290 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. VI., No. 139. 



The reason they don't grow that way is because they 

 have joints. Joints is good things to have in bones. 

 There are two or three kinds. The ball-and-socket 

 joint, like my shoulder, is the best. Teacher showed 

 it to us, only it was the thigh-joint of a cow. One end 

 was round, smooth, and whitish: that was the ball 

 end. The other end was saucer-like: that is the 

 socket, and it oils itself. 



Another joint is the hinge-joint, like my elbow. 

 It swings back and forth oiling itself, and never creaks 

 like the schoolroom-door does. The other joint aint 

 much of a joint. That is in the skull, and it don't 

 have no motion. 



All of my bones put together in their right places 

 makes a skeleton. If I leave out any, or put some 

 in the wrong place, it aint no skeleton. Cripples and 

 deformed people do not have no skeletons. 



Some animals have their skeletons on the outside.- 

 I'm glad I aint them animals; for my skeleton, like 

 it is on the chart, would not look well on my outside. 



This composition is an excellent illustration 

 of ' how not to do it.' An illustration of so- 

 called science teacJii7)g^ telling facts to chil- 

 dren instead of leading them to find out facts 

 for themselves, of learning instead of the ac- 

 quisition. In this case the fault lies partly with 

 the topic. A child learns by sight and by 

 touch, not by faith. While it is possible for 

 an excellent teacher to illustrate an abstract 

 or an abstruse subject which cannot be seen 

 or touched, so that the child may grasp the 

 essential points, it is not probable that one in 

 a hundred of those now engaged in teaching 

 will do so without too great an expenditure of 

 time. Teachers as well as housewives often 

 fail to remember that children and uneducated 

 persons are able to grasp but one idea at a 

 time. The above composition shows plainly 

 that too many words were used in the attempt 

 to give too many ideas to the child in too short 

 a time. 



Professor Hyatt ('Science guide' No. 1., p. 

 6) , has well expressed the creed of those who 

 are advocating elementary science in public 

 schools, when he saj-s, "The idea is not to 

 teach, but to lead the mind to work out for 

 itself the simple physical problems herein de- 

 scribed, and thus almost unconscioush' to 

 arrive at the conclusions. 



"The time spent in making each step is, 

 therefore, of no consequence. The qualit}' of 

 the knowledge gained, and not its quantity, is 

 alone to be considered. This sort of knowl- 

 edge cannot be given b}^ another to the 

 scholar: it must be gained by work." 



The following composition, also the work of 

 a boy in a New-England grammar school, is 

 an example of ' how it may be done,' and 

 done, we venture to sa}', successfully ; for, in 



clearness and accuracy, it will compare favor- 

 ably with the answers to examination ques- 

 tions on similar topics written by boys of 

 seventeen pr eighteen in our higher schools. 



Iron Ores. 



This morning the teacher passed each boy three 

 specimens. One of the boys brought his specimens 

 to the desk, and the teacher tried them with a mag- 

 net. One of them was reddish, the other was yellow- 

 ish, and the other was black. The yellowish one and 

 the reddish one we found was not magnetic, but the 

 black one was magnetic. These specimens were all 

 iron ore, from which iron is obtained. From the 

 black ore, we found that the best iron was obtained 

 from it. 



We were then told to rub each specimen on a piece 

 of paper. The red specimen made a red mark, and 

 the yellow specimen made a yellow mark. From the 

 other specimen, which was black, the most of us 

 could not make it mark on account of its hardness; 

 but our teacher told us if they were some powder 

 on it, we could make it mark a black streak. 



Then the teacher took some small pieces of the 

 yellow ore and put them in a test-tube, and held the 

 tube over the flame of an alcohol-lamp, and each line 

 filled around to see what it formed in the tube, which 

 was water. There was no water in the tube when 

 the ore was put in, therefore it must have come from 

 the ore. This ore is called limonite or bog-iron ore, 

 because it has so much water in it, and is found in 

 wet, marshy places. The name of limonite came 

 from a word meaning meadow. 



The teacher then took them out of the test-tube, 

 and tried them with a magnet, and found they were 

 not magnetic. It was proved that they were not 

 pure iron, because they would not stick to the mag- 

 net. 



We found that these pieces of iron-ore contained 

 iron and oxygen, therefore they were iron oxides. 

 When these pieces were rubbed on paper they made 

 a streak like the red ore. The name of this red ore 

 is hematite, which means blood-red. Hematite is 

 composed of iron, oxygen, and no water; and once 

 it was supposed to be limonite, and the water driven 

 out of it by the heat of the earth. 



Teacher then took the pieces of limonite which 

 was heated in the test-tube, and put them in a piece 

 of charcoal, which is a form of carbon, and blew the 

 flame of an alcohol lamp on the charcoal by a blow- 

 pipe. After she got the most of the oxygen out of 

 the pieces, she then took them on a piece of paper, 

 and tested them with a magnet, and found the small- 

 est pieces were magnetic, because they were heated 

 the most. Tiie black ore is magnetite, which con- 

 tains the best iron. Ellen H. Richards. 



The composition on bones, by a boy nine or 

 ten 3^ears old, who has been made a subject for 

 science-teaching, illustrates very strongly the 



