WE have spoken of rice, in another place, but have not fully described it, or the manner of preparing it. It comes to us, you know, with the skin or husk stripped off. How is this done? We have never seen a description of the process at the south, and our friend, Richard Rover, does not tell us. But we can describe the Chinese method of separating it; and what is more, we can show you a very good picture of it.

It is done by the Chinese by means of millstones set farther apart than when they wish to reduce the grain to flour. The turning stone is made to act by two mules, carefully blindfolded. They go round and round, in a circle, as you see by the engraving.

LIFE OF SIR HUMPHREY DAVY. WHO has not read or heard of Sir Humphrey Davy? Where is the person, young or old, who, knowing any thing of his discoveries and inventions, does not feel some curiosity to be made acquainted with a few particulars of his early life?

Sir Humphrey Davy was born at Penzance, in Cornwall, England, on the 17th of December, 1778. Nothing very remarkable is related of him as a child. He was quick and industrious, and had a great fondne for reading. Several instances have bes? mentioned of his ingenuity as a boy. made fire-works. He formed a collect of rare birds, which he stuffed with extr dinary skill. And fishing and shooting, ..

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both of which he excelled, were his favorite recreations. In 1794 he lost his father, and in the following year he was apprenticed by his mother to a surgeon and apothecary. Here it was that he commenced the study of chemistry, which be afterwards pursued with such ardor and success.

To study chemistry is to study what effects will be produced by mixing or putting together different substances, or by separating them from one another. By chemistry we learn how to bleach cloth to the purest white, or to cover it with the gayest colors to make the useful earthenware and elegant china from a lump of clay—to manufacture soap by mixing together grease and pearlash -to convert the disgusting skin of a dead animal into useful leather-and to prepare medicines capable of restoring the sick to health and happiness. By chemistry we are able to separate from a shapeless stone the brilliant gold, and the useful iron-to extract from coal the gas which produces the dazzling light that illuminates all our great towns to obtain from water the elastic steam which gives motion to the resistless steam engine, driving thousands of wheels in a cotton-mill, a train of carriages on a railroad, and the vessel, with its enterprising crew, across the tempestuous ocean against wind and current. By chemistry we also learn how to apply manures to the improvement of the land, and so to increase the quantity and improve the quality of our crops. It thus appears that our food and clothing, our cleanliness and health, and our comforts of every description are all improved by chemistry.

The profession of Surgeon and Apotheecary, he never liked; but his greatest pleasure was in studying the properties of all the bodies which came under his observation.

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When he walked aoroad he usually took a hammer with him, with which he used to knock off pieces of rocks, to preserve as specimens.

In one of his excursions about this period of his life, he was bitten by a dog,—suppos ed to be a mad one. Without a moment's hesitation, he cut out the wounded part, with his pocket knife, and then proceeding at once to the surgeon's, he immediately burnt the surface of the wound, with what the surgeons call caustic. It is probable that his courage and boldness, in doing this, saved his life, though the wound was so trouble some that it kept him confined many weeks.

His chemical apparatus consisted of such phials, gallipots, pans, &c. belonging to his master, as he could obtain, and such as he could contrive for himself. At length, however, Mr. Gilbert, a chemist, became acquainted with him, kindly invited him to his house, gave him the use of his library, took him to a celebrated copper-works to show him the chemical apparatus, and otherwise rendered him much assistance.

By the assistance of Mr. Gilbert he became acquainted with Dr. Beddoes, a learned man of great distinction at Bristol; and it was not long before his love and zeal for the study of chemistry became so well known that he received the appointment of Assistant Lecturer on this science, in the Royal Institution in London. Here he filled his station so admirably, that before he was 24 years of age he was made a Professor.

Hitherto Davy was poor, but this appointment secured him the means of support, and relieved him from all anxiety on that subject. Now he was at full leisure to devote his whole time to his favorite study. He had already made discoveries, but he now began to make more splendid ones.

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It was he who found out that the alkalies, as they are called, such as pearlash, and soda, are not simple bodies, but consist of curious metal, joined to oxygen. A piece of the metal of potash (called potassium,) not larger than a pin's head, when put into water, or laid upon ice, instantly bursts into a flame. It was Davy, too, who first studied out and explained the nature of volcanoes.

A large estate falling, at length, into Davy's hands, he gave up his professorship, not to go into idleness, but that he might extend his discoveries more in the manner he pleased. He first travelled over much of Europe, especially the volcanic countries. Among other places, he visited Mount Vesuvius, and the fainous city of Pompeii.

Shortly after his return he was solicited to turn his attention to the subject of fire-damp in coal mines, with a view to discover some contrivance by which the miners might be protected from its fatal effects. He complied with this request. He reflected, he contrived, he examined; and then he reflected, contrived, and examined again. His efforts were not in vain. With a speed and a success, almost beyond conception, he furnished the protection required. This protection is the safety-lamp.

To understand the merit of Sir Humphre; Davy's performance, it is necessary to know something of the structure and extent of a coal-mine, as well as of the nature of this destructive fire-damp. The distance to which some of these mines extend is several miles, and some of them have been worked to the depth of five hundred feet. These extensive mines have seldom more than two or three shafts, or communications with the surface of the earth. The difficulty of ventilating them, or supplying a sufficiency of fresh air will be perceived at once. Never

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theless, by means of ingenious machinery this difficulty had been pretty well got over But there still remained the fire-damp, against which no ingenuity had been able to protect the miners. The fire-damp is a kind of gas, very much like what is burned every night in the gas lamps in the streets. Newly dug coal always parts with a portion of this gas when first exposed to the air; but on some occasions, the pitmen have opened crevices in the bed of coal, from which this gas has poured out in 'quite a current; and such currents have been known to continue for months and years. These currents are called "blowers" by the pitmen.

