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THE 


POPULAE   SCIENCE 


MONTHLY. 


CONDUCTED  BY  E.   L.  AND  W.  J.    YOUMANS. 


VOL.  XXII. 

NOVEMBER,    1882,   TO  APRIL,   1883. 


NEW  YORK : 
D.     APPLETON     AND     COMPANY. 

1,  3,  and   5   BOND   STREET. 
1883. 


»> 


COPYIUfcHT   BY 

D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 

1883. 


i  o  4  +  3 


CHARLES  ADOLPHE  WURTZ. 


*• 


THE 

POPULAR    SCIENCE 

* 

MONTHLY. 


NOVEMBER,  1882. 


SEWEK-GAS. 

By  FRANK  HASTINGS  HAMILTON,  M.  D. 

ON  the  2d  of  February  last  Mr.  Charles  F.  Wingate,  sanitary- 
engineer,  read  before  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine  a 
paper  entitled  "  Practical  Points  in  Plumbing,"  etc.  Before  intro- 
ducing Mr.  Wingate,  the  president,  Dr.  Fordyce  Barker,  read  a  brief 
paper,  relating  his  personal  experience  as  to  the  dangerous  nature  of 
sewer-gas,  and  asking  for  the  earnest  attention  of  the  Academy  to  this 
subject.  The  reading  of  Mr.  Wingate's  paper  was  followed  by  a  series 
of  experiments,  made  by  Professor  R.  Ogden  Doremus,  intended  to 
illustrate  the  difficulty  of  preventing  the  escape  of  these  gases  by 
either  water-traps,  lead,  iron,  or  earthen  pipes.  A  large  number  of 
physicians  and  surgeons  were  present,  among  whom  were  many  who, 
on  account  of  their  practical  experience  in  matters  of  hygiene,  had 
been  invited  by  the  president  to  take  part  in  the  discussion. 

Reflecting  subsequently  upon  the  great  importance  of  the  subject 
which  had  been  under  debate,  I  prepared  and  read  before  the  Acad- 
emy, on  the  evening  of  March  16th,  a  paper  entitled  "  The  Struggle 
for  Life  against  Civilization  and  iEstheticism."  The  purpose  of  this 
paper  was  to  furnish  a  resume  of  the  papers,  experiments,  and  discus- 
sions of  the  February  meeting,  and  to  suggest  the  conclusions  which 
seemed  to  be  authorized,  but  which  the  Academy  had  not  attempted 
to  formulate  or  declare. 

Before  closing  my  communication,  attention  was  drawn  by  me  to 
other  matters  than  plumbing,  such,  for  example,  as  house  sanitation  in 
general  and  physical  hygiene  ;  but  which  subjects,  at  my  request,  were 
not  made  matters  of  discussion  on  that  occasion.  My  conclusions  were 
given  as  follows  : 

VOL.  XXII. — l 


2  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

If  these  sanitary  engineers,  plumbers,  chemists,  and  hygienists,  who  were  re- 
quested to  take  part  in  the  discussion  because  of  their  acknowledged  scientific 
attainments,  experience,  and  practical  skill,  have  nothing  more  to  suggest,  how 
is  the  evil  to  be  successfully  met  ? 

With  all  respect  to  the  distinguished  gentlemen,  I  must  say  that  they  have 
suggested  nothing  of  any  importance  which  is  new  ;  nothing  that  was  not  known 
before ;  nothing,  indeed,  which  has  not  been  tried,  and  which  has  not,  for  one 
reason  or  another,  proved  itself  to  be  either  impracticable  or  insufficient,  and  in 
many  cases  totally  inefficient. 

My  reply  to  this  question  is  that,  in  reference  to  these  matters,  science  has 
not  kept  pace  with  civilization,  and  that,  without  concessions  on  the  part  of 
civilization,  there  is  at  present  no  adequate  remedy.  .  .  . 

I  repeat,  then,  that  in  order  to  render  pure  and  innocuous  the  atmosphere  of 
our  houses,  whether  the  sources  of  its  impurity  are  to  be  found  in  our  present 
systems  of  lighting,  heating,  or  drainage,  it  will  be  necessary,  first  of  all,  that 
civilization  should  make  some  concessions. 

The  term  "  civilization  "  is  here  used  in  its  broad  and  legitimate  sense,  as  in- 
cluding not  only  mental  culture,  with  progress  in  science  and  art,  but  also  the 
comforts,  luxuries,  and  aesthetics  of  life,  which  are  its  natural  and  inevitable  con- 
comitants. If  certain  of  the  latter  elements  of  civilization  can  not  be  dispensed 
with,  it  will  be  found  impossible,  I  fear,  to  contend  successfully  with  typhoid 
fever,  diphtheria,  and  many  other  diseases  which  now  contribute  so  largely  to 
the  increase  of  our  mortality  rates. 

If  we  liinit  ourselves  to  the  consideration  of  the  unwholesome  atmosphere  of 
our  houses — although  this  does  not  by  any  means  constitute  the  only  possible  or 
probable  source  of  sickness  and  physical  decay  incident  to  civilization — the  con- 
cessions demanded,  as  a  condition  of  the  successful  application  of  our  present 
knowledge  of  the  laws  of  hygiene,  are  : 

1.  That  all  plumbing  having  any  direct  or  indirect  communication  with  the 
sewers  shall  be  excluded  from  those  portions  of  our  houses  which  we  habit- 
ually occupy.  In  other  words,  that  it  shall  be  placed  in  a  separate  building,  or 
annex. 

2.  That  we  return  to  the  open  fire-place,  or  the  grate,  as  a  means  of  warm- 
ing our  private  houses. 

3.  A  diminished  consumption  of  oxygen  by  gas-burners.  It  is  still  an  open 
question  whether  we  shall  be  able  to  light  our  dwellings  with  electricity ;  but 
so  long  as  we  are  obliged  to  depend  upon  gas  we  must  content  ourselves  with 
light,  and  not  insist  upon  illumination. 

The  concessions  demanded  have  been  named  in  the  order  of  their  importance. 
The  necessity  for  each  is  urgent,  but  the  first  admits  of  no  compromise.* 

The  purpose  of  the  present  paper  is  to  determine  whether,  after  the 
citation  and  careful  study  of  other  facts  and  observations  than  those 
laid  before  the  Academy,  my  conclusions,  so  far  as  relates  to  the  mat- 
ters of  sewer-gas  and  plumbing,  can  be  regarded  as  defensible. 

What  is  "  seicer-gas  "  ? 

This  term  has  been  employed  a  long  time  by  chemists,  sanitarians, 
plumbers,  and  others,  to  indicate  the  ordinary  emanations  from  sew- 
ers ;  but  recently  certain  gentlemen  have  taken  exceptions  to  the  term, 

*  "New  York  Medical  Gazette,"  March  25,  1882. 


SEWER-GAS.  3 

denying  that  there  is  any  such  thing  as  sewer-gas  "  having  a  peculiar 
and  definite  composition."  This  is  undoubtedly  true,  and  it  is  proba- 
ble  that  no  intelligent  man  or  educated  physician  ever  thought  other- 
wise. 

"  What  has  been  called  '  sewer-gas  '  is  composed  of  air,  vapor,  and 
gases  in  constantly  varying  proportions,  together  with  living  germs — 
vegetable  and  animal — and  minute  particles  of  putrescent  matter.  In 
short,  it  is  composed  of  whatever  is  sufficiently  volatile  or  buoyant  to 
float  in  the  atmosphere,  and  in  consequence  of  which  buoyancy  it  is 
permitted  to  escape  through  the  various  sewer-outlets.  The  term  is, 
in  this  sense,  well  understood  ;  and  it  is,  moreover,  just  as  correct  as 
would  be  the  terms  sewer-vapor,  or  sewer-air,  which  some  have  chosen 
to  substitute  for  it. 

It  is  proper  here  to  add  that  the  offensiveness  of  odors  is  no  test 
of  their  insalubrity,  but  that  the  most  fatal  germs  are  often  conveyed 
in  an  atmosphere  which  is  odorless.  The  absence  of  unpleasant  odors, 
therefore,  furnishes  no  proof  that  the  air  does  not  contain  sewer  ema- 
nations. 

Have  we  succeeded  hitherto  in  excluding  sewer-gases  from  our 
houses  ? 

Only  those  gentlemen  who  profess  to  have  inquired  carefully  into 
this  matter,  and  whose  names  will  be  accepted  as  authority,  will  be 
permitted  to  answer  this  question. 

Colonel  George  B.  Waring,  Jr.,  sanitary  engineer,  writing  for  the 
"  Herald,"  and  also  the  "  Mail  and  Express,"  under  date  of  April  2, 
1882,  says  :  "  Few,  I  imagine,  would  question  the  substantial  sound- 
ness of  Dr.  Hamilton's  position  on  the  question  of  heating,  lighting, 
and  ventilation,  and  no  one  probably  at  all  familiar  with  the  subject 
will  question  what  he  says  about  the  effect  of  the  plumbing  work  of 
city  houses  on  the  life  and  health  of  their  occupants.  From  tenement- 
house  to  palace  they  are  very  often,  almost  universally,  disgracefully 
and  dangerously  bad.  ...  It  is  quite  true  that  such  plumbing  work 
as  is  to  be  found  in  nine  out  of  every  ten  houses,  even  in  Fifth  Avenue, 
is  unsafe,  and  ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  remain  within  the  same  four 
walls  with  a  family  of  human  beings." 

Mr.  Charles  F.  Wingate,  sanitary  engineer,  in  his  paper  read  be- 
fore the  Kings  County  Medical  Society,  April,  1882,  says  :  "  Any  one 
having  opportunities  for  seeing  the  sanitary  defects  in  the  vast  ma- 
jority of  city  houses,  whether  occupied  by  millionaires  or  mechanics, 
and  whether  situated  on  Murray  Hill  or  Avenue  B,  can  feel  little  sur- 
prise at  the  statistics  of  increasing  mortality  in  New  York.  The  con- 
stant demand  for  the  doctor's  services  in  so  many  houses  in  their  nor- 
mally bad  state,  and  the  fact  that  his  services  are  no  longer  demanded 
when  they  have  been  put  in  sanitary  condition,  tells  its  own  lesson." 

Mr.  Wingate  also  intimates  to  the  people  of  Brooklyn  that  their 
houses  are  in  no  better  condition. 


4  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

W.  K.  Burton,  Resident  Engineer  to  the  London  Sanitary  Pro- 
tective Association,  writing  for  "  The  Sanitary  Record  "  for  March  15, 
1882,  when  speaking  of  the  iron  drain-pipes  of  London  houses,  says  : 
"  Either  practically  every  house  in  London  should  have  its  drain  un- 
reservedly condemned,  or  a  certain  small  amount  of  leakage  must  he 
allowed  to  pass.  I  do  not  propose  to  enter  into  the  question  as  to 
what  extent  an  inspector  is  justified  in  passing  slight  defects  ;  hut 
would  point  out  that  such  faults  as  are  small  in  extent,  are  almost  uni- 
versal, and  are  generally  passed  by  inspectors,  do  not  come  strictly 
under  the  head  of  sins  of  the  plumber." 

These  statements,  made  by  acknowledged  experts,  render  unneces- 
sary any  further  evidence  in  support  of  the  belief  that  we  are  at 
present,  and  have  been  for  a  long  time,  wholly  unprotected  against 
sewer-gas.  They  confirm  an  almost  universal  public  sentiment  also. 
Whatever  may  be  the  explanation,  whether  this  defective  condition 
of  our  plumbing  is  due  to  the  ignorance  or  wickedness  of  plumbers, 
architects,  or  sanitary  engineers,  or  to  other  causes,  the  fact  is  undoubt- 
edly as  has  been  stated,  and  this  is  sufficient  for  our  present  purpose. 

What  has  been  the  effect  of  its  admission  into  our  dwelling-houses 
upon  human  life  and  health  f 

Formerly,  medical  men  and  hygienists  seemed  never  to  entertain 
a  doubt  upon  this  question.  Not  until  very  recently  has  it  been  inti- 
mated, from  any  source,  that  sewers  were  not,  from  their  very  nature 
and  contents,  vast  reservoirs  of  noxious  gases  and  vapors.  Receiving, 
as  they  do  in  this  city,  and  in  many  other  large  cities,  the  excreta,  and 
more,  or  less  of  the  offal,  animal  and  vegetable,  of  almost  the  entire 
population,  and  these  masses  of  filth  being  often  detained  in  these 
receptacles  to  undergo  putrefaction  in  a  warm  and  humid  atmosjmere, 
it  would  seem  impossible  that  their  exhalations  should  not  be  danger- 
ous to  life. 

Dr.  Fordyce  Barker,  President  of  the  New  York  Academy  of 
Medicine,  in  announcing  the  pending  discussion  on  the  subject  of 
sewer-gas  and  plumbing,  spoke  as  follows : 

One  of  the  avowed  objects  of  this  Academy,  as  expressed  in  its  constitution, 
is  the  promotion  of  the  public  health.  Strictly  speaking,  all  of  our  scientific 
work  is  in  this  direction,  but  this  meeting  is,  in  a  larger  sense,  devoted  specifi- 
cally to  this  object.  There  is  not  a  physician  in  this  city,  engaged  in  active 
practice,  who  is  not  frequently  called  upon  to  see  disease  of  various  degrees  of 
severity,  often  resulting  in  death,  which  has  been  caused  by  a  poison.  If  we  can 
see  our  patients  early  enough,  we  can  successfully  meet  such  poisons  as  arsenic, 
as  corrosive  sublimate,  as  aconite,  and  all  of  this  class,  because  we  have  anti- 
dotes which  will  prevent  their  effect.  But  where  the  poison  is  introduced  into 
the  system  so  insidiously  that  the  subject  is  unconscious  of  its  absorption  until 
its  effects  are  produced,  then  it  is  not  a  question  of  antidotes,  but  the  problem 
is,  How  shall  we  counteract  its  consequences,  and  how  shall  we  keep  our 
patients  alive  until  the  life-destroying  agents  have  ceased  to  put  in  jeopardy  the 
vital  powers? 


SEWER-GAS.  5 

The  special  poisons  to  which  I  now  refer  are  the  gases  resulting  from  defect- 
ive plumbing,  to  which  all  classes — the  poor  occupants  of  tenement-houses,  those 
who  are  able  to  command  the  necessaries  and  many  of  the  luxuries  of  life,  and 
those  wbo  live  in  the  most  expensive  houses,  and  whose  ricbes  can  buy  every- 
tbing  but  health — are  alike  exposed.  None  but  pbysicians  can  know  how  gen- 
eral this  poison  is,  and  how  positively  it  explains  much  of  the  disease  that  tbey 
are  called  upon  to  treat,  and  of  the  many  sad  deaths  which  follow. 

When  I  assert  that  it  is  a  daily  experience  with  me  to  see  persons  whose 
general  health  is  suffering  from  this  poison,  as  manifested  by  malaise,  loss  of 
appetite  and  strength,  slight  febrile  symptoms,  diarrboea,  physical  and  mental 
depression ;  and  that  I  have  seen  infants,  children,  and  adults  suffering  from 
diphtheria,  scarlet  fever  of  a  mild  type,  complicated  with  this  disease  and 
destroying  life ;  those  in  vigorous  health,  students  in  colleges,  ambitious  and 
active  young  men  in  the  professions  or  in  the  commercial  or  financial  world, 
stricken  down  by  typhoid  fever,  some  struggling  through  the  disease  and  others 
dying ;  and  that  the  cause  has  been  demonstrated  to  be  this  poison — I  only  state 
facts  which  are  common  in  the  experience  of  all  physicians  in  this  city.  In 
some  cases  this  has  been  the  result  of  ignorance  of  the  very  unsanitary  con- 
ditions which  environed  them.  For  example,  two  young  men  were  stricken 
down  with  typhoid  fever,  one  of  whom  died.  They  were  not  acquaintances, 
but  occupied  offices  in  the  same  building,  iu  the  vicinity  of  Wall  Street.  On 
investigation,  it  was  found  that  there  was  not  a  trap  in  the  whole  building. 
In  a  house  in  which,  but  a  few  months  before,  several  hundred  dollars  had  been 
expended  to  put  the  building  in  perfect  condition,  a  young  man  died  of  typhoid 
fever,  and  others  of  the  family  became  ill,  when  it  was  found  that  a  defective 
waste-pipe  was  saturating  the  house  with  poisonous  gas.  But  such  facts  as 
these  are  so  common  and  so  well  known  to  the  profession  that  I  need  not  dwell 
upon  them. 

It  is  the  custom  of  many  in  this  city,  whose  means  will  permit  them  to  do 
so,  to  take  their  families  for  health  and  pleasure  to  various  summer  resorts  at 
the  sea-side,  the  mountains,  and  other  attractive  country  hotels;  but  every  year, 
for  some  time  past,  some  of  these  places  have  proved  fatal  to  health,  and  often 
to  life,  by  typhoid  fever.  .  .  .  None  but  physicians  are  alive  to  the  fact  that 
many  of  those  living  in  beautiful  and  expensive  houses  in  this  city  are  like 
the  inhabitants  who  dwell  at  the  base  of  Mount  Vesuvius,  in  a  soft,  balmy, 
voluptuous  atmosphere,  surrounded  by  vineyards  and  gardens  luxuriant  with 
the  olive  and  the  fig  and  the  orange  trees,  which  mask  and  hide  the  danger  and 
desolation  of  the  lava  and  ashes  of  disease.  .  .  .  The  physician  should  never 
be  an  alarmist;  he  never  can  hoist  the  signal  of  danger,  except  when  he  sees  the 
forewarning  signs  of  an  impending  storm.  Unfortunately,  he  never  can  see  the 
danger  from  this  position  until  its  effects  are  already  beginning  to  develop  as 
shown  by  disease. 

At  tins  same  meeting  Professor  Doremns  gave  us  the  painful  story 
of  the  sudden  prostration  of  his  two  sons,  one  of  whom  died,  and  the 
other  recovered  only  after  a  prolonged  illness  ;  in  both  of  which  cases 
sewer-gas  was  ascertained  to  be  the  cause  of  the  sickness. 

'  I  would  rather,"  said  Professor  Doremus,  "have  exposed  my 
sons  to  the  deadliest  poisons  in  my  laboratory,  for  which  we  have  anti- 
dotes, while  for  the  deadly  effects  of  sewer-gas  we  have  no  remedy." 

But  what  is  the  need  of  multiplying  testimony  upon  this  point 


6  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

when  it  is  so  abundantly  supplied  by  the  experience  of  every  medical 
man,  and,  indeed,  of  almost  every  intelligent  citizen  ?  The  history 
of  civilized  nations  for  the  last  few  years  is  replete  with  startling 
examples  of  valuable  lives  sacrificed  in  this  manner.  From  sewer-gas 
the  Prince  of  Wales  nearly  lost  his  life  in  one  of  the  princely  houses 
of  England,  and  the  Duchess  of  Connaught  had  to  be  removed  from 
Bagehot  to  escape  death  from  the  same  cause,  after  about  two  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  had  been  expended  to  put  the  house  in  order  on 
the  occasion  of  her  confinement.  We  have  still  fresh  in  our  memories 
the  terrible  sewer-gas  disaster  at  the  National  Hotel  in  Washington, 
the  fatal  outbreak  at  the  Philadelphia  Centennial  Fair-Grounds,  the 
Springfield  boarding-school,  and  Princeton  ;  not  to  mention  many 
equally  signal  examples  in  our  own  city,  in  Brooklyn,  and  in  many 
parts  of  the  United  States,  in  all  of  which  not  a  doubt  could  exist  as 
to  the  cause  of  sickness  and  death. 

What  special  forms  of  sickness  or  of  disease  may  be  caused  or  con- 
veyed by  sevier-gas  ? 

Asphyxia,  sudden  death,  or  death  occurring  in  a  few  hours  after 
exposure.  Examples  of  this  variety  or  degree  of  septic  infection  are 
rare,  and  have  seldom  occurred,  except  when  persons  have  entered  the 
sewers.  Now  and  then,  however,  ever  since  sewers  were  first  con- 
structed, occasional  reports  of  such  cases  have  been  made  through 
medical  journals  or  other  channels. 

A  general  malaise,  or  dyscrasy,  of  an  undefined  character,  but 
indicated  by  a  loss  of  appetite  and  of  strength,  by  diarrhoea,  nervous 
prostration,  or  by  a  general  impairment  of  health,  which  conditions 
are  known  to  predispose  to  the  occurrence  of  other  diseases,  and  espe- 
cially to  the  diseases  of  infancy  and  childhood,  including  diphtheria 
and  scarlatina.  It  is  known,  also,  as  stated  by  Dr.  Barker  in  the 
quotation  already  made,  that  these  conditions  of  the  general  system, 
caused  by  the  long-continued  inhalation  of  sewer-gas,  complicate  the 
contagious  or  zymotic  diseases  of  infancy,  from  whatever  source  they 
have  been  derived,  and  render  them  more  intense  and  fatal. 

To  be  more  explicit,  sewer-gas  fertilizes  the  human  soil,  and  renders 
it  more  capable  of  receiving  and  developing  the  germs  of  specific  dis- 
eases. 

Infants  and  children  are  in  general  constitutionally  better  prepared 
for  the  reception  and  development  of  these  germs,  excepting,  perhaps, 
the  typhoid,  than  adults. 

It  has  been  asked  why,  if  these  gases  are  so  poisonous,  plumbers 
do  not  suffer.  The  answer  is,  that  they  do  suffer  frequently,  and  that 
they  would  much  more  often  were  they  not,  when  exposed,  in  most 
cases  in  the  full  vigor  of  adult  life  and  of  health.  Muhlenberg  says 
that  "  if  the  vitality  of  a  rabbit  is  lowered  by  the  administration  of 
phosphorus,  micrococci,  which  under  other  circumstances  do  no  harm, 
increase  so  rapidly  as  to  be  fatal." 


SEWER-GAS.  7 

This  sufficiently  explains  the  immunity  which  adults  usually  enjoy, 
and  especially  those  who  are  most  of  the  time  away  from  home  and  in 
the  open  air. 

Typhoid  fever  has  long  been  known  to  be  caused  by  sewer  emana- 
tions. It  is  quite  true  that  this  is  not  its  only  source,  but  it  is  prob- 
able that  in  all  large  cities,  where  sewer-pipes  are  connected  with 
the  houses,  sewer-gas  causes  more  typhoid  fever  than  all  other  causes 
combined.  In  the  country,  also,  and  especially  in  the  large  hotels  at 
fashionable  watering-places,  examples  of  sickness  and  death  from  this 
source  are  alarmingly  frequent. 

Diphtheria  must  be  classed  among  the  diseases  which  in  all  proba- 
bility are,  in  many  cases,  caused  or  conveyed  by  sewer-gas.  The  testi- 
mony upon  this  point  is  so  well-nigh  conclusive  that  many  medical 
men  accept  it  as  an  established  fact.  For  myself,  I  do  not  entertain 
a  doubt  upon  the  subject ;  and  this  is  the  opinion  of  Professor  Willard 
Parker,  as  expressed  at  the  Academy. 

In  the  report  of  the  Michigan  State  Board  of  Health  for  1881  oc- 
curs the  following  passage  : 

It  is  probable  tbat  tbe  contagium  of  diphtheria  may  retain  its  virulence  for 
some  time,  and  be  carried  a  long  distance,  in  various  substances  and  articles  in 
wbicb  it  may  have  found  lodgment.  Diphtheria  contracted  from  germs  carried 
several  blocks  in  a  sewer  may  perhaps  be  as  fatal  as  when  contracted  by  direct 
exposure  to  one  sick  with  it.  "While  it  is  not  definitely  proved  that  the  germs 
of  diphtheria  are  propagated  in  any  substance  outside  the  living  human  or  animal 
body,  it  is  possible  that  they  may  be  found  to  be  thus  propagated. 

Dr.  Janeway,  addressing  the  Academy,  said  : 

It  is  hard  to  distinguish  between  sickness  from  sewer-gas  and  sickness 
caused  by  noxious  disease-germs  conveyed  in  the  sewers.  Small-pox  may  come 
from  germs  in  the  sewers,  but  no  one  would  attribute  it  to  sewer-gas.  In  regard 
to  diphtheria,  however,  it  is  less  plain.  The  portability  of  diphtheritic  poison  is 
greater  than  is  supposed. 

Scarlatina. — Professor  Barker  declared  to  the  Academy  that  sewer- 
gas  malaria  had  often,  in  his  experience,  been  found  to  complicate 
scarlatina,  and  render  fatal  an  attack  which  might  otherwise  have 
ended  in  recovery. 

Dr.  Alfred  Carpenter,  of  London,  a  well-known  physician  and  sani- 
tarian, has  in  a  paper  of  considerable  length,  published  in  "  The  Sani- 
tary Record,"  London,  for  March  15,  1882,  related  many  examples  in 
which  scarlatina  was  propagated,  perpetuated,  and  intensified  by  sewer- 
gas  ;  the  result  of  his  careful  observations  being  that  in  many  cases, 
in  order  to  render  the  scarlatinous  germs  which  came  through  the 
sewers  capable  of  successful  inoculation,  the  patients  need  to  have 
been  exposed  for  some  time  to  the  debilitating  influences  of  the  sewer- 
gas  ;  in  other  words,  as  he  affirms,  a  suitable  soil  must  have  been  cre- 
ated in  these  persons.     In  a  letter  addressed  to  me,  dated  Duppas 


8  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

House,  Croydon,  June  5, 1882,  he  says  :  "I  have  abundance  of  evidence 
that  scarlatina  is  distributed  by  sewers,  or  rather  that  the  germs  which 
grow  it  are  conveyed  with  sewer-air.  If,  however,  the  constitution  of 
those  receiving  the  germ  is  not  fitted  to  grow  it  and  to  lead  to  its 
fructification,  no  fever  will  arise,  and  the  germs  will  abort.  It  will 
not  develop  in  ordinary  flesh  and  blood,  but  requires  that  the  recipient 
should  be  iu  a  special  state  as  regards  his  own  blood  to  enable  it  to 
mature." 

In  addition  to  the  evidence  now  presented,  and  which  might  be 
greatly  multiplied,  as  to  the  probability,  or,  as  perhaps  most  phy- 
sicians think,  the  certainty,  that  typhoid  fever,  diphtheria,  and  scar- 
latina are  thus  caused  or  distributed  from  house  to  house,  there  is 
the  negative  testimony  presented  in  the  fact  that  these  three  terri- 
ble maladies  are  seldom  seen  in  those  Eastern  Asiatic  cities  where 
"  modern  improvements "  in  plumbing  are  unknown,  and  that  with 
us  they  have  increased  just  in  proportion  to  the  extension  of  these 
"  improvements." 

It  is  quite  probable,  if  not  actually  demonstrated,  that  Asiatic 
cholera  is  often  propagated  in  the  same  manner.  The  length  of  time 
its  germs  survive  after  being  thrown  off  from  the  body,  and  the  estab- 
lished fact  that  the  excreta  are  known  to  contain  and  convey  the 
germs,  increase  the  presumption  that  it  may  be  distributed  by  the 
sewers,  if  indeed  it  does  not  render  it  absolutely  certain. 

Finally,  no  good  reason  can  be  given  why  every  zymotic  disease 
may  not  in  this  manner,  at  certain  times  and  under  certain  circum- 
stances, be  widely  distributed,  although  no  doubt  the  liability  of  such 
distribution  must  depend  much  upon  the  viability  of  the  germs  and 
upon  other  circumstances. 

What  are  the  practical  difficulties  in  the  exclusion  of  sewer-gas  where 
plumbing  is  extensively  distributed  through  our  ^dwelling -houses  /  and 
is  there  at  present  any  ground  of  encouragement  that  they  will  be  over- 
come ? 

The  Water- Traps. — Profossor  Doremus  illustrated  to  the  Academy 
by  experiment  that  gases  would  pass  through  water  in  water-traps, 
although  there  was  free  ventilation  on  the  opposite  side. 

The  applicability  of  these  experiments  to  the  question  of  the  pas- 
sage of  sewer-gas  and  bacteria  through  water-traps  has  by  some  been 
denied,  and  especially  on  the  testimony  of  the  experiments  of  Carmi- 
chael,  of  Glasgow,  in  which  experiments  sewer-gases  passed  through 
well-sealed  and  ventilated  water-traps  in  only  a  small  amount,  and 
bacteria  were  excluded  altogether. 

I  am  not  a  chemist,  and  this  question  I  prefer  to  leave  with  those 
who  are  alone  competent  to  decide  it. 

Some  experimenters,  however,  have  not  obtained  the  same  results 
as  were  obtained  by  Carmichael,  Dr.  Billings,  and  others.  R  S.  G. 
Paton,  Ph.  D.,  Chemist  to  the  Health  Department,  city  of  Chicago, 


SEWER-GAS.  9 

having  made  a  series  of  careful  experiments,  assisted  by  B.  W.  Thomas, 
President  of  the  State  Microscopical  Society,  and  in  the  presence  of 
O.  C.  De  Wolf,  M.  D.,  Commissioner  of  Health  for  that  city,  they 
have  given  it  as  their  concurrent  opinion  that,  as  at  present  con- 
structed, water-traps  do  not  prevent  the  passage  of  "  disease-germs  " 
into  our  houses.  Dr.  De  Wolf  takes  pains  to  especially  emphasize  the 
fact  of  "the  readiness  with  which  organic  germs  pass  through  the 
water  of  a  sewer-trap  and  are  thrown  off  from  the  free  surface  into 
the  atmosphere  of  a  room."  (See  "  Report  of  the  Health  Department, 
City  of  Chicago,  April  15,  1881.") 

But,  although  I  can  not  speak  as  an  expert  in  this  matter,  it  will  be 
permitted  me  to  say  that  there  seems  no  reason,  even  if  other  and  con- 
flicting experiments  had  not  been  made,  why  the  experiments  of  Car- 
michael  should  be  regarded  as  conclusive.  That  unwholesome  gases 
did  not  pass  through  well-sealed  and  ventilated  traps,  at  a  certain  time 
and  under  certain  circumstances,  in  sufficient  quantity  to  imperil  life, 
and  that  organic  germs  were  excluded  wholly,  furnishes  no  conclusive 
evidence  that  they  might  not  pass  through  at  another  time  and  under 
other  circumstances.  The  amount  of  vapor,  ah',  and  gas  contained  in 
the  sewers  is  greater  at  one  time  than  at  another.  Their  elasticity  and 
tendency  to  escape  are  varied  according  to  the  nature  and  amount  of 
the  gases  generated  ;  according  to  the  temperature,  which  is  changed 
continually  where  pipes  are  in  use  by  the  alternate  flow  of  hot  and  cold 
water  ;  and  according  as  the  gases  are  moved  upward  with  more  or 
less  force  by  the  direction  and  strength  of  the  aerial  currents  through 
the  drains.  In  our  own  city,  and  in  other  maritime  cities,  and  upon 
the  sea-coast  generally,  the  action  of  the  tides  in  obstructing  the 
outflow,  and  thus  driving  the  contents  of  the  sewers  back  toward  the 
houses  where  the  pipes  terminate,  is  often  enormous,  and  such  as,  by 
the  most  ample  provision  for  escape  through  ventilators,  can  not  al- 
ways prevent  a  sudden  pressure  upon  the  water-traps  sufficient  to  dis- 
place their  contents,  or  to  force  the  gas  through  the  water  in  the  form 
of  bubbles,  or,  finally,  to  increase  the  capacity  of  the  water  to  receive 
the  sewer-gas  by  absorption. 

Muhlenberg  says,  "  The  bacillus  typhi  has  been  found  in  drinking- 
water  "  ;  and  Dr.  Janeway,  addressing  the  Academy,  said  : 

Another  point  is  the  possibility  that  much  of  the  typhoid  fever  does  not  come 
from  breathing  sewer-gas,  but  from  drinking  water  containing  the  germs  of  dis- 
ease, which  have  been  drawn  up  into  the  water-pipes  and  are  taken  into  the  ali- 
mentary canal.  In  a  case  under  my  observation  several  children  were  sick  in  a 
large  house.  I  turned  the  water  on  below,  and  then,  turning  it  on  above,  the 
air  was  sucked  into  the  pipes  below.  These  faucets  were  over  some  drain-pipes 
connecting  with  closets  where  diphtheritic  stools  had  been  deposited,  and  the 
water  above,  which  was  subsequently  drunk,  was  thus  tainted.  This  occurs  also 
where  there  is  no  trap,  or  where  there  is  no  direct  communication  with  the 
sewer.  In  one  institution  over  seventy  children  were  taken  with  typhoid  fever 
from  this  cause. 


io  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

Indeed,  that  water,  especially  when  not  in  motion,  will  absorb 
gases,  including  putrefactive  and  septic  germs,  is  a  well-established 
fact ;  and  it  is  equally  well  established  that  germs  will  live  and  multi- 
ply in  water,  and  that  they  will  even,  in  some  cases,  survive  the  action 
of  frost  upon  the  water.  Germs  in  a  condition  of  extreme  desiccation 
and  apparently  long  dead  will,  on  being  treated  with  moisture,  if  other 
circumstances  are  favorable,  become  revivified  and  developed  into  their 
most  perfect  and  active  forms. 

It  being  indisputable  that  germs  may  be  absorbed  by  water,  and 
that  they  may  multiply  in  water,  it  seems  irrational  that  they  should 
not  by  evaporation,  or  by  the  means  of  minute  bubbles  generated  by 
decomposition  of  organic  matter  in  the  wrater,  or  by  agitation  of  the 
water,  escape  into  the  surrounding  atmosphere. 

Professor  Kerr,  in  an  address  before  the  British  Civil  and  Mechan- 
ical Engineers'  Society,  said  : 

We  know  that  gas  is  generated  by  the  decomposition  of  the  decaying  matter 
in  sewage  when  deposited,  in  however  slight  a  degree,  upon  any  interior  surface. 
What  followed?  We  know  this  gas  has  two  qualities  which  are  extremely 
obnoxious :  one  quality  was  that  it  ascended  to  the  highest  level  by  reason  of 
deficient  specific  gravity  ;  and  the  second  quality  was  that  when  it  reached  the 
highest  level  it  exercised  a  pressure,  being  an  extremely  elastic  gas.  He  need 
scarcely  point  out  the  effect  of  these  two  considerations.  When  the  sewer-gas 
(a  most  excellent  name,  without  going  into  particulars  as  to  whether  it  should 
be  called  gas  or  vapor;  the  name  sewer-gas  carried  an  idea  of  offensiveness 
which  was  extremely  convenient)  when  the  sewer-gas  had  reached  the  highest 
level,  it  exercised  a  powerful  elastic  pressure  to  force  its  way  out,  and  succeeded 
in  forcing  its  way.  It  got  into  the  houses ;  and  if  there  were  no  other  grievance, 
there  was  this  to  complain  of — that  this  pestiferous  and  poisonous  gas  forced  its 
way  from  the  sewers  into  our  houses,  and,  of  course,  reached  the  vital  organs  of 
those  who  occupied  them. 

Must  we,  then,  accept  as  final  the  experiments  made  by  Dr.  Carmi- 
chael,  and  perhaps  a  few  other  experimenters  ?  May  we  safely  con- 
clude that  the  gases  and  germs  contained  in  the  sewers  can  be  effectu- 
ally excluded  by  water-traps  ?  That  well-sealed  water-traps  afford 
some  protection  can  not  be  questioned  ;  but  the  experiments  of  Car- 
michael  seem  to  me  far  from  having  rendered  it  certain,  or  even  prob- 
able, that  they  insure  absolute  safety. 

The  reader  will  observe,  however,  that,  even  if  we  admit  that  the 
experiments  of  Carmichael  establish  all  that  has  been  claimed  for  them, 
it  is  still  none  the  less  a  fact  that  the  water-traps  give  us  no  protection 
when  they  are  empty  or  defective  ;  and  examples  abound  in  the  expe- 
rience of  almost  every  plumber,  in  which  the  traps  are  found  empty, 
either  in  consequence  of  the  direct  pressure  of  the  air  from  below,  or 
of  siphonage,  or  of  leakage  ;  the  leakage  being  sometimes  due  to  the 
erosive  action  of  the  gases,  to  which  action  the  traps  are  especially 
exposed,  and  sometimes  to  cracks  occasioned  by  contraction  and  ex- 
pansion, resulting  from  the  alternate  admission  of  hot  and  cold  water, 


SEWER-GAS.  11 

to  settling  of  the  walls,  floors,  and  fixtures.  Sometimes,  also,  large 
holes  are  made  in  the  traps  or  leaden  pipes  by  rats.  I  have  in  my 
possession  examples  of  all  these  varieties  of  defective  traps,  taken 
from  some  of  the  best  houses  in  this  city,  and  the  existence  of  which 
defects  was  not  suspected  until  disclosed  by  the  plumber.  The  traps, 
to  be  effective,  it  is  unnecessary  to  say,  must  be  kept  in  perfect  work- 
ing order,  for  this  is  a  dangerous  door  to  be  left  ajar,  even  for  one 

moment. 

The  complete  protection  of  our  houses  against  sewer-gas  will  not, 
however,  be  accomplished  when  a  trap  shall  be  invented  which  shall 
be  liable  to  no  accidents  and  shall  never  fail.  The  trap  is  a  matter  of 
small  consideration  compared  with  the  whole  amount  of  plumbing 
work,  of  which  it  constitutes  only  a  fraction. 

The  Pipes. — Professor  Doremus  demonstrated  at  the  Academy  that 
gases  would  pass  readily  through  brick  and  stone,  and  through  un- 
glazed  earthenware,  even,  in  one  instance,  against  a  resisting  pressure 
of  two  and  a  half  feet  of  water,  and  in  another  against  the  pressure  of 
a  column  of  mercury  thirty  inches  in  height.  The  experience  of  every 
practical  plumber  confirms  these  experiments.  Gases  escape  more  or 
less  readily,  also,  through  iron  pipes. 

Lead  and  iron  pipes  are  subject  to  the  erosive  action  of  the  gases, 
and  of  various  reagents.  They  are  also,  like  the  traps,  liable  to  be 
broken  by  the  settling  of  walls,  floors,  and  fixtures,  and  they  are  occa- 
sionally broken  by  their  own  weight.  The  leaden  pipes  may  be  eaten 
by  rats  ;  at  the  jointings,  they  are  believed  occasionally  to  be  perfo- 
rated by  galvanic  action.  In  nearly  all  these  cases  the  holes  are  at 
first  small,  but  frequently  a  large  number  of  these  small  holes  will  be 
found  at  the  same  time  in  different  portions  of  the  plumbing.  These 
are  the  minute  perforations  to  which  Dr.  Billings  probably  referred 
when  he  said,  "  there  is  more  danger  from  a  pin-hole  in  a  pipe  than 
from  the  traps "  ;  for,  while  it  is  true  that  a  large  proportion  of  the 
germs  perish  for  want  of  a  favorable  soil,  it  is  equally  true  that  one 
germ  of  a  malignant  type,  conveyed  into  a  system  fully  prepared  for 
its  nutrition,  is  as  fatal  as  a  thousand.  Colin  estimates  that  one  bac- 
terial rod,  under  favorable  circumstances,  will  produce  281,500,000,000 
in  forty-eight  hours  ;  and  that,  were  it  not  for  the  unfavorable  cir- 
cumstances incident  to  its  situation,  it  would  fill  the  ocean  in  five 
days.  It  is  not  impossible  that  this  one  "  pin-hole  "  might  admit  the 
typical  bacterium  into  a  typical  soil. 

Mr.  Charles  F.  Wingate,  sanitary  engineer,  says  : 

Even  the  best  plumbing  will  not  last  for  ever,  but  needs  attention.  Leaks 
may  occur  to  permit  the  admission  of  sewer-gas  from  drain-pipes  due  to  defect- 
ive castings,  or  to  walls  settling  in  houses  built  on  made  ground,  or  from  the 
strain  of  the  alternate  expansion  and  contraction  from  hot  water,  or  even  from 
the  forcing  of  lead  joints  by  the  pressure  of  steam  discharged  froja  manufacto- 
ries into  the  public  sewer. 


12  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

A  no  less  serious  evil  is  the  corrosion  of  lead  traps  or  lead  waste-pipes,  par- 
ticularly in  old  houses  which  have  imventilated  drains.  This  may  he  caused  by 
the  action  of  sewer-gas,  so  called,  or  from  the  use  of  certain  popular  disinfecting 
fluids. 

Lengths  of  pipe  have  been  found  completely  honey-combed  in  this  way.  As 
such  corrosion  usually  occurs  on  the  upper  side  of  traps  or  horizontal  pipes,  it  is 
not  easy  to  detect  their  presence  from  the  absence  of  leakage,  and  the  only  safe- 
guard is  to  avoid  carrying  waste  or  soil  pipes  horizontally ;  also,  to  extend  their 
upper  ends  through  the  roof,  and  leave  them  open  for  ventilation.  Lastly,  to 
substitute  iron  pipes  for  lead  wherever  possible,  which  is  now  the  general  rule 
in  all  good  plumbing  practice.  .  .  .  Corrosion  sometimes  occurs  at  the  joints  of 
lead  pipes,  contiguous  to  the  line  of  solder,  and  is  attributed  to  galvanic  action 
created  by  the  contact  of  the  zinc  and  lead,  but  as  these  openings  are  apt  to 
leak  they  are  more  liable  to  discovery. 

It  is  a  good  plan  to  overhaul  all  plumbing  periodically,  say  once  every  year 
or  two,  to  guard  against  accidents.  .  .  .  And  here  it  should  be  remarked  that 
sewer-gas  is  created  not  in  the  sewers  alone,  but  every  inch  of  waste-pipe  in  a 
house,  even  though  used  to  convey  nothing  but  soapy  water  or  the  waste  of 
melted  ice  from  a  refrigerator,  can,  and  commonly  does,  produce  foul  gases. 
The  worst  odors  are  from  just  such  sources,  and  they  are  certainly  unwhole- 
some. 

Moreover,  it  must  always  be  remembered  that  no  plumber's  work,  however 
complete  it  may  be  at  first,  can  be  relied  upon  to  remain  perfect.  (u  Medical 
News  and  Abstract,"  November,  1881.) 

Says  Mr.  Collins,  in  "  The  Sanitary  Record,"  London,  for  March 

15,  1882  : 

One  hint  more  with  regard  to  the  house  and  its  belongings,  worth  all  the 
rest :  Do  not  imagine  that  when  structure,  drainage,  water-supply,  and  the 
various  appliances  appertaining  thereto,  are  left  in  perfect  condition,  they  will 
always  remain  so,  and  that,  unlike  every  other  production,  they  will  last  unim- 
paired for  ever,  or  even  that  period  of  "  for  ever  "—a  few  years. 

The  best  plumbing  will  not,  the  experts  say,  last  "for  ever"  ;  but, 
in  order  to  render  our  houses  perfectly  safe,  it  ought  to  last  as  long 
as  the  house  will  last,  for  we  can  in  no  other  way  know  when  the 
danger  is  upon  us.  "  It  will  not  last  that  period  of  for  ever — a  few 
years,"  says  Mr.  Collins  ;  and  Mr.  Wingate  says  it  should  be  "  over- 
hauled every  year  to  two,  to  guard  against  accidents."  Mr.  Wingate 
has  told  us  what  he  means  by  "overhauling"  the  plumbing,  when  he 
said  to  the  Academy  that  no  inspection  of  the  plumbing  of  a  house 
was  of  value  unless  it  was  overhauled  from  top  to  bottom.  In  no 
other  way  could  he  give  the  occupant  a  guarantee  that  all  was  right ; 
because,  where  one  defect  was  found,  the  chances  were  that  there 
were  many.  This,  we  are  then  given  to  understand,  is  what  should 
be  done  "  every  year  or  two." 

But  we  may  be  permitted  to  ask  why  the  time  should  be  fixed  at 
a  year  or  two  ?  A  leak  might  arise  from  any  one  of  the  many  causes 
enumerated  to-day,  which  did  not  exist  yesterday.     Why,  then,  "  to 


SEWER-GAS.  13 

guard  against  accidents,"  should  not  the  plumbing  be  overhauled 
daily  ?  Absolute  security  could  only  in  this  way  be  attained.  The 
public  is  notified,  therefore,  not  by  the  writer,  but  by  professed  sani- 
tary experts,  that  in  this  matter  the  price  of  safety  is  eternal  vigi- 
lance. 

In  searching  for  a  remedy  for  defective  plumbing  and  sewer-gas, 
the  public  is  still  further  embarrassed  by  the  fact  that  the  several 
classes  of  professional  experts,  to  whom  it  has  been  accustomed  to 
look  for  instruction  in  matters  pertaining  to  house  sanitation,  seem  to 
have  lost  confidence  in  each  other,  and  are  heard  constantly,  and  in 
the  most  public  manner,  charging  each  other  with  incapacity. 

The  chemists,  apparently,  are  not  agreed.  The  plumbers  have 
been  again  and  again  charged  with  incompetency,  and  often  with  in- 
tentional dishonesty,  by  sanitary  engineers,  by  physicians,  and  by  the 
almost  universal  voice  of  the  people,  until  to-day  it  is  hard  to  find  a 
man  with  sufficient  courage  to  utter  a  word  in  their  defense.  "  The 
sins  of  the  plumbers  "  has  become  a  proverb. 

An  architect,  writing  for  the  "  The  Architect,"  London,  complains 
that,  by  eminent  doctors,  men  of  his  calling  have  been  "  sat  upon, 
blackguarded,  lectured,  blamed,"  etc.,  for  their  supposed  ignorance  of 
matters  of  this  sort ;  and  one  gentleman,  a  sanitary  engineer,  has  said, 
publicly,  that  there  was  "  probably  only  one  architect  in  this  city  com- 
petent to  execute  the  specifications  for  the  plumbing  of  large  houses." 
The  same  gentleman  did  not  hesitate  to  say  to  the  Academy  that 
physicians  were  regarded  by  plumbers  as  their  ''most  wrong-headed 
customers,"  and  as  possessing  only  "  a  dangerous  smattering "  of 
knowledge  upon  the  subject ;  the  Academy  was  permitted,  also,  to 
understand  that  he  entertained  the  same  opinion  ;  while  a  distin- 
guished member  of  the  National  Board  of  Health  said  publicly  that 
he  could  count  upon  his  five  fingers  all  the  sanitary  engineers  in  this 
country  in  whom  he  could  place  any  degree  of  confidence. 

If  all  that  representative  members  of  these  several  classes  say  of 
each  other  were  true,  the  outlook  would  be  very  unpromising.  There 
is,  then,  no  class  of  professed  artisans  or  scientists  concerned  in  the 
business  of  plumbing,  architecture,  or  house  sanitation,  who  can  be 
safely  trusted. 

It  is  believed,  however,  that  there  is  some  mistake  as  to  the  almost 
total  incompetency  of  plumbers,  architects,  sanitary  engineers,  physi- 
cians, and  chemists,  to  discuss  and  act  upon  these  subjects  intelligent- 
ly. In  short,  as  I  have  said  before,  "  I  am  much  more  charitable  to 
the  plumbers  and  architects  than  are  the  public  or  the  sanitary  engi- 
neers. It  seems  to  me  quite  probable  that  most  of  them  are  as  com- 
petent and  as  honest  in  their  special  departments  as  any  other  class  of 
citizens"  ;  and  I  am  pleased  to  see  that,  so  far  as  the  plumbers  are 
concerned,  the  President  of  our  City  Board  of  Health  entertains  the 
same  opinion,  he  having  recently  declared,  according  to  "  The  Sanitary 


i4  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

Engineer,"  that  they  have  more  scientific  knowledge  than  they  are 
given  credit  for. 

We  ouo-ht,  I  think,  to  regard  this  mutual  distrust  and  lack  of  con- 
fidence among  these  various  classes  as  only  another  evidence  of  the 
overwhelming  difficulties  of  the  situation,  and  of  the  fact,  so  apparent 
to  all,  that  we  have  been  defeated  in  every  direction.  As,  when  an 
army  of  disciplined  soldiers  has  been  signally  routed,  the  people  begin 
to  lose  confidence  in  their  officers,  and  the  officers  fall  to  charging  each 
other  with  incompetency,  neglect,  and  treason — so,  also,  in  this  case, 
these  murmurs  of  complaint  and  of  wide-spread  dissatisfaction,  these 
mutual  criminations  and  recriminations,  imply  only  a  great  failure, 
and  not  necessarily  a  dereliction  on  the  part  of  any  one  concerned. 
The  odds  were  against  us  ;  and  this  is  what  everybody  will,  sooner  or 
later,  come  to  understand. 

The  public  need  not  lose  confidence  in  either  of  these  classes.  Not- 
withstanding our  present  seeming  antagonism,  which  may  be  due  in 
part  to  a  mutual  misunderstanding,  we  are,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter, 
converging  steadily  and  rapidly  to  the  same  point.  It  will  be  found 
that  we  are  practically  united  in  our  demand  that  plumbers,  architects, 
sanitary  engineers,  and  physicians,  shall  acquire  more  knowledge  and 
skill  than  they  now  possess  ;  and  that  where  their  united  knowledge 
and  skill  fail  to  accomplish  the  end  to  which  our  efforts  are  at  present 
directed,  namely,  the  exclusion  of  sewer-gases  from  our  houses,  the 
people  shall  be  urged  at  once  to  "  to  lop  off  superfluous  luxuries  "  ;  in- 
structing them  also  that,  in  exact  proportion  as  their  luxurious  distri- 
bution of  plumbing  is  diminished,  their  safety  will  be  increased.  They 
should  be  informed,  at  the  same  time,  that,  if  they  are  compelled  to 
submit  to  the  presence  of  plumbing  fixtures  near  their  living  apart- 
ments, they  should  follow  the  advice  of  Professor  Doremus,  and  em- 
ploy constantly  and  freely  proper  disinfectants,  of  which  it  is  unscien- 
tific to  say  that  they  merely  "disguise  the  bad  odors"  ;  for,  if  it  be 
true  that  they  do  not  cause  directly  the  death  of  all  germs,  it  is  never- 
theless true  that  they  prevent  putrefaction  of  organic  matters,  and  thus 
destroy  the  aliment  upon  which  the  germs  subsist,  and  by  which  they 
are  enabled  to  multiply. 

It  would  be  unjust  to  say  that  plumbers,  being  interested  in 
having  the  amount  of  plumbing  extended,  will  be  the  last  to  limit  its 
extension.  So  also,  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view,  are  sanitary  engi- 
neers and  physicians  interested.  But  no  one,  I  am  certain,  will  charge 
either  of  us  with  being  influenced  by  such  considerations. 

Under  the  present  system  all  that  can  be  said  is,  that  the  united 
skill  of  the  specialists  has  not,  according  to  their  own  often-repeated 
declarations,  and  as  every  one  knows,  succeeded  in  rendering  our 
houses  safe  against  sewer-gas.  We  have,  indeed,  from  one  source 
and  another,  assurances  that  it  can  be  done  ;  but  there  is  no  proof, 
such  as  alone  can  be  furnished  by  a  sufficiently  prolonged  trial,  that 


SEWER-GAS. 


lS 


these  assurances  can  be  trusted.  A  generation  has  come  and  gone, 
thousands  upon  thousands  have  died,  and  looking  at  our  decimated 
households  we  may  well  ask,  How  many  more  must  be  sacrificed  to 
this  terrible  experiment  ? 

The  late  rapid  increase  in  the  mortality  of  New  York  city  has  naturally  caused 
wide-spread  alarm.  Last  year  88,600  deaths  were  recorded,  against  31,937  in 
1880 — an  increase  of  twenty  per  cent.  While  the  large  additions  to  the  city's 
population  from  emigration  and  other  causes  may  account  for  some  of  this  in- 
crease, it  can  hardly  explain  all  of  it. 

Careful  observers  limit  the  increase  in  the  population  of  New  York  to  ten 
per  cent,  and  estimate  the  mortality  of  last  year  as  therefore  ten  per  cent  greater 
than  during  1880.  The  percentage  is  just  equal  to  the  increase  in  deaths  from 
contagious  diseases. — (Charles  F.  WiDgate,  consulting  sanitary  engineer,  "Prac- 
tical Points  about  Plumbing,"  1882.) 

The  writer  proceeds  to  charge  this  increased  mortality  to  the  sani- 
tary defects  of  our  houses,  especially  in  the  matter  of  plumbing. 

The  death-rate  of  our  city  has  continued  to  increase  steadily  since 
Mr.  Wingate  wrote.  In  1880  it  was  26-47  per  1,000  ;  in  1881,  31-08  ; 
and  for  the  two  quarters  of  1882,  ending  June  30th,  the  rate  of  mor- 
tality had  increased  to  31*11,  with  a  prospect  of  a  much  higher  rate 
for  the  year,  inasmuch  as,  during  two  weeks  of  the  month  of  July,  the 
rate  was  higher  than  for  the  corresponding  period  of  any  previous  year 
since  1872. 

This  increase  of  mortality  has  occurred  notwithstanding  the  admit- 
ted fact  that  our  streets  are  in  a  better  condition  than  they  have  been 
for  many  years.  It  can  not,  therefore,  be  attributed  to  the  unsanitary 
condition  of  the  streets,  as  has  been  the  usual  practice  of  newspaper 
writers  in  previous  years. 

Nor  does  it  seem  proper  to  attribute  it  to  our  vicious  tenement- 
house  and  apartment-house  system,  which,  no  doubt,  has  its  effect  in 
raising  our  death-rate,  but  which,  according  to  the  reports  of  our  city 
officials,  has  in  many  respects  been  greatly  improved  during  the  last 
two  or  three  years.  Meanwhile,  everywhere  the  plumbing,  as  it  has 
become  older,  has  necessarily  become  more  imperfect. 

A  member  of  the  Board  of  Health,  for  whose  opinion  I  have  great 
respect,  has  said  to  me,  that  "  when  we  consider  the  unusual  prevalence 
of  contagious  diseases,  and  the  large  amount  of  immigration  during  the 
first  half  of  the  present  year,  we  must  admit  that  sewer-gas  alone  can 
not  account  for  the  increase  in  the  death-rate  over  last  year."  Perhaps 
not  ;  but  it  will  not  be  pretended  that  the  deaths  of  immigrants  will 
alone  explain  it ;  and  as  to  contagious  diseases,  these  are  precisely 
those  which,  according  to  Mr.  Wingate,  Drs.  Barker  and  Carpenter, 
with  many  others,  are  most  likely  to  be  multiplied  and  intensified,  and 
thus  rendered  fatal  by  sewer-gas.  The  fact  that  the  increased  death- 
rate  is  chiefly  due  to  the  increase  of  contagious  diseases  justifies  the 
suspicion  that  sewer-gas  is,  to  a  great  degree,  responsible  for  this  result. 


16  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

The  President  of  our  Board  of  Health  is  reported  to  have  said  that 
"  there  has  been  a  similar  increase,  during  the  last  two  years,  all  over 
the  world."  It  would  be  impossible  to  determine  this  fact,  for  the 
reason  that  a  large  portion  of  the  world  makes  no  record  of  death. 
Probably  he  said,  or  intended  to  say,  that  such  was  the  fact  in  the 
large  cities  of  the  most  civilized  portions  of  the  world  ;  and  inas- 
much as  this  has  not  been  a  season  of  general  epidemics,  and  there 
have  been  no  marked  meteorological  conditions  to  which  it  might  be 
ascribed,  and  in  the  absence  of  any  other  plausible  explanation,  it 
would  be  quite  as  fair  to  attribute  it  to  an  extension  of  "  modern  im- 
provements "  in  plumbing  as  to  anything  else. 

A  system  of  sewerage  for  the  city  of  Memphis,  Tennessee,  was 
commenced  January  20,  1880,  and  completed  July  1,  1881.  When 
completed  it  was  found  that  thirty-three  miles  of  sewer-pipes  had 
been  laid,  and  three  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy-nine  water- 
closets  had  been  connected  with  the  sewers.  On  comparing  the  mor- 
tuary records  of  the  year  preceding  the  completion  of  the  work,  and 
before  the  houses  were  connected  with  the  sewers,  with  the  year  suc- 
ceeding the  completion,  it  appears  that  the  mortality  of  the  city  has 
materially  increased — although  neither  of  these  years  was  a  year  of 
epidemic.  The  deaths  from  typhoid  fever  were  the  same  each  year  ; 
but  the  deaths  from  dysentery  were  nearly  doubled,  and  the  deaths 
from  diphtheria  nearly  quadrupled. 

The  "  system "  adopted  is  approved  by  many  of  our  best  sanita- 
rians ;  but  it  was  not  carried  out,  in  all  respects,  as  recommended  and 
agreed  upon,  and  therefore  may  not  be  regarded  as  a  fair  test  of  the 
value  of  the  peculiar  system  adopted.  But  we  have  the  authority  of 
the  gentleman  who  claims  to  be  its  inventoi*,  to  the  effect  that  "  the 
drainage  of  houses  and  their  connection  with  the  sewers  has  been 
admirably  carried  out  under  strict  regulations,  faithfully  executed," 
and  that  the  system,  so  far  as  completed,  is  "an  entire  engineering 
success." 

In  view  of  the  facts  as  above  stated,  there  is  a  sort  of  grim  humor 
in  the  letter  of  a  "  citizen  of  Memphis,"  who  says,  in  confirmation  of 
the  value  of  the  work  already  done,  "  Memphis  is  a  redeemed  city, 
and  we  are  thinking  of  putting  on  airs,  and  advertising  it  as  a  summer 
resort." 

It  has  already  been  intimated  that  those  to  whom  the  public  has 
been  accustomed  to  look  for  counsel  upon  this  and  allied  subjects  do 
not  differ  so  widely  as  some  have  supposed,  but  that  there  is  actually 
a  very  strong  convergence  of  opinion  as  to  what  needs  to  be  done. 

Professor  Willard  Parker,  one  of  our  most  distinguished  physicians, 
after  listening  to  the  discussions  of  the  Academy,  said  :  "  If  I  were  to 
build  a  house,  I  would  not  have  it  connected  in  any  way  with  a  sewer. 
I  would  construct  a  sort  of  annex."  Into  which,  Professor  Parker 
was  understood  to  say,  he  would  gather  all  the  pipes  and  fixtures, 


SEWER-GAS.  i7 

water-closets,  baths,  and  wash-basins.  He  further  remarked  :  "I  sup- 
pose most  of  you  would  object  to  having  a  vault  filled  with  dead  bodies 
a  few  yards  from  your  house,  and  connected  with  it  by  a  pipe.  Yet 
this  is  practically  what  we  do.  Water  is  no  protection  from  the  poi- 
sonous germs  which  generate  and  live  in  this  foul  air.  This  matter 
demands  our  most  careful  attention,  for  we  are  in  a  very  critical  and 
unhealthy  condition." 

Colonel  George  B.  Waring,  Jr.,  sanitary  engineer,  addressing  the 
public  through  the  daily  press,  gives  the  following  advice  :  "  Let  us 
take  no  step  backward  in  the  essential  improvement  of  the  adjuncts  of 
our  daily  life.  Let  us  only  lop  off  luxurious  superfluities,  and  see  that 
what  is  really  needed  is  good.  .  .  .  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  luxury 
of  a  wide  distribution  of  plumbing  appliances  throughout  the  whole 
house  has  led  to  a  great  increase  of  risk  and  to  a  wide  distribution  of 
dangerous  defects.  The  use  of  stationary  wash-basins  in  bedrooms 
not  immediately  adjoining  soil-pipes  is  to  be  deprecated  ;  and  every- 
thing should  be  reduced  to  the  simplest  elements  that  will  give  the 
necessary  sanitary  control  of  the  waste  matters  of  the  house." 

Not  long  after  Mr.  Wingate  had  protested  to  the  Academy  against 
"  the  foolish  fear  which  prevails  regarding  the  risks  to  health  from  so- 
called  modern  improvements,"  declaring  that  there  was  no  need  of 
taking  a  step  backward,  a  circular  was  received  from  the  Heath  House, 
Schooley's  Mountain,  New  Jersey,  containing  a  certificate  from 
"  Charles  F.  Wingate,  consulting  sanitary  engineer,"  a  portion  of  which 
reads  as  follows  :  "  I  found  the  plumbing  fixtures  all  placed  in  an 
extension,  so  as  to  be  completely  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  hotel, 
and  with  a  free  circulation  of  air  around  them.  There  are  no  basins 
in  bedrooms.  ...  In  short,  sanitary  considerations  seem  to  have  been 
studied  at  every  point,  and  this,  I  am  sure,  will  have  due  weight  with 
future  guests." 

It  seems  fair  to  assume  that  an  arrangement  which  Mr.  Wingate 
can  conscientiously  recommend  as  contributing  to  the  health  and  safety 
of  the  guests  of  the  Heath  House  he  can  conscientiously  recommend 
also  to  the  occupants  of  any  other  house,  and  especially  to  the  occupants 
of  city  houses,  where  the  danger  from  sewer-gas  is  tenfold  greater 
than  at  the  Heath  House. 

If  I  have  interpreted  their  language  correctly,  one  of  these  dis- 
tinguished sanitary  engineers  is  substantially  in  accord  with  Dr.  Par- 
ker and  myself,  and  the  other  is  absolutely  in  accord  ;  and  these  are 
the  only  sanitary  engineers,  so  far  as  I  am  informed,  who  have  pub- 
licly, and  over  their  own  signatures,  taken  exception  to  our  views. 

It  seems,  however,  that  the  people  themselves,  without  asking  the 
opinions  of  sanitary  engineers,  or  of  any  one  else,  have  concluded,  in 
many  instances,  to  "  lop  off  the  luxuries,"  and  to  practically  adopt  the 
measures  which  I  have  suggested — these  concessions  on  the  part  of 
civilization  being  subsequently  indorsed  and  approved  by  both  sanita- 

YOL.   XXII. — 2 


18  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY, 

rians  and  sanitary  engineers.  As  has  been  seen,  the  proprietor  of  the 
Heath  House,  at  his  own  instance,  placed  his  plumbing  fixtures  in  an 
annex. 

C.  and  W.  Leland,  Jr.,  proprietors  of  the  Ocean  Hotel,  Long  Branch, 
announce  that  "  none  of  the  sleeping  apartments  have  water,  nor  are 
they  connected  in  any  way  with  water  or  drainage  pipes."  Drs.  Hunt 
and  Hughes,  recognized  sanitary  experts,  have  examined  the  premises, 
and  certify  that  they  regard  the  arrangements  "  as  a  sample  of  sanitary 
completeness."  The  same  thing  has  been  done  in  the  lately  added 
portion  of  one  of  the  largest  and  most  popular  hotels  in  this  city, 
namely,  the  Sturtevant  House  ;  and,  about  a  year  since,  the  Fifth 
Avenue  Hotel  "  changed  the  pipe-basins  of  about  fifty  of  its  best 
rooms  for  basins  with  pitchers,  to  avoid  any  possibility  of  comjdaints 
on  the  score  of  sewer-gas." 

Mr.  George  Harding,  of  Philadelphia,  has  erected  a  very  large  and 
elegant  hotel  on  the  Catskill  Mountains — the  "Hotel  Kaaterskill" — 
which  is  said  to  have  no  rival  in  its  construction  and  completeness, 
but  in  which  there  are  no  stationary  basins,  and  the  plumbing  is  con- 
fined to  the  rear  end  of  the  building. 

A  gentleman  is  now  constructing  a  handsome  residence  in  Fifth 
Avenue,  and  he  informs  me  that,  recognizing  fully  the  danger  from 
sewer-gas,  he  has  placed  all  those  fixtures  which  he  proposes  to  use  at 
the  rear  end  of  his  house.  He  has,  however,  extended  his  plumbing 
throughout  his  house,  because  in  the  case  of  his  death  the  house  may 
be  sold,  and  some  might  object  to  it  if  it  did  not  contain  all  of  the 
"  modern  improvements  "  ;  but  he  has  made  arrangements  to  cut  off 
completely  all  of  the  plumbing  except  that  which  is  in  the  rear  of  the 
house,  and  in  this  condition  it  will  remain  so  long  as  it  is  occupied  by 
his  family. 

Mr.  John  Honeyman,  while  defending  architects  from  the  charge 
of  incapacity  made  by  the  doctors,  says  in  the  London  "Architect," 
that  they  were  "  among  the  first  to  point  out  the  dangers  arising  from 
the  general  introduction  of  water-closets." 

"  The  Sanitary  Engineer,"  describing  the  "  sanitary  appliances  "  in 
the  elegant  mansion  of  W.  II.  Vanderbilt,  recently  constructed  in  Fifth 
Avenue,  says,  "As  for  stationary  wash-hand-basins,  they  are  almost 
unknown,  there  being  but  two  in  the  whole  house — one  in  a  dressing- 
room  or  retiring-room  off  the  billiard-room,  and  one  in  a  pi'ivate  bath- 
room." 

Indeed,  stationary  basins  are  now  excluded  from  many  of  the  most 
fashionable  hotels  in  the  country,  and,  if  I  am  correctly  informed, 
from  several  public  and  private  houses  in  this  city  which  I  have  not 
mentioned  ;  although  most  of  them  continue  the  more  objectionable 
practice  of  having  the  water-closets  in  the  same  building  with  their 
guests  and  their  families. 

The  "  Medical  Record  "  for  July  8, 1882,  contains  a  letter  from  Dr. 


SEWER-GAS.  i9 

Joseph  A.  Andrews,  dated  at  Hong-Kong,  May  9,  1882,  giving  a  de- 
scription of  Canton,  "  the  most  characteristic  of  Chinese  towns,"  in 
which  it  is  said,  "  No  closed  under-ground  sewers  or  drains  exist,  save 
a  rudely  constructed  gutter  in  the  center  of  the  street,  which  carries 
off  the  superfluous  rain,"  etc.  The  contents  of  latrines  are  removed  in 
open  buckets,  generally  during  the  day.  And  notwithstanding  these, 
with  many  other  unquestionably  unsanitary  conditions,  in  a  city  con- 
taining a  population  of  one  million,  situated  in  a  warm  climate,  "  there 
is  no  typhus,  rarely  typhoid,  and  none  of  the  other  diseases,  diphthe- 
ria, etc.,  considered  the  inevitable  consequence  of  defective  sanita- 
tion." 

Dr.  Andrews  adds  : 

The  healthiness  of  the  foreign  population  of  Canton  is  certainly  in  a  great 
measure  owing  to  the  absence  of  water-closets  in  the  dwelling-houses,  which  at 
home  are  a  fruitful  source  of  disease.  Sulphureted  and  carbureted  hydrogen 
gases  are  evidently  not  so  injurious  to  health  when  given  off  in  the  open  air  as 
when  escaping  from  sewers.  Canton,  like  the  whole  country,  is  a  city  of  bad 
smells,  and  yet  the  people  do  not  seem  to  suffer  from  them,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, rather  like  them.  The  removal  of  excreta  and  the  disposal  of  sewer- 
water  is  the  sanitary  problem  of  the  day  at  home  and  abread.  Our  sewers  allow 
the  transference  of  gases  and  organic  molecules  from  house  to  house  and  from 
place  to  place.  Occasionally,  by  bursting,  leakage,  or  absorption,  the  ground  is 
contaminated,  and  the  water-supply  is  in  danger  of  being  contaminated  and  poi- 
soned ;  and  all  these  dangers  are  greater  from  being  concealed.  In  China,  there 
is  at  least  freedom  from  one  of  these  dangers.  It  would  certainly  seem  advisable 
that  our  water-closets  should  he  in  a  projection  from  the  building,  with  a  tube 
passing  to  the  outer  air. 

The  italics  are  Dr.  Andrews's. 

Why  did  those  in  authority  allow  such  defective  sanitary  arrangements?  was 
everywhere  asked  after  the  fever  at  Lord  Londesborough's ;  and  this  question 
you  heard  repeated,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  sanitary  arrangements,  having 
such  results  in  this  and  other  cases,  were  themselves  the  outcome  of  appointed 
sanitary  administrations,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  the  authorized  system  had 
itself  been  the  means  of  introducing  foul  gases  into  houses.* — ("  The  Study  of 
Sociology,"  by  Herbert  Spencer,  p.  3,  and  note  on  p.  405.) 

Finally,  the  writer  wishes  it  to  be  understood  that  he  recognizes 
the  agency  of  many  other  conditions  than  the  presence  of  sewer-gas 
in  dwelling-houses  in  causing  the  increased  death-rate  of  large  cities  ; 
but  that,  in  what  he  has  written,  his  chief  purpose  has  been  to  place 
before  his  readers  the  careful  observations  of  scientific  and  practical 

*  Of  various  testimonies  to  this,  one  of  the  most  striking  was  that  given  by  Mr. 
Charles  Mayo,  M.  B.,  of  New  College,  Oxford,  who,  having  had  to  examine  the  drainage 
of  Windsor,  found  that  "  in  a  previous  visitation  of  typhoid  fever  the  poorest  and  lowest 
part  of  the  town  had  entirely  escaped,  while  the  epidemic  had  been  very  fatal  in  good 
houses.  The  difference  was  this,  that  while  the  better  houses  were  all  connected  with  the 
sewers,  the  poor  part  of  the  town  had  no  drains,  but  made  use  of  cesspools  in  the  gardens. 
And  this  is  by  no  means  an  isolated  instance." 


20  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

men,  and  to  note  their  conclusions  as  to  the  probable  responsibility  of 
these  agents.  In  most  of  the  points  considered  his  own  opinions  have 
been  guided  by  and  subordinated  to  theirs. 


THE  SCIENCE  OF  THE   PRESENT  PERIOD* 

By  EMIL  DU  BOIS-EEYMOND. 

WHILE  the  memorial  days  of  Frederick  the  Great  and  of  Leibnitz 
turn  the  view  of  the  Academy  back  to  the  times  of  its  origin 
and  of  its  new  birth,  this  festival  directs  its  vision  upon  the  present. 

Whoever,  having  a  nature  like  that  of  an  academician  of  the  old 
school,  prefers  to  live  a  contemplative  life  far  from  the  tumult  of  the 
market  and  the  strife  of  the  forum,  or  even  from  the  stimulating  com- 
petition of  the  lecture-room,  intent  only  on  the  accumulation  of  the 
treasures  of  knowledge,  the  solution  of  intellectual  problems,  the  en- 
largement of  his  inner  circle  of  thought,  he  might  well  at  this  period 
long  for  the  undisturbed  rest  and  the  quieting  gloom  of  a  middle-age 
Benedictine  cell.  Happy  monks  of  Monte  Casino  and  of  Montserrat ! 
Concealed  in  the  turbid  wake  of  the  people's  flood,  you  looked  down 
from  your  peaceful  height  upon  the  world,  whose  strife  and  anxieties 
troubled  you  not. 

But  the  gates  were  opened,  the  walls  fell  long  ago.  The  bright 
daylight  casts  an  incongruous  illumination  upon  the  rubbish  and  dust 
of  Faust's  study-room.  The  inexorable  to-day  no  longer  allows  a 
peaceful  dream-life.  We  need  no  Mephistopheles  to  tempt  us  into 
an  active  career  ;  we  are  seized  with  a  thousand  hands,  some  rude, 
some  caressing,  and  the  steam-horse  instead  of  the  enchanter's  cloak 
is  our  servant.  Our  only  trouble  is  to  resist  these  calls,  to  keep 
our  senses  in  the  whirl  that  carries  us  along,  to  perform  the  outer 
work  imposed  upon  us  and  still  be  true  to  the  inner  work  which  is 
our  real  calling.  We  can  no  longer,  like  our  peers  of  old,  freely  fol- 
low our  personal  inclinations,  only  exercising  the  gifts  which  God  has 
bestowed  upon  us.  From  childhood  we  belong  to  the  state.  Every 
condition  of  exemption  has  vanished.  Examinations,  military  service, 
and  the  duties  of  citizenship,  are  common  to  all  ;  and,  while  one  ought 
not  wholly  to  shun  the  duties  of  politics,  he  may  regret  the  exagger- 
ated prominence  which  its  fruitless  excitements,  its  ephemeral  tri- 
umphs, and  its  sharp  partisan  strifes,  have  assumed  in  the  culture-life 
of  the  day. 

And  how  little  quickening,  in  many  respects,  is  this  life  of  the 
latest  fashion  !     The  hydra  of  morbidly  exaggerated  patriotism  raises 

*  Address  delivered  on  the  Emperor's  birthday,  in  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  at  Berlin, 
March  23,  1882. 


THE  SCIENCE    OF   THE  PRESENT  PERIOD.         21 

head  after  head  in  its  circle,  and  comes  between  the  learned  of  differ- 
ent lands,  who  have  hitherto  felt  themselves  members  of  a  single  com- 
munity. People  who  have  done  nothing  for  their  fame  except  occa- 
sionally to  stir  themselves  lustily,  put  themselves  boastfully  and  con- 
tentiously  into  the  fore-rank  of  those  who  have  a  thousand  years  of 
intellectual  creation  behind  them.  Instead  of  dynastic  wars,  we  are 
threatened  with  incomparably  more  shocking  race-wars,  without  the 
religious  wars  having  ceased  much  otherwise  than  in  name.  Have 
not  the  last  two  years  witnessed  an  agitation  the  shame  of  which  we 
considered  as  unlikely  to  fall  upon  us  as  that  of  the  rack,  of  trials  for 
witchcraft,  or  of  man-selling  ?  With  this,  sentimental  ignorance,  whose 
well-meaning  way  can  not  be  distinguished  in  its  effect  from  slander- 
ous accusation  and  vicious  persecution,  has  dared  to  brand  as  mis- 
chievous methods  of  scientific  research  which  Robert  Hooke,  in  the 
bosom  of  the  old  Royal  Society,  and  the  God-fearing  Haller,  unques- 
tionably used. 

But  even  the  later  development  of  scientific  life  lets  few  distin- 
guishing traits  of  itself  be  recognized.  A  persistent  effort,  devotedly 
directed  toward  ideal  objects,  has  rarely  been  pursued  to  the  end  by 
the  after-growing  generation.  A  thousand  busy  workers,  renouncing 
high  fame,  are  daily  bringing  in  a  thousand  details,  unconcerned 
about  inner  and  outer  completeness,  caring  only  to  attract  attention  to 
themselves  for  the  moment,  and  to  gain  the  best  price  for  their  goods. 
Instead  of  honorable  alliance,  a  reckless  struggle  for  existence  fre- 
quently prevails  in  a  very  odious  form.  The  men  of  one  party  regard 
those  of  the  other  with  the  feelings  of  rival  gold-diggers,  but  with 
less  security,  for  a  kind  of  law  prevails  in  the  diggings.  Whoever  in 
them  acquires  a  rich  claim  is  allowed  to  work  it  in  security,  without 
any  other  one  forcing  himself  into  partnership. 

The  stream  of  knowledge  is  continually  dividing  itself  into  more 
numerous  and  smaller  rills,  and  there  is  danger  of  its  getting  lost  in  the 
sands  and  marshes.  In  the  onward-pressing  haste,  every  pause  for 
survey  or  review  seems  lost  time.  With  historical  reflection  passed 
away  one  of  the  most  fruitful  germs  of  greatness,  Carlyle's  hero-wor- 
ship ;  with  comprehensive  survey,  the  possibility  of  comparing  the 
different  branches  of  science  together,  and  of  causing  one  to  illustrate 
and  fructify  another.  Instead  of  healthy  generalization,  the  tendency 
to  unrestrained  speculation  again  prevails  in  Germany.  Brought  up 
in  abhorrence  of  false  philosophy,  we  have  had  to  live  to  see  that  the 
generation  following  us,  which  we  thought  we  had  strictly  schooled, 
is  falling  back  into  the  faults  from  which  the  generation  before  us 
scornfully  turned  away. 

Finally,  the  complaint  is  generally  set  up  that  the  more  munifi- 
cently laboratories  and  seminaries  are  founded,  the  more  richly  means 
are  poured  out  for  scientific  journeys  and  enterprises,  the  more  indif- 
ferent do  youth  hold  themselves  toward  the  treasures  and  expendi- 


22  THE  POPULAR  SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

tures  which  might  in  our  time,  alas  !  have  greatly  benefited  us  ;  and 
the  more  rare  are  phenomena  which  surpass  mediocrity. 

To  these  dubious  prognostications  for  science  is  added  the  view  of 
the  transformation  of  human  life  by  the  later  development  of  indus- 
trial art,  which  is  taking  place  on  a  far  grander  scale  than  that  which 
was  inspired  by  the  discovery  of  America  and  the  inventions  of  gun- 
powder and  printing.  The  abundance  of  means  and  of  forces  brought 
into  play  by  this  agency  reacts  through  innumerable  concatenations 
on  all  circles  and  levels  of  society,  and  the  final  victory  of  utilitarian- 
ism, whose  precepts,  moreover,  were  always  clear  to  the  multitude, 
seems  near. 

Thus  an  evil  time  is  foreboded  for  pure  science,  without  any  defi- 
nite hope  for  an  immediate  turn  of  the  wheel.  It  is  about  as  if  one 
lived  in  the  midst  of  a  gradual,  constant,  self -completing  change,  such 
as  the  earth  used  to  suffer  in  primitive  geological  times,  when,  in  the 
course  of  physical,  geographical,  and  climatic  alterations,  one  so-called 
period  of  creation  gave  way  to  another,  and  as  if  the  past  of  the  per- 
ishing creation  fell  to  us.  The  academies  would  then  represent,  as  it 
were,  transitional  forms  between  the  earlier  and  the  new  creation,  with 
the  excuses  for  their  existence  growing  continuously  more  doubtful, 
just  as  we  may  find  examples  of  a  similar  character  in  the  vegetable 
and  animal  kingdoms.  In  fact,  one  does  not  need  an  ear  of  extraordi- 
nary delicacy  to  hear  the  jealous  questions  :  For  what  are  those  stiff 
figures  in  the  midst  of  the  rushing  life-stream  that  does  not  regard 
them  ?  Of  what  use  is  a  golden  book  in  the  midst  of  the  general 
Democritizing  ?  or,  to  pronounce  the  catch- word  of  the  times,  why  a 
ring  of  scholars  ?  Such  are  the  terms  in  which  a  modern  Heraclite 
an  adept  in  that  worldly  wisdom  culminating  in  pessimism,  which  is 
praised  as  the  newest  phase  of  German  philosophy,  might  express  him- 
self to-day.  We  Berlin  Academicians  may,  perhaps,  be  permitted  to 
adhere  to  the  optimism  of  our  founder. 

To  judge  correctly  concerning  the  present  position  of  science,  of 
the  single  observer  and  the  learned  bodies,  one  must  betake  himself,  as 
it  were,  to  a  height  above  the  clatter  of  the  individual  combats,  whence 
he  can  watch  the  course  of  the  battle,  the  grouping  of  the  advancing 
masses,  the  closing  circle  of  victory,  and  the  unfolding  of  tbe  j)Ian  ; 
and  a  modern  popular  contest  is  harder  to  view  comprehensively  than 
a  Homeric  skirmish.  From  a  proper  point  of  view  is  observed  the 
comforting,  exalting  opposite  of  that  which,  only  partially  beheld  and 
imperfectly  comprehended  in  the  narrower  circle  of  vision,  was  before 
lamented.  Never  was  science,  remotely  viewed,  so  rich  in  the  sub- 
limest  generalizations.  Never  did  it  represent  a  more  magnificent 
unity  in  its  objects  and  its  results.  Never  did  it  advance  more  rap- 
idly, with  a  more  definite  consciousness  of  its  purposes,  and  with 
mightier  methods,  and  never  did  a  more  active  co-operation  exist 
between  its  different  branches.      And,  finally,  never  had  academies 


THE  SCIENCE    OF  THE  PRESENT  PERIOD.         23 

so  evident  a  vocation,  or  did  ours,  at   least,  exercise  a  greater  in- 
fluence. 

So  unjust  is  the  accusation  that  contemporary  science  is  split  up 
into  details,  that  we  have  to  go  back  to  Newton's  time  to  find  an 
example  of  an  enlargement  of  our  theoretical  conceptions,  like  that 
which  was  effected  by  the  enunciation  of  the  doctrines  of  the  persist- 
ence of  energy  and  motion,  and  of  the  mechanical  theory  of  heat.  As, 
at  the  former  time,  the  fall  of  bodies,  the  motion  of  the  stars,  the 
refraction  of  light,  capillarity,  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tides,  were  rec- 
ognized to  be  expressions  of  the  same  properties  of  matter,  so  now, 
through  the  labors  of  our  generation  of  investigators,  the  same  prin- 
ciple has  been  made  to  include  the  totality  of  the  phenomena  accessi- 
ble to  experiment,  methodical  observation,  and  calculation  ;  mechanics, 
acoustics,  optics,  the  Proteus  electricity,  heat,  and  the  elastic  phe- 
nomena of  the  gases  and  steam.  This  principle  is  not  merely,  like  uni- 
versal gravity,  an  experimental  proposition  ;  it  conforms  to  the  ulti- 
mate fundamental  condition  of  our  intellect.  Hence  its  value  as  an 
aid  to  invention  ;  therefore  it  extends  far  beyond  the  limit  of  its  strict 
verification.  It  permits  us  to  weigh  the  ether  and  measure  the  atoms. 
The  circulation  of  the  waters  over  the  earth,  kept  up  by  the  force  of 
the  sun's  light,  falls  under  it  as  well  as  the  circulation,  similarly  main- 
tained, of  matter  through  plants  and  animals.  Forward  and  backward 
along  the  "  corridors  of  time,"  as  the  Royal  Astronomer  of  Ireland 
recently  expressed  himself  in  a  sharp  metaphor,  it  leads  the  way,  and 
answers  that  very  practical  question  for  the  thinker  about  the  begin- 
ning and  end  of  the  world,  with  a  reservation  of  the  limits  of  error,  as 
if  we  were  dealing  with  measurements  in  the  laboratory.  The  same 
wizard's-formula  lends  itself  to  practical  instruction  in  the  ordinary 
sense,  and  shows  the  machinist  how  he  may  reach  a  desired  result  in 
the  shape  of  mechanical  force,  the  electrical  current,  or  light,  with  the 
smallest  quantity  of  coal.  Inorganic  and  organic  chemistry,  separated 
from  the  beginning,  now  find  an  all-ruling  principle  in  the  quantiva- 
lence  of  atoms. 

As  mechanics  and  physics  discovered  their  guiding  star  in  the  per- 
sistence of  energy,  and  chemistry  in  the  theory  of  equivalents,  so  is 
the  sphere  of  life  composed  by  the  theory  of  descent  into  a  picture 
which  brings  within  a  single  frame  the  immense  abundance  of  forms 
of  the  present  with  the  invisible  traces  of  the  most  remote  past.  The 
ban  of  the  Cuvierian  theory,  to  which  Johann  Miiller  opposed  him- 
self, is  broken.  Instead  of  the  lifeless  system  of  the  older  schools, 
that  Darwinian  tree,  in  whose  evergreen  crown  man  himself  is  only  a 
branch,  waves  before  us.  As  zoological  gardens  and  stations  are  to  1 
collections  of  animals,  stuffed  or  preserved  in  alcohol,  as  botanical  gar- 
dens to  herbariums,  so  is  the  new  knowledge  of  plants  and  animals, 
biology,  to  the  older  science.  A  development-history,  as  it  were,  of 
the  transition  of  individual  types  from  one  into  another,  it  leads  back 


24  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

through  paleontology  and  geology  to  the  fiery-liquid  youth  of  our 
planet,  and  hence  extends  its  hand  in  the  nebular  hypothesis  to  the 
theory  of  the  persistence  of  energy,  while  anthropology,  ethnology, 
and  the  history  of  the  primitive  ages  lay  the  bridge  to  linguistics,  the 
theory  of  knowledge,  and  the  historical  sciences.  The  examination  of 
the  vital  processes,  physiology,  has  stripped  off  the  larva-casing  of 
vitalism,  and  has  burst  from  its  cocoon  as  applied  physics  and  chemis- 
try. While  the  physiologists  of  Germany  during  the  first  half  of  the 
century,  and  those  of  England  and  France  in  part  till  to-day,  were 
engaged  only  with  morphology,  and  at  most  with  experiments  on 
animals,  for  a  generation  past  all  the  intellectual  and  instrumental 
aids  of  the  physicist,  all  the  arts  of  the  chemist,  have  been  naturalized 
in  the  physiological  laboratory,  and  have  been  thereby  much  aug- 
mented. Nothing  better  illustrates  the  lively  interworking  of  the 
different  branches  of  science,  at  the  present  time,  than  that  the  inves- 
tigation into  original  generation  has  helped  surgery  to  the  greatest 
progress  it  has  made  since  Ambroise  Pare,  and  pathology  to  a  con- 
ception of  the  nature  of  the  most  destructive  infectious  disease,  pul- 
monary tuberculosis. 

Sciences,  also,  whose  circles  once  hardly  intersected,  have  ap- 
proached each  other.  The  triumph  of  the  inductive  method  rendered 
historians  and  philologists  like  Thomas  Buckle  and  Max  Mtiller  anxious 
to  make  themselves  masters  of  its  advantages,  for  it  was  evident  that 
the  difference  between  their  activity  and  that  of  the  naturalist  was  not 
fundamentally  very  great  :  of  course  not,  for  induction  is,  in  practice, 
only  sound  reason  sagaciously  applied.  To  the  interworking  of  archae- 
ological and  scientific  labors  we  owe  a  well-founded  acquisition  of  re- 
cent times,  the  study  of  the  primitive  condition  of  mankind,  created 
jointly  by  the  Danish  scholars  Forchhammer,  Steenstrup,  Thomsen, 
and  Worsaae,  which  is  in  many  cases  more  interesting  than  real  his- 
tory. 

It  would  be  superfluous  to  extend  the  painting  of  this  pictui-e.  We 
have  given  enough  to  show  that  the  view  that  regards  the  science  of 
the  present  as  having  been  seduced  into  by-ways,  and  as  being  dissi- 
pated among  special  investigations  definitely  separated  from  each 
other,  and  that  the  notion  that  it  is  lacking  in  general  ideas,  that  the 
wood  can  not  be  seen  for  the  trees,  are  deceptive.  It  is,  however, 
probable  that  no  more  such  comprehensive  theories  as  those  of  the 
persistence  of  energy  and  of  descent  will  appear  during  the  next  dec- 
ade, because  a  third  theory  of  such  moment  is  now  hardly  conceivable. 
We  may  therefore  well  repeat  what  Dove  said,  at  about  the  middle  of 
the  last  century,  that  "  the  impulse  which  science  received  in  Newton's 
time,  through  the  co-operation  of  his  great  talents,  was  not  responded 
to  by  a  proportionately  rapid  progress  in  the  following  period.  Time 
was  needed  to  elaborate  the  thoughts  which  had  been  so  grandly 
aroused  in  the  different  fields,  to  adjust  them  in  detail  to  the  phenom- 


THE  SCIENCE   OF   THE  PRESENT  PERIOD.         25 

ena,  to  fill  up  the  interior  of  the  outlined  scheme,  which  more  accurate 
observations  unfolded  in  continually  increasing  richness."  Contem- 
poraneously with  the  general  thoughts  requiring  elaboration,  have 
arisen  such  new  methods  of  research  as  spectral  analysis  and  chronos- 
copy, making  possible  conclusions  that  had  not  before  been  thought  of. 
Not  only  have  the  world's  trade — likewise  greatly  enlarged  to  beyond 
any  extent  which  it  had  previously  attained — and  numerous  scientific 
journeys  contributed  an  overwhelming  mass  of  new  materials  to  the 
observing  sciences,  but  an  inexhaustible  treasury  has  long  been  acces- 
sible to  them  at  the  zoological  stations.  The  excavations  methodically 
carried  on  unobtrusively,  at  different  points  of  the  old  grounds  of  cult- 
ure, are  inundating  antiquaries  with  a  flood  of  discoveries,  enough  to 
engage  the  industry  of  generations. 

What  can  be  more  desirable  than  for  hosts  of  laborers,  satisfying 
themselves  with  the  solution  of  minute  problems,  to  be  occupying  all 
the  places  with  their  restless  activity  ?  Why  should  there  not  be  in 
the  pursuit  of  science,  as  in  a  factory,  men  at  the  vise  giving  valuable 
service,  even  if  they  do  not  know  what  is  to  be  done  with  the  piece  at 
which  they  are  filing  ;  foremen  who  know  how  to  adjust  the  parts, 
yet  are  not  informed  as  to  the  destination  of  the  whole  ;  and  still  fur- 
ther sighted,  more  deeply  initiated  masters  ?  Art  also  laments  the 
lack  of  prominent  talent  under  the  generally  elevated  condition  of 
culture  ;  aside  from  casual  instances  of  the  production  of  talent,  it 
may  be  that  we  are  only  deceived  through  the  unremarked  grada- 
tion of  so  many  fellow-workers.  The  superfluity  of  aids  at  our  com- 
mand naturally  causes  a  depreciation  of  these  workers,  in  accordance 
with  the  accepted  law  of  the  statics  of  the  passions.  Finally,  if  by 
the  force  of  precarious  social  conditions  there  are  not  only  absolutely 
but  also  relatively  more  young  men  to  whom  science  is  not  the  ex- 
alted, heavenly  goddess,  but  a  milch-cow,  that  is  but  a  small  mat- 
ter to  the  great  whole.  In  this,  as  in  many  other  human  affairs, 
ethical  and  rcsthetical  demands  unfortunately  concur  only  in  the  sec- 
ond line. 

It  all  depends  rather  on  the  fact  that  something  is  accomplished,  less 
on  how  it  is  done.  The  more  industriously  and  at  the  more  places 
anything  is  done  from  those  motives,  the  more  speedily  does  the  ap- 
parent interruption  pass  off,  and  the  more  securely  and  broadly  is  the 
basis  laid  for  new  advances.  It  may  be  years  or  decades,  the  time 
will  come  when  investigation  will  collect  her  energies,  no  longer  scat- 
tered through  a  swarm  of  questions  demanding  priority  of  solution,  for 
the  attack  upon  the  highest  problems  now  before  us  :  What  is  gravity  ? 
AVhat  is  electricity  ?  What  is  the  mechanism  of  chemical  combustion  ? 
And  what  is  the  constitution  of  the  elements  that  have  not  been  de- 
composed ?  It  will  solve  them,  for,  the  more  definitely  we  set  the 
limits  of  the  knowledge  of  nature,  the  more  securely  can  we  build 
on  the  possibility  of  knowledge  within   those  limits.     Beyond  those 


26  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

problems  open  others  ;  and  so  again  and  again  in  the  infinity  of  the 
periodic  turns  in  the  development-course  of  human  knowledge. 

The  unparalleled  spectacle  to  which  Paris  invited  the  civilized 
world  last  fall  not  only  shows  that  science  is  exercising  its  binding  force 
in  spite  of  popular  discords,  but  it  at  the  same  time  teaches,  better 
than  all  words,  that,  if  the  recent  brilliant  development  of  technics  has 
dulled  the  taste  for  pure  science,  it  has  on  the  other  hand  compensated 
a  thousand  -  fold  for  this  injury.  The  electrical  apparatus  of  thirty 
years  ago  filled  a  large  room  ;  that  of  to-day,  generally  illustrated  by 
several  specimens,  filled  a  world's  Exhibition-Building.  Eilhard  Mit- 
scherlich  has  remarked  of  Herr  Wiedeman's  treatise  on  galvanism  and 
electro-magnetism  that  nothing  speaks  more  eloquently  of  the  power 
of  the  human  mind  than  that  book  filled  with  the  clear  facts  which 
physicists  have  procured.  Deep  in  thought  we  walked,  keeping  these 
words  in  mind,  through  the  magic  palace  of  the  Elysian  Fields,  illumi- 
nated by  the  electric  light,  and  ventilated  by  electrical  machinery.  We 
sometimes  speak  slightingly  of  Americanism,  intimating  that  it  bears 
utilitarianism  on  its  shield.  But  who  does  not  feel  a  patriotic  press- 
ure for  old  Europe  at  the  wonders  of  the  telephone  and  the  phono- 
graph ?  or  at  the  report  of  the  confirmation  by  Asaph  Hall,  with  Alvah 
Clark's  objective,  of  the  discovery  of  the  astronomers  of  Laputa? 
Hardly  a  year  passes  but  that  the  newspapers  report  some  new  mag- 
nificent institution  for  purposes  of  pure  science  which  American  public 
spirit  has  called  into  life  through  private  means,  in  a  manner  that  is 
known  on  this  side  of  the  water  only  in  England.  The  names  of 
American  historians,  thinkers,  and  philologists  are  known  along  with 
the  best,  and  are  particularly  dear  to  this  Academy.  We  must  accus- 
tom ourselves  to  the  thought  that,  as  the  economical  center  of  gravity 
of  the  civilized  world  lies  already,  like  the  center  of  gravity  of  a 
double  star,  between  the  old  and  the  new  continents,  in  the  Atlantic 
ocean,  so  also  will  the  scientific  center  of  gravity  in  time  move  strongly 
toward  the  west.  Enough  :  Europe  may  look  out  lest  its  science  may 
be  in  more  danger  from  the  militarism  which  is  forced  upon  it  by  the 
chauvinsm  of  all  nationalities  than  American  science  from  utilitari- 
anism. 

In  one  point,  indeed,  we  may  well  reckon  that  leadership  will  not 
so  soon  be  wrested  from  us.  The  co-operation  of  a  body  supported 
by  the  state,  already  fully  composed  into  a  permanent  organization, 
representing  in  the  highest  possible  degree  the  aggregate  of  knowl- 
edge, whose  age  and  famous  past  give  weight  to  its  decisions,  is  a 
force  not  to  be  created  overnight,  even  with  the  most  ample  means 
and  efforts.  Ingenious  inventors,  single  though  ever  so  worthy 
scholars  and  investigators,  can  not  take  the  place  of  academies  in  the 
scientific  life  of  a  nation.  It  was  a  simple  thing  that  the  telephone 
should  be  discovered  ;  remarkable  that  the  explanation  of  it  was  re- 
served for  members  of  our  Academy. 


THE  SCIENCE   OF  THE  PRESENT  PERIOD.         27 

At  the  time  of  their  foundation  the  older  academies  entirely  con- 
stituted the  scientific  world.  In  the  universities,  the  so-called  profes- 
sional faculties  had  quite  the  upper  hand  over  the  philosophical,  and 
in  them  classical  philology  predominated.  The  academies  had  inter- 
course with  each  other,  but  hardly  exerted  any  influence  on  the  outer 
world,  which  was  strangely  out  of  sympathy  with  them,  except 
throuo-h  their  prize  problems.  Even  in  the  comparatively  idyllic 
conditions  of  the  first  half  of  the  century,  they  limited  themselves 
chiefly  to  the  fulfillment  of  their  inner  calling,  to  their  own  scientific 

labors. 

In  view  of  the  constant  pressure  of  forces  of  every  kind  and 
deo-ree,  of  the  atomistic  division  of  labor  around  us,  of  the  unregu- 
lated  assumptions,  the  short  memory,  of  the  overwhelmingly  common- 
place life  of  the  present  generation,  the  academies  have  an  outer  voca- 
tion in  addition  to  their  inner  one.  It  is  their  duty  to  preserve  the 
bond  of  connection  in  the  division  of  labor,  to  have  a  look  to  the 
welfare  of  knowledge  in  the  flight  of  the  phenomena  of  the  day. 
They  should  bring  into  competition  with  the  dangerous  enticements 
of  technics,  the  charm  of  pure  knowledge.  Her  sacred  instrument, 
method,  is  in  their  care  ;  but  in  Germany,  where  the  false  gods  of 
perverted  speculation  are  constantly  finding  willing  Baal-servitors,  it 
is  especially  incumbent  on  them  to  throw  these  idols  out  wherever 
they  are  smuggled  in,  and  to  drive  away  their  priests.  The  necessary 
complement  of  an  externally  acting  influence  of  the  Academy  is  a  no 
less  vivid  reaction  from  without  upon  the  Academy,  an  interaction  for 
the  maintenance  of  which  an  alert  organ,  ready  for  the  combat,  is 
needed.  The  venerable  but  somewhat  unwieldy  form  in  which  our  body 
has  comfortably  moved  for  some  tens  of  years  could  not  satisfy  such  a 
demand  of  this  "rapid,  giddy-footed  time."  Our  slowly  and  irregu- 
larly appearing  "  Monatsberichte,"  which  were  overwhelmed  in  the 
struggle  for  light  and  air  with  numerous  active  special  journals,  could 
not  perform  this  service. 

The  Academy  has,  therefore,  made  some  quite  important  changes 
in  its  arrangements  and  in  the  course  of  its  business,  which  last  year 
received  the  sanction  of  our  immediate  protector,  his  Majesty  the  Em- 
peror and  King.  Among  other  things  it  has  doubled  the  number  of 
its  class  sittings,  at  the  expense  of  the  general  meetings,  and,  in  order 
to  keep  pace  with  the  rise  of  new  branches  of  science,  it  has  quad- 
rupled the  number  of  its  ordinary  members.  Following  the  time- 
honored  example  of  its  renowned  sister  of  Paris,  it  has  decided,  not 
without  opposition,  on  a  kind  of  publication  of  its  proceedings,  which 
by  means  of  weekly  reports  of  meetings  (Sitzungsberichte)  shall  satisfy 
the  desire  of  members  as  well  as  of  strangers  for  the  most  speedy  in- 
formation of  its  transactions.  Our  arrangement  still  leaves  it  possible 
to  afford  a  place  also  for  the  former  more  complete  and  less  urgent 
statements.     The  external  appearance  of  the  new  "  Berichte,"  and  we 


28  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

hope  its  contents  also,  will  be  worthy  of  the  first  scientific  body  in 
the  empire  ;  and,  in  order  to  afford  to  the  mathematico-scientific  circle 
of  readers  the  part  of  the  substance  of  the  reports  most  nearly  inter- 
esting them  in  a  more  acceptable  form,  the  Physico-mathematical  Sec- 
tion has  decided  to  prepare  an  extract  from  these  reports  under  the 
title  of  "  Mathematical  and  Scientific  Communications." 

Rarely  do  important  and  accessible  questions,  at  least  in  natural  sci- 
ence, now  remain  long  unworked.  The  system  of  the  putting  of  prize 
questions,  and  the  coronation  of  the  best  answer,  is  therefore  less 
adapted  to  our  time  than  that  of  rewarding  excellent,  already  published 
efforts,  which  is  usual  with  the  practical  English.  Partly  on  account  of 
the  tenor  of  the  bequests  to  which  the  means  for  many  of  its  prizes  are 
due,  partly  for  other  reasons,  the  Academy  has  adhered  essentially  to 
the  former  way  of  awarding  prizes.  It  will  simply  hereafter  offer 
higher  prizes  at  longer  intervals,  and  it  reserves  the  right,  in  case  a 
prize  question  is  not  satisfactorily  answered,  to  award  the  amount  of 
the  prize  as  a  testimonial  of  honor  to  the  author  of  a  meritorious 
essay,  not  more  than  three  years  old,  upon  the  same  subject.  It  is 
determinative  of  the  character  of  the  Academy  that  it  is  under  the 
protection  of  the  state,  and  its  authority  is  supported  by  that  of  the 
state  so  far  as  such  a  thing  is  conceivable  and  desirable  in  scientific 
matters.  The  state  thus  demonstrates  the  sympathy  which  it  has 
with  science,  as  such,  with  ideal  efforts.  It  expresses  this  immediately 
by  the  means  which  it  puts  at  the  disposition  of  the  Academy  for  sci- 
entific purposes.  It  has  been  too  little  recognized,  amid  the  tumult  of 
the  great  events  of  the  time,  that  one  of  the  first  applications  which 
the  Prussian  state  made  of  its  lately  enlarged  resources  was  to  increase 
the  annual  subsidy  of  the  Academy.  Through  the  turn  for  the  better 
thereby  effected  in  the  circumstances  of  the  Academy  were  produced 
the  works  which  now  appear  almost  yearly  on  all  branches  of  science 
with  our  support  ;  the  researches  of  all  kinds,  from  epigrapbic  and 
diplomatic  to  micrographic  and  paleontological  studies,  for  which  we 
supply  means  ;  and  the  steamboat  of  the  zoological  station  at  Naples, 
the  expense  of  which  we  share  with  the  state.  Around  the  Academy 
are  crystallized  several  literary  enterprises,  the  fame  of  which  is  re- 
flected upon  it,  as  well  as  endowments  and  institutes,  whose  resources 
accrue  to  its  benefit  so  far  as  it  has  the  more  or  less  immediate  dispo- 
sition of  them.  Hardly  ever  are  we  without  travelers  who  are  making 
collections  in  remote  parts  of  the  world  in  our  name  and  by  our  order, 
or  interrogating  Nature  or  the  monuments  of  antiquity  on  the  spot. 
The  names  of  the  travelers  of  the  Humboldt  Stiftung,  to  speak  only 
of  them,  Hensel,  Schweinfurth,  Buchholtz,  Hilderbrandt,  Sachs,  are  in 
the  mouths  of  all  experts,  and  are  associated  with  extremely  impor- 
tant results.  The  Academy  will  shortly  hear,  in  accordance  with  our 
new  order  of  business,  the  reports  which  are  now  to  be  brought  in 
concerning  the  progress  of  those  investigaions  and  the  work  of  a  part 


THE  SCIENCE   OF   THE  PRESENT  PERIOD.  29 

of  the  societies  and  institutions  associated  with  it.  The  opinion  that 
its  influence  was  never  greater  than  at  this  moment  will  be  fully  con- 
firmed by  the  creditable  series  of  these  reports. 

The  first  of  all  the  academies,  that  Platonic  one  of  which  Herr 
Curtius  lately  gave  an  eloquent  sketch  in  this  place,  arose  in  a  free 
state.  Since  its  birth  no  republican  commonwealth  has  brought  forth 
a  lasting  and  important  work  of  the  kind.  According  to  M.  de  Can- 
dolle's  statistics,  Switzerland  has,  from  the  middle  of  the  last  to  the 
middle  of  the  present  century,  contributed,  relatively,  the  largest  con- 
tingent of  the  foreign  and  corresponding  members  of  the  Paris  and 
Berlin  Academies  and  of  the  Royal  Society  ;  it  has  itself  not  founded 
any  academy.  The  origin  of  the  Royal  Society  is  lost  in  the  storms  of 
the  Commonwealth  ;  but  it  was  not  Cromwell's  Puritans  who  prepared 
a  place  for  human  knowledge,  and  the  name  of  the  young  society  be- 
trays the  effort  to  lean  upon  monarchical  institutions.  That  popular 
rule  is  not  kindly  to  academies  is  shown  by  Bailly's  and  Lavoisier's 
bloody  heads,  and  by  Condorcet's  sad  end.  Certainly  there  would  be 
no  place  for  the  Academy  in  a  social  democratic  state,  which  recognizes 
no  principle  but  that  of  common  utility. 

Not  only  because  in  Prussia  crown  and  state  have  always  been 
one  does  our  body,  maintained,  protected,  and  supported  by  the  state, 
bear  the  title  of  royal  with  better  right  than  many  so-called  learned 
societies.  None  of  them  have  had  so  close  relations  to  the  ruling 
house.  The  Hohenzollerns'  own  peculiar  creation,  borne  on  the  hands 
of  Prussia's  kings  through  good  and  evil  times,  the  Berlin  Academy 
has  likewise  numbered  the  greatest  among  its  fellow-workers.  Grate- 
ful expressions  of  thanks  have  often  been  given  here  for  these  recol- 
lections ;  to-day  a  word  appears  to  be  in  place  which  it  is  our  proud 
prerogative  to  speak. 

To  praise  the  Emperor  William,  as  the  victorious  hero,  the  restorer 
of  the  empire  of  the  German  nation,  the  arbiter  of  the  Continent,  the 
mighty  warrior  and  the  real  prince  of  peace,  as  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable figures  described  by  history,  is  the  task  of  others.  It  is  for 
us  to  say,  what  finds  but  a  slight  echo  in  the  world,  but  what  signifies 
to  the  minds  of  those  who  are  interested  in  affairs  of  the  intellect  an- 
other laurel-leaf  in  his  crown,  that  in  this  culmination  of  his  life,  in 
the  pressure  of  so  important  affairs  of  state,  under  the  load  of  such 
consuming  cares,  in  the  grasp  of  such  world-stirring  questions,  the 
Emperor  William,  true  to  the  spirit  of  his  house,  has  always  had  a 
friendly,  open  ear  for  his  Academy  of  Sciences. 


3o  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

r 
I 

SOME   CTJKIOUS  VEGETABLE   GROWTHS. 

By  W.  H.  LAEEABEE. 

THE  importance  of  trees  to  the  earth  and  to  life  does  not  need  to 
be  insisted  upon.  The  condition  of  treeless  regions  is  almost  a 
demonstration  that  without  them  the  soil  would  not  be  tillable  and 
life  would  not  be  endurable.  It  is,  therefore,  natural  that  they  should 
have  at  all  times  shared  the  special  regards  of  men  ;  and  that  not  only- 
particular  species,  but  individual  trees,  should  in  their  times  and  places 
have  been  hallowed  with  a  sacred,  historical,  legendary,  romantic,  or 
mythical  interest.  The  list  of  such  trees,  if  one  should  undertake  to 
make  it  out,  would  fill  a  large  catalogue.  Our  own  country  and  time, 
commonplace  as  their  characteristics  are  supposed  to  be,  are  not  with- 
out them.  Other  trees  have  become  famous  by  reason  of  their  ex- 
traordinary size,  or  some  other  remarkable  features  of  their  growth  ; 
and  in  these  points  we  are  able  to  present  specimens  with  respectable 
claims  to  honor.  The  big  trees  of  California  are  equaled  among  the 
trees  of  modern,  and,  so  far  as  is  known,  of  ancient,  periods  only  by 
a  few  Australian  eucalyptuses.  Many  of  the  most  remarkable  speci- 
mens of  vegetable  growth  are  familiar  by  description  ;  others  are 
added  to  the  list,  from  time  to  time,  as  new  quarters  of  the  earth  are 
more  thoroughly  explored  and  their  forests  more  closely  examined,  or 
seen  with  eyes  keener  in  observation. 

The  forests  of  Europe  still  contain  a  few  remarkable  trees,  the 
history  of  which  has  not  become  trite  by  familiarity.  Mr.  Gaston 
Tissandier's  "  La  Nature  "  furnishes  us  with  descriptions  and  illustra- 
tions of  two  noteworthy  specimens  of  these  growths. 

Switzerland  has  its  old  chestnut-trees  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Leman, 
and  the  ancient  linden  of  Fribourg,  the  history  of  which  is  said  to  go 
back  to  the  time  of  the  conflicts  with  Charles  the  Bold.  M.  Louis 
Pire,  President  of  the  Royal  Botanical  Society  of  Belgium,  has  found 
a  fir-tree  in  the  forest  of  Alliaz,  Canton  of  Vaud,  which  he  believes 
to  be  still  older  than  the  linden  of  Fribourg,  and  considers  entitled 
to  be  regarded  as  the  oldest  and  most  remarkable  tree  in  the  canton, 
if  not  in  the  whole  confederation.  It  is  growing  near  the  baths  of 
Alliaz,  at  a  height  of  about  thirteen  hundred  feet  above  the  hotel, 
and  forty-five  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  surrounded  by  a  forest  of 
firs,  which  it  overtops  by  more  than  thirty  feet.  The  trunk  of  this 
tree  is  ten  metres,  or  a  little  more  than  thirty  feet,  in  circumference 
at  the  base.  At  about  a  yard  from  the  ground  it  puts  out,  on  the 
south  side,  seven  offshoots,  which  have  grown  into  trunks  as  strong 
and  vigorous  as  those  of  the  other  trees  in  the  forest.  Bent  and 
gnarled  at  the  bottom,  these  side-trunks  soon  straighten  themselves 
up  and  rise  perpendicularly  and  parallel  to  the  main  stem.     This  feat- 


SOME   CURIOUS    VEGETABLE  GROWTHS. 


31 


ure  is  not,  perhaps,  wholly  unparalleled,  but  another  most  curious  fact 
is  that  the  two  largest  of  the  side-trunks  are  connected  with  the  prin- 
cipal stem  by  sub-quadrangular  braces  resembling  girders.  These 
beams  have  probably  been  formed  by  an  anastomosing  of  branches, 


Fiq.  1.— The  Fir-tree  or  Alliaz.    (From  a  sketch  by  Madame  A.  Pire.) 


which,  common  enough  among  angiosperms,  is  extremely  rare  among 
conifers  ;  but  it  has  been  impossible  to  ascertain  the  manner  in  which 
the  ingrowing  of  one  branch  into  the  other  has  been  effected.     The 


32 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


adaptation  by  which  a  limb,  originally  destined  to  grow  free  and 
bear  foliage,  has  been  converted  into  a  living  stick  of  timber,  is  a 
strange  one,  and  affords  a  new  illustration  of  the  power  of  nature  to 
fit  itself  to  circumstances.  The  space  between  the  rough  flooring 
formed  by  the  growing  together  of  the  offshoots,  at  their  point  of 
departure,  and  the  girder-limbs,  is  large  enough  to  admit  of  building 
a  comfortable  hermit's  hut  within  it. 

Several  forests  are  still  existing  in  Europe  in  a  primitive  condition, 
some  of  the  principal  ones  of  which  are  situated  on  the  vast  estates 


SOME  CURIOUS   VEGETABLE  GROWTHS.  33 

of  Prince  Schwartzenberg,  in  Bohemia.  In  these  forests  are  beech- 
trees  a  hundred  to  a  hundred  and  twenty  feet  high,  with  trunks  three 
or  four  feet  in  diameter  ;  and  pyramidal  pines,  four  to  eight  feet  in 
diameter,  and  towering  to  a  height  of  from  one  hundred  and  twenty 
to  two  hundred  feet.  The  dense  foliage  of  these  gigantic  plants  ex- 
cludes the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  keeps  all  around  them  in  impenetrable 
obscurity.  The  voices  of  the  birds  are  hushed,  and  the  silence  of  the 
solitude  is  broken  only  by  the  soughing  of  the  wind  through  the  foli- 
age of  the  colossal  trees.  Old  trees,  which  have  fallen  and  decayed, 
furnish  a  rich  and  congenial  base  in  which  young  larches  and  pines 
readily  take  root,  and  from  which  they  may  grow  for  centuries,  draw- 
ing nourishment  from  the  juices  supplied  from  the  slowly  rotting  trunk. 
This,  at  least,  appears  to  be  the  case  with  the  trees  in  our  cut,  which 
represents  an  actual  group  of  trees  growing  upon  the  trunk  of  a  fallen 
ancestor,  some  of  which  are  nearly  as  large  as  the  decaying  monster 
itself,  while  that  still  keeps  its  shape. 

Herr  Haeckel,  in  the  "  Letters  of  Indian  Travel "  which  he  is  pub- 
lishing in  the  "  Deutsche  Rundschau,"  gives  some  glowing  descrip- 
tions of  the  beautiful  and  curious  forms  of  tropical  vegetation  which 
he  met  in  the  forests  and  jungles  and  gardens  of  Ceylon.  Down  in 
the  valley  away  below  him,  as  he  journeyed  by  rail  from  Kandy  to 
Peradenia,  he  observed  in  the  jungles  which  alternate  with  the  culti- 
vated lands,  towering  above  all  the  other  trees,  the  giant  stems  of  the 
talipat  palm  ( Corypha  umbraculifera),  "  queen  among  the  palms  of 
Ceylon."  Its  perfectly  straight  white  trunk  resembles  a  slender  marble 
pillar,  and  often  rises  to  a  height  of  more  than  a  hundred  feet.  Each 
one  of  the  fan-shaped  leaves  of  its  stately  crown  covers  a  semicircle 
sixteen  feet  in  diameter,  or  a  surface  of  two  hundred  square  feet.  Nu- 
merous applications  are  made  of  the  leaves,  the  most  important,  per- 
haps, being  for  purposes  of  thatching.  They  formerly  constituted  the 
only  substitute  which  the  Singlalese  had  for  paper,  and  are  still  used 
to  a  considerable  extent  for  that  purpose.  The  ancient  pushola  manu- 
scripts in  the  Buddhist  cloisters  were  all  written  with  iron  styles  on 
o/a-paper,  or  narrow  strips  of  tali  pat-leaves  prepared  by  steeping  and 
drying  them.  The  talipat  blooms  but  once  in  its  life,  generally 
between  its  fiftieth  and  eightieth  year.  The  magnificent  pyramid  of 
flowers  rises  from  the  top  immediately  above  the  mass  of  the  foliage, 
to  a  height  of  thirty  or  forty  feet,  and  is  composed  of  millions  of 
little  whitish  vellow  blossoms;  and  the  tree  dies  as  soon  as  the  nuts 
are  ripe. 

On  the  road  between  Colombo  and  Point  de  Galle,  although  the 
general  character  of  the  landscape  varied  but  little,  the  traveler's  eye 
was  never  tired,  for  the  constant  charm  of  the  cocoa  and  the  inexhaust- 
ible variety  in  the  grouping  of  the  palms  prevented  any  monotony. 
The  delicately  feathered  leaves  of  the  cocoas,  with  the  fanning  of  the 
sea-breezes,  tempered  the  heat  of  the  sun.  without  excluding  his  rays. 

VOL.    XXII. 3 


34  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

The  eye  was  constantly  delighted  with  the  endless  vai-iety  of  the  cloth- 
ing of  the  palm-stems  with  festoons  of  pepper-wort  and  other  vines, 
swung  like  beautiful  and  artfully  arranged  garlands  from  tree-top  to 
tree-top,  and  hanging  down  in  bouquets  of  dense  foliage  set  off  with 
bright  flowers.  Under  and  among  the  stately  palms  were  other  trees, 
the  noble  mango  and  the  large  bread-fruit  tree,  with  its  thick,  dark- 
green  crown  of  leaves.  The  slender,  pillar-like  stem  of  the  handsome 
papaya-tree  (  Carica  papaya)  was  elegantly  inlaid  and  adorned  with  a 
regular  diadem  of  broad,  palmated  leaves  ;  and  jasmin,  orange,  and 
lemon  trees  in  varieties  were  covered  over  and  over  with  fragrant 
white  blossoms. 

As  the  road  neared  the  sea-shore,  the  pandanus,  or  screw-trees 
(Pandanns  odoratissimus),  picturesquely  growing  upon  the  rocky 
hills,  attracted  attention.  These  are  among  the  most  remarkable  and 
characteristic  plants  of  the  trojrics.  They  are  nearly  allied  to  the 
palms,  and  are  often  called  screw-palms,  or,  improperly,  screw-pines. 
The  cylindrical  stem  of  this  plant,  which  seldom  reaches  more  than  from 
twenty  to  forty  feet  in  height,  is  bent  and  twisted,  and  its  branches 
are  forked  like  a  chandelier.  Each  limb  bears  on  the  end  a  dense  tuft 
of  large,  sword-shaped  leaves,  like  those  of  the  dracama  and  the  yucca. 
The  leaves  are  sometimes  sea-green,  sometimes  dark-green,  and  are 
arranged  spirally  at  the  base,  so  that  the  limb  resembles  a  regularly 
turned  screw.  At  the  bases  of  the  leaf -tufts  hang  clusters  of  white, 
extremely  fragrant  blossoms,  or  large  red  fruits  like  the  anana.  The 
most  remarkable  feature  of  the  plant  is  afforded  by  the  numerous  air- 
roots  which  branch  out  from  the  trunk  and  ramify  again,  lower  down, 
fastening  themselves  in  the  earth  when  they  reach  the  ground,  and 
forming  buttresses  to  support  the  main  stem.  The  tree  looks  as  if  it 
were  walking  on  stilts. 

The  entrance  to  the  Botanic  Garden  of  Peradenia  is  through  a  no- 
ble avenue  of  India-rubber  trees.  This  tree,  which  is  known  to  us  of 
the  north  only  by  puny  specimens  in  greenhouses,  grows  in  these  trop- 
ical regions  to  a  giant's  stature,  of  a  size  comparable  to  that  of  our 
largest  oaks.  An  immense  crown  of  many  thousand  leaves  covers 
with  the  aid  of  its  horizontal  limbs,  which  are  thirty  or  forty  feet  long, 
the  area  of  a  stately  palace  ;  while  from  the  base  of  its  thick  trunk 
extends  a  frame-work  of  roots  over  a  space  of  often  between  one  and 
two  hundred  feet  in  diameter,  and  much  larger  than  would  correspond 
with  the  height  of  the  tree.  This  wonderful  structure  consists  of 
twenty  or  thirty  chief  roots  proceeding  from  as  many  corresponding 
ribs  in  the  lower  part  of  the  trunk,  and  spreading  themselves  like  great 
snakes  on  the  ground.  The  tree  is  hence  called  the  snake-tree  by  the 
natives,  and  has  been  compared  by  the  poets  to  the  coiled  serpents 
of  the  Laocoon.  The  roots,  with  the  ribs  which  mark  their  swelling 
out  from  the  trunk,  form  strong  buttresses  to  the  tree,  and  enable  it  to 
bid  defiance  to  the  storm.     The  spaces  between  the  buttresses  consti- 


SOME  CURIOUS   VEGETABLE  GROWTHS.  35 

tute  mimic  chambers  large  enough  for  a  standing  man  to  conceal  him- 
self in  them. 

Among  the  other  arboreal  wonders  of  Peradenia  are  the  giant 
bamboos,  which  are  a  marvel  to  all  visitors.  They  here  form  thickets 
along  the  banks  of  the  stream,  a  hundred  feet  high,  and  as  many  feet 
wide,  bending  their  great  heads,  like  the  waving  plume  of  a  giant,  high 
over  the  river  and  the  adjoining  road.  On  a  nearer  approach,  each  of 
the  thickets  is  seen  to  consist  of  cylindrical  stems  a  foot  or  two  thick, 
which,  closely  crowded  together  below  on  a  common  root — offshoots 
from  a  creeping  stem — diverge  as  they  rise,  and  bear  on  slight,  nod- 
ding branches  dense  tufts  of  the  most  delicate  foliage.  These  gi- 
gantic trees  are  nothing  but  grasses.  Like  all  grass-holms,  their  great 
hollow  reed-stem  is  divided  into  joints  ;  but  the  sheath  of  the  leaf, 
which  is  represented  in  our  tender  grasses  by  a  thin  scale  at  the  base 
of  the  leaves,  becomes  in  these  gigantic  bamboos  a  hard,  woody  plate, 
that  might  without  further  preparation  serve  the  purpose  of  an  armor 
for  the  whole  breast  of  a  strong  man.  A  three-year-old  child  could 
hide  itself  in  one  of  the  joints  of  the  stem. 

Not  less  interesting  than  the  bamboos  and  the  palms  proper  are  the 
groups  of  thorny  climbing  palms,  or  rattans  (calamus),  with  their  fine 
waving  feather-leaves.  Their  slender  but  hard  and  elastic  stems,  no 
thicker  than  one's  finger,  climb  into  the  tops  of  the  highest  trees,  and 
may  reach  a  length  of  three  or  four  hundred  feet.  They  are  the  long- 
est of  all  plants. 

Herr  Haeckel  also  speaks  of  the  mangroves,  whose  branching  roots 
form  impenetrable  thickets  at  the  mouths  of  the  large  rivers  ;  of  the 
cactus-shaped  wolf's-milk  {Euphorbia  antiquorum),  with  its  naked  blue- 
green  prismatic  limbs,  near  the  rock-temple  of  Kaduwella  ;  and  of  the 
Buddha-trees,  Bogas,  or  saci-ed  fig-trees  (Ficus  religiosa),  generally 
found  near  the  Buddhist  temples,  which  with  their  venerable  stems, 
fantastic  roots,  and  colossal  crowns  of  foliage,  form  a  prominent  feat- 
ure in  the  picturesque  surroundings  of  those  buildings.  "  Their  leaves, 
which  are  heart-shaped,  with  long  stalks,  quiver  like  our  aspens."  At 
one  end  of  the  town  of  Cultura,  a  magnificent  banyan-tree  (Metis  In- 
died)  spans  the  road  with  its  arch  of  roots.  The  gigantic  trunk  has 
thrown  out  air-roots  which  have  grounded  themselves  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  road,  and  have  grown  up  into  large  stems.  These  form 
now,  together  with  the  main  stem,  a  high  Gothic  archway,  to  which 
picturesqueness  is  added  by  the  ferns,  orchids,  and  climbing  vines  that 
have  grown  upon  the  trunk.  Near  it  is  an  India-rubber  tree,  whose 
buttressed  roots,  entwined  together  and  rising  in  high  lattices,  form  a 
labyrinth,  in  the  sinuosities  of  which,  when  Haeckel  visited  the  place, 
hosts  of  children  were  amusing  themselves  with  playing  at  hide-and- 
seek. 

Australia  possesses  a  diversified  flora,  consisting  partly  of  forms  pe- 
culiarly its  own,  partly  of  those  allied  to  African  and  South  American 


36 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


SOME   CURIOUS   VEGETABLE  GROWTHS.  37 

types.  Its  myrtles,  proteazeas,  acacias,  and  gum-trees  exhibit  most 
curious  forms,  and  the  grasses,  ferns,  beeches,  araucarias,  screw-palms, 
and  bananas  are  represented  ;  while  the  thorny  rattans  wind  among 
the  thickets  so  as  to  form  impenetrable  copses. 

One  of  the  most  curious  trees  of  Northwestern  Australia  is  the 
monkey-bread  tree  {Adansonia  Gregorii),  a  baobab,  which  is  plainly 
distinguished  from  the  African  baobab  {Adansonia  digitata),  the  only 
species  hitherto  known,  by  its  short  fruit-stalks.  The  trunk  is  swollen 
to  a  considerable  extent,  and  the  tissues  are  charged  with  a  mucus  like 
that  of  the  mallows,  of  which  the  sheep  feeding  in  the  region  are  very 
fond,  and  which  they  find  quite  refreshing.  The  tree  is  remarkable, 
among  its  fellow-plants  of  the  sandstone  table-land  on  which  it  grows, 
for  its  habit  of  shedding  its  leaves  periodically — a  peculiarity  which  is 
shared  by  hardly  a  dozen  among  all  the  Australian  trees.  Associated 
with  this  baobab  are  relatives  of  other  African  plants,  of  the  legumi- 
nous Erythroplacum,  or  poison-tree,  and  the  tamarind  ;  and  to  these 
may  be  added  an  ally  of  the  Indian  crow-nut,  or  nux  vomica. 

Many  of  the  Australian  plants  exhibit  various  aberrations  in  the 
form  of  their  leaves,  with  some  of  which  specimens  of  their  eucalyp- 
tus have  made  us  acquainted.  The  acacias,  which  are  very  abundant, 
and  appear  in  three  hundred  species,  are  many  of  them,  as  well  as 
some  other  leguminous  plants,  distinctly  marked  from  similar  plants 
in  Asia,  Africa,  and  America,  by  having  not  veined  leaves  but  phyl- 
lods,  or  leaf -like  structures,  in  which  the  petiole  becomes  so  much  de- 
veloped as  to  assume  the  appearance  and  perform  the  functions  of  a 
leaf. 

Another  remarkable  adaptation  of  leaf-forms  is  exemplified  in  the 
Brazilian  plant  called  the  Bauhinia,  the  leaves  of  which  are  deeply  cleft 
into  two  lobes,  and  given  a  form  which  is  graphically  described  by 
the  name  Unha  de  boi,  "  ox-hoof,"  which  the  Portuguese  give  to  the 
plant.  At  daybreak,  the  leaves  are  borne  with  both  lobes  spread  out 
horizontally  ;  as  the  sun  rises  in  the  sky,  the  lobes  rise,  and  are  drawn 
toward  each  other,  till,  in  the  more  sensitive  species  {Bauhinia  Bra- 
ziliensis),  they  are  completely  doubled  up,  with  their  backs  in  contact. 
As  the  sun  goes  down,  they  begin  to  separate  again,  growing  wider 
apart  as  the  afternoon  advances,  till  in  the  evening  they  appear  again 
spread  out  level.  During  the  night  they  again  contract  and  become 
folded  together.  Herr  Fritz  Midler  had  an  opportunity  while  in  Brazil 
of  observing  one  of  these  plants  at  noon,  when  a  part  of  the  leaves 
were  shaded  by  the  tree  under  which  he  was  resting.  Leaves  that 
were  quite  closed  together,  or  the  lobes  of  which  formed  an  acute  angle 
with  each  other,  spread  out  as  soon  as  the  shadow  struck  them,  and 
eventually  became  horizontal,  and  even  appeared  to  turn  their  lobes 
downward.  In  no  other  instance,  however,  did  Herr  Muller  find  the 
upper  surface  of  the  lobes  of  the  leaves  inclined  to  each  other  at  a 
larger  angle  than  180°. 


33 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


a  % 

Fig.  4.— Leaf  of  Baithinia  Braziliensis.    a,  folded ;  b,  expanded. 


An  American  prairie  plant,  commonly  known  as  the  rosin-weed  or 
turpentine-plant  (Silphium  laciniatum),  bas  also  been  named  the  com- 
pass-plant, from  the  property  its  radical  leaves  bave  of  pointing  north 
and  south.  The  phenomenon  has  long  been  known  to  hunters  and 
frequenters  of  the  prairies,  and  has  been  scientifically  verified  by  Gen- 
eral Benjamin  Alford  and  other  American  and  European  observers 
since  1839.  The  secret  of  the  property  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  num- 
ber of  stomata  is  equal  on  both  sides  of  the  leaf,  and  both  sides,  there- 
fore, are  equally  acted  upon  by  light.  Hence,  if  the  leaf  is  equally 
exposed  to  the  morning  sun  and  the  afternoon  sun,  it  will  naturally 
tend  to  assume  a  position  of  equilibrium  between  the  two  foi'ces,  by 
turning  one  side  toward  the  morning,  the  other  side  toward  the  even- 
ing, sun.  This  would  throw  its  breadth  in  a  north-and-south  direc- 
tion. Since  attention  has  been  turned  to  this  subject,  the  leaves  of 
several  other  plants  have  been  found  to  possess  similar  properties. 


THE  LAW   OF  HUMAN  INCREASE.  39 

Among  them  are  some  lactucas  (or  lettuces),  the  Chinese  arbor  vitce, 
and  a  number  of  Australian  plants.  Whenever  this  peculiarity  has 
been  observed,  it  has  also  been  found,  on  examination,  that  both  sides 
of  the  leaves  were  structurally  alike.  The  property  can  be  brought 
out  clearly  under  favorable  conditions  ;  but  it  is  liable  to  be  modified 
or  marked,  in  the  actual  circumstances  of  growth,  by  any  difference 
in  exposure  to  the  sun  or  wind,  on  different  sides  of  the  plant. 


THE  LAW  OF  HUMAN  INCREASE. 

By  NATHAN  ALLEN,  M.D.,LL.  D. 

IT  is  almost  one  hundred  years  since  the  attention  of  T.  R.  Mal- 
thus  was  first  called  to  the  subject  of  population  and  its  changes. 
As  his  views  have  had  more  influence  than  any  other  writer,  it  is  well 
to  notice  briefly  what  they  were.  His  leading  principle  is,  that  "  popu- 
lation, when  unchecked,  increases  in  a  geometrical  ratio,  while  subsist- 
ence increases  only  in  an  arithmetical  ratio."  He  held  that  "  popula- 
tion is  necessarily  limited  by  the  means  of  subsistence,"  and  "  invari- 
ably increases  where  those  means  increase,  unless  prevented  by  some 
very  powerful  and  obvious  check."  He  divides  these  checks  into  two 
classes,  the  positive  and  the  preventive  :  among  the  former  are  wars, 
famine,  diseases  of  all  kinds,  unhealthy  occupations,  extreme  poverty, 
great  cities,  etc.  ;  and  in  the  latter  class  are  abstinence  from  marriage 
and  sexual  intercourse,  from  considerations  of  prudence.  The  last  class 
come  more  directly  under  the  control  of  human  agency. 

The  next  writer  of  any  note  was  Thomas  Doubleday,  who  published 
in  1840  a  work  with  this  title  :  "  The  True  Law  of  Population  shown  to 
be  connected  with  the  Food  of  the  People."  The  term  "true  law" 
was  undoubtedly  introduced  in  opposition  to  the  doctrine  of  Malthus. 
Doubleday  attempted  to  demonstrate  that  "  wherever  a  species  or 
genus  is  endangered,  a  corresponding  effort  is  invariably  made  by 
Nature  for  its  preservation  and  continuance,  by  an  increase  of  fecun- 
dity or  fertility  ;  and  that  this  especially  takes  place  whenever  such 
danger  arises  from  a  diminution  of  proper  nourishment,"  and  that  con- 
sequently "the  deplethoric  state  is  favorable  to  fertility."  Thus, 
"  there  is  in  all  societies  a  constant  increase  going  on  among  that  por- 
tion of  it  which  is  the  class  worst  supplied  with  food — in  short,  among 
the  poorest." 

The  April  number  of  the  "Westminster  Review"  for  1852  con- 
tained an  elaborate  essay  by  Herbert  Spencer,  introducing  a  "New 
Theory  of  Population,"  deduced  from  the  general  law  of  animal  fer- 
tility. He  "  maintained  that  an  antagonism  exists  between  individual- 
ism "and  reproduction  ;  that  matter  in  its  lower  forms,  for  instance,  of 


4o  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

vegetables,  possesses  a  stronger  power  of  increase  than  in  all  higher 
forms  ;  that  the  capacity  of  reproduction  in  animals  is  in  an  inverse 
ratio  to  their  individuation  ;  that  the  ability  to  maintain  individual 
life  and  that  of  multiplication  vary  in  the  same  manner  also,  and 
that  this  ability  is  measured  by  the  development  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem." 

Fourier  and  some  French  writers  have  advanced  the  idea  that  "just 
in  proportion  as  individuals  become  advanced  in  civilization,  in  the 
same  proportion  the  race  inclines  to  run  out "  ;  but  whether  this  depends 
upon  some  change  in  physiological  laws,  or  upon  the  influence  of  ex- 
ternal agents,  we  are  not  informed.  In  establishing  any  law  or  gen- 
eral principle,  it  is  highly  important  to  understand  distinctly  what  this 
principle  is  and  its  basis.  During  the  present  century,  the  above- 
named  persons  are  almost  the  only  writers  who  have  proposed  any- 
thing like  a  general  law  or  principle  to  guide  the  growth  and  changes 
of  population. 

The  principle  laid  down  by  Herbert  Spencer  is  the  only  one  based 
strictly  upon  physiology.  All  the  discussions  and  views  of  Malthus 
and  Doubleday  depend  mainly  upon  food,  climate,  government,  state 
of  society,  epidemics,  war,  etc.  They  make  the  leading  factors,  the 
primary  agents  in  all  these  changes,  outside,  and  in  a  great  measure 
independent,  of  the  body.  It  would  seem  more  consistent  with  com- 
mon sense,  and  all  natural  phenomena,  that  the  law  which  governs 
the  existence,  growth,  and  changes  of  a  living  being  should  have 
its  basis  and  development  in  that  same  organization.  From  obser- 
vation and  analogy,  we  believe  such  a  doctrine  exists  throughout 
the  whole  animal  and  vegetable  creation.  The  truth  of  this  principle 
is  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  changes  that  have  taken  place  in  do- 
mestic animals.  The  human  system  can  not  be  made  an  exception 
to  a  universal  principle. 

This  law  of  increase  or  propagation — the  most  important  of  all 
laws — must,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  be  inherent  in  the  body ; 
must  be  incorporated  into  its  very  existence,  though  in  its  operations 
it  may  be  affected  by  extraneous  causes  and  influences.  However 
powerful  may  be  the  effect  of  climate,  food,  and  other  external  agents 
upon  the  application  or  working  of  this  law,  whether  to  impede, 
thwart,  or  modify  its  operation,  the  law  must  exist,  we  believe,  in  the 
body  itself,  and  in  a  great  measure  control  it.  The  various  changes 
to  which  the  human  body  is  subjected,  can  not  happen  by  chance 
or  accident  ;  neither  can  the  causes  be  dissimilar  or  contradictory  in 
different  nations  and  races  ;  neither  can  they  radically  change  or  vary 
from  one  generation  to  another.  Universality  and  unchangeableness 
must  characterize  such  a  law.  The  reason  why  correct  principles  have 
not  been  brought  to  bear  more  directly  upon  the  growth  and  changes 
of  population  is,  that  the  principles  of  physiology  were  not  formerly 
understood.      The   science   was    scarcely  known  at   the    time   when 


THE  LAW   OF  HUMAN  INCREASE.  41 

Malthus  and  Doubleday  published  their  works,  that  is,  the  principles 
of  the  science  in  many  of  their  most  practical  applications.  In  fact,  it 
may  safely  be  said  that  some  of  these  principles,  as  far  as  their  appli- 
cation is  concerned,  are  still  in  their  infancy.  One  of  the  most  inter- 
esting and  important  of  these  applications  will  be  found,  we  believe, 
in  establishing  a  general  law  of  human  increase. 

After  many  years  of  study,  observation,  and  reflection,  we  have  been 
led  to  believe  that  there  is  such  a  law,  and  propose  to  submit  some  of 
the  facts  and  arguments  upon  which  this  belief  is  based.  As  the  sub- 
ject is  so  vast  and  complicated,  a  large  volume  would  be  required  to 
discuss  it  properly  ;  we  can  present  here  only  a  few  points  or  heads  of 
topics,  by  way  of  argument  and  illustration.  In  order  to  present  a 
clear  and  connected  view  in  a  short  paper,  few  quotations  or  refer- 
ences will  be  given. 

What,  then,  is  the  briefest  definition  that  can  be  given  of  this 
law  ?  It  consists  in  the  'perfectionism  of  structure  and  harmony  of 
function/  or,  in  other  words,  that  every  organ  in  the  body  should 
be  perfect  in  its  structure,  and  that  each  should  perform  its  legitimate 
function  in  harmony  with  all  others.  Though  this  perfect  physical 
organization  is  nowhere  to  be  found  in  nature,  we  can  readily  con- 
ceive of  such  a  standard,  and  that  there  may  be  all  manner  of  approxi- 
mations toward  it.  The  nearer  this  standard  is  reached,  the  more 
completely  the  law  of  propagation  will  be  carried  out.  Such  a  basis 
harmonizes  with  the  great  fundamental  or  general  laws  of  Nature,  as 
we  find  that  they  are  all  based  upon  the  highest  or  most  perfect  devel- 
opment of  her  works.  Any  other  basis  or  lower  standard  would  reflect 
upon  the  Creator  of  all  things,  and  interfere  with  the  harmony  and 
order  which  exist  in  Nature's  operations.  Thus,  in  reference  to  every 
organ  in  the  human  body,  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  normal,  perfect 
structure,  and,  wherever  this  exists,  they  constitute  a  perfect  model  or 
standard  for  the  whole  system.  All  diseases  interfere  at  once  with 
the  operations  of  this  law,  especially  those  that  are  considered  heredi- 
tary. This  class  of  diseases  changes  with  each  generation,  and  some- 
times becomes  so  intensified  that  they  impair  the  vitality  and  strength 
of  the  system  to  such  an  extent  as  to  prevent  propagation.  There  is 
a  class  of  diseases  or  weaknesses,  described  under  the  head  of  "  ste- 
rility," "  barrenness,"  and  "  impotence,"  from  which  strong  evidence 
may  be  deduced  in  proof  of  a  general  law  of  increase. 

There  is  a  law  in  physiology,  favorable  to  this  theory,  described  by 
Dr.  Carpenter  thus  :  "  There  is  a  certain  antagonism  between  the 
nutritive  and  reproductive  functions,  the  one  being  exercised  at  the 
expense  of  the  other.  The  reproductive  apparatus  derives  the  mate- 
rials of  its  operations  through  the  nutritive  system  and  its  functions. 
If,  therefore,  it  is  in  a  state  of  excessive  activity,  it  will  necessarily 
draw  off  from  the  individual  fabric  some  portion  of  aliment  destined 
for  its  maintenance.     It  may  be  universally  observed  that,  when  the 


42  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

nutritive  functions  are  particularly  active  in  supporting  the  individ- 
ual, the  reproductive  system  is  undeveloped,  and  vice  versa." 

Let,  therefore,  on  this  principle,  any  class  of  organs  or  any  parts 
of  the  body  be  unduly  or  very  much  exercised,  it  requires  the  more 
nutrition  to  support  them,  thereby  withdrawing  what  should  go  to 
other  organs.  In  accordance  with  this  physiological  law,  if  any  class 
of  organs  become  predominant  in  their  development,  it  conflicts  with 
this  great  law  of  increase.  In  other  words,  if  the  organization  is  car- 
ried by  successive  generations  to  an  extreme,  that  is,  to  a  high  nerv- 
ous temperament — a  predominance  of  the  brain  and  nervous  system — 
or,  on  the  other  hand,  to  a  lymphatic  temperament — a  predominance  of 
the  mere  animal  nature — it  operates  unfavorably  upon  the  increase  of 
progeny.  Accordingly,  in  the  highest  states  of  refinement,  culture, 
and  civilization  of  a  people,  the  tendency  has  always  been  to  run  out 
in  offspring  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  all  tribes  and  races  sunk  in  the 
lowest  stages  of  barbarism,  and  controlled  principally  by  their  animal 
nature,  do  not  abound  in  offspring,  and  in  the  course  of  time  they  tend 
also  to  run  out.  The  truth  of  both  these  statements  is  confirmed  by 
history.  The  same  general  fact  has  been  observed  among  all  the  ab- 
normal classes,  such  as  idiots,  cretins,  the  insane,  the  blind,  the  deaf 
and  dumb,  and  to  some  extent,  with  extreme  or  abnormal  organizations, 
such  as  are  excessively  corpulent  or  spare,  as  well  as  of  unnatural  size, 
either  very  large  or  diminutively  small. 

It  would  seem  that  Nature  herself  is  bound  to  put  an  end  to  organi- 
zations that  are  monstrous,  that  are  defective,  and  abnormal  or  unnat- 
ural or  imperfect  in  any  respect.  All  history,  we  believe,  proves  that 
such  organizations  are  not  prolific  in  offspring,  and  the  number  of 
this  class  born  into  the  world,  reaching  an  advanced  age,  is  compara- 
tively not  large.  Such  facts  would  indicate  that  there  must  be  a 
general  law  of  propagation  that  aims  at  a  higher  or  more  perfect 
standard. 

If  this  principle  is  applied  to  distinct  classes  in  society,  some  strik- 
ing illustrations  may  be  obtained.  Take  the  families  belonging  to  the 
nobility,  the  aristocracy,  or  the  most  select  circles,  where  by  inherit- 
ance, refinement,  and  culture  the  nervous  temperament  has  become 
very  predominant,  it  is  found  that  such  families  do  not  increase  from 
generation  to  generation  in  offspring,  and  not  unfrequently,  in  time, 
they  become  extinct. 

A  similar  result  has  also  followed  the  intermarriage  of  relations, 
from  the  fact  that  the  same  weaknesses  or  predispositions  are  intensi- 
fied by  this  alliance.  On  the  other  hand,  in  case  these  relations  have 
healthy,  well-balanced  organizations — it  may  be  that  they  are  cousins 
— they  will  abound  with  healthy  offspring,  and  the  stock  may  improve, 
and  not  deteriorate,  from  the  mere  fact  of  relationship. 

Again,  if  we  take  those  families  and  races  which  for  several  gen- 
erations have  steadily  increased  most,  we  shall  find  that,  as  a  whole, 


THE  LAW   OF  HUMAN  INCREASE.  43 

they  possess  a  remarkably  healthy,  well-balanced  organization.  Illus- 
trations of  this  type  we  shall  find  abound  most  among  the  middling  or 
working  classes  of  the  German,  the  English,  the  Scotch,  the  Irish,  and 
the  Americans.  The  strictly  native  New-Englanders  are,  in  some  re- 
spects, an  exception,  and  require  a  more  particular  notice.  During 
the  last  century  the  colonists  of  New  England,  made  up  mostly  of 
English  stock,  multiplied  rapidly.  So  great  was  their  natural  increase 
that  they  doubled  in  numbers  in  less  than  twenty-five  years.  Malthus 
regarded  them  as  the  best  specimens,  in  this  respect,  of  any  people  or 
race,  and  based  upon  facts  from  this  source  his  great  principle  of  pop- 
ulation. But  a  most  surprising  change  has  taken  place  within  one 
hundred  years  with  this  same  people.  From  records  carefully  kept,  it 
appears  that  the  average  number  of  children  to  each  family  has  de- 
creased with  every  generation  ;  that  they  commenced  with  large  fami- 
lies— averaging  eight  or  nine — but  it  is  now  doubtful  whether  the 
average  will  exceed  three  children  to  a  family,  scarcely  enough  to 
keep  the  original  stock  good  in  numbers.  This  change  has  occurred 
in  the  same  places,  with  the  same  people,  having  the  same  climate  and 
plenty  of  food.  Making  allowance  for  the  "  arts  of  destruction  and 
prevention  "  which  may  exist  to  some  extent,  we  do  not  see  how  this 
great  decrease  in  birth-rate  can  be  accounted  for,  except  by  some 
change  in  physical  organization.  The  first  settlers  of  New  England 
were  remarkably  healthy — had  well-balanced  organizations — and  this 
fact  was  true  of  the  women  as  well  as  of  the  men.  But  a  great  change 
in  this  respect  has  taken  place.  The  men  are  not  so  strong  and  vigor- 
ous as  their  grandfathers  and  ancestors,  and  the  women  have  deteri- 
orated physically  in  a  surprising  degree.  A  majority  of  them  have  a 
predominance  of  nerve-tissue,  with  weak  muscles  and  digestive  organs. 
The  most  marked  change  in  this  one  hundred  years,  in  organization,  is 
this  loss  of  balance  or  harmony  in  the  organs,  and  especially  in  women 
it  is  far  more  striking.  They  have  been  diverging  more  and  more  from 
that  normal  standard  upon  which  the  law  of  propagation  is  based. 

There  is  only  one  other  people  or  race  where  there  has  been  such  a 
natural  decrease  in  numbers — that  is  the  Sandwich-Islanders.  Once 
they  were  a  strong  and  robust  people.  In  1830,  when  the  first  census 
was  taken — which  was  ten  years  after  the  American  missionaries  com- 
menced their  labors — the  population  was  130,000,  but  by  the  last 
census  there  were  only  about  40,000,  one  third  as  many  as  fifty  years 
ago.  In  the  mean  time  religious  institutions  have  been  introduced, 
education  has  become  general,  and  the  family  as  an  institution  has 
been  established.  All  the  elements  of  a  Christian  civilization  have 
been  thoroughly  established,  but  still  the  population  has  been  stead- 
ily decreasing  at  the  rate  of  about  one  thousand  each  year.  How 
can  this  be  explained  ?  It  can  not  be  from  the  want  of  food,  nor 
a  well-regulated  society,  nor  change  in  climate,  nor  want  of  a  good 
government  ;  there  have  been  no  wars,  no  famine,  and  only  two  or 


44  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

three  epidemics,  which  were  quite  limited.  The  cause  of  this  loss  of 
population  can  not  arise  from  any  external  condition  or  agents,  but 
from  some  law  growing  out  of  and  governing  the  physical  system. 
It  is  well  known  that  certain  diseases,  resulting  from  licentiousness 
and  intemperance,  have  been  brought  by  foreigners  to  these  islands, 
causing  a  physical  degeneracy  in  the  people.  So  powerful  and  far- 
reaching  are  the  effects  of  these  diseases  that  neither  the  family,  nor 
education,  nor  Christianity,  can  eradicate  them.  The  law  of  propaga- 
tion has  been  violated  to  such  an  extent  that  it  threatens  the  extinction 
of  that  people. 

The  laws  of  hereditary  descent  afford  strong  evidence  in  favor  of 
some  general  law  of  propagation.  The  fact  that  "  like  begets  like," 
subject  to  certain  variations  and  conditions,  can  not  be  called  in  ques- 
tion. The  union  of  two  agents,  possessing  similar  and  dissimilar  quali- 
ties, constitutes  an  important  condition  to  which  this  law  of  propaga- 
tion is  subject.  While  it  may  be  difficult  to  point  out,  in  all  cases, 
the  exact  results  of  hereditary  influences,  still  it  has  been  demonstrated 
on  a  large  scale  that,  in  the  aggregate,  there  was  the  most  unquestion- 
able evidence  of  such  agency,  and  that  it  was  minute  and  extensive, 
and  continued  for  successive  generations.  Now,  the  same  evidence 
that  proves  the  existence  of  hereditary  agency,  implies  that  there  is 
somewhere  a  general  law,  of  which  each  and  every  part  of  this  agency 
is  part  and  parcel  ;  and  no  one  thing  will  throw  so  much  light  upon 
this  whole  subject  of  inheritance  as  the  recognition  of  a  general  law 
of  propagation,  based  upon  a  perfect  standard  in  nature.  Without 
such  acknowledgment,  all  these  hereditary  agencies  are  an  enigma. 
When  this  branch  of  physiology  becomes  thoroughly  understood, 
hereditary  influences  will  more  readily  be  traced  back  to  their  primary 
sources,  as  well  as  to  the  secondary  causes  which  serve  at  times  to 
change  and  modify  them.  In  this  case,  far  more  intelligent  and  effi- 
cient means  will  be  employed  to  improve  the  race. 

Again  :  powerful  arguments  in  favor  of  this  theory  of  increase  may 
be  deduced  from  woman's  organization.  It  is  a  settled  fact  that  the 
primary  organism  of  her  nature  is  the  production  of  children — that  by 
this  course  her  average  health  is  better,  and  the  mean  duration  of  life 
is  longer.  Hence  there  must  be  one  type  or  standard  of  organization 
better  adapted  for  this  purpose  than  all  others.  We  maintain  that  the 
perfect  structure  of  her  whole  body  and  the  harmony  of  function  in 
every  organ  constitute  this  normal  standard  of  increase.  The  truth 
of  this  assertion,  we  believe,  can  be  demonstrated  from  four  distinct 
points — all  most  intimately  connected  with  human  increase  :  1.  In 
case  of  pregnancy  a  woman  with  this  organization  suffers  the  least. 
It  is  well  known  that  this  change  frequently  brings  on  many  com- 
plaints, and  sometimes  serious  diseases.  The  more  the  body  or  certain 
organs  deviate  from  the  normal  standard,  the  greater  the  disturbance 
and  suffering.     2.  At  the  time  of  confinement,  or  in  the  process  of  de- 


THE  LAW   OF  HUMAN  INCREASE. 


45 


livery,  a  woman  with  this  organization  suffers  less — passes  through  all 
its  stages  safer,  and  recovers  from  its  effects  quicker  and  better — than 
those  having  any  kind  of  a  different  organization.  3.  In  the  matter 
of  nursing  offspring,  which  constitutes  a  very  important  part  of  child- 
bearing,  this  healthy,  well-balanced  organization  is  very  necessary. 
The  fact  that  only  about  one  half  of  the  New  England  women  can 
properly  nurse  their  offspring  is  very  significant  of  some  cbange  of 
organization — that  there  is  a  failure  in  the  development  of  the  mam- 
mary glands  and  the  requisite  power  of  the  digestive  organs — and  this 
incapacity  for  nursing  is  constantly  increasing.  And,  in  the  fourth 
place,  the  difference  in  the  physical  character  of  offspring  is  very 
significant.  This  is  determined  in  a  great  measure  by  that  of  the 
mother.  The  more  healthy  and  perfect  her  organization,  and  the 
better  the  balance  of  all  her  organs,  the  sounder  and  the  more  per- 
fect will  be  the  development  of  her  offspring.  The  health  and  life  of 
the  child  demand  it. 

This  theory  of  human  increase  derives  strong  evidence  from  an 
analogous  law  in  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms.  It  is  well 
known  that  great  improvements  have  been  made  within  the  present 
century  in  domestic  animals,  and  this,  too,  by  the  application  of  phys- 
iological laws.  To  such  an  extent  have  the  results  of  observation 
and  experiment  been  here  carried,  that  this  process  of  change  and 
improvement  has  been  reduced  almost  to  a  science.  The  terms  here 
used — "  pure  blood,"  "  thorough-bred,"  "  pedigree,"  "  breeding  in-and- 
in,"  and  "  cross-breeding  " — may  all  be  explained  by  two  great  leading 
principles.  One  is  a  general  law  of  propagation,  based  upon  a  perfect 
standard  ;  and  the  other  is  the  law  of  inheritance,  subject  to  certain 
conditions.  The  three  first-named  terms  have  originated  more  from 
an  observance  or  carrying  out  the  first  law — breeding  from  the  best 
stock  ;  but  the  two  latter  terms  depend  more  upon  the  effects  of  in- 
heritance. The  results  of  the  experiments  in  improving  domestic 
stock  indicate  clearly  that  there  must  be  some  settled  rules  or  laws  in 
the  process  ;  and,  if  so,  is  there  not  some  great  general  law  governing 
and  controlling  all  others?  A  similar  law  of  propagation  exists  in 
vegetable  physiology.  It  is  a  fact  well  attested  by  gardeners  that,  in 
order  to  produce  flowers  and  fruit,  the  soil  must  not  be  too  rich  nor 
too  poor  ;  if  the  plant  or  tree  grows  too  luxuriously,  its  branches  or 
roots  must  be  pruned  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  if  unthrifty,  it  must 
receive  better  culture  and  its  roots  be  enriched  before  it  will  become 
fruitful.  It  is  well  understood  by  gardeners  that,  in  order  to  raise  the 
best  fruit  and  vegetables,  the  fairest  and  best-looking  seed  must  be 
selected.  So  in  setting  out  plants  and  trees  the  best-looking  and  well- 
balanced  specimens  are  always  selected.  Other  facts  and  illustrations 
might  be  cited  from  this  source  to  prove  that  some  general  law 
governed  in  the  growth  and  changes  of  organic  life. 

Again,  arguments  in  favor  of  a  general  law  of  increase  may  be  de- 


46  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

duced  from  three  other  important  points  in  physiology.  Where  do  we 
find  the  highest  measure  or  the  most  perfect  health  ?  It  is  in  this  same 
normal  standard  of  physiology,  and  the  nearest  approaches  to  it.  In 
some  respects  the  human  body  resembles  a  complicated  machine  :  the 
more  perfect  the  structure,  and  the  more  nicely  adjusted  are  all  the 
parts  of  the  machinery,  the  less  likely  is  any  one  part  to  get  out  of 
order.  And  when  one  part,  however  small  it  may  be,  gives  out  or 
breaks,  it  at  once  involves  the  other  parts,  all  of  which  must  more  or 
less  suffer.  Thus  the  individual,  the  family,  the  people  which  possess 
by  nature  the  soundest  and  best-balanced  organizations,  will  have, 
other  things  being  equal,  the  greatest  aggregate  amount  of  health. 
Not  only  this,  but  they  will  secure  the  longest  lives.  This  same  stand- 
ard of  physiology,  then,  affords  the  material  upon  which  the  law  of 
longevity  is  based.  A  careful  examination  of  the  organization  of  all 
those  persons  who  reach  a  great  age,  we  believe,  will  demonstrate  that 
they  naturally  possessed  a  remarkably  healthy  and  evenly  balanced 
constitution. 

Again,  whenever  physical  standards  of  human  excellence  or  models 
of  the  best  specimens  of  the  race  have  been  sought  or  adduced,  they 
have  exhibited  this  harmonious  development.  The  Apollo  Belvedere 
and  the  Venus  de'  Medici  represent  a  beautiful  symmetrical  organiza- 
tion ;  and,  the  nearer  all  parts  of  the  body  approximate  to  this  stand- 
ard, the  greater  is  the  attraction  and  the  more  beautiful  the  form.  If 
there  is  a  form  or  type  of  organization  in  the  human  species  more 
beautiful  than  any  other,  is  not  this  the  model,  the  standard  ?  We 
believe  the  Creator  of  all  things  has  established  in  physiology  such  a 
standard  of  taste  and  beauty,  and  that  this  same  normal  standard,  upon 
which  the  law  of  increase  is  based,  comprises  that  beautiful  form  or 
standard  of  taste  for  the  human  body  which,  it  has  been  admitted,  ex- 
isted, but  is  nowhere  well  defined. 

Again,  arguments  in  favor  of  this  theory  of  increase  may  be  deduced 
from  the  writings  of  Charles  Darwin.  Two  of  his  leading  doctrines 
are  "  natural  selection  "  and  the  "  law  of  variability."  The  former 
doctrine  may  be  defined  thus  :  There  is  an  inherent  principle  in  nat- 
ure, amid  all  its  laws  and  changes,  for  betterment,  for  improvement. 
The  same  result  has  been  found  out  from  long  experience,  that  the 
character  of  domestic  animals  can  be  improved  by  selecting  the  most 
desirable  qualities  and  by  avoiding  all  that  conflict  with  these.  This 
principle  is  most  strikingly  manifested  in  all  organic  beings  in  their 
constant  "  struggle  for  existence,"  and  is  happily  expressed  in  the 
phrase  often  used  by  some  writers,  the  "  survival  of  the  fittest."  We 
believe  this  same  principle  not  only  harmonizes  with,  but  is  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  a  great  general  law  of  increase,  based  upon  the 
perfectionism  of  all  organization  and  harmony  of  function  ;  and  what 
are  denominated  "  laws  of  variation  "  may  be  explained  by  the  laws 
of  hereditary  descent.     When  we  take  into  consideration  the  fact  that 


THE  LAW  OF  HUMAN  INCREASE.  47 

t 
the  true  law  of  propagation  is  based  upon  a  perfect  standard  in  nature, 
all  changes  or  deviations  from  that  standard  or  model  result  from  what 
are  properly  called  laws  of  inheritance.  With  this  explanation  it  will 
be  seen  at  once  that  a  wide  and  varied  field  is  laid  open  for  their  oper- 
ations, dependent  not  only  on  the  body  itself,  but  upon  external  agen- 
cies and  conditions.  But  the  question  arises,  Why  this  "  natural  se- 
lection," why  this  "struggle  for  existence,"  and  why  the  "survival  of 
the  fittest "  ?  Do  they  not  arise  from  a  universal  law  in  nature  which 
gives  to  those  possessing  this  organization  in  the  highest  degree  the 
advantage  over  others  ? 

What  is  this  inherent  principle  in  nature  ever  aspiring  for  better- 
ment or  improvement  ?  What  are  the  secret  forces  everywhere  pre- 
disposing in  this  direction  ?  Is  there  not  some  general,  universal  law 
incorporated  into  organic  life  which  favors  such  qualities  ?  As  this 
law  is  primarily  based  upon  a  higher  or  perfect  standard,  all  its  inher- 
ent or  predisposing  forces  have  an  upward  or  improving  tendency. 
Thus  all  who  are  so  fortunate  as  to  possess  an  organization  of  higher 
grade  or  better  than  others  have  certain  advantages.  In  this  way  the 
doctrine  of  natural  selection  may  be  readily  understood  and  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest. 

This  general  law,  applicable  to  all  organic  beings,  resembles  in 
some  respects  that  principle  found  in  the  human  system  called  vis 
medicatrix.  It  was  early  discovered  by  physicians  that  in  case  any 
part  or  organ  in  the  body  became  injured  or  diseased  there  was  a  sur- 
prising recuperative  power  in  nature  of  healing  or  curing.  All  the 
sound  parts  of  the  body  seem  to  conspire  together  to  help  the  part  or 
organ  affected.  This  influence  to  assist  seems  spontaneous  and  always 
healthful.  So  it  is  with  this  law  of  propagation — it  is  not  only  con- 
servative, but  improving  to  all  possessing  more  than  an  average  share 
of  the  inherent  forces  of  this  law. 

Connected  with  this  law  of  population  there  are  several  points 
worthy  of  most  careful  consideration.  While  it  possesses  a  sure  and 
permanent  foundation,  there  are  a  flexibility,  an  elasticity,  which  are 
self -regulating,  and  display  a  divine  wisdom  and  power.  Such  is  the 
nature  of  this  law  that,  in  all  its  varied  operations,  it  does  not  interfere 
with  the  choice  and  free  agency  of  man.  When  the  character  of  this 
law  is  fully  understood,  what  on  the  one  hand  are  the  penalties  at- 
tached to  the  violation  of  any  part  of  it,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  what 
are  the  rewards  for  its  observance,  it  presents  to  man  the  strongest 
possible  motives  for  his  own  improvement  and  the  advancement  of 
human  happiness  generally.  If  man  is  created  a  free  moral  agent, 
accountable  for  all  his  acts,  the  law  providing  for  the  propagating  of 
the  species  should  certainly  be  of  such  a  character  that  he  can  clearly 
understand  its  nature  and  sanctions.  According  to  those  theories 
on  population  where  its  increase  and  changes  depend  mainly  upon 
external  agents,  man  is  made,  in  a  great  measure,  a  mere  passive 


48  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

agent,  having  but  little  control  or  responsibility  in  all  those  Important 
matters. 

If  the  theory  here  advanced  is  the  true  law  of  human  increase,  it  is 
not  a  mere  theory  or  an  abstract  general  principle,  but  is  capable  of 
almost  endless  application,  far  more  than  can  be  enumerated.  It  will 
enable  us  to  understand  far  better  the  nature  of  man,  his  duties  and 
responsibilities  in  relation  to  himself,  to  the  family,  to  society  at  large, 
and  particularly  to  his  Maker.  It  will  furnish  us  a  guide  or  great 
principle  by  which  certain  practices  and  fashions  in  society,  certain 
modes  of  education,  systems  of  morals,  acts  of  legislation,  etc.,  can  be 
tested.  It  will  throw  new  light  upon  what  constitutes  the  true  grounds 
of  human  progress  and  the  real  sources  of  an  advancing  civilization. 

In  closing  this  paper,  it  may  be  proper  to  state  briefly  what  are  the 
elements,  or  what  is  understood  to  constitute  this  law  of  population. 
It  is  based  upon  a  perfect  development  of  all  the  organs  of  the  human 
body,  so  that  there  shall  be  a  perfect  harmony  in  the  p>erforntance  of  all 
their  respective  functions.  It  presupposes  that  other  conditions  are  fa- 
vorable, such  as  the  age,  the  union,  and  the  adaptation  of  the  married 
parties — provided  no  natural  laws  are  violated  or  interfered  with — 
there  will  uniformly  be  found  with  such  an  organization,  not  only  the 
greatest  number  of  children,  but  they  will  be  endowed  with  the  high- 
est amount  of  physical  vigor,  strength,  and  health.  We  should  also 
expect  the  best  development  of  all  parts  of  the  brain,  giving  balance 
and  symmetry  to  all  mental  qualities,  whether  social,  intellectual,  or 
moral.  It  should  be  further  added  that,  inasmuch  as  perfect  standards 
are  not  found,  the  nearer  this  normal  standard  of  physiology  is  ap- 
proached by  all  parties  concerned,  the  more  complete  will  be  found  the 
fulfillment  of  this  law. 


SCIENCE  m  EELATION  TO   THE  AETS  * 

By  C.   WILLIAM  SIEMENS,  F.  E.  S. 

IN"  venturing  to  address  the  British  Association  from  this  chair,  I 
feel  that  I  have  taken  upon  myself  a  task  involving  very  serious 
responsibility.  The  Association  has  for  half  a  century  fulfilled  the  im- 
portant mission  of  drawing  together,  once  every  year,  scientists  from 
all  parts  of  the  country  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  questions  of 
mutual  interest,  and  of  cultivating  those  personal  relations  which  aid  so 
powerfully  in  harmonizing  views,  and  in  stimulating  concerted  action 
for  the  advancement  of  science. 

A  sad  event  casts  a  shadow  over  our  gathering.    While  still  mourn- 
ing the  irreparable  loss  science  had  sustained  in  the  person  of  Charles 

*  Presidential  Address,  delivered  at  the  Fifty-ninth  Annual  Meeting  of  the    British 
Association,  held  at  Southampton,  August  23,  1882. 


SCIENCE  IN  RELATION  TO    THE  ARTS.  49 

Darwin,  whose  bold  conceptions,  patient  labor,  and  genial  mind  made 
him  almost  a  type  of  unsurpassed  excellence,  telegraphic  news  reached 
Cambridge,  just  a  month  ago,  to  the  effect  that  our  Honorary  Secre- 
tary, Professor  F.  M.  Balfour,  had  lost  his  life  during  an  attempted 
ascent  of  the  Aiguille  Blanche  de  Penteret.  Although  only  thirty 
years  of  age,  few  men  have  wTon  distinction  so  rapidly  and  so  deserv- 
edly. After  attending  the  lectures  of  Michael. Foster,  he  completed 
his  studies  of  biology  under  Dr.  Anton  Dohrn  at  the  Zoological  Sta- 
tion of  Naples  in  1875.  In  1878  he  was  elected  a  Fellow,  and  in  No- 
vember last  a  member  of  Council  of  the  Royal  Society,  when  he  was 
also  awarded  one  of  the  Royal  Medals  for  his  embryological  researches. 
Within  a  short  interval  of  time  Glasgow  University  conferred  on  him 
their  honorary  degree  of  LL.  D.,  he  was  elected  President  of  the  Cam- 
bridge Philosophical  Society,  and,  after  having  declined  very  tempting 
offers  from  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Edinburgh,  he  accepted  a 
professorship  of  Animal  Morphology  created  for  him  by  his  own  uni- 
versity. Few  men  could  have  borne  without  hurt  such  a  stream  of 
honorable  distinctions,  but  in  young  Balfour  genius  and  independence 
of  thought  were  happily  blended  with  industry  and  personal  modesty  ; 
these  won  for  him  the  friendship,  esteem,  and  admiration  of  all  who 
knew  him. 

Since  the  days  of  the  first  meeting  of  the  Association  in  York  in 
1831,  great  changes  have  taken  place  in  the  means  at  our  disposal  for 
exchanging  views,  either  personally  or  through  the  medium  of  type. 
The  creation  of  the  railway  system  has  enabled  congenial  minds  to 
attend  frequent  meetings  of  those  special  societies  which  have  sprung 
into  existence  since  the  foundation  of  the  British  Association,  among 
which  I  need  only  name  here  the  Physic.il,  Geographical,  Meteorologi- 
cal, Anthropological,  and  Linnsean,  cultivating  abstract  science,  and 
the  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  the  Institution  of  Naval  Ar- 
chitects, the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  the  Society  of  Telegraph  Engi- 
neers and  Electricians,  the  Gas  Institute,  the  Sanitary  Institute,  and 
the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  representing  applied  science.  These 
meet  at  frequent  intervals  in  London,  while  others,  having  similar  ob- 
jects in  view,  hold  their  meetings  at  the  university  towns,  and  at  other 
centers  of  intelligence  and  industry  throughout  the  country,  giving 
evidence  of  great  mental  activity,  and  producing  some  of  those  very 
results  which  the  founders  of  the  British  Association  wished  to  see 
realized.  If  we  consider  further  the  extraordinary  development  of 
scientific  journalism  wdrich  has  taken  place,  it  can  not  surprise  us  when 
we  meet  with  expressions  of  opinion  to  the  effect  that  the  British  As- 
sociation has  fulfilled  its  mission,  and  should  now  yield  its  place  to 
those  special  societies  it  has  served  to  call  into  existence.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  may  be  urged  that  the  brilliant  success  of  last  year's 
anniversary  meeting,  enhanced  by  the  comprehensive  address  delivered 

VOL.    XXII. 


5o  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

on  that  occasion  by  my  distinguished  predecessor  in  office,  Sir  John 
Lubbock,  has  proved,  at  least,  that  the  British  Association  is  not  dead 
in  the  affections  of  its  members,  and  it  behooves  us  at  this,  the  first 
ordinary  gathering  in  the  second  half-century,  to  consider  what  are 
the  strong  points  to  rely  upon  for  the  continuance  of  a  career  of  suc- 
cess and  usefulness. 

If  the  facilities  brought  home  to  our  doors  of  acquiring  scientific 
information  have  increased,  the  necessities  for  scientific  inquiry  have 
increased  in  a  greater  ratio.  The  time  was  when  science  was  culti- 
vated only  by  the  few,  who  looked  upon  its  application  to  the  arts 
and  manufactures  as  almost  beneath  their  consideration  ;  this  they 
were  content  to  leave  in  the  hands  of  others,  who,  with  only  commer- 
cial aims  in  view,  did  not  aspire  to  further  the  objects  of  science  for 
its  own  sake,  but  thought  only  of  benefiting  by  its  teachings.  Prog- 
ress could  not  be  rapid  under  this  condition  of  things,  because  the  man 
of  pure  science  rarely  pursued  his  inquiry  beyond  the  mere  enuncia- 
tion of  a  physical  or  chemical  principle,  while  the  simple  practitioner 
was  at  a  loss  how  to  harmonize  the  new  knowledge  with  the  stock  of 
information  which  formed  his  mental  capital  in  trade. 

The  advancement  of  the  last  fifty  years  has,  I  venture  to  submit, 
rendered  theory  and  practice  so  interdependent,  that  an  intimate  union 
between  them  is  a  matter  of  absolute  necessity  for  our  future  progress. ' 
Take,  for  instance,  the  art  of  dyeing,  and  we  find  that  the  discovery 
of  new  coloring  matters  derived  from  waste  products,  such  as  coal-tar, 
completely  changes  its  practice,  and  renders  an  intimate  knowledge  of 
the  science  of  chemistry  a  matter  of  absolute  necessity  to  the  prac- 
titioner. In  telegraphy  and  in  the  new  arts  of  applying  electricity  to 
lighting,  to  the  transmission  of  power,  and  to  metallurgical  opera- 
tions, problems  arise  at  every  turn,  requiring  for  their  solution  not 
only  an  intimate  acquaintance  with,  but  a  positive  advance  upon,  elec- 
trical science,  as  established  by  purely  theoretical  research  in  the  labo- 
ratory. In  general  engineering,  the  mere  practical  art  of  constructing 
a  machine  so  designed  and  proportioned  as  to  produce  mechanically 
the  desired  effect  would  suffice  no  longer.  Our  increased  knowledge 
of  the  nature  of  the  mutual  relations  between  the  different  forms  of 
energy  makes  us  see  clearly  what  are  the  theoretical  limits  of  effect ; 
these,  although  beyond  our  absolute  reach,  may  be  looked  upon  as  the 
asymptotes  to  be  approached  indefinitely  by  the  hyperbolic  course  oft 
practical  progress,  of  which  we  should  never  lose  sight.  Cases  arise, 
moreover,  where  the  introduction  of  new  materials  of  construction,  or 
the  call  for  new  effects,  renders  former  rules  wholly  insufficient.  In 
all  these  cases  practical  knowledge  has  to  go  hand  in  hand  with  ad- 
vanced science  in  order  to  accomplish  the  desired  end. 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  think  lightly  of  the  ardent  students  of  nature, 
who,  in  their  devotion  to  research,  do  not  allow  their  minds  to  travel 
into  the  regions  of  utilitarianism  and  of  self-interest.    These,  the  high- 


SCIENCE  IN  RELATION   TO    THE  ARTS.  51 

priests  of  science,  command  our  utmost  admiration  ;  but  it  is  not  to 
them  that  we  can  look  for  our  current  progress  in  practical  science, 
much  less  can  we  look  for  it  to  the  "  rule-of-thumb  "  practitioner,  who 
is  guided  by  what  comes  nearer  to  instinct  than  to  reason.  It  is  to  the 
man  of  science,  who  also  gives  attention  to  practical  questions,  and  to 
the  practitioner,  who  devotes  part  of  his  time  to  the  prosecution  of 
strictly  scientific  investigations,  that  we  owe  the  rapid  progress  of  the 
present  day,  both  merging  more  and  more  into  one  class,  that  of  pio- 
neers in  the  domain  of  Nature.  It  is  such  men  that  Archimedes  must 
have  desired  when  he  refused  to  teach  his  disciples  the  art  of  construct- 
ino-  his  powerful  ballistic  engines,  exhorting  them  to  give  their  atten- 
tion to  the  principles  involved  in  their  construction,  and  that  Telford, 
the  founder  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  must  have  had  in  his 
mind's  eye  when  he  defined  civil  engineering  as  "  the  art  of  directing 
the  great  sources  of  power  in  nature." 

These  considerations  may  serve  to  show  that  although  we  see  the 
men  of  both  abstract  and  applied  science  group  themselves  in  minor 
bodies  for  the  better  prosecution  of  special  objects,  the  points  of  con- 
tact between  the  different  branches  of  knowledge  are  ever  multiplying, 
all  tending  to  form  part  of  a  mighty  tree — the  tree  of  modern  science 
— under  whose  ample  shadow  its  cultivators  will  find  it  both  profitable 
and  pleasant  to  meet,  at  least  once  a  year  ;  and,  considering  that  thi;i 
tree  is  not  the  growth  of  one  country  only,  but  spreads  both  its  roots 
and  branches  far  and  wide,  it  appears  desirable  that  at  these  yearly 
gatherings  other  nations  should  be  more  fully  represented  than  has 
hitherto  been  the  case.  The  subjects  discussed  at  our  meetings  are, 
without  exception,  of  general  interest ;  but  many  of  them  bear  an  inter- 
national character,  such  as  the  systematic  collection  of  magnetic,  astro- 
nomical, meteorological,  and  geodetical  observations,  the  formation  of 
a  universal  code  for  signaling  at  sea,  and  for  distinguishing  light- 
houses, and  especially  the  settlement  of  scientific  nomenclatures  and 
units  of  measurement,  regarding  all  of  which  an  international  accord 
is  a  matter  of  the  utmost  practical  importance. 

As  regards  the  measures  of  length  and  weight  it  is  to  be  regretted 
that  this  country  still  stands  aloof  from  the  movement  initiated  in 
France  toward  the  close  of  the  last  century  ;  but,  considering  that  in 
scientific  work  metrical  measure  is  now  almost  universally  adopted, 
and  that  its  use  has  been  already  legalized  in  this  country,  I  venture 
to  hope  that  its  universal  adoption  for  commercial  purposes  will  soon 
follow  as  a  matter  of  course.  The  practical  advantages  of  such  a 
measure  to  the  trade  of  this  country  would,  I  am  convinced,  be  very 
great,  for  English  goods,  such  as  machinery  or  metal  rolled  to  current 
sections,  are  now  almost  excluded  from  the  Continental  market,  owing 
to  the  unit  measure  employed  in  their  production.  The  principal  im- 
pediment to  the  adoption  of  the  metre  consists  in  the  strange  anomaly 
that  although  it  is  legal  to  use  that  measure  in  commerce,  and  although 


5z  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

a  copy  of  the  standard  metre  is  kept  in  the  Standards  Department  of 
the  Board  of  Trade,  it  is  impossible  to  procure  legalized  rods  repre- 
senting it,  and  to  use  a  non-legalized  copy  of  a  standard  in  commerce 
is  deemed  fraudulent.  Would  it  not  be  desirable  that  the  British  As- 
sociation should  endeavor  to  bring  about  the  use  in  this  country  of  the 
metre  and  kilogramme,  and,  as  a  preliminary  step,  petition  the  Govern- 
ment to  be  represented  on  the  International  Metrical  Commission, 
whose  admirable  establishment  at  Sevres  possesses,  independently  of 
its  practical  work,  considerable  scientific  interest,  as  a  well-found 
laboratory  for  developing  methods  of  precise  measurement  ? 

Next  in  importance  to  accurate  measures  of  length,  weight,  and 
time,  stand,  for  the  purposes  of  modern  science,  those  of  electricity. 

The  remarkably  clear  lines  separating  conductors  from  non-con- 
ductors of  electricity,  and  magnetic  from  non-magnetic  substances, 
enable  us  to  measure  electrical  quantities  and  effects  with  almost 
mathematical  precision  ;  and,  although  the  ultimate  nature  of  this, 
the  youngest  scientifically  investigated  form  of  energy,  is  yet  wrapped 
in  mystery,  its  laws  are  the  most  clearly  established,  and  its  measuring 
instruments  (galvanometers,  electrometers,  and  magnetometers),  are 
among  the  most  accurate  in  physical  science.  Nor  could  any  branch 
of  science  or  industry  be  named  in  which  electrical  phenomena  do  not 
occur,  to  exercise  their  direct  and  important  influence. 

If,  then,  electricity  stands  foremost  among  the  exact  sciences,  it 
follows  that  its  unit  measures  should  be  determined  with  the  utmost 
accuracy.  Yet,  twenty  years  ago,  very  little  advance  had  been  made 
toward  the  adoption  of  a  rational  system.  Ohm  had,  it  is  true,  given 
us  the  fixed  relations  existing  between  electromotive  force,  resistance, 
and  quantity  of  current ;  Joule  had  established  the  dynamical  equiva- 
lent of  heat  and  electricity;  and  Gauss  and  Weber  had  proposed  their 
elaborate  system  of  absolute  magnetic  measurement.  But  these  in- 
valuable researches  appeared  only  as  isolated  efforts,  when,  in  1862, 
the  Electric  Unit  Committee  was  appointed  by  the  British  Association, 
at  the  instance  of  Sir  William  Thomson,  and  it  is  to  the  long-continued 
activity  of  this  committee  that  the  world  is  indebted  for  a  consistent 
and  practical  system  of  measurement,  which,  after  being  modified  in 
details,  received  universal  sanction  last  year  by  the  International  Elec- 
trical Congress  assembled  at  Paris. 

At  this  congress,  which  was  attended  officially  by  the  leading 
physicists  of  all  civilized  countries,  the  attempt  was  successfully  made 
to  bring  about  a  union  between  the  statical  system  of  measurement 
that  had  been  followed  in  Germany  and  some  other  countries  and  the 
magnetic  or  dynamical  system  developed  by  the  British  Association, 
also  between  the  geometrical  measure  of  resistance,  the  (Werner) 
Siemens  unit,  that  had  been  generally  adopted  abroad,  and  the  British 
Association  unit,  intended  as  a  multiple  of  Weber's  absolute  unit, 


SCIENCE  IN  RELATION  TO   THE  ARTS.  53 

though  not  entirely  fulfilling  that  condition.  The  congress,  while 
adopting  the  absolute  system  of  the  British  Association,  referred  the 
final  determination  of  the  unit  measure  of  resistance  to  an  interna- 
tional committee,  to  be  appointed  by  the  representatives  of  the  several 
governments  ;  they  decided  to  retain  the  mercury  standard  for  repro- 
duction and  comparison,  by  which  means  the  advantages  of  both  sys- 
tems are  happily  combined,  and  much  valuable  labor  is  utilized  ;  only, 
instead  of  expressing  electrical  quantities  directly  in  absolute  measure, 
the  congress  has  embodied  a  consistent  system,  based  on  the  Ohm,  in 
which  the  units  are  of  a  value  convenient  for  practical  measurements. 
In  this,  which  we  must  hereafter  know  as  the  "  practical  system,"  as 
distinguished  from  the  "  absolute  system,"  the  units  are  named  after 
leading  physicists,  the  Ohm,  Ampere,  Volt,  Coulomb,  and  Farad. 

I  would  venture  to  suggest  that  two  further  units  might,  with  ad- 
vantage, be  added  to  the  system  decided  on  by  the  International  Con- 
gress at  Paris.  The  first  of  these  is  the  unit  of  magnetic  quantity  or 
pole.  It  is  of  much  importance,  and  few  will  regard  otherwise  than 
with  satisfaction  the  suggestion  of  Clausius  that  the  unit  should  be 
called  a  "  Weber,"  thus  retaining  a  name  most  closely  connected  with 
electrical  measurements,  and  only  omitted  by  the  congress  in  order  to 
avoid  the  risk  of  confusion  in  the  magnitude  of  the  unit  current  with 
which  his  name  had  been  formerly  associated. 

The  other  unit  I  should  suggest  adding  to  the  list  is  that  of  power. 
The  power  conveyed  by  a  current  of  an  Ampere  through  the  difference 
of  potential  of  a  Volt  is  the  unit  consistent  with  the  practical  system. 
It  might  be  appropriately  called  a  Watt,  in  honor  of  that  master-mind 
in  mechanical  science,  James  Watt.  He  it  was  who  first  had  a  clear 
physical  conception  of  power,  and  gave  a  rational  method  of  measur- 
ing it.  A  Watt,  then,  expresses  the  rate  of  an  Ampere  multiplied  by 
a  Volt,  while  a  horse-power  is  746  Watts,  and  a  Cheval  de  Vapeur 
735. 

The  system  of  electro-magnetic  units  would  then  be  : 


1. 

Weber,  th 

e  unit  of 

magnetic 

quantity 

=  108  C.  G.  S.  units, 

2. 

