name of which is sulphate of copper, being a that these two gases are the only materials To make the phenomenon of the decomposition of water very evident, several of these batteries should be connected together. The wires connecting the two ends of the batteries should also be waxed over their whole extent, except about an inch at the points, so that when they are plunged in the water which is to be decomposed, a tumbler, or other glass receiver, may catch all the bubbles that rise. If this arrangement is made, and the wires plunged into pure water, a stream of gas will rise in bubbles from each wire where it is uncovered by the wax. These bubbles are produced by the wires from any good battery, but unless the stream of galvanic electricity is powerful, the gases are not produced in sufficient quantity for examination. The gases from each wire having been collected, let us proceed to test them separately. A taper plunged into the first burns with increased brightness; but in the second, is immediately extinguished, though the gas itself at the moment takes fire itself. The first, we may be pretty sure, is oxygen, as the great supporter of combustion; and the latter, being an inflammable gas, is our new acquaintance-hydrogen. Perhaps you still are in doubt, however, (Fig 3.) There are other methods for decomposing water which are more easily practised than that which I have described to you, and which I will now show you how to perform. Let an ordinary half-pint bottle be rather more than half filled with water, and drop some pieces of zinc or iron turnings into it; then pour in about an ounce of sulphuric acid, or vitriol. A bubbling and hissing will immediately commence, and a quantity of hydrogen will escape. If a cork with a small tube passing through it be fitted to the neck, the stream of gas may be lighted, and will be found to burn with a very pale blue flame; and if the tube represented in Fig. 1 be held over it, water will be found to result. Here let us stop to inquire how these metallic fragments, and the vitriol, have the power to separate the component parts of the water and to set the hydrogen free. It appears that sulphuric acid, or vitriol, has a great affinity, or attraction, for zinc and iron, and longs to unite with either of them; but the acid cannot unite with them in their pure metallic state, they must be first combined with oxygen, and become oxides of iron (rust), or oxides of zinc. In the case before us, then, the iron or zinc desiring to unite with the sulphuric acid robs the water of its oxygen, leaving the other part, hydro-fire-damp of coal-mines owes its desgen, to escape, while sulphate of iron, or tructive powers; and to the same cause is sulphate of zinc, is formed in the bottle. due the accidents which occur when the Another method of decomposing water is ordinary coal gas escapes into cellars, and by passing the steam from a kettle through becomes mixed with the air, in which it a gun barrel full of iron-filings made red- finds oxygen. Hydrogen alone has no hot in a chafer, or portable furnace. In explosive propensities, unless it finds some this experiment the oxygen of the steam oxygen with which to come in contact and (vapour of water) is attracted and absorbed unite; and in like manner the carburetted by the heated iron, and pure hydrogen hydrogen, which is used to illuminate our passes out at the other end of the gun streets, would have never produced the barrel, where it may be collected and accidents recorded, in its pure state. An burned. In the burning, the hydrogen electric spark passed through pure hydroagain combines with the oxygen of the air, gen does not ignite it. and water is again produced. On the other hand, wherever we see a This experiment will be made more in-flame, we may be sure that hydrogen is teresting if all the materials are weighed therein, combining with oxygen, and that exactly before the boiling is commenced, water is being produced just as it is by which will enable the operator to discover the candle or gas-light. In each of these if any loss or destruction of matter has instances there is a double union going on. taken place. When such an examination The oil of the lamp, and the tallow of the is made, it is found that some of the water candle, and the gas from coal, contain has vanished, and that in consequence, the hydrogen and carbon. While the hydrogen vessel containing it weighs less than it makes the flame, by uniting with the oxygen did before. Whither has it flown? On of the atmosphere to form water, the carbon, weighing the gun-barrel, an increase of as I before explained, unites with the same weight is detected, proving that something gas to form carbonic acid. The particles has been added to its contents; and upon of carbon become white with heat in the emptying out the iron turnings, which otherwise colourless flame of hydrogen, and were put in so bright and clean, we find thus endow it with illuminating power. that a brown coating has destroyed their metallic lustre, and increased their