98 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and beneficently used it for the world. The spirit of science, which 

 sets infinite value on knowledge, can not fail to teach reverence 

 for those who have made it possible for us to know. 



At every point, then, the scientist opposes the tendencies I have 

 deplored. Against them all he must stand, by training and by 

 instinct. Against them all he would teach others to stand, by giv- 

 ing to them his own training. Against them all we science teach- 

 ers may arm our countrymen if we are faithful to our duty. But 

 this end of our work is defeated if our students are allowed to 

 indulge in careless statements of what they see and do; if they are 

 permitted to use exaggerated description or inaccurate terms. 

 Right here is the crucial test of the teacher's honesty of purpose. 

 The careful examination of written descriptions and reports, the en- 

 forced correction of every inaccurate detail, the personal consul- 

 tation — all require untiring labor, and time never allotted in the 

 schedule. But such work carried out has its own reward. The 

 student first respects the truth, then learns to love it. He con- 

 scientiously avoids the vague, the doubtful, the unsubstantiated. 

 If in our schools we might insure to every boy and girl this atti- 

 tude of mind, this desire for strict veracity, we should have started 

 him well on the way to correct judgments and wise conduct; we 

 should have implanted in his nature the first elements of good citi- 

 zenship. As Tennyson says: 



" Self- reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, 

 These three alone lead life to sovereign power. 

 Yet not for power (power of herself 

 Would come uncalled for) but to live by law, 

 Acting the law we live by without fear, 

 And because right is right, to follow right 

 Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence." 



The fish called Lepidosiren (Lepidosiren paradoxica) is one of the only 

 three still existing survivors of the once prominent group of Dipnoi, 

 or lung fishes, which are characterized by the possession of well-developed 

 lungs in addition to their gills. Mr. Graham Kerr, who spent several 

 months in the swamps of the Gran Chaco, South America, a habitat of 

 these fishes, describes them as living among the dense vegetation of the 

 swamp, swimming in eel fashion, or clambering through the mass of 

 vegetation by means of their leglike limbs. In the dry season they retire 

 into the mud, and breathe entirely by means of their lungs. When the 

 wet season begins they are set free, and at once prepare to spawn. They 

 lay their eggs in burrows at the bottom of the swamp, where the eggs 

 develop into larva?. The phenomena of their development are of special 

 interest, because it takes place in seclusion, away from the disturbing 

 features due to adaptation to varied surroundings. It has been discov- 

 ered that the young lepidosirens become white and transparent during 

 the hours of darkness. 



