P OP ULAR MIS CELL ANY. 



405 



purely secular education," writes Mr. Mac- 

 namara, " is gross materialism and rank so- 

 cialism. Hence the necessity of suppressing 

 the vernacular press, a measure calculated, 

 it may be, to smother for a period one of 

 the many outlets by means of which Euro- 

 peans had an opportunity of ascertaining 

 the state of feeling among the natives of 

 the country, and which [«ic] I fear will too 

 certainly burst forth in an insurrection in 

 comparison with which the mutiny was a 

 mere brawl." 



Our Parks. — In a recent paper on " Our 

 Parks," read before the New York Acad- 

 emy of Sciences, Dr. E. Seguin vigorously 

 protests against the policy that is rapidly 

 surrendering the Battery to commercial 

 uses, and destroying its value for esthetic 

 and health-giving purposes. The beautiful 

 view of the harbor which the Battery once 

 afforded is gradually being narrowed: to 

 the west by Castle Garden, formerly a sim- 

 ple terrace — a lookout, now an immigrant- 

 shed ; toward the east six buildings form an 

 immense barrier, behind which none would 

 suspect how near the ocean displayed its 

 ever-changing scenes ; from the sea the city 

 looks as if inclosed by barracks, from the 

 land it is the sea that appears to be im- 

 prisoned. The little space for an outlook 

 remaining is now threatened with invasion 

 by Government buildings, the city consent- 

 ing with offers of additional land if required. 

 A total obstruction of the view will follow 

 next, completing the severance of the city 

 from the bay, and presenting the shocking 

 contrast of a harbor unequaled in grandeur 

 leading up to a row of barracks on the 

 water-front — no monuments in view, the 

 ocean-breeze shut out, all perspective de- 

 stroyed ; the whole scene a violence to the 

 eye and an humiliation to patriotic pride. 



Preceded by the destruction of St. John's 

 Park, and the attempt of last year to ruin 

 the Washington play-ground, Dr. Seguin 

 regards this as a third plot against the best 

 interests of the city, coolly set to execution 

 for no apparent purpose save the destruc- 

 tion of what is both a health resort and a 

 powerful educating agency for the children 

 and youth of the metropolis ; and thus 

 blunting the sense of the beautiful by cut- 

 ting them off from the enjoyment of the 



natural scenery of which New York, above 



all other cities, is the fortunate possessor. 



All right thinking people will agree with 

 Dr. Seguin that an exactly opposite policy 

 should be adopted and carried out by the 

 municipal authorities. This whole shore 

 up to its original limits should be thrown 

 open to the bay, and made to present to 

 the stranger the noble face of a great city, 

 the hospitable welcome of a great nation. 

 It should be made an entrance of honor for 

 distinguished guests, where the greetings of 

 a cultured people could not be drowned by 

 the rush and turmoil of trade. It should 

 be rescued from its present and prospec- 

 tive degradation, and, by a wise combina- 

 tion of Nature with art, converted into a 

 school for the millions that in future gen- 

 erations would make it a resort. To this 

 end says Dr. Seguin : " The waves of the 

 bay should be made to expire in marble 

 basins, fronting the widened entrance to 

 Broadway, perceptible through the trees. 

 Where the land and water meet the vegeta- 

 tion, transformed from terrestrial to aquatic, 

 may extend from the shore to the reefs be- 

 yond, and here also could be established 

 subterranean aquaria, whose population 

 might be made more varied and rich in the 

 life of the sea than that which now delights 

 and instructs the visitors at Brighton." 

 Dr. Seguin gave several interesting illustra- 

 tions of the great influence exerted by early 

 impressions in shaping the future of the 

 individual, and contended that every oppor- 

 tunity should be seized to make ^ch im- 

 pressions contribute to elevation of charac- 

 ter, and to the encouragement of noble 

 aims. He also called attention to the ad- 

 vantages that would follow the union of 

 outdoor with indoor teaching by what he 

 terms the mobilization of the schools. 



The Lifcht of the Son's Corona.— Before 



the occurrence of the solar eclipse of 1878, 

 Mr. W. T. Sampson, U. S. N., made elabo- 

 rate preparations for studying minutely the 

 corona's spectrum, with the sole view of 

 deciding, by the absence or the presence in 

 it of dark lines, whether the light is reflected 

 sunlight, whether it is due to the self-lu- 

 minous matter of the corona, or whether it 

 is due to both of these causes combined. 

 In the American Journal of Science he 



