202 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



consistency and hardness, although of unequal quality, they read- 

 ily adapt themselves, with a little care, to the purposes of the 

 artist. Certain shell tufas were convenient for use as a stucco, to 

 cover deficiencies of material and give it color. A solid stone, 

 such as is found at the Piraeus, was adapted for precise cutting 

 and exact joining, to a rhythmical arrangement of the blocks and 

 a firm accentuation of the moldings. More careful pains was en- 

 couraged when marble of a finer grain was used. It was a mate- 

 rial that inspired the workman with a kind of involuntary regard, 

 for it assured him that none of his intention, no delicate stroke of 

 the chisel would be lost ; and this gave that wonderfully accurate 

 execution so much admired in the sculptures. There were, fur- 

 ther, marbles of different colors, which could be combined and 

 arranged for the best effects. The adaptability of these materials 

 to the sculptor's work was hardly a less potent factor in the de- 

 velopment of Grecian art than were the natural genius of the 

 race and the conditions of its environment. 



On the other hand, Greece was poor in metals, the lead and 

 silver mines of Laurium being the only mines on the peninsula 

 that have been worked with profit. The fact brought its advan- 

 tages. The people could not do without metals ; they needed 

 them for domestic luxury and ornament. The metallic treasures 

 found at Mycenae and other evidences are in proof of the power of 

 their taste for gold, and they shrank from no danger to get it. 

 Both it and the humbler metals had to be got from abroad ; and 

 the necessity must have contributed to the development of busi- 

 ness and enterprise. It would dispose the people to welcome the 

 foreigner bringing them the commodities they desired, and then to 

 go in search of them in the countries where they occurred or were 

 brought in by trade. All dependence, including dependence in 

 trade, is a bond ; and it is important that it shall not operate to 

 reduce one of the two parties brought into association by it into 

 vassalage to the other. That danger was not to be apprehended 

 in Greece. The situation and configuration of the country were 

 calculated to foster individuality and independence in all things, 

 and to protect the beginnings and favor the development of the 

 nation which should first establish and hold itself there as in an 

 impregnable fortress. — Translated for The Popular Science Monthly 

 from the Revue des Deux Monde s. 



Mr. Conway, who is exploring in the Himalayas, finds the peaks difficult in 

 their lower parts; the region above seventeen thousand feet is easy, hut in bad 

 weather one is cut off from the upper region by the next seven thousand feet be- 

 low. There are numerous and vast glaciers descending to between eight thousand 

 and nine thousand feet above sea-level. 



