526 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



In conclusion, we claim that the average American college 

 girl, in comparison with her English cousin, expends by her 

 methods of study a maximum of effort with a minimum of result; 

 that, by way of reform, she should limit the hours of daily mental 

 labor, as the workmen's hours of daily manual labor are limited, 

 in order that during some periods of each day she may know 

 perfect relaxation and freedom from pressing duties; that ath- 

 letic games, instead of being for her a foe to scholarship, as 

 the faculties of men's colleges seem inclined to regard them, 

 may, by the exercise of good judgment in their use, be made 

 an effective agent to build up the physique, and thus to keep the 

 brain in condition for vigorous effort. 



THE SCIENTIFIC WORK OF W. D. GUNNING. 



By W. II. LAREABEE. 



TTTHILE the applause and lasting fame which those win who 

 make great scientific discoveries, or embody their observa- 

 tions in monumental books, are worthily bestowed, those also serve 

 mankind and deserve to be well remembered who labor to make 

 knowledge accessible to the whole people, and to lift the average 

 of intelligence by writing books in plain language, by giving 

 instruction, and by investing their teaching with the charms of 

 their personal magnetism and warm eloquence. Of this latter 

 class William D, Gunninci was a conspicuous example. Few in 

 the United States have labored more earnestly, with stricter 

 singleness of purpose, or more successfully than he to interest the 

 general public and make them acquainted with the latest results 

 of true science, 



Mr. Gunning was born in Bloomingburg, Fayette County, 

 Ohio, July 38, 1828, and died in Greeley, Col., March 8, 1888. His 

 family was of Scotch- Irish origin, but his direct ancestry is traced 

 no further back than to Armagh, Ireland, whence his grandfather, 

 William Gunning, emigrated in 1703 to Oswego County, N. Y., his 

 father, Andrew Gunning, being then a child. The family removed 

 to Bloomingburg in 1815. All that is told of the boy's early edu- 

 cation is that he was taught at the log schoolhouse of his district 

 by a young woman of the neighborhood. He showed an inquir- 

 ing disposition and a tendency to bookish ways ; and busied him- 

 self, it is said, with the stones and shells from the brookside near 

 the house, and would ask to be told stories of them. When about 

 fourteen years old he was apprenticed to Robert McLaughlin, his 

 sister's husband, and was taught a trade. He always had a book 

 on the bench by his side. 



