THE CULTIVATOR. 
133 
erful and astonishing effects. “ What can be more strange,” says a 
profound and energetic writer,* “ than that an ounce weight should 
balance hundreds of pounds by the intervention of a few bars of thin 
iron 1” And when we consider that all the mechanical powers may 
be reduced to the lever, the wheel and axle, the fully the inclined 
plane, the wedge, and the screw, how astonishing are the forces ex¬ 
erted, and the effects produced, by their various combinations in 
wheel-carriages, mills, cranes, thrashing-machines, and pile-engines !f 
Hydrostatics teaches us the wonderful fact, that a few pounds of wa¬ 
ter, without the aid of ar.y machinery, will, by mere pressure, pro¬ 
duce an almost irresistible force; or, in other words, that any quan¬ 
tity of fluid, however small, may be made to counterpoise any quan¬ 
tity, however large: and hence a very strong hogshead has been 
burst to pieces, and the water scattered about with incredible force, 
by means of water conveyed through a very small perpendicular 
tube of great length. On the same principle, and by the same 
means, the foundations of a large building might be shattered and 
the whole structure overthrown. Magnetism discloses to us such 
singular facts as the following:—that a small piece of steel, when 
rubbed by the loadstone, and nicely poised, will place itself in a di¬ 
rection nearly north and south, so as to point nearly towards the 
poles of the world—that the north and south poles of two loadstones 
will attract, and two north or two south poles repel each other; and 
that the power of a magnet will pass through a thick board, and turn 
round a compass needle with great velocity, though placed at a con¬ 
siderable distance. 
The science of optics likewise discloses a variety of astonishing 
truths, and is no less replete with wonders. How wonderful the 
fact, that light proceeds from the sun, and other luminous bodies, 
with a velocity of 195,000 miles in a moment of time; that myriads 
of myriads of rays are flying off from visible objects towards every 
point of the compass, crossing each other in all directions, and yet 
accurately depicting the same images of external objects in thou¬ 
sands of eyes at the same moment,—that the thousands of millions 
of rays of light which proceed from any particular object must be 
compressed into a space not more than one-eighth of an inch in di¬ 
ameter, before they can enter the pupil of the eye and produce vi¬ 
sion,—that the images of all the objects which compose an exten¬ 
sive landscape are depicted on the bottom of the eye, in all their co¬ 
lours and relative proportions, within a space less than half an inch 
in diameter,—that the eye can perceive objects distinctly at the dis¬ 
tance of six inches, and likewise at the distance of ten, fifty, or 
a hundred miles, serving the purposes both of a microscope and 
a telescope, and can be instantaneously adjusted to serve either as 
the one or as the oth6r,—-and that the variegated colouring which 
appears in the scenery of nature is not in the objects themselves, 
but in the light which falls upon them, without which all the scenes 
of creation would wear a uniform aspect, and one object would be 
undistinguishable from another! 
The instrument which the science of optics has been the means of 
constructing are also admirable in their effects, and productive of 
rational entertainment. How wonderful that, by means of an optic 
lens, an image is depicted in a dark chamber, on a white table, in 
which we may perceive the objects of an extensive landscape de¬ 
lineated in all their colours, motions, and proportions, and so accu¬ 
rately represented, that we even distinguish the countenances of in¬ 
dividuals at the distance of a mile,—that we can see objects dis¬ 
tinctly when a thick board, or piece of metal, is interposed between 
them and our eye—that the images of objects can be made to hang 
in the air either upright or inverted, and that representations either 
of the living or of the dead can be made to start up instantly before 
the view of a spectator in a darkened room,—that, by admitting in¬ 
to a chamber a few rays of white light from the sun, through a 
prism, all the colours of light may be seen beautifully painted on a 
piece of paper,—that a single object may be multiplied to. an inde¬ 
finite number, and that a few coloured bits of glass may be made, by 
reflection, to exhibit an infinite diversity of beautiful and variegated 
forms ! How admirable the effects of the telescope, by which we 
may see objects as distinctly at the distance of two or three miles 
as if they were placed within a few yards of us; by which we can 
penetrate into the celestial regions, and behold the distant wonders 
of the planetary system, and the millions of stars dispersed through 
infinite space, as distinctly as if we were actually transported by a 
supernatural power several hundreds of millions of miles into the 
regions of the firmanent! And how curious the circumstance, that 
we can, by this instrument, contemplate such objects in all directions 
and positions,—that we can view them either as erect, or as turned 
upside down ,—that we can perceive the spires, houses, and windows 
of a distant city, when our backs are turned directly opp< site to i., 
and our faces in a contrary direction—the rings of Saturn and ilie 
moons of Jupiter, when we are looking downwards witli our backs 
turned to these objects—that we can make an object on our right 
hand or our left appear as if directly before us, and can cause a ter- 
restial landscape to appear above us, as if it were suspended in the 
sky. By the help of the microscope we can exhibit to a number of 
spectators at the same moment, a small animal, scarcely distinguish¬ 
able by the naked eye, magnified to the size of ten or fifteen inches in 
length, and distinguish not only its limbs, joints, mouth and eyes, but 
even the motions of its bowels, and other internal movements; and in 
every department of nature can contemplate an assemblage of beau¬ 
ties, delicate contextures, and exquisite contrivances, which excite 
the highest admiration, and which would otherwise have appeared 
incredible and incomprehensible to the human mind. 
