The person who related this anecdote to me said that he and his friend had often tried the experiment. Nothing would convince the more ignorant neighbors that the sounds were occasioned by merely natural causes. A love of the supernatural is strong within us, and sometimes leads us into grave mistakes.
THEORY OF THE VOICE.
Provide a species of whistle common as a child’s toy, or a sportsman’s call, in the form of a hollow cylinder, about three-fourths of an inch in diameter, closed at both ends, by flat circular plates with holes in their centres. Hold this toy between the teeth and the lips; blow through it, and you can produce sounds, varying in pitch with the force with which you blow. If the air be cautiously graduated, all the sounds within the compass of a double octave may be produced from it; and, if great precaution be taken in the management of the breath, even deeper tones may be brought out. This simple instrument, or toy, has indeed the greatest resemblance to the larynx, which is the organ of the voice.
THE VISIBLY GROWING ACORN.
Cut a circular piece of card to fit the top of a hyacinth glass, so as to rest upon the ledge, and exclude the air. Pierce a hole through the centre of the card, and pass through it a strong thread, having a small piece of wood tied to one end, which, resting transversely on the card, is prevented from being drawn through. To the other end of the thread attach an acorn; and having half filled the glass with water, suspend the acorn at a short distance from the surface. The glass must be kept in a warm room; and in a few days the steam which has generated in the glass will hang from the acorn in a large drop. Shortly afterwards the acorn will burst, the root will protrude and thrust itself into the water; and in a few days more a stem will shoot out at the other end, and rising upwards, will press against the card, in which an orifice must be made to allow it to pass through. From this stem small leaves will soon begin to sprout; and in the course of a few weeks you will have a handsome oak plant, several inches in height.
