Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 37.djvu/439

Rh distributed over more ground, and the deviation from the perpendicular would not have been so obvious. There are many leaning towers in Bologna, inclining in all directions; and few of the campaniles of Venice are perfectly upright.

Palæolithic Implements in the United States.—The Palæolithic implements of the District of Columbia, and indeed from all over the United States, as described by Mr. Thomas Wilson, are always chipped, never polished; are almond-shaped, oval, or sometimes approaching a circle; have their cutting edge at or toward the smaller end, and not, as in the Neolithic specimens, toward the broad end; are frequently made of pebbles, and with the original surface sometimes left unworked in places; and are exceedingly thick compared with their width, so much so as to make it apparent that they were never intended to have a shaft or handle after the fashion of the axe or arrow or spear-head. They were usually made of quartz, quartzite, or argillite; while the Neolithic man used any material that would grind to a smooth surface. They are not known to have been used by the American Indian, who when found by Europeans was in the Neolithic stage. Of the thousands of Indian mounds, cemeteries, graves, and monuments which have been explored, not one has ever yielded these Palaeolithic implements. The articles found in the District of Columbia are of the same type as Palæolithic implements found in the Trenton gravels; at Little Falls, Minn.; in Jackson County, Ind.; at Claymount, Del.; and at Loveland, Ohio; and all together contribute to prove that a real Palaeolithic period existed in the United States.

Sharing of Earnings.—After several years of experimenting, Mr. Alfred Dolge, of Dolgeville, Herkimer County, New York, has decided upon a plan for sharing with his employés the earnings of his manufacturing business. A share of the net earnings of the business is to be set aside each year, and applied for the benefit of the employés in three ways—as pensions, insurance, and endowment. Every male employé who becomes unable to work after a continuous service of ten years receives a pension equal to fifty per cent of his wages. Each three years of service over ten up to twenty-five, increases the pension ten per cent. A disabling accident happening to an employé while on duty entitles him to a fifty-per-cent pension, even if he has not served ten years. Employés are also entitled to a life-insurance policy for one thousand dollars after five years' service, to a second one after ten years, and a third after fifteen years. For each employé rejected by the insurance company with which the house contracts, and for those entering the service of the house when over forty years old, thirty-five dollars a year is deposited instead of the policy. After five years of consecutive service, also, an account is opened with each employé, upon which he will be credited at the end of each year according as the manufacturing record shows that he has earned more than has been paid him in the form of wages. If through gross carelessness any employé has caused the house a loss, such loss will be charged against this account. This endowment money shall be payable when the employe reaches the age of sixty years, or upon his death. Against this account the employe may obtain a loan by paying interest and furnishing collateral security. Mr. Dolge is convinced that this scheme is superior to what is known as profit-sharing, because it is not projected from any idea of benevolence, but is based on self-interest. It places the employé on the same level with his employer; it puts him on his mettle, and rewards him according to his own merit. The main objection which Mr. Dolge has to the ordinary profit-sharing plan is that it gives the lazy and incompetent workman the same percentage in addition to his wages as it gives to the intelligent and industrious employé, who has perhaps earned for his employer twice as much as the former.

Science and Poetry.—Writing upon Browning's Science in Poet Lore, Dr. Edward Berdoe maintains that, "other things being equal, the poet who knows his natural history, his botany, and his physical science, will write better poetry than he who knows nothing of these things." The author has for some years been pointing out how Browning's scientific imagination and learning enhance the value of his poetic work and his