Chapter C: L. S. C. ’84. 355 (1)

COMMENCEMENT, C. L. S. C. Class 1883. 20.

COOPER INSTITUTE. J. M. Buckley, D.D. 398.

COUNCIL OF NICE, The. 581.

COURTS OF THREE PRESIDENTS—Thiers, MacMahon, Grévy. 566.

DEAD-LETTER OFFICE, The. Pattie L. Collins. 460.

DREAMY OLD TOWN, A. Edith Sessions Tupper. 520.

EARTHQUAKES—ISCHIA AND JAVA. 83.

EDITOR’S NOTE-BOOK. 54, 117, 180, 241, 302, 368, 430, 488, 548, 610.

EDITOR’S OUTLOOK:
C. L. S. C. an Educational Necessity, The. 53.
C. L. S. C. Plan, The. 178.
C. L. S. C. Course for 1884-5, The. 607.
Chautauqua Outlook for 1884. 609.
College Reform, A. 116.
Complaint, An Unjust. 367.
Day, an Extra. 180.
Dress and Income. 300.
Efficiency and Tenure. 547.
Evangelists. 239.
Floods. 429.
Founder’s Day. 428.
General Conference, Some Points on the. 608.
Greece, History of. 116.
Greeting, To the Class of 1884. 546.
Headquarters of the C. L. S. C. 238.
Idea, Dr. Newman’s New. 487.
Ingenuity in Local Circles. 365.
Is Crime Interesting? 366.
Knowledge, Superfluous. 488.
Lawlessness, Two Kinds of. 485.
Letters of William Cullen Bryant. 367.
Luther, Martin. 179.
Negro, Dr. Haygood’s Battle for. 115.
Père Hyacinthe. 241.
Phillips, Wendell. 429.
Political Methods. 428.
Political Outlook, The. 115.
Political Outlook, Present. 300.
Rewards of Public Service. 486.
Shakspere Controversy, The. 53.
Social Life, A Drawback to. 366.
Spanish Bull Fights. 301.
Steam not an Aristocrat. 300.
Temperance Question, The. 179.
Tenth Assembly, The. 52.
Time Standards, The New. 240.
Wall Street Troubles, The. 608.
Workman, The Decline of Our. 547.

EDITOR’S TABLE. 56, 119.

EDUCATION OF NEGRO POPULATION. A. G. Haygood. 148.

ELECTRICITY. 89.

ENGLISH, British and American. R. A. Proctor. 410.

ESTIVATION, or Summer Sleep. Rev. J. G. Wood, A.M. 273.

ETIQUETTE. 99.

EXPERIENCE, A C. L. S. C. 167.

FAILINGS. J. Mortimer-Granville. 39.

FLOWERS, Early. Francis George Heath. 225.

FRANCE, Republican Prospects in. Joseph Reinach. 80.

FRENCH HISTORY, Readings in. J. H. Vincent, D.D. 315, 377.

FROM THE BALTIC TO THE ADRIATIC. 36, 87.

GARDENING AMONG THE CHINESE. 215.

GERMAN HISTORY. Rev. W. G. Williams. 1, 63, 129, 189, 251.

GERMAN LITERATURE. 66.

GERMAN LITERATURE, Extracts From.
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. 194.
Heine, Heinrich. 253.
Humboldt, Alexander von. 253.
Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim. 134.
Luther, Martin. 134.
Sachs, Hans. 133.
Schiller, Friedrich von. 193.
Schleiermacher, Friedrich. 254.
Schopenhauer, Arthur. 255.
Schlegel, Friedrich. 195.
Walther von der Vogelweide. 132.
Winckelman, Johann Joachim. 193.

GOING TO EUROPE. 598.

GOSPELS, THE, Considered as a Drama. D. H. Wheeler, D.D. 412.

GRADUATES C. L. S. C. 310.

GREAT ORGAN AT FRIBOURG, The. Edith Sessions Tupper. 94.

HESITATION AND ERRORS IN SPEECH. J. Mortimer-Granville. 454.

HIBERNATION. J. G. Wood, M.A. 150.

HYACINTH BULBS. Grant Allen. 351.

INEBRIATES, What to do with the. W. W. Godding. 514.

INTERMEDIATE NORMAL CLASS. 188.

ISLAND PARK ASSEMBLY. 31.

LANDMARKS OF BOSTON. E. E. Hale. 572.

LAKESIDE ASSEMBLY. 31.

LAW, Commercial. E. C. Reynolds, Esq. 260, 327, 382, 439.

LIFE OF A PLANET, The. Richard Proctor. 157.

LOCAL CIRCLE, How to Conduct a. 107.

LOCAL CIRCLE NOTICE. 47.

LOCAL CIRCLES. 105, 169, 230, 288, 356, 422, 478, 539, 601.

LONDON, Disraeli’s. 157.

LONDON PREACHERS, Some. 536.

LOW SPIRITS. J. Mortimer-Granville. 85.

MAN OF LEARNING, TELL ME SOMETHING. Margaret Meredith. 150.

MENDELSSOHN’S GRAVE AND HUMBOLDT’S HOME. 339.

MIGRATIONS ON FOOT. Rev. J. G. Wood, M.A. 353.

MISSIONS, Christian. 221.

MONONO LAKE ASSEMBLY. 30.

MONTEAGLE ASSEMBLY. Rev. J. H. Warren. 29.

MONTEREY ASSEMBLY. 28.

MOUNTAIN LAKE ASSEMBLY. 31.

MYTHOLOGY, Slavonic. A. H. Cummings. 34.

NAPOLEON’S MARSHALS. 100.

NAVAL FORCE, Our. Lieut. G. W. Mentz. 595.

NAVY, The. Lieut. G. W. Mentz. 524.

NEW ENGLAND ASSEMBLY. 32.

