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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1878)
November, 1878. THE WEST SHORE. THE STUDY OF THE NATURAL SCI ENCES. The development of the natural sciences may be said to be the peculiar feature of tho preaent century. We are all luliiciently acquainted .....i, i, ......:- - ; . .rou with a lavish hand among ua, but few of ua realize the increasing difficulty of the atudy, and the need of appliances of every kind to make its development continuous. The atudy of the natural science as a part of a liberal edu cation is n growth not of a century, but, atleaat in this country, of only a score of years, and many of our college men who were educated 20 yeara ago in onr old-time American oollegos have but a faint idea of what the study oonaiata of at the present day. The study of the natural sciences is useful to crucible and retort, could take in all the sciences, and teach besides, perhaps, a little rhetoric or moral philosophy. That day is gone, never, we hope, to return. Science has grown so rapidly in the but score of years (thanks to the untiring labors of many heads and hands) that evnn of h - ; ';iw sciences no ono man is master, much iess able to make tho proud boast of Von Humboldt that "all knowledge is my provinoe. " Soience can to day bo prohtably studied only with the aid of all tho appliances which large laboratories, collections, libraries, and learned professors can furnish. Wo have been lead to make these re marks, because we tlnd there is a great deal of misunderstanding upon this subject, even by so no of our leading citisens, who, educated iu the old way, havolwen too busily engaged with their professions and business to bocomu ac quainted with these facts. There is an important corollary from the abovo conclusion, 77 COCO AN UT PALMS, The oriental scene repreented on this page shows a group of cocoa nut trees. Those trees him tropical regions; hut gen .-rally growing within reach of the sea or salt water, and often taking root on sandbanks or thinly covered reefs almost directly after they appear above high water. The tree rises from (iU to tfO feet in hight and affords food, drink, oil, clothing and shelter to the native. It has a soft tibroue stem marked on Its bark by rings. Iu hot climate every part of the tree 1 mod uss of. The natives chew the root a a subeti tate for the are, a ; the stoau are used a up right and supports for houses, and for making many domestic implement the leave form a l&Hv HsMrfin' tiL. lflNs f XlflsssiXrflHl RklT jpjjpB BBkeBs&MT rnkr nrwft mw FbmJ FMiBMTsB m IsV ' Ki lHwIfliiJsM ' " ii? 'BKujf'A Kiul anBarxWI the world in more than one way. In the tint place, as a means of mental training; next, as a means of increasing the amount of human knowledge; and lastly, as a means of bettor developing the practical art. A a means of mental training it is unequaled, sinoe it brings the student face to face with nature, with the force and the fact of existence. Such an intimate personal contact with the real never fails to stimulate the faculties of the mind. There is no logic so inexorable as that of nature; there is no mental training equal to it oonscien tioua atudy. In the next place the study of natural science leads, by a process of natural selection, to the development of such student as are fitted by nature for the higheet uf privi lege, the extension of the limit of human knowledge. And Hnally it is only by the thorough study of science that progress in the practical art is at all possible. Now, while all of us admit, in a general way, the importance of this study, there are bat few of as who understand at all the many ditticul tiee which surround it The time was, and was not so long ago bat that many of us may re member it, that our single college professor, with hi air pomp, hi electric machine, bis iTHK COCOANUT PALM. that the study of the soieno needs spparatus, collections and instructors for its suoossaful ac complishment. That is, the amount of money which is siiont upon institutions devoted to the higher education, is beet utilised when it ia concentrated upon on worthy institution, instead of being divided among a dozen others, all of which ore necessarily of the lower order. In the latter case apparatus is necessarily duplicated, it becomes impossible for any one to nave in i true tori of proper ability, or to allow them to devote themselves to one department, a is absolutely eentil in teaching soieno at the present May. The only way that w in America can fully realise the beuellta which science is reedy to bestow upon ua, l to follow out as nearly as oar different aircamstenae Crmit, the idea of the university system which grown up in Kemp. We in California have mads a start in this direction. As to oar success, we shall speak in on other number. Mining ami Ktitnttfit I'nm. M ion Powixl, in hia survey soath and east of the Orand Canyon of the Colorado, discov ered little irrigable, bat extensive grazing land. l.t mi i.n sells at 173 per M. la Bodie, CaL thatch or are mad into umbrella, basket, bucket and lanterns. I hi Tkkhitommi. S.'RVavs -Prof. Ilayden and Major Powell have reKirted to the Heore tery ol the Interior the gauersl result of their toiHtgrsphica! and geological surveys daring the past season. Th former says i The result of the season's labor, though a short one, has been on the whole very satisfactory. About I'i.OUU square mil of very difficult eosjalry was ur veysd much of it In minute detail and a mas of observations secured for the twelfth sonaal report, which will make it of mure general la tereet and value, than any preceding. The Yellowstone Park ami the Wind Ittvet ranga of mountains formed s part of the region covered bv llavden's Harvey. The work nailer Major Powall ha been prosecuted soath sad east of th Orand Canyon of the Colorado rivar. LitU irrigsble, but extensiv graxiag land bav haw discovered. He reports having collected much ethnological material, and stele that he ha nearly completed a map showing the dutfihu liou of the various Indian tribee witliia oar present Uiundanee, at dale when lhy war first known to European.