234 GRECIAN, EDUCATIOX. 



dendron, or scale tree. This scaly appearance of tlie stems is produced 

 by the separation of the leaf stalks. 



In some sections, people tell you they have found a petrified squir- 

 reVs head. Show it to a scientific man and he will tell you that it is a 

 fossil shell (cucullaea vulgaris) that looks somewhat like the head of 

 the animal mentioned. 



Not long ago 1 was looking at a collection of "curiosities," and I 

 saw one object labelled '■'■petrified intestines of a squirrel.^'' Now, here 

 is a regular "curiosity," thought I — the entrails of a squirrel turned into 

 stone ! Let's see ! Nonsense ! — it's nothing more than the shell serpu- 

 la^ which is spirally twisted and irregularly attached together, that makes 

 it look like a bundle of petrified hollow worms. 



A gentleman not long ago sent an object to a certain cabinet which 

 he had labelled "« petrified mulberry.'''^ It was a small piece of mamil- 

 lary iron ! 



Another sent a large stone with certain fossils on it, and he had 

 marked it "a petrified -nest of snakes.'''' He thought here was a whole 

 family of serpents all of a sudden turned to stone. It was a fossil sea- 

 weed, and is called in scientific language, Fucoides Alleganiensis, — a ve- 

 getable and not an animal. 



'■'■Petrified hulVs horns'''' are often found, but instead of ever having 

 decked the head of that animal, they once formed the inside of a shell. 

 They look a little like the short horn of a cow, and are called Hippar- 

 ites cornu vaccinum. 



These are a few of the errors prevalent on these subjects. They 

 have been handed down from the olden time; but the day has come 

 when they should be corrected and abandoned. J. G. M. 



GRECIAN EDUCATION, NO. Ill, 



Instead of rendering the boys effeminate, as was common in other 

 parts of Greece, by permitting them to wear shoes, Lycurgus indurated 

 them by making them go bare-foot. For mounting steep places, descend- 

 ing declivities, running, leaping, he thought exercise in this way a good 

 preparation. One garment a year was all that he allowed, that luxury in 

 clothing might not be encouraged. Thus, too, was the body habituated 

 to ihe endurance of heat or cold. In regard to food, he directed such a 

 use as might not result in repletion, or undue plethora, and at the same 

 time accustom to some self-denial. In this way was preparation secu- 

 red for abstiuence, for long continued use of the same food, or for the 

 use of any kind that might be accessible. 



