Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση
[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]

Soap, in 1831, 6·23lbs. each, and in 1841, 9.2lbs. each, showing that the nation is progressing in the use of soap in a greater ration than in an increase of population, and that, if there is not an increased consumption of it in the arts, we are progressing in cleanliness.

Then, again, the consumption of coal as fuel, and the extent of our coal-fields, how this enables us to turn large tracts of land to arable purposes, which, in this climate, must otherwise have grown wood; —that every combustible substance may be considered a store of light and heat treasured up for the use of man-coal, for smelting purposes for making gas to light our towns this mode of lighting introduced at no very distant period, and better for the purpose than oil.

0

In England the coal-field is abont th of the whole surface, in Belgium1th, in France Different kinds of coal differ in their heating powers.

th.

[blocks in formation]

The great improvement of late years in the habits of the upper and middle classes in this country, more particularly as to drunkenness but not a corresponding improvement

in the lower and working classes in this respect—this much to be regretted.

On manufacturing subjects.

The number employed in each particular class of manufacture-the potteries-cotton, silk manufactures, etc.-cutlery, and working in metals, etc. where all these are carried on - the increased value given to the raw material when worked up-this partly in proportion to the time and skill required.

-

There is on this subject some very instructive information, in a tabular form, in Babbage on the "Economy of Machinery," but the calculations are made for the year 1825, and therefore would not exactly apply at present.

The following are a few of them :—

Lead of the value of £1, when manufactured into
Sheets or Pipes, of moderate dimensions.
Ordinary printing characters

The smallest type...

Copper, worth £1, became, when manufactured

into copper sheeting

Household utensils

Woven into metallic cloth, each square inch of

which contains 10,000 meshes.

Bar iron, worth £1, when manufactured into

Agricultural implements, became....

Barrels, musket

Blades, razor, cast steel

Blades, of table-knives

£1.25

4.90

28.30

1.26

4.77

3.57

9.10

[ocr errors]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Door-latches and bolts, from...

Files, common, became

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors]

Needles, of various sizes, from

etc., etc.

The above are given simply for the purpose of suggesting inquiry as to the value of labour compared with that of the material, in manufactured products;-other instances of a domestic kind would occur - such as the value of the raw material wool, of different qualities, compared with the price of a pair of stockings a yard of flannel of a coat of the

kind ordinarily worn - of a hat, etc.

The increased value given to the skins of animals, when

manufactured into shoes, gloves, harness, saddlery, or any other thing made of leather, etc.

Increase of value in flax when manufactured into linen, tablecloths, made into sheets, etc.-pointing out the advantages to a country in being able to manufacture its raw products, whether of a mineral or a vegetable kind, over one which is obliged to export them in a raw state for the purpose of being worked up :-also to what causes it is owing that particular manufactures are located in particular districts as that of cotton in Lancashire-woollen at Leeds-cutlery at Sheffield, etc.

Too much attention cannot be given to all these things of an industrial character, from which the children can form a definite idea of the comparative money value which society pays for the various branches of industry, of skilled and unskilled labour, etc.

Of the extent to which internal communication and rapid modes of conveyance may increase the power and affect the productive industry of a country, the following passage taken from Babbage may give the reader some idea:—

[ocr errors]

On the Manchester railroad, for example, above half a million of persons travel annually; and supposing each person to save only one hour in the time of transit between Manchester and Liverpool, a saving of five hundred thousand hours, or of fifty thousand working days, of ten hours each, is effected. Now this is equivalent to an addition to the actual power of one hundred and sixty-seven men, without increasing the quantity of food consumed; and it should also be remarked, that the time of the class of men thus supplied is far more valuable than that of mere labourers."

The above was written when the Manchester railroad was the only one established; the present state of things adds greatly to the interest of the observation.

A teacher ought to have a general knowledge of the ordinary things of life, so as to give a character of usefulness to his teaching, which will interest those who are taught, and also the parents who send them.

Short CONVERSATIONAL LECTURES, about fifteen or twenty minutes long, will be found a very effective means of instruction. Subjects like the following would naturally suggest themselves:

Truth and falsehood-industry and idleness-sobriety and drunkenness-honesty and the reverse, etc.

In natural history: habits of birds—of animals, their instincts, etc.; or on subjects connected with the occupations of the district-agricultural employments-mining, manufacturing, etc.; on any particular application of substances with which they are acquainted, etc. And when a master

is qualified, he might take such as the following:

The atmosphere-as a vehicle of heat and moisture-as a vehicle of sound: rain and clouds, etc., mist and fogs, etc., dew, etc.

To give an idea of what is meant by conversational lessons, the following may be taken as illustrations :

A loaf of bread.-The teacher would go on to explain, that the different substances of which it is composed arethe flour of wheat, water, barm, salt; that these again are not simple, but each made up of many elementary substances into which they can be separated.

Flour contains gluten, starch, etc., which form the nutritive part of it as food.

Water can be decomposed into its elements, oxygen and hydrogen-two gases, which can be again reunited to form

water.

Salt, of a gas, not colourless like the other gases, but yellow, which cannot be breathed with impunity, and a metal, sodium.

Barm, a froth which rises to the top of beer during fermentation. That if the smallest crumb of bread be taken, so small as to be only just visible, it will contain something of all these different elements; that if they divide this again into a thousand pieces, so as not to be visible even to the naked eye, each of these would contain something of all the different elements of the loaf.

Again, when the loaf is cut we see a number of cells of various sizes-how came these there? The barm causes a

vinous fermentation to take place in the dough, by which an air, heavier than common air, and called carbonic acid gas, is formed; this, as the dough warms, expands, tries to escape, but the dough, by its tenacity, retains it, and in this way these cells are formed.

Then, again, the number of people it has given employment to before it became bread: from the ploughboy up to the farmer-from sowing up to threshing-from the farmer who takes it to market-the corn-dealer-the miller-the baker.

66

How beautiful this provision of the Almighty for man's happiness, in making necessary that employment of mind and body which is required for his sustenance, and without which he could not live! what an interest this gives to life! "If a man will not work, neither shall he eat," does more for man's happiness than the thoughtless are aware of; and the labourer who has to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow is, in many instances, a much more happy man than he who, from want of employment, whatever his condition in life may be, spends his time in listless indolence or in frivolous amusement.

The cottage fire. The fire once lighted: this heat sets free the hydrogen and other gases in the wood and coal; the hydrogen, as it is disengaged, takes fire, is supplied with oxygen from the atmosphere, heats the carbon of the fuel to such a heat that it readily unites with the oxygen of the fuel and of the atmosphere, and forms carbonic acid. This carbonaceous matter in the flame, heated to a red heat, is the principal cause of its giving out so much light. The flame of hydrogen unites with the oxygen, and produces water the carbonic acid which is formed, being rarefied, ascends through the chimney into the atmosphere, and then mixes with it—is taken up by the leaves of trees, and of plants. or descends with the rains, and is again taken up by the roots-the oxygen of it is again given out by the plants to the atmosphere to support animal life-the carbon retained in its solid state, and assimilated to themselves by the trees, adding to their solid state, and again comes back when the trees are cut down to supply us with timber, fuel, etc,

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »