THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY EDITED BY J. McKEEN CATTELL VOL. LV1I1 NOVEMBER, 1900, TO APRIL, 1901 NEW YORK AND LONDON MCCLURE, PHILLIPS AND COMPANY 1901 •■^ I OI'YRIGHT, 19f the Battleship ' Hatsuse,' June 27. 1899. tested under actual service conditions, all in little more than two years' time, speaks well for modern erigineering methods. The loss of the Russian contracts previously referred to — and other circumstances — have seemingly made some impression on French ship- builders, and a shortening of the time consumed in some of the principal yards has already been made. For instance, it is announced that should nothing unforeseen intervene, the first-class battleship 'Snffren\ which RAPID BATTLESHIP BUILDING. 33 was launched at Brest on July 25, 1899, will be completed by July, 1901. Should this promise be fulfilled the time consumed in the construction of the vessel will be little more than thirty-one months, which is con- siderably less than for any French battleship previously constructed. It must also be remembered that the 'Suffren' is the largest battleship yet designed for the French navy, her displacement being 12,728 tons. In some respects, the 'Suffren' outranks the British vessel, as but six months and twenty days elapsed between the laying down of the keel and the launching. Neither Germany nor the United States can show records to com- pare with those of the British builders, despite the expeditious delivery of merchant vessels which has been made by firms in both countries. The United States has now several plants capable of building and launching a battleship in an interval very nearly as brief as the best of those above recorded, but American builders have been so retarded ever since bringing their plants to the present stage of efficiency by difficulty in securing prompt delivery of armor and other material that the possibility of making records has been precluded, and, indeed, it is not strange if under the circumstances there has been small ambition to make the endeavor. The photographs herewith reproduced as illustrative of the building of a battleship represent the 'Hatsuse', which was launched during the summer of 1899 at the Elswick shipyard of Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whit- worth & Co., of Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, the builders of the cruisers 'Albany' and 'New Orleans', the only foreign-built war vessels of any considerable size in the American navy. The 'Hatsuse' is a battleship of the largest size, and represents in every respect the most modern practice. She is 400 feet in length, 76^ feet beam, 27 feet draught of water and 15,000 tons displacement. Her engines are capable of developing 14,500 indicated horse-power. The first photograph was taken about three months after the keel had been laid. It shows the framing of the extreme end of the vessel, with three tires of beams in view. The second picture in the series, taken about six weeks later, look- ing aft from about amidships, shows the after barbette about half con- structed, while the protective deck is practically completed. The third view represents the vessel ready for launching, and the fourth and last depicts the launch on June 27, 1899. In conclusion, it may be noted that the 'Hatsuse', the launching weight of which was fully 8,000 tons, went down the ways several minutes before the appointed time. VOL. LVIII.— 3 34 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. ADDEESS OF THE PRESIDENT BEFORE THE BRITISH ASSO- CIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. By Sir WILLIAM TURNER, F. R. S. II. FUNCTION OF CELLS. IT has already been stated that, when new cells arise within pre-exist- ing cells, division of the nucleus is associated with cleavage of the cell plasm, so that it participates in the process of new cell-formation. Undoubtedly, however, its role is not limited to this function. It also plays an important part in secretion, nutrition and the special functions discharged by the cells in the tissues and organs of which they form morphological elements. Between 1838 and 1842 observations were made which showed that cells were constituent parts of secreting glands and mucous membranes {Schwann, Henle). In 1842 John Goodsir communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh a memoir on secreting structures, in which he established the principle that cells are the ultimate secreting agents; he recognized in the cells of the liver, kidney and other organs the char- acteristic secretion of each gland. The secretion was, he said, situated between the nucleus and the cell wall. At first he thought that, as the nucleus was the reproductive organ of the cell, the secretion was formed in the interior of the cell by the agency of the cell wall; but three years later he regarded it as a product of the nucleus. The study of the process of spermatogenesis by his brother, Harry Goodsir, in which the head of the spermatozoon was found to correspond with the nucleus of the cell in which the spermatozoon arose, gave support to the view that the nucleus played an important part in the genesis of the characteristic product of the gland cell. The physiological activity of the cell plasm and its complex chemical constitution soon after began to be recognized. Some years before Max Schultze had published his memoirs on the characters of protoplasm, Briicke had shown that the well-known changes in tint in the skin of the chameleon were due to pigment granules situated in cells in the skin which were sometimes diffused throughout the cells, at others concen- trated in the center. Similar observations on the skin of the frog were made in 1854 by von Wittich and Harless. The movements were regarded as due to contraction of the cell wall on its contents. In a most interesting paper on the pigmentary system in the frog, pub- ADDRESS BEFORE THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 35 lished in 1858, Lord Lister demonstrated that the pigment granules moved in the cell plasma, by forces resident within the cell itself, acting under the influence of an external stimulant, and not by a contractility of the wall. Under some conditions the pigment was attracted to the center of the cell, when the skin became pale; under other conditions the pigment was diffused throughout the body and the branches of the cell, and gave to the skin a dark color. It was also experimentally shown that a potent influence over these movements was exercised by the nervous system. The study of the cells of glands engaged in secretion, even when the secretion is colorless, and the comparison of their appearance when secretion is going on with that seen when the cells are at rest, have shown that the cell plasm is much more granular and opaque, and con- tains larger particles during activity than when the cell is passive; the body of the cell swells out from an increase in the contents of its plasm, and chemical changes accompany the act of secretion. Ample evidence, therefore, is at hand to support the position taken by John Goodsir, nearly sixty years ago, that secretions are formed within the cells, and lie in that part of the cell which we now say consists of the cell plasm; that each secreting cell is endowed with its own peculiar property, according to the organ in which it is situated, so that bile is formed by the cells in the liver, milk by those in the mamma, and so on. Intimately associated with the process of secretion is that of nutri- tion. As the cell plasm lies at the periphery of a cell, and as it is, alike both in secretion and nutrition, brought into closest relation with the surrounding medium, from which the pabulum is derived, it is neces- sarily associated with nutritive activity. Its position enables it to absorb nutritive material directly from without, and in the process of growth it increases in amount by interstitial changes and additions throughout its substance, and not by mere accretions on its surface. Hitherto I have spoken of a cell as a unit, independent of its neighbors as regards its nutrition and the other functions which it has to discharge. The question has, however, been discussed, whether in a tissue composed of cells closely packed together cell plasm may not give origin to processes or threads which are in contact or continuous with corresponding processes of adjoining cells, and that cells may therefore, to some extent, lose their individuality in the colony of which they are members. Appearances were recognized between 1863 and 1870 by Schron and others in the deeper cells of the epidermis and of some mucous membranes which gave sanction to this view, and it seems pos- sible, through contact or continuity of threads connecting a cell with its neighbors, that cells may exercise a direct influence on each other. Nageli, the botanist, as the foundation of a mechanico-physiological theory of descent, considered that in plants a network of cell plasm. 36 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. named by him idioplasm, extended throughout the whole of the plant, forming its specific molecular constitution, and that growth and activity were regulated by its conditions of tension and movements (1884). The study of the structure of plants, with special reference to the presence of an intercellular network, has for some years been pursued by Walter Gardiner (1882-97), who has demonstrated threads of cell plasm protruding through the walls of vegetable cells and continuous with similar threads from adjoining cells. Structurally, therefore, a plant may be conceived to be built up of a nucleated cytoplasmic network, each nucleus with the branching cell plasm surrounding it being a cen- ter of activity. On this view a cell would retain to some extent its in- dividuality, though, as Gardiner contends, the connecting threads would be the medium for the conduction of impulses and of food from a cell to those which lie around it. For the plant cell, therefore, as has long been accepted in the animal cell, the wall is reduced to a secondary posi- tion, and the active constituent is the nucleated cell plasm. It is not unlikely that the absence of a controlling nervous system in plants re- quires the plasm of adjoining cells to be brought into more immediate contact and continuity than is the case with the generality of animal cells, so as to provide a mechanism for harmonizing the nutritive and other functional processes in the different areas in the body of the plant. In this particular, it is of interest to note that the epithelial tissues in animals, where somewhat similar connecting arrangements occur, are only indirectly associated with the nervous and vascular systems, so that, as in plants, the cells may require, for nutritive and other purposes, to act and react directly on each other. NERVE CELLS. Of recent years great attention has been paid to the intimate struc- ture of nerve cells, and to the appearance which they present when in the exercise of their functional activity. A nerve cell is not a secreting cell — that is, it does not derive from the blood or surrounding fluid a pabulum which it elaborates into a visible, palpable secretion charac- teristic of the organ of which the cell is a constituent element, to be in due course discharged into a duct which conveys the secretion out of the gland. Nerve cells, through the metabolic changes which take place in them, in connection with their nutrition, are associated with the pro- duction of the form of energy specially exhibited by animals which possess a nervous system, termed nerve energy. It has long been known that every nerve cell has a body in which a relatively large nucleus is situated. A most important discovery was the recognition that the body of every nerve cell had one or more processes growing out from it. More recently it has been proved, chiefly through the researches of Schultze, His, Golgi and Ramon y Cajal, that at least one of the pro- ADDRESS BEFORE TEE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 37 cesses, the axon of the nerve cell, is continued into the axial cylinder of a nerve fiber, and that in the multipolar nerve cell the other processes, or dendrites, branch and ramify for some distance away from the body. A nerve fiber is, therefore, an essential part of the cell with which it is continuous, and the cell, its processes, the nerve fiber and the collaterals which arise from the nerve fiber collectively form a neuron or structural nerve unit (Waldeyer). The nucleated body of the nerve cell is the physiological center of the unit. The cell plasm occupies both the body of the nerve cell and its pro- cesses. The intimate structure of the plasm has, by improved methods of observation introduced during the last eight years by Nissl, and con- ducted on similar lines by other investigators, become more definitely understood. It has been ascertained that it possesses two distinct char- acters which imply different structures. One of these stains deeply on the addition of certain dyes, and is named chromophile or chromatic substance; the other, which does not possess a similar property, is the achromatic network. The chromophile is found in the cell body and the dendritic processes, but not in the axon. It occurs in the form of granular particles, which may be scattered throughout the plasm, or aggregated into little heaps which are elongated or fusiform in shape and appear as distinct colored particles or masses. The achromatic network is found in the cell body and the dendrites, and is continued also in the axon, where it forms the axial cylinder of the nerve fiber. It consists apparently of delicate threads or fibrillae, in the meshes of which a homogeneous material, such as is found in cell plasm generally, is contained. In the nerve cells, as in other cells, the plasm is without doubt concerned in the process of cell nutrition. The achromatic fibrillae exercise an important influence on the axon or nerve fiber with which they are continuous, and probably they conduct the nerve impulses which manifest themselves in the form of nerve energy. The dendritic processes of a multipolar nerve cell ramify in close relation with similar processes branching from other cells in the same group. The collaterals and the free end of the axon fiber process branch and ramify in asso- ciation with the body of a nerve cell or of its dendrites. We cannot say that these parts are directly continuous with each other to form an in- tercellular network, but they are apparently in apposition, and through contact exercise influence one on the other in the transmission of nerve impulses. There is evidence to show that in the nerve cell the nucleus, as well as the cell plasm, is an effective agent in nutrition. When the cell is functionally active, both the cell body and the nucleus increase in size (Vas, G. Mann, Lugaro); on the other hand, when nerve cells are fatigued through excessive use, the nucleus decreases in size and shrivels; the cell plasm also shrinks, and its colored or chromophile con- 38 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. stituent becomes diminished in quantity, as if it had been consumed during the prolonged use of the cell (Hodge, Mann, Lugaro). It is interesting also to note that in hibernating animals in the winter season, when their functional activity is reduced to a minimum, the chromo- phile in the plasm of the nerve cells is much smaller in amount than when the animal is leading an active life in the spring and summer (G. Levi). When a nerve cell has attained its normal size it does not seem to be capable of reproducing new cells in its substance by a process of karyo- kinesis, such as takes place when young cells arise in the egg and in the tissues generally. It would appear that nerve cells are so highly special- ized in their association with the evolution of nerve energy, that they have ceased to have the power of reproducing their kind, and the meta- bolic changes, both in cell plasm and nucleus, are needed to enable them to discharge their very peculiar function. Hence it follows that when a portion of the brain or other nerve-center is destroyed, the injury is not repaired by the production of fresh specimens of their characteristic cells, as would be the case in injuries to bones and tendons. In our endeavors to differentiate the functions of the nucleus from that of the cell plasm, we should not regard the former as concerned only in the production of young cells, and the latter as the exclusive agent in growth, nutrition and, where gland cells are concerned, in the formation of their characteristic products. As regards cell reproduc- tion also, though the process of division begins in the nucleus in its chromosome constituents, the achromatic figure in the cell plasm un- doubtedly plays a part, and the cell plasm itself ultimately undergoes cleavage. A few years ago the tendency amongst biologists was to ignore or attach but little importance to the physiological use of the nucleus in the nucleated cell, and to regard the protoplasm as the essential and active constituent of living matter; so much so, indeed, was this the case that independent organisms regarded as distinct species were described a6 consisting of protoplasm destitute of a nucleus; also, that scraps of protoplasm separated from larger nucleated masses could, when isolated, exhibit vital phenomena. There is reason to believe that a fragment of protoplasm, when isolated from the nucleus of a cell, though retaining its contractility, and capable of nourishing itself for a short time, cannot increase in amount, act as a secreting structure, or reproduce its kind: it soon loses its activity, withers and dies. In order that these qualities of living matter should be retained, a nucleus is by most observers re- garded as necessary (Nussbaum, Gruber, Haberlandt, Korschelt), and for the complete manifestation of vital activity both nucleus and cell plasm are required. ADDRESS BEFORE THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 39 BACTERIA. The observations of Cohn, made about thirty years ago, and those of De Bary shortly afterwards, brought into notice a group of organisms to which the name 'bacterium' or 'microbe' is given. They were seen to vary in shape; some were rounded specks called cocci, others were straight rods called bacilli, others were curved or spiral rods, vibrios or spirilla?. All were characterized by their extreme minuteness, and re- quired for their examination the highest powers of the best microscopes. Many bacteria measure in their least diameter not more than j~^ of an inch, T^ the diameter of a human white blood corpuscle. Through the researches of Pasteur, Lord Lister, Koch and other observers, bacteria have been shown to play an important part in nature. They exercise a very remarkable power over organic substances, especially those which are complex in chemical constitution, and can resolve them into simpler combinations. Owing to this property, some bacteria are of great economic value, and without their agency many of our industries could not be pursued; others again, and these are the most talked of, exercise a malign influence in the production of the most deadly diseases which afflict man and the domestic animals. Great attention has been given to the structure of bacteria and to their mode of propagation. When examined in the living state and magnified about 2,000 times, a bacterium appears as a homogeneous par- ticle, with a sharp definite outline, though a membranous envelope or wall, distinct from the body of the bacterium, cannot at first be recog- nized; but when treated with reagents a membranous envelope appears, the presence of which, without doubt, gives precision of form to the bacterium. The substance within the membrane contains granules which can be dyed with coloring agents. Owing to their extreme minuteness it is difficult to pronounce an opinion on the nature of the ehromatine granules and the substance in which they lie. Some observ- ers regard them as nuclear material, invested by only a thin layer of protoplasm, on which view a bacterium would be a nucleated cell. Others consider the bacterium as formed of protoplasm containing granules capable of being colored, which are a part of the protoplasm itself, and not a nuclear substance. On the latter view, bacteria would consist of cell plasm enclosed in a membrane and destitute of a nucleus. Whatever be the nature of the granule-containing material, each bac- terium is regarded as a cell, the minutest and simplest living particle capable of an independent existence that has yet been discovered. Bacteria cells, like cells generally, can reproduce their kind. They multiply by simple fission, probably with an ingrowth of the cell wall, but without the karyokinetic phenomena observed in nucleated cells. Each cell gives rise to two daughter cells, which may for a time remain 4o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. attached to each other and form a cluster or a chain, or they may sep- arate and become independent isolated cells. The multiplication, under favorable conditions of light, air, temperature, moisture and food, goes on with extraordinary rapidity, so that in a few hours many thousand new individuals may arise from a parent bacterium. Connected with the life-history of a bacterium cell is the formation in its substance, in many species and under certain conditions, of a highly refractile shiny particle called a spore. At first sight a spore seems as if it were the nucleus of the bacterium cell, but it is not always present when multiplication by cleavage is taking place, and when present it does not appear to take part in the fission. On the other hand, a spore, from the character of its envelope, possesses great power of resistance, so that dried bacteria, when placed in conditions favorable to germination, can through their spores germinate and resume an ac- tive existence. Spore formation seems, therefore, to be a provision for continuing the life of the bacterium under conditions which, if spores had not formed, would have been the cause of its death. The time has gone by to search for the origin of living organisms by a spontaneous aggregation of molecules in vegetable or other infusions, or from a layer of formless primordial slime diffused over the bed of the ocean. Living matter during our epoch has been, and continues to be, derived from pre-existing living matter, even when it possesses the sim- plicity of structure of a bacterium, and the morphological unit is the cell. ' DEVELOPMENT OF THE EGG. As the future of the entire organism lies in the fertilized egg cell, we may now briefly review the arrangements, consequent on the process of segmentation, which lead to the formation, let us say in the egg of a bird, of the embryo or young chick. In the latter part of the last century, C. F. Wolff observed that the beginning of the embryo was associated with the formation of layers, and in 1817 Pander demonstrated that in the hen's egg at first one layer, called mucous, appeared; then a second or serous layer, to be followed by a third, intermediate or vascular layer. In 1828 von Baer amplified our knowledge in his famous treatise, which from its grasp of the subject created a new epoch in the science of embryology. It was not, however, until the discovery by Schwann of cells as constant factors in the struc- ture of animals and in their relation to development that the true nature of these layers was determined. We now know that each layer consists of cells, and that all the tissues and organs of the body are derived from them. Numerous observers have devoted themselves for many years to the study of each layer, with the view of determining the part which it takes in the formation of the constituent parts of the body, more es- ADDRESS BEFORE THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 4< pecially in the higher animals, and the important conclusion has been arrived at that each kind of tissue invariably arises from one of these layers and from no other. The layer of cells which contributes, both as regards the number and variety of the tissues derived from it, most largely to the formation of the body is the middle layer, or mesoblast. From it the skeleton, the muscles and other locomotor organs, the true skin, the vascular system, including the blood, and other structures which I need not detail, take their rise. From the inner layer of cells the principal derivatives are the epithelial linings of the alimentary canal and of the air passages. The outer layer of cells gives origin to the epidermis or scarf skin, and to the nervous system. It is interesting to note that from the same layer of the embryo arise parts so different in importance as the cuticle — a mere protecting structure, which is constantly being shed when the skin is subjected to the friction of a towel or the clothes — and the nervous system, including the brain, the most highly differentiated system in the animal body. How completely the cells from which they are de- rived had diverged from each other in the course of their differentiation in structure and properties is shown by the fact that the cells of the epidermis are continually engaged in reproducing new cells to replace those which are shed, whilst the cells of the nervous system have appar- ently lost the power of reproducing their kind. In the early stage of the development of the egg, the cells in a given layer resemble each other in form, and, as far as can be judged from their appearance, are alike in structure and properties. As the devel- opment proceeds, the cells begin to show differences in character, and in the course of time the tissues which arise in each layer differentiate from each other and can be readily recognized by the observer. To use the language of von Baer, a generalized structure has become specialized, and each of the special tissues produced exhibits its own structure and properties. These changes are coincident with a rapid multiplication of the cells by cleavage, and thus increase in size of the embryo ac- companies specialization of structure. As the process continues, the embryo gradually assumes the shape characteristic of the species to which its parents belonged, until at length it is fit to be born and to assume a separate existence. The conversion of cells, at first uniform in character, into tissues of a diverse kind, is due to forces inherent in the cells in each layer. The cell plasm plays an active, though not an exclusive part in the special- ization; for as the nucleus influences nutrition and secretion, it acts as a factor in the differentiation of the tissues. When tissues so diverse in character as muscular fiber, cartilage, fibrous tissues and bone arise from the cells of the middle or mesoblast layer, it is obvious that, in addition to the morphological differentiation affecting form and struc- 42 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. ture, a chemical differentiation affecting composition also occurs, as the result of which a physiological differentiation takes place. The tissues and organs become fitted to transform the energy derived from the food into muscular energy, nerve energy and other forms of vital activity. Corresponding differentiations also modify the cells of the outer and inner layers. Hence the study of the development of the generalized cell layers in the young embryo enables us to realize how all the complex constituent parts of the body in the higher animals and in man are evolved by the process of differentiation from a simple nucleated cell — the fertilized ovum. A knowledge of the cell and of its life-history is, therefore, the foundation stone on which biological science in all its de- partments is based. If we are to understand by an organ in the biological sense a complex body capable of carrying on a natural process, a nucleated cell is an organ in its simplest form. In a unicellular animal or plant, such an organ exists in its most primitive stage. The higher plants and animals again are built up of multitudes of these organs, each of which, whilst having its independent life, is associated with the others, so that the whole may act in unison for a common purpose. As in one of your great factories each spindle is engaged in twisting and winding its own thread, it is at the same time intimately associated with the hundreds of other spindles in its immediate proximity, in the manufacture of the yarn, from which the web of cloth is ultimately to be woven. It has taken more than fifty years of hard and continuous work to bring our knowledge of the structure and development of the tissues and organs of plants and animals up to the level of the present day. Amidst the host of names of investigators, both at home and abroad, who have contributed to its progress, it may seem invidious to particularize in- dividuals. There are, however, a few that I cannot forbear to mention, whose claim to be named on such an occasion as this will be generally conceded. Botanists will, I think, acknowledge Wilhelm Hof meister as a master in morphology and embryology; Julius von Sachs as the most important investigator in vegetable physiology during the last quarter of a century, and Strasburger as a leader in the study of the phenomena of nuclear division. The researches of the veteran professor of anatomy in Wiirzburg, Albert von Kolliker, have covered the entire field of animal histology. His first paper, published fifty-nine years ago, was followed by a suc- cession of memoirs and books on human and comparative histology and embryology, and culminated in his great treatise on the structure of the brain, published in 1896. Notwithstanding the weight of more than eighty years, he continues to prosecute histological research, and has ADDRESS BEFORE THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 43 published the results of his latest, though let us hope not his last, work during the present year. Amongst our countrymen, and belonging to the generation which has almost passed away, was William Bowman. His investigations be- tween 1840 and 1850 on the mucous membranes, muscular fiber and the structure of the kidney, together with his researches on the organs of sense, were characterized by a power of observation and of inter- preting difficult and complicated appearances which has made his memoirs on these subjects landmarks in the history of histological in- quiry. Of the younger generation of biologists, Francis Maitland Balfour, whose early death is deeply deplored as a loss to British science, was one of the most distinguished. His powers of observation and philo- sophic perception gave him a high place as an original inquirer, and the charm of his personality — for charm is not the exclusive possession of the fairer sex — endeared him to his friends. GENERAL MOEPHOLOGY. Along with the study of the origin and structure of the tissues of organized bodies, much attention has been given during the century to the parts or organs in plants and animals, with the view of determining where and how they take their rise, the order of their formation, the changes which they pass through in the early stages of development and their relative positions in the organism to which they belong. Investi- gations on these lines are spoken of as morphological, and are to be dis- tinguished from the study of their physiological or functional relations, though both are necessary for the full comprehension of the living organism. The first to recognize that morphological relations might exist be- tween the organs of a plant, dissimilar as regards their function, was the poet, Goethe, whose observations, guided by his imaginative faculty, led him to declare that the calyx, corolla and other parts of a flower, the scales of a bulb, etc., were metamorphosed leaves, a principle generally accepted by botanists, and, indeed, extended to other parts of a plant, which are referred to certain common morphological forms, although they exercise different functions. Goethe also applied the same prin- ciple in the study of the skeletons of vertebrate animals, and he formed the opinion that the spinal column and the skull were essentially alike in construction, and consisted of vertebras, an idea which was also in- dependently conceived and advocated by Oken. The anatomist who in our country most strenuously applied himself to the morphological study of the skeleton was Eichard Owen, whose knowledge of animal structure, based upon his own dissections, was un- rivaled in range and variety. He elaborated the conception of an ideal. 44 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. archetype vertebrate form which had no existence in nature, and to which, subject to modifications in various directions, he considered all vertebrate skeletons might be referred. Owen's observations were con- ducted to a large extent on the skeletons of adult animals, of the knowl- edge of which he was a master. As in the course of development modi- fications in shape and in the relative position of parts not unfrequently occur, and their original character and place of origin become obscured, it is difficult, from the study only of adults, to arrive at a correct inter- pretation of their morphological significance. When the changes which take place in the skull during its development, as worked out by Reichert and Eathke, became known and their value had become ap- preciated, many of the conclusions arrived at by Owen were challenged and ceased to be accepted. It is, however, due to that eminent anatomist to state from my personal knowledge of the condition of anatomical science in this country fifty years ago, that an enormous impulse was given to the study of comparative morphology by his writ- ings, and by the criticisms to which they were subjected. There can be no doubt that generalized arrangements do exist in the early embryo which, up to a certain stage, are common to animals that in their adult condition present diverse characters, and out of which the forms special to different groups are evolved. As an illustration of this principle, I may refer to the stages of development of the great arteries in the bodies of vertebrate animals. Originally, as the observations of Rathke have taught us, the main arteries are represented by pairs of symmetrically arranged vascular arches, some of which enlarge and con- stitute the permanent arteries in the adult, whilst others disappear. The increase in size of some of these arches, and the atrophy of others, are so constant for different groups that they constitute anatomical features as distinctive as the modifications in the skeleton itself. Thus in mam- mals the fourth vascular arch on the left side persists, and forms the arch of the aorta; in birds the corresponding part of the aorta is an en- largement of the fourth right arch, and in reptiles both arches persist to form the great artery. That this original symmetry exists also in man we know from the fact that now and again his body, instead of corre- sponding with the mammalian type, has an aortic arch like that which is natural to the bird, and in rarer cases even to the reptile. A type form common to the vertebrata does, therefore, in such cases exist, capable of evolution in more than one direction. The reputation of Thomas Henry Huxley as a philosophic compara- tive anatomist rests largely on his early perception of, and insistence on, the necessity of testing morphological conclusions by a reference to the development of parts and organs, and by applying this principle in his own investigations. The principle is now so generally accepted by both botanists and anatomists that morphological definitions are regarded as ADDRESS BEFORE THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 45 depending essentially on the successive phases of the development of the parts under consideration. The morphological characters exhibited by a plant or animal tend to be hereditarily transmitted from parents to offspring, and the species is perpetuated. In each species the evolution of an individual, through the developmental changes in the egg, follows the same lines in all the individuals of the same species, which possess, therefore, in common, the features called specific characters. The transmission of these char- acters is due, according to the theory of Weismann, to certain properties possessed by the chromosome constituents of the segmentation nucleus in the fertilized ovum, named by him the germ plasm, which is con- tinued from one generation to another, and impresses its specific char- acter on the egg and on the plant or animal developed from it. As has already been stated, the special tissues which build up the bodies of the more complex organisms are evolved out of cells which are at first simple in form and appearance. During the evolution of the individual, cells become modified or differentiated in structure and func- tion, and so long as the differentiation follows certain prescribed lines the morphological characters of the species are preserved. We can readily conceive that, as the process of specialization is going on, modi- fications or variations in groups of cells and the tissues derived from them, notwithstanding the influence of heredity, may in an individual diverge so far from that which is characteristic of the species as to as- sume the arrangements found in another species, or even in another order. Anatomists had, indeed, long recognized that variations from the customary arrangement of parts occasionally appeared, and they de- scribed such deviations from the current descriptions as irregularities. DARWINIAN THEORY. The signification of the variations which arise in plants and animals had not been apprehended until a flood of light was thrown on the entire subject by the genius of Charles Darwin, who formulated the wide- reaching theory that variations could be transmitted by heredity to younger generations. In this manner he conceived new characters would arise, accumulate and be perpetuated, which would in the course of time assume specific importance. New species might thus be evolved out of organisms originally distinct from them, and their specific char- acters would in turn be transmitted to their descendants. By a con- tinuance of this process new species would multiply in many directions, until at length, from one or more originally simple forms, the earth would become peopled by the infinite varieties of plant and animal organisms which have in past ages inhabited, or do at present inhabit our globe. The Darwinian theory may, therefore, be defined as heredity modified and influenced by variability. It assumes that there 46 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. is an heredity quality in the egg, which, if we take the common fowl for an example, shall continue to produce similar fowls. Under conditions, of which we are ignorant, which occasion molecular changes in the cells and tissues of the developing egg, variations might arise in the first in- stance probably slight, but becoming intensified in successive genera- tions, until at length the descendants would have lost the characters of the fowl and have become another species. No precise estimate has been arrived at, and, indeed, one does not see how it is possible to obtain it, of the length of years which might be required to convert a variation, capable of being transmitted, into a new and definite specific character. The circumstances which, according to the Darwinian theory, deter- mined the perpetuation by hereditary transmission of a variety and its assumption of a specific character depended, it was argued, on whether it possessed such properties as enabled the plant or animal in which it appeared to adapt itself more readily to its environment, i. e., to the surrounding conditions. If it were to be of use, the organism in so far became better adapted to hold its own in the struggle for existence with its fellows and with the forces of nature operating on it. Through the accumulation of useful characters the specific variety was perpetu- ated by natural selection so long as the conditions were favorable for its existence, and it survived as being the best fitted to live. In the study of the transmission of variations which may arise in the course of devel- opment, it should not be too exclusively thought that only those varia- tions are likely to be preserved which can be of service during the life of the individual, or in the perpetuation of the species, and possibly avail- able for the evolution of new species. It should also be kept in mind that morphological characters can be transmitted by hereditary descent, which, though doubtless of service in some bygone ancestor, are in the new conditions of life of the species of no physiological value. Our knowledge of the structural and functional modifications to be found in the human body, in connection with abnormalities and with tend- encies or predisposition to diseases of various kinds, teaches us that characters which are of no use, and indeed detrimental to the individual, may be hereditarily transmitted from parents to offspring through a suc- cession of generations. Since the conception of the possibility of the evolution of new species from pre-existing forms took possession of the minds of natural- ists, attempts have been made to trace out the line on which it has proceeded. The first to give a systematic account of what he conceived to be the order of succession in the evolution of animals was Ernst Haeckel, of Jena, in a well-known treatise. Memoirs on special depart- ments of the subject, too numerous to particularize, have subsequently appeared. The problem has been attacked along two different lines: the one by embryologists, of whom may be named Kowalewsky, Gegen- ADDRESS BEFORE THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 47 baur, Dohrn, Kay Lankester, Balfour and Gaskell, who, with many others, have conducted careful and methodical inquiries into the stages of development of numerous forms belonging to the two great divisions of the animal kingdom. Invertebrates, as well as vertebrates, have been carefully compared with each other in the bearing of their development and structure on their affinities and descent, and the possible sequence in the evolution of the Vertebrata from the Invertebrata has been dis- cussed. The other method pursued by palaeontologists, of whom Hux- ley, Marsh, Cope, Osborn and Traquair are prominent authorities, has been the study of the extinct forms preserved in the rocks and the com- parison of their structure with each other and with that of existing organisms. In the attempts to trace the line of descent the imagination has not unfrequently been called into play in constructing various con- flicting hypotheses. Though from the nature of things the order of descent is, and without doubt will continue to be, ever a matter of speculation and not of demonstration, the study of the subject has been a valuable intellectual exercise and a powerful stimulant to research. We know not as regards time when the fiat went forth, 'Let there be Life, and there was Life.' All we can say is that it must have been in the far-distant past, at a period so remote from the present that the mind fails to grasp the duration of the interval. Prior to its genesis our earth consisted of barren rock and desolate ocean. When matter became endowed with Life, with the capacity of self -maintenance and of resist- ing external disintegrating forces, the face of nature began to undergo a momentous change. Living organisms multiplied, the land became covered with vegetation and multitudinous varieties of plants, from the humble fungus and moss to the stately palm and oak, beautified its surface and fitted it to sustain higher kinds of living beings. Animal forms appeared, in the first instance simple in structure, to be followed by others more complex, until the mammalian type was produced. The ocean also became peopled with plant and animal organisms, from the microscopic diatom to the huge leviathan. Plants and animals acted and reacted on each other, on the atmosphere which surrounded them and on the earth on which they dwelt, the surface of which became modified in character and aspect. At last Man came into existence. His nerve-energy, in addition to regulating the processes in his economy which he possesses in common with animals, was endowed with higher powers. When translated into psychical activity it has enabled him throughout the ages to progress from the condition of a rude savage to an advanced stage of civilization; to produce works in literature, art and the moral sciences which have exerted, and must continue to exert, a lasting influence on the development of his higher Being; to make discoveries in physical science; to acquire a knowledge of the structure of the earth, of the ocean in its changing aspects, of the atmosphere and 48 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. the stellar universe, of the chemical composition and physical properties of matter in its various forms, and to analyze, comprehend and subdue the forces of nature. By the application of these discoveries to his own purposes Man has, to a large extent, overcome time and space; he has studded the ocean with steamships, girdled the earth with the electric wire, tunneled the lofty Alps, spanned the Forth with a bridge of steel, invented machines and founded industries of all kinds for the promotion of his material welfare, elaborated systems of government fitted for the management of great communities, formulated economic principles, obtained an in- sight into the laws of health, the causes of infective diseases and the means of controlling and preventing them. When we reflect that many of the most important discoveries in ab- stract science and in its applications have been made during the present century, and, indeed, since the British Association held its first meeting in the ancient capital of your county sixty-nine years ago, we may look forward with confidence to the future. Every advance in science pro- vides a fresh platform from which a new start can be made. The human intellect is still in process of evolution. The power of application and of concentration of thought for the elucidation of scientific problems is by no means exhausted. In science is no hereditary aristocracy. The army of workers is recruited from all classes. The natural ambition of even the private in the ranks to maintain and increase the reputation of the branch of knowledge which he cultivates affords an ample guarantee that the march of science is ever onwards, and justifies us in proclaim- ing for the next century, as in the one fast ebbing to a close, that Great is Science, and it will prevail. POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES. 49 THE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES DUEING THE NEXT TEN CENTUEIES. By H. S. PRITCHETT, PRESIDENT OF THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. IS it possible to predict with any degree of certainty the population of a country like the United States for a hundred years to come? Doubtless the average intelligent person would say a priori that the growth of population is not a matter which can be made the sub- ject of exact computation; that this growth is the result of many factors; and that those factors are subject to such great fluctuations that an estimate of the population a hundred years hence can be, in the nature of the case, only a rough guess. It is true that the growth of population depends on a number of factors. It is also true that these factors vary in accordance with laws which are at present not known. Nevertheless it does not by any means follow that because the law of these variations is unknown we cannot represent the variations themselves by a mathematical equation. The problem of representing mathematically the law connecting a series of observations for which theory furnishes no physical explanation is one of the most common tasks to which the mathematician is called. And it does not in the least diminish the value of such a mathematical formula, for the purposes of prediction, that it is based upon no knowl- edge of the real causes of the phenomena which it connects together. To illustrate: The black spots on the sun have been objects of the greatest interest to astronomers ever since Galileo pointed the first feeble telescope at his glowing disc. These spots, as observed from the earth, seem to pass across the disc from east to west as the sun rotates on its axis. Among the problems with which the possessors of the first tele- scopes busied themselves were the observation of these spots for de- termining the period of the sun's rotation. The observation is a very simple one and consists merely in noting the time which elapses be- tween successive returns of a spot to the central meridian of the disc. The earlier observers were astonished to find that the different spots gave different results for the rotation period, but it was only within the last thirty years that the researches of Carrington brought out the fact that these differences follow a regular law showing that at the solar equator the time of rotation is less than on either side of it. The explanation which is generally accepted to account for this peculiar state of affairs is that the spots drift in the gaseous body of the VOL. LVIII.— 4 5o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. sun and that this drift is most rapid near the equator and diminishes towards the poles. But this after all only pushes the explanation a little further back, and no satisfactory theory of this drifting of the spots has ever been reached. Doubtless the phenomenon is due to a large number of causes, acting together, whose resultant effect is shown in the motion of the spots as we see them. However that may be, and although we are still unable to give any physical explanation of the phenomenon, a formula has been devised which fits the observations fairly well and which enables the astronomer to predict the motion of the spots with an accuracy comparable to the observations themselves. This formula is a complicated one, when written in its mathematical form, and involves a trigonometric function of the latitude of the spot raised to a fractional power. Now no one pretends that this intricate formula expresses any real law of nature. But it does express the mathematical relation which connects together the observations, and by means of it the motions of the spots at different latitudes on the sun may be predicted with all desirable accuracy. The problem of deriving an equation which shall represent the growth of the population of the United States during the past one hundred and ten years and which may be used to predict its growth through future decades, is exactly such a case as that of the sun's spots just mentioned. The observations in this case consist of eleven de- terminations of the population as given in the census returns from 1790 to 1890. In studying these observations of population, taken at regular in- tervals of ten years, it occurred to me some years ago to examine them with some care in order to discover whether they were related to each other in any orderly way, and if so whether they could be represented by an equation of reasonable simplicity. It is evident that if an equa- tion can be found which will fit the growth of population during the hundred years which intervened between 1790 and 1890 it would form the most probable basis for predicting the population of the future. Somewhat to my surprise I discovered a comparatively simple equa- tion which represented the census enumerations very closely and which, notwithstanding the fluctuations in the various factors which affect the growth of population, followed the general course of this growth with remarkable fidelity, as will be seen by the following table, which shows the population as given by the Census Bureau and as determined by the empirical formula. The discrepancies between the observed popu- lation and that computed from the formula are also given for the sake of an easy comparison. In each case the population is given to the nearest thousand, a figure far within the limit of error of the census count. POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES. 5i Observed Year. Population. 1790 3,929,000 1800 5,308,000 1810 7,240,000 1820 9,634,000 1830 12,866,000 1840 17,069,000 1850 23,192,000 1860 31,443,000 1870 38,558,000 1880 50,156,000 1890 62,622,000 Computed Population. Discrepancy. 4,012,000 83,000 5,267,000 41,000 7,059,000 181,000 9,569,000 65,000 12,985,000 119,000 17,484,000 415,000 23,250,000 58,000 30,468,000 975,000 39,312,000 754,000 49,975,000 181,000 62,634,000 12,000 The smallness of the discrepancies and the consequent close agree- ment of the formula with the observations show that the growth of the population has been a regular and orderly one. There are, however, two residuals which have abnormally large values. The census of 1860 shows a population of 975,000 larger than the computed value, while that of 1870 falls 754,000 below that of the computed value. The explanation of these discrepancies is not far to seek. The devastating effect of the war would show itself in the census of 1870 and succeeding years. The effect would be to give 1870 a smaller ob- served value than would be expected. This is precisely what we find to be the case, the census of that year falling 754,000 short of the com- puted value. An abnormally small value in 1870 would, of course, have its effect on the population of succeeding decades and would also give an apparent difference of opposite sign to the observed population in 1860. There is, however, good reason to believe that the population in 1870 as determined by the census was much smaller than the actual population at that time. Mr. Robert Porter, in Census Bulletin ISTo. 12, October 30, 1890, makes the statement that the census of 1870 was grossly deficient in the Southern States and that a correct and honest enumeration would have shown at that time a much larger population than that actually returned by the Census Bureau. There are, of course, no means of ascertaining exactly the extent of these omissions, but there is no question that the population as computed by the formula for 1870 is far nearer the truth than the value given by the census for that year. However this may be, it is evident that the formula represents the general law of growth which held between 1790 and 1890 with an ac- curacy almost comparable with that of the census determinations them- selves. The question of immediate interest, however, is not whether the growth of population during the last century can be represented by a mathematical formula, but it is that which stands at the beginning 52 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. of this paper, viz., can the population of the United States an hundred years hence be predicted within reasonable limits of error? During the past century the factors which govern the growth of population have fluctuated enormously; there have been wars and epi- demics; there have been decades in which large numbers of emigrants landed upon our shores and there have been other decades in which emigrants were few; there have been years of plenty and years of want; booms and panics, good times and hard times have had their share in the century which has passed. Yet notwithstanding all these varying conditions, the growth of the population has been a regular and orderly one, so much so that it can be represented by a comparatively simple mathematical equation. Can this equation be trusted to predict the population in the decades which are to come? How closely the formula will represent the population of the future will depend, of course, upon the continuance of the same general con- ditions which have held in the past. This does not mean that exactly the same factors are to operate, but that on the whole the change of one factor will be balanced by a change in another, so that in the main the character of the growth manifested during the past century will be con- tinued. A decided change in the birth-rate or a widespread famine would bring out large discrepancies. But on the whole it may be ex- pected that the experience of the last hundred years involves so many varying conditions that the general law of growth which satisfies that period will continue to approximate the development of the popula- tion for a considerable time to come. This does not mean that any particular census enumeration of the future will be represented closely, but simply that in the main the com- puted values will follow the general growth of the population. The law of probabilities will lead one to expect at times considerable varia- tions. The preliminary announcements from the Census Office, as given in the daily papers, indicate a result for 1900 of about 75,700,000 people, a value considerably below the computed one. This would mean that at this epoch the formula was not representing the actual growth, but does not at all indicate that it will cease to represent the general growth of the succeeding centuries. In any event this method furnishes the most trustworthy estimate which can be made for the future, since it gives the result which is mathematically most probable and which is based on all the data of the past. Carrying forward, therefore, the computation we obtain the following values for the most probable popu- lation of the future: Computed Year. Population. WOO 77,472,000 W10 94,673,000 POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES. 53 1920 114,416,000 1930 136,887,000 1940 162,268,000 1950 190,740,000 1960 222,067,000 1970 257,688,000 1980 296,814,000 1990 339,193,000 2000 385,860,000 2100 1,112,867,000 2500 11,856,302,000 2900 40,852,273,000 The law governing the increase of population, as generally stated, is, that when not disturbed by extraneous causes such as emigration, wars and famines, the increase of population goes on at a constantly diminishing rate. By this is meant that the percentage of increase from decade to decade diminishes. It will be noticed that the figures just given involve such a decrease in the percentage of growth. A simple differentiation of the formula gives as the percentage of in- crease of the population per decade 32 per cent, in 1790, 24 per cent, in 1880, 13 per cent, in 1990, while in one thousand years it will have sunk to a little less than three per cent. But according to the formula this percentage of increase will become zero, or the population become stationary, only after the lapse of an indefinite period. The figures just quoted are, to say the least, suggestive. Forming, as they do, the most probable estimate we can make for the population of the future, they suggest possibilities of the highest social and eco- nomic interest. Within fifty years the population of the United States (exclusive of Alaska, of Indians on reservations and of the inhabitants of the recently acquired islands) will approximate 190 millions, and by the year 2000 this number will have swelled to 385 millions of people; while should the same law of growth continue for a thousand years the number will reach the enormous total of 41 billions. How great a change in the conditions of living this growth of popu- lation would imply is, perhaps, impossible for us to realize. Great Britain, at present one of the most densely populated countries of the globe, contains about 300 inhabitants to the square mile. Should the present law of growth continue until 2900 the United States would contain over 11,000 persons to each square mile of surface. With the growth of population our civilization is becoming more and more complex and the drafts upon the stored energy of the earth more enormous. As a consequence of all this, it would seem that life in the future must be subject to a constantly increasing stress, which will bring to the attention of individuals and of nations economic ques- tions which at our time seem very remote. 54 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. THE DISTRIBUTION OF TAXES.* By EDWARD ATKINSON. IN nearly all the discussions upon the subject of taxation which have come to my notice, it is assumed that certain specific taxes fall upon and are borne wholly by one class; other taxes fall upon and are borne by a second class; and so on throughout the list. For in- stance, in the discussion regarding a protective tariff it is held by the advocates of protection that in some cases the imposition of a duty reduces the price of the imported article in the foreign country from which it comes. It is, therefore, held that such a tax may be put upon the foreign producer and is not paid by the domestic consumer. It is held that other duties on other imported articles are added to the cost of importation, then as far as possible added to the price, and are thus distributed in ratio to their consumption. Unless such should be the result of imposing duties on foreign imports, namely, that they may either be borne in the first instance by the foreign producer, or may be distributed on the domestic consumer, there could be no continuous import of any foreign product. Even if it could be proved that some duties are paid by foreign producers, such reduction in price would limit his power of purchase of our domestic goods taken in exchange. It is also held that excise taxes on liquors and tobacco must be charged to the cost of production, must be recovered from the sales and are, therefore, distributed in ratio to consumption. It is held by the advocates of what is called the single tax that a tax on rent or rental values will be paid out of the rents accruing to the landlord, and that this tax cannot be distributed by him, but that it simply diminishes his income. It is held that a tax on incomes is paid by those who enjoy the income, diminishing their resources. Finally, it is held that a tax on inheritances and successions is taken out of the property and that it cannot be distributed. All these theories, presented in different forms, are and have been subjects of discussion. They have been debated ever since the subject of taxation became in any measure a matter of scientific inquiry. The conclusions reached by different persons or schools of political economy so-called, are as much at variance now as they have ever been. I have reached the conclusion that all taxes, wherever placed, how- ever imposed, and through whatever agency collected by the govern- * Read before the Section of Economic and Social Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science, June, 1900. THE DISTRIBUTION OF TAXES. 55 ment, either national, State, city or town, are distributed, falling ulti- mately upon all consumers in proportion to the quantity and value of the product of the country consumed by each person. What is the cost of each person to the community? Is it not what each person consumes of the materials needed for shelter, food and clothing? What does any one get in or out of life, in a material sense, be he rich or poor, except what we call board and clothing? Incomes in money are distributed. When paid for service that money becomes the means by which the person who has performed the service procures shelter, food and clothing. If these points are well taken, then it seems to me that the only problem is how much time will elapse before the tax will fall upon the consumers of all products in ratio to consumption; an incidental question being the relative cost of collecting the taxes in one way or another. I have been led to this conclusion that all taxes are slowly but surely diffused throughout the community — some directly, others indi- rectly— by reasoning upon the subject without measuring the tax in terms of money — money being only the medium by which the real tax is measured and brought to the use of the government. Does not the same distinction apply to taxes that applies to wages? We are ac- customed to speak of money wages and real wages, meaning by real wages the things that money will buy. May we not in the same way speak of money taxes and real taxes, meaning by real taxes the material substances withdrawn from the community for the support of the em- ployees of the government? Does not the real tax consist of the ma- terial products needed by and consumed for the subsistence of the officers of the government and of all persons who are in the government service? The annual product is substantially the source of these material substances. A small part of one year's product is carried over to start the next year's product, a small part of that year being carried forward on which to begin work in the next. Production is a continuous process, but it is governed practically by each series of four seasons. Now, if the real tax is that part of the annual product withdrawn from general consumption to serve the special consumption of the persons who are in the government service, or are pensioned by the government, then by so much as the annual product measured in quantities is lessened in order to meet that demand, will the quantity remaining for distribution among those who directly take part in productive work be diminished. In the expenditure of the money derived from taxation the govern- ment secures materials for constructing buildings, for their furnishings and fittings; for constructing coast defenses; for building naval vessels; 56 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. for supplying food, shelter and clothing to all government employees and dependents. With respect to armaments, military and naval, all the materials for the construction of vessels, forts, arms and equipments must be taken from the common stock which is derived from the annual product. The rations and clothing of soldiers, sailors and pensioners must be provided in the same way. It follows that by so much as these government forces, military and naval, are increased will the proportion of products withdrawn from productive consumption be augmented. If these military expenditures go beyond the absolute requirements for defense, leading to the estab- lishment of a large standing army and a great navy, every one must bear his proportion of that burden, because what is taken from the common stock for these destructive purposes is nothing but the material for shelter, food and clothing which would otherwise be constructively or productively expended. By so much as the burden of militarism is augmented must poverty be increased. I do not mean to give the idea that many of the functions of govern- ment are not necessary and are not productive in a true sense. The functions of the civil government are as necessary to the conduct of productive industry and the government employees in this service are as much needed as are the services of any other body of men who are not directly occupied in the mechanical and manual work of production or distribution. The officials of a just government supply mental energy, the fourth and paramount factor in all production. Hence, the constructive work of governments must be carefully kept distinct from the destructive work of militarism. All that is taken from the annual product either to pay debt incurred in war, or the interest thereon, or for the support of armies or navies, is destructive and not con- structive in its immediate application to any given year. By so much as food, shelter and clothing are taken from the annual product for military or destructive purposes, by so much is the quantity lessened which would otherwise be consumed for reproductive purposes. Whether or not such destructive consumption may be justified or otherwise is not a question at issue in this discussion; I merely present the facts and intend to show what militarism costs. We now come to the relative burden of taxation. If by way of tax- ation so large a part of the annual product is taken for destructive pur- poses as to leave less than a sufficient supply for necessity and comfort, then the time has come for revision and removal of taxes lest degenera- tion should ensue. The case of Italy may be cited. It is stated by Italian economists that from twenty-five to thirty per cent, of the an- nual product of Italy is expended in support of the government, mainly for the destructive purposes of militarism; the consequences being that great bodies of people cannot get enough to eat — there is not enough to THE DISTRIBUTION OF TAXES. $7 go round. Of course, the richer classes can buy what they need, there- fore the ultimate and destructive burden of militarism falls upon the poor and the incapable. I think it cannot fail to be admitted that by so much as products are taken by the government for consumption outside the civil service, mainly for military purposes, in the form of food, fuel, metal, timber and the like, by so much is there less of these materials to be expended for subsistence and for the construction of dwelling houses, factories, workshops and the mechanism of productive industry. If such productive consumption is retarded by an excessive tax on in- heritances or on incomes, then the accumulation of capital is retarded, and by so much must the rate of interest or profit be higher than it would otherwise have been. The distribution may be very remote, but it is very certain, unless one is prepared to admit the absurd cry of over-production and to defend a waste of substance by way of taxation in order to get rid of it. All these material substances which are applied in the end to the supply of shelter, food and clothing are the joint product of land, labor, capital and mental energy. They are derived directly or indirectly from the field, the forest, the mine or the sea. There can be no large produc- tion conducted exclusively by labor; tools are necessary. Tools are capi- tal, whether used by hand or worked by power. On the other hand, there can be no production exclusively derived from capital; tools and mechan- ism without human power or direction are inert. Land is the basis of all production, yet raw land is practically inert. Land is but a tool or in- strument of production and has been so ever since the nomadic life gave place to civilized life. Again, there can be no great product, of either land, labor or capital, of either manual or mechanical work, without the directing or coordinating power of mental energy, bringing all these material forces to a constantly augmenting product in ratio to the number of persons occupied in their conduct. If, then, the entire product of land, labor, capital and mental energy in a given period, consisting of four seasons or one year, is represented by the symbol A, that part of the product which is converted to the uses of government by taxation may be represented by the symbol B; then A minus B equals X, the unknown quantity. If X, the unknown quantity, is the share of the annual product of material substances used for shelter, food and clothing, then the whole burden of taxation, wherever imposed and however collected, with all the expenses of col- lection, be they greater or less, must fall in the end upon all consumers in proportion to their consumption by diminishing the quantity or value of X. It follows that if the demand of governments takes so large a por- tion of the product that what is left is insufficient to meet the necessity and comfort of those who are not in the government service, then, aa 58 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. a matter of course, the people with the larger incomes will buy all they need with the necessary consequence that the final burden falls on those least able to bear it. All systems of taxation have adjusted themselves more or less logi- cally to these conditions. It has been found in practice among all civilized nations that any large amount of taxation must be derived from a few articles of very general use; as, for instance, our national taxes on liquors and tobacco have for twenty years preceding the Spanish war annually averaged two dollars and a half ($2.50) per head, that rate sufficing to meet the nor- mal expenses of the government during the same period. That is to say, taxes on liquors and tobacco, domestic and foreign, have annually yielded a revenue in money sufficient for twenty years prior to the Spanish war for the support of the civil service, and the army and the navy before these forces were augmented beyond the requirement of national defense. The taxes necessary to meet pensions and interest have been derived from other sources. In other words, under normal conditions, had we paid the national debt, as we might have many years ago without feeling the burden in any considerable measure, and had our pensions been limited to true cases, the people of this country would only have been called upon to forego a part of their consumption of liquors and tobacco in order to support the national government. At the present time, under the augmented taxes on liquors and tobacco, the revenue from these sources is between three dollars and a half ($3.50) and four dollars ($4) per head. Great Britain, France and Germany derive a large part of their revenues from the same sources, namely, from these and other articles which are consumed in largest measure by the millions rather than by the millionaires. These taxes are collected at the least cost for collec- tion and they meet a true canon of taxation, taking from consumers a part of a product which consumers can spare without impairing their productive energy. Again, we may find the almost necessary resort of the British Gov- ernment in India to a salt tax, because it is only through the tax on salt that the masses of the people can be reached, the next great resource of East Indian revenue being what is practically a single tax on land, assessed directly without regard to the relative product year by year. These taxes on salt and land admittedly reduce a large part of the popu- lation of India to such condition of extreme poverty that when a bad year comes famine devastates the land. The hoards of wealth in India are enormous, but they cannot be reached. The problem of taxation in India is not a question of will but of power to collect. The octroi tax imposed upon the traffic of the city with the country, now in force in France, Italy and some other countries, rendered neces- THE DISTRIBUTION OF TAXES. 59 sary by the magnitude of the burden of taxation, is one of the most ob- noxious of all methods of distributing military burdens. Finally, the relative burden of taxation cannot be estimated nation by nation by mere computation in symbols or money. The taxation by the measure of money of the United States for national purposes be- fore the war with Spain was five dollars per head, tending to lessen. In Great Britain and Germany taxes for the same purposes were about ten dollars per head; in France about fifteen dollars. But this is no measure of the true burden of taxation. The annual product of this country measured by quantities is vastly greater than that of any Euro- pean country. It may be approximately estimated twenty-five per cent, greater than that of the people of Great Britain and Ireland, thirty to forty per cent, greater than that of France, double that of Germany, and much more than double that of Italy. Hence, the real taxation of these European countries under their military establishments is vastly more than the mere symbols in money make it appear. It follows that if all taxes in money stand for that part of the annual product required by Government, and that by so much as the product is diminished will the share falling to labor and capital be lessened, the only way to prevent taxation becoming a cause of pauperism or poverty is to limit the taxes to the necessary conduct of civil government and to national defense, avoiding aggression and forbidding armaments for any purpose except defense. 6o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT NOW AND A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. By CLINTON ROGERS WOODRUFF. A HUNDRED years has wrought marvelous changes. The maps of Asia, Europe and America, of the world, have been changed. The United States of America has fought four wars and demonstrated her prowess on sea and land, at home and abroad. The country has grown from a handful of States strung along the Atlantic seaboard to a great and powerful nation, extending from sea to sea, conquering and subduing in its growth a mighty continent — the mightiest in its latent possibilities on the face of the globe. Commerce and industry and transportation have grown with equal, if not greater, strides, and the time is not far distant, if it has not already arrived, when America will dominate the world along these lines. Our development thus far has been extensive; during the coming century it will be intensive. A few more decades and the partition of the globe among the world powers will be practically completed; then we shall be compelled to cultivate with closer attention and greater zeal and more care our resources. Intensive culture will succeed ex- tensive cultivation. The great mechanical inventions of the nine- teenth century have directly aided the extensive movement — the steam railway, the steamship, the telegraph, the cable, the telephone; the inventions of the next century will as directly aid the intensive move- ment— they will be designed to make the most of what we have. Our political problems have also been problems of extension. First, the government and division of the Northwest Territory; then the acquisition and organization of the Louisiana Territory; of Florida; of Texas; of the Southwest Territory; of the Oregon country and Cali- fornia; then the settlement of the great question as to whether the country should be divided, and its reconstruction on the principle that it was one and indivisible; and latterly, Hawaii, Porto Rico and the Philippines. The political problems of the twentieth century will deal with questions of internal development and improvement. The gov- ernment control, ownership and operation of the great natural monop- olies, civil service and constitutional reforms will occupy the time and attention of our statesmen. Our municipal growth and development during the past hundred years has likewise been along the lines of extension. Our cities have grown in numbers, population and territory. The figures are so MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 61 familiar and have been so frequently exploited as to obviate the neces- sity of repetition. The papers are and have been full of Metropolitan Boston, Greater New York, Greater Chicago, Greater Jersey City, Greater Newark — Philadelphia has been Greater Philadelphia since 1854, when the Consolidation Act made the City and County of Phila- delphia co-terminous. Indeed, municipal expansion seems to be quite as much the vogue, quite as much the logical sequence of events, quite as much the outgrowth of an inherent Anglo-Saxon instinct, as national expansion. This development has not been confined to population and terri- tory, but has extended to municipal functions as well. In 1800, if an American city provided for paving the streets and cleansing them of the grosser and fouler impurities; for a few night watchmen and a handful of constables; for cleaning and repairing the sewers and docks; and for lighting the streets with miserable oil-lamps, its 'Fathers' thought that they were performing their whole duty to the inhabitants. According to a recent authority (Parsons, in 'Municipal Monopolies', 1898), the various courts of this country have decided that the fol- lowing are now proper public purposes and proper objects of municipal control and ownership: "Roads, bridges, sidewalks, sewers, ferries, markets, scales, wharves, canals, parks, baths, schools, libraries, museums, hospitals, lodging houses, poorhouses, jails, cemeteries, pre- vention of fire, supply of water, gas, electricity, heat, power, transpor- tation, telegraph and telephone service, clocks, skating-rinks, musical entertainments, exhibitions of fireworks, tobacco warehouses, employ- ment offices." We have made but a beginning, however, according to the testi- mony of another recent writer (Dr. Milo E. Maltbie, in 'Municipal Functions', page 784), who says: "Whither is all this tending? Whatever a few years since may have been the answer suggested by conservatism, there is to-day but one, and that so obvious as scarcely to be questioned. The extension of municipal functions in the direction in which the city is to act as the servant of the individual has barely begun; and its scope, certain to be indefinitely increased in a comparatively near future, is to be measured only by the resources of developing invention and enterprise, so rapidly developing of late that their early realization will be such as to be unthinkable now. The individual will have cheap facilities for transport and communication. The product of his labor will be mul- tiplied in advantage to him by the cooperation for which cities alone give a chance. He will not be left to the hard paths which chance may afford for education of his mind and his senses, but have this facilitated by every device of civilization. It is, therefore, natural, inevitable, indeed, that there should be provided for him first, water, the prime essential of life and health; next, the first of its conveniences — artificial light; later, those universal incidents of its growth — high- 62 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. way facilities (including power supply, as well as a clear path); and, finally, education and recreation." The tremendous advances of municipal government during the present century can be best and most graphically demonstrated by a comparison of the respective budgets of a single city for the years 1800 and 1899. Let us take Philadelphia as an example. According to Allinson & Penrose, in their work on the 'Government of Philadel- phia' (pages 115-116), the budget for the former year as contained in the ordinance of February 20, 1800, was as follows To meet the deficiency of the tax of 1799 $1,315.44 Interest on water loan 4,200.00 Interest on debts due the banks 1,200.00 Purchase of paving stones and repair of old pavements 1,600.00 Repairs to unpaved streets, &c, paving intersections 2,400.00 For cleansing city 11,250.00 Cleansing and repairing sewers and docks 1,850.00 Lighting and watching the city 18,000.00 Repaifs-ef pumps and wells 2,500.00 Regulating streets 400.00 Center Square improvements 1,650.00 Salaries of City Commissioners and clerk 2,800.00 Expenses of City Commissioners and clerk 100.00 Salaries to Mayor, Recorder, High Constable, clerks and messengers of Councils 3,000.00 Pay of constables for patrolling streets on the Sabbath day. . 