306 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 36. 



We had some little faith in the truth of the 

 old saying that lightning never strikes twice in 

 the same place, and as all signs of the storm had 

 disappeared we now felt reasonably secure. 



By noon, however, the weather again changed 

 and we experienced almost an exact reproduc- 

 tion of the events of the day before. 



This time the bolt of lightning struck earlier 

 in the evening and caused somewhat greater 

 damage. A small round hole was pierced 

 through one of the two-inch rafters of the ob- 

 servatory roof. The theodolite was again 

 struck, a second notch being melted in the rim 

 of the sunshade. The molten metal was again 

 spattered over the objective, and the pivots, the 

 wyes and all bearing surfaces where two dif- 

 ferent pieces of metal came in contact were 

 burned as before. This time the brick pier was 

 completely shattered and an eight-inch furrow 

 was ploughed through the rocky surface of the 

 summit for about fifteen yards, when it disap- 

 peared beneath a snow bank. A little later 

 upon the same evening a bolt struck the verticle 

 circle, but did comparatively little damage to 

 that instrument. A hole was burnt in the tent, 

 the ridge pole was somewhat splintered, the 

 wooden stand which supported the instrument 

 was badly shattered, and a small furrow was 

 ploughed through the ground. A small blaster 

 upon the circle showed the effect of the passage 

 of the electric. 



In my former experience I have found that 

 all electric phenomena were more marked and 

 the shocks more violent on sharp, isolated peaks. 

 For some reason. Mount Elbert seems to be an 

 exception, and I have come to the conclusion 

 that there must have been something powerfully 

 attractive in the rock composing the peak, per- 

 haps a bed of magnetic ore. 



P. A. Welkee. 



SCIENTIFIC LITEBATUBE. 

 The Prinviples of Physics. By Alfred P. Gage, 



Ph. D. Boston, Ginn & Co. 1895. Pp. 634, 



with 493 illustrations. 



Thirteen years ago the author of this text- 

 book, after many previous years of practical ex- 

 perience as a teacher in high school work, put 

 forth a manual for high schools, the guiding 

 principle of which was expressed in the words, 



' Read Nature in the Language of Experiment. ' 

 He advocated the plan of putting the pupil from 

 the outset in the position of an inductive in- 

 quirer, of placing in his hands the simplest ap- 

 paratus that could be made available, and of 

 causing the experiment, whenever possible, to 

 precede the formulation of the truth to be ap- 

 prehended. 



There were already many others who believed 

 in the extension of the objective method of in- 

 struction to all subjects in which it could be 

 made applicable, but Dr. Gage's position was 

 so radical as naturally to cause much healthy 

 discussion in relation to the practical limits of 

 the inductive method in schools. The opinion 

 is now very generally held that, in the teaching 

 of physics, laboratory practice should either ac- 

 company or closely follow the study of princi- 

 ples ; but it can scarcely be said that there are 

 very many successful teachers who now advo- 

 cate the plan of trying to make original dis- 

 coverers of all the students who are required to 

 become acquainted with the elements of physics 

 within the limited time usually alloted in a high 

 school or college programme. The brighter 

 pupils may indeed be so directed as to be led to 

 the rediscovery of some long-known truths ; but 

 these are also the ones whose eagerness causes 

 them to devour with a^ddity all the information 

 they can glean from books. The prescribed ex- 

 periment is performed and the corresponding 

 deduction is correctly expressed ; but the knowl- 

 edge had been acquired beforehand, so that the 

 experiment merely confirms what had already 

 been apprehended, instead of opening out a new 

 avenue to knowledge. Pupils whose ability is 

 only medium, or less than average, may follow 

 the instructions given, but are seldom able to 

 formulate the corresponding law except under 

 guidance. Original discovery is for them out of 

 the question. No law of nature has ever been 

 discovered, even by a mature investigator, as 

 the outcome of a single experiment ; and- the 

 most successful investigators are keenly alive to 

 the difficulty of so isolating the conditions of 

 experiment as to exclude what is confusing or 

 misleading. No one is ready to make a dis- 

 covery in physics without considerable prelimi- 

 nary knowledge of principles. 



In the present volume Dr. Gage avoids insist- 



