a smaller work, "Die deutsche Nationalliteratur von Goethe's Tode bis zur Gegenwart," by Adolf Stern (3rd ed., 1894), also the same author's "Studien zur Litteratur der Gegenwart" (Dresden, 1895, 449 pp.), and "Zur Literatur der Gegenwart Bilder und Studien" (Leipzig, 1880); further, "Die deutsche Dichtung der Gegenwart, Die ALTEN UND DIE JUNGEN," VON ADOLF BARTELS (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1899, about 3s. 6d.), and " DAS DEUTSCHE DRAMA IN DEN LITTERARISCHEN BEWEgungen der Gegenwart," von B. LITZMANN (4th ed., Leipzig, 1897, about 4s.), are works which ought to be studied. In conjunction with this I should like to call attention to GUSTAV FREYTAG's "TECHNIK DES DRAMAS" (8th ed., Leipzig, 1898, 5s.), and Spielhagen's "Beiträge zur Theorie und Technik des Romans" (Leipzig, 1883).

As a primer for the study of German prosody I may mention the "LEHRBUCH DER POETIK FÜR Höhere Schulen," VON SCHUSTER (3rd ed., Halle, 1890, about 2s.), and for those who wish to pursue this subject Minor's "Neuhochdeutsche Metrik " (490 pp., IOS.) will supply all they may require. F. Kaufmann's "Deutsche Metrik nach ihrer geschichtlichen Entwickelung" (Marburg, 1897, 3s. 6d.) is good, and Sievers' "Altgermanische Metrik" (5s.) is the standard work for the older periods.

DER

No teacher of Modern Languages can perform his duties efficiently unless he has made himself acquainted with the character, the customs, the institutions and the history of the country the language of which he proposes to teach. It is, therefore, necessary for every teacher of German to spend at least some time abroad and to study carefully works like Francke's "Social Forces in German Literature" (New York, 577 pp.) (a new edition of this work has been published by George Bell & Sons in London under the title of "A History of German Literature as determined by Social Forces"), FREYTAG'S "BILDER AUS DEUTSCHEN VERGANGENHEIT" (24th ed., Leipzig, 5 vols., about 6s. each), Heinrich von Sybel's great work "Die Begründung des deutschen Reiches durch Wilhelm I." (7 vols., 66s., Leipzig, 1889-1894), then "von Treitschke's Historische und politische Aufsätze" (3 vols., 8s. each), Bismarck's "Leben und Erinnerungen" (21s.), of which there is an English translation. those who cannot study these great works, I would strongly recommend the following which contain a minimum of the knowledge absolutely necessary to any teacher:-SYDNEY WHITMAN, "IMPERIAL GERMANY" (London, 1891, about 2s. 6d.; "German Life in Town and Country," by W H. Dawson (London, Newnes, 1901); SIME'S "HISTORY OF GERMANY (London, 1898, about 2s. 6d.), Jentsch, "Grundbegriffe und Grundsätze der Volkswirtschaft" (Leipzig, 1895, about 3s.), Fünfzehn deutsche Volksbücher wiedererzählt,' von Gustav Schwab (15th ed., by G. Klee, Leipzig, 1893, about 3s.), "DIE DEUTSCHEN HELDENSAGEN, VON GOTTHOLD KLEE (3rd ed., Gütersloh, 1889, about 3s. 6d.).

Το

For German mythology there is, I think,

nothing better than Mogk's "Abriss" in Paul's "Grundriss," but I must mention two little booklets of the Sammlung Göschen for small purses, KAUFFMANN, "DEUTSCHE MYTHOLOGIE" (2nd ed., Iod.), and GÜNTHER, "DEUTSCHE KULTURGESCHICHTE" (10d.).