heaviness. If this extra weight be added to the weight of the hydrogen which has passed off, it will be found to make up a sum equal to the weight of water missed from the kettle or boiler. By chemical analysis the brown coating upon the iron shavings could be proved to be composed of the metal united with oxygen in the form of oxide, which is the name used to describe the results of all such unions of the gas with metals. If, moreover, the oxygen could be liberated from the iron, and made to unite with the hydrogen which has passed over, the exact quantity of water which has been missed from the kettle would be reproduced. This union of oxygen and hydrogen may be effected by pressure, but the gases, in uniting, produce a violent explosion, and therefore the experiment should never be performed except with instruments constructed to allow of this sudden expansion of the contents. To this explosive property of a mixture of these gases, the We have thus demonstrated that water is composed entirely of two gases-hydrogen and oxygen; and that this very fluid which is used to extinguish flame is produced by that which it is so frequently used to destroy. Hydrogen is quite colourless, transparent as the air, but fourteen times as light; it is therefore peculiarly adapted for floating heavy weights in the atmosphere when confined in a bag called a balloon. It does not support combustion, though it is itself highly combustible-a burning spark immersed in it is immediately extinguished. Next to oxygen, hydrogen may be regarded as the most important constituent of the earth. It takes its name from two Greek words, the former signifying "water," and the latter "to produce." It is evolved from the earth by volcanoes, and forms various combinations, among which may be mentioned ammonia, the essential principle of the common smelling salts. It is said to be breathed out by certain plants, of the fungus or mushroom class. But most im portant of all the phenomena connected with it, is its strong affinity for oxygen, and the formation of water, of which hydrogen-light as it is-constitutes more than a tenth part by weight. As it does not support combustion, you will be prepared to hear that it cannot support respiration, which is the same phenomenon in a different mode. Nevertheless, though hydrogen does not support life, it can, unlike carbonic acid, be breathed for a few seconds. If we speak while the chest is thus filled with the gas, a remarkable alteration is perceived in the tone of the voice, which becomes softer, shriller, and often squeaking. When wind instruments are played with it their tones are affected in a similar manner. The ancients believed that all things were composed of fire, air, earth, and water; and these they named "the four elements," an expression still used by poets, who describe storms as wife with a countenance yellow as gold, eyes of almond shape, mouth like a Tartar bow, and nose that wooed the heavens with its upturned point. Moreover, her feet were small as those of a three years' child, and she walked with the tottering step that is the model of celestial grace. Fortune smiled on Whampo Whang! What more could he desire? A villa, opium, strong tea, pork, and a wife-all the elements of a Chinaman's delight-he possessed; but the Father of Evil, in the form of a friend, tempted him once more to speculation. Still I would not believe it! Another It was true, nevertheless. mail brought me a letter from my friend at Canton, who told me the whole truth of the story. Attend to it, reader, for, this time, my tale has a moral. It may not be a new one-but it is a moral still:When you have enough, don't covet more. That is-Let well alone. Whampo Whang had a friend called "Frightful struggles of the elements." Phi-Phing. He was a little sharp man, The first-named of these, viz. fire, is an whose eyes blinked at the rate of three to a second. Having read many books, and action, not a substance, while the others are written some moral poems, he passed for a composed of two or more component "elements." Nevertheless, while we per- by means which I shall not investigate, genius, especially as he made much money ceive the errors of the past, and rejoice in since it might be impertinent. But, being the increased knowledge which we have the luxurious, he spent his dollars faster than opportunity of possessing, let us not be he earned them; and one morning sat in a too confident in our wisdom, since, perad-cake-shop-owing a large bill to the cook venture, we may find that our ignorance is quite as ridiculous, and more inexcusable than that of our ancestors. WHAMPO WHANG IN CALIFORNIA.