c . 
 
 ONIVERSf 
 
 VI 
 
 VOLUME VI 
 
 DELAWARE COLLEGE BULLETIN 
 
 NEW SERIES 
 
 PUBLISHED QUARTERLY 
 
 NUMBER IV 
 
 Suggestions for Note Taking 
 
 PREPARED BY 
 
 EZRA KEMPTON MAXFIELD 
 
 Instructor in English 
 
 PUBLISHED BY DELAWARE COLLEGE 
 
 DECEMBER, 1910 
 
 Entered June 22, 1904, at Newark. Delaware, as second-class matter, under Act of 
 
 Congress of July 16, 1894. 
 
NOTE TAKING 
 
NEWARK POST 
 Newark, Delaware 
 
. 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 A well known Harvard professor has said that to his mind nothing 
 seems more like the eating of dry sawdust than the perusal of his own 
 lectures as served up to him in the form of students' examination books. 
 He might well have added "unless it be the notes from which they prepare 
 for examinations," because there is a very vital connection between the 
 note-book and the examination book. We would not go so far as to say 
 that all failures in examination are due to poor notetaking, but we do main- 
 tain, by actual observation, that a great many unsatisfactory answers can 
 be directly traced to the note book. When the great reckoning time of 
 the year comes around students have oftentimes to rely upon the poorest 
 apologies for what has been discussed either in the lectures or in the col- 
 lateral reading. Nor do amateurs at notetaking always know that their 
 notes are imperfect until they learn from bitter experience. 
 
 It sometimes happens that hardworking students will come to an 
 instructor after an examination, surprised and not a little hurt because 
 their grades are not what they think that they deserve. "I don't see why 
 this grade is not a B instead of a C." a man will say, as he produces an 
 examination book bristling with corrections. "Why is not this answer 
 right?" and "What's the matter with that one?" If the instructor explains 
 patiently in detail in what respect the answers are deficient perhaps the 
 student will say, "Well, that is the way I have it in my notebook," as if 
 that should be an end of the whole matter. An inspection of his notes will 
 indeed show that he speaks truly. The errors are there, the same serious 
 errors that fell under the ban of the blue pencil; errors of the ear, eye, 
 apprehension, at best poor maimed echoes of our lectures. The notes 
 themselves are "fir}- sawdust" because they do not represent the work 
 they stand for. What then may we expect of the examination prepared 
 from such notes? 
 
 Poor notes are dear at any cost. Most men learn this fact sooner or 
 later, to their sorrow. It is in order that some conscientious undergrad- 
 uates may be spared the humiliation and disappointment of failure before 
 they have learned the art of notetaking for themselves that this pamphlet 
 is prepared. It does not seem wise to attempt to lay down any very 
 stringent rules () n the subject. We can only suggest the more general 
 methods from which every man can work out his own particular system. 
 
 In the first place let us have no delusions about notetaking itself. It 
 should not be regarded as an important exercise for its own sake, though 
 something might be said on that score; nor a mere traditional practice of 
 college men that could be dispensed with; nor yet, as one writer has sug- 
 gested, a diversion for mischievous minds which might be troublesome. 
 Notes are quite as prosaic necessities as the piece of string whicn the 
 thoughtful wife ties around the finger of the absent-minded man to remind 
 him of the letter he is to mail or of the silk he is to match. The universal 
 recognition of the need for notetaking is a tacit admission of the weak- 
 ness of the human mind. Tt goes without saying that were one able to re- 
 call at will every fact or theory to which one's attention has been called 
 there would be no necessity for taking notes. And those rare and fortu- 
 nate minds which need no helps to memory can profit far more by what 
 they hear or by what they read if they are not hampered by notetaking. 
 
As for the man who will not pay attention to the work in class without a 
 .diversion the less that we can say the better. To take notes one must pay 
 strict attention to business, especially in the case of a lecture. Even then 
 there is bound to be some sacrifice in the effect of the discourse; the mind 
 .cannot wholly be occupied with the thought of the lecture while it is analyz- 
 ing it into notes. But this is better than the loss of a large part of the 
 discussion later through forgetfulness. The moral is then to take notes 
 and take good notes, as a pure matter of business. 
 
 Let us consider the practice of note taking under two main heads: 
 notes on lectures, and notes on reading. 
 
 NOTES ON LECTURES 
 
 As someone has pointed out, the college lecture has not altogether 
 the importance it once had; not but that it is still a necessity, because we 
 could hardly dispense with it, but, rather, that it has been relegated to a 
 more secondary position by the increase in collateral reading. A few de- 
 cades ago college libraries were maintained for the almost exclusive use 
 of the professor and the graduate student. Not only were books too rare 
 and costly for promiscuous handling by the "vulgar" undergraduate, but 
 fris crude mind was not considered sufficiently developed to be able to 
 appreciate the great works of science and literature at first hand. It was 
 still an age of theoretical knowledge so far as the undergraduate was con- 
 cerned. The student had to take his learning as it fell as drops of wisdom 
 from the lips of a gray-bearded sage. He must accept a fact because a 
 professor said it was a fact. The college lecture, aside from the religious 
 use of a few tests, was the one source of undergraduate learning. Thus a 
 failure to obtain good notes might, very likely, mean a greater calamity 
 to the student than it does now. 
 
 Today our libraries are not only available to the undergraduate but 
 they are full of books, edited texts, critical works of various kinds, and 
 even discussions of the very topics considered in the lectures, so that it is 
 quite possible for a bright student who keeps his ears open during lectures 
 ■and who uses discrimination in his collateral reading, to dispense with 
 notes in class. But even if the field be well covered in the collateral read- 
 ing, notes are yet important, by virtue of the personality of the lecturer. 
 No two men ever approach the same subject quite the same way. Few 
 lecturers lay emphasis in altogether the same directions. The limits of the 
 • same field may vary with different scholars. Names of periods, question- 
 able dates, any statement yet in doubt subject to theory or hypothesis, will 
 -receive the individual stamp of the lecturer. If for nothing else a man 
 '.should take notes to get the lecturer's point of view. 
 
 The Freshman before he comes to college usually has not experienced 
 the lecture as a means of obtaining knowledge. He enters the lecture 
 room with but little idea of what is expected of him. He perhaps has been 
 told to get a certain kind of notebook and a special kind of pen or pencil, 
 but they are poor tools in his hand. Without a few suggestions he appears 
 all at sea through the first few lectures. Every lecturer will proceed in 
 his own way, which may vary from a deliberate easy-going talk more or 
 less extempore from meagre notes, or from no notes at all, to the glibly- 
 read composition carefully prepared beforehand from an outline complete 
 to "sub f's and g's." In about eight cases out of ten the early notes of the 
 Freshman are not worth the paper they are written on. He begins invar- 
 
iably by attempting to take the lecturer's words verbatim, and after Eisner 
 frantic attempts to do the impossible, in which process he loses the half of 
 many sentences, the whole of almost every thought, and wastes untold 
 nervous energy, besides, in laboriously scrawling down a fine-sounding 
 sentence here and there, he begins to feel the overwhelming sense of help- 
 lessness and despair, not to say disgust for the work itself, which corner 
 from inability to keep up with the class. 
 
 Now successful note taking from a lecture means especially the exer- 
 cise of judgment. The lecturer has a certain number of basic facts at hancS,. 
 from which he works out each point. He goes into sufficient detail to make- 
 the fundamental points plain. Departing from these from time to time he 
 advances theories and illustrates at will. He usually works from an out- 
 line logically arranged. If one listens attentively one will usually be able 
 to distinguish this outline. In order to do this the student should be as- 
 little conscious of self as possible so as to have his mind free. That is, his 
 mind should be so intent upon the work as presented by the instructor 
 that his own personality is, for the time, foi gotten. He must not be 
 thinking what he is going to do with the holiday he will have tomorrow, or 
 what he will wear to the party tonight; he should not even see the pencil 
 and the notebook except with the same subconscious eye he views all fami- 
 liar objects; the very act of writng should be as unconscious as the act oi 
 walking. He also must learn to think automatically. He must not be con- 
 fused or led astray by the words, phrases, or fine-sounding sentences with 
 which the speaker clothes his thought. His mind must be alert for the 
 thought itself. As soon as the student learns this fact the art is fully half 
 mastered. 
 
 The first injunction is then: Do not try to take the lecture verbatim. 
 Let the fine words and phrases go. Their effect should be unconscious. 
 Look behind them for the thought. It may sometimes be summed up in 
 very small space. Take for example a paragraph from a lecture on "The- 
 Bible as Literature." 
 
 "It is not our purpose this morning to quarrel with the faith of saints- 
 and the holy minded. Whatever the beliefs, so long as they bring their 
 owners comfort and peace, they are blessed and beyond reproach. We- 
 shall not argue the point concerning the inspiration of the Bible; what it 
 is, whether God literally guiding the pen of a consecrated servant or a» 
 noble and devout believer writing a doctrine so high and noble as to» 
 seem really on a level with the Divine Mind, we shall not attempt to say. 
 This much will suffice us, that the sacred words, whatever the extent of the 
 inspiration, were at least transcribed by the hand of man, and we have ai 
 habit of calling the written works of man, when of sufficient merit, litera- 
 ture. So the Bible is literature." 
 
 It will be seen at once that the lecturer is forestalling any false im- 
 pressions of his purpose, which might exist in the minds of his class. No 1 
 real facts are stated. The paragraph is important as an introduction tc: 
 convey an impression of neutrality. In the student's notebook all that i* 
 necessary is a single sentence, which might read as follows: 
 
 Purpose: — to treat the Bible purely as literature, apart from any re- 
 ligious significance, since the actual transcription was by the hand of man. 
 
 In order to show how important it is to follow the lecture, to get the 
 relation of points, to keep the point of view of the lecturer distinct, let uav 
 
s 
 
 6 
 
 take another succinct example. The following quotation is from William 
 Black's "Goldsmith." 
 
 "Of course a very dark picture might be drawn of Goldsmith's life; 
 and the sufferings that he undoubtedly endured have been made a whip 
 with which to lash the ingratitude of a world not too quick to recognize 
 the claims of genius. He has been put before us without the brighter 
 lights to the picture, as the most unfortunate of poor devils; the heart- 
 broken usher; the hack ground down by sordid booksellers; the starving 
 occupant of successive garrets. This is the aspect of Goldsmith's career 
 which naturally attracts Mr. Forster." 
 
 Now this is said .not from Mr. Black's point of view at all, but from 
 that of Forster, whom he is .quoting. If the student fails to note the state- 
 ment "This is the aspect of Goldsmith's career which naturally attracts 
 Mr. Forster," he may be trapped into stating Mr. Forster's extreme views 
 as those of Mr. Black. In the same manner the author, a little later, gives 
 the hypothetical opinion of a Japanese student, which paints the opposite 
 extreme of Goldsmith. Without the notes which index the relation to 
 Mr. Black's view the notebook might present most startling incongruities, 
 but not more startling than those which students are responsible for in 
 every examination. 
 
 It will not be sufficient, however, to look for the individual thoughts 
 alone. It is necessary that the student be alert to reason as the speaker 
 reasons. It is very dangerous to jot down the results of reasoning if you 
 have not followed it in your own mind. The probability is that you will 
 get it all wrong. It is important to get the point, every point, and its logi- 
 cal connection in the discourse. Sum up every point and put it down in 
 the order given, but be sure you get it right. If possible make your head- 
 ings as you go. If circumstance will not permit, you can insert them 
 later in the margin of your page. The ideal way, of course, is to have 
 your lecture so well in hand as to be able to subordinate each idea to its 
 proper head. Some lecturers, even of international reputation, are care- 
 less of their thought sequence and deliver their ideas in such a disordered 
 way that it is impossible, even for an expert, to take logical notes from 
 them. The only thing to do in that case is to t?„ke down every point as it 
 comes and rearrange all of the points later. Fortunately, however, you 
 will find most lectures logical in outline, and the main heads will be ob- 
 vious as the student gets into the spirit of taking good notes. 
 
 In summing up our more general directions we might reduce them to 
 the following- fundamental principles: 
 
 First. The student should become as little conscious of his notebook 
 as possible, that his mind may act reflexively; that is, from habit, automati- 
 cally. 
 
 Second. He should be always on the alert to get every important 
 point in the lecture, but he must avoid verbatim notes when they lead him 
 astray from the point. He must be careful that there are no half truths on 
 liis paffe. Half truths make a student ridiculous in an examination book. 
 
 Third. He must follow the reasoning of the lecturer; he must reason 
 as th»e lecturer reasons, through scientific, sociological, or purely mathe- 
 matical problems and deductions. 
 
 Fourth. He must have a sense of values, to be able to distinguish 
 between a truth stated as such and a mere hypothesis or theory; to b 
 able to subordinate a minor point or subtopic to its relative place. 
 
 e 
 
Fifth. Above all, he must take the position of the lecturer and see the 
 subject from his point of view, as much as possible; in order that he may 
 really see the significance of the lecture as a whole. 
 
 What we have said thus far relates to notetaking in general. 
 These few suggestipns will, we think, be found equally serviceable for 
 almost all subjects, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, History, English, 
 etc. The exact method of procedure may be left to thfe individual, at this 
 point, to work out for himself. The fairly specific suggestions which fol- 
 low now will, however, prove of value. We recommend that the Fresh- 
 man, at least, take his class-room notes with the idea of rewriting them 
 later. Many men are too busy or too indolent to bother with their notes 
 out of class until it is time to prepare for examination, and necessity urges 
 them on. By such men who approach their notes when "cold", more care 
 must be taken in the lecture room because when they write their notes for 
 the first time they write them for all time. After the interval of weeks 
 and months one's own notes are almost the notes of a strange hand. They 
 are cold and bare, stripped of the glamour which the lecturer's words cast 
 about them. They must read sensibly, logically, and must be easily deci- 
 phered. Men who never rewrite their notes must of necessity take fuller 
 notes than the man who intends to rewrite them while the inspiration of 
 the subject is keen, while the words of the lecturer are yet ringing in his 
 ears. They are placing a great responsibilit}- upon these notes, more than 
 they may realize. While the impressions of the lectures are vivid in one's 
 mind the notes appear in a state of completeness which they do not actually 
 possess, like the lines of the child on the ground glass slate, colored and 
 sustained in detail by the perfection of the copy behind the glass, which 
 when the model is removed show themselves in their true crudeness. It 
 requires skill to make them mean much to you when the freshness is gone. 
 The inexperienced man had better plan to rewrite his notes, and even the 
 advanced student will find many advantages in the system. Those men who 
 think that their time is too valuable for rewriting do not realize that in 
 the end they may save time by the "longer way home." In the first place, 
 if a student revises his notes immediately after a lecture he can not only 
 make their final form legible, more interesting by virtue of complete words 
 and sentences, but he can also fill in a great many points between the lines, 
 from memory. Thus his notes will be legible, interesting and complete, 
 and more than this, the process of rewriting wll fix the various points much 
 better in his mind at a time when it is most susceptible to them, than any 
 study from cold notes can do. The preparation for examination is thus 
 made simple. Moreover, since one does not, by this plan, have to take so 
 full notes in class they will in the end be more logical and give more leis- 
 ure in the classroom for the appreciation and enjoyment of the lecture. 
 
 In courses which involve the use of mathematical equations great care 
 should be taken that every step in the process of reasoning be noted. 
 Problems from the board or from dictation must be accurate. All expla- 
 nations, formal and informal, of a figure, a diagram, a machine, or a piece 
 of apparatus, should be taken down. One never knows when they may be 
 required. Chemical equations, computations, reactions from the experi- 
 mental work in the lecture, must be carefully worked out. 
 
 In some cases when the classroom discussion centers around particular 
 words, sentences, or around figures and problems in the text book, it may 
 be well to take the notes directly in the text book, either on the margins, 
 between the leaves, or on insert-leaves which book-shops sell for that pur- 
 
8 
 
 pose. Such notes are very convenient in literature courses of all languages, 
 science, and in mathematics. They are particularly desirable in the case 
 of an extensive study of the text, such as Shakspere, Bacon, Milton. 
 
 It may be well to arrange beforehand a system of abbreviations so 
 that time may be saved while you are "under fire." It should be properly 
 a definite system so that there may be no confusion in reading the notes 
 later. It may be an advantage to learn shorthand, as many do, and take 
 the notes verbatim, but there really is no necessity for taking entire lec- 
 tures; in fact lectures may be a disadvantage because they make more 
 work to be gone over. It is surprising how proficient one may become in 
 the use of one's own abbreviated longhand. If certain letters or syllables 
 stand for the same word or expression every time the notes may be both 
 full and legible. Thus "b," with date, is "born" and "d" is "died"; "dif" 
 is "different from"; "lit" is "literature"; "Shak" is "Shakspere"; "gov" 
 is "governor;" "govt" is "government"; "cal" is "calculate"; "cur" is 
 "current"; "org" is "organic" or "organism"; "prep" is "precipitate"; 
 "dec" is "decant"; "f" is "filter"; "comp" is "compound"; "H" is 
 "Hydrogen"; "dyn" is "dynamo", or "dynamic"; "dn" is "dyne", etc., 
 without end. You need not be particular about grammar or completeness. 
 There is no limitation save clearness and accuracy. One must be able to 
 read the notes later. 
 
