32 SCIENCE. 



£F, but gaining enough energy by that means to make up for that 

 lost by friction with the air. He will thus gradually rise from the 

 ■earth, and at the same time drift along with the wind. 



Wm. H. Pickering. 



Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, Jan. i. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 310 



Various Definitions of Manual Training. 



The Great Lake Basins of the St. Lawrence. 



The following are the conclusions of a paper under the above 

 'title to appear during January in the Canadian Reco?-d of Science, 

 -and the object of which is to suggest what has been the origin of 

 the present contours of the Great Lakes : — 



That glaciers, while contributing some results, had not much 

 •effect in eroding the lake-basins proper, or in shaping the present 

 general outlines. 



That the superficial deposits are the accumulations of denudation 

 -during immense periods of time since the carboniferous and earlier 

 eras, and are not to be specially credited to the operation of gla- 

 •ciers. 



That Lake Superior is the most ancient of the lakes, dating its 

 -origin as far back as Cambrian, Keweenawan, and Huronian 

 times; that it is, in part at least, a synclinal trough ; that volcanic 

 action has had most to do with its origin and the shaping of its 

 ■coasts ; that its early outlet was through the depression in White- 

 -,fish Bay ; and that its waters joined the great pre-glacial river sys- 

 tem at or near the Straits of Mackinac. 



That Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Ontario were originally the 

 'Ijed of a pre-glacial river which first crossed the Ontario peninsula 

 -along the Niagara escarpment, and afterwards was diverted to 

 ja course by way of Long Point, Lake Erie, and the Dundas 

 valley ; that their basins were largely defined by the elevation of 

 the Niagara and Hudson River escarpments, and in more recent 

 times by warping of the strata and deposit of superficial sands and 

 •clays which blocked the old river-channels and resulted in the 

 lake-basins retaining their water on the final elevation of the land 

 to its present general levels. 



That the pre-glacial river system expanded into lakes of some 

 size in each of the present basins of Lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie, 

 and Ontario. 



That Lakes Erie and St. Clair are the most recent of the lakes, 

 and have at one time been more closely united ; and that the for- 

 mation of this united lake was due to the blocking of the old out- 

 lets both by superficial deposits and warping of the strata, and to 

 ■the water being thus retained in the basin on the final elevation of 

 the land to the levels of to-day. 



That great fractures at or near the outcrops of the strata occa- 

 ■sioned by the directions of the forces which elevated the strata, 

 ■originated, in many instances, the deep bays and inlets which in- 

 dent the Niagara and Hudson River escarpments, and rocky coast- 

 lines of Lakes Michigan and Huron ; these effects being afterwards 

 supplemented by the action of waves, currents, atmospheric causes, 

 -and probably local glaciers. 



That since the elevation of the land to the levels of to-day, the 

 action of waves and currents on the clay cliffs and sand deposits 

 -has in many places greatly rounded off the general outlines of the 

 -coast, and the material from this and other sources has been spread 

 over the lakes, or has served to create new features in the coast- 

 ■Jine elsewhere. A. T. Drummond. 



Montreal, December, 1888. 



Color of Katy-did. 



There has recently come into the possession of the writer a 

 •specimen of the Katy-did showing a remarkable variation in color. 

 The whole body is of a beautiful and delicate rose-pink. The 

 specimen, when captured, did not seem to be abnormal in any 

 -other respect. It has been identified by a member of the entomo- 

 logical division of the Agricultural Department as Phylloptera 

 -oblongifolia. It seems to be a rare variation, though from the 

 -same gentleman we learn that at least one similar case has been 

 recorded. A specimen exactly like this one in color is mentioned 

 by Riley in his " Sixth Report on the Insects of Missouri " as 

 ■.having iDeen sent to him many years ago. L. N. JOHNSON. 



Evanston, 111., Dec. 30. 



An article in Scietice of Jan. 4, under the caption of " An Au- 

 thoritative Definition of Manual Training," embodies an abstract of 

 the report of the special committee on manual training of the New 

 Jersey Council of Education, the semi-annual meeting of which 

 body was recently held at Trenton, N.J. The committee, in con- 

 cluding its report, submitted the following resolution, which was 

 unanimously adopted : — 



f^/«'ro.f there are several and conflicting uses of the term "manual 

 training," be it hereby 



Hesolved t\ia.\. the New Jersey Council of Education defines " manual 

 training" as ''training in thought-expression by other means than ges- 

 ture and verbal language, in such a carefully graded course of study as 

 shall also provide adequate training for the judgment and the executive 

 faculty." This training will necessarily include drawing and construc- 

 tive work, but experience alone can determine by what special means 

 this instruction may best be given. 



From an educational standpoint, the definition of " manual train- 

 ing " formulated by the committee would appear to be indisputable ; 

 but that the definition, supported as it is by the broad pedagogic 

 principles which underlie it, will be universally accepted as authori- 

 tative and final, is not as certain as that the definition is such as to 

 best subserve true educational aims. At least, it is safe to say that 

 thousands of educators and school-officers must eliminate from 

 their minds the impression that manual training has for its object 

 the learning of a trade or the acquisition of mechanical skill alone, 

 ere the definition given by the committee can have free course. 



Again : there are others who are unwilling to accept the dicta of 

 schoolmen, and who insist upon the mere technical or industrial 

 phase of manual training, and can see nothing beyond it. Any 

 thing that does not centre in this is, to them, an indubitable evi- 

 dence of inutility. Training of thought, of judgment, of expression, 

 etc., as educational stimuli, do not as potent factors enter into their 

 conception of the aim and end of manual training. 



That the training of the school workshop has a reflex influence 

 upon the traditional occupations and " studies " of the classroom, 

 causing pupils to reflect, to compare, to be careful and exact in 

 these also, has not thus far been taken into the estimate of the 

 worth of manual training as generally as the facts warrant ; for 

 manual training is not that of the hand alone, but of the intellect as 

 well. 



The joint training of the mental faculties and the hands tends to 

 dignify the labor of the latter, — the form of labor which by many 

 is alone recognized as " work." But it does not end there : it af- 

 fords at the same time opportunities for the discovery of latent in- 

 ventive or mechanical genius, and, when such discovery is made, 

 serves as a guide in the choice of employment. 



One must necessarily lead an unsatisfactory and precarious exist- 

 ence, who, from a false estimate of the relative respectability of two 

 or more employments, chooses that for which he has but little natu- 

 ral aptitude and less acquired skill. And is it not true that the 

 popular education of the past has tended toward the making of 

 such choices } Has it not tacitly inculcated the idea that profes- 

 sional employment — the law, medicine, the pulpit, or the profes- 

 sor's chair — is the " chief end of man " according to the creed of 

 the schools ? In numberless instances such choices have been 

 made, with the attendant and natural result of dismal failure. 



As a corrective, manual training brings to bear a species of crani- 

 ology which will eventually develop a more rational creed ; and this 

 view of manual training I conceive to be entirely compatible with 

 the definition which the committee on manual training formulated. 



O. M. Brands. 



Paterson, N.J . , Jan. 7. 



Color-Blindness. 

 A SHORT time ago I tested the color-perception of forty-two 

 boys who had had kindergarten training. Their ages were from 

 nine to fifteen. Not one of them made an error in matching colors. 

 They were not asked to name them. This result suggests further 

 investigation upon this class of pupils, not only to add one more 

 fact to our knowledge of color-blindness, but also to determine the 

 value of early instruction in colors. ARTHUR Stevens. 



Jefferson, N.Y., Jan. 6. 



