Most of the salt used on our tables is made by the vacuum process or by an improved method which produces tiny flakes of salt similar to snowflakes. The salt brine is heated to a high temperature and filtered. In the filters the impurities are taken out, and this process gives us very pure salt. The tiny flakes dissolve more easily than the cubes of salt, and thus flavor food more readily. With a few savage tribes salt is regarded as a great luxury, but with most peoples it is looked upon as a necessity. Some of the early races thought a salt spring was a special gift of the gods, and in their sacrifices they always used salt. In later times to sit "above the salt," between the great ornamental salt cellar and the master of the house, was a mark of honor. Less distinguished guests were seated "below the salt." To "eat a man's salt" and then be unfaithful to him has always been looked upon as a shameful act; and with some of the savages, so long as a stranger "ate his salt,"--that is, was a guest in the house of any one of them,--he was safe. To "eat salt together" is an expression of friendliness. Cakes of salt have been used as money in various parts of Africa and Asia. "Attic salt" means wit, because the Athenians, who lived in Attica, were famous for their keen, delicate wit. To take a story or a statement "with a grain of salt" means not to accept it entirely, but only to believe it partially. When Christ told his disciples that they were "the salt of the earth," he meant that their lives and teaching would influence others just as salt affects every article of food and changes its flavor. Our word "salary" comes from the Latin word _sal_, meaning salt; and _salarium_, or "salt-money," was money given for paying one's expenses on a journey. Living without salt would be a difficult matter. Cattle that have been shut away from it for a while are almost wild to get it. Farmers living among the mountains sometimes drive their cattle to a mountain pasture to remain there through the summer, and every little while they go up to salt the animals. The cattle know the call and know that it means salt; and I have seen them come rushing down the mountain-side and through the woods, over fallen trees, through briers, and down slippery rocks, bellowing as they came, and plunging head first in a wild frenzy to get to the pieces of rock salt that were waiting for them. * * * * * FIRST YEAR IN NUMBER 35 cents net. Postpaid An Introductory Book to Precede any Series of Arithmetics BY FRANKLIN S. HOYT _Formerly Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Indianapolis_ AND HARRIET E. PEET _Instructor in Methods of Teaching Arithmetic, State Normal School, Salem, Massachusetts_ The work is based upon the familiar experiences and activities of children, and follows as closely as possible the child's own method of acquiring new knowledge and skill.