Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 39.djvu/878

858 are favorable to the development of manliness and independence of judgment. While the classics and other branches of the old curriculum have been retained, and, subjected to the comparative method, are made vastly more productive than ever before for culture and general social good, a multitude of new subjects have been introduced. Instruction preparatory to nearly every new industry and profession is provided. Attention is given to questions that concern the state and the community at large. Administration, finance, constitutional history, constitutional law, comparative politics, railroad problems, corporations, forestry, veterinary science, charities, statistics, social problems—a crowd of topics, many of which a few years ago were unheard of in the schools—are now in many places subjected to methodical treatment. It is in the absolute necessity in the present crisis of the nation of providing the means of instruction in these branches that we find a strong argument in favor of the public support of higher education. The subjects mentioned, which enter into matters of daily and general interest, can be successfully treated only by specialists, and they must be trained in the schools.

The Colorado Cañon.—As described by Dr. D. Hart Merriam in one of the publications of the Department of Agriculture: "The Grand Cañon of the Colorado at the point visited is about fifteen miles wide at the top and six thousand feet deep. It is intersected by gulches and side-cañons of gigantic dimensions. It has ledges, terraces, and mesas, barren crags and grassy slopes, lofty mountains and deep valleys, cool hillsides chad in forests of balsam firs, and hot bottoms filled with subtropical thickets. It has arid stretches of sand bearing a scattered growth of cactus and yucca, and marshes and springs that never become dry and are hidden by the verdure of a multitude of plants requiring a moisture-laden atmosphere for their existence. Its animal life is as sharply varied and as strongly contrasted. In descending from the plateau level to the bottom of the cañon a succession of temperature zones is encountered equivalent to those stretching from the coniferous forests of northern Canada to the cactus plains of Mexico. These zones result from the combined effect of altitude and slope exposure, the effects of the latter being here manifested in an unusual degree. . . . The complex and interacting effects of radiation and refraction, of aridity and humidity, of marked differences of temperature at places of equal altitude on opposite sides of the cañon, of every possible angle of slope exposure, of exposure to and protection from wind and storms, produce a diversity of climatic conditions the effect of which on the vegetable and animal life in the cañon has been to bring into close proximity species characteristic of widely separated regions, and to crowd the several life zones into narrow parallel bands along the sides of the cañon—bands which expand and contract in conforming to the ever-changing surface."

The Sound of the Aurora.—"As to the aurora making an audible sound," says Mr. William Ogilvie in his The Upper Yukon and the Mackenzie, "although I often listened when there was a very brilliant display, and despite the profound stillness which is favorable to hearing the sound, if any sound occurs, I can not say that I ever even fancied that I heard anything. I have often met people who said they could hear a slight rustling sound whenever the aurora made a sudden rush. One man, a member of my party in 1882, was so positive of this that on the 18th of November, when there was an unusually brilliant and extensive display, I took him beyond all noise of the camp, blindfolded him, and told him to let me know when he heard anything, while I watched the play of the streamers. At nearly every brilliant rush of the auroral light he exclaimed, 'Don't you hear it?' All the time I was unconscious of any sensation of sound."

Agricultural Experiment in Wyoming.—In order that the possibilities of agriculture in all parts and altitudes of Wyoming may be fairly tested, the Trustees of the State Experiment Station have established experiment farms in various portions of the State. The west-central portion and the altitude of 5,500 feet above sea-level is represented by the Lander experiment farm of 137 acres under irrigation in Fremont County;