Part 2
Amongst the numerous examples given by Dr. Paley, of the wonderful manner in which Nature contrives to overcome difficulties, which would at first appear insurmountable, there is perhaps none more striking than the mode in which the lobster is released from his case when the increasing size of his body requires more room. In most animals the skin grows with their growth. In some animals, instead of a soft skin, there is a shell, which admits by its form of gradual enlargement. Thus the shell of the tortoise, which consists of several pieces, is gradually enlarged at the joinings of those pieces which are called “sutures.” Shells with two sides, like those of the muscle, grow bigger by addition at the edge. Spiral shells, as those of the snail, receive this addition at their mouth. The simplicity of their form admits of this; but the lobster’s shell being applied to the limbs of his body, as well as to the body itself, does not admit of either of the modes of enlargement which is observed in other shells. It is so hard that it cannot expand or stretch, and it is so complicated in its form that it does not admit of being enlarged by adding to its edge. How, then, was the growth of the lobster to be provided for? We have seen that room could not be made for him in his old shell: was he then to be annually fitted with a new one? If so, another difficulty arises: how was he to get out of his present confinement? How was he to open his hard coat, or draw his legs out of his boots which are become too tight for him? The works of the Deity are known by expedients, and the provisions of his power extend to the most desperate cases. The case of the lobster is thus provided for: At certain seasons his shell grows soft. The animal swells his body; the seams open, and the claws burst at the joints. When the shell is thus become loose upon the body, the animal makes a second effort, and by a trembling motion, a sort of spasm, casts off his case. In this state of nakedness the poor defenceless fish retires to a hole in the rocks. The released body makes a sudden growth. In about eight and forty hours a fresh concretion of humour takes place all over the surface of his body; it quickly hardens; and thus a new shell is formed, fitted in every part to the increased size of the body and limbs of the animal. This wonderful change takes place every year.
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MATERNAL CARE OF THE EARWIG.
In ‘Insect Transformations,’ (p. 102,) it is mentioned that the distinguished Swedish naturalist, Baron De Geer, “discovered a female earwig in the beginning of April under some stones, brooding over a number of eggs, of whose safety she appeared to be not a little jealous. In order to study her proceedings the better, he placed her in a nurse-box, filled with fresh earth, and scattered the eggs in at random. She was not long, however, in collecting them with all care into one spot, carrying them one by one in her mandibles, and placing herself over them. She never left them for a moment, sitting as assiduously as a bird does while hatching. In about five or six weeks the grubs were hatched, and were then of a whitish colour.”
These observations the author of ‘Insect Transformations’ has just had an opportunity of verifying and extending, and has communicated to us the following interesting facts:--
“About the end of March, I found an earwig brooding over her eggs in a small cell scooped out in a garden border; and in order to observe her proceedings I removed the eggs into my study, placing them upon fresh earth under a bell glass. The careful mother soon scooped out a fresh cell, and collected the scattered eggs with great care to the little nest, placing herself over them, not so much, as it afterwards appeared, to keep them warm as to prevent too rapid evaporation of their moisture. When the earth began to dry up, she dug the cell gradually deeper, till at length she got almost out of view; and whenever the interior became too dry, she withdrew the eggs from the cell altogether, and placed them round the rim of the glass where some of the evaporated moisture had condensed. Upon observing this, I dropped some water into the abandoned cell, and the mother soon afterwards replaced her eggs there. When the water which had dropped had nearly evaporated, I moistened the outside of the earth opposite the bottom of the cell; and the mother perceiving this, actually dug a gallery right through to the spot where she found the best supply of moisture. Having neglected to moisten the earth for some days, it again became dry, and there was none even round the rim of the glass as before. Under these circumstances, the mother earwig found a little remaining moisture quite under the clod of earth upon the board of the mantel-piece, and thither she forthwith carried her eggs.
“Her subsequent proceedings were not less interesting; for though I carefully moistened the earth every day, she regularly changed the situation of the eggs morning and evening, placing them in the original cell at night, and on the board under the clod during the day; as if she understood the evaporation to be so great when the sun was up that her eggs might be left too dry before night.
“I regret to add, that during my absence the glass had been moved, and the mother escaped, having carried away all her eggs but one or two, which soon shrivelled up and will of course prove abortive.”
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THE WEEK.
