chemistry is, that water is produced by the combination of different gases, which can be proved to have been co-existent with the origin of the earth. This demonstration of chemistry does not in the least exclude the agency of the Almighty Creator as the Intelligent Maker of all things. These powerful gases may be literally one class of "the things which do not appear," but by the combination of which, "the things which are seen' were framed by the word of God. No reasoning can prove more triumphantly than those of the inductive sciences, that these gases did not originate themselves, endow themselves with given tendencies, or fix laws for their own energies. They had a Maker, and their Maker is God. It is He that called them into existence. It is He that gave them their separate energies and adaptations. It is He that endowed them with fixed laws for their respective combinations. Their elementary properties came from His creative power, and the laws of their combinations have been ordained by His legislative will. The revelations of natural philosophy teach us that the various elements of the universe are found in combinations called compound bodies; and the investigations of natural theology prove that, when the properties of these compounds are compared with the elements employed in composing them, the object of the Great Designer contemplated, at their origin, rather the properties of the compounds, than the properties of the separate elements themselves. The simple elements were created not for their own sakes, but for the sake of the compound bodies which their combination would produce. This argument might be illustrated by the properties of hydrogen in water, were this the place and time to enter upon it. The geologist, as such, assumes the existence of water without troubling himself to account for its origin, or to introduce it as a proof of design. them away, either by dissolving them chemically, or by carrying away mechanically the loosened portions, and depositing them in another place. The outer lines of our first diagram in page 197, are intended to represent that the first crust of the earth was not quite round and even, but broken, dented, and rugged. Its whole circumference is diversified with hollows and elevations, depressions, swellings, and peaks. Suppose any dent or depression in fig. 1 on that page, to designate some hollow of many miles in extent, sufficient to form the bed of an inland sea, or it might be what is called the "basin" of a large river, into which streams and torrents are flowing from all sides. After having referred yourself to that figure, imagine that the annexed diagram, fig. 38, represents any one of the depressions which were originally formed in the crust at the time of the earth's first cooling. As the rain would wear away, or, speaking geologically, would disintegrate the upper parts or edges of the hollows, the water would run downwards to the bottom, and there settle, and when in a state of rest it would deposit the loosened materials or detritus which it had dislodged from the higher portions of the rock. This detritus would necessarily consist of pebbles, gravel, sand, and mud or silt. Every fresh shower would effect a fresh disintegration of the rock, and would also produce fresh currents and streams that would carry away more pebbles, sand, and silt, and deposit them in a fresh layer or bed over the surface of the first. Upon every repetition of shower and floods two results would take place; first, the lake or inland sea would, by the accession and rise of its unexhaled waters, become deeper and deeper; and secondly, with every fresh deposit of detritus, the bottom Fig. 38. y The Results of Rain-floods on a Depression in the Earth's Crust, the earth's crust was in the form of vapour, which, with the decrease of temperature, condensed at last into rain. Try to form for yourself distinct and well-defined conceptions of the facts of this case, for otherwise you will always be hesitating and doubting in your future lessons. Imagine that from some cause, which Geologists do not profess to understand, the heat of our ignited and burning globe began to decrease, and that a portion of this heat so radiated into space as to allow a crust to form upon its surface, just as you now see crust forming over molten metal or glass as the fused materials cool down. Imagine again that this cooling process continues, it may be for thousands or myriads of years, until at last the surface of the earth grew so cool that the watery elements, which during its ignited and fused state must have floated along with many ether volatile constituents in the atmosphere around it, condensed into vapour, and then into drops. This water would be deposited on the surface of the earth in the forms of lakes, seas, and oceans. After a time portions of this water would be taken up by evaporation, descend again in the form of rain, which in its turn would produce streams, torrents, and rivers. This outline of the ignited and cooling conditions of the globe must be accepted in order to arrive at any consistent explanation of the present state of the earth, as evidenced by the structure of its rocks, and by the fossils, which are monuments of its ancient history. I must now refer you to the latter part of our second lesson, especially to the paragraphs on page 198. I there showed that when the process of cooling commenced on the earth's surface, there was not as yet any water. It was next remarked that, as soon as it was practicable, according to the laws fixed by the Intelligent Maker, for the gaseous elements of water to combine and to form that liquid, water began immediately to act destructively upon the outward surface of the earth's crust. As soon as water came into contact with the surface-rocks, the entire tendency of its action upon them would be to wear would come up higher and higher, and the water shallower and shallower, until, at last, the upper layer of the detritus would become visible as dry land. You at once see that as these layers or beds rise in thickness, they would elevate the waters of the lake or in land sea in the depression, and eventually drive the water off to seek its level in other hollows, until finally sea would join sea and form the ocean. It is evident that all the loosened materials, disintegrated by the different showers and borne away into the hollows by the different floods, will be deposited in layers one on the surface of another. The materials