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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1872)
Till IIKHI'KRIAIV STVIHWT. HESPERIAN STUDENT. LINCOLN, HKPTKMBKR, US?t. : The HEtrEiiiAN Stchknt. ii Colleuo organ, , published monthly bv tho tudent8 ot the Ne braska but? Uiilviroltv. Term 75 cent peri year, in . no . Subt-ilptloiiP will hi received ' at J. K. Adams Now bland, next tloor north of Post Otllco. ComniunlcUiors nro minted from nil tho stu- , donts flml our '.lends lr general. Address tho , Hesperian Student. 1 O. 15 -x Lincoln. No- , biaska. V. II. SXriLL. Kdltor-ln-Chlof. UHACn II, HENToN, l...t. Lutiiku Kuiii.man. f Associates. THAT GREAT DUSEIIT. wo remember the short and withered com I chalk beds, those deep canons, which that was raised there. When plowing lof necessity result Irom such formations? I how often wo were compelled lo revere Why! ll would be alums! impossible toj the horses to draw Ihe plow fiom under i raNt- beans! And If lhc underlook toj some of (hose large and troublesome i plnt Ihem, Ihey would have to spilt them -rocks so numerous in that region, in 'ml plui.t ihcm edgeways then carry ihe riMMilllinr thfMo mmi ovimt. wi. must eon ' soil from some ravine tir ctcek boltoiu a '-"""-' j.--i ...,,.., . . . ....... ..-., elude the State University of Ntbraxka i.s located in tho groat Oaxi's of the Amori can Continent. in :tik;tiouiaiti. "Tho University of the Desert was opened last fall and now has in attend-1 ancc 1JJ0 students. iMjj'aycttc Monthly. ' Tho foregoing paragraph is taken from I the journal published by tho college in Eaton, Pa., and no doubt has reference to our Slate University. "Where that great desert is found is a conundrum we are j unable to solve. The University of Ne braska was opened last fall with as favor-1 able piospoets as any of our leading insti-1 tuthms. Jt has a rich endowment of over one million dollars, and is composed ofi six departments, viz : A College of An-' cient and Modern Languages, Mntho unities ami Natural Sciences; a College i of Law; a College of Medicine; a Col-, lege of Practical ScionccrMcclinnics and j Civil Engineering; ta College of Fine j Arts; and a College of Agriculture. The i lirst department has been opened and now j is in u nourishing condition, and even in ! this desert wo have opened the Depart ment of Agriculture this fall. At present wo have a Faculty composed of old and i experienced teachers from many of our j 'jading institutions, who are putting :orth their united efforts to establish j a college interior in no respect to any. Several thousand dollars have , aiready been expended for a library;! which, year by year, will be increased. J Of the Cabinet, Laboratory, etc., we need noi speak; but will only say additions are King daih made to this department, and I e former has already become an attrac-1 tiou to many. I Wo are aw.uc that the older geogra- i pliers described this country as tho Great j American Desert, and by the ignorant is ftill supposed to bo a vast sandy plain, whoso scorching sun bleaches the bones ot men and animals that have perished of hirst and stnivation. For such gross ignorance wo have but little sympathy. In an ago with such great advantages as tils, where one extteme east and west are united by an unbroken iron band, whore the magnetic wite is spread from State to Slate, when the substance of periodicals 5s go easily masteied, we see no excuse for making so ridiculous a blunder as that we have quoted above. The chemist has pronounced our soil to lie lite i iehest in the land, equal in every respect to that of the Ithine valley. At a ftuit climate wo have but few supor- ors, having borne off the palm at the last National Fair. Our broad prairies have already become celebrated as the jreatest for grazing in tho Union The statistics have proven this to be as good u corn-growing State as II linois;o ur wheat crop, on the average, being far superior From many n hill, nido bubbles forth the clear living spring of water, while our valleys are made pic turesquc by winding streams, along whoso banks are. often seen forest trees of all varieties. It has been our lot to bo a resident of Pennsylvania for several years. "Well do half mile oil' for covering. The High laud cattle would starve to death on such pasture. Kven the goal which has lived , on the rocky crag would cease to be. I Still less would be tho chances for manM however enterprising he might be. The I same is true of this continent. If Ihe1 deposits of the Hocky Mountains extended ' over the entire extent of tho country, or if the mountains of the west were on the j east, then would Ihe whole be as b.ire and With bright anticipations did wo enter upon the first term of the second session. While the halls of the University n sounded with greetings and joy; while the sunshine was dispelling the clouds, and the Goddess of Pleasure held iudom-! desert as that on the western slope of the liable sway ; misfortune hung over ' rocky crag is to-day. us as we received the sad intelligence of I Mining, which at this day is carried on the death of our former fellow-student, 1 very extensively in this country, has its Owen G. Whipple. Never again shall we i basis and foundation on geology, for hear his voice mingled with ours; Tor the i through it we have discovered thai gold, icy hand of Death has led him over the silver, etc., lie in veins instead of strata. cold and stormv Jordan. And ere constantly but mil always systematically or correctly. A revolution Is needed. Teachers and youth should begin Abe beginning. When they do litis weWill not see many of our most learned men, esteemed scholars and authors of rcputa lion, violall.ig grossly the elementary rules of punctuation. A market woman of Athens was able to detect Ihe national ily of a Greek philosopher by his mispro nuneialion of a common Greek work. It is to be regretted that this race of market, women has run out and that we now use their humble calling as the symbol of vulgarity and illilerateness. The remedy for Ibis is in the hands of the teachers of our primary schools and in their hands alone. When Ihey rigidly and inllexibly apply it our boys and' girls will learn to write good IOnglish before theyattempt lo speak bad French; will be able to ex press themselves correctly in their mother tongue before they astonish native Ger mans bv their amazing rendering of the language of Schiller. Futthennore, taking the deposits which he had entered upon the work of his! have been thrown out from volcanoes i Master, for which he was preparing him-' which we llnd tilled with precious metals, self with so arduous a spirit, he heard the 'and from the laet that heavy bodies sui- mandate, 4"t is enough; come up higher." I round the center of gravity, we come to j Mr. Whipple has been a contributor to 'the conclusion, that the inner portion of J the Sti;i:nt from the" time it was found-1 the earth Is filled with a moiled mass ol I cd, and was elected an associate editor at precious metals. , the last election, but his health failing To the Civil Engineer it is of vast itu-' was compelled to resign the position and iportance. 