 One, perhaps extreme, example of the use of this system might read 
 as follows: 
 
 100 pts Fe2 CI 6 diss 63.5 pts H2O equals liq sp g 1.67, 25 degrees; 
 solid to yel crys mass equals Fe 2 CI 6 plus 12 H 2 O 
 
 Translated they read: 
 
 When ioo parts of ferric chloride are dissolved in 63.5 parts of water a 
 liquid is obtained which has a specific gravity of 1.67 at 25 degrees, and 
 this solidifies to a yellow crystalline mass, having the composition of 
 Fe2C16 plus 12 H2O." 
 
 But good notes are not always a guarantee against imperfect knowl- 
 edge. Many students who take very acceptable notes do not know how 
 to get the most out of them when preparing for examination. This is es- 
 pecially true of those men whose notes are especially full. Full notes may 
 become embarrassing if they are not handled properly, because the eye 
 must search over a wide field to obtain the facts. An excellent way to 
 make the important points stand out is to read the entire set of notes very 
 carefully, underlining the more vital points in red ink. Such a method will 
 make them stand out from the rest and give the eye a scale of values more 
 easily remembered. 
 
 One even better plan is to get regular library index cards and, after 
 the lecture is fairly well learned, transfer the points underlined to them, one 
 card to a lecture. These cards can be carried about and studied at odd 
 moments. One is enabled by their use to get the perspective view of the 
 lecture which brings out the sense of values which one loses when one 
 studies the notes in their mass of detail only. With the skeleton in mind 
 one has little difficulty in recalling the details. Thus one of these cards 
 might read as given below. 
 
 Thomas Dekker, 1569 - ? 
 1. Tempestuous life. 2. Broad sympathy with lower strata of society. 
 3. Genuine Realism. 4. Modern attitude — love story. 5. Realized that 
 
9 
 
 story of manners could only fringe to central story. 6. Some feeling fof 
 dramatic structure. 6. Superb dramatic economy in "Shoemaker's Holi- 
 day" — gets all amusement out of story — no figures outside Shak. more 
 truly humorous than Shoemaker & Wife. 8. Great sympathy for women 
 who suffer from brutality of husbands. 
 
 These are actual notes of an actual lecture boiled down to the mere 
 major points. 
 
 Another card sums up a lecture on Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus" 
 
 f Titus Vespasian 1 2 old plays come 
 j Titus Andronicus -into possession 
 
 Titus Adronicus, 1594 Sources j one Dutch, other J of the company 
 
 Great puzzle — really melodrama — [ German 
 
 up to third act moves swiftly & compactly — 2 plays crowded into one — ■ 
 hence loses unity — incidents unrelated brought together — Shak, writing 
 for public which had enjoyed Spanish Tragedy — this less brutal, less ef- 
 fective — could not go far in characterization — enriched poetic expression 
 where possible — Hence Shak, by 1594, competent in melodrama — able to 
 use many incidents effectively where previously difficulty in plotting at all, 
 
 It is not a bad plan for two or more students to meet at stated inter- 
 vals and compare their notes. The lecture can be discussed so that the 
 points omitted or not fully understood can be placed correctly in the note- 
 book against the final test. The chance for error is greatly decreased in 
 this way and, besides, the discussion greatly aids the memory so that the 
 work of studying from the notes is lessened. In at least one instance where 
 the speaker delivered his lecture very rapidly several students arranged 
 to take his points in relays; that is, since there was scarcely time for one 
 man to get all, one man could take the first point, another the second, and 
 so on. These men occupied seats close together so that an exchange of 
 signals was possible. Afterwards they discussed each lecture and put 
 their notes together. 
 
 Dates bother some people a great deal, especially when they are 
 sprinkled over large areas of notes. It sometimes happens that the stud- 
 ent has to keep several distinct sets of dates in his mind for several suc- 
 cessive examinations. If you have experienced trouble in remembering" 
 dates try the following system which has proved beneficial to at least one 
 student. 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 3. 
 
 4. 
 
 5. 
 
 6. 
 
 7. 
 
 8. 
 
 9. 
 10. 
 11. 
 12. 
 
 Shakspere 
 
 Jonson 
 — Chapman 
 
 Marston 
 — Dekker 
 
 Middleton 
 
 Beaumont 
 — Fletcher 
 — Massinger 
 —Ford 
 — Shirley 
 
 Webster 
 
 O 
 o 
 a. 
 
 on 
 
 Born 
 1564 
 1573- 
 —1559- 
 1575 
 
 —1569- 
 1570- 
 1558— 
 -1579 
 —1589— 
 ^1—1586 
 1— 1596 
 
 -reverse- 
 in 
 
 u 
 
 50 years 
 
 Died 
 1616- 
 -1637 
 1634- 
 1634- 
 
 1634 - 
 1616— 
 1625 
 -1639 
 
 j-i 
 
 a 
 
 o> 
 
 S 
 
 C/3 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 3. 
 
 4. 
 
 5. 
 
 6. 
 
 7. 
 
 8. 
 
 9. 
 10. 
 11, 
 12. 
 
 After reading the extract from a lecture on "The Essentials of a Good 
 Business Letter," see if the notes which immediately follow contain all 
 
10 
 
 the important points, properly subordinated and arranged, as we have 
 advised. 
 
 i. ESSENTIALS OF A GOOD BUSINESS LETTER. 
 
 A good business letter is characterized by a clear, effective presenta- 
 tion of sound subject matter. We are concerned here, not with the subv 
 ject matter, which we assume to be sound, but with how this matter is pre- 
 sented — in other words, with the composition of the letter. From this 
 point of view, a good business letter is, first of all accurate, accurate in 
 form, in spelling, in grammar, in punctuation, in sentence structure. 
 
 Certain forms for the headings, address and salutation, formal close, 
 and superscription, which are sanctioned by good use, must be strictly fol- 
 lowed. Correct spelling, good grammar, and proper punctuation are 
 absolute essentials, as in any other kind of composition. Misspelled words 
 and bad grammar are generally signs of illiteracy, and although such 
 errors do not, as a rule, tend to make the sense obscure, they do seriously 
 impair the force of a letter. Faulty punctuation often confuses the mean- 
 ing, thus causing greater effort on the part of the reader to understand 
 exactly what the writer wishes to say. 
 
 Every sentence in a letter should be grammatically complete, and 
 should express but one idea. Faulty sentence structure, like faulty punc- 
 tuation, offends both against accuracy and clearness. Careful writers never 
 use the shortened forms so common in slovenly letters. Such expres- 
 sions as the following should be avoided: ****** 
 
 Closely connected with accuracy is the second essential of a well writ- 
 ten business letter, clearness. Too great pains cannot be taken that the 
 reader shall understand with the least effort what is said in a letter. If 
 the sentences are unified, coherent, and properly punctuated, much has 
 been accomplished toward securing clearness. There remains the logical 
 arrangement and the proper paragraphing of the pavts of the letter or the 
 divisions of a subject. If several related ideas are treated in a letter, 
 they must follow one another logically and each division of the subject must 
 stand by itself in a paragraph. Here the writer must determine what he 
 should say first, what should logically follow, and what should be the 
 most effective ending. He must also decide what parts of his subject mat- 
 ter should be placed by themselves in separate paragraphs. If he is reply- 
 ing to a letter, he should discuss the points in the order in which they 
 appeared in the original letter. In every case he must arrange his letter 
 so that the trend of thought is logical and the divisions of his subject mat' 
 ter clearly brought out. 
 
 One sample of a poorly paragraphed letter with a revised copy will 
 illustrate the gain in clearness which comes from proper paragraphing. * 
 
 '■l* "■A* "i? -4? ^ ^tr "it ^Jff ^t* 
 
 yf> ^P- 2f* 'f* *p> *r* •r*' "I* *r- 
 
 Logical arrangement of the subject matter and grammatical accuracy 
 will, of course, avail little if a writer does not give intelligent expression to 
 his ideas. Words may be used correctly, sentences may be complete gram- 
 matically, and paragraphs may be well constructed; but a letter will still 
 be unintelligible if a writer's combination of words does not make good 
 sense. Confused expression is generally due to confusion in a writer's 
 mental processes; it is less frequently, though frequent enough, due to 
 careless composition, to neglect on the part 'of the writer to make sure 
 that what he has said means something and means only one thing. A man 
 should always remember that an expression which is perfectly clear to 
 
11 
 
 Ihim may be entirely obscure to an equally intelligent reader. The follow- 
 ing letter is an admirable example of muddled composition. * 
 ********* 
 
 Certain devices which help the reader in an easy comprehension of the 
 subject matter of a letter are used by many business men. It is often advis- 
 able to write at the beginning of a letter a title indicating the contents of 
 a letter. If a letter addressed to a company is of special interest to one 
 man, this fact is indicated in the inside address and salutation by a phrase 
 such as Attention Mr. J. P. Brown. In most replies to business letters, a 
 statement of the subject under discussion should, even at the risk of repe- 
 tition, be made in the first sentence. The busy man must know at once 
 whether a certain letter concerns him or another member of his firm or 
 one of his subordinates. Such devices as are here mentioned help much in 
 securing clearness, the second essential of a well written business letter. 
 
