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Abbott Jacob
Rollo's Philosophy. [Air]

QUESTIONS

Why were Rollo and Nathan at first glad to see the rain? What did their mother say to herself on the second day, when she observed their weary and listless appearance? What did she at first direct them to do? How did she prepare the downy tuft? What experiments did they perform with it? Where did they find that the air came in which crowded the warm air up the chimney? What experiments did they perform when the door was opened? Which way did they find that the current of air was setting at the lower part of the door-way? Which way did the current set at the upper part of the door-way? What did Rollo write in his exercise? What was written in Nathan's exercise?

CHAPTER IX.
BURNING

After the snow had all gone off, and the ground was dry, Jonas piled up a heap of stumps, roots, and decayed logs, in a field, not far from the brook, and one sunny afternoon he and Rollo went down to set the heaps on fire.

Jonas set one on fire, and then he told Rollo that he might set another on fire. After this, Jonas employed himself in gathering up sticks, bushes, roots, and other such things that lay scattered about the field, and putting them upon the fires, while Rollo amused himself in any way he pleased.

After a time, Rollo found, on the margin of the field, near the edge of a wood, an old stump, taller than he was, much decayed. There was a hole in the top. Rollo climbed up so that he could put a stick in, and run it down, to see how far down the hole extended. He found that it extended down very near to the bottom.

Then Rollo called out to Jonas, with a loud voice, saying,—

"Jonas, I have found a hollow stump here. It is hollow away down to the bottom. May I build a fire in it?"

"Yes," said Jonas, "if you can."

Rollo accordingly went to the nearest fire, and got a quantity of birch bark, which he had collected there to aid him in kindling his fires. He lighted one piece, and put it upon the end of a stick, and carried it to the stump, with the rest of the birch bark in the other hand.

Rollo then spent some time in fruitless attempts to make some lighted birch bark go down into the stump, and burn there. He succeeded very well in getting pieces completely on fire; but, after they were dropped into the hole, they would not burn. Rollo could not think what the reason could be.

At last he called Jonas to come and help him set the stump on fire.

Jonas said that he did not think that it could be set on fire.

"'Jonas, I have found a hollow stump here,' said Rollo, calling with a loud voice."—Page 122.

"Why not?" said Rollo.

"Because," said Jonas, "it is so wet."

"Yes, but, Jonas," replied Rollo, "your brush heaps burn, and why should not this stump?"

"Because," said Jonas, "the stump is more solid, and the water soaks into it more in the winter and early in the spring; and it takes it much longer to dry, than it does brush and small roots, which lie open and exposed to the air."

"Well, then," replied Rollo, "why does not my birch bark burn? that is dry; but as soon as I drop it down into the stump, it goes out."

Jonas looked into the stump, and down around the bottom of it, and said,—

"Because there is no air."

"No air?" repeated Rollo.

"No," replied Jonas; "it is all close and solid around; the air cannot get in."

"It can get in at the top," said Rollo.

Jonas made no reply to this remark, but walked away a few steps, to a place where he had put down his axe; he took up the axe, and brought it to the stump. He immediately began to cut into it, at the bottom, as if it were a tree which he was going to fell.

"O Jonas," said Rollo, "don't cut it down."

"I am not going to cut it down," said Jonas; "I am only going to cut a hole into it."

"What for?" asked Rollo.

"To let the air in," replied Jonas.

Jonas continued to cut into the side of the stump, near the ground, until he perceived that the edge of his axe went through into the hollow part. Then he cleared away the chips a little, and showed Rollo that there was an opening for the air.

"Now," said he, "I presume you will be able to make sticks and birch bark burn in the stump, though you can't make the stump itself burn very well."

Rollo now dropped a blazing piece of birch bark into the stump, and, to his great joy, he found that it continued blazing, after it reached the bottom. He then dropped in another piece upon it, which took fire. He then gathered some dry sticks, and put in; and, finding that the flame was increasing, he proceeded to gather all the dry and combustible matter, which he could find around, and put them in, so that in a short time he had a fine blaze, a foot above the top of the stump; and the inside of the stump itself seemed to be in flames.

"Jonas," said Rollo, "it does burn."

"Does it?" said Jonas; "I am glad to hear it."

"But you said the stump would not burn."

"You ought to wait until it is all burnt up, before you triumph over me."

"Why, Jonas," said Rollo, "I didn't mean to triumph over you; but why would not the fire burn before you cut the hole through?"

"Because," replied Jonas, "there was not air enough."