Ohm, 

it 

u 

resistance 

=  109 

11 

8. 

Volt, 

u 

"  electromotive  force 

=  108 

11 

■1. 

Ampere, 

a 

ii 

current 

=  io-1 

11 

5. 

Coulomb, 

ii 

it 

quantity 

=  io-1 

II 

6. 

Watt, 

ii 

u 

power 

=  10' 

11 

1. 

Farad, 

it 

ii 

capacity 

=  io-9 

II 

Before  the  list  can  be  looked  upon  as  complete  two  other  units  may 
have  to  be  added,  the  one  expressing  that  of  magnetic  field,  and  the 
other  of  heat  in  terms  of  the  electro-magnetic  system.  Sir  William 
Thomson  suggested  the  former  at  the  Paris  congress,  and  pointed  out 
that  it  would  be  proper  to  attach  to  it  the  name  of  Gauss,  who  first 
theoretically  and  practically  reduced  observations  of  terrestrial  mag- 
netism to  absolute  measure.     A  Gauss  will,  then,  be  defined  as  the 


54  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

intensity  of  field  produced  by  a  Weber  at  a  distance  of  one  centimetre  ; 
and  the  Weber  will  be  the  absolute  C.  G.  S.  unit  strength  of  magnetic 
pole.  Thus  the  mutual  force  between  two  ideal  point-poles,  each  of 
one  Weber  strength  held  at  unit  distance  asunder,  will  be  one  dyue  ; 
that  is  to  say,  the  force  which,  acting  for  a  second  of  time  on  a 
gramme  of  matter,  generates  a  velocity  of  one  centimetre  per  second. 
The  unit  of  heat  has  hitherto  been  taken  variously  as  the  heat  re- 
quired to  raise  a  pound  of  water  at  the  freezing-point  through  1°  Fahr. 
or  Cent.,  or,  again,  the  heat  necessary  to  raise  a  kilogramme  of  water 
1°  Cent.  The  inconvenience  of  a  unit  so  entirely  arbitrary  is  suffi- 
ciently apparent  to  justify  the  introduction  of  one  based  on  the  elec- 
tro-magnetic system,  viz.,  the  heat  generated  in  one  second  by  the 
current  of  an  Ampere  flowing  through  the  resistance  of  an  Ohm.  In 
absolute  measure  its  value  is  10'  C.  G.  S.  units,  and,  assuming  Joule's 
equivalent  as  42,000,000,  it  is  the  heat  necessary  to  raise  0'238  gramme 
of  water  1°  Cent.,  or,  approximately,  the  10100  part  of  the  arbitrary 
unit  of  a  pound  of  water  raised  1°  Fahr.,  and  the  i0\0  of  the  kilo- 
gramme of  water  raised  1°  Cent.  Such  a  heat  unit,  if  found  accept- 
able, might  with  great  propriety,  I  think,  be  called  the  Joule,  after 
the  man  who  has  done  so  much  to  develop  the  dynamical  theory  of 
heat- 
Professor  Clausius  urges  the  advantages  of  the  statical  system  of 
measurement  for  simplicity,  and  shows  that  the  numerical  values  of 
the  two  systems  can  readily  be  compared  by  the  introduction  of  a 
factor  which  he  proposes  to  call  the  critical  velocity  ;  this  Weber  has 
already  shown  to  be  nearly  the  same  as  the  velocity  of  light.  It  is 
not  immediately  evident  how,  by  the  introduction  of  a  simple  multi- 
ple, signifying  a  velocity,  the  statical  can  be  changed  into  dynamical 
values,  and  I  am  indebted  to  my  friend  Sir  William  Thomson  for  an 
illustration  which  struck  me  as  remarkably  happy  and  convincing. 
Imagine  a  ball  of  conducting  matter  so  constituted  that  it  can  at 
pleasure  be  caused  to  shrink.  Now  let  it  first  be  electrified  and  left 
insulated  with  any  quantity  of  electricity  on  it.  After  that,  let  it  be 
connected  with  the  earth  by  an  excessively  fine  wire  or  a  not  perfectly 
dry  silk  fiber  ;  and  let  it  shrink  just  so  rapidly  as  to  keep  its  potential 
constant,  till  the  whole  charge  is  carried  off.  The  velocity  with  which 
its  surface  approaches  its  center  is  the  electrostatic  measure  of  the  con- 
ducting power  of  the  fiber.  Thus  we  see  how  "  conducting  power " 
is,  in  electrostatic  theory,  properly  measured  in  terms  of  a  velocity. 
Weber  has  shown  how,  in  electromagnetic  theory,  the  resistance,  or 
the  reciprocal  of  the  conducting  power  of  a  conductor,  is  properly 
measured  by  a  velocity.  The  critical  velocity,  which  measures  the 
conducting  power  in  electrostatic  reckoning  and  the  resistance  in  elec- 
tromagnetic, of  one  and  the  same  conductor,  measures  the  number  of 
electrostatic  units  in  the  electromagnetic  unit  of  electric  quantity. 
Without  waiting  for  the  assembling  of  the  International  Commit- 


SCIENCE  IN  RELATION  TO   THE  ARTS.  55 

tee.  charged  with  the  final  determination  of  the  Obm,  one  of  its  most 
distinguished  members,  Lord  Rayleigh,  has,  with  his  collaborateure, 
Mrs.  Sidgwick,  continued  his  important  investigation  in  this  direction 
at  the  Cavendish  Laboratory,  and  has  lately  placed  before  the  Royal 
Society  a  result  which  will  probably  not  be  surpassed  in  accuracy. 
His  redetermination  brings  him  into  close  accord  with  Dr.  Werner 
Siemens,  their  two  values  of  the  mercury  unit  being  0-95418  and 
0*9536  of  the  B.  A.  unit  respectively,  or  1  mercury  unit  =  0-9413  X  109 
C.  G.  S.  units. 

Shortly  after  the  publication  of  Lord  Rayleigh's  recent  results, 
Messrs.  Glazebrook,  Dodds,  and  Sargant,  of  Cambridge,  communicated 
to  the  Royal  Society  two  determinations  of  the  Ohm,  by  different 
methods  ;  and  it  is  satisfactory  to  find  that  their  final  values  differ 
only  in  the  fourth  decimal,  the  figures  being,  according  to 

^        .   ,                      ~,              ~™~„  Earth  Quadrant 
Lord  Rayleigh 1  Ohm  =  0-98651 a         . 

J      °  Second 


Messrs.  Glazebrook,  etc.  =  0-986439 


« 


Professor  E.  Wiedemann,  of  Leipsic,  has  lately  called  attention  to 
the  importance  of  having  the  Ohm  determined  in  the  most  accm-ate 
manner  possible,  and  enumerates  four  distinct  methods,  all  of  which 
should  unquestionably  be  tried  with  a  view  of  obtaining  concordant 
results,  because  upon  its  accuracy  will  depend  the  whole  future  system 
of  measurement  of  energy  of  whatever  form. 

The  word  "  energy  "  was  first  used  by  Young  in  a  scientific  sense, 
and  represents  a  conception  of  recent  date,  being  the  outcome  of  the 
labors  of  Carnot,  Mayer,  Joule,  Grove,  Clausius,  Clerk  -  Maxwell, 
Thomson,  Stokes,  Helmholtz,  Macquorn-Rankine,  and  other  laborers, 
who  have  accomplished  for  the  science  regarding  the  forces  in  nature 
what  we  owe  to  Lavoisier,  Dalton,  Berzelius,  Liebig,  and  others,  as 
regards  chemistry.  In  this  short  word  "  energy  "  we  find  all  the  efforts 
in  nature,  including  electricity,  heat,  light,  chemical  action,  and  dy- 
namics, equally  represented,  forming,  to  use  Dr.  TyndalPs  apt  expres- 
sion, so  many  "modes  of  motion."  It  will  readily  be  conceived  that, 
when  we  have  established  a  fixed  numerical  relation  between  these 
different  modes  of  motion,  we  know  beforehand  what  is  the  utmost 
result  we  can  possibly  attain  in  converting  one  form  of  energy  into 
another,  and  to  what  extent  our  apparatus  for  effecting  the  conversion 
falls  short  of  realizing  it.  The  difference  between  ultimate  theoretical 
effect  and  that  actually  obtained  is  commonly  called  loss,  but,  consid- 
ering that  energy  is  indestructible,  represents  really  secondary  effect 
which  we  obtain  without  desiring  it.  Thus  friction  in  the  working 
parts  of  a  machine  represents  a  loss  of  mechanical  effect,  but  is  a  gain 
of  heat,  and  in  like  manner  the  loss  sustained  in  transferring  electrical 
energy  from  one  point  to  another  is  accounted  for  by  heat  generated 


S6  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

in  the  conductor.  It  sometimes  suits  our  purpose  to  augment  the 
transformation  of  electrical  into  heat  energy  at  certain  points  of  the 
circuit  when  the  heat-rays  become  visible,  and  we  have  the  incandes- 
cent electric  light.  In  effecting  a  complete  severance  of  the  con- 
ductor for  a  short  distance,  after  the  current  has  been  established,  a 
very  great  local  resistance  is  occasioned,  giving  rise  to  the  electric 
arc,  the  highest  development  of  heat  ever  attained.  Vibration  is  an- 
other form  of  lost  energy  in  mechanism,  but  who  would  call  it  a  loss 
if  it  proceeded  from  the  violin  of  a  Joachim  or  a  Norman-Neruda ? 

Electricity  is  the  form  of  energy  best  suited  for  transmitting  an 
effect  from  one  place  to  another  ;  the  electric  current  passes  through 
certain  substances — the  metals — with  a  velocity  limited  only  by  the 
retarding  influence  caused  by  electric  charge  of  the  surrounding  dielec- 
tric, but  approaching  probably  under  favorable  conditions  that  of  radi- 
ant heat  and  light,  or  300,000  kilometres  per  second  ;  it  refuses,  how- 
ever, to  pass  through  oxidized  substances,  glass,  gums,  or  through 
gases  except  when  in  a  highly  rarefied  condition.  It  is  easy,  there- 
fore, to  confine  the  electric  current  within  bounds,  and  to  direct  it 
through  narrow  channels  of  extraordinary  length.  The  conducting 
wire  of  an  Atlantic  cable  is  such  a  narrow  channel  :  it  consists  of  a 
copper  wire,  or  strand  of  wires,  five  mm.  in  diameter,  by  nearly  5,000 
kilometres  in  length,  confined  electrically  by  a  coating  of  gutta-percha 
about  four  mm.  in  thickness.  The  electricity  from  a  small  galvanic 
battery  passing  into  this  channel  prefers  the  long  journey  to  America 
in  the  good  conductor,  and  back  through  the  earth,  to  the  shorter 
journey  across  the  four  mm.  in  thickness  of  insulating  material.  By 
an  improved  arrangement  the  alternating  currents  employed  to  work 
long  submarine  cables  do  not  actually  complete  the  circuit,  but  are 
merged  in  a  condenser  at  the  receiving  station  after  having  produced 
their  extremely  slight  but  certain  effect  upon  the  receiving  instrument, 
the  beautiful  siphon  recorder  of  Sir  William  Thomson.  So  perfect 
is  the  channel  and  so  precise  the  action  of  both  the  transmitting  and 
receiving  instruments  employed,  that  two  systems  of  electric  signals 
may  be  passed  simultaneously  through  the  same  cable  in  opposite 
directions,  producing  independent  records  at  either  end.  By  the  ap- 
plication of  this  duplex  mode  of  working  to  the  direct  United  States 
cable  under  the  superintendence  of  Dr.  Muirhead,  its  transmitting 
power  was  increased  from  twenty -five  to  sixty  words  a  minute,  being 
equivalent  to  about  twelve  currents  or  primary  impulses  per  second. 
In  transmitting  these  impulse-currents  simultaneously  from  both  ends 
of  the  line,  it  must  not  be  imagined,  however,  that  they  pass  each 
other  in  the  manner  of  liquid  waves  belonging  to  separate  systems  ; 
such  a  supposition  would  involve  momentum  in  the  electric  flow,  and 
although  the  effect  produced  is  analogous  to  such  an  action,  it  rests 
upon  totally  different  grounds — namely,  that  of  a  local  circuit  at  each 
terminus  being  called  into  action  automatically  whenever  two  similar 


SCIENCE  IN  RELATION  TO    THE  ARTS.  57 

currents  are  passed  into  the  line  simultaneously  from  both  ends.  In 
extending  this  principle  of  action,  quadruplex  telegraphy  has  been 
rendered  possible,  although  not  yet  for  long  submarine  lines. 

The  minute  currents  here  employed  are  far  surpassed  as  regards 
delicacy  and  frequency  by  those  revealed  to  us  by  that  marvel  of  the 
present  day,  the  telephone.  The  electric  currents  caused  by  the  vibra- 
tions of  a  diaphragm  acted  upon  by  the  human  voice  naturally  vary 
in  frequency  and  intensity  according  to  the  number  and  degree  of 
those  vibrations,  and  each  motor-current,  in  exciting  the  electro-magnet 
forming  part  of  the  receiving  instrument,  deflects  the  iron  diaphragm 
occupying  the  position  of  an  armature  to  a  greater  or  smaller  extent 
according  to  its  strength.  Savart  found  that  the  fundamental  la 
springs  from  four  hundred  and  forty  complete  vibrations  in  a  second, 
but  what  must  be  the  frequency  and  modulations  of  the  motor-current 
and  of  magnetic  variations  necessary  to  convey  to  the  ear,  through  the 
medium  of  a  vibrating  armature,  such  a  complex  of  human  voices  and 
of  musical  instruments  as  constitutes  an  opera  performance  !  And  yet 
such  performances  could  be  distinctly  heard  and  even  enjoyed  as  an 
artistic  treat  by  applying  to  the  ears  a  pair  of  the  double  telephonic 
receivers  at  the  Paris  Electrical  Exhibition,  when  connected  with  a 
pair  of  transmitting  instruments  in  front  of  the  foot-lights  of  the  Grand 
Opera.  In  connection  with  the  telephone,  and  with  its  equally  remark- 
able adjunct  the  microphone,  the  names  of  Riess,  Graham  Bell,  Edi- 
son, and  Hughes  will  ever  be  remembered. 

Considering  the  extreme  delicacy  of  the  currents  working  a  tele- 
phone, it  is  obvious  that  those  caused  by  induction  from  neighboring 
telegraphic  line  wires  would  seriously  interfere  with  the  former,  and 
mar  the  speech  or  other  sounds  produced  through  their  action.  To 
avoid  such  interference  the  telephone-wires  if  suspended  in  the  air 
require  to  be  placed  at  some  distance  from  telegraphic  line  wires,  and 
to  be  supported  by  separate  posts.  Another  way  of  neutralizing  inter- 
ference consists  in  twisting  two  separately  insulated  telephone-wires 
together,  so  as  to  form  a  strand,  and  in  using  the  two  conductors  as  a 
metallic  circuit  to  the  exclusion  of  the  earth  ;  the  working  current 
will,  in  that  case,  receive  equal  and  opposite  inductive  influences,  and 
will,  therefore,  remain  unaffected  by  them.  On  the  other  hand,  two 
insulated  wires  instead  of  one  are  required  for  working  one  set  of  in- 
struments, and  a  serious  increase  in  the  cost  of  installation  is  thus 
caused.  To  avoid  this,  Mr.  Jacob  has  lately  suggested  a  plan  of  com- 
bining pairs  of  such  metallic  circuits  again  into  separate  working  pairs, 
and  these  again  with  other  working  pairs,  whereby  the  total  number 
of  telephones  capable  of  being  worked  without  interference  is  made  to 
equal  the  total  number  of  single  wires  employed.  The  working  of 
telephones  and  telegraphs  in  metallic  circuit  has  the  further  advantage 
that  mutual  volta  induction  between  the  outgoing  and  returning  cir- 
rents  favors  the  transit,  and  neutralizes,  on  the  other  hand,  the  retard- 


58  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

ing  influence  caused  by  charge  in  under-ground  or  submarine  conduct- 
ors. These  conditions  are  particularly  favorable  to  under-ground  line 
wires,  which  possess  other  important  advantages  over  the  still  prevail- 
ing over-ground  system,  in  that  they  are  unaffected  by  atmospheric 
electricity,  or  by  snow-storms  and  heavy  gales,  which  at  not  very  rare 
intervals  of  time  put  us  back  to  pre-telegraphic  days,  when  the  letter- 
carrier  was  our  swiftest  messenger. 

The  under-ground  system  of  telegraphs,  first  introduced  into  Ger- 
many by  Werner  Siemens  in  the  years  1847-'48,  had  to  yield  for  a 
time  to  the  over-ground  system  owing  to  technical  difficulties,  but  it 
has  been  again  resorted  to  within  the  last  four  years,  and  multiple  land 
cables  of  solid  construction  now  connect  all  the  important  towns  of 
that  country.  The  first  cost  of  such  a  system  is  no  doubt  considerable 
(being  about  £38  per  kilometre  of  conductor  as  against  £8  10s.  the  cost 
of  land  lines)  ;  but,  as  the  under-ground  wires  are  exempt  from  frequent 
repairs  and  renewals,  and  as  they  insure  continuity  of  service,  they  are 
decidedly  the  cheaper  and  better  in  the  end.  The  experience  afforded 
by  the  early  introduction  of  the  under-ground  system  in  Germany  was 
not,  however,  without  its  beneficial  results,  as  it  brought  to  light  the 
phenomena  of  lateral  induction,  and  of  faults  in  the  insulating  coating, 
matters  which  had  to  be  understood  before  submarine  telegraphy  could 
be  attempted  with  any  reasonable  prospect  of  success. 

Regarding  the  transmission  of  power  to  a  distance,  the  electric  cur- 
rent has  now  entered  the  lists  in  competition  with  compressed  air,  the 
hydraulic  accumulator,  and  the  quick-running  rope  as  used  at  Schaff- 
hausen  to  utilize  the  power  of  the  Rhine-fall.  The  transformation  of 
electrical  into  mechanical  energy  can  be  accomplished  with  no  further 
loss  than  is  due  to  such  incidental  causes  as  friction  and  the  heating  of 
wires  ;  these  in  a  properly  designed  dynamo-electric  machine  do  not 
exceed  10  per  cent,  as  shown  by  Dr.  John  Hopkinson,  and,  judging 
from  recent  experiments  of  my  own,  a  still  nearer  approach  to  ultimate 
perfection  is  attainable.  Adhering,  however,  to  Dr.  Hopkinson's  de- 
termination for  safety's  sake,  and  assuming  the  same  percentage  in 
reconverting  the  current  into  mechanical  effect,  a  total  loss  of  19 
per  cent  results.  To  this  loss  must  be  added  that  through  electrical 
resistance  in  the  connecting  line  wires,  which  depends  upon  their 
length  and  conductivity,  and  that  due  to  heating  by  friction  of  the 
working  parts  of  the  machine.  Taking  these  as  being  equal  to  the 
internal  losses  incurred  in  the  double  process  of  conversion,  there  re- 
mains a  useful  effect  of  100  —  38  =  62  per  cent,  attainable  at  a  distance, 
which  agrees  with  experimental  results,  although  in  actual  practice  it 
would  not  be  safe  at  present  to  expect  more  than  50  per  cent  of  ulti- 
mate usefid  effect,  to  allow  for  all  mechanical  losses. 

In  using  compressed  air  or  water  for  the  transmission  of  power,  the 
loss  can  not  be  taken  at  less  than  50  per  cent,  and  as  it  depends  upon 
fluid  resistance  it  increases  with  distance  more  rapidly  than  in  the  case 


SCIENCE  IN  RELATION   TO    THE  ARTS.  59 

of  electricity.  Taking  the  loss  of  effect  in  all  cases  as  50  per  cent, 
electric  transmission  presents  the  advantage  that  an  insulated  wire 
does  the  work  of  a  pipe  capable  of  withstanding  high  internal  pressure, 
which  latter  must  be  more  costly  to  put  down  and  to  maintain.  A 
second  metallic  conductor  is  required,  however,  to  complete  the  elec- 
trical circuit,  as  the  conducting  power  of  the  earth  alone  is  found  un- 
reliable for  passing  quantity  currents,  owing  to  the  effects  of  polariza- 
tion ;  but,  as  this  second  conductor  need  not  be  insulated,  water  or  gas 
pipes,  railway  metals,  or  fencing-wire,  may  be  called  into  requisition 
for  the  purpose.  The  small  space  occupied  by  the  electro-motor,  its 
high  working  speed,  and  the  absence  of  waste  products,  render  it 
specially  available  for  the  general  distribution  of  power  to  cranes  and 
light  machinery  of  every  description.  A  loss  of  effect  of  50  per  cent 
does  not  stand  in  the  way  of  such  applications,  for  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  a  powerful  central  engine  of  best  construction  produces 
motive-power  with  a  consumption  of  two  pounds  of  coal  per  horse- 
power per  hour,  whereas  small  engines  distributed  over  a  district  would 
consume  not  less  than  five  ;  we  thus  see  that  there  is  an  advantage  in 
favor  of  electric  transmission  as  regards  fuel,  independently  of  the 
saving  of  labor  and  other  collateral  benefits. 

To  agriculture,  electric  transmission  of  power  seems  well  adapted 
for  effecting  the  various  operations  of  the  farm  and  fields  from  one 
center.  Having  worked  such  a  system  myself  in  combination  with 
electric  lighting  and  horticulture  for  upward  of  two  years,  I  can  speak 
with  confidence  of  its  economy,  and  of  the  facility  with  which  the 
work  is  accomplished  in  charge  of  untrained  persons. 

As  regards  the  effect  of  the  electric  light  upon  vegetation  there  is 
little  to  add  to  what  was  stated  in  my  paper  read  before  Section  A  last 
year,  and  ordered  to  be  printed  with  the  report,  except  that,  in  experi- 
menting upon  wheat,  barley,  oats,  and  other  cereals  sown  in  the  open 
air,  there  was  a  marked  difference  between  the  growth  of  the  plants 
influenced  and  those  uninfluenced  by  the  electric  light.  This  was  not 
very  apparent  till  toward  the  end  of  February,  when,  with  the  first 
appearance  of  mild  weather,  the  plants,  under  the  influence  of  an  elec- 
tric lamp  of  4,000  candle-power  placed  about  five  metres  above  the 
surface,  developed  with  extreme  rapidity,  so  that  by  the  end  of  May 
they  stood  above  four  feet  high,  with  the  ears  in  full  bloom,  when 
those  not  under  its  influence  were  under  two  feet  in  height,  and  showed 
no  sign  of  the  ear. 

In  the  electric  railway  first  constructed  by  Dr.  Werner  Siemens,  at 
Berlin,  in  1879,  electric  energy  was  transmitted  to  the  moving  carriage 
or  train  of  carriages  through  the  two  rails  upon  which  it  moved,  these 
being  sufficiently  insulated  from  each  other  by  being  placed  upon  well- 
creosoted  cross-sleepers.  At  the  Paris  Electrical  Exhibition,  the  cur- 
rent was  conveyed  through  two  separate  conductors  making  sliding  or 
rolling  contact  with  the  carriage,  whereas  in  the  electric  railway  now 


60  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

in  course  of  construction  in  the  north  of  Ireland  (which  when  com- 
pleted will  have  a  length  of  twelve  miles)  a  separate  conductor  will  be 
provided  by  the  side  of  the  railway,  and  the  return  circuit  completed 
through  the  rails  themselves,  which  in  that  case  need  not  be  insulated  ; 
secondary  batteries  will  be  used  to  store  the  surplus  energy  created  in 
running  down-hill,  to  be  restored  in  ascending  steep  inclines,  and  for 
passing  roadways  where  the  separate  insulated  conductor  is  not  practi- 
cable. The  electric  railway  possesses  great  advantages  over  horse 
or  steam  power  for  towns,  in  tunnels,  and  in  all  cases  where  natural 
sources  of  energy,  such  as  water-falls,  are  available  ;  but  it  would  not 
be  reasonable  to  suppose  that  it  will  in  its  present  condition  compete 
with  steam  propulsion  upon  ordinary  railways.  The  transmission  of 
power  by  means  of  electric  conductors  possesses  the  further  advantage 
over  other  means  of  transmission  that,  provided  the  resistance  of  the 
rails  be  not  very  great,  the  power  communicated  to  the  locomotive 
reaches  its  maximum  when  the  motion  is  at  its  minimum — that  is,  in 
commencing  to  work,  or  when  encountering  an  exceptional  resistance 
— whereas  the  utmost  economy  is  produced  in  the  normal  condition  of 
working  when  the  velocity  of  the  power-absorbing  nearly  equals  that  of 
the  current-producing  machine. 

The  deposition  of  metals  from  their  solutions  is  perhaps  the  oldest 
of  all  useful  applications  of  the  electric  current,  but  it  is  only  in  very 
recent  times  that  the  dynamo-current  has  been  practically  applied  to 
the  refining  of  copper  and  other  metals,  as  now  practiced  at  Birming- 
ham and  elsewhere,  and  upon  an  exceptionally  large  scale  at  Ocker,  in 
Germany.  The  dynamo-machine  there  employed  was  exhibited  at 
the  Paris  Electrical  Exhibition  by  Dr.  "Werner  Siemens,  its  peculiar 
feature  being  that  the  conductors  upon  the  rotating  armature  con- 
sisted of  solid  bars  of  copper  thirty  mm.  square,  in  section,  which  were 
found  only  just  sufficient  to  transmit  the  large  quantity  of  electricity 
of  low  tension  necessary  for  this  operation.  One  such  machine  con- 
suming four-horse  power  deposits  about  three  hundred  kilogrammes  of 
copper  per  twenty-four  hours  ;  the  motive-power  at  Ocker  is  derived 
from  a  water-fall. 

Electric  energy  may  also  be  employed  for  heating  purposes,  but  in 
this  case  it  would  obviously  be  impossible  for  it  to  compete  in  point  of 
economy  with  the  direct  combustion  of  fuel  for  the  attainment  of  ordi- 
nary degrees  of  heat.  Bunsen  and  Sainte-Claire  Deviile  have  taught  us, 
however,  that  combustion  becomes  extremely  sluggish  when  a  tem- 
perature of  1,800°  C.  has  been  reached,  and  for  effects  at  temperatures 
exceeding  that  limit  the  electric  furnace  will  probably  find  advanta- 
geous applications.  Its  specific  advantage  consists  in  being  appar- 
ently unlimited  in  the  degree  of  heat  attainable,  thus  opening  out  a 
new  field  of  investigation  to  the  chemist  and  metallurgist.  Tungsten 
has  been  melted  in  such  a  furnace,  and  eight  pounds  of  platinum  have 
been  reduced  from  the  cold  to  the  liquid  condition  in  twenty  minutes. 


SCIENCE  IN  RELATION  TO    THE  ARTS.  61 

The  largest  and  most  extensive  application  of  electric  energy  at  the 
present  time  is  to  lighting,  but,  considering  how  much  has  of  late  been 
said  and  written  for  and  against  this  new  illuminant,  I  shall  here  con- 
fine myself  to  a  few  general  remarks.  Joule  has  shown  that,  if  an  elec- 
tric current  is  passed  through  a  conductor,  the  whole  of  the  energy  lost 
by  the  current  is  converted  into  heat  ;  or,  if  the  resistance  be  localized, 
into  radiant  energy  comprising  heat,  light,  and  actinic  rays.  Neither 
the  low  heat-rays  nor  the  ultra-violet  of  highest  refrangibility  affect 
the  retina,  and  may  be  regarded  as  lost  energy,  the  effective  rays  being 
those  between  the  red  and  violet  of  the  spectrum,  which  in  their  com- 
bination produce  the  effect  of  white  light. 

Regarding  the  proportion  of  luminous  to  non-luminous  rays  pro- 
ceeding from  an  electric  arc  or  incandescent  wire,  we  have  a  most 
valuable  investigation  by  Dr.  Tyndall,  recorded  in  his  work  on  "  Ra- 
diant Heat."  Dr.  Tyndall  shows  that  the  luminous  rays  from  a  plati- 
num wire  heated  to  its  highest  point  of  incandescence,  which  may  be 
taken  at  1,700°  C,  formed  fa  part  of  the  total  radiant  energy  emit- 
ted, and  y1^  part  in  the  case  of  an  arc-light  worked  by  a  battery  of 
50  Grove's  elements.  In  order  to  apply  these  valuable  data  to  the 
case  of  electric  lighting  by  means  of  dynamo-currents,  it  is  necessary 
in  the  first  place  to  determine  what  is  the  power  of  50  Grove's  ele- 
ments of  the  size  used  by  Dr.  Tyndall,  expressed  in  the  practical  scale 
of  units  as  now  established.  From  a  few  experiments  lately  under- 
taken for  myself,  it  would  appear  that  50  such  cells  have  an  electro- 
motive force  of  98"5  Volts,  and  an  internal  resistance  of  13-5  Ohms, 
giving  a  cm-rent  of  7*3  Amperes  when  the  cells  are  short-circuited. 
The  resistance  of  a  regulator  such  as  Dr.  Tyndall  used  in  his  experi- 
ments may  be  taken  at  10  Ohms,  the  current  produced  in  the  arc  would 

98"5 
be  Tir^ — T7, — r  —  4  Amperes  (allowing  one  Ohm  for  the  leads),  and  the 
13'o  +  lO  +  i 

power  consumed  10  X  43  =  1G0  Watts  ;  the  light  power  of  such  an  arc 

would  be  about  150  candles,  and,  comparing  this  with  an  arc  of  3,308 

candles  produced  by  1,162  Watts,  we  find  that  f  -y— -  J,  i.  e.,  73  times 

(OOAQv 
TT-TrJi-  e.,  22  times  the  amount  of  light 

measured  horizontally.  If,  therefore,  in  Dr.  TyndalPs  arc  yV  of  the  radi- 
ant energy  emitted  was  visible  as  light,  it  follows  that  in  a  powerful  arc 

1     22-0 
of  3,300  candles,  T^v~7*7<r>  or  fully  i,  are  luminous  rays.     In  the  case 

of  the  incandescent  light  (say  a  Swan  light  of  twenty -candle  power) 
we  find  in  practice  that  nine  times  as  much  power  has  to  be  expended 
as  in  the  case  of  the  arc-light  ;  hence  J-  x  £  =  fa  part  of  the  power  is 
given  out  as  luminous  rays,  as  against  fa  in  Dr.  Tyndall's  incandes- 
cent platinum — a  result  sufficiently  approximate  considering  the  wide 
difference  of  conditions  under  which  the  two  are  compared. 


62  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

These  results  are  not  only  of  obvious  practical  value,  but  they  seem 
to  establish  a  fixed  relation  between  current,  temperature,  and  light 
produced,  which  may  serve  as  a  means  to  determine  temperatures  ex- 
ceeding the  melting-point  of  platinum  with  greater  accuracy  than  has 
hitherto  been  possible  by  actinimetric  methods  in  which  the  thickness 
of  the  luminous  atmosphere  must  necessarily  exercise  a  disturbing  in- 
fluence. It  is  probably  owing  to  this  circumstance  that  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  electric  arc  as  well  as  that  of  the  solar  photosphere  has  fre- 
quently been  greatly  overestimated. 

The  principal  argument  in  favor  of  the  electric  light  is  furnished 
by  its  immunity  from  products  of  combustion  which  not  only  heat  the 
lighted  apartments,  but  substitute  carbonic  acid  and  deleterious  sul- 
phur compounds  for  the  oxygen  upon  which  respiration  depends  ;  the 
electric  light  is  white  instead  of  yellow,  and  thus  enables  us  to  see 
pictures,  furniture,  and  flowers  as  by  daylight  ;  it  supports  growing 
plants  instead  of  poisoning  them,  and  by  its  means  we  can  carry  on 
photography  and  many  other  industries  at  night  as  well  as  during  the 
day.  The  objection  frequently  urged  against  the  electric  light,  that 
it  depends  upon  the  continuous  motion  of  steam  or  gas  engines,  which 
are  liable  to  accidental  stoppage,  has  been  removed  by  the  introduction 
into  practical  use  of  the  secondary  battery  ;  this,  although  not  embody- 
ing a  new  conception,  has  lately  been  greatly  improved  in  power  and 
constancy  by  Plante,  Faure,  Volckmar,  Sellon,  and  others,  and  promises 
to  accomplish  for  electricity  what  the  gas-holder  has  done  for  the  sup- 
ply of  gas  and  the  accumulator  for  hydraulic  transmission  of  power. 

It  can  no  longer  be  a  matter  of  reasonable  doubt,  therefore,  that 
electric  lighting  will  take  its  place  as  a  public  illuminant,  and  that, 
even  though  its  cost  should  be  found  greater  than  that  of  gas,  it  will 
be  preferred  for  the  lighting  of  drawing-rooms  and  dining-rooms,  thea- 
tres and  concert-rooms,  museums,  churches,  warehouses,  show-rooms, 
printing  establishments,  and  factories,  and  also  the  cabins  and  engine- 
rooms  of  passenger-steamers.  In  the  cheaper  and  more  powerful  form 
of  the  arc-light,  it  has  jn'oved  itself  superior  to  any  other  illuminant 
for  spreading  artificial  daylight  over  the  large  areas  of  harbors,  rail- 
way-stations, and  the  sites  of  public  works.  When  placed  within  a 
holophote  the  electric  lamp  has  already  become  a  powerful  auxiliary 
in  effecting  military  operations  both  by  sea  and  land. 

The  electric  light  may  be  worked  by  natural  sources  of  power  such 
as  water-falls,  the  tidal  wave,  or  the  wind,  and  it  is  conceivable  that 
these  may  be  utilized  at  considerable  distances  by  means  of  metallic 
conductors.  Some  five  years  ago  I  called  attention  to  the  vastness  of 
those  sources  of  energy,  and  the  facility  offered  by  electrical  conduc- 
tion in  rendering  them  available  for  lighting  and  power-supply,  while 
Sir  William  Thomson  made  this  important  matter  the  subject  of  his 
admirable  address  to  Section  A  last  year  at  York,  and  dealt  with  it  in 
an  exhaustive  manner. 


PHYSIOGNOMIC   CURIOSITIES.  63 

The  advantages  of  the  electric  light  and  of  the  distribution  of 
power  by  electricity  have  lately  been  recognized  by  the  British  Gov- 
ernment, who  have  just  passed  a  bill  through  Parliament  to  facilitate 
the  establishment  of  electrical  conductors  in  towns,  subject  to  certain 
regulating  clauses  to  protect  the  interests  of  the  public  and  of  local 
authorities.  Assuming  the  cost  of  electric  light  to  be  practically  the 
same  as  gas,  the  preference  for  one  or  other  will  in  each  application 
be  decided  upon  grounds  of  relative  convenience,  but  I  venture  to 
think  that  gas-lighting  will  hold  its  own  as  the  poor  man's  friend. 

[To   be   continued.'] 


PHYSIOGNOMIC  CUPJOSITIES. 

By  FELIX  L.  OSWALD,  M.  D. 

BUT,  besides  these  local  ideals  (referred  to  in  the  preceding  num- 
ber), there  is  an  inteimational  standard  of  beauty  which  has  sur- 
vived the  mutations  in  other  canons  of  taste.  Athenseus  mentions  the 
ingredients  of  a  once-famous  sea-fish  sauce,  and  the  attempt  to  try  his 
receipt  nearly  suffocated  the  courtiers  of  Queen  Christina  with  nausea 
and  laughter.  Petronius,  surnamed  the  Arbiter  of  Elegance,  would  be 
kicked  out  by  any  modern  publisher  of  obscene  literature.  The  Greeks 
admired  the  knife-grinder  music  of  the  tree-cicada,  and  their  own 
melodies  would  probably  rout  an  American  audience,  but  we  all  can 
appreciate  the  merits  of  their  sculptured  paragons  ;  their  Venus  would 
bag  the  prize-committee  of  an  Alaska  squaw-fair,  as  she  captured  the 
stout  knight  Tannhauser. 

"  Beautiful  features  are  the  credentials  by  which  Nature  introduces 
her  representatives,"  says  Wieland.  Beauty  is  superior  fitness,  as  a 
Darwinian  would  say,  and  in  this  respect,  too,  the  pre-eminence  of  the 
ancient  Greeks  was  probably  the  outcome  of  their  general  physical  and 
mental  superiority  to  their  fellow-men,  though  they  themselves  be- 
lieved in  the  existence  of  a  chemical  pan-cosmetic.  In  the  trial  of  the 
arch-quack  Cagliostro,  it  came  out  that,  during  the  twelve  years  from 
17G5-'?7,  he  had  realized  three  million  francs  from  the  sale  of  his 
"Recipe  for  Beauty,"  a  recipe  which  has  been  more  eagerly  searched 
for  than  the  philosopher's  stone,  or  the  secret  of  longevity.  Andreas 
Cisalpinus  made  the  notable  discovery  that  an  ointment  of  crushed 
locusts  and  misletoe-juice  would  treble  the  charms  of  the  fairest  woman. 
"  What  must  I  do  to  become  very  beautiful  ?  "  the  damsel  in  "  Don 
Quixote  "  asks  the  enchanted  Moor's  head.  "  Que  seas  muy  honrada — 
be  very  continent,"  replies  the  head.  Paracelsus  recommends  meadow- 
dew,  gathered  in  the  morning  while  the  May -moon  is  on  the  increase  ; 
and  Montaigne  inquires  into  the  habits  of  the  most  well-favored  tribes 


64  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

of  every  country,  but  confesses  that  the  problem  is  rather  an  evasive 
one,  the  coast-dwellers  of  Sweden  being  as  distinguished  for  their  come- 
liness as  the  highlanders  of  Aragon,  and  the  Normandy  cider-drinkers 
not  less  than  the  Tuscan  wine-drinkers.  His  only  general  rule,  however, 
still  holds  good  :  that  out-door  dwellers  are  never  wholly  ill-favored, 
nor  in-door  workers  altogether  lovely  ;  and  we  might  say  the  same  of 
alcohol-drinkers  and  total  abstainers  :  the  schnapps-worshiping  na- 
tives of  the  Tyrolese  highlands  make  amends  by  their  active  out-door 
life,  as  Lowell  factory-girls  by  their  teetotalism.  There  is  a  good  deal 
in  race,  though.  " Angeli  sunt  •  non  Angli"  Pope  Stephen  III  wrote 
more  than  a  thousand  years  ago  to  Archbishop  Cuthbert,  who  had  sent 
him  a  batch  of  Anglo-Saxon  neophytes,  and  a  trace  of  the  same  angelic 
features  may  still  be  recognized  among  the  little  ragamuffins  of  many 
a  Schleswig-Holstein  coast-village,  where  men  subsist  on  brandy, 
cheese,  and  sour  rye-bread.  Their  neighbors,  the  Pomeranians,  are  a 
manful  if  not  celestial  generation,  and,  in  spite  of  their  dreary  moor- 
lands, very  fond  of  out-door  sports.  But  farther  east  Nature  suc- 
cumbs to  art,  and  the  northern  Russians  are  about  as  outrageously 
unprepossessing  as  indoor-life  and  a  combination  of  all  vices  could 
make  the  image  of  the  Creator.  Extremes  meet,  though,  and  their 
Emperor  has  the  honor  of  commanding  twelve  regiments  of  the  most 
godlike  men  of  the  present  world — the  lance-cuirassiers  of  the  body- 
guard, recruited  in  the  highlands  of  Lesghia  and  Daghestan.  Nearly 
all  the  natives  of  the  Caucasus  have  that  fatal  gift  of  beauty  which 
made  their  land  the  favorite  hunting-ground  of  the  harem-agents,  and 
this  gave  the  Czar  a  pretext  for  treating  it  as  a  Turkish  dependency. 
But  no  social  degradation  could  counteract  the  combined  influence  of 
the  Caucasian  climate,  hardy  habits,  temperance,  and  frugality,  for  the 
Circassian  mountaineers  are  teetotalers  by  religion  and  vegetarians  by 
preference — figs,  honey,  barley-cakes,  and  milk,  being  the  staples  of 
their  diet.  They  are  physically  self-made  men,  for  their  language 
proves  that  their  ancestors  were  Turanians — first-cousins  of  the  owl- 
faced  nomads  of  the  Mongolian  steppe. 

Pernetti  believes  that  "the  study  of  physiognomy  has  been  neglected 
since  men  began  to  neglect  their  good  looks,  to  which  the  classic  nations 
attached  an  importance  which  we  can  nowadays  hardly  comprehend." 
Since  Pernetti  confines  his  remarks  to  his  own  sex  we  may  plead  guilty 
to  his  indictment,  and  it  is  true  that  the  ancients  combined  their  hero- 
ics with  a  good  deal  of  Beau-Brummelism.  "  He  abuses  the  right  of  a 
man  to  be  ugly,"  Madame  de  Stael  said  of  one  of  her  admirers,  but  the 
ancient  Greeks  denied  that  right  altogether,  and  their  intolerance  in 
this  respect  seems  to  have  surpassed  anything  one  could  mention  of 
contemporary  notions,  though  it  may  be  true  that  the  military  acade- 
mies of  Prussia  and  Saxony  make  homeliness  a  bar  to  admission. 
Even  Plato,  in  his  "Republic,"  advises  his  lawgiver  to  oppose  all 
habits  that  might  tend  to  lower  the  standard  of  physical  aesthetics  ; 


PHYSIOGNOMIC   CURIOSITIES.  65 

Zopyrus  berated  Socrates  as  if  he  had  caught  a  pickpocket ;  nay,  the 
Spartan  Gerontes  fined  one  of  their  kings  for  courting  a  thick-set  lady, 
because  "  they  could  not  permit  him  to  afflict  the  state  with  a  race  of 
undersized  princes."  In  the  record  of  the  battle  of  Platrea,  a  certain 
Callicrates  is  mentioned  simply  because  he  was  the  fairest  of  all  the 
Greeks  who  fought  on  that  day  ;  and  Plutarch  speaks  of  a  slave  whom 
Nicias  set  free  for  winning  the  applause  of  all  Athens  in  a  play  (or 
religious  festival),  where  he  enacted  the  role  of  the  Bacchus  Methystes  ; 
and  even  more  amazing  is  what  Strabo  tells  us  of  one  Philippus,  who 
joined  in  the  expedition  of  Doricus  against  Erix,  and  who,  after  hav- 
ing been  slain  and  stripped  by  the  people  of  Segeste,  was  taken  up  and 
grandly  buried  by  his  foes,  and  long  afterward  worshiped  as  a  demi- 
god, on  account  of  his  great  beauty. 

But  the  nil  admirari  is  not  always  a  voluntary  virtue.  De  Lagny, 
in  his  account  of  a  visit  to  the  eastern  tribes  of  Circassia,  describes  the 
horrible  sight  of  a  battle-field  in  the  rocky  valley  of  Halistan,  where 
the  day  before  six  Russian  regiments  had  been  routed  by  the  Lesghian 
mountaineers.  "  But  the  victory  was  dearly  bought,"  says  he  ;  "  in 
the  bed  of  the  river,  and  all  along  the  northern  shore,  we  found  the 
unburied  bodies  of  the  heroes  who  had  died  in  defense  of  their  coun- 
try.    R was  overcome  by  the  sight,  and  asked  us  to  hurry  on, 

but  on  the  outskirts  of  a  chestnut-grove,  that  shades  the  valley  of  a 
tributary  creek,  he  suddenly  stopped,  and  soon  we  were  all  assembled 
around  the  body  of  a  Lesghian  warrior,  who  had  fallen,  with  a  bullet 
through  his  head,  at  the  foot  of  a  shattered  tree.  The  man  wore  the 
green  scarf  of  his  tribe,  and,  from  the  profusion  of  ornaments  on  his 
belt  and  his  neck,  seemed  to  have  been  a  chieftain  among  his  com- 
panions. Yet  it  was  not  his  grotesque  attire,  nor  his  form,  which  was 
that  of  a  Hercules,  which  held  us  spellbound — it  was  his  face,  a  face 
which  in  manly  beauty  exceeded  anything  Phidias  or  Thorwaldsen 
ever  expressed  in  marble.  We  stood  around,  almost  immovable,  as 
men  will  before  a  phenomenon  they  may  see  once  and  no  more.  No 
one  spoke  a  word,  till  Surgeon  Herbert,  of  the  Chasseurs  d'Afrique, 
broke  the  silence  ;  baring  his  head — "  Hats  off,  messieurs  ;  void  Vintage 
de  Dieu — we  stand  before  the  image  of  God  !  " 

The  Duke  de  Rohan  used  to  say  that  "  it  had  pleased  Providence 
to  put  something  between  the  eyes  of  a  French  cavalier  which  a  ple- 
beian could  not  look  at  without  quailing."  The  guillotine  seems  to 
have  settled  that  difficulty,  but  it  is  true  that  there  is  an  innate  maj- 
esty in  some  faces  which  commands  the  respect  even  of  those  who 
would  decline  to  recognize  any  other  claims  to  superior  rank,  not  ex- 
cepting those  of  an  established  reputation.  For  some  reason  or  other 
— possibly  the  all-pervading  hypocrisy  of  our  Western  civilization — 
this  vultus  majestatis  has  almost  become  a  monopoly  of  the  Moham- 
medan nations.  During  the  revolt  of  the  Wahabees,  the  commander 
of  the  sectarian  army  had  frequent  occasion  to  notice  the  efficiency  of 

TOL.    XXII. — 5 


66  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

one  Aboo  Arish,  a  subaltern  officer,  whose  stern  command  and  intrepid 
bearing  bad  often  retrieved  the  fortune  of  a  doubtful  battle  ;  and  after 
the  close  of  the  war  it  occurred  to  him  to  utilize  the  stentorian  talent 
of  his  lieutenant  in  a  different  way.  He  made  him  the  coadjutor  of 
his  envoy  to  the  neighboring  chieftains,  and  had  no  cause  to  regret  his 
appointment,  for,  even  on  occasions  that  would  have  foiled  the  strategy 
of  a  European  diplomat,  the  mere  presence  of  Aboo  Arish  never  failed 
to  overawe  the  council  of  a  hostile  tribe. 

This  power  of  a  physiognomic  majesty  is  well  illustrated  by  another 
story  from  the  Caucasus,  which  I  find  in  Lermontoff's  history  of  the 
eventful  campaign  that  ended  with  the  capture  of  the  prophet-chieftain, 
Shamyl  ben  Haddin,  on  the  plateau  of  Ghunib,  September  10,  1859. 
Eighteen  hundred  against  twenty-six  thousand,  his  men  had  defended 
themselves  from  early  morning  till  after  noon,  and,  when  his  ammu- 
nition was  exhausted,  began  to  hurl  rocks  and  cannon  from  the  para- 
pets. But  toward  evening  the  citadel  was  taken  by  storm,  and  the 
survivors  of  the  garrison  were  led  forth,  torn  and  bleeding,  but  re- 
solved to  die  game.  The  officers  of  the  Russian  headquarters  had 
adjourned  for  supper,  as  soon  as  the  bloody  work  was  done,  but,  when 
the  commanding  officer  was  notified  that  the  great  chieftain  was  among 
the  prisoners,  he  gave  orders  to  conduct  him  at  once  into  his  presence. 
A  noise  of  boisterous  mirth  greeted  the  arrival  of  Shamyl  when  his 
escort  halted  before  the  commander's  tent,  but  when  he  stood  in  the 
presence  of  his  captors,  like  Ormuz  before  the  court  of  Ahriman,  a 
deep  silence  came  over  the  assembly,  and  the  insolent  Junkers  of  Ba- 
ryatinski's  staff  involuntarily  rose  to  their  feet,  as  if  they  felt  the  pres- 
ence of  a  superior  being  ! 

"  When  he  contracted  his  eyebrows,  his  look  could  assume  a  pene- 
trative force  that  I  have  never  seen  equaled,"  says  Lermontoff.  Ma- 
rius  and  Robert  Burns  had  such  eyes,  and  also  Yasco  de  Gama,  el  de 
los  ojos  terribles,  who  "  could  read  a  face  like  an  open  book,"  and  once 
quelled  the  spokesmen  of  a  mutinous  crew  by  simply  keeifing  them 
under  the  fire  of  that  terrible  gaze. 

How  men  can  be  affected  by  excessive  ugliness  history  illustrates  by 
many  amusing  examples.  We  have  already  referred  to  the  nose  of  the 
first  Hapsburger,  which  came  so  near  defeating  his  nomination  ;  but,  if 
the  descriptions  of  Caliph  Walid's  face  are  authentic,  he  was  lucky  that 
his  accession  to  the  throne  of  the  Prophet  did  not  depend  upon  the 
votes  of  men  with  physiognomic  prejudices.  His  nose  was  crooked 
and  sharp  like  a  reaping-hook,  his  cheeks  so  tumid  that  "  they  could 
be  seen  from  behind"  ;  his  mouth  was  atrocious,  and,  to  put  a  finishing 
touch  to  the  portrait,  Abulfeda  informs  us  that  he  was  marked  by  the 
small-pox  as  man  was  never  marked  before,  "  pits  like  auger-holes"  dis- 
tributed over  his  face  from  ear  to  ear. 

"  Non  cuique  datum  est  habere  nasum  •  another  Eastern  potentate, 
Ghengis  Khan,  had  no  nose  to  speak  of,  and  was  otherwise  so  fright- 


PHYSIOGNOMIC   CURIOSITIES.  67 

fully  ugly  that  he  found  it  easy  to  pass  for  a  superhuman  or  subter- 
human  being.  His  next  neighbors,  the  original  Huns,  were  actually 
believed  to  derive  their  origin  from  a  diabolical  liaison  of  the  Scythian 
witches  ;  such  at  least  was  the  theory  of  the  Visigoths,  who,  barbarians 
though  they  were,  enjoyed  more  than  the  average  share  of  physical 
beauty,  and  were  altogether  overcome  by  the  aspect  of  those  Turanian 
fiends.  "  In  many  a  battle,"  says  Jornandes,  "  the  warriors  who  had 
withstood  the  onset  of  the  Roman  legions  were  seized  with  a  name- 
less terror  and  put  to  instant  flight  by  the  sight  of  those  male  Me- 
dusas." 

"  Hatred  at  first  sight  is  no  impossibility.  I  know  that  from  per- 
sonal experience,"  says  Charles  Lamb,  "  and  I  can  believe  the  story  of 
two  persons  meeting,  who  never  saw  one  another  before,  and  instantly 
fighting."  Marshal  Vendome  was  so  ugly  that  he  avoided  going  near 
a  looking-glass.  But  once,  on  entering  a  tent  that  had  been  furnished 
by  proxy,  he  found  a  mirror  over  the  wash-stand  and  could  not  resist 
the  temptation  to  have  a  good  look  at  himself.  But,  as  he  looked,  his 
hand  stole  to  his  belt,  and  with  a  muttered  curse  and  "  Quelle  figure  ! '" 
he  broke  the  glass  with  a  pistol-shot.  La  Maintenon  had  seen  him 
only  once  in  her  life,  and  ever  afterward  persecuted  him  with  the  ran- 
cor of  a  personal  enemy,  and  used  to  refer  to  his  person  as  "ce  cochon 
d  deux  bottes." 

But  there  is  also  such  a  thing  as  love  at  first  sight,  and  in  Schopen- 
hauer's theory  of  sexual  selection  many  of  its  apparent  caprices  have 
been  explained  with  ultra-Baconian  ingenuity.  "  The  ultimate  object 
of  all  love-dramas,"  says  he,  "  is  really  more  important  than  all  other 
human  concernments  whatever,  and  fully  worthy  of  the  deep  earnest 
of  the  actors.  For  what  they  decide  is  nothing  less  than  the  composi- 
tion of  the  next  generation.  The  apparently  frivolous  whims  of  Amor 
determine  the  physical  and  moral  peculiai'ities  of  the  dramatis  personce 
who  shall  mount  the  stage  after  we  are  gone.  The  sexual  instinct,j»er 
se,  only  guarantees  the  perpetuity  of  the  species  ;  our  erotic  caprices 
determine  the  qualities  of  its  representatives.  ...  In  regard  to  the 
human  species  the  importance  of  this  perpetual  selection  is  enhanced  by 
the  perpetual  necessity  of  counteracting  the  influence  of  degenerative 
agencies.  Nature  continually  strives  to  correct  all  deviations  from  the 
standard  of  her  normal  types,  and  thus  assists  the  survival  of  the 
fittest  by  preventing  the  birth  of  the  most  unfit.  The  metaphysical 
rationale  of  passionate  love  is,  therefore,  the  instinctive  perception  of 
an  opportunity  to  counteract  individual  abnormities,  to  neutralize  them 
in  a  being  of  the  next  generation.  Unless  circumstances  limit  the 
scope  of  selection,  every  one  chooses  his  or  her  physiological  comple- 
ment. A  small  man  prefers  a  large  woman,  and  vice  versa  ;  the  man- 
liest man  the  most  feminine  female,  while  weaklings  are  apt  to  admire 
a  strong-minded  woman.  Pale  blondes  dote  on  a  dark  complexion, 
blonde  and  whitish  hair  being,  properly  speaking,  an  abnormity,  analo- 


68  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

gous  to  the  albinism  of  certain  rodents,  or  at  least  to  the  recognized 
staminal  inferiority  of  a  white  horse.  ...  A  child  inherits  its  charac- 
ter from  the  father,  its  intellect  from  the  mother.  Firmness  of  will 
and  courage,  as  well  as  the  innate  kindness  and  uprightness  of  a  man, 
are  therefore  more  potent  elements  of  popularity  with  the  other  sex 
than  intellectual  brilliancy.  Mental  obtuseness  does  not  impair  the 
chances  of  an  otherwise  eligible  suitor  ;  on  the  contrary,  genius  (as  an 
abnormity)  may  exercise  an  unfavorable  effect.  Hence  the  apparent 
paradox  of  a  gross  and  stupid  fellow  superseding  a  refined  and  sensible 
man  in  the  affection  even  of  sentimental  ladies  ;  and  the  frequency  of 
glaringly  heterogeneous  matches:  he,  practical,  egotistical,  and  prosaic  ; 
she,  all  moonshine  and  poetry  ;  he,  metaphysical  and  learned  ;  she,  a 
goose.  .  .  .  Men,  on  the  other  hand,  are  guided  less  by  the  character 
qualities  of  a  girl  than  by  her  intellectual  attainments,  though  sec- 
ondary to  the  importance  of  physical  qualifications.  In  accordance 
with  the  perception  of  this  bias,  mothers  try  to  enhance  the  attractions 
of  their  daughters  by  educational  devices,  music,  painting,  foreign  lan- 
guages, etc.  Even  a  native  sprightliness  of  the  female  mind  is  apt  to 
outweigh  the  rarer  merits  of  the  heart,  whence  so  many  Socrateses  have 
found  their  Xantippes — e.  g.,  Shakespeare,  Albrecht  Diirer,  Goethe, 
Byron,  and  others.  Female  beauty,  though,  will  eclipse  both  good- 
ness and  wit,  while,  in  the  rivalry  of  the  males,  strength  in  all  its  forms 
is  on  the  whole  the  main  condition  of  success  ;  in  the  eyes  of  the  nor- 
mal woman  even  the  extreme  of  turpitude  (moral  or  physical)  being 
more  pardonable  than  weakness." 

When  Bishop  Lee  sat  down  on  his  coffin  and  heard  the  sheriff's 
command  of  "  Ready  !  "  followed  by  the  click  of  six  Springfield  rifles, 
the  attendant  photographer  requested  him  to  assume  a  pleasing  expres- 
sion of  countenance."  There  have  been  individuals  who  possessed  the 
requisite  control  over  their  facial  muscles,  though  they  might  have 
lacked  the  inclination  to  gratify  the  enterprising  artist.  "A  prince 
of  the  Church  should  know  how  to  die  with  dignity,"  said  Cardinal 
Frascati  when  he  had  been  treated  to  a  dose  of  poison  and  felt  his 
senses  give  way.  In  spite  of  all  entreaties  he  persisted  in  dying  seated 
upright,  with  his  hands  folded  and  his  face  turned  upward  in  an  atti- 
tude of  meditation.  Savonarola  kept  up  a  controversy  at  the  very 
stake,  and,  while  the  flames  scorched  his  knees,  his  eyes  twinkled,  as 
he  watched  the  effect  of  a  caustic  repartee. 

When  the  French  garrison  of  Detroit  made  a  sally  against  the  be- 
sieging Indians,  Boeuf-courant,  an  Ojibway  chieftain,  had  both  his  legs 
torn  away  by  a  cannon-ball.  Carried  into  the  fort,  he  refused  medical 
attendance,  and  his  young  son,  who  had  never  left  his  side,  at  his  bid- 
ding raked  a  pile  of  cold  ashes  from  the  guard-room  chimney,  and  on 
this  pile  deposited  his  crippled  father,  with  the  stumps  downward. 
Thus  enabled  to  sit  upright,  he  calmly  smoked  his  pipe,  till  the  com- 
mander of  the  fort  suggested  his  removal  to  a  prison-cell.     They  gave 


PHYSIOGNOMIC   CURIOSITIES.  69 

him  a  quarter  of  an  hour  to  finish  his  smoke,  and  he  sat  motionless  as 
a  statue  ;  hut,  when  one  of  the  soldiers  went  to  remind  him  that  his 
time  was  up,  they  found  that  the  fifteen  minutes  and  the  old  chief  had 
expired  together.  James  Nisbet,  in  his  "  Annals  of  California,"  relates 
that  in  the  fall  of  1851,  when  Lynch-justice  was  the  only  law  of  the  Ter- 
ritory, a  multitude  of  citizens  assembled  on  the  Plaza  of  San  Francisco, 
to  hang  a  notorious  rascal,  who  had  amassed  money  by  burglary,  but 
was  at  last  caught  in  flagrante.  Mr.  Nisbet  made  his  way  through 
the  crowd,  and  seeing  a  gentleman  standing  a  little  apart,  calmly  smok- 
ing a  cigarette,  he  went  up  to  him  and  inquired  if  he  could  tell  him 
who  it  was  they  were  going  to  hang.  The  man  thus  addressed  re- 
moved the  ashes  from  his  cigarette,  and  with  great  politeness  replied, 
"  Unless  I'm  quite  mistaken,  it's  me,  sir,"  and  then  resumed  his  smoke. 
"  Ten  minutes  after,"  says  Mi*.  Nisbet,  "  the  same  gentleman  was 
dangling  by  his  neck  from  a  balcony  of  the  Pacific  Hotel." 

During  the  first  war  of  the  Carlists  and  Cristinos  an  attempt  was 
made  to  assassinate  the  Count  de  Santa  Cruz,  who  commanded  the  city 
of  Barcelona,  by  blowing  up  an  old  stone  chapel  where  he  used  to 
transact  his  official  business.  A  desperado  undertook  the  job,  and, 
after  planting  his  powder  and  lighting  the  match,  he  went  to  the 
count's  hotel,  engaged  him  in  conversation,  and  under  pretext  of 
some  official  business  started  him  toward  the  loaded  chapel.  Once 
there,  he  calculated,  the  count  would  stay  an  hour  or  so,  and  he  could 
slip  out  before  the  explosion.  But,  just  as  they  entered  the  inclosure 
of  the  chapel,  the  building  went  up  with  an  earth-shaking  crash,  and 
the  would-be  assassin,  though  unhurt,  stood  trembling  and  pale  as 
death.  Santa  Cruz  readjusted  his  hat,  which  had  been  knocked  side- 
ways by  a  flying  fragment,  and,  turning  to  his  companion,  very  quietly 
observed:  "You  always  ought  to  wet  a  slow  match  in  such  hot 
weather,  companero  ;  otherwise  they  burn  double-quick,  and  the  thing 
goes  off  prematurely." 

It  is  to  men  of  this  class  that  Lavater  refers,  when  he  speaks  of 
individuals  who  have  such  a  conti'ol  over  their  features  that  they  pre- 
vent even  violent  passions  from  impressing  them  with  the  marks  they 
would  leave  on  other  faces.  As  to  the  question  what  vices  can  be  de- 
tected by  the  expression  of  the  countenance,  opinions  differ  very  widely. 
Physical  excesses  always  leave  their  mark,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
an  expert  physician  can  recognize  a  drunkard,  a  debauchee,  a  glutton, 
or  an  opium-eater  without  any  difficulty,  and  even  without  confound- 
ing the  effects  of  their  different  vices.  But,  though  phrenologists 
assert,  and  every  lover  of  justice  should  wish,  it  to  be  otherwise,  over- 
whelming evidence  obliges  one  to  admit  that,  as  a  rule,  moral  turpitude 
leaves  no  such  traces.  If  free  from  health-destroying  habits,  a  plot- 
ting fiend  may  disarm  suspicion  with  the  ideal  forms  and  soft  eyes  of 
Guido's  dream-children,  and  the  recoi'ds  of  history  not  less  than  those 
of  every-day  life  abound  with  instances  of  such  masked  scoundrels. 


7o  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

Every  large  penitentiary  in  Anglo-Saxondom  has  inmates  who  might 
pose  for  any  saint  in  the  Roman  almanac,  while  an  honest  village-priest 
of  Southern  Bavaria  may  combine  in  his  face  the  deformities  of 
Breughel's  seven  devils  by  indulging  in  salted  pork,  lager-bier,  and 
sauerkraut.  Some  years  ago  I  passed  a  few  days  at  Brownsville,  Texas, 
during  the  session  of  the  United  States  District  Court.  The  cause  cele- 
bre  of  the  season  was  the  case  of  Francisco  Hernandez,  a  Mexican  ban- 
dit, who  had  infested  the  Rio  Grande  frontier  for  more  than  three 
years  before  he  was  caught  in  his  favorite  trick  of  robbing  the  poor 
farm-houses  of  his  countrymen,  whenever  the  absence  of  the  able- 
bodied  males  gave  him  a  chance  of  executing  his  designs  with  a  mini- 
mum risk  to  his  own  skin.  Though  he  assured  the  court  that  he  had 
no  hard  feelings  against  any  of  his  victims,  he  had  been  obliged,  in 
the  line  of  his  business,  to  kill  eight  different  persons — all  females  and 
minors.  His  last  enterprise  had  involved  a  hand-to-hand  fight  with  a 
stout  old  woman,  who  broke  his  left  arm  before  he  dispatched  her. 
He  was  tracked  to  the  Rio  Grande,  and,  trying  to  swim  the  river  in 
his  crippled  condition,  saw  himself  obliged  to  turn  back  into  pistol - 
range  of  his  pursuers,  was  captured,  and  arraigned  for  five  murders  in 
the  second  and  three  in  the  first  degree.  I  strolled  into  the  coui*t-house 
while  his  trial  was  going  on,  expecting  to  see  one  of  those  bull-necked 
old  cut-throats  of  the  negroid  type,  who  abound  in  this  region  of  mur- 
der and  mixed  races.  He  proved  to  be  a  pale-faced  creole,  of  some 
eighteen  or  twenty  years,  slender-built,  modest-spoken,  and  resigned- 
looking  to  a  pathetic  degree.  His  profile  was  absolutely  perfect,  and 
the  same  might  have  been  said  of  his  eyes,  if  their  look  had  not  been 
too  ghost-like  spiritual  to  leave  an  agreeable  impression.  Csesar  Bor- 
gia, the  natural  son  of  Pope  Alexander  VI,  was  at  once  the  wickedest 
and  handsomest  man  of  his  time.  The  fiend  who  aggravated  the  guilt 
of  the  most  unheard-of  crimes  by  perpetrating  them  in  the  name  of  a 
sentimental  religion  wore  a  face  which,  in  the  words  of  Delia  Porta, 
might  inspire  a  saint  to  live  up  to  every  sublime  precept  of  that  creed. 
The  mere  sound  of  his  voice  succeeded  where  the  arguments  of  others 
failed  ;  his  eye  could  beam  with  the  inspiration  of  a  prophet  while  he 
meditated  those  fatti  assassini  to  which  the  records  of  the  most  bar- 
barous nations  furnish  scarcely  a  parallel.  It  is  a  pity  that  his  skuH 
has  not  been  preserved,  though  we  need  not  doubt  that  it  did  exhibit 
all  those  fine  "  developments  "  that  were  necessary  to  harmonize  with 
such  a  face. 

Caesar  Borgia  had  hostile  biographers,  who  may  have  exaggerated 
his  faults,  and  artist-friends  who,  perhaps,  flattered  him  in  portraits  ; 
but  the  same  can  not  be  said  of  Mohammed  II,  the  conqueror  of 
Constantinople,  whose  crimes  were  palliated  by  his  abject  courtiers, 
and  to  whose  majestic  beauty  his  enemies  bear  witness.  The  histo- 
rian Phranza,  who  lost  his  fortune  and  his  country  in  the  downfall  of 
the  Byzantine  Empire,  and  whose  only  son  was  stabbed  by  the  hand 


PHYSIOGNOMIC   CURIOSITIES.  7i 

of  the  Sultan,  describes  Lira  as  the  physical  ideal  of  a  perfect  man.  A 
potentate  of  leonine  bearing,  with  a  beard  that  surrounded  his  face 
like  a  mane,  and  a  pair  of  wonderful  Oriental  eyes,  combined  with 
features  of  classic  regularity,  he  appeared  "  every  inch  a  king,"  and 
the  embassadors  who  visited  his  court  from  all  parts  of  the  world 
agreed  that  he  was  the  manliest-looking  man  they  had  ever  seen.  Yet 
this  same  paragon  was  an  infidel  alike  to  his  faith  and  his  friends, 
inhumanly  cruel,  and  mean  to  the  rare  degree  of  being  at  once  ava- 
ricious and  overbearing.  But,  though  his  subjects  groaned  under  his 
yoke,  no  murmur  ever  reached  his  ears,  and  his  presence  inspired  the 
genuine  reverence  due  to  a  superior  being.  He  was  uxorious  and  a 
tool  in  the  hands  of  his  favorites,  but  his  superintendence  always  in- 
sured the  success  of  a  campaign  ;  he  had  that  gift  of  commanding  that 
can  dispense  with  personal  courage  by  inspiring  it  in  others.  Absa- 
lom, Cambyses,  the  younger  Dionysius,  Caligula,  Louis  le  Debonnaire, 
Churchill,  King  Christian  of  Denmark,  Ali  Pasha,  and  Benedict 
Arnold,  are  well-known  confirmations  of  a  truth  which,  as  Goethe 
observes,  the  experience  of  every  man,  but  nobody's  instinct,  teaches 
him — that  beauty  and  goodness  are  not  identical.  Children  and  child- 
like men,  and  most  men  a  priori,  are  prepossessed  by  a  handsome 
face  and  repulsed  by  an  ugly  one,  and  one  can  understand  Madame 
de  Stael  when  she  speaks  of  unpardonable  faces.  Ugliness  is  some- 
thing abnormal,  and  originally,  no  doubt,  the  consequence  of  sin — 
though,  perhaps,  quite  unconscious  sin — against  the  physical  laws  of 
God. 

But,  even  about  moral  aberrations,  the  language  of  the  face  is  not 
altogether  silent,  though  it  announces  them  in  a  different  way.  Be- 
sides those  of  the  studied,  calm  expression,  there  are  indications  in 
what  Sir  Charles  Bell  calls  the  habits  of  the  face,  the  manner  of  laugh- 
ing, of  speaking  under  the  influence  of  passion,  or  of  meeting  a  sudden 
glance.  In  these  habits  even  moral  peculiarities  may  betray  them- 
selves to  a  shrewd  observer,  and  often  quite  unbeknown  to  the  object 
of  observation.  Experience,  in  fact,  can  teach  us  to  distinguish  ac- 
quired from  hereditary  beauty  or  ugliness.  They  may  be  combined 
in  the  same  face,  but  are  altogether  independent  of  each  other,  and 
differ  as  forms  from  manners,  or  talents  from  culture.  The  tongue, 
though,  can  be  taught  to  refute  this  language  of  the  features — hence 
the  significance  of  first  impressions. 

Physiognomy  and  craniology  are  yet  far  from  having  been  reduced 
to  the  rules  of  a  logical  system — "  the  one  through  want  of  cultivation, 
the  other  in  spite  of  it,"  as  the  physiologist  Camper  said  of  his  and 
Pastor  Goetze's  science.  In  the  mean  time  we  all  practice  physiog- 
nomy instinctively,  though  by  methods  which  it  would  not  be  quite 
easy  to  define.  What  subtile  differences  in  the  form  of  the  features 
enable  us  to  indicate  the  age  of  a  man,  his  habits,  his  temper,  the 
average  amount  of  his  education,  and  even  the  country  of  his  birth  ! 


72  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

The  traveler  Kohl  mentions  a  landlord  in  Kent  Square,  Liverpool,  who 
combined  his  restaurant  with  an  emigrant  boarding-house,  and  won 
many  wagers  by  his  almost  infallible  faculty  for  recognizing  the  na- 
tionality of  his  boarders  :  without  asking  them  to  speak,  without  taking 
any  cognizance  of  the  peculiarities  of  their  dress,  he  scrutinized  their 
features,  and  promptly  announced  the  result  of  his  observation. 

Dr.  Gellmayer,  a  druggist  of  Troppau,  in  Austrian  Silesia,  had  for 
years  the  casting  vote  on  every  lunacy  commission  of  his  native  prov- 
ince. He  distinguished  between  chronic  and  transient  ("  emotional ") 
insanity,  and  recognized  the  former  exclusively  by  physiognomic  symp- 
toms. "I  could  approximately  describe  that  expression,"  says  he,  "by 
comparing  it  to  the  peculiar  look  of  a  person  who  has  forgotten  some- 
thing, and  is  trying  in  vain  to  recollect  it.  In  the  large  subdivision 
of  misanthropic  lunatics  that  look  is  combined  with  a  certain  peevish 
furtiveness  of  the  eye."  When  his  colleagues  wished  to  release  a 
doubtful  patient,  Dr.  Gellmayer  sometimes  withheld  his  opinion,  but 
his  averse  decisions  proved  always  correct. 

Could  Spurzheim  have  deduced  such  verdicts  from  craniological 
indications  ? 


THE    BKITISH    LION. 

By  W.  BOYD  DAWKINS. 

THE  British  Lion  to  be  dealt  with  in  the  following  pages  is  not 
that  of  the  heralds,  nor  is  it  the  amiable,  shy,  rather  tame  animal 
just  now  crouching  down  behind  "the  silver  streak,"  pretending  to 
fear  lest  the  foreigner  should  get  at  him  unawares  through  a  tunnel, 
nor  yet  is  it  the  ephemeral  much-to-be-pitied  creature  of  the  drawing- 
room.  It  is  a  lion,  indeed,  the  king  of  beasts,  the  story  of  whose  com- 
ing into  Britain  is  a  part  of  the  greater  story  of  his  sojourn  in  Euro]:>e, 
that  can  not  be  told  properly  without  discussing  the  ancient  geography 
and  climate,  or  without  dealing  with  some  vexed  points  in  historical 
criticism.  It  is  a  story  which  begins  in  the  remote  geological  past, 
revealed  by  pickaxe  and  shovel,  and  ends,  well  within  the  frontier  of 
history,  in  the  works  of  ancient  Greek  writers. 

The  first  view  which  we  get  of  the  lion  in  Britain  in  the  geological 
record  is  in  the  valley  of  the  lower  Thames,  at  Grays  Thurrock  and 
Ilford  in  Essex,  and  at  Crayford  and  Erith  in  Kent.  The  strata  in 
those  places  consist  of  loams,  sands,  and  gravels  swept  down  by  the 
Thames  when  it  flowed  at  a  height  of  at  least  seventy  feet  above  its 
present  level,  and  swung  in  a  series  of  bold  curves  from  side  to  side  in 
the  broad  valley  in  which  London  stands,  with  a  swifter  current  than 
at  the  present  time.  They  are  all  of  the  same  general  character,  and 
the  brick-field  at  Crayford  presents  us  with  a  most  convenient  stand- 


THE  BRITISH  LION.  73 

point  for  surveying  the  conditions  of  life  in  Southern  Britain  while 
they  were  being  accumulated.  The  visitor  in  Stoneham's  Pit  at  that 
place  sees  a -brick-pit  several  hundred  yards  in  extent,  composed  of 
sand,  shingle,  and  mud-banks,  containing  land  and  fresh-water  shells 
and  numerous  fossil  bones  resting  where  they  happen  to  have  been 
dropped  by  the  current,  and  these  strata  he  can  follow  until  they  abut 
on  the  chalk  forming  the  ancient  side  of  the  river.  The  land-shells 
have  evidently  been  swept  down  by  the  ancient  Thames  from  its  higher 
reaches,  and  the  fresh- water  species  have  for  the  most  part  lived  where 
they  are  now  found,  in  the  old  river-bottom.  These  last  are  now  liv- 
ing in  our  streams  and  lakes,  with  the  three  following  exceptions.  A 
small  bivalve  ( Cyrena  fluminalis),  there  very  abundant,  has  long  ago 
forsaken  the  rivers  of  Europe.  It  still,  however,  lives  in  the  Nile  and 
in  the  streams  of  Cashmere,  and  probably  also  in  the  rivers  and  fresh- 
water lakes  of  Siberia,  and  is  also  used  as  food  by  the  poorer  people 
inhabiting  the  banks  of  the  rivers  of  the  great  plain  of  China.  A 
fresh-water  mussel  (the  Uhio  littoralis)  still  thrives  in  the  rivers  of 
France,  in  the  Seine  and  Loire  ;  and  a  tiny  fresh-water  snail  (Paludina 
marginata)  abounds  in  the  streams  of  Southern  France.  Thus  in  the 
ancient  Thames  at  this  time  fresh-water  mollusca  now  living  in  Britain 
were  to  be  found  side  by  side  with  species  now  to  be  sought  in  the 
rivers  of  France  or  of  Asia.  The  fossil  remains  of  the  mammalia  scat- 
tered through  the  brick-earths  as  they  were  dropped  by  the  current 
have  been  discovered  in  astonishing  numbers,  and  most  of  them  con- 
sist of  isolated  fragments,  such,  for  example,  as  a  broken  skull  of  the 
musk-sheep.  Huge  tusks  of  elephants  lie  side  by  side  with  antlers  of 
stasis  and  skulls  and  bones  of  bisons  and  horses.  Sometimes  entire 
limbs  have  been  preserved  with  bones  in  place,  and  in  one  case  the 
entire  skeletons  of  a  family  of  marmots  surprised  in  the  attitude  of 
hibernation,  with  paws  over  their  noses,  young  and  old  together,  stand 
out  from  a  block  of  hardened  loam.  Such  as  these  are  the  materials 
for  working  into  a  picture  the  conditions  of  life  in  the  valley  of  the 
Thames  while  these  fluviatile  deposits  were  being  formed. 

The  distinct  was  then  haunted  by  many  extinct  wild  animals,  and 
by  living  species  no  longer  found  together  in  any  part  of  the  world. 
Stags  and  roe-deer  lived  in  the  forest  side  by  side  with  the  gigantic 
and  extinct  Irish  elk,  the  woolly  rhinoceros,  and  the  straight-tusked 
elephant.  Three  kinds  of  rhinoceros,  one  of  them  covered  with  wool 
and  hair,  fed  on  the  branches  and  the  undergrowth  ;  wild-boars 
plowed  up  the  ground  in  search  of  food,  and  the  glades  afforded 
pasture  to  innumerable  horses,  bisons,  and  large  horned  uri  ;  and, 
when  forest  and  glade  were  alike  covered  with  a  snowy  mantle,  a  few 
musk-sheep,  now  the  most  arctic  of  all  the  herbivores,  were  to  be  seen 
on  the  banks  of  the  Thames  in  Kent.  Among;  the  smaller  animals  we 
may  note  the  pouched  marmot  and  the  water-rat.  These  animals  were 
kept  in  check  by  numerous  beasts  of  prey  ;  the  smaller  of  them  by 


74  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

stealthy  foxes  and  wild-cats,  and  the  larger  by  grizzly  and  brown  bears 
and  packs  of  wolves.  The  stillness  of  night  was  from  time  to  time 
broken  by  the  weird  laughter  of  the  spotted  hyena  and  by  the  roar 
that  proclaimed  the  presence  of  the  king  of  beasts.  Otters  pursued 
their  finny  prey  in  the  Thames  at  Grays  Thurrock,  and  at  Ilford  bea- 
vers were  to  be  seen  disporting  themselves  round  their  wonderful  habi- 
tations, and  vanishing  beneath  the  surface  as  if  by  magic  at  the  splash 
caused  by  the  bulky  form  of  the  hippopotamus  as  he  plunged  into  the 
water. 

Nor  are  we  without  a  clew  as  to  the  vegetation  then  covering  the 
district,  since  the  present  flora  of  this  country  arrived  here  at  a  geo- 
logical period  long  before  the  time  under  discussion.  "We  may  there- 
fore complete  our  ideal  by  picturing  to  ourselves  oaks,  ashes,  and  yews 
among  the  important  trees  in  the  forest,  while  the  thickets  that  shel- 
tered such  a  strange  assemblage  of  animals  did  not  differ  in  any  im- 
portant particular  from  those  in  Britain  at  the  present  time.  Then,  as 
now,  dark  Scotch  firs  clustered  on  the  sands  and  gravels  covering  the 
heights  of  Kent,  and  alders  and  willows  marked  the  water-courses  of 
the  low-lying  district  of  Essex,  until  the  view  was  closed  northward 
by  the  black  pines  covering  the  answering  heights  of  Havering  and  of 
Brentwood.  We  should  alone  miss  the  elms  now  so  marked  a  feature 
in  the  landscape. 

Such  as  these  were  the  surroundings  of  the  lion  when  he  first  ap- 
peared in  Britain,  huge  in  size  and  without  a  rival  among  the  lower 
animals.  The  central  figure,  however,  in  the  picture  is  proved  by 
recent  discoveries  to  have  been  man.  Not  only  have  flint  implements 
of  the  ordinary  river-drift  type  been  obtained  from  the  brick-earths 
of  Crayford  along  with  remains  of  the  animals  above  mentioned,  but 
Mr.  Flaxman  Spurred  has  been  able  to  fix  the  place  where  the  hunter 
sat  on  the  ancient  bank  of  the  Thames  and  fashioned  the  blocks  of 
flint  to  his  various  needs.  The  river-drift  hunter,  armed  with  his 
roughly  chipped  stone  implements,  doubtless  had  great  difficulty  in 
making  good  his  place  in  the  struggle  for  existence  among  the  beasts 
of  prey  then  in  the  valley  of  the  Thames,  and  sometimes,  when  he 
had  the  chance,  he  would  be  likely  to  eat  the  lion,  and  at  other  times 
the  lion  would  certainly  eat  him.  They  must  often  have  come  into 
contact  when  engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  the  same  animals. 

The  climate  at  this  time  in  Southern  Britain  is  proved  to  have  been 
in  the  main  temperate,  by  the  presence  of  animals  such  as  the  horse, 
bison,  and  rhinoceros.  A  temperate  fauna  was  then  in  possession  of 
the  land,  although  a  few  Arctic  stragglers,  such  as  the  musk-sheep, 
were  also  present.  The  hippopotamus  still  haunted  the  banks  of  the 
Thames,  and  can  hardly  be  supposed  to  have  been  able  to  endure  the 
winter  cold  of  the  region  now  inhabited  by  the  musk-sheep,  any  more 
than  that  animal  could  be  expected  to  enjoy  the  heat  of  the  summers 
in  the  present  home  of  the  hippopotamus. 


THE  BRITISH  LION.  75 

The  next  question  which  presents  itself  is  the  geography  of  North- 
western Europe,  while  the  above  strange  group  of  animals  lived  in 
Southern  Britain.  It  is  obvious  from  the  fact  of  the  above  animals 
finding  their  way  here  that  our  island  must  then  have  formed  part  of 
the  Continent.  The  fiuviatile  strata  of  Crayford  have  been  met  with 
at  a  depth  of  forty  feet  below  high-water  mark  near  Erith,  so  that  then 
the  whole  lower  portion  of  the  Thames  Valley  was  higher  above  the 
sea  than  it  is  now.  The  land,  however,  must  have  stood  at  a  consid- 
erably higher  level  than  that,  since  the  soundings  in  the  shallowest 
part  of  the  Channel  reveal  a  depth  of  about  two  hundred  feet,  and  there- 
fore an  elevation  of  land  of  more  than  two  hundred  feet  is  necessary 
to  allow  of  the  migration  of  the  lion  and  the  other  animals.  The  area 
now  covered  by  the  "silver  streak"  was  then  composed  of  forest-clad 
undulations,  extending  from  the  line  of  the  chalk  downs  then  reaching 
from  Dover  to  Sangatte,  in  the  Pas  de  Calais,  on  the  one  hand,  north- 
ward into  the  fertile  pastures  now  sunk  beneath  the  North  Sea,  and  on 
the  other,  to  the  southwest  along  the  whole  length  of  the  Channel. 
Nor  are  we  able  to  find  evidence  of  the  western  sea-margin  at  this 
time  till  the  hundred-fathom  line  is  reached,  which  sweeps  far  to  the 
west  of  Ireland,  southward  close  into  the  shores  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay, 
and  northward  so  as  to  include  the  Hebrides  and  the  Orkneys,  form- 
ing a  narrow  fiord  close  to  the  present  coast  of  Norway,  that  reaches 
as  far  as  Denmark.  The  view  of  De  la  Beche  and  Lyell,  that  all  with- 
in this  boundary  was  dry  land,  only  broken  by  the  rivers  and  the  lakes, 
is  most  probably  true.  In  this  manner  alone  can  we  account  for  the 
presence  of  some  of  the  above  animals,  such  as  the  spotted  hyena,  in 
Ireland. 

But  when,  it  will  be  asked,  were  these  things  so  ?  The  answer  is 
found  in  the  fact  of  the  presence  of  the  living  species  of  higher  mam- 
malia along  with  certain  extinct  species  such  as  the  mammoth,  which 
points  to  one,  and  one  only,  stage  in  the  evolution  of  animal  life — that 
which  is  termed  Pleistocene  or  Quaternary  by  the  geologists,  and  fur- 
ther, to  the  middle  stage  of  it,  when  temperate  animals  abounded  and 
Arctic  animals  were  rare  in  Southern  Britain.  The  question  is  unan- 
swerable if  asked  from  the  historical  and  not  the  geological  point  of 
view,  because,  outside  the  records  in  which  the  intervals  between  events 
are  written  down,  we  have  merely  a  series  of  events  which  occun-ed 
in  a  certain  order,  without  reference  to  lapse  of  time.  An  attempt  to 
ascertain  an  historical  date  outside  history  is  obviously  idle,  and  is  not 
furthered  by  an  appeal  to  the  present  rate  of  the  retrocession  of  water- 
falls, or  by  speculations  as  to  ancient  changes  in  climate  having  been 
produced  by  changes  in  the  relation  of  the  earth  to  the  sun.  The 
events  with  which  we  are  dealing — the  conditions  of  life  when  the  lion 
first  appeared  in  Britain — are  so  far  removed  from  the  earliest  records 
that  we  can  not  form  an  idea  of  the  interval  separating  them  from  our 
own  time.     It  must,  however,  have  been  very  great  to  allow  of  the 


76  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

changes  in  climate  and  geography,  and  in  the  wild  animals  of  Europe, 
as  well  as  of  the  succession  of  the  various  races  and  the  development 
of  civilization,  which,  so  far  as  our  experience  goes,  could  not  have 
been  swift. 

The  discoveries  cited  above  prove  that  the  lion  and  the  river-drift 
hunter  lived  in  the  valley  of  the  lower  Thames,  along  with  many  ani- 
mals now  only  to  be  found  in  temperate  climates,  with  some  which  are 
now  to  be  sought  in  warm  climates,  and  with  others  that  are  extinct. 
We  have  noted  also  the  presence  of  a  few  Arctic  stragglers.  In  the 
long  course  of  ages  the  climate  gradually  became  colder  in  the  valley 
of  the  Thames,  and  vast  numbers  of  reindeer  wandered  over  the  area 
which  had  formerly  been  occupied  by  stags,  uri,  and  the  other  animals 
already  mentioned.  Their  remains  lie  scattered  through  the  river 
gravels  and  loams  at  various  heights  above  the  level  of  the  Thames, 
from  Oxford  and  Abingdon  down  to  London.  The  numerous  remains, 
for  example,  found  in  digging  the  new  cavalry  barracks  at  Windsor, 
belonged  one  half  to  the  reindeer  and  the  rest  to  bisons,  horses,  bears, 
and  wolves.  They  had  evidently  been  washed  down  from  a  ford 
higher  up  stream,  which  these  animals  were  in  the  habit  of  using  year 
by  year.  The  vast  herds  of  migrating  reindeer  in  Siberia  and  of 
bisons  in  North  America  cross  the  rivers  very  generally  at  the  same 
points  year  after  year,  and  are  followed  by  the  same  kinds  of  beasts 
of  prey,  which  bring  up  the  rear  and  prey  upon  the  stragglers.  The 
lion,  too,  is  proved,  by  the  discovery  of  his  remains  in  the  gravel-beds 
of  London  along  with  reindeer,  to  have  shared  in  the  attack  on  the 
reindeer,  horses,  and  bisons,  as  it  is  now  to  be  seen  among  the  ante- 
lopes in  tropical  Africa.  Could  we  follow  it  to  its  haunts  in  the  wood- 
lands then  occupying  the  site  of  London  we  should  see  it  springing 
upon  other  animals,  such  as  the  Irish  elk  or  the  young  of  the  woolly 
rhinoceros,  mammoth,  or  hippopotamus.  And  could  we  penetrate  to 
the  banks  of  the  streams,  guided  by  a  thin  column  of  smoke  rising 
above  the  tops  of  the  trees  at  Hackney  or  Gray's  Inn,  we  should  come 
upon  the  rude  shelters  of  the  river-drift  hunters — the  men  selecting 
blocks  of  flint  and  chipping  implements  out  of  them,  the  women  pre- 
paring the  meal  of  flesh,  and  the  children  looking  on  and  breaking  the 
silence  of  the  evening  with  their  shouts,  on  those  very  spots  where 
now  is  to  be  heard  day  and  night  the  voice  of  our  great  city.  Man  is 
here,  as  before,  the  rival  of  the  lion  in  the  chase. 

The  lion,  along  with  the  above-mentioned  group  of  animals,  has 
been  discovered  in  the  river  deposits  over  the  whole  of  Southern  Eng- 
land, and  as  far  to  the  north  as  Bielbecks  in  the  North  Riding  of 
Yorkshire.  It  lived  in  the  areas  of  Cambridge,  Bedford,  and  Salisbury. 
It  is,  however,  far  more  abundant  in  the  caves,  into  which,  in  most 
cases,  it  has  been  dragged  by  the  hyenas.  The  pack  of  hyenas  in- 
habiting the  Cave  of  Kirkdale,  in  the  Vale  of  Pickering,  fed  upon  rein- 
deer in  the  winter,  and  at  other  times  on  horses  and  bisons,  and  were 


THE  BRITISH  LION.  77 

able  to  master  the  hippopotamus,  the  lion,  the  slender-nosed  rhinoceros, 
or  the  straight- tusked  elephant,  and  to  carry  their  bones  to  their  den, 
where  they  were  found  by  Dr.  Buckland.  The  hyenas  also  inhabiting 
"  the  Dukeries  "  dragged  back  to  the  dens  fragments  of  lion.  Here, 
too,  our  researches  at  Creswell  revealed  the  presence  of  man.  In  the 
lower  deposits  in  the  caves  were  the  characteristic  implements  of  the 
river-drift  hunter,  while  in  the  upper  were  the  more  highly  finished 
stone  weapons  of  the  cave-man,  along  with  articles  made  of  bone  and 
antler,  such  as  a  needle,  and  the  earliest  trace  of  artistic  design  in  the 
figure  of  a  horse  incised  on  a  polished  fragment  of  bone.  Here  the 
wild  animals  were  for  the  most  part  of  the  same  species  as  those  living 
in  the  area  of  London,  and  the  same  remark  holds  good  of  those  found 
in  the  hyena-dens  in  the  vale  of  Clwyd  or  on  the  banks  of  the  Wye. 
The  headquarters,  however,  of  the  lion  in  Britain  were  the  Mendip 
Hills  in  Somersetshire,  which  overlooked  the  fertile  tract  which  then 
extended  from  their  foot  under  the  present  estuary  of  the  Severn,  and 
joined  the  great  prairie  sweeping  up  the  English  Channel,  and  far  to 
the  west  of  Ireland,  and  as  far  south  as  the  mouth  of  the  Garonne. 
Over  this  vast  feeding-ground  the  lions  followed  the  migrating  her- 
bivores, and  Banwell,  Bleadon,  and  Weston-suner-Mare  were  their 
favorite  haunts.  They  lay  in  wait  in  the  passes  of  Cheddar  and  Bur- 
rington,  and  from  time  to  time  were  surprised  and  overmastered  by 
the  hyaenas  on  the  banks  of  the  Axe  as  it  flowed  through  the  pict- 
uresque ravine  of  Wookey. 

On  the  Continent  the  lion  ranged  over  France,  Belgium,  and  Ger- 
many along  with  the  above-described  animals,  and  having  the  river- 
drift  man  first  of  all,  and  then  the  cave-man  for  its  rivals.  Evidence 
of  this  rivalry  we  have  in  a  remarkable  necklace  found  in  the  cave  of 
Duruthy,  in  the  district  of  the  Adour  in  the  western  Pyrenees,  con- 
sisting of  forty  canine  teeth  of  bear  and  three  of  lion,  adorned  with 
incised  figures — a  harpoon,  glove,  fish,  or  seal.  It  is  a  magnificent 
trophy  of  the  chase,  buried  along  with  the  hunter  in  the  floor  of  his 
dwelling,  which  proves  that  human  art  was  more  than  a  master  for 
the  claws  and  teeth  of  the  most  formidable  beasts  of  prey — the  lion 
and  the  cave-bear— then  living  in  the  southwest  of  France.  The 
broken  and  burned  bones  on  the  floor  point  to  the  fact  that  reindeer, 
horses,  bisons,  and  stags  were  then  abundant  in  the  neighborhood. 

The  fossil  remains  of  the  lion  are  found  also  in  Italy  along  with 
the  remains  of  living  and  extinct  animals,  such  as  the  stag,  Irish  elk, 
and  mammoth  in  strata  of  the  Pleistocene  age.  Nor  is  the  range 
of  the  lion  confined  merely  to  Europe  at  this  time.  An  accumulation 
of  fossil  remains  was  discovered  many  years  ago  in  the  United  States, 
in  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  a  few  miles  southwest  of  Cincinnati,  in  Boone 
County,  Kentucky,  so  great  that  it  is  known  as  Big  Bone  Lick.  The 
animals  to  which  they  belonged  had  been  attracted  to  the  morass  in 
which  they  perished  by  a  deposit  of  salt,  and  present  the  same  asso- 


7 8  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

ciation  of  living  and  extinct  forms  as  we  Lave  observed  in  Europe. 
Reindeer,  musk-sheep,  bisons,  horses,  elks,  and  bears  were  to  be  seen 
along  with  the  mammoth,  the  great  elephant-like  mastodon,  and  the 
gigantic  extinct  sloth  of  South  America.  A  lower  jaw  found  in  the 
same  place,  which  I  have  examined  in  Philadelphia,  leaves  no  doubt 
in  my  mind  that  the  lion  was  among  the  carnivores  of  the  United 
States,  which  lived  on  the  above-mentioned  animals.  It  is  not  more 
strange  that  the  lion  of  the  Old  World  should  be  found  in  the  New, 
than  that  the  musk-sheep,  now  only  alive  in  the  Arctic  regions  of 
North  America  and  Greenland,  should  have  ranged  through  Siberia 
into  Europe  as  far  to  the  southwest  as  the  Pyrenees.  Asia  was  then 
united  to  Northeastern  America,  and  the  Straits  of  Behring  were  then 
an  elevated  tract  of  land  offering  free  passage  to  migrating  animals. 

Thus  far  in  our  inquiry  into  the  British  lion,  we  have  been  led  to 
consider  a  condition  of  things  in  Britain  quite  different  from  that  of 
the  present  day,  and  in  tracing  the  animal  to  the  Continent,  and 
finally  to  the  United  States,  we  have  seen  that  tracts  of  land,  now 
sunk  beneath  the  sea,  connected  our  islands  with  the  Continent,  and 
joined  North  Asia  to  North  America.  It  must  also  be  remarked  that 
the  lion  appears  in  the  Old  and  New  Worlds  at  the  same  hour,  if  I 
may  use  the  metaphor,  of  the  geological  clock,  when  "  the  old  order  " 
was  yielding  "  place  unto  the  new,"  and  the  living  species  were  be- 
coming more  abundant  than  the  extinct  among  the  higher  mammalia 
— in  other  words,  in  the  Pleistocene  age. 

We  have  now  to  direct  our  attention  to  the  retreat  of  the  lion  from 
Europe.  At  the  close  of  the  Pleistocene  age  the  great  extension  of 
Europe  to  the  west  sank  beneath  the  Atlantic,  and  the  North  Sea  and 
the  English  Channel  flowed  over  the  hunting-grounds  of  the  lion,  and 
formed  "  the  silver  streak  "  of  which  we  have  so  much  reason  to  be 
proud.  A  change  in  the  wild  animals  accompanied,  as  it  always  does, 
the  change  in  geography  ;  some  animals  became  extinct,  such  as  the 
mammoth,  while  others  retreated  to  more  congenial  districts,  and 
amon?  them  the  lion.  Not  a  trace  of  that  animal  has  been  discovered 
in  the  peat-mosses  and  other  superficial  accumulations  in  Britain, 
France,  Germany,  or  Italy,  which  took  place  in  the  prehistoric  age, 
or  the  interval  between  the  Pleistocene  on  the  one  hand  and  the 
frontier  of  history  on  the  other.  It  was  probably  at  this  time  retiring 
southward  into  the  districts  in  which  it  lived  in  the  time  of  the  early 
Greek  writers. 

The  first  discovery  on  record  of  the  fossil  lion  was  made  in  Hun- 
gary. Strange  to  say,  the  earliest  notice  of  the  living  lion  relates  to 
the  adjacent  region  divided  from  the  valley  of  the  Danube  by  the 
Balkan  Mountains.  Herodotus  (vii,  c.  124-'6),  in  describing  the  march 
of  Xerxes  through  Roumelia,  before  the  battle  of  Thermopylae,  writes  : 

"While  Xerxes  was  on  the  march  in  this  direction  lions  fell  upon  the  hag- 
gage-camels.     They  came  down  by  night  and  left  their  usual  haunts,  and  touched 


THE  BRITISH  LION.  79 

nothing  else,  neither  beast  of  burden  nor  man,  but  killed  the  camels  only.  I 
wonder  why  on  earth  they  should  have  abstained  from  the  other  animals  and 
attacked  the  camels  only,  beasts  that  they  had  never  seen  or  tasted  before. 
There  are  in  this  district  many  lions  and  wild  oxen  with  large  horns  (uri),  which 
the  Greeks  obtain  from  the  inhabitants  by  barter.  The  boundary  of  the  district 
inhabited  by  the  lions  is  the  river  Nestus  (Oarasu)  that  flows  through  Abdera, 
and  the  Achelous,  that  flows  through  Acharnania:  for  neither  to  the  east  of  the 
Nestus  is  there  a  lion  anywhere  in  that  part  of  Europe,  nor  to  the  west  of  the 
Achelous  in  the  rest  of  the  continent,  but  it  lives  only  in  the  district  between 
those  rivers. 

It  must  be  remarked  that  in  this  precise  account  Herodotus,  with  his 
usual  accuracy,  defines  only  the  eastern  and  western  boundaries,  which 
he  knew,  and  says  nothing  about  the  unknown  region  to  the  north. 
The  story  of  the  lions  was  still  fresh  in  the  memory  of  the  hunters  of 
Chalkidike  when  it  was  picked  up  by  Herodotus  in  his  travels  some 
twenty-five  years  afterward,  and  used  to  light  up  his  narrative.  It  is 
certain,  then,  that  the  lion  lived  in  b.  c.  480  in  the  forests  south  of  the 
Balkans,  between  these  two  boundaries,  and  probably  as  far  south  as 
the  Gulf  of  Lepanto  and  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth.  It  probably  ranged 
also  northward  into  the  valley  of  the  Danube. 

We  are  indebted  to  Xenophon,  about  a  hundred  years  later,  for 
the  next  mention  of  the  lion  in  Europe.  In  his  "  Treatise  on  Hunting  " 
(xi,  i),  which  he  wrote  on  his  banishment  from  Athens  in  his  splen- 
did retreat  in  Lacedaemon,  after  he  had  exchanged  the  court  and  the 
camp  for  the  pleasures  of  gardening  and  hunting,  he  says  :  "  Lions, 
pardaleis"  (probably  a  leopard),  "lynxes,  panthers,  bears,  and  such  like 
beasts,  are  caught  in  foreign  countries  in  the  neighborhood  of  Mount 
Pangreum,  and  Mount  Cissus,  which  is  beyond  Macedonia,  and  in  the 
Mysian  Olympus  and  in  Pindus,  and  in  Xyse  that  is  above  Syria,  and 
in  other  mountains  that  can  support  such  animals."  Mount  Pangseum 
is  near  the  sources  of  the  Xestus,  and  Cissus  is  close  to  Thessalonica, 
and  therefore  this  passage  strongly  confirms  the  truth  of  the  story 
told  by  Herodotus.  It  is,  however,  rejected  by  Baron  Cuvier  and  Sir 
G.  C.  Lewis,  on  the  grounds  that  all  these  animals  are  not  likely  to 
have  lived  in  any  one  of  the  above  localities,  and  that  it  is  a  general 
statement  relating  to  Europe  and  Asia  Minor.  Taken  along  with  the 
statement  of  Herodotus,  and  the  further  fact  that  the  lynx  and  bear 
still  live  in  the  same  region,  it  seems  to  me  that  Xenophon  knew  what 
he  was  writing  about  when  he  advised  the  hunters  to  capture  the 
above  animals  by  the  use  of  poisoned  meat  in  those  districts.  Wheth- 
er Xenophon's  advice  was  taken  or  not,  we  find  in  the  pages  of  the 
next  writer,  some  fifty  years  afterward,  that  the  lions  were  becoming 
rare  in  Europe.  Aristotle  describes  their  range  nearly  in  the  same 
words  as  Herodotus,  but  in  the  interval  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
the  "  many  lions  "  [ttoXXoI  Xeovreg)  of  the  one  had  become  "  the  few  " 
(andviov  Xtvog)  of  the  other,  and  they  had  by  that  time  been  driven 


80  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

to  their  last  foot-hold  in  Europe  by  the  hunter  and  the  husbandman. 
The  exact  date  of  the  killing  of  the  last  lion  is  uncertain  ;  but  from 
the  melancholy  passage  of  Dio  Chrysostom  Rhetor  (Oratio  21) — "the 
honorable  have  vanished  away  in  the  course  of  time,  as  they  say 
the  lions  have  done  which  formerly  dwelt  in  Europe  " — it  must  have 
happened  before  the  close  of  the  first  century  after  Christ. 

Sir  G.  C.  Lewis,  to  whose  papers  in  "  Notes  and  Queries  "  we  are 
indebted  for  many  references  used  in  this  essay,  points  out  that  the 
mythology  of  Italy  contains  no  allusion  to  the  lion,  while  that  of 
Greece  extends  the  range  of  the  lion  into  Peloponnese,  and  to  the 
west  of  the  Achelous,  or,  in  other  words,  proves  that  the  lion  had  a 
wider  range  in  Southern  Europe  before  the  time  of  Herodotus  than  it 
had  afterward.  According  to  iElian,  it  had  retired  from  Peloponnese 
before  the  time  of  Homer. 

The  memory  of  the  lion  was  preserved  in  its  ancient  haunts  long 
after  it  had  become  extinct.  The  scene  of  one  of  the  prettiest  stories 
told  by  JElian  *  is  laid  in  Mount  Pangseum,  which,  from  its  mention 
by  Xenophon,  must  have  been  a  famous  haunt  of  lions : 

Eudemus  tells  the  tale  that  in  PangflBum  in  Thrace  a  bear  attacked  the  lair 
of  a  lion,  while  it  was  unguarded,  and  killed  the  cubs  that  were  too  small  and 
too  weak  to  defend  themselves.  And  when  the  father  and  the  mother  came 
home  from  hunting  somewhere,  and  saw  their  children  lying  dead,  they  were 
much  aggrieved,  and  attacked  the  bear ;  but  she  was  afraid,  and  climbed  up  into 
a  tree  as  fast  as  she  could,  and  settled  herself  down,  trying  to  avoid  the  attack. 
Now,  when  they  saw  that  they  could  not  avenge  themselves  on  her,  the  lioness 
did  not  cease  to  watch  the  tree,  but  sat  down  in  ambush  at  the  foot,  eying  the 
bear,  that  was  covered  with  blood.  But  the  lion,  as  it  were,  without  purpose 
and  distraught  with  grief,  after  the  manner  of  a  man,  rushed  off  to  the  mount- 
ains, and  chanced  to  light  on  a  wood-cutter,  who,  in  terror,  let  fall  his  axe ;  but 
the  lion  fawned  upon  him,  and  reaching  up  saluted  him  as  well  as  he  could,  and 
licked  his  face  with  his  tongue.  And  the  man  took  courage.  Then  the  lion  en- 
circled him  with  his  tail,  and  led  him,  and  did  not  suffer  him  to  leave  his  axe 
behind,  but  pointed  with  his  foot  for  it  to  be  taken  up.  And  when  the  man  did 
not  understand  he  took  it  up  in  his  mouth  and  reached  it  to  him.  Then  he  fol- 
lowed while  the  lion  led  him  to  his  den.  And  when  the  lioness  saw  him,  she 
came  and  made  signs,  looking  at  the  pitiable  spectacle,  and  then  up  at  the  bear. 
Then  the  man  perceived  and  understood  that  the  lion  had  suffered  cruel  wrong 
from  the  bear,  and  cut  down  the  tree  with  might  and  main.  And  the  tree  fell, 
and  the  lions  tore  the  bear  in  pieces  ;  but  the  man  the  lion  led  back  again,  safe 
and  sound,  to  the  place  where  he  lighted  on  him,  and  returned  him  to  the  very 
tree  he  had  been  cutting. 

With  this  simple  story,  told  probably  by  the  wood-cutters  of  Pan- 
goeum  to  their  children  and  handed  down  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration, we  may  conclude  the  history  of  the  lion  in  Europe.  In  the 
remote  Pleistocene  age  the  lion  ranged  over  nearly  the  whole  of  Eu- 
rope, south  of  a  line  passing  through  Yorkshire  and  the  Baltic,  over 

*  "  De  Natura  Animalium,"  iii,  21. 


SCIENTIFIC  FARMING  AT  ROTHAMSTED.  81 

the  United  States,  and  consequently  also  over  the  intervening  conti- 
nent of  Northern  Asia,  when  the  climate  and  geography  were  differ- 
ent from  what  they  are  now.  From  the  close  of  that  age,  marked  in 
Britain  by  the  development  of  "  the  silver  streak,"  the  animal  has 
steadily  been  retreating  southward  in  the  direction  of  its  present 
haunts  through  all  the  period  recorded  in  history.  This  has  probably 
been  brought  about  by  the  rivalry  of  the  hunter,  the  loss  of  cover, 
and  the  increasing  scarcity  of  game.  Its  disappearance,  however, 
from  Northern  Asia  and  North  America  must  have  been  due  to  some 
other  causes,  as  in  the  parallel  case  of  the  horse,  which  abounded  in 
North  America  in  the  Pleistocene  age,  and  afterward  became  extinct, 
although  the  conditions  of  life  are  now  so  favorable  that  the  animals 
introduced  by  the  Spaniards  have  run  wild,  and  now  form  vast  herds. 
It  became  extinct  in  Britain  at  the  close  of  the  Pleistocene  age,  and 
in  Europe  between  the  time  of  Aristotle  (340  b.  c.)  and  that  of  Dio 
Chrysostom  Rhetor  (80  to  100  a.  d.). —  Contemporary  Review. 


-»♦*- 


SCIENTIFIC  FARMING  AT  ROTHAMSTED. 

By  MANLY  MILES,  M.  D. 

IN  the  literature  of  every  department  of  agriculture,  the  references 
to  the  Rothamsted  experiments  are  getting  to  be  as  familiar  as 
household  words,  and  it  is  now  generally  admitted  that  they  have  had 
an  important  influence  on  English  farm-practice. 

In  this  Country,  however,  the  direct  and  practical  bearing  of  these 
experiments  on  the  every-day  business  of  the  farm  is  not  fully  appre- 
ciated, and  this  is  perhaps  largely  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  American 
farmer  is  owner  of  the  soil  he  tills,  and  is  not  therefore  compelled  to 
give  that  strict  attention  to  every  detail  of  the  economy  of  farm  man- 
agement that  is  essential  to  the  successful  practice  of  farming  in 
Great  Britain. 

It  would  seem  that  the  leading  object  of  inquiry  at  Rothamsted 
has  been  the  solution  of  agricultural  problems,  but  the  relations  of 
science  to  agriculture  are  so  broad  that  what  may  be  considered  purely 
practical  lines  of  investigation  can  not  be  limited  to  considerations 
that  are  of  interest  to  the  farmer  only,  as  they  involve  the  discussion 
of  questions  that  are  constantly  presenting  themselves  in  the  progres- 
sive development  of  the  sciences  of  chemistry,  botany,  vegetable  and 
animal  physiology,  including  dietetics  and  the  laws  of  assimilation 
and  growth,  and  thus  lead  to  an  examination  of  topics  that  are  prop- 
erly included  in  the  domain  of  social  and  sanitary  sciences. 

In  fact,  when  the  original  object  of  inquiry  is  the  attainment  of 
some    practical    end,  the   dominant    work  of   experimentation,  when 

VOL.    XXII. — 6 


82  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

properly  conducted,  soon  comes  to  be  the  investigation  of  special  ques- 
tions that  strictly  pertain  to  some  department  of  the  allied  sciences. 

In  the  well-planned  experiments  which  have  been  so  ably  conducted 
at  Rothamsted  for  more  than  forty  years,  embracing  a  wide  range  of 
topics,  there  is  an  abundant  fund  of  information  that  must  be  of  in- 
terest not  only  to  the  farmer,  who  looks  for  results  in  pecuniary  values, 
but  to  the  man  of  science,  seeking  the  truth  for  the  truth's  sake,  and 
the  intelligent  general  reader  who  wishes  to  trace  understandingly 
some  of  the  leading  facts  in  the  world's  progress. 

Without  including  numerous  newspaper  articles,  and  the  annual 
"Memoranda  of  the  Experiments  at  Rothamsted,"  that  have  been 
printed  for  several  years  for  the  convenience  of  visitors,  nearly  one 
hundred  elaborate  papers  and  discussions  of  the  field,  feeding,  and 
laboratory  experiments,  many  of  which  are  in  the  form  of  monographs, 
have  been  published  since  1847,  every  one  of  which  has  had  its  influ- 
ence on  questions  of  agricultural  practice,  as  well  as  on  the  various 
theories  in  science  that  have  been  prominent  for  the  past  half- 
century. 

These  papers  are  to  be  found  in  the  "  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agri- 
cultural Society,"  the  "  Reports  of  the  British  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,"  the  "  Journal  of  the  Chemical  Society  of 
London,"  the  "  Proceedings  and  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
London,"  the  "  Journal  of  the  Society  of  Arts,"  the  "  Journal  of  the 
Horticultural  Society  of  London,"  the  "  Reports  of  the  Royal  Dublin 
Society,"  the  "  Edinburgh  Veterinary  Review,"  the  "  Philosophical 
Magazine,"  and  other  periodicals,  and  in  official  reports  on  special  sub- 
jects of  investigation. 

The  titles  alone  of  these  papers  would  require  the  space  of  several 
pages  of  this  magazine. 

Rothamsted,  with  its  fine  old  manor-house,  the  home  of  Sir  John 
Bennet  Lawes,  is  in  Hertfordshire,  England,  about  twenty-five  miles 
from  London,  on  the  Midland  Railway,  Harpenden  Station. 

Mr.  Lawes  was  born  in  1814,  and  succeeded  to  his  estate  in  1822. 
He  was  educated  at  Eton,  and  at  Brasenose  College,  Oxford.  After 
leaving  the  university,  in  1835,  he  spent  some  time  in  London,  in  the 
study  of  chemistry,  which  had  been  a  subject  of  special  interest  to 
him  when  pursuing  his  academic  course. 

Soon  after  taking  possession  of  his  hereditary  property  at  Rotham- 
sted, in  1834,  he  began  a  systematic  course  of  experiments  with  differ- 
ent fertilizers,  first  with  plants  in  pots,  and  afterward  in  the  field. 

"The  researches  of  Dr.  Saussure  on  vegetation  were  the  chief  sub- 
jects of  his  study  to  this  end.  Of  all  the  experiments  eo  made,  those 
in  which  the  neutral  phosphate  of  lime  in  bones,  bone-ash,  and  apatite, 
was  rendered  soluble  by  means  of  sulphuric  acid,  and  the  mixture  ap- 
plied for  root-crops,  gave  the  most  striking  results. 

"The  results  obtained  on  a  small  scale  in  1837-1839  were  such  as 


SCIENTIFIC  FARMING  AT  ROTHAMSTED.  83 

to  lead  to  more  extensive  trials  in  the  field  in  1840  and  1841,  and  sub- 
sequently." 

Dr.  J.  H.  Gilbert  has  been  associated  with  Mr.  Lawes  since  June, 
1843,  and  has  had  the  direction  of  the  laboratory. 

"  In  1843  more  systematic  field  experiments  were  commenced  ; 
and  a  barn,  which  had  previously  been  partially  applied  to  laboratory 
purposes,  became  almost  exclusively  devoted  to  agricultural  investiga- 
tions. The  foundation  of  the  Rothamsted  Experiment  Station  may  be 
said  to  date  from  that  time  (1843).  The  Rothamsted  Station  has,  up 
to  the  present  time,  been  entirely  disconnected  from  any  external  or- 
ganization, and  has  been  maintained  entirely  by  Mr.  Lawes.  He  has 
further  set  apart  a  sum  of  £100,000  and  certain  areas  of  land  for  the 
continuance  of  the  investigations  after  his  death." 

In  1854  a  subscription  was  made  by  agriculturists  for  a  testimonial 
to  be  presented  to  Mr.  Lawes  as  an  expression  of  their  appreciation  of 
the  great  value  of  the  services  he  had  rendered  to  British  agriculture. 
The  committee  in  charge  of  this  fund,  instead  of  expending  it  in  plate 
as  had  been  intended,  devoted  it,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Lawes,  to 
the  erection  of  a  new  laboratory,  so  that  the  facilities  for  experiment- 
ing were  largely  increased. 

The  eminent  services  of  Drs.  Lawes  and  Gilbert,  in  the  improve- 
ment of  agriculture  and  the  advancement  of  science,  have  been  repeat- 
edly recognized.  In  1854  Dr.  Lawes  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society,  and  in  1867  the  royal  medal  was  awarded  to  him  con- 
jointly with  Dr.  Gilbert,  by  the  council  of  the  society.  The  gold 
medal  of  the  Imperial  Agricultural  Society  of  Russia  was  awarded  to 
Dr.  Lawes,  and  last  year  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  by  imperial  decree, 
awarded  the  gold  medal  of  merit  for  agriculture  to  Dr.  Lawes  and  Dr. 
Gilbert  jointly,  "  in  recognition  of  their  services  for  the  development 
of  scientific  and  practical  agriculture." 

As  a  national  recognition  of  the  great  value  of  the  investigations 
to  which  he  has  devoted  his  life,  Dr.  Lawes  has  this  year  been  created 
a  baronet. 

The  number  of  assistants  engaged  in  the  work  of  experimenting 
has  gradually  increased.  At  first  only  one  laboratory-man  was  em- 
ployed, but  soon  a  chemical  assistant  was  needed,  and  then  a  computer 
and  record-keeper. 

"  During  the  past  twenty-five  years  the  staff  has  consisted  of  one 
or  two  and  sometimes  three  chemists,  and  two  or  three  general  assist- 
ants, one  of  whom  is  generally  employed  in  routine  chemical  work, 
but  sometimes  in  more  general  work." 

The  general  assistants  superintend  the  experiments  with  animals 
and  the  field  experiments — the  making  of  manures  and  their  applica- 
tion— the  harvesting  and  weighing  of  the  crops — the  selection  of  sam- 
ples which  are  prepared  for  preservation  or  analysis,  and  they  also 
make  determinations  of  dry  matter,  ash,  etc. 


84  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

"  There  are  now  more  than  thirty  thousand  bottles  of  samples  of 
experimentally  grown  vegetable  produce,  of  animal  products,  of  ashes, 
or  of  soils,  stored  in  the  laboratory.  A  botanical  assistant  is  also  oc- 
casionally employed,  with  from  three  to  six  boys  under  him,  and  with 
him  is  generally  associated  one  of  the  permanent  general  assistants, 
who  at  other  times  undertakes  the  botanical  work."  Several  com- 
puters and  record-keepers  have  for  some  time  past  been  occupied  in 
calculating  and  tabulating  the  field,  feeding,  and  laboratory  results. 
Additional  chemical  assistance  is  frequently  engaged  in  London  and 
elsewhere.  Professor  Way,  Dr.  Frankland,  and  Dr.  Voelcker,  have 
done  more  or  less  work  on  material  obtained  at  Rothamsted,  and  their 
published  reports  are  of  great  interest.  Mr.  R.  Richter,  of  Berlin,  has 
for  some  years  past  been  almost  constantly  occupied  with  analytical 
work  sent  from  Rothamsted.  A  considerable,  but  of  course  varying, 
force  of  agricultural  laborers  find  employment  in  the  field-work. 

"  The  general  scope  and  plan  of  the  field  experiments  has  been  to 
grow  some  of  the  most  important  crops  of  rotation,  each  separately, 
year  after  year,  for  many  years  in  succession  on  the  same  land,  with- 
out manure,  with  farm-yard  manure,  and  with  a  great  variety  of  chem- 
ical manures  ;  the  same  description  of  manure  being,  as  a  rule,  applied 
year  after  year  on  the  same  plot.  Experiments  on  an  actual  course  of 
rotation,  without  manure  and  with  different  manures,  have  also  been 
made.     In  this  way  experiments  have  been  conducted  as  follows  : 

"  With  wheat,  thirty-nine  years  in  succession  :  thirteen  acres,  thirty- 
seven  plots,  many  of  which  are  duplicates  of  others.  On  barley,  thirty- 
one  years  in  succession  :  four  and  a  half  acres,  twenty-nine  plots.  On 
oats,  ten  years  (including  one  year  fallow) :  three  quarters  of  an  acre, 
six  plots.  On  wheat,  alternated  with  fallow,  thirty-one  years  :  one 
acre,  two  plots.  On  different  descriptions  of  wheat,  fifteen  years  : 
four  to  eight  acres  (each  year  in  a  different  field),  now  more  than 
twenty  plots.  On  beans,  thirty-two  years  (including  one  year  wheat, 
and  five  years  fallow) :  one  and  a  quarter  acre,  ten  plots  ;  also  twenty- 
seven  years  :  one  acre,  five  plots.  On  beans,  alternated  with  wheat, 
twenty-eight  years  :  one  acre,  ten  plots.  On  clover,  with  fallow  or  a 
grain-crop  intervening,  twenty-six  years  :  three  acres,  eighteen  plots. 
The  land  is  now  devoted  to  experiments  with  various  leguminous 
plants,  commenced  in  1878.  On  turnips,  twenty-eight  years  (includ- 
ing three  years  barley) :  about  eight  acres,  forty  plots.  On  sugar- 
beets,  five  years  :  about  eight  acres,  forty-one  plots.  On  mangold- 
wurzel,  seven  years  :  about  eight  acres,  forty-one  plots.  On  potatoes, 
seven  years  :  two  acres,  ten  plots.  On  rotation,  thirty-five  years  :  about 
two  and  a  half  acres,  twelve  plots.  On  permanent  grass-land,  twenty- 
seven  years  :  about  seven  acres,  twenty-two  plots. 

"Comparative  experiments,  with  different  manures,  have  also  been 
made  on  other  descriptions  of  soil,  in  other  localities.  Samples  of  all 
the  experimental  crops   are  taken,   and   brought   to   the   laboratory. 


SCIENTIFIC  FARMING  AT  ROTHAMSTED.  85 

Weio-hed  portions  of  each  are  partially  dried,  and  preserved  for  future 
reference  or  analysis.  Duplicate  weighed  portions  of  each  are  dried 
at  100°  C,  the  dry  matter  determined,  then^ burned  to  ash  on  plati- 
num sheets  in  cast-iron  muffles.  The  quantities  of  ash  are  determined 
and  recorded,  and  the  ashes  themselves  are  preserved  for  reference  or 
analysis.  In  a  large  proportion  of  the  samples  the  nitrogen  is  deter- 
mined, and  in  some  the  amount  existing  as  albuminoids,  amides,  and 
nitric  acid. 

"  In  selected  cases — illustrating  the  influence  of  season,  manures, 
exhaustion,  etc. — complete  ash-analyses  have  been  made,  numbering 
in  all  more  than  seven  hundred.  Also  in  selected  cases,  illustrating 
the  influence  of  season  and  manuring,  quantities  of  the  experimentally 
grown  wheat-grain  have  been  sent  to  the  mill,  and  the  proportion  and 
composition  of  the  different  mill-products  determined. 

"  In  the  sugar-beet,  mangold-wurzel,  and  potatoes,  the  sugar  in  the 
juice  has  in  most  cases  been  determined  by  the  polariscope,  and  fre- 
quently by  copper  also. 

"  In  the  case  of  the  experiments  on  the  mixed  herbage  of  permanent 
grass-land,  besides  the  samples  taken  for  the  determination  of  the 
chemical  composition  (dry  matter,  ash,  nitrogen,  woody  fiber,  fatty 
matter,  and  composition  of  ash),  carefully  averaged  samples  have  fre- 
quently been  taken  for  the  determination  of  the  botanical  composition. 
In  this  way,  on  four  occasions,  at  intervals  of  five  years — viz.,  in  1862, 
1867,  1872,  and  1877 — a  sample  of  the  produce  of  each  plot  was  taken 
and  submitted  to  careful  botanical  separation,  and  the  percentage,  by 
weight,  of  each  species  in  the  mixed  herbage  determined.  Partial 
separations,  in  the  case  of  samples  from  selected  plots  (frequently  of 
both  first  and  second  crops),  have  also  been  made  in  other  years." 

This  condensed  statement  of  the  plan  of  the  field  experiments,  and 
brief  outline  of  some  of  the  work  performed  in  connection  with  them, 
from  the  "  Memoranda  "  for  June,  1882,  will  give  some  general  idea 
of  the  extent  of  the  Rothamsted  Station,  and  of  the  thorough  manner 
in  which  all  operations  are  conducted  ;  but,  in  our  enumeration  of  the 
other  lines  of  inquiry  now  in  progress,  we  can  only  mention  the  sub- 
jects of  investigation  without  referring  to  particulars  in  the  methods 
practiced,  as  we  wish  to  save  space  for  a  discussion  of  some  of  the 
leading  results  that  have  been  thus  far  obtained. 

More  than  one  thousand  samples  of  soil  have  been  taken  from  the 
experiment-plots,  at  different  depths,  for  the  purpose  of  analysis,  to 
ascertain  the  rate  of  soil-exhaustion  under  different  conditions,  and  to 
trace  the  relations  of  the  soil  to  the  crops  grown  and  to  the  manures 
applied. 

For  nearly  thirty  years  the  rain-fall  has  been  measured  in  a  gauge 
having  an  area  of  one  thousandth  of  an  acre,  and  frequent  analyses 
have  been  made  to  determine  the  available  supply  of  combined  nitro- 
gen in  the  form  of  ammonia  and  nitric  acid  that  can  be  obtained  by 


86  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

plants  from  this  source.  In  some  cases  the  chlorine  has  also  been  de- 
termined. The  absorptive  capacity  of  soils  and  subsoils  for  water  and 
ammonia  has  likewise  been  investigated. 

The  quantity  and  composition  of  drain  age- waters  under  various 
conditions  have  been  the  subject  of  elaborate  and  extended  experi- 
ments for  many  years,  and  the  results  obtained  are  of  the  greatest 
importance. 

In  1870  three  "  drain-gauges  "  were  made,  each  having  an  area  of 
one  thousandth  of  an  acre,  and  inclosing  the  soil  and  subsoil  in  a 
natural  state  of  consolidation  to  the  depth  of  twenty,  forty,  and  sixty 
inches,  respectively.  As  the  surface-soil  in  these  gauges  is  kept  free 
from  vegetation,  and  no  fertilizers  are  applied,  their  drainage  repre- 
sents, in  effect,  that  of  a  bare,  unmanured  fallow.  In  the  separate 
drains  of  the  permanent  wheat-plots  facilities  were  provided  for  col- 
lecting samples  of  drain  age- water  from  soils  growing  crops  without 
manure,  with  barn-yard  manure,  and  with  a  great  variety  of  chemical 
manures. 

Determinations  of  the  nitrogen  in  rain-water  were  made  at  Rotham- 
sted  as  early  as  1846.  The  ammonia  in  the  rain-fall  for  fifteen  months, 
in  1853-'54,  was  determined  in  the  laboratory  at  Rothamsted,  and 
again  in  1855-'56  by  Professor  Way.  Dr.  Frankland  made  analyses 
of  the  rain-fall,  and  also  of  dew  and  hoar-frost  in  1869-'70,  since  which 
time  a  series  of  systematic  investigations  have  been  conducted  in  the 
Rothamsted  laboratory. 

A  large  number  of  samples  of  the  drainage-waters  from  the  experi- 
mental wheat-field  were  analyzed  by  Dr.  Voelcker,  the  able  chemist 
of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  and  by  Dr.  Frankland,  previous  to 
1875,  while  over  thirteen  hundred  samples  have  been  analyzed  since 
that  time  at  Rothamsted.  The  drainage  of  the  "  drain-gauges,"  from 
1870  to  1874,  was  analyzed  by  Dr.  Frankland,  and  since  that  date  it 
has  been  systematically  investigated  at  Rothamsted. 

A  full  report  of  these  drainage  experiments  is  given  in  an  elaborate 
paper  "On  the  Amount  and  Composition  of  the  Rain  and  Drainage- 
Waters  collected  at  Rothamsted,"  published  in  the  last  three  numbers 
of  the  "Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society"  (1881-'82),  which, 
from  its  direct  applications  to  questions  of  farm-j:>ractice,  and  the  light 
it  throws  upon  the  obscure  subject  of  soil-exhaustion  and  on  the  econ- 
omy of  manures,  is  undoubtedly  the  most  valuable  contribution  to 
agricultural  science  that  has  appeared  for  many  years. 

Experiments  were  made  for  several  years  with  plants  representing 
the  gramineous,  the  leguminous  and  other  families,  and  also  with  ever- 
green and  deciduous  trees,  to  ascertain  the  amount  of  water  given  off 
during  their  growth. 

Observations  on  the  character  and  range  of  the  roots  of  different 
plants,  the  relative  development  of  leaf  and  stem,  and  their  compo- 
sition at  various  stages  of  growth,  have  been  made  in  connection  with 


SCIENTIFIC  FARMING  AT  ROTHAMSTED.  87 

experiments  to  determine  the  differences  in  the  amount  and  constitu- 
ents assimilated  by  plants  of  different  botanical  families,  under  similar 
conditions,  and  of  the  same  plant  under  varying  conditions.  From 
these  investigations,  so  far  as  they  have  been  published,  it  appears 
that  the  chemical  relations  of  the  plant  and  soil  are,  to  a  great  extent, 
determined  by  botanical  and  physiological  conditions. 

In  the  experiments  with  the  mixed  herbage  of  "permanent  meadow," 
for  example,  it  was  noticed,  even  in  the  first  years  of  the  experiments, 
that  "  those  manures  which  are  most  effective  with  wheat,  barley,  or 
oats  grown  on  arable  land — that  is,  with  the  gramineous  species  grown 
separately — were  also  the  most  effective  in  bringing  forward  the  grasses 
proper  in  the  mixed  herbage  ;  and  again,  those  manures  which  were 
the  most  beneficial  to  beans  or  clover,  most  developed  the  leguminous 
species  of  the  mixed  herbage,  and  vice  versa.'''' 

In  the  produce  grown  continuously  without  manure  the  average 
number  of  species  was  forty-nine.  Of  these  seventeen  are  grasses, 
four  leguminous  species,  and  twenty-three  of  other  orders.  By  weight 
the  grasses  averaged  sixty-eight  per  cent,  leguminous  species  nine  per 
cent,  and  species  of  other  orders  twenty- three  per  cent. 

In  the  produce  of  the  plot  most  heavily  manured  and  yielding  the 
heaviest  crops,  the  average  number  of  species  was  nineteen  ;  of  which 
twelve  to  thirteen  were  grasses,  one  only  (or  none)  leguminous,  and 
five  or  six  only  of  other  species.  By  weight  the  grasses  averaged 
about  ninety-five  per  cent,  the  leguminous  species  less  than  O'Ol  per 
cent,  and  other  orders  less  than  five  per  cent. 

On  the  plot  receiving  annually  manures  that  are  of  little  avail  for 
gramineous  crops  grown  separately  in  rotation,  but  which  favor  beans 
or  clover  so  grown,  the  average  number  of  species  was  forty-three, 
of  which  seventeen  were  grasses,  four  leguminous,  and  twenty-two 
belonging  to  other  orders.  But  by  weight  the  grasses  averaged  but 
from  sixty-five  to  seventy  per  cent,  the  leguminous  species  nearly 
twenty  per  cent,  and  all  other  species  less  than  fifteen  per  cent. 

The  "  struggle  for  existence "  and  the  "  survival  of  the  fittest," 
therefore,  determine  the  character  of  the  species  contained  in  the 
produce  under  the  conditions,  and  the  chemical  composition  of  the 
crop  varies  accordingly.  With  an  increase  of  the  leguminous  produce 
the  nitrogenous  constituents  are  increased,  and  with  a  decrease  in  the 
leguminous  produce  the  nitrogenous  constituents  are  diminished. 

Experiments  with  leguminous,  gramineous,  and  other  families  of 
plants  were  made  for  several  years  in  succession,  at  Rothamsted,  to 
determine  whether  plants  assimilate  free  or  uncombined  nitrogen. 

The  relations  of  nitrogen  to  the  growing  plant  and  to  the  soil  and 
the  sources  of  the  nitrogen  of  vegetation  have  been  prominent  subjects 
of  investigation  in  all  the  Rothamsted  field-experiments. 

It  is  not  my  purpose,  in  this  connection,  to  discuss  the  various  the- 
ories of  vegetable  growth,  or  to  give  an  account  of  the  many  contro- 


88  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

versies  that  have  arisen  in  the  developmental  progress  of  science,  but 
simply  to  call  attention  to  some  of  the  leading  lines  of  investigation  at 
Rothamsted  which  have  had  an  influence  in  correcting  our  theories 
of  vegetable  nutrition  and  soil-exhaustion  and  in  improving  our  meth- 
ods of  agricultural  practice. 

The  legitimate  aim  of  all  systematic,  exact  experiments  is  to  lay  a 
foundation  of  well-ascertained  and  closely  related  facts  on  which  may 
be  developed  a  superstructure  of  science  to  supersede  the  theoretical 
speculations  which  form  an  important  part  of  the  prelude  of  scientific 
discovery.  In  this  work  of  reconstruction,  Drs.  Lawes  and  Gilbert 
have  for  many  years  occupied  a  prominent  position,  and  a  full  account 
of  their  labors  would  involve  in  the  record  a  history  of  agricultural 
science  for  the  past  half-century. 

From  an  agricultural  stand-point  one  of  the  first  steps  in  the  study 
of  the  laws  of  plant  growth  and  nutrition  is  to  ascertain  the  relative 
influence  of  the  soil  and  the  air  in  the  supply  of  plant-food,  as  they 
are  the  only  sources  from  which  plants  obtain  the  elements  which 
enter  into  their  composition. 

The  atmosphere  is  a  mixture  of  gases,  of  which  more  than  three 
fourths  is  nitrogen,  and  less  than  one  fourth  oxygen,  with  something 
less  than  one  part  in  ten  thousand  of  carbonic  acid.  In  addition  to 
these  there  are  traces  of  ammonia  and  a  variable  quantity  of  vapor  of 
water. 

As  the  carbon,  which  forms  about  one  half  of  the  dry  substance  of 
plants,  is  all  derived  from  the  minute  proportions  of  carbonic  acid 
found  in  the  atmosphere,  it  has  been  assumed  that  the  comparatively 
small  amount  of  nitrogen  required  by  plants  could  be  readily  obtained 
from  the  abundant  stores  of  this  element  in  the  atmosphere,  and  that 
wide-leaved  plants,  like  clover  and  beans,  could  more  readily  assimilate 
it  than  those  with  narrow  leaves,  like  the  grasses. 

Experiments  by  Boussingault  and  the  elaborate  researches  at  Ro- 
thamsted, however,  show  that  free  nitrogen,  the  most  abundant  con- 
stituent of  the  air,  is  not  assimilated  by  plants.  The  atmospheric 
sources  of  nitrogen  for  plant-growth  must,  therefore,  be  limited  to  the 
minute  quantities  of  combined  nitrogen  in  the  form  of  ammonia  and 
nitric  acid. 

Important  data  as  to  the  amount  of  nitrogen  in  various  field-crops, 
grown  under  a  variety  of  conditions,  and  the  sources  from  which  it  is 
obtained,  are  furnished  in  the  Rothamsted  field-experiments. 

For  a  period  of  thirty-two  years,  wheat,  on  plots  without  manure, 
yielded  an  annual  average  of  20*7  pounds  of  nitrogen  per  acre.  The 
yield,  however,  declined  from  an  average  of  more  than  twenty-five 
pounds  during  the  first  eight  years  to  an  average  of  but  sixteen 
pounds  during  the  last  eight  years  of  the  experiment. 

Barley,  for  a  period  of  twenty-four  years,  on  plots  without  manure, 
yielded  annually  an  average  of  18-3  pounds  of  nitrogen  per  acre,  with 


SCIENTIFIC  FARMING  AT  RO TEAMS TED.  89 

a  decline  from  an  average  of  twenty-two  pounds  over  the  first  twelve 
years  to  an  average  of  14-6  pounds  over  the  next  twelve  years.  Min- 
eral manures,  containing  no  nitrogen,  applied  to  barley  and  wheat  did 
not  materially  increase  the  yield  of  nitrogen  in  the  crop. 

A  succession  of  root-crops  (with  three  years  of  barley  intervening 
after  the  first  eight  years),  dressed  with  a  complex  mineral  manure, 
yielded  an  average  of  26*8  pounds  of  nitrogen  per  acre,  per  annum, 
over  a  period  of  thirty-one  years  ;  with  a  decline  from  an  average  of 
forty-two  pounds  over  the  first  eight  years  to  13*1  (in  sugar-beets) 
over  the  last  five  years.  Afterward,  with  the  change  of  crop  to  man- 
golds, the  yield  of  nitrogen  was  somewhat  increased. 

Beans,  for  a  period  of  twenty-four  years,  yielded  an  average  of  31  3 
pounds  of  nitrogen  without  manure  ;  and,  with  a  complex  mineral 
manure,  an  average  of  45'5  pounds  of  nitrogen  per  acre.  The  decline 
in  yield  of  nitrogen  was,  however,  from  an  average  of  48*1  pounds 
over  the  first  twelve  years  to  only  14-6  pounds  over  the  last  twelve 
years,  when  unmanured,  and  from  an  average  of  61*5  pounds  over  the 
first  twelve  years  to  but  29*5  pounds  over  the  last  twelve  years,  when 
mineral  manures  were  applied. 

An  annual  average  yield  of  nearly  two  hundred  pounds  of  nitrogen 
per  acre  was  obtained  in  the  clover  grown  for  twenty-seven  years  in 
succession  on  a  plot  of  old  garden-soil  that  was  exceptionally  rich  in 
nitrogen  at  the  beginning  of  the  experiment.  As  in  the  case  of  other 
crops,  there  was  a  marked  decline  in  the  average  yield  of  nitrogen  in 
the  last  half  of  the  period,  and  there  was  also  a  great  reduction  in  the 
stores  of  nitrogen  contained  in  the  soil. 

The  leguminous  crops,  beans  and  clover,  it  will  be  seen,  contain  a 
larger  amount  of  nitrogen  per  acre  than  the  gramineous  crops,  wheat 
and  barley.  In  the  Rothamsted  experiments  it  was,  however,  found 
that  manures  containing  nitrogen  benefited  the  gramineous  crops, 
while  they  had  but  little,  if  any,  influence  upon  the  growth  of  legu- 
minous crops.  The  chemical  composition  of  the  crop  was  not,  there- 
fore, an  index  of  the  mauurial  constituents  required  to  promote  its 
growth. 

When  turnips,  barley,  clover,  or  beans,  and  wheat  were  grown  in 
rotation  for  twenty-eight  years,  the  average  annual  yield  of  nitrogen 
per  acre  was  36'8  pounds,  and  in  the  mixed  herbage  of  permanent 
grass-land,  when  unmanured,  the  annual  yield  of  nitrogen  averaged 
thirty-three  pounds  per  acre. 

The  larger  average  yield  of  nitrogen  per  acre  in  the  crops  in  rota- 
tion and  in  the  mixed  herbage  of  the  permanent  grass-land,  as  com- 
pared with  the  yield  of  nitrogen  in  gramineous  crops  when  grown  sep- 
arately, is  not  entirely  due  to  the  larger  amount  of  nitrogen  in  the 
leguminous  species  themselves,  but  also  to  their  influence  upon  the 
gramineous  species  which  are  able  to  take  up  and  assimilate  more  nitro- 
gen when  the  highly  nitrogenous  leguminous  crops  have  been  appro- 


9o  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

priating  their  larger  supplies  of  the  same  element,  as  will  be  seen  from 
the  following  experiments : 

"  In  alternating  wheat  and  beans,  the  remarkable  result  had  been 
obtained  that  nearly  as  much  wheat  and  nearly  as  much  nitrogen 
were  yielded  in  eight  crops  of  wheat  in  alternation  with  the  highly 
nitrogenous  beans  as  in  sixteen  crops  of  wheat  grown  consecutively 
without  manure  in  another  field,  and  also  nearly  as  much  as  were 
obtained  in  a  third  field  in  eight  crops,  alternated  with  a  bare  fal- 
low." 

And  again  :  "  After  the  growth  of  six  grain-crops  by  artificial  ma- 
nures alone,  the  field  so  treated  was  divided,  and  in  1873  on  one  half 
barley,  and  on  the  other  half  clover,  was  grown.  The  barley  yielded 
37*3  pounds  of  nitrogen  per  acre,  but  the  three  cuttings  of  clover 
yielded  151*3  pounds.  In  the  next  year,  1874,  barley  succeeded  on 
both  the  barley  and  the  clover  portions  of  the  field.  Where  barley  had 
previously  been  grown,  and  had  yielded  37*3  pounds  of  nitrogen  per 
acre,  it  now  yielded  39*1  pounds  ;  but  where  the  clover  had  previously 
been  grown,  and  had  yielded  151*3  pounds  of  nitrogen,  the  barley  suc- 
ceeding it  gave  G9*4  pounds,  or  30*3  pounds  more  after  the  removal 
of  151  "3  pounds  in  clover  than  after  the  removal  of  only  37*3  pounds 
in  barley." 

We  will  now  examine  some  of  the  evidence  furnished  by  the  Ro- 
thamsted  experiments,  in  regard  to  the  sources  from  which  the  nitro- 
gen of  field-crops  is  obtained. 

As  free  or  uncombined  nitrogen  cannot,  as  we  have  seen,  be  assimi- 
lated by  plants,  we  will  next  consider  the  supply  of  combined  nitrogen 
in  the  form  of  ammonia  and  nitric  acid,  existing  in  the  atmosphere. 

From  the  earlier  investigations  of  the  rain-fall  at  Rothamsted  and 
likewise  on  the  Continent,  it  was  estimated  that  from  eight  to  ten 
pounds  of  combined  nitrogen  per  acre  was  precipitated  annually  in  the 
rains  of  Western  Europe.  Later  observations  at  Rothamsted  show 
that  this  estimate  is  probably  too  high,  and  Drs.  Lawes  and  Gilbert, 
after  a  full  discussion  of  their  records  for  twenty-seven  years,  fix  the 
probable  amount  at  four  to  five  pounds  per  acre. 

As  this  is  only  one  fourth  of  the  average  annual  yield  of  nitrogen 
per  acre  of  the  unmanured  wheat  over  a  period  of  thirty-two  years, 
and  but  little  more  than  one  fourth  of  the  average  annual  yield  ob- 
tained with  barley  over  a  period  of  twenty-four  years,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  much  larger  yield  of  nitrogen  in  leguminous  crops,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  it  is  an  entirely  inadequate  source  of  supply  of  nitrogen 
for  vegetation.  The  nitrogen  condensed  by  the  soil  from  dew  and 
atmospheric  vapor  has  not  been  definitely  determined,  and  is  not, 
therefore,  included  in  this  estimate  ;  but  it  is  probable  that  it  is  less 
than  that  brought  to  the  soil  by  the  rain.  On  the  other  hand,  it  has 
been  shown  by  numerous  experiments,  including  those  at  Rothamsted, 
that  free  nitrogen  is  evolved  in  the  decomposition  of  organic  matter, 


SCIENTIFIC  FARMING  AT  ROTHAMSTED.  91 

and  that  the  soil,  under  certain  conditions,  may  suffer  a  loss  of  nitro- 
gen in  this  form. 

Of  the  rain  falling  upon  the  drain-gauges,  the  unmanured  soil  of 
which,  it  will  he  remembered,  is  in  a  natural  state  of  consolidation  and 
kept  free  from  vegetation,  for  a  period  of  ten  years,  about  forty-four 
per  cent  has  appeared  as  drainage-water,  and  about  fifty-six  per  cent 
has  been  evaporated.  Approximately,  two  thirds  of  the  evaporation 
takes  place  during  the  summer  months,  and  one  third  during  the  win- 
ter months. 

The  annual  loss  of  nitrogen  in  the  drainage-water  has  been,  upon 
the  average,  at  the  rate  of  437  pounds  per  acre.  This  represents, 
approximately,  the  loss  involved  under  the  conditions  of  a  bare  sum- 
mer fallow. 

When  the  roots  of  growing  plants  are  distributed  through  the  soil, 
they  take  up  the  nitrogen  as  it  becomes  soluble  in  the  process  of  nitri- 
fication, and  the  loss  by  drainage  is  to  that  extent  diminished. 

The  drainage  from  the  unmanured  wheat-plots  contained  nitrogen 
at  the  rate  of  only  from  1256  to  18*62  pounds  per  acre  each  year,  and 
during  two  seasons  of  excessive  drainage,  when  every  running  from 
the  drains  was  analyzed,  "  it  was  estimated  that  from  fifteen  to  seven- 
teen pounds  of  nitrogen  were  lost  per  acre,  per  annum,  by  drainage 
from  plots  which  had  received  no  nitrogenous  manure  for  many  years," 
and  the  average  for  thirty  years  was  from  ten  to  twelve  pounds  per 
acre.  During  its  period  of  active  growth,  the  crop  appropriated  the 
nitrogen  of  the  soil,  so  that  there  was  little  or  none  lost  by  drainage, 
and  nearly  the  entire  loss  took  place  after  harvest,  and  during  the 
winter  and  spring  months. 

The  nitrogen  lost  by  drainage  on  land  receiving  no  nitrogenous 
manure  is  therefore  considerably  more  than  can  reasonably  be  esti- 
mated in  the  supply  from  atmospheric  sources. 

When  nitrogenous  manures  were  applied,  the  loss  of  nitrogen  by 
drainage  was  materially  increased,  and  on  the  average  for  more  than 
thirty  years,  and  under  the  most  favorable  conditions  of  growth,  less 
than  one  third  of  the  nitrogen  applied  as  manure  was  recovered  in  the 
increase  of  the  crops,  and  much  less  than  this  when  there  was  a  de- 
ficiency of  potash  or  phosphoric  acid  in  the  soil. 

In  connection  with  these  facts,  relating  to  the  amounts  of  nitrogen 
removed  in  the  crops  and  lost  by  drainage,  and  the  inadequate  supplies 
of  available  atmospheric  nitrogen  for  the  purposes  of  plant-growth,  it 
becomes  a  matter  of  particular  interest  to  trace  the  influence  of  this 
system  of  continuous  cropping,  without  nitrogenous  manures,  upon 
the  nitrogen  contained  in  the  soil  itself. 

The  nitrogen  in  the  soil  of  the  unmanured  wheat-plots  has  grad- 
ually diminished,  and  Dr.  Gilbert  says,  "  So  far  as  we  are  able  to  form 
a  judgment  on  the  point,  the  diminution  is  approximately  equal  to  the 
nitrogen  taken  out  in  the  crops,  and  the  amount  estimated  to  be  re- 


92  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

ceived  in  the  annual  rain-fall  is  approximately  balanced  by  the  amount 
lost  by  the  land,  as  nitrates  in  the  drainage-water." 

Where  the  great  decrease  in  the  yield  of  nitrogen  was  observed,  in 
the  case  of  the  root-crops  which  were  grown  for  thirty-one  years  in 
succession,  the  soil  at  the  end  of  twenty-seven  years  was  found  to  con- 
tain a  smaller  percentage  of  nitrogen  than  any  other  arable  land  of 
the  farm. 

In  the  experiments  on  the  mixed  herbage  of  permanent  grass-land, 
"  the  soil  of  the  plot  which,  under  the  influence  of  a  mixed  mineral 
manure,  including  potash,  had  yielded  such  a  large  amount  of  legu- 
minous herbage,  and  such  a  large  amount  of  nitrogen,  showed,  after 
twenty  years,  a  considerably  lower  percentage  of  nitrogen  than  that 
of  any  other  plot  in  the  series." 

The  soil  of  the  garden-plot,  which  gave  so  large  a  yield  of  clover 
over  a  period  of  twenty-seven  years,  was  analyzed  at  the  end  of 
twenty-six  years,  and  Dr.  Gilbert  remarks,  in  regard  to  the  loss  of 
the  nitrogen  of  the  soil,  that  "  the  diminution,  to  the  depth  of  nine 
inches  only,  represents,  approximately,  three  fourths  as  much  as  the 
amount  estimated  to  be  taken  in  the  clover  in  the  intervening  period ; 
and  the  indication  is,  that  there  has  been  a  considerable  reduction  in 
the  lower  depths  also." 

When  nitrogenous  manures  were  applied  in  the  form  of  ammonia 
salts  or  nitrate  of  soda  there  was  little  or  no  decrease  in  the  nitrogen 
of  the  soil,  and  in  some  cases  there  was  an  actual  gain  ;  but  the  loss 
from  drainage  was  much  greater,  and  it  increased  with  each  increment 
of  the  manures  applied  under  the  same  conditions.  On  plots  receiving 
43,  8G,  and  129  pounds,  respectively,  of  nitrogen  in  the  form  of  am- 
monia salts,  mostly  applied  in  the  autumn,  the  estimated  loss  of  nitro- 
gen by  drainage  was  19,  31,  and  42*4  pounds  ;  "  and  with  86  pounds 
of  nitrogen  applied  without,  or  with  different  mineral  manures,  the 
estimated  loss  ranged  from  31  pounds  with  the  most  liberal  manure  to 
43-2  pounds  with  the  ammonium  salts  continuously  used  alone." 

The  nitrogen  of  barn-yard  manure,  which  from  its  comparative  in- 
solubility is  more  slowly  available  for  purposes  of  plant-growth,  was 
not  lost  by  drainage  to  the  same  extent  as  the  chemical  manures,  and 
there  were  decided  indications  of  considerable  accumulations  of  it  in 
the  soil.  The  nitrogen  applied  in  manures  is  not  all  accounted  for  in 
the  amounts  removed  in  the  crop,  lost  by  drainage,  and  stored  up  in 
the  soil  ;  and  it  therefore  seems  probable,  in  the  absence  of  any  other 
known  disposition  of  it,  that  the  estimated  losses  by  drainage,  based 
on  the  materials  discharged  by  the  tile-drains,  are  altogether  too  low. 
As  the  drainage -waters,  with  the  substances  they  hold  in  solution,  pass 
from  the  upper  to  the  lower  strata  of  the  soil,  we  can  not  avoid  the 
conclusion  that  a  large  proportion  must  pass  below  the  level  of  the 
drains  without  entering  them.  The  drains  of  the  experimental  wheat- 
fields  are  nearly  twenty-five  feet  apart,  and  the  underlying  chalk  at  the 


SCIENTIFIC  FARMING   AT  ROTHAMSTED.  93 

depth  of  from  ten  to  fourteen  feet  furnishes  good  drainage  for  the 
spaces  between  the  drains. 

The  nitrogen  applied  in  the  manures  that  is  not  taken  up  by  the 
crop  or  stored  up  in  the  soil,  or  lost  in  the  waters  discharged  by  the 
tile-drains,  may  therefore  be  fully  accounted  for  in  the  amount  that 
must  be  carried,  under  the  conditions  of  the  experiments,  by  the  drain- 
age-waters to  the  lower  strata  of  the  subsoil,  without  entering  the 
drains.  The  estimated  losses  of  nitrogen  by  drainage,  based  on  the 
amounts  detected  in  the  waters  discharged  by  the  drains,  may  there- 
fore with  good  reason  be  increased  by  the  amount  not  accounted  for 
in  the  crop  and  in  the  accumulations  of  the  soil. 

Practically,  then,  in  the  light  of  the  Rothamsted  experiments,  we 
may  look  upon  the  soil  as  the  great  source  of  the  nitrogen  of  plants,  as 
the  atmosphere  can  furnish  but  a  small  proportion  of  the  needed  sup- 
ply, and  this  is  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  losses  from  drainage. 

In  connection  with  this  imperfect  outline  of  some  of  the  leading 
lines  of  investigation  that  have  been  so  successfully  prosecuted  at 
Rothamsted,  it  would  be  interesting  to  examine  the  data  that  indicate 
the  relations  of  nitrogen  to  other  elements  of  plant-growth,  as  sup- 
plied in  manures  and  assimilated  by  crops  when  cultivated  in  suc- 
cession or  in  rotation  with  other  species  ;  but  these,  with  other  cognate 
topics,  must  be  omitted,  as  we  can  not  at  this  time  undertake  anything 
like  an  exhaustive  discussion  of  the  results  of  these  valuable  experi- 
ments. 

The  great  importance  of  physiological  researches  and  the  compara- 
tively subordinate  influence  of  purely  chemical  methods  in  solving 
the  great  problems  of  agricultural  science,  have  been  so  fully  illus- 
trated in  the  experiments  at  Rothamsted  that  we  must  accept  them 
as  the  basis  of  a  new  departure  in  the  development  of  a  consistent 
science  of  rural  economy.  In  the  light  of  these  experiments  the  gen- 
erally accepted  theories  of  soil-exhaustion  must  be  reconstructed,  and 
the  action  and  relative  value  of  manures  must  be  investigated  from  a 
new  stand -point. 

The  exhaustion  of  a  soil  can  no  longer  be  estimated  by  th©  constit- 
uents removed  in  the  crop,  Wheat  and  oats,  with  other  cereals,  are 
generally  considered  as  exhausting  crops,  and  a  summer  fallow  is 
looked  upon  as  a  means  of  increasing  or  restoring  the  fertility  of 
the  soil  ;  but  the  grain -crops  when  grown  by  themselves,  and  the 
summer  fallow  itself,  are  alike  the  occasion  of  a  loss  of  fertilizing 
materials,  and  in  precisely  the  same  way.  In  both  cases  there  is  a 
long  interval  in  which  there  are  no  living  roots  of  plants  in  the  soil 
to  take  up  the  nutritive  materials  as  they  are  transformed  into  the 
soluble  form,  and  they  are  lost  by  percolation  to  the  lower  strata  of 
the  subsoil  out  of  the  reach  of  vegetation. 

Many  of  what  are  called  restorative  plants  feed  in  the  deeper  layers 
of  the  soil,  and  they  may,  by  their  scattered  foliage  and  thick  roots, 


94  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

add  to  the  stores  of  plant-food  in  the  surface-soil,  which  may  be  used 
by  plants  of  a  different  habit  that  are  not  deep  feeders. 

The  physiological  peculiarities  of  the  different  botanical  groups  of 
plants  must,  however,  be  better  understood  before  we  can  fully  explain 
the  influeuce  of  one  crop  upon  another  that  succeeds  it.  That  the 
special  formula  manures,  so  widely  advertised  in  this  country,  and 
which  are  claimed  to  pi-ovide,  in  due  proportion,  the  constituents  re- 
quired by  a  particular  crop,  are  based  on  false  assumptions,  is  abun- 
dantly shown  in  the  Rothamsted  field-experiments  ;  but  we  can  not 
now  discuss  the  fallacy  in  detail. 

The  experiments  with  animals  at  Rothamsted  must  form  the  sub- 
ject of  a  separate  article. 


-♦♦«>- 


WHO  WAS   PRIMITIVE  MAE"? 

Br  Professor  GEANT  ALLEN. 

WHEN  Sir  Charles  Lyell's  "  Antiquity  of  Man  "  and  Mr.  Darwin's 
two  great  works  first  set  all  the  world  thinking  about  the  ori- 
gin of  our  race,  there  was  a  general  tendency  among  scientific  men 
and  the  public  generally  to  take  it  for  granted  that  the  earliest  known 
men,  those  whose  remains  we  find  in  the  river-drift,  were  necessarily 
"  missing  links  "  between  the  human  species  and  its  supposed  anthro- 
poid progenitors.  People  naturally  imagined  that  these  very  ancient 
men  must  have  been  hairy,  low-browed,  semi-brutal  savages,  half-way 
in  development  between  the  goi'illa  and  the  Australian  or  the  Bush- 
man. Striking  word-pictures  painted  the  palaeolithic  hunter  for  us  as 
an  evolving  ape  ;  and  we  all  acquiesced  in  the  pictures  as  truthful  and 
accurate.  With  the  progress  of  discovery,  however,  another  phase  of 
the  question  has  come  uppermost,  and  anthropologists  have  now  for 
some  time  inclined  with  marked  distinctness  to  the  exactly  opposite 
view.  As  we  examined  more  and  more  closely  the  relics  of  the  cave- 
men, for  example,  it  became  clear  that  their  works  of  art  were  those 
not  merely  of  real  human  beings,  but  of  human  beings  considerably  in 
advance  of  many  existing  savages.  Professor  Boyd  Dawkins,  who 
knows  more  about  the  cave-men  than  any  one  else  in  Britain  at  least, 
unhesitatingly  states  his  opinion  that  they  were  in  all  important  re- 
spects the  equals  of  the  modern  Esquimaux,  whom  he  indeed  regards  as 
their  probable  lineal  representatives.  Any  one  who  has  closely  exam- 
ined the  remains  recovered  from  the  French  caves  can  not  fail  largely 
to  fall  in  with  this  view,  so  far  at  least  as  regards  the  high  level  of 
palaeolithic  art.  In  fact,  it  is  daily  becoming  clear  that  the  antiquity 
of  man  is  something  even  deeper  and  more  far-reaching  in  its  implica- 
tions than  Lyell  himself  at  first  imagined.  For  while  on  the  one  hand 
geologists  are  inclining  more  and  more  to  the  opinion  that  pala?olithic 


WHO   WAS  PRIMITIVE  MAN?  95 

man  was  as  old  as  or  older  than  the  last  glacial  period,  anthropologists 
on  the  other  hand  are  inclining  more  and  more  to  the  opinion  that  this 
pre-glacial  and  inter-glacial  man  was  really  quite  as  human  and  quite  as 
capable  of  civilization  as  any  race  now  living,  except  perhaps  a  few  of 
the  most  cultivated  European  stocks.  Instead  of  being  the  "  missing 
link,"  our  cave-man  turns  out  to  be  a  mere  average  savage,  living  a 
rude  and  unintelligent  life,  to  be  sure,  but  quite  capable,  so  far  as  re- 
gards his  faculties,  of  becoming  as  civilized  as  the  Sandwich-Islanders 
have  become  within  our  own  memory. 

It  is,  of  course,  obvious  that  these  facts  may  be  easily  turned  by 
opponents  of  Darwinism  into  powerful  arguments  against  the  theory 
of  man's  evolution  from  a  lower  form.  "  Here  we  accept  all  your 
facts,"  says  the  defender  of  the  fixity  of  species  ;  "  we  allow  that  man 
has  inhabited  the  earth  for  as  long  a  period  as  you  choose,  say  200,000 
years  ;  and,  when  we  go  down  to  the  very  beginning  of  that  period, 
what  do  we  meet  with  ?  A  missing  link  ?  An  evolving  ape  ?  No  ; 
nothing  of  the  sort  ;  a  man  exactly  the  same  as  the  man  of  the  present 
day.  However  far  back  we  push  our  researches  in  the  past,  we  find 
either  no  man  at  all,  or  else  the  same  man  that  we  now  know.  Your 
theory  of  evolution  is  disproved  by  the  very  facts  which  you  were 
wont  to  allege  in  its  favor.  We  used  at  first  to  argue  against  your 
facts,  because  we  did  not  see  in  what  direction  they  really  pointed  : 
nowadays  we  allow  them  all,  and  we  find  in  them  the  very  best  bul- 
wark of  our  own  belief." 

This  argument,  or  something  very  like  it,  has  lately  been  employed 
with  great  effect  by  Dr.  Mitchell,  of  Edinburgh,  in  his  able  and  inter- 
esting work,  "  The  Past  in  the  Present."  The  Scotch  archaeologist 
there  shows  good  grounds  for  supposing  that  the  cave-men  and  the 
river-drift  men  were  really,  in  faculties  and  potentialities,  the  equals 
of  most  existing  savages,  if  not  even  of  our  own  average  English 
population.  He  gives  excellent  reasons  for  the  belief  that  while  we 
have  advanced  very  greatly  in  social  organization  and  in  material 
comfort  since  that  early  date,  we  may  have  advanced  very  little,  if 
at  all,  in  brain-power  or  in  potentiality  of  thought.  There  are  still 
isolated  communities  in  out-of-the-way  parts  of  Scotland  which  use 
hand-made  pottery  of  the  rudest  primeval  type,  and  spin  with  stone 
whorls  of  the  prehistoric  pattern  ;  while  their  works  of  imitative  art 
are  ruder  and  more  unlike  the  originals  they  depict  than  anything 
ever  attempted  by  the  earliest  known  men.  Yet  these  people,  as  Dr. 
Mitchell  rightly  observes,  are  fully  the  equals  in  intelligence  and 
moral  feeling  of  their  contemporaries  in  the  great  manufacturing 
centers.  Hence  we  must  not  confound  mere  material  backwardness 
with  lowness  of  type  or  intellectual  deficiency.  It  is  probable,  nay, 
almost  certain,  that  the  ordinary  cave-man  was  superior  in  ingenuity 
and  mental  power  to  nine  out  of  ten  among  our  modern  savages,  and 
quite  equal  to  the  fair  run  of  our  own  laboring  classes. 


96  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

Nevertheless,  I  believe  it  is  allowable  for  us  frankly  to  admit  all 
these  facts,  and  yet  remain  evolutionists  just  as  heartily  as  before. 
No  doubt  our  general  tendency  was  at  first  in  the  opposite  direction, 
and  many  evolutionists  will  be  staggered  by  the  conclusions  of  Pro- 
fessor Dawkins  and  Dr.  Mitchell,  while  others  will  endeavor,  under  the 
influence  of  false  prepossessions,  to  dispute  their  facts.  But  modifi- 
ability  of  opinion  is  the  true  test  of  devotion  to  truth,  and  honest 
thinkers  can  hardly  fail  to  modify  their  opinions  on  this  question 
in  accordance  with  the  latest  discoveries.  After  frankly  and  fairly 
facing  all  the  difficulties  of  the  situation,  I  believe  we  may  come  at 
last  to  the  following  conclusions,  which,  for  clearness'  sake,  I  will 
number  separately  :  1.  The  cave-men  were  not  only  true  men,  but 
men  of  a  comparatively  high  type.  2.  But  the  river-drift  men,  who 
preceded  them,  were  men  of  a  lower  social  organization,  and  probably 
of  a  lower  physical  organization  as  well.  3.  The  earliest  human  re- 
mains which  we  possess,  though,  on  the  whole,  decidedly  human,  are 
yet,  in  some  respects,  of  a  type  more  brute-like  than  that  of  any  exist- 
ing savages.  4.  They  specially  recall  the  most  striking  traits  of  the 
larger  anthropoid  apes.  5.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  these 
remains  are  those  of  the  earliest  men  who  inhabited  the  earth.  G. 
There  is  good  reason  for  believing  that  before  the  evolution  of  man 
in  his  present  specific  type,  a  man-like  animal,  belonging  to  the  same 
genus,  but  less  highly  differentiated,  lived  in  Europe.  7.  From  this 
man-like  animal  the  existing  human  species  is  descended.  8.  Analogy 
would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  the  line  of  descent  which  culminates  in 
man  first  diverged  from  the  line  of  descent  which  culminates  in  the  goril- 
la and  the  chimpanzee,  about  the  later  Eocene  or  early  Miocene  period. 

In  order  to  give  such  proof  of  these  propositions  as  the  fragment- 
ary evidence  yet  admits,  it  will  be  necessary  first  to  clear  the  ground 
of  one  or  two  common  misapprehensions.  And,  before  all,  let  us  get 
rid  of  that  strangely  unscientific  and  unphilosophical  expression,  the 
Stone  age. 

Most  people  who  have  not  specially  studied  prehistoric  archaeol- 
ogy, and  many  of  those  who  have  studied  it,  believe  that  the  period 
of  human  life  on  the  earth  may  be  divided  into  three  principal  epochs, 
the  Iron  age,  the  Bronze  age,  and  the  Stone  age  ;  and  that  the  last- 
named  epoch  may  be  once  more  subdivided  into  the  Palaeolithic  and 
the  Neolithic  ages.  All  the  great  archaeologists  know,  of  course,  that 
such  a  division  would  be  utterly  misleading  ;  yet,  in  their  written 
works,  they  have  often  used  language  which  has  led  the  world  gen- 
erally to  fall,  almost  without  exception,  into  the  error.  The  division 
in  question  can  only  be  paralleled  by  a  division  of  all  human  his- 
tory into  three  periods,  the  age  of  Steam,  the  age  of  Printing,  and 
the  age  of  IJnprinted  Books  ;  the  latter  being  subdivided  into  the 
mediaeval  and  the  Egyptian  ages.  The  real  facts  may  much  better 
be  represented  thus  : 


WHO    WAS   PRIMITIVE  MAN? 


97 


There  are  two  great  geological  epochs  in  which  we  find  remains 
of  man.  The  first  is  that  of  the  palaeolithic  or  old  chipped-flint 
weapons.  The  second  is  the  modern  or  recent  period,  including 
the  three  so-called  Neolithic,  Bronze,  and  Iron  ages.  The  first  or 
paleolithic  epoch  is  separated  from  the  second  or  recent  epoch  by  a 
vast  and  unknown  lapse  of  time.  We  may  place  its  date  at  some- 
where about  200,000  years  back.  The  remains  of  human  origin  be- 
longing to  it  all  occur  under  the  conditions  which  we  ordinarily 
describe  as  geological ;  they  are  found  either  in  the  drift  deposits  of 
our  river-valleys  or  beneath  the  concreted  floors  of  caves.  They  con- 
sist chiefly  of  rude  stone  weapons,  in  unpolished  flint,  chipped  off  by 
side-blows.  What  events  caused  the  break  in  continuity  between 
palaeolithic  and  recent  man  in  Europe  we  do  not  exactly  know ;  but 
many  of  the  best  authorities  believe  that  it  was  brought  about  by  the 
coming  on  of  the  last  glacial  epoch  (that  is  to  say,  the  final  cold  spell 
of  the  recurrent  pleistocene  cycles).  If  these  authorities  are  right, 
then  at  a  period  earlier  than  200,000  years  since,  Europe  was  peopled 
by  palaeolithic  men  ;  and  about  80,000  years  ago  these  men  were  very 
gradually  driven  southward  by  the  spread  of  the  polar  ice  over  the 
whole  of  the  northern  tenrperate  zone.  Be  this  as  it  may,  however, 
we  know,  at  any  rate,  that  they  belonged  to  a  far  earlier  state  of 
things,  when  the  whole  geographical  condition  of  Europe  differed  in 
many  respects  from  that  which  prevails  at  the  present  day. 

On  the  other  hand,  recent  man  in  Europe  dates  back,  probably, 
only  some  twenty  thousand  years  or  so.  His  remains,  whether  of  the 
Neolithic,  the  Bronze,  or  the  Iron  age,  are  found  in  tumuli  still  stand- 
ing on  the  surface  of  the  ground.  Since  his  reappearance  here,  no 
notable  changes  have  taken  place  in  the  face  of  the  country.  Instead 
of  occurring  in  deep  natural  deposits  or  under  the  solid  floors  of  pri- 
meval caves,  his  bones  and  his  weapons  are  found  in  graves  or  mounds 
of  recent  make.  The  neolithic  men,  though  they  used  implements  of 
stone,  polished  them  exquisitely  by  grinding  and  smoothing,  and  were 
in  all  respects,  save  in  the  use  of  metals  and  a  few  similar  particulars, 
as  advanced  as  their  successors  of  the  Bronze  age.  No  great  gap  in 
time  separates  them  from  the  bronze  and  iron  men,  as  a  great  gap  sep- 
arates all  three  from  the  palaeolithic  cave-men  and  drift-men.  They 
were  probably  identical  with  two  modern  races,  in  three  successive 
stages  of  their  culture  ;  whereas,  the  palaeolithic  race  is  cut  off  utterly 
from  the  recent  race  by  a  whole  unknown  interval,  presumably  repre- 
senting the  time  during  which  Northern  Europe  was  glaciated.  Ac- 
cordingly, with  recent  man  we  shall  have  nothing  to  do  here. 

Again,  I  must  further  premise  that  the  very  question  which  heads 
this  paper — who  was  Primitive  Man  ? — is  in  itself  a  somewhat  irra- 
tional one.  For  of  course,  if  we  accept  the  evolutionist  theory  at  all, 
there  never  was  a  first  man.  The  early  undifferentiated  ancestors  of 
men  and  anthropoid  apes  slowly  developed  along  different  lines  toward 

VOL.    XXII. — 7 


98  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

different  specific  forms  ;  but  there  never  was  a  point  in  the  series  at 
which  one  might  definitely  put  down  one's  finger  and  say,  "  Here  the 
man -like  ape  became  a  complete  man."  All  that  we  can  do  is  to  de- 
cide that  the  ancestors  of  modern  man  at  such  and  such  a  given  date 
had  progressed  just  so  far  in  their  way  toward  the  existing  highest  type. 

Professor  Boyd  Dawkins,  in  his  recent  work  on  "  Early  Man  in 
Britain,"  and  in  his  discourse  at  the  last  meeting  of  the  British  Asso- 
ciation, has  so  clearly  summed  up  the  results  of  all  the  latest  investiga- 
tions as  to  palaeolithic  man  that  it  will  only  be  necessary  here  briefly 
to  recapitulate  the  views  he  has  enunciated.  He  divides  the  men  of 
the  Pleistocene  period  in  Europe  and  Asia  into  two  successive  classes, 
the  earlier  or  river-drift  men,  and  the  later  or  cave-men.  The  drift  of 
the  Thames,  Somme,  and  other  rivers  is  the  earliest  geological  stratum 
in  which  we  find  unquestionable  evidence  of  the  existence  of  man. 
The  evidence  in  point  consists  entirely  of  chipped  flint  instruments  of 
the  very  rudest  type,  incomparably  ruder  than  anything  produced  by 
the  very  lowest  of  modern  savages.  Man  at  that  period  was  clearly  a 
rough  and  perhaps  almost  solitary  hunter,  using  rude  triangular  stone 
implements.  Moreover,  we  have  evidence  of  that  homogeneous  con- 
dition which  betokens  an  early  stage  of  evolution,  in  the  fact  that  im- 
plements of  precisely  the  same  sort  are  found  all  over  Europe,  Asia, 
and  Africa.  The  primaeval  hunter  who  chased  the  stag  in  Africa  had 
brethren  who  chased  the  fallow  deer  in  Spain  and  Italy,  and  others 
who  chased  the  various  wild  beasts  among  the  jungles  of  India.  Over 
the  whole  Eastern  hemisphere,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  man  was  then  a 
single  homogeneous  race,  living  everywhere  the  same  life,  and  pro- 
ducing everywhere  the  same  rude  and  primitive  weapons. 

The  drift-men  were  succeeded,  in  Northern  Europe  at  least,  by  an- 
other and  higher  development  of  humanity,  the  cave-men.  How  far 
they  may  have  differed  physically  from  their  predecessors  of  the  Drift 
period  we  have  no  sufficient  means  of  judging  ;  but  the  analogy  of 
other  human  varieties  would  lead  us  to  suspect  that  they  presented 
some  marked  signs  of  advance  ;  for  we  know  that  among  all  existing 
races  there  is  a  pretty  constant  ratio  between  social  development  and 
physical  peculiarities.  At  any  rate,  the  cave-men  were  apparently  far 
more  advanced  in  the  rudiments  of  culture  than  the  drift-men,  espe- 
cially toward  the  end  of  the  cave  period,  during  which  they  made 
continuous  advances  in  the  arts  of  life.  Their  weapons,  though  still 
chipped  (instead  of  being  ground,  like  those  of  the  neolithic  Europe- 
ans and  the  modern  savages),  were  more  varied  in  shape  and  better 
worked  than  the  rude  triangular  hatchets  of  the  drift.  They  manu- 
factured, in  their  last  stage,  excellent  barbed  harpoons  of  good  designs. 
They  made  fish-hooks  and  needles  of  bone  with  some  degree  of  finish. 
They  employed  ruddle  for  personal  decoration,  and  collected  fossil 
shells,  which  they  drilled  and  strung  as  necklaces.  Moreover,  they 
had  a  remarkable  talent  for  imitative  art,  producing  spirited  sketches 


WHO    WAS   PRIMITIVE  MAN?  99 

on  mammoth  ivory  or  reindeer  horn  of  various  animals,  living  or  ex- 
tinct. In  fact,  they  seem  to  have  been  in  most  essential  particulars 
almost  as  advanced  as  the  modern  Esquimaux,  with  whom  Professor 
Dawkins  conjecturally  identifies  them. 

But  if  Professor  Dawkins  means  us  to  understand  that  the  cave- 
men were  physically  developed  to  the  same  extent  as  the  Esquimaux,  it 
is  necessary  to  accept  his  conclusion  with  great  caution.  It  does  not 
follow,  because  the  Esquimaux  are  the  nearest  modern  parallels  of  the 
cave-men,  that  the  cave-men  therefore  resembled  them  closely  in  ap- 
pearance. Several  of  the  sketches  of  cave-men,  cut  by  themselves  on 
horn  and  bone,  certainly  show  (it  seems  to  me)  that  they  were  covered 
with  hair  over  the  whole  body  ;  and  the  hunter  in  the  antler  from  the 
Duruthy  cave  has  a  long  pointed  beard  and  high  crest  of  hair  on  the 
poll  utterly  unlike  the  Esquimau  type.  The  figures  are  also  those  of 
a  slim  and  long-limbed  race.  And  when  Professor  Dawkins  tells  us 
that  the  very  earliest  known  man  was  unquestionably  a  man  and  not 
a  "  missing  link,"  it  becomes  a  matter  of  importance  to  decide  exactly 
what  the  phrase  "  a  missing  link  "  is  held  to  imply. 

Man  differs  from  the  anthropoid  apes  mainly  in  the  immensely 
larger  development  of  his  brain  ;  for  the  other  peculiarities  of  his  pel- 
vis, his  teeth,  and  the  position  of  his  head  on  the  shoulders,  are  mere 
small  adaptive  points,  dependent  upon  his  upright  attitude  and  the 
nature  of  his  food.  Even  the  lowest  savage  and  the  oldest  known 
human  skull  have  a  brain-capacity  far  bigger  in  proportion  than  that 
of  the  highest  apes.  Now,  this  brain  could  not,  of  course,  have  been 
developed  per  saltum  •  it  must  have  been  slowly  evolved  in  the  course 
of  a  long  and  special  intercourse  with  nature.  But  between  civilized 
man  and  his  early  ancestor,  common  to  him  and  the  anthropoid  apes, 
there  must  at  some  time  have  existed  every  possible  intermediate  link. 
Some  such  links  still  survive  in  the  Bushman,  the  Australian  black 
fellow,  and  the  Andaman-Islander.  Other  and  earlier  links  probably 
became  extinct  at  various  previous  periods,  under  the  pressure  of  the 
higher  varieties  from  time  to  time  developed,  just  as  these  lowest  sav- 
ages are  now  in  process  of  becoming  extinct  before  the  face  of  the 
European  colonist.  But  we  would  naturally  expect  the  men  of  the 
palaeolithic  period  to  be  still  a  trifle  more  brute-like  in  several  small 
particulars  than  any  existing  savages,  because  they  were  so  much 
the  nearer  to  the  primitive  common  ancestor,  a  few  of  whose  distinct- 
ive traits  they  would  probably  retain  in  a  higher  degree  than  any  race 
now  living.  In  short,  while  it  would  be  absurd  to  suppose  that  palaeo- 
lithic men  were  "  missing  links  "  in  the  sense  of  being  exactly  half-way 
houses  between  apes  and  Bushmen,  it  is  yet  natural  to  expect  that  they 
would  be  the  last  or  penultimate  links  in  a  chain  whose  other  links  are 
many  and  wanting.  Do  we,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  find  any  such  slight 
traces  of  brute-like  structure  in  the  earliest  human  remains  which  have 
come  down  to  us  ? 


ioo  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

In  dealing  with  this  question  we  have  to  remember  in  the  first 
place  that  the  number  of  quite  undoubted  palaeolithic  human  bones  of 
the  earliest  period  is  all  but  absolutely  nil j  and  that  even  the  few 
dubious  and  suspected  bodily  remains  which  we  possess,  presumably 
of  that  age,  are  for  the  most  part  mere  broken  fragments.  Most  of 
our  palaeolithic  bones  belong  to  the  latest  cave  age,  and  represent  a 
comparatively  high  race  of  savages,  known  as  the  Cro-Magnon  men. 
Of  their  earlier  predecessors  we  know  but  little.  We  have,  however, 
two  remarkable  portions  of  skulls,  one  of  which  is  almost  free  from 
suspicion,  while  the  other,  though  more  doubtful,  is  still  accepted  as 
genuine  by  good  Continental  anthropologists.  Both  apparently  belong 
to  the  earliest  age  of  the  cave-men.  The  first  is  the  celebrated  jaw  of 
La  Naulette.  This  is  a  massive  and  prognathous  bone,  with  enormous 
and  projecting  canine  teeth  ;  and  these  canine  teeth,  as  Mr.  Darwin 
notes,  point  back  very  clearly  to  a  nearly  anthropoid  progenitor.*  The 
second  is  the  much-debated  Neanderthal  skull,  which  possesses  large 
bosses  on  the  forehead,  strikingly  suggestive  of  those  which  give  the 
gorilla  its  peculiarly  fierce  appearance.  So  good  an  anatomist  as  Pro- 
fessor Rolleston  assures  us  that,  if  these  frontal  sinuses  had  been 
found  without  the  skull  to  which  they  are  attached,  he  would  have 
been  a  bold  man  indeed  who  would  venture  to  pronounce  them  human. 
The  thickness  of  the  bones  in  the  rest  of  the  Neanderthal  skeleton,  to 
which  Professor  Schaaf hausen  calls  attention,  also  approximates  to  the 
anthropoid  pattern.  "  No  other  human  skull,"  says  that  able  anthro- 
pologist, "  presents  so  utterly  bestial  a  type  as  the  Neanderthal  frag- 
ment. If  one  cuts  a  female  gorilla  skull  in  the  same  fashion,  the 
resemblance  is  truly  astonishing,  and  we  may  say  that  the  only  human 
feature  in  this  skull  is  its  size."  All  the  skulls  of  what  De  Quatre- 
fages  and  Hamy  call  the  "  Canstadt  race  "  show  these  same  low  char- 
acteristics, and  "  must  have  presented  a  strangely  savage  aspect." 
The  other  supposed  relics  of  the  earlier  cave-men  are  either  too  slight, 
too  much  crushed,  or  too  uncertain,  to  be  of  much  use  for  purposes  of 
argument.  When  we  add  that  even  the  later  cave-man  was  almost 
certainly  hairy,  like  the  modern  Ainos,  we  have  before  us  the  picture 
of  what  may  fairly  be  considered  a  sort  of  missing  link,  though  only 
the  last  in  a  long  chain. 

Moreover,  it  is  a  most  deceptive  practice  to  speak  of  the  cave-men 
as  if  they  were  a  single  set  of  people,  representing  a  merely  temporary 
type.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  period  covered  by  the  cave  remains  is 
enormously  long,  and  the  men  of  one  epoch  must  have  differed  widely 
from  those  of  another.  M.  de  Mortillet  has  actually  distinguished 
three  subdivisions  of  the  cave  period,  marked  by  a  successive  improve- 

*  Since  this  article  was  sent  to  press,  Professor  Maska,  of  Neutitschein,  has  discovered 
a  human  jaw-bone,  associated  with  pleistocene  mammalian  remains,  in  the  Schipka  cave 
(Moravia).  This  bone,  which  belonged  to  a  very  young  child  (as  inferred  from  the  devel- 
opment of  the  teeth),  "  is  of  very  large,  indeed,  of  colossal  dimensions." 


WHO    WAS  PRIMITIVE  MAN?  101 

ment  in  the  arts  of  working  stone  and  bone,  to  which  he  gives  the 
names  of  the  Moustier  epoch,  the  Solutre  epoch,  and  the  La  Madelaine 
epoch,  from  the  stations  which  best  typify  each  stage  of  primitive 
culture.  M.  Broca  has  shown  that,  between  the  time  when  the  Mous- 
tier cave  was  inhabited  by  troglodytes  and  the  time  when  the  La 
Madelaine  cave  was  similarly  inhabited,  the  valley  of  the  Vezere  had 
undergone  a  denudation  to  the  depth  of  twenty-seven  metres  ;  while 
from  the  date  of  the  La  Madelaine  cave  to  our  own  time  the  denudation 
was  only  four  or  five  metres.  In  other  words,  the  interval  between 
the  two  epochs  was  far  greater  than  the  interval  between  the  last  of 
them  and  our  own  times. 

As  to  the  drift-men,  the  few  bones  attributed  to  them  are  so  singu- 
larly and  suspiciously  like  those  of  neolithic  times  that  it  seems  very 
unsafe  to  build  any  definite  conclusion  upon  them.  Accordingly, 
when  Professor  Dawkins  tells  us  that  "  the  river-drift  man  first  comes 
before  us  endowed  with  all  human  attributes,  and  without  any  signs 
of  a  closer  alliance  with  the  lower  animals  than  is  presented  by  the 
savages  of  to-day,"  I  think  we  must  venture  to  suspend  judgment  for 
the  present.  Seeing  that  a  later  skull,  like  that  of  Neanderthal,  is  strik- 
ingly ape-like  in  one  most  important  particular,  is  considerably  lower 
in  general  type  than  that  of  the  lowest  living  savage,  and  (as  Professor 
Huxley  has  shown)  is  rather  nearer  the  chimpanzee  than  the  modern 
European  in  outline,  it  seems  hazardous  to  conclude  on  very  dubious 
evidence  that  a  still  earlier  race  had  skulls  as  wTell  formed  as  those  of 
the  neolithic  Iberians.  The  least  doubtful  cases  are  acknowledged  to 
be  identical  in  character  with  the  far  later  Cro-Magnon  remains  (be- 
longing to  the  latest  cave  age),  which  in  itself  is  enough  to  rouse  con- 
siderable suspicion.  So  many  supposed  palaeolithic  skeletons,  like  the 
"fossil  man"  of  Mentone,  have  turned  out  on  further  examination  to 
be  neolithic  or  later,  that  it  is  unwise  to  base  conclusions  upon  them, 
when  those  conclusions  clearly  run  counter  to  the  general  course  of 
evolution. 

