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water in rivers and lakes, by giving out caloric to the currents of cold air passing over them, becomes, in consequence of the arrangement just mentioned, of greater specific gravity than the substratum, and therefore sinks; and this occasions the rise of a portion of warmer water, which gives out its caloric in like manner, and this constant circulation very much contributes to moderate the rigour of winter throughout the temperate zones. In the ocean, and other deep bodies of water, this circulation goes on for a considerable time, and an immense quantity of caloric is thus thrown into the atmosphere: but, apparently in order to preserve the creatures which inhabit this element, its specific gravity no longer increases by the further diminution of its temperature when the whole mass arrives at about 42 degrees of Fahren. heit, and the circulation of which we have been speaking entirely ceases. Though fresh water freezes when reduced to the temperature of 32 degrees, sea water does not freeze till cooled down to about 28

degrees, which may have been designed in order to keep the ocean open at all seasons. If snow be placed before a fire, it will receive no increase of temperature till the whole of it is melted, though it has an accession of caloric, which is necessary to give it fluidity: if this were not the case, whenever the atmosphere becomes warmer than 32 degrees, the ice and snow would be melted in an instant, and all cold countries would be subject to dreadful inundations.

A confined body of air being a non-conductor of caloric, the advantage of snow, as a covering for the earth in winter, is owing to its being so lightly spread as to hold an abundance of air within its interstices, and to preserve the warmth of the vegetable world.

There are many striking facts relating to the earth, alkalies, and metals, a few of which I shall mention.

Phosphate of lime, which is a salt composed of phosphoric acid and lime, and is one of the chief ingredients in bones, is found also in milk, and assists in the formation of bones in the young ani mal; but after its bones are sufficiently strengthened, the milk of the mother loses this property: so that, in this instance, there not only appears to be a provision, but that provision is withdrawn when there is no longer any use for it. This salt is also found in the eggs of birds, though not in all other shells, evidently for a similar reason; and likewise in the farina of wheat, while the straw which was not intended for

food contains carbonate of lime only.

Animal bile contains soda, which is an alkali, and therefore combines with the only substances taken into the stomach and renders them soluble.

To the principle of caloric, metals owe their malleability and ductility, for in very intense artificial colds the most ductile metals, such as gold, silver, and lead, lose their malleability and become brittle. To shew likewise with what inconvenience a small deviation from the order of nature would be attended, it may be remarked, that caloric is one of the weakest of all known affinities; and it is owing to this circumstance that organized bodies have no difficulty in separating a sufficient portion from the substances around them, and securing to themselves the quantity necessary for their wants.

I cannot conclude this paper without observing, that the simple or elementary bodies of which the world is formed, and which give rise to such an infinite variety of objects around us, are very few in number; and if we reflect on the indestructibility of matter, and its perpetual changes into new and endless combinations, we cannot but admire the beauty and economy of nature, and adore the wisdom as well as the power of the Creator.

F. S.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. THERE are few documents more interesting to a pious and benevolent mind than the Reports of the numerous religious and charitable societies which add lustre to this age and country. The mode of draw ing up these Reports, in the case of the principal societies is in general well adapted to the object in view; but instances sometimes occur, especially in provincial institutions, in which these useful records lose much of their interest and value by an unhappy method of communicating the information they contain. As this class of compositions is at present very numerous, scarcely any town or village in the country being destitute of one or more societies whose proceedings are annually reported to the meinbers, and in many instances printed for their accommodation, and with a view to extend the interests of the institution, it may not be a superfluous task to submit a few hints respecting the qualities which ought to characterize a Report of a religious and charitable society. It is not to be expected, nor is it by any means necessary, that every agent of a benevolent institution should be able to detail its proceedings in a scholar-like and classical manner; but there are defects not of a literary kind, which it is in the power of every person to avoid, and excellencies which it requires no great degree of facility in composition to attain.

In the first place, then, the Report of a charitable institution shoplu be characterized by a strict adherence to truth; and this not in the mere letter of its narration only, but in its general spirit and tendency. There should be no trick; no subterfuge; no halfstatements conveying an impression which the whole history of the case does not warrant; no attempt to conceal any unpopular but necessary article of expenditure under plausible items; in short, nothing

which the strictest sincerity cannot fully approve. That such artifices have been sometimes employednot indeed, that ever I heard, in the leading religious charities, but in some other eleemosynary institutions-the disclosures which have been made to Parliament on the subject of charitable funds, especially those for education, too lamentably prove. Carefully avoiding these moral blemishes, a Report should be drawn up with Christian frankness; it should lay no traps for false inferences: it may indeed, like a wise and prudent man in the exercise of a sound discretion, pass lightly over or wholly omit some circumstances which a fool or madman would heedlessly and injuriously publish, but it must not garble statements or misrepresent facts. I have been more than once pained at this sort of duplicity in the statements of Charity Schools; when, after dividing the expenditure by the number of the children mentioned in