"There was air in the stump," said Rollo.

"Yes," replied Jonas, "but all the life of it was consumed by the first piece of birch bark which you put in."

"The life of it?" said Rollo.

"Yes," replied Jonas; "what do you suppose it is, that makes anything burn?"

"Why, it burns itself," said Rollo.

"No," answered Jonas; "the air makes it burn: it must have good air around it, or else it won't burn. There is something in the air which I call the life of it; this makes the fire burn. But when this is all gone, then that air will not make fire burn any longer. It will only burn in good fresh air, which has got the life in it."

"I thought fire would burn in any kind of air," said Rollo.

"No," replied Jonas; "you can see if you stop up the hole I made here."

Jonas then took a piece of turf from the field, and put it before the hole, and crowded it in hard with the heel of his boot. Rollo observed that the fire was almost immediately deadened.

"Now," continued Jonas, "light a small piece of birch bark, and put it in."

Jonas helped Rollo fasten a small piece of bark upon the end of a stick, and then Rollo set it on fire, and held it down a little way into the stump. It burned very feebly.

"See," said Jonas, "how quick it is stifled."

"Yes," replied Rollo, "it goes out almost directly."

"You see," said Jonas, "that the fire already in the stump consumes all the goodness of the air; and I stopped up the hole, so that no fresh air can come in."

"Why doesn't it go in at the top?" said Rollo.

"It does a little," said Jonas, "but not much, because the hollow of the stump is already full of bad air, and there is nothing to make a current. When there is an opening below, then there is a current up through."

"Yes," said Rollo, "it is just like a chimney."

"Yes," replied Jonas, "the stump is the chimney, and the hole is the fireplace."

"And the air in the stump," said Rollo, "gets hot, and so the cold air all around is heavier, and so it crowds down under it, and buoys the hot air up out of the stump. My father explained it all to Nathan and me."

Rollo then wanted to open the hole again, to see if the effect would be as he had described.

Then Jonas pulled away the turf from the hole at the bottom of the stump, and Rollo observed that the fire brightened up immediately.

He then held a smoking brand near the hole, and he saw that the smoke was carried in, in a very strong current, by the cool air, which was pressing into the hole.

"Yes," said Rollo, "it operates just like a fireplace."

"So you see," continued Jonas, "that whenever you build a fire, you must see to it, that there is an opening for air to come up from underneath it. And it must be good fresh air too."

"What is it in the air, which makes the fire burn?" said Rollo.

"I don't know what the name of it is," said Jonas; "it is some part of the air, which goes into the fire, and is all consumed, and then the rest of the air is good for nothing."

"Isn't it good for anything at all?" asked Rollo.

"I don't know," said Jonas, "how that is; only I know that it isn't good for anything for fires. It stifles them."

"I should like to know what the name of that part of the air is, which is good for fires," said Rollo.

"I knew once," said Jonas, "but it was a hard word, and I have forgotten it."

"I mean to ask my father," said Rollo.

Jonas then went on with his work, gathering up everything that he could find around the field, to put upon the fires. Rollo amused himself by putting large rolls of birch bark around the end of a stick, and then, after setting them on fire, holding them over the fires, which Jonas was making, to see how soon the flame was extinguished: then he would draw them away, and see them revive and blaze up again in the open air. At last, he called out to Jonas, once more.

"Jonas," said he, "I have found out what makes the blaze go out. It is the smoke. I don't believe but that it is the smoke."

"No," replied Jonas, "it is not the smoke. I can prove that it is not."

So Jonas came up to the fire where Rollo was standing, and pointed out to Rollo a place, over a hot part of it, where there was no smoke, because the fire under it burned clear, being nearly reduced to coals. He told Rollo to hold his blazing bark there. Rollo did so, and found that it was extinguished at once, and as completely, as it had been before, when he had held it in a dense smoke.

"Yes," said Rollo, "it isn't the smoke. But perhaps it is because it is so hot."

"No," said Jonas, "it isn't that. It is a difference in the air. They sometimes collect different kinds of air in glass jars, and then let a candle down in, and see whether it will go out."

"And will it go out?" said Rollo.

"That depends upon what kind of air it is," said Jonas. "They all look clear, just as if there was nothing in the jars; but when you let a candle down in, in some it burns just the same as before; in some it burns brighter; and in some it goes out."

"In what kinds does it go out?" asked Rollo.

"I only know of one kind," said Jonas, "and that is a kind that comes of itself in mines, and wells, and other places."

