Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1881-11-23

''Dame Nature" and of time ont of a..
when she was first called Dame Natur,. he
proceeded to Consider some of the seen;,,
aosurdities that p;esent themyelves to The
reasoning and discriminating mind. Hi,
nrst illustrations were from the animal king
dom. He cited the bear, the common hear
'ha' ii'es IN the mountain fastnesses Of this
State, and the temperate zone: here he is
vegetable eater, but go to the high northern
climate and the polar bear becomes a flesh
feeding aainia' 1t seems like an absurd,tv
that bear in one place should be feeder
on vegetables and in another place a feeder
on flesh and fish, but II is not absurd. The
difference in the climate and latitude is the
cause OF the requirement. of different kind
OF food. The foxes of the arctic regions
were introduced to illustrate the same point.
the fur of which at certain seasons of the
yehr being changed to pure white, So that
II Is almost impossible to detect them from
the snow. Being thus obscu,ed to sight
they can approach game unseen and steal,
even directly under the eve of man; and
the fable of the dog leaping off foot
log scross stream into the water to catch
his shadow led the lecturer to discuss the
laws that govern reflection and refraction,
and from reflection and refraction to sound,
which, when heightened to AGO triIlion vi
brat,ons, runs into color. The consistency
ia the seeming absurdites of these laws of
nature were pointed out Tha atmosphere
was next considered. Now it is chiefly
oxygen and nitrogen; long ago it was car
bouic acid gas. Why should it be one
thing now, and another thing long ago
When carbonic acid gas constituted the at
moSphcre. there was an immense quantity
Of vegetation ferns grew as large as trees
do now. The atmosphere was then suited
to their growth. Ii was the time of plant
life. 4 flood of mud came next and COW
cred up the plant development, and in that
way WAS created The coal that is found in
different parts of the earth, and which is
now coming into use SO generally among
men. The seeming absurdity of the soil
being white under the equator and black in
high northern regions, and men being black
under the equator and white up in high
northern regions was explained and made to
appear consistent instead of absurd. The
obliquity of light and heat were introduced
TO prove the position of the lecturer. The
Giraff, the Csmeleopard, Insect life, the
hmm fan a
ant, and the flea were all introduced TO IL
lustrate the point of the lecture, namely,
that the apparent absurdities of Dane Ma
ture are not absurdites. The audience was
stated that if man possessed the jumping
ability of a iea. in proportion to his size, he
could stand on Bunker Hill and jump into
the Golden Gates of California. Wheat
was his last illustration. If one grain OF
wheat be taken to Germany and one of the
same variety TO Italy, quite adifferent kind
of grain viii be produced in Germany from
that 10 Italy. In Germany the ingredients
will be mainly sugar and starch, elements
suited for the colder climate in Germany
in Italy the chief ingredients of the grain
will be glutinous substance, suited to cool
the blood in a warmer climate; and yet 1t
seemed like an absurdity to believe that
wheat taken from Juniaia county will pro-
duce one kind of wheat in Germany and an
other kind in Italy.
1t was a plain lecture, such as learned
man gets up. and for once IN the history OF
lectures in Mifilintown even the boys and
girls were entertained by substantial talk,
and not by sta'e joke and story.
The Secretaries furnished the following
proceedings of the Institute from Monday
afternoon to Tuesday l0a O'Clock, at which
time Professor Higbee was addressing the
Institute:
On Monday afternoon Professor Angel,
of Pittsburg, in his lecture or address on
s.The Work of the Institute," endeayored
To impress upon the minds of the teachers
the importance Of taking an outline OF the
discussions given by instructors and to di-
eest the points received at their leisure.
Professor S. B. Heiges, of York, Pa, was
introduced and spoke on the snbject oil
..District Institutes" The thought or fact
that he desired to emphasize is that OF the
importance of holding ''District Institutes"
Institute adjourned, and re-convened at
II O'Clock in the evening to listen to lee
ture by Professor Heiges-of which brief
outline has been given above SuhIect,
"Dame Natures Apparent Absurdities-"
On Tuesday morning, upon the re-assem-
bling of the Institute the following teachers,
not previously entered upon the roll, pre-
sented their names : W. II. Mills, Eliza
Van. Ormer, Jonathan Shope, d. p. Os-
borne, C. ". Ramsey, d. P. Kepner, Mary
A. Walls. Jas E. Kaufman, W. S. Dimm,
Sharon Dimm. Rev. Mr.. Van Fossen con-
ducted the devotional exercises OF the
morning session. Professor Angel then
addressed the assembly. Subject, The
First Day of School," His idea is that
teachers should enter upon the discharge of
the duties of the school with pre-arranged
plan, and from that idea he spoke of the
manner or plan to conduct school.
DIR. Higbee, the State Superintendent oil
Common Schools, addressed the Institute.
He had no pre-arranged address to offer, as
Professor Angel suggested. He would ad
dress himself to the answer of a question
that had been put TO him while on his way
from Harrisburg here, namely, "Whatis the
use of the County Institute First. Coun-
ty Institutes help to draw public attention
TO the question of education, and all insti-
tutions iu America are based upon puoic
opinion.
No further notes of the Professors ad-