Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Stephanie Kovalchik and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's note: 1. Small cap has been tagged with = sign. 2. When there were inconsistencies in hyphenation, the less frquent variant was replaced with the most frequent, e.g. "ship-board" was changed to "shipboard". [Illustration] =In Search of a Son.= =BY= =UNCLE LAWRENCE,= =AUTHOR OF "YOUNG FOLKS' WHYS AND WHEREFORES," ETC.= [Illustration] =PHILADELPHIA:= =J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.= 1890. Copyright, 1889, by J. B. Lippincott Company. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page CHAPTER I. The Despatch 9 CHAPTER II. Two Friends 18 CHAPTER III. Monsieur Roger 26 CHAPTER IV. Monsieur Roger's Story 32 CHAPTER V. Fire at Sea 39 CHAPTER VI. Miss Miette's Fortune 46 CHAPTER VII. Vacation 53 CHAPTER VIII. A Drawing Lesson 59 CHAPTER IX. The Tower of Heurtebize 66 CHAPTER X. Physical Science 75 CHAPTER XI. The Smoke Which Falls 84 CHAPTER XII. At the Centre of the Earth 92 CHAPTER XIII. Why Lead Is Heavier Than Cork 99 CHAPTER XIV. The Air-Pump 104 CHAPTER XV. Drops of Rain and Hammer of Water 114 CHAPTER XVI. Amusing Physics 119 CHAPTER XVII. Why the Moon does not Fall 127 CHAPTER XVIII. A Mysterious Resemblance 138 CHAPTER XIX. The Fixed Idea 146 CHAPTER XX. Fire 152 CHAPTER XXI. Saved 161 CHAPTER XXII. George! George! 167 CHAPTER XXIII. A Proof? 178 CHAPTER XXIV. The Air and the Lungs 184 CHAPTER XXV. Oxygen 190 CHAPTER XXVI. Why Water Puts out Fire 200 CHAPTER XXVII. Paul or George? 214 CHAPTER XXVIII. My Father 222 [Illustration] IN SEARCH OF A SON. CHAPTER I. THE DESPATCH.