being asked the cause, he replied, "I must ride, because I am in a hurry."

21. A student in want of money sold his books, and wrote home, "Father,
rejoice; for I now derive my support from literature."

We thank the wits of the _Athenaeum_ for these piquancies: they are in the
right true Attic vein, and are therefore characteristic of that clever
Journal.

* * * * *


KNOWLEDGE FOR THE PEOPLE.

(_From_ Part xiii.--_Botany._)


_Why have vegetables the function of transpiration?_

Because the sap, on arriving in the leaves, loses and gives out the
superabundant quantity of water which it contained.

_Why are limpid drops often observed hanging at the points of leaves at
sunrise?_

Because of the vegetable transpiration condensed by the coldness of the
night. It was long thought that they were produced by dew; but Mushenbroëk
first proved the above, by conclusive experiments. He intercepted all
communication between a poppy and the ambient air, by covering it with a
bell; and between it and the earth, by covering the vessel in which it