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3.

4.

5.

6.

For he doth sometimes seem
To sleep like a spent laborer, and recall
His weary billows from their vexing play,
And lull them in a cradle calm; but thou,
With everlasting, undecaying tide,

Dost rest not, night or day.

The morning stars,a

When first they sung o'er young creation's birth,
Heard thy deep anthem; and those wreaking fires
That wait the archangel's signal to dissolve
The solid earth, shall find Jehovah's name
Graven, as with a thousand diamond spears,
On thy unfathomed page. Each leafy bow,
That lifts itself within thy proud domain,
Doth gather greatness from thy living spray,
And tremble at the baptism.

Lo! yon birds

Do venture boldly near, bathing their wing
Amid thy foam and mist. "T is meet for them
To touch thy garment's hem, or lightly stir
The snowy leaflets of thy vapor wreath,

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Who sport unharmed upon the fleecy cloud,
And listen silent at the gates of heaven,
Without reproof.

But as for us, it seems

Scarce lawful with our broken tones to speak
Familiarly of thee. Methinks, to tint
Thy glorious features with our pencil's point,
Or woo thee to the tablet of a song,

Were profanation.

NOTE. a See morning stars, Job xxxviii. 6, 7.

7.

Thou dost make the soul

A wandering witness of thy majesty;

And while it rushes with delirious joy

To tread thy vestibule, dost chain its steps,
And check its rapture, with the humbling view
Of its own nothingness, bidding it stand
In the dread presence of the Invisible,
As if to answer to its God through thee.

MOUNT WASHINGTON.a

GRENVILLE MELLEN.

8. MOUNT of the clouds, on whose Olympian height
The tall rocks brighten in the ether air,
And spirits from the skies come down at night,
To chant immortal songs to Freedom there!
Thine is the rock of other regions, where
The world of life, which blooms so far below,
Sweeps a wide waste; no gladdening scenes appear,
Save where, with silvery flash, the waters flow

Beneath the far-off mountain, distant, calm, and slow.

9. Mount of the clouds! when Winter round thee throws
The hoary mantle of the dying year,
Sublime amid the canopy of snows,

Thy towers in bright magnificence appear!
'Tis then we view thee with a chilling fear,
Till Summer robes thee in her tints of blue;
When, lo! in softened grandeur, far, yet clear,
Thy battlements stand clothed in heaven's own hue,
To swell, as Freedom's home, on man's unbounded view!

NOTES. -a Mount Washington; the highest peak of the White Mountains, situated in New Hampshire, being 6,234 feet, or 14 miles, high. b Olympian; pertaining to Olympus, a celebrated mountain in Macedonia.

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QUESTIONS. What is said of Niagara Falls? 1. How is the rainbow formed over the cataract? What is Mount Washington? 8. What is meant by Olympian height?

LESSON LXV.

Spell and Define.

1. Ge-om'e-try, the science of magnitude.
2. Ge-o-met'ri-cal, pertaining to geome-
2. Prob'lem, a question to be solved. [try.
2. Ca-pac'i-ty, extent of room or space.
3. Cyl-in'dric-al, having the form of a
cylinder.

3. Con-tig'u-ous, touching, joining.
4. Tri-an'gu-lar, having three angles.

4. Cyl'in-der, a long, round body.
5. Pyr'a-mid, a solid having an angular
base, and terminating in a point at
the top.

6. An'gles, corners.

7. Rhomboid, obliquely-square.

9. Man'di-bles, the jaws.

10. Sculp'tor, a carver of wood or stone.

ERRORS.1. Reg-e-lar'i-ty for reg-u-lar'i-ty; 1. won'der-fly for won'der-ful-ly ; 2. diffi-kilt for diffi-cult; 2. mar'ter for mat'ter; 5. in'stid for in'stead; 5. keerds for cards; 6. ac'too-al-ly for act'u-al-ly; 8. six'tiths for six'ti-eths; 10. chis'il for chis'el.

ARCHITECTURAL SKILL OF THE BEE.

[The pupil may point out some words in this piece, which are emphatic by See rule, p. 42.]

contrast.

