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PART II.-EXERCISES IN ORIGINAL'

COMPOSITION.

A. CHIEFLY DESCRIPTIVE.

§ 17. IN describing any object, the student may be guided by the following questions and hints:

What is it? Is it natural or manufactured? Its appearance, colour, shape, &c.? Any marked feature or peculiarity by which it may be known? Where to be found or seen? Its uses? Any striking circumstance connected with its history?

At first he will do well to take these points in the order in which they are given above. Afterwards the arrangement may be varied, according to the nature of the object or the point of view taken by the writer.

EXAMPLES.

1. INDIA-RUBber.

1. What is it? India-rubber is the hardened gum of several kinds of trees growing in the tropics.

2. Appearance, &c. As it exudes from the tree it is of a whitish colour, but as it hardens it assumes a dull, dark hue.

3. It is extremely elastic.

4. Its uses. These are extremely numerous. It is prepared in various ways, and made into a cloth which is perfectly waterproof; it is used for water-pipes, bands of all kinds, wheel-tires, &c.

5. Any peculiar circumstance connected with it? The native American name for it is cahout-chou (or caoutchouc): its common English name is owing to its having been first used for rubbing out the marks of black-lead pencil.

The above combined into a connected paragraph.

(First version.)........

India-rubber is the hardened gum of several kinds of trees found in tropical regions. As it exudes from the tree it is of a white, milky colour: but it gradually hardens and becomes nearly black. It is then extremely elastic. It is prepared in various ways, and extensively used

for the manufacture of waterproof garments and coverings, water-pipes, wheel-tires, bands, and innumerable other articles. The natives of S. America call the gum caout-chou or caoutchouc. The common English name is owing to its having been originally used for rubbing out the marks of black-lead pencil.

(Second version.)

India-rubber or caoutchouc (so called from the native South American name caout chou) is an exceedingly elastic gum. It was first used for rubbing out lead pencil marks; but it is now prepared in various ways, and used for making waterproof clothing and coverings, piping, &c. &c. The gum is obtained from several kinds of tropical trees, by making an incision and collecting it as it exudes. It is at first of a white, milky colour, but it gradually hardens and becomes nearly black by exposure to the air.

In the former of the above versions, india-rubber is described more as a natural curiosity; in the latter, attention is principally directed to its qualities and uses, and only secondarily to its natural peculiarities.

2. SAND.

1. What is it? Sand consists of a multitude of small particles of different kinds of rock.

2. Is it natural or manufactured? Sand is formed by the gradual wearing away of rocks, by means of frost, rain, friction, and other

causes.

3. Where to be found? It is to be found almost everywhere, but especially on the sea-shore.

4. Uses? Its chief use is in the making of mortar, which is a kind of cement made by mixing slacked lime and sand with water.

The above combined into a connected paragraph.

(First version.)

Sand consists of innumerable particles of different kinds of rock, reduced to this condition by the action of frost, rain, friction, and other causes. It is to be found almost everywhere, and especially on the sea-shore. When mixed with slacked lime and water it forms the cement, called mortar, which is so extensively used in building.

(Second version; with additional facts introduced)

Sand is among the most valuable of building materials. When mixed with lime and water, it forms the cheapest and most useful kind of cement. Sand consists of minute particles of rocky material, and varies considerably in colour. Some kinds are brown, others white or grey. At Red Wharfe Bay in N. Wales, the sand consists largely of pulverised shells, and is of a bright, gay, reddish hue.

Sand is found in almost all parts of England. When beds of it exist near the surface, they act as filters, their porousness allowing

the surface water readily to pass away. Hence places situated on the sand are usually healthier than those on clay, which by its clammy nature retains the water and causes dampness and fog.

EXAMPLES FOR PRACTICE.

[N.B. The student is not expected to work the whole of the following examples, but to select from them a certain number as required.

The notes appended are designed simply as an aid, and not at all to confine the student to one line of observation or one mode of treatment.]

EXERCISE 17.

THE DIAMOND.

NOTES.-Diamond, value of: cause of high value-utility [use in watch-making]-beauty-hardness-durability. Diamond countries: India (Golconda), Brazil, the Cape. The famous Kohinoor (Mountain of Light) said to be worth £2,000,000. Diamond=pure carbon or charcoal. Manufactured diamonds.

EXERCISE 18.
COAL.

NOTES.-Coal: a solid substance consisting chiefly of carbon. Generally used as fuel in London about A.D. 1400. Comparison of coal and wood as fuel. Peat. Coal-mines. Their depth-extent— dangers. Great coalfields in England and United States. What adjective denotes the property of burning readily? [inflammable]. Important in manufactures: why? Different kinds of coal: cannel (flames readily)-anthracite (stony)-more or less bituminous, &c.

EXERCISE 19.

THE SHEPHERD'S DOG.

