POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



573 



would be obtained between thirty and forty 

 bifurcations or ridges which were absolutely 

 persistent through life. For purposes of 

 identification the impression of three fingers 

 would be sufficient, but for purposes of regis- 

 tration it was desirable to take the whole 

 ten. It was suggested that this method 

 might be adopted in the case of illiterates 

 instead of making the usual cross-mark as a 

 signature to legal documents. The President 

 of the Anthropological Section said that this 

 method was used by prehistoric man for pur- 

 poses of ornamentation. 



A Scheme of Education. In one of his 



Johns Hopkins University lectures on the 

 Philosophy of Education, Prof. W. T. Harris 

 marks three epochs of school education 

 the elementary, secondary, and higher; of 

 which the first or elementary stage is the 

 opening of the " five windows " of the soul : 

 arithmetic, the foundation of our knowledge 

 of Nature, by which'we measure and count 

 all things inorganic ; elementary geography, 

 by which the distribution of animal and plant 

 life is learned; reading and writing, which 

 give a glimpse into literature ; grammar ; 

 and history (of the pupil's own country). 

 Literature, says the author, " lifts up the 

 pupil into the realms of human nature and 

 discloses the motives which govern the ac- 

 tions of men." In history, one sees " re- 

 vealed the aspirations of his countrymen, his 

 own nature, written out in colossal letters." 

 The secondary education takes up human 

 learning and continues it along the same 

 lines namely, inorganic Nature, organic Na. 

 ture, literature (the heart), grammar and 

 logic (the intellect), and history (the will). 

 Algebra deals in general numbers, geometry 

 and physics continue inorganic Nature, while 

 natural history continues the study already 

 begun in geography. Then come Greek and 

 Latin, " and here is opened up a great field 

 of study into the embryology of our civiliza- 

 tion. In the dead languages we have the 

 three great threads running through the 

 history of our civilization. The Greek, with 

 its literature and aesthetic art and philoso- 

 phy, shows the higher forms of human free- 

 dom ; the Roman seeks the true forms of 

 contracts and treaties and corporations ; and 

 the Hebrew thread is the religious one. So 

 with the secondary education we begin to get 



the embryology of our forms of life." The 

 higher or collegiate education is the compara- 

 tive step. Each branch is studied in the light 

 of all the others. The first or elementary edu- 

 cation, then, is but superficial, a mere inven- 

 tory ; the secondary insists on some reflec- 

 tion on what has been learned ; and the third 

 or higher education is the unity and com- 

 parison of all that has been learned, so that 

 each is explained by the whole. 



Mineral Resources of Missouri. The ter- 

 ritory occupied by the State of Missouri, ac- 

 cording to a report by Arthur Winslow, 

 State Geologist, has been known as a mineral- 

 producing area for nearly two hundred years. 

 Penicaut, one of Le Sueur's party, which as- 

 cended the Mississippi River in 1*700, refers 

 to a mine west of the Mississippi and west 

 of Sainte Genevieve, whence the Indians 

 got their supply of lead. This indicates 

 with reasonable certainty the date when the 

 French began to make use of the mineral 

 resources of the region. Iron mining was 

 begun about 1815. Records of the existence 

 of coal date from 1804 ; in 1840, 8,903 tons 

 were mined, and production has since been 

 continuous. Zinc was mined with lead ores 

 for many years, but was not utilized till 

 1869. Since then the growth of production 

 has been rapid. The principal mineral prod- 

 ucts of Missouri are zinc, in respect to 

 which the State ranks first in the country ; 

 lead, in which it is second only to Colorado, 

 and iron. In addition, Missouri is a large 

 producer of coal, its clays have a national 

 reputation, and it has a great variety of 

 excellent building and ornamental stones. 

 Among the minor products are quicklime, 

 glass sands, copper, and baryta. Several 

 of the more common classes of mineral 

 waters are scattered all over the State. The 

 zinc region is in the extreme southwest; 

 lead is known to occur in thirty or more 

 counties, and was mined during the past 

 year in fourteen. Iron mining is confined 

 to a part of the State south of the Missouri 

 River and east of the marginal line of the 

 coal measures. Of the four prominent 

 mineral products of the State coal is the 

 most widespread. Clays suitable for all or- 

 dinary uses are very abundant. Building 

 stones are plentiful for home use, and ship- 

 ments are made from many of the quarries 



