The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-12-13
LIVE TOPICS ABOUT TOWN.

ehew raw grains for at least an hour
day from childhood to old age Then We
viii have good jaws, sound teeth, and per-
feet digestions. The Laeedaemonians
chewed grain while waiting for the onset
OF the PeTsians at ThermopyIae When
their graves were opened few years ago
their teeth rere found as sound as ever.
and fragments of the grain were found
lodged in the interstiees- Fifty thousand
years ago the wisdom teeth were as ues-
ful as any of the molars Now they are
short-i7ed, and an impeachment We sell
dom I'LL them, and then only at the urgent
request of our patients. 1 wish some OF
the health food people would put superior
quality Of parched wheat on the market
Just for chewing purposes The dentists
would give it all the advertising it need
Sd In the meanwhile chew gum. Fasti-
dious persons cry down the habit, but it is
good for the teeth
1t has needed just such a proposition
as that which is understood to be ad-
vanced by Andrew Carnegie. backed by a
S1O.0o0,000 endowment. to let the people
OF the country realize that right now in
Washington is all the material necessary
to organize and put in operation the
greatest university OF applied and tech
nical learning on the globe The Patent
ofi1ce leads the world in its specialized
Information On the arts and industries
The Bureau of Animal Industry and other
branches Of the Agricultural Department
are Of worldwide and acknowledged su-
periority in their specfalties. The Geo
logical survey and the Coast and Geodetic
Survey have furnished models Of advanced
methods to every nation The Marine
Hospital Service is a worlds model for
the most scientific methods of warding
on and combating pestiIential diseases.
The Army Medical Museum and Library is
the most extensive In existence The
statistical methods of the Department of
Labor are copied in every civilized coun-
try TIE Government Printing Office is
the largest and most thoroughly equipped
under The sun The new Astro-PhysfcaI
Observatory and the new Bureau of Stand
ard Weights and Measures will represent
the furthest advance of science in their
respective fields. And these are by no
means all II is evident that when the
university system has been carefully
worked out by proper legislation thou
sands of students viii avail themselves of
the opportunities presented.
'Bismuth. tin and lead. separately. melt
at temperatures well up in the hun
dreds," remarked Patent once expert.
But mix them in a certain proportion.
and they viii malt ~ , -----z-....- -
225 degrees. slightly hotter than boiling
water See this?''
He picked up small lump OF a silver
gray metal put it in the bowl of an iron
spoon and held it over a gas let. In
few seconds Il turned TO liquid which
danced and ran about like quicksilver
without hesitating he poured The molten
metal into the palm OF his hand and then
passed it hack and forth from one hand
to the other
Hold your hand he requested. The
reporter timorousIy ventured- 1T will
not burn if you keep it moving. The
moisture Of your palm evaporates and
protects the skin ="
When the hot-looking mass touched the
flesh il felt warm but that was all. and
moderate speed of manipulation suficed
to keep It from bIistering.
This composition is a fav0rite one for
making matrices for certain kinds OF
dies Its ease Of manipulation is so great
that comparatively little e1 perfenee is
needed to duplicate any metallic OF other
solid form desired The synthesis OF me
taII1c compounds is IN its infancy. We
are just beginning TO know something
about steel IN time we will know how
20 make metal compounds much harder
than the hardest of carbon steeIs. much
softer than lead. so refractory that an
electric furnace will not melt. and so
yielding that sunlight will turn them to
liquid"
''My youngest girl is nine and the bright
and shining star Of the fourth grade
school which she attends said a promi-
nent Treasury official she reads with
Intelligence, and can spell words of three
or four sylIabIes with voiubIe ease But
when I took her SPELLING book and asked
her the definitions of the words she spun
out so glibIy, I found she had either no
knowledge of what they meant or such
hazy and inaccurate notion as 10 cast
serious doubt On The utility of her study
IL that particular branch.
Now we had one good shaking up in
the school system a year or so ago and
I can see that a lot Of good was accom-
pIished. Spelling was one of the studies
which was re-established. But it is the
most obvious fact that it should be &C
eompanied by 4 clear understanding of
the meaning of the words spelled The
spelling book referred to lays stress on
the rules Of spelling, and groups similarly
constructed words in a systematic man
| ner, bat there are no definitions, and few
sentences explaining and illustrating the
use of the words embraced in the hun
dreds of columns.
Here is need of further reform It is
worse than useless to pack undigested
learning into children's heads I wish
some competent teacher would prepare
careful vocabularies of the words which
children use freely at the different ages
from FIVE to ten, organize them into read
ing and spelling books. and then get them
into the public schools. Every child of
six uses six to eight hundred words cor
rectIy, and should know how tn spell
them before wiGer vocabulary is forced
| upon it,
GathmaRn's Busted Gun.
Boston GIobe)
| Cathmapn was too fresh Who ex-