488 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IX., No. 224 



which jDartly accounts for the first, that there is no- 

 where in this country any place where even an idea 

 of what material there is, can be got. In short, we 

 do not have good material, because we do not know 

 what good material is. 



Siipposing, however, that all schools were fully 

 equipped in that line, there arises the other issue, 

 have we teachers who could properly use the material, 

 and in a scientific method produce in a pupil's mmd 

 that happy result so much talked of, so seldom seen ? 

 To this there are two answers, — yes and no. The 

 first apjDlies to teachers who would instruct the ele- 

 mentary classes. 



If the average normal-school graduate had been 

 properly trained by a broad-minded instructor in the 

 use of material, and made thoroiTghly acquainted 

 with the general facts of geography and its brother- 

 studies, botany, zoology, ethnology, etc. , such grad- 

 uate would be, in the primary and intermediate 

 schools, fully competent to do the work. But in 

 higher work, where scientific deduction should be 

 emploj^ed, where a wide and deep knowledge on the 

 part of the instructor is demanded, the average nor- 

 mal graduates could not do the work. They are not 

 mature enough, they do not know enough. I mean 

 what I say, when I say they do not know enough. 



They are not to blame. Geography needs a fund 

 of general information and of special information as 

 wide as a church-door and as deep as a well. No 

 teacher whose specialty is not geography ever ac- 

 quires it, and we have almost none who are devoted 

 to this one subject. The class- room system forbids. 



This upper stage of the work needs the mature 

 strength of college graduates, and of college gradu- 

 ates devoted to geography. Of such there are almost 

 none. 



In fact, I know of a vigorous attempt recently 

 made to find one, which ended in failure. Germany 

 alone provides her schools with such men. There 

 one must go to know the whole subject. 



These two points, then, being stated, there appears 

 to me but one way out. The best mode of reforming 

 the lower-grade teaching is available. Material 

 should be brought from the centres of geographical 

 interest abroad, and the school piiblic made aware 

 of the resources to be had. Then there might be an 

 advance there. 



As to teachers for the upper grade of geography, 

 until our colleges take a higher stand in regard to 

 requirements in the subject, and provide professors 

 who can teach the subject so that their students will 



have a real, living interest in the matter when they 

 leave college, — until then we must wait, content 

 with the few men who, of their own accord, work up 

 the subject from a professional stand-point, and in 

 their own circle of infiuence do really teach geogra- 

 phy. C. H. Leete. 

 New York, May 14. 



Queries. 



4. Test foe oleomaegakine. — Please give a sim- 

 ple test for distinguishing butter from oleomarga- 

 rine. — PJ 



[There is no simple test for distinguishing butter 

 from oleomargarine, — a test which at the same time 

 is simple and accurate, and which settles the ques- 

 tion beyond doubt. A great many tests have been 

 proposed from time to time, but the^^ either require 

 special skill and apparatus for their execution, or 

 they are of very little value, failing to accomplish 

 what they promise. The following test will perhaps 

 be found of some use : a cotton wick is saturated 

 with melted fat from the butter to be tested ; the 

 wick is lighted, allowed to burn for a short time, and 

 then blown out. If the sample is oleomargarine or 

 adulterated butter, an offensive odor, as of an extin- 

 guished tallow candle, will be perceived. It is to be 

 noted, however, that pure butter which has stood for 

 a long time will give the same smell. Another test 

 is the following, devised by J. Horsley : a little of 

 the clear, melted fat is poured into a small test-tube ; 

 the fat is dissolved in common sulphuric ether, and 

 about thirty drops of spirit of wine are then added ; 

 if natural butter, a white precipitate will be formed ; 

 if artificial butter, the sohition will remain clear. 

 While these tests may sometimes prove efl&cient, they 

 will often leave the point unsettled. Other tests 

 proposed for discrimination between oleomargarine 

 and natural butter may be of more value, but, call- 

 ing for special apparatus and solvents, they can 

 hardly be called practical or simple. Chemical 

 analysis of suspected samples will decide the question 

 beyond dispute : outside of the chemical, laboratory 

 we have as yet no practical means of fully ascer- 

 taining whether a sample of butter is natural or arti- 

 ficial. ^Ed.] 



5. A SQUAEE PUZZLE. — Having a rectangle nine 

 by sixteen, is it possible by one cut to make two 

 figures which joined shall make a square twelve by 

 twelve? — Z. 



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