There is superfluity in excellent German dictionaries. To begin with small ones, WHITNEY'S "GERMAN AND ENGLISH DICTIONARY " (Macmillan, about 5s.) may be recommended, though it is not sufficient for an advanced student of German. FLÜGEL-SCHMIDT-TANGER is a most excellent work, and cheap at about 14s. for two vols. Of the larger works the new edition of GRIEB's DicTIONARY," BY SCHRÖER, 26S., and the large Flügel at 36s., and Muret-Sanders, "Encyclopedic Dictionary," complete, about £4-there is a small and cheap edition of this at about 16s., in one volume, which is very good. It is not a mere extract of the larger work, but largely an original compilation by B. Klatt and H. Baumann, carefully done and thoroughly reliable, most suitable for upper forms and teachers. Among the "Wörterbücher" written in German, PAUL'S "DEUTSCHES WÖRTERBUCH" (576 pp., about 8s.), M. Heyne's "Deutsches Wörterbuch,' in 3 vols (about 30s.), and KLUGE'S "ETYMOLOGISCHES WÖRTERBUCH" (about 10s.) are eminently suitable works. The new edition of the large Grimm which is in process of publication, as well as Grimm's "Deutsche Grammatik" in its new form, should be procured for the school library. Good supplements to any dictionary are EBERHARD'S SYNONYMISCHES WÖRTERBUCH" (15th ed., Leipzig, 1896, 12s.), “WÖRTERBUCH DER HAUPTSCHWIERIGKEITEN IN DER DEUTSCHEN SPRACHE," VON SANDERS (19th ed., Berlin, 1889, about 3s.), and DUDEN'S "ORTHOGRAPHISCHES WÖRTERBUCH" (Is. 6d.).

66

In conclusion, I should like to recommend to all students of German philology the "Jahresbericht über die Erscheinungen auf dem Gebiete der Germanischen Philologie" (about 9s.), and let teachers of German subscribe to one or two of the many German periodicals which deal with pedagogical as well as philological and literary questions. Die neueren Sprachen (about 10s. p.a.) and the Literaturblatt für germanische und romanische Philologie (about 10s., p.a.) would be sufficient for ordinary purposes; those who make a special study of German will find the "Zeitscrift für den deutschen Unterricht," edited by Lyon, the "Deutsche Literaturzeitung," "das Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen," Paul and Braune's " Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Litteratur," and Kluge's "Zeitschrift für Deutsche Wortforschung" (about 4 numbers per annum for IOs.), very

PRACTICAL BOTANY FOR CHILDREN.

By ELIZABETH HEALEY, A.R.C.Sc.(Lond.) University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, Cardiff. II.

ST

TEM AND LEAVES.-There are two ways in which we may classify stems; either according to their structure or according to the way in which they grow. The differences between soft and short-lived stems and woody stems, belonging to plants which live many years, are quickly noted by children. The division into erect and climbing stems gives some useful practice in observation of the ways in which plants climb and in reasoning as to why it is advantageous to be a climber.

WAYS IN WHICH WEAK STEMS CLIMB.-(1) By scrambling over their surroundings; examples, ground ivy, brambles, strawberry.

(2) By hooks, which are often parts of leaves. (clematis, nasturtium), or by roots (ivy).

(3) By twining. The same kind of plant almost always twines in the same direction (exception, bittersweet), and most plants twine to the left, i.e., the opposite direction to the hands of a watch. Note examples of each: hop and honeysuckle to the right; bean and convolvulus to the left.

Ex

(4) By tendrils or other sensitive organs. amples: passion flower, sweet pea, vine, virginia creeper. The tendrils are very sensitive, and if stroked delicately bend slowly towards the side touched.

The use of climbing is that the plants may reach the light and free air as easily as possible.

The surface and shape of different stems should be noted, whether smooth, hairy or prickly; cylindrical (grasses, trees), square (dead nettle), three sided (sedge), ribbed (hemlock), flattened (sweet pea). Smooth stems usually have a tough skin which protects them against insects, a purpose served in other cases by hairs (poppy), prickles and thorns, which also afford some protection against grazing animals.

LEAVES. The children should be encouraged to make collections of fresh and skeleton leaves; the latter can be found abundantly in woods in late autumn, winter, and till early spring buried under fallen leaves. The descriptions at this stage need not be elaborate. The division of the leaf into leaf-stalk and blade is an easy one; the edges are seen to vary in different kinds of plants, and the names of the most common leaf-forms are soon learnt by reference to many specimens.

The great facts in connection with leaves are their work of feeding the plant, of getting rid of superfluous water, and of respiration. These can be made clear and interesting by experiments. The leaf is the most important part of the plant, and is always present except in the very rare cases when the stem is modified to do its work. The plant grows only while it has its leaves. If they are stripped off while green and vigorous it often dies although stem and root are left.

1 Concluded from November, 1901.

EXPERIMENTS. (1) Grow a plant in the dark; its leaves are thin, yellow, or white, and it is sickly; on exposing it to sunshine the leaves turn green and grow, while the plant becomes sturdy and healthy.

