^"'iuT;  X875  ™- }  Unprofitable  Pleading.  357 
available  in  quantitative  analysis,  and  we  have  used  it  for  some  time 
with  great  satisfaction.  After  washing  a  precipitate  on  the  filter  it  may 
be  dried  very  speedily  by  simply  continuing  the  heat ;  the  dried  filter 
removes  easily,  and  so  the  two  funnels  once  arranged  need  not  be  dis- 
connected. It  is  true  that  this  point  holds  good  in  any  form  of  appa- 
ratus for  hot  filtration. 
Other  advantages  will  occur  to  those  using  the  apparatus,  such  as 
the  transparency  of  the  outer  vessel,  the  total  absence  of  metal,  and 
the  increased  rate  of  filtration  consequent  upon  the  higher  temperature. 
The  double  funnel  may  be  connected  with  a  Bunsen  water-pump  or 
other  apparatus  for  rapid  filtration. 
In  washing  precipitates  with  hot  water  we  have  also  found  it  feasible 
to  direct  the  steam  from  a  small  generator  directly  into  the  filter  itself ; 
if  care  be  taken  to  moderate  the  pressure,  the  precipitate  is  washed 
with  hot  distilled  water  without  danger  of  loss  by  spattering,  and  this 
works  almost  automatically. 
School  of  Mines,  Columbia  College,  N.  T.,  April,  1875. 
— American  Chemist^  May^  1875. 
UNPROFITABLE  READING. 
BY  JOSEPH  INGE. 
By  reading  is  here  included  and  understood  whatever  enters  into  the 
mode  of  preparation  adopted  in  a  course  of  study. 
There  are  two  distinct  kinds  of  intellectual  improvement :  book- 
learning,  derived  from  a  printed  page  ;  and  technical  knowledge,  drawn 
in  part  from  literary  sources,  and  largely  from  practical  observation. 
With  the  first — popularly  termed  classical  education — we  have  nothing 
here  to  do  ;  it  is  with  the  union  of  the  practical  and  the  literary  with 
which  we  are  concerned.  Both  may  fail,  not  so  much,  nor  half  as 
much,  from  want  of  application  as  from  unprofitable  labor. 
The  essentials  of  all  successful  reading  may  be  briefly  stated,  as  they 
commend  themselves  for  adoption,  and  are  universally  acknowledged. 
Order  is  heaven's  first  law  and  the  student's  hope.  It  implies  system- 
atic work,  thoughtfulness  and  a  clear  head  ;  it  implies,  also,  contin- 
uous, well-regulated  exertion  ;  and  that  it  begets  a  love  for  work  itself 
is  an  experience  to  which  there  is  no  exception. 
Order  is  a  mental  quality — the  power  of  eff'ecting  an  equal  distribu- 
tion of  eff'orts  and  ideas  ;  system  is  the  same  power  applied  to  mechan- 
