Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 38.djvu/869

Rh foresaw the eruption, and his wife lingered and was caught in a shower of saltpeter and sulphur. A parallel to the sun standing still in Joshua may be found in the red sunsets of 1883 and 1831, and other phenomena recorded in history. If the literal accuracy of the accounts is not established by this kind of reasoning, neither science nor piety need lash itself to fury over the explanations of literature. They are questions of literature. They are not questions of faith. It is science itself which forbids us to pronounce too confidently against even the literal truthfulness of the Bible. Many things which might be given up to legend without impairing the moral value of the Holy Scriptures, because God can be illustrated by a legend or a myth as well as by a fact, science and research seem to be basing upon a true historical foundation. "The rationalist must be wary with his myths, for the Egyptian explorers are at his heels." The natural possibility of the passage of the Red Sea is illustrated by citing the bar at Mount Desert, over which a retreating army might pass at low tide over to Bar Island, while the returning high tide should keep the pursuing army on Mount Desert; only it was the wind that played the part of the ebb tide at the Red Sea. In like spirit with these explanations the leader of the Washington Bible-class discoursed of the story of the Garden of Eden, of the Mystery of Melchisedek, of the Call of Abraham, of the Institutes of Moses, the Origin of Sacrifice, the attitude of Christ and the Apostles toward the Mosaic Institutes, Inspiration, the Atonement, Miracles, and various other knotty questions of doctrine.

general course of the office corresponded with that of previous years. Numerous valuable observations were received from points well distributed throughout the republic, the results of which have been found useful in advancing the knowledge of climatological laws, for both practical and scientific purposes. New instruments have been added to the apparatus, or old ones replaced. Observations have been begun or renewed at six new stations, and reports were registered from twenty-three stations or separate observers. The system of observations at the central office has been greatly improved. The temperature of the soil has been taken at different depths down to twelve feet. The monthly means are given in the beginning of the report from twelve stations, of temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, pressure of atmospheric vapor, rainfall; and hourly means from the naval school and Cordoba, as well as temperature of the soil, wind direction and velocity, ozone, solar heat, and rainfall at Cordoba. The principal meteorological phenomenon of the year was the great snowfall and frost of the 19th, 20th, and 21st of September, which caused much injury to agriculture and cattle through the whole of the republic. Its history and course are traced from its origin in the Cordilleras, on the 16th, to the Atlantic. The director hopes that, with the advancing settlement of the country and the extension of means of communication and telegraphs, improvement may be gained in the knowledge of the laws of the meteorology of the country and the means of predicting changes of weather commensurate with that which has been realized in local observations. The volume is mainly occupied with the record of the detailed observations made at Villa Formosa (capital of the Northern Gran Chaco, two observers), the colony of Chubut, and the city of San Juan.

book is designed to furnish an outline for instruction in the fundamental principles of music. There is danger that the musician may become a specialist ignorant of the basis and framework of his art. The author has prepared this text-book as a help toward broader study. The general subjects treated are: Acoustics; The Orchestra; Rhythm and Notation; Musical Embellishments; Instrumental and Vocal Form.

The character of a vibration is first considered. The French define this as motion to one side only, but in England and America it includes the oscillation from side to