Aaron A. Warford

“ Chemistry is, in fact, the science which treats of the composition of all material bodies, and of the means of forming them into new combinations, and reducing them to their ultimate elements, as they are termed; that is, bodies which we are unable to split up, as it were, or separate into other bodies. To take a common substance as an illustration; water, by a great number of processes, can be separated into two other substances, called oxygen and hydrogen, in the proportion by weight of 8 parts of the first to 1 of the second ”

“ If you want a really brilliant, clear, white light, you must trim the lamp yourself. A small piece of pale blue or neutral-tint glass interposed between the lamp and the microscope has a wonderful effect in diminishing the yellow hue which belongs more or less to all artificial lights which are produced by the combustion of oil or fat. We have no doubt but that in a few years we shall be rid of the clumsy and dirty machines that we call lamps, and have substituted for them the pure brilliancy of the electric light. ”

“ Does not a bird, as well as ourselves, accommodate itself to the thing on which it rests? Assuredly it does; for birds do not, as a young bird-stuffer endeavors to do, find always a perch to rest upon in the plane of the horizon. It therefore follows that, as he keeps himself upright, his legs must accommodate themselves to his perch. So in the ground-birds there is a gentle slope backwards from the hind toe, the balance being preserved in both cases by throwing the body forward in proportion. It is not uncommon to see birds preserved with wings and tail spread. ”

“ CONTRE-PARADES.
I have said and shown that a man standing foil in hand, in the position of the guard, is exposed in four distinct places to thrusts from an adversary within longeing distance. I have also shown that he has a defense for each of these exposed places; but if a man has but one defense for each assailable part, then his adversary, knowing beforehand what the defense must be, would be prepared beforehand to deceive him. But if he has a reserve—if he has a second defense for each part—then the adversary cannot tell what the defense will be, until his attack, false or real, is begun. ”

“ The simplest way is to put a lump or two of phosphuret of lime into a saucer, about two inches in depth, containing some very diluted hydrochloric acid; bubbles of gas will speedily arise, and bursting on the surface of the fluid will burn with a slight explosion, and a circular wreath of smoke will rise into the atmosphere, enlarging as it rises, and wreathing itself round and round in the most elegant forms. Care must be taken that the phosphuret is fresh, and has been kept in a well-closed bottle, or the experiment will fail. The apartment must be free from draughts. ”

“ But to him who can read Nature rightly, the microscope is a teacher as grand as its sister instrument, and the awful magnificence of Nature is as evident in a midge’s wing as in the more patent glories of the sun, moon, and stars. ”

“ There is an omen called “Setting the New Year in,”—that if the kindly office is performed by some one with dark hair, good fortune will smile on the household; while it augurs ill if a light-haired person is the first to enter the house in the New Year. ”

“ In the preservation of the feathers of Birds, little else is required to prevent the dissipation of their colors than to keep them as much as possible from air and light. These two agents, which were indispensable to their beauty and perfection in a living state, now exercise their influence as destroyers, and that influence will sooner or later work its ends according to the quality, texture, or color of the object with which it is contending. ”

“ I am of opinion that, in addition to the amusement which this exercise (fencing) affords, it is particularly calculated to excite in young persons a greater degree of energy and circumspection than they might otherwise possess; and it is obvious that, in respect of health, that mode of exertion is superior to all others, which, while it gives motion and activity to every part of the body, produces at the same time corresponding interest in the mind. ”

“ Hydrogen gas is the lightest substance known, being fifteen times lighter than atmospheric air. It is colorless and transparent, incapable of supporting combustion or respiration, but is itself combustible. Hydrogen, as its name implies (being derived from two Greek words, signifying the generator of water) , is a constituent of water in the proportion of one-ninth by weight, and is always obtained by decomposing that fluid, by presenting to it some body to take up its other ingredient, oxygen, and so set the hydrogen at liberty. ”

“ Omens appear to have been so numerous, that we must despair of ever being able to recover one-half of them, and to evince that in all ages men have been self-tormentors, the bad omens fill a catalogue infinitely more extensive than that of the good. An extensive set of omens has been taken from what first happens to one, or what animal or person one meets first in the morning, or at the commencement of an undertaking—the first-foot, as it is called. To stumble has been universally held to presage misfortune. ”

“ If you merely rub the blade of a knife rapidly on a piece of wood it will become hot enough to burn your hand.
Percussion is merely a more energetic kind of friction, and is often resorted to by the blacksmith to light his furnace. He places a nail or other piece of soft iron on his anvil, and beats it rapidly with the hammer, when it becomes actually red hot. ”

“ One of the chief difficulties to contend with, in setting up Monkeys and Apes, is the preservation of their hands and hind hands, or what we commonly call their feet; because we must not attempt to deprive these limbs of their flesh, as we never could again supply its place anything like what is in nature. The hands must therefore be dried, and then well imbued with turpentine and the solution of corrosive sublimate, repeated eight or ten times at least, at intervals of four or five days. The other parts of the stuffing should be exactly similar to that recommended for quadrupeds generally. ”

“ Of all the different modes in which the body can be exercised, there is none, in my judgment, that is capable of giving strength and velocity, as well as precision, to the action of all the voluntary muscles of the body in an equal degree as the practice of fencing, and none more conducive to bodily health. ”