194 
boys’ department. 
is felt; this is because they evaporate very rapidly, 
and (in passing to a rarer state), abstract heat from 
the skin. If the evaporation were slower, just as 
much heat would be carried away, though we 
should not, of course, feel it so sensibly. Now, 
during warm weather, or when we are heated by 
exercise, perspiration flows freely from every pore, 
and as this is constantly evaporating, it takes the 
super-abundant heat from the system, and thus we 
are enabled to endure even a very high temperature 
with but slight inconvenience. 
Another remarkable fact connected with this sub¬ 
ject, will close this communication. It is a law of 
nature, applicable to all matter, that bodies are ex¬ 
panded by heat, and contracted when cooling. 
When the air of a room is heated by a fire, that por¬ 
tion which is highest, will always be found to be 
the warmest, the heated air rising in consequence 
of being made light by expansion. The same is 
true of water, which is always found to be lightest 
nearest the surface. Now the question presents 
itself : Why is not ice first formed at the bottom ? 
The reason is, because an All-wise Creator has 
otherwise ordained. Nature has been closely in¬ 
terrogated by chemists, and on this point they in¬ 
form us that water, when approaching the freezing 
point (32° above zero, of Fahrenheit’s thermome¬ 
ter), condenses until within seven or eight degrees, 
or at 39° or 40° above zero, and here the conden¬ 
sation ceases, and expansion follows until the tem¬ 
perature descends to the freezing point. That 
portion of water, therefore, which first reaches the 
freezing point, is rarer and lighter than that which 
is not so cold, and consequently will rise to the sur¬ 
face. Here, then, we have an exception to the law 
of nature just mentioned, and for a very wise rea¬ 
son. (6) If it were otherwise, ice would then form 
first at the bottom, and in large collections of water, 
more would be frozen in the winter, than could be 
thawed in the summer. Our lakes and rivers 
would be changed to solid ice, and soon “the face 
of nature would be transformed into a frozen chaos.” 
Thus science is continually unfolding additiona' 
evidences of me agency of Omnipotence in the con¬ 
trivance and regulation of all the mechanism of 
matter; and when scrutinizing the machinery of 
nature, ana admiring the wonderful skill displayed 
in all its parts, we should never lose sight of the 
Supreme Architect of all. J. McKinstry. 
Greenport , N. T., May 1st , 1848. 
(а) In removing the pressure or weight of the 
atmosphere, by producing a vacuum, or ascending 
high hills or mountains, water will boil at a some¬ 
what lower temperature than 212°. Thus, on the 
Peak of Teneriffe, water boils at 192°, and at the 
top of Mont Blanc it boils at 183°. 
(б) Our correspondent has probably forgotten to 
tell us that there are other exceptions to this law, 
as it is a well-known fact that iron, antimony, and 
bismuth expand in passing from a fluid to a solid, 
or crystallizable state, as well as water (ice). These 
three metals, after being melted, expand instead of 
contracting, in becoming solid. Hence, a piece of 
cast iron, thrown on the surface of melted iron, 
will float, showing, that, it is more expanded, or 
lighter, in the solid than in the fluid state. This is 
a useful property of iron; for, in consequence of 
it, when it is cast in a mould, its expansion makes 
it fill the mould, and receives an exact impression, 
while other metals, which contract in becoming 
solid, do not take the form of the mould so com¬ 
pletely. Antimony, from having the same proper¬ 
ty, is used to form part of the alloy of which 
printers’ types are made. If gold and silver had 
the same property, in this respect, coin might be 
made more readily than at present, by casting ; but 
these metals contract in becoming solid, and there¬ 
fore, would not take a distinct impression from the 
mould, which effect it is necessary to produce by 
means of a stamp or die. 
ANECDOTES OF*ANIMALS, No. 3. 
A good horse story was told to me a short time 
ago, by a gentleman who was an eye-witness of the 
occurrence, which, if we will not call it an effort 
of reason , was at least one of memory of not a very 
common kind. 
A man in the western part of the state of Ohio, 
purchased a remarkably fine horse from a person 
who lived about thirty miles from his residence, 
and rode him to his future home, where he lived an 
easy and a happy life—turned out into rich pasture 
when not wanted for use. The only service re¬ 
quired of him, being to carry his kind master daily 
in his rides around the neighborhood. In short, no 
horse could be more fondled and caressed, nor do 
less to earn a livelihood. 
When he had lived there about six years, he was 
one day feeding near the house, cropping the rich 
grass and curvetting in the fullness of animal 
spirits, when his master observed that he stopped 
suddenly, and stood perfectly still for several 
minutes, looking as if he was debating some impor¬ 
tant question in his own mind. He then, as sud¬ 
denly pricked up his ears, raised his tail, and started 
off at a brisk trot on the road leading to his former 
residence. As he did not return, he was followed 
and easily traced to his old home, where he had 
safely arrived, and taken possession of his former 
quarters in the stable, seemingly much pleased with 
the whole adventure. 
Eutawah. E. S. 
Comparison of Speed. —A French Scientific 
Journal states that the ordinary rate per second, of 
a man walking, is 4 feet; of a good ho^se in har¬ 
ness, 12 feet; of a reindeer, in a sledge on the ice, 
16 feet, of an English race horse, 43 feet; of a 
hare, 88 eet; of a good sailing ship, 14 feet; of 
the wind, 82 feet; of sound, 1,130; of a twenty- 
four-poundtr cannon ball, 1,000 feet; and of air, 
in re-filling a vacuum, 13,000 feet. 
Influence of Climate on the Longevity of 
Plants. —It is an interesting fact, perhaps not 
known to all, that some trees and plants, cultivated 
as annuals in one country, become biennial, or pe¬ 
rennial in another. For instance, the tree cotton 
(Gossypium arboreum), in the West Indies, con¬ 
tinues for five or six years; whereas, in our south¬ 
ern states it is only an annual. In a similar man¬ 
ner, the castor-bean plant ( Ricinus communis ), with¬ 
in the tropics, attains the size of a tree, or shrub, 12 
or 15 feet in height, of several years’ standing, bul 
with us endures only for a few months. 