NEW ENGLAND BRANCH, Class of ’86. 103.

NORMAL CLASS, Chautauqua Graduates (1883). 374.

NORMAL CLASS, Chautauqua. J. L. Hurlbut, D.D., and R. S. Holmes,
M.A., Instructors. 112, 176, 236, 297, 364, 426, 484, 545.

NURSES, Trained. Lulie W. Winchester. 466.

OCEAN MONARCH, An. G. Browne Goode. 582.

OSTRICH HUNTING. Lady Florence Dixie. 220.

OUTLINE OF C. L. S. C. READINGS.
October, 47.
November, 112.
December, 166.
January, 228.
February, 288.
March, 355.
April, 422.
May, 478.
June, 539.

PEKING, The Imperial College of. G. W. Smyth. 587.

PHILLIPS, Wendell. Edward Everett Hale. 451.

PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 3, 67, 135, 196, 255.

PLANT NUTRITION. Maxwell T. Masters, M.D. 164.

POACHERS IN ENGLAND. Jas. Turves. 90.

POE, Edgar Allen. C. E. Bishop. 407.

POLITICAL ECONOMY. G. M. Steele, D.D. 9, 73, 140, 202.

POPULAR EDUCATION, C. L. S. C. Announcement. 48, 175.

PRISONERS AND PRISONS, Military. O. W. Longan. 475.

PROHIBITION IN MAINE. Hon. Neal Dow. 415.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. A. M. Martin. 49, 109, 172, 234, 294, 362,
425, 482, 544.

RECREATION. James Paget. 274.

RECREATIONS OF PARIS WORKMEN. R. Heath. 153.

REUNION AT MILWAUKEE. 166.

ROMAN HISTORY, Readings in. W. C. Wilkinson. 437, 497.

ROUND-TABLE, C. L. S. C. 171, 233, 292.

RUSSIAN NOVELIST, A. Gabriel Monod. 154.

SCHOOLS OF BOSTON, Industrial. E. E. Hale. 417.

SCOTT, WALTER, Eight Centuries with. Wallace Bruce. 91, 162, 216,
284, 343, 403, 467, 533, 589.

SEA AS AN AQUARIUM, The. C. L. Anderson, M.D. 279, 341.

SKATING AND SKATERS. Robert MacGregor. 159.

SOLDIERS’ HOME. O. W. Logan. 529.

SPECULATION IN BUSINESS. Jonathan. 281.

STATIONERY, C. L. S. C. 103.

STEEL HORSE, Our. 523.

SUMMER MEETINGS AT CHAUTAUQUA. 597.

SUNBEAMS FROM THE CIRCLE. 167, 229.

SUNDAY READINGS. J. H. Vincent, D.D. 6, 70, 137, 198, 257, 328,
388, 440, 499, 560.

SUN AND STRANGE SUNSETS, Green. 400.

TABLE-TALK OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 224, 269.

TALK ABOUT BOOKS. 126, 248, 314, 436, 495, 556, 612.

TEMPERATURE. J. Mortimer Granville. 158.

TENEMENT HOUSE LIFE IN NEW YORK. Geo. A. Townsend. 561.

TRICKS OF CONJURORS. Thomas Frost. 125.

TROLLOPE’S (ANTHONY) AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 400.

UNITED STATES HISTORY. 267, 336, 395, 448, 506.

UNIVERSITY, Chautauqua. 478.

VANISHING TYPES. Rev. Edward Sprague. 577.

VEGETABLE VILLAINS. R. Turner. 33, 86.

WAVERLEY NOVELS. Wallace Bruce. 17.

WHITE HOUSE, The. Mrs. Pattie L. Collins. 557.

WINE AND WATER. Benj. W. Richardson, M.D. 283.

WOMEN AS MISTRESSES OF HOUSEHOLDS, Duties of. F. P. Cobbe. 473.

WOMEN, Work for. 219.

WRECKAGE, Social. Ellice Hopkins. 40

POETRY.

AT REST. Sarah Doudney. 42.
AUTUMN SYMPATHY. E. G. Charlesworth. 80.
BLOSSOMS, To. R. Herrick. 529.
CHILLON, Sonnet on. Byron. 582.
CRACKED FIDDLE, A lay of. Fred. Langbridge. 155.
DIVINE SCULPTOR, The. Mrs. Emily J. Bugbee. 451.
FIR TREE, The. Luella Clark. 347.
FLOTSOM (1492). J. Logie Robertson. 341.
FLOWERY FIELDS, In. Mary Harrison. 38.
GONE. E. G. Charlesworth. 40.
GROWTH. Mrs. Emily J. Bugbee. 561.
HELEN’S TOWER. Chas. Blatherwick. 338.
HIS COLD. Foliot S. Pierpoint. 269.
HOW WE CAME TOGETHER. W. C. Wilkinson, D.D. 32.
IVY, The. Henry Burton. 19.
LIGHT AT EVENTIDE. E. G. Charlesworth. 397.
LUTHER. Mrs. S. R. Graham Clark. 275.
MY YEARS. Ada Iddings Gale. 343.
NIGHT. Charles Grindrod. 510.
NIGHT. A. St. J. A. 211.
PRAYER OF SOCRATES, The. Stuart Blackie. 537.
RETURNING. Mary Harrison. 148.
RISE HIGHER. Helen G. Hawthorne. 571.
SABBATH CHIMES. Phebe A. Holden. 402.
SELF-DEPENDENCE. Matthew Arnold. 472.
STILL YOUNG. Ellen O. Peck. 412.
STORK, The. Translated from the Swedish. 214.
SUMMER, A Remnant of. E. O. P. 156.
TO MY BOOKS. Lady Sterling Maxwell. 83.
UNDER THE AUTUMN SKIES. Mrs. Emily J. Bugbee. 161.
WHERE LIES THE MUSIC? Alice C. Jennings. 17.
ZENOBIA. Ada Iddings Gale. 152.

THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

_A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE PROMOTION OF TRUE CULTURE. ORGAN OF THE CHAUTAUQUA LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC CIRCLE._

VOL. IV. OCTOBER, 1883. NO. 1.

Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle.

_President_—Lewis Miller, Akron, Ohio.

_Superintendent of Instruction_—Rev. J. H. Vincent, D.D., New Haven, Conn.

_Counselors_—Rev. Lyman Abbott, D.D.; Rev. J. M. Gibson, D.D.; Bishop H. W. Warren, D.D.; Rev. W. C. Wilkinson, D.D.

_Office Secretary_—Miss Kate F. Kimball, Plainfield, N. J.

_General Secretary_—Albert M. Martin, Pittsburgh, Pa.

REQUIRED READING

FOR THE

_Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle for 1883-4_.

OCTOBER.

GERMAN HISTORY.

By REV. W. G. WILLIAMS, A. M.

I.

The student of history has need of divisions. By their aid alone can he hope to have command of the facts and events with which history in so large part deals. It is well therefore to begin the study of any particular history by noting such changes, such epoch-making events as may form partition walls of boxes in which may be placed our classified information.

The history of Germany has been variously divided into periods by the different authors. That which we have adopted here has the sanction of the majority and will be found exceedingly natural, and hence simple and convenient. The student should memorize it thoroughly, being assured that though a very _general_ history of itself, nevertheless it is more than many of supposed information could tell of the history of this wonderful people.

DIVISION OF THE HISTORY OF THE GERMANS INTO TEN PERIODS.

_First_—From the most ancient times to the conquests of the Franks, under Clovis (A. D. 486).

_Second_—From conquests of Clovis to Charlemagne (511-768).

_Third_—Charlemagne to Henry I. (768-919).

_Fourth_—Henry I. to Rodolphus of Hapsburg. The Saxon, Swabian, and Hohenstaufen houses (919-1273).

_Fifth_—Rodolphus I. of Hapsburg to Charles V. (1273-1520).

_Sixth_—Charles V. to Peace of Westphalia (1519-1648).

_Seventh_—Peace of Westphalia to French Revolution (1648-1789).

_Eighth_—French Revolution to Peace of Paris (1789-1815).

_Ninth_—Peace of Paris to Franco-Prussian War (1815-1870-1871).

_Tenth_—From Franco-Prussian War to present time.

THE PRIMITIVE POPULATIONS OF GERMANY, THEIR ORIGIN, CUSTOMS, RELIGION, ETC.

“Germany, or Deutschland, occupies a large part of Central Europe. Speaking roughly, it now reaches from the Alps to the Baltic and the North Sea, and from the valleys of the Rhine and the Maes to the Danube as far as the March and the Mur, and to the Prosna and the Lower Niemen. The country is mountainous in the south, hilly in the center, and flat in the north, where it forms part of the great plain which takes in the whole of north-eastern Europe. The western part of this plain takes in the country between the Teutoburg Wood and the North Sea. As it passes eastward it widens till it reaches from the Erz and Riesen Mountains to the Baltic. A part of South Germany slopes toward the east, and is watered by the Danube; but the general slope of the country is toward the north. Among the rivers flowing northward are the Rhine, the Ems, the Weser, the Elbe, the Oder, and the Vistula.”—_Sime._

“Germany has varied very much in extent at different times. This is due partly to the fact that it has no clearly-marked natural boundaries on the east and west, but chiefly to the peculiarity of its position. It is the central country of Europe. Being surrounded by most of the leading nations of the Continent, the Germans have been involved, more than any other people, in the general history of Europe. Of all their neighbors, the Scandinavians are most nearly allied to the Germans. Both are branches of the Teutonic race. But the Germans are also connected, although not so closely, with the other surrounding peoples. All, if we except the Magyars or Hungarians, who are Turanians, belong to the great Aryan family.”—_Sime._

“Ancient authors mention several German tribes, as well as their dwelling places, with greater or less precision. Several of them also speak of the chief tribes, among which the single septs united themselves. But their statements are not sufficiently unanimous or precise to give us that clear view which we would so willingly obtain. The origin of the Germanic nations, therefore, like that of all others, is uncertain. To assign to them a distinct historical origin is to make an assertion without evidence, though it is now indisputably established that the Teutonic dialects belong to one great family with the Latin, the Greek, the Sanscrit, and other European and Asiatic tongues. All the positive knowledge that we have of the German nations, previous to their contact with the Romans, is exceedingly vague and mere conjecture.”—_Menzies._

“The Romans first heard the name ‘Germans’ from the Celtic Gauls, in whose language it meant simply _neighbors_. The first notice of a Germanic tribe was given to the world by the Greek navigator Pytheas, who made a voyage to the Baltic in the year 330 B. C. Beyond the amber coast, eastward of the mouth of the Vistula, he found the Goths, of whom we hear nothing more until they appear, several centuries later, on the northern shore of the Black Sea. For more than two hundred years there is no further mention of the Germanic races; then, most unexpectedly, the Romans were called upon to make their personal acquaintance.”—_Bayard Taylor._

“At the time of their first contact with the Romans, these Germanic tribes had lost even the tradition of their Asiatic origin. They supposed themselves to have originated upon the soil where they dwelt, sprung either from the earth or descended from the gods. According to the most popular legend, the war-god Tuisko, or Tiu, had a son, Mannus (whence the word _man_ is derived), who was the first human parent of the German race. Many centuries must have elapsed since their first settlement in Europe, or they could not have so completely changed the forms of their religion and their traditional history.”—_Taylor._

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

“The early Germans were noted for their love of feasting, which was carried to such excess that they would sometimes spend whole days and nights at table, drinking and gaming, in consequence of which they often quarreled and fought so that a convivial meeting frequently terminated in bloodshed. They gambled with dice, as Tacitus, with astonishment, informs us, in a sober state and as a serious occupation, and with so much eagerness for gain, that when they had lost all they hazarded their freedom, and even their very persons, upon the last cast. The loser freely delivered himself up to slavery, although even younger and stronger than his adversary, and patiently allowed himself to be bound and sold as a slave; thus steadfastly did they keep their word, even in a bad case. ‘They call this good faith,’ says the Roman writer. There were various circumstances under which a German might forfeit his liberty, such as marrying a bondwoman, or of not being able to pay his debts; but the generality of the slaves were captives taken in war.

