P OP ULAR MIS CELL ANY. 



141 



Each, intended to illustrate some special 

 point, forms a part of a more or less ex- 

 tended series tending toward the elucidation 

 of the earth's structure and history. In the 

 section of Systematic Geography, for instance, 

 the several departments are devoted to the 

 consideration of the materials of the earth's 

 surface; to dynamical and physiographieal 

 geology, including the action of various 

 agencies — heat, compression, tension, fract- 

 ure, air, water, ice, life, etc. ; to structural 

 geology, or the architecture of the earth's 

 crust — including stratification and its ac- 

 companiments, joints, inclination, strike, dip, 

 igneous effects, and veins; and to strati- 

 graphical or historical geology. The section 

 of Economic Geology is arranged in a simi- 

 lar manner for illustration by specimens of 

 building and ornamental stones, ores, and 

 other useful mineral substances. 



Relative Valne of Rain and Irrigation. 



— Chief Fernow remarks, in his report of the 

 Division of Forestry, that the manner in which 

 the water of the atmosphere becomes avail- 

 able — rain — is not the most satisfactory. 

 This because of its irregularity, and on ac- 

 count of its detrimental action in packing 

 the ground and impeding percolation. A 

 large amount of what would be carried off 

 by underground drainage is thus changed 

 into surface-drainage waters. At the same 

 time, by this compacting the soil, capillary 

 action is increased, and evaporation thereby 

 accelerated. Water management, or forest 

 management as a part of it, may be profitably 

 studied in connection with this subject. The 

 forest floor reduces or prevents the injurious 

 mechanical action of the rain, and acts as a 

 regulator of water-flow. Hitherto water man- 

 agement in rainy districts has mainly con- 

 cerned itself with getting rid of the water as 

 fast as possible, instead of making it do 

 service during its temporary availability by 

 means of proper soil management, horizontal 

 ditches, and reservoirs — drainage and irriga- 

 tion systems combined. It seems to have 

 been entirely overlooked that irrigation, 

 which has been considered only for arid and 

 subarid regions, can be applied for plant 

 production in well-watered regions with ecpial 

 benefit and profit, if combined with proper 

 drainage systems and forest management. 

 To pave the way for a better utilization of 



water-supplies in the Eastern States seems 

 as much a proper function of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture as the development 

 of irrigation systems in the Western States ; 

 and a comprehensive collection of water sta- 

 tistica and forestry statistics with reference to 

 their mutual relation seems to be a desirable 

 task. 



The Pnblic School and the University. 



— The policy adopted several years ago by 

 the University of Michigan, of admitting 

 graduates of the public schools of the State 

 without examination, is represented by the 

 University Record as working well. The 

 faculty feel that, whatever maybe the defects 

 of the diploma system, there are gains that 

 more than counterbalance them. The princi- 

 pal gain has been in strengthening the bond 

 between the university and the high schools. 

 Experience goes to show that voluntary ini- 

 tiative of the university and the schools can 

 make good to a great degree the lack of an 

 authoritative State surveillance of public in- 

 struction. In many ways the university has 

 been able to exert a salutary influence upon 

 the schools, while its own position before 

 the people of the State has been very great- 

 ly strengthened by the system ; and this 

 has been done without lowering the standard 

 of scholarship. 



Graphite and Lead-pencils. — The an- 

 cients were not acquainted with any real 

 drawing lead. The first drawings resembling 

 those made with a pencil appeared in the 

 later middle ages. Silver-pencil drawings by 

 Van Eyck and Memlink are spoken of ; the 

 portrait of Petrarch's Laura was made by a 

 contemporary in a similar style ; and Michael 

 Angelo sometimes drew with pencils that 

 seem to have been made of a compound of 

 lead and tin. These were exceptions to the 

 general rule. Pens, crayons, and red chalk 

 held the place among artists and in general 

 use now occupied by the pencil. The famous 

 graphite beds of Borrowdale, in Cumber- 

 land, were discovered during the reign of 

 Queen Elizabeth in England, and with them 

 the material which was destined to stimulate 

 the rapid development of the pencil indus- 

 try. Our lead-pencil is really a graphite pen- 

 cil. The pencils made in England then were 

 quite different from the products of the pies- 



