POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



141 



and younger women to bed. Three women, 

 failing to get tlie protection they sought 

 from a policeman, clubbed their pennies to 

 buy a Bible. Other persons, thinking that 

 the world was to be set on fire by the col- 

 lision of two stars, believed that it would 

 be safest to avoid the streets. A story is 

 told of an old nurse, on another occasion, 

 who, imagining that a very heavy and dark 

 thunder-storm meant the end of the world, 

 went up-stairs and put on her best cap. In 

 another thunder-storm, conveying a similar 

 suggestion, a panic-stricken sufferer la- 

 mented that the parson was not at home. 

 On the morning after a storm on the island 

 of Sark, which nearly blew the house over, 

 the old housekeeper addressed her master : 



" Eh ! Mr. B , did you hear the wind ? 



Eh ! I thought the day of judgment had 

 come." " And what did you do ? " the mas- 

 ter asked. " Eh ! Mr. B , I got up and 



made myself a little cup o' tea." 



Some Principles of Chemistry-Teach- 

 ing. — A paper by Lillie J. Martin, of the 

 High - School, Indianapolis, on " Chemistry 

 in the High -School," contains some good 

 thoughts on the subject of teaching the 

 science. While historical study, rightly 

 carried on, does not preclude work that 

 gives the kind of discipline that science 

 should give, and itself has many advan- 

 tages, " the great danger is that the dis- 

 tinctive aims of science-study will be lost 

 sight of in the historical study," as is al- 

 leged to be done in too many text-books. 

 At the bottom of the author's system of 

 teaching lies the principle that the peculiar 

 discipline of chemistry-study comes through 

 the proper use of the laboratory. In prac- 

 tice, she divides the time about equally be- 

 tween getting the facts, or laboratory-work, 

 and considering the facts, or class-room 

 work. Simple apparatus, made or adapted 

 by the pupil, is pronounced the best ; and 

 her own description of the apparatus recom- 

 mended shows how the most common things, 

 some of them costing nothing, may be made 

 to serve. Four kinds of experimental work 

 are declared to be too much neglected in 

 high-schools : work that teaches pupils the 

 use of their senses ; work that acquaints 

 them with the underlying laws of the sci- 

 ence ; work that throws them on them- 



selves, or independent qualitative analysis ; 

 and work that teaches scientific exactness, 

 or quantitative work. Encouragement of 

 pupils to do original work and write about 

 it when they have done it is insisted upon. 

 Many experiences have taught the author 

 that even the best text-books should be 

 preceded by work which would throw the 

 pupils upon the use of their senses in learn- 

 ing their lessons. In her own teaching of 

 laboratory-work, in order to save time, ex- 

 periments to be done on a certain day are 

 indicated the day before, and are learned 

 by the pupil ; and general directions as to 

 the particular way of doing each experi- 

 ment are given at the beginning of the ex- 

 periment-hour. By a little encouragement 

 pupils will do a good deal of extra experi- 

 mental work, and much of this can be done 

 at home, with great gain in independence 

 and originality. The ability to write what 

 is laid down in the text-book is not a suffi- 

 cient test for promotion in chemistry. The 

 " literary test " in examinations makes pu- 

 pils feel that chemical information is the 

 thing to strive for ; and, to counteract this 

 tendency, the author suggests, in a ques- 

 tion, that high -school laboratories should 

 be opened for a practical test during ex- 

 amination, to make pupils understand that 

 a knowledge of chemistry means the ability 

 to deal with Nature. 



The Origin of •' Manners."— Otto Gold- 

 meister, in writing on the usages of polite- 

 ness, treats the subject as a universal one, 

 the adequate treatment of which would 

 have to include all people, 'of all times and 

 places, and of every degree of barbarism 

 and civilization. An institution thus co- 

 extensive with mankind can not have origi- 

 nated in convention or the caprice of some 

 small social groups, or have been the prod- 

 uct of any particular period of time. The 

 presumption is therefore justified that the 

 social code of manners has some kind of a 

 bearing on the development and welfare of 

 the race, and that it contributes to some 

 end that can not be so easily reached in 

 any other way. The essence of courtesy 

 consists in our using the outer signs of es- 

 teem toward a person whom we do not 

 know or may inwardly despise, in order to 

 place ourselves in a position in which we 