May 14.--This is the birth-day of GABRIEL DANIEL FAHRENHEIT, usually regarded as the inventor of the common mercurial thermometer, and certainly the first person by whom the instrument was accurately constructed. Fahrenheit was born at Dantzic, in 1686. His business was that of a merchant, but he was fond of spending his leisure in philosophical inquiries and experiments; and at last he settled at Amsterdam, and devoted himself almost entirely to the fabrication of the instrument which bears his name, and which still continues to be the thermometer principally used in Britain, North America, and Holland. He is supposed to have begun to make these thermometers about the year 1720, and he died in 1736. It was Fahrenheit, also, who first noticed the fact that water boils at different degrees of temperature, according to the weight of the atmospheric column resting upon it--that it requires, for instance, less heat to make it boil on the summit than at the foot of a high mountain. We shall, in some future number, explain the construction and principle of the thermometer. In the mean time we extract from ‘the Companion to the Almanac’ for 1830, a comparison of the various scales of the thermometer which are in general use:--
“A fertile cause of error in estimating and comparing the statements of temperature, is the very different manner in which they are recorded by scientific men of different nations. Wherever the English language prevails, the graduation of _Fahrenheit_ is generally preferred. By the German authors, Römer (Reaumur) is used; and the French have, within a few years, decided to adopt that of Celsius, a Swedish philosopher, calling it ‘_Thermomètre Centigrade_.’ To diminish this evil, in some degree, the annexed diagram has been constructed, which shows by inspection, the expression of any point of temperature in the degrees of either or of all the above-mentioned scales; and the comparison of any degree of one with the equivalent degrees of the others.”
[Illustration: A thermometer, with markings for the Reaumur, Fahrenheit, and Celsius scales. The following temperatures are marked, most with degrees Fahrenheit: Highest Temp. Sun’s rays at London, 134°; Highest Temp. of the Air at ditto, 90°; Mean Temp. of ditto at ditto, 49 and a half°; Lowest Temp. of ditto at ditto, 11°; Ditto at the Earth’s surface at ditto, 5°; Greatest cold observed in the shade in England; Boiling point of water; Boiling point of alcohol, 174° (both at 30 inches barometric pressure); melting points of beeswax (142°) and tallow (127°); Fever heat as usually marked; Fever heat in general, 107°; Blood heat; Summer heat; Temperate; Usual Temp. of Spring water, 50°; Water freezes; Strong wine freezes, 20°.]
May 16.--On this day, in the year 1623, was born at Rumsey, in Hampshire, the celebrated Sir WILLIAM PETTY, a memorable and animating example of the elevation and distinction which real talent, accompanied by activity and perseverance, has always in this country been able to command for its possessor. Petty’s father was a clothier, and he appears to have given his son little to set out in life with but a good education. It is said that Petty, when quite a boy, took great delight in spending his time among smiths, carpenters, and other artificers, so that at twelve years old he knew how to work at their trades. He made so great progress at the grammar-school, that at fifteen he had made himself master of French, Latin, and Greek, and understood something of mathematics and physical science. On entering the world, he went to Caen in Normandy with a little stock of merchandize, which he there improved; and on his return to England, having obtained some employment connected with the navy, he managed to save about sixty pounds before he was twenty years of age; and with this sum he repaired to the Continent, to study medicine at the foreign universities. He accordingly attended the requisite classes successively at Leyden, Utrecht, and Paris; and in about three years came home well qualified to commence practising as a physician. Having taken up his residence in this capacity at Oxford, he soon acquired for himself a distinguished reputation, and, young as he was, was appointed assistant professor of anatomy in the University. He had already also become known in the scientific world by some mechanical inventions of considerable ingenuity; and he was one of the club of inquirers who, about the year 1649, began to assemble weekly at Oxford, for philosophical investigations and experiments, and out of whose meetings eventually arose the present Royal Society. Indeed, Dr. Wallis, one of the members, in a letter, in which he has given an account of the association, tells us that their meetings were first held “at Dr. Petty’s lodgings, in an apothecary’s house, because of the convenience of inspecting drugs, and the like, as there was occasion.” Petty’s reputation, however, rose so rapidly that, after having succeeded first to the professorship of anatomy in the University, and then to that of music in Gresham College, he was, in 1652, appointed physician to the forces in Ireland. This carried him over to that country--and eventually introduced him to a new career. In 1655 we find him appointed secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, and three years afterwards a member of the House of Commons. He was, however, soon after removed from his public employments by the Parliament which met after the death of the Protector. On the Restoration, which took place the following year, he was made a commissioner of the Court of Claims. The remainder of his life was as busy as the portion of it already passed had been; but we have no room to enumerate the books he wrote, the ingenious schemes and inventions with which his mind was constantly teeming, and the lucrative speculations in mining, the manufacture of iron, and various other great undertakings, in which he engaged. Suffice it to say, that, after accumulating a large property, he died in London, on the 16th of December, 1687, full of honours, if not of years. The first Marquis of Lansdowne (the father of the present Marquis) was the great-grandson of Sir William Petty.
