POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



569 



Prof. Perry from the physical side, that, on 

 the assumption that the earth is not homo- 

 geneous, as Lord Kelvin supposed, but pos- 

 sesses a much higher conductive and thermal 

 capacity in its interior than in its crust, its 

 age may be enormously greater than previous 

 calculations have allowed. 



Modoc Songs. During his talks with 

 Modoc Indians, Mr. Albert S. Gatchett has 

 been able to record from dictation a number 

 of curious songs which these people highly, 

 appreciate, and frequently sing while at 

 work and while sitting idly in their lodges. 

 Only a few of them are lugubrious, but the 

 majority are merry utterances of a mind free 

 from care. There are erotic songs, dance 

 songs, satiric and mythologic songs, all de- 

 livered in a way that is half spoken and half 

 sung. Some, however, have attractive and 

 elaborate melodies, which, if well arranged 

 for the piano or string instruments, would 

 doubtless produce a sensation in cultured 

 communities. A specimen is given of a song 

 which is introduced as sung or spoken by a 

 prairie owl, which has the faculty of turning 

 its head around and then turning it instan- 

 taneously to the normal position ; while, 

 when it draws its body up, it appears almost 

 ball-shaped, and when traveling over the 

 prairie seems like a light-colored ball rolling 

 over the ground. The man singing the song 

 is supposed, after throwing off his garments 

 and limbs, to appear also as a head only, and 

 rolls on for many miles, when he may be 

 seen partaking of food inside of his subter- 

 ranean lodge. He has a dog who faithfully 

 tries to gather up his discarded appendages, 

 and take them first to his master and then 

 home. With this is coupled an idyl of a 

 young man carrying his sister on his back to 

 her bridegroom, and leaving her close to a 

 pine tree. A cradle song describes the hab- 

 its of the robin, which is seen earlier than 

 other birds flying toward the cedar to pick 

 at the bark in search of ants ; the mothers tell 

 their babes that robin redbreast sings this 

 song to its young, and sometimes also to its 

 grandmother. A third song has a satirical 

 application to another town than that of the 

 singers. 



Uses of Science Teaching. Dr. Michael 

 Foster defines two uses for the teaching of 



science in schools. The first he calls the 

 " awakening " use, and the second the more 

 distinctly " educational " training use. The 

 minds of the young being differently consti- 

 tuted, one mind is especially awakened by 

 one branch of knowledge, another by an- 

 other. Physiology serves as awakening 

 knowledge to a large enough number to make 

 it desirable to teach it. For this purpose it 

 should be taught " as a new independent sub- 

 ject, not demanding any previous knowledge. 

 It should be presented as a wholly new field, 

 into which the mind may wander at will 

 without any restrictions as to being qualified 

 for entrance. It also follows that the teach- 

 ing must be of a most elementary kind ; that 

 as much of chemistry or physics as is neces- 

 sary for the comprehension of the physio- 

 logical matters should be taught with the 

 physiology, and, as it were, a part of it, the 

 pupil being led into chemistry and physics by 

 his interest in physiology, and not being com- 

 pelled to learn the one, for which he or she 

 perhaps does not, at present at least, care, 

 before beginning the other. The instruction 

 given, however elementary, should consist in 

 part of demonstrations and practical exer- 

 cises." In this way, Dr. Foster would have 

 physiology very widely taught, but not made 

 a compulsory study. As a distinctly educa- 

 tional study, as a training for the mind, he 

 regards it as unsuitable for schools. 



American Life Zones. Six life zones of 

 animals and plants are described by C. Hart 

 Merriam, in his Ornithological and Mamma- 

 logical Report to the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, as having been defined in this country 

 north of the tropical zone. They may be 

 grouped under the two heads of northern or 

 boreal, and southern or austral. The Arctic 

 or Arctic Alpine zone is above the limit of 

 tree growth, is the home of the polar bear, 

 arctic fox, reindeer, etc., and has no agricul- 

 tural importance. The Hudsonian zone com- 

 prises the northern or higher parts of the 

 great transcontinental forest, and is likewise 

 of no agricultural importance. The wood- 

 land caribou and the moose are probably its 

 most striking animals. The Canadian zone, 

 comprising the southern or lower part of the 

 great transcontinental coniferous forest, is 

 the first zone, coming from the north, of any 

 agricultural consequence. It has its charac- 