The sciences of electricity and galvanism likewise display facts 
* Lord Brougham. 
t To illustrate the importance of mechanics in aid of human power, we 
quote the following experiment from Babbage on the Economy of Machinery. 
“ A block of squared stone was taken for the subject of experiment: 
lbs. 
1. Weight of stone. 1080 
2. In order to drag this stone along the floor of the quarry, roughly 
chiselled, it required a force equal to... 758 
3. The same stone dragged over a floor of planks, required,. 
4. The same stone placed on a platform of wood, and dragged over 
a floor of planks, required. 
5. After soaping the two surfaces of wood which slid over each oth¬ 
er, it required... 182 
6. The same stone was now placed upon rollers of three inches di¬ 
ameter, when it required to put it in motion along the floor of 
quarry .... 
7. To drag it by these rollers over a wooden floor. 
8. When the stone was mounted on a wooden platform, and the 
same rollers placed between that and a plank floor, it required 
“ From this experiment, it results that the force necessary to move a stone 
along the roughly chiselled floor of its quarry is nearly two-thirds of its weight; 
to move it along a wooden floor, three-fifths; by wood upon wood, five-ninths; 
if the wooden surfaces are soaped, one-sixth; if rollers are used on the floor 
of the quarry, it requires one thirty second part of the weight; if they roll 
over wood, one-f srtieth; and if they roll between wood, one-fiftieth of its 
weight. At each increase of knowledge, as well as on the contrivance of eve¬ 
ry new tool, human labor becomes abridged. The man who contrived rollers, 
invented a tool by which his power was quintupled. The workman who first 
suggested the employment of soap, or grease, was immediately enabled to 
move, without exerting a greater effort, more than three times the weight he 
could before.” 
652 
606 
34 
28 
22 
both curious and astonishing. How wonderful the operations of the 
electric fluid, which can suddenly contract the muscles of animals, 
and give a violent shock to a hundred or a thousand persons at the 
same moment—which moves with such amazing rapidity, that, in a 
few seconds of time, it might be made to fly to the utmost regions 
of the globe—which melts iron wire, sets fire to gunpowder and other 
inflammable substances, destroys the polarity of the magnetic needle, 
and promotes the vegetation of plants and the perspiration of ani¬ 
mals—which can be drawn in vivid sparks from different parts of the 
human body, and made to descend from the clouds in streams of fire ! 
And how powerful and astonishing the effects of the galvanic agen¬ 
cy—which makes charcoal burn with a brilliant white flame, de¬ 
composes water into its elementary parts, and causes platina, the 
hardest and heaviest of the metals, to melt as readily as wax in the 
flame of a candle—which produces the most violent convulsions on 
the muscular system, causes a hare to move its feet, and a fowl to 
clap its wings, with force and energy, after life is extinct —throws the 
countenance, even of a dead man, into appalling grimaces and con¬ 
tortions, and excites the most rapid movements in his hands and 
limbs, to the horror and astonishment of all beholders. 
The science of chemistry, throughout all its department, is no less 
replete with wonders. How astonishing are many of the facts which 
it discloses, of which the following are merely specimens;—That all 
the productions of nature in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, are 
composed of a very few simple substances, many of which are invi¬ 
sible gases—that water is chiefly composed of an inflammable prin¬ 
ciple—that the acids, such as aquafortis, and oil of vitriol, are form¬ 
ed of different kinds of air —that an invisible fluid, one of the ingre¬ 
dients of the air we breathe, will cause a rod of iron to burn vvith 
brilliancy, and phosphorus to produce a splendor which dazzles the 
eyes of every beholder—that the diamond, notwithstanding its va. 
I lue and brilliancy, is composed of the same materials as coal —that 
