^ 108 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[IMAUcri, 
Two wonderful playthings 1 The child listens with 
astonishment and delight to the “ tick, tick,” of the 
watch—the grandfather’s smile of happiness, shows the 
pleasure he enjoys with his precious little plaything, the 
baby. The child may well be interested by llic 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 
tiling ; but it must be wound up every day, and at last it 
will he worn out and useless. The child is animated by 
a power that will never cease, it will keep the body in 
motion for many years perhaps, just as the main spring 
causes the wlieels 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 
time those cunning fingers that now grasp the plaything, 
the eyes that are lit up with pleasure, the lips moving 
\rith winning words, will be stilled by death, but the 
main spring, the spirit, will yet he active ; it is ivouitd up 
for eternity. -Nothing in this beautiful picture is more 
interesting, or more clearly shows the skill of the artist, 
tlian the likeness of the two fiiccs. Although many years 
arc marked in deep linos on the cheeks 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 away, who can doubt that it will 
bo beautiful, and fitted to live in a brighter world? 
12xpfnisi«« fliry BtteaS,—Kxcoptiosa, 
Wo can hardly explain why, but it is a fact that almost 
every thing is expanded or made larger by heat. The 
blacksmith makes Ihi- wagon tiic a little .smaller than the 
wheel, and then heats it. 'I'he heat expands the iron 
and makes the tire so large that it will easily slip over 
the rim of the wheel. lie then cools it quickly, so as not 
to burn the wood, and it shrinks up with great power, 
binding the fellies, spokes and hub together very strongly. 
Tire iron rails of the railway expand so as to touch each 
other in warm 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 weather and swdngs slower, while 
it shortens in cold weather and goes faster ; so with a 
wmteh spring, A dish of water even full when cold, will 
expand so as to overflow when lieated, even far below- 
boiling.—But between and 32°, water expands. 
Seven quarts of water will expand so much by freezing 
that it will make eight quarts of solid ice. This is a very 
remarkable exception to the general rule that heat e.x- 
p.ands and cold contracts bodies, and we can see the wis¬ 
dom of the Creator in so ordering it. If water kept con¬ 
tracting down to the ice point (32°) it would of course 
grow heavier and siidv to the bottom, and the consequence 
would be that our rivers and lakes would become solid 
masses of ice, which would not thaw out in a whole sum¬ 
mer. Instead of this, the exiianded, lighter ice floats on 
the surface, and being a non-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 lighter, 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 
limes as much ice in the water, as there is above it.— 
Questions. If an iceberg is one mile square and rises 100 
feet above the .surface, (1) Ilow many cubic feet of ice 
are there in all? (2) Ilow many pounds does it weigh, 
allowing a pint of vrater 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. 
IBraisis are tSao SBe.st .'I'ools. 
Many of our readers will remember how the mam¬ 
moth steamer Great Eastern was saved from shipwreck 
a few years ago, by the skill of an American engineer 
who happened to bo a iiassengcr 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 siiip’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 lier safely to port. He had-learned how to use 
his brains.-A young man lost the use of his right arm, 
by paralysis ; but his brains arc left, and l iglit serviceable 
he has made them. Tiiey have furiushcd the industiy, 
perseverance and pluck, by which Ids 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 invcntcrl 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 their curious habits a study, adding important 
ideas to the world’s knowledge, and luxury 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 braiu.s. 
young reader, rightly used may help to swell the number 
