October 16, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



337 



young pupil. It is, I take it, by a girl, though your 

 article says a boy. But is there much real value in 

 the exercise even when such clearness is attained ? 



I make it a conscientious matter from the first to 

 answer all child questions about nature in a truthful 

 manner. They are never put off with false theories 

 involving supernatural or other agencies. For in- 

 stance, what child fails by three to five years of age 

 to ask how do the stars stay up there ? How easy to 

 put him off with some farcical or miraculous supposi- 

 tion. On the contrary, the simplest possible attempt 

 should be made to give him the real explanation. 

 Will he understand it ? If not entirely, he will be on 

 the right road. There will not be something to undo 

 by and by. Why can he not understand attraction 

 as well as you or I ? Only he must have it explained by 

 what he is familiar with. 



We are getting on the right track. Science fur- 

 nishes studies infused with romance. No novel has 

 the fascination for young people of a well-told geology 

 or biology. E. P. Powell. 



The care of pamphlets. 



Every scientific Ubrary, public or private, con- 

 tains pamphlets by the thousand, and nothing is more 

 necessary for the accommodation of those who use it 

 than some available system of binding which shall 

 preserve from destruction and at the same time be 

 accessory to a convenient system of classification. 



Some system of permanent individual bindings is 

 needed which shall afford 1°. permanent protection ; 

 2\ the possibility of a perfect classification, and 

 the intercalation of new material from day to 

 day ; 3". opportunity for perfect labelling and cata- 

 loguing ; 4". the greatest convenience to the reader. 

 The best endowed public libraries can perhaps afford 

 to pay a bookbinder to put separate covers on 

 pamphlets, and it is the practice of many of them 

 thus to care for the most important. The cost is, 

 however, very considerable. What the private in- 

 dividual needs is a binding-case much more inexpen- 

 sive—one in which he can himself insert his pamphlets. 

 Feeling sure that it was possible to meet this need, I 

 undertook an investigation. The bookbinders, with 

 their skilled workmen and their expensive binder's 

 board, did not seem to be in a position to supply this 

 demand. I found upon inquiry that the simplest 

 form of binding- case cost from twelve to fifteen 

 cents. I next turned to the paper-box manufac- 

 turers, who employ unskilled laborers, and who use 

 less expensive materials. I found that binders for 

 octavo pamphlets, when ordered in considerable 

 quantities, could be made for $4.50 a hundred, and 

 quarto binders for $7.50 a hundred. These binders 

 are made with sides of thick paper- pulp board, which 

 is not likely to warp, and with backs of binder's 

 muslin, and are covered with binder's paper. They 

 have muslin stubs, upon which the pamphlets may be 

 glued, and may be made of varying thickness. The 

 most useful sizes will doubtless be one-eighth, one- 

 quarter, one-half, three-quarters and one inch. The 

 sizes I use are, octavo, 6 8-4x10 inches; quarto, 10x12 

 inches. The octavo covers are made larger than the 

 ordinary octavo page, to include papers in imperial 

 octavo ; duodecimo pamphlets may also be put in 

 these covers, for the sake of uniformity, and con- 

 venience in classification. Each binder has a blank 

 label on one of its upper corners, upon which the name 

 of its contents are written. I arrange these in paper 



boxes, upon ordinary book shelves, so placed that the 

 contents of each box may be handled in the same 

 manner as the cards in a card catalogue, the position 

 of the title labels facilitating this operation. A system 

 of deep drawers would be equally convenient. 



I also use these pamphlet-cases for filing letters,, 

 photographs, newspaper clippings and other literary 

 material. A stout manilla envelope being glued to 

 the stub with its opening to the right, and next to the 

 back, is covered and protected by the sides of the 

 binder, and may be filled with loose papers, their 

 character being indicated upon the label out- 

 side. The binder may then be arranged with the 

 pamphlets or elsewhere. Classified scrap-books may 

 very easily be made by fastening a few sheets of 

 book paper to the stubs, and bundles of letters may 

 be bound in in a similar manner. I have for years 

 used binding- covers of a still cheaper and simpler 

 form, which are simply sheets, 9 1-2x13, made of the 

 stout, thick paper used in herbaria for genus covers. 

 These are fastened to the pamphlets by the use of 

 the patent staple-like paper fasteners, sold by 

 stationers. They are labelled and arranged in the 

 same manner as the binders, as described above, and 

 serve an excellent purpose, the paper, though less 

 indestructible than is desirable, being very stiff and 

 durable. It is simply waste of time to use even the 

 thickest of ordinary manilla paper for this purpose. 



This note is sent in the hope that it may draw 

 forth descriptions of other methods of caring for 

 pamphlets. G. Brown Goode. 



U. S. national museum, Washington. 



Color and other associations. 



In Science for the 18th of September, I was much 

 interested in the letters on ' color and other associa- 

 tions,' fori have always experienced similar illusions. 

 According to my fancy, the months have always ap- 

 peared as below. 



The days of the week are in the form of a circle^ 

 Sunday on top, Thursday below ; the days rotating 

 from right to left. Sunday appears yellow, Monday 

 pale straw, Tuesday green, Wednesday yellow, Thurs- 

 day orange, Friday black, and Saturday whitish 

 gray. The numbers arrange themselves as follows: 



100 



I 



95— 9Q- 



-80- 



-75- 



-70- 



56- 



-52 

 50 



i 



45- 



35- 



26- 



-42 

 -40 



Od". 



-20 



■la 



When I think of a number I always place it in the 

 diagram. Above 100, the numbers go between the 

 hundreds Hke the diagram, and the hundreds them- 

 selves follow a similar course. 



