forces. One of these 
surface of the earth would be in strange confusion. You 
have, no doubt, heard the story that Newton discovered 
the force of gravitation by seeing an apple fall from a 
tree ; this, like many other good old stories, has been 
denied, but the fact remains the same. The apple, when 
its hold upon the tree was broken, was attracted to the 
earth. This force is acting constantly upon all bodies near 
the earth’s surface. If you hold a stone in your hand the 
earth is constantly attracting it,and the force you exer- . : 
cise in keeping the stone from falling, tells you the I 
amount of this attraction, or, as we say, is its weight. 
All bodies are attracted equally by the earth, and all 
fall with equal rapidity. One of the experiments for 
showing this is given in figure 2; a box with a loose 
bottom contains balls of wood, cork, iron, lead, etc.; 
when the fingers that have held the bottom of the 
box closed are moved to allow it to fall, as in fig. 3, 
all these different substances fall with equal velo¬ 
city (fig. 4), and will strike the ground at precisely 
the same time. It makes no difference as to the 
time of falling whether the body be large or small. 
If we let a dozen bullets fall, they will reach the 
ground altogether; if the bullets are melted to¬ 
gether to form one large one, it will fall in the same 
time that the single small ones do. The slowness 
with which some bodies fall seems to contradict the 
statement that all are attracted alike. For example, 
a sheet of gold-leaf or a feather falls very slowly. 
This is owing to the resistance of the air, as may be 
shown by causing them to fall in a vessel from which 
the air has been removed, as in what is known as 
the “guinea and feather experiment.” It is notan 
experiment that you can readily make, but as I have 
performed it a great many times, I can tell you how 
it is done. There is required a glass cylinder, some 
four or five feet tall; this stands upon an air-pump, 
by means of which the air is pumped out of it. At 
the top of the cylinder, which is shown in fig. 5, are 
two little stages, which are held in a horizontal posi¬ 
tion by a button on the lower end of the central rod. 
On one of these stages is placed a coin, and on the 
other a feather ; by turning the rod, the stages both 
drop at once—they are shown in the engraving as 
down—when the coin and feather will fall at the same 
time; not having the air to interfere with it, the feather 
will reach the bottom just as soon as the coin. 
Our Puzzle-Box. 
CHARADES. 
1. My first is a serpent, my second is anger, my whole 
grows out of ambition. 
2. My first is a pronoun, my second a preposition, my 
third a pronoun, my fourth an article, and my whole 
a noted sea. 
3. My whole is the nickname of a certain girl who often 
fastens my first with my second. 
METAGRAM. 
In a certain title find—1. To squeeze. 2. To tear. 
3. To fasten. 4. To walk. 5. To drink. 
CONCEALED SQUARE WORD. 
1. Oh yes, Will, I stamped the letter properly. 
2. It will surely rain to-day I 
3. The long looked-for vessel has at last arrived. 
4. Robert ornamented his straw hat with a feather. 
C. E. A. 
pi. 
Shote how canton peek herit now rectess tough ton ot 
eb strutneed thiw het cetress fo hersot. 
though we don’t exactly see where the puzzle is. It is certainly 
a very droll picture, and the more you look at it, the more you 
don’t know who is who, or which is which. 
ANAGRAMS. 
1. Mitt, a Sachem. 2. Laughs not. 3. Accost true 
men. 4. Try a thin plum. 5. Find no gruel. 6. Fiction, 
Lady Nel. 7. Entice gallery. 8. So pour music. 9. O 
see sober rig 1 10. In sad cool set. 
ENIGMATICAL STORY. 
19, 6. 5, and 11, 3, 15 were two 12, 13, 10, 15 little boys, 
when they 2, 20, 17, 21, 15 that they could spend the 
Fourth of July at “Uncle Charlie’s.” They saw the 
soldiers with their 16, 10, 18. 11, 14, 7. 8—saw the fire¬ 
works. and 4, 9, 14, 18, 1 a most delightful day. As they 
went home they sang my whole (composed of 21 letters). 
PUZZLE. 
People all desire to have me, 
Lads and lasses, grave and gay— 
Everybody seeks and courts me, 
No one wishes me away: 
Tell me what my name and size— 
You see me here before your eyes. A. S. 
forces is called the Attraction of Gravitation. Every body 
—every particle of matter attracts every other particle of 
matter. The force of this attraction is proportionate to 
the mass. As the earth is the largest body, all substances 
Fig. 4.—THE BALLS. 
are attracted towards that, and we see this attraction most 
frequently in bodies falling to the earth. If we place 
some pieces of cork, or chips, in the center of a basin of 
water, they will in time be attracted to one another, and 
to the edge of the basin. If 
a large mass of lead and a 
email one be hung by strings, 
it has been found by very 
careful measurements, that 
the large mass attracts the 
email one—that is, the small 
piece will be drawn towards 
the larger one. The force 
which does this is the Attrac¬ 
tion of Gravitation. This has 
been shown also by an ex¬ 
periment at the Shehallion 
rocks, Scotland, where there 
is a very high precipice. 
