"But we can pick up the stone without spilling any of it.""Yes," said Willie, "and we might shake the stone ever so long, but we could not shake drops from it, as we did from the water in the brush.""I say, Will," said Fred, "wasn"t it funny whenteacher shook the saw-dust into the basin, and asked one of the boys to pick out the piece of wood?""Yes," said Will, "but there was no piece of wood in the basin, for the little bits of saw-dust do not run together, as the drops of water do.""I think," said Norah, "I can tell you something else. Water and all other liquids have no proper shape. But if we look at this stone, this brick, or this piece of wood, we can see that each of them has a shape of its own.""We know that, when we put some water into the basin, it spreads out to fill it," said Fred.
"Yes," said Norah, "it takes the shape of the basin, and it keeps a level surface.""Now watch, while I put this brick into the basin. Does it spread out to fill the basin, Norah?""No," said Norah.
"Does it take the shape of the basin?" "No.""Teacher gave us the proper name for things like the brick and the piece of wood," said Willie. "We call them solids.