* A SKETCH OF LIFE IN THE GOLD REGIONS. but without a home to go to. Then he be-with an overwhelming debt on his head, thought himself of Whampo Whang, whom, in prosperity, he had despised, because he would not speculate. There was little in common between the two worthies, except that each possessed on his head the bump-national in China-of cheating. a So Phi-Phing set off in search of I WOULD not believe it! He had narrow- Whampo Whang, and was courteously rely escaped death among the Borneo pirates; ceived by him. Seated, pipe in hand, over he had passed through many perils-tossed tray of dried fruits, they discussed various by storms, driven by winds, and captured topics, and the poetical speculator at length by buccaneers; he had fought great sea- approached the subject next his heart. He battles, been imprisoned in the river-haunt knew very well that his friend possessed of a freebooter, and by lucky chance re- much cash, and the question most interestgaining home, had settled down peace-ing to him just now was-by what means, fully in Ting-Tang Villa. There he had fair or foul, he could transfer some of surrounded himself with all the luxuries Whampo Whang's dollars into the coffers He smoked opium, he drank of Phi-Phing. He proposed various strong tea, he eat fat pork, and possessed a schemes, in which he insinuated his own talents should be set against the capital of his partner-an equal bargain, but not so of life. * See vol. ii. p. 9. very preposterous, since it is a common practice in civilized lands. I have heard inany such propositions; and here the reader may thank me for a little advice. When you meet a plausible gentleman who proposes a scheme entirely for your benefit, make him a civil bow and turn your back. Elegantly expressed, he is a humbug! To buy an estate, and cultivate tea on the slope of some sunny mountain, was one of Phi-Phing's proposals; but Whampo Whang heard it coldly, never pricking up his ears once until a name was mentioned which caused his pig-tail visibly to wag, the blush to redden in his cheeks, and his eyes to blink with alarming rapidity. Grasping his friend by the hand, he consigned himself to the company of owls for never thinking of the thing before. Forthwith the two adventurers arranged a plan of operations. The sun had scarcely set thirty times from that day, before Ting-Tang villa was in the hands of a retired tea-planter, Mrs. Whampo Whang in a small dwelling on the outskirts of the town, and the merchant with his friend lolling in the cabin of an enormous junk, just spreading her lateen sail for the golden coast of California. From a time beyond man's memory, emigration was interdicted to the inhabitants of the Celestial empire, and, with the exception of those occasional swarms that floated over the seas, and settled down among the Indian islands, the children of China lived, died, and were buried in the land where their cradles were rocked. But when the golden rivers of the Sacramento were discovered, even ancient customs bent and broke under the rule of Mammon; for, whatever may be said of sacred hearths and homes, and indissoluble ties and bonds to bind for ever, I believe in few of them -especially in China. Set up a golden rock amid the waters of the remotest sea, and, like the loadstone, it will attract men from all the quarters of the world; from domestic hearths, from happy homes, from forefathers' graves, from children's cradles, from wives' bosoms-from kindred, friends, and native land; and when the new idol rises in the heart, the old one will die out of memory, as the affection of to-day is blotted out by the love of to-morrow. This is the philosopher's creed; but I had rather be a deluded dupe, than a cynical wise man; therefore, I doubt the truth of these maxims, and still believe in some constancy, good faith, and affection. But why digress? Whampo Whang and Phi-Phing were bound for California in the junk "Defier of Storms," and ten thousand miles of ocean lay before them. Of all that voyage I have not heard one circumstance, and if I had, I could not pause to tell it. Let us then set ourselves down at San Francisco-where the two friends paid three hundred dollars for a week's lodging at the hotel-and stored their cargo of tea, spirits, and dried provisions. The "Defier of Storms" then departed, and despite her valiant name, was engulphed by waves, five hundred miles at sea. The adventurers at once resolved to proceed to the diggings with the portable house brought from Hong Kong, and establishing themselves on the banks of some golden-sanded river, commence operations. It was some time before two servants could be hired, for over every door was written, "Gone to the Diggins." The town was as a city of the plague; deserted silent ships swung in a desolate harbour, grass grew in the streets, and tall, gaunt houses stood tenantless on the beach. But a continual stream of traffic poured from certain groups, along certain highways; and within a few mornings of their arrival, Whampo Whang and his companion found themselves in a capacious waggon, with a tent, the portable house, and their stores, on the way to the valley where gold was plentiful as dust. Scenes the most novel met their sight, as wending their way over a landscape of ever-varying fertility, rich with the hues of beauty, perfumed with the breath of flowers, and teeming with the activity of life, they approached the great valley, where, under the expanding