hames of fire coming out of dark mounds of earth, and in the distance what they thought were burning towers. At length, the boy guessed that what they took for burning towers were furnaces in which iron was melting; and that in the low mounds or ridges from which flames were issuing, coal was being turned into coke for the use of forges. QUESTIONS. Why is iron ore burned in furnaces? Iron is scarcely ever found in a pure state, but generally as iron ore; that is, mixed with other substances. The ore is first roasted, as it is called, in large heaps mixed with small coal; it is then melted in furnaces. What are furnaces? Furnaces are large erections many feet in height, and built of brick or stone. They are sometimes so large as to contain a great many tons of iron ore, coal or coke fuel, and limestone. They are kept burning night and day in sunshine and rain, and are only put out when it is necessary to repair them. Why is coke used instead of coal for the furnaces? Because it gives out a more steady and intense heat, after the gas and smoke have been driven off. Circumstances, Adapted, Exuberance, Epoch, Identical, Lat., circum, around, sto, Things which accompany, stans, to stand. Lat., ad, to, aptus, fit. Gr., epocho, to fix; a fixed Lat., idem, the same. CONDITIONS OF LIFE.-Life, or stand round, a person Fitted, or suitable for. Fertility; rich to overflowing. A marked period, or date. The system on which any whether animal or vegetable, exists wherever there is a place for it in the world. It has been found at the greatest mountain heights that have been reached, and the deepest ocean-depths that have been fathomed. But everywhere the forms it takes are dependent on the circumstances in which it is placed. Every plant requires light, heat, and moisture suited to its nature; and every animal needs a climate and food adapted to its constitution. These, therefore, are the great regulators of life. As a general rule, plants live on the inorganic matter of the globe, and thus become the medium through which sustenance is prepared for animals, which require what is organized. Life is found in the greatest exuberance at the equator, and at the sea-level it becomes rarer and poorer as we climb the heights or travel towards the poles. RANGE, &C.-Most plants and animals thrive only, or best, within certain limits; but whatever regions any one is capable of living in is called its range. Some tribes have naturally a wider range than others; and some are more capable than others of being carried to new countries, and accommodating themselves to altered circumstances. Man, having a very wide range himself, is continually destroying some species, and introducing others to suit his own purposes, so that it is not easy to know which was the original locality of some of the most useful kinds. In treating of the distribution of plants and animals, it is usual to employ the term Flora to signify the plant-life of any region; and Fauna, its animal life. Thus, the Flora of Australia, the Fauna of New Guinea. Whole species, as well as individuals, appear and disappear from the face of the earth from period to period, according to its changing circumstances. Therefore groups of plants and animals have been distributed, not only in vertical and horizontal space, but in epochs of time, according to certain laws. So we read of the fauna or flora of the Tertiary Period. Physical geography, however, has to do only with the present life of the globe, and the forms it now assumes in various regions. REPRESENTATIVE SPECIES.-Except where man has interposed his power, it is a general rule that both plants and animals of the eastern hemisphere are strikingly unlike the western, and the north unlike the south. Yet distant regions, which have nearly the same conditions of climate and soil, often display what are termed representative species; that is, plants and animals representing those of superior character in other regions, and seeming to fill a similar place in the economy of nature, but not identical with them. Thus the puma of America is an humble representative of the lion of the eastern continent; the gavial of the Ganges and the alligator of the Amazon correspond, in like manner, to the crocodile of the Nile. The strange succulent plants called cactus in South America, are represented in South Africa by a tribe named by botanists Euphorviæ, or bastard spurge. SUMMARY.-The surface of the globe abounds with life, either in animals or vegetables. These require light, heat, moisture, or suitable climates and food. Plants generally live on inorganic matter, and animals feed on plants. The region which a plant or animal is capable of living in is called its range. The original and natural range of many useful plants has been widened or altered by human agency. The whole plant-life of a region is called its Flora, and its total animal life its Fauna. The Fauna and Flora of distant regions often possess species of animals which are similar in many respects. These form representative species. Thus the puma of America represents the lion of the eastern continent, and the alligator of the rivers of South America corresponds to the crocodile of the Nile. The plants and animals of the old world are, as a rule, strikingly unlike those of the new. Moreover, the life of the northern hemisphere differs widely from that of the southern. QUESTIONS. What is necessary to the life of plants; and what to that of animals? How are plants sustained? What forms mainly the food of animals? What does the range of a plant or animal mean? How is it that plants and animals are often found out of their native range? Give some examples which you know of such. Define the terms Fauna and Flora. What are representative species? Give three examples of representative animals. THE BLACK COUNTRY (2). Smouldering, Furnace, Foundery, Plural, Mould, DERIVATION. Low Ger., smolen, to Fr., fonderie, foundery, Lat., fundo fundere, to Lat., in, not, voluntarius, Inflammable, Lat., in, into, and flamma, Liquid, flame. Lat., liquidus, liquid. MEANING. Burning slowly, without flame An oven, or enclosed fire- To found, to melt or cast A hollow form in which any- An ingenious or skilful con- When Harry and Lucy visited the fiery moor by day-light, they saw only a black dreary waste, with half-burning, half-smouldering heaps of dross, coal, and cinders. Clouds of smoke of all colours, white, yellow, and black, from the chimneys of founderies and forges, darkening the air; the prospect they could not see, for there was none. It was a dead flat, the atmosphere laden with the smell of coal and smoke; the grass, the hedges, the trees, all blackened-the hands and faces of every man, woman, and child they met begrimed with soot! The very sheep blackened! not a lamb seen with a lock of white wool or a clean face. Lucy said that it was the most frightful country she had ever beheld, Harry acknowledged that there was nothing beautiful here to be seen; but it was wonderful. He could not help feeling a great respect for the place where steam-engines seemed to abound, and, in truth, to have the world to themselves. These laboured continually, in vast and various works, blowing the huge bellows of the furnaces of smelting-houses, forges, and founderies, raising tuns of water each minute to drain the depths of the coal mines. The strokes of the beams of the steam-engines were heard at regular intervals, and the sound of the blast of the furnaces at a distance. As they approached the founderies the noises grew louder and louder, till, as they entered the buildings, the roaring of the draft was tremendous. Lucy, involuntarily holding her breath, looked up to her father; she saw his lips move, but she could not hear what he said. She held fast by his hand, and stood still. She saw an immense furnace, full, as she thought, of liquid fire, but |