 Accuracy and clearness will be of little avail, however, unless a busi- 
 ness letter is brief. Unnecessary diffuseness will spoil the effect of an 
 otherwise effective letter. Information ■ must be presented as briefly and 
 concisely as possible. The reader has not the time or patience to wade 
 through a mass of meaningless words. The young engineer will find usual- 
 ly that it is worth while to go over carefully every letter, condensing and 
 improving his expression wherever possible. Notice the saving in words 
 effected, in the revision of the following letter. Unnecessary words are 
 omitted and a title indicating the contents is attached at the beginning of 
 the letter * *********** 
 
 ********* 
 
 NOTES ON ESSENTIALS OF A GOOD BUSINESS LETTER 
 
 I. Accuracy. 
 
 Form, spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure. 
 
 (a) Established forms for heading, address, and salutation, etc., must 
 
 be followed. 
 
 (b) Misspelled words and bad grammar signs of illiteracy. 
 
 (c) Faulty spelling confuses meaning. 
 
 (d) Sentences should be complete. Avoid such sentences as the 
 
 following: 
 (Examples) 
 
 II. Clearness. 
 
 (a) Good sentences a help toward clearness 
 
 (b) Logical arrangement and paragraphing. 
 
 Compare poorly paragraphed letter with the revision. (Example). 
 
 (c) Writer must give intelligent expression to his ideas. 
 
 (d) Certain devices help the writer to understand easily the subject 
 
 matter of a letter. 
 
 1. Title at beginning of letter indicating contents. 
 
 2. Attention of one member or employee of a firm called by a 
 
 phrase such as — Attention Mr. J. P. Brown. 
 
 3. Mention in first sentence of the subject under discussion. 
 
 III. Brevity. 
 
 (a) Information must be given as briefly and concisely as possible, 
 (b) Omit unnecessary words. 
 
 ,(c) But composition must be grammatically and logically complete. 
 Complete information must be given. One's judgment is the 
 only guide. 
 
12 
 
 II. CHEMICAL CHANGES IN THE BLAST FURNACE. 
 
 A large number of investigations have been made on the subject of 
 the chemical changes which occur in the blast-furnace, but in spite of these 
 our knowledge of this subject is still far from complete. The fuel ignit- 
 ing with the oxygen of the blast burns with, formation, -in the first place, 
 of carbon dioxide, and this is reduced to carbonmonoxide by contact with 
 glowing carbon. This latter gas coming into contact with the constantly 
 descending charges of ore, reduces the ferric oxide to spongy metal, and 
 this soon becomes coated with a fusible slag of silicate of lime. The zone 
 in which the reduction occurs is situated at a higher or a lower part of 
 the furnace according to the nature of the ore, and its temperature varies 
 from 500 degrees to 900 degrees. When the ores are porous, they are more 
 easily permeated by the carbon monoxide present, and the reduction takes 
 place more quickly than when denser ores are employed. As the spongy 
 iron descends, it arrives at the hotter parts of the furnace, the tempera- 
 ture of which reaches to 1000 degrees in the belly or widest part of the 
 furnace. At this point the finely-divided spongy iron begins to take up 
 carbon, and it may, therefore, be termed "the zone of carburisation." 
 The iron does not, however, become saturated with carbon until a lower 
 point has been reached, at which the temperature rises to about 1400 de- 
 grees. In this zone, which is the hottest part of the furnace, the materials, 
 which were formerly in a pasty state, melt completely, running down into 
 the hearth, where the lighter slag floats on the surface of the heavier iron, 
 and thus protects it from the oxidising action of the blast. Other im- 
 portant changes in the composition of the iron occur as the metal passes 
 down the furnace. In the first place, the spongy iron, in passing through 
 the zone. of reduction, takes up sulphur from the ores; and secondly, when 
 the temperature reaches a higher point in the zone of carburisation, the 
 phosphates contained in the ore are reduced, and the phosphorus is taken 
 up by the iron. At a still higher temperature the fused iron reduces sili- 
 con from the silicates, and this, together with manganese, aluminum, and 
 other metals, remains as impurity in the cast-iron, (a) 
 
 NOTES ON CHEMICAL CHANGES IN A BLAST FURNACE. 
 
 In spite of many investigations knowledge still incomplete* 
 
 1. Fuel uniting with oxygen forms 
 
 (a) Carbon dioxide. 
 
 (b) Carbon monoxide, by contact with glowing carbon. 
 
 2. Carbon monoxide in contact with constantly descending charges of 
 
 ore 
 
 (a) Reduces ferric oxide to spongy metal. 
 
 (b) Spongy metal soon coated with fusible slag of silicate of lime, 
 
 (c) Zone of this reduction at higher or lower part of furnace ac- 
 
 cording to nature of ore. Temperature from 60 degrees to 
 900 degrees. 
 
 (d) Reduction quicker when ores are porous. 
 
 3. As spongy iron descends it arrives at hotter parts of furnace — 
 
 temperature 1000 degrees. 
 
 (a) Here spongy iron begins to take up carbon — "Zone of carburi- 
 
 sation." 
 
 (b) Iron saturated with carbon at lower point — ca. 1400 degrees, 
 
 (a) Taken from Roscoe and Schorlemmer's Treatise on Chemistry I; p. 53. 
 
13 
 
 Materials melt completely running down into hearth. Lighter 
 slag floats on surface and protects heavier iron from oxidising 
 action of the blast. 
 4. Other changes in composition of iron as metal passes down the 
 furnace. 
 
 (a) In zone of reduction spongy iron takes up sulphur. 
 
 (b) In zone of carburisation phosphates reduced and phosphorus 
 
 taken up by iron. 
 
 (c) At higher temperatures fused iron reduces silicon from silicates 
 
 and this with manganese, aluminum, and other metals, remains 
 as an impurity in cast-iron. 
 
 HI. TOOTHED GEARING. 
 
 When a constant velocity ratio is to be maintained between two or 
 more shafts, the pitch surfaces of the wheels on each shaft, previously dis- 
 cussed, are no longer suitable for the transmission of rotation, owing to 
 their liability to slip. We now have to consider the forms of the teeth 
 which must be employed in order to prevent this slipping. 
 
 It is first desirable, however, to gain a clear idea of the general nature 
 of the various kinds of toothed wheels in use, and of those peculiarities 
 upon which their classification is based. 
 
 The axes of a pair of engaging wheels may not only have different 
 relative positions, but the teeth of the wheels themselves may be of differ- 
 ent kinds, and act upon each other in very different ways; for instance, the 
 mode of action of a pair of screw wheels is quite unlike in its intrincis na- 
 ture that of a pair of skew wheels, although the relative positions of their 
 axes may be the same. There are six classes of toothed gearing found in 
 practice, namely: 
 
 1. Spur gearing. 4. Twisted gearing 
 
 2. Bevel gearing. 5. Screw gearing.. 
 
 3. Skew gearing. 6. Face gearing. 
 
 Now it is evident that the teeth of engaging wheels act upon each 
 other by direct contact, no matter what their number may be. Hence, if 
 the number be indefinitely increased, the size of each being correspond- 
 ingly decreased, the teeth themselves will ultimately become, in general, 
 lines, or elements of surfaces in contact. The relative motions of these 
 surfaces will be the same as those of the wheels from which they are 
 thus derived, their forms and relative positions depending on the nature 
 of the class of gearing to which the wheels originally belonged. These 
 surfaces are called "Pitch Surfaces." 
 
 In the first three classes, the teeth, which are bounded by ruled sur- 
 faces, touch each other along right lines, and by the process before men- 
 tioned reduce to rectilinear elements of their pitch surfaces, which latter by 
 their method of derivation must be tangent along a right line. The axes of 
 spur wheels are parallel, and their pitch surfaces are cylinders; the axes 
 of bevel wheels intersect each other, and their pitch surfaces are cones 
 whose common vertex is the point of intersection of the axes: the axes 
 of skew wheels lie in different planes (hence they neither intersect nor are 
 parallel), and their pitch surfaces are hyperboloids. 
 
 Now let us suppose that one of the wheels of an engaging pair, belong- 
 ing to any one of the first three classes, lies twisted on its axis, each succes- 
 sive transverse plane being rotated the same relative amount through a 
 
14 
 
 greater angle than the preceding one; then the other wheel of the pair 
 will receive a corresponding twist. The teeth are now distorted into sur- 
 faces of a helicoidal nature, and by the before mentioned process of infinite 
 sub-division, they become helical lines. 
 