With  regard  to  the  previous  history  of  the  human  race,  we  can  only 
guess  at  it  by  the  analogy  of  the  other  higher  mammalia.  But  late 
researches  have  all  gone  to  show  that  the  general  progress  of  mamma- 
lian development  has  been  singularly  regular.  If  we  apply  this  anal- 
ogy, and  couple  it  with  the  other  known  and  observed  facts,  we  may 
be  able  still  further  to  bridge  over  the  gap  between  man  and  his  an- 
thropoid progenitor.  As  Professor  Huxley  remarks,  "  The  first  traces 
of  the  primordial  stock  whence  man  has  proceeded  need  no  longer  be 
sought,  by  those  who  entertain  any  form  of  the  doctrine  of  progressive 
development,  in  the  newest  tertiaries  ;  they  may  be  looked  for  in  an 
epoch  more  distant  from  the  age  of  the  JSlephas primicjenius  than  that 
is  from  us." 

The  bifurcation  of  the  European  placental  mammals  begins  in  the 
Eocene  ;  and  it  is  to  the  Eocene  that  we  must  look  for  the  earliest 


loz  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

appearance  of  the  Primates.  At  that  period,  there  existed  lemurs  in 
Europe  and  America,  of  a  transitional  type,  showing  points  of  resem- 
blance to  the  hoofed  animals  of  the  same  age,  the  ancestors  of  our  own 
horses  and  tapirs.  The  Eocene  was  the  epoch  of  the  first  great  pla- 
cental mammalian  population,  and  we  know  that  in  such  early  epochs 
of  each  main  class,  when  the  class  is  assuming  a  dominant  position,  it 
always  possesses  an  immense  plasticity,  rapidly  dividing  and  subdivid- 
ing into  more  and  more  definitely  specialized  types.  Accordingly,  it 
was  probably  as  early  as  this  period  that  the  ancestors  of  the  higher 
apes  began  to  differentiate  themselves  from  the  ancestors  of  the  mod- 
ern lemurs.  All  analogy  shows  us  that  these  divisions  begin  a  long 
way  down  in  time,  proceed  rapidly  at  first,  and  grow  less  rapid  as  the 
various  creatures  become  more  and  more  specialized,  so  losing  their 
original  plasticity. 

In  the  Miocene,  the  specialization  of  the  Primates  must  have  con- 
tinued very  fast  ;  for  as  early  as  the  mid-Miocene  strata  we  find  in 
Continental  Europe  a  large  anthropoid  ape,  identified  by  good  authori- 
ties as  a  close  relation  of  the  modern  gibbons.  Other  apes  of  the  same 
date  are  similarly  identified  as  nearly  allied  with  other  living  genera. 
Hence  the  question  naturally  arises — if  the  bifurcation  of  the  Primates 
had  already  proceeded  so  far  in  the  mid-Miocene  period  that  even  ex- 
isting genera  of  higher  apes  had  been  fairly  well  demarkated,  must  not 
the  ancestors  of  man  have  already  begun  to  be  generically  distinct 
from  the  ancestors  of  the  other  anthropoids  ?  Is  it  not  consonant  with 
analogy  to  suppose  that  the  monkey  group  should  have  separated  from 
the  lemur  group  in  the  Eocene  ;  that  the  anthrojtoid  apes  should  have 
separated  from  the  monkeys  in  the  lower  Miocene  ;  and  that  the  hu- 
man genus  (as  distinct  from  the  fully  developed  human  species)  should 
have  separated  from  the  anthropoid  apes  in  the  mid-Miocene  ?  There 
seems  to  be  good  reason  for  this  conclusion. 

In  mid-Miocene  strata  at  Thenay,  the  Abbe  Bourgeois  has  found 
certain  split  flints,  some  of  them  bearing  traces  of  fire,  which  he 
believes  to  be  of  artificial  origin  ;  and  in  this  belief  he  is  upheld  by 
M.  de  Mortillet,  Dr.  Hamy,  MM.  de  Quatrefages,  Worsaae,  and  Capel- 
lini,  and  other  distinguished  anthropologists.  Specimens  may  be  seen 
in  the  Musee  de  St.  Germain,  almost  as  obviously  human  in  their  work- 
manship as  any  of  the  St.  Acheul  type.  M.  Delaunay  has  similarly 
found  a  rib  of  an  extinct  manatee,  which  seems  to  have  been  notched 
or  cut  with  a  sharp  instrument  ;  and  M.  Ribeiro,  of  the  Portuguese 
geological  survey,  has  noted  wrought  flints  in  the  Miocene  deposits  of 
the  Tagus,  which  he  exhibited  in  Paris  in  1879.  On  the  evidence  of 
these  and  other  facts  M.  de  Mortillet  pronounces  in  favor  of  what  he 
calls  Tertiary  man.  But  as  he  carefully  distinguishes  him  from  Qua- 
ternary man,  "l'homme  de  St.  Acheul" — the  river-drift  man  of  Pro- 
fessor Dawkins — I  suppose  he  means  to  imply  that  this  species,  though 
belonging  to  the  same  genus  as  ourselves,  was  yet  so  far  unlike  us,  so 


WHO    WAS   PRIMITIVE  MAN?  103 

little  differentiated,  as  to  be  man  only  in  the  generic,  not  in  the  spe- 
cific sense. 

Professor  Boyd  Dawkins,  on  the  other  hand,  argues  apparently 
against  the  existence  of  man  in  any  form  in  Miocene  Europe.  "  There 
is,"  he  says,  "  one  important  consideration  which  renders  it  highly  im- 
probable that  man  was  then  living  in  any  part  of  the  world.  No  liv- 
ino-  species  of  land  mammal  has  been  met  with  in  the  Miocene  fauna. 
Man,  the  most  highly  specialized  of  all  creatures,  had  no  place  in  a 
fauna  which  is  conspicuous  by  the  absence  of  all  the  mammalia  now 
associated  with  him.  ...  If  we  accept  the  evidence  advanced  in  fa- 
vor of  Miocene  man,  it  is  incredible  that  he  alone  of  all  the  mamma- 
lia living  in  those  times  in  Europe  should  not  have  perished,  or  have 
changed  into  some  other  form  in  the  long  lapse  of  ages  during  which 
many  Miocene  genera  and  all  the  Miocene  species  have  become  ex- 
tinct." But,  if  I  understand  M.  de  Mortillet  aright j  this  is  just  what 
he  means  by  distinguishing  Tertiary  from  Quaternary  man.  Pro- 
fessor Dawkins  argues  as  though  the  animal  which  split  the  Abbe 
Bourgeois's  flints  must  either  have  been  man  or  not-man  ;  but  the 
whole  analogy  of  evolution  would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  it  was  really 
a  "  tertium  quid "  or  half-man  ;  as  Professor  Dawkins  himself  sug- 
gests, a  creature  "  intermediate  between  man  and  something  else,"  a 
creature  which  should  "  bear  the  same  relation  to  ourselves  as  the  Mio- 
cene apes,  such  as  the  Mesopithecus,  bear  to  those  now  living,  such  as 
the  Semnopithecus" 

But  Professor  Dawkins,  who  seems  strangely  unwilling  to  admit 
the  existence  of  such  an  intermediate  link,  endeavors  to  account  for 
the  split  flints  of  the  mid-Miocene  by  curiously  round-about  ways.  "  Is 
it  possible,"  he  asks,  "  for  the  flints  in  question,  which  are  very  differ- 
ent from  the  palaeolithic  implements  of  the  caves  and  river  deposits,  to 
have  been  chipped  or  the  bone  to  have  been  notched  without  the  inter- 
vention of  man  ?  If  we  can  not  assert  the  impossibility,  we  can  not 
say  that  these  marks  prove  that  man  was  living  in  this  remote  age  in 
the  earth's  history.  If  they  be  artificial,  then  I  would  suggest  that 
they  were  made  by  one  of  the  higher  apes  then  living  in  France  rather 
than  by  man.  As  the  evidence  stands  at  present,  we  have  no  satis- 
factory proof  either  of  the  existence  of  man  in  the  Miocene  or  of  any 
creature  nearer  akin  to  him  than  the  anthropomorphous  apes.  These 
views  agree  with  those  of  Professor  Gaudry,  who  suggests  that  the 
chipped  flints  and  the  cut  rib  may  have  been  the  work  of  the  Dryo- 
pithecus,  or  the  great  anthropoid  ape,  then  living  in  France.  I  am, 
however,  not  aware  that  any  of  the  present  apes  are  in  the  habit  of 
making  stone  implements  or  cutting  bones,  although  they  use  stones 
for  cracking  nuts."  And,  in  a  foot-note,  Professor  Dawkins  further 
observes  :  "  Even  if  the  existing  apes  do  not  now  make  stone  imple- 
ments or  cut  bones,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  extinct  apes  were 
equally  ignorant,  because  some  extinct  animals  are  known  to  have 


104  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

been  more  highly  organized  than  any  living  members  of  their  class." 
Does  not  this  reasoning  exactly  remind  one  of  that  which  was  current 
when  M.  Boucher  de  Perthes  first  called  attention  to  the  Abbeville 
flints  ? 

Now,  I  confess  I  am  at  a  loss  to  comprehend  why  Professor  Daw- 
kins  should  be  so  anxious  to  escape  the  natural  inference  that  these 
flints  were  split  by  an  ancestor  of  man.  If  he  were  a  determined  oppo- 
nent of  evolutionism,  it  would  be  easy  enough  to  understand  his  atti- 
tude ;  but,  as  he  is  a  consistent  and  bold  evolutionist,  one  can  hardly 
guess  why  he  should  go  so  far  out  of  his  way  to  get  rid  of  a  simple 
conclusion.  lie  argues  most  sti'enuously  that  man  was  fully  developed 
in  the  Pleistocene  age.  He  can  not  imagine  that  man  reached  this 
full  development  by  a  sudden  leap  or  miraculous  interposition.  And, 
therefore,  he  might  naturally  conclude  that  an  early  and  less  differ- 
entiated ancestor  of  man  was  living  in  the  Miocene  age,  and  develop- 
ing upward  through  the  Pliocene  times,  till  he  reached  that  highly 
specialized  specific  form  wdiich  he  had  demonstrably  attained  in  the 
later  Pleistocene  period.  Implements  such  as  we  should  naturally  ex- 
pect a  priori  to  be  produced  by  such  an  intermediate  form  are  actually 
forthcoming  in  the  Miocene.  The  traces  of  use  and  marks  of  fire 
upon  them  seem  irresistible  proofs — the  edges  are  chipped  and  worn 
exactly  like  those  of  undoubted  flake-knives — while  the  regular  repe- 
tition of  their  shapes  is  most  noticeable.  Yet,  for  some  unknown  rea- 
son, rather  than  accept  the  plain  conclusion  of  M.  de  Mortillet,  Pro- 
fessor Dawkins  prefers  to  believe  that  they  were  produced  by  apes, 
and  to  leave  man  without  any  traceable  ancestry  whatsoever.  Surely 
he  does  not  believe  that  man  was  suddenly  evolved,  at  a  single  bound, 
from  a  creature  no  nearer  akin  to  him  "  than  the  anthropomorphous 
apes."  Yet  this  is  certainly  the  conclusion  which  most  readers  would 
draw  from  his  facts  and  arguments. 

It  is  clear  that  the  difficulty  in  all  these  cases  depends  upon  the  too 
great  definiteness  of  our  words,  with  their  hard-and-fast  lines  of  de- 
markation,  when  applied  to  the  gradual  and  changeful  forms  of  evolv- 
ing species.  The  very  question  as  to  the  existence  and  character  of 
"  primitive "  man  thus  becomes  one  of  mere  artificial  and  arbitrary 
distinctions.  We  try  to  draw  a  line  somewhere,  and  wherever  we 
draw  it  we  must  necessarily  cause  confusion.  Let  us  try,  then,  to  set 
forth  the  probable  course  of  evolution  in  the  line  which  finally  cul- 
minates in  civilized  man,  from  the  Eocene  age  upward,  using  so  far 
as  possible  such  language  as  will  the  least  involve  us  in  classificatory 
distinctions. 

In  the  very  first  part  of  the  Eocene  age  man's  ancestors  were  very 
plastic  and  unspecialized  placental  mammals  of  the  early  "  generalized  " 
type.  They  were  still  so  little  removed  from  the  original  form,  so  little 
adapted  for  special  habits  and  habitats,  that  they  at  the  same  time 
closely  resembled  the  progenitors  of  the  horses  and  the  hedgehogs. 


WHO    WAS  PRIMITIVE  MAN?  105 

But  before  the  middle  of  the  Eocene  period  this  homogeneous  group 
had  begun  to  split  up  into  main  branches.  And  by  the  later  Eocene 
times  the  particular  branch  to  which  man's  ancestors  belonged  had 
reached,  even  in  Europe,  the  stage  of  lemuroid  creatures — four-handed 
and  relatively  small-brained  animals,  still  retaining  many  traces  of  their 
connection  with  the  ancestral  horse-like  and  insectivore-like  forms. 
These  lemuroids  were  forestine,  and,  perhaps,  nocturnal  fruit-eaters. 
They  lived  among  trees,  which  their  hands  were  especially  adapted 
for  climbing. 

In  the  lower  Miocene  times  the  lemuroids  again  must  have  split  up 
into  two  main  branches,  that  of  the  monkeys  and  of  the  lemurs.  We 
fiud  no  trace  of  the  monkeys  in  the  remains  of  this  age  ;  but,  as  they 
were  highly  developed  in  the  succeeding  mid-Miocene  period,  they  must 
have  begun  to  be  distinctly  separated  at  least  as  early  as  this  point 
of  time.  To  the  monkey  branch,  of  course,  the  progenitors  of  man 
belonged. 

By  the  epoch  of  the  mid-Miocene  deposits  the  monkey  tribe  had 
once  more  presumably  subdivided  itself  into  two  or  three  minor  groups, 
one  of  which  was  that  of  the  anthropoid  apes,  while  another  was  that 
of  the  supposed  man-like  animal  who  manufactured  the  earliest  known 
split  flints.  The  anthropoid  apes  remained  true  to  the  old  semi-arboreal 
habits  of  the  race,  and  retained  their  four  hands.  The  man-like  ani- 
mal apparently  took  to  the  low-lying  and  open  plains,  perhaps  hid  in 
caves,  and,  though  probably  still  in  part  frugivorous,  eked  out  his 
livelihood  by  hunting.  We  may  not  unjustifiably  picture  him  to  our- 
selves as  a  tall  and  hairy  creature,  more  or  less  erect,  but  with  a  slouch- 
ing gait,  black-faced  and  whiskered,  with  prominent  prognathous  muz- 
zle, and  large  pointed  canine  teeth,  those  of  each  jaw  fitting  into  an 
interspace  in  the  opposite  row.  These  teeth,  as  Mr.  Darwin  suggests, 
were  used  in  the  combats  of  the  males.  His  forehead  was  no  doubt 
low  and  retreating,  with  bony  bosses  underlying  the  shaggy  eyebrows, 
which  gave  him  a  fierce  expression,  something  like  that  of  the  gorilla. 
But  already,  in  all  likelihood,  he  had  learned  to  walk  habitually  erect, 
and  had  begun  to  develop  a  human  pelvis,  as  well  as  to  carry  his  head 
more  straight  upon  his  shoulders.  That  some  such  an  animal  must 
then  have  existed  seems  to  me  an  inevitable  corollary  from  the  general 
principles  of  evolution,  and  a  natural  inference  from  the  analogy  of 
other  living  genera.  Moreover,  we  actually  find  rude  works  of  art 
which  occupy  a  position  just  midway  between  the  undressed  stone 
nut-cracker  of  the  ape  and  the  chipped  weapons  of  palaeolithic  times. 
This  creature,  then,  if  he  existed  at  all,  was  the  real  primitive  man, 
and  to  apply  that  term  to  the  cave-men  or  the  drift-men  is  almost  as 
absurd  as  to  apply  it  to  the  civilized  neolithic  herdsmen. 

The  supposed  Miocene  ancestor  of  humanity  must  have  been  ac- 
quainted with  the  use  of  fire,  and  have  been  sufficiently  intelligent  to 
split  rude  flakes  of  flint.     But  his  brain  was  no  doubt  about  half-way 


106  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

between  that  of  the  anthropoid  apes  and  that  of  the  Neanderthal  skull. 
Such  an  intermediate  stage  must  have  been  passed  through  at  some 
time  or  other,  and  the  mid-Miocene  is  just  about  the  time  when  one 
would  naturally  expect  it  to  have  existed.  The  fact  that  no  bones  of 
this  man-like  creature  have  yet  been  found  militates  very  little  against 
the  argument,  for  in  all  cases  the  mammalian  remains,  which  we  actu- 
ally possess  from  any  particular  stratum,  are  a  mere  tithe  of  the  spe- 
cies which  we  know  must  have  been  living  during  the  period  when  it 
was  deposited.  And,  after  all,  the  works  of  man  (or  of  a  man-like 
animal)  are  just  as  good  evidence  of  his  existence  as  his  bones  would 
be  ;  for,  as  Sir  John  Lubbock  rightly  observes,  the  question  is  whether 
men  then  existed,  not  whether  they  had  bones  or  not. 

During  the  Pliocene  period,  the  scent  does  not  lie  so  well,  and  we 
seem  to  lose  sight  for  a  while  of  man's  ancestry.  Such  gaps  are  com- 
mon in  the  geological  history,  and  need  surprise  no  one,  considering 
the  necessarily  fragmentary  nature  of  the  record,  based  as  it  is  upon  a 
few  stray  bones  or  bits  of  flint  which  may  happen  to  escape  destruc- 
tion, and  be  afterward  brought  to  light.  Some  cut  bones,  however, 
have  actually  been  detected  in  Tuscan  Pliocenes,  and  may  possibly 
bear  investigation.  Professor  Dawkins,  it  is  true,  objects  that  the 
presence  of  a  piece  of  rude  pottery  together  with  the  bones  casts  much 
doubt  upon  their  authenticity.  But  Professor  Capellini,  their  discov- 
erer, now  writes  that  Mr.  Dawkins  is  mistaken  in  this  particular,  and 
that  the  pottery  belongs  to  quite  a  different  stratum  from  the  bones. 
Other  marked  remains  have  been  discovered  in  Pliocene  strata  else- 
where ;  and  worked  flints  have  been  detected  in  the  gravels  of  St. 
Prest,  which,  however,  are  of  doubtfully  Pliocene  age.  Nevertheless, 
the  ancestors  of  man  must  have  gone  on  acquiring  all  the  distinctive 
human  features  during  this  period,  and  especially  gaining  increased 
volume  of  brain.  If  we  could  find  entire  skeletons  of  our  Miocene  and 
Pliocene  progenitors,  analogy  leads  us  to  suppose  that  naturalists  would 
arrange  them  as  at  least  two,  if  not  more,  separate  species  of  the  genus 
Homo.  Whether  we  should  call  them  men  or  not  is  a  mere  matter  of 
nomenclature  ;  but  that  such  links  in  the  chain  of  evolution  must  then 
have  existed  seems  to  me  indisputable. 

In  the  Pleistocene  period,  we  come  at  last  upon  undoubted  traces 
of  the  existing  specific  man.  The  early  Pleistocene  strata  show  us 
no  very  certain  evidence  ;  but  in  the  mid-Pleistocene  we  find  the  ear- 
liest indubitable  flint  flake,  split  by  chipping,  and  very  different  in  type 
from  the  workmanship  of  the  supposed  mid-Miocene  man-like  creature. 
In  the  later  Pleistocene  we  get  the  well-known  drift  implements. 
Without  fully  accepting  Professor  Dawkins's  argument  that  the  drift- 
men  were  human  beings  of  quite  a  modern  type,  one  may  at  least  admit 
that  the  remains  prove  them  to  have  been  really  men  of  the  actual  species 
now  living — men  not  much  further  removed  from  us  than  the  Anda- 
manese  or  the  Digger  Indians.     Accordingly,  we  can  not  suppose  that 


WHO    WAS  PRIMITIVE  MAN?  107 

they  had  been  developed  straightway  from  a  totally  inferior  quadru- 
manous  form,  and  reached  their  Pleistocene  mental  eminence  by  a  leap. 
"  The  implements  of  the  drift,"  says  Professor  Dawkins,  "  though  they 
imply  that  their  possessors  were  savages  like  the  native  Australians, 
show  a  considerable  advance  on  the  simple  flake  left  behind  as  the  only 
trace  of  man  of  the  mid-Pleistocene  age."  They  also  show  a  still 
greater  advance  upon  the  very  rude  chips  of  the  unknown  mid-Miocene 
ancestor.  Hence  the  j)rogressive  improvement  is  exactly  what  we 
should  expect  it  to  be,  and  we  are  justified,  I  think,  in  concluding  that 
by  the  beginning  of  the  Pleistocene  age  the  evolving  anthropoid  had 
reached  a  point  in  his  development  where  he  might  fairly  be  consid- 
ered as  a  man  and  a  brother.  At  the  beginning  of  that  age,  he  was 
probably  what  naturalists  would  recognize  as  specifically  identical  with 
existing  man,  but  of  a  very  low  variety.  By  the  mid-Pleistocene  he 
had  become  an  ordinary  savage  of  an  exaggerated  sort,  and  by  the 
age  of  the  drift  he  had  reached  the  stage  of  making  himself  mod- 
erately shapely  stone  implements.  The  river-drift  man,  however,  as 
Professor  Dawkins  believes,  has  no  modern  direct  representative — or, 
to  put  it  more  correctly,  the  whole  race,  even  in  its  lowest  varieties,  has 
now  quite  outstripped  him,  certainly  in  culture,  and  probably  in  phy- 
sique as  well. 

At  last,  we  reach  the  age  of  the  cave-men.  By  that  period,  man 
had  become  to  a  certain  extent  cultured.  He  had  learned  how  to 
make  finished  implements  of  stone  and  bone,  and  to  draw  and  carve 
with  spirit  and  with  a  rude  imitative  accuracy.  It  is  possible  enough 
that  the  cave-man  was  the  direct  ancestor  of  the  Esquimaux,  and  that 
that  race  has  kept  its  early  culture  with  but  few  later  additions  and 
improvements.*  Nevertheless,  it  does  not  at  all  follow  that  in  phys- 
ical appearance  the  earlier  cave-men  were  the  equals  of  the  Esquimaux, 
or,  indeed,  that  the  Esquimaux  are  any  more  nearly  related  to  them 
than  ourselves.  They  may  have  been  darker-skinned  and  less  highly 
human  looking  ;  they  probably  had  lower  foreheads,  with  high  bosses, 
like  the  Neanderthal  skull,  and  big  canine  teeth  like  the  Naulette  jaw. 
Even  if  the  Esquimaux  are  lineally  descended  from  the  later  cave-men 
with  little  change  of  habit  or  increase  of  culture,  the  mere  lapse  of 
time,  aided  by  disuse  of  parts,  may  have  done  much  to  modify  and 
mollify  these  brute-like  traits.  "  The  fact  that  ancient  races,"  says 
Mr.  Darwin,  "  in  this  and  several  other  cases  "  [he  is  speaking  of  the 
inter-condyloid  foramen,  observed  in  so  large  a  proportion  of  early 

*  I  am  not,  however,  inclined  to  attach  much  importance  to  the  evidence  of  Esquimau 
art ;  or  rather,  that  art  seems  to  me  to  point  in  the  opposite  direction.  After  carefully 
comparing  numerous  specimens,  I  am  convinced  that  the  art  of  the  cave-men  is  of  quite 
a  different  type  from  that  of  the  Esquimaux,  and  far  higher  in  kind.  Both,  it  is  true,  rep- 
resent animals ;  but  there  the  likeness  stops.  The  Esquimaux  represent  them  with 
wooden  stiffness  ;  the  cave-men  represent  them  with  surprising  spirit  and  life-like  ac- 
curacy. 


io8  THE  POPULAR  SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

skeletons],  "  more  frequently  present  structures  which  resemble  those  of 
the  lower  animals  than  do  the  modern  races,  is  interesting.  One  chief 
cause  seems  to  be  that  ancient  races  stand  somewhat  nearer  than  mod- 
ern races  in  the  long  line  of  descent  to  their  remote  animal-like  pro- 
genitors." We  must  not  be  led  away  by  identifications  of  race  in  too 
absolute  a  sense.  We  ourselves  are,  of  course,  the  lineal  descendants 
either  of  the  cave-men  or  of  their  contemporaries  in  some  geologically 
unexplored  region  ;  yet  it  does  not  follow  on  that  account  that  our 
late  Pleistocene  ancestors  were  white-skinned  people  with  regular 
Aryan  features.  Granting  that  the  Esquimaux  are  nearer  representa- 
tives of  the  cave-men  than  any  other  existing  race  (which  is  by  no 
means  certain),  it  may  yet  be  true  that  the  earlier  cave-men  themselves 
were  black-skinned,  hairy  savages,  with  skulls  and  brains  of  the  low 
and  brutal  Neanderthal  pattern.  The  physical  indications  certainly 
go  to  show  that  they  were  most  like  the  Australian  savages. 

With  the  cave-men  our  inquiry  ceases.  The  next  inhabitants  of 
Europe  were  the  comparatively  modern  and  civilized  neolithic  Euska- 
rians — a  race  whom  we  may  literally  describe  as  historical.  I  trust, 
however,  that  I  have  succeeded  in  pointing  out  the  main  fallacy 
which,  as  it  seems  to  me,  underlies  so  much  of  our  current  reasoning 
on  "  primitive  man."  This  fallacy  lies  in  the  tacit  assumption  that 
man  is  a  single  modern  species,  not  a  tertiary  genus  with  only  one 
species  surviving.  The  more  we  examine  the  structxtre  of  man  and 
of  the  anthropoid  apes,  the  more  does  it  become  clear  that  the  dif- 
ferences between  them  are  merely  those  of  a  genus  or  family,  rather 
than  distinctive  of  a  separate  order,  or  even  a  separate  sub-order.  But 
I  suppose  nobody  would  claim  that  they  were  merely  specific  ;  in  other 
words,  it  is  pretty  generally  acknowledged  that  the  divergence  be- 
tween man  and  the  anthropoids  is  greater  than  can  be  accounted  for 
by  the  immediate  descent  of  the  living  form  from  a  common  ancestor 
in  the  last  preceding  geological  age.  Mr.  Darwin  even  ranks  man  as 
a  separate  family  or  sub-family.  Therefore,  according  to  all  analogy, 
there  must  have  been  a  man-like  animal,  or  a  series  of  man-like  ani- 
mals, in  later,  if  not  in  earlier  tertiary  times  ;  and  this  animal  or  these 
animals  would  in  a  systematic  classification  be  grouped  as  species  of 
the  same  genus  with  man.  In  the  Abbe  Bourgeois's  mid-Miocene  split 
flints  we  seem  to  have  evidence  of  such  an  early  human  species  ;  and 
I  can  conceive  no  reason  why  evolutionists  should  hesitate  to  accept  the 
natural  conclusion.  To  speak  of  palaeolithic  man  himself — a  hunter, 
a  fisherman,  a  manufacturer  of  polished  bone  needles  and  beautiful 
barbed  harpoons,  a  carver  of  ivory,  a  designer  of  better  sketches  than 
many  among  ourselves  can  draw — as  "  primitive,"  is  clearly  absurd. 
A  long  line  of  previous  evolution  must  have  led  up  to  him  by  slow 
degrees.  And  the  earliest  trace  of  that  line,  in  its  distinctively  human 
generic  modification,  we  seem  to  get  in  the  very  simple  flint  implements 
and  notched  bones  of  Thenay  and  Pouanc6. — Fortnightly  Revieio. 


LIFE  AMONG   THE  B  ATT  AS    OF  SUMATRA.        109 
LIFE  AMONG  THE  BATTAS   OF  SUMATRA. 

By  Dr.  A.  SCHEEIBEE.* 

ALTHOUGH  the  Battas  have  a  writing  and  a  very  limited  litera- 
ture, it  has  never  occurred  to  any  one  among  them  to  compile 
and  preserve  their  historical  traditions.  Consequently  their  history, 
as  we  know  it,  reaches  hack  for  only  a  short  distance  in  time,  and 
gives  no  clew  by  the  aid  of  which  we  can  learn  when  and  whence  they 
came  to  Sumatra.  They  are  not  able  to  trace  their  origin  to  any 
greater  distance  than  the  highlands  of  Toba,  where  the  greater  part  of 
their  people  now  dwell.  The  tradition  of  their  derivation  from  Toba 
prevails,  so  far  as  I  know,  among  all  of  their  tribes,  on  every  side  of 
the  highlands.  We  are  not  well  enough  acquainted  with  the  interior 
of  Northern  Sumatra  to  be  able  to  state  how  far  they  may  have 
pressed  toward  the  southwest ;  but  they  are  found  in  the  south  to  the 
equator  and  on  the  west  and  east  in  single  spots  to  points  immediately 
on  the  sea.  They  seem  to  have  conquered  their  settlements  in  the 
southern  districts  a  considerable  time  ago,  and  to  have  subjected  or 
destroyed  the  Malayan  aborigines. 

We  will  go  into  a  Batta  town  early  in  the  morning.  The  night- 
mists  have  not  yet  disappeared  from  the  woods  around,  but  we  al- 
ready hear  a  bustle,  as  we  are  approaching  the  edge  of  the  village, 
of  women  pounding  rice.  The  rice,  which  is  the  principal  food  of  the 
people,  is  always  kept  in  the  hull,  and  is  thrashed  out  day  by  day  as 
it  is  needed.  The  thrashing  is  done  with  hard-wood  pestles  eight  or 
ten  feet  long  in  wooden  mortars  made  from  a  stump  or  a  log.  It  is 
hard  work,  yet  the  women  are  frequently  accustomed  to  perform  it 
with  their  babies  strapped  to  their  backs,  where  the  infant  is  exposed 
to  all  the  abrupt  and  awkward  oscillations  of  the  mother's  head.  The 
rice  must  be  carefully  cleaned  after  it  is  thrashed,  for  the  lord  of  tho 
house  will  not  be  trifled  with,  and,  if  he  finds  a  husk  in  his  breakfast,  it 
may  turn  out  a  bad  day  for  the  woman. 

The  town  is  composed  of  a  street  about  fifty  feet  wide,  with  a  row 
of  respectable-looking  houses,  all  built  on  piles,  on  either  side.  We 
are,  in  fact,  in  a  land  of  pile-houses,  and  nothing  more  than  a  glance 
around  is  needed  to  convince  the  visitor  of  the  fallacy  of  the  notion 
that  all  the  pile-houses  were  built  in  lakes.  The  Batta  houses  are 
some  eight  or  ten  feet  high,  frequently  set  up  on  still  higher  poles. 
The  poles  are  not  very  large,  but  are  made  of  wood  selected  for  its 
lasting  qualities,  and  often  of  heart-wood.  They  are  planted  in  the 
ground  in  rows,  and  so  connected  by  cross-bars  that,  shake  as  much 
as  it  may  in  time  of  storm  or  earthquake,  the  house  will   not  fall 

*  Abridged  from  articles  in  "  Das  Ausland." 


no  THE  POPULAR  SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

down.  The  house  is  reached  hy  stairs  which  are  connected  in  some 
cases  with  the  gable-front,  in  others  with  a  trap-door  in  the  middle 
of  the  floor.  The  buildings  are  of  two  distinct  types.  The  dwelling- 
houses  proper  consist  of  a  tightly  inclosed  story,  having  a  few  small 
windows,  and  covered  with  an  overhanging  roof,  the  high  gables  of 
which  permit  the  garret-space  to  be  left  open  for  the  free  circulation 
of  the  outer  air.  Another  class  of  houses,  which  are  evidently  pavil- 
ions of  luxury  and  indicate  wealth,  are  built  on  larger  posts  than  the 
others,  and  have  no  inclosure  whatever.  They  have  a  fire-place  in  the 
middle  of  the  floor,  seats  and  lounges,  and  perhaps  a  balustrade  around 
the  edge.  The  roof-space  is  separated  from  the  rest  by  a  flooring  and 
used  as  a  granary.  The  lower  open  story  of  these  sopos  serves  for  a 
variety  of  uses.  Strangers  and  guests  coming  to  the  town  are  re- 
ceived in  them  ;  the  men  sit  in  them  mornings  and  evenings,  chatting 
and  smoking  ;  justice  is  administered  and  public  business  transacted 
in  them  ;  they  are  occupied  during  the  day  by  women  weaving  ;  and 
at  night  strangers,  widowers,  and  unmarried  young  men  sleep  in 
them. 

The  Batta  does  not  make  his  morning  toilet  in  the  house,  but  at 
the  special  bathing-places,  or  pantjurs,  with  which  every  village  is  pro- 
vided. These  places  are  arranged  at  a  running  stream  or  a  canal  made 
for  the  purpose,  by  fixing  a  water-pipe  of  bamboo  in  such  a  manner 
that  a  man  standing  or  sitting  under  it  can  have  the  water  run  all 
over  his  body.  Such  baths  are  taken  morning  and  evening.  Separate 
pantjurs  are  provided  for  the  women.  It  is  one  of  the  morning  duties 
of  the  women  and  girls,  even  down  to  children  of  four  and  five  years 
old,  to  bring  drinking-water  in  the  gargitis,  a  water-vessel  made  of  a 
thick  stalk  of  bamboo.  The  size  and  strength  of  growing  girls  are 
generally  measured  by  the  number  of  gargitis  they  can  carry. 

Let  us  follow  a  woman  into  one  of  the  inclosed  dwelling-houses. 
The  floor  is  made  of  round  bamboo  beams  about  as  large  as  one's  arm, 
across  which  are  laid  split  bamboos  far  enough  apart  to  let  the  water 
and  dirt  through,  and  make  sweeping  unnecessary.  Broad,  raised  seats 
and  lounges,  covered  with  mats  of  various  patterns  and  styles,  are 
arranged  on  either  side.  In  the  corners  are  fire-places  of  a  primeval 
simplicity,  flat,  square  boxes  filled  with  earth,  and  upon  these  some 
thick  stones,  between  which  the  fire  burns  quite  briskly,  while  the  rice 
is  cooked  in  home-made  earthen  vessels  set  upon  them.  The  number 
of  families  living  in  the  house  can  generally  be  calculated  from  the 
number  of  fire-places  to  be  seen.,  No  division  is  made  in  the  day-time 
between  the  parts  of  the  house  occupied  by  the  different  families,  but 
a  separation  is  made  between  the  sleeping-places  at  night  by  hanging 
up  mats.  Ordinarily,  only  blood  relations  live  together  in  the  same 
house.  The  children  of  both  sexes,  after  they  have  grown  up,  sleep 
outside  of  the  house  and  not  with  their  parents,  the  young  men  in  the 
sopos,  the  girls  in  parties  of  several  with  some  old  widow  ;  but  the 


LIFE  AMONG   THE  B  ATT  AS    OF  SUMATRA.        m 

children,  till  they  have  households  of  their  own,  take  their  meals  with 
their  parents.  At  meals  the  whole  family  sit  around  the  rice-pots. 
They  formerly  used  leaves  for  plates,  but  they  now  generally  have 
European  plates.  As  a  rule,  they  eat  immediately  from  the  hand, 
which  is  previously  washed  in  a  vessel  of  water  kept  ready  for  the 
purpose.  The  nice  point  in  eating  consists  in  not  allowing  the  finger- 
tips to  touch  the  lips,  but  in  letting  the  rice  drop  from  the  fingers  into 
the  hollow  of  the  hand  just  before  it  is  given  to  the  mouth. 

The  Batta  men  do  not  always  begin  their  day  with  breakfast.  In 
the  busy  season  of  rice-culture  they  often  have  a  couple  of  hours' 
work  to  do  in  the  rice-field.  If  the  man  is  wealthy  enough  to  have  a 
buffalo,  he  has  to  drive  him  all  around  and  over  the  field  between  the 
rows,  so  as  to  destroy  the  weeds  by  treading  them  down  into  the  soft 
mud.  It  is  most  convenient  to  do  this  early  in  the  morning,  as  the 
buffaloes  are  driven  from  the  yard  to  the  pasture.  If  the  man  has  no 
buffalo,  he  has  to  dig  at  the  weeds  laboriously  with  his  hoe.  The  buf- 
falo is  the  principal  domestic  animal  of  the  Battas,  and  is  kept  chiefly 
for  treading  out  the  rice-fields.  The  value  of  the  animal  is  regulated 
by  the  length  of  his  horns,  and  this  is  measured  by  comparison  of  the 
length  of  his  owner's  arm  from  the  forefinger.  If  the  horns  are  long 
enough  to  reach  to  the  arm-pits  on  the  other  side,  the  animal  corre- 
sponds with  the  Batta  equivalent  for  "  thorough-bred." 

The  sugar-palm  affords  the  common  drink  of  the  people,  which 
they  call  tunak,  and  of  which  a  single  tree,  if  properly  taken  care  of, 
will  furnish  a  considerable  daily  supply  for  months  at  a  time.  Fla- 
vored and  made  stronger  by  the  addition  of  bitter  roots,  it  is  greatly 
enjoyed  by  the  many,  though  despised  by  a  few,  and  may  be  indulged 
in  to  a  considerable  excess  without  making  drunk.  It  has  become  a 
burning  question,  among  those  who  have  been  converted  to  Moham- 
medanism, whether  the  drinking  of  tunak  is  allowable  under  their 
law,  and  the  favorite  beverage  may  yet  become  the  occasion  of  a  re- 
ligious schism. 

The  Battas  attribute  all  serious  sickness  to  the  work  of  evil  spirits, 
begu  ;  and,  as  they  know  by  experience  that  persons  who  go  down  from 
the  highlands  and  remain  for  a  considerable  length  of  time  on  the 
coast  or  in  the  flat  country  are  liable  to  be  attacked  by  a  virulent 
fever  after  their  return,  they  have  come  to  consider  the  begu  of  the 
sea,  the  begu  laut,  a  particularly  malignant  and  dangerous  spirit. 

A  woman  who  had  been  visiting  her  relatives  in  the  flat  country 
was  attacked  and  brought  low  with  one  of  these  fevers.  Her  husband 
did  not  hesitate  long,  for  she  was  a  valuable  help  and  had  cost  half  his 
estate  in  purchase-fees,  but  sent  immediately  for  the  most  famous  datu, 
or  medicine-man,  in  the  region.  An  honorarium  regulated  by  the 
value  at  which  the  wife  was  held  was  paid  the  doctor,  and  an  equal 
sum  was  promised  him  in  case  of  recovery.  Incantations  and  external 
means  were  tried  for  a  few  days  with  no  beneficial  results,  and  then 


112  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

the  doctor  decided  that  he  must  make  a  parsili:  this  was  a  figure  of 
the  sick  person,  of  about  her  size,  cut  out  of  the  soft  stem  of  a  banana- 
tree,  and  clothed  with  a  few  rags.  It  is  dedicated  to  the  particular 
object  it  is  designed  to  serve,  with  a  certain  set  of  magic  forms,  and 
is  laid  in  the  road  outside  of  the  town,  with  the  expectation  that 
the  wicked  spirit  will  come  out  of  the  sick  person  and  go  into  it. 
As  another  means  of  making  sure  that  this  should  happen,  the  sick 
woman  was  "  stolen,"  or  secretly  taken  in  the  night  to  another  house. 
When  all  this  proved  to  be  of  no  avail,  the  medicine-man  declared 
that  he  had  an  extremely  perverse  spirit  to  deal  with,  and  must  use 
the  most  energetic  means  to  drive  it  out.  He  pounded  up  a  double 
handful  of  the  terribly  sharp  red  and  green  Spanish  peppers,  and 
sprinkled  the  juice  into  the  mouth,  nose,  eyes,  and  ears  of  the  poor 
sick  woman,  in  order  to  bring  the  spirit  to  terms  by  means  of  the 
fearful  pain  the  operation  excited.  When  this  did  not  help,  the  medi- 
cine-man lost  confidence,  notwithstanding  a  hen  was  sacrificed  in  his 
honor  every  day,  and  would  not  stay  any  longer.  He  did  not  say  so, 
however,  but  went  off  secretly  ;  for  he  foresaw  that  he  would  inevi- 
tably suffer  great  shame  and  reproach  if  the  patient  should  die  on  his 
hands.  Of  course — for  that  is  understood  there — he  would  have  to 
go  away  empty-handed  if  the  case  proved  fatal. 

An  expedient  sometimes  resorted  to  in  desperate  cases  is  to  consult 
the  begu  itself  for  advice.  For  this  purpose  all  the  sick  person's  family 
connections  living  in  the  town,  men,  women,  and  children,  assemble  at 
the  house.  The  room  having  been  cleared  for  the  occasion,  is  dimly 
illuminated  by  means  of  torches  made  by  rolling  up  a  leaf  and  pouring 
melted  pitch  into  it.  The  spectators  take  their  places  in  a  circle  around 
the  room,  while  the  actors  in  the  drama  are  seated  in  the  middle.  On 
one  side  are  the  musicians,  two,  four,  six,  or  eight  young  fellows,  armed 
with  drums  of  bamboo  and  deer-skin,  and  cymbals  and  gongs,  bought 
from  the  Chinese,  which  are  kept  with  the  greatest  care,  in  cases  spe- 
cially made  for  them,  among  the  most  precious  heirlooms  of  the  family. 
Of  course  no  melody  can  be  brought  out  from  such  instruments,  but 
the  musical  effect  produced  by  them  consists  in  a  variety  of  rhythms, 
some  of  which  are  quite  complicated  and  characteristic.  Opposite  the 
orchestra  sit  two  men,  one  of  whom  is  the  sibaro  or  haroem  ni  begu, 
or  medium.  Among  the  Battas  who  are  still  heathen,  each  family  or 
each  town  has  two  of  these  mediums,  generally  a  man  and  a  woman. 
No  one  devotes  himself  to  the  office  of  medium  of  his  own  free-will, 
and  it  requires  the  learning  of  no  art  ;  but,  when  the  sibaro  dies  or 
goes  away,  the  begu  itself  chooses  a  new  one  by  taking  possession  of 
him  ;  and,  waiting  this,  the  obligate  music  is  kept  up  in  the  presence 
of  the  whole  family  till  the  desired  event  takes  place.  The  sibaro  is 
dressed  in  his  ceremonial  robes  ;  from  his  head  hangs  a  strip  of  cloth 
reaching  to  the  floor,  under  which  is  a  vessel  of  burning  incense,  the 
smoke  of  which  rises  to  his  head.     After  the  music  has  sounded  for  a 


LIFE  AMONG   THE  B  ATT  AS    OF  SUMATRA.        u3 

short  time,  the  body  of  the  sibaro  begins  to  tremble.  He  throws  off 
the  cloth  and  rises,  and  begins,  with  outstretched  arm  and  a  fixed  look 
at  the  distance,  slowly  to  turn  to  the  rhythm  of  the  music.  At  the 
same  time  a  time-keeping  convulsion,  beginning  in  his  fingers,  extends 
from  limb  to  limb,  finally  engaging  the  whole  body,  till  at  last  the 
man  dances  in  spasmodic  leaps,  which  continue  till  he  collapses  in  ex- 
haustion. The  music  now  ceases,  and  the  time  has  come  for  the  head 
of  the  family  to  question  the  begu  which  has  taken  possession  of  the 
medium,  first  asking  its  name.  The  begu,  having  given  its  name,  then 
asks  why  it  has  been  called  ;  and  in  response  to  this  overture  the 
whole  occasion  of  the  trouble  is  related,  and  the  spirit's  good  advice 
is  requested.  The  most  important  question  is,  whether  there  is  any 
hope  of  the  recovery  of  the  patient,  and  what  must  be  done  to  secure 
that  desirable  result.  If  the  family  are  not  satisfied,  as  they  are  not 
likely  to  be  with  the  unfavorable  answer  that  is  generally  given,  the 
music  and  the  dancing  are  repeated,  or  the  process  is  applied  to  the 
second  sibaro.  It  sometimes  happens  that  the  two  mediums  do  not 
agree  in  their  revelations,  and  then  the  drumming  and  the  dancing 
and  the  questioning  are  kept  up  till  they  are  of  accord.  If  the  final 
answer  is  that  there  is  no  hope  for  the  sick  man,  he  is  left  to  his  fate, 
which  has  most  probably  been  made  more  certain  by  his  having  had 
to  endure  the  prolonged  torture  of  witnessing  these  ceremonies  ;  if  a 
more  favorable  answer  is  given,  all  that  the  spirit  requires  as  a  con- 
dition of  recovery  is  performed  in  good  faith. 

If  the  ceremonies  are  interrupted  by  the  death  of  the  patient 
during  their  performance,  the  music  ceases  and  lamentations  take  its 
place  ;  the  company  go  away,  leaving  only  the  nearest  relatives  of  the 
deceased  at  the  house  ;  a  few  shots  are  fired,  either  to  drive  away  evil 
spirits,  or  to  give  notice  of  the  death,  and  preparations  are  begun  for 
the  funeral. 

The  existence  of  cannibalism  among  the  Battas  and  some  pecul- 
iarities connected  with  it  suggest  some  questions  respecting  its  origin. 
The  principal  question  is  whether  it  is  a  survival  from  the  original 
barbarism  of  the  people,  or  is  an  offense  of  later  beginning.  All  the  evi- 
dence I  have  met  in  my  investigations  points  to  the  latter  conclusion 
as  more  probable.  Among  the  evidences  is  the  fact  that  the  practice 
occurs,  not  among  the  more  degraded  tribes,  but  among  those  which 
are  most  distinguished  from  their  neighbors  by  intelligence  and  cult- 
ure. Other  facts,  favoring  the  same  view,  are  :  1.  The  Battas  have 
traditions  of  a  primitive  time  when  man-eating  was  unknown  among 
them.  They  say  that  it  originated  during  a  long  civil  war,  in  the 
course  of  which  the  hostility  of  the  opposite  factions  became  so  em- 
bittered that  they  went  to  the  extremity  of  eating  captured  enemies. 
2.  Cannibalism  is  unknown  among  other  people  evidently  related  to 
the  Battas — the  inhabitants  of  the  Island  of  Nias,  for  instance,  whose 
language  is  nearly  the  same,  and  who  are  of  a  lower  degree  of  civili- 

VOL.    XXII. — 8 


n4  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

zation.  3.  The  fact  that  cannibalism  is  practiced,  not  to  satisfy  hun- 
ger or  gratify  the  taste,  but  only  in  cases  regulated  by  law. 

Accepting  the  theory  of  a  comparatively  modern  origin  of  canni- 
balism, the  question  still  remains,  of  the  immediate  occasion  of  its  in- 
troduction. Aside  from  the  tradition  already  mentioned,  we  can  im- 
agine but  three  grounds  on  which  it  could  have  been  based.  Human 
flesh  may  have  been  first  eaten  under  stress  of  necessity,  and  found  so 
palatable  that  the  practice  was  continued  ;  superstition  may  have  sug- 
gested the  idea  that  the  eating  of  the  flesh  would  secure  the  eater 
against  the  bad  influence  of  the  spirit  of  the  eaten  one  ;  or,  the  igno- 
minious extirpation  of  an  offender  may  have  been  considered  a  good 
method  of  showing  the  general  abhorrence  of  him.  This  last  view,  ad- 
vocated by  Marsden,  seems  to  me  most  improbable,  for  it  is  unthink- 
able that  cannibalism  could  have  come  to  prevail  in  this  way  among  a 
people  who  had  not  previously  known  it.  The  second  view,  tbat  of  a 
superstitious  origin,  appears  more  probable  ;  and  it  is  no  real  objection 
to  it  that  the  Battas  now  do  not  know  anything  of  such  superstition, 
for  there  are  many  other  customs  of  which  the  people  who  practice 
them  can  not  give  a  satisfactory  account.  The  former  view  seems,  how- 
ever, still  more  probable,  for  it  is  most  reconcilable  with  psychological 
laws,  and  agrees  with  the  traditions. 

The  region  within  which  cannibalism  prevails  has  been  consider- 
ably contracted  within  the  last  three  years,  in  consequence  of  the  ex- 
tension of  Dutch  authority  over  Silindung  and  Toba  ;  for  man-eating 
is,  of  course,  extinguished  wherever  Dutch  influence  prevails.  The 
heathenism  of  the  Battas  is,  moreover,  fast  declining  before  the  per- 
sistent attacks  of  Christianity  ;  and  Mohammedanism,  with  its  most 
repulsive  traits,  must  also  pass  away. 


-♦♦*- 


SKETCH  OF  CHARLES   ADOLPHE  WUETZ. 

CHARLES  ADOLPHE  WURTZ,  President  of  the  French  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences,  is  one  of  the  recognized  leaders  of  modern 
chemistry.  Much  of  his  work  is  regarded  as  of  the  first  importance  in 
connection  with  chemical  theory,  and  he  is  justly  considered  one  of| 
the  chief  pioneers  of  modern  organic  chemistry. 

Professor  Wurtz  was  born  in  Strasburg,  November  26,  1817,  and 
was  taught  in  his  earlier  studies  at  the  Protestant  Gymnasium  in 
that  city.  He  afterward  studied  in  the  Medical  Faculty  of  Strasburg, 
where  he  was  chief  of  the  chemical  department  from  1839  to  1844, 
and  received  his  degree  in  1843.  He  began  his  chemical  career  as  an 
assistant  to  Dumas.  Having  come  to  Paris,  he  was  made  preparateur 
to  the  course  of  organic  chemistry  of  the  Faculty  in  1845.     He  after- 


SKETCH   OF    CHARLES  ADOLPHE  WURTZ.         115 

ward  filled  the  position  of  chief  of  the  chemical  department  in  the 
School  of  Arts  and  Manufactures  from  1846  to  1851,  and  was  made  a 
fellow  in  1846.  He  gained  his  first  independent  position  in  1851,  as 
professor  in  the  Agricultural  Institute  at  Versailles.  After  the  death 
of  Orfila,  in  1853,  and  the  retirement  of  Dumas,  in  1854,  the  chairs 
which  they  had  filled  were  united  in  the  chair  of  Medical  Chemistry, 
and  Professor  Wurtz  was  made  its  occupant.  In  1866  he  became 
Dean  of  the  Medical  Faculty,  and  gained  much  credit  as  such  by  his 
firm  and  moderate  course  during  the  troubles  with  the  students  in  1867 
and  1868,  when  the  best  professors  in  the  faculty  were  denounced  to 
the  Senate.  He  resigned  this  office  in  April,  1875,  and  was  appointed, 
in  the  following  August,  Professor  of  Organic  Chemistry  in  the  Fac- 
ulty of  Sciences.  He  has  also  been  a  member  of  the  hygienic  com- 
mittee, a  member  and  secretary  of  the  Chemical  Society,  and  a  member 
of  the  Philomathic  Society. 

The  chemical  researches  of  Professor  Wurtz  have  been  numerous, 
original,  and  important.  The  Royal  Society's  catalogue  contains  a 
list  of  seventy-three  titles  to  papers  which  were  published  by  him  pre- 
vious to  1864.  The  publication  of  his  investigations  was  begun  in 
1842,  with  a  paper  on  the  constitution  of  the  hypophosphites.  This  was 
followed  by  researches  on  phosphorous  acid,  sulpho-phosphoric  acid, 
etc.,  which  greatly  added  to  our  knowledge  of  the  phosphorus  com- 
pounds. It  was  during  his  experiments  on  the  hypophosphites  that 
he  discovered  the  hydride  of  copper,  a  substance  which  derives  in- 
terest from  its  own  peculiarities,  as  well  as  on  account  of  the  rarity  of 
metallic  hydrides.  Professor  Wurtz's  next  researches  were  directed 
to  the  cyanic  and  cyanuric  ethers,  and  brought  forth,  among  other  re- 
sults, the  discovery,  in  1849,  of  the  so-called  compound  ammonias 
formed  by  the  displacement  of  one  of  the  atoms  of  hydrogen  in  am- 
monia, by  organic  radicals  like  methyl  and  ethyl.  A  third  important 
investigation,  published  in  1855,  resulted  in  the  confirmation  of  the 
theory  of  Laurent,  Gerhardt,  and  Hoffmann,  of  the  double  nature  of 
the  alcohol  radicals — that  the  substances  obtained  from  alcohol  as 
radicals  were  not  the  simple  radicals,  but  were  compounds  of  those 
radicals  with  themselves.  This  has  afforded  one  of  the  strongest  ar- 
guments  in  favor  of  the  view  now  generally  entertained  by  chemists, 
that  free  hydrogen  is  a  compound  of  hydrogen  with  hydrogen.  Other 
investigations,  which  must  enter  into  the  summing  up  of  the  work  of 
Professor  Wurtz  in  this  line,  are  those  on  the  glycols,  and  on  ethylene 
oxide  ;  on  the  action  of  nascent  hydrogen  on  aldehyde  ;  on  the  action 
of  chlorine  on  aldehyde  ;  on  the  action  of  hydrochloric  acid  on  alde- 
hyde ;  on  the  synthesis  of  neurine  ;  and  on  abnormal  vapor  den- 
sities. 

In  1864  he  was  awarded,  at  the  instance  of  the  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences, the  Emperor's  biennial  prize  of  twenty  thousand  francs.  Two 
years  afterward,  or  in  1867,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Academy, 


n6  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

in  the  chemical  section,  in  place  of  M.  Pelouzet.  In  1878  he  received 
the  Faraday  medal  from  the  English  Royal  Society,  and  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Bavarian  Academy  of  Sciences. 

Professor  Wurtz  presided  at  the  meeting  of  the  French  Associ- 
ation for  the  Progress  of  Science  which  was  held  at  Lille  in  1874, 
and  delivered  the  opening  address,  on  the  subject  of  the  "  Theory  of 
Atoms  in  the  General  Conception  of  the  Universe."  In  this  address 
he  revealed  a  catholicity  of  spirit,  including  all  men  of  every  nation 
and  creed,  and  every  branch  of  science,  in  a  community  of  interest 
and  privilege  in  the  advancement  of  knowledge,  and  a  poetic  capacity 
of  temperament,  to  which  his  dry  chemical  researches  gave  few  oppor- 
tunities of  expression.  After  sketching  Bacon's  plan,  or  dream,  for 
the  universal  exploration  of  the  earth  and  the  cosmic  forces,  he  said  : 
"  Two  centuries  and  a  half  ago  the  conception  of  Bacon  was  regarded 
as  a  noble  Utopia  ;  to-day  it  is  a  reality.  That  magnificent  pro- 
gramme which  he  then  drew  out  is  ours,  gentlemen  ;  ours  not  in  the 
narrow  sense  of  the  word,  for  I  extend  this  programme  to  all  Avho,  in 
modern  times  and  in  all  countries,  give  themselves  to  the  search  for 
truth,  to  all  workers  in  science,  humble  or  great,  obscure  or  famous, 
who  form  in  reality  in  all  parts  of  the  globe,  and  without  distinction 
of  nationality,  that  vast  association  which  was  the  dream  of  Francis 
Bacon.  Yes,  science  is  now  a  neutral  field,  a  commonwealth,  placed 
in  a.  serene  region,  far  above  the  political  arena,  inaccessible,  I  wish  I 
could  say,  to  the  strifes  of  parties  ;  in  a  word,  this  property  is  the 
patrimony  of  humanity."  Having  reviewed  the  recent  progress  in  the 
sciences  of  chemistry,  physics,  and  physical  astronomy,  and  spoken  of 
the  kinetic  theory,  he  added  that  these  sciences  "  teach  us  that  the 
worlds  which  people  infinite  space  are  made  like  our  own  system,  and 
the  great  universe  is  all  movement,  co-ordinated  movement.  But, 
new  and  marvelous  fact,  this  harmony  of  the  celestial  spheres  of  which 
Pythagoras  spoke,  and  which  a  modern  poet  has  celebrated  in  immor- 
tal verse,  is  met  with  in  the  world  of  the  infinitely  little.  There,  also, 
all  is  co-ordinated  movement,  and  these  atoms,  whose  accumulation 
forms  matter,  have  never  any  repose  ;  a  grain  of  dust  is  full  of  in- 
numerable multitudes  of  material  unities,  each  of  which  is  agitated  by 
movements.  All  vibrates  in  the  little  world,  and  this  universal  rest- 
lessness of  matter,  this  '  atomic  music,'  to  continue  the  metaphor  of 
the  ancient  philosopher,  is  like  the  harmony  of  worlds  ;  and  is  it  not 
true  that  the  imagination  is  equally  bewildered  and  the  spirit  equally 
troubled  by  the  spectacle  of  the  illimitable  immensity  of  the  universe, 
and  by  the  consideration  of  the  millions  of  atoms  which  people  a  drop 
of  water  ? "  The  address  concluded  with  the  words  :  "  Such  is  the 
order  of  nature  ;  and,  as  Science  penetrates  it  further,  she  brings  to 
light  both  the  simplicity  of  the  means  set  at  work  and  the  infinite 
variety  of  the  results.  Thus,  through  the  corner  of  the  veil  we  have 
been  permitted  to  raise,  she  enables  us  to  see  both  the  harmony  and 


SKETCH   OF   CHARLES  ADO  LP  HE   WURTZ.         117 

the  profundity  of  the  plan  of  the  universe.  Then  we  enter  on  another 
domain  which  the  human  spirit  will  be  always  impelled  to  enter  and 
explore.  It  is  thus,  and  you  can  not  change  it.  It  is  in  vain  that  Sci- 
ence has  revealed  to  it  the  structure  of  the  world  and  the  order  of  all 
the  phenomena  ;  it  wishes  to  mount  higher,  and  in  the  conviction  that 
things  have  not  in  themselves  their  own  reason  for  existing,  their  sup- 
port, and  their  origin,  it  is  led  to  subject  them  to  a  first  cause — unique, 
universal  God." 

In  18T8  Professor  Wurtz  delivered  the  Faraday  Lecture  of  the 
English  Chemical  Society,  taking  for  his  subject  "  The  Constitution  of 
Matter  in  the  Gaseous  State."  In  this  lecture  he  gave  a  clear  exposi- 
tion of  the  kinetic  theory  of  gases,  which  postulates  them  as  "  com- 
posed of  small  particles  moving  freely  in  space  with  immense  veloci- 
ties, and  capable  of  communicating  their  motion  by  collision  or  friction," 
and  suggested  that  it  had  "  shed  a  sudden  clearness,  an  unexpected 
light,  on  matters  which  seemed  to  be  veiled  in  the  deepest  obscurity," 
and  added  that  the  labors  by  which  this  theory  had  been  worked  out 
"mark  a  resting-place  in  our  course,  and  are,  perhaps,  an  approach 
toward  the  eternal  problem  of  the  constitution  of  matter — a  problem 
which  dates  from  the  earliest  ages  of  civilization,  and,  though  dis- 
cussed by  all  the  great  thinkers  of  ancient  as  well  as  of  modern  times, 
still  remains  unsolved.  May  we  not  hope  that  in  our  own  time  this 
problem  has  been  more  clearly  stated  and  more  earnestly  attacked, 
and  that  the  labors  of  the  nineteenth  century  have  advanced  the  hu- 
man mind  in  these  arduous  paths  more  than  those  of  a  Lucretius,  and 
even  of  a  Descartes  and  a  Newton  ?  From  this  point  of  view  the  dis- 
coveries of  modern  chemistry,  so  well  expressed  and  summarized  by 
the  immortal  conception  of  Dalton,  will  mark  an  epoch  in  the  progress 
of  the  human  mind." 

In  the  same  year  Professor  Wurtz,  having  been  charged  by  the 
French  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  to  make  inquiry  into  the  organi- 
zation of  the  laboratories  and  the  practical  instruction  given  in  the 
several  univei'sities  of  Germany  and  Austi'o-Hungary,  made  a  num- 
ber of  journeys  to  the  great  seats  of  learning  in  those  countries.  In 
his  report  he  insisted  strongly  on  the  danger  of  creating  large  estab- 
lishments, where  students  are  taught  something  of  everything,  and  on 
the  necessity  of  creating  special  foci  for  every  large  section  of  experi- 
mental science.  He  showed  the  advantage  of  special  institutes,  and 
insisted  upon  the  organization  of  chemical,  physical,  physiological, 
anatomical,  and  pathological  institutions,  such  as  flourish  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Rhine. 

A  second  report  on  this  series  of  observations  has  been  published 
within  the  present  year.  It  contains  descriptions  of  the  great  scien- 
tific establishments  of  Berlin,  Buda-Pest,  Gratz,  Leipsic,  and  Munich, 
and  is  confined  to  a  simple  account  of  what  the  author  observed  in  the 
institutions  described  ;  for,  he  says,  "  an  unmeasured  and  uncritical 


n8  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

approbation  in  such  a  matter  would  be  equally  misplaced.  .  .  .  Every- 
thing has  been  said  upon  the  importance  of  high  scientific  training, 
one  of  the  treasures  of  the  human  mind.  A  great  country  should  in- 
crease it  continually,  in  order  to  be  able  to  diffuse  it  abundantly." 

Besides  the  multitude  of  papers  embodying  the  results  of  his  spe- 
cial investigations,  and  his  addresses,  Professor  Wurtz  is  the  author  of 
a  number  of  works  of  a  more  general  character,  among  which  are  his 
"  Traite  elementaire  de  Chimie  medicale  "  (Elementary  Treatise  on 
Medical  Chemistry),  3  vols.,  Paris,  1864-'65  ;  "Lecons  elementaires  de 
Chimie  modern e  "  (Elementary  Lessons  of  Modern  Chemistry),  1866- 
'68  ;  "  Dictionnaire  de  Chimie  pure  et  appliquee  "  (Dictionary  of  Pure 
and  Applied  Chemistry),  1868  and  following  years,  with  an  introduc- 
tion published  separately  in  1868,  under  the  title  "  Histoire  des  Doc- 
trines chimiques "  (History  of  Chemical  Doctrines)  ;  "  Les  hautes 
Etudes  pratiques  dans  les  Universites  Allemandes "  (High  Practical 
Studies  in  the  German  Universities)  ;  and  an  unfinished  "  Treatise  on 
Biological  Chemistry"  (vol.  i,  1880).  The  "Dictionary"  just  men- 
tioned, which  was  completed  in  1879,  after  twelve  years  of  preparation 
and  publication  in  numbers,  is  pronounced  by  the  "Revue  Scienti- 
fique  "  the  most  complete  treatise  on  chemistry  now  existing  in  France. 
In  its  preparation,  Professor  Wurtz  was  assisted  by  his  fellow-chemists 
and  compatriots,  who  contributed  special  articles,  each  working  in  the 
line  to  which  he  had  given  the  most  attention.  Professor  Wurtz  him- 
self furnished  the  theoretical  articles,  especially  those  having  reference 
to  the  theory  of  atoms  and  their  unitary  grouping  in  compounds,  of 
which  he  is  the  leading  expositor.  "  In  these  articles,"  says  the  "  Re- 
vue Scientifique,"  "  the  reader  will  recognize  the  vigor  and  precision 
of  style  which  are  the  stamp  of  the  works  of  M.  Wurtz."  In  English 
translations  have  been  published  "  Chemical  Philosophy  according  to 
Modern  Theories  "  (London,  1867),  and  "  Theory  from  the  Age  of  La- 
voisier" (1869).  His  two  latest  works,  in  their  English  translations, 
have  gained  considerable  circulation  in  the  United  States.  The  "  Ele- 
ments of  Modern  Chemistry  "  (1880)  is  a  text-book,  the  leading  feat- 
ures of  which  are  defined  by  a  discriminating  critic  in  "  Nature  "  to 
be  "  clearness  of  statement,  selection  of  typical  facts  from  among  the 
vast  array  at  the  service  of  the  chemical  compiler,  and  devotion  of  a 
comparatively  large  space  to  chemical  theory,  and  to  generalizations 
which  are  usually  dismissed  in  a  few  words  in  the  ordinary  text-book  "  ; 
withal,  notwithstanding  its  copiousness,  the  book  "  is  exceedingly  in- 
teresting and  eminently  readable."  The  "Academy,"  reviewing  the 
same  work,  speaks  of  its  author  as  "  universally  recognized  as  one  of 
the  most  able  of  living  chemists  ;  he  is  also  an  exact  thinker,  deeply 
imbued  with  philosophical  ideas,  and  a  very  successful  teacher."  The 
book  comprises  a  complete  introduction  to  both  inorganic  and  organic 
chemistry,  and  presents  the  newest  ideas  regarding  such  subjects  as 
atomicity  and  isomerism.     The  other  book,  "  The  Atomic  Theory,"  is 


SKETCH   OF   CHARLES  ADOLPHE   WURTZ.         119 

one  of  the  "  International  Scientific  Series,"  and  fits  in  well  with  what 
is  perhaps  the  most  important  work  of  the  author's  life  ;  for  it  records 
the  development  and  present  position  of  a  doctrine  which  he  has  had 
as  large  a  part  as,  if  not  a  larger  part  than,  any  other  man  in  bringing 
to  the  shape  in  which  it  is  now  generally  received  by  chemists.  It 
embraces  an  historical  introduction,  containing  a  concise,  accurate,  and 
complete  history  of  the  theory  of  atoms  from  the  times  of  the  Greek 
philosophers  and  Lucretius,  and  from  the  revival  of  the  doctrine  by 
Dalton  to  the  present  time.  A  second  part  includes  a  full  exj)osition 
of  the  theory  as  it  is  now  held  and  applied.  It  is  described,  by  the 
critic  in  "  Nature  "  from  whom  we  have  quoted,  as  "  at  once  a  scien- 
tific treatise  and  an  artistic  work,  .  .  .  marked  with  a  distinct  indi- 
viduality and  self-completeness,"  and  as  conveying  a  sharp  impression, 
"without  making  any  great  sacrifice  of  accuracy." 

All  of  Professor  Wurtz's  later  works  are  characterized  by  the 
marks  of  his  strong  faith  in  his  own  conception  of  the  atomic  theory, 
and  for  this  he  has  been  criticised — perhaps  by  some  one  whose  theory 
is  a  little  different — as  too  much  inclined  to  treat  theoretical  considera- 
tions as  identical  with  facts,  and  as,  seemingly,  supposing  facts  to  be 
explained  when  they  are  only  stated  in  the  language  of  his  theory. 
He  has  himself  given  an  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  this  may 
be  brought  about,  by  explaining  in  his  Faraday  lecture  that,  whenever 
we  attempt  to  make  well-observed  facts  and  their  immediate  conse- 
quences— the  only  certain  things  in  the  physical  sciences — the  basis  of 
any  general  theory,  "  hypothetical  data  are  apt  to  mix  themselves  up 
with  our  deductions." 

Professor  Wurtz  has  been  President  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  in 
Paris  since  1881.  His  merits  have  been  recognized  by  the  French 
Government  by  the  bestowal  of  the  decoration  of  the  Legion  of  Honor 
in  1850  and  by  promotion  to  the  rank  of  officer  in  1863,  and  to  that  of 
commander  on  the  occasion  of  his  acting  as  a  member  of  the  French 
section  of  the  International  Jury  at  the  Great  Exhibition  in  London, 
in  1869.  In  July,  1881,  he  was  appointed  a  Senator  for  life  in  the 
French  Senate,  by  a  large  majority,  and  became  the  third  member  of 
the  Academy  of  Sciences  who  was  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  seat  in  that 
body,  his  two  scientific  colleagues  being  M.  Robin  and  M.  Dupuy  de 
Lome. 


120 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


THEORY  OF  THE  SUN'S  LIGHT  AND  HEAT. 

Messrs.  Editors. 

IN  the  June  number  of  "The  Popular 
Science  Monthly,"  a  new  theory  of  the 
origin  of  the  light  and  heat  of  the  sun  is 
attributed  to  Dr.  II.  R.  Rogers,  of  Dunkirk, 
New  York.  An  able  and  succinct  statement 
of  the  theory  was  given  by  Dr.  Rogers,  in  a 
paper  read  before  the  American  Association 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  in  Cincin- 
nati, August,  1881.  But  many  persons  had 
already  become  acquainted  with  this  electric 
theory,  through  a  work  in  which  it  is  fully 
and  clearly  stated,  entitled  "  Light,  Heat, 
and  Gravitation,"  published  in  1879,  two 
years  before  the  reading  of  Dr.  Rogers's 
paper.  This  work  was  written  by  lion. 
Zachariah  Allen,  a  well-known  scientist  and 
distinguished  citizen  of  Providence,  Rhode 
Island.  Mr.  Allen's  new  cosmical  theory  was 
the  result  of  a  long  period  of  devoted  study 
and  experiment,  but,  though  known  to  inti- 
mate friends,  it  was  not  given  to  the  world 
till  about  three  years  ago.  II.  P.  II. 

Peovidence,  E.  I.,  June  23, 1882. 


ORIGIN  OF  STORMS. 

Messrs.  Editors. 

While  out  on  the  prairies  of  Dakota 
this  summer  I  have  observed  certain  pecul- 
iar storms  which  may  throw  some  light  on 
the  origin  of  storms.  The  birth  of  a  storm, 
as  a  writer  in  "The  Popular  Science  Month- 
ly "  some  time  since  declared,  is  a  matter 
upon  which  we  have  as  yet  no  accepted  the- 
ory. 

About  a  month  since  I  observed  late  in 
the  afternoon  a  thunder-storm  moving  north- 
east, the  rain  of  which  barely  touched  the 
part  of  the  country  where  I  was.  As  this 
edge  of  the  storm  was  passing  over,  there 
came  an  undercurrent  of  scudding  clouds 
from  the  northeast.  These  two  currents 
coming  in  conflict,  there  formed  over  and 
near  us  rings  and  funnels.  A  large  ring  of 
clouds  would  rotate  for  some  minutes,  send 
down  a  funnel,  perhaps,  and  then  disappear, 
forming  a  cigar-shaped  cloud.  One  large 
ring,  no  doubt  more  than  a  half  a  mile  in 
diameter,  had  the  appearance  of  an  invert- 
ed crown,  jagged  clouds  extending  from  it 
earthward ;  and  another  looked  like  a  tur- 
bine water-wheel.  Through  the  whirlwinds 
darted  vivid  lightning,  followed  by  pecul- 
iarly loud  and  ominous  thunder.  The  light- 
ning seem  confined  to  the  clouds.    In  about 


twenty  minutes  the  whirlwind  passed  over, 
and  the  heavy  thunder-storm  traveled  rapid- 
ly to  the  northeast. 

About  a  week  since  I  saw  almost  similar 
phenomena.  A  storm,  apparently  quite 
light,  was  coming  from  the  northwest,  and 
a  light  breeze  was  blowing  from  the  op- 
posite quarter.  Scud  soon  came  from  the 
southeast,  and,  the  winds  coming  in  con- 
flict, whirlwinds  appeared,  resulting  in  cigar- 
shaped  clouds  that  rolled  off  to  the  southeast. 
The  rain  was  very  heavy,  but  there  was  lit- 
tle thunder  or  lightning. 

While  on  the  south  coast  of  Lake  Su- 
perior two  summers  ago,  I  saw  a  storm  gather 
which  presented  similar  features.  Like  the 
two  preceding  cases  it  occurred  late  in  the 
afternoon  of  a  rather  warm  day.  There 
formed  a  great  ring  of  heavy  cumuli  which 
extended  around  the  whole  heavens  20°  or 
30°  from  the  horizon,  and  after  rotating  for 
some  minutes  the  cumuli  were  heaped  to- 
gether in  the  south  quarter  of  the  sky,  and 
the  thunder-storm  passed  south. 

From  these  instances  I  infer  that  some 
storms  have  their  origin  in  conflicting  cur- 
rents of  air.  Clouds  form  because  of  the 
difference  of  temperature,  and  first  assume 
the  form  of  rotating  rings,  sometimes  with 
funnels  attached.  These  rings  part,  and 
form  themselves  into  rolling,  cigar-shaped 
clouds,  which  ultimately  become  ordinary 
nimbi.  Very  truly,  II.  Stanley. 

FOEESTBUEG,  DAKOTA,  AuQUSt  5,  1882. 


CENTRAL  AMERICAN  GEOGRAPHICAL 

NAMES. 
Messrs.  Editors. 

I  do  not  know  whether  it  has  ever  be- 
fore been  noticed,  but,  if  not,  I  should  like 
to  call  the  attention  of  scholars  interested 
in  the  subject  to  the  noticeable  repetition, 
in  Central  American  geographical  names,  of 
one  of  the  principal  (the  accented)  syllables 
in  the  word  "  Atlantic,"  if  we  may  divide  it 
thus:  A-tlan-tic. 

Some  of  these  Central  American  names 
are — Minatitlan,  Hidalgo-titlan,  Abasolotit- 
lan,  Morelotitlan,  Barragantitlan,  Allende- 
titlan.  There  are,  doubtless,  a  great  many 
more. 

Without  some  proof  to  the  contrary, 
this  coincidence  would  seem  to  add  a  little 
weight  to  the  belief  that  Central  America 
was  the  fabled  (?)  A-tlan-tis. 

Yours  respectfully,     Berry  Benson. 
Augusta,  Geoegia,  August  29, 18S2. 


EDITOR'S   TABLE. 


121 


EDITOR'S    TABLE. 


M 


MALLOCK  AND  BIS  NEW  SCIENCE. 

R.  WILLIAM  HUEEELL  MAL- 
LOCK, having  settled  to  his 
own  eminent  satisfaction  the  little  pre- 
liminary question,  "Is  Life  worth  Liv- 
ing ? "  has  now  taken  another  step  in 
his  intellectual  career.  And  this  new 
step  is,  if  possible,  more  ambitious  than 
the  preceding,  for  he  informs  us  that 
he  is  the  discoverer  of  a  new  science. 
He  has  lately  issued  a  little  book  enti- 
tled "  Social  Equality  ;  a  Short  Study 
in  a  Missing  Science,"  *  in  which  he 
professes  to  have  come  upon  the  main- 
spring of  human  progress,  and  to  have 
found  the  very  tap-root  of  all  civiliza- 
tion. These  are  simply  the  desire  for 
inequality,  which  Mr.  Mallock  declares 
to  be  an  essential  and  universal  element 
of  human  nature.  This  is,  no  doubt, 
a  considerable  thing  to  have  accom- 
plished, but  it  is  not  Mr.  Mallock's  spe- 
cial discovery :  what  he  claims  is  to 
have  discovered  the  "  Science  of  Human 
Character,"  while  his  philosophy  of 
inequality  is  but  a  deduction  from  it. 
The  "  New  York  Evening  Post,"  dis- 
cussing Mr.  Mallock's  book  in  a  promi- 
nent article,  makes  light  of  his  pre- 
tensions, and  closes  by  saying,  "  The 
whole  argument  is  really  a  juggle  with 
words,  and  his  discovery  of  the  science 
of  human  character  a  monstrous  mare's 
nest."  "We  are  inclined  very  much  to 
agree  with  this  verdict,  and  to  regard 
Mr.  Mallock's  book,  considered  as  a 
contribution  to  thought,  as  not  worth 
reading. 

But  it  will  be  asked,  Why,  then, 
notice  it  ?  The  reply  is,  that  a  man, 
though  he  may  be  of  little  account  as  a 
philosopher,  may  yet  have  significance 
as  a  phenomenon  ;  and  that  a  book, 
though  essentially  worthless,  may  still 


*  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.     Pp.  212.     Price,  $1.25. 


be  influential  and  mischievous.  Mr. 
Mallock  discourses  freely,  boldly,  and 
ingeniously  on  social  science,  and  the 
public  to  which  he  appeals  is  but  very 
imperfectly  instructed  upon  that  sub- 
ject. And  not  only  so,  but  it  happens 
that  just  now  there  is  no  little  ferment 
in  regard  to  social  questions,  while  so 
much  that  is  crude,  shallow,  and  ridicu- 
lous is  passed  off  under  the  name,  that 
doctrines,  no  matter  how  absurd,  if 
emanating  from  a  prominent  author,  are 
sure  to  get  attention  and  find  accept- 
ance. Mr.  Mallock  is,  moreover,  a  lively 
and  agreeable  writer,  and  this  is  so  great 
a  merit  as,  with  many,  to  excuse  any 
amount  of  speculative  nonsense.  That 
a  jaunty  and  garish  litterateur  should 
announce  himself  as  a  great  revealer  of 
new  scientific  truth  would  seem  on  the 
face  of  it  to  be  an  excellent  joke,  but 
nothing  facetious  is  here  intended.  We 
do  not  propose  to  analyze  Mr.  Mallock's 
book,  nor  to  answer  his  arguments,  but 
only  to  characterize  the  performance, 
and  extract  from  it  its  unintended  lesson. 
Of  the  author's  claim  to  have  dis- 
covered a  new  science,  we  have  sim- 
ply to  say  that  its  impudence  is  only 
equaled  by  its  stupidity.  Mr.  Mallock 
evidently  neither  knows  what  science 
is,  nor  has  he  the  faintest  idea  of  the 
conditions  of  its  origin  and  develop- 
ment. There  can  be  little  doubt  that 
he  is  profoundly  ignorant  of  even  its 
rudiments,  and  has  probably  never  made 
a  solitary  original  observation,  if  even 
attempt  at  observation,  in  any  of  the 
sciences,  although  encompassed  by  their 
phenomena  from  childhood,  ne  cer- 
tainly can  know  nothing  of  the  diffi- 
culty of  scientific  research,  the  amount 
of  labor  it  involves,  or  the  mental  dis- 
cipline demanded  for  its  successful  pur- 
suit, even  in  the  elementary  stages  of 
its  investigation.     He  seems  to  be  ob- 


1  22 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


livious  of  everything  relating  to  the  his- 
tory of  the  growth  of  scientific  ideas, 
their  slow  and  gradual  evolution  by 
the  labors  of  many  devoted  students, 
the  successive  introduction  of  new  con- 
ceptions, and  the  increasing  complexity 
of  scientific  problems,  as  the  human 
and  social  sphere  of  phenomena  is  ap- 
proached. And  yet,  with  an  effrontery 
unparalleled  even  in  this  brassy  age, 
Mr.  Mallock  announces  that  he  has  dis- 
covered— not  merely  a  new  fact  or  a 
new  principle,  which  would  alone  be 
sufficient  to  satisfy  the  aspiration  of 
many  a  life-long  devotee  of  research, 
but  that  he  has  discovered,  and  offers  to 
the  intellectual  world,  a  whole  new  sci- 
ence, and  that  the  most  exalted  of  all, 
the  "  Science  of  Human  Character." 

In  entering  the  field  of  social  study 
Mr.  Mallock  finds,  indeed,  that  others 
have  been  there  before  him,  although 
he  alleges  that  they  have  all  missed  the 
great  science  which  it  has  been  his  good 
fortune  to  discover.  Mr.  Herbert  Spen- 
cer is  the  most  prominent  thinker  of 
our  time  on  questions  of  sociology,  or 
the  scientific  exposition  of  man's  social 
relations,  and  to  him,  therefore,  our 
author  gives  his  chief  critical  attention. 
He  declares  that  Mr.  Spencer  has  missed, 
or  does  not  recognize,  or  does  not  know 
that  science  of  human  character  which 
is  at  the  basis  of  the  science  of  social 
relations.     He  says  (page  92) : 

Surely,  one  might  think  nothing  could  he 
more  clear  than  this.  The  science  described 
thus  must  not  only,  like  Buckle's,  point  to  a 
science  of  character,  but  it  can  be  nothing 
more  or  less  than  the  science  of  character  it- 
self. Such  would  be  naturally  our  conclusion 
from  the  extracts  above  quoted ;  but,  if  we 
follow  Mr.  Spencer  further,  we  shall  see  that 
it  would  be  a  wholly  wrong  one.  The  science 
of  character  he  does  indeed  touch  upon ;  but 
he  does  this  as  though  he  hardly  knew  what 
he  was  doing.  Though  he  touches  it,  he  does 
not  grasp  it ;  though  he  sees  it,  he  does  not 
recognize  it.  Never  wholly  out  of  contact 
with  it,  he  is  yet  always  sliding  off  it,  as 
though  it  were  an  inclined  surface.  Not  once 
does  he  fasten  on  it,  as  the  real  center  of  the 
question. 


These  declarations  are  nothing  less 
than  amazing.  They  evince  the  com- 
pletest  ignorance  of  the  true  character 
of  all  Mr.  Spencer's  work.  That  which 
distinguishes  it  and  marks  him  off  from 
every  other  thinker  in  the  field  is  the 
comprehensive  thoroughness  of  his 
preparation  for  working  out  the  prin- 
ciples of  social  science.  He  published 
a  very  original  treatise  upon  the  sub- 
ject in  1850,  which  was  far  in  advance 
of  the  time,  but  he  quickly  found  that 
it  was  inadequate,  and  would  require  a 
far  broader  preparation  than  hitherto 
attempted  to  place  it  upon  a  secure  and 
sufficient  foundation.  The  task  pro- 
posed was  the  establishment  of  general 
principles  of  sociology,  or  the  laws  of 
the  origin,  organization,  and  constitu- 
tion of  human  societies.  The  whole  field 
was  surveyed,  the  work  laid  out,  and 
its  execution  entered  upon.  A  cyclo- 
paedia of  social  facts  was  projected,  de- 
scriptive of  the  phenomena  of  all  orders 
of  human  societies,  stationary  and  pro- 
gressive, from  the  lowest  to  the  highest 
grades.  This  is  simply  a  vast  contribu- 
tion to  the  science  of  human  nature, 
by  displaying,  on  the  largest  scale,  the 
varied  phenomena  of  social  activity, 
or  how  different  kinds  of  men  have  be- 
haved in  their  social  relations. 

Character  is  the  sum  of  the  qualities 
which  distinguish  one  thing  from  an- 
other ;  human  character  is  the  assem- 
blage of  traits  that  distinguish  man  as 
man  from  other  living  creatures,  and 
the  different  kinds  of  men  from  each 
other.  These  qualities  that  constitute 
human  nature  consist  of  two  groups, 
bodily  and  mental;  and  the  study  of 
human  character  involves  the  analysis 
of  man's  corporeal  and  psychical  nat- 
ure so  as  to  arrive  at  the  general  truths 
in  each  department.  The  science  of 
human  nature  is,  therefore,  nothing  less 
or  more  than  the  working  out  of  the 
laws  of  man's  physical  and  mental  con- 
stitution. 

The  units  of  human  society  are  hu- 
man beings,  and  the  character  of  the 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


123 


aggregate  must  inevitably  depend  upon 
the  character  of  the  constituent  units. 
A  biological  and  psychological  analysis 
of  the  human  being  was  therefore  an 
essential  preliminary  to  the  study  of 
man  in  his  social  relations.  Mr.  Spen- 
cer took  up  this  problem  in  its  widest 
aspect  in  his  "  Principles  of  Biology  " 
and  his  "  Principles  of  Psychology,"  to 
each  of  which  he  devotes  two  elabo- 
rate volumes.  In  these  comprehensive 
works  the  whole  series  of  problems  in 
human  nature,  which  are  preliminary 
to  the  science  of  society,  is  exhaustive- 
ly treated ;  so  that  these  works  are 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  broad  sys- 
tematic contributions  to  the  science  of 
human  character. 

More  than  this,  the  new  point  of 
view  assumed  in  all  of  Spencer's  philo- 
sophic books  had  explicit  reference  to 
the  true  understanding  of  the  consti- 
tution of  human  nature.  The  law  of 
evolution,  as  postulated  and  developed 
in  "  First  Principles,"  and  carried  out 
in  the  subsequent  works,  gave  a  new 
interpretation  of  the  nature  of  man. 
He  is  there  considered  in  his  total 
character  as  a  product  of  slow-working 
natural  agencies,  internal  and  external, 
by  which  he  has  been  developed  and 
modified  so  as  to  become  adapted  to  a 
progressive  social  state.  This  great  law 
was  worked  out  as  a  key  to  the  right 
understanding  of  human  character,  and 
in  subordination  to  a  development  of  a 
true  science  of  human  society.  Thus, 
in  the  logical  line  of  his  inquiry,  each 
essential  step  in  the  elucidation  of  the 
law  of  evolution,  the  exposition  of  the 
laws  of  life  and  the  laws  of  mind,  had 
a  definite  and  positive  bearing  upon  so- 
cial problems,  simply  by  extending  and 
giving  greater  method  and  validity  to 
the  science  of  human  character. 

But,  although  Spencer  has  contrib- 
uted in  this  extensive  way  toward  the 
establishment  of  the  principles  of  hu- 
man nature,  physical  and  mental,  which 
form  the  science  of  character,  yet  he  is 
the  last  man  to  make  any  pretense  to 


the  discovery  of  such  a  science.  Only 
an  ignoramus  devoured  with  egotism 
could  put  forth  the  preposterous  claim 
that  he  had  made  the  discovery  of  a 
science  which  is  in  reality  but  the  sum- 
mation of  the  scientific  labors  of  multi- 
tudes of  men  in  many  successive  ages. 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 

Ideological  Etymology  ;  or,  a  New  Method 
in  the  Study  of  Words.  By  Stephen 
Pearl  Andrews. 

Elements  of  Universology  :  Au  Introduc- 
tion to  the  Study  of  Philosophy  and  the 
Sciences.  With  Special  Reference  to  the 
Science  of  Music.  By  Stephen  Pearl 
Andrews.  New  York  :  S.  P.  Lathiop 
&Co. 

The  first  of  these  little  works  was  no- 
ticed by  us  when  it  first  came  out  as  a  pa- 
per read  before  the  American  Philological 
Association  at  its  Newport  meeting.  It 
purports  to  be  a  demonstration  that  there 
is  a  new  and  heretofore  untried  method  in 
glottological  study,  and  that  the  meanings 
of  all  the  several  hundred  root-words  of  the 
Indo-European  family  of  languages  are  re- 
ducible to  no  more  than  three  mother  ideas. 
These  views  are  a  part  of  that  extensive 
system  of  thought  which  Mr.  Andrews  has 
been  engaged  for  many  years  in  elaborating. 
lie  claims  to  have  originated  and  developed 
a  universal  science — a  science  of  the  sci- 
ences— to  which,  as  is  generally  known,  he 
gives  the  name  of  "  Universology."  Having 
taken  up  this  point  of  view,  and  arrived,  as 
he  maintains,  at  that  which  is  both  univer- 
sal and  fundamental  in  science,  Mr.  An- 
drews then  proceeded  to  make  this  the  basis 
of  a  new  language,  equally  scientific  and 
universal,  which  he  names  "Alwato."  The 
claim  is  put  forth  by  the  adherents  of  Mr. 
Andrews — Universologists  and  Alwatoists, 
as  they  avow  themselves — that  there  is  a 
wonderful  originality  and  an  immeasurable 
importance  in  this  new  system ;  and  they 
hold  that  its  immensity  alone  has  repelled  in- 
vestigation and  hindered  the  progress  of  the 
new  ideas  and  discoveries.  But  they  insist 
that,  in  the  claims  which  have  been  made,  no 
exaggeration  has  occurred,  and  that  we  have 
really  in  these  works  of  Mr.  Andrews  noth- 


124 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


*ng  less  than  "  the  culmination  of  philoso- 
phy in  its  intimate  and  precise  alliance  with 
all  the  special  sciences,  and  with  every  phase 
and  form  of  human  life,  individual  and  col- 
lective." 

No  doubt  the  reason  thus  given  why  this 
philosophy  has  made  its  way  so  slowly  has 
truth  in  it,  as  large  and  extensively  ramified 
and  complex  conceptions  can  not  be  grasped 
and  mastered  except  through  corresponding 
effort.  But  there  is  probably  another  rea- 
son which  has  also  been  operative  in  hinder- 
ing the  study  of  "  Universology."  Mr.  An- 
drews is  an  erudite  philologist  and  a  man 
of  great  mental  independence.  As  a  con- 
sequence he  uses  his  vast  lingual  resources 
with  a  freedom  that  borders  upon  license. 
Rules  are  lightly  regarded — he  makes  his 
own  rules;  and,  being  an  irrepressible  in- 
ventor, he  coins  new  words  as  easily  as  he 
breathes.  These  qualities  are  of  course 
necessary  to  the  constructor  of  a  new  and 
universal  language ;  but  the  practical  effect 
has  been  that  even  his  English  expositions 
of  universological  doctrine  have  been  so  in- 
laid and  overlaid  with  new,  technical,  and, 
according  to  accepted  standards,  outlandish 
terms,  that  they  have  frightened  off  readers 
and  been  a  powerful  hindrance  to  the  stu- 
dents of  his  system.  A  universal  science 
and  a  universal  language,  coming  all  at 
once  and  from  the  same  party,  have  favored 
both  discouragement  in  their  acquisition 
and  a  grave  suspicion  as  to  the  genuine 
quality  of  so  vast  an  xmdertaking.  And 
this  doubt  has  been  unquestionably  much 
re-enforeed  by  the  general  acceptance  in 
recent  years  of  evolutionary  ideas,  which 
imply  slow  growth  through  long  periods,  by 
small  increments  of  change,  in  the  mental 
as  well  as  in  the  material  world.  These 
considerations,  even  if  indecisive  and  ille- 
gitimate, may  help  to  explain  the  reluctance, 
if  not  the  prejudice,  with  which  Mr.  An- 
drews's system  has  been  received. 

But,  aside  from  the  enormous  friction  of 
the  lingual  medium  employed,  a  system  of 
universal  science  is  at  best  hard  to  repro- 
duce in  a  newspaper  article.  Mr.  Andrews's 
radical  idea  is  that  of  similarity  or  parallel- 
ism of  method  or  of  analogy  among  the 
sciences.  He  maintains  that  this  is  their 
most  fundamental  relation,  and  that  it 
forms  itself  a  distinctive  and   all-compre- 


hensive science.  The  analogy  of  individual 
life  to  the  collective  life  of  society,  pro- 
pounded by  Plato,  expounded  by  Hobbes, 
and  worked  up  into  the  modern  doctrine  of 
"  the  social  organism,"  may  be  taken  as  an 
example  of  analogy  among  the  sciences. 
But  in  this  case  all  the  phenomena  are  of 
a  common  kind,  and  fall  within  the  single 
category  of  biological  science.  An  example 
of  remoter  analogy  is  furnished  where  we 
compare  organic  with  inorganic  sciences. 
In  his  celebrated  discourse  on  geological 
reform,  given  in  his  "  Lay  Sermons,"  Pro- 
fessor Huxley  develops  this  idea  very  clear- 
ly in  tracing  out  the  analogy  between  our 
knowledge  of  the  living  creature,  biological 
knowledge,  and  our  knowledge  of  the  con- 
stitution of  the  globe,  or  earth-knowledge, 
as  he  terms  it.  He  brings  both  these  phe- 
nomenal spheres  under  the  large  concep- 
tion of  "  Evolutionism,"  and  points  out 
the  structural,  functional,  and  development- 
al similarities  that  are  traceable  between 
them.  Assuming  the  validity  of  this  idea, 
Mr.  Andrews  proceeds  to  carry  it  out  sys- 
tematically, and  to  bring  all  departments 
of  knowledge  into  unity  on  the  analogical 
basis.  His  work  is  done  with  great  learn- 
ing and  great  ingenuity.  He  has  served  a 
long  apprenticeship  at  finding  analogies,  and 
he  sees  them  everywhere.  Not  only  are  the 
sciences  as  now  advanced  correlated  by  in- 
numerable traces  of  cousinship,  but  all  the 
past  stages  of  science  are  filiated  by  the 
same  ties — his  net  brings  in  everything. 
Not  only  physics,  chemistry,  biology,  mathe- 
matics, astronomy,  geology,  but  metaphysics, 
ontology,  philology,  archaeology,  history,  and 
all  the  stages  of  inquiry  are  enmeshed  in  a 
grand  analogical  unity.  The  old  doctrine 
of  fire,  air,  earth,  and  water,  though  now  to 
the  scientific  mind  only  representing  a  crude 
stage  of  thought,  altogether  erroneous  but 
useful  in  an  age  of  ignorance,  is  installed  in 
Mr.  Andrews's  exposition,  as  may  also  be 
the  total  product  of  the  mind  of  man  in  all 
the  stages  of  its  growing  intelligence. 

The  real  question,  of  course,  is  as  to  the 
value  of  this  immense  work,  and  to  what 
extent  it  has  been  pushed  into  the  sphere 
of  mere  fancy.  To  what  degree  is  it  legiti- 
mate science  ?  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that 
the  history  of  scientific  ideas  is  full  of  the 
examples  of  futile  effort  in  tracing  out  fan- 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


125 


ciful  relations  in  nature  and  holding  them 
to  be  truths  of  nature.  The  growth  of  true 
science  has  been  little  else  than  an  historic 
fight  of  the  human  mind  against  its  tendency 
to  substitute  its  own  cheap  and  frivolous  im- 
aginations for  verifiable  facts  and  demon- 
strative truths.  Theology  for  thousands  of 
years  interpreted  nature  by  such  superficial 
conceptions  of  the  relations  of  its  parts  as 
could  be  arrived  at  without  serious  investi- 
gation or  any  real  knowledge.  For  thou- 
sands of  years  the  explanations  of  nature 
were  deduced  from  the  properties  of  words, 
and  modern  science  only  arose  through  a 
protracted  struggle  with  this  tendency.  It 
is  but  recently  that  the  connection  between 
succeeding  forms  of  life,  which  paleon- 
tology reveals  as  a  great  fact  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  earth,  was  held  to  be  but  an 
ideal  relation  as  taught  by  theology;  while 
the  recent  progress  of  biological  science  has 
consisted  in  substituting  for  it  a  genetic 
relation,  or  an  actual  dynamic  causation. 
Science,  therefore,  must  be  regarded  as 
most  strictly  occupied  with  its  proper  work 
in  establishing  the  actual  causal  and  deter- 
mining relations  among  phenomena.  So  far 
as  analogy  can  be  made  a  help  in  arriving 
at  such  positive  and  substantial  results, 
its  function  is  legitimate  for  scientific  pur- 
poses ;  but,  pressed  further,  it  will  probably 
continue  to  be  regarded  as  an  impediment 
to  fruitful  investigation. 

But  Mr.  Andrews  is  a  courageous  and 
independent  thinker,  who  wants  no  instruc- 
tion from  us  as  to  the  value  or  importance 
of  the  work  he  is  doing.  He  claims  to  be 
already  the  center  and  master  of  a  group 
of  disciples  which  form  a  normal  school  of 
preparation  for  larger  operations  in  the  way 
of  propagating  his  ideas.  We  are,  moreover, 
informed  that  "  a  university  for  the  elabora- 
tion and  diffusion  of  the  new  science  (Uni- 
versology)  has  for  several  years  been  char- 
tered under  the  general  act  of  Congress  for 
the  District  of  Columbia,  and  is  only  waiting 
more  ample  endowment  to  take  on  large  and 
imposing  proportions."  Certainly  plenty  of 
work  is  cut  out  for  such  a  university.  A 
part  of  its  programme  is  "  one  language  for 
the  whole  world,"  the  "  future  vernacular  of 
the  planet."  This  might  seem  to  be  a  vast 
gain  (assuming  incidentally  its  practicabil- 
ity), as  we  should  hope  that  such  a  language 


would  supersede  the  multitudinous  tongues 
that  are  now  such  a  burden  in  education. 
But  the  hope  is  vain ;  Mr.  Andrews  says 
that  "  Alwato  so  facilitates  the  acquisition 
of  all  other  languages  that  the  prior  exist- 
ing languages  will  be  kept  living,  and  the 
valuable  literatures  of  the  world  retained 
and  their  acquisition  made  easy.  .  .  .  Eng- 
lish, French,  German,  etc.,  will  survive  for 
their  special  literatures  and  localities.  .  .  . 
So  greatly  is  the  scientific  method  superior 
to  the  crude  natural  spontaneity  which 
merely  lets  matters  drift  'at  their  own 
sweet  will.'  "  Nevertheless,  this  spontane- 
ous drift  of  things  in  which  Mr.  Andrews 
has  so  little  confidence,  inasmuch  as  it  has 
given  us  all  the  sciences  and  arts,  and  cre- 
ated civilization,  and  brought  the  primitive 
man  through  the  route  of  development  up 
to  his  present  status  of  intelligence  and 
cultivation,  ought  not,  we  think,  to  be  too 
lightly  discarded  in  behalf  of  a  university 
at  Washington,  although  chartered  and  even 
endowed  by  the  American  Congress. 

Vice  Versa  ;  or,  a  Lesson  to  Fathers.  By 
F.  Anstet.  D.  Appleton  &  Co.  Pp. 
349.     Price,  $1. 

We  have  here  a  most  humorous  novel 
with  a  very  original  plot.  It  is  vigorously 
and  vividly  written,  and  has  a  great  deal  of 
naturalness  in  its  descriptive  and  narrative 
parts,  while  it  is  pervaded  throughout  by 
a  most  fantastic  and  egregious  absurdity. 
After  the  first  shock,  however,  the  reader 
accepts  the  ridiculous  situation,  and  enjoys 
the  wit  and  fun  with  no  little  curiosity  to 
know  what  the  author  will  make  of  his 
whimsical  fancy.  The  odd  conceit  upon 
which  the  story  hinges  is  the  exchange  of 
personalities  between  a  father  and  son ;  that 
is,  they  are  mutually  transformed  in  bodily 
aspect,  the  father  into  the  son  and  the  son 
into  the  father,  while  their  minds  are  not 
affected.  The  lad  becomes  outwardly  the 
dignified  London  merchant,  though  still  re- 
taining all  his  boyish  ideas ;  while  the  old 
merchant  is  shrunk  into  the  school-boy  and 
with  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  an  old  man 
is  packed  off  to  the  hated  school,  where  his 
son  had  been  before.  The  old  gentleman's 
misadventures  in  his  new  and  extraordinary 
situation  in  the  school,  and  the  boy's  tan- 
trums in  charge  of  the  old  merchant's  resi- 


126 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


dence  and  business,  are  related  with  much 
ingenuity  and  irrepressible  humor.  The 
father  at  school  and  finding  out  how  he 
likes  it  is,  however,  the  main  figure,  and  the 
book  at  once  takes  rank  as  a  first-class 
satire  on  English  boarding-school  life. 

The  Coming  Democracy.  By  G.  Harwood, 
Author  of  "  Disestablishment."  Mao 
millan  &  Co.     Pp.  390.     Price, 

We  have  not  been  able  to  get  interested 
in  this  volume.  It  seems  to  be  written  from 
the  high  Tory  and  the  High  Church  point  of 
view,  and  professes  to  consider  the  growing 
tendency  of  modern  democracy  in  relation 
to  English  institutions.  The  author  first 
takes  up  democracy  in  relation  to  foreign 
politics,  and  then  in  relation  to  home  poli- 
tics, in  which  he  considers  its  relation  to 
the  crown,  the  House  of  Lords,  the  House 
of  Commons,  the  upper  classes,  the  middle 
classes,  and  the  lower  classes.  Perhaps  the 
English  may  find  some  utility  in  the  discus- 
sion, but  we  can  not  share  their  discern- 
ment. 

The  Change  of  Life,  in  Health  and 
Disease.  A  Clinical  Treatise  on  the  Dis- 
eases of  the  Ganglionic  Nervous  System 
incidental  to  Women  at  the  Change  of 
Life.  By  Edward  John  Tilt,  M.  D., 
Past  President  of  the  Obstetrical  So- 
ciety of  London.  Philadelphia :  P.  Blak- 
iston,  Son  &  Co.     Pp.  184. 

An  important  work  on  a  subject  that 
is  too  little  understood  and  is  not  treated 
with  anything  like  adequate  thoroughness 
in  ordinary  medical  works.  It  treats  the 
subject  intelligently  and  intelligibly  in  its 
various  aspects,  beginning  with  the  physi- 
ology and  general  pathology  of  the  change 
of  life,  and  discussing  afterward  the  special 
pathology  under  the  several  heads  of  "  dis- 
eases of  the  ganglionic  nervous  system," 
"diseases  of  the  brain,"  "neuralgic  affec- 
tions," "  diseases  of  the  reproductive  or- 
gans," "diseases  of  the  gastro-intestinal 
organs,"  "  diseases  of  the  skin,"  and  "  other 
diseases." 

The  Cornell  University  Register,  1881— 
'82.    Ithaca,  New  York.     Pp.  120. 

The  university  was  attended  during  the 
year  by  384  students.  In  the  science  de- 
partments, the  collection  of  apparatus  for 
physics  has  been  increased  by  the  expendi- 


ture of  about  $15,000;  a  new,  spacious,  and 
thoroughly  equipped  building  for  the  de- 
partments of  chemistry  and  physics  has 
been  begun,  and  will  be  ready  for  occupa- 
tion about  January,  18S3 ;  large  and  impor- 
tant additions  have  been  made  to  the  litho- 
logieal  collections ;  and  the  organization 
of  a  party  of  students  for  geological  and 
paleontological  exploration  during  the  sum- 
mer vacation  was  contemplated.  Special 
attention  is  invited  to  the  conditions  on 
which  the  State  scholarships,  128  in  num- 
ber, are  granted,  and  the  construction,  gen- 
erally favorable  to  the  candidate,  which  the 
authorities  of  the  university  put  upon  them. 
The  right,  especially,  of  every  person  who  is 
qualified,  to  enter  the  examination  for  the 
scholarships,  and  to  have  it  held,  is  insisted 
upon. 

Light  :  A  Course  of  Experimental  Optics 

CHIEFLY  WITH    THE  LANTERN.       By  LEWIS 

Wright.     Macmillan  &  Co.      Pp.   367. 
Price,  $2. 

The  purpose  of  this  volume,  as  declared 
by  the  author,  is  to  make  a  very  full  and 
vivid  presentation  of  the  body  of  experi- 
mental facts  upon  which  the  principles  of 
the  science  of  optics  are  based.  Avowedly 
following  Professor  Tyndall,  the  author 
adopts  the  experimental  method  of  teach- 
ing, and  maintains  that  projection  upon  a 
screen,  with  the  use  of  a  eommon  lantern,  is 
far  superior  in  general  effect  to  any  other 
method  of  demonstration,  besides  having 
the  advantage  of  exhibiting  the  phenomena 
to  a  whole  class  or  to  a  large  audience  at 
the  same  time.  But  while  the  magnificent 
apparatus  of  the  Royal  Institution,  by  which 
Professor  Tyndall  has  carried  lantern  dem- 
onstration to  an  extent  and  perfection 
never  before  attained,  is  far  too  costly  for 
general  use,  the  author  maintains  that  the 
greater  number  of  experiments  can  be 
shown  satisfactorily  to  at  least  a  science 
class  with  only  a  good  gas-burner,  while  a 
satisfactory  lantern  can  be  made  at  small 
expense,  and  is  a  very  efficient  piece  of 
apparatus.  Though  the  work  is  based 
throughout  upon  experiment,  which  implies 
that  the  student  should  become  familiar 
with  actual  optical  effects,  yet  it  is  very 
profusely  and  elegantly  illustrated,  and  the 
numerous  colored  plates  will  be  held  to  go 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


127 


far  in  the  way  of  replacing  the  actual  lumi- 
nous effects.  The  writer  offers  the  follow- 
ing prefatory  observations  in  regard  to 
some  points  of  his  work : 

In  regard  to  the  experiments  described, 
there  are  two  things  to  be  said.  It  would  have 
been  desirable,  if  possible,  to  have  stated  the 
originator  of  every  experiment ;  but  it  was  not 
possible.  Attempt  bas  been  made  to  indicate, 
as  far  as  known,  the  first  to  employ  any  striking 
very  recent  experiment;  but  many  of  great 
beauty  seem  now  such  common  property  that 
it  is  diflieult  to  asceitain  who  first  made  them, 
or  first  adapted  them  for  projection.  I  strongly 
suspect  that  we  owe  to  Professor  Tyndall  many 
more  than  it  has  been  possible  categorically  to 
ascribe  to  him;  and  am  the  more  anxious  to 
state  this,  because  his  just  claims  in  higher  mat- 
ters appear  to  me  almost  studiously  ignored  by 
certain  Continental  physicists.  Some  arrange- 
ments are,  to  the  best  of  my  belief,  original ; 
but  none  are  put  forth  as  such  except  one  or 
two  expressly  stated,  and  it  should  be  perfectly 
understood  that  no  personal  claim  is  implied 
regarding  any  other  experiments  because  no 
credit  is  given  to  some  one  else  ;  the  absence  of 
such  credit  is  simply  due  to  sheer  ignorance 
and  the  difficulty  of  acquiring  knowledge  con- 
cerning such  matters. 

The  other  remark  is,  that  the  order  of  the 
experiments  differs  considerably  in  some  cases 
from  that  usually  adopted.  All  that  can  be  said 
upon  that  point  is,  that  such  is  the  result  of  con- 
siderable reflection,  and  in  the  belief  that  the 
order  chosen  is,  upon  the  whole,  best  adapted 
to  the  primary  end  of  assisting  vivid  conception 
of  the  physical  realities  considered  and  the  re- 
lation of  the  phenomena  to  one  another.  Also, 
while  no  attempt  is  made  to  arrange  the  experi- 
ments in  set  "lectures,"  the  order  followed  is 
believed  to  lend  itself  best  to  such  a  connected 
course  of  experimental  lectures  as  a  teacher 
would  desire  to  give  to  his  class,  extended  or 
abridged  as  the  case  may  require.  I  am  not 
without  hope  that,  in  such  an  extended  course  of 
experiments  as  are  here  collected  for  his  choice, 
some  hard-worked  teacher  may  find  real  help  in 
this  respect.  The  same  may  be  said  as  to  the 
brief  references  made  to  the  connection  between 
the  phenomena  of  lisrht  and  the  problems  of 
molecular  physics.  Brief  ae  they  are,  it  is 
hoped  they  may  in  some  minds  excite  a  real  in- 
terest in  those  problems,  and  deepen  that  sense 
of  the  reality  of  the  phenomena  which  is  so  de- 
sirable. 

Memoir  op  Daniel  Macmillan.  By  Thomas 
Hughes,  Q.  C.  Macmillan  &  Co.  Fp. 
308.     Price,  $1.50. 

Mr.  Daniel  Macmillan,  founder  and 
head  of  the  distinguished  publishing  house 
of  Macmillan  k  Co.,  was  a  man  of  mark,  of 
strong  character,  rare  business  talents,  a 
man  of  ideas,  a  deeply  religious  man,  who 


yet  got  free  of  the  trammels  of  theology, 
and  a  life-long  victim  of  pulmonary  disease, 
which  ended  his  life  at  the  age  of  forty- 
four.  There  is  much  that  is  interesting  in 
his  biography,  which  is  largely  made  up  of 
his  correspondence,  and  which  has  been  ad- 
mirably edited  by  the  accomplished  author 
of  "  Tom  Brown's  School-days."  The  book 
is  interesting  chiefly  as  a  personal  delinea- 
tion with  no  ambitious  effort  to  point  a 
moral,  and  for  this  reason  it  will  be  chiefly 
prized  by  the  numerous  friends  and  ac- 
quaintances of  the  publisher,  many  of  whom 
were  much  attached  to  him.  There  are, 
however,  many  reminiscences  of  books  and 
authors  in  the  volume,  that  will  be  appreci- 
ated by  the  lovers  of  literature. 

Progressive  Religious  and  Social  Poems. 
By  Rev.  George  Vaughan,  of  Virginia. 
Pp.  143.  Price,  cloth,  $1  ;  leather,  $2. 
To  be  had  from  the  author  at  Ruther- 
ford Park,  New  Jersey. 

The  author  of  this  book,  who  had  de- 
voted himself  with  might  and  main  to  the 
great  unselfish  work  of  human  progress  in 
Virginia,  was  burned  out  there,  and,  as  he 
alleges,  much  persecuted  by  the  bigotry  of 
that  benighted  community.  So  he  has  pro- 
duced this  volume  of  poems,  and  gets  such 
living  as  he  can  by  the  sale  of  it.  Regard- 
ing the  book,  Mr.  Whittier  wrote  to  the 
author  (1877):  "I  have  to  thank  thee  for 
thy  note  with  the  inclosed  poems.  Their 
humanitarian  tone  is  excellent."  Mr.  Long- 
fellow (1880)  said :  "  I  have  read  the  poems 
with  interest,  and  coincide  with  Mr.  Whit- 
tier in  his  opinion  of  their  merits."  In  the 
presence  of  such  authorities  it  would  be 
equally  presuming  and  superfluous  for  us 
to  express  an  opinion ;  but,  as  far  as  we  are 
competent  to  judge,  we  agree  with  the  illus- 
trious New  England  poets  in  their  estimate 
of  this  performance. 

Water-Power  of  the  Southern  Atlantic 
Water-Shed  of  the  United  States.  By 
George  F.  Swain,  S.  B.  Washington : 
Government  Printing-Office.     Pp.  164. 

This  is  a  part  of  a  series  of  reports 
made  in  connection  with  the  work  of  the 
Census  Bureau,  concerning  the  water-pow- 
ers of  the  whole  United  States,  and  relates 
to  the  rivers  entering  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
south  of  James  River.     Reviewing  the  ob- 


128 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


servations  he  has  made  and  described,  the 
author  concludes,  at  the  end  of  his  work, 
that,  leaving  out  of  consideration  the  East- 
ern, or  navigable,  district,  the  topography 
of  the  region  is  very  favorable  for  power. 
The  rivers  have  steep  declivities,  and  often 
cataracts  or  rapids  of  considerable  mag- 
nitude. The  superior  wooded  condition  of 
the  country  and  the  deep,  pervious  soil  tend 
to  make  the  flow  of  the  streams  constant, 
though  it  is,  perhaps,  more  variable  than 
that  of  the  streams  of  New  England  and  the 
northern  part  of  the  Middle  States.  The 
Southern  streams,  however,  enjoy  a  greater 
rain-fall  than  the  Northern  ones.  The  beds 
of  the  streams  are  everywhere  favorable  for 
the  foundation  of  dams,  and  the  banks  are 
generally  suitable  for  the  construction  of 
canals  and  buildings  at  the  points  where  the 
water-powers  occur.  The  chief  advantage 
in  the  water-powers  in  the  South  lies  in  their 
freedom  from  ice.  On  the  whole,  the  au- 
thor believes  that  he  is  justified  in  asserting, 
from  a  purely  technical  point  of  view,  that 
the  advantages  for  the  utilization  of  water- 
power  in  the  Southern  Atlantic  States  "  are, 
in  many  respects,  as  good  as  could  be  de- 
sired." 

Studies  in  Science  and  Religion.  By  G. 
Frederick  Wright,  author  of  the 
"Logic  of  Christian  Evidences."  An- 
dover :  Warren  F.  Draper.     Pp.  390. 

Though  written  from  an  orthodox  point 
of  view,  and  strictly  "  A  Companion  to  the 
Logic  of  Christian  Evidences,"  this  is  a 
very  fair  book,  liberal  in  its  views,  agree- 
able in  its  tone,  and  instructive  in  its  treat- 
ment. It  is  dedicated  to  Professor  Asa 
Gray,  with  a  pleasant  reference  to  his 
"  Discussions  of  Natural  Theology,"  which 
are  well  known  to  be  ''  Darwinian"  in  char- 
acter, and  the  volume  might  perhaps  have 
been  more  appropriately  entitled  "  Studies 
in  Darwinism."  At  any  rate,  it  is  through- 
out mainly  a  discussion  of  the  group  of 
topics  that  are  at  present  prominently  asso- 
ciated with  Darwin's  name.  The  author 
does  not  avow  himself  to  be  a  Darwinian, 
and  hardly  goes  further  than  to  demand 
that  the  new  theories  of  development  shall 
be  treated  in  future  with  more  candor  and 
consideration  than  they  have  hitherto  re- 
ceived,    lie    aims  to  state   the  Darwinian 


arguments  with  justice,  and  he  draws  upon 
a  wide  and  critical  reading  of  its  adverse 
literature  for  the  most  effective  arguments 
upon  the  other  side.  We  regard  his  book 
as  chiefly  valuable  for  the  fullness  and 
variety  of  its  quotations  bearing  upon  the 
general  subject. 

But  it  seems  to  us  that  the  antagonist 
arguments  brought  forward  acquire  a  facti- 
tious force  from  the  author's  mode  of  rep- 
resenting them,  although  we  do  not  accuse 
him  in  this  of  intentional  unfairness.  But 
he  nevertheless  commits  the  grave  error  of 
identifying  "  Darwinism  "  with  evolution, 
and,  by  bringing  forward  all  that  has  been 
objected  to  the  principle  of  "  natural  selec- 
tion," the  accumulated  illustrations  of  diffi- 
culties, and  Mr.  Darwin's  own  retreat  from 
the  claims  he  made  at  first,  a  case  is  seem- 
ingly made  out  against  evolution,  which  ap- 
pears, to  say  the  least,  very  embarrassing. 
But  it  can  not  be  too  often  reiterated  in 
these  times  that  Darwinism  is  not  evolution, 
and  that  to  assume  them  as  the  same  thing 
can  only  lead  to  confusion  and  mischievous 
error.  There  can  be  no  greater  mistake 
than  to  suppose  that  the  proofs  of  evolu- 
tion are  in  any  large  sense  dependent  upon 
the  proofs  of  natural  selection,  or  that  any 
restriction  of  the  range  and  operation  of 
this  principle  involves  the  varlidity  of  the 
evolutionary  theory.  Mr.  Darwin  has  never 
attempted  either  the  broad  investigation  or 
the  comprehensive  discussion  of  the  law  of 
evolution  ;  and,  by  confining  himself  mainly 
to  the  consideration  of  "  Darwinism,"  Mr. 
Wright  virtually  evades  the  larger  problem, 
and  to  that  degree  his  book  is  an  inadequate 
repi-esentation  of  the  present  relations  of 
science  and  religion. 

Theologian  as  he  is,  he  refers  with  dis- 
paragement to  the  a  priori  method  by  ad- 
monishing the  reader  to  "note  carefully 
the  character  of  Mr.  Darwin's  reasoning  as 
distinguished  from  the  multitude  of  a  priori 
evolutionists  who  have  espoused  his  cause." 
Perhaps  the  author  would  object  to  the 
a  priori  use  of  mathematics  in  its  applica- 
tion to  physics  or  of  any  principles  induct- 
ively established  to  the  interpretation  of 
phenomena ;  but,  however  that  may  be,  he 
offers  a  very  lame  pretext  for  not  dealing 
with  the  subject  of  evolution  as  an  elabo- 
rated system  of  facts  and  principles  of  vari- 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


129 


ous  orders  and  multifarious  proofs  as  it  now 
stands  before  the  scientific  mind  of  the  age. 
But  we  cordially  commend  Mr.  Wright's 
book  as  a  well-intentioned  and  helpful  con- 
tribution, in  good  temper,  to  some  of  the 
most  interesting  problems  of  the  time. 

Physiognomy:  A  Practical  and  Scien- 
tific Treatise.  By  Mary  Olmstead 
Stanton,  San  Francisco.  Printed  for  the 
Author:  San  Francisco  News  Company. 
Pp.  351.     Price,  $3.00. 

The  author  counts  herself  among  the 
disciples  of  Spencer  and  Uaeckel.  Many 
scientific  men  have  already  accepted  the 
idea  that  the  brain  is  not  the  sole  and  ex- 
clusive mental  organ ;  but  that  the  nervous 
ganglia  and  plexuses  of  human  and  animal 
organisms  may  also  exhibit  or  assist  in  the 
production  of  mental  manifestations.  The 
author  goes  beyond  this,  and  expresses  the 
belief  that  "it  has  been  reserved  for  a 
woman,  however,  to  carry  their  observa- 
tions and  research  to  a  finality,"  and  that 
she  has  been  able  to  extend  and  make  still 
more  comprehensive  the  location  of  mental 
faculties,  and  to  prove  "that  the  viscera 
also  are  instrumental  in  exhibiting  mental 
phenomena."  The  signs  of  character  in 
the  face  are  reviewed  in  their  various  as- 
pects, and  the  treatment  of  the  subject  is 
continued  in  chapters  on  the  "Origin  and 
Evolution  of  the  Organs,"  "  Signs  of  Health 
and  Disease  in  the  Physiognomy,"  "  Hy- 
giene," and  "Heredity." 

Statistics  op  the  Population  of  the 
United  States  by  States,  Counties, 
and  Minor  Civil  Divisions.  Compiled, 
from  the  Returns  of  the  Tenth  Census, 
by  Francis  A.  Walker.  Washington : 
Government  Printing-Office.  Pp.  lxxxix- 
375.     With  numerous  Plates. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  of 
the  many  volumes  of  the  census  reports.  It 
presents  in  intelligible  groupings,  made 
more  plain  by  graphic  aids,  all  the  diversi- 
fied classes  of  facts  which  are  brought  to 
light  in  the  final  summing  up  of  the  reports 
of  the  census.  First,  the  progress  of  the 
nation,  from  1790  to  1880,  is  reviewed  by 
decades ;  then  are  given  the  facts  bearing 
upon  the  settled  area  in  1880  ;  statistics  of 
cities,  and  urban  population ;  the  determi- 
nation and  position  of  the  center  of  popu- 
lation ;  the  elements  of  the  population,  as 
VOL.  xxii. — 9 


classified  by  sex,  race,  and  native  or  foreign 
birth ;  and  the  influence  of  physical  feat- 
ures (topography,  temperature,  rain-fall,  lat- 
itude, and  longitude)  on  population.  Un- 
der these  heads  are  presented  the  conclu- 
sions arrived  at,  with  minute  explanations 
of  the  reasoning  and  processes  by  which  the 
conclusions  have  been  reached;  and  the 
statements  are  supplemented  by  tables  giv- 
ing the  detailed  figures  of  statistics  on 
which  the  processes  and  conclusions  are 
based. 

The  Wave-Lengths  of  some  of  the  Prin- 
cipal Fraunhofer  Lines  of  the  Solar 
Spectrum.  By  T.  C.  Mendenhall,  Ph. 
D.,  Professor  of  Experimental  Physics 
in  Tokio  Daigaku.  Tokio,  Japan :  Pub- 
lished by  the  University.     Pp.  27. 

The  University  of  Tokio  having  received 
from  the  makers,  early  in  1S80,  an  excel- 
lent and  powerful  spectrometer  and  some 
superior  diffraction  gratings,  measurements 
of  the  wave-lengths  were  made  during  the 
unusually  clear  weather  of  November  and 
December.  The  results,  which  show  a  fair- 
ly close  agreement  with  those  of  Angstrom's 
measurements,  do  not  require  a  particular 
notice,  except  in  so  far  as  the  work  illus- 
trates the  extent  to  which  the  most  remote 
lines  of  Western  scientific  investigation  are 
observed  and  followed  up  in  the  distant  em- 
pire of  Japan. 

Report  upon  Experiments  and  Investiga- 
tions to  develop  a  System  of  Subma- 
rine Mines  for  defending  the  Harbors 
of  the  United  States.  By  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Henry  L.  Abbott,  Corps  of 
Engineers.  Washington :  Government 
Printing-Office.  Pp.  444,  with  Twenty- 
seven  Plates. 

The  author  of  this  report  was  associated 
with  the  Board  of  Engineers  for  Fortifica- 
tions, in  May,  1869,  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
vestigating and  experimenting  on  the  sub- 
ject to  which  the  report  relates.  The  re- 
sults of  the  experiments  were  embodied  in  a 
manual  for  the  use  of  the  Engineer  troops  in 
their  practical  duties  as  submarine  miners, 
which  was  completed  in  1877,  and  forms 
the  basis  of  instruction  at  the  School  of 
Submarine  Mining  at  Willet's  Point.  The 
present  report  embodies  a  full  account  of 
the  general  researches  undertaken  in  the 
investigations,    including  the   unsuccessful 


i3o 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


experiments,  which  naturally  did  not  fall 
within  the  scope  of  the  text-book.  Among 
the  principles  on  which  the  researches  bear, 
are  the  laws  governing  the  transmission  of 
the  shock  of  an  explosion  through  the  fluid  ; 
the  relative  merits  of  different  explosives ; 
and  the  resistance  to  be  expected  from  the 
best  class  of  wooden  hulls.  Results  are  given 
in  reference  to  sub-aqueous  explosions,  elec- 
trical fuses,  and  modes  of  ignition.  These 
facts  determined,  "the  problem  how  to  blow 
up  a  ship-of-war,"  says  the  author,  "  would 
then  admit  of  the  definite  discussion  usually 
applied  to  works  of  practical  engineering." 

Chronological  List  of  Auroras  observed 
from  1870  to  1S79.  Compiled  by  First- 
Lieutenant  A.  W.  Greeley,  U.  S.  A., 
Acting  Signal-Officer  and  Assistant. 
Washington:  Government  Printing-Of- 
fice.     Pp.  76. 

The  list  has  been  compiled,  with  a  few 
exceptions,  from  the  meteorological  reports 
made  to  the  chief  signal-officer  of  the  army. 
The  arrangement  is  by  States  and  Territo- 
ries, the  names  of  which  appear  in  special 
type,  as  well  as  by  dates,  so  that  the  gen- 
eral geographical  limits  of  auroras  at  any 
date  can  be  readily  ascertained,  while  the 
names  of  particular  stations  are  likewise 
easily  found  under  their  respective  State 
heads.  The  descriptions  by  Sir  George 
Nares  of  displays  witnessed  by  the  English 
Arctic  Expedition  of  1875— '76  at  Floeberg 
Beach  are  also  included. 

Statistics  of  Public  Indebtedness.  Em- 
bracing the  Funded  and  Unfunded  Debts 
of  the  United  States  and  the  Several 
States,  and  of  Counties,  Cities,  Towns, 
Townships,  and  School  Districts.  Com- 
piled under  the  Direction  of  Robert 
P.  Porter.  Washington  :  Government 
Printing-Office.     Pp.  667. 

This  report,  a  part  of  the  series  of  census 
reports,  comprises:  1.  An  introduction,  in 
which  is  given  a  brief  history  of  the  growth 
of  the  national  debts  of  the  principal  na- 
tions of  the  world,  and  tables  are  presented 
showing  the  growth  and  distribution  of  State 
and  local  indebtedness  in  the  United  States. 
2.  An  historical  and  statistical  account  of 
the  national  debt.  3.  A  statement  of  the 
ownership  and  distribution,  by  States  and 
geographical  sections,  of  the  registered  and 
coupon  United  States   bonds,  and   of  the 


amounts  of  each  species  held  abroad.  4.  A 
history  of  the  debts  of  the  several  States 
from  1790  to  the  present  time.  5.  A  con- 
sideration of  the  power  of  the  State  Legis- 
latures, and  of  county  and  city  authorities, 
to  contract  debts  binding  on  the  State,  coun- 
ty, or  municipality.  6.  An  exhibit  and  an 
analysis  of  the  bonded  and  floating  debts 
and  sinking  funds  of  all  cities  and  towns 
of  the  United  States  having  a  population  of 
7,500  and  upward.  7.  An  exhibit,  by  States 
and  minor  civil  divisions,  all  of  which  are 
separately  presented,  of  the  State  and  local 
indebtedness  of  the  United  States.  8.  An 
analysis,  by  geographical  sections  and  States, 
of  the  entire  bonded  State  and  local  indebt- 
edness of  the  country. 

Arr-ALACHiA,  June,  1882.  Boston:  Appala- 
chian Mountain  Club.  Pp.  97.  Price, 
50  cents. 

The  present  number  of  "Appalachia" 
contains  the  President's  annual  address 
and  the  annual  reports  of  the  club.  The 
work  of  the  association  is  still  directed 
chiefly  to  the  White  Mountains,  but  not  to 
the  exclusion  of  other  ranges,  and  is  almost 
sure  to  become  more  catholic  in  its  charac- 
ter as  the  membership  of  the  society  in- 
creases and  becomes  diffused  over  other 
mountainous  regions.  Explorations  have 
been  made  about  Moosehead  and  the  Range- 
ley  Lakes  ;  the  valley  of  the  East  Branch 
and  the  New  Zealand  Notch,  in  the  White 
Mountains,  have  been  traversed ;  Bear 
Mountain  and  Passaconaway,  two  compara- 
tively unknown  summits,  have  been  exam- 
ined ;  and  the  Great  Gulf  in  Mount  Wash- 
ington has  been  traversed  and  made  acces- 
sible by  the  completion  of  a  path  through 
it.  The  route  from  the  snow-field  of  Tuek- 
erman's  Ravine  to  the  summit  of  Mount 
Washington  has  been  distinctly  marked,  and 
several  other  interesting  works  have  been 
accomplished  or  improved.  Paths  over  the 
Twin  Mountains,  and  a  bracing  up  of  the 
rocks  forming  the  "  Old  Man  of  the  Mount- 
ain," so  as  to  prevent  the  destruction  of 
the  profile  by  their  disintegration,  are  in 
view.  A  monograph,  with  sectional  maps, 
of  "  the  Little  Mountains  east  of  the  Cats- 
kills,"  and  a  contour  map  of  the  Presiden- 
tial range,  are  published  in  the  present  num- 
ber of  this  journal. 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


131 


Atlantis  :  The  Antediluvian  World.  By 
Ignatius  Donnelly.  Illustrated.  New 
York:  Harper  &  Brothers.     Pp.490. 

Mr.  Donnelly,  who  writes  with  an  en- 
thusiasm which  only  an  unquestioning  faith 
in  his  theory  can  beget,  undertakes  to  es- 
tablish in  this  book — 

That  there  once  existed  in  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea,  a  large  island,  which  was  the 
remnant  of  an  Atlantic  Continent,  and 
known  to  the  ancients  as  Atlantis ;  that 
Plato's  description  of  such  an  island  was  not 
fable,  but  veritable  history ;  that  it  was  the 
region  where  man  first  rose  to  civilization, 
and  became  a  populous  and  mighty  nation, 
whence  settlements  were  made,  all  around 
the  Mediterranean,  and  in  Western  Europe 
and  Africa,  in  the  regions  of  the  Baltic, 
Black,  and  Caspian  Seas,  and  in  parts  of 
America  ;  that  it  was  the  true  Antediluvian 
world,  the  seat  of  the  gods,  and  the  happy 
lands,  under  whatever  name  the  ancients  of 
different  nations  called  them ;  that  the  gods 
and  goddesses  of  the  ancient  Greek  and 
other  nations  were  the  kings,  queens,  and 
heroes  of  ancient  Atlantis,  and  that  the  acts 
attributed  to  them  in  mythology  are  con- 
fused recollections  of  historical  events ;  that 
the  Peruvian  and  ancient  Egyptian  mytholo- 
gies represented  an  original  Atlantean  sun- 
worship  ;  that  Egypt  and  Egyptian  civiliza- 
tion were  derived  directly  from  Atlantis ; 
that  the  implements  of  the  "  Bronze  age  " 
were  also  derived  thence,  and  iron  was  first 
used  there ;  that  the  Phoenician  alphabet,  the 
parent  of  all  the  European  alphabets,  and 
the  Maya  alphabet  of  Mexico,  were  derived 
from  there  ;  that  this  island  was  the  origi- 
nal seat  of  the  Aryan  and  Semitic  families 
of  nations,  and  possibly  also  of  the  Tura- 
nians ;  and  that  the  nation  perished  in  a 
convulsion  by  which  the  whole  island  was 
sunk  into  the  ocean  with  most  of  its  inhab- 
itants, but  that  a  few  escaped  in  ships  or 
on  rafts,  and  spread  the  news  through  the 
world,  whence  the  flood  legends  of  the  vari- 
ous nations. 

A  semi-historical  support  is  claimed  for 
the  principal  feature  of  this  theory  in  Pla- 
to's record  of  what  the  Egyptian  priests  are 
said  to  have  told  Solon  of  Atlantis  and  its 
destruction,  and  in  corroborative  incidents 
in  other  ancient  literature.     The  possibility 


of  such  a  catastrophe  as  the  destruction  of 
the  island  is  afBrmed  upon  geological  evi- 
dence. The  deep-sea  surveys  have  furnished 
evidence  of  the  existence  of  an  immense 
elevation  in  the  bottom  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  the  contour  and  profile  of  which  are 
in  harmony  with  the  descriptions  of  the  an- 
cient Atlantis.  Some  peculiarities  of  the 
flora  and  fauna  of  the  two  continents  which 
have  puzzled  naturalists  could  be  easily  ac- 
counted for  if  the  existence  of  an  interme- 
diate continent  as  an  original  center  of  dis- 
tribution could  be  predicated.  The  flood- 
legends  of  all  nations  are  quoted  and  ex- 
amined by  Mr.  Donnelly,  and  shown  to  be 
reconcilable  with  this  theory,  and  through 
it  with  each  other.  Numerous  remarkable 
features  of  community  in  the  civilizations  of 
the  Old  World  and  the  New — seeming  evi- 
dences of  former  intercourse  between  the 
two  continents,  which  seem  to  be  constant- 
ly increasing — and  many  now  hard  problems 
in  anthropology  would  no  longer  be  difficult 
to  account  for,  but  would  appear  quite  nat- 
ural if  we  were  allowed  to  suppose  that  men 
have  radiated  in  all  directions  from  a  pri- 
mary home  in  Atlantis.  Numerous  legends 
in  the  mythologies  of  Eastern  and  Western 
nations,  curiously  like  each  other  in  some 
features,  seem  to  point  to  such  a  place. 
The  Book  of  Genesis  is  found  by  Mr.  Don- 
nelly to  be  a  fairly  good  history  of  Atlantis. 
The  origin  of  bronze  has  been  an  impenetra- 
ble mystery.  In  the  nature  of  things,  cop- 
per, and  perhaps  tin,  must  have  been  first 
used  separately ;  yet  no  evidence  of  the  use 
of  either  has  ever  been  found,  except  of 
copper  in  the  neighborhood  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior, where  implements  of  that  metal  and 
the  marks  of  ancient  workings  of  the  mines 
have  been  found.  Mr.  Donnelly  postulates 
as  a  solution  of  the  mystery,  that  the  At- 
lanteans  invented  bronze  and  introduced  it 
into  other  parts  of  the  world,  and  that  they 
may  have  been  acquainted  with  Lake  Su- 
perior copper.  Hundreds  of  coincidences 
are  traced  between  features  of  the  monu- 
ments, traditions,  and  customs  of  the  an- 
cient Eastern  nations  and  of  the  ancient 
Americans,  and  are  referred  to  Atlantis  for 
explanation.  Mr.  Donnelly  gives  especial 
attention  to  lingual  and  alphabetic  analogies, 
and  devotes  a  whole  chapter  to  tracing  re- 
semblances between  the  Maya  alphabet,  as 


!32 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


recorded  by  Bishop  Lancia,  and  the  Phoeni- 
cian alphabet ;  and  he  suggests  analogies 
between  American  and  Old-World  word- 
roots.  No  branch  of  speculation  is  more 
seductive  than  this,  and  none  more  easily 
misleading.  The  authenticity  of  the  Landa 
alphabet  has  been  questioned  by  Dr.  Valen- 
tini ;  but  Dr.  Le  Plongeon  is  represented  as 
claiming  that  he  has  demonstrated  it,  and 
has  discovered  affinities  between  the  Maya 
and  the  ancient  Egyptian  and  the  Aryan 
languages.  His  testimony  thus  comes  in 
aid  of  Mr.  Donnelly's  conclusions.  It  is  in 
place  to  remark  here,  also,  that  at  least  four 
papers  read  at  the  late  meeting  of  the 
American  Association — those  of  Dr.  Phene 
on  "  Affinities  between  America  and  other 
Continents,"  of  Dr.  Haliburton  on  "  Atlas 
and  the  Atlantis,"  of  Mr.  Hale  on  the  "  Ori- 
gin of  the  Indians,"  and  of  Professor  De 
Hass  on  "  Geological  Testimony  to  the  An- 
tiquity of  Man  in  America  " — embody  views 
parallel  with  some  of  the  arguments  in  this 
book.  Mr.  Donnelly  is  sometimes  carried 
away  by  his  enthusiasm,  and  leaves  his 
readers  in  danger  of  being  carried  away 
with  him.  No  thought  of  looking  at  the 
other  side,  or  of  critical  examination,  is  ap- 
parent. The  work  is  a  kind  of  lawyer's 
brief,  on  which  the  reader  may  ask  to  be 
excused  from  making  up  his  mind  till  the 
other  side  has  been  heard  and  the  court  has 
delivered  its  charge.  It  brings  forward  a 
strong  array  of  circumstantial  evidence  of 
the  possible  former  existence  of  the  Atlan- 
tean  Continent,  and  of  the  origin  of  man- 
kind and  civilization  from  it,  against  which, 
so  far  as  we  know,  no  positive  evidence  is 
offered  by  history  or  science.  The  theory 
would  explain  a  thousand  things  which  are 
not  explained  and  seem  otherwise  inexpli- 
cable, and  would  not  make  a  single  problem 
more  difficult.  But  its  verification,  we  fear, 
must  await  the  realization  of  Jules  Verne's 
vision,  which  enabled  the  travelers  in  the 
fancied  submarine  ship  to  reach  and  make 
a  complete  exploration  of  the  sunken  city, 
(he  capital  of  the  antediluvian  empire.  Mr. 
Donnelly  even  foreshadows  such  a  realiza- 
tion, and  suggests  that  it  is  not  impossible 
that  "  the  nations  of  the  earth  may  yet  cm- 
ploy  their  idle  navies  in  bringing  to  the 
light  of  day  some  of  the  relics  of  this  buried 
people,"  and  that  as  a  hundred  years  ago 


we  knew  nothing  of  Pompeii  or  Hereulane- 
um,  or  of  the  Indo-European  bond  of  lan- 
guages, or  of  the  monumental  history  of 
Egypt  and  the  Mesopotamian  empires,  or  of 
the  ancient  civilizations  of  Yucatan,  Mexico, 
and  Peru — "  who  shall  say  that  one  hun- 
dred years  from  now  the  museums  of  the 
world  may  not  be  adorned  with  gems,  stat- 
ues, arms,  and  implements  from  Atlantis, 
while  the  libraries  of  the  world  shall  con- 
tain translations  of  its  inscriptions,  throw- 
ing new  light  upon  all  the  past  history  of 
the  human  race,  and  all  the  great  problems 
which  now  perplex  the  thinkers  of  our 
day  ?  " 

Report  on  the  Meteorology  of  Tokio, 
for  the  Year  2540  (1880).  By  T.  0. 
Mendenhall,  Ph.  D.,  Professor  of  Ex- 
perimental Physics  in  Tokio  Daigaku. 
Tokio,  Japan  :  Published  by  the  Univer- 
sity.    Pp.  81,  with  numerous  Charts. 

The  present  report  covers  the  second 
year  during  which  meteorological  observa- 
tions have  been  systematically  taken  at  the 
University  of  Tokio.  The  tabulation  of  re- 
sults is  so  arranged  as  to  correspond  in  order 
with  the  tables  of  the  previous  year,  and  to 
facilitate  comparison  as  much  as  possible. 
Hourly  observations  were  maintained  dur- 
ing March,  June,  September,  and  Decem- 
ber, months  which  afford  a  good  representa- 
tion of  the  varying  meteorological  condi- 
tions of  the  year.  In  addition  to  these 
constant  observations,  an  expedition  was 
made  to  the  summit  of  Fooseeyama  to  de- 
termine the  force  of  gravity  there  ;  thermo- 
electric measurements  of  earth-temperature 
were  undertaken,  but  abandoned  on  account 
of  the  difficulty  of  getting  suitable  insulat- 
ing material ;  experiments  were  made  with 
success  for  the  determination  of  the  velocity 
of  the  sound-wave  under  widely  varying 
meteorological  conditions  ;  and  co-operation 
in  seismological  observations  is  contem- 
plated. It  having  long  been  known  that 
the  disastrous  fires  with  which  the  Japanese 
capital  is  often  afflicted  are  most  frequent 
in  certain  months,  and  that  their  occurrence 
is  intimately  related  to  the  direction  and 
velocity  of  the  wind,  Professor  Yamagawa, 
of  the  university,  has  devoted  much  time 
to  an  investigation  of  the  origin  and  course 
of  these  fires,  and  to  their  classification  in 
reference  to  atmospheric  movement. 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


l3: 


The  Chemistry  of  Sake-Brewing.  By  R. 
W.  Atkinson,  B.  Sc.  (Lond.),  Professor 
of  Analytical  and  Applied  Chemistry 
in  Tokio  Daigaku.  Tokio,  Japan :  Pub- 
lished by  the  University.     Pp.  73. 

Sake  is  the  beer  of  Japan,  and  is  made 
from  rice  by  processes  similar  in  principle 
to  those  by  which  our  beer  is  made  from 
our  grains,  and  which  are  described  in  their 
details  in  the  course  of  this  work.  The 
Japanese  brewers,  it  appears,  discovered, 
three  hundred  years  ago,  a  process  for  pre- 
serving their  beer  by  heating  it,  thus  antici- 
pating a  part  of  Pasteur's  great  discovery, 
but  did  not  have  the  art  of  putting  the 
heated  liquor  in  perfectly  pure  germ-proof 
vessels,  so  that  they  omitted,  after  all,  the 
most  essential  feature  of  Pasteur's  process. 
It  is  only  by  repeated  heatings,  whereby  its 
quality  is  injured,  that  they  are  able  to  keep 
their  beer  for  a  very  considerable  length 
of  time.  We  learn,  from  the  introduction 
to  this  work,  that  the  annual  consumption 
of  sake  in  Japan  is  equivalent  to  about  six 
gallons  per  head  of  the  population.  If  the 
sake  were  diluted  twice,  so  as  to  be  of  about 
the  same  strength  as  English  beer,  the  con- 
sumption, twelve  gallons  a  head,  would  be 
but  little  more  than  one  third  the  consump- 
tion of  beer  in  England,  thirty-four  gallons 
a  head.  "  The  brewing  of  sake  is,  there- 
fore, of  relatively  less  importance  than  that 
of  beer  in  England,  and  this  is  doubtless  to 
be  ascribed  to  the  enormous  consumption 
of  tea,  which  serves  at  all  times,  in  sum- 
mer  and  in  winter,  as  the   national   bev- 


Information  relative  to  the  Construction 
and  Maintenance  of  Time-Balls.  Pre- 
pared under  the  Direction  of  General  W. 
B.  Hazen,  Chief  Signal-Officer  of  the 
Armv.  Washington:  Government Print- 
iug-Offics.     Pp.  31,  with  Three  Plates. 

Frequent  inquiry  having  been  made  at 
the  Signal-Service  office  for  information  rel- 
ative to  the  erection  of  time-balls,  or  other 
accurate  time-signals,  the  general  officer  of 
the  service  addressed  a  letter  of  inquiry  to 
the  observers  connected  with  the  bureau 
who  employed  the  balls,  concerning  the 
method  of  their  construction  and  their  op- 
erative machinery.  The  present  circular  of 
information  is  compiled  from  the  replies  to 
his  inquiries. 


PUBLICATIONS  RECEIVED. 

Programme  of  the  Thirty-first  Meeting  of 
the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement 
of  Science,  held  at  Montreal,  August  23,  1882. 
Montreal :  Published  by  the  Local  Committee. 
Pp.  215. 

Address  of  Edward  Atkinson  at  the  opening 
of  tlie  Second  Annual.  Pair  of  the  New  England 
Manufacturers' and  Mechanics'  Institute,  in  Bos- 
ton, September  6, 1882.  Boston :  Franklin  Press. 
1882.    Pp.32. 

The  Growth  of  Children.  By  George  W. 
Peckham.  Reprint  from  Sixth  Annual  Report 
of  the  State  Board  of  Health.  Wisconsin.  Pp. 
46. 

The  International  Time  System.  By  Pro- 
fessor John  K.  Rees.  From  "Transactions  of 
the  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences."    Pp.  10. 

Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of 
the  Chicago  Astronomical  Society,  together  with 
the  Report  of  the  Director  of  the  Dearborn  Ob- 
servatory. 1882.  Chicago  :  Knight  &  Leonard. 
Pp.  56.    Illustrated. 

Extracts  from  an  Old  History  of  Louisiana. 
Translated.  Pp.  19.  Illustrated.  Also,  On  the 
Transmission  and  Transformation  of  Nervous 
Diseases  through  Heredity.  By  Thomas  Layton, 
M.  D.  Reprints  from  New  Orleans  '•  Medical 
and  Surgical  Journal."    1882.    Pp.  22. 

"  The  Modern  Stenographic  Journal."  Vol.  I, 
No.  1.  Monthly.  Buffalo,  New  York,  September, 
1882.    Pp.  12.    $2  a  year. 

Stricture  of  the  Rectum.  By  Robert  New- 
man, M.  D.  Reprint  from  New  England  "  Medi- 
cal Monthly."    1882.    Pp.  7. 

New  Check  List  of  North  American  Moths. 
Bv  Professor  A.  R.  Grote.  New  York.  1882. 
Pp.  73. 

The  Alphabet  of  the  Future.  By  George  H. 
Paul.    1882.    Pp.12. 

Sixth  Annual  Report  of  the  State  Board  of 
Health  of  Wisconsin.  1881.  Madison,  Wiscon- 
sin.   1882.    Pp.  230. 

The  House  -  Fly  considered  in  Relation  to 
Poison  Germ.  By  Thomas  Taylor,  M.  D.  1862. 
Pp.0. 

Report  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  the 
Ninth  Cincinnati  Industrial  Exposition.  1881. 
Pp.  314. 

Report  on  the  Character  of  Six  Hundred  Tor- 
nadoes. By  Sergeant  J.  P.  Finley.  Washing- 
ton.   1882.    Pp.19.    With  Plates. 

Explosive  and  Dangerous  Dusts.  By  Profess- 
or T.  W.  Tobin,  Ph.  D.  Milwaukee.  1882. 
Pp.  14. 

Dime  Question  Books.  No.  II.  Literature. 
Pp.  35.  No.  III.  Physiology.  Pp.  37.  No.  IV. 
Theory  and  Practice  of  Teaching.  Pp.  37.  No. 
VI.  United  States  History  and  Civil  Govern- 
ment. Pp.  32.  10  cents  each.  Also,  The  New 
Education,  by  Professor  Meiklejohn.  Pp.  35; 
and  A  Small  Tractate  of  Education,  by  John 
Milton.  Pp.  26.  15  cents  each.  Syracuse,  New 
York  :  C.  W.  Bardeen  &  Co. 

On  the  A?e  of  the  Tejon  Rocks  of  California 
and  the  Occurrence  of  Ammonitic  Remains  in 
Tertiary  Deposits.  By  Angelo  Heilprin.  From 
the  "  Proceedings  of  the  Academy  of  Natu- 
ral Sciences  of  Philadelphia,"  July,  1882.    Pp. 

Contributions  from  the  Laboratory  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania.  No.  XX.  Contribu- 
tions to  Mineralo'srv.  By  F.  A.  Genth.  1882. 
Pp.  24. 

Historical  Sketch  of  Greene  Township.  Ham- 
ilton County,  Ohio.  By  C.  Reemelin.  Cincin- 
nati :  Robert  Clark  &  Co.    1882.    Pp.  33. 

Nervous  Control,  or  Equilibration.  By  James 
T.  Searcy.  M.  D.  From  "Transactions  of  the 
Alabama  Medical  Association."    1882.    Pp.  24. 


»34 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


Proceedings  of  the  Biological  Society  of 
Wisconsin.  With  the  Addresses  read  at  the 
Darwin  Memorial  Meeting.  Vol.  I.  November 
19,  18S0,  to  May  26,  1883.  Washington.  Pp. 
110. 

Easy  Star  Lessons.  By  Richard  A.  Proctor. 
New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.  1882.  Pp. 
219.    $2.50.    Illustrated. 

The  Peak  of  Darieu.  An  Octave  of  Essays. 
By  Frances  Power  Cobbe.  Boston  :  George  H. 
Ellis  &  Co.    1882.    Pp.  303.    $1.50. 

Constitutional  History  and  Political  Develop- 
ment of  the  United  States.  By  Simon  Sterne. 
New  York,  London,  and  Paris:  Cassell,  Petter 
&  Galpin.    1882.     Pp.  383.     $1.25. 

The  Solution  of  the  Pyramid  Problem.  By 
Robert  Ballard.  New  York:  John  Wiley  & 
Sons.    1882.    Pp.109. 

Manual  of  Blowpipe  Analysis.  By  H.  B- 
Cornwall.  New  York  :  D.  Van  Nostrand.  1882- 
Pp.  308. 

Essentials  of  Vaccination.  By  W.  A.  Harda- 
way,  M.  D.  Chicago:  Jansen,  McClurg  &  Co. 
1882.    Pp.  14G.    $1. 

Practical  Life  and  the  Study  of  Man.  By  J. 
Wilson,  Ph.  D.  New  York  :  J.  Wilson  &  Sons, 
Publishers.    1882.    Pp.  390.    $1.50. 

United  States  Commission  of  Fish  and  Fish- 
eries. Report  for  1879.  A,  Inquiry  into  the 
Decrease  of  Food-Fishes.  B,  The  Propagation 
of  Food -Fishes  in  the  Waters  of  the  United 
States.  Washington  :  Government  Printing- 
office.    1882.    Pp.846. 

Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for 
1880.  Washington:  Government Priuting-Office. 
1882.    Pp.914. 


POPULAR   MISCELLANY. 

The  Glacial  Moraine  in  Pennsylvania. — 

Professor  H.  C.  Lewis  read  a  paper  before 
the  American  Association  concerning  the 
results  of  his  efforts  to  trace  the  great 
terminal  moraine  marking  the  southern 
limit  of  the  North  American  ice-sheet  across 
Pennsylvania.  The  moraine  had  already 
been  traced  from  Cape  Cod  across  the  Eliza- 
beth Islands,  Rhode  Island,  Long  Island,  and 
New  Jersey,  and  across  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illi- 
nois, Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  and  Dakota, 
into  the  Saskatchewan  region  of  the  Do- 
minion, but  had  not  been  remarked  in  Penn- 
sylvania. Professor  Lewis  had  found  it  en- 
tering the  State  near  Easton,  whence  he 
traced  it  up  and  down  to  Potter  County, 
and  thence  into  New  York  State.  Then  it 
shortly  turns  to  the  southwest,  enters  Penn- 
sylvania again,  and  passes  into  Ohio.  It 
was  thus  traced  for  four  hundred  miles.  It 
begins  at  a  height  of  240  feet  above  the 
sea,  reaches  2,480  feet  in  Potter  County> 
at  the  great  divide  between  the  waters  that 
flow  into  the  Atlantic  and  those  that  flow 
into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico ;  is  2,000  feet  high 


at  the  extreme  north  point  near  Olean,  New 
York,  and  is  800  feet  high  in  Eastern  Ohio, 
at  the  end  of  the  portion  examined.  At 
the  Delaware  Water-Gap  the  ice  did  not 
pass  down  the  valley,  but  across  it.  The 
Pocono  Mountain  was  a  promontory  project- 
ing northwardly  into  the  ice-sheet.  The 
glacial  covering  does  not  seem  to  have 
formed  tongues  pushing  down  in  river-val- 
leys, as  is  the  case  with  modern  glacier  sys- 
tems. Bowlders  of  labradorite  and  other 
crystalline  rocks  from  the  Adirondack  and 
Ontario  highlands  were  found  all  along  Uie 
moraine  line.  In  the  discussion  that  fol- 
lowed the  reading  of  his  paper,  Mr.  Lewis 
asked  Principal  Dawson,  as  a  leading  oppo- 
nent of  the  glacial  theory,  to  explain  certain 
facts  according  to  his  hypothesis  of  floating 
ice-fields.  Principal  Dawson  replied,  assert- 
ing that  a  continental  ice-field  in  Northern 
America  large  enough  to  supply  food  for 
the  alleged  glacier  was  a  physical  impossi- 
bility, because,  on  account  of  the  distance 
of  this  territory  from  open  seas,  the  climate 
would  be  too  dry  for  any  such  accumulation 
of  snows.  It  was  possible,  however,  that 
there  might  have  been  a  river  or  a  glacier 
which  produced  the  moraine  in  that  part  of 
the  country  particularly  referred  to ;  but  he 
could  account  for  moraines  in  another  way. 
Whenever  a  cold  current  infringes  upon  a 
warm  current,  it  forms  a  moraine ;  and  this 
is  taking  place  in  the  region  of  the  Gulf 
Stream.  He  himself  owned  a  piece  of  land 
on  the  coast  of  the  lower  St.  Lawrence,  on 
which  a  very  good  moraine  was  now  in 
course  of  formation. 

The  Gnlf  Stream.— The  work  of  deep- 
sea  soundings  and  determination  of  tempera- 
tures has  been  carried  on  continuously  in  the 
steamer  Blake  in  the  Gulf  Stream  for  sev- 
eral years.  The  paper  on  the  subject  read 
by  Commander  Bartlett,  at  the  recent  meet- 
ing of  the  American  Association,  describes 
what  was  done  in  1881  and  1882  under  the 
direction  of  Professor  Hilgard.  The  Gulf 
Stream  does  not  run  in  a  basin,  nor  is  it 
divided  into  cold  and  warm  alternate  layers. 
The  deepest  bottom  between  Florida  and 
the  Bahama  Banks  is  459  fathoms  below 
the  surface,  and  the  current  runs  from  three 
to  eight  knots  an  hour,  with  a  temperature 
of  from  80°  to  83°  Fahr.     A  wide  plateau 


POPULAR  MISCELLANY. 


13? 


exists  off  Florida,  gradually  narrowing  as  it 
goes  north.  Off  the  Carolinas  it  is  forty  or 
fifty  miles  wide.  Near  Savannah  soundings 
were  made  at  1,840  fathoms.  The  500  and 
1,000  fathom  lines  are  very  close  to  the 
100  fathom  line  north  of  CapeHatteras  and 
up  to  the  Georges  Bank  off  Massachusetts. 
Directly  beneath  the  Gulf  Stream  is  a  hard 
coral  limestone,  with  no  loose  material. 
The  globigerina  begins  to  appear  at  Charles- 
ton going  north,  and  increases  in  amount. 
The  cold  water  from  the  Arctic  region  flows 
inside  the  Gulf  Stream  off  the  American 
coast,  and  beneath  it,  falling  down  a  depth 
of  a  thousand  fathoms.  The  Bahama  sec- 
tion showed  a  temperature  of  44°  at  459 
fathoms,  and  washes  in  through  the  Wind- 
ward Islands,  south  of  Cuba,  rather  than 
through  the  Florida  Channel.  Outside  the 
ridge,  between  Cuba  and  Hayti,  the  temper- 
ature descended  to  36£°,  but  the  coldest 
found  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  was  39J°  down 
to  3,400  fathoms.  There  is  no  Gulf  Stream 
in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Indian  Marriage  Laws. — A  paper  on 
this  subject,  read  by  the  Rev.  J.  Owen  Dor- 
sey  before  the  American  Association,  notices 
some  remarkable  customs  in  relation  to 
marriage  and  kinship  as  prevailing  among 
the  Dhegitha  Indians,  particularly  the  Oma- 
has  and  Poncas. 

When  a  tribe  is  hunting  it  camps,  by 
gentes  or  nations,  in  a  circle,  each  gens  bear- 
ing the  name  of  some  animal.  All  the 
members  of  one  gens  are  relatives,  and  mar- 
riage between  members  of  one  gens  is  abso- 
lutely forbidden.  Membership  in  a  gens  is 
by  descent  in  the  male  line,  not  in  the 
female.  The  relations  of  a  man  are  de- 
noted by  colors ;  for  example — black,  grand- 
father or  grandmother;  blue,  father  or 
mother.  His  connections  are  denoted  by 
mixed  colors,  such  as  a  pink  head  and  skirt, 
with  light-blue  triangle  on  the  body,  for 
sister-in-law.  A  man  can  marry  his  brother's 
widow,  and  her  children  call  him  father 
even  before  their  father's  death.  His  sis- 
ter's children  are  only  nephews  and  nieces. 
His  mother's  sister  is  always  called  mother 
for  the  same  reason,  and  even  his  paternal 
grandfather's  brother's  son  is  his  father. 
These,  and  many  other  distinctions,  show 
that  the  terms  of  relationship  are  far  more 


numerous  and  complicated  with  the  Omahas 
than  with  us.  A  man  may  marry  any  woman 
belonging  to  another  gens,  whether  con- 
nected with  him  or  not ;  though  marriage 
into  his  mother's  gens  is  also  forbidden. 
A  man  can  not  marry  any  woman  to  whom 
he  is  related  by  the  ceremony  of  the  calu- 
met-dance. Sometimes  a  man  may  take  the 
children  of  his  deceased  brother  without 
their  mother  herself.  Sometimes  the  dying 
husband,  knowing  that  his  male  kindred 
are  bad,  tells  his  wife  to  marry  out  of  his 
gens.  If  a  widower  remains  single  for  two, 
three,  or  four  years,  he  must  remain  so  for 
ever.  Widows,  however,  must  wait  four 
years  before  remarrying.  The  same  system 
prevails  among  the  Iowas,  Otos,  and  Mis- 
souris. 

Hygiene  in  House-Walls. — Mr.  T.  R. 

Baker,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  American 
Association,  "On  the  Permeability  of  the 
Linimrs  of  House-Walls  to  Air,"  assumed 
that  ordinary  wall-paper  made  the  walls  of 
dwellings  nearly  air-tight.  Hygienically  con- 
sidered, the  walls  of  a  house  should  be  por- 
ous, like  our  clothing,  so  that  our  bodies  can 
have  through  them,  as  also  through  our 
clothing,  free  intercourse  with  the  external 
air.  Compact  wall  linings,  even  if  their  min- 
ute pores  are  open,  greatly  interfere  with  this 
intercourse;  but  if  their  pores  are  closed 
with  water,  as  when  the  walls  are  damp,  it  is 
almost  completely  cut  off ;  and  such  linings 
increase  the  dampness  of  walls  by  prevent- 
ing their  drying  in  wet  weather.  The  pro- 
longed dampness  also  prolongs  other  evils 
produced  by  damp  walls;  therefore  wall- 
papers and  their  substitutes  should  be  con- 
demned, and  the  old-fashioned  whitewashed 
walls  commended. 

Succession  of  North  American  Flora. — 

Professor  J.  S.  Newberry,  describing  the 
evolution  of  the  North  American  flora,  at 
the  meeting  of  the  American  Association, 
said  that  the  first  flora  was  that  indicated 
by  the  plumbago  of  the  Laurentian  forma- 
tion. The  kind  of  vegetation  can  not  be 
determined.  The  second  is  in  the  Silurian. 
The  evidence  of  actual  vegetable  origin  is, 
however,  defective ;  the  objects  may  be 
corals  rather  than  land-plants.  The  third 
flora  is  in  the  Upper  Silurian;  the  fourth 
is  in  the  Devonian.     Two  hundred  species 


i36 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


at  least  are  described  by  Dr.  Dawson,  con- 
sisting of  conifers,  ferns,  sigillarids,  cycads, 
lycopods,  etc.  Several  interesting  varieties 
of  this  Devonian  flora  have  recently  been 
discovered  in  Ohio.  The  fifth  flora  is  the 
Carbonaceous,  the  sixth  the  Liassic,  and  the 
seventh  the  Cretaceous,  a  flora  containing 
broad-leaved  plants  of  the  angiosperms, 
which,  with  slight  change,  has  continued  to 
the  present  time.  The  Jurassic  group  is 
plainly  cretaceous,  and  is  entirely  unlike  the 
Tertiary.  Not  a  single  plant  can  be  identi- 
fied with  any  of  the  Old  World  tertiary  flora. 
The  various  tertiary  floras  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  occur  in  the  dried-up  basins  of 
old  lakes.  When  the  glacial  period  came  on, 
the  trees  were  entirely  destroyed  over  the 
northern  part  of  the  continent.  After  the 
melting  of  the  ice,  the  present  flora  made 
its  appearance. 

The  Depression  of  our  Atlantic  Coast. 

— Professor  George  H.  Cook,  State  Geolo- 
gist of  New  Jersey,  has  presented,  in  a  paper 
which  he  has  read  before  the  American  As- 
sociation, a  large  array  of  evidence  showing 
that  the  Atlantic  coast  of  our  continent  is 
gradually  subsiding.  It  consists  largely  of 
the  testimony  afforded  by  the  remains  of 
ancient  forests,  composed  for  a  considerable 
part  of  upland  growths,  which  have  been 
found  in  various  places  from  the  Carolinas 
to  Greenland,  either  submerged  at  high  wa- 
ter or  at  depths  beneath  the  surface  lower 
than  the  high-water  mark  of  the  neighbor- 
ing coast,  and  at  these  places  sometimes 
with  present  or  former  swamps  over  them. 
Sunken  forests  possessing  some  or  other  of 
these  characteristics  are  mentioned  as  exist- 
ing in  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia,  where 
they  were  noticed  by  Bartram  in  1773,  Lyell 
in  1845,  Professor  Tuorney,  of  South  Caro- 
lina, in  1846,  and  in  Albermarle  Sound, 
North  Carolina,  by  Dr.  Emmons.  General 
Cutts,  of  the  Coast  Survey,  has  observed 
timber  in  the  place  of  its  growth  several 
feet  below  the  level  of  tide-water  along  the 
shores  of  Chesapeake  Bay,  in  Virginia.  The 
coast  of  New  Jersey  is  marked  by  the  oc- 
currence of  timber  and  stumps  below  the 
present  tide-level  in  the  marshes  which  bor- 
der the  State  from  the  head  of  Delaware 
Bay  to  Cape  May,  and  thence  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Hudson.     A  marked  example  of  yel- 


low-pine   stumps  may  be  observed   in  the 
banks  of   the  canal  which  connects  South 
River   at   Washington   with    the    Raritan. 
Similar  submerged  forests  on  Long  Island 
have  been  described  by  Elias  Lewis,  Jr.,  in 
"  The  Popular  Science  Monthly."    In  Massa- 
chusetts, they  have  been  observed  at  Nan- 
tucket, Ilolmes's  Hole,  Yarmouth,  and  Prov- 
incetown ;  in  New  Hampshire,  at  Eye  Beach ; 
in  Maine,  at  Portland ;  and  at  the  head  of 
the  Bay  of  Fundy  in  Nova  Scotia.     Other 
evidences  are  afforded  by  the  subsidence  of 
human  structures  since  the  period  of  settle- 
ment;  in  the  flooding  of  farm-lands  that 
have  had  to  be  abandoned,  the  submersion 
of  boat-stakes,  and  the  approach  of  the  sea 
to  buildings  on  the  shore.    Instances  of  this 
kind  are  observable  at  Southampton,  Long 
Island,  Barnegat,  New  Jersey,  the  shores  of 
Delaware   Bay,  and   on  the  west   coast  of 
Greenland.   The  encroachments  of  the  sea  at 
Long  Branch  and  the  changes  going  on  at 
Sandy  Hook   are   public   facts.     Professor 
Cook  believes  that  the  change  thus  marked 
is  common  to  the  whole  northern  hemisphere. 
It   is   certainly   taking   place    in  parts   of 
Sweden.      Some  doubt    has   been   thrown 
upon  the  theory  of  a  subsidence  from  the 
fact  that  sea-shells  and  buried  timber,  both 
of  kinds  now  living,  have  been  found  in  de- 
posits a  few  feet  above  the  present  sea-level. 
These  instances  are,  however,  regarded  as 
belonging  to  another  era  than  the  present 
period  of  depression,  and  are  distinguished 
by  several  important  differences  of  features 
from  those  now  under  consideration.     Pro- 
fessor Cook  thinks  that  they  belong  to  a 
previous    period   of    depression ;   that   the 
present  period  may  not  have  been  going  on 
for  more  than  five  hundred  or  a  thousand 
years,  and  that  in  the  one  which  preceded 
it  the  surface  of  the  upland  was  ten  feet  or 
more  nearer  the  sea-level  than  it  now  is. 
He  adds :  "  A  careful  study  of  the  numer- 
ous cases  like  this  will  satisfactorily  prove 
that  there  have  been  other  periods  of  alter- 
nate depression  and  elevation  in  compara- 
tively recent  times,  the  phenomena  of  which 
are  so  nearly  alike  that  they  are  very  com- 
monly confounded  with  each  other.     And, 
when  they  are  clearly  distinguished,  it  will 
be  found  that  the  rise  or  the  depression  is 
one  common  to  our  whole  coast,  and  proba- 
bly to  the  whole  northern  hemisphere." 


P  OP  ULAR  MIS  CELL  ANY 


l37 


The  Esquimaux. — Dr.  John  Rac,  in  giv- 
ing an  account  of  his  Arctic  explorations 
before  the  American  Association  at  its  re- 
cent meeting,  spoke  of  the  Esquimaux  as  a 
generous  and  polite  people,  who  had  care- 
fully preserved  the  tradition  of  events  that 
happened  twenty  years  ago.  They  believe 
they  came  from  the  West ;  and  they  seem  to 
Dr.  Rae  physically  like  the  Chinese.  They 
build  their  huts  and  boats  in  a  similar  way 
with  the  Siberian  natives,  but  appear  very 
short  in  stature  on  account  of  the  shortness 
of  their  legs.  Dr.  Flam,  of  London,  had 
said  that  the  skeleton  of  an  Esquimau  in 
his  museum  had  thirty-five  vertebras,  or  one 
more  than  the  average  number.  They  are 
not  to  be  regarded  as  gluttonous,  for  the 
large  quantities  of  meat  they  consume  seem 
to  be  required  by  the  climate. 

Apparent  Size  of  Magnified  Objects. — 
Professor  W.  E.  Brewer  reported  to  the 
American  Association  concerning  some  ex- 
periments he  had  made  upon  the  estimation 
by  different  persons  of  the  size  of  images 
of  objects  seen  through  the  microscope. 
More  than  one  hundred  persons,  of  all  ages, 
classes,  and  occupations,  gave  very  many 
different  estimates.  A  common  louse  was 
used  as  the  test-object,  and  the  magnified 
image  was  projected  at  ten  inches.  By  far 
the  larger  number  of  persons  underestimated 
the  size  value  theoretically  given  the  image 
by  scientific  microscopists,  which  was  about 
4-66  inches.  Two  estimates  were  of  only  an 
inch ;  several  were  of  more  than  a  foot. 
One  student  likened  the  figure  to  a  cock- 
roach, another  to  a  lobster.  Mechanics  and 
artisans  generally  overestimate.  A  draughts- 
man, who  was  accustomed  to  measure  and 
draw  all  his  work,  after  careful  examination 
said  the  image  was  at  least  five  feet  long  ! 
A  professor  of  physics  said  he  could  make 
the  image  look  of  any  size  he  wished. 

Fossil  Ilnman  Foot-prints  in  Nevada. — 

Several  communications  have  lately  been 
made  to  the  California  Academy  of  Sciences 
respecting  what  seem  to  be  foot-prints  of 
men  which  have  been  discovered  in  a  sand- 
stone hill  in  the  yard  of  the  State  Prison  at 
Carson  City,  Nevada.  The  hill  is  about 
sixty  feet  high,  and  stands  at  an  elevation 
of  4,592  feet  above  the  sea.     It  appears  to 


have  been  formed  by  the  deposition  and 
drifting  of  sand  upon  what  was  the  bed  of 
an  ancient  lake.  A  surface  of  about  three 
quarters  of  an  acre  has  been  cleared  by 
quarrying  to  a  depth  of  from  fifteen  to  thirty 
feet,  and  down  to  the  layer  of  arenaceous 
shale  beneath  the  sandstone,  which  is  sup- 
posed to  represent  the  bottom  of  the  lake. 
The  tracks  are  in  this  shale.  Accordimr  to 
the  description  of  Dr.  Darkness,  they  are 
accompanied  by  the  tracks  of  several  ani- 
mals— the  mammoth,  the  deer,  the  wolf,  the 
horse,  and  some  birds — and  are  in  six  series 
of  from  eight  to  seventeen  foot-prints  each, 
in  regular  order,  and  each  showing  more  or 
less  plainly  the  imprint  of  a  sandal.  The 
first  series,  consisting  of  sixteen  tracks, 
"  were  evidently  made  in  a  layer  of  sedi- 
ment of,  perhaps,  two  inches  in  depth,  for 
below  this  layer  we  find  the  compact  sand- 
stone. Li  each  instance  the  mud  had  been 
raised  by  the  pressure  of  the  foot  into  a 
ridge  which  entirely  surrounded  it."  No 
single  impression  affords  complete  evidence 
that  it  was  produced  by  a  sandal,  "  but 
when  we  study  them  as  a  whole,"  says  Dr. 
Darkness,  "  we  find  that  what  is  wanting  in 
one  is  furnished  by  others  which  follow." 
These  tracks  measure  nineteen  inches  in 
length,  by  eight  inches  in  breadth  at  the  ball 
and  six  inches  at  the  heel.  The  average 
length  of  the  stride  is  two  feet  three  inches. 
The  distance  between  the  feet,  or  the  strad- 
dle, is  eighteen  inches.  A  second  series  of 
tracks  was  observed,  made  by  an  individual 
who  was  walking  in  deeper  mud,  which  clung 
to  and  closed  in  and  upon  the  foot.  In  an- 
other part  of  the  area  are  four  other  series, 
at  a  level  a  few  inches  lower  than  those  of 
the  first  series,  smaller,  and  possibly  made 
by  moccasins.  The  toes  of  the  tracks  of  the 
first  series  turned  outward  ;  "  number  two," 
says  Mr.  Gibbes,  curator  of  mineralogy,  in 
his  account,  "  toed  the  mark,  and  walked  as 
straight  as  a  surveyor  running  a  line.  Se- 
ries number  three  presents  more  irregular 
steps  with  toes  turned  out,  possibly  those  of 
a  woman  bearing  a  heavy  burden."  Within 
the  same  area  are  the  immense  tracks  of  a 
mammoth,  quite  as  plainly  marked  as  the 
others,  and,  in  another  part  of  it,  marks 
which  Engineer  Scupham,  of  the  Central 
Pacific  Railroad,  describes  as  "  confused 
tracks  of  a  man  and    some  lara;e  animal. 


138 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


Only  two  or  three  steps  of  the  man  are  dis- 
tinct; then  the  confusion  that  appears  to 
mark  a  struggle,  and  then  the  impression 
where  a  great  body  has  fallen.  After  the 
struggle  the  great  crane  has  waded  about 
over  the  spot ;  its  tracks  winding  in  and  out 
as  if  it  had  been  avoiding  w  ith  care  the  deep 
impressions  made  by  the  combatants,  till  at 
last,  stumbling  into  one,  it  rises  in  startled 
fright.  Farther  to  the  north  are  many  hu- 
man tracks,  all  telling  different  stories  of 
the  track-makers."  The  question  whether 
the  foot-prints  are  really  those  of  men  is 
under  discussion.  Their  size  and  the  width 
of  the  straddle  are  against  them.  Professor 
Harkness  suggests,  however,  that  the  sandal 
is  not  necessarily  much  larger  than  would 
be  made  to  protect  the  side,  as  well  as  the 
heel  and  toe,  of  a  foot  twelve  or  thirteen 
inches  long ;  and  persons  laboring  in  heavy 
mud  would  tend  to  make  a  wide  straddle. 
The  stride  corresponds  well  with  that  of  a 
man.  Professor  Joseph  Le  Conte,  who  also 
has  examined  the  tracks,  has  expressed  the 
opinion  to  the  Academy  that  "  no  one  who 
studies  them  can  fail  to  observe  their  re- 
markable general  resemblance  to  human 
tracks."  lie  thought  they  might  have  been 
made  by  a  human  foot  inclosed  in  a  raw- 
hide sandal  much  larger,  externally,  than 
the  foot.  He  knew  of  no  animal  but  a  bi- 
ped that  could  make  such  tracks  ;  and  this 
was  possible  for  a  man  with  sandals  on  to 
do.  As  a  judicial  mind,  he  desired  to  hold 
his  final  scientifically  expressed  opinion  in 
reserve,  awaiting  further  testimony.  Sev- 
eral fossils  have  been  found  in  the  forma- 
tion— tusks  and  teeth  of  elephants  and 
horses,  vegetable  remains,  and  the  fresh- 
water shells  anadonta  and  physa.  It  is 
difficult  to  determine  the  exact  age  of  the 
strata,  but  they  are  generally  agreed  to  be 
cither  Quaternary  or  Pliocene. 

The  Infant  Giant  Jaw-Bone  of  Stram- 
bcrg. — The  Congress  of  Austrian  Archaeolo- 
gists, recently  in  session  at  Salzburg,  was 
the  scene  of  an  interesting  discussion  of 
the  human  jaw-bone,  m  which  the  propor- 
tions of  a  giant  were  found  associated  with 
the  teeth  of  a  child,  which  was  dug  out,  at 
Stramberg,  in  Moravia,  from  under  a  for- 
mation containing  bones  of  the  reindeer, 
snow-owl,  cave-bear,  and  other  Arctic  ani- 


mals. Professor  Schaffhausen  maintained 
that  the  jaw  was  one  of  a  child,  of  between 
eight  and  nine  years  old,  in  which  the 
change  of  teeth  was  going  on.  The  incisors 
had  already  changed,  and  an  eye-tooth  and 
the  premolars  were  developing  in  the  jaw, 
and  would  have  appeared  after  the  usual 
time.  The  incisors  showed  considerable  use. 
The  height  and  thickness  of  the  jaw  and  the 
size  of  the  teeth  reached  the  dimensions 
of  those  of  a  full-grown  man  of  our  time, 
and  even  surpassed  them  in  some  respects. 
The  forward  part  of  the  jaw  retreated  so 
much  as  to  obliterate  the  chin.  These 
marks,  similar  to  those  that  are  observed 
in  a  still  higher  degree  in  other  diluvial 
jaws,  show  that  we  have  to  deal  with  a  man 
of  very  low  organization.  Professor  Schaff- 
hausen rejected  the  idea  that  the  develop- 
ment of  the  teeth  had  been  prevented  by  a 
pathological  cause.  Virchow  opposed  both 
the  view  that  the  jaw  was  like  that  of  an 
ape  and  the  one  that  it  was  a  child's.  The 
case  was  a  rare  instance  of  heterotopy  in 
a  man  of  gigantic  size.  The  jaw  was  sub- 
mitted to  a  committee,  who  subjected  it  to 
a  careful  examination  and  comparison.  No 
one's  views  were  changed,  but  the  commit- 
tee reported  that  the  proportions  of  the  teeth 
considerably  exceeded  those  of  a  child's 
teeth,  and  reached  those  that  are  attained 
only  in  a  full-grown  man ;  it  discovered 
nothing  ape-like  in  the  chin,  but  found,  on 
measuring  it,  that,  instead  of  retreating  as 
it  appeared  to  do,  its  line  was  perpendicular 
to  the  upper  surface  of  the  incisors,  taken 
as  a  horizon.  By  carefully  cutting  away 
the  plaster  that  held  the  left  larger  incisor 
in  the  preparation,  an  extraordinarily  thick 
and  plump  root,  rounded  below,  and  quite 
different  in  its  proportions  from  the  normal, 
was  brought  to  view ;  and  the  committee 
advised  that  the  preparation  of  the  speci- 
men made  by  Professor  Virchow  be  revised, 
so  that  the  jaw  could  be  subjected  to  a 
more  thorough  examination. 

A  Lignified  Snake. — Naturalists  are  in- 
debted to  Senhor  Lopez  Netto,  Brazilian 
Minister  to  the  United  States,  for  introduc- 
ing to  their  attention  a  specimen  of  a  phe- 
nomenon which,  although  it  had  been  re- 
garded as  possible,  had  never  before  been 
observed — that  of  an  animal  turned   into 


POPULAR  MISCELLANY. 


*39 


wood.  The  specimen  is  that  of  a  snake 
called  the  jararaca,  one  of  the  most  venom- 
ous reptiles  of  the  province  of  Matto  Grosso, 
in  Brazil,  which,  having  crept  into  a  crack 
in  the  bark  of  a  tree,  has  died  there,  and 
afterward  become  lignified.  As 
the  cut  shows,  but  less  plainly 
than  the  specimen  itself,  the 
head,  neck,  and  other  parts  of 
the  animal  are  clearly  delineated, 
and  the  most  delicate  details  of 
the  organization  are  plainly  visi- 
ble in  many  regions — as  in  the 
nostrils  and  the  eye-cavities,  and 
in  the  disposition  of  the  scales 
and  the  cephalic  plate  on  a  whole 
half  of  the  surface  of  the  head. 
And  the  identity  of  the  figure 
with  the  little  jararaca  of  Brazil 
has  been  acknowledged  to  be  evi- 
dent by  persons  who  are  acquaint- 
ed with  that  reptile.  M.  Louis 
Olivier,  of  the  Botanical  Society 
of  France,  who  has  made  an  ana- 
tomical examination  of  the  figure, 
reports  that  he  has  found  it  to 
be  composed  of  cells  and  fibers 
like  those  of  the  secondary  wood 
which  surrounds  it.  "  The  forma- 
tion," he  says,  "  can  not  be  ex- 
plained by  saying  that  it  has  re- 
sulted from  the  deposition  of  the 
elements  in  a  hollow,  which,  hav- 
ing been  traversed  by  the  animal, 
has  preserved  its  form  ;  for  not 
only  the  contour  of  the  serpent, 
but  the  whole  relief  of  his  form, 
is  recognizable  in  the  wood.  The 
entire  body  of  the  animal  has 
been  thus  lignified,  except  the 
center,  where  the  constituent  ele- 
ments of  the  animal  still  exist. 
Following  the  line  of  the  projec- 
tion of  the  head  may  be  seen  a 
cylindrical  figure,  also  in  relief, 
which  seems  to  represent  the 
larva  of  an  insect.  The  deduction 
is  therefore  drawn  that  the  reptile, 
pursuing  the  insect  into  a  crack 
in  the  tree,  had  insinuated  itself 
between  the  wood  and  the  bark,  or  into  the 
zone  of  the  cambium,  out  of  which  the  wood 
and  inner  bark  are  formed.  Having  died 
there,  it  went  through  the  process  of  decay, 


in  the  course  of  which  each  animal  particle 
as  it  was  dissolved  was  replaced  by  a  particle 
of  woody  tissue  deposited  by  the  cambium. 
The  specimen  was  exhibited  to  the  Botan- 
ical Society  of  France  on  the  9th  of  April 


last,  when,  as  we  learn  from  a  note  from  M. 
Olivier  to  Senhor  Netto,  there  were  present 
M.  Bonnet,  President ;  M.  Chatin,  General 
Secretary,  etc. ;  M.  Duchartre,  Professor  in 


140 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


the  Faculty  of  Sciences,  etc. ;  M.  Prillier, 
Professor  at  the  Central  School  of  Arts 
and  Manufactures  and  at  the  Agronomic 
Institute  ;  M.  Malinvaud,  Secretary  and  Li- 
brarian of  the  Society ;  Dr.  Edmond  Bon- 
net, of  the  Museum  of  Natural  History ; 
and  M.  Paul  Petit.  "  These  gentlemen, 
after  having  examined  the  specimen  sub- 
mitted to  them,  with  the  most  lively  inter- 
est, agreed,  in  explanation  of  the  remark- 
able phenomenon  which  it  presents,  that 
there  has  been  a  gradual  substitution  of 
ligneous  fibers  and  cells  for  the  constituent 
elements  of  the  snake.  The  reptile  had  in- 
troduced itself  into  a  fissure  of  the  tree  be- 
tween the  wood  and  the  bark,  and  had  died 
there ;  and  as  rapidly  as  its  flesh  decayed 
the  place  which  it  had  filled  was  occupied 
by  the  cells  produced  by  the  generative  zone 
of  the  secondary  wood,  that  zone  becoming 
hypertrophied  on  contact  with  the  animal,  as 
is  attested  by  the  well-defined  relief  which 
it  still  presents.  No  objection  was  opposed 
to  this  interpretation  of  the  facts  ;  but  in 
admitting  the  same  explanation  which  I  had 
endeavored  to  give  you  before  the  meeting, 
neither  my  colleagues  nor  myself  intended 
to  depreciate  the  importance  of  the  phe- 
nomenon which  is  the  object  of  it ;  the  wood 
of  the  formation  of  the  vegetable  tissues 
appears  sufficient  to  give  an  account  of  it. 
It  is  no  less  true  that,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
most  competent  persons,  the  specimen  which 
you  have  made  known  to  the  scientific  world 
is  the  finest  example  that  has  so  far  been 
brought  forward  in  illustration  of  the  theory 
of  the  normal  play  and  accidental  hyper- 
trophy of  the  generative  tissues  of  plants." 
The  specimen  was  also  shown  to  M.  Van 
Tieghen.  He  was  very  busy,  and  able  to 
give  it  only  a  cursory  examination  ;  but 
the  opinion  he  expressed  concerning  its 
nature  was  fully  in  accord  with  that  of 
his  fellow-botanists.  Dr.  Edmond  Bonnet 
and  D.  Adanson  had  recollections  of  speci- 
mens presenting  similar  characteristics  to  a 
certain  extent,  but  declared  that  no  known 
specimen  offered  nearly  so  complete  an  ex- 
emplification of  the  wonderful  phenomenon 
of  transformation  as  this  one.  The  editors 
of  this  journal  have  been  permitted,  by  the 
courtesy  of  Senhor  Netto,  to  inspect  the 
specimen,  and  are  glad  to  add  to  that  of 
the  French  botanists  their  testimony  to  its 
remarkable  character. 


