Philip’s Experiments, or, Physical Science at Home (1898), episode 2

On the latest episode of the podcast with readings so interesting they put you to sleep, our second installment from “Philip’s Principles, or, Physical Science at Home,” by John Trowbridge, published 1898. The father, teaching his son at home, reflects on whether it would be better to send Philip to a school where he might pick up boldness and spirit from being with other boys, though he would also encounter dull teaching and bad influences. Mother, through her example and pure thoughts, endows Philip with a choir of angels that will sing to him when temptation comes, as it will to young men. The local schoolteacher stops by, lamenting how parents “dump” their responsibility on him. If you stay awake long enough, you’ll hear about some experiments with buoyancy involving tumblers hung from the ends of a stick with string. Really? 

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