“The Germans did not all sit down at the same table, but each man had his own seat and board, which were of a very rough description, being merely a wooden stool and table, furnished with drinking horns, wooden bowls, spoons, and platters. Each person of rank had his servant behind him to hold his shield and spear. He kept his sword by his side, for on no occasion would a German part with his arms, which was a proof that he expected to have frequent need of them.

“The wives and daughters of the Germans, we are told, shared in all the public entertainments, for however rude and fierce these people might be in other respects, they were distinguished, even in the most barbarous ages, for their attention and respect to the female sex, whom they consulted on the most important affairs, and by whose opinions they were very often guided. The feasts of the Germans, like those of the Gauls and Scandinavians, were always attended by a number of bards, several of whom were attached to the family of every chief, and were treated with the highest respect. They played on the harp and flute, and when they sang of war, the company took part in the concert by clashing their swords against their shields.

“The Germans, in very remote ages, were dressed in skins of wild animals, and afterward in a coarse kind of linen, made by the women; but as they intermixed more with the Gauls, they learned from them to make a finer sort of linen, and woolen also, and as soon as they were acquainted with these useful arts, spinning and weaving became the principal occupations of German women, and a more civilized costume was adopted than that which was made from the skins of the elk and reindeer. These animals, in the time of Julius Cæsar, were very numerous in the forests of Germany, from which, however, they have long since disappeared.

“The Romans justly considered the German nation as an aboriginal, pure, and unmixed race of people. They resembled themselves alone; and like the specifically similar plants of the field, which, springing from a pure seed, not raised in the hot-bed of a garden, but germinating in the healthy, free, unsheltered soil, do not differ from each other by varieties; so, also, among the thousands of the simple German race, there was but one determined and equal form of body. Their chest was wide and strong; their hair yellow, and with young children it was of a dazzling white. Their skin was also white, their eyes blue, and their glance bold and piercing. Their powerful gigantic bodies, which the Romans and Gauls could not behold without fear, displayed the strength that nature had given to this people; for, according to the testimony of some of the ancient writers, their usual height was seven feet. From their earliest youth upward they hardened their bodies by all devisable means. New-born infants were dipped in cold water, and the cold bath was continued during their whole lives as the strengthening renovator, by both boys and girls, men and women. The children ran about almost naked, and effeminate nations wondered how those of the Germans, without cradles or swaddling bands, should grow up to the very fullest bloom of health.

“Cæsar, Tacitus, and Suetonius, with many others, have pointed to one and the same characteristic of the Germans, as the secret of their power and prosperity. The Kelt had everywhere yielded to the eagles of Rome, while the Teuton everywhere checked their flight. Amazed, and even alarmed, at those tall fair-haired, blue-eyed enemies, who had to be conquered with gold instead of steel, Tacitus examines the reasons of their prowess, and finds it in the soberness of their blood, in their reverence for women and for the laws of nature, in their deference to parental authority and their marriages of maturity. ‘Chastity is a custom with them,’ says the ‘De Moribus Germanorum,’ and a passage to the same effect might be cited from Cæsar. Those southern soldiers and statesmen saw, in truth, with a terrible sense of overhanging fate, that race of hardy, chaste, home-loving, free and fearless barbarians, of whom the Emperor Titus said, ‘Their bodies are great, but their souls are greater.’ The tone of Tacitus is that of a man who bitterly feels how much greater, after all, as a moral being, the barbarian may be than the civilized man, when civilization recognizes no higher aim than material splendor, and that utility which subserves material wants. Other civilizations than that of the Empire may read a lesson in those brief pages where the philosopher of a worn-out world records his impression of the races from which the world was hereafter to be reconstituted.”—_Menzies._

“The three principal vices of the Germans were indolence, drunkenness, and love of gaming. Although always ready for the toils and dangers of war, they disliked to work at home. The women ruled and regulated their households with undisputed sway. They were considered the equals of the men, and exhibited no less energy and courage. They were supposed to possess the gift of prophecy, and always accompanied the men to battle, where they took care of the wounded, and stimulated the warriors by their shouts and songs. They honored the institution of marriage to an extent beyond that exhibited by any other people of the ancient world. Those who proved unfaithful to the marriage vow were punished with death.”—_Taylor._

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND USAGES.

“The worship of the ancient Germans coincided with their natural character, and consequently was much more simple and elevated than that of other peoples. Although uncultivated, they carried in their hearts the sentiment of an infinite and eternal power, and they regarded it as an affront to the divinity to enclose it within walls, or to represent it under human form. They consecrated to it the woods and forests as a spacious temple of which nature itself erected the pillars, and to which the immensity of the heavens formed the roof.