Progress  of  Scientific  Forestry. — Sylvi- 
culture, or  the  culture  of  forests,  as  it  is 
understood  and  applied  in  the  countries  of 
Europe,  where  it  has  been  studied  as  a 
science,  is  the  application  to  woodland  prop- 
erty of  certain  economical  principles  which, 
in  their  spirit,  contain  nothing  more  than 
what  is  held  to  be  necessary  for  the  well- 
ordered  management  of  landed  property  in 
general ;  and  which  may  be  summed  up  as 
follows  :  1.  The  obtaining,  within  approxi- 
mate limits,  of  a  regularly  sustained  revenue 
from  the  land  which  the  forest  covers.  2. 
The  utilization,  to  the  fullest  extent  possi- 
ble, of  the  natural  productive  powers  of  the 
soil.  3.  Progressive  improvement  in  the 
value  of  the  property.  4.  Final  realization 
of  the  crop  to  the  greatest  advantage.  "  It 
is  in  the  development  of  these  principles," 
says  Colonel  G.  F.  Pearson,  in  a  lecture  be- 
fore the  British  Society  of  Arts,  "  and  in 
their  application  to  forests  of  different  sorts, 
that  the  true  science  of  forestry  consists." 
The  rapid  disappearance  of  the  forests  first 
attracted  attention,  in  Europe,  at  about  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The 
first  measures  to  regulate  the  evil  were  not 
very  efficient,  but  the  subject  came  under 
the  attention  of  the  distinguished  naturalists 
of  the  succeeding  generations,  and  a  system 
— that  of  lire  el  aire — was  adopted.  Under 
this  system  a  period  called  a  revolution  was 
fixed,  in  which  the  forest  was  destined  to  be 
cleared  off  entirely,  and  reproduced  by  nat- 
ural seeding.  To  this  end  the  wood  was 
divided  into  a  number  of  compartments 
equal  to  the  number  of  years  in  the  revolu- 
tion, one  of  which  was  felled  every  year,  or 
at  such  regular  intervals  of  time  as  were  de- 
termined in  the  working  plan,  a  few  stand- 
ard trees  only  being  left  as  seed-bearers. 
This  system  was  continued  till  within  the 
last  half -century,  but  did  not  prove  efficient ; 
and  any  approach  to  sound  forestry  was  un- 
known in  France  till  the  forest-school  was 
established  at  Nancy,  in  1 824.  Considerable 
progress  had  been  made  before  this  time, 
even  before  the  close  of  the  last  century,  by 
the  German  foresters,  who  were  the  first  to 
base  the  principles  of  the  art  on  observa- 
tion, and  treat  it  in  a  scientific  manner. 
Schools  of  sylviculture  now  exist  in  all  the 
principal  countries  of  Europe,  except  Great 
Britain ;  and  Dr.  Hough,  of  the  United 
States,  last  year  visited  all  the  forest-schools 


POPULAR  MISCELLANY. 


141 


of  Europe,  with  a  view  of  founding  an  Amer- 
ican school.  Considerable  progress  has 
been  made  in  forestry  in  India,  where  steps 
for  forming  a  regular  forest  administration 
were  taken  immediately  after  the  mutiny. 
A  policy  of  sending  candidates  to  foreign 
schools  to  be  trained  has  given  the  state  a 
body  of  able  men,  thoroughly  grounded  in 
the  management  of  natural  forests  covering 
extensive  tracts  of  country.  Within  the  last 
two  years  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  Cy- 
prus have  been  furnished  with  forest  officers 
from  France.  The  Mauritius,  Ceylon,  the 
Straits  Settlements,  Hong-Kong,  Feejee,  and 
other  British  colonies,  are  all  following  suit, 
and  have  recourse  to  Kew  and  other  similar 
institutions  for  foresters.  Of  all  the  British 
colonies,  South  Australia  is  the  one  that  is 
giving  most  attention  to  the  subject.  More 
would,  undoubtedly,  be  accomplished  in  all 
the  colonies  had  Great  Britain  a  central  in- 
stitution for  training  a  sufficient  number  of 
foresters  to  supply  their  needs. 

Egypt  as  a  Health  Resort. — In  estimat- 
ing the  merits  of  Egypt  as  a  winter  residence 
for  invalids,  Dr.  Edith  Pechey  specifies  dry- 
ness and  equableness  of  temperature  as  the 
characteristics  of  climate  chiefly  demanded 
for  such  a  purpose.  Of  the  former  quality 
one  soon  has  practical  proof  iu  a  Nile  voy- 
age. The  hair  gets  very  dry,  the  nails  grow 
slowly  and  are  very  brittle,  and  all  articles 
of  use  in  some  way  give  testimony  of  it. 
The  air  becomes  drier  with  the  ascent  of 
the  river,  "  and  the  dry  heat  is  more  easily 
borne  than  moist  heat.  One  experiences  no 
discomfort  from  the  increase  of  temperature 
as  one  approaches  the  tropics ;  in  fact,  one 
thoroughly  enjoys  there  what  in  Lower 
Egypt  would  be  found  quite  oppressive." 
Egypt  is  not  exempt  from  occasional  sud- 
den and  great  changes  of  temperature,  but 
they  are  rare.  Of  much  greater  importance 
are  the  variations.  The  temperature  falls 
suddenly  at  sunset  for  about  half  an  hour, 
and  another  depression  takes  place  in  the 
early  morning.  The  changes  are  very  evi- 
dent in  a  wooden  boat,  and  from  this  fact 
constitute  a  great  drawback  in  the  dahabeeah 
voyage  for  invalids.  In  Nubia,  the  diurnal 
variation  is  much  less  marked,  and  the 
nights  are  only  pleasantly  cool.  The  life 
on  the  dahabeeah  is  a  very  enjoyable  one, 


and  "  for  cases  of  overwork  nothing  could 
be  devised  more  calculated  to  restore  and 
strengthen  the  intellectual  powers  than  the 
Nile  trip,  and  here  no  physician  need  hesi- 
tate for  a  moment.  There  are  perfect  rest, 
no  railway  bustle  or  jar,  the  variety  of  trav- 
eling in  fact  without  the  fatigue,  with  the 
constant  enjoyment  of  sunshine  and  fresh 
air."  Phthisical  and  rheumatic  patients 
will  also  be  greatly  benefited,  if  they  are 
careful  in  guarding  themselves  against  the 
night  and  morning  chills. 

Cowries  and  African  Currency. — Herr 
John  C.  Hertz  has  published  a  memoir,  in 
the  "  Transactions  of  the  Geographical  So- 
ciety of  Hamburg,"  on  the  use  and  diffusion 
of  the  cowrie-shell  (Cyprcea  moneta)  as  a 
medium  of  exchange.  The  author's  father 
dispatched  a  vessel  to  the  Maldive  Islands 
in  1844  for  a  cargo  of  cowries,  to  be  sold  to 
merchants  for  use  in  West  African  trade. 
Not  finding  as  many  shells  there  as  they  had 
anticipated,  they  completed  their  cargo  with 
the  larger  and  less  valuable  species  of  Zan- 
zibar, where  the  cowries  are  burned  into 
lime.  Several  cargoes  of  cowries  were  sent 
annually  to  Whydah  and  Lagos,  where  they 
were  exchanged  with  the  slave-traders  for 
the  Spanish  doubloons  they  received  from 
the  sale  of  slaves.  The  Hamburg  ship- 
captains  dispatched  this  money  home  from 
Cape  Town.  The  cowrie-trade  continued 
to  extend  as  the  slave-trade  flourished,  till 
Brazil  took  measures  to  prevent  the  intro- 
duction of  African  slaves.  Simultaneously 
with  the  extinction  of  the  slave-trade  began 
the  introduction  of  palm-oil,  and  a  new  trade, 
in  which  that  product  took  the  place  of  the 
Spanish  doubloons,  that  grew  as  the  use 
of  palm-oil  was  extended.  It  flourished 
greatly  during  the  Crimean  War,  when  the 
Black  Sea  tallow  was  excluded  from  the 
markets.  With  it  also  flourished  the  trade 
in  cowries,  which  thus  appears  to  be  con- 
nected with  so  many  historical  events  that, 
considered  from  that  point  of  view,  it  may 
be  regarded  as  in  some  sort  a  measure  of 
historical  development — a  view  which  re- 
ceived another  exemplification  in  185'2,  when 
England  blockaded  the  coast  of  Dahomey, 
and  the  trade  in  cowries  was  stopped.  In 
1845  the  Sultan  of  Bornoo  reformed  his 
currency,  and  introduced  Spanish  doubloons 


142 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


in  place  of  the  cotton-cloth  that  had  hitherto 
served  as  money,  with  cowries,  at  the  rate 
of  four  thousand  to  the  dollar,  for  small 
change.  A  large  demand  for  cowries  sprang 
up,  and  the  trade  in  them  was  stimulated  to 
such  an  excess  that  the  market  was  glutted, 
and  it  afterward  languished  for  several  years. 
The  present  demand  is  quite  lively.  The 
cowrie-shell  is  used  as  currency  principally 
in  the  countries  near  the  Niger,  except  in 
Ashantce,  where  gold-dust  is  the  medium  of 
exchange.  North  of  Ashantee,  gold-dust  and 
the  gera  or  cola-nut  (Sterculia  acuminata) 
are  used  with  cowries,  a  load  of  sixty  pounds 
of  the  nuts  being  considered  equivalent  in 
value  to  about  fifteen  thousand  cowries. 
The  shells  have  been  used  as  a  medium  of 
exchange  from  a  high  antiquity.  Marco 
Polo  found  them  circulating  in  Yunnan  in 
the  thirteenth  century ;  and  they  have  been 
discovered  in  prehistoric  graves  in  the  Bal- 
tic countries.  Herr  A.  Wormann  says,  in  a 
paper  of  the  Hamburg  society,  on  trade  by 
barter  in  Africa,  that  a  variety  of  objects 
besides  cowries  serve  as  measures  of  value 
in  the  different  countries  of  that  continent. 
Among  them  are  pearls,  little  Nuremberg 
looking-glasses,  iron,  copper,  brass,  cloth, 
salt,  tobacco-leaves,  writing-paper,  the  cola- 
nut,  goats,  horses,  cattle,  and  slaves ;  and 
the  regions  in  which  each  of  these  articles 
circulates  are  defined  by  fixed  limits.  Iron 
and  copper  from  Egypt  circulate  in  the  up- 
per Nile  region ;  Maria-Theresa  thalers  and 
cowries  in  Soodan  ;  cowries,  pearls,  and 
"  Mericani  "  (unbleached  goods)  on  the  East 
coast  and  in  the  region  of  the  Arab  trade. 
South  and  west  of  these  countries  are  distinct 
trade-regions  that  have  no  direct  connection 
with  them,  in  each  of  which  a  different  cur- 
rency is  needed,  although  ivory  and  slaves 
are  the  only  products. 

Shooting  -  Stars,  their  Traditions  and 
their  Origin. — The  appearance  of  comets 
and  shooting  -  stars  announced  to  the  an- 
cients and  to  our  ancestors  the  death  of 
some  grand  personage  or  some  woe,  and  the 
chronicles  are  full  of  notices  of  such  phe- 
nomena. The  notices  are,  in  fact,  occasion- 
ally so  numerous  as  to  be  suspicious,  for,  as 
Lubienietz  remarks  in  his  "Cometography,'' 
when  an  event  of  such  a  kind  happened, it  was 
thought  there  must  have  been  a  comet  about 


the  time,  and  so  it  was  put  down ;  and  an 
amusing  picture  has  been  made  of  the  per- 
plexity of  a  cometographer  who  could  not 
find  any  comet  for  seventeen  years,  portent- 
ous of  the  events  that  were  to  happen  during 
that  period.  The  Chinese  records  are  more 
trustworthy,  for  their  observers  were  con- 
stantly at  their  posts,  and  formed  a  regu- 
larly and  scientifically  organized  body.  The 
documents  recording  the  observations  were 
specially  preserved ;  for  the  Chinese,  from  a 
time  many  centuries  before  the  Christian 
era,  attributed  to  the  different  stellar  groups 
a  direct  influence  on  the  different  provinces 
of  their  country.  As  shooting-stars  may  be 
seen  at  almost  any  time,  it  was  to  be  ex- 
pected that  a  great  number  of  notices  of  the 
phenomena  must  have  been  recorded  during 
the  forty  centuries  of  which  we  have  a  lit- 
erature of  some  kind.  Plutarch,  in  his  biog- 
raphy of  Lysander,  makes  a  near  approach 
to  the  modern  explanation  of  the  origin  of 
these  bodies,  saying,  "Some  philosophers 
believe  that  the  shooting-stars  are  not  de- 
tached parts  of  the  ether  which  go  out  in 
the  air  soon  after  they  have  been  inflamed, 
that  they  no  more  originate  in  the  combus- 
tion of  the  air  which  is  dissolved  in  great 
quantity  in  the  upper  regions,  but  that  they 
are  rather  falling  celestial  bodies."  The 
general  opinion  is,  that  shooting-stars  are 
bodies  of  small  dimensions  that  circulate, 
under  the  influence  of  attraction,  among  the 
planets  in  the  same  way  as  the  planets  them- 
selves. When  they  cross  our  atmosphere, 
the  friction  develops  heat  enough  to  consume 
them,  most  frequently  before  they  reach  our 
soil.  The  mean  height  at  which  the  mete- 
ors become  luminous  exceeds,  however,  the 
estimated  height  of  our  atmosphere.  Pois- 
son  has,  therefore,  suggested  that,  as  they 
could  hardly  have  become  inflamed  from 
friction  at  such  a  height,  an  atmosphere  of 
neutral  electricity  may  exist  considerably 
beyond  the  mass  of  the  air  which  is  subject 
to  the  earth's  attraction,  and  is  disturbed 
by  the  entrance  of  the  meteors,  so  that  they 
become  electrified  and  incandescent.  Any 
theory  to  account  fully  for  the  origin  of  shoot- 
ing-stars must  explain  the  periodic  swarms. 
For  this  reason,  the  theory  of  ejectment 
from  lunar  volcanoes  must  fail,  even  were 
it  not  otherwise  shown  to  be  baseless.  M. 
Faye  accounts  for  the  August  meteors  by 


NOTES. 


H3 


supposing  a  meteoric  belt  circulating  around 
the  suu  which  crosses  the  ecliptic  at  a  point 
where  the  earth  must  meet  it  at  the  time  of 
the  annual  shower,  but  this  leaves  the  No- 
vember meteors  still  unexplained.  Schiapa- 
relli  and  Le  Verrier  have  suggested  that  the 
November  meteors  originate  in  a  swarm  of 
corpuscles  which  move  in  orbits  very  close  to 
each  other,  having  a  period  of  about  thirty- 
three  years,  and  elements  very  similar  to 
those  of  Temple's  comet.  Schiaparelli  also 
connects  the  August  meteors  with  the  comet 
of  1861,  and  other  swarms  have  been  simi- 
larly connected  with  different  comets.  The 
Chinese  annals  furnish  data  which  indicate 
that  the  greater  number  of  shooting-stars 
are  seen  when  the  earth  is  passing  from  the 
summer  solstice  to  the  winter  solstice,  and 
this  appears  to  be  confirmed  by  the  phenom- 
ena of  the  August  and  November  meteors. 
The  ancients  and  the  authors  of  the  middle 
ages  abound  in  notices  of  portents,  falling 
stai'S,  fiery  spears,  fiery  swords,  burning 
skies,  showers  of  blood,  etc.,  a  large  propor- 
tion of  which  may  be  referred  to  shooting- 
stars.  The  earliest  record  so  far  found  is 
the  statement  that  Zoroaster  was  destroyed 
by  fire,  assigned  to  205V  b.  c,  and  the  next 
the  destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah, 
1915.  Many  of  the  middle-age  accounts 
give  the  phenomena  the  appearance  of  ar- 
mies and  battles  in  the  sky. 


NOTES. 

Mr.  Leonard  Waldo,  of  the  Thermo- 
metric  Bureau  of  the  Observatory  of  Yale 
College,  reports  that  more  than  twice  as 
many  thermometers  were  examined  in  1881 
-'82~as  in  1880-'81,  and  that  4,552  certifi- 
cates were  issued  during  the  year  covered 
by  the  last  report.  The  attention  of  the 
bureau  has  been  directed  to  the  study  of  a 
test  for  the  sensitiveness  of  thermometers, 
or  for  the  time  required  for  each  instrument 
to  reach  its  maximum.  A  sufficiently  deli- 
cate, simple  test  to  meet  the  conditions  of 
medical  practice  has  not  yet  been  devised. 

President  Charles  E.  Fay,  of  the  Ap- 
palachian Mountain  Club,  considered  the 
nomenclature  of  mountains  and  rivers  in 
his  last  annual  address.  A  good  name,  he 
suggested,  should  be  individual,  and  suggest- 
ive of  no  other  object  than  the  one  to  which 
it  is  applied.  The  Indian  names  are  excel- 
lent for  that  reason,   and   because  in  the 


nature  of  things  they  can  have  no  other 
meaning  for  us  than  their  special  one.  Per- 
sonal surnames  are  not  so  objectionable  as 
they  may  seem  to  be,  for,  unless  they  are 
derived  from  very  conspicuous  persons,  they 
may  in  time  lose  their  associations  with  in- 
dividuals and  become  merged  in  the  identity 
of  the  mountain.  The  names  of  the  "  Presi- 
dential Range "  are  among  the  most  ob- 
jectionable of  this  class,  because  of  the  dif- 
ficulty of  shaking  off  their  associations  with 
the  Presidents.  Artificially  formed  names 
are  apt  to  be  awkward  and  hard  to  natural- 
ize ;  and  descriptive  names,  unless  they  are 
rarely  well  chosen,  are  liable  to  degenerate 
toward  the  commonplace  and  irrelevant. 

Mr.  W.  A.  Hazen,  in  a  paper  on  "  Air. 
Pressures  west  of  the  Mississippi  River," 
published  by  the  Signal  Service,  suggests 
that  the  position  and  extent  of  areas  of 
high  pressure  in  the  region  of  Montana  dur- 
ing the  winter  months  may  have  a  very  im- 
portant bearing  upon  the  meteorological 
condition  of  the  whole  United  States.  His 
view  is  based  upon  the  fact  that  in  Novem- 
ber and  December,  1880,  a  permanent  area 
of  high  pressure  existed  in  Montana,  and 
extended  over  an  immense  territory,  and  the 
winter  was  extremely  cold  over  the  entire 
country ;  while  in  November  and  December, 
1881,  the  area  of  high  pressure  was  less 
marked  and  was  to  the  west  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  and  the  cold  of  the  winter  was 
likewise  very  much  less  marked.  Many 
more  years  of  observation  will,  however,  he 
concedes,  be  necessary  before  any  fixed  law 
can  be  established. 

The  death  is  announced  of  Professor 
Leith  Adams,  of  Queen's  College,  Cork.  As 
a  surgeon-major  in  the  army,  he  received 
much  praise  for  his  report  on  the  epidemic 
cholera  in  Malta,  in  1865.  Having  retired 
from  the  army  in  1873,  he  was  appointed 
Professor  of  Zoology  in  the  College  of  Sci- 
ence, in  Dublin,  and  afterward,  in  1878, 
Professor  of  Natural  History,  at  Cork.  He 
was  author  of  "  Wanderings  of  a  Natural- 
ist in  India,"  "  The  Western  Himalayas  and 
Cashmere,"  "Notes  of  a  Naturalist  in  the 
Nile  Valley  and  Malta,"  and  works  on  the 
"  Natural  History  of  Eastern  Canada,"  and 
on  "British  Fossil  Elephants." 

The  "  Gazette  Maritime  et  Commerciale  " 
relates,  in  its  column  of  marine  accidents, 
a  curious  instance  of  the  formidable  power 
of  molecular  forces.  The  Italian  ship  Fran- 
cesca,  loaded  with  rice,  had  put  in  at  East 
London,  leaking  badly.  A  squad  of  work- 
men was  put  on  board  to  pump  the  vessel 
out  and  unload  it ;  but,  in  spite  of  all  their 
diligence,  the  rice  absorbed  the  water  more 
rapidly  than  they  could  discharge  it,  and 
swelled  until  it  forcibly  burst  the  vessel  to 
pieces. 


144 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


A  telegraphic  despatch  from  Gottingcn, 
Germany,  September  25th,  announces  the 
death  of  the  chemist  Friedrich  Woehler, 
Director  of  the  Chemical  Institute  at  that 
place.  Professor  Woehler  was  born  in 
1 800,  and  was  appointed  to  his  position  in 
the  Institute  at  Gottingen  in  1836.  Among 
the  important  chemical  discoveries  with 
which  he  is  credited  are  those  of  a  new 
method  of  obtaining  nickel  pure,  and  the 
isolation  of  the  metal  aluminium,  for  which 
he  was  elected  a  chevalier  of  the  Legion 
of  Honor.  His  text-books  on  organic  and 
inorganic  chemistry  are  much  used  in  Ger- 
man schools.  He  contributed  many  original 
papers  to  the  German  chemical  journals. 

Our  readers  will  remember  our  account 
of  the  experiments  of  Mr.  Bjerknes,  of 
Christiania,  Norway,  in  the  production  of 
phenomena  similar  to  those  of  electrical  and 
magnetic  attraction  and  repulsion  by  means 
of  hydro-dynamic,  mechanical  action.  Mr. 
Stroh  has  performed  a  series  of  similar  ex- 
periments, and  has  produced  phenomena 
similar  to  those  obtained  by  Mr.  Bjerknes, 
by  means  of  sonorous  vibrations  in  the  air. 
He  uses  a  melodeon  reed,  the  sound  of 
which  goes  into  a  brass  tube  in  which  the 
reed  is  inclosed,  and  from  this  into  a  larger 
tube,  to  which  is  attached  a  bifurcating 
India-rubber  pipe,  each  branch  of  which 
ends  in  a  tambour.  The  vibrations  may  be 
made  consonant  or  dissonant  by  adjustment 
of  the  lengths  of  the  India-rubber  tube 
branches.  When  the  vibrations  are  conso- 
nant, the  tambours  are  attracted  toward 
each  other ;  when  the  vibrations  are  disso- 
nant, they  are  repelled.  If  a  tambour  in  a 
state  of  vibration  be  presented  to  a  disk 
which  is  not  vibrating,  attraction  takes 
place.  Thus,  the  phenomena  of  attraction 
and  repulsion  are  imitated  in  air  as  Mr. 
Bjerknes  has  imitated  them  in  water,  except 
that  they  present  themselves  in  an  inverse 
sense  from  that  in  which  they  are  exhibited 
under  electric  and  magnetic  influences. 

Dr.  Stephen  D.  Peet  maintains,  in  a 
paper  on  the  "  Prehistoric  Architectures  of 
America,"  that  they  differ  from  those  of 
any  other  continent,  in  that  they  exhibit 
architecture  in  its  lowest  stages,  and  at  the 
same  time  give  a  clew  to  its  development 
throughout  all  its  stages.  They  may  thus 
be  used  to  aid  in  the  study  of  the  early 
stages  of  historic  architecture  in  other 
lands.  They,  in  fact,  illustrate  the  transi- 
tion between  the  prehistoric  and  the  historic 
states.  In  Europe,  only  the  highest  class 
of  prehistoric  works  can  be  called  archi- 
tectural ;  in  America,  the  lowest  class  are 
worthy  of  that  name.  The  American  works, 
therefore,  begin  where  the  European  ones 
leave  off.  Beginning  at  a  point  where 
architecture  is  presented  in  an  undifferen- 
tiated state,  the  prehistoric  works  of  Amer- 


ica show  a  connected  line  of  progress,  es- 
pecially observable  in  the  gradation  which 
is  apparent  in  the  works  of  the  different 
sections  of  the  continent  as  we  go  from  the 
east  to  the  west. 

Mr.  Luctan  J.  Blake,  of  Boston,  who 
is  studying  at  Berlin,  on  the  Tyndall  Schol- 
arship, communicated  to  the  Prussian  Royal 
Academy  of  Sciences,  on  the  15th  of  June, 
through  Professor  Helmholtz,  a  paper  on 
the  "  Electrical  Neutrality  of  Steam  rising 
from  Still  Surfaces  of  Electrified  Water." 
He  describes  a  series  of  experiments  from 
which  he  draws  the  conclusion,  contrary  to 
the  theories  of  Becquerel  and  Sir  William 
Thomson,  that  in  steam  arising  without  eb- 
ullition, when  no  spray  is  thrown  up,  no 
convection  of  electricity  takes  place.  He  is 
continuing  his  experiments  to  confirm  this 
law. 

Dr.  D.  G.  Brinton,  of  Philadelphia,  is 
about  to  begin  the  publication  of  a  series 
of  works  to  constitute  a  "  Library  of  Abo- 
riginal American  Literature."  Each  work 
will  be  the  production  of  a  native,  and  will 
have  some  intrinsic  importance  in  addition 
to  its  value  as  a  linguistic  monument.  The 
books  will  be  printed  in  the  original  tongue, 
with  an  English  translation  and  notes. 
The  first  volume,  "  The  Chronicles  of  the 
Mayas,"  will  contain  five  works,  written  in 
the  Maya  language,  shortly  after  the  Span- 
ish conquest  of  Yucatan,  and  carrying  the 
history  back  several  centuries,  four  of 
which  have  never  been  published  or  before 
translated  into  any  European  tongue,  with 
a  history  of  the  conquest  written  by  a  Maya 
chief,  in  1562,  also  from  an  unpublished 
manuscript,  and  a  history  of  the  Mayas. 
It  will  be  published  before  the  end  of  the 
year,  and  will  be  furnished  to  subscribers 
at  three  dollars  a  copy. 

The  annual  congress  of  the  German 
Anthropological  Society  met  at  Frankfort, 
August  14th.  About  five  hundred  members 
were  present.  The  president,  Professor 
Lucae,  delivered  the  opening  address  on  the 
development  of  anthropology  during  the 
last  ten  years,  and  was  followed  by  Dr. 
Schliemann,  on  his  latest  excavations  at 
Troy ;  and  Professor  Virchow,  on  Mr.  Dar- 
win's relations  to  anthropology. 

A  famous  rose-bush  at  Hildesheim,  in 
Hanover,  which  is  said  to  be  a  thousand 
years  old,  and  is  reputed  to  have  been  plant- 
ed by  Charlemagne,  has  this  year  been 
covered  with  an  extraordinary  profusion  of 
blossoms — more,  it  is  declared,  than  it  was 
ever  known  to  bear  before.  New  shoots 
have  been  grafted  on  its  stems  within  a  few 
years,  and  have  grown  finely.  The  bush 
stands  on  the  outer  wall  of  the  crypt  of  the 
cathedral,  with  branches  reaching  to  more 
than  thirty  feet  in  breadth  and  nearly  thirty- 
five  feet  in  height. 


MATTHIAS  JACOB  SCHLEIDEN. 


THE 

POPULAR    SCIENCE 
MONTHLY. 


DECEMBER,  1882. 


ME.  GOLD  WIN  SMITH  ON  "  THE  DATA  OF  ETHICS." 

By  W.  D.  LE  SUEUE,  B.  A. 

"  Because  we  must  not  dream,  we  need  not  then  despair." 

— Matthew  Arnold,  in  Etnpedocles  on  Etna. 

MUCH  instruction  has  been  drawn  from  the  story  of  Naaman,  the 
Syrian,  who,  when  he  went  to  the  prophet  Elisha,  to  be  healed 
of  his  disease,  expected  that  the  man  of  God  would  "  do  some  great 
thing,"  and  was  greatly  discouraged  and  offended  when  he  merely 
recommended  him  to  so  through  a  strenuous  course  of  ablution  in  the 
most  convenient  stream.  There  is  one  application,  however,  of  the 
narrative  which  we  do  not  remember  to  have  seen  made,  and  yet  which 
is  undoubtedly  important.  The  prophet  of  olden  times  is  represented 
to-day  by  the  philosopher,  who  also  leads  a  life  of  retirement  and  se- 
vere contemplation.  And  just  as  the  contemporaries  of  the  prophet 
insisted  on  investing  him  with  magical  powers,  while  they  undervalued 
his  real  gifts  of  practical  sagacity  and  spiritual  insight,  so  do  the  men 
of  to-day  demand  of  the  philosopher  to  "  do  some  great  thing,"  while 
they  scorn  the  demonstration  he  offers  that  the  truth  has  neither  to  be 
brought  down  from  heaven  nor  up  from  hell,  but  is  very  nigh  them — 
in  their  hearts  and  on  their  lips.  Such  errors  are  to  be  expected  on 
the  part  of  the  multitude  ;  but  there  are  men  who,  from  their  general 
breadth  of  view  and  clearness  of  perception,  might  be  expected  to  do 
justice  to  a  scheme  of  philosophy  just  in  proportion  to  its  avoidance 
of  extravagant  pretensions,  just  in  proportion  as  its  author  had  visibly 
aimed  at  learning  from  nature  rather  than  imposing  upon  nature  his 
own  preconceptions.  Of  the  class  of  men  to  whom  we  refer,  no  higher 
example  could  be  found  than  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith  :  of  the  kind  of  phi- 
losophy to  which  we  refer,  no  better  type  could  be  found  than  that  of 
Mr.  Herbert  Spencer. 

VOL.  XXII. — 10 


146  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

And  yet,  unless  our  own  judgment  is  fatally  at  fault,  Mr.  Smith, 
one  of  the  very  best-furnished  critics  of  modern  times,  has  signally 
failed  to  do  justice  to  Mr.  Spencer's  philosophy,  or  at  least  to  the  por- 
tion of  it  embodied  in  his  last  volume  but  one,  "  The  Data  of  Ethics." 
The  article  contributed  by  Mr.  Smith  to  the  "  Contemporary  Review  " 
for  February  of  this  year  constitutes  the  most  serious  attack,  by  far, 
that  has  been  made  upon  the  volume  in  question.  To  mention  Mr. 
Smith  as  its  author  is  to  vouch  for  the  force,  perspicuity,  and  felicity 
of  the  style,  and  for  a  large  infusion  of  that  common-sense  philosophy 
which  carries  persuasion  to  the  general  reader.  Many  have  read  that 
article  who  never  read  "  The  Data  of  Ethics "  ;  and  we  have  little 
doubt  that  the  opinion  of  these  in  regard  to  the  questions  at  issue  has 
been  largely  molded  by  it.  In  these  days  of  rapid  literary  produc- 
tion it  is  a  rare  thimr  to  find  an  article  remembered  three  months  after 
it  is  written  ;  but  Mr.  Smith's  article  still  finds  echoes  in  many  quar- 
ters of  society,  and  particularly  from  the  pulpit.  It  can  not,  therefore, 
be  considered  too  late  to  submit  it  to  a  careful  examination,  in  order 
to  see  how  far  Mr.  Spencer's  positions  have  really  been  shaken  by  the 
arguments  brought  against  them. 

Mr.  Spencer's  book  is  essentially  a  study  of  human  conduct  (pur- 
posive action)  in  its  origin  and  development,  with  a  view  to  discov- 
ering the  nature  and  sanctions  of  morality.  That  it  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  that  men  should  feel  strongly  the  distinction  between  right 
and  wrong  Mr.  Spencer  everywhere  implies  ;  and  his  object  is  to  place 
that  distinction  on  a  basis  which,  if  not  so  imposing  as  that  heretofore 
furnished  by  theology,  may  at  least  not  be  subject  to  the  vicissitudes 
which  seem  to  be  the  portion  of  all  theological  codes.  We  must  pre- 
sume our  readers  to  be  more  or  less  familiar  with  the  work  in  question, 
and  to  have  followed  Mr.  Spencer  in  his  demonstration  that,  as  purpose 
takes  a  wider  range,  it  gathers  to  itself  an  accompaniment  of  moral 
emotion.  In  connection  even  with  self -regarding  actions,  a  certain 
sense  of  moral  power  accompanies  every  subordination  of  an  immedi- 
ate impulse  to  one  more  remote.  The  individual  awakens  to  a  sense 
of  the  capacity  for  choice,  and  the  foundations  are  thus  laid  for  moral 
freedom.  It  is,  however,  the  life  of  the  family,  the  tribe,  the  commu- 
nity, that  lends  the  greatest  enlargement  to  individual  thought  and 
feeling.  Care  for  offspring  comes  first  to  break  down  the  tyranny  of 
exclusive  regard  for  self.  The  family  develops  into  the  tribe,  and  men 
learn  to  practice  a  certain  measure  of  justice  toward  one  another  as 
the  essential  condition  of  co-operation.  The  increasing  harmony  of 
outward  relations  has  its  inward  counterpart  in  increased  strength  and 
breadth  of  sympathy.  The  moral  quality  of  an  action  depends  upon 
the  degree  in  which  it  tends  to  promote  or  diminish  happiness  ;  but 
this,  as  Mr.  Spencer  repeatedly  points  out,  is  in  most  cases  to  be  de- 
termined rather  by  the  conformity  or  non-conformity  of  the  action 
with  certain  general  principles  ascertained  to  be  favorable  to  happiness 


MR.   GOLD  WIN  SMITH  ON  "THE  DATA  OF  ETHICS:'  147 

than  by  an  inquiry  into  the  results  likely  to  flow  from  it  in  a  special 
case.  Moral  actions,  in  general,  are  those  favorable  to  life,  not  only 
to  its  preservation,  but  to  its  improvement  ;  immoral  actions  are  those 
which  tend  to  the  shortening  or  to  the  impoverishing  of  life.  In 
speaking  of  life  here,  we  speak  not  only  of  the  condition  of  animation, 
but  of  all  that  successive  experiences,  successive  enlargements  of  the 
range  of  thought,  action,  and  sympathy,  have  built  into,  or  worked 
into,  the  human  consciousness.  To  help  forward  this  work  of  integra- 
tion is  good  ;  to  retard  or  counteract  it  is  evil.  In  common  speech  the 
terms  good  and  evil  are  upon  the  whole  applied  to  actions  just  in  ac- 
cordance as  they  tend,  or  are  believed  to  tend,  in  one  or  other  of  these 
directions. 

As  the  aim  of  all  voluntary  action  is  the  furtherance  of  happiness, 
the  test  of  perfection  in  an  action  will  be  its  fully  acconrplishing  that 
object.  A  man  who  procures  a  momentary  gratification  by  some  un- 
wholesome indulgence  has  not  performed,  even  from  a  selfish  point 
of  view,  a  perfect  action,  seeing  that  its  effects  are  partly,  at  least, 
destructive  of  the  end  he  has  in  view.  The  man  who,  losing  his  tem- 
per, quarrels  with  a  neighbor,  does  not,  even  from  a  selfish  point  of 
view,  perform  a  perfect  action  ;  for,  whatever  satisfaction  he  may 
derive  at  the  moment  from  the  utterance  of  angry  words,  he  can  de- 
rive no  benefit,  but  only  the  reverse,  from  the  subsequent  alienation  of 
his  neighbor's  feelings.  From  a  social  point  of  view,  no  action  is  per- 
fect which  benefits  only  the  actor,  or  which  benefits  some  one  else  at 
the  actor's  expense.  Self-sacrifice  may  be  ethically  noble  ;  but  that 
any  necessity  for  it  should  arise  implies  some  defect  in  the  conditions 
of  existence,  and  therefore  of  action.  If  it  enables  us,  on  the  one 
hand,  to  estimate  the  moral  resources  of  humanity,  it  points,  on  the 
other,  to  evils  which  it  behooves  us  to  remedy  ;  for  why,  we  ask, 
should  the  gain  of  one  be  purchased  by  the  loss  of  another  ?  To  find 
a  perfect  action,  therefore,  we  must  look  for  one  all  the  effects  of 
which,  so  far  as  they  can  be  traced,  are  good,  which  not  only  involves 
no  sacrifice  of  happiness,  either  to  the  actor  or  to  the  person  who  is 
the  object  of  the  action,  but  which  is  equally  beneficial  to  both.  So- 
cial evolution  being  a  manifestly  unfinished  process,  the  region  of  the 
social  activities  can  not  be  expected  to  furnish  the  best  examples  of 
perfect  adjustment.  In  searching  for  such  an  example,  Mr.  Spencer 
therefore  falls  back,  in  the  first  place,  on  the  physical  region,  and  cites 
— to  Mr.  Smith's  great  amusement  and  scorn — the  case  of  a  mother 
suckling  her  child.     We  quote  his  words  : 

Consider  the  relation  of  a  healthy  mother  to  a  healthy  infant.  Between  the 
two  there  exists  a  mutual  dependence  which  is  a  source  of  pleasure  to  both.  In 
yielding  its  natural  food  to  the  child,  the  mother  receives  gratification  ;  and  to 
the  child  there  comes  the  satisfaction  of  appetite — a  satisfaction  which  accom- 
panies furtherance  of  life,  growth,  and  enjoyment.  Let  the  relation  be  sus- 
pended, and  on  both  sides  there  is  suffering.     The  mother  experiences  both 


148  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

bodily  pain  and  mental  pain;  and  the  painful  sensation  borne  by  the  child 
brings,  as  its  results,  physical  mischief  and  some  damage  to  the  emotional  nat- 
ure. Thus  the  act  is  one  that  is  to  both  exclusively  pleasurable,  "while  absten- 
tion entails  pain  on  both ;  and  it  is  consequently  of  the  kind  we  here  call  abso- 
lutely right. 

Here  we  are  asked  to  recognize  the  reductio  ad  absurdum  of  Mr. 
Spencer's  whole  system  of  ethics.  For  our  own  part,  we  wholly  fail 
to  see  where  the  absurdity  comes  in.  If  what  we  are  in  search  of  is  a 
type  to  which  all  actions  might  advantageously  conform,  where,  we 
ask,  shall  a  better  be  found  than  this?  What  would  the  condition  of 
society  be  if  all  the  actions  of  men  conformed  to  this  type,  blessing 
alike  the  doers  and  those  toward  whom  the  actions  were  directed? 
There  is  but  one  answer  :  it  would  be  perfect.  The  end  of  all  ethical 
self -discipline,  the  end  of  all  social  adjustments,  is  precisely  to  bring 
things  as  nearly  as  possible  to  this  consummation.  The  good  man,  in 
the  highest  sense  of  the  word,  is  he  who  loves  his  neighbor  as  himself; 
in  other  words,  who  desires  that  his  action  shall  benefit  his  neighbor 
equally  with  himself,  and  not  one  neighbor  only,  but  all  neighbors,  and 
who,  therefore,  regulates  his  actions  with  a  view  to  universal  utility. 
And  in  all  social  reforms  what  is  it  that  we  desire  to  bring  about  but 
this — that  one  man's  gain  shall  not  be  another  man's  loss,  but  that  the 
gain  of  one  shall  be  the  gain  of  all  ? 

Mr.  Smith  places  in  contrast  with  the  typical  action  chosen  by  Mr. 
Spencer  the  case  of  an  Italian  physician  who  courted  the  infection  of 
a  deadly  plague  in  order  that  he  might,  for  the  benefit  of  his  stricken 
fellow-citizens,  the  better  understand  and  describe  its  symptoms  and 
development.  But  is  that  the  type  to  which  we  should  wish  all  human 
actions  to  conform  ?  That  there  should  be  such  actions,  Ave  must,  in 
the  first  place,  have  plagues  ;  and  in  order  that  we  may  have  plagues 
we  must  have  ignorance  and  filth.  Would  it  really  be  worth  while  to 
order  these  things,  to  the  end  that  one  Italian  physician  might,  by  an 
act  of  sublime  self-sacrifice,  shed  one  ray  of  light  athwart  the  general 
gloom  ? 

Mr.  Smith  says  that,  according  to  Mr.  Spencer,  "  the  action  of  the 
Italian  physician  ...  is  ethically  inferior  to  that  of  a  Caffre  woman 
suckling  her  child."  This,  however,  is  misleading.  Though  Mr. 
Smith  speaks  of  actions,  the  contrast  which  his  words  suggest  is  be- 
tween motives.  When  we  want  to  estimate  the  quality  of  an  action 
in  relation  solely  to  the  doer,  motive  is  everything  ;  but,  when  we  de- 
sire to  estimate  its  intrinsic  value  as  a  link  in  the  net-work  of  human 
activity,  motive  must  be  left  out  of  sight.  The  motives  of  the  Inquisi- 
tors were,  we  may  presume,  good,  but  their  deeds  were  diabolical. 
The  motive  in  this  case  was  of  the  highest  possible  order  ;  but, 
when  the  act  was  completed,  a  noble  life  had  been  sacrificed.  How 
can  an  act  which  inwraps  so  much  of  irreparable  loss  be  classed  as 
perfect  ? 


MB.  GOLD  WIN  SMITH  ON  "  THE  DATA  OF  ETHICS:'  149 

More  important  still  is  it  to  remark  that  Mr.  Spencer  distinctly 
assigns  the  action  which  he  cites  to  a  lower  plane  altogether  than  that 
to  which  the  action  of  the  Italian  physician  properly  belongs.  These 
are  the  words  with  which  he  introduces  his  illustration  :  "  Among  the 
best  examples  of  absolutely  right  actions  to  be  named  are  those  arising 
where  the  nature  and  the  requirements  have  been  molded  to  one 
another  before  social  evolution  began."  (The  italics  are  ours.)  The 
adaptation  found  subsisting  between  mother  and  child  was  established 
in  a  pre-social  period  ;  and,  though  social  evolution  has  since  been 
carried  forward  many  stages,  the  relation  in  question  retains  its  char- 
acter as  an  almost  wholly  physical  one.  No  doubt  maternal  love  is 
to-day  a  much  tenderer  and  more  complex  thing  than  in  savage  days  ; 
but,  as  the  higher  affection  is  not  always  guided  by  adequate  knowl- 
edge, we  must  still  look  to  the  physical  adaptation  as  the  highest  ex- 
ample of  perfect  adjustment.  The  action  of  the  mother  nourishing 
her  child  is  "  absolutely  right,"  but  "  absolutely  right  "  in  a  compara- 
tively low  sphere  of  conduct ;  the  action  of  the  Italian  physician  is 
only  "  relatively  right,"  but  it  is  "  relatively  right "  in  a  much  higher 
sphere  of  conduct.  It  is,  therefore,  not  correct  to  say,  without  care- 
ful qualification,  that,  according  to  Mr.  Spencer's  philosophy,  "  the 
action  of  the  Italian  physician  is  ethically  inferior  to  that  of  a  Caffre 
woman  suckling  her  child."  What  may  be  said  of  it  is  that  it  is  typ- 
ically inferior,  although  ethically  higher  ;  that  is  to  say,  less  adapted 
to  serve  as  the  type  of  perfect  action,  though  indicating  the  presence 
of  far  superior  moral  elements.  The  distinction  is  not  difficult  to 
seize. 

The  precise  position  from  which  Mr.  Smith  makes  his  attack  on 
Mr.  Spencer  is  not  very  easy  to  discern.  He  evidently  does  not  like 
the  evolution  philosophy  in  its  application  to  morals  ;  and  yet  it  is 
not  very  clear  that  he  takes  his  stand  distinctly  on  any  other.  A 
most  critical  time,  he  thinks,  has  arrived  in  the  intellectual  develop- 
ment of  society,  and  what  the  result  is  going  to  be  he  does  not  venture 
to  predict.  Serious  breaches  have  been  made  in  the  defenses,  not 
only  of  revealed,  but  of  natural  religion  ;  the  theistic  hypothesis  itself 
is  threatened.  The  breaches  may  be  repaired — Mr.  Smith  does  not 
feel  at  all  certain  one  way  or  the  other  ;  but  meanwhile  he  thinks  it  a 
safe  thing  to  point  out  the  deficiencies  of  the  evolution  philosophy 
as  compared  with  a  theistic  philosophy.  But  supposing  the  breaches 
should  not  be  repaired,  but,  on  the  contrary,  widened  ;  and  supposing 
we  should  have  in  the  end  to  fall  back  on  the  evolution  philosophy  or 
something  like  it,  would  it  not  then  be  the  part  of  wisdom  to  make 
the  most  of  it — to  show  it  in  the  most  favorable,  rather  than  in  the 
least  favorable,  light  ?  Mr.  Smith  seems  to  us  to  be  somewhat  in  the 
position  of  a  man  battering  a  house  in  which,  according  to  his  own 
admission,  he  may  some  day  have  to  live.  Supposing  the  evolution 
philosophy  to  be  true,  or  to  be  an  adumbration  of  the  truth,  any  de- 


i5o  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

fects  we  may  discover  in  it  are  simply  defects  in  the  constitution  of 
things  as  compared  with  our  former  conceptions  on  the  subject ;  and 
finding  fault  with  the  constitution  of  things  is  not  the  most  profitable 
of  employments. 

Among  the  objections  brought  by  Mr.  Smith  against  a  naturalistic 
morality,  the  following  seem  to  be  the  principal : 

1.  It  would  not  favor  such  acts  of  devotion  as  are  now  prompted 
by  "  the  ideas  and  hopes  "  of  religion. 

2.  It  can  not  explain  to  us  why  a  man  surrounded  with  all  imagi- 
nable worldly  comforts,  but  with  a  murder  on  his  conscience,  is  un- 
happy, while  a  man  who  gives  his  life  for  others  is  happy  in  the  act. 

3.  It  can  not  attach  any  meaning  to  such  words  as  "  the  sacredness 
of  human  life." 

4.  It  furnishes  no  basis  for  moral  approval  or  condemnation. 

Let  us  attempt  to  deal  with  these  objections  in  the  order  in  which 
they  stand  : 

1.  In  regard  to  acts  of  devotion,  it  will  be  observed  that  Mr. 
Smith  speaks  somewhat  hesitatingly.  Referring  to  the  manning  of  a 
life-boat  for  some  perilous  enterprise,  he  asks  if  we  are  "  sure  "  that 
the  men  would  not  be  less  ready  to  take  an  oar  were  they  told  that 
death  would  make  "  an  end  for  ever  of  them  and  of  their  connections 
with  those  whom  they  loved."  Well,  we  are  not  sure  what  the  effect 
would  be  of  a  sudden  and  most  untimely  announcement  of  that 
character  ;  but  that  does  not  really  seem  to  us  to  be  the  question. 
The  question,  if  we  mistake  not,  is,  whether,  if  the  ideas  contained  in 
"  The  Data  of  Ethics  "  prevailed  in  the  world,  it  would  be  possible  to 
maintain  a  life-boat  service  at  all  ;  and  we  should  like  to  ask  Mr. 
Smith  whether  he  is  sure  that  it  would  not.  If  he  is  uncertain  upon 
this  point,  his  uncertainty  may  perhaps  balance  ours  upon  the  other. 
Our  own  opinion,  wdaich  must  pass  for  what  it  is  worth,  is,  that  it 
would  be  quite  possible.  The  foundations  of  devotion  lie  very  deep 
in  human  nature.  That  poor  Caffre  mother  we  were  speaking  of  a 
moment  ago  would  illustrate  it  if  the  need  arose.  Every  nation  and 
every  tribe  has  had  its  heroes  who  cheerfully  faced  death  for  the  com- 
mon cause;  and  that  without  a  thought  of  future  reward,  or,  in  a  multi- 
tude of  cases,  any  definite  expectation  of  continued  existence.  Describ- 
ing one  of  the  very  worst  periods  of  Roman  history,  Tacitus  is  yet  able  to 
say,  "  Contumax  etiam  adversus  tormenta  servorum  fides  "  (slaves  were 
found  who  braved  even  torture  for  the  sake  of  their  masters).  Yet 
these  unhappy  bondmen  had  no  "  village  church  "  to  serve  as  the  cen- 
ter of  ideas  and  hopes  relating  to  another  sphere  of  existence.  If  we 
may  attempt  an  explanation  of  the  matter  in  terms  of  the  evolution 
philosophy,  we  should  say  that  the  course  of  physical  evolution  cre- 
ates in  us  a  strong  attachment  to  life,  but  that  the  course  of  what  Mr. 
Spencer  has  called  super-organic  evolution  gradually  creates  for  us 
objects  of  thought  and  affection  which  may  become  dearer  than  life 


MR.  GOLD  WIN  SMITH  ON  "  THE  DATA  OF  ETHICS."  151 

itself.  Our  hope,  therefore,  is  that,  in  the  society  of  the  future,  not 
only  will  "the  milkman  go  his  rounds" — a  point  upon  which  Mr. 
Smith  kindly  reassures  us,  and,  after  all,  one  of  no  little  significance — 
but  volunteers  for  the  life-boat,  the  fire-brigade,  and  all  necessary 
heroic  undertakings,  will  still  be  forthcoming.  If,  when  the  time  ar- 
rives, men  have  ceased  to  risk  their  lives,  as  they  now  so  frequently  do, 
in  foolish  enterprises,  without,  so  far  as  one  can  judge,  being  particu- 
larly incited  thereto  by  ideas  or  hopes  connected  with  the  village 
church,  it  will  be  all  the  better. 

2.  Evolutionary  ethics  can  not  explain  conscience,  can  not  tell  us 
why  the  bad  man  is  miserable  in  prosperity,  and  the  good  man  happy 
in  adversity.  Is  it  really  so  ?  What  is  human  character  but  a  com- 
plex of  mental  and  moral  habits,  every  habit  incorporated  into  it  be- 
coming a  more  or  less  imperative  voice  vibrating  through  the  man's 
whole  nature  ?  To  know  that  you  have  not  dotted  an  i  or  crossed 
a  t  will  sometimes  give  you  an  uncomfortable  feeling.  Make  a  rule 
of  anything,  and  you  will  not  depart  from  it  without  uneasiness.  How 
powerful  are  the  habits  of  the  body  every  one  knows,  and  those  of 
the  mind  are  not  less  so.  The  murderer  referred  to  by  Mr.  Smith 
is  ill  at  ease  because  he  has  allowed  a  momentary  impulse  connected 
with  the  least  authoritative  *  part  of  his  nature,  the  mere  desire  for 
personal  advantage,  to  carry  him  into  an  act  of  rebellion  against  a 
principle  of  conduct  woven  into  his  nature  long  before  he  was  born, 
and  for  which  in  his  subsequent  life  he  has  constantly  been  compelled, 
not  only  to  profess,  but  to  demand,  respect.  If  it  be  said  that  it  is 
impossible  to  account  on  this  theory  for  the  tone  of  absolute  authority 
with  which  conscience  urges  its  decrees,  we  would  ask  for  a  very  care- 
ful consideration  of  the  passages  quoted  below  from  the  "Data  of 
Ethics."  Mr.  Spencer  has  well  shown  that,  just  in  proportion  as  the 
reasons  for  doing,  or  refraining  from,  a  particular  act  are  dissociated 
from  what  we  may  call  the  ultimate  material  inducements  or  deter- 
rents, will  the  authority  they  possess  be  greater.  When  a  man  eats 
because  he  is  hungry,  he  feels  the  power,  but  not  the  authority,  of  ap- 
petite. When,  on  the  other  hand,  he  refrains  from  a  vicious  indul- 
gence because  its  later  effects  will  be  bad,  or  when  he  takes  a  walk 
before  breakfast  because  he  believes  it  will  conduce  to  his  health, 
though  its  good  effects  may  not  be  immediately  apparent,  he  recog- 
nizes and  feels  the  authority  of  sanitary  rules.  In  these  cases  the 
degree  of  dissociation  between  the  rule  or  principle  recognized  by  the 
mind  and  the  actual  facts  on  which  it  rests  is  but  slight ;  yet  the  rise 
of  authority  is  plainly  visible. 

*  Let  the  reader  who  needs  to  do  so  refresh  his  memory  with  the  following  passages 
from  Spencer,  "  Data  of  Ethics,"  chapter  vii — "  The  Psychological  View  "  :  "  From  the 
first,  complication  of  sentiency  has  accompanied  better  and  more  numerous  adjustments 
of  acts  to  ends.  .  .  .  Whence  it  follows  that  the  acts  characterized  by  the  more  complex 
motives  and  the  more  involved  thoughts  have  all  along  been  of  higher  authority  for 
guidance.  .  .  .  When,  led  by  his  acquisitiveness,  the  thief  takes  another  man's  property, 


152 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


A  rule  of  conduct  once  established,  the  mind,  working  quite  inde- 
pendently of  the  will  of  the  individual,  resents  any  attempt  to  impugn 
its  authority.  Naturally  enough,  seeing  that,  to  impugn  its  authority 
means  an  unsettlement  of  all  that  the  rule  had  settled.  Take  the  case 
now  in  question.  We  can  not  conceive  the  existence  of  any  social 
order,  unless  the  principle  is  recognized  that  no  man  should,  for  selfish 
purposes  of  his  own,  take  the  life  of  another.  But,  let  a  man  be  so 
overmastered  by  his  cupidity  as  to  commit  this  crime,  he  can  not  by 
that  one  act  of  rebellion  undo  the  work  already  acconrplished  in  his 
mind,  by  virtue  of  which  he  had  learned  to  condemn  murder  on  prin- 
ciple. It  is  to  his  interest  now  to  deny  the  principle,  but  he  can  not 
do  it  without  tearing  his  own  mind  to  pieces  ;  for  not  more  truly  have 
certain  elements  been  compounded  in  his  body,  to  form  its  various 
organic  substances,  than  have  elementary  experiences  combined  in  his 
mind  to  form  those  principles  of  thought  which  sustain  its  functional 
activity  and  make  it  a  living  organism.  And  just  as  the  true  unit  of 
the  body  is  not  any  elementary  atom,  but  a  cell,  so  the  true  unit  of 
the  mind  is  not  an  isolated  experience,  or  any  cluster  of  unorganized 
experiences,  but  a  combination  of  experiences,  a  generalization  from 
experiences. 

The  murderer  in  the  case  supposed  by  Mr.  Smith  has  eluded  the 
law,  and  not  only  paid  no  material  penalty  whatever,  but  actually 
reaped  vast  benefits  from  his  crime.  Could  any  case  be  possibly 
imagined  in  which — making,  of  course,  allowance  for  the  inferiority 
of  nature  of  a  man  who  could  commit  murder  at  all — the  violated 
authority  of  perhaps  the  most  fundamental  of  all  social  principles 
should  make  itself  more  keenly  felt  ?  Had  the  man  been  caught  red- 
handed,  and  come  promptly  under  the  sentence  of  justice,  his  remorse 
would  have  been  slight  in  all  probability  ;  possibly  he  might  not  have 
felt  any.  But,  escaping  as  he  did,  and  prospering  by  his  crime,  his 
mind  would  remain  continually  open  to  tbe  upbraidings  of  that  part 
of  his  nature  which  he  had  outraged  by  his  deed,  to  all  the  rea- 
sons which  the  experiences  of  every  day  as  well  as  his  invokintary 
thoughts  would  suggest  why  the  deed  shoiild  not  have  been  done. 
Is  not  this  enouah  ?      Must  we  still  call   in  the  Eumenides  before 


*&' 


his  act  is  determined  by  certain  imagined  proximate  pleasures  of  relatively  simple  kinds, 
rather  than  by  less  clearly-imagined  possible  pains  that  are  more  remote  and  of  relatively 
involved  kinds.  .  .  .  Throughout  the  ascent  from  low  creatures  up  to  man,  and  from  the 
lowest  types  of  man  up  to  the  highest,  self-preservation  has  been  increased  by  the  sub- 
ordination of  simple  excitations  to  compound  excitations — the  subjection  of  immediate 
sensations  to  the  ideas  of  sensations  to  come — the  overruling  of  presentative  feelings 
by  representative  feelings,  and  of  representative  feelings  by  ?*e-representative  feelings.  As 
life  has  advanced,  the  accompanying  sentiency  has  become  increasingly  ideal ;  and,  among 
feelings  produced  by  the  compounding  of  ideas,  the  highest,  and  those  which  have 
evolved  latest,  are  the  re-compounded  or  doubly  ideal.  Hence  it  follows  that  as  guides 
the  feelings  have  authorities  proportionate  to  the  degrees  in  which  they  are  removed  by 
their  complexity  and  ideality  from  simple  sensations  and  appetites." 


MR.  GOLD  WIN  SMITH  ON  "THE  DATA  OF  ETHICS."  153 

we  can  understand  why  the  murderer  should  he  wretched  amid  his 
wealth  ? 

We  must  not,  however,  forget  that  Mr.  Smith  supposes  the  mur- 
derer to  he  able  to  natter  himself  that  he  has  probably  caused  more 
happiness  than  unhappiness  by  his  crime,  Such  a  supposition  might 
perhaps  embarrass  a  utilitarian  of  the  old  school,  but  hardly  an  adher- 
ent of  the  "rational  utilitarianism"  taught  by  Mr.  Spencer.  Crude 
utilitarianism  assumes  that  an  action  can  only  be  judged  by  the  conse- 
quences which  directly  and  visibly  flow  from  it ;  rational  utilitarianism 
says  that  the  criterion  of  an  action  is  some  rule  of  conduct  established 
by  experience.  The  crude  utilitarian  is  like  a  man  who  would  discard 
or  ignore  the  multiplication-table,  and  insist  on  doing  all  sums  involv- 
ing multiplication  by  addition  ;  or  who  should  insist  on  working  out, 
by  tedious  and  uncertain  arithmetical  processes,  problems  which  could 
be  solved  with  the  far  greater  ease  and  certainly  by  algebra.  Experi- 
ence shows  what  lines  of  conduct,  what  principles  of  action,  are  favor- 
able to  happiness  in  general,  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  instinct  of 
sympathy  in  particular  ;  and  human  civilization  can  not  be  carried 
very  far  before  the  principle  is  established  that  harm  must  come  from 
the  shedding  of  human  blood.  Such  a  principle  gains  authority  over 
men's  minds  ;  and,  when  an  action  is  done  that  conflicts  with  it,  it  is 
in  vain  that  the  perpetrator  tries,  by  a  fresh  calculation  of  all  the  sup- 
posed elements  of  the  case,  to  show  that  his  particular  crime  may  be 
all  right. 

3.  We  are  probably  now  prepared  to  estimate  the  force  of  the  next 
objection  urged  by  Mr.  Smith  against  evolutionary  ethics,  that  they  do 
away  with  the  idea  of  the  "indefeasible  sacredness  of  human  life." 
They  would  no  doubt  do  away  with  any  surplusage  of  mere  sentiment 
on  the  subject ;  but,  seeing  that  the  first  moral  principle  which  emerges, 
from  the  evolutionary  point  of  view,  is  equity,  and  seeing  that  life  is 
what  every  man  holds  most  dear,  it  is  very  hard  to  understand  why  a 
system,  which  may  be  said  simply  to  rationalize  the  Golden  Rule, 
should  lead  men  to  deal  less  carefully  with  human  life  than  the  sys- 
tems of  the  past.  What  light  does  history  shed  upon  the  question  ? 
In  what  estimation  was  human  life  or  human  suffering  held  in  the 
ages  of  faith  ?  It  was  surely  in  a  pre-e volution  period  that  a  man 
could  be  hanged  in  England  for  stealing  a  sheep.  Such  things  can  not 
be  done  to-day.  Why  ?  Is  it— we  should  like  a  candid  answer  to  the 
question — because  there  is  a  deeper  impression  than  formerly  that  man 
is  made  in  the  image  of  God  ;  or  because  the  sentiment  of  justice  has 
grown  stronger,  and  men  have  learned  to  sympathize  more  with  one 
another  ? 

4.  Finally,  we  are  told  that  Mr.  Spencer,  being  an  evolutionist, 
must  be  a  necessarian,  and  that,  as  such,  it  is  not  open  to  him  to  con- 
demn any  act  as  wrong,  seeing  that  the  doer  of  the  act  could  plead  that 
his  conduct  was  just  what  the  point  he  had  reached  in  evolution  ren- 


154  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

dered  natural  and  necessary.     Mr.  Spencer  is  undoubtedly  an  evolu- 
tionist, but  we  do  not  know  that  there  is  any  distinct  warrant  for  say- 
ing he  is  a  necessarian.     We  do  not  know  that  he  is  more  embar- 
rassed by  the  secular  antithesis  of  free-will  and  necessity  than  others 
have  been  before  him,  or  are  now.     Were  necessarianism  a  corollary 
from  evolution,  it  would  be  in  order  to   remark  that  it  has  also  been, 
with  a  not  uninfluential  school  of  Christian  thinkers,  a  corollary  of  the 
conception  of  the  divine  nature.     Mr.  Smith,  we  observe,  records  his 
own  objection  to  the  term  "  free-will "  ;  remarking  that  what  has  inap- 
propriately passed  under  that  name  should  rather  be  defined  as  "  the 
difference  given  us  by  consciousness  between  moral  and  physical  causa- 
tion.   He  thus  recognizes  moral  causation  ;  and  his  objection  to  the  ex- 
pression "  free-will "  would  seem  to  be  grounded  on  its  implied  denial 
of  such  causation.     Mr.  Spencer,  on  his  side,  objects  to  the  free-will 
theory  because  it  denies  the   "  cohesions  "  which  demonstrably  exist 
between  psychical  states.     Is  it  certain  that  between  the  two  views  so 
great  a  gulf  is  fixed  that  Mr.  Smith  can  afford  to  snap  his  fingers  in 
happy  security,  while  contemplating  the  speculative  torments  of  the 
author  of  "  The  Data  of  Ethics  "  ?     Seeing,  however,  that  this  is  a  diffi- 
culty with  which  human  thought  has  never  been  able  to  grapple  suc- 
cessful^, it  might  be  as  well  to  raise  no  question  concerning  it.     The 
evolutionist  condemns  a  wrong  action  on  this  ground,  that  it  conflicts 
with  some  principle  of  proved  utility,  or  of  proved  equity — the  two 
are  really  one — which,  if  not  as  potent  so  might  be  desired,  still  has 
its  place  in  the  mind  of  the  man  who  has  neglected  or  overridden  it. 
We  condemn  moral  inconsistency  just  as  we  do  intellectual  inconsist- 
ency.    When  a  man  puts  forward  an  opinion  we  regard  as  false,  our 
only  hope  of  persuading  him  that  it  is  false  is  by  bringing  into  the 
strongest  possible  relief  some  truth  or  opinion,  accepted  by  him,  with 
which  the  opinion  in  question  conflicts.     Precisely  parallel  is  the  pro- 
cedure when  a  man  performs  an  act  of  which  wTe  disapprove  :  we  call 
some  ethical  principle  accepted  by  himself,  and  acted  upon  at  times 
by  himself,  to  bear  witness  against  what  he  has  done.     By  doing  so 
we  re-enforce  the  higher  principle,  and  perhaps  bring  about  shame  and 
repentance  for  the  improper  act. 

We  have  thus  tried  to  deal  with  the  chief  objections  formulated 
by  Mr.  Smith  against  the  evolutionary  theory  of  morals.  To  speak  of 
that  theory  as  a  purely  "  physical"  one  (as  Mr.  Smith  does)  is  hardly 
correct.  Mind,  according  to  Mr.  Spencer,  is  made  up  of  feelings  and 
relations  among  feelings,  and  these  are  not  properly  physical.  Mem- 
ory and  judgment  may  have  a  physical  basis,  but  they  are  not  them- 
selves physical.  The  evolution  of  conduct,  according  to  Mr.  Spencer, 
depends  wholly  upon  accretions  of  capital,  so  to  speak,  in  conscious- 
ness. A  dim  and  narrow  consciousness  renders  possible  only  a  most 
imperfect  self-direction  ;  a  clear  and  highly  developed  consciousness, 
on  the  other  hand,  gives  a  correspondingly  increased  power  of  self- 


MR.   GOLD  WIN  SMITH  ON  "  THE  DATA  OF  ETHICS."  155 

direction,  which  is  used  in  the  furtherance  of  life  and  happiness.  There 
is  a  school  of  French  philosophers  to-day  *  who,  while  making  frank 
profession  of  atheism,  speak  of  man  as  the  union  of  an  organism  with 
an  "  immateriality."  The  language  is  uncouth  ;  but  it  might  be  used, 
at  least  provisionally,  to  express  Mr.  Spencer's  conception  ;  for,  while 
the  whole  direction  of  every  human  being  proceeds  from  his  con- 
sciousness, that  consciousness  is  not  itself  material  or  physical,  the 
very  essence  of  materiality  being  objectivity  to  sense.  From  the  evo- 
lutionary point  of  view  every  mite  of  moral  effort  is  just  as  precious  as 
from  the  theological  point  of  view  ;  but  what  the  evolutionary  theory 
does  not  do  is  to  reconcile  us  to  the  miseries  that  have  abounded  and 
still  abound  in  the  world,  as  possibly  having  their  explanation  and 
justification  in  some  supernatural  scheme  of  government.  If  the  suffer- 
ings borne  by  our  fellow-creatures  are  any  part  of  the  Divine  scheme, 
as  Mr.  Smith  hints  may  perhaps  be  the  case,  what  confidence  can  we 
feel  that  we  are  right  in  trying  to  alleviate  them  ?  With  a  strange 
inconsistency,  the  partisans  of  a  supernatural  view  of  disease  are  always 
ready  to  apply  themselves  most  vigorously  to  abbreviating  by  natural 
means  the  chastisements  which  they  say  are  meant  for  their  good  ; 
while  the  more  sensible  among  them  manage,  by  a  careful  attention 
to  the  rules  of  health,  to  escape  such  chastisements  altogether,  or  nearly 
so.  And  so  we  have  no  doubt  it  would  be  if  Mr.  Smith  had  it  in  his 
power  to  greatly  ameliorate  the  general  lot  of  mankind  :  he  would  do 
it,  and  let  the  moral  education  of  the  race  take  its  chance  under  the 
happier  conditions. 

Evolutionary  ethics  tell  us  what  is  evil,  and  explain  the  why.  They 
tell  us  that  whatever  depresses  the  energies  of  any  human  being,  or 
comes  between  labor  and  its  due  reward,  is  evil.  It  drops  no  hints  of 
mysterious  compensation  hereafter  for  ills  borne  in  this  life — so  making- 
things  a  trifle  more  comfortable  still  for  the  "  man  in  the  suburban 
villa,  with  a  good  business  in  the  city,"  whom  the  voice  of  duty  so  im- 
periously calls  to  take  a  regular  luncheon  every  day,  instead  of  merely 
swallowing  a  hasty  sandwich.  That  worthy  citizen  might,  in  the  in- 
terest of  his  digestion,  like  to  think  that  the  shivering,  storm-tossed  mari- 
ner, the  delver  in  the  mine,  the  overworked  and  underfed  farm-laborer, 
and  all  the  beaten  and  baffled  and  despairing  ones  whose  lot  is  so  dis- 
agreeable a  contrast  to  his  own,  should  some  day,  after  they  had  served 
their  turn  here  in  the  production  of  capital,  have  some  modicum  of 
compensating  happiness  dealt  out  to  them  in  a  better  world.  If  such 
be  his  soothing  fancy,  he  can  not  at  least  profess  to  draw  it  from  the 
doctrine  of  evolution,  which  proclaims,  without  reserve  or  qualification, 
that  suffering  is  suffering,  that  injustice  is  injustice,  and  that,  if  we 
would  remedy  these,  we  must  work  while  it  is  called  day.  It  is  the 
weakness  not  the  strength  of  theological  and  ultra-mundane  doctrines 

*  The  so-called  "  Socialistes  Rationnels,"  whose  organ,  "  La  Philosophic  de  l'Avenir,'' 
contains  some  acute  and  powerful  writing. 


156  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

that  they  lead,  and  have  led,  men  to  regard  with  more  or  less  of 
acquiescence  the  sufferings  of  "  this  present  evil  time."  That  there 
may  be  a  Providence  inwrapping  the  whole  of  human  life  with  its 
environment,  and  that  there  may  be,  to  higher  faculties  than  ours,  a 
significance  in  life  that  we  have  never  grasped,  it  would  be  most  ad- 
venturous and,  indeed,  unphilosophical  to  deny.  Admitting  such  a  pos- 
sibility, however,  or  even  probability,  our  duty  is  in  no  way  changed. 
The  whole  solar  system  may  be  hurrying  on  through  space  toward 
some  unknown  goal,  or  in  some  infinite  and  incalculable  circuit  ;  but 
the  motions  that  concern  us  are  those  that  take  place  within  the  solar 
system,  that  lend  themselves  to  observation  and  calculation,  and  that 
affect  more  or  less  the  conditions  of  human  life.  We  live  in  an  envi- 
ronment to  which  we  are  adapted  :  absolute  truth  lies  beyond  us,  but 
relative  truth  is  within  our  grasp.  The  poet  says  that  "  things  are  not 
what  they  seem,"  but  things  are  (to  us)  what  they  seem.  What  else 
can  they  be  ?  And  it  is  our  duty  to  deal  with  them  as  we  find  them, 
with  a  constant  view  to  the  realizing  of  higher  and  higher  harmonies 
in  life.  Some  notes  we  have  already  attuned,  but  there  are  discords 
yet,  many  and  harsh,  to  be  subdued.  Then  let  us  set  our  faces  stead- 
fastly forward,  not  to  "  confront  a  void,"  for  there  is  no  void  to  con- 
front— nothing  has  fallen  out  of  the  universe  that  ever  was  in  it — but 
with  a  determination  to  conquer  more  and  more  of  moral  freedom, 
and,  by  our  conscious  efforts,  to  aid  that  unconscious  labor  of  the 
ages  by  which  better  and  better  conditions  are  ever  being  won  for  the 
human  race. 


♦»» 


TIME-KEEPING   IK   LONDON. 

By  EDMUND  A.  ENGLEE, 

■WASHINGTON    UNIVERSITY,     ST.     LOUIS,     MISSOURI. 


I. 

IT  is  proposed  in  this  paper  to  describe  some  special  features  of  the 
instruments  by  which  time  is  kept  at  the  Royal  Observatory, 
Greenwich,  the  means  for  correcting  them,  and  the  methods  and  in- 
struments by  which  time-signals  are  distributed  from  the  observatory 
to  London  and  elsewhere. 

The  primary  standard  time-keeper  of  England  is  a  sidereal  clock 
kept  in  the  basement  of  the  Royal  Observatory,  Greenwich.  This 
clock  is  of  the  best  construction,  and  is,  moreover,  provided  with  the 
most  approved  apparatus  for  compensation  and  correction. 

Experience  has  shown  that  the  best  results  are  obtained  when  the 
connection  between  the  driving-weight  and  the  pendulum  of  a  clock 
is  as  slight  as  possible.  This  has  been  accomplished  in  the  Greenwich 
clock  by  the  use  of  an   elegant  escapement,  the  details  of  which  are 


TIME-KEEPING  IN  LONDON. 


157 


shown  in  Fig.  1,*  representing  a  back  view  of  the  clock-train.  The 
crutch-axis,  supported  by  the  arm  (c)  and  the  back  plate  {V)  of  the 
clock-train,  carries  an  arm  (e),  attached  at  f  to  the  left-hand  pallet 
arm.  The  pallets  are  carried  by  the  crutch-rod  (d).  At  ^is  attached 
a  detent  projecting  toward  the  left  and  ending  in  a  light  curved 


spring.  Near  the  top  of  the  escape-wheel  this  detent  carries  a  jew- 
eled pin  which  locks  the  wheel.  The  action  is  as  follows  :  When  the 
pendulum  swings  toward  the  left,  the  arm  (e)  lifts  the  delicate  spring 
at  the  end  of  the  detent,  the  wheel  is  released  and  drops  forward  so 
that  a  tooth  presses  against  the  face  of  the  pallet  and  gives  an  im- 

*  Figs.  1,  3,  4,  5,  and  6,  have  been  taken  from  Lockyer's  "Stargazing,"  through  the 
courtesy  of  JIacmillan  &  Co.,  London,  publishers,  by  permission  of  the  author. 


l58 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


pulse  to  the  pendulum  ;  the  spring  at  the  end  of  the  detent  immedi- 
ately locks  the  wheel  again,  and  the  pendulum  swings  on  freely  to  the 
left.    When  the  pendulum  swings  to  the  right,  the  light  spring  at  the 

end  of  the  detent  lets  it  pass 
without  unlocking  the  wheel. 
The  right-hand  pallet  is  only  in- 
tended to  catch  the  wheel  in 
case  of  accident  and  forms  no 
essential  part  of  the  escapement. 
Thus,  it  will  be  seen,  the  pendu- 
lum is  quite  free  except  during 
a  part  of  every  alternate  second, 
when  it  releases  the  escapement 
and  receives  an  impulse  ;  the 
seconds-hand,  attached  to  the 
escape  -  wTheel,  moves  only  once 
every  two  seconds. 

The  most  important  source  of 
error  in  the  running  of  a  fine 
clock  is  the  change  in  the  length 
of  the  pendulum  due  to  change 
of  temperature.  Two  methods 
suggest  themselves  of  eliminat- 
ing this  error  :  1.  To  put  the 
clock  where  it  will  not  be  sub- 
ject to  changes  of  temperature. 
2.  To  counteract  the  effect  of 
changes  of  temperature.  To  this 
end  various  kinds  of  pendulums 
have  been  devised,  notably  the 
mercurial  and  gridiron  forms, 
which  are  known  under  the  gen- 
eral name  of  "  compensating  pen- 
dulums." At  Greenwich  the  two 
methods  are  combined  to  insure 
complete  success.  The  clock  is 
placed  in  the  magnetic  basement 
of  the  observatory,  where  the 
temperature  is  as  nearly  uniform 
as  possible,  and  apparatus  is  pro- 
vided to  annul  the  effect  of  any 
change  of  temperature  which 
might  occur. 

Tests  made  with  a  mercurial 
pendulum  disclosed  the  fact  that  the  steel  rod  responded  more  quickly 
than  the  mercury  to  a  change  of  temperature,  and  that  consequently 


TIME-KEEPING  IN  LONDON. 


159 


an  appreciable  interval  of  time  was  required  for  perfect  compensation  ; 
a  modification  of  the  gridiron  form,  shown  in  Fig.  2,  was  therefore 
adopted.  The  pendulum  was  designed  by  Messrs.  E.  Dent  &  Co.,  of 
London,  for  the  Transit  of  Venus  Expedition  (1874),  but  has  since  been 
used  for  the  primary  standard  time-keeper  of  the  United  Kingdom.  Its 
construction  will  be  best  understood  by  reference  to  the  section  shown 
in  Fig.  3.  To  the  lower  end  of  a  steel  rod,  suspended  in  the  ordinary 
manner,  is  attached  the  screw  for  rating  the  pendulum.  On  this  screw 
and  surrounding  the  rod  rests  a  zinc  tube,  extending  upward  ;  inclos- 
ing the  zinc  tube  and  attached  to  its  top  is  a  steel  tube  extending  down- 
ward ;  on  a  collar,  at  the  lower  end  of  the  steel  tube,  hangs  the  cylin- 
drical leaden  bob,  attached  at  its  center.  Slots  and  holes  are  cut  in  the 
tubes  in  order  to  equally  expose  all  parts.  The  following  table,  taken 
from  the  official  records  of  the  Royal  Observatory,  is  published  by 
Messrs.  E.  Dent  &  Co.,  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  performance 
of  a  clock  with  steel  and  zinc  pendulum  : 

CLOCK— DENT   1914. 


DATE. 


Days.  Hours 

1871 —  September    3  21.. 

17  21.. 

24  21.. 
October         1  22. . 

8  21.. 

15  21.. 

22  21.. 
29  21.. 

November     5  22. . 

12  22.. 

19  21.. 

26  22. . 

December     3  21.. 

10  22.. 

17  21.. 
26  0.. 
31  22.. 

1872— January        7  22.. 

14  21.. 

21  21.. 

23  22.. 
February      4  22. . 

11  22.. 

18  21.. 

25  22.. 
March           3  21. . 

10  22.. 

17  21.. 


Clock  slow  of  Green- 
wich sidereal  time. 


Minutes.    Seconds. 


Mean  daily- 
losing  rate 
during  each 
interval. 


Seconds. 


Average  tem- 
perature of 
external 


14 

318 

.  , 

15 

34-1 

44 

62 

16 

2-3 

40 

54 

16 

342 

4-5 

50 

17 

51 

4-4 

52 

17 

36-9 

4-5 

46 

18 

8-2 

4-5 

54 

18 

37-8 

4-2 

47 

19 

7-8 

43 

47 

19 

36-2 

4-1 

39 

20 

5-8 

43 

35 

20 

36-3 

4-3 

34 

21 

67 

4'4 

36 

21 

33-9 

3-9 

30 

22 

6-6 

4-7 

40 

22 

45-2 

4-8 

42 

23 

13-2 

4-7 

43 

23 

46-3 

48 

42 

24 

20-7 

4-9 

40 

24 

542 

4-8 

39 

25 

30-2 

5.1 

42 

26 

64 

5-2 

44 

26 

41-4 

50 

47 

27 

16-0 

5-0 

44 

27 

50-0 

4-8 

45 

28 

24-1 

49 

46 

28 

58-1 

4-5 

49 

29 

31-2 

4-8 

45 

During  the  whole  time  of  rating,  the  clock  was  situated  in  a  small 
hut  erected  for  observing  the  Transit  of  Venus.  No  record  of  the 
temperature  of  the  hut  was  kept,  but  the  variations  would  be  rery 


160  TEE  POPULAR  SCIENCE  MONTELY. 

similar  to  those  of  the  external  air,  whose  average  temperature  for 
each  interval  is  given  in  the  table. 

The  compensating  action  of  the  pendulum  evidently  depends  upon 
the  relative  lengths  of  steel  and  zinc,  and  it  is  easily  possible  that 
great  difficulty  would  be  experienced  in  cutting  and  fitting  tubes  of 
exactly  the  right  length  ;  to  complete  the  adjustment  a  very  delicate 
contrivance  is  added. 

Two  compound  bars  of  brass  and  steel  (h  and  i,  Fig.  1),  with  small 
weights  at  their  ends,  are  hung  to  the  crutch-axis  by  means  of  a  collar 
loose  enough  to  be  easily  turned.  The  rods  are  so  made  that  under 
normal  conditions  the  brass  and  steel  are  of  the  same  length,  and  the 
two  bars  are  in  the  same  straight  line  ;  the  center  of  gravity  of  the 
rods  and  the  weights  (regarded  as  one  body)  is  therefore  in  the  axis, 
and  the  weights  are  balanced  in  every  position,  no  matter  what  angle 
the  line  of  the  rods  makes  with  the  plane  of  the  horizon  ;  they  affect 
the  pendulum  only  by  their  inertia.  But,  when  a  change  in  tempera- 
ture occurs,  the  brass  and  steel  become  of  unequal  length,  owing  to  a 
difference  in  the  co-efficients  of  expansion  of  the  two  metals,  the  rods 
are  bent,  and  the  center  of  gravity  of  the  rods  and  weights  is  no  long- 
er in  the  axis,  nor  is  it  in  the  same  vertical  plane  as  the  axis  except 
when  the  weights  are  in  a  horizontal  line  ;  so  that  an  unbalanced  force 
is  introduced  whose  compensating  action  varies  from  a  maximum 
when  the  weights  are  in  a  horizontal  line,  to  zero  when  the  weights  "are 
in  a  vertical  line.  To  be  explicit,  suppose  the  rods  to  be  horizontal 
and  the  brass  uppermost,  and  let  there  be  an  increase  of  temperature. 
The  brass  will  expand  more  than  the  steel,  and,  the  rods  being  bent 
downward,  the  weights  will  be  lowered.  As  the  pendulum  swings 
the  weights  swing  with  it,  and  are  continually  trying  to  get  back  to  a 
horizontal  position  where  they  would  balance  each  other  ;  if  they  were 
swinging  alone,  they  would  evidently  swing  faster  than  the  pendulum, 
and  therefore,  being  attached,  they  accelerate  its  motion.  If  the  steel 
were  uppermost,  the  weights  would  be  raised  with  an  increase  of  tem- 
perature and  the  pendulum  retarded.  If  the  rods  were  both  vertical, 
a  change  of  temperature  would  only  throw  the  center  of  gravity  of 
the  two  weights  to  one  side  or  the  other  of  the  axis,  but  would  not 
raise  or  lower  it  ;  this  would  only  introduce  a  continuous  force  tend- 
ing to  make  the  pendulum  oscillate  farther  on  one  side  than  the  other, 
but  not  affecting  its  rate.  At  intermediate  positions  between  the  ver- 
tical and  horizontal,  the  change  in  the  position  of  the  center  of  gravity 
due  to  a  change  of  temperature  would  vary  with  the  angle  made  by 
the  line  joining  the  centers  of  gravity  of  the  two  weights  with  the 
plane  of  the  horizon  ;  any  required  compensating  action,  between  the 
limits  above  mentioned,  for  a  known  change  of  temperature,  can  there- 
fore be  obtained  by  setting  the  rods  at  the  proper  angle. 

In  order  to  make  a  small  change  in  the  rate  without  stopping  the 
pendulum,  the  device  shown  in  Fig.  1  has  been  employed  :   A  weight 


TIME-KEEPING   IN  LONDON. 


161 


(k)  slides  freely  on  the  crutch-rod  shown  back  of  it  in  the  figure,  but 
is  held  by  the  screw  on  the  end  of  the  spindle  (I)  which  bangs  from 
the  nut  (m)  at  the  crutch-axis.  By  turning  the  nut  (m)  the  weight 
(k)  can  be  lowered  or  raised,  and  this  makes  the  clock  gain  or  lose. 

But  the  nicety  of  the  correction  of  variations  due  to  changes  of 
temperature  has  brought  to  light  variations  due  to  another  cause 
commonly  quite  overlooked  ;  it  has  been  found  that  the  pendulum  is 
affected  by  changes  of  barometric  pressure.  A  change  in  the  ba- 
rometer of  an  inch  and  a  half  will  sensibly  alter  the  rate  of  the  pen- 
dulum. The  difficulty  might  be  avoided  by  placing  the  clock  in  a 
vacuum,  but  this  is  evidently  impracticable.  In  the  Greenwich  clock 
the  method  shown  in  Fig.  4  has  been  adopted  to  counteract  the  effects 


Fig.  4.— Greenwich  Clock  :  Arrangement  for  Compensation  for  Barometric  Pressure. 

of  barometric  changes.  To  the  pendulum-bob  are  attached  two  verti- 
cal bar-magnets,  one  in  front  (a)  with  the  north  pole  down,  the  other 
at  the  back  (and  therefore  not  shown  in  the  figure),  with  the  south  pole 
down.  Below  these  and  normally  at  a  distance  of  3f  inches  from 
them  is  a  horseshoe  magnet  (b)  which  hangs  on  one  end  of  a  lever  (c) 
nicely  balanced  on  knife-edges  at  A  ;  the  other  end  of  the  lever  (c) 
rests  by  means  of  a  rod  (d)  on  a  float  (e)  in  the  shorter  leg  of  a  siphon 

VOL.    XXII. — 11 


i62  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

barometer.  Counterpoises  are  added  at/"  to  balance  the  magnet  {b). 
A  plan  of  the  lever  on  a  smaller  scale  and  a  section  at  A  are  also 
shown  in  the  figure.  The  barometer-tube  is  made  so  much  larger  in 
the  shorter  than  in  the  longer  leg  that  a  change  of  one  inch  in  the 
barometer  would  move  the  float  in  the  shorter  leg  only  two  tenths  of 
an  inch.  A  rise  or  fall  in  the  barometer  causes  a  corresponding  mo- 
tion in  the  horseshoe  magnet,  and  thus  varies  the  intensity  of  its 
attraction  for  the  magnets  on  the  pendulum-bob.  By  proper  adjust- 
ment this  varying  attraction  is  made  to  furnish  the  required  compen- 
sation. 

The  small  error  which  remains,  notwithstanding  the  above-detailed 
provisions  for  correction,  is  allowed  to  accumulate,  but  is  determined 
daily  (unless  clouds  prevent)  by  transit  observations,*  so  that  the  exact 
sidereal  time  is  always  known. 

The  standard  sidereal  clock  registers  its  beats  upon  the  chronograph 
record  ;  controls,  by  electric  connection,  all  the  sidereal  clocks  in  the 
different  rooms  of  the  observatory  ;  and  drives  a  sidereal  chronometer 
{b,  Fig.  5),  in  agreement  with  itself,  in  the  computing  and  time-dis- 
tributing room. 

The  secondary  regulator  of  the  time  of  England  is  the  mean  solar 
standard  clock  at  the  Royal  Observatory,  which  was  specially  erected 
in  1852  for  service  in  the  time-signal  system,  of  which  it  is  now  the 
most  important  instrument.  This  clock  has  a  seconds-pendulum, 
which  closes  an  electric  circuit  as  it  swings  to  the  right.  An  electro- 
magnet in  the  circuit  lifts  a  small  weight,  which  is  discharged  upon 
the  pendulum  as  it  swings  to  the  left,  and  gives  it  an  impulse  ;  this 
being  repeated  at  each  vibration  is  sufficient  to  keep  it  in  motion.  The 
pendulum  also  closes  other  galvanic  circuits — one  as  it  swings  to  the 
right,  another  as  it  swings  to  the  left — which  send  currents  alternately 
positive  and  negative  through  electro-magnets,  alternately  attracting 
and  repelling  bar-magnets  fastened  to  an  axis,  which  thus  receives  a 
reciprocating  motion.  An  arm  projecting  from  this  axis  moves  the 
seconds-wheel  one  tooth  forward  each  second  ;  proper  gearing  gives 
motion  to  the  minute  and  hour  wheels. 

The  mean  solar  standard,  besides  controlling  other  clocks,  to  be 
enumerated  later,  drives  a  seconds-relay  (a,  Fig.  5),  which  controls  a 
mean-time  chronometer  (c). 

All  the  clocks  controlled  by  the  mean  solar  standard  are  required 
to  indicate  exact  Greenwich  local  time  ;  the  error  can  not  therefore  be 
allowed  to  accumulate,  and  the  means  of  correction  are  provided. 
Carried  by  an  arm  projecting  from  the  pendulum-rod  of  the  mean 
solar  standard  is  a  magnet,  five  inches  long,  which  swings  just  over  a 

*  The  difference  between  the  clock-time  of  the  transit  of  a  star  over  the  meridian 
(corrected  for  errors  of  position  of  the  instrument,  and  for  "  personal  equation")  and  the 
right  ascension  of  the  star  for  the  day,  taken  from  the  nautical  almanac,  is  the  error  of 
the  clock. 


TIME-KEEPING  IN  LONDON. 


163 


hollow  galvanic  coil,  called  "  the  accelerating  or  retarding  coil,"  fast- 
ened to  the  clock-case  and  operated  by  a  special  battery.  The  attrac- 
tion or  repulsion,  between  the  magnet  and  the  coil,  produced  by  send- 
ing currents  in  opposite  directions,  gives  any  required  acceleration  or 


retardation  to  the  pendulum.  Care  must,  of  course,  be  taken  that  the 
correction  be  not  made  too  quickly,  else  the  clock,  instead  of  being 
controlled  by  the  current,  will  break  away  from  control,  and  the  error 
will  be  increased.     It  is  now  so  arranged  that  the  current  will  produce 


164  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

a  correction  of  one  second  in  about  ten  seconds.  The  correction  is 
made  as  follows  :  Between  the  sidereal  chronometer  (b,  Fig.  5)  and  the 
mean-time  chronometer  (c)  there  is  a  commutator  (d).  By  moving  its 
handle  toward  the  right,  a  current  is  sent  through  the  "  accelerating  or 
retarding  coil  "  which  accelerates  the  mean  solar  standard  ;  by  moving 
the  handle  toward  the  left,  the  current  goes  through  the  coil  in  the 
opposite  direction,  and  retards  the  mean  solar  standard  ;  in  the  inter- 
mediate position  (shown  in  the  figure)  no  action  takes  place.  The 
operator,  having  ascertained  the  error  of  the  sidereal  standard  and  its 
sympathetic  chronometer,  by  astronomical  observation  as  described, 
applies  this  error  to  the  face-reading  of  the  sidereal  chronometer,  and 
gets  the  exact  sidereal  time  ;  by  simple  reduction  he  finds  the  corre- 
sponding mean  solar  time,  and,  by  comparison,  the  error  of  the  mean- 
time chronometer ;  he  then  moves  the  handle  of  the  commutator,  and 
corrects  the  error  of  the  mean  solar  standard,  and  of  all  the  clocks 
controlled  by  it,  without  leaving  his  position  in  the  computing-room. 
This  correction  can  be  made  at  any  instant  when  the  exact  time  is 
desired  ;  it  is  usually  made  at  10  a.  m.  and  1  p.  m.,  because  at  those 
hours  a  general  distribution  of  time-signals  takes  place. 

The  mean  solar  standard  serves  for  the  distribution  of  accurate 
time  in  the  following  ways  : 

Nearly  all  the  mean-time  clocks  in  the  Royal  Observatory  are  driven 
by  the  standard  clock  ;  they  are,  in  fact,  simply  dials  whose  hands  are 
moved  in  the  same  way  and  by  the  same  battery  as  the  hands  of  the 
standard  itself.  These  clocks  are  placed  in  the  various  rooms  of  the 
observatory,  so  that  the  astronomers  have  the  exact  time  close  to  any 
of  their  instruments.  One  of  them  is  in  the  wall  surrounding  the 
grounds,  and  will  be  familiar  to  every  one  who  has  visited  the  observa- 
tory ;  several  are  placed  in  the  chronometer-room,  where  the  navy  and 
other  chronometers  are  corrected  and  regulated. 

The  seconds-relay  (a,  Fig.  5),  already  referred  to,  is  also  driven  by 
the  mean  solar  standard. 

Until  1880  the  standard  clock  controlled,  by  seconds-beats,  a  num- 
ber of  clocks  on  a  private  wire  in  London,  which  were  made  to  beat 
synchronously  with  the  standard  by  an  application  of  the  Jones  sys- 
tem,* in  which  the  electric  current  is  used,  not  as  a  driver,  but  as  a 
regulator  of  clocks  already  running  with  small  error  and  by  means 
of  their  own  motive  powers.  This  plan,  though  still  used  within  the 
observatory,  has  been  abandoned  in  London. 

With  the  standard  clock  is  connected  another  electric  circuit,  open 
in  two  places.  These  are  both  automatically  closed  by  the  clock,  one 
at  the  end  of  each  minute,  but  the  other  only  for  some  seconds  on 
either  side  of  the  end  of  each  hour  ;  so  that  they  are  both  closed  only 
at  the  end  of  each  hour,  and  then  only  can  the  current  pass. 

*  For  an  illustration  of  the  Jones  system  for  regulating  clocks  at  a  distance,  see  article 
on  "  Time-keeping  in  Paris,"  "Popular  Science  Monthly,"  January,  1882. 


THE  RELATIONS    OF  THE  NATURAL   SCIENCES.   165 

This  hourly  current  acts  on  the  magnet  which  drops  the  Greenwich 
time-hall  daily  at  one  o'clock,  and  on  the  magnet  of  the  hourly  relay 
(to  the  left  in  Fig.  5)  which  completes  several  independent  circuits, 
each  controlling  a  separate  line  of  wire.  One  of  these  extends  to  the 
central  telegraph  station  at  the  General  Post-Office  in  London,  and 
another  to  the  London  Bridge  Station  of  the  Southeastern  Railway. 
The  hell  and  galvanometer  marked  in  Fig.  5  "  P.  O.  Telegraphs"  and 
"  S.  E.  R.  Hourly  Signal  and  Deal  Ball "  show  the  passage  of  these 
currents. 

Thus  far  the  service  is  under  the  control  of  the  astronomer  royal, 
and  he  holds  himself  responsible  to  send  the  signals  described  along 
each  line  every  hour  of  the  day  and  night  with  the  greatest  attainable 
accuracy.  The  signals  are  generally  correct  within  one  tenth  of  a 
second  of  error.  Should,  however,  by  any  accident,  an  hourly  signal 
be  in  error,  even  to  half  a  second,  another  signal  is  immediately  sent, 
announcing  that  the  last  was  not  reliable.  Special  pains  are  then 
taken  that  the  next  hourly  signal  be  correct.  Here  the  responsibility 
of  the  astronomer  royal  (except  for  the  dropping  of  the  Deal  ball,  to 
be  explained  later)  ends. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  Post-Office  Depart- 
ment, which  undertakes  the  distribution  of  these  signals  to  London 
and  the  country,  agrees  to  furnish  subscribers,  not  with  correct  sig- 
nals, but  with  the  signals  which  they  receive  from  Greenwich.  The 
Greenwich  signals,  however,  being  considered  everywhere  in  England 
as  absolutely  correct,  constitute  a  standard  from  which  there  is  no 
appeal. 

[To   be   continued. ] 


-<>♦♦- 


THE  RELATIONS   OF  THE  NATURAL  SCIENCES.* 

By  T.   STEERY  HUNT,  LL.  D.  (Cantab.),  F.  R.  S. 


rp] 


1HE  occasion  which  brings  us  together  is  one  which  should  mark  a 
new  departure  in  the  intellectual  history  of  Canada.  Science  and 
letters  find  but  few  votaries  in  a  country  like  this,  where  the  best 
energies  of  its  thinkers  are  necessarily  directed  to  devising  means 
of  subduing  the  wilderness,  opening  the  ways  of  communication, 
improving  agriculture,  building  up  industries,  and  establishing  upon 
a  proper  basis  schools  in  which  the  youth  of  the  country  may  be  in- 
structed in  those  arts  and  professions  which  are  among  the  first  needs 
of  civilized  society.     The  teachers,  under  such  conditions,  can  do  little 

*  The  President's  Address  before  the  Mathematical,  Physical,  and  Chemical  Section 
of  the  Royal  Society  of  Canada,  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  society,  Ottawa,  May  27,  1382. 
Reprinted,  with  an  added  note,  from  the  "  Canadian  Naturalist,"  vol.  x,  No.  5. 


166  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

more  than  interj^ret  to  their  pupils  so  much  of  the  wisdom  of  the  past, 
and  of  contemporary  science,  as  may  suffice  for  the  immediate  wants 
of  the  country,  and  will  have  but  scanty  leisure  for  original  investiga- 
tion in  the  field  of  knowledge.  There  are,  however,  never  wanting 
earnest  and  curious  minds  who  feel  an  almost  irresistible  impulse  to 
labor  in  this  field,  to  enlarge  the  bounds  of  thought,  and  to  grapple 
with  the  great  problems  of  man  and  nature.  To  foster  this  spirit,  to 
encourage  its  beginnings,  and  to  extend  the  influence  of  its  example, 
should  be  the  aim  of  wise  statesmen  and  legislators  who  seek  to  ele- 
vate their  kind  and  ennoble  their  nation  ;  knowing  that  the  brightest 
glories  and  the  most  enduring  honors  of  a  country  are  those  which 
come  from  its  thinkers  and  its  scholars. 

The  world's  intellectual  workers  are,  from  the  very  nature  of  their 
lives  of  thought  and  study,  separated  in  some  degree  from  the  mass 
of  mankind.  They  feel,  however,  not  less  than  others,  the  need  of  hu- 
man sympathy  and  co-operation,  and  out  of  this  need  have  grown 
academies  and  learned  societies  devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  letters 
and  of  science.  The  records  of  these  bodies  in  Florence,  in  Rome,  in 
Paris,  in  London,  and  elsewhere,  are  the  records  of  scientific  progress 
for  the  last  three  centuries.  Such  bodies  do  not  create  thinkers  and 
workers,  but  they  give  to  them  a  scientific  home,  a  center  of  influence, 
and  the  means  of  making  known  to  the  world  the  results  of  their 
labors. 

It  was  with  a  wise  forethought  that  more  than  a  century  since 
Franklin  and  his  friends  founded  at  Philadelphia  the  American  Philo- 
sophical Society.  Its  planting  then  seemed  premature,  but  its  vigor- 
ous growth  during  a  century  has  served  to  show  that  the  seed  was  not 
too  early  sown.  This,  however,  unlike  many  of  the  academies  of  the 
Old  World  to  which  we  have  adverted,  had  no  formal  recognition  from 
the  State,  and  there  came  a  period  in  the  growth  of  the  American 
Union  when  the  need  of  an  official  scientific  body  was  felt.  Thus  it 
was  that  nineteen  years  ago,  in  the  midst  of  the  great  civil  war,  the 
American  Congress  authorized  the  erection  of  a  National  Academy  of 
Sciences,  to  which,  as  an  American  citizen,  I  have  the  honor  to  belong. 
The  aim  proposed  in  founding  this  Academy  was  to  gather  together 
what  was  best  and  highest  in  the  scientific  life  of  the  nation,  and, 
moreover,  to  organize  a  body  of  councilors  to  which  the  executive  au- 
thority could  always  look  for  advice  and  direction  in  scientific  matters 
relating  to  the  interests  of  the  State.  In  this  National  Academy — at 
first  consisting  of  fifty,  and  now  practically  limited  to  one  hundred 
members  (a  number  which  it  has  not  yet  attained) — the  domain  of  let- 
ters is  unrepresented  ;  while  the  Royal  Society  of  London  is,  in  like 
manner — although  scholars  and  statesmen  seek  the  honors  of  its  fel- 
lowship— essentially  an  Academy  of  Sciences. 

Our  infant  organization  attempts  a  larger  plan,  and  embraces,  with 
the  mathematical  and  physical  sciences,  letters,  philosophy,  and  his- 


THE  RELATIONS    OF  THE  NATURAL    SCIENCES.    167 

tory,  imitating  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  which,  like  this,  is  divided 
into  two  classes  ;  that  of  the  Sciences,  on  the  one  hand,  and  that  of 
Polite  Literature  and  Antiquities  on  the  other.  The  Institute  of  France, 
made  up  of  five  Academies,  embraces  the  Fine  Arts  in  its  still  wider 
scheme.  The  second  class  of  our  society,  with  its  two  sections,  aspires 
to  cover  the  same  ground  as  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of  the  Institute 
of  France,  the  Science  division  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  the  Royal 
Society  of  London,  and  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences  of  the 
United  States. 

The  two  sections  into  which  our  second  class  is  now  divided — 
namely,  III,  including  Mathematic,  Physic,  and  Chemistry,  and  IV, 
embracing  Biology  and  Geology — are,  in  their  aims  and  their  objects, 
closely  related  to  each  other,  and  widely  separated  from  Sections  I  and 
II,  which  are  devoted  respectively  to  French  and  English  Literature 
and  History.  Differences  in  language  thus  establish  in  the  literary 
department  of  this  society  a  natural  division  into  two  sections.  In 
the  department  of  the  sciences,  however,  there  is  no  natural  basis  for 
a  similar  division,  and  it  will  probably  be  found  in  the  near  future 
that  subjects  of  common  interest  will  draw  more  and  more  closely  to- 
gether our  two  sections  until,  as  in  the  various  societies  which  we 
have  named,  the  distinction  between  mathematical,  physical,  and 
chemical  studies  on  the  one  hand,  and  geological  and  biological  studies 
on  the  other,  will  be  lost  sight  of.  It  seems  to  me  therefore  fitting 
that  we  should  consider  the  mutual  relations  of  these  two  divisions, 
and  inquire  into  the  value  of  the  distinctions  upon  which  they  have 
been  based. 

Apart  from  pure  mathematic,  which  is  based  upon  our  intuitions 
of  space,  the  sciences  which  now  concern  us  have  to  do  with  material 
nature,  and  are  properly  called  natural  sciences.  It  is  not  their  prov- 
ince to  look  behind  or  beyond  the  material  world  of  nature,  nor  to 
grapple  with  the  mystery  of  the  Infinite,  with  which,  in  the  last  anal- 
ysis, the  inquirer  always  finds  himself  face  to  face.  Our  various 
metaphysical  systems  are  schemes  which  men  have  devised  to  solve 
this  mighty  problem,  and  to  translate  into  intelligible  language  their 
efforts  to  comprehend  it.  What  we  call  Nature  is  at  once  a  mantle 
and  a  veil  in  which  the  spiritual  both  clothes  and  conceals  itself.  "  I 
weave,"  Goethe  makes  the  world-spirit  say,  "  the  living  garment  of 
the  Deity."  This  phrase  embodies  a  profound  truth.  All  nature  is 
living  ;  it  is,  as  the  word  natura  itself,  equally  with  its  Greek  equiva- 
lent, physis,  implies,  that  which  is  growing,  the  perpetually-becoming 
or  being  born  ;  and  this  sense,  which  underlies  etymologically  the 
words  natural  and  physical,  should  never  be  lost  sight  of. 

It  is  a  common  reproach  in  the  mouths  of  certain  cavilers  at  sci- 
ence that  it  does  not  explain  the  beginnings  of  life  in  matter.  That 
the  plant  and  the  animal  are  living,  is  evident  to  them,  but  they  as- 
sume that  the  air,  the  water,  and  the  earth,  the  elements  from  which 


168  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

the  plant  grows  and  is  fed,  are  dead  ;  that  life  is  a  mysterious  some- 
thing which  comes  from  without,  and  is  extraneous  to  the  organism. 
Perhaps  we  may  trace  the  origin  of  this  conception  to  the  ancient 
legend,  which  appears  in  more  than  one  form,  of  a  human  body  fash- 
ioned out  of  dead  matter  and  waiting  for  vivifying  breath  or  fire.  The 
student  of  inorganic  nature,  however,  soon  learns  to  recognize  the  fact 
that  all  matter  is  instinct  with  activities,  and  finds  that  a  great  num- 
ber of  those  processes  which  were  formerly  regarded  as  functions  of 
organized  bodies  are  really  common  to  these  and  to  inorganic  matter. 
The  phenomena  of  gravitation,  of  light,  and  of  electricity,  the  dif- 
fusion and  transpiration  of  gases  and  liquids,  the  crystallogenic  proc- 
ess, and  the  peculiar  relations  of  colloids,  are  all,  when  rightly  under- 
stood, manifestations  of  energies  and  activities  which  forbid  us  to 
speak  of  matter  as  dead.  To  all  of  these  dynamical  (or,  as  they  are 
generally  called,  physical)  activities  of  matter,  supervene  those  proc- 
esses which  we  name  chemical,  and  which  give  rise  to  new  and  spe- 
cifically distinct  inorganic  forms.  The  attaining  of  individuality  by 
matter,  which  has  always  seemed  to  me  the  greatest  step  in  the  prog- 
ress of  nature,  is  first  seen  in  the  crystal,  but  therein  the  forces  of 
matter  are  in  a  statical  condition,  except  so  far  as  certain  dynamical 
relations  are  concerned.  It  is  not  until  solid  matter  rises  from  the 
crystalline  to  the  higher  condition  of  the  colloid,  that  it  becomes 
capable  of  absorption,  diffusion,  and  even  of  assimilation  ;  that,  in  a 
word,  it  assumes  relations  to  the  external  world  which  show  that  it 
possesses  an  individuality  higher  than  the  cyrstal,  and  is,  in  fact,  en- 
dowed with  many  of  the  activities  belonging  to  those  masses  of  col- 
loidal matter  which  biologists  have  agreed  to  call  living. 

In  these  phenomena  we  have  the  first  developments  of  individual- 
ity and  of  organization,  and  I  think  that  the  careful  student  who 
endeavors  with  a  strong  mental  grasp  to  seize  the  true  relations  of 
things  will  see  that  we  have  here  to  do,  not  with  a  new  activity  from 
without,  but  with  a  new  and  higher  development  of  a  force  which  is 
inherent  in  matter,  and  thus  manifests  itself  at  a  certain  stage  in  chem- 
ical development.     He  will  then,  in  the  words  of  a  philosophic  poet — 

"See  through  this  air,  this  ocean,  and  this  earth, 
All  matter  quick,  and  bursting  into  birth." 

The  adjective,  quick,  is  here  to  be  understood  in  its  primitive 
sense  of  living,  as  opposed  to  dead,  and  aptly  defines  the  notion 
which  I  have  endeavored  to  convey.  All  the  energies  seen  in  nature 
are  in  this  view  but  manifestations  of  the  essential  life  or  quickness  of 
matter,  whether  displayed  in  the  domain  of  what  are  called  dynamical 
or  physical  activities,  in  chemical  processes,  or  in  the  phenomena  of 
irritability,  assimilation,  growth,  and  reproduction,  which  we  may 
comprehensively  designate  as  biotical.* 

*  This  view,  upon  which  I  have  insisted  in  the  essay  on  "  The  Domain  of  Physiology," 
cited  below,  was  well  set  forth  by  Rosmini.     According  to  him,  in  the  words  of  his  in- 


THE  RELATIONS    OF   THE  NATURAL   SCIENCES.    169 

When  we  have  attained  to  this  conception  of  hylozoism,  of  a  living 
material  universe,  the  mystery  of  Nature  is  solved.  The  cosmos  is 
not,  as  some  would  have  it,  a  vast  machine  wound  up  and  set  in 
motion  with  the  certainty  that  it  will  run  down  like  a  clock,  and  arrive 
at  a  period  of  stagnation  and  death.  The  modern  theory  of  thermody- 
namic, though  perhaps  true  within  its  limitations,  has  not  yet  grasped 
the  problem  of  the  universe.  The  force  that  originated  and  impelled 
sustains,  and  is  the  Divine  Spirit  which 

"Lives  through  all  life,  extends  through  all  extent, 
Spreads  undivided,  operates  uuspent." 

The  law  of  birth,  growth,  and  decay,  of  endless  change  and  per- 
petual renewal,  is  everywhere  seen  working  throughout  the  cosmos, 
in  nebula,  in  world  and  in  sun,  as  in  rock,  in  herb,  and  in  man  ;  all  of 
which  are  but  passing  phases  in  the  endless  circulation  of  the  universe, 
in  that  perpetual  new  birth  which  we  call  Nature.  This,  it  will  be 
said,  is  the  poet's  view  of  the  external  world,  but  it  is  at  the  same 
time  the  one  which  seems  to  me  to  be  forced  upon  us  as  the  highest 
generalization  of  modern  science. 

The  study  of  nature  in  its  details  presents  itself  to  the  mind  in  a 
twofold  aspect — as  historical  and  as  philosophical.  The  first  of  these 
gives  rise  to  a  General  Physiography  or  description  of  nature,  which 
we  commonly  call  Natural  History  as  applied  to  each  of  the  three 
great  divisions  designated  as  the  mineral,  vegetable,  and  animal  king- 
doms. This  physiographic  method  of  study  in  the  latter  two  gives  us 
systematic  and  descriptive  botany  and  zoology,  with  their  classifica- 
tion and  their  terminology  ;  while  the  physiography  of  the  mineral 
kingdom  includes  not  only  systematic  and  descriptive  mineralogy  as 
generally  understood,  but  those  branches  of  geology  which  we  desig- 
nate as  petrography  and  geognosy,  or  the  study  of  the  constituents  of 
the  earth's  crust,  of  their  aggregation  and  their  distribution. 

terpreter,  Davidson,  "  the  ultimate  atoms  of  matter  are  animate ;  each  atom  having 
united  with  it,  and  forming  its  unity  or  atomicity,  a  sensitive  principle.  When  atoms 
chemically  combine,  their  sensitive  principles  become  one.  .  .  .  The  unit  of  natural  exist- 
ence is  neither  force  nor  matter,  but  sentience,  and  through  this  all  the  material  and  dy- 
namic phenomena  of  nature  may  be  explained."  From  the  unifications  of  these  sensitive 
principles,  or  elementary  souls,  which  take  place  in  the  combinations  of  matter,  higher 
and  higher  manifestations  of  sentience  appear,  constituting  the  various  activities  dis- 
played in  crystals,  in  plants,  and  in  animals.  From  these  elementary  souls  organic  souls 
are  built  up,  and  "  when  these  are  redissolved  into  the  elementary  ones  through  the  dis- 
solution of  the  organized  bodies,  the  existence  of  the  souls  does  not  cease,  but  is  merely 
transformed."  ^  (See  "  The  Philosophical  System  of  Rosmini,"  by  Thomas  Davidson,  pp. 
284-301.)  This  volume  was  unpublished,  and  these  views  of  Rosmini  were  unknown  to 
me,  at  the  time  of  writing  the  above  pages. 

The  eminent  biophysiologist,  William  B.  Carpenter,  in  an  essay  on  "  Life,"  published 
in  1S4Y,  contends  that  organization  and  biotical  functions  arise  from  the  natural  operation 
of  forces  inherent  in  elemental  matter.— (Todd's  "  Cyclopaedia  of  Anatomy  and  Physiol- 
ogy," vol.  iii,  p.  151.) 


i7o  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

The  second  aspect  of  the  study  of  nature,  which  we  have  desig- 
nated as  philosophical,  regards  the  logic  of  nature,  or  what  the  older 
writers  spoke  of  as  General  Physiology.  This  is  sometimes  appropri- 
ately termed  Natural  Philosophy,  a  designation  which  is  the  correlative 
of  Natural  History.  With  this  method  of  study  in  the  organic  king- 
doms we  are  familiar  under  the  names  of  physiological  botany  and 
physiological  zoology,  which  concern  themselves  with  anatomy,  or- 
ganography, and  morphology,  and  with  the  processes  of  growth, 
nutrition,  and  decay  in  organized  existences.  The  natural  philosophy 
of  the  inorganic  world  investigates  the  motions  and  the  energies  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  and  then,  coming  down  to  our  planet,  considers  all 
the  phenomena  which  come  under  the  head  of  dynamic  or  physic,  as 
well  as  those  of  chemistry.  These  various  activities  together  "con- 
stitute the  secular  life  of  our  planet.  They  are  the  geogenic  agencies 
which  in  the  course  of  ages  have  molded  the  mineral  mass  of  the 
earth,  and  from  primeval  chaos  have  evolved  its  present  order,  formed 
its  various  rocks,  filled  the  veins  in  its  crust  with  metals,  ores,  gems, 
and  spars,  and  determined  the  composition  of  its  waters  and  its  at- 
mosphere. They  still  regulate  alike  the  terrestrial,  the  oceanic,  and 
the  aerial  circulation,  and  preside  over  the  constant  change  and  decay 
by  which  the  surface  of  the  earth  is  incessantly  renewed  and  the  con- 
ditions necessary  to  organic  life  are  maintained."  *  Thus  the  physio- 
logical study  of  the  inorganic  world,  or  in  other  words  its  natural 
philosophy,  includes  in  its  scope  at  once  theoretical  astronomy  and 
theoretical  geology  or  geogeny. 

The  twofold  division  which  has  been  adopted  in  the  scientific  class 
of  our  new  society  does  not  correspond  to  that  which  we  have  just  set 
forth,  namely,  of  Natural  History  on  the  one  hand  and  Natural  Philos- 
ophy on  the  other  ;  nor  yet,  as  might  at  first  seem  to  be  the  case,  to 
the  more  familiar  distinction  between  inorganic  and  organic  nature. 
Our  Section  III  has  been  made  to  embrace,  it  is  true,  much  both  of  the 
natural  history  and  the  natural  philosophy  of  the  inorganic  world,  in- 
cluding, besides  physic  and  chemistry,  both  descriptive  and  theoretical 
astronomy  and  mineralogy.  This  same  section  has  also  been  made  to 
include  mathematic,  which  in  itself  does  not  belong  to  the  domain 
of  natural  science,  though  in  its  applications  it  becomes  an  indispen- 
sable instrument  in  the  study  of  nature  ;  whether  we  investigate  the 
phenomena  of  physic  or  of  chemistry,  or  seek  to  comprehend  the  laws 
which  regulate  alike  the  order  of  the  celestial  spheres,  the  shapes  of 
crystals,  and  the  forms  of  vegetation. 

Section  IV,  on  the  other  hand,  in  its  department  of  biology,  in- 
cludes alike  the  natural  history  and  the  natural  philosophy  of  the 
vegetable  and  the  animal  kingdoms.     In  this  same  section  has,  how- 

*  "  The  Domain  of  Physiology,  or  Nature  in  Thought  and  Language,"  by  T.  Sterry 
Hunt,  "  London,  Edinburgh,  and  Dublin  Philosophical  Magazine  "  (vol.  xii,  pp.  233-253) 
for  October,  1881;  also  separately  reprinted,  pp.  2S ;  S.  E.  Cassino:  Boston,  18S2. 


THE  RELATIONS    OF  THE  NATURAL   SCIENCES.    171 

ever,  been  included  what  we  call  geology,  which  is  not  a  separate  sci- 
ence, but  the  application  alike  of  mathematic  and  of  all  the  natural 
sciences  to  the  elucidation  of  both  the  physiography  and  the  physiology 
of  our  planet.  So  far  as  geology  concerns  itself  with  the  history  of 
past  life  on  the  earth,  or  what  is  called  paleontology,  it  is  biological, 
but  in  all  its  other  aspects  the  relations  of  geology  are  with  Section  III. 
The  logical  result  of  this  complex  character  of  geology  should  be  either 
the  separation  of  paleontology  from  the  other  branches  of  geological 
study,  which  find  their  appropriate  place  in  our  Section  III  ;  or  else 
the  union  of  the  two  sections  through  this  their  common  bond. 

It  wTill  be  noticed  that  in  this  brief  survey  of  the  field  of  natural 
knowledge  I  have  not  spoken  of  the  technical  applications  of  science, 
nor  alluded  to  its  important  aspects  in  relation  to  the  material  wants 
of  life.  On  this  theme,  did  time  permit,  I  might  speak  at  length. 
There  are  two  classes  of  motives  which  urge  men  to  the  pursuit  of 
knowledge  ;  on  the  one  hand,  those  of  worldly  fame  or  profit,  and,  on 
the  other,  the  far  nobler  sentiment  which  has  the  finding-out  of  truth 
for  its  object.  It  would  seem  as  if,  by  a  spiritual  law,  the  great  prin- 
ciples which  are  most  fruitful  in  material  results  are  not  revealed  to 
those  who  interrogate  Nature  with  these  lower  ends  in  view.  Newton, 
Darwin,  Faraday,  Henry,  and  such  as  they,  were  not  inspired  by  a  de- 
sire for  the  praise  of  men,  or  for  pecuniary  reward,  but  pursued  their 
life-long  labors  with  higher  motives;  the  love  of  truth  for  its  own  sake, 
the  reverent  desire  to  comprehend  the  hidden  laws  and  operations  of 
the  universe.  To  such,  and  to  such  alone,  does  Nature  reveal  herself. 
In  the  material  as  in  the  moral  order,  the  promise  of  achievement  is 
given  to  those  who  strive  after  knowledge  and  wisdom  irrespective  of 
the  hope  of  temporal  reward  ;  and  the  history  of  science  shows  that  it 
is  such  seekers  as  these  who  have  attained  to  the  discovery  of  those 
secrets  which  have  been  of  the  greatest  benefit  to  humanity.  The  ad- 
monition is  to  all,  that  we  are  to  seek  first  for  truth  and  for  justice  ; 
and  with  this  comes  the  promise  that  to  those  who  thus  seek  all  other 
things  shall  be  superadded. 

It  is  good  and  praiseworthy  to  labor  to  extract  the  metal  from  the 
ore,  and  the  healing  essence  from  the  plant,  to  subdue  the  powers  of 
electricity  and  of  steam  to  the  service  of  man.  To  those  who  attain 
these  ends  the  world  gives  its  substantial  rewards  ;  but  far  higher 
honors  are  instinctively  rendered  to  those  who  by  their  disinterested 
researches,  undertaken  without  hope  of  recompense,  have  revealed  to 
us  the  great  laws  which  serve  to  guide  the  searchers  in  these  fields  of 
technical  science  ;  to  those  who  have  labored  serenely,  with  the  con- 
sciousness that  whatever  of  truth  is  made  known  by  their  studies  will 
be  a  lasting  gain  to  humanity.  "  Thus,"  to  repeat  words  used  on 
another  occasion,*  "  it  ever  happens,  in  accordance  with  the  Divine 

*  "  The  Relations  of  Chemistry  to  Pharmacy  and  Therapeutics,"  an  Address  before  the 
Massachusetts  College  of  Pharmacy,  by  T.  Sterry  Hunt.     Boston,  IS'Zu. 


i72  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

order,  that  the  worker  must  lose  himself  and  his  lower  aims  in  his 
work,  and  in  so  doing  find  his  highest  reward  ;  for  the  profit  of  his 
labor  shall  be,  in  the  language  of  one  of  old,  to  the  glory  of  the  Cre- 
ator and  to  the  relief  of  man's  estate." 


BRAIN-WEIGHT  AND  BRAIN-POWER  * 

By  J.   P.   II.   BOILEAU,  B.  A.,   M.  D. 

ALTHOUGH  the  connection  between  the  relative  weight  of  man's 
brain  and  his  intellectual  development  is  very  well  known,  and 
several  illustrations  of  this  connection  have  been  published,  I  feel 
assured  that  the  following  notes  of  a  remarkable  case  may  not  only 
well  be  added  to  the  list  of  those  already  recorded,  but  that  it  is  de- 
sirable that  this  should  be  done.  It  is  the  case  of  an  officer  who  died 
at  Netley  last  year,  and  I  am  indebted  to  a  published  memoir  for  some 
particulars  of  his  life. 

A  Scotchman  by  birth  and  parentage,  he  received  his  early  educa- 
tion in  Edinburgh,  and  afterward  went  to  Wimbledon  School  previous 
to  entering  Addiscombe,  where  his  career  was  exceptionally  brilliant. 
At  the  final  examination  there,  he  scored  an  unusual  total  of  marks, 
gained  the  sword  of  honor  and  Pollock  medal,  and  several  prizes  for 
specific  subjects.  On  leaving  Addiscombe  in  1858  he  proceeded  to 
India,  where  he  was  employed  altogether  in  civil  duties.  At  the  time 
of  his  death  he  was  superintendent  of  the  telegraph  department.  With 
no  military  distinctions,  he  was,  nevertheless,  one  of  the  foremost  men 
in  his  corps.  Highly  gifted  intellectually,  duty  no  less  than  inclina- 
tion prompted  him  to  cultivate  his  mind  as  a  preparation  for  advance- 
ment, for  he  held  strongly  that  no  one  is  fit  for  highly  responsible 
positions  who  fails  to  keep  himself  as  far  as  possible  on  a  level  with 
current  events,  and  with  the  thoughts,  investigations,  and  discoveries 
of  the  day.  His  wide  reading  and  tenacious  memory  made  him  a  man 
of  mark  in  any  society.  His  opinions  were  his  own,  formed  independ- 
ently, expressed,  if  necessary,  forcibly,  and  followed  always  coura- 
geously. He  was  an  exceptional  man,  and  his  large-hearted  and  wide- 
reaching  sympathy  won  him  admiration  and  love  among  high  and  low. 
His  remarkable  qualities  were  as  conspicuous  in  his  earlier  as  in  his 
later  years.  He  was  a  standard  of  conduct  to  his  schoolfellows,  and, 
when  at  Addiscombe,  the  governor  did  him  the  extraordinary  honor 
of  making  a  private  report  to  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  East  India 
Company,  which  was  quoted  by  the  chairman  on  the  examination  day. 
The  reputation  with  which  he  started  increased  daily,  and  was  sustained 
to  the  last.  But  the  strain  was  too  great.  Exposure  to  a  pernicious 
climate — and  his  physical  strength  led  him  to  expose  himself  only  too 


BRAIN-WEIGHT  AND   BRAIN-POWER.  173 

carelessly — for  twenty-four  years,  with  but  eighteen  months'  leave, 
weakened  a  naturally  magnificent  constitution,  and  he  was  compelled 
to  take  furlough.  His  intellectual  vigor,  however,  was  shown  nearly 
to  the  last,  and  only  a  few  days  before  death  he  expressed  his  capa- 
bility of  undertaking  difficult  mental  work.  But  a  sudden  change  set 
in,  and  in  a  few  days  proved  fatal. 

During  his  stay  at  Netley  he  suffered  from  extreme  debility,  in- 
duced probably  by  intractable  diarrhoea.  A  day  or  two  before  death 
he  complained  of  severe  headache,  and  his  axillary  temperature  rose 
from  101°-102°  to  106°  Fahr. 

It  is  very  much  to  be  regretted  that,  at  the  time  I  was  called  upon 
to  make  the  autopsy,  I  was  not  in  possession  of  the  facts  narrated,  for, 
had  I  been,  the  examination  would  have  been  more  complete  in  many 
points.  The  diagnosis  of  the  case  was  very  obscure ;  but  hepatic  ab- 
scess was  suspected,  and  it  was  to  clear  up  this  point  that  the  exami- 
nation was  made.  The  severe  headache,  however,  and  the  rise  of  tem- 
perature, pointed  to  some  cerebral  or  meningeal  mischief,  and  it  was 
thought  advisable  to  find  out  if  such  existed.  For  this  purpose  the 
cranium  was  opened. 

Abstract  of  Autopsy  (made  not  only  with  the  full  permission  of 
relatives,  but,  I  believe,  by  request). — Cranial  bones  very  dense  ;  dura 
mater  extremely  vascular  ;  brain-substance  generally  firm  and  normal. 
On  opening  the  left  ventricle  pus  was  observed  in  the  anterior  cornu  ; 
the  origin  of  this  was  in  the  anterior  part  of  the  intraventricular  por- 
tion of  the  left  corpus  striatum,  which  here  was  quite  destroyed  and 
broken  down  into  soft  shreds.  Before  dissection  the  brain  weighed 
26,130  grains  avoirdupois,  or  59*72  ounces.  After  examination,  a  por- 
tion of  it,  weighing  22,785  grains,  was  found  to  displace  eighty-six 
cubic  inches  of  water  ;  the  specific  gravity  was,  therefore,  l-049.  The 
lungs  were  perfectly  healthy,  with  the  exception  of  the  lower  lobe  of 
the  right.  In  this  there  was  a  circumscribed  abscess-cavity,  measuring 
in  its  longest  diameter  three  inches.  It  communicated  with  a  small 
abscess  in  the  liver,  through  an  opening,  about  the  size  of  a  florin,  in 
the  diaphragm.  The  heart  was  quite  normal.  The  lining  membrane 
of  the  great  blood-vessels  was  deeply  blood-stained,  that  of  the  aorta 
being  very  much  roughened,  in  patches,  by  atheromatous  degeneration. 
Jejunum,  ileum,  and  colon  normal  ;  no  trace  of  ulceration,  but  the 
solitary  glands  of  the  latter  were  large  and  prominent.  The  liver 
presented  a  uniformly  brown  color  throughout,  and  was  much  softened. 
In  the  upper  portion  of  the  right  lobe  there  was  a  small  abscess,  about 
one  inch  in  diameter,  and  nearly  surrounded  by  a  dense,  thick,  fibrous 
envelope.  This  abscess  communicated  with  the  lung.  The  spleen  was 
slightly  enlarged,  weighing  4,375  grains.  The  kidneys  appeared  to  be 
quite  normal  ;  they  were  enveloped  in  a  large  amount  of  fat. 

The  chief  interest  in  this  case  lies  in  the  great  weight  of  the  brain, 
and  its  high  specific  gravity,  in  relation  to  the  highly  gifted  intellectual 


174  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

power  exhibited  by  the  individual  during  life.  As  this  brain  weighed 
very  nearly  60  ounces,  it  exceeds  that  of  all  others  usually  quoted,  with 
the  exception  only  of  Cuvier's,  which  weighed  64^  ounces,  and  that  of 
Dr.  Abercrombie,  which  weighed  63  ounces.*  Sir  J.  Y.  Simpson's 
brain  weighed  54  ounces,  and  that  of  Agassiz  53*4  ounces.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  average  weight  of  the  adult  male  brain  is  under  50 
ounces.  The  specific  gravity  of  the  brain  I  examined  was  1*049,  and 
this  is  as  high  as  any  recorded.  From  Professor  Aitken's  work  I  find 
that  the  average  specific  gravity  of  the  brain  is  1*036,  and  the  highest 
specific  gravity  of  the  densest  part  of  a  brain  ever  taken  by  Professor 
Aitken,  or  any  one  else,  I  believe,  is  1*049. 

The  weight  of  the  brain  in  this  case  was,  in  the  first  instance,  taken 
by  the  orderly  corporal  in  charge  of  our  microscope  room,  and  recorded 
by  him  on  the  blackboard  in  the  mortuary.  I  immediately  verified  its 
accuracy  by  weighing  the  organ  myself,  and  I  also  verified  the  correct- 
ness of  the  weighing-machine.  The  specific  gravity  was  taken  very 
carefully.  Surgeon-Major  Hogg,  Army  Medical  Department,  was 
present  at  the  time. 

The  average  cranial  capacity  of  the  adult  male  head  is,  I  believe, 
about  90  cubic  inches.  Cuvier's  is  reported  to  have  been  about  118, 
In  the  case  which  I  now  record  it  must  have  been  about  108. — Lancet. 


THE  CELL-STATE. 

By  Professor  FEKDINAND  COHN,  of  Breslav. 

"VTOTHING  is  more  sure  than  that  all  life  is  subject  to  age  and 
-L- i  death,  and  yet  nothing  is  more  contradictory  to  our  feelings. 
In  the  vigor  of  youth  our  body  feels  as  if  it  was  created  to  last  for 
ever  ;  why  must  the  highest  work  of  art  wear  out  and  break  down 
with  time?  The  more  formidable  the  contradiction  between  inex- 
haustible life-joy  and  inevitable  fate,  the  greater  the  longing  which 
reveals  itself  in  the  kingdom  of  poetry  and  in  the  self-created  world 
of  dreams  hopes  to  banish  the  dark  power  of  reality.  The  gods  enjoy 
eternal  youth,  and  the  search  for  the  means  of  securing  it  was  one  of 
the  occupations  of  the  heroes  of  mythology  and  the  sages,  as  it  was  of 
real  adventurers  in  the  middle  ages  and  more  recent  times.  .  .  .  But 
the  fountain  of  youth  has  not  been  found,  and  can  not  be  found  if  it 
is  sought  in  any  particular  spot  on  the  earth.  Yet  it  is  no  fable,  no 
dream-picture  ;  it  requires  no  adept  to  find  it :  it  streams  forth  inex- 
haustible in  all  living  nature. 

*  A  case  is  recorded  in  the  "  British  Medical  Journal,"  October  26, 1872,  by  Dr.  Morrisj 
in  which  a  brain  examined  at  University  College,  London,  weighed  67  ounces.  It  was 
that  of  a  bricklayer,  who  could  neither  read  nor  write. 


THE   CELL-STATE.  175 

Nature  continues  eternally  young  ;  the  earth  adorns  itself  every 
spring  with  leaf  and  flower,  having  the  same  freshness  and  youthful 
vigor  as  when  for  the  first  time  He  "  let  it  bring  forth  grass,  the  herb 
yielding  seed,  and  the  fruit-tree  yielding  fruit  after  his  kind."  The 
grasses  and  flowers,  it  is  true,  which  this  year  are  cut  or  withered, 
the  leaves  and  blossoms  which  the  wind  has  to-day  blown  from  the 
trees,  will  not  assist  in  forming  its  robe  in  the  next  spring,  but  Nature 
draws  out  new  shoots  from  the  old  roots,  new  leaves  from  the  old 
branches,  and  thus  rejuvenates  herself  with  every  new  year.  And 
although  the  human  race,  although  also  the  other  kinds  of  animals  and 
plants,  show  as  yet  no  trace  of  age  in  spite  of  the  numerous  thousands 
of  years  in  which  they  have  dwelt  on  the  earth,  still  each  individual  is 
perishable,  it  grows  old  and  dies  ;  but  new  generations  shove  them- 
selves uninterruptedly  into  the  gap,  so  that  the  whole  abide  in  the  fresh- 
ness of  youthful  vigor.  Rejuvenation  so  dwells  in  nature  that  every 
individual  runs  through  a  limited  circle  of  development,  and  is  finally 
worn  out  and  cut  off,  to  be  replaced  by  fresh  members  which  pass  anew 
through  the  accomplished  cycle. 


If  we  apply  this  view  which  we  have  gained  of  the  rejuvenation 
of  nature  to  the  consideration  of  a  single  being,  whether  it  be  man, 
animal,  or  plant,  we  shall  perceive  that  all  life  rests  upon  a  constant 
renewal.  Life  is  an  uninterrupted  contest  with  death,  which  attacks 
it  every  moment,  but  is  beaten  back  by  rejuvenation.  It  would  be  an 
error  to  represent  a  living  being  as  anything  constant,  its  appearance 
as  anything  steady  ;  life  in  truth  resembles  a  water-fall,  which  only 
apparently  preserves  a  constant  form,  while  in  reality  none  of  the  par- 
ticles of  water  keep  their  places,  but  are  continually  removed  and  re- 
placed by  new  ones.  The  visible  form  of  stillness  is  kept  up  only  in 
perpetual  movement.  Life  resembles  a  flame,  which  restlessly  con- 
sumes itself  and  can  shed  an  even  light  only  when  new  particles  come 
up  in  place  of  those  which  have  been  burned,  only  to  be  dissipated  in 
their  turn  a  moment  later.  So  in  living  bodies  the  combination  and 
arrangement  of  the  matter  on  which  their  outer  form  and  internal 
disposition  depend  are  at  no  two  instants  the  same,  but  an  uninter- 
rupted change  of  matter  is  taking  place.  The  particles  which  are 
together  in  this  moment  at  one  point  are  in  the  following  moment 
separated  and  replaced  by  others.  For  only  a  short  time  are  the  atoms 
of  which  bodies  are  built  up  adapted  to  the  service  of  life  ;  sooner  or 
later  they  leave  it  in  order  to  follow  the  free  play  of  the  forces  of 
attraction  which  join  the  elements  in  the  enduring  combinations  of 
lifeless  nature.  Therefore,  the  living  body  is  obliged  constantly  to 
take  up  from  without  new  elements  of  nourishment,  by  means  of 
which  it  repairs  its  loss  ;  and  these  insinuate  themselves  so  closely  in 
the  place  of  the  separated  ones,  that  even  the  eye  of  the  naturalist, 


176  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

armed  with  the  most  effective  aids  supplied  by  modern  science,  has 
only  recently  remarked,  after  a  long  time,  that  any  change  has  taken 
place. 

In  reality  every  living  body  is  subject  to  an  uninterrupted  change, 
which  goes  on  in  an  appointed  course.  Life  is  like  a  stream,  which 
gushes  out  of  a  hidden  spring  ;  slowly  increases,  flows  on  for  a  time 
with  even  strength,  finally  with  diminishing  velocity,  to  disappear  in 
the  sea  of  eternity.  We  designate  the  course  of  changes  which  every 
living  being,  plant,  and  animal,  as  well  as  man,  goes  through,  as  its 
development.  Development  begins  with  the  moment  of  birth  and 
ends  with  death. 

But  with  the  death  of  the  single  being  its  race  does  not  disappear ; 
the  property  dwells  in  every  living  being  by  which  a  part  of  it  can 
drop  off  from  the  whole,  continue  to  develop  itself  independently, 
be  nourished  and  rejuvenated  by  a  change  of  matter.  We  call  this 
dropping  off  of  a  part,  capable  of  development,  from  the  whole,  propa- 
gation ;  with  propagation  is  transferred  the  history  of  development  ; 
the  separated  part,  which  we  denote  as  an  egg  or  spore,  a  seed  or 
embryo,  a  bud  or  spawn-knob,  passes  in  substance  through  the  same 
course  of  changes  as  the  whole  from  which  it  has  been  separated. 
Like  arises  from  like  ;  the  children  resemble  their  parents,  and,  as  these 
again  resemble  their  ancestors,  the  character  of  the  species  is  kept  up 
essentially  unchanged,  in  spite  of  the  perishability  of  individuals, 
through  all  the  generations. 

That  life  is  nothing  but  a  constant  development  and  an  uninter- 
rupted rejuvenation  is  expressed  in  the  plainest  and  clearest  manner 
in  the  world  of  plants.  It  is,  indeed,  not  easy  to  comprehend  the  life 
of  plants  aright,  and  many  regard  the  term  as  a  figure  of  speech,  not 
properly  applied.  Plants,  they  say,  do  not  feel  or  move  ;  they  have 
no  consciousness,  no  soul,  like  animals  ;  how  can  we  speak  of  their  life  ? 
If  motion,  feeling,  and  consciousness  alone  constituted  life,  there  might 
be  some  doubt  as  to  whether  plants  lived,  though  it  would  still  be 
worth  while  to  inquire  whether  these  higher  attributes  were  really 
wanting  in  plants.  Darwin  has  lately  shown,  in  connection  with  many 
older  observations,  that  all  the  parts  of  plants  participate  in  a  regular 
circling  motion,  and  that  single  organs  show  sensibility  enough  to 
make  them  comparable  with  the  brains  of  the  lower  animals.  But 
when,  instead  of  the  highest  acts  of  life,  we  confine  ourselves  to  its 
general  and  essential  manifestations,  it  becomes  undoubtedly  clear 
that  plants  are  living  in  the  same  sense  as  animals  and  men.  Only 
plants  are  distinguished,  not  from  animals  generally,  but  from  the 
higher  animals  that  rank  nearest  to  men,  and  from  which  our  concep- 
tions of  animal  life  in  general  have  been  formed,  in  that  in  them  unity, 
or  individuality,  is  expressed  in  a  much  more  imperfect  manner.  The 
mammal,  bird,  fish,  insect,  is  a  separate,  single,  and  indivisible  being. 
Its  members  are  fixed  and  limited  in  number  ;  not  one  of  them  can 


THE   CELL-STATE.  j77 

perform  its  functions  when  separated  from  the  whole.  No  part,  not 
the  smallest,  can  be  separated  from  the  body  without  the  whole  suf- 
fering. 

It  is  very  different  with  the  plant.  A  tree  indeed  appears  to  be  a 
single  being,  sinking  the  net-work  of  its  roots  into  the  ground,  raising 
its  slender  trunk  into  the  air  and  spreading  out  above  the  web  of  its 
limbs  and  boughs.  The  members  of  which  the  tree  consists  may  be 
regarded  as  its  organs.  It  sucks  up  its  nourishment  through  its  roots, 
it  breathes  through  its  leaves,  it  propagates  its  species  through  its 
flowers.  But  the  connection  of  these  members  with  each  other  is  of 
an  infinitely  looser  character  than  that  of  the  organs  of  the  animal.  I 
can  strip  as  many  leaves  as  I  please  from  a  willow,  the  rest  lives  on  ; 
I  can  cut  off  its  limbs,  those  that  are  left  grow  more  vigorously  ;  I  can 
cut  it  down  near  the  roots,  new  shoots  spring  up  from  the  stump  ;  I 
set  the  rootless  stem  in  moist  earth,  and  it  continues  to  live.  If  I  wish 
to  make  a  layer,  I  have  only  to  plant  the  end  of  a  bough,  and  it  takes 
root  and  grows.  In  many  plants  a  single  leaf  has  the  capacity  of  living 
and  growing.  The  plant  is  not  therefore  indivisible,  like  the  animal ; 
its  individual  members  are  in  a  much  higher  measure  independent  and 
competent  to  live.  "We  may  say  the  animal  is  a  single  being,  each  of 
its  members  is  only  a  part,  not  itself  a  whole,  only  an  organ,  not  itself 
an  individual.  The  plant,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  composite  being,  a 
chain  of  individuals,  each  of  which  possesses  an  independent  life,  but 
all  of  which  are  connected  in  a  collective  life  of  a  higher  order ;  the 
plant  is  an  organism  the  organs  of  which  are  themselves  organisms. 

This  relation  may  be  made  clear  by  a  suitable  figure.  A  state  is, 
without  doubt,  in  many  respects  a  single  organism,  which  maintains 
an  independent,  often  sharply  denned,  unchanged  character  through 
centuries,  and  marks  its  domain  as  an  indivisible,  also  as  a  real  indi- 
vidual. Each  state  has  its  own  development-history  :  it  is  founded,  it 
grows,  reaches  its  prime,  and  decays  ;  it  has  its  life-economy,  for  the 
functions  of  which  it  maintains  its  particular  organs,  its  officers.  The 
state  also  acts  in  external  affairs  as  a  single  organism  ;  it  makes  war, 
it  establishes  enterprises  for  the  general  benefit,  it  builds  important 
works,  etc.  But  if  the  state  thus  appears  as  a  single  whole,  so  also  it 
may  be  regarded  on  the  other  side  as  a  collection  of  provinces  ;  each 
province  is  a  state  in  miniature,  likewise  organized  in  itself  ;  and  his- 
tory furnishes  us  with  numerous  examples  in  which  single  provinces 
have  been  able  to  cut  loose  from  the  collective  state  and  maintain 
themselves  as  independent  state-organisms.  The  province,  again,  can 
be  regarded  as  an  association  of  villages  which  represent  the  smallest 
social  organizations  ;  every  village  is  also  a  state  in  miniature,  with 
independent  economy,  and  capable  of  maintaining  itself  independently 
in  case  of  necessity,  and,  in  fact,  of  growing  up,  as  Rome,  Carthage, 
and  Venice  have  shown,  into  mighty  states.  If  we  carry  our  simili- 
tude to  the  end,  we  may  liken  the  animal  to  a  compact,  centralized, 

VOL.    XXII. — 12 


178  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

unitary  state,  the  members  of  which  have  entirely  lost  their  inde- 
pendence, and  in  which  a  single  will  rules  the  whole  ;  while  we  may 
represent  the  plant  as  a  freely  organized  federal  state,  the  members  of 
which,  in  spite  of  their  resignation  to  the  whole  body,  have  yet  pre- 
served a  certain  degree  of  independence  and  self -administration. 

In  the  federal  state  of  the  plant  the  limbs  and  boughs  correspond 
to  the  provinces,  the  leaves  to  the  villages  ;  but  the  village  is  not  the 
last  member  of  the  chain  :  it  is  itself  a  union  of  citizens,  each  one  of 
whom,  though  a  member  of  the  state  and  the  village,  is  an  independent 
being  who  lives  first  for  himself,  and  has  his  own  household,  all  of 
whose  efforts  are  first  directed  to  the  maintenance  of  his  own  exist- 
ence. But  while  with  a  just  egoism  the  citizen  knows  his  own  good 
as  his  immediate  object,  he  thereby  participates  directly  in  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  state  organism  and  contributes  to  the  support  of 
the  whole  state.  Every  citizen  goes  through  his  independent  devel- 
opment from  birth  to  death  ;  but  the  village  does  not  die  with  the 
death  of  the  individual,  for  in  his  stead  come  his  children  to  fill  the 
vacant  place  ;  and  the  village  and  state  are  renewed  in  the  unbroken 
succession  of  generations. 

It  is  the  same  in  the  plant-state.  If  we  compare  the  leaf  with  the 
village,  it  also  consists  of  a  larger  or  smaller  number  of  individuals 
which  may  be  regarded  as  independent  organisms.  The  citizens, 
through  the  union  of  whom  the  plant-state  is  formed,  are  called  by 
the  botanist  plant-cells.  All  plants,  without  exception,  are  composed 
in  all  their  parts  of  cells,  just  as  every  building,  from  the  palace  to  the 
hut,  consists  of  building-stones  or  timbers.  Every  plant-cell  pursues 
an  individual  life.  Its  first  effort  is  only  to  maintain  and  develop 
itself  ;  it  takes  its  own  nourishment  and  assimilates  it,  and  finally 
dies,  after  having,  as  a  rule,  first  left  a  posterity  in  its  place.  As  the 
cells  unite  to  form  cell-villages  in  the  leaves,  these  unite  again  to  form 
the  provinces  of  the  foliage-boughs,  and  enter  into  an  interchange  of 
life  with  each  other,  and  so  they  maintain  the  life  of  the  whole  plant  in 
the  same  manner  as  the  collective  state-life  comes  into  being  through 
the  interworking  of  the  lives  of  the  individual  citizens.  What  we  see 
going  on  in  the  life  of  the  plant  in  the  germ  and  shoot,  in  flower  and 
fruit-bearing,  are  only  head  and  state  actions  in  the  development  of 
the  cell-state  and  its  citizens. 

Our  eyes  can  not  perceive  these  citizens  of  the  cell-state.  It  is  not 
strange,  then,  that  their  existence  escaped  the  knowledge  of  naturalists 
till  about  two  hundred  years  ago.  They  would  still  be  concealed,  and 
the  key  to  the  comprehension  of  plant-life  would  be  withheld  from  us, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  microscope. 

We  owe  it  to  the  microscope  that,  where  the  naked  eye  perceives 
only  uniform  masses,  we  can  now  distinguish  a  wonderful  diversity 
of  beautiful  tissues  ;  and  that  where  a  rigid  stillness  seemed  to  prevail, 
a  fullness  of  life-processes  quite  incomprehensible  to  us  is  concealed. 


THE   CELL-STATE.  i79 

The  microscope  shows  us  in  the  plant,  which  was  able  to  give  to  the 
naked  eye  only  obscure  signs  of  its  inner  life,  a  highly  organized  state- 
life  of  restless  development  and  renewal. 

We  have  represented  the  citizen  of  this  state,  the  plant-cell,  as  an 
exceedingly  simply  formed  being  :  it  consists  of  a  round  body  of  soft, 
slimy  substance,  like  a  sack,  the  interior  of  which  is  filled  with  a 
watery  juice.  The  soft  substance,  forming  the  wall  of  the  body,  is 
called  protoplasm  ;  it  is  the  most  important  matter  in  all  nature,  for 
it  alone  is  the  bearer  of  life.  With  slight  changes  it  forms  not  only 
the  bodies  of  all  plant-cells,  but  also  the  white  and  yolk  of  the  egg, 
flesh  and  blood,  the  substance  of  the  brain  and  nerves,  milk  and  cheese, 
the  skin  and  hair  of  animals.  While  in  lifeless  nature  nearly  every 
kind  of  stone  has  a  different  chemical  constitution,  in  the  world  of  life 
one  and  the  same  fundamental  substance  forms  the  basis  of  the  bodies 
of  plants,  animals,  and  men. 

But  if  the  plant-cell  consisted  simply  of  soft  protoplasm,  it  would 
not  be  able  to  resist  the  presence  and  assault  of  strange  bodies  ;  there- 
fore it  is  surrounded  with  a  hard  shell,  which  it  prepares  as  a  dwelling 
and  for  its  protection,  in  a  similar  manner  as  the  snail  forms  its  shell, 
by  secreting  over  its  surface  a  matter  which  soon  hardens  into  a  firm, 
transparent  envelope.  This  shell,  which  is  called  the  cell-wall,  does  not 
show  the  most  minute  opening,  but  incloses  the  protoplasm  perfectly 
tight.  We  might,  therefore,  liken  the  cell  to  an  egg  in  which  the  soft, 
living  contents  are  concealed  in  the  hard  shell. 

Plant-cells  vary  greatly  in  size.  Those  of  elder-pith  and  of  the 
begonia-leaf  may  be  perceived,  with  the  naked  eye,  as  resembling  an 
extremely  delicate  lattice-work  ;  the  pollen  of  rye  and  of  melons 
separates  in  water  into  little  dust-particles — single  cells,  just  at  the 
limit  of  visibility.  A  drop  of  malt-yeast,  on  the  other  hand,  is  re- 
solved under  the  microscope  into  millions  of  oval  fungus-cells,  one  or 
two  thousand  of  which  would  hardly  fill  the  space  of  a  centimetre. 
Plant-cells  average  about  the  size  of  a  hair's-breadth,  many  only  about 
a  third  or  a  fourth  as  much  ;  others  are  larger,  and  particularly  longer  ; 
the  single  fibers  from  which  cotton  and  linen  threads  are  spun  are 
plant-cells  which,  although  very  slender,  are  from  two  to  six  centi- 
metres long. 

But  in  nature  nothing  is  great  and  nothing  little,  and  there  is 
room,  even  in  the  smallest  cell,  for  the  greatest  diversity  and  develop- 
ment of  the  powers  of  life.  A  continuous  formation  and  transforma- 
tion, origin  and  decay,  a  constant  change  of  matter,  is  going  on  in 
every  cell ;  reception  and  assimilation  of  food,  inspiration  and  expira- 
tion ;  certain  atoms  which  have  become  of  no  use  for  purposes  of  life 
are  cast  aside,  others  are  taken  up  from  without  in  their  places ;  on 
this  food  and  change  of  substance  depend  the  renovation  of  the  cell 
and  the  maintenance  of  its  life.  Evidently  not  solid  substances  are 
appropriated,  for  we  know  that  the  cell  is  incased  in  a  perfectly  closed 


180  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

envelope ;  but  liquid  and  gaseous  foods  can  be  easily  absorbed.  Al- 
though the  most  perfect  microscopes  have  never  made  any  holes  visible 
in  the  cell-envelope,  there  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  this  envelope  is 
porous,  like  a  fungus,  but  that  the  pores  are  infinitely  finer.  Therefore, 
we  may  understand  that,  when  a  cell  is  placed  in  a  fluid,  the  envelop 
absorbs  it  to  fullness,  and  conveys  to  the  inner  protoplasmic  body  as 
much  as  it  requires  ;  and,  inversely,  certain  parts  of  the  cell-juices, 
which  the  living  protoplasmic  body  does  not  need  for  itself,  are  tran- 
spired through  the  pores  of  the  envelope  and  become  applicable  to  the 
use  of  other  cells  ;  and  the  same  may  take  place  with  air  and  gases. 

The  old  naturalists  believed  that  all  bodies  were  composed  of  four 
elements — fire,  water,  air,  and  earth.  Modern  physics  and  chemistry 
have  divested  these  elements  of  their  high  importance  ;  but  they  are 
still  full  of  meaning  to  the  life  of  plants.  Earth,  air,  and  water  are 
the  food  of  plants  ;  fire,  or  rather  light  and  heat,  are  the  forces  that 
set  agoing  the  play  of  life  in  the  cells.  The  most  important  food  of 
plants  is  contained  in  the  mineral  solutions  which  the  water,  penetrat- 
ing the  soil,  extracts  from  it,  and  in  the  oxygen  and  carbonic  acid 
which  they  derive  from  the  air. 

Water,  earth  salts,  and  the  gases — the  raw  materials  which  the 
plants  suck  up — are  changed  within  the  cells  into  starch  and  sugar, 
gum  and  woody  fiber.,  albumen  and  wax,  oil  and  resin,  into  powerful 
medicines  and  deadly  poisons.  The  simplest  plant  possesses  an  art 
which  the  most  skillful  chemist  has  not  been  able  to  learn  from  it.  It 
is  true  that  the  chemist  can  artificially  prepare  in  his  laboratory  many 
of  the  substances  which  the  plant-cell  likewise  produces  ;  he  can  con- 
vert the  starch  of  the  potato  into  the  sugar  that  gives  the  wine-grape 
its  sweetness  ;  this,  again,  he  can  transform  into  the  fruit-acids  which, 
in  connection  with  the  sugar,  give  the  berries  their  fresh  and  agreeable 
taste  ;  he  can  even  produce  the  flavor  of  the  fruits  from  the  fusel-oil 
which  he  obtains  by  the  fermentation  of  the  sugar.  He  can  make  the 
oil  of  bitter  almonds  from  benzoic  and  formic  acids  ;  he  can,  with  as 
good  art,  imitate  the  pungent  taste  of  the  pepper,  and  the  biting  one 
of  the  mustard-seed,  and  the  narcotic  poison  which  only  the  night- 
shade has  hitherto  prepared  for  the  healing  of  sore  eyes.  He  can 
produce  from  the  sap  of  firs  the  crystal-needles  of  the  vanilla,  for 
which  a  Mexican  orchid  has  heretofore  been  obliged  to  give  up  its 
pods  ;  from  the  distillation  of  wood  he  obtains  a  smoky  fluid,  from 
which  he  procures  salicylic  acid,  for  the  production  of  which  the  flowers 
of  the  meadow-sweet  or  the  bark-tissues  of  the  willow  were  formerly 
required  ;  and  from  this  he  makes  also  the  ink-coloring  gallic  acid, 
which  formerly  only  a  little  wasp  knew  how  to  draw  out  by  its  sting 
from  the  cells  of  the  oak,  and  the  aroma  of  the  wood-ruff.  He  has 
made  the  work  of  the  cells  in  the  madder-root  superfluous,  for  he  has 
fabricated  its  costly  dyes,  along  with  a  hundred  other  splendid  pig- 
ments, out  of  tar-oil  and  stone-coal ;  and  is  now  on  the  point  of  taking 


THE   CELL-STATE.  181 

its  work  away  from  the  indigo-plant  by  artificially  producing  indigo. 
But  a  raw  material  which  has  at  some  time  been  brought  forth  out  of 
the  laboratory  of  a  living  plant-cell  always  lies  at  the  foundation  of 
all  these  manipulations  of  the  chemist,  wonderful  as  they  are.     And, 
notwithstanding  the  immense  progress   that   modern  chemistry  has 
made  within  the  last  ten  years,  its  art  is  still  limited  at  this  point :  no 
prospect  yet  exists  that  it  will  be  able,  artificially,  to  produce  the  most 
important  of  all  the  substances  that  go  to  build  up  the  bodies  of  ani- 
mals and  plants,  and  to  form  their  living  cell-tissues — protoplasm,  or 
the  envelope  of  the  plant-cells,  the  matter  of  the  muscles  and  nerves. 
Chemistry  shares  this  limitation  of  its  means  with  animals.    No  animal 
can  live  on  air,  water,  and  earth  alone,  like  the  plants  ;  no  animal  can 
combine  the  simple  chemical  combinations,  as  they  occur  in  lifeless 
nature,  into  the  life-substance  protoplasm.     The  animal  must  draw  the 
substance  of  his  flesh  and  blood  from  the  plant,  for  his  own  vital  forces 
are  not  competent  to  produce  it.     The  plant-cells  alone  possess  the 
faculty  of  ennobling  the  simple  combinations  of  lifeless  nature  into 
matter  fitted  for  life.     Every  cell,  furthermore,  possesses  another  art, 
that  of  forming  different  fabrics  out  of  the  same  raw  material.    Hence 
arises  that  infinite  diversity  of  substances  of  different  properties  which 
are  drawn  from  the  vegetable  kingdom.    Close  together,  in  the  shadow 
of  the  same  wood,  grow  crow-foot  and  wood-ruff,  centaury  and  night- 
shade ;  the  same  soil  gives  food  to  their  roots,  the  same  air  plays 
around  their  foliage  ;  and  yet  the  cells  of  one  secrete  a  pungent,  those 
of  another  a  narcotic  poison,  those  of  a  third  a  bitter  medicinal  juice, 
those  of  a  fourth  an  aromatic  flavor.     The  cell  utilizes  a  part  of  its 
food  for  its  own  growth  ;  but,  sooner  or  later,  the  growth  ceases,  and 
the  cell,  keeping  the  form  and  size  it  has  acquired,  becomes  a  per- 
manent cell.     It  is  round  or  oval,  or  resembles  a  many-sided  crystal. 
Some  cells  become  flat  and  square,  like  a  tile  ;  some  put  out  rays,  like 
a  star,  or  form  a  zigzag,  like  the  wall  of  a  fortress  ;  many  lengthen 
themselves  out.     The  inner  structure,  also,  of  the  cell  changes  with 
age  ;  the  envelope,  delicate  and  thin  in  youth,  afterward  receives  accre- 
tions and  ornaments.     Some  cells  have  within  a  hollow  screw-way,  like 
a  winding  stair  ;  in  others,  the  inside  is  covered  with  beautiful  net- 
tings, rings,  flutings,  or  lattices.     Most  cells  thicken  their  casings,  as 
the  oyster  does,  by  adding  new  layers  over  the  older  ones  ;  and,  when 
their  hollows  are  quite  filled  up,  they  may  rival  stones  and  bones  in 
hardness,  as,  for  example,  the  cells  of  the  iron-wood  and  the  ivory- 
nut. 

As  the  cell-wall  grows  thicker,  fluids  and  gases  penetrate  its  invisi- 
ble pores  with  more  difficulty  ;  and  with  continuous  increase  of  thick- 
ness the  living  protoplasmic  bodies  inhabiting  its  interior  must  finally 
die  for  want  of  food.  They  in  effect  build  their  own  coffin,  immure 
themselves  living  in  their  own  cell-prison.  But  a  wonderful  provision 
prevents  the  food  being  entirely  cut  off.     While  the  cell- wall  is  arch- 


i8a  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

ing  itself  up  more  closely  and  thickly,  a  few  doors  and  windows  are 
still  left  open  in  it,  through  which  communication  may  still  take  place 
with  the  adjoining  cells  ;  this  occurs  by  the  cell-wall  not  becoming 
strengthened  at  particular  points  ;  and  when,  in  the  course  of  time,  the 
shell  has  become  still  thicker,  these  places  appear  as  pores  or  canals, 
which  lead  outwardly  from  the  interior  of  the  cell.  And  it  is  worthy 
of  remark  that  at  each  point  where  such  a  canal  penetrates  the  thick- 
ened cell- wall  a  corresponding  passage  is  also  left  open  in  the  next  cell, 
so  that  the  two  canals  meet  each  other,  and  are  only  sej)arated  by  a 
thin  partition.  Communication  continues  uninterrupted  by  these  pore- 
canals. 

The  plant-cell  is,  nevertheless,  subject  to  the  fate  of  all  life — 
it  grows  old  and  dies  at  last.  It  seldom  survives  a  summer  ;  toward 
the  end  of  the  fall  its  activity  becomes  weaker.  Dissolution  gradu- 
ally overcomes  the  dead  protoplasmic  bodies,  and  only  the  empty  cell- 
wall  is  left,  which  may  continue  to  exist  as  a  vacant  chamber  for  years 
and  centuries  after  the  living  nucleus  has  perished.  As  a  rule,  the  cell 
propagates  itself  before  it  dies  ;  as  an  earth-worm  may  be  divided  into 
two  parts,  each  of  which  will  become  an  independent  individual,  so 
the  parent-cell  divides  itself  into  two  daughter-cells,  which  supply  the 
place  of  the  mother,  and  continue  their  life-activity  with  renewed 
vigor. 

II. 

Such  in  its  principal  features  is  the  economy  of  the  plant-cell.  It 
is  fed  by  the  absorption  of  fluid  and  gaseous  foods  ;  it  elaborates  those 
foods  into  the  most  diversified  products  ;  it  respires  ;  it  strengthens 
and  thickens  its  shell,  yet  in  such  a  manner  that  it  can  continue  in  liv- 
ing intercourse  with  its  neighbors  ;  it  propagates  itself  by  splitting 
into  daughter-cells  ;  it  grows  old  and  dies.  Let  us  now  glance  at  the 
arrangements  and  laws  according  to  which  the  cells  act  in  organic  con- 
nection as  citizens  of  a  single  state.  As  there  are  wild  bees  that  do 
not  live  together  in  a  hive,  as  there  are  human  tribes  that  wander 
around  in  the  woods  without  organic  connection,  so  there  are  plant- 
cells  that  remain  isolated  during  all  their  lives  ;  they  all  perform  in 
the  same  manner  the  business  of  their  whole  existence,  which  is  highly 
primitive,  and  unadapted  to  perfection ;  their  progeny  does  not  con- 
tinue in  social  connection,  but  separates  into  wholly  free  individuals. 
Such  plants,  which  always  consist  of  single  cells,  are  called  one-celled ; 
they  are  found  among  the  lowest  forms  of  the  microscopic  world, 
among  the  algae  and  the  fungoids.  The  green  coating  that  covers  the 
rocks,  the  tree-trunks,  and  the  shingles  of  the  roof,  is  resolved  by  the 
microscope  into  innumerable  green  round  cells  ;  the  brown  scum  that 
floats  upon  ponds  and  ditches  exposed  to  the  sun,  the  yeast-plant,  the 
bacteria  that  produce  putrefaction,  are  one-celled  plants  of  this  kind. 

Generally,  however,  the  plant-cell  is,  like  man,  a  social  being,  which 
finds  its  true  calling  only  in  state-life.     In  most  growths,  from  that  of 


THE   CELL-STATE.  183 

the  moss  to  that  of  the  oak-tree,  an  incredible  number  of  cells  come 
together  to  form  an  ordered  state  ;  the  number  of  cells  in  a  small 
plant  may  be  compared  with  the  number  of  the  inhabitants  in  the 
most  powerful  kingdoms  ;  and  I  have  estimated  that  at  least  ten  mill- 
ion cells  live  together  in  a  potato  five  centimetres  (about  two  inches) 
in  diameter,  and  that  a  pine-stem  twenty-five  metres  (about  eighty  feet) 
high  and  twenty-five  centimetres  (about  one  foot)  in  diameter,  of  sym- 
metrical growth,  contains  more  than  a  hundred  milliard  wood-cells. 

The  leading  idea  that  knits  the  plant-cells  into  a  state-organism  is 
the  same  as  in  the  bee-hive  or  the  human  state,  the  division  of  labor. 
Each  cell  possesses  its  individual  life  and  passes  through  its  particular 
course  of  development ;  it,  however,  does  not  undertake  all  the  works 
of  life,  but  limits  the  circle  of  its  activities  so  as  to  reach  a  greater 
perfection  within  a  smaller  limit.  In  this  it  works  not  for  itself  alone 
but  for  the  other  cells  also,  while  it  commits  to  them  those  require- 
ments for  the  satisfaction  of  which  its  individual  activity  is  not  suffi- 
cient. Thus  the  different  functions  are  so  divided  among  the  different 
cells  that  one  makes  this,  another  that,  occupation  its  own  special  busi- 
ness. The  cells  of  the  cell-state  so  arrange  themselves  in  their  differ- 
ent  offices  that  they  work  mutually  into  each  other's  hands  :  one  lives 
for  all,  all  for  one.  The  more  perfectly  the  division  is  carried  out,  the 
more  completely  can  each  cell  fulfill  the  duty  for  which  it  is  designed  ; 
the  more  highly  organized  is  the  cell-state,  and  the  higher  position 
does  the  whole  plant  take  in  the  order  of  growths. 

As  in  the  bee-hive  there  are  working-bees,  so  in  the  cell-state  of 
the  plant  there  are  working-cells  ;  other  cells  are  fitted  for  sexual 
existence,  like  the  drones  and  the  queen  in  the  bee-hive,  so  as  to  in- 
sure the  production  of  posterity  and  the  foundation  of  a  new  stock. 

The  cells  which  discharge  the  several  functions  in  the  plant  are 
not  scattered  confusedly  in  the  mass,  but  are  always  grouped  in  greater 
or  smaller  numbers  of  individuals  precisely  adapted  for  this  or  that 
function,  and  together  form  a  tissue.  Plant-anatomists  distinguish 
three  kinds  of  tissues,  each  of  which  discharges  a  particular  function  : 
The  fundamental  tissue  is  composed  of  the  cells  which  are  the  real 
workers  in  the  state  ;  the  circulating  tissue,  of  those  cells  on  which  the 
duty  of  transportation  is  laid  ;  the  bark-tissues,  of  those  to  which  is 
assigned  the  protection  of  the  cell-state  against  the  outer  world.  We 
might  designate  as  a  fourth  class  the  reproductive  tissues,  as  including 
the  cells  adapted  to  propagation,  which  are  producing  by  continuous 
divisions  new  colonies,  new  leaves  and  flowers,  new  buds  and  seeds. 

The  cell-state  is,  to  speak  with  Herbert  Spencer,  organized  after 
the  type  of  an  industrial  state,  in  which  numerous  industrious  work- 
men are  co-operating  on  a  footing  of  democratic  equality  to  ennoble 
the  raw  material  of  lifeless  nature  and  convert  it  into  the  precious  and 
diversified  productions  of  life.  The  fundamental  tissue  in  a  measure 
represents  the  working-class  ;  trade  is  represented  in  the  cells  of  the 


184  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

vascular  tissue,  which  are  engaged,  by  means  of  well-trodden  routes 
of  communication,  in  supplying  the  most  remote  parts  of  the  domain 
quickly  and  abundantly  with  food  and  raw  material  and  in  exporting 
the  finished  fabric.  But  a  defenseless  kingdom  would  be  an  easy  prey 
to  its  enemies  ;  therefore  the  cell-state  maintains,  but  peaceably,  and 
with  no  view  to  aggression,  in  the  cells  of  its  bark-tissues,  a  standing 
army,  on  which  depends  the  defense  of  the  whole  realm  at  its  borders. 
As  Sparta  believed  it  was  most  securely  defended  by  the  living  walls 
of  its  citizens,  so  does  the  cell-state.  The  cells  of  the  bark-tissue  form 
a  close  cordon,  through  which  no  rain-drops,  no  hurtful  gas-puff,  no 
hostile  animal,  no  disease-generating  spore  can  penetrate.  They  wear 
a  hard,  siliceous  armor,  or  are  protected  by  an  impermeable  coating 
of  wax.  They  have  no  other  purpose,  they  do  no  other  work,  than 
in  compact  array  to  ward  off  hostile  attacks.  Single  cells  advance 
before  the  line  and  oppose  attacks  with  sharp-cutting  weapons,  finely 
pointed  briers  or  thorns,  or  weave  themselves  into  intricate  abatis,  in 
which  hostile  insects  become  entangled  by  their  feet.  The  points  of 
many  of  these  thorns  are  poisonous,  as  in  the  nettle,  which,  when 
touched  by  the  hand,  breaks  off  and  remains  in  the  skin,  and  fills  the 
invisible  wound  with  one  of  the  strongest  poisons  known  to  nature 
and  science. 

The  cells  of  the  bark-tissues  are  locked  so  closely  to  each  other 
that,  like  the  members  of  a  brave  phalanx,  they  would  be  torn  apart 
before  they  would  separate  from  each  other  ;  and  they  can  be  separated 
from  the  other  tissues  only  as  a  connected  layer,  a  thin  membrane  that 
may  be  drawn  off  from  all  plants,  and  is  known  as  the  epidermis.  This 
living  cell-fortification  is  interrupted  in  many  places  by  round  open- 
ings like  gates,  which  may  be  closed  by  a  couple  of  cells  as  if  with 
double  doors,  by  the  opening  of  which  the  access  and  egress  of  gases 
and  vapors  to  and  from  the  interior  are  permitted. 

Thus  the  plant  is  protected  from  external  enemies  ;  but  its  most 
dangerous  adversaries  are  the  hungry  members  of  its  own  kingdom. 
Not  all  plants  are  supported  by  peaceful  labors  ;  there  is  among  them 
also  a  predatory  horde,  whose  members,  the  parasitical  plants,  unfit 
for  honorable  occupation,  and  bearing  the  marks  of  their  baseness  in 
their  pale  color  and  offensive  smell,  lurk  in  the  darkness  and  in  con- 
cealment till  they  can  find  some  victim  to  attack  and  overcome.  Now 
is  the  strength  of  the  living  wall  of  the  plant  tested  :  as  long  as  it  is 
unbroken,  the  assault  is  repelled  ;  but  the  persistent  enemy  presses 
into  the  smallest  opening.  Woe  to  the  tree  from  which  the  wind  has 
broken  a  limb,  or  in  which  the  careless  gardener  has  made  a  bad  cut ! 
The  microbes,  whose  spores  are  floating  through  the  air  in  unwhole- 
some clouds,  and  fall  with  the  dust,  settle  upon  the  wounded  surface, 
and  soon  its  whole  cell-structure  is  pervaded  by  their  destructive 
webs. 

In  peaceful  times  the  other  citizens  of  the  cell-state  attend  to  their 


THE   CELL-STATE.  185 

business  undisturbed,  under  the  protection  of  the  bark-cells.  The 
cells  of  the  fundamental  tissue,  which  is  inhabited  by  the  working- 
people  proper,  unite  in  close  association  ;  between  them  courses,  with 
numerous  branches,  a  system  of  canals,  which  are  connected  with  each 
other  like  net-work,  and  find  their  exit  through  the  clefts.  In  this 
manner  the  air  which  they  require  for  food  and  respiration  is  intro- 
duced to  the  cells,  and  by  the  same  road  escape  the  gases  and  vapors 
which  the  cells  throw  off,  and  which  need  to  be  removed. 

The  fluid  foods  are  carried  to  the  working-cells  through  the  vas- 
cular tissue  in  a  special  system  of  ducts,  conduits,  and  fibers,  which, 
joined  in  strings  and  bundles,  penetrate  all  the  organs,  the  roots,  stock, 
limbs,  and  leaves,  and  are  known  as  the  ducts,  or  vascular  bundles  ; 
they  may  be  most  easily  perceived  in  the  leaves  when  held  against  the 
light,  where  they  form  the  most  beautiful  vein-work.  These  conduct- 
ing vessels  are  also  traffic-roads,  in  which  the  products  of  the  working- 
cells  of  the  main  tissue  are  transported  to  other  places,  where  they  are 
put  to  use.  Thus  an  unceasing  activity,  like  that  of  the  bee-hive,  pre- 
vails in  the  cell-state  of  the  plant.  Gases  go  in  and  out ;  juices  circu- 
late up  and  down,  absorption  and  evaporation,  distillation  and  refining, 
forming  anew,  remodeling,  or  destroying  the  old,  are  going  on  all  the 
time  without  rest  or  cessation  for  an  instant.  As  long  as  the  cells 
live,  they  are  active  ;  when  they  cease  to  work,  their  death  is  near. 
No  one  thinks,  when  he  looks  at  a  plant,  what  restless  activity  is  at 
work  within  it,  for  the  cells  perform  their  artful  labor  in  stillness, 
without  buzzing  and  flying  around  as  the  bees  do. 

The  wealth  of  those  lands  that  possess  coal-mines  and  ore-beds  is 
highly  prized.  But  these  treasures  are  not  confined  to  single  prov- 
inces. Immense  mines  of  ore,  inexhaustible  coal-beds,  surround  us 
wherever  we  may  be.  For  the  minerals  that  are  contained  in  the  field- 
soils  are  quite  as  precious  as  are  the  mines  of  iron  and  zinc,  yes,  even 
of  gold  and  silver.  Man  can  not  live  on  gold  and  silver  ;  but  out  of 
the  minerals  of  the  field-soil,  out  of  potash,  lime,  phosphoric  acid,  am- 
monia, and  sulphuric  acid,  the  cell-state  of  the  plant  prepares  bread 
on  which  we  live,  linen  in  which  we  clothe  ourselves,  wood  out  of  which 
we  make  our  vessels  and  tools,  and  the  remedies  which  when  we  are 
sick  restore  our  lost  health  to  us.  The  cells  of  the  roots,  like  hewers 
and  miners,  sink  numerous  shafts  in  the  spaces  assigned  to  them,  drive 
their  galleries  toward  all  points  of  the  compass,  in  order  to  break  up 
these  mineral  treasures,  separate  them  from  the  incasing  stone,  and 
set  the  machinery  of  service  in  motion  ;  day  and  night  with  inexhaust- 
ible diligence,  they  extract  atom  by  atom  of  potash  and  ammonia, 
phosphoric  and  nitric  acid,  and,  without  working  up  their  ore,  deliver 
it  over  to  the  conducting  vessels  which  transmit  it  by  their  powerful 
system  of  sucking  and  forcing  pumps  to  the  stem  and  the  leaves.  The 
leaves  are  cell-villages  which  perform  their  daily  tasks  in  the  air  and 
the  light.    Their  principal  business  is  to  obtain  coal,  which  is  the  chief 


186  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

constituent  of  the  vegetable  body.  Our  atmosphere  is  an  enormous 
coal-mine,  many  miles  in  thickness,  that  can  not  be  exhausted  in  thou- 
sands of  thousands  of  years.  The  coal,  indeed,  is  not  found  pure  in 
the  air,  any  more  than  the  metal  in  the  ore,  but  is  in  combination  with 
oxygen  as  a  transparent  gas,  carbonic  acid,  and  a  peculiar  art  is  re- 
quired to  separate  it. 

In  the  mining  districts,  smelting-houses  are  erected  beside  the  pits, 
where  the  noble  metal  is  extracted  from  the  impure  ores.  The  green 
cells  of  the  leaves  combine  the  art  of  the  miner  with  that  of  the  smelt- 
er, and  have  the  power  of  extracting  the  pure  carbon  from  the  atmos- 
phere. In  order  to  perform  this  work,  they  must  be  shone  upon  by 
the  sun,  for  the  sunlight  alone  can  excite  in  them  the  marvelous 
faculty.  Having  extracted  the  carbon,  they  combine  it  with  water 
and  with  the  mineral  substances  that  have  been  drawn  from  the  soil, 
and  prepare  from  them  the  living  matters  out  of  which  the  plant  itself 
builds  up  its  cells,  and  which,  taken  up  into  the  body  of  an  animal,  is 
transformed  by  it  into  flesh  and  blood. 

As  bees  do  not  at  once  consume  all  the  honey  they  collect,  but  lay 
away  a  large  portion  of  it  in  special  cells  for  winter  provision,  so  a  por- 
tion of  the  cells  in  the  plant  are  set  apart  for  the  storage  of  capital  in 
anticipation  of  the  necessities  of  the  future.  On  the  approach  of  winter 
the  leaves  discharge  the  greater  part  of  what  they  have  produced 
through  the  conducting  vessels,  which  convey  it  to  a  subterranean  maga- 
zine. The  cells  of  the  root-stock,  the  tubers,  and  the  bulbs,  protected 
from  the  frost  by  their  covering  of  earth,  are  filled  with  starch,  albu- 
men, and  other  valuable  food-material,  which  will  be  used  again  in  the 
coming  spring  when  they  will  be  most  needed,  for  the  expansion  of  the 
leaves  and  flower-buds.  When  we  eat  a  potato,  we  appropriate  to  our 
own  nourishment  the  provision  which  the  careful  mother-plant  has  laid 
up  in  its  cells  during  the  previous  year  for  the  growth  of  the  next 
spring  ;  and  we  do  what  is  substantially  the  same  as  when  in  the  fall 
we  rob  bees  of  a  part  of  the  honey  which  they  have  gathered  for  the 
supply  of  their  own  state. 

A  necessary  consequence  of  the  short  duration  of  the  life  of  the 
single  cell  is  that  a  part  of  the  plant,  the  cell- village,  in  which  the  life- 
processes  are  now  active,  is  generally  dead  in  the  next  year,  and  unfit 
for  all  work.  Therefore  the  cell-state  is  subject  to  a  constant  mor- 
tality. The  leaves  which  perform  their  work  in  the  summer  wither 
and  drop  off  in  the  fall ;  the  cells  of  the  root,  also,  which  then  drew  up 
the  fluids  from  the  soil,  and  those  of  the  stem,  which  conducted  it  up- 
ward, have  at  the  same  time  grown  old — have  become  woody,  as  the 
botanist  expresses  it. 

The  greater  part  of  the  plant  does  not,  in  fact,  survive  the  first 
year.  Most  herbs  sprout  in  the  spring,  blossom  in  the  summer,  ripen 
their  seed  in  the  fall,  and  perish  in  the  winter.  Trees,  on  the  other 
hand,  bushes  and  shrubs,  possess  a  regular  economical  administration. 


THE   CELL-STATE.  x87 

They  lay  up,  till  fall,  provision  in  their  stems  or  roots,  which  does  not 
come  into  use  again  until  the  next  spring.  And,  when  the  collected 
capital  enters  into  circulation  again  after  the  first  warm  days,  the  old 
cells  are  not  ahle  to  undertake  anew  the  business  of  turning  it  to  use. 
The  plant  does  not  put  its  new  wine  into  old  bottles.  It  forms  new 
cells,  new  organs,  adapted  to  the  demand  of  the  new  season.  Now 
those  tissues  which  we  may  call  the  procreative  tissues  come  into  play. 
Their  cells  begin  to  undergo  a  continuous  division ;  their  number  is 
multiplied — new  colonies,  new  cell-villages  are  founded.  New  points 
are  formed  at  the  ends  of  the  roots,  the  young  cells  of  which  suck  food 
from  the  soil  with  refreshed  vigor  ;  a  new  conducting  tissue  is  formed 
in  the  stem  between  the  wood  and  the  bark,  representing  a  new  yearly 
ring.  A  grand  act  of  renovation  has  also  been  in  preparation  at  the 
ends  of  the  limbs  and  twigs  and  at  the  bases  of  the  leaves.  Little 
cones  of  reproductive  tissue  are  developed  at  these  spots,  in  which  in- 
numerable cells  originate  by  division,  and,  in  accordance  with  an  innate 
structural  plan,  a  definite  number  of  vesicles  shoot  in  most  symmetrical 
order  of  arrangement  from  each  of  these  cones.  Every  cone  is  the 
beginning  of  a  little  stalk,  the  vesicles  that  grow  from  them  are  the 
beginnings  of  leaves  ;  the  whole  structure  is  covered  with  thick  scales 
and  is  now  called  a  bud,  in  which  the  tender  beginnings  of  leaves  are 
protected  by  the  scales  from  frost  and  storm.  The  buds  are  started  in 
the  summer,  completed  in  the  fall ;  are  dormant  during  the  winter, 
and  are  awakened  to  new  life  in  the  spring.  The  scale-armor  now  be- 
comes superfluous,  is  cast  aside  ;  the  little  leaves  rack  and  stretch 
themselves,  and  joyfully  spread  themselves  out  in  the  air  and  light ; 
the  little  stalk  grows  longer  and  longer ;  in  a  little  while  the  buds 
have  shot  out  into  young  limbs,  in  the  fresh  foliage  of  which,  excited 
by  the  light  of  the  sun,  the  restless  labor  of  the  cells  begins  anew ; 
or,  after  a  marvelous  transformation  into  flower-stalks,  they  produce 
those  sexually  developed  procreative  cells  which  are  destined  by  a 
series  of  mysterious  processes  to  found  a  new  cell-state. 

Thus  is  the  cell-state  of  the  plant  subject  to  a  continual  rejuvena- 
tion. The  individual  citizens  (the  cells)  and  the  villages  (the  leaves) 
have  but  a  short  life,  but  the  state  in  its  entirety  may  endure  for 
centuries  in  lasting  youth.  If  the  hands  of  men,  or  the  elements,  do 
not  inflict  a  violent  death,  the  cell-state,  as  so  many  primitive  giant 
trees  have  shown,  may  outlast  the  mightiest  kingdoms  of  men. 

Gifted  writers  on  social  politics  have  recently  endeavored  to  illus- 
trate the  development  and  interrelations  of  human  society  by  analogy 
with  a  living  being  and  its  cells.  "We  have  taken  the  converse  course, 
and  have  endeavored  to  make  the  life  of  the  plant  and  its  cells  com- 
prehensible by  a  similitude  with  a  state  organization  and  its  citizens. 
"We  have  endeavored  to  show  that  what  man  has  regarded  as  the  high- 
est ideal  of  his  conscious  effort  in  the  struggles  of  the  world's  history 
has  been  prefigured  in  quiet  accomplishment  in  the  world  of  plants. 


188  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

It  is  the  representative  of  the  idea  of  the  state  which  leaves  its  indi- 
vidual citizens  to  develop  themselves  freely  according  to  their  inborn 
natures,  and  to  work  together  on  an  equal  footing  for  the  good  of  the 
whole  ;  which  preserves  to  the  villages  and  the  provinces  their  self- 
administration,  and  yet  subjects  them  in  every  instant  to  the  higher 
interests  and  laws  of  the  whole  ;  which  appears  ready  armed  against 
the  external  enemy,  preserves  unity  and  peace  within  ;  which  applies 
the  capital  accumulated  by  the  common  labor  of  all  the  citizens  to  the 
advantage  and  advancement  of  the  whole,  without  letting  it  be  preyed 
upon  by  any ;  which  in  untiring  activity  never  suffers  a  pause,  and  by 
continuous  renovation  endures  for  centuries,  always  increasing,  always 
blossoming,  and  always  bearing  fruit. 


-♦*♦- 


AMERICAN  AND  FOBEIGN  ASPHALTS. 

By  E.  J.  HALLOCK. 

BITUMINOUS  substances,  apparently  of  organic  origin,  are  found 
in  various  parts  of  the  world.  Sometimes  they  occur  in  a  free 
state,  as  in  the  Island  of  Trinidad,  and  at  others  impregnating  calcare- 
ous rocks,  or  serving  as  a  cement  to  hold  the  particles  together,  as 
at  Val  de  Travers  or  Seyssel. 