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THE VALUE OF A PENNY.
It is an old saying, that “a pin a day is a groat a year,” by which homely expression some wise man has intended to teach thoughtless people the value of small savings. We shall endeavour to show the value of a somewhat higher article, though a much despised one,--we mean a penny.
Pennies, like minutes, are often thrown away because people do not know what to do with them. Those who are economists of time, and all the great men on record have been so, take care of the minutes, for they know that a few minutes well applied each day will make hours in the course of a week, and days in the course of a year; and in the course of a long life they will make enough of time, if well employed, in which a man may by perseverance have accomplished some work, useful to his fellow-creatures, and honourable to himself.
Large fortunes, when gained honestly, are rarely acquired in any other way than by small savings at first; and savings can only be made by habits of industry and temperance. A saving man, therefore, while he is adding to the general stock of wealth, is setting an example of those virtues on which the very existence and happiness of society depend. There are saving people who are misers, and have no one good quality for which we can like them. These are not the kind of people of whom we are speaking; but we may remark that a miser, though a disagreeable fellow while alive, is a very useful person when dead. He has been compared to a tree, which, while it is growing, can be applied to no use, but at last furnishes timber for houses and domestic utensils. But a miser is infinitely more useful than a spendthrift, a mere consumer and waster, who, after he has spent all his own money, tries to spend that of other people.
Suppose a young man, just beginning to work for himself, could save one penny a day; and we believe there are few unmarried young workmen who could not do this. At the end of a year he would have 1_l._ 10_s._ 5_d._, which he could safely deposit in a savings’ bank, where it would lie safely, with some small addition for interest, till he might want it. After five years’ savings, at the rate of a penny a day, he would have between 8 and 9_l._, which it is very possible he might find some opportunity of laying out to such advantage as to establish the foundation of his future fortune. Who has not had the opportunity of feeling some time in his life how advantageously he could have laid out such a sum of money, and how readily such a sum might have been saved by keeping all the pennies and sixpences that had been thrown away? Such a sum as 8 or 9_l._ would enable a man to emigrate to Canada, where he might, by persevering industry, acquire enough to purchase a piece of land; and, if blessed with moderate length of life, he might be the happy cultivator of his own estate.
Eight pounds would enable a mechanic, who had acquired a good character for sobriety and skill, to furnish himself on credit with goods and tools to five or six times the amount of his capital; and this might form the foundation of his future fortune.
It often happens that a clever and industrious man may have the opportunity of bettering his condition by removing to another place, or accepting some situation of trust; but the want of a little money to carry him from one place to another, the want of a better suit of clothes, or some difficulty of that kind, often stands in the way. Eight pounds would conquer all these obstacles.
It may be said that five years is too long a time to look forward to. We think not. This country is full of examples of men who have risen from beginnings hardly more than the savings of a penny, through a long course of persevering industry, to wealth and respectability. And we believe there is hardly a condition, however low, from which a young man of good principles and unceasing industry may not elevate himself.
But suppose the penny only saved during one year: at the end of it the young man finds he has got 1_l._ 10_s._ 5_d._ Will he squander this at the ale-house, or in idle dissipation, after having had the virtue to resist temptation all through the year? We think not. This 1_l._ 10_s._ 5_d._ may perform a number of useful offices. It may purchase some necessary implement, some good substantial article of dress, some useful books, or, if well laid out, some useful instruction in the branch of industry which is his calling. It may relieve him in sickness, it may contribute to the comfort of an aged father, it may assist the young man in paying back some part of that boundless debt which he owes to the care and tender anxiety of a mother, who has lived long enough to feel the want of a son’s solicitude. Finally, however disposed of at the end of the year, if well disposed of, the penny saved will be a source of genuine satisfaction. The saving of it during the year has been a daily repetition of a virtuous act, which near the end of the year we have little doubt will be confirmed into a virtuous habit.
