in which the water is in the same proportion, 19 per cent., as in the acid of the specifick gravity 1.85. Hypo-Sulphurous Acid.-24. When iron filings are digested in a solution of sulphurous acid, they are dissolved without effervescence; the iron takes half the oxygen from the sulphur, and an acid is formed with the other half, which combines and forms a salt with the oxyde of iron so produced. This acid has been called the hypo-sulphurous, upon the principle of nomenclature before explained. It cannot be exhibited in a separate state; for at the moment of quitting the base with which it is united, it is resolved into sulphurous acid and sulphur. It is a compound of 1 equivalent of sulphur 1 ditto of oxygen 16 8 stances of its mixture with oxygen. It instantly extinguishes all burning bodies. It tarnishes silver, gold, and mercury, and blackens white paint made with preparations of lead. Its solution in water acquires the taste and peculiar smell of the gas, and reddens blue vegetable colours. Some mineral waters, as those of Harrogate, are im pregnated with this gas. Two measures of sulphuretted hydrogen require three of oxygen for their complete decomposition, one measure of which saturates the two of hydrogen, and the other two the sulphur; water and sulphurous acid are the products Now, 100 cubick inches of hydrogen weigh 2.11 grains, and 100 cubick inches of sulphuretted hydrogen 36 grains; and as the sulphur is taken up by the hydrogen without change of bulk, if we deduct the weight of the latter, the remainder 33.89 will be the weight of the sulphur, and 2.11: 33.89::1:16, which makes the equivalent of sulphur, as we before stated 16. It follows also, that sulphuretted hydrogen is composed of 1 equivalent of sulphur 24 and that its number is 16 1 - 17 Hypo-Sulphurick Acid.-72. By passing sulphurous acid through water, in which finely-pounded peroxyde of manganese is suspended by agitation, the Eggs contain sulphur as well as hydrogen, hence peroxyde yields part of its oxygen to the acid, and when kept too long they decompose, forming sulconverts one portion into sulphurick acid, and an-phuretted hydrogen, which is the odour perceived in other into a peculiar acid, which has been called the putrefying eggs. There is no combination of sulhypo-sulphurick. The process for exhibiting the lat-phur and hydrogen. ter, in a separate form, is complicated, and we shall for the present postpone its consideration. It is obtained in a liquid form, it reddens litmus paper, but has no smell, by which it is distinguished from sulphurous acid; and it forms soluble salts with oxyde of lead, and other substances, whose combinations with sulphurick acid are insoluble. The results of its analysis show it to be pound of 2 equivalents of sulphur a com 32 40 Sulphuretted Hydrogen.-17. By repeatedly subliming sulphur in hydrogen gas, a combination between the two elements takes place, without change of volume; and a gas is formed, to which the name of sulphuretted hydrogen has been given. It may be produced in abundance, by acting upon sulphuret of iron (which may be formed by melting together sulphur and iron filings) with sulphurick acid. It is quickly absorbed by water, but may be collected in glass bottles filled with that liquid, and provided with glass-stoppers, which must be inserted the moment they are filled with the gas. It is colourless and transparent. Its smell is very offensive, and resembling-that of putrefying eggs, or the washings of a foul gunbarrel; its taste is acid. It is highly poisonous, and a horse has been known to perish in an atmosphere which contained no more than 1.250th part of it. It is inflammable; and, like hydrogen, burns either silently, or with explosion, according to the circum BOTANY. THE LEAVES, The leaves are the organs by which the water, and other substances, sucked up from the earth by the root, are converted into proper food for the plant. They are produced at the nodi of the stem, or of its modifications and appendages; and never on any true root. In general they are green and herbaceous, and consist of two parts; a stalk, and the flat part called the lamina. In some leaves the stalk is wanting, and then the lamina or leaf adheres closely to the stem, and is said to be sessile. Ex.: woodmint, orpine, sowthistle, catchfly, &c. In most leaves the two sides of the lamina vary in appearance, the upper one, that turned towards the sky, or towards the stem, being smoother and darker in colour than the under. The principal vein or midrib, which is a continuation of the stalk, and the other veins which branch from it, project more on the lower than on the upper side, and the under side is of a lighter green and generally more hairy or downy. The different purposes for which the leaf is intended, because this variety. Leaves generally grow above one another on the stem, but from opposite sides of it, or so that the points they spring from form a spiral line round it; leaves, are to be seen finer veins running across, but not forming a network among themselves. This structure is seen in the leaves of the grasses, tulips, lily, aloe, Orchidea, and palm-trees. in this case the leaves are said to be alternate. Ex. base to the apex of the leaf; between these, in large lime-tree, apple-tree, common sorrel, and most plants. It must be particularly remarked, that adjoining leaves are never produced immediately