"What is the name of it?" asked Rollo.

"Why, the people in the mines call it choke damp; but I believe it has got another name besides."

"What do they call it choke damp for?" said Rollo.

"Because," said Jonas, "if the miners get into it and breathe it, it kills them. It is not any better to breathe than it is to make fires burn."

"I wish I could see some choke damp," said Rollo.

"O, you can't see it at all," said Jonas, "if it was right before you, any more than you can see common air. If a well or a mine is full of it, they cannot find it out by looking down."

"How do they find it out?" said Rollo.

"Why, they let a candle down," replied Jonas.

"And will the candle go out?" asked Rollo.

"Yes," said Jonas, "if there is choke damp in the well. Sometimes they make a little of it in a tumbler or a jar upon the table, and so let a little flame down into it, and it goes out immediately."

"I wish we could make some," said Rollo. "Do you know how they make it?"

"No," said Jonas; "but I believe it is pretty easy to do it, if we only knew how."

"I will ask my father," said Rollo; "perhaps he will know."

This conversation took place when Jonas and Rollo were about the fires; but now the fires had pretty nearly burnt out, and they prepared to go home.

That evening, just about sunset, Rollo went out behind the house, and found Jonas raking off the yard. The spring was fast coming on, and the grass was beginning to look a little green; and Jonas said he wanted to get off all the sticks, chips, and straws, so that the yard would present a surface of smooth and uniform green. Rollo told him that he had found out how to make choke damp.

"Did your father tell you?" said Jonas.

"No," replied Rollo.

"Who did tell you, then?" said Jonas.

"Guess," answered Rollo.

"Your mother," said Jonas.

"No," answered Rollo.

"Then I can't tell," said Jonas.

"It was Miss Mary," replied Rollo. "I met her in the road to-day, and I asked her."

"And how is it?" asked Jonas.

"Why, we make it with chalk and vinegar," said Rollo. "We pound up a little chalk, and put it in the bottom of a tumbler. Then we pour some vinegar over it. The vinegar takes the choke damp out of the chalk, and Miss Mary says it will come up in little bubbles. She says we can lay a paper over the top loosely,—she said loosely, but I think it ought to be tight."

"Why?" asked Jonas.

"So as to keep the choke damp from coming out," replied Rollo.

"No," said Jonas. "I understand why she said you must put it on loosely; that's to let the common air out."

"What common air?" said Rollo.

"Why, the air that was in the tumbler before," replied Jonas. "You see that, as fast as the choke damp comes up, it drives the common air out of the top of the tumbler; and so you must put the paper on loosely, and let it go out."

That evening Jonas and Rollo tried the experiment. First they put about two teaspoonfuls of chalk into the tumbler. Then they poured in the vinegar. It immediately began to foam.

"Ah," said Rollo, "that's the effervescence."

"The what?" said Dorothy; for they were making this experiment upon the kitchen table, and Dorothy was standing by, looking on with great interest.

"The effervescence," said Rollo. "Miss Mary said there would be an effervescence, which would be occasioned by the little bubbles of choke damp, coming up from the chalk."

"Poh!" said Dorothy; "it's nothing but a little frothing."

"It isn't frothing," said Rollo, very seriously; "it isn't frothing, it is effervescence. Don't you think Miss Mary knows?"

"Jonas," said Rollo again after a short pause, "how many of these little bubbles will it take, do you think, to fill the tumbler full of choke damp?"

"I don't know," replied Jonas; "we will wait a little while, and then try it."

"There, now, Jonas," said Rollo, "we have not got any candle."

"O, I will roll up a piece of paper, and set the end on fire, and then dip it down into the tumbler, and that will do just as well."

"What are you going to do that for?" said Dorothy.

"Why, to see it go out," said Rollo.

"It won't go out, unless you put it away down into the vinegar," said Dorothy.

"Yes it will," said Rollo; "we are only going to dip it down a little way, just into the choke damp, and it will go out."

"It won't go out, child," said Dorothy. "There's nothing to put it out."

"Well, you'll see. Won't it go out, Jonas?"

"I don't know," said Jonas.

"Don't know?" said Rollo. "Why, you told me that choke damp would put out a blaze."

"Yes," said Jonas, "I am sure of that; but there are a great many ways of failing in trying experiments."

"Well," said Rollo, "that may be; but this will not fail, I know, for I can see the little bubbles of choke damp coming up. There are millions of them."