156.00 Incidental expenses of Councils 600.00 Residuary fund for preventing and removing nuisances 4,478.56 Reimbursement from tax fund to corporate fund, 1799 165.92 Other advances by citizens 360.00 Salaries of clerks of markets 1,200.00 Menial service in markets 560.00 Repairs, &c 700.00 Meeting contract engagements for maintenance of two steam engines 8,000.00 Total $68,485.92 The expenditures for 1899 (exclusive of the amounts appropriated for the maintenance of the county offices) were: Mayor's Office $587,770.00 Bureau of Charities 500,308.00 Bureau of Correction 203,295.00 Department of Public Safety — ' Director's Office 18,721.25 Bureau of Health 251,838.08 Bureau of Building Inspectors 46,636.75 Bureau of City Property 777,751.73 Electrical Bureau 1,118,017.78 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 63 Bureau of Boiler Inspection $15,650.00 Bureau of Fire 979,501.20 Bureau of Police 2,732,483.31 Department of Public Works — Director's Office 27,963.49 Bureau of City Ice Boats 22,900.00 Bureau of Highways 3,343,789.92 Bureau of Street Cleaning 903,033.00 Bureau of Lighting 287,690.00 Bureau of Surveys 5,014,008.36 Bureau of Water 2,519,425.00 Board of Port Wardens 20,208.40 Board of Eevision 147,255.00 Department of City Commissioners 921,054.50 Department of City Comptroller 60,249.52 Department of Law 155,490.00 Department of City Treasurer 4,416,867.43 Department of Clerks of Councils 140,237.95 Fairmount Park Commission 596,104.69 Reed Street Prison 87,172.25 Holmesburg Prison 84,307.43 Public Building Commission 1,011,194.43 Department of Receiver of Taxes 163,205.93 Department of Sinking Fund Commissioners 1,450.00 Department of Education 5,068,253.94 Nautical School of Pennsylvania 20,000.00 Department of Gas 5,921.54 Total $30,958,382.88 In the year 1897, $3,399,672.43 were appropriated to the Bureau of Gas; but in that year the city (through its Councils and the Mayor) leased the gas works to a private corporation, so that now the city has to maintain a department for inspection only. The population in 1800 was 70,287, the budget $68,485.92; the per capita expense, therefore, 97 cents. The population in 1899 was ap- proximately 1,115,000; the budget $30,958,382.88; the per capita ex- pense, $27.76. This great increase is due mainly to the fact that the city does more for the citizen than it did one hundred years ago, and is constantly doing more, and partly to the fact that a much larger ter- ritory is covered. In 1897 Philadelphia had 433 public schools, with 3,465 teach- ers; in 1800 there were none. In 1899 there were 2,191 policemen, commanded by 6 captains, 34 lieutenants, 196 sergeants, with 23 patrol wagons, and requiring an appropriation of $2,732,483.31; in 1800 there was a handful of constables, paid out of an appropriation of $18,000 'for lighting and watching the city', and another of $156 for 'patrolling streets on the Sabbath day\ In 1899 there were 46 fire engines, 32 combination wagons and chemical engines, 15 chemical engines, 13 64 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. hooks and ladders, 15 hose carts, manned by 736 firemen, including 1 chief, 8 assistant chiefs and 57 foremen, and the appropriation for the whole bureau amounted to $979,501.20: in 1800 the city was dependent on volunteer fire companies of limited usefulness. In 1899 the sum of $1,118,017.78 was appropriated for electric lighting and $279,930.00 for gasoline lighting, and 19,417 gas lamps were lighted by the gas company; in 1800, $18,000 sufficed for 'watching and lighting" the city. It is when we come to consider the activities of a bureau like the Electrical Bureau of Philadelphia, however, that we find the most amazing developments. I was about to say changes and advances, but there was nothing corresponding to it a century ago. Chief Walker, of the Electrical Bureau, in a recent report to the Director of Public Safety, summed up the situation in these words: "Among the many bureaus in the department over which you so ably exercise the directorship, there is none, perhaps, whose duties are so varied and which embraces a system so diversified in its branches and which is required to be so persistently active, as the Electrical Bureau. Correspondents from other cities frequently ask what duties are concentrated in, and what knowledge is necessary to an effectual supervision of the affairs of the Electrical Bureau. An enumeration of the various duties assigned includes, among others, the Police Tele- graph, the artery through which the orders and wishes of the officials of the executive branches of the municipality are transmitted, and the medium of communication for all municipal affairs requiring immediate attention; the Fire Signal System, over whose wires the signals are sent from localities threatened with the dangers of a conflagration; the Fire Alarm System, by means of which the signals received over the Fire Signal System are transmitted to those skilled and trained in the handling of the magnificent apparatus provided for the suppression of fire; the Fire Signal and Telephone System, a very efficient auxiliary to the Bureau of Fire, by means of which verbal communication is pos- sible between the Chief of the Bureau and his aids, and which at the same time serves as an additional means of transmitting alarms to the Bureau of Fire; the Police Signal and Telephone System, by means of which the officials of the Bureau of Police are in almost constant touch with the patrolmen while on their respective beats, and which has proved its value many times over; the Trunk Line, between the local and long distance telephone exchanges entering the City Hall, which are of necessity under control of this office, centering at a switchboard in the operating room, where the necessary connections are made by employees of this bureau; the Telephone Service between the police stations and their sub-stations, by means of which the officers in charge of the district are in constant communication with their subordinates. The armories of the National Guards and the officers of the various hospitals are in direct communication with and the services connecting them are super- vised and maintained by this bureau. What might be termed the general municipal telephone system, embracing the system of inter-communication in City Hall and con- MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 65 nections with all officers that are not yet installed therein, and all other municipal telephone connections are centered in and controlled by this bureau. All electric lights authorized by Councils are located and their erec- tion supervised by this bureau. Tests of electric lights so authorized and erected are made by us, and if not up to contract standard, deduc- tions are made from the contracting companies' bills. By ordinance of Councils, we are required to locate each and every pole for telegraph, telephone, electric light, trolley, or whatever elec- trical purpose, to issue a license for the same, for which, with the ex- ception of the trolley poles, a fee payable at the City Treasury is charged. No poles or wires can be erected within the city limits without a permit issued from this bureau, describing its location, if a pole, and its di- rection, if a wire. All conduits for municipal electrical purposes authorized by Coun- cils are laid by this bureau, as are cables necessary for the connection of the various municipal electrical services. All scientific electrical tests of cables are also made by this bureau. As a member of the Board of Highway Supervisors, the Chief of the Bureau is required to pass upon the location and position of all electrical constructions under and over the highways, and to approve of the ma- terials used and the methods employed in its installation and main- tenance. All minor details of electrical construction necessary to the needs of a municipality are formulated and carried forward to successful completion." Surely a wonderful work; unheard of, yes — I venture to say, un- thought of, in the mind of the most imaginative thinker a century ago! Search we never so carefully, we can find nothing in the budget or reports of 1800, or for those of many years later, which in anywise ap- proaches or approximates this work — for the simplest of reasons — that electricity had not as yet been harnessed to bring the distant near and to eliminate space. Fancy the constable of 1800 communicating every hour with his headquarters without leaving his beat; or having an alarm of fire sounded simultaneously in every section of the city, no matter how remote! Imagine the look of incredulity which would descend upon a citizen who was told that he could be placed in com- munication with a city official in less than a minute and without leaving his office! Our municipalities have grown and have developed along extensive lines to an unexpected degree, and the same factors that have been at work in our national development in the same direction have been at work in our municipal development, and the same observation will ap- ply— the next century's development in our cities will be along inten- sive lines. Already, we see the tide setting in this direction. Take, for instance, the growing demand for charter reform. During the ex- pansive period of a city, everything is sacrificed to size and numbers; the form and methods of government are considered as of secondary VOL. LVIII.— 5 66 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. importance. When this period is passed there comes a time when the necessity for a conscious adjustment of the form of government to the new conditions and environment becomes paramount; then follows the demand for a new charter; and charter amendments and charter con- ventions become the order of the day. Recognizing that we had reached this stage of our development, the National Municipal League, at its Louisville meeting, held in 1897, adopted the following resolution : "Resolved, That the Executive Committee appoint a committee of ten to report on the feasibility of a municipal program, which will em- body the essential principles that must underlie successful municipal government, and which shall also set forth a working plan or system, consistent with American industrial and political conditions, for putting such principles into practical operation; and such committee, if it finds such municipal program to be feasible, is instructed to report the same, with the reasons therefor, to the League for consideration." The committee thus authorized presented its preliminary report at the Indianapolis Conference for Good City Government in 1898, and its final report to the Columbus Conference in 1899. While it is fully aware that its "recommendations do not constitute the last word on the subject, nevertheless the fact that a body of men of widely divergent training, of strong personal convictions, and who approached the matter in hand from essentially different points of view, could and did come to unanimous agreement that a 'Municipal Program' was feasible and practicable, and by fair and full comparison of opinion were able to embody the result of their agreement in definite propositions, is a hopeful augury." This committee realized that "good government is not to be achieved at a stroke, nor do we exaggerate the importance of the form of governmental organization as a factor contributory to this end. Civic advance in general, and municipal efficiency in par- ticular, are the result of a combination of forces, of which higher stand- ards of public opinion and lofty civic ideals are the most important." Another sign of the times is the formation of organizations like the League of American Municipalities, the State Leagues of Muni- cipalities, the American Society of Municipal Improvements, the Na- tional Association of Municipal Electricians, the various societies of fire and police and other municipal officials. These indicate that those who are actually and directly responsible for the administration of municipal government are awakening to their responsibilities, to the need of conference to advance the interests committed to their care. The time was, and that not very far distant, when the principal rivalry between cities was confined to population figures and extent of territory. Now a healthful and auspicious competition based on efficiency is MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. 67 springing up, and such societies and organizations as those to which I have referred foster and encourage this tendency. We have only to examine the program of conventions such as that held under the auspices of these societies to be convinced of the earnest- ness and sincerity of purpose of their sponsors. Hard practical ques- tions of municipal administration are to the front. The men come together to exchange views and ideas as to how to conduct certain lines of municipal business — not to listen to useless, though perhaps grace- ful, oratory and senseless bombast and adulation. Some may decry con- ventions; but certainly not such as serve so useful a purpose as those conducted under the associations already mentioned. They are a sign of the times — a most auspicious sign of the times. Do you read any- where a century ago that the mayors or aldermen or constables of that time came together to confer about municipal affairs? We may not hear of them a century hence, because they may have performed their function and gone the way of other good and useful means to an end; but at this time they indicate the change taking place in our develop- ment; the change in emphasis. I do not propose to indulge in prophecy. I am not so gifted with foresight as to be able to peer into the future and read its message. I can only express a personal opinion as to the possible result of present tendencies, based upon a study of present and past developments. I have already indicated what I believe will be the greatest change, that from extensive to intensive growth and development, and with this will come a great amelioration of many of the present-day evils. The instinct for territorial expansion gratified, the various world powers and their possessions will tend more and more to assume a con- dition of permanent equilibrium. Great armaments and vast armies will become less and less necessary. Economic causes plus political necessity plus moral growth will gradually result in the substitution of mediation, arbitration and conciliation for warfare and bloodshed. Al- ready the beginning of this substitution is at hand. We have the Argentine-Italian treaty providing for the submission of practically every difficulty to arbitration; similar treaties under consideration; and the Delagoa Bay arbitration has just been completed. The accomplishment of these ends will result in a transfer of political energy and ability. Constructive statesmanship, liberated from considerations of expansion and colonization, will be free to devote itself to the great questions of internal improvement. Our muni- cipalities will correspondingly benefit and will have at their command that genius and that ability which seem to be a chief characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race, but which hitherto have been absorbed by national and international activities. Civil service reform, which lies at the very foundation of efficient 68 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. government, will become an accomplished fact from the very necessity of things. A century ago there was no need for it, because the number of offices was so small and the interests involved practically so limited. A century hence the number of offices will be so great and the interests so vast, that it will be an impossibility to administer them upon any other basis. Public opinion on fundamental political questions changes slowly; but already we see evidences that there is a growing resentment to the use of public office to pay political debts. The business instinct of the people is slowly but surely asserting itself to the same end. There is a growing appreciation of the fact that an electrical bureau or an engineering bureau or a survey bureau cannot be successfully and efficiently conducted on a spoils basis. No one doubts or denies that municipal reform is to-day a great and pressing problem, constantly attracting more and more attention and bidding fair, in the course of advancing years, to become a domi- nating one. When we have accomplished what we are now striving for — civil service reform, the elimination of State and national politics from the consideration of municipal affairs, the conduct of the latter upon enlightened principles, the extension of educational facilities, municipal reform will choose other objects for its end; otherwise, America would not be true to its Anglo-Saxon heritage. One reform achieved, then the Anglo-Saxon presses forward to another. He would not be true to his instinct if he did not. We may not, and I for one believe we shall not, be discussing civil service reform, ballot reform, municipal ownership, a century hence; nor will a National Municipal League perhaps be needed to preach the doctrine of an aroused civic consciousness. These will be accomplished facts, if we may judge of the future by the past and present — but none of these things will come to pass unless every one who now feels the obligations of his political duties is true to the best that is within him. The secret of the greatness of America and England in the civilization of the world is that there has always been a sufficient number of men to respond when a Nelson eaid, 'England expects every man to do his duty.' Whenever that day passes, then the greatness of the Anglo-Saxon race shall have departed. CHINA. 69 CHINA.* By WILLIAM BARCLAY PARSONS. EVEE since the days when Marco Polo brought back to Europe the seeming fairy tales of the wonderland of the Far East, the coun- try to which we have applied the name of China has been a field more and more attractive for commercial conquest. At the close of the nineteenth century, when the ever-rising tide of industrial development has succeeded in sweeping over Europe, America, the better portion of Africa, of Western Asia and India, it is the Chinese Wall alone that resists its waves. The movement, however, is irresistible, and not even the exclusiveness of the Chinese and their extreme disinclination to change their ways will be a sufficient protec- tion against it; the recent so-called 'Boxer5 outbreak will probably prove to be the death knell to Chinese resistance. Whatever may be the out- come of this outbreak, in so far as it affects the government, or the political integrity of the country, it can be predicated in safety that the commercial and industrial life of China will be revolutionized, and the beginning of the twentieth century will be found to mark the dawning of a new era. The present moment when we are about to pass from the old into the new state of things is a fitting time to survey the field of industrial enter- prise by examining into what has been done and to ascertain the sort of foundation that has been prepared, on which the Chinese people, aided at first by foreigners, will eventually of themselves erect their own in- dustrial structure. In the consideration of this very interesting land there seems to be a surprise at every turn, and one of the most peculiar is that we are met at the outset by the curious circumstance that it is a country without a name. The Chinese themselves have no fixed designation for their country, using as a general thing either the 'Middle Kingdom,' or the 'Celestial Kingdom,' or the 'Great Pure Kingdom.' The interpretation of the first is that the people consider China to be the center of the world, all the other countries surrounding and being tributary to it; although the term probably originated when what is now the Province of Ho-nan was the central kingdom of several other kingdoms which went to make up a united country. The name 'Celestial Kingdom' is a piece of self -flattery, the Chinese Emperor being called in like manner *Thia article will form part of a book entitled "An American Engineer in China," to be published shortly by Messrs. McClure, Phillips & Co. 70 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. the 'Son of Heaven;' while the last name, that of the 'Great Pure King- dom,' follows the designation of the present ruling house, which styles itself the 'Pure Dynasty,' in contradistinction to the preceeding dynasty which it overthrew, and which was called the Ming or 'Bright Dynasty.' The foreigner's appellation of China is of uncertain origin, hut it is sup- posed to mean the land of Chin or Tsin, a family that ruled about 250 B. c, and even this name is used indiscriminately as covering two areas very different in size. When we use the word China it may mean the Chinese Empire proper, the empire of the eighteen provinces; or it may mean the eighteen provinces and the dependencies of Manchuria, Mongolia and Tibet, whose bond of attachment to the empire, in strength, is in the above order. The eighteen provinces comprise in area about 1,500,000 square miles, or an area about equal to that por- tion of the United States lying east of Colorado. The shape of the empire proper is substantially rectangular, extending from the latitude of 42° north, which is about that of New York, to 18° north, or the lati- tude of Vera Cruz. When the dependencies are included under the title of China the northern boundary is carried to the forty-eighth parallel, or 6ay the latitude of New Foundland, and the whole has an area of over 4,000,000 square miles, a greater surface than that of Europe, or of the United States and Alaska combined. This great area is reputed to sup- port a population of upwards of 400,000,000; figures, however, which I will later point out to be, in my belief, a gross exaggeration, but the balance, even after the most conservative reductions, will still easily be the greatest single contiguous conglomeration of people under one ruler. Racially speaking, they are a conglomeration. Who the Chinese were originally is not known. It is generally believed that they came from Western or Central Asia, and, conquering the scattering nomadic tribes inhabiting what is now China, seized their country. In the dependencies and Chinese proper we find distinctly different peoples, with their individual customs; while scattered about the empire proper are settlements of strange tribes, whose origin is absolutely un- known but who are believed to be relics of the aboriginal inhabitants. Lack of intercommunication has allowed the language of the Chinese to become locally varied, and to such an extent, that although the written characters are the same, the spoken dialect of the North and South are so different as to be mutually unintelligible. There are said to be in the empire proper eight dialects, each again being many times subdivided by local colloquialisms. Of these dialects the most im- portant is the so-called Mandarin or Pekingese, the dialect of the North and the official language of the country, for it is the one which all gov- ernment officials are required to learn and use. It therefore holds the position in respect to other dialects that the French formerly held in Europe as the Court tongue, or language of diplomacy and officialism. CHINA. 7i Historically, China enjoys the distinction of being the oldest con- tinuing nation in the world. Fairly authentic records trace back the course of events to about 3,000 years b. c, so that it rightly claims an existence of at least 5,000 years. Previous to this period there is a vast amount of legendary matter in which probability and fiction have not yet been separated. China's own historians, with characteristic conceit, make out their country's history to be contemporaneous with time. Owing to her seclusion and isolation from the affairs of other nations, China's history possesses a local rather than a world's interest, and for the most part is a record of the rise and fall of the several tribes or peoples going to make up the nation, each such change establishing a new dynasty. However, there are certain epochs of general interest and certain salient points in the nation's development and growth that should be understood and kept in mind if any study of China or of things Chinese is undertaken. Accepted Chinese chronology begins with the reign of Fuh-hi in the year 2852 b. c. As to the significance of that date it is interesting to note that it is four hundred years before the rise of the Egyptian monarchy, five hundred years before that of Babylon and precedes the reputed time of Abraham by a period almost as long as the whole record of English history, from the conquest to the present time. In the Chau Dynasty, which lasted from b. c. 1122 to b. c. 249, we find the great period in Chinese literature, an era comparable with that of Elizabeth in our records. In 550 b. c. Confucius was born, whose philosophical reasonings, owing to the long time he antedated the spread of Christianity and Mohammedanism, have affected the thought of more human beings than the writings or sayings of any other man, with the possible exception of Buddha. Although Confucius is the central figure of the epoch, there are at least two other men substantially contemporaneous with him, and who are but only a little less prominent, Liao-tze, who preceded him fifty years, and Mencius, who followed him one hundred years. The former was a religious philosopher, on whose writings there has been founded the doctrine of Taoism. This philosophy is based on Eeason (Tao) and Virtue (Teh), and is of interest in that it leans towards an eternal mono- theism. According to his theory the visible forms of the highest Teh can only proceed from Tao, and Tao, he says, is impalpable, indefinite. Taoism, therefore, contemplates the indefinite, the eternal and a pre- existent something which Liao-tze likens to the 'Mother of all things/ or what we call a creator. In Chinese literature there are the nine classics, the five greater and the four lesser books. The former are Yih-King, the Book of Changes; Shu-King, Historical Documents; Shi-King, the Book of Odes; Li-Ki, the Book of Rites, and Chun-Tsin, a continuation of the Shu-King. Of 72 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. the above, the second, third and fourth, although long antedating Con- fucius, were edited by him, while the fifth is from his pen. The four lesser classics are Ta-Hioh, Great Learning; Chung- Yung, the Just Medium; the Analects of Confucius; and the writings of Mencius. The last is the great production of Mencius, while the first three are a digest of the moralizings of Confucius as gathered by his disciples. On these nine books are founded Chinese philosophy, morals, thought, religion, education, ethics and even etiquette. The spirit of the matter in the classics is essentially lofty, moral and good. In China, learning transcends all else in importance, and as Con- fucius is considered as the fountain head of literature and learning, so he has become to be regarded as Europeans in the Middle Ages regarded saints, and temples to his honor are found in all large cities. The most important is the beautiful example of Chinese architecture in Peking, where the Emperor annually worships before his tablet. In spite of this apparent adoration, Confucius is not regarded by the Chinese as a god, but is clearly understood by them to have been a man, a philosopher and the embodiment of wisdom, and is revered as such. He was not the founder of a religion, nor was he a religious writer, although his senti- ments have become woven in the complicated fabric of Chinese faith. The name by which foreigners know him is a latinized corruption of Kung-tze, the Master Kung, the last being his family name, as Mencius is a similar corruption of Mang-tze, the Master Mang. Following the Chau dynasty comes that of Tsin, which was noted for supplying the foreign appellation of the country and for the great works, both good and bad, of its name-giving Emperor. It was he who united the varieus peoples of Eastern Asia under one sway; laid the foundation for at least internal commerce by beginning the construction of the Chinese system of canals, started the construction of the Great Wall and succeeded in raising his country to a point of material greatness not be- fore reached. Then, with a view to make all records begin with him, he ordered burned all books and writings of every description, includ- ing those of Confucius and the other philosophers. Fortunately, in spite of an energetic attempt, this sacrilegious act was not completely consummated. From this period to the Tang dynasty in 618 a. d. the history of this country is a succession of different reigning houses, internal wars, rebel- lions, more or less successful, and during which the capital was fre- quently moved, part of the time being located at Nan-king on the Yang-tze, which many of the Chinese of to-day regard as the proper site. The great single event of this long stretch of years, and practically the only one of foreign interest, was the introduction of Buddhism at the close of the first century a. d. The Emperor Ming-ti sent an embassy to the West to bring back the CHINA. 7i teachings of the foreign god, rumors of whose fame had already reached the Pacific shore. It has since been supposed by some that this meant tidings of Christ; but the basis for such an inference is doubtful. At any rate the embassy found its way to India and returned thence with the doctrines of Buddhism, which at once became the established re- ligion of the country, spreading over the whole of China and eventually Japan. It makes an interesting speculation to consider what the effect on the world would have been if the embassy had taken a more north- ern route, bringing it to Palestine instead of to India. The Tang dynasty a. d. 618 to 908 marks perhaps the zenith of Chinese development, when, there is no doubt, its civilization and culti- vation outshone those of Europe at the same period. Literature flour- ished; trade was nurtured, the banking system developed, laws were codified and the limits of the empire were extended even to Persia and the Caspian Sea. The art of printing was discovered, certainly in block form and probably by movable type. The fame of China reached India and Europe, whence embassies were despatched bearing salutations and presents. Monks of the Nestorian order were received by the Em- peror Tai-tsung, who gave permission for them to erect churches, and thus was Christianity first publicly acknowledged in China. Although the efforts of the Nestorian monks continued for many years from perhaps as early as 500 a. d. to 845, yet they were without permanent results, as they left no monuments behind them, and the practice of Christianity was suspended for some centuries. In 1213 a. D. the Chinese for the first time passed under a foreign rule, when Genghis Khan, the great Mongol, crossed the wall and began to lay waste the country. When he had captured Peking and estab- lished a Mongol dynasty, he turned his attention to further conquests, and in 1219 led a force westward. With it he overran Northern India, Asia Minor, and even entered Europe in Southern Eussia. He then withdrew to Peking, having established the largest empire in the world's history. Under his degenerate successors this vast power dwindled, the only permanent result being found in Europe; for the presence of the Turks on that continent is due to the invasion of Genghis, as he drove them before him out of their own Asiatic country. The last purely Chinese dynasty was the Ming (Bright) which occu- pied the throne from 1368 to its overthrow by the Manchus in 1644. The capital of this house was originally at Nan-king, but was moved by the great Emperor Yung-loh to Pekin in 1403, where he constructed the famous Ming Tombs forty miles northwest of the city, where he and his successors of Ming lie buried in solitary grandeur. He also es- tablished the laws under which China is governed to-day, and under him the seeds of Christianity were permanently planted in China in 1582 by the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci. About two hundred and 74 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. fifty years before a temporary foothold had been gained by the same order. The first effort lasted, however, for but seventy-five years, and then, like the Nestorian movement, quietly died without practical re- sults. It was also during this dynasty that the first foreign settlement was made on Chinese soil, in the Portuguese port of Macao in 1557. In the seventeenth century the northern tribes set up a rebellion. Gaining adherents to their cause they captured Peking in 1644, swept away Chinese rule and established a Manchu dynasty, to which they gave the name of 'Ta Tsing* or the 'Great Pure/ The principal effects of this change were to establish the northern races in control of the government and to stamp upon the whole people their most striking outward distinguishing mark in the queue, which was a distinctly Manchu custom, the Chinese having cut their hair like Western people. On their establishment the Manchu rulers ordered all people to wear the queue as a token of subjugation which the Chinese natives still do, although the Tibetans and Mongols continue to cut their hair as of old. Manchus and Chinese can be readily recognized by their names. Thus one of Manchu descent has but a double name, like Tung-lu, while a Chinese has three characters as, Li Hung-chang. The government of China is an absolute imperialism, with powers vested in an Emperor, whose position is well indicated by his most used title, the 'Son of Heaven.' He is assisted by two councils under whom are the seven boards of: Civil Service, Revenue, Rites, War, Punish- ment, Works and Navy, who severally attend to the administration of affairs in their respective departments. Then there is the Tsung-Li- Yamen, or foreign office; a bureau composed of twelve ministers, with and through whom all relations with other nations and foreigners gen- erally are conducted. The communication between the Imperial authority and the people is through the local governments of the provinces. These provinces in their organization closely resemble an American State, varying in size from Che-kiang, the smallest, within an area of 35,000 square miles, to Sz-chuen, the largest, embracing 170,000 square miles. These are re- spectively comparable with the States of Indiana (36,350 square miles) and California (156,000 square miles). Each province is ruled by a gov- ernor appointed by the throne, and he exercises his authority through a chain of officialism. The province is divided into circuits, each circuit being controlled by an intendant of circuit or taotai. In addition to the regular taotais, there are special ones appointed to look after the large treaty ports, like Shanghai. Such taotais have immense powers and the positions are much sought after. The circuits or 'Fu' are usually again subdivided into two or more 'Chau' or prefectures under a prefect, and each perfecture into Hsiens or districts, under a magistrate. Cities where such officials dwell are usually indicated by adding 'Fu/ CHINA. 75 'Chau' or 'Hsien' to their names. The Hsien magistrates are the men who come in direct contact with the people. The Governor in turn reports to an officer properly styled a Governor-General, but whose title foreign nations have translated as Viceroy, each of whom usually con- trols two provinces. These Viceroys form the real government of the country. Their powers are absolute. It is to them, armed with judg- ment of life and death, that the people look for justice and protection, and to them, also, the throne itself looks for support. Each Viceroy maintains his own army, in some instance a portion of which has been foreign drilled, which army he has a right to decide whether he will use for national purposes or not. Of the existing college of Viceroys, there are three who have brought themselves by their acts, abilities and force of character to the forefront, and who are known as the three great Viceroys. These men are Li Hung-chang, formerly Viceroy of Pe-chi-li, but now of Canton, ruling the provinces of Kwang-tung and Kwang-si, and so usually referred to as the Viceroy of the two Kwang; Chang Chi-tung, the Viceroy of Wu-chang, in like manner called the Viceroy of the two Hu, as his dominion covers the provinces of Hu-peh and Hu-nan, and Liu Kun-yi, the Viceroy of Nan-king, ruling the provinces of Kiang-su and Ngan- whui. Li Hung-chang, whose reputation is international, needs no intro- duction. The other two, while, perhaps not so well known, are in China of scarcely less importance, especially as they have a personal hold on their people that is not equaled by any other official. They are not rich, which is almost the same as saying that they are honest, and, although they are decidedly pro-foreign in their views, nevertheless they are at the same time imbued with a strong and earnest desire to ameliorate the condition of their charges and, therefore, are honored and respected by their people. To accomplish this end they do not hesitate to avail themselves of occidental ideas or means if therein they see a possibility of benefit. When the Empress Dowager in 1898 executed her coup d'etat and notified the Viceroys of what she had done, Chang Chi-tung and Liu Kun-yi were the only ones who had courage to express their disapproval. In consequence there is little doubt that she would have removed or beheaded them if she had dared to brave the outcry of the people of the four provinces, which would certainly have followed. In any reorgani- zation of China these three men will play an important part in which the influence of Chang Chi-tung and Liu Kun-yi will certainly be of weight as they enjoy the esteem and confidence of both foreigner and native. In the appointing of all officials there is one rule that is curiously indicative of Chinese reasoning and methods. No official is allowed to 76 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. serve in a district in which he was born. The reason for this is that, being a stranger, without local prejudice or interest, it is believed that he will administer justice quite impartially. Unfortunately, human nature being the same in China as elsewhere, the official, on account of his lack of local prejudice, administers justice in such a manner as will best promote his own interests and secure his advancement. Topographically considered, China lies on the eastern flank of the great Central Asian plateau and, therefore, its main drainage lines lie east and west. There are three great valleys: that of the Yellow, in the north; Yang-tze in the center; and the Si (or West), in the south. The Yellow Eiver, or Hoang-ho, or as it is frequently called, on account of its erratic and devastating floods, 'China's Sorrow,' is a stream very much resembling the Mississippi, carrying a great amount of alluvium, which it deposits at various places, forming bars and shoals. In order to protect the shores from inundations, the Chinese for many years have been building dykes with the result of gradually raising the bot- tom of the river through the deposition of alluvium. There are now many places where the bottom of the stream is actually higher than the normal banks. Under such circumstances the breaking of a dyke means untold destruction, with possible permanent change of bed. The loca- tion of its mouth shows the character of this great river. Eighty years ago it flowed into the Yellow Sea, south of the Shang-tung Peninsula. To-day it enters the Gulf of Pe-chi-li two hundred and fifty miles in a direct line northwest of its previous location, or about six hundred miles, when measured around the coast line. The Yang-tze, on the other hand, rightly merits its name of 'China's Glory.' This noble stream, whose length is about 3,500 miles, of which 1,100 miles are navigable by steam vessels, divides the country, approximately equally north and south. Its drainage area covers more than one-half of the empire, the richest and most valuable portion. This stream, like the Hoang-ho, carries a large amount of alluvial matter, but it is much more orderly and well regulated. Practically at its mouth, the gateway to Central China, although actually on a small tributary called the Wang-Poo, is Shanghai. The West River, or Si-Kiang, drains the southern and southwestern section of the er ,ire, flowing into the sea at Canton, where with the Pei (North) and Pearl rivers it forms the broad estuary known as the Canton River. In agricultural possibilities and mineral wealth China is particularly fortunate. On account of its great dimensions north and south it en- joys all varieties of climate from the tropical to the temperate, and in consequence possesses the ability to raise almost any crop. The great bottom lands of the Yang-tze, Hoang and other rivers, which are sub- ject to annual overflow, are thus by nature enriched and automatically fertilized as are the bottom lands along the Mississippi and other allu- CHINA. yy vium-bearing streams. In addition to the ordinary advantages of soil and variety of climate to which such a large expanse is naturally en- titled, China enjoys one special favor in the singular deposit known as Loess. The country lying north from the Yang-tze to the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, part of which area has been made by the alluvial deposits of the Yang- tze and Yellow rivers, is known as the Great Plain. Of this territory there is a considerable section in the provinces of Shen-si, Shan-si and Shan-tung, which is known as the Loess formation. This particular soil is yellow in appearance, resembling alluvial material, but on exami- nation is found to consist of a network of minute capillary tubes. The best theory for its deposit is that it is the fine dust of dried vegetable matter carried down by the winds from the northwest plains and dropped where found. The fine tubes are accounted for by believing them to be the spaces occupied by the roots of grasses, as the latter have been continually raising themselves to keep on the consequently rising surface. The Loess soil is of great and unknown thickness, of extraor- dinary fertility and with great capacity for withstanding droughts, as the tubes by their capillary action serve to bring up moisture from the ground water below. This part of the Great Plain has been supplying crops for many centuries without fertilizing and supports the densest part of the Chinese population. In minerals, China is particularly rich. Of the precious metals, gold and silver are known to exist, and probably in paying quantities, while of the less valuable metals, copper, lead, antimony and others have been found, and but await the introduction of proper transportation methods to be developed. Petroleum occurs in Sz-chuen, the extreme western province lying next to Tibet. But China's greatest mineral wealth lies in iron and coal. The great fields of the latter are in Pe-chi-li, Shen-si, Shan-si, Sz-chuen, Kiang-si and Hu-nan, where all varieties from soft bituminous to very hard anthracites are found. Of the former there are coals, both coking and non-coking, fit for steel-making or steam uses, while of the latter there are those adapted for domestic use, with suffi- cient volatile matter to ignite easily, and others sufficiently hard to bear the burden in a blast furnace and sufficiently low in phosphorus, sulphur and volatile substances to render them available for the manufacture of Bessemer pig, as is done in Pennsylvania. Chinese houses are usually without chimneys, and, therefore, the native is compelled to use for domestic purposes an anthracite, or, as he calls it, a non-smoking coal, which he burns in an open fireplace, the products of combustion escap- ing through the doors, unglazed windows or the many leaks which are usually found in Chinese roofs. In opposing the introduction of occidental reforms, methods and commercial relations, China has invited, if not actually obliged, the 78 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. forming of bases by other nations from which to push their trade. Chinese soil is now heid, through some excuse and under various con- ditions, by Portugal, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia and Japan. In addition to this Italy has made an unsuccessful attempt to secure a foothold at San Mun Bay. The Portugese possession is Macao, situated on the western side of the mouth of the Canton Eiver, a charming settlement covering the city and a few square miles of territory separated from the main land by a narrow neck. It is a delightful little piece of southern European re- finement in an Oriental setting, and perhaps the only point on the coast to which the word charming can be rightly applied. It was the first foreign settlement in China, being ceded to Portugal in 1557 in return for services in putting down pirates. On account of the shallowness of the harbor, the importance of Macao as a trading point or military base is very small. The British possessions are Hong Kong, Kow-loon and Wei-hai-wei. As a result of the Opium War of 1841, the island of Hong Kong, whose greatest dimension is but nine miles, and wholly mountainous, located at the eastern side of the Canton estuary, directly opposite to Macao, but distant therefrom about forty miles, was given over by China as a part of the indemnity. In 1860 there was added the shore of the main land, called Kow-loon, across the roadstead whose width is rather more than a mile, in order to complete the harbor. On this island the English have established a colony, built the city of Victoria, and through the mag- nificent land-locked harbor, have developed a trading point, whose com- merce ranks with that of the world's greatest ports. There are no cus- toms dues, no restricting conditions — all nations and nationalities have an equal footing, so that Hong Kong has become the great entrepot or warehouse for nearly the whole of the Orient, and absolutely so for Southern China, whose gateway it controls. A year's record shows that over 11,000 vessels enter and clear, not including upwards of 70,000 junks. Thus have the English converted an apparently useless island into a most valuable possession for themselves and a great stepping- stone for the world's commerce. The next country to establish a foothold on Chinese soil was France, who acquired from Annam, by war and treaty, between the years 1860 and 1874, part of the province of Tong-king. In 1882 further trouble arising between France and Annam, the latter appealed to her pro- tector, China, and war ensued. The result was the permanent occupa- tion of the whole of Tong-king and the placing of the French frontier next to that of China. At the conclusion of the Japanese war, the island of Formosa was permanently ceded by China and an arrangement made for the tempo- rary occupation of Port Arthur. Then Russia interfered, insisted on CHINA. 79 the withdrawal of the Japanese troops from the North, and, as her price for aiding China, secured a lease for twenty-five years of the Liao-tung Peninsula, covering eight hundred square miles, including the harbors of Port Arthur and Talien-wan, and so, practically obtained the control of Chinese Manchuria. In 1897 two German missionaries having been killed, the German Emperor demanded as compensation a share of Chinese soil, which was granted through a 'lease' of Kiao-Chau Bay for ninety-nine years. The following abbreviated quotations indicate the tenor of these curious arrangements: "I. His Majesty the Emperor of China, being desirous of preserving the existing good relations with His Majesty the Emperor of Germany and promoting an increase of German power and influence in the Far East, sanctions the acquirement under lease by Germany of the land ex- tending for one hundred li at high tide. "Germany may engage in works for the public benefit, such as water- works, within the territory covered by the lease, without reference to China. Should China wish to march troops or establish garrisons therein she can only do so after negotiating with and obtaining the express permission of Germany. "II. His Majesty the Emperor of Germany being desirous, like the rulers of certain other countries, of establishing a naval and coaling station and constructing dockyards on the coast of China, the Emperor of China agrees to lease to him for the purpose all the land on the south- ern and northern sides of Kiao-Chu Bay for a term of ninety-nine years. Germany is to be at liberty to erect forts on this land for the defense of her possessions therein. "III. During the continuance of the lease China shall have no voice in the government or administration of the leased territory. It will be governed and administered during the whole term of ninety-nine years solely by Germany, so that the possibility of friction between the two powers may be reduced to the smallest magnitude. "If at any time the Chinese should form schemes for the develop- ment of Shan-tung, for the execution of which it is necessary to obtain foreign capital, the Chinese government, or whatever Chinese may be interested in such schemes, shall, in the first instance, apply to German capitalists. Application shall also be made to German manufacturers for the necessary machinery and materials before the manufacturers of any other power are approached. Should German capitalists or manu- facturers decline to take up the business, the Chinese shall then be at liberty to obtain money and materials from other nations." While the area actually covered by the lease is small, the shore line being but one hundred li (thirty-three miles), nevertheless the Germans have thrown a sphere claim over the whole province of Shan-tung, an 80 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. area as large as New England, based on the special commercial conces- sion, as above quoted. The strongholds of Kiao-Chau and Port Arthur, for the Germans and Eussians immediately set about fortifying them, so threatened the balance of power in the North, that the British government in 1898, de- manding something to offset them, secured the harbor of Wei-hai-wei, directly opposite Port Arthur and with it marking the entrance to the Gulf of Pe-chi-li. This territory is to be held as long as the Eussians hold Port Arthur. At the same time Great Britain extended the limits of the Kow-loon possession by two hundred square miles, so as to abso- lutely protect the harbor of Hong Kong, and secured from the Chinese government a promise that no territory in the Yang-tze Valley should be alienated to any other power, thus obtaining a so-called sphere of influence over the richest half of the empire. France, not wishing to see her commercial rivals outdo her, demanded, as her share of the plunder, the harbor and port of Kiang-chau-wau near her province of Tong-king and secured a lease of the same for ninety-nine years. Thus has the Chinese government given away its patrimony. In addition to the above possessions of territory actually held under the domination of their respective governments, there are at the various treaty ports the so-called foreign concessions, which have been given by the Chinese government to the temporary care of the people of other nationalities, permitting them to establish a police force, courts of jus- tice, fire protective service, to collect taxes for local use, and otherwise to maintain local governments according to foreign regulations and prac- tically without interference by the Chinese government. Such conces- sions remain, in name, at least, Chinese territory. The largest and most important of them is Shanghai, where grants were made some years ago to the English, American and French. The first two have been com- bined into the Shanghai municipality, under a system of popular gov- ernment with annual elections, where the rate-payers are voters and which in all functions closely resembles an independent republic. The theory that all nations are on an equal footing within the limits of the municipality is carried out to such an extreme that not only does the Chinese government maintain a post-office, but so also do all other countries whose citizens operate lines of mail steamers to and from the port. There are thus to be found, in addition to the Chinese post-office, regular establishments of the United States, Great Britain, Germany and Japan, while France has hers in the French concession, at all of which the stamps of the several countries are for sale. Such in a few words is the political and physical status of that nation and that country on which the attention of the civilized world is focused, and whose development and regeneration will probably be the leading feature of the early years of the new century. RESCUE WORE IN HISTORY. 81 EESCUE WORK IN HISTOEY. By President DAVID STARR JORDAN, LELAND STANFORD, JK., UNIVERSITY. AT the November meeting of the Astral Camera Club, Mr. Asa ■ Marvin presiding, Prof. Abram Gridley, the learned master of the Alcalde Union High School, spoke on the unique topic of his pro- posed 'Rescue Work in History/ He began with the bold declaration that the two great discoveries, twin triumphs of the human mind, which will make this age memo- rable, were these, the Banishment of Space and the Annihilation of Time. He proposed to illustrate the results of these discoveries and to show how they could be turned to the advantage of mankind by means of an esoteric foray through the echoing aisles of the past. "It has been shown by the great Dr. Hickok," said Professor Grid- ley, "that matter is but a portion of space rilled with a modicum of 'force, which is actively engaged in holding itself still.' When this activity becomes passive, matter is no more. Thus as matter has no real existence, space, which is its matrix, is banished also from the category of realities. "Even more remarkable is the discovery of the famous Dr. Hensoldt that time could be literally 'rolled away as a scroll,' and therefore prac- tically annihilated. This fact is stated in these memorable words: 'We count our time by the rotations of our planet. If you were to go close to the north pole and then travel around it in a westerly direction you could walk back all the lost days of your childhood. And if you are moderately swift-footed you might run around that pole until you caught the earth where it was when Julius Cassar first landed in Britain or when the pyramids were built." "Only this year," continued the learned schoolmaster, "has the practical significance of all this been brought to light." Referring to the phenomena of thought-transference, our friend and guide, the ven- erable sage of Angels, spoke before us these words: " 'All manner of sensations,' Mr. Dean has told us, 'may be trans- mitted, and these over any distance or through any time. It is as easy, for example, for me as an adept to speak to Marcus Brutus as for me to speak to the Lama of Thibet, and equally easy for Plato or Ptolemy to speak to me. Through this power I may yet dissuade Brutus from his awful deed or save Caesar from that ambition through which fall the VOL. LVIII. — 6 82 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. emperors and the angels. In history nothing is too late and the great tangled fabric of the past is ever open to reconstruction.' "With all this knowledge gained," said Professor Gridley, "the work of these adepts should not lapse for want of initiates bold enough to act." He proposed that the Astral Club add to its purposes that of serious effort in the direction formerly occupied by space and time. His thought was nothing less than the perfection of the human race through the correction of history. This could be best accomplished by collective personal influence on the lives of great men. The value of such influence all teachers must admit. That it is not too late is now a certain fact, and to work in unison is to do the best work. Mr. Dean had already devoted many esoteric and soulful hours to this labor, but he had used only the method of telepathy, subtle enough in its action, but not powerful enough for large results. Because it is dependent on etheric vibrations and electric inductions, it is practically ineffective except in settled weather. The turbulent atmosphere of the Middle Ages renders settled communication difficult if one tries to go back far enough for his influence to be worth while. It is also much better to use personal presence than any form of esoteric induction, if the former is possible. If you wish a thing to be well done, the great Franklin assures us, you must do it yourself, and few of us moderns could speak with higher authority on electrics and etherics than he. The mere extension of a personal aura backward through history, Mr. Dean has privately ad- mitted, fails of the highest results, and nothing short of the best can be satisfactory to the initiates of Alcalde. Still less can we count on projecting such an aura into the future. The forms of men and nations of future centuries are now in Devachan, in the subastral or plasto- nebulose state. A human aura can have little definite influence upon them, especially because, not knowing what influence should be exerted, the sensator would work in utter astral darkness which could yield no tangible result. It is evident that this great work needs the personal presence. How to produce this Dr. Hensoldt's discovery clearly indicates. If we go around the earth from west to east, as the sun seems to go, we have added one whole day for each revolution. If we go to the high north, the circles grow shorter, and barring certain difficulties in trans- portation, it is easier to go around. If we ascend to the very pole, which by the aid of the non-friable astral body is not so very difficult to adepts, we find a circle of revolution only a few feet in circumference. "Let us suppose," continued Professor Gridley, "that we have ar- rived at the north pole on the first day of August. A single circuit around it to the eastward and we reach the second of August. A dozen circuits and we have August the fourteenth. With the aid of the RESCUE WORK IN HISTORY. 83 mechanical skill now so easily acquired it will be easy to prepare an electric turn-table by which these revolutions can be accomplished. This can be set in rotation by the electric force of the Northern Lights. Seated upon its edge and whirled eastward for a dozen minutes, one would find himself, perhaps, in the midst of the twenty-sixth century. Then turning southward to the abodes of men, the adept would be received with the greatest eagerness. To these far-off people, 'the latest progeny of time,' he would appear as a Mahatma wise to overflowing with the lore of bygone centuries. It is even possible that such an in- vention was already in the hands of the ancient Mahatmas. Of such origin beyond a doubt were the sages or Old Men of the Mountains, who from time to time in the past have appeared in the cities of men, filled with forgotten information and equipped with magic power. Such a one of a surety was Trismegistos, three times greatest, and such was Peter the Hermit and Gautama. In the light of our present knowledge, the appearance of Van Winkle at the town of Falling Waters should be carefully reinvestigated. The explanation currently given is far from conclusive, and the little men of the Catskills were probably of an astral nature and not contemporaneous with the ignorant villagers who scoffed at their existence. "But far more important than any result from the projection of the personal presence into the future are those derived from its retro- jection into the scenes of the past. For this purpose the machinery of the turn-table should be attuned to the greatest possible accuracy. Its movement must be as perfect as that of the finest chronometer. A whirl or two too much or too little might leave the personal presence stranded in an age on which its influence would be wasted. For in- stance, the attempt to rescue Caesar from his ambitions or Brutus from his crime would be futile if attempted before Caesar was born. A single day too late and the whole matter must needs be gone over again from the first, with large chances that the drifting floes of the North may have swept away the turn-table. In such case the painful journey on foot round and round the pole till the desired meridian is reached would be inexpressibly tedious. Even the most eager adept could hardly be blamed if he directed his steps toward his own century and his bodily home. To prevent gross accidents and to secure the best results, therefore, a considerable number of people should cooperate. We should make of the matter a kind of Salvation Army. Seated on the turn-table a hundred adepts could be whirled round and round to the westward, each descending at the time his mission might desig- ( nate. Miss Jones, for example, would descend in 1776 to gain the con- fidence of Benedict Arnold and thus save him from his treason. Our friend, Doctor Cribbs, perhaps could descend in the reign of James II., and by a few doses of Swamp Root cure the judge's sad malady and save 84 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. England from the strain of the Bloody Assizes. Mr. Marvin could muffle the bell of St. Germain l'Auxerrois and the name of St. Bartholo- mew would lose its dark suggestion. Miss Lucy Wilkins could leave us to the north of Cologne and in the time of St. Ursula. This good woman could be turned from her useless quest and her sad host of martyred virgins could each become a German Hausfrau. Again, our fair friend from Fideletown, Miss Violet Dreeme, could find scope for her powers in the rescue of Guinevere. These serve simply as illus- trations. We may vary them as we please. "The preliminary difficulties once surmounted, the auroral turn- table once in operation and in the hands of a few hundred adepts, mis- sionaries of the present to the past, the tangled jungles of history would be turned to a field of the Cloth of Gold. By keeping open telepathic connection with the esoteric clubs at home, we can inform the world that is, of the progress of our work, and the changes we make in history could be announced in our schools. "Grand indeed is our conception," said Professor Gridley, "and it is not far from realization. The initial expense is but a trifle. A few hundred dollars in tense springs, clockwork and dynamos, a table of the finest rosewood and the service of a skilled mechanic, an adept in electricity and skilled in astral impersonation, and it is done. "More than this," continued Professor Gridley impressively, "all this is already provided. I have here a letter from the editor of the New York Sunday 'Monarch,' an offer of all expenses and a generous salary in return for the first telepathic advices, going back beyond the present century. For each preceding century, the sum will be doubled. I have, indeed, contracted with the great journal for the exclusive ac- count of my interviews with the great Bacon, whose noble but polluted nature it shall be my life work to redeem." JAMES EDWARD KEELER. 85 JAMES EDWARD KEELEE. By Prof. W. W. CAMPBELL, ACTING DIRECTOR OF THE LICK OBSERVATORY. THE Lick Observatory has lost an ideal director. Astronomy has suffered a loss it can ill afford. Colleagues and friends widespread will miss a companionship which was simply delightful. James Edward Keeler was born in La Salle, 111., on September 10, 1857. Ealph Keeler, his first American ancestor, settled in Hartford in 1635. His father, Wm. F. Keeler, was an officer of the original 'Monitor' at the time of its engagement with the 'Merrimac' His mother (still living) is the daughter of Henry Dutton, former Governor of Connecticut and Dean of the Yale Law School. In 1869 the family removed from La Salle, 111., to Mayport, Fla. Here Keeler prepared for college, under the tutelage of his father and his older brother. Here his fondness for astronomical studies was de- veloped. He established 'The Mayport Astronomical Observatory' in 1875-77. It included, at the least, a quadrant, a two-inch telescope, a meridian circle and a clock. Under date of 1875, September 22, his jour- nal records an observed altitude of Polaris secured with 'my quadrant.' Other entries read: "1875, November 14. Sent to Queen last night for lenses for my telescope." "1875, November 29. Lenses from Queen came to-night; one two- inch achromatic, and two plano-convex lenses for eyepiece." "1875, December 12. Directed my telescope to the stars, and saw the rings of Saturn for the first time. . . ." "December 14. Saw the Annular Nebula in Lyra. One satellite of Saturn. . . . All four of the stars in the Trapezium. . . ." "1876, January 26. Got up at half-past four this morning and ap- plied my telescope to Jupiter for the first time. . . ." In 1877, at the age of twenty years, he constructed a meridian-circle instrument. The telescope was that of a common spyglass, 1.6-inch aperture and 13.45-inch focus. The axis was turned out of wood. Brass ferrules, driven on the ends of the axis and turned down, formed the pivots. The wooden circle, 13.3 inches in diameter, was graduated to 15'.* * Keeler's original sketch of this instrument and his written description of it will be pub- lished in the next number of the ' Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.' 86 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. His 'Kecord of Observations made at the Mayport Observatory' con- tains beautiful colored sketches of Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mars, the Orion Nebula, of double stars and of 'Scenery on the Moon'; and in addition, data of a numerical character. These early drawings are characterized by the refined taste and skill so well known from his later professional work. Keeler entered Johns Hopkins University late in 1877; and, fol- lowing major courses in physics and German, he was graduated with the de°ree of A. B. in 1881. At the end of his freshman year he accompanied Professor Hastings, as a member of Professor Holden's party from the Naval Observatory, to observe the total solar eclipse of July 29, 1878, at Central City, Col. Although his part was the modest one of making a drawing of the corona, his written report on the work is a model scientific paper, and may be read with profit by visual observ- ers of eclipses. In the spring of 1881 Professor Langley, desiring an assistant in the Allegheny Observatory, requested the Johns Hopkins University to rec- ommend a suitable man for the place. Keeler was named and accepted the appointment, beginning work at Allegheny several weeks before re- ceiving his degree. I was speaking in June of this year (1900) with one of the physicists who had recommended Keeler for the Allegheny posi- tion, and the subject of this very appointment came up. "I told Pro- fessor Langley," said he, "that one of my strongest reasons for the rec- ommendation is that Keeler doesn't claim to know everything." To the end of his life this charming trait remained unimpaired. It is to Keeler's credit that he largely defrayed his own expenses in college by acting as assistant to some of the lecturers in the experimental courses. Professor Langley made his noted expedition to the summit of Mt. Whitney, Cal., in June-September, 1881, to determine the value of the 'Solar Constant.' Keeler accompanied the expedition in the capacity of assistant, and carried out his share of the program with skill and efficiency. Eeturning at once to Allegheny, his work until May, 1883, was closely related to the many problems arising from the Mt. Whitney expedition. The year 1883-84 was devoted to study and travel abroad. The months of June, July and August, at Heidelberg, were given to the study of light and electricity under Quincke, chemistry under Bunsen, and integral calculus under Fuchs. In the winter semester in Berlin he heard the lectures on physics by Helmholtz and Kayser, on differen- tial equations by Runge and on quarternions by Glan. His main in- vestigation in the physical laboratory was on 'the absorption of radiant heat by carbon dioxide' — a problem suggested no doubt by his Mt. Whitney experiences. From June, 1884, to April, 1886, Keeler again served as assistant in JAMES EDWARD KEELEE. 87 the Allegheny Observatory, affording most efficient help to Professor Langley in his classical researches on the lunar heat and on the infra- red portion of the solar spectrum. Early in 1886, on Professor Holden's recommendation, Keeler was appointed assistant to the Lick trustees. He arrived at Mt. Hamilton on April 25, 1886, and immediately proceeded to establish the time service. The telegraph line to San Jose was perfected, the transit in- strument, the clocks and the sending and receiving apparatus at both ends of the line were installed. The signals were sent out on and after January 1, 1887, north to Portland, east to Ogden and south to San Diego and El Paso. In addition to the time service, he assisted the trustees in installing the various instruments. When the observatory was completed and transferred to the regents of the University of California, on June 1, 1888, Mr. Keeler was ap- pointed astronomer: the original staff consisting of Astronomers Holden, Burnham, Schaeberle, Keeler and Barnard, and Assistant Astronomer Hill. Professor Keeler was placed in charge of the spectroscopic work of the observatory. The large star spectroscope, constructed mainly from his designs, has no superior for visual observations. Of the many results obtained with this instrument we may mention the observations of Saturn's rings and Uranus, with reference to their atmospheres; of the bright and dark lines in the spectra of y Cassiopeia? and /? Lyra?; of the color curve of the 36-inch equatorial, and of the spectra of the Orion Nebula and thirteen planetary nebula?. His beautiful observations on the velocities in the line of sight of these fourteen nebula? mark a distinct epoch in visual spectroscopy. His memoir on the subject took its place as a classic at once. The probable error of the final result for each nebula, based on the mean of several observations, is only 3.2 kilometers per second. Attention should be called to one extremely important fact established by these measures, viz., the velocities of the nebulae in their motion through space are of the same order of magnitude as the velocities of the stars. The recognition of the fact that a great refracting telescope is also a most powerful spectroscope for special classes of objects, by virtue of the chromatic aberration of the objective, is due to Professor Keeler. Among the first objects observed with the 36-inch equatorial were the planetary nebula? and their stellar nuclei. The observers were struck with the fact that the focal length for a nebula is 0.4 inch longer than for its stellar nucleus; a discrepancy which Professor Keeler at once ex- plained by recalling that the star's light is yellow, whereas that of the nebula is greenish-blue. Astronomical readers will remember Keeler's splendid drawings of the planets Saturn, Jupiter and Mars, made with the assistance of the 88 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 36-inch telescope during 1888-90. His faithful and artistic drawings of Jupiter have no equal. He was in charge of the very successful expedition sent by the Lick Observatory to Bartlett Springs, Cal., to observe the total solar eclipse of January 1, 1889. Professor Keeler resigned from the Lick Observatory staff on June 1, 1891, to succeed Professor Langley as director of the Allegheny Ob- servatory, and professor of astrophysics in the Western University of Pennsylvania. The Allegheny Observatory has perhaps the poorest loca- tion of any observatory in this country for spectroscopic work. But in spite of this disadvantage Heeler's investigations continued and pro- moted the splendid reputation established for the observatory by his predecessor. He comprehended the possibilities and limitations of his situation and his means, and adapted himself to them. His spectro- scopic researches were largely confined to the orange, yellow and green regions of the spectrum, since these would be less strongly affected by the smoky sky for which that vicinity is famous. The Allegheny spectroscope, designed and constructed soon after his acceptance of the position, contained several valuable improve- ments. The use of three simple prisms in its dispersive train was a de- parture which has been followed with great advantage in many later instruments. With this instrument he made an extensive investigation of the Orion Nebula and the stars immersed in it, establishing the fact that the nebula and the stars are closely related in physical condition.* His beautiful observations of Saturn's rings, proving that they are a cluster of meteorites — myriads of little moons — have never been sur- passed in interest in the entire astronomical field. These observations are so well known to every one interested in astronomy that one sen- tence suffices. He proved spectrographically, using the Doppler-Fizeau principle, that every point in the ring system is moving with the velocity which a moon would have if situated at that distance from the planet. Professor Keeler's main piece of work at the Allegheny Observatory, on the spectra of the third (Secchi) type stars, remains unpublished, but the measures and reductions are left in an advanced stage. The regents of the University of California appointed Professor Keeler to the position of Director of the Lick Observatory on March 8, 1898. The ties which bound him and his family to Allegheny were difficult to sever; but the greater opportunities offered by the instru- ments and the atmospheric conditions at Mt. Hamilton decided him in favor of accepting the appointment. He entered upon his new duties on June 1, 1898. Without making any rearrangement of the work of the staff, but * Simultaneous observations of the same object made at another observatory led to the same conclusion. JAMES EDWARD KEELER. 89 affording them every possible encouragement to continue along the same lines, Professor Keeler arranged to devote his own observing time to the Crossley reflector. He recognized that the instrument was not in condition to produce satisfactory results. He made one change after another, overcoming one difficulty after another, until, on November 14, he secured an excellent negative of the Pleiades, and on November 16 a superb negative of the Orion Nebula. The enormous power of the reflector in nebular photography was established, and he entered upon the program of photographing all the brighter nebulae in Herschel's catalogue. More than half the subjects on the program have been completed. The observatory possesses a set of negatives of the principal nebulae which is priceless and unequaled. These photographs have already led to many discoveries of prime importance; and they furnish a vast amount of material for future investigations of questions bearing especially upon the early stages of sidereal evolution. The photographs record incidentally great numbers of new nebulae — as many as thirty-one on a single plate covering less than one square degree of the sky. A conservative estimate places the number within reach of the Crossley reflector at 120,000, of which only ten or fifteen thousand have thus far been discovered. It had previously been supposed that the great majority of nebulae were irregular and without form, and that only a few were spiral. Professor Keeler's photographs have recorded more spiral nebulae than irregular ones. This discovery bears profoundly on theories of cosmog- ony, and must be considered as of the first order. It is time to refer to Professor Keeler's work as director. I but faintly reflect the views of every member of the staff, and indeed of all who have been interested in the work of this observatory, when I say that his administration was completely successful. He cherished and promoted ideal conditions in this ideal place. He made a success of his own work in a splendidly scientific manner, and he saw to it that every one had all possible opportunities to do the same. No member of the staff was asked to sacrifice his individuality in the slightest degree. Nor were demands made for immediate results: no one's plans were torn up by the roots to see if they were growing. The peace of mind of the investigator, so absolutely essential for complete success, was full and undisturbed. Withal, Professor Keeler's administration was so kind and so gentle — and yet so effective — that the reins of govern- ment were seldom seen and never felt. The elements of his successes are simple and plainly in view. His openness and honesty of character, his readiness and quickness to see the other man's point of view, his strong appreciation of the humorous as well as the serious, and above all, his abounding good sense — these traits made his companionship delightful and charming. Scien- 90 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. tifically Professor Keeler never groped aimlessly in the dark. He would not attack a problem until he had as fully as possible comprehended its nature and the requirements for success. With the plan of attack com- pletely considered, and the instruments of attack at hand, the execution of his plans involved little loss of time. The Crossley reflector affords a case in point. Assisted by a fellow in astronomy and by the instru- ment-maker, he devoted five months to preparing the reflector for turn- ing out the magnificent results which at once followed. Professor Keeler's published papers have a finish and a ripeness which are rarely seen. His love of the beautiful and his artistic skill are evident in all his work. To speak of the people who had afforded him encouragement at dif- ferent times in his life was one of his pleasures. His father's friend, Mr. Chas. H. Rockwell, of Tarrytown, was constant in urging the de- velopment of so promising a career. He did not forget Professor Hast- ings' continual kindness and interest during his college days. He fre- quently spoke of the great value of Mr. William Thaw's interest and encouragement, both to himself and to the Allegheny Observatory; an interest which was continued after Mr. Thaw's death by other members of his family. The honorary degree of Sc. D. was conferred upon Professor Keeler in 1893 by the University of California. He received the Rumford Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1898 and the Henry Draper Medal from the National Academy of Sciences in 1899. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, an Associate of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow and Foreign Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member and officer of the Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of America, an honorary member of the Toronto Astronomical and Physical Society, the president of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, a member of the Washington Academy of Sciences, and of various other organiza- tions. Professor Keeler was an associate editor of 'Astronomy and As- tro-physics' during 1892-94, and editor with Prof. George E. Hale of 'The Astrophysical Journal,' since 1895. It appears that Professor Keeler had long been a mild sufferer from heart weakness; to run even fifteen steps caused him great physical dis- tress. It is feared that on Mt. Hamilton he worked beyond his strength. His weakness seemed to develop rapidly this summer. He went away from the observatory on July 30, in the best of spirits and with no anxiety, to secure medical treatment and to spend a brief vacation in the northern part of the State. Increasing difficulty in breathing led him to seek skilled treatment in San Francisco on August 10. His dangerous JAMES EDWARD KEELER. 91 condition was recognized on the 11th, and on the 12th a stroke of apo- plexy proved fatal. Professor Keeler married Miss Cora S. Matthews, at Oakley Planta- tion, Louisiana, on June 16, 1891. Of her great sorrow and of the grievous loss to the two children it would be futile to speak. When the dangerous weakness of his heart was discovered by the physicians, Professor Keeler's main regret was that he would have to leave Mt. Hamilton and its opportunities in order to live at a lower alti- tude. It is known that he had planned his work with the Crossley re- flector far into the future. A small spectrograph which he was most anxious to employ on certain interesting spectra was completed on the day of his leaving the observatory. The absence of one so old in experience and so ripe in judgment will be seriously felt throughout his profession. 