“The ancient Germans adored, like the Persians, the sun and fire, but they regarded Wodan as their supreme god. They called him also Alvater, father of all things. Their most beneficent goddess was the mother of the earth (Hertha). The Germans attached great importance to divinations and prognostics. The crow and the owl signified misfortune; the cuckoo announced long life. They discovered the future by means of the branches of fruit trees (runes). Various signs were cut upon each rod, and afterwards the rods were thrown upon a white cloth; then the priest, or father of the family, offered up a prayer to the divinity, and thrice chose from among the rods those which were to give the divine revelations. The clairvoyants were held in high estimation, and history has preserved some of the names of those to which the belief of the people had given a great influence over the decision of public affairs.”—_Menzies._

“The people had their religious festivals at stated seasons, when sacrifices—sometimes of human beings—were laid upon the altars of the gods in the sacred groves. Even after they became Christians, in the eighth century, they retained their habit of celebrating some of these festivals, but changed them into the Christian anniversaries of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide.

“Thus, from all we can learn respecting them, we may say that the Germans, during the first century before Christ, were fully prepared by their habits, laws, and their moral development, for a higher civilization. They were still restless, after so many centuries of wandering; they were fierce and fond of war, as a natural consequence of their struggles with the neighboring races; but they had already acquired a love for the wild land where they dwelt, they had begun to cultivate the soil, they had purified and hallowed the family relation, which is the basis of all good government, and finally, although slavery existed among them, they had established equal rights for free men.

“If the object of Rome had been civilization, instead of conquest and plunder, the development of the Germans might have commenced much earlier and produced very different results.”—_Taylor._

[To be continued.]

PHYSICAL SCIENCE.

I.—THE AIR.

When we begin to look attentively at the world around us, one of the first things to set us thinking is the air. We do not see it, and yet it is present wherever we may go. What is this air?

Although invisible, it is yet a real, material substance. When you swing your arm rapidly up and down you feel the air offering a resistance to the hand. The air is something which you can feel, though you can not see it. You breathe it every moment. You can not get away from it, for it completely surrounds the earth. To this outer envelope of air, the name of _atmosphere_ is given.

The air is not a simple substance, but a mixture of two invisible gases, called nitrogen and oxygen. But besides these chief ingredients, it contains also small quantities of other substances; some of which are visible, others invisible. If you close the shutters of a room, and let the sunlight stream through only one chink or hole into the room, you see some of the visible particles of the air. Hundreds of little motes, or specks of dust, cross the beam of light which makes them visible against the surrounding darkness, though they disappear in full daylight. But it is the invisible parts of the air which are of chief importance; and among them there are two which you must especially remember—the vapor of water and carbonic acid gas. You will soon come to see why it is needful for you to distinguish these.

Now what is this vapor of water? You will understand its nature if you watch what takes place when a kettle boils. From the mouth of the spout a stream of white cloud comes out into the air. It is in continual motion; its outer parts somehow or other disappear, but as fast as they do so they are supplied by fresh materials from the kettle. The water in the kettle is all the while growing less, until at last, if you do not replenish it, the whole will be boiled away, and the kettle left quite dry. What has become of all the water? You have changed it into vapor. It is not destroyed or lost in any way, it has only passed from one state into another, from the liquid into the gaseous form, and is now dissolved in the air.

Carbonic acid gas is also one of the invisible substances of the atmosphere, of which, though it forms no more than four parts in every ten thousand, yet it constitutes an important ingredient. You will understand how important it is when you are told that, from this carbonic acid in the air, all the plants which you see growing upon the land extract nearly the whole of their solid substance. When a plant dies and decays, the carbonic acid is restored to the air again. On the other hand, plants are largely eaten by animals, and help to form the framework of their bodies. Animals in breathing give out carbonic acid gas; and when they die, and their bodies decay, the same substance is again restored to the atmosphere. Hence the carbonic acid of the air is used to build up the structure both of plants and animals, and is given back again when these living things cease to live. There is a continual coming and going of this material between the air and the animal and vegetable kingdoms.

You know that though you can not see the air you can feel it when it moves. A light breeze, or a strong gale, can be just as little seen by the eye as still air; and yet we readily feel their motion. But even when the air is still it can make itself sensible in another way, viz: by its temperature. For air, like common visible things, can be warmed and cooled.

This warming and cooling of the air is well illustrated by what takes place in a dwelling-house. If you pass out of a warm room, on a winter’s day, into the open air when there is no wind, you feel a sensation of cold. Whence does this sensation come? Not from anything you can see, for your feet, though resting on the frozen ground, are protected by leather, and do not yet feel the cold. It is the air which is cold, and which encircles you on all sides, and robs you of your heat; while at the same time you are giving off or radiating heat from your skin into the air. On the other hand, if, after standing a while in the chilly winter air, you return into the room again, you feel a sensation of pleasant warmth. Here, again, the feeling does not come from any visible object, but from the invisible air which touches every part of your skin, and is thus robbed of its heat by you.

Now, how is it that the atmosphere should sometimes be warm and sometimes cold? Where does the heat come from? and how does the air take it up?

Let us return again to the illustration of the house. In winter, when the air is keen and frosty outside, it is warm and pleasant indoors, because fires are there kept burning. The burning of coal and wood produces heat, and the heat thus given out warms the air. Hence it is by the giving off or radiation of the heat from some burning substance that the air of our houses is made warmer than the air outside.

Now, it is really by radiation from a heated body that the air outside gets its heat. In summer, this air is sometimes far hotter than is usual in dwelling-houses in winter. All this heat comes from the sun, which is an enormous hot mass, continually sending out heat in all directions.

But, if the sun is always pouring down heat upon the earth, why is the air ever cold? Place a screen between you and a bright fire, and you will immediately feel that some of the heat from the fire place has been cut off. When the sun is shining, expose your hand to its beams for a time, and then hold a book between the hand and the sun. At first, your skin is warmed; but the moment you put it in the shade, it is cooled again. The book has cut off the heat which was passing directly from the sun to your hand. When the atmosphere is felt to be cold, something has come in the way to keep the sun’s heat from directly reaching us.

