Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/731

Rh mastered. In all these cases the examination test proves that the knowledge in question has not been assimilated, has not been converted into faculty. The very act of reproducing knowledge in the pupil's own words or acts is one of the best means of converting it into faculty; but it is not the only means. The process is not complete when isolated facts, nor even when divisions of a subject, have passed through the mind and been reproduced. All this is necessary, but it is not enough. It is but a means to an end, and the end is the comprehension of a subject as a whole, and the comprehension of the relations of the various parts to one another and to the whole. . . . Nor is even this all. The process of learning is not complete till the pupil can apply his knowledge in some practical way. . . . Examination consists not merely in reproducing knowledge imparted or acquired, but in making practical application of knowledge, in testing power and skill. And hence on this ground also—the ground of practical application as well as that of reproduction—examination, seeing that it is not only a test of application and reproduction, but an exercise in application and a means of the development of power and skill, must be regarded as an element of teaching what is good."

Climate and Health.—The modifying effects of differences in age deserve more attention than they have received in the discussion of the influence of climate upon health. The question is a practical one, and admits, according to the Lancet, of some fairly definite rules and principles. In general, children respond more readily to change than older persons. They commonly do well at the seaside; they often benefit signally by a sea-voyage, and do not suffer severely from the discomforts attending one. They suffer more than grown people from the depressing influences of city life; and, in a large proportion of cases, they are not specially benefited by the climate of high altitudes. The explanation of the love of children for the sea is that they are benefited by it, because they are commonly in a condition to bear stimulation, not having used-up nervous systems. They are attracted by the sea and its products, and by the amusements natural to the seaside; and some of their most common ailments are among the affections most amenable to sea influences. The advantages of mountain air to them are not so conspicuous, but much has yet to be learned on this subject before it can be discussed with full intelligence. Elderly people in general do well with equability and moderate warmth, bear cold badly, and are most benefited by abundant sunshine. High altitudes are rarely suitable to them, and often injurious; and they do best in level places, where there is abundant shelter. They may or may not benefit by the seaside or a sea-voyage, but these measures can not be recommended with the same confidence as to children. In nothing is the superior recuperative power of youth over age more apparent than in the greater readiness and certainty of its response to change of climate. We can confidently recommend to the young measures which we suggest dubiously to the old. In fact, change is rarely at fault in the earlier years of life, whereas it is often a doubtful and sometimes a hazardous experiment for the aged. In the case of the old, we need to have solid reasons and tolerably definite prospects before we induce them to give up the comforts and safety of home for the uncertainties of travel.

The United States Life-saving Service.—Systematic methods for the preservation of life from shipwreck were not adopted till very late in history. According to Mr. Horace L. Piper, of our Life-saving Service, the eighteenth century was "well in its twilight" before any organized effort, and that private, was made for this purpose. The first life-boat was not invented till after our independence was achieved, and George Washington had been two years President when the first serious steps in that direction were taken in England. The United States was abreast of other countries in this work. The Humane Society, organized in Massachusetts in 1786, devoted itself to it in 1789. The Life-saving Service of the United States was begun in 1848, was made more effective in 1871, and was organized into a separate bureau in 1878. For its purposes, the coasts of the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, the Great Lakes, and the Pacific (excepting Alaska), comprising more than ten thousand miles, are