 It is to be noted, however, that these helical lines lie upon pitch sur- 
 faces, which are tangent along a right line, no matter to which of the first 
 three classes of gearing the wheels from which they were derived belonged. 
 And it will also be seen that whatever of screw-like action may be involved 
 in their motions, tends only to cause pressure in the direction of the com- 
 mon element of the pitch surfaces, and has nothing whatever to do with 
 the transmission of rotation. Wheels belonging to this class are known 
 as twisted wheels. 
 
 There is a very marked difference between these twisted wheels, and 
 those of the next class, screw gearing. In the latter, it is true, the teeth 
 are also of helicoidal form, and reduce to helical lines; but these helices He 
 upon cylinders whose axes lie in different planes, and hence the pitch sur- 
 faces touch each other in a point only. Again, as illustrated by the well- 
 known combination of the "Worm and wheel", it is the screw-like action 
 alone of one wheel upon the other which transmits rotation. 
 
 Face Gearing. The name is derived from the fact that the wheels are 
 usually formed with teeth consisting of turned pins projecting from the 
 faces of circular disks. The pins may be inserted in surfaces other than, 
 planes, and thus these wheels will work together when their axes have 
 various relative positions. The distinguishing features of this class are,, 
 that whatever the relative positions of the axis or the forms of the wheels, 
 the teeth have circular transverse sections, touch each other in a single 
 point only, and finally reduce to points in the circumferences of the cir- 
 cles in contact. The reason for this last feature is that increasing the num- 
 ber of teeth requires a decrease in their length and diameters, so that fin- 
 ally they vanish altogether, or in other words become points. In the other 
 classes of gearing, the length of the teeth is not at all affected by a change 
 in either their height or thickness, and therefore they reduce to lines in- 
 stead of points. Face wheels, strictly speaking, have therefore no "pitch 
 surfaces," although in making them a surface of some kind must be pro- 
 vided to which the teeth may be secured. 
 
 NOTES ON TOOTHED GEARING, (a) 
 
 When constant velocity ratio is to be maintained between two or 
 more shafts, the pitch surfaces of wheels, owing to liability to slip, are no 
 longer suitable. To prevent this slipping toothed gearing used. 
 
 Necessary first to have a clear idea of nature of various kinds of 
 toothed wheels. 
 
 Engaging wheels vary, not only in relative positions of their axes, but 
 also in kinds of teeth, and in way teeth act upon each other. For instance, 
 action of screw wheels unlike that of skew wheels, although relative posi- 
 tions of their axes may be the same. 
 
 Classification: 
 
 i. Spur gearing. 4. Twisted gearing. 
 
 2. Bevel gearing. 5. 'Screw gearing. 
 
 3. Skew gearing. 6. Face gearing. 
 
 (a) These notes, althoug-h mote extended than is necessary, indicate the essential points of 
 the part of th«. lecture printed 
 
, 
 
 15 
 
 If the teeth of a wheel be indefinitely increased in number ,the size 
 being correspondingly diminished, they will become mere lines, or ele- 
 ments of surfaces in contact. 
 
 The relative motions of these surfaces will be the same as those of the 
 wheels from which they are thus derived. The forms of these surfaces 
 depend on the class of gearing to which the wheels originally belonged. 
 
 The surfaces are known as "pitch surfaces." 
 
 In the first three classes, the teeth, which are bounded by ruled sur^ 
 faces, touch each other along right lines, and reduce to rectilinear ele- 
 ments of the pitch surfaces, which by the mode of derivation must be tan- 
 gent along a straight line. 
 
 Axes of spur wheels are parallel, and their pitch surfaces are cylinders. 
 
 Axes of bevel wheels intersect, and their pitch surfaces are cones, 
 whose common vertex is the point of intersection of the axes. 
 
 Axes of skew wheels lie in different planes, and their pitch surfaces 
 are hyperboloids. 
 
 In twisted gearing the teeth are distorted into surfaces of a helical 
 nature and by indefinite subdivision into helical lines. These helical lines 
 lie upon surfaces which are tangent along a straight line, whether the axes 
 are parallel, intersecting, or neither. Any screw-like action of these wheels 
 tends only to cause pressure in the direction of the common element of 
 the pitch surfaces, and has nothing to do with the transmission of rotation, 
 
 In screw gearing the teeth reduce to helical lines, but these helices lie 
 upon cylinders whose axes are in different planes The pitch surfaces touch 
 each other in a point only. In this class, unlike the preceding, the screw- 
 like action alone of one wheel upon another produces rotation. 
 
 In face gearing the teeth reduce to points in the circumferences of 
 circles which are in contact. Face wheels have, properly speaking, no 
 pitch surfaces. However, some kind of surface must be provided in which 
 to secure the pins or teeth. 
 
 NOTES ON READING 
 
 We now come to the discussion of our second division, the notes on 
 reading. What has already been said of the Lecture in general applies 
 almost equally well to the Reading. In each case the purpose is the same. 
 Almost the only difference is in the matter of tune. In the reading one 
 can be as thorough or can spend as much time as desired since one is not 
 obliged to keep pace with the delivery of a speaker. Indeed many students 
 can take excellent notes from their reading, who fail to take good notes on 
 their lectures because they think and write too slowly. Thus notes on read- 
 ing are much easier and besides being easier, if one reads carefully, they 
 will not need to be so detailed, except under special conditions. The parti- 
 cular requirements of individual courses will determine to some extent the 
 amount of detail. When only a few works are considered in a term, as in 
 English 2, or English 4, and students are questioned very definitely in 
 weekly tests in order to insure very careful reading, it is safe to record in 
 the note book even details of form, shape, size, and color. For example, 
 in the reading in the King James' version of the Bible the instructor might 
 ask such seemingly trivial questions as of what kind of wood the Ark was 
 built, the number of days of rain as distinguished from the duration of the 
 flood, etc.; or in Milton's Paradise Lost, what particular advice Moloch 
 had to offer Satan in Book II. In other cases a more general knowledge 
 
16 
 
 is sufficient, and a student would record such particulars as his own con- 
 ception of the characters, briefs of the plot t matters affecting style, meter, 
 etc. In various courses the reading will be as varied as the forms of liter- 
 ature themselves. One may be held responsible for novels, plays, essays, 
 and poems; for theses, reports and articles in the current magazines. We 
 give examples of notetaking from various forms, but it should be under- 
 stood that there is great flexibility regarding these notes. In your particu- 
 lar cas.e your own judgment must be the best guide. 
 
 I. THE NOVEL. 
 
 The novel is too long to use as illustration here. Besides, it does not 
 differ widely enough from other forms of literature, which we do illustrate, 
 to make the notes particularly useful. From the point of view of note tak- 
 make the notes particularly useful. From the point of view of note tak- 
 ing the novel is like the play in many respects. Both have plots, or story, 
 depending upon characterization and motivation, or reason for action. 
 The differences are largely external, in the manner of appeal. The play is 
 made up of speeches for the mouths of living people on a stage set to 
 represent actual scenes, and when read seems bare and abrupt unless one 
 has the power of visualization. The novel is intended for reading only, 
 and so gets its effect through description and narration as well as by a 
 limited amount of conversation in the mouths of characters. Here you do 
 not, as in the play, have your cast of characters all in a precise row to tell 
 you whom you may expect to see. They appear to you as the story ad- 
 vances. Leave a page in your notebook for each character. Then put 
 down from time to time comments on the characters, their relations one to 
 another, and anything else at all which may appear to you as an interest- 
 ing or significant point to remember. The purely descriptive parts will 
 help you to know the characters and the setting but they need not be 
 recorded except by occasional significant words which throw light on the 
 plot. It is well to record all the important action as you proceed. This 
 will give you the plot in detail when you have finished. It may be well, 
 later, to boil it down into a summary also. After this has been done 
 record your own conception of the novel as a whole, stating here what you 
 conceive to be the main purpose of the novel and possibly the special 
 characteristics of the writer. Thus with characters, setting, plot, and pur- 
 pose, you will have the elements of the novel ready at hand for use. 
 
 II. THE ESSAY. 
 
 The term essay has a very broad meaning. We use it here in connec- 
 tion with writing of a purely expository character. In such writing there 
 is usually a directness of style which makes note taking very simple. The 
 author, as a rule, is trying to present his own ideas or to prove a point. 
 He has a definite, obvious purpose, and is most successful when he is most 
 logical. In reading an essay look first for the purpose. Then try to take 
 the writer's point of view while you read; put yourself in his place and fol- 
 low him in his reasoning. Thus a writer may be showing that man is de- 
 generating. Another may be trying to prove that the earth is not spherical, 
 but some other shape. Yet another may maintain that Shakspere was 
 Bacon, and so on. It is not for you to quarrel with these views. You 
 may not agree with any of them, but your own views must not creep in to 
 color or distort the meaning which the author intended. If you are later 
 called upon to give the views of Smith or Jones, you must have notes 
 which represent the individual attitude of Smith or Jones, and no one else. 
 
