AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
297 
more than one kind of atoms. Will it not 
be interesting to examine these compound 
bodies and find out what they are made of? 
Well, we shall do this by and by. 
19. We have now learned that all things 
we can think of are composed, or made up 
of a great number of little atoms, each one 
of which is much smaller than the smallest 
particle of dust that we can see. It is diffi¬ 
cult for us to conceive how very small these 
atoms are. In a wall built of small round 
stones, we can readily think of the separate 
stones, because we can see each of them. 
So we can think of each grain of sand in a 
large sand-stone; but to think of each little 
grain ofsand as being made up of ten thousand 
other still smaller grains or atoms, puzzles 
the mind. But we must fix it in our minds 
that it is so. We must also think the same 
of a piece of iron, wood, flesh, &c. It. will, 
perhaps, be as well for us to think of these 
little atoms as all being little round bodies. 
20. This paper is made up of myriads of 
little atoms, and perhaps there are a hun¬ 
dred thousand of them piled up upon each 
other to make a single thickness. 
21. Look at the gold leaf that is used to 
gild the letters upon the back of a book. 
This leaf consists of a great number of little 
atoms placed side by side and upon each 
other, to make up the thickness of the gold 
leaf; and yet it will take five thousand of 
these gold leaves used in gilding to make one 
leaf as thick as this paper. 
22. Take the smallest animal you can con¬ 
ceive of, and how small must be the little 
atoms that are piled up in regular order to 
make the eyes, mouth, lungs, blood-vessels, 
&c., of that little animal. Well, we know 
that there are animals so small, that many 
millions of them can live in a single drop of 
water, and yet have ample room to swim 
about without coming in contact with each 
other ! They all have eyes, mouths, blood¬ 
vessels, &c., and some of them have a cov¬ 
ering of little hairs. How small must be 
the atoms which are used to form these eyes, 
mouths, hairs, &c. Yet of such small atoms 
is the whole woirld made up! And, more 
than this, in every one of these bodies, ex¬ 
cept those mentioned in 18, there are at least 
two or three, or more, different kinds of little 
atoms. 
23. In solid bodies, like iron, wood, &c., 
these atoms adhere or stick together. When 
we break or cut a solid body, we separate 
one mass of particles from another mass. 
The unknown power which causes these 
particles to cling together so strongly, we 
call cohesion, or cohesive attraction. In 
some bodies, like iron, it is very strong, and 
great force is required to overcome this 
cohesive attraction so as to separate the 
smallest mass of particles. This term, co¬ 
hesive attraction, is generally used to de¬ 
scribe the unknown force which holds to¬ 
gether particles sf the same kind; for exam¬ 
ple, it holds together a mass of particles of 
wood to form a stick, or a'mass of particles 
of iron to form a rod. 
24. There is another unknown power 
which causes different kinds of atoms to 
ling together. This we call chemical at¬ 
traction. We stated.in 4 that there are, in 
every little particle of chalk, three kinds of 
atoms entirely different from each other. 
It is chemical attraction that causes these 
different atoms to unite together to form the 
little particle of chalk ; and then cohesive 
attraction causes the little particles of chalk 
to adhere together to form a larger mass. 
Now remember, that in every compound 
body you see, there are two forces acting to 
keep the little atoms together in a solid mass. 
First, chemical attraction unites together two 
or more different kinds of atoms, to form a 
very small particle of the perfect substance ; 
and then cohesive attraction holds together 
the little particles thus formed, so that they 
make up a larger mass. 
Chemical attraction is also called affinity, 
and we shall find, as we go on, that, this lies 
at the foundation of all chemical action. 
25. We have just seen that cohesive at¬ 
traction, when strong, keeps the particles so 
firmly together that they constitute a solid 
body. Sometimes this force is so weak that 
the particles can be moved about among 
themselves ; as, for example, in a mass of 
sand or shot. Water is very much like lead 
in the form of small shot. We put our hand 
in and move the particles about easily. 
There is little cohesion between the shot or 
between the particles of water. We can 
pour either of them in a stream from one 
vessel into another. The difference between 
the two is, that the separate particles of 
water are infinitely smaller than the small¬ 
est shot we can make. Now, there are many 
substances the particles of which can be 
moved among themselves, such as quick¬ 
silver, water, milk, molasses, oils, air, gases, 
&c. These are all called fluids, or flowing 
bodies. 
