44 



THE POPULAR SCIEXCE MONTHLY. 



larsement of the common sense of the 

 household, and the saving of a good 

 many dollars of hard-earned money. It 

 may perhaps be objected that ill-dis- 

 posed boys would thus learn tricks that 

 they might afterward attempt to prac- 

 tice. The same risk, however, attends 

 every exposure, in the press or else- 

 where, of vice or crime ; and we think 

 that an honest teacher could hardly 

 fail to present the subject in a manner 

 that would leave a large balance of 

 good effect. 



If there is anything tbat schools 

 maintained by the State might be ex- 

 pected to do, it is to inculcate respect 

 for the State, and in general to develop 

 a sense of the debt which each individ- 

 ual owes to the society of which he 

 forms a part. ^Nothing is easier to 

 show than the entire dependence of 

 the individual upon society for all that 

 makes life worth living ; and it ought 

 not to be impossible to draw out cer- 

 tain feelings of regard and devotion 

 toward the organism in which and 

 through which alone individual life 

 rises to any true worth or dignity. It 

 can be shown that, just as the family, 

 in the first place, educates the individ- 

 ual bv taming his selfishness and devel- 

 oping his sympathies, so the State or 

 community educates the family by wid- 

 ening its interests, multiplying its ac- 

 tivities, and calling into existence those 



7 O 



thousand differentiations, complications, 

 and refinements of thought and feeling 

 which distinguish civilized man from 

 the savage. Were these lines of thought 

 properly worked out, we believe they 

 would be found to furnish the basis for 

 an almost religious sense of dutv to the 

 State ; and would certaiDly set in a 

 strong light the odiousness of such 

 treason to it as is involved in private 

 fraud and in public corruption. 



We shall only say iu conclusion that 

 it would, in our opinion, be well if the 

 public would get more and more into 

 the way of testing our school systems 

 by their apparent practical results as 



regards the moral and intellectual life 

 of the community. "We ought to be 

 able to form some idea as to whether 

 the rising generation are growing up 

 wiser and better than ourselves, or just 

 about the same, or worse. We should 

 postulate distinct improvement ; and, if 

 such improvement is not apparent, we 

 should try to find out the reason why. 



THE BUFFALO MEETING OF THE 

 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 



The American Association met this 

 year in its thirty-fifth meeting at Buf- 

 falo. It is the third time it has assem- 

 bled in that citv. its fifteenth and twen- 



> 7 



ty-fifth meetings having also been held 

 there. It is also a fact, of which the 

 people of Buffalo took notice with a 

 gratification they had a right to feel, 

 that their city is the first place which 

 has as yet enjoyed the privilege of en- 

 tertaining the Association for the third 

 time. The Hon. Sherman S. Kogers, 

 who delivered one of the addresses of 

 welcome, referred to the fact as signifi- 

 cant of a growing regard among the 

 people for those pursuits which con- 

 tribute to the advancement of knowl- 

 edge, irrespective of their bearing upon 

 business, and as evidence that, eager as 

 that active and enterprising city is in 

 the material pursuits of life, " it is wak- 

 ing up to the conviction that man does 

 not and can not live by bread alone." 

 The same thing is going on in the other 

 cities of the country, large and small, 

 where increased appreciation is shown 

 every year of those things which per- 

 tain to learning for its own sake, and 

 where even the most active centers of 

 commercial speculation have their acad- 

 emies working industriously in pure 

 science. 



The attendance was good, and the 

 list of members is marked by the pres- 

 ence of a large proportion of those who 

 have attained a solid reputation in their 

 respective branches of science. The 

 programme of the papers also exhibits 



