EDITOR'S TABLE. 



125 



country's attitude in the Mexican 

 War." A third writer, A. Califf, 

 says : " I believe in teaching patriot- 

 ism, but I do not believe in trying to 

 legislate patriotism into people. I 

 consider the ' flag law ' a total fail- 

 ure, so far as the teaching of patriot- 

 ism is concerned." A fourth, M. W. 

 Marvin, gets to the root of the matter 

 in the observation that "the teach- 

 ing which tends to develop properly 

 the pupil's sense of right and wrong, 

 of humanity and justice, that which 

 makes him better acquainted with 

 his duty to himself, his neighbor, 

 and his country, better prepares him 

 for the future duties of a patriotic 

 citizen." 



If the teaching given in our 

 schools and other educational insti- 

 tutions on the subject of patriotism 

 were all on these lines, there would 

 be nothing to complain of; on the 

 contrary, there would be much cause 

 for congratulation, and much reason 

 to hope for good results at no distant 

 day. Unfortunately, what with flag 

 laws and other nonsense, it is diffi- 

 cult for the schools in some of our 

 States not to be made subservient to 

 the spirit and aims of militarism; 

 and if the mind of youth is thus per- 

 verted, what will the harvest be? 

 These are times when well-disposed 

 citizens should take earnest and fre- 

 quent counsel together as to the best 

 means to antagonize the hurtful in- 

 fluences that are abroad, and to up- 

 hold the ideal of peaceful civiliza- 

 tion as the true goal of national 

 progress. 



THE RdNTGEN RAT. 



Prof. Rontgen's discovery of the 

 X ray crowns two as alluring courses 

 of investigation as ever called forth 

 the resources of experimental skill. 

 One of the pillars from which sprang 

 the achievement of the Bavarian 

 teacher rose from the observation by 

 an Italian cobbler, Vincenzo Casca- 



riolo, who three hundred years ago 

 picked up near Bologna a bit of sul- 

 phate of barium. It might, he hoped, 

 have some value in alchemy, for it 

 glowed in the dark as if with sun- 

 shine it had stored by day. This 

 singular property of phosphorescence 

 has since been noted in a wide diver- 

 sity of minerals, in nasturtium and 

 other blossoms, in fungi and decayed 

 wood, in a host of flying and creep- 

 ing things of kin to the common fire- 

 fly and glow-worm. As means of de- 

 tection are refined, it becomes more 

 and more probable that phosphores- 

 cence, while highly characteristic of 

 but a few substances, really manifests 

 itself in matter of all kinds. In this 

 it may share the universality of 

 many other properties. 



And phosphorescence, half a cen- 

 tury ago, was discovered in direct 

 alliance with other curious qualities. 

 Of high importance was the discov- 

 ery, in which Prof. Stokes took an 

 honored part, that rays which enter 

 the eye only to prove it blind can be 

 brought within the compass of vision 

 if suitably modified; that when ul- 

 tra-violet rays of the spectrum trav- 

 erse solutions of sulphate of quinine 

 and other compounds, or take their 

 way through uranium glass, they are 

 so reduced in refrangibility as to fall 

 within the range of perception. The 

 light thus indirectly brought to view 

 is fluorescence, the continuous phase 

 of what in brief and fitful gleams is 

 phosphorescence. Among the com- 

 pounds fluorescent in an eminent 

 degree is the platinocyanide of that 

 same barium whose sulphate aroused 

 the wonder of the Bologna cobbler. 



While one group of explorers was 

 running down the facts of phospho- 

 rescence and fluorescence, another 

 group was examining the behavior 

 of attenuated gases when excited by 

 electricity of high tension. The 

 familiar tubes of Geissler now shone 

 with a radiance resembling the au- 



