Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 44.djvu/587

Rh would be obtained between thirty and forty bifurcations or ridges which were absolutely persistent through life. For purposes of identification the impression of three fingers would be sufficient, but for purposes of registration it was desirable to take the whole ten. It was suggested that this method might be adopted in the case of illiterates instead of making the usual cross-mark as a signature to legal documents. The President of the Anthropological Section said that this method was used by prehistoric man for purposes of ornamentation.

A Scheme of Education.—In one of his Johns Hopkins University lectures on the Philosophy of Education, Prof. W. T. Harris marks three epochs of school education—the elementary, secondary, and higher; of which the first or elementary stage is the opening of the "five windows" of the soul: arithmetic, the foundation of our knowledge of Nature, by which we measure and count all things inorganic; elementary geography, by which the distribution of animal and plant life is learned; reading and writing, which give a glimpse into literature; grammar; and history (of the pupil's own country). Literature, says the author, "lifts up the pupil into the realms of human nature and discloses the motives which govern the actions of men." In history, one sees "revealed the aspirations of his countrymen, his own nature, written out in colossal letters." The secondary education takes up human learning and continues it along the same lines—namely, inorganic Nature, organic Nature, literature (the heart), grammar and logic (the intellect), and history (the will). Algebra deals in general numbers, geometry and physics continue inorganic Nature, while natural history continues the study already begun in geography. Then come Greek and Latin, "and here is opened up a great field of study into the embryology of our civilization. In the dead languages we have the three great threads running through the history of our civilization. The Greek, with its literature and aesthetic art and philosophy, shows the higher forms of human freedom; the Roman seeks the true forms of contracts and treaties and corporations; and the Hebrew thread is the religious one. So with the secondary education we begin to get the embryology of our forms of life." The higher or collegiate education is the comparative step. Each branch is studied in the light of all the others. The first or elementary education, then, is but superficial, a mere inventory; the secondary insists on some reflection on what has been learned; and the third or higher education is the unity and comparison of all that has been learned, so that each is explained by the whole.

Mineral Resources of Missouri.—The territory occupied by the State of Missouri, according to a report by Arthur Winslow, State Geologist, has been known as a mineral producing area for nearly two hundred years. Penicaut, one of Le Sueur's party, which ascended the Mississippi River in 1700, refers to a mine west of the Mississippi and west of Sainte Genevieve, whence the Indians got their supply of lead. This indicates with reasonable certainty the date when the French began to make use of the mineral resources of the region. Iron mining was begun about 1815. Records of the existence of coal date from 1804; in 1840, 8,903 tons were mined, and production has since been continuous. Zinc was mined with lead ores for many years, but was not utilized till 1869. Since then the growth of production has been rapid. The principal mineral products of Missouri are zinc, in respect to which the State ranks first in the country; lead, in which it is second only to Colorado, and iron. In addition, Missouri is a large producer of coal, its clays have a national reputation, and it has a great variety of excellent building and ornamental stones. Among the minor products are quicklime, glass sands, copper, and baryta. Several of the more common classes of mineral waters are scattered all over the State. The zinc region is in the extreme southwest; lead is known to occur in thirty or more counties, and was mined during the past year in fourteen. Iron mining is confined to a part of the State south of the Missouri River and east of the marginal line of the coal measures. Of the four prominent mineral products of the State coal is the most widespread. Clays suitable for all ordinary uses are very abundant. Building stones are plentiful for home use, and shipments are made from many of the quarries