thus loosened and worn down by the water have, in geology, different names, according to the size of the ingredients of the detritus. Fragments of the larger size are called pebbles, the next gravel, the next sand, and the smallest mud or silt. If you have ever observed the materials of the bed of a river from its source to its entrance into the sea, you will remember the facts which have been just stated. When you have been on the summit of some rocky mountain, you have seen a well of water springing up amid its rugged crags. in the immediate neighbourhood, there is not a single rounded stone or pebble to be found any where. All the stones are rough and angular, for as yet the water has had no opportunity to roll any of the looser stones in its bed. As you descend lower into the glen or ravine, you find that the stones have been rubbed and partly rounded, by the friction of the water, and by being rolled against each other. When you come to the great valley, the valley where all the rivulets form one stream, there you find, first large rounded stones, which might almost be called boulders; lower down you have large pebbles; lower still, gravel; until, as you approach the sea, the bed of the river is mere sand or mud, totally destitute of gravel or pebbles. As you recollect these facts you must try to account for them. We know that the power of water to carry heavy bodies is very great and extraordinary, or rather we know that bodies lose much of their weight or gravity when they are suspended or borne in water. We also know that the force of currents cannot carry boulders as far as it can carry pebbles, or carry gravel as far as sand or mud. You are now to apply these statements and your own recollections of what you have seen in the bed of a river, to the phenomena which are likely to occur under the action of rain or torrents in our supposed hollow of the earth's crust, as represented in fig. 38. Let A B be one of the depressions found in the crust of the earth as represented in fig. 1, page 197, vol. I. Imagine several repetitions of showers and floods to take place at different periods, and the water to affect mechanically the surface rock at both the points A B. The water, in running down each side of the declivity, would bear away the larger or finer materials to different distances, according to the velocity of the current. The stream would leave the heavier materials early on in its own side of the curve, carry the pebbles and gravel towards the bottom of the hollow, and bear the sand and silt to some distance on the opposite side. At the first period, a heavy shower falling on the point B would carry down loose stone and pebbles but a short distance, the sand farther, and the silt farther still, say as far as . At the second period, a similar shower and flood from the point a would produce similar results, and form a layer that would cover a part of the first bed of detritus, say as far as the point above y. At a third period, another rain season produced a flood from B, which carried down more detritus and formed a third layer. At a fourth period, like showers and torrents from A would repeat the preceding phenomena. Each repetition of rain and flood would produce fresh disintegration, and form new layers of pebbles, gravel, sand, and silt. Let us suppose that in the progress of centuries or ages, the lake A B would, by some means, become dry, and that a section of the beds were made. It is evident that a rock, or what is geologically called, a formation, of a very complex character would appear. There would be pebbles, gravel, sand, and silt. Different portions of such beds are called by different names, according as they have been cemented or hardened together. The bed of cemented pebbles is called a conglomerate; that of gravel and sand, free sandstone; that of mud or silt, laminated shale, or slaty clay. As this lesson is intended to be chiefly an introduction to the doctrines of Geology concerning the action of water, I have thought it right, to help you, to begin at the beginning. I have already endeavoured to explain to you the action of fire in the formation of the earth's crust; I shall now proceed to a class of lessons which will make you acquainted with the influence of water, as developed in the disintegration of early rocks on the earth's crust, and in the construction of sedimentary strata. upon the removal of their support, fall down in confused frag- LESSONS IN PENMANSHIP.-No. III. IN our last lesson we were obliged to postpone the description Thus we have described the formation of both the alphabets The influence of water upon rocks is manifested in three different ways. First, it decomposes their substances chemi-commonly overcomes all difficulties. cally, and dissolves their combined elements, as is seen in the action of tea upon a lump of sugar. Secondly, it loosens the particles of which they are formed, by getting between the grains or ingredients which compose them, by forcing them asunder, and thus destroying their cohesion or their power to stick together, as is instanced in the action of water upon slaked lime, or rather on a ball of sand. Thirdly, it acts mechanically upon them, by removing their loosened fragments from one place to another, rolling and rubbing them against each other, giving them a shape different from their original form, and depositing them at a lower level, as may be seen in the effect of rain in leaving mud in the roads and streets. Even when water is in the form of atmospheric vapour, and before it has condensed into liquid rain, it has a powerful induence upon rocks. It has a power to make its way, as you have seen, into the smallest interstices or cleavages between the minutest particles. Its destructive action is made most manifest in the disintegration of exposed rocks and of high peaks, amid whose materials a great quantity of moisture penetrates, decomposes the particles, and severs even granite. The mechanical influence of water is very diversified. It affects some rocks by the mere force of its weight and pressure. It disintegrates others by friction over an exposed surface, as in rivers. It destroys some by its velocity or acquired momentum, as is instanced in what are called waves of translation seen in a sudden river flood, in tidal action, and in the powerful currents found in the sea. In some cases it wears away rocks by falling upon them from a height, as in waterfalls and eataracts. In other instances, it destroys a whole