A weight was suspended 
by a cord as in fig. 1, and by 
observing it from a distance 
with a telescope it was found 
that the line did not hang 
perpendicularly, but the 
weight was attracted towards 
the rocks. The attraction of gravitation then is common 
to all bodies, but it acts with a force proportioned to the 
quantity of matter in each. The earth, presenting the 
greatest quantity of matter, its attraction overcomes that 
of bodies for one another, otherwise things upon the 
CROSS WORD. 
My first is in bellow but not in roar, 
My next is in window but not in door, 
My third is in sonnet but not in verse. 
My fourth is in servant but not in nurse. 
My fifth is in apple but not in plum. 
My sixth is in finger but not in thumb. 
My seventh is in gloomy but not in sad, 
My eighth is in angry but not in mad. 
My ninth is in evening but not in day, 
My tenth is in merry but not in gay, 
My eleventh is in bonnets but not in hoods, 
My whole is a wild thing that grows in the woods. 
TRANSPOSITION. 
(Fill each blank with the same word transposed.) 
I saw a man going by with some-(full of flowers) 
in his arms; some of the-were broken, and on one 
was a large-. I told him to-and set them down 
by the-. 
RIDDLE. 
Mary and Alice, two nice girls, 
Wi re very fair to see, 
Sisters they were, indeed were twins, 
And so they two were me. 
Into the orchard once they went. 
And sought a certain tree, 
And searching in the grass around, 
They very soon found me. 
Agaiu. when Uncle John appeared, 
I heard my name repeated — 
“Let me," he said, “prepare that fruit 
Before you ladies eat it.” Aunt Sue. 
BIBLICAL ENIGMA. 
I am composed of 35 letters; 
My 2.8.28,16,31,21,11, was a man of distinguished valor. 
My 5,10, 20, 13.19,1, 34, were an ancient people. 
My 7, 15, 4, 31, 14. 6, 22, was a province of Asia Minor. 
My 11, 33. 20. 22, 16, 26, 32, is a range of mountains in 
Palestine. 
My 14, 10, 20, 29, 3 t 22,18, was a woman of eminent wis¬ 
dom and holiness. 
My 20, 10 , 17, 28, 22. 32, 25, was a village of Palestine. 
My 27, 13. 29, 35, 24, was something that Job said was 
made “by the breath of God.” 
My 30, 33,12, 7, 22, 3, 14, is an animal alluded to in Scrip¬ 
ture. 
My 35, 9, 23, 4,18, 22, 16, was a city of Persia. 
My whole is a Scriptural injunction. Isola. 
N 
ALPHABETICAL ARITHMETIC. 
DOIM)EOMRUSM(DRCQ 
D O I M 
U R M U 
T I M T 
T S D S 
I M R C 
ROOM 
C T U E 
CRD A. F. Conant. 
BIBLICAL DOUBLE ACROSTIC. 
1. A king of Israel. 
2. A figurative sentence, or discourse. 
3. A plant of the grass family. 
4. A nephew of David. 
5. A Samaritan prophet. 
Primals and finals name two women of the Bible. 
Isola. 
CHARADE. 
My first is a preposition: my second is a French pre¬ 
position ; my third is a weapon and friend ; my fourth is 
an impression ; and my whole is a desirable state. 
Louise. 
* 
* 
HOUR-GLASS PUZZLE. 
* 
* 
1. A representation. 2. A great ally of the house¬ 
keeper, 3. Very pleasant to see on the breakfast table. 
4. An important part of the tea-set. 5. What you some¬ 
times see on the tea-table. 6. Much used in jewelry. 
7. Something to love. 
The central letters, read downwards, name something 
we dread for ourselves, and should dread for others. 
ANSWERS TO PUZZLES IN THE MARCH NUMBER. 
Pi.—The California Constitutional Convention has adopted 
a section providing that three-fourths of a jury may render 
a verdict in all cases except felony. 
Illustrated Rebus. 
This is a very good world to live in. 
To lend, to spend, to buv, t.o give in, 
Bnt to beg, to borrow, to get a man's own 
'Tis the worst world that ever was known 
