Saturday, October 20, 2007

Reading is at once an imitative and an appreciative art on the part of



the pupil
Reading is at once an imitative and an appreciative art on the part of
the pupil. He must be trained to appreciate the meaning of the writer;
but he will depend upon the teacher at first, and, indeed, for a long
time, for an example of the true mode of expression. This the teacher
must be ready to give. It is not enough that she can correct faults of
pronunciation, censure inarticulate utterances, and condemn gruff,
nasal, and guttural sounds; but she must be able to present, in
reasonable purity, all the opposite qualities. The young women have not
yet done their duty to the cause of education in these respects; nor is
there everywhere a public sentiment that will even now allow the duty to
be performed.




And now, ladies and gentlemen, before I conclude, allow me to remove, or



at least to lessen, an impression that these remarks are calculated to
produce
And now, ladies and gentlemen, before I conclude, allow me to remove, or
at least to lessen, an impression that these remarks are calculated to
produce. I have assumed that teaching is a profession--an arduous
profession--and that perfection has not yet been attained. I have
assumed, also, that there are many persons engaged in teaching,
especially in the primary and mixed district schools, whose
qualifications are not as great as they ought to be. But let it not be
thence inferred that I am dissatisfied with our teachers and schools.
There has been continual progress in education, and a large share of
this progress is due to teachers; but the time has not yet come when we
can wisely fold our arms, and accept the allurements of undisturbed
repose.




Friday, October 19, 2007

Prior to the middle of the 16th Century, the use of tobacco was confined



to the American Indians
Prior to the middle of the 16th Century, the use of tobacco was confined
to the American Indians. In 1560 the Spaniards began to cultivate
tobacco as an ornamental plant, and Jean Nicot, the French Ambassador at
Lisbon, introduced it at the court of Catherine de Medici in the form of
snuff. Smoking subsequently became a custom which spread rapidly
throughout the world, although often vigorously opposed by Governments.
In the 17th Century, smoker"s noses were cut off in Russia.




Wednesday, October 17, 2007

9



9. Irregularities in the direction of the plumb-line and in the
force of gravity as observed widely and accurately over the
Earth"s surface indicate that the surface strata are very
irregular as to density. To harmonize the observed facts
Hayford has shown the need of assuming that the heterogeneous
conditions extend down to a depth of 122 km. from the surface.
Below that level the Earth"s concentric strata seem to be of
approximately uniform densities.




Tuesday, October 16, 2007

The shortest way of summarizing the position is to say that woman



stands for the idea of Sanity; that intellectual home to which
the mind must return after every excursion on extravagance
The shortest way of summarizing the position is to say that woman
stands for the idea of Sanity; that intellectual home to which
the mind must return after every excursion on extravagance.
The mind that finds its way to wild places is the poet"s;
but the mind that never finds its way back is the lunatic"s. There must
in every machine be a part that moves and a part that stands still;
there must be in everything that changes a part that is unchangeable.
And many of the phenomena which moderns hastily condemn are really parts
of this position of the woman as the center and pillar of health.
Much of what is called her subservience, and even her pliability,
is merely the subservience and pliability of a universal remedy;
she varies as medicines vary, with the disease. She has
to be an optimist to the morbid husband, a salutary pessimist
to the happy-go-lucky husband. She has to prevent the Quixote
from being put upon, and the bully from putting upon others.
The French King wrote--




Monday, October 15, 2007

DEATH RATE PER 1000 IN DENMARK BY AGE GROUPS 1880-1889--1890-1900



--------+-------------------++-------------------
| 1880-1889 || 1890-1900
Ages +---------+---------++---------+---------
| Males | Females || Males | Females
--------+---------+---------++---------+---------
0-5 | 53
DEATH RATE PER 1000 IN DENMARK BY AGE GROUPS 1880-1889--1890-1900
--------+-------------------++-------------------
| 1880-1889 || 1890-1900
Ages +---------+---------++---------+---------
| Males | Females || Males | Females
--------+---------+---------++---------+---------
0-5 | 53.1 | 46.0 || 48.5 | 40.8
5-10 | 7.2 | 7.7 || 5.6 | 6.0
10-15 | 4.4 | 5.6 || 3.6 | 4.6
15-20 | 4.9 | 5.8 || 4.5 | 4.7
20-25 | 7.0 | 6.1 || 6.0 | 4.9
25-30 | 6.5 | 7.4 || 5.5 | 5.6
30-35 | 6.8 | 7.9 || 6.1 | 6.5
35-40 | 7.8 | 8.4 || 7.7 | 7.5
40-45 | 9.8 | 9.3 || 9.3 | 8.2
45-50 | 12.6 | 10.2 || 11.6 | 9.1
50-55 | 16.8 | 12.2 || 15.7 | 11.8
55-60 | 22.6 | 17.0 || 22.0 | 16.4
60-65 | 33.3 | 26.1 || 30.7 | 24.2
65-70 | 46.9 | 39.2 || 44.7 | 36.7
70-75 | 70.0 | 58.3 || 74.5 | 65.0
75-80 | 104.9 | 92.9 || 115.0 | 98.9
80-85 | 178.7 | 157.4 || 169.4 | 151.6
85-90 | 246.7 | 210.9 || 250.1 | 226.5
90-over| 392.3 | 350.1 || 425.6 | 373.2
--------+---------+---------++---------+---------