And

Every body has seen a gas-lamp lighted. The gas kindles the moment the lighted torch is brought in contact with it. The same happens with the fire-damp. here is the danger; for the pitmen cannot work under ground without candles or lanterns. On the approach of a candle or lantern, the fire-damp is kindled, and expanding with the heat, drives before it a roaring whirlwind of flaming air, which tears up every thing in its progress, scorching some of the miners to a cinder, and burying others under enormous ruins shaken from the roofs. Then thundering to the shafts, it converts the mine, as it were, into an enormous piece of artillery; and wastes its fury in a dis charge of thick clouds of coal-dust, stones and timber, together with the limbs and mangled bodies of men and horses.

But the first effect of one of these subterraneous combustions, appalling though it be, is not the worst. All the contrivances for ventilating the mine being destroyed in the general ruin, and the fresh air being altogether excluded from the innermost parts of the mine where the work is proceeding; such of the miners as may have survived

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the explosion, are doomed to the more painful and lingering death of suffocation from the after-damp or stythe, as it is called.

An account of one such accident, as it really happened, will place before the reader still more vividly the terrible nature of these explosions. It occurred at Felling Colliery, near Sunderland, on the 25th May, 1812.

About half-past eleven in the morning, the neighboring villages were alarmed by a tremendous explosion. The subterraneous fire broke forth with two heavy discharges from the shaft called the "John Pit," which was 102 fathoms deep, and these discharges were almost immediately followed by ore from the "William Pit." A slight trembling, as if from an earthquake, was felt for about half a mile around; and the noise of the explosion was heard, though dull, at the distance of three or four miles.

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Immense quantities of dust and small coal accompanied these blasts. The heaviest part of the ignited matter, such as masses of timber and fragments of coal, fell near the pit, but the dust borne away by a strong west wind, fell in a continued shower to the distance of a mile and a half.

As soon as the explosion had been heard, the wives and children of the pitmen rushed to the shaft. Wildness and terror were pictured in every countenance. The crowd thickened on every side, and in a very short period several hundred persons had collected together; and the air resoundea with exclamations of despair for the fate of busbands, parents, and children.

The machinery by which the men were usually brought up and let down having been rendered useless by the eruption, the rope of the gin was sent down the shaft

with all possible expedition. In the absence of horses, a number of men who seemed to acquire strength as the necessity for it increased, applied their shoulders to the starts, or shafts of the gin, and worked it with extraordinary speed.

My twelve o'clock, thirty-two persons, all that survived this dreadful catastrophe, had been brought up to day-light; but of these, three boys lived only a few hours. Twentynine persons, then, were all who were left to relate what they had observed of the ap

pearances and effect of the explosion. The dead bodies of two boys, miserably scorched and shattered, were also brought up at the same time. One hundred and twenty-one persons were in the mine when the explosion took place.

The men that remained in the mine were not given up for lost, until an effort had been made to save them. Nine brave men were found willing to venture their lives in this dangerous service. They descended the "John Pit," but their advance was scop

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prevented by the chore-damp, and they were obliged to return.

It was to prevent, if possible, the recurrence of such calamities as this, that Sir Humphrey Davy directed his attention. He set to work without delay. The first application that was made to him was in the beginning of August, 1815, and at the latter end of that month we already find him visiting the mines of Newcastle, to make himself acquainted with every particular concerning the fire-damp, against which he was anxious to discover some protection. And before the end of that year he had invented his famous safety-lamp.

It would be almost impossible so to describe this safety lamp that our readers would fully understand its structure. We must therefore content ourselves with saying that it answered every purpose which its worthy inventor expected, and is now used in coalmines generally, not only in England, but in other countries. Where they are in use, workmen enter and labor in the mines without fear or danger.

Sir Humphrey Davy might have made a large sum of money by this wonderful invention; but money was not his great object. He appears to have lived for other and nobler purposes; one of which was to do good. In the latter part of his life he suffered much from disease. He died at Geneva. His kindness and good feeling to all mankind, were strikingly shown in his last moments. When he felt his end approaching, he sent for his brother, Dr. Davy, to whom he said, "I am dying; and when it is all over, I desire that no disturbance of any kind may be made in the house; lock the door, and let every one retire to his apartment." Snortly after, he expired without a struggle, in the 31st year of his age.

WANDERINGS IN THE EAST

CHAP. VII.

AN ADVENTURE.

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SOMETIMES We found the jungles or underwood of the forests of Ceylon quite impassable. Once, in particular, I remember that towards evening we had advanced with great toil a considerable distance, when we found it impossible to go a step farther in that direction; and yet we were confident of being nearly in the right course, from our compass. So we made our beds for the night; and we made them just as I used to make mine in South America; that is, we lashed our repes in a tree, in the form of cradles. Having done so, we placed ourselves in them, resolving to retrace our steps the next morning, and skirt the forest, instead of crossing through it. This would waste time we knew, but we could not help it.

Well, as we were swinging very quietly in our nests, and watching the stars which were twinkling above us, we heard a distant noise that sounded like a heavy trampling, and a prodigious crash of boughs, ac companied by yells and glancing lights. You may well suppose we were alarmed, but what could we do? Soon these furious sounds approached our very trees.

Scarcely a minute more elapsed, before a herd of ponderous elephants came galloping under us, crushing the underwood with their weight, tearing away the lower boughs of some of the trees, and snapping the trunks of others which stood in their The very earth trembled, or seemed to t ble, beneath these enraged animals, as tore along; and just as we had begu hope our hiding place would be left in ty, a monstrous fellow, the last of the bed. came thundering on, whisking his proboscis in every direction. Unfortunately, the branc