Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 37.djvu/580

584 taught in the common schools by experimental methods." The American Institute of Instruction substantially approved Mr. Woodhull's position, and resolved that instruction by experimental methods should be given in schools of all grades; in the primary and grammar grades it should take the form of observation lessons calculated to develop the spirit of investigation; and in the high school "it should undertake to give a thorough training in scientific methods of studying nature rather than a comprehensive knowledge of the whole realm of natural science."

Mounds of the Mississippi Basin.—The mounds of the Mississippi basin are described by Mr. T. H. Lewis, of St. Paul, as being of a magnitude and extent calculated to surprise those who have not examined them. There are thousands of them in Mississippi and Arkansas, and probably thousands in Minnesota. The author's own personal surveys in Minnesota now exceed one thousand, and the localities of at least as many more are known. The mounds in Mississippi—in the bottom-lands—are burial-mounds, and in addition to human remains usually contain earthen vessels and pipes of all sizes and shapes, with occasionally flint and stone implements and articles of copper. The clay mounds of Arkansas and of the bluffs along the Mississippi seldom contain any implements or pottery. Temple mounds are always associated with mounds of other forms, and are never isolated. They have approaches or graded roadways built to the summit, and generally have aprons or terraces on their sides. Smaller mounds having the same forms were used for burial purposes. Platform mounds are another class of temple mounds, and have from one to four approaches. Some of them are also known to contain human remains. Of a class of mounds called hearth mounds the purpose is difficult to determine. They hardly ever reach four feet in height, and the hearth is covered with earth from three inches to two feet in depth. The hearths vary in thickness from one and a half to thirteen inches. The low flat mounds of Minnesota and Dakota are often regarded as the remains of dwelling-houses of the aborigines. The theory is that poles were set up and sods were afterward placed upon the outside; and that the poles having rotted away, the structure fell to the center, and in the course of a few years the top became leveled by the accumulation of dust and vegetation, so that a mound was formed. The Indians used the mode of structure described; but it could hardly have been applied in these mounds, for such a structure, having once fallen, would have become an irregular mass with a concave top, and an opening on the side where the entrance had been—presenting a different appearance from the mounds. None of the mounds of Minnesota, in the author's opinion, were suitable for use as the base of pueblos; and he finds no evidence that the large flat mounds of the lower valley were of that character.

The Australasian Scientific Association.—The Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science met in Melbourne early in January. Baron von Mueller was president. The roll of membership included a thousand names, and more than six hundred were in actual attendance. The president's address dealt with the past and future of Australasian science; and the addresses of the presidents of sections were in many cases on subjects of particular interest in Australia. The most important of the committee reports was that on the census of the known minerals of the Australian colonies. A project for establishing and endowing a central biological station at Port Jackson was started. A report was presented on the Polynesian races and Polynesian bibliography. New special committees were appointed to investigate and report on the subjects of wheat-rust; the manner of laying out towns; the preparation of geological maps; the arrangement of museums; the fertilization of figs; Australian tides; and the present state of knowledge of Australasian paleontology. The next meeting is to be held in Christ-church, New Zealand, with Sir James Hector as president and Prof. Hutton as secretary; and the next in Hobart, Tasmania.

An Arizona Squirrel.—A rare squirrel, new to the Territory of Arizona, is described by Mr. Edgar A. Mearns as the round-tailed spermophile (Sermophilus tereticaudus, Baird). It is the most abundant and