1. FROM the time of Pappus" to the present day, mathematicians have applied the principles of geometry to explain the construction of the cells of the bee-hive; but though their extraordinary regularity, and wonderfully selected form, had so often been investigated by men of the greatest talent, and skilled in the refinements of science, the process by which they are constructed, involving also the causes of their regularity of form, had not been traced, till Mr. Huber devoted himself to the inquiry.

2. As the wax-workers secrete only a limited quantity of wax, it is indispensably requisite, that as little as possible of it should be consumed, and that none of it should be wasted. Bees, therefore, have to solve this difficult geometrical problem. "A quantity of wax being given, to form of it equal and similar cells of a determinate capacity, but of the largest size in proportion to the quantity of matter employed, and disposed

NOTES. 18

a Pap'pus; a celebrated mathematician of Alexandria, who lived near the close of the fourth century. b Hü'ber (Francis); a distinguished naturalist, who wrote a work on bees, born at Geneva, in Switzerland, in 1750.

in such a manner as to occupy the least possible space in the hive." This problem is solved by bees in all its conditions.

3. The cylindrical form would seem the best adapted to the shape of the insect; but had the cells been cylindrical, they could not have been applied to each other, without leaving a vacant and superfluous space between every three contiguous cells.

4. Had the cells, on the other hand, been square or triangular, they might have been constructed without unnecessary vacancies; but these forms would have both required more material, and been very unsuitable to the shape of the bee's body. The six-sided form of the cells obviates every objection; and while it fulfills the conditions of the problem, it is equally adapted with the cylinder to the shape of the bee.

5. Mr. Reaumur further remarks, that the base of the cell, instead of forming a plane, is usually composed of three pieces in the shape of the diamonds on playing cards, and placed in such a manner as to form a hollow pyramid. This structure, it may be observed, imparts a greater degree of strength, and still keeping the solution of the problem in view, gives a great capacity with the smallest expenditure of material.

6. This has, indeed, been actually ascertained by mathematical measurement and calculation. Maraldi determined, by minutely measuring the angles, that the greater were one hundred nine degrees and twenty-eight minutes, and the smaller seventy degrees and thirty-two minutes.

7. Mr. Reaumur, being desirous to know why these particular angles are selected, requested Mr. Koenig, a skilful mathematician, to determine, by calculation, what ought to be the angle of a six-sided cell, with a concave pyramidal base,

NOTES.-a Reaumur (rō'mur); a French philosopher and naturalist, and the ir.ventor of Reaumur's thermometer, born in 1683. Maraldi (mä-rāl'dē); a distinguished mathematician, born at Perinaldo, in Italy, 1665. c Koenig (keu'nig); an able mathematician of Switzerland; he died in 1757.

formed of three similar and equal rhomboid plates, so that the least possible matter should enter into its construction.

8. By an elaborate process, Mr. Koenig found that the angles should be one hundred nine degrees and twenty-six minutes for the greater, and seventy degrees and thirty-four minutes for the smaller, or about two sixtieths of a degree more or less, than the actual angles made choice of by the bees. The equality of the inclination in the angles, has also been said to facilitate the construction of the cells.

9. It may, however, be said not to be quite certain that Reaumur and others have not ascribed to bees the merit of ingenious mathematical contrivance and selection, when the construction of the cells may more probably originate in the form of their mandibles, and other instruments employed in their operations.

10. In the case of insects, we have repeatedly noticed that they use their bodies, or parts of them, as the standards of measurement and modeling; and it is not impossible that bees may proceed on a similar principle. Mr. Huber replies to this objection, that bees are not provided with instruments corresponding to the angles of the cells; for there is no more resemblance between these and the form of their mandibles, than between the chisel of the sculptor and the work which he produces.

QUESTIONS. 1. Who was Pappus? 1. Who first observed the process by which bees construct their cells? 1. Who was Huber? 4. Why do the bees make their cells six-sided in their form? 5. Who was Reaumur? 5. How is the base or bot

tom of the cell constructed? 5. Why do the bees choose this form? 6. Who was Maraidi? 7. Who was Koenig? 10. Is the shape of the cells owing to the form of the bees? How did the bees gain their knowledge of architecture?

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