IT 
 
 In critical essays the main thing is to show wherein one critic disagrees 
 with every other critic on the subject. Better outline every essay as you 
 advance, summing up each point as made, and subordinating each idea 
 under its particular head, quite as you did in the lectures. 
 
 A. MILTON AND DANTE— MACAULY'S ESSAY ON MILTON. 
 
 The poetry of Milton differs from that of Dante, as the hieroglyphics 
 of Egypt differed from the picture-writing of Mexico. The images which 
 Dante employs speak for themselves; they stand simply for what they are. 
 Those of Milton have a signification which is often discernible only to the 
 initiated. Their value depends less on what they directly represent than 
 on what they remotely suggest. However strange, however grotesque, 
 may be the appearance which Dante undertakes to describe, he never 
 shrinks from describing it. He gives us the shape, the color, the sound, 
 the smell, the taste; he counts the numbers; he measures the size. His 
 similes are the illustrations of a traveller. Unlike those of other poets, and 
 especially of Milton, they are introduced in a plain, business-like manner; 
 not for the sake of any beauty in the objects from which they are drawn; 
 not for the sake of any ornament which they may impart to the poem; but 
 simply in order to make the meaning of the writer as clear to the reader 
 as it is to himself. The ruins of the precipice which led from the sixth to 
 the seventh circle of hell were like those of the rock which fell into the 
 Adige on the south of Trent. The cataract of Phlegethon was like that of 
 Aqua Cheta at the monastery of S. Benedict. The place where the here- 
 tics were confined in burning tombs resembled the vast cemetery of Aries. 
 
 Now let us compare with the exact details of Dante the dim intimations 
 of Milton. We will cite a few examples. The English poet has never 
 thought of taking the measure of Satan. He gives us merely a vague idea 
 of vast bulk. In one passage the fiend lies stretched out huge in length, 
 floating many a rood, equal in size to the earth-born enemies of Jove, or 
 to the sea-monster which the mariner mistakes for an island. When he 
 addresses himself to battle against the guardian angels, he stands like 
 Teneriffe or Atlas: his stature reaches the sky. Contrast with these de- 
 scriptions the lines in which Dante has described the gigantic spectre of 
 Nimrod. "His face seemed to me as long and as broad as the ball of St. 
 Peter's at Rome; and his other limbs were in proportion; so that the bank, 
 which concealed him from the waist downwards, nevertheless showed so 
 much of him, that three tall Germans would in vain have attempted to 
 reach his hair." We are sensible that we do no justice to the admirable 
 style of the Florentine poet. But Mr. Cary's translation is not at hand; 
 and our version, however rude, is sufficient to illustrate our meaning. 
 
 Once more, compare the lazar-house in the eleventh book of the Para- 
 dise Lost with the last ward of Malebolgo in Dante. Milton avoids the 
 loathsome details, and takes refuge in indistinct but solemn and tremend- 
 ous imagery — Despair hurrying from couch to mock the wretches with 
 his attendance, Death shaking his dart over them, but, in spite of suppli- 
 cations, delaying to strike. What says Dante? "There wars such a moan 
 there as there would be if all the sick who, between July and September, 
 are in the hospitals of Valdichiana, and of the Tuscan swamps, and of Sar- 
 dinia, were in one pit together; and such a stench was issuing forth as is 
 wont to issue from decayed limbs." 
 
 We will not take upon ourselves the invidious office of settling preced- 
 ency between two such write) s. Each in his own department is incompar- 
 
18 
 
 able, and each, we may remark, has wisely, or fortunately, taken a subject 
 adapted to exhibit his peculiar talent to the greatest advantage. The 
 Divine Comedy is a personal narrative. Dante is the eye-witness and ear- 
 witness of that which he relates. He is the very man who has heard the 
 tormented spirits crying out for the second death, who has read the dusky 
 characters on the portal within. which there is no hope, who has hidden his 
 face from the terrors of the" Gorgon, who has fled from the hooks and the 
 seething pitch of Barbariccia and Draghignazzo. His own hands have 
 grasped the shaggy sides of Lucifer. His own feet have climbed the moun- 
 tain of expiation. His own brow has been marked by the purifying angel. 
 The reader would throw aside such a tale in incredulous disgust, unless it 
 were told with the strongest air of veracity, with a sobriety even in its 
 horrors, with the greatest precision and multiplicity in its details. The 
 narrative of Milton in this respect differs from that of Dante, as the ad- 
 ventures of Amadis differ from those of Gulliver. The author of Amadis 
 would have made his book ridiculous if he had introduced those particu- 
 lars which gave such a charm to the work of Swift, the nautical observa- 
 tions, the affected delicacy about names, the official documents transcribed 
 at full length and all the unending gossip and scandal of the court, 
 springing out of nothing, and tending to nothing. We are not shocked 
 at being told that a man who lived, nobody knows where, saw many 
 strange sights, and we can easily abandon ourselves to the illusion of the 
 romance. But when Lemuel Gulliver, surgeon, resident at Rotherhithe, 
 tells us of pygmies and giants, dying islands and philosophizing horses, 
 nothing but such circumstantial touches could produce for a single mo- 
 ment a deception of the imagination. 
 
 Of all the poets who have introduced into their works the agency of 
 supernatural beings, Milton has succeeded best. Here Dante decidedly 
 yields to him; and as this is a point on which many rash and ill-considered 
 judgments have been pronounced, we feel inclined to dwell on it a little 
 longer. The most fatal error which a poet can possibly commit in the 
 management of his machinery, is that of attempting to philosophize too 
 much. Milton has been often censured for ascribing to spirits many 
 iunctions of which spirits must be incapable. But, these objections 
 though sanctioned by eminent names, originate, we venture to say, in pro- 
 found ignorance of the art of poetry. 
 
 What is spirit? What are our own minds, the portion of spirit with 
 which we are best acquainted? We observe certain phenomena. We can- 
 not explain them into material causes. We therefore infer that there 
 exists something which is not material. But of this something we have 
 no idea. We can define it only by negatives. We can reason about it 
 only by symbols. We use the word; but we have no image of the thing; 
 and the business of poetry is with images, and not with words. The poet 
 uses words indeed; but they are merely the instruments of his art, not its 
 objects. They are the materials which he is to dispose in such a manner 
 as to present a picture to the mental eye. And if they are not so disposed, 
 they, are no more entitled to be called poetry than a table of canvas and a 
 box of colors to be called a painting. , 
 
 Logicians may reason about abstractions. But the great mass of men 
 must have images. The strong tendency of the multitude in all ages and 
 nations to idolatry can be explained by no other principle. The first in- 
 habitants of Greece, there is reason to believe, worshipped one invisible 
 Deity. But the necessity of having something more definite to adore pro- 
 
19 
 
 duced, in a few centuries, the innumerable crowd of -god's,' an tf goddesses. 
 In like manner the ancient Persians thought it impious to exhibit tfiie 
 Creator under a human form. Yet even these transferred to the sun the 
 worship which in speculation, they considered due only to the Supreme 
 Mind. (Students who wish to read the remainder of the essay may find 
 it in the works of the author in the Essay on Milton.) 
 
 NOTES ON MILTON AND DANTE 
 
 Contrast between Milton and Dante — their Poetry. 
 
 A. Poetry of Milton is to Dante's as hieroglyphics of Egypt to pic- 
 
 ture writing of Mexico. 
 
 (a) Milton's valuable for suggestion 
 
 (b) Dante's too detailed, in color, shape, sound, smell and taste. 
 
 B. Compared in detail. 
 
 (a) Satan of Milton left to imagination for size. 
 
 (b) Nimrod of Dante measured by earthly standards. 
 
 (c) Lazar-house of Milton, loathsome details avoided, has refuge 
 
 in indistinct but solemn and tremendous imagery. 
 
 (d) Lazar-house repulsive in carnal details, horror, pain, stench, etc. 
 
 C. Each incomparable in particular field. 
 
 (a) Dante is eye-witness and ear-witness; personal narrative. 
 
 (b) Milton differs here as Amadis from Gulliver. 
 
 (c) Milton succeeds best of all poets in supernatural, better than 
 
 Dante. 
 
 (d) Milton censured for ascribing functions to spirits they are not 
 
 capable of; this wrong. 
 
 1. What is spirit? 
 
 2. Mass of people require imagery, attested to by history. 
 
 (a) First Greeks. 
 