above each other on the stem. When the internodia between two adjacent leaves, which spring from opposite sides of the stem are not developed, this pair of leaves will be opposite each other; plants which have their leaves, produced in this manner in pairs, are said to have opposite leaves. Ex.: mint, gentian, mistletoe, maple, &c. When, instead of only two opposite leaves, three or more are produced from points forming a ring on the stem, they form a whorl or verticil; such plants as have their leaves with this arrangement, are said to have verticillate leaves. Ex.: sweet-woodruff, goosegrass, mare's tail, &c. Verticillate leaves are consid ered as being produced by the non-development of several adjacent internodia. One among many proofs, that this is the real origin of these different arrangements of leaves, is afforded by the Rhododendron ponticum, on the branches of which may often be remarked leaves both alternate and opposite. These distinctions of the mode of growth of leaves must be particularly remarked and understood; being of great importance to the true knowledge of the structure of plants and of their correct classification. There are two sets of veins in leaves, the one lying immediately over the other; these are not commonly distinguishable from each other, but if the leaves of many plants be steeped in water till the part which fills up the veins be dissolved, the skeleton of the leaf may be separated, and in some, as the sea-holly, the two sets of veins can be seen. The different forms and characters of leaves are distinguished by terms, with the principal of which, it is necessary to be acquainted, because the various species of plants are often characterized by the figure of their leaves. When the stalk bears only one lamina, the leaf is said to be simple;-Ex.: the oak, lilack, cabbage, geranium, and most plants, have simple leaves. When the stalk bears more than one lamina, and these are jointed to it, so that they can be separated without tearing, the leaf is said to be compound; each lamina, whether it have a stalk to it or not, is called a leaflet, and the joint is called an articulation. The horsechestnut, rose-tree, ash, sweet and common pea, laburuum, clover, and a multitude of plants, have compound leaves. Compound leaves are of different kinds. 1. Simple-compound: when the leaf-stalk is not divided or branched, and bears several leaflets. Digitate: when all the leaflets are articulated at the end of the stalk ;-Ex.: wood-sorrel has threeleaflets, or its leaves are ternate; horsechestnut has It is known that most parts of plants, which are not either root or stem, are leaves changed in form, texture, and colour, or modified; thus flowers, fruit, &c., are modified leaves. This will be further ex-seven; lupin has several. plained. The arrangement of the veins of leaves must be noticed, as the figure and general appearance of the foliage depend on it; it is of two principal kinds, each of which characterizes one great class of plants. 1. A principal vein, called the midrib, runs through the middle of the leaf, generally dividing it into two equal parts. From the sides or base of this, smaller veins branch out which tend towards the edge; from these spring still finer, and so on, till the whole is divided, as it were, into a network; the meshes being filled up with a green substance. The leaves of the elm, lime, and other timbertrees, and of most shrubs and herbs, have this arrangement of veins. The place of the midrib is sometimes supplied by several equal veins arising from the base of the leaf. Ex.: the vine, currant, geranium, sycamore, endive, &c. In most leaves, the veins are not straight, but change their direction every time they branch out into others. In the oak tribe, this is not the case; the veins proceed in nearly straight lines from the midrib to the margin. This is readily observed in the common chestnut-tree. 2. In the other mode of arrangement, the veins, instead of branching out and interlacing, as just described, run side by side, without touching, from the Pinnate; when the leaflets spring from the stalk, in pairs opposite each other, with, in some cases, an old leaflet at the end, as the rose; or with a tendril, as in most vetches. In the leaves of the agrimony, meadowsweet &c., the leaflets are unequal in size, and in some vetches, &c., instead of being opposite on the stalk, they are alternate on each side of it. 2. Double-compound: when the principal stalk of the leaf has two or more secondary stalks branching from it, which bear the leaflets. If these stalks are all at the end of the principal one, as in the sensitive plant, &c., the leaf is termed digitate-pinnate; and if they arise from the side of the principal stalk, it is termed bi-pinnate, as in the caraway, angelica, &c. 3. Triple-compound, when the principal stalk has secondary stalks, and these again have others articulated with them, as in the carrot, samphire, &c. It is the articulation of the lamine with the stalk that` essentially constitutes a com pound leaf. The orange tribe have compound leaves, yet the orange-tree has leaves with only a single lamina; but this is found to be articulated with the stalk, and therefore is conformable to the character of the tribe. Simple leaves and the leaflets of compound leaves are said to be : Entire, when the margin, or edge, is neither notched nor cut, but in one continued