The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-10-25
LEBECK g. CORN
WILKES-BARRE.
TEACHERS INSTITUTE.
Another Day of Interesting Papers and
Scholarly Addresses.

Yesterday morning a big audience
assembled at the Grand opera mousse
TO hear the days addresses on the
science Of teaching. After the invoca-
ton by Rev Dr. Mills, the work OF the
day began at once with talk by FRO
fessor Phillips. His subject was ''Old
Earth" and in speaking on this inter-
esting theme he said that Columbus
was not the first to advance the idea
that tre earth was round. Professor
Phillips. in his address, spoke OF the
trouble which existed between the col
onies of pennsylvania and Maryland,
and Of its settlement by the establish
ment of Mason and Dixson's line. he
described the line and the stones when
mark il, and the method adopted by
Mason and Dixon to ascertain the CIR
conference of the earth. He said this
was the only instance in america,
where degree had been actually
measured. The weight of the earth APP
pears to be more difficult to ascertain
than the circumference. The earth
was first weighed In Scotland more
than one hundred years ago. The first
thing they did was to weigh the noun
tains. This they did by finding out the
average weight of each cubic foot. and
by mathematical calculation the
weight of the entire mountain was OBJ
tanned. by use of the stars. their as
tances, etc, they managed to ma out
lust how many tons old earth weighed.
The earth weighs six sextillions OF
tons. 1t Is the heaviest OF all the
heavenly bodies except Mercury. You
have been taught that the outside of
this earth Is a crust and the Interior
a mass Of molten matter. Late obser-
yations go to prove that this Is not true
The earth Is solid. We based our
theory on the fact that the deeper
we bored into the earth, the hotter 1t
becomes, and that II we could go to the
depth Of fifty miles we would find 1t
melted matter. If this were true, the
moon would cause tides in this melted
matter, and twice each day there would
be huge waves coming from one side
of the earth to the other, beneath our
feet. Volcanoes and earthquakes are
the result of pockets of melted matter,
and are due to the shrinkage of the
earth. The earth Is continually losing
its heat and therefore shrinking, and
the earthquakes and volcanoes are due
to that fact.
Professor Kemp. the vice president Of
the Stroudsburg State Normal school,
then spoke on Attention" A PERSONS
mental strength is known by his abil-
ity to be attentive and he cited the
noon and was working at II o'clock
that night. The effectiveness Of work
depends upon the degree of attention
we can command from our pupils. The
weather has great deal to do with at
tention. On a dark, gloomy day we
cannot work as diligently as on "a
bright, sunshiny day. The condition
Of the room is another consideration.
Some days in the winter when boys
and girls who are troubled with cough
dng. colds, headaches. etc., you can't
expect attention. Sometimes the light
is poor and sometimes pupils are near
sighted, and as a result they cannot
see what Ii placed on the board, al
Though from a feeling of personal pride
they tell us that they can. A great deal
of the success of teaching Is knowing
just to what the pupils are adapted.
Novelty in our work does not always
mean putting new things before the
pupil. The Oldest things are often the
newest. To the genuine scholar the
noun Is novel. "A great deal of time is
wasted In reviews. they are good
thing, but they must be pursued In the
same old way. A poor teacher loses his
power because his works aims at moth
ing. Every teacher who cannot Inn
part . sense Of mastery has no place In
tho school room. He strongly rec