(2) Weigh a plant at the beginning and end of the day for two days or more, letting it stand in sunshine; note changes and explain their cause.

(3) Keep a plant under a bell jar, cover the surface of the earth in the pot with tinfoil to prevent evaporation from it, and notice how the inside of the glass becomes covered with little drops of

water.

(4) Put the stalk of a primrose leaf into the mouth. and the blade into water. Blow through the cut end of the stalk; air passes out from the surface of the leaf into the water, showing there are little openings by which air or water vapour can pass out of the plant.

(5) If the children have some knowledge of general elementary science, they may be allowed to collect the gas given off by water plants and test it for oxygen; and that given off by seedlings in a corked bottle for carbonic-acid gas.

MOVEMENTS OF LEAVES.-The stem and leaves grow towards the light. This is easily seen in plants grown near a window; they bend towards the direction of the light.

In

The leaflets of clover and wood-sorrel show by their change of position at night the "sleep" of plants. They fold downwards after sunset. Other plants in which this can be seen are mimosa, lupins and beans. If the plants are not exposed to bright sunshine during the day they do not sleep at night. The closing of flowers at night is also called sleep, but it is probably due to a difference of temperature, not of illumination, and protects the inner parts of the flower from cold and wet. very cold weather the leaves of laurels and other evergreens will be noticed to turn downwards close to the main stem, which protects them from the chill of excessive radiation which would take place if they were in a horizontal position in frosty weather. This is probably the advantage which all plants derive from their sleeping position, "the protection of their upper surfaces from radiation into the open sky." Leaves are protected against general cold and wet sometimes by coatings of woolly hairs (edelweiss, cudweed), against animals by prickles (holly, rose); in very dry places the leaves have thick skins often covered with wax (which also forms the "bloom" on fruit) to prevent much loss of water from the surface. The effect of a similar covering in keeping the leaf fresh can be shown by covering a large leaf with vaseline and comparing in a few hours with one not so covered. Trees and shrubs prepare for the winter by cutting off the leaf stalks from the branches by a cushion of cork; thus the scar of the leaf is prepared before it falls off and the supply of water stopped at the same time. The prepared leaf-scars are very clearly seen in the horse-chestnut, in which they are horse-shoe shaped. Next year's leaves are prepared in the form of buds, which should be collected and examined carefully by the class at

intervals from autumn to spring. They are always protected by tough coverings, hairy coats, or varnished with resin (examples, elm, willow, chestnut).

FLOWERS. The parts of the flower should be studied at first without dissection; later, the flowers may be taken to pieces carefully and the parts pinned out. The following will serve as useful types: buttercup, sweet pea, primrose, tulip, hyacinth, jonquil, crocus. Many bulbs planted in autumn can be easily grown in a schoolroom, under the care of the class: snowdrop, hyacinth, daffodil, narcissus, tulip. If a garden bed is available it will be found a never-failing source of interest and pleasure; window boxes are a good substitute if the garden is not attainable.

In studying flowers and the uses of their parts much may be done by observation out of school. The bright colour and strong scent attract insects to visit flowers; the solid advantages they take away in the honey and pollen for food. The service rendered in return is the conveyance of pollen from one plant to another of the same kind. Noting these things leads to the understanding of pollination and the simpler methods by which it is effected. Some plants are pollinated by creeping and short-tongued insects (buttercup, arum, hemlock); some flowers (pea, vetch, clover) are specially adapted for bees, as the honey is concealed and bees have long tongues; the monkshood and foxglove are visited by humble-bees; pinks and honeysuckles by butterflies and moths. Trees, as hazels and poplars, have inconspicuously coloured flowers, but the flowers come before the leaves and in breezy spring so that the pollen is distributed by the wind. Grasses are another common instance of wind pollination.

FRUITS. A collection of dry fruits should be made throughout the year. Many edible fruits can be bought at any time. In spring the fruits of the primrose and marsh marigold are to be found; in summer those of the buttercup, violet, poppy, and dandelion; and in autumn a countless number of specimens are available, such as nuts of all kinds; clematis, rose-hips, haws, peas, beans, wallflowers, &c.

The chief points to be noted by young children are the division into classes of superior and inferior fruits-shown by reference to the orange and apple; the other great division into fruits which open, and fruits whose outer covering rots away or is broken artificially before the seed can come out. A large number of different fruits should be compared and the identity of parts noted under diversity of appearance.

