The Normal Record. April 1896

              8
THE NORMAL RECORD.
ated on a tract of rising ground which ends
in three or four volcanic capes overlooking
the sea. Like all Spanish towns the houses
are low, painted white with flat roofs. The
coast line of the city is fringed with a beautiful avenue of cocoa palms. But I have not
time here to describe the charming situation
of Mazatlan, the picturesque surroundings,
the squalor of many of its inhabitants or the
everlasting leisure of all of them.
After an unsuccessful attempt to get rest
and comfort at the hotel we at last established ourselves in the house of the English
Consul, our rooms overlooking the tremendous surf that breaks on the Olas Alias.
Without loss of time we devoted ourselves to
our work, which was chiefly the collection of
fishes. Going out long before daylight the
first morning we interviewed the fishermen
in their stalls in the market place. We found
among them an old Indian, very intelligent
and very willing to help. His name was
Ygnacio, known to every one in Mazatlan.
We soon found that the markets of the city
amounted to little. So we employed Ygnacio
with his boats to go out with us. Sometimes
we went with seines to the neighboring
beaches; sometimes with hook and line or
with dynamite to the outlying islands. We
also made several excursions into the inland.
One ride of 40 miles across the country on a
mule team to the clear swift river Presidio
was specially interesting. In this stream we
found many unique varieties of fishes. Some
idea of the primitive style of farming may be
gained from the fact that the farmers plow
the"fertile soil of its banks with a yoke of
cows tied to a log. which they drag back and
forth across the fields.
As a result of our expedition we obtained
185 species of fishes, 29 of which were new
to science. These are preserved in the
Museum of the University and are a very important supplement to the splendid collection
which Dr. Gilbert made at the same port in
1880. Duplicate specimens of the collection
were sent to the British Museum, to the
Natural History museums of the universities
of Berlin and Vienna, to the National Museum
at Washington and to the museum of the
California Academy of Sciences. A paper on
the Fishes of Sinaloa, containing 135 pag s
and some 30 excellent plates, gives a record
of the work of the expedition.
This year  a   similar  expedition   has  been
made to the port of Panama, and it is the
intention of the University to continue this
work of investigation each winter until we
have as complete a knowledge as possible of
the wonderfully rich fauna and flora of
Mexico and Central America.
The    Teacher   as   a    Moral
Factor.
HENRY   E.   MILLER.
According to the general acceptation, a
teacher is one who imparts instruction; and
to be able to successfully impart book knowledge, along with a somewhat decent appearance of moral character, is all that is generally required to become a teacher.
That the school teacher occupies a position
at once the most influential and the most important to the community, State and Nation,
and that his influence is the most powerful
and far-reaching cannot for a moment be
doubted. Nearly all the people of cur
country come under the direct influence of
the teacher for a shorter or longer time, and
at an age in 'which their characters are
molded for all time.
The teacher is'not a walking encyclopedia of
knowledge, from which a page is daily read,
nor merely one who directs, his pupils in the
right paths of knowledge, but a living model
whose real life will be imitated unconsciously,
to a great extent, by most of his pupils. He
is oft times the only guide the child who is not
brought up, but just raised like any other
animal, ever has; and on him must the community depend to see that the child becomes
a good citizen.
In the light of these facts, how important
to society becomes the necessity of rightly
selecting the most potential factor for the
weal or woe of the rising generation. In
making the selection, let morals come first
every time. The standard cannot be too
high for the instructor, exampler and guardian of your precious child. What is mathematics compared to honesty? What is
language compared with a pure life? What
is a knowledge of science alongside an untarnished character? What is any or all
knowledge contrasted with a^vfcll-rounded
moral life? While the teacher needs both,
the former without the latter makes his life