Sunday, October 14, 2007

The last and most elevated form of Stoical happiness was the



satisfaction of contemplating the Universe and God
The last and most elevated form of Stoical happiness was the
satisfaction of contemplating the Universe and God. Epictetus says,
that we can accommodate ourselves cheerfully to the providence that
rules the world, if we possess two things--the power of seeing all that
happens in the proper relation to its own purpose--and a grateful
disposition. The work of Antoninus is full of studies of Nature in the
devout spirit of "passing from Nature up to Nature"s God;" he is never
weary of expressing his thorough contentment with the course of natural
events, and his sense of the beauties and fitness of everything. Old
age has its grace, and death is the becoming termination. This high
strain of exulting contemplation reconciled him to that complete
submission to whatever might befall, which was the essential feature of
the "Life according to Nature," as he conceived it.




Alexander the Second, the emancipator of forty-six million



serfs, may have had some world peace ideal in mind when he in
1874 promoted a conference in Brussels to codify the usages of
war, but the reaction from his earlier liberalism was setting
in about this time and, growing worse, led to his assassination
in 1881
Alexander the Second, the emancipator of forty-six million
serfs, may have had some world peace ideal in mind when he in
1874 promoted a conference in Brussels to codify the usages of
war, but the reaction from his earlier liberalism was setting
in about this time and, growing worse, led to his assassination
in 1881.




THE QUALITIES OF OBJECTS EXIST IN THE MIND



THE QUALITIES OF OBJECTS EXIST IN THE MIND.--Yet even in the relatively
simple description which we have proposed many puzzles confront us, and
one of them appears at the very outset. This is that the qualities which
we usually ascribe to objects really exist in our own minds and not in
the objects at all. Take, for instance, the common qualities of light
and color. The physicist tells us that what we see as light is
occasioned by an incredibly rapid beating of ether waves on the retina
of the eye. All space is filled with this ether; and when it is
light--that is, when some object like the sun or other light-giving body
is present--the ether is set in motion by the vibrating molecules of the
body which is the source of light, its waves strike the retina, a
current is produced and carried to the brain, and we see light. This
means, then, that space, the medium in which we see objects, is not
filled with light (the sensation), but with very rapid waves of ether,
and that the light which we see really occurs in our own minds as the
mental response to the physical stimulus of ether waves. Likewise with
color. Color is produced by ether waves of different lengths and degrees
of rapidity.




Saturday, October 13, 2007

As a preface to the account of the Ethical Systems, and a principle of



arrangement, for the better comparing of them, we shall review in
order the questions that arise in the discussion
As a preface to the account of the Ethical Systems, and a principle of
arrangement, for the better comparing of them, we shall review in
order the questions that arise in the discussion.




But though the essential of the woman"s task is universality,



this does not, of course, prevent her from having one or two severe
though largely wholesome prejudices
But though the essential of the woman"s task is universality,
this does not, of course, prevent her from having one or two severe
though largely wholesome prejudices. She has, on the whole,
been more conscious than man that she is only one half of humanity;
but she has expressed it (if one may say so of a lady) by getting her
teeth into the two or three things which she thinks she stands for.
I would observe here in parenthesis that much of the recent
official trouble about women has arisen from the fact that they
transfer to things of doubt and reason that sacred stubbornness
only proper to the primary things which a woman was set to guard.
One"s own children, one"s own altar, ought to be a matter of principle--
or if you like, a matter of prejudice. On the other hand,
who wrote Junius"s Letters ought not to be a principle or a prejudice,
it ought to be a matter of free and almost indifferent inquiry.
But take an energetic modern girl secretary to a league
to show that George III wrote Junius, and in three months she
will believe it, too, out of mere loyalty to her employers.
Modern women defend their office with all the fierceness of domesticity.
They fight for desk and typewriter as for hearth and home, and develop
a sort of wolfish wifehood on behalf of the invisible head of the firm.
That is why they do office work so well; and that is why they ought
not to do it.




Friday, October 12, 2007

Work on the Florissant fauna is going forward, though not so



fast as one could wish
Work on the Florissant fauna is going forward, though not so
fast as one could wish. It is very much to be hoped that the
Wangen quarries will receive attention before many years have
passed. Labor is comparatively cheap in Germany, and with a
force of a dozen men it would not take long to open up the
quarries and get at the best beds. It is really extraordinary
that no one has seen and taken advantage of the opportunities
presented. Probably no obstacles of any consequence would be
put in the way; at least the owner of the quarries came by when
we were digging, and expressed only his good will. With new
researches in the field, combined with studies of the rich
materials awaiting examination at Zurich and elsewhere, no
doubt the knowledge we possess of the European Miocene fauna
could be very greatly increased, to the advantage of all
students of Tertiary life.




