138 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XII. No. 294 



September, and October no abatement of sickness may be hoped 

 for. By the first of November a pleasing change comes, and from 

 then until in the spring the temperature will be mild, the climate 

 delightful, and health, for Egyptians, fairly good. It is gratifying, 

 even under this burning sun and in hearing of these never-ending 

 songs of death, to know that a season will come against which but 

 few if any complaints may be entered. 



" July 25. — The average death-rate for the week ended July 19, 

 as shown in the health bulletin, reaches 97.2, while in Darb-el- 

 Ahmer quarter it amounted to 126, and in Bodlac quarter to 100. 

 Total deaths in this city were 685. 



" The average maximum temperature for the same week was 

 106*° F. ; extreme heat, 1 14-}'^. The average minimum tempera- 

 ture was 72^° ; the extreme minimum, 72j°. The observations 

 are taken at the Khedival Observatory, at Abbaseieh, two miles 

 north of Cairo, where the unobstructed sea-breezes produce a 

 lower temperature than in the city or south of it. Were it not for 

 the great relief in temperature at night, existence would be uneii- 

 durable." 



Supplementary Reading in Public Schools. 



With the single exception of industrial training, says the editor 

 of the miscellaneous discussions that will accompany the forth- 

 coming report of the United States commissioner of education, no 

 innovation has been made in the schools within the last few years 

 for which so much is claimed, and from which such far-reaching 

 results are expected by practical educators, as supplementary read- 

 ing. To form a taste for good reading, and thus overcome the evil 

 influences of pernicious, cheap literature, is the highest object which 

 it is hoped to secure ; but, apart from this, the use of the works of 

 standard authors in connection with the regular readers, furnishes, 

 according to the testimony of many superintendents, an excellent 

 means of testing the pupils' ability to read understandingly, and at 

 the same time imparts an interest to school-work which nothing 

 else can. In some cities not only standard books, but instructive 

 and entertaining periodicals, are provided. This is the case at 

 Canton, O., where the effects are thus described : — 



" These periodicals were used for class-reading supplementary 

 to the text-book, thus giving freshness, additional interest, and in- 

 struction in the reading-exercises. Pupils were allowed to take the 

 papers home for evening reading, and were also permitted to use 

 them during school-hours, providing they had any spare time after 

 the preparation of their lessons. The teachers find this school 

 literature a valuable help in moral instruction and in the intellec- 

 tual culture of the pupils. Providing reading-matter so elevating 

 in tone and so attractive is the best and surest way of overcoming 

 the habit of reading the trashy, demoralizing literature of the day. 

 There is marked improvement in taste for reading noticeable in 

 many instances. Some pupils who were formerly addicted to dime 

 novels and other sensational reading have voluntarily abandoned 

 that since we are furnishing them something better. A knowledge 

 of history, of current events, of familiar facts in science, and 

 language-culture, are some of the benefits resulting from this 

 work." 



At San Francisco, Cal., " the principals as a unit want supple- 

 mentary reading-matter." 



The school committee of Southbridge, Mass., sajr, "Supplemen- 

 tary reading, which has been gradually gaining ground for the past 

 three years, is one of the most advantageous results of the system 

 of free text-books. Its beneficial effects are plainly visible." 



From Steubenville, O., comes the following: "Supplementary 

 readers have now been in use long enough to enable us to judge of 

 the results. These are very satisfactory. The children can read 

 in any book of the grade of their reader, and not merely in the one 

 which they have learned by heart from hearing its lessons read over 

 and over, as was so often the case when but one reading-book was 

 used in a grade, and the reading is far better in every respect." 



In New Haven, Conn., " the method of teaching pursued requires 

 much independent reading by pupils, and so the habit of reading is 

 formed. Moreover, as supplementary to the school reading-books, 

 standard authors are being introduced, and are read somewhat 

 critically. We can well afford to teach a little less of arithmetic, if 

 by so doing we can insure a love of good books, and a habit of 

 reading that shall be a hfe-long benefit." 



