POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



425 



the safest explosives, processes for avoid- 

 ing as far as possible the use of explosives, 

 and supports. The second subdivision in- 

 cludes ventilation and lighting, with precau- 

 tions against fire-damp explosions and the 

 resultant damage. In the third class are 

 invited treatises and plans with reference 

 to the removal of water, extraction, haul- 

 ing, and loading of the products, and the 

 transportation of the workmen in the shafts. 

 The fourth class embraces the mechanical 

 preparation of the mineral products, manu- 

 facture of coke and agglomerated matter, 

 and processes of treatment for burning turf 

 so as to increase its value. The fifth class 

 relates to plans and maps of the subterra- 

 nean works, provisions against accidents, 

 measures for the saving, relief, and care 

 of the workmen when they occur, institu- 

 tions for the benefit of workmen in mines, 

 and statistics. In the sixth class are in- 

 cluded processes and working-stock for the 

 operating of quarries ; and in the seventh 

 class, comparisons of the stones and mar- 

 bles of different countries, and exhibits of 

 Belgian stones and marbles adapted to all 

 the diiferent purposes of use. Applications 

 should be filed before January 15, and en- 

 tries made before April 15, 1888, with Arm- 

 strong, Knauer & Co., authorized agents, 

 822 and 824 Broadway, New York, 



What can he do?— The great test in 

 life, says General Thomas J. Morgan, in a 

 paper on " Training as an Element of Edu- 

 cation," is rather what a man can do than 

 what he knows. Can he use his eyes ? 

 Has he good judgment ? Is he a man of 

 common sense ? Can he think ? Does he 

 reason correctly ? Has he power of adap- 

 tation ? Can he organize ? Has he execu- 

 tive force ? Is he practical ? These are the 

 kind of test-questions that are put to the 

 graduates of our schools. Can the " sweet 

 girl graduate " cook a dinner, sweep a room, 

 or superintend a house ? Does she have an 

 intelligent interest in passing events ? Has 

 she robust health, good habits, self-reliance, 

 energy, and power of endurance ? Can the 

 young man lay aside bis diploma and keep 

 his father's accounts, write an article for 

 the newspaper, make a business-trip to 

 Chicago, give an intelligent account of the 

 morning's news ? Can he lend a hand at 



home, and turn to some good account in the 

 daily duties of life some of the accumu- 

 lated stores of knowledge amassed in years 

 of study ? Does his education render him 

 more industrious, more skillful and efficient, 

 more ingenious, more persistent, more prac- 

 tically masterful in whatever he undertakes ? 

 If he has been trained to use his senses, to 

 acquaint himself with natural phenomena at 

 first hand ; if he has been taught to think, 

 to make careful comparison, noting essen- 

 tial differences and significant similarities, 

 making patient inductions and wise gener- 

 alizations ; if he has been led to form fixed 

 habits of thoughtfulness, self-reliance, moral 

 earnestness, inflexibility of purpose, persist- 

 ent industry, promptness, punctuality, fidel- 

 ity, unswerving devotion to duty ; if, in 

 short, as a result of his school-life, his tram- 

 ing has produced a well-rounded character, 

 he will be able to meet all the reasonable 

 demands that society can make upon one 

 who lacks practical experience in actual 

 business. He will readily acquire skill and 

 efficiency in any calling for which his special 

 talents have fitted him. Training gives po- 

 tency to all the soul's possibilities. 



Counterfeiting Gems. — The closest imi- 

 tations of diamonds and other precious 

 stones can be made out of a mixture of 

 violin-glass and borax. A London lapidary 

 once testified in court that he made all his 

 imitations out of real stones, by taking pale, 

 cheap stones, splitting them, introducing a 

 deeper tone of color, and joining them 

 again, whereby the salable value of the 

 stones was considerably increased. Dia- 

 monds are often split, and each half of the 

 gem is made to do duty on a paste founda- 

 tion on which it has been carefully mounted. 

 The operator then has two gems, at two 

 prices. One Zocolind was accustomed to 

 procure a very thin flake of an inferior ex- 

 ample of the stone he wished to " improve," 

 choosing those which had little color. As 

 a bottom for his "make up " he took a bit 

 of crystal which he had shaped for liis pur- 

 pose ; covering this with a transparent glue 

 properly colored, he fixed on the flake, and 

 then concealed the joining so well in the 

 setting that customers could be deceived 

 into believing that they had very fine stones. 

 Varieties of the topaz and other stones are 