For  several  reasons  the  asphalt  lake  in  Trinidad  possesses  special 
interest  for  us.  The  island,  which  is  the  southernmost  of  the  Lesser 
Antilles,  lies  off  the  northern  coast  of  South  America,  and  is  easily 
accessible  from  any  of  our  sea-ports.  Here,  amid  the  most  luxuriant 
vegetation,  is  a  lake  three  miles  in  circumference,  on  the  surface  of 
which  lies  a  crust  of  asphaltum  of  such  tenacity  that  in  the  rainy  sea- 
son a  person  can  walk  across  it ;  but,  under  the  influence  of  the  hot 
sun,  it  softens  to  a  thick  tar.  This  crust  receives  accessions  from  be- 
neath, and  formerly  it  would  overflow  and  run  into  the  sea,  more  than 
two  miles  away.  A  similar  substance,  known  as  "  Jew's  pitch,"  is 
washed  ashore  in  considerable  quantities  around  the  borders  of  the 
Dead  Sea.  In  Texas,  south  of  Shreveport,  there  is  said  to  be  a  pitch- 
lake  containing  large  quantities  of  bitumen,  but  little  is  yet  known 
about  it.  In  Southern  California  there  are  accumulations  of  asphalt 
on  the  coast  at  Santa  Barbara,  San  Luis  Obispo,  etc.,  which  resembles, 
when  pure,  that  from  Trinidad.  It  promises  to  supply  the  wants  of 
the  western  coast,  as  Trinidad  will  that  of  the  eastern  part  of  this 
country. 

In  Kentucky  there  is  a  considerable  quantity  of  asphaltic  mineral 
which  may  some  time  be  utilized  for  road-making. 

An  interesting  and  valuable  asphaltic  mineral,  known  as  Albertite, 
is  found  in  New  Brunswick  ;  and  a  similar  one,  called  Grahamite,  oc- 


AMERICAN  AND  FOREIGN  ASPHALTS.  189 

curs  in  West  Virginia  and  other  parts  of  the  country.  In  the  mount- 
ains west  of  Denver,  in  Colorado,  is  a  vertical  bed  of  hard  and  brittle 
asphalt,  not  unlike  Grahamite,  while  Albertite  is  found  in  small  quan- 
tities in  Lorain  County,  Ohio,  and  Casey  County,  Kentucky. 

Bitumen  is  likewise  found  in  Cuba,  and  is  brought  into  commerce 
under  the  name  of  chapopote,  or  Mexican  asphalt. 

In  Europe  asphalt  occurs  chiefly  in  limestone,  which  forms,  when 
crushed  and  packed,  an  excellent  pavement.  The  principal  points  at 
which  it  is  found  are  the  following  :  Val  de  Travers,  in  the  Swiss 
Canton  of  Neufchatel,  fourteen  miles  from  Neufchatel,  and  sixteen  or 
seventeen  miles  by  rail  from  the  French  borders  ;  Seyssel,  on  the 
Rhone,  in  the  French  department  of  the  Ain,  about  thirty-three  miles 
from  Geneva  ;  Lobsann,  a  small  town  in  northern  Alsace  ;  Vorwohle, 
in  Braunschweig  ;  and  Limmer,  near  the  city  of  Hanover.  The  Ital- 
ian province  of  Caserta,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Naples,  supplies  Rome 
with  an  asphalt  much  used  for  terraces  and  flat  roofs. 

The  quantity  of  bitumen  in  these  limestones  and  the  manner  of 
its  dissemination  are  quite  varied,  but  it  is  generally  found  that  the 
softer  limestones  contain  more  bitumen  than  those  which  are  harder. 
The  average  amount  is  about  ten  per  cent,  but  it  sometimes  reaches 
twenty  or  thirty  per  cent,  and  occasionally  there  are  cavities  in  the 
rock  which  are  filled  with  bitumen.  At  other  times  the  quantity  sinks 
to  five  per  cent,  or  less,  while  nodules  of  limestone  entirely  free  from 
it  are  also  found.  The  value  of  the  rock  depends  on  the  percentage 
of  bitumen,  and  on  other  circumstances.  If  the  stone  is  to  be  used 
for  making  mastic,  the  higher  the  percentage  the  more  valuable  it  is  ; 
but,  if  used  directly  for  paving,  a  uniform  distribution,  not  exceeding 
eight  or  ten  per  cent,  is  desirable. 

Asphalt-stone,  to  which  Malo  limits  the  name  of  asphaltum,  varies 
in  color  from  gray  to  brownish-black,  according  to  the  richness  in  bitu- 
men ;  that  of  medium  quality  closely  resembles  chocolate  in  color. 
That  which  is  poor  in  bitumen  is  hard,  and  rings  like  ordinary  lime- 
stone ;  but  the  fatter  rock,  when  struck  with  a  hammer,  gives  forth  a 
dull  thud,  like  a  block  of  wet  plaster,  and  takes  an  impression  from 
the  blow.  If  it  contains  more  than  ten  per  cent,  it  crumbles  in  the 
hand,  and  can  be  cut  with  a  knife,  like  chocolate.  Good  stone,  with 
about  ten  per  cent  of  bitumen,  has  a  specific  gravity  of  2*1.  Some 
asphalt-stone  is  of  a  spongy,  hygroscopic  nature,  and  consequently 
lighter. 

One  peculiarity  of  the  natural  rock-asphalt  is  that,  when  heated 
over  a  fire,  it  breaks  up  into  a  brown  powder,  and  then,  at  a  higher 
temperature,  all  the  bitumen  is  expelled,  leaving  a  pure  white  powder. 
An  unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  in  the  Paris  Conservatoire  des 
Arts  et  Metiers  to  imitate  this  asphalt-stone  by  forcing  thick,  pasty 
bitumen  into  pure  limestone  by  great  pressure.  When,  however,  the 
lime-stone  was  boiled  for  a  long  time  in  a  liquid  mass  of  asphalt,  it 


igo  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

became  so  completely  saturated  with  it  that  the  innermost  fractures 
resembled  the  natural  asphalt-stone;  but  it  differed  from  the  latter  in. 
this  most  important  property,  that  it  did  not  crumble  to  a  powder 
when  heated.  On  the  contrary,  the  absorbed  bitumen  was  expelled 
by  heat,  leaving  a  hard  limestone,  instead  of  a  calcareous  powder. 
From  this  it  seems  probable  that  the  particles  of  the  natural  asphalt- 
stone  are  simply  cemented  together  by  the  bitumen,  and  both  must 
have  been  deposited  at  the  same  time. 

In  most  mines  the  strata  dip  slightly  toward  the  horizon.  They 
vary  greatly  in  thickness  ;  sometimes  there  is  only  one  stratum,  at  oth- 
ers there  are  several  superimposed  on  each  other  or  separated  by  strata 
of  harder  limestone  or  shale.  At  Val  de  Travers  the  strata  that  are 
worked  are  from  two  to  six  metres  thick,  and  rest  on  hard,  non-bitumi- 
nous limestone. 

In  some  places  it  is  mined  in  open  trenches,  in  others  by  means  of 
shafts  and  subterranean  tunnels.  At  Val  de  Travers,  Seyssel,  and 
Lobsann,  the  latter  alone  are  employed.  The  rock  is  blasted  out 
with  powder,  which  works  better  in  soft  rock  than  dynamite.  The 
holes  are  bored  with  an  ordinary  hand-auger.  At  Limmer,  owing  to 
the  water  in  the  mines,  it  is  necessary  to  use  dynamite. 

The  percentage  of  bitumen  in  the  different  varieties  of  asphalt- 
stone  is  as  follows  :  That  from  Limmer,  14*3  ;  Val  de  Travers,  10*15  ; 
Lobsann,  12-32  ;  Ragusa,  8'92  ;  Seyssel,  815  ;  Vorwohle,  8*50.'  It  is 
estimated  by  extracting  it  from  the  finely  pulverized  mineral  with 
carbon  disulphide,  benzene,  or  other  solvent,  and  weighing  the  resi- 
due after  the  solvent  has  evaporated.  The  quality  of  the  bitumen  is 
determined  by  heating  it  to  430°  or  440°  Fahr.  ;  the  less  it  loses  by 
evaporation  the  better  its  quality.  The  powdered  mineral  from  which 
the  bitumen  has  been  extracted  should  be  white  and  soft.  If  it  has  a 
gray  color,  and  feels  harsh  or  sticky,  it  is  of  poor  quality.  Too  much 
dependence  can  not  be  placed  on  chemical  analyses,  for  much  depends 
on  the  physical  properties  as  well. 

The  larger  portion  of  the  asphalt-stone  used  in  Europe  comes  from 
Val  de  Travers,  which  produces  about  25,000  tons  a  year  ;  Limmer  is 
not  much  inferior  in  its  yield,  which  amounts  to  about  21,500  tons ; 
Seyssel  furnishes  13,000  tons,  and  Lobsann  about  9,000  tons.  That 
which  is  mined  at  Limmer  and  Vorwohle,  being  very  rich,  is  only  used 
for  making  mastic. 

The  first  operation  to  which  the  asphalt-stone  is  subjected,  when  it 
reaches  the  factory,  is  pxilverization.  For  this  purpose  several  differ- 
ent machines  are  in  use,  the  ordinary  stone-breaker  being  unsuited  to 
the  purpose.  Four  or  five  of  these  are  figured  in  Professor  Dietrich's 
new  work  on  "  Asphalt  Streets,"  *  to  which  we  are  indebted  for  many 
of  the  facts  in  this  article. 

The  powder  thus  obtained  may  be  employed  directly  for  the  com- 

*  "  Die  Asphalt-Strassen, '  E.  Dietrich,  Berlin,  1882,  pp.  207. 


AMERICAN  AND  FOREIGN  ASPHALTS.  191 

pressed  asphalt  pavements,  or  converted  into  "  mastic  "  by  mixing  it 
with  one  tenth  to  one  seventh  its  weight  of  purified  bitumen  from 
Trinidad  and  cooking  five  or  six  hours.  It  is  then  poured  into  cast- 
iron  molds  without  bottoms,  which  are  placed  on  the  sanded  floor  of 
the  shop.  These  blocks  of  mastic  are  fifteen  inches  in  diameter  and 
four  inches  thick,  weighing  fifty  or  sixty  pounds  each.  Those  made 
at  Val  de  Travers  are  hexagonal  in  form,  bearing  a  trade-mark  of  a 
cross  and  ?  ;  those  from  Seyssel  and  Lobsann  circular;  the  others  ob- 
long, with  rounded  corners. 

The  Val  de  TraVers  mastic  and  asphalt  rock  are  imported  by  the 
Neufchatel  Asphalt  Company  (54  Astor  House,  New  York)  ;  the  Seys- 
sel mastic  by  the  New  York  Mastic  "Works  (35  Broadway)  ;  the  Lim- 
mer  and  Vorwohle  rock  asphalt  by  C.  Wichtendahl  (111  Broadway, 
room  97).  In  regard  to  their  uses  in  this  city  we  shall  speak  more 
fully  in  another  place. 

Trinidad  asphalt  is  imported  and  refined  by  the  Warren  Chemical 
and  Manufacturing  Company  (45  John  Street).  This  substance,  as  it 
occurs  in  nature,  is  very  impure ;  about  one  third  of  the  mass  con- 
sists of  water,  another  third  is  made  up  of  clay  and  sand,  so  that  only 
one  third  is  actually  bitumen.  It  is  melted  in  large  kettles  and  heated 
for  twelve  hours  to  expel  the  water,  the  earthy  constituents  settling  to 
the  bottom.  This  partially  purified  asphalt,  which  still  contains  about 
twenty  per  cent  of  impurities,  is  poured  through  a  sieve  into  barrels, 
where  it  solidifies.  It  now  forms  a  brittle  mass,  which  sells  for  twenty- 
five  dollars  per  ton.  It  is  too  hard  for  mixing  with  the  pulverized 
asphalt-rock,  or  for  street  pavements.  At  Val  de  Travers  and  Seyssel 
the  residues  from  the  distillation  of  bituminous  shale,  known  as  "  shale- 
grease,"  are  used  to  soften  it,  while  in  other  places  similar  residues  of 
paraffine  manufacture  or  petroleum  refining  are  added  to  the  natural 
bitumen  to  form  what  is  known  as  "  prepared  bitumen,"  or  mineral  tar. 
In  this  country  the  so-called  "  still-bottoms  "  from  petroleum-stills  are 
used  in  the  proportion  of  fifteen  parts  of  the  latter  to  eighty-five  of 
the  natural  asphalt ;  the  portions  may  be  varied  to  suit  the  climate 
and  other  conditions. 

Asphalt  pavements  may  be  divided  into  three  classes.  The  first, 
which  is  commonly  known  as  mastic  {asphalte  coide),  is  best  adapted 
to  sidewalks,  court-yards,  and  other  places  where  there  is  but  little 
heavy  traffic.  It  is  prepared  by  melting  the  blocks  of  mastic,  already 
described,  in  caldrons,  adding  a  small  quantity  of  prepared  bitumen, 
and  afterward  stirring  in  thirty  or  forty  per  cent  of  clear  grit.  When 
thoroughly  mixed  it  is  carried  to  the  spot  in  pails,  and  spread  with  a 
wooden  float  by  a  skilled  workman  on  his  knees.  It  is  then  rubbed 
until  perfectly  smooth,  and  fine  sand  strewed  over  it.  Examples  of 
this  pavement  can  be  seen  in  Union  Square,  Tompkins  Square,  and 
several  other  places  in  New  York  city. 

Compressed  asphalt  is  better  adapted  to  heavy  traffic,  as  in  street 


i92  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

pavements,  and  is  much  enrployed  in  Paris.  The  powdered  rock  is  used 
without  any  addition.  It  is  applied  hot,  on  a  prepared  bed  of  con- 
crete, four  to  seven  inches  thick,  and  compressed,  with  heated  rammers 
and  a  heated  roller,  to  the  thickness  of  one  and  a  half  or  two  inches. 
The  smooth  surface  is  given  by  a. heated  smoothing-iron.  One  block 
of  compressed  Val  de  Travers  asphalt,  two  inches  thick,  laid  on  a  Port- 
land cement  concrete  foundation  seven  inches  thick,  may  be  seen  on 
Fifth  Avenue,  between  Twenty-sixth  and  Twenty-seventh  Streets. 

The  third  form  of  pavement,  which  seems  to  be  one  of  the  best 
for  roadways,  is  the  "  Trinidad."  It  is  made  of  prepared  bitumen, 
i.  e.,  Trinidad  asphalt  and  still-bottoms,  mixed  with  about  twice  its 
weight  of  calcareous  marl  or  powdered  limestone.  None  of  the  im- 
ported asphalt  mastics  or  rock  are  used  in  this  pavement. 

Various  imitations  of  both  asphalt  and  mastic  have  been  palmed 
off  on  the  public,  or  substituted  by  dishonest  contractors,  some  of 
whom  will  keep  a  few  blocks  of  real  mastic  of  a  well-known  brand 
lying  about,  as  if  they  were  to  be  used,  while  inferior  materials  are 
thrown  into  the  caldrons.  Some  imitations  are  but  little  inferior  to 
the  genuine,  while  others  are  nearly  worthless,  and  have  done  much 
to  bring  asphalt  into  disrepute.  Among  the  latter  are  those  made  in 
whole  or  in  part  of  the  pitch  left  in  the  distillation  of  coal-tar.  Al- 
though useful  for  a  great  variety  of  purposes,  it  will  not  answer  for 
asphalt  pavements.  It  is  usually  possible  to  distinguish  good  bitumen 
by  its  smell  when  warmed.  When  heated  with  excess  of  concentrated 
or  fuming  sulphuric  acid  for  twenty-four  hours,  and  then  diluted  and 
filtered,  the  pure  natural  bitumen  yields  a  nearly  colorless  solution, 
but  if  pitch  is  present  the  solution  will  be  dark-brown  or  black. 
Another  distinction  between  real  bitumen  and  coal-tar  is  found  in  the 
solubility  of  the  latter  in  alcohol,  the  former  being  nearly  insoluble. 
If  a  grain  of  material  that  has  been  heated  to  200°  C.  is  pulverized  and 
mixed  with  5  c.  c.  of  strong  alcohol,  the  latter  will  acquire  a  yellow 
color  and  bluish-green  fluorescence  if  there  is  more  than  two  per  cent 
of  pitch  present. 

There  are  several  uses  to  which  asphalt  may  be  applied,  the  most 
important  being  the  one  already  so  often  referred  to,  namely,  as  paving 
material.  In  Paris  about  thirty-three  miles  of  street  are  covered  with 
asphalt  pavement,  more  than  three  fourths  of  it  being  the  so-called 
"  compressed  asphalt,"  while  the  remainder  is  made  of  cast  or  mastic 
asphalt.  The  use  of  asphalt  pavements  for  roadways  began  in  Paris 
in  1854,  since  which  time  their  use  has  been  steadily  increasing  until 
the  present  time.  In  London  there  are  about  nine  miles  of  asphalted 
streets.  Asphalt  pavements  have  but  recently  begun  to  find  favor  in 
Berlin,  and  at  the  close  of  1881  there  were  only  six  miles  of  street 
paved  with  it.  Of  asphalt  sidewalks,  etc.,  Paris  has  three  million 
square  metres,  equivalent  to  four  hundred  miles  of  walks,  seventeen 
feet  wide. 


AMERICAN  AND   FOREIGN  ASPHALTS.  193 

New  York  city  can  boast  of  only  a  few  small  and  isolated  strips  of 
asphaltic  street  pavement,  her  past  experience  with  the  "poultice- 
pavement  "  having  induced  the  authorities  to  prohibit  the  laying  of 
similar  pavements.  In  front  of  the  Brevoort  House,  and  the  Hotel 
Brunswick,  samples  of  compressed  pavement  may  be  seen,  while  the 
American  mastic,  or  Trinidad,  has  recently  been  laid  in  Fifteenth 
Street,  between  Fifth  and  Sixth  Avenues.  In  Washington,  D.  C, 
more  than  forty  miles  of  the  last-named  pavement  have  been  put 
down,  and  it  is  said  to  be  doing  good  service.  There  are  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  mastic  sidewalk  and  court-yard  pavements  in  this  city,  some 
of  which  have  already  been  referred  to. 

The  advantages  claimed  for  asphalt  pavements  are  cleanliness, 
noiselessness,  and  durability,  while  the  wear  and  tear  of  horses  and 
wagons  is  less,  and  they  are  the  pleasantest  of  all  pavements  to  ride 
on.  On  the  other  hand,  they  are  often  slippery,  and  horses  are  liable 
to  fall  on  them,  while  they  are  more  difficult  to  repair  when  broken  in 
digging  for  water  and  other  pipes,  although  it  is  said  that  water-pipes 
are  less  liable  to  freeze  under  asphalt  than  under  other  pavements. 

Asphalt  does  not  emit  sparks  when  struck  with  steel,  and  therefore 
is  useful  for  the  flooring  of  powder-magazines,  and  of  casemates  in 
fortifications. 

As  damp-proof  coating  for  vaults  and  cellar-walls  it  is  invaluable, 
for,  not  only  does  it  shut  out  damp  from  below,  but  prevents  unhealthy 
exhalations  of  the  soil  from  entering  the  dwelling. 

Asphalt  has  been  used  as  flooring  in  stables,  although  there  has 
been  some  complaint  that  it  is  cut  by  the  stamping  of  the  animals.  It 
would  seem  to  be  an  excellent  material  for  the  purpose,  as  it  is  un- 
acted upon  by  urine,  and,  being  without  cracks,  prevents  the  liquids 
from  passing  through  and  saturating  the  earth  beneath.  It  is  in  use 
in  the  stables  of  the  American  Horse  Exchange,  Fifty-sixth  Street  and 
Broadway. 

Asphalt  floors  have  found  more  extensive  nse  in  breweries  and  su- 
gar-refineries, for  which  they  seem  perfectly  adapted.  It  is  frequently 
applied  to  cellar-bottoms  in  city  houses,  some  careful  citizens  having 
covered  their  cement  floors  with  asphalt  mastic. 

A  method  of  laying  floors  is  much  used  in  France,  for  barracks  and 
hospitals,  which  would  probably  answer  for  many  other  purposes. 
Pieces  of  oak,  usually  two  and  a  half  to  four  inches  broad,  twelve  to 
thirty  inches  long,  and  one  inch  thick,  are  pressed  down  into  a  layer 
of  hot  asphalt,  not  quite  half  an  inch  thick,  in  herring-bone  pattern. 
The  edges  of  the  blocks  are  planed  down,  beveling  toward  the  bot- 
tom, thus  insuring  adhesion  to  the  asphalt,  and  the  smallest  possible 
joints. 

A  coarse  sort  of  canvas  saturated  with  bitumen  is  used  to  prevent 
dampness  from  rising  through  capillary  attraction  and  penetrating  the 
walls  of  buildings,  especially  light-houses  and  marine  structures.    It  is 

TOL.  XXII.  — 13 


i94  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

made  in  strips  twelve,  sixteen,  twenty,  or  twenty-four  inches  wide,  to 
correspond  with  walls  made  of  three,  four,  five,  or  six  courses  of  brick. 
Its  superiority  to  ordinary  bitumen  depends  on  the  fact  that  it  will 
not  crack,  like  the  latter,  from  unequal  settling  of  the  walls.  Damp- 
resisting  solutions  are  also  sold  for  coating  damp  walls. 

Asphalt  mastic  is  much  superior  to  tar  for  roofing  purposes,  owing 
to  its  fire-proof  qualities,  and  its  use  for  this  purpose  is  rapidly  increas- 
ing. At  the  present  writing  it  is  being  applied  to  the  Welles  Building, 
at  the  lower  end  of  Broadway.  It  is  said  that,  when  a  building  cov- 
ered with  such  a  roof  burns,  the  falling  roof  acts  like  a  blanket  in 
smothering  and  extinguishing  the  flames. 

Asphalt  possesses  another  valuable  property,  that  of  absorbing 
vibrations,  and  is  hence  useful  for  foundations  of  machinery  running 
at  high  speeds.  A  block  of  bituminous  concrete  weighing  forty-five 
tons  formed  the  foundation  of  the  Carr's  disintegrator  which  made 
fourteen  hundred  revolutions  per  minute  at  the  Paris  Exhibition.  It 
would  seem  to  be  especially  adapted  to  serve  as  foundations  for  the 
high-speed  steam-engines  used  for  generating  electricity. 

Asphalt  forms  an  excellent  insulator  for  electricity,  but,  as  other 
and  cheaper  materials  may  be  employed,  its  use  will  not  be  so  exten- 
sive in  this  field. 

The  origin  of  asphalts  is  unknown,  but  several  theories  have  been 
advanced  in  regard  to  it.  Professor  J.  S.  Newberry  believes  that  they 
are  the  more  or  less  perfectly  solidified  residual  products  of  the  spon- 
taneous evaporation  of  petroleum.  If  we  accept  this  theory  (and 
many  do  not),  we  are  but  one  step  nearer  a  solution  of  the  problem, 
for  the  origin  of  petroleum  itself  is  still  unknown.  Some  think  that  the 
bitumen  was  formed  first,  and  the  limestone  deposited  in  it  ;  others, 
that  the  liquid  bitumen  was  forced  into  the  pores  of  limestone  already 
in  existence  ;  while  a  third  hypothesis  assumes  that  they  were  formed 
simultaneously,  the  bitumen  from  the  organic  matter,  and  the  lime 
from  the  shells  of  some  ancient  mollusks.  The  last-named  theory 
seems  to  have  some  support  in  the  abundance  of  fossil  ammonites  met 
with  in  the  mines  at  Limmer  ;  the  experimental  attempts  to  impreg- 
nate the  rock  artificially,  as  above  described,  render  the  second  hy- 
pothesis improbable,  although  its  occurrence  on  the  Dead  Sea  and  in 
Trinidad  is  in  its  favor.  No  explosive  gases  are  met  with  in  the 
mines  of  Val  de  Travers,  Seyssel,  and  Lobsann,  so  that  open  lights  are 
used  ;  but  at  Pechelbronn,  a  few  miles  from  Lobsann,  several  explosions 
have  occurred.  Although  these  were  attributed  to  marsh-gas,  they 
were  more  probably  due  to  the  vapors  of  the  lighter  constituents  of 
petroleum,  with  which  the  bituminous  sands  of  that  locality  seem  to 
be  saturated. 

There  are  several  circumstances  which  indicate  that  bitumen  and 
asphalt  are  more  nearly  related  to  petroleum  than  to  coal-tar,  and  that, 
whether  asphalt  was  made  from  petroleum  or  not,  they  have  a  similar 


SPECULATIVE  ZOOLOGY.  195 

or  common  origin.  Nor  is  it  an  unfortunate  circumstance  that  coal- 
tar  can  not  be  used  as  a  substitute  for  bitumen,  since  the  former  con- 
tains many  constituents  that  are  more  valuable  for  other  purposes, 
while  Trinidad  offers  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  the  latter. 


■»»» 


SPECULATIVE  ZOOLOGY. 

By  Professor  W.  K.  BEOOKS, 

OF  JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY. 


AT  a  time  when  most  naturalists  who  venture  at  all  beyond  the  facts 
of  life-science  are  busied  with  the  attempt  to  trace  the  relation- 
ship between  the  various  groups  of  living  things,  and  to  express  this 
relationship  in  a  tree-like  system  of  classification,  it  is  startling  to  hear 
from  one  of  the  highest  authorities  on  life-science  the  statement  that 
"  the  time  for  genealogical  trees  is  past.  ...  It  seems  hardly  cred- 
ible that  a  school  which  boasts  for  its  very  creed  a  belief  in  nothing 
which  is  not  warranted  by  common  sense  should  descend  to  such 
trifling."  * 

It  is  true  that  the  context  seems  to  show  that  the  author  does 
not  visit  all  attempts  at  phylogenetic  classification  with  the  sweep- 
ing condemnation  which  the  passage  quoted  seems  to  imply,  yet  the 
fact  that  a  high  authority  upon  the  subject  has  made  such  a  statement 
at  all  is  a  sufficient  reason  why  those  who  believe  that  the  status  of 
modern  morphology  is  not  without  a  basis  of  common  sense  should 
carefully  revise  their  grounds  for  this  belief,  in  order  to  decide  for 
themselves  how  far,  and  in  what  shape,  such  speculations  upon  the 
relationships  of  organisms  are  admissible,  and  favorable  to  the  progress 
of  science. 

The  belief  that  the  present  life  of  the  globe  is  only  a  very  small 
part  of  its  total  fauna  and  flora  is  hardly  more  firmly  fixed  in  the 
minds  of  the  present  generation  of  naturalists  than  the  belief  that  the 
recent  species  are  the  modified  descendants  of  those  which  are  extinct; 
and  there  are  few  who  would  not  acknowledge  that  their  conception 
of  the  origin  of  life  would  be  fairly  illustrated  by  comparing  the  living 
things  of  the  past  and  present  to  a  great,  many -branched  tree,  buried 
in  the  ground  so  that  only  a  few  scattered  groups  of  twigs  are  exposed 
to  our  direct  observation,  although  these  groups  show  by  their  ar- 
rangement a  vague  and  indefinite  relation  to  the  branches  below  the 
ground.  The  twigs  which  are  exposed  are  the  living  things  which  now 
people  the  earth,  and  those  twigs  and  branches  and  larger  trunks  which 

*  "  Embryology  and  Paleontology,"  by  Alexander  Agassiz.  Address  before  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science. 


196  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

are  below-ground  are  those  organisms  which  are  buried  in  the  past, 
and  which  we  can  study  only  through  their  fossil  remains. 

Most  naturalists  not  only  believe  that,  if  we  could  trace  back  the 
history  of  life,  we  should  find  each  group  bearing  evidence  of  wider 
and  wider  relationship  as  we  receded  from  the  present  time,  but 
they  also  believe  that  we  should  ultimately  find  that  every  form  of 
life  is  related  to  every  other  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  that,  in  the 
remote  past,  they  all  met  in  a  single  starting-point — the  common  an- 
cestor of  all  living  things. 

When  we  come  to  examine  the  evidence  for  this  theory  of  the  com- 
mon origin  of  all  life,  we  find  that  it  is  almost  entirely  general  in  its 
character.  There  is  a  nearly  complete  absence  of  specific  and  definite 
proof.  We  find  an  abundance  of  fossil  forms,  which  we  may  regard 
as  connecting  links  between  one  great  group  of  animals  and  another  ; 
but  even  in  the  mo  it  favorable  cases  the  attempt  to  follow  the  history 
of  any  particular  species  back  for  a  considerable  length  of  time  soon 
ends  in  a  total  failure,  for  we  lose  track  of  its  line  of  descent  en- 
tirely, and  can  go  on  only  by  substituting,  for  the  species  with  which 
we  started,  the  genus,  family,  or  more  comprehensive  group  to  which 
we  have  traced  it. 

Once  in  a  while  we  find,  in  the  later  geological  formations,  a  fossil 
animal  which  exhibits  such  affinity  to  several  closely  related  recent 
species,  that  there  is  a  strong  presumption  that  it  is  the  common  an- 
cestor from  which  they  have  descended.  We  have  enough  evidence 
to  enable  us  to  trace  the  horse  and  its  allies  through  several  geological 
periods  with  considerable  accuracy,  and  to  reach  a  form  which  is  widely 
different  from  the  horse,  and  which  shows  relationship  to  quite  differ- 
ent groups  of  recent  mammals.  There  are  a  few  other  cases  where 
the  evidence  is  equally  abundant ;  but  more  usually  it  fails  completely, 
and,  although  the  fossils  of  the  later  formations  show  a  very  close  re- 
lationship to  their  living  allies,  the  resemblance  is  not  exact  enough  to 
prove  that  the  fossil  forms  are  the  direct  ancestors  of  the  recent  ones, 
rather  than  more  distant  relations,  connected  by  some  unknown  fossil 
form. 

In  place  of  the  exact  evidence  which  would  be  necessary  to  prove 
that  the  nearest  fossil  allies  of  recent  species  are  in  the  direct  line  of 
descent,  we  have  only  the  vague  general  evidence  which  is  furnished 
by  those  fossils  which  unite  in  themselves  the  characteristics  of  widely 
separated  families,  or  classes,  or  orders  of  animals.  While  the  attempt 
to  trace  any  particular  species  of  bird  and  any  given  species  of  reptile 
to  a  common  ancestor  would  be  hopeless,  we  do  find  fossil  organisms 
in  whose  structure  certain  general  characteristics  of  the  class  Birds  are 
united  to  certain  general  characteristics  of  the  class  Reptiles,  in  the 
way  which  we  might  expect  if  those  animals  are  the  descendants  of 
true  reptiles  and  the  ancestors  of  the  true  birds  of  the  present  day. 
There  is  no  proof  that  this  actually  is  the  case,  and  it  is  perfectly 


SPECULATIVE  ZOOLOGY.  lg7 

possible  that  they  are  not  in  the  direct  line  of  descent  at  all.  The 
evidence  is  entirely  circumstantial  and  indefinite,  and  it  is  impossible 
to  show  that  any  of  the  reptile-like  birds  which  have  been  discovered 
have  any  descendants  at  the  present  day.  All  we  can  say  is  that, 
if  our  birds  are  not  their  descendants,  it  is  very  probable  that  they 
are  the  descendants  of  some  other  unknown  form  very  much  like 
them. 

At  the  best  it  is  simply  a  question  of  probability,  not  of  direct 
proof,  and  paleontological  evidence  is  never  definite  enough  to  enable 
us  to  reach  a  specific  conclusion  which  may  not  possibly  be  wrong,  and, 
this  being  the  state  of  the  case,  we  may  fairly  ask  whether  such  specu- 
lations upon  probability,  in  the  absence  of  direct  evidence,  are  entitled 
to  be  called  science.  In  order  to  answer  this  question,  and  to  show 
that  phylogenetic  speculation  may  be  strictly  within  the  legitimate 
scope  of  science,  we  will  make  use  of  an  imaginary  illustration. 

Suppose  that  a  large  continental  area,  which  is  inhabited  by  a  homo- 
geneous human  race,  is  invaded  by  a  band  of  settlers  from  another 
country,  about  as  the  first  European  settlers  forced  themselves  upon 
the  homogeneous  inhabitants  of  the  United  States. 

Suppose  that  these  settlers,  increasing  in  numbers,  gradually  spread 
over  the  whole  country,  interbreeding  with  the  autochthones,  until,  in 
later  generations,  the  population  comes  to  consist  of  two  equally  dis- 
tributed races,  represented  by  individuals  of  pure  descent,  with  strongly 
marked  race-characteristics  ;  and,  in  addition  to  these,  a  great  number 
of  hybrids,  presenting  the  characteristics  of  the  two  pure  races  in  all 
degrees  and  manners  of  union. 

As  time  goes  on,  imagine  this  latter  class  to  increase  at  the  expense 
of  the  others,  until  few  persons  of  pure  blood  are  left ;  and  meanwhile 
suppose  that  a  number  of  persons  of  a  third  race  are  introduced,  about 
as  the  negroes  were  introduced  into  this  country,  and,  after  this  immi- 
gration has  lasted  for  a  time,  suppose  it  to  stop,  and  let  this  third  race 
spread  and  increase,  and,  after  a  time,  gradually  mix  with  the  other 
two.  Let  the  same  process  take  place  again,  until  the  population  comes 
to  be  made  up  of  four  quite  dissimilar  races  with  well-marked  race- 
characteristics,  crossed  in  such  a  way  that  no  individuals  of  the  origi- 
nal race  or  of  the  first  immigration  are  of  perfectly  pure  blood,  while 
there  are  a  few  nearly  pure  types  of  the  third  race,  and  still  more  of 
the  fourth.  Suppose,  now,  that  an  anthropologist  undertakes  to  study 
the  inhabitants  of  the  country  in  order  to  learn  what  he  can  of  their 
origin  and  history,  and  let  him  begin  by  attempting  to  classify  them. 
Any  attempt  to  divide  them  up  into  groups  will  fail,  on  account  of 
the  complexity  of  their  relationships  ;  and,  although  there  are  traces 
of  four  types,  it  is  not  possible  to  arrange  them  in  four  classes,  since 
most  of  them  have  resemblances  to  more  than  one  type.  After  long 
study  of  their  relationships,  and  an  enumeration  of  all  the  forms  which 
are  distinguishable,  we  may  suppose  him  to  hit  upon  some  such  expe- 


198  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

dient  for  tabulating  their  resemblances  as  that  of  arranging  them  in 
four  intersecting  sets  of  concentric  circles. 

One  type,  the  latest  arrival,  would  be  represented  by  a  series  of 
larger  and  larger  circles  around  a  center — the  center  standing  for  the 
few  individuals  of  pure  blood  ;  the  next  ring,  overlapping  the  other 
sets  a  little,  would  represent  those  persons,  more  numerous  than  the 
pure  specimens,  in  whom  the  characteristics  of  the  race  are  slightly 
obscured  by  characteristics  of  the  other  types.  The  next  still  larger 
ring,  intersecting  still  more  rings  in  the  other  sets,  represents  the  still 
greater  number  of  individuals  of  less  pure  descent,  and  so  on  ;  each 
larger  circle,  intersecting  the  other  sets  at  more  points,  will  represent 
the  manner  in  which  the  number  of  individuals  increases  as  the  purity 
of  the  type  disappears. 

The  race  which  has  been  a  Lfctle  longer  in  the  country  will,  if  it 
has  been  equally  prolific,  and  equally  inclined  to  mix  with  the  others, 
be  represented  by  a  system  with  no  center,  but  with  a  few  very  small 
rings  so  near  the  center  that  they  have  few  points  of  intersection  with 
the  other  sets — that  is,  there  will  be  a  few  persons  with  nearly  pure 
blood,  but  none  of  perfect  purity.  The  two  older  races  will  be  repre- 
sented by  systems  which  are  made  up  entirely  of  large  intersecting 
circles.  After  his  studies  have  earned  him  thus  far,  we  may  suppose 
the  anthropologist  to  speculate  how  or  why  it  is  that  the  complicated 
resemblances  of  this  mixed  people  should  follow  a  system  which 
admits  of  such  a  peculiar  system  of  tabulation.  He  might  perhaps 
invent  an  hypothesis  to  explain  it — the  hypothesis  of  immigration. 
As  this  hypothesis  would  account  for  all  his  facts,  there  would  be  a 
probability  in  its  favor  sufficient  to  justify  him  in  following  it  out  as 
far  as  possible,  to  see  what  it  would  lead  to,  and  we  may  suppose  him 
to  continue  his  studies  historically.  He  would  now  find  that  the 
number  of  pure  specimens  of  the  race  which  entered  the  country  last 
was  greater  a  few  generations  back  than  at  present,  while  the  number 
of  persons  who  exhibit  only  slight  traces  of  the  characteristics  of  this 
race  become  less  numerous  as  he  traces  the  history  backward.  Going 
still  further  back  he  would  find  that  the  pure-blooded  specimens  of 
this  race  not  only  become  more  numerous  in  proportion  to  those  of 
mixed  blood,  but  also  more  restricted  in  their  distribution  over  the 
country. 

Still  farther  back  he  would  find  records  of  the  entrance  of  a  few 
perfectly  pure  representatives  of  this  race  into  the  country,  and,  con- 
tinuing his  studies,  he  would  meet  with  no  evidence  of  the  presence 
of  any  of  them  before  this  date. 

Continuing  his  studies  he  would  find  that  the  second  race  gradu- 
ally became  more  pure  and  more  restricted,  and,  although  he  might 
not  meet  with  any  record  of  their  first  appearance  except  vague  and 
contradictory  traditions,  he  would  find  that  there  was  no  mention  of 
them  in  any  of  the  records  before  a  certain  date.     The  older  monu- 


SPECULATIVE  ZOOLOGY.  199 

ments  and  records  would  contain  references  to  only  two  races,  and, 
although  there  might  be  no  traditions  to  show  that  either  of  these  had 
occupied  the  country  longer  than  the  other,  the  history  of  the  lan- 
guage and  the  architectural  and  other  remains  would  bear  witness  to 
tbe  gradual  introduction  of  one  of  them,  and  would  show  that  in  still 
more  ancient  times  there  were  no  traces  of  the  existence  of  more  than 
one  race. 

The  interpretation  of  the  relationships  of  the  people  to  which  he 
had  been  led  by  the  study  of  the  living  inhabitants  would  now  be  far 
more  than  a  working  hypothesis,  for  everything  which  had  been 
learned  about  their  past  history  could  be  shown  to  be  exactly  what 
we  should,  by  the  hypothesis,  expect,  and  he  might  therefore  claim 
that  this  was  a  strictly  scientific  explanation  of  the  theory  of  their 
origin.  Although  he  would  have  definite  proof  of  only  one  immi- 
gration, he  would  be  fully  warranted  in  concluding  that  the  present 
inhabitants  are  the  result  of  the  crossing  of  four  races  ;  that  at  one 
time  only  one  of  these  races  inhabited  the  country,  and  that  the  other 
three  have  been  introduced  from  outside  at  different  times  in  a  defi- 
nite order. 

The  mass  of  evidence  which  he  could  bring  forward  in  favor  of 
this  opinion  would  be  sufficient  to  render  it  more  probable  than  any 
other  explanation  of  their  origin,  and  would  fully  justify  its  accept- 
ance as  a  scientific  truth,  but  a  little  examination  will  show  that  the 
evidence  is  entirely  circumstantial,  and  does  not  by  any  means  amount 
to  absolute  proof,  but  only  to  a  very  great  degree  of  probability. 
Although  it  may  be  true  that  it  is  very  much  more  probable  than  any 
other  explanation,  this  may  be  due  to  imperfect  knowledge,  and  some 
other  explanation  may  possibly  be  the  true  one. 

In  order  to  show  this,  let  us  suppose  that  the  people  of  the  country 
have  another  account  of  their  origin,  and  believe  that  the  four  types 
were  formed  ages  ago  by  the  breaking  up  of  an  homogeneous  race  into 
four  castes,  which  have  ever  since  borne  substantially  the  same  rela- 
tions to  each  other.  Suppose  that  this  belief  bears  such  a  relation 
to  other  traditions,  and  to  certain  manners  and  customs,  that  it  has 
assumed,  in  their  minds,  a  very  great  importance,  and  is  regarded  as 
a  point  of  grave  significance,  resting  upon  irreproachable  evidence. 
They  might  answer  the  anthropologist  somewhat  in  this  manner  :  You 
have  certainly  made  out  a  very  ingenious  story,  and  have  brought 
together  a  mass  of  evidence  which  appears  to  render  your  view  very 
probable,  but  you  have  not  shown  that  no  other  explanation  is  possi- 
ble, and,  as  we  do  hold  quite  a  different  opinion  upon  evidence  which 
is  satisfactory  to  us,  you  must  be  mistaken.  We  are  open  to  convic- 
tion, and  are  not  unreasonable,  but  we  must  have  proofs  which  leave 
no  room  for  doubt,  for  as  long  as  there  is  a  chance  that  you  are  wrong 
we  must  hold  to  our  old  view.  If  you  say  that  all  natural  knowledge 
is  simply  probable,  and  open  to  the  possibility  of  error,  give  us  proofs 


200  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

which  are  as  direct  as  those  which  are  furnished  by  the  physical  sci- 
ences, instead  of  the  general  and  circumstantial  evidence  which  you 
adduce.  The  student  of  physics  does  not  ask  us  to  believe  that  all 
bodies  attract  each  other  according  to  the  law  of  inverse  squares  until 
he  has  shown  us  that  he  is  able  to  prove  that  every  body  we  bring 
him  does  behave  in  this  way  ;  and  the  chemist  shows  us  that  he  can 
separate  every  specimen  of  pure  wTater  which  we  furnish  into  oxygen 
and  hydrogen  before  he  expects  us  to  believe  that  all  water  is  com- 
pounded of  these  two  substances.  This  is  the  sort  of  proof  we  want ; 
something  exact  and  specific  in  place  of  your  generalizations.  When 
you  can  trace  back  the  ancestry  of  any  man  we  bring  you  with  what 
you  call  negro  characteristics,  tell  us  who  his  father  and  grandfather 
were,  and  so  on,  until  you  reach  one  of  your  negro  immigrants — when 
you  can  do  tbis  with  all  our  inhabitants,  and  show  us  that  every  man 
with  these  characteristics  is  the  descendant  of  one  of  these  immigrants, 
and  that  every  man  with  European  characteristics  has  some  of  the 
blood  of  one  of  your  European  immigrants  in  his  body,  you  may  claim 
that  you  have  given  us  scientific  proof  of  your  hypothesis. 

If  that  is  too  much  to  ask,  trace  one  of  our  people  back  in  this 
way,  for  it  must  be  plain  to  you  that,  if  you  are  not  able  to  do  this, 
your  hypothesis  is  only  a  probability. 

You  trace  us  back  for  a  generation  or  two  with  some  exactness, 
but  then  you  make  a  great  leap  to  some  one  wThom  you  find  mentioned 
in  history,  and  you  trace  his  ancestors  and  descendants  for  a  genera- 
tion or  two,  and  then  comes  another  break.  There  is  no  certainty 
that  he  has  any  living  descendants,  nor  is  there  any  certainty  that  he 
is  at  all  related  to  any  of  your  immigrants.  We  acknowledge  your 
proofs  of  a  negro  immigration,  and  we  know  that  a  few  other  negroes 
have  come  to  our  country  from  time  to  time,  but  their  race  soon  dies 
out,  and  you  must  remember  that  wTe  have  satisfactory  evidence  that 
our  race  had  its  present  character  long  before  the  time  when  you  say 
the  foreign  elements  were  introduced. 

Even  if  we  grant  the  accuracy  of  all  the  facts  which  you  claim  to 
have  discovered,  they  only  show  that  the  history  wdiich  you  have 
traced  out  is  such  a  history  as  your  hypothesis  would  lead  you  to  ex- 
pect, but  this  does  not  prove  the  truth  of  the  hypothesis.  You  have 
only  got  at  a  few  facts  here  and  there,  and  future  discoveries  may 
show  that  you  are  wrong.  We  are  glad  to  know  about  the  foreign 
settlers,  but  you  have  by  no  means  proved  that  they  were  ancestors  of 
ours. 

I  think  that  this  illustration  gives  us  a  fair  statement  of  the  value 
of  the  evidence  for  evolution  which  is  furnished  by  paleontology. 
There  is  an  absolute  and  total  lack  of  direct  proof,  and  there  must  be 
by  the  nature  of  the  case,  so  there  is  no  room  to  hope  for  the  con- 
version of  any  one  who  is  determined  to  reject  the  theory  as  long  as 
doubt  is  possible;  but  the  end  of  science  is  not  to  proselyte  but  to  dis- 


SPECULATIVE  ZOOLOGY.  20l 

cover,  and  the  circumstantial  evidence  converges  in  such  a  way  as  to 
give  in  this  case  every  assurance  of  substantial  accuracy. 

There  is  not  a  single  wild  species  of  animal  which  can  be  traced, 
by  direct  unbroken  pedigree,  to  an  ancestor  belonging  to  a  different 
genus,  and  no  zoologist  has  any  hope  of  ever  obtaining  anything 
more  than  circumstantial  evidence  of  such  a  pedigree  ;  but  we  can 
hardly  overestimate  the  vast  and  increasing  stores  of  evidence  in  favor 
of  evolution  which  are  yielded  by  the  structural,  geographical,  and 
chronological  relations  between  the  fauna  of  the  present  day  and  that 
of  the  past.  It  is  true  that  all  this  evidence  is  circumstantial,  and,  al- 
though it  renders  the  theory  of  evolution  vastly  more  probable  than 
any  other  explanation  of  the  origin  of  species,  it  still  leaves  a  possi- 
bility that  some  other  explanation  may  be  the  true  one.  Although 
the  investigator  who  is  fully  acquainted  with  all  the  evidence  may 
feel  justified  in  ignoring  this  possibility,  it  still  exists. 

If  the  evidence  which  we  have  is  so  circumstantial  that  it  does  not 
amount  to  absolute  proof,  it  is  clear  that,  even  if  we  fully  believe  in 
evolution,  we  can  not  hope  to  trace,  with  anything  like  minute  ac- 
curacy, the  past  history  of  any  particular  form  of  life  ;  but  perhaps  an 
illustration  may  help  to  make  this  clearer  : 

Let  the  dots  A,  B,  and  C  (Fig.  1),  represent  a  number  of  recent  spe- 
cies, each  of  which  has  distinctive  characteristics  of  its  own,  together 
with  other  characteristics  which  are  common  to  all;  and  let  D,  E,  and 
F  be  another  set  of  species  related  to  each  other  in  the  same  way;  and 
suppose  that  certain  of  the  common  characteristics  of  D,  E,  and  F  are 
also  common  to  A,  B,  and  C,  while  others  distinguish  the  one  set  as  a 
whole  from  the  other  as  a  whole.  According  to  the  theory  of  evolu- 
tion, we  believe  that  A,  B,  and  C  are  the  descendants  of  an  ancestor 
from  whom  they  inherit  all  that  they  have  in  common  ;  and  that  D, 
E,  and  F  are  related  to  each  other  in  the  same  way;  that  the  common 
ancestor  of  all  the  forms  in  the  first  group  had,  together  with  distinct- 
ive characteristics  of  its  own,  certain  other  characteristics  which  it 
shared  with  the  ancestor  of  the  forms  in  the  second  group,  and  that 
this  similarity  was  due  to  inheritance  from  a  still  more  remote  ances- 
tor common  to  both.     This  system  of  relationship  might  be  expressed 

by  a  phylogenetic  tree,  like  that  which  is  shown  by  dotted  lines 

in  the  diagram,  with  six  ultimate  ramules,  two  large  branches,  and  a 
common  stem,  G.  Now,  suppose  that  we  discover,  in  a  recent  geolog- 
ical formation,  a  fossil  form,  M,  which  resembles  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  and  F 
in  all  the  features  which  they  have  in  common.  It  is  possible  that 
this  fossil  is  the  form  G,  from  which  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  and  F  are  de- 
scended, but  it  is  not  probable  that  this  is  the  case,  for  the  analogy  of 
recent  species  compels  us  to  believe  that  the  fossil  M  was  one  of  sev- 
eral closely  related  species,  G,  H,  I,  K,  and  L,  any  one  of  which  may 
have  been  the  ancestor  of  the  recent  forms,  and,  as  M  is  only  one  out 
of  several  species,  the  chances  are  that  it  is  not  the  root  G  from  which 


202 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  and  F  are  descended.  Even  if  it  could  be  proved  to 
be  the  only  species  of  its  genus,  and  therefore  the  direct  ancestor  of 
the  recent  species,  the  precise  manner  in  which  these  are  related  to  it 
would  still  remain  in  uncertainty,  for  it  may  have  given  rise,  at  about 
the  same  time,  to  two  divergent  variations,  represented  by  the  dotted 
lines,  and  these  may  have  led  to  the  two  forms  a  and  b,  each  of  which 
gave  rise  to  variations  which  resulted  in  the  recent  species  A,  B, 


Fig.  i 


C,  and  D,  E,  F,  or  it  may  have  persisted  for  a  long  time,  and  be- 
come slowly  modified,  through  the  stages  c,  d,  e,  f,  into  the  form  g, 
different  from  the  form  G,  and  still  more  different  from  the  known 
fossil  M,  before  it  gave  rise  to  the  ancestors  of  the  two  recent  genera. 
In  this  case  the  phylogenetic  tree  would  be  represented  by  the  con- 
tinuous light  lines  of  the  diagram.  It  is  possible,  again,  that  A,  B,  and 
C  are  not  equally  related,  but  that  two  of  them,  B  and  C,  for  instance, 
have  had  a  common  ancestor  which  was  not  in  the  line  which  led  to 
A,  and  in  this  case  their  relationships  would  be  expressed  by  the 
broken  lines  —.  —  .  —  . —  of  the  diagram  ;  or,  finally,  it  is  perfectly 
possible,  and  many  naturalists  think  it  is  very  probable,  that  evolution 
has  been  guided  by  some  more  fundamental  law  than  that  of  the 
natural  selection  of  divergent  variations,  and,  if  this  is  so,  the  charac- 
teristics which  distinguish  A,  B,  and  C  may  be  due  to  something  else 


SPECULATIVE  ZOOLOGY.  203 

than  descent  from  a  common  ancestor,  a,  different  from  the  common 
ancestor  b  of  D,  E,  and  F,  and  all  may  be  the  descendants  of  G,  in 
the  way  shown  by  the  heavy  lines,  or  A  may  be  the  descendant  of  I ; 
B  of  K  ;  C  of  G,  etc.  If  we  were  to  attempt  to  indicate  all  the 
possible  ways  in  which  the  six  living  species,  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  and  F, 
may  be  related  to  the  fossil  M,  the  diagram  would  become  a  confused 
mass  of  lines,  and  we  have  pointed  out  enough  to  show  that,  in  a  very 
simple  case,  where  there  are  only  two  living  genera  and  only  six 
species,  the  attempt  to  follow  them  back  only  two  stages  to  a  common 
ancestor  leads  to  so  many  possible  systems  of  relationship  that  there 
is  a  very  great  chance  against  the  truthfulness  of  any  particular  one, 
and  we  may  fairly  ask  whether  the  attempt  to  express  the  relation- 
ships of  animals  in  a  tree-like  classification  can  have  any  scientific 
value  if  the  chances  against  its  correctness  are  so  very  great.  At  first 
sight  it  may  seem  as  if  no  good  could  be  expected  from  this  sort  of 
speculation,  and  we  may  feel  inclined  to  condemn  the  construction  of 
phylogenetic  trees  as  unscientific  ;  but  a  little  examination  will  show 
that  all  the  lines  in  the  diagram  agree  in  one  important  particular, 
and  trace  the  recent  animals,  A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  and  F,  back  to  a  remote 
common  ancestor  with  a  general  resemblance  to  M.  This,  after  all,  is 
the  essential  thing,  the  gist  of  the  whole  matter,  for  the  precise  line 
of  descent  has  no  more  scientific  interest  than  the  exact  pedigree  of 
each  person  would  have  to  the  anthropologist  of  our  illustration. 
Such  an  exact  pedigree  would  have  a  certain  value  as  a  bit  of  specific 
information,  but  the  general  evidence  is  of  such  a  character  that  it  is 
more  logical  to  accept  the  conclusion  than  it  is  to  reject  it,  and  it  is 
as  truly  scientific  as  the  conclusion  of  our  anthropologist. 

We  find  that  living  things  are  related  to  each  other  in  a  pecul- 
iar way,  which  can  be  explained  upon  the  assumption  that  they  are 
the  modified  descendants  of  more  ancient  generalized  forms,  with 
wider  relationships,  and  this  assumption  can  be  readily  expressed  in 
the  form  of  a  phylogenetic  tree.  We  find,  too,  that  so  far  as  the 
higher  groups  of  vertebrates,  the  mammals,  reptiles,  and  birds,  are 
concerned — groups  which  are  of  comparatively  recent  appearance,  like 
the  last  races  of  immigrants  in  our  imaginary  case — the  fossil  forms 
which  we  meet  with  are  such  as  our  assumption  would  lead  us  to 
expect.  The  presumption  is,  therefore,  very  great  that  the  genetic 
relations  of  living  things  may  be  expressed  with  general  accuracy  by 
a  phylogenetic  tree,  although  the  chances  of  minute  accuracy  of  detail 
in  favor  of  any  particular  tree  which  is  drawn  up  from  paleonto- 
logical  evidence  are  very  slight.  This  lack  of  minute  accuracy 
can  not  be  urged  as  an  objection  to  all  attempts  at  following  out,  in 
a  general  way,  the  lines  of  evolution  of  our  present  groups  of  ani- 
mals, according  to  the  best  evidence  which  is  attainable,  and  we  must 
remember  that  only  a  very  small  part  of  this  evidence  is  furnished 
by  paleontology.     If  no  fossils  were  known,  the  facts  of  comparative 


204  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

anatomy,  of  embryology,  and  of  geographical  distribution  would  be 
enough  to  satisfy  us  that  the  living  things  known  to  us  are  the 
divergent  descendants  of  more  generalized  ancestors,  and  that  their 
relationships  can  be  most  exactly  expressed  by  a  system  of  con- 
verging lines,  which  meet  and  form  larger  branches  to  represent  the 
extinct  ancestors  from  which  our  divergent  species  are  descended. 
The  evidence  is  circumstantial,  and  only  leads  to  general  conclusions, 
and  a  complete  series  of  fossil  forms  is  the  only  absolute  proof  which 
we  could  have  ;  but,  in  the  absence  of  this  proof,  the  conclusions  drawn 
from  the  study  of  living  animals  are  rendered  extremely  probable  by 
the  fact  that  the  fossil  members  of  the  more  modern  groups  of  ani- 
mals, such  as  the  mammals  and  birds,  are  just  such  forms  as  the 
evidence  from  other  sources  leads  us  to  expect,  and  the  attempt  to 
read  and  interpret  such  records  as  we  have,  and  to  trace  the  history 
of  life  with  as  much  accuracy  as  possible,  is  therefore  perfectly  legiti- 
mate, and  may  fairly  claim  the  attention  of  the  morphologist. 


-+—*- 


ANNUAL  GROWTH   OF  TREES. 

By  A.  L.  CHILD,  M.  D. 

ARE  the  concentric  rings  of  a  tree  a  reliable  record  of  its  age  in 
years  ?  Such  has  been  the  conception — in  fact,  the  undisputed 
knowledge — of  the  world,  for  all  time  past.  I  have  no  recollection  of 
ever  having  seen  or  heard  the  authority  of  this  record  disputed  till 
Desire  Charnay,  in  his  "  Ruins  of  Central  America,"  said,  when  speak- 
ing of  the  age  of  the  ruins  as  proved  by  such  a  record  :  "  Unfortu- 
nately for  the  argument,  it  is  altogether  fallacious  and  proves  nothing. 
I  have  put  the  evidence  to  a  test.  On  examining  a  slice  of  wood  of 
a  shrub  that  I  knew  as  a  fact  was  only  eighteen  months  old,  I  found 
that  it  had  eighteen  concentric  rings.  I  thought  it  was  an  anomaly, 
but,  in  order  to  convince  myself,  I  experimented  upon  trees  of  all  kinds 
and  sizes,  and  invariably  found  the  like  result  produced  in  very  nearly 
like  proportions."  * 

M.  Charnay's  statement  was,  in  my  estimation,  rather  loose,  and 
lacking  in  the  proof  of  his  absolute  knowledge  of  the  age  of  the  trees 
examined  ;  and  again,  so  far  as  applicable  to  the  case,  was  only  so  in 
a  tropical  climate,  where  the  conditions  were  entirely  different  from 
those  surrounding  us  in  a  higher  latitude,  and  altogether  raised  but 
little  doubt  on  the  subject. 

In  April  of  1871  I  planted  a  quantity  of  the  seed  of  the  common 
red  maple  {Acer  rubrum).  In  transplanting,  in  1873,  they  were 
placed  too  near  each  other,  and  it  has  become  necessary  to  cut  a  part 

*  "North  American  Review,"  September,  1881,  p.  401. 


ANNUAL    GROWTH   OF  TREES. 


205 


of  them  out.  While  cutting,  I 
noticed  that  the  concentric  rings 
were  very  distinct,  and  it  re- 
minded me  of  M.  Charnay's 
statement.  I  took  sections  from 
the  butt-end  of  each  tree  (four 
of  them)  and  dressed  the  ends 
off,  at  an  angle  of  some  35° 
with  the  line  of  the  body,  thus 
largely  increasing  the  exposure 
of  each  ring,  and  then  counted 
them. 

The  situation,  exposure,  and 
condition  of  these  four  trees 
were,  so  far  as  I  could  see,  iden- 
tical. I  had  personal  and  posi- 
tive knowledge  that  they  had 
each  twelve  years'  growth  upon 
them,  and  I  could  count  on  each 
of  the  different  sections  from 
thirty-five  to  forty  concentric 
rings.  True,  I  could  select 
twelve  more  distinct  ones  be- 
tween which  fainter  and  nar- 
rower, or  sub-rings,  appeared. 
Nine  of  these  apparently  annual 
rings  on  one  section  were  pe- 
culiarly distinct,  much  more  so 
than  any  of  the  sub-rings  ;  yet, 
of  the  remaining,  it  was  diffi- 
cult to  decide  which  were  an- 
nual and  which  were  not. 

The  thickness  of  these  an- 
nual rings  varied  from  two  and 
one  half  millimetres  to  twenty- 
eight.  This  measure,  of  course, 
gave  more  than  double  the  real 
thickness  ;  but  was  preferable 
to  a  right-angled  measure,  as  it 
gave  better  facilities  for  exact- 
ness, and  yet  preserved  the  pro- 
portion between  the  several 
rings  unchanged. 

Now,  to  ascertain  what  rela- 
tion or  connection  there  might 
be  between  the  meteorology  of 


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206  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

the  several  seasons  and  the  growth  made  during  the  same,  I  selected 
from  my  meteorological  records  the  maximum,  minimum,  and  mean 
temperature,  and  the  rain-fall,  of  the  six  growing  months  of  sjiring 
and  summer  of  each  of  the  twelve  years  of  growth.  These  extracts  I 
have  tabulated,  and  have  also  appended  to  each  season  the  thickness 
of  the  ring  formed,  as  measured  on  the  oblique  cut  previously  described. 
An  examination  of  this  table  shows  a  general  relation  of  cause  and 
effect  between  high  temperature  and  large  rain-fall,  and  greater  growth. 
But  it  falls  very  far  short  of  proving  a  general  law  of  "  so  much  heat 
and  so  much  water  during  the  growing  season,  to  produce  so  much 
wood."  For  example,  compare  the  years  1875  and  1878.  The  tem- 
perature of  1878  for  the  season  is  better  than  4°  in  excess  of  the  sea- 
son of  1875,  and  the  rain-fall  only  a  little  over  four  inches  less  ;  and 
yet  the  growth  of  1875  is  seven  times  what  it  was  in  1878.  This 
almost  unparalleled  growth  of  1875 — that  is,  as  compared  with  the 
other  years — can  not  be  explained  by  the  above  general  law.  But  I 
think  the  May  and  June  record  of  that  year  throws  light  upon  it. 
We  see  there  a  maximum  heat  in  May  of  96°  (higher  than  I  have  ever 
known  it  in  an  observation  and  record  of  twenty-five  years),  and  a 
mean  temperature  of  the  whole  month,  also  unequaled,  of  71°;  and 
this  great  heat  continued  through  the  month  of  June,  and  no  cold 
spells  after  the  heat  set  in  sufficient  to  check  the  growth.  Then,  in 
connection  with  this  heat,  the  ground  was  well  saturated  with  water 
when  this  heated  term  began  (May  6th)  by  162  inch  of  rain  on  the 
4th.  From  this  on,  to  the  26th  of  June,  15  inches  more  of  rain  fell, 
so  apportioned  over  the  time  as  to  keep  the  ground  saturated.  This 
synchronous  excess  of  heat  and  water  evidently  produced  the  abnormal 
growth.  And  probably,  as  this  matter  is  further  studied,  it  will  be 
found  that  these  agents,  rightly  proportioned,  operating  synchronous- 
ly, produce  these  thicker  rings  ;  while  as  one  or  the  other  is  in  excess, 
or  absent,  the  growth  is  checked,  and  thus  has  time  to  condense  and 
harden,  and  form  these  sub-rings  ;  and  the  more  frequent  these  alter- 
nations, the  greater  the  number  of  them. 


SCIENCE  m  EELATION   TO   THE  AETS. 

By  C.   WILLIAM  SIEMENS,   F.  E.  S. 

II. 

AS  is  an  institution  of  the  utmost  value  to  the  artisan  ;  it  requires 
hardly  any  attention,  is  supplied  upon  regulated  terms,  and  gives 
with  what  should  be  a  cheerful  light  a  genial  warmth,  which  often 
saves  the  lighting  of  a  fire.  The  time  is,  moreover,  not  far  distant,  I 
venture  to  think,  when  both  rich  and  poor  will  largely  resort  to  gas  as 


G 


SCIENCE  IN  RELATION  TO    THE  ARTS.  207 

the  most  convenient,  the  cleanest,  and  the  cheapest  of  heating  agents, 
and  when  raw  coal  will  be  seen  only  at  the  colliery  or  the  gas-works. 
In  all  cases  where  the  town  to  be  supplied  is  within  say  thirty  miles 
of  the  colliery,  the  gas-works  may  with  advantage  be  planted  at  the 
mouth,  or  still  better  at  the  bottom  of  the  pit,  whereby  all  haulage 
of  fuel  would  be  avoided,  and  the  gas,  in  its  ascent  from  the  bot- 
tom of  the  colliery,  would  acquire  an  onward  pressure  sufficient 
probably  to  impel  it  to  its  destination.  The  possibility  of  transport- 
ing combustible  gas  through  pipes  for  such  a  distance  has  been  proved 
at  Pittsburg,  where  natural  gas  from  the  oil  district  is  used  in  large 
quantities. 

The  quasi  monopoly  so  long  enjoyed  by  gas  companies  has  had  the 
inevitable  offect  of  checking  progress.  The  gas  being  supplied  by 
meter,  it  has  been  seemingly  to  the  advantage  of  the  companies  to  give 
merely  the  prescribed  illuminating  power,  and  to  discourage  the  in- 
vention of  economical  burners,  in  order  that  the  consumption  might 
reach  a  maximum.  The  application  of  gas  for  heating  purposes  has 
not  been  encouraged,  and  is  still  made  difficult,  in  consequence  of  the 
objectionable  practice  of  reducing  the  pressure  in  the  mains  during 
day-time  to  the  lowest  possible  point  consistent  with  prevention  of 
atmospheric  indraught.  The  introduction  of  the  electric  light  has 
convinced  gas  managers  and  directors  that  such  a  policy  is  no  longer 
tenable,  but  must  give  way  to  one  of  technical  progress  ;  new  proc- 
esses for  cheapening  the  production  and  increasing  the  purity  and 
illuminating  power  of  gas  are  being  fully  discussed  before  the  Gas 
Institute  ;  and  improved  burners,  rivaling  the  electric  light  in  brill- 
iancy, greet  our  eyes  as  we  pass  along  our  principal  thorough- 
fares. 

Regarding  the  importance  of  the  gas-supply  as  it  exists  at  present, 
we  find  from  a  government  return  that  the  capital  invested  in  gas- 
works in  England,  other  than  those  of  local  authorities,  amounts  to 
£30,000,000  ;  in  these,  4,281,048  tons  of  coal  are  converted  annually, 
producing  43,000,000,000  cubic  feet  of  gas,  and  about  2,800,000  tons 
of  coke  ;  whereas  the  total  amount  of  coal  annually  converted  in  the 
United  Kingdom  may  be  estimated  at  9,000,000  tons,  and  the  by- 
products therefrom  at  500,000  tons  of  tar,  1,000,000  tons  of  ammonia 
liquor,  and  4,000,000  tons  of  coke,  according  to  the  returns  kindly  fur- 
nished me  by  the  managers  of  many  of  the  gas-works  and  corporations. 
To  these  may  be  added  say  120,000  tons  of  sulphur,  which  up  to  the 
present  time  is  a  waste  product. 

Previous  to  the  year  1856— that  is  to  say,  before  Mr.  W.  II.  Perkin 
had  invented  his  practical  process,  based  chiefly  upon  the  theoretical 
investigations  of  Hoffman,  regarding  the  coal-tar  bases  and  the  chem- 
ical constitution  of  indigo— the  value  of  coal-tar  in  London  was  scarcely 
a  halfpenny  a  gallon,  and  in  country  places  gas-makers  were  glad  to 
give  it  away.     Up  to  that  time  the  coal-tar  industry  had  consisted 


208  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

chiefly  in  separating  the  tar  by  distillation  into  naphtha,  creosote,  oils, 
and  pitch.  A  few  distillers,  however,  made  small  quantities  of  ben- 
zene, which  had  been  first  shown — by  Mansfield,  in  1849 — to  exist  in 
coal-tar  naphtha  mixed  with  toluene,  cumene,  etc.  The  discovery,  in 
1856,  of  the  mauve  or  aniline  purple  gave  a  great  impetus  to  the  coal- 
tar  trade,  inasmuch  as  it  necessitated  the  separation  of  large  quantities 
of  benzene,  or  a  mixture  of  benzene  and  toluene,  from  the  naphtha. 
The  trade  was  further  increased  by  the  discovery  of  the  magenta  or 
rosaniline  dye,  which  required  the  same  products  for  its  preparation. 
In  the  mean  time,  carbolic  acid  was  gradually  introduced  into  com- 
merce, chiefly  as  a  disinfectant,  but  also  for  the  production  of  coloring- 
matter. 

The  next  most  important  development  arose  from  the  discovery  by 
Graebe  and  Liebermann  that  alizarine,  the  coloring  principle  of  the 
madder-root,  was  allied  to  antbracene,  a  hydrocarbon  existing  in  coal- 
tar.  The  production  of  this  coloring-matter  from  anthracene  followed, 
and  is  now  oue  of  the  most  important  operations  connected  with  tar- 
distilling.  The  success  of  the  alizarine  made  in  this  manner  has  been 
so  great  that  it  has  almost  entirely  superseded  the  use  of  madder, 
which  is  now  cultivated  to  only  a  comparatively  small  extent.  The 
most  important  coloring-matters  recently  introduced  are  the  azo-scar- 
lets.  They  have  called  into  use  the  coal-tar  hydrocarbons,  xylene  and 
cumene.  Naphthalene  is  also  used  in  their  preparation.  These  splendid 
dyes  have  replaced  cochineal  in  many  of  its  applications,  and  have  thus 
seriously  interfered  with  its  use.  The  discovery  of  artificial  indigo  by 
Professor  Baeyer  is  of  great  interest.  For  the  preparation  of  this 
coloring-matter  toluene  is  required.  At  present  artificial  indigo  does 
not  compete  seriously  with  the  natural  product ;  but,  should  it  event- 
ually be  prepared  in  quantity  from  toluene,  a  further  stimulus  will  be 
given  to  the  coal-tar  trade. 

The  color  industry  utilizes  even  now  practically  all  the  benzene,  a 
large  proportion  of  the  solvent  naphtha,  all  the  anthracene,  and  a  por- 
tion of  the  naphthaline  resulting  from  the  distillation  of  coal-tar  ;  and 
the  value  of  the  coloring-matter  thus  produced  is  estimated  by  Mr. 
Perkin  at  £3,350,000. 

The  demand  for  ammonia  may  be  taken  as  unlimited,  on  account 
of  its  high  agricultural  value  as  a  manure  ;  and,  considering  the  failing 
supply  of  guano  and  the  growing  necessity  for  stimulating  the  fertility 
of  our  soil,  an  increased  production  of  ammonia  may  be  regarded  as  a 
matter  of  national  importance,  for  the  supply  of  which  we  have  to 
look  almost  exclusively  to  our  gas-works.  The  present  production 
of  1,000,000  tons  of  liquor  yields  95,000  tons  of  sulphate  of  am- 
monia, which,  taken  at  £20  10s.  a  ton,  represents  an  annual  value  of 
£1,947,000. 

The  total  annual  value  of  the  gas-works  by-products  may  be  esti- 
mated as  follows  : 


SCIENCE  IN  RELATION  TO    THE  ARTS.  209 

Coloring-matter £3,350,000 

Sulphate  of  ammonia 1,947,000 

Pitch  (325,000  tons) 365,000 

Creosote  (25,000,000  gallons) 208,000 

Crude  carbolic  acid  (1,000,000  gallons) 100,000 

Gas-coke,  4,000,000  tons  (after  allowing  2,000,000  tons  consump- 
tion in  working  the  retorts)  at  12s 2,400,000 

Total £8,370,000 

Taking  the  coal  used,  9,000,000  tons  at  12s.,  equal  £5,400,000,  it 
follows  that  the  by-products  exceed  in  value  the  coal  used  by  very 
nearly  £3,000,000. 

In  using  raw  coal  for  heating  purposes  these  valuable  products  are 
not  only  absolutely  lost  to  us,  but  in  their  stead  we  are  favored  with 
those  semi-gaseous  by-products  in  the  atmosphere  too  well  known  to 
the  denizens  of  London  and  other  large  towns  as  smoke.  Professor 
Roberts  has  calculated  that  the  soot  in  the  pall  hanging  over  London 
on  a  winter's  clay  amounts  to  fifty  tons,  and  that  the  carbonic  oxide,  a 
poisonous  compound,  resulting  from  the  imperfect  combustion  of  coal, 
may  be  taken  as  at  least  five  times  that  amount.  Mr.  Aitken  has 
shown,  moreover,  in  an  interesting  paper  communicated  to  the  Royal 
Society  of  Edinburgh,  last  year,  that  the  fine  dust  resulting  from  the 
imperfect  combustion  of  coal  is  mainly  instrumental  in  the  formation 
of  fog ;  each  particle  of  solid  matter  attracting  to  itself  aqueous  vapor  ; 
these  globules  of  fog  are  rendered  particularly  tenacious  and  disagree- 
able by  the  presence  of  tar-vapor,  another  result  of  imperfect  combus- 
tion of  raw  fuel,  which  might  be  turned  to  much  better  account  at  the 
dye-works.  The  hurtful  influence  of  smoke  upon  public  health,  the 
great  personal  discomfort  to  which  it  gives  rise,  and  the  vast  expense 
it  indirectly  causes  through  the  destruction  of  our  monuments,  pictures, 
furniture,  and  apparel,  are  now  being  recognized,  as  is  evinced  by  the 
success  of  recent  Smoke  Abatement  Exhibitions.  The  most  effectual 
remedy  would  result  from  a  general  recognition  of  the  fact  that,  wher- 
ever smoke  is  produced,  fuel  is  being  consumed  wastefully,  and  that 
all  our  calorific  effects,  from  the  largest  down  to  the  domestic  fire,  can 
be  realized  as  completely  and  more  economically,  without  allowing  any 
of  the  fuel  employed  to  reach  the  atmosphere  unburnt.  This  most  de- 
sirable result  may  be  effected  by  the  use  of  gas  for  all  heating  purposes, 
with  or  without  the  addition  of  coke  or  anthracite. 

The  cheapest  form  of  gas  is  that  obtained  through  the  entire  distil- 
lation of  fuel  in  such  gas-producers  as  are  now  largely  used  in  working 
the  furnaces  of  glass,  iron,  and  steel  works  ;  but  gas  of  this  description 
would  not  be  available  for  the  supply  of  towns  owing  to  its  bulk,  about 
two  thirds  of  its  volume  being  nitrogen.  The  use  of  water-gas,  result- 
ing from  the  decomposition  of  steam  in  passing  through  a  hot  chamber 
filled  with  coke,  has  been  suggested,  but  this  gas  is  also  objectionable, 
because  it  contains,  besides  hydrogen,  the  poisonous  and  inodorous 

TOL.    XXII. — 14 


2io  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

gas,  carbonic  oxide,  the  introduction  of  which  into  dwelling-houses 
could  not  be  effected  without  considerable  danger.  A  more  satisfac- 
tory mode  of  supplying  heating  separately  from  illuminating-gas  would 
consist  in  connecting  the  retort  at  different  periods  of  the  distillation 
with  two  separate  systems  of  mains  for  the  delivery  of  the  respective 
gases.  Experiments  made  some  years  ago  by  Mr.  Ellisen,  of  the  Paris 
gas-works,  have  shown  that  the  gases  rich  in  carbon,  such  as  defiant 
and  acetylene,  are  developed  chiefly  during  an  interval  of  time,  begin- 
ning half  an  hour  after  the  commencement  and  terminating  at  half  the 
whole  period  of  distillation,  while  during  the  remainder  of  the  time, 
marsh  gas  and  hydrogen  are  chiefly  developed,  which,  while  possessing 
little  illuminating  power,  are  most  advantageous  for  heating  purposes. 
By  resorting  to  improved  means  of  heating  the  retorts  with  gaseous 
fuel,  such  as  have  been  in  use  at  the  Paris  gas-works  for  a  considerable 
number  of  years,  the  length  of  time  for  effecting  each  distillation  may 
be  shortened  from  six  hours,  the  usual  period  in  former  years,  to  four, 
or  even  three  hours,  as  now  practiced  at  Glasgow  and  elsewhere.  By 
this  means  a  given  number  of  retorts  can  be  made  to  produce,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  former  quantity  of  illuminating-gas  of  superior  quality,  a 
similar  quantity  of  heating-gas,  resulting  in  a  diminished  cost  of  pro- 
duction and  an  increased  supply  of  the  valuable  by-products  previously 
referred  to.  The  quantity  of  both  ammonia  and  heating-gas  may  be 
further  increased  by  the  simple  expedient  of  passing  a  streamlet  of 
steam  through  the  heated  retorts  toward  the  end  of  each  operation, 
whereby  the  ammonia  and  hydrocarbons  still  occluded  in  the  heated 
coke  will  be  evolved,  and  the  volume  of  heating-gas  produced  be  aug- 
mented by  the  products  of  decomposition  of  the  steam  itself.  It  has 
been  shown  that  gas  may  be  used  advantageously  for  domestic  pur- 
poses with  judicious  management  even  under  present  conditions,  and 
it  is  easy  to  conceive  that  its  consumption  for  heating  would  soon  in- 
crease, perhaps  tenfold,  if  supplied  separately  at  say  one  shilling  a  thou- 
sand cubic  feet.  At  this  price  gas  would  be  not  only  the  cleanest  and 
most  convenient,  but  also  the  cheapest  form  of  fuel,  and  the  enormous 
increase  of  consumption,  the  superior  quality  of  the  illuminating-gas 
obtained  by  selection,  and  the  proportionate  increase  of  by-products, 
would  amply  compensate  the  gas  company  or  corporation  for  the  com- 
paratively low  price  of  the  heating-gas. 

The  greater  efficiency  of  gas  as  a  fuel  results  chiefly  from  the  cir- 
cumstance that  a  pound  of  gas  yields  in  combustion  twenty-two  thou- 
sand heat-units,  or  exactly  double  the  heat  produced  in  the  combustion 
of  a  pound  of  ordinary  coal.  This  extra  heating  power  is  due  partly 
to  the  freedom  of  the  gas  from  earthy  constituents,  but  chiefly  to  the 
heat  imparted  to  it  in  effecting  its  distillation.  Recent  experiments 
with  gas-burners  have  shown  that  in  this  direction  also  there  is  much 
room  for  improvement. 

The  amount  of  light  given  out  by  a  gas-flame  depends  upon  the 


SCIENCE  IN  RELATION   TO    THE  ARTS.  211 

temperature  to  which  the  particles  of  solid  carbon  in  the  flame  are 
raised,  and  Dr.  Tyndall  has  shown  that,  of  the  radiant  energy  set  up 
in  such  a  flame,  only  the  -^  part  is  luminous  ;  the  hot  products  of  com- 
bustion carry  off  at  least  four  times  as  much  energy  as  is  radiated,  so 
that  not  more  than  one  hundredth  part  of  the  heat  evolved  in  combus- 
tion is  converted  into  light.  This  proportion  could  be  improved,  how- 
ever, by  increasing  the  temperature  of  combustion,  which  may  be  ef- 
fected either  by  intensified  air-currents  or  by  regenerative  action.  Sup- 
posing that  the  heat  of  the  products  of  combustion  could  be  commu- 
nicated to  metallic  surfaces,  and  be  transferred  by  conduction  or  other- 
wise to  the  atmospheric  air  supporting  combustion  in  the  flame,  we 
should  be  able  to  increase  the  temperature  accumulatively  to  any  point 
within  the  limit  of  dissociation  ;  this  limit  may  be  fixed  at  about  2,300° 
C,  and  can  not  be  very  much  below  that  of  the  electric  arc.  At  such 
a  temperature  the  proportion  of  luminous  rays  to  the  total  heat  pro- 
duced in  combustion  would  be  more  than  doubled,  and  the  brilliancy 
of  the  light  would  at  the  same  time  be  greatly  increased.  Thus  im- 
proved, gas-lighting  may  continue  its  rivalry  with  electric  lighting 
both  as  regards  economy  and  brilliancy,  and  such  rivalry  must  neces- 
sarily result  in  great  public  advantage. 

In  the  domestic  grate  radiant  energy  of  inferior  intensity  is  re- 
quired, and  I  for  one  do  not  agree  with  those  who  would  like  to  see 
the  open  fire-place  of  this  country  superseded  by  the  Continental  stove. 
The  advantages  usually  claimed  for  the  open  fire-place  are,  that  it  is 
cheerful,  "  pokable,"  and  conducive  to  ventilation  ;  but  to  these  may 
be  added  another  of  even  greater  importance,  viz.,  that  the  radiant 
heat  which  it  emits  passes  through  the  transparent  air  without  warm- 
ing it,  and  imparts  heat  only  to  the  solid  walls,  floor,  and  furniture  of 
the  room,  which  are  thus  constituted  the  heating  surfaces  of  the  com- 
paratively cool  air  of  the  apartments  in  contact  with  them.  In  the 
case  of  stoves,  the  heated  air  of  the  room  causes  deposit  of  moisture 
upon  the  walls  in  heating  them,  and  gives  rise  to  mildew  and  germs 
injurious  to  health.  It  is,  I  think,  owing  to  this  circumstance  that 
upon  entering  an  apartment  one  can  immediately  perceive  whether  or 
not  it  is  heated  by  an  open  fire-place  ;  nor  is  the  unpleasant  sensation 
due  to  stove-heating  completely  removed  by  mechanical  ventilation  ; 
there  is,  moreover,  no  good  reason  why  an  open  fire-place  should  not  be 
made  as  economical  and  smokeless  as  a  stove  or  hot-water  apparatus. 

In  the  production  of  mechanical  effect  from  heat,  gaseous  fuel  also 
presents  most  striking  advantages,  as  will  appear  from  the  following 
consideration.  When  we  have  to  deal  with  the  question  of  converting 
mechanical  into  electrical  effect,  or  vice  versa,  by  means  of  the  dynamo- 
electrical  machine,  we  have  only  to  consider  what  are  the  equivalent 
values  of  the  two  forms  of  energy,  and  what  precautions  are  necessary 
to  avoid  losses  by  the  electrical  resistance  of  conductors  and  by  fric- 


212  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

tion.  The  transformation  of  mechanical  effect  into  heat  involves  no 
losses  except  those  resulting  from  imperfect  installation,  and  these 
may  be  so  completely  avoided  that  Dr.  Joule  was  able  by  this  method 
to  determine  the  equivalent  values  of  the  two  forms  of  energy.  But, 
in  attempting  the  inverse  operation  of  effecting  the  conversion  of  heat 
into  mechanical  energy,  we  find  ourselves  confronted  by  the  second 
law  of  thermo-dynamics,  which  says  that,  whenever  a  given  amount  of 
heat  is  converted  into  mechanical  effect,  another  but  variable  amount 
descends  from  a  higher  to  a  lower  potential,  and  is  thus  rendered  un- 
available. 

In  the  condensing  steam-engine  this  waste  heat  comprises  that  com- 
municated to  the  condensing-water,  while  the  useful  heat,  or  that  con- 
verted into  mechanical  effect,  depends  upon  the  difference  of  temper- 
ature between  the  boiler  and  condenser.  The  boiler-pressure  is  limited, 
however,  by  considerations  of  safety  and  convenience  of  construction, 
and  the  range  of  working  temperature  rarely  exceeds  120°  C,  except  in 
the  engines  constructed  by  Mr.  Perkins,  in  which  a  range  of  160°  C, 
or  an  expansive  action  commencing  at  fourteen  atmospheres,  has  been 
adopted  with  considerable  promise  of  success,  as  appears  from  an  able 
report  on  this  engine  by  Sir  Frederick  Bramwell.  To  obtain  more  ad- 
vantageous primary  conditions  we  have  to  turn  to  the  caloric  or  gas- 
engine,  because  in  them  the  co-efficient  of  efficiency,  expressed  by  — ~—  > 
may  be  greatly  increased.  This  value  would  reach  a  maximum  if  the 
initial  absolute  temperature  t  could  be  raised  to  that  of  combustion, 
and  t'  reduced  to  atmosj)heric  tempei'ature,  and  these  maximum  limits 
can  be  much  more  nearly  approached  in  the  gas-engine  worked  by  a 
combustible  mixture  of  air  and  hydrocarbons  than  in  the  steam-engine. 

Assuming,  then,  in  an  explosive  gas-engine  a  temperature  of  1,500° 
C,  at  a  pressure  of  four  atmospheres,  we  should,  in  accordance 
with  the  second  law  of  thermo-dynamics,  find  a  temperature  after 
expansion  to  atmospheric  pressure  of  600°  C,  and  therefore  a  work- 
ing range   of   1500°  —  600°  =  900°,   and   a   theoretical   efficiency   of 

900 
i  &f\n       o^<   =  a^out  one  half,  contrasting  very  favorably  with  that 

of  a  good  expansive  condensing  steam-engine,  in  which  the  range  is 

ion  2 

150  -  30  =  120°  C,  and  the  efficiency  =  =-.    A  good  ex- 

pansive steam-engine  is  therefore  capable  of  yielding  as  mechanical 
work  two-seventh  part  of  the  heat  communicated  to  the  boiler,  which 
does  not  include  the  heat  lost  by  imperfect  combustion,  and  that  car- 
ried away  in  the  chimney.  Adding  to  these  the  losses  by  friction  and 
radiation  in  the  engine,  we  find  that  the  best  steam-engine  yet  con- 
structed does  not  yield  in  mechanical  effect  more  than  one  seventh 
part  of  the  heat-energy  residing  in  the  fuel  consumed.  In  the  gas- 
engine  we  have  also  to  make  reductions  from  the  theoretical  efficiency, 
on  account  of  the  rather  serious  loss  of  heat  by  absorption  into  the 


SCIENCE  IN  RELATION  TO    THE  ARTS.  213 

working  cylinder,  which  has  to  be  cooled  artificially  in  order  to  keep 
its  temperature  down  to  a  point  at  which  lubrication  is  possible  ;  this, 
together  with  frictional  loss,  can  not  be  taken  at  less  than  one  half,  and 
reduces  the  factor  of  efficiency  of  the  engine  to  one  fourth. 

It  follows  from  these  considerations  that  the  gas  or  caloric  engine 
combines  the  conditions  most  favorable  to  the  attainment  of  maximum 
results,  and  it  may  reasonably  be  supposed  that  the  difficulties  still  in 
the  way  of  their  application  on  a  large  scale  will  gradually  be  removed. 
Before  many  years  have  elapsed  we  shall  find  in  our  factories  and  on 
board  our  ships  engines  with  a  fuel-consumption  not  exceeding  one 
pound  of  coal  per  effective  horse-power  per  hour,  in  which  the  gas- 
producer  takes  the  place  of  the  somewhat  complex  and  dangerous  steam- 
boiler.  The  advent  of  such  an  engine  and  of  the  dynamo-machine  must 
mark  a  new  era  of  material  progress  at  least  equal  to  that  produced  by 
the  introduction  of  steam-power  in  the  early  part  of  our  century.  Let 
us  consider  what  would  be  the  probable  effect  of  such  an  engine  upon 
that  most  important  interest  of  this  country — the  merchant  navy. 

According  to  returns  kindly  furnished  me  by  the  Board  of  Trade 
and  "  Lloyd's  Register  of  Shipping,"  the  total  value  of  the  merchant 
shipping  of  the  United  Kingdom  may  be  estimated  at  £126,000,000, 
of  which  £90,000,000  repi-esent  steamers  having  a  net  tonnage  of 
3,003,988  tons  ;  and  £30,000,000  sailing-vessels,  of  3,688,008  tons.  The 
safety  of  this  vast  amount  of  shipping,  carrying  about  five  sevenths  of 
our  total  imports  and  exports,  or  £500,000,000  of  goods  in  the  year, 
and  of  the  more  precious  lives  connected  with  it,  is  a  question  of  para- 
mount importance.  It  involves  considerations  of  the  most  varied  kind: 
comprising  the  construction  of  the  vessel  itself,  and  the  material  em- 
ployed in  building  it ;  its  furniture  of  engines,  pumps,  sails,  tackle, 
compass,  sextant,  and  sounding  apparatus,  the  preparation  of  reliable 
charts  for  the  guidance  of  the  navigator,  and  the  construction  of  har- 
bors of  refuge,  light-houses,  beacons,  bells,  and  buoys,  for  channel  navi- 
gation. Yet  notwithstanding  the  combined  efforts  of  science,  invent- 
ive skill,  and  practical  experience — the  accumulation  of  centuries — we 
are  startled  with  statements  to  the  effect  that  during  last  year  as  many 
as  1,007  British-owned  ships  were  lost,  of  which  fully  two  thirds 
were  wrecked  upon  our  shores,  representing  a  total  value  of  nearly 
£10,000,000.  Of  these  ships  870  were  sailing-vessels  and  137  steamers, 
the  loss  of  the  latter  being  in  a  fourth  of  the  cases  attributable  to  col- 
lision. The  number  of  sailing-vessels  included  in  these  returns  being 
19,325,  and  of  steamers  5,505,  it  appears  that  the  steamer  is  the  safer 
vessel,  in  the  proportion  of  4 -43  to  3*46  ;  but  the  steamer  makes  on  an 
average  three  voyages  for  one  of  the  sailing-ship  taken  over  the  year, 
which  reduces  the  relative  risk  of  the  steamer  as  compared  with  the 
sailing-ship  per  voyage  in  the  proportion  of  13#29  to  3'46.  Commer- 
cially speaking,  this  factor  of  safety  in  favor  of  steam-shipping  is  to  a 


214 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


great  extent  counterbalanced  by  the  value  of  the  steamship,  which 
bears  to  that  of  the  sailing-vessel  per  net  carrying  ton  the  proportion 
of  3  :  1,  thus  reducing  the  ratio  in  favor  of  steam-shipping  as  13"29  to 
10"38,  or  in  round  numbers  as  as  4  :  3.  In  testing  this  result  by  the 
charges  of  premium  for  insurance,  the  variable  circumstances  of  dis- 
tance, nature  of  cargo,  season,  and  voyage  have  to  be  taken  into  ac- 
count ;  but,  judging  from  information  received  from  shijD-owners  and 
underwriters  of  undoubted  authority,  I  find  that  the  relative  insurance 
paid  for  the  two  classes  of  vessel  represents  an  advantage  of  30  per 
cent  in  favor  of  steam-shipping,  agreeing  very  closely  with  the  above 
deductions  derived  from  statistical  information. 

In  considering  the  question  how  the  advantages  thus  established  in 
favor  of  steam-shipping  could  be  further  improved,  attention  should 
be  called  in  the  first  place  to  the  material  enrployed  in  their  construc- 
tion. A  new  material  was  introduced  for  this  purpose  by  the  Admi- 
ralty in  1876-'78,  when  they  constructed  at  Pembroke  dock-yard  the 
two  steam  corvettes,  the  Iris  and  Mercury,  of  mild  steel.  The  pe- 
culiar qualities  of  this  material  are  such  as  have  enabled  ship-builders 
to  save  20  per  cent  in  the  weight  of  the  ship's  hull,  and  to  increase 
to  that  extent  its  carrying  capacity.  It  combines,  with  a  strength  of 
thirty  per  cent  superior  to  that  of  iron,  such  extreme  toughness,  that 
in  the  case  of  collision  the  side  of  the  vessel  has  been  found  to  yield 
or  bulge  several  feet  without  showing  any  signs  of  rupture,  a  quality 
affecting  the  question  of  sea-risk  very  favorably.  When  to  the  use  of 
this  material  there  are  added  the  advantages  derived  from  a  double 
bottom,  and  from  the  division  of  the  ship's  hold  by  means  of  bulk-heads 
of  solid  construction,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  such  a  vessel  could 
perish  by  collision  either  with  another  vessel  or  with  a  sunken  rock. 
The  spaces  between  the  two  bottoms  are  not  lost,  because  they  form 
convenient  chambers  for  water-ballast,  but  powerful  pumps  should  in 
all  cases  be  added  to  meet  emergencies. 

The  following  statement  of  the  number  and  tonnage  of  vessels 
building  and  preparing  to  be  built  in  the  United  Kingdom  on  the  30th 
of  June  last,  which  has  been  kindly  furnished  me  by  Lloyd's,  is  of 
interest  as  showing  that  wooden  ships  are  fast  becoming  obsolete,  and 
that  even  iron  is  beginning  to  yield  its  place,  both  as  regards  steam- 
ers and  sailing-ships,  to  the  new  material  mild  steel ;  it  also  shows 
that  by  far  the  greater  number  of  vessels  now  building  are  ships  of 
large  dimensions  propelled  by  engine-power  : 


MILD   8TEEL. 

IEON. 

WOOD. 

TOTAL. 

No. 

Tons  gross. 

No. 

555 

70 

Tons  gross. 

No. 

Tons 
gross. 

No. 

Tons  gross. 

Steam 

89 

11 

159,751 
16,800 

929,921 
120,259 

6 
49 

460 
4,635 

650 
130 

1,090,132 

Sailing 

141,694 

100 

176,551 

625 

1,050,180 

55 

5,095 

780 

1,232,826 

SCIENCE  IN  RELATION   TO    THE  ARTS.  215 

If  to  the  improvements  already  achieved  could  be  added  an  engine 
of  half  the  weight  of  the  present  steam-engine  and  boilers,  and  work- 
ing with  only  half  the  present  expenditure  of  fuel,  a  further  addition 
of  30  per  cent  could  be  made  to  the  cargo  of  an  Atlantic  propeller 
vessel — no  longer  to  be  called  a  steamer — and  the  balance  of  ad- 
vantages  in  favor  of  such  vessels  would  be  sufficient  to  restrict  the 
use  of  sailing-craft  chiefly  to  the  regattas  of  this  and  neighboring 
ports. 

The  admirable  work  on  the  "British  Navy,"  lately  published  by 
Sir  Thomas  Brassey,  the  Civil  Chief  Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  shows  that 
the  naval  department  of  this  country  is  fully  alive  to  all  improvements 
having  regard  to  the  safety  as  well  as  to  the  fighting  qualities  of  her 
Majesty's  ships  of  war,  and  recent  experience  goes  far  to  prove  that, 
although  high  speed  and  manoeuvring  qualities  are  of  the  utmost 
value,  the  armor-plate  which  appeared  to  be  fast  sinking  in  public 
favor  is  not  without  its  value  in  actual  warfare. 

The  progressive  views  perceptible  in  the  construction  of  the  navy 
are  further  evidenced  in  a  remarkable  degree  in  the  hydrographic  de- 
partment. Captain  Sir  Frederick  Evans,  the  hydrographer,  and  Vice- 
President  of  the  British  Association,  gave  us  at  York  last  year  a  very 
interesting  account  of  the  progress  made  in  that  department,  which, 
while  dealing  chiefly  with  the  preparation  of  charts  showing  the  depth 
of  water,  the  direction  and  force  of  currents,  and  the  rise  of  tides  near 
our  shores,  contains  also  valuable  statistical  information  regarding  the 
more  general  questions  of  the  physical  conditions  of  the  sea,  its  tem- 
perature at  various  depths,  its  flora  and  fauna,  as  also  the  rain-fall,  and 
the  nature  and  force  of  prevailing  winds.  In  connection  with  this 
subject  the  American  Naval  Department  has  taken  an  important  part, 
under  the  guidance  of  Captain  Maury  and  the  Agassiz  father  and  son, 
while  in  this  country  the  persistent  labors  of  Dr.  William  Carpenter 
deserve  the  highest  consideration. 

Our  knowledge  of  tidal  action  has  received  a  most  powerful  im- 
pulse through  the  invention  of  a  self-recording  gauge  and  tide-pre- 
dicter,  which  will  form  the  subject  of  one  of  the  discourses  to  be 
delivered  at  our  present  meeting  by  its  principal  originator,  Sir  Will- 
iam Thomson  ;  when  I  hope  he  will  furnish  us  with  an  explanation 
of  some  extraordinary  irregularities  in  tidal  records,  observed  some 
years  ago  by  Sir  John  Coode  at  Portland,  and  due  apparently  to  at- 
mospheric influence. 

The  application  of  iron  and  steel  in  naval  construction  rendered  the 
use  of  the  compass  for  some  time  illusory,  but  in  1839  Sir  George  Airy 
showed  how  the  errors  of  the  compass,  due  to  the  influence  experienced 
from  the  iron  of  the  ship,  may  be  perfectly  corrected  by  magnets  and 
soft  iron  placed  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  binnacle,  but  the  great  size 
of  the  needles  in  the  ordinary  compasses  rendered  the  correction  of  the 
quadrantal  errors  practically  unattainable.    In  1876  Sir  William  Thorn- 


216  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

son  invented  a  compass  with  much  smaller  needles  than  those  previ- 
ously used,  which  allows  Sir  George  Airy's  principles  to  he  applied 
completely.  With  this  compass  correctors  can  be  arranged  so  that  the 
needle  shall  point  accurately  in  all  directions,  and  these  correctors  can 
be  adjusted  at  sea  from  time  to  time,  so  as  to  eliminate  any  error  which 
may  arise  through  change  in  the  ship's  magnetism,  or  in  the  magnet- 
ism induced  by  the  earth  through  change  of  the  ship's  position.  By 
giving  the  compass-card  a  long  period  of  free  oscillation,  great  steadi- 
ness is  obtained  when  the  ship  is  rolling. 

Sir  William  Thomson  has  also  enriched  the  art  of  navigation  by  the 
invention  of  two  sounding-machines  ;  the  one  being  devised  for  ascer- 
taining great  depths  very  accurately  in  less  than  one  quarter  the  time 
formerly  necessary,  and  the  other  for  taking  depths  up  to  130  fathoms 
without  stopping  the  ship  in  its  onward  course.  In  both  these  instru- 
ments steel  piano-forte  wire  is  used  instead  of  the  henrpen  and  silken 
lines  formerly  employed  ;  in  the  latter  machine  the  record  of  depth  is 
obtained  not  by  the  quantity  of  wire  run  over  its  counter  and  brake- 
wheel,  but  through  the  indications  produced  upon  a  simple  pressure- 
gauge  consisting  of  an  inverted  glass  tube,  whose  internal  surface  is 
covered  beforehand  with  a  preparation  of  chromate  of  silver,  rendered 
colorless  by  the  sea-water  up  to  the  height  to  which  it  penetrates.  The 
value  of  this  instrument  for  guiding  the  navigator  within  what  he 
calls  "  soundings  "  can  hardly  be  exaggerated  ;  with  the  sounding-ma- 
chine and  a  good  chart  he  can  generally  make  out  his  position  cor- 
rectly by  a  succession  of  three  or  four  casts  in  a  given  direction  at 
given  intervals,  and  thus  in  foggy  weather  is  made  independent  of 
astronomical  observations,  and  of  the  sight  of  light-houses  or  the  shore. 
By  the  proper  use  of  this  apparatus,  such  accidents  as  happened  to  the 
mail-steamer  Mosel  not  a  fortnight  ago  would  not  be  possible.  As  re- 
gards the  value  of  the  deep-sea  instrument  I  can  speak  from  personal 
experience,  as  on  one  occasion  it  enabled  those  in  charge  of  the  cable 
steamship  Faraday  to  find  the  end  of  an  Atlantic  cable,  which  had 
parted  in  a  gale  of  wind,  with  no  other  indication  of  the  locality  than 
a  single  sounding,  giving  a  depth  of  950  fathoms.  To  recover  the  ca- 
ble a  number  of  soundings  in  the  supposed  neighborhead  of  the  broken 
end  were  taken,  the  950  fathom  contour  line  was  then  traced  upon  a 
chart,  and  the  vessel  thereupon  trailed  its  grapnel  two  miles  to  the 
eastward  of  this  line,  when  it  soon  engaged  the  cable  twenty  miles 
away  from  the  point,  where  dead  reckoning  had  placed  the  ruptured 
end. 

Whether  or  not  it  will  ever  be  practicable  to  determine  oceanic 
depths  without  a  sounding-line,  by  means  of  an  instrument  based 
upon  gravimetric  differences,  remains  to  be  seen.  Hitherto  the  indi- 
cations obtained  by  such  an  instrument  have  been  encouraging,  but 
its  delicacy  has  been  such  as  to  unfit  it  for  ordinary  use  on  board  a 
ship  when  rolling. 


SCIENCE  IN  RELATION  TO   THE  ARTS.  217 

The  time  allowed  me  for  addressing  you  on  this  occasion  is  wholly- 
insufficient  to  do  justice  to  the  great  engineering  works  of  the  present 
day,  and  I  must  therefore  limit  myself  to  making  a  short  allusion  to  a 
few  only  of  the  more  remarkable  enterprises. 

The  great  success,  both  technically  and  commercially,  of  the  Suez 
Canal,  has  stimulated  M.  de  Lesseps  to  undertake  a  similar  work  of 
even  more  gigantic  proportions,  namely,  the  piercing  of  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama  by  a  ship-canal,  forty  miles  long,  fifty  yards  wide  on  the 
surface,  and  twenty  yards  at  tbe  bottom,  upon  a  dead  level  from  sea 
to  sea.  The  estimated  cost  of  this  work  is  £20,000,000,  and,  more  than 
tbis  sum  having  been  subscribed,  it  appears  unlikely  that  political  or 
climatic  difficulties  will  stop  M.  de  Lesseps  in  its  speedy  accomplish- 
ment. Through  it,  China,  Japan,  and  the  whole  of  the  Pacific  Ocean 
will  be  brought  to  half  their  present  distance,  as  measured  by  the 
length  of  voyage,  and  an  impulse  to  navigation  and  to  progress  will 
thus  be  given  which  it  will  be  difficult  to  overestimate. 

Side  by  side  with  tbis  gigantic  work,  Captain  Eads,  the  successful 
improver  of  the  Mississippi  navigation,  intends  to  erect  his  ship  rail- 
way, to  take  the  largest  vessels,  fully  laden  and  equipped,  from  sea  to 
sea,  over  a  gigantic  railway  across  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec,  a  dis- 
tance of  ninety-five  miles.  Mr.  Barnaby,  the  chief  constructor  of  the 
navy,  and  Mr.  John  Fowler  have  expressed  a  favorable  opinion  re- 
garding this  enterprise,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  both  the  canal 
and  the  ship-railway  will  be  accomplished,  as  it  may  be  safely  antici- 
pated that  the  traffic  will  be  amply  sufficient  to  support  both  these  un- 
dertaking's. 

Whether  or  not  M.  de  Lesseps  will  be  successful  also  in  carrying 
into  effect  the  third  great  enterprise  with  wbicb  his  name  has  been 
prominently  connected,  the  flooding  of  the  Tunis-Algerian  Chotts, 
thereby  re-establishing  the  Lake  Tritonis  of  the  ancients,  with  its 
verdure-clad  shores,  is  a  question  which  could  only  be  decided  upon 
the  evidence  of  accurate  surveys,  but  the  beneficial  influence  of  a 
large  sheet  of  water  within  the  African  desert  could  hardly  be  matter 
of  doubt. 

It  is  with  a  feeling  not  unmixed  with  regret  that  I  have  to  record 
the  completion  of  a  new  Eddystone  Light-house  in  substitution  for  the 
chef-d'oeuvre  of  engineering  erected  by  John  Smeaton  more  than  one 
hundred  years  ago.  The  condemnation  of  that  structure  was  not, 
however,  the  consequence  of  any  fault  of  construction,  but  was  caused 
by  inroads  of  the  sea  upon  the  rock  supporting  it.  The  new  light- 
house, designed  and  executed  by  Mr.  (now  Sir  James)  Douglass,  engi- 
neer of  Trinity  House,  has  been  erected  in  the  incredibly  short  time 
of  less  than  two  years,  and  bids  fair  to  be  worthy  of  its  famed  prede- 
cessor. Its  height  above  high  water  is  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet,  as 
compared  with  seventy-two  feet,  the  height  of  Telford's  structure, 
which  gives  its  powerful  light  a  considerably  increased  range.     The 


ai8  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

system  originally  suggested  by  Sir  William  Thomson  some  years  ago, 
of  distinguishing  one  light  from  another  by  flashes  following  at  varied 
intervals,  has  been  adopted  by  the  Elder  Brethren  in  this  as  in  other 
recent  lights  in  the  modified  form  introduced  by  Dr.  John  Hopkinson, 
in  which  the  principle  is  applied  to  revolving  lights,  so  as  to  obtain  a 
greater  amount  of  light  in  the  flash. 

The  geological  difficulties  which  for  some  time  threatened  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  St.  Gothard  Tunnel  have  been  happily  overcome, 
and  this  second  and  most  important  sub- Alpine  thoroughfare  now  con- 
nects the  Italian  railway  system  with  that  of  Switzerland  and  the 
south  of  Germany,  whereby  Genoa  will  be  constituted  the  shipping 
port  for  those  parts. 

Whether  we  shall  be  able  to  connect  the  English  with  the  French 
railway  system  by  means  of  a  tunnel  below  the  English  Channel  is  a 
question  that  appears  dependent  at  this  moment  rather  upon  military 
and  political  than  technical  and  financial  considerations.  The  occur- 
rence of  a  stratum  of  impervious  gray  chalk,  at  a  convenient  depth 
below  the  bed  of  the  Channel,  minimizes  the  engineering  difficulties 
in  the  way,  and  must  influence  the  financial  question  involved.  The 
protest  lately  raised  against  its  accomplishment  can  hardly  be  looked 
upon  as  a  public  verdict,  but  seems  to  be  the  result  of  a  natural  desire 
to  pause  pending  the  institution  of  careful  inquiries.  These  inquiries 
have  been  made  by  a  Royal  Scientific  Commission,  and  will  be  referred 
for  further  consideration  to  a  mixed  Parliamentary  Committee,  upon 
whose  report  it  must  depend  whether  the  natural  spirit  of  commercial 
enterprise  has  to  yield  in  this  instance  to  political  and  military  consid- 
erations. Whether  the  Channel  Tunnel  is  constructed  or  not,  the  plan 
proposed  some  years  ago  by  Mr.  John  Fowler,  of  connecting  England 
and  France  by  means  of  a  ferry-boat  capable  of  taking  railway  trains, 
would  be  a  desideratum  justified  by  the  ever-increasing  intercommu- 
nication between  this  and  Continental  countries. 

The  public  inconvenience  arising  through  the  obstruction  to  traffic 
by  a  sheet  of  water  is  well  illustrated  by  the  circumstance  that  both 
the  estuaries  of  the  Severn  and  of  the  Mersey  are  being  undermined  in 
order  to  connect  the  railway  systems  on  the  two  sides,  and  that  the 
Frith  of  Forth  is  about  to  be  spanned  by  a  bridge  exceeding  in  grand- 
eur anything  as  yet  attempted,  by  the  engineer.  The  roadway  of 
this  bridge  will  stand  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  high-water 
mark,  and  its  two  principal  spans  will  measure  a  third  of  a  statute  mile 
each.  Messrs.  Fowler  and  Baker,  the  engineers  to  whom  this  great 
work  has  been  intrusted,  could  hardly  have  accomplished  their  task 
without  having  recourse  to  steel  for  their  material  of  construction,  nor 
need  the  steel  used  be  of  the  extra-mild  quality  particularly  applicable 
for  naval  structures  to  withstand  collision,  for,  when  such  extreme 
toughness  is  not  required,  steel  of  very  homogeneous  quality  can  be 
produced,  bearing  a  tensile  strain  double  that  of  iron. 


SCIENCE  IN  RELATION  TO    THE  ARTS.  219 

The  tensile  strength  of  steel,  as  is  well  known,  is  the  result  of  an 
admixture  of  carbon  with  the  iron,  varying  between  one  tenth  and  two 
per  cent,  and  the  nature  of  this  combination  of  carbon  with  iron  is  a 
matter  of  great  interest  both  from  a  theoretical  and  practical  point  of 
view.  It  could  not  be  a  chemical  compound  which  would  necessitate 
a  definite  proportion,  nor  could  a  mere  dissolution  of  the  one  in  the 
other  exercise  such  remarkable  influence  upon  the  strength  and  hard- 
ness of  the  resulting  metal.  A  recent  investigation  by  Mr.  Abel  has 
thrown  considerable  light  upon  this  question.  A  definite  carbide  of 
iron  is  formed,  it  appears,  soluble  at  high  temperatures  in  iron,  but 
separating  upon  cooling  the  steel  gradually,  and  influencing  only  to  a 
moderate  degree  the  physical  properties  of  the  metal  as  a  whole.  In 
cooling  rapidly  there  is  no  time  for  the  carbide  to  separate  from  the 
iron,  and  the  metal  is  thus  rendered  both  hard  and  brittle.  Cooling 
the  metal  gradually,  under  the  influence  of  great  compressive  force,  ap- 
pears to  have  a  similar  effect  to  rapid  cooling  in  preventing  the  sep- 
aration of  the  carbide  from  the  metal,  with  this  difference,  that  the 
effect  is  more  equal  throughout  the  mass,  and  that  more  uniform  tem- 
per is  likely  to  result. 

When  the  British  Association  met  at  Southampton  on  a  former 
occasion,  Schonbein  announced  to  the  world  his  discovery  of  gun-cot- 
ton. This  discovery  has  led  the  way  to  many  valuable  researches  on 
explosives  generally,  in  which  Mr.  Abel  has  taken  a  leading  part.  Re- 
cent investigations  by  him,  in  connection  with  Captain  Noble,  upon 
the  explosive  action  of  gun-cotton  and  gunpowder  confined  in  a  strong 
chamber,  which  have  not  yet  been  published,  deserve  particular  atten- 
tion. They  show  that  while  by  the  method  of  investigation  pursued 
about  twenty  years  ago  by  Karolye  (of  exploding  gunpowder  in  very 
small  charges  in  shells  confined  within  a  large  shell  partially  exhausted 
of  air)  the  composition  of  the  gaseous  products  was  found  to  be  com- 
plicated and  liable  to  variation,  the  chemical  metamorphosis  which 
gun-cotton  sustains,  when  exploded  under  conditions  such  as  obtain  in 
its  practical  application,  is  simple  and  very  uniform.  Among  other 
interesting  points  noticed  in  this  direction  was  the  fact  that,  as  in  the 
case  of  gunpowder,  the  proportion  of  carbonic  acid  increases,  while 
that  of  carbonic  oxide  diminshes  with  the  density  of  the  charge.  The 
explosion  of  gun-cotton,  whether  in  the  form  of  wool  or  loosely  spun 
thread,  or  in  the  packed  compressed  form  devised  by  Abel,  furnished 
practically  the  same  results  if  fired  under  pressure,  that  is,  under 
strong  confinement — the  conditions  being  favorable  to  the  full  devel- 
opment of  its  explosive  force  ;  but  some  marked  differences  in  the 
composition  of  the  products  of  metamorphosis  were  observed  when 
gun-cotton  was  fired  by  detonation.  "With  regard  to  the  tension  ex- 
erted by  the  products  of  explosion,  some  interesting  points  were  ob- 
served, which  introduce  very  considerable  difficulties  into  the  investi- 
gation of  the  action  of  fired  gun-cotton.     Thus,  whereas  no  marked 


220  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

differences  are  observed  in  the  tension  developed  by  small  charges  and 
by  very  much  larger  charges  of  gunpowder  having  the  same  density 
(i.  e.,  occupying  the  same  volume  relatively  to  the  entire  space  in  which 
they  are  exploded),  the  reverse  is  the  case  with  respect  to  gun-cotton. 
Under  similar  conditions  in  regard  to  density  of  charge,  100  grammes 
of  gun-cotton  gave  a  measured  tension  of  about  20  tons  on  the  square 
inch,  1,500  grammes  gave  a  tension  of  about  29  tons  (in  several  very 
concordant  observations),  while  a  charge  of  2*5  kilos  gave  a  pressure 
of  about  45  tons,  this  being  the  maximum  measured  tension  obtained 
with  a  charge  of  gunpowder  of  five  times  the  density  of  the  above. 

The  extreme  violence  of  the  explosion  of  gun-cotton  as  compared 
with  gunpowder  when  fired  in  a  closed  space  was  a  feature  attended 
with  formidable  difficulties.  In  whatever  way  the  charge  was  arranged 
in  the  firing-cylinder,  if  it  had  free  access  to  the  inclosed  crusher- 
gauge,  the  pressures  recorded  by  the  latter  were  always  much  greater 
than  when  means  were  taken  to  prevent  the  wave  of  matter  suddenly 
set  in  motion  from  acting  directly  upon  the  gauge.  The  abnormal  or 
wave-pressures  recorded  at  the  same  time  that  the  general  tension  in 
the  cylinder  was  measured  amounted  in  the  experiment  to  42'3  tons, 
when  the  general  tension  was  recorded  at  20  tons  ;  and  in  another, 
when  the  pressure  was  measured  at  29  tons,  the  wave-pressure  recorded 
was  44  tons.  Measurements  of  the  temperature  of  explosion  of  gun- 
cotton  showed  it  to  be  about  double  that  of  the  explosion  of  gunpow- 
der. One  of  the  effects  observed  to  be  produced  by  this  sudden  enor- 
mous development  of  heat  was  the  covering  of  the  inner  surfaces  of 
the  steel  explosion-vessel  with  a  net-work  of  cracks,  small  portions  of 
the  surface  being  sometimes  actually  fractured.  The  explosion  of 
charges  of  gun-cotton  up  to  2'5  kilos  in  perfectly  closed  chambers, 
with  development  of  pressures  approaching  to  50  tons  on  the  square 
inch,  constitutes  alone  a  perfectly  novel  feat  in  investigations  of  this 
class. 

Messrs.  Noble  and  Abel  are  also  continuing  their  researches  upon 
fired  gunpowder,  being  at  present  occupied  with  an  inquiry  into  the 
influence  exerted  upon  the  chemical  metamorphosis  and  ballistic  effects 
of  fired  gunpowder  by  variation  in  its  composition,  their  attention  be- 
ing directed  especially  to  the  discovery  of  the  cause  of  the  more  or  less 
considerable  erosion  of  the  interior  surface  of  guns  produced  by  the 
exploding  charge— an  effect  which,  notwithstanding  the  application 
of  devices  in  the  building  up  of  the  charge  specially  directed  to  the 
preservation  of  the  gun's  bore,  has  become  so  serious  that,  with  the 
enormous  charges  now  used  in  our  heavy  guus,  the  erosive  action  on 
the  surface  of  the  bore  produced  by  a  single  round  is  distinctly  per- 
ceptible. As  there  appeared  to  be  prima  facie  reasons  why  the  ero- 
sive action  of  powder  upon  the  surface  of  the  bore  at  the  high  temper- 
atures developed  should  be  at  any  rate  in  part  due  to  its  one  compo- 
nent sulphur,  Noble  and  Abel  have  made  comparative  experiments 


SCIENCE  IN  RELATION   TO    THE  ARTS.  221 

with  powders  of  usual  composition  and  with  others  in  which  the  pro- 
portion of  sulphur  was  considerably  increased,  the  extent  of  erosive 
action  of  the  products  escaping  from  the  explosion-vessel  under  high 
tension  being  carefully  determined.  With  small  charges  a  particular 
powder  containing  no  sulphur  was  found  to  exert  very  little  erosive 
action  as  compared  with  ordinary  cannon-powder  ;  but  another  pow- 
der, containing  the  maximum  proportion  of  sulphur  tried  (15  per  cent), 
was  found  equal  to  it  under  these  conditions,  and  exerted  very  decid- 
edly less  erosive  action  than  it,  when  larger  charges  were  reached. 
Other  important  contributions  to  our  knowledge  of  the  action  of  fired 
gunpowder  in  guns,  as  well  as  decided  improvements  in  the  gunpow- 
der manufactured  for  the  very  heavy  ordnance  of  the  present  day, 
may  be  expected  to  result  from  a  continuance  of  these  investigations. 
Professor  Carl  Himly,  of  Kiel,  having  been  engaged  upon  investiga- 
tions of  a  similar  nature,  has  lately  proposed  a  gunpowder  in  which 
hydrocarbons  precipitated  from  solution  in  naphtha  take  the  place  of 
the  charcoal  and  sulphur  of  ordinary  powder.  This  powder  has  among 
others  the  peculiar  property  of  completely  resisting  the  action  of  wa- 
ter, so  that  the  old  caution,  "  Keep  your  powder  dry,"  may  hereafter 
be  unnecessary. 

The  extraordinary  difference  of  condition,  before  and  after  its  ig- 
nition, of  such  matter  as  constitutes  an  explosive  agent  leads  us  up  to 
a  consideration  of  the  aggregate  state  of  matter  under  other  circum- 
stances. As  early  as  1776,  Alexander  Volta  observed  that  the  volume 
of  glass  was  changed  under  the  influence  of  electrification,  by  what  he 
termed  electrical  pressure.  Dr.  Kerr,  Govi,  and  others  have  followed 
up  the  same  inquiry,  which  is  at  present  continued  chiefly  by  Dr. 
George  Quincke,  of  Heidelberg,  who  finds  that  temperature,  as  well  as 
chemical  constitution  of  the  dielectric  under  examination,  exercises  a 
determining  influence  upon  the  amount  and  character  of  the  change 
of  volume  effected  by  electrification  ;  that  the  change  of  volume  may 
under  certain  circumstances  be  effected  instantaneously  as  in  flint- 
glass,  or  only  slowly  as  in  crown-glass,  and  that  the  elastic  limit  of 
both  is  diminished  by  electrification,  whereas  in  the  case  of  mica  and 
of  gutta-percha  an  increase  of  elasticity  takes  place. 

Still  greater  strides  are  being  made  at  the  present  time  toward  a 
clearer  perception  of  the  condition  of  matter  when  particles  are  left 
some  liberty  to  obey  individually  the  forces  brought  to  bear  upon 
them.  By  the  discharge  of  high-tension  electricity  through  tubes  con- 
taining highly  rarefied  gases  (Geissler's  tubes),  phenomena  of  dis- 
charge were  produced  which  were  at  once  most  striking  and  suggestive. 
The  Sprengel  pump  afforded  a  means  of  pushing  the  exhaustion  to 
limits  which  had  formerly  been  scarcely  reached  by  the  imagination. 
At  each  step  the  condition  of  attenuated  matter  revealed  varying  prop- 
erties when  acted  upon  by  electrical  discharge  and  magnetic  force. 


222  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

The  radiometer  of  Crookes  imported  a  new  feature  into  these  inquiries, 
which  at  the  present  time  occupy  the  attention  of  leading  physicists  in 
all  countries. 

The  means  usually  employed  to  produce  electrical  discharge  in 
vacuum-tubes  was  Rukrnkorff's  coil ;  but  Mr.  Gassiot  first  succeeded 
in  obtaining  the  phenomena  by  means  of  a  galvanic  battery  of  3,000 
Leclanche  cells.  Dr.  De  La  Rue,  in  conjunction  with  his  friend  Dr. 
Hugo  Miiller,  has  gone  far  beyond  his  predecessors  in  the  production 
of  batteries  of  high  potential.  At  his  lecture  "  On  the  Phenomena  of 
Electric  Discharge,"  delivered  at  the  Royal  Institution,  in  January, 
1881,  he  employed  a  battery  of  his  invention  consisting  of  14,400  cells 
(14,832  Volts),  which  gave  a  current  of  0'054  Ampere,  and  produced 
a  discharge  at  a  distance  of  0*71  inch  between  the  terminals.  During 
last  year,  he  increased  the  number  of  cells  to  15,000  (15,450  Volts), 
and  increased  the  current  to  0-4  Ampere,  or  eight  times  that  of  the 
battery  he  used  at  the  Royal  Institution. 

With  the  enormous  potential  and  perfectly  steady  current  at  his 
disposal,  Mr.  De  La  Rue  has  been  able  to  contribute  many  interesting 
facts  to  the  science  of  electricity.  He  has  shown,  for  example,  that 
the  beautiful  phenomena  of  the  stratified  discharge  in  exhausted  tubes 
are  but  a  modification  and  a  magnification  of  those  of  the  electric  arc 
at  ordinary  atmospheric  pressure.  Photography  was  used  in  his  ex- 
periments to  record  the  appearance  of  the  discharge,  so  as  to  give  a 
degree  of  precision  otherwise  unattainable  in  the  comparison  of  the 
phenomena.  He  has  shown  that  between  two  points  the  length  of  the 
spark,  provided  the  insulation  of  the  battery  is  efficacious,  is  as  the 
square  of  the  number  of  cells  employed.  Mr.  De  La  Rue's  experi- 
ments have  proved  that  at  all  pressures  the  discharge  in  gases  is  not 
a  current  in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  term,  but  is  of  the  nature 
of  a  disruptive  discharge.  Even  in  an  apparently  ])erfectly  steady  dis- 
charge in  a  vacuum-tube,  when  the  strata  as  seen  in  a  rapidly  revolv- 
ing mirror  are  immovable,  he  has  shown  that  the  discharge  is  a  pulsat- 
ing one  ;  but,  of  course,  the  period  must  be  of  a  very  high  order. 

At  the  Royal  Institution,  on  the  occasion  of  his  lecture,  Mr.  De  La 
Rue  produced,  in  a  very  large  vacuum-tube,  an  imitation  of  the  aurora 
borealis  ;  and  he  has  deduced  from  his  experiments  that  the  greatest 
brilliancy  of  aurora  displays  must  be  at  an  altitude  of  from  thirty- 
seven  to  thirty-eight  miles — a  conclusion  of  the  highest  interest,  and 
in  opposition  to  the  extravagant  estimate  of  281  miles  at  which  it  had 
been  previously  put. 

The  President  of  the  Royal  Society  has  made  the  phenomena  of 
electrical  discharge  his  study  for  several  years,  and  resorted  in  his  im- 
portant experiments  to  a  special  source  of  electric  power.  In  a  note 
addressed  to  me,  Dr.  Spottiswoode  describes  the  nature  of  his  inves- 
tigations much  more  clearly  than  I  could  venture  to  give  them.  He 
says  :  "  It  had  long  been  my  opinion  that  the  dissymmetry  shown  in 


SCIENCE  IN  RELATION  TO    THE  ARTS.  223 

electrical  discharges  through  rarefied  gases  must  be  an  essential  ele- 
ment of  every  disruptive  discharge,  and  that  the  phenomena  of  strati- 
fication might  be  regarded  as  magnified  images  of  features  always 
present,  but  concealed  under  ordinary  circumstances.  It  was  with  a 
view  to  the  study  of  this  question  that  the  researches  by  Moulton  and 
myself  were  undertaken.  The  method  chiefly  used  consisted  in  intro- 
ducing into  the  circuit  intermittence  of  a  particular  kind,  whereby  one 
luminous  discharge  was  rendered  sensitive  to  the  approach  of  a  con- 
ductor outside  the  tube.  The  application  of  this  method  enabled  us 
to  produce  artificially  a  variety  of  phenomena,  including  that  of  strati- 
fication. We  were  thus  led  to  a  series  of  conclusions  relating  to  the 
mechanism  of  the  discharge,  among  which  the  following  may  be  men- 
tioned : 

"  1.  That  a  stria,  with  its  attendant  dark  space,  forms  a  physical 
unit  of  a  striated  discharge  ;  that  a  striated  column  is  an  aggregate  of 
such  units  formed  by  means  of  a  step-by-step  process  ;  and  that  the 
negative  glow  is  merely  a  localized  stria,  modified  by  local  circum- 
stances. 

"  2.  That  the  origin  of  the  luminous  column  is  to  be  sought  for  at 
its  negative  end  ;  that  the  luminosity  is  an  expression  of  a  demand  for 
negative  electricity  ;  and  that  the  dark  spaces  are  those  regions  where 
the  negative  terminal,  whether  metallic  or  gaseous,  is  capable  of  ex- 
erting sufficient  influence  to  prevent  such  demand. 

"  3.  That  the  time  occupied  by  electricity  of  either  name  in  trav- 
ersing a  tube  is  greater  than  that  occupied  in  traversing  an  equal 
length  of  wire,  but  less  than  that  occupied  by  molecular  streams 
(Crookes's  radiations)  in  traversing  the  tubes.  Also  that,  especially  in 
high  vacua,  the  discharge  from  the  negative  terminal  exhibits  a  dura- 
tional character  not  found  at  the  positive. 

"  4.  That  the  brilliancy  of  the  light  with  so  little  heat  may  be  due 
in  part  to  brevity  in  the  duration  of  the  discharge  ;  and  that,  for  action 
so  rapid  as  that  of  individual  discharges,  the  mobility  of  the  medium 
may  count  as  nothing  ;  and  that  for  these  infinitesimal  periods  of  time 
gas  may  itself  be  as  rigid  and  as  brittle  as  glass. 

"  5.  That  striae  are  not  merely  loci  in  which  electrical  is  converted 
into  luminous  energy,  but  are  actual  aggregations  of  matter. 

"  This  last  conclusion  was  based  mainly  upon  experiments  made 
with  an  induction-coil  excited  in  a  new  way — viz.,  directly  by  an  alter- 
nating machine,  without  the  intervention  of  a  commutator  or  con- 
denser. This  mode  of  excitement  promises  to  be  one  of  great  impor- 
tance in  spectroscopic  work,  as  well  as  in  the  study  of  the  discharge  in 
a  magnetic  field,  partly  on  account  of  the  simplification  which  it  per- 
mits in  the  construction  of  induction-coils,  but  mainly  on  account  of 
the  very  great  increase  of  strength  in  the  secondary  currents  to  which 
it  gives  rise." 

These  investigations  assume  additional  importance  when  we  view 


224  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

them  in  connection  with  solar — I  may  even  say  stellar — physics,  for 
evidence  is  augmenting  in  favor  of  the  view  that  interstellar  space  is 
not  empty,  but  is  filled  with  highly  attenuated  matter  of  a  nature  such 
as  may  be  put  into  our  vacuum-tubes.  Nor  can  the  matter  occupying 
stellar  space  be  said  any  longer  to  be  beyond  our  reach  for  chemical 
and  physical  test.  The  spectroscope  has  already  thrown  a  flood  of 
light  upon  the  chemical  constitution  and  physical  condition  of  the  sun, 
the  stars,  the  comets,  and  the  far-distant  nebula?,  which  have  yielded 
spectroscopic  photographs  under  the  skillful  management  of  Dr.  Hug- 
gins,  and  Dr.  Draper,  of  New  York.  Armed  with  greatly  improved 
apparatus,  the  physical  astronomer  has  been  able  to  reap  a  rich  harvest 
of  scientific  information  during  the  short  periods  of  the  last  two  solar 
eclipses  ;  that  of  1879,  visible  in  America,  and  that  of  May  last,  ob- 
served in  Egypt  by  Lockyer,  Schuster,  and  by  Continental  observers 
of  high  standing.  The  result  of  this  last  eclipse  expedition  has  been 
summed  up  as  follows  :  "  Different  temperature  levels  have  been  dis- 
covered in  the  solar  atmosphere  ;  the  constitution  of  the  corona  has 
now  the  possibility  of  being  determined,  and  it  is  proved  to  shine  with 
its  own  light.  A  suspicion  has  been  aroused  once  more  as  to  the 
existence  of  a  lunar  atmosphere,  and  the  position  of  an  important  line 
has  been  discovered.  Hydrocarbons  do  not  exist  close  to  the  sun,  but 
may  in  space  between  us  and  it." 

To  me  personally  these  reported  results  possess  peculiar  interest, 
for  in  March  last  I  ventured  to  bring  before  the  Royal  Society  a  spec- 
ulation regarding  the  conservation  of  solar  energy,  which  was  based 
upon  the  three  following  postulates,  viz.  : 

1.  That  aqueous  vapor  and  carbon  compounds  are  present  in  stellar 
or  interplanetary  space. 

2.  That  these  gaseous  compounds  are  capable  of  being  dissociated 
by  radiant  solar  energy  while  in  a  state  of  extreme  attenuation. 

3.  That  the  effect  of  solar  rotation  is  to  draw  in  dissociated  vapors 
upon  the  polar  surfaces,  and  to  eject  them,  after  combustion  has  taken 
place,  back  into  space  equatorially. 

It  is  therefore  a  matter  of  peculiar  gratification  to  me  that  the  re- 
sults of  observation  here  recorded  give  considerable  support  to  that 
speculation.  The  luminous  equatorial  extensions  of  the  sun  which  the 
American  observations  revealed  in  such  a  striking  manned  (with  which 
I  was  not  acquainted  when  writing  my  paper)  were  absent  in  Egypt  ; 
but  the  outflowing  equatorial  streams  I  suppose  to  exist  could  only  be 
rendered  visible  by  reflected  sunlight,  when  mixed  with  dust  produced 
by  exceptional  solar  disturbances  or  by  electric  discharge  ;  and  the 
occasional  appearance  of  such  luminous  extensions  would  serve  only  to 
disprove  the  hypothesis  entertained  by  some,  that  they  are  divided 
planetary  matter,  in  which  case  their  appearance  should  be  permanent. 
Professor  Langley,  of  Pittsburg,  has  shown,  by  means  of  his  bolometer, 
that  the  solar  actinic  rays  are  absorbed  chiefly  in  the  solar  instead  of 


MUSICAL   SENSATIONS.  225 

in  the  terrestrial  atmosphere,  and  Captain  Abney  has  found  by  his 
new  photometric  method  that  absorption  due  to  hydrocarbons  takes 
place  somewhere  between  the  solar  and  terrestrial  atmosphere  ;  in 
order  to  test  this  interesting  result  still  further,  he  has  lately  taken  his 
apparatus  to  the  top  of  the  Riffel  with  a  view  of  diminishing  the  amount 
of  terrestrial  atmospheric  air  between  it  and  the  sun,  and  intends  to  bring 
a  paper  on  this  subject  before  Section  A.  Stellar  space  filled  with  such 
matter  as  hydrocarbon  and  aqueous  vapor  would  establish  a  material 
continuity  between  the  sun  and  his  planets,  and  between  the  innu- 
merable solar  systems  of  which  the  universe  is  composed.  If  chemical 
action  and  reaction  can  further  be  admitted,  we  may  be  able  to  trace 
certain  conditions  of  thermal  dependence  and  maintenance,  in  which 
we  may  recognize  principles  of  high  perfection,  applicable  also  to  com- 
paratively humble  purposes  of  human  life. 

We  shall  thus  find  that,  in  the  great  workshop  of  Nature,  there  are 
no  lines  of  demarkation  to  be  drawn  between  the  most  exalted  specu- 
lation and  commonplace  practice,  and  that  all  knowledge  must  lead  up 
to  one  great  result,  that  of  an  intelligent  recognition  of  the  Creator 
through  his  works.  So,  then,  we  members  of  the  British  Association 
and  fellow-workers  in  every  branch  of  science  may  exhort  one  another 
in  the  words  of  the  American  bard  who  has  so  lately  departed  from 


anions:  us 


"  Let  us  then  be  up  and  doing, 
With  a  heart  for  any  fate  ; 
Still  achieving,  still  pursuing, 
Learn  to  labor  and  to  wait." 


MUSICAL  SENSATIONS. 

Br  M.  HiniCOUKT. 

IT  is  common,  in  defining  music,  to  compare  it  with  some  other  art, 
painting,  for  instance,  and  say  it  is  to  the  ear  what  that  is  to  the 
eye  ;  that  it  is  the  representation  of  the  ideal  by  a  means  especially 
adapted  to  the  organ  to  which  it  is  addressed,  or  by  the  combination 
of  sounds.  Is  that  all  that  it  is  ?  Do  we  not  forget,  when  we  simply 
put  it  on  a  par  with  other  arts,  the  exceptional  part  it  plays  in  the  life 
of  men  ?  The  universal  adaptation  of  music  to  all  degrees  of  civili- 
zation, the  peculiar  charm  of  which  it  is  the  source,  and  the  extraor- 
dinary power  it  exercises,  are  so  many  reasons  for  believing  that  it 
is  connected  with  our  organization  by  a  more  intimate  tie  than  that 
which  binds  other  arts  to  it,  and  that  it  is  the  manifestation  of  a 
more  general  faculty.  "When  Fetis  wrote,  in  1837,  the  idea  prevailed 
that   music   originated  in  the  imitation  of  the  sonsrs  of  birds.      He 

VOL,    XXII. — 15 


226  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

contradicted  this,  and  defined  music  as  the  double  result  of  the  con- 
formation of  the  organs  and  the  disposition  of  the  soul,  as  the  art  of 
awakening  emotion  by  means  of  the  combination  of  sounds.  It  is, 
in  fact,  generally  agreed  that  music  addresses  itself  more  directly  to 
our  feelings  and  passions,  and  is  correctly  said  that  it  speaks  to  them 
in  a  special  language.     Descartes  indicated  this  as  its  object. 

In  the  theory  of  Helmholtz,  music  expresses  the  different  dispo- 
sitions of  the  soul  by  imitating  the  characteristic  particularities  of 
movement  in  space,  and  by  thus  translating  the  forces  and  impulses 
that  produce  the  movement.  While  he  admits  that  it  may  have  been 
at  first  only  an  imitation  of  the  instinctive  modulations  of  the  voice 
corresponding  with  the  different  states  of  the  mind,  he  does  not  con- 
sider this  fact  contradictory  to  his  definition,  for  the  natural  processes 
of  vocal  expression  are  capable  of  being  traced  back  to  the  same 
elements.  "  Rhythm  and  accentuation  express  directly  the  rapidity 
and  vivacity  of  corresponding  psychical  movements  ;  a  vehement 
effort  causes  the  voice  to  rise  ;  the  desire  to  produce  an  agreeable 
impression  on  another  person  prompts  us  to  select  a  pleasant  tone  ; 
and  thus  the  efforts  to  imitate  the  involuntary  modulations  of  the 
voice,  to  enrich  and  make  more  expressive  the  recitation  of  words, 
may  very  probably  have  guided  our  ancestors  in  seeking  out  the 
means  for  musical  expression." 

This  is  probably  the  real  origin  of  music  ;  and  it  is  in  this  direc- 
tion that  we  should  look  in  investigating  its  nature. 

Two  elements  closely  connected,  but  quite  different  and  having 
each  its  peculiar  function,  may  be  distinguished  in  the  analysis  of 
spoken  language — the  intonation  and  the  articulation  of  the  emitted 
sound.  No  doubt  they  are  the  interpreters  of  the  two  great  human 
faculties  of  intelligence  and  feeling.  Speech,  then,  is  a  complex  physi- 
ological resultant,  the  double  image  of  a  double  inner  condition.  The 
elements  it  represents  can  not  be  conceived  as  isolated  from  each  other, 
any  more  than  we  can  conceive  a  human  organization  a  pure  intelli- 
gence. We  all  know  the  important  part  intonation  plays  in  conver- 
sation, and  how  by  it  the  general  sense,  the  whole  expression  of  the 
spoken  words,  may  be  varied  indefinitely. 

Having  thus  found  the  origin  of  music  in  the  imitation  of  these 
instinctive  modulations  of  speech,  it  should  be  easy  to  draw  from  this 
an  exact  idea  of  its  nature  ;  for,  without  doubt,  to  read  verse  well,  to 
declaim  with  warmth  and  conviction,  is  only  to  perform  in  advance 
the  work  of  the  musician.  We  have  now  a  whole  class  of  musical 
phrases  which  are  only  exaggerations  of  spoken  intonations  ;  they  are 
our  recitatives.  The  music  of  uncultivated  peoples  is  mostly  recita- 
tive ;  so  also  was  a  large  part  of  the  music  of  the  middle  ages.  The 
rules  and  grammar  of  music  and  its  particular  features  are  the  growth 
of  modern  times. 

This  conception  of  music  as  the  language  of  sensibility  permits  us 


MUSICAL   SENSATIONS.  227 

to  explain  the  characteristic  features  of  its  action.  We  must  consider, 
first,  that  this  language,  like  its  twin  sister  the  language  of  ideas,  has 
suffered  a  progressive  evolution,  and  has  with  us  reached  a  great  per- 
fection, and  consequently  a  great  complexity  in  its  laws  and  proc- 
esses. Among  primitive  peoples  of  few  ideas,  whose  feelings  show 
few  variations  of  shade  in  expression,  music  is  almost  wholly  con- 
fined to  a  few  modulations  expressive  of  the  principal  divisions  of 
feelino- — love,  joy,  sorrow,  and  warlike  ardor.  Civilization,  with  its 
refinements,  has  produced  a  music  that  has  grown  constantly  richer  in 
shades  and  means  of  expression,  to  the  point  which  has  been  reached 
by  the  great  masters  of  our  age. 

Neither  language  is  intelligible  to  all,  in  its  fullest  degree  of  de- 
velopment. As  we  must  have  the  power  of  comprehending  abstract 
ideas  in  order  to  understand  philosophers,  so  we  must  be  more  or  less 
accustomed  to  musical  sensations  to  appreciate  the  great  musicians  ; 
and  it  is  interesting  to  observe  how  we  learn  by  study  to  enjoy  works 
which  at  first  fall  cold  upon  us. 

The  application  of  such  a  word  as  comprehend,  or  understand,  to 
music,  is  a  source  of  numerous  misconceptions  ;  music  does  not  under- 
stand, it  feels.  It  addresses  itself  only  to  that  part  of  us  which  is 
susceptible  of  emotion  ;  and  we  frequently  lose  all  its  charm  by  our 
trying  to  undei'stand  it,  or  to  find  in  it  ideas  which  it  can  not  express. 
We  might  exj^ect  the  same  kind  of  a  failure  if  we  should  try  to  find 
sources  of  emotion  in  the  working  out  of  an  equation. 

It  is  true  that  persons  exist  who  have  no  sense  for  music,  and  to 
whom  its  language  is  a  blank  ;  but  they  are  rarely  found,  and  prove 
nothing.  Opposed  to  them  are  much  more  frequent  instances  of  ex- 
cessively sensitive  natures,  on  whom  even  simple  single  musical  inter- 
vals produce  wonderful  effects.  Who  has  not  made  music  without 
suspecting  it  ?  In  certain  states  of  feeling  we  are  sometimes  surprised 
to  find  ourselves  composing  simple  melodies  that  are  never  finished, 
and  are  major  or  minor  according  as  we  are  gay  or  sad,  while  we  may 
be  totally  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  those  modes.  Some  natures 
seem  obliged  thus  to  express  themselves  in  song.  This  is  because 
speech  is  really  an  imperfect  means  of  expressing  the  feelings.  It  is 
just  as  necessary  to  address  the  feelings,  to  make  an  emotion  known, 
as  it  is  to  address  the  intellect,  to  communicate  an  idea.  Hence  the 
charm  of  the  opera,  in  which  the  words  describe  the  situation,  while 
the  music  enables  us  to  see  into  the  hearts  of  the  persons  who  are 
implicated  in  it.  A  certain  school  of  operatic  composers,  indeed,  are 
not  concerned  about  depicting  the  passions  set  forth  in  their  dramas, 
but  are  satisfied  if  they  can  introduce  a  few  agreeable  melodies  good 
to  sing  anywhere  and  to  any  words,  and  which  will  become  favorites  ; 
but  this  is  not  the  case  with  real  dramatic  music  as  illustrated  in  the 
works  of  Gluck,  Berlioz,  Meyerbeer,  Rossini,  Verdi  in  his  second  style, 
and  Wagner. 


228  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

In  songs,  the  expression  is  in  an  inverse  ratio  to  the  interest  of  the 
words.  Good  poetry  is  hardly  susceptible  of  any  but  an  uncolored 
music,  just  enough  to  sustain  the  voice  ;  the  thought,  in  effect,  crowds 
out  the  feeling,  and,  a  choice  being  forced  upon  the  attention,  too 
much  musical  accent  would  weaken  the  thought.  For  a  full  musical 
interpretation  of  the  feeling,  a  third-rate  poetry,  only  indicating  the 
subject,  is  best,  for  it  permits  the  concentration  of  all  the  attention 
upon  the  emotional  expression.  This  is,  ordinarily,  the  character  of 
the  librettos  of  operas,  in  which  everything  is  subordinated  to  the 
music  ;  but  the  song,  the  interest  of  which  lies  in  the  conception,  is 
accommodated  with  a  colorless  melody. 

By  considering  music  as  the  language  of  the  feelings,  we  are 
enabled  to  account  for  the  power  it  has  over  masses  composed  of  the 
most  incongruous  elements.  An  address  can  not  affect  alike  persons 
of  different  degrees  of  intellectual  development,  and  must  fall  without 
making  any  impression  on  a  part  of  the  audience.  There  is  less  dif- 
ference in  the  capacity  for  feeling,  and  all  are  more  or  less  subject  to 
the  same  transports  of  emotion.    The  masses  feel  more  than  they  think. 

It  is  interesting  to  remark  the  generally  simple  and  touching  ex- 
pression of  popular  songs.  The  feeling  is  brought  out  in  its  purity 
without  science  or  preparation,  and  the  result  is  a  music  full  of  artless 
charms,  the  inexhaustible  source  to  which  composers,  knowing  that 
they  can  not  find  better  ones,  go  for  the  themes  of  their  works.  These 
popular  songs  are  generally  of  a  sad  character,  and  tell  of  vague 
aspirations  and  indefinite  desires.  Thus  have  originated  those  dreamy 
melodies  with  which  working-people  love  to  lull  their  melancholy, 
and  which  are  frequently  the  only  source  to  which  we  can  go  for  the 
history  of  those  who  have  lived  and  suffered  in  obscurity. 

As  different  human  races  have  their  several  languages,  so  each  one 
has  its  own  musical  system  ;  and  these  various  systems,  the  existence 
of  which  is  explainable  by  the  action  of  the  same  causes  that  have 
made  different  words  to  designate  the  same  things,  prove  that  the 
origin  of  the  two  languages  is  common,  and  that  the  one  is  the  spon- 
taneous expression  of  feelings,  as  the  other  is  of  thoughts.  Like 
alphabets,  gamuts  also  may  differ  within  certain  limits.  They  are 
also  not  fixed,  and  undergo  the  evolution  common  to  all  languages. 
Most  uncivilized  peoples  are  unacquainted  with  semitones,  and  use 
scales  with  full  intervals.  This  is  easily  accounted  for  if  we  suppose 
that  these  intervals  are  the  ones  which  represent  the  elementary 
intonations,  and  that  they  constitute  a  music  near  its  origin.  The 
need  of  representing  shades  of  feeling  brings  about  a  ]3rogressive  fill- 
ing up  of  the  intervals.  The  ancient  Celts  excluded  semitones,  while 
the  music  of  the  Greeks  found  refined  expression  in  quarter-tones. 
Our  musicians  are  also  sometimes  tempted  to  reduce  our  minimum 
interval  of  a  semitone,  and  some  performers  abuse  this  process  to  an 
extravagant  degree. 


MUSICAL   SENSATIONS.  22Q 

The  effect  produced  upon  our  ear  by  music  of  a  system  different 
from  oars  is  generally  painful ;  but  we  have  no  right  to  say  that  the 
Indians  and  the  Arabs  sing  false.  We  have  to  learn  a  language  to 
understand  it  ;  and  a  quite  short  accustoming  is  generally  sufficient  for 
a  music  that  appeared  savage  and  harsh,  at  the  first  hearing,  to  become 
supportable,  if  not  agreeable. 

Music  nearly  always  commands  the  attention  of  animals  ;  and 
every  one  knows  what  curious  results  have  been  obtained  from  experi- 
ments on  different  species,  from  the  elephant  to  the  spider.  This 
language  of  feeling  is  really  more  within  their  reach  than  speech  ; 
and  we  may  generally  remark  that  when  we  address  ourselves  to  our 
domestic  animals  it  is  by  the  intonation  alone,  of  greater  or  less  force, 
that  we  make  them  understand — that  is,  feel.  Articulate  words  have 
no  meaning  for  them,  except  on  condition  of  a  previous  education 
based  on  the  association  of  sensations.  A  dog  is  never  mistaken  as  to 
the  intention  of  a  person  calling  him,  and  the  tone  alone  tells  him 
whether  a  caress  or  correction  is  in  waiting  for  him.  So  music  is 
never  heard  by  animals  with  indifference. 

After  what  has  been  said  it  would  be  idle  to  consider  the  rank 
which  music  holds  among  the  other  arts  ;  its  origin,  its  nature,  and  its 
effects  give  it  a  separate  place.  It  is  a  language  which  everybody 
understands,  which  nearly  all  speak  to  some  extent,  and  in  which 
some  rise  to  a  sublime  eloquence. 

Poetry,  with  its  measure  and  rhythm,  is  the  first  intermediary 
between  speech  and  music  ;  but  it  lacks  vastly  the  power  of  the  latter, 
because  of  the  degree  of  intellectual  culture  it  exacts.  Mimicry 
comes  nearer  to  music  in  its  effects,  for  it  leaves  the  idea  vague,  and 
speaks  more  directly  to  the  feelings  ;  and  it  is  a  great  aid  to  the 
orator.  But  the  most  powerful  orator  is  he  who  has  a  musical  into- 
nation. 

An  interesting  investigation  might  be  made  of  the  various  musical 
accents  which  answer  to  different  conditions  of  feeling.  To  ascertain 
this  correctly  would  require  a  long  and  minute  course  of  experiments. 
It  is  curious  to  observe,  however,  that  Gluck,  Mozart,  Berlioz,  Meyer- 
beer, and  Wagner,  when  they  have  the  same  situations  to  depict, 
whether  in  recitative  or  melody,  use  the  same  musical  intonations.  It 
thus  appears  that  the  major  third  is  generally  employed  in  interroga- 
tions and  appeals,  and  that  the  appellative  character  of  that  interval 
becomes  more  marked  and  impressive  in  the  fourth  descending,  while 
the  fourth  ascending  denotes  affirmation,  decision,  command.  The 
minor  and  major  fifths  express  the  feelings  from  prayer  to  violent 
desire  and  menace.  The  sixth  is  the  interval  of  passion  ;  it  is  the 
symbol  of  a  very  accentuated  emotion,  and  is  inevitably  met  where 
love  is  declared.  A  semitone  higher  conveys  the  idea  of  something 
painful,  which  is  resolved  into  a  real  expression  of  grief  in  the  cry 
of  the  seventh,  the  symbol  of  an  excess  of  suffering.      There  are,  in 


230  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

effect,  no  two  ways  of  saying  the  same  thing  in  music,  and  it  is  only 
in  the  way  the  phrase  is  introduced  and  sustained  by  the  harmony 
that  authors  vary.  We  are  speaking,  of  course,  only  of  those  passages 
of  the  songs  in  which  the  emotions  are  exploded,  for  it  is  in  these 
only  that  the  author,  not  caring  to  expend  his  force  over  the  whole 
phrase,  aims  to  bring  out  his  full  meaning.  From  these  comparisons 
of  emotions  and  intonations  we  are  able  to  discover  the  physiological 
reason  of  the  correspondence  between  the  note  and  expression.  The 
smaller  intervals  are  congenial  with  indifference,  monotony,  doubt, 
melancholy,  and  sadness  ;  the  group  of  moderate  intervals  affirms  oc- 
cupation, pleasure,  and  desire,  which  grow  more  ardent  as  we  approach 
the  extreme  intervals  ;  and  in  these  we  look  for  the  most  intense  feel- 
ing. Melancholy  sentiments  involving  diminished  vitality,  we  might 
naturally  conceive  them  to  be  expressed  musically  by  diminished  in- 
tervals, the  compass  of  which  requires  little  effoi't ;  while  earnest  de- 
sires, strong  passions,  and  pleasant  and  happy  feelings,  being  accom- 
paniments of  a  more  active  vitality,  provoke  more  vigorous  expres- 
sions ;  and  these  expressions,  by  giving  an  outlet  to  the  excess  of 
vitality,  furnish  one  of  the  best  means  for  calming  violent  passions. 

We  add  a  few  words  on  the  nature  of  musical  pleasure.  It  is 
dependent  on  variety — the  essential  condition  of  all  pleasure,  that  of 
the  mind  as  well  as  that  of  the  senses  ;  variety  of  ideas  for  the  former, 
variety  of  sensations  for  the  latter.  Nothing,  in  fact,  is  more  incom- 
patible with  pleasure  than  monotony,  even  in  agreeable  things.  The 
feelings  do  not  escape  this  general  law  ;  and  the  cause  of  musical  en- 
joyment must  be  sought  in  the  infinite  variety  of  conditions  of  feeling 
through  which  the  rapid  succession  of  musical  intervals  makes  us  pass. 
In  this,  Ave  do  not  speak  of  the  merely  material  pleasure  of  the  sense 
of  hearing,  which  may  exist  aside  from  all  attention  ;  but  of  the  stir- 
ring up  of  the  whole  being  by  the  emotions.  To  this  enjoyment, 
which  exists  parallel  with  the  succession  of  sounds,  should  be  added 
the  pleasure  of  the  hearer's  adapting  his  personal  feelings  of  the  mo- 
ment to  the  general  sense  of  the  performed  music  :  a  theme  marked 
with  melancholy  will  move  a  whole  audience  of  thousands  to  sadness, 
each  person  of  whom  will  associate  his  feeling  with  some  particular 
object.  This  impersonality  of  the  musical  phrase  and  its  adaptability 
to  individual  feelings  explain  the  taste  of  the  masses  for  music,  and 
its  power  over  them.  The  system  of  tones,  by  furnishing  a  kind  of 
stable  basis  for  the  undulating  variety  of  musical  sounds,  effects  in 
music  a  union  of  the  two  chief  conditions  of  pleasure — variety  in 
unity. 

It  is  impossible  to  treat  of  music  without  speaking  of  rhythm, 
which,  without  being  an  essential  part  of  it,  enframes  it,  sustains  it, 
and  gives  precision  to  its  otherwise  vague  expression.  The  origin  of 
rhythm  need  be  sought  no  further  off  than  in  the  movements  and 
paces  of  men.     Descartes  finds  it  in  the  efforts  of  the  voice  in  sing- 


IS  FIN  GAL'S   CAVE  ARTIFICIAL?  23, 

ing,  or  the  gestures  of  the  instrumentalist  ;  every  accent  is  preceded 
by  an  inspiration  or  a  drawing  of  the  bow,  marking  the  beginning  of 
a  new  effort.  These  efforts,  methodically  arranged,  give  musical 
measure. 

Different  rhythms  reflect  the  different  paces  of  the  walker  or  the 
rider  plainly  enough  to  justify  us  in  attributing  their  origin  to  them. 
The  same  cause  that  makes  one  pace  his  room  with  gaits  varying  ac- 
cording to  the  impressions  of  the  moment,  in  the  reverie  of  solitude  or 
in  conversation,  also  determines  the  rhythm  in  music. 

Just  as  our  emotional  being  loves  to  be  amused  by  rhythms  sug- 
gesting natural  outer  movements,  so  certain  cadenced  sounds  casually 
heard,  such  as  that  of  a  passing  train,  the  trotting  of  a  horse,  or  the 
beating  of  oars,  induce  states  of  sensibility,  under  the  influence  of 
which  we  surprise  ourselves  by  humming  old  airs,  or  by  improvising 
melodies  that  naturally  adapt  themselves  to  the  fortuitous  move- 
ment. 

This  conception  of  the  origin  of  music  explains  the  universality  of 
its  domain  and  its  power,  as  well  as  all  the  particular  facts  connected 
with  its  different  adaptations. — Translated  from  the  Revue  Scientifique. 


IS   FINGAL'S   CAVE   AKTIFICIAL  ?  * 

Br  F.  COPE  "WHITEHOUSE,  M.  A.,  etc. 

IN  venturing  to  ask  a  question  and  thus  imply  a  doubt  upon  a  point 
on  which  geologists,  statesmen,  and  poets  have  given  their  con- 
sentient opinion  for  a  century,  it  is  not  without  regret  that  an  opin- 
ion, held  without  suspicion  of  challenge,  should  be  subjected  to  criti- 
cism, and  better  proof  than  prescription  required  for  the  title  by  which 
this  celebrated  cavern  has  been  held  and  enjoyed  as  the  work  of 
Nature. 

The  process  of  reasoning  which  led  me  to  believe  that  the  cavern 
owes  its  existence  to  the  hand  of  man  had  little  in  common  with  the 
arguments  by  which  the  inference  is  now  supported.  In  June,  1881, 
while  examining  the  Giants'  Causeway,  it  seemed  evident  that  colum- 
nar basalt  showed  no  tendency  to  erode  and  form  hollows.  Where 
the  basalt,  which  for  the  height  of  some  hundreds  of  feet  above  the 
chalk  is  quite  amorphous,  and  caps  the  low  promontories  along  the 
coast,  is  brought  so  low  that  more  than  one  half  of  its  thickness  is  im- 
mersed in  the  sea,  the  remainder  projects  above  the  water  and  forms 
the  well-known  natural  pier.     The  caves  on  that  coast  are  in  the  great 

*  A  summary  of  an  address  made  before  the  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science  at  Montreal,  August  30th,  and  the  Academy  of  Science  at  New  York, 
October  9,  1882,  illustrated  by  photographs  and  diagrams. 


232  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

ochre-bed  or  chalk.  They  are  plainly  artificial  in  their  present  form. 
The  peculiar  Gothic  door-way  and  the  sheltered  approach  strengthen 
the  view  that  they  bear  a  distinct  relation  to  an  ancient  civilization, 
and  that  it  is  not  by  accident  that  adjacent  cliffs  are  crowned  with 
castles,  neighboring  mines  were  worked  from  unknown  periods,  beacon- 
rocks  bear  mythological  names,  and  manuscripts  refer  to  maritime 
expeditions  to  the  Baltic  and  Mediterranean.  It  seemed  antecedently 
possible  that  the  same  race,  Kelto-Iberian,  Wend,  or  Phoenician,  which 
had  formed  harbors  on  the  coast  of  Ireland,  might  also  have  been  the 
active  agent  in  that  perforation  which  has  been  termed  the  most  re- 
markable in  Europe.  This  conjecture  received  strong  and  unexpected 
confirmation.  It  was  submitted  to  rigid  examination  ;  it  was  strength- 
ened by  opposition.  It  has  been  adopted,  by  a  considerable  number  of 
eminent  men,  as  a  far  stronger  prima  facie  case  than  that  commonly 
stated  by  the  text-books  in  favor  of  marine  erosion.  If  not  well 
founded,  it  still  suggests  difficulties  which  have  escaped  observation, 
and  may  also  correct  the  inaccurate  terms  in  which  Fingal's  Cave  has 
been  described,  and  the  imperfect  representations  which  have  gone 
far  to  perpetuate  the  hasty  conclusion  of  Sir  Joseph  Banks. 

Fingal's  Cave  is  not  at  the  Giants'  Causeway.  It  is  in  the  southern 
end  of  the  Island  of  Staffa,  whose  apparent  size  and  position  are  neces- 
sarily exaggerated  on  the  maps  in  common  use.     It  is  not  "  off  the 

Back  "beg  T£4.-neUgt_  /  J%^&"^^^  W 

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[ 1  l'.ii!iii!!'!ii:r.iw,  lmi'liiil'lll'ii.i't  Mllimillllul  MiViJU-iir  „, 

Fig.  1.— From  the  Admiralty  Chart  of  Loch  Ttjadh. 

southwest  coast  of  Scotland."  It  is  deeply  embayed  in  a  large  sinu- 
osity formed  by  the  Island  of  Mull,  and  nearly  inclosed  on  the  opposite 
side  by  Iona  and  the  Treshnish  Islands.  Beyond  the  latter  a  second 
line  is  drawn  by  Tiree  and  Coll,  while  to  the  north  but  to  a  greater 
distance  are  placed  the  islands  of  Minch,  Rum,  Eigg,  and  Canna.    The 


IS  FIN  GAL'S    CAVE  ARTIFICIAL?  233 

circle  is  completely  closed  for  315°  by  land,  distant  at  farthest  from  five 
to  seven  miles.  From  Dutchman's  Cap,  bearing  nearly  due  west,  to 
the  "  Stac  "  off  Iona,  there  is  comparatively  deep  water  of  forty  to  fifty 
fathoms.  The  charts,  however,  show  that  rocks  approach  the  surface. 
"  Five-Fathom  Rock,"  "  Dangerous  Overfalls,"  and  soundings  of  less 
than  ten  fathoms,  push  half-way  across  the  Passage  of  Tiree.  Mac- 
kenzie's Rock,  which  dries  in  four  feet,  guards  the  other  entrance, 
and  no  Atlantic  surge  could  pass  into  Loch  Tuadh  or  the  Sound  of 
Iona,  without  changing  its  direction  twice  and  almost  at  right  angles. 
But  Donegal  receives  the  impetus  of  the  tremendous  billows  which 
break  against  the  steep  cliffs  of  Mizen  Head,  or  rush  up  the  narrow 
gorges  with  which  the  exposed  coast  of  the  Northern  Hebrides  is  so 
deeply  scored.  Staffa  is  singularly  sheltered.  It  makes  it  antece- 
dently extremely  improbable  that  this  particular  spot  would  be  selected 
by  the  ocean  as  a  place  on  which  to  "  prove  its  strength."  Words- 
worth was  both  a  landsman  and  a  poet,  and,  as  he  says — 

"  In  a  motley  crowd,  each  the  other's  blight, 
Hurried  and  hurrying  " — 

only  saw  it.  His  language,  however,  has  undoubtedly  been  made  a 
vehicle  of  scientific  error. 

"  Caves  worn  by  the  sea  are  due  to  the  set  of  the  currents,  the 
force  of  the  breakers,  and  the  grinding  of  the  shingle,  which  inevitably 
discover  the  weak  places  in  the  cliff,  and  leave  caves  as  one  of  the  re- 
sults of  their  work,  modified  in  each  case  by  the  local  conditions  of  the 
rock  "  ("  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  ").  Assuming  that  this  is  a  com- 
plete statement  of  the  law  of  marine  erosion,  how  was  Fingal's  Cave 
"  hollowed  out  of  columnar  basalt,"  and  therefore  rightly  classed  by 
Professor  Boyd  Dawkins,  "  among  caves  worn  by  the  sea  "  ?  There  is 
no  current  setting  into  this  bay.  The  spring  tides  rise  llf  feet,  neaps 
8  feet,  and  range  4^-  feet.  The  maelstrom  of  that  part  of  the  ocean 
is  "  where  Corryvrechan's  surges  driven "  make  "  the  caldron  of  the 
spectral  sea,"  but  to  the  south,  behind  Colonsay.  The  force  of  the 
breakers  is  inconsiderable.  Either  they  are  the  result  of  local  disturb- 
ance formed  to  the  east  of  Tiree,  or  the  ground-swell  and  heaving  of 
the  sea  after  a  storm.  The  island  is  fully  protected  by  its  own  fore- 
shore. The  perpendicular  columns  suggest  an  "  unknown  profundity 
of  depth."  But  the  basalt  on  the  west  is  over  50  feet  above  the  sea- 
level.  A  spit  of  conglomerated  trap  or  tufa  prolongs  under  water  a 
flat,  rocky  shore.  There  is  a  succession  of  rocks  and  shoals.  The  20- 
fathom  line  is  a  mile  distant,  the  10-fathom  half  a  mile,  immediately 
followed  by  rocks,  and  12, 15,  and  9  feet  of  water.  As  the  cave  is  in  the 
southern  face,  it  appears  to  be  impossible,  in  the  present  state  of  the 
coast,  that  a  wave  with  any  momentum  could  strike  directly  upon  that 
end  of  the  island.  As  MacCulloch  sat  on  one  of  the  columns,  though 
the  long  swell  raised  the  water  at  intervals  to  his  feet,  the  movement 
was  silent,  and  the  surface  of  the  sea  apparently  undisturbed.     There  is 


234 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


■  T-.  ■-§S8^.^^^«^^BB^™.* 


Fig.  2.— West  Side  of  Staffa,  14G3.    G.  W.  W.    Showing  Arched  Entrance  to  Cormorant's  Cava;. 

no  shingle.  The  prismatic  blocks  are  refractory.  If  a  wave  struck 
with  sufficient  force  to  dislodge  the  drums,  or  if,  undermining  the  tuff, 
it  strewed  the  beach  with  hexagonal  or  pentagonal  blocks,  these  smooth 
stones,  with  polished  sides,  buried  in  the  finer  material,  would  offer 
very  great  resistance  to  any  further  waste  of  the  cliff.  Although  a 
channel  of  18  feet  at  mean  low  water  approaches  and  enters  the  cave, 
there  is  no  ledge  over  which  the  material  could  have  been  carried. 
The  sharp  conchoidal  fracture  would  not  serve  the  purpose  of  such 
crystalline  rocks  as  quartz  or  granite,  and  furnish  the  fluid  wave  with 
a  serrated  edere. 

The  cave  is  not  formed  in  what  would  naturally  be  considered  the 
cliff  ;  least  of  all  in  its  weakest  place.  After  examining  the  Admiralty 
Chart,  "  the  reader  will,  no  doubt,  pass  with  pleasure  to  the  rich  de- 
scription by  Dr.  MacCulloch."  That  author,  however,  says  that  the 
whole  of  Fingal's  Cave  seemed  like  a  ship  heaving  in  a  sea-way,  and 
therefore  his  survey  may  be  considered  less  trustworthy  than  that  of 
Commanders  Bedford  and  Creyke  (Admiralty  Chart,  1857).  It  seems  in- 
correct to  say,  "  The  caves  are  so  numerous  that  they  may  be  said  to  per- 
forate at  brief  intervals  the  whole  face  of  the  island  ;  but  those  which 


IS  FINGAL'S    CAVE  ARTIFICIAL?  235 

occur  on  the  south  {sic,  query  west)  and  the  north  sides  are  remark- 
able neither  for  beauty  nor  for  magnitude."  The  caves  are  sufficiently 
numerous  to  furnish  an  argument.  There  are  very  few  hollows  worn 
by  the  sea  in  the  Scotch  coast.  The  islet,  which  contains  a  dozen,  has 
not  the  yooWd  Par*  °f  *ue  indented  line  of  the  mainland,  and  bears  an 
infinitesimal  ratio  to  the  sea-board,  including  the  islands.  Its  parent, 
Mull,  within  whose  bosom  rests  this  irregularly  oval  rock,  "  measuring 
about  one  and  a  half  mile  in  circumference,"  has  in  the  dimension  of 
length  one  hundred  and  fifty  times  better  right  to  a  "  museum  of  won- 
ders." The  "Isle  of  Columns"  is  a  speck  too  tiny  to  show  on  any 
ordinary  map.  The  chance  that  it  would  contain,  as  a  legitimate  yet 
exceptional  result  of  normal  contact  between  igneous  rock  and  sea- 
water  agitated  by  wind,  "the  most  remarkable  cave  in  Europe,"  is  less 
than  0.     It  is  the   V  —  1. 

The  uneven  table-land  is  formed  of  "  three  distinct  beds  of  rock  of 
unequal  thickness,  inclined  toward  the  east  at  an  angle  of  about  nine 
degrees.  The  lowest  is  a  rude  trap  tufa,  the  middle  one  is  divided 
into  columns  placed  vertically  to  the  plane  of  the  bed,  and  the  upper- 
most is  an  irregular  mixture  of  small  columns  and  shapeless  rock." 
The  columnar  bed- is  never  more  than  GO  feet  thick.  The  island  itself 
attains  a  maximum  height  of  129  feet.  It  has  no  peak  from  which 
rain-water  might  descend  in  a  considerable  quantity.  There  is  no 
series  of  fissures  corresponding  to  the  perforations.  There  is  nothing 
on  the  flat  top  to  suggest  the  tunnels  beneath.  Proceeding  toward 
the  south  from  the  landing-place,  there  are  six  cases  of  alleged  erosion, 
each  presenting  its  own  seemingly  insuperable  difficulty,  and  cumula- 
tively requiring  a  more  thoughtful  and  serious  consideration  than  the 
fantastic  phrases  in  which  'stupendous  (!)  columns,  three  feet  thick 
and  thirty  feet  high,  rise  from  a  dark-red  or  violet-colored  rock  over 
which  the  ocean  rolls,  and  reflects  from  its  white  bottom  a  variety  of 
crimson  and  yellow."1 

It  appears  now  to  be  well  established  that  the  peculiar  structure 
of  columnar  basalt  is  due  to  contraction  and  splitting  consequent  upon 
cooling.  The  analogy  is  rather  to  the  splitting  often  seen  in  the  mud 
bottom  of  a  dried-up  pool  than  to  ordinary  crystallization.  The  vari- 
ous conditions  point  to  the  contractile  origin  of  the  structure,  at  the 
same  time  that  the  result  suggests  a  curious  mimicry  of  imperfect 
crystallization.  If  the  cooling  mass  of  basalt  be  in  one  of  its  vertical 
sections  of  such  a  form  that  successive  isothermal  couches,  taken  in 
descending  order,  are  not  parallel  to  the  original  cooling  surface, 
as  they  are  in  all  cases  of  straight  and  parallel  prisms,  but  divergent 
gradually  from  the  cooling  surface  and  from  each  other,  then  the  lines  of 
the  splitting  of  the  prisms,  always  true  to  these  couches,  must  be  curved 
in  one  direction.  This  will  be  true,  whether  the  isothermal  couches  be 
plane  surfaces  divergent  from  a  thinner  to  a  thicker  part  of  the  mass, 
or  whether  they  be  curved  surfaces  arising  from  the  mass  reposing  on 


236 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


a  curved  bottom  and  diverging  in  like  manner.  The  crux  of  Staffa  is 
Scallop  or  Clamshell  Cave.  Inattention  has  caused  the  various  authors 
to  describe  it  as  if  there  was  nothing  astonishing  in  the  sudden  inter- 
ruption of  the  columns,  which  are  "bent  so  as  to  form  on  one  side  a 


02 


g 


CO 

6 


series  of  ribs  not  unlike  an  inside  view  of  the  timbers  of  a  ship,"  while 
"  the  opposite  wall  is  formed  by  the  ends  of  columns,  and  bears  a  gen- 
eral resemblance  to  the  surface  of  a  honey-comb. "     Sixteen  feet  wide, 


IS  FINGAL'S    CAVE  ARTIFICIAL?  237 

130  feet  long,  how  could  the  sea  attack  the  landward,  southeast  end, 
and  carve  a  trench  45  to  50  feet  deep,  where  it  is  geologically  impos- 
sible that  a  "  fault  "  or  "  weak  place  "  aided  the  natural  force  ?  The 
channel  of  Bouchaillie,  seen  from  the  cliff  above,  is  a  canal  cut  through 
the  columnar  basalt,  and  taking  a  slice  from  that  conoidal  pile  of 
columns  about  thirty  feet  high,  which  is  seen  a  few  yards  to  the  right 
of  the  Colonnade  and  Fingal's  Cave.  Where  is  the  debris  ?  Why 
should  it  be  crossed  at  right  angles  by  the  passage  leading  into  the 
Clamshell  Cave  ?  The  Causeway  here  presents  an  extensive  surface, 
which  terminates  in  a  long,  projecting  point  at  the  eastern  side  of  the 
Great  Cave.  It  is  formed  normally.  The  heads  of  columns  show  in 
a  compact  and  serried  phalanx.  Each  row  protects  the  other  in  turn. 
The  tesselated  pavement,  as  on  the  Irish  coast,  is  a  firm,  impenetrable 
mass,  showing  by  its  steepness  its  utter  contempt  for  the  wavelets 
which  could  not  break  those  ranks  in  a  geological  seon.  There  is 
nothing  to  prepare  the  scientific  mind,  distrustful  of  abrupt  changes, 
for  the  adjacent  excavation.  Its  dimensions  are,  from  the  top  of  the 
arch  to  the  cliff  above,  30  feet ;  to  the  water,  66  feet ;  to  the  bottom, 
88  feet.  Its  breadth  of  42  feet  continues  to  within  a  small  distance 
of  the  inner  extremity,  when  it  is  reduced  to  22  feet.  The  total 
length  is  227  feet. 

It  is  usually  said  to  have  been  formed  by  erosion  at  the  base.  The 
columns,  falling,  dragged  down  a  part  of  the  roof,  aided  by  a  fissure 
which  divides  the  ceiling.  The  tuff  is  not  eroded  even  at  the  south- 
west end  of  the  island.  These  pillars,  however  strong  and  enduring, 
are  each  composed  of  many  separate  joints  or  pieces,  built  up  one  upon 
another.  They  do  not  adhere  in  any  way  together,  but  merely  rest 
mechanically  upon  each  other,  and  are  easily  detachable.  The  capitals 
beyond  cling  to  the  roof.  There  is  no  fissure.  In  Boat  Cave,  tuff  is 
undermined  for  1,800  square  feet,  yet  the  columns  stand  wedged  across 
12  feet  of  width.  At  Tanaga  Island,  in  the  Aleutian  group,  the  broken 
columns  form  a  slightly  convex  roof  across  an  opening  20  feet  wide. 
No  such  Gothic  arch  was  ever  formed  by  Nature.  It  is  strikingly 
Phoenician.  No  natural  cave  has  an  entrance  higher  than  the  interior. 
A  tidal  or  earthquake  wave  would  not  reach  the  top  of  the  arch.  The 
cave  is  post-glacial.  The  upheaval  of  that  part  of  Scotland  is  put  at 
25  feet.  It  would  not  bring  the  confused  basalt  within  reach  of  the 
waves.  Their  breaching  power  is  easily  calculated.  It  is  determined 
in  this  case  by  the  frail  wall  to  the  east.  For  a  merciless  ocean  select- 
ing this  victim  of  his  fury,  and 

"  Down-bearing  with  his  whole  Atlantic  weight 
Of  tide  and  tempest  on  the  structure's  base," 

and  "  flashing  to  that  structure's  topmost  height,"  in  his  blind  frenzy 
would  have  swept  through  the  loose  drums  to  the  right.  Montalembert 
thought  it  far  inferior  to  any  cathedral,  or  even  a  monastic  church 
such  as  Cluny  or  Vezelay.     If  "raising  (!)  a  minster,"  it  would  have 


238 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


been  better  to  put  all  the  chapels  under  one  roof.  The  horizontal  and 
perpendicular  sections  are  equally  at  variance  with  the  curved  surface 
formed  by  a  fluid  in  vibration.     The  columnar  basalt  would  form  a 


6 


W. 

< 


< 
a 
o 

« 
O 

o 


2 


curved  and  not  a  rectangular  water-line.  What  other  cavern  has  a 
uniform  breadth  from  the  opening,  and  five  and  a  half  diameters  in 
length  ? 

Cormorant's  or  Mackinnon's  Cave  is  easy  of  access,  and  terminates 


IS  FINGAL'S    CAVE  ARTIFICIAL? 


239 


in  a  "  gravelly  "  beach,  where  a  boat  may  be  drawn  up.  It  is  50  feet 
high,  48  feet  broad,  and  224  feet  long.  It  is  excavated  in  the  lower 
stratum.  Thus  two  tunnels  of  the  same  dimensions  are  supposed  to 
have  been  driven  into  two  different  materials  by  the  same  force.  The 
interior  dimensions  are  nearly  the  same  to  the  end.  As  no  sentimental 
or  religious  motive  can  be  assigned  to  Nature  for  this  freak,  it  is  amen- 
able to  comparison.  The  Blue  Grotto  of  Capri  is  typical.  Its  entrance 
is  scarcely  three  feet  in  height  ;  in  the  interior  the  roof  rises  to  a 
height  of  41  feet ;  the  water  is  8  fathoms  deep  ;  length  of  the  grotto, 


Fig.  5.— Fingal'8  Cave  (looking  out),  showing  Iona,  distant  Sis  Miles. 

175  feet ;  greatest  width,  100  feet.  Here  the  great  size  of  the  aper- 
ture is  further  increased.  The  superior  part  of  the  front,  penetrating 
into  the  columnar  basalt,  has  hollowed  a  recess  above  the  main  open- 
ing. The  same  Gothic  tympanum,  distorted  by  the  material,  not  only 
marks  its  artificial  origin,  but  disproves  the  allegation  that  the  col- 
umns could  not  form  a  natural  architrave.  The  Boat  Cave  is  acces- 
sible only  by  sea.     It  is  a  long  opening,  resembling  the  gallery  of  a 


240  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

mine,  excavated  also  in  the  tuff.  Its  height  being  about  16  feet  (above 
the  sea '?),  its  breadth  12,  and  its  depth  about  150,  it  offers,  in  its  pro- 
portion of  twelve  and  a  half  diameters,  the  greatest  contradiction  to 
all  other  instances  of  sea-worn  homogeneous  rock. 

But  not  only  do  Cormorant's  and  Fingal's  Cave,  each  protected  by- 
its  breakwater,  face  the  adjacent  land  and  not  the  open  sea,  and  that 
land  the  far-famed  Island  of  lona,  center  of  art  and  civilization,  "  dear 
to  Christendom  for  more  than  a  thousand  years,"  but  from  the  end  of 
this  deep  cavity,  to  which  a  boat  may  sail  in  any  ordinary  weather,  the 
"  Dun  "  or  Hill  of  "  Hy  "  or  lona  rises  against  the  sky,  in  the  middle 
of  the  arc  of  a  few  degrees  subtended  by  the  grand  doorway.  Until 
it  is  shown  that  a  thousand  yards  of  landlocked,  iron-bound  coast  can 
be  cut  and  tunneled  in  utter  disregard  of  every  known  law  of  mechan- 
ical action,  the  caves  in  Staffa,  on  the  west  coast  of  Scotland,  driven 
into  igneous  rock,  not  modified  by  local  conditions,  or  in  the  weak 
places  "  of  an  exposed  cliff,"  can  not  be  classified  as  merely  remarkable 
instances  of  caves  worn  by  the  sea.  Had  the  learned  duke  who  com- 
menced his  description  of  lona  with  these  words,  "  No  two  objects  of 
interest  could  be  more  absolutely  dissimilar  in  kind  than  the  two 
neighboring  islands  of  Staffa  and  lona,"  "  mixed  Celtic  memories  with 
the  Phrygian  mount,"  recalled  Athos,  Tyre,  and  Carthage,  or  even  the 
twin  Island  of  Lerins,  he  might  have  hesitated  to  put  them  in  sharp 
antithesis  to  say  that  only  an  accident  of  geography  could  unite  their 
names,  or  with  "  the  mighty  surge  "  of  personal  and  social  authority 
drowned  the  faint  cry  for  relief  which  reached  his  ears,  and  declined 
even  to  consider  the  solution  here  offered  of  a  problem  whose  com- 
plex factors  he  had  so  forcibly  stated. 


-*»<>— 


THE  SPECTEOSCOPE  AND  TOE  WEATHER. 

By  C.  PIAZZI  SMYTH, 

ASTRONOMER   ROYAL   FOR   SCOTLAND. 

WHAT  may  be  done  with  the  spectroscope  in  the  matter  of 
weather  is,  for  the  present  at  least,  confined  almost  entirely  to 
the  question  of  rain — as,  Will  it  rain,  or  will  it  not ;  and,  if  it  will, 
heavily  or  lightly  ?  The  manner  in  which  the  spectroscope  accom- 
plishes this  useful  part  is  by  its  capacity  for  showing  whether  there  is 
more  or  less  than  the  usual  quantity  of  watery  vapor  permeating  the 
otherwise  dry  gases  in  the  upper  parts  of  the  atmosphere,  this  watery 
vapor  not  being  by  any  means  the  visible  clouds  themselves,  but  the 
invisible  water-gas  out  of  which  they  have  to  be  formed,  and  by 
means  of  which,  when  over-abundant,  they  obtain  their  privilege  for 
enacting  rain-fall.     So  that  never  were  wiser  words  uttered  and  more 


THE  SPECTROSCOPE  AND   THE  WEATHER.       241 

terse  philosophy  than  those  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  ancient  hook 
of  Job,  wherein,  of  the  wondrously  "balanced  clouds"  high  up  in 
mid-air,  it  is  said,  "They  pour  down  rain  according  to  the  vapor 
thereof." 

More  or  less  of  this  water-vapor  is  always  in  the  air,  even  on  the 
very  clearest  days,  and  a  happy  thing  for  men  that  it  is  so  ;  for,  as  Dr. 
Tyndall  and  others  have  well  shown,  it  moderates  the  excesses  of  hot 
solar  radiation  by  day  and  cold  radiation  of  the  sky  at  night,  and  is 
more  abundant  in  the  hotter  than  in  the  colder  parts  of  the  earth. 
Wherefore,  according  largely  to  its  temperature  for  the  time  being, 
the  air — otherwise  consisting  almost  entirely  of  nitrogen  and  oxygen 
— can  sustain,  and  does  assimilate,  as  it  were,  a  specified  amount  of 
this  watery  vapor,  invisibly  to  the  naked  eye,  the  microscope,  or  the 
telescope  ;  but  not  so  to  the  instrument  of  recent  times,  the  spectro- 
scope. And  if  the  air  vertically  above  any  one  place  becomes  pres- 
ently charged  with  more  than  its  usual  dose  of  such  transparent 
watery  vapor  (as  it  easily  may,  by  various  modes  and  processes  of 
nature),  the  spectroscope  shows  that  fact  immediately,  even  while  the 
sky  is  still  blue  ;  clouds  soon  after  form,  or  thicken  if  already  formed, 
and  rain  presently  begins  to  descend. 

But  how  does  the  spectroscope  show  to  the  eye  what  is  declared  to 
be  invisible  in  all  ordinary  optical  instruments  ?  It  is  partly  by  its 
power  of  discriminating  the  differently  colored  rays  of  which  white 
light  is  made  up,  and  partly  by  the  quality  impressed  on  the  molecules 
of  water  at  their  primeval  creation,  but  only  recently  diseovei'ed,  of 
stopping  out  certain  of  those  rays  so  discriminated  and  placed  in  a 
rainbow-colored  order  by  the  prism  and  slit  of  the  spectroscope,  but 
transmitting  others  freely.  Hence  it  is  that,  on  looking  at  the  light  of 
the  sky  through  any  properly  adjusted  spectroscope,  we  see,  besides 
the  Newtonian  series  of  colors  from  red  to  violet,  and  besides  all  the 
thin,  dark  Fraunhofer,  or  solar  originated  lines,  of  which  it  is  not  my 
object  now  to  speak,  we  see,  I  say,  in  one  very  definite  part — viz.,  be- 
tween the  orange  and  yellow  of  that  row  of  colors,  or  "  spectrum,"  as 
it  is  called — a  dark,  hazy  band  stretching  across  it.  That  is  the  chief 
band  of  watery  vapor  ;  and  to  see  it  very  dark,  even  black,  do  not 
look  at  a  dark  part  of  the  sky  or  at  black  clouds  therein,  but  look, 
rather,  where  the  sky  is  brightest,  fullest  of  light  to  the  naked  eye, 
and  where  you  can  see  through  the  greatest  length  of  such  well-illu- 
mined air,  at  a  low,  rather  than  high,  angle  of  altitude,  and  either  in 
warm  weather,  or,  above  all,  just  before  a  heavy  rain-fall,  when  there 
is  and  must  be  an  extra  supply  of  watery  vapor  in  the  atmosphere. 
Any  extreme  darkness,  therefore,  seen  in  that  water-vapor  band  be- 
yond what  is  usual  for  the  season  of  the  year  and  the  latitude  of  the 
place  is  an  indication  of  rain-material  accumulating  abnormally  ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  any  notable  deficiency  in  the  darkness  of  it, 
other  circumstances  being  the  same,  gives  probability  of  dry  weather, 

VOL.    XXII. 16 


242 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


or  absence  of  rain  for  very  want  of  material  to  make  it ;  and  the  band 
has,  therefore,  been  called,  shortly,  "  the  rain-band."  Thus,  also,  "rain- 
band  spectroscopes  "  have  been  specially  constructed  by  several  most 
expert  opticians  in  size  so  small  as  to  be  carriable  in  the  waistcoat- 
pocket,  but  so  powerful  and  true  that  a  glance  of  two  seconds'  dura- 
tion through  one  of  them  suffices  to  tell  an  experienced  observer  the 
general  condition  of  the  whole  atmosphere.  Especially,  too,  of  the 
upper  parts  of  it,  where  any  changes — as  they  take  place  there  almost 
invariably  earlier  than  below — enable  such  an  observer  to  favor  his 
friends  around  him  with  a  prevision  of  what  they  are  likely  soon  to 
experience. 

