(3) Why does steam ascend? at the bottom of a pail of water? it is lighter than air.

Why does cork rise if placed
Show that steam rises because

(4) From the two experiments, placing water on the fire, and then holding a cold plate over the steam, we discover that water can be converted into steam, and also that steam can be converted into water. We also gather the following principles :

(a) That heat changes water into steam (give term evapor

ate).

(b) That cold changes steam into water (give term con

dense).

(c) That steam ascends, being lighter than air.

(5) Explain the process which is going on in nature, similar to that which we performed with the vessel of water and the cold plate. What is the great source of heat? The sun. The heat of the sun converts the water in the ocean and the moisture on the surface of the land into vapour, which rises. What does this vapour form? What have you seen in the air resembling the steam you saw rising from the vessel? Clouds. When the atmosphere surrounding the clouds becomes cold like the plate, what happens to the vapour of which they are formed? They are condensed, become water, and fall in drops. Did you ever observe drops of water falling from the clouds? What do you call them? Rain.

(Another lesson would be required to deal with the phenomena of hail, frost, and snow.)

(6) If there be time, give the children some idea of the force of steam. The steam rising from the water is many times larger in volume than the water of which it is composed. The little vessel of water produces a great quantity of steam. So the steam is condensed back into a small quantity of water. Give the terms expand, expansion. Now, if the vessel were closed and the steam could not escape, it would by its expansion exert an immense force in its endeavour to occupy a much larger space. It would be like a great giant trying to escape

from a very small prison.

Illustrate by the steam lifting the lid of a kettle. What use is made of the great force of steam ? Refer to the locomotive drawing a heavy train along the railway? What is the force which drives the train? The steam in the engine trying to escape from confinement, and so turning the machinery which moves the wheels.

(The above will be quite sufficient matter for a first lesson.)

II. Write full notes of a lesson on the Months of the Year.

(1) How many parts is the year divided into? Take various answers (if more than one) from several children. When the answer twelve is obtained, ask what each part is called. Why is the year divided into twelve months? Show that twelve is a convenient number in itself, since it is not too large; it can easily be divided into four parts, to correspond with the seasons, and it nearly coincides with the number of revolutions of the

moon.

(2) Give the derivation of the word month, from the root of 66 moon." Explain that the moon completes its changes in about four weeks; give the terms lunar month and calendar month, and show that there are about 13 of the former and only 12 of the latter in each year.

(3) Let the children repeat the names of the months, and get out from any of them who know the number of days in each. Introduce the familiar rhymes

'Thirty days hath September,

April, June, and November," etc.

(4) Explain the reason why February has an additional day once in every four years. Since the solar year contains 365 days, 6 hours nearly, and an ordinary year only 365 days, it is necessary, every four years, to add another day to make the calculation correct. Give the term leap year; get the children to state whether the present year is leap year, and if not what year will be the next leap year? When was the last leap year?

(5) Give the derivations of the months. Our names are derived from those of the ancient Romans.

January-doubtful; said to be connected with the Latin geno or gigno, I beget, as the beginning of months.

February-said to be from februo, I purify, as being the month for purification by sacrifice.

March-from Mars, the god of war-the first Roman month. April-said to be from aperio, I open-the month when the buds begin to open.

May-from Maia, the mother of Mercury.

June-doubtful-said to be from Junius Brutus, the first

consul.

July-from Julius Cæsar; formerly called Quintilis (quinque, five-the fifth from March, reckoning inclusively).

August-from Augustus Cæsar; formerly called Sextillis (sixth from March).

September-from Latin septem, seven-the seventh from

March.

October-from Latin octo, eight.
November-from Latin novem, nine.
December-from Latin decem, ten.

(6) Show which months belong to the different seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. Touch on some of the characteristics of the months. January and February frosts, March winds, April showers (coming of the cuckoo, and opening of the buds), May-day and May flowers, June with its haymaking, July and August with their heat and harvest-time, September with the gathering of the fruit-crops, October with the falling leaves, November fogs, and December with its frosts and Christmas rejoicings.

(The above lesson is adapted for an advanced class.)

Note. For general remarks on the Composition of Notes of Lessons; see Pupil Teachers' Course, Second Year.

MUSIC.

COURSE FOR THIRD YEAR (OR FORMER FOURTH

YEAR).

THE MINOR SCALE IN ITS DIATONIC FORM Introduction.

(a) How to use the voice.

(b) Résumé of second year's course.

How to use the voice. From what has been already said, the student will have a sufficient conception of the arrangement of the vocal chords, and the manner in which they enable a person to utter tones of various pitch. An intelligent acquaintance with the mechanism and function of the larynx ought at least to enable the vocalist to direct his efforts towards developing and improving rather than retarding and ruining the very delicate and marvellous instrument with which he has been endowed. The singing master keeps this in view when deciding the range and form of the exercises he frames for his pupil. Distressing efforts to form high or low notes are avoided. The compass may extend itself by practice, as the power to sustain prolonged muscular effort may in the case of athletes; but it is a gradual and not a sudden attainment, led up to by systematic and persevering effort. It will be remembered, too, that the larynx alone is not sufficient for vocalization. A stream of expired air must be supplied, of the necessary strength to set up the vibrations. We must therefore pursue the subject a little further, and inquire by what means and under what conditions this supply can be forthcoming and be properly controlled. To do this, let us in the first place consider the air. We know it to

be an elastic gaseous fluid, forming a covering of many miles thick to this globe. It is a shoreless ocean, at the bottom of which we as well as other familiar creatures are adapted to live. As far as we are concerned, the air is everywhere. Having weight, it clings to the earth as we cling; but being gaseous, it behaves very differently to either a liquid or a solid body. For whereas their particles cling together more or less tenaciously, particles of air on the other hand are mutually repellant, and persistent in filling up, however meagrely, space otherwise unoccupied. So that if we conceive a chamber perfectly void, and introduce therein a stone or a cup of water, neither of these would have any power to enlarge their dimensions to occupy more of the void space; but upon introducing a bottle full of air and setting it free, the gaseous fluid at once seeks to fill the whole room to its remotest nook, promptly and sufficiently attenuating itself for the purpose. Nature is said to abhor a vacuum, for gaseous fluids are ever present to invade and occupy any space on or in the earth otherwise unoccupied. The air is therefore on the watch, as it were, to rush in anywhere and dispute every inch of space with all other terrestrial matter. If this notion is clear in our minds we shall conceive of the act

of breathing more correctly than is commonly done. We do not draw in the air so much as we make way for it to rush in of its own accord. And on the other hand, it is so reluctant to leave its lodgment, that the space has to be forcibly reduced to crowd it out again.

The construction and action of the common bellows are usually taken to illustrate the principle of inspiration and expiration. In a bellows we have an arrangement of wood and leather capable of forming alternately a case of considerable capacity and one of none at all. When the bellows are distended the interspace is instantly filled with air, which rushes in by nozzle or valve, or any other opening. Then follows the compression which by reducing the capacity of the enclosing chamber forces a stream of air out through the nozzle; the intensity of the rush answering to the vigour of the act of compression.