theReport as being "on the books," or which the school is "intended to contain," and congratulating the conductors on the very moderate amount of the disbursements for each child, I have unexpectedly discovered that only two-thirds perhaps, or not so many, of the number of children insinuated, if not expressed, have actually received the benefits of the institution during the year, and that consequently the actual expense per head had been considerably more than the conductors intimated to their constituents and the public. "Shall a man lie for God?" is a question which forcibly applies to all cases of this sort, and which deserves the diligent consideration of every person who wishes to be

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an Israelite indeed,in whom there is no guile." However lightly some casuists think of such artifices in electioneering or parliamentary tactics, they are wholly incompatible with the ingenuousness of the Christain character.

The next property which should

characterize the Report of a charitable institution, especially one of a religious nature, is an entire freedom from a bigotted party spirit.And here I may be permitted to express the satisfaction I bave derived from the strict adherence to this principle visible in the Reports and other documents of some much calumniated institutions, where, on account of provocations received, something of a controversial or retaliating spirit might perhaps, from the frailty of human nature, have been occasionallyexpected.-"Sirs, ye are brethren," should be the motto of the conductors of all our charitable and religious institutions; and though men may law. fully differ in their opinions as to the best mode of doing good, they ought to agree in one point at least, that no good is ever effected by the indulgence of an acrimonious or vindictive spirit. It may indeed sometimes be advisable where the object of a society is not understood, or has been misrepresented, to take the opportunity of its annual Report to defend it and prove its excellence; but, in so doing, it should never be forgotten that the cause of charity is best served by a charitable spirit, and that Christians are enjoined to put away all "bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, with all malice." I have merely hinted at this topic, but do not think it necessary to dwell upon it, as the fault in question happily is not at present of a very prevalent kind.

A third essential property of a Report is, that it should be intelligible. -It is sometimes almost as difficult to collect a perfect idea of the funds, expenditure, and actual proceedings and prospects of a society from its Report, as to ascertain the state of the nation from a diffuse speech of a parliamentary orator. It would greatly conduce to the convenience of the public, if the writers of such documents would always give their facts and figures in a plain business-like manner, avoiding diffuse

statements, and maturely digesting the whole of their materials before they commit the result to paper,

Simplicity is another necessary feature of a good Report.-It is quite ridiculous to see a few plain facts tricked out in a meretricious attempt at fine writing, and enounc ed in words of sonorous but inappropriate magnitude. The style of Dr. Johnson would not be a fit model for the purpose in question, even if the reporter could copy it correctly;-but if, as is too probable, he should completely fail in the attempt; if his ideas should prove but dwarfs and starvelings, clothed in the vestments of a giant; he would doubly offend every person of good taste and Christian simplicity by his performance. We instinctively smile at the celebrated apostrophe of the worthy gentleman who commenced his speech to his fellow-parishioners in vestry-assembled, with, Gentlemen, the eyes of all Europe are fixed upon your deliberations;" but this is scarcely worse than some instances which I could adduce of pompous nothings, clothed sometimes for example in a tumid and bombastical style; at others, in an artificial style, abounding with inversions and classical figures; at others, in a florid and sentimental style, enlivened with scraps of oratory and poetry; and at others in a wary, ceremonious, diplomatic style, as if a " negociation" about the dimensions of a parish sewer, or the choice of a committee-room, were at least an affair of state between the governments of two mighty empires.

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Surely it would cost no great effort to avoid these various kinds of affectation. I would caution reporters also against another species of cant; I mean the too frequent recurrence of what may be called the French Revolutionary style; for why cannot societies be formed as well as " organized," and subordinate societies be united to them as well as "affiliated?" I will only add further, under this head, that it is

always in bad taste, and not quite consistent with Christian simplicity, for the sake of gracing a society, to denominate persons by high sounding titles, which are not customarily bestowed upon them, at least in this country; a fault of which I have known more than one instance in provincial institutions.

