Chapter XI.

[1] Although Mr. Harland took no further steps with his lifeboat, the
project seems well worthy of a fair trial. We had lately the pleasure
of seeing the model launched and tried on the lake behind Mr. Harland's
residence at Ormiston, near Belfast. The cylindrical lifeboat kept
perfectly water-tight, and though thrown into the water in many
different positions--sometimes tumbled in on its prow, at other times
on its back (the deck being undermost), it invariably righted itself.
The screws fore and aft worked well, and were capable of being turned
by human labour or by steam power. Now that such large freights of
passengers are carried by ocean-going ships, it would seem necessary
that some such method should be adopted of preserving life at sea; for
ordinary lifeboats, which are so subject to destructive damage, are
often of little use in fires or shipwrecks, or other accidents on the
ocean.

[2] A full account is given in the Illustrated London News of the 21st
of October, 1868, with illustrations, of the raising of the Wolf; and
another, more scientific, is given in the Engineer of the 16th of
October, of the same year.

CHAPTER XII.

ASTRONOMERS AND STUDENTS IN HUMBLE LIFE:

A NEW CHAPTER IN THE 'PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE UNDER DIFFICULTIES.'

"I first learnt to read when the masons were at work in your house. I
approached them one day, and observed that the architect used a rule
and compass, and that he made calculations. I inquired what might be
the meaning and use of these things, and I was informed that there was
a science called Arithmetic. I purchased a book of arithmetic, and I
learned it. I was told there was another science called Geometry; I
bought the necessary books, and I learned Geometry. By reading, I
found there were good books in these two sciences in Latin; I bought a
dictionary, and I learned Latin. I understood, also, that there were
good books of the same kind in French; I bought a dictionary, and I
learned French. It seems to me that one does not need to know anything
more than the twenty-four letters to learn everything else that one
wishes."--Edmund Stone to the Duke of Argyll. ('Pursuit of Knowledge
under Difficulties.')

"The British Census proper reckons twenty-seven and a half million in
the home countries. What makes this census important is the quality of
the units that compose it. They are free forcible men, in a country
where life is safe, and has reache