June 25, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



575 



ly, and thus see for themselves the sad results of 

 vague speculation ; they must learn by direct ex- 

 periment that there is such a thing in the world 

 as truth, and that their own mind is most liable 

 to error ; they must try experiment after experi- 

 ment, and work problem after problem, until they 

 become men of action, and not of theory. 



This, then, is the use of the laboratory in gen- 

 eral education. — to train the mind in right modes 

 of thought by constantly bringing it in contact 

 with absolute truth, and to give it a pleasant and 

 profitable exercise, which will call all its powers 

 of reason and imagination into play. Its use in 

 the special training of scientists needs no remark, 

 for it is well known that it is absolutely essential. 

 The only question is, whether the education of 

 specialists in science is worth undertaking at all ; 

 and of these I have only to consider natural phi- 

 losophers or physicists. I might point to the world 

 around me, to the steam-engine, to labor-saving 

 machinery, to the telegraph, to all those inven- 

 tions which make the present age the 'age of 

 electricity,' and let that be my answer. Nobody 

 could gainsay that the answer would be com- 

 plete ; for all are benefited by these applications 

 of science, and he would be considered absurd 

 who did not recognize their value. These follow 

 in the train of physics, but they are not physics : 

 the cultivation of physics brings them, and al- 

 ways will bring them : for the selfishness of man- 

 kind can always be relied upon to turn all things 

 to profit. But in the education pertaining to a 

 university we look for other results. The special 

 physicist trained there must be taught to cultivate 

 his science for its own sake. He must go forth 

 into the world with enthusiasm for it, and try to 

 draw others into an appreciation of it, doing his 

 part to convince the world that the study of 

 nature is on^ of the most noble of pursuits, that 

 there are other things worthy of the attention of 

 mankind besides the pursuit of wealth. He must 

 push forward, and do what he can, according to 

 his ability, to further the progress of his science. 



Thus does the university, from its physical 

 laboratory, send forth into the world the trained 

 physicist to advance his science, and to carry to 

 other colleges and technical schools his enthusi- 

 asm and knowledge. Thus the whole country is 

 educated in the subject, and others are taught to 

 devote their lives to its pursuit, while some make 

 the applications to the ordinary pursuits of life 

 that are appreciated by all. 



But for myself I value in a scientific mind most 

 of all that love of truth, that care in its pursuit, 

 and that humility of mind, which makes the pos- 

 sibility of error always present more than any 

 other quality. This is the mind which has built 



up modern science to its present perfection, which 

 has laid one stone upon the other with such care 

 that it to-day offers to the world the most com- 

 plete monument to human reason. This is the 

 mind which is destined to govern the world in the 

 future, and to solve problems pertaining to politics 

 and humanity as well as to inanimate nature. 



It is the only mind which appreciates the im- 

 perfections of the human reason, and is thus care- 

 ful to guard against them. It is the only mind 

 that values the truth as it should be valued, and 

 ignores all personal feeling in its pursuit. And 

 this is the mind the physical laboratory is built to 

 cultivate. Henry A. Rowland. 



THE FORMATION OF STRUCTURELESS 

 CHALK BY SEAWEEDS. 



Chalk has hitherto been believed to be a deep- 

 sea formation only, made up of a fine ooze or mud 

 at great depths, and undoubtedly, so far as the ex- 

 tensive cretaceous deposits are concerned, the ex- 

 planation is the correct one ; but recent observa- 

 tions by Mr. J. Walther on the chalk-secreting 

 algae of the Mediterranean show that its forma- 

 tion often occurs in shallow water. It has been 

 known for some time that the nullipores were 

 chalk-secreting algae, and that under certain con- 

 ditions, as in the formation of coral islands, they 

 took more or less part in the production of rock. 

 Where their remains are found in any abundance, 

 chalk formations are readily enough ascribed to 

 their agency, but it is now shown that more or 

 less extensive beds, or rather banks, of wholly 

 structureless chalk, whose origin has been often- 

 times enigmatical, may be entirely due to sea- 

 weeds. 



Mr. Walther observed certain forms (Lithotham- 

 nia) in different places in the Gulf of Naples, grow- 

 ing luxuriantly at a depth of from one to three 

 hundred feet below the surface, and traced out the 

 relation between the masses of dead residual mat- 

 ter and the incompletely transformed beds of fossil 

 chalk. These Lithothamniae have a remarkably 

 small proportion of organic material (not more 

 than five or six per cent), nearly the entire sub- 

 stance consisting of mineral matter, chiefly car- 

 bonate of lime. The plants reach only the size of 

 one's fist, and do not change their form at death, 

 owing to the small quantity of decaying matter 

 they contain. The living plants secure attachment 

 to the dead ones, forming extensive beds. The 

 numerous stout branches of less than a fourth of 

 an inch in length admit of only small interstices ; 

 in slow-growing beds inequalities and shallow de- 

 pressions may be filled with layers of detritus. 



The organic structure disappears to a greater or 