As  an  example  of  what  may  be  done,  and  done  easily,  after  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  experience  and  understanding  of  the  subject  has  been 
acquired,  I  append,  from  a  lady's  meteorological  journal,  her  notes  of 
the  mean  temperature  of  the  air  and  the  intensity  of  the  rain-band  for 
each  of  the  first  fifteen  days  of  the  present  month,  and  in  a  final  col- 
umn have  entered  the  amount  of  rain-fall  measured  at  the  Royal 
Observatory,  Edinburgh,  on  each  of  those  davs.  The  darker  the  rain- 
band  the  larger  is  the  figure  set  down  for  it,  and  it  will  be  seen  pretty 
plainly,  on  running  the  eye  down  that  column  and  the  next  one,  that 
with  an  intensity  of  either  0  or  1  no  rain  follows,  or,  we  might  almost 
say,  can  follow  ;  but  with  an  intensity  of  2  rain-fall  begins,  and  with 
3  it  may  be  very  heavy.  All  these  rain-band  notes  have  been  made 
with  a  spectroscope  no  larger  than  one's  little  finger,  purchased  some 
six  years  ago,  and  taken  on  many  voyages  and  travels  since  then  : 


DATE,  September,  18S2. 


Friday,  1 

Saturday,  2  .  .  . 

Sunday,  3 

Monday,  4  . . .  . 
Tuesday,  5 . . . . 
Wednesday,  6  . 
Thursday,  7 . . . 

Friday,  8 

Saturday,  9  . . . 
Sunday,  10 
Monday,  11... 
Tuesday,  12.  .  . 
Wednesday,  13 
Thursday,  14 . . 
Friday,  15. 


Mean  tem- 
perature of  the 


Deg.  Fahr. 
571 
59-2 
5S-6 
54-4 
55-7 
55-2 
53-8 
59-4 
54-0 
57-0 
52-2 
48-6 
528 
49-5 
56-2 


Bain-band 
intensity. 


Depth  cf  rain 

measured  in 

gauge  at  Koyal 

Observatory, 

Edinburgh. 


3 

2 
2 
0 
1 
0 
1 
0 

1 
1 
1 

0 

1 

3 

2 


Inch. 
•044 
•353 
•015 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 
•040 

0 

0 

•62 
.570 


But,  if  so  much  can  be  done  by  so  small  a  spectroscope,  the  ques- 
tion may  be  well  asked  whether  more  still  might  not  be  accomplished 
with  a  bigger  and  more  powerful  one,  especially  seeing  that  the  dis- 
persive powers  of  both  chemical  and  astronomical  spectroscopes  have 


THE  SPECTROSCOPE  AND    THE  WEATHER.       243 

in  late  years  been  increased  to  a  most  astonishing  extent.  The  ques- 
tion is  important,  and  somewhat  new  as  well.  I  propose,  therefore, 
to  devote  the  remainder  of  my  space  to  its  answer,  rather  than  to  the 
practical  rules  for  using  the  smaller  instruments,  especially,  too,  as 
they  have  been  already  introduced  to  the  public,  both  by  my  friend 
Mr.  Rand  Capron,  in  his  pamphlet  "  A  Plea  for  the  Rain-band,"  and 
by  myself,  in  the  fourteenth  volume  of  the  "  Edinburgh  Astronomical 
Observations"-  also  in  the  "Journal  of  the  Scottish  Meteorological 
Society,"  and  in  the  September  number  of  the  "  Astronomical  Regis- 
ter for  1877." 

The  greater  part  of  higher  power  spectroscopes  are  not  suitable  to 
rain-band  work,  for  their  fields  are  usually  too  dark.  But  having 
recently  built  up  for  myself  a  large-sized  variety  of  the  instrument, 
possessing  perhaps  the  greatest  combination  of  power  with  transpar- 
ency yet  attained,  and  having  it  always  mounted  in  an  upper  chamber 
looking  out  at  an  altitude  of  about  5°  over  the  northwestern  horizon 
(or  most  suitably  for  rain-band  work),  I  will  try  to  describe  shortly  its 
action  therein. 

The  classical  "  rain-band,"  which  in  the  little  instrument  is  merely 
a  very  narrow  fringe  to  an  almost  infinitely  thin  black  line,  is  so  mag- 
nified laterally  in  the  larger  instrument  as  to  fill  the  whole  breadth 
of  the  field.  The  thin  black  line  before  spoken  of  is  now  not  only 
split  into  two,  but  these  are  both  strong,  thick,  sharply  defined  lines, 
separated  from  each  other  by  six  or  seven  times  the  breadth  of  either. 
These  are  the  celebrated  solar  D-lines,  Dl  and  D2,  arising  from  the 
sodium  metalloid  burning  or  incandescent  in  the  sun.  They  are, 
therefore,  perfectly  uninfluenced  by  changes  of  the  terrestrial  atmos- 
phere, hot  or  cold,  wet  or  dry,  and  are,  therefore,  invaluable  as  ref- 
erences for  degree  of  visibility  of  the  water-vapor  lines  and  bands 
which  rise  or  fall  in  intensity  precisely  with  those  changes.  There  are 
several  of  these  earthly  water-vapor  lines  and  bands  in  and  between 
and  about  the  D-lines  themselves  ;  then  a  long  breadth  of  band  to- 
ward the  red  side  of  Dl;  then  a  pair  of  lines  not  so  widely  apart  as 
the  D-lines,  but  sometimes  just  as  sharp  and  black;  then  two  or  three 
fainter  bands  ;  then  a  grand  triple,  of  which  the  nearer  line  some- 
times attains  greater  blackness  than  either  D-line;  then  beyond  that 
three  distinct,  equal-spaced,  isolated  bands  ;  and,  farther  away  toward 
the  red,  a  stretch  of  faint  haze  and  haze-bands. 

All  these  go  to  make  up  the  one  thin  rain-band  of  the  little  spec- 
troscopes ;  and  I  fortunately  had,  through  the  month  of  August  and 
the  early  days  of  September,  occupied  myself  each  morning  in  noting 
the  greater  or  less  intensity  of  each  and  all  these  water- vapor  lines  and 
bands  in  terms  of  the  two  solar  constants  Dl  and  D2  ;  and  every  such 
morning  there  was  an  abundance  of  details  to  see,  to  recognize,  and 
to  measure.  But  on  the  morning  of  Monday,  September  4th,  when  the 
little  instrument  had  truly  enough  marked  0  on  its  very  small  scale, 


244  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

I  almost  started  at  finding  in  the  large  instrument  every  member  of 
its  long  rain-band  group,  unless  it  were  a  vanishing  trace  of  one  or  two 
of  the  strongest,  utterly  gone;  while  the  two  D-lines  were  in  their 
accustomed  strength,  but  far  greater  clearness,  for  now  they  were  all 
alone  in  the  field  save  the  ultra-thin  solar  nickel  line  between  them 
and  one  or  two  others,  equally  thin  and  solar  on  their  blue  side.  The 
stages  of  perceptible  shade  of  water-vapor  lines  which  had  thus  been 
swept  away,  between  their  this  day's  invisibility,  and  their  tremen- 
dous strength  no  longer  before  than  the  previous  Friday,  might  have 
been  expressed  by  a  scale  not  divided  into  three  parts  only,  but  into 
thirty;  and  implied  such  a  very  unusual  amount  of  absence  of  water- 
vapor,  that  I  not  only  felt  sure  of  no  rain  falling  either  next  day,  or 
perhaps  for  several  days  after,  but  that  the  weather  must  also  be 
coming  on  colder  as  well.  Therefore  it  was  that  I  took  the  step  of 
instantly  writing  as  I  did  to  a  local  paper,  promising  the  perplexed 
farmers  dry  weather  at  last,  though  probably  sharp  and  cold,  to  get  in 
their  crops. 

And  how  was  that  expectation  fulfilled  ?  Various  meteorologists 
in  different  parts  of  the  country  have  already  declared  themselves 
well  satisfied  with  it.  But  I  would  now  beg  further  attention  to  the 
little  daily  register  already  quoted,  showing  that  from  and  including 
that  day,  Monday,  September  4th,  up  to  and  including  the  next  Sat- 
urday, not  a  drop  of  rain  fell  at  the  observatory.  Between  the  follow- 
ing Sunday  and  Monday,  a  drizzle,  but  only  amounting  to  O04  inch, 
occurred,  and  after  that  there  were  three  more  days  equally  dry  with 
the  preceding  ones.  But  on  Thursday,  the  14th,  the  rain-band  reap- 
peared in  both  spectroscopes  in  all  its  force  ;  rain  began  to  fall  the 
same  day,  and  next  day's  measure  at  the  observatory  amounted  to 
more  than  half  an  inch.  Wherefore  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  farmers 
had  busied  themselves  effectively  while  the  dry  weather  lasted,  for 
the  return  of  these  spectral  lines  of  watery  vapor  showed  that  their 
autumn  opportunity  was  then  gone  by. — London  Times. 


-*♦♦- 


CKIMDTALITY  1^"  ANIMALS. 

By  A.  LACASSAGNE, 

PROFESSOR   OF   LEGAX  MEDICINE   IN   THE   FACTTLTT   OF   LYON. 

IT  is  a  recognized  fact  that  the  anatomy  and  physiology  of  animals 
have  afforded  valuable  help  in  the  study  of  the  human  constitu- 
tion. We  might,  indeed,  say  that  physiology,  toxicology,  and  thera- 
peutics are  based  upon  exj>eriraents  which  have  been  made  on  animals. 
Why,  then,  have  we  halted  at  this  stage  ?  Why  has  it  not  occurred 
to  medical  experts  in  criminal  law  to  study  the  phenomena  of  crimes 


CRIMINALITY  IN  ANIMALS.  2+5 

among  animals  for  the  purpose  of  reaching  a  better  understanding  of 
those  which  are  committed  by  men  ?  If  animals  are  liable  to  the 
greater  proportion  of  the  organic  maladies  to  which  we  are  subject, 
if  they  are  liable  to  epidemic  or  contagious  diseases,  there  appears  to 
be  no  reason  why  they  should  be  exempt  from  mental  diseases.  Just 
as  we  recognize  that  there  occur  among  men  malformed  individuals, 
organically  defective  and  furnishing  proofs  of  their  organic  faults  in 
their  acts,  feelings,  or  thoughts,  so  we  should  expect  to  find  similar 
individuals  among  animals,  or  at  least  among  those  species  which  stand 
constitutionally  nearer  to  man. 

Two  causes  may  be  alleged  for  the  neglect  of  this  study  :  First, 
animal  psychology  has  not  yet  made  much  progress.  The  investiga- 
tions of  veterinary  physicians  have  not  been  directed  to  that  side. 
Pierquin  said,  in  his  "  Traite  de  la  Folie  des  Animaux  "  (Treatise  on 
Madness  among  Animals),  in  1839,  that  till  his  time  no  professor  of 
veterinary  medicine  had  ever  spoken  from  his  chair,  either  of  the 
brain,  the  nervous  system,  or  the  physiology  of  animals.  The  other 
cause,  and  the  most  influential  one,  has  been  the  difficulty  most  au- 
thors have  had  in  disembarrassing  themselves  of  the  scholastic  ideas 
which  have  promoted  the  belief  in  a  great  chasm  between  the  moral 
condition  of  animals  and  of  men.  As  Gall  has  well  said,  the  greatest 
obstacle  that  it  has  ever  been  possible  to  oppose  to  the  knowledge  of 
human  nature  consists  in  the  fact  that  theorists  have  isolated  it  from 
that  of  other  beings,  and  endeavored  to  subject  it  to  laws  of  its  own, 
different  from  those  of  their  nature.  He  adds,  subsequently  :  "  Those 
who  account  for  the  normal  and  intellectual  acts  of  man,  of  the  under- 
standing and  of  the  will,  independently  of  the  body,  and  those  who, 
being  wholly  strangers  to  the  natural  sciences,  still  believe  in  the 
mechanism  or  the  automatism  of  brutes,  may  find  the  comparison  of 
man  with  animals  revolting  and  absolutely  sterile.  But  such  a  com- 
parison will  be  regarded  as  indispensable  by  those  who  have  familiar- 
ized themselves  with  the  labors  of  Bonnet,  Condillac,  Reimarus, 
Georges  Leroy,  Dupont,  Nemours,  Herder,  Cadet  Devan,  Huber,  etc., 
and  especially  by  those  who  have  become  ever  so  slightly  acquainted 
with  the  progress  of  comparative  anatomy  and  physiology." 

The  authors  who  are  cited  by  Gall  have  furnished  important  data 
for  the  comparison  of  animal  species,  and  have  laid  the  foundation  of 
a  scientific  comparative  physiology.  Buff  on  had  already  asserted  that, 
if  no  animals  existed,  the  nature  of  man  would  be  still  more  incompre- 
hensible than  it  is.  The  observations  of  Georges  Leroy  and  Gall  have 
shown  that  the  elementary  functions  of  the  brain  must  be  investigated 
in  the  study  of  animals.  These  authors  have  been  followed  in  this 
way  by  Prichard,  Pierquin,  Darwin,  Forel,  Espinas,  Houzeau,  Biich- 
ner,  etc.,  from  whom  and  from  other  naturalists  and  travelers,  the 
materials  for  this  essay  have  been  lai'gely  borrowed. 

The  present  work  was  suggested  to  me  by  Professor  Lambrozzo,  of 


246  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

Turin  ;  and  Professor  Cornevin,  of  the  veterinary  school  of  Lyons,  has 
furnished  me  several  valuable  facts. 

By  way  of  an  historical  introduction  to  our  study,  we  will  cast  a 
glance  at  the  relations  which  the  human  laws  of  different  societies 
have  established  between  men  and  animals.  The  primitive  peoples, 
fetichistic  in  their  feelings  and  habits,  and  not  yet  capable  of  meta- 
physical subtilties,  instinctively  put  animals  and  men  upon  a  footing 
of  perfect  equality  as  respected  the  penalties  to  be  attached  to  their 
crimes.  It  was  so  with  all  people  during  the  middle  ages,  and  even 
in  fact  down  to  the  last  century.  Then,  by  one  of  the  sudden  contra- 
dictions which  frequently  appear  in  the  history  of  mankind,  a  distinc- 
tion between  the  actions  of  men  and  of  animals  was  clearly  defined. 
The  powerful  influence  of  Descartes,  the  encyclopedists,  and  the  sci- 
entific men  of  the  last  century,  who  were  more  frequently  demolishers 
than  constructors,  affords  the  explanation  of  the  change,  which,  it  is 
proper  to  say,  was  due  rather  to  bad  than  to  generous  sentiments. 
Gradually,  under  the  domination  of  the  metaphysical  spirit,  the  con- 
viction arose  that  animals  were  brutes,  that  it  was  difficult  to  appreci- 
ate their  moral  state,  and  that  this  moral  state  was  after  all  separated, 
if  it  had  any  existence,  by  an  immense  distance  from  that  of  man.  So 
the  law  protecting  animals  was  quite  forgotten  in  the  framing  of  our 
codes. 

Only  a  few  scientific  men  or  observers  made  approaches  to  the 
admission  of  evolution  and  transformation.  These  ideas  have  become 
common  now,  and  nearly  every  one  has  adopted  them  theoretically, 
but  few  admit  them  in  practice,  and  it  will  not  be  surprising  to  us  if 
the  title  of  our  essay  raises  a  smile  on  the  face  of  many  of  its  readers. 

We  will  begin  by  showing  how  the  human  societies  that  have  pre- 
ceded ours  have  manifested  their  feelings  with  regard  to  certain  acts 
of  animals.  Among  fetich-worshiping  peoples,  the  animal  is  consid- 
ered as  a  man,  and  a  member  of  the  human  family  to  the  same  extent 
as  a  slave.  Its  loss  is  an  occasion  for  mourning,  and  its  trespasses — 
toward  man — deserve  punishment. 

In  ancient  Egypt,  when  a  cat  died  in  the  house,  the  inhabitants- 
shaved  their  eyebrows  ;  if  a  dog  died,  they  shaved  their  whole  body. 
In  Athens,  one  of  the  laws  of  Triptolemus  declared  that  no  one  had  a 
right  to  inflict  a  wrong  upon  a  living  creature.  The  Greeks  were 
aware  of  the  tender  and  affectionate  care  which  the  young  of  the  stork 
exhibited  for  their  old  parents,  and  recorded  that,  when  the  latter  lost 
their  feathers  from  age,  the  young  stripped  themselves  of  their  down 
for  them  and  fed  them  with  the  food  they  collected.  This  was  the 
origin  of  the  Greek  law  called  "  the  law  of  the  stork,"  by  virtue  of 
which  children  were  obligated  to  take  care  of  their  aged  parents,  and 
those  who  refused  to  do  so  were  declared  infamous.  How  different  is 
it  in  our  modern  societies  !  Pierquin  remarks  with  reason  that,  as 
man  rises,  he  treats  animals  as  if  they  were  correspondingly  degraded. 


CRIMINALITY  IN  ANIMALS.  247 

For  a  long  time  they  had  the  same  rights.  During  the  middle  ages 
they  were  allowed  a  part  in  religious  ceremonies.  At  Milan  they  fig- 
ured in  the  festivals  of  the  kings  ;  and  processions  of  animals  appear 
in  the  bas-reliefs  of  the  cathedrals  of  Strasburg,  Mans,  and  Vienne 
(Isere).  On  Holy  Wednesday  all  the  clergy  of  the  church  of  Bheims 
went  to  Saint  Remi  to  make  a  station  there  ;  the  canons,  preceded  by 
the  cross,  were  arranged  in  two  lines,  each  drawing  a  herring  after 
him  with  a  cord  ;  and  each  one  was  intent  upon  saving  his  own  fish, 
and  stepping  upon  that  of  the  canon  in  front  of  him  (Anquetil,  "  His- 
toire  de  Reims  ").  At  Paris,  the  procession  of  the  fox  was  as  much 
enjoyed  as  the  festival  of  the  ass.  The  animal,  dressed  in  a  kind  of 
surplice,  wearing  the  mitre,  had  his  place  in  the  midst  of  the  clergy  : 
a  fowl  was  put  within  his  reach  ;  he  often  forgot  his  pious  functions 
to  spring  upon  the  bird  and  devour  it  in  the  presence  of  the  faithful. 
Philip  the  Fair  was  very  fond  of  this  procession  (Sanval,  "  Antiquites 
de  Paris  ").  Only  a  few  years  ago,  the  procession  of  the  fat  ox  re- 
mained, a  survival  from  the  pagan  feasts,  a  real  piece  of  wreckage 
from  vanished  civilizations. 

While  the  rights  of  animals  were  thus  recognized,  their  duties 
toward  man  did  not  escape  the  earlier  legislators,  who  severely  pun- 
ished their  crimes  and  attempts  upon  human  life.  The  law  of  Moses 
(Exodus  xxi,  28,  29)  recites  :  "  If  an  ox  gore  a  man  or  a  woman,  that 
they  die  :  then  the  ox  shall  be  surely  stoned,  and  his  flesh  shall  not  be 
eaten  ;  but  the  owner  of  the  ox  shall  be  quit.  But  if  the  ox  were 
wont  to  push  with  his  horn  in  time  past,  and  it  hath  been  testified  to 
his  owner,  and  he  hath  not  kept  him  in,  but  that  he  hath  killed  a  man 
or  a  woman  ;  the  ox  shall  be  stoned,  and  his  owner  also  shall  be  put 
to  death." 

Judgments  based  on  this  principle  are  recorded  at  Athens  and 
Rome.  According  to  Pierquin,  Democritus  wished  an  animal,  which 
had  occasioned  some  major  damage,  to  be  punished  with  death.  Un- 
der Domitian,  according  to  the  report  of  Martial,  the  ingratitude  of  a 
lion  toward  its  master  was  severely  punished.  Columella  and  Varro 
say  that  the  ancient  Romans  regarded  the  ox  as  the  companion  of  the 
labors  of  man,  and  that  the  act  of  killing  one  was  regarded  as  a  homi- 
cide and  punished  in  the  same  way  ;  and  the  ox  enjoyed  the  same 
privilege  in  Attica  and  the  Peloponnesus.  It  is  also  said  that  the 
Arabs  in  the  mountains  of  Africa  formerly  crucified  lions,  guilty  of 
murders,  upon  trees,  as  warnings  to  others. 

In  the  middle  ages  they  prosecuted  animals  which  committed  mur- 
der, those  which  had  become  dangerous  to  have  at  large,  and  females 
which,  having  given  birth  to  monsters,  were  suspected  of  criminal  co- 
habitations. Pere  Theophile  Raynaud,  Ayrault,  Gaspard  Bailly,  and 
more  recently  M.  Benoist  Saint-Prix  and  M.  Louandre  ("  Epopee  des 
Animaux,"  "  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,"  1854),  have  cited  some  ex- 
tremely curious  examples  of  such  condemnations. 


248  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

In  1120  the  Bishop  of  Laon  issued  a  letter  of  excommunication 
against  the  caterpillars  and  the  field-mice.  Under  Francis  I  an  official 
advocate  was  provided  for  these  animals,  and  pleadings  were  allowed 
between  them  and  the  farmers.  In  1356,  at  Falaise,  a  sow  having 
killed  a  child  and  begun  to  devour  it,  the  judge  condemned  it  to  per- 
ish by  the  sword.  As  it  had  eaten  an  arm  and  part  of  the  head  of 
the  child,  one  of  its  feet  was  cut  off  and  its  "  face  "  was  mutilated. 
Then  it  was  dressed  in  man's  clothes  before  being  led  to  punishment, 
and  the  executioner  received  his  customary  fee  of  ten  sous  and  a  pair 
of  gloves.  In  1543  the  consuls  and  aldermen  of  Grenoble  published  a 
decree  demanding  the  excommunication  of  the  snails  and  caterpillars. 
In  1585  the  Grand  Vicar  of  Valencia  ordered  the  caterpillars,  with 
which  the  country  was  infested,  to  evacuate  his  diocese.  In  1587  an 
action  was  brought  against  the  insects  which  were  ravaging  a  field 
near  Saint  Jean  de  Maurienne,  and  they  were  condemned.  Jean  Milon, 
an  officer  of  Troyes,  pronounced  the  following  sentence  on  the  9th  of 
July,  151G  :  "  Having  heard  the  parties,  and  granting  the  request  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Villenove,  we  admonish  the  caterpillars  to  retire 
within  six  days ;  and,  in  case  they  do  not  comply,  we  pronounce  them 
accursed  and  excommunicated." 

M.  Benoist  Saint-Prix  has  collected  eighty  sentences  of  death  and  ex- 
communications that  were  pronounced  between  1120  and  1741  against 
every  species  of  animals,  from  the  ass  to  the  grasshopper.  He  adds 
that,  while  in  some  countries  animals  have  been  employed  as  execu- 
tioners, they  have  frequently  been  admitted  in  France  as  witnesses  in 
suits.  Who  does  not  remember  the  history  of  the  dog  of  Montargis, 
and  the  duel  that  Charles  V  ordered  to  be  fought  between  the  faithful 
animal  of  Aubrey  of  Montdidier  and  the  assassin  of  his  master,  Rich- 
ard Macaire  ? 

The  recital  of  these  facts  and  a  comparison  of  what  has  taken  place 
in  our  time  permit  us  to  appreciate  the  great  modifications  that  have 
been  produced  in  the  feelings  of  mankind.  We  have  furthermore 
learned  that,  until  our  epoch,  an  erroneous  idea  prevailed  regarding 
the  offenses  or  crimes  committed  by  animals.  The  actions  of  animals 
toward  other  animals  had  passed  almost  unperceived,  and  did  not  seem 
worthy  of  being  noticed.  It  could  not,  therefore,  enter  the  head  of 
any  person  to  investigate  their  moral  bearing.  The  animal  was  ad- 
judged and  punished  only  when  his  offense  bore  upon  man  or  society. 

It  appears  to  us  that  the  time  has  come  for  a  scientific  study  of  cer- 
tain criminal  acts  of  animals,  for  the  purpose  of  comparing  them  with 
similar  acts  committed  by  men  and  punishable  by  our  laws.  It  is  a 
study  in  comparative  criminal  psychology.  We  believe  that  such  a 
work  may  have  a  higher  bearing  than  that  of  a  mere  effort  of  scientific 
curiosity  ;  and  it  seems  to  us,  with  Georges  Leroy,  that  the  moral  con- 
dition of  wolves  may  throw  light  upon  that  of  men. 

According  to  Georges  Leroy,  three  motives  influence  the  animal 


CRIMINALITY  IN  ANIMALS.  249 

and  become  the  principles  of  his  thoughts,  his  judgments,  his  deter- 
minations, and  his  actions.  They  are  the  seeking  for  food,  the  taking 
of  precautions  for  his  safety,  and  the  gratification  of  his  amorous  de- 
sires. Leroy  also  suggests  that  we  may  recognize  in  beasts  natural 
passions,  and  other  passions  which  might  be  called  factitious  or  reflex- 
ive. Of  the  former  class  are  the  impulses  of  hunger,  the  ardent  desires 
of  love,  and  maternal  tenderness  ;  of  the  latter  are  the  fear  of  want, 
or  avarice,  and  jealousy,  which  leads  to  vengeance.  Other  authors, 
among  them  Gall  and  August  Comte,  have  endeavored  to  frame  a 
classification  of  the  cerebral  faculties.  Without  discussing  here  these 
different  systems  which  have  been  proposed  chiefly  to  fix  the  number 
of  man's  elementary  faculties,  we  believe  that  it  will  be  convenient  for 
the  exposition  of  our  subject  to  recognize  among  animals  such  instincts 
or  elementary  faculties  as  the  nutritive,  the  genetic,  the  maternal,  and 
the  destructive  instincts  ;  and,  as  among  those  easier  to  "establish  with 
man  than  with  animals,  the  instinct  of  vanity  and  the  social  instincts. 
We  shall  study  particularly  the  exaggerations  of  these  instincts,  which 
are  injurious  to  other  animals  of  the  same  species,  and  which  result  in 
such  specific  acts  as  are  regarded  as  crimes  or  offenses  in  human  so- 
cieties. "  The  animal  and  man,"  says  Gall,  "  are  organized  for  anger, 
hatred,  sorrow,  fear,  and  jealousy,  because  there  are  things  and  events 
which,  according  to  their  nature,  deserve  to  be  detested  or  loved,  de- 
sired or  feared." 

1.  Acts  of  Offense  committed  by  Animals  under  the  Influ- 
ence of  the  Nutritive  Instinct. —  No  distinctions  are  observed 
with  regard  to  sex.  When  hunger  makes  itself  felt,  all  animals  ex- 
hibit, in  different  and  varied  degrees,  according  to  their  nature,  the 
spectacle  of  the  "struggle  for  existence."  The  fact  is  so  well  known 
that  it  does  not  require  any  great  elaboration.  The  animals  longest 
and  most  completely  domesticated  continue  at  feeding-time  to  steal 
food  from  each  other,  and  to  quarrel  about  it.  The  use  of  separate 
mangers,  racks,  boxes,  and  stalls,  is  based  upon  the  knowledge  of  this 
fact.  The  object  of  the  most  important  features  of  the  interior  ar- 
rangements of  stables  is  to  prevent  the  stealing  of  food  and  the  tram- 
pling of  the  weaker  by  the  stronger.  It  is  well  known  that  among  the 
species  which  we  see  daily  are  individuals  manifesting  clearly  the  dis- 
position to  theft.  Some  of  them  have  an  exaggerated  nutritive  in- 
stinct, are  avaricious,  and  lay  up  provisions.  Leroy  says  that  when 
wolves  have  brought  down  a  large  animal,  they  eat  a  part  of  it  and 
carefully  hide  the  rest  ;  but  this  precaution  does  not  abate  their  pro- 
pensity to  hunt,  and  they  have  recourse  to  their  cache  only  when  the 
chase  has  been  unsuccessful.  The  same  observation  may  be  made 
with  reference  to  dogs,  foxes,  and  other  animals. 

M.  Cornevin  has  remarked  that,  among  species  which  live  in  com- 
munity, not  only  is  food  stolen,  but  individuals  which  are  on  the  point 
of  perishing  are  eaten.  Wolves,  in  spite  of  the  proverb,  rats  and  mice,  eat 


250  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

each  other  up.  "  Last  year  I  observed  several  times  among  the  Guinea- 
pigs,  which  were  the  subjects  of  my  experiments,  that  those  that  died 
were  eaten  by  the  survivors.  They  were  not  troubled  by  hunger,  for 
they  had  all  the  corn  they  wanted.  Possibly  they  sought  to  appease 
their  thirst  in  the  blood  of  their  victims."  Biichner,  in  his  psychical 
lives  of  beasts,  speaks  of  thievish  bees,  "  which,  in  order  to  lessen  their 
labor  or  dispense  with  it  wholly,  made  attacks  in  mass  upon  provisioned 
hives,  committed  violence  against  the  sentinels  and  the  inhabitants,  pil- 
laged the  hive,  and  carried  away  all  the  store  of  honey.  If  this  exploit 
was  successful  for  several  times,  they,  like  men,  acquired  a  stronger 
taste  for  pillage  and  violence  than  for  work,  and  ended  by  constituting 
real  colonies  of  brigands."  There  are  isolated  individuals  which  are 
addicted  to  theft,  and  endeavor  to  slip,  without  being  perceived,  into 
a  strange  hive ;  their  sly  tricks  demonstrate  that  they  are  forced  to 
concealment,  and  are  conscious  that  they  are  transgressors.  If  they 
succeed  in  their  attempt,  they  afterward  bring  other  bees  to  their 
hive  to  tempt  them  to  similar  thefts,  and  thus  form  a  society  of 
thieves.  Biichner  adds  that  bees  may  be  artificially  made  thieves  by 
feeding  them  a  special  food  consisting  of  honey  mixed  with  brandy. 
"  Like  man,  they  readily  acquire  a  taste  for  this  beverage,  which  exer- 
cises the  same  pernicious  influence  upon  them  as  upon  him  ;  they  be- 
come excited,  intoxicated,  and  cease  to  work.  Do  they  feel  hunger  ? 
Then,  like  man,  they  fall  from  one  vice  into  another,  and  give  them- 
selves up  unscrupulously  to  pillage  and  theft." 

2.  Acts  of  Offense  committed  by  Animals  under  the  Influ- 
ence of  the  Genetic  Instinct. — Such  acts  may  be  distinguished  be- 
tween those  committed  by  the  male  and  those  committed  by  the  female. 
The  former  are  more  frequent  and  violent  than  the  latter.  Some  ani- 
mals indicate  a  feeling  of  decorous  modesty,  while  others  are  absolutely 
shameless.  Without  going  into  details  on  this  subject,  it  may  be  con- 
sidered sufficient  here  to  remark  that  most  of  the  sexual  offenses  which 
have  been  defined  by  the  law  or  put  under  the  ban  of  human  societies 
may  be  observed  among  animals  in  their  intercourse  with  each  other  ; 
and  instances  are  on  record  in  ancient  and  modern  history,  though  rare 
and  not  always  well  authenticated,  of  attempts  by  animals  against  hu- 
man beings. 

3.  Acts  of  Offense  committed  by  Animals  under  the  In- 
fluence of  Maternal  Love. — The  exceedingly  marked  develop- 
ment of  this  instinct  in  female  animals  well  justifies  the  epithet 
maternal. 

Gall  has  remarked  that  while  the  instinct  for  propagation  is  ex- 
tremely ardent  among  the  males  of  certain  species — the  cock,  the  dog, 
the  boar,  and  the  stag,  for  example — without  the  animals  taking  the 
slightest  interest  in  the  young,  the  instinct  for  propagation  is  also 
generally  more  active  in  the  male  than  in  the  female,  and  generally, 
also,  the  female  feels  a  stronger  love  for  the  offspring.     Many  animals, 


CRIMINALITY  IN  ANIMALS.  251 

as  among  the  insects  and  ampkibise,  and  the  cuckoo,  take  no  care  at 
all  of  their  young,  although  they  mate  ardently. 

Other  animals,  as  with  ants  and  bees,  do  not  exercise  the  act  of 
propagation  at  all,  yet  they  very  assiduously  take  care  of  the  eggs 
and  larvre.  The  same  author  insists  upon  individual  differences,  and 
cites  cases,  the  counterparts  of  which  would  be  called  in  human  socie- 
ties abandonment  of  children,  abduction  of  minors,  seduction,  infanti- 
cide, etc. 

Some  cows,  mares,  and  dogs  bear  the  loss  of  their  young  with  a 
degree  of  indifference  ;  others  even  abandon  them  regularly.  Pigeons 
generally,  male  as  well  as  female,  appear  indifferent  to  their  broods, 
while  the  rail  and  the  corn-crake  are  so  devoted  to  them  that  their 
heads  are  frequently  cut  off  by  the  reaper's  sickle.  When  a  house  in 
which  storks  have  a  nest  takes  fire,  the  father  and  the  mother  stork 
will  fall  into  the  flames  rather  than  abandon  their  young.  Boerhaave 
has  made  the  same  observation  with  respect  to  the  chimney-swallow. 
The  female  partridge  loves  her  own  young  with  a  strong  affection,  but 
she  chases  away  and  kills  the  young  of  other  partridges.  The  pheas- 
ant, on  the  other  hand,  shows  much  less  affection  for  her  own  young, 
and  does  not  mind  the  loss  of  those  which  stray  from  her,  while  she 
receives  joyfully  and  takes  under  her  protection  little  pheasants  that 
are  strangers  to  her. 

Gall  tells  of  mares  that  have  such  a  passion  for  colts  that  they 
kidnap  the  foals  from  other  mares,  and  take  care  of  them  with  a  jeal- 
ous fondness  ;  and  Espinas  notices  the  same  fact  among  asses.  Pier- 
quin  had  a  dog  of  a  Scotch  breed,  which  was  shy  of  the  male,  but 
would  capture  every  puppy  it  met,  and  was  in  the  habit  of  stealing 
out  of  the  house  to  go  hunting  for  them. 

Among  facts  of  an  opposite  character,  we  cite  the  case  of  a  friend's 
dog  which  bore  three  or  four  litters,  of  which  it  would  take  proper 
care  during  the  first  three  months,  and  would  then  carry  them  away 
into  the  mountain  and  leave  them.  We  must  also  take  notice  of  that 
inexplicable  aberration  that  leads  many  females  among  our  domestic 
animals  to  suffer  their  progeny  to  die,  or  kill  them  ;  while  other  animals, 
dogs,  for  example,  become  thieves  during  the  whole  time  that  they  are 
taking  care  of  their  young.  Females  of  the  larger  domestic  species 
frequently  refuse  to  let  their  young  suck  them,  with  the  result  that 
the  young  die.  This  is  most  remarked  of  animals  bearing  for  the  first 
time.  The  most  astonishing  fact  is  that  of  infanticide,  which  is  almost 
the  rule  with  certain  species,  notably  with  swine. 

4.  Acts  of  Offense  committed  by  Animals  under  the  Influ- 
ence of  the  Destructive  Instinct. — This  instinct  acts  when  ani- 
mals are  urged  to  overcome  the  obstacles  that  oppose  the  satisfaction 
of  their  desires.  Thus  they  become  murderous  in  time  of  heat ;  they 
seem  to  have  gained  new  force  ;  their  nature  has  become  irascible  and 
furiously  disposed  ;  and  contests  of  the  most  bloody  character  take 


252  THE  POPULAR  SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

place  between  them.  Pierquin  adds  that  baffled  love  often  leads  man 
as  well  as  animals  into  a  murderous  monomania.  Buffon  cites  exam- 
ples of  animals  which  were  frequently  subject  to  a  murderous  passion. 
He  speaks  of  canary-birds  which  were  so  wicked  as  to  kill  the  female 
that  was  given  them,  and  which  could  not  be  broken  of  the  practice 
except  by  giving  them  two.  Others  are  so  barbarous  in  their  inclina- 
tions as  to  break  and  eat  the  eggs  as  soon  as  they  have  been  laid  ;  and, 
even  if  the  unnatural  father  allows  the  eggs  to  be  sat  upon,  he  will 
kill  the  young  as  soon  as  they  are  hatched.  Pierquin  mentions  cross, 
quarrelsome  dogs  that  are  always  ready  to  fight  upon  the  smallest 
provocation.  Wickedness  of  this  kind  may  be  manifested  in  certain 
races  ;  it  may  be  individual,  permanent,  and  hereditary  ;  or,  while  it 
is  still  individual,  it  may  be  accidental  and  transient,  provoked  by 
particular  circumstances. 

We  may  call  a  specific  malignity  that  which  one  species  shows 
toward  another  species  that  hunts  it  or  is  its  rival  in  the  struggle  for 
existence.  The  instinctive  repulsion  of  dogs  and  cats  is  proverbial. 
It  is  interesting,  however,  to  observe  how  this  repugnance  can  cease 
under  certain  conditions,  as  when  the  struggle  for  existence  becomes 
less  active.  Commander  Mouchez  asserts  that  the  cats  and  the  rats 
on  tbe  Island  of  St.  Paul,  where  he  went  to  observe  the  transit  of  Ve- 
nus, have  ceased  to  war  upon  each  other,  and  have  instead  joined  in 
hunting  birds.  Cases  of  permanent  and  hereditary  maliciousness  are 
not  rare.  All  who  have  had  to  do  with  domestic  animals,  says  M. 
Cornevin,  have  observed  that  there  appear  among  our  subdued  species, 
horses  and  cattle,  individuals,  both  male  and  female,  which  are  in- 
tractable, vicious,  and  absolutely  useless  ;  just  as  individuals  of  a  simi- 
lar character  sometimes  appear  in  human  society.  Such  traits  are  often 
hereditary. 

We  have  examples  of  the  excitation  of  the  destructive  propensity 
by  higher  faculties  in  which  malice  seems  to  be  consecutive  to  a  real 
reasoning.  First  among  them  is  the  case  of  malice  aroused  by  the 
recollection  of  bad  treatment.  Animals  with  such  passion  become 
murderers  for  revenge.  They  say  that  the  mule  always  kee£>s  a  kick 
in  store  for  the  master  who  maltreats  it ;  and  examples  are  frequent 
of  asses,  mules,  and  horses,  that  were  very  gentle  till  they  were  chas- 
tised, remembering  the  blows  they  had  received,  and  avenging  them- 
selves on  the  drivers  who  inflicted  them.  There  are  also  murderers 
for  rivalry.  A  bull  that  has  been  gentle  enough  as  long  as  he  has  had 
his  cows  to  himself  will  become  vicious  as  soon  as  a  rival  is  brought 
into  the  field,  and  will  try  to  kill  him  or  drive  him  away,  and  always 
keep  watch  over  him. 

M.  Colin,  in  his  treatise  on  the  "  Physiology  of  the  Domestic  Ani- 
mals," cites  two  curious  examples  of  criminality  developed  under  the 
operation  of  the  nutritive  instinct.  A  dog  at  the  school  of  Alfort, 
which  was  fed  on  the  remains  of  dissected  bodies,  conceived  a  violent 


CRIMINALITY  IN  ANIMALS.  253 

and  dangerous  hatred  for  the  skinner,  who  took  away  his  meats. 
Another  dog,  which  was  fed  together  with  a  hog,  took  such  aversion 
toward  his  commensal,  that  he  broke  his  chain,  jumped  ujion  the  pork- 
er, killed,  disemboweled,  and  tore  it. 

Man  has  sometimes  taken  pains  to  develop  the  destructive  instinct 
of  animals.  Jacolliot  tells  of  elephants  that  were  fed  with  meat  to 
keep  this  faculty  in  a  state  of  excitation.  The  Hottentots  train  cattle 
in  a  similar  way.  A  legend  runs  to  the  effect  that  an  exiled  king  of 
Garamanta  returned  to  his  country  with  an  army  of  two  hundred  dogs. 
It  is  said,  also,  that  when  the  Cimbri  were  defeated  their  dogs  de- 
fended their  chariots.  The  city  of  St.  Malo  is  said  to  have  been  de- 
fended once  in  a  similar  manner  ;  and  during  the  night  the  animals 
were  let  loose  in  the  streets  as  a  kind  of  police.  At  the  camp  of  Lo- 
bau,  during  the  campaign  in  Italy,  the  soldiers  trained  large  dogs  to 
take  prisoners.  Watchmen  in  some  prisons  are  accompanied  in  their 
night-rounds  by  dogs,  to  detect  the  prisoners  who  are  out  of  their 
beds. 

5.  Acts  op  Offense  committed  by  Animals  under  the  In- 
stinct of  Vanity. — Though  less  susceptible  than  man,  animals  are 
very  fond  of  praise  and  approbation.  With  what  intoxication  of  joy 
does  the  dog  receive  our  commendations  !  Every  one  has  remarked 
how  sensible  horses  are  to  marks  of  affection,  and  how  they  exert 
themselves  in  races  so  as  not  to  allow  a  rival  to  pass  them.  Pierquin 
had  a  monkey  which,  when  a  handkerchief  was  given  it,  draped  it- 
self in  it,  and  manifested  an  extraordinary  pleasure  in  watching  the 
train  of  its  court-robe.  Napoleon  believed  that  man  was  only  a  more 
perfect  animal,  and  claimed  for  his  horse  memory,  intelligence,  and 
love.  "  I  had  a  horse,"  he  said,  "  which  could  recognize  me  among  all 
the  world,  and  which  showed,  by  his  prancing  and  his  proud  step 
when  I  was  on  his  back,  that  he  knew  he  was  carrying  a  person  supe- 
rior to  all  the  others  around  him.  He  would  not  allow  any  one  else  to 
ride  him  except  a  groom  who  regularly  took  care  of  him,  and  his  move- 
ments, when  that  man  was  upon  him,  were  so  peculiar  that  he  seemed 
aware  that  he  was  carrying  a  servant."  This  was  perhaps  the  same 
animal  of  which  Constant  wrote  in  his  "  Memoirs  "  :  "  The  Emperor 
had  for  several  years  an  Arabian  horse  of  rare  instincts,  that  gave  him 
much  pleasure.  It  was  hard  to  discover  any  grace  in  him  while  his 
master  was  out  of  sight,  but  whenever  he  heard  the  drums  announcing 
the  presence  of  his  Majesty  he  would  raise  himself  in  pride,  shake  his 
head,  paw  the  ground,  and  from  that  moment  till  the  Emperor  dis- 
mounted from  him  he  would  carry  as  fine  a  head  as  ever  was  seen." 
Such  vanity  is,  in  fact,  quite  common  among  Arabian  horses,  and  the 
treatment  they  receive  is  well  adapted  to  develop  it.  It  is  compre- 
hensible that,  under  the  influence  of  this  instinct,  and  the  jealousy 
that  often  results  from  it,  animals  may  become  malicious  and  quar- 
relsome, and  attack  and  even  kill  their  companions.      It  has  been 


254  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

remarked  that  these  vain  animals  more  readily  attack  ragged  creat- 
ures, especially  if  they  dwell  where  they  are  unaccustomed  to  the 
sight  of  misery. 

6.  Acts  or  Offense  committed  by  Animals  undeb  the  Influ- 
ence of  the  Social  Instincts. — Such  social  instincts  as  attachment 
and  reverence  can  not  be  found  among  all  animals.  They  evidently 
can  not  exist  among  animals  which  live  isolated,  or  among  those  which 
mate  only  temporarily.  It  is  otherwise,  however,  with  those  that 
live  together,  and  between  these  a  real  marriage  is  established.  So, 
when  several  couples  or  families  have  a  common  habitation,  elevated 
social  bonds  are  produced,  quite  comparable  to  those  which  are  estab- 
lished in  human  societies.  Examples  will  not  be  wanting,  if  we  look 
at  the  bees  and  the  ants,  or  at  the  republic  of  the  rabbits.  The  idea 
of  property,  says  Georges  Leroy,  certainly  exists  among  rabbits  ;  old 
age  and  fraternity  are  much  respected  by  them. 

Doves,  turtle-doves,  the  roe,  the  chamois,  and  the  mole  can  not 
support  widowhood,  and  death  generally  follows  the  loss  or  absence  of 
one  of  a  pair  of  them.  Some  curious  stories  are  told  of  the  conjugal 
customs  of  storks.  The  males  seem  to  be  very  jealous,  and  sometimes 
put  to  death  an  unfaithful  companion  and  her  betrayer.  The  inhabit- 
ants of  Smyrna,  who  are  well  acquainted  with  the  conjugal  suscepti- 
bility of  the  male  stork,  amuse  themselves  by  putting  hens'  eggs  into 
the  nests  of  these  birds.  The  male  becomes  very  angry  at  the  sight 
of  this  unusual  product,  and,  with  the  aid  of  other  storks,  tears  his 
companion  to  pieces.  There  is  certainly  no  need  of  calling  up  the 
numerous  facts  that  show  that  domestication  has,  in  certain  animals, 
dogs,  for  example,  developed  these  social  instincts  into  a  most  touch- 
ing devotion. 

It  seems  to  us  that  the  review  we  have  just  made  embraces  a  suffi- 
ciently large  number  of  facts  to  permit  us  to  establish  an  almost  com- 
plete parallel  between  the  criminal  actions  of  men  and  those  of  animals. 
The  analogy  would  have  been  closer  if  we  had  cited  examples  of  tricks 
to  show  what  combinations  or  means  are  at  the  disposition  of  an  animal 
when  it  is  seeking  to  accomplish  its  purposes.  We  can  not,  how- 
ever, help  remarking  that  there  are  authentic  cases  of  simulation  or 
deception  which  animals  have  worked  out  to  save  themselves  from 
labor  or  to  procure  some  advantage.  A  military  surgeon  tells  of  a 
horse  which  was  accustomed  to  pretend  to  be  lame  on  the  days  when 
the  horses  were  drilled,  in  order  to  avoid  that  duty.  Coste  mentions 
a  dog  which,  in  the  winter,  when  he  found  his  comrades  lying  around 
the  fire  in  such  a  way  as  to  prevent  his  getting  near  to  it,  would  make 
a  great  noise  in  the  yard  ;  at  this  the  other  dogs  would  run  out,  while 
he  would  slip  into  the  house  and,  securing  a  good  place  for  himself, 
leave  his  comrades  to  bark  as  long  as  they  pleased.  He  tried  this  trick 
quite  often,  and  always  succeeded  in  it,  for  the  other  dogs  had  not 
intelligence  enough  to  find  it  out. 


CRIMINALITY  IN  ANIMALS.  255 

With  men,  certain  crimes  tend  to  diminish  or  disappear  under  the 
influence  of  civilization.  It  is  the  same  with  animals.  The  more  the 
domestication  of  a  race  is  perfected,  the  less  violent  do  its  passions 
become,  and,  consequently,  such  crimes  as  we  have  discussed  grow 
more  rare.  Not  being  troubled  about  their  food,  which  is  put  before 
them  in  abundance  and  good  order  every  day,  they  are  not  subject  to 
the  struggle  for  existence,  and  their  character  is  mollified.  Further- 
more,  by  virtue  of  the  law  of  organic  balance,  the  development  of  the 
digestive  apparatus,  consequent  on  plentiful  and  regular  feeding,  takes 
place  at  the  expense  of  the  nervous  system,  whence  less  violence,  less 
irritability,  and  less  sexual  passion.  Malice  is  extremely  rare  among 
thorough-bred  domestic  animals,  as,  for  instance,  among  the  Durham 
cattle. 

A  man  subject  to  relapses — this  is  his  forty-fourth  sentence — a 
man  of  quite  solid  education,  yet  who  seems  to  pursue  persistently 
the  most  absurd  of  evil  schemes,  wrote  to  me  a  little  while  ago  :  "I 
committed  the  first  offense  in  my  life,  then  repaired  it.  Repulsed 
everywhere  and  by  every  one,  I  pretended  to  steal,  so  that  I  could  be 
arrested  and  condemned.  All  my  condemnations  have  been  for  va- 
grancy or  breaking  my  parole.  I  have  always  behaved  well  when  I 
have  had  enough  to  eat.  Misery  makes  a  man  wicked.  With  a  piece 
of  bread  one  may,  perhaps,  prevent  a  wretch  from  committing  theft  or 
murder."  The  criminal,  says  Hobbes,  is  a  robust  child  ;  and  Georges 
Leroy  adds  :  "  If  we  suppose  a  man  to  have  strong  desires,  and  to  be 
without  experience,  like  a  child,  it  is  hard  to  conceive  of  anything  that 
will  restrain  him  in  the  course  he  is  pursuing.  Our  passions  bring  us 
back  to  childhood  by  vividly  presenting  to  us  a  single  object  with  the 
degree  of  intensity  that  eclipses  everything  else." 

We  believe  that  we  have  shown  in  this  study  that,  if  the  acts,  the 
thoughts,  and  the  feelings  of  animals  are  similar  to  ours,  the  same  is 
the  case  with  their  offenses  and  their  crimes,  so  far  as  the  same  are 
related  to  their  interests  and  their  passions.  As  in  our  own  species, 
the  criminal  animal  is  generally  a  type  appearing  sporadically,  with 
passions,  desires,  and  instincts  that  are  not  those  of  its  race.  These 
faults  are  transmissible  and  hereditary.  Domestication  and  system- 
atic feeding  diminish,  destroy,  or  transform  these  mischievous  dispo- 
sitions. We  were  right  in  saying,  when  we  began,  that  the  morals  of 
wolves  may  throw  light  upon  those  of  men. — Revue  Scientijique. 


25 6  THE  POPULAR  SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


SKETCH  OF  MATTHIAS  JACOB  SCHLEIDEN. 

"  rjlWO  names,"  says  M.  Leo  Herrera,  in  the  "  Revue  Scientifique," 

JL  "  are  inseparably  connected  with  that  grand  movement  of  the 
biological  sciences  that  began  about  1838,  and  of  which  we  to-day 
contemplate  the  superb  bloom — Schleiden  and  Schwann.  The  two 
laid  the  foundations  of  the  cellular  theory.  Both  exercised  a  power- 
ful influence  over  their  contemporaries  ;  both  rendered  lasting  services 
to  science  through  their  teaching,  their  pupils,  their  ideas,  and  even 
through  their  errors." 

Schleiden  devoted  himself  variously  to  law,  medicine,  the  natural 
sciences,  and  philosophy,  and  his  works  bear  the  marks  of  those  diver- 
sified studies  :  but  he  was,  above  all,  a  botanist ;  it  was  under  this 
title  that  he  became  famous,  and  by  this  his  name  must  endure. 

Matthias  Jacob  Schleiden  was  the  son  of  the  physicist,  Andreas 
Benedict  Schleiden,  and  was  born  in  Hamburg,  April  5,  1804.  On 
quitting  the  gymnasium  he  entered  upon  the  study  of  the  law  at 
Heidelberg  in  1824.  He  received  his  degree  in  1827,  and  had  entered 
upon  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  his  native  city,  when,  in  1831, 
he  concluded  that  the  natural  sciences  were  more  to  his  taste  than  the 
law.  With  the  encouragement  of  his  father,  he  returned  to  the  uni- 
versity, and  studied  medicine  at  Gottingen — where  he  enjoyed  the 
instructions  of  Bartling  in  botany — and  the  natural  sciences  at  Berlin, 
where  his  uncle,  the  botanist  Horkel,  enlisted  his  special  interest  in 
that  branch.  In  1839  he  was  appointed,  on  the  recommendation  of 
Humboldt  it  is  said,  Adjunct  Professor  of  Botany  at  Jena,  where  he 
continued  to  teach  in  the  chair  of  that  science  till  18G2. 

Schleiden  was  thirty -three  years  old  when  he  published  his  first 
works  ;  the  scientific  collections  from  1837  to  1852  contain  twenty- 
seven  memoirs  contributed  by  him.  The  most  striking  of  these  essays 
and  the  ones  which  contributed  most  directly  to  his  rapid  rise  to 
eminence,  were  those  in  which  he  propounded  his  theories  of  the 
origin  of  plant-cells  and  of  fructification.  These  were  the  "  Beitrage 
zu  Phytogenesis "  ("Contributions  to  Phytogenesis,"  1838),  and 
"  Ueber  Bildung  des  Eichens  und  Entstehung  des  Embryos  beim  Pha- 
nerogamen  "  ("  On  Formation  of  the  Ovule  and  Origin  of  the  Embryo 
in  Phanerogams,"  1839) — his  "most  remarkable,  most  revolutionary, 
and  most  erroneous  works,"  which  astonished  the  world,  "just  as 
he  had  barely  made  himself  known  by  a  few  anatomical  and  organo- 
genical  researches."  Both  of  these  works  called  forth  lively  re- 
sponses. They  were  translated  into  English  and  French.  They  were 
commented  upon  and  discussed,  and  were  the  subject  of  passionate 
debates  ;  in  short,  inquiry  was  awakened,  and  an  impulse  was  given 
to  investigation,  the  force  of  which  has  not  slackened  to  this  day. 


SKETCH   OF  MATTHIAS  JACOB   SCH LEIDEN.      257 

The  theory  of  cells,  as  given  in  the  "  Phytogenesis,"  may  be  briefly 
stated  as  follows  :  There  are  two  points  in  a  plant  well  adapted  for  a 
ready  and  safe  observation  of  the  production  of  a  new  organization  ; 
these  are  the  embryo-sac  and  end  of  the  pollen-tube  (according  to  his 
fertilization  theory,  the  first  cells  of  the  embryo  should  form  there, 
while  in  reality  this  is  not  the  case).  At  both  points,  the  formation  of 
nuclei  causes  turbidity  in  the  homogeneous  gum-solution — these  in- 
crease in  size,  and  soon  cytoblasts  (a  granular  coagulation)  appear. 
In  the  free  state  the  cytoblasts  increase  rapidly  until  they  attain  a 
certain  size,  when  they  are  surmounted  by  a  fine  diaphanous  bubble ; 
this  is  the  young  cell,  at  first  a  segment  of  a  sphere,  its  plane  side 
formed  by  cytoblasts,  and  its  convex  side  by  young  cells  (the  cell- 
epidermis)  similar  to  a  watch-crystal  on  a  watch.  Gradually  the  bubble 
expands,  becomes  more  consistent,  and  the  wall  is  composed  of  cyto- 
blasts and  of  a  gelatinous  substance.  The  cell  grows,  overlaps  the 
cytoblasts,  and  then  increases  so  rapidly  that  the  cytoblast  appears  as 
a  small  nucleus  inclosed  in  a  duplicature  of  the  cell-wall.  As  the 
growth  progresses,  the  mutual  pressure,  exerted  by  the  cells  upon  one 
another,  causes  a  certain  regularity  of  form,  frequently  that  of  the 
rhombendodecahedron.  Only  after  the  resorption  of  the  cytoblasts 
the  formation  of  secondary  deposits  begins  on  the  inner  surface  of 
the  cell-wall.  Scbleiden  assumes  the  process  thus  described  to  be  the 
general  law  of  formation  for  the  vegetable  cell-tissues  in  the  phane- 
rogams. This  theory  was  conceived  while  Schwann  was  still  engaged 
with  his  theory  of  the  origin  and  propagation  of  animal  cells. 
Schwann  has,  in  fact,  acknowledged  in  his  "  Microscopic  Researches  " 
that  Scbleiden  communicated  his  observations  on  the  subject  to  him 
before  publishing  them,  and  thus  gave  him  the  light  that  showed  him 
the  way  to  his  own  results.  So  it  has  come  to  pass  that,  by  means  of 
the  joint  labors  of  these  two  men,  the  cell  has  been  recognized  as  the 
peculiar  element  in  both  kingdoms  of  organic  nature,  and  all  the 
processes  of  vegetable  and  animal  life  have  been  located  in  its  little 
laboratory. 

Schleiden's  theory  has  been  proved  to  be  a  premature  generaliza- 
tion, based  upon  incomplete  and  inaccurate  observations,  and  has  been 
refuted  by  Nageli  ;  but,  incorrect  and  of  little  consequence  as  it  was 
in  itself,  it  has  also  proved  to  be  the  grain  of  ferment  which  has 
worked  a  transformation  and  revivification  of  biological  science. 

Schleiden's  theory  of  fructification  was  announced  just  at  the  time 
(1839)  when  those  who  denied  sexuality  in  plants  had  seemed  to  carry 
the  day,  and  all  botanists  had  agreed,  to  use  the  language  of  M.  Her- 
rera,  in  attributing  the  production  of  the  embryo  to  the  ovule,  while 
allowing  to  the  pollen  only  a  simple  action  of  fertilization.  "  All  at 
once  a  botanist,  already  celebrated,  proclaimed  that  he  had  seen  the 
embryo  forming  in  the  grain  of  pollen  and  penetrating  the  ovule  with 
the  pollenical  tube.     This  unexpected  animalculist  was  Scbleiden.    His 

TOL.    XXII. 17 


258  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

animalculisni  was,  however,  limited  to  the  vegetable  kingdom.  He 
did  not  aspire  to  extend  it  to  the  other  kingdom.  To  explain  the  con- 
tradiction which  thus  appeared  between  the  fecundation  of  animals 
and  that  of  plants,  he  regarded  the  vegetable  ovule  as  a  male  organ, 
and  the  grain  of  pollen,  producer  of  the  embryo,  as  a  female  organ. 
The  announcement  of  this  discovery  came  like  a  clap  of  thunder.  It 
soon  had  enthusiastic  partisans  and  angry  critics.  The  critics  were  in 
the  right,  the  partisans  were  at  fault  ;  but  what  does  it  matter  now  ? 
Schleiden  had  again  given  a  powerful  impulse  to  the  spirit  of  investi- 
gation, and  that  is  the  essential  thing.  His  memoir,  otherwise,  is  far 
from  containing  anything  good  or  exact." 

"  Schleiden  had  disciples  who  were  eager  to  adopt  the  doctrine  of 
their  master  and  promulgate  it.  At  the  same  time,  however,  Mirbel 
and  Brongniart  skillfully  guarded  their  opinions,  and  Meyen  attempted 
a  formal  refutation  of  the  new  theory.  A  general  and  hot  contest 
arose  and  lasted  for  more  than  twenty  years,  in  which  all  the  distin- 
guished botanists  of  every  country  became  engaged.  Amici  in  1842 
confirmed  and  extended  the  previous  observations  of  Mirbel,  Spach, 
and  Brongniart.  He  asserted  that  he  had  seen  the  embryo  produced 
at  the  expense  of  a  part  of  the  embryonary  sac,  and  this  seemed  to 
settle  the  question  against  Schleiden.  Schleiden,  however,  hastened 
quickly  to  refute  Amici's  assertion.  The  great  Modenese  naturalist 
returned  to  the  charge  with  his  observations  on  the  orchids.  In  1850 
the  Academy  of  Amsterdam  crowned  a  work  of  Schacht,  a  disciple  of 
Schleiden's,  who  vigorously  defended  his  master's  theory.  Tulasne, 
Hugo  Mohl,  Brongniart,  Ch.  Midler,  and  Hofmeister  came  forward  to 
oppose  it.  It  gave  way  and  seemed  to  be  dead  ;  then  it  rose  again 
and  renewed  the  contest.  On  the  19th  of  December,  1854,  Schacht 
triumphantly  announced  to  the  congress  of  naturalists,  at  Berlin,  that 
a  young  man,  Th.  Deecke,  a  partisan,  like  himself,  of  Schleiden's  doc- 
trine, but  more  fortunate  than  he,  had  succeeded  in  making  a  micro- 
scopic preparation  of  Pedicularis  sylvatica  which  was  of  such  a  nature 
as  to  reduce  for  ever  to  silence  the  adversaries  of  that  theory.  This 
preparation  had  a  great  repute.  The  story  was  passed  around  from 
city  to  city,  but,  while  Schacht  pretended  that  it  was  unanswerable, 
Hugo  Mohl  declared  that  he  saw  nothing  conclusive  in  it.  This  was  the 
last  flickering  of  the  theory  of  Schleiden.  Radekofer  published  numer- 
ous observations  against  it  in  1856,  and  announced  at  the  same  time 
that*  Schleiden  had  himself  abandoned  the  theory  which  he  had  put 
forward.  Shortly  afterward,  Schacht  also  acknowledged  that  he  had 
been  in  error,  and  the  theory,  left  dead  on  the  battle-field,  was  buried 
for  good." 

With  the  vitality  which  Schleiden  and  his  contemporaries  had  in- 
fused into  botany  a  new  era  was  inaugurated  for  the  science.  To 
mark  its  coming  and  extend  the  comprehension  of  the  principles  and 
aspirations. of  the  new  school,  were  needed  a  compendious  and  method- 


SKETCH   OF  MATTHIAS  JACOB   SCHLEIDEN.      259 

ical  treatise  for  students  and  a  popular  book  for  readers.  Schleiden 
composed  both.  The  time  had  passed  when  the  study  of  living  beings 
should  form  a  separate  branch  of  science,  and  when  those  who  dis- 
carded the  dry  enumerations  of  the  classifiers  would  have  to  fall  into 
the  ideal  reveries  of  the  "  philosophers  of  nature."  It  needed  to  be 
shown  that  botany  was  not  the  mere  dry  skeleton  which  the  former 
would  make  of  it,  and  that  it  did  not  require  the  tinsel  with  which  the 
latter  assumed  to  adorn  it.  In  the  "  Grundziige  der  wissenschaf tlichen 
Botanik"  ("Elements  of  Scientific  Botany")  of  Schleiden,  the  science 
was  for  the  first  time  treated  entirely  according  to  the  inductive 
method,  as  physics  and  chemistry  had  already  been  considered  ;  and 
the  different  branches  of  science,  till  very  recently  still  isolated  and 
almost  hostile,  were  made  to  interpenetrate  and  mutually  illustrate 
each  other.  The  book  was  well  adapted  to  enlarge  the  scientific  hori- 
zon, and  to  inspire  youth  and  develop  the  spirit  of  research  in  them. 
The  reading  of  the  first  few  pages  of  the  book  is  sufficient  to  give  this 
impression  of  its  motive.  The  dedication  to  Alexander  von  Hum- 
boldt, unquestionably  the  man  of  most  universal  knowledge  of  his  time, 
attests  the  author's  desire  to  connect  botany  intimately  with  the  other 
sciences.  The  capital  importance  which  he  rightly  attached  to  method 
is  affirmed  by  the  title  which  he  gave  to  the  second  edition  of  his  trea- 
tise— "  Botany  as  an  Inductive  Science."  The  very  first  lines  of  his 
preface  show  that  he  does  not  intend  to  deal  with  a  science  of  words 
and  dreams,  but  of  observation,  experiment,  and  independent  thought. 
"  Whoever  thinks  he  can  learn  botany  in  this  book  may  as  well  put  it 
aside  at  once  without  reading  it,  for  botany  can  not  be  learned  from 
books."  In  this  work,  says  Dr.  Karl  Midler,  Schleiden  expressed  for 
the  first  time  a  full  comprehension  that  natural  science  was  essentially 
a  history  of  development,  and  expressed  it  in  such  a  manner  as  to  at- 
tract enthusiastic  youth  to  his  doctrine  while  he  incurred  the  hostility 
of  the  elders  in  science.  Among  the  salient  features  of  his  theory  are 
the  ascription  of  a  leading  part  in  all  morphological  questions  to  the 
study  of  the  development  of  the  organs,  and  his  putting  of  the  crypto- 
gams upon  a  footing  of  equality  in  consideration  with  phanerogams. 
Perhaps  no  innovation  in  science  has  been  so  fruitful  as  the  step  which 
gave  the  prominent  place  in  study  to  the  first,  stages  rather  than  to 
adult  forms,  to  inferior  beings  rather  than  to  elevated  and  complex 
groups. 

One  passage  in  the  "  Grundziige  "  is  worthy  of  especial  remark,  for 
the  evidence  it  bears  of  the  completeness  of  the  author's  rejection  of 
the  sterile  categories  of  the  older  philosophers,  and  of  his  having  been 
endowed  with  the  scientific  spirit  of  later  times.  "  The  division  of 
natural  objects  into  organic  and  inorganic  could  only  have  originated 
at  a  time  when  students  had  only  the  two  extremes  to  consider.  A 
person  comparing  a  lion  with  a  piece  of  chalk  would,  doubtless,  say 
that  the  difference  is  evident  to  all  the  senses.     But  let  him  compare 


26o  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

the  small,  almost  spherical  crystals  of  oxide  of  iron  with  the  minute, 
spherical  articulations  of  Ehrenberg's  Gallionella  ferruginea,  which 
likewise  consist  almost  exclusively  of  oxide  of  iron,  and  undeniably 
represent  organic  forms,  either  animal  or  vegetable  :  the  crude  antithe- 
sis disappears  at  once,  and  all  who  reflect  will  conceive  for  science  the 
possibility,  still  distant,  of  bringing  the  formation  of  both  kinds  under 
the  same  law  of  nature.  There  are  in  nature  thousands  of  these  ap- 
parent leaps,  like  that  from  the  inorganic  to  the  organism,  in  regard 
to  which  attentive  observation  will  reveal  to  us  gradual  differences  in- 
stead of  a  specific  distinction." 

This  work  excited  a  wide-spread  and  virulent  opposition  in  conse- 
quence of  the  bitterness  of  its  polemics,  its  severe  criticisms  of  the 
didactic  methods  of  investigation  and  the  dry  systems  in  vogue  at  the 
time,  and  its  sharp  personalities.  The  book  was  called  libelous  in 
France,  for  the  author,  according  to  Dr.  Karl  Midler,  seemed  to  speak 
well  of  no  one  except  Robert  Brown  and  Hugh  Mohl,  "  the  two  living 
men  whom  he  most  admired,"  and  was  not  sparing  in  his  criticisms  of 
them.  "  With  incomparable  acuteness,  and  with  equal  acerbity  against 
living  and  dead,  he  poured  out  such  a  flood  of  botanical  satires  and 
personal  antipathies  that  he  would  have  had  to  be  a  god  to  escape  the 
reaction  against  his  attacks  ;  and  the  day  when  this  was  to  take  place 
was  not  long  in  coming."  Yet,  he  did  not  let  his  vehement  criticisms 
go  fofth  without  making  an  excuse  for  them.  It  was  that  "  enough 
merit  still  exists  among  true  naturalists  to  permit  us  to  leave  the  busi- 
ness of  mutual  admiration  to  the  literary  beggars  of  belles-lettres  jour- 
nalism." Notwithstanding  this  opposition,  the  current  in  favor  of 
Schleiden's  conception  of  the  object  of  scientific  study  could  not  be 
diverted  ;  and  the  medical  faculty  of  Tubingen,  one  of  whose  mem- 
bers was  Schleiden's  most  eminent  opponent  in  a  number  of  special 
cases,  replied  to  his  acrid  charges  by  conferring  upon  him  its  honor- 
ary degree. 

Schleiden's  other  book,  "  Die  Pflanze  und  ihr  Leben  "  ("  The  Plant 
and  its  Life "),  the  object  of  which  was  to  popularize  botany,  had  a 
brilliant  success.  The  first  edition  of  1848  was  rapidly  followed  by 
other  editions,  and  the  work  appeared  in  the  course  of  the  next  ten  years 
in  one  French,  one  Dutch,  and  two  English  translations.  The  author, 
in  the  preface  to  this  work,  defines  his  object  as  follows  :  "  Most  peo- 
ple of  the  world,  even  the  most  enlightened,  are  still  in  the  habit  of 
regarding  the  botanist  as  a  dealer  in  barbarous  Latin  names,  as  a  man 
who  gathers  flowers,  names  them,  dries  them,  and  wraps  them  in  pa- 
per, and  all  of  whose  wisdom  consists  in  determining  and  classifying 
this  hay  which  he  has  collected  with  such  great  pains.  This  portrait 
of  the  botanist  was,  alas  !  recently  true  ;  but,  now  that  it  is  no  longer 
applicable  to  the  majority  among  us,  I  have  been  grieved  to  see  that 
many  still  hold  to  it.  So  I  have  endeavored  in  these  lectures  to  place 
within  the  reach  of  all  the  real  principles  of  botanical  science,  and  to 


SKETCH   OF  MATTHIAS  JACOB   SCHLEIDEN.      261 

show  how  it  is  intimately  connected  with  all  the  leading  problems  of 
philosophy  and  the  natural  sciences."  Beginning  with  an  account  of 
the  structure  of  plants  as  revealed  by  the  eye  and  the  microscope,  he 
recognizes  the  labors  of  Mohl,  Nageli,  Payen,  and  others,  and  even  has 
the  courage  to  admit  that  they  have  damaged  his  own  theory  of  the 
genesis  of  cells.  The  discussion  of  the  nutritive  elements  of  plants 
gives  him  occasion  to  do  justice  to  Hales,  De  Saussure,  Boussingault, 
and  Liebig,  his  long-time  adversary.  Then,  from  applied  botany,  he 
passes  to  the  two  sciences  which  were  quite  new  at  the  time,  of  botan- 
ical geography  and  paleontology  ;  and  he  concludes  with  a  chapter  in 
which  the  whole  subject  receives  an  sesthetical  treatment. 

Before  this  work  appeared,  however,  Schleiden,  discouraged  by  the 
success  of  the  assaults  upon  his  pet  theories,  had  suffered  a  loss  of  con- 
fidence in  himself  and  of  relish  for  pure  botany.  His  last  work  in  pure 
science  was  a  note  on  the  fructification  of  the  Rhizocarps,  published 
in  1846;  the  "Zeitschrift  fur  wissenschaftliche  Botanik"  ("Journal 
of  Scientific  Botany  "),  which  he,  with  Nageli,  had  founded  in  1844, 
ceased  to  appear  at  the  same  time. 

After  completing  the  third  edition  of  the  "  Grundziige  "  in  1850, 
the  failure  to  modify  or  improve  which  in  any  essential  particular 
emphasizes  his  loss  of  relish  for  the  pursuit,  Schleiden  withdrew  al- 
most entirely  from  the  arena  of  scientific  botany.  He  turned  his 
attention  to  anthropology  ;  and,  finally,  in  1862,  resigned  his  chair  of 
botany  at  Jena,  whence  he  repaired  to  Dresden.  "Still,  however, 
the  old  halo  wavered  around  his  head,"  and  he  was  called  to  the  Uni- 
versity of  Dorpat,  as  Professor  of  Botany  and  Anthropology,  with  the 
rank  of  a  Russian  councilor  of  state.  He  was  not  permitted  to  stay 
long  there,  however  ;  for,  being  accustomed  to  express  himself  too 
freely  on  ecclesiastical  subjects  in  his  public  addresses,  he  soon 
raised  a  strong  party  against  himself,  and  was  obliged  to  resign  his 
second  professorship  in  1864.  From  this  time  till  the  end  of  his 
life  he  resided  by  turns  at  Dresden,  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  Wiesba- 
den, and  again  at  Frankfort,  where  he  died  on  the  23d  of  June,  1881. 
Death  surprised  him  while  he  was  engaged  upon  a  work  on  the  horse, 
one  of  three  monographs  in  which  he  designed  to  illustrate  the  influ- 
ence of  natural  agents  upon  civilization,  choosing  as  examples  from 
each  of  the  three  kingdoms — salt,  the  rose,  and  the  horse.  The  two 
of  these  treatises  which  we  possess  are  models  of  their  kind. 

The  character  of  Schleiden  may  be  read  in  his  writings.  Ardent 
and  enthusiastic,  he  never  praised  or  blamed  by  halves  ;  but,  in  his 
most  animated  polemics,  there  appears  a  sincere  and  disinterested  con- 
viction that  commands  respect.  To  the  end  of  his  life  he  retained  a 
degree  of  youthfulness  in  his  thought  and  style.  He  had  the  imagina- 
tion of  a  poet,  with  the  scientific  spirit  to  guide  it ;  and  instead  of 
being  carried  away,  or  letting  his  readers  be  carried  away,  in  his 
flights,  he  is  constantly  calling  them  back  to  reality  and  reason.     He 


262  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

erred  in  that  he  relied  too  much  on  his  own  deductions,  and  did  not 
sufficiently  appreciate  the  importance  of  verifying  them  by  experiment 
and  close  observation.  Thus  it  came  about,  as  Karl  Midler  has  re- 
marked, that  he  has  given  us,  in  his  works,  "  a  diversified  mixture  of 
philosophical  prepossession,  jejune  observation,  and  fanciful  descrip- 
tion. Nevertheless,  despite  his  peculiar  weaknesses,  his  followers  rec- 
ognize him  as  a  reformer  of  botany,  and  allot  him  a  permanent  and 
eminent  place  in  the  history  of  that  science." 

Schleiden's  works  are  numerous  ;  we  will  mention  "  Grundziige  der 
wissenschaftlichen  Botanik"  (two  vols.,  Leipsic,  1842-'43)  ("Elements 
of  Scientific  Botany"),  fourth  edition  1861,  translated  into  English 
by  Dr.  Lankester,  London,  1849  ;  "  Die  Pflanz  und  ihr  Leben " 
("  The  Plant  and  its  Life"),  sixth  edition,  Leipsic,  1864,  translated  by 
Professor  Henfrey,  London,  1848  ;  "Handbuch  der  medicinisch  phar- 
maceutischen  Botanik"  ("Manual  of  Medicinal  Pharmaceutical  Bot- 
any"), (Leipsic,  1852)  ;  "Studien"  ("Studies"),  (second  edition  1857); 
"  Handbuch  der  botanischen  Pharmakognosie  "  ("  Manual  of  Botanical 
Pharmacology"),  (Leipsic,  1857)  ;  "Die  Landenge  von  Suez"  ("The 
Isthmus  of  Suez  "),  (1858)  ;  "  Zur  Theorie  des  Erkennens  durch  den 
Gesichtssinn "  ("Additions  to  the  Theory  of  Determination  by  the 
Sense  of  Sight"),  (Leipsic,  1861)  ;  "  Geognostische  Beschreibung  des 
Saalthals  bei  Jena "  ("  Geognostic  Description  of  the  Valley  of  the 
Saal  at  Jena"),  (Leipsic,  1846)  ;  "Beitrage  zur  Botanik"  ("Additions 
to  Botany)  ;  "  Pflanzen  und  Thierphysiologie  in  Encyklopadie  der 
theoretischen  Naturwissensckaf  t "  ("  Physiology  of  Plants  and  Ani- 
mals in  Encyclopaedia  for  Theoretical  Natural  Philosophy  "),  (Braun- 
schweig, 1850)  ;  "Gedichte"  (pseudonym  "Ernst"),  ("Poems")  (nom 
deplume  "Ernst "),  1858;  "  Das  Meer  "  ("  The  Ocean  "),  (Berlin,  1865); 
"Baum  und  Wald  "  ("Tree  and  Forest  "),  (1870)  ;  "Uber  den  Ma- 
terialismus  der  neueren  deutschen  Naturwissenschaf  t  "  ("  Materialism 
in  Modern  German  Natural  Philosophy  ")  ;  "  Die  Bedeutung  der  Juden 
fiir  die  Erhaltung  und  Wiederbelebung  der  "Wissenschaften  im  Mit- 
telalter  "  ("  The  Signification  of  the  Jews  in  the  Conservation  and  Re- 
vival of  the  Sciences  in  the  Middle  Ages  ") — a  work  demonstrating 
the  high  degree  of  culture  maintained  by  the  Jews,  even  during  the 
darkest  periods  of  history,  and  the  important  part  they  had  in  the 
development  of  science  and  letters  in  Christendom — (1877)  ;  "Die 
Romantik  des  Martyriums  bei  den  Juden  im  Mittelalter "  ("  The 
Romance  of  the  Jewish  Martyrology  of  the  Middle  Ages  "),  (Leij^sic, 
1878). 


ENTERTAINING    VARIETIES.  263 


ENTERTAINING   VARIETIES. 


Hindoo  Ascetics. — Hindostan  is  the  native  land  of  religious  fanaticism. 

Burke  ascribes  it  to  the  impressive  grandeur  of  Nature  (Himalayas,  great  rivers, 
East  Indian  tornadoes,  etc.)  ;  Jacqueniont,  to  subjective  peculiarities  of  the  East 
Aryan  races ;  but  the  fact  itself  admits  of  no  dispute  :  the  Hindoos,  as  a  nation, 
have  always  shown  a  remarkable  tendency  to  sacrifice  reason  to  faith,  earth  to 
heaven,  and  the  welfare  of  the  body  to  the  fancied  interests  of  the  soul.  The 
cave-temples  of  Ellora  are  said  to  have  been  excavated  by  volunteer  armies  of 
laborers ;  and,  in  a  country  where  large  hospitals  full  of  eupeptic  monkeys  can  be 
supported  by  voluntary  contributions,  such  things  are  by  no  means  impossible. 
During  the  yearly  assemblies  on  the  "  God-field,"  at  the  junction  of  the  Jumna 
and  Ganges,  many  devotees  sought  a  grave  in  the  depths  of  the  twice-holy  flood, 
and  Father  Ricot,  who  witnessed  one  of  these  festivals,  ascribes  the  extrava- 
ganzas of  the  pilgrims  to  the  momentary  inspiration  of  religious  frenzy ;  but  the 
achievements  of  the  fakirs  prove  that  even  the  modern  Hindoos  are  capable  of 
the  most  deliberate  self-sacrifice.  At  the  court  of  Baroda  the  spectators  often 
leave  the  circus-games  of  the  Guicowar  to  witness  the  stranger  performances  of 
a  self-torturer,  who,  "  for  the  edification  of  the  pious,"  skewers,  scorches,  or 
mutilates  himself  in  a  way  from  which  no  mortal  could  recover.  Nepaul,  the 
border-land  of  Buddhism  and  Brahmanism,  swarms  with  fakirs  as  Spain  with 
begging  friars.  On  the  highway  from  Goorkha  to  Benares  the  traveler  meets 
them  at  every  cross-road.  Some  of  them  content  themselves  with  sitting  bare- 
headed in  the  open  sun;  others  hang,  head  downward,  from  a  bar,  which  they 
clasp  with  their  hands  and  knees;  others  exhibit  self-inflicted  wounds,  gashed 
faces,  bared  and  splintered  ribs,  hands  and  feet  bristling  with  tenpenny  nails, 
as  if  they  had  undergone  crucifixion.  In  the  larger  cities,  where  the  public  is 
used  to  such  trifles,  the  more  ambitious  ascetics  load  themselves  with  wagon- 
chains,  or  bend  their  bodies  in  the  form  of  a  right  angle,  till  the  inflection  of  the 
spine  becomes  permanent.  Nay,  a  not  unfrequent  "penance"  consists  in  tying 
the  hands  to  the  ankles,  and  turning  round  and  round  like  a  cart-wheel.  Near 
Goruckpoor  the  train  of  Lord  Dalhousie  met  dozens  of  these  animated  monocy- 
cles,  some  of  whom  had  rolled  along  for  a  distance  of  several  hundred  miles! 

The  Buddhists,  with  their  superior  talent  for  organization,  have  whole  con- 
vents full  of  martyr-maniacs,  who  vie  in  the  rigor  and  extravagant  absurdity  of 
their  penances.  Even  novices  forswear  clothes  in  winter  and  cold  water  in 
summer,  and  sleep  on  gravel-piles.  The  sanctity  of  the  presbyters  is  computed 
by  the  quantity  of  nauseous  drugs  they  can  swallow.  Some  of  them  emulate 
Dr.  Tanner,  and  eat  only  once  a  day,  and  at  certain  seasons  only  once  a  week. 
Near  Rangoon,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Irrawaddy,  a  society  of  penitents  have  located 
their  convent  in  a  pestilential  swamp,  and  point  with  pride  to  their  open  windows, 
that  admit  every  variety  of  troublesome  insects.  A  thousand  miles  farther  north 
the  Thibetan  monastery  of  Sookung  braves  the  ice- storms  of  the  eastern  Hima- 
layas at  an  elevation  of  fourteen  thousand  five  hundred  feet.  The  monks  subsist 
on  the  charitable  contributions  of  the  neighboring  towns,  and  are  often  in  danger 
of  freezing  to  death  before  they  reach  their  castle  in  the  clouds ;  but  their  home- 
life  is  said  to  be  comparatively  comfortable,  especially  in  winter-time,  when 
visitors  are  rare,  for  asceticism  of  the  more  persistent  kind  seems  somehow  to 


264  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

depend  a  good  deal  on  public  approbation.  Simon  Stylites  bad  visitors  from  all 
parts  of  the  Cbristian  world,  wbo  admired  and  at  last  almost  worshiped  him. 
Besides  sticking  to  his  pillar,  he  had  a  trick  of  doubling  himself  up  till  his  fore- 
head almost  touched  his  narrow  pedestal.  At  evening  prayers  he  often  treated 
the  spectators  to  a  variety  of  Talmagian  gymnastics,  and,  if  they  implored  him 
to  come  down,  his  only  answer  was  a  grunt  of  stern  defiance.  In  a  lonely  desert 
he  probably  would  have  anticipated  their  wishes.  If  there  is  anything  meri- 
torious iu  self-torture,  the  Indian  fakirs,  too,  get  all  the  encouragement  they  de- 
serve. A  Hindoo,  who  might  dismiss  an  ordinary  beggar  with  a  kick,  would 
share  his  last  rice-cake  with  a  mendicant  presenting  himself  with  a  drag-chain 
round  his  neck  and  a  bull-ring  in  his  nose.  The  inventor  of  a  new  torture  can 
count  upon  a  liberal  share  of  public  patronage.  Tbe  English  garrison  of  Cawn- 
poor  was  once  honored  by  the  presence  of  a  Mlschi/,  or  religious  devotee,  who 
had  stationed  himself  in  a  corner  of  their  parade-ground,  and  promoted  the  wel- 
fare of  his  soul  by  squatting  down  between  two  blazing  fires,  while  the  sun  in- 
flicted its  caloric  on  his  shaven  head.  A  crowd  of  natives  watched  him  with 
respectful  admiration,  and,  whenever  one  of  his  fires  threatened  to  go  out,  they 
fetched  in  a  fresh  supply  of  fuel,  to  further  the  progress  of  the  good  work. 

The  exploits  of  a  sensational  iilschu  become  the  boast  of  his  native  place. 
Rass-el-Shork  and  Rass-el-Hissam,  two  suburbs  of  Delhi,  had  several  riots  about 
the  respective  merits  of  their  fakirs.  The  matter  was  finally  referred  to  a  Mo- 
hammedan umpire,  and  the  men  of  Hissam  proved  that  their  hero  had  passed 
forty-eight  hours  in  tenter-hooks,  and  glorified  Brahma  by  eating  a  three-pound 
bundle  of  wormwood,  while  the  Shork  party  claimed  the  prize  of  virtue  for  a 
saint  who  had  swallowed  a  gallon  of  cajeput-oil,  and  turned  somersaults  till  the 
arithmetic  of  the  suburb  failed  to  express  the  number  of  thousands.  He  had 
also  rolled  himself  from  Delhi  to  Agra,  fasted  a  full  week,  and  abstained  from 
drinking  water  while  he  counted  the  number  of  grains  in  a  two-bushel  measure 
of  millet-seeds.  But  all  his  labors  proved  in  vain  when  the  umpire  learned  that 
the  Hissam  champion  had  once  sat  two  days  and  a  night  in  a  nest-hill  of  the 
Formica  rvfa  (a  kind  of  red  horse-ants). 

Our  word  fakir  is  derived  from  the  Arabian  falchar,  a  pauper,  a  mendicant. 
The  Mohammedan  dervishes,  however,  do  not  entirely  part  with  their  reason, 
though  the  Sufi  sect  believes  in  the  sanctifying  influence  of  celibacy  and  solitude. 
The  Brahmans  and  Buddhists  are  both  ultra-ascetic,  but  with  this  difference : 
that  the  former  practice  their  penances  as  an  expiation  of  some  special  sin  ;  the 
others  on  general  principles,  and  with  a  view  of  subduing  the  vitality  of  the 
body,  for  the  world-blighting  dogma  of  the  antagonism  of  body  and  soul  seems 
to  have  been  first  promulgated  by  Buddha  Sakya-Muni,  the  Nepaul  arch-pessi- 
mist. 

In  the  columns  of  the  "  Catholic  World  "  for  August,  the  Rev.  J.  F. 

Callahan,  D.  D.,  discusses  the  "  Cincinnati  Pastoral  "  and  its  critics:  "Liberty," 
says  the  Rev.  J.  F.  C,  D.  D.,  "never  did  exist  except  under  the  shadow  of  the 
cross.  Equality  has  no  home  except  at  the  altar  on  which  the  shadow  of  that 
cross  falls.  Take  the  Catholic  Church  out  of  the  world,  and  liberty  would  sink 
into  an  eternal  grave.  If  Protestant  nations  are  free,  it  is  because  they  once 
were  Catholics.  If  a  republic  was  built  in  this  New  World,  Catholic  principles 
were  the  architect." 

The  absolute  truth  of  the  above  rivals  the  candor  of  Dr.  Christlieb's  "  Short 
Method  with  Infidels."  Evidently  the  "  persecuted  classes,"  as  the  "Bavarian 
Brewers'  Union  "  calls  the  Romanists  and  liquor-dealers,  are  learning  the  art  of 


ENTERTAINING    VARIETIES.  265 

turning  the  tables  against  their  aggressors.  The  next  issue  of  the  "  B.  B.  U." 
will  probably  contain  the  following  counterblast  against  the  recent  amendment 
of  the  Iowa  Constitution :  "  Happiness  never  did  exist  except  in  an  atmosphere 
of  alcohol.  Health  has  no  home  except  at  a  fireside  redolent  with  the  smell 
of  that  atmosphere.  Take  distilleries  out  of  the  world,  and  manhood  would 
sink  into  an  eternal  grave.  Wherever  a  healthy  constitution  has  been  built  up, 
alcoholic  stimulants  were  the  architect.  If  total  abstainers  are  healthy,  it  is 
because  their  fathers  were  topers." 

In  "  graphic  descriptions  "  one  touch  of  nature  is  worth  a  page  of  im- 
aginary details:  hence  the  realism  of  rustic  poetry.  The  Ettrick  Shepherd  had 
passages  of  that  sort  that  redeem  all  his  barbarisms,  and  beat  Goethe  and  Words- 
worth at  their  own  tricks.  E.  g.,  his  description  of  a  Lanarkshire  snow-storm 
that  cost  the  life  of  a  Scotch  Leander : 

"  But  the  snaw  was  so  deep,  and  his  heart  it  grew  weary, 
And  he  sank  down  to  sleep  on  the  moorland  so  dreary. 
Oh,  soft  was  the  couch  and  embi'oidcred  the  cover, 
And  white  were  the  sheets  she  had  spread  for  her  lover ; 
But  his  couch  is  more  white,  and  his  canopy  grander, 
And  sounder  he  sleeps  where  the  hill-foxes  wander.'''' 

■■ "  A  false  system  with  a  fabulous  historical  record,  and  enforced  by  pre- 


posterously wrong  methods,"  Diderot  calls  a  certain  anti-natural  religion. 

"Voltaire  came  before  the  Eevolution  like  lightning  before  thunder." 

"  Experience  is  like  a  persistent  coquette.  Tears  pass  before  you  can  win 
her,  and,  if  you  finally  may  call  her  your  own,  you  are  both  superannuated,  and 
have  no  use  for  one  another." 

"  The  secret  of  every  power  consists  in  the  knowledge  that  others  are  still 
greater  cowards." 

"  Our  time  is  not  favorable  to  logic.  So  many  candles  need  snuffing,  that 
there  is  no  chance  for  clear-seeing." 

"  All  men  love  freedom.  But  the  just  demands  it  for  all,  the  unjust  for  him- 
self alone." — Ltjdwig  Boene. 

Some  people  seem  born  to  be  lucky  in  spite  of  themselves.     General 

Skobeleff  was  originally  destined  for  the  bar,  but  before  he  was  too  old  his  pug- 
nacious disposition  caused  his  expulsion  from  college,  and  thus  drove  him  into 
his  right  career,  and  by  a  series  of  equally  well-timed  scrapes  at  last  into  a  field 
where  he  could  follow  his  penchant  with  glory,  as  well  as  impunity.  His  pet 
project  was  a  war  against  Prussia,  and  the  timely  accession  of  a  Pan-Slavistic 
Czar  enabled  him  to  achieve  popularity  by  a  free  expression  of  his  anti-German 
sentiments.  He  became  the  idol  of  his  nation,  and  died  in  time  to  escape  the 
horrible  thrashing  that  will  follow  the  attempt  to  realize  his  favorite  project. 

There  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun  ;  even  our  forestry  associations  had 

their  prototypes  in  pagan  Borne  and  Moorish  Spain.  Al  Moctader,  the  Caliph 
of  Bagdad  (1094-1117),  also  planted  millions  of  forest-trees ;  and  it  is  a  distress- 
ing fact  that  then,  as  now,  many  clear-sighted  men  foretold  the  consequences  of 
reckless  forest-destruction,  and  that  their  protests  had  no  appreciable  influence 
in  checking  the  evil.  The  trouble  seems  to  be  that  tree-felling  is  directly  profit- 
able and  only  eventually  injurious,  while  tree-planting  is  directly  expensive  and 
only  indirectly  advantageous.  Forest-destruction  has  ruined  our  earthly  para- 
dise, and  the  scientific  authorities  of  all  really  enlightened  nations  have  de- 


266  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

nouncecl  it  again  and  again ;  but,  before  such  arguments  can  influence  the  masses, 
they  must  cease  to  seek  their  paradise  in  the  clouds  and  their  authorities  in 
Palestine. 

In  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge,  only  the  newspaper-educated 


natives  of  our  Northeastern  cities  can  compare  with  the  Saracens  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  Under  her  last  caliphs,  Cordova  alone  had  fourteen  lyceums  and  nine 
hundred  and  fifty  primary  schools  ;  the  transcription  of  the  ancient  classics  em- 
ployed an  army  of  copyists,  and  the  provincial  governors  vied  in  patronizing 
men  of  letters.  From  Leon  to  Granada  every  hamlet  had  its  own  library,  and 
the  lord  of  every  castle  a  private  cabinet  of  curios  or  an  astronomical  observatory. 
But  during  the  next  two  centuries  a  horde  of  ecclesiastic  Vandals  marched  in  the 
wake  of  the  Christian  armies,  and  special  commissioners  of  the  Casa  Santa  trav- 
eled from  place  to  place,  burning  Unitarians  and  destroying  Arabian  manu- 
scripts. 

"What  literary  treasures  may  have  perished  in  that  way !  The  Spanish  Moris- 
coes,  the  last  free  and  manly  nation  of  the  Old  World,  succumbed  to  the  hirelings 
of  the  Holy  Inquisition;  but  Providence  generally  remedies  a  calamity  of  that 
sort,  and  the  fall  of  Granada  coincided  with  the  discovery  of  a  New  World. 

A  Maori  Cosmogony. — Eichard  Oberliinder,  in  his  "  Strange  Peoples," 


gives  the  following  as  a  cosmogony  of  the  New-Zealanders :  Maui  was  a  hero 
who  performed  as  wondei-ful  labors  as  the  Grecian  Heracles.  He  was  not  only 
the  inventor  of  the  arts  of  making  boats  and  building  houses  and  the  like,  but 
he  appointed  the  paths  of  the  sun  and  the  moon,  and  was  the  creator  of  the 
earth,  which  he  fished  out  of  the  sea  in  this  way :  He  said  one  clay  to  his  five 
brothers,  who  were  devoted  fishermen,  that  he  would  go  with  them  and  catch 
so  large  a  fish  that  they  would  not  be  able  to  hold  him.  Now,  because  they 
knew  what  an  enchanter  he  was,  and  were  afraid  of  his  art,  they  were  not  will- 
ing to  take  him  in  the  boat  with  them.  Nevertheless,  Maui  went  with  them. 
He  changed  himself  into  a  bird,  flew  into  the  canoe,  and  did  not  make  himself 
known  till  they  had  got  into  the  open  sea.  When  they  had  got  far  out  into  the 
sea,  Maui  wanted  to  fish ;  he  had  a  precious  fish-hook  with  him,  which  he  had 
made  out  of  his  grandfather's  jaw-bone;  but  his  brothers,  to  keep  him  from 
fishing,  refused  to  give  him  any  bait.  Then  Maui  beat  his  face  till  his  nose 
bled,  and  soaked  some  tow  that  he  found  in  the  canoe  with  the  blood.  That 
was  the  bait.  Maui  threw  out  his  hook,  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  had  a 
bite,  with  a  tug  that  made  the  brothers  afraid  the  boat  would  be  upset.  So  they 
cried  out,  "Let  go,  Maui!  "  "Maui  never  lets  go  of  what  he  holds,"  was  the 
answer,  and  it  has  become  a  proverb  with  the  Maoris.  He  pulled  and  pulled  at 
the  line  till  he  pulled  up  a  land.  ^  Ranga ichenna!  "  exclaimed  the  brothers, 
"the  fish  is  a  land!  "  Maui  asked  them  if  they  knew  the  name  of  the  fish,  and, 
when  they  said  no,  he  told  them  " Eaha  wheima"  (the  looked-for  land.)  After 
the  fish  was  pulled  up,  the  brothers  hastened  to  divide  it  among  themselves ; 
they  pulled  and  tore  in  every  direction ;  hence  come  the  inequalities  of  the  island. 
The  canoe  was  stranded  by  the  rising  of  the  land,  and  the  Maoris  say  now  that 
it  lies  on  the  top  of  Mount  Iknurangi,  near  the  eastern  cape  of  the  island,  where 
Maui  is  also  buried.  After  this  story,  the  northern  island  of  New  Zealand  is 
called  AM  na  Maid  (the  fish  of  Maui). 

"  They  sow  not,  they  reap  not,  they  trust  in  Providence,  and  honor  you 


by  sharing  the  fruits   of  your  worldly  industry,"  is  the  gist  of  St.  Francis  of 
Assisi's  argument  in  favor  of  the  mendicant  friars.     The  Hindoos  are  consistent 


ENTERTAINING    VARIETIES.  267 

enough  to  grant  the  same  privileges  to  monkeys  and  crocodiles.  In  Lucknow 
there  are  two  large  monkey-hospitals,  and  several  mahakhunds,  where  swarms  of 
able-bodied  Entellus-apes  ("  Honumans ")  and  Rhesus  baboons  are  fed  at  the 
expense  of  true  believers.  They  get  rice-pudding  and  sirup  for  dinner,  while 
many  hard-working  but  less  sacred  bipeds  have  to  eat  their  rice  "  straight."  But 
during  the  Sepoy  rebellion  the  Mohammedan  insurgents  destroyed  one  of  these 
establishments  and  expelled  the  inmates,  including  several  venerable  specimens 
of  the  white-headed  Entellus,  the  holiest  animal  in  the  menagerie  of  the  Hindoo 
Pantheon.  For  many  weeks  these  long-tailed  saints  perambulated  the  streets  in 
quest  of  cold  lunch ;  and  an  eye-witness,  Mrs.  Allen  Mackenzie,  describes  the 
indignation  of  the  orthodox  natives,  who  organized  relief  committees  and  mon- 
key soup-houses,  though  the  protracted  siege  had  almost  exhausted  their  own 
resources.  To  make  matters  worse,  the  streets  swarmed  with  profane  monkeys 
who  had  to  forage  for  a  living,  and  had  no  hesitation  in  black-mailing  their  sacred 
relatives.  The  Honumans  had  to  submit  to  such  outrages;  nay,  some  of  them 
learned  to  eat  their  rice-pudding  without  sirup,  and  probably  consoled  them- 
selves with  the  hope  of  a  better  hereafter.  They  wandered  from  house  to  house, 
and  in  their  great  distress  even  accepted  the  assistance  of  unbelievers,  but  they 
absolutely  refused  to  work. 

A    Cheerful  Summer  Resort. — On  the  hunting-grounds  of    the  lower 

Lena,  where  the  Fahrenheit  thermometer  often  remains  for  weeks  at  45°  below 
zero,  the  Russian  convicts  are  dressed  in  linen  jackets,  and  wear  tretschhi  (raw- 
hide shoes)  without  stockings.  And  yet  they  form  the  elite  corps  of  the  Siberian 
exiles — murderers,  forgers,  and  highway  robbers.  Political  offenders  are  sent 
to  the  mines  of  Berezov,  where  the  average  duration  of  life,  or  rather  of  slow 
death,  is  eight  years  and  four  months.  The  majority  of  the  convicts  die  in  less 
than  five  years.  Minors  work  there  from  6  a.  m.  till  noon,  and  from  2  to  6 
p.  m.  ;  adults  from  6  a.  m.  to  6  p.  m.,  without  intermission.  They  have  no  Sunday, 
and  only  one  holiday  in  the  year,  the  birthday  of  the  Czar.  Their  rations  are 
those  of  a  private  soldier,  viz.,  rye-bread  and  salt  beef.  After  dark  they  are 
confined  in  log-pens,  and  have  to  pass  the  nights  of  the  long  Siberian  winter 
between  two  army-blankets,  the  one  covering  the  rough-hewed  logs  of  the  floor, 
the  other  their  starved  bodies,  wrapped  in  the  coarse  linen  uniform  which  they 
are  permitted  to  change  only  once  a  month.  Chimney-fires  are  allowed  during 
the  supper-hour,  i.  e.,  from  6  to  7  p.m.,  but  the  majority  swallow  their  food  in 
the  dark,  and  devote  the  short  interval  of  light  and  warmth  to — entomological 
researches.  The  discipline  is  that  of  a  dog-kennel — kicks  and  cudgel-blows — and 
malingering  is  discouraged  by  a  simple  and  effective  method :  the  sick  (wounded 
excepted)  are  put  on  quarter-rations.  Attempts  at  flight  are  less  frequent  than 
riots,  for  recaptured  fugitives  were  knouted;  mutineers  are  only  shot. 

Human  beings  can  get  used  to  worse  things  than  Siberian  rye-bread,  but 
never  to  Siberian  frosts,  and  the  monthly  fuel  rations  of  the  Berezov  convicts 
are  limited  to  one  stavsnih  (about  half  a  cord)  per  cabin,  though  near  the  mines 
of  the  western  slope  the  same  mountain-range  abounds  with  densely  timbered 
districts.  In  an  interview  with  the  commander  of  Berezov,  a  correspondent  of 
the  "Cologne  Gazette"  suggested  the  propriety  of  removing  the  settlement  to 
the  timber-region.  "  It  would  probably  please  the  prisoners,"  replied  the  com- 
mander, but  the  comfort  of  their  keepers  was  of  more  consequence,  and  all  his 
subalterns  agreed  that,  on  account  of  the  trout-streams  and  cranberry-brakes  of 
the  eastern  slope,  Berezov  was  a  more  pleasant  summer  resort. 


268 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


EDITOR'S    TABLE. 


SPENCER'S  IMPRESSIONS  OF  AMERICA. 

THERE  was  a  strong  and  perhaps  a 
quite  laudable  curiosity  on  the  part 
of  many  pople  to  know  what  impression 
had  been  made  upon  the  mind  of  Her- 
bert Spencer  when  first  coming  to  this 
country.  It  was  certainly  something 
more  than  an  idle  curiosity  on  the  part 
of  a  large  number  of  our  citizens  to 
learn  his  impressions,  because  it  was 
widely  kown  that  he  is  a  philosophic- 
al student  of  national  institutions,  and 
probably  the  highest  living  authority 
on  the  science  of  human  society.  He 
has  been  very  widely  read  and  much 
studied  in  this  country,  and  it  was  felt 
that  his  views,  whether  favorable  or 
not,  would  certainly  be  interesting,  and 
his  criticisms,  if  he  made  any,  suggest- 
ive aud  valuable. 

And  it  was  no  doubt  because  of  his 
respect  for  this  sincere  desire,  to  get  at 
his  real  views,  that  Mr.  Spencer  persist- 
ently declined  to  be  hastily  and  prema- 
turely interviewed  by  the  professionals 
of  the  press,  whose  ways  of  doing  such 
things  are  not  always  favorable  to  the 
representation  of  important  truths. 
"What  they  generally  most  want  is  friv- 
olous gossip  and  personal  particulars, 
to  be  dressed  up  for  sensational  pur- 
poses, and  to  be  had  exclusively  for  the 
benefit  of  enterprising  newspapers.  Mr. 
Spencer  was  indeed  repeatedly  applied 
to  by  reporters  of  a  better  character 
who  woidd  have  represented  him  in  his 
own  way,  and  with  fullness  and  fair- 
ness, but  the  state  of  his  health  long 
made  it  impossible  that  he  could  consent 
to  be  questioned. 

And  there  was  certainly  plenty  of 
reason  why  he  should  be  in  no  hurry  to 
venture  upon  an  expression  of  opinion 
regarding  American  social  and  political 
affairs.  It  was  easy  enough  to  say  how 
he  was  struck  by  the  external  aspects 


of  American  life,  but  it  was  not  so  easy 
to  get  familiar  with  the  working  of  the 
internal  elements  and  forces  of  our 
social  and  political  life.  It  was  easy 
enough  to  compare  our  cities,  steam- 
boats, railroads,  rural  scenery,  and  open 
habits  of  the  people  with  those  of  the 
olden  countries,  but  a  very  different 
thing  to  form  an  intelligent  judgment 
of  the  operation  of  complex  institutions 
and  the  slow-working  social  tendencies 
in  a  nation  that  covers  a  continent.  Per- 
haps no  living  man  is  so  well  aware  of 
the  magnitude  and  the  difficulties  of  the 
problems  now  being  worked  out  by  the 
people  of  these  associated  States  as  Mr. 
Spencer,  and  he  could  not  but  feel  that 
a  two  months'  sojourn  among  us  in  a 
very  unfavorable  state  of  health  was 
but  a  very  insufficient  preparation  for 
an  intelligent  verdict  upon  American 
social  and  political  problems.  Yet  his 
previous  occupation  with  such  subjects 
certainly  qualified  him  to  form  opinions 
of  what  he  saw  and  heard  and  at  the 
proper  time  he  had  no  hesitation  in  ex- 
pressing them. 

And  that  he  was  prepared  to  speak 
a  good  deal  to  the  point,  to  offer  views 
of  moment,  and  suggest  weighty  criti- 
cisms, has  been  sufficiently  proved  by 
the  way  his  opinions  have  been  received 
in  all  quai'ters.  They  have  been  very 
extensively  published  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific,  and  as  extensively  com- 
mented upon.  No  such  message  from 
any  foreigner  has  ever  compelled  equal 
attention,  or  been  received  in  a  better 
spirit.  There  has  been  very  wide  agree- 
ment with  Mr.  Spencer's  most  impor- 
tant statements,  and,  where  assent  has 
been  denied,  it  has  still  been  recognized 
that  the  questions  raised  are  fundament- 
al, and  that  Mr.  Spencer  has  done  us 
an  eminent  service  in  setting  people  to 
thinking  about  the  sources  of  danger  to 


EDITOR'S   TABLE. 


269 


our  institutions,  and  the  duties  of  citi- 
zens in  regard  to  them. 

In  one  respect  the  time  of  publica- 
tion was  somewhat  unfortunate.  The 
results  of  the  interview  were  offered  to 
the  New  York  press  to  all  the  New  York 
newspapers  at  the  same  time  and  with- 
out previous  notice,  and,  as  the  columns 
of  the  press  are  generally  much  crowded 
in  an  active  political  campaign,  there 
was  some  difficulty  in  publishing  the 
communication.  Several  papers  felt  it 
necessary  to  shorten  it  by  omitting  what 
they  regarded  as  the  less  important 
parts,  so  that  imperfect  representations 
of  the  interview  were  extensively  cir- 
culated and  republished.  This  being 
known,  there  has  been  a  good  deal  of 
call  for  the  document  in  its  complete 
form,  which  could  not  be  met.  We  have 
accordingly  thought  it  best  to  reprint 
the  interview  in  full.  It  will  certainly 
not  be  news  to  our  readers,  but  it  may 
be  well  to  have  a  permanent  record  of 
it  for  future  reference  : 

Hearing  that  Herbert  Spencer  had  re- 
turned to  New  York  in  a  somewhat  im- 
proved condition  of  health,  an  intimate 
American  friend  obtained  his  consent  to  be 
questioned  regarding  his  impressions  of  this 
country  to  the  following  effect : 

I  believe,  Mr.  Spencer,  that  you  have  not 
been  interviewed  since  your  arrival  in  this 
country  \ 

I  have  not.  The  statements  in  the 
newspapers  implying  personal  intercourse 
are  unauthorized,  and  many  of  them  incor- 
rect. It  was  said,  for  example,  that  I  was 
ill  from  the  effects  of  the  voyage ;  the  truth 
being  that  I  suffered  no  inconvenience  what- 
ever, save  that  arising  from  disturbed  rest. 
Subsequent  accounts  of  me  in  respect  of 
disorders,  diet,  dress,  habits,  etc.,  have  been 
equally  wide  of  the  mark. 

Have  these  misrepresentations  been  an- 
noying to  you  ? 

In  some  measure,  though  I  am  not  very 
sensitive ;  but  I  have  been  chiefly  annoyed 
by  statements  which  affect,  not  myself  only, 
but  others.  For  some  ten  days  or  more 
there  went  on  reappearing  in  various  jour- 


nals, an  alleged  opinion  of  mine  concerning 
Mr.  Oscar  Wilde.  The  statement  that  I 
had  uttered  it  was  absolutely  baseless.  I 
have  expressed  no  opinion  whatever  con- 
cerning Mr.  Oscar  Wilde.  Naturally,  those 
who  put  in  circulation  fictions  of  this  kind 
may  be  expected  to  mix  much  fiction  with 
what  fact  they  report. 

Might  not  this    misrepresentation    have 
been  avoided,  by  admitting  interviewers  ? 

Possibly ;  but,  in  the  first  place,  I  have 
not  been  sufficiently  well ;  and,  in  the  sec- 
ond place,  I  am  averse  to  the  system.     To 
have  to  submit  to  cross-examination,  under 
penalty  of  having  ill-natured  things  said  if 
one  refuses,  is  an  invasion  of  personal  lib- 
erty which  I  dislike.      Moreover,  there  is 
implied  what  seems  to  me  an  undue  love  of 
personalities.     Your  journals  recall  a  wit- 
ticism of  the  poet  Heine,  who  said   that 
"  when  a  woman  writes  a  novel,  she  has  one 
eye  on  the  paper  and  the  other  on  some 
man — except  the  Countess  Hahn-hahn,  who 
has  only  one  eye."    In  like  manner,  it  seems 
to  me  that  in  the  political  discussions  that 
fill  your  papers,  everything  is  treated  in  con- 
nection with  the  doings  of  individuals — some 
candidate  for  office,  or  some  "  boss  "  or  wire- 
puller.    I  think  it  not  improbable  that  this 
appetite  for  personalities,  among  other  evils, 
generates   this   recklessness  of    statement. 
The  appetite  must  be  ministered  to ;  and  in 
the  eagerness  to  satisfy  its  cravings,  there 
comes  less  and  less  care  respecting  the  cor- 
rectness of  what  is  said. 

Has  what  you  have  seen  answered  your 
expectations  ? 

It  has  far  exceeded  them.  Such  books 
about  America  as  I  had  looked  into,  had 
given  me  no  adequate  idea  of  the  immense 
developments  of  material  civilization  which 
I  have  everywhere  found.  The  extent, 
wealth,  and  magnificence  of  your  cities,  and 
especially  the  splendor  of  New  York,  have 
altogether  astonished  me.  Though  I  have 
not  visited  the  wonder  of  the  West,  Chi- 
cago, yet  some  of  your  minor  modern  places, 
such  as  Cleveland,  have  sufficiently  amazed 
me,  by  the  marvelous  results  of  one  gener- 
ation's activity.  Occasionally,  when  I  have 
been  in  places  of  some  ten  thousand  in- 
habitants, where  the  telephone  is  in  general 
use,  I  have  felt  somewhat  ashamed  of  our 


270 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


own  unenterprising  towns ;  many  of  which, 
of  fifty  thousand  inhabitants  and  more, 
make  no  use  of  it. 

I  suppose  you  recognize  in  these  results 
the  great  benefit  of  free  institutions  ? 

Ah,  now  comes  one  of  the  inconven- 
iences of  interviewing.  I  have  been  in  the 
country  less  than  two  months;  have  seen 
but  a  relatively  small  part  of  it,  and  but 
comparatively  few  people ;  and  yet  you  wish 
from  me  a  definite  opinion  on  a  difficult 
question. 

Perhaps  you  will  answer,  subject  to  the 
qualification  that  you  are  but  giving  your 
first  impressions  ? 

Well,  with  that  understanding,  I  may 
reply  that,  though  free  institutions  have 
been  partly  the  cause,  I  think  they  have 
not  been  the  chief  cause.  In  the  first  place, 
the  American  people  have  come  into  posses- 
sion of  an  unparalleled  fortune — the  mineral 
wealth,  and  the  vast  tracts  of  virgin  soil  pro- 
ducing abundantly  with  small  cost  of  culture. 
Manifestly  that  alone  goes  a  long  way  to- 
ward producing  this  enormous  prosperity. 
Then  they  have  profited  by  inheriting  all 
the  arts,  appliances,  methods,  developed  by 
older  societies,  while  leaving  behind  the  ob- 
structions existing  in  them.  They  have 
been  able  to  pick  and  choose  from  the  prod- 
ucts of  all  past  experience;  appropriating 
the  good  and  rejecting  the  bad.  Then,  be- 
sides these  favors  of  fortune,  there  are  fac- 
tors proper  to  themselves.  I  perceive  in 
American  faces  generally,  a  great  amount  of 
determination — a  kind  of  "  do  or  die  "  ex- 
pression ;  and  this  trait  of  character,  joined 
with  a  power  of  work  exceeding  that  of 
any  other  people,  of  course  produces  an  un- 
paralleled rapidity  of  progress.  Once  more, 
there  is  the  inventiveness,  which,  stimulated 
by  the  need  for  economizing  labor,  has  been 
so  wisely  fostered.  Among  us  in  England, 
there  are  many  foolish  people  who,  while 
thinking  that  a  man  who  toils  with  his 
hands  has  an  equitable  claim  to  the  product, 
and,  if  he  has  special  skill,  may  rightly  have 
the  advantage  of  it,  also  hold  that  if  a  man 
toils  with  his  brain,  perhaps  for  years,  and, 
uniting  genius  with  perseverance,  evolves 
some  valuable  invention,  the  public  may 
rightly  claim  the  benefit.  The  Americans 
have  been  more  far-seeing.     The  enormous 


museum  of  patents  which  I  saw  at  Wash- 
ington, is  significant  of  the  attention  paid  to 
inventors'  claims;  and  the  nation  profits 
immensely  from  having,  in  this  direction 
(though  not  in  all  others),  recognized  prop- 
erty in  mental  products.  Beyond  question, 
in  respect  of  mechanical  appliances,  the 
Americans  are  ahead  of  all  nations.  If, 
along  with  your  material  progress,  there 
went  equal  progress  of  a  higher  kind,  there 
would  remain  nothing  to  be  wished. 

That  is  an  ambiguous  qualification.  What 
do  you  mean  by  it  ? 

You  will  understand  when  I  tell  you 
what  I  was  thinking  of  the  other  day. 
After  pondering  over  what  I  have  seen  of 
your  vast  manufacturing  and  trading  estab- 
lishments, the  rush  of  traffic  in  your  street- 
cars and  elevated  railways,  your  gigantic 
hotels  and  Fifth  Avenue  palaces,  I  was 
suddenly  reminded  of  the  Italian  republics 
of  the  middle  ages ;  and  recalled  the  fact 
that,  while  there  was  growing  up  in  them 
great  commercial  activity,  a  development  of 
the  arts  which  made  them  the  envy  of  Eu- 
rope, and  a  building  of  princely  mansions 
which  continue  to  be  the  admiration  of  trav- 
elers, their  people  were  gradually  losing  their 
freedom. 

Do  you  mean  this  as  a  suggestion  that  we 
are  doing  the  like  ? 

It  seems  to  me  that  you  are.  You  re- 
tain the  forms  of  freedom,  but,  so  far  as 
I  can  gather,  there  has  been  a  consider- 
able loss  of  the  substance.  It  is  true  that 
those  who  rule  you  do  not  do  it  by  means 
of  retainers  armed  with  swords ;  but  they  do 
it  through  regiments  of  men  armed  with 
voting-papers,  who  obey  the  word  of  com- 
mand as  loyally  as  did  the  dependants  of 
the  old  feudal  nobles,  and  who  thus  enable 
their  leaders  to  override  the  general  will 
and  make  the  community  submit  to  their 
exactions  as  effectually  as  their  prototypes 
of  old.  It  is  doubtless  true  that  each  of 
your  citizens  votes  for  the  candidate  he 
chooses  for  this  or  that  office,  from  Presi- 
dent downward,  but  his  hand  is  guided  by  a 
power  behind,  which  leaves  him  scarcely 
any  choice.  "  Use  your  political  power  as 
we  tell  you,  or  else  throw  it  away,"  is  the 
alternative  offered  to  the  citizen.  The  po- 
litical machinery  as  it  is  now  worked  has 


EDITOR'S   TABLE. 


271 


little  resemblance  to  that  contemplated  at 
the  outset  of  your  political  life.  Manifestly, 
those  who  framed  your  constitution  never 
dreamed  that  twenty  thousand  citizens  would 
go  to  the  poll  led  by  a  "  boss."  America 
exemplifies,  at  the  other  end  of  the  social 
scale,  a  change  analogous  to  that  which  has 
taken  place  under  sundry  despotisms.  You 
know  that  in  Japan,  before  the  recent  revo- 
lution, the  divine  ruler,  the  Mikado,  nomi- 
nally supreme,  was  practically  a  puppet  in 
the  hands  of  his  chief  minister,  the  Shogun. 
Here  it  seems  to  me  that  the  "  sovereign 
people  "  is  fast  becoming  a  puppet  which 
moves  and  speaks  as  wire-pullers  determine. 

Then  you  think  that  republican  institu- 
tions are  a  failure  ? 

By  no  means !  I  imply  no  such  con- 
clusion. Thirty  years  ago,  when  often  dis- 
cussing politics  with  an  English  friend,  and 
defending  republican  institutions,  as  I  al- 
ways have  done  and  do  still ;  and  when  he 
urged  against  me  the  ill-working  of  such 
institutions  over  here  ;  I  habitually  replied 
that  the  Americans  got  their  form  of  gov- 
ernment by  a  happy  accident,  not  by  nor- 
mal progress,  and  that  they  would  have  to 
go  back  before  they  could  go  forward. 
What  has  since  happened  seems  to  me  to 
have  justified  that  view;  and  what  I  see 
now  confirms  me  in  it.  America  is  show- 
ing on  a  larger  scale  than  ever  before,  that 
"  paper  constitutions  "  will  not  work  as  they 
are  intended  to  work.  The  truth,  first  rec- 
ognized by  Mackintosh,  that  "  constitutions 
are  not  made,  but  grow,"  which  is  part  of 
the  larger  truth  that  societies  throughout 
their  whole  organizations  are  not  made  but 
grow,  at  once,  when  accepted,  disposes  of 
the  notion  that  you  can  work,  as  you  hope, 
any  artificially-devised  system  of  govern- 
ment. It  becomes  an  inference  that  if  your 
political  structure  has  been  manufactured, 
and  not  grown.it  will  forthwith  begin  to 
grow  into  something  different  from  that 
intended — something  in  harmony  with  the 
natures  of  citizens  and  the  conditions  un- 
der which  the  society  exists.  And  it  evi- 
dently has  been  so  with  you.  Within  the 
forms  of  your  constitution  there  has  grown 
up  this  organization  of  professional  poli- 
ticians, altogether  uncontemplated  at  the 
outset,  which  has  become  in  large  measure 
the  ruling  power. 


But  will  not  education  and  the  diffusion  ot 
political  knowledge  fit  men  for  free  institu- 
tions ? 

No.  It  is  essentially  a  question  of 
character,  and  only  in  a  secondary  degree 
a  question  of  knowledge.  But  for  the  uni- 
versal delusion  about  education  as  a  pana- 
cea for  political  evils,  this  would  have  been 
made  sufficiently  clear  by  the  evidence 
daily  disclosed  in  your  papers.  Are  not  the 
men  who  officer  and  control  your  Federal, 
State,  and  municipal  organizations — who 
manipulate  your  caucuses  and  conventions, 
and  run  your  partisan  campaigns — all  edu- 
cated men?  and  has  their  education  pre- 
vented them  from  engaging  in,  or  permit- 
ting, or  condoning,  the  briberies,  lobbyings, 
and  other  corrupt  methods  which  vitiate 
the  actions  of  your  administrations  ?  Per- 
haps party  newspapers  exaggerate  these 
things  ;  but  what  am  I  to  make  of  the  tes- 
timony of  your  civil-service  reformers — men 
of  all  parties  ?  If  I  understand  the  matter 
aright,  they  are  attacking,  as  vicious  and 
dangerous,  a  system  which  has  grown  up 
under  the  natural  spontaneous  working  of 
your  free  institutions — are  exposing  vices 
which  education  has  proved  powerless  to 
prevent. 

Of  course,  ambitious  and  unscrupulous 
men  will  secure  the  offices,  and  education 
will  aid  them  in  their  selfish  purposes ;  but 
would  not  those  purposes  be  thwarted,  and 
better  government  secured,  by  raising  the 
standard  of  knowledge  among  the  people  at 
large  ? 

Very  little.  The  current  theory  is  that 
if  the  young  are  taught  what  is  right,  and 
the  reasons  why  it  is  right,  they  will  do 
what  is  right  when  they  grow  up.  But, 
considering  what  religious  teachers  have 
been  doing  these  two  thousand  years,  it 
seems  to  me  that  all  history  is  against  the 
conclusion,  as  much  as  is  the  conduct  of  these 
well-educated  citizens  I  have  referred  to  ; 
and  I  do  not  see  why  you  expect  better  re- 
sults among  the  masses.  Personal  interests 
will  sway  the  men  in  the  ranks  as  they 
sway  the  men  above  them  ;  and  the  educa- 
tion which  fails  to  make  the  last  consult 
public  good  rather  than  private  good,  will 
fail  to  make  the  first  do  it.  The  benefits  of 
political  purity  are  so  general  and  remote, 
and  the  profit  to  each  individual  so  incon- 


272 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


spicuous,  that  the  common  citizen,  educate 
him  as  you  like,  will  habitually  occupy  him- 
self with  his  personal  affairs,  and  hold  it 
not  worth  his  while  to  fight  against  each 
abuse  as  soon  as  it  appears.  Not  lack  of 
information,  but  lack  of  certain  moral  sen- 
timents, is  the  root  of  the  evil. 

You  mean  that  people  have  not  a  sufficient 
sense  of  public  duty  ? 

Well,  that  is  one  way  of  putting  it; 
but  there  is  a  more  specific  way.  Probably 
it  will  surprise  you  if  I  say  that  the  Ameri- 
can has  not,  I  think,  a  sufficiently  quick 
sense  of  his  own  claims,  and  at  the  same 
time,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  not  a  suffi- 
ciently quick  sense  of  the  claims  of  others — 
for  the  two  traits  are  organically  related. 
I  observe  that  you  tolerate  various  small 
interferences  and  dictations  which  English- 
men are  prone  to  resist.  I  am  told  that  the 
English  are  remarked  on  for  their  tendency 
to  grumble  in  such  cases;  and  I  have  no 
doubt  it  is  true. 

Do  you  think  it  worth  while  for  people  to 
make  themselves  disagreeable  by  resenting 
every  trifling  aggression?  We  Americans 
think  it  involves  too  much  loss  of  time  and 
temper,  and  doesn't  pay. 

Exactly.  That  is  what  I  mean  by  char- 
acter. It  is  this  easy-going  readiness  to 
permit  small  trespasses  because  it  would  be 
troublesome  or  profitless  or  unpopular  to 
oppose,  which  leads  to  the  habit  of  acquies- 
cence in  wrong,  and  the  decay  of  free  in- 
stitutions. Free  institutions  can  be  main- 
tained only  by  citizens  each  of  whom  is  in- 
stant to  oppose  every  illegitimate  act,  every 
assumption  of  supremacy,  every  official  ex- 
cess of  power,  however  trivial  it  may  seem. 
As  Hamlet  says,  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
greatly  to  find  quarrel  in  a  straw,  where 
that  straw  implies  a  principle.  If,  as 
you  say  of  the  American,  he  pauses  to  con- 
sider whether  he  can  afford  the  time  and 
trouble — "  whether  it  will  pay  " — corruption 
is  sure  to  creep  in.  All  these  lapses  from 
higher  to  lower  forms  begin  in  trifling 
ways ;  and  it  is  only  by  incessant  watchful- 
ness that  they  can  be  prevented.  As  one 
of  your  early  statesmen  said,  "  The  price  of 
liberty  is  eternal  vigilance."  But  it  is  far 
less  against  foreign  aggressions  upon  na- 
tional liberty,  that  this  vigilance  is  required, 


than  against  the  insidious  growth  of  domes- 
tic interferences  with  personal  liberty.  In 
some  private  administrations  which  I  have 
been  concerned  with,  I  have  often  insisted, 
much  to  the  disgust  of  officials,  that  instead 
of  assuming,  as  people  usually  do,  that 
things  are  going  right  until  it  is  proved  that 
they  are  going  wrong,  the  proper  course  is  to 
assume  that  they  are  going  wrong  until  it  is 
proved  that  they  are  going  right.  You  will 
find,  continually,  that  private  corporations, 
such  as  joint-stock  banking  companies,  come 
to  grief  from  not  acting  upon  this  principle. 
And  what  holds  of  these  small  and  simple 
private  administrations,  holds  still  more  of 
the  great  and  complex  public  administra- 
tions. People  are  taught,  and,  I  suppose, 
believe,  that  "the  heart  of  man  is  deceit- 
ful above  all  things  and  desperately  wick- 
ed " ;  and  yet,  strangely  enough,  believing 
this,  they  place  implicit  trust  in  those 
they  appoint  to  this  or  that  function. 
I  do  not  think  so  ill  of  human  nature ;  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  I  do  not  think  so  well  of 
human  nature  as  to  believe  it  will  do  with- 
out being  watched. 

You  hinted  that  while  Americans  do  not 
assert  their  own  individualities  sufficiently  in 
small  matters,  they,  reciprocally,  do  not  suffi- 
ciently respect  the  individualities  of  others. 

Did  I?  Here,  then,  comes  another  of 
the  inconveniences  of  interviewing.  I  should 
have  kept  this  opinion  to  myself  if  you  had 
asked  me  no  questions ;  and  now  I  must 
either  say  what  I  do  not  think,  which  I  can 
not,  or  I  must  refuse  to  answer,  which  per- 
haps will  be  taken  to  mean  more  than  I  in- 
tend, or  I  must  specify,  at  the  risk  of  giving 
offense.  As  the  least  evil  I  suppose  I  must 
do  the  last.  The  trait  I  refer  to  comes  out 
in  various  ways,  small  and  great.  It  is 
shown  by  the  disrespectful  manner  in  which 
individuals  are  dealt  with  in  your  journals — 
the  placarding  of  public  men  in  sensational 
headings,  the  dragging  of  private  people 
and  their  affairs  into  print.  There  seems  to 
be  a  notion  that  the  public  have  a  right  to 
intrude  on  private  life  as  far  as  they  like ; 
and  this  I  take  to  be  a  kind  of  moral  tres- 
passing. It  is  true  that  during  the  last  few 
years  we  have  been  discredited  in  London 
by  certain  weekly  papers  which  do  the  like 
(except  in  the  typographical  display) ;  but 
in  our  daily  press,  metropolitan  and  pro- 


EDITOR'S   TABLE. 


273 


vincial,  there  is  nothing  of  the  kind.  Then, 
in  a  larger  way,  the  trait  is  seen  in  this 
damaging  of  private  property  by  your  ele- 
vated railways  without  making  compensa- 
tion ;  and  it  is  again  seen  in  the  doings  of 
railway  governments,  not  only  when  over- 
riding the  rights  of  shareholders,  but  in 
dominating  over  courts  of  justice  and  State 
governments.  The  fact  is,  that  free  insti- 
tutions can  be  properly  worked  only  by  men 
each  of  whom  is  jealous  of  his  own  rights, 
and  also  sympathetically  jealous  of  the 
rights  of  others — will  neither  himself  ag- 
gress on  his  neighbors,  in  small  things  or 
great,  nor  tolerate  aggression  on  them  by 
others.  The  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment is  the  highest  form  of  government; 
but  because  of  this  it  requires  the  highest 
type  of  human  nature — a  type  nowhere  at 
present  existing.  We  have  not  grown  up  to 
it,  nor  have  you. 

But  we  thought,  Mr.  Spencer,  you  were  in 
favor  of  free  government  in  the  sense  of  re- 
laxed restraints,  and  letting  men  and  things 
very  much  alone — or  what  is  called  laissez 
/aire  ? 

That  is  a  persistent  misunderstanding 
of  my  opponents.  Everywhere,  along  with 
the  reprobation  of  government  -  intrusion 
into  various  spheres  where  private  activities 
should  be  left  to  themselves,  I  have  con- 
tended that  in  its  special  sphere,  the  main- 
tenance of  equitable  relations  among  citi- 
zens, governmental  action  should  be  extend- 
ed and  elaborated. 

To  return  to  your  various  criticisms,  must 
I  then  understand  that  you  think  unfavorably 
of  our  future  ? 

No  one  can  form  anything  more  than 
vague  and  general  conclusions  respecting 
your  future.  The  factors  are  too  numerous, 
too  vast,  too  far  beyond  measure  in  their 
quantities  and  intensities.  The  world  has 
never  before  seen  social  phenomena  at  all 
comparable  with  those  presented  in  the 
United  States.  A  society  spreading  over 
enormous  tracts  while  still  preserving  its 
political  continuity,  is  a  new  thing.  This 
progressive  incorporation  of  vast  bodies  of 
immigrants  of  various  bloods  has  never  oc- 
curred on  such  a  scale  before.  Large  em- 
pires composed  of  different  peoples,  have, 
in  previous  cases,  been  formed  by  conquest 
and  annexation.  Then  your  immense  plex- 
VOL.  xxii. — 18 


us  of  railways  and  telegraphs  tends  to  con- 
solidate this  vast  aggregate  of  States  in  a 
way  that  no  such  aggregate  has  ever  before 
been  consolidated.  And  there  are  many 
minor  co-operating  causes  unlike  those  hith- 
erto known.  No  one  can  say  how  it  is  all 
going  to  work  out.  That  there  will  come 
hereafter  troubles-  of  various  kinds,  and 
very  grave  ones,  seems  highly  probable ; 
but  all  nations  have  had,  and  will  have, 
their  troubles.  Already  you  have  tri- 
umphed over  one  great  trouble,  and  may 
reasonably  hope  to  triumph  over  others. 
It  may,  I  think,  be  reasonably  held  that 
both  because  of  its  size  and  the  heterogene- 
ity of  its  components,  the  American  na- 
tion will  be  a  long  time  in  evolving  its  ul- 
timate form ;  but  that  its  ultimate  form 
will  be  high.  One  great  result  is,  I  think, 
tolerably  clear.  From  biological  truths  it 
is  to  be  inferred  that  the  eventual  mixture  of 
the  allied  varieties  of  the  Aryan  race  form- 
ing the  population,  will  produce  a  more 
powerful  type  of  man  than  has  hitherto  ex- 
isted, and  a  type  of  man  more  plastic,  more 
adaptable,  more  capable  of  undergoing  the 
modifications  needful  for  complete  social 
life.  I  think  that  whatever  difficulties  they 
may  have  to  surmount,  and  whatever  tribu- 
lations they  may  have  to  pass  through,  the 
Americans  may  reasonably  look  forward  to 
a  time  when  they  will  have  produced  a  civ- 
ilization grander  than  any  the  world  has 
known. 


PRINCIPLE  IN  SMALL   THINGS. 

No  part  of  the  foregoing  deliver- 
ance is  more  true  than  that  which  re- 
fers to  American  tolerance  of  interfer- 
ence and  dictation  in  the  lesser  affairs 
of  life.  What  people  do,  habitually  il- 
lustrates character,  and  American  char- 
acter in  this  important  respect  is  un- 
doubtedly of  a  low  type.  The  forms 
of  free  institutions  have  not  engendered 
the  sentiment  of  personal  independence 
which  resents  encroachments  and  in- 
sists upon  justice.  The  institutions  are 
nominally  free,  but  the  citizens  who 
grow  up  under  them  are  not  free  in 
the  sense  of  exemption  from  imperti- 
nent   meddlings    and    petty    tyranny. 


274 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


There  is  wanting  the  spirit  of  resist- 
ance to  apparently  trivial  violations  of 
right.  The  man  who  would  fight  for 
his  country  will  not  fight  a  despotic 
neighbor,  but  will  tamely  acquiesce  in 
wrong  for  the  sake  of  peace  and  neigh- 
borly harmony.  This  spirit  of  compla- 
cent acquiescence  in  wrongs  inevitably 
breeds  wrong-doers  to  take  advantage 
of  it.  Where  there  is  a  low  regard  for 
the  strictly  equitable,  equity  is  sure  to 
be  violated.  There  are  always  natures 
that  will  encroach  if  not  resisted,  be- 
cause the  roots  of  aggression  run  deep 
in  the  soil  of  selfishness.  Boys  of 
strong  wills  that  are  petted  and  pam- 
pered, or  left  unrestrained  at  home,  be- 
come bullies  in  the  streets  and  tyrants 
in  their  social  relations.  "Resistance 
to  tyrants  is  obedience  to  God,"  of 
course,  but  that  means  the  foreign  ty- 
rant, not  the  one  next  door,  or  in  the 
school-board,  or  church,  or  in  the  car, 
or  restaurant  —  to  resist  him  might 
make  unpleasant  disturbance.  Habitu- 
al submission  to  inflicted  wrongs,  how- 
ever small,  is  simply  moral  cowardice, 
and  there  is  no  disguising  the  fact  that 
it  is  a  very  large  element  of  the  Ameri- 
can character.  Mr.  Spencer  has  diag- 
nosed our  condition  in  this  respect  from 
a  very  few  symptoms,  but  the  illustra- 
tions of  wrong  tolerated  from  timidity 
and  dread  of  what  people  will  say,  if 
small  aggressions  are  seriously  resisted, 
are  all  too  plentiful.  An  excellent  ex- 
ample of  it  occurred  recently,  which  it 
is  worth  while  to  note. 

Bicycles  upon  the  sidewalks,  as 
everybody  knows,  are  not  particularly 
conducive  to  the  comfort  of  pedestri- 
ans. Even  the  small  machines  impelled 
by  children,  though  hardly  dangerous, 
are  often  annoying.  But  large  bicycles, 
ridden  rapidly  by  strong  boys  on  the 
sidewalk,  are  sources  of  constant  solici- 
tude to  those  who  are  walking,  are 
dangerous,  often  result  in  accidents, 
and  are  simply  nuisances  that  should 
not  be  tolerated.  In  most  English  vil- 
lages, as  we  are  informed,  bicycles  are 


not  allowed  on  the  sidewalks ;  and  the 
hand-books  issued  by  English  manufact- 
urers of  bicycles  caution  their  custom- 
ers that  it  is  a  forbidden  practice,  while 
in  many  places  bells  have  to  be  at- 
tached to  the  bicycles  even  when  rid- 
den in  the  streets.  To  what  degree  this 
practice  is  general  here  in  country 
towns  we  do  not  know,  but  there  has 
recently  been  an  experience  in  this 
matter  in  the  village  of  Stockbridge, 
Massachusetts,  which  is  quite  American 
in  its  way. 

In  the  first  place,  Stockbridge  is  a 
charming  town  among  the  Berkshire 
hills,  much  resorted  to  as  a  summer 
residence  by  city  people.  Moreover, 
the  people  that  go  there  and  the  people 
that  live  there  are  eminently  culti- 
vated and  refined ;  wealth  abounds,  and 
it  is  not  a  place  where  poor  people  are 
much  harbored.  In  education,  intel- 
ligence, and  all  the  moral  qualities 
which  are  said  to  accompany  mental 
cultivation,  Stockbridge  is  an  Ameri- 
can village  of  a  superior  sort.  It  will 
be  long,  very  long  before  American 
villages  generally  come  up  to  the  Stock- 
bridge  standard  of  culture  and  good- 
breeding. 

Nevertheless,  all  grades  of  bicycles 
were  allowed  upon  the  Stockbridge 
sidewalks,  and  the  vexation  and  danger 
attending  the  practice  were  such,  that 
last  July  one  of  the  summer  residents 
presented  a  petition,  signed  by  eighteen 
prominent  residents,  to  the  board  of 
selectmen,  praying  that  the  use  of  bi- 
cycles on  the  sidewalks  be  prohibited. 
Immediately  after  a  remonstrance  signed 
by  thirty  residents  was  got  up  and 
handed  to  the  selectmen.  Understand- 
ing that  the  main  objection  to  the  orig- 
inal petition  was  that  it  did  not  dis- 
criminate between  large  and  small  bi- 
cycles, the  gentlemen  who  drew  the 
first  document  prepared  a  second  draft, 
asking  only  that  large  bicycles  should 
be  excluded  from  the  sidewalks  of  the 
village,  and  this  was  signed  by  one 
hundred    and    sixty  -  eight    residents. 


EDITOR'S   TABLE. 


275 


Many  who  had  signed  the  remonstrance 
now  signed  the  petition,  so  that  the 
consent  of  the  village  to  the  measure 
proposed  was  regarded  as  practically 
unanimous. 

But  there  was  an  active  party  in  favor 
of  the  boys,  who  were  determined  that 
they  should  not  be  interfered  with  in 
their  amusement,  and  so  the  selectmen 
played  into  the  hands  of  this  party  by 
excluding  all  bicycles,  large  and  small, 
from  the  sidewalks,  well  knowing  that 
this  step  would  cause  such  irritation  as 
to  defeat  itself.  The  consequence  was 
that  the  order  of  exclusion  was  rescind- 
ed, and  all  bicycles,  large  and  small, 
were  once  more  allowed  to  run  freely 
on  the  sidewalks,  except  in  the  small 
portion  of  the  village  occupied  by  the 
stores,  hotel,  and  bank. 

The  gentleman,  a  distinguished  pro- 
fessor of  Columbia  College,  who  moved 
in  the  matter,  attempted  to  arouse  pub- 
lic sentiment  upon  the  subject,  and,  as 
there  was  no  newspaper  printed  iu  the 
village,  he  posted  up  a  handbill  with  a 
list  of  thirteen  accidents,  and  cases  of 
serious  annoyance,  that  had  occurred  ; 
and  shortly  after  posted  up  ten  addi- 
tional cases,  signed  with  his  well-known 
initials,  to  show  by  facts  that  the  prac- 
tice resisted  was  really  a  dangerous  one. 
These  posters  were  removed  by  the 
selectmen.  He  then  printed  a  letter, 
stating  the  case  fully,  and  giving  an 
account  of  twenty  accidents,  and  placed 
a  copy  in  every  box  in  the  village 
post-office,  addressed  to  the  chief  resi- 
dents. One  was  also  sent  to  the  edit- 
or of  the  "  Springfield  Eepublican," 
who  made  a  notice  of  it,  and  one  hun- 
dred copies  of  his  paper  were  distrib- 
uted in  the  village,  all  of  which  failed 
to  produce  any  effect. 

Now,  our  interest  in  this  matter  is 
purely  scientific.  We  take  the  data, 
find  their  explanation,  and  draw  con- 
clusions respecting  the  true  grade  of 
Stockbridge  society.  ^ 

The  facts  in  a  sentence  are  simply 
these :  Half  a  dozen  boys,  in  the  pur- 


suit of  a  selfish  gratification,  persist  in 
violating  the  rights  of  citizens,  and  this 
conduct  is  sustained  by  the  community 
which  yet  acknowledges  the  outrage. 

And  how  is  it  to  be  explained  ?  By 
the  indifference  of  the  people  to  the 
subject  as  a  matter  of  right  and  wrong ; 
or  a  laxity  of  moral  sense.  The  gen- 
tleman who  moved  in  the  matter,  and 
should  have  been  regarded  as  a  public 
benefactor,  was  not  supported,  but  was 
condemned  for  his  action.  Of  course, 
when  such  an  issue  was  once  raised, 
there  was  tenfold  necessity  to  put  down 
the  openly  immoral  party ;  but  the 
raising  of  the  issue  only  cowed  their 
opponents,  and  disclosed  the  absence 
of  moral  backbone  in  the  Stockbridge 
character.  "  It  was  really  such  a  petty 
matter,  such  small  business,  to  be  med- 
dling with  the  enjoyments  of  the  dear 
boys !  " — from  which  we  get  an  idea  of 
the  quality  of  Stockbridge  ethics,  which 
is  far  too  much  the  American  sort. 
Small  trespasses  are  to  be  tolerated,  and 
only  outrages  that  comport  with  the 
scale  of  American  ideas  are  to  be  rep- 
robated. Abuses  that  have  in  them 
something  of  the  breadth  of  the  conti- 
nent or  the  length  of  the  Mississippi,  or 
the  bigness  of  the  national  debt,  are 
worthy  to  excite  indignation ;  but  mere 
sidewalk  offenses — nonsense  ! 

It  is  to  be  presumed,  of  course,  that 
Stockbridge  education  conforms  to  the 
standard  of  its  public  opinion.  The 
boys  are  sent  to  school,  and  taught 
book -lessons  in  morality,  including  sen- 
sitiveness to  the  rightful  claims  of  oth- 
ers, and  especially  solicitude  for  the 
weak  and  helpless,  and  then  they  take 
lessons  in  the  out-of-door  practical 
morality  of  running  over  baby-car- 
riages, upsetting  old  people,  and  dis- 
turbing everybody,  because  the  side- 
walk is  a  little  nicer  than  the  street  for 
bicycle  riding. 

From  all  of  which  we  may  fairly 
infer  the  grade  of  Stockbridge  civili- 
zation. Its  people  may  be  refined  and 
educated,  affluent,  polished,  and  devo- 


276 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


tional;  but  they  are,  nevertheless,  bar- 
barians :  for  the  degree  of  barbarism  in 
any  community  is  measured  by  the  im- 
punity with  which  its  members  seek 
tbeir  gratification  at  each  other's  ex- 
pense. 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 

George  Ripley.  By  Octayius  Brooks 
Frothingham.  Boston :  Houghton,  Mif- 
flin &  Co.     Pp.  321.     Price,  $1.50. 

Mr.  Frothingham's  life  of  Ripley  is  a  very 
pleasant  and  entertaining,  if  not  in  the  high- 
est degree  instructive,  book  upon  its  sub- 
ject. As  a  biographer,  in  this  case  he  has 
the  advantage  of  having  been  long  and  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  the  man  whose  life 
he  delineates,  of  having  a  similar  culture 
and  a  broad  sympathy  with  his  aims.  But 
while  these  qualifications  are  favorable  to 
the  appreciation  of  Mr.  Ripley's  character, 
they  are  not  so  favorable  to  that  criticism 
of  it  which  is  perhaps  necessary  to  extract 
the  highest  lesson  from  its  career.  Mr. 
Frothingham  has  given  us  a  model  biogra- 
phy from  a  literary  point  of  view,  but  we 
suspect  that  in  future  the  work  of  describ- 
ing men's  lives  must  more  and  more  pass 
into  the  hands  of  those  who  have  a  scien- 
tific preparation  for  the  work.  We  must 
have  something  more  than  the  mere  narra- 
tion of  a  career  in  a  fine  literary  form ;  we 
must  have  analysis  and  a  critical  judgment 
of  character  in  relation  to  the  circumstances 
in  which  it  was  displayed. 

Mr.  Ripley's  life  was  divided  into  several 
stages.  He  was  a  bright,  clear-headed  boy 
of  unusual  capacity,  fond  of  books,  and 
learning  from  them  with  great  facility.  He 
accepted  the  customary  course  of  study, 
and  went  through  college  early  and  with 
distinction.  He  was  absorbed  in  classical 
studies,  and  paid  very  little  attention  to 
science  of  any  kind.  His  culture  was  there- 
fore one-sided,  and  he  was  in  consequence 
to  no  small  degree  the  victim  to  his  uni- 
versity education. 

From  college  he  passed  into  professional 
life,  taking  the  line  of  divinity.  In  prepara- 
tion for  this  he  had  crammed  German  meta- 
physics to  an  inordinate  degree,  and  brought 
a  large  theological  erudition  to  his  pulpit 


labors.  He  worked  zealously  and  most  con- 
scientiously in  this  field  for  upward  of  a 
dozen  years,  and,  being  dissatisfied  with  the 
result,  decided  to  abandon  it.  We  are  of 
opinion  that  with  his  strong  common  sense, 
if  he  had  any  fair  share  of  scientific  culti- 
vation, he  would  either  have  kept  out  of  the 
clerical  profession  or  would  have  succeeded 
in  it  by  subordinating  theology  to  truth  and 
making  an  independent  career.  He  had  abun- 
dant talent  for  this  purpose.  But,  as  it  was, 
his  theology  broke  down  and  he  left  it. 

Mr.  Ripley  then  entered  upon  the  third 
stage  of  his  career,  which  was  both  very  nat- 
ural and  not  a  little  remarkable.  Earnestly 
desiring  to  realize  a  nobler  ideal  of  life  than 
is  fulfilled  by  the  present  state  of  society, 
even  under  a  religious  organization  which 
he  had  faithfully  tried,  he  resolved  to  em- 
bark in  a  new  social  project  that  promised 
to  yield  higher  satisfactions  than  are  derived 
from  the  existing  state  of  society. 

He  joined  the  association  at  Brook  Farm, 
now  a  curiosity  of  history,  and  resolved  to 
devote  himself  to  the  practical  realization 
of  a  more  harmonious  social  life  by  an  ex- 
perimental trial  of  what  is  possible  in  this 
direction.  He  had  eminent  coadjutors,  who 
were  animated  by  the  same  high  aspirations, 
but  Ripley  was  the  life  and  soul  of  the 
movement.  Never,  perhaps,  was  before 
gathered  a  more  sincere  and  unselfish  band 
of  devotees  than  those  who  made  the  at- 
tempt to  carry  out  a  reconstructive  social 
reform  at  Brook  Farm.  The  experiment 
failed,  of  course,  and  Ripley  was  left  sad- 
dled with  its  debts,  all  of  which  he  after- 
ward most  honorably  discharged. 

We  say  Brook  Farm  failed  "  of  course," 
and  this  for  the  very  simple  reason  that 
ideal  states  of  society  implying  natures  of  a 
high  grade  can  not  be  suddenly  manufactured 
out  of  materials  long  shaped  and  adapted 
to  a  lower  social  condition.  The  adventurers 
of  Brook  Farm  were  sentimentalists,  enthu- 
siasts, and  philanthropists,  amiable  and  ear- 
nest, but  of  the  literary  type  which  implies 
a  highly  cultivated  ignorance  of  all  the  nat- 
ural laws  by  which  terrestrial  affairs  are 
governed.  If  George  Ripley  had  studied 
natural  things  when  in  college  for  half  the 
time,  and  got  some  tolerable  idea  of  the 
limitations  of  human  nature  under  inexora- 
ble natural  ordinances,  he  would  not  have 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


277 


plunged  into  so  crude  and  futile  an  experi- 
ment as  that  at  Brook  Farm.  Of  course,  it 
was  a  generous  and  noble,  an  heroic  and 
a  chivalric  endeavor,  and  creditable  to  the 
hearts  of  those  who  turned  their  backs  up- 
on a  selfish  and  sordid  civilization  to  achieve 
a  more  harmonious  and  elevated  life ;  but 
it  was  discreditable  to  their  heads  that  they 
had  not  the  intelligence  to  know  that  it 
must  end  just  where  it  did  end — in  hopeless 
failure.  Brook  Farm  collapsed  because  it 
was  a  project  of  impracticables  whose  edu- 
cation had  been  classical  instead  of  scien- 
tific. 

With  the  failure  of  Brook  Farm  Mr. 
Ripley  took  to  the  vocation  of  literature. 
Tired  of  making  the  world  over,  he  resolved 
to  accept  it  as  it  is,  and  make  the  most  of  it. 
His  success  was  small  at  first,  but  he  was 
an  excellent  critic,  a  fine  writer,  and  an  in- 
defatigable worker,  and  these  qualities  were 
sure  to  win  success.  His  career  as  a  jour- 
nalist and  editor  is  fully  and  admirably  de- 
scribed by  Mr.  Frothingham,  and  is  very 
interesting ;  but  it  would  be  easy  to  show 
that  the  lack  of  the  scientific  element  in  his 
culture  was  as  much  a  drawback  in  his  later 
labors  as  in  those  that  preceded  them. 

The  New  Botany.  A  Lecture  on  the  Best 
Method  of  teaching  the  Science.  By 
W.  J.  Beal,  M.  Sc,  Ph.  D.  Second  edi- 
tion, revised.  Philadelphia  :  C.  H.  Ma- 
rot.     1882.     Pp.  16.     Price,  25  cents. 

There  is  no  class  of  persons  who  need 
teaching  more  than  teachers.  There  are  a 
few  born  educators  whose  native  instinct, 
if  not  perverted  by  bad  teaching,  prompts 
them  to  pursue  natural  and  rational  meth- 
ods for  teaching  others,  but  the  average 
teacher  teaches  as  he  himself  was  taught, 
so  that  bad  methods  are  propagated  and 
spread  indefinitely.  The  author  of  the 
pamphlet  before  us  draws  an  interesting  and 
life-like  picture  of  the  old  way  of  teaching 
botany,  in  which  the  sole  end  and  aim  was 
to  memorize  the  parts  of  the  plant,  and 
then  learn  its  name  by  the  aid  of  an  artifi- 
cial key,  thus  obtaining  a  most  formal  intro- 
duction to  the  stranger. 

The  new  botany  began  to  appear  in  this 
country  in  1862,  and  includes  a  study  of  the 
subjects  as  set  forth  by  Darwin,  Sachs,  Lub- 
bock, Bessey,  and  others.  It  studies  objects 
before  books,  and  sets  the  pupil  to  thinking, 


investigating,  and  experimenting  for  him- 
self. Teaching  the  new  botany  properly 
"  is  simply  giving  the  thirsty  a  chance  to 
drink."  It  also  creates  a  thirst  which  the 
study  gratifies,  but  never  entirely  satisfies. 
For  young  pupils  object-lessons  are  very 
popular  for  a  while,  but  in  most  cases  the 
interest  soon  wears  away ;  there  is  too  much 
pouring  in,  and  too  little  worked  out  by  the 
pupil.  They  bring  forth  the  combined  in- 
formation of  all  members  of  a  class,  but 
add  little  or  nothing  by  way  of  research. 
To  be  really  appreciated,  a  student  should 
earn  his  facts  in  the  study  of  biology.  The 
author  says :  "  In  the  whole  course  in  bot- 
any I  keep  constantly  in  view  how  best  to 
prepare  students  to  acquire  information  for 
themselves  with  readiness  and  accuracy. 
This  is  a  training  for  power,  and  is  of  far 
more  value  than  the  mere  information  ac- 
quired during  a  course  of  study  in  natural 
science." 

The  difficulty  in  the  way  of  teaching  the 
new  botany  is  a  serious,  almost  a  fatal  one, 
namely,  it  requires  an  actual  knowledge  of 
the  subject  on  the  part  of  the  teacher ;  it 
can  not  be  taught,  like  history  and  geogra- 
phy, by  text-books;  and,  in  addition,  the 
teacher  must  have  tact  as  well  as  knowl- 
edge. We  have  not  yet  reached  the  millen- 
nium of  education,  when  each  science  shall 
be  taught  only  by  its  true  disciples  and  in- 
vestigators. 

Is  Consumption  contagious  ?  And  can  it 
be  transmitted  by  Means  of  Food  ? 
By  Herbert  C.  Clapp,  A.  M.,  M.  D. 
Second  edition.  Boston :  Otis  Clapp  & 
Son.     1882.     Pp.  187.    Price,  15  cents. 

That  a  second  edition  of  such  a  book 
should  be  called  for  within  two  years  after 
its  first  appearance  is  sufficient  proof  of  the 
interest  felt  in  the  subject  by  the  people  as 
well  as  the  profession.  The  author  does 
not  set  out  to  prove  that  consumption  is 
contagious,  but  presents  the  arguments  ad- 
vanced on  both  sides,  with  such  an  array  of 
cases  that  the  reader  feels  almost  convinced 
that  it  must  be  either  infectious  or  conta- 
gious. Koch's  discovery,  which  has  been 
made  since  the  first  edition,  is  referred  to 
in  the  new  preface  and  described  in  the  ap- 
pendix. That  this  discovery  has  an  impor- 
tant bearing  on  the  question  propounded 
by  Dr.  Clapp  is  evident,  and  in  general  is 


278 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


strongly  favorable  to  an  affirmative  answer. 
We  need  not  here  enumerate  the  various 
other  reasons  presented  on  this  side  of  the 
question,  such  as  the  immunity  of  barbar- 
ous races  from  phthisis  until  they  begin  to 
be  associated  with  the  whites,  its  prevalence 
in  convents,  harems,  and  barracks,  the  fre- 
quency of  the  disease  in  wives  who  have 
nursed  tuberculous  husbands,  etc.  Whether 
the  reader  admits  that  the  case  is  proved, 
the  dictates  of  reason  favor  the  observance 
of  certain  precautions,  such  as  not  allowing 
the  same  person  to  remain  in  too  constant 
attendance  on  consumptives,  nor  permitting 
another  to  sleep  with  them,  securing  the 
most  perfect  ventilation  possible,  and  the 
exercise  of  great  cleanliness  with  immediate 
removal  and  destruction  of  sputa. 

The  remainder  of  the  book  is  devoted 
to  a  discussion  of  the  effect  of  tuberculous 
food,  a  subject  of  no  less  practical  impor- 
tance than  the  former.     The  occurrence  of 
tuberculosis  among  cows  and   oxen  being 
quite  frequent,  it  is  important  that  every 
possible  means  be  employed  to  prevent  the 
consumption  of  such  beef  by  human  beings. 
Milk  from  cows  affected  by  this  disease  is  j 
even  more  to  be  feared,  owing  to  the  diffi- 
culty of  preventing  its  sale,  and  the  fact  \ 
that  the   greater   part  of   it  is  consumed 
without  cooking.     In  addition  to  this  we 
must  consider  that  milk  frequently  forms 
the  entire  food  of  young  children,  and  is  an 
important  article  of  diet  with  invalids,  both 
of  whom  are  more  liable  to  attacks  of  any 
new  disease  than  are  older  and  more  healthy 
persons.     Aside  from  the  dangerous  infect- 
ive properties,  such  milk  is  objectionable 
as  an  article  of  food,  owing  to  its  deficiency 
in  fat,  sugar,  and  the  nitrogenous  elements. 
The   only  remedy   against   these   dangers 
from  beef  and  milk  is  to  be  found  in  a  care- 
ful, honest  governmental  inspection  of  all 
the  meat  that  comes  into  our  markets,  es- 
pecially at  the  slaughter-houses,  and  of  the 
cows  that  furnish  our  milk,  with  particular 
reference  to  the  existence  of  this  disease. 
It  may  be  a  difficult  and  expensive  under- 
taking, but,  for  our  safety,  it  must  be  done. 
The  book,  on  the  whole,  is  not  intended 
to  quiet  the  fears  of  nervous  people,  or  to 
convince  the  timid  that  there  is  little  to  be 
feared  from  the  dreaded  scourge — consump- 
tion. 


The   Sun.      By  Professor   C.   A.   Young. 

New  edition. 

We  are  glad  to  see  a  new  and  carefully 
revised  edition  of  this  admirable  and  stand- 
ard work,  and  also  that  successive  editions 
are  called  for  abroad.  Great  pains  have 
been  taken  by  the  author  to  give  the  high- 
est accuracy  to  the  text,  and  he  has  ap- 
pended, in  the  form  of  notes,  all  the  new 
and  important  information  that  has  accu- 
mulated since  the  first  issue.  None  of  these 
additions  discredit  what  may  be  regarded  as 
established  facts  and  principles  relating  to 
the  sun,  but  they  constitute  interesting  ex- 
tensions of  solar  knowledge,  together  with 
new  and  ingenious  speculations,  the  value 
of  which  time  alone  can  determine.  Pro- 
fessor Young  has  done  well  in  thus  keeping 
his  book  sharply  up  to  the  time,  by  which 
it  will  maintain  its  leading  position  in  astro- 
nomical literature. 

La  Navigation  Electrique  (Electric  Navi- 
gation). By  Georges  Dart.  Paris :  J„ 
Baudry.  Pp.  65,  with  17  Illustrations  in 
the  text. 

The  first  part  of  this  work  gives  the 
history  of  the  attempts  to  apply  electrical 
force  to  the  propulsion  of  boats  and  air- 
ships, including  the  first  essay  by  M.  de  Ja- 
cobi  in  Kussia  in  1839,  and  the  experiment 
of  M.  Trouv6,  which  received  the  applause 
due  to  an  apparent  success  at  the  Paris  Ex- 
position of  Electricity  last  year.  A  con- 
trollable balloon  proposed  by  M.  Tissandier, 
and  the  electro-motor  which  he  would  apply 
to  its  propulsion,  are  also  mentioned.  The 
second  part  of  the  work  embraces  a  full 
and  detailed  description  of  M.  Trouve's 
electrical  motor,  its  application,  and  the  de- 
grees of  speed  attained  with  it.  The  whole 
is  hopeful  for  the  ultimate  success  of  electro- 
navigation. 

Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Regents 
of  the   Smithsonian    Institution   for 
1 880.     Washington :  Government  Print- 
ing-Office.     Pp.  772. 
This  report,  though  tardy  in  appearing, 
has  a  permanent  value  that  justifies  a  no- 
tice of  it  at  any  time.     The  record  of  work 
done  is  very  full  in  notices  of  explorations 
and  special  investigations  in  which  the  In- 
stitution has  had  a  part ;  the  list  of  acqui- 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


2  79 


sitions  to  the  collections  and  of  exchanges 
is  quite  large.  The  "  Kecord  of  Scientific 
Progress,"  which  forms  one  of  the  appen- 
dices, is  designed  to  take  the  place  in  part 
of  the  "  Annual  Record  of  Science  and  In- 
dustry," formerly  published  by  Harper  & 
Brothers,  and  contains  reviews  in  astrono- 
my, by  Professor  Edward  S.  Holden ;  geolo- 
gy, by  George  W.  Hawes,  Ph.  D. ;  physics 
and  chemistry,  by  Professor  George  F.  Bar- 
ker ;  mineralogy,  by  George  W.  Hawes, 
Ph.D.;  botany,  by  Professor  William  G. 
Farlow ;  zoology,  by  Theodore  Gill;  and 
anthropology,  by  Otis  T.  Mason.  Other 
important  articles  in  the  appendix  are  "  Ab- 
stracts of  the  Smithsonian  Correspondence 
relative  to  Aboriginal  Remains  in  the  United 
States,"  a  description  of  the  Luray  Cavern, 
Virginia ;  a  discussion  of  the  barometric 
observations  of  Professor  Snell,  of  Amherst 
College ;  an  account  of  investigations  rela- 
tive to  illuminating  materials,  by  Professor 
Joseph  Henry ;  a  bibliography  of  HcrscheFs 
writings ;  and  reports  of  astronomical  ob- 
servatories. 

The  Peaks  in  Darien,  with  some  other 
Inquiries  touching  Concerns  of  the 
Soul  and  the  Body.  An  Octave  of 
Essays.  By  Frances  Power  Cobbe. 
Boston:  George  H.  Ellis.  Pp.  303. 
Price,  $1.50. 

The  first  of  the  essays  in  this  book, 
"  Magnanimous  Atheism,"  affirms  the  in- 
efficiency of  that  creed  of  agnosticism,  or 
of  Comtism,  to  frame  a  rule  for  moral  guid- 
ance ;  the  second,  "  Hygeiolatry,"  disputes 
the  doctrine  that  bodily  health  is  the  chief 
good  "  for  which  personal  freedom,  cour- 
age, humanity,  and  purity,  ought  all  to  be 
sacrificed,"  and  argues  that  there  are  num- 
bers of  instances  in  which  disregard  of  life 
and  health  is  proper  and  even  a  duty.  Com- 
ing to  particulars,  it  attacks  the  English 
laws  for  the  regulation  of  vice.  Another 
essay,  on  "  Zoophily,"  is  a  vigorous  but 
one-sided  protest  against  vivisection.  In 
other  papers,  Schopenhauer  and  his  pessi- 
mism are  assailed,  and  the  fitness  of  wo- 
men for  the  ministry  of  religion  is  dis- 
cussed. The  essay  which  gives  the  title  to 
the  book  cites  a  number  of  instances  of 
cases  wherein,  in  the  opinion  of  the  author, 
"  indications  seem  to  have  been  given  of 
the  perception  by  the  dying  of  the  blessed 


presences  revealed  to  them,  even  as  the  veil 
of  the  flesh  has  dropped  away."  The  papers 
afford  lively  reading,  but  the  book  is  one  of 
opinions  and  sharp  thrusts  rather  than  ar- 


guments. 


The  Fire-Protection  of  Mills;  and  Con- 
struction of  Mill-Floors  :  Containing 
Tests  of  Full-Size  Wood  Mill  Columns. 
By  C.  J.  H.  Woodbury.  New  York  : 
John  Wiley  &  Sons.  18S2.  Pp.  196. 
Illustrated. 

The  avowed  object  of  this  book  is  to 
reduce  the  risk  of  fire  and  its  attendant 
evils,  as  applied  to  mills,  but  many  of  the 
precautions  are  applicable  to  other  struct- 
ures, and  especially  to  all  factories.  The 
first  portion  is  devoted  to  a  consideration 
of  those  matters  of  equipment  and  general 
management  which  experience  has  proved 
to  be  efficient  in  the  fire-protection  of  mills. 
Under  these  we  notice  some  practical  sug- 
gestions regarding  fire-pails,  and  where  and 
how  they  should  be  kept  ready  for  use.  The 
various  forms  of  fire-pumps  are  described 
and  illustrated,  the  advantages  and  disad- 
vantages of  each  being  carefully  stated. 
The  next  subjects  in  order  are  hydrants, 
stand-pipes,  drip-couplings,  hose-valves,  and 
nozzles ;  also  a  table  showing  the  quantity 
of  water  discharged  per  minute  from  a  one- 
inch  nozzle  under  pressure  of  from  fifteen 
to  eighty-five  pounds  per  square  inch.  Sev- 
eral systems  of  "  sprinklers,"  or  perforated 
pipes,  intended  for  the  more  hazardous 
parts  of  mills,  are  described.  The  efficiency 
of  these  is  often  impaired  by  rust  and  paint 
obstructing  the  orifices.  The  latter  should 
be  guarded  against  by  placing  tacks  in  each 
hole  before  the  sprinklers  are  painted  ;  the 
former  by  the  use  of  a  brass  bushing.  The 
automatic  sprinkler,  the  author  says,  is  one 
of  the  oldest  devices  for  special  fire  ap- 
paratus, the  first  patent  having  been  granted 
in  1806.  A  large  number  of  automatic 
sprinklers  are  figured,  full  size  or  half  size. 

The  next  subject  treated  is  the  causes 
of  mill-fires,  among  which  we  find  that 
spontaneous  combustion  holds  a  prominent 
place,  second  only  to  friction  and  foreign 
substances  in  the  picker.  Matches  and 
lighting  apparatus,  of  course,  are  dangerous 
elements,  as  well  as  lightning,  fire-works,  and 
stoves.  In  one  case  a  freshet  caused  such 
a  rapid  oxidation  of  iron  turnings  as  to  set 


280 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


fire  to  the  sawdust  that  was  mixed  with 
them. 

The  advantages  of  electric  lighting  for 
mills  are  dwelt  on  at  some  length,  the  dif- 
ferent systems  being  described  and  the  cost 
compared.  The  latter  contains  the  results 
actually  obtained  at  the  Globe  Mills  in 
Woonsocket,  where  the  expense  of  lighting 
a  weave-room  three  hundred  feet  by  sixty- 
six,  by  gas,  was  nearly  twice  the  cost  of 
lighting  the  same  room  by  electricity,  gas 
costing  $2.20  per  thousand  feet.  Only  one 
hundred  and  seventeen  incandescent  lamps 
were  employed,  where  two  hundred  and  six- 
teen gas-burners  had  been  used,  making  the 
cost  per  light  very  nearly  the  same.  The 
dangers  of  electric  lighting  are  admitted, 
and  the  precautions  to  be  taken  are  enumer- 
ated. 

The  second  portion  of  the  book  treats 
of  the  restriction  of  injury  from  fire  by 
means  of  the  application  of  sound  princi- 
ples of  building  pertaining  to  slow-burning 
construction.  The  features  of  bad  con- 
struction and  the  elements  of  safe  construc- 
tion are  considered,  and  formulae  are  given 
for  the  strength  of  beams,  planks,  floors,  etc. 

The  book  is  handsomely  printed  in  large 
clear  type,  on  good  paper,  and  bound  in 
"  fiery  red "  cloth,  which  makes  it  rather 
suggestive.  It  is  a  book  that  could  be  read 
with  advantage  by  many  others  than  build- 
ers and  owners  of  mills,  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  its  practical  suggestions  may 
accomplish  what  its  author  aims  at — a  re- 
duction in  the  number  and  extent  of  mill- 
fires,  with  the  attendant  loss  of  life  and 
property. 

Easy  Star  Lessons.  By  Richard  A.  Proc- 
tor. Illustrated  with  Forty-eight  Star 
Maps  and  Thirty-five  Woodcuts.  New 
York:  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.  1882.  Pp. 
219.     Price,  $2.50. 

The  object  of  this  last  book  of  the  dis- 
tinguished astronomer  is  to  teach  the  star 
groups,  and  enable  the  learner  to  find  them 
on  the  sky.  Instead  of  the  usual  star  maps 
that  represent  the  entire  visible  heavens 
and  require  to  be  held  upside  down,  or  side- 
ways, in  tracing  out  the  constellations,  four 
maps  are  given  for  each  month  of  the  year, 
namely,  a  northern,  a  southern,  an  eastern, 
and  a  western  map,  making  forty-eight  in 


all.  The  maps  are  printed  in  blue,  the  stars 
in  white ;  the  principal  stars  of  each  con- 
stellation are  joined  by  dotted  lines,  and  the 
names  of  the  constellation  are  given,  but 
the  usual  imaginary  pictures  of  bulls,  fishes, 
and  dragons  are  all  omitted,  so  that  the  map 
more  nearly  resembles  the  sky  than  is  usual. 
Lines  are  drawn  to  represent  the  horizons 
of  New  Orleans,  Louisville,  Philadelphia, 
and  Boston ;  also  of  London,  England.  The 
zenith  of  each  place  is  likewise  given.  Sev- 
eral pages  of  letterpress  accompany  each 
set  of  star  maps,  and  explain  the  method 
to  be  followed  in  tracing  out  each  group, 
and  woodcuts  are  employed  in  the  text  to 
exhibit  the  position  of  the  larger  stars  as 
related  to  the  bulls  and  bears  of  the  sky. 
This  method  of  separating  the  real  from  the 
imginary  will  be  a  boon  to  the  star-gazer 
and  the  student,  for  it  is  very  pleasant  to 
know  the  stars — to  be  able,  like  Milton's 
hermit,  to 

"...  Bit  and  rightly  spell 
Of  every  star  that  heaven  doth  show." 

RErORT  OF  THE  COMMISSIONER  OF  EDUCATION 

for  the  Year  1880.    Washington:  Gov- 
ernment Printing-Office.     Pp.  914. 

The  commissioner  asserts  that  the  im- 
portant relation  which  his  department  sus- 
tains to  the  interests  of  education  is  be- 
coming constantly  more  apparent ;  and  that 
the  year  covered  by  the  present  report  was 
marked  by  a  great  increase  in  the  amount 
and  value  of  the  information  received  at 
the  office  with  reference  to  the  conduct  of 
education  in  our  own  and  foreign  countries, 
and  by  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  pub- 
lic demand  for  the  distribution  of  informa- 
tion. The  department  is  endeavoring  to 
secure  a  more  exact  particularity  and  defi- 
niteness  in  the  educational  statistics  from 
the  different  States,  so  that  they  may  show 
more  clearly  the  condition  of  the  schools, 
the  proficiency  of  the  pupils,  and  the  degree 
of  attention  that  is  given  to  each  branch  of 
study.  It  has  succeeded  so  far  that  the  re- 
ports from  Ohio  give  the  number  of  pupils 
in  each  of  the  branches  taught,  and  those 
of  more  than  a  dozen  other  States  give  ap- 
proaches to  the  result.  Advance  is  claimed 
in  the  consideration  shown  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  courses  of  study  to  psychological 
conditions  and  the  necessities  of  pupil  life. 
An  approach  has  been  made  in  the  last  ten 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


281 


years  toward  uniformity  in  the  general  out- 
lines of  the  school  systems  of  the  different 
States,  "  which  seems  remarkable  in  view  of 
the  diversity  of  educational  conditions  in 
the  several  States  prior  to  1870,  the  oppo- 
site theories  which    prevailed  in  different 
sections,  and  the  great  contrast  between  the 
newly   settled   States   and    older   common- 
wealths in  social  conditions  and  available 
resources."      Information  concerning  rural 
schools  being  given  now  fuller  and  in  more 
explicit  shape  than  formerly,  their  deficien- 
cies and  wants  are  in  consequence   more 
clearly  perceived,  and  there  is  ground   for 
belief  that  improvement  in  them  will   be 
steady  and  rapid.     Women's  opportunities 
to  influence  education  as  voters  and  school- 
officers  have  been  greatly  enlarged  in  many 
States,  but  the  commissioner  regrets  to  say 
that  the  women  have  shown  more  indiffer- 
ence to  them  than  he  had  expected.     The 
usual  annual  review  of  the  different  classes 
and  grades  of  schools  in  the  United  States 
is  given,  but,  while  it  shows  the  general  im- 
provement in  efficiency  that  was  to  be  ex- 
pected, reveals  nothing  new  that  calls  for 
especial  remark.     Papers  are  appended  on 
"Education  in  Foreign  Countries,"  "Indus- 
trial Education,"  "Popular  Science  Teach- 
ing,"    "  Evening,     Army,     and     Summer 
Schools,"   "Myopia,"  the  "Physiology   of 
Reading  and  of  Writing,"  and  other  topics 
bearing  upon  the  advancement  and  improve- 
ment of  education. 

Manual  of  Blow-pipe  Analysis,  Qualita- 
tive and  Quantitative,  with  a  Com- 
plete System  of  Determinative  Miner- 
alogy. By  H.  B.  Cornwall,  Professor 
of  Analytical  Chemistry  and  Mineralogy 
in  the  John  C.  Green  School  of  Science, 
Princeton,  N.  J.  New  York :  D.  Van 
Nostrand,  1882.     Pp.  308. 

The  title  of  the  book  before  us  very 
fully  explains  its  nature  and  purpose.  Pro- 
fessor Cornwall's  skill  as  a  chemist  and  ex- 
perience as  a  teacher  peculiarly  fit  him  for 
the  preparation  of  a  manual  that  shall  sup- 
ply the  student  with  all  the  needed  infor- 
mation for  pursuing  a  complete  course  in 
blow-pipe  analysis. 

The  work  is  similar  in  plan,  but  wider 
even  in  scope,  than  Plattner's  well-known 
manual,  which  was  translated  by  Professor 
Cornwall  in  1872,  and  has  since  been  the 


standard  text-book.     In  the  present  work, 
many  details  have  been  added  which  tend 
to  lessen  the  labors  of  the   instructor,  and 
adapt  the  book  to  the  use  of  students  who 
are  working  alone,  although  it  will  be  read- 
ily understood  that  few  persons  will  be  able 
to  acquire  skill  in  a  branch  requiring  such 
delicacy  of  manipulation  without  personal 
instruction.     The  apparatus  and  operations 
are  first  fully  described  and  carefully  illus- 
trated by  numerous  woodcuts  ;  special  tests 
are  then  given  for  each  of  the  elements,  in- 
cluding even  the  rare  metals,  for  in  blow- 
pipe analysis  it  frequently  happens  that  the 
presence  of  only  one  or  two  substances  is 
to  be  sought,  and  it  is  then  unnecessary  to 
go  through  a  complete  analysis.    The  fourth 
chapter,  however,  contains  special  schemes 
for  complex  substances,  and  methods  for  the 
examination  of  metallurgical  products  and 
paints ;    also  Professor  Egleston's   scheme 
for  complete   analysis,  as    it  appeared   in 
the  author's  translation  of  Plattner.     The 
system  has  been  devised  with  the  view  of 
employing  the  blow-pipe  to  the  exclusion,  as 
far  as  possible,  of  wet  methods,  but  a  few 
directions  are  given  for  the  general  opera- 
tions in  wet  analysis,  and  a  list  of  reagents 
both  solid  and  liquid  required  for  the  latter. 
Mention  is  made  of  the  use  of  citric  acid,  as 
recommended  by  Professor  H.   C.  Bolton, 
for  decomposing  minerals  ;  also  of  the  glyc- 
erine test  for  boracic   acid.     We  can  not 
help  feeling  that  the  addition  of  a  list  of 
Bunsen's   "  flame    reactions "  would    have 
added  to  the  value  and  completeness  of  the 
book.     The  use  of  spectrum  analysis  is  very 
briefly  described,  and  an  (uncolored)  litho- 
graphic plate  shows  the  position  of  the  lines 
and   bands  which  characterize   the  metals 
usually  sought  for  in  this  way. 

In  the  chapter  on  quantitative  analysis, 
the  method  of  assaying  gold,  silver,  cop- 
per, lead,  bismuth,  tin,  mercury,  and  co- 
balt and  nickel  ores  is  fully  described, 
and  the  apparatus  employed  are  illustrated. 
In  this  sort  of  work  the  automatic  ap- 
paratus, described  on  pages  180,  181,  are 
very  convenient,  as  a  long-continued  and 
steady  blast  is  essential.  As  the  quan- 
tity of  ore  that  can  be  assayed  is  very 
small,  the  operations  of  quantitative  blow- 
piping  are  very  delicate,  and  an  exceedingly 
accurate  balance  is  an  absolute  necessity. 


282 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


It  is  well  adapted  to  the  assay  of  alloys,  but 
when  ores  are  to  be  assayed  very  great  care 
is  required  to  obtain  a  fair  sample  in  so 
small  a  quantity  of  material.  With  these 
drawbacks,  blow-pipe  analysis  offers  many 
advantages  over  wet  analysis,  as  it  requires 
no  special  laboratory,  and  the  apparatus  are 
much  more  portable. 

Chapter  VIII  contains  a  description  of 
the  important  ores  and  coal,  and  the  last 
chapter  is  devoted  to  determinative  miner- 
alogy. In  this  chapter,  the  minerals,  like 
plants  in  a  botanical  key,  are  subjected  to 
an  artificial  classification  depending  on  cer- 
tain external  properties.  The  classes  are 
then  subdivided  according  to  their  reaction 
before  the  blow-pipe,  such  as  fusibility,  odor, 
or  coat  on  charcoal.  The  method  of  writing 
the  mineral  formulas  is  that  followed  by 
Plattner  and  Kobell. 

Professor  Cornwall's  book  is,  on  the 
whole,  so  complete  and  practical,  that  it 
will  soon  take  the  place  of  the  larger  and 
more  expensive  manual  of  Plattner  in  our 
leading  scientific  schools. 

Catalogue  of  1,098  Standard  Clock  and 
Zodiacal  Stars.  Prepared  under  the 
direction  of  Simon  Newcomb.     Pp.  314. 

This  catalogue  was  commenced  at  the 
Naval  Observatory  for  the  purpose  of  ob- 
taining standard  positions  of  reference  stars 
for  use  in  the  lunar  and  planetary  theories, 
especially  in  the  reduction  of  the  older 
occultations.  In  1877  the  unfinished  work 
was  turned  over  to  the  office  of  the  Ameri- 
can Ephemeris,  and  has  been  completed  by 
Chauncey  Thomas,  U.  S.  N.,  under  the  per- 
sonal direction  of  Professor  Newcomb. 


PUBLICATIONS  RECEIVED. 

A  Guide  to  Modern  English  History.  By 
William  Corv.  Part  II.  1830-'35.  New  York  : 
Henry  Holt  &  Co.    Pp.  567. 

HiBtorv  of  thfi  Pacific  States  of  North  Amer- 
ica. By  Hubert  Howe  Bancroft.  Vol.  I.  Cen- 
tral America.  San  Francisco:  A.  L.  Bancroft  & 
Co.    Pp.  704. 

Practical  Life  and  the  Stndv  of  Man.  Bv  J. 
Wilson,  Ph.  D.  Newark,  New  York  :  J.  Wilson 
&  Son.    Pp.  400.    $1.50. 

The  American  Citizen's  Mannal.  Part  I. 
Governments,  the  Electorate,  the  Civil  Service. 
Edited  hy  Worthington  C.  Ford.  New  York: 
G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.    Pp.  146.    $1. 

Speech  and  its  Defects.  Considered  Physi- 
ologically, Pathologically,  Historically,  and  Re- 
medially.  By  Samnel  O.  L.  Potter,  M.  A.,  M.  D. 
Philadelphia:  P.  Blakiston,  Son  &  Co.    Pp.  117. 


How  to  Succeed.  A  Series  of  Essays  by  Va- 
rious Authors.  Edited,  with  an  Introduction,  by 
the  Kev.  Lyman  Abbott,  D.  D.  New  York  :  G. 
P.  Putnam's  Sous.    Pp.  131.    50  cents. 

Kchelling's  Transcendental  Idealism.  A  Crit- 
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R.  S.  C.  Chicago  :  S.  C.  Griggs  &  Co.  Pp.  251. 
$1.25. 

Swift.  By  Leslie  Stephen.  New  York  :  Har- 
per &  Brothers.    Pp.  205.    75  cents. 

Sterne.  By  H.  D.  Traill.  New  York  :  Harper 
&  Brothers.    Pp.  173.    75  cents. 

Hints  for  Sketching  in  Water-Color  from 
Nature.  By  Thomas  Hatton.  Edited  by  Susan  N. 
Carter.  New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.  Pp. 
69.    50  cents. 

Drawing  in  Black  and  White.  Charcoal,  Pen- 
cil, Crayon,  and  Pen-and-Iuk.  By  Mrs.  Susan 
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Pp.  55.    50  cents. 

Potable  Water  and  the  Relative  EfiBciency  of 
Different  Methods  of  detecting  Impurities.  By 
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Nostrand.    Pp.  138.    50  cents. 

In  Memoriam.  Benjamin  B.  Redding.  San 
Francisco:  California  Academy  of  Sciences. 
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Is  Tubercular  Consumption  a  Contagious  and 
Parasitic  Disease  ?  By  Bela  W.  Cogshall,  M.  D., 
of  Flint,  Michigan.    Pp.  12. 

On  Nocturnal  Epilepsy,  and  its  Relations  to 
Somnambulism.  By  M.  G.  Ecbeverria,  M.  D. 
Lewes  :  "  Sussex  Advertiser  "  Office.    Pp.  32. 