Gum infection is not always due to conscious neglect



Gum infection is not always due to conscious neglect. Some people do not
know how to properly cleanse the teeth. Others have tissues of low
resistance, and need to give extra care to tooth- and gum-cleansing
under the closest dental supervision. Others have spent large sums for
dental work that has filled the mouth with crowns and bridges difficult
to keep aseptic or surgically clean. There are various means which the
individual can use to prevent or cure these dental evils.




The extraordinary strain put upon human nature by the full Stoic



_ideal_ of submerging self in the larger interests of being, led to
various compromises
The extraordinary strain put upon human nature by the full Stoic
_ideal_ of submerging self in the larger interests of being, led to
various compromises. The rigid following out of the ideal issued in one
of the _paradoxes_, namely.--That all the actions of the wise man are
equally perfect, and that, short of the standard of perfection, all
faults and vices are equal; that, for example, the man that killed a
cock, without good reason, was as guilty as he that killed his father.
This has a meaning only when we draw a line between spirituality and
morality, and treat the last as worthless in comparison of the first.
The later Stoics, however, in their exhortations to special branches of
duty, gave a positive value to practical virtue, irrespective of the
_ideal_.




Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The interpretation of the subtler emotions of those about us is in no



small degree an art
The interpretation of the subtler emotions of those about us is in no
small degree an art. The human face and form present a constantly
changing panorama of the soul"s feeling states to those who can read
their signs. The ability to read the finer feelings, which reveal
themselves in expression too delicate to be read by the eye of the gross
or unsympathetic observer, lies at the basis of all fine interpretation
of personality. Feelings are often too deep for outward expression, and
we are slow to reveal our deepest selves to those who cannot appreciate
and understand them.




It is through the action and interaction of these two factors, then,



that man is to work out his destiny
It is through the action and interaction of these two factors, then,
that man is to work out his destiny. What he _is_, coupled with what he
may _do_, leads him to what he may _become_. Every man possesses in some
degree a spark of divinity, a sovereign individuality, a power of
independent initiative. This is all he needs to make him free--free to
do his best in whatever walk of life he finds himself. If he will but do
this, the doing of it will lead him into a constantly growing freedom,
and he can voice the cry of every earnest heart:




Monday, October 8, 2007

2



2. Are you naturally responsive to the emotional tone of others; that
is, are you sympathetic? Are you easily affected by reading emotional
books? By emotional plays or other appeals? What is the danger from
overexciting the emotions without giving them a proper outlet in some
practical activity?




Sunday, October 7, 2007

WHEWELL



WHEWELL. Opposing schemes of Morality. Proposal to reconcile them.
There are some actions Universally approved. A Supreme Rule of Right
to be arrived at by combining partial rules: these are obtained from
the nature of our faculties. The rule of Speech is Truth; Property
supposes Justice; the Affections indicate Humanity. It is a
self-evident maxim that the Lower parts of our nature are governed by
the Higher. Classification of Springs of Action. Disinterestedness.
Classification of Moral Rules. Division of Rights.




Saturday, October 6, 2007

DELIBERATIVE THINKING



DELIBERATIVE THINKING.--Deliberative thinking constitutes the highest
type of thought process. In order to do deliberative thinking there is
necessary, first of all, what Dewey calls a 'split-road' situation. A
traveler going along a well-beaten highway, says Dr. Dewey, does not
deliberate; he simply keeps on going. But let the highway split into two
roads at a fork, only one of which leads to the desired destination, and
now a problem confronts him; he must take one road or the other, but
_which_? The intelligent traveler will at once go to _seeking for
evidence_ as to which road he should choose. He will balance this fact
against that fact, and this probability against that probability, in an
effort to arrive at a solution of his problem.




Friday, October 5, 2007

It is by contemplating this awful record, and much more there



is which for the sake of brevity I leave unstated, that one
realizes the boon to mankind which the successful researches of
the Army Board have proved
It is by contemplating this awful record, and much more there
is which for the sake of brevity I leave unstated, that one
realizes the boon to mankind which the successful researches of
the Army Board have proved. The work of prevention, the only
one that may be considered effective when dealing with the
epidemic diseases, was entirely misguided with regard to yellow
fever until 1901: the sick were surrounded by precautions which
were believed most useful in other infectious diseases, the
attendants were often looked upon as pestilential, and so
treated, in spite of the fact that evidence from the early
history of the disease clearly pointed to the apparent
harmlessness even of the patients themselves. All this
notwithstanding, cases continued to develop, in the face of
shotgun quarantine even, until the last non-immune inhabitant
of the locality had been either cured or buried.