Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 41.djvu/87

 of human types, leading up to races of which our existing savages are the descendants. Physically, man of the present time is a most composite being, the result of crossings which began to take place long before the dawn of history. And, finally, it has been left for the geologists and archaeologists, of whom Lyell, Lartet, Mortillet, and others, are types, to point out the overlapping of prehistoric upon historic times, and thus to bring to light the lost ages, filling up the abyss in our knowledge formerly existing between the dawn of human history and the close of geological history.

Such is the light which geology has already thrown upon the origin of man, and of the world in which he lives. Who can deny the utility and importance of a study which bears such fruits? How can a person be regarded as liberally educated who has not been brought in contact with these facts? And yet there are still hundreds and thousands of our college graduates who have neither had careful training in the principles, nor have been brought into contact with the grand results of modern geology; whose minds have not felt the inspiration and mental tension resulting from contact with these wonderful discoveries and conclusions. Is there not every reason why geology should be taught, provided the facts and principles be imparted in a way to stimulate, quicken, and expand the mind? 2em



THE fact is very evident that the practical art of healing has made great advances during the past century, especially during the last half of it. The progress of dermatology, the brilliant career of ophthalmology, the new creation of laryngology, the wonderful development of operative surgery and gynæcology, and, in the line of internal curatives, the introduction of a series of effective remedial substances and physical methods of healing, and, further, the greater importance attached to physiological, dietetical, and hygienic factors of the most diversified sorts—have all taken place during this period, and in part in the very presence of our contemporaries. And when we add to Lister's antiseptic process Pasteur's discovery of the antidote for rabies, and Koch's communication of a cure for consumption, which was received a year ago with such unbounded enthusiasm, the question may well force itself upon us, Where are the limits of the