178 
THE SCIENTIST. 
an apparent endeavor to produce a 
natural likeness, which evidently 
the animal carvings will bear out. 
In the carvings representing the 
animals, the wild cat and especially 
the jouma, holds its tongue in a })0- 
sition which is characteristic of the 
ancient works, both in stone and 
clay of Central Arnerica and Mexico. 
The exterior of the A^ase is of rec- 
tangular form and the interior is 
circular, being scooped out to a 
capacity of about half a pint; the 
creases and irregular parts still re- 
tain a crust-like formation, com- 
l)osed mostly of alkali, which formed 
during its exposure to the soil in 
which it was buried. 
The vase was excavated near Ex- 
eter, Barry County, Missouri, in 
the construction of the Exeter di- 
vision of the St. Louis and San 
Francisco Railway in 1880, and was 
presented to the writer by Mr. J. L. 
Stubblefield, C.E. 
It is to be regretted that the depth 
beneath the surface from which it 
was taken, also the exact nature of 
the soil can not be given, as the la- 
borers brought it in after their day's 
work simply for a curiosity of an 
ordinary character, and it is not 
known to have formed a part of any 
financial transaction. 
Exeter is situated on an extensive 
plateau or table land of the Ozark 
mountains, about two thousand feet 
above sea level; this table land 
slopes in a southerly direction, 
broken, prairie like, with ravines and 
hills of small magnitude which are 
covered with a dark soil, susceptible 
of growing the finest farm products. 
Arrow heads, lances, scrapers 
and other relics of the stone age are 
so frequently unearthed as to war- 
rant a conclusion that at some re- 
mote time this locality was exten- 
sively populated. 
Wri/Zen for the Scientist. 
Mathematics, 
lii' John Mal,onev. 
It is not my intention to enter into 
a lengthy discussion of the practical 
utility of the mathematics, nor is it 
my ]nirpose to point out the relative 
merits of their various branches, but 
I shall at once strive, with as much 
brevity and as little dryness as pos- 
sible, to make a plea for their culti- 
vation, that is to show that an as- 
siduous application to their study is 
most highly conducive to the 'devel- 
opment of the individual mind, the 
extension of the realm of science and 
the progressive expansion of the laws 
of thought. 
Of all the mental faculties, reason 
undoubtedly holds the highest and 
most important place. It is the calm, 
invisible and unbiassed preceptor 
that teaches us to distinguish be- 
tween the just and the unjust, the 
right and the wrong, and that })oints 
out with unerring correctness what 
is good, beautiful and true. Whether 
we sit by the peasant's humble 
hearth or enter the councils of the 
nation, ever is it pre-eminent, ever 
all-ruling. 