The ways in which fruits open and seeds are dispersed give scope for careful observation. Good examples are seen in the poppy, iris, violet, honesty, pea, and many others.

The dispersal of fruits and seeds by the wind is well shown in elm, maple, thistle, dandelion, and clematis; other fruits and seeds have rough, clinging surfaces, so that they are carried by animals. Examples: goose-grass or cleavers ; "burrs" or burdock. Seeds carried by birds or other animals have generally attractive outside

Artificial propagation by cutting shows also the reproductive power of the stem; begonias can be "struck" from a single leaf.

The above is a brief and general sketch of a plan of work which has been tried with success in a class of young children. Observations of what actually takes place in field and garden cannot fail to be a satisfactory foundation for future experimental work in laboratory botany. Young children have not the sufficiently mature minds to realise the significance of any but very simple experiments (such as have been described in this article), but they are keen and truthful students of outdoor sights and sounds, and faithful reproducers of what they see, especially if encouraged to illustrate their impressions by drawing and painting.

The

The children should keep a "Nature Calendar," in which they can enter each day any new observation they make about the seeds and plants which they are growing or watching elsewhere. children should also be encouraged to collect fruits, seeds, flowers, leaves, &c., and to arrange their finds in an orderly manner. As much work as possible should be done out of doors. The main object of such a course in Practical Botany is to train the power of accurate observation and precision of expression, but perhaps the greatest good is in awaking and stimulating an enduring love of Nature.

ACETYLENE AS A LABORATORY HEATING AGENT.

TH

By A. E. MUNBY, M.A. Felsted School.

HE use of acetylene gas for lighting has extended so much during the last few years, and has proved such a boon to many who have no gas or electric light at disposal, that it is remarkable that more has not been done to produce suitable apparatus for using the gas for heating. In these days, when laboratories are springing up in so many small places where coal gas is either not obtainable or prohibitive in price, the possi bilities in connection with this use of the gas are very great, and have only quite recently been utilised. The gas, containing as it does 92 per cent. of carbon, requires, of course, special arrangements for its successful combustion. Calcium carbide, which produces the gas on contact with water, is now so well known that it is perhaps unnecessary to say anything about its production. The sole makers in this country, the Acetylene Illuminating Company, share with the British Aluminium Company the energy derived from the Falls of Foyers for producing their carbide, and the office of the former Company is at 3,

Victoria Street, S.W. A good deal of carbide is made on the continent and varies considerably in quality, the make of some firms being undoubtedly good. A good carbide should yield on an average four and a half to five cubic feet of gas per pound, and can be obtained delivered in most places at the present time for about £21 per ton, and as it is now usually packed in free non-returnable drums, this represents the total cost.

The choice of a generator for acetylene is rather beyond the scope of this article, but the report of the Committee on the Exhibition of Acetylene Generators held at the Imperial Institute in 1898, and printed by Mr. Trounce, 10, Gough Square, Fleet Street, or the elaborate work of Professor Lewes entitled "Acetylene," contains many drawins and valuable details of a score or more of generators now on the market. Where space, money and a good water-supply are all available, we think that a non-automatic generator, in which the whole of the gas to be used for a given period is generated at once, is to be recommended, especially as the pressure required for heating work, which, it must be noted, is equal to six inches of water as against about three inches generally arranged for a generator for lighting only, is readily obtained. If an automatic generator be employed, it is advisable to ascertain beforehand that this pressure can be obtained, and it should be borne in mind, and if necessary impressed upon the makers, that this additional pressure tends to the formation of more "after gas,' so that the storage capacity of the gas holders should be increased. As regards the estimation of the size of generator required, it will be found that some makers have a tendency to over-estimate the output of their apparatus, and it will sometimes be found desirable, therefore, to install a machine a size larger than appears to be actually necessary

We

on paper. Among automatic_generators we may recommend that of Messrs. Thorn and Hoddle, 135, Victoria Street, S. W., as being compact and moderate in price, and we believe with their latest improvements quite satisfactory. We believe this firm to have been the first to modify a generator for heating purposes, and that they are alive to the requirements of the additional pressure. have not found, however, that their generators run very well coupled together when the installation requires more than one of the largest size, one having a tendency to pump into the other. However, the firm claim to have improved the method of balancing, and where a second machine is kept merely in reserve, this of course does not form any objection.