92 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY HISTORIANS. The address of Mr. Thomas Ford Rhodes, president of the American His- torical Association, on the subject of history, delivered before the midwinter meeting of that body, and published in the 'Atlantic Monthly' for February, has gone forth to the world with a high de- gree of authority and impressiveness. Nevertheless, there are some members of the Association — the writer humbly trusts enough to make a large ma- jority— for whom the president does not speak, and who dissent widely from his views. Mr. Rhodes begins by representing himself as an advocate 'holding a brief for history,' and proceeds to make im- portant concessions to those who re- fuse it a place in the front rank of sub- jects of human thought. "It is not the highest form of intellectual endeavor; let us at once agree that it were better that all the histories ever written were burned than for the world to lose Homer and Shakespeare." One more concession yields "to the mathematical and physical sciences precedence in the realm of in- tellectual endeavor over history." But, having admitted so much, Mr. Rhodes is still of the opinion that the his- torian's place in the field remains se- cure. Why he thinks so ia not made quite clear. It is true enough that there has never been 'so propitious a time for writing history as in the last forty years ' ; that 'there has been a general acquisition of the historic sense ' ; that 'the methods of teaching history have so improved that they may be called scientific'; and that 'the theory of evolution is firmly estab- lished.' There is, however, in all this nothing to attract the youth conscious of intellectual strength and brimming with energy and courage to a study which cannot claim to rank among the highest forms of intellectual endeavor. Shall we suppose that the historian's 'place in the field remains secure' only because the giants do not care to wan- der that way? If so, those who love history better than they love the his- torians will find little satisfaction in this security. But, following Mr. Rhodes further, one finds the apparent gist of his con- tention to be that the new thought throughout the country, which has re- sulted in better work in almost every direction, has had no such result in historiography; that "with all our ad- vantages" we do not "write better his- tory than was written before 1859, which we may call the line of demar- cation between the old and the new," and that Thucydides and Tacitus are still the best models for the historian. The whole address appears to breathe the spirit of a somewhat over-reverent devotion to the Classics, and the hearers may well have imagined that they were listening to an appeal for the study of Greek and Latin. When the Lord of the vineyard comes, there will no doubt be a sufficiently grave indictment against the keepers of the historical portion for the waste they have made of the last eighteen hundred years; but it is hard to believe that they will be found guilty of having failed to im- prove on the methods of the classical writers. Has science, then, done nothing for history? Somewhat, even according to Mr. Rhodes himself. In addition to acknowledgments already quoted, he goes on to say: "The publication of the 'Origin of Species,' in 1859, converted it (the theory of evolution) from a DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 93 poet's dream and philosopher's specula- tion to a well-demonstrated scientific theory. Evolution, heredity, environ- ment, have become household words, and their application to history has in- fluenced every one who has had to trace the development of a people, the growth of an institution, or the establishment of a cause." Yet it seems that this has not enabled us to equal the excel- lence of two or three writers who flourished more than two-thirds of the way back to the dawn of European civil- ization. Let us at least be frank with ourselves, if such be the fact, and not refuse to recognize the disheartening nature of the conclusion. There are some iconoclasts, however, who will not accept it; and, if they allowed the barbarian that is in them to speak out, in spite of their high respect and deference for Mr. Rhodes, it would probably assert that there is little hope for the elevation of history to the highest rank of intellectual endeavor by champions so imbued with the spirit of the past. He that would show the subject worth the attention of the most gifted, the strongest and the most pene- trating minds can be no worshipper be- fore the marble god of the Classics. He must — difficult as the task would seem to Mr. Rhodes — write history better than Thucydides or Tacitus wrote it. But this is, after all, not so difficult if the proper meaning is given to the words. There are several men living who do it. This I fully believe; and I wish to say that the assertion is made in no spirit of defiance to the standards of my generation, but rather in the spirit of respect for these standards as I see them. There seems, in fact, to lie some subtle poison in the classics whereby their devotees become intoxicated. Their admiration for the ancient languages and literatures, for the civilizations in which their chosen work lies, appears to grow until they lose faith in the present and depreciate it correspond- ingly. Modern education, which is aimed to fit, rather than to unfit men for the life they must live, to adjust them to their environment rather than to put them out of harmony therewith, would not be wholly unjustified in en- tering its caveat for all who undertake the study of Greek and Latin. "If indeed there haunt About the moulder'd lodges of the Past So sweet a voice and vague, fatal to men, Well needs it we should cram our ears with wool And so pace by." These expressions are not prompted by any sympathy with materialism. I am well aware that humanity fed upon such meat will never be great. But must we look back over two thousand years to find ideals — even in the matter of history writing ? It will be a sad day, if it ever come, when the teaching of Greek and Latin shall fail in our uni- versities and men shall cease to study them; but it is certainly unnecessary that the classical measuring rod shall be laid to all the dimensions of modern thought. Shall we not be free? Shall there never be a literary mortmain to lift the dead hand of the classics and leave us at liberty to render service where it is due? Wherein lies the hitherto unequaled excellence of Thucydides and Tacitus? Not in their superior 'accuracy, love of truth and impartiality'; for 'Gibbon and Gardiner among the moderns pos- sess equally the same qualities.' Mr. Rhodes would doubtless deprecate any suggestion of placing his own name in this honorable company, but I believe it would occur at once to those who are familiar with his works. Certainly it is not difficult for the unprejudiced reader to see in him a conscientious and brave fidelity to the truth that can be found in a higher degree in no historian, an- cient or modern. Nor does the advantage of the classi- cal historians lie "in the collection of materials, in criticism and detailed an- alysis, in the study of cause and effect, 94 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. in applying the principle of growth, of evolution," in all of which 'we certainly surpass the ancients.' This with char- acteristic fairness Mr. Rhodes admits, but it is still his conviction that we have not risen to the classical standard of historiography. Where, then, is the advantage in favor of Thucydides and Tacitus? The answer of their advocate is that they "are superior to the historians who have written in our century, because, by long reflection and studious method, they have better digested their materials and compressed their narrative. Unity in narration has been adhered to more rig- idly. They stick closer to their subject. They are not allured into the fascinat- ing by-paths of narration, which are so tempting to men who have accumulated a mass of facts, incidents and opinions." Lest this discussion should resolve it- self into an unprofitable difference about words, it may be worth while to con- sider just at this point the meaning of 'better history,' as Mr. Rhodes uses the term. He can hardly mean better from the scientific standpoint; for he admits that our historical science is superior to the ancient. If, therefore, we put that into the history we write, we shall make it better in so far at least. No doubt he means better from the stand- point of historiographic art. Here lies, I take it, the crux of the controversy. Here begins the diver- gence between the scientific and the lit- erary historians. They differ as to the relative values of the elements they represent, and this difference rests upon another still more fundamental as to the relative values of ancient and mod- ern thought. This will serve to explain the objections I have already made to the attitude of Mr. Rhodes. I would not deny the justice nor the propriety of judging any historical work from the artistic standpoint. It would not be going too far to say that no history which fails when brought to such a test can be called good. But there is no art that can neglect its fundamental sci- ence. Other things being equal, that is the best history — even from the artistic point of view — which gives the clearest explanation of the unfolding of national life; and in this respect modern his- toriography is beyond all comparison superior to ancient. It is, therefore, not conclusive of the preeminent excellence of Thucydides and Tacitus to show the admirable proportion and conciseness of their narratives. If the historians of the present century show some loss in this respect, they do more than make it up by gain in others. It is not enough that the ancient writers of history told so well what they saw and understood; there was so much that they did not see and understand. If historical literature is to be distinguished from other forms and have canons peculiar to itself at all, its expository completeness must be con- sidered in estimating it as good or bad. It must be confessed, however, that the indictment of Mr. Rhodes against modern historians for prolixity is well- deserved. It could be sustained not only against the historians, but against nearly all book-makers of our time, and is far graver than his degree of empha- sis would indicate. Life is short, and there is continually more to be crowded into it. The literature of almost every field of progressive thought is outgrow- ing the capacity of its workers, who are striving in truly reckless fashion to add thereto each what he can. Conciseness and proportion are, if not the most priceless jewels of all literature, at least their most useful and attractive setting. Blessed is he, and a benefactor of his race, who can deliver his message in few words, and for the rest keep silent. One other point made by Mr. Rhodes deserves attention, namely, the advan- tage of writing contemporaneous his- tory. Three difficulties lie in the way of it: First, that of getting the perspec- tive; second, that of so far removing one's prejudices as to see the truth; third, that of telling the truth as seen, in spite of popular prejudice. If they can be overcome, the history of any epoch can be written best by those be- longing to it. Mr. Rhodes has himself DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 95 shown how this can be done. But I do not think that he has established the superiority of Thucydides and Tacitus over modern historians. Their work may excel in conciseness and proportion, but that of the moderns has a more than compensatory advantage in deeper in- sight and clearer exposition. Partisans of either may fail to see that the shield is silver on one side and gold on the other; or, seeing this, they may fail to agree as to which is the golden side. "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." George P. Garrison. University of Texas. THE RETARDATION OF SCIENCE. We hear a good deal about the ad- vancement of science. There are huge associations which make it the object of their existence; there are universi- ties, colleges, societies, museums, in- stitutes and laboratories which reckon this as at least one of their aims; and the individual scientific workers, even those who look upon science as "The milch-cow of the field, Their only care to calculate how much butter she will yield" — Even they, we say, profess to regard science as 'the goddess great,' and base their claim to honor on the service they have rendered to her. And, at this turning year of time, as we indulge in self-complaisant retrospect, we boast that, as a result of all this, science really has advanced. Contradictions, inconsistencies, harkings back: these we frankly admit; but the shattered theories line an onward path, and the discovered errors are lamps on the way of truth. We do well to rejoice; but we shall not do ill to look also at the other side of the shield. Might we not be advancing more rapidly, surely and easily? Are there not opposing forces which combine to effect the retarda- tion of science? Space need not be occupied by in- sisting on the inertia of governments, composed of ministerialists rather than statesmen on the lethargy and igno- rance of the mass of people; on the curse of Babel, or on any such obvious hindrances to progress. But every scientific student knows that many of the difficulties in his way have no ne- cessity in the nature of things, and that many of them are raised by scien- tific men themselves. We expect to meet with difficulties when we read a foreign language, but we resent hav- ing to ferret out an author's meaning when he publishes in our own tongue. This is what one has to do too often, for a vast number, if not the majority, of scientific men write abominably. It is all very well for the chemist in a factory, or the electrician to a lighting company, to be careless about the parts of speech ; it hurts no one except himself and his employer. But for the student who makes researches in pure science, the case is altered. The object of the former is to earn his daily bread, and the sooner the better; the object — pro- fessed, at least — of the latter is to en- lighten the world. A man may be a profound investigator, and may pene- trate far into the mystery of the un- known, but if he cannot give an in- telligible report to his colleagues, his travels in the undiscovered country will be disregarded. Worse than this, his fellow-workers waste valuable time in trying to read his riddles or very likely are led astray by his bungling presen- tation of veritable facts, and so science is retarded. We do not propose to arouse the anger of our scientific friends by quot- ing elegant extracts from their writings to support our contention. We pass over the phraseology, to consider the general plan and the details of the ar- rangement. There are, it is true, mas- ters in science who are also masters of method. But they have gained their mastery of the latter, as of the former, in the school of experience. This would be all very well were it not that we others have to suffer during their ap- prenticeship. Their immature essays, with all the faults of a beginner, have 96 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. to be read and reckoned with, and are just as much part of the self-styled lit- erature of science as are their magna opera. This would not be worth a com- plaint were it inevitable; but that is just what it is not. If only scientific people in general could be got to care a little about these things, and if only their opinion could be organized and brought to bear more directly on the evil-doers, improvement would soon fol- low. The fact is that we are too con- tent to muddle along, and what is everybody's business is nobody's busi- ness. Hence the student fresh from college, or while still a pupil, is set to attack some problem in science, which, with the help of his professor, he solves in a satisfactory manner. Then he must print, and here, too often, the help of the professor seems to be lacking. The student has had next to no training in the composition of scien- tific articles and none in the preparation of work for the press. He does not know how to find the previous litera- ture, and when found he does not know how to quote it. Having no experience in the use of other men's writings, he does not know what to insert, what to omit, or what faults to avoid. He is, perhaps, a good draughtsman, but his media have been pencil and paint, and he has no idea how to do black-and- white work for the photo-engraver. He begins with a title in the style of the eighteenth century, that takes up three lines and leaves you in the dark as to the contents of his paper. Full of en- thusiasm and imbibed knowledge, he either plunges into his subject without explaining what his subject is, or else he introduces it by a lengthy 'history,' mostly copied from the last worker that preceded him. He ends with a nicely- rounded period, but you search in vain for a summary of his results. One cannot be hard on the poor young fellow, who doubtless will do well enough in time; but one can pro- test against the nonchalance that per- mits this state of things. There are two sources from which a remedy may spring, and to each we herewith make appeal. First, let the colleges provide instruction in the technique of author- ship, just as they provide it in the technique of research. This will not help to swell the flood of publication, too great already; rather it will diminish it, by entailing more rigorous prepara- tion on would-be authors. Let the stu- dent be taught the conventional rules that govern the formal aspect of his science, just as he is taught the laws of chemical combination or dental for- mulae. In zoology and botany, for in- stance, he should be taught the rules of nomenclature, or at least those gen- erally followed, and taught how to write the names of animals and plants in the accepted manner. He should be made to study the classical memoirs of great masters from the noint of view of presentation — of manner rather than of matter. And even then he should not be turned loose on an unwilling public, but should be practised in writing and drawing for the press, in proof-correct- ing and so forth. The examiners of doctoral theses should consider their style and arrangement no less than their contents, and, if necessary, should insist on formal alterations being made before they give permission to publish. So much for the universities. The second source of help lies in the editors, whether of independent periodicals or of publishing societies. The editor has, by tacit agreement, great powers. But in the case of publications devoted to pure science, those powers often seem to be very little used. There is a preju- dice against interfering with an author's statement of his case; for here the sub- stance is regarded as everything and the form as nothing, and an editor fears lest, in re-shaping the form, he may hack away an essential portion of the substance. This delicacy is likely to be more appreciated by the author in ques- tion than by his readers. The editors of purely scientific publications labor, of course, under a peculiar disadvantage in that both the contribution and the publication of matter are voluntary of- DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 97 fices with no binding contract; the edi- tor is often only too glad to get 'copy,' and dare not risk offending a contribu- tor. But the experience of many years in the conduct of many classes of pub- lications has led us to the conviction that the authors most likely to be of- fended by judicious editing are those whose services can best be spared. Many, and especially beginners, often express their gratitude for editorial ad- vice, and in most cases an editor has only to act suaviter in modo to be able to proceed fortiter in re. Moreover, in the case of the more serious and tech- nical papers, these positions of author and editor are often reversed, since it is not so easy for an author to get his memoir published, especially with the requisite illustrations. Here, then, the editor has the whip hand, and his power is enhanced if he be acting for a learned society of which the author is a member. In brief, editors, as a rule, have the power, and we beg them to use it. Not every author can have a university training, but all (except the few rich and foolish enough to publish for themselves) must submit their man- uscripts to the blue pencil of an editor. We want to see that blue pencil used. But this leads us to another unfortu- nate influence tending to retard science, and that is the ignorance and incom- petence of editors. We speak as one of the fraternity. How can an editor know the conventions of physicists, of zoologists, of botanists, of chemists, of geologists and all the rest? Specializa- tion has proceeded so far that the editor of a general scientific journal nowadays must have, some may think, either enormous learning or vast audacity. But this is not quite a fair view of the case. Most scientific journals of any importance are, like other journals, run by a large staff of specialists in co- operation with one managing editor. Theoretically, at least, this is the case, as may be seen by reference to the cov- ers of the 'American Journal of Science,' the 'American Naturalist,' 'Science,' and many more. If all these associate edi: tors could be got to do editorial work, the supposed difficulty would vanish. Sorrowfully we admit that even editors do not always act rightly, and that 'Edi- tor, edit thyself!' may be a true re- proach. But the realization of a defect goes half-way towards curing it. To put in few words what we have tried to make clear in these notes: Among the causes tending to retard science is carelessness as regards form and expression. The prevalence of this carelessness is largely due to want of training, and this defect can be rem- edied. We appeal, therefore, to teach- ing bodies to insist on instruction in the methods of scientific authorship: and we appeal to editors to exercise their powers in all questions of gram- mar, lucidity, arrangement and the formal conventions of each science. An Editor. 98 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. CHRISTMAS ISLAND. Those areas of the earth's surface outside of the Polar regions which re- tain their original fauna and flora un- modified by the action of man and the organisms which accompany him in his migrations are very few and are rap- idly passing away. It is obvious that it is of great importance that we should know something of the conditions, ani- mals and plants which exist under such circumstances, in order that the effects of the influx of human beings into a virgin wilderness may be determined and recorded. Opportunities for such researches are very rare and in a few years will be non-existent. A settlement has re- cently been made upon the isolated bit of land known as Christmas Island, which lies some two hundred miles southwest of the western part of Java and is separated from it by sea which reaches a depth of three thousand fathoms. At the initiative and expense of Sir John Murray, known from his connection with the Challenger expe- dition, Mr. C. W. Andrews, of the Brit- ish Museum, was granted leave of ab- sence for the purpose of making a thor- ough biological survey of this island, and the report which is the result of his observations and collections, assisted by a number of expert naturalists in working up the material, has just been issued by the Museum. It is believed to be the most elaborate account of the animal and plant life of an oceanic island ever published. The island is of volcanic origin and comprises, beside igneous rocks, a va- riety of tertiary and recent limestones. Most of the life upon it is of the Malay- sian type, the prevalent winds being from that quarter. However, there is a recognizable portion of it which is related to that of Ceylon and another to that of Australia, though the latter country is nine hundred miles away. About ten per cent, of the plants and forty-five per cent, of the three hundred and nineteen species of animal or- ganisms are regarded as peculiar to the island. There are thirty-one species of birds, five of mammals and six of rep- tiles, of which sixteen are known only from this island. These figures, of course, exclude all pelagic forms. Altogether, many interesting facts have been brought out and several puzzling ques- tions raised in the discussion of the data which form the basis of this val- uable report. PALEONTOLOGY. The absence of a text-book on pale- ontology in English which in any ade- quate measure reflected the philosophic illumination of modern zoology has long been a subject of regret. The only man- ual worthy of the name which has en- joyed any wide reputation among scien- tific paleontologists has been that of von Zittel, published originally in German, but since well rendered into French with some additions. Dr. C. R. East- man, of Harvard University, having in view a translation of von Zittel's 'Grund- ziige,' with the permission of the au- thor, submitted the different sections of the work to various American spe- cialists for revision. The original work was lavishly illustrated with excellent, mostly original figures, which have been utilized in the present translation. The task of revision was undertaken by a number of experts as a labor of love, in the desire that the deficiency in our text-book literature, above referred to, might be done away with and that Eng- lish-speaking students might possess a work of reference in which modern ideas SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 99 of classification and of the relations and development of organic life on the globe would find a place. This task pre- sented many difficulties, both for the revisers and for the editor, and one can not but regret that the cost of illus- tration and the difficulties of finding a publisher for a wholly new work stood in the way of preparing a manual which should be avowedly, as well as practically, independent. The excel- lent work of von Zittel, good as it is, was designed on the lines of the science as it was a quarter of a century ago. The revision, though in several depart- ments fundamental, is naturally more or less uneven, the restrictions of space insisted on by the publishers and other causes hampering the freedom of treatment desirable, while the compos- ite nature of the work, part of which was stereotyped before other portions were received in manuscript, has inev- itably resulted in some incongruities. However, in spite of such minor de- ficiencies, the result has been the most notable advance in the treatment of in- vertebrate paleontology as a whole since text-books began to be made. This is especially evident in such groups as the Polyzoa, Mollusca, Brachiopods and Trilobites, in which the illustrations and a part of the bib- liography are all that remain of the older work. Any work in which the latest views of large divisions of the animal kingdom are summed up by such experts as Wachsmuth, Ulrich, Schuchert, Hyatt and Beecher must ap- peal strongly to students and long re- main an indispensable aid to science, whether all matters of detail meet with final acceptance or not. Wholesale changes, such as are indicated in sev- eral of the groups, might very well be unacceptable to the original author of the work thus modified, but, while sus- pending his opinion on the advisability of some of the novel methods, Dr. von Zittel, in his preface to the present work, has been moved by the true scientific spirit which, while holding fast to that believed to be good, is ever ready to welcome any new light. The untouched riches of American fossilifer- ous horizons, especially above the Paleozoic, are almost incalculable, and the existence of Dr. Eastman's valuable text-book can not but be a most impor- tant factor in the training of those who will hereafter bring to light the riches now awaiting the advent of paleonto- logical explorers. ZOOLOGY. There has been somewhat of a dearth of works on natural history dur- ing the past few months. Among those which have appeared is 'Nature's Cal- endar,' by Ernest Ingersoll, a book in- tended to stimulate the reader's power of observation by inducing him to note down, day by day, what he sees going on in the world of animals and plants about him. There are twelve chapters, one for each month, in which the au- thor writes pleasantly of what is being done by the more familiar beasts and birds, reptiles, fishes and insects, as well as plants, in an ordinary season in the vicinity of New York. The limits, however, have not been very rigidly drawn, and we read of deer, bears and wildcats, animals not commonly found about that city. We are told, as the case may be, how animals and plants are guarded against extremes of heat and cold, at what time the animals make their appearance, when the wood- chuck comes from his burrow and the shad and herring ascend the streams; when they mate; at what time the eggs are deposited or the young come forth; at what time the buds burst and the blossoms open, and of many other oc- currences. Each chapter is preceded by a full-page plate, after photographs by Clarence Lown, of some landscape in accord with the text, and at the end of each chapter is a 'calendar,' in which the birds naturally appear in the major- ity, stating what animals are present, the approximate times at which, if they migrate, they come or go, or the dates on which they go into or come out of winter quarters. The compact text oc- 100 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. cupies less than half the page, the re- mainder being left for recording the ob- servations of the reader, who thus be- comes a joint author and has the pleasure of seeing whether or not he is in agreement with his collaborateur. The book is written in a pleasing style and while here and there a little loose in its statements, one should not hold the author too strictly to account, since the very object of the book is to induce the reader to make his own ob- servations and draw his own deduc- tions, and the possibility of proving someone wrong is a great stimulus to- wards this end. The recent issue of part four, con- sisting of 283 pages of text and 392 plates, completes Jordan and Ever- mann's 'Fishes of North and Middle America,' published as Bulletin No. 47 of the U. S. National Museum. The 'Synopsis of the Fishes of North Amer- ica,' by Jordan and Gilbert, issued in 1882, was a single volume of 1,074 pages, with no plates, containing de- scriptions of 1,340 species of fishes; the present work is in four volumes, con- sisting of 3,528 pages, 240 of which are devoted to the index and 392 plates, and over 3,000 species are described. Natu- rally, a considerable portion of this in- crease is due to the extension of the area covered, but still a large part is caused by the increased number of species now known to ichthyologists. The work is in no sense of a popular nature and it goes without saying that it is simply indispensable to the student of North American ichthyology; it will doubtless be many years before any revision of it is attempted. It is not our purpose to review the work — to do that would require much knowledge and much time — but to congratulate the authors on the completion of their task. Six years ago Mr. Robert Ridgway, at the request of Dr. Goode, undertook the preparation of a work that should do for birds what Jordan and Ever- mann have done for fishes, give a de- scription of all forms inhabiting North America north of the Isthmus of Panama, including as well the West Indies, the Galapagos and the islands of the Caribbean Sea. Although sev- eral times interrupted by the illness of Mr. Ridgway, the manuscript of the first volume is now ready for the printer and the second is so far advanced that it will probably be completed by the end of the year. The outlines for the entire series, which will, it is estimated, fill seven octavo volumes of 600 pages each, are drawn up, and several of the other volumes are well under way. The total number of species and sub- species to be treated is, roundly speak- ing, 3,000, and the first volume, de- voted to the Fringlllidae, comprises descriptions of over 370 species and sub- species. There are keys to the families, genera and species, and besides a care- ful technical description and very full synonymy, the range of each species is given; all extra-limital families are in- cluded in the keys, but extra-limital genera and species only when their number is small. As much more work has been done in ornithology than in ichthyology, the synonymy will be much more extensive than in Jordan and Evermann's 'Fishes of North and Middle America,' and as particular at- tention has been given to the verifi- cation of references and ascertaining the original spelling of generic and specific names, this part of the work has neces- sitated an amount of labor that can only be appreciated by those who have been engaged in similar tasks. In ad- dition, the type locality of each species and the present location of each type has been given whenever it could be ascertained. The work is based on the collections of the U. S. National Museum, but much material has been examined be- longing not only to other museums, but to private individuals who have gener- ously placed their specimens at Mr. Ridgway's disposal. The collections of the Biological Survey of ilie Depart- SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 101 ment of Agriculture have been particu- larly helpful in the case of Mexican species. AGRICULTURE. 'The Use of Water in Irriga- tion' is the title of an extensive bulle- tin just issued by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, under the authorship of Prof. Ehvood Mead, expert in charge of irrigation investigations, and C. T. Johnston, assistant. It embodies the results of extensive investigations con- ducted last year with the assistance of a number of collaborators in ten States of the arid region and presents an array of data on the use which is being made of water under different systems of management, such as has never before been collected for the irrigated region of this country. It constitutes a part of the irrigation studies which are being carried on under the U. S. Department of Agriculture. To many readers the lavish prodigal- ity which has characterized the diver- sion and application of water for irri- gating will come as something of a surprise, when the paramount impor- tance of water in developing the arid country is considered. This has been fostered by the fact that "the laws which govern appropriations of wa- ter from streams have, in most cases, no relation to the actual practice of irrigation and therefore fail to secure either the systematic distribution or best use of the available supply." Ditches diverted more water than was used : their owners claimed more than they could divert, while decrees gave appropriators titles to more water than the ditches could carry and many times what the highest floods could supply. Little was known as to the quantity of water needed to irrigate an acre of land, and in the absence of such information the ignorance and greed of the specu- lative appropriator had its opportunity. In the investigations reported, farm- ers whose fields were under observation were instructed to use water as they had hitherto been in the habit of doing. The result of the measurements of the water used showed very forcibly the influence of waste in lowering the 'duty of water' and of care and skill in increasing it. They confirm the conviction long held by students of the subject that the amount of water used in practice bears no definite relation to the requirements of the crop, but is subject to the whim of the individual and the supply of wa- ter provided by the contract with the canal company. For instance, the aver- age amounts of water used in different part of New Mexico varied from less than three feet to nearly seven feet. This was independent of the rainfall. In many cases the farmers using the least water got quite as good crops as those who used enormous quantities. On some soils which were not well drained there was a very marked injury from excessive irrigation. In the Boise Valley in Idaho it was found by meas- urement that fully one-half the water now diverted by canals is wasted under present methods. Apart from the losses from extravagant use of water, there are heavy losses, under present manage- ment, from evaporation and seepage from the canals. The average of the measurements made show the loss from this source to be fully thirty per cent. Mr. Mead expresses the conviction that throughout the sections where measure- ments were made last year it will be possible, through improved methods, to double the average duty of water now obtained, so that the quantity now re- quired for one acre will serve to irri- gate two. The importance of this becomes more strikingly apparent when it is remem- bered that there is a limit to the amount of land which can be reclaimed with the available water supply, gen- erally estimated at about seventy mil- lion acres, or approximately one-fifth of the arid region, and that the thou- sands of miles of canals and laterals thus far constructed have only re- claimed an area approximately as great as the State of New York. The results reported in this bulletin 102 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. not only furnish the basis for improv- ing the existing methods of irrigation and for framing more equitable laws, but they indicate the lines along which investigation should be directed. This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of agri- cultural experiment stations in the United States. Beginning with a single station in Connecticut in 1875, the num- ber has steadily grown until to-day we have a system of experiment stations embracing every State and Territory in the Union. The history of this move- ment and the present status of the sta- tions is the subject of an interesting and attractive volume of over six hundred pages, prepared by Dr. A. C. True, di- rector of the Office of Experiment Sta- tions, and Mr. V. A. Clark, assistant, and published by the United States De- partment of Agriculture. It is a com- prehensive account of the evolution and development of the experiment station enterprise; the organization, lines of work and equipment of the stations; some of the more striking results of practical application which they have attained; and a description of each of the fifty-six stations individually. These latter descriptions are illustrated by one hundred and fifty-three plates, showing the buildings, fields, laboratories, herds, etc., of the different stations. The greatest impulse to the station move- ment was given by the passage of the Hatch Act, in 1887, providing for the establishment of experiment stations in connection with the land-grant colleges, and appropriating $15,000 a year to each State and Territory for their maintenance. At that time there were some twelve stations, a part of which received regular State appropriations. During 1888 stations sprang into exist- ence rapidly all over the country, and in a surprisingly short time these sta- tions had justified the expectations of their advocates and proved their useful- ness to the agriculture of the country. During the past ten years more than ten million dollars have been expended in their maintenance, seven million of which has come from the Federal Gov- ernment. Dr. True reviews the mani- fold benefits which have come from their operations, and points out their value in (1) the introduction of new agricul- tural methods, crops or industries, and the development of those already exist- ing; (2) the removal of obstacles to ag- riculture, such as diseases of plants and animals, injurious insects and other natural enemies; (3) the defense of the farmer against fraud in the purchase of fertilizers, feeding stuffs, insecticides and in other ways; (4) aiding in the passage and administration of laws for the benefit of agriculture; and (5) in an educational way. Brief as this summary necessarily is, it brings out very forcibly the wide range of usefulness of the ex- periment stations to the farming com- munity, touching nearly every phase of agricultural operation, and their very potent influence in arousing widespread interest in the various forms of agricul- tural education. "The stations are not only giving the farmer much informa- tion which will enable him to improve his practice of agriculture, but they are also leading him to a more intelligent conception of the problem with wnich he has to deal, and of the methods he must pursue to successfully perform his share of the work of the community and hold his rightful place in the com- monwealth." One large result of the ed- ucational work of the stations has been the general breaking down of the popu- lar conception that agriculture is not capable of improvement through sys- tematic and progressive researches in its behalf conducted on scientific prin- ciples. "There is now in this country a much keener appreciation than hereto- fore of the fact that the problems of ag- riculture furnish adequate opportunity for the exercise of the most thorough scientific attainments and the highest ability to penetrate the mysteries of na- ture." Considered merely as organizations for the advancement and diffusion of knowledge, the stations have attained SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 103 to an important position. They now include upon their staffs nearly seven hundred persons, who constitute a body of organized scientific workers such as is hardly to be found in any other field of investigation. While they are labor- ing primarily for the advancement of applied science, they have made a quite large number of important contributions to the sciences, and their investigations are followed with interest by workers in similar lines the world over. The past history of the stations gives every assurance of increasing strength and efficiency in the future. They have passed through the formative period of their existence, and year by year have secured a better equipment and more thoroughly trained officers. "The peo- ple generally have come to regard the stations as permanent institutions, and are convinced of the usefulness of their work. They will, therefore, enter upon the twentieth century with bright pros- pects for the development of their re- searches in scientific thoroughness and accuracy and for the securing of larger practical results." The lastest addition to the list of ex- periment stations is the Alaska Station, which was established last year, with headquarters at Sitka. Some prelimi- nary work to determine the practicabil- ity of conducting station work there was carried on the year previous. The report of the operations of the Alaska Station for 1899 has recently been is- sued by the United States Department of Agriculture. It is only recently that Alaska has been regarded as possessing agricultural possibilities. Potatoes and a few other vegetables were grown in a small way by some of the settlers and at a few missions, but for more than a quarter of a century after Alaska became a part of the United States no effort was made to encourage agriculture. It was not until the discovery of gold in Alaska attracted a large number of people there and created a demand for foodstuffs that any interest was manifested in the study of its agricultural capabilities, or in the attempt to establish there at least sufficient agriculture to meet a considerable proportion of the needs of its population. The results of the ex- periments carried on by the Alaska Station have been a surprise to those who have regarded the country as suited only to the fisheries, the fur trade and mining. Professor Georgeson's re- port shows that vegetable growing in Alaska is no longer a matter of experi- ment. "It has been abundantly proved that all the common, hardy vegetables which are grown in the gardens of the States, such as potatoes, cabbage, cauli- flower, kale, peas, onions, carrots, pars- nips, parsley, lettuce, celery, radishes, turnips, beets and the like, in their nu- merous varieties, can be grown in Alas- ka to a high degree of perfection and attain a crispness and delicacy of flavor which is rarely equaled in the best farming regions of the States, because they are there very frequently dwarfed and toughened by drought and heat." He has also shown that in Southeastern Alaska and in Cook Inlet oats, barley, buckwheat and spring wheat will ma- ture with careful culture. Flax has been grown for two years with marked success, indicating that the climate is particularly favorable for flax growing. In addition to the native grasses, which grow luxuriantly, a long list of forage plants have been successfully grown, and Professor Georgeson asserts that it is safe to depend on growing an abun- dance of feed for live stock every year, which leads him to believe that dairy- ing, beef, mutton and wool production are assured of success. Thus far the ex- periments have been confined to the southern coast of Alaska, but the pres- ent season work will be undertaken in the Yukon district and at other places in the interior. PHILOSOPHY. The appearance of a book by the veteran Dr. Hutchinson Sterling, from whose 'Secret of Hegel,' published in 1865, the rise of the neo-rationalist 104 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. school in Britain and the United States dates, is always welcome. And, even if scientific students lay up old scores against him for his attack on Huxley, and for his more recent, suggestive, though unfair assault on the Darwin- ians, they must remember that he rep- resents one type of contemporary think- ing favored by a large and influential group; they must remember, too, that he was trained as a physician and has competent first-hand knowledge of the scientific standpoint. The present work — 'What Is Thought,' published by the Blacks in Edinburgh, and imported by the Scribners — although highly metaphysical, in the Hegelian sense, contains not a little interesting material. The early chapters, on 'Substance,' the 'Ontological Proof,' 'Self-consciousness,' and the like, summarize views familiar to philosophical students, and known more or less to scientific men through such books as Prof. Ritchie's 'Darwin and Hegel,' and Prof. Watson's 'Kant and his English Critics.' Fortunately, these chapters occupy but a third of the volume. The three hundred pages de- voted to some account of the develop- ment from Kant, through Fichte and Schelling, to Hegel, are more important, and present, in some aspects, the best statement of the subject at present available in English. The long chapter on Kant is full of points demanding consideration from thoughtful scientific workers; while the estimate of the re- lations between Sehelling and Heerel must be held of exceptional value. No doubt, the book is hard reading; all Dr. Sterling's works are, for he has never been able to rid himself of the curious Carlylese style that so strongly marked his first, and greatest, effort. Nevertheless, all the old vigor and all the power remain. It may be added that the book appeals very specially to students of the history of European thought in the nineteenth century a subject which, particularly as concerns the relation between the sciences and philosophy, is very far from being un- derstood as yet. It is not easy to speak of the Eng- lish translation from the German ver- sion of the Danish original of Hoff- ding's 'History of Philosophy.' Pro- fessor Hciffding's work is admirable, as all know; the translation — well, the less said of it, the better. We dismiss it with but one comment. The most laugh- able of the translator's numerous errors happens to be venial, as too many others are not. He tells us that Geulincx died at Pesth. Knowing of the Dutch philosopher's sojourn in Lyons, but being in ignorance of a visit to Pesth, one naturally turned to the original, and found Hoffding record- ing that Geulincx died of the plague (pest) ! This is fit companion for the similar error (now classical) whereby the Wolffian psychology (wolf- fischen PsycJwlogie) was Englished as animal psychology. Pest and Pesth obviously bear much the same relation to each other as Wolff and wolf! This may be sublime, it is hardly translation. One may venture to express a hope that the publishers will see to a thorough re- vision by a competent hand. The work is far too important to be left thus; moreover, we are unaccustomed to as- sociate such a performance with the house of Macmillan. As compared with other histories of philosophy, Hoffding's possesses quite peculiar attractions for those whose main interests lie in the direction of science. The space at dis- posal compels the briefest statement of these points. In the first place, then, Hoffding devotes great attention to the formation and i7nport of the Renais- sance view of the universe. He bears it specially in mind that this view was evolved as much, if not more, by science than by philosophy. Consequently, Co- pernicus, Galileo and Newton take their places alongside Descartes, Spinoza and Leibnitz. The importance of this method of treatment can hardly be exaggerated to-day. For one of the main problems at the moment is nothing more than a determination of the extent to which 'modern thought' is still controlled by SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 105 the cosmic conceptions and categories of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eight- eenth centuries. In the same way gen- erous consideration is accorded to think- ers who are passed over with scant cere- mony in the ordinary text-books. Bruno, Bacon and Kepler are instances of this. The same appreciation of the immense importance of science for philosophical inquiry marks the perspective in which nineteenth century workers are placed. Kant, who is more influential for science than any other thinker, receives very full discussion — a discussion, too, which however one may dissent from it, as the present writer dissents, bears every- where the traits of prolonged study and of first-hand acquaintance with the principal primary sources. Similarly, the English school of Positivists, elbowed out in the country of its birth as it has been by a metaphysicising Hegelianism, is restored to its true im- portance, and the post-Kantian ration- alism, that has ousted it, is bidden come down lower. In a work so ex- tensive there are, of course, many points on which one can not agree with the dis- tinguished author. For example, his con- ception of the relation between Des- cartes and Spinoza requires revision; he makes too much of Bruno; he has not reasoned the standpoint of Copernicus out to its logical conclusion; Hobbes and Rousseau get more than their due, and Hume less; the peculiar genius of the English school, particularly as rep- resented by Locke, does not seem to have been caught. But, after all, these are defects which appear to the expert and do not seriously mar the book as a whole. For the scientific man, it is the best presentation of the constructive de- velopment of philosophical theory from the Renaissance till within the last twenty-five years. io6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. It is frequently said that the days of the discovery of general principles and far-reaching laws are past, and that students of science are now settling down to minor questions and the elab- oration of details. The amount of spe- cialized work, unproductive of immedi- ate result in general truths, is naturally increasing, both because of the assiduity of scientific workers and because each general truth brings a number of minor problems. But the acquisition of wide theories is by no means at an end when we are told, as we have been during the last year, that the nebular hypothesis of Laplace is at variance with the facts; that the atoms are made up of smaller bodies whose nature can be known; that inertia and gravitation are not special facts by themselves, but are the results of the electrical charges of bodies. In papers in the Journal of Geology and the Astrophysical Journal, Prof. T. C. Chamberlin and Dr. F. R. Moulton seek to show that the nature of the earth's atmosphere is not compatible with the traditional idea of the formation of the earth from a hot gaseous ring ; that the force of gravity would not cause such a ring to form a sphere; that the mat- ter given off by a rotating spheroid of gas would not go off in the form of rings, and that the present mechanical arrangement of the solar system could not be derived from a spheroidal nebula such as Laplace assumed. It is sug- gested that the spiral nebulae may offer conditions analogous to those of our own solar system in its early stages. The hypothesis receives confirmation from the important paper published just before his death by Keeler, and de- scribed by Professor Campbell in the obituary notice published above. Keel- er's beautiful photographs with the Crossley reflector, several of which are reproduced by Professor Newcomb in the opening article of this issue of the Monthly, indicate that most nebulae are in fact spiral. Recent researches in molecular phys- ics threaten to disqualify the time- honored position of the atoms as the smallest known particles of matter and to push the analysis of material sub- stances to a point where the dreams of a primary order of sub-atoms or corpuscles whose varying combinations shall account for the so-called 'elements' seems almost probable. The work of Prof. J. J. Thomson and others on the electrical condition of gases has resulted in the hypothesis that the ions or bodies carrying the electric charges are not greater than one-thousandth the mass of the hydrogen atom; further, that the mass of each ion is the same in the case of all the gases tried, regardless of their atomic weights. The latter statement indicates that atoms of totally different constitution yet consist of corpuscles that are alike at least in mass. Although the experiments and reasoning which have led to these con- clusions are beyond the comprehension of any but the specialist, and so cannot be suitably given in this connection, it should be remembered that the conclu- sions are far from being mere specula- tions. On the contrary, they are the re- sult of the most careful experimental work, accord well with a number of facts and have already been tentatively applied to the explanation of other phenomena. Thus, Dr. Reginald A. Fessenden has arrived at certain far- reaching hypotheses concerning the pos- sible explanation of inertia and gravita- tion in terms of electric charges. In a recent issue of Science he writes: "We thus find that both inertia and gravita- THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 107 tion are electrical effects and due to the fact that the atom consists of corpuscu- lar charges. The constant ratio be- tween quantity of inertia and quantity of gravitation, for a given body, is thus explained. We may state the theory thus: The inertia of matter is due to the electromagnetic inductance of the corpuscular charges, and gravitation is due to the change of density of the ether surrounding the corpuscles, this change of density being a secondary ef- fect arising from the electrostatic stress of the corpuscular charges." We are able to publish in the pres- ent issue of this Journal an article on China, by Mr. William Barclay Par- sons, which represents the best knowl- edge obtainable from recent and accu- rate observations. The present political crisis has called forth other articles, and books will be forthcoming, giving a cer- tain amount of reliable information in regard to the physical and social aspects of the country. Still, the difference be- tween Eastern and Western civilization becomes apparent the moment any definite question is asked about the natural resources or social conditions of China. Almost any fair question of this nature about our own country would meet with a ready and reasonably com- plete answer from some one of the gov- ernment bureaus or from general sci- entific literature. When it is asked about China we obtain in general only opin- ions of travelers, missionaries or other foreign residents, opinions based on vague data and guided usually by medi- ocre scientific training. On what is per- haps the most important questions of all: What is the mental and moral make-up of the Chinese people? How will they act singly or collectively under given conditions? we get even less ac- curate judgments than we do on the mineral resources, the fauna and flora, etc. It is a pity that the sciences of human nature are not far enough ad- vanced to make it practicable to send a body of anthropologists and psycholo- gists to China to examine and diagnose the mental capacities and proclivities of the race. Even as things are, such a report would be worth something as a supplement to the impressions of those who have written about China. It might be assumed from the general principles of the theory of evolution that races which have for many cen- turies been subject to a nearly constant environment will be greatly disturbed by new conditions. It is not surprising that the native tribes of America and Australasia should be exterminated. On the other hand, rabbits imported into Australia and negroes imported into America have flourished, and the Jap- anese have adapted themselves to a new civilization in a marvelous fashion. Com- mon-sense and science are in equal measure unable to foretell what will happen to China and its peoples. It will be remembered that the Tate Dr. Alfred Nobel bequeathed nearly all his great fortune, estimated at ten mil- lion dollars, for the establishment of five prizes. The exact terms of his will, which have only recently been made public, are as follows: The capital, converted into safe in- vestments by the executors of my will, shall constitute a fund the interest of which shall be distributed annually as a reward to those who, in the course of the preceding year, shall have ren- dered the greatest services to humanity. The sum total shall be divided into five equal portions, assigned as follows: 1. To the person having made the most important discovery or invention in the department of physical science. 2. To the person having made the most important discovery or having produced the greatest improvement in chemistry. 3. To the author of the most im- portant discovery in the department of physiology or of medicine. 4. To the author having produced the most notable literary work in the sense of idealism. 5. To the person having done the most, or the best, in the work of estab- lishing the brotherhood of nations, for the suppression or the reduction of standing armies, as well as for the for- mation and propagation of peace con- ferences. io8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. The prizes will be awarded as fol- lows- For physical science and chemis- try by the Swedish Academy of Sci- ences; for works in physiology or medi- cine by the Carolin Institute of Stock- holm; for literature, by the Academy of Stockholm: finally for the work of peace, by a committee of five members elected by the Norwegian Stortung. It is my expressed will that nationality shall not be considered, so that the prize may accrue to the most worthy, whether he be a Scandinavian or not. The organization for executing this will has, after an interval of about three years, been completed, and its nature has been formally announced in an official communication to our govern- ment. Nobel's intentions have not been exactly carried out, . the chief deviations being that part of the money is used for the establishment of certain Nobel institutes, the objects of which are not exactly defined. On these in- stitutes and on the incidental expenses of awarding the prizes, one-fourth of the income may be expended. Further —and this seems to be in direct viola- tion of the provisions of the will — prizes need be given only once in five years, and the money thus saved may be used to establish special funds 'to encourage otherwise than by prizes the tendencies aimed at by the donor.' It is to be hoped that the administrators will make only judicious use of these provisions, for Nobel's purpose to estab- lish for eminence in science and litera- ture a few rewards as munificent as the world gives in politics, war or business is too wise to be neglected. Any at- tempt to divert the funds to the en- couragement of local institutions or to the education of inferior men should be carefully guarded against. Nobel's will explicitly ordered that the money be awarded in prizes for eminence and without any consideration of national- ity. New York University received early in the year a gift of $100,000 from Miss Helen Gould for the erection of a Hall of Fame. On the colonnades are to be inscribed the names of the most emi- nent Americans, and thirty of these have recently been selected by the Sen- ate of the University, in accordance with the votes of certain prominent men selected as judges. Ninety-seven of these handed in their votes, and the fol- lowing eminent Americans received the majority required: George Washington 97, Abraham Lincoln 96, Daniel Web- ster 96, Benjamin Franklin 94, Ulysses S. Grant 92, John Marshall 91, Thomas Jefferson 90, Ralph Waldo Emerson 87, Robert Fulton 85, Henry W. Longfel- low 85, Washington Irving 83, Jona- than Edwards 81, Samuel F.B. Morse 80, David Glasgow Farragut 79, Henry Clay 74, Nathaniel Hawthorne 73, George Pe'abody 72, Robert E. Lee 69, Peter Cooper 69, Eli Whitney 67, John James Audubon 67, Horace Mann 67, Henry Ward Beecher 66, James Kent 65, Jo- seph Story 64, John Adams 61, William Ellery Channing 58, Elias Howe 53, Gil- bert Stuart 52, Asa Gray 51. It will be noticed that the list contains four in- ventors—Robert Fulton, S. F. B. Morse, Eli Whitney and Elias Howe— while there are but two scientific men— J. J. Audubon and Asa Gray, unless Benja- min Franklin be included. The judges probably were more interested in birds and flowers than in the history of sci- ence in America. Audubon and Gray should certainly be included in a list of eminent scientific men, but not to the exclusion of Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford), Joseph Henry and others. Twenty further names are to be added in 1902 and thereafter five at intervals of five years. The papers and discussions before many of the congresses of the Paris Exposition were technical in character, as is demanded by the ad- vanced and specialized state of the sci- ences, but there also met at Paris dur- ing August and September a number of congresses devoted to the mental and so- cial sciences which perhaps presented more aspects of interest to those who are not special students. The only one of these congresses that can be noted THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 109 here is that devoted to psychology, a science intermediate, in its present state of development, between the exact sci- ences and those subjects in which indi- vidual opinions are more prominent than ascertained facts. About three hundred students of psychology attended the fourth international congress, which met in seven sections, namely: (1) Psychol- ogy in its relation to anatomy and phys- iology; (2) Introspective psychology in its relation to philosophy; (3) Experi- mental psychology and psychophysics ; (4) Pathological psychology and psy- chiatry; (5) Psychology of hypnotism and related phenomena; (6) Social and criminal psychology, and (7) Compara- tive psychology and anthropology. Among the subjects discussed by the Psychological Congress was the estab- lishment at Paris of a 'Psychical Insti- tute' under the auspices of an interna- tional society. This Institute proposes to do for 'psychics' what the Pasteur In- stitute does for biology and pathology. According to M. Janet, its aims are: (1) To collect in a library and museum all books, works, publications, appara- tus, etc., relating to psychical science; (2) To place at the disposal of research- ers, either as gifts or as loans, accord- ing to circumstances, such books and instruments necessary for their studies as the Institute may be able to acquire; (3) To supply assistance to any labora- tory or to any investigators, working singly or unitedly, who can snow that they require that assistance for a publi- cation or for a research of recognized interest; (4) To encourage study and research with regard to such phenomena as may be considered of sufficient im- portance; (5) To organize lectures and courses of instruction upon the differ- ent branches of psychical science; (6) To organize, as far as means will allow, permanent laboratories and a clinic, where such researches as may be con- sidered desirable will be pursued by certain of the members; (7) To publish the 'Annales de l'lnstitut Psychique In- ternational de Paris,' which will com- prise a summary of the work in which members of the Institute have taken part and which may be of a character to contribute to the progress of the science. The Institute aims to cover the whole field of psychology, but it ap- pears from the discussions and from those who are interested in the move- ment that it will favor those more or less occult phenomena which go under the name 'psychical.' Thus the Ameri- can members of the committee are Prof. J. Mark Baldwin, Prof. J. H. Gore and Mr. Elmer Gates, which is as if the committee on a pathological institute consisted of one physician, a lawyer in- terested in homeopathy and a faith curist. The experiment demonstrating the relation of mosquitoes to malarial fever, undertaken under the auspices of the London School of Tropical Medicine, has apparently been successful. Its some- what dramatic character and wide ad- vertisement in the daily papers will prove of benefit both in leading people to take precautions to avoid infection by mosquitoes and in leading to in- creased appreciation of the importance of experiments in medicine. Drs. Sam- bon and Low, who have been living in a hut in one of the most malarial dis- tricts of Italy since last June, drinking the water, exposed to the night air and taking no quinine, have so far been entirely free from malaria. The con- verse of the experiment has been equally successful. Dr. Patrick Man- son's son, who had never suffered from malaria, allowed mmself to be bitten in London on three occasions by mosqui- toes fed in Rome on patients suffering from malaria. He suffered an attack of fever and the tertian parasites were found in his blood. Americans, and es- pecially readers of this journal, may be interested to learn that the earliest article on the relation of mosquitos to malaria was published in the Popular Science Monthly for September, 1883. Prof. A. F. King, still living in Wash- ington, contributed an article entitled no POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 'Insects and Disease — Malaria and Mos- quitoes,' in which, after calling atten- tion to the then recent researches of Dr. Patrick Manson, in China, and others, proving that the mosquito acts as an intermediary host of Filaria sanguinas hominis, he proceeds to point out in de- tail the connection existing between mosquitoes and malaria. Nineteen spe- cial arguments are marshaled, several of which deserve consideration at the present time. Among the points urged by Dr. King is the fact that malaria is prevented by mosquito nets, a state- ment being quoted to the effect that "on surrounding the head with a gauze veil or conopeum the action of malaria is prevented and that thus it is possible to sleep in the most pernicious parts of Italy without hazard of fever." This was, of course, written long before La- veran discovered Plasmodium malariae, and before exact experiment was pos- sible, but Dr. King deserves much credit for bringing together so much evidence in favor of a theory the correctness of which could only be demonstrated twenty-seven years later. The proper standard for atomic weights has occasioned controversies among chemists for nearly a century, but at last bids fair to be settled, through the practical agreement of an international committee, under the aus- pices of the German Chemical Society. The original standard, proposed by Ber- zelius, was the weight of the oxygen atom taken as 100. This gave rise to very large numbers, in the case of num- bers with high atomic weights, and gradually the use of hydrogen = 1 came to supersede that of oxygen = 100. So long as it was assumed that the oxy- gen atom was exactly sixteen times as heavy as the hydrogen atom, this stand- ard was satisfactory. With increasing refinement of analytical work, it began to appear that the atomic weight of oxygen, with reference to hydrogen, was slightly less than sixteen. For some time the exact figure was supposed to be 15.96. This necessitated a recal- culation of the atomic weights of all the elements, for they are for the most part determined with reference directly to oxygen or chlorin, and only indi- rectly with reference to hydrogen. As it was certain that the final word had not been said as to the atomic weight of oxygen, the suggestion was made by a few chemists to use as a standard oxygen = 16. The first article pub- lished advocating this new standard was by Dr. F. P. Venable, of the University of North Carolina, in 1888. Discussion was particularly aroused in the Ger- man Chemical Society by Professor Brauner, of Prague, who was strongly supported by Ostwald and opposed by Meyer and by Seubert. The latter, who is one of the great authorities on atomic weights, has since come to the support of oxygen = 16. The recent report of an international committee represent- ing chemical societies of eleven coun- tries (America, Belgium, Germany, Eng- land, Holland, Japan, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Sweden, Switzerland), showed forty in favor of oxygen = 16, seven op- posed, while two wanted both stand- ards. Except one American, none were opposed but Germans, and the German vote was a tie between the two stand- ards. The objections raised against us- ing oxygen = 16 as a standard seem to be solely from a didactic standpoint, in having something other than unity as a standard. It was clearly pointed out by Dr. Venable in his second paper that there was no necessary connection be- tween the standard and unity. Some objectors would take oxygen as unity, but this would be impracticable, as it would make such radical changes in the numbers now in use. An additional reason for the newer standard is that a large proportion of those weights most frequently used approach very closely to whole numbers, a point of no slight advantage to the technical chemist. While the small minority of the inter- national committee are making a vig- orous protest against the decision of the majority, it seems probable that this decision will be concurred in by most chemists throughout the world. THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. in Foreign men of science have a pleasant custom of celebrating the long service of their colleagues. Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli was born in 1835, and in June, 1860, he was appointed one of the astronomers of the Observatory of Milan. In June, 1900, thirty-six Ital- ian astronomers joined in a memorial to him which has been handsomely printed in a pamphlet of eighty-eight pages. On November 1 of this year Schiaparelli is to retire to private life, after more than forty years of active service. For thirty- eight years he has been director of the observatory at the Brera palace, which, by his researches, has been raised to a very high rank. His first observations were made with quite small instru- ments, but his successes with limited means finally brought splendid modern instruments to his observatory. His earliest examinations of planets (1861) were made with a small telescope of only four inches aperture. For many years he employed a telescope of eight inches, but since 1887 he has had at his disposition a refractor of eighteen inches — one of the powerful telescopes of the world. Schiaparelli is best known to the world at large by his long continued and very successful observations of Mars. It is not too much to say that his work has revolutionized our notions of the phys- ical conditions existing on that planet. It is more than likely that some of his conclusions will have to be revised; and it is certain that some of his less cau- tious followers have drawn conclusions that the master's observations do not warrant. However this may be, his own work has a high and permanent value. Astronomers rate other research- es of Schiaparelli's quite as highly as his studies of the planets. The relation be- tween comets and meteor-showers was most thoroughly worked out by him; we owe to him also thousands of accu- rate observations of double stars; as well as a great number of important re- searches on many and various questions of mathematics, physics and astronomy. It is interesting to note, here and there, in the list of the 206 memoirs which he has published, certain papers of an anti- quarian and literary turn — on the labors of the ancients before Copernicus; Grseco-Indian studies; on the interpre- tation of certain verses of Dante, etc. The nomenclature of his topographical chart of Mars, among other things, proves the accuracy and elegance of his classical learning. He has been rewarded for a long and laborious life by the respect and admira- tion of his colleagues and by the con- tinued interest of the larger public in his discoveries. Academies of science all over the world (with the singular excep- tion of America) have elected him to membership and have awarded their medals and other honorary distinctions, and he has been decorated with orders of knighthood by Italy, Brazil and Russia. Finally, he is a life-senator of the Kingdom of Italy. These tokens of particular appreci- ation and his widespread popular repu- tation are the rewards of a life devoted strictly to science. He has not gone out of his way to seek applause, though it has come to him in full measure. The graceful tribute of his colleagues signal- izes his retirement from his official posi- tion, but we trust that he may be spared for many years to devote his genius to the science he has so greatly forwarded. The New York Central and Hudson River Railroad still announces in its time tables that the Empire State Ex- press is the fastest regular train in the world; but this appears to be no longer correct. The Empire State Express traverses the distance from New York to Buffalo, about 440 miles, in eight hours and fifteen minutes, or at a rate of 53.33 miles per hour. The Sud Ex- press on the Orleans and Midi Railway travels from Paris to Bayonne in eight hours and fifty-nine minutes. The dis- tance is in this case 466J miles, the speed, including the time taken by six stops, is 54.13 miles per hour. The en- gine of the New York Central Railroad 112 THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. has, however, a heavier load and is cheeked by necessary slacking as it passes through crowded streets and past level crossings. The fastest long- distance train in England is 'The Fly- ing Scotsman,' which goes from London to Edinburgh, a distance of 393* miles, at a rate of 50.77 miles per hour. The United States holds the record for short distances in the run from Cam- den to Atlantic City, which is made by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad at a rate of 66.6 miles per hour and by the Pennsylvania Railroad at a rate of 64.3 miles per hour. There is a consid- erable number of trains run at these rates or nearly as fast, and the rate is sometimes as great as eighty-eight miles an hour for distances of twenty miles. England seems to be now distinctly in- ferior to France and America in the speed for both long and comparatively short distances, although the road- beds are better, and although they do not have to contend with level cross- ings and runs through streets. The greater speed of the American trains appears to be due to the superiority of the engines. It is a fact that the speed of railway trains has increased little in recent years — scarcely at all in Great Britain for thirty years. If more rapid transit is required it will probably be found in the use of light trolley cars. There seems to be no technical difficulty in establishing a ten-minute service be- tween Jersey City and Philadelphia, the time being reduced to one hour. Among recent events of scientific in- terest we note the following: Prof. H. A. Rowland, of the Johns Hopkins Uni- versity, lias been awarded the grand prize of the Paris Exposition for his spectroscopic gratings, and Prof. A. Michelson, of the University of Chicago, the same honor for his echelon spectro- scope. —The Balbi-Valier prize (3.000 francs) of the Venetian Institute of Sciences lias been awarded to Profes- sor Grassi, at Rome, for his work on the relation of Mosquitoes to malaria. — The Paris Academy of Moral and Po- litical Sciences has awarded its Audi- fred prize of the value of 15,000 francs to Dr. Yersin for the discovery of his anti- plague serum. — A movement has be- gun in London for the erection of a memorial in honor of the late Sir Wil- liam Flower, which will consist of a bust and a commemorative brass tablet to be placed in the Whale Room of the Nat- ural History Museum — one of the de- partments in which he was most inter- ested and to which he devoted special care and attention. — A monument in honor of Pelletier and Caventou, the chemists, to whom the discovery of quinine is due, was unveiled at Paris on August 7. An address was made by M. Moissan, president of the committee, who presented the monument to the city of Paris, and by other speakers. — Milne Edwards has by his will bequeathed his library to the Paris Jardin des Plantes, of which he was a director. It is to be sold and the proceeds to be applied to- ward the endowment of the chair of zoology which he held. He also leaves 20,000 francs to the Geographical So- ciety, of which he was president, for the establishment of a prize and 10,000 francs to the SociSte des Amis des Sciences. — The collection of jewels arranged by Mr. George F. Kunz and exhibited by Messrs. Tiffany & Co. at the Paris Ex- position has been presented to the Amer- ican Museum of Natural History by Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan. — The New York Board of Estimate and Apportionment has authorized the expenditure of $200,- 000 for the Botanical Garden and $150,- 000 for an addition to the American Museum of Natural History. — The Peabody Academy of Science at Salem, Mass., is trying to raise $50,000 for an addition to the museum building. Al- ready over $26,000 has been pledged for the purpose. vol. Lvni.— 8 LAVOISIER MONUMENT. Erected in Paris i-.y International Subscription. THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. DECEMBER, 1900. OXYGEN AND THE NATURE OF ACIDS. [These selections from Priestley's account of the discovery of oxygen and from Lavoisier's first formal presentations of his theory of acids are classical examples of scientific work which will always be worth reading. They have also the historical interest due to the fact that the discoveries they describe served as the turning-point of chemistry to the paths it has since followed. The dates of publication were respectively 1775, 1776 and 1777. We realize the progress of the century when we remember that these experiments are now among the first in an elemen- tary course. These two papers are also representatives of two well-defined types of scientific advance ; Priestley's discovery was one of the happy accidents that often reward the investiga- tor, one of the cases where he reaps a hundred fold, while Lavoisier's work was the result of gifted insight and careful consideration of the entire range of phenomena concerned. Lavoi- sier had, as is shown in this paper, the faculty of giving the right meaning to the data acquired by others. The phlogiston theory is now so much a matter of antiquity that it seems proper to give the modern equivalents of some of Priestley's terms : Air is used by him in the modern sense of gas, dephlogisticated air=oxygen, inflammable air=hydrogen, phlogisticated air=nitro- gen, marine acid air=hydrochloric acid gas, fixed air=carbon dioxid, nitrous air=nitric oxid (N O), dephlogisticated nitrous air=nitrous oxid (N20), vitriolic acid air=sulphur dioxid, mercurius calcinatus=red oxid of mercury.] ON DEPHLOGISTICATED AIR.* BY JOSEPH PRIESTLEY. THERE are, I believe, very few maxims in philosophy that have laid firmer hold upon the mind than that air, meaning atmospherical air (free from various foreign matters, which were always supposed to be dissolved, and intermixed with it), is a simple elementary substance, indestructible and unalterable, at least as much so as water is supposed to be. In the course of my inquiries I was, however, soon satisfied that atmospherical air is not an unalterable thing; for that phlogiston with which it becomes loaded from bodies burning in it, and animals breath- ing it, and various other chemical processes, so far alters and depraves it, as to render it altogether unfit for inflammation, respiration and other purposes to which it is subservient; and I had discovered that agi- * From 'Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air.' London, 1775. n6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. tation in water, the process of vegetation, and probably other natural processes, by taking out the superfluous phlogiston, restore it to its original purity. But I own I had no idea of the possibility of going any farther in this way, and thereby procuring air purer than the best common air. I might, indeed, have naturally imagined that such would be the air that should contain less phlogiston than the air of the atmos- phere; but I had no idea that such a composition was possible. It will be seen in my last publication that, from the experiments which I made on the marine acid air, I was led to conclude that com- mon air consisted of some acid (and I naturally inclined to the acid that I was then operating upon) and phlogiston; because the union of this acid vapor and phlogiston made inflammable air, and inflammable air, by agitation in water, ceases to be inflammable and becomes respirable. And though I could never make it quite so good as common air, I thought it very probable that vegetation, in more favorable circum- stances than any in which I could apply it, or some other natural process, might render it more pure. Upon this, which no person can say was an improbable supposition, was founded my conjecture of volcanoes having given birth to the at- mosphere of this planet, supplying it with a permanent air, first in- flammable, then deprived of its inflammability by agitation in water, and farther purified by vegetation. Several of the known phenomena of the nitrons acid might have led me to think that this was more proper for the constitution of the atmosphere than the marine acid; but my thoughts had got into a differ- ent train, and nothing but a series of observations, which I shall now distinctly relate, compelled me to adopt another hypothesis, and brought me, in a way of which I had then no idea, to the solution of the great problem, which my reader will perceive I had had in view ever since my discovery that the atmospherical air is alterable, and, therefore, that it is not an elementary substance, but a composition, viz., what this compo- sition is, or what is the thing that tec breathe, and how it is to be made from its constituent principles. At the time of my former publication I was not possessed of a burning lens of any considerable force; and for want of one I could not possibly make many of the experiments that I had projected, and which, in theory, appeared very promising. I had, indeed, a mirror of force sufficient for my purpose. But the nature of this instrument is such thai it cannot be applied, with effect, except upon substances that are capable of being suspended or resting on a very slender support. It cannot be directed at all upon any substance in the form of powder, nor hardly upon anything that requires to be put into a vessel of quicksilver; which a ]) pears to me to be the most accurate method of extracting air from a great variety of substances, as was explained in the introduction OXYGEN AND THE NATURE OF ACIDS. u; to this volume. But having afterwards procured a lens of twelve inches diameter and twenty inches focal distance, I proceeded with great alacrity to examine, by the help of it, what kind of air a great variety of substances, natural and factitious, would yield, putting them into the vessels represented in Fig. a, which T filled with quicksilver, and kept in- verted in a bason of the same. Mr. Warltire, a good chymist and lec- turer in natural philosophy, happening to be at that time in Calne, I explained my views to him. and was furnished by him with many substances, which I could not otherwise have procured. With this apparatus, after a variety of other experiments, an account of which will be found in its proper place, on the 1st of August, 1774, I endeavored to extract air from mercurius calcinatus per se; and I presently found that, by means of this lens, air was expelled from it very readily. Having got about three or four times as much as the bulk of my materials, I admitted water to it, and found that it was not imbibed by it. But what surprized me more than I can well express was that a candle burned in this air with a remarkably vigorous flame, very much like that enlarged flame with which a candle burns in nitrous air ex- posed to iron or liver of sulphur; but as I had got nothing like this re- markable appearance from any kind of air besides this particular modi- fication of nitrous air, and I knew no nitrous acid was used in the prepa- ration of mercurius calcinatus, I was utterly at a loss how to account for it. In this case, also, though I did not give sufficient attention to the circumstance at that time, the flame of the candle, besides being larger, burned with more splendor and heat than in that species of nitrous air; and a piece of red-hot wood sparkled in it, exactly like paper dipped in a solution of nitre, and it consumed very fast; an experiment which I had never thought of trying with nitrous air. At the same time that I made the above mentioned experiment, I extracted a quantity of air, with the very same property, from the com- mon red precipitate, which being produced by a solution of mercury in spirit of nitre, made me conclude that this peculiar property, being simi- lar to that of the modification of nitrous air above mentioned, depended upon something being communicated to it by the nitrous acid; and since the mercurius calcinatus is produced by exposing mercury to a certain degree of heat, where common air has access to it, I likewise concluded that this substance had collected something of nitre in that state of heat from the atmosphere. This, however, appearing to me much more extraordinary than it ought to have done, I entertained some suspicion that the mercurius calcinatus, on which I had made my experiments, being bought at a common apothecary's, might, in fact, be nothing more than red pre- cipitate; though, had I been anything of a practical chymist, I could not u8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. have entertained any such suspicion. However, mentioning this sus- picion to Mr. Warltire, he furnished me with some that he had kept for a specimen of the preparation, and which, he told me, he could warrant to be genuine. This being treated in the same manner as the former, only by a longer continuance of heat, I extracted much more air from it than from the other. This experiment might have satisfied any moderate sceptic; but, however, being at Paris in the October following, and knowing that there were several very eminent chymists in that place, I did not omit the opportunity, by means of my friend, Mr. Magellan, to get an ounce of mercurius calcinatus prepared by Mr. Cadet, of the genuineness of which there could not possibly be any suspicion; and at the same time, I frequently mentioned my surprise at the kind of air which I had got from this preparation to Mr. Lavoisier, Mr. le Eoy and several other philosophers, who honored me with their notice in that city; and who, I dare say, cannot fail to recollect the circumstance. At the same time I had no suspicion that the air which I had got from the mercurius calcinatus was even wholesome, so far was I from knowing what it was that I had really found; taking it for granted that it was nothing more than such kind of air as I had brought nitrous air to be by the processes above mentioned; and in this air I have observed that a candle would burn sometimes quite naturally, and sometimes with a beautiful, enlarged flame, and yet remain perfectly noxious. At the same time that I had got the air above mentioned from mer- curius calcinatus and the red precipitate, I had got the same kind from red lead or minium. In this process that part of the minium on which the focus of the lens had fallen turned yellow. One third of the air in this experiment was readily absorbed by water; but, in the remainder, a candle burned very strongly and with a crackling noise. That fixed air is contained in red lead I had observed before, for I had expelled it by the heat of a candle, and had found it to be very pure. (Vol. I., p. 192.) I imagine it requires more heat than I then used to expel any of the other kinds of air. This experiment with red lead confirmed me more in my suspicion that the mercurius calcinatus must get the property of yielding this kind of air from the atmosphere, the process by which that preparation and this of red lead is made being similar. As I never make the least secret of anything that I observe, I mentioned this experiment also, as well as those with the mercurius calcinatus and the red precipitate, to all my philosophical acquaintances at Paris and elsewhere, having no idea at that time to what these remarkable facts would lead. Presently, after my return from abroad, I went to work upon the mercurius calcinatus which I had procured from Mr. Cadet, and, with a very moderate degree of heat, I got from about one fourth of an ounce OXYGEN AND THE NATURE OF ACIDS. 