NOTES. The shepherd's dog supposed by some to be the ancestor of many other varieties of dog. Scotch kind called colley dogs. To what dangers are sheep exposed in wild and mountain districts? Part played by the shepherd's dog under such circumstances? Sagacityfidelity-any anecdote showing these qualities?

EXERCISE 20.

PAPER.

NOTES.-Paper: who discovered the art of making paper? [Unknown.] Papyrus: a kind of reed. By whom used? [Egyptians.] Parchment. Made of rags about A.D. 1300. [What great art arose not long after, making the manufacture of paper so important?] Other materials used in the manufacture? [Straw, wood, Spanish grass, rice, &c.] Chinese paper?

EXERCISE 21.

THE POTATO.

NOTES.-Native regions of potato, Chili and Peru. Brought to England in the 16th century. [Sir John Hawkins? Sir Francis Drake? Sir Walter Raleigh?] Famine in Ireland 1845-1848, owing to failure of crop. Note anything remarkable about the flower [like nightshade] or fruit. What kind of a root has it? What part is eaten? [Is the potato bulbous or tuberous?]

EXERCISE 22.

MARBLE.

NOTES.-Marble: kind of limestone.

What different kinds and

colours have you observed? What process is necessary to show its beauty? Famous marble regions: Carrara [where ?], Paros, &c. Uses. Architecture. Cathedrals of Milan and Venice. Sculpture.

EXERCISE 23.
GLASS.

NOTES.-Glass: accidental discovery of. [Fire kindled on shoresand and ashes melt and combine.] What adjective denotes the quality of allowing free passage to light? What the opposite quality? [Opaque.] What adjective denotes the quality of breaking readily in pieces?Toughened glass.' Places famous for glass: Venice, Bohemia; in England, St. Helen's, Birmingham. How does it promote civilization? how science? how art?

EXERCISE 24.

SLATE.

NOTES.-Slate a kind of rock, stratified. Its colour. Contains traces of plants. In what way does slate divide most readily? Show the importance of this quality. Penrhyn. Uses.

EXERCISE 25.
GRANITE.

NOTES.-Granite: what name is given to rocks formed by action of fire? [Lat. ignis, fire.] Component elements of granite; quartz, mica, felspar; which of these most important? Any fossils found in it? Why so? Different colours? Quarries: Aberdeenshire, Sweden, Finland, Egypt, &c. For what purposes most suitable?

EXERCISE 26.
TAR.

NOTES.-Tar: resinous [resin, a sticky substance-inflammable— not soluble in water]. Whence got? how? [From fir-wood, coal, &c. Process: distillation. Lat. stillare; to trickle drop by drop.] How may you describe a smell which sharply affects the nostrils, like smelling-salts? [Pungent.] Exquisite dyes obtained from gas-tar. Mauve-magenta. Great tar countries? [Scandinavia –Russia]. Important to Britain? Why?

EXERCISE 27.

THE MONUMENT.

NOTES.-What name is given to a single shaft like the Monument? [Column.] Height, about 200 feet. What does it commemorate? Is it beautiful? elegant? striking? grand? useful? Original inscription? referred to in Pope's well-known lines:

'Where London's column pointing to the skies
Like a tall bully lifts its head and lies.'

[What term denotes two lines rhyming?]

EXERCISE 28.

GUM-ARABIC.

NOTES.-Gum-arabic: what words denote flowing slowly, drop by drop, from an opening or incision? [ooze, trickle, exude]. Describe shape and appearance as seen in a common parcel obtained from a shop. Show how it is made available as a cement. Any English trees that yield a similar gum? Nutritious.

EXERCISE 29.

STONEHENGE.

NOTES.-Stonehenge; origin unknown.

Ancient arrangement of stones in circles. Site: any way notable? What name given to an elevated level like Salisbury Plain? [plateau, table-land]. Tradition, query: Stone-Hengist? Any other similar remains? Carnac, Brittany.

NOTES.-Pyramids :

EXERCISE 30.

THE PYRAMIDS.

Was Cheops or Cephrenes architect
Of either pyramid that bears his name?'

(these names in Herodotus, bk. ii.) Date, perhaps, B.C. 3000. Greatest, 461 feet high; area covered about 12 acres. (Give some idea how much this is.) Site, Ghizeh, near Cairo. Built to face due N. S. E.W. Purpose, sepulchral. Empty sarcophagus found in Great Pyramid.

EXERCISE 31.
SILK.

NOTES.-Silk: Latin name sericum, i.e. Chinese (flax or cotton); wrought silk brought from Persia into Greece, B.C. 325 [conquests of Alexander the Great, B.C. 331, Arbela]. Manufactured in Sicily in 12th century afterwards in Italy, France, Spain, England (1604). French refugees. Edict of Nantes revoked, 1685. Spitalfields, London. France still the great silk country: Lyons. What name is given to the covering spun by the silkworm? [cocoon]. Can England become a silk-growing country?-Velvet, satin, damask, &c.

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