The gas produced from any generator is not quite pure, and although it is used at present more often than not without any purification, it is becoming recognised that such a course is undesirable. The most important impurities in the gas are phosphoretted hydrogen, ammonia and benzene; the two former may be attributed directly to the carbide, and although they will be very small in amount in the case of a good carbide, such as that from Foyers, their removal is very

desirable from a laboratory point of view, because they cause very rapid injury to platinum apparatus exposed to a Bunsen flame, and from an interesting paper in the Chemical Society's Journal for November, it would seem that the ammonia is probably not the lesser of the two offenders. The last-mentioned impurity, benzene, may be produced owing to over-heating in the generator by the polymerisation of the acetylene; the objection to it from the heating point of view is that it tends to produce a zone of luminosity in the Bunsen flame.

Various purifiers have been proposed having for their general object the oxidation of the phosphoretted hygrogen, the neutralisation of the ammonia and the absorption of the benzene. Among others, bleaching powder and an aqueous acetic-acid solution mixed with chromic acid may be mentioned. The gas should pass through, not merely over, the purifier employed, which may be effected by making a solution, or milk, of the purifier with water, and exposing a large surface to the action of the gas by impregnating some indifferent substance such as coke or pumice with the liquid. We have made one or two experiments with the object of finding the value of these two purifiers in removing the luminous zone from a Bunsen flame and decreasing the deteriorating effect of the gas on platinum. So far as such experiments have gone, they seem to show that both considerably decrease the action of the gas on platinum, but that the acetic-acid mixture is the more efficacious. On the other hand, the bleaching powder has a marked effect in reducing the tendency to luminosity in the flame, though this effect does not seem to be very lasting; the acetic-acid mixture, however, appears to have no effect in this direction.

The construction of the Bunsen burner for acetylene involves a consideration of the diameter of the tube, which must be very small, to prevent "striking back"; the aperture of the jet, which has only to deliver about a quarter as much gas per time as in an ordinary Bunsen burner; and the gas pressure, which must be high, in order that the injecting power may be sufficient to cause the complete combustion of the gas. These factors, of course, are intimately connected one with the other, and admit of very little latitude. In the Munby burner, as produced by Messrs. Gallenkamp and Co., of 19, Sun Street, Finsbury Square, E.C., the diameter of the tube used is five millimetres, and the jet is capable of delivering about. one cubic foot of acetylene per hour under the pressure employed, which is equal to a head of six inches of water. This burner, which is described in the Proceedings of the Chemical Society, 1896, No. 179, gives a full working flame for ordinary bench operations, which, as might be expected, is exceedingly hot, enabling heating operations to be carried on in very little more than half the time that is required when coal gas is used. For ordinary flame and spectroscopic reactions it is excellent, and the use of the blowpipe can be dispensed with for a great many small

(4) If the only digits in the multiplier are unity and one other, e.g., 45678 x 81, the answer may be got by multiplication in one line, an addition being substituted for the multiplication by unity. Thus, multiply by the 8 at once after obtaining the units figure, and add to the product at every stage the next figure to the left of the one multiplied. The multiplication would read thus :—

1x8=8 8x8+7=71 7+8x7+6=69 6+8x6+5=59 Ans. = 3699918.

5+8×5+4=49 4+8×4=36

If the multiplier had been 801, the digit two to the left would have been added, and so on.

(5) If in a multiplier certain consecutive digits are a multiple of one or more others, e.g., 1089.-108 12x9. Multiply in the ordinary way by 9, and then multiply the 9 line by 120, thus:

5252040 5295807

II. The method of "doubling."-Here the device is such as to insure multiplying by 2 only. The essential point is to substitute 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, &c., for the digits of the multiplier. Using the same examples as above, we have—

609518

=

Stage I. 101012

=

Stage II. 11022

(ii.) 28,974,632 × 4,378,965 4,378,965

The numbers in each place in Stage I. together with those directly on the left and beneath are the equivalent of the digits in the corresponding places in the multiplier.

2× 3467895-6935790

× 3467895=1733947'5

The in the millions place of the multiplier = 1,733,947,500,000

= 4 3 3 2 1 4 I I I I I

20000

=

34,678,950,000

=

69,357,900

28,974,632,000 579,492,640,000 1,158,985,280

609,626,257,280

Ans.

126,878,899,415,880