Forestry  Bulletins  of  the  Census  Office,  18  to 
22. 

A  Plan  for  securing  Observations  of  the  Va- 
riable Stars.  By  Edward  C.  Pickering.  Cam- 
bridge :  John  Wilson  &  Son.    Pp.  15. 

An  Evolution  Aspect  of  the  Healing  of 
Wounds,  with  Deductions  as  to  Treatment.  By 
C.  Pitfield  Mitchell,  M.R.  C.  S.,  30  E.  35th  Street, 
New  York.    Pp.  13. 

The  Pathology  and  Philosophy  of  Sea-Sick- 
ness. By  C.  Pitfield  Mitchell,  M.  R.  C.  S.,  30  E. 
35th  Street,  New  York.    Pp.  16. 

Subscales,  including  Verniers.  By  Henry  H. 
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Pp.  16. 

On  the  Prevention  of  Fires  in  Theatres.    By 

C.  John  Hexamer.    Philadelphia  :  "  Merrihew  " 
Print.    Pp.  18. 

Some  Points  on  the  Administration  of  Anaes- 
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Use  of  the  Ecrasenr  for  curing  Deep-Seated 
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Campinas,  Brazil.    Pp.  8. 

Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  relative  to 
the  Imports,  Exports,  Immigration,  and  Navi- 
gation of  the  United  States  for  the  Year  ended 
June  30, 1882.  Washington :  Government  Pnnt- 
ing-Office.    Pp.  112. 

Analyses  of  Beethoven's  First  and  Second 
Symphonies.  By  George  Grove,  D.  C.  L.  Bos- 
ton :   George  H.  Ellis.    Pp.  16  each.    15  cents 

Address  delivered  by  the  President  of  the 
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Pittsburg:  Stevenson  &  Foster.    Pp.  13. 

Radiant  Heat  an  Exception  to  the  Second 
Law  of  Thermo-dynamics.    By  H.  1 .  Eddy,  f  n. 

D.  Cincinnati.    Pp.  12. 

»  The  American  Journal  of  Physiology."  Ed- 
ited by  D.  H.  Fernandes,  M.  D.  Vol.  I,  No.  1. 
Indianapolis,  Indiana.    Pp.  8. 

The  Gulf  Stream.  Additional  Data  from  the 
Investigations  of  the  Coast  and  Geodetic  Steamer 
Blake.  By  Commander  J.  R.  Bartlett,  U.  b.  N. 
Pp.  16.    With  Map. 


POPULAR  MISCELLANY. 


283 


Phonetics  of  the  Kayowe  Language.  By  Al- 
bert 3.  Gatschett.    Pp.  6. 

A  Dictionary  of  Musicand  Musicians.  Edited 
by  George  Grove,  D.  C.  L.  Parts  XV  and  XVI. 
London  and  New  York  :  Macmillan  &  Co.  Pp. 
272.    $2. 

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tions No.  3.  Ottawa,  Canada :  Citizens'  Print- 
ing and  Publishing  Company.  Pp.  60.  With 
Two  Plates. 

The  Practice  of  Gynaecology  in  Ancient 
Times.  By  Edward  W.  Jenks,  M.  D.,  LL.  D. 
Chicago,  Illinois.    Pp.  46.    With  Two  Plates. 

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Compiled  by  E.  J.  Farmer.  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
Pp.  37.    25  cents. 

The  Analogy  between  Sound  and  Color.  By 
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The  Muscles  of  the  Limbs  of  the  Raccoon. 
By  Harrison  Allen,  M.  D.    Pp.  30. 

Tornadoes.  Their  Special  Characteristics 
and  Dangers.  With  Practical  Directions  for 
Protection  of  Life  and  Property.  By  John  P. 
Fiuley.  Kansas  City,  Missouri ;  Ramsay,  Millett 
&  Hudson.    Pp.  29. 

Tornado  Studies  for  1882.  By  John  P.  Finley. 
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son.   Pp.  14. 

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Conte  Stevens.    Pp.  8. 

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tion.   By  S.  H.  Wilder.    New  York.    Pp.  16. 

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POPULAR   MISCELLANY. 

The  Flora  of  North  America.— Professor 
Asa  Gray  gave  an  historical  account,  at  the 
last  meeting  of  the  American  Association,  of 
the  study  and  compilation  of  the  North  Amer- 
ican flora.  The  first  "Flora"  of  the  coun- 
try was  published  by  Michaux,  in  1S03.  It 
embraced  plants  representing  the  whole  re- 
gion from  Hudson  Bay  to  Florida,  and  con- 
tainedl,  530  species.  The  work  of  Pursh  fol- 
lowed about  twenty  years  afterward,  and 
represented  a  much  smaller  territory,  not  ex- 
tending west  of  Virginia  or  north  of  Lake 
Champlain,  but  contained  740  genera  and 
3,700  species.  Dr.  Gray  himself  started  on 
his  great  botanical  work  in  1 830,  while  he  was 
an  assistant  in  a  doctor's  office  in  New  York. 
It  is  not  exactly  known  when  Dr.  John  Tor- 
rey  conceived  the  idea  of  publishing  a  third 
"  Flora  of  North  America,"  but  he  invited 
Nuttall  to  join  him  in  the  work  as  early 
as  1832.  Arrangements  were  afterward 
made  with  Dr.  Gray,  and  the  first  volume 
of  the  conjoint  work  was  issued  in  1838. 
It  was  generally  thought  that  the  orders 


remaining  to  be  described  could  be  soon 
worked  out,  and  the  "  Flora  "  completed,  but 
the  rapid  publication  which  the  fulfillment 
of  such  an  anticipation  required  was  not 
possible.  Dr.  Torrcy  had  already  been  to 
Europe  and  spent  a  considerable  time  in  the 
study  of  foreign  herbaria.  Dr.  Gray  also 
visited  Europe  at  the  end  of  1838,  and  spent 
several  months  in  the  same  work,  paying 
especial  attention  to  the  American  herbaria 
of  Michaux,  Pursh,  De  Candolle,  and  others. 
A  second  volume  of  500  pages  appeared  in 
1840,  and  carried  the  "  Flora  "  to  the  end  of 
the  Compositce.  The  work  was  then  inter- 
rupted by  the  pressure  of  other  duties,  so  that 
the  third  volume  was  not  added  to  the  series 
till  1880.  The  labor  of  pushing  the  work  to 
completion  is  very  difficult  now  compared 
with  what  Pursh  endured  when  the  species 
were  fewer  and  the  number  of  specimens 
collected  of  each  was  many  times  less.  The 
first  volume  of  the  present  ''  Flora "  con- 
tained about  twice  as  many  species  as  Pursh 
gave  for  the  same  orders ;  and  the  number 
of  species  in  these  families  has  increased 
greatly  in  the  thirty  years  since  its  publica- 
tion. American  flowering  plants  can  not 
now  be  represented  with  less  than  10,000 
species,  and  the  number  is  increasing  daily, 
so  that  soon  12,000  may  be  required.  The 
amount  of  material  collected  is  vast ;  addi- 
tions are  constantly  pouring  into  the  Har- 
vard herbarium,  and  the  time  of  the  com- 
pilers is  severely  taxed  to  work  it  over. 
The  work  in  the  future  must  be  divided  up 
among  many  persons,  each  doing  a  part ; 
and  Dr.  Gray  earnestly  solicits  the  co-opera- 
tion of  all  botanists. 

The  Proposed  Geological  Map  of  En- 
rope. —  The  International  Geological  Con- 
gress, which  met  at  Bologna  last  year,  de- 
cided upon  the  preparation  of  a  geological 
map  of  Europe,  which  should  exemplify  a 
uniform  terminology  and  a  uniform  system 
of  coloring,  and  appointed  an  International 
Committee  to  superintend  the  work.  The 
execution  of  the  map  will,  of  course,  re- 
quire many  years,  but  its  general  plan  and 
the  regulations  under  which  it  is  to  be 
carried  on  have  been  already  provisionally 
agreed  upon.  The  map  is  to  be  published 
at  Berlin,  under  the  immediate  direction  of 
Messrs.  Beyrich  and  nauchecorne,  of  the 


284 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


Royal  Prussian  Geological  Institute.  The 
data  from  each  nation  will  be  furnished 
through  its  representative  on  the  Interna- 
tional Committee,  if  it  has  one ;  or,  if  it  is  a 
small  state,  and  is  not  thus  represented,  by 
its  vice-presidents  in  the  Congress.  The 
map  will  include  the  whole  basin  of  the 
Mediterranean  and  all  of  Europe  to  the 
eastern  slope  of  the  Ural  Mountains,  and 
will  be  made  upon  a  scale  of  1  to  1,500,000. 
It  will  therefore  cover  a  space  of  372  by  336 
centimetres,  or  about  twelve  by  eleven  feet, 
and  will,  for  convenience  of  use  and  bind- 
ing, be  divided  into  forty-nine  sections  of 
about  twenty-two  by  sixteen  inches  each. 
The  primary  object  of  the  map  will  be  to 
give  a  clear  representation  of  geological 
conditions.  It  will  not  be  practicable  con- 
sistently with  this  to  give  particular  at- 
tention to  orographical  details.  The  river 
systems,  the  principal  towns,  the  more  im- 
portant mountain-ranges,  and  the  curves  in- 
dicating sea-depths,  will  be  denoted  so  far 
as  seems  fitting.  The  topographical  basis 
of  the  map  is  to  be  reconstructed  on  the 
proposed  scale  under  the  supervision  of 
Professor  H.  Kiepert,  of  Berlin.  The  total 
expense  of  the  work  is  estimated  at  80,000 
marks,  or  in  the  neighborhood  of  $20,000, 
and  is  to  be  borne  by  the  states  interested, 
the  eight  largest  states  contributing  each 
one  ninth,  and  the  smaller  states  together 
the  other  ninth,  of  the  whole.  The  sub- 
scription price  for  the  first  edition  will  be 
80  marks,  or  about  $20,  a  copy  of  the  whole 
map.  The  price  will  afterward  be  raised  to 
100  marks,  or  $25. 

Origin  ot  Petroleum. — The  Huron  and 
Cleveland  (Devonian)  black  shales  of  Ohio 
contain  from  2  to  22  per  cent  of  organic 
matter,  which  Dr.  Newberry  regards  as  of 
marine  origin,  and  are  the  source  of  some 
of  the  petroleum-wells.  Decomposition  has 
been  carried  on  so  far  that  all  structure 
seems  to  have  been  obliterated;  but  Dr. 
Orton  stated,  in  a  paper  read  before  the 
American  Association,  that  he  had  discov- 
ered the  organic  substance  to  consist  of  spo- 
rangia or  spore-cases  of  Lycopodiacece.  He 
had  found  numerous  resinous  disks  of  from 
zhu  to  -fa  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  translu- 
cent, amber  -  colored,  appearing  as  a  rusty 
crust,  with  ridged  and  furrowed  surfaces, 


burning  freely,  insoluble  in  alcohol,  and 
sometimes  having  stem -like  attachments. 
Different  beds  afford  disks  of  different  sizes. 
The  Pennsylvania  and  New  York  petroleum- 
wells  originate  in  the  equivalent  of  the  Ohio 
black  shales. 

A  Medal  to  Pastenr. — A  medal  commem- 
orative of  his  remarkable  discoveries  was 
presented  to  M.  Pasteur  at  the  sitting  of 
the  French  Academy  of  Sciences,  June  26th, 
by  M.  Dumas,  on  behalf  of  a  committee  of 
scientific  men  and  friends  and  admirers  of 
the  distinguished  investigator.  M.  Dumas 
reviewed  briefly  the  great  services  M.  Pas- 
teur had  rendered  to  science,  art,  and  indus- 
try, through  his  researches  among  the  vital 
organisms  of  fermentation,  and  closed  by 
saying :  "  My  dear  Pasteur,  your  life  has 
only  known  successes.  The  scientific  meth- 
od, of  which  you  make  certain  use,  owes 
you  its  finest  triumphs.  The  Normal  School 
is  proud  to  count  you  among  the  number  of 
its  students ;  the  Academy  of  Sciences  is 
elated  at  your  researches ;  France  ranks  you 
among  her  glories.  .  .  .  Science,  agricult- 
ure, industry,  humanity,  will  feel  eternal 
gratitude  to  you,  and  your  name  will  live 
in  their  annals  among  the  most  illustrious 
and  the  most  venerated."  Pasteur  replied 
modestly,  acknowledging  his  obligations  to 
his  teachers,  and  said :  "  Hitherto  great  eu- 
logies have  inflamed  my  ardor,  and  only  in- 
spired the  idea  of  rendering  myself  worthy 
of  them  by  new  efforts ;  but  those  which 
you  have  addressed  to  me,  in  the  name  of 
the  Academy  and  of  learned  societies,  truly 
overpower  me." 

Were  the  Monnd-Bnilders  Indians? — 

Dr.  Hoy  read  a  paper  at  the  American  As- 
sociation in  support  of  the  view  that  the 
mound-builders  were  the  ancestors  of  our 
present  Indian  race.  He  held  that  the  age 
of  the  mounds  had  been  exaggerated.  The 
growth  of  large  trees  upon  them  is  not  cer- 
tain evidence  of  great  age,  for  some  trees 
grow  very  fast.  It  was  also  a  mistake  to 
suppose  that  the  mound-builders  could  be 
distinguished  from  Indians  by  their  being 
an  agricultural  people.  The  Indians  have 
largely  tilled  the  ground.  De  Soto  lived 
with  his  army  four  years  among  the  Indians 
of  the  South,  and  quartered  his  two  hun- 


POPULAR  MISCELLANY. 


285 


dred  and  eleven  horses  for  forty  days  in  one 
spot.  The  absence  of  traditions  about  the 
mound  builders  can  not  be  regarded  as  evi- 
dence of  separate  origin ;  it  is  a  fact  that 
the  Winnebagoes  and  Menomonees  have  no 
traditions  going  as  far  back  as  to  Marquette, 
or  even  to  John  Carver,  not  a  century  ago ; 
and,  in  truth,  their  traditions  are  so  short 
that  they  deny  that  the  Indians  ever  used 
stone  arrow-heads.  The  author  concluded 
that  there  was  abundant  evidence  of  an  In- 
dian origin  in  the  mounds — including  the 
finding  of  European  implements  in  them 
that  must  have  been  placed  there  when  they 
were  made — from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to 
Northern  Wisconsin. 

Dr.  IIoy  also  discussed  the  question  of 
the  origin  of  the  copper  implements  that  are 
found  in  the  neighborhood  of  Lake  Superior. 
He  remarked  that  the  explorers  of  the  St. 
Lawrence,  Lake  Superior,  and  the  Eastern 
coast,  all  say  that  the  Indians  had  these  im- 
plements, and  that  the  copper-mines  of  Lake 
Superior  show  no  evidences  of  great  an- 
tiquity. The  Chippewas  and  Winnebagoes 
both  have  copper  ornaments.  Professor  But- 
ler has  a  copper  spear-head,  plowed  up  in 
Wisconsin,  containing  part  of  an  iron  rivet, 
which  had  doubtless  been  made  or  used 
after  the  Indians  had  traded  with  the 
whites,  and  had  had  access  to  iron.  The 
author  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  Iudians 
of  the  Lake  Superior  district  made  copper 
implements  for  themselves,  and  also  for  ex- 
tensive barter,  and  did  not  see  how  any  rea- 
sonable man  could  assert  that  the  Indians 
knew  nothing  about  the  use  of  the  native 
metal.  Professor  Putnam  discussed  the  same 
subject  in  his  paper  on  the  North  American 
copper  implements  and  ornaments  under  his 
charge  in  the  Peabody  Museum.  He  had 
no  doubt  that  the  Indians  used  copper,  and 
that  its  use  was  contemporary  with  that  of 
polished  stone  implements.  The  native 
copper  was  hammered,  not  molded,  into 
shape ;  and  the  speaker  described  the  way 
iu  which  the  processes  were  carried  out. 
Some  ornaments  that  had  been  connected 
with  Christianity  were  really  only  shaped  as 
they  were  easiest  to  make.  Some  classic- 
al-looking ear-rings  were  shown,  which  had 
been  made  from  native  copper  beaten 
out. 


Formation  of  Prairies. — Mr.  H.  D.  Va- 

lin,  of  Chicago,  has  proposed  a  new  theory 
to  account  for  the  formation  of  prairies  and 
the  elevation  of  the  country  west  of  the 
Mississippi.  Noticing  that  the  prairies  rest 
generally  on  Silurian  rocks,  he  believes  that 
they  represent  ground  which  has  always 
been  inundated,  or  subject  to  periodical 
overflows.  The  waters,  when  high,  washed 
away  the  rocks  of  the  bluffs,  and  deposited 
on  the  level  surface  beneath  them  the  clay 
resulting  from  the  erosion ;  while  the  de- 
tritus forming  the  sod  of  the  prairie  dates 
always  from  the  last  inundation.  The  con- 
stant exposure  of  the  prairie-soil  to  sub- 
mersion accounts  for  the  absence  of  trees. 
The  land  has  risen  partly  by  deposition,  but 
in  large  part  also  because  of  the  elasticity 
of  the  earth's  surface,  "  which,  like  matter 
in  general,  always  tends  toward  an  equilib- 
rium. For  instance,  the  highest  mountains 
weigh  about  the  same  on  the  surface  of  the 
earth  that  the  deepest  ocean  does,  other- 
wise their  respective  levels  would  come  into 
one.  Now,  as  the  detritus  of  the  rocks  is 
carried  by  streams  into  the  sea,  the  porous 
material  grows  heavier,  though  not  increased 
in  size,  and  the  equilibrium  is  forcibly  re- 
established by  a  slow  upheaval  of  the  land. 
The  pressure  exerted  laterally  by  such  up- 
heaval is,  likely,  the  origin  of  volcanoes, 
geysers,  and  earthquakes." 

Physiological  Analogies  of  the  Roman 

Letters.— Professor  A.  Melville  Bell,  in  ex- 
plaining the  system  of  "  visible  speech  "  at 
the  late  meeting  of  the  American  Associa- 
tion, remarked  that  something  like  a  physi- 
ological principle  may  be  found  to  pervade 
our  Roman  alphabet.  The  actions  of  the 
lip3,  the  most  obvious  of  the  speech-organs, 
would  naturally  be  the  most  definitely  in- 
dicated ;  and  it  is  among  the  labial  letters 
that  we  find  the  most  numerous  illustrations 
of  an  apparently  physiological  basis.  The 
rounded  form  of  the  lips  in  pronouncing 
0  is,  for  example,  very  suggestive  of  the 
circle,  which  is  the  emblem  of  that  element; 
and  in  the  letter  B  we  have  a  perfect  rep- 
resentation of  the  profile  of  the  closed  lips. 
The  letter  P  as  compared  with  B,  seems  to 
suggest  a  sound  of  similar  organic  produc- 
tion, but  lacking  something  of  the  B  sound 
— and  this  is  the  exact  physiological  relation 


286 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


of  the  elements.  B  and  P  are  alike,  except- 
ing that  B  has  a  vocal  murmur,  which  is 
wanting  in  P.  The  letters  P  and  F  present 
another  instance  of  physiological  consist- 
ency, the  closed  part  of  P  being  opened  in 
F,  as  if  to  indicate  a  sound  of  similar  for- 
mation without  obstruction  of  the  breath. 
The  letter  C  exhibits  the  outline  of  the 
back  of  the  tongue  in  pronouncing  the  hard 
sound  of  the  letter,  and  the  kindred  letter 
G  consistently  shows  an  element  of  similar 
formation,  but  with  the  addition  of  some- 
thing that  is  lacking  in  C.  The  letter  K,  a 
duplicate  for  the  sound  of  C  hard,  consists 
of  a  C,  angular  instead  of  rounded,  in  con- 
tact with  a  posterior  line,  and  thus  very  sug- 
gestively denotes  the  action  of  the  tongue 
against  the  roof  of  the  mouth.  The  letter 
T,  in  the  same  way,  appears  to  denote  the 
position  of  the  tongue  in  pronouncing  the 
sound ;  the  roof  of  the  mouth  being  denoted 
by  the  horizontal  line,  while  the  vertical 
line  shows  the  upward  direction  of  the 
tongue  to  contact  with  the  palate. 

Antiquity  of  Man  in  America. — "  The 

Geological  Testimony  to  the  Antiquity  of 
Man  in  America  "  was  considered  by  Pro- 
fessor Willis  De  Hass,  in  a  carefully  pre- 
pared paper  which  he  read  at  the  American 
Association.  After  referring  to  a  skeleton 
disinterred  at  Natchez,  Mississippi,  of  very 
uncertain  antiquity,  and  the  remains  yielded 
by  the  Trenton  gravel  formation,  which  he 
was  disposed  to  place  at  even  a  pre-glacial 
period,  the  speaker  mentioned  the  caverns 
as  constituting  the  best  sources  of  informa- 
tion as  to  human  antiquities.  They  show 
evidences  of  an  existence  of  man  on  this 
continent  long  antedating  the  mound  period, 
and  would,  he  had  no  doubt,  hereafter  be- 
come as  celebrated  for  human  antiquities  as 
were  the  caverns  of  Belgium  and  France. 
He  attributed  the  ancient  copper-workings 
of  Lake  Superior  to  a  prehistoric  race,  and 
asserted  that  a  greater  amount  of  labor  had 
been  performed  by  its  miners  in  a  space  of 
less  than  two  thousand  acres  than  two  thou- 
sand men  working  twenty  years  could  per- 
form in  our  time.  All  the  mines  of  the 
Lake  Superior  region,  he  added,  gave  evi- 
dence of  having  been  wrought  by  a  pre- 
historic race.  Professor  De  Hass  did  not, 
however,  consider  that  the  mounds  and  mu- 


ral works  of  the  West  and  South  bore  evi- 
dence of  a  high  antiquity — or  of  more,  per- 
haps, than  two  thousand  years.  They  might 
be  assigned  to  a  people  intermediate  be- 
tween the  mound-builders  and  the  Indians. 

Ancient  Cults  among  the  Berbers  of 
Morocco. — Dr.  Haliburton,  of  Ontario,  has 
taken  advantage  of  a  recent  sojourn  in  Mo- 
rocco to  study  the  vestiges  of  ancient  cults 
of  Europe  and  Asia  which  are  still  preserved 
among  the  Berber  tribes.  Here  he  found 
the  crude  stories  of  the  twelve  labors  of 
Hercules,  of  Apollo,  of  Minerva,  of  Isis  and 
Osiris,  of  Belus  and  Astarte.  Numerous 
observations  indicated  that  here,  too,  must 
have  been  the  home  of  the  myth  of  Saturn 
and  of  the  golden  apples  of  the  Hesperides. 
A  very  interesting  part  of  the  paper  on  this 
subject  communicated  to  the  American  As- 
sociation by  Dr.  Haliburton  was  the  men- 
tion of  many  names  and  stories  connecting 
these  people  with  the  Bible,  such  as  those 
of  the  gold  of  Ophir,  the  Queen  of  Sheba, 
the  land  of  Havilah,  and  of  the  vessels  of 
beaten  gold  and  silver  in  the  temples.  On 
the  last  point  the  speaker  dwelt  at  length, 
presenting  numerous  brass  and  silver  works 
and  jewelry,  made  by  the  Shillooks  in  our 
own  day.  The  fables  of  Atlas  and  the  At- 
lantes  were  traced  in  the  very  cradle  of  the 
people  themselves.  The  fable  of  the  head 
of  Medusa  was  traced  to  this  place  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  story  of  Herodotus,  that 
it  arose  from  the  custom  of  the  people  of  a 
certain  region  wearing  leather  trappings 
on  their  heads.  Dr.  Haliburton  showed  a 
leather  ornament  of  a  powder-horn  with  a 
fringed  leather  border,  like  that  on  a  Sioux 
saddle-ornament,  and  similar  to  those  de- 
scribed by  Herodotus.  The  whole  paper 
was  full  of  allusions  to  classic  mythology 
and  Biblical  story. 

The  American  Indians  and  the  Aryan 
Race. — "  Have  the  Indians  come  from  Eu- 
rope ?  "  was  the  subject  of  a  paper  read  by 
Horatio  Hale,  of  Clinton,  Ontario,  at  the  re- 
eent  meeting  of  the  American  Association. 
After  tracing  the  course  of  emigration  of 
the  leading  stocks  of  the  Indian  tribes,  as 
indicated  by  their  languages,  and  the  modi- 
fications they  seemed  to  have  undergone, 
the  author  remarked  that  the  fact  that  the 


POPULAR  MISCELLANY. 


287 


course  of  emigration  seems  to  have  been 
from  the  Atlantic  coast  toward  the  inte- 
rior might  be  regarded  as  evidence  that 
the  ancestors  of  our  Indian  tribes  were  emi- 
grants from  Europe.  Reference  was  made, 
in  support  of  this  view,  to  the  close  resem- 
blance in  structure  between  the  Basque  and 
the  Indian  languages.  It  was  suggested, 
also,  that  if  the  Aryan  intruders,  entering 
Europe  from  the  East,  encountered  and  ab- 
sorbed a  population  resembling  the  Ameri- 
can aborigines,  the  fact  would  account  for 
the  great  change  which  the  Aryan  speech 
underwent  in  Central  and  Western  Europe. 
It  would  also  account  for  the  remarkable 
change  which  took  place  in  the  character  of 
the  intruding  race.  The  Aryans,  who  in 
the  East  have  always  been  a  submissive  and 
contemplative  race,  devoid  of  the  idea  of 
popular  government,  became,  in  Europe,  a 
high-spirited,  practical,  and  liberty-loving 
people.  Mr.  Hale  concluded  that  the  na- 
tives of  modern  Europe  were  a  people  of 
mixed  race,  forming  a  transition,  in  phys- 
ical and  mental  traits,  between  the  Eastern 
Aryans  and  the  aboriginal  Americans. 

Wine  from  Beets.— Induced  by  the  havoc 
wrought  among  the  French  vines  by  the 
phylloxera,  the  Messrs.  Brin,  of  Paris,  have 
patented  processes  for  making  red  and 
white  wines  from  red  and  white  beets.  The 
roots  may  be  used  raw,  but  it  has  been 
found  preferable  to  cook  them.  Perfectly 
sweet  and  clean  roots  are  chosen,  and  after 
being  cooked  are  reduced  to  a  pulp.  The 
juice  is  then  pressed  out  and  strained,  and 
put  into  vessels  of  wood  or  cement,  but  not 
of  metal,  with  a  certain  quantity  of  water, 
if  desired,  to  ferment.  This  process  is  aided 
by  admitting  steam  or  hot  water  through 
serpentine  coils  placed  in  the  receivers,  and 
adding  some  of  the  ordinary  ferments,  and 
alcohol,  according  to  the  degree  of  strength 
that  is  wanted.  After  fermentation  the 
whole  is  strained  with  tannin.  The  wine 
obtained  by  this  process  is  said  to  possess 
all  the  properties  of  wine  from  grapes,  and 
is  treated  henceforth  like  grape-wine.  It  is 
well  adapted,  by  virtue  of  its  sacchariferous 
qualities,  to  improve  wines  poor  in  sugar 
and  rich  in  tannin.  The  red  wine,  more- 
over, is  good  for  adding  color  to  other  wines 
that  need  it.     The  white  wine  is  supposed 


to  be  improved  by  the  addition  of  a  little 
nitric  acid  at  the  moment  of  fermentation, 
after  which  the  whole  is  "  well  shaken." 

Analogies  of  Ancient  Old  World  and 
American  Customs. — Dr.  Phene  called  at- 
tention in  the  American  Association  to  some 
hitherto  unnoticed  affinities  between  ancient 
customs  in  America  and  other  continents. 
He  mentioned  customs  which  have  been 
shown  to  have  existed  in  the  great  river- 
valleys  of  our  countries  or  have  been  re- 
vealed in  the  mounds,  that  had  parallels  in 
various  European  and  Asiatic  countries. 
Among  them  were  those  indicated  by  the 
occurrence  of  figures  of  serpents,  alligators, 
or  mythical  dragons,  and  the  human  form, 
the  characteristic  features  of  which  were 
curiously  persistent  in  each  case.  Some  of 
the  shapes  of  the  semi-barbaric  age  of  Mex- 
ico corresponded  with  forms  in  Devonshire 
and  South  Wales.  In  the  vicinity  of  some 
such  figures  of  this  character  in  the  west 
and  east  of  the  south  of  England  were 
enormous  intaglio  representations  of  the 
human  form  corresponding  to  the  intaglio 
forms  at  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin.  Drawing 
attention  to  several  other  apparent  corre- 
spondences, the  speaker  said  that  they  were 
the  result  of  a  practice  and  culture  trans- 
mitted with  concurrent  customs  by  way  of 
the  Pacific  from  one  continent  to  another. 

Russian    Geological    Research.  —  The 

mining  department  of  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment has  founded  a  geological  institute  for 
the  purpose  of  centralizing  all  geological 
research  in  Russia,  and  preparing  a  detailed 
geological  map  of  the  empire.  The  empire 
has  been  explored  geologically  in  a  general 
fashion  by  several  men  of  science,  who 
have  given  accounts  of  observations,  the 
most  complete  of  which  is  that  of  the  Eng- 
lish geologist  Murchison.  This  is  still  a 
classic  work,  and  all  recent  geological  maps 
of  Russia  are  only  improved  editions  of  the 
one  prepared  by  him.  A  continuous  series 
of  geological  expeditions,  which  have  con- 
siderably advanced  the  knowledge  of  Rus- 
sian geology,  have  been  conducted  by  the 
mining  department  and  private  scientific 
societies  in  connection  with  the  universities ; 
but  all  these  researches  have  wanted  the 
system  and  connection  which  can  be  given 


288 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


them  only  by  referring  them  to  some  cen- 
tral organization  and  direction  like  the 
newly  established  institute. 

Action  of  Citric  Acid  on  Minerals. — Pro- 
fessor H.  C.  Bolton  read  a  third  paper  at  the 
recent  meeting  of  the  American  Association 
on  the  decomposition  of  minerals  by  citric 
acid,  detailing  the  results  of  his  later  re- 
searches on  the  subject.  Some  of  the  con- 
clusions expressed  in  the  first  of  his  two 
previous  papers  were  modified  in  the  sec- 
ond paper,  in  view  of  the  results  obtained 
by  the  prolonged  action  of  the  acid.  In 
the  third  series  of  experiments  Professor 
Bolton  found  that  many  species  which  re- 
sist the  brief  action  of  a  boiling  concen- 
trated solution  of  citric  acid  are  more  or 
less  completely  decomposed  by  prolonged 
contact  with  the  same  solution  at  the  ordi- 
nary temperature  of  the  work-room.  He 
has  drawn  up  a  table,  in  accordance  with 
the  last  series  of  tests,  of  thirty-two  min- 
erals or  classes  of  minerals  which  are  classi- 
fied as  those  that  are  quickly,  slowly,  very 
slowly,  or  not,  decomposed  by  citric  acid. 

In  an  American  Association  paper  Dr. 
Britton  describes  a  Post-Tertiary,  pre-glacial 
deposit,  near  Bridgeton,  New  Jersey,  com- 
pact enough  to  furnish  a  building  material, 
which  contains  casts  of  the  shells  of  the 
hard  clam,  with  silicified  wood,  and  in  which 
very  fine  impressions  of  leaves — including 
those  of  the  sweet-gum,  or  liquidambar,  vi- 
burnum, zizania,  and  elm — are  occasionally 
found. 

NOTES. 

According  to  the  Census  Bureau's  bul- 
letin of  the  statistics  of  the  lumbering  in- 
dustry of  the  United  States  for  the  year 
ending  with  May  last,  $181,186,122  are  in- 
vested in  25,708  establishments  for  the  prep- 
aration of  lumber,  and  the  total  value  of 
the  products  for  the  year  was  $233,367,729. 
Michigan  leads  the  States  in  this  industry 
with  1,649  mills,  $39,260,428  capital,  and 
$52,449,928  of  products.  Pennsylvania  is 
second,  with  2,827  mills,  $21,418,588  of 
capital,  and  $22,457,359  of  products.  Next 
are  Wisconsin,  with  $19,824,059  of  capital, 
and  $17,952,347  of  products;  New  York, 
$13,230,934  of  capital,  and  $14,356,910  of 
products ;  and  Indiana,  with  $7,048,088  of 
capital,  and  $14,260,830  of  products.  Maine, 
which  used  to  be  considered  emphatically 
the  "  lumber  State,"  is  now  seventh  in  rank, 


having  848  mills,  with  $6,339,396  of  capi- 
tal, and  $7,933,868  of  products. 

Dr.  Desire  Charles  Van  Monkhoven, 
who  died  on  the  25th  of  September  last, 
just  forty-eight  years  old,  was  at  once  dis- 
tinguished as  an  astronomer,  a  chemist,  an 
optician,  and  a  photo-chemist,  and  was  also 
an  active  and  capable  man  of  business. 
He  was  best  known  by  his  researches  in 
optical  questions  bearing  on  photography, 
and  particularly  by  his  practical  applications 
of  them  in  the  Monkhoven  solar  enlarging 
apparatus,  the  Monkhoven  tissue  for  carbon 
printing,  and  the  Monkhoven  gelatine  plates, 
which  he  invented,  and  of  which  he  directed 
the  manufacture.  He  was  the  author  of  a 
general  treatise  on  photography  and  of  pa- 
pers on  his  spectral  and  other  researches, 
contributed  to  various  periodicals. 

On  the  22d  day  of  April,  and  on  rainy 
days  afterward,  the  water  in  some  parts  of 
the  city  of  Lille  became  unfit  for  use.  M. 
Geard,  investigating,  found  the  cause  of  the 
trouble  to  be  the  growth  of  a  mucidine  of 
the  genus  Cremoiryx,  which,  greedily  ab- 
sorbing iron,  produces  in  the  pipes  masses 
of  ochreous  matter,  the  putrefaction  of 
which  disengages  sulphureted  hydrogen  in 
considerable  abundance. 

A  venomous  lizard  has  been  presented 
to  the  Zoological  Gardens  of  London  by  Sir 
John  Lubbock.  It  is  called  Hthdcrma  hor- 
richim,  or  horrid  warty-skin ;  it  is  from  Mexi- 
co, and  is  described  as  about  "  one  foot  and 
a  half  in  length,  of  a  somewhat  thickish 
form,  and  with  a  rather  short,  pointed  tail. 
Except  in  color  its  aspect  is  not  prepossess- 
ing." It  is  of  a  pale  ochre,  or  corn-color, 
coarsely  reticulated  with  black  marks.  All  of 
its  teeth  are  connected  with  poison-glands. 

Mr.  W.  O.  Crosby,  of  Boston,  proposes 
to  account  for  the  origin  of  the  seams  run- 
ning in  three  directions,  by  which  many  rocks 
are  cut  up  into  rectangular  blocks,  as  from 
earthquake-action.  Professor  H.  F.  Wal- 
ling, of  Washington,  agrees  with  him.  When 
the  papers  of  these  gentlemen  were  read  in 
the  American  Association,  Professor  New- 
berry, having  expressed  a  sense  of  obliga- 
tion to  the  authors  for  bringing  the  subject 
forward,  said  that  he  was  inclined  to  think 
magnetic  currents  may  have  had  some  part 
in  the  production  of  the  joints.  Professor 
Hall  called  attention  to  the  joints  in  the 
clays  at  Albany,  which  could  not  well  have 
been  subjected  to  pressure. 

A  correspondent  of  the  London  "  Daily 
News  "  states  that  some  interesting  objects 
have  recently  been  found  in  Neufchatel 
which  are  considered  by  Swiss  archaeologists 
to  throw  a  new  light  on  the  history  of  the 
lake-dwellers.  Among  the  objects  are  a 
carriage-wheel  with  an  iron  rim,  iron  swords, 
and  many  human  bones. 


HENRY  DRAPER. 


THE 

POPULAR    SCIENCE 
MONTHLY. 


JANUARY,   1883. 


THE   GREAT   COMET   OF  1882. 

By  Professor  C.  A.   YOUNG. 

THE  comet  which  is  fading  in  the  morning  sky  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  that  has  ever  appeared.  Few,  if  any,  have  ever  been 
more  brilliant,  and  though  others  have  been  larger,  and  have  continued 
visible  for  a  longer  time,  none  of  them  have  presented  more  remark- 
able phenomena. 

Of  late  we  have  been  much  favored  in  the  matter  of  bright  comets. 
According  to  the  list  given  by  Humboldt  in  his  "  Cosmos,"  it  appears 
that  the  average  interval  between  such  apparitions  for  the  last  five 
centuries  has  been  something  like  eight  years.  During  the  last  fifty 
years  the  frequency  has  been  about  the  same,  conspicuous  comets  hav- 
ing appeared  in  1835,  1843,  1858,  1861,  1862,  and  1874.  But  since  the 
beginning  of  1880  we  have  already  had  five  which  were  visible  to  the 
naked  eye,  and  three  of  them  comets  of  the  highest  rank.  The  comet 
of  1880  was  indeed  visible  only  in  the  southern  hemisphere  ;  but  we 
all  remember  the  fine  comet  which  appeared  in  June,  1881,  and  was 
not  much,  if  at  all,  inferior  to  the  present  one.  Schaberle's  comet, 
which  followed  in  August,  would  have  been  regarded  as  very  satisfac- 
tory had  its  predecessor  been  less  brilliant  ;  and  Wells's  comet  of  last 
summer,  though  not  well  seen  in  the  United  States,  was  a  very  respecta- 
ble comet  in  South  Africa. 

It  is  not  yet  certain  when  or  where  the  present  comet  was  first  seen, 
but,  so  far  as  now  appears,  the  priority  belongs  to  Dr.  Gould,  or  one  of 
his  assistants,  at  the  observatory  of  Cordoba  in  South  America.  In  a 
private  letter  to  Mr.  Chandler,  of  Cambridge,  mainly  occupied  with 
other  matters,  Dr.  Gould,  under  date  of  September  15th,  mentions 
that  a  brilliant  comet  had  been  visible  there  near  the  celestial  equator 
for  "more  than  a  week"  :  he  had  already  two  observations,  and  was 

VOL.   XXII. 19 


290  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

waiting  for  clear  weather  again  in  hopes  of  being  able  to  catch  it  on 
the  meridian.  This  would  put  its  discovery  on  or  before  September 
7th.  It  was  seen  on  the  8th  by  Mr.  Finlay,  an  assistant  in  the  Royal 
Observatory  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  ;  and  on  the  12th  it  was  ob- 
served at  Rio  Janeiro,  by  Cruls,  who  telegraphed  the  news  to  Europe, 
announcing  it  (erroneously)  as  the  expected  comet  of  1812  on  its  return. 
We  have  not  yet  sufficiently  full  accounts  from  the  southern  observa- 
tories to  know  whether  it  was  lost  sight  of  at  all  after  its  discovery, 
but  we  have  the  account  of  a  most  interesting  and  unprecedented  ob- 
servation made  at  the  Cape  Town  Observatory,  on  the  17th.  Mr.  Gill, 
the  director  of  the  observatory,  writes  :  "  The  comet  was  followed  by 
two  observers  with  separate  instruments  right  up  to  the  sun's  limb, 
where  it  suddenly  disappeared  at  4 h- 50 m- 58s- local  mean  time."  This 
was  about  an  hour  and  a  half  before  its  perihelion  passage. 

A  few  hours  previously  it  had  been  independently  discovered  by 
Mr.  Common  in  England,  in  the  full  blaze  of  sunlight,  and  clouds 
alone  prevented  him  from  making  the  same  observation  as  Mr.  Gill. 

It  is  evident  that  the  comet  must  have  been  most  intensely  brilliant 
to  be  visible  under  such  circumstances.  When  it  passed  on  to  the 
sun's  disk  (it  was  between  us  and  the  sun  at  the  time),  it  disappeared, 
being  either  transparent,  or  else  practically  as  bright  as  a  portion  of 
the  sun's  own  surface.  If  this  comet  had  been  in  the  place  of  the  lit- 
tle "  Tewfik  "  which  was  seen  close  to  the  sun  at  the  time  of  the  Egyp- 
tian eclipse  last  May,  it  would  have  been  something  to  remember. 

On  September  18th  the  comet  had  reached  a  greater  distance  from 
the  sun  (about  3°),  and  had  become  so  conspicuous  that  it  was  simul- 
taneously rediscovered  by  a  multitude  of  observers  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  and  accurate  determinations  of  its  position  were  made  at  sev- 
eral observatories.  On  the  next  day  every  one  had  heard  of  it,  and 
people  interested  in  astronomy  thought  and  talked  of  nothing  else. 

On  the  19th  and  20th  the  comet  was  still  easily  seen  by  the  naked 
eye.  On  the  21st  it  was  visible  only  in  places  when  the  air  was  very 
clear,  and  the  sky  darkly  blue.  On  the  22d  a  curious  observation  of 
it  was  made  at  Paris  by  M.  Mallet,  who,  at  the  request  of  M.  de  Fon- 
vielle,  ascended  for  the  purpose  in  a  balloon  provided  by  the  latter, 
thus  getting  above  the  clouds  with  which  the  city  was  thickly  cov- 
ered. Of  course,  it  was  not  possible  in  this  manner  to  make  any  pre- 
cise determination  of  position,  but  the  aeronaut  obtained  a  fine  view 
of  the  celestial  visitor. 

For  a  few  days  after  this  the  comet  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
observed  until  it  had  receded  far  enough  from  the  sun  to  become  visi- 
ble before  sunrise.  Then,  for  a  while,  during  the  early  days  of  Octo- 
ber, it  was  a  most  magnificent  object,  with  a  head  at  first  rivaling 
Jupiter  in  brightness,  and  a  tail  which,  though  not  of  unusual  dimen- 
sions, never  much  exceeding  60,000,000  miles,  was  remarkably  well 
defined,  dense,  and  luminous.     It  moved  slowly  toward  the  south  and 


THE   GREAT   COMET   OF  18S2.  291 

west,  and  when,  once  in  a  while,  a  clear  morning  permitted  the  view,  it 
was  seen  to  be  growing  fainter  and  more  diffuse,  though  not  smaller. 

To  the  naked  eye  or  opera-glass  it  has  perhaps  presented  fewer  phe- 
nomena of  interest  than  some  other  comets — that  of  1858,  for  instance  ; 
it  has  not  exhibited  any  of  the  peculiar  secondary  tails  or  straight 
streamers  which  were  so  characteristic  of  that  comet,  nor  has  the  stria- 
tum of  the  tail  been  marked,  though  evident  enough  on  close  inspec- 
tion. 

From  September  27th  to  October  1st,  however,  the  tail  was  "  rifted." 
There  was  one  obscure  streak  extending  from  the  nucleus  through  its 
whole  length,  described  both  by  Ricco,  of  Palermo,  and  Dr.  Hastings, 
of  Baltimore,  and  the  latter  mentions  another  fainter  one  parallel  to 
the  first,  and  shorter. 

On  October  2d  the  tail,  as  seen  at  Princeton,  was  about  14°  long, 
exceedingly  bright  and  sharp  in  its  outlines,  slightly  curved  and  con- 
vex to  the  horizon.  It  was  especially  well  defined  near  the  head,  and 
almost  equally  so  on  both  sides.  On  the  4th  the  upper  edge  was 
veiled  and  rendered  indefinite  by  a  faint  nebulosity  which  appeared  to 
have  emanated  from  the  head.  Ricco's  drawing  of  it,  as  seen  at  this 
date  in  the  clear  Italian  sky,  shows  something  resembling  a  bright 
comet,  enveloped  in  a  fainter  one  ;  but  the  smaller  one  is  eccentric, 
and  south  of  the  middle  of  the  hazy  envelope. 

On  the  10th  this  external  nebulosity  had  considerably  increased. 
Professor  Smith,  of  Kansas  University,  noticed  on  the  9th  a  pale  stream 
of  light  with  parallel  edges,  and  nearly  as  wide  as  the  tail  of  the 
comet,  extending  toward  the  sun.  On  the  15th  the  phenomenon 
had  become  much  more  conspicuous.  The  streamer  was  now  over 
half  a  degree  in  width,  well  defined 
at  both  edges,  of  nearly  uniform 
brightness  throughout,  though  no- 
where as  bright  as  even  the  faintest 
portions  of  the  tail,  and  extended 
from  its  origin,  a  degree  or  two 
above  the  nucleus,  to  a  distance 
of  two  or  three  decrees  below  the 
head,  where  it  faded  out.  The  dot- 
ted lines  in  Fig.  1  indicate  its  form 
and  dimensions. 

This  streamer,  which  remained 
visible  only  a  few  days,  may  have  Fla  *-0c™™  15< 18S2- 

originated  in  the  enveloping  comet  of  Ricco's  figure  just  spoken  of, 
but  no  other  comet  is  known  to  have  shown  anything  of  the  kind.  It 
is  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  sunward  jets  sometimes  ejected  by 
cometary  nuclei,  nor  did  it  at  all  resemble  the  anomalous  tail,  directed 
toward  the  sun,  shown  by  Pechule's  comet  (in  December,  1880),  in 
addition  to  its  ordinary  tail. 


>  292  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

On  October  9th,  Schmidt,  of  Athens,  announced  the  discovery  of  a 
small  companion  comet,  4°  southwest  of  the  large  one,  and  moving 
parallel  with  it.  So  far  as  wre  know,  no  one  else  has  observed  this 
comjDanion,  though  it  was  carefully  looked  for  at  Washington,  Prince- 
ton, and  elsewhere.  On  October  21st,  however,  Mr.  Brooks,  of  Phelps. 
New  York,  observed  either  the  same  or  another  one,  some  8°  south 
and  east  from  the  large  comet.  Like  Schmidt's  companion  it  was  very 
faint  (though  large),  and  we  have  seen  no  observations  of  it  from 
other  sources.  We  have  no  means  of  ascertaining  whether  these  at- 
tendants accompanied  the  comet  on  its  way  to  the  sun  as  separate 
objects,  or  wThether  they  are  fragments  detached  from  the  main  body. 
Mr.  Brooks  seems  to  think  that  the  nebulous  mass  observed  by  him 
was  in  some  way  connected  with  the  faint  envelope  and  streamer  just 
spoken  of,  which  is  not  unlikely. 

When  the  writer  first  saw  the  comet,  on  September  19th,  it  was 
impossible,  with  the  great  twenty-three-inch  equatorial,  to  make  out 
much  except  the  nucleus  itself.  The  comet  was  so  near  the  sun  that 
the  object-glass  could  not  be  screened  from  the  direct  sunshine,  which 
filled  the  wThole  field  with  glaring  light.  The  finder  of  the  instrument 
is  itself,  however,  a  powerful  telescope  of  five  inches  aperture,  and  this 
was  perfectly  screened  by  the  great  tube,  so  that  it  furnished  an 
admirable  view  of  the  beautiful  object.  To  the  naked  eye  the  comet 
looked  like  some  white-winged  bird  in  swift  flight  toward  the  sun. 
The  telescope  showed  the  wings  to  be  long,  curved  streams  flowing 
backward  from  each  side  of  the  head — backward,  that  is,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  sun  ;  but  they  were,  of  course,  really  in  advance  of  the 
comet,  which  at  this  time  was  receding  from  the  sun.  The  head  of 
the  comet  had  for  its  center  a  small  round  and  brilliant  nucleus,  not 

well  defined,  but  rather  a  nebulous 
star,  some  4"  in  diameter  ;  in  front 
of  this  at  a  distance  of  perhaps  30" 
was  an  "  envelope,"  and  there  was 
a  second  one  at  a  distance  of  2'  or 
3'.  They  were  connected  by  a  pair 
of  eccentric  circular  arcs,  and  these 
arcs,  coalescing  with  the  outer  en- 
velope and  prolonged,  formed  the 
skeleton  of  the  "  wings."  Back 
of  the  nucleus,  traces  of  the  usual 
dark  stripe  could  be  detected.    Fig. 

Fig.  2.— Head  of  Comet  September  19—       2  presents  the  main  features  in  Ollt- 
5-mcn  Telescope.  ,.  x  _,  .,. 

line,  and  every  one  will  notice  its 
close  resemblance  to  Brodie's  picture  of  Coggia's  comet  as  seen  on 
July  13,  1874.  (The  picture  alluded  to  forms  the  frontispiece  of 
Chambers's  "  Descriptive  Astronomy,"  third  edition.) 

On  the  next  day  the  comet  was  seen  at  Princeton  for  a  few  mo- 


THE   GREAT   COMET   OF  1882.  293 

ments  through  clouds,  just  long  enough  to  get  imperfect  observations 
for  position,  but  nothing  more.  It  was  noticed,  however,  that  the 
•eccentric  arcs  had  disappeared.  On  October  2d  the  comet  was  ob- 
served for  more  than  an  hour  before  daybreak  with  the  great  tele- 
scope. The  most  notable  features  were  a  single  bright  cap  or  enve- 
lope at  a  distance  of  about  half  a  minute  from  the  nucleus,  and  the 
nucleus  itself,  which,  instead  of  being  round,  was  considerably  elon- 
gated. There  were,  however,  no  jets,  or  starfish-like  projections  such 
as  the  comet  of  1881  presented  so  often.  There  was  not  much  of 
structural  detail  to  be  made  out  in  the  head  of  the  comet,  but  the 
dark  stripe  behind  the  nucleus  was  very  conspicuous.  This  dark 
stripe,  by-the-way,  is  a  very  remarkable  phenomenon,  not  yet  ex- 
plained, so  far  as  we  know,  though  observed  in  most  large  comets. 
The  common  impression  is,  that  it  is  merely  a  space  behind  the  nu- 
cleus, screened  as  it  were  by  the  nucleus  itself,  from  the  rush  of 
luminous  matter  which  is  being  driven  backward  by  the  sun's  repul- 
sion. But  if  this  be  so,  then,  as  Mr.  Proctor  has  pointed  out,  in  a 
recent  article,  there  is  no  reason  why  it  should  appear  so  well  defined 
and  so  dark.  The  cross-section  of  the  tail,  a  little  way  behind  the 
nucleus,  was,  in  the  present  case  at  least,  100,000  miles  in  diameter : 
now,  merely  taking  away  the  luminous  matter  from  a  tunnel  6,000  or 
8,000  miles  in  diameter  along  the  axis  of  the  tail,  could  make  but  little 
difference  with  the  amount  of  light  received  by  the  eye  at  a  distance. 
If  there  were  no  tunnel,  we  should  get  from  the  central  line  of  the 
tail  the  brightness  corresponding  to  a  thickness  of  100,000  miles  of 
luminous  matter.  Boring  the  tunnel  would  only  reduce  it  to  some 
90,000  miles,  and  the  difference  would  be  hardly  perceptible. 

It  seems  more  likely,  if  the  writer  may  venture  the  suggestion,  that 
the  stripe  is  a  stream  or  beam  of  non-luminous,  cooler  vapor  or  gas, 
which  is  nearly  opaque  to  the  radiation  emitted  by  the  same  kind  of 
gas  when  luminous,  and  therefore  cuts  off  all  the  light  from  whatever 
portions  of  the  comet's  luminous  drapery  is  behind  it ;  in  the  same  way 
that  cool  sodium-vapor,  for  instance,  is  relatively  opaque  to  the  light 
of  a  sodium-flame.  If  this  is  correct,  the  dark  stripe  ought  not  to  be 
black,  but  just  about  half  as  bright  as  the  neighboring  nebulosity  ; 
which  corresponds  to  the  actual  fact.  If  one  could  catch  a  star  pass- 
ing behind  the  stripe,  it  would  perhaps  be  easy  to  settle  the  question. 
At  any  rate,  if  the  star  shone  more  brightly  when  in  the  stripe,  we 
might  be  sure  that  the  hypothesis  is  wrong.  The  star  should  be 
dimmed  a  little,  if  anything,  though,  of  course,  stor-light  would  not 
be  so  much  affected  as  the  light  from  cometary  matter.  Mr.  Proctor 
has  suggested  a  different  hypothesis,  which  seems  to  the  writer  rather 
less  probable,  but  there  is  no  time  to  discuss  it  here. 

On  October  4th  the  nucleus  had  become  much  more  elongated, 
so  as  to  be  shaped  something  like  an  Indian  club.  The  envelope, 
which  was  conspicuous  on  the  2d,  had  disappeared,  or  degenerated 


294  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

into  an  indefinite  nebulosity,  and  the  dark  stripe  had  become  much 
fainter. 

Continued  bad  weather  prevented  observation  until  the  10th,  and 
on  this  date  the  nine-and-a-half-inch  telescope  of  the  School  of  Science 
Observatory  was  used.  A  great  change  had  taken  place.  The  nucleus 
had  become  an  irregular,  spindle-shaped  streak  some  40"  long,  made  up 
of  six  or  eight  star-like  knots  of  luminosity  connected  and  veiled  by 
shining  haze.  One  of  these  knots,  about  a  third  of  the  way  from  the 
sunward  extremity,  was  considerably  larger  and  brighter  than  any  of 
the  others,  and  should,  perhaps,  be  considered  as  the  true  nucleus. 
The  next  one  beyond  it  (reckoning  from  the  direction  of  the  sun)  was 
second  in  size,  and  separated  by  an  interval  of  2"  or  3",  the  space  being 
filled,  however,  with  nebulosity.  The  dark  stripe  was  still  visible,  but 
directed,  not  along  the  prolongation  of  the  nuclear  streak,  but  inclined 
at  an  angle  of  8°  or  10°,  while  a  bright  jet  from  the  nucleus,  two  or 
three  minutes  in  length,  touched  one  side  of  the  dark  stripe,  and  kept 
nearly  in  the  axis  of  the  tail. 

Fig.  3  is  an  attempt  to  illustrate  the  apjDearance  and  relation  of 

things  by  a  mere  outline  sketch, 
which,  of  course,  can  not  be  consid- 
ered in  any  sense  a  representation, 
since  it  fails  entirely  to  give  an 
idea  of  the  shading  and  gradation 
of  light.  The  head  of  the  comet 
presented  no  definite  outline  what- 
ever, and  the  nucleus  very  little. 
The  knots  were  mere  condensations 
of  brightness  in  the  midst  of  diffuse 
light.  When  the  dawn  came  on, 
the  fainter  parts  successively  dis- 
appeared, so  that  at  a  certain  stage 
the  nucleus  seemed  to  be  divided  into  two  portions.  A  small  telescope 
would  probably  show  things  in  the  same  way  even  before  dawn,  and 
this  is  undoubtedly  the  origin  of  the  reports  that  the  comet  had  split 
in  two. 

This  great  and  unprecedented  elongation  of  the  nucleus  is  a  most 
remarkable  phenomenon.  If  it  had  occurred  at  or  near  the  time  of 
perihelion  passage,  it  might  have  been  naturally  attributed  to  the  di- 
vellent  action  of  the  sun's  attraction  ;  but  it  is  a  little  difficult  to  see 
why  the  thing  should  have  pulled  out  and  come  to  pieces  in  such  a 
way  after  getting  safely  by  the  crisis.  It  is  worth  noting  that  this 
peculiarity  of  the  comet  adds  greatly  to  the  difficulty  of  making  accu- 
rate observations  of  its  position  :  one  does  not  know  just  upon  what 
point  to  direct  his  instrument. 

Continuous  cloudy  weather  prevented  any  observation  of  the  comet 
until  the  15th.     On  that  date  the  appearance  of  things  as  seen  in  the 


Fig  3— Head  of  Comet  October  10,  1SS2. 


THE   GREAT   COMET   OF  1882.  295 

great  equatorial  was  very  much  what  it  had  been  on  the  10th  with 
the  smaller  telescope.  There  were  no  envelopes,  and  the  only  "jet" 
was  the  bright  streak  following  the  nucleus.  The  dark  stripe  had 
wholly  disappeared,  as  if  obliterated  and  replaced  by  the  bright  one. 
The  "  knots  "  in  the  nucleus  were  seen  to  be  irregular  in  form,  and 
were  arranged  not  in  a  straight  line,  but  in  a  somewhat  broken  curve, 
conforming  to  the  curvature  of  the  tail,  which  at  this  time  extended 
18°,  and  was  fully  60,000,000  miles  in  length.  The  bright  stream 
originated  not  at  the  extremity  of  the  nucleus,  but  came  out  tangen- 
tially  from  the  convex  side,  and  perhaps  had  its  source  in  the  largest  of 
the  knots,  which  was  now  the  third  from  the  sunward  extremity.  The 
whole  length  of  the  nucleus  measured  48^",  corresponding  to  a  length 
of  more  than  40,000  miles,  the  diameter  of  the  largest  single  mass 
being  about  5,000  or  6,000  miles.  The  only  other  observation  we 
have  been  able  to  make  at  Princeton  was  nine  days  later,  on  October 
24th.  No  material  changes  were  noticed,  though  the  comet  was  very 
much  fainter.  The  same  lengthened  granular  nucleus  continued,  and 
seems  likely  to  persist  until  the  comet  disappears.* 

The  spectroscopic  observations  have  been  very  interesting.  On 
September  18th  the  French  physicist  Thollon  was  an  independent  dis- 
coverer of  the  comet,  coming  upon  it  accidentally  in  sweeping  around 
the  sun.  His  spectroscopic  apparatus  consists  of  a  so-called  siderostat, 
the  mirror  of  which  throws  the  rays  from  the  object  to  be  examined 
upon  the  lens  of  a  horizontal  telescope  nine  and  a  half  inches  in  diam- 
eter and  about  twenty  feet  long.  At  the  focus  of  this  telescope  in 
a  darkened  room  is  placed  a  spectroscope,  and,  of  course,  this  may  be 
of  any  form  and  power  best  suited  to  the  occasion.  In  the  present 
case  he  used  an  instrument  with  a  single  prism  of  high  dispersive 
power.  The  most  marked  feature  of  the  spectrum  was  the  presence 
of  the  lines  of  sodium  in  the  spectrum  of  the  nucleus.  They  were 
very  bright,  and  were  displaced  toward  the  red  by  an  amount  equal  to 
about  one  fourth  of  the  interval  between  them,  thus  indicating  that 
the  comet  was  rapidly  receding  from  the  earth.  A  very  narrow, 
bright,  continuous  spectrum  was  also  shown  by  the  nucleus.  In  this 
the  dark  lines  of  Fraunhofer  were  not  conspicuous  if  visible  at  all, 

*  Later  observations,  on  November  4th,  show  the  same  general  characteristics.  The 
nucleus,  if  it  can  be  so  called,  was  now  93"  in  length,  or  more  than  90,000  miles.  Three 
stellar  points  could  be  detected  in  the  forward  portion  of  the  nucleus,  but  only  two  in 
the  other.  The  separation  between  the  two  brightest  points  was  about  10".  The  spec- 
trum showed  no  new  developments.  To  the  naked  eye  the  comet  was  unexpectedly 
bright,  although  now  distant  from  both  sun  and  earth  nearly  140,000,000  miles.  The 
head  looked  like  a  fourth-magnitude  star,  and  the  tail  was  16°  long  and  4°  wide  at  the 
extremity.  On  November  20th  the  nucleus  had  almost  vanished,  appearing  merely  as  a 
brighter  streak  in  the  structureless  nebulosity  of  the  head.  The  tail  was  still  nearly  as 
large  as  ever,  and  easily  visible  without  telescopic  aid,  though  of  course  much  fainter 
than  on  the  4th.  The  comet  has  held  out  remarkably,  and,  so  far  as  now  appears,  it  may 
be  observable  for  a  long  time  yet,  especially  in  the  southern  hemisphere. 


296  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

showing  that  the  principal  brilliancy  of  the  comet  was  not  reflected 
sunlight.  The  usual  carbon  bands  of  the  cometary  spectrum  were 
not  visible  through  the  sky  illumination,  and  no  other  bright  lines 
except  those  of  sodium  were  seen  by  Thollon.  On  the  22d  the  comet's 
spectrum  was  observed  in  the  early  morning  just  before  sunrise  by 
Ricco,  of  Palermo.  He  reports  his  observation  thus  :  "  The  spectrum 
was  formed  of  the  narrow  continuous  spectrum  of  the  nucleus,  trav- 
ersed by  a  large  and  strong  line  of  sodium  (D)  ;  by  enlarging  the  slit 
I  saw  a  globular,  monochromatic  image  of  the  nucleus  and  coma. 
Besides  the  line  of  sodium  many  others  were  present,  but,  my  spectro- 
scope not  having  a  micrometer,  I  did  not  determine  them.  I  observed 
a  band  in  the  red,  a  line  in  the  yellow  near  and  after  D,  two  others  in 
the  green,  and  an  enlargement  of  the  continuous  spectrum  in  the 
green  and  blue."  It  is  exceedingly  unfortunate  that  the  position  of 
these  lines  could  not  have  been  determined,  at  least  approximately. 
No  one  can  predict  when  such  an  opportunity  will  occur  again. 

The  weather  in  this  part  of  the  country  was  abominable  up  to 
November.  The  writer  attempted  to  get  spectroscopic  observations 
on  September  20th,  but  was  foiled  by  clouds,  and  has  since  succeeded 
only  on  October  2d,  4th,  10th,  15th,  and  24th.  On  the  first  of  these 
dates  the  sodium-lines  were  still  easily  visible,  though  not  conspicu- 
ous. The  carbon  bands  were  magnificent,  especially  the  brightest 
one  (in  the  green),  in  which  could  be  clearly  seen  the  three  fine  lines 
observed  in  the  spectrum  of  Coggia's  comet.  The  band  in  the  violet 
was  very  faint.  The  nucleus  gave  a  strong  continuous  spectrum,  on 
which  the  carbon  bands  were  superposed  ;  and  in  the  tail  the  pro- 
portion of  white  light  (continuous  spectrum)  to  carbon  light  appeared 
to  be  about  the  same  as  in  the  nucleus.  The  bands  could  be  followed 
far  out  into  the  tail  by  widening  the  slit,  but  were  lost  before  the 
continuous  spectrum  quite  vanished.  No  dark  lines  were  made  out. 
On  the  4th  the  results  were  the  same,  except  that  the  sodium-lines 
were  very  hard  to  see,  and  they  disappeared  entirely  before  the  next 
date.  The  later  observations  added  nothing  more.  It  is  much  to  be 
hoped  that,  when  the  different  results  of  all  observers  come  to  be  col- 
lected and  published,  something  will  be  found  to  supply  what  is  so 
unfortunately  wanting  in  Ricco's  most  interesting  but  incomplete  ob- 
servation— hiatus  valde  deflendus. 

The  highest  interest  of  the  present  comet  lies  in  its  orbit,  however, 
its  relation  to  preceding  comets,  and  its  possible  speedy  destruction  by 
the  sun.  Almost  as  soon  as  it  appeared,  Professor  Boss  in  this  coun- 
try and  Hind  in  England  proposed  the  hypothesis  that  it  is  identical 
with  the  great  comet  of  1880,  the  period  of  the  latter  comet  having 
been  shortened  by  some  resistance.  If  so,  this  comet  will  be  back 
again  in  a  few  months,  and  before  long  must  fall  upon  the  sun.  They 
have  weighty  arguments  on  their  side,  but  on  the  whole  a  different 
conclusion  is  more  probable. 


THE   GREAT   COMET   OF  1882. 


297 


On  September  17th  the  comet  passed  its  perihelion  at  a  distance  of 
about  750,000  miles  from  the  sun's  center,  and  witbin  300,000  of  its 
surface,  rushing  through  the  coronal  regions  with  a  velocity  exceeding 
300  miles  per  second:  it  swept  over  180°  of  its  orbit  in  three  hours 
and  a  half.  Thus  far  we  find  in  our  lists  of  cometary  orbits  only  four 
with  so  small  a  perihelion  distance,  viz.,  the  comets  of  1608,  1G80, 
1843,  and  1880.  (As  to  the  comet  of  1008  there  is  some  doubt,  be- 
cause it  was  only  observed  for  about  three  weeks,  and  its  motion  dur- 
ing that  time  was  such  that  it  answers  almost  equally  well  to  either  of 
two  quite  different  orbits.)  There  are  half  a  dozen  others  with  peri- 
helion distances  between  one  and  a  half  and  five  million  miles,  viz., 
comets  of  1707,  1810,  1820,  1847,  1805,  and  1870  ;  and  Wells's  comet, 
which  disappeared  only  a  few  weeks  ago,  is  just  outside  that  limit, 
with  a  perihelion  distance  of  5,075,000  miles.  Now,  as  to  the  comets 
of  the  first  class,  we  find  that,  excepting  that  of  1080,  their  orbits 
are  extremely  similar  ;  their  plane  and  direction  of  motion  are  almost 
exactly  the  same  ;  the  perihelion  distances  are  nearly  the  same  for  all ; 
and  the  axes  of  the  orbits  all  point  to  the  same  part  of  space  ;  they 
liave  all  come  toward  the  sun  from  the  same  region  of  the  heavens,  in 
the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  great  star  Sirius.  In  the  little 
table  below  are  given  what  are  called  the  elements  of  their  orbits: 
9,  is  the  longitude  of  the  node,  i  the  inclination  of  the  orbit  to  the 
ecliptic,  n  the  longitude  of  the  perihelion,  and  q  the  perihelion  dis- 
tance, expressed  as  a  decimal  fraction  of  the  earth's  distance  from  the 
sun  ;  e  is  the  eccentricity  of  the  orbit  ;  and  the  —  in  the  last  line  de- 
notes that  the  motion  is  retrograde.     The  orbits  of  the  first  twTo  are 


1668. 

1843. 

1880. 

1883. 

n 

i 

357°  17' 
35°  58' 
277°  2' 
0-0047 
1-0 

361°  12' 
35°  41' 

278°  39' 

0-0055 

0-99989 

356°  17' 
36°  53' 
278°  23' 
0-0059 
0-99947 

345°  50' 
38°  05' 
276°  28' 
0-0076 
0-99997 

q 

Direction 

from  the  catalogue  in  Chambers's  "  Descriptive  Astronomy  "  ;  that  of 
1880  is  the  orbit  computed  by  Meyer,  of  Geneva,  from  the  whole  as- 
semblage of  observations,  and  that  of  1882  is  the  last  orbit  computed 
by  Mr.  Chandler,  of  Cambridge,  and  may  be  found  to  need  some  cor- 
rection when  later  observations  come  to  hand.  Fig.  4  shows  in  a  rough 
way  how  these  orbits  lie  in  relation  to  the  orbit  of  the  earth,  and  how 
very  long  and  narrow  the  comet's  orbit  is  as  compared  with  the  circle 
described  by  the  earth. 

Now,  the  similarity  between  these  orbits  may  be  explained  in  two 
different  ways.  It  might  be  accounted  for  by  supposing  that  we  have 
to  do  with  different  visits  to  the  sun  of  a  single  comet,  or  that  Ave 
have  here  a  group  or  family  of  comets,  very  likely  of  common  origin, 


298 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


but  separate,  and  following  each  other.  Hoek,  of  Utrecht,  showed 
some  years  ago  that  such  comet-families  exist.  When  we  compare 
the  orbits  of  the  comets  of  1843  and  1668  there  is  nothing  that  foi*bids 
the  idea  of  their  identity.  The  differences  are  no  greater  than  prob- 
able perturbations  might  account  for.     Then,   again,  the  comets  of 


Fig.  4 

1843  and  1880  may  easily  be  "identical.  Indeed,  the  orbit  given  for 
the  latter  comet  corresponds  to  a  period  of  almost  thirty-seven  years, 
and  Meyer  has  shown  that  the  observations  can  not  be  reconciled 
with  a  period  less  than  thirty  or  greater  than  fifty  years.  Now, 
thirty-seven  years  would  take  us  back  just  to  1843,  so  that  it  is  very 
likely  that  these  two  comets  are  really  one  and  the  same.  So  far  the 
"  identifiers  "  have  matters  their  own  way.  But,  now,  as  to  the  comet 
of  1882.  Can  it  be  identical  with  the  comet  of  1880  ?  We  think  not. 
The  orbit  of  the  latter  was  computed  exclusively  from  observations 
taken  after  its  perihelion  passage,  so  that  no  action  of  the  sun  depend- 
ing upon  its  close  approach  at  perihelion  can  account  for  its  return  in 
less  than  three  years,  and  the  inclination  of  its  orbit  is  such  that  ever 
6ince  it  went  out  of  sight  it  has  been  out  of  harm's  way  as  to  pertur- 
bations by  the  planets.  Then,  again,  the  orbit  of  the  comet  of  1882 
does  not  agree  with  the  idea  of  identity.  Whatever  other  effects  may 
have  been  produced  by  the  resistance  of  the  solar  atmosphere  at  peri- 
helion, this  resistance  must  have  tended  to  shorten  its  period,  if  it 
changed  it  at  all.     Now,  the  observations  thus  far  taken,  though  per- 


THE   GREAT   COMET   OF  1882.  299 

haps  not  sufficient  to  settle  the  orbit  definitively,  seem  to  be  absolutely- 
inconsistent  with  a  period  of  anything  like  three  years  (corresponding 
to  an  eccentricity  of  0*9963).  The  period  can  not  well  be  less  than 
ten  or  twelve  years,  according  to  the  last  results,  and  may  be  several 
thousand.  It  is  to  be  noted,  further,  that,  as  regards  Q,  and  q,  the  two 
orbits  differ  more  than  can  well  be  consistent  with  the  theory  of  iden- 
tity. It  seems  to  be  an  almost  necessary  consequence  that  these  two 
comets  can  not  be  identical  with  each  other,  though  they  may,  per- 
haps, both  be  fragments  of  the  comets  of  1668  or  1843,  or  of  some 
comet  more  ancient  than  either. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  Mr.  Chandler  finds  that  his  orbit,  com- 
puted entirely  from  post-perihelion  observations,  satisfies  almost  ex- 
actly the  observation  of  Mr.  Finlay,  taken  on  September  8th,  as  well 
as  the  observation  of  the  comet's  disappearance  at  the  sun's  edge.  If 
the  observations  of  Dr.  Gould,  when  they  come  to  hand,  agree  as  well, 
it  will  be  proof  positive  that  no  sensible  resistance  or  disturbance  of 
any  kind  was  suffered  by  the  comet  in  passing  within  300,000  miles 
of  the  sun's  surface  at  the  rate  of  300  miles  a  second. 

Of  course,  if  the  view  we  have  taken  is  correct,  there  is  no  possi- 
bility that  our  comet  can  return  in  six  months  and  fall  into  the  sun. 
Not  that  there  is  any  absurdity  in  the  idea  by  itself  considered.  If 
the  comet  of  1880,  when  receding  from  the  sun,  had  moved  in  an  orbit 
corresponding  to  a  three  years'  period,  and  if  the  present  comet  were 
found  to  have  a  period  of  three  years  or  less  as  it  is  now  receding  from 
the  sun,  it  would  be  almost  impossible  to  refuse  to  admit  their  iden- 
tity, and  probable  speedy  absorption  in  the  sun. 

We  close  with  a  single  word  as  to  the  probable  consequences  of  a 
comet's  fall  upon  the  sun.  Unquestionably,  the  energy  of  the  comet's 
motion  would  be  transformed  into  heat,  and  if  the  comet  had  any  con- 
siderable mass,  say  y^-  the  mass  of  the  earth,  the  heat  produced  would 
be  enough  to  supply  the  sun's  heat-expenditure  for  months.  Prob- 
ably, however,  no  comet  has  a  mass  anything  like  so  great  as  that  ; 
more  likely  the  present  comet  even,  huge  as  it  is,  has  a  mass  less  than 
j  0  0*0  0  0  of  the  earth's,  so  that  its  collision  with  the  sun  would  produce 
as  much  heat  only  as  the  sun  would  expend  in  eight  hours. 

Now,  if  the  sun  were  a  cool,  solid,  or  even  liquid  mass,  the  sudden 
accession  of  merely  this  quantity  of  heat  would  undoubtedly  produce 
an  enormous  rise  of  temperature  and  a  great  increase  of  radiation. 
But,  constituted  as  the  sun  is — mainly  a  mass  of  gas  and  vapor — the 
effect  would  be  entirely  different,  the  energy  being  principally  ex- 
pended in  producing  expansion  and  evaporation,  with  comparatively 
little  increase  of  temperature  or  radiation.  If  one  stirs  up  the  fire 
under  an  open  kettle,  the  water  gets  no  hotter — it  only  boils  faster. 
Probably  the  effect  of  the  fall  of  a  body,  even  as  large  as  the  earth, 
upon  the  sun,  would  be  hardly  anything  more  than  to  restore  the  sun 
to  the  condition  it  was  in  a  century  ago.    The  energy  lost  in  the  course 


3oo  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

of  a  century  would  be  replaced — that  is  about  all.  During  the  few 
moments  while  the  body  was  passing  through  the  sun's  atmosphere, 
there  might  be,  and  probably  would  be,  phenomena  of  great  interest 
and  beauty  to  those  who  were  on  the  watch  ;  but  it  is  very  doubtful 
whether  people  generally  would  know  anything  about  the  occurrence 
until  they  read  of  it  in  the  papers. 


4«» 


SCIENTIFIC   PHILANTHKOPY.* 

By  ALFRED  EOUILLEE. 

THE  questions  relating  to  public  relief,  population,  and  natural 
selection  are  so  inseparable  that,  in  our  age,  thought  has  been 
logically  conducted  from  one  to  another  of  them,  and  has  been  led 
to  important  discoveries.  It  was  the  problem  of  public  relief,  and  the 
observation  of  the  effects  produced  by  the  poor-rates,  that  inspired 
Malthus  to  compose  his  "  Law  of  Population "  ;  it  was  the  law  of 
population,  in  turn,  that  led  Darwin  to  the  discovery,  first,  of  the  law 
of  the  "  struggle  for  existence,"  and  afterward  of  that  of  "  natural 
selection."  We  may  say,  then  (and  the  fact  is  worthy  of  remark), 
that  it  was  a  social  and  economical  problem  that  provoked  one  of  the 
greatest  revolutions  in  natural  history.  Even  before  Darwin,  Mr. 
Spencer,  by  studying  m  his  "  Social  Statics  "  the  influence  of  philan- 
thropy on  the  movement  of  population,  upon  the  artificial  multiplica- 
tion of  the  feeble  in  body  or  mind,  and  upon  the  deterioration  of  the 
race,  had  shown  how  vital  competition  might  produce,  by  means  of 
selection  and  elimination,  sometimes  progress,  sometimes  decadence, 
of  a  species.  He  thus  anticipated  Darwin  ;  but  he  did  not  perceive,  as 
Darwin  did,  the  capital  fact  of  the  divergence  from  the  primitive 
type  which  results  from  natural  selection  among  living  beings,  and 
produces  the  final  variation  of  species.  Nevertheless,  natural  science 
and  social  science  have  shown  an  intimate  connection  in  this  respect, 
which  exists  no  less  in  all  the  other  problems.  Thus,  we  are  not  able 
from  this  point  to  separate  these  two  sciences.  To  reduce  sociology 
to  the  category  of  moral,  economical,  and  political  sciences  is  to  con- 
demn it  to  remain  an  abstraction,  and  to  treat  its  problems  incom- 
pletely by  ignoring  essential  data  ;  the  legist,  the  economist,  and  the 
politician,  who  take  no  account  of  the  laws  of  biology,  are  like  a  doc- 
tor who  is  not  acquainted  with  the  structure  or  the  functions  of  the 
organs,  or,  to  use  Mr.  Spencer's  comparison,  resemble  a  blacksmith  who 
would  work  in  iron  without  knowing  anything  of  its  properties.  We 
must,  therefore,  approve  of  labors  which,  like  those  of  Messrs.  Spen- 

*  Translated  for   "  The  Popular  Science  Monthly,"  from  the   "  Revue   des   Deux 
Mondes." 


SCIENTIFIC  PHILANTHROPY.  301 

cer,  De  Candolle,  Ribot,  Galton,  and  Jacoby,  include  tbe  study  of  the 
effects  of  natural  selection  and  physiological  or  moral  heredity  in 
human  society.  Philanthropy  ought  not  to  content  itself  with  reasons 
of  sentiment  ;  it  should  become  scientific.  Few  questions  are  better 
adapted  than  that  of  public  relief  to  demonstrate  the  necessity  of  this 
progress  and  the  extreme  complexity  of  social  problems,  in  which  the 
most  various  rights  are  involved  and  the  laws  of  natural  history  add 
their  force  to  those  of  political  economy.  What,  in  the  Darwinian 
point  of  view,  becomes  of  the  public  duty  of  relief  ?  First,  what  is 
its  moral  foundation,  misconceived  by  certain  partisans  of  Malthus 
and  Darwin,  and  what  are  its  necessary  limits  ?  Secondly,  are  there 
not  biological  laws  that  intervene  in  a  question  at  first  sight  entirely 
moral  ;  and  can  the  legislator  neglect  the  social  consequences  of  these 
natural  laws  ?  In  short,  has  philanthropy  regulated  by  science  a  salu- 
tary or  an  injurious  influence  on  the  movement  of  population,  and 
does  it  produce  in  the  race  a  useful  or  a  harmful  selection,  progress  or 
decay  ?  These  are  the  principal  problems  deserving  a  long  study,  to 
which  we  will  at  least  call  the  attention  of  readers.  If  we  only  show 
clearly  their  difficulties,  and  vaguely  forecast  the  solutions  of  them,  we 
shall  not  have  wasted  time  or  trouble. 

The  partisans  of  Darwin  generally  adopt  in  social  science  the  law 
of  Malthus,  from  which  Darwin  himself  has  drawn  most  important 
consequences  in  natural  history.  Now,  Malthus  has  conceived  that  by 
this  law  he  could  condemn  absolutely  that  philanthropy  which  is  prac- 
ticed under  the  form  of  public  benevolence.  H3  not  only  denies  all 
duty  of  relief  on  the  part  of  the  state,  but  also  declares  private  char- 
ity dangerous  and  irreligious.  Leave  to  Nature,  he  says,  severely,  the 
office  of  punishing  the  improvidence  of  the  father  who  calls  to  life 
more  children  than  he  can  support  ;  Nature  will  not  fail  to  perform  her 
task,  and  it  is  a  providential  one.  Since  Nature  is  charged  with  gov- 
erning and  punishing,  it  would  be  a  very  foolish  and  misplaced  ambi- 
tion to  pretend  to  put  ourselves  in  her  place,  and  take  upon  ourselves 
all  the  odium  of  execution.  Then  give  up  that  guilty  man  to  the 
penalty  imposed  by  Nature.  The  aid  and  assistance  of  parishes  should 
be  closed  against  him,  and,  if  private  charity  extends  any  help  to  him, 
the  interest  of  humanity  imperiously  requires  that  that  help  shall  not 
be  too  abundant.  He  must  be  made  to  learn  that  the  laws  of  Nature, 
that  is,  the  laws  of  God,  have  condemned  him  to  a  life  of  pain  for 
having  violated  them,  and  that  he  has  no  kind  of  a  right  as  against 
society  to  obtain  from  it  the  slightest  portion  of  support.  Can  this 
summary  condemnation  of  public  charity,  pronounced  by  the  Malthu- 
sians  and  the  radical  Darwinians,  be  accepted  from  the  point  of  view 
of  morals  and  right,  and  must  we  inevitably  maintain  it  from  the  point 
of  view  of  natural  history,  or  even  of  the  laws  laid  down  by  Darwin  ? 

Regarding  the  question  of  right,  it  seems  to  us  that  a  capital  dis- 
tinction should  be  made  between  the  present  and  the  future,  between 


3o2  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

the  duty  of  the  state  toward  those  who  are  born  and  its  duty  in  re- 
spect to  those  who  may  hereafter  be  born.  There  is  at  this  moment 
upon  the  earth  enough,  and  more  than  is  needed,  to  support  the  men 
who  are  now  living  ;  but  the  time  may  come  when  there  will  not  be 
enough  to  support  all  those  who  may  have  been  called  to  life,  and  it 
is  only  at  that  time  that  the  Malthusian  law  of  population  will  become 
incontestable.  The  moralist  should,  then,  place  himself  in  succession 
at  both  these  points  of  view — points  between  which  neither  the  Mal- 
thusians  nor  the  Darwinians  have  sufficiently  distinguished. 

To  get  a  better  comprehension  of  the  question,  let  us  begin  by  ex- 
amining the  simplest  cases,  after  which  we  will  consider  the  more  com- 
plex reality.  To  revive  an  ancient  and  classical  example,  from  which 
we  may  draw  new  consequences,  let  us  suppose  a  man  settled  by  him- 
self on  an  island,  on  which  there  is  not  only  all  that  he  needs,  but  a 
superfluity,  and  that  a  shipwrecked  man  is  afterward  cast  upon  the 
island.  Undoubtedly  the  first  occupant  is  not  obliged  to  give  up  that 
which  is  indispensable  for  his  own  life,  but  he  owes  the  new-comer  a 
part  of  his  superfluity.  If  the  island  affords  sufficient  to  support  two 
men,  the  first  one  has  no  right  to  monopolize  the  whole  of  it.  He 
ought,  then,  to  surrender  to  the  companion,  whom  chance  has  sent  him, 
a  part  of  the  soil.  By  doing  this  he  will  perform  not  only  one  of  the 
acts  of  benevolence  discredited  by  the  Malthusians  and  Darwinians, 
but  the  act  will  be  one  of  strict  justice.  Now,  let  other  men  come 
upon  the  island  ;  let  the  soil  be  wholly  occupied,  appropriated,  covered 
with  houses,  and  inclosed  in  fences  ;  and  then  suppose  a  new  ship- 
wrecked man  lands  upon  it.  The  island  either  can  or  can  not  support 
and  maintain  another  man.  In  the  first  case,  the  inhabitants,  unless 
they  desire  to  regard  the  new-comer  as  in  a  state  of  natural  war  as  to 
them  and  their  property,  must  allot  him  a  portion  of  ground  ;  or,  if 
the  ground  is  already  entirely  appropriated  and  divided  out  among 
the  inhabitants,  they  owe  him  such  employment  as  will  furnish  him 
the  means  of  subsistence.  The  obligation  is  incumbent  not  upon  a 
particular  individual  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  island,  but  upon  all 
the  individuals  collectively,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  each  one  to  contribute 
according  to  his  resources  to  the  common  obligation.  Assistance  is 
thus  a  guarantee  and  defense  of  property,  a  treaty  of  peace  succeeding 
the  state  of  war.  It  ceases  to  be  an  act  of  justice,  and  begins  to  be 
an  act  of  pure  charity  only  when  the  portion  of  the  new-comers  can  no 
longer  be  afforded  them  except  by  depriving  the  first  occupants  of 
something  they  need.  In  this  case  it  becomes  necessary,  in  effect,  to 
sacrifice  one  man  to  save  another. 

Suppose  now  that,  instead  of  being  brought  to  the  island  by  the 
casualty  of  a  storm,  the  new-comers  have  been  introduced  upon  it  by 
the  voluntary  action  of  particular  persons  ;  the  right  of  these  new- 
comers to  assistance  will  subsist  for  the  present,  but  it  is  clear  that 
the  mass  of  the  inhabitants  will  have  a  right  to  watch  over  such  intro- 


SCIENTIFIC  PHILANTHROPY.  303 

ductions  in  the  future  and  regulate  the  conditions  under  which  they 
may  be  made.  If  the  question,  for  example,  is  one  of  bringing  chil- 
dren into  the  world  in  greater  numbers  than  the  island  can  support, 
the  little  state  we  are  considering  will  not  be  able  to  assume  the  duty 
of  future  assistance  unless  the  individuals  on  their  part  renounce,  as 
John  Stuart  Mill  has  it,  their  right  of  indefinite  multiplication. 

It  is  through  failure  to  make  the  preceding  distinction  that  Malthus 
rejects  the  whole  obligation  of  assistance,  and  leaves  it  to  Nature  to  do 
justice.  The  penalty  attached  to  improvidence  by  the  laws  of  Nature, 
he  asserts,  falls  immediately  upon  the  guilty  one,  and  that  penalty  is 
itself  severe.  But,  we  may  ask,  are  not  those  who  suffer  from  the 
improvidence  of  the  father,  contrary  to  this  assertion,  the  innocent 
wife  and  children  ?  Let  them  alone,  Malthus  persists  ;  let  God's  jus- 
tice take  its  course.  These  pretended  laws  of  God,  of  which  Malthus 
tries  to  show  us  the  justice,  are  injustice  itself.  The  English  pastor 
had  no  other  resource  for  escaping  the  objections  of  the  moralists  than 
to  invoke  original  sin.  "  It  appears  indispensable,"  he  says,  "  in  the 
moral  government  of  this  universe,  that  the  sins  of  the  fathers  shall 
be  punished  in  the  children.  And  if  our  presumptuous  vanity  natters 
itself  that  it  could  govern  better  by  systematically  contradicting  this 
law,  I  am  led  to  believe  that  it  will  engage  in  a  vain  enterprise." 
Where  Malthus  sees  an  effort  of  human  vanity,  social  science  sees  an 
effort  of  human  justice,  superior  to  the  pretended  justice  of  Nature  or 
of  Providence.  To  trust  to  natural  and  providential  laws  for  the  pre- 
vention or  reparation  of  wrong  is  to  act  like  beings  without  intelli- 
gence or  Avill — is  to  accept  for  man  the  fatality  that  controls  animals, 
"  which," however,  have  not  eaten  of  the  forbidden  fruit." 

The  argument  of  Malthus,  adopted  by  many  English  economists, 
as  well  as  by  the  naturalists  of  the  Darwinian  school,  is  contrary,  not 
only  to  pure  fraternity,  but  also  to  strict  justice.  Malthus  reasons  as 
if  there  were  at  this  very  time  not  enough  food  on  the  earth  for  all  the 
men  ;  as  if  in  the  existing  state  of  society  there  were  to  be  found  no 
men  enjoying  superfluity,  while  there  are,  however,  men  who  have 
nothing  to  live  upon.  Instead  of  limiting  his  assertions  to  the  future, 
and  to  a  future  still  far  off,  he  speaks  as  if  those  harsh  words  which 
have  been  so  many  times  cast  in  reproach  by  the  socialists  against  the 
strict  economists,  as  containing  the  most  authentic  formula  of  their 
theories,  were  applicable  even  to  the  present  time  :  "  A  man  born  into 
a  world  already  occupied,  whose  family  has  no  means  of  supporting 
him  or  of  whose  labor  society  has  no  need,  has  not  any  right  to  demand 
any  portion  whatever  of  food.  He  is  really  one  too  many  on  the  land. 
No  cover  is  laid  for  him  at  the  great  banquet  of  Nature.  Nature  tells 
him  to  go  away,  and  does  not  delay  herself  to  put  the  order  into  exe- 
cution." All  is  involved  in  that  doctrine  ;  it  is  in  effect  the  right  even 
of  living  that  Malthus  denies  to  a  host  of  men.  To  solve  the  question 
he  has  recourse  to  Nature,  which  knows  neither  pity  nor  justice  ;  he 


304  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY, 

should,  on  the  contrary,  have  appealed  to  the  reason  and  freedom 
of  man.  In  fact,  it  is  not  only  at  the  "banquet  of  Nature,"  as  Malthus 
asserts,  that  the  new-comers  demand  a  place,  it  is  more,  and  above  all 
at  the  banquet  of  humanity  ;  they  are  men,  and  men  have  called  them 
into  existence  :  did  any  one  consult  them  before  giving  them  the  light  ? 
And  if  their  parents  have  brought  them  to  life  without  their  consent, 
is  it  not  on  the  implied  condition  that  they  will  furnish  them  a  share 
of  subsistence  in  exchange  for  a  share  of  work  ?  When  a  child  is 
born  into  a  family,  it  is  rightly  said,  none  of  his  brothers  has  the  right 
to  prevent  his  sharing  in  the  property  of  their  father  ;  likewise,  there 
are  no  "  cadets  "  in  a  nation.  If  the  family  fails,  there  is  still  above 
it  the  great  national  family  ;  a  solidarity  exists  between  all  the  citizens 
of  the  same  country.  It  is  by  reason  of  this  that  you,  legislators, 
unable  to  establish  a  law  to  regulate  the  multiplication  of  the  species, 
have  implicitly  accepted  certain  charges  in  regard  to  the  children  who 
are  born,  in  the  event  of  the  failure  of  their  natural  fathers  and 
mothers.  Such  children  are  neither  "  usurpers  "  nor  "  intruders,"  for 
they  are  not  themselves  responsible  for  their  birth,  and  you  have  no 
right  to  say  whether  you  will  accept  or  reject  them,  for  there  is  act- 
ually enough  of  subsistence  for  all.  The  Darwinians  will  presently 
show  us  the  necessity  of  society  taking  precautions  for  the  future,  but 
the  present  charge,  nevertheless,  exists,  and  we  must  execute  it.  In 
the  existing  society  the  capital  is  not  lacking,  but  all  the  men  have  not 
their  share  ;  this  state  of  affairs,  the  inevitable  effect  of  economical 
laws,  creates  in  the  laborers  a  condition  of  inferiority  and  servitude. 
Here,  then,  is  a  place  for  the  intervention  of  reparative  justice  in  the 
form  of  public  assistance.  Is  the  man  who,  in  the  midst  of  a  dearth, 
refuses  to  sell  his  corn,  or  who  buys  a  large  quantity  of  corn  to  take  it 
out  of  the  market,  exercising  his  right?  He  might,  perhaps,  claim 
that  he  was  the  legitimate  proprietor  of  the  product  of  his  fields  or  of 
his  purchases.  But  the  identical  principle  on  which  property  is  founded 
— that  is,  the  right  to  work  for  a  living — limits  it  by  the  equal  right  of 
another.  Society  has  not  hesitated  to  impose  restrictions  and  obliga- 
tions as  to  many  points  on  proprietors  who  assume  to  be  "  absolute  "; 
it  prevents  them  from  blocking  the  course  of  circulation  ;  it  expropri- 
ates for  causes  of  public  use  ;  it  punishes  the  man  who  burns  his 
goods  ;  it  can  exact  an  indemnity  from  the  one  who  lets  his  property 
go  to  waste.  As  a  rule,  no  right  relative  to  exterior  objects  can  be 
absolute  ;  there  is  always  a  place  for  reciprocal  limitations,  and  con- 
sequently for  conventions  and  compromises.  Respect  for  already 
existing  properties,  and  for  the  established  order,  can  not,  in  strict 
right,  be  exacted  from  the  new-comer  unless  some  means  of  existence 
are  reserved  for  him.  Here  is  a  relation  of  contract,  a  tacit  conven- 
tion :  I  agree  to  respect  your  means  of  living,  on  condition  that  you 
respect  mine  ;  I  consent  to  respect  your  right  to  live,  on  condition  that 
I  do  not  see  mine  destroyed.     There  is  then  a  stipulative  relation  which 


SCIENTIFIC  PHILANTHROPY.  305 

establishes  at  the  same  time  the  foundation  and  the  limit  of  the  rio\ht 

O 

of  property,  on  the  one  side,  and  of  the  right  to  live  on  the  other. 
The  first  is  not  more  absolute  than  the  second,  but  we  can  not  ignore 
the  one  without  injuring  the  other. 

We  can  not,  however,  from  the  fact  that  the  philanthropic  duty  of 
assistance  may  not  be  unlimited  and  unconditional,  conclude  with  Mal- 
thus  and  the  naturalists  of  his  school  that  the  duty  does  not  exist.  If 
such  a  conclusion  were  logical,  we  should  have  to  apply  it  to  all  real 
rights,  for  there  is  not  one  of  them  that  is  absolute  and  without  limits  ; 
not  the  right  of  property  any  more  than  the  others.  The  only  legiti- 
mate conclusion  is,  that  it  is  necessary  to  confine  assistance  within  cer- 
tain boundaries,  to  restrict  it  by  the  consideration  of  other  rights,  to 
submit  it  to  conditions,  and  consequently  to  make  it  the  object  of  a 
contract,  and  thus  to  realize  on  this  point  as  on  all  the  others  the  ideal 
of  stipulative  justice.  The  practical  limitation  of  a  right  is  always  by 
another  right  :  the  right  of  property,  for  example,  is  limited  by  the 
right  of  circulation,  by  that  of  condemning  it  for  public  uses,  etc.,  and 
vice  versa  •  and  the  means  of  fixing  the  limit  is  free  parleying  between 
the  parties,  resulting  in  a  contract.  All  legislation  which  neglects  to 
give  a  form  of  contract  to  the  laws  it  promulgates,  prepares  conflicts 
of  every  kind  for  society,  and  leaves  a  germ  of  war  in  the  law  itself. 

But,  while  true  philanthropy,  which  has  to  do  only  with  social  jus- 
tice, ought  to  consider  the  present  and  the  past,  it  has  also  to  deal  with 
the  f  utui-e.  It  is  in  this  point  of  view  that  the  theories  of  Malthus  and 
Darwin  gain  the  advantage  ;  here  moral  and  juridical  considerations 
are  complemented  by  considerations  borrowed  from  natural  history. 
We  have  already  recognized,  with  Malthus  and  Stuart  Mill,  that  we 
can  not  put  this  point  aside  unless  we  would  produce  artificially,  in  a 
more  or  less  distant  future,  an  excessive  multiplication  of  the  species. 
It  now  remains  to  examine,  with  Mr.  Spencer  and  Mr.  Darwin,  another 
rock  in  the  way  of  the  philanthropist — the  danger  of  producing  a 
physical  and  intellectual  deterioration  of  the  species  by  overlooking 
the  laws  of  natural  selection  and  heredity. 

Philanthropy,  apart  from  science,  sees  only  the  immediate  influence 
of  the  measures  it  proposes  ;  it  entirely  neglects  their  influence,  infi- 
nitely more  important,  on  the  physical  status  and  the  morals  of  future 
generations.  It  forgets  that  every  new  measure  in  legislation  or  pol- 
icy tends  to  produce  modifications,  for  better  or  worse,  in  human  nat- 
ure.*    These  modifications  are  the  inevitable  effect  of  biological  laws, 

*  Religious  fanaticism,  for  instance,  by  its  measures  of  persecution,  has  produced 
effects  which  its  partisans  were  far  from  foreseeing,  and  a  kind  of  cross-action.  "  By  a 
course  of  penalties  and  poisonings,"  says  Galton,  in  his  "  Hereditary  Genius,"  "  the  Spanish 
nation  has  been  deprived  of  free-thinkers  and  drained,  as  it  were,  of  a  thousand  persons 
a  year,  during  the  three  centuries  between  14 74  and  1784  ;  for  an  average  of  one  hundred 
persons  were  executed  and  an  average  of  nine  hundred  persons  imprisoned  every  year 
during  that  period.  During  the  three  centuries,  32,000  persons  were  burned,  17,000 
burned  in  effigy  (the  most  of  the  persons  themselves  died  in  prison,  or  left  Spain),  and 
VOL.   xxii. — 20 


3o6  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

that  is,  of  the  struggle  for  existence,  heredity,  and  natural  selection. 
A  benevolence  that  takes  no  account  of  those  laws  may  become  ma- 
lign, and  the  short-sighted  fraternity  that  considers  only  the  existing 
generation  may  be  transformed,  as  we  shall  see,  into  a  veritable  injus- 
tice toward  future  generations.  The  great  danger  to  which  a  blind 
charity,  dissociated  from  science  and  stipulative  justice,  exposes  itself 
is  that  of  depressing  the  physical  and  moral  level  of  the  race.  What 
are  the  conclusions  of  Darwinism  on  this  point  ?  We  may,  with  Mr. 
Spencer,  summarize  them  in  the  two  propositions  which  every  philan- 
thropist, in  his  opinion,  should  have  always  present  in  his  mind  :  "  The 
quality  of  a  society  is  physically  lowered  by  the  artificial  preserva- 
tion of  its  feeblest  members  ;  the  quality  of  a  society  is  lowered  mor- 
ally and  intellectually  by  the  artificial  preservation  of  those  who  are 
least  able  to  take  care  of  themselves."  Let  us  successively  consider, 
and  endeavor  to  restrict  to  their  real  bearing,  these  two  capital  propo- 
sitions. The  law  of  Malthus,  from  which  Darwin  has  deduced  the 
law  of  the  struggle  for  existence,  tends  to  produce  in  the  existing  state 
of  society  a  numerical  surplus  of  individuals  who  struggle  for  life  it- 
self. Excessive  fecundity  has  good  and  bad  results.  All  individuals 
finding  themselves  subjected  by  its  operation  to  an  increasing  difficulty 
in  gaining  their  living,  there  is  produced  in  society  a  kind  of  pressure, 
the  natural  effect  of  which  is,  on  the  average,  a  progress.  Those  alone, 
in  effect,  can  survive  who  are  capable  of  resisting  that  pressure,  and 
even  of  advancing  under  its  influence  ;  these,  then,  may  be  considered 
"the  elect  of  their  generation."  When  an  individual  succumbs,  it  is 
always  for  lack  of  power  to  triumph  over  some  action  of  the  environ- 
ment— cold,  heat,  moisture,  insalubrity  of  air,  etc.  He  can  not  make  way 
against  one  or  many  of  the  numerous  forces  that  act  upon  him,  and  in 
the  presence  of  which  his  vital  activity  is  called  upon  to  display  itself. 
He  may  succumb  to  them  more  or  less  quickly,  according  to  the  vigor 
of  his  organization  and  the  incidents  of  his  career  ;  but,  in  the  natural 
course  of  events,  those  who  are  imperfectly  organized  pass  away  be- 
fore having  any  offspring,  and  only  the  most  vigorous  organizations 
contribute  to  the  production  of  the  succeeding  generation.  Such  is 
the  natural  selection,  favorable  to  the  improvement  of  the  species, 
which  is  produced  in  mankind  when  Nature  is  allowed  to  act  without 
contradiction.  It  is,  says  Mr.  Spencer,  a  natural  work  of  elimination 
by  which  society  is  continually  purifying  itself.     Suppose  now  that  a 

291,000  were  condemned  to  prison  and  other  penalties.  It  is  impossible  for  a  nation  to 
endure  such  a  policy  without  suffering  a  great  deterioration  of  the  race.  The  taking 
from  the  nation  its  most  intelligent  and  most  vigorous  men  had  for  its  most  noteworthy 
result  the  formation  of  the  unintelligent  and  superstitious  race  of  contemporary  Span- 
iards." Attention  has  frequently  been  called  to  the  disastrous  effect  of  the  military 
regime  of  our  epoch,  which  deprives  the  family  and  labor  of  the  soundest  part  of  youth, 
and,  leaving  at  home  only  the  weak  or  sickly  men,  produces  a  selection  backward  in  the 
nation.  When  war  is  added  to  universal  armament,  it  harvests  the  best  part  of  a  people, 
and  debases  the  generations  which  follow  it. 


SCIENTIFIC  PHILANTHROPY.  307 

philanthropy  ignorant  of  social  science  and  of  the  natural  sciences  un- 
dertakes to  correct  Nature,  to  diminish  at  any  price  the  chances  of 
mortality  of  the  weak,  to  cause  them  by  means  of  its  care  and  its 
assistance  to  survive  artificially,  what  will  be  the  results  for  future 
generations?  At  first,  population  will  increase  more  than  it  would 
have  done  ;  every  one  will  then  find  himself  subjected  to  a  greater 
difficulty  in  living,  and  exposed  to  destructive  actions  of  the  most  in- 
tense character.  This  increase  of  population  might  still  produce  good 
results  if  it  were  not  due  to  an  increase  in  the  number  of  the  weak. 
But  the  survival  of  the  weak  spoils  all  ;  they  marry  with  the  strong, 
who  under  other  conditions  would  alone  have  survived  ;  such  mar- 
riages change  the  general  constitution  of  the  race,  and  cause  it  to  come 
down  to  a  lesser  degree  of  force,  and  what  we  might  call  tonicity,  cor- 
responding with  the  conditions  of  existence  that  have  been  artificially 
created.  Such  an  instrument,  whose  cords  are  relaxed,  no  longer  gives 
to  strong  or  harmonious  sounds  as  of  old.  An  effeminacy  of  the  species 
is  produced,  and  it  has  become  at  the  same  time  a  little  more  numer- 
ous and  a  little  weaker.  In  preserving  the  less  vitalized  part  of  the 
present  generation,  we  have  prepared  for  the  decadence  of  coming 
generations. 

This  decadence  is  brought  about  also  by  other  causes.  Your  phi- 
lanthropy, say  the  Darwinians,  suppresses  or  attenuates  some  noxious 
influences,  and  this  gives  delicate  constitutions  more  chances  of  sur- 
viving and  propagating  themselves  ;  but  you  do  not  perceive  that,  in 
place  of  the  unfavorable  influences  suppressed  by  you,  you  cause  new 
destructive  ones  to  arise.  "  Let  the  average  vitality,"  says  Mr.  Spen- 
cer, "be  diminished  by  more  effectively  guarding  the  weak  against 
adverse  conditions,  and  inevitably  there  come  fresh  diseases,"  for  the 
increase  of  diseases  is  the  correlative  of  diminished  vitality.  Look  at 
the  numerous  diseases  unknown  among  barbarians  from  which  civilized 
races  suffer.  Diseases  of  the  brain,  especially,  seem  to  increase  with 
civilization  ;  the  proportion  of  them  to  the  whole  population  appears 
to  have  doubled  in  France  since  1836.  The  activity  which  is  stamped 
upon  industry,  the  arts  and  the  sciences,  political  and  social  agitation, 
the  fever  of  money-making,  and  the  consuming  life  of  cities  are  en- 
gendering in  civilized  nations  a  condition  of  cerebral  agitation  resem- 
bling intoxication,  which  must  predispose  to  intellectual  troubles.  We 
may  add  that  the  necessity  of  supporting  the  weak  and  non-producers, 
as  Mr.  Spencer  says,  imposes  an  additional  excess  of  burden  on  the 
producers  ;  the  weariness  of  the  latter  increases  till  it  becomes  a  cause 
of  sickness  and  premature  death,  and  the  mortality  which  has  been 
evaded  in  one  shape  must  come  l-ound  in  another  ;  and,  finally,  it  is 
the  inferiorly  endowed  who  survive  and  the  best  endowed  who  perish. 
If  this  misguided  fraternity  is  perpetuated,  it  will  end,  according  to 
the  Darwinians,  by  changing  a  vigorous  and  youthful  society  into  a 
prematurely  aged  society.     Suppose  a  whole  nation  composed  of  old 


3o8  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

men  :  old  age  differs  from  youth  and  the  age  of  maturity  in  being 
less  active  in  production  and  less  capable  of  resistance  to  destructive 
influences  ;  men  feeble  in  constitution,  while  they  are  still  young,  are 
in  an  analogous  position.  A  society  of  enfeebled  persons  would,  then, 
lead  the  kind  of  life  that  a  society  composed  of  old  men,  with  no  one 
to  wait  upon  them,  would  lead.  The  resemblance  becomes  complete 
in  the  fact  that  in  both  groups  life  lacks  the  energy  that  renders  labor 
easy  and  pleasure  keen.  The  old  man  sees  the  causes  that  give  him 
suffering  increase  and  those  that  give  him  pleasure  diminish,  for  phys- 
ical exercise  is  the  condition  and  the  accompaniment  of  most  pleasures. 
Thus  is  produced  a  languishing,  monotonous,  and  dreary  life.  Finally, 
says  Mr.  Spencer,  when  the  average  type  of  the  constitutions  among 
any  people  has  fallen  to  a  certain  level  of  vigor  inferior  to  that  which 
can  without  difficulty  resist  the  ordinary  strains,  and  perturbations,  and 
dangers,  mortality  is  still  not  diminished,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  life, 
ceasing  to  be  an  enjoyment,  becomes  a  burden. 

Such  are  the  views  of  the  Darwinians  upon  the  physical  deteriora- 
tion of  races  by  the  operation  of  a  mistaken  philanthropy.  These 
considerations  show  well  that  moralists,  economists,  legislators,  and 
statesmen  ought  to  come  out  from  the  traditional  routine  to  study,  in 
the  light  of  the  laws  of  contemporary  biology  and  sociology,  what 
will  be  the  effects  in  the  future  of  the  measures  they  recommend  or 
adopt.  Nevertheless,  we  should  beware  of  exaggerating  the  bearing 
and  consequences  of  the  theorem  we  have  just  postulated.  There  are 
distinctions  to  be  made,  and  those  who  share  the  views  of  Darwin 
do  not  always  make  them.  Let  us  first  leave  out  of  the  account  the 
really  sick,  who  are  taken  care  of  at  home,  or  in  the  hospitals.  Dis- 
eases are,  as  a  rule,  generally  accidental,  except  when  they  result  from 
an  original  constitutional  defect  or  from  some  willful  excess.  Evi- 
dently  we  are  not  rendering  a  bad  service  to  society  when  we  take 
care  of  workmen  who  have  been  afflicted  with  sickness  or  are  the  vic- 
tims of  some  accident.  Suppose  the  wife  of  a  vigorous  and  efficient 
workman  falls  sick  ;  if  the  workman  is  very  poor  and  no  one  comes 
to  his  assistance,  he  will  be  obliged  to  overtax  and  exhaust  himself  to 
take  care  of  her  ;  and  that  would  be  a  loss  to  the  whole  community. 
His  children,  of  good  constitutions,  who  would  have  lived  if  the 
mother  had  been  assisted,  will  become  ill  or  die  if  the  family  is  reduced 
to  want.  Is  it  necessary  to  let  those  whom  disease  attacks  die  without 
pity,  as  armies  are  sometimes  forced  to  abandon  those  who  fall  on  the 
road  ?  No  Darwinian  will  in  good  faith  maintain  that.  The  theorem 
of  Darwin  can  apply,  then,  only  to  the  infirm  properly  so  called,  to 
whom  philanthropy  is  accustomed  to  give  assistance,  as  well  as  to  men 
attacked  with  accidental  diseases.  We  may,  however,  here  first  call 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  infirm  inmates  of  hospitals  and  those 
who  are  succored  at  home  are  a  small  part  of  the  nation  ;  and  it  is  no 
great  inconvenience  to  the  sound  to  take  care  of  them.     Moreover,  the 


SCIENTIFIC  PHILANTHROPY.  309 

infirm  in  the  hospitals  hardly  ever  contract  marriage  ;  so  that  we  need 
not  fear  much  from  their  posterity.  Furthermore,  we  might,  if  it  should 
become  necessary,  impose  conditions  and  even  legal  restraints  upon 
their  marriage.  The  same  is  the  case  with  the  infirm  who  are  assisted 
at  home  ;  if  they  have  any  important  physical  infirmity,  they  seldom 
think  of  marrying,  and  are  hardly  ever  able  to  marry.  The  Darwinian 
theorem,  moreover,  proves  too  much,  for  it  is  applicable  not  only  to 
the  weak  in  body,  whom  philanthropy  takes  under  its  protection  ;  to 
be  logically  carried  out,  it  should  be  taken  home  to  each  family,  and 
insist  that  no  deformed  or  weakly  child  deserves  to  live.  We  should 
say  no  more,  "  Woe  to  the  conquered  ! "  but  "  Woe  to  the  weak  !  " 
In  effect,  when  a  father  and  mother  preserve  the  life  of  their  child 
only  by  the  exercise  of  the  greatest  care,  when  a  doctor  employs  all 
his  skill  upon  it,  that  fatherly  and  motherly  care,  that  medical  skill, 
will  only  have  succeeded  in  preparing  "  artificially  for  society  a  mem- 
ber without  vigor  "  ;  and  the  latter,  in  his  turn,  by  marrying,  will  put 
into  the  world  children  still  less  vigorous.  The  Spartan  method  of 
disposing  of  feeble  children  will  then  become  that  of  the  perfected 
sociology.  We  shall  test  men  as  we  now  test  our  guns,  throwing  away 
those  which  can  not  support  a  certain  pressure.  The  struggle  of  art 
against  the  natural  elimination  of  the  least  vigorous  is  carried  on  in 
the  bosom  of  the  family  rather  than  in  the  hospitals.  Public  philan- 
thropy does  not,  therefore,  appear  to  be  responsible  for  the  principal 
inconveniences  it  brings  ;  it  is  parental  love  that  we  have  to  deal 
with,  and,  since  that  love  is  infinitely  more  advantageous  than  incon- 
venient to  society,  it  is  our  duty  to  brighten,  not  to  obscure  it. 

It  is  rather  before  marriage  than  after  the  birth  of  children  that 
the  real  problem  presents  itself,  and  philanthropy  should  be  exercised 
in  the  interest  of  humanity  itself.  There  is  a  moral  question  here, 
and  it  is  for  the  moralist  to  instruct  the  weak,  delicate,  or  sickly  per- 
son, concerning  the  grave  responsibility  he  assumes  in  contracting 
marriage  and  running  the  danger  of  entailing  upon  his  children  the 
evils  from  which  he  is  suffering.  Man,  says  Darwin,  scans  with  scru- 
pulous care  the  character  and  pedigree  of  his  horses,  his  cattle,  and 
his  dogs  before  matching  them,  but  never  takes  such  a  precaution  when 
the  question  is  one  of  his  own  marriage.  It  is  certain  that  the  person 
who  calls  another  being  into  life  is  not  the  only  one  concerned  in  the 
matter,  and  that,  if  he  has  a  good  supply  of  physical  evils  in  himself, 
he  ought  to  hesitate  before  condemning  his  posterity  to  them.  But 
must  we  go  further,  and  make  a  social  and  judicial  question  of  the 
moral  one  ?  Ought  the  state,  the  natural  protector  of  the  rights  of 
third  parties,  to  intervene  here  in  the  physical  interest  of  the  children 
and  of  the  nation,  as  it  interferes  for  their  moral  interests  and  even  in 
questions  of  mere  future  ?  Darwin  and  his  partisans,  M.  Ribot,  for 
instance,  are  inclined  to  have  the  state  intervene  now,  or  as  soon  as 
custom  shall  have  prepared  the  way  for  its  intervention.     When,  says 


310  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

Darwin,  we  shall  have  come  to  a  better  comprehension  of  biological 
principles,  of  the  laws  of  reproduction  and  heredity,  for  example,  we 
shall  no  longer  hear  ignorant  legislators  repelling  with  scorn  a  plan  for 
ascertaining  whether  or  not  consanguineous  marriages  are  injurious  to 
the  species.  According  to  Darwin,  persons  of  both  sexes  should  be  pro- 
hibited from  marrying  when  they  are  found  to  be  in  too  marked  a  de- 
gree inferior  in  body  or  mind.  The  same  rule  would  apply  to  those  who 
will  not  be  able  to  save  their  children  from  abject  poverty  ;  for  poverty 
is  not  only  a  great  evil  in  itself,  it  also  tends  to  grow  by  promoting  in- 
difference in  marriage.  M.  Ribot  expresses  the  just  hope  that  custom 
will  eventually  take  account  of  the  data  of  science  in  this  grave  ques- 
tion, but  he  also  contemplates  the  ultimate  intervention  of  the  law. 
This  is,  in  our  view,  a  dangerous  means.  In  aspiring  to  favor  well-as- 
sorted marriages  in  a  physical  respect,  the  law  would,  in  the  first  place, 
favor  licentiousness  and  the  birth  of  illegitimate  children.  Now,  licen- 
tiousness and  the  temporary  union  of  the  sexes  unaccompanied  by 
forethought  and  determined  responsibilities,  would  encumber  society 
with  good-for-nothings  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  the  marriage  of 
weakly  beings.  In  the  second  place,  the  intervention  of  the  law  might 
impose  hindrances,  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  that  of  parents, 
to  morally  and  intellectually  well-assorted  marriages  as  well  as  to  con- 
genial ones.  Finally,  governments  are  still  less  infallible  than  parents 
in  the  matter  of  making  a  decision  concerning  the  future  of  children. 
All  that  could  be  done  would  be  to  exact  from  those  wishing  to  marry 
some  assurance  that  they  have  the  means  of  living,  and  will  be  able  to 
take  care  of  their  children.  It  would  still  be  necessary,  we  repeat,  to 
prevent  such  a  policy  operating,  as  it  does  in  Germany,  as  a  promoter 
of  illegitimate  births.  This  question  is  not,  however,  in  reality,  within 
the  province  of  philanthropy  properly  so  called,  with  which  we  are 
particularly  occupied.  Philanthropy  can  be  charged  here  only  with 
the  assistance  which  it  gives  the  feeble-bodied  for  the  prolongation  of 
their  existence,  and  for  the  means  it  affords  them  for  bringing  into  the 
world  still  feebler  children.  The  Darwinians  exaggerate  the  harm 
caused  by  philanthropy  in  this  respect  ;  for  they  forget  that  it  can 
not  wholly  transform  nature.  Its  power  is  limited  to  prolonging  the 
life  of  an  individual  (which  is  no  great  harm),  or  to  prolonging  his 
race  for  a  time  that  is  more  or  less  brief.  One  of  two  things  must  be 
the  case  :  either  the  evil  relieved  by  philanthropy  is  a  fatal  germ  of 
decay  and  death  for  the  posterity  of  the  assisted  man,  in  which  event 
the  benevolence  will  only  delay  without  preventing  the  inevitable  ex- 
tinction of  that  posterity  ;  or,  on  the  contrary,  the  evil  is  reparable 
and  posterity  may  recruit,  strengthen,  and  perfect  itself — that  is,  may 
cross  over  the  mountain  instead  of  falling  back  upon  it.  Must  we  in 
the  latter  case  reproach  Philanthropy  for  having  held  out  the  hand 
of  relief  to  those  who  were  about  to  fall  for  ever?  This  dilemma  can 
be  resolved  only  in  each  particular  instance  as  it  occurs  ;  what  right 


SCIENTIFIC  PHILANTHROPY 


311 


have  we,  then,  to  prejudge  the  solution,  and  that  in  favor  of  the  crud- 
est sentiments  ?  We  shall  shortly  see  that  the  inconveniences,  when 
they  exist,  are  compensated  by  the  advantages.  The  logical  conclu- 
sion is  that,  if  the  moralist  ought  not  to  be  too  much  occupied  with 
these  complex  problems,  so  the  legislator  can  not  be  too  prudent  when 
he  is  thinking  about  intervening,  for  his  intervention  will  be  much 
more  artificial,  and  may  be  more  dangerous,  than  the  intervention  of 
philanthropy.* 

Let  us  now  pass  from  the  influence  which  philanthropy  can  exercise 
directly  upon  individuals  to  that  which  it  can  exercise  upon  the  envi- 
ronment, by  making  it  more  favorable  to  the  weak  and  wretched. 
There  is  here  an  important  distinction  which  the  Darwinians  too  often 
neglect  to  make.  Among  the  conditions  of  the  environment,  of  hy- 
giene and  of  health,  which  can  be  managed  for  tbe  whole  of  a  popula- 
tion, we  should  designate  first  the  normal  conditions  which  tend  to 
assure  the  normal  development  or  performance  of  the  organs,  such  as 
pure  air,  nutritious  and  sufficient  food,  proper  clothing,  healthy  houses, 
the  adjustment  of  the  work  to  the  strength,  etc.  A  philanthropy  which 
endeavors  to  realize  these  conditions  for  the  largest  possible  number  of 
men  is  evidently  acting  in  the  same  direction  with  nature  ;  far  from 
enfeebling  the  generations,  it  is  fortifying  them.  It  would  be  a  soph- 
ism to  assume  that  we  could  fortify  the  generations  any  better  by 
habituating  them  to  do  without  these  favorable  conditions,  for  we  can 
not  do  without  necessaries  ;  the  budget  of  nature  and  life  is  fixed,  and 
can  not  be  varied  except  within  narrow  limits.  What  would  we  say 
of  a  father  who,  to  exercise  the  nutritive  functions  of  his  children, 
should  try  to  habituate  them  to  living  without  eating,  who  to  exer- 
cise their  lungs  should  place  them  in  a  vitiated  atmosphere,  who  to 
exercise  their  sense  of  sight  should  make  them  work  and  read  in  an 
unlighted  room  ?  That  would  be  to  propose  a  problem  as  insoluble  as 
that  of  making  a  fish  live  without  water.  In  fact,  populations  sub- 
jected to  unhealthy  influences  become  wretched  and  sickly  ;  their 
children  fail  to  grow  ;  they  are  thin-blooded,  feeble,  small,  thin,  and 
tainted  with  such  diseases  as  goitre,  pellagra,  ophthalmia,  and  cre- 
tinism. We  can  not  add  to  the  strength  of  men  by  making  them 
live  in  unhealthy  districts  instead  of  healthy  ones.  Excessive  labor 
likewise  exhausts  the  minds  and  bodies  of  generations  as  it  does  of 
individuals.  Doubtless  the  strongest  will  survive,  but  they  will  sur- 
vive enfeebled,  and,  although  relatively  strong,  they  will  have  really 

*  The  fact  is  furthermore  established  by  statistics  that,  notwithstanding  the  increased 
propagation  of  the  weak  in  civilized  societies  under  the  influence  of  philanthropic  feel- 
ings, and  notwithstanding  the  increase  of  population,  the  length  of  life  is  now  greater  than 
formerly.  This  proves  that  the  decrease  of  some  causes  of  mortality  has  been  greater 
down  to  the  present  time  than  the  increase  of  other  causes.  Furthermore,  the  debility 
of  the  existing  generations  may  be  a  result  of  the  stimulus  which  has  been  given  to 
industry  under  conditions  which  are  still  very  defective,  and  which  will  be  improved  in 
the  future. 


3i2  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

become  weak  ;  they  are  the  one-eyed  among  the  blind.  We  shall 
thus  have  obtained  a  survival  of  the  weak,  who  will  beget  weak  off- 
spring. The  argument  of  the  Darwinians  may  then  be  turned  back 
upon  them,  and  we  may  propose  on  our  side  the  following  theorem  : 
To  realize  the  normal  conditions  most  favorable  to  mankind  is  to 
assume  the  development  and  selection  of  a  majority  of  the  strong 
while  saving  only  a  minority  of  the  weak  ;  for  to  be  sick  is  the 
exception  when  the  conditions  as  to  hygiene  and  food  are  at  the 
best. 

The  reasoning  of  Mr.  Spencer,  repeated  by  M.  de  Candolle,  is,  in 
our  view,  valid  only  under  abnormal  conditions.  If  we  bring  up  chil- 
dren effeminately,  in  mental  and  physical  idleness,  if  we  feed  them  on 
candies  instead  of  bread  and  meat,  if  we  keep  them  in  a  greenhouse 
and  out  of  the  open  air,  if  we  do  not  let  them  take  any  exercise  for 
fear  they  will  be  tired,  we  shall  evidently  debase  them,  and  prepare, 
through  them,  for  the  debasement  of  the  race  itself.  In  short,  the 
causes  for  the  deterioration  of  a  generation  are  luxury,  effeminacy, 
and  idleness.  There  is  nothing  strange  from  this  point  of  view  in  Dr. 
Jacoby's  demonstration,  that  extinction  is  the  ultimate  fate  awaiting 
every  royal  and  aristocratic  family,  that  it  has  come  or  will  come  upon 
the  Csesars,  the  Medicis,  the  Valois,  the  Bourbons,  our  French  nobility, 
the  Venetian  aristocracy,  and  the  English  lords  ;  for  it  is  in  such  fam- 
ilies that  the  causes  of  decay,  inseparable  from  power  and  riches,  pro- 
duce their  fatal  results.  Sterility,  mental  disorders,  premature  death, 
and  the  ultimate  extinction  of  the  race,  do  not  constitute  a  future 
reserved  particularly  and  exclusively  for  sovereign  dynasties  ;  all  the 
privileged  classes,  all  families  occupying  exclusively  elevated  positions, 
share  the  lot  of  reigning  families,  although  to  a  lesser  degree,  which 
degree  is  always  in  proportion  to  the  grandeur  of  their  privileges  and 
the  altitude  of  their  social  state.  But  if  we  grant  this  principle  for 
once,  we  may  still  ask  the  pessimist  disciples  of  Darwin  if  philanthropy 
is  in  the  habit  of  assuring  to  the  needy  the  luxury  and  the  soft  life  of 
aristocracies.  It  at  least,  one  may  say,  permits  idleness  ;  but  that  is 
the  fault  of  those  who  come  to  the  assistance  of  the  suffering  working- 
men,  for  it  is  their  right  and  duty  to  require  an  equivalent  in  labor  for 
the  assistance  they  give. 

We  have  as  yet  examined  only  the  first  of  the  Darwinian  theorems 
relative  to  the  effects  of  misapplied  philanthropy  :  a  society  may 
deteriorate  in  a  physical  respect  by  the  artificial  preservation  of  the 
weakest,  if  it  does  not  conform  to  the  real  course  of  nature.  The 
Darwinians  add  to  this  that  it  will  also  deteriorate  in  a  moral  respect, 
by  the  artificial  preservation  of  the  individuals  "  least  capable  of  tak- 
ing care  of  themselves."  The  principle  on  which  this  new  theorem  is 
based  is  that  the  laws  of  heredity  and  selection  are  applicable  to  the 
moral  as  well  as  to  the  physical  side.  We  admit  that  Messrs.  Galton, 
Ribot,  and  Jacoby  have  undoubtedly  established  this  principle.    Moral 


SCIENTIFIC  PHILANTHROPY.  313 

vices,  like  physical  vices,  end,  after  they  have  been  for  a  long  time 
implanted  in  families  or  races,  by  transmitting  themselves  from  gen- 
eration to  generation.  Darwin  insists  much  on  the  transmission  of 
that  moral  quality  which  he  calls  character,  strength  of  will,  courage, 
self-reliance  ;  on  the  other  hand,  there  are  also,  according  to  him,  peo- 
ple trifling,  idle,  and  careless  by  right  of  birth,  like  the  Irish.  Trans- 
port to  the  same  country  an  equal  number  of  Scotch  and  Irish,  says 
Darwin  :  at  the  end  of  a  certain  time  the  Irish  will  have  become  ten 
times  as  numerous  as  the  Scotch,  but  the  latter,  by  virtue  of  their 
hereditary  qualities,  will  be  at  the  head  and  occupying  the  highest 
places.  "  If  any  one  denies,"  says  Mr.  Spencer,  "  that  children  bear 
likenesses  to  their  progenitors  in  character  and  capacity,  if  he  holds 
that  men  whose  parents  and  grandparents  were  habitual  criminals,  have 
tendencies  as  good  as  those  of  men  whose  parents  and  grandparents 
were  industrious  and  upright,  he  may  consistently  hold  that  it  matters 
not  from  what  families  in  a  society  the  successive  generations  descend. 
He  may  think  it  just  as  well  if  the  most  active,  and  capable,  and  pru- 
dent, and  conscientious  people  die  without  issue  ;  while  many  children 
are  left  by  the  reckless  and  dishonest.  But  whoever  does  not  espouse 
so  insane  a  proposition,  must  admit  that  social  arrangements  which 
retard  the  multijflication  of  the  mentally-best,  and  facilitate  the  multi- 
plication of  the  mentally-worst,  must  be  extremely  injurious."  Help 
the  least  meritorious  to  propagate  themselves  by  enfranchising  them 
from  the  mortality  to  which  their  absence  of  merit  devotes  them,  and 
merit  itself  will  become  more  and  more  rare  from  generation  to  gener- 
ation. Furthermore,  besides  seeing  to  their  own  preservation  and  that 
of  their  families,  the  good  will  be  obliged  also  to  look  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  bad  and  their  families,  and  will  be  thus  in  danger  of  being 
overtaxed.  This  is  what  Stuart  Mill  also  complains  of.  In  conse- 
quence of  the  unintelligent  use  of  the  income-tax,  and  the  obligation 
of  every  parish  to  support  its  poor,  the  workers  are  compelled  to  take 
care  of  the  idle.  Is  this  justice?  In  some  cases,  this  situation  pre- 
vents the  industrious  from  marrying  ;  in  others,  it  limits  the  number 
of  their  children,  or  prevents  their  giving  them  a  sufficient  support  ; 
in  others,  it  takes  industrious  men  from  their  families  ;  in  every  way 
it  tends  to  arrest  the  propagation  of  the  capable,  to  injure  their  con- 
stitution, and  to  bring  them  down  to  the  level  of  the  incapable.  Dur- 
ing this  time  the  latter  will  increase  and  multiply,  conformably  to  the 
misinterpreted  wisdom  of  the  Bible  ;  they  will  swarm  at  the  expense 
of  others.  This,  says  Mr.  Spencer,  is  a  deliberate  storing-up  of  mis- 
eries for  future  generations.  We  can  not  make  a  worse  present  to 
posterity  than  to  encumber  it  with  a  continually  increasing  number  of 
imbeciles  and  criminals.  To  aid  the  bad  in  multiplying  is,  in  effect, 
the  same  as  maliciously  providing  for  our  descendants  a  multitude  of 
enemies.  We  have  a  right  to  ask  if  the  maudlin  philanthropy  which 
thinks  only  of  ameliorating  the  evils  of  the  moment  and  persists  in 


3 H  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

overlooking  indirect  mischiefs  does  not  produce  a  greater  total  of 
misery  than  extreme  selfishness  ? 

Such  are  the  objections  of  Mr.  Spencer  and  Mr.  Darwin  in  all  their 
force.  In  our  opinion,  they  still  bear  against  the  blind  and  irrational 
exercise  of  philanthropy,  rather  than  against  philanthropy  itself. 
Pushed  too  far,  the  theorem  relative  to  the  moral  and  intellectual  de- 
basement of  societies  would  have  consequences  still  more  inadmissible 
than  that  relative  to  their  physical  debasement.  In  fact,  the  law  of 
mental  and  moral  heredity,  which  is  their  principle,  is  much  more 
vague  and  loose  than  the  law  of  physical  heredity.  What  is  the  mean- 
ing of  the  unprecise  expression,  "  a  society  lowered  by  the  artificial 
preservation  of  the  individuals  least  capable  of  taking  care  of  them- 
selves "  ?  Does  Mr.  Spencer  mean  that  parents  in  the  habit,  for  ex- 
ample, of  soliciting  at  the  charitable  institutions  will  beget  children 
endowed  with  the  innate  disposition  to  go  to  the  same  institutions  ? 
England  certainly  offers  a  spectacle  of  this  kind  of  poor,  who  are  as- 
sisted from  father  to  son  by  the  parishes  ;  they  are,  we  might  say,  the 
lords  of  beggardom  ;  in  them  hereditary  indigence  is  raised  to  the 
dignity  of  an  institution.  Poor  mothers  surround  themselves  with 
their  numerous  children  as  so  many  titles  to  assistance — they  are  Cor- 
nelias of  a  new  race.  But  whose  fault  is  it  ?  Is  it  not  that  of  the 
distributors  of  the  poor-taxes,  which  are,  moreover,  increasing  every 
day  under  this  system  ?  Is  it  not,  furthermore,  the  fault  of  the  bad 
education  received  by  the  children,  rather  than  of  heredity  of  temper- 
ament ?  If  these  children  were  brought  up  with  the  children  of  a 
lord,  would  they  exhibit  an  innate  propensity  to  beg  or  to  be  assisted 
by  others  ?  We  believe,  generally,  that  Messrs.  Spencer  and  Darwin, 
as  well  as  Messrs.  Jacoby  and  Ribot,  attribute  too  great  a  part  to 
heredity,  too  little  a  one  to  education  and  circumstances. 

The  part  played  by  the  social  and  political  organization  in  England 
must,  moreover,  not  be  forgotten.  In  France,  by  the  operation  of  the 
rule  of  equality,  there  are  between  four  and  five  million  proprietors, 
and  the  increase  of  population  is  so  slow  as  to  give  uneasiness  to  those 
jWho  regard  the  material  and  military  power  of  a  nation  before  every- 
thing else.  In  England,  the  soil  is  owned  by  thirty  thousand  persons, 
and  half  of  it  is  in  the  hands  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  large  proprietors. 
In  consequence  of  this  feudal  monopoly  and  this  rule  of  inequality 
(for  which  many  of  our  contemporary  writers  utter  Platonic  regrets), 
neither  the  workmen  nor  the  villagers  can  live  without  the  aid  of  the 
poor-taxes.  The  lords  having  arrogated  to  themselves  the  monopoly 
of  wealth,  a  part  of  the  nation  would  be  reduced  to  the  most  extreme 
wretchedness  if  they  did  not  deign  to  compensate  for  their  injustice 
with  their  charity.  We  must  admit  that  they  come  within  a  certain 
distance  of  reaching  this  point,  for  the  number  of  assisted  has  dimin- 
ished one  half  during  the  last  thirty  years.  In  the  greater  part  of 
England  the  wages  of  the  agricultural  laborer  vary  between  six  and 


TRACES    OF  A   PBE-INDIAN  PEOPLE.  315 

twelve  shillings  a  week  ;  bis  lodging  costs  him  one  shilling  a  week  ; 
it  is  impossible  for  him  to  live  on  the  remainder  of  his  wages  with  a 
wife  and  only  two  children.  Now,  by  the  zeal  of  biblical  preachers, 
and  the  traditional  improvidence  of  the  fathers,  they  have  on  the 
average  eisdit  children,  sometimes  fourteen  or  sixteen.  The  result  is 
that  they  can  not  dispense  with  assistance,  either  public  or  private. 
Not  a  day-laborer  in  the  field,  says  Mrs.  Grote,  lives  or  supports  his 
family  with  his  wages  alone  ;  he  subsists  partly  upon  his  savings  and 
partly  on  alms.  Having  no  hope  of  becoming  a  proprietor,  like  the 
French  peasant,  the  English  rustic  is  prodigal  and  exacting  in  the 
matter  of  the  comfortable  ;  and,  as  his  fecundity  realizes  the  ideal  of 
the  Old  Testament,  his  improvidence  realizes  that  of  the  New.  The 
fecundity  and  improvidence  of  the  workmen  in  the  factories  are  still 
greater. 

Gold  may  be  thrown  out  by  the  handful  in  vain  ;  it  is  impossible 
to  fill  this  sort  of  a  cask  of  the  Dana'ides  ;  pure  charity,  while  it  may 
relieve  the  suffering,  is  incompetent  to  suppress  the  causes  of  misery 
and  supply  justice.  Neither  can  religion  replace  science.  There  is 
one  thing,  says  Mr.  Spencer,  which  calls  for  especially  severe  reproba- 
tion ;  it  is  the  waste  of  money  inspired  by  a  false  interpretation  of 
the  well-known  maxim,  "Charity  covers  a  multitude  of  sins."  "  For 
in  the  many  whom  this  interpretation  leads  to  believe  that  by  large 
donations  they  can  compound  for  evil  deeds,  we  may  trace  an  element 
of  positive  baseness — an  effort  to  get  a  good  place  in  another  world, 
no  matter  at  what  injury  to  fellow-creatures." 

But,  we  ask,  does  Mr.  Spencer  see  where  the  evil  and  the  remedy 
really  are  when  he  attributes  the  carelessness  and  the  idleness  of  the 
poor  to  heredity,  and  is  especially  concerned  to  prevent  the  transmis- 
sion of  these  vices  by  the  blood  to  future  generations  ?  The  best 
processes  of  Darwinian  selection  would  be  without  important  results 
in  the  absence  of  good  education,  and  education  would  itself  have 
little  power  in  the  absence  of  just  laws.  These  two  essential  elements 
which  the  Darwinians  have  overlooked — education  and  laws — must, 
then,  be  reinstated  in  the  problem. 

[7'o    be    continued.] 


TRACES   OF  A  PRE-INDIAN  PEOPLE. 

By  CHARLES  C.  ABBOTT,  M.  D. 

BY  the  cautious  archaeologist  all  evidences  of  ancient  man  in  East- 
ern North  America — exclusive  of  true  palaeolithic  implements — 
are  wisely  referred  to  those  Indian  tribes  that,  to  within  a  compara- 
tively recent  period,  were  the  sole  occupants  of  the  territory  named. 
Perhaps,  however,  the  time  has  come  when  it  may  be  asked  if  all  the 


3i6  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

traces  of  prehistoric  man,  gathered  along  our  northern  Atlantic  sea- 
board, are  of  one  origin.  In  other  words,  have  traces  of  a  people 
later  than  American  palaeolithic  man,  and  earlier  than  the  Indian,  been 
discovered  ? 

When  we  chance  upon  a  stone  arrow-point  lying  in  the  soil,  it  is  a 
very  different  object  to  the  archaeologist  than  the  same  specimen  would 
be  lying  in  a  cabinet.  In  the  latter  case,  it  is  an  example  of  man's  primi- 
tive handiwork  merely  ;  in  the  former,  it  is  not  only  the  production  of  a 
skilled  worker  in  flint,  but  evidence  that  on  the  spot  where  found  man 
once  tarried,  if  he  did  not  dwell  there,  and  tbat  for  him  a  necessity 
for  weapons  existed.  Further,  if  but  a  single  specimen  be  found,  we 
may  conclude  that  it  is  the  point  of  some  arrow  vainly  shot,  or  the 
head  of  a  lance  that  has  been  broken  and  lost.  But  if,  on  the  other 
hand,  instead  of  one,  we  find  a  hundred  scattered  over  a  few  square 
rods  of  ground,  then  we  have  evidence  not  simply  that  arrow  and 
spear  heads  may  be  of  various  shapes  and  sizes,  but  that  where  they 
occur  was  once  a  village,  it  may  be,  or  a  battle  has  been  fought  at 
this  point,  or  possibly  that  here  an  arrow-maker  once  plied  his  calling, 
the  more  definite  decision  being  reached  whether  we  find  pottery  and 
domestic  implements  also,  or  weapons  only,  or  mingled  with  a  multi- 
tude of  the  flakes  of  such  mineral  as  that  of  which  the  weapons  are 
made.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  practical  results  of  an  archaeolo- 
gist's labors  are  to  be  derived  from  field-work  only,  not  from  simple 
closet  studies.  He  must  seek  out  these  hidden  village  sites,  dig  in 
their  weed-grown  corn-fields,  and  invade  their  cemeteries,  if  he  would 
learn  where  they  lived,  where  and  how  they  toiled,  and  finally  where 
and  in  what  manner  they  were  laid  to  rest. 

Of  a  series  of  nearly  twenty-five  thousand  implements  and  weapons 
of  stone  gathered  from  one  limited  locality  by  the  writer,  more  than 
four  fifths  have  been  placed  together  in  a  public  museum.  In  looking 
at  them  collectively,  perhaps  the  most  noticeable  feature  is  that  of  the 
marked  difference  in  finish  and  material.  Of  the  chipped  objects,  such 
as  arrow-heads,  one  instinctively  separates  them  into  finely  wrought 
objects  of  jasper  and  quartz,  and  ruder  specimens  made  of  a  slate-like 
rock. 

The  question  is  simply,  Has  this  feature  any  ethnological  signifi- 
cance ?     It  is  the  purpose  of  this  essay  to  determine  this. 

The  bare  fact  that  one  arrow-head  is  roughly  fashioned  and  another 
beautifully  wrought  has  no  significance  beyond  the  fact  that  there 
were  skillful  and  clumsy  workmen  in  every  tribe — professionals  and 
amateurs.  On  a  closer  examination  a  fact  becomes  apparent,  however, 
that  should  be  critically  regarded,  and  this  is  that  the  rudely  made 
objects  are  almost  wholly  made  of  the  same  mineral,  while  the  finely 
finished  objects  are  of  one  of  three  closely  allied  minerals.  The  ex- 
ceptions are  too  few  to  have  any  bearing  on  the  question.  Chipped 
implements  of  Indian  origin,  such  as  occur  in  every  nook  and  corner 


TRACES    OF  A  PRE-INDIAN  PEOPLE.  317 

of  the  Atlantic  coast  States,  are  made  of  flint  in  some  one  of  its  many 
forms,  as  jasper,  chert,  chalcedony,  agate,  horn-stone,  or  they  are  of 
quartz.  I  do  not  deny  that  they  are  also  of  other  materials,  hut  that 
more  than  ninety-nine  hundredths  are  of  this  material — flint.  In  the 
valley  of  the  Delaware  River  there  are  found,  also,  enormous  numbers 
of  similar  objects,  of  quite  uniform  pattern  and  rudely  finished,  made 
of  a  mineral  characteristic  of  the  locality— argillite.  This  term,  "  ar- 
gillite,"  as  employed  by  Professor  M.  E.  Wadsworth,  of  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts,  to  whom  specimens  of  implements  were  submitted  for 
examination,  is  used  to  designate  all  argillaceous  rocks  in  which  the 
argillaceous  material  is  the  predominant  characteristic  ;  slate,  or  clay- 
slate,  clay-stone,  etc.,  are  simply  varieties  of  it,  the  term  "  slate  "  being 
only  rightfully  used  when  slaty  cleavage  is  developed.  The  argillite 
out  of  which  these  specimens  were  made  has  no  trace  of  cleavage. 

The  question  may  now  very  pertinently  be  asked,  Why  may  not 
the  Indians  have  used  both  minerals,  flint  and  argillite,  the  one  as  fre- 
quently as  the  other  ? 

There  are  no  reasons  why,  indeed,  they  might  not  have  done  so  ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  evidences  that  they  did  not  are  not  wanting, 
if  the  circumstances  under  which  the  objects  are  found  have  been 
rightly  interpreted. 

The  celebrated  Swedish  naturalist,  Peter  Kahn,  traveled  through- 
out Central  and  Southern  New  Jersey  in  1748-50,  and  in  his  de- 
scription of  the  country  remarks  :  *  "  We  find  great  woods  here, 
but,  when  the  trees  in  them  have  stood  a  hundred  and  fifty  or  a 
hundred  and  eighty  years,  they  are  either  rotting  within,  or  losing 
their  crown,  or  their  wood  becomes  quite  soft,  or  their  roots  are  no 
longer  able  to  draw  in  sufficient  nourishment,  or  tbey  die  from  some 
other  cause.  Therefore  when  storms  blow,  which  sometimes  happens 
here,  the  trees  are  broke  off  either  just  above  the  root  or  in  the  middle 
or  at  the  summit.  Several  trees  are  likewise  torn  out  with  their  roots 
by  the  power  of  the  winds.  ...  In  this  manner  the  old  trees  die  away 
continually,  and  are  succeeded  by  a  younger  generation.  Those  which 
are  thrown  down  lie  on  the  ground  and  putrefy,  sooner  or  later,  and 
by  that  means  increase  the  black  soil,  into  which  the  leaves  are  likewise 
finally  changed,  which  drop  abundantly  in  autumn,  are  blown  about 
by  the  winds  for  some  time,  but  are  heaped  up  and  lie  on  both  sides 
of  the  trees  which  are  fallen  down.  It  requires  several  years  before  a 
tree  is  entirely  reduced  to  dust." 

This  quotation  from  Kahn  has  a  direct  bearing  on  that  which  fol- 
lows. It  is  clear  how,  to  a  great  extent,  the  surface-soil  was  formed 
during  the  occupancy  of  the  country  by  the  Indians.  The  entire  area 
of  the  State  was  covered  with  a  dense  forest,  which,  century  after 
century,  was  increasing  the  black  soil  to  which  Kahn  refers.     If,  now, 

*  "  Travels  into  North  America,"  by  Peter  Kahn  (English  translation),  London,  1771, 
vol.  ii,  p.  IS. 


3i8 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


an  opportunity  offers  to  examine  a  section  of  virgin  soil  and  under- 
lying strata,  as  occasionally  happens  on  the  bluffs  facing  the  river,  the 
limit  in  depth  of  this  black  soil  may  be  approximately  determined. 
Microscopical  examination  of  it  enables  one  to  determine  the  depth 
more  accurately. 

An  average,  derived  from  several  such  sections,  leads  me  to  infer 
that  the  depth  is  not  over  one  foot,  and  the  proportion  of  vegetable 
matter  increases  as  the  surface  is  approached.  Of  this  depth  of  super- 
ficial soil  probably  not  over  one  half  has  been  derived  from  decompo- 
sition of  vegetable  growths.  Indeed,  experiment  would  indicate  that 
the  rotting  of  tree-roots  yields  no  appreciable  amount  of  matter. 
While  no  positive  data  are  determinable  in  this  matter,  beyond  the 
naked  fact  that  rotting  trees  increase  the  bulk  of  top-soil,  one  archaeo- 
logical fact  we  do  derive,  which  is,  that  the  flint  implements  known 
as  Indian  relics  belong  to  this  superficial  or  "  black  soil,"  as  Kahn 
terms  it.  Abundantly  are  they  found  near  the  surface  ;  more  spar- 
ingly the  deeper  we  go  ;  while  below  the  base  of  this  deposit  of  soil, 
at  an  average  depth  of  about  two  feet,  the  argillite  implements  occur 
in  greatest  abundance.     The  accompanying  diagram  more  clearly  sets 


m^o  gm 


'f/t 


;r. 


to  $0 


G 


ifU 


o 


0   G>*Q<=>*a_ 


forth  the  conclusions  at  which  I  have  arrived,  after  years  of  careful 
study  of  this  subject.  By  this  it  will  be  seen  that,  as  the  depth 
increases,  the  number  of  ordinary  flint  implements  of  Indian  origin 
decreases  ;  and  that  the  reverse  is  true  of  the  palaeolithic  implements 
which  are  a  feature  of  the  gravel-beds  ;  and  is  true  of  that  inter- 
mediate form  which  is  characteristic  of  the  stratum  of  sand  capping 
the  gravels  and  blending  insensibly  with  the  surface-soil.  This  inter- 
mediate form,  which  is  always  made  of  argillite,  is  both  in  workanm- 
ship  and  design  a  marked  advance  over  the  palaeolithic  implements, 
and  yet  is  so  uniform  in  pattern  and  so  inferior  in  finish,  when 
compared  with  the  average  flint  implement  of  the  Indian,  that  it  has 


TRACES   OF  A   PRE-INDIAN  PEOPLE.  3i9 

been  assigned  to  an  earlier  date  than  the  latter,  and  considered  the 
handiwork  rather  of  the  descendants  of  palaeolithic  man. 

What  is  held  to  be  convincing  evidence  of  this  has  already  been 
given  in  the  statement  of  the  relative  positions  of  the  two  forms — 
Indian  and  pre-Indian — as  seen  in  sections  of  undisturbed  or  virgin 

soil. 

Negative  evidence  of  the  soundness  of  this  view  is  had  in  the 
character  of  the  sites  of  arrow-makers'  open-air  workshops,  or  those 
spots  whereon  the  professional  chipper  of  flint  pursued  his  calling. 

In  the  locality  where  the  writer  has  pursued  his  studies  several 
such  sites  have  been  discovered  and  carefully  examined.*  In  no  one 
of  these  workshop  sites  has  there  been  found  any  trace  of  argillite 
mingled  with  the  flint-chips  that  form  the  characteristic  feature  of 
such  spots.  On  the  other  hand,  no  similar  sites  have  been  discovered, 
to  my  knowledge,  where  argillite  was  used  exclusively.  The  absence 
of  this  mineral  can  not  be  explained  on  the  ground  that  it  was  diffi- 
cult to  procure,  for  such  is  not  the  case.  It  constitutes,  in  fact,  a 
large  percentage  of  the  pebbles  and  bowlders  of  the  drift,  from  which 
the  Indians  gathered  their  jasper  and  quartz  pebbles  for  working  into 
implements  and  weapons. 

If  the  absence  of  argillite  from  such  heaps  of  selected  stones  is 
explained  by  the  assertion  that  the  Indians  had  recognized  the  superi- 
ority of  jasper,  then  the  belief  that  argillite  was  used  prior  to  jasper 
receives  tacit  assent.  If,  however,  it  was  the  earlier  Indians  who 
used  argillite,  and  gradually  discarded  it  for  the  various  forms  of  flint, 
then  we  ought  to  find  workshop  sites  older  than  the  time  of  flint  chip- 
ping, and  others  where  the  two  minerals  are  associated.  This,  as  has 
been  stated,  has  not  been  done.  Negative  evidence  this,  it  is  admitted, 
but,  when  considered  in  addition  to  the  positive  evidence  of  position 
in  undisturbed  soil,  it  has  a  value  that  must  not  be  overlooked.  Suffi- 
cient positive  evidence  to  clear  away  all  doubt  of  the  presence  of  an 
earlier  people  than  the  Indian  on  the  Atlantic  sea-board  of  America 
will  probably  never  be  forthcoming,  yet,  to  the  minds  of  candid  inquir- 
ers, there  is  a  degree  of  probability  in  the  interpretation  of  known 
facts  that  closely  hugs  the  bounds  of  certainty. 

Wholly  convinced  that  valid  reasons  have  been  given  for  assum- 
ing that  the  chipped  stone  implements  made  of  argillite  are  older  than 
the  similar  patterns  of  weapons  made  by  the  Indians,  it  is  desirable 
to  determine  wThether  these  ruder  objects  are  the  handiwork  of  the 
ancestors  of  the  Indians  of  historic  times,  or  that  of  the  descendants 
of  palasolithic  man,  and  therefore  the  relics  of  a  preceding,  prehistoric 
race. 

A  forcible  objection  that  has  been  urged  against  the  assumption, 
as  it  was  held  to  be,  of  a  pre-Indian  occupancy  of  our  sea-coast,  is  the 
difficulty  of  realizing  that  a  people  sufficiently  advanced  to  make  so 

*  "Primitive  Industry,"  chapter  xxxi,  p.  453,  Salem,  Massachusetts,  1881. 


320  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

well-designed  a  weapon  as  the  argillite  spear-head  should  not  have 
utilized  stone  in  various  other  ways  to  meet  their  wants,  precisely  as 
the  Indian  did  subsequently.  No  other  form  of  implement  than  these 
spear-heads  was  clearly  associated  with  them,  except  when  found  on 
the  surface,  and  so  not  clearly  separable  from  the  true  Indian  imple- 
ments associated  therewith.  Recently,  the  occurrence  of  a  stone  ham- 
mer, traces  of  fire — charcoal — and  a  flat  stone  bearing  marks  of  a 
hammer  or  rubbing-stone,  at  a  depth  of  nearly  three  feet  below  the 
surface,  has  rendered  it  quite  probable  that  a  proportion  of  the  sur- 
face-formed relics  of  these  patterns  should  be  regarded  as  of  other 
than  Indian  origin.  If  we  examine  a  series  of  the  stone  implements 
of  the  only  other  American  race — the  Esquimaux — we  will  find  that 
not  only  is  the  variation  in  pattern  very  considerable,  but  that  pre- 
cisely such  forms  of  domestic  implements  as  are  now  in  use  in  the 
Arctic  regions,  among  the  Chukches,  are  common  "  relics  "  in  New 
Jersey.  In  his  recent  volume  of  Arctic  explorations,  Professor  Nor- 
clenskiuld  describes  a  series  of  stone  hammers  and  a  stone  anvil,  which 
are  used  together  for  crushing  bones.*  Every  considerable  collection 
of  stone  implements  gathered  along  our  sea-board,  anywhere  from 
Maine  to  Maryland,  contains  numbers  of  identical  objects. 

While  many  of  these  hammers  and  mortars  are  unquestionably  of 
Indian  origin,  no  valid  reason  can  be  urged  that  a  proportion  of  them 
are  not  of  the  same  origin  as  the  argillite  spear-heads.  Indeed,  grooved 
stone  hammers  have  been  found  quite  deeply  imbedded  in  the  sand — 
as  deep  as  the  usual  depth  at  which  argillite  arrow-points  occur  ;  but 
this,  of  itself,  is  scarcely  significant.  So  unstable  is  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  where  sand  prevails,  that  the  actual  position,  when  found,  of 
any  single  specimen,  is  of  little  importance.  It  is  only  when  thousands 
have  been  gathered  with  great  care,  and  under  the  most  favorable  cir- 
cumstances, that  any  inferences  may  be  drawn.  This  is  true  of  the 
argillite  arrow-heads,  of  which  thousands  have  been  gathered,  and 
presumably  true  of  the  hammers  and  mortars,  because  such  implements 
are  common  among  an  American  race  which  uses  also  such  spear-points 
as  are  so  abundant  in  New  Jersey.  The  similarity  between  a  Chukche 
spear-point  figured  by  Nordenskiold  f  and  an  Esquimau  spear  figured 
by  Lubbock  J  and  the  New  Jersey  specimens  is  very  striking.  Of 
course,  such  similarity  may  be  considered  as  mere  coincidence,  but  that 
it  has  an  important  bearing  on  the  question  becomes  evident  when  the 
many  circumstances  suggestive  of  a  pre-Indian  race  on  the  Atlantic 
sea-board  are  collectively  considered.  Singly,  any  fact  may  be  held 
to  be  of  little  or  no  value  ;  but  when  many  of  like  significance  are 
gathered  together,  they  are  self-supporting,  and  the  one  central  fact 
becomes  established. 

Basing  the  supposition  that  palaeolithic  man  was  not  the  ancestor 

*  "Voyage  of  the  Yega,"  New  York,  1882,  p.  483.  f  Ibid.,  p.  571. 

%  "Prehistoric  Times,"  second  edition,  London,  1S68,  p.  493,  Fig.  21 S. 


TRACES    OF  A  PRE-INDIAN  PEOPLE.  321 

of  the  American  Indian,  because  there  is  evidence  warranting  the  be- 
lief that  "  the  Indian  was  a  late  comer  upon  the  extreme  eastern  bor- 
der of  North  America — indeed,  the  oldest  distribution  of  the  Ameri- 
can races  does  not  antedate  the  tenth  century,"  and  therefore  "  the 
appearance  of  the  Skraelling  (Esquimau)  in  the  Sagas,  instead  of  the 
Indian,  is  precisely  what  the  truth  required  "  * — basing  the  supposition 
thereupon,  it  was  suggested  f  that  in  the  Esquimaux  we  should  find  the 
descendants  of  that  oldest  of  all  mankind — homo  fialozolithicus. 

Having  given  the  strictly  archaeological  reasons  for  dissociating 
certain  of  the  stone  implements  found  in  New  Jersey,  let  us  now 
briefly  refer  to  the  historical  evidence  bearing  upon  this  question. 
Have  we  any  references  to  Esquimaux  dwelling  in  regions  significant- 
ly south  of  their  present  habitat  ?  If  there  are  such,  then  it  is  at 
once  evident  that  the  weapons  and  domestic  implements  of  such 
people  must  now  be  buried  in  the  dust  of  their  ancient  southern 
dwelling-places,  and,  these  same  spots  being  subsequently  tenanted  by 
the  Indian,  his  handiwork  must  also  be  mingled  with  that  of  his  pred- 
ecessors. 

The  literature  of  this  subject  can  be  sufficiently  outlined  by  refer- 
ence to  two  authors.  Major  W.  H.  Dall,  in  "  Tribes  of  the  Extreme 
Northwest,"  \  remarks  :  "  There  are  many  facts  in  American  ethnology 
which  tend  to  show  that  originally  the  Innuit  of  the  east  coast  had 
much  the  same  distribution  as  the  walrus,  namely,  as  far  south  as  New 
Jersey."  I  submit  the  rude  argillite  arrow-heads  found  in  certain 
localities  in  such  abundance,  and  at  a  significant  depth,  as  an  addi- 
tional fact,  tending  in  the  same  direction. 

In  Rev.  B.  F.  De  Costa's  admirable  resume,  of  Icelandic  literature  * 
there  is  given  abundant  evidence — ay,  proof — that  the  people  dwelling 
along  the  coast  of  Massachusetts,  900  to  1000  a.  d.,  were  not  the  same 
race  that  resisted  the  English  on  the  same  coast  six  centuries  later. 
The  descriptions  of  the  people  seen  by  the  Northmen  show  that,  of 
whatever  race,  they  were  well  advanced  in  the  art  of  war,  and  used 
not  only  the  bow,  but  hatchets  and  the  sling.  They  were  "men  of 
short  stature,  bushy  hair,  rude,  fierce,  and  devoid  of  every  grace."  || 

It  need,  therefore,  only  be  remembered  that  the  relationship  be- 
tween the  true  palaeolithic  implements  and  those  of  more  advanced 
finish  and  design  is  evident  to  every  one  who  carefully  examines  a  com- 
plete series.  At  the  same  time,  the  student  is  confronted  with  reliable 
historical  evidence  of  the  occupancy  of  the  Atlantic  sea-board  by  the 
Esquimaux  as  far  south  as  New  Jersey. 

Does  not    the    impression   derived    from   strictly    archaeological 

*  "  Popular  Science  Monthly,"  vol.  xviii,  No.  1,  p.  38,  November,  1880,  New  York, 
f  "Peabody  Museum  Report,"  vol.  ii,  p.  252,  Cambridge,  Massachusetts. 

%  "Contributions  to  North  American  Ethnology,"  vol.  i,  p.  98,  Washington,  1877. 

*  "Pre-Columbian  Discovery  of  America,"  Albany,  1868. 

||  "Popular  Science  Monthly,"  November,  1880,  p.  38,  New  York. 
vol.  xxn. — 21 


322  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

studies,  that  all  the  stone  implements  of  our  Eastern  sea-board  are  not 
of  one  origin,  go  far  to  confirm  the  position  of  the  historical  student 
that  an  earlier  race  than  the  Indian  once  resided  here  ? 

De  Costa  remarks:  "During  the  eleventh  century  the  red-man  lived 
upon  the  North  American  Continent,  while  the  eastern  border  of  his 
territory  could  not  have  been  situated  far  away  from  the  Atlantic 
coast.  In  New  England  he  must  have  succeeded  the  people  known  as 
Skraellings.  Prior  to  that  time,  his  hunting-grounds  lay  toward  the 
interior  of  the  continent.  In  course  of  time,  however,  he  came  into 
collision  with  the  ruder  people  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  the  descendants 
of  an  almost  amphibious  glacial  man." 

This  "  amphibious  glacial  man,"  I  submit,  is  he  who  fashioned  the 
rude  palaeolithic  implements,  that,  with  bones  of  extinct  and  Arctic 
mammalia,  are  now  found  in  the  glacial  drift  of  our  river-valleys ;  and 
his  "  descendants,"  a  rude  people,  with  whom  the  Indian  finally  came 
in  contact,  were  those  who  fashioned  the  plainly  finished  argillite  ar- 
row-heads and  spears  that  are  now,  in  part,  commingled  with  the 
elaborate  workmanship  of  the  latest  race,  save  one,  that  has  peopled 
this  continent. 


-*♦»- 


BODILY  DEFORMITIES   IN  GIRLHOOD. 

By  CHARLES  EC-BERTS,  F.  R.  C.  S.* 

HOPE  the  time  is  not  distant  when  a  careful  study  of  the  living 
model  of  the  child  and  the  adult,  and  the  whole  period  of  the  de- 
velopment of  the  one  into  the  other,  will  form  a  part  of  the  student's 
ordinary  course  of  anatomy  and  physiology,  as  such  knowledge  is 
essentia]  to  the  surgeon  engaged  in  removing  and  preventing  deform- 
ities of  the  body.  Orthopedic  surgery  as  a  specialty  is  a  great  evil 
both  to  the  profession  and  the  public.  The  specialist  who  concen- 
trates all  his  attention  on  a  narrow  field  of  study  and  practice  is 
tempted  to  exaggerate  its  importance,  and  to  analyze  and  disintegrate 
his  facts  till  he  loses  sight  of  their  relation  to  and  their  dependence  on 
each  other  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  general  practitioner  is  dis- 
heartened and  repelled  by  the  apparent  complication  of  the  subject, 
and  is  induced  to  hand  over  to  the  specialist  many  cases  which  he  is 
quite  competent  to  treat,  or,  as  is  too  often  the  case,  to  undervalue 
the  importance  or  deny  the  existence  of  many  deformities.  How  else 
can  we  explain  the  difference  in  practice  between  the  fussy  mechanical 
ingenuity  with  which  many  professed  orthopedists  treat  the  slightest 
deformities  of  children— which,  by  the  way,  they  often  tell  us  are  only 
visible  to  their  specially  trained  eye,  and  are  hidden  from  that  of  the 

*  Late  Assistant-Surgeon  to  the  Victoria  Hospital  for  Sick  Children,  etc. 


BODILY  DEFORMITIES  IN   GIRLHOOD.  323 

family  doctor — and  the  sang-froid  of  the  general  practitioner  who 
meets  the  difficulties  hy  the  administration  of  a  few  doses  of  steel  and 
quinine  and  rest  in  the  recumbent  position  ? 

No  deformity  of  a  child's  body  gives  rise  to  so  much  alarm  to  par- 
ents, or  is  the  subject  of  greater  diversity  of  treatment  among  medi- 
cal men,  as  lateral  curvature  of  the  spine,  and  this  is  due,  I  believe, 
to  an  imperfect  acquaintance  with  its  origin.  Specialists  are  accus- 
tomed to  treat  lateral  curvature,  knock-knee,  and  flat-foot  as  distinct 
deformities,  while  in  truth  they  are  all  links  in  the  chain  of  one  de- 
formity. Lateral  curvature  may  arise  in  different  ways,  but  in  all 
cases  it  is  due  to  the  loss  of  the  lateral  balance  of  the  body  in  the  up- 
right position,  and  is  the  result  of  an  effort  of  nature  to  maintain  the 
center  of  gravity  of  the  body  and  support  the  head  and  shoulders  in 
the  position  which  requires  the  least  expenditure  of  muscular  effort. 
The  paralysis,  wasting  or  loss  of  a  limb,  or  the  shortening  of  one  of  the 
legs  by  disease  of  joint,  rickets,  knock-knee,  or  flat-foot  in  growing 
children,  will  produce  lateral  curvature,  and  these  are  its  chief  if  not 
its  only  causes.  It  is  not  a  deformity  arising  from  general  debility, 
and  I  do  not  think  it  can  be  produced,  as  is  often  asserted,  by  an 
awkward  sitting  position,  as  in  writing  and  other  school  occupations. 
The  curvature  of  the  spine  which  results  from  these  causes  is  antero- 
posterior, or  what  is  commonly  called  round-shoulder  (non-carious). 
The  tendency  of  debility,  whether  local  or  general,  is  to  bring  the 
body  into  the  prone  or  recumbent  position,  and  not  to  tilt  it  on  one 
side. 

Setting  aside  the  cases  of  lateral  curvature  in  children  who  have 
been  affected  with  rickets,  disease  of  joints,  paralysis  or  loss  of  a  limb 
in  early  life,  and  which  affect  both  sexes  and  all  ages  equally,  what 
may  be  called  the  idiopathic  or  acquired  deformity  is  rarely  found  in 
children  of  either  sex  under  the  age  of  nine  or  ten  years,  and  very 
rarely  in  boys  above  that  age.  It  is,  indeed,  almost  peculiar  to  girls 
verging  on  puberty,  and  is  as  often  found  in  strong  and  healthy  as  in 
weak  and  delicately  built  girls,  and  most  commonly  in  those  who  are 
too  fat  and  heavy  for  their  stature  and  age.  It  is  a  deformity  wdiich 
is  less  common  among  the  laboring  classes  than  among  the  rich  and 
well-to-do,  and  is  largely  associated  with  a  life  of  indolence  and 
luxury. 

A  careful  examination  of  the  subject  has  satisfied  me  that  this  ac- 
quired lateral  curvature  in  girls  is  due  to  the  change  in  the  position  of 
the  lower  limbs,  resulting  from  the  development  of  the  pelvis  from 
the  infantile  to  the  female  type  a  year  or  two  before  the  accession  of 
puberty.  Any  one  who  will  examine  the  figures  of  young  children 
below  this  age  will  find  little  differences  between  the  two  sexes.  The 
legs  of  young  girls  are  set  on  the  body  like  those  of  boys,  and,  within 
the  limits  of  their  training  and  dress,  they  can  run  as  well  and  as 
gracefully  as  boys  ;  but  as  puberty  approaches,  and  the  pelvis  alters 


324  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

its  shape,  the  heads  of  the  femora  are  removed  farther  from  the  center 
of  gravity,  and  at  the  same  time  become  rotated  forward  by  the  widen- 
ing of  the  pelvis,  and  especially  of  the  outlet  of  the  pelvis.  The  effect 
of  these  changes  is  to  bring  the  knees  closer  together,  and  to  produce 
the  weak-kneed  condition  and  the  awkward  running  gait  peculiar  to 
women.  This  condition  of  the  limbs  is  well  seen  in  pictures  and  stat- 
ues of  the  nude  figure,  and  it  is  often  exaggerated  by  the  artist  or 
sculptor,  probably  to  give  a  more  distinct  idea  of  a  woman's  helpless- 
ness or  modesty.  The  knee-cap  in  women  looks  straight  forward, 
while  in  men  it  is  turned  a  little  outward  ;  and  in  women  the  knees 
touch,  or  even  overlap  each  other,  while  in  men  they  are  quite  free. 
In  running,  a  woman  has  to  move  the  knees  round  each  other,  and  to 
throw  the  feet  out  in  a  succession  of  small  semicircles,  which  accounts 
for  the  peculiarity  in  her  gait.  This  gait  is  not  found  in  young  girls 
before  the  onset  of  puberty,  and  is  useful  as  a  diagnostic  sign  of  pelvic 
evolution  long  before  the  ordinary  signs  appear. 

Although  this  weak-kneed  condition  is  quite  normal,  it  is  a  fruitful 
source  of  deformity  in  growing  girls.     A  little  additional  strain  will 
convert  it  into  knock-knee,  and,  by  throwing  the  weight  of  the  body 
on  the  inner  ankle,  it  will  quickly  break  down  the  arch  of  the  foot  and 
produce  flat-foot  or  complete  eversion  of  one  or  both  feet.     It  is  here, 
indeed,  that  nearly  all  the  mischief  lies,  for  according  to  my  experi- 
ence ninety  per  cent  of  the  cases  of  lateral  curvature  of  the  spine  in 
girls  are  associated  with  flat-foot.    This  deformity  is  exceedingly  com- 
mon among  women,  and  a  French  savant  recently  quoted  it  as  a  proof 
of  the  physical  inferiority  of  woman  to  man.     To  a  slight  extent  flat- 
foot  may  exist  in  all  women,  as  the  position  of  the  lower  limbs  after 
puberty  would  seem  to  produce  it,  and  it  may  be  Nature's  plan  to  pro- 
mote what  anthropologists  call  marriage  by  capture  ;  but  to  a  large 
extent,  and  in  its  worst  forms,  flat-foot  is  the  result  of  civilization. 
Indeed,  both  the  highly  arched  instep  and  the  everted  foot  are  peculiar 
to  civilized  peoples,  and  are  absent  from  the  lower  races,  especially 
those  who  go  barefoot,  and  both  conditions  owe  their  existence  to  the 
wasting  of  the  muscles  which  flex  the  toes  and  foot  by  the  constant 
use  of  tight-fitting  shoes.     In  India,  where  the  native  workman  makes 
use  of  his  toes  with  almost  the  same  facility  as  his  fingers,  the  instep 
is  obliterated  by  the  fleshy  bellies  of  the  abductor  of  the  great  toe 
and  the  short  flexor  of  the  toes,  which  stretch  across  the  arch  from 
their  attachment  to  the  heel-bone.     The  wasting  of  these  muscles  is 
of  little  importance  to  us  who  have  no  need  to  use  our  toes  in  detail ; 
but  it  is  far  otherwise  with  the  deep  flexors  of  the  foot  and  toes  which 
are  attached  to  the  leg-bones,  and  whose  tendons  pass  under  the  ankle- 
joint  and  arch  of  the  foot  and  form  their  chief  support.     It  is,  indeed, 
from  the  wasting  or  inaction  of  the  deep  flexor  muscles,  coupled  with 
the  turning  out  of  the  toes  which  fashion  has  imposed  upon  us,  that 
the  ankle  and  arch  of  the  foot  give  way  under  the  changed  position 


BODILY  DEFORMITIES  IN   GIRLHOOD. 


325 


of  the  limbs  in  girls  at  puberty,  which  I  have  described  ;  and  what  is 
remarkable,  and  not  easily  explained,  the  deformity  generally  occurs 
only  in  one  foot,  or  is  greater  in  one  than  in  the  other.  In  this  way, 
however,  the  legs  become  of  unequal  length,  and  we  have  obliquity  of 


The  diagram  shows  the  relation  of  the  brim  of  the  pelvis  in  the  child,  at  puberty,  and  in  the  adult 
female,  from  moasurements  of  pelves  in  the  museum  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons.  The 
want  of  parallelism  of  the  two  inner  pelvic  curves  shows  that  in  the  change  from  the  infantile 
to  the  female  type  evolution  takes  place  chiefly  behind,  and  that  the  legs  must  be  rotated  for- 
ward and  inward.  The  dimensions  are— Child  :  breadth,  83  mm.;  length,  73;  index,  114. 
Young  female :  breadth,  112  mm. ;  length,  85  ;  index,  132.  Adult  female :  breadth,  143  mm. ; 
length,  108  ;  index,  132.  The  indices  of  the  young  female  and  the  adult  are  the  same,  but  the 
bones  of  the  former  are  not  united  together. 

the  pelvis,  and  consequently  lateral  curvature  of  the  spine  to  correct 
the  balance  of  the  body,  and  bring  the  head  and  shoulders  into  the 
line  of  the  center  of  gravity.  Flat-foot  also  produces,  or  exaggerates, 
the  natural  disposition  to  knock-knee  in  girls,  which,  in  its  turn,  adds 
to  the  inequality  in  the  length  of  the  two  legs.  Some  observations 
recently  made  in  America  show  that  even  in  adults  of  both  sexes  the 
two  legs  are  rarely  of  equal  length,  and  there  must  be,  therefore, 
slight  lateral  curvature  in  all  persons,  and  it  is  probable  that  these 
natural  curves  become  exaggerated,  as  in  the  development  of  round 
shoulder  the  large  antero-posterior  curves  of  the  spine  are  exaggerated. 
It  is  to  the  wasting  or  non-development  of  the  fleshy  parts  of  the  deep 
flexors  of  the  toes  or  foot  that  Europeans  owe  the  small  ankle  and  the 
comparatively  large  calf  of  which  they  are  so  proud  as  distinguishing 
them  from  the  lower  races.  It  is  a  distinction,  however,  which  is  more 
than  counterbalanced  by  the  ugliness  and  inconvenience  of  flat-foot,  to 
which  it  frequently  gives  rise.  The  ingenuity  of  an  Edison  could  not 
devise  a  machine  so  favorable  to  the  production  of  flat-foot  as  the  tight- 
fitting,  high-heeled,  long-topped  boot  at  present  worn  by  girls.  Not  only 
does  the  rigidity  of  the  front  part  cramp  the  action  of  the  muscles,  but 
the  high  heels  place  the  foot  at  such  an  angle  with  the  leg  that  the 
tendons  are  of  least  use  in  supporting  the  ankle-joint,  and  the  long 
tops  hamper  the  development  of  the  muscles  in  the  remainder  of  their 
course.  The  high  heels,  moreover,  push  the  center  of  gravity  forward 
on  the  arch  of  the  foot,  and  by  propping  up  the  heel  gives  greater  lev- 


326  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

erage,  and  a  greater  space  for  the  arch  to  fall  when  once  it  gives  way. 
In  the  majority  of  cases  the  mischief  would  stop  when  the  arch  reached 
the  level  of  the  natural  heel,  but  the  heels  of  boots  favor  a  still  greater 
fall,  which  ends  in  e version  of  the  foot.  It  is  difficult  to  understand 
how  women  submit  to  the  discomfort  of  wearing  high-heeled  boots,  or 
can  be  so  cruel  as  to  let  their  daughters  wear  them.  It  is  true  they 
give  a  fictitious  height  to  the  body,  and  disguise  the  slighter  forms  of 
flat-foot,  but  on  the  other  hand  they  exaggerate  the  severer  forms,  and 
the  boots  are  entirely  wanting  in  proportion.  Zeising's  law  of  propor- 
tion requires  that  the  sole  and  the  heel  should  have  the  relative  length 
of  three  to  two,  like  that  of  the  normal  foot. 

In  treating  the  deformities  of  the  spine  and  legs  incident  to  healthy 
girls,  it  is  obvious  that  attention  must  be  directed,  in  the  first  instance, 
to  correcting  the  def oi'med  knees  and  feet.  The  very  first  signs  of  the 
giving  way  of  the  arch  of  the  foot,  which  is  easily  detected  by  exami- 
nation, by  growing  pains,  and  especially  a  change  of  gait,  should  be 
met  by  the  wearing  of  flat-soled,  well-fitting  boots,  with  India-rubber 
or  felt  pads  inside  to  support  the  arch,  and  special  exercises  favorable 
to  the  development  of  the  deep  flexor  muscles.  At  puberty,  and  for 
two  or  three  years  before,  the  growth  is  very  vigorous,  and  in  both 
stature  and  bulk  girls  shoot  ahead  of  boys  of  the  same  age,  the  period 
of  rapid  growth  of  boys  coming  later.  From  ten  to  fourteen  years  the 
stature  of  girls  increases  at  a  uniform  rate  of  two  inches  per  year,  ex- 
cept at  thirteen,  when  it  is  two  inches  and  a  half  ;  but  the  weight  in- 
creases at  a  much  greater  rate.  At  ten  years  girls  add  four  pounds, 
at  eleven  six  pounds,  at  twelve  ten  pounds,  at  thirteen  twelve  pounds, 
and  at  fourteen  and  fifteen  eight  pounds  to  their  weight,  and  this  sud- 
den addition  to  the  weight  tells  rapidly  on  ankles,  feet,  and  knees, 
placed  at  a  disadvantage  by  concurrent  change  in  the  position  of  the 
lower  limbs  by  the  evolution  of  the  pelvis  and  the  cramping  of  the 
muscles  by  tight  boots.  The  arch  of  the  foot  often  breaks  down  in 
the  course  of  a  few  weeks,  without  warning  or  apparent  cause,  and  in 
girls  in  perfect  health,  and  especially  those  of  an  indolent  habit.  Fort- 
unately, the  remedy  is  as  easy  and  complete,  if  applied  promptly  at 
the  beginning  and  adhered  to  persistently,  as  it  is  difficult  and  unsatis- 
factory if  put  off  till  the  deformity  is  firmly  established.  Support  to 
the  arch  of  the  foot  prevents  the  formation  of  knock-knee  and  lateral 
curvature  of  the  spine.  When  it  fails  to  do  so,  the  knock-knee  can  be 
corrected  by  the  temporary  application  of  long  splints,  especially  in 
bed  at  nights  ;  but  no  apparatus  is  necessary  for  the  curvature  of  the 
spine  in  its  earlier  stages,  as  it  will  disappear  on  restoring  the  lateral 
balance  of  the  body,  and  all  treatment  will  be  useless  until  this  is  done. 
Much  walking  or  standing  should  be  avoided,  and  short  but  vigorous 
gymnastic  exercises  substituted,  and  when  possible  the  recumbent  po- 
sition assumed.  Sitting  on  the  ground  or  on  a  sofa,  in  the  cross- 
legged,  Oriental  position,  serves  to  expand  the  pelvis,  evert  the  knees 


BODILY  DEFORMITIES  IN  GIRLHOOD.  327 

and  invert  the  ankles,  and  counteract  all  the  deformities  ;  while  sitting 
on  chairs  with  the  lec-s  crossed  one  over  the  other  directly  favors  them. 
It  is  probable  that  most  children  spend  too  much  of  their  time  on  their 
feet,  and  that  their  power  of  walking  is  very  much  overrated.  Run- 
ning is  the  natural  gait  of  all  young  animals,  and  children  always  run 
if  left  to  play  by  themselves.  The  dire  effect  of  standing  and  walking 
in  producing  flat-foot  in  children  is  shown  by  the  following  statistics, 
taken  from  my  paper  on  "  Flat-foot,"  in  the  St.  George's  Hospital  Re- 
ports (1872-74) :  Of  10,000  children,  between  the  ages  of  eight  and 
thirteen  years,  which  were  examined,  about  one  third  were  school- 
children living  in  country  towns  and  agricultural  districts,  another 
third  were  school-children  living  in  manufacturing  towns,  and  the  re- 
mainder were  factory-children.  Among  the  first,  17'1  cases  per  1,000  of 
flat-foot  occurred  ;  among  the  second,  30'7  cases  per  1,000  ;  and  among 
the  third— i.  e.,  the  factory  children,  who  were  employed  five  hours 
daily  standing,  walking,  and  carrying  weights — 79  cases  per  1,000  of 
flat-feet  were  found.  Among  the  latter  the  deformity  was  found  to 
increase  rapidly  with  age — i.  e.,  with  the  longer  period  of  employment 
in  factories.     Thus  : 

Of  the  age  of  8  years,  15'1  per  1,000  had  flat-foot. 

"  9      "      45-6  "  " 

10      "      51-2  "  " 

u  n      «    104-2  "  " 

"  12      "    132-4  "  " 

At  the  period  when  these  observations  were  made  (1873)  children  were 
allowed  to  commence  work  in  factories  at  the  age  of  eight  years,  in- 
stead of  ten  as  now,  and  the  low  rate  of  15*1  per  1,000  represents  the 
normal  rate  before  the  strain  of  labor  has  begun  to  tell  on  the  chil- 
dren's feet. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  children  are  made  to  stand  and  walk 
far  too  much  both  at  home  and  at  school.  Standing  at  lessons,  parade- 
exercise,  and  much  of  the  military  drill  in  schools  are  injurious  to  both 
boys  and  girls,  and  especially  to  the  latter.  Instead  of  listless  stand- 
ing about,  or  taking  long  walks  with  adults,  children  should  be  per- 
mitted and  encouraged  to  play  lively  games,  which  they  will  generally 
do  even  if  left  to  themselves,  to  dance,  and  to  perform  short  but  spir- 
ited gymnastic  exercises  with  apparatus.  Exercises  which  develop  the 
muscles  of  the  feet  and  ankles,  such  as  hopping  and  skipping,  are  es- 
pecially necessary  for  girls  ;  and  still  better  than  these  are  the  admi- 
rable exercises  preparatory  to  stage-dancing  taught  at  the  National 
Training-School  for  Dancing.*  These  exercises  are  directed  to  the 
development  of  the  muscles  and  the  free  action  of  the  joints  of  the 
lower  limbs,  and  are  far  preferable  to  the  languid  movements  of  or- 
dinary dancing.     For  the  development  of  the  muscles  of  the  trunk  and 

*  Under  the  direction  of  Madame  Katti  Lanner. 


328  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

arms  the  excellent  system  of  gymnastics  for  girls  recently  established 
by  a  lady  *  in  various  parts  of  London,  with  the  approval,  after  care- 
ful and  repeated  inspection  by  myself,  of  Dr.  Richardson,  Mrs.  Gar- 
rett Anderson,  and  others,  is  all  that  can  be  desired.  The  Swedish 
and  other  exercises  effected  without  apparatus  are  of  little  use,  as  idle 
and  indolent  girls  who  stand  most  in  need  of  physical  training  easily 
comply  with  the  form,  but  evade  the  spirit  and  hearty  compliance 
which  such  systems  demand.  These  systems  lack  motive  to  complete 
an  exercise,  while  simple  apparatus,  such  as  balls,  dumb-bells,  and  bars, 
compel  it  by  keeping  the  end  in  view,  and  giving  an  impetus  to  its 
performance.  With  half  the  care  which  mothers  spend  on  dressing 
and  decking-out  their  children,  often  in  unsuitable  clothing,  they 
might,  with  a  little  help  from  their  medical  advisers,  prevent  most  of 
the  deformities  which  mar  the  physical  beauty,  comfort,  and  health  of 
their  offspring  ;  and  no  time  seems  more  appropriate  than  the  present 
for  directing  the  attention  of  medical  practitioners,  and  through  them 
of  parents,  to  the  means  of  attaining  these  objects,  as  the  short  walking- 
dresses  worn  by  women  and  girls  at  the  present  time  reveal  to  all  of 
us  to  what  a  great,  indeed  unexpected,  extent  the  ugly  deformities  of 
the  feet  and  ankles  to  which  I  have  referred  exist,  especially  among 
the  well-to-do  and  higher  classes. — Lancet. 


-$-»«- 


TIME-KEEPING   IN   LONDON. 

By  EDMUND  A.  ENGLER, 

"WASHINGTON    rNIVERSITY,    ST.    LOUIS,    MISSOURI. 
II. 

THE  distribution  of  the  Greenwich  signals  from  the  General  Post- 
Office  in  London  is  effected  by  means  of  the  Chronopher  or  Time- 
carrier,!  shown  in  perspective  in  Fig.  6,  and  in  front  elevation  in  Fig. 
1.%  To  this  instrument  the  hourly  signal  from  the  observatory  is  sent 
by  means  of  a  special  under-ground  wire.  Branching  out  from  it  are 
four  groups  of  wires  :  1.  Metropolitan,  running  to  points  in  London 
only.  2.  Provincial  Short,  to  points  not  more  than  fifty  miles  from 
London,  as  Brighton,  etc.  3.  Provincial  Medium,  to  points  farther 
away,  as  Hull,  etc.  4.  Provincial  Long,  to  extreme  points,  as  Edin- 
burgh, Belfast,  etc.  #    The  ends  of  each  of  the  four  groups  are  brought 

*  Miss  M.  A.  Chreiman,  69  Petherton  Road,  N. 

f  There  are  actually  two  of  these  ;  the  one  shown  in  the  figure  is  the  new  and  larger  one. 

