Illustrated. The Three Parts complete in One Volume, Small 4to, Half
Leather, $1.12; or, separately, in Cloth, Part I., 45 cents; Part II.,
48 cents; Part III., 48 cents.
* * * * *
A beautiful and useful work. It presents a general survey of the kingdom
of nature in a manner adapted to attract the attention of the child, and
at the same time to furnish him with accurate and important scientific
information. While the work is well suited as a class-book for schools,
its fresh and simple style cannot fail to render it a great favorite for
family reading.
The Three Parts of this book can be had in separate volumes by those who
desire it. This will be advisable when the book is to be used in
teaching quite young children, especially in schools.
* * * * *
Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.
_Sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, on
receipt of the price._
[Illustration]
THE WOMBAT.
A Mandarin owned a wombat
That grew so exceedingly fat
That, when it would laugh
'Twould most break in half,
And tickle the soul of the cat.
* * * * *
=A Dog that could Cipher.=--The well-known English astronomer Dr.
Huggins had a mastiff that bore the name of Kepler. This dog possessed
many rare gifts, and amongst these was one which he was always ready to
exercise for the entertainment of visitors. At the close of luncheon or
dinner Kepler used to march into the room, and set himself down at his
master's feet. Dr. Huggins then asked him a series of arithmetical
questions, which the dog invariably solved without a mistake. Square
roots were extracted off-hand with the utmost readiness and promptness.
If asked what was the square root of nine, Kepler replied by three
barks; or, if the question were the square root of sixteen, by four.
Then various questions followed, in which much more complicated
processes were involved--such, for instance, as "Add seven to eight,
divide the sum by three, and multiply by two." To such a question as
that Kepler gave more consideration, and sometimes hesitated in making
up his mind as to where his barks ought finally to stop. Still, in the
end, his decision was always right. But how did he do it? may be asked.
The solution is easily furnished: the proper answer was unconsciously
suggested to the dog by his master. The wonderful fact is that Kepler
had acquired the habit of reading in his master's eye or countenance
some indication that was not known to Dr. Huggins himself. The case was
one of the class which is distinguished by physiologists as that of
expectant attention. Dr. Huggins was himself engaged in working out
mentally the various stages of his arithmetical processes as he
propounded the numbers to Kepler, and being, therefore, aware of what
the answer should be, expected the dog to cease barking when that number
was reached, and that expectation suggested to his own brain the
unconscious signal which was caught by the quick eye of the dog.
SOLUTION TO SQUARE PUZZLE IN No. 46.
[Illustration]
Start with, your pencil from figure 1 and draw a line to 2, from there
to 3, and so on from number to number till you have completed the
figure.
CHARADE.
BY H.
Up in the air I'm lifted high
Above the worshippers below,
Yet near their hearts I always lie,
As reverently they come and go.
I've many forms, like Proteus old,
But tell forever the same tale;
Men gaze, and see by me foretold
What sometimes makes their cheeks grow pale.
And through my secret winding course
There ebbs and flows a mighty tide;
Alas! what pangs of keen remorse
Are his who turns that stream aside!
Yet in the gay and festive throng
I am what many a maid may be,
While in the pauses of the song
Her lover pleads his cause in me.
Sometimes, a ship, I face the storm;
Sometimes beneath the earth I bide,
And then its beauty men deform
To find the secret that I hide.
But in the air, or in the breast,
Whate'er my form, like beast or bird,
I keep my secret from the rest--
By man my voice is never heard.
* * * * *
The quicksilver mines of Guancavelica, in Peru, are of a prodigious
depth. In their profound abysses are seen streets, squares, and a chapel
where religious mysteries are celebrated on all festivals. Thousands of
flambeaux are continually burning in it. The miners suffer terribly from
the mercurial vapors, which produce convulsions and paralysis. Thousands
of workmen were condemned to forced labor in these frightful
subterranean regions. These mines were discovered about 1566 by Henry
Garces, a Portuguese, who was one day examining a red earth used by the
Indians for making paint. He remembered that in Europe quicksilver was
extracted from cinnabar, and with this earth he made some experiments
which led to the opening of this mine.
[Illustration: QUACK!]
[Illustration: QUACK! QUACK!]
[Illustration: QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!]
End of Project Gutenberg's Harper's Young People, October 5, 1880, by Various