3i6 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XXI. No. 540 



In both these localities the fossiliferous beds consist of gray sand- 

 stones holding a fauna of European facies, several of the species 

 being common to these and the Russian deposits. Overlying the 

 Ordovioian strata at Conception Bay are the sandstones of Great 

 Bell Island, which, as they contain Brachiopods of the Trimerellid 

 family, are probably Silurian (Upper). The fossiliferous Ordo- 

 Tician deposits in New Brunswick and Maine are either fine, dark 

 shales and slates or siliceous mud-rocks, and indicate the probable 

 existence of oue or more deep-water sounds in Ordovician times 

 partly shut off from the ocean over the area of the Acadian 

 provinces. 



Mr. G. U. Hay contributed an interesting paper, which received 

 hearty endorsement and well-merited comments, on the " History 

 and Present State of Botany in New Brunswick." The subjects 

 dealt with in this paper are: 1. The History of Botany in New 

 Brunswick, referring briefly to the explorations made by botanists 

 in this and the neighboring provinces in the first half of the 

 present century, noting the discoveries of plants made and the 

 partial or fragmentary lists, chiefly of forest trees. Of these 

 lists, probably one of the earliest and fullest is that by Sir James 

 E. Alexander, preserved in his second volume on "L'Acadie," 

 and comprising over one hundred species of plants, shrubs, and 

 trees collected between Petitcodiac and Boiestown. 3. The Present 

 State of Botany in New Brunswick, showing that a fairly com- 

 plete survey of the Phenogamous flora of the province has been 

 made, with the result that lists aggregate between nine hundred 

 and a thousand species of flowering plants. A beginning has also 

 been made in the cryptogamous flora by the preparation of short 

 lists of mosses, lichens, and algee. The economic importance of a 

 wider and more general study of this subject is urged, especially 

 with regard to agriculture and forestry; the collection of infor- 

 mation on the time of flowering of plants and the ripening of 

 fruits each year at many stations throughout the Province ; more 

 attention paid to the medicinal plants found in the Province, and 

 more general and systematic attempts made for the extermination 

 of weeds. 



Three more geological papers were on the programme, but, on 

 account of the gentlemen who were to read them being absent or 

 engaged in the work of other sections, they were "read by title." 

 These are as follows: "Note on the Gold-Bearing Ore of the 

 Crawford Mine, in Peterborough County, Ont.," by Professor E. 

 J. Chapman, LL.U. "Notes sur le forage d'un puits artesien 

 dans le quartier du Palais, Quebec," par I'Abbe J. C. K. Laflamme. 

 Ce puits a ete creusfi dans un terrain dont I'horizon geologique ne 

 semble pas encore absolument etabli. L'examen des echantillons 

 qui en ont ete tires pourrait etre de nature a jeter un peu de 

 Jumiere sur ce probleme de stratigraphie. " Note sur la valeur 

 de I'ouvrage de J. Cornuti sur les plantes du Canada," par I'Abbe 

 J. C. K. Laflamme. L'auteur, dans sa monographic sur M. 

 Sarrazin, avait dejil donne des details capables de servir a I'his- 

 toire des sciences au Canada. En examinant I'ouvrage de Cor- 

 nuti, publie longtemps avant les travaux de Sarrazin, il espere 

 ajouter une page a peu pres inconnue au plus grand nombre de 

 nos botanistes. L'ouvrage de Cornuti a ^te imprime a Paris en 

 1634. Par consequent, des le commencement de la colonie, on y 

 a toujours prete le plus vif interet au developpement des sci- 

 ences, et les travaux qui ont ete faits sur ce point ont une valeur 

 rfielle. 



Altogether the meetings were a great success. Dr. George M. 

 Dawson, C.M.G., etc., was elected president of the Royal Society, 

 and Dr. Bourinot honorary secretary. Heney M. Am. 



THE PLACE OF THE LABORATORY IN TEACHING 

 PHYSICS. 



BT A. D. COLE, DENISON UNIVEKSITY, GRANVILLE, OHIO. 