The report of the committee on books and supplies at Lowell,, 

 Mass., mentions the subject thus : " With regard to supplementary 

 reading for the different schools, a very small quantity was pur- 

 chased, though, had your committee acted according to its incli- 

 nation, a generous sum would have been expended in this direction,, 

 as it is assured of the good resulting from a plentiful supply of 

 choice and suitable reading-matter for all the different classes." 



The Washington, D.C., teachers are told that " the supplemen- 

 tary books, to be read at sight, are second in importance only to 

 the text-books. They should be used at least for one exercise each 

 week. This part of the reading will show the practical results of 

 the efforts of the teacher and pupils." 



The New York City superintendent says, " The good that has- 

 been already accomplished by these supplementary readers suggests 

 a more comprehensive application of the same general idea." 



A number of titles have been lately added to the list of books, 

 authorized for use as supplementary readers in the Boston, Mass., 

 schools. 



At Bay City, Mich., a pupil must carefully read at least two books 

 of a prescribed list before he is entitled to promotion to the next 

 higher grade. 



The opinion of Mr. George Howland, superintendent of the 

 Chicago schools, is thus expressed : " One of the most serviceable 

 aids in the teaching of reading, enriching the pupil's vocabulary, 

 widening the range of his thought, and strengthening his grasp of 

 words and their meaning, is a wise use of the supplementary read- 

 ers which to a limited amount have been in use in our schools for 

 four or five years. With these books, in which most of the words, 

 though familiar, are employed in other relations, with a few new 

 words interspersed, the forms and meanings of the words are more 

 permanently fixed in the mind, the alertness of thought in seizing 

 upon the new words greatly quickened, and an ever-increasing in- 

 terest and power, both of thought and expression, secured, admit- 

 ting the pupils to more fruitful fields in the domain of history, 

 lileraturf , and science. No outlay of money, I think, can be more 

 usefully incurred than in furnishing a sufficient amount of well- 

 selected books for supplementary reading." 



The Annual Ring in Trees. 



The second annual report of Prof. B. E. Fernow, chief of the 

 division of forestry. Agricultural Department, has just appeared. It 

 is full of interesting information and suggestions. The following 

 interesting extracts are made from a brief discussion of the annual 

 ring of trees : — 



" We may touch here only briefly upon the influence of the annual 

 ring, and that especially for the purpose of asserting the existence 

 of the latter as such in all timber grown m the temperate zone, and 

 to call attention to the difference of structure of the annual ring in 

 different groups of timbers, as from the appearance of the annual 

 ring alone the quality of the timber may be judged to some extent. 

 In this the following three factors are to be taken into consideration : 

 the absolute width of the rings, the regularity in their width from 

 year to year, and the proportion of spring wood to autumn wood. 

 The spring wood is characterized by less substantial elements (ves- 

 sels of thin-walled cells in greater abundance), while the autumn, 

 wood is formed by thicker-walled cells, which therefore appear of 

 darker color. In the wood of conifers, and in that of deciduous- 

 leaved woods in which the vessels (appearing as pores on a trans- 

 verse cut) are most frequent in the spring wood, the annual ring is. 

 usually very distinctly visible; while in those woods which, like 

 birch, linden, maple, etc., have the pores (vessels) evenly distributed 

 throughout the annual ring growth, the distinction is not so marked. 

 Sometimes the gradual change in appearance of the annual ring; 

 from spring to autumn wood, which is due to the difference of its- 

 component elements, is interrupted in such a manner that seemingly 

 a more or less pronounced layer of autumn wood can be recognized, 

 which again gradually changes to spring or summer wood, and then 

 finishes with the regular autumn wood. This irregularity may 

 occur even more than once in the same ring. Such double or 

 counterfeit rings, which can be distinguished from the true annual- 

 rings by a practised eye with the aid of a magnifying-glass, have 

 led to the notion that the annual rings are not a true indication of 

 age. The cause of such irregularity may be sought in some tern- 



