_Why Cream collects on the surface of Milk._

There are numerous familiar effects which are manifestations of the
principle now explained. When a vessel of milk is allowed to remain a
certain time at rest, it is observed that a stratum of fluid will collect
at the surface, differing in many qualities from that upon which it rests.
This is called _cream_; and the property by which it ascends to the
surface is its relative levity; it is composed of the lightest particles
of the milk, which are in the first instance mixed generally in the fluid;
but which, when the liquid is allowed to rest, gradually arise through it,
and settle at the surface.

_Directions engraved upon the Common Weather Glasses absurd._

The barometer has been called a _weather glass_. Rules are attempted to be
established, by which, from the height of the mercury, the coming state of
the weather may be predicted, and we accordingly find the words "Rain,"
"Fair," "Changeable," "Frost," &c., engraved on the scale attached to
common domestic barometers, as if, when the mercury stands at the height
marked by these words, the weather is always subject to the vicissitudes
expressed by them. These marks are, however, entitled to no attention; and
it is only surprising to find their use continued in the present times,
when knowledge is so widely diffused. They are, in fact, to be ranked
scarcely above the _vox stellarum_, or astrological almanac.

Two barometers, one near the level of the River Thames, and the other on
the heights of Hampstead, will differ by half an inch; the latter being
always half an inch lower than the former. If the words, therefore,
engraved upon the plates are to be relied on, similar changes of weather