Clouds cut off the direct heat of the sun. You must often have noticed the change of temperature, when, after the sun has been shining for a time, a cloud comes between it and the earth. Immediately a feeling of chilliness is experienced, which passes off as soon as the cloud has sailed on, and allowed the sun once more to come out.

The air itself absorbs some of the sun’s heat, and the greater the thickness of air through which that heat has to make its way, the more heat will be absorbed. Besides this, the more the rays of heat are slanted the weaker do they become. At noon, for example, the sun stands high in the sky. Its rays are then nearest to the vertical, and have also the least thickness of air to pass through before they reach us. As it descends in the afternoon, its rays get more and more slanted, and must also make their way through a constantly increasing thickness of air. Hence the middle of the day is much warmer than morning or evening.

At night, when the sun no longer shines, its heat does not directly warm the part of the earth in shadow. That part not only receives no heat from it, but even radiates its heat out into the cold sky. Hence night is much colder than day.

Then, again, in summer the sun at noon shines much higher in the sky with us, or more directly overhead, than in winter. Its heat comes down less obliquely and has less depth of air to pass through, and hence is much more felt than in winter, when, as you know, the sun in our part of the world never rises high even at mid-day.

If we were dependent for our warmth upon the direct heat of the sun alone, we should be warm only when the sun shines. A cloudy day would be an extremely cold one, and every night as intensely frosty as it ever is in winter. Yet such is not the case. Cloudy days are often quite warm; while we are all aware that the nights are by no means always very cold. There must be some way in which the sun’s heat is stored up, so that it can be felt even when he is not shining.

In summer the ground gets warmed; in some parts, indeed, becoming even so hot at times that we can hardly keep the hand upon it. In hot countries this is felt much more than in this country. Soil and stones absorb heat steadily, that is to say, soon get heated, and they soon cool again. When they have been warmed by the sun, the air gets warmed by contact with them, and keeps its heat longer than they do; so that even when at night the soil and stones have become ice-cold, the air a little above is not so chilly. On the other hand, when the surface of the ground is cold, it cools the air next it. The ground parts easily with its heat, and a vast amount of heat is in this way radiated at night from the earth outward into the cold starry space. Much more heat, however, would be lost from this cause did not the abundant aqueous vapor of the atmosphere absorb part of it, and act as a kind of screen to retard the radiation. This is the reason why in hot climates, where the air is very dry—that is, contains a small proportion of the vapor of water—the nights are relatively colder than they are in other countries where the air is moister. In like manner, clouds serve to keep heat from escaping; and hence it is that cloudy nights are not so cold as those which are clear and starry.

The atmosphere, then, is heated or cooled according as it lies upon a warm or cold part of the earth’s surface; and, by means of its aqueous vapor, it serves to store up and distribute this heat, keeping the earth from such extremes of climate as would otherwise prevail.

The air lying next to a hot surface is heated; the air touching a cold surface is cooled. And upon such differences of temperature in the air the formation of winds depends.

Hot or warm air is lighter than cold air. You have learned how heat expands bodies. It is this expansion of air, or the separation of its particles further from each other which makes it less dense or heavy than cold air, where the particles lie more closely together. As a consequence of this difference of density, the light warm air rises, and the heavy cold air sinks. You can easily satisfy yourselves of this by experiment. Take a poker, and heat the end of it in the fire until it is red-hot. Withdraw it, and gently bring some small bits of very light paper, or some other light substance, a few inches above the heated surface. The bits of paper will be at once carried up into the air. This happens because the air, heated by the poker, immediately rises, and its place is taken by colder air, which, on getting warmed, likewise ascends. The upward currents of air grow feebler as the iron cools, until, when it is of the same temperature as the air around, they cease.

This is the principle on which our fire-places are constructed. The fire is not kindled on the hearth, for, in that case, it would not get a large enough draft of air underneath, and would be apt to go out. It is placed some way above the floor, and a chimney is put over it. As soon as the fire is lighted, the air next it gets warmed, and begins to mount, and the air in the room is drawn in from below to take the place of that which rises. All the air which lies above the burning coal gets warmer and lighter; it therefore flows up the chimney, carrying with it the smoke and gases. You will understand that though a bright blazing fire is a pleasant sight in winter, we do not get all the heat which it gives out. On the contrary, a great deal of the heat goes up the chimney; and, except in so far as it warms the walls, passes away and warms the outer air.

What happens in a small way in our houses takes place on a far grander scale in nature. As already pointed out, the sun is the great source of heat which warms and lightens our globe. While the heat of the sun is passing through the air, it does very little in the way of warming it. The heat goes through the air, and warms the surface of the earth. You know that in summer the direct rays of the sun are hot enough to burn your face, and yet, if you put even a thin sheet of paper over your head, enough to cut off these rays, the sensation of burning heat at once goes off, although the same air is playing about you all the time.

Both land and water are heated by the sun’s rays, and the same change in the air then takes place which we find also at our firesides. The layer of air next the warmed earth becomes itself warmed. As it thereby grows lighter it ascends, and its place is taken by colder air, which flows in from the neighborhood to take its place. This flowing in of air is wind.

One of the most important ingredients in the air is the vapor of water. Let us try to see, first of all, how it gets into and out of the air. And in this case, as before, you will find that great questions in science often admit of being simply and readily illustrated by the most familiar things.

You may have noticed that on very cold nights the windows of sitting-rooms, or crowded public halls, are apt to be found streaming with water on the inside.

Now, in such cases, where does the moisture come from? Certainly not out of the glass. It is derived from the vapor of water present in the air. This word vapor is often used to describe some kind of visible mist or fog. But these visible forms of moisture are not properly vapor in the sense in which the term is used in science. The aqueous vapor of the air is always invisible, even when the air is saturated with it, and only when it passes back into the state of water do you actually see anything.

