858 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



are favorable to the development of manli- 

 ness and independence of judgment. While 

 the classics and other branches of the old 

 curriculum have been retained, and, subjected 

 to the comparative method, are made vastly 

 more productive than ever before for cult- 

 ure and general social good, a multitude of 

 new subjects have been introduced. In- 

 struction preparatory to nearly every new 

 industry and profession is provided. Atten- 

 tion is given to questions that concern the 

 state and the community at large. Admin- 

 istration, finance, constitutional history, con- 

 stitutional law, comparative politics, rail- 

 road problems, corporations, forestry, vet- 

 erinary science, charities, statistics, social 

 problems a crowd of topics, many of which 

 a few years ago were unheard of in the 

 schools are now in many places subjected to 

 methodical treatment. It is in the absolute 

 necessity in the present crisis of the nation 

 of providing the means of instruction in 

 these branches that we find a strong argu- 

 ment in favor of the public support of 

 higher education. The subjects mentioned, 

 which enter into matters of daily and gen- 

 eral interest, can be successfully treated only 

 by specialists, and they must be trained in 

 the schools. 



The Colorado Canon. As described by 

 Dr. D. Hart Merriam in one of the publi- 

 cations of the Department of Agriculture: 

 " The Grand Canon of the Colorado at the 

 point visited is about fifteen miles wide at 

 the top and six thousand feet deep. It is 

 intersected by gulches and side-canons of 

 gigantic dimensions. It has ledges, terraces, 

 and mesas, barren crags and grassy slopes, 

 lofty mountains and deep valleys, cool hill- 

 sides chad in forests of balsam firs, and hot 

 bottoms filled with subtropical thickets. It 

 has arid stretches of sand bearing a scat- 

 tered growth of cactus and yucca, and 

 marshes and springs that never become dry 

 and are hidden by the verdure of a multitude 

 of plants requiring a moisture-laden atmos- 

 phere for their existence. Its animal life is 

 as sharply varied and as strongly contrasted. 

 In descending from the plateau level to the 

 bottom of the canon a succession of tem- 

 perature zones is encountered equivalent to 

 those stretching from the coniferous forests 

 of northern Canada to the cactus plains of 



Mexico. These zones result from the com- 

 bined effect of altitude and slope exposure, 

 the effects of the latter being here mani- 

 fested in an unusual degree. . . . The com- 

 plex and interacting effects of radiation and 

 refraction, of aridity and humidity, of marked 

 differences of temperature at places of equal 

 altitude on opposite sides of the canon, of 

 every possible angle of slope exposure, of 

 exposure to and protection from wind and 

 storms, produce a diversity of climatic con- 

 ditions the effect of which on the vegetable 

 and animal life in the canon has been to 

 bring into close proximity species character- 

 istic of widely separated regions, and to 

 crowd the several life zones into narrow 

 parallel bands along the sides of the canon 

 bands which expand and contract in con- 

 forming to the ever-changing surface." 



The Sound of the Aurora. "As to the 



aurora making an audible sound," says Mr. 

 William Ogilvie in his The Upper Yukon 

 and the Mackenzie, " although I often list- 

 ened when there was a very brilliant display, 

 and despite the profound stillness which is 

 favorable to hearing the sound, if any sound 

 occurs, I can not say that I ever even fancied 

 that I heard anything. I have often met 

 people who said they could hear a slight 

 rustling sound whenever the aurora made a 

 sudden rush. One man, a member of my 

 party in 1882, was so positive of this that 

 on the 18th of November, when there was 

 an unusually brilliant and extensive display, 

 I took him beyond all noise of the camp, 

 blindfolded him, and told him to let me 

 know when he heard anything, while I 

 watched the play of the streamers. At nearly 

 every brilliant rush of the auroral light he 

 exclaimed, ' Don't you hear it ? ' All the 

 time I was unconscious of any sensation of 

 sound." 



Agricultural Experiment in Wyoming. 



In order that the possibilities of agriculture 

 in all parts and altitudes of Wyoming may 

 be fairly tested, the Trustees of the State 

 Experiment Station have established experi- 

 ment farms in various portions of the State. 

 The west-central portion and the altitude 

 of 5,500 feet above sea-level is represented 

 by the Lander experiment farm of 137 

 acres under irrigation in Fremont County ; 