The use of laboratory methods in teaching physics has become 

 almost universal in American colleges. But it may well be 

 questioned whether the usual plan followed is the best one. Most 

 colleges require elementary physics as a condition for admission, 

 but this preparation is usually obtained in schools where no op- 

 portunity for systematic laboratory work is given, and the stu- 



dent enters college completely ignorant of laboratory manipula- 

 tion, sometimes indeed without having even seen his teacher 

 perform experiments. In his sophomore or junior year he takes 

 a lecture course in general physics, and at the same time or the 

 year following, a laboratory course. This latter course, however, 

 is often elective, so that many students graduate from college 

 without any laboratory knowledge of physics whatever. 



But suppose one does take the laboratory course, is it well 

 adapted to his needs ? It often has very little connection with 

 the lecture course, and is conducted by a different instructor. 

 The student begins his work with no training in the accurate use 

 of either hand or eye. Yet his first problem is often a difficult 

 one, involving the skilful handling of complicated apparatus. 

 He does not understand his instrument, turns to reference man- 

 uals, but finds their explanations are too general to help, or refer 

 to a form of apparatus difi'ering from his. The instructor can- 

 not help him at once, as he is busy with some other bewildered 

 student. He waits awhile, appeals to a neighbor in vain for 

 help, finally makes a desperate start and at once succeeds in get- 

 ting his instrument completely out of adjustment. When the 

 instructor does finally get to him, it perhaps takes all the time 

 that can be spared him to get the apparatus adjusted for a fresh 

 start. Two hours have passed, and almost nothing accomplished. 

 This is no fancy sketch. The writer has seen just such cases re- 

 peatedly, in several of the best-known laboratories in the coun- 

 try. Is it any wonder that students so misused find physios 

 " hard" and uninteresting? The trouble is not with their work, 

 but they have not been prepared to do it. Yet they can be pre- 

 pared and with no greater expenditure of time. 



Instead of giving the student ninety to a hundred and eighty 

 experimental lectures as a preliminary to such work, give him 

 about half that number, and in place of the other half let him 

 demonstrate for himself the principal facts of physics in a series 

 of about seventy-five measurements, requiring only moderate 

 precision, in order that he may have time for a sufficient number 

 of experiments to fairly illustrate his lecture course. Let him 

 do this while the lectures are in progress, not after they are fin- 

 ished. Let the lectures be given say twice a week, on the other 

 three days of the week give one hour to laboratory practice, and 

 a half hour to recitation on the work of the day and the lecture 

 of the preceding day. Keep laboratory work and lectures in 

 close connection. The ideal method is to have all the class work 

 simultaneously on the same subject — one connected with the 

 lecture of the preceding day — and to conclude with the half 

 hour of recitation. 



Of course it is impracticable to duplicate apparatus to such an 

 extent as to carry this system out perfectly, but if the class is 

 divided into pairs for work, and each pair be provided with 

 their own set of the instruments of frequent use, such as metric 

 rule, hand-balances, dividers, test-tubes, etc., a considerable 

 number of the earlier simple measurements can be carried on by 

 all simultaneously. Thus a few glass tubes with the articles 

 named above, will enable a whole class to study the laws of cap- 

 illarity together, with an approximate verification of the law of 

 diameters. 



Where but few duplications of apparatus are possible, five or 

 six different experiments may be going on together. To prevent 

 confusion and loss of time, the apparatus necessary for each is 

 placed by itself, and with it a paper describing briefly the method 

 to be followed and giving references to books kept in the labora- 

 tory for the purpose. Each paper may be designated by a num- 

 ber, and each working pair is assigned one of these numbers. A 

 class (or division) of twenty can thus get to work in one minute. 

 For example, suppose the class is just beginning the consideration 

 of specific gravity. Various methods of determining it have 

 been described in the lecture of the day before. The ten working 

 pairs are sent to the desks, where there are sets of apparatus 

 illustrating five different methods, each duplicated once. One 

 is arranged for finding the specific gravity of glass by the hydro- 

 static balance, another for that of lead by Nicholson's hydro- 

 meter, a third for that of quartz by the specific gravity flask, a 

 fourth for alcohol by Jolly's balance, a fifth for mercury by 

 Hare's communicating tubes. On the next laboratory day, each 