119 of it, an ounce-measure of air, which I observed to be not readily imbibed, either by the substance itself from which it had been expelled (for I suffered them to continue a long time together before I transferred the air to any other place) or by water, in which I suffered this air to stand a considerable time before* I made any experiment upon it. In this air, as I had expected, a candle burned with a vivid flame; but what I observed new at this time (Nov. 19), and which surprized me no less than the fact I had discovered before, was that whereas a few moments' agitation in water will deprive the modified nitrous air of its property of admitting a candle to burn in it; yet, after more than ten times as much agitation as would be sufficient to produce this altera- tion in the nitrous air, no sensible change was produced in this. A candle still burned in it with a strong flame, and it did not in the least diminish common air, which I have observed that nitrous air, in this state, in some measure does. But I was much more surprized when, after two days, in which this air had continued in contact with water (by which it was diminished about one twentieth of its bulk) I agitated it violently in water about five minutes and found that a candle still burned in it as well as in common air. The same degree of agitation would have made phlogisti- cated nitrous air fit for respiration indeed, but it would certainly have extinguished a candle. These facts fully convinced me that there must be a very material difference between the constitution of the air from mercurius calcinatus and that of phlogisticated nitrous air, notwithstanding their resem- blance in some particulars. But though I did not doubt that the air from mercurius calcinatus was fit for respiration after being agitated in water, as every kind of air without exception on which I had tried the experi- ment had been, I still did not suspect that it was respirable in the first instance; so far was I from having any idea of this air being what it really was, much superior in this respect to the air of the atmosphere. In this ignorance of the real nature of this kind of air, I continued from this time (November) to the 1st of March following; having, in the meantime, been intent upon my experiments on the vitriolic acid air, above recited, and the various modifications of air produced by spirit of nitre, an account of which will follow. But in the course of this month I not only ascertained the nature of this kind of air, though very gradually, but was led by it to the complete discovery of the constitution of the air we breathe. Till this 1st of March, 1775, I had so little suspicion of , the air from mercurius calcinatus, etc., being wholesome that I had not even thought of applying to it the test of nitrous air; but thinking (as my reader must imagine I frequently must have done) on the candle burn- ing in it after long agitation in water, it occurred to me at last to make 120 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. the experiment; and putting one measure of nitrous air to two measures of this air, I foimd not only that it was diminished, but that it was diminished quite as much as common air, and that the redness of the mixture was likewise equal to that of a similar mixture of nitrous and common air. After this I had no doubt but that the air from mercurius calcinatus was fit for respiration, and that it Lad all the other properties of genuine common air. But I did not take notice of what I might have observed, if I had not been so fully possessed by the notion of there being no air better than common air. that the redness was really deeper, and the diminution something greater than common air would have admitted. Moreover, this advance in the way of truth, in reality, threw me back into error, making me give up the hypothesis I had first formed, viz., that the mercurius calcinatus had extracted spirit of nitre from the air; for I now concluded that all the constituent parts of the air were equally and in their proper proportion imbibed in the preparation of this sub- stance, and also in the process of making red lead. For at the same time that I made the above mentioned experiment on the air from mercurius calcinatus, 1 likewise observed that the air which I had ex- tracted from red lead, after the fixed air was washed out of it. was of the same nature, being diminished by nitrous air like common air: but, at the same time, I was puzzled to find that air from the red precipitate was diminished in the same manner, though the process for making this substance is quite different from that of making the two others. But to this circumstance 1 happened not to give much attention. I wish my reader be not quite tired with the frequent repetition of the word surprize, ami others of similar import; but I must go on in that 6tyle a little longer. For the next day I was more surprized than ever I had been before with finding that after the above mentioned mixture of nitrous air and the air from mercurius calcinatus had stood all night (in which time the whole diminution must have taken place, and, con- fiequently, had it been common air it must have been made perfectly noxious and entirely unfit for respiration or inflammation) a candle burned in it and even better than in common air. I cannot at this distance of time recollect what it was that I had in view in making this experiment; but I know I had no expectation of the real issue of it. Having ;icquired a considerable degree of readiness in making experiments of this kind, a very slight and evanescent motive would be sufficient to induce me to do it. If, however, I had not hap- pened, for some other purpose, to have had a lighted candle before me I should probably never have made the trial, and the whole train of my future experiments relating to this kind of air might have been pre- vented. Still, however, having no conception of the real cause of this OXYGEN AND THE NATURE OF ACIDS. 121 phenomenon, I considered it as something very extraordinary; but as a property that was peculiar to air that was extracted from these sub- stances and adventitious; and I always spoke of the air to my acquaint- ance as being substantially the same thing with common air. I par- ticularly remember my telling Dr. Price that I was myself perfectly satisfied of its being common air, as it appeared to be so by the test of nitrous air; though, for the satisfaction of others, I wanted a mouse to make the proof quite complete. On the 8th of this month I procured a mouse and put it into a glass vessel containing two ounce-measures of the air from mereurhts calcinatus. Had it been common air a full-grown mouse, as this was, would have lived in it about a quarter of an hour. In this air, however, my mouse lived a full half hour, and though it was taken out seemingly dead, it appeared to have been only exceedingly chilled; for, upon being held to the fire, it presently revived and appeared not to have received any harm from the experiment. By this I was confirmed in my conclusion that the air extracted from mercurius calcinatus, etc., was al least as good as common air; but I did not certainly conclude that it was any better; because, though one mouse would live only a quarter of an hour in a given quantity of air, I knew it was not impossible but that another mouse might have lived in it half an hour, so little accuracy is there in this method of as- certaining the goodness of air: and. indeed, I have never had recourse to it for my own satisfaction since the discovery of that most ready, accurate and elegant test that nitrous air furnishes. But in this case I had a view to publishing the most generally-satisfactory account of my experiments that the nature of the thing would admit of. This experiment witli the mouse, when I had reflected upon it some time, gave me so much suspicion that the air into which I had put it was better than common air, that I was induced, the day after, to apply the test of nitrous air to a small part of that very quantity of air which the mouse had breathed so long; so that, had it been common air, I was satisfied it must have been very nearly, if not altogether, as noxious as possible, so as not to be affected by nitrous air; when, to my surprize again, I found that though it had been breathed so long it was still better than common air. For after mixing it with nitrous air, in the usual proportion of two to one, it was diminished in the proportion of 4^ to 3^; that is, the nitrous air had made it two ninths less than before, and this in a very short space of time: whereas I had never found that in the longest time any common air was reduced more than one fifth of its bulk by any proportion of nitrous air, nor more than one fourth by any phlogistic process whatever. Thinking of this extraordinary fact upon my pillow, the next morning I put another measure of nitrous air to the same mixture, and, to my utter 122 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. astonishment, found that it was farther diminished to almost one half of its original quantity. I then put a third measure to it; hut this did not diminish it any farther; but, however, left it one measure less than it was even after the mouse had been taken out of it. Being now fully satisfied that this air, even after the mouse had breathed it half an hour, was much better than common air, and having a quantity of it still left sufficient for the experiment, viz., an ounce measure and a half, I put the mouse into it; when I observed that it seemed to feel no shock upon being put into it, evident signs of which would have been visible if the air had not been very wholesome; but that it remained perfectly at its ease another full half hour, when I took it out quite lively and vigorous. Measuring the air the next day I found it to be reduced from 1^ to 2-3 of an ounce measure. And after this, if I remember well (for in my register of the day I only find it noted that it was considerably diminished by nitrous air) it was nearly as good as common air. It was evident, indeed, from the mouse having been taken out quite vigorous, that the air could not have been rendered very noxious. For my farther satisfaction I procured another mouse, and putting it into less than two ounce-measures of air extracted from mercurius cal- cinatus and air from red precipitate (which, having found them to be of the same quality, I had mixed together) it lived three quarters of an hour. But not having had the precaution to set the vessel in a warm place, I suspect that the mouse died of cold. However, as it had lived three times as long as it could probably have lived in the same quantity of common air and I did not expect much accuracy from this kind of test, I did not think it necessary to make any more experiments with mice. Being now fully satisfied of the superior goodness of this kind of air, 1 proceeded to measure that degree of purity with as much accuracy as I could, by the test of nitrous air; and I began with putting one meas- ure of nitrous air to two measures of this air, as if I had been examining common air, and now I observed that the diminution was evidently greater than common air would have suffered by the same treatment. A second measure of nitrous air reduced it to two thirds of its original quantity, and a third measure to one half. Suspecting that the dim- inution could not proceed much farther, I then added only half a measure of nitrous air, by which it was diminished still more; but not much, and another half measure made it more than half of its original quantity; so that, in this case, two measures of this air took more than two measures of nitrous air and yet remained less than half of what it was. Five measures brought it pretty exactly to its original dimensions. At the same time air from the red precipitate was diminished in the same proportion as that from mercurius catcinatus, five measures of OXYGEN AND THE NATURE OF ACIDS. 123 nitrous air being received by two measures of this without any increase of dimensions. Now as common air takes about one half of its bulk of nitrous air before it begins to receive any addition to its dimensions from more nitrous air, and this air took more than four half measures before it ceased to be diminished by more nitrous air, and even five half measures made no addition to its original dimensions, I conclude that it was between four and five times as good as common air. It will be seen that I have since procured air better than this, even between five and six times as good as the best common air that I have ever met with. MEMOIR ON THE EXISTENCE OF AIR IN THE ACID OF NITRE (AND ON THE MEANS OF DECOMPOSING AND RECOM- POSING THIS ACID).* I By ANTOINE-LAURENT LAVOISIER. TOOK a small retort with a long narrow neck, which I bent over a lamp so that the end of the neck could be held under a bell-jar full of water standing in a vessel of water. Into the retort I put two ounces of slightly fuming acid of nitre, the weight of which was to that of dis- tilled water in the proportion of 131,607 to 100,000. I added two ounces one dram of mercury and heated it slightly to hasten the solution. As the acid was very strong, the effervescence was lively and the de- composition very rapid. I received the air which was liberated in differ- ent bell-jars in order to be able to tell the differences which might be found between the air at the beginning and at the end of effervescence, supposing there should be such. When the effervescence had stopped and all the mercury had dissolved, I continued to heat the material in the same apparatus. Soon boiling appeared in place of the effervescence, aud while the boiling went on air was produced in almost as great abundance as before. I continued this until all the fluid had passed out, either by distillation or as elastic vapors of air, and nothing was left in my retort save a white salt of mercury, in a pasty form, dry rather than wet, which began to grow yellow on its surface. The quantity of air obtained up to this point was about 190 cubic inches; that is to say, about four quarts. All this air was of a uniform sort and was nowise different from what M. Priestley has called nitrous air. On continuing the experiment, I noticed that from the mercury salt there arose red fumes like those of the acid of nitre; but this phenom- enon did not last long and soon the air in the empty part of the retort * Read before the Paris Academy of Science on April 20, 1776. Translated for The Popular Science Monthly from the ' Comptes Rendus ' for the meeting. i24 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. regained its transparence.* Having put to one side the air which had been given off during the period of the red fumes, I found ten to twelve inches of air very different from what had been given off up till then, and apparently differing from ordinary air only in that lights burned -lightly better in it. At the same time the mercury salt had turned to a fine red precipitate, and, keeping it at a moderate heat, I obtained at the end of seven hours 224 cubic inches of air much purer than ordinary air, in which a light burned with a much brighter, larger and brilliant or more active flame. This air, from all its characteristics, I could riot but recognize as the same that I had extracted from calx of mercury, known as mercury precipitatum per se; the same that M. Priest- ley extracted from a number of substances by treating them with spirits of nitre. In proportion as this air had been freed, the mercury had been reduced, and I found again, within a few grains, the two ounces one dram of mercury which I had dissolved. The slight loss may have been due to a little yellow and red sublimate which clung to the upper part of the retort. The mercury came out of this experiment as it went in, that is. with- out change in its quality or to any noticeable extent in its weight. So it is evident that the 42G cubic inches of air which I had obtained could have been produced only by the decomposition of the acid of nitre. I was then right in concluding from these facts that two ounces of acid of nitre are composed, first, of 190 cubic inches of nitrous air; second, of 12 cubic inches of ordinary air; third, of 224 cubic inches of air better than ordinary air; fourth, of phlegm; but as it was proved from M. Priestley's experiments, that the small amount of common air which I had obtained could be nothing save air better than common air, the superior quality of which had been altered by mixture with nitrous air in the transition or passing from one to the other, I can determine the amount of these two airs before their mixture and suppose that the 12 cubic inches of common air which I got were due to a mixture of 30 •ill lie inches of nitrous air and 11 cubic inches of air better than ordi- nary air. After thus determining these quantities, we get as the product of two ounces of acid of nitre: Nitrous air 226 cubic inches. Purest air 238 " " Total 464 [Lavoisier here uses the estimated weight of the gases found to decide the composition by weight of nitric acid.] 1 l hese red fumes are due to portions <>f nitrons air and of .air jmrer than ordinary, which are freed from the mercury salt am] which combine and form the acid of nitre. The force of this explanation will he fully felt only after the entire memoir has been read. OXYGEN AND THE NATURE OF Ad I PS. 125 Such then is a way to decompose the acid of nitre and demonstrate the existence in it of a pure air and (if I may he allowed to use this expression) more an air than ordinary air. But the complement of the proof was, after having decomposed the acid, to succeed in re-com- pounding it out of the same materials, and that is what 1 have done. [Lavoisier here inserts some preliminary remarks about the nature of nitrous air, and then describes his experiment as follows:] I filled with water a tube which was closed at one end and which was marked off along its length by equal divisions of volume. I in- serted this tube, thus filled with water, in another vessel, likewise filled with water; I let into it seven and one-third parts of nitrous air and mixed with this at the same time four parts of air purer than ordinary air, which I had measured out in another separate tube.* At the moment of mixture, the eleven and a third parts of air occupied 12 to 13 measures, but, a moment later, the two airs mingled and combined, very red vapors of spirits of fuming nitre were formed, which were at once condensed by the water, and in a few seconds the eleven and a third parts of air were reduced to about a third of a measure; that is to say, to about the thirty-fourth part of their original volume. The water contained in the tube was sensibly acid at the end of this experiment, or, rather, it was a weak acid of nitre; when I treated it with alkali I got from it by evaporation real nitre. . . . After having shown that one can separate and combine again the principles of the acid of nitre, it remains for me to show that the same can be done with materials not all taken from the acid of nitre. Instead of the purest air, or that drawn from the red precipitate of mercury, one may use the air of the atmosphere; but much more of it will have to be used, and instead of the four parts of pure air which are sufficient to saturate seven and one^third parts of nitrous air, one will have to use nearly sixteen of common air; all the nitrous air is, in this experiment, as in the preceding one, destroyed or rather condensed; but this is not the case with common air; not more than a fifth or a fourth of it is absorbed, and what remains is no longer able to support the flame of a candle or to support respiration in animals. It seems proved by this that the air which we breathe contains only a fourth part of real air; that this real air is in our atmosphere mixed with three or four parts of a harmful air, a sort of choke-damp, which would cause the death of the majority of animals if it were present in a little greater quantity. The injurious effects on the air of vapor of charcoal and of a large number of other emanations prove how near this fluid is to the point beyond which it would be fatal to animals. I hope to soon be in a position to discuss this idea and to place before the Academy the experiments on which it is based. *I pass over the tentative efforts by which I came to know the exact proportion. 126 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. It results from the experiments contained in this memoir that when mercury is dissolved in nitric acid, this metallic substance acquires the pure air contained in the nitric acid and constituting it an acid. On the one hand this metal, when combined with the purest air, is reduced to a calx; on the other the acid deprived of this same air expands and forms nitrous air, and the proof that such are the facts in this experiment is that if after having thus separated the two airs which enter into the composition of the acid of nitre, you combine them anew, you make pure acid of nitre such as you had before, with the single difference that it fumes. The acid of nitre, drawn from saltpetre by clay, is consequently nothing but nitrous air combined with nearly an equal volume of the purest part of the air and with a fairly large amount of water; nitrous air, on the contrary, is the acid of nitre deprived of air and of water. People will no doubt ask here if the phlogiston of the metal does not play some part in this process. Without daring to decide a question of so great importance, I will reply that since the mercury comes out of this experiment just as it went in, there are no signs that it has lost or gained any phlogiston, unless we claim that the phlogiston which brought about the reduction of the metal passed through the vessels. But that is to admit of a particular sort of phlogiston, different from that of Stahl and his school; it is to return to the theory of fire as a principle, to fire as an element of bodies, a theory much older than Stahl's and very different from it. I will end this memoir as I began it, by thanking M. Priestley, to whom the greater part of whatever interest it possesses is due; but the love of truth and the progress of knowledge, towards which all our efforts should be directed, oblige me at the same time to correct a mistake which he has made, which it would be dangerous to leave un- challenged. This rightly famous physicist, who had discovered that when he combined the acid of nitre with any earth, he invariably ob- tained ordinary air or air better than ordinary air, believed that he could thence draw the conclusion that the air of the atmosphere is a compound of acid of nitre and of earth. This bold conception is quite overthrown by the experiments contained in this memoir. It is clear that it is not air that is composed of acid of nitre, as M. Priestley claims; but, on the contrary, it is the acid of nitre that is composed of air; and this single remark gives the key to a large number of experi- ments contained in Sections III., IV. and V. of M. Priestley's second volume. OXYGEN AND THE NATURE OF ACIDS. 127 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE OF ACIDS * By ANTOINE-LAURENT LAVOISIER. WHEN" the chemists of olden times had reduced a body to oil, salt, earth and water, they believed that they had reached the limits of chemical analysis, and consequently they gave to salt and to oil the names of 'principles of bodies.' In proportion as the art made progress, the chemists who succeeded them became aware that substances which had been held to be primary could be decomposed, and they recognized in succession that all the neutral salts, for instance, were formed by the union of two substances, an acid of some sort and a salt, earth or metal. Hence arose the entire theory of neutral salts which has held the at- tention of chemists for over a century, and which is to-day so near per- fection that we may regard it as the surest and most complete part of chemistry. Chemical science has been handed down to us in this condition, and it is our business to do with the constituents of the neutral salts what the chemists who went before us did with the neutral salts themselves, to attack the acids and bases and to carry chemical analysis along this line a step beyond its present limits. I have already imparted to the Academy my first efforts in this field. I have in earlier memoirs demonstrated to you as far as it is possible to demonstrate in physics and chemistry that the purest air, that to which M. Priestley has given the name of 'dephlogisticated air,' enters as a constituent part into the composition of several acids, notably of phosphoric, vitriolic and nitric acids. More numerous experiments put me in a position to-day to draw gen- eral conclusions from these results and to assert that the purest air, the air most suitable for respiration, is the principle which causes acidity; that this principle is common to all acids, and that in addition one or more other principles enter into the composition of each acid, differenti- ating it and making it one sort of acid rather than another. In consequence of these facts, which I already regard as very firmly established, I shall henceforth call dephlogisticated air or air most suit- able for respiration, when it is in a state of combination or fixity, by the name of 'the acidifying principle,' or, if one prefers the same meaning in a word from the Greek, 'the principle Oxyginej1 This nomenclature will save periphrases, will make my statements more exact, and will avoid the ambiguities I would be likely to fall into constantly if I used the word 'air.' * Read before the Paris Academy of Sciences on September 5,1777. Translated for The Popu- lar Science Monthly from the ' Comptes Rendus ' for the meeting. 128 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. Without repeating details which I have given elsewhere, I will recall herein a few words, adopting this new language: 1. That the acidifying principle or oxygen, when combined with the substance of tire, heat and light, forms the purest air, that which M, Priestley has called dephlogisticated air; it is true that this first prop- osition is not strictly proved and perhaps is not susceptible of strict proof; so 1 have proposed it only as an idea that I regard as very prob- able, and in that respect it must not be confused with the propositions which are to follow, which are based on rigorous experiments and proofs; 2. That this same acidifying principle or oxygen, combined with carbon or substances containing carbon, forms the acid of chalk (car- bonic acid) or fixed air: 3. That with sulphur it forms vitriolic acid; 4. That with nitrous air it forms nitric acid; 5. That with Kunckel's phosphorus it forms phosphoric acid; 6. That with metallic substances in general it forms metallic calces, with the exception of the cases of which I shall speak in this or a following memoir. Such is very nearly our present general knowledge of the combina- tions of oxygen with the different substances in nature, and it is not hard to see that there remains a vast field to explore; that there is a part of chemistry absolutely new and until now unknown, which will be completely investigated only when we shall have succeeded in deter- mining the degree of affinity of this principle with all the substances with which it can combine, and in discovering the different sorts of com- pounds which result. All chemists know that the simpler the substances are with which you are working, the nearer you come to reducing substances to their elementary molecules, the more difficult become the means of decompos- ing and recomposing the substances; we may suppose, therefore, that the analysis and synthesis of acids must present much greater difficulties than does the analysis of the neutral salts into the composition of which they enter. I hope, however, to be able in what follows to show that there is no acid, unless, perhaps, it be that of sea salt, which wTe cannot analyze and put together again and from which we cannot at will ab- stract the acidifying principle. This kind of work demands a great variety of means, and the pro- cedures necessary to success in effecting combination vary according to the different substances with which one is working. In some cases wTe must have recourse to combustion, either in atmospheric air or pure air. Such is the case with sulphur, phosphorus and carbon; these substances during combustion absorb the acidifying principle or oxygen, and by the addition of this principle become vitriolic, phosphoric and carbonic acid or fixed air. OXYGEN AND THE NATURE OF AC ID 8. 129 In the case of other substances mere exposure to the air, aided by a moderate degree of heat, suffices to bring about the combination, and this is what happens to all vegetable substances capable of passing on to acid fermentation. In the greater number of cases one has to resort to the science of affinities and to employ the acidifying principle already united in another compound. The example which I am going to give to-day is of this last sort, and I shall take it from an experiment, well known for several years, follow- ing the memoirs of M. Bergman. It is the formation of the acid of sugar. This acid, in accordance with the experiments which I am going to recount, seems to me to be nothing else than sugar combined with the acidifying principle or oxygen, and I propose to show in order in different memoirs that we can combine this same principle with the substance composing animals' horns, with silk, with animal lymph, with wax, with essential oils, with extracted oils, manna, starch, arsenic, iron and probably with a great many other substances of the three kingdoms. "We can thus turn all these substances into genuine acids. Before entering on the material to be presented, I beg the Academy to recall that the acid of nitre, as shown by the experiments which I have before described, and which I have repeated in your presence, is the result of the union of nitrous air with the purest air or acidifying principle; that the proportion of these two principles varies in the differ- ent kinds of acid of nitre, the one which gives off fumes, for instance, containing a superabundance of nitrous air. vol. Lvni.— 9 130 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. CHAPTERS ON THE STAES. By Professor SIMON NEWCOMB, U. S. N. Masses and Densities of the Stars. THE spectroscope shows that, although the constitution of the stars offers an infinite variety of detail, we may say, in a general way, that these bodies are suns. It would perhaps he more correct to say that the Sun is one of the stars and does not differ essentially from them in its constitution. The problem of the physical constitution of the Sun and stars may, therefore, be regarded as the same. Both consist of vast masses of incandescent matter at so exalted a temperature as to shine by their own light. All may be regarded as bodies of the same general nature. It has long been known that the mean density of the Sun is only one-fourth that of the earth, and, therefore, less than half as much again as that of water. In a few cases an approximate estimate of the density of stars may be made. The method by which this may be done can be rigorously set forth only by the use of algebraic formulae, but a general idea of it can be obtained without the use of that mode of expression. Let us in advance set forth an extension of Kepler's third law, which applies to every case of two bodies revolving around each other by their mutual gravitation. The law in question, as stated by Kepler, is that the cubes of the mean distances of the planets are proportioned to the squares of their times of revolution. If we suppose the mean distances to be expressed in terms of the earth's mean distance from the Sun as a unit of length, and if we take the year as the unit of time, then the law may be expressed by saying that the cubes of the mean distances will be equal to the squares of the periods. For example, the mean distance of Jupiter is thus expressed as 5.2. If we take the cube of this, which is about 140, and then extract the square root of it, we shall have 11.8, which is the period of revolution of Jupiter around the Sun expressed in the same way. If we cube 9.5, the mean distance of Saturn, we shall have the square of a little more than 29, which is Saturn's time of revolution. We may also express the law by saying that if we divide the cube of the mean distance of any planet by the square of its periodic time we shall always get 1 as a quotient. The theory of gravitation and the elementary principles of force and motion show that a similar rule is true in the case of any two bodies revolving around each other in virtue of their mutual gravitation. If CHAPTERS ON THE STARS. 131 we divide the cube of their mean distance apart by the square of their time of revolution, we shall get a quotient which will not indeed be 1, but which will be a number expressing the combined mass of the two bodies. If one body is so small that we leave its mass out of considera- tion, then the quotient will express the mass of the larger body. If the latter has several minute satellites moving around it, the quotients will be equal, as in the case of the Sun, and will express the mass of this central body. If, as in the case we have supposed, we take the year as a unit of time and the distance of the earth from the Sun as a unit of length, the quotient will express the mass of the central body in terms of the mass of the Sun. It is thus that the masses of the planets are determined from the periodic times and distances of their satellites, Oc A c o o Fig. 1. and the masses of binary systems from their mean distance apart and their periods. To express the general law by a formula we put a, the mean distance apart of the two bodies, or the semi-major axis of their relative orbit in terms of the earth's mean distance from the Sun; P, their periodic time; M, their combined mass in terms of the Sun's mass as unity. Then we shall have: Another conclusion we draw is that if we know the time of revolu- tion and the radius of the orbit of a binary system, we can determine what the time of revolution would be if the radius of the orbit had some standard length, say unity. We cannot determine the dimensions of a binary system unless we know its parallax. But there is a remarkable law which, so far as I know, was first announced by Pickering, by virtue of which we can determine a certain relation between the surface brilliancy and the density of a binary system without knowing its parallax. Let us suppose a number of bodies of the same constitution and temperature as the Sun — models of the latter we may say — differing from it only in size. To fix the ideas, we shall suppose two such bodies, one having twice the diameter of the other. Being of the same bril- liancy, we suppose them to emit the same amount of light per unit of 132 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. surface. The larger body, having four times the surface of the smaller, will then emit four times as much light. The volumes being propor- tional to the cubes of their diameters, it will have eight times its vol- ume. The densities being supposed equal, it will have eight times the mass. Suppose that each has a satellite revolving around it, and that the orbit of the satellite of the larger body is twice the radius of that of the smaller one. Calling the radius of the nearer satellite 1, that of the more distant one will be 2. The cube of this number is 8. It follows from the exten- sion of Kepler's third law, which we have cited, that the times of revo- lution of the two satellites will be the same. Thus the two bodies, A and B, with their satellites, C and C, form two binary systems whose proportions and whose periods are the same, only the linear dimensions of B are all double those of A. In other words, we shall have a pair of binary systems which may look alike in every respect, but of which one will have double the dimensions and eight times the mass of the other. Now let us suppose the larger system to be placed at twice the distance of the smaller. The two will then appear of the same size, and, if stars, will appear of the same brightness, while the two orbits will have the same apparent dimensions. In a word, the two systems will appear alike when examined with the telescope, and the periodic times will be equal. Near the end of the second chapter we have given a little table showing the magnitude that the Sun would appear to us to have were it placed at different distances among the stars. The parallaxes we have there given are simply the apparent angle which would have to be subtended by the radius of the earth's orbit at different distances. It follows that, were the stars all of similar constitution to the Sun, the numbers given in the last column of the table referred to would, in all cases, express the apparent distance from the star of a companion, having a time of revolution of one year. From this we may easily show what would be the time of revolution of any binary system of which the companions were separated by 1", if the stars were of the same constitution as the Sun. Periods of binary systems whose components are separated by 1" and whose constitution is the same as that of the Sun. Period. Annual Mag. y. Motion. 1 1.8 200° 2 3.5 102 3 7.0 51 4 14.1 25 5 28.1 13 6 56.0 6 7 112. 3.2 8 223. 1.6 CHAPTERS ON THE STARS. 133 It will be seen that the periods are very nearly doubled for each diminution of the brilliancy of the star by one magnitude. Moreover, the value of the photometric ratio for two consecutive magnitudes is a little uncertain, so that we may, without adding to the error of our results, suppose the period to be exactly double for each addition of unity to the magnitude. A computation of the period for any magnitude may be made with all necessary precision by the formula: P = (X88 x 2m ; or, log. P = 9.994 + 0.3m. It will now be of interest to compare the results of this theory with the observed periods of binary systems with a view to comparing their constitution with that of our Sun. There are, however, two difficulties in the way of doing this with rigorous precision. The first difficulty is that there are very few binary systems of which the apparent dimensions of the orbit and the periods are known with any approach to exactness. This would not be a serious matter were it not that the short, and, therefore, known periods belong to a special class, that having the greatest density. Hence, when we derive our results from the systems of known periods we shall be making a biased selection from this particular class of stars. The next difficulty is that the theory which we have set forth as- sumes the mass of the satellite either to be very small compared with that of the star, or the two bodies to be of the same constitution. If we apply the theory to systems in which this is not the case, the results which we shall get will be, in a certain way, those corresponding to the mean of the two components. Were it a question of masses, we should get with entire precision the sum of the masses of the two bodies. The best we can do, therefore, is to suppose the two companions fused into one having the combined brilliancy of the two. Then, if the result is too small for one, it will be too large for the other. To show the method of proceeding, I have taken the six systems of shortest period found in Dr. See's 'Besearches on Stellar Evolution.' The principal numbers are shown in the table below. The first column, a", after the name of the star, gives the apparent semi-major axis of the orbit in seconds of arc. The next column gives the period in years. Column Mag. gives the apparent magnitude which the system would have were the two bodies fused into one. Column P gives the period in years as it would be were the radius of the orbit equal to one second. It is formed by dividing the actual period by A. The next column gives the period as it would be were the stars of similar constitution to the Sun. The last column gives the square of the ratio of the two bodies, which, if the stars had the same 134 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. surface brilliancy as the Sun, would express the ratio of density of the stars to that of the Sun. Actually, it gives the product: Density x (brilliancy). » Star's Density. k Pegasi. . . 8, Equulei. . £> Sagittarii F9 Argus. . . 42 Cornae. . . P Delphirii . a." Per. Mag. p. Sun's Per. 0".42 lly.4 4.2 41.9 16.2 0".45 lly.4 4.6 37.8 21.0 0".69 18y.8 2.9 32.7 6.7 0".65 22y.O 5.5 42.0 39.7 0".64 25y.6 4.4 50.0 18.5 0".C7 27y.7 3.7 50.4 11.4 0.15 0.31 0.04 0.90 0.14 0.51 The numbers in the last column being all less than unity, it fol- lows that either the stars are much less dense than the Sun or they are of much less surface brilliancy. Moreover, they belong to a selected list in which the numbers of the last column are larger than the average. To form some idea of the result of a selection from the general average, we may assume that the average of all the measured distances between the components of a number of binary systems is equal to the average radius of their orbits, and that the observed annual motion is equal to the mean motion of the companion in its orbit. Taking a number of cases of this sort, I find that the number corresponding to the last number of the preceding table would be little more than one thousandth. A very remarkable case is that of £> Orionis. This star, in the belt of Orion, is of the second magnitude. It has a minute companion at a distance of 2 ".5. Were it a model of the Sun, a companion at this ap- parent distance should perform its revolution in fourteen years. But, as a matter of fact, the motion is so slow that even now, after fifty years of observation, it cannot be determined with any precision. It is prob- ably less than 0°.l in a year. The number expressing the comparison of its density and surface brilliancy with those of the Sun is probably less than .0001. The general conclusion to be drawn is obvious. The stars in general are not models of our Sun, but have a much smaller mass in propor- tion to the light they give than our Sun has. They must, therefore, have either a less density or a greater surface brilliancy. We may now inquire whether such extreme differences of surface brilliancy or of density are more likely. The brilliancy of a star de- pends primarily not on its temperature throughout, but on that of some region near or upon its surface. The temperature of this surface can- not be kept up except by continual convection currents from the in- terior to the surface. We are, therefore, to regard the amount of light CHAPTERS ON THE STARS. 135 emitted by a star not merely as indicating temperature, but as limited by the quantity of matter which, impeded by friction, can come up to the surface, and there cool off and afterward sink down again. This again depends very largely on internal friction, and is limited by that. Owing to this limitation, we cannot attribute the difference in question wholly to surface brilliancy. We must conclude that at least the brighter stars are, in general, composed of matter much less dense than that of the Sun. Many of them are probably even less dense than air and in nearly all cases the density is far less than that of any known liquid. An ingenious application of the mechanical principle we have laid down has been made independently by Mr. Koberts, of South Africa, and Mr. Norris, of Princeton, in another way. If we only knew the relation between the diameters of the two companions of a binary sys- tem and its dimensions, we could decide how much of the difference in question is due to density and how much to surface brilliancy. Now this may be approximately done in the case of variable stars of the Algol and ft Lyrse types. If, as is probably the most common case, the passage of the stars over each other is nearly central, the ratio of their diameter to the radius of the orbit may be determined by comparing the duration of the eclipse with the time of revolution. This was one of the funda- mental data used by Myers in his work on ft Lyras, of which we have quoted the results. Without going into reasoning or technical details at length, we may give the results reached by Eoberts and Norris in the case of the Algol variables: For the variable star X Carina?, Eoberts finds, as a superior limit for the density of the star and its companion, one-fourth that of the Sun. It may be less than this is, to any extent. In the case of S Velorum the superior limits of density are: Bright star 0.61 Companion 0.03 In the case of ES Sagittarii the upper limits of density are 0.16 and 0.21. It is possible, in the mean of a number of cases like these, to esti- mate the general average amount by which the densities fall below the limits here given. Eoberts' final conclusion is that the average density of the Algol variables and their eclipsing companions is about one eighth that of the Sun. The work of Eussell was carried through at the same time as that of Eoberts, and quite independently of his. It appeared at the same time.* His formula? and methods were different, though they rested on similar fundamental principles. Taking the density of the Sun as * 'Astrophysical Journal,' Vol. X, No. 5. 136 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. unity, he computes the superior limit of density for 12 variables, based on their periods and the duration of their partial eclipses. The greatest limit is in the case of Z Herculis and is 0.728. The least is in the ease of S Caneri and is 0.035. The average is about 0.2. As the actual density may be less than the limit by an indefinite amount, the general conclusion from his work may be regarded as the same with that from the work of Boberts. The results of the preceding theory are independent of the parallax of the stars. They, therefore, give us no knowledge as to the mass of a binary system. To determine this we must know its parallax, from which we can determine the actual dimensions of the orbit when its apparent dimensions are known. Then the formula already given will give the actual mass of the system in terms of the Sun's mass. There are only six binary systems of which both the orbit and the parallax are known. These are shown in the table below. Here the first two columns after the stars named give the semi-major axis of the orbit and the measured parallax. The quotient of the first number by the second gives the actual mean radius of the orbits in terms of the earth's distance from the Sun as unity. This is given in the third column, after which follow the period and the resulting combined mass of the system. The last column shows the actual amount of light emitted by the system, compared with that of the Sim. rj Cassiopia? Sirius Procyon. . . . a Centauri . 70 Ophiuchi 85 Pegasi . . . a." Par. a. Period. Mass. 8.21 0.20 41.0 195^8 1.8 8.03 0.37 21.7 52.2 3.7 3.00 0.30 10.0 40.0 0.6 17.70 0.75 23.6 81.1 2.0 4.55 0.19 24.0 88.4 1.8 0.89 0.05 17.8 24.0 9.0 Light. 1.0 32.0 8.5 1.7 0.7 9 9 Even in these few cases some of the numbers on which the result depends are extremely uncertain. In the case of Procyon, the radius of the orbit, can be only a rough estimate. In the case of 85 Pegasi the parallax is uncertain. In the case of ?/ Cassiopiae the elements are still doubtful. So far as we have set forth the principles involved in the question, we do not get separate results for the mass of each body. The latter can be determined only by meridian observations, showing the motion of the brighter star around the common center of gravity of the two. This result has thus far been worked out with an approximation to exactness only in the cases of Sirius and Procyon. For these systems we have the following masses of the companions of these bodies in terms of the Sun's mass: CHAPTERS ON THE STARS. 137 Companion of Sirius 1.2 Companion of Procyon 0.2 It will now be interesting to compare the brightness of these bodies with that which the Sun would have if seen at their distance. In a former chapter we showed how this could be done. The results are: At the distance of Procyon the apparent magnitude of the Sun would be 2m.8. At the distance of Sirius, it would be 2m.3. Supposing the Sun to be changed in size, its density remaining unchanged, until it had the same mass as the respective companions of Procyon and Sirius, its magnitudes would be: For companion of Procyon 3.9 For companion of Sirius 2.9 The actual magnitudes of these companions cannot be estimated with great precision, owing to the effect of the brilliancy of the star. From the estimate of the companion of Sirius, by Professor Pickering, its magnitude was about the eighth. It is probable that the magnitude of the companion of Procyon is not very different. It will be seen that these magnitudes are very different from those which they would have were the companions models of the Sun. What is very curious is that they differ in the opposite direction from the stars in general, and especially from their primaries. Either they have a far less surface bril- liancy than the Sun or their density is much greater. There can be no doubt that the former rather than the latter is the case. This great mass of the two companions as compared with their bril- liancy suggests the question whether they may not shine, in part at least, by the light of their primaries. A very little consideration will show that this cannot be the case. A simple calculation will show that, to shine as brightly as they do, the diameter of the companion of Sirius would have to be enormous, at least 1-30 its distance from Sirius. Moreover, its apparent brightness would vary so widely in different parts of its orbit that we should see it almost as well when near Sirius as when distant from it. The most likely cause of the small bright- ness is the low temperature of the body. Gaseous Constitution of the Stars. The results of the last chapter point to the conclusion that the stars, or at least the brighter among them, are masses of gas, more or less compressed in their interior by the action of gravitation upon their more superficial parts. We have now to show how this result was ar- rived at, at least in the case of the San, from different considerations, before the spectroscope had taught us anything of the constitution of these bodies. We must accept, as one of the obvious conclusions of modern science, 138 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. the fact that the Sun and stars have, for untold millions of years, been radiating heat into space. If we refrain from considering the basis on which this conclusion rests, it is not so much because we consider it un- questionable, as because the discussion would be too long and complex for the present work. One of the great problems of modern science has been to account for the source of this heat. Before the theory of energy was developed this problem offered no difficulty. In the time of Newton, Kant and even of La Place and Herschel, no reason was known why the stars should not shine forever without change. Now we know that when a body radiates heat, that heat is really an entity termed energy, of which the supply is necessarily limited. Kelvin compared the case of a star radiating heat with that of a ship of war belching forth shells from her batteries. We know that if the firing is kept up, the supply of am- munition must at some time be exhausted. Have we any means of deter- mining how long the store of energy in Sun or star will suffice for its radiation? We know that the substances which mainly compose the Sun and stars are similar to those which compose our earth. We know the capacity for heat of these substances, and we also have determined how much the Sun radiates annually. From these data, it is found by a sim- ple calculation that the temperature of the Sun would be lowered annu- ally by more than two degrees Fahrenheit, if its capacity for heat were the same as that of water. If this capacity were only that of the sub- stances which compose the great body of the earth, the lowering of tem- perature would be from 5° to 10° annually. Evidently, therefore, the actual heat of the Sun would only suffice for a few thousand years' radiation, if not in some way replenished. When the difficulty was first attacked, it was supposed that the sup- ply might be kept up by meteors falling into the Sun. We know that in the region round the Sun, and, in fact, in the whole Solar System, are countless minute meteors some of which may from time to time strike the Sun. The amount of heat that would be produced by the loss of energy suffered by a meteor moving many hundred miles a second would be enormously greater than that which would be produced by combustion. But critical examination shows that this theory cannot have any possible basis. Apart from the fact that it could at best be only a temporary device there seems to be no possibility that meteors sufficient in mass can move round the Sun or fall into it. Shooting stars show that our earth encounters millions of little meteors every day; but the heat produced is absolutely insignificant. It was then shown by Kelvin and Helmholtz that the Sun might radiate the present amount of heat for several millions of years, simply from the fund of energy collected by the contraction of its volume CHAPTERS ON THE STARS. 139 through the mutual gravitation of its parts. As the Sun cools it con- tracts; the fall of its substance toward the center, produced by this contraction, generates energy, which energy is constantly turned into heat. The amount of contraction necessary to keep up the present supply may be roughly computed; it amounts in round numbers to 220 feet a year, or four miles in a century. Accepting this view, it will almost necessarily follow that the great body of the Sun must be of gaseous constitution. Were it solid, its sur- face would rapidly cool off, since the heat radiated would have to be conducted from the interior. Then, the loss of heat no longer going on at the same rate, the contraction also would stop and the generation of heat to supply the radiation would cease. Even were the Sun a liquid, currents of liquid matter could scarcely convey to the surface a sufficient amount of heated matter to supply the enormous radiation. Thus the reason of the case combines with observation of the density of the Sun to show that its interior must be regarded as gaseous rather than solid or liquid. A difficult matter, however, presents itself. The density of the Sun is greater than we ordinarily see in gases, being, as we have remarked, even greater than the density of water. The explanation of this diffi- culty is very simple: the gaseous interior is subject to compression by its superficial portions. The gravitation on the surface being 27 times what it is on the earth, the pressure increases 27 times as fast when we go toward the center as it does on the earth. We should not have to go very far within its body to find a pressure of millions of tons on the square inch. Under such pressure and at such an enormous tempera- ture as must there prevail, the distinction between a gas and a liquid is lost; the substance retains the mobility of a gas, while assuming the density of a liquid. It does not follow, however, that the visible surface of the Sun is a gas, pure and simple. The sudden cooling which a mass of gaseous matter undergoes on reaching the surface may liquefy it or even change it into a solid. But, in either case, the sudden contraction which it thus undergoes makes it heavier and it sinks down again to be remelted in the great furnace below. It may well be, therefore, that the description of the Sun as a vast bubble is nearly true. It may be added that all we have said about the Sun may very well be presumed to apply to the stars. We have now to consider the law of change as a sun or star con- tracts through the loss of heat suffered by its radiation into space. This subject was very exhaustively developed by Bitter some years since.* It is not practicable to give even an abstract of Bitter's results at the present time, especially as every mathematical investigation of the subject must either rest on hypotheses more or less uncertain, or * Wiedemann's 'Annalen der Physik u. Chemie,' 1878 to 1883, etc. 140 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. must, for its application, require data impossible to obtain. We shall, therefore, confine ourselves to a brief outline of the main points of the subject. A fundamental proposition of the whole theory is Lane's law of gaseous attraction, which is as follows: When a spherical mass of incandescent gas contracts through the loss of its heat by radiation into space, its temperature continually becomes higher as long as the gaseous condition is retained. The demonstration of this law is simple enough to be understood by any one well acquainted with elementary mechanics and physics, and it will also furnish the basis for our consideration of the subject. We begin by some considerations on the condition of a mass of gas held together by the mutual attraction of its parts. This attraction results in a certain hydrostatic pressure, capable of being expressed as so many pounds or tons per unit of surface, say a square inch. This pressure at any point is equal to the weight of a column of the gas, having a section of one square inch and extending from the point in Fig. 2. question to the surface. It is a law of attraction in a sphere of which the density is the same at equal distances from its center, that if we suppose an interior sphere concentric with the body, the attraction of all the matter outside that interior sphere, on any point within it, is equal in every direction, and, therefore, is completely neutralized. A point is, therefore, drawn towards the center only by the attraction of the sphere on the surface of which it lies. At every point in the interior the hydrostatic pressure must be bal- anced by the elastic force of the gas. In the case of any one gas this force is proportional to the product of the density into the absolute temperature. This condition of equilibrium must be satisfied at every point throughout the mass. Let the two circles in the figure represent gaseous globes, of the kind supposed. The larger one represents the globe in a certain con- dition of its evolution; the second its condition after its volume has contracted to one half. The temperature in each case will necessarily CHAPTERS ON THE STARS. 141 increase from the surface to the center. The law of this increase is incapable of accurate expression, but is not necessary for our present purpose. Let the inner circle, C D, represent a spherical shell, situated any- where in the interior of the mass, but concentric with it. Let E P be the corresponding shell after the contraction has taken place. The case will then be as follows: The two shells will by hypothesis have the same quantity of matter, both in their own substance and throughout their interior. In case B the central attraction being as the inverse square from the center, will be four times as great for each unit of matter in the shell. This force of attraction, tending to compress the shell, is, in case B, exerted on a surface one quarter as great, because the surface of a shell is proportional to the square of its diameter. Hence the hydrostatic pressure per unit of surface is 16 times as great in case B as in case A. The elastic force of a gas, if the two bodies were at the same tem- perature, would be 8 times as great in case B as in case A, being in- versely as the volume. The hydrostatic pressure being 16 times as great, while the elastic force to counterbalance it is only 8 times as great, no equilibrium would be possible. To make it possible, the absolute temperature of the gas must be doubled, in order that the elastic force shall balance the pressure. That a mass can become hotter through cooling, may, at first sight, seem paradoxical. We shall, therefore, cite a result which is strictly analogous. If the motion of a comet is hindered by a resisting medium, the comet will continually move faster. The reason of this is that the first effect of the medium is to diminish the velocity of the object. Through this diminution of velocity, the comet falls towards the Sun. The increase of velocity caused by the fall more than counterbalances the diminution produced by the resistance. The result is that the comet takes up a more and more rapid motion, as it gradually approaches the Sun, in consequence of the resistance it suffers. In the same way, when a gaseous celestial body cools, the fall of its mass towards the center changes from a potential to an actual form an amount of energy greater than that radiated away. The critical reader will see a weak point in this reasoning, which it is necessary to consider. What we have really shown is that if the mass, assumed to be in a state of equilibrium when it has the size A, has to remain in equilibrium when it has the size B, then its temperature must be doubled. But we have not proved that its temperature actually will be doubled by the fall. In fact, it cannot be doubled unless the 142 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. energy generated by the fall of the superficial portions towards the center is sufficient to double the absolute amount of heat. Whether this will be the case depends on a variety of circumstances; the mass of the whole body, and the capacity of its substance for heat. If we are to proceed with mathematical rigor, it is, therefore, necessary to determine in any given case whether this condition is fulfilled. Let us suppose that in any particular case the mass is so small or the capacity for heat so considerable that the temperature is not doubled by the contraction. Then the contraction will go on further and further, until the mass becomes a solid. But in this case let us reverse the process. The body being supposed nearly in a state of equilibrium in position A, let the elastic force be slightly in excess. Then the gas will expand. In order that it be reduced to a state of equilibrium by expansion, its tempera- ture must diminish according to the same law that it would increase if it contracted. When its diameter doubles, its temperature should be re- duced to one half or less by the expansion, in order that the equilibrium shall subsist. But, in the case supposed, the temperature is not reduced so much as this. Hence, it is too high for equilibrium by a still greater amount and the expansion must go on indefinitely. Thus, in the case supposed, the hypothetical equilibrium of the body is unstable. In other words, no such body is possible. This conclusion is of fundamental importance. It shows that the possible mass of a star must have an inferior limit, depending on the quantity of matter it contains, its elasticity under given circumstances and its capacity for heat. It is certain that any small mass of gas, taken into celestial space and left to itself, would not be kept together by the mutual attraction of its parts, but would merely expand into in- definite space. Probably this might be true of the earth, if it were gaseous. The computation would not be a difficult one to make, but I have not made it. In what precedes, we have supposed a single mass to contract. But our study of the relations of temperature and pressure in the two masses assumes no relationship between them, except that of equality. Let us now consider any two gaseous bodies, A and B, and suppose that the body B, instead of having the same mass as that of A, is another body with a different mass. Since the mass, B, may be of various sizes, according to the amount of attraction it has undergone, let us begin by supposing it to have the same volume as A, but twice the mass of A. We have then to inquire what must be its temperature in order that it may be in equilibrium. We have first to inquire into the hydrostatic pressure at any point of the interior. Referring once more to a figure like either of those in Fig. 2, a spherical shell like C D will now in the case of the more mass- ive body have double the mass of the corresponding shell of A. The CHAPTERS ON THE STARS. 143 attraction will also be doubled, because the diameter of the spherical shell is the same, while the amount of matter within it is twice as great. Hence the hydrostatic pressure per unit of surface will be four times as great, or will vary as the square of the density. The elasticity at equal temperatures being proportional to the density, it follows that were the temperature the same in the two 'masses, the elasticity would be double in the case of mass B; whereas, to balance the hydrostatic pressure it should be quadrupled. The temperature of B must, therefore, be twice as great as that of A. It follows that in the case of stars of equal volume, but of different masses, the temperature must be proportional to the mass of density. But how will it be if we suppose the density to be always the same, and, therefore, the mass to be proportional to the volume? In this case the attraction at a given point will be proportional to the diameter of the body. If, then, we suppose one body to have twice the diameter of the other, but to be of the same density, it follows that at correspond- ing points of the interior, the hydrostatic pressure will be twice as great in the larger body. The density being the same, it follows that the temperature must be twice as high in order that equilibrium may be maintained. It follows that the stars of the greatest mass will be at the highest temperature, unless their volume is so great that their den- sity is less than that of the smaller stars. Stellar Evolution. It follows from the theory set forth in the last chapter that the stars are not of fixed constitution, but are all going through a progress- ive change — cooling off and contracting into a smaller volume. If we accept this result, we find ourselves face to face with an unsolvable enigma — how did the evolution of the stars begin? To show the prin- ciple involved in the question, I shall make use of an illustration drawn from a former work.* An inquiring person wandering around in what he supposes to be a deserted building, finds a clock running. If he knows nothing about the construction of the clock, or the force neces- sary to keep it in motion, he may fancy that it has been running for an indefinite time just as he sees it, and that it will continue to run until the material of which it is made shall wear out. But if he is ac- quainted with the laws of mechanics, he will know that this is im- possible, because the continued movement of the pendulum involves a constant expenditure of energy. If he studies the construction of the clock, he will find the source of this energy in the slow falling of a weight suspended by a cord which acts upon a train of wheels. Watch- ing the motions, he will see that the scape wheel acting on the pendulum * 'Popular Astronomy,' by Simon Newcomb; Harper & Bros., New York. 144 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. moves very perceptibly every second, while he must watch the next wheel for several seconds to see any motion. If the time at his disposal is limited, he will not be able to see any motion at all in the weight. But an examination of the machinery will show him that the weight must be falling at a certain rate, and he can compute that, at the end of a certain time, the weight will reach the bottom, and the clock will stop. He can also see that there must have been a point from above which the weight could never have fallen. Knowing the rate of fall, he can compute how long the weight occupied in falling from this point. His final conclusion will be that the clock must in some way have been wound up and set in motion a certain number of hours or days before his inspection. If the theory that the heat of the stars is kept up by their slow contraction is accepted, we can, by a similar process to this, compute that these bodies must have been larger in former times, and that there must have been some finite and computable period when they were all nebulas. Not even a nebula can give light without a progressive change of some sort. Hence, within a certain finite period the nebulae them- selves must have begun to shine. How did they begin? This is the unsolvable question. The process of stellar evolution may be discussed without consider- ing this question. Accepting as a fact, or at least as a working hypoth- esis, that the stars are contracting, we find a remarkable consistency in the results. Year by year laws are established and more definite con- clusions reached. It is now possible to speak of the respective ages of stars as they go through their progressive course of changes. This subject has been so profoundly studied and so fully developed by Sir William and Lady Huggins that I shall depend largely on their work in briefly developing the subject.* At the same time, in an attempt to condense the substance of many folio pages into so short a space, one can hardly hope to be entirely successful in giving merely the views of the original author. The fol- lowing may, therefore, be regarded as the views of Sir William Hug- gins, condensed and arranged in the order in which they present them- selves to the writer's mind. There is an infinite diversity among the spectra of the stars; scarcely two are exactly alike in all their details. But the larger number of these spectra, when carefully compared, may be made to fall in line, thus forming a series in which the passage of one spectrum into the next in order is so gradual as to indicate that the actual differences represent, in the main, successive epochs of star life rather than so many funda- mental differences of chemical constitution. Each star may be con- sidered to go through a series of changes analogous to those of a human * Publications of Sir William Huggins's Observatory, Vol. I; Lcnion, 1899. CHAPTERS ON THE STARS. 145 "being from birth to old age. In its infancy a star is simply a nebulous mass; it gradually condenses into a smaller volume, growing hotter, as set forth in the last chapter, until a stage of maximum temperature is reached, when it begins to cool off. Of the duration of its life we can- not form an accurate estimate. We can only say that it is to be reck- oned by millions, tens of millions or hundreds of millions of years. We thus view in the heavens stars ranging through the whole series from the earliest infancy to old age. How shall we distinguish the order of development? Mainly by their colors and their spectra. In its first stage the star is of a bluish white. It gradually passes through white into yellow and red. Sir William gives the following series of stars as an example of the successive orders of development: Sirius, a Lyrae. a Ursse Ma j oris. a Virginis. a Aouilae. BigeL a Cygni. Capella — The Sun. A returns. Aldebaran. a Orionis. The length of the life of a star has no fixed limit; it depends en- tirely on the mass. The larger the mass, the longer the life; hence a small star may pass from infancy to old age many times more rapidly than a large one. A remarkable confirmation of this order is found in the generally yellow or red color of the companions of bright stars in binary systems. The two stars of such a system naturally commenced their life history at the same epoch, but the smaller one, going through its changes more rapidly, is now found to be yellower than the other. Additional confirmation is afforded by the very great mass of the companions of Sirius and Procyon, notwithstanding the faintness of their light. At the same time, up to at least the yellow stage, the star continu- ally grows hotter as it condenses. A difficulty may here suggest itself in reconciling this order with a well-known physical fact. As a radiat- ing body increases in temperature, its color changes from red through yellow to white, and the average wave length of its light continually diminishes. We see a familiar example of this in the case of iron, which, when heated, is first red in color and then goes through the changes we have mentioned. The ordinary incandescent electric light is yellow; the arc light, the most intense that we can produce by artificial means, is white. When the spectrum of a body thus increasing in temperature is watched, the limit is found to pass gradually from the VOL. LVIII.— 10 146 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. red toward the violet end. It would seem, therefore, that the hotter stars should be the white ones and the cooler the yellow or red ones. There are, however, two circumstances to be considered in connec- tion with the contracting star. In the first place, the light which we receive from a star does not emanate from its hottest interior, but from a region either upon or, in most cases, near its surface. It is, there- fore, the temperature of this region which determines the color of the light. In the next place, part of the light is absorbed by passing through the cooler atmosphere surrounding the star. It is only the light which escapes through this atmosphere that we actually see. In the case of the Sun all the light which it sends forth comes from an extreme outer surface, the photosphere. The most careful tele- scopic examination shows no depth to this surface. It sends light to us, as if it were an opaque body like a globe of iron. This surface would rapidly cool off were it not for convection currents bringing up heated matter from the interior. It might be supposed that such a current would result in the surface being kept at nearly as high a tem- perature as the interior; but, as a matter of fact, the opposite is the case. As the volume of gas rises, it expands from the diminished pressure and it is thus cooled in the very act of coming to the surface. In the case of younger stars, there is probably no photosphere properly so called. The light which they emit comes from a consider- able distance in the interior. Here the effect of gravity comes into play. The more the star condenses, the greater is gravity at its sur- face; hence the more rapidly does the density of the gas increase from the surface toward the interior. In the case of the Sun, the density of any gas which may immediately surround the photosphere must be doubled every mile or two of its depth until we reach the photosphere. But if the Sun were many times its present diameter, this increase would be less in a still larger proportion. Hence, when the volume is very great the increase of density is comparatively slow; there being no well-defined photosphere, the light reaches us from a much greater depth from the interior than it does at a later stage. The gradual passing of a white star into one of the solar type is marked by alterations in its spectrum. These alterations are especially seen in the behavior of the lines of hydrogen, calcium, magnesium and iron. The lines of hydrogen change from broad to thin; those of calcium constantly become stronger. Of the greatest interest is the question — at what stage does the temperature of the star reach its maximum and the body begin to cool? Has our Sun reached this stage? This is a question to which, owing to the complexity of the conditions, it is impossible to give a precise answer. It seems probable, however, that the highest temperature is reached in about the stage of our Sun. CHAPTERS ON THE STARS. 147 The general fact that every star has a life history — that this history will ultimately come to an end — that it must have had a beginning in time — is indicated by so great a number of concurring facts that no one who has most profoundly studied the subject can have serious doubts upon it. Yet there are some unsolved mysteries connected with the case, which might justify a waiting for further evidence, coupled with a certain degree of skepticism. Of the questions connected with the case the most serious one is: How is the supply of energy radiated by the Sun and stars kept up? Only one answer is possible in the light of recent science. It is that already given in the last chapter — the con- tinual contraction of volume. The radiant energy sent out is balanced by the continual loss of potential energy due to the contraction. On this theory the age of the Sun can be at least approximately estimated. About twenty millions of years is the limit of time during which it could possibly have radiated anything like its present amount of energy. But this conclusion is directly at variance with that of geology. The age of the earth has been approximately estimated from a great variety of geological phenomena, the concurring result being that stratification and other geological processes must have been going on for hundreds — nay, thousands of millions of years. This result is in direct conflict with the only physical theory which can account for the solar heat. The nebulae offer a similar difficulty. Their extreme tenuity and their seemingly almost unmaterial structure appear inadequate to ac- count for any such mutual gravitation of their parts as would result in the generating of the flood of energy which they are constantly radiat- ing. What we see must, therefore, suggest at least the possibility that all shining heavenly bodies have connected with them some form of energy of which science can, as yet, render no account. This suspicion cannot, however, grow into a certainty until we have either seen the nebulae contracting in volume or have made such estimates of their probable masses that we can compute the amount of contraction they must undergo to maintain the supply of energy. In the impressive words of Sir William Huggins: "We conclude filled with a sense of wonder at the greatness of the human intellect, which from the impact of waves of ether upon one sense-organ, can learn so much of the Universe outside our earth; but the wonder passes into awe before the unimaginable magnitude of Time, of Space and of Matter of this Universe, as if a Voice were heard saying to man : 'Thou art no Atlas for so great a weight.' " 148 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. MICKOBES IN CHEESE-MAKING. By Professor H. VV. CONN, WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. CHEMISTS tell us that cheese is one of the most nutritious and, at the same time, one of the cheapest of foods. Its nutritive value is greater than meat, while its cost is much less. But this chem- ical aspect of the matter does not express the real value of the cheese as a food. Cheese is eaten, not because of its nutritive value as ex- pressed by the amount of proteids, fats and carbohydrates that it con- tains, but always because of its flavor. Now, physiologists do not find that flavor has any food value. They teach over and over again that our foodstuffs are proteids, fats and carbohydrates, and that as food flavor plays absolutely no part. But, at the same time, they tell us that the body would be unable to live upon these foodstuffs were it not for the flavors. If one were compelled to eat pure food without flavors, like the pure white of an egg, it is doubtful whether one could, for a week at a time, consume a sufficiency of food to supply his bodily needs. Flavor is as necessary as nutriment. It gives a zest to the food, and thus enables us to consume it properly, and, secondly, it stimulates the glands to secrete, so that the foods may be satisfactorily digested and assimilated. The whole art of cooking, the great develop- ment of flavoring products, the high prices paid for special foods like lobsters and oysters — these and numerous other factors connected with food supply and production are based solely upon this demand for flavor. Flavor is a necessity, but it is not particularly important what the flavor may be. This is shown by the fact that different peoples have such different tastes in this respect. The garlic of the Italian and the red pepper of the Mexican serve the same purpose as the vanilla which we put in our ice-cream; and all play the part of giving a relish to the food and stimulating the digestive organs to proper activity. The primary value of cheeses is, then, in the flavors they possess. One can hardly realize the added pleasure they give to the life of hun- dreds of thousands of poor people whose food must be of the coarsest character. A bit of well-flavored cheese adds relish to the humblest meal and gives the highest delight. We must recognize, then, that the chief value of the cheese lies exactly in these flavors which the chemist does not include in his analysis of cheese and which the physiologist refuses to call food or to regard as having any nutritive MICROBES IN CHEESE-MAKING. 149 value whatever. Incidentally, it is true that the cheese also furnishes a considerable amount of food material. Thus it nourishes as well as stimulates and delights; but, after all, we must recognize that its chief value is in its flavor rather than in its nutritive quality. Hence it becomes a very significant question to inquire into the source of this flavor. We find, first, that the cheese as originally made possesses no flavor, or, at least, none of that peculiar flavor which we know as cheesy. Cheese is made from milk by causing the casein in the milk to be precipitated, i. e., causing the milk to curdle, commonly by the addition of rennet, or, in so-called Dutch cheeses, by simply allowing the milk to sour. The precipitated casein is then separated from the liquids of the milk, and the curd, when subsequently pressed and molded, becomes the cheese. But the freshly-made cheese possesses no flavor, nor does the flavor develop to any degree until after it has passed through a process known as 'ripening.' The ripening of cheese may take several days or several months, or, in some cases, one or two years; but the flavor always arises during this process. Moreover, the various cheeses with their varieties of flavors are mostly made from the same kind of milk, but are subjected to different modes of ripening, and the distinctive quality in the endless types of cheeses is due in large measure to differences in the method of bringing about this ripening. Clearly enough the flavor is a product of cheese ripening, and if we wish to find the source of these most valuable flavors we must seek it in the ripening process. This cheese ripening proves to be a two-fold process. The first change in the cheese is a chemical one, which results in altering the chemical nature of the cheese in such a way as to render it more easy of digestion. This change appears to be due in part to a certain ferment which is found in milk. This material belongs to the class of chemical ferments or enzymes and is a normal constituent of milk, although its presence was not mistrusted until recently pointed out by two American investigators. With the chemical changes produced by this enzyme we are not here particularly concerned. It is certainly not the cause of all the flavors which develop in the cheeses, and, therefore, this character of the ripened cheese must be chiefly attributed to another factor. There is no doubt that this other factor is a living one. The flavors can generally be traced directly to the growth upon and within the cheese of a variety of plants; and the ripening is carried on in a fashion designed, at the same time, to stimulate the growth of some species of plants and to check the growth of others. Cheeses are of two kinds, hard and soft. As implied in the name, there is a difference in the consistency of the cheese. But this is not all; for on account of the methods of manufacturing, the ripening is produced by different classes of plants in the two classes of cheeses. 