Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 26.djvu/440

426 disks, or slips strung on cords. The common copper "cash" is made in imitation of this tortoise-shell currency, and is strung in a similar manner, and is used in ceremonial observances, like the American wampum. This form of money may originally have been introduced from China to the tribes of the western part of the continent, by means of shipwrecked junks. A discussion having risen as to whether wampum was a real currency or measure of value, Mr. Gushing stated that it had a definite value among the Zuñis, Dr. Tylor said that the shell-money is in use among the Melanesians, just as other currency is in the trade of civilized nations, and when lent is expected to be returned, with interest; the borrower of nine strings is expected to pay ten strings at the end of a month.

Homologies between North America and Europe.—Herr Valentine Ullrich has drawn a comparison of the morphologies of North America and Europe, for the purpose of showing that these two continents, though widely separated, exhibit, in their horizontal extension and the conditions dependent upon it, such points of agreement as can not be found in a similar degree between any other two parts of the world. He suggests that they may therefore be regarded as like two organic beings of the same species; as alike when regarded in the aggregate, and exhibiting the differences constituting individuality only in the details. North America should be considered as a sixth quarter of the globe, independent of the adjoining continent, the boundary-line from which is easier to draw than that separating Asia from Europe. The line is that marked by the Rio Chicapa or Chimalapa, flowing to the Gulf of Tehuantepec, and the Rio Quetzocoalcos, flowing to the Gulf of Campeachy, the sources of which rivers, only about four miles apart, are connected by the broad depression of the pass Portillo de Tarifa. It is recognized that the degree of civilization and intelligence which Europe has attained has been promoted by its situation between the seas, by its easy accessibility, by the extent of its river systems, by its numerous harbors, and by its freedom from impassable mountain-ranges. Similar conditions in North America tend to bring about a similar inevitable result; and this continent, not only on account of the energy of its inhabitants, but also on account of the advantages of its topographical features and climate, is destined to be the rival of Europe. Its surprisingly quick development in greatness and wealth is the result of no accident, but is the consequence of favoring natural conditions, without which even its most enterprising population would not have been able to accomplish so much. By reason of those conditions, the American States are promised an important future, and Europe is assured against decrepitude and decadence. Europe has strongly in its favor the broken shape of its land masses and the convenience of its seas, which serve as highways to the distant countries they reach in every direction. North America possesses similar advantages, but in a less marked degree. It is vastly more extensive than Europe; but Europe has relatively the larger coast-line, and is much better provided with harbors.

Against Over-pressure in Schools.—Commissions have been at work in several of the German states investigating the conditions of over-pressure in the schools, and official action has been taken on their reports to relieve the evil, for which physical exercise has been found not to be a sufficient counteractive. In Hesse, a limit has been fixed to the amount of home-study that may be imposed, and tests of progress that necessitate much reviewing have been forbidden. The Saxon Government has issued decrees against excessive attention to technicalities and the imposition of useless exercises in the classical departments, and particularly against the "extemporalia" or dictation exercises in the foreign languages, which, it is said, are calculated to produce in the student "a feeling of anxiety and vexation instead of an agreeable consciousness of knowledge." In Baden, the teaching-hours and the hours for home-study have been reduced, and the memorization of Latin words is disapproved of. The study-hours have also been reduced in Alsace-Lorraine, and six hours a week of physical exercise imposed. A petition, signed by teachers, physicians, and others, has been addressed to the Prussian Chamber of