POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



425 



distributed over more ground, and the devia- 

 tion from the perpendicular would not have 

 been so obvious. There are many leaning 

 towers in Bologna, inclining in all directions ; 

 and few of the campaniles of Venice are per- 

 fectly upright. 



Palaeolithic Implements in the United 

 States. — The Palaeolithic implements of the 

 District of Columbia, and indeed from all 

 over the United States, as described by Mr. 

 Thomas Wilson, are always chipped, never 

 polished ; are almond-shaped, oval, or some- 

 times approaching a circle ; have their cut- 

 ting edge at or toward the smaller end, and 

 not, as in the Neolithic specimens, toward 

 the broad end ; are frequently made of peb- 

 bles, and with the original surface some- 

 times left unworked in places ; and are ex- 

 ceedingly thick compared with their width, 

 so much so as to make it apparent that they 

 were never intended to have a shaft or han- 

 dle after the fashion of the axe or arrow 

 or spear-head. They were usually made 

 of quartz, quartzite, or argillite ; while the 

 Neolithic man used any material that would 

 grind to a smooth surface. They are not 

 known to have been used by the American 

 Indian, who when found by Europeans was 

 in the Neolithic stage. Of the thousands 

 of Indian mounds, cemeteries, graves, and 

 monuments which have been explored, not 

 one has ever yielded these Palaeolithic im- 

 plements. The articles found in the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia are of the same type as 

 Palaeolithic implements found in the Trenton 

 gravels ; at Little Falls, Minn. ; in Jackson 

 County, Ind. ; at Claymount, Del. ; and at 

 Loveland, Ohio ; and all together contrib- 

 ute to prove that a real Palaeolithic period 

 existed in the United States. 



Sharing of Earnings. — After several 

 years of experimenting, Mr. Alfred Dolge, 

 of Dolgeville, Herkimer County, New York, 

 has decided upon a plan for sharing with his 

 employes the earnings of his manufacturing 

 business. A share of the net earnings of 

 the business is to be set aside each year, 

 and applied for the benefit of the employes 

 in three ways — as pensions, insurance, and 

 endowment. Every male employe who be- 

 comes unable to work after a continuous 

 service of ten years receives a pension equal 



to fifty per cent of his wages. Each three 

 years of service over ten up to twenty-five, 

 increases the pension ten per cent. A dis- 

 abling accident happening to an employe 

 while on duty entitles him to a fifty-per-cent 

 pension, even if he has not served ten years. 

 Employes are also entitled to a life-insurance 

 policy for one thousand dollars after five 

 years' service, to a second one after ten years, 

 and a third after fifteen years. For each 

 employe rejected by the insurance company 

 with which the house contracts, and for 

 those entering the service of the house when 

 over forty years old, thirty-five dollars a 

 year is deposited instead of the policy. After 

 five years of consecutive service, also, an ac- 

 count is opened with each employe, upon 

 which he will be credited at the end of each 

 year according as the manufacturing record 

 shows that he has earned more than has 

 been paid him in the form of wages. If 

 through gross carelessness any employe has 

 caused the house a loss, such loss will be 

 charged against this account. This endow- 

 ment money shall be payable when the em- 

 ploye reaches the age of sixty years, or upon 

 his death. Against this account the em- 

 ploye may obtain a loan by paying inter- 

 est and furnishing collateral security. Mr. 

 Dolge is convinced that this scheme is su- 

 perior to what is known as profit-sharing, 

 because it is not projected from any idea of 

 benevolence, but is based on self-interest. 

 It places the employe on the same level with 

 his employer ; it puts him on his mettle, and 

 rewards him according to his own merit. 

 The main objection which Mr. Dolge has to 

 the ordinary profit-sharing plan is that it 

 gives the lazy and incompetent workman the 

 same percentage in addition to his wages as 

 it gives to the intelligent and industrious 

 employe, who has perhaps earned for his 

 employer twice as much as the former. 



Science and Poetry. — Writing upon 

 Browning's Science in Poet Lore, Dr. Ed- 

 ward Berdoe maintains that, " other things 

 being equal, the poet who knows his natural 

 history, his botany, and his physical science, 

 will write better poetry than he who knows 

 nothing of these things." The author has 

 for some years been pointing out how Brown- 

 ing's scientific imagination and learning en- 

 hance the value of his poetic work and his 