150 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. In the soft cheese, the plants contributing most to the ripening and to the formation of the flavor are what are commonly called molds, at least in some cheeses, while in the hard cheeses the molds play probably no part, and bacteria are the most active agents in producing the flavors developed during the ripening. In making the soft cheeses — little known in this country — the general mode of procedure is as follows: The milk, sometimes whole milk, sometimes partly skimmed, is caused to curdle by the action of rennet. The curd is either cut to pieces by knives designed for the purpose, thus allowing the whey to drain off more readily, or it is simply ladled out of the vessel in which it curdled and placed at once into forms. As the whey is drawn off from the forms, through holes in the sides or through a false straw bottom, the curd soon assumes the shape of the forms. It is at first very soft, since it is subjected to no pressure whatever. At short intervals this soft mass is turned, so as to rest upon a new surface, and this turning is continued for two or three days. By this time the curd has become dry and consistent enough to handle, and it is then carried off to the cheese cellar for ripening. The details of this process differ considerably. In quite a number of cheeses particular methods are adopted to favor and hasten the growth of molds. Sometimes it is laid upon special straw mats or wrapped in straw, which, having been used over and over again in the dairy, has become thoroughly impregnated with mold spores. The cheese is then placed in a cool, damp atmosphere, which causes the spores to germinate and grow upon the cheese, already slightly acid, and in a condition favorable to the growth of molds. They grow rapidly over the whole surface of the cheese, and this step in the process is not ended until a good covering of molds has developed. Sometimes, indeed, special methods are adopted to insure their proper development. In making the Eoquefort cheese specially prepared bread is allowed to mold, and after it becomes thoroughly impregnated with the mold it is finely grated to a powder and mixed with the curd as it is placed in the form for shaping. Fine holes are pierced in the cheese by a special machine to let in the air which is necessary for the luxuriant growth of the molds. Such treatment insures, of course, a very rapid growth of these plants, inside as well as outside. Most commonly, however, the cheese-maker depends upon his straw mats for the molds, and expects them to grow chiefly on the surface. The molds which develop in the cheese are not all of the same species. The common blue mold is most usual, but most cheeses are not properly ripened until several species of molds grow together within them. The development of molds, however, is by no means the end of the ripening, but rather its beginning. Indeed, in some of the soft cheeses MICROBES IN CHEESE-MAKING. 151 their growth is entirely prevented by a thorough salting and washing of the surface. In such cheeses the mold may grow within the mass, but not on the surface. Whichever method is used, however, the cheese is presently removed to the so-called 'cheese cellar' for its proper ripening. These cellars may be cool, damp rooms, or caves, and the flavor of some kinds of cheeses is largely due to the nature of the caves in which the subsequent ripening is carried on. In these cellars there is a constant but not very high temperature, and the atmosphere is generally damp. Since the temperature and the moisture are kept as constant as possible during the whole year, the cheese ripening can continue slowly and indefinitely. To a considerable extent differences in the ripening of soft cheeses are due to the different temperatures of the cheese cellars, and this determines the kind of plant life that shall flourish in this soft, nutritious food. After the removal to the ripening chambers, a new series of changes begins in the cheese, due to new kinds of plant life. But as yet neither the cheese-maker nor the bacteriologist, who has studied the matter most carefully, can tell us much of the nature of the actual changes which occur during this ripening. When the cheese is placed in the ripening chamber it is certain that the growth of the molds is largely stopped, and it is also certain that here begins a growth of a new class of plants which we call bacteria. This moldy cheese, rendered alkaline by the growth of the molds, furnishes a favorable medium for the growth of different species of bacteria. At high temperatures they would speedily decompose the mass, even to extreme putrefaction, but at the low temperatures of the cheese cellars a complete putrefaction does not occur. Bacteria growth takes place probably in all soft cheeses, and as a result the nature of the cheese is profoundly modified. Numerous new chemical products make their appearance, either as by- products of decomposition or as actual secretions from the growing bac- teria and molds. These new products have strong tastes and odors which, as they slowly develop, gradually produce the characteristic flavor of the ripened cheese. If the ripening continue long enough the decompo- sition grows too advanced even for the strongest palate. But when the proper ripening has been acquired and the tastes and flavors are of the desired character, the cheese is sent to market, highly flavored by the joint action of the bacteria and molds. It is still soft and moist, and the ripening process continues, so that the cheese will not keep good for a very long time. But while it is in the proper condition it furnishes the educated palate with a flavoring product of great intensity, and most highly relished by the numerous lovers of soft cheeses. While such is the general method of manufacture of the soft cheeses, it must be recognized that the details of the manufacture differ widely. Differences in the kind of milk used, whether whole milk, skim milk, 152 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. sheep's milk, goat's milk, etc., differences in the handling of the soft curd, differences in the amount of salting and drying, differences in the temperature and moisture of the 'cheese cellar/ all result in the growth of different kinds of molds and bacteria, producing variously flavored products. It is evident, too, that the character of the product will de- pend upon the abundance and varieties of the plants which furnish the flavor. Unless a dairy is supplied with the proper species of molds and bacteria, it is hopeless to expect the desired results. Here lies the work which the scientist must perform for the further development of the cheese industry. The second type of cheeses, with which we are more familiar in this country, is the type of hard cheeses. These are not only of denser consistency, but they have commonly a less pronounced taste and odor and are not so suggestive of decomposition. They are, also, commonly made in much larger form, their denser nature making it possible for them to be made in very large sizes. They keep longer and are, there- fore, much more generally exported into different countries. The difference between the hard and soft cheeses, great as it is in the perfected article, is due to quite slight variations in the method of manu- facture. The hard cheeses are made from curdled milk, curdled in just the same way as in the making of soft cheeses. But, after the curdling and the cutting up the curd to allow the whey to separate, the curd is broken up into small bits and placed in forms, where it is subjected to heavy pressure. Sometimes, immediately after the cutting of the curd, it is subjected to a moderate heat. For example, the Swiss cheeses are heated to about 110° Fahr. for a short time after cutting up the curd. This heating changes the nature of the curd somewhat and gives it a tougher and more elastic texture. In all the hard cheeses the curd is finally placed in wooden forms and then subjected to pressure, moderate at first, but soon increased until the pressure is quite high. This pres- sure converts the curd into a very dense, compact mass, and one in which microscopic plants cannot so readily grow. But the hard cheeses require a ripening to develop the flavor as well as the soft cheeses, and the ripening is a longer and slower process. The pressed cheese is placed in rooms, or caves, or other locality where the temperature is not very variable or where it can, perhaps, be artificially controlled. Here it remains for weeks and frequently for months, dur- ing which time it slowly changes its chemical nature as a result of the action of the chemical or organic ferments, and simultaneously acquires the flavors which characterize the perfected product. It is generally believed that the flavors here, as well as in the soft cheeses, are due to the growth of microscopic plants; but the subject has proved a very difficult one to investigate. Molds play little or no part in ripening the hard cheeses. Indeed, their growth is prevented by MICROBES IN CHEESE-MAKING. 153 salting, oiling and rubbing the surface. But bacteria appears to have, if not the chief share, certainly a large share in the production of the flavors. Experiment has shown that bacteria grow abundantly in the cheese during the ripening; that some species of bacteria can produce in milk flavors similar to those found in the ripened cheese; that treat- ment which prevents the growth of bacteria prevents also the develop- ment of the flavors in the cheese. Further, in the manufacture of the famous Holland cheese (Edam cheese), the cheese-makers have learned fliat by planting certain species of bacteria in the milk out of which the cheese is to be made, the ripening may be hastened and made more uniform. In Holland about one third of the cheese is made by thus inoculating the milk with 'slimy whey,' which is simply a mass of whey containing in great numbers certain species of bacteria. These facts indicate strongly that the bacteria are agents in this flavor production. But, at the same time, the subject has proved so difficult of investiga- tion that our bacteriologists are as yet by no means satisfied with the results. Indeed, they differ very decidedly in their conclusions. Some believe that the ripening is chiefly due to the same class of bacteria which produce the souring of milk; others think it due to bacteria which produce an alkaline rather than acid reaction; some believe it to be a combination of the two, while others, again, decide that cheese ripen- ing is a long process, involving the action of many species of bacteria and perhaps of molds as well. The difficulty lies in the fact that, since the ripening is a long process, many species of bacteria are found in the cheese at different times. This makes it almost impos- sible to determine what is the cause of the ripening and what is only incidental. It will be readily understood that the problem of cheese ripening is one most eagerly studied by bacteriologists. The immense financial in- terests involved in the discovery of definite methods of handling the manufacture and the ripening of cheese would insure this, entirely inde- pendently of any scientific interest. A very large per cent, of cheeses are ruined by improper ripening, and the discovery of methods for prevent- ing this loss would mean the saving of millions of dollars annually. Moreover, many favorite cheeses have hitherto been capable of manu- facture only in certain localities, probably because these localities are filled with the peculiar species of micro-organisms needed for their ripening. If it were possible to cultivate the requisite organisms and use them for artificial inoculation, it might be possible to manufacture any type of cheese anywhere. Already it has been found that new cheese factories may sometimes be stocked with the proper micro- organisms by rubbing the shelves and vessels with fresh cheeses imported from localities where the desired variety is nominally made. It is evident that immense financial interests may be involved in the proper 154 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. scientific solution of the micro-organisms for cheese ripening, and the practical application of the facts to cheese making. As the result of these facts, many bacteriologists are engaged in the study of the problems connected with cheese ripening. Many new dis- coveries have been made, and various practical suggestions in cheese making have resulted from these researches. But every bacteriologist has been studying a different problem. In Holland some valuable studies of the ripening of Edam cheese have been made, but naturally, the re- sults differ decidedly from those obtained by Swiss bacteriologists in their study of the ripening of Swiss cheeses, inasmuch as the Holland cheese itself is such a different product from that made in Switzerland. The study of cheese ripening in our own country will probably show little agreement with the researches in Europe, since our cheeses differ so much in taste from most of the continental cheeses, although they are not so very unlike the English cheeses. In short, the problems to be solved are as numerous as the varieties of cheese, and each problem has shown itself to be so complex as, thus far, almost to baffle the most patient investigation. It is true that one or two bacteriologists have announced that they have discovered the species of bacteria and molds which produce the ripening of the particular type of cheese that they have been studying, and in some cases cultures of these bacteria have been placed on the market for use in cheese making. In one case, a scientist announces that he has made many thousands of pounds of cheese by means of his artificial cultures and has met with the highest success. But, in general, these cultures have been of problematical value, none of them having, as yet, resulted in the extension of the manufacture of special types of cheeses in localities where it had been hitherto impossible. As stated before, this country is perhaps more interested in the suc- cessful issue of these investigations than any other. Hitherto, Swiss cheeses have been made in Switzerland, Holland cheeses in Holland and all other types of cheeses in their own rather limited localities. This includes hard cheeses as well as soft. If we desire any of these prod- ucts we are obliged, in the main, to import them. Certain imitations have been produced in this country, it is true; but the imitations are more in shape than in quality. If it were possible, however, for our dairymen to learn a method of making, not inferior imitations of Euro- pean cheeses, but products actually their equal in flavor and quality, it is certain that an immense market would be speedily opened to them. This condition is probably dependent upon the success of the scientist in solving the problem of regulating the growth of bacteria and molds in the ripening cheese. As fast as the bacteriologist succeeds in showing how the ripening process may be so controlled as to make it possible for our dairymen to produce cheeses similar in character and equal in MICROBES IN CHEESE-MAKING. 155 grade to those of the European market, we may look for the expansion of the industry. What the future may develop cannot be foretold. The problem is a large one, but the fruits of successful solution are great. Students of dairy bacteriology recognize the possibilities and have in recent years turned their attention quite largely to this subject. From continued experiments and investigations we may confidently expect some prac- tical results, and it is not at all improbable that in a few years at all events, we may see an almost complete revolution in the manufacture of cheeses, especially in such a large country as this, where the possibilities for the development of cheese manufacture are almost unlimited, and where the demand must be as varied as the population. 156 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. SUBMARINE NAVIGATION. By Professor W. P. BRADLEY, WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. IN a paper read before the Society of Naval Architects, Nov. 11, 1898, Lieut. Commander W. W. Kimball, who commanded the torpedo flotilla during the war with Spain, said: "If it be granted that the surface torpedo boat has a place in naval warfare, and that her primary duty is the attack by night upon ships attempting blockade or raiding operations, then most assuredly the submarine torpedo boat has a most important tactical place, since she, and she alone, is com- petent to deliver a torpedo attack by day upon ships attempting blockading, bombarding or raiding operations. She is the only kind of inexpensive craft that can move up to a battleship in daylight, in the face of her fire and in spite of her supporting destroyers, and force that ship to move off or receive a torpedo. That there is no physical difficulty in the problem, is amply proved by the accurate functioning of the boat now in this harbor (the 'Holland'), which has shown to scores of doubters that perfect control in both the vertical and hori- zontal planes has been accomplished, that the boat can be held at any depth to within a foot, and be made to take porpoise-like dives, ex- posing the conning tower for only six or eight seconds, and can be steered on any desired course." Rear-Admiral Jouett testified before the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs: "If I commanded a squadron that was blockading a port, and the enemy had half a dozen of these Holland submarine boats, I would be compelled to abandon the blockade and put to sea, to avoid destruction of my ships from an invisible source from which I could not defend myself." Lieut. A. P. Niblack, who commanded the torpedo boat 'Winslow' during the latter part of the war, wrote in 'Marine Engineering/ December, 1898: "The crowning virtue of a submarine boat is that it makes blockades almost impossible. Strategically in war, it has a place all to itself." He is authority also for the statement: "If Spain had had the 'Holland' at Santiago, the blockade of that port by the United States would have been impossible, within the radius of action of the boat." Admiral Dewey testified before the House Committee on Naval A Hairs, April 23, 1900: "I saw the operation of the boat ('Holland') down off Mount Vernon the other day. I said then, and I have said SUBMARINE NAVIGATION. 157 it since, that if they (the Spanish) had had two of those things in Manila, I never could have held it with the squadron I had." Rear-Admiral Philip Hichborn, Chief of the Bureau of Construc- tion, writes in 'Engineering Magazine' for June, 1900: "Submarines can secure our coasts more perfectly than they can be secured in any other way at present practicable." Mr. W. E. Eckert, consulting engineer of the Union Iron Works, of San Francisco, which built the 'Oregon' and the 'Olympia,' said, after the trial of the 'Holland' of September, 1899, in Peconic Bay, Long Island: "I have been on the trial trips of many of the new vessels built for the Government, and would say that I would feel safer in the Holland boat when under water than in the engine or fire rooms of any of the fast torpedo boats." Rear-Admiral Endicott says: "The Holland submarine torpedo boat will revolutionize the world's naval warfare. It will make the navies of the world playthings in the grasp of the greatest naval engine in history." However successful or safe submarine navigation may be to-day, the story of its development shows sufficiently that the risks to be taken have been very great, even though the actual loss of life incurred has been, on the whole, remarkably slight. To the venturesome spirits who have sought thus to master the ocean depths the risk involved has only added a new fascination. The history of man's attempts to penetrate the depths of the ocean is not brief. The diving-suit, indeed, is modern, but the diving-bell appears to have been known in the time of Aristotle and diving itself is as old as man. But essential mastery of the depths can never be attained by these means. The expert diver can remain below but two minutes or so, at the most. The tenant of a diving bell or suit is not, indeed, so limited in time, but, because absolutely dependent upon the flexible tube by means of which air is pumped down to him by companions at the surface, he is limited in space, and, by conditions of weather and sea, is limited also as to times. In no such sense is he independent as is the captain of an ocean greyhound or man-of-war, or even as the lone lobsterman at the helm of an undecked boat. To be master under water one must navigate under water, and any contrivance deserving the name of submarine boat must be able not only to sink beneath the surface, but also by its own power to move about under water for a reasonable time freely and independently. They who go down to the sea in suits and bells are not navigators. The number of recorded attempts truly to navigate under water is surprisingly large. In a report of the United States Fortifications 158 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. Board made in 1885 to the Forty-ninth Congress may be found a selected list of about fifty submarine boats. This list extends over a pe- riod of three centuries. It includes no boats which have been projected or described merely, nor even those which have been patented merely, but only such as had been actually built and practically tried up to that date. In the invention of these boats and in experimenting with them have been engaged the citizens of England, France, Holland, Spain, the Scandinavian countries, Italy, Eussia and the United States — nearly all of the civilized countries. England has probably accom- plished as little in this direction as any nation. France has shown by far the greatest zeal as a nation, and, on the whole, has been the most prolific. But the greatest practical success has been attained un- doubtedly in our own country. It would be a thankless as well as a wearisome task merely to enu- merate the vessels of this list, still more so to describe them all, how- ever briefly. Most of them were of ephemeral interest only. But there are some which should be mentioned in any account of submarine navigation, however concise. Thus, in 1624 a Hollander named Cornelius Van Drebbell con- structed a boat which was tried with some success in the Thames at London. James I. is said on one occasion at least to have been a witness of the experiments. But navigation under water in that day was an uncanny thing. Drebbell was regarded first as a magician, then as a madman, and then as an agent of the devil. Meeting no encourage- ment he died, and his secret died with him. It is curious to notice that Drebbell claimed to have discovered a certain fluid which possessed the power of purifying air vitiated by respiration. He called it 'Quint- essence of Air.' From the standpoint of present knowledge this singu- lar name and Drebbell's claim for the liquid are very suggestive. Oxy- gen was not discovered, as we believe, until a century and a half after Drebbell's time. But oxygen is the life-giving component of air. Moreover, volumetrically oxygen is the 'quintessence' — the fifth part — of air. Is it possible that Drebbell had discovered some liquid which easily disengaged the then unknown oxygen gas and thus was able to restore to vitiated air that principle of which respiration deprives it? Undoubtedly not. It is much more likely that he possessed a solution capable of absorbing the carbonic acid gas which is produced by respi- ration, and that the name given it was entirely fanciful and without special significance. But even if Drebbell's claim was a piece of pure quackery, with no substantial basis at all, it is nevertheless not without interest, for it shows, as we might have anticipated, that the problem of ventilation, one of the most important with which the inventors of submarines have had to deal, was at least appreciated by Drebbell the pioneer. SUBMARINE NAVIGATION. 159 In the latter half of the eighteenth century, an engineer named Day made one successful dive in the harbor of Plymouth, England, in a boat of his own designing. He went down a second time and did not return. It may be said in general that the necessities and opportunities of war have always been the greatest, indeed, almost the only incentive to experiments under water. The War of Independence proved remark- ably stimulating to submarine invention. In 1775 David Bushnell, of Connecticut, constructed a diving boat for use against English men-of- war. A minute description of this boat is contained in a letter written by him to Thomas Jefferson in 1787. It resembled externally two upper turtle shells joined together by their edges, whence its name 'Tortoise.' It carried a crew of one man, but this man was not David Fig. 1. The Confederate Submarine Boat which Sank the U. S. Steamship ' Housatonic in Charleston Harbor During the Civil War. Bushnell, as it appears! During the harbor trials the boat was con- nected with the dock by means of a rope so that it might be recovered in case of accident. David Bushnell manipulated the safer end of this rope on the dock, while his brother, Ezra, and afterwards Sergeant Lee, did their best to learn the proper use of the mechanism within. The following year, the first of the war, Sergeant Lee steered the 'Tortoise' beneath the hull of the British ship 'Eagle,' of 64 guns, lying off Governor's Island in New York harbor. He attempted to fix to her bottom a torpedo by means of a wood screw, but being rather unskillful still in maneuvering the 'Tortoise,' he lost the 'Eagle' altogether and was finally forced to the surface for air. Daybreak prevented further operations at that time. Two similar attempts were afterwards made on the Hudson, but they also failed and the 'Tortoise' was finally sunk by a shot. 160 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. In 1800 Bobert Fulton, the father of steam navigation, built a very successful diving boat for Napoleon. It was called the 'Nautilus/ and possibly suggested the theme of that fascinating story, 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.' By its use, he actually succeeded in blowing up in the harbor of Brest an old hulk which had been provided for the purpose. But Napoleon's favor proved fickle, and Fulton's success led to nothing further at the time. Early in the Civil War the Federal government entered into negoti- ations with a certain Frenchman to build and operate a submarine boat against Confederate vessels. It was desired in particular to blow up the Confederate 'Merrimac' in Norfolk harbor. Ten thousand dollars was to be paid for the boat when finished and $5,000 for each success- ful attack with her. The boat was constructed at the navy yard at Washington and paid for, whereupon the wily Frenchman decamped with his money, leaving the government to learn the secret of running the craft. This they never did. In fact, it seemed the general opinion that even the Frenchman would have experienced some difficulty in so doing. Much more successful were the Confederates. The following ac- count is condensed from Admiral Porter's 'Naval History of the Civil War': On the 17th of February, 1864, the fine new Federal vessel 'Hou- satonic,' 1,261 tons, lay outside the bar in Charleston harbor. At 8:45 p. m. Acting Master Crosby discovered something about 100 yards away which looked like a plank moving through the water directly toward his ship. All the officers of the squadron had been officially in- formed of the fact that the Confederates had constructed a number of diving boats, called for some reason 'Davids,' and that they were planning mischief against the Northern navy. Moreover, a bold, though unsuccessful, attempt of four months before to blow up the Federal 'Ironsides' was fresh in the minds of all. When, therefore, the officer of the deck aboard the 'Housatonic' saw this object ap- proaching, he instantly ordered the anchor chain slipped, the engines backed and all hands called on deck. It was too late. In less than two minutes from the time of first discovery the infernal machine was alongside. A torpedo carried at the end of a pole thrust out from the bow of the stranger struck the 'Housatonic' just forward of the main- mast on the starboard side in direct line with the magazine. A terrific explosion took place, and the 'Housatonic' rose in the water as if lifted by an earthquake, heeled to port and sank at once, stern foremost. The crew, who most fortunately had reached the deck, took to the rig- ging and were soon rescued by boats from the 'Canandaigua,' which lay not far oil'. The 'David' was afterwards found fast in the hole made by her own torpedo. She had been sucked in by the rush of water which filled the sinking wreck. Her crew of nine were all dead SUBMARINE NAVIGATION. 161 — killed doubtless not by drowning, though they must eventually have been drowned, nor as it would seem by suffocation, though in the end that would have followed; but probably by the concussion of their own torpedo. The sublime heroism of these men is accentuated by the previous history of the 'David' to which they entrusted their lives. In her trial trip this boat sank for some unknown reason and her entire crew was drowned. Lieutenant Payne, her commander, escaped as by a miracle and succeeded in making his way to the surface. No sooner was the boat recovered from the bottom than he offered to try again. A new crew volunteered, and all went well for a time. But one night off Fort Sumter the boat capsized and four only escaped. The next essay was made under the lead of one of the men who had constructed the boat. This time she sank again and all hands were drowned. It was Fig. 2. Goubet's Submarine Toepedo Boat. such a boat, with such a history, in which that gallant crew of the 17th of February faced death and found it. North and South are united to-day as never before. We are permitted to treasure the memory of these brave men. They belonged to the same section as Hobson and displayed the same sublime heroism at Charleston as did he and his comrades at Santiago harbor. The close of the Civil War marks an era in the history of submarine navigation. Previous to that time nearly all the boats were crudely designed and crudely built. Moreover, the nature and magnitude of the problems to be solved had not as yet been adequately understood. Whatever practical success has been achieved since is due to the fact that these problems have been thoughtfully and carefully studied, that those who have studied them have been in general better equipped therefor by education and training and have laid under requisition all the wealth of modern mechanical and physical science. Of the many boats of this period, some of which have been quite VOL. LVIII 11 1 62 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. successful, one may easily recall the French 'Le Plongeur,' the 'Gustav Zede/ the 'Morse/ the 'Narval,' the Nordenfeldt boats and those of Goubet and Baker. Here also belong, of course, the latest and most successful boats of all, the 'Holland' and Mr. Lake's 'Argonaut,' of which some account will follow. Turning now from the history of submarine navigation to a con- sideration of certain practical problems connected with it, we are brought at the outset face to face with a fact of fundamental sig- nificance, namely, that even with the aid of very powerful electric illumination it is not possible to see clearly through ordinary sea water for more than a few feet. According to Mr. Lake of the 'Argo- naut,' about fifteen feet is the limit of visibility in our Northern waters, and about twice that in Southern. Submarine navigation is like navi- gation in the densest sort of a fog. High speed under water is just as possible mechanically as upon the surface. But the fact just stated is a death blow to high speed. Unless there shall be discovered some hitherto unsuspected means of perceiving at a distance invisible ob- jects, high speed will unquestionably be fraught with great peril. For the same reason it will probably be found impracticable to attempt very long journeys under water. There will probably never be trans-sub-atlantic lines, much less submarine greyhounds. In fact, practical inventors of submarine craft, at least of late years, have ceased to attempt to provide more than a surface-going boat which shall be able at any time or place to dive beneath the surface to the depth desired, to remain under water for considerable periods of time, either stationary or moving, with both safety and comfort to the crew, and then, the purpose of the dive having been accomplished, to return speedily and safely to the surface. Even these requirements constitute a pretty large contract, but that they have been met satisfactorily ap- pears sufficiently, so far as the 'Holland' at least is concerned, from the quotations given at the beginning of the article, and from the further fact that our government, ultra-conservative in adopting new devices for use in warfare, has purchased the 'Holland,' which is now at New- port in charge of Lieutenant Caldwell, Admiral Dewey's aid at Manila, and that Congress has authorized the building of six more 'Holland' boats of an improved type. Two of these are now being built at the Union Iron Works, at San Francisco, the rest at Elizabethport, N. J. Obviously, a prime essential for any sojourn under water is an ample supply of pure air. When possible to make use of it there is but one rational source of pure air, and that is the exhaustless supply at the surface. Provided she herself secures it, a submarine boat does not in the least surrender her independence by utilizing this supply. This the 'Argonaut' does at ordinary depths by means of a pair of vertical tubes, one for inflow, the other for discharge. SUBMARINE NAVIGATION. 163 The method answers very well for the peaceful commercial work of the 'Argonaut.' In war, however, this would usually he impossible. The 'Holland' in action must he entirely concealed from the enemy for considerable periods of time. The normal air capacity of her hull is, therefore, supplemented by compressed air tanks capable of with- standing pressures upwards of a ton to the inch, and of holding 4,000 feet of free air compressed into the volume of thirty cubic feet. These tanks are recharged by her own engines when at the surface. Ever since the days of Drebbell's 'Quintessence of Air' a great deal of thought has been given to the problem of purifying the air once Fig 3. The 'Argonaut' in Dry Dock. vitiated by respiration and thus rendering it tit for use again. While it would seem to be a very simple task to restore from tanks or by chemi- cal generation within the boat the oxygen which respiration consumes, and to absorb the water vapor and carbonic acid gas which respira- tion produces, those who have built the latest boats seem to have aban- doned the attempt entirely. It is easy to imagine emergencies where fresh air could not well be obtained, and where such means of restoring air once breathed would be of prime value. Objects under water are subject to pressure, which varies with the depth of submergence. At a depth of thirty-three feet this water pres- 164 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. sure is about fifteen pounds to the squrre inch, or more than a ton to the foot. Solid construction is naturally in order for a submarine boat. But power to resist pressure depends also upon shape. A cir- cular section, because it involves the principle of the arch, is the strong- est. With a given thickness of metal, therefore, a spherical boat could safely dive deeper than one of any other form. But the ex- terior of such a boat is ill-adapted to propulsion, and the interior for the arrangement of machinery. Since the days of Captain Nemo and the fabulous 'Nautilus' the cigar shape has doubtless been associated with submarine navigation in &&5E^ Fig 4. The 'Holland' in Dry I j. the minds of ninety-nine out of every hundred persons who have thought of the matter at all. And it is equally a matter of sober his- tory that this form has been almost universally adopted. Some in- ventors in the earlier days, with the vision of high speed in mind, have trimmed down the lines to almost needle-like fineness, as in the 'Gustar Zede.' Now that attempts at high speed have been abandoned, the elongated spheroidal or egg-shape is the favorite, as illustrated both by the 'Holland' and the 'Argonaut.' But what of power for locomotion under water? Obviously steam power, at least as ordinarily produced elsewhere, will not do. Even supposing the necessary draft to be secured, how shall the smoke be > The work of supplying water to a community is, however, an engi- neering problem, and for some years water-works' officials and engineers have felt the need of having in their own hands the means of determin- ing the quality of the water. This has not been because they wished to assume duties pertaining to the health authorities or because they stood in fear of criticism, but because the management of the water supplies demands immediate information of a character not always appreciated by a physician and not always promptly obtainable from the laboratory of a health department. Accordingly, there has been developed in this country during the last decade an interesting group of water-works laboratories devoted to sanitary supervision and to experiments upon water purification. The first of these laboratories was that of the Boston Water Works, established in 1889 by Mr. Desmond Fitzgerald, C. E., then Superin- tendent of the Western Division. At that time, and for several years previous, the water supplied to the city was in ill favor with the con- sumers because of its brown color and its vegetable taste. The primary object of the laboratory was the study of these objectionable conditions and the means for relieving them, but as the work proceeded it de- veloped along broader lines. The laboratory, situated on the shore of Chestnut Hill Eeservoir, consisted of a small frame building of two rooms, one used for general biological work and the other fitted up as a photographic dark room. The working force consisted of one biolo- gist and three assistants, besides a number of attendants at the reser- voirs, who devoted a portion of their time to the collection of samples and the observation of the temperature of the water. The following were the general outlines of the work: The water supply of the city was derived from Lake Cochituate and from a series of storage reservoirs on the Sudbury River. The waters from these sources differed from each other and varied at different sea- sons of the year. Accordingly, a system of inspection and analysis was arranged in such a way that the superintendent knew at all times the exact condition of the water throughout the system. Samples of water were collected regularly from all streams tributary to the supply, from reservoirs at various places and at different depths, and from the aque- duct^.and distribution pipes. When these reached the laboratory they were examined microscopically and bacteriologically, the presence of any odor-producing organism was carefully noted and an immediate report was rendered when necessary. Careful observations of color were also made. When the work in Boston was started the methods of biological examination of water were in their infancy. The Sedgwick-Rafter method of ascertaining the number of microscopic organisms in water had just been devised and the methods of plate culture of bacteria were just becoming popular. The new methods were adopted in the Chestnut 174 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. Hill laboratory and constant use resulted in important improvements. The old method of obtaining the temperature of water beneath the sur- face by the use of a weighted thermometer gave way to the electrical 'thermophone/ and new methods for measuring the color of water were devised. An apparatus for photography was installed, and excellent photographs were made of all the important microscopic organisms in the water. A set of these photographs was on exhibition at the World's Fair in Chicago. In addition to the routine work, many lines of experi- mental work were undertaken. Studies were made upon the seasonal distribution of various organisms, the effect of temperature, light and air upon their growth, and upon the cause and nature of the odor imparted by organisms to drinking water. The effect of swamp-land upon water Fig. 1. Mt. Prospect Laboratory, Brooklyn, N. Y. supplies, the stagnation of deep lakes, the bleaching action of sunlight upon colored waters were likewise considered, while for several years the laboratory was operated in connection with an experimental filter plant. After the Metropolitan Water Board assumed control of the water supply of Boston and its suburbs the laboratory was moved from Chest- nut Hill Reservoir into the city, where it now occupies rooms at No. 3 Mt. Vernon street. In 1897 Dr. F. S. Hollis succeeded the writer as biologist, and he in turn lias been succeeded by Mr. Horatio N. Parker. During recent years the conditions of the water supply have changed. New reservoirs of large capacity have been built, and the great Wachu- sett Reservoir is in process of construction. Swamps have been drained and fillers have been installed where there was danger of polluted water MUNICIPAL WATER-WORKS LABORATORIES. 175 entering the supply. Thus new fields of work have been opened to the laboratory. The center of gravity of the system is now much farther from the city than formerly, and the logic of the situation points to the future establishment of a laboratory upon the watershed operated in connection with a department of sanitary inspection and equipped for chemical as well as biological work. In 1893 the Public Water Board of the city of Lynn, Mass., fitted out a small room in the basement of the City Hall to serve as a laboratory for microscopical work. Weekly samples were col- lected from the supply ponds and examined by one of the lady assist- ants in the office. The results of the examinations were used by the superintendent in the operation of the works, and in several instances Fig. 2. Mt. Prospect Chemical Laboratory. they proved the direct means of preventing the consumers from receiv- ing water of an inferior quality. They also resulted in the undertaking of improvements in one of the reservoirs and tributary swamp areas that materially reduced the growths of troublesome algse. Bad tastes and odors in the water supply of Brooklyn, N. Y., led to the establishment of Mt. Prospect Laboratory by the Department of Water Supply in 1897. As this laboratory is typical of its class it de- serves more than a passing notice. Situated upon the shore of Mt. Prospect Reservoir, near the entrance to Prospect Park, the laboratory has a fortunate location. In addition to being within convenient dis- tance of the office of the department, the main distribution reservoirs of the city and the railway depot at which samples from the watershed are i/6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. received, it- isolation and elevation make it comparatively free from noise and dust, while the building is well lighted by large windows, heated by hot water and provided with gas, electricity and telephone. The upper portion of the building contains three rooms, known as the general laboratory or [(reparation room, the biological laboratory and the chemical laboratory. In the basement are the physical laboratory, the furnace room and the general storeroom. The general laboratory is used for the shipment of samples, the washing of glassware, the sterili- zation of apparatus, the preparation of culture media and for such chem- ical processes as might charge the air with ammonia and the fumes of acids. The biological laboratory is devoted to the bacteriological and Fig. Laboratory of the Sewer Department, Worckster, Mass. microscopical examination of samples of water and to the study of the various organisms found. It also serves as the office of the director. The chemical laboratory is the largest of the three rooms. Its atmosphere is kept free from ammonia and acid fumes in order not to vitiate the results of the water analyses there carried on. Analyses of coal are also made in this room. A storage room opens from the chemical laboratory and there is also a small dark room. All three laboratories have marble tiled floors, and the tables and shelves are covered with white tiles throughout. The partitions between the rooms are largely of glass. The apparatus is of the most complete description, much of it having been designed for the particular work at hand. The physical laboratory MUNICIPAL WATERWORKS LABORATORIES. 177 in the basement contains all the necessary apparatus for testing cement, analyzing sand, etc. The laboratory force consists of one biologist and director, one chemist, one assistant chemist and three assistants. The routine work of the laboratory consists of the regular examina- tion of samples of water from all parts of the watershed and distribution system, i. e., from the driven wells, streams, ponds, aqueducts, reser- voirs and service taps. The complicated and varied character of the water supply requires the examination of an unusually large number of samples, and it is safe to say that no water supply in this country is examined more thoroughly and minutely than that of Brooklyn. Dur- ing the three years that the laboratory has been in operation over eight thousand samples have been analyzed. The problems of the Brooklyn supply are very different from those met with in Boston. The supply is drawn, not from a few storage reser- voirs of large size, but from a large number of small supply ponds, sup- plemented by an almost equal amount of water from deep and shallow driven wells. There are no extensive swamp areas, but the watershed is sandy and serves as a natural filtering medium. The entire supply, therefore, partakes largely of the character of ground water. The stor- age of ground water in an open reservoir has been almost always at- tended with troubles due to growths of microscopic organisms, and the Brooklyn supply has proved no exception to the rule. The mingling of surface water, seeded with plant life, and ground water, laden with plant food, has resulted in the enormous development of microscopic organisms in the distribution reservoirs. During the summer and au- tumn of 1896 the condition of the water in the city caused general com- plaint because of its bad odor. An examination, made by Dr. Albert R. Leeds, showed that the diatom asterionella was responsible for the trouble, and that the fishy odor was caused by an oil-like substance secreted by this microscopic plant. Since 1896 growths of asterionella and other odor-producing organisms have recurred regularly in the dis- tribution reservoirs, but by the use of the new by-pass, through which water may be pumped around the reservoirs direct from the aqueduct to the distribution pipes, the water in the city has been kept compara- tively free from them. The organisms appear and disappear according to laws that are now beginning to be understood, and while their growth in the Brooklyn reservoirs cannot be wholly prevented under present conditions, the laboratory is doing an important service by constantly noting their condition of growth and by forecasting their effect on the city supply for the guidance of the engineer in his manipulation of the reservoirs. The chief service of the laboratory, however, is in con- nection with the sanitary condition of the watershed, and upon this most of the bacteriological and chemical work is concentrated. The laboratory was- installed and equipped under the direction of Mr. I. M. VOL. LVIII.— 12 178 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. De Varona, Engineer of Water Supply, with the writer in immediate charge. The filtration of all surface water used for domestic supply is one of the probabilities of the future. For years many of the large cities of Europe have been supplied with filtered water, and in England alone more than ten million people are using water from which all danger from disease germs has been removed. In x\merica filtration has gained ground but slowly, and in some of our cities the condition of the drink- ing-water is a disgrace to civilization. A German health officer once said to me: 'You Americans are a queer people; you filter sewage, but you drink water raw.' One reason for our tardiness in following the practice of the Old World is the fact that the conditions here are not in all re- spects the same as in Europe. The old methods of filtration cannot be successfully applied to many of our American waters, and water-works' engineers have felt that before expensive works were undertaken the problems should be carefully studied by direct experiment with respect to existing conditions. Thus, recent years have witnessed the operation of experimental filter plants unequalled in magnitude, in the scope of their work and in the accuracy of their methods of investigation. The experiment station of the Massachusetts State Board of Health at Lawrence was started in 1897 and is still in operation. The results of the investigations of the principles involved in the purification of water and sewage by sand filtration have become classic in the annals of sanitary engineering, and the annual reports are still furnishing results of the highest scientific value. At the present time the work is in charge of Mr. H. W. Clark, Chemist of the Board. One practical result of these experiments was the construction of a sand filter of novel type for the purification of the water supply of the city of Eaw fence, and the immediate reduction of the typhoid fever rate showed the suc- cess of the undertaking. The water of the Merrimac River, at Law- rence, though polluted, is comparatively clear, and it became evident that methods of filtration that were applicable to water of this character would not be necessarily successful where the water was highly colored and turbid. Experiments were, therefore, begun in other cities. In Boston, where the water was of higher color than at Lawrence, and where microscopic organisms were sometimes numerous, a filtration station was in operation from 1892 to 1895. Six sand filters, each with .in area, of one-thousandth of an acre, and a large number of smaller filters, were used under varying conditions. The station was in charge of Mr. Win. E. Foss, under the direction of Mr. Desmond Fitzgerald, C. E. The analytical work was done partly at the Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology and partly at the Biological Laboratory described above. It is much to be regretted that the results of these experiments \ere never published. MUNICIPAL WATER-WORKS LABORATORIES. 179 In 1893 Mr. Edmund B. Weston, C. E., of Providence, R. I., con- ducted for the water department of that city a series of experiments upon the purification of the water of the Pawtuxet River by means of mechanical filters. Though less extensive than the experiments above mentioned, they are of historic interest as giving the first adequate dem- onstration of the possibilities of that method of purification. The system of mechanical filtration, or the 'American System,' as it is sometimes called, differs from natural sand filtration by the use of alum or some similar coagulating substance before sedimentation and filtration, by the higher rate of filtration employed and by the use of certain mechanical devices for cleaning the sand beds. The application of this process to the treatment of turbid water was next investigated. In 1895 the Louisville Water Company undertook a most extensive series of experiments to determine the relative efficiency of various types of mechanical filters in the purification of the water of the Ohio River. The wTork was placed in charge of Mr. Geo. W. Fuller, C. E., who was assisted by a large corps of trained assistants. For nearly a year the experiments were earned on without interruption: the filters were operated by the companies interested in them, and their efficiency was determined by Mr. Fuller on behalf of the water company, who had at hand a complete laboratory equipment and who used every means known to science in the analysis of the water before and after treatment. The most important result of these experiments was to prove beyond doubt the applicability of mechanical filtration to the purification of water rendered turbid by the presence of fine particles of clay. The experiments in Louisville were followed in 1898-9 by a some- what similar investigation at Cincinnati, 0., also conducted by Mr. Puller. As in Louisville, the water supply is taken from the Ohio River, but the character of the water at this point is not in all respects the same as that farther down stream. The problem in Cincinnati was to determine wdiether the English system of sand filtration or the Ameri- can system, involving the use of a coagulant, was best suited to the puri- fication of the water, and whether any preliminary treatment of the water before filtration was advisable. To solve this problem the Board of Trustees, Commissioners of Water Works, decided to appropriate for needed experiments a sum equivalent to about one year's interest on the probable cost of a plant for filtering the supply of the city. The equip- ment consisted of four steel tanks, each with a capacity of 100,000 gal- lons, fifteen experimental filters, arranged for operation under different conditions, and a large laboratory fully equipped for chemical and bac- teriological work. After a period of continuous operation, covering about ten months, the evidence showed that either the American system or the English system operated with preliminary coagulation and sedi- mentation would satisfactorily purify the water, but that the American 180 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. system could be operated with less difficulty and with somewhat less expense. In 1896 the city of Pittsburg, Pa., appointed a commission to con- sider the character of the water supply and the advisability of its puri- fication by some means of filtration. The supply is taken from the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, streams which are often turbid and which are subject to contamination by sewage. The conditions were such that direct experiment was necessary to determine the most suit- able system of purification. Accordingly, an experimental station was located on the shore of the Allegheny Kiver and placed in charge of Mr. Morris Knowles, under the direction of Mr. Allen Hazen, Consult- ing Engineer. Arrangements were made for the comparative study of sand filters and mechanical filters, and a laboratory was built and equipped for making all necessary analyses. The plant was in continu- ous operation for more than a year, and the results seemed to show that while satisfactory clarification of the water could be obtained by either system, the method of sand filtration could be depended upon to remove more completely the effect of pollution. The report of a similar series of experiments made to determine the feasibility of purifying the water of the Potomac River at Washington, D. C, has been issued by the War Department. The work was carried on in a manner similar to that at Cincinnati and Pittsburg, the object of the studies being to find the best method adapted to the local conditions. Col. A. M. Miller, XJ. S. A., had charge of the investigations, and Mr. Robert Spurr Weston conducted the analytical work. Recently the Department of Public Works, of Philadelphia, Pa., has established a testing station near the Spring Garden Pumping Station for the purpose of studying the problems of filtration incident to the con- struction of filter beds for the water supply of the entire city, for which the sum of ten million dollars has been already appropriated. The work is in charge of Mr. Morris Knowles. Still more recently a testing station has been established by the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans, with Mr. Robert Spurr Weston as Resident Expert. In July,1899,the newly-constructed water filtration plant at Albany, N. Y., was put in operation, Mr. Allen Hazen having been Chief En- gineer of construction and Mr. Geo. I. Bailey Superintendent of Water Works. In connection with this plant is a small laboratory in which are made daily bacteriological examinations of the water before and after fil- tration. Physical, chemical and microscopical examinations are also made at frequent intervals. The results obtained indicate the amount of purification that is taking place, and they already have shown that the filter is rendering efficient service in protecting the community from water-borne diseases. The combined work of these various laboratories of supervision and MUNICIPAL WATER-WORKS LABORATORIES. 181 experiment lias been of incalculable benefit to sanitary science, and the results have been not only of local and immediate value, but they have acquired a world-wide reputation and form a permanent contribution to scientific literature. If one doubts the practical worth of a laboratory in the management of a water-works system, no more convincing argu- ment could be presented than the fact that a private water company in Wilkesbarre, Pa., has recently gone to the expense of establishing a laboratory for chemical, microscopical and bacteriological analyses of the Water sold to the community, and this in spite of the fact that the water supply is taken from a watershed not seriously open to the danger of contamination. The work is in charge of Prof. Wm. H. Dean. It is an interesting fact that in many instances the laboratories have been found to have a wider field of usefulness than that for which they were originally intended. For example, the laboratory in Cincinnati did not cease its existence when the filtration experiments were com- pleted; it was continued as a laboratory for testing the materials of engineering construction. It is now in charge of Mr. J. W. Ellms, Chemist, under the direction of Mr. Gustav Bouscaren, Chief Engineer. The building has seven rooms and contains not only the apparatus necessary for water analysis and general chemical work, but a complete outfit for testing cement. The work now includes the chemical analysis of paints and oils, asphalts, rock, sand and cement, physical tests of cement, besides experimental investigations of the properties of cement mortars and asphalts. At Pittsburg, also, the laboratory has been made permanent. The Department of Public Works has erected a two-story brick building, known as the Herron Hill Laboratory. The first floor and basement are used by the Bureau of Water Supply for water analysis, tests of supplies purchased and experimental work upon the filtration of water; the second floor is used by the Bureau of Engineering as a cement laboratory. In the water laboratory the floor and operating-shelves are covered with white tiles and the walls are painted with white enamel, so that the room may be washed from ceiling to floor. Steam from a neighboring boiler house is used for heating the water-baths and for distilling water. The incubators used for bacteriological work are placed in the basement, where the temperature can be kept more con- stant than on the floors above. The ammonia stills, sterilizers, autoclav and other apparatus are of the most modern type. A safe in the base- ment serves to protect the records in case of fire. One biologist, one chemist and one attendant are employed in the water laboratory, and a chemist is employed in the department of cement testing. Mr. Wm. R. Copeland is the biologist in charge. In the Mt. Prospect Laboratory, of Brooklyn, the miscellaneous work is constantly increasing. The coal used at the various pumping stations [82 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. is purchased under specifications that require the analysis of a sample that must accompany every bid, and the determination of the heating power of a sample from every consignment. Lubricating oils, boiler com- pounds, samples of steel and other materials are analyzed and the laboratory is also equipped for the chemical and physical testing of cements. Other departments of municipal work are taking up the laboratory idea. The Sewer Department of Worcester, Mass., has two laboratories. One is located at the disposal works and is devoted wholly to the super- vision of the process of treatment of the sewage. The other occupies attractive rooms in the City Hall. Here a great variety of work is under- taken. During the year 1899 more than a hundred carloads of cement were used by the department, and over eight thousand samples were tested for tensile strength; many chemical analyses were also made. Bricks were frequently tested for absorption, and several samples of steel used in the construction of shovels and offered to the department by dif- ferent dealers were analyzed. Coal, oil, lime and many other materials purchased by the department were analyzed. In addition to this, over seventy-five samples of butter and oleomargarine were examined for the Department of Milk and Butter Inspection, and a number of water analyses were made for the water department. A large amount of experimental work was carried on in connection with the problem of sewage disposal. Both laboratories are under the general direction of Mr. Harrison P. Eddy, Superintendent of Sewers. It seems apparent, therefore, that the laboratory is destined to be an important factor in municipal engineering as well as in municipal sanitation, and it is not difficult to foresee a time when every city of importance will be provided with a laboratory equipped in accordance with its needs. In large cities, work of this kind is preferably spe- cialized and distributed through different departments, in order that it may be under the control of those directly interested in the results, but in small cities, all the analytical work can be more economically accomplished in a single laboratory. In such a laboratory the work would cover a very broad field. Coal, cement, oil, brick, asphalt and various structural materials would be tested before purchase and during delivery; illuminating gas regularly examined; water, milk and various food products analyzed to determine their purity and healthfulness; bac- teriological cultures made for diagnosis of diphtheria, typhoid fever, tuberculosis and kindred diseases; disinfection of buildings supervised, etc. All this would require the services of an engineer, a chemist and a bacteriologist, or of these three combined in one person. The expense of such an institution would be small in comparison with the saving that would result to the citizens in the purchase of supplies and in the protection of the public health. FREEDOM AND 'FREE AY ILL: 183 FREEDOM AND TREE-WILL.' i By Professor GEORGE STUART FULLERTON, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. LET us suppose two men before a jury on the accusation of homicide. Each admits that he has occasioned the death of a man, but each has his own account of how the thing came about. In the first instance, the accused was holding the gun that sped the fatal bullet; his finger was on the trigger and pressed it; the discharge fol- lowed; the victim fell. But it seems that the gun had been forced into his unwilling hands by one stronger than he; an iron finger lay above his own, and it was under its pressure that his finger became the proxi- mate cause of a series of events which he cannot even now contemplate without horror. He was the unwilling instrument of a bloody deed, and does not account himself the responsible cause; he slew because he 'couldn't help it.' The second man lays before his jurors a story in many respects dif- ferent, but ending with the same words. He was alone when the shoot- ing occurred. He was under no compulsion at the hands of another, but was shooting at a mark, and taking delight in dotting the target near the bull's-eye, when lo! across the field, above the hedge that bounds the horizon on that side, appears a tempting mark, the rubicund face of a rustic whose open mouth strikes his joyous mood at just that instant as an irresistible target, and one altogether too delightful to be passed by. "I had not the faintest intention, a moment before, of shoot- ing any man," he explains; "but, really, it was too good a shot to miss, and I simply couldn't help it." Let us suppose it possible for the same jury to hear these two ex- planations, one after the other. The action of a petit jury is said to be most uncertain, but there can be little doubt that even a jury would detect an important distinction between these two "couldn't help's.' The world seems to be full of 'couldn't help's' of the two sorts; the man who stumbled on the stairs couldn't help rolling to the bottom; the man who was thrown from a window couldn't help descending to the street; the man who was seized by the police couldn't help failing to meet his engagement; the greedy boy couldn't help taking the larger muffin; the devoted mother couldn't help spoiling her only child; the emotional philanthropist couldn't help feeling in his pocket on hearing the plausible tale of the wily tramp. Probably most jurymen would refuse to recognize "couldn't help's' 1 84 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. of the second class as worthy of the name at all. Certainly, as jurymen, they have little concern with them. It is only with those of the first class that the law has to do, except in cases in which the sanity of the accused is in question. But suppose one of the jurymen happens to be a philosopher, and is accustomed to reflect upon matters which most men are in the habit of passing by without much thought. He may say to himself: "As a juryman I cannot think of listening to the absurd excuse for homicide offered by this second fellow. If I did I should have to admit that no man is a moral agent and that no crime should be punished. The smuggler, the burglar, the murderer, may be as- sumed to be influenced by motives of some sort. There is no case in which something may not be pointed to as that which occasioned the deed. Human life must be protected; society must be preserved; evil- doers must be punished. If some men find the attractions of crime irresistible, so much the worse for them. And yet, as a philosopher, I find that I must accept the fact that, in a certain sense of the words, the guilty man couldn't help doing what he did. He was what he was; the target was attractive; the result followed. He was free from ex- ternal compulsion, but he was not and could not be free from himself and his own impulses." The man who reasons thus is called a determinist. Whether our determinist is wise to express things exactly as he does will appear in what follows. But the thought which he is at least trying to express is sufficiently clear. A determinist is a man who accepts in its widest sense the assumption of science that all the phenomena of nature are subject to law, and that nothing can happen without some adequate cause why it should happen thus and not otherwise. The fall of a rain- drop, the unfolding of a flower, the twitching of an eyelid, the penning of a sentence — all these, he maintains, have their adequate causes, though the causes of such occurrences lie, in great part, beyond the line which divides our knowledge from our ignorance. Determinism is, of course, a faith; for it is as yet wholly impossible for science to demon- strate even that the fluttering of an aspen leaf in the summer breeze is wholly subject to law; and that every turn or twist upon its stem must be just what it is, and nothing else, in view of the whole system of forces in play at the moment. Much less is it possible to prove in detail that that complicated creature called a man draws out his chair, sits down to dinner, gives his neighbor the best cut of the beef, dis- cusses the political situation, and resists the attractions of the decanter before him, strictly in accordance with law — that every motion of every muscle is the effect of antecedent causes which are incalculable only be- cause of the limitations of our intelligence and our ignorance of existing facts. And yet the faith of science seems to those trained in the sciences a reasonable thing, for, as is pointed out, it is progressively jus- FREEDOM AND 'FREE-WILL.3 185 tified by the gradual advance of human knowledge, and even in fields in which anything like exact knowledge is at present unattainable the little we do know hints unmistakably at the reign of law. There are few in- telligent men who would care to maintain that the fall of a rain-drop or the flutter of an aspen leaf could not be completely accounted for by the enumeration of antecedent causes, were our knowledge sufficiently increased; but there are a considerable number who take issue with the determinist in his view of the subjection to law of all human actions. They maintain that there is a necessarily incalculable element present in such cases, and that all the antecedents taken together can only in part account for the result. As opposed to determinism they hold to the doctrine of indeterminism, or, as it has too often unhappily been called, the doctrine of 'free-will.' I say as it has unhappily been called, because it is a thousand pities that an interesting scientific question, and a most difficult one, should be taken out of the clear atmosphere of passionless intellectual investi- gation, and, through a mere confusion, brought down among the fogs of popular passion and partisan strife. We have all heard much about fate and free-will, and no man with the spirit of a man in him thinks, without inward revolt, of the possibility that his destiny is shaped for him by some irresistible external power in the face of which he is impo- tent. No normal man welcomes the thought that he is not free, and the denial of free-will can scarcely fail to meet with his reprobation. We recognize freedom as the dearest of our possessions, the guarantee, indeed, of all our possessions. The denial of freedom we associate with wrong and oppression, the scourge and the dungeon, the tyranny of brute force, the despair of the captive, the sodden degradation of the slave. The very word freedom is enough to set us quivering with emo- tion; it is the open door to the thousand-fold activities which well up within us, and to which we give expression with joy. But it must not be forgotten that the antithesis of freedom is com- pulsion, that hateful thing that does violence to our nature and crushes with iron hand these same activities. The freedom which poets have sung, and for which men have died, has no more to do with indeter- minism than has the Dog, a celestial constellation, with the terrestrial animal that barks. St. Thomas and Spinoza, who differ in many things, have both pointed out that one must distinguish between the two latter, and the distinction is not broader than that which exists between the former. Determinism is not fatalism, and indeterminism is not the affirmation of freedom in any proper sense of that word, the sense in which men take it when it sets their pulses bounding and fills their breasts with high resolve. We have seen that even a determinist can distinguish between the two 'couldn't helps,' and recognize that they must be differently treated. We may now go so far as to insist that, 1 86 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. since they do differ so widely, they should be given different names, and we may call upon the determinist to avoid altogether, as other men do, the use of the term 'couldn't help' in the second sense. He may then say, without serious danger of being misunderstood, that the first prisoner at the bar couldn't help doing what he did, but that the second could have helped doing it if he had so elected. Without doing violence to the common use of speech, nay, strictly in accordance with common usage, he may declare that the one man was not free, but was under compulsion, while, on the other hand, the second man was free. He may very well do this without ceasing to be an out-and-out deter- minist. Before going on with the topic which is the main interest of this paper, it is right that I should say just a word as to what determinism does not imply, it does not imply that all the causes which may be assumed to be the antecedents of human actions are material causes. A determinist may be a materialist, or he may be an idealist, or he may be a composite creature. As a matter of fact, there have been deter- minists of many different kinds, for the dispute touching the human will is thousands of years old; and the fact that the doctrine happens at the present time to be more closely associated in our minds with one of the 'isms' ] have mentioned than with another, says little as to their natural relationship. Nor need the determinist necessarily be either an atheist, a theist, or an agnostic. He may, of course, be any one of these; but if he is, it will not be because of his determinism. As a determinist he affirms only the universal applicability of the principle of sufficient reason — the doctrine that for every occurrence, of what- ever sort, there must be a cause or causes which can furnish an adequate explanation of the occurrence. I say so much to clear the ground. It is well to remember that materialists have been determinists, idealists have been determinists, atheists have been determinists, theologians have been determinists. The doctrine is not bound up with any of the differences that divide these, and it should not be prejudged from a mistaken notion that it necessarily favors the position taken by one of these classes rather than that taken by another. We may approach it with an open mind, and make an effort to judge it strictly on its own merits. But to judge it on its own merits, the very first requisite is to purge the mind completely of the misconception that the 'freedom' of the will, or indeterminism, has anything whatever to do with freedom in the ordinary sense of the word — freedom from external compulsion. Here I sit at my desk; my hand lies on the paper before me; can I raise it from the paper or not, just as T please? To such a question, both determinist and indeterminist must give the same answer. Of course I can raise it or not, as I please. Both must admit that I am free in FREEDOM AND 'FREE-WILL: 187 this sense. The question that divides them lies a little farther back; the determinist must hold that, if I please to raise my hand, there is some cause within me, or in my environment, or both, that brings about the result; and if I please not to raise it, he must believe that there ia some cause or complex of causes that produces just that result. He does not deny that I can do as I please. He merely maintains that my 'pleasing' is never uncaused. On the other hand, the advocate of the 'liberty of indifference' maintains that under precisely the same cir- cumstances, internal and external, I may raise my hand or keep it at rest. He holds, in other words, that, if I move, that action is not to be wholly accounted for by anything whatever that has preceded, for under precisely the same circumstances it might not have occurred. It is, hence, causeless. Now it would be a horrid thing to feel that one were not free to move or not to move. Freedom is a pearl of great price. But there is nothing especially attractive in the thought of causeless actions, in themselves considered. They strike one, at first glance, as at least some- thing of an anomaly. It seems reasonable to suspect that the great attraction which the doctrine of indeterminism exercises upon many minds must be due to a confusion between it and something else. That this is indeed the case I can best illustrate by citing a passage from Professor James' delightful 'Talks to Teachers.'* It reads as follows: "It is plain that such a question can be decided only by general an- alogies, and not by accurate observations. The free-willist believes the appearance to be a reality; the determinist believes that it is an illusion. I myself hold with the free-willists — not because I cannot conceive the fatalist theory clearly, or because I fail to understand its plausibility, but simply because, if free-will were true, it would be absurd to have the belief in it fatally forced on our acceptance. Considering the inner fitness of things, one would rather think that the very first act of a will endowed with freedom should be to sustain the belief in the free- dom itself. I accordingly believe freely in my freedom; I do so with the best of scientific consciences, knowing that the predetermination of the amount of my effort of attention can never receive objective proof, and hoping that, whether you follow my example in this respect or not, it will at least make you see that such psychological and pyschophysical theories as I hold do not necessarily force a man to become a fatalist or a materialist." I have taken this extract because it may stand as the very type of a 'free-will' argument, and as an ideal illustration of the persuasive in- fluence of the ways of expressing things natural to a gifted writer. The school-teacher who has no prejudice against fatalism and materialism, to whom the idea of being endowed with freedom is not attractive, who * Chapter XV., pp. 191-192. 1 88 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. is willing to have even good things fatally forced upon his acceptance, and who is not inspired by the thought of believing freely in his freedom, must be a poor creature indeed. But suppose Professor James had expressed his thought baldly; suppose he had said: "I myself hold to indeterminism, not because I fail to see the plausibility of the oppo- site doctrine, but because, if human actions were causeless, what more natural than that man should causelessly believe in their causeless origination? Accordingly, I causelessly believe in the causelessness of my actions, confident that no one knows enough about the matter to prove me in the wrong." Would the doctrine thus stated — and this only means the doctrine stripped of misleading associations — have proved particularly attractive? It is not attractive even when superficially considered; it only seems arbitrary and unreasonable; a something to be taken rather as a play of fancy than as a serious argument. But looked into more narrowly, the doctrine is seen in its implications to be something very serious and terrible. So little has been said upon this topic in the vast literature of the dispute regarding the will, that I make no excuse for discussing it at some length. The issue has too often been clouded by the associa- tions which hover about the words 'liberty,' 'freedom' and 'free- will,' and the true significance of indeterminism has not been clearly seen. I have said above that it is a pity to stir the emotions when one is trying to settle a question of fact; but as very much has been said upon the topic of the terrors of determinism that it is allowable, as an anti- dote to this poison, to point out the much more real terrors of 'free-will.' Let us suppose that the 'libertarian' or 'free-willist' — the indeter- minist — is right, and that human actions may be causeless. I am, then, endowed with 'freedom.' This is not freedom in the usual sense of the word, remember; and I have put it into quotation marks to indi- cate that fact. It means only that my actions cannot wholly be ac- counted for by anything that has preceded them, even by my own character and impulses, inherent or acquired. But, I ask myself, if I am endowed with 'freedom,' in what sense may this 'freedom' be called mine. Suppose that I have given a dollar to a blind beggar. Can I, if it is really an act of 'free-will,' be properly said to have given the money? Was it given because / was a man of tender heart, one prone to benevolent impulses, and naturally incited by the sight of suffering to make an effort to relieve it? Not at all; in just so far as the gift was the result of 'free-will,' these things could have had nothing to do with the matter. Another man, the veriest miser and skinflint, the most unfeeling brute upon the streets, might equally well have been the instrument of the benevolent deed. His impulses might all be selfish, and his past life a consistent history of sordid greed; I am a lover of my kind; but what has all this to do with acts of 'free-will'? If FREEDOM AND 'FREE AY ILL: 189 they are 'free/ they must not be conditioned by antecedent circum- stances of any sort, by the misery of the beggar, by the pity in the heart of the passer-by. They must be causeless, not determined. They must drop from a clear sky out of the void, for just in so far as they can be accounted for they are not 'free.' Is it then I that am 'free'? Am I the cause of the good or evil deeds which — shall I say? — result from my 'freedom'? I do not cause them, for they are uncaused. And, since they are uncaused, and have no necessary congruity with my character or impulses, what guarantee have I that the course of my life will not exhibit the melancholy spectacle of the reign of mere caprice? For forty years I have lived quietly and in obedience to law. I am regarded as a decent citizen, and one who can be counted upon not to rob his neighbor, or wave the red flag of the anarchist. I have grown gradually to be a character of such and such a kind; I am fairly familiar with my impulses and aspirations; I hope to carry out plans extending over a good many years in the future. Is it this / with whom I have lived in the past, and whom I think I know, that will elect for me whether I shall carry out plans or break them, be consistent or inconsistent, love or hate, be virtuous or betake myself to crime? Alas! I am 'free,' and this / with whom I am familiar cannot condition the future. But I will make the most serious of re- solves, bind myself with the holiest of promises! To what end? How can any resolve be a cause of causeless actions, or any promise clip the erratic wing of 'free-will'? In so far as I am 'free' the future is a wall of darkness. One cannot even say with the Moslem: 'What shall be, will be;' for there is no shall about it. It is wholly impossible for me to guess what I will 'freely' do, and it is impossible for me to make any provision against the consequences of 'free' acts of the most deplorable sort. A knowledge of my own character in the past brings with it neither hope nor consolation. My 'freedom' is just as 'free' as that of the man who was hanged last week. It is not conditioned by my character. If he could 'freely' commit murder, so can I. But I never dreamt of killing a man, and would not do it for the world! No; that is true; the I that I know rebels against the thought. Yet to admit that this I can prevent it is to become a determinist. If I am 'free' I cannot seek this city of refuge. Is 'freedom' a thing that can be inherited as a bodily or mental constitution? Can it be repressed by a course of educa- tion, or laid in chains by life-long habit? In so far as any action is 'free,' what I have been, what I am, what I have always done or striven to do, what I most earnestly wish or resolve to do at the present mo- ment— these things can have no more to do with its future realization than if they had no existence. If, then, I really am 'free,' I must face the possibility that I may at any moment do anything that any man can 'freely' do. The possibility is a hideous one; and surely even the most 190 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. ardent 'free-willist' will, when he contemplates it frankly, excuse me for hoping that, if I am 'free/ I am at least not very 'free,' and that I may reasonably expect to find some degree of consistency in my life and actions. An excess of such 'freedom' is indistinguishable from the most abject slavery to lawless caprice. And when I consider my relations to my fellow-men the outlook is no better. It is often said that the determinist may grant rewards or inflict punishments as a means of attaining certain desired ends, but that for him there can in all this be no question of justice or injustice. One man is by nature prone to evil as the sparks fly upward; another is born an embryo saint. One is ushered into this world, if not 'trailing clouds of glory,' yet with such clouds, in the shape of civilizing in- fluences, hovering about the very cradle in which he is to lie; another opens his eyes upon a light which breaks feebly through the foul and darkened window-pane, and which is lurid with the reflections of degradation and vice. One becomes the favorite of fortune, and the other the unhappy subject of painful correction. Unless there be 'free-will,' where can we find even the shadow of justice in our treat- ment of these? We have all heard the argument at length, and I shall not enter into it further; nor shall I delay over the question of the true meaning of the terms justice and injustice, though this meaning is often taken for granted in a very heedless way. I shall merely inquire whether the assumption of 'freedom' contributes anything toward the solution of the problem of punishment. Let us suppose that Tommy's mother is applying a slipper to some portion of his frame for having 'freely* raided the pantry. Does she punish him for having done the deed, or does she punish him to prevent its recurrence? In either case, she seems, if the deed was a 'free' one, to be acting in a wholly unreasonable way. Was the deed really done by Tommy — i. e., was it the natural result of his knowledge of the con- tents of the pantry, his appetite for jam, and the presence of the key in the door? Not at all. The act was a 'freeT one, and not conditioned by either Tommj-'s character or his environment. The child's grand- father might have 'freely' stolen jam under just the same circum- stances. Thus, in a true sense of the words, the child did not do it. Who can cause what is causeless? Moreover, by no possibility could he have prevented it. Who can guard against the spontaneity of 'free- dom'? No resolve, as we have seen, can condition the unconditioned. Then why beat the poor child for what he did not do and what he could not possibly have prevented? Surely this is wanton cruelty, and worthy of all reprobation! Is the punishment intended to prevent a recurrence of the deed? How futile a measure! Does the silly woman actually believe that she (•an with a slipper make such changes in Tommy's mind or body as to FREEDOM AND 'FREE-WILL.' 191 determine the occurrence or non-occurrence of acts which are, by hypothesis, independent of what is contained in Tommy and his en- vironment? Does she forget that she is raining her blows upon a 'free' agent? As well beat the lad to prevent the lightning from striking the steeple in the next block. The utter absurdity of punishing a 'free' agent, in so far as he is a 'free' agent, must be apparent to every unprejudiced mind. It is unjust and it is useless. And it seems clear that it is equally useless to make an effort to persuade him. To what end shall I marshal all sorts of good reasons for not doing this or that reprehensible action? To what end shall I pour forth my torrent of eloquence, painting in vivid colors the joys of virtue and the varied miseries which lurk upon the path of the evil-doer? Are my words supposed to have effect, or are they not? If not, it is not worth while to utter them. Evidently they cannot have effect in determining 'free' actions, for such actions cannot be effects of anything. It seems, then, that Tommy's mother and his aunts and all his spiritual pastors and masters have for years approached Tommy upon a strictly deterministic basis. They have thought it worth while to talk, and to talk a great deal. They have done what all peda- gogues do — they have adjusted means to ends, and have looked for results, taking no account of 'freedom' at all. Of course, in so far as Tommy upon a strictly deterministic basis. They have thought it worth of the melancholy situation of the man who finds himself the father of half a dozen little 'free-will' monsters who cannot possibly be reached either by moral suasion or by the rod! It is a melancholy world, this world of 'freedom.' In it no man can count upon himself and no man can persuade his neighbor. We are, it is true, powerless to lead one another into evil; but we are also powerless to influence one another for good. It is a lonely world, in which each man is cut off from the great whole and given a lawless little world all to himself. And it is an uncertain world, a world in which a knowledge of the past casts no ray into the darkness of the future. To-morrow I am to face nearly a hundred students in logic. It is a new class, and I know little about its members save that they are students. I have assumed that they will act as students usually act, and that I shall escape with my life. But if they are endowred with 'free-will,' what may I not expect? What does 'free-will' care for the terrors of the Dean's office, the long green table, and the Committee of Discipline? Is it interested in Logic? Or does it have a personal respect for me? The picture is a harrowing one, and I drop the curtain upon it. Fortunately for us all, 'freedom' is the concern of the philosophers; freedom is what we have to do with in real life. The judge, the philan- thropist, the moralist, the pedagogue, all assume that man may be a free agent without on that account being forced beyond the pale into 192 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. the outer darkness of utter irrationality. Men generally regard a man as free when he is in a position to be irfluenced by those considerations by which they think the normal man not under compulsion naturally is influenced. They do not think that he is robbed of his freedom in so far as he weighs motives, seeks information, is influenced by persuasion. What would become of our social system if men were not affected by influences of this sort? It would be the annihilation of all the forces which we have put in motion, and upon which we depend, for the amelioration of mankind. There is scarce any tyranny so great as the tyranny of words. It is as reasonable to believe that strong drink will make a man strong, as that 'freedom' will make a man free, and yet how many believe it! So difficult is it to escape the snares of verbal confusion that I cannot be confident that some of my readers will not suppose that I have been arguing against human freedom. The forms of expression which have been chosen by some determinists are in part responsible for their error. The 'free-willists' are not wholly to blame. I feel, then, that I ought to close this brief paper with an unequivocal and concise statement of my position. It is this: I believe most heartily in freedom. I am neither fatalist nor materialist. I hold man to be a free agent, and believe that there is such a thing as justice in man's treatment of man. I refuse to regard punishment as the infliction of pain upon one who did not do the thing for which he is punished, could not have prevented it, and cannot possi- bly be benefited by the punishment he receives. I view with horror the doctrine that the teacher's desk and the pulpit, the force of public opinion and the sanction of law, are of no avail. I am unwilling to as- sume without evidence that each man's breast is the seat of uncaused and inexplicable explosions, which no man can predict, against the con- sequences of which no man can make provision and which set at defi- ance all the forces which make for civilization. CHINESE COMMERCE. 