200 The Ottawa Naturalist. [February 



they get there ? Perhaps from their nature it could be guessed 

 where they probably came from, but what about the means of 

 transportation? Here is a chance for lessons on glaciers. Show 

 the children the parallel striation marks on exposed surfaces of 

 bed rock Are they equally well preserved on different kinds of 

 rock ? Compare their direction with that ot lakes, hills and 

 valleys, both in your neighborhood and on the map of Eastern 

 North America. If the child can be shown that all harbors and 

 river valleys have probably been gouged out by glaciers, he will 

 know that the gouged out material had to go somewhere, — and 

 the mystery of the gravel hills and drift boulders is, in part at 

 least, solved. The melting ot glacial ice, and its southern bound- 

 ary, are very well shown in the massot stones and gravel beaches 

 off the New England coast, and in the comparative absence of 

 deep harbors south of Chesapeake Bay. 



Innumerable questions arise both to the teacher and the 

 pupil, all of which furnish valuable subjects tor lessons. Trace 

 such changes as a pond filling to a swamp, a bog, and finally to 

 a level field. This explains the formation of peat and coaL In 

 Carboniferous rocks, fossils of vertical trees show proof of such 

 filling. Diatomaceous earth (Tripolite), so much used for polish- 

 ing powder, making dynamite, naturally suggests itself here. So 

 does petrified wood. The next time your children walk across a 

 bog they will have more than mischief to occupy their minds, for 

 you have taught them to read the interesting book of Nature, 

 whose stories have always something new. 



Lack of space compels me to leave the subject here. I 

 should like to go into the details of cave formation, growth of 

 stalactites and stalagmites, and call attention to the varied 

 scenery of limestone and gypsum countries. Extremely interest- 

 ing to the boy, too, would be the manufacture and uses of the 

 common metals. In connection with mineralogy, one could teach 

 such things as the coloring of glass, the glazing of porcelain, the 

 hardening of steel, the manufacture of paints, the making of fire- 

 works, the making of bricks, and scores of other equally instruc- 

 tive facts. The flame tests and bead tests illustrate many of 

 these points. 



The teacher who will undertake this work, will find it a 

 pleasant diversion from the more ordinary schoolroom routine. 

 The students will search everywhere for specimens and those on 

 the sea coast will find on ballast heaps some foreign rocks which 

 will be useful for exchanging with teachers of neighboring dis- 

 tricts, and in a short time the schoolroom will be adorned with a 

 beautiful and instructive mineral collection. 



[The above is an abridg-ment of a series of papers now being written in 

 The Educational Review, St. John, N.B.] 