roof of heaven, a hundred thousand votaries bent before the shrine of the great god-Gold. In one spot might be seen, on a level sward shaded by trees, a party of amateur diggers engaged in preparations for a meal. Before the door of the tent, groups were busy round the blazing fire, over which, in iron pans and pots, huge masses of pork were hissing in oceans of their own fat, with tin pails-used in common as kettles and gold-washing machines-full of boiling water, and open coffee-pots, foaming with rich brown froth. Crowds of men gathered round these comfortable scenes of preparation. Among them convicts, released, or escaped, from New South Wales, were remarkable for their hideous countenances, and disorderly demeanour. With flaming red caps bound about with white cloaths, greasy shirts of the same colour, huge loose belts of leather, and most formidable sheath-knives, they danced around the fires, shouting, yelling, singing demoniacal songs, and playing all the antics characteristic of humanity under its most degraded forms-drunken and criminal. All over the valley had arisen multitudes of bushy bowers, calico-frame houses, tents, wooden sheds, indescribable erections of poles and canvas, and every kind of temporary dwelling that the ingenuity of the diggers could devise. Many hundreds lived in old waggons: some modern disciples of Diogenes slept in tubs and barrels! others had scooped for themselves holes in the earth, or formed hovels of turf and clay; whilst thousands of shelterless wretches were fain to be content with the warmth of a blanket under the open sky. All day long the toilers swarmed in every quarter of the valley. The bright winding river was peopled along its banks with men of all classes, descriptions, and characters. There were merchants, gentlemen, lawyers, thieves, parsons, doctors, poets, players, beggars, bankrupts, editors, writers, printers, tradesmen, pedagogues, painters, lords, and vagabonds-swarming in tumultuous crowds, some in groups, Some scattered, some solitary, but all with faces bent to the earth. Some washed the sand in pails, cullenders, rocking-machines, and sieves; some delved, some hunted among the hollows and ravines. When night came, and the dusky shadows crept over the valley, a thousand twinkling lights shone in all directions; a thousand bivouac fires were lit, the toilers threw by their tools, songs and gaiety prevailed, the flames glared brightly, the evening meals were eaten, and then, each seeking his own shed, all lay down to rest, and gradually the spirit of sleep fell upon all that mighty multitude, and silence creeping over the scenes, darkness closed around-as the slumberers, wafted into the world of dreams, forgot the toil of day in the balmy rest of night. Morning dawned. Ten thousand mingled Coffee, sounds proclaimed awaking life. pork, and pilot bread, were devoured; tents were struck, waggons and boats were in motion; and seizing axes, spades, shovels, crow-bars, with every implement at hand, the gold-seekers, snatching a hurried meal, rushed furiously to work, to dig, scrape, wash, sift, and search for gold;-gold! the great hardener of nature, the soother of sorrows, the idol of all hearts, and the object of all hopes! Whampo Whang and Phi-Phing gazed on these scenes, and the merchant looked curiously into his friend's face. There he read encouragement-and in a short time found himself behind a broad counter in front of the little portable house which they had brought from Hong Kong. Many of their countrymen were busy in the valley erecting dwellings for the gold hunters, and receiving for their labour payment at the most imperial rate. They resolved also to sell, at imperial prices, the provisions they had stored up within the house, with knives, pistols, powder, percussion-caps, guns, tobacco, leathern pantaloons, shirts, and tin utensils for goldwashing, which they had purchased from a Yankee dealer at San Francisco. The man was not sober when he sold the things, but so much the better for our Chinamen, who, with the praiseworthy view of punishing his intemperance, cheated him out of half their ordinary value, and drank to intoxication to celebrate the achievement. If ever a shop throve, it was that concern of Whampo Whang, and his friend Phi-Phing! They sold their goods at prices which no extortionate Jew in famine time ever dreamed of demanding; and numerous little bags of gold dust, with heaps of shining dollars, testified to their ingenuity. When a customer came, he would untie a leathern pouch, and demand perhaps a bottle of brandy. The scales was forthwith produced, an ounce of the fine grains weighed, and the change effected to mutual satisfaction. With other things it was the same; but spirits, provisions, and bowie-knives, sold most freely. The food was to feed upon, the liquor was to revel in, and the weapon was to enact the usual last scene in a Californian bacchanalian feast, when several wretches generally fell upon each other, to satisfy with blood the passions excited by ardent drink. Several |