193 CHINESE COMMERCE.* By WILLIAM BARCLAY PARSONS. THE foreign commerce of China is carried on through and at twenty-nine Treaty Ports. Previous to 1840 trade with foreign- ers was much hampered owing to its being subject to local regulations, all of which were annoying, many of them ridiculous, and some actu- ally jeopardizing to both life and property. In 1842 Great Britain, availing herself of the successful outcome of what is known as the Opium War, stipulated that as one of the indemnities, China should declare the ports of Canton, Amoy, Fu-chow, Ning-po and Shanghai to be thrown entirely open to British trade and residence, and that com- merce with British subjects should be conducted at these ports under a properly regulated tariff and free from special Chinese restrictions. Although Great Britain nominally secured for herself special considera- tions, she intended and actually accomplished the establishing of com- merce between China and all other nations on a sound and liberal basis. The treaty of Nan-king was immediately followed by similar treaties with other powers, that with the United States being executed in 1844. Additional ports, decreed by treaties or other arrangements by the Chinese Government, have been added from year to year. At the end of the year 1899 the Maritime Customs reported twenty-nine of these ports, with several branch or sub-ports in addition. At nearly all of them there is a special reservation, called the foreign concession, where foreigners are allowed to reside and regulate their method of living in their own way. Although foreigners are permitted to dwell in the Chinese quarter if they so desire, the right to hold property in the con- cessions is usually denied to Chinese, and they are discriminated against in other ways. Previous to 1860 the management of foreign commerce had been in the hands of Chinese officials, with the usually unsatisfactory result attending any official department handled by native overseers. In that year the business of the port of Shanghai was placed temporarily in the hands of English, American and French Commissioners, who were able to so improve the receipts by efficient and honest management that the Chinese Government, recognizing the desirability of continuing for- eign supervision, organized the Imperial Maritime Customs and placed * This article will form part of a book entitled ' An American Engineer in China ' to be! pub- lished shortly by Messrs. McClure, Phillips & Co. vol. lviii.— 13 194 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. the management of the whole foreign trade in the hands of a single Commissioner, called an Inspector-General, and appointed to this posi- tion Mr. Lay, succeeded in 1863 by Mr., afterward Sir, Robert Hart, who has continued in the control since then, and to whom is due the present very satisfactory condition of the management of this Bureau, to which has since been attached, in order to secure efficiency, a Marine Department, covering lighthouses and harbor regulations and the Chinese Imperial Post-office. The ports open in 1899 were: Niu-chwang, Tien-tsin, Che-foo, Chung-king, I-chang, Sha-si, Yo-chow, Hankow, Kiu-kiang, Wu-hu, Nan-king, Chin-kiang, Shanghai, Soo-chow, Ning-po, Hang-chow, Wen- chow, San-tuao, Poo-chow, Amoy, Swa-tow, Wu-chow, Sam-shui, Can- ton, Kiung-chow, Pak-hoi, Lung-chow, Meng-tsz and Szmao. Of these Niu-chwang is located in the north, at the terminus of the Chinese Imperial Railway, and is the gateway through which the trade passes from China to Russian Manchuria. Two ports, Tien-tsin and Che-foo, are situated on the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, while the next eleven on the list, Chung-king to Soo-chow, are on the Yang-tze Kiang or its tributaries. Seven ports, Ning-po to Swa-tow, are on the East Coast. Wu-chow and Sam-Shui are on the West River. Canton is the great port of Southern China and the oldest seat of foreign trade in the country. Kiung-chow is on the Island of Hainan, and Pak-hoi, Lung-chow, Meng-tsz and Sz-mao are on the Franco-China frontier of Tong-king. The last three and Niu-chwang are the only places not situated on important water- ways. Of the total foreign trade about three-quarters is transacted through Canton, Shanghai, Tien-tsin and Hankow, which are the great distributing points for the south, middle coast, north and interior. The importance of Canton, Shanghai, Tien-tsin and Hankow is fixed by geographical conditions. Canton is at the head of the Canton River, which is really the estuary for the combined flow of the West, the North and the East Rivers, the three principal streams and consequent trade routes of Southern China. With its fine harbor and juxtaposition to Hongkong, it is of necessity, and must always continue to be, the gate- Avay to the southern part of the Empire. In like manner, Shanghai, at the mouth of the Yang-tze, is the controlling point for the whole of the central zone; while Tien-tsin, the port of Peking, is the entrance to the north, the northwest and Mongolia. Hankow is at the head of steamsli ip navigation on the Yang-tze, and at the junction of that stream and its principal tributary, the Han, and if the extreme western part of the country be omitted, which part is mountainous and very thinly populated, Hankow is approximately the geographical center of the Empire. Native vessels trading between native ports report at custom-houses administered by native officials, where the records are hopelessly con- CHINESE COMMERCE. 195 fused, and which, as a source of income to the Chinese Government, need not be considered in this place. The foreign commerce of China, both import and export, is growing steadily, having doubled since 1891, the figures for 1899 showing that foreign goods to the value of 264,748,456 Haikwan taels ($185,324,000) were imported, and native goods to the value of 195,784,332 Haikwan taels ($137,049,000) were exported, or a total commerce of 460,533,288 Haikwan taels. Owing to the lack of internal communication, the distribution of Chinese commerce is singularly restricted. Of the imports more than one-half is confined to two classes of articles alone; thus cotton and cotton goods in 1899 accounted for 40.2 per cent., and opium, unfor- tunately, for 13|- per cent. In like manner the exports, silk and tea, stand out almost without competition with other articles; these two together also aggregating more than 50 per cent, of the total. Silk provided no less than 41.8 per cent, and tea 16.3 per cent. Kerosene oil, metals, rice, sugar and coal are other articles largely imported, and beans, hides and furs, mats and matting, and wool other exports. Although the extent of the traffic entered at native custom-houses, or, at least, not passing through the Maritime Customs, cannot be ascer- tained, that it is considerable is well understood, as can be showm by the single item of the export of rice. The exportation of this article was in 1898 prohibited in order to prevent a possible shortage at home. The Maritime Customs, therefore, report no rice as having been shipped out- ward during that year. The Japanese Customs, however, report having received rice from China to the value of $2,000,000 United States gold. It had been smuggled out in native vessels through the native customs and the Government deprived of revenue. An amusing explanation of this is given, which so thoroughly illustrates Chinese methods as to be wTorth repeating. As rice forms the greatest single item in Chinese food, any falling off in supply threatens a famine, the one thing the Government most dreads. Such being the case in 1898, stringent orders were sent to the Customs Tao-tai in Shanghai to prohibit any export of the grain, the greatest source of supply for which being the Yang-tze Valley, Shanghai is the natural point of shipment. On account of the power attached to it, and the opportunities offered, the position of Shanghai Tao-tai is one specially sought after, and it is generally believed that the price paid for a three-year appointment, in the way of 'presents' to the Palace officials, is about 200,000 taels. Since the authorized emoluments are about 20,000 taels per annum, out of which expenses exceeding that amount must be paid, it is evident that great financial skill must be displayed by the official in order to make both ends meet. On receipt of the restraining order the Tao-tai, under the advice of the syndicate who were 'financ-in"-' him, held the order for ig6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. some days, during which time the energetic syndicate members bought all the rice in sight, put it in vessels and rushed it abroad to Japan, a country which buys the inferior grade of Chinese rice for home con- sumption and ships abroad its own superior article. As soon as the embargo was published, the value of rice afloat at once rose and the Tao-tai syndicate cleared a handsome profit. This illustrates Chinese fiscal methods, and warrants the statement that the actual foreign com- merce of the country is greater than the figures indicate. China levies on its foreign commerce a tariff for revenue only. The rate charged on nearly all articles is five per cent, on imports and ex- ports alike, although there are some special rates and a number of articles on the free list. The actual average rate on imports and exports runs from three to four per cent. It is the general opinion of merchants in China that, should it become necessary to add to the Government's income, this rate could be increased without any serious detriment to foreign commerce. In Japan the Government has found it necessary, in order to derive more revenue, to seriously increase its customs tariff, so that the present charges range from thirty to fifty per cent, ad valorem. Foreign articles destined for consumption at the treaty ports or places of importation pay no further taxes. When, however, they are sent into the interior they are obliged to pay internal transportation taxes, called 'Likin,' collected at various stations along the trade routes. These likin charges, although they form a perfectly legitimate method of taxation, are objected to by the Chinese quite as much as by foreign traders, on account of their uncertain amount, which, according to Chinese custom, is left largely to the official in charge, who collects as much as he can. The foreign nations, in order to obviate these difficul- ties, have arranged with the Chinese Government to permit foreign articles destined for the interior to pay a single tax of two and a half per cent, to the Imperial Maritime Customs and then to receive what is called a 'transit pass' entitling the goods to pass the interior likin sta- tions without further charge. Unfortunately, these transit passes are not always respected by officials in the interior, unless they think that the shipper will appeal to a foreign government, and, therefore, the officials are apt to levy likin in accordance with their own needs, and of the total collected but a small part finds its way into the public treasury. The native merchant has no such advantage as the foreigner in securing immunity from likin extortion, and has to resort to all sorts of subterfuges to escape the impositions of his own countrymen, one of the most frequent of such resorts being to keep his goods under the name of a foreign merchant if possible. Another device was told to me by a customs official on the West River, where the local farmers CHINESE COMMERCE. 197 raise tobacco which is consumed mostly in Northern Kwang-tung. If it were shipped direct it would be charged en route a large and uncer- tain likin tax, the uncertainty of the amount being the worst feature, as it may easily convert an apparently profitable transaction into a serious loss. To avoid this the tobacco is loaded on a sea-going junk and shipped to Hongkong. From there the junk brings it back and enters it at the point of original shipment as a foreign importation. For this the merchant secures a transit pass under which he ships it to its destination. He has paid the freight and import taxes of five per cent, each; the transit pass fee of two and a half per cent., and the shipping charges both ways to Hongkong, and the expense of rehandling. These items he can ascertain accurately beforehand, and, therefore, prefers paying them rather than run the likin gauntlet, which may be from ten per cent, to fifty per cent, or more. The Chinaman is by very instinct a trader, is quick to see and seize an opportunity to turn a profit, and has, what few other Eastern Asiatics have, a high sense of commercial honor. Although the great mass of them is poor, yet there is a wealthy class, and there exists, even in the interior, a demand for much more than the mere necessaries of life. Now, what have the United States done in the past in this great country, how do they stand there to-day, what can they do and what should they do in the future? These are the considerations that most concern us. To answer the first two of these questions there are two sources of statistics which we can examine — the returns of the United States, and of the Imperial Chinese Maritime Customs. Unfortunately, both of these sources are rendered valueless for exact deductions because of Hongkong. This, as is well known, is a British colony, and one of the few places on the globe where actual free trade exists. Being a British colony, enjoying free trade and possessing a magnificent harbor, it has become a great depot, or warehouse, where goods, whose ultimate des- tination, either in China or anywhere else in the Far East, is not defi- nitely fixed, are shipped in the first instance, and thence rebilled to the point of consumption. In this act their nationality is lost, for the returns of the shipping nation classes them as exports to Hongkong, while China, of course, treats them as imports from that place. The import returns of the Imperial Maritime Customs show that nearly one-half of the foreign commerce entering China comes from Hongkong. Thence many writ- ers fall into errors, either by taking the direct trade between China and any other country as limited to the reported figures, or by classing Hongkong under the head of Great Britain and Colonies. The con- clusions reached in these ways are grievously wrong. Although foreign 198 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. goods are transshipped from Hongkong to Japan, the Philippine Islands, Siam and other parts of the Orient, yet at least three-quarters of all goods (of American probably a higher proportion) received there find their final market in China; so to determine approximately the ex- ports from the United States, or from any other country to China, the only way is to add to the direct exports three-quarters of the shipments to Hongkong. And to determine the relative standing of the trade of several nations, we should deduct the Hongkong trade from China's total as shown by the returns of the Imperial Maritime Customs, and then compare the reported direct imports or exports. This last calcu- lation will not yield the actual amount of trade by about one-half, but it will show with fair closeness the percentage of trade secured and the rate of increase. I have in this manner obtained the figures for the year 1893, the period just previous to the Japanese War; those of 1883 and 1873, respectively the tenth and the twentieth year preceding 1893; and those for 1898, the fifth year following, and also for 1899, the Last complete year of normal trade conditions existing before the Boxer revolution. This table shows the import trade of China exclusive of Hongkong and the relative standing of the leading commercial powers, the actual trade of which is not as stated, for the table does not include shipments through Hongkong. DIRECT EXPORTS TO CHINA. 1875. 1883. 1893. 189S. 1899. Total, except Hong- Hk. Tis. Hk. Tls. Hk. Tls. Hk. Tls. Hk. Tls. kong 44,202,000 45.863,000 72,435,922 116,737,079 146,652,248 Great Britain 20,991,000 16,930,000 28,156,077 34,962,474 40,161,115 India 16,709,000 17,154,000 16,739,588 19,135,546 31,911,214 Japan 3,207,000 3,738,000 7,852,068 22,581,812 31,414,362 Continent of Europe.. 662,000 2,385,000 5,920,363 10,852,073 13,405,637 United States 244,000 2,708,000 5,443,569 17,161,312 22,2h8,745 In the above table all the Continental powers of Europe are grouped as one. From this it will be seen that the export trade of the United States, an insignificant amount in 1873, has now outstripped the com- bined exports from the whole Continent of Europe, and will be soon contesting for second place with India and Japan. Had it not been for sudden increased shipments in 1899 of certain special articles like coal on the part of these countries, which articles China can and -should produce, the United States would have passed the Indian trade and be close on to that of Japan. In point of exports from China the United States trade in 1899 had reached a point surpassing that of any other country except Great Britain. But along what lines have these increases been made? Do they rep- resent only a greater outturning of raw material — the direct products of the soil — or of manufactured articles, carrying with them the results of American ingenuity and American labor, a form of export trade always the most desirable? CHINESE COMMERCE. 199 Taking the full list, there were, according to the United States Government classification, exports in 1893 under fifty-seven heads, but in 1898, according to the same classification, exports under seventy-six heads. The greater part of the increase in the five years (amounting to a total of $6,091,613) was due to manufactures of cotton, which in- creased $3,558,791; to raw cotton, which increased from nothing to $370,670; to manufactures of iron and steel, including machinery, $116,018; and to oils, chiefly kerosene, $1,055,797. The manufactures of cotton, which in 1898 amounted to $5,193,127, reached, during the next United States fiscal year (1899), $9,811,565. That is to say, the value of cotton cloths alone was, in the year 1899, almost as large as the value of the total American imports into China during the preceding year of all articles of whatsoever nature. This class of goods, the prod- ucts of our New England and Southern mills, is the greatest single item of American commerce, and has already reached a point where, in cer- tain grades, it dominates absolutely the Chinese market. Taking drills, jeans and sheetings, the three great items of cotton goods consumed by the Chinese, and examining the trade of the three northern ports of Niu-chwang, Tien-tsin and Chefoo, American goods comprise of total receipts at the first: ninety-eight per cent., and at the second and third ninety-five per cent., the small remaining balance be- ing divided between the English, Indian, Dutch, Japanese and other manufacturing nations. But quite as extraordinary as this there must be kept in mind the fact that of the total exports to all countries of American manufactures in cotton cloths, the Chinese market consumes just one-half. Another article of American commerce that figured very small in the early returns, but now shows a great and increasing importance, is flour. It is shipped almost wholly to Hongkong, and thence forwarded to Canton, Amoy or other southern Chinese ports. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 1898, no less than $3,835,727 worth was exported from here, and during the corresponding period of 1900, a value of $1,502,- 081. Wheat is not grown in southern China, and American flour has captured the demand, just as American cottons have done in the north. Next to Great Britain and Germany our best customer for American flour is China. Such is the state of our Chinese trade to-day, and no one can find fault with its present condition and its recent development. But what of the future ? The success of the American commercial invasion depends abso- lutely on the maintenance of the existing status. China, in the liber- ality of the regulations affecting foreign commerce, is second to no other nation. In levying a tax, amounting to less than four per cent., she gives preferential duties to none, special privileges only as com- 200 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. pelled by the stress of force in Manchuria and Shan-tung, and extends a freedom of welcome to all. It is true that nations occupying Chinese territory make so far no invidious distinction between their own and other people; but it must be remembered that their tenure is only nominal, and while the title to these lands remains vested in China, it would be difficult, in the face of existing treaties, to impose discrim- inating rules. Let Eussia, however, become legally, as she is virtually, possessed of Manchuria; let her Trans-Siberian railway be completed, and let her claim openly as her own, not only Manchuria, but also the metropolitan province of Chi-li, is it to be supposed for one moment that the present freedom and equality of trade that China offers will be maintained? If anyone believes this let him talk with those in China who direct the course of Muscovite affairs. These officials, when in a confidential mood, will explain that the Trans-Siberian railway is a Government enterprise, and that it is much more important for Russia to give low and special rates to Russian cotton and other manu- factures which the Government is fostering at home than to look for a direct profit from the operation of the railway. And yet Manchuria and the northeastern part of China are to-day the best market for American goods. During the year 1899 no less than $6,297,300 worth of our cottons alone entered the port of Tien-tsin, and $4,216,700 worth entered the port of Mu-chwang in addition. The latter amount was for consumption in Manchuria, Chinese and Russian. It is inter- esting to note that the whole import trade (including exports through Hongkong) from Russia, Siberia and Russian Manchuria to the whole of the Chinese Empire amounted to less than the imports of two grades of American cotton goods at ISTiu-chwang alone. When, therefore, Russia seized Lower Manchuria, the country most interested next to' China, whose territory was being despoiled, was not Japan, who was being robbed of her fruits of victory; was not Russia, who was adding another kingdom to her empire; was not Great Britain, the world's great trader, but it was, little as it was appreciated, the United States. The American interests in seeing commercial equality maintained, far and away transcend those of any other nation. Foreign trade in China to-day is confined exclusively to the treaty ports located along the coast and up the Yang-tze River. "When goods are shipped to China, they are resold by the foreign houses resident in these treaty ports to Chinese merchants, and by them in turn are re- tailed in the interior. So far, therefore, as the foreigner directly is concerned, his trade is confined simply to the outer edge of the country; to him the interior is a terra incognita. The success of a commercial invasion depends, not on these treaty ports, not on the purchase of goods along the outer edge of the country, but on the possibility of reaching directly that great mass of population which lies far away CHINESE COMMERCE. 201 from the sea, out of reach of existing means of transportation, and practically buried in the interior. If they cannot be got at, or if, when reached, they cannot and will not trade, then it is not worth while to consider any general forward movement. In the course of my journey in the interior of China, I went through the province of Hu-peh, which the Yang-tze Kiang traverses; the province of Kwang-tung, lying along the China Sea, and, between these two, the province of Hu-nan, which practically had not been tra- versed before by white men. Here evidently was virgin soil, and its condition can, therefore, be taken as a criterion of what the Chinaman is when unaffected by foreign influences. Even here I found that, although the foreigner's foot might never before have trodden the streets of the cities, his goods were already exposed for sale in the shop- windows. In thinking of the Chinese, especially those in the interior, we are wont to consider them as uncivilized; and so they are, if measured scrupulously by our peculiar standards. But, on the other hand, they might say with some justice that we are not civilized according to the standards that they have set for themselves, founded on an experience of four thousand years. "With all its differences from ourselves, a nation that has had an organization for five thousand years; that has used printing for over eight centuries; that has produced the works of art that China has produced; that possesses a literature antedating that of Eome or Athens; whose people maintain shrines along the highways in which, following the precepts of the classics to respect the written page, they are wont to pick up and burn printed papers rather than have them trampled under foot; and which, to indicate a modern in- stance, was able to furnish me with a native letter of credit on local banks in unexplored Hu-nan, can hardly be denied the right to call itself civilized. In the interior — in those parts where no outside in- fluence has ever reached — we found cities whose walls, by their size, their crenelated parapets, and their keeps and watch-towers, suggested mediaeval Germany rather than Cathay. Many of the houses are of masonry, with decorated tile roofs, and elaborately carved details. The streets are paved with stone. The shops display in their windows arti- cles of every form, of every make. The streams are crossed by arched bridges unsurpassed in their graceful outline and good proportions. The farmer lives in a group of farm buildings enclosed by a compound wall — the whole exceeding in picturesqueness any bit in Normandy or Derbyshire. The rich mandarin dresses himself in summer in brocaded silk, and in winter in sable furs. He is waited on by a retinue of well- trained servants, and will invite the stranger to a dinner at night com- posed of ten or fifteen courses, entertaining him with a courtesy and intricacy of etiquette that Mayfair itself cannot excel. Such are actual 202 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. conditions in parts of China uninfluenced by foreign presence, and so far the civilization of the interior is a real thing. That the Chinaman allows his handsome buildings to fall into disrepair; that his narrow city streets reek with foul odors; that the pig has equal rights with the owner of the pretty farm-house; and that the epicure takes delight at his dinner in sharks' fins instead of terrapin — these are merely differ- ences in details; and if they are faults, as we consider them to be, they will naturally be corrected as soon as the Chinaman, with his quick wit, perceives his errors, when the opportunity to study Occidental standards comes to him. Chang-sha, the capital of Hu-nan, is one of the most interesting cities in the whole Empire, as marking the very highest development of Chinese exclusiveness and dividing with Lhassa in Tibet the boast of shutting its gates tightly in the face of foreign contamination. In a previous chapter an account was given of how the present conservative governor had closed the schools organized by his more liberal prede- cessor, and had tried to root up the budding movement toward reform and progress. But he made one interesting and highly suggestive omis- sion in allowing the electric-light plant to continue. When, at the end of our first day at Chang-sha, as I stood on my boat watching the city wall, the picturesque roofs, the junks on the shore and the surging crowd slowly lose their distinctness in the twilight, and then saw them suddenly brought into view again by the glare of the bright electric arcs as the current was turned on to light the narrow streets, I smiled as I realized the utter impossibility of stopping the onward march of nine- teenth century progress, and that the Chinese themselves, even at the very heart-center of anti-foreignism, are ready to turn from the old to the new. In the shop-windows at Chang-sha there are displayed for sale arti- cles with American, English, French, German, Japanese and other brands. One shop, I noticed, displayed a good assortment of American canned fruits and vegetables. This is the condition of affairs, not in Shanghai or Amoy, open ports, but in the most exclusively Chinese section in the whole Empire. That the Chinaman will buy, that he will adopt foreign ways, there is no question; and he is just as ready to make the greater changes in his life that must result from the intro- duction of railways as to buy a few more pieces of cotton or a few more tons of steel. But in order to buy more the Chinaman must be able to sell more; for no matter what his inclination may be, unless he has something to give in return, he cannot trade. The exports from China have been expanding gradually, and in step with the imports. In 1888 they were 92,401,06? tails: had increased to 116,632,311 taels in 1893, and had further advanced to 195,784,332 taels in 1899. The two great items CHINESE COMMERCE. 203 of Chinese export, as was shown above, are silk and tea. The output of silk is increasing steadily, especially in the manufactured form. The amount of tea exported, however, is not on the increase, being about the same that it was ten years ago, the tea trade having been adversely affected by the competition of Japan, Ceylon and India, where more favorable transportation facilities have given advantages. Both tea and silk, however, are staple articles, with no chance of substitutes being found, and the world's demand for both is steadily increasing. The possibility of enlarging the output of silk is great, for there are in Northern Kwang-tung alone large areas of land capable of producing mulberry, that are lying idle at present because there are no transporta- tion facilities. The idea we have of the interior of China as overpeopled, and with every square foot of land under cultivation, is entirely without founda- tion, except possibly in certain portions of the great loess plain in the north. There is a great amount of land, capable of producing crops of various kinds and of supporting a population, that to-day lies fallow and unfilled. Given the means of sending their produce to the sea and so to the foreigner, the people of the interior will see to it that the produce is ready. Then there are vast mineral resources that are practically un- touched. China, with coal-fields exceeding in quantity those of Europe, imported last year no less than 859,370 tons of coal, valued at $4,477,- 670 gold, nearly the whole of which came from Japan. With railways to bring the output of the mines to market, there will not only be no importing, thus permitting at least that amount to be expended for other foreign goods, but there should be a large export of coal to Hongkong for foreign shipping, and to other Eastern countries for local consumption. In addition to the coal, there are beds of copper, iron, lead and silver that, to-day untouched, are only awaiting the screech of the locomotive whistle. In short, the resources, both agricultural and mineral, are at hand to permit a foreign commerce to be carried on — to pay the cost of build- ing of railways and to provide sustenance for a commercial invasion. But as yet China has made no effort to develop her latent powers. As was shown, the bulk of her exports are confined to two articles, due to her people not utilizing their natural advantages in diversity of soil and climate. Each locality produces that single article which gives the best local result, without considering broad market conditions. Thus in the south it is mostly silk and rice; in the central zone, rice and tea, and in the north, millet and wheat. Every bit of valley land is culti- vated, but the hills are let go waste. There are great areas of grazing land where some day the Chinese will let herds roam, producing beef and hides, which they will turn to commercial profit; while on other 204 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. hillsides, as I saw being done in places, they will set out forests, and arbor culture will be well suited to their patient ways. As yet they have worked their lands only with a view to home consumption; there are many ways in which they can devote them and their energies to furnish export articles for the imports they will buy. The position of the United States in China is peculiarly advanta- geous, because, in the first place, China regards our country as friendly in the desire to protect rather than despoil her territory, and because, in the second place, other nations have been willing to see ours come forward when they would have objected most strenuously to the same advancement on the part of one of their own number. The men who guide our national affairs and foreign commerce should always see to it that China's confidence is not abused. But as for the friendliness of other nations toward us in relation to China, so soon as the pressure of American trade begins to be felt by them, efforts will be made to thwart it if possible; and it must be remembered that to-day all the machinery of commerce, in the way of banks, transportation com- panies, cable lines, and other forms, is in their hands. When the meet- ing of the American and European invasions takes place, unless we have an organization, a base and rallying point, a tangible something besides mere labels on boxes or bales as representing American force, the struggle will be a hard one, for the native is apt to judge his asso- ciates by the outward visible signs, and with a natural tendency to deal with the strongest. In this respect commerce in the Far East stands, and will stand for a long time, on a different footing from that of commerce in Europe. In order to be thoroughly successful, to expand our trade far beyond its present boundaries, we should make a careful and intelligent study of the Chinaman in his tastes and habits. If we wish to sell him goods, we must make them of a form and kind that will please him and not necessarily ourselves. This is a fact too frequently overlooked by both the English and ourselves, but one of which the Germans, who may be our real competitors in the end, take advantage. For example, at the present moment, if a careful study were made of Chinese designs, the market for American printed goods could be largely broadened. It is not for our people to say that our designs are prettier; the Chinaman prefers his own, and he will not buy any other. The United States Minister to China, talking upon this subject, gave me a striking in- stance of foolish American obstinacy. The representative of a large concern manufacturing a staple article in hardware, let us say screws, had been working hard to secure an order for his screws, which he knew were better than the German article then supplying the demand. At last he obtained a trial order, amounting to $5,000, which he cabled out; but it was given on the condition that the screws be wrapped in CHINESE COMMERCE. 205 a peculiar manner, say in bine paper, according to the form in which the native merchant had been accustomed to buy them. Was the order filled? Not at all. The company cabled back that their goods were always wrapped in brown paper and that no change could be made. The order then went to Germany. To the American concern an order for $5,000 was of small moment, perhaps; but they overlooked entirely the fact that this was the thin edge of the wedge, opening a trade that could be developed into tremendous proportions. This instance is not isolated, for, unfortunately, the reports of all our consuls are filled with parallel ones. A study must also be made of the grade and quality of the article shipped. It is no use to send to China, to be sold in the interior, tools, for instance, of the same high finish and quality that our mechanics exact in their own. A Chinaman's tools are hand-made, of rough finish and low cost. In the interior cities one sees a tool-maker take a piece of steel, draw all the temper, hammer it approximately to the shape of the knife or axe, chisel or razor, or whatever other article he may be about to make; then, with a sort of drawing-knife pare it down to the exact shape required, retemper it, grind it to an edge and fix it in a rough wooden handle. This work is done by a man at a wage of about ten cents a day, and this is the competition that our manu- facturer must meet. In spite of the difference in cost of labor he can do so, because his tools are machine-made and are better; but he must waste no money on unnecessary finish. As an example, the case of lamps is directly to the point. The Chinaman fairly revels in illumination; he hates the dark, and every- where, even in the smallest country towns wholly removed from foreign influence, it is possible to buy Standard oil or its competitors in the Chinese market, the Russian and Sumatra brands. The importation of illuminating oils is increasing tremendously. In 1892 it was 17,370,600 gallons, and in 1898 it was 44,324,344 gallons. But what of the lamps in which this oil is burned? In 1892 the United States sent to China lamps to the value of $10,813, and in 1898 to the value of $4,690. That is to say, lamps are one of the few articles which show a decrease. While the consumption of oil had increased more than two and one-half times, the importation of American lamps had decreased in almost the same ratio. This was not due to the manufacture of lamps in China, but to the German and Japanese manufacturers making a study of the trade and turning out a special article. These lamps — and I saw them for sale everywhere, even in unexplored Hu-nan — have a metal stand, generally of brass, stamped out from thin sheets, with Chinese characters and decorations; and were it not for a small imprint of the manufacturer's name on the base, they would be considered of Chinese make. They are inexpensive, of the kind desired by the China- 206 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. man, although perhaps not for sale in Hamburg or Berlin. On the other hand, the American article, much more handsome, from our point of view, but also more expensive, is of the same style as is sold on Broad- way, in Xew York. There is no need to multiply examples. There awaits the American manufacturer an outlet, especially for tools, machinery and other arti- cles in iron and steel. He will find a demand for the smaller and lighter machines, rather than for the larger ones. That is to say, he must appeal first to the individual worker who exists now, rather than aim at the needs of a conglomeration in a factory, which will come about in the future. The tools should be simple in character, easily worked and kept in order, and without the application of quick-return and other mechanical devices so necessary for labor-saving with us. Light wood-working machinery can be made to supplant the present manual- labor methods; and a large field is open for all kinds of pumps, wind- mills, piping and other articles of hydraulic machinery. Cotton goods of the finer grades, as well as the coarser which are supplied, household articles of all kinds, glassware, window-glass, wall- paper, and plumbing fixtures will find a ready market, as will also farm equipments, such as light-wheeled vehicles and small agricultural imple- ments of all kinds. In these, as in many manufactured articles, Ameri- can trade has as yet made little or no impression ; and yet the American article has an acknowledged superiority over any other foreign make. It is necessary for us also to study the Chinaman himself. The English and American traders make but little attempt to learn the language, and, therefore, frequently fail to come into personal contact with the native merchant. They are inclined to leave such negotiations to be conducted through a compradore, a native in the employ of the firm, who makes all the contracts, and who guarantees to his firm all native accounts, receiving a commission for his services. The German, and especially the Japanese, merchants, on the other hand, make a great effort to come into direct relations with those with whom they trade. They are still making use of the compradore system, but within reason- able limits. As to which course is preferable in the long run there ran be no question. Our houses should adopt the suggestion made in the report of the Blackburn (England) Chamber of Commerce, "to train in the Chinese spoken language and mercantile customs youths selected . . . for their business capacity. Such a system," the report adds, "would give us a hold over foreign trade in China that present methods can never do." Finally to be considered, there is the official representative of the United States, the consul. It is bad enough, as our practice is, to send consuls to France, or Germany, or Italy, who are unacquainted with the language of the country. But how much worse to send as our Govern- CHINESE COMMERCE. 207 ment agents to China, the nation most difficult of all to come into rela- tions with, men without any idea, not only of the language, but of the customs and the idiosyncrasies of the people. This is not a reflection upon our present staff, many of whom are excellent and worthy men and who are now acquainted with the char- acteristics of those to whom they are accredited. But under our system, by the time a man understands his duties, he is removed. Nowhere else in the world is there so great a need for a permanent consular service as in China. The British Government long ago established a separate consular service for the East, entirely distinct from that elsewhere, so that a man once in the Chinese service stays there, and is not likely to be trans- ferred to a European or American post. Secretary Hay has lately made a beginning toward this end by proposing to establish a school at Peking. If the idea is not carried out now, circumstances will compel its adoption later. We should awake to the realization of our oppor- tunities, and unite for the invasion, not only of China, but of other Ori- ental lands as well. 208 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. ENERGY AND WORK OF THE HUMAN BODY. In discussing 'The Human Body as an Engine,'* I referred to some experi- ments made at Middletown with the Atwater-Rosa Respiration Calorimeter, in which a man lived several days in each of the experiments in a sealed chamber of about 180 cubic feet capa- city, eating, sleeping and working, while under minute observation. The potential energy supplied to the sub- ject of the experiment through the food which he ate was determined by serving him with accurately weighed portions of the various articles of the prescribed diet, and analyzing and burning in a small calorimeter carefully selected sam- ples of the same. The energy yielded by the subject consisted of three por- tions, all of which were carefully deter- mined. These were: (1) the heat of radiation and respiration which was measured by the calorimeter, (2) me- chanical work done within the calori- meter and (3) potential energy carried off in the refuse products of the body. The immediate purpose of the work was to verify experimentally the law of the conservation of energy for the living body; to show that the total energy taken into the body is equal to the sum of all the energy given out by the body during the same period (provided there is no net gain or loss of energy by the body) ; to show, indeed, that the funda- mental law of physics applies to the animal body, as it does to an engine or a dynamo or any other machine or me- chanical system. The law has been amply verified for inanimate systems; it seemed desirable to test it for an organic system. The statement was * Popular Science Monthly for September, 1900. made in the article referred to that "In some cases the man under investigation worked regularly eight hours a day, the work done being measured by ap- paratus designed for the purpose." Some inquiry having been made as to how this work was measured, and whether it is possible, after all, to do this, the editor has asked me to answer the in- quiry through the columns of the Monthly. Confusion often arises in considering questions like the present one through inexact ideas concerning force and work. When force is exerted through a finite distance, work is done and energy is transferred from one body to another; and the work done is equal to the en- ergy so transferred. It is also equal to the force exerted in the direction of the motion multiplied by the distance through which the force acts. For ex- ample, when a man lifts a stone he ex- erts a force equal to that of gravity upon the stone through a certain verti- cal distance; and the work done is equal to the force exerted (that is, to the weight of the stone) multiplied by the height it is lifted. The energy ex- pended by the body is here transferred to the stone in its elevated position. This energy stored up in the stone is called potential energy, and it remains constant in amount so long as the stone remains at the same level. If the stone falls to a lower level its potential energy is reduced, but kinetic energy equal to the decrease of potential energy appears as heat. If the man lifts the stone one inch the work is only one thirty-sixth part as much as if he lifts it three feet. If he pull on the stone but does not move it, no work is done, in the mechanical sense. Muscle has contracted and work is doubtless done within the body, but DISCUSSION AND COBBESBONDENCE. 209 so far as the stone is concerned no work is done. So a man may hold a heavy weight in his hand or on his shoulder, sustaining it with considerable effort against the force of gravity, and yet no work is done on the stone so long as it is not raised to a higher level. If the stone is carried in a horizontal plane, no work is done on the stone; while if it is carried down hill or lowered verti- cally, negative work is done on the stone. That is, since the stone possesses less potential energy at the foot of the hill than at the top (the difference being equal to the weight of the stone multi- plied by the difference of altitude), the stone has lost energy, and this energy lost by the stone has been communi- cated to the man, who has had work done upon him by the stone, albeit he may have lugged it down the hill or lowered it from an elevated position with considerable effort. When a car is propelled by an elec- tric motor deriving its current from a storage battery carried on board the car, the energy of the car consists of three parts: (A) Mechanical potential energy due to the mass of the car being at some elevation above the surface of the earth. (B) Kinetic energy, due to the motion of the car as a whole and of its parts with respect to one another and the heat of the car. (C) Chemical po- tential energy stored up in the battery. When the car is running up grade, en- ergy is being expended not only in over- coming friction, but also in lifting the car against the force of gravity. In doing this, energy is transferred from C to A. When the car descends again to its former level the energy stored up in A is given up, less energy is therefore required from the battery to propel the car, and the battery is accordingly in so much spared. If the grade be steep, the motor may actually be driven as a dynamo, and the current which is there- by generated may be stored up in the battery. In this case energy is trans- ferred from A to C, and at the bottom of the hill the energy C may be greater than that at the top. The battery has VOL. LVIII.— 14 done negative work on the car coming down the hill: that is, the car has done work on the battery and stored up en- ergy. The same considerations apply to the animal body. If a man carries himself up a hill, he is doing work upon his body in so elevating it against the force of gravity, and if he weighs 150 pounds and ascends an altitude of 10,000 feet, he has done 1,500,000 foot-pounds of work upon his body. This represents the quantity of energy which has been transferred from his tissues to his body as a mass; from chemical potential en- ergy to mechanical potential energy. The tissues correspond to the storage battery, the muscles to the motor and the man's weight to that of the car. So when the man walks down the moun- tain again he does negative work, low- ering his body (like lowering the car), involving the transfer of potential en- ergy from his body as a mass to his tissues. Just what form the energy takes as it is so transferred is not alto- gether clear, but the distinction between the potential energy of the body as a mass, due to its elevation above the sur- face of the earth, and the potential and kinetic energy resident in the tissues of the body, is one of fundamental impor- tance and should be kept clearly in view. We may consider the man to be a complex machine, weighing, say, 150 pounds and having a quantity of poten- tial and kinetic energy stored up within his body, which store of energy is drawn upon whenever external work is to be done, and which, besides, is being constantly expended in keeping the body warm and performing the internal work of the body. The energy of the body, like that of the electric car, then, con- sists of three portions, viz.: (A) Me- chanical potential energy of the body as a whole, due to its position with re- spect to the earth. This is zero when it is at the earth's surface, or say the sea level, and increases as it rises above the sea level. (B) Kinetic energy, due to the heat of the body and to the motion of the body as a whole and of its several 210 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. parts with respect to each other. (C) A store of chemical potential energy in its tissues and in food undergoing as- similation. Now when a man walks up hill, A increases, B remains nearly con- stant (increasing slightly), while O de- creases rapidly, due partly to the in- crease of A and partly to the loss of heat by radiation and respiration. When he walks down hill, A is transferred to C or B, or both, and because of this ac- quisition C decreases more slowly than it would do if it received nothing from A, while yet giving off energy at the same rate. The man does positive work upon his body when he lifts it against the force of gravity, storing up poten- tial energy A; he does negative work when he goes down hill, and the energy A passes to the interior of the body. Suppose a laborer lifts 20,000 pounds of brick 5 feet; he does 100,000 foot- pounds of work, this energy being trans- ferred from A to the bricks, and it will remain in the bricks as long as they re- main at their elevated position. Next, suppose he lowers the same bricks to their former position. This 100,000 foot- pounds of energy is now transferred back from the bricks to the laborer's body. Because he is expending energy all the time he will possess less energy at the end of the task than at the be- ginning. Nevertheless, he does not lose as much as though he had not received the 100,000 foot-pounds of energy from the bricks, and had given off the same amount of energy in other ways. We do not understand the process whereby the body converts chemical po- tential energy of tissue into mechanical energy; that is, we do not understand how the body does work. Still less do we understand how negative work is done; that is, how the body receives energy from without when it lowers a weight or walks down hill. That it does so acquire energy we cannot doubt. But whether it appears at once as heat, or as some other form of energy, and where the energy so received first ap- pears, has not been proved. Neither have experiments been carried out to determine the relation between (1) the quantity of negative work done in a given period, (2) the total heat radiated from the body in the same period, (3) the amounts of oxygen absorbed and carbon dioxid respired, and (4) the ex- cess of energy expended over that ex- pended in the same length of time dur- ing rest. Indeed, to repeat the experi- ments already done with the respiration calorimeter balancing the total income and outgo of energy for a given period, with this important difference, that the subject of the experiment was doing negative work (that is, having work done on him by an external agent) would be an extremely interesting and valuable piece of work. Consider now what occurs in walking on a level. The foot and leg are lifted, work is done in lifting them, and energy is stored up in them; they are advanced and lowered to the ground, and this stored up mechanical potential energy is then recovered by the system. The center of gravity of the body as a whole is also raised slightly at each step, but the work done in raising it is only equal to the energy yielded by the body when it descends again to the former level. Assuming an absence of friction against the ground and the atmosphere, the total external work done in walking on a level is zero. Force is exerted in holding the body erect or in holding the arm in an extended position. But no work is done in either case, for the force is not exerted through any distance. So also force is exerted by the huge cables which sustain the Brooklyn Bridge against gravity, but no work is done by these cables so long as the bridge is not lifted. Force is exerted by the foundations of a building in resist- ing the attraction of gravitation upon the mass of the superstructure, but no work is done by the foundation in so sustaining the weight. What the inter- nal work of the body may be when muscle is contracted and force exerted without doing external work is another matter. That question is deserving of careful study, and the respiration calori- DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 211 meter might perhaps lend itself to such an inquiry. In the experiments referred to, the man under investigation received daily a known quantity of potential energy in the form of food. Part of this was converted into external mechanical en- ergy and was measured; of the remain- der, part appeared as heat and part was carried away in the refuse products of the body. The internal work of the body is ultimately converted into heat, and appears in the total heat of radia- tion and respiration. Thus energy is expended in causing the heart to beat and the blood to circulate and the lungs to expand. This internal work is not stored up, but is transformed into heat and radiated away with that which re- sults directly from combustion. But external work done, like turning a grindstone or sawing wood, is not repre- sented in the heat radiations of the body. In order to do the desired amount of work within the calorimeter, the man operated a stationary bicycle, which was geared to a small dynamo. The front wheel of the bicycle was removed, and the rear wheel served as a driving pul- ley for the dynamo. The latter gener- ated a current, the energy of which was measured by an ammeter and a volt- meter. When this current passed out of the calorimeter, its energy was not included in the heat measured by the calorimeter. But in some cases the cur- rent flowed through an incandescent lamp inside the calorimeter. Then the mechanical energy done by the man was all turned to heat within the calori- meter; part of it through friction in the bicycle and dynamo, part through the electric current which flowed through the lamp. The former was measured as accurately as possible by seeing how much energy was required to drive the bicycle when using the dynamo as a motor, supplying current to the latter from a battery and meas- uring the energy so supplied by an ammeter and volt-meter. The quantity of heat resulting from this friction must be subtracted from the total heat meas- ured, in order to ascertain the quantity which was given off from the man's body directly as heat. And in those cases where the electric lamp was inside the chamber (and hence the work done by the subject was converted into heat within the chamber) this total amount must be subtracted from the heat meas- ured to give the amount of heat given off as such by the subject of the experi- ment. Thus we measure the quantity of ex- ternal work done; but nothing is here learned about the internal work. The latter is converted into heat within the body and, when radiated away, is meas- ured with the rest by the calorimeter. The amount of external work done in driving this bicycle-dynamo combina- tion in one of the experiments (which continued for 96 hours) was equivalent to 256 large calories per day. This was about 40 watts for eight hours, or 788,000 foot-pounds, or 394 foot-tons. The total quantity of energy yielded was 3,726 large calories on the average for each of the four days. Since 256 is about 7 per cent, of 3,726, we see that the man converted 7 per cent, of the energy contained in his food into me- chanical energy, 93 per cent, appearing in the heat of radiation and respiration. This gives the man, regarded as a ma- chine for doing mechanical work, a 24- hour efficiency of 7 per cent. During the eight hours in which work was done the total consumption of energy was about 1,850 calories. Dividing the work done by this figure, we have for the me- chanical efficiency during working time, 14 per cent. But there is still another way of reckoning this efficiency. Inas- much as a large part of the energy sup- plied to the body would have been re- quired to do internal work and keep the body warm, if no work had been done, we can fairly charge against the work done only the excess of energy supplied during the days when work was done over that required by the same man when no appreciable external work was done. The average quantity of energy 212 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. supplied in several experiments in which the man did no considerable external work was 2,500 large calories. The ex- cess in the work experiment was there- fore 1,226 calories. Dividing the work done, 25G calories, by the excess of en- ergy absorbed, 1,226, and the quotient is .21. Thus 21 per cent, of this excess of energy absorbed was converted into work, or the efficiency of the man as a machine for doing work is 21 per cent. This is far greater than the efficiency of small portable steam engines, such as could be compared with respect to size or power with a human machine, and equals or surpasses that of the largest It may be of interest to show how a man's weight varies during twenty-four hours. The accompanying diagrams* give the variation in the weight of the man under investigation in one of the rest experiments; that is, in a four-days' experiment, where no mechanical work was done, except that involved in eating, dressing and making some records and observations within the calorimeter. The routine followed each day was near- ly but not exactly the same, and the fluctuations of weight are accordingly similar but not identical each day. Increase of weight is due to food and drink taken into the body and oxygen compound condensing engines taken in connection with the most perfect water- tube boilers. The bicycle-dynamo combination is not the most effective device upon which to develop mechanical power; and in the experiments quoted no attempt was made to secure the maximum efficiency of conversion of the potential energy of foodstuffs into mechanical energy. Al- though many experiments have already been carried out, further experiments are needed to show more fully what the human machine is capable of doing, and what circumstances are favorable to a high efficiency of conversion. respired from the atmosphere. Decrease of weight is due to feces and urine leav- ing the body, and carbon dioxid and water vapor carried away from the lungs and skin. Part of these changes in weight occur more or less suddenly, while the change due to respiration, in which oxygen is absorbed and carbon dioxid and water vapor are evolved, is gradual. In the diagrams the sudden changes are indicated by vertical lines, the numbers indicating the quantity of the change in grams. The gradual ♦Copied from an article by the writer in the 'Physical Review' for March, 1900, 'On the Metabolism of Matter in the Living Body.' DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE. 213 changes due to respirations are indi- cated by sloping lines, the number in each case indicating the net loss in grams; that is, the difference between the quantity of carbon dioxid and water vapor exhaled and the oxygen absorbed. All the vertical lines indicating sudden decrease in weight are due to urine ex- cept the two (on the second and fourth days) which are marked 'feces.' Starting at 7 o'clock on the morning of the first day with a weight of 68,420 grams, the subject loses 45 grams in one hour by respiration. This loss by respi- ration was determined to be 270 grams in six hours, and in making up this dia- weight drops during the afternoon and then supper brings it up to the maxi- mum of the day. During the night the weight falls again, so that at 7 o'clock on the second morning it is almost ex- actly the same as at the start. It is noteworthy that the loss by respiration is nearly as great during sleep as during the morning and afternoon hours, there being a loss of 254 grams in six hours during sleep as compared with 270 in six hours during the day. The variations in weight in the three succeeding days can be followed from the diagram. These diagrams were made from the records of the experiment, and A.M. gram it was assumed to be uniform dur- ing the six hours. The loss by carbon dioxid is almost exactly 25 per cent, greater than the gain by oxygen ab- sorbed. Sitting on a good balance, one can literally see one's self grow lighter as one quietly breathes one's self away. Breakfast adds 675 grams, respiration reduces his weight by 110 grams up to 10.30, when a drink of water adds 200 grams; a further loss of 110.3 grams by respiration is followed by a loss of 341 grams of urine, then 28 by respiration, and at 1.30 dinner adds 804 grams. The the computed weights agreed quite well with actual weighings made at several different times during the experiment. Such diagrams have not as yet been prepared for work experiments, but they could not fail to be of great interest in the cases we have been considering; namely, where the subject of the ex- periment does first positive work, then negative work, and, finally, positive and negative work together. Edward B. Rosa. Wesley an University. 214 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. SCIENTIFIC LITEKATUKE. PHOTOGRAPHY OF SOLAR ECLIPSES. It is often supposed by readers of popular articles on astronomical pho- tography that the introduction of the methods of 'the new astronomy' has done away, once for all, with the diffi- culties of the old. The photographic plate has taken the place of the observ- er's eye and the personal equation is supposed to have been abolished. Those who work in astronomical photography are the first to extol the merits of the new methods. But they are fully aware of difficulties peculiar to them which must be treated very much as if they were errors peculiar to an observer. The plate has its own personal equation. It is impossible to overestimate the bene- fit to eclipse observations, for example, that has resulted from the introduction of photography as a means of register- ing the forms and details of the solar corona. Yet the photographic plate has serious failings of its own. Some of them have lately been done away with by a device invented by Mr. Charles Burck- halter, Director of the Chabot Observa- tory, in Oakland, California; and it is the purpose of this paragraph to exhibit the advance made by Mr. Burckhalter's methods. The solar corona is very bright near the edge of the sun's disc and fades away gradually till at a distance of some 80 to 100 minutes its brilliancy is about the same as that of the sky- background. If a photograph is taken with a very short exposure, only the brighter parts of the corona are regis- tered on the plate. The fainter por- tions do not appear at all. If a pho- tograph is taken with an exposure suffi- ciently long to record the fainter por- tions, all the inner regions of the co- rona are much overexposed, and all de- tail is lost near the sun*s edge. By the ordinary methods, then, the corona, as a whole, cannot be exhibited on any single plate. Each exposure is suitable for registering one region, and only one. The corona must be studied on a series of negatives of varying exposures. Mr. Burckhalter has devised and tried at two eclipses (the India eclipse of 1898 and the Georgia eclipse of 1900) a simple plan which has worked very well. He uses an ordinary photographic telescope and plate, but in front of the plate he places a rapidly revolving shield or dia- phragm, cut to such a shape that dif- ferent portions of the corona have dif- ferent exposures. At the Georgia eclipse, for example, one of his negatives was exposed for eight seconds, but it was, at the same time, screened from the light so that the equivalent exposure at the sun's edge was only 4-100 of a second; at 4' from the sun's edge, Os.32; at 8', 0s.80; at 12', ls.38; at 16', ls.76; at 24', 2s.40; at 34', 3s.20; at 44', 4s.00; at 64',5s.60; at 94' and at all greater dis- tances, 8s.00. The resulting negative is ex- tremely fine, and it exhibits the corona as it has never before been seen on a single plate. The bright inner corona and prominences are shown in their true form and brilliancy alongside of the faint polar rays and the delicate masses of the outer coronal extensions. Those who are especially interested should consult Mr. Burckhalter's report (illus- trated) in the Publications of. the As- tronomical Society of the Pacific, No. 75, for October, 1900. The advance over previous work of the same kind is so marked that it is to be hoped that this method will be adopted at the Sumatra eclipse of May, 1901. PSYCHOLOGY AS LITERATURE AND FICTION. Messrs. Harper & Bros, are re- sponsible for the publication of 'Hyp- SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 215 notism in Mental and Moral Culture,' by John Duncan Quackenbos, an un- fortunate volume which may be per- mitted to speak for and condemn itself. To begin with, the work was written 'in premeditated ignorance of recent works on hypnotism.' Hypnotism is presented as a miraculous panacea. "A recent experiment of the writer's estab- lishes the fact that disequilibration may be adjusted; a congenital cerebral defi- ciency overcome; a personality crippled by thought inhibition, mental apathy and defective attention transformed into a personality without a blot upon the brain, and so impending insanity shunted — by the use of hypnotic sug- gestion as an educational agency." "Dif- ferences induced by objective education are obliterated; and the fundamental endowments of that finer spiritual organ in which under God we have our highest being — endowments conferred by Deity on all human souls without favor and without stint— dominate the intellec- tual life. The divine image is supreme in the man, and creative communication on the broadest lines and on the most exalted planes becomes possible. Hyp- notic suggestion is but inspiration. Not only does the subject share the latent knowledge, but he borrows as well the mental tone of the operator. His mem- ory becomes preternaturally impressi- ble. The principles of science, of lan- guage, of music, of art, are quickly ap- propriated and permanently retained for post-hypnotic expression through ap- propriate channels. Confidence in talent is acquired; and embarrassment, confu- sion, all admission of inferiority, are banished from the objective life — by placing the superior self in control." Among the patients are "several ladies who are making a profession of fiction writing. To these latter were imparted in hypnosis, first, a knowledge of the canons of narration, viz., the law of selection, which limits the story-teller to appropriate characteristic or indi- vidual circumstances; the law of succes- sion," and other laws of like flavor. The result: "In the light of instantane- ous apprehension, barrenness gives place to richness of association, the earnest thought and honest toil of the old method to a surprising facility, disin- clination to select details to zest in ap- propriating whatever is available. Op- portunity and mood are thus made to coincide, and the subject spontaneously conforms to the eternal principles of style. Under the influence of such in- spiration, rapid progress has been made in the chosen field of authorship." The art of acting is equally easily accom- plished. "The response of the woman's soul to such suggestions with post- hypnotic import is followed by her speedy ascent to the heights of his- trionic art, and by subsequent triumphs on the stage through an apprehension of her own deathless power as revealed by the creative communication of her hypnotist. An actress once so inspired is inspired forever." For music the same formula holds. "The automatic mind is gently wooed to the summits of soul life, where it becomes susceptible to inspira- tion and burns to launch itself, through music as a medium of artistic expres- sion, into the objective world." Moral perfection is likewise achieved. Here is a typical case before treatment: "Philetas M., aged twenty-one, an adept in all kinds of deviltry; a cigarette fiend; an incorrigible liar, unblushingly denying scarce-cold crimes with the proofs of their commission in our very hands, and constantly deceiving his parents with rotten-hearted promises; a borrower of money under false pre- tences, and an out-and-out thief for whom jail had no terrors; a gambler: a profligate ready to pawn the clothes on his back at the bidding of town-dow- dies: a trencher-knight of the subloins of the Tenderloin," etc.; and this is the appearance after taking: "The weak- nesses of the past are forgotten, vice loses its attractions, and the inspired soul seeks to make reparation for its shortcomings by an exaggerated loy- alty to the spirit of the moral law. The young man who has regarded with contempt a father's advice and a 2l6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. mother's love becomes, after treatment, the incarnation of filial reverence and affection. The liar looks his interlocu- tor in the face and speaks the truth without regard to consequences. The thief parts with all inclination to appro- priate what is not his. The libertine ac- cepts the white life. Human sapro- phytes that thrive on social rottenness are not wholly destitute of moral chloro- phyl." Nor is this all. By the same means, "Habits of thought concentra- tion may be made to take the place of habits of rambling, ability to use gram- matical English for uncertainty in syn- tax, a taste that approves elegance for an inclination to slang." Though potent for good, this panacea refuses to work ill. "Fortunately for the protection of society, the power of suggestion to de- prave is providentially limited, while its influence for good is without horizon. A mesmerizee quickly discovers the hypo- crite in a suggestionist, and a pure soul will always revolt at the intrusion of a sordid or sensual self and spontaneously repel its advances." That the sugges- tionist must have unusual gifts to ac- complish such vast results seems natural enough. "A practitioner of hypnotism should be a proficient in the physical sciences, in literature, language, belles- lettres, art, sociology and theology." "Ignorance in an operator is a disquali- fying defect; soul-exalting suggestions are full of atmosphere." Nor is it sur- prising to learn that the mesmerizee evi- dences "supranormal perceptive powers, possessed by subliminal selfs, acting at a distance from their physical bodies (a rational explanation of clairvoyance and clairaudience), or of automatic com- munications between the subliminal selfs of such unconscious mediums and outside personalities not human, who are cognizant of the events described, and are independent of time and space limitations;" and that "human beings are hypnotizable by other human be- ings, between whom and themselves ex- ists a peculiar sympathy or harmonious relationship known as rapport." There is no need to continue. If the above citations prevent the spread of false notions regarding the contents and character of the work they will in part have fulfilled their purpose. That the volume contains interesting, possibly valuable observations, may be true; but the general distrust of any results so sensationally presented will deservedly prevent recognition of any sound con- tribution of fact that may happen to be buried beneath this tinsel and paste. Were it not for the 'premeditated ig- norance,' the author might have known of similar observations more soberly presented by other writers; and he might have been induced by a knowl- edge of the present status of hypnotism to present his own results with more re- serve, proportion and scientific accepta- bility. It is difficult to say whether the author offends most deeply our scientific sensibilities by his extravagant, false and misleading representations, or our aesthetic sense by his grotesque and tactless manner of presentation, or our moral judgment by his disregard of ob- vious relations and his irrelevant and officious appeal to religious beliefs. On account of its popular tone, such a vol- ume has great power for evil, and the condemnation of author and publisher for such abuse of a popular interest should be expressed in no uncertain terms. 