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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



(&0XX£$poix timet. 



THE MOON AND THE WEATHER. 



Editor Popular Science Monthly : 



Dear Sir : Scientific investigators in 

 meteorology have again and again declared 

 they have not heen able to discover by accu- 

 rate and long- continued observation that the 

 moon has any effect whatever upon terrestrial 

 weather; yet the farmers have, for unreck- 

 oned years, undoubtingly ascribed certain 

 kinds of weather — changes, especially — to 

 the moon ; and, despite the dictum of the 

 scientists, they have persisted in their confi- 

 dence in the pale orb as a weather-breeder, 

 and as a disposer, in a large degree, of the 

 wet and dry features of the months. 



Now comes Mr. H. H. Clayton, meteorolo- 

 gist at the Blue Hill Meteorological Observa- 

 tory, and shows by diagram and dates that the 

 electrical condition of the atmosphere varies 

 in close accord with the position of the moon 

 in her orbit. 



That electricity performs various offices 

 in the atmosphere, notably among the parti- 

 cles of vapor, is well known ; but just how 

 and to what extent atmospheric phenom- 

 ena result from electrical action has not yet 

 been clearly demonstrated. However, we 

 have now a scientific basis for the assump- 

 tion that the moon has an influence on the 

 weather. 



An interesting summary of present knowl- 

 edge concerning the atmosphere is contained 

 in Studies of the Upper Atmosphere, by 

 A. Lawrence Rotch, director of the Blue 

 Hill institution. The diagram of compar- 

 ative altitudes, which forms the last illus- 

 tration of my article on kite-flying, in the 

 May number of this magazine, is from 

 the frontispiece of Mr. Rotch's pamphlet 

 just mentioned, for which credit was inad- 

 vertently omitted. 



George J. Varney. 

 57 Cornhill, Boston, August 19, 1S98. 



%aitox r s gaM*. 



TEE GOAL IN EDUCATION. 



MANY of our readers, we are sure, 

 must have been impressed by 

 the articles on The Philosophy of 

 Manual Training lately contributed 

 by Professor Henderson to the pages 

 of this magazine. The thought under- 

 lying them is one to which we have 

 ourselves often endeavored to give 

 expression, namely, that the end 

 of education is wholly misconceived 

 unless we consider it as aiming to 

 bring the individual into right rela- 

 tions, at as many points as possible, 

 with the world in which he lives, 

 and to place him in as full possession 

 as possible of the varied powers and 

 capacities of his nature. It is be- 

 cause he regards manual training 

 as the most effective instrument 

 for awakening the intellect in the 

 first place, and then for establishing 



a proper balance between the men- 

 tal and bodily activities, that Pro- 

 fessor Henderson has advocated it 

 with so much earnestness. All that 

 he has said on the subject seems to 

 us deserving of the closest attention. 

 In the old system of education 

 language was regarded as the su- 

 preme and sufficient instrument of 

 mental development ; and in the 

 great public schools of England this 

 idea enjoyed the very highest degree 

 of prestige and authority. By lan- 

 guage in these establishments, the 

 two classical languages of Greek and 

 Latin were meant, the English lan- 

 guage receiving very scant atten- 

 tion, and English literature none. If 

 any one was so far in advance of 

 the times as to express a doubt 

 whether a knowledge of Greek and 

 Latin was the only preparation 