When the invisible vapor dissolved in the air becomes visible, as in mists, clouds, dew, or rain, it is said to be condensed, and this process of liquefaction is called condensation.

The quantity of vapor which the air can contain varies according to temperature, warm air being able to hold more than cold air.

As the air is cooled, its power of retaining vapor diminishes. When it becomes colder than the temperature at which it is able to keep its supply of vapor dissolved, the excess of vapor is condensed and becomes visible. The temperature at which this takes place is the point of saturation, or dew-point.

Perhaps you may ask how it is that the vapor so universally present gets into the atmosphere, and where it comes from. If you pour a little water into a plate, and set it down in the open air, you will note in the course of a day or two, that the water has sensibly diminished. The air has drunk up part of it, and will drink up the whole, if the water is allowed to stand long enough. What takes place from a small quantity of water goes on from every surface of water on the face of the earth, from every brook and river and lake, and from the great sea itself. Water is constantly passing off into vapor, which is received and retained by the air. This process is called evaporation, and the water which passes off into vapor is said to evaporate.

Since warm air can hold more vapor than cold air, evaporation must be more vigorous in sunshine than at night, and during summer than during winter.

On a dry, bracing day, evaporation goes on rapidly, because the air has not nearly got all the quantity of vapor it can hold in solution. On a damp day, however, when the air contains about as much vapor as it can hold at that particular temperature, evaporation is quite feeble, or ceases altogether. This varying capacity of the air for vapor is the reason why laundresses find so much difference between days, in the ease with which they can have their clothes dried.

After sunset, when the sky is clear, you know that the grass gets wet with dew. In the morning you may see mists hanging over woods, and streams, and hills, and gradually melting away as the sun mounts in the sky. At all times of the year you may watch how clouds form and dissolve, and form again, ever changing their size and shape as they move through the air. Now these are all examples of the condensation of vapor. Let us see how the process takes place.

Condensation, as we have seen, results from a cooling of the air. When vapor is condensed, it does not at once take the form of running water. The cold glass brought into the warm room has first a fine film of mist formed upon it, and then by degrees the clear drops of water come. In reality mist is made up of exceedingly minute particles of water, and it is the running together of these which makes the larger drops. So in nature on the great scale, when condensation occurs the vapor first appears as a fine mist. This is always the result of cooling; so that, whenever you see a mist or cloud forming, you may conclude that the air in which it lies is being cooled.

Dew is the name given to the wetness which we notice appearing in the evening, or at night, upon grass, leaves, or stones, or even sometimes on our hair. In the morning you have, no doubt, often watched the little dewdrops sparkling upon the foliage and the delicate threads of gossamer. Now this wetness does not come out of the leaves or stones, nor out of your hair. It is all derived from the air by condensation, exactly as we see the film of mist form upon the cold tumbler in the warm moist air of a room. In fact, that film of mist was really dew, and all dew is formed in the same way, and from the same cause.

At night, when the sky is clear, the earth radiates heat rapidly; that is to say, it gives off into cold space a great part of the heat which it has received from the sun during the day. Its surface consequently becomes cold, as you may have felt when you put your hand upon leaves or stones after nightfall. The layer of air next the cooled ground is chilled below its point of condensation, and the excess of vapor is deposited as dew upon the grass, twigs, stones, and other objects. Hence it is that the temperature at which this condensation begins to take place is called the dew-point.

Another way in which a cold surface of the earth may produce condensation is shown by what takes place among mountains. When a warm moist wind blows upon a chill mountain top, the air is cooled, and its vapor becomes visible in the form of a mist or cloud. You can often see that the cloud is quite solitary, and even shapes itself to the form of the ground, as if it were a sort of fleecy cap drawn down over the mountain’s head. This is often well marked in the morning. As day advances, the ground, warmed by the sun, no longer cools the air, and hence the mist is gradually re-absorbed into the atmosphere. But by and by, at the coming on of night, when the ground is once more cooled by radiation, if there should be vapor enough in the air, the mist will re-form, and the mountain put on his cap again.

Cold air, as well as cold ground, condenses the vapor of warmer air. If you watch what goes on along the course of a river, you will often see examples of this kind of condensation. The ground on either side of the river parts with its heat after sundown sooner than the river itself does, and consequently cools the air above it more than the air above the river is cooled. So when this colder air from either side moves over to take the place of the warmer damp air lying on and rising from the river, condensation ensues in the form of the mist or river-fog, which so commonly hangs at night and early morning over streams.

A cloud is merely a mist formed by the cooling of warm moist air, when it loses its heat from any cause, such as expansion during ascent, or contact with currents of cooler air. If you watch what goes on in the sky, you may often see clouds in the act of forming. At first a little flake of white appears. By degrees this grows larger, and other cloudlets arise and flock together, until at last the sky is quite overcast with heavy clouds, and rain begins to fall. The vapor which is thus condensed in the air has all been obtained by the evaporation of the water on the earth’s surface. It rises with the warm air, which losing its heat as it ascends, and coming too in contact with colder layers of the atmosphere, can not hold all its vapor, and is obliged to get rid of the excess, which then condenses into cloud.

On a summer morning the sky is often free from cloud. As the day advances, and the earth gets warmed, more vapor is raised; and as this vapor, borne upward by the ascending air-currents, reaches the higher and colder parts of the atmosphere, it is chilled into the white fleecy clouds which you see forming about mid-day and in the afternoon. Toward evening, when less evaporation takes place, the clouds cease to grow, and gradually lessen in size until at night the sky is quite clear. They have been dissolved again by descending and coming in contact with the warm air nearest to the earth. Again, you have often noticed that clouds move across the sky. They are driven along by upper currents of air, and of course the stronger these currents are the faster do the clouds travel. In this way the sky is sometimes completely overcast with clouds which have come from a distance.