By this time Jonas thought that the tumbler was filled with the gas, which was rising from the chalk and vinegar. So he rolled up a piece of paper, and set the end on fire, and, when it was well burning, he plunged the end of it into the tumbler. To Rollo's great disappointment and mortification, it continued to burn about as much as ever. The flame crept rapidly up the paper, and Jonas had soon to run with it across the floor and throw it into the fire, to avoid burning his fingers. Dorothy laughed aloud; Jonas smiled; and as for Rollo, he looked disappointed and vexed, and appeared to be overwhelmed with chagrin.

Dorothy continued to laugh at them, while Jonas went to the pump and washed out the tumbler. At length she said,—

"But come, Rollo, don't be so disconsolate. You look as if you had swallowed all the choke damp."

"Yes, Rollo," said Jonas, "we must keep good-natured, even if our experiments do fail."

"Well," said Rollo, "I mean to ask Miss Mary again, and then we can do it, I know."

Rollo accordingly went, the next day, to ask Miss Mary about the cause of the failure. Miss Mary said that she could not think of any thing which was likely to be the cause, unless it was that they put too large a flame into the tumbler.

"Well," replied Rollo, "and what harm would that do? Won't the choke damp put out a large flame?"

"Yes," replied Miss Mary, "if it only fairly surrounds and covers it; but, then, if you put a large flame into a tumbler, it makes the first instant, a great current of air, and so the choke damp might be blown out, and common air get in, and so keep the paper burning."

"How does it make a current of air?" asked Rollo.

"Why, the heat of the flame, when you first put the paper in," replied Miss Mary, "makes the air that is above it lighter; and the common air all around crowds in under it, in buoying it up; and by that means, if the flame is too large, common air is carried into the tumbler. You ought to make a very small flame, if you leave the top of the tumbler open."

"How can we make a small flame?" said Rollo.

"One good way," replied Miss Mary, "is to roll up some paper into a very small roll. I will show you how."

So Miss Mary took a piece of paper, and cut it into the proper shape with her scissors, and then rolled it up into a long and very slender roll; one end of it was not much larger than a large knitting-needle. She gave this to Rollo, and told him that, if he tried the experiment again, he must light the small end, and it would make a flame not so big as a pea.

Rollo explained to Jonas what Miss Mary had said, and they resolved on attempting the experiment again that evening. And they did so. Dorothy stood by watching the process, as she had done the evening before, but Rollo did not assert so confidently and positively what the result would be. He had learned moderation by the experience of the night before.

When all was ready, Jonas lighted the end of the slender roll in the lamp, and plunged it carefully into the tumbler. It went out immediately.

"There!" said Rollo, clapping his hands, "it goes out."

"Why, it is only because the wind blew it out."

"No, Dorothy," said Rollo, "there isn't any wind in the tumbler."

"Yes," replied Dorothy, "when you push it down, it makes a little wind, just enough to blow it out."

"Get another tumbler," said Jonas, "and let us see."

So Dorothy brought another tumbler, and Jonas put the burning end of the paper down into it, with about as rapid a motion as that with which he had put it before into the tumbler he had at first. The paper continued to burn.

"There," said he to Dorothy, "when I put it down into common air, it burns on the same as ever; so it can't be that the wind puts it out." Jonas repeated the experiment a number of times; the effect was always the same. Whenever he put it into the tumbler of common air, it burned on without any change; but whenever he put it into the choke damp, it immediately went out. Even Dorothy was satisfied that there was a difference in the kind of air contained in the two tumblers.

That evening, when Rollo gave his mother a full account of their attempts,—describing particularly their failure at first, and their subsequent successes,—his mother seemed much interested. When he had finished, she said,—

"Well, Rollo, I don't see but that you have learned two lessons in philosophy."

"Two lessons?" said Rollo.

"Yes," replied his mother. "The first is, that fire will not burn in choke damp; and the second is, that it requires nice attention and care to verify philosophical truths by experiment."

"Yes," said Rollo, "we missed the first time, just because we had too big a paper."

QUESTIONS

Why did Jonas suppose that the stump would not burn? What was Rollo's first mode of setting it on fire? How did it succeed? What did Jonas do with his axe, when he came? What was the object of this? What did he say was necessary to make fires burn? What did Rollo at first think was the reason why the bark went out when held over the fire? What did he next think was the reason? How did Jonas say that different kinds of airs were prepared? In what places did he say that choke damp was naturally produced? How did they attempt to prepare some of this gas? Did they succeed in preparing it? Did they succeed in their experiment at first? What was the cause of the failure?