Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-07-19
STATE NORMAL INSTITUTE.
Close Of the SECOND Week-.-Good
Work accomplished.


TReported officially for the CHRONICLE
The school opened with a good attend
ance. The showers of the day previous
cooled the atmosphere and made the wealth
er very pleasant. There were number OF
visitors present, one of whom was Prof.
Rounds, Principal of the State Normal In
stitute of Maine, situated at Pennington.
He was invited to address the school, and
said Gin brief as follows
LECTURE BY PROF. ROUNDS.
I can assure you it gives me much pleas
re to meet the teachers of Tennessee. You
are to be congratulated on coming together
in such spot. A majority of you repre-
sent country schools. 1t is not for me to
speak of your studies. l know of no lnstl-
tute going on for such a long time with such
Q God instruction, with such corps OF IN
s tructors In looking back over the course
of school life, important and tangible re-
suits are not to be thought so much of; it Is
the characters of the work Truthful work
forms truth al character. in travelling over
the country em int ested in observing it.
Ln the country school there is some
thing to be taken Gaze O. The houses
are bare, uncom Portable and un-
sheltered; not an adofnment; nothing to
make it a place O. comfort for the body.
The homes a. noisy and chord no place OF
study Some ore has said that the modern
home is the highes5 home of modern civil
cation You mus reach the home through
the children. The school-room can be made
attractive You cannot expect desirable
n al
fusion we find in many homes. You must
improve humanity by multiplying It's wants.
Don't content yocrselc with books alone.
[ don't believe a good result can ever come
from preaching righteousness TO people who
are hungry. 1t has been said that a man
never commits murder without di1 y shirt
on. In conclusion let me urge uoon you
not to forget to urge upon the people, by
education, they are made more prosperous
in life. To get an easy living we must be
able to save a few cents out of dollar.
After be concluded his talk Prof Sedan
occo pied the remainder o. the hour in a
lecture on Pedagogics. He spoke of the
importance OF perception, defining it III its
most delicate shades, giving concise and
logical views on all points rela ing to the
subject
The second hour was occupied by PROF
Dinwiddie in a lecture on Mathema les. He
took up the subject of fractions, ard made
every point clear by counter OF wooden
disks suspended on wire.
At the conclusion of the lecture the sec
ton proceeded to the apartments sci apart
Cor them in g B Co." quarters, and listened
to a lecture on Geology, by Pro-. Hunter
Nicholson. He took up the subject of
igneous agencies, and sad as follows:
I'M.
difficult of comprehension. At the very
threshold we meet with one of the most in
tricate and hotly disputed problems Of
dition of the earth. There are two impor-
tant theories concerning it-,hat which
holds that the earth on the inside is in fluid
condition, and the other view maintains that
it is a solid. The last view acknowledges
that it is hot, and would be liquid
if it had room to expend. The most pow
erful argument for the former, or liquid
view, is astronomy. There are phenomena
in which the igneous agencies present them
selves. First volcanoes, the highest of
which is Aconcaqua, %, 600 feet high, and
ranging from that to the level of the sea.
AS to the number, there are great many
thousand, all the time appearing and dlsap-
pearing. These are located near the sea.
along great mountains, and found, most in
variably in recent formations. They are
either of the quiet kind, boiling and SIM
mering, or they are explosive, emitting,
with great force, stones, lava. cinders,
ashes and gases. You may have either of
them or all. These lava streams are varia
BILE, some white, yellow, red, black and
some being like tar. Cinders occur in most
all, where there is fire, accompanied by
ashes. All these phenomena are produced
by some force. In every case heat is pres
ent. Whence comes that heat? The fluid,
theorists sey, was put there in the beginning
and comes from the central part of the
earth The other view holds that heat is
chemical or chemico- physical. This is a dis
puted point, but we know the center of the
earth is highly heated You will find
that volcanic action takes place in the
softest rock Earthquakes are closely cor
related with volcanoes. In South America,
whenever the volcanoes flame ceases the in
habitants know, By experience, that it is
time to move out. The chimney top is
being choked up and it must get out some
where. In many regions there are volcanoes
that have only periods of activity. l do not
know the number, because a large portion
of the earth is inhabited by people who
keep no record. The best record, however,
reaches from 1S43 to 1872, and records r.
249, which is al the rate of SIS per year.
They move in waves like, when a pebble
is thrown in like
The fourth regular lecture was one on
Experimental Physics, by Prof Locket.
He explained, by experiment, the subject,
of the mechanics of fluids, hydrostatics and
hydraulics. This is one of the best and
most interesting departments in the Normal
and is highly appreciated by all.
This concludes the second week of the
regular course and much good has been ac-
complished. The members OF the faculty
are getting over a great deal of ground and
are doing their utmost to impart valuable
information to the teachers present. The
optional courses, which is purely voluntary
work, are being well attended and the inter
est continues undated.