'Medicine and the Mind,' trans- lated from the French of Dr. Mau- rice de Fleury by Stacy B. Collins, M. D., and published by Downey & Co., is the type of work which the scien- tifically-minded are likely to dismiss as too 'literary,' and the litterateur to dis- regard as too scientific. Neither dis- paragement is quite warranted, how- ever natural. If one assumes a proper attitude towards the volume — or per- haps one should say, finds himself in a sympathetic mood for this kind of read- ing— he may find attraction, suggestive- ness and profit in its perusal. But it is distinctly a kind of writing to which the Anglo-Saxon mind is unresponsive; our standards of popular science are totally different in ideal and execution from SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 217 those of our Gaelic colleagues; and, ac- cordingly, when a book such as Dr. Fleury's leaves its native soil, it comes in contact with forms of critical judgment which it cannot successfully meet. As the author himself almost naively notes, in contrasting French works with those of an English writer, Sir John Lubbock, "With us a philosopher writes books for his own renown. Sir John Lubbock thinks of himself not at all." Dr. Fleury follows the French ideal and produces a chatty volume thoroughly infused with his personal opinions and interests, kaleidoscopic in scope, rather aimless in design, literary in form, and, judged by our own ideals, a very bad exemplar for popular science. The general point of view is that of a physician who wishes to record for the benefit of other types of professional men, the medical aspect of the large and ever-present problems of civiliza- tion. From responsibility in cases of crime, and the methods in use at the Salpetriere, to an essay on the bad ef- fects of tobacco, and the proper regimen for literary men (illustrated by copious testimonials from men of literary note) ; and again from disquisitions on the ef- fects of serum and other liquids hypo- dermically applied and an account of the nervous system, through discussions of mental and physical fatigue and the treatment of indolence and melancholy, to the psychology of love and anger as morbid passions, and the 'physiological analysis of flirtation,' — the volume pro- ceeds at times interestingly, often touching upon new and significant ob- servation, but always aimlessly, self- consciously and with a strained attempt to introduce novelty and paradox. When the author remarks "who knows but the twentieth century may rewrite Werther in its own way, with figures in the text, as a medical publication," he suggests only a moderate exaggera- tion of some of his own pages. The scientific point of view and useful scien- tific writing are not dependent upon diagrams and phrases, but on the natu- ral outcome of fullness of learning, of a fundamental training and a combination of enthusiasm and skill. Dr. Fleury's book affords glimpses of an attractive personality endowed with some of these requisites; but his volume can have lit- tle influence upon the English reading public. Of translations, as of the dead, it is generally best to say nihil nisi bonum. But the imperfections of the present task are all of that totally unnecessary type which makes them particularly ag- gravating. The foreignness of the pres- entation is left unmitigated by skillful phrasing; the existence of appropriate technical terms in English is ignored, and minor errors (such as the wrong re- translation of an English work cited by the French author) are numerous. Prof. Flotjrnoy's skillful descrip- tion of a remarkable case of sub-con- scious automatism was noticed in a re- cent issue of this Monthly. It is in every way worthy of presentation to English readers; and such readers are under obligations to Messrs. Harper & Bros, and the translator for the credit- able appearance of the English volume. The translation is fluent and ac- ceptable, and the composition of the book eminently satisfactory. Apart from the general query as to the de- sirability of placing a volume of this type before the public at large in a form intended to suggest its popular assimilability, the temper of the trans- lator's preface demands a word of com- ment and of protest. To present this volume as a contribution to the mysti- cal aspect of that composite activity, the results of which are denominated 'Psychical Research,' is a wrong to the author's purposes and (with few excep- tions) is antagonistic to his own point of view. To put forward the volume as a contribution to a line of investigation that shall scientifically prove to be 'the preamble of all religions,' that shall demonstrate unsuspected and anoma- lous mental powers, and all but demon- strate immortality, to claim that for any one skeptically inclined and out 218 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. of harmony with this point of view 'the book will have no interest' — all this serves to place the entire volume in so misleading and unfortunate a position that it would have been far better, rather than have it thus introduced, to have left the work untranslated. Under its present auspices it will prove to be a useful convenience to many, but a source of misconception and a stumbling- block to many more. EDUCATION. Dtjbtng the later part of the eight- eenth century the conception of educa- tion as one phase of the development of the individual was established. There followed attention to the methodologic- al aspect of the subject which resulted in the basing of the method of educa- tion upon psychology, instead of upon more or less fantastic analogies with na- ture. During the latter half of the pres- ent century has been established the conception of education as a social proc- ess, as one phase of human develop- ment. As a result, the historical and social aspects of education are becoming more scientific. There has been no his- tory or historical sketch of education for the English reading public that pos- sessed historic and scientific value until the recent appearance of Prof. Thomas Davidson's 'History of Education.' The author defines education as conscious human evolution and attempts to sketch the history of education in terms of dominant evolutionary thought. Fre- quently the author is guilty of that generality that has brought much of sociological thought into disrepute. His definition of education is so broad that it would include political and other phases of evolution that are conscious processes so far as the race is con- cerned. However, the revision of old ideas or the formulation of new ones is certain to provoke disagreement con- cerning essentials or details. It is the attempt that is significant in this case. It is but an earnest of the future. There is further evidence to this more scientific conception of the history of education. Hitherto the historical aspect of educa- tion has not passed beyond the bio- graphical stage. But educational biog- raphy is now being written from this broader point of view. The interest is less in the individual and more in his relation to social practices and de- veloping ideas. This attitude is best il- lustrated in the issues of the 'Great Educator Series,' edited by Prof. Nicho- las Murray Butler. The latest issue, 'Comenius and the Beginnings of Edu- cational Reform,' by Will S. Monroe, is well up to the higher standard set by previous issues. Comenius was to edu- cation what his contemporaries, Bacon and Descartes, were to science and phi- losophy. A biographical sketch of Co- menius from this point of view, such as Mr. Monroe gives, is a valuable contri- bution to the literature of the new as- pect of education. Dk. L. Viereck publishes in the Ed- ucational Review an article narrating how even in the German gymnasium Latin is losing its traditional position. A movement is gaining ground looking toward beginning the study of Latin not in the lowest class of the gymna- sium, but only after three years, thus leaving six years for the language. In this case Greek is begun two years later and is confined to the last four years of the course. This plan has the obvious advantage of not requiring boys to de- cide on their career in life at the age of ten years, but permits students of the 'real' gymnasium and of the traditional gymnasium to carry on the same studies for the first three years. The system, which was first tried in Frankfort in 1892, had a year ago been adopted in twenty-one schools and appears to be favored by the Prussian Government. Other straws showing how the current is setting in Germany are the estab- lishment within a year of a doctorate in applied science and the decision that hereafter the doctor's diploma shall be written in German instead of Latin. THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 219 THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. The statue of Lavoisier, shown in the frontispiece of this number, was unveiled at Paris on the 27th of July. It stands facing the Rue Tronchet, near the house in which Lavoisier dwelt. The figure, of bronze, stands upon a granite pedestal, ornamented by bas-reliefs rep- resenting Lavoisier before his colleagues at the Academy, and at work in his laboratory. M. Leygues presided at the ceremony, at which the members of the international congress of chemistry were present. In the course of the address written for the occasion M. Berthelot characterized Lavoisier's work as fol- lows: "The labors of Lavoisier are re- lated to a fundamental discovery from which they all spring, namely, the dis- covery of the chemical constitution of matter and of the difference between bodies possessing weight and imponder- able forces — heat, light, electricity — the influence of which extends over these bodies. The discovery of this difference overturned the old ideas handed down from antiquity and held till the end of the last century." Lavoisier was a no- table example of the excellence of scien- tific men in other than scientific fields of activity. He wrote a good book on education, was an efficient officer in a number of public undertakings, and was for some years 'fermier general.' His scientific work is summed up by the in- scription on the pedestal of the monu- ment: 'Fondateur de la chimie mod- erne.' There is now evidence that yellow fever, as well as malaria, is caused by inoculation by mosquitoes which serve as the intermediate hosts of the para- sites. Drs. Reed, Carroll, Agramonte and Lazear, who were appointed last summer by the Surgeon-General to in- vestigate infectious diseases in Cuba, have in a preliminary report of their work denied that the bacillus icteroides of Sanarelli is the cause of yellow fever. In general they have not found it pres- ent in the blood of yellow fever patients or in the organs of those who have died of the disease, and consider that when present it is a secondary invader. After these results had been reached they test- ed the hypothesis advanced by Dr. Car- los J. Finlay of Havana in 1881 that yellow fever is transmitted from person to person by mosquitoes. Mosquitoes which had bitten fever patients were al- lowed to bite eleven persons. In nine cases no evil results followed, but in two cases, Dr. Carroll himself being one, reg- ular attacks of yellow fever followed. It is true that in these cases there was a possibility of infection from other sources, but since out of 1,400 non-im- mune Americans at the Columbia Bar- racks there were in two months only three cases and since of the three two had been bitten within five days of the commencement of their attacks by con- taminated mosquitoes, the board seems justified in assigning the role of effi- cient cause to the mosquitoes. The pos- itive evidence is increased by the sad his- tory of Dr. Lazear, one of the investi- gating board. Dr. Lazear was one of the nine who had not suffered in the inoculation experiment just described. While working with yellow fever pa- tients he was bitten by a mosquito, which because of the previous experi- ment he did not even attempt to avoid. He was bitten on September 13, and be- came ill on September 17 with the fe- ver, which thereafter ran its course, ending in death. It was not demon- strated that this particular mosquito had previously bitten any yellow fever patient, but of course there was every opportunity for it to do so. Dr. Reed 220 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. and his associates feel justified in the following conclusion: "The mosquito serves as the intermediate host for the parasite of yellow fever, and it is highly probable that the disease is only prop- agated through the bite of this insect." One of the most obscure points in chemistry is the action of ferments. These have been grouped in two classes : Organized ferments like the yeast plant, or the mycoderma aceti, which oxidize alcohol to acetic acid; and the unorgan- ized ferments, like diastase, which con- vert starch into sugar. In both cases a very small quantity of the ferment is capable of converting an indefinitely large amount of the fermenting sub- stance into the fermented product, al- though the ferment itself does not enter as such into the reaction. Further, the action of ferments can be inhibited by heat and by the action of certain sub- stances which act as poisons. Recent investigations seem to show that the or- ganized ferments may owe their action to unorganized ferments which they se- crete. More recently attention has been called by Bredig and von Berneck to the similarity between the action of fer- ments, and what has been called con- tact action of metals. For example, fine- ly divided platinum can oxidize alcohol to acetic acid, and can invert cane sugar. Much more marked is the action of a solution of colloidal platinum, obtained by passing a strong current of electric- ity between platinum poles under water. The action of the platinum in this con- dition is remarkably like that of a fer- ment. When its effect upon hydrogen peroxide was studied it was found that one part in about 350,000,000 parts of water was sufficient to decompose hydro- gen peroxide appreciably. Minute traces of certain poisons affect the reaction strongly; especially is this true of prus- sic acid, hydrogen sulfid and corrosive sublimate. Like many ferments the plat- inum solution gradually recovers from the poisonous effects of traces of potas- sium cyanid. It also appears that the platinum plays no chemical part in the reaction, and thus it is apparently a true ferment. It seems probable that the study of these inorganic ferments may throw much light upon the action of the very complicated organic ferments. When the discovery was made some ten years ago that leguminous plants are able to assimilate the free nitrogen of the atmosphere, and thus to supply themselves with one of the necessary elements of plant food, its importance to agriculture as an economical means of maintaining soil fertility was recognized almost immediately. In working out the practical application of the discov- ery it was found that the micro-organ- isms which effect this nitrogen assimi- lation are not the same for all kinds of legumes, but that different kinds have their specific organisms, and further- more that these micro-organisms are not universally disseminated through the soil. This led to inoculation of the soil, either with pure cultures of the specific bacteria or with soil from a field known to contain them in abun- dance. What seemed so simple theoret- ically has been found in practice to be only partially successful, so that the progress in its application has been somewhat delayed. A very interesting account of experiments in inoculating soils for the growth of the soy bean has recently been published by the Kan- sas Experiment Station as Bulletin No. 96. It is one of the most successful at- tempts at soil inoculation on a large scale that has been reported in this country or in Europe, where this method for promoting nitrogen assimi- lation was first suggested. It- was found that the Kansas soil contained none of the organisms necessary for the soy bean, and that in such soil the roots produced none of the tubercles which are intimately associated with nitrogen assimilation. A quantity of soil was obtained from the Massachusetts Ex- periment Station, where the soy bean had been grown for several years, and mixed in very small proportion with the Kansas soil, with the result that THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 221 the soy bean plants produced root tubercles abundantly, indicating that they were drawing their nitrogen from the air. Local soil which had once been inoculated and produced a crop of soy beans was found to be suitable mate- rial for inoculating other soils; and a practical method for treating large fields has been worked out and tested through several seasons. The result is especially important as the soy bean is well suited to a wide range of country, and aside from being a valuable forage crop its growth materially enriches the soil. The recent announcements of the census bureau, which have been widely circulated in the daily press, throw light on a sociological question often dis- cussed. It has been said that the course of population is toward the great cities, that the metropolis is swallowing up the county centers and small cities. A recent prophet of the future made the England of his fiction a single great city with the rest of the country as its farm and garden. Some alarm has been caused lest this supposed tendency to centralization of population prove disas- trous to nervous health and moral wel- fare. It now appears that such a ten- dency does not exist. For the eighty- one small cities, those of from 25,000 to 50,000, have increased during the last decade practically as fast as the nineteen great cities of over 200,000, namely, about 32 per cent. New York, it is true, has increased 37.8 per cent. The rate of increase of the cities above 25,000 is about 11 per cent, higher than that of the country at large, but there is no cause for sociologists to lament this dif- ference. The inhabitants of the hundred and twenty cities under 100,000 have in many ways a superior intellectual and moral environment. They are freed from the petty annoyances of rural life, its isolation from broadening institu- tions and its emptiness of appeal to am- bition, without losing outdoor freedom or the chance of participation in com- munity life. They enjoy the good schools, libraries, entertainments, the municipal improvements, the services of superior professional men, etc., of great cities, without suffering from metropol- itan restrictions, abuses and vices. The small city is in a measure the golden mean among dwelling-places. It would be interesting to observe on a large scale the magnitude of another great movement in population, that connect- ed with the growth of suburbs. The natural supposition is that the rate of increase of the suburbs has been very much above the average even of the cities. In so far as the nature of our surroundings determines our make-up, such new conditions as we have in sub- urban life are of vital interest to the student of human nature. The growth of interest in forestry, one of the youngest of the applied sci- ences, is attested by the establishment this year of the Yale Forest School, which confers the degree of Master of Forestry on graduates who have obtained the bachelor's degree elsewhere. At the opening of the school there were regis- tered seven regular students, besides seventeen from other departments of the University. The residence of the late Professor O. C. Marsh is used as a school building. Lecture- rooms, a library, a laboratory and an herbarium room have been furnished with such equipment as has been found necessary for the present re- quirements of the school. A considera- ble amount of museum material has al- ready been acquired and is being class- ified and arranged as rapidly as possible. The grounds about the building, ten acres in extent, are already covered with a great variety of trees and shrubs, both native and foreign, and it is the inten- tion to plant a considerable number of varieties which are not represented. A forest nursery will be established on the grounds, but the regular forest plant- ing will be done on waste land on the outskirts of New Haven. The New Ha- ven Water Company has offered to the school the use of several hundred acres 222 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. of woodland for the practical field work of the students, and several other own- ers have expressed their desire to devote their wood-lots to this purpose. Such schools as the Yale Forest School and the thoroughly equipped school at Cornell under Professor Fer- now's direction meet a definite, practi- cal need, for it is an undeniable fact that the supply of lumber is being di- minished beyond safety. Twenty million dollars' worth of native lumber is used annually in the manufacture of wood- pulp alone. Nearly half of the original resources of Washington Territory, the home of supposedly inexhaustible for- ests, have been used. Indiana once pos- sessed 28,000 square miles covered with valuable timber. It sent timber to the East in large quantities, but now must import 82 per cent, of the lumber it uses. Lumbermen from the Lake States are now taking up timber land on the Pa- cific coast. Experts agree that if things had been left to take their natural course, a timber famine would have been the probable fate of the next generation or two. The Government with its for- est preserves and the awakened land- owner with economical methods of tim- ber-cutting will delay and probably avert such a catastrophe, but a future scarcity in lumber is by no means the only bad result of a laissez faire policy regarding forests. The forests are the guardians of the water supply; useful water power, regular irrigation and the absence of dangerous freshets are all de- pendent on the proper condition of the vegetation of watersheds. It is supposed that the freshet which caused the Johns- town flood of May, 1889, was due in part to the denudation of the Mill Creek wa- tershed, and at the request of the Johns- town Water Company this region has been examined by experts from the Di- vision of Forestry of the United States Department of Agriculture, who have recommended that where the land has not been covered by a second growth, it be planted and that careful protection against fire be given to the whole dis- trict. When one considers that similar measures, if taken a generation ago, might have prevented the loss of $10,- 000,000 worth of property, to say noth- ing of the tremendous loss of life at the Johnstown disaster, one realizes the im- portance of forest preservation as a prophylactic against floods. We should teach even the children in the schools Humboldt's warning, "In felling trees growing on the sides and summits of mountains, men under all climates pre- pare for subsequent generations two ca- lamities at once — a lack of firewood and a lack of water." These national forest reservations are located in the western third of the country, and agitation is now in prog- ress for similar reservations in Minne- sota at the head-waters of the Mis- sissippi and in the Southern Appala- chians in the western part of North Carolina. The proposed Minnesota Park would include over 200,000 acres of water surface and over 600,000 acres of land. It would serve as a game preserve, as well as a profitable forest and an assurance to an important water supply. The only ob- jection seems to be on the ground of the expense of purchase of Indian rights, which General Andrews, Chief Forest Warden of the State, estimates as not over $75,000 per year. $2,250,000 has this year been devoted for deepening and improving the Mississippi River. Yet this is dependent on the proper treatment of the very region in question. The passage of the bill was apparently favored by all those competent to judge of the case. It was postponed and will probably be again considered in Decem- ber. Concerning the proposed Southern Appalachian reservation Prof. J. A. Holmes said at the New York meeting of the American Forestry Association: "Such a reserve, if judiciously managed, will pay a good interest on the invest- ment, besides proving of inestimable value to the people of this country as a public resort for health and pleasure, as a lesson in practical forestry, and as THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 223 a means of preserving the head-waters of important rivers." Two lines of work by the Federal Government along the line of forest preservation are especially worth com- ment. One is the attempt to get an ex- act estimate of just what forests the country possesses and just what condi- tions they are in. This knowledge is required as a basis for all theoretical de- ductions, and as a starting point for all practical measures. This work is now being extensively carried out by the United States Geological Survey. The other is the attempt definitely to assist land-owners to develop wisely their forest lands and thus to spread over the country practical acquaintance with the principles of forest manage- ment. This work is in the hands of the Division of Forestry of the Department of Agriculture. In the nineteenth and twentieth reports of the Geological Sur- vey, Mr. Gannett gives the following statistics concerning the area of wood- land in the United States. Of the whole country 37 per cent, is wooded; along the Atlantic border the percentage va- ries from 40 to 80 per cent.; in Ohio, it is 23 per cent.; in Illinois, 18 per cent.; in Kansas, 7 per cent. ; in North Dakota, 1 per cent.; in California, 22 per cent., and in Washington, 71 per cent. The areas reserved and their percentage of the total area of the State and of the wooded area of the State are as follows : Area in Per Cent. Beserva- Per Cent. of tion. of Total Wooded State. Sq. Miles. Area. Area. Arizona 6,285 6 27 California . . . 13,509 9 30 Colorado 4,848 5 15 Idaho 6,264 7 18 Montana 7,885 5 19 New Mexico. 4,273 3 18 Oregon 7,271 8 13 South Dakota 1,893 2 76 Utah 1,474 2 15 Washington .12,672 19 27 Wyoming . . . 4,994 5 40 One of the most interesting questions concerning human nature is the degree to which special aptitudes may appear as the result of innate organic condi- tions quite apart from experience. It is well enough known that general men- tal ability is born in us if we have it at all, but we do not know so well how far any special ability, for instance in mathematics, music or sculpture, is due to inborn structural or functional pecul- iarities. The 'prodigies' in special fields may be instanced as evidence that such highly specialized gifts are inborn, but in some cases interest in the facts con- cerned and the habit of thinking about them seem to be sufficient to account for the prodigy's success. The latest mathematical prodigy, a boy who has been carefully studied by Professor Bryan and Dr. Lindley of Indiana Uni- versity, seemed to owe his success to the habit of constantly thinking about numbers. Any intelligent person who would be as much engaged in the pur- suit might do as well. It is hard, how- ever, to explain in this way the cass of the musical prodigy exhibited before the International Congress of Psycholo- gists by M. Charles Jtichet. The boy, then three years, seven months and seven days old, played the piano with at times remarkable skill in both tech- nique and expression, but especially in the latter. He knows a score of pieces by heart, all of which he has learned by ear. If twenty or thirty measures are played before him he can then play them. He also, though with more dif- ficulty, plays on the piano tunes he has heard sung. Of his inventiveness Pro- fessor Richet said: "It is certain that when Pepito starts to improvise, he is al- most never at a loss, and he often finds extremely interesting melodies which appear more or less new to all those present. There is a variety and rich- ness of tone which would perhaps be as- tonishing if he were a professional mu- sician, but which in a child three years and a half old are absolutely overwhelm- ing." In all else than music he seems to be an ordinary child. Pepito, accord- ing to his mother's narrative, was a good player from the start. His first performance was to play throughout a 224 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. piece which she had played a number of times. This he did absolutely independ- ently of any teaching whatever. Only a special anatomical basis for musical ability seems competent to explain a case like this. Among recent events of scientific in- terest, we note the following: Dr. Henry S. Pritchett, superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, was in- augurated as president of the Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology on Oc- tober 24. — Sir Michael Foster has been reelected a member of the British Par- liament, representing the University of London. — Cambridge University has conferred the degree of Doctor of Science on Professor S. P. Langley, di- rector of the Smithsonian Institution. — Professor George F. Barker, for twen- ty-eight years professor of physics in the University of Pennsylvania, and Professor F. H. Bonney, for thirty-three years professor of geology in University College, London, have retired. — A com- mittee has been appointed to erect a memorial to the late Spencer F. Baird at Wood's Holl. Subscriptions may be sent to the Hon. E. G. Blackford, Ful- ton Market, New York City.— The Rumford Committee of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences has voted a grant of $200 to Mr. C. E. Men- denhall of Williams College for the fur- therance of his investigations on a hol- low bolometer, and a grant of $500 to Professor George E. Hale of the Yerkes Observatory in furtherance of his researches in connection with the application of the radiometer and a study of the infra-red spectrum of the chromosphere. — Professor Ernst Haeckel is at present in Java, seeking for further remains of Pithecanthropus erecUts. — Dr. Eobert Koch has re- turned to Berlin after fifteen months spent in the study of malaria, chiefly in the German colonies. — Harvard Ob- servatory has sent an expedition to Kingston, Jamaica, to observe the planet Eros in its approaching opposi- tion.— Mr. E. P. Baldwin is planning an expedition to the North Polar re- gions, the expenses of which will be de- frayed by Mr. Ziegler, of New York City.— The New York Board of Health is building, at a cost of $20,000, a labora- tory to be wholly devoted to the study of the bubonic plague. — The great Ser- pent Mound of Ohio, which has long been a subject of study and research for American archeologists, has been given by the Harvard Corporation to the Ohio State Archeological and Histori- cal Society. — The fine new lecture hall of the American Museum of Natural History was opened with appropriate exercises on Tuesday, October 30. At the same time the new anthropological collections were exhibited. — The new National Museum at Munich, contain- ing the collection of Bavarian antiqui- ties, has been opened, and the valuable collections can be viewed to much bet- ter advantage than hitherto. The build- ing contains more than a hundred rooms and has been erected at a cost of about $1,000,000.— The Authors' Cat- alogue of the British Museum, contain- ing four hundered large volumes and numerous supplements, has now been completed. The compilation of the cata- logue has occupied twenty years and cost $200,000. A subject-catalogue is now in course of preparation The Russian Government has decided to adopt the metric system of weights and measures, and the ministry of finance is now engaged in considering the time and manner of introducing this re- form. THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. JANUAKY, 1901. ASPHALTUM FOE A MODEBN" STREET. By S. F. PECKHAM. ASPHALTUM is the solid form of bitumen, as it occurs in nature. It has been known to man from prehistoric times. The word is said to be derived from oc privative, and a^cxXXo 'I cause to slip.' It, therefore, signifies a substance that prevents one from slipping, and was applied to the solid forms of bitumen that soften in the sun. This substance was not rare in so-called Bible lands, embracing the Valley of the Euphrates, the table lands of Mesopotamia and the Valley of the Jordan. It was of frequent occurrence along the shores of the Dead Sea, and was gathered and sold in the caravan trade that passed through the land of Moab and Petrea into Egypt, where it was used in the preparation of mummies. During the Middle Ages, asphaltum appears to have found but few uses, and is seldom mentioned. The words asphaltum, petroleum and naphtha appear to have been used with different meanings, and also in- terchangeably or synonymously; yet the words were generally used to signify a thing that was located and defined by further description, so that the bitumen of the Dead Sea was recognized as asphaltum or solid bitumen. Within the present century, however, both words and definitions have been more exact. As other and slightly differing material was obtained that in some respects resembled coal, it was claimed that some of the deposits of bitumen were beds of coal, and this claim led, about 1850, to important litigation, in which, as experts, scientific men gave very conflicting testimony, one party claiming that the material of certain deposits was asphaltum, and the other that it was coal. It was finally decided that the material — the albertite of New Brunswick — was not coal, and, therefore, did not belong to the Crown. At about this time a deposit occurring in West Virginia, since known as Graham- ite, which, in appearance, is much more like splint coal than albertite, VOL. LVIII.— 15 226 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. attracted attention. There were veins of material in Cuba that were also included in the argument, Coal vs. Asphalt. The late Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, as long ago as 1863, separated asphal- tuni from pyrobituminous minerals, or minerals that on being heated to destructive distillation yield products that resemble bitumens. These pyrobituminous coals, schists and shales are nearly as insoluble in the solvents of bitumen, viz., ethyl ether, chloroform, benzole, etc., as they are in distilled water; hence, Dr. Hunt made the action of these solvents the test of the two classes of substances. All true bitumens are miscible with or almost wholly soluble in chloroform, a test that clearly separates them from pyrobituminous minerals. So-called 'asphaltic coals' are not coals at all, but are geologically old asphaltums. Besides the asphaltums, almost wholly soluble in chloroform, there are a large number of minerals that consist only in part of true bitu- mens. These are found as beds of sedimentary or crystalline rock, often of immense extent and thickness, impregnated with bitumens of varyi in- consistency and quality, sometimes very soft and seldom quite solid after being separated from the rock. In some instances the bitumen appears to be convertible into asphaltum, and in others not. The French writers have called these rocks 'asphalte,' but, unfortunately, they have also called asphaltum by the same name, as if the things wrere identical and the words synonymous. Among English writers no uniform custom prevails, but German authors use generally the French word, at the same time calling asphaltum 'Erdpech' or 'Glanzpech.' I think it would promote clearness of expression if this word 'asphalte' were uniformly introduced into all modern languages to designate those bituminous rocks, with the qualifying words, siliceous, calcareous or argillaceous, added as required. The so-called Trinidad pitch, as it is found in and around the lake, on the island of Trinidad, is a mixture of bitumen, water, mineral and vegetable matter, the whole inflated with gas. When removed from the deposit, most of the water dries out, the gas escapes, the mass changes in color from brown to blue-black, becoming brittle, and at the same time more or less sticky as it loses water. At a rough esti- mate, about 25 per cent, of the natural cheese-pitch is bitumen. Various theories have been formulated by scientific men to' account for the origin of asphaltum and other forms of bitumen. By some it is thought that complex chemical changes take place between water. •carbonate of lime and iron, and other elements that are supposed to exist in the free state or in combination with carbon as carbides, at great depths from the surface. When they have been formed they are supposed to rise towards the surface with steam and water. This is called the 'chemical' theory. Others think that organic animal and vegetable matter that lias been buried in strata near the surface of the ASPI1ALTUM FOR A MODERN STREET. 227 earth has been converted by a process of partial decay into bitumen. This is called the 'indigenous' theory. Others think that the natural heat of the crust of the earth generated by pressure and, perhaps, other causes, has distilled bitumens from pyrobituminous minerals, and, in some instances, from coal, and they have penetrated the surround- ing and overlying porous formations, often filling crevices and forming veins, Avhen the pressure becomes sufficient to rupture the overlying formations. I am inclined to think this latter theory, of 'distillation,' will best account for all the varying conditions under which the various forms of bitumen occur. Bitumens occur in all periods of the geological history of the earth's crust, but are mainly confined to the formations anterior to the coal period and to the later formations of the tertiary. While asphaltum is found in some of the oldest formations, the greater number of the deposits of solid bitumen and bituminous rocks occur in the more recent formations. In order to show graphically the relations of the pyrobituminous minerals to the various forms of bitumen, I have arranged the following table, which represents the development of our present knowledge of these substances from the time when M. Leon Malo first published a similar table about forty years ago: [Anthracite, North America, "Wales, Belgium, France, etc. , * r => o c o In o 3 S % Splint, Cannel, Peat, Shales, Schists. Natural gas ^2 o .9 \ i - Found all over the world ; yielding bituminous sub- stances by destructive distillation, shales of Autun and Mansfeld, Bog-head mineral, Wollon- gonite, etc. In the United States, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, etc. Russia, France, China, etc. Natural naphtha. — Persia, Cuba and generally in petroleum regions. Petroleum. — Central United States, California, Peru, Cuba, Russia, Borneo, Java, etc. Maltha. — Persia, Albania, Texas, California, Peru, Trinidad, Mexico, Cuba, etc North America. — New Brunswick, West Virginia, Utah, Califor- nia, Mexico. Central America. — Cuba and other West Indies. South America. — Trinidad, Peru, Venezuela. Europe. — Caucasia, France, Dalmatia, Italy, Germany. Asia. — Asia Minor, Persia, Euphrates Valley. Africa. — Egypt and other localities. North America. — Kentucky, Indian Territory, California, Utah, Texas, Athabasca River. Central America. — Mexico and Cuba. South America. — Island of Trinidad, Venezuela. Europe. — Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Austria, etc. Asia. — Asia Minor, Palestine, Persia, China. Africa. — Egypt and other localities. ea A a* aa 5^ 228 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. While it might be interesting to describe in detail all the minerals mentioned in this table, we are at present concerned with only two, viz., asphaltums and asphaltes. Again, while it might be interesting to describe asphaltums and asphaltes from all the many localities in which they occur, we are at present concerned only with those in use in street paving, and particularly those in use in the United States. It is said that the idea of constructing a roadway of asphalte was first suggested by the observation that lumps of asphalte that have dropped from carts upon a road, when trodden by animals and rolled beneath wheels, became compacted into a homogeneous and resisting surface. These observations were made in eastern France, in the valley of the Rhone, where very extensive deposits occur, extending into Switzerland. They were first brought into notice, about 1721, by Eirinis Fig. 1. The Pitch Lake in Trinidad as it Appeared Before 1890. d'Erynys, a Greek physician, who published a pamphlet in which were described deposits of sand and limestone saturated with bitumen that he had discovered some years previously in the Val de Travers, Canton of Neufchatel, Switzerland. He described also a bituminous distillate which he used in the treatment of disease. He compared the deposits to similar beds in the valley of Siddim, near Babylon. They were for- gotten for nearly a century and then re-discovered. By whom this material was first used in road building is unknown. Early in 1850, M. de Coulaine published a paper in the "Annales des Ponts et Chausses/ in which he discussed the use of bitumen in road building as if it was an established industry. He states, without giving any date, that the first attempt to construct a street of bitumen in Paris was made upon the Place Louis XV., opposite the Church of Saint ASPHALTUM FOR A MODERN STREET. 229 Koch. This pavement was formed of fragments of quartz and of mastic of coal-tar, upon a bed of sandstone, the joints of which were filled with the mastic. These coal-tar streets, even with a concrete base, were not satisfactory, thus early establishing the undesirable qualities of coal- tar preparations in the construction of streets. He states his preference for the asphaltes found at Seyssel, Val de Travers and Lobsan, which are composed principally of carbonate of lime and bitumen or sandstone and bitumen. As found in nature, these asphaltes consist either of chalk, sandstone or coarser gravel which have been filled to saturation with bitumen, which when extracted or separated from the mineral constituents of the rocks, is semi-fluid, re- sembling mineral tar. The deposits occur in beds between more dense and barren rock, and are mined out by running galleries and tunnels Fig. 2. Digging and Removing Pitch from the Lake prior to 1890. into the hills that border the valleys, in a manner similar to the mining of coal in some sections of country. Other deposits of similar material occur at Eagussa, in Sicily, and at Limmer, in Hanover. The Seyssel and Neufchatel rocks are gen- erally preferred for streets, as they contain more lime and less sand, and are also freer from sulphur compounds. On the North American continent there are deposits of vast extent both of asphaltum and asphaltes. Generally speaking, asphaltum is not used in street construction; the deposits being either too pure, and hence too valuable for such uses, or, on the other hand, so impure as to be purified only at too great cost. As the asphalte is used in enormous quantities, freight becomes a very important consideration in the selec- tion of the material used in any given locality. This item of cost has given 230 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. the deposit on the island of Trinidad very great importance as a source of supply for all the Atlantic Coast cities and even those as far west as Denver, while the Pacific Coast cities have been supplied from deposits in California, which to some extent have competed with Trinidad pitch, not only in the Mississippi Valley, but even in New York and other Eastern cities. The deposits in Trinidad are comprised in the so-called lake and extensive masses outside of it that have either overflowed from the lake or have been derived from independent sources. In the aggregate the extent of the deposits can only be estimated, as their boundaries cannot be determined with any approach to accuracy. They amount, without any doubt, to several millions of tons. Y\ nile I have classed the Trinidad pitch with the asphaltes, it is really a unique substance. 1 have elsewhere called it 'Parianite,' from Fig. Loading Ships at Wharf. the beautiful bay of Paria, near the coast of which the deposit occurs. The lake is a lake only in name; the deposit, without doubt, filling the crater of an old mud volcano. As described for more than a century preceding 1890, it exhibited an expanse of about one hundred and four- teen acres, with a nearly circular outline, in which irregular areas of pitch are separated by smaller areas of water. Around the borders of the lake, vegetation, commencing at some distance from the edge, is rooted in the pitch itself, and, increasing in vigor as the border is approached, becomes upon the land a tropical jungle of canna and palms, perhaps thirty feet in height. In the center is a circle of islands that float on the pitch. The irregular water areas are many feet in depth, with nearly perpendicular sides, containing very transparent water that ap- ASI'lIALTUM FOR A MODE US STREET. 231 parent! y has its source in subterranean springs. The areas of pitch arc of considerable extent, highest in the middle, but still nearly level and gently sloping on all sides to the precipitous edges of the water areas. These areas are being continually elevated in the center by rising gas, which, forcing up the center in huge bubbles, cause a continual ebullition of the plastic mass and a gradual transference of the material from the center towards the circumference, so that trunks ami branches of trees submerged in the pitch come to the surface, rise, and after assuming a perpendicular position, are in time again submerged to an unknown depth. From the escaping gas the whole central portion of the lake is maintained in a constant motion that prevents vegetation Fig. \. Tramway and Trucks on PrTCH Lake. from taking root, and leaves the surface of the areas of pitch bare and of a blue-black color. When the pitch is dug, a negro will drive a long, slender pick to the eye at a single blow, and, by using the handle as a lever, will break out a flake of pitch larger than he can lift. From less than an inch below the surface the pitch is of a brown color, saturated with water and filled with bubbles of gas. A broken mass will soon dry on the surface and melt, forming a pellicle that will enclose the wet mass for years and prevent the escape of the water. In this wet and porous condition it is calied "cheese pitch.' It is not sticky at all, as the water can be squeezed from it in the hand, as if it were a sponge. Formerly the large lumps of this cheese pitch, as it was broken out, were transported to the beach in carts, but about 1893-4 a wharf was 232 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. constructed on the Bay of Paria, near the lake, and a trolley line and tramway, leading from the wharf up to and out upon the lake in a loop, by which the pitch since then has been transported direct from the sur- face of the lake to the vessel being loaded. Formerly the pitch was car- ried from the beach to ships lying in the bay in lighters, the shipping entailing a great deal of labor from repeated handling. Since the tram- way was installed, the pitch is dug along the line of the tramway and thrown into iron buckets, resting on trucks that are propelled along the tramway by an endless cable. Great difficulty was encountered when the tramway was laid to prevent its sinking in the pitch, which, while hard enough on the surface to bear up a loaded team, will slowly engulf any Fig. 5. A Lot Outside the Lake that has Filled in Six Months after being Excavated- 20 Feet. article of even moderate weight. This trouble was overcome by laying the tramway on a bed of the leaves of the Moriche palm, some of which are twenty-five feet in length. When the car-buckets are loaded they are run to the power-house in groups of three or four, where, after being weighed, they are transferred by an ingenious device from the trucks to a trolley that runs on an endless rope from the lake to the wharf, where the contents of the buckets are dumped into the hold of the ship-like coal. The plant will handle 500 tons a day in the manner described. Immense quantities of the pitch lie outside the lake, and the pitch from these deposits, wherever worked, is still shipped by means of ASPHALTUM FOR A MODERN STREET. 233 lighters. The surface of the lake is 148 feet above the sea-level, and the pitch has flowed down to the sea from the lake in an immense stream that resembles a black glacier. Excavations made in this mass soon fill up again and all traces of them are in time obliterated, and buildings, the foundations of which are placed in or upon the pitch, are soon thrown out of perpendicular, from the unstable condition of the pitch, which appears to be moving or flowing towards the sea under a great pressure. These phenomena present the unique spectacle of a mass so solid as to be walked or driven over, and at the same time so plastic as to be in a state of unstable equilibrium, with constant ebulli- tion from escape of gas and also in constant motion towards the sea. Before the pitch is put to any use it is refined. In the operations attending its shipment and subsequent removal from the hold of the Fig. 6. Barrels of Iipuree at La Bria, Trinidad, and Piles of Pitch awaiting Shipment in the Lighters near Shore. ship, it has been very much broken up, and much of the gas has escaped with some of the water. In this condition it is put into enormous kettles, which are heated from above downward, and very slowly, until the contents of thirty tons or more are melted. The heat necessary to melt the pitch expels the water, the fragments of wood and other light impurities rise to the surface, and the heavy mineral matter, in large part, sinks to the bottom. The clean pitch between them is drawn off into barrels. A more primitive method of refining the pitch is used at the island, where the pitch is boiled in old sugar kettles and skimmed, when the 'dean pitch is ladled into barrels and enters commerce as 'epuree.' In the neighborhood of Trinidad, on the mainland of Venezuela, is ■another so-called Bermudez lake. It is found in a low savannah, extend- 234 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. ing between a range of mountains and the shore o tone of the estuaries that enter the northern part of the delta of the Orinoco from the Bay of Paria. The lake lias an irregularly shaped surface, about one mile and a half by one mile in dimensions, giving an area of something less than 1,000 acres. This area is covered with rank grass and shrubs, from one to eight feet in height, with groves of large Moriche palms. There is no extended surface of clean pitch as at Trinidad; but instead, at certain points, soft pitch wells up as if from subterranean springs. As the gen- eral surface of the deposit is not more than two feet above the surround- ing swamp, in the rainy season it is flooded, and at other times so low that any excavation will immediately fill with water. Instead of being more than a hundred feet in depth as at Trinidad, this deposit is a shallow exudation from numerous springs, over a wide surface, from a mere coating to from seven to nine feet in depth, the average being perhaps four feet. The largest of the areas covered with soft pitch is not more than seven acres in extent. The soft material has become hardened in the sun at the edges, but at the center is too soft to walk upon, in this respect resembling many of the deposits of less extent in California. This pitch is also too soft to hold permanently the escaping gas, as at Trinidad, but when covered with water it ri>es in mushroom-like forms. Some of these areas have been burned over, producing from the combustion of the vegetation and of the asphaltum itself an intense heat- that has converted the bitumen into coke and glance pitch. When this crust of hardened material is removed, beneath it is found asphal- tum that may be used for paving. Under the classification that I have adopted, the bitumen of the Bermudez deposit is nearly pure asphaltum, which has been formed by. the heat of the sun and by fire, from an exudation of maltha, or mineral tar, over a wide expanse, beneath the coke and other products of combus- tion, while here and there are masses of glance pitch, which are the result of less violent action of heat. Many of the West India islands, from Trinidad around to Cuba, contain deposits of asphaltum. The most noted among them are the Mumjack of Barbadoes and the asphaltum veins of Cuba. These, how- ever, have not entered commerce, with the exception, perhaps, of the very pure asphaltum found in Cardenas harbor, which is obtained in limited quantities and is used in varnish-making. None of these are- used in paving. In Mexico there are very extensive deposits of asphaltum of great purity, but up to the present time they have not entered commerce. In Texas, and extending into the Indian Territory, there axe large deposits of both siliceous and calcareous asphaltes. In Uralde county, Texas, near Cline, to the west of San Antonio, on the Southern Pacific ASPIIALTUM FOR A MODERN STREET. 235 Railroad, are very extensive deposits of coquina or shell limestone, filled with bitumen. As found, the material is very tough and difficult to break. When the bitumen is dissolved out with chloroform, there re- mains a mass of small shells, very light and porous, but with sufficient stability to form a rock. The shells contain from nine to thirteen per cent, of bitumen. While a large sum has been expended on a plant for extracting this bitumen, the enterprise has never proved a pecuniary success. In northern Texas, near the Eed Eiver, are extensive deposits of bituminous sand, which has been used locally for sidewalks with suc- cess. Across the Eed Eiver, near the Arbuckle Mountains, in the Chickasaw Nation, beds of bituminous sand occur of great extent. They extend across the country in anticlinal folds for miles in length. The material is not stone, as the sand falls into a powder as soon as the Fig. 7. The ' Big Spring ' of Tar. 30 Feet in Diameter. Upper O.tai. Ventura County, Cal bitumen is removed from it. When the material is broken into small pieces and placed in boiling water, the bitumen rises to the surface nearly free from sand, while the bulk of the sand sinks through the water clean. The bitumen thus obtained is of very superior quality for any purpose. Still farther north and east, near the town of Dougherty, several deposits occur. One is a mass of great extent of fragments of chert and limestone cemented together with bitumen. A mastic has been made by grinding this material. Another mass consists of a magne- sian chalk, of carboniferous age, saturated with bitumen. Another is a mass of large shells filled with more than twenty per cent, of bitumen. Other deposits of loose sand occur in beds, saturated with ten per cent, of bitumen. These materials have been used separately and ground together for paving mixtures for street surfaces. 236 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. In Utah, upon the Uintah Indian reservation, are found veins of asphaltum of remarkable purity, to which the name 'Gilsonite' has been given. It has been found very useful for insulation and a great variety of purposes, but has only been used in combination with softer material for paving. Among the coast ranges of California there are deposits of asphal- tum and siliceous asphalte of vast extent. At Santa Cruz, to the east and west of Santa Barbara, near the coast near San Buena Ventura and Los Angeles, on the Ojai ranch, and at Asphalto, in Kern County, the principal ones are found. Those of commercial value are at the works of the Alcatraz Company, west of Santa Barbara, and near Asphalto. At the works of the Alcatraz Company the bitumen is dissolved in a Fig. 8. Asphaltum Glacier, Kern County, Cai solvent and conveyed through pipes some thirty miles to the coast, where the solvent is removed and the bitumen prepared for shipment. At Asphalto, on the north side of the Coast range, in Kern County, the asphaltum occurs nearly pure in veins of great extent that have been mined to a depth of more than three hundred feet. From these state- ments it will be seen that the deposits of asphaltum and asphalte in the United States are of vast extent and variety. While the bitumen in these different deposits in different parts of the world bears a generic relation, there are specific differences between the different varieties that render some of them more desirable for cer- tain purposes than the others. The purest asphaltums are brilliant black, brittle solids that consist of compounds of carbon and hydrogen with small proportions of oxygen, sulphur and nitrogen. The latter ASPHALTUM FOR A MODERN STREET. 237 of these constituents are not always present and vary widely in amount when present, so that, from a chemical standpoint, the different asphal- tums and the bitumens of the different asphaltes are very unlike sub- stances. In the practical uses to which these substances are applied, the selection for any given purpose does not appear to depend upon differ- ence of composition. The purest varieties are used for making fine varnishes and lacquers. Others are used for coarser varnishes that are baked on to iron and other surfaces. Others are applied, softened with solvents that evaporate. These substances find wide uses for insulating purposes, alone and in mixture with other materials. The widest use to which they are applied is in street-paving sur- faces, for which purpose vast quantities are used every year. It has been Fig. 9. Shaft on Asphaltum Vein near Asphalto, from which mass was taken weighing 6,500 Pounds. found in practice that good streets and poor streets have been made from nearly all the different varieties of asphaltums and asphaltes that can be obtained in such quantity and at such a price as to render their use possible. The different results obtained appear to be due to causes external to the asphaltum or asphalte employed, such as the kind and quality of the materials with which they are mixed and the method, or lack of method, by which they are mixed. These conclusions appear to be warranted by a large number of experiments extending over many years, some of which have been very expensive for the municipalities making them. 238 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. THE EFFECT OF PHYSICAL AGENTS ON BACTERIAL LIFE.* By Dr. ALLAN MACFADYEN, THE JENNER INSTITUTE OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE. THE fact that life did not exist upon the earth at a remote period of time, the possibility of its present existence as well as the pros- pect of its ultimate extinction, can be traced to the operation of certain physical conditions. These physical conditions upon which the main- tenance of life as a whole depends are in their main issues beyond the control of man. We can but study, predict and it may be utilize their effects for our benefit. Life in its individual manifesta- tions is, therefore, conditioned by the physical environment in which it is placed. Life rests on a physical basis, and the main springs of its energies are derived from a larger world outside itself. If these conditions, physical or chemical, are favorable, the functions of life proceed; if unfavorable, they cease — and death ultimately ensues. These factors have been studied and their effects utilized to conserve health or to prevent disease. It is our purpose this evening to study some of the purely physical factors, not in their direct bearing on man, but in relation to much lower forms in the scale of life — forms which constitute in number a family far exceeding that of the human species, and of which we may produce at will in a test-tube, within a few hours, a population equal to that of London. These lowly forms of life — the bacteria — belong to the vegetable kingdom, and each individ- ual is represented by a simple cell. These forms of life are ubiquitous in the soil, air and water, and are likewise to be met with in intimate association with plants and animals, whose tissues they may likewise invade with injurious or deadly effects. Their study is commonly termed bacteriology — a term frequently regarded as synonymous with a branch of purely medi- cal investigation. It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that bacteriology is solely concerned with the study of the germs of disease. The dangerous microbes are in a hopeless minority in comparison with the number of those which are continually performing varied and most useful functions in the economy of nature. Their^ wide importance is due to the fact that they insure the resolution and re- distribution of dead and effete organic matter, which if allowed to accumulate would speedily render life impossible on the surface of the earth. If medicine ceased to regard the bacteria, their study would * Lecture before the Royal Institution of Great Britain. PHYSICAL AGENTS AND BACTERIAL LIFE. 239 still remain of primary importance in relation to many industrial processes in which they play a vital part. It will be seen, therefore, that their biology presents many points of interest to scientific workers generally. Their study as factors that ultimately concern us really began with Pasteur's researches upon fermentation. The subject of this evening's discourse, the effect of physical agents on bacterial life, is important not merely as a purely biological question, though this phase is of considerable interest, but also on account of the facts I have already indicated, viz., that micro-organisms fulfil such an important function in the processes of nature, in industrial operations and in connection with the health of man and animals. It depends largely on the physical conditions to be met with in nature whether they die or remain inactive. Further, the conditions favoring one organism may be fatal to another, or an adaptability may be brought about to unusual conditions for their life. To the technologist the effect of physical agents in this respect is of importance, as a knowledge of their mode of action will guide him to the means to be employed for utilizing the micro-organisms to the best advantage in processes of fermentation. The subject is of peculiar interest to those who are engaged in com- bating disease, as a knowledge of the physical agents that favor or retard bacterial life will furnish indications for the preventive measures to be adopted. With a suitable soil and an adequate temperature the propagation of bacteria proceeds with great rapidity. If the primary conditions of soil and an adequate temperature are not present, the organisms will not multiply, they remain quiescent or they die. The surface layers of the soil harbor the vast majority of the bacteria, and constitute the great storehouse in nature for these forms of life. They lessen in number in the deeper layers of the soil, and few or none are to be met with at a depth of 8-10 feet. As a matter of fact, the soil is a most efficient bacterial filter, and the majority of the bacteria are retained in its surface layers and are to be met with there. In the surface soil, most bacteria find the necessary physical conditions for their growth, and may be said to exist there under natural conditions. It is in the surface soil that their main scavenging func- tions are performed. In the deeper layers, the absence of air and the temperature conditions prove inimical to most forms. Amongst pathogenic bacteria the organisms of lockjaw and of malignant oedema appear to be eminently inhabitants of the soil. As an indication of the richness of the surface soil in bacteria, I may mention that 1 gramme of surface soil may contain from several hun- dred thousand to as many as several millions of bacteria. The air is poorest in bacteria. The favoring physical conditions to be met with in the soil are not present in the air. Though bacteria are to be met with in the air. they are not multiplying forms, as is the case in 240 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. the soil. The majority to be met with in air are derived from the soil. Their number lessens when the surface soil is moist, and it in- creases as the surface soil dries. In a dry season the number of air organisms will tend to increase. Town air contains more bacteria than country air, whilst they become few and tend to disappear at high levels and on the sea. A shower of rain purifies the air greatly of bacteria. The organisms being, as I stated, mainly derived from the surface of the ground, their number mainly depends on the physical condition of the soil, and this depends on the weather. Bacteria cannot pass independ- ently to the air; they are forcibly transferred to it with dust from various surfaces. The relative bacterial purity of the atmosphere is mainly, therefore, a question of dust. Even when found floating about in the air the bacteria are to be met with in much greater number in the dust that settles on exposed surfaces, e. g., floors, car- pets, clothes and furniture. Through a process of sedimentation the lower layers of the air become richer in dust and bacteria, and any disturbance of dust will increase the number of bacteria in the air. The simple act of breathing does not disseminate disease germs from a patient; it requires an act of coughing to carry them into the air with minute particles of moisture. From the earliest times great weight has been laid upon the danger of infection through air-borne contagia, and with the introduction of antiseptic surgery the en- deavor was made to lessen this danger as much as possible by means of the carbolic spray, etc. In the same connection numerous bacteriological examinations of air have been made, with the view of arriving at results of hygienic value. The average number of micro-' organisms present in the air is 500-1000 per 1000 liters; of this number only 100-200 are bacteria, and they are almost entirely harm- less forms. The organisms of suppuration have been detected in the air, and the tubercle bacillus in the dust adhering to the walls of rooms. Investigation has not, however, proved air to be one of the important channels of infection. The bactericidal action of sunlight, desiccation and the diluting action of the atmosphere on noxious substances will always greatly lessen the risk of direct aerial infec- tion. The physical agents that promote the passage of bacteria into the air are inimical to their vitality. Thus, the majority pass into the air not from moist but from dry surfaces, and the preliminary drying is injurious to a large number of bacteria. It follows that if the air is rendered dust-free, it is practically deprived of all the organisms it may contain. As regards enclosed spaces, the stilling of dust and more especially the disinfection of surfaces liable to breed dust or PHYSICAL AGENTS AND BACTERIAL LIFE. 241 to harbor bacteria, are more important points than air disinfection, and this fact has been recognized in modern surgery. In an investi- gation, in conjunction with Mr. Lunt, an estimation was arrived at of the ratio existing between the number of dust particles and bacteria in the air. We used Dr. Aitken's dust-counter, which not only renders the air dust particles visible, but gives a means of counting them in a sample of air. In an open suburb of London we found 20,000 dust particles in 1 cubic centimeter of air; in a yard in the center of London about 500,000. The dust contamination we found to be about 900 per cent, greater in the center of London than in a (iniet suburb. In the open air of London* there was on an average just one organism to every 38,300,000 dust particles present in the air, and in the air of a room, amongst 184,000,000 dust particles, only one organism could be detected. These figures illustrate forcibly the poverty of the air in micro- organisms, even when very dusty, and likewise the enormous dilution they undergo in the atmosphere. Their continued existence is rendered difficult through the influence of desiccation and sunlight. Desiccation is one of nature's favorite methods for getting rid of bac- teria. Moisture is necessary for their development and their vital processes, and constitutes about 80 per cent, of their cell-substance. When moisture is withdrawn most bacterial cells, unless they pro- duce resistant forms of the nature of spores, quickly succumb. The organism of cholera air-dried in a thin film dies in three hours. The organisms of diphtheria, typhoid fever and tuberculosis show more resistance, but die in a few weeks or months. Dust containing tubercle bacilli may be carried about by air cur- rents, and the bacilli in this way transferred from an affected to a healthy individual. It may, however, be said that drying attenuates and kills most of these forms of life in a comparatively short time. The spores of certain bacteria may, on the other hand, live for many years in a dried condition, e. g., the spores of anthrax bacilli, which are so infective for cattle and also for man (wool-sorters' disease). Fortunately few pathogenic bacteria possess spores, and, therefore, drying by checking and destroying their life is a physical agent that plays an important role in the elimination of infectious diseases. This process is aided by the marked bactericidal action of sunlight. Sunlight, which has a remarkable fostering influence on higher plant life, does not exercise the same influence on the bacteria. With few exceptions we must grow them in the dark in order to obtain success- ful cultures; and a sure way of losing our cultures is to leave them exposed to the light of day. Direct sunlight is the most deadly agent, and kills a large number of organisms in the short space of one to two hours; direct sunlight proves fatal to the typhoid bacillus in VOL. LVIII— 16 242 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. half an hour to two hours; in the diphtheria bacillus in half an hour to one hour, and to the tubercle bacillus in a few minutes to several hours. Even anthrax spores are killea by direct light in three and a half hours. Diffuse light is also injurious, though its action is slower. By exposing pigment-producing bacteria to sunlight colorless varieties can be obtained, and virulent bacteria so weak- ened that they will no longer produce infection. The germicidal action of the sun's rays is most marked at the blue end of the spec- trum, at the red end there is little or no germicidal action. It is evident that the continuous daily action of the sun along with desic- cation are important physical agents in arresting the further develop- ment of the disease germs that are expelled from the body. It has been shown that sunlight has an important effect in the spontaneous purification of rivers. It is a well-known fact that a river, despite contamination at a given point, may show little or no evidence of this contamination at a point further down in its course. Buchner added to water 100,000 colon bacilli per cubic centimeter, and found that all were dead after one hour's exposure to sunlight. He also found that in a clear lake the bactericidal action of sunlight extended to a depth of about six feet. Sunlight must, therefore, be taken into account as an agent in the purification of waters, in addition to sedimentation, oxidation and the action of algae. Air or the oxygen it contains has important and opposite effects on the life of bacteria. In 1861, Pasteur described an organism in con- nection with the butyric acid fermentation which would only grow in the absence of free oxygen. And since then a number of bacteria, showing a like property, have been isolated and described. They are termed anaerobic bacteria, as their growth is hindered or stopped in the presence of air. The majority of the bacteria, however, are aerobic organisms, inasmuch as their growth is dependent upon a free supply of oxygen. There is likewise an intermediate group of organ- isms, which show an adaptability to either of these conditions, being able to develop with or without free access to oxygen. Preeminent types of this group are to be met with in the digestive tract of animals, and the majority of disease-nroducing bacteria belong to this adaptive class. When a pigment-producing organism is grown without free oxygen its pigment production is almost always stopped. For anae- robic forms N" and H= give the best atmosphere for their growth, whilst CO.' is not favorable, and may be positively injurious, as, e. g., in the case of the cholera organism. The physical conditions favoring the presence and multiplica- tion of bacteria in water under natural conditions are a low altitude, warmth, abundance of organic matter and a sluggish or stagnant con- dition of the water. As regards water-borne infectious diseases, such PHYSICAL AGENTS AND BACTERIAL LIFE. 243 as typhoid or cholera, their transmission to man by water may be excluded by simple boiling or by an adequate nitration. The freezing of water, whilst stopping the further multiplication of or- ganisms, may conserve the life of disease germs by eliminating the destructive action of commoner competitive forms. Thus the typhoid bacillus may remain frozen in ice for some months without injury. Employment of ordinary cold is not, therefore, a protection against dangerous disease germs. As regards electricity, there is little or no evidence of its direct action on bacterial life, the effects produced appear to be of an indirect character, due to the development of heat or to the products of elec- trolysis. Ozone is a powerful disinfectant, and its introduction into polluted water has a most marked purifying effect. The positive effects of the electric current may, therefore, be traced to the action of the chemical products and of heat. I am not aware that any direct action of the X-rays on bacteria has up to the present been definitely proved. Mechanical agitation, if slight, may favor, and if excessive, may hinder bacterial development. Violent shaking or concussion may not necessarily prove fatal so long as no mechanical lesion of the bacteria is brought about. If, however, substances likely to produce triturating effects are introduced, a disintegration and death of the cells follows. Thus Eowland, by a very rapid shaking of tubercle bacilli in a steel tube, with quartz sand and hard steel balls, produced their complete disintegration in ten minutes. Bacteria appear to be very resistant to the action of pressure. At 300-450 atmospheres putrefaction still takes place, and at 600 atmospheres the virulence of the anthrax bacillus remained unim- paired. Of the physical agents that affect bacterial life, tempera- ture is the most important. Temperature profoundly influences the activity of bacteria. It may favor or hinder their growth, or it may put an end to their life. If we regard temperature in the first instance as a favoring agent, very striking differences are to be noted. The bacteria show a most remarkable range of tem- perature under which their growth is possible, extending from zero to 70° C. If we begin at the bottom of the scale we find organ- isms in the water and in soil that are capable of growth and development at zero. Amongst these are certain species of phosphor- escent bacteria, which continue to emit light even at this low tempera- ture. At the Jenner Institute we have met with organisms growing and developing at 34-40° F. The vast majority of interest to us find, however, the best conditions for their growth from 15° up to 37° C. Each species has a minimum, an optimum and a maximum tempera- ture at which it will develop. It is important in studying any 'given 244 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. species that the optimum temperature for their development he as- certained, and that this temperature he maintained. In this respect we can distinguish three broafl groups. The first group in- cludes those for which the optimum temperature is from 15-20° C. The second group includes the parasitic forms, viz., those which grow in the living body, and for which the optimum temperature is at blood heat, viz., 37° C. We have a third group, for which the opti- mum temperature lies as high as 50-55° C. On this account this latter group has been termed thermophilic on account of its growth at such abnormally high temperatures — temperatures which are fatal to other forms of life. They have been the subject of per- sonal investigation in conjunction with Dr. Blaxall. We found that there existed- in nature an extensive group of such organisms to which the term thermophilic bacteria was applicable. Their growth and development occurred best at temperatures at which ordinary pro- toplasm becomes inert or dies. The best growths were always ob- tained at 55-65° C. Their wide distribution was of a striking nature. They were found by us in river water and mud, in sewage and also in a sample of sea water. They were present in the digestive tract of man and animals, and in the surface and deep layers of the soil, as well as in straw and in all samples of ensilage examined. Their rapid growth at high temperatures was remarkable, the whole surface of the culture medium being frequently overrun in from fifteen to seventeen hours. The organisms examined by us (fourteen forms in all) belonged to the group of the Bacilli. Some were motile, some curdled milk and some liquefied gelatin in virtue of a proteolytic enzyme. The majority possessed reducing powers upon nitrates and decomposed proteid matter. In some instances cane sugar was inverted and starch was diastased. These facts well illustrate the full vitality of the organisms at these high temperatures, whilst all the organisms isolated grew best at 55-65° C. A good growth in a few cases occurred at 72° C. Evidence of growth was obtained even at 74° C. They exhibited a remarkable and unique range of tempera- ture, extending as far as 30° of the Centigrade scale. As a concluding instance of the activity of these organisms we may cite their action upon cellulose. Cellulose is a substance that is exceedingly difficult to decompose, and is, therefore, used in the laboratory for filtering purposes in the form of Swedish filter paper, on account of its resistance to the action of solvents. We allowed these organisms to act on cellulose at 60° C. The result was that in ten to fourteen days a complete disintegration of the cellulose had taken place, probably in CO2 and marsh gas. The exact conditions that may favor their growth, even if it be slow at subthermophilic tempera- tures, are not yet known — they may possibly be of a chemical nature. PHYSICAL AGENTS AND BACTERIAL LIFE. 245 Organisms may be gradually acclimatized to temperatures that prove unsuited to them under ordinary conditions. Thus the anthrax bacillus, with an optimum temperature for its development of 37° C, may be made to grow at 12° C, and at 42° C. Such anthrax bacilli proved pathogenic for the frog with a temperature of 12° C, and for the pigeon with a temperature of 42° C. Let us, in a very few words, consider the inimical action of tem- perature on bacterial life. An organism placed below its minimum temperature ceases to develop, and if grown above its optimum tem- perature becomes attenuated as regards its virulence, etc., and may eventually die. The boiling point is fatal for non-sporing organ- isms in a few minutes. The exact thermal death-point varies accord- ing to the optimum and maximum temperature for the growth of the organism in question. Thus, for water bacteria with a low optimum temperature, blood heat may be fatal; for pathogenic bacteria developing best at blood heat, a thermophilic temperature may be fatal (60° C); and for thermophilic bacilli any temperature above 75° C. These remarks apply to the bacteria during their multiply- ing and vegetating phase of life. In their resting or spore stage the organisms are much more resistant to heat. Thus the anthrax organism in its bacillary phase is killed in one minute at 70° C; in its spore stage it resists this temperature for hours, and is only killed after some minutes by boiling. In the soil there are spores of bacteria which require boiling for sixteen hours to ensure their death. These are important points to be remembered in sterilization or dis- infection experiments, viz., whether an organism does or does not pro- duce these resistant spores. Most non-sporing forms are killed at 60° C. in a few minutes, but in an air-dry condition a longer time is neces- sary. Dry heat requires a longer time to act than moist heat: it re- quires 140° C. for three hours to kill anthrax spores. Dry heat can- not, therefore, be used for ordinary disinfection on account of its destructive action. Moist heat in the form of steam is the most ef- fectual disinfectant, killing anthrax spores at boiling point in a few minutes, whilst a still quicker action is obtained if saturated steam under pressure be used. No spore, however resistant, remains alive after one minute's exposure to steam at 140° C. The varying thermal death-point of organisms and the problems of sterilization cannot be better illustrated than in the case of milk, which is an admirable soil for the growth of a large number of bacteria. The most obvious ex- ample of this is the souring and curdling of milk that occurs after it has been standing for some time. This change is mainly due to the lactic acid bacteria, which ferment the milk sugar with the production of acidity. Another class of bacteria may curdle the milk without souring 246 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. it in virtue of a rennet-like ferment, whilst a third class precipitate and dissolve the casein of the milk, along with the development of butyric acid. The process whereby milk is submitted to a heat of 65° to 70° C. for twenty minutes is known as pasteurization, and the milk so treated is familiar to us all as pasteurized milk. Whilst the pasteurizing process weeds out the lactic acid bacteria from the milk, a temperature of 100° C. for one hour is necessary to destroy the butyric acid organisms: and even when this has been accomplished there still remain in the milk the spores of organisms which are only killed after a temperature of 100° C. for three to six hours. It will, therefore, be seen that pasteurization produces a partial, not a complete sterilization of the milk as regards its usual bacterial in- habitants. The sterilization to be absolute would require six hours at boiling point. But for all ordinary practical purposes pasteur- ization is an adequate procedure. All practical hygienic require- ments are likewise adequately met by pasteurization, if it is properly carried out, and the milk is subsequently cooled. Milk may carry the infection of diphtheria, cholera, typhoid and scarlet fevers, as well as the tubercle bacillus from a diseased animal to the human subject. For the purpose of rendering the milk innocuous, freez- ing and the addition of preservatives are inadequate methods of procedure. The one efficient and trustworthy agent we possess is heat. Heat and cold are the agents to be jointly employed in the process, viz., a temperature sufficiently high to be fatal to organisms producing a rapid decomposition of milk, as well as to those which produce disease in man; this is to be followed by a rapid cooling to preserve the fresh flavor and to prevent an increase of the bacteria that still remain alive. The pasteurized process fulfils these require- ments. In conjunction with Dr. Hewlett, I had occasion to investigate in how far the best pasteurizing results might be obtained. We found that 60° to 68° C. applied for twenty minutes weeded out about 90 per cent, of the organisms present in the milk, leaving a 10 per cent, residue of resistant forms. It was found advisable to fix the pasteurizing temperature at 68° C, in order to make certain of killing any pathogenic organisms that may happen to be present. We' passed milk in a thin stream through a coil of metal piping, which was heated on its outer surface by water. By regulating the length of the coil, or the size of the tubing, or the rate of flow of the milk, almost any desired temperature could be obtained. The temperature we ultimately fixed at 70° C. The cooling was carried out in similar coils placed in iced water. The thin stream of milk was quickly heated and quickly cooled as it passed through the heated and cooled tubing, and whilst it retained its natural flavor, the apparatus ac- PHYSICAL AGENTS AND BACTERIAL LIFE. 247 complished at 70° C. in thirty seconds a complete pasteurization, in- stead of in twenty minutes, i. e., about 90 per cent, of the bacteria were killed, whilst the diphtheria, typhoid, tubercle and pus organisms were destroyed in the same remarkably short period of time, viz., thirty seconds. This will serve to illustrate how the physical agent of heat may be employed, as well as the sensitiveness of bacteria to heat when it is adequately employed. Bacteria are much more sensitive to high than to low tempera- tures, and it is possible to proceed much further downwards than upwards in the scale of temperature, without impairing their vitality. Some will even multiply at zero, whilst others will remain alive when frozen under ordinary conditions. I will conclude this discourse by briefly referring to experiments recently made with most remarkable results upon the influence of low temperatures on bacterial life. The experiments were conducted at the suggestion of Sir James Crichton-Browne and Professor Dewar. The necessary facilities were most kindly given at the Eoyal Institu- tion, and the experiments were conducted under the personal super- vision of Professor Dewar. The action of liquid air on bacteria was first tested. A typical series of bacteria was employed for this pur- pose, possessing varying degrees of resistance to external agents. The bacteria were first simultaneously exposed to the temperature of liquid air for twenty hours (about — 190° C). In no instance could any impairment of the vitality of the organisms be detected as regards their growth of functional activities. This was strikingly illustrated in the case of the phosphorescent organisms tested. The cells emit light which is apparently produced by a chemical process of intra- cellular oxidation, and the phenomenon ceases with the cessation of their activity. These organisms, therefore, furnished a very happy test of the influence of low temperatures on vital phenomena. These organisms when cooled down in liquid air became non-luminous, but on re-thawing the luminosity returned with unimpaired vigor as the cells renewed their activity. The sudden cessation and rapid re- newal of the luminous properties of the cells, despite the extreme changes of temperature, was remarkable and striking. In further ex- periments the organisms were subjected to the temperature of liquid air for seven days. The results were again nil. On re-thawing the organisms renewed their life processes with unimpaired vigor. We had not yet succeeded in reaching the limits of vitality. Professor Dewar kindly afforded the opportunity of submitting the organisms to the temperature of liquid hydrogen — about — 250° C. The same series of organisms was employed, and again the result was nil. This temperature is only 21° above that of the absolute zero, a temperature at which, on our present theoretical conceptions, molecular movement 248 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. ceases and the entire range of chemical and physical activities with which we are acquainted either cease, or, it may be, assume an entirely new role. This temperature again is iar below that at which any chemical reaction is known to take place. The fact, then, that life can continue to exist under such conditions affords new ground for reflection as to whether after all life is dependent for its continuance on chemical reactions. We, as biologists, therefore follow with the keenest interest Professor Dewar's heroic attempts to reach the absolute zero of temperature; meanwhile, his success has already led us to re- consider many of the main issues of the problem. And by having af- forded us a new realm in which to experiment, Professor Dewar has placed in our hands an agent of investigation from the effective use of which we who are working at the subject at least hope to gain a little further insight into the great mystery of life itself. FLIES AND TYPHOID FEVER. 