 (b) Ancient Persians. 
 
 (c) Jews. 
 
 (d) Spread of Christianity. 
 
 3. Milton lived in age of philosophers, hence spirit clothed ira 
 material form — not possible to take neutral ground. 
 
 D. Picturesqueness. 
 
 (a) Dante very picturesque but lacking mystery. 
 
 Ghosts and demons do not excite awe. 
 
 Devils spiteful, ugly executioners. 
 
 Dead nun mere living men under strange situations. 
 
 Beatrice a woman suitable for streets of Florence. 
 
 (b) Milton's spirits unique. 
 
 Fiends not wicked men nor ugly beasts, but huge shadowy 
 outlines of gigantic men. 
 
 E. Milton more comparable to Aeschus. 
 
 (a) Aeschylus rugged, barbaric, colossal. 
 
 Prometheus half fiend, half redeemer, friend of man, sullen 
 and implacable enemy of heaven but talks too much of his 
 chains. 
 
 (b) Satan of Milton similar — same ferocity, same unconquerable 
 
 pride, more superhuman, a creature of a larger sphere. 
 
20 
 
 F. Character affecting moral qualities of each — personal but not ego- 
 tistical. 
 
 (a) Milton, loftiness of spirit. 
 
 (b) Dante, intensity of feeling. 
 
 B. TRANSPORTATION OF COAL BY FLUME. 
 
 The unusual geological conditions existing in the Cinnabar coal field 
 have been responsible for the development of several unique methods of 
 transporting the coal from the mines in the mountains to the coking plants 
 located on the railway lines in the valleys. Perhaps the most interesting 
 is a flume, one and three-quarter miles in length, conveying washed coal 
 from the mines at Aldbridge to the bunkers at Electric, a description of 
 which is given by Mr. Robert M. Magraw in Mines and Minerals for 
 November. 
 
 The flume is economical both in construction and in operation. It 
 consists simply of a rectangular open-top box lined with sheet iron, con- 
 structed of 2-inch planking, with inside dimensions 10 by 10 inches. The 
 lining is No. 26 gauge black sheet iron, shaped at the shops of the company 
 to conform to the section of the flume. In laying, the iron is lapped a few 
 inches in favor of the grade, and if kept in reasonable repair it is practi- 
 cally water tight. 
 
 The flume is about 9,000 feet in length, the first 3,000 feet having a 
 grade of about 4 feet per hundred. For the next 3,500 feet, the grade var- 
 ies from 15 to 35 degrees. The grade in the remaining section gradually 
 decreases until it again becomes 4 feet per hundred. "All minor gulches 
 are crossed on trestles constructed of 2 by 4 inch lumber, but where, any 
 marked degree of expense would have been entailed by trestling, the flume 
 is curved to conform with the topography of the ground. No trouble was 
 experienced with the curves or changes of grade, but when changing from 
 a steep to a lighter pitch the flume area had to be enlarged for some little 
 distance to allow for the swelling of volume due to the decrease of velo- 
 city." The elevation to be given on curves was easily determined by leav- 
 ing the flume unnailed to stringers on all curves; after the water was turn- 
 ed on it was a small matter to key up the outer edge to the proper eleva- 
 tion. 
 
 About 50,000 feet of lumber were required per mile of flume and the 
 cost of lumber and erection amounted to about $1,500 per mile. The cost 
 of the iron lining per mile was about $415.80, and shaping and laying, about 
 $75. The total cost of the flume per mile for material and construction 
 was under $2,000, a very good showing in comparison with the cost of a 
 surface tram road over the same ground. 
 
 "The cost of operation of the flume is practically nil during the 
 warmer months, but during the winter it requires the services of two men 
 for about an hour in the morning to patrol from each end and clean out 
 any masses of snow or slush ice which may have collected after the turn- 
 ing on of the water. The washer is not started during this season until the 
 flume is reported clear. No water is allowed to flow through the flume 
 during the winter months after the washer is shut down for the day, as 
 experience has shown that it freezes from the sides and bottom, and will 
 close the entire flume area in a very short time. The scouring effect of 
 the coal prevents this trouble during the shift. 
 
 "The cost of maintenance is not great, the principal item being the 
 cost of the sheet iron. The life of the iron used will average about 2 years. 
 
21 
 
 Experiments contemplated for the near future are expected to determine 
 the relative efficiency of various weights of iron, as it is thought that a 
 heavier iron, although higher in first cost, will last proportionately longer, 
 thereby decreasing the maintenance account an appreciable degree. It is 
 also intended to equip a section with galvanized iron, and another section 
 with iron of a semi-cylindrical shape." The life of the flume with very 
 little repair, is estimated at 14 years. Taking first cost into consideration, 
 the item of maintenance of the flume is, of course, governed by the volume 
 and velocity of the water. Experience has shown that a flow of 1.58 
 miners' inches, will transport safely from 35 to 45 tons per hour on a 
 minimum grade of 4 feet to the hundred, and this at practically no cost 
 for operation. No accurate data are at hand showing the varying amounts 
 of coal carried per pound of water for given grades, but the above can be 
 taken as the maximum amount it is safe to transport with this volume of 
 water. It would not be deemed advisable to construct a flume for the pur- 
 pose of coal transportation on less than a 4 per cent grade." 
 
 NOTES ON TRANSPORTATION OF COAL BY FLUME 
 
 Paragraph 1 — 
 
 Transporting coal by flume from the mines at Aldridge to the bunkers 
 at Electric, 
 (a) Most interesting of several methods for transporting coal in 
 the Cinnabar coal fields of Montana, from the mines in the 
 mountains to the coking plants in the valleys. 
 
 Par. 2 — Flume economical in construction and operation. Construction of 
 flume. 
 
 1. Material of flume. 
 
 (a) Rectangular open-top box lined with sheet iron — 2-inch plank- 
 
 ing — inside dimensions 10 by 10. 
 
 (b) Lining is No. 26 gauge black sheet iron. 
 
 (c) In laying, iron is lapped a few inches, with reasonable repair, 
 
 practically tight. 
 
 Par. 3— 
 
 2. Laying of flume. 
 
 (a) 9,000 ft. long — grade varying from 4 ft. per 100 to 35 degrees. 
 
 (b) Flume usually conforms to topography of ground. 
 
 (c) Had to be enlarged when changing from a steep to a lighter 
 
 pitch. 
 
 (d) Elevation of curves determined by leaving the flume unnailed 
 
 to stringers. Outer edge keyed up after water was turned on. 
 
 Par. 4 — Cost of Flume. 
 
 1. Material. 
 
 (a) 50,000 ft. lumber per mile — cost $1,500 per mile. 
 
 (b) Iron lining and shaping and laying $490.80 per mile. 
 Par. 5— 
 
 2. Operation. 
 
 (a) Practically nil during warmer months; during winter, two men 
 
 needed to clean out. 
 
 Par. 6— 
 
 3. Maintenance. 
 
 (a)- Principal item is sheet iron; life is about 2 years. . 
 
 (b) Life of flume about 14 years. 
 
2 
 
 o 
 
 Par, 7 — Capacity of Flume. 
 
 (a) Governed by volume and velocity of water. Flow of 1.58 cu. 
 ft. per sec, will transport 35 to 45 tons per hour on minimum 
 grade with practically no cost for operation. 
 
 III. PLAYS. 
 
 In taking notes on a play there are no limits which can be set. Here 
 again much will depend upon the requirements of the course. If one is 
 expected to be familiar with the complete works of certain authors or 
 with the works of all authors in a certain period it might be too much to 
 require one to recall the less important details. Often-times the plot is all 
 that is necessary to remember. It is always an advantage to have the cast 
 of characters written down for reference. Perhaps they alone will suffice 
 for notes on certain plays. We give below an example of rather general 
 notes. If you have read the play and need some landmarks to distinguish 
 it from out the great mass which you may have read, these might answer. 
 
 lee's rival queens 
 
 Cast of Characters. 
 
 Alexander the Great 
 Clytus, Master of horse 
 Lysimachus, Prince of blood 
 Hepistion, Alexandria's favorite 
 Cassandra, Son of Antipater 
 Polyperchon, Commander of phalanx 
 Phillip, Brother of Cassandra 
 Thessalus, the Median 
 Aristunder, a Soothsayer 
 
 Lysigambis, A's mother 
 
 Statiro, A's wife, daughter of 
 
 Darius 
 Roxana,,A's first wife 
 Parisatis, Sister to Statira 
 
 PLOT IN BRIEF 
 
 STATIRA- 
 
 LYSIGAMBIS 
 
 I 
 -ALEXANDER- 
 
 -ROXANA Parisatis — Lysimachus 
 
 Statira jealous of Roxana, resolves to retire to convent and never see 
 Alexander again. A. very much disturbed lest she carry threat into execu- 
 tion. He promises fidelity and banishment for Roxana, if she will return 
 to him. She consents. Roxana then very angry from jealousy, goes to 
 Statira's chamber where S. is awaiting the return of A. from a feast, and 
 murders her. As A. arrives the dying S. begs him to spare R's. life. R. 
 also makes appeal because of an unborn babe of which A. is the father. 
 
