510 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VI , No. 149. 



fornia. The professorships might as well be 

 divided around among the states, as the places in 

 the board of regents. The influence of sectional 

 feehng could but be felt, and would certainly be 

 injurious. 



The demand by the American people for a 

 higher education, referred to by Secretary Lamar, 

 evidently means free education. The gift of such 

 an education would rest in the hands of the 

 members of congress, and would only place so 

 much injurious patronage at their disposal. Our 

 leading universities are already so well supplied 

 with scholarships, and there are so many benevo- 

 lent people standing ready to give assistance, that 

 no deserving American boy need despair, from 

 want of funds, of obtaining a liberal education. 



Another point to be considered, before con- 

 gress attempts to establish a university, is 

 whether it would not be acting on un-American 

 principles. During the war the country became 

 accustomed to seeing the powers of the govern- 

 ment exerted energetically for destructive pur- 

 poses, and since the war there has been success in 

 turning this power to the aid of the arts of peace, 

 and markedly in the building of railroads. Had 

 we not better leave the paternal government to 

 Europe, and follow the example of our ancestors, 

 who well understood, that, to make the people free 

 and self-reliant, it is necessary to let them take 

 care of themselves, even if they do not take quite 

 as good care of themselves as some superior power 

 might? We have already several good universi- 

 ties. Let us turn our energies to their develop- 

 ment, and to the aid of those promised in the 

 newer parts of the country. 



THE DECAY OF THE OBELISK. 



At the time the obelisk was placed in its present 

 position in Central park, considerable discussion 

 was aroused as to the ability of the stone to with- 

 stand the rigors of our chmate. Upon examination 

 the surface of the obelisk appeared so fresh, that au- 

 thorities consulted at the time seemed to think that 

 we need give ourselves no uneasiness as to the dura- 

 bility of the stone, and concluded that any action 

 of climatic agencies would proceed with extreme 

 slowness. Now, within less than five years, the 

 commissioners of pubUc parks in New York, act- 

 ing under advice of Dr. Doremus, have found it 

 necessary to cover the obelisk with a preparation 

 of paraffine. 



My attention dm'ing the past summer haviag 

 been called to certain forms of weathering, due, 



as I supposed, to the expansion and contraction 

 of the surface from excessive daily changes of 

 temperature, I desired to examine the obelisk. 

 Through the courtesy of the park commissioners, 

 I was invited to inspect it at the time the scaffold- 

 ing was first erected for the purpose of making a 

 prehminary examination of the shaft from base to 

 apex. While expecting to find some crumbling, I 

 was quite unprepared for the rapid disintegration 

 observed on all sides. 



Comments upon the recent condition of the 

 stone have led to some misconception as to the 

 cause of the weathering. It has frequently been 

 spoken of as the result of the action of the atmos- 

 phere, causing chemical decomposition of indi- 

 vidual minerals in the rock. This is a mistake. 

 The weathering, in my opinion, is almost wholly 

 a process of disintegration, and not of decomposi- 

 tion. 



At the time of the preliminary examination, the 

 surface of the granite was found to be more or 

 less in a state of disintegration ; fragments being 

 easily detached with any sharp-pointed instru- 

 ment, while on the scaffolding pieces several inches 

 in length were removed by means of the small 

 blade of a penknife. One piece which I collected, 

 taken from the west side of the obelisk, measured 

 ten inches in length, and over one-half inch in 

 tliickness. A thin tabular specimen from the 

 south face was four inches long by three wide. 

 Since then, I understand, much larger pieces have 

 been removed. An examination of both the firmer 

 parts of the obelisk and the detached pieces 

 present an equally unaltered condition of the con- 

 stituent minerals. Indeed, the most marked fea- 

 ture of the rock is its fresh appearance. 



A thin section of the rock, prepared for exami- 

 nation under the .microscope, presents identical 

 characters with those given by Dr. Stelzner of the 

 Freiberg mining academy, who made a careful 

 study of the mineral composition of the stone, to 

 accompany the report of the late Lieutenant-Com- 

 mander Gorringe. Little need be said here as to 

 its composition. It is a hornblende mica granite, 

 rich in felspar, with the relatively large crystals 

 of hornblende greatly subordinate to the mica. 

 The accessory minerals are magnetite, sphene, 

 apatite, and zircon. It is in no respects an un- 

 common rock, and in Ainerica occurs in many 

 locahties in the far west. Even in minute details 

 it bears the closest resemblance to the granite of 

 the great Mormon temple in Salt Lake City. For 

 building purposes the latter rock is probably the 

 better, being more compact and finer-grained. 



The microscopic section prepared for the pur- 

 pose of observing what chemical decomposition, if 

 any, had taken place, shows almost no alteration 