smooth line; whatever the general shape of the leaf may be. Ex.: lilack, laurel, periwinkle, oleander. Serrated, when the edge is cut or notched like the teeth of a saw. Ex. the nettle, elm, and the leaflets of the rose, and a multitude of others. If the teeth are rounded instead of sharp, the leaf is ealled crenate, as in groundivy, hoarhound, woodbetony, &c. Sinuated, when the edge appears as if cut into roundish forms, in and out alternately, like the oakleaf and others. Cut, when the edge, instead of being in rounded segments, is in sharp angular forms. Runcinate, when the segments of a cut leaf are pointed, irregu larly curved, and turned back towards the base of the leaf. Ex.: Leontodon, London-rocket, &c. Pinnatifid, when the margin appears as if cut very deeply, nearly or quite to the midrib, into irregular forms called lobes, which project out at right angles or nearly. Ex.: common groundsel. When the lobes are again cut into smaller, the leaf is called bi-pinnatifid. Palmate, when the general form of the leaf is roundish, but it is deeply cut. Ex.: several kinds of geraniums, serrated passion-flower, &c. The two last are analogous in simple leaves to pinnate and digitate compound ones. With regard to their general form, leaves and leaflets are said to be : Round, as those of the common sheeprot. Roundish, as those of the common moneywort. Oblong or ovate, as those of the brooklime. Obovate, oblong or ovate, but having one end larger than the other, as in the brookweed, primrose, &c. Lanceolate, when the leaf is pointed and equal at each end, but much longer than it is wide; as in the wallflower, willows, oleander, &c.'" Ovate-lanceolate, when the ends of the leaf are rounded instead of pointed. Linear, when the leaves are very long, and so narrow as to look like a line, as those of many grasses, toadrush, &c. Triangular, as those of the common orach; quadrangular, as those of the black poplar, and so on. Cordate, or Heart-shaped, as in the lilack, lime, white waterlily. In the woodsorrel and clover, the leaflets are inversely heart-shaped. Lyrate, when the terminal lobe is larger than the side-lobes which are opposite to each other. Ex.: charlock, Belleisle cress, wild-turnip, &c. In the Sagittaria, buckwheat, sorrel, and spotted arum, the leaves are hastate. When there is a small point at the end of an entire leaflet, as in the vetches, the houseleek, &c., it is said to be mucronate: when the lamina spreads out at the end of the stalk, like a flat umbrella, the leaf is said to be peltate. Ex.: Indian cress. When opposite leaves are sessile, their bases often grow together, and look like one leaf, with the stem of the plant running through it; in such cases the leaves are said to be connate; Ex, the wildteazle, soapwort, perfoliate honey-suckle, Chlora perfoliata, &c. Sometimes the bases of sessile single leaves are so decidedly united, that the stem appears to pass through their substance, as in the common hare's-ear, &c.; these leaves are said to be perfoliate. In some plants the margins of sessile leaves run down on each side of the stem, so as to seem to be of one piece with it; Ex.: many thistles, the inullein, &c.;. these leaves are said to be decurrent. In the grasses, sedges, &c., the bottom of the leaf is wrapped round the stem for some distance; these and similar leaves are said to be sheathing. The leaves of plants have not in all cases flat and thin lamina; they are in several instances thick or fleshy; and are called cylindrical, semi-cylindrical, trilateral, &c., according to the figure which, when sliced across, they present., A fleshy leaf, which is thickest in the middle, and sharp at the two, edges, and pointed at the end, is said to be sword-shaped, or ensiform; Ex.: bris, aloe, &c. (To be continued.) POETRY. MY COUNTRY.-J. K. PAULDING. Again Peace showered her blessings o'er the land. And oh! be such thy ever-during fate, Yes! lone and spotless virgin of the west, 3 cessary, as they feel out their food, while their eyes are prevented from surveying it, among heaps of mud, &c. There are many kinds of ducks; the principal are, the bimaculated duck, the black duck, the common wild duck, the duck ferruginous, the harlequin duck, the domesticated hock-billed duck, the pintailed duck, the tufted duck, and the eider duck; cum multis aliis, with which at present we have nothing to do, all the other varieties being foreign to our purpose in describing the eider duck only. This aquatick fowl is not a distinct species, but | select by the eye. This instinctive property is neonly a variety of the same kind of feathered animals, among which there are many sorts, differing in colour, size, plumage, and, in some instances, in a few peculiar habits. But the genus of the duck is the same with all of them. Their general characteristick is, a broad bill, depressed below the top of the head, the end furnished with a horny substance, termed a nail; the edges of the mandibles, that is to say, the upper and under parts of the bill, pectinated, having little divisions, like the teeth of a comb; a small oval nostril approaching the eye on each side of the upper mandible; the tongue broad, and fringed The eider duck is an inhabitant of the northern near the base. They have three toes before, connected regions, seldom seen in low latitudes; it breeds in by a membrane called a web, and they have one toe, the north of