Suppose a dozen young men, who are fond of reading, were to contribute a penny a week to a common stock: at the end of the year they would have 2_l._ 12_s._ This sum judiciously laid out, would purchase at least twelve volumes of really useful books, varying in price from three to four shillings, besides allowing some small sum for the person who took care of them and kept the accounts. Another year’s saving would add another twelve volumes; and in five years the library might contain sixty volumes, including a few useful books of reference, such as dictionaries, maps, &c.--an amount of books, if well chosen, quite as much as any one of them would be able to study well in his leisure hours.
But suppose the number of contributors were doubled or trebled, the annual income would then amount to 5_l._ 4_s._, or 7_l._ 16_s._, for which sum they could certainly procure as many useful books as they could possibly want. There might be some difficulty in the choice of books, as it is not always easy to know what are good and what are bad. We propose to meet this difficulty by occasional notices of particular books under the head of ‘The Library.’ At present we will merely suggest what _classes_ of books might gradually find admission into such a library. There are now good practical and cheap treatises on the principles of many of the branches of industry which are followed by mechanics--such as books on the elements of geometry and measuring of surfaces and solids; on arithmetic; on chemistry, and its application to the useful arts, &c.; lives of persons distinguished for industry and knowledge; descriptions of foreign countries, compiled from the best travels; maps on a pretty large scale, both of the heaven and of different parts of the earth: such books as these, with an English dictionary, a gazetteer, and some periodical work, would form a useful library, such as in a few years might be got together.
It would be impossible to enumerate all the good things that a penny will purchase; and as to all the bad things, they are not worth enumerating. But there is one which we cannot omit mentioning. A penny will buy a penny-worth of gin, and a man may spend it daily without thinking himself the worse for it. But as every penny saved tends to give a man the habit of saving pennies, so every penny spent in gin, tends to cause him to spend more. Thus the saver of the penny may at the end of the year be a healthy reputable person, and confirmed economist, with 1_l._ 10_s._ 5_d._ in his pocket: the spender may be an unhealthy, ill-looking, worthless fellow; a confirmed gin-drinker, with nothing in his pocket except unpaid bills.
We wish it were in our power to impress strongly on the working people of this kingdom, how much happiness they may have at their command by small savings. They are by far the most numerous part of the community; and it is by their condition that the real prosperity of the country should be estimated; not by the few who live in affluence and splendour. Hard as the condition of the working classes often is, are they not yet aware that by industry, frugality, and a judicious combination of their small resources, they can do more to make themselves happy, than anybody else can do for them?
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MIRABEAU.
M. Dumont, of Geneva, a distinguished writer on jurisprudence, who died about two years ago, has left behind him a most interesting work, entitled ‘Recollections of Mirabeau, and of the two first Legislative Assemblies.’ This work has been received throughout Europe as one of great merit and importance, and deservedly so; for it contains, in a brief space, the best account we have read of the most extraordinary part of the life of one of the most extraordinary men of modern times; and with it, the first impulses and movement of the French Revolution.
This most extraordinary man, whose character is still a problem to most of those who knew him, was Honoré Gabriel Riquetti de Mirabeau, who ruled the National Assembly, who directed the political opinions of twenty-five millions of men for two years together, and who was, for that period, what has been cleverly termed “the intellectual Dictator of France.” This champion for the people was born a noble; his father was the Marquis de Mirabeau, of whose ancestors we know nothing; but, on his mother’s side, he could boast a descent of which even those who dislike or care not for aristocracy, might be proud; for she was grand-daughter of Riquet, constructor of the famous canal of Languedoc. Mirabeau was ugly in face almost to hideousness; and he was perfectly conscious of this; for, in writing to a lady who had never seen him, he told her to fancy the face of a tiger that had been marked with the smallpox, and then she would have an idea of his countenance; and at a later period, when his voice and gesture and appearance struck the National Assembly with awe, he was accustomed to say, if any of its members had shown refractoriness during his absence, “I will go down to the House and show them my wild boar’s head[1], and that will silence them!”