he
battle, she returned home from the cemetery, where she had been to
place a wreath of _immortelles_ on the grave of her betrothed, after
the fashion of her country, and ere morning dawned, her soul had fled
to rejoin her hero in heaven. Peace to the souls of the brave, and of
all who loved and were loved of the brave who fell at the Battle of
the Baltic!
FOOTNOTES:
[1] One of the grand basso-relievos recently placed on the base of
Nelson's Monument, in Trafalgar Square, London, represents Nelson in
the act of delivering the letter to the young captain who acted as his
aid-de-camp on the occasion. The subjects of the three other relievos
are _St Vincent_, _The Nile_, and _Trafalgar_.
WHY DOES THE CLOCK KEEP TIME?
A pendulous body vibrates when it is suspended so that the centre of
its mass is not placed directly under the point of suspension, because
then the alternating influences of weight and velocity are constantly
impressing it with motion. Weight carries it down as far as it can go
towards the earth's attraction; acquired velocity then carries it
onwards; but as the onward movement is constrained to be upward
against the direction of the earth's attraction, that force
antagonises, and at last arrests it, for velocity flags when it has to
drag its load up-hill, and soon gives over the effort. The body swings
down-hill with increasing rapidity, because weight and velocity are
then both driving it; it swings up-hill with diminishing rapidity,
because then weight is pulling it back in opposition to the force of
velocity. Weight pulls first this way, then that way; velocity carries
first this way, then that way: but the two powers do not act evenly
and steadily together; they now combine with, and now oppose each
other; now increase their influence together, and now augment and
diminish it inversely and alternately; and so the suspended body is
tossed backwards and forwards between them, and made to perform its
endless dance.
It is related of Galileo, that he once stood watching a swinging lamp,
hung from the roof of the cathedral at Pisa, until he convinced
himself that it performed its vibratory movement in the same time,
whether the vibration was one of wide or of narrow span. This
traditionary tale is most probably correct in its main features, for
the Newtons and Galileos of all ages do perceive great truths in
occurrences that are as commonplace as the fall of an apple, or the
disturbance
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