Year: 1874

Superintendent OF Public Instruction,
until after the term of five years from the
adoption of the constitution, when the
Legislative Assembly may provide for,
and fill the Office of Superintendent as a
separate office. The State Board, con-
sisting of the Governor, Secretary of
State, Auditor of the State, and Attorney
General, have charge of school lands, the
also charge of the education of the deaf
mutes in the State. County Superinten
dents The basis of the school system in
this State is the county administration.
The Superintendents of the respective
counties are elected by the people for
two years, and the general administration
of the laws relating to schools is put into
their hands with very large powers.
They arrange districts, examine teachers,
and collect all moneys for the State
Each district meets annually and eltc
three Directors and a Clerk The Direc-





possible uniform series of school books
for their districts, furnish school houses,
&c.,


Teachers are examined by the County
Superintendents of the county wherein
they propose To teach. The Directors of
the Districts employ the teachers upon
presentation of certificates The State
Superintendent may examine teachers
and grant certificates The branches re-
quired to be taught are Orthography,
reading, writing, arithmetic, English
grammar, modern history, ana mental
algebra. Sixty-five days, or twelve
school weeks, constitute 3 quarter of a
school year.


HOW THE EYE Is SWEPT AND WASHED.


For us to he able TO see objects clearly
and distinctly, it is necessary that the
eye should be kept clean. For this pur
pose it is furnished with a little gland.
from which flows a watery substance.
(tears), which is spread over the eye by
the lid, and il is a.terward swept off by it,
and runs through hole in the bone to
the under surface of the nose, While the
warm air, passing over it while breath
ing, evaporates it. 1t is remarkable that
no such gland can be found in the eyes
of fish, as the element in which they live
answers the same purpose. If the eye
had not been furnished with liquid to
wash it, and lid to sweep it of, things
would appear as they do, when you look
through dusty glass. Along the edges
of the eyclids there are great number
of little tubes or glands, from which flows
an oily substance, which spreads over
the sucfacc of the skin, and thus prevents
the edges from being sore or irritatcd !;
and it also helps to keep tears within the
lids. There are also six little muscles
attached TO the eye, which enable us to
move it in every direction and when we
consider the different motions they are
capable OF giving to the eye, we cannot
but admire the goodness of Him who
formed them, and thus saved us the
trouble of turning our heads every time
VIC wished to view an object.


THE ORIGIN OF OUR NATIONAL oBsEIvA-


The importance of establishing first
meridian for the United States, at the seat
of government, in connection with a
National Observatory, for the purpose of
systematic scientific observation, attract.
ted the attention of Congress as early as
1910. In 1913 the report of the commit
tee, to whom the matter had been In
trusted, was read before the House by
one of its prominent members. But such
was the disturbed condition of the coun-
try, and the absorbing interest in Its
military affairs during the war with
Great Britain, that the subject was not
again revived till 1916, when the original
memorial with the several reports, hitherto
presented, and the letter of the Secretary
of State, read before the House in
1918, were referred to select committee.
This committee strongly advocated, in Its
report, the erection of a National Obser-
vatory, furnished with suitable instru-
ments and apparatus for astronomical
observation, and h at the President
should cause such observations to be
made as would determine the longitude
of the Capitol with the greatest practic-
able degree ofexactness. But no steps
were taken at that time to carry out the
resolution, and the subject was not again
referred to till 1918. A third memorial
was then presented, soliciting not the
erection Of an observatory, but simply
that additional observations be made to
test the accuracy of results already OBJ
tained, in order to insure correct deter
minstion of our longitude from Green
wich. Nearly three years OF tedious de-
lay were required before the requisite
resolution was passed, which insured the
modest commencement of what is destiu-