 This is the way one student outlined two plays parallel in plot. Mrs. 
 Behn's "The Town Fop" was based on Wilkins' "Forced Marriage." Note 
 how the diagrammatic outline brought out the difference. 
 
23 
 
 1. — THE FORCED MARRIAGE, BY WILKINS. 
 
 his inclination; forced by uncle to marry 
 
 I I 
 
 Clare Harcop William Scarborough Kathenne 
 
 kills herself 
 
 (grows colder from 
 year to year) 
 
 I 
 
 utmost misery 
 
 I 
 united by 
 parson 
 
 Happiness 
 
 2. — THE TOWN FOP, BY MRS. BEHN. 
 1 2 
 
 —Vows faith-^ ^Marries— \ 3 
 
 Celinda Belmorar Diana Friend-love 
 
 When news of marriage reaches refuses 
 
 her, disguises herself, disap 
 pears. "Hence no domestic 
 tragedy 
 
 to have 
 
 anything 
 
 to do with 
 
 wife. Uncle 
 
 finally 
 
 relents, 
 
 marriage 
 
 annulled 
 
 (helps alienate B.) 
 
 Marriage with Celina- 
 
 If for special reasons detail is required, the following notes on the 
 opening scene of Shakespeare's King Lear might answer. 
 
 Act I, Scene I, King Lear's Palace. 
 
 Enter Kent. Gloster, and Edmund 
 
 Kent and Gloster converse — bring out fact that Lear is impartial to 
 either of the sons in law, Dukes Albany and Cornwall, in proposed disposi- 
 tion of Kingdom; also that Edmund is illegitimate son of Gloster just 
 returned from study abroad. 
 
 Enter Lear, Cornwall, Albany, Goneri', Began, Cordelia, attendants 
 
 Lear divides Kingdom in three parts and in order to see which daugh- 
 ter shall get the largest share he questions each regarding her love for him. 
 Goneril claims a love which holds him "dearer than eye-sight, space and 
 liberty"; Regan claims yet more: "to be an enemy to all other joys which 
 the most precious square of sense possesses"; Cordelia, partly because hon- 
 est, partly because her love is "more ponderous than my tongue" cannot 
 please the childish, unreasonable Lear who disowns her. The King of 
 Navarre alone of three suitors for C's. hand is willing to accept her with- 
 out dowry. Kent banished because he tries to get L. to reconsider deci- 
 sion. Exit of C. and K. of N., other suitors. Kingdom divided into equal 
 parts, given to other daughters; L. to retain his title and his bodyguard. 
 
24 
 
 Exit all but Regan and Goneril, who comment on the infirmity of L., which 
 may be a menace to them. They form a compact to stand together against 
 this danger. 
 
 IV. POEMS. 
 
 Poems are of two kinds, Lyric and Narrative. The lyric poem is short 
 and, properly, expresses a single theme such as love, joy, sorrow, hope, 
 etc. There is no story except as one may be conceived by the imagination. 
 It is simple, short and effective. Many students neglect it in their notes 
 because of its shortness, and simplicity. This is a mistake, especially when 
 there are a great many to be read in the course. One needs something to 
 distinguish them individually later. You should at least record the name 
 of the particular poem, together with the author. Then read the poem 
 carefully at least three times. Your impressions should resolve themselves 
 into one thought. "What is the one theme of the poem?" you should ask 
 yourself. When you are sure that you have it, write it down, together 
 with the conditions under which you infer the thought was sung or spoken. 
 If the meter and rhyme are unusual better make a note of them also. 
 
 The narrative poem is almost as old as history. It is the early form 
 which comes down to us from a time even before writing existed, when 
 folklore, deeds of war and valor, were hanced down from generation to 
 generation and thus preserved. It is the story in verse, and not unlike 
 other narratives. You should note every point with an eye to detail to the 
 same extent as you do in the play, the essay, or the novel. The following 
 notes from the first five books of Milton's Paradise Lost will, we think, be 
 sufficient to show what may be useful to record. 
 
 NOTES ON MILTON'S PARADISE I,OST. 
 
 Book I. 
 
 Satan and host writhing in burning lake. Beelzebub, the next in rank, 
 regards him and makes comparison of his fallen fortunes with what he had 
 lost. Satan makes the best of a bad matter: "Better to reign in Hell than 
 serve in Heaven." Beelzebub feels power of S.'s personality and predicts 
 the effect upon the host. Satan gets up and calls to his men. They obey, 
 glad to find their leader not in despair. Army assembles on the plain. 
 Satan addresses them, incites them to war. Defiance expressed by Cheru- 
 bim in flaming swords. Mammon leads hosts to a hill. Mine gold with 
 which to build a temple — Mulciber the architect. Then all enter by com- 
 mand the capitol, Pandemonium to hold council. A miracle performed in 
 order that all the host can enter the palace. 
 
 Book II. . 
 
 Satan sits on throne in temple. Moloch speaks: Open war; to arm 
 themselves with hell-flames and fury, and charge Heaven. If not victory, 
 revenge. Belial: Ignoble ease and peaceful sloth in hopes that God will 
 relent. Mammon: Build up Hell to rival Heaven in magnificence. (Great 
 applause from multitude). Beelzebub: Recommends an investigation of 
 newly created earth to see if inhabitants can be made to join forces with 
 them to revenge God. (All vote to do this). Question: Whom shall be 
 sent? Satan volunteers. All begin exploring the region. 
 
 Geography of Hell: 4 rivers empty into burning lake; Styx (Hate), 
 Acheron (Sorrow), Cocytus (Lamentation), Phlegethon (Rage), Lethe 
 
25 
 
 (Oblivion), bound land, beyond a frozen region of perpetual storms. 
 
 Satan sets out on journey, arrives at gates of 3-fold brass, iron, & 
 rock, guarded by Goblin who opposes S. They fight. His old mistress 
 Sin interferes. Their son Death stands by. She unlocks gate for S. 
 
 Book III. 
 
 God looks down with joy on the two first parents. Sees Satan about 
 to enter the Earth, tells what will be the consequence but predicts that man 
 can be saved if someone is willing to be a ransom. The Son of God offers 
 Himself. Accepted and advised. Meanwhile Satan alights on Limbo of 
 Vanity. Then comes to Gate of Heaven. Stairs lead down to Earth. 
 S. changes into a cherub, meets Uriel, asks way to man's habitation. U. 
 points to Paradise. 
 
 Book IV. 
 
 S. despairs as he sees man so well provided for, and realizes his own 
 fate. His emotions disfigure features of the cherub he pretends to be, and 
 betray him to Uriel. S. goes into Paradise. Sees Adam and Eve innocent, 
 beautiful and happy. Is jealous. Goes away to plan man's undoing. 
 Meanwhile Uriel descends and warns Gabriel. Two strong angels ap- 
 pointed as guards. Satan found at the ear of Eve as she lies asleep. Taken 
 before Gabriel. He defies them and flies away. 
 
 Book V. 
 
 Adam awakes before Eve. She looks as if she had not slept well. He 
 wakes her. Morning prayers. God speaks to Raphael. Raphael comes 
 down to them, wearing three pairs wings. Adam and Eve at mid-day 
 meal. Adam welcomes him. R. tells them of their good fortune, enjoins 
 them to make most of it; "If ye be found obedient". Adam asks what he 
 means. G. te^s of the enemy, warns them, teils events of Satan's fall. 
 First was Chaos, then Heaven. Satan incensed through jealousy of Son 
 whom God placed next to Him in power. Gets legions together to attack 
 God. All follow save Abdiel who first tries to dissuade S. then forsakes 
 him. 
 
 AFTERWORD 
 
 A note as to the preparation of this Bulletin should be added here. 
 Realizing the inability of most of our students to take satisfactory notes 
 on lectures and outside reading, I asked Mr. Maxfleld to assemble some 
 examples oi good notes and add to these whatever practical suggestions 
 might occur to him. At the time of the writing of this Bulletin (Mid- 
 winter 1909-1910), there was nothing on the market, so far as I know, in 
 the way of an adequate discussion of this important matter of note taking. 
 Quite recently, however, an excellent pamphlet, prepared by Professor 
 Seward, was issued by Allyn and Bacon. Students will find it profitable to 
 read this book in connection with the present work. 
 
 W. O. SYPHERD. 
 
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 3 0112110180806