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BURKE'S WEEKLY
FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
MACON, Ga., OCT. 19, 1867.
Contents of No. 18.
Birds in Summer —poetry —illustrated page 121
Little Long Tongue 121
Smart Boy ••
Catching Sunbeams —poetry 1-2
Jack Dobell; or. The Adventures of a Boy in
Texas —original t 22
Duty—poetry
“The Mother’s Eyes,’’—poetry—original 121
The Tomb of Washington—original—illustrated.. 123
Powers of a Bird's Song 123
Editorial: Two Papers at Once ; To Correspon
dents: Marooner's Island; The Air we Breathe;
Our Quarterly Part; Our Premiums; The
Smallest Man living— illustrated ; Math
ematical; Missing U umbers 124—125
Historical Sketch—original l-’o
The Sabbath a Loving Day 125
Pern ember now thy Creator —poetry 120
The Little Jewess—original 126
Paying for a Paper 127
A Good Name 12;
The Bird that Loved the Sun 127
Our Chimney Corner—illustrated 128
Two Papers at Once.
A/jOUR subscribers will receive Nos. 15 and 16
AjjKl of the Weekly together. The delay in
\jJ issuing last week’s paper was no fault of
ours. The recent heavy rains injured the
paper mill where the paper upon which
Q) we print the Weekly is made, and pre
vented the mill from working. The paper being
of an unusual size, w r e were unable to procure it
elsewhere in time, and were compelled to wait un
til our regular manufacturer could supply it. In
the meantime, the matter for another number ot
the Weekly was gotten up, so that two numbers
issue at about the same time, and are mailed to
gether. We will try to see that this thing does not
occur again.
To Correspondents.
ffig)lSS HATTIE A. D. —The name you sent
is entered on our subscription list, and
the paper will be regularly forwarded.
We cannot, however, include this name
yifWy in your premium list. We shall be glad
to receive the puzzles.
Cornelius. —Thanks for your enigmas and kind
wishes- We are rather overstocked with the for
mer just now, but will eventually find room for
them.
u Fairy Madge.” —Your first effort is very cre
ditable, and is accepted with thanks. We shall
be happy to afford you any assistance in our pow
er, in the way of counsel and advice, in your
praiseworthy undertaking.
Marooner’s Island.
Up to the time we go to press, our regular week
ly instalment of Mr. Goulding’s story has not
reached- us. We hope to receive it in time for our
next number.
When you send your own name, or any
other, be careful to give us the name of the post
office and State also. It is best to add the full
address at the bottom of your letter.
that clubs need not all go to the
same post office, or to the same State. Get them
where you can.
BURKE’S WEE KE Y .
The Air we Breathe.
(Zjv.AST week we told our little readers about
-CP the five senses. We propose to tell them
this week about something without which
Aw- ■:) these five senses would be ot no use to
‘7%? them.
o The ancients supposed that there were
but four elements , viz: air, water, tire and earth,
and a great many people speak of these things as
elements ; but they are wrong. Only such sub
stances as cannot be decomposed and separated
into two or more things, are properly termed de
ments. or elementary substances ; all others are
compounds. Air, however, is neither an element
nor a compound, but a mixture of gases It is
composed mainly ot two gases nitrogen and oxy
gen —with small quantities of other gaseous sub
stances. These gases do not unite in the lorma
tion of air, they simply mingle together , just as
alcohol and water do in forming a fluid, each sub
stance retaining its individuality.
Every child knows that we must have air to
breathe, and how unpleasant it is not to have
plenty of fresh air to breathe, but very many do
not know that air which is not fresh is almost as
bad as poison. When we breathe, we draw air
through the mouth and nostrils into the lungs,
where it becomes mixed with the blood ; that is
to say, the blood takes up the oxygen, carries it
through the arteries to the heart, and there re
ceives the superabundance of carbonic acid, which
it conveys back through the veins into the lungs,
and they, in their turn, throw it off through the
mouth, and nose. This is called the theory of res
piration. We inhale the fresh air, arid exhale the
carbonic acid.