Scotland, and is common on the Westor talon, behind the foot. In these particulars the crn Isles, and also on the Farn Islands, on the several species resemble each other, with some slight coast of Northumberland. It makes its appearance variations, and are principally distinguished by their mostly in the months of June and July, those being size, colour, and habits. Of the latter, namely their probably the months of incubation, or hatching its habits, it is not unreasonable to suppose that those young. It seldom lays more than five or six eggs, habits are the result of circumstances, and not more of a pale greenish olive colour. The nest is on the natural to one species than to another: for whatever ground, composed of plants from the seaside, and ornithologists may say to the contrary, probably the lined with down, most of which is plucked by the wildest of the species might in time be tamed; and, female from her own body; and so fine and light is on the contrary, the tame ones would grow wild, this down, that a moderate hat-full, not pressed close, were they banished from the farmyard to the marshes will not weigh more than three quarters of an ounce. of wilds and deserts. They all get their food after This down forms a considerable article of merchanthe same manner, in the choice of which they are dise, from the northern parts, where flocks of the not remarkably delicate, and they have all the like eider duck frequent, to the southern countries, where faculty of separating that which they wish to swallow it is used for pillows, stuffing of quilts, and such from that which they wish to eject, after it is in their purposes as render both ease and elegance to the mouths, without disbouching the whole in order to qualities of conveniences for repose and indulgence. Perhaps we are not acquainted with all its uses, and consequently do not fully understand its value; the uses, however, that we do know to which it is applied, remind us of a bountiful Providence, that gives us the command of all that fly in the air, glide in the waters, or float on its surface, and of all that tread the earth, whose fleeces adorn and comfort us, whose exuberances fall to our share, whose plumage affords us the soft cure of fatigue, the gentle solace of rest; and whose very bodies resuscitate and renew our strength. The young taken from the nest of the eider duck have never, we believe, been domesticated; but if the impregnated eggs were placed under a common tame duck, and the ducklings, when hatched, fed with such aliment as the eider ducks mostly seek, till they partook of other food, it is not unlikely the next breed of those ducks, so treated, would be tame, like those that swim in our ponds; but then they would lose their other properties, and cease te be cider ducks. Dr. Latham remarks, that this duck is found in the highest latitudes yet visited, even in the polar regions; and he thinks it feeds principally on shellfish. These are the chief particulars of the eider duck. This animal is one of the many species of the an- | telope; it inhabits the southern regions of Africa, an ong the most inaccessible and barren mountains of the Cape; the native Hottentots call this animal the Kainsi. Its length, from the tip of the muzzle to the end of the tail, is three feet two inches; its height at the shoulders is twenty-one inches, but at the croup, about twenty-two; the horns of this animal are three inches and a half long; the ears four and a quarter, and the tail three. The head of the klipspringer is small and short, terminating in a small round black muzzle, void of hair; the sides of the head are somewhat compressed, and contracted rather suddenly in front of the orbits; the ears are large, open, and at the points a little rounded; and the eyes are particularly dark, and rather large. The horns of the male are quite straight, and have three or four small annuli, or rings, round their roots; elsewhere they are perfectly smooth. The knees are, in appearance, a hard patch, which is caused by their frequent rubbing against the rocks; while the tail is but a short brush of hair. The colour of the animal is generally of a mixture of yellow and green, but the under parts of the body are a light sandy red, singed with yellow; and the inside of the ears is clothed with long white hair, surrounded at the edges with a narrow black border. In this species of antelope, the legs are much stronger than in most others, and the hoofs much rounder, not pointed and flat, as in many others; and the tips of them are worn much more than any other part, from the animal treading on them alone; which, together with the straightness of the pastern joint, in a great mea sure accounts for the astonishing agility with which the klipspringer bounds from the high and dangerous rocks and precipices which abound in that country. From the great value set upon its hair for stuffing mattresses, saddles, &c., and for its flesh, which is excellent venison, immense numbers fall a prey to the avarice of the natives; and in addition to these, a great many of the young ones are destroyed by eagles, and other birds of prey inhabiting that climate; so that the animal is become less common than formerly, and grows every day much scarcer. "Harry, I cannot think," says Dick, "What makes my ankles grow so thick." "You do not recollect," says Harry, "How great a calf they have to carry!" |