556 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the nervous constituents and the nerv- 

 ous mechanism. What is taught will 

 not be science, which must explain 

 things, only sham science ; will not be 

 real knowledge or anything understood, 

 but only the words of a lesson. 



No doubt something will be gained 

 by calling attention to the subject, but 

 the question is, if tlie method proposed 

 is the best that could be adopted. We 

 doubt if the appeal to science through 

 such teachers as we have, and such 

 books as most of those that are now 

 appearing, to meet the new emergency, 

 is the best way of securing the end de- 

 sired. What is wanted is to make the 

 deepest and most indelible impression 

 upon the minds of youth in regard to 

 the bad effects of indulgence in alcoholic 

 beverages. But the attempt to expound 

 the physiology of the subject is not 

 the best way to accomplish this object. 

 The evOs of intemperance are evils 

 which openly appear in conduct. The 

 incontestable facts of the injurious in- 

 fluence of drinking are direct, palpable, 

 conspicuous, observed by everybody, 

 and open to no question. Science can 

 not make them more clear, or add viv- 

 idness to the painful facts which are 

 seen by all. Good may come, as we 

 have said, but it is a question if more 

 good would not come from the dog- 

 matic statement of facts, that are free 

 from doubt and obscurity, and that are 

 based upon unquestionable and estab- 

 lished experience. The subject in its 

 scientific aspects is beyond the grasp of 

 pupils in common schools, but maxims 

 and rules can be stamped upon their 

 minds in a way that will exert a salu- 

 tary and permanent influence. And if 

 it is desired to teach the young to thinh 

 upon the subject, then let the victims of 

 alcoholic indulgence be taken as object- 

 lessons^ in which what the pupil sees 

 himself becomes the basis of the opin- 

 ions he forms. Every community is 

 full of examples of the effects of drink- 

 ing, and these effects are seen in all 

 possible degrees. Let the scholars bo 



directed to observe for themselves, and 

 see how much truth they can find out 

 on all sides of the subject ; the exercise 

 will at any rate be an excellent means 

 of mental imnrovement and practical 

 education. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Geological Excursions, or the Rudiments 

 OF Geology for Young Learners. By 

 Alexander Winchell, LL. D. Chica- 

 go : S. C. Griggs & Co. Pp. 234. Price, 



$1.50. 



In his experience as a teacher of geology, 

 and interested in extending a knowledge of 

 this interesting and important subject in 

 the common schools and among the people, 

 the author of this work found himself con- 

 fronted with this formidable difficulty, that 

 " in most of our colleges, no knowledge what- 

 ever of the Bubject is required for entrance, 

 and there is no course where geology is a 

 prerequisite; and since geology is not re- 

 quired for entrance into college, it has ceased 

 to be taught in the schools — as if geology 

 had no uses, if not demanded as a prepara- 

 tion for college." As our higher education- 

 al system, therefore, virtually works against 

 the recognition of this science, the difficulty 

 must be met by preparing the necessary 

 rudimentary books for introduction into the 

 schools, on the ground of the importance 

 of this kind of knowledge, and with no 

 reference to the influence of the colleges. 

 Dr. Winchell says : " As geology is not 

 taught in the schools, and as nineteen 

 twentieths of our teachers have not stud- 

 ied it in college, there is almost no prepa- 

 ration among teachers of primary or sec- 

 ondary grades to induct a pupil into an 

 elementary knowledge of the subject. The 

 only hope of early reform seems to lie in 

 furnishing teachers with a text-book so 

 framed as to bo capable of successful use 

 by a teacher without previous acquaintance 

 with the subject. Certainly, no such text- 

 books exist; for though there are several 

 which might be employed by teachers 

 thoroughly disciplined by previous study, 

 the large majority of our teachers are not 

 8o disciplined. These text-books, moreover, 

 arc too much conformed to the dogmatic 



