THE CULTIVATOR. 
145 
the compound Bein'? difficult to vaporise, it is, of all liquids, one of the 
most evaporable. Charcoal is the blackest substance with which we are 
acquainted—sulphur is of a most lively yellow hue; but the compound is 
as colourless as water. A new smell and taste are acquired, and, in a 
word, there is not one point of resemblance with the component. These 
facts are strikingly illustrative of the change of properties which follows 
on the exertion of chemical attraction between the ultimate particles of 
bodies.— Donovan’s Chemistry. 
CHAPTER OF FACTS. 
MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS. 
It the square of the diameter of a circle be multiplied by .7854 the pro¬ 
duct is the area. If the diameter of a sphere be cubed and multiplied by 
.6236, the product is the solidity; and the square of the diameter multi¬ 
plied by 3.14159 is the surface of the sphere. 
To find the contents of a cask, add double the square of the bung 
diameter to the square of the head diameter, and multiply this sum by the 
head of the cask; then divide the product by 1077 for all gallons of 280 
cubic inches each, or by 8S2 for wine gallons of 281 cubic inches each. 
Quincunx is one at each of four’eorners, and one in the middle. 
The convexity of the earth interposes to prevent the sight of distant 
bodies. Thus, at 600 yards, one inch would be concealed, or an object 
one inch high would not be seen in a straight line; at 900 yards^ two 
inches; at 1400 yards, five inches; at one mile, eight inches; three miles, 
six feet; four miles, ten feet; five miles, sixteen feet; six miles, twenty- 
four feet; ten miles, 66 feet; twelve miles, 95 feet; thirteen miles, 112 
feet, and fourteen miles, 130 feet. 
The mechanical powers may be reduced to three, but they are usually 
expressed at six—the lever, the wheel and axle, the pulley, the inclined 
plane, the screw and the wedge. 
In a single moveable pulley, the power gained is doubled. In a con¬ 
fined combination, the power is twice the number of pullies, less 1. 
In levers, the power is reciprocally as the lengths are each side the ful¬ 
crum or centre of motion, as illustrated in the steelyards. 
The power gained in the wheel and axle is as the radius of the wheel 
to that of the axle. 
The power gained by an inclined plane is as the length to the height. 
The power of the wedge is generally as the length to the thickness of 
the back. 
The power of the screw is as the circumference to the distance of the 
thread, or as 6.2832 to that distance. 
Resistance is an affair of experiment, sometimes a third, and at other 
times less. 
The fiiction of cylinders or wheels is as the pressure, and inversely as 
the diameter. 
The least friction is when polished iron moves on brass. 
The area of a circle is the product of the diameter and circumference, 
divided by 4. 
A fall of one-tenth of an inch per mile, will produce a motion in rivers. 
The greatest velocity is at the surface and in the middle, and the least at 
the bottom and sides But as the velocity increases, the action on the 
sides and bottom increases also. 
Eclipses return in the very same order every 18 years and 11 days, sup¬ 
posing four leap year in the interval, and if five, then every ten days. 
Other cycles of motion, however vary the phenomenon or measure. The 
moon’s shadow is less than 170 miles broad; but the eclipse, in degree, 
for 2000 miles. 
A pump ten feet above a well, with seven inches bore will discharge, 
seventy gallons a minute; and at 30 feet 4 inches, 23 gallons. 
The specific gravity of water, being 1.000; that of alcohol, pure 0.829; 
beer, 1.034; cider, 1.018; milk, 1.032; oil, linseed, 0.94; vinegar, 
1.025; sea-water, 1.026; bone, ox, 1.666; brass, 7.824; brick, 2.; 
cork, .24; gold, 19.2587; granite, 2.728; iron, bar, 7.68; lead, 11.352; 
lignum-vitse, 1.33; mahogany, 1.06; marble, 2.716; mercury, 13.58; 
oak, 1.17; platina, 20.722; silver, 10.474; slate-clay, 2.67; tin, 10.717, 
lime-stone, 1.386; elm, 0.671; honey, 1.45 .—Treasury of Knowledge. 
Science —Science, the partizan of no country, but the beneficent 
patroness of all, has liberally opened a temple where all may meet. Her 
influence on the mind, like the sun on the chilled earth, has long been 
preparing it for higher cultivation and farther improvement. The philo¬ 
sopher of one country sees not an enemy in the philosopher of another: 
he takes his seat in the temple of science, and asks not who sits beside 
him. 
