"The curve is also calculated according to the same formulæ by McFarland. (Am. Jour. Sci. 1880-3, Vol. XX, pp. 105-111.) His calculation extends from 3,250,000 years backward to 1,250,000 years forward in time.

"He has calculated with shorter intervals than Croll, (Croll 50,000 McFarland 10,000) which, however, has had no particular influence in altering the curves. McFarland has in the same place calculated the curve for the same period of time from new formulæ of Stockwell's.

"The two curves taken in the gross, show a uniform course throughout their length, but as regards the first half LeVerrier's curve is thrown somewhat backward. Stockwell's formulæ are considered to be more accurate than LeVerrier's.

"Both curves are given by McFarland. If we compare these two together it appears

"(1) The curves coincide with only a small essential difference from the present day until 1,000,000 years back.

(2)

(3) A very remarkable consequence proceeds from these calculations. The curve repeats itself after the lapse of 1,400,000 years when it is calculated according to Stockwell's formulæ. In the period of 4,500,000 years for which McFarland has calculated it, it repeats itself in this way with remarkable regularity a little more than three times, etc."

James Croll (of H. M. Geol. Surv. Scotland) in his "Climate and Cosmology," (1885)—his and LeVerrier's conclusions having been questioned by Newcomb,- acknowledges the results of McFarland's justifying computations, and says: "I may here mention that Professor McFarland, of the Ohio State University, Columbus, a few years ago undertook the task of recomputing every one of the hundred and fifty periods given in my tables; and he states that, except in one instance, he did not find an error to the amount of .001.

"In this laborious undertaking, Professor McFarland computed by means of both formulæ the eccentricity of the earth's orbit and the longitude of the perihelion for no fewer than 485 separate epochs. See Am. Jour. Sci., Vol. XX, p. 105, 1880."

Some critical reviews now under preparation under McFarland's tireless hands are to appear in the February or March number of "The Open Court" of Chicago, and in the February number of "Popular Astronomy." Though now eighty years of age, while dimmed are the keen and kindly eyes that so long read the most illimitable of Nature's books, and have flashed in appreciative merriment or truly penetrated the inner soul of youth, to-day our revered instructor is still cheerfully and intently busy; still contributing to the knowledge of mankind.

SONG WRITERS OF OHIO.

BENJAMIN RUSSEL HANBY.

Author of "Darling Nelly Gray."

C. B. GALBREATH.

A plain brick structure of ample size and pleasing proportions, rising on firm foundations from a well-kept campus; a mute array of sentinel trees, guarding the shady silence of the place and leading outward along the avenue in two noble ranks. that stretch forth their arms in salutation to the passerby; a beautiful stretch of lawn, facing the afternoon sun and sloping gently toward the winding stream that with never failing current murmurs gladly on its southward journey; and, bordering all, the neat and orderly village of Westerville, such is the seat of Otterbein, honored preceptress of a worthy student body, beloved alma mater of numerous and devoted alumni, typical educational institution of the middle west, in the strictest sense a denominational college, in which founders and faculty built broader and better than they knew. In glorifying the Master, they ennobled man; in advancing the interests of a sect, they made no mean contribution to the world outside of the church; in preparation for the hereafter, they achieved something of immortality here.

The visitor entering the spacious main building is impressed with the fact that many of the excellent features of the old time Ohio college are here retained unmarred by the innovations of later years; the chapel, where students and instructors assemble daily; recitation rooms, where the traditional curriculum, with its preponderance of pure mathematics and ancient classics, is faithfully taught; the halls of the literary societies, with richly carpeted floors, immaculate tinted walls and varicolored windows, admitting a softened radiance by day and transmitting by night something of the mellow glory that glows within; below, a carefully selected library, administered in accordance with modern methods and frequented by the student body, whose clean-cut, thoughtful faces are at once a study and an

That sweet, pattutic song,

"Darling helly Gray" willen not long before the Civil war contained a sentiment which dupened the feeling already

a

aroused

for the oppressed and touched responsive chord, which though many years have passed, still vitrates. Who can even now sing

the touching lines without sym_ pathy for the poor bondman ernelly separated from his love : Alhambra, bal, Jan, 26-1905.

Kate Hanly.

inspiration. Even the modern conveniences of life enter unobtrusively. Natural gas and electricity blaze and beam silently, and at the end of the avenue of trees the interurban cars come and go without a rumble to disturb the student as he bends over his books. Athletics are not excluded, but football, with its glorious concomitants of stentorian hilarity and broken heads, is still subordinate to music and debate.

But why dwell upon this institution unknown to fame and unambitious to emerge from the delightful seclusion peculiar to numbers of its kind? Again, we repeat that the founders built broader and better than they knew.

It is worthy of note in passing, that one of the great universities of the East is even now considering the raising of an endowment fund of two and one-half million dollars for the avowed purpose of greatly increasing the teaching force and "importing into the university the methods and personal contact between teacher and pupil which are characteristic of the small college." It is refreshing to know that a great university can learn something from such a source. It encourages the hope that further investigation may reveal other features worthy of imitation.

That the denominational college, with all its limitations, has rendered an important service to the cause of education, is attested by results - the men and women it has sent into the world.

If a single alumnus of this particular institution should be known as widely as his work, his name would be a household word in America. When Otterbein was young, from her classic shades he gave to music and to human liberty that sweetly pathetic song, Darling Nelly Gray.

Occasional comment has been made upon the fact that most of the southern melodies have been composed by northern men. It is a singular coincidence that the authors of Dixie and Darling Nellie Gray were both born in the North and in the central part of the same state. In the little village of Rushville, that nestles among the picturesque hills of Fairfield County, O., Benjamin Russel Hanby began life July 22, 1833. The same county gave to Ohio and the Union Thomas Ewing, the younger, and the famous Sherman brothers.