Write a letter in German addressed to the Mayor of a town, ordering quarters to be got ready for a hundred soldiers, and inquiring about the disposition of the inhabitants.

Grammatical Questions.

Decline: 1. Der beste Weg.
2. Er, Sie, Es.

Write the German numerals from one to twenty.

Write the first person singular of the present, the imperfect, and the perfect of the verbs: Halten, Kaufen, Stehlen, Abweisen, Verrathen, Kochen.

MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY

WARINGTON SMYTH, M.A., F.R.S.

1. What is a crystal ? and of what nature is its importance in aiding us to distinguish substances of definite composition?

2. What is a cleavage form, and how is it related to a crystal of the same substance?

3. Mention the minerals, with their composition, which are used in the adulteration of food.

4. What are the best methods of comparing the hardness of different minerals?

5. Give the names and essential characters of the minerals which enter into the composition of the building stones ordinarily employed.

NATURAL SCIENCES.

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6. Describe the mineral extensively used to adulterate white lead.

7. Name and give the chief characters of four of the most important ores of iron.

8. What metals and minerals are distinguished for their magnetic properties?

9. What is gravel mostly composed of, and how does it seem to have been formed?

10. Mention the kinds of rock, and their places in the geological scale, which yield the best materials for mortar.

11. Enumerate the subdivisions of the tertiary series of rocks, as observed in England and on the continent of Europe.

12. What kind of fossil fuel is met with in these rocks, and in what points does it differ from true coal?

13. What are (irrespective of the precious metals) the metals and metallic ores largely imported into this country?

14. Can you explain the fact that the metallic mines are generally situated in districts, where the production of grain is insufficient for their consumption?

15. Explain the origin of springs of water at the surface of the ground.

16. Describe the materials ejected from volcanoes, and the nature of the soil which they produce.

EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCES.

1. Explain the action of charcoal poultices on putrescent wounds.

2. Suppose vinegar to be adulterated by sulphuric acid, and pickles by some preparation of copper, which gives them a light green colour; how would you detect these adulterations?

3. A bleacher wishing to purchase a quantity of carbonate of soda desires to know the amount of real carbonate in the commercial carbonate. He finds:

a. That the substance is wholly soluble in

water.

b. That 100 grains of it contain 12 grains of carbonic acid.

How much true carbonate of soda do these 100 grains contain?

4. For what purpose is charcoal used by sugar refiners, and why are barrels in which water is to be kept for a long period charred inside?

5. State the cause of colliery explosions; name the gases which explode, and the substances produced by their explosion; and state the mixture which would produce the maximum effect.

6. The new copper coins are said to contain
95 parts of copper,

4 of tin,

1 of zinc.

How would you prove the presence of these metals in the coin? Express the composition of the alloy by means of an empirical formula.

7. An iron-master receives a quantity of red hematite (FeO3) of great purity; suppose that the

EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCES.

17

metal contained in the substance could be extracted without loss, how much iron would the manufacturer obtain from one ton of the mineral?

8. Compound bodies are divided into acids, bases, and salts; give an example of each, and describe the action of an acid and a base on the infusions of litmus and turmeric.

9. From what class of substances are the noxious odours of the Thames likely to originate; what conditions are most favourable to their development, and what means ought to be resorted to in order to destroy them?

10. A stick of phosphorus exposed to the air diminishes; why? Lines traced by phosphorus on the walls of a dark room are luminous; why? Phosphorus exists in two isomeric conditions, describe them, and state their technical uses.

11. 8tate some of the principal characteristics of chlorine; describe how it may be obtained, how mixtures of it and other gases are affected by light, and to what its power as a bleaching agent is due.

12. State some of the physical qualities of arsenic; what compounds does it form with oxygen; which of them is used in poisoning; and explain the action of peroxide of iron, or of caustic magnesia as an antidote to their poison.