he time of blossoming, being carefully
taken out of the husk, will be found to have a small downy tuft at its
extremity, which, when viewed in a microscope, greatly resembles the
branches of thorn, spreading archwise, in opposite directions. By
expanding a few of the grains, and selecting the most perfect, a very
pretty microscopic object will be obtained for preservation.

_The Travelling of Light._

Light travels at the rate of a hundred and fifty thousand miles in a
single second; and it is seven minutes in passing from the sun to the
earth, which is nearly a distance of seventy millions of miles. Such
is the rapidity with which these rays dart themselves forward that a
journey they thus perform in less than eight minutes, a ball from the
mouth of a cannon would not complete in several weeks! But the
minuteness of the particles of light are still several degrees beyond
their velocity; and they are therefore harmless, because so very
small. A ray of light is nothing more than a constant stream of minute
parts, still flowing from the luminary, so inconceivably little, that
a candle in a single second of time, has been said to diffuse several
hundreds of millions more particles of light, than there could be
grains in the whole earth, if it were entirely one heap of sand. The
sun furnishes them, and the stars also, without appearing in the least
to consume, by granting us the supply. Its light is diffused in a wide
sphere, and seems inexhaustible.

_Calculation of the Mass of Water contained in the Sea._

If we would have an idea of the enormous quantity of water which the
sea contains, let us suppose a common and general depth of the ocean;
by computing it at only 200 fathoms, or the tenth part of a mile, we
shall see that there is sufficient water to cover the whole globe to
the height of 503 feet of water; and if we were to reduce this water
into one mass, we should find that it forms a globe of more than sixty
thousand miles diameter.

_Different Degrees of Heat imbibed from the Sun's Rays by Cloths of
different Colours._

Walk but a quarter of an hour in your garden, when the sun shines,
with a part of your dress white, and a part black; then apply your
hand to them alternately, and you will find a very great difference in
their warmth. The black will be quite hot to the touch, and the white
still cool.

Try to fire paper with a burning-glass; if it be white, you will not
easily burn it; but if you br