Various

“ I do not intend to maintain the pet system in general; it is the principle of humanity which I seek, not that mawkish sensibility which causes so many to weep at the dramatic exhibition of fictitious woe, who would not drop one tear of sympathy for real misery, divested, as in the scenes of every-day life, of the embellishments and romantic adjuncts which false sentiment delights in. We all, it is true, require some especial objects of endearment, something on which the feelings of the heart may find expansion, else we become cold, selfish, and very disagreeable to every one. ”

“ When any thing burns in the air, it is the oxygen which is active. The nitrogen dilutes here also the oxygen, and keeps its activity down to the degree most suitable to our wants. If the air were pure oxygen, all our domestic fires would be violent conflagrations; our iron pokers and tongs, if heated red hot, would take fire and burn like squibs; no comfort, no safety for society could exist. But in burning, this oxygen is destroyed. ”

“ THE AIR WE BREATHE.
The objects which come every day before our eyes, the offices which involuntarily and almost unconsciously we at each moment must perform in order that we may live, are precisely the subjects concerning which the mass of mankind are least curious, and of the true nature and utility of which they are the most completely ignorant. ”

“ The air we breathe serves, however, for other important uses. Without the air, the fresh breezes which moderate the heats of summer could not exist, and there would prevail in nature an eternal silence, for it is by means of air that we not only breathe, but hear. The variety of aspect given to the sky by the formation and rapid change of clouds, arises from the mixture of warm and of cold damp air. If there was no air, there might be dew, but there could never be a cloud. ”

“ An animal which breathes pure oxygen, becomes flushed, pants violently, and, if not choked, dies of inflammation of the lungs, produced by the intense action. In the air we breathe, the oxygen gas is diluted to the proper degree by another gas, termed nitrogen, which is totally destitute of power; it does of itself no good and no harm; it is the only substance that could be mixed in the air we breathe, without interfering in any way. When thus the blood loses, by exposure to the air in the lungs, its carbonic acid, it takes oxygen in its place ”

“ How important, then, that the higher faculties, on which depends the elevation of the moral character, should be strengthened by use and exercise! But I have digressed far from the illustration which I was about to give at the beginning, of a practically benevolent system of brute education.
There stands on every fine day, near one of the great London bridges, a mild, cheerful looking man, who exhibits to the passers by an assemblage of animals of the most decided antipathies by nature, who live together in the same large cage in perfect harmony. ”

“ If we multiply these numbers by the number of inhabitants, of man and of all other animals upon the earth, and also by the quantity of fuel burned all over the globe, it will be evident that without some regulating power superior to all that mere human means could devise, the air might ultimately become unfit to be the sustenance of living beings, and all the numerous tribes of animated nature which now adorn its surface, would be destroyed. ”

“ The heights are deserted by land and by water animals, in consequence of the air being too thin to support life. The way in which the air acts upon the body is very interesting. The most abundant element of our food is what the chemists term carbon, of which, in a gross manner, charcoal may serve as an example. Now, we eat much more of this than we require for the supply of our bodies, and it must be got rid of. This is done by its uniting in the body with a substance termed oxygen, and forming carbonic acid, the sort of air which boils up in soda water and ginger beer. ”

“ All vegetables breathe; but as animals take in too much carbon with their solid food, so do plants obtain too little from the substances that give nourishment to their roots. The animal breathes to give off carbon, the vegetable breathes to take it up. The two great divisions of living nature thus act in contrary ways upon the air; the oxygen consumed by the animal or by combustion, is given out again by the carbon of the carbonic acid becoming fixed in the plant of which it forms the woody mass ”

“ A mason was one day at work, building a stout wall to protect a garden; nigh him lay a piled-up heap of stones, which he took into his hands in succession, one by one, according as he wanted them. The stones on their part submitted with exemplary quietness to be handled and introduced into their appropriate places; for they were fully aware that the mason’s object was to erect a wall, and they knew equally well that that object could not be attained, if they took it into their thick heads to rebel against the principle upon which he was proceeding. ”

“ The dog, which under other treatment would be familiar with the cat or the hog, is taught from his puppyhood to pursue and worry each of them; the cat instinctively defends herself with those claws which are her natural weapons, and she scratches her opponent’s face, and through their after life they are never thoroughly reconciled to each other, but live proverbially as “cat and dog.” The hog cannot defend himself from the teeth of the dog ”

“ Dogs, which otherwise would live in harmony together, are taught to fight; their natural jealousy is encouraged, and they are rendered bullies by profession.
That the dread of man is in a certain degree naturally upon every beast of the field and bird of the air, cannot be disputed; but this feeling is increased considerably by the experience which many brutes have of man’s caprice or tyranny, and this dread is transmissible (as may be justly inferred from cases which are perfectly analogous, such as the acquired habit of pointing at game) to their posterity. ”

“ On what are called pets, such as lapdogs and parrots, much warm, kind feeling is often unprofitably bestowed. When Ponto dies of plethora, or Poll from cold or infirmity, sensibilities are sometimes called forth, which would not flow from the contemplation of human sufferings. The servant who is daily employed to wash and comb the dog, is perhaps never sent upon an errand of mercy to any of the distressed families around the mistress, and a wayworn group of children may unavailingly solicit the luxurious food which is placed before the pampered pet, without shame or scruple. ”

“ It is of one of these entrances, and the most remarkable for grandeur, that our illustration attempts to give an idea. Its height is no less than twenty feet. How far the caves extend, we are unable to speak with certainty; they are undoubtedly of great extent, and, if the local accounts are to be trusted, reach even to the opposite or eastern side of the mountain, and contain lakes of unfathomable depth, and spars of unimaginable beauty.
A spot so striking to the imagination could not be, in Ireland, without its legends of a romantic and singular character ”

