FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



719 



the increase of intelligence as a feature of 

 animal development. First, there was prog- 

 ress in locomotion, and the sedentary inver- 

 tebrates of Primary times were succeeded 

 by the secondary reptiles, and they by the 

 numerous Tertiary mammals. The continued 

 improvement of the last was manifested in 

 the gradual adaptation of the feet of the 

 horse and deer, making them better fitted 

 for speed. The power of sensation has also 

 undergone a steady augmentation, and in- 

 telligence has been developed slowly and 

 regularly. If, in the absence of other knowl- 

 edge, we may judge concerning the nervous 

 system of the invertebrates or of the Primary 

 fishes from that of existing beings, we have 

 to conclude that their intelligence was very 

 imperfect. The forms of the brains of some 

 of the Secondary reptiles, as revealed by 

 molds of the interior of their skulls, show 

 that they were very little advanced. By this 

 criterion, the gigantic saurians were very 

 stupid animals. A progressive development 

 evidently took place during the Tertiary 

 period. Finally, the brain of man, the latest, 

 is the most complicated, the most voluminous, 

 and at the same time the most condensed of 

 all. The history of the world thus reveals 

 to us a progress which has continued through 

 the ages. 



THE utilization of burned clays as a road 

 material is mentioned in Mr. C. B. Reyes's 

 last Missouri Geological Report as a subject 

 that should be fully discussed. Some of the 

 railroads are already using burned clay for 

 ballast in preference to rock, sand, or gravel, 

 with good results, so that the extension of 

 the use of this material to highways is in 

 reality beyond the experimental stage. Prof. 

 Wheeler says in his report on clays that, 

 while it is not so good as tough rock for the 

 heavy traffic in cities, it would prove durable 

 for country roads, where the teams are few 

 and the loads light. It can be prepared 

 wherever the clay is, and often by the road- 

 side ; and as the heaviest roads are those in 

 clay soils, these may be made themselves to 

 furnish the material for their own improve- 

 ment. 



THE failure of British girls' schools to 

 achieve the results intended in scientific 

 training was ascribed by Miss L. Edna Wal- 

 ter in the British Association to the two rea- 



sons that only the faculty of observation is, 

 as a rule, cultivated, and that the work is 

 not begun low enough down in the school. 

 A gently graduated scientific course is, in 

 the view of the author, wanted, beginning 

 with the simplest experiments for young 

 children, and gradually increasing in com- 

 plexity till the girls reach the age of about 

 sixteen. From beginning to end the course 

 should be practical in character, and quanti- 

 tative as far as possible. Such a course can 

 be followed if practical arithmetic be made 

 the starting point. This leads naturally to 

 elementary physics, chiefly hydrostatics, and 

 finally to a course of elementary chemistry. 

 It is an important feature of the course sug- 

 gested that the children should use no text- 

 books ; their own notes written in their own 

 language should form their books of refer- 

 ence. In this way their literary powers are 

 cultivated ; but, above all, they learn to rely 

 upon themselves. 



A REMARKABLE discovery has been made 

 near Perm of an extensive burial place of 

 the supposed old inhabitants of Russia, the 

 Chuds, from which exceedingly rich collec- 

 tions of implements have been recovered. 

 Among them are at least a hundred earthen- 

 ware vessels, and " cart loads " of broken 

 pieces of earthenware ornamented with all 

 sorts of figures illustrating the life of the 

 people. Of these are men sitting on horse- 

 back and in small boats, nine engravings of 

 bees and flies, fifty-nine engravings of birds, 

 more than a hundred of different mammals, 

 and ten of snakes. Three masks and one 

 head of mammals were also found, a large 

 silver plate representing a man standing on 

 some animal, eight smaller silver pieces, a 

 hundred and forty one bronze plates, sev- 

 eral bronze statuettes, and " an immense 

 number" of rings, stars, bells, small models 

 of sledges, thimbles, arrowheads, hatchets, 

 knives, nearly four hundred gilded bronze 

 pearls, fishing hooks, skulls of stags, various 

 carnivorous animals, etc. 



IT is stated by Prof. T. F. Wright that 

 recent exploration in Palestine clearly shows 

 that all the ancient chronicles in regard to 

 the wall of Jerusalem were trustworthy. It 

 had a very strong wall, with frequent tow- 

 ers or bastions. The wall ran all around 

 the brow of Zion Hill, crossing the Tyropaean 



