Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 37.djvu/583

Rh and paleontological equivalency. It contains fossils related to those of the Purbeck dirt-beds of England. It is overlaid by the Neocomian, which extends also into other counties, and is distinguished by its horizon of dark, slate-colored shale. This formation was first remarked by Prof. Jules Marcou in the Indian Territory some thirty-five years ago, but has received little attention, and is still very imperfectly known. Its thickness is variable, but probably nowhere exceeds one hundred and fifty feet. It is the same as the formation called by some geologists Comanche; but the term Neocomian is preferred on account of its ref erability to a European chronological equivalent.

The Work of a Complete State University.—The Coming of Age of State Universities is the title of the charter-day address of President T. C. Chamberlin, on the twenty-first anniversary of the University of Nebraska, in which the work of the complete State University is delineated. Such an institution will educate all its constituents in all varieties of useful knowledge—with a view to the common rather than to the individual good; it will endeavor to develop scholarship in its highest and most refined expressions, as well as in its more material and commercial phases—not for the sake of the scholar as such, but for the ultimate refinement and elevation of the common life of the whole people; it will promote a generous spirit of inquiry, a trained habit of investigation, an attitude of impartiality toward evidence, and a supreme regard for truth; will endeavor to serve all other parts of the public educational system by furnishing fresh knowledge, amply trained teachers, and the inspiration of higher educational opportunities; and will encourage, as an inherent factor and ultimate end of its efforts, those sentiments of regard for the common interests, those patriotisms of every-day life, that constitute the soul of superior citizenship.

Four Commencement Days—In human life, says Dr. J. M. Bodine, in a valedictory address to the graduating class of the Medical Department of the University of Louisville, are four great commencement days—when we begin to be, when we begin to learn, when we begin to practice, and when we enter the existence beyond the grave. On the third of these days the author advises his students, if business does not come at once—"devote yourself to reading, and use every opportunity to do something professional. . . . See every operation, autopsy, and pathological specimen you can. Study botany in the fields, chemistry in the laboratory, and look into the invisible with your microscope. If seen thus engaged, the people will credit you with seriousness in your profession, and your employment, without patients, will be your best advertisement. . . . The route to preferment does not lie through the salons of society, the village sports, and is far away from the drink-shop. By complacency in yielding to the social and sportive, you will get the name of 'good fellow,' but when life is trembling in the parted scales sobriety and skill are at a premium. You must learn to labor and to wait. But, while waiting, work for knowledge and watch for opportunity. Win by application; woo by merit. . . . Be able to do something better than those around you, and the call to do it is certain."

Mountains of Arizona.—The region of the San Francisco and Mogollon Mountains of Arizona and New Mexico, as described by Dr. H. H. Rusby, comprises an elevated, open, somewhat barren table-land; a still more elevated forest belt; and a low, desert, mostly sandy plain. The table-land is traversed by a number of profound canons, with precipitous walls a mile or more in height, and by many others of less depth, and is a never-ceasing source of surprises to Eastern visitors. "During the greater part of the year the surface is dry and desolate, of an ashy-gray color; but immediately upon the occurrence of the annual rains it changes with marvelous rapidity. Within three days after the first important showers, a distinct tinge of green is perceptible. In a week the surface is of an almost uniform light green; and in from ten days to two weeks it presents an appearance of great luxuriance. From this time on, until the occurrence of killing frosts, it is a paradise for the collector." The San Francisco Forest consists almost wholly of the Pinus ponderosa, and is one of the most beautiful