“ The sun’s rays really consist of light of all the colours of the rainbow; of these the red portion is lost in passing through the air, and the blue remains, giving the colour we observe. Without the air, a place shaded from the sun would be in absolute darkness; as it now exists, a quantity of light is scattered about in every way by the different portions of the air, and thus an agreeable shade provided in place of the total absence of all light. ”

“ A hogshead of air weighs about ten ounces; this is heavier than the gas which is burned in the streets and shops, of which a hogshead would weigh only seven ounces; and very much heavier than hydrogen gas, with which balloons were formerly filled, a hogshead of hydrogen gas weighing only two-thirds of an ounce. A balloon filled with hydrogen, or even with coal gas, rises into the air, as oil or a cork rises up through water. The air being thus heavy, presses upon the earth; and by measuring the degree of pressure we can tell how much air there is. ”

“ The air will become unfit to support combustion. Here also, as well as in the burning of coals, coke, gas, oil, charcoal, &c. the oxygen is changed into carbonic acid, and precisely as a fresh supply of oxygen is necessary for the continuance of life, so is it for combustion.
The air contains about one part in five of oxygen, and, as has been seen, this oxygen is liable to continual destruction by the breathing of animals and the burning of fuel and of lights. An ordinary man spoils in twenty-four hours 720 cubic feet of air, that is, a mass of air 11 feet 6 inches square and 6 feet thick. ”

“ At last, however, somewhat to the mason’s amusement, it did so happen, after he had accomplished a considerable portion of his task, that one contumacious fellow, upon being laid hold of, began to talk very big upon the rights of stones, and the tyranny of coercing stonekind in general, declaring, that for himself, whether in a wall or out of a wall, he was determined to enjoy that liberty which was the birthright of every stone upon the earth, and that he would sooner be trodden into powder than surrender it. ”

“ On very elevated tops of mountains, where the traveller is placed above the greater portion of the air, all these effects of its absence which we have noticed, are found to exist. On the summit of Mont Blanc, a pistol discharged is scarcely heard, and a companion once out of sight, may be lost; for neither can he produce any noise by his own exertions, nor could his voice reach his friends, even if he could speak; the sky is deep indigo-coloured, or nearly black ”

“ While animals of prey are in a state of nature, they either avoid each other, or meet in deadly contest, according to the degree of their antipathies; and until He who has impressed their dispositions upon them shall bid them lie down together in peace, no efforts of puny man can avail in changing their habits, except under such rare circumstances as confirm the general law of instinct which leads them to destroy each other. But the dislike which many of the domesticated animals entertain for each other, is greatly increased by the encouragement which they receive from man. ”

“ It is thus with the air we breathe. There is no person but is aware of the necessity of breathing, and of the motion of the air caused by winds; but how few have asked themselves, What is air? How much is there of it? Could the same air be always used for breathing? How do fishes manage living in water in place of air? ”

“ If it be afflictive, on one side, to reflect upon the deeds of cruelty and oppression which prevail upon earth, through the instrumentality of man, it is delightful, on the other, to perceive that human reason, instead of being abused and perverted into a source of tyrannical oppression, is occasionally exercised, as it ought to be, in promoting happiness and social harmony, even among brutes ”

“ If we boil water until the air is expelled from it, and let it cool in a close vessel, we may drown a fish by putting it into such water, as easily as a land animal; it could not breathe. It is thus that in the lakes on the tops of very high mountains there are no fish. ”

“ The notion of collecting into one family such apparently discordant members, originated, I believe, with a gentleman who has long made the brute animal economy the subject of his investigations, and who suggested to John Austin the harmlessness, at least, of earning the means of his support by the novel and interesting exhibition of a cat, rats, mice, Guinea pigs, hawks, pigeons, owls, and starlings, and, I believe, another bird, under the same limited roof, and with perfect freedom of access from one to another. ”

“ I love to see a child feeding his rabbits or pigeons, and familiarly playing with them, consulting their tastes, and contributing to their comforts by every means within his power. Surely such a pursuit should not be rudely discouraged; how much more humanizing than the desire to possess “whips for a penny,” to which I have recently adverted! It tends to render a child compassionate in his disposition to all God’s creatures, and unwilling to hurt, for the sake of inflicting pain, or from thoughtless mischief. ”

“ Such experiments with the brute kind, it is true, can be but extremely partial, and are unattended with any very practically useful results in themselves; but, as respects the education of children, they are of extreme utility in exciting tender and benevolent feelings, and awakening the intellectual faculties from subjects merely sensual or idly amusing; they teach us “to look from Nature up to Nature’s God.” ”

“ If the pressure of the air diminishes, the quicksilver falls; if the pressure of the air increases, the quicksilver rises: and as all great changes of the air are connected with changes of the weather, the barometer is generally known and consulted as a sort of weather-glass.
Every space of an inch square supports fifteen pounds weight of air; at the rate of ten ounces to a hogshead, the depth of the air would therefore be about five miles. But it is much deeper, for air is what is termed compressible—that is to say, it may by pressure be squeezed into a smaller bulk ”

“ In the same laws, to prevent slaves from pretending to be gentlemen, it was expressly forbidden to teach or to permit them to play upon the harp; and none but the king, the king’s musicians, and gentlemen, were allowed to have harps in their possession. A gentleman’s harp was not liable to be seized for debt, because the want of it would have degraded him from his rank, and reduced him to a slave. ”