To add but one quality more, a Report should be as concise as the subject will allow.-In some of our large institutions, the quantity of fact to be narrated will not admit of a very brief Report, even where every part is closely condensed, and with no more than a necessary proportion of comment. But in smaller institutions, Reports might often be advantageously reduced to one half or one third of their length, by abstaining from the unnecessary philosophising-I will not call it prosing-which is sometimes found in these documents; by avoiding

the duplication and triplication of the same words or ideas; by pruning epithets and unmeaning phrases; by not dealing in common-places and general propositions, which would answer as well for almost any other Report as the one in hand; by omitting minor details; by giving the substance of communications, instead of the words, whereever the former will equally answer the purpose; and, lastly, by greatly abridging the portion of the Report devoted to anticipations and conjectures. A strict adherence to this system would bring most Reports into a very portable compass, and go far towards preventing the complaint now so commonly urged, that few persons comparatively can find time to read the Reports of charitable societies, interesting as they must be to every Christian mind.

A FRIEND TO SIMPLICITY.

REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Sermons on the Christian Character; with Occasional Discourses. By the Rev. C. J. HOARE, A.M. Rector of Godstone, and late Vicar of Blandford Forum. 1821. 8vo. 9s. London: Hatchard.

THOSE Works of science or research which afford unquestionable marks of superior genius or attainments require no apology for their publication: it would be difficult indeed to assign a reason why they should be withheld from the world. Com positions, however, not thus distinguished may seem to require some apology; and for none of them does it appear to us that a more satisfac tory one can be urged than for those which are written for the instruction of our general population in the obvious duties of eligion, and therefore with a studied exclusion of literary effort. It is to be con

sidered also that sermons, which, at the time of their first appearance, acquired, not only by the excellence of their doctrine but the beauties of their style, a deserved popularity. after a while grow out of date, and cease to attract the attention of the ordinary reader. Though even regarded as standard compositions, yet they at length are transferred from the parlour to the library, and become little more than books of reference to those who compose, or sources of unacknowledged pla giarism to those who copy, their pulpit discourses. The fastidiousness of many modern readers would lead them to turn away from the new too antiquated pages of Barrow, South, or Tillotson; their Sunday hours must be beguiled by publications more recent or attractive; and there must be something beyoud the intrinsic merit of the work

itself to fix their attention to the comparatively uninviting subject of divinity. It must be the production of some friend of the family, or it must be a new year's present, or must afford the greatest measure of entertainment consistent with the gravity of the subject. In short, it is almost as true of sermons as of novels, that each generation will read those chiefly which are the product of their own times.

This incessant demand for old truths in a new garb is a sufficient reason for the large supply of modern sermons: and their multiplication forms, in our minds, no fair objection to them, provided they exhibit a luminous and consistent view of revealed religion; since every fresh publication may be attended with claims to attention, peculiar to itself, and these may ope rate advantageously to the dissemination of Divine knowledge, and gain admittance for its hortatory and awakening appeals into circles which they might otherwise never

have reached.

The call, however, for the publi cation of sermons is often peculiarly strong when a clergyman is removed from a parish in which he has long and successfully discharged his pas toral duties. The circumstances which lead to his removal are generally such as to separate him for life from his former flock. His departure is in fact, with respect to them, a sort of ecclesiastical death; and what better legacy can he leave them than a durable record of those instructions which he orally delivered for their comfort and instruction ? By such a benefaction, though removed to a distance, he remains, as it were, present with them; and, when taken at last from every scene of earthly labour, he will continue to bear a dying, as he had done a living, testimony to the power of that religion which was able to save himself and those who heard him. If his instructions have been scriptural, they will furnish also to his bereaved flock a standard of

judgment and conduct, to preserve them from errors in opinion, and laxity in practice; they will afford to his successor a specimen of sound doctrine and faithful exhortation, by which he may be insensibly. quickened, when disposed either to sink into the coldness of a formal worship and speculative creed, or to be unduly excited by the fervours of an indiscreet zeal, and a too glowing imagination.

This call the author of these sermons has fully and promptly obeyed; and the Christian world may be considered as gainers by that act of painful separation, which, in depriving his immediate parishioners of his personal labours, has invested him with the office of an instructor to the public at large. We may lay it down as a principle, that whenever a work written on a particular occasion, for a definite and limited purpose, rises above that purpose into general interest and usefulness, it has acquired for its author the highest meed of praise. And such we should say is the case with this specimen of parochial instruction: we have no doubt it will survive its immediate object, and become a standing exhibition of that Christian character of which it gives as well the outline and broader features as the nicer and more discriminating shades. It is a portrait in which, while due attention is paid to the general effect, it will be found that the individual parts are well adjusted.

How far this public record of the character of the late Vicar of Blandford's instructions may be useful to his former parishioners, we may judge in some measure by the preface to the work, which is more immediately addressed to them. The author does not waste his time in exciting emotion for its own sake, in dilating upon the pleasures of past intercourse, or the pains of recent separation; in descanting upon the failures, or successes, which may have attended his best efforts. . Like the cause

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