tion and pursuit. A Howard and a Wilberforce could never have lived but for the Gospel. And all experience shows that it is just in the proportion in which men are true Christians that they are abundant and self-sacrificing in their charities.

Such is a sample of the ascertained effects of the Gospel. What an inestimable boon must it be to our race, when even those effects of it which are open to the observation of the Historian are so signally beneficial! Happy day for the world when its influence shall be universally felt! Who would not labour to hasten that blessed era? Who would not with all his heart exclaim

"Roll round, ye circling years, and speed it on?"

THE CLOUD'S SILVER LINING.

SAY, when in pity ye have gazed
On the wreathed smoke afar,
That o'er some town, like mist upraised,
Hung hiding sun and star,

Then as ye turned your weary eye

To the green earth and open sky,

Were ye not fain to doubt how Faith could dwell
Amid that dreary glare, in this world's citadel?

But Love's a flower that will not die
For lack of leafy screen,

And Christian Hope can cheer the eye
That ne'er saw vernal green;

Then be ye sure that Love can bless
Even in this crowded loneliness,

Where ever-moving myriads seem to say,

Go-thou art nought to us, nor we to thee--away!

There are, in this loud stunning tide

Of human care and crime,

With whom the melodies abide

Of the everlasting chime;

Who carry music in their heart

Through dusky lane and wrangling mart,

Plying their daily task with busier feet,

Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat.

Faith, Hope, and Love shed heavenly light
On Mammon's gloomiest cells,

As on some city's cheerless night
The tide of sunrise swells,

Till tower, and dome, and bridge-way proud
Are mantled with a golden cloud,

And to wise hearts this certain hope is given,--
"No mist that man may raise, shall hide the eye

of Heaven."

KEBLE.

ELEMENTARY BODIES.

ALL the materials which compose the earth, the sea, the air, and the various organized beings that inhabit them, are of a compound nature,—that is, made up of two or more substances combined together; and even these latter substances are often themselves compound bodies, capable of being resolved into simpler ones. Thus, a piece of marble may be decomposed into two other substances,-lime and carbonic acid. Both lime and carbonic acid are in their turn susceptible of decomposition, the former into calcium and oxygen, the latter into carbon and oxygen. These lastmentioned bodies, however-calcium, carbon, and oxygenhave hitherto resisted all attempts to resolve them into simpler forms of matter; and hence they fall to be regarded as elementary substances.

The exact number of elements or elementary bodies has not yet been fully ascertained. Many substances which the early chemists supposed to be simple or uncompounded, have been decomposed by later chemists. And it is far from improbable that hereafter, by new or improved methods of research, many of the substances which now figure as elements may be shown to be compounds.

The elementary bodies at present recognised amount to sixty-three in number, and are divided by chemists into two classes-namely, metals and non-metallic substances ;— fifty belonging to the former class, and only thirteen to the

latter. Several of these bodies, however, possess properties which render it difficult to decide in which class to place them. Indeed, the distinction between metals and nonmetallic substances, although convenient for the purposes of description, is to a great extent arbitrary-the two classes here and there graduating into each other.

Only a few of these elementary bodies enter largely into the composition of the globe. Of these the most abundant, and therefore the most important to be known, are— oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, sulphur, phosphorus, and silicon.

Oxygen is the most abundant substance in nature, forming more than one-fifth of the bulk of the atmosphere, eightninths of the sea and other waters, and fully one-third of the solid crust of the earth. In its free or uncombined state, it is a colourless, tasteless, and inodorous gas, a little heavier, bulk for bulk, than common air; but it is nowhere found free except in the atmosphere, where, however, it is always mixed (not combined) with another gas, nitrogen. It possesses a wonderful power of entering into combination with other substances of all classes; and its affinities, while almost boundless in their range, are at the same time so intense, that it can be procured in a pure state only from a comparatively small number of its compounds. It is essentially necessary to respiration and animal life, and it has also

the striking property of supporting combustion, or burning. A lighted taper plunged into a bottle of oxygen gas burns with greatly increased brightness; and if the taper be blown out, and again introduced while the wick remains red-hot, it is instantly rekindled. The power which common air possesses of supporting respiration and combustion is entirely dependent on the oxygen it contains.

Hydrogen is, like oxygen, a colourless, tasteless, and inodorous gas. It is the lightest substance known, being sixteen times lighter than oxygen, and fourteen times lighter than air; on which account it is used for the inflation of balloons. Though unfit for respiration, it is not poisonous, for when mixed with air it may be inhaled without any deleterious effects. Though incapable of supporting combustion, it is exceedingly combustible, and when set on fire, burns with a pale yellowish flame, giving much heat but little light. It is very rarely met with in nature in a free state; but, in combination with oxygen, it constitutes oneninth part by weight of water; and, united with carbon and oxygen, it enters largely into the composition of all animal and vegetable substances. If pure hydrogen and oxygen gas be mixed together, they remain unaltered; but if a lighted taper be brought into contact with the mixture, it explodes with violence; and if the two gaseous bodies have been mixed in the proportion of 1 part by weight of hydrogen and 8 parts of oxygen, the whole is condensed into water. Hence the origin of the name hydrogen, which literally signifies water-producer.

Nitrogen, called also azote, is slightly lighter than air. Its chief property is the negative one of being unable to support either combustion or animal life. A lighted taper plunged into it is immediately extinguished; and an animal, when immersed in it, instantly dies, these results being due, not to any poisonous qualities in the gas, but simply to the absence of oxygen. Unlike oxygen and hydrogen, nitrogen exists in nature chiefly in a free state, and its main location is the atmosphere, where, mixed with oxygen, it

serves the important purpose of diluting that gas, so as to moderate its activity, and fit it for the proper maintenance of combustion and life.

Carbon surpasses all other elements in its powers of combination, and in the variety of compounds into which it enters. Its inorganic compounds, indeed, are few in number; but in all vegetables and animals it is abundant, being apparently quite essential to the formation of organized structures. There are only two known substances in which carbon exists in a pure state. That beautiful gem, the diamond, consists of pure carbon in the crystallized condition; and the mineral called graphite, of which blacklead pencils are made, is also composed of carbon, but less pure. Charcoal, whether obtained from vegetable or from animal substances, is another form of carbon.

Sulphur, vulgarly called brimstone, is a brittle, crystalline solid, of a pale yellow colour, without taste or smell, and twice as heavy as water. It has very singular properties When heated up to a certain point, it melts, forming at mobile liquid which can easily be poured from one vessel to another; on a further elevation of temperature, it becomes thick and viscid; at a still higher heat, it becomes again a mobile liquid; and when the heat rises to a very high degree, it boils, and passes off in vapour. Nor is this all. If it be poured into water, when it has reached its liquid state, it immediately solidifies to a hard, brittle, yellow mass, similar to what it was previous to melting; but if, when heated to nearly its boiling point, it be poured into water, it is transformed into a transparent brown substanee, which can be moulded by the fingers, or drawn out into thread.

It

Phosphorus is a soft, semi-transparent solid, slightly heavier than water, and not unlike wax in appearance. is never found in nature in a free state; but, combined with oxygen, it forms one of the principal constituents of the bones of animals, and one of the ingredients of a fertile soil. It is easily melted and exceedingly inflammable.