When we set out on the jolly voyage of life, what a brave fleet there is 
around us, as stretching our fresh canvass to the breeze, all ‘ship shape 
and Bristol fashion,’ pennons flying, music playing, cheering each other 
as we pass, we are rather amused than alarmed when some awkward 
comrade goes right ashore for want of pilotage! Alas! when the voyage 
is well spent, and we look about us, toil-worn mariners, how few of oui 
ancient consorts still remain in sight, and they, how torn and wasted; 
and, like ourselves, struggling to keep as long as possible off the fatal 
shore, against which we are all finally drifting .—Chronicles of Canongate. 
Vol. II. 19 
TO IMPROVE THE SOIL, AND THE MIND. 
TO THE PATRONS OF THE CULTIVATOR. 
Gentlemen— In compliance with custom, and to discharge 
a duty that a publisher owes to the public at the commencement 
of the year, we appear for the second time before you. In the 
first place, in all sincerity we offer you the compliments of the sea¬ 
son ; in the next, as we follow a common pursuit, we would enjoy 
with you the pleasure of talking over its progress, its labors, and 
its prospects. We read “ That the Lord God planted a garden 
eastward in Eden, and there he put the man he had formed. And 
the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden, 
to dress it and to keep it ; and he further told him, ‘ in the sweat 
of thy face shalt thou eat bread, and thou shalt till the ground 
from whence thou art taken.’ ” We have then the best authority 
for saying, that from the creation man was made to till the ground, 
and that all the other employments that have sprung from his wants, 
created during the progress of society, are secondary and subser¬ 
vient to agriculture. Farming, then, is not only the oldest em¬ 
ployment of man, but being of devine command, it is consequently 
the most useful and honorable. Six thousand years have elapsed 
since its institution. We have multiplied and replenished the 
earth—many generations have passed away, still our employment 
remains the same. Neither is the promise of fruitfulness lessened 
in the lapse of time, for through the bounty of Providence an Eden 
may be created any where, where there is industry to till the soil, 
and skill to direct the labor. 
It would be interesting, if we had a knowledge of what farming 
was in those primitive times, to follow its progress through the suc¬ 
cessive generations that have passed to our own time, that we 
could date any improvements, and see in what these improvements 
consisted. We are afraid, however, that had we the means to 
make this investigation, we should find that the simple light of na¬ 
ture, that was first implanted in our minds for the cultivation of the 
soil, has not received that expansion, which so many years of toil 
ought to have produced, and what the age in which we live de¬ 
mands. If we look at the world now, and what it probably was 
in the days of Adam, we must see what vast efforts have been 
made to gratify and supply our artificial wants, and how much 
more numerous these are now than our real ones ; and if farmers 
had to depend less on the bounties of providence, and more upon 
their own exertions, it is but fair to presume, judging what the 
mind of man is capable of when compelled to exert all its facul¬ 
ties, that agriculture, as a science, would at this day have been 
infinitely farther advanced. It is true, within the last few years 
an era of improvement, in every branch of science, and every 
field of labor, has opened upon us, and in our own peculiar em¬ 
ployment the glimmerings of nature’s light appear to open with 
little more radiance ; but we are yet measurably behind the march 
of mind, that has led to the adoption and present perfection of all 
the different systems which have been developed or created by 
our researches or our wants. Since the days of Adam, the entire 
system of mechanics has been created, and they are severally ad¬ 
vancing to an excellence that even surpasses the expectation and 
wants of the present state of society. Medicine, Law, and Divi¬ 
nity, have sprung up, and each is pressing onward towards a more 
perfect development and greater usefulness. Botany, Chemistry, 
Mineralogy, Geology, with their assistant sciences, have been 
modelled into rational systems, and whilst they more clearly un¬ 
fold the wisdom of the great Creator, have administered to man’s 
necessities or enjoyments. Who in primitive times could have 
comprehended the actual formation of this earth, and who would 
have thought not of following, but of pointing out with unerring 
certainty, the track of the heavenly bodies. It is the cultivation 
of man’s reason that has enabled him not only to trace his path 
across the mighty deep, but that he need not wait upon the move¬ 
ment of either the winds or its waves. 
These are a few of the triumphs which have been unfolded by 
the exercise of our rational powers. How far those powers will 
carry us, to what extent future attainments may lead, it is impossible 
now to divine, for the light is apparently just breaking upon us, and 
past developments are only exciting to a more diligent search into 
the future. Every art, every science, every branch of study or of 
business, points to the perfection to which it can and must be car- 