249 A FLIES AND TYPHOID FEVER. By Dr. L. O. HOWARD, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. FTEE the outbreak of the late war with Spain in the early sum- mer of 1898, typhoid fever soon became prevalent in concen- tration camps in different parts of the country. In many cases — in fact in fully one-half of the total number — the fever was not recognized as typhoid for some time, hut towards the close of the summer it was practically decided that the fever which prevailed was not malarial, hut enteric. During that summer the medical journals and the news- papers contained a number of communications from contract sur- geons au H m 01 z > z c 5 o H C XI m H X O XI r~ > XI 7. m H 0) us 640 , POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. to that of China.' East Africa and South Africa have already shown a marked preference for certain lines of American manufactures, but West Africa is for our exporters a new and more accessible market, the possibilities of which have heretofore attracted but little attention. DISTRIBUTION OF OUR EXPORTS. A glance at the accompanying map of the world, showing the distribution of our exports of manufactures, reveals the significant fact that, as yet, the widest range of consumption of our goods is found in the leading industrial countries, such as Great Britain, Ger- many, France, and their willingness conjoined with their greater ca- pacity to take our products raises the interesting question whether our activity in competing for neutral markets, such as China, Africa, South America, etc., is not, for the present, restrained by the fact that our energies are largely employed in manufacturing for the European demand. The seriousness of our competition in the devel- opment of trade in countries which, as yet, are but imperfectly ex- ploited will begin to be fully felt, it would seem, only when the European demand shall have slackened or we shall have more than met its requirements. In that case, our exporters would undoubt- edly address themselves more systematically and with greater energy to trade regions which our European rivals are now so industriously seeking to control. There is food for thought also in the possible consequences to our European trade of a rivalry on our part which may be so crushing as to greatly impair the purchasing power of those who are now our best customers. If we permanently cripple their chief industries, we deprive them, to a greater or less extent, of the means of buying from us, and the consumption of our food sup- plies and our raw materials, as well as of our finished goods, may be greatly curtailed. The solution of the problem may perhaps be found in the gradual specialization of commerce and industry, ac- cording to the peculiar capacity of each competing nation — the sur- vival, in other words, of the fittest conditions for this or that country — and the gradual subsidence of competition into healthful exchange. THE PLANET EROS. 641 THE PLANET EEOS. By Professor SOLON I. BAILEY, HARVARD COLLEGE OBSERVATORY. EEOS is the name of a small planet discovered in 1898, by Witt, of Berlin. It does not appear to be altogether certain that it really belongs to the group of minor planets, usually known as planetoids or asteroids. With the exception of Eros, all known asteroids move in orbits whose mean distances are greater than that of Mars and less than that of Jupiter. The mean distance from the sun of Mars is 141 million miles, and that of Jupiter is 483 million miles, while the dis- tances of the asteroids vary in round numbers between 200 and 400 million miles. The mean distance of Eros, however, is only 135 million miles, which is less than that of Mars. In spite of this very impor- tant difference, Eros has been placed among the great band of as- teroids, among whom he numbers 433. To belong to the celestial 400 is perhaps more of misfortune than of honor, for the number of this plebeian band has already waxed so great that they have become a care which threatens in the future to balance the benefits which they bring to astronomy. Nevertheless, the history of this numerous fam- ily is sufficiently full of interest, and throws light upon the way in which we should regard them. In 1772, Bode announced the so-called law which bears his name. The law may be stated as follows: If to a series of 4's, beginning at the second, the numbers 3, 6, 12, 24, etc., be added, the resulting numbers divided by 10 will approximately express the distance of the planets from the sun in terms of the distance of our earth taken as unity. The law gave fairly well the distances of all the planets known at that time, except that it called for a planet between Mars and Jupiter, where nothing was then known to exist. When, a few years later, in 1784, Uranus was discovered and was found to conform closely to the law, the impression was deepened that the missing member of the solar system must somehow be supplied or explained, and an association of astronomers was formed to hunt for it. At that time the discovery of a small body, such as one of the asteroids, was no easy matter, and the honor of finding the first did not fall to one of the associates, but to Piazzi, a Sicilian astronomer, who discovered it while making a star catalogue. It was perhaps fitting that a cen- tury which was to be signalized by the discovery of some 450 new but small worlds, where one had been sought, should be properly VOL. LVIII. — il 642 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. opened: Ceres, the first asteroid, was found on the first day of the nineteenth century. Bode's law, therefore, appeared to have found confirmation here, for, though there was no single great planet, as else- where, nevertheless the small army of fragments seemed to point to some abortive attempt of Nature to form a world in the usual order, or else' to an explosion of one already formed. In either case the dis- tance of the 'mean asteroid' might be expected to follow the law, which it was found approximately to do. It seems a pity that the law, having survived so many tests, should go to pieces at last on what was per- haps the final test which remained to be applied. When Neptune was discovered, however, in 1846, it did not conform to the law at all. The following table gives a comparison between the true distances and those which result from Bode's law, the distance of the earth being taken as unity: Planet. Mercury Venus Earth Mars Mean Asteroid. Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Distance. Bode. Difference. Period. 0.39 0.4 —0.01 3 months. 0.72 0.7 +0.02 7.4 " 1.00 1.0 0.00 1.0 years. 1.52 1.6 —0.08 1.9 " 2.65 2.8 —1.15 5.20 5.2 0.00 11 9 years. 9.54 10.0 —0.46 29.5 " 19.18 19 6 —0.42 84.0 " 30.05 38.8 —8.75 164.8 " The discovery of asteroids has been much simplified by the in- crease of star maps, and especially by the advances in celestial pho- tography. One feature, which is incidental to the duration of the photographic exposure, renders the detection of such objects compara- tively easy. When a photographic plate is exposed to the sky in a camera or telescope, if there is no clockwork, so that the instrument remains at rest, the images of the stars are drawn out into lines or trails. Ordinarily, however, the instrument is kept in motion by a driving clock, so that it exactly follows the stars in their apparent daily motion, and the images of the stars result as circular dots on the plate. An asteroid, however, from its nearness has so rapid an apparent motion among the stars that, if an exposure is made of an hour or more, its image is spread out in a line, while the images of stars remain circular. On some of the plates, for example, made with the great Bruce photographic telescope at Arequipa, several hundred thousand stars appear. On one of these plates, which had an ex- posure of four hours, seven asteroid trails were found. If these as- teroids had formed circular images, similar to those of the stars, their detection among the several hundred thousand images on the plate would have been an enormous labor and would have required other THE PLANET EROS. 643 photographs of the same region for comparison. To pick out the trails, however, is the work of an hour. The finding of the images on the photographs is only a small part of the work involved. First, one must know whether the object seen is new or old. This implies tables giving the positions of all known asteroids, the computation of which involves a great amount of labor, and, in most cases, the results in themselves seem to be of small value. With the greater telescopes and more sensitive plates of the future, it seems probable, unless some kind Providence prevents it, that the number will become so great that astronomers will grow weary of the enormous labor involved in making ephemerides of them all. Twenty-two of them are, as Professor Young expresses it, 'endowed/' These were discovered by Professor Watson, who, at his death, left a fund to bear the expense of taking care of them. These favored ones will evidently be followed carefully, how- ever unobserved their less aristocratic sisters go sweeping on in their neglected orbits. It is probable that all the larger asteroids have already been found. Professor Barnard has made many micrometric measurements of the diameters of the largest of these baby worlds, using the great tele- scopes of the Lick and Yerkes observatories. He has recently pub- lished in the 'Monthly Notices' of the Royal Astronomical Society the following results: Asteroid. Diameter. Albedo. 477 miles. 304 120 239 0-67 Pallas 0.88 167 2.77 The albedo, or light-reflecting power, is referred to that of Mars as unity. The values in the third column are derived from the meas- ured diameters and the known brightness of the asteroids. Vesta, though not the largest by the above measures, is the brightest of them all, and is sometimes visible to the naked eye. Probably none, except the four given above, has a diameter as great as 100 miles, and the vast majority perhaps not more than ten or twenty miles. Eros itself, at its nearest approach, will perhaps present a disc of sufficient size to permit measurements in the most powerful instruments. Its diameter is prob- ably not more than twenty-five miles, though no precise determina- tion has yet been made. On such a world the force of superficial grav- ity would be about one three-hundredth of that at the surface of the earth, and a person might almost throw a stone with sufficient velocity to make it fly off into space and become an independent planet. To 644 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. make up a world even one-hundredth as large as the earth would take hundreds of thousands of such worlds. On the night of August 13, 1898, Herr Witt made a photograph of the region near /? Aquarii, with an exposure of two hours. He wished to obtain an observation of a known asteroid which had not been observed for nine years, and which his calculations assigned to that region. When developed and examined on the following day, the plate not only showed the object desired, and also a second known asteroid, but a faint and long trail of some unknown object. From its rapid motion it was at first thought to be a comet, but an exami- nation on the following night with a visual telescope revealed its true nature. As soon as the well-known computer of minor planet orbits, Herr Berberich, had computed its approximate orbit, the as- tonishing nature of the new planet became apparent. Of all the pre- viously known members of the solar system, with the obvious exception of our moon, Venus and Mars approach nearest to the earth. Venus is distant from us at the most favorable times about twenty-five million miles, and Mars thirty-five million miles. Eros, however, approaches the earth at the most favorable oppositions within less than fourteen million miles, so that he is our nearest celestial neighbor. This leads to a solution, under better conditions perhaps than ever before granted, of that fundamental problem in astronomy, the distance of the sun, or, in other words, the determination of the solar parallax. In order to determine the orbit and position of a planet, certain quan- tities must be found, based upon at least three observations of the planet's place in the sky. It is, however, highly desirable to have more than three observations of the planet's position and to have them widely separated in time. The following elements for Eros were computed by Dr. S. C. Chandler, and were based on the observations of 1898, combined with those of the Harvard photographs made in the years 1893, 1894 and 1896: EPOCH 1898, AUGUST 31.5, GREENWICH MEAN TIME. Mean Anomaly 221° 35' 45. "6 Perihelion Distance of Ascending Node 177 37 56. CM Longitude of Ascending Node 303 31 57. 1 > 1898.0 Inclination of Orbit to Ecliptic 10 50 11. 8) Angle whose Sin is the Eccentricity 12 52 9. 8 Mean Daily Motion 2015."2326 Logarithm of Semi-major Axis 0.1637876 Period of Revolution around Sun 643d. 10 Later observations will doubtless slightly modify these results, but they are sufficiently precise for our purpose. These elements were published in December, 1898, and well illustrate the enormous pho- tographic resources which at the present time are in the possession of the Harvard Observatory. Twenty years ago, the present Director, THE PLANET EROS. 645 Prof. Edward C. Pickering, began photographing the heavens, and at the present time there are in the Observatory more than 100,000 photographs of the sky made during those years. Some of these are on a large scale, and are of special objects, but many thousands of them are charts on so small a scale that the entire sky has been pho- tographed many times. On nearly all these plates stars are shown to the tenth magnitude, and in many cases stars as faint as the fifteenth or sixteenth magnitude appear. The early elements of Eros showed that the planet made a close approach to the earth in 1894, and a search was promptly instituted on the Harvard photographs. At first the available observations were insufficient to give the elements with the accuracy which was necessary in order to determine the planet's icr VICT (or so* 30° XO' 10' o lc? -lo° Fig. 1. Path of Eros in 1893 and 1894. The Circular Dots represent the Positions which were determined from the harvard photographs. +"]0 **■ to' *P * { IS?3 itw SO' «)KSA MaJoU .♦ i. \ + © * f\MOR 1 * e / * » / OF.ICN 0 10' ^ _-._■ -_••— — — iK+ -«»—"" " '«K-"W»«*. CAMlSpAJOSV. -10 JM***- Sluvu* H* n4 -fc vr V r f tf" t position in 1894. An error of 1" in the mean daily motion would change the right ascension in 1894 by about half an hour. On this account no image of the planet was found on the photographs first examined. By an examination, however, of plates made in 1896 Mrs. Fleming found several images of Eros, and Mr. Chandler then pro- vided a corrected ephemeris, by means of which the planet was readily found on plates made in 1893 and 1894. Thus several years' history of this remarkable object was at once presented to the astronomical world. While the mean distance of Eros is 135 million miles, its aphelion distance is 166 millions and its perihelion distance 105 millions. Since this planet is sometimes within and sometimes without the orbit of Mars, it might be expected that at favorable times it would approach 646 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. nearer to Mars than to the earth. Owing to the large inclination of the planes of the two planets, and the unfavorable position of the line in which the planes intersect, this is not the case, as was pointed out by Mr. Crommelin. Eros does not approach Mars nearer than twenty million miles, so that the Martians, if such exist, have no ad- vantage in this line of research. At his approach in 1894, the brightness of Eros was computed by Professor Pickering to have been about the seventh magnitude. This places it just beyond the reach of the naked eye, even at the most favorable oppositions. During the recent opposition Eros was thirty million miles distant, and fainter than the ninth magnitude. E. von Oppolzer has recently announced that Eros undergoes, within a few hours, variations in light amounting to a whole magni- V'aldon I'awcett T^^TT'^^TTT'^Sb The Address of the President before the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Sir William Turner 34 The Population of the United States during the Next Ten Centuries. President H. S. Pritchett 49 The Distribution of Taxes. Edward Atkinson 54 Municipal Government Now and a Hundred Years Ago. Clinton Rogers Woodruff 00 China. William Barclay Parsons 69 Rescue Work in History. President David Starr Jordan 81 James Edward Keeler. Professor W. W. Campbell 85 Discussion and Correspondence : Scientific and Literary Historians : Georue P. Garrison. 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EARLY FALL RECORDS 26,000 to October 1st Monsieur Beaucaire DY BOOTH TARKINGTON, author of " The Gentleman from Indiana." " Monsieur ■D Beaucaire was a clever and cool and interesting gentleman, as anybody may see for himself who will be so sensible and so wise as to read the story." — Harper's Weekly . 11'//// decorations by ('. /-.'. I footer, and illustrations in two colors by CD. Williams. Fifth edition. 12 mo, 5 ',5 x 7%. $1.2$. 0 Published September 29th. f 0,000 to October 1st The Circular Study "DY ANNA KATHARINE GREEN, " who." says the Bos/on Transcript, '"has elevated D the detective story to a higher plane than any other contemporary writer." " The Circular Study " is a mystery storv of New York City. The advance orders were so heavy that the second edition was' ordered the day before the first was actually issued. Second edition. Cloth, tjiuo. 51,, x ~'\[. #1.25. First Edition September 29th. Second Edition October 1st The Fugitives JDY MORLEY %OBERTS. A story of love and adventure in the South African War. D The escape from Pretoria, the pen-pictures of President Kruger, Dr. Leyds, and others, the love element which brightens the stem experiences of the hero — all these. and many other parts of this story, make it strong in common interest. Second edition. C/o/h. i2?;io, $H x 7%- #1.00. Romantic Historical Tales American Fights and Fighters T>Y CYRUS TOWNSEND ^RADY. A series of stories based on the first five wars of J-J our country. Mr. P>rady has not attempted to write history. His object is merely to exhibit American valor by selecting a few of the most interesting and romantic episodes of our early life as a nation. With sixteen full-page illustrations by Parley, Cliappell. and others. Cloth, I2V10, 5I3 x 8?jj. #1.50. A Filipino Novel An Eagle Flight "DY wn making arrive at the goal both desire. A blithe, airy humor sets the key \ 'for a style so gracefully simple that only an experienced and intellectual writer could achieve it. The title is taken from Browning's " Pippa Passes." Illustrated by Orson Lowell. With decorative cover, frontispiece, title page in color, and ornamental head and tail pieces. Cloth, 12 mo. $1.50. MeQon. Ffcffifs & <0©., fiWMe Some Recent Successful Fiction | A Mystery Story of New York City & The Circular Study i By ANNA KATHARINE GREEN ROHLFS \ "No matter which way you guess you are pretty sure to guess wrong." — Neiv York Commercial Advertiser. ' " If the test of merit in such writing is the power of sustaining the mystery surrounding the crime, then a better detective story than this was NEVER WRITTEN." — Public Opinion. Third Ed it ion. Cloth, iz mo, $1.25. f Love and Adventure in War . The Fugitives By MO RLE Y ROBERTS I "A decided advance on the 'Colossus.' " — New York Herald. " A book that was written to entertain." — New York Commercial Advertiser. Third Edition. Cloth, \zmo. |i.oo. A Filipino Novel by a Native Filipino An Eagle Flight By DR. JOSE RIZAL "The book is intensely interesting." — Philadelphia American. "A remarkable book. It is an artistic work of fiction." 1 — New York Mail and Express. { Second Edition. Manila boards, iz mo. $1.25. The Day of Wrath By MAURUS JOKAI A powerful novel of Austrian life. The character of the story may be inferred from the title. Cloth, \zrno. $1.25. ^ Tales of War and Sport I The Green Flag [ By A. CO NAN DOYLE \ "Good stories all, and excellently told." — New Yjrk Sun. n Fourth Edition. Cloth, \zmo. §1.50. gQk».. PMifeis & (2®. . N©wY«]k ^ Three Best Books for Children of all Ages A New Kind of Fairy Tale Yankee Enchantments By CHARLES B ATT ELL LOO MIS THESE stories are not only for the young; they will delight older readers as well. They are as delightfully fantastic as anything by Andersen or Grimm, yet both scene and setting are thoroughly Yankee. The illustrator, Miss Cory, has caught the spirit of humor that pervades these tales in a remarkable manner and the result is an altogether pleasing volume. With 39 illustrations by F. Y. Cory. Cloth, 12 mo, 51^x7^. $1.25. Irish Folk and Fairy 'Tales Donegal Fairy Stories By SEUMAS MacMANUS TALES of enchanted kings and peasants of North Ireland in the early days, told to Mr. MacManus by an old tailor who claimed to have" seen the fairies and heard their stories. Mr. MacManus has presented the tales *> with so much literary skill that thev will charm all who appreciate a happy combination of folk-lore and literature. With 40 illustrations by Gustave Verbeek. Cloth, \zmo, 51^x7^3. $1.00. " A very funny book." — Boston Transcript. The Jumping Kangaroo and The Apple Butter Cat By JOHN IF. HARRINGTON A BOOK of animal stories for children, original in idea and fanciful in execution. They cover a variety of topics and yet all deal with a group of domestic and field animals that are supposed to live together and have all sorts of exciting adventures. The lively humor of the drawings add greatly to the volume. With 48 illustrations and cover design in two colors by J, M. Conde. Cloth, Svo, 7 x gy$. 1. 00. 6 C!«i, FUllm & (So., M©w A BEAUTIFUL CHRISTMAS GIFT BOOK Monsieur Beaucaire By BOOTH TJRKINGTON Author of " The Gentleman from Indiana.'''' "One of the prettiest and best books of the year. ' ' Boston Herald. " The grace and beauty of it will linger many adav. " Sunday School Times. J* "The book in its outward and vis- ible form is uncom- monly harmonious with its inward grace." Book Kerns. "One of the most charming and delicate bits of fiction which have appeared for a long time. " The Bookman. "It is invigorating: to read such fresh and buoyant writing.'5 Neiv York Times Saturday Review With decorations by C. E. Hooper, and illustrations in two colors by C. D. Williams. Sixth E Jit ion. \zmo. 5^ x 7^. $1.25. cO®r». Pfelfes d& (So., JfWMc China and the East An American Engineer in China By II "ILLIAM BARCLAY PARSONS An Intimate Storx of the China of To-day. A few months ago Mr. Parsons led a party of engineers into the interior of China in order to locate a route for an American railway in that country. He accomplished more than discovery; he secured an exact knowledge of the country, its people, resources and future possibilities, and he passed through some of the most remarkable experiences that ever fell to the lot of a traveller. The story he has written is a graphic account of his investigations in the country. Cloth, Illustrated, \zmo. $1.50. The Awakening of the East By PIERRE LEROT-BEAULIEU "The most talked-of volume in Continental Europe to- day."—"&. Y. Times. 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Illustrated by 1 6 full-page drawings by Darley, Chappel and others. Cloth, izmo. $1.5.0. A Valuable Historical Document Abraham Lincoln: His Book The only book which Abraham Lincoln ever prepared was a small note- book containing printed extracts from his own speeches on the subject of negro 1 equality. These extracts were annotated in his own hand. It is now repro- duced in facsimile, together with a long letter on the subject. Leathery \6mo. $1.00. *Two Important Biographies By MISS IDA M. TARBELL The Life of Abraham Lincoln "We here have Abraham Lincoln the Man described and not Abraham Lincoln the President. A perusal of the volume leaves a very satisfied feeling. ^ It makes our hearts warm more than ever toward that homely figure and the homely speech. The man Lincoln seems to loom up more prominently than( ever from the midst of his contemporaries as the great central figure of his gener- ation. We see him freed from many of the mists which seemed to surround his earlv life. 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Mr. Flynt writes: "So far as I am concerned, the book is the result of ten years of wandering with tramps and two years spent with various police organizations. ' ' Cloth, \zmo, ^yi x 7^. $1.25. , Metropolitan Life ; Syria in New York 1 The Soul of the Street By NORMAN DUNCAN "The Soul of the Street" deals with Syrians and Turks in New York. ( Character, humor, poignant pathos, and the sad grotesque conjunctions of old and new civilizations are expressed through the medium of a style that has distinction. \zmo, 51^ x 7^. $1.00. Tales From McClroe's I. ROMANCE II. HUMOR III. THE WEST IV, ADVENTURE V. WAR Each volume, i6mo, 4x6, about 200 pp. Cloth, 25 cents per volume; $1.25 per set, in wooden box. Full flexible leather, gilt top, 50 cents per volume; $2.50 per set, in wooden box. Patriotic and Heroic Verse Songs of Action By A. CO NAN DOYLE " Mr. Doyle has a faultless lyric gift, and comprehension of the dramatic as well as the lyric possibilities of a song, perhaps even to the point ot rivalry with the dashing and beloved 'Barrack-Room Ballads.' " — Chicago Interior. Silk Basket Cloth, izmo, 5x7. $1.25. 1 A Novel of Irish Life The Ba**ys \ By SHAN F. BULLOCK "Shan Bullock gives us in 'The Barrys' the fresh, vivid picture of Irish ^country life which we are accustomed to associate with his name. The con-1 l vincing Hibernianism of the author never relaxes." — The Nation. \ Cloth, \zmo, 5 x 7^4. #1.25. Books to be Used f The Trust Problem j By J- W. JENKS, Ph.D. « Professor of Political Science, Cornell University; Expert Agent United States Industrial Commission ( "The Trust Problem" answers almost every question on the subject. It "jj f ' ~10 4§ 7) GKANDMOTHEK lil'.NXY. $1.50 HEROES OF OUR REVOLUTION By T. W. the HALL successful "Heroes of Our A companion volume tc War with Spain." This book takes the most striking incidents and historical characters of the Revolution and describes them in an in- teresting and spirited -way, so that the young reader will gel at the same time good history and good stories. 12mo, cloth, with eight full-page illustrations . $1.25 BOOKS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN By MAUD HUMPHREY Children of the Revolution. Consisting of twelve facsimiles of water-color designs of little boys and girls represented as acting out the famous scenes of the Revolution in the costumes of that time. There are such familiar scenes portrayed as " George Washington Crossing the Delaware," "Paul Pevere's Ride," etc. The effect of the quaint costumes is most charming. With appropriate text for each picture, and with numerous designs in black-and-white by Miss Mabel Humphrey. 4to, boards, with covers in colors .... $2.00 Little < ontinentals. Little Folks of -,<>. and These volumes contain just one-half the illustrations text of the first volume. 4to, boards, with covers in colors, each . . $1.25 YE WISDOM OF CONFUCIUS, OR YE MUMMYFIED FYNGER By ORD GILHOOLEY (Frederic H. Seymour This concerns the strange relation of a visit, \. d. L604, of liril of Yen 1 lui. a disciple of Confucius, to Sir Patrick Gilhooley, to whom he explained the precepts and maxims master. This is now made public by the descendants of Sir Patrick, who found the manuscript in the Gilhoolej archives. Printed from old-fashioned type on antique paper. ■ , \ s in, hrs. Scarlet cloth and gilt . . $1.00 For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid. An illuitrat.'d catalogue sent f 'ret ti any address. On receipt of 10 cents an illustrated catalogu • and a ( '.'iristm is number of the Packet Magazine sent to any address. FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY, 5 and 7 E. 16th St., New York G00PS, AND HOW TO BE THEM By GELETT BURGESS A Manual cf Manners for Polite Infants. An attempt to supply catchy and easily learned rhymes for children that shall at the same time impress on theit minds some of the primary rules of good maimers. Like Confucius, the children are here taught to learn politeness from the impolite. The pictures are so simply drawn that they can be easily , opted by children. With one hundred illustrations, and fifty or more maxims. 4to, cloth $1.50 LITTLE BLACK SAMBO By HELEN BANNERMAN Profusely illustrated in colors by the author, is a story of little Black Sambo, who lived in Thi: anil had a series of amusing adventures 32mo, boards . India. 1th ambitious tigers. 50 cents FREDERICK A. STOKES CO/S Most Successful Novels of 1900 BARR, ROBERT. IN THE MIDST OF ALARMS. New Illustrated (Ninth) Edition 316 pages, gilt top $1.50 BENTON, KATE A. GEBER. Third Edition. 4cS- pages $1.50 BESANT, SIR WALTER. THE FOURTH GENERATION. Third Edition. 357 pages, gilt top $1.50 CASTLE, ECERTON. CONSEQUENCES. Third Edition. 417 pages, gilt top $1.50 THE LIGHT OF SCARTHEY. Sixth Edition. 434 pages, . . . $1.50 CASTLE, ACNES and ECERTON THE BATH COMEDY. Third Edition. 314 pages, gilt top . . $1.50 CRANE, STEPHEN. WOUNDS IN THE RAIN. Fourth Edition. 347 pages, .t^ilt top, . $1.50 HICHENS, ROBERT S. TONGUES OF CONSCIENCE. Second Edition. 368 pages, . . $1.50 HOBBES, JOHN OLIVER. ROBERT ORANGE. Fifth Edition. 341 pages, gilt top. . . . $1.50 HOPE, ANTHONY. QUISANTE. Fourth Edition. 376 pages, gilt top, ... . . $1.50 LEWIS, ALFRED HENRY. SANDBURRS. Second Edition. 318 pages $1.50 PHILLPOTTS, EDEN. LYING PROPHETS. Fourth Edition. 496 pages, $1.50 WALKEY, S. FOR THE SAKE OF THE DUCHESSE. Third Edition. 247 pages $1.25 WELLS, H. C. LOVE AND Mr. LEWISHAM. Third Edition. 323 pages . . . $1.50 Each of these books is 4:ii x 7lii inches in size and is bound in cloth. FOR SALE BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. OR SENT POSTPAID An Illustrated Catalogue of Holiday, Juvenile and Miscellaneous Books and of Calendars sent free to any address. On receipt of 10 cents this Catalogue and a Christmas Number of the POCKET MAGA- ZINE will be sent to any address. Frederick A. Stokes Company, 5 and 7 East uahst. New York Those who have read the excellent articles on China by William Barclay Parsons, which have appeared in the last two issues of the Popular Science Monthly, will appreciate the book, about to be issued, under the title of "An American Engineer in China," from which the articles were taken. It is a volume that has authority. It instructs without seeming to do so. Mr. Parsons is well known as an engineer and it was because of his high rank in his pro- fession that he was selected to head the party of American engineers who were to open up the interior of China to American trade. The book grew out of his experiences in that land of paradoxes. His party made their way into and through parts of China practically unknown to white men. He accomplished more than discovery : he secured an exact knowledge of the country, its people and its availability for American enterprise-. Many photographs illumine the text of the work. It is published at $ J, 50 by McClure, Phillips & Co., New York. THE NATIONAL MAGAZINE, Edited by Joe Mitchell Chappie, your f>0c. reaches us on or before January 1,1901. Think what this means! It places the cleverest, brightest anil most up-to-date maprazinein your hands everv month for a vear for Half the Regular Price — much less than it costs t<> publish it The "NATIONAL" is thoroughly American, now in its 12th vol- ume, full of j ust the reading you want from cover to cover. TIMELY TOPICS. WASHINGTON AFFAIRS, BRIGHT STORIES, (LEVER ILLUSTRATIONS. Over 100 paces each month. President MeKinley has subscribed for and read the "NATIONAL"' for years. Send your 50c. to-day— while you think of it. 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Address The HEALTH-CULTURE CO., 503 Dept., Fifth Avenue, New York. ion this Advertisement we will send you free a copy of Heai.th-Olture, the best published. Ten cents a number.^One Dollar a year. "A Weekly Feast to Nourish Hungry Minds." — N. Y. Evangelist. FOUNDED BY E. LITTELL IN 1844. THE LIVING AGE A Weekly Magazine of Contemporary T^iteratxire and thoiight. A Necessity To Every Reader of Intelligence and Literary Taste "THE SIEGE Of THE LEGATIONS" The Living Age will begin in its issue for November 17, and will continue for several successive numbers, a thrilling account of "The Siege of the Legations," written by Dr. Morrison, the well-known correspondent of The London Times at Peking. This narrative is of absorbing interest in its descriptions of the daily life of the besieged legationers, and it is noteworthy also as containing some disclosures relating to the inside history of what went on at Peking in those stirring days, which are altogether new and of the utmost importance. The unusual length of Dr. Morrison's narrative has precluded and probably will preclude any other publication of it on this side of the Atlantic In England it has attracted wide notice. " The London Spectator" remarks concerning Dr. Morrison's narrative of the siege : The Times has at last received and published a full narrative from its correspondent, Dr. Morrison, of all that preceded and accompanied the siege of the Legations. Gibbon could not have told the story better " Jt is obviously impartial, full of detail, yet clear and consistent, and it has been accepted throughout the Continent as the history of that strange episode in the relations of Europe with Asia. Each Weekly Number Contains Sixty = Four Payes In which are given, without abridgment, the most interesting and important contributions to the periodicals of Great Britain and the Continent, from the weighty articles in the quarterlies to the light literary and social essays of the weekly literary and political journals. Science, politics, biography, discovery, art, travel, public affairs, literary criticism and all other departments of knowledge and discussion which interest intelligent readers are represented ia its pages. Each Number Contains A short story and an instalment of a serial story; and translations of striking articles from French, German, Italian and Spanish periodicals are made expressly for the magazine by its own staff of translators. THE LIVING AGE has ministered for over fifty=six years to the wants of a large class of alert and cultivated readers, and is today perhaps even more valuable than ever to those Mho wish to keep abreast of current thought and discussion. PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT $6,00 A YEAR, POSTPAID, SINGLE NUMBERS, 15 CENTS EACH. FREE FOR THREE MONTHS. L tij V di ■ tion is exhausted there will be sent to each new subscriber for 1901, on request, the numbers of THE LIVING AGE from October 1st to December 31st, 1900. These numbers will contain The Sieye of the Legations, as above, Heinrich vSeid- el's attractive serial, The Treasure, and the opening chapters of A Parisian Household by Paul Bourget. These serials are copyriyhted by THE LIVI/NG AGE and will appear only in this mayazine. Address THE LIVING AGE CO., P.O. Box 5l>06, Boston. I.~l *—>!.*-»■ f^i 1^1^^ .M^V^^M^ I I^S^^M^^^^*^^^^*^, MECHANICAL MASSAGE... Dr. FOREST'S MASSAGE ROLLER can be used for Self and Home Treat- ment for all func- tional troubles^ as Indigestion, Con- stipation, Torpid- ity of the Liver, Nervous Exhaus- tion, Rheumatism and Soreness of the Joints, Obesity, In- somnia, and all troubles that massage can help. 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The work of the younger illustrators, manv of whom have first made their appearance in McClure's — Henrv Hutt, Walter Glackens, Charles L. Hinton, Arthur Heming, F. Y. Cory, Ellen Bernard Thompson, Bertha Corson Dav, Frederic Gruger, Harrison Fisher, R. M. Reay, Will Grefe, C. D. Williams— will be a feature of the Magazine for the coming vear. As in writers, so in artists, we are always on the lookout for the new note. ■5"/ •< " illustration drawn by Albert Sterner, One Dollar a Year, Ten Cents a Copy. S. S. McCLURE CO., 141-155 East 25th St., New York ?£*¥¥¥¥¥¥*¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥•$ | SOME BOOKS SELECTED * * * FROM THE LISTS OF * | McClure, Phillips & Co. | January, igoi » * * * i Two Important Biographies by MISS IDA M. TAR BELL | The Life of Abraham Lincoln J "We here have Abraham Lincoln the Man described and not Abraham * Lincoln the President. A perusal of the volume leaves a very satisfied feeling. » It makes our hearts warm more than ever toward that homelv figure and the * homelv speech. The man Lincoln seems to loom up more prominently than y ever from the midst of his contemporaries as the great central figure of his gener- \ ation. We see him freed from many of the mists which seemed to surround his * early life. We note with pleasure the explanation of many points in his life which ^ before were not satisfactorily understood." — The New York Times. I J2 full-page illustrations. Tzva volumes. Cloth, Sz'o. $5.00. ♦ The Life of Napoleon y % WITH A SKETCH OF JOSEPHINE * To her " Short Life of Napoleon," Miss Tarbell now joins a sketch » of Josephine. The new light which has been thrown on Josephine's £ character and career by the recent publication of numerous memoirs, * has not been overlooked in preparing this life. It aims to present » Josephine frankly yet sympathetically. The elaborate illustrations which J distinguished the former edition of the Life of Napoleon will be preserved * in the present edition. » " I desire to congratulate you," writes John C. Ropes, "on having furnished * the public with such a complete and impartial, as well as interesting and attractive, ^ Life of Napoleon. The pictures are also most interesting; iew of them have * * ever before been put within reach of the general reader, at least not in such a fine * setting." #/V/,/v UlU5trated. Cloth, \zmo. $2.00. X AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA w I Two Important Contributions to Modern Fiction * J //i /tfs 36th Thousand I Monsieur Beaucaire { 5y BOOTH TJRKINGTON * J " Monsieur Beaucaire " is a historical romance — historical only so far * . .... * as its setting agrees absolutely with the custom and spirit of its time. It * is a cavalier tale of Bath in the days when Lady Mary Carlisle was the * most beautiful woman in England. ^ " Monsieur Beaucaire was a clever and cool and interesting gentleman as J everybody may see who will be so sensible and so wise as to read the story." » — Harper's Weekly. ^ " Love making, brilliant sword play, witty and unforced dialogue and a series * of climaxes that are admirably dramatic." — New York Sun. V "It is invigorating to read such fresh and buoyant writing." ^ — New York Tunes Saturday Review. I f> Illustrated in colors. Sixth Edition. Cloth, 12 mo. $1.25. * Fourth Edition I The Darlingtons I By ELMORE ELLIOTT PEAKE * ^ From its close relationship to the life and destiny of the people of £ every day affairs, " The Darlingtons " has a kind of interest that is f lacking in other fiction. It is typically American — representing the life J of American industry and American enterprise. There is in it, too, the t lightening touch of a well-defined love element. » "A remarkable piece of work." — New York Telegram. j, "Will repay the busiest reader for the time necessary for its perusal." * — Philadelphia North American. * "Mr. Peake has brought out a very characteristic American type which has j, never before had adequate treatment. . . . The Darlingtons might stand for * thousands of flourishing families which represent the newer aristocracy of small %. towns in all parts of the country." — Springfield Republican. w ♦ Cloth , 12/770. ^I.JO. ft » Four Important Timely Volumes ft * The Great Boer War I By A. CON AN DOYLE * * " One of the most important, because one of the most candid and straight- ^ forward comments on the great Boer war." — Army and Navy Register. ft "To the strict impartiality of the historian he adds the warmth of a novelist's j> imagination, and the result is a book which will be read with the keenest pleasure * for long days to come." — London Daily Telegraph. ft Cloth, \zmo. $1.50. ft { An American Engineer in China * Bv WILLIAM BARCLAY PARSONS ft » A few months ago Mr. Parsons led a party of engineers into the ft ft ft * knowledge of the country, its people, resources and future possibilities, » and he passed through some of the most remarkable experiences that ever ft * ft ft ft » ft ft d ft ft ft h Under the divisions Siberia, China and Japan, the author has traced £ the development of Asia from their golden age of long ago down to the modern present. He treats comprehensively the evolution of Japan, the > astonishing development of Russia in Siberia, and the changes in China. fr " Altogether," says the Nation, " this is a very timely and very able book » by an author who gathers without prejudice his facts at first hand." ft With an Introduction by Henry Norman. Cloth, \zmo. $1.50. ft * . The Philippines: The War and the People ft Bv ALBERT G. ROBINSON ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft ft interior of China in order to locate a route for an American railway in that country. He accomplished more than discovery; he secured an exact fell to the lot of a traveller. Illustrated. Cloth, \zmo. $1.50. The Awakening of the East Bv PIERRE LEROY-BEAULIEU 1 The author spent several months among the people of the Philip- ^ pines studying their conditions and manner of life. He visited many ^ parts of the islands and has described in vigorous and vivid language the ^ scenes in our new possessions and the character of the people living there. ^ ♦ Cloth, izmo. 51.50. 1 ft 1 /Vew Stories of Absorbing Interest ♦ 77i/rfe Archbishop and the Lady % Bv MRS. SCHUYLER CROJVNINSHIELD t If I am any judge, Mrs. Crowninshield's novel is going to make something -Jeannette L. Gilder, Editor of the Critic. A book to be read rapidly because of the constant interest, and slowly to Cloth, izmo. $1.50. ApriV 5 Sowing Illustrated. Cloth, izmo. $1.50. The Powers that Prey 11 By NORMAN DUNCAN 4 * like a sensation. It has a most remarkable plot. There is a ' go ' in the book." ♦ « make the pleasure last." — New York Commercial Advertiser, 4 * * * By GERTRUDE HALL * There is not a problem here as large as a man's hand save the ever- * lasting problem of how a maid and a man shall, through many difficulties * of their own making, arrive at the goal they both desire. * tcA dainty little love story in a very dainty form. The heroine will make ♦ willing slaves of her readers." — Baltimore Herald. ^ * Stories of Criminals and Police ♦' * * By JOSIAH FLTNT and FRANCIS WALTON \ * * A book of unusual interest . . . first hand studies, in short story form, of the criminal regarded, not as a case, but as a man ... a book before the intense actuality of which mere literary work seems somewhat insig- 4 niticant." — New York Evening Post. * Cloth, izmo. $1.25. 4 * Stories of the Turkish and Syrian Quarters J The Soul of the Street t Mr. Duncan not only knows his Svrian quarter, he knows it with a * poet's insight. The pathos and bitter humor of this ragged patch of * Orientalism penetrate him, and he sets forth its obscure experiences with * a poignant delicacy of feeling that is well interpreted by the distinction ot * his Style. Cover in colors. izmo. $i.z$. * /aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaTx ZCm*+***+***¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥*} I Illustrated Books for the Younger People » Second Edition \ American Fights and Fighters i By CTRUS TOWN SEND BRADY "Likely to find thousands of American boys eager to read it and which when > read will make them proud of the race to which they belong. J — Neiu York Mail and Express. > "They arouse the reader to the highest pitch of admiration. . . . We \ do not know of any historical storv book which would be likely to prove a more * valuable gift for a young man than this." — New York Times Saturday Review. % Illustrated. Cloth, \zmo. $1.50. » J New England Fairy Tales I Yankee Enchantments I By CHARLES BATTELL LOOMIS * "One of the best, if not the best, of the books for boys that have recently * come to our notice." — The Churchman. \ "The adult reader whose first impulse is to throw the book aside with a > pooh-pooh of disdain, may anon find himself led on till he feels his lips first pucker » and then break into broad smiles." — The Outlook. t 39 illustrations by Farms Y. Cory. Cloth, izmo. $1.25. » * » "A very funny book."— Boston Transcript I The Jumping Kangaroo J By JOHN W. HARRINGTON » "A dainty and amusing volume of animal stories, pleasing to young and old, » and just the thing for a pretty Christmas gift." — New York Commercial Advertiser. * "Author and artist have thrown a whole world of delight into their work, and * the book is a rollicking bit of play which every child and many an adult will * thoroughly enjoy." — The Interior. » 48 illustrations by J. M. Condi. Svo. $1.00. p ? Irish Folk Lore I Donegal Fairy Stories I By SEUMAS MACMANUS A series of tales to make glad the heart of childhood. They tell ot en- * chanted kings and peasants who lived in Ireland at the dawn of civilization. "They are fine tales and very prettily illustrated." — The Interior. » "Limitless in imagination ... a delight to any child and a wonder to J grown-ups." — Cleveland World. > 40 illustrations by Gustave Verbeek. Cloth, \zmo. $1.25. X- A AAA A AAA*** A**** A A A* AAA* AAA A* ******** A******* A A A A A A-* A* A Book on Parliamentary Law The Gave/ and the Mace By HON. FRANK W. HACKETT Assistant Secretary of the Navy " The first book on the subject we have ever read with pleasure." — Neiv York Mail and Express. " Mr. Hacketrs book not only bubbles over with humor, but it has more than humor; it is pervaded with good sense and a good spirit, and it contains an excellent compendium of parliamentary law." — John D. Long, Secretary of the Navy. Cloth, \zmo. $1.25. "For intellectual enjoyment and serious reflection." — Boston Globe. The Doctrines of Grace By REV. DR. JOHN WATSON 14 Dr. Watson has something to say on the several phases of religion, and he says it with the simple, direct, forcible and rich style of which he long ago proved himself a master." — Baltimore Herald. Cloth, 12 mo. $1.50. New Light on Ancient Story What We Know About Genesis By DR. ELWOOD WORCESTER Rector of St. Stephen's Church, Philadelphia Recent discoveries in Babylonia have increased our knowledge of a period which is of great historical interest, and Dr. Worcester has given thorough and reverent treatment to this and other developments of modern times. The work is illustrated by photographs which throw more light on the subject. Illustrated. Cloth, izmo. $2.00. A Narrative of Prison Life A Captive of War By SOLON HYDE The author knew danger and hardship, adventure and comradeship in five Southern prisons, and he has presented his story in a very graphic manner. Cloth, \2n10. $1.00. Henry V * I THE RICHARD MANSFIELD ACTING VERSION > Which version was fur the first time presented by Mr. Richard Mansfield * and his company of players on the stage of the Garden Theatre ^ New York, * October 25, ipoo. With notes throughout by Mr. Mansfield, and special > heraldic notes and devices. Two photogravure illustrations. fk French folded cover, izmo. qo cents, net. h t J Some Recent Books of Fiction I The Circular Study I By ANNA KATHARINE GREEN ^ " If the test of merit in such writing is the power of sustaining the mystery * surrounding the crime, then a better detective story than this ivas never written" J Tenth Thousand. Cloth, 12 mo. $1.25. —Public Opinion. » h h h "A storv of unusual pathos and power." — Neiu York Times Saturday Review J "It is a book that every American ought to read." — Springfield Republican. * Manila boards, 12 mo. $1.25. » I By MORLET ROBERTS i» "Written to entertain. It is amusing and exciting in turn. Mr. Roberts J Second Edition. Cloth, 12 mo. $1.00. * An Eagle Flight: A Filipino Novel By JOSE RIZAT The Fugitives & — ~<~~ £, has drawn some excellent types." — New York Commercial Advertiser. I The Day of Wrath I By MAURUS J0KA1 " Hungarian life has a flavor so entirely its own, so utterly unlike anything t the rest of the world has known, that it cannot fail to interest even the most * prosaic." -The Bookman. c/o(h> I2 mo. $1.25. I McClure, Phillips & Co., Publishers, N. Y. X AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA&AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ,j "A Weekly Feast to Nourish Hungry Minds."— N. Y. Evangelist. FOUNDED BY E. LITTELL IN 1844. THE LIVING AGE A Weekly Magazine of Contemporary literature and Thought. A NeCCSSitV To Every Reader of Intelligence and Literary Taste «« »» THE SIEGE OF THE LEGATIONS The Living Age will begin in its issue for November 17, and will continue for several successive numbers, a thrilling account of "The Siege of the Legations," written by Dr. Morrison, the well-known correspondent of The London Times at Peking. This narrative is of absorbing interest in its descriptions of the daily life of the besieged legationers, and it is noteworthy also as containing some disclosures relating to the inside history of what went on at Peking in those stirring days, which are altogether new and of the utmost importance. The unusual length of Dr. Morrison's narrative has precluded and probably will preclude any other publication of it on this side of the Atlantic notice. In England it has attracted wide " The London Spectator" remarks concerning Dr. Morrison's narrative of the siege : The Times has at la*t received and published a full narrative from its correspondent, Dr. Morrison, of all that preceded and accompanied the siege of the Legations. Gibbon could not have told the story better. It is obviously impartial, full of detail, yet clear and consistent, and it has been accepted throughout the Continent as the history of that strange episode in the relations of Europe with Asia. Each Weekly Number Contains Sixty =Four Payes In which are given, without abridgment, the most interesting and important contributions to the periodicals of Great Britain and the Continent, from the weighty articles in the quarterlies to the light literary and social e?says of the weekly literary and political journals. Science, politics, biography, discovery, art, travel, public affairs, literary criticism and all other departments of knowledge and discussion which interest intelligent readers are represented in its pages. Each Number Contains A short story and an instalment of a serial story; ami translations of striking articles from French, German, Italian and Spanish periodicals are made expressly fur the magazine by its own staff of translators. THE LIVING AGE has ministered for over fifty=six years t>> the wants of a large class of alert and cultivated readers, and is today perhaps even more valuable than ever to those who wish to keep abreast of current thought ami discussion. PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT $6.00 A YEAR, POSTPAID. SIN6LE NUMBERS, 15 CENTS EACH. FREE FOR THREE MONTHS. f. u,il 'he «"- tion is exhausted there will be sent to each new subscriber for 1901, on request, the numbers of THE LIVING AGE from October 1st to December 31st, 1900. These numbers will contain The Siege of the Leyations, as above, Heinrich Seid- ell attractive serial, The Treasure, and the opening chapters of A Parisian ( Household by Paul Bourget. These serials are copyriyhted by THE ( LIVI/NG AGE and will appear only in this mayazine. Address THE LIVING AGE CO., P.O. Box 5206, Boston. L ON A PACKAGE IS A ' GUARANTEE or PURITY and DELICIQUSNESSof FLAVOR The World's Leading Review" We Te&ch wherever the mails reach •♦♦♦♦♦•♦♦♦♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ 4 •a. ♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦►♦♦♦♦ What The International Correspondence Schools, Scrauton, Pa., are doing : First — Teaching mechanics the tueory of th«'ir work. Second— Helping misplaced peo- ple to change their work. Third— Kiiahlinjj young people to support themselves while learning professions. 2511,000 Btndents and graduates iu Me- chanical* Electrical, Steam, Civil and >ii ii ■ ii— Engineerings Architec- ture, etc. When writing .state subject in which interested. International Correspondence Schools, Established 1801. Capital $ I,. '.(Ml, 000. Box 1163, Scranton, Pa. THE ARENA A 20th Century Magazine of Vital Thought HniTORs CHARLES BRODIE PATTERSON B. O. FLOWER JOHN EMERY McLEAN SINCE September, 1899, The Arena, has been published in New York, and under its new ownership and editorial man- agement has begun a new era of its history, better equipped than ever to present to inquiring minds the ripest thought on all sides of the vital questions of the day. As an influential, thought-building force in the Reform Movement of this intellectual age — Social, Political, Economic, Ethical, Relig- ious— The Arena's contributions are derived only from authoritative sources. Among its special features are " Topics of the Times,'* "Books of the Day," and "Conversations" with distinguished personages, accompanied with portraits and biographical sketches. 112 pages monthly, large magazine size $2.50 a year; 25 cents a copy The Alliance Pub. Co., "Life" Bldg., New York, N. Y. McCLURE'S MAGAZINE Bound Volume XV MAY— OCTOBER, 1900 Now Ready for Delivery In Dark Green Linen and Gold, Postpaid, $1.25 In Blue Buckram and Gold, Postpaid, $1.50 Indexes furnished to those who wish to do their own binding. S. S. McCLURE COMPANY 141 East 25th Sheet - NEW YORK BOUND VOLUMES OP THE Popular Science Monthly From Vols. I to 55 inclusive GREEN CLOTH, $3.50 Volumes 56, 57 and 58 GREEN CLOTH, $2.50 McClure, Phillips & Co. Hi East 25th Street - NEW YORK THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY Established in 1872 by Messrs. D. Appleton and Company, and Dr. E. L. Youmans The Populae Science Monthly is published by Messrs. McClure, Phillips and Co., New York, and edited by Prof. J. McKeen Cattell, of Columbia University, with the assistance of Dr. E. L. Thorndike, also of Columbia University. The fifty-six volumes of the journal already published have per- formed an important service for the advancement and diffusion of knowledge. Its issues have each month carried to all parts of the country reliable information in regard to the advances of science, widen- ing and deepening everywhere an intelligent interest in scientific sub- jects. The journal represented the doctrine of evolution before its tenets were generally accepted; it has done much to diffuse knowledge of physical science and of the applications of science; it has been a factor in the development which has reformed our entire educational system from the kindergarten to the university; its contributors have included many of the world's greatest men of science. The Populae Science Monthly aims to represent fully and ac- curately the advance of science; to permit the leading men of science to bring their work before the largest public; to set a standard to the popular press in its treatment of scientific topics; and to secure the general interest in science that is needed for its adequate recognition and support. 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Beg to Announce the Publication of An American Engineer in China By WILLIAM BARCLA Y PARSONS Those who have read the excellent articles on China by William Barclay Parsons, which have appeared in the last two issues of the Popular Science Monthly, will appreciate the book, just now issued, under the title of "An American Engineer in China," from which the articles were taken. It is a volume that has authority. It instructs without seeming to do so. Mr. Parsons is well known as an engineer and it was because of his high rank in his pro- fession that he was selected to head the party of American engineers who were to open up the interior of China to American trade. The book grew out of his experiences in that land of paradoxes. His party made their way into and through parts of China practically unknown to white men. He accomplished more than discovery : he secured an exact knowledge of the country, its people and its availability for American enterprise. Many photographs illumine the text of the work. Illustrated. Cloth, l2mo, $f.j>0 Uhe Philippines: ^VR^i?* BEING A RECORD OF PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS AND EXPERIENCES. By ALBERT G. ROBINSON The author spent several months among the people of the Philippines study- ing their conditions and manner of life. He visited many parts of the islands and has described in vigorous and vivid language the scenes in our new possessions and the character of the people living there. Cloth, l2mo, $1.50 HcClure, Phillips & Co., Publishers ■4i-i55 East 35th Street, ... New York Vol. LVIII. No. 4 FEBRUARY, 1901. THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. EDITED BYU. McKEEJV CATTELL. CONTENTS: Huxley's Life and Work. Lord Avebuey 337 Malaria. Subgeon-General Geo. M. Sternberg 360 A Study of British Genius. Havelock Ellis 372 The Weather vs. The Newspapers. Harvey Maitland Watts 381 The Philippines Two Hundred Tears Ago. Professor E. E. Slosson 393 Prehistoric Tombs of Eastern Algeria. Professor Alpheus S. 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HUXLEY HERBERT SPENCER HENRY MAUDSLEY R. A. PROCTOR ANDREW D. WHITE HENRY WARD BEECHER JOHN FISKE CHARLES KIN^SLEY CHARLES W. ELIOT ALFRED RUSSl \L WALLACE FRANCIS GALTON JOSEPH LE COI VE ERNEST HAECKEL Some of the earlier volumes of THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY are out of print. Old subscribers who have files of these missing volumes, in good condition, can have them bound in the green cloth of the series by sending the copies to us, charges prepaid, to be promptly returned to the sender. The charge in such cases will be $1.00 per volume. To such persons as prefer to employ the services of their own binder, binding cases {green cloth, gold lettering) will be supplied at 50 cents each. 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The original is a little scrap-book made up 01 clippings from newspaper reports of his speeches and e planatory mattei in his own hand, with the purpose in view of giving to a e nstituent who hac asked Lincoln for a statement ot his attitude on the ques^:jn of the legality 01 slave-holding, a concise summary of his views and the position he had taken. Il has the same value for us now and remains for everyone an important documenl in connection with the early political career of the great President. Leather, i6mo. $l.OO. napoleon and josephine The Life of Napoleon With a Sketch of JOSEPHINE TO her ,w Short Life of Napoleon," Miss Tarbell now joins a sketch oi Josephine. The new light which has been thrown on Josephine's character and career by the recent publication of numerous memoirs, has not been overlooked in preparing this life. It aims to present Josephine frankly, yet sympathetically. 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The substance of these letters has been expanded and wrought over into a clear, connected and complete statement of what the author saw in the Philippines and what he thinks about what he saw there. Cloth, large l2tno. $2.00. The Book of Genesis IN THE LIGHT OF MODERN KNOWLEDGE By Dr. ELWOOD WORCESTER THIS book which is the result of a course ot university lectures on the subject, will aim to give a complete survey ot what modern scientific methods and recent discoveries have taught the world about the conditions under which the narrative of the Book of Genesis took form. Its value as a work of popular scholarship will be enhanced by numerous illustrations in the text and several folding charts. Cloth, large l2mo. $2.00. TOPICS OF THE TIMES SOUTH AFRICA ^z CHINA n? THE EAST The Great Boer War I By A. CONAN DOYLE THERE have been many books already written about the Boer War, but none so fair and lull in its lacts as this one, the latest and the best. 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The Awakening of the East By PIERRE LEROY-BEAULIEU UNDER the divisions Siberia, China and Japan, the author has traced the development of Asia Ironi their golden age of long ago down to the modern present. He treats comprehensively the evolution of Japan, the astonishing development of Russia in Siberia, and the changes in China. "Altogether," says the Nation^ "this is a very timely and very able book by an author who gathers without prejudice his lacts at first hand." With an Introduction by Henry Nor/nan. Cloth, i2mo. $1.50. A Volume for a Yalentine Love \ COLLECTION of five short stories taken from McClure's Magazine and j dealing with love passages in life. Halt-tone frontispiece by Violet Oakley; 1 title-page in two colors, and a special cover design in colors on imitation apan vellum. Flexible boards, small i2mo. en wax worthy of the play and the production. The "a^^^""r" format is the same as that of the King Henrv J . and it is printed on toned deckle edge paper. 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I to 55 inclusive GREEN CLOTH, $3.50 Volumes 56, 57 and 58 GREEN CLOTH, $2.50 McClure, Phillips & Co. 141 East 25th Street - NEW YORK THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY Established in 1872 by Messrs. D. Appleton and Company, and Dr. E. L. Youmans The Popular Science Monthly is published by Messrs. McClure, Phillips and Co., New York, and edited by Prof. J. McKeen Cattell, of Columbia University, with the assistance of Dr. E. L. Thorndike, also of Columbia University. The fifty-six volumes of the journal already published have per- formed an important service for the advancement and diffusion of knowledge. Its issues have each month carried to all parts of the country reliable information in regard to the advances of science, widen- ing and deepening everywhere an intelligent interest in scientific sub- jects. 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Barnard, Professor of Astronomy, Yerkes Observatory, Univ. of Chicago. C. R. Barnes, Professor of Botany, University of Chicago. Carl Barus, Professor of Physics, Brown University. Charles E. Bessey, Professor of Botany, University of Nebraska. J. S. Billings, Director of the Consolidated Libraries, New York City. ^anz Boas, Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University. H. Carrington Bolton, Washington, D. C. J. C. Branner, Professor of Geology, Leland Stanford Junior University. Lewis Boss, Director, Dudley Observatory, Albany, N. Y. H. P. Bowditch, Professor of Physiology, Harvard University. N. L. Britton, Director of the New York Botanical Gardens. W. K. Brooks, Professor of Zoology, Johns Hopkins University. H. C. Bumpus, Professor of Comparative Anatomy, Brown University. William H. Burr, Professor of Engineering, Columbia University. Nicholas Murray Butler, Professor of Philosophy and Education, Columbia Univ T. C. Chamberlin, Professor of Geology, University of Chicago. R. 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Woodward, Professor of Mechanics and Mathematical Physics, Columbia University. Arthur W. Wright, Professor of Experimental Physics, Yale University. Carroll D. Wright, Commissioner of Labor, Labor Department. W. J. Youmans, lately Editor of The Populak Science Monthly. C A. Young, Director, Halsted Observatory, Princeton University. The annual subscription to the POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY is $3.00. The numbers are for sale on all news-stands for 25 cents 1 he Monthly is published on the 24th of ecery month by McClure, Phillips and Co 141 EAST 25th STREET, NEW YORK IBi TKe NaLtionaJ Geographic Magazirve AN illustrated monthly published for the National Geographic Society, of Washington, D. C, by McClure, Phillips & Co., at 141 East 25 th Street, in New York City, to whom all business communications should be addressed. Editorial communications should be addressed to the Editor of the National Geographic Magazine, Corcoran Building, Washington, D. C. 25 CENTS A NUMBER; $2.50 A YEAR Editor-in-Chief: JOHN HYDE Statistician of the U. S. Department of Agriculture Managing Editor: GILBERT H. GROSVENOR Associate Editors General A. W. Greely, Chief Signal Officer, U. S, Army W. J. McGee, Ethnologist in Charge, Bureau of Ameri- can Ethnology Henry Gannett, Chief Geographer, U. S. Geological Survey C. Hart Merriam, Chief of the Biological Survey, U. S. Department of Agriculture David J. Hill, Assistant Secretary of State Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, Author of "Java, the Garden of the East," etc. Marcus Baker, U. S. Geological Survey Willis L. Moore, Chief of the Weather Bureau, U. S. Department of Agriculture H. S. Pritchett, Superintendent of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey O. P. Austin, Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, U. S. Treasury Department Charles H. Allen, Governor of Porto Rico Carl Louise Garrison, Principal of Phelps School, Washing- ton, D. C, McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO., New York SOME IMPORTANT MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS An American Engineer in China By WILLIAM BARCLAY PARSONS. Cloth, i2?no. $/.jo. Mr. Parsons is well known as an engineer, and it was because of his high rank in his profession that he was selected to head the party of American engineers who were to open up the interior of China to American trade. The book grew out of his experiences in that land of paradoxes. His party made their way into and through parts of China practically unknown to white men. Many photographs illumine the text of the work. The Great Boer War By A. CONAN DOYLE. Cloth, i2tno. $i.jo. " One of the most important, because one of the most candid and straightforward, comments on the great Boer war." — Army and Navy Register. "To the strict impartiality of the historian he adds the warmth of a novelist's imagination, and the result is a book which will be read with the keenest pleasure for long days to come." — London Daily Telegraph. The Awakening of the East By PIERRE LEROY-BEAULIEU With an Introduction by Henry Norman. Cloth, i2mo. $i.jo. Under the divisions Siberia, China, and Japan, the author has traced the develop- ment of Asia from the golden age of long ago down to the modern present. He treats comprehensively the evolution of Japan, the astonishing development of Russia in Siberia, and the changes in China. " Altogether," says the Nation, " this is a very timely and very able book by an author who gathers without prejudice his facts at first hand." The Trust Problem By J. W. JENKS, Ph.D. " The most instructive contribution that has thus far been made to the discussions of the trust problem. It is singularly free from dogmatism and apriorism, and every page is informed with a strong economic philosophy."— Prof. Miller in the Journal of Political Economy. Third edition, cloth, $1.00 net. The Gavel and the Mace By HON. FRANK W. HACKETT " Mr. Hackett's book not only bubbles over With humor, but it has more than humor ; it is pervaded with good sense and a good spirit, and it contains an excellent compendium of parliamentary law." — John D. Long, Secretary of the Navy. Cloth, i2mo, $/.2j. McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO. PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK Vc. lviii. No. «. MARCH, 1901. THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. EDITED BY J. McKEEJV CATTELL. *P CONTENTS Chapters on the Stars. Professor Simon Newcomb 449 The Law of Substance. Professor R. H. Thurston 467 Pyramid Lake, Nevada. Dr. Harold W. Fairbanks 480 Throwing a High Explosive from Powder Guns. Hudson Maxim... 490 The HeigLt and Weight of the Cuban Teachers. Dr. Dudley Allen Sargent 502 The Geologist Awheel. Professor William H. Hobbs 515 The Formation of Habits in the Turtle. Robert Mearns Yerkes . . 519 !The Science of Distances. Sir George S. Robertson 526 A Study of British Genius. Havelock Ellis 540 Discussion and Correspondence : Random Remarks of a Lady Scientist : Rebecca Shaepe. Christian Science : Pro- fessor Joseph Jastrow. The Inventor of the Sewing Machine : Vindicatob 548 Scientific Literature : The Foundations of Knowledge ; Stationary Radiants to Showers of Shooting Stars ; The Utilization of Food and Alcohol in the Human Body 552 The Progress of Science : Science in the Nineteenth Century and in the Reign of Queen Victoria ; Science and the Government ; Appropriations for the Department of Agriculture ; The National Museum ; The Naval Observatory ; The Inert Elements ; Bacteria and Dairy Products ; The Milk of Tuberculous Cows ; Scientific Items 555 McCLURE, PHILLIPS & COMPANY, NEW YORK: 141 EA§T 25th STREET, LONDON: 10 NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, W. C. Single Number, 25 Cents. Yearly Subscription, $3.00. Copyright, J901, by McCLURE, PHILLIPS & COMPANY. Entered at the Post Office at New York, and admitted for transmission through the mails at second-class rates. ■*■» TKe NadionaJ Geographic Magazine AN illustrated monthly published for the Nationai Geographic Society, of Washington, D. C, by McClure, Phillips & Co., at 141 East 25th Street, in New York City, to whom all business communication* should be addressed. Editorial communications should be addressed to the Managing Editor of the National Geo- graphic Magazine, Corcoran Building, Washington, D. C. 25 CENTS A NUMBER; $2.50 A YEAR Editor-in-Chief: JOHN HYDE Statistician of the U. S. Department of Agriculture Managing Editor: GILBERT H. GROSVENOR Associate Editors ■. General A. W. Greely, Chief Signal Officer, U. S. Army W. J. McGee, Ethnologist in Charge, Bureau of Ameri- can Ethnology Henry Gannett, Chief Geographer, U. S. Geological Survey C. Hart Merriam, Chief of the Biological Survey, U. S. Department of Agriculture David J. Hill, Assistant Secretary of State Kl.IZA RUHAMAH SCIDMORE, Author of "Java, the Garden of the East," etc. Marcus Baker, U. S. Geological Survey Willis L. Moore, Chief of the Weather Bureau, U. S. Department of Agriculture O. H. Tittmann, Superintendent of the U- S- Coast and Geodetic Survey O. P. Austin, rr S Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, U- i>. Treasury Department Ida M. Tarbell, , , Author of "-Life of Napoleon," "Life *f Lincoln" etc. Carl Louise Garrison, Principal of Phelps School, Washing- ton, D. C. McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO., New York » 4 Established in iSj2, THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 3 DOLLARS A YEAR 25 CENTS A NUMBER Edited by Professor J. McKeerv Cattell The Popular Science Monthly for March opens with an article by Professor Simon Newcomb, U. S. N., on the motions ot the stars and their distribution through space. This is the last of a series of "Chapters on the Stars," by one of the greatest of living astronomers, who not only speaks with the highest authority, but is able to present the progress of astronomical science in a clear and read- able form. This is followed by a series of interesting and timelv articles. Mr. Havelock Ellis, Editor of the "Contemporary Science Series," treats the nationality, race, and social class of the most eminent British men of genius, and Professor R. H. Thurston, Director of Sibley College, Cornell University, contributes an article describing the development of modern ideas regarding the persistence of energy. Dr. D. S. Sargent, Director of the Hemenwav Gymnasium of Harvard University, describes measurements made by him on a thousand Cuban teachers and compares their type with that of the American student. Hudson Maxim, in an illustrated article, explains his experiments on high explosives and the properties of "maximite." Professor Edwin G. 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" One of the books that has helped make the vear famous for the production of high class fiction. ' The Darlingtons' is perhaps more distinctly American in its atmos- phere, coloring and identity to national traits than any other work of the year ' — St. Louis Republic. //-' Cloth, i2mo. $i.^o. m McClure, Phillips & Co.,NewYork< (fj). New Books Published in February Love A Collection of Short Stories selected from McClure's Magazine. Special cover design, large i6mo. jo cents. Love in a Fog. HESTER CALDWELL OAKLEY. The Captain of the Aphrodite. ELMORE ELLIOTT PEAKE. The State Against Ellsworth. WILLIAM R. LIGHTON. OttenhauserTs Coup. JOHN WALKER HARRINGTON. Accordin* to Solomon. MART M. MEARS. New Light on Ancient Story What We Know About Genesis By DR. EL WOOD WORCESTER Rector of St. Stephen's Church, Philadelphia Recent discoveries in Babylonia have increased our knowledge of a period which is of great historical interest, and Dr. Worcester has given thorough and reverent treatment to this and other developments of modern times. The work is illustrated from photographs which throw more light on the subject. Illustrated. Cloth, 12 mo. $2.00. Encyclopedia of Etiquette What To Do— What To Say— What To Write-What To Wear Compiled by EMILY HOLT A Book of Manners for every dav use. Not only is every perplexing point of etiquette brought up and answered, but a dozen or more valuable departments hitherto ignored are introduced and developed. Illustrated. 12 mo. $2.00. The Life of Napoleon WITH A SKETCH OF JOSEPHINE To her "Short Life of Napoleon," Miss Tarbell now joins a sketch of Josephine. The elaborate illustrations which distinguished the former publi- cation of the Life of Napoleon will be preserved in the present revised edition. "I desire to congratulate you," writes lohn C. Ropes, "on having furnished the public with such a complete and impartial, as well as interesting and attractive, Life of Napoleon. The pictures are also most interesting; few of them have ever before been put within reach of the general reader, at least not in such a fine setting." Richly illustrated. Cloth, i2tno. $2.50. fesMcClure, Phillips & Co.,NewYork (o) (0) to) (O) Five Important Volumes Recently Published Abraham Lincoln: His Book A facsimile reproduction. Leather, i6mo, $l.OO net. "I do not perceive," wrote Lincoln in 1858, " how I can express myself more plainly than I have in the foregoing. I have expressly disclaimed all intention to bring about social and political equality between the white and black races. I have made it equally plain that I think the negro is included in the word 'men' used in the Declaration of Independence." The Philippines: the war and the people Being a Record of Personal Observations and Experiences by ALBERT G. ROBINSON. Cloth, large i2mo. $2.00. This book constitutes one of the most important contributions to first- hand sources of information concerning the Philippines. It is a clear, connected and complete statement of what the author saw in the Philippines and what he thinks about what he saw there. The Awakening of the East Bx PIERRE LEROT-BEAULIEU. With an Introduction by Henry Norman. Cloth, i2?no. $f.JO. Under the divisions Siberia, China and Japan, the author has traced the development of Asia from their golden age of fong ago down to the modern present. He treats comprehensivelv the evolution of Japan } the astonish- ing development of Russia in Siberia, and the changes in China. "Altogether^" savs the Nation, "this is a verv timely and very able book by an author who gathers without prejudice his facts at first hand." An American Engineer in China By WILLIAM BARCLAY PARSONS. Cloth, i2mo. $1.50. " Mr. Parsons writes with great clearness, simplicity and good sense, and in a spirit of reasonableness that will commend his book to all serious readers. It is full of first-hand information of a valuable character, enliv- ened and brightened by touches of humor and by anecdotes that make it readable throughout." — New York Commercial Advertiser. The Great Boer War By ./. CONAN DOYLE. Cloth, i2mo. $i.jo. "A good view of the year's warfare, with vivid and not highly colored battles, and with a discussion of the causes and probable outcome of the war, which is moderate and generous in temper, judicial in praise and blame, and without a trace of rancor or mere partisanship." — The Nation. fe5>McClure, Phillips & Co.,NewYork< (o) (o) Co) fo) Co) Co; (o) April's Sowing By GERTRUDE HALL. Clothyi2mo. $1.50. 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"A most ingenious plot, with a pretty girl for the stake, while the Church represented by the Archbishop, and Love in the person of a heartv and desirable young man, contend in a fair field without favor. ■The Interior. Other Recent Fiction Worthy of Mention "Noli Me Tangere." By JOSE RIZAL. i2mo. $1.25. A nove adapted into English under the title of "AN EAGLE FLIGHT." President Schurman, of the Philippine Commission, calls Dr. Rizal "the greatest of Filipinos" and "Noli Me Tangere " the Bible of the Revolutionists ; "a book," he adds, "which should be read by every American. " The Fugitives. By MORLET ROBERTS. A storv of the South African war. Cloth, 1 2 mo. $1.00 The Circular Study,, By ANNA KATHERINE GREEN. Cloth, i2?no. $1.25. A mystery storv of New York City. <§fes>McClure, Phillips & Co.,NewYork American Fights and Fighters By CYRUS TOWNS END BRADY. Illustrated. Cloth, 12 mo. $1.50. "They arouse the reader to the highest pitch of admiration. We do not know of any historical story book which would be likely to prove a more valuable gift for a young man than this." — Nezv York Times Saturday Review. The Gavel and the Mace By HON. FRANK W. HACKEE T. Cloth, i2mo. $i.2j. "Mr. Hackett's book not only bubbles over with humor, but it has more than humor; it is pervaded with good sense and a good spirit, and it contains an excellent compendium of parliamentary law." — John D. Long, Secretary of the Navy. The Doctrines of Grace By RET. DR. JOHN WATSON. Cloth, i2mo. $1.50. "A warmth of feeling, quickness of intellect and common sense which should make them acceptable not only within but beyond the circle of assent to the doctrines involved in them." — The Dial, Chicago. A Captive of War By SOLON HYDE. Cloth, 12 mo. $1.00. " In all others of the stories we have read during this season we have found nothing more vivid than this experience of the greatest war of the century. ' ' — Buffalo Commercial. The Trust Problem By PROF. J. JY. 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I 141-155 EAST 25th STREET NEW YORK APPLETONS "^ HE sudden naming up of a star from the tenth magnitude to the first — an event of rare occurence — has turned the eyes of millions to the skies of night. Few persons realize how much delight can be obtained with a good opera glass. Garrett P. Serviss has written a book entitled " Astronomy with an Opera Glass.'" It was remarkably successful. Most timely is his new book: — Pleasures of the Telescope A Descriptive Guide for Amateur Astronomers and all Lovers of the Stars. By Garrett P. Serviss. Illustrated with charts of the heavens, and with drawings of the planets and charts of the moon. Svo, cloth, $1.50. Nezu Edition, Revised and Enlarged Velazquez's Pronouncing .: DICTIONARY OF THE SPANISH AND ENGLISH LANGUAGES. First Part : Spanish-English. Large Svo, 710 pages. Half morocco, $t>. 50. Part II. English-Spanish, in preparation. 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While THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW is American in name, and pub- lishes from month to month the weightiest and most authoritative discussions of the foremost American topics, it is the most cosmopolitan periodical in the world, seeking the co-operation of the great writers and statesmen of all nations on subjects regarding which the best citizens of the United States desire to be informed. We have made arrangements with Messrs. Harper 6 Brothers to send any one of their periodicals at a special price in combination with THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, as follows: COMBINATION OFFEK.S FOK. 1901 THE r HARPER'S MAGAZINE, $8 00 NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW I harper* weekly . 8 oo c , . • «c ^ ($4 oo a year) Sufccnption pnce, $5 per year HARPER'S BAZAR . . 8 00 50 cents per copy. L i$4 oo a year) THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, Franklin Square, N. Y. For cHature Lovers — — ^^^— — — rwmrfTrmi in iwmM^Miw^i—iMi^iii— iihmihwibi iiiihimwii^i^iii— ttwti — A STANDARD AUTHORITY HOW TO KNOW THE WILD FLOWERS By Mrs. William Starr Dana (Mrs. Parsons) A Guide to the Names, Haunts, and Habits of our Common Wild Flowers. With 48 full-page colored plates by Elsie Louise Shaw, and no full-page illustrations by Marion Satterlee. 60th thousand. Crown Svo, $2.00 net. OF all the aids to the study of nature none has won a wider popularity than Mrs. William Starr Dana's ' How to Know the Wild Flowers.' Here accurate science is rut m a simple, practical form, and presented with unusual grace of style, and the book has become the favorite companion for open-air rambles of flower-lovers who were daunted by the dry paiticularity of the average botany." — Chicago Evening Post. T^VERY flower-lover who has spent weary hours puzzling over a botanical key, in the effort to -*— ' name unknown plants, will welcome this satisfactory book, which stands ready to lead him to the desired knowledge by a royal road. The book is well fitted to the need of many who have no botani- cal knowledge and yet are interested in wild flowers.''— The Nation. ■* HOW TO KNOW THE FERNS A Guide to the Names, Haunts, and Habits of our Native Ferns. By Frances Theodora Parsons (Mrs. Dana). With 144 full-page illustrations, and 6 full- page illustrations from photographs. Crown Svo, #1.50 net. THIS is a notably thorough little volume. The text is not voluminous, ard even with its many full-page illustrations the book is small ; but brevity, as we are glad to see so many writers on nature learning, is the first of virtues in this field. . . The author of ' How to Know he Ferns ' has mastered her subject and she treats of it with authority."- New York Tribune. OF the ferns, as of the flowers, she writes as one who not only knows but loves them. The charm of her fern book is as irresistible and pervading as is the charm of nature itself. This gifted and enthusiastic naturalist knows the ferns literally ' like a book,' and her book makes the first lesson of the novice in the lore of fern-life an easy and delightful task."— New York Mail and Express. * ** A new edition of Mrs. Dana s popular book "According to Season," with much additional matter and 32 plates in color, is in preparation. OUR NATIVE TREES AND HOW TO IDENTIFY THEM By Harriet L. Keeler With 178 full-page illustrations from photographs, and with 102 illustrations from drawings. Second edition. Crown Svo, $2.00 net. C. S. SARGENT, Professor of Arboriculture in Harvard University, says: OF such popular books the latest and by far the most interesting is by Miss Harriet L. Keeler, . . . Miss Keeler's descriptions are clear, compact, and well arranged, and the technical matter is supplemented by much interesting and reliable information concerning the economical uses, the history, and the origin of the trees which she describes." CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK. Elementary Mathematics A Brief History of Mathematics. By the late Dr. Karl Fink, Tubingen, Germany. Translated by IV. W. Be»ian and D. E. Smith. Pp. 345. Cloth $1.50 net (5s 6d. net). Not a book of anecdotes, nor one of biography ; but a clear and brief statement of the facts of mathematical history. An invaluable work for teachers of mathematics. On the Study and Difficulties cf Mathematics. By Augustus De Morgan. With Portrait and Bibliographies of Modern Works on Algebra, the Philosophy of Mathe- matics, Pangeometry, etc. Pp. viii, 288. Cloth, #1.25 (4s. cd.) net. 'When the next book of this series is out, send it along. 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THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING CO., CHICAGO: 324 Dearborn Street. Largest Camera IN THE WoRIaD was roxsTHUOTKU ESPECIALLY I1T ORDER OF THE CHICAGO & ALTON L RAILWAY, TO PHOTOGRAPH THE ALTON LIMITED. SEND A 2c. STAMP TO Gko. .1. CHARLTON', Q. P. A., O. . Warman, Prof. Eustace Miles, Elmer Lee, M. D., Laura M Wright, M I)., Henry Albeit Kundlett, M. D., Rachel Swain, M D., Thos. W. Organ, M. D , Prof. N. N. Riddell, James Leonard Corning, Sr , and others. It is our purpose to make " Health-Culture " of the utmost practical value to its readers, teaching the principals of Good Health by Right Living Nor do we know of a higher mission; for without health, other blessings tade into insignificance. Terms of Publication: " Health-Culture " is issued monthly at $100 a year, 10c. a number. Foreign subscrioers $1.36, with postage. The above may be ordered through any bookseller, or will be sent by mail on receipt of price. Agents WanLa. Address THE HEALTH-CULTURE CO., 503 "P" Fifth Ave., New York. 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