formation of rocks by undermining them. This it does by eating away some soft bed which supports the overhanging strata; which, The middle pages of this number exhibit an equal number of writing lessons in the three different hands, of which the words are as follows:-Text: Easingwold, Formentera, Guadaloupe, and Huntingdon. Half-text: Encourage all honest and virtuous actions; Fame commonly accompanies merit; Goodness most commonly transcends beauty; Humility most commonly leads to honour. Court hand: Encouragement most commonly animates the mind; Fear is commonly the companion of guilty actions; Goodness and mercy are the attributes of the Divinity; Humanity and magnanimity are noble endowments. We strongly recommend learners to write the copies or words of the round-hand or text alphabet first, say three or four times over, till they are well acquainted with the shapes of the letters, and can make them with great ease; they may then proceed to the copies of the half-text alphabet, and write them as often; and lastly, to the copies of the court or running-hand, and write them most frequently of all, as this i the hand in which all letters and manuscripts should be written Those of our students who wish us to give them advice as to what hand or style of writing we would recommend, have at last got it embodied in the court-hand copies; this is the plain and easy style which we admire, and which we consider as far before the wiry angular system in common use. The grand object of all good penmanship should be to write so as to easily be read; and whenever any style of writing loses this character, it loses half its value. With regard to the copies given to the learner in these different hands, nothing could be expected in the text but a single word; this is always geographical; in the half-text and court-hand, an attempt is made, as usual, to convey moral lessons; and the qualifying terms commonly and most commonly, are only introduced to make the line the proper length. THE POPULAR EDUCATOR, LESSONS IN LATIN.-No. XXIX. By JOHN R. BEARD, D. D. DEVIATIONS FROM THE MODEL-CONJUGATIONS. THE four conjugations are only so many classes into which Latin verbs are put tokens already stated, and the verbs in them are formed acThese classes are determined by the cording to the models already given. But the verbs which make up these classes, do not exhaust the whole stock of Latin verbs. There are others that more or less depart from the models. The verbs that depart from the models may, in general, be ranked under three descriptions. i. They differ from the model-verbs in the perfect and the supine. ii. They differ from the model-verbs in other parts. iii. They lack several parts which are possessed by the model-verbs. As these three classes do not conform to the rule or standard afforded in the four conjugations, they might all be termed irregular. The epithet irregular, however, is commonly applied only to the second class, and as no good reason compels us to depart from the ordinary usage in this case, we shall specially apply the denomination of "the irregular verbs differ from the models in other parts than the perfect and the to those verbs which supine. The verbs which differ in the perfect and the supine may be callad deviational, as in a marked way deviating (de, from, and via, a way) from the ordinary forms, and those that are without certain parts may be termed defective (de, from, and facio, I make). Thus we obtain four classes of verbs. i. The regular, or those which mainly follow the paradigms of the four conjugations. ii. The deviational, those that depart from those paradigins in the perfect tense and the supine. iii. The irregular, those that depart from the paradigms in other parts. iv. The defective, those that are wanting in mood, tense, and person. The verbs that follow the forms of the four conjugations are dignified with the term regular, because such verbs exist in greater number than any other class. The same facts may be set forth in this Regular. VIEW OF THE LATIN VERBS. Irregular. The Four Conjugations. I. Deviational. II. Irregular. III. Defective. The departure from the models would be very much lessened, were we at liberty to enter at length into the processes by which the present tenses now in use were formed, and exhibit the real roots or stems of the several verbs. I. DEVIATIONS IN THE FIRST CONJUGATION. i. Do, dědi, dăre, datum, to give; the a is short in the stems as dǎbam, dăbo, darem, excess and da. According to do form the compounds of do, of which the first part is a dissyllable, as circumdo, circumdedi, circumdatum, circumdare. The compounds of do having monosyllables as prefixes follow the third conjugation, us addo, addere, addidi, additum. It is not uncommon for a verb of one conjugation thus to pass into another conjugation. ii. Sto, stěti, stare, statum, to stand (with abl. to cost). The compounds with monosyllables have in the perfect stiti, as consto (I consist of), constiti, constare; participle future active ticiple future active; also circumsto (I stand around), circumstēti. with dissyllables retain stěti, and have neither supine nor parpraestaturus, constaturus, obstaturus, &c. The compounds VOCABULARY. acc. and abl.), to surround (some one with something) or to put something Circumdo, circumdedi, circumdăre, circumdă um (dat. and ace or round some one; consto, constě i, constare, constatum (abl.), to consist of, to cost; persto, perstēti, perstare, perstatum, to continue; presto, praestiti, praestare, praestitum and praestatum, to stand before, to be distinguished (with dat. to surpass); praestare se fortem, to show oneself brave; obsto, I stand in the way of, hinder; forum, i, n, a marked; stipendium, i, n, pay; interfector, ó is, m, a slayer, murderer; propugnator, oris, m, a defender; classis, is, f. a fleet; vestis, is, f. a garment; conservatio, ónis, f. preservation; invitus, a, um, unwilling; certainly; extrinsecus, adv., outwardly. insperans, antis, hoping nothing, against hope, uber, uběris, rich; certo, ablative case by an adjective in the comparative degree; exObserve that a noun or pronoun may be governed in the ample: Noun Aurum est gravius argento. Light than which nothing is dearer. form with quam were used, then the noun after the quam Nothing is more divine than mercy. EXERCISES.-LATIN-ENGLISH. Deus nobis dedit animum, quo nihil est praestantius; multo think that he is about to give a fleet to my brother? nothing has of circumdare and quominus. |