26. When the particles are comparatively 
near each other, so as to form a visible mass 
like water, milk, &c., they are called liquids ; 
and when the small particles are compara¬ 
tively distant from each other, as they are in 
the air, they are then called gases. 
27. We then see that when cohesion is 
strong we have solids, when it is quite weak 
we have liquids, and when there is no cohe¬ 
sion we have gases. We learned from 11 
that heat would destroy cohesion ; that 
heating solid ice changed it to liquid water; 
and that still more heat, changed it to vapor 
or gas. 
Now study over both chapters, until you 
can hold in your mind-all that has been writ¬ 
ten, and until you can think of all the bodies 
you see, just as they have|been described. 
The further you advance the more easily 
understood and the more interesting will the 
subject become. We feel quite sure that if 
you will master thoroughly the first few 
chapters, you will afterwards seldom need 
urging to study every line carefully. 
Temperance on Railways. —The superin¬ 
tendent of the New-York and Erie Railroad 
—D. C. McCallum—has adopted a policy re¬ 
specting the sale of ardent spirits, in all the 
depots along the line, which will meet the 
commendation of all good and sensible men. 
This is no less than a prohibition to sell in¬ 
toxicating liquors in any shape. We hope 
other railroads will follow this excellent ex¬ 
ample, 
SOMERSET COUNTY (N J ) AGRICULTURAL SO 
CIETY. 
By invitation we attended the annual 
meeting of this young but flourishing society, 
which was held at Somerville, on Wednes¬ 
day of last. week. The society was first or¬ 
ganized May, 1853, and now numbers near 
500 members. In October last a very suc¬ 
cessful exhibition was held at Somerville, 
the proceeds of which, together with the 
membership fees, paid some $800 in pre¬ 
miums, and leaves a considerable fund on 
hand, which is to be in part devoted to pro¬ 
curing a suitable tent for future exhibition. 
A few determined men, among whom were 
the retiring President I. R. Cornell, the Sec¬ 
retary J. H. Frasee,and others, assumed the 
responsibility of paying the expenses and 
premiums of the exhibition, while there was 
as yet scarcely anything in the treasury. 
During the past summer, the society held 
an exhibition for trial of mowers, and a sub¬ 
sequent one for reapers, reports of which 
have been before published. 
The meeting in the forenoon of last Wed¬ 
nesday was advertised to be for business 
matters only, yet the attendance of farmers 
was nearly fifty—a larger number than we 
remember to have seen together, elsewhere, 
on a similar occasion. This speaks well for 
the interest manifested, and for future suc¬ 
cess. Provision was made for procuring an 
act of incorporation ; and a number of dele¬ 
gates were appointed to attend the meeting 
at Trenton, on the 25th inst., for organizing 
a State society. 
The President, Mr. I. R. Cornell, proposed 
to carry out his views of democracy by de¬ 
clining to be a candidate for reelection. The 
following officers were chosen for the pres¬ 
ent year : 
J. V. D. Vredenburgh, President. 
J. Hatfield Frasee, Secretary. 
H. M. Gaston, Treasurer. 
An Executive Committee, of seven, and a 
Vice President, for each town, were also 
chosen. We did not procure their names. 
In the afternoon a large number of farmers 
assembled, and after closing up a little un¬ 
finished business of the morning, they list¬ 
ened to an hour’s address, from Mr. Judd of 
the American Agriculturist, upon the import¬ 
ance of animal and vegetable home-produced 
manures ; the inefficiency of chemistry in 
the present state of that science to decide 
the exact wants of the soil; the necessity of 
accurate experiments upon characteristic 
soils, made under the immediate direction of 
competent committees appointed by agricul¬ 
tural associations ; the value of poultry, both 
as a profitable article for market and espe¬ 
cially as producing a most, excellent home- 
guano, &c. 
Dr. Ditchell, of the State Geological Sur¬ 
vey, followed with interesting remarks upon 
the progress of that survey, and its import 
ance to the agricultural interests of the State 
He gave several illustrations of the results 
already arrived at in ascertaining the loca 
