ANIMAL KINGDOM. Radiata. * SPINY-SKINNED animals, including star-fish, seaurchins, and sea-slugs, compose the first class of the rayed or branched animals. The bodies of star-fish branch out into rays, of which there are generally five, and the skin is pierced with an immense number of holes, arranged with great regularity, through which moveable spines 1 protrude. 1 If a part or the whole of one of the rays be broken off, it is re-produced in a very short time; and if an entire arm be separated with a part of the body attached, other arms are produced, and a fresh and perfect animal is formed. Sea-slugs, or sea-cucumbers, have a long leathery body open at each end: the mouth is surrounded with flowerlike tentacula, or feelers, which can be entirely drawn within. Other animals belonging to this class resemble the sea-slugs, but have no spines, and are footless. "INTESTINAL WORMS, which compose the second class, are remarkable, because the greater number of them inhabit the interior of other animals. There is scarcely an animal that is not inhabited by several kinds, and those which are found in one species are rarely found in another. They reside not only in the intestines and liver, but even in the brain. It is not positively known how they get into the body. The young of some are born alive, and others are produced from eggs. SEA-NETTLES, so called from the sensation some of them produce when touched, compose the third class of the last division. They float about in the sea, and appear to consist of nothing but a kind of jelly, having the power to 'contract and 'dilate the body. Some have a head resembling that of a mushroom; others have a mouth placed at the end of a kind of footstalk, surrounded with numerous feelers; and others, again, are furnished with one or more bladders generally filled with air, by means of which they suspend themselves in the water. POLYPI, which compose the fourth class, are divided into three orders, viz. fleshy polypi, jelly-like polypi, and coral-producing polypi. The first have a fleshy body, often beautifully coloured, with the mouth surrounded with feelers arranged like the 'petals of a double flower; hence they are often called sea-anemones. Light appears to affect them much, and they open and close according as the day is fine or otherwise. Turning them inside out does not injure them, the new inside making as good a stomach as the old one. If cut into pieces, each piece grows again and becomes a perfect polypus. The second order are even more simple in their structure than the first. The hard substance full of small holes known as coral, is, or rather has been a kind of common body, by which innumerable polypi of the third order are connected. The little animals are continually depositing a slimy substance, by which the size of the coral is increased. In the southern oceans, whole islands covered with vegetation, and inhabited by man, consist of this substance. Sponge is produced by these animals in the same manner. 2 INFUSION ANIMALS, found in all water containing decayed animal or vegetable matter, compose the last class. With the exception of the eels in vinegar and sour paste, and a few others, they cannot be seen by the unassisted eye; and many kinds are so small, that thousands could rest on the point of a pin. Some are so simple in structure, as to all appearance to be nothing more than an inconceivably small speck of animated jelly. 1. Vide Roct. 2. Vide page 17, notes, Fourth Sub-Kingdom. THE UNITED STATES. Revolution and Subsequent History. THE first settlement made by white people in that portion of America which is now called the United States, was at Virginia, in 1607; the next in New York, by the Dutch, in 1613; the next by the Puritans, or, as they are often called, the Pilgrims, at Plymouth, in Massachusetts, in 1620. Other parts of the country were soon after settled, chiefly by people from England; but 'colonies were established also by Swedes, Germans, and French. The whole country along the Atlantic border in this way became inhabited. By degrees, the settlers went farther and farther into the wilderness, until towns and cities rose up throughout the whole interior of the land. The population increased to upwards of three millions, and America became one of the most important colonies of the British crown. The attempt of the British government to tax the colonies without their consent, sowed the first seeds of that disaffection which subsequently ripened into open revolt. In 1765 a stamp act was imposed upon the colonies; but such unequivocal marks of disapprobation were expressed throughout the country, that it was withdrawn the next year. The following year a tax was laid upon tea, and a number of ships laden with that article were despatched to America. The colonists were, however, bent upon 1. Vide Root. 3. The 2. Each president governs during four years. boundaries of the States differ from those in Europe generally, in being often by straight lines; thus Columbia is an exact square. New York and Pennsylvania are separated by the line of latitude forty-two deg. north. Lines thirty-one deg., thirtythree deg., thirty-five deg., thirty-six deg. thirty min., forty deg. thirty min. of north latitude, are also used as boundary lines, and the lines of longitude occasionally serve the same purpose. ' resisting the principle of taxation, and the tea was thrown into the sea. This led to the revolution. The revolutionary war, which began by the battle of Lexington, in 1775, terminated in the independence of the colonies, after having continued eight years. General Washington was the great leader of the Americans, and became the first president of the United States in 1789. He died in 1799, aged sixty-eight. The United States now forms a federal republic, consisting of twenty-six states. The legislative power is vested in Congress, which consists of a 'senate and house of representatives. The executive power is vested in the president, who, together with a 1vice-president, is chosen by ballot. The judicial power is vested in one supreme court, thirty-one district courts, and seven circuit courts. Slavery exists in twelve states. The general characteristic of the climate is its sudden 1 transition from extreme heat to extreme cold. The country may be regarded as 'comprised within three distinct1zones. 1. That of the cold climate, containing the New England States, the northern part of New York, Michigan, and the western territories. 2. The middle climate, comprising the middle states, with Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. 3. The hot climate, comprising the southern states and Arkansas. GEOGRAPHICAL.-Area 2,200,000 square miles. Population fifteen millions. What rivers run from the Alleghany and Rocky mountains? What are the latitude and longitude of New York, New Orleans, and the mouth of the Columbia river? CHRONOLOGICAL.-Thirteen States declared themselves independent of Great Britain, 1776. Their independence acknowledged by Great Britain 1783. The present law called the Constitution of the United States, made 1789. ...... 1815. VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. Physiology of Plants generally. A PLANT is a body which lives and grows, but which has neither sensation nor voluntary action. Perfect plants are divided naturally into trees, shrubs, and herbs. Trees are woody plants rising in one main stem before they spread into branches: such are the oak, beech, fir, and chestnut. Shrubs are also woody plants, but they branch off near the ground, and bow down their weak branches towards the earth: such are the rose and gooseberry bushes, honeysuckles, and raspberry plants. Herbs have soft stalks and no wood in them, as lettuce, parsley, and most flowers. The study of the vegetable kingdom presents not merely an elegant amusement, or a beautiful display of the economy established by an all-wise and bountiful Creator in this department of natural history, but it is also of very great importance to mankind, from the varied uses of plants in food, raiment, medicine, and the arts. It teaches also to distinguish between the wholesome and the poisonous. Plants of every kind are produced from seed; and although during their various stages of growth, we derive from them many useful products and witness many beautiful changes, all their changes terminate in the production of seed. Some live but a few days, as the fungi; others for a year or two: and some for several centuries, as the oak and the cedar. Plants are regularly organized bodies, deriving nutrition from the earth by means of roots, and requiring constant nourishment. They are influenced by every change of the weather, and there are many instances of their seeming to provide against the coming changes of the atmosphere. On 1. Vide Root. |