may be owing to its shape having a tendency
to press the waters into a neap.

One long pull which the tides may have taken,
is, the drawing of Old World productions to the
coast of the New. The sea, by its general
motion from east to west, cannot help carrying to
the American shores many things which it has
stolen from us; whereas it is only very irregularly,
and probably by the action of the winds,
thai it brings hither, any Indian or American
productions.

As a corollary from what precedes, we may
feel inclined to take it for granted that there are
tides also in the atmosphere, and that our satelite
must hare great influence on the weather.
The popular notions of the changes of the Moon
affecting the weather, and of prognostics
derived from the appearance of the Moon  support
the belief that atmospheric tides exist, and
must consequently manifest themselves in their
effects. The contrary turns out to be the
case. Our elastic and agile atmosphere eludes
the Moon's grasp. On the theory of
Universal Attraction, the Moon's action on the
liquid portion of the globe and the phenomena
of maritime tides are explained without difficulty;
but, for the influence of our satellite on
the gaseous envelope which wraps the Earth,
we are still in search of facts and data.

A final word must be hazarded on the attacks
and insults to which the oldest-established
theories are exposed. What theory can have a
better position in the world than Newton's
Universal Gravitation? It is no parvenu; it has
ancestral claims to respect, and innumerable
vested rights in the domain of science.
Nevertheless, irreverent heretics are beginning to pelt
it with paper missiles. William Adolph
publishes The Simplicity of Creation, a new
theory of the Solar System and the Tides, the
latter bring caused by pressure, and not by the
Attraction of the Moon. M. Faye, the eminent
French astronomer, thinks he has discovered a
new force, totally different from gravitation,
which, if he could but confirm it by actual
experiment, would replace attraction in the
explanation of celestial phenomena. Another
scientific speculator, a working man, who signs
himself " Rollande," as if he were a peer, shouts to
the astonished public that he has caught the
unknown force, and is ready to demonstrate its
action by a pretty little exhibition. A repulsive
force, emanating from the Sun, would seem
to be the sole cause of the tails of comets. But
electricity is the only known force which
possesses repulsive properties. Try, therefore, the
following easy experiment:

A ball of elder-pith, or (better) of cork,
suspended by a silken thread and put in presence
with a stick of electrised sealing-wax, is
immediately attracted thereby, and held in contact
with it, until it is saturated with the fluid. At
that point, the ball is repulsed to a greater or
less distance, according to the size of the electrophore
or the lightness of the ball. This part of
the experiment most people are familiar with.
But more surprising things are in store.

If you give to the electrophore a slight
circular movement, the ball trembles, shifts its
place, and performs a complete revolution round
the electro-magnet. For several seconds, the
ball describes a circle, but the orbit shortly
becomes elongated. A major and a minor axis are
formed, and the ellipse is complete with a
well—marked aphelion and perihelion. If your
surprise at this extraordinary and unexpected
motion allows you to pay a close attention to the
movements of the ball, you perceive that it
assumes a rotatory motion (which would be
continuous were it not prevented by the twisting of
the silken thread of suspension), and which takes
place in an opposite direction to the motion of
the ball in its orbit. The greater the density of
the ball, the greater, is its rotatory activity; the
lighter it is, the less that motion is perceived.

This is not all. If you have made, in the upper
part of the ball where the thread comes out, a
funnel-shaped hollow, and if you throw into it a
few grains of sand, the ball, without any
interruption of its course, approaches nearer to the
electrophore; and in proportion as more sand is
added, the diameter of the orbit is diminished.
So that if you continue to put more sand, the ball
will at last adhere to the electrophore, which has
no longer the force to repel a mass whose density
has been increased by successive loadings with
sand. Consequently, every ball that revolves
round a magnetic centre, has a fixed place which
it must occupy.

Now, if while the ball is describing its ellipse,
you bring another ball saturated with electricity
close to the orbit of the first, you will observe,
when the two balls are at the shortest distance
from each other, a movement of retreat on the
part of both, which constitutes a veritable
perturbation; but, as soon as that point is passed,
the ball which revolves will continue its motion
and the other will fall into its original position.
The experiment, which displays an extraordinary
coincidence between the movements of the ball
and those of the planets, may be repeated whenever
the atmosphere is in a suitable hygrometric
condition. Wet weather is unfavourable to
success.

THE LEGEND OF LITTLE PEARL.

"POOR little Pearl, good little Pearl!"
Sighed every kindly neighbour;
It was so sad to see a girl
So tender, doomed to labour.

A wee bird fluttered from its nest
Too soon, was that meek creature;
Just fit to rest in mother's breast,
The darling of fond Nature.

God shield poor little ones, where all
Must help to be broad-bringers!
For once afoot, there's none too small
To ply their tiny fingers.

Poor Pearl, she had no time to play
The merry game of childhood;
From dawn to dark she worked all day,
A wooding in the wild wood.