Now, you will see at once how necessary it is
that the air we breathe should he fresh, and con
tain the proper quantity of oxygen. When we
breathe over and over again ihe same air, it grad
ually becomes vitiated or overloaded with carbonic
acid, so that the lungs do not receive the requisite
amount of oxygen. Even if the air still contains
a quantity of the life-giving oxygen, the blood
cannot take it up, because it cannot get rid of its
carbonic acid, and it cannot get rid of its carbonic
acid because the air is at that point where there is
no difference between it and the blood.
Fishes breathe air through the water in which
they live, and it is necessary that the water should
be continually fresh, in order that the requisite
quantity of oxygen shall be furnished. In the for
mation of aquariums, you will notice that plants
and mosses are put into the water. The object of
this is to furnish the requisite quantity of oxygen,
and to preserve the water pure and fresh. Plants
require for their sustenance carbonic acid, and
they, in their turn, give out oxygen. You will
see, therefore, that the plants receive the excess
of carbonic acid breathed into the water by the
fishes, and furnish the oxygen required to keep up
the equilibrium. If there are no plants in the
water to receive the one and furnish the other, the
water soon becomes overcharged with carbonic
acid, just like the air of a close room, and the
fishes must die. But if a stream of fresh, running
water supplies the aquarium, the plants are not
necessary to sustain life, because fresh water is
continually taking the place of that which has
been deprived of its oxygen.
You will see how the Creator has made vege
table and animal life dependant on each other—
the one requiring carbonic acid, and the other ox
ygen, and each receiving the excess of these sub
stances from the other.
There are many other useful and interesting
facts about air which we could tell you of, but this
article is already long enough. Our object is simply
to excite your interest in these matters, and in
duce you to read and investigate for yourselves.
*<*♦
Our Quarterly Part
fS now ready for delivery, and has already
been mailed to all yearly subscribers whose
subscriptions have reached us since the Ist
of October,
It is pronounced by all who have seen it.
( s to be the most elegant specimen ever issued
from any printing establishment at the South, and
not surpassed anywhere. It is a handsome vol
ume of 104 pages and over 50 engravings, neatly
stitched in an elegant ill u minuted cover. All sub
scribers who send us $2 for a year’s subscription
will receive the quarterly part, in lieu of the first
thirteen numbers, without additional charge for
the binding. Non-subscribers can obtain it by
forwarding the publishers GO cents.
_
Our Premiums.
tLREADY we are beginning to send out
our new premiums— CrandaWs Building
Blocks —in response to clubs of new sub
° scribers. We can assure our little read
ers that these are among the most attrac
tive premiums we have ever offered.
They are simple and easily managed, afford end
less amusement to the little ones, can be made to
last for years, and ate not only a delightful pas
time, but are useful in developing the taste and
skill of children. We repeat what we have already
said: that we think the inventor deserves the
thanks of parents for having brought out so good
and useful a toy for the little ones.
We are still prepared to furnish those beautiful
Photograph Albums, and books from our premium
list. The latter will be furnished free, on appli
cation.
The Grease Tree.
nyfjVUR little readers have, no doubt, heard ol
the Milk Tree, and the Bread Fruit Tree,
\]J which furnish, at a pinch, materials for a
very good breakfast, but many of them
probably have not heard of the Grease
Tree, which grows in China. It is said
that large forests of it are to be found there, and
they form the source of a very considerable local
traffic. The same tree was, not very long ago,
imported into India, and it is said that the experi
ment of cultivating it there has proved quite suc
cessful. In the Punjaub and northwestern prov
inces generally it grows as rapidly and as vigor
ously as in its native soil, and there are already
thousands of trees on the government plantations,
yielding tons of seed, admirably adapted to a va
riety of commercial purposes. Dr. Jameson, a
chemist in the Punjaub, has prepared large quan
tities of grease from this particular tree, and has
forwarded on trial a portion of it to the Punjaub
railway, to have its qualities tested in a practical
manner as lubricating material for those parts ot
the machinery constantly exposed to friction. Ibe
grease thus obtained forms an excellent tallow,
burning with a clear, brilliant, and what is infin
itely more to the purpose, a white light, and at
the same time emitting not a trace of any unplea
sant odor, or of smoke.