-here is what will preserve thy better parts uncontaminated. Others have heaped around thee the riches of a temporal kingdom-this will secure thee the treasures of an eternal one."

He said, and drew from the purse a book containing the Moral Precepts of the sage Zendar, the wisest and most virtuous man the East had ever beheld. "If," he proceeded, " my gracious sovereign will condescend to make this his constant companion, not an hour will pass in which its perusal may not be a comfort and a blessing. In the arduous duties of thy station, it will prove a faithful guide and counsellor. Amidst the allurements of pleasure and the incitements of passion, it will be an incorruptible monitor, that will never suffer thee to err without warning thee of thy error. It will render thee a blessing to thy people, and blessed in thyself; for what sovereign can be the one without the other?"

He then returned the book to its place, and kneeling gave it into the hands of the king. The young sovereign received it with respect and benignity, and history affirms that the use he made of it corresponded with the wishes of the donor.

ON EARTHS AND STONES.

Tutor-George-Harry.

Harry. I WONDER what all this heap of stones is for. George. I can tell you-it is for the limekiln; don't you see it just by?

H. O yes, I do. But what is to be done to them

there?

G. Why, they are to be burned into lime. Don't you know that ?

H. But what is lime, and what are its uses?

G. I can tell you one; they lay it on the fields, for manure. Don't you remember we saw a number of little heaps of it, that we took for sheep at a distance, and wondered they did not move? However, I be

lieve we had better ask our tutor about it. Will you please, sir, to give us some information about lime?

Tutor. Willingly. But suppose, as we talked about all sorts of metals some time ago, I should now give you a lecture about stones and earths of all kinds, which are equally valuable, and much more common, than metals.

G. Pray do, sir.

H. I shall be very glad to hear it.

T. Well, then; in the first place, the ground we tread upon, to as great a depth as it has been dug, consists, for the most part, of matter of various appearance and hardness, called by the general name of earths. In common language, indeed, only the soft and powdery substances are so named, while the hard and solid are called stone or rock; but chemists use the same term for all; as, in fact, earth is only crumbled stone, and stone only consolidated earth.

H. What!-has the mould of my garden ever been stone ?

T. The black earth, or mould, which covers the surface wherever plants grow, consists mostly of parts of rotted vegetables, such as stalks, leaves, and roots, mixed with sand or loose clay; but this reaches only a little way; and beneath it you always come to a bed of gravel, or clay, or stone, of some kind. Now these earths and stones are distinguished into several species, but principally into three, the properties of which make them useful to man for very different purposes, and are, therefore, very well worth knowing. As you begin with asking me about lime, I shall first mention that class of earths from which it is obtained. These have derived their name of calcareous from this very circumstance, calx being lime, in Latin; and lime is got from them all in the same way, by burning them in a strong fire. There are many kinds of calcareous earths. One of them is marble; you know what that is? G. O yes! our parlour chimney-piece and hearth are marble.

H And so are the monuments in the church.

T. True. There are various kinds of it; white, black, yellow, grey, mottled, and veined, with different colours; but all of them are hard and heavy stones, admitting a fine polish, on which account, they are much used in ornamental works.

G. I think statues are made of it.

T. Yes; and where it is plentiful, columns, and porticos, and sometimes whole buildings. Marble is the luxury of architecture.

H. Where does marble come from ?

T. From a great many countries. Great Britain produces some, but mostly of inferior kinds. What we use chiefly comes from Italy. The Greek islands yield some fine sorts. That of Paros is of ancient fame for whiteness and purity; and the finest antique statues have been made of Parian marble.

H. I suppose black marble will not burn into white lime?

T. Yes, it will. A violent heat will expel most of the colouring matter of marbles, and make them white. Chalk is another kind of calcareous earth. This is of a much softer consistence than marble, being easily cut with a knife, and marking things on which it is rubbed. It is found in great beds in the earth; and, in some parts of England, whole hills are composed of it.

G. Are chalk and whiting the same?

T. Whiting is made of the finer and purer particles of chalk washed out from the rest, and then dried in lumps. This, you know, is quite soft and crumbly. There are, besides, a great variety of stones in the earth, harder than clalk, but softer than marble, which will burn to lime, and are, therefore, called limestones. These differ much in colour and other properties, and accordingly furnish lime of different qualities. In general, the harder the limestone is, the firmer the lime made from it. Whole ridges of mountains in various parts are composed of limestone, and it is found plentifully in most of the hilly counties of England, to the great advantage of the inhabitants.

G. Will not oyster-shells burn into lime? I think I have heard of oyster-shell lime.

T. They will; and this is another source of calcareous earth. The shells of all animals, both land and sea, as oysters, mussels, cockles, crabs, lobsters, snails, and the like, and also egg-shells of all kinds, consist of this earth; and so does coral, which is formed by insects under the sea, and is very abundant in some countries. Vast quantities of shells are often found deep in the earth, in the midst of chalk and limestone beds; whence some have supposed that all calcareous earth is originally an animal production.

H. But where could animals enow ever have lived, to make mountains of their shells?

But there are

T. That, indeed, I cannot answer. sufficient proofs that our world must long have existed in a very different state from the present. Wellbut, besides these purer calcareous earths, it is very frequently found mingled in different proportions with other earths. Thus marl, which is so much used in manuring land, and of which there are a great many kinds, all consist of calcareous earth, united with clay and sand; and the more of this earth it contains, the richer manure it generally makes.

G. Is there any way of discovering it, when it is mixed in this manner with other things?

T. Yes there is an casy and sure method of discovering the smallest portion of it. All calcareous earth has the property of dissolving in acids, and effervescing with them; that is, they bubble and hiss when acids are poured upon them. You may readily try this at any time with a piece of chalk or an oystershell.

G. I will pour some vinegar upon an oyster-shell as soon as I get home. But, now I think of it, I have often done so in eating oysters, and I never observed it to hiss or bubble.

T. Vinegar is not an acid strong enough to act upon a thing so solid as a shell. But aqua-fortis, or

spirit of salt, will do it at once; and persons, who examine the nature of fossils, always travel with a bottle of one of these acids, by way of a test of calcareous earth. Your vinegar will answer with chalk or whiting. This property of dissolving in acids, and what is called neutralizing them, or taking away their sourness, has caused many of the calcareous earths to be used in medicine. You know that sometimes our food turns very sour upon the stomach, and occasions the pain called heart-burn, and other uneasy symptoms. In these cases, it is common to give chalk or powdered shells, or other things of this kind, which afford relief by destroying the acid.

G. I suppose, then, magnesia is something of this sort, for I have often seen it given to my little sister when they said her stomach was cut of order?

T. It is; but it has some peculiar properties which distinguish it from other calcareous earths, and, particularly, it will not burn to lime. Magnesia is an artificial production, got from one of the ingredients in sea-water, called the bitter, purging salt.

G. Pray, what are the other uses of these earths ? T. Such of them as are hard stone, as the marbles, and many of the limestones, are used for the same purposes as other stones. But their great use is in the form of lime, which is a substance of many curious properties that I will now explain to you. When fresh burnt, it is called quicklime, on account of the heat and life, as it were, which it possesses. Have you ever seen a lump put into water?

G. Yes, I have.

T. Were you not much surprised to see it swell and crack to pieces, with a hissing noise, and a great smoke and heat?

G. I was, indeed. But what is the cause of this? how can cold water occasion so much heat?

T. I will tell you. The strong heat to which calcareous earth is exposed in converting it into lime, expels all the water it contained (for all earths, as well as