You are well aware that rain always comes from clouds in the sky. When the sky is clear overhead, no rain falls. Only when it gets overcast does the rain come. You can watch a dark rain-cloud gather itself together and discharge a heavy shower upon the earth. When a cold glass is brought into a warm room, you will remember that the film of mist formed upon the glass is found by degrees to gather into drops, and trickles down the cold surface. Now the mist on the glass and the cloud in the sky are both formed of minute particles of water, separated by air. It is the running together of these particles which gives rise to these drops. In the one case, the drops run down the cold glass. In the other case, they fall as drops of rain through the air. Rain, therefore, is thus a further stage in the condensation of the aqueous vapor of the atmosphere. The minute particles of the cloud, as condensation proceeds, gather more moisture round them, until at last they form drops of water, too heavy to hang any longer suspended in the air. These then fall to the earth as rain-drops.

But there is another important form in which the moisture of the clouds may descend to the surface of the earth. When the weather is cold enough, there fall to the ground not drops of rain, but flakes of snow.

If you bring snow indoors, it soon melts into water. If you expose this water for a time it evaporates. Snow, water, and aqueous vapor are thus only different forms of the same substance. We say that water can exist in three forms—the gaseous, the liquid, and the solid. Snow is an example of the solid condition.

On a frosty night pools of water are covered with a hard, transparent crust, of what is called ice. You may break this crust into pieces, but if the cold continues, a new crust will soon be formed with bits of the old one firmly cemented in it. And the greater the cold the thicker will the crust be, until perhaps the whole of the water in the pools may become solid. If you take a piece of this solid substance, you find it to be cold, brittle, and transparent. Brought into a warm room it soon melts into water, and you may drive off the water as before into vapor. Ice is the general name given to water when it is in the solid state, such forms as snow and hail being only different appearances which ice puts on. Whenever water becomes colder than a certain temperature it passes into ice, or freezes, and this temperature is consequently known as the freezing-point.

The upper layers of the atmosphere are much colder than the freezing-point of water. In the condensation which takes place there, the clouds do not resolve themselves into rain. The vapor of the up-streaming currents of warm air from the earth’s surface is condensed and frozen in these high regions, and passes into little crystals, which unite into flakes of snow. Even in summer the fine white cloudlets which you see floating at great heights are probably formed of snow. But in those countries, such as ours, where in winter the air even at the surface is sometimes very cold, the snow falls to the ground, and lies there as a white covering, until returning warmth melts it away.

Besides rain and snow, the moisture of the air takes sometimes the form of hail, which consists of little lumps of ice like frozen rain; and of sleet, which is partially melted snow. But rain and snow are the most important, and it is these two forms which we must follow a little further.

Before doing so, let us gather together the sum of what has been said about the aqueous vapor of the air. We have learned that, as every sheet of water on the face of the globe evaporates, the air is full of vapor; that this vapor is condensed into visible form, and appears as dew, mist, and cloud. We have learned further, that the vapor of which clouds are formed is resolved into rain and snow, and, in one or other of these forms, descends to the earth again. There is thus a circulation of water between the solid earth beneath and the air above. This circulation is as essential to the earth in making it a fit habitation for living things, as the circulation of blood is in keeping our bodies alive. It mixes and washes the air, clearing away impurities, such as those which rise from the chimneys of a town. It moistens and quickens the soil, which it renders capable of supporting vegetation. It supplies springs, brooks, and rivers. In short, it is the very mainspring of all the life of the globe. So important a part of the machinery of the world deserves our careful consideration. Let us next attend, therefore, to what becomes of the rain and the snow after they have been discharged from the air upon the surface of the earth.

[To be continued.]

SUNDAY READINGS.

SELECTED BY REV. J. H. VINCENT, D.D.

[_October 7._]

“TENDENCIES TO ERROR.”

By REV. WILLIAM FRASER, LL.D.

“Let no one, upon a weak conceit of sobriety or an
ill-applied moderation, think or maintain that a man
can search too far, or be too well studied in the book
of God’s word, or in the book of God’s works—divinity
or philosophy—but rather let men endeavor an endless
progress or proficiency in both; only let them
beware that they apply both to charity and not to
arrogance; to use, and not to ostentation; and again,
that they do not mingle or confound these learnings
together.”—_Bacon._

Many have lost their early faith in the Bible and are following its guidance with faltering footstep. Between them and hitherto accepted truths the sciences have been placing apparently insurmountable obstacles. The trustful simplicity with which they once read the sacred record has almost perished. Inferences by the man of science, conflicting with the interpretations of scripture by the theologian, have rudely shaken their most cherished convictions. They are not infidels, they are not skeptics, for doubt is distasteful to them, they long for more definite expositions and a firmer faith.

Such, possibly, may be some of you. In the midst of such discussions as are at present in progress, perplexity is not unnatural. Your most anxiously sustained investigations have hitherto only multiplied difficulties, and a sense of responsibility alone constrains you to linger over conclusions from which your judgment recoils. This hesitancy of belief may be at the outset disheartening; yet it may be inseparable from that clearness of insight and that force of character which, in the end, commonly create the stablest convictions, and evoke adequate proof to shield them. To shun or to denounce you because you can not acquiesce in what we believe is inconsistent, not only with the lessons of philosophy, but with his example to “bear witness to the truth.”

What is your duty, with the natural sciences on the one hand, appealing so largely to your reason, and the scriptures on the other hand, appealing so constantly to your faith? Obviously, to depreciate neither, but to welcome both the sciences and the scriptures, to ascertain their harmony, to note their differences, and to accept all the treasures of truth which they may bring. Indifference is inexcusable as is excessive zeal, and apathy as antagonism.