1 might say ho could not getj return home. 'along without this science, for through it i Wfien the University opened he was he can tell whether his line is converse' one of its first students. In the Lyceum i.with sttata of solid rock or if it be loose' he was an active member and added much 'sand bed. I to the interest and spirit of the discus., In the line arts it is also of equal value. sioits. As a gentleman we respected The Sculptor can determine what mater-j him hignly. As a scholar he ' lal he is using. Often our best statues are I was lucid and thotough. .As a school- lost tbtough the iirnoraucc of the person mate, all the students ntjd him. As a , making them, in consequence of employ, j Christian, by a loving example, he exeni-' bad stone. plitied the truth and reality of his proles-1 The same is true of the architect, who sion. Though we miss him yet we re- i by the use of bad material loses weeks, joice that he has passed from the labors months, and even years of toil. For in and cares of life to a glorious haven be- 'stance a great amount of the stone of our vond. i Stale is useless because il contains so much soda and potash that when put into a building it will not stand. , Often have we seen pictures on which Geology may be defined to be an in- the lines were drawn without reference to qttiry into the natural history of the t the geological construction, losing half if earth, extending throutrh the animal and iiiol all Its beauty to the scientific eye, PIIII.OI.OKV AND TI3IC TYl'KS. GltlOIiOKY. vegetable kingdoms, from the beginning to the end, from the azoic to the age of man. It gives us the past and present, bj means of which we may forecast Ihe future. It may be defined, in line, as the investigation of the structure of the Nor is it of less importance to the Agri- cultural ist. lie Knows ot should know that Ihe elements necessary to the soil for the best production of crops, are clay, Hint, and lime. Then he must learn what the soil lacks of these substances, and earth, and of the animals and vegetables by means of ciops, manure, and top d res that have existed tin ton. sing, supply what nature has left out. From the above definition il will be , Gcologj has a great inlliieiice on the perceived that geology is no isolated de-, health of a locality. What a dill'piencc partment of knowledge but rather a union j between the health of Nebraska and of all those sciences which pertain to 'western Ohio. Here tho soil as will as natural history, or which have for their , the air is dry ; there, wot, and the miasma object the study of nature. j arising from the stagnant pools, eoniain The social condition as well ascomtner- all the elements necessary to the ague. cial prosperity of our people is, in a great i . measure due to the 'geological structure; HAD punctuation. of the eartli Ihey inhabit. Kngland's ' prosperity is not due, alone, to the enter-, 'l'1"' :rl l" punctuation is becoming prise of her citizens, but to her geological sadly demoralized by the loose and caro formation. If instead of the present extent ,h'ss habits of our best writers. The feai of the granite hills of tlie Scottisli moiin-, s that after while all the old, reliable tains they had extended as far as 'ho ! landmarks will be swept away, and that South-Down of Kent, and Sussex; or if , important pari of every written language the chalk regions of the southern shore become so uncertain, vague and variable had reached to the hills of the north, as to cause great damage to literature. their country would indeed be one of tho the product!!? What could they raise in those Holds, on those granite rocks, those Cant words, by dint of long and general most picturesque. Hut what would bH use, become solidly fixed in a language, and are finally employed by authois of taste and erudition. Languages grow The most interesting and curious of the hitter day sciences is that known as Com parative Philology. How wonderful the fact that in those old languages, forgotten before Koine wa a village, there yet lies a hidden germ of life, like the grain of wheat in the hand of a mummy. It needed but the sunlight of modern science to wake the dormant principle of vitality, and, behold, great ripe fields awail the hand of the student and scholar of to.day. A comparison of the shape of rude char acters on the bricks of Babylon with otlu ers as rude, has, under the eve of scholar ship, produced most stiprising results- has established relationship between Ian guages, and hence between peoples long since to be in no way connected; has corrected the history of the oldest nations in the world; has cleared up doubts and solved problems long thepu.zle of histor ians and antiquarians; has made the histon of the oldest nations the newest history written; has opened a field for modern thought and investigation, which for thousands of years has been supposed sterile and dead. The arrow -shaped char acters, the queer cunieform inscriptions have become intelligible, and now daily European savans are transcribing tho thoughts of men who lived before Sen. nacherib or w ere conteiuporaryAvitli Sesos., iris: We have aclully now a cunieform gramnier. The clue to history and litera ture of the days of Ualshazzar is in tho hands of modern philologists, and with most wonderful and praiseworthy persis tency thoy mv following il up to results which astonish the world. The time is not far distance when our typographic specimen sheets will exhibit to the ow'.s of our patrons the exact form ami shape of the letters used when the Zenda Vesta was new. It i.s hinted that though thousands of years have past, something may be learned from these c. hiitued magazines of ancient learning, and that type founders and printer will find that after all some things they think now under the sun were old when that hum. nary was worshipped by ftoroastor and millions of his fid lowers thousands of years ago. If you go up In the world like a bal loon you may come down like a chunk. Emerson says a man is a fool to study Greek and Latin when he can secure translations of ancient authors' works. , -""