\  For  a  description  of  the  chronopher,  from  which  the  above  is  condensed,  and  for 
drawings  from  which  Figs.  7,  8,  and  9  have  been  made,  the  writer  is  indebted  to  Will- 
iam H.  Preece,  Esq.,  Superintendent  of  Telegraphs,  London. 

*  The  Greenwich  signals  are  sent  into  Ireland  only  for  purposes  of  comparison  ;  Dub- 
lin time  is  used  throughout  the  island. 


TIME-KEEPING  IN  LONDON. 


329 


together,  and  each  group  has  a  separate  relay,  in  order  that  the  shorter 
may  not  unduly  deprive  the  longer  lines  of  their  share  of  the  current. 
The  four  relays  are  all  worked  by  the  hourly  signal  from  Greenwich, 
and  therefore  act  simultaneously.  The  lines  of  the  Metropolitan  group 
are  used  only  for  time  purposes,  and  are  therefore  always  connected 
with  their  relay,  and  distribute  the  signals  hourly.  But  the  lines  of 
the  other  groups  are  in  use  generally  for  ordinary  telegraphic  pur- 
poses, and  distribute  time-signals  only  at  ten  and  one  o'clock.  At  these 
hours,  therefore,  the  wires  must  be  switched  off  from  their  ordinary 
duty,  and  placed  in  communication  with  their  respective  relays  to  be 


33° 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


ready  to  receive  the  time-signals.  The  electrical  working  of  the  appa- 
ratus which  accomplishes  this  will  be  understood  by  reference  to  Fig. 
8.*     Under  normal  conditions,  the  current  from  the  observatory  passes 


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directly  through  the  chronopher,  and  out  at  the  galvanometer  G',  to 
the  tower-clock  at  the  Houses  of  Parliament,  "Westminster.  This  clock 
has  a  gravity  escapement,  and  a  metallic  compensating  pendulum, 
very  similar  to  the  pendulum  of  the  Sidereal  Standard,  already  de- 
scribed, and  runs  with  a  rate  of  less  than  one  second  per  week.     The 

*  The  small  figures  1,  2,  3,  4,  to  the  right  of  Fig.  8  and  to  the  left  of  Fig.  9,  show  the 
connection  between  the  wires. 


TIME-KEEPING  IN  LONDON. 


331 


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current  from  Greenwich  in  no  way  controls  the  Westminster  clock, 
hut  is  simply  used  for  rating  the  clock  hy  comparison  ;  when  change 
of  rate  is  necessary,  weights  are  added  or  removed  at  the  pendulum. 
Each  of  the  line  wires  is  in  permanent  connection  with  one  of  a  set 


332  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

of  jointed  vertical  bars  (B,  B',  B"),  which,  except  at  the  times  for  the 
signal,  are  kept  in  contact  by  springs  with  cocks  in  the  circuit  of  the 
wire  ;  but  at  the  times  for  the  signal  a  long  metallic  bar  (C)  acting  as 
a  cam  (better  shown  in  Fig.  7,  in  front  of  the  vertical  bars),  is  made 
by  clock-work  to  disconnect  all  these  bars  from  their  instruments.  The 
bar  (C)  is  divided  into  three  parts,  corresponding  to  the  long,  medium, 
and  short  provincial  lines,  insulated  from  each  other,  and  connected 
respectively  with  the  bars  of  the  relays  (V,  V,  V")  through  the  galva- 
nometers (g,  g',  g",  Fig.  8).  The  left  or  rest  contacts  of  these  relays 
are  in  connection  with  the  zinc  poles  of  separate  batteries,  whose  cop- 
per poles  are  grounded,  so  that,  when  the  bars  of  these  relays  are  put 
in  connection  with  the  line  wires,  a  zinc  or  "  preliminary  "  current  is 
ready  to  be  sent  out  ;  this  current  prevents  the  distant  relays  from 
being  actuated  by  contacts  or  accidental  currents,  and  serves  as  a 
warning  signal.  The  right-hand  contacts  of  the  relays  are  connected 
respectively  with  the  copper  poles  of  separate  batteries  whose  zinc  poles 
are  grounded,  so  that,  when  the  bars  are  moved  over  to  the  right  (which 
is  done  by  the  incoming  Greenwich  current),  the  outgoing  current  is 
reversed,  and  this  constitutes  the  signal.  The  relay  V"  is  for  dis- 
tributing the  signals  only  to  points  in  the  metropolis,  and,  as  the  wires 
on  these  lines  are  under  ground,  no  "  preliminary  "  current  is  necessary. 
'  The  mechanical  operation  of  the  apparatus  is  as  follows  :  On  the 
clock  (R,  Fig.  9)  there  is  an  ebonite  wheel  ( W)  in  which  are  two  notches 
(N,  N')  corresponding  to  10  A.  M.  and  1  p.  m.  Shortly  before  10  a.  m. 
the  pin  (P)  on  one  arm  of  the  forked  lever  (L)  falls  into  the  notch  (N), 
allowing  the  end  (Q)  of  the  other  arm  to  rest  on  the  ebonite  hour- 
wheel  (T).  About  two  minutes  before  the  hour,  the  end  (Q)  comes 
against  the  contact  (S),  and  completes  the  circuit  of  the  local  bat- 
tery (IT,  Fig.  8)  through  the  starting  magnet  (M,  Fig.  9)  and  sets  the 
clock-train  (shown  in  Fig.  7)  in  motion,  pressing  the  cam  (C)  against  the 
vertical  bars,  disconnecting  them  from  their  instruments,  and  connect- 
ing them  respectively,  in  groups  as  already  shown,  with  the  relays 
(V,  V,  V"),  in  readiness  to  send  a  "  preliminary  "  current  to  the  line 
wires.  At  ten  seconds  to  the  hour  an  insulated  pin  (i,  Fig.  9)  on  the 
wheel  (T)  lifts  the  lower  arm  of  the  forked  lever  (F),so  that  its  upper 
arm  comes  in  contact  with  a  small  cam  on  the  arbor  of  the  escape- 
wheel  (K).  This  contact  closes  the  circuit  of  the  battery  (U)  through 
the  coils  of  the  two  relays  (Z,  Z').  The  relay  (Z)  puts  on  the  earth  con- 
nection at  (E),  for  the  four  relays  (V,  V,'  V",  V"),  so  that  the  current 
from  Greenwich  may  be  received  and  divided  between  them,  while 
the  relay  (Z')  disconnects  the  Westminster  clock-wire  and  connects  it 
with  the  metropolitan  lines  to  receive  the  signal  from  the  relay  (V"). 
The  relays  (V,  V,  V",  V")  have  a  resistance  of  5,000  ohms  to  allow 
of  the  splitting  of  the  current.  At  precisely  ten  o'clock  the  Green- 
wich signal  reverses  the  current  on  the  lines,  and  thus  gives  the  exact 
time.     At  ten  seconds  past  the  hour  the  contact  between  H  and  K  is 


TIME-KEEPING  IN  LONDON 


333 


broken,  the  relay-bars  go  back  to  their  normal  position,  the  train- 
work  moves  away  the  cam  (C),  and  restores  the  vertical  bars  to  con- 
nection with  their  instruments. 

The  apparatus  which  effects  the  shunting  at  one  o'clock  is  somewhat 
different  in  construction.    The  pin  (P,  Fig.  9)  falls  into  the  notch  (N'), 


_4_„ 

Fig.  9.— Diageam  showing  Klecteic  Connections  of  Clock  ttitii  Cheokophee. 


a  pin  (p)  on  the  wheel  (W)  coming  against  the  arm  (I)  of  the  forked 
lever  (Y)  raises  the  flexible  arm  (G)  against  the  upper  contact  (D),  so 
that  the  circuit  of  the  local  battery  (U)  is  closed  through  the  starting 
magnet  (M),  which  operates  the  one  o'clock  train- work. 

Wires  which  receive  both  the  ten  and  one  o'clock  signals  pass 
through  both  switching  arrangements. 

For  the  hourly  currents  on  metropolitan  lines  the  relay  (V")  serves, 
by  closing  the  circuit  of  the  battery  (U)  at  the  contact  (K),  the  rest 
of  the  apparatus  remaining  inoperative. 


334  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

The  actual  interval  during  which  the  Greenwich  as  well  as  the  pro- 
vincial wires  on  which  the  time-signal  is  distributed  are  kept  in  circuit 
being  only  twenty  seconds,  the  chance  of  interruption  from  contact 
currents  is  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

The  batteries  in  use  are  large  Leclanche  cells,  and  the  power  is 
distributed  as  follows  : 

Copper  or  "  time  "      Zinc  or  "  preliminary  " 
battery.  battery. 

Long  lines 80  cells.  60  cells. 

Medium  lines 60     "  45     " 

Short  lines 40     "  30     " 

Metropolitan  lines 40     "  . .     " 

The  Greenwich  signal,  thus  distributed  by  the  chronopher,  goes  to 
all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  affects  receiving  instruments  provided 
for  the  purpose.  These  are  of  various  kinds  ;  ordinary  telegraphic 
sounders,  electric  bells,  and  galvanometers  have  been  used  with  suc- 
cess to  note  the  arrival  of  the  signal.  The  current  has  also  been  made 
to  drop  time-balls  on  the  tops  of  buildings,  to  expose  a  model  time- 
ball  to  view,  and  to  fire  guns. 

To  test  the  accuracy  of  the  signals,  experiment  has  been  made  by 
returning  a  wire  to  Greenwich  from  the  chronopher,  and  comparing 
the  signal  received  on  this  wire  with  the  signal  sent  from  the  observ- 
atory ;  no  difference  could  be  perceived  between  the  indications  of 
two  galvanometers  placed  side  hy  side  showing  the  passage  of  both 
currents.  The  signals  were  thus  shown  to  be  entirely  reliable.  But 
it  does  not  seem  likely  that  the  chronopher  will  be  introduced  else- 
where, because  simpler  means  have  been  devised  for  splitting  up  the 
current  and  distributing  the  signals. 

The  whole  system  is  under  the  control  of  the  Post-Office  Depart- 
ment. They  own  the  wires — which,  except  in  London,  are  the  ordi- 
nary telegraph-wires — and  therefore  contract  to  keep  them  in  order, 
to  clear  them  each  day  at  the  signal-times,  and  to  deliver  at  these  times 
the  Greenwich  signal.  Maintenance  of  lines  and  apparatus  not  the 
property  of  the  department  is  undertaken  by  the  department  for  any 
period  not  less  than  one  year  at  specified  rates.  A  simple  form  of 
agreement  has  been  prepared,  which  every  renter  is  required  to  sign. 
This  agreement,  as  a  rule,  is  for  not  less  than  three  years,  and  is  ter- 
minable at  three  months'  notice  given  previous  to  the  end  of  the  fixed 
term,  or,  failing  such  notice,  on  payment  of  such  sum  as  the  depart- 
ment may  accept  instead.  But  where  the  expense  of  construction  is 
considerable,  the  term  must  not  be  less  than  from  five  to  seven  years, 
the  latter  period  being  stipulated  when  the  proposed  line  is  in  an  out- 
lying district  and  would  be  specially  provided  for  a  single  renter,  and 
when  it  is  not  probable  that  there  would  be  other  renters. 

The  annual  charges  for  the  use  of  wires  and  apparatus  are  as  fol- 
lows : 


TIME-KEEPING  IN  LONDON.  33S 

From  London  to  the  country  :  *  For  the  10  a.  m.  signal,  £12  to 
£17  =  $60  to  $85.  For  the  1  p.  m.  signal,  £27  to  £32  =  $135  to  $160. 
In  London  :  For  the  hourly  signal  within  a  radius  of  two  miles  from 
the  General  Post-Office,  £15  =  $75.  But  if  the  person  desiring  the 
signal  is  off  the  line  of  the  telegraph,  he  must  pay,  besides  a  stipulated 
rental,  an  additional  sum  for  the  use  of  the  wire  which  the  department 
is  compelled  to  put  up  specially  for  him.  The  rental  is  in  all  cases 
payable  yearly  in  advance. 

In  1880  there  were  one  hundred  subscribers  to  the  system,  of  whom 
nineteen  were  in  London,  and  eighty-one  scattered  through  England, 
with  a  few  in  Scotland  and  Ireland. 

Besides  this  general  automatic  distribution  of  tbe  time-signals,  a 
considerable  distribution  of  the  10  A.  m.  signal  goes  on  by  hand.  At 
that  instant  the  chronopher  makes  a  sound  which  an  operator  sits 
ready  to  catch  by  ear.  Upon  hearing  it  he  immediately  dispatches  a 
signal  by  the  ordinary  telegraphic  instrument,  and  this  signal  is  received 
a"t  six  hundred  or  more  places,  which  again  serve  as  distributing  points 
for  more  distant  places.  These  are  usually  railway  or  post  offices  in 
towns  not  supplied  by  the  chronopher,  which  by  virtue  of  authority 
become  the  regulators  of  the  clocks  of  the  surrounding  district. 

The  wire  from  the  observatory  to  London  Bridge  carries  signals 
hourly  from  the  mean  solar  standard  to  a  clock  at  the  station  of  the 
Southeastern  Railway,  which  by  changing  connections  sends  Greenwich 
time  to  different  stations  along  the  line  as  may  be  required.  For  this 
service  the  Southeastern  Railway  gives  the  observatory  the  use  of  its 
wire  daily,  for  a  few  minutes,  at  1  p.  m.  At  this  time  the  current 
from  the  observatory  drops  the  time-ball  at  Deal,  which  was  erected 
in  1855,  to  give  time  to  the  shipping  in  the  Downs,  and  is  the  only 
official  coast  time-signal.  The  ball  in  falling  sends  a  "  return  "  signal 
to  the  observatory.  The  record  shows  that  about  once  in  two  months 
high  wind  prevents  the  raising  of  the  ball,  about  once  in  six  weeks  it 
fails  to  fall  on  account  of  some  fault  in  the  electric  connections,  and 
about  once  a  year  it  drops  out  of  time.  Under  such  circumstances  it 
is  dropped  correctly  at  2  p.  m. 

By  special  arrangement  with  the  observatory  a  few  London  jewel- 
ers receive  the  hourly  Greenwich  current  on  private  wires.  This 
they  use  for  the  correction  of  their  own  time-keepers  and  in  some 
cases  for  distribution.  Prominent  among  these  are  the  Messrs.  Barraud 
&  Lund,  of  Cornhill,  who  have  patented  a  method  for  the  synchroni- 
zation of  clocks.  Their  plan  is  put  forward  as  a  simple  and  effectual 
means  of  setting  any  number  of  ordinary  clocks  to  the  same  standard 
time.     All  attempts  to  control  clocks  have  been  set  aside  as  impracti- 

*  Difference  in  charge  for  the  same  signal  depends  on  the  length  of  wire  which  the 
department  is  compelled  to  put  up  specially  for  the  subscriber.  The  one  o'clock  signal 
is  more  expensive,  because  the  wires  are  busier  with  telegraph  duties  at  that  hour  than 
at  10  a.  m. 


336 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


cable,  and  a  system  adopted  whereby  the  clock  is  automatically  "  set 
to  time  "  every  hour,  or  at  such  intervals  as  may  be  arranged.  The 
apparatus  can  here  be  described  only  in  brief.  There  are  three  essen- 
tial parts,  the  standard  clock,  the  distributor,  and  the  synchronizer. 

The  standard  clock  is  an  astronomical  regulator  with  mercurial 
pendulum  and  dead-beat  escapement,  and  closes  an  electric  circuit  at 
the  sixtieth  second  of  each  hour.  Another  regulator,  technically  called 
"  Lobby,"  is  for  use  in  case  of  accident  to  "  Standard."  They  are  so 
connected  that  a  single  failure  of  "  Standard  "  to  send  out  a  signal  at 
the  proper  time  brings  "  Lobby  "  into  action  for  the  next  signal,  and, 
in  order  that  "  Lobby "  may  always  be  ready  for  service,  an  inten- 
tional breakdown  of  "  Standard  "  occurs  automatically  at  eight  each 
morning,  and  the  nine  o'clock  signal  is  sent  out  by  "  Lobby  "  ;  which 
of  the  two  is  in  operation  is  shown  by  indicators  connected  with  the 
clocks  (Fig.  10).*  Should  a  breakdown  occur,  the  indicator  of  "  Stand- 
ard "  would  show  missed,  and  that  of  "  Lobby  "  at  work. 


-<         LOBBY. CLOCK      > 

ISHUHTED 

K.J 

J 

\ 

Fig.  10.— Baeratjd  and  Ltjnd's  Indicatoes. 


The  error  of  the  standard  clock  is  determined  daily  by  comparison 
with  the  Greenwich  signal.  An  ordinary  dotting  chronograph  is  set 
to  the  standard  clock,  and  the  Greenwich  signal  makes  a  dot  on  the 
chronograph-dial  which  gives  at  once  the  error  of  the  standard  and 
can  be  read  off  at  leisure.  It  is  corrected  by  electric  means.  The 
pendulum  carries  a  small  permanent  magnet  which  swings  over  a  re- 
sistance-coil about  -j1^  inch  distant.  The  coil  is  connected  with  the 
commutator  in  the  test-box  (Fig.  11),  consisting  of  a  clock  commuta- 
tor with  plugs  for  "  Standard  "  and  "  Lobby,"  a  current  commutator 
with  plugs  for  "  Fast "  and  "  Slow,"  and  a  small  time-piece,  shown  at 
the  top.  The  time-piece  has  only  a  minute-hand,  and  is  made  so  as  to 
stop  itself  and  break  circuit  at  XII,  but  closes  circuit  when  running. 
The  working  is  thus  :  Suppose  "  Standard  "  is  found  to  be  slow.  Plugs 
are  inserted  for  "  Standard  "  and  "  Slow,"  and  the  hand  of  the  time- 
piece is  set  back  a  required  number  of  minutes.  It  then  runs  to  XII 
and  stops.  In  this  interval  the  action  between  the  magnet  and  the 
coil  has  exactly  corrected  the  standard  clock.     For  every  -fa  second  of 

*  Figs.  10,  11,  12,  and  13,  hare  been  reduced  from  drawings  in  "The  Railway  Engi- 
neer," London,  by  permission  of  Messrs.  Barraud  &  Lund. 


TIME-KEEPING  IN  LONDON. 


337 


error  the  hand  of  the  time-piece  must  be  set  back  five  minutes.  When 
the  setting  is  done,  no  further  attention  is  required,  all  else  being 
automatic. 

The  distributor  (shown  in  Fig.  11)  consists  of  twelve  contact- 
springs,  each  connected  with  a  line  of  wire  running  through  a  district 
of  London,  and  twelve  contact-screws,  each  connected  with  a  battery. 


^M 


3§£] 


Fig.  11.— Test-Box. 


The  springs  converging  to  the  center  press  up  against  a  small  plate, 
one  inch  in  diameter,  which  is  controlled  by  an  electro-magnet  in  the 
circuit  of  the  current  which  the  standard  clock  sends  out  hourly. 
When  the  signal  comes,  the  plate  is  pulled  down  and  presses  every 


vol.  xxii. — 22 


333 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


spring  against  its  contact-screw,  and  the  signal  goes  out  over  each  of 
the  lines. 

The  synchronizer  is  the  receiver  of  the  signal,  and  consists  essen- 
tially of  an  electro-magnet,  in  the  circuit  of  one  or  other  of  the  lines 
from  the  distributor,  with  armature  carrying  two  counterpoised  levers 


Fig.  12.— The  Synchronizer. 


TIME-KEEPING  IN  LONDON. 


339 


each  provided  with  a  projecting  pin.  When  the  signal  arrives,  the 
electro-magnet  attracts  its  armature,  and  the  two  pins  are  brought 
close  together.  The  mechanical  operation  will  be  understood  by  ref- 
erence to  Fig.  12,  where  a  side  elevation,  a  plan,  and  a  front  elevation 
are  shown.  This  apparatus  is  fastened  to  ordinary  clocks  just  back  of 
the  dial-plate  (Fig.  13).  A  curved  slot  is  cut  through  the  dial  for  a 
short  space  on  each  side  of  XII,  and  through  this  the  pins  project. 
When,  at  the  end  of  the  hour,  the  signal  arrives,  the  two  pins  are 
pushed  together  and  bring  the  minute-hand  exactly  to  XII.  The  posi- 
tion of  the  pins  before  and  just  after  the  operation  is  shown  in  Fig. 
14.  Evidently  the  clock  must  not  be  in  error  more  than  two  minutes 
or  so  ;  but,  as  the  hand  is  set  every  hour,  any  ordinary  clock  can  be 
kept  right  by  this  device. 


Pig.  13.— Face  of  Clock  with  Synchkonizer 
attached. 


Fig.  14. 


Other  ingenious  arrangements  have  been  added  to  guard  against 
danger,  always  present  to  long  lines  of  wire,  and  for  testing  the 
condition  of  the  lines,  but  a  description  of  them  can  not  here  be 
given. 

The  advantages  claimed  for  the  system  are  : 

1.  That  any  number  of  clocks  of  any  varying  sizes  can  be  syn- 
chronized to  any  agreed  standard  time-keeper. 

2.  That  the  mechanism  is,  when  not  in  momentary  use,  entirely 
detached  from  the  works  of  the  clock. 

3.  That  it  can  be  applied  to  existing  clocks. 

4.  That  any  failure  in  the  transmission  of  the  time-current  leaves 
the  clock  going  in  the  ordinary  way,  to  be  "set  to  time  "  by  the  next 
completed  current. 

5.  That  the  clocks  are  kept  to  time  whether  having  otherwise 
either  a  gaining  or  losing  rate,  even  if  such  rate  amounts  to  many 
minutes  a  day. 


34° 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


In  London  the  system  has  been  in  successful  operation  for  about 
five  years,  and  has  been  used  over  a  wire  four  hundred  miles  long. 
The  subscribers  number  about  five  hundred,  among  them  many  rail- 
roads and  public  institutions. 

In  connection  with  the  synchronized  clocks,  Messrs.  Barraud  and 
Lund  have  also  established  time-bells  and  flashing-signals,  which  afford 


Fig.  15  —  Barraud  and  Lund's  Time-Bell. 


time-signals  both  to  the  ear  and  eye.  These  are  shown  in  Figs.  15  and 
16.  The  bell  is  an  ordinary  electric  bell,  and  is  rung  by  the  regulat- 
ing clock,  which  closes  the  circuit  at  the  instant  the  signal  is  desired. 
The  flashing-signal  consists  of  a  red  vertical  disk  on  a  vertical  axis, 
which  normally  shows  only  its  edge,  but  is  made  to  revolve  once  on 
its  axis  in  four  sudden  jumps,  by  simple  mechanism  in  connection  with 
electro-magnets,  when  the  regulator,  by  closing  the  circuit,  sends  the 
current.  The  appearance  is  that  of  two  flashes  of  red  as  the  disk 
revolves. 

In  many  places  where  noise  prevents  hearing  a  bell,  the  flashing- 
signal  becomes  a  necessity.      It  is  in  use  at  the  London  Stock  Ex- 


A  MASTODON  IN  AN   OLD   BEAVER-MEADOW.    341 


change,   and    serves   to   indi 
cate     the     exact     instant    of 
noon. 

The  method  of  synchroniz- 
ing clocks  is  becoming  rapidly 
popular  throughout  the  world, 
and  has  been  patented  in  most 
civilized  countries.  It  is  al- 
ready in  use  in  Australia  and 
South  America,  and  in  some 
of  the  countries  on  the  Conti- 
nent of  Europe.  In  this  coun- 
try, at  New  Haven,  Connecti- 
cut, a  "  Standard  Time  Com- 
pany "  Las  been  formed,  who 
have  bought  the  patent  for 
the  whole  of  the  American 
Continent,  and  are  now  en- 
gaged in  manufacturing  syn- 
chronizers. An  effort  will  be 
made  by  them  to  bring  about 
a  concerted  system  of  time- 
signaling  throughout  the  coun- 
try. Local  affiliated  compa- 
nies will  be  formed,  and  there 
is  little  doubt  that  the  great 
simplicity  and  practical  suc- 
cess of  the  method,  combined 
with  its  cheapness,  will  se- 
cure its  extensive  adoption 
in  all  the  large  cities  of  the 
country. 


•♦»» 


A  MASTODON  IN  AN  OLD   BEATER-MEADOW.* 


By  SAMUEL  LOCKWOOD,  Ph.  D. 

ON  the  7th  of  June,  1882,  a  farmer,  while  cutting  a  drain  through 
a  meadow  on  his  farm  at  Freehold,  New  Jersey,  observing  the 
appearance  of  bones,  stopped  the  workmen,  and  sent  for  me  to  inspect 
the  place.     This  I  did  the  next  morning.     Approaching  the  spot,  I 

*  "  On  a  Mastodon  Americanits  (Cuvier),  found  in  a  Beaver-Meadow  at  Freehold,  New 
Jersey,  by  Samuel  Lockwood."  Read  at  the  Montreal  meeting  of  the  American  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  August,  1882. 


342  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

found  it  was  a  deep  depression  in  the  farm,  and  the  site  suggested  the 
possibility  of  an  ancient  beaver-dam.  But  in  that  case  a  stream  should 
be  seen  flowing  through  the  middle.  There  was  none  there.  I  learned 
afterward  that  formerly  there  was  just  such  a  stream,  but  that  in  order 
to  utilize  the  meadow  it  had  been  diverted  to  one  side  of  the  valley  or 
depression,  and  the  channel  thus  left  had  been  filled  up  by  taking  from 
the  banks  or  higher  slopes  ;  after  this  it  was  planted  with  corn.  I 
found  a  drain  about  eighteen  inches  wide  in  progress  of  construction 
across  this  meadow.  The  ditcher  had  literally  cut  through  a  buried 
monster  precisely  at  a  point  which  took  away  a  part  of  the  bases  of 
the  tusks  and  some  portion  of  the  face  of  the  animal.  It  was  indeed 
a  veritable  mastodon.  Digging  under  my  direction  was  at  once  re- 
sumed. Both  tusks  were  soon  fully  exposed,  and  the  left  one  was 
successfully  uncovered  and  removed  to  the  side  of  the  drain.  Before 
removal  I  took  exact  measurements,  and  fortunate  it  was  that  I  did, 
for  in  a  very  few  minutes  after  being  put  on  the  dry  ground  it  sepa- 
rated or  unfolded,  like  the  concentric  layers  of  an  onion,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  more  began  crumbling  into  powder.  The  concentric  rings 
thus  separated  were  uniformly  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick,  so  that  these 
unfoldings  gave  no  hint  of  the  animal's  age,  for  the  ivory  was  so  fine 
and  compact  that  no  smaller  divisions  were  discernible.  This  splen- 
did ivory  was  in  consistency  like  new  white  cheese,  and  the  surfaces 
of  separation  gave  the  precise  feeling  to  the  fingers  as  when  they  are 
passed  over  a  freshly  cut  piece  of  soft  cheese.  The  left  tusk  was 
removed  almost  entire  ;  the  right  tusk  was  nearly  all  removed,  and 
fragments  of  both  were  secured,  though  very  soft  and  unsatisfactory, 
for  upon  drying  even  these  selected  fragments  crumbled  to  powder. 

Four  molars  were  obtained,  which  were  found  in  exact  relative  po- 
sition to  the  tusks.  So  soft  were  the  bones  that  all  further  digging 
only  provoked  sighs  of  disappointment.  Of  course,  the  position  of 
the  two  tusks  indicated  that  of  the  skull.  We  tried  carefully  to 
uncover  the  head  so  as  to  save  it,  but  in  vain.  The  spade  took  up  a 
spit  of  dark  substance  which  proved  to  be  the  arched  forehead  of  the 
brute,  which  also  crumbled  away  after  a  short  time.  But  a  wonderful 
story  that  short  time  told.  This  high-vaulted  forehead  might  please 
some  amateur  phrenologist,  but  as  a  cerebral  indicator  of  intellect  it 
was  an  immense  fraud.  It  was  the  genuine  elephant  forehead,  "  only 
more  so."  On  cleaning  it,  by  gently  pulling  out  certain  tufts  of  fine 
roots  and  vegetable  fiber,  this  great  piece  of  bone  was  literally  honey- 
combed with  air-cells,  each  one  big  enough  to  hold  a  hickory-nut. 
These  were  the  extraordinarily  developed  frontal  sinuses. 

But  a  word  about  the  tusks.  The  two  were  in  the  normal  posi- 
tion, as  of  the  animal  lying  on  its  right  side,  with  the  back  toward 
the  ancient  stream.  The  ditcher  had  nearly  destroyed  one  of  the  tusks 
by  attempting  to  get  it  out  before  my  arrival.  The  upper  one,  that 
is,  the  left  tusk,  had  lost  all  that  portion  which  had  been  cut  through 


A   MASTODON  IN  AN   OLD   BEAVER-MEADOW.    343 

by  the  ditching.  There  was  in  the  side  of  the  ditch  enough  visible 
before  the  uncovering  to  show  that  the  destruction  had  taken  away- 
much  of  the  base,  being  nearly  all  that  part  of  the  tusk  containing 
the  pulp-cavity.  The  surface  of  the  soil  was  carefully  removed, 
and  measurements  taken.  The  part  uncovered  was  four  feet  four 
inches  long.  Between  this  and  the  place  of  insertion  in  the  skull  was 
about  eighteen  inches — and  for  insertion  two  feet  should  be  allowed 
— when  the  entire  length  of  each  tusk  would  be  seven  feet  eight 
inches,  and  the  weight  of  the  ivory  in  each  hardly  less  than  two  hun- 
dred pounds.     The  tusks  had  a  slight  upward  curve. 

The  digging  was  continued  next  day,  the  whole  area  being  exam- 
ined. The  peculiar  dark  stain  covered  a  space  not  less  than  fifteen 
feet  in  length  and  six  feet  in  width.  It  was  evident  that  the  head  was 
inflected  toward  the  chest.  It  is  pretty  certain,  then,  that  a  line  taken 
from  the  base  of  the  trunk  to  the  root  of  the  tail  would  not  be  less 
than  seventeen  feet. 

The  burial-place  of  this  great  beast  is  to  me  of  intense  interest. 
The  body  lay  on  its  side,  on  a  hard  sand  bottom,  the  upper  parts  being 
surrounded  and  but  thinly  covered  with  muck,  or  vegetable  peat.  I 
am  satisfied  that  it  died  on  the  dry  bank  of  an  ancient  stream.  Now 
came  a  singular  discovery  which  served  as  a  key  to  the  difficulty. 
Lying  on  the  skeleton  at  different  parts  were  the  sticks  or  heart- 
remains  of  red  cedars  {Juniperus  Virginiana,  L.)  ;  they  were  beaver- 
logs.  Here  a  singular  piece  of  experience  came  to  my  aid.  I  had 
quite  recently  discovered  and  studied  the  details  of  two  fossil  beaver- 
dams  but  two  miles  west  of  this  place,  and  the  physical  features  of 
this  mastodon's  burying-place  were  in  all  respects  indicative  of  a  for- 
mer beaver-dam.  In  fact,  no  other  hypothesis  could  account  for  these 
sticks,  with  others  of  different  woods,  which  have  been  exhumed  in 
this  meadow.  It  is  observable  that  a  pond  made  by  beavers  has  in 
time  its  meadow  as  a  natural  consequence,  and  that,  after  the  pond  is 
deserted  by  these  animals,  the  dam  breaks  down  slowly,  and,  as  the 
pond  area  decreases,  the  swamp  area  increases,  and  a  growth  of  vege- 
tation sets  in  which  becomes  the  peat-bog,  afterward  the  meadow. 
The  place  where  the  mastodon  lay  in  course  of  time  became  covered 
by  the  waters  of  the  pond,  for  beavers  keep  lengthening  their  dam  to 
increase  the  area  of  the  pond,  and  only  stop  so  doing  when  the  nat- 
ural opportunities  of  the  situation  are  exhausted.  Of  course,  it  was 
only  the  skeleton  of  the  beast  which  was  buried,  and  the  bones  might 
have  been  there  long  before  peat-growth  began  over  them.  This 
explains  the  decomposition  of  the  bones,  for  peat  is  antiseptic,  and 
they  should  have  been  preserved,  but  it  was  a  slow  burial,  and  slow 
decay  had  long  before  set  in.  A  curious  fact  seems  to  me  to  confirm 
the  above.  The  huge  air-cells  in  the  bones  and  the  great  pulp-cavities 
of  the  tusks  were  packed  solid  with  vegetable  matter,  but  so  unlike 
the  imbedding  peat  as  to  be  remarkable.     This  packing,  which  filled 


344  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

the  slightest  crevices  and  open  spaces  in  the  hones,  was  in  every  case 
roctf-fibers.  I  took  out  of  the  pulp-cavity  of  one  tusk  a  compact  cone 
of  these  rootlets.  I  have  seen  precisely  the  same  thing  when  opening 
a  small  drain-pipe  which  had  become  choked  with  the  roots  of  a  tree. 

Two  facts  have  much  impressed  me — the  great  geological  antiquity 
of  the  mastodons  as  a  race,  and  the  very  recent  existence  of  the  indi- 
vidual we  are  discussing.  The  race  began  in  Miocene  time  ;  this  in- 
dividual lived  in  the  Quaternary  age,  and  well  up  into  the  soil-making 
period.  There  is  little  if  any  differentiation  of  the  molars.  The  cusps, 
or  teats,  on  the  crown  are  high  and  prominent,  although  1  think  it 
must  have  been  one  of  the  very  last  of  its  tribe.  Though  the  race 
came  before  those  great  castors  now  extinct,  this  individual  was  con- 
temporary with  the  existing  beaver,  and  doubtless  with  the  aboriginal 
man. 

It  is  singular  that  in  the  present  controversy  respecting  the  sub- 
sidence of  a  part  of  the  eastern  coast-line  of  the  United  States,  I  have 
never  seen  the  testimony  of  the  mastodon  put  in  evidence.  As  already 
said,  this  animal  has  run  through  a  long  stretch  of  geologic  time.  I 
saw  a  tusk  taken  from  the  Trenton  gravels  of  New  Jersey  which  be- 
long to  the  ice  age,  or  glacial  epoch.  I  have  part  of  a  tusk  taken  from 
the  shore  in  Monmouth  County,  New  Jersey,  after  a  storm.  This 
storm  from  the  sea  had  washed  away  the  drift  which  covered  an  an- 
cient swamp,  in  which  this  relic,  with  other  bones,  had  been  entombed. 
But  that  swamp  had  been  far  inland,  sufficient  for  a  depression  to 
exist  far  enough  away  from  the  action  of  the  sea  to  enable  it  to  sup- 
port a  non-marine,  sub-aquatic  vegetation.  The  subsidence  had  al- 
lowed the  sea  to  come  up  and  uncover  that  creature's  grave.  Last 
summer,  at  Long  Branch,  I  saw  a  fine  mastodon's  tooth  which  was 
taken  up  by  fishermen  out  at  sea.  I  have  also  some  fragments  of  a 
mastodon's  tooth,  besides  an  almost  entire  one  of  remarkable  size.  I 
consider  it  the  sixth,*  or  last  tooth  developed.  It  was  given  me  as 
coming  from  Long  Branch,  where  it  was  obtained  so  long  ago  that 
its  history  was  forgotten.  I  detected  upon  it  the  microscopic  skele- 
tons of  marine  Bryozoa,  the  same  species  that  I  have  often  found  on 
the  shells  of  our  modern  oysters.  This  tiny  animal  can  only  attach  it- 
self to  a  clean  anchorage  in  the  clear  sea-water.  Hence  this  tooth  was 
evidently  got  from  the  sea  ;  and,  more,  its  old  grave  of  mud  or  peat 
was  long  ago  invaded  by  the  sea  and  churned  up,  so  as  to  float  it  away, 
leaving  the  tooth  on  the  clean,  sandy  ocean-floor. 

*  Not  counting  the  tusks,  the  elephant  has  only  eight  teeth  in  his  mouth  at  any  one 
time — two  molars  on  each  side  of  each  jaw.  The  forward  tooth  of  each  pair  is  pushed 
forward  until  it  disappears.  The  back  one  then  is  pushed  forward,  and  replaces  the  one 
lost.  This  goes  on  until  six  molars  have  appeared  on  each  side  of  each  jaw,  so  that  the 
full-aged  animal  has  in  its  life-time  twenty-four  molars.  The  tusks  are  monstrously  de- 
veloped incisors.  While  the  true  elephant  has  normally  but  two  tusks,  the  male  mas- 
todon has  four,  two  small  ones  in  the  lower  jaw,  which,  however,  are  shed  before  adult 


CURIOSITIES    OF  SUPERSTITION.  345 

So  it  is  plain  that  the  mastodon  came  into  what  is  now  New  Jersey 
ere  the  ice-sheet  began.  It  receded  south  before  it.  It  followed 
the  thawing  northward,  and  so  again  possessed  the  land.  It  occupied 
this  part  of  the  country  when  its  shore-line  was  miles  farther  out  to 
sea  than  it  is  to-day.  Here  it  was  confronted  by  the  human  savage, 
in  whom  it  found  more  than  its  match  ;  for,  before  this  autochthonic 
Nimrod,  Behemoth  melted  away. 


-♦♦•♦- 


CURIOSITIES   OF  SUPERSTITION. 

Br  FELIX  L.  OSWALD,  M.  D. 

SOME  of  the  higher  animals  have  a  peculiar  faculty  for  accustom- 
ing themselves  to  various  kinds  of  poison  ;  and  man,  especially, 
often  owes  his  ruin  to  that  unfortunate  talent,  for  the  instinct  of  taste 
can  be  so  perverted  that  the  vilest  and  originally  most  repulsive  sub- 
stances become  the  most  seductive. 

There  is  a  curious  analogy  between  this  corruptible  sense  and  the 
intellectual  (rather  than  moral)  constitution  of  the  human  mind.  It 
may  be  doubted  if  any  man  ever  loved  injustice  for  its  own  sake,  or 
voluntarily  connived  at  its  habitual  exercise.  History  proves  that 
successful  tyrants  could  maintain  themselves  only  by  favoring  a  strong 
party  at  the  expense  of  the  wTeak.  Pisistratus,  Hiero,  the  elder  Diony- 
sius,  Vespasian,  Mohammed  Baber,  and  Haroun,  miscalled  Al-Raschid, 
were  the  idols  of  the  army  and  of  the  poor.  Even  Mehemet  Ali  had 
his  redeeming  qualities.  Men  can  stand  only  a  limited  amount  of 
iniquity.  But  their  intellectual  tolerance  has  no  such  limits.  Per- 
sistent misrulers  come  to  an  evil  end,  but  the  founder  of  a  sect,  a 
school,  or  a  new  creed,  may 

"...  reign  without  dispute 
In  all  the  realms  of  nonsense,  absolute  " — 

and  it  even  seems  as  if  in  the  struggle  for  supremacy  the  most  insane 
dogmas  had  the  advantage  over  moderately  absurd  ones,  just  as  opium 
is  apt  to  supersede  brandy  and  tobacco.  In  China,  where  the  neutral- 
ity of  the  government  gave  all  creeds  a  fair  chance,  the  fate-worship 
of  Confucius  was  eclipsed  by  the  Buddhistic  worship  of  sorrow.  In 
Greece,  the  orthodox  polytheists  held  their  own  against  all  heresies. 
The  pure  theism  of  Abd-el-Wahab  was  throttled  by  the  champions  of 
the  Sunnitic  traditions.  In  Rome,  where  the  struggle  for  existence 
was  fought  out  by  fourteen  or  fifteen  different  creeds,  theists,  panthe- 
ists, Nature-worshipers,  agnostics,  and  all  kinds  of  speculative  philos- 
ophers had  to  yield  to  the  Asiatic  miracle-mongers  with  their  Nature- 
hating  fanaticism  and  Buddhistic  crotchets  ;  and  Buddha  himself  was 


346  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

baffled  by  that  ne  plus  ultra  of  systematic  insanity,  the  creed  of  the 
orthodox  Brahraans.  Buddhism,  the  worship  of  death  and  sorrow, 
has,  indeed,  almost  vanished  from  the  land  of  its  birth.  Its  infatua- 
tions prevailed  against  the  primitive  religions  of  the  Mongols,  Siamese, 
Cingalese,  Tartars,  and  Thibetans,  but  in  Hindostan  the  cow  and 
monkey  worshipers  carried  the  day  ;  the  champions  of  Sakya-Muni 
had  found  their  match,  and,  after  an  hierarchical  rough-and-tumble 
fight  of  fourteen  hundred  years,  their  doom  was  sealed  by  a  crushing 
defeat.  In  vain  the  Dalai  Lamas  convoked  council  after  council ;  in 
vain  the  bonzes  howled  on  the  highways  and  prayed  day  and  night  on 
the  public  streets — the  monkey  Hanuman  triumphed,  and  at  this  mo- 
ment a  hundred  and  twenty  million  Hindoos  are  ready  to  risk  their 
lives  in  defense  of  a  creed  which,  in  the  words  of  Baron  Orlich,  "  com- 
bines the  extremes  of  priestly  arrogance  with  endless  ceremonies  and 
the  most  extravagant  dogmatic  absurdities."  The  clerical  tyranny  of 
Brahmanism  may  have  been  surpassed  in  papal  Rome,  and  the  com- 
plexity of  its  rites  in  Thibet ;  but  its  dogmatic  absurdity  is  sui  generis, 
and  can  really  defy  competition.  "  Credo,  quia  absurdum  videtur," 
said  the  chief  theologist  of  the  Patristic  era,  but  the  quintessence  of 
the  Athanasian  confession  would  seem  insipid  to  devotees  who  have 
been  fuddled  with  the  opium  of  Brahma  ;  and  Father  Hue  expressed 
merely  the  recognition  of  a  practical  impossibility  when  he  advised 
his  countrymen  not  to  send  any  more  missionaries  to  Hindostan.  The 
clergy,  missions,  and  convents  of  the  Spanish  church  cost  the  country 
a  yearly  aggregate  of  forty-two  million  dollars — after  all,  less  than 
twenty  per  cent  of  the  total  national  revenue — and  the  emissaries  of 
that  church  may  well  shrink  from  the  competition  with  a  priesthood 
that  persuades  its  constituents  to  sacrifice  two  fifths  of  their  field-crops 
to  a  greedy  swarm  of  four-footed  divinities.  The  hunchback  ox  {Bos 
JBramanus)  enjoys  the  freedom  of  every  East  Indian  town.  Even 
Calcutta  has  its  "  cow-dung  subui-bs  "  (the  British  soldiers  use  a  strong- 
er term).  He  defiles  the  sidewalks,  monopolizes  the  tree-shade,  and 
mingles  with  the  crowd  of  the  market-place.  If  he  collects  his  per- 
quisites by  force,  the  natives  remark  that  giving  is  more  blessed  than 
receiving  ;  if  he  knocks  them  down,  they  feel  with  Cardinal  Newman 
that  the  devotion  of  the  truly  faithful  shows  itself  in  the  endurance 
of  oppressive  measures.  In  every  larger  city  there  are  walled  tanks 
where  sacred  crocodiles  await  the  contributions  of  the  pious.  In 
Benares  they  subsist  upon  the  rent  of  a  real-estate  legacy  and  occa- 
sional donations  of  the  wealthy  produce-merchants.  But  even  the 
poorest  of  the  poor  contribute  to  the  support  of  the  sacred  baboons. 
The  bhunder-baboon  and  the  Hanuman  ( Cercopithecus  entellits)  have 
every  reason  to  regard  themselves  as  the  primates  of  the  animal  king- 
dom, and  man  as  a  humble  relative,  gifted  with  certain  horticultural 
talents  for  the  purpose  of  ministering  to  the  wants  of  his  four-handed 
superiors.     Northern  India  is  dotted  with  mahahhunds,  or  monkey- 


CURIOSITIES    OF  SUPERSTITION.  347 

farms,  where  thousands  of  long-tailed  saints  are  provided  with  shel- 
ter, respectful  attendants,  and  three  substantial  meals  a  day,  on  the 
sole  condition  that  they  shall  renounce  their  sylvan  haunts  and  bless 
the  neighborhood  with  the  influence  of  their  holy  presence.  Sick 
monkeys  are  sent  to  the  next  bhunder-hospital,  generally  a  well-en- 
dowed and  well-managed  institution  with  a  special  dhevadar  or  re- 
sponsible major-domo.  The  little  town  of  Cawnpore  has  eight  such 
infirmaries,  Benares  twenty  or  twenty-five,  some  of  them  with  a  sub- 
division for  incurables  and  chronic  dyspeptics  ! 

To  support  these  institutions  is  deemed  a  privilege  as  well  as  a 
duty.  Troops  of  children,  with  garlands  around  their  ankles  and 
wrists,  march  in  procession  to  offer  the  first-fruits  of  the  season  to  the 
major-domos  of  the  next  mahakhund.  An  embarras  de  richesse  often 
obliges  that  functionary  to  sell  a  portion  of  the  donations  and  invest 
the  surplus  in  the  guarantee  funds  of  the  institution.  In  very  poor 
districts,  like  Baroda  and  the  northern  part  of  the  Madras  Presidency, 
a  protracted  famine  sometimes  exhausts  these  funds,  and  reduces  the 
menu  of  the  sinecurists  to  two  meals  a  day  and  half -measures  of  the 
weekly  treacle  allowance,  the  full  rice  ration  being  generally  guaran- 
teed by  deposit-drafts  on  a  public  store-house.  At  such  times,  when 
human  beneficiaries  would  feel  grateful  for  the  least  assistance,  the 
four-handed  %)roteges  become  peevish.  They  often  abscond  and  try 
their  luck  on  the  public  highways,  where  orthodox  pilgrims  would, 
indeed,  part  with  their  last  crust  rather  than  disregard  the  wants  of  a 
sacred  baboon.  If  hunger  emboldens  a  low-caste  monkey  to  approach 
the  precincts  of  a  mahakhund,  the  irate  boarders  sally  forth  and  pur- 
sue him  with  a  rancor  as  if  they  suspected  him  of  being  accessory  to 
the  irregularities  of  the  purveyance  system. 

When  the  (Mohammedan)  Sepoys  destroyed  the  large  monkey- 
asylum  of  Behar,  the  citizens  of  Nusserabad,  though  themselves  on 
the  verge  of  famine,  promptly  organized  a  relief  committee.  A  pro- 
vision-wagon, drawn  by  lean  horses  and  leaner  fakirs,  drove  through 
the  city  collecting  comestibles,  while  the  conductor  of  the  team,  in  a 
sort  of  sing-song  chant,  recounted  the  sufferings  of  the  holy  long- 
tails  :  "  They  mourn  among  the  roofless  ruins.  They  sit  hungry-eyed, 
waiting  in  vain  for  the  arrival  of  a  moderate  refection.  No  bread,  no 
sago-cakes,  no  rice  for  the  righteous  ones,  while  many  a  sinner  "  (with 
a  gleam  of  suspicion)  "regales  himself,  perhaps,  with  yed-na-saccar''''  (a 
sort  of  blanc-mange).  "  Their  young  ones  look  leaner  than  scrub-palm 
lizards.  While  they  fast  the  just  trembles  ;  the  eye  that  looks  un- 
moved may  soon  be  moved  by  retaliative  calamities.  Promptly,  ye 
faithful,  contribute,  contribute  !  "  (C.  Ritter's  "  Travels  in  Hinclostan 
and  Siam,"  vol.  ii,  p.  210). 

Victor  Jacquemont  estimates  that  the  Bengal  Presidency  alone 
contains  sixteen  hundred  monkey-asylums,  supported  chiefly  by  the 
very  poorest  class  of  the  population.     In  the  rural  districts  of  Nepaul 


348  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

the  hanumans  have  their  sacred  groves,  and  keep  together  in  troops 
of  fifty  or  sixty  adults,  and,  in  spite  of  hard  times,  these  associations 
multiply  like  the  monastic  orders  of  mediaeval  Europe  ;  but  they  must 
all  be  provided  for,  though  the  natives  should  have  to  eke  out  their 
crops  with  the  wild-rice  of  the  Jumna  swamp-jungles. 

The  strangest  part  of  the  superstition  is  that  this  charity  results 
by  no  means  from  a  feeling  of  benevolence  toward  animals  in  general, 
but  from  the  exclusive  veneration  of  a  special  subdivision  of  the 
monkey  tribe.  An  orthodox  Hindoo  must  not  willingly  take  the  life 
of  the  humblest  fellow-creature,  but  he  would  not  move  a  finger  to  save 
a  starving  dog,  and  has  no  hesitation  in  stimulating  a  beast  of  burden 
with  a  dagger-like  goad  and  other  contrivances  that  would  invoke  the 
avenging  powers  of  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Ani- 
mals. Nor  would  he  shrink  from  extreme  measures  in  defending  his 
fields  from  the  ravages  of  low-caste  monkeys.  Dr.  Allen  Mackenzie 
once  saw  a  swarm  of  excited  natives  running  toward  an  orchard  where 
the  shaking  of  the  branches  betrayed  the  presence  of  arboreal  maraud- 
ers. Some  of  them  carried  slings,  others  clubs  and  cane-spears.  But 
soon  they  came  back  crestfallen.  "  What's  the  matter  ?  "  inquired  the 
doctor  ;  "  did  they  get  away  from  you  ?  " 

"  Kapa-Muni,"  was  the  laconic  reply,  "  sacred  monkeys."  Holy 
baboons  that  must  not  be  interrupted  in  their  little  pastimes.  They 
had  expected  to  find  a  troop  of  common  makaques,  wanderoos,  or 
other  profane  four-handers,  and  returned  on  tiptoe,  like  Marry at's 
sergeant  who  went  to  arrest  an  obstreperous  drunkard,  and  recognized 
his  commanding  officer.  Unarmed  Europeans  can  not  afford  to  brave 
these  prejudices.  Captain  Elphinstone's  gardener  nearly  lost  his  life 
for  shooting  a  thievish  hanuman  ;  a  mob  of  raging  bigots  chased  him 
from  street  to  street  till  he  gave  them  the  slip  in  a  Mohammedan  sub- 
urb, where  a  sympathizing  Unitarian  helped  him  to  escape  through  the 
back-alleys.  The  interference  of  his  countrymen  would  hardly  have 
saved  him,  for  the  crowd  increased  from  minute  to  minute,  and  even 
women  joined  in  the  chase,  and  threatened  to  cure  his  impiety  with  a 
turnip-masher. 

This  impiety,  say  the  Brahmans,  is  merely  the  effect  of  ignorance. 
Foreigners  are  apt  to  mistake  a  hanuman  for  a  common  yahoo,  a  filthy, 
impudent  bush-whacker,  while  the  facts  are  as  follows  :  The  hanuman 
is  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  great  hero-ape  who  helped  the  Light-gods 
in  suppressing  the  power  of  Ravan,  the  prince  of  darkness.  The  war 
raged  for  years  with  varying  success,  and  the  sun-spirits  were  once 
almost  nonplused,  when  their  long-tailed  ally  bethought  himself  of 
a  stratagem  that  completely  discomfited  their  adversaries  :  He  set  the 
whole  Island  of  Ceylon  afire  and  escaped  just  in  time  to  attend  a  grand 
council  of  the  sun-gods,  who  then  rewarded  his  services  by  an  hereditary 
sinecure.  In  the  midst  of  a  solemn  war-dance  he  discovered  that  his 
own  tail  was  ablaze,  and  had  to  save  himself  by  a  hurried  trip  to  the 


CURIOSITIES    OF  SUPERSTITION.  349 

eastern  Himalayas,  where  he  extinguished  the  flames  in  a  lake  which 
to  this  day  bears  the  name  of  Bhunder-pouch,  or  Monkey-tail-pond — a 
fact  which  alone  suffices  to  refute  the  sophisms  of  narrow-minded 
skeptics  ("  Asiatic  Researches,"  vol.  xiv,  p.  44). 

Crocodiles  have  a  prescriptive  right  to  our  surplus  of  non-nitroge- 
nous food,  butter,  goat-cheese,  and  the  offal  of  the  heretical  meat- 
shops.  They  are  not  divine,  in  a  stricter  sense,  but  "water-pure," 
free  from  the  taint  of  hereditary  sin,  and  their  merits  are  often  re- 
warded by  a  quasi-immortality,  synchronistic  with  the  duration  of  this 
planet.  Their  peccadilloes  must  be  condoned  ;  the  slayer  of  a  gavial, 
or  sacred  saurian,  is  an  enemy  of  the  public,  for  his  deed  is  apt  to  re- 
sult in  a  general  calamity.  In  Agra  a  Buddhistic  Chinaman  once  ob- 
tained the  post  of  crocodile-warden,  but  was  soon  after  arraigned  for 
criminal  neglect.  A  party  of  foreigners  had  visited  the  tank,  and  a 
couple  of  gavials  followed  them  toward  the  gate,  in  quest  of  cold  lunch, 
according  to  the  theory  of  the  prosecution,  while  the  strangers  sus- 
pected them  of  homicidal  intents,  and,  finding  the  gate  closed,  re- 
treated behind  a  tree  and  fired  their  pistols  as  fast  as  they  could  load. 
The  negligent  warden  at  last  interfered,  but  too  late  ;  both  crocodiles 
had  been  fatally  wounded,  and  one  of  the  victims  happened  to  be  a 
gavial,  a  most  reverend,  and,  barring  such  accidents,  immortal  amphib- 
ian that  had  inhabited  the  tank  since  the  time  of  Menu.  The  counsel 
for  the  defense  not  only  denied  the  charge  of  neglect,  but  proved  that 
the  prehistoric  reptile  had  been  imported  not  more  than  five  years 
before.  The  court  dismissed  the  case,  and  the  Chinaman  volunteered 
to  pay  half  the  costs,  but  the  Brahmans  never  forgave  him.  He  lost 
his  place  and,  like  the  Rev.  Augustus  Blauvelt,  was  accused  of  having 
betrayed  his  master. 

The  Koran  contains  some  rather  incomprehensible  ordinances,  un- 
less Professor  Sale  should  be  right  that  Mohammed  prescribed  them 
as  preparatory  exercises  of  faith.  The  founders  of  several  monastic 
orders  seem  also  to  have  thought  it  necessary  to  strengthen  the  ortho- 
doxy of  their  disciples  by  periodical  renunciations  of  common  sense, 
but  the  Brahmans  have  carried  this  principle  to  an  even  greater  length. 
According  to  the  Yagur-Veda,  a  spiritual-minded  man  should  renounce 
the  world  after  following  its  ways  long  enough  to  see  the  son  of  his 
son.  To  be  quite  safe,  he  had  better  go  as  soon  as  his  hair  begins  to 
get  gray.  A  conscientious  Sannyassi,  or  "  renouncer,"  should  make 
his  home  in  the  forest,  live  upon  fruits  and  edible  leaves,  and  let  his 
hair  grow.  His  tunic  should  consist  of  bark,  his  lower  garments  of 
untanned  antelope-skin.  He  must  elevate  his  soul  by  the  contempla- 
tion of  Brahm  and  humble  his  body  by  taking  occasional  rambles  on 
all-fours.  This  would  be  bad  enough,  but,  in  order  to  fulfill  all  right- 
eousness, a  Sannyassi  must  wear  wet  clothes  in  the  cold,  and  pass  the 
midsummer  noons  between  two  blazing  fires,  in  order  to  correct  the 
humors  of  his  spirit.     With  a  view  of  washing  away  his  worldliness 


35o  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

he  must  not  only  bathe  twice  a  day,  but  expose  his  body  to  every 
shower  of  the  rainy  season  (Weber,  "  Indische  Literatur-Geschichte," 

p.  395). 

Yet  this  regimen  was  merely  a  palliative,  prescribed  to  all  refugees 
from  the  temptations  of  this  world,  and  positive  sinners  had  to  expiate 
their  guilt  by  quite  different  penances.  In  this  higher  art  of  self- 
torture  Buddhism  unquestionably  bears  off  the  palm  of  insanity. 
Under  the  influence  of  its  dogmas  Sannyassism  became  an  elaborate 
system  for  weaning  the  human  mind — not  from  the  errors  of  life,  but 
from  life  itself,  a  systematic  mortification  of  all  natural  instincts  and 
desires,  a  negative  method  of  suicide.  The  "  renouncer  "  had  first  to 
ascertain  his  dearest  wishes  and  deliberately  thwart  them  ;  abandon 
his  friends,  relinquish  his  worldly  ambitions,  and  forego  all  gratifica- 
tions of  the  senses.  He  next  had  to  avoid  whatever  could  compensate 
such  sacrifices  :  emulation,  fame,  and  even  the  pleasures  of  self -appro- 
bation. The  candidate  of  Nirvana  had  to  subsist  on  insipid  food— 
millet-seed,  for  instance,  or  even  cresses  ("  Asiatic  Researches,"  vol. 
xvii,  p.  238).  He  had  to  clothe  himself  in  rags,  and  renounce  all 
worldly  possessions,  all  earthly  sympathies  ;  Buddha  Ghoska,  the 
South  Indian  apostle  of  the  great  Nepaulese,  goes  so  far  as  to  warn 
his  disciples  against  sleeping  more  than  once  under  the  same  tree,  lest 
their  souls  should  be  contaminated  with  an  undue  affection  for  any 
worldly  object  (Schopenhauer's  "  Parerga,"  vol.  i,  p.  317).  The  civil 
war  of  contending  dogmas  filled  India  with  rival  hordes  of  self-tortur- 
ing fanatics.  Brahmans  and  Buddhists  vied  in  the  invention  of  new 
torments.  Voluntary  affliction  became  the  chief  criterion  of  mei'it. 
The  Buddhistic  monasteries  practiced  the  most  approved  methods  for 
making  life  hateful  and  death  desirable  ;  among  their  ghastly  peni- 
tents all  the  monsters  of  La  Trappe  could  have  found  their  prototypes. 
Troops  of  Brahmanic  flagellants  wandered  from  town  to  town  ;  the 
Sannyassis  had  regular  rendezvous,  where  their  novices  could  profit  by 
the  experience  of  the  accomplished  lunatics  : 

"  So  gathered  they,  a  grievous  company : 
Some  day  and  night  had  stood  with  lifted  arms, 
Till,  drained  of  blood  and  withered  hy  disease, 
Their  slowly-wasting  joints  and  stiffened  limbs 
Jutted  from  sapless  shoulders,  like  dead  forks 
From  forest  trunks.     Others  had  clinched  their  hands 
So  long  and  with  so  fierce  a  fortitude, 
The  claw-like  nails  grew  through  the  festered  palm. 
Certain  who  cried  five  hundred  times  a  day 
The  names  of  Shiva,  wound  with  darting  snakes 
About  their  sun-tanned  necks  and  hollow  flanks  .  .  . 
Here  crouched  one  in  the  dust,  who,  noon  by  noon, 
Meted  a  thousand  grains  of  millet  out,  ' 
Ate  it  with  famished  patience,  seed  by  seed, 
And  so  starved  on  ;  there  one  who  bruised  his  pulse 


CURIOSITIES    OF  SUPERSTITION.  351 

"With  bitter  leaves  lest  palate  should  be  pleased ; 
And  next,  a  miserable  saint,  self-maimed, 
Eyeless  and  tongueless,  sexless,  crippled,  deaf." 

(Edwin  Arnold's  "Light  of  Asia,"  p.  18.) 

Or  Wieland's  satirical  resume: 

"  Der  Glaube  hiess  es  heilig,  wenn 

Der  Fliegen,  der  Heuschrecken  frass, 

Und  Jener  gar  mit  seinera  heil'gen  Hintern 
In  einem  Ameisen-haufen  sass, 

Um  da  andachtig  zu  ilberwintern." 

Nor  are  those  fancy  sketches  ;  such  things  are  practiced  in  Hin- 
dostan  to  this  day.  Weber  estimates  the  present  number  of  pro- 
fessional Sannyassis  at  six  hundred  thousand  ;  De  Lanier  at  six 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  ;  and  Max  Miiller  even  at  one  million 
{vide  "American  Cyclopaedia,"  article  "Fakir").  The  pi-ocession 
of  the  Juggernaut  still  frenzies  the  out-of-the-way  villages  of  the 
Punjaub  ;  the  Brahma-whirlpool  at  the  junction  of  the  Jumna  and 
the  Ganges  still  claims  its  yearly  hecatombs  of  human  victims.  In 
the  southwestern  presidencies  the  English  Government  has  at  last 
succeeded  in  abating  the  suicidal  epidemics  ;  the  suttee-rite,  for  in- 
stance, has  been  effectually  suppressed  by  fining  all  accomplices  and 
abettors.  But  the  beast-idolatry  still  flourishes,  and  bids  fair  to  outlive 
the  British  Tract  Society,  as  it  has  survived  the  Portuguese  auto-da- f'es. 
Crocodile-hunters  still  take  their  lives  in  their  hands  ;  the  hanuman 
humbug  continues  to  paralyze  horticulture,  and  the  most  popular  argu- 
ment of  the  Nana  Sahib  demagogues  was,  not  the  nepotism  of  the 
foreign  rulers,  not  the  arrogance  and  partiality  of  the  British  bureau- 
crats, but  the  "  cartridge-grievance  "  :  orthodox  soldiers,  in  loading  a 
musket,  had  been  obliged  to  open  with  their  teeth  a  pasteboard  car- 
tridge that  had  been  greased  with  a  mixture  of  steatite  and  beef- 
tallow  ! 

The  origin  of  zoolatry,  or  beast-worship,  in  some  of  its  phases,  is 
not  easy  to  explain.  The  supreme  usefulness  of  black  cattle  made 
them  the  representatives  of  the  prithivi  mdtar,  the  benevolent,  all- 
sustaining  earth-mother.  Crocodiles  are  invaluable  scavengers,  and  in 
the  granaries  of  Egypt  cats  were  indispensable  enough  to  deserve  an 
apotheosis.  But  how  did  serpents  and  monkeys  come  by  that  honor? 
In  Africa  snake-worship  marks  the  lowest  stage  of  "animism,"  but 
nearly  every  nation  seems  to  have  passed  through  that  stage.  In  a 
very  curious  account  of  the  customs  and  superstitions  of  the  Ilaytian 
negroes,  Mr.  Moreau  ("  History  of  St.  Domingo,"  by  Mr.  L.  E.  Mo- 
reau)  describes  the  Voodoo  idol  as  "a  serpent  supposed  to  be  endowed 
with  the  gift  of  prescience,  which  it  communicates  to  its  favorite  at- 
tendants, the  high-priest,  and  priestess  of  the  Voodoo  temple."  This 
superstition  Mr.  Moreau  believes  to  have  been  derived  from  Whydah, 


352 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


in  Southern  Congo,  where  the  French  had  a  trading-post.  But  did 
not  the  Delphic  Pythoness  likewise  derive  her  name  from  a  serpent,  the 
great  Python  of  Parnassus,  begotten  in  the  ocean-mud  of  the  Deucalian 
Delude  ?  The  Hebrew  word  Ob  is  the  equivalent  of  the  Grecian  ophis 
and  the  Chaldean  oheb,  a  dragon,  a  serpent  ;  and  in  the  Vulgate  the 
witch  of  Endor,  the  "  woman  who  had  an  Ob,''''  is  described  as  a  muller 
pythonica  ;  and  the  "  consulters  with  familiar  spirits  "  (Deuteronomy, 
xviii,  11)  as  "men  who  worshiped  Ob,"  the  temple  of  Bel  (a  contrac- 
tion of  Ob-El,  the  snake-god)  was  covered  with  representations  of  fly- 
ing serpents,  the  wings  having  been  added  to  indicate  the  swiftness  of 
the  miraculous  Python — perhaps  the  prototype  of  the  Chinese  dragon, 
of  our  "  old  serpent,"  and  possibly  of  the  mediaeval  dragon-myths.  On 
one  of  the  temples  of  Thebes  Belzoni  discovered  "  a  row  of  figures 
representing  three  human  beings  resting  upon  their  knees  and  with 
their  heads  struck  off.  Before  them  a  serpent-god  (un  dio  pythonico) 
erects  his  crest  on  a  level  with  their  throats,  ready  to  drink  the  stream 
of  life  as  it  flows  from  their  veins."  Columella,  the  Roman  Huxley, 
mentions  a  district  of  the  province  of  Numidia  where  the  natives  tried 
to  break  the  spell  of  a  summer  drought  by  practicing  strange  rites  with 
a  captive  serpent.  In  the  mythology  of  the  Edda  the  Midgard-snake 
encircles  the  globe  of  the  whole  earth,  and  the  rupture  of  its  folds  will 
usher  in  the  final  return  of  Chaos.  According  to  Plutarch,  the  Edo- 
nian  witches  of  Thrace  practiced  their  charms  by  the  aid  of  a  tutelary 
deity  in  the  form  of  a  snake,  which  they  carried  from  hill  to  hill  in 
search  of  a  propitious  conjuncture  of  times  and  places  ;  and  among  the 
Veddahs  of  Ceylon  Sir  Emerson  Tennent  ("  Ceylon  :  An  Account  of 
the  Island,  Physical,  Historical,  and  Political  ")  found  traces  of  a  very 
similar  superstition  ;  The  staff  of  iEsculapius  and  the  caduceus  of  Mer- 
cury were  entwined  with  serpents  ;  and,  when  the  pious  iEneas  sacri- 
fices at  the  tomb  of  his  father,  the  "  genius  of  the  sepulchre  "  emerges 
in  the  form  of  a  miraculous  snake.  The  two  mysterious  strangers  who 
announce  the  mission  of  Buddha  vanish  in  the  castle-hall,  and  when 
the  messengers  of  the  king  follow  them  to  the  gate  two  furtive  serpents 
glide  forth  :  "  The  gods  come  ofttimes  thus." 

Yet  Professor  Ritter  holds  that  ophiolatry  is  the  oldest  form  of 
demonism  of  devil-worship,  the  subtile  and  deadly  serpent  being  the 
fittest  symbol  of  the  tempter.  Barthelemy-Sainte-Hilaire  inclines  to  the 
opinion  that  the  Egyptian  god-serpent  was  the  emblem  of  immortality, 
the  idea  being  derived  from  the  shedding  of  his  skin ;  the  caves  of 
Elephantine  bristle  with  serpent-heads  ;  and  the  strangest,  but  possibly 
the  only  correct  theory,  is  Sir  W.  Jones's  conjecture  that  these  shapes 
are  nothing  but  a  modification  of  that  rude  symbol  of  the  vis  genera- 
tiva — the  old  Indian  phallus. 

Monkey-worship  is  peculiar  to  Hindostan,  and  can  hardly  be  ex- 
plained by  the  usefulness  or  the  superhuman  attributes  of  poor  Hanu- 
man.     Yet  its  antiquity  is  attested  by  the  sculptures  of  Ellora  and 


CURIOSITIES    OF  SUPERSTITION.  353 

the  oldest  traditions  of  the  Eastern  Aryans.  Should  it  be  a  sort  of 
inverted  anthropomorphism — a  typical  form  of  ancestor-worship  f  Dr. 
Mivart  is  perhaps  right  that  there  were  Darwinians  before  Charles 
Darwin,  who  was  merely  the  first  systematic  exponent  of  a  very  ancient 
doctrine,  for  the  dogma  of  metempsychosis  itself  is  possibly  nothing 
but  a  dimly  expressed  anticipation  of  the  evolution  theory. 

"  Poor  creatures,  so  humble  and  so  sublime,"  says  Lucretius  ("  De 
JVatura  Rerum" — published  45  b.  a),  "you  must  now  recognize  that 
you  are  but  the  first  of  earthly  animals.  Your  extraction  is  very  base, 
you  have  sprung  from  very  low,  but  by  a  slow  series  of  efforts  you 
have  raised  yourself  above  your  inferior,  brethren.  I  know  your  ori- 
gin, but  I  can  not  see  the  goal  to  which  you  are  tending  ;  yet  persevere 
and  work  on." 

And  Buddha  : 

"  High  above  Indra's  you  may  raise  your  lot, 
And  sink  it  lower  than  the  worm  or  gnat ; 
The  end  of  many  myriad  lives  is  this, 
The  end  of  myriads  that." 

And  is  it  so  illogical  to  believe  in  the  possibility  of  a  metamorphic 
retrogression,  as  well  as  progression  ?  Have  not  the  most  godlike 
nations  of  antiquity  "sunk  their  lot"  very  nearly  to — and  in  some 
respects  decidedly  below — the  level  of  our  simian  relatives  ? 

Zoomorphism,  as  Carl  Vogt  calls  the  doctrine  of  metempsychosis, 
was  taught  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges  before  Abraham's  father  sold 
his  stock-farm  at  Ur,  in  Chaldea,  and  there  is  no  stranger  fact  in  the 
natural  history  of  religion  than  the  ubiquity  of  this  most  ancient  and 
most  persistent  form  of  supernaturalism.  Its  dogmas  have  tinctured 
the  creed  of  every  nation,  and  often  revive  in  the  most  unexpected 
way.  It  is  the  basis  of  the  eighteen  Puranas  of  the  Egyptian  myths, 
and  the  traditions  of  the  elder  Edda.  The  strangely  suggestive  tales 
of  the  metamorphoses  were  probably  borrowed  from  the  religion  of 
prehistoric  Italy.  The  nations  of  Northern  Europe  had  similar  super- 
stitions which  still  survive  the  exodus  of  the  Druids.  The  Christian 
propagandists  could  persuade  the  Saxons  and  Celts  to  transfer  their 
devotion  from  Walhalla  to  Calvary,  but  they  could  not  shake  their 
faith  in  were-wolves,  kelpies,  and  amphibious  Melusinas. 

"That  the  creed  of  Mohammed,"  says  Lecky,  "  should  have  preserved 
its  pure  monotheism  and  its  freedom  from  all  idolatrous  tendencies  .  .  . 
is  a  fact  which  we  can  only  very  imperfectly  explain."  But  even  the 
Koran  did  not  eradicate  the  zoomorphic  superstitions  of  the  Southern 
Semites.  Professor  Brehm  relates  that  his  Bedouin  guide  implored 
him  in  the  name  of  the  All-merciful  not  to  fire  upon  a  troop  of  spotted 
jackals  (Canis pictus),  as  these  animals  embodied  the  souls  of  potent 
wizards  who  would  cruelly  revenge  the  death  of  a  companion.  After 
the  death  of  Caliph  Walid— "  El  Caffer,"  the  infidel,  as  the  dervishes 
vol.  xxn. — 23 


354  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

called  bim — the  citizens  of  Damascus  were  frightened  by  the  rumor 
that  tbe  great  unbeliever  bad  reappeared  in  the  form  of  a  gaunt  hyena 
that  prowled  around  the  city  at  night  ;  and  Abulfeda  informs  us  that 
before  the  battle  of  Aleppo  the  Karmathians  saw  a  large  eagle  circling 
above  their  vanguard,  but  were  careful  not  to  disturb  it,  "  for  they 
at  once  recognized  the  spirit  of  Abu  Taher" — one  of  their  former 
leaders  who  had  won  a  great  victory  on  that  same  battle-field. 

Sitting  Bull  once  declared  that  Father  De  Smet  was  the  only  white 
man  whose  word  could  be  implicitly  relied  upon  ;  but,  according  to  the 
observations  of  Mr.  W.  Everett,  this  confidence  seems  to  refer  to  polit- 
ical rather  than  mythological  questions.  Mr.  William  Everett,  a  gov- 
ernment scout  at  Fort  Custer,  lived  several  years  among  the  Sioux,  and 
convinced  himself  that  they  believe  in  the  metempsychosis  of  distin- 
guished chiefs,  and  on  one  occasion  he  saw  Sitting  Bull  himself  "mak- 
ing motions  with  his  hands,  and  talking  to  a  large  wolf,  which  appar- 
ently understood  what  he  said,  for,  whenever  he  made  the  sign  for 
'  Do  you  understand  ? '  the  wolf  would  throw  up  his  head  and  howl." 
They  deem  it  unlucky  to  kill  a  white  wolf  (like  the  Laplanders,  who 
entertain  similar  scruples  in  regard  to  the  white  polar  fox),  and  only 
famine  will  induce  them  to  shoot  at  a  white-tailed  deer.  During  the 
hard  winter  of  1865  six  young  braves  took  the  risk,  and,  "  were  found 
strangled  with  marks  of  fingers  on  their  throats  and  horrified 
looks,  as  if  they  had  seen  something  awful  "  (vide  "Popular  Science 
Monthly,"  vol.  xxi,  p.  422). 

The  Tyrolese  mountaineers  have  an  equally  weird  superstition 
which  their  priests  have  not  seen  fit  to  discourage,  namely,  that  an 
unbaptized  child  is  changed  into  a  Fliih-vogel  (a  bird  with  a  peculiar 
wailing  cry),  and  has  for  ever  to  flit  about  the  desolate  shores  of  the 
highland  lakes  ;  and  the  Albanian  peasants  believe  that  Constantin 
Kastro,  the  companion  in  arms  of  the  famous  Scanderbeg,  still  haunts 
his  native  mountains  in  the  form  of  a  black  falcon. 

[  To   be  continued.] 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  RECPvEATION. 

By   HERBERT   SPENCER. 
ADDEES9  AT  HIS  FAEEWELL  BANQUET,  NOVEMBER  9th. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN:  Along  with  your 
kindness  there  comes  to  me  a  great  unkindness  from  Fate  ;  for, 
now  that,  above  all  times  in  my  life,  I  need  full  command  of  what  pow- 
ers of  speech  I  possess,  disturbed  health  so  threatens  to  interfere  with 
them  that  I  fear  I  shall  very  inadequately  express  myself.  Any  failure 
in  my  response  you  must  please  ascribe,  in  part  at  least,  to  a  greatly 


THE   GOSPEL    OF  RECREATION.  355 

disordered  nervous  system.  Regarding  you  as  representing  Ameri- 
cans at  larffe,  I  feel  that  the  occasion  is  one  on  which  arrears  of  thanks 
are  due.  I  ought  to  begin  with  the  time,  some  two-and-twenty  years 
ago,  when  my  highly-valued  friend  Professor  Youmans,  making  efforts 
to  diffuse  my  books  here,  interested  on  their  behalf  the  Messrs.  Apple- 
ton,  who  have  ever  treated  me  so  honorably  and  so  handsomely ;  and 
I  ought  to  detail  from  that  time  onward  the  various  marks  and  acts  of 
sympathy  by  which  I  have  been  encouraged  in  a  struggle  which  was 
for  many  years  disheartening.  But,  intimating  thus  briefly  my  gen- 
eral indebtedness  to  my  numerous  friends,  most  of  them  unknown,  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  I  must  name  more  especially  the  many  atten- 
tions and  proffered  hospitalities  met  with  during  my  late  tour,  as  well 
as,  lastly  and  chiefly,  this  marked  expression  of  the  sympathies  and 
good  wishes  which  many  of  you  have  traveled  so  far  to  give,  at 
great  cost  of  that  time  which  is  so  precious  to  the  American.  I  be- 
lieve I  may  truly  say  that  the  better  health  which  you  have  so  cor- 
dially wished  me  will  be  in  a  measure  furthered  by  the  wish  ;  since 
all  pleasurable  emotion  is  conducive  to  health,  and,  as  you  will  fully 
believe,  the  remembrance  of  this  event  will  ever  continue  to  be  a 
source  of  pleasurable  emotion,  exceeded  by  few,  if  any,  of  my  remem- 
brances. 

And  now  that  I  have  thanked  you,  sincerely  though  too  briefly,  I 
am  going  to  find  fault  with  you.     Already,  in  some  remarks  drawn 
from  me  respecting  American  affairs  and  American  character,  I  have 
passed  criticisms  which  have  been  accepted  far  more  good-naturedly 
than  I  could  reasonably  have  expected  ;  and  it  seems  strange  that  I 
should  now  again  propose  to  transgress.    However,  the  fault  I  have  to 
comment  upon  is  one  which  most  will  scarcely  regard  as  a  fault.     It 
seems  to  me  that  in  one  respect  Americans  have  diverged  too  widely 
from  savages.     I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  they  are  in  general  unduly 
civilized.     Throughout  large  parts  of  the  population,  even  in  long- 
settled  regions,  there  is  no  excess  of  those  virtues  needed  for  the  main- 
tenance of  social  harmony.     Especially  out  in  the  West,  men's  deal- 
ings do  not  yet  betray  too  much  of  the  "  sweetness  and  light "  which 
we  are  told  distinguish  the  cultured  man  from  the  barbarian.     Never- 
theless, there  is  a  sense  in  which  my  assertion  is  true.    You  know  that 
the  primitive  man  lacks  power  of  application.     Spurred  by  hunger,  by 
danger,  by  revenge,  he  can  exert  himself  energetically  for  a  time  ;  but 
his  energy  is  spasmodic.     Monotonous  daily  toil  is  impossible  to  him. 
It  is  otherwise  with  the  more  developed  man.     The  stern  discipline  of 
social  life  has  gradually  increased  the  aptitude  for  persistent  industry  ; 
until,  among  us,  and  still  more  among  you,  work  has  become  with 
many  a  passion.     This  contrast  of  nature  has  another  aspect.     The 
savage  thinks  only  of  present  satisfactions,  and  leaves  future  satisfac- 
tions uncared  for.     Contrariwise,  the  American,  eagerly  pursuing  a 
future  good,  almost  ignores  what  good  the  passing  day  offers  him  ; 


356  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

and,  when  the  future  good  is  gained,  he  neglects  that  while  striving 
for  some  still  remoter  good. 

What  I  have  seen  and  heard  during  my  stay  among  you  has  forced 
on  me  the  belief  that  this  slow  change  from  habitual  inertness  to  per- 
sistent activity  has  reached  an  extreme  from  which  there  must  begin 
a  counter-change — a  reaction.  Everywhere  I  have  been  struck  with 
the  number  of  faces  which  told  in  strong  lines  of  the  burdens  that  had 
to  be  borne.  I  have  been  struck,  too,  with  the  large  proportion  of 
gray-haired  men  ;  and  inquiries  have  brought  out  the  fact  that  with 
you  the  hair  commonly  begins  to  turn  some  ten  years  earlier  than 
with  us.  Moreover,  in  every  circle  I  have  met  men  who  had  them- 
selves suffered  from  nervous  collapse  due  to  stress  of  business,  or 
named  friends  who  had  either  killed  themselves  by  overwork,  or  had 
been  permanently  incapacitated,  or  had  wasted  long  periods  in  en- 
deavors to  recover  health.  I  do  but  echo  the  opinion  of  all  the  ob- 
servant persons  I  have  spoken  to,  that  immense  injury  is  being  done 
by  this  high-pressure  life — the  physique  is  being  undermined.  That 
subtle  thinker  and  poet  whom  you  have  lately  had  to  mourn,  Emerson, 
says,  in  his  essay  on  the  gentleman,  that  the  first  requisite  is  that  he 
shall  be  a  good  animal.  The  requisite  is  a  general  one — it  extends  to 
the  man,  to  the  father,  to  the  citizen.  "We  hear  a  great  deal  about 
"the  vile  body"  ;  and  many  are  encouraged  by  the  phrase  to  trans- 
gress the  laws  of  health.  But  Nature  quietly  suppresses  those  who 
treat  thus  disrespectfully  one  of  her  highest  products,  and  leaves  the 
world  to  be  peopled  by  the  descendants  of  those  who  are  not  so 
foolish. 

Beyond  these  immediate  mischiefs  there  are  remoter  mischiefs. 
Exclusive  devotion  to  work  has  the  result  that  amusements  cease  to 
please  ;  and,  when  relaxation  becomes  imperative,  life  becomes  dreary 
from  lack  of  its  sole  interest — the  interest  in  business.  The  remark 
current  in  England,  that,  when  the  American  travels,  his  aim  is  to  do 
the  greatest  amount  of  sight-seeing  in  the  shortest  time,  I  find  current 
here  also  :  it  is  recognized  that  the  satisfaction  of  getting  on  devours 
nearly  all  other  satisfactions.  When  recently  at  Niagara,  which  gave 
us  a  whole  week's  pleasure,  I  learned  from  the  landlord  of  the  hotel 
that  most  Americans  come  one  day  and  go  away  the  next.  Old  Frois- 
sart,  who  said  of  the  English  of  his  day  that  "  they  take  their  pleas- 
ures sadly  after  their  fashion,"  would  doubtless,  if  he  lived  now,  say 
of  the  Americans  that  they  take  their  pleasures  hurriedly  after  their 
fashion.  In  large  measure  with  us,  and  still  more  with  you,  there  is 
not  that  abandonment  to  the  moment  which  is  requisite  for  full  en- 
joyment ;  and  this  abandonment  is  prevented  by  the  ever-present  sense 
of  multitudinous  responsibilities.  So  that,  beyond  the  serious  physical 
mischief  caused  by  overwork,  there  is  the  further  mischief  that  it  de- 
stroys what  value  there  would  otherwise  be  in  the  leisure  part  of  life. 

Nor  do  the  evils  end  here.    There  is  the  injury  to  posterity.    Dam- 


THE  GOSPEL    OF  RECREATION.  357 

aged  constitutions  reappear  in  children,  and  entail  on  them  far  more 
of  ill  than  great  fortunes  yield  them  of  good.  When  life  has  been 
duly  rationalized  by  science,  it  will  be  seen  that  among  a  man's  duties 
care  of  the  body  is  imperative,  not  only  out  of  regard  for  personal 
welfare,  but  also  out  of  regard  for  descendants.  His  constitution  will 
be  considered  as  an  entailed  estate,  which  he  ought  to  pass  on  unin- 
jured if  not  improved  to  those  who  follow  ;  and  it  will  be  held  that 
millions  bequeathed  by  him  will  not  compensate  for  feeble  health  and 
decreased  ability  to  enjoy  life.  Once  more,  there  is  the  injury  to  fel- 
low-citizens, taking  the  shape  of  undue  disregard  of  competitors.  I 
hear  that  a  great  trader  among  you  deliberately  endeavored  to  crush 
out  every  one  whose  business  competed  with  his  own  ;  and  manifestly 
the  man  who,  making  himself  a  slave  to  accumulation,  absorbs  an  inor- 
dinate share  of  the  trade  or  profession  he  is  engaged  in,  makes  life 
harder  for  all  others  engaged  in  it,  and  excludes  from  it  many  who 
might  otherwise  gain  competencies.  Thus,  besides  the  egoistic  mo- 
tive, there  are  two  altruistic  motives  which  should  deter  from  this 
excess  in  work. 

The  truth  is,  there  needs  a  revised  ideal  of  life.  Look  back 
through  the  past,  or  look  abroad  through  the  present,  and  we  find 
that  the  ideal  of  life  is  variable,  and  depends  on  social  conditions. 
Every  one  knows  that  to  be  a  successful  warrior  was  the  highest  aim 
among  all  ancient  peoples  of  note,  as  it  is  still  among  many  barbarous 
peoples.  When  we  remember  that  in  the  Norseman's  heaven  the  time 
was  to  be  passed  in  daily  battles,  with  magical  healing  of  wounds,  we 
see  how  deeply  rooted  may  become  the  conception  that  fighting  is 
man's  proper  business,  and  that  industry  is  fit  only  for  slaves  and 
people  of  low  degree.  That  is  to  say,  when  the  chronic  struggles  of 
races  necessitate  perpetual  wars,  there  is  evolved  an  ideal  of  life 
adapted  to  the  requirements.  We  have  changed  all  that  in  modern 
civilized  societies,  especially  in  England,  and  still  more  in  America. 
With  the  decline  of  militant  activity,  and  the  growth  of  industrial 
activity,  the  occupations  once  disgraceful  have  become  honorable. 
The  duty  to  work  has  taken  the  place  of  the  duty  to  fight ;  and  in  the 
one  case,  as  in  the  other,  the  ideal  of  life  has  become  so  well  estab- 
lished that  scarcely  any  dream  of  questioning  it.  Practically,  business 
has  been  substituted  for  war  as  the  purpose  of  existence. 

Is  this  modern  ideal  to  survive  throughout  the  future  ?  I  think 
not.  While  all  other  things  undergo  continuous  change,  it  is  impossi- 
ble that  ideals  should  remain  fixed.  The  ancient  ideal  was  appropriate 
to  the  ages  of  conquest  by  man  over  man,  and  spread  of  the  strongest 
races.  The  modern  ideal  is  appropriate  to  ages  in  which  conquest  of 
the  earth  and  subjection  of  the  powers  of  Nature  to  human  use  is  the 
predominant  need.  But  hereafter,  when  both  these  ends  have  in  the 
main  been  achieved,  the  ideal  formed  will  probably  differ  considerably 
from  the  present  one.     May  we  not  foresee  the   nature  of  the  differ- 


358  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

ence  ?  I  think  we  may.  Some  twenty  years  ago,  a  good  friend  of 
mine  and  a  good  friend  of  yours,  too,  though  you  never  saw  him,  John 
Stuart  Mill,  delivered  at  St.  Andrews  an  inaugural  address  on  the 
occasion  of  his  appointment  to  the  Lord  Rectorship.  It  contained 
much  to  be  admired,  as  did  all  he  wrote.  There  ran  through  it,  how- 
ever, the  tacit  assumption  that  life  is  for  learning  and  working.  I  felt 
at  the  time  that  I  should  have  liked  to  take  up  the  opposite  thesis.  I 
should  have  liked  to  contend  that  life  is  not  for  learning,  nor  is  life  for 
working,  but  learning  and  working  are  for  life.  The  primary  use  of 
knowledge  is  for  such  guidance  of  conduct  under  all  circumstances  as 
shall  make  living  complete.  All  other  uses  of  knowledge  are  second- 
ary. It  scarcely  needs  saying  that  the  primary  use  of  work  is  that 
of  supplying  the  materials  and  aids  to  living  completely  ;  and  that  any 
other  uses  of  work  are  secondary.  But  in  men's  conceptions  the  sec- 
ondary has  in  great  measure  usurped  the  place  of  the  primary.  The 
apostle  of  culture,  as  it  is  commonly  conceived,  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold, 
makes  little  or  no  reference  to  the  fact  that  the  first  use  of  knowledge 
is  the  right  ordering  of  all  actions  ;  and  Mr.  Carlyle,  who  is  a  good 
exponent  of  current  ideas  about  work,  insists  on  its  virtues  for  quite 
other  reasons  than  that  it  achieves  sustentation.  We  may  trace  every- 
where in  human  affairs  a  tendency  to  transform  the  means  into  the 
end.  All  see  that  the  miser  does  this  when,  making  the  accumulation 
of  money  his  sole  satisfaction,  he  forgets  that  money  is  of  value  only 
to  purchase  satisfactions.  But  it  is  less  commonly  seen  that  the  like 
is  true  of  the  work  by  which  the  money  is  accumulated — that  indus- 
try, too,  bodily  or  mental,  is  but  a  means,  and  that  it  is  as  irrational 
to  pursue  it  to  the  exclusion  of  that  complete  living  it  subserves  as  it 
is  for  the  miser  to  accumulate  money  and  make  no  use  of  it.  Here- 
after, when  this  age  of  active  material  progress  has  yielded  mankind 
its  benefits,  there  will,  I  think,  come  a  better  adjustment  of  labor  and 
enjoyment.  Among  reasons  for  thinking  this,  there  is  the  reason  that 
the  pi'ocess  of  evolution  throusrhout  the  organic  world  at  lars^e  brinsrs 
an  increasing  surplus  of  energies  that  are  not  absorbed  in  fulfilling 
material  needs,  and  points  to  a  still  larger  surplus  for  humanity  of  tie 
future.  And  there  are  other  reasons  which  I  must  pass  over.  In  brief, 
I  may  say  that  we  have  had  somewhat  too  much  of  the  "  gospel  of 
work."     It  is  time  to  preach  the  gospel  of  relaxation. 

This  is  a  very  unconventional  after-dinner  speech.  Especially  it 
will  be  thought  strange  that  in  returning  thanks  I  should  deliver  some- 
thing very  much  like  a  homily.  But  I  have  thought  I  could  not  bet- 
ter convey  my  thanks  than  by  the  expression  of  a  sympathy  which 
issues  in  a  fear.  If,  as  I  gather,  this  intemperance  in  work  affects 
more  especially  the  Anglo-American  part  of  the  population — if  there 
results  an  undermining  of  the  physique  not  only  in  adults,  but  also 
in  the  young,  who,  as  I  learn  from  your  daily  journals,  are  also  being 
injured  by  overwork — if  the  ultimate  consequence  should  be  a  dwin- 


INFLUENCE   OF  EDUCATION   ON   OBSERVATION.  359 

clling  away  of  those  among  you  who  are  the  inheritors  of  free  institutions 
and  best  adapted  to  them — then  there  will  come  a  further  difficulty 
in  the  working  out  of  that  great  future  which  lies  before  the  Ameri- 
can nation.  To  my  anxiety  on  this  account  you  must  please  ascribe 
the  unusual  character  of  my  remarks. 

And  now  I  must  bid  you  farewell.  When  I  sail  by  the  Germanic 
on  Saturday,  I  shall  bear  with  me  pleasant  remembrances  of  my  inter- 
course with  many  Americans,  joined  with  regrets  that  my  state  of 
health  has  prevented  me  from  seeing  a  larger  number. 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  EDUCATION  ON  OBSERVATION. 

IT  was  lately  remarked  in  these  columns  that  one  of  the  dangers 
attendant  on  education  was  that  it  might  lessen  men's  powers  of 
observation.  There  is  no  doubt,  we  apprehend,  that  this  possibility 
does  exist.  Bookishness  and  absence  of  mind  are  no  new  faults  among 
students.  Among  the  more  cultivated  classes  they  have,  indeed,  been 
for  a  considerable  time  in  process  of  diminution,  and  the  last  half- 
century  more  particularly  has  seen  a  great  change  in  this  respect. 
Physical  science  has  roused  students,  who  in  former  ages  would  have 
been  abstract  thinkers  and  nothing  more,  to  careful  and  steady  obser- 
vation of  external  things.  Facilities  of  traveling  have  acted  as  another 
stimulus  in  the  same  direction  ;  and  the  love  of  nature  has  been  a 
power  over  sentimental  minds,  and  has  led  them  insensibly  from  a 
quiet  enjoyment  of  their  surroundings  to  more  active  investigation. 
So  that  altogether  the  classes  which  at  the  present  day  have  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  hig-her  education  are  far  more  observant  than  were 
their  forerunners  of  three  or  four  centuries  ago  ;  and,  though  even 
now  many  of  the  mathematicians  and  philosophers  who  walk  the 
streets  of  our  universities  live  largely  in  a  mood  of  abstract  thought, 
we  must  be  careful  of  finding  undue  fault  with  this,  for  the  inward 
eye  has  some  claims  not  lightly  to  be  despised.  But,  with  respect  to 
the  mass  of  the  nation,  the  question  we  have  raised  is  one  that  deserves 
a  good  deal  of  attention.  Popular  education  is  still  in  the  bookish 
stage  ;  and,  without  complaining  of  what  is  inevitable,  we  may  and 
ought  to  inquire  whether  literary  study  does  now  in  the  lower  ranks 
promote  that  vice  of  inobservance  which  it  certainly  promoted  in 
the  higher  ranks  a  century  or  two  ago.  Equally  we  have  to  inquire 
whether  the  virtue  which  is  the  converse  of  this  error  may  be  fos- 
tered ;  whether  and  how  the  study  of  books  may  be  made  to  minister 
to  powers  of  direct  observation,  instead  of  being  adverse  to  them,  and 
to  assist  in  the  general  business  of  life. 

Litei'ary  study  may  conceivably  impede  our  observant  faculties, 


360  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

either  by  suggesting  problems  that  appear  to  demand  pure  thinking 
alone  for  their  solution,  or  by  imbuing  the  mind  with  an  ambitious 
tone,  in  which  the  ordinary  events  of  e very-day  experience  are  looked 
upon  as  unworthy  of  notice.  In  the  latter  case  it  must  be  acting  mis- 
chievously ;  in  the  former  case  it  may  be  mischievous,  though  it  is 
not  always  so.  If  a  problem  is  really  of  a  purely  abstract  character, 
it  is  inevitable  that  external  observation  should  be  lulled  during  the 
investigation  of  it.  Newton  was  in  many  respects  an  inobservant, 
absent-minded  man  ;  but  without  that  inobservance  he  could  not  have 
been  the  master  of  abstract  thought  that  he  was,  or  have  made  the 
discoveries  that  have  been  so  powerfully  beneficial  to  the  human  race. 
But  there  are  many  problems  which  have  an  appearance  of  being  ab- 
stract, and  soluble  by  pure  thought  alone,  in  which  this  is  by  no  means 
really  the  case.  Questions  of  ethics,  of  political  economy,  of  art,  are 
of  this  nature  ;  they  have  a  delusive  appearance  of  abstraction  from 
the  actual  world  in  which  we  live  ;  and  many  an  inquirer  has  gone 
round  and  round  in  them  in  a  profitless  circle,  without  being  aware 
that  the  element  needed  to  render  him  successful  was  not  brain-power 
at  all,  but  experience  of  men  and  things.  The  danger,  however,  that 
the  faculties  of  observation  may  be  blunted  by  an  excess  of  abstract 
thought  is  not  very  great  in  the  popular  education  of  the  present  day. 
But  the  danger  that  they  may  be  blunted  by  mistaken  ambition  is  a 
real  one.  The  clever  and  educated  poor  will  at  times  despise  the  com- 
mon incidents  of  daily  life,  in  comparison  with  that  larger  sphere  to 
which  books  give  them  an  introduction  in  imagination,  though  not  in 
reality.  Housekeepers  find  that  servants  neglect  the  pots  and  pans 
and  dishes,  can  not  find  anything  when  it  is  wanted,  can  not  see  cob- 
webs in  the  corners  or  dust  upon  the  shelves  and  tables,  while  their 
attention  is  devoted  to  the  pleasures  of  literature  in  some,  very  often 
questionable,  form.  Farmers,  we  have  been  told,  complain  of  the  de- 
generacy of  plowboys  from  the  same  cause.  True,  farmers  are  a 
complaining  race,  and  their  misfortunes  of  late  years  may  have  made 
them  more  querulous  than  usual ;  but  their  testimony  should  not  be 
quite  disregarded.  Some  considerable  application  of  the  maxim  that 
people  should  do  their  duty  in  their  own  station  will  be  found  to  give 
no  unneeded  help  to  the  observant  faculties  at  a  time  of  large  gen- 
eral progress,  when  hopes  and  ideas  are  apt  to  be  extensive  and 
vague. 

But  it  is  not  enough  that  education  should  refrain  from  hindering 
the  faculties  of  observation  ;  it  ought,  if  it  is  sound,  actually  to  pro- 
mote and  enlarge  those  faculties.  How  this  may  be  done  is  a  problem 
not  without  difficulty.  While  the  fault  of  inobservance  is  simple  and 
single  in  its  nature,  the  virtue  of  ready  observation  is  complex,  re- 
lating to  many  different  spheres  ;  he  who  possesses  it  in  one  sphere 
may  lack  it  in  another.  When  Thales,  looking  at  the  stars,  tumbled 
into  a  well  that  lay  before  his  feet,  he  was  partly  very  inobservant, 


INFLUENCE   OF  EDUCATION   ON   OBSERVATION  361 

partly  very  observant  ;  by  the  one  quality  he  doubtless  incommoded 
himself  grievously,  by  the  other  he  discovered  how  to  predict  eclipses, 
saved  mankind  from  a  certain  amount  of  irrational  panic,  and  won  for 
himself  a  great  reputation.  To  Thales  the  balance  was  for  good  ;  but 
it  would  not  be  safe  to  affirm  that  this  would  be  the  case  with  every 
one  who  walked  with  his  head  in  the  air  looking  at  the  stars. 

Thus  the  direction  in  which  observation  may  be  most  usefully 
practiced  varies  with  the  circumstances  of  the  case  ;  with  the  circum- 
stances of  the  pupil  when  education  is  in  question  ;  and  is  not  the 
same  in  the  different  ranks  of  society.  The  problem  has,  we  think, 
been  most  successfully  solved  at  present  in  the  colleges,  more  or  less 
recently  founded,  of  our  great  northern  towns.  There,  physical  sci- 
ence is  in  demand  for  practical  purposes,  and  educational  institutions 
accommodate  themselves  to  the  demand.  But,  in  the  elder  universities 
and  the  elementary  schools  alike,  an  equal  measure  of  solution  has  not 
yet  been  attained.  Oxford  and  Cambridge  students  (to  begin  with 
the  higher  rank)  have  not,  as  a  rule,  any  plain  and  visible  necessity 
for  physical  science  as  an  aid  in  their  future  employments.  But  there 
is  another  side  of  science  besides  the  immediately  practical  one — a  side 
which  ought  to  be  held  of  especial  value  in  institutions  that  have  un- 
der their  survey  the  largest  interests  of  humanity.  The  great  sciences 
of  observation — astronomy,  geology,  and  the  natural  history  of  ani- 
mals and  plants — are  more  noticeable  for  their  ideal  than  for  their 
practical  side,  though  they  do  touch  on  practice  also.  They  give  sub- 
lime views  of  the  universe,  such  as  it  is  a  refreshment  and  consolation 
to  possess,  and  such  as  touch  not  remotely  on  the  destiny  and  happi- 
ness of  man.  We  in  England,  at  any  rate,  are  not  hopeless  of  the 
reconciliation  of  these  views  with  the  religious  ideal  that  we  have  re- 
ceivecl.  But  it  is  the  apparent  collision,  on  certain  points,  between 
the  new  and  the  old  that  has  impeded  the  reception  of  these  sciences 
in  those  respects  in  which  they  are  so  calculated  to  elicit  human  feel- 
ing, and  therefore  so  appropriate  as  studies  in  our  elder  and  chief  uni- 
versities. In  astronomy,  indeed,  the  collision  with  religion  has  been 
long  ago  practically  surmounted.  But  the  observational  side  of  astron- 
omy has  been  rather  sunk  at  Cambridge  and  Oxford  in  comparison 
with  its  mathematical  side.  It  may  be  suspected  that  many  students 
of  astronomy  (though  not  astronomers  prcmer)  have  less  knowledge  of 
the  actual  face  of  the  heavens  than  had  those  Chaldean  shepherds  who 
roamed  the  plains  of  the  East  thousands  of  years  ago,  in  whom  the 
science  originated. 

When  we  come  to  the  poorer  extreme  of  society,  though  the  ele- 
mentary education  of  the  country  does  not  quite  ignore  the  cultivation 
of  the  observant  faculties,  neither  does  it,  in  our  opinion,  lay  sufficient 
stress  upon  them.  The  arts  of  reading  and  writing,  and  the  study  of 
arithmetic,  taken  simply  by  themselves,  have  a  tendency  to  withdraw 
the  mind  from  the  outer  world,  and  it  needs  a  corrective  to  restore 


362  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

the  balance.  That  corrective  may,  in  certain  cases,  be  supplied  by 
the  subject-matter  of  the  books  read,  if  it  is  required  that  they  shall 
be  intelligently  understood.  At  the  same  time,  such  a  requirement 
must  be  very  positive  and  direct  in  order  not  to  be  evaded.  Though 
the  Education  Department  does  at  the  present  moment  require  from 
children  in  elementary  schools,  not  merely  an  intelligent  style  of  read- 
ing, but  also  (in  the  upper  standards)  an  acquaintance  with  the  subject- 
matter  of  the  books  read,  it  would  naturally  be  felt  to  be  extremely 
hard  that  a  child  should  be  declared  to  have  failed  in  reading  because 
he  or  she  showed  a  want  of  proper  observation.  But  we  should  like 
to  see  this  whole  topic  of  intelligent  acquaintance  with  the  subject- 
matter  of  the  books  read  removed  from  the  mere  art  of  reading,  and 
constituted  into  a  separate  subject  by  itself— say  into  a  class  subject, 
such  as  geography  and  grammar  are  now.  If  this  were  done,  it  would 
not  be  hard  upon  a  child  to  demand  from  it  some  amount  of  observa- 
tion as  well  as  intelligence.  If,  for  instance,  the  reading-book  referred 
to  any  agricultural  operation,  such  as  harvesting,  or  to  some  well- 
known  plant  or  flower  or  vegetable,  or  to  cattle,  or  to  birds,  whether 
migratory  or  permanent  in  the  country,  then  in  a  country  school  the 
children  might  fairly  be  questioned  so  as  to  bring  out  what  they  them- 
selves had  observed  on  these  matters.  In  a  town  school  questions 
might  be  asked  on  other  matters  to  which  reading-books  would  also 
now  and  then  make  reference — railways,  stations,  the  different  public 
buildings  and  their  uses,  the  trades  or  manufactures  specially  practiced 
in  the  town.  We  can  not  but  think  that  there  is  a  real  gap  in  the 
training  of  children  in  the  poorer  classes,  and  that  the  step  we  here 
recommend  might  do  much  to  fill  it. 

It  is  true,  and  we  note  the  fact  with  pleasure,  that  the  Education 
Department  has  of  late  encouraged  methods  of  teaching  geography 
which  brine:  out  that  side  in  which  it  is  connected  with  direct  obser- 
vation.  The  suggestion  that  in  every  school  the  meridian  line  should 
be  marked  on  the  floor,  in  order  that  the  points  of  the  compass  may 
be  practically  known,  is  a  valuable  one  in  this  direction.  Still  more 
so  is  the  suggestion,  almost  amounting  to  a  requirement,  that  "good 
maps  of  the  parish  or  immediate  neighborhood  in  which  the  school  is 
situated  should  be  affixed  to  the  walls."  But  of  course  the  value  of 
these  appliances  depends  on  the  way  in  which  they  are  used.  The 
meridian  line  may  be  marked  with  exactness,  the  map  of  the  parish 
may  be  unexceptionable,  but  if  the  knowledge  of  these  points  is  not 
interwoven  with  the  daily  teaching  it  will  be  fruitless.  And  we  can 
not  but  regret  that  the  Education  Department  should  treat  geography 
as  a  subject  inferior  in  importance  to  grammar.  This  is  to  place  the 
abstract  before  the  concrete,  which  is  contrary  to  all  natural  and  true 
method.  We  are  sure  that  it  needs  far  greater  skill  to  render  a  gram- 
mar-lesson really  fruitful  and  beneficial  than  to  render  a  geography- 
lesson  so.     When  grammar  is  made  almost  a  necessity,  while  geogra- 


INFLUENCE   OF  EDUCATION   ON   OBSERVATION.  363 

phy  is  distinctly  not  a  necessity,  how  is  it  possible  but  that  geography 
must  go  to  the  wall  ?  There  is,  indeed,  another  class  subject  recog- 
nized by  the  Education  Department  in  their  New  Code  which  would 
cultivate  observation  even  more,  perhaps,  than  geography  does — 
namely,  elementary  science.  But  we  presume  it  is  the  opinion  of  the 
Department  itself  (as  it  certainly  is  our  own)  that  this  subject  will 
not  be  largely  used  ;  for,  in  the  recently  issued  "  Instructions  to  In- 
spectors "  it  is  passed  over  very  cursorily,  without  the  least  indication 
as  to  the  parts  of  natural  science  to  be  preferred,  or  any  more  than 
the  vaguest  as  to  methods.  Elementary  science  will  have  a  very  up- 
hill battle  to  fight  if  it  is  to  win  any  real  recognition,  where  the  rec- 
ognition of  it  involves  the  discarding  of  the  more  familiar  geography, 
which  by  the  terms  of  the  Code  it  does.  But  our  fear  is  that  geogra- 
phy and  elementary  science  will  alike  play  but  a  poor  part,  in  view  of 
the  superior  importance  and  extended  meaning  given  to  grammar  in 
the  New  Code.  And,  while  some  of  the  "  specific  subjects "  of  the 
Code  are  such  as  would  encourage  the  observant  faculties,,  these  sub- 
jects are  taken  up  by  so  small  a  number  of  children  as  hardly  to  affect 
the  broad  question  Ave  are  discussing. 

A  suggestion,  however,  has  been  made  which,  if  it  could  be  carried 
out,  would  undoubtedly  bring  popular  education  into  more  direct  re- 
lations with  the  external  world,  and  therefore  encourage  the  observant 
faculties  more  than  is  the  case  at  present.  This  is  that,  just  as  girls 
are  taught  needle-work,  so  boys  should  in  the  course  of  their  education 
be  taught  some  elements  of  their  future  practical  work  in  life.  This 
has  especially  been  urged  in  the  interests  of  agriculture,  and  it  has 
been  thought  that  boys  might  be  taught,  while  still  at  school,  so  much 
of  the  rudiments  of  farming  as  would  greatly  improve  their  future 
capacity.  Of  this  proposal  we  can  only  say  that  we  should  be  glad  if 
it  could  be  found  practicable,  but  we  are  afraid  the  difficulties  of  con- 
necting practical  farming  with  school-work  would  be  found  very  great. 
It  might  be  easier  to  bring  gardening  into  the  school  routine.  But  all 
that  can  here  be  said  is  that  this  suggestion,  like  all  others  that  tend 
to  relieve  popular  education  from  mere  formalizing,  deserves  atten- 
tion ;  and  that,  if  the  difficulties  which  it  appears  to  present  could  be 
got  over,  it  would  certainly  be  a  great  benefit  to  the  country. — 
Saturday  Meview. 


364  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


SPECULATIVE  ZOOLOGY. 

By  Professor  W.  K.  BEOOKS, 

OF  JOHNS   HOPKINS    UNIVERSITY. 
II. 

WE  will  now  examine  our  various  sources  of  information,  in  order 
to  see  how  far  the  evidence  which  they  furnish  can  be  used  to 
establish  phylogenies. 

Comparative  anatomy  might  not  at  first  sight  be  expected  to  yield 
much  of  this  kind  of  evidence,  for  the  only  animals  which  we  can 
study  thoroughly  are  those  recent  ones  which  have  diverged  very 
widely  from  their  remote  ancestors  ;  and,  while  it  is  true  that  the  study 
of  the  structure  of  living  animals  does  not  furnish  direct  evidence, 
the  doctrine  of  homology  supplies  a  means  of  sifting  out,  by  general 
comparisons,  what  has  been  recently  acquired  from  what  is  more 
deep  seated,  and  of  thus  arranging  animals  in  a  series  of  groups  of 
greater  and  greater  extent  and  less  and  less  contact.  This  classifica- 
tion of  animals  upon  morphological  grounds  is  essentially  phylogenetic, 
for  the  difference  between  a  system  of  converging  lines  and  a  sys- 
tem of  more  and  more  inclusive  definitions  is  simply  a  difference  in 
the  manner  of  expression  ;  nor  can  it  be  said  that  the  one  method 
assumes  the  disputed  point,  genetic  relationship,  any  more  than  the 
other,  for  the  naturalist  who  believes  that  classification  is  not  simply  a 
matter  of  convenience,  but  that  there  is  one  natural  system,  and  that, 
according  to  this  system,  living  things  fall  into  a  few  great  groups, 
each  of  which  is  characterized  by  certain  general  features,  and  that 
each  of  these  groups  is  divided  into  smaller  groups  distinguished  in  a 
similar  way,  and  these  again  into  smaller  groups,  and  so  on,  tacitly 
assumes  that  the  natural  system  of  classification  or  relationship  is  what 
we  should  expect  it  to  be  if  the  theory  of  descent  with  modification  is 
true. 

If  there  is  a  natural  "  systematic  classification,"  it  must  be  exactly  the 
same  as  a  phylogenetic  tree,  and  the  idea  of  descent  is  no  more  essential 
in  the  one  case  than  it  is  in  the  other  ;  they  are  simply  different  ways 
of  expressing  the  same  thing,  the  relationship  of  living  things,  and 
neither  of  them  involves  more  than  the  other  any  particular  interpre- 
tation of  the  word  relationship  ;  nor  can  it  be  said  that,  while  the  one 
method  assumes  that  the  larger  trunks  of  the  system  have  at  some 
time  been  embodied  in  actual  organisms,  the  second  method  allows  us 
to  believe  that  these  groups  are  purely  ideal,  for,  although  this  latter 
conception  may  have  been  defensible  to  some  extent  in  the  early  days 
of  morphological  science,  the  progress  of  discovery  has  shown  that 
even  nowadays  animals  exist  in  which  the  characteristics  of  a  branch 


SPECULATIVE  ZOOLOGY.  365 

or  of  a  class  or  order  are  exhibited  in  their  simplicity,  and  uncom- 
plicated by  the  presence  of  the  characteristics  of  any  of  the  minor 
divisions  of  the  group  :  thus  amphioxus  is  a  generalized  or  diagram- 
matic vertebrate,  with  structural  features  which  are  common  to  the 
whole  group,  and  none  of  the  distinctive  marks  of  any  of  the  great 
subdivisions  of  the  group.  In  a  phylogenetic  tree  such  a  form  would 
be  represented  by  a  line  running  almost  directly  upward  from  a  point 
where  great  branches  diverge  from  a  common  stem  ;  and  the  fact  that 
these  generalized  forms  are  much  more  often  found  among  fossil  than 
among  recent  animals  is  very  suggestive. 

This  short  analysis  is  sufficient  to  show  that  the  essential  similarity 
between  a  system  of  classification  based  on  homology  and  a  phylo- 
genetic tree  is  so  great  that  all  objections  to  the  one  method  of  gen- 
eralizing from  the  facts  must  apply  to  the  other.  If  phylogenetic 
speculations  retard  science,  speculations  upon  homology  must  do  the 
same  thing,  and  the  only  way  to  avoid  danger  will  be  to  stick  to 
facts,  and,  stripping  our  science  of  all  that  renders  it  worthy  of  think- 
ing men,  to  become  mere  observing  machines. 

As  it  is  plain  that  the  strictest  construction  of  the  proper  scope 
and  limits  of  scientific  thought  does  not  make  any  such  demands  as 
this,  we  may  feel  at  liberty  to  speculate  upon  phylogeny  with  such 
a  basis  as  is  furnished  by  the  comparative  study  of  the  systematic 
relationship  of  living  animals,  but  we  are  not  able  to  go  very  far  in 
this  direction,  for  nearly  all  living  animals  fall  into  a  few  great  well- 
defined  groups,  and  generalized  types  are  the  exception.  Our  conclu- 
sions must,  therefore,  be  very  vague  and  general,  and  we  turn  to  the 
paleontological  record  for  more  exact  data  ;  but  here,  again,  we  soon 
meet  with  limitations  which  prevent  any  very  exact  and  definite  gener- 
alizations. One  of  these  limitations,  the  imperfection  of  the  record, 
we  have  already  examined,  and  another  is  due  to  the  fact  that  most 
of  the  main  stems  of  the  phylogenetic  tree,  and  the  minor  branches  of 
many  of  them,  were  established  before  the  time  of  the  oldest  fossil- 
iferous  rocks,  and  we  can  not  hope  to  find  fossil  remains  of  the  unspe- 
cialized  ancestors  from  which  they  were  derived.  This  renders  it 
hopeless  for  us  to  attempt  actual  proof  of  the  more  deep-seated  phylo- 
genetic relationships  ;  and  another  consideration,  which  we  will  now 
examine,  renders  the  discovery  of  the  exact  relationship  of  smaller 
groups  of  genera  and  species  almost  equally  hopeless,  even  when  the 
most  ample  series  of  fossils  is  discovered. 

All  that  we  know  of  variation  indicates  that  it  is  not  induced  in 
the  adult,  but  that  it  is  congenital,  and  the  effect  of  some  force  which 
has  acted  upon  or  through  the  parents.  Hence  it  happens  that,  when 
a  new  variety  is  produced,  it  is  not  usually  by  the  addition  of  some- 
thing new  to  the  characteristics  of  a  mature  animal,  but  by  a  diver- 
gence which  shows  itself  before  maturity  is  reached.  When  we  com- 
pare two  closely  related  species  or  varieties  of  birds,  we  do  not  find 


366 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


that  one  is  like  the  other  with  additions,  but  we  find  that  the  young 
are  alike  up  to  a  certain  point,  where  the  divergence  of  the  adults  be- 
gins. If  the  letter  A,  in  diagram  2,  represents  an  adult  animal,  and 
the  series  of  dots  in  the  vertical  line  a  few  of  the  stages  of  its  devel- 
opment between  birth  and  maturity,  the  relationship  between  A  and  a 
closely  allied  species,  B,  would  not  usually  be  of  such  a  kind  that  it 

could  be  expressed  by  the  line  A  B, 
■  P  but  by  a  line  B  c,  running  back  to 
a  younger  stage  of  A.  Since  the 
duration  of  mature  life  is  usually 
much  longer  than  the  period  of  de- 
velopment, adults  are  generally  more 
numerous  than  young  individuals, 
and,  as  their  hard  parts  are  in  most 
cases  more  fully  developed,  there 
is  a  much  greater  chance  of  finding 
adult  than  young  specimens  of  fos- 
sil species.  Even  if  we  should  find 
in  a  recent  geological  formation  the 
adult  fossil  ancestor  A  of  a  recent 
species  B,  the  agreement  between 
the  two  would  be  inexact,  and  could 
not  be  fully  perceived  until  we  had 
compared  a  number  of  stages  in  the 
development  of  B  with  correspond- 
ing stages  in  the  development  of 
A  ;  and  a  reference  to  diagram  2 
will  show  that  the  actual  relation- 
ship of  B  to  still  another  species,  D,  might  be  just  as  close  as  its  re- 
lationship to  A,  although  B  might  be  much  more  different  from  D 
than  from  A.  The  complexity  of  the  case  would  be  still  further  in- 
creased if  D  were  met  with  in  a  more  recent  stratum  than  that  which 
yielded  A,  and  in  this  case  the  preservation,  discovery,  and  identifica- 
tion of  three  distinct  sets  of  young  forms  would  be  necessary  before 
the  relationships  of  A,  B,  and  D  could  be  unraveled.  In  nature  few 
cases  are  so  simple  as  this,  and,  where  a  dozen  species  are  involved,  the 
complexity  would  be  so  great  that  no  one  who  has  had  any  practical 
acquaintance  with  the  difficulty  of  identifying  immature  animals  with 
certainty,  without  rearing  them,  could  have  any  hope  of  complete,  ex- 
act, and  definite  evidence  of  phytogeny  from  fossils. 

While  this  is  true  in  every  case,  its  truth  is  most  obvious  where 
animals  have  become  adapted  to  new  conditions  of  life,  not  by  the  ac- 
quisition of  new  specializations  of  structure,  but  by  the  loss  of  old  ones. 
The  occurrence  of  unquestionable  cases  of  simplification,  or  what  is 
usually  called  degradation,  is  well  known  to  naturalists,  but,  as  these 
cases  are  not  so  well  known  to  the  unscientific  public  as  their  signifi- 


Fig.  2. 


SPECULATIVE  ZOOLOGY.  367 

cance  in  any  general  theory  of  life  demands,  a  short  account  of  one  of 
the  less  complex  instances  will  not  be  out  of  place. 

Entoconcha  is  an  extremely  simple,  worm-like  animal,  which  lives, 
as  a  parasite,  inside  the  body  of  an  holothurian.  It  is  fastened,  by  a 
button-like  head,  into  a  perforation  in  the  wall  of  the  digestive  tract 
of  the  holothurian  in  such  a  way  that,  while  its  mouth  opens  into  the 
digestive  cavity,  its  long,  contorted  body  hangs  in  the  body  cavity  of 
its  host,  so  that  it  is  bathed  by  its  fluids,  and  protected  by  its  body- 
wall.  As  the  digested  food  passes  by  its  mouth  the  animal  sucks  it 
into  its  rudimentary  stomach,  and,  as  all  its  wants  are  thus  provided 
for,  the  conditions  of  its  life  are  extremely  simple,  and  its  bodily 
structure  exhibits  a  corresponding  simplicity,  and  it  may  be  described 
as  a  long,  cylindrical,  worm-like  animal,  with  a  simple,  pouch-like 
stomach  which  opens  by  the  mouth  at  the  anterior  end,  and  occupies 
about  one  half  the  length  of  the  body,  while  the  other  half  is  filled  by 
the  equally  simple  organs  of  reproduction.  It  is  as  lowly  organized  as 
the  simplest  of  parasitic  worms,  and  it  is  only  by  a  study  of  its  devel- 
opment that  we  learn  it  is  not  a  worm  at  all,  but  a  gasteropod  mollusk, 
which  has  become  degraded  or  simplified  to  adapt  it  to  a  parasitic  life. 
The  ordinary  gasteropods,  the  snails,  conchs,  etc.,  are  animals  of  quite 
high  organization.  They  are  usually  provided  with  a  protecting 
shell,  and  their  organs  of  locomotion  are  well  developed.  In  connec- 
tion with  a  specialized  muscular  system,  they  possess  a  well-marked 
and  complex  nervous  system,  as  well  as  sense-organs,  such  as  eyes, 
tentacles,  and  hearing  organs.  The  digestive  organs  are  quite  highly 
specialized,  and  consist  of  parts  which  bear  a  close  physiological  re- 
semblance to  those  of  a  vertebrate.  The  food  is  masticated  by  a  very 
complicated  system  of  jaws  and  teeth,  and  after  it  has  been  mixed  with 
a  secretion,  which  is  poured  into  the  mouth  by  salivary  glands,  it 
passes  through  a  long  muscular  oesophagus  into  the  stomach,  where  it 
is  acted  upon  by  fluids  furnished  by  a  liver  and  other  glands,  before  it 
passes  into  the  long,  convoluted  intestine,  where  the  nutritive  portions 
are  absorbed  into  the  blood,  while  the  waste  products  are  discharged 
from  the  body  through  the  anus.  The  nutritive  matter  is  driven  to  all 
parts  of  the  body,  with  the  blood,  through  a  system  of  arteries  and 
veins,  by  a  pulsating  heart,  and  during  a  part  of  its  course  the  blood 
passes  through  respiratory  organs,  where  it  is  aerated  by  contact  with 
the  air  or  water.  The  waste  products  are  excreted  from  the  blood  by 
renal  organs,  and  the  organs  of  reproduction  are  extremely  complicated 
and  highly  specialized. 

The  animal  which  has  been  seen  to  hatch  from  the  egg  of  ento- 
concha is  a  young  gasteropod,  which,  like  the  young  of  ordinary  forms, 
has  a  spiral  shell,  a  muscular  locomotor  foot,  tentacles,  eyes,  hearing 
organs,  and  a  nervous  system  like  that  of  other  gasteropods  at  the 
same  stage  of  growth.  The  digestive  tract  is  divided  into  regions, 
like   those  of   an   ordinary   gasteropod,  and   the   young   entoconcha 


368 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


C      A 


has  no  peculiarities  to  indicate  that  the  structure  and  habits  of  the 
adult  are  to  be  in  any  way  strange  or  unusual  ;  but  after  a  time  it  finds 
its  way,  in  some  manner  which  has  not  been  clearly  made  out,  into  the 
body  of  an  holothurian,  and  this  change  in  its  habits  is  accompanied 
by  a  most  marvelous  change  in  its  organization.  It  now  has  no  shell, 
since  the  body-wall  of  its  host  affords  ample  protection,  and,  as  it  no 
longer  needs  to  change  its  position  in  search  of  food,  or  to  escape  its 
enemies,  its  foot  and  specialized  muscles  have  disappeared.  Its  organs 
of  sense  are  wanting,  and  the  nervous  system  is  so  rudimentary  that 
no  traces  of  it  can  be  discovered.  It  has  no  need  of  organs  to  capt- 
ure, masticate,  or  digest  its  food,  since  it  sucks  this,  already  digested, 
from  the  stomach  of  its  host,  and  its  digestive  system  has  accordingly 
become  reduced  to  a  simple  pouch,  with  only  one  opening — the  mouth 
— and,  as  the  whole  surface  of  the  body  is  bathed  by  the  blood  which 
is  aerated  in  the  respiratory  organs  of  the  holothurian,  it  has  no  need 
for  gills,  or  heart,  or  blood-vessels,  and,  so  far  as  our  knowledge  goes, 
these  organs  are  entirely  lacking. 

Of  the  highly  specialized  organs  of  a  gas- 
P  teropod  only  the  simple  stomach,  the  reproduc- 
/  tive  organs,  and  the  slightly  muscular  body- 
wall  remain,  and  no  person  who  is  not  ac- 
quainted with  the  fact  that  young  snails  with 
spiral  shells  have  been  seen  to  come  from  its 
eggs  would  suspect  that  entoconcha  is  a  mol- 
lusk. 

Such  cases,  which  modern  research  has 
proved  to  be  by  no  means  infrequent,  show 
that  the  comparative  study  of  adult  animals 
can  not  furnish  a  complete  key  to  their  past 
history,  and  they  also  illustrate  how  little  is  to 
be  hoped  for  from  paleontology. 

No  one  who  accepts  the  doctrine  of  descent 
with  modification,  and  is  familiar  with  the  em- 
bryology of  the  gasteropods,  can  doubt  that,  if 
we  were  able  to  trace  back  the  pedigree  of  ento- 
concha, we  should  be  led  to  a  remote  ancestor 
which  was  an  ordinary  gasteropod  ;  not  neces- 
-~  n  sarily  a  species  exactly  like  any  we  know,  but 
a  form  with  general  gasteropod  characteristics 
at  least :  nor  can  we  doubt  that,  if  we  were  able 
to  study  the  embryology  of  this  ancestral  form, 
which  we  may  represent  by  the  letter  A  in  diagram  3,  we  should  find  its 
life,  from  the  egg  to  maturity,  to  be  made  up  of  a  series  of  stages,  a,  b, 
c,  d,  e,f,  etc.,  substantially  like  stages  in  the  life  of  ordinary  gasteropods, 
B  and  C.  The  relation  between  the  entoconcha  of  the  present  day,  D, 
and  this  gasteropod  ancestor,  is  shown  by  the  curved  line  to  D.    Start- 


l 

i 

i 

4- 


i  / 


h 


2 

i 

J 

i 

i 

i 

e 

i 
i 
i 

d 

i 
i 

■ 

r 

i 

i 


i 

Fig.  a 


SPECULATIVE  ZOOLOGY.  369 

ing  with  the  egg,  the  young  entoconcha  passes  through  a  series  of 
stages,  a,  b,  c,  d,  e,f,  g,  h,  which  are  like  stages  in  the  development 
of  an  ordinary  gasteropod,  and  therefore  like  stages  in  the  life  of  its 
gasteropod  ancestor,  A  ;  hut,  after  reaching  a  certain  point,  it  takes 
the  back  track  shown  by  the  unbroken  line,  and,  gradually  losing  the 
structural  complexity  which  has  been  acquired,  becomes  an  adult,  D, 
which  has  reproductive  organs,  but  is,  in  other  respects,  as  unspecial- 
ized  as  an  ordinary  gasteropod  at  one  of  its  earliest  embryonic 
stages,  b. 

It  is  obvious  that  paleontology  can  give  us  little  help  in  tracing 
out  such  a  life-history  as  this,  and  we  turn  to  the  remaining  source  of 
evidence,  embryology,  to  examine  how  far  the  facts  furnished  by  this 
department  of  life-science  can  afford  a  basis  for  phylogenetic  general- 
izations. 

The  case  which  we  have  just  examined  shows  that  the  embryology 
of  two  related  forms  may  be  essentially  the  same,  since  both  of  them 
have  inherited  the  greater  part  of  their  life-history  from  a  common 
parent,  and  it  would  seem  at  first  sight  as  if  all  that  we  need,  to  enable 
us  to  trace  out  the  relationship  of  all  living  animals,  is  a  complete 
acquaintance  with  the  embryology  and  metamorphosis  of  each  one 
of  them.  A  comparison  of  all  the  stages  in  the  life  of  one  species 
with  all  the  stages  in  the  life  of  another  species  of  the  same  genus 
ought  to  show  essential  identity  ;  and  a  comparison  of  the  stages  of 
development  of  the  species  of  one  genus  with  those  of  the  species  of  a 
related  genus  ought  to  show  how  far  their  history  has  been  the  same  : 
the  common  features  in  the  embryology  of  two  allied  families  should 
show  how  far  the  history  of  the  species  in  one  of  them  has  been  the 
same  as  that  of  the  species  in  the  other,  and  so  on,  each  wider  and 
wider  comparison  showing  broader  and  broader  relationships,  until  the 
features  which  are  common  to  the  embryos  of  all  animals  unite  them 

into  one  great  group. 

As  this  may  be  clearer  in  a  more  abstract  shape,  I  will  try  to  state 
it  in  the  form  of  a  diagram  (see  Fig.  4). 

Suppose  that,  in  studying  the  development  of  four  species,  1,  2,  3, 
4,  we  find  that  1  passes  through  a  series  of  stages,  a,  b,  c,  d,  e,f,  g,  h; 
that  2  presents  the  series  a,  b,  c,  d,  e,f,  i,j,  Tc  ;  while  3  passes  through 
the  stages  a,  b,  c,  I,  m,  n,  o,  p,  q  ;  and  4  through  the  stages  a,  b,  c,  I,  m, 
r,  s,  t,  u.  A  comparison  of  these  four  life-histories  would  indicate  that 
their  common  relationships  are  such  as  are  represented  by  the  four- 
branched  tree  shown  in  Fig.  4.  We  have  already  seen  that  it  is  per- 
fectly possible  that  n  or  c  or  e  may  not  have  been  an  adult  animal, 
but  simply  a  stage  in  the  development  of  an  unknown  adult,  x ;  so 
there  would  not  be  much  chance  of  finding  m  or  e  or  c  as  a  fossil,  and 
the  embryonic  record  would  not  show  us  what  the  common  ancestor  of 
1  and  2  or  the  more  remote  ancestor  of  all  four  species  actually  was, 
but  would  simply  show  that  they  are  related  in  this  way  ;  but  it  would 
vol.  xxii. — 24 


570 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


show  this  relationship  as  conclusively  as  the  vertebrate  relationship 
of  birds  and  mammals  is  shown  by  the  presence  of  a  backbone  in 
each  of  them.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  facts  in  this  imaginary  case 
belong  to  the  same  category  with  the  facts  of  homology,  but  that  they 


1         2 

\    ' 

\  J 

M 

e, 


LL 

\ 
t 


/ 


w 


\/7 


/ 


» 


n. 


\ 


./ 


V 


/ 


TO 


/ 


CL 

Fio.  4. 

furnish  a  much  more  complete  index  of  relationship,  since  they  cover 
the  whole  life  of  the  animal,  instead  of  its  adult  form  alone. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  we  do  find  in  nature  something  like  this  hypo- 
thetical case,  and  it  is  universally  recognized  that  an  acquaintance 
with  all  the  stages  in  the  growth  of  an  animal  is  the  greatest  aid  to 
the  discovery  of  its  true  affinities  ;  as  is  well  shown  by  the  case  of 
entoconcha,  and  by  the  barnacles  which  were  classed  among  the  mol- 
lusca  until  a  knowledge  of  their  development  showed  that  they  are 
Crustacea.  When  descriptive  embryology  was  in  its  infancy,  it  so  fre- 
quently happened  that  a  knowledge  of  younger  stages  threw  a  flood 
of  light  upon  the  affinities  of  doubtful  forms,  that  naturalists  felt  a 
growing  hope  that  here  was  the  true  key  to  the  natural  system  of 
classification,  and  that  all  they  needed  for  reading  the  riddle  was  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  whole  course  of  development  of  each  form 
of  life.  If  the  embryology  of  each  animal  were  a  fixed  quantity, 
this  purely  descriptive  knowledge  would  undoubtedly  furnish  such  a 
basis  for  phylogenetic  generalizations  ;  but  the  great  advances  which 
have  been  made  in  this  field  within  the  last  twenty  years  show  conclu- 
sively that  this  is  not  the  case,  but  that  the  early  stages  in  the  life  of 
an  animal  may  undergo  modifications  which  are  quite  independent  of 
any  which  may  meanwhile  take  place  in  the  adult,  so  that,  while  the 


SPECULATIVE  ZOOLOGY. 


371 


paleontological  record  is  faulty  through  incompleteness,  that  of  em- 
bryology is  faulty  through  distortion  and  secondary  modification.  In 
general  we  do  find  the  young  stages  of  related  species  more  like  each 
other  than  the  adults,  and  the  distinctive  characteristics  of  each  are 
usually  acquired  gradually  during  the  process  of  development  ;  but 
this  rule  is  by  no  means  universal,  and  there  are  very  many  cases  in 


Fig.  6. 


Fig.  5. 


which  the  adults  of  related  species  are  more  alike  than  the  young,  and 
in  some  cases  the  difference  between  the  young  forms  is  so  great  that 
their  close  relationship  would  hardly  be  suspected  until  each  had  been 


372 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


traced  to  its  adult  form ;  and  we  have  the  converse  of  the  case  of  en- 
toconcha  where  the  true  affinities  of  a  greatly  modified  adult  are  shown 
by  its  younger  stages. 

I  give  four  figures  to  illustrate  one  such  instance,  which  is  not  by 
any  means  exceptional  or  extreme  ;  and  in  certain  groups  of  animals, 
such  as  the  Crustacea,  such  cases  are  quite  numerous. 

Fig.  5  is  a  magnified  side-view  of  a  crustacean,  Sergestes,  which 
is  not  quite  full  grown,  but  still  essentially  like  the  adult ;  and  Fig.  6 


Fig. 


is  a  similar  view  of  a  closely  related  form,  Lucifer,  in  a  similar  stage 
of  development.  Their  close  relationship  is  obvious  at  a  glance,  and 
their  resemblances,  which  are  much  more  conspicuous  than  their  dif- 
ferences, are  rendered  more  obvious  by  careful  study  ;  but  the  case  is 


SPECULATIVE  ZOOLOGY. 


373 


quite  different  when  the  younger  stages  are  compared,  and  at  first  sight 
no  one  would  suspect  that  the  Sergestes  larva  (Fig.  7)  and  the  Lucifer 
larva  (Fig.  8)  are  corresponding  stages  in  the  development  of  two  ani- 
mals as  similar  to  each  other  as  those  shown  in  Figs.  5  and  6. 

Not  only  do  we  find  animals  whose  young  stages  differ  more  than 
the  adults,  but  we  also  meet 
cases  —  and  they  are  very  nu- 
merous indeed — where  the  or- 
der of  appearance  of  organs 
and  features  of  the  greatest 
taxonomic  importance  differs  in 
the  embryos  of  closely  related 
forms. 

To  take  a  particular  instance, 
it  is  plain  that,  since  the  features 
which  all  the  two-gilled  cepha- 
lopods  have  in  common,  and 
which  are  characteristic  of  the 
group  as  a  whole,  must  have 
been  inherited  from  the  com- 
mon ancestor  of  the  whole 
group,  they  ought,  unless  the 
embryonic  history  of  the  dif- 
ferent recent  species  has  under- 
gone secondary  modifications, 
to  appear  in  the  same  order  in 
the  embryos  of  all  the  existing 
forms  ;  and,  if  they  do  not,  it 
is  clear  that  descriptive  embry- 
ology alone  can  not  furnish  a 
key  to  systematic  affinity. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  each  one 
of  the  three  species  of  two-gilled 
cephalopods  with  whose  embry- 
ology we  are  most  familiar  dif- 
fers from,  both  the  others  in  the  order  in  which  such  significant  organs 
as  the  arms,  the  shell,  the  eyes,  the  siphon,  the  gills,  and  the  mouth 
make  their  appearance  ;  and  it  must  be  obvious  that,  unless  we  have 
some  means  of  analyzing  these  three  life-histories,  and  determining 
which  of  them  gives  the  true  ancestral  order,  we  can  not  make  use  of 
their  embryology  as  a  key  to  phylogeny.  One  who  is  not  familiar 
with  the  whole  field  of  life-science  may  fairly  ask  how  it  is  possible 
to  discover  the  relationships  of  animals  from  the  study  of  their  embry- 
ology if  it  is  true  that  the  early  stages  in  the  life  of  closely  related 
species  may  differ  so  greatly,  and  if  it  is  true  that  the  order  and  man- 
ner in  which  structures  make  their  appearance  in  the  embryo  are  not 


Fig.  8. 


374  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

alike  in  all  cases.  Before  answering  this  question,  we  must  call  the 
attention  of  the  unscientific  reader  to  a  familiar  fact  which  will  throw 
great  light  upon  the  matter. 

The  animals  with  which  we  are  most  familiar,  the  mammals  and 
birds,  are  born  in  substantially  the  form  which  they  will  have  when 
they  reach  maturity.  They  breathe  the  same  medium  ;  they  employ 
the  same  organs  of  locomotion,  in  the  same  way  ;  they  require  the 
same  or  nearly  the  same  kind  of  food,  and  their  habits  and  surround- 
ings are  the  same  as  they  will  be  during  mature  life,  or  at  least  the 
differences  are  slight  and  insignificant,  and  the  adult  is  little  more 
than  the  young  animal  grown  to  its  full  size,  and  with  sexual  charac- 
teristics, and  able  to  reproduce  its  kind.  But  we  must  recollect  that, 
in  the  greater  part  of  the  animal  kingdom,  this  is  not  the  case.  In  by 
far  the  greater  part  of  the  species  of  animals  the  rule  is  that  the 
newly  born  young  is  very  different,  in  structure,  in  habits,  surround- 
ings, and  needs,  from  the  adult,  and  its  passage  to  the  adult  form  is 
not  simply  a  process  of  growth,  but  a  process  of  great  change  in  every 
particular. 

The  young  butterfly  crawls  over  the  plant  on  which  it  is  born,  and 
finds  an  abundant  supply  of  proper  food  in  the  green  leaves,  which  it 
cuts  to  pieces  with  its  strong,  scissor-like  jaws.  Its  capacious  digestive 
tract  is  fitted  for  dealing  with  great  quantities  of  bulky  but  very 
slightly  nutritious  food  ;  and  its  enemies,  dangers,  and  means  of  de- 
fense are  very  different  from  those  of  the  adult  winged  insect,  which 
is  furnished  with  highly  developed  sense-organs,  and  flies  from  place 
to  place  in  search  of  the  highly  concentrated  liquid  food  adapted  for 
sucking  up  through  the  proboscis  which  has  replaced  the  cutting  jaws 
of  the  young  ;  and  we  must  recollect  that  the  life-history  of  the  butter- 
fly, so  far  as  its  great  changes  are  concerned,  is  a  type  of  the  life  of 
numbers  of  other  animals,  for  nearly  all  the  invertebrates  pass  through 
a  metamorphosis. 

Whenever  young  animals  are  left  to  shift  for  themselves,  without 
parental  protection,  they  are  compelled  to  struggle  for  existence  with 
a  host  of  competitors  and  enemies  ;  and  in  all  cases  where  the  struct- 
ure and  habits  of  the  young  differ  from  those  of  the  adult,  a  variation 
in  the  young  animal  may  be  as  important  for  the  welfare  of  the  spe- 
cies as  one  in  the  adult,  and  may,  therefore,  be  seized  upon  and  per- 
petuated by  natural  selection,  and  in  this  way  the  young  stages  of 
two  closely  related  species  may  be  modified  in  different  directions 
until  they  become  quite  different  from  each  other,  while  the  adults 
may  remain  essentially  alike  ;  and  as  natural  selection  may  act  in  such 
a  way  as  to  modify  the  life-history  of  an  organism  at  any  stage  of  its 
existence,  there  is  no  limit  to  the  secondary  changes  which  may  thus 
be  brought  about.  A  larva  may  acquire  new  organs,  or  it  may  lose 
old  ones  ;  the  order  in  which  organs  are  acquired  may  be  modified  ; 
stages  of  development  may  be  dropped  out  of  the  series,  or  new  ones 


SPECULATIVE  ZOOLOGY.  375 

may  be  added.  A  young  form  may  become  adapted  to  a  new  mode 
of  life,  or  it  may  escape  competition  by  seizing  upon  a  new  field  ;  its 
enemies,  dangers,  and  means  of  defense  may  change,  and  with  these 
changes  of  habits  corresponding  changes  of  structure  may  occur,  so 
that  the  primitive  or  ancestral  record  may  become  completely  obscured 
by  secondary  changes. 

The  examination  of  the  various  kinds  of  modification  which  may 
be  brought  about  in  this  way  falls  within  the  scope  of  a  treatise  on 
comparative  embryology,  but  it  would  be  out  of  place  here,  although 
one  or  two  examples  of  the  more  common  sorts  of  modification  may 
be  of  interest. 

The  chrysalis  stage  of  butterflies  is  an  instance  of  the  secondary 
acquisition  of  a  new  stage  of  development,  which  forms  no  part  of  the 
ancestral  record. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  inactive  pupa,  which  takes  no  food,  and 
exhibits  few  of  the  ordinary  activities  of  animal  life,  can  not  pos- 
sibly have  existed  in  the  past  as  an  adult  ancestor  of  the  butter- 
flies, nor  is  it  conceivable  that  any  of  the  remote  ancestry  of  this 
group  bore  a  general  resemblance  to  a  pupa.  While  it  is  impossible 
to  believe  that  the  pupa  stage  is  ancestral,  we  have  good  evidence  to 
show  the  manner  in  which  it  has  been  acquired  as  a  secondary  modi- 
fication. 

Lubbock  has  pointed  out  that  the  least  specialized  or  most  primi- 
tive insects  have  mouth -parts  which  are  indifferently  adapted  for 
either  cutting  or  sucking,  and  that  these  insects  do  not  undergo  a 
metamorphosis,  but  are  gradually  converted  into  the  adult  form  by  a 
simple  process  of  gradual  development.  He  also  shows  good  ground 
for  believing  that  the  common  ancestors  of  all  the  groups  of  insects 
were  like  these  forms  in  these  particulars  ;  and  he  holds  that,  as  the 
stock  which  led  to  our  present  butterflies  was  evolved  from  this 
ancient  stem-form,  the  young  became  adapted  to  a  sedentary  creep- 
ing life,  and  their  indifferent  mouth-parts  became  gradually  converted 
into  cutting  jaws,  while  the  adults  became  adapted  to  quite  a  different 
mode  of  life,  and  the  same  indifferent  mouth-parts  became  gradually 
modified  into  a  sucking  proboscis.  While  the  caterpillar  and  butter- 
fly were  thus  diverging  in  two  directions  from  the  original  unspecial- 
ized  form,  and  the  structure  and  habits  of  the  larva  were  becoming 
more  and  more  different  from  those  of  the  adult,  it  is  plain  that  the 
metamorphosis  must  at  the  same  time  have  become  more  and  more 
violent ;  and,  according  to  Lubbock,  one  of  the  periods  of  slight  ac- 
tivity which,  in  most  insects,  accompany  the  periodical  molts,  was 
seized  upon,  and  gradually  extended  into  a  long  resting  or  chrysalis 
stage,  in  order  to  enable  the  animal  to  exist  while  the  highly  special- 
ized organs  of  the  caterpillar  are  changing  into  the  equally  specialized 
but  very  different  organs  of  the  winged  insect.  The  growing  but- 
terfly now  passes  through  a  resting  or  pupa  stage  which  connects  tho 


376  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

two  periods  of  great  specialization,  and  bridges  over  the  gap  between 
them,  and  thus  does  away  wTith  a  period  of  imperfect  specialization  to 
both  modes  of  life. 

As  an  instance  of  the  opposite  kind  of  modification,  the  simplification 
of  an  embryonic  history  by  the  loss  of  ancestral  stages,  we  may  take  the 
life  of  the  fresh-water  crawfish.  Young  lobsters,  and  most  of  the  other 
marine  allies  of  the  crawfish,  leave  the  egg  in  a  form  which  is  quite 
unlike  the  adult,  in  structure  as  well  as  in  habits,  and  the  new-born 
young  pass  through  a  long  series  of  stages  of  metamorphosis  before 
the  mature  form  is  reached. 

The  larval  stages  of  the  marine  long-tailed  Crustacea  bear  such  a 
resemblance  to  each  other,  and  to  certain  lower  Crustacea,  that  we 
must  regard  them  as  ancestral ;  and  we  must  therefore  believe  that 
they  were  one  time  present  in  the  life-history  of  the  crawfish,  al- 
though we  find  nothing  of  the  kind  now.  These  larval  forms  are 
adapted  to  a  swimming  life  at  the  surface  of  the  ocean,  and  we  can 
understand  that,  when  the  ancestors  of  the  crawfishes  became  adapted 
to  a  life  in  fresh  water,  the  larval  stages  must  either  have  been  modi- 
fied to  correspond  or  else  been  got  rid  of,  and,  in  the  crayfish,  the. 
latter  has  happened,  and  the  new-born  young  is  simply  a  very  small 
image  of  the  adult,  the  whole  metamorphosis  having  been  suppressed. 

A  person  who  is  unfamiliar  with  morphology  may  fairly  ask  whether 
we  are  not  entering  upon  treacherous  ground,  and  why  we  are  to  regard 
the  life-history  of  the  lobster  as  the  ancestral  one,  and  that  of  the  craw- 
fish as  a  secondary  modification,  rather  than  the  reverse.  This  feeling 
is  not  confined  to  unscientific  thinkers,  for  many  naturalists  are  inclined 
to  reject  this  conception  of  the  falsification  of  the  embryonic  record, 
and  to  say  that,  when  wTe  accept  the  evidence  furnished  by  one  species 
as  a  basis  for  phylogeny,  and  reject  the  evidence  of  a  related  species 
as  of  no  taxonomic  importance,  we  are  actuated  by  mere  caprice,  or 
by  a  desire  to  establish  some  pet  hypothesis,  and  that  this  method  of 
reasoning  can  have  no  scientific  value. 

The  most  satisfactory  answer  to  this  objection  would  be  a  thorough 
analysis  of  a  specific  example,  but  this  would  involve  technical  com- 
parisons and  discussions  which  could  not  be  adequately  presented  with- 
out a  number  of  figures  ;  and  a  sufficient  answer  for  our  present  pur- 
pose may  be  found  by  a  reference  to  the  facts  and  conclusions  of 
comparative  anatomy. 

A  whale  differs  from  all  the  ordinary  mammals  in  quite  a  number 
of  features  in  which  it  bears  a  close  resemblance  to  fishes,  and  at  the 
same  time  it  differs  from  fishes  in  a  number  of  points  of  resem- 
blance to  mammals.  The  attention  of  the  earlier  naturalists  was 
attracted  by  the  first  set  of  resemblances  and  differences,  and  they 
placed  the  whale  among  the  fishes  ;  but  later  investigators  have  de- 
cided that  the  second  set  of  resemblances  alone  give  any  evidence  of 
systematic  relationship,  and  that  the  whale  is  a  mammal.     Now,  what 


SPECULATIVE  ZOOLOGY.  377 

reason  is  there  for  regarding  one  set  of  resemblances  as  of  taxonomic 
importance  rather  than  the  other  ?  The  answer  is  plain.  It  is  easy 
to  show  that  all  the  features  in  which  a  whale  resembles  fishes  are  such 
as  we  should  expect  to  find  if  the  whale  is  a  mammal,  adapted  to  an 
aquatic  life  ;  but  the  features  of  resemblance  to  an  ordinary  mammal 
do  not  admit  of  any  such  explanation,  and  they  must  therefore  be  held 
to  indicate  the  true  relationship. 

If  the  crawfish  originally  passed  through  stages  somewhat  similar 
to  those  of  the  growing  lobster,  we  can  see  why  they  may  have  been 
suppressed  to  adapt  it  to  a  life  in  fresh  water  ;  but,  if  the  life-history 
of  the  crawfish  is  ancestral,  we  can  find  no  reason,  in  the  life  of  the 
lobster,  for  the  acquisition  of  larval  stages  which  are  like  those  of 
more  distantly  related  macroura,  and,  in  rejecting  one  life-history  and 
accepting  the  other,  we  are  simply  carrying  the  accepted  principles  of 
homological  reasoning  into  wider  fields,  and  applying  them  to  a  new 
class  of  phenomena  ;  and  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  facts  will 
render  our  conclusions  as  thoroughly  scientific  in  the  one  case  as  in 
the  other. 

Those  who  are  unfamiliar  with  the  status  of  modern  morphology 
are  still  accustomed  to  regard  systematic  zoology  as  a  science  of  obser- 
vation, but  our  review  of  the  subject  shows  that  the  attempt  to  trace 
out  the  natural  system  of  classification  of  animals  carries  us  far  beyond 
the  bare  facts,  and  that  the  observed  phenomena,  although  practically 
infinite  in  numbers,  bear  about  the  same  relation  to  the  generalizations 
of  the  science  that  the  facts  of  mathematics  or  of  astronomy  do  to  the 
general  laws  of  these  sciences. 

The  facts  are  so  numerous  and  so  difficult  to  observe,  and  our  ac- 
quaintance with  the  conditions  of  life  is  so  slight,  that  our  attempts 
at  general  conclusions  must  frequently  be  tentative  and  provisional, 
and  in  some  cases  future  research  may  show  that  they  are  entirely 
wrong  ;  but  this  is  no  valid  objection  to  the  use  of  such  evidence  as 
we  have.  There  is  no  more  justice  in  the  assumption  that,  because 
they  may  possibly  be  wrong,  phylogenetic  speculations  upon  the  basis 
of  paleontology,  comparative  anatomy,  and  embryology  are  adverse  to 
the  best  interests  of  science,  than  there  would  be  in  the  assumption 
that  the  attempt  to  trace  the  relationship  of  animals  from  the  facts  of 
homology  is  unscientific,  because  Cuvier  thought  that  he  had  discovered 
homologies  between  the  barnacles  and  mollusks,  or  because  Agassiz 
associated  the  vorticellas  with  the  polyzoa. 

The  end  of  phylogenetic  speculation  is  perfectly  legitimate,  but  we 
must  rid  our  minds  of  the  belief  that  it  can  be  reached  by  mere  obser- 
vation and  description.  The  evidence  is  often  so  hard  to  read  that 
the  accounts  of  the  best  observers  are  contradictory,  and  in  many  cases 
it  is  so  scanty  and  incomplete  that  it  must  be  submitted  to  a  severely 
critical  process  of  comparison,  analysis,  cross-examination,  and  elimina- 
tion, before  a  general  conclusion  can  be  reached.     The  field  is  so  vast, 


378  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

the  amount  of  evidence  so  great,  and  special  features  are  so  numerous, 
that  the  thorough  discussion  of  the  problem  in  all  its  bearings  will 
furnish  employment  for  the  most  acute  and  comprehensive  powers  of 
analysis  for  an  indefinite  period  ;  but  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that 
the  subject  is  beyond  our  grasp,  or  that  it  is  not  a  perfectly  proper 
field  for  intellectual  activity. 

We  may  fairly  ask,  though,  whether,  after  all  this  is  granted,  it 
pays  to  spend  our  time  in  speculation  upon  circumstantial  evidence, 
when  all  our  conclusions  may  possibly  be  wrong,  when  they  can  not 
possibly  be  true  unless  they  are  put  into  a  general  form,  and  when 
the  presumption  in  their  favor  is  only  a  probability  at  best.  Would  it 
not  be  wise  for  us  to  spend  all  our  time  in  the  observation  of  nature, 
rather  than  to  devote  our  energies  to  the  discussion  of  general  prob- 
lems? 

In  matters  where  we  are  called  upon  to  act  we  must  weigh  the 
probabilities,  and  form  the  best  judgment  we  can  according  to  our 
evidence  ;  but  this  is  necessary  because  we  must  act  in  any  case,  and 
it  is  no  reason  for  carrying  scientific  thought  into  similar  fields.  In 
life  it  is  often  wise  to  act  against  the  probabilities,  as  when  an  old 
man  denies  himself  to  make  provision  for  a  prolonged  life,  which  he 
has  very  little  chance  of  enjoying  ;  but  it  does  not  follow  that  it  is 
wise  to  form  a  scientific  conclusion  against  the  probabilities,  and,  if  the 
analogy  of  actual  life  will  not  justify  this,  how  can  it  justify  a  scientific 
conclusion  which  is  based  upon  probabilities  in  the  absence  of  demon- 
strative evidence  ? 

If  science  were  a  pure  abstraction,  standing  by  itself,  this  objection 
might  have  weight ;  but  no  part  of  the  phenomenal  world  does  stand 
by  itself,  and  nothing  in  nature  is  so  independent  of  human  interests 
that  broader  knowledge  does  not  conduce  to  wiser  judgments  and 
actions  :  nor  is  the  past  history  of  life  a  remote  subject,  bearing  so 
slightly  upon  human  interests  that  it  may  properly  be  left  to  occupy 
the  time  and  energy  of  future  generations. 

It  has  the  same  importance  to  us  as  living  things  that  the  history 
of  the  human  race  has  to  us  as  human  beings.  The  future  history  of 
our  race  will  be  a  continuation  of  the  one  line  as  well  as  of  the  other, 
or,  rather,  one  is  included  by  the  other.  The  end  of  the  study  of  history 
is  not  the  discovery  of  what  has  been  in  the  past,  but  the  discovery  of 
general  laws  and  causes  that  shall  enable  us  to  foresee  what  is  to 
take  place  in  the  future  ;  but  this  sort  of  historical  knowledge,  the 
wisdom  of  history,  does  not  come  from  observation,  but  from  reflection 
upon  the  inner  relations,  the  causes  and  effects  of  phenomena — from  a 
weighing  of  the  probabilities  between  one  interpretation  and  another  ; 
and  the  wisdom  which  leads  us  to  accept  and  act  upon  these  probable 
conclusions,  as  the  best  available  basis  for  the  guidance  of  conduct, 
equally  requires  us  to  accept,  in  the  same  way,  the  results  of  the  study 
of  our  prehistoric  life-history.     Our  conclusions  may  be  wrong,  but, 


SPECULATIVE  ZOOLOGY.  37g 

so  long  as  they  are  the  best,  we  can  not  regard  them  as  abstractions. 
We  must  welcome  them  as  something  more  than  knowledge — as  an  in- 
crease of  wisdom  in  its  widest  sense. 

If  this  justification  of  morphological  speculation  seems  vague  and 
indefinite,  we  need  not  seek  far  for  more  concrete  reasons  for  encour- 
aging this  kind  of  thought,  one  of  the  most  important  features  of 
which  is  its  value  as  an  intellectual  discipline. 

We  can  hardly  overestimate  the  value  of  the  power  to  reach  log- 
ical conclusions,  for  this  power  is  the  basis  of  all  wise  conduct,  and  that 
education  which  aids  in  its  acquisition  has  pre-eminent  claims  upon 
our  attention.  In  almost  every  case  where  we  are  called  upon  to  form 
a  judgment,  and  to  act  upon  it,  the  premises  are  so  uncertain,  the  con- 
ditions of  the  problem  so  numerous  and  so  little  known,  and  its  rela- 
tions to  other  things  admit  of  so  much  variation,  that  our  conclusion 
can  be  nothing  but  a  probability  ;  and  it  is  of  the  greatest  importance 
that  the  mind  should  be  trained  in  such  a  way  as  to  fit  it  for  forming 
wise  judgments  upon  this  class  of  complicated  and  indefinite  prob- 
lems. 

Now,  the  questions  which  are  presented  for  solution  in  the  more 
exact  physical  sciences  differ  from  the  questions  of  morphology  in 
the  same  way  that  they  differ  from  the  problems  upon  which  we  are 
constantly  called  to  decide  and  act  in  ordinary  life,  but  the  degree  of 
difference  is  less. 

While  the  number  of  factors  involved  in  a  morphological  problem 
is  vastly  greater  than  that  of  those  which  bear  upon  any  problem  into 
which  life  does  not  enter,  and  while  the  relations  between  these  factors 
vary,  in  closely  allied  cases,  in  a  way  which  has  no  parallel  outside  life- 
science,  the  problems  of  general  morphology  are  still  vastly  simpler 
than  those  of  society  or  of  morality,  or  of  almost  any  other  department 
of  human  conduct,  although  they  are  like  them  in  kind,  and  supply  the 
same  sort  of  evidence.  The  attempt  to  trace  the  mode  of  action  of  a 
constantly  changing  environment  upon  a  form  of  life  inheriting  from 
an  unknown  series  of  ancestors  a  constitution  that  has  been  modified 
by  a  series  of  changes  that  can  not  be  repeated,  is  no  bad  training  for 
the  attempt  to  foresee  the  working  of  a  social  reform  that  admits  of 
no  experiment,  but  must  be  tried  once  for  all ;  which  involves  so  many 
side-issues  that  no  exact  parallel  to  it  can  be  found,  and  which  is  so 
complicated  that  it  is  impossible  to  foresee  or  follow  out  its  results  in 
detail. 

The  problems  of  the  physical  sciences  are  too  definite  and  simple  to 
afford  much  intellectual  training  in  this  most  important  field,  and  the 
problems  of  human  life  and  society  are  too  involved,  too  diversified, 
and  too  changeable  to  afford  a  proper  field  for  studying  the  logical 
basis  of  our  opinions  ;  but  in  morphology  we  find  what  is  needed,  a 
field  midway  between  the  two. 

The  discipline  which  is  to  be  obtained  by  the  careful  mastery  of 


380  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

such  a  work  as  Claus's  speculation  upon  the  origin  of  the  Crustacea,  or 
by  the  critical  study  of  the  problem  of  the  vertebrate  skull,  or  by  the 
study  of  the  literature  upon  the  affinity  between  the  vertebrates  and 
the  annelids,  is  a  better  training  in  that  logic  of  probabilities  which 
is  the  basis  of  all  conduct  than  can  be  found  in  the  study  of  the  other 
sciences  ;  and  from  this  point  of  view  it  is  plain  that  good  may  result 
from  honest  but  erroneous  attempts  at  morphological  speculation,  for 
the  logical  restrictions  of  sound  reasoning  are  often  studied  to  the  best 
advantage  in  the  errors  of  acute  thinkers. 


-*-»♦- 


PLAYAS  AND  PLAYA-LAKES. 

Br  ISRAEL  C.  EDSSELL. 

OF  the  many  characteristic  features  of  the  arid  region  of  the  far 
West  known  as  the  Great  Basin,  none  attract  the  attention  of 
the  traveler  more  forcibly  than  the  desert  mud-plains  that  have  been 
left  by  the  evaporation  of  former  lakes. 

These  areas  are  known  locally  as  mud-flats,  salt-flats,  salt-marshes, 
borax-flats,  alkali-flats,  deserts,  sinks,  etc.,  the  name  usually  indicating 
some  peculiar  feature  of  the  valley  to  which  it  is  applied.  As  these 
desert  regions  have  an  almost  identical  history,  the  Spanish  word  playa 
— meaning  shore  or  strand — has  been  adopted  by  geologists  as  a  generic 
term  under  which  the  various  desiccated  lake-basins  may  be  grouped. 
Valleys  more  absolutely  desolate  than  the  playas  of  the  Great  Basin 
can  not  be  found,  even  in  the  midst  of  Sahara.  They  occur  as  mud- 
plains,  occupying  the  lowest  portion  of  arid  valleys,  and  form  a  hori- 
zontal, even  floor  that  is  soft  and  perhaps  covered  by  a  shallow  lake 
during  the  winter,  but  in  the  summer  and  fall  becomes  hard  and  dry, 
and  crossed  by  innumerable  shrinkage-cracks  that  give  the  whole 
broad  surface  the  appearance  of  a  tessellated  pavement  of  cream- 
colored  marble.  At  other  times,  after  the  water  has  evaporated,  the 
salts  contained  in  the  mud  of  the  playa  are  brought  to  the  surface  in 
solution  by  the  action  of  capillary  attraction,  and  a  saline  incrustation 
is  formed  on  the  surface  of  the  desert  when  the  water  that  held  the 
salts  in  solution  evaporates.  In  such  instances  the  playa  appears  as 
white  and  dazzling  as  if  covered  with  drifting  snow.  A  journey 
across  such  a  plain  during  the  heat  of  summer,  when  the  mirage  renders 
even  the  most  familiar  land-marks  uncertain,  becomes  the  most  weary 
and  trying  that  the  explorer  is  called  upon  to  make. 

Examples  of  playas  of  broad  extent  are  furnished  by  the  desert 
region  that  borders  Great  Salt  Lake  on  the  west,  which  was  left  as  a 
vast  mud-plain  by  the  evaporation  of  Lake  Bonneville.  This  is  an 
absolute  desert,  more  than  a  hundred  miles  long  by  thirty  or  forty 


PL  AY  AS  AND  PLAYA-LAKES.  381 

miles  broad,  composed  principally  of  fine,  tenacious,  greenish  clay. 
Other  areas  that  now  exist  as  great  playas  occur  on  the  Carson  Desert 
and  on  the  Black  Rock  and  Smoke  Creek  Deserts  of  Northwestern 
Nevada  :  these  are  portions  of  the  bottom  of  Lake  Lahontan  that  have 
been  laid  bare  by  the  desiccation  of  the  former  lake.  Playas  of  smaller 
extent,  but  which  are  yet  typical  examples  of  the  deserts  left  by  the 
withdrawal  or  evaporation  of  Quaternary  lakes,  are  found  in  Diamond 
Valley,  White-Pine  Valley,  Gabb's  Valley,  and  Osobb  Valley.  All  of 
these  examples  are  in  Nevada  ;  but  hundreds  of  others,  of  greater  or 
less  extent,  might  be  enumerated  that  are  scattered  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  Great  Basin.  As  already  mentioned,  many 
of  these  playas  are  covered  with  water  during  the  rainy  season.  Others 
exist  as  lakes,  excepting  when  the  season  is  unusually  dry.  They  then 
become  mud-flats  that  can  not  be  distinguished  from  the  playas  that 
become  dry  and  hard  every  summer. 

The  lakes  that  cover  playas  at  certain  times,  and  appear  and  disap- 
pear as  the  wet  and  dry  seasons  alternate,  and  are  sometimes  born  of 
a  single  shower,  and  become  many  square  miles  in  area  during  a  single 
night,  may  with  convenience  be  designated  as  playa-lakes,  as  they  have 
many  features  peculiar  to  themselves.  These  lakes  are  without  out- 
lets, are  seldom  more  than  a  few  feet  deep,  and  usually  hold  no 
more  than  a  few  inches  of  water  ;  they  are  commonly  alkaline  or 
brackish,  and  are  always,  so  far  as  the  observations  of  the  writer  ex- 
tend, of  a  peculiar  yellowish  or  greenish-yellow  color.  The  character- 
istic tint  is  due  to  the  extremely  fine  mud,  and  probably  chemical  pre- 
cipitates, that  the  waters  hold  in  suspension.  Owing  to  the  extreme 
shallowness  of  these  lakes,  the  fine  mud  at  the  bottom  is  agitated  by 
every  breeze,  and  thus  the  clearing  of  the  water  by  the  subsidence  of 
the  material  held  in  suspension  is  prevented. 

Playa-lakes,  that  form  in  the  wet  season  and  vanish  again  during 
the  summer  months,  occur  in  a  great  number  of  the  desert  valleys 
and  small  inclosed  basins  to  be  found  in  the  arid  region  between  the 
Sierra  Nevadas  and  the  Wahsatch  range.  Some  of  these  annual  lakes 
are  of  considerable  dimensions.  On  the  northern  part  of  the  Black 
Rock  Desert,  Nevada,  where  Quin's  River  enters  the  desert  from  the 
northeast,  a  shallow  lake  is  formed  during  the  rainy  season  that  is 
reported  to  be  from  ten  to  fifteen  miles  broad  and  as  much  as  forty 
or  fifty  miles  in  length.  When  the  dry  season  comes  on,  this  lake 
evaporates,  and  the  river  that  formed  it  shi'inks  back  seventy-five  or  a 
hundred  miles,  leaving  its  channel  a  dry  water-course,  with  perhaps  a 
few  water-holes  to  indicate  its  former  extent. 

Examples  of  playa-lakes  that  reach  desiccation  only  during  excep- 
tionally dry  seasons  are  furnished  by  Eagle  Lake,  Worth  Carson  Lake 
("  Carson  and  Humboldt  Sink  "),  and  Yellow-water  Lake,  in  Nevada, 
and  by  Honey  Lake  and  the  lakes  of  Surprise  Valley  in  California. 

We  have  spoken  of  playas  as  being  formed  by  the  annual  evapora- 


382  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

tion  of  small  lakes  ;  others  by  the  evaporation  of  lakes  after  a  term  of 
years  -when  the  season  was  unusually  dry  ;  there  are  also  other  playas 
that  are  only  covered  with  water  during  exceptionally  wet  seasons. 
One  might  perhaps  include  in  the  list  of  playa-lakes  the  great  lakes 
of  the  Quaternary,  whose  fluctuations  extended  through  geological 
periods,  and  whose  desiccation  has  left  the  largest  of  all  the  playas. 
Lake  Bonneville  and  Lake  Lahontan,  however,  can  be  called  playa- 
lakes  only  during  the  closing  chapters  of  their  history  ;  in  the  earlier 
portions  of  their  existence,  they  were  fresh-water  lakes  of  great  depth, 
and  one  of  them,  at  least,  overflowed. 

When  we  examine  the  material  composing  playas  more  critically, 
we  find  that  they  are  formed  of  at  least  two  varieties  of  sediments. 
In  the  broad,  open  playas,  like  Great  Salt  Lake  Desert  and  the  two 
desert  regions  of  the  Lahontan  Basin  in  Nevada,  the  surface  is  com- 
posed of  soft,  fine,  greenish,  saline  clay,  that  is  commonly  saturated 
with  alkaline  water  at  a  depth  of  a  few  feet,  and  becomes  tenacious 
and  difficult  to  handle.  These  clays  are,  without  question,  simply  lake- 
beds  that  were  deposited  by  sedimentation  at  the  bottom  of  the  great 
lakes  that  once  occupied  the  valleys  where  they  are  found. 

The  second  variety  of  playa-beds  occurs  in  restricted  basins  and 
in  valleys  that  are  without  outlets.  These  are  found  very  commonly 
behind  shore-bars  of  Lake  Bonneville  and  Lake  Lahontan,  and  in  val- 
leys and  canons  the  mouths  of  which  have  been  crossed  by  the  em- 
bankments of  gravel  built  along  the  shores  of  these  Quaternary  lakes. 
The  material  forming  playas  of  this  nature  is  always  of  a  light  yel- 
lowish color,  becoming  almost  white  when  dry  ;  is  extremely  fine,  and 
readily  crumbles  into  dust  between  the  fingers  ;  near  the  surface,  the 
beds  are  full  of  small  globular  vesicles  that  were  apparently  once  filled 
with  gas  or  water.  These  characteristics  hold  good  even  when  the 
playas  are  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  dark  basalts,  from  the  disinte- 
gration of  which  the  playa-beds  must  have  been  formed. 

True  playa-beds,  composed  of  light-colored  material  as  described 
above,  have  been  penetrated  to  the  depth  of  five  to  six  feet  without 
revealing  any  change  in  the  composition  of  the  deposit.  The  thick- 
ness that  may  be  reached  by  these  slowly  accumulating  beds  depends 
on  the  nature  of  the  basin  in  which  they  are  deposited  ;  in  some  cases 
they  can  not  be  less  than  twenty  or  thirty  feet  in  thickness.  The 
coarse  material  swept  down  the  sides  of  these  inclosed  basins  by  the 
infrequent  rains  is  invariably  left  at  the  edge  of  the  playa,  and  in  a 
section  of  the^beds  appears  as  thin  wedges  of  gravel  and  angular  frag- 
ments, that  thin  out  and  become  lost  as  we  trace  them  away  from  the 
shore.  Playa-beds  may  become  covered  with  lake-beds,  thus  forming 
a  peculiar  light-colored  stratum,  in  reality  a  fossil  playa,  that  bears 
record  of  a  time  of  desiccation  ;  and,  when  lake-beds  occur  below,  it 
is  evidence  that  a  dry  period  has  intervened  between  two  periods  of 
more  abundant  precipitation. 


SCIENTIFIC  FARMING  AT  ROTHAMSTED.         383 

The  salts  that  form  on  the  surfaces  of  playas  are  composed  prin- 
cipally of  the  chloride,  sulphate,  and  carbonate  of  soda,  but  sometimes 
contain  borate  of  soda,  sulphate  of  potash,  sulphate  of  magnesia,  and 
other  salts  in  smaller  proportion.  In  places  the  surface  of  a  playa  is 
sometimes  formed  of  sulphate  of  soda  several  feet  in  thickness,  as 
near  the  Buffalo  Salt-Works  on  the  Smoke  Creek  Desert,  Nevada. 
Again,  crystals  of  sulphate  of  lime  (selenite),  forming  a  bed  more  than 
six  feet  thick,  cover  hundreds  of  acres  of  the  playa-surface,  as  on  the 
eastern  border  of  the  Sevier  Desert  in  Utah.  Sometimes  a  playa  for 
many  square  miles  in  extent  is  covered  by  a  layer  of  salt  a  few  inches 
in  thickness,  as  was  the  case  when  Sevier  Lake  in  Utah  evaporated  to 
dryness  a  few  years  since,  and  as  is  shown  also  by  the  large  salt-field 
in  Osobb  Valley,  Nevada.  At  other  times  the  beds  composing  the 
playa  contain  brine  beneath  the  surface,  which  yields  large  quantities 
of  nearly  pure  salt  upon  evaporation  ;  the  supply  of  salt  from  thi3 
source  in  Nevada  is  practically  without  limit. 

When  by  a  change  of  climate  a  playa  is  no  longer  flooded,  the 
subaerial  gravels  that  are  constantly  moving  down  toward  the  bottom 
of  a  valley  eventually  overflow  the  entire  surface  of  the  playa,  and 
the  valley  acquires  a  rounded  instead  of  a  horizontal  floor.  The  same 
action  tends  to  obliterate  the  beach-marks  that  a  lake  makes  along  its 
shores,  so  that  in  time  all  records  that  a  lake  has  once  occupied  a  val- 
ley become  buried  and  erased  :  where  once  a  broad,  clear  lake  existed 
in  which  glacial  covered  peaks  were  reflected,  there  now  stretches  an 
arid  desert,  bearing  only  a  scanty  growth  of  artemisia.  This,  in 
brief,  is  the  history  of  a  large  number  of  the  valleys  of  the  Great 
Basin. 


-♦**- 


SCIENTIFIC  FAKMING  AT  EOTHAMSTED. 

Br  MANLY  MILES,  M.  D. 

II. 

THE  primary  and  leading  object  of  the  experiments  with  animals, 
which  have  been  conducted  at  Rothamsted  during  the  past  thirty- 
five  years,  was  the  solution  of  practical  agricultural  problems  ;  but,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  field  experiments  already  noticed,  the  practical  lines 
of  inquiry  have  naturally  led  to  the  investigation  of  a  wide  range  of 
topics  belonging  to  the  science  of  biology,  which,  in  themselves,  are  of 
more  particular  interest  to  the  physiologist,  or  even  to  the  student  of 
sanitary  or  of  social  science,  than  to  the  farmer. 

From  the  number  of  animals  under  experiment,  and  the  well- 
planned  and  thorough  methods  of  investigation,  in  all  departments  of 
the  experimental  work,  the  results  obtained  have  been  of  great  value, 


384  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

not  only  from  the  light  thrown  on  many  of  the  obscure  processes  of 
nutrition,  but  also  in  laying  a  foundation  for  a  consistent  system  of 
feeding,  in  which  the  relations  of  the  food  consumed  to  the  special 
animal  products  obtained,  and  to  the  value  of  the  manure  produced, 
as  an  incident  of  the  process,  are  clearly  traced. 

In  determining  the  amount  of  food  and  of  its  several  constituents 
consumed  for  a  given  live  weight  of  the  animal  in  a  given  time,  aud 
the  amount  of  food  and  of  its  several  constituents  required  to  produce 
a  given  amount  of  increase  in  live  weight,  several  hundred  animals, 
including  oxen,  sheep,  and  pigs,  were  subjected  to  experiment.  In 
these  researches,  selected  lots  of  animals  were  supplied,  for  weeks  or 
months,  with  weighed  quantities  of  food  of  known  composition,  as  de- 
termined by  analysis,  and  especially  adapted  to  the  particular  point 
under  investigation.  The  animals  were  weighed  at  the  beginning,  at 
intervals  during  the  progress,  and  at  the  close  of  the  experiment. 

The  composition  of  the  manure  produced  from  a  given  amount  and 
quality  of  food  consumed,  by  oxen,  sheep,  and  pigs,  was  determined 
in  a  large  number  of  cases  by  analyzing  average  samples  of  the  food, 
and  then  making  an  analysis  of  the  solid  and  liquid  excretions  of  the 
animals.  In  these  experiments,  the  oxen  were  fed  in  boxes  in  which 
the  manure  was  preserved  with  litter  of  known  composition.  After 
feeding  for  from  five  to  nine  weeks,  the  total  manure  produced  was 
carefully  mixed,  weighed,  sampled,  and  analyzed.  By  this  method 
the  solid  and  the  liquid  exci-eta  were  not  separately  examined.  With 
sheep  no  litter  was  used,  the  animals,  in  lots  of  five,  being  fed  on  a 
slatted  platform  with  an  inclined  floor  of  sheet-zinc  below  it,  so  that 
the  urine  was  drained  into  carboys  containing  acid,  while  the  solid 
excretions  were  separately  removed  several  times  a  day  and  preserved 
for  analysis.  The  constituents  determined  in  the  food  and  in  the  ma- 
nure in  the  experiments  with  oxen  and  sheep  were  dry  matter,  mineral 
constituents,  and  nitrogen,  and  in  some  cases  woody  fiber.  As  an 
illustration  of  some  of  the  difficulties  that  must  be  overcome  in  mak- 
ing exact  investigations  of  this  kind,  a  more  particular  description  of 
some  of  the  devices  resorted  to  will  be  of  interest.  "  In  the  case  of 
pigs,  individual  male  animals  were  experimented  upon,  each  for  pe- 
riods of  three,  five,  or  ten  days  only.  Each  animal  was  kept  in  a 
frame,  which  prevented  it  from  turning  around,  and  having  a  zinc 
bottom,  with  an  outlet  for  the  liquid  to  run  into  a  bottle,  and  it  was 
watched  night  and  day,  and  the  voidings  carefully  collected  as  soon  as 
passed,  which  could  easily  be  done,  as  the  animal  never  passed  either 
fseces  or  urine  without  getting  up,  and  in  getting  up  he  rang  a  bell 
and  so  attracted  the  notice  of  the  attendant.  The  constituents  de- 
termined were,  in  the  food  and  fseces,  dry  matter,  ash,  and  nitrogen, 
and  in  the  urine,  dry  matter,  ash,  nitrogen,  and  urea." 

The  amount  and  relative  proportion  of  the  different  organs  and 
parts  of  the  body  were  determined  in  two  hundred  and  forty-nine 


SCIENTIFIC  FARMING  AT  ROTHAMSTED. 


385 


sheep,  fifty-nine  pigs,  two  calves,  two  heifers,  and  fourteen  bullocks. 
As  the  object  of  this  investigation  was  to  obtain  average  data  as  to 
the  proportions  of  the  valuable  carcass  parts  and  the  less  valuable 
offal  parts,  in  animals  in  different  conditions  as  to  fatness,  a  variety  of 
animals  were  examined.  The  sheep  under  experiment  may  be  grouped 
as  follows  :  five  sheep  of  different  breeds  in  the  lean  or  store  con- 
dition ;  one  hundred  sheep  of  different  breeds  moderately  fattened  ; 
forty-five  sheep  of  different  breeds  excessively  fattened  ;  seventy- 
eight  Hants  Down  sheep  moderately  fattened  on  different  foods  ;  and 
twenty-one  sheep  of  different  breeds  and  modes  of  feeding  of  more 
than  average  fatness.  The  fifty-nine  pigs  were  moderately  fattened 
on  a  variety  of  fattening  foods. 

The  percentage  weights  of  the  different  parts  of  the  body  of  the 
three  classes  of  animals,  and  of  the  sheep  in  the  store,  the  fat,  and  the 
very  fat  condition,  are  given  in  the  following  condensed  table  from 
Dr.  Lawes's  lecture  before  the  Royal  Dublin  Society  : 


PARTS  OF  THE  BODY. 

Average 

of 
16  oxen. 

Average 

of 
249  sheep. 

Average 
of 

59  pigs. 

Average 

of 
5  store 
6heep. 

Average 

of  100 

fat  sheep. 

Average 
of  45 

very  fat 
sheep. 

11-6 
2-7 

7-5 
3-6 

11.1 

6-9 

7-3 
15-0 

1-3 

6-2 

91 

5-3 

7-0 
3  8 

5-6 
2-8 

Internal  loose  fat 

14-3 

4-6 

7'0 

130 

7-5 
1-6 

6-6 

1-0 

144 

4-5 

8-4 
179 

10-8 
6-0 

7-7 

16-1 

84 
7'5 

Heart,  aorta,  lung3,  windpipe,  liver  ) 
and  gall-bladder,  with  contents,  >■ 
spleen,  pancreas,  and  blood. .....) 

Other  offal  parts 

6-5 
13-1 

Total  offal  parts 

38-9 

593 

1-8 

40-3 

59-2 

0-5 

100-0 

16-7 
826 

0-7 

45-2 

53.4 

1-4 

40-6 

5S-7 

0-7 

35-5 

Carcass 

641 

Loss  by  evaporation,  etc 

0-4 

Total 

100-0 

100-0 

100-0 

100-0 

100  0 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  stomach  and  contents  make  up  11*6  per 
cent  of  the  live  weight  of  the  oxen,  7*5  per  cent  of  the  live  weight 
of  the  sheep,  and  but  1*3  per  cent  of  the  live  weight  of  the  pigs,  while 
the  intestines  and  contents  rank  in  the  inverse  order,  giving-  the  high- 
est  percentage  in  pigs  and  the  least  with  the  oxen.  If  the  stomachs 
and  intestines  are  taken  together,  we  find  the  highest  percentage  in 
the  oxen  and  the  least  percentage  in  the  pigs.  These  figures  corre- 
spond very  closely  to  the  relative  amount  of  work  required  in  the 
digestion  of  the  food  of  the  different  animals,  which  is  coarse  and 
more  bulky  in  the  case  of  the  oxen,  and  comparatively  concentrated  and 
of  higher  nutritive  value  in  the  case  of  the  pigs.  The  greater  relative 
development  of  the  intestines  in  pigs  has  a  probable  relation  to  the 
more  complete  assimilation  of  the  food  of  these  animals.  As  a  whole, 
the  glandular  and  circulatory  organs,  which  are  grouped  together  in 
the  table,  are  nearly  in  the  same  proportion  in  the  three  groups  of 
vol.  xxii. — 25 


386  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

animals,  the  range  of  variation  being  but  little  more  than  one  half  of 
one  per  cent.  It  should  be  stated  that  the  much  smaller  percentage 
of  offal  parts,  and  the  corresponding  larger  percentage  of  carcass,  in 
the  pigs,  is  partly  to  be  attributed  to  the  head  and  legs  being  included 
with  the  carcass  of  the  pigs,  while  they  are  reckoned  as  offal  parts  in 
oxen  and  sheep.  With  sheep  there  was  a  rapid  decrease  in  the  per- 
centage of  offal  parts  as  the  animals  fattened,  while  the  percentage  of 
carcass  increased  from  53*4  in  the  store  condition  to  64*1  in  the  very 
fat  condition.  There  was,  however,  an  actual  increase  in  the  offal 
parts  from  the  store  to  the  very  fat  condition  in  the  proportion  of  one 
to  one  and  three  quarters,  but  the  carcass  parts  made  a  greater  actual 
increase,  one  pound  in  the  store  condition  being  raised  to  two  and  one 
half  pounds  in  the  very  fat  condition. 

In  connection  with  the  data  furnished  by  the  mass  of  facts  relating 
to  the  relative  proportion  of  organs  and  parts  of  the  body,  which  we 
can  not  discuss  in  detail,  it  became  a  matter  of  interest  to  ascertain 
the  chemical  composition  of  the  increase  of  fattening  animals  obtained 
from  different  articles  of  food,  so  that  the  relations  of  the  food  con- 
stituents to  the  constituents  of  the  increase  coidd  be  determined.  As 
a  chemical  analysis  of  a  living  animal  can  not  be  made,  it  is  of  course 
impossible  to  determine  directly  the  chemical  composition  of  the  in- 
crease, as  an  analysis  would  be  required  at  the  beginning  and  at  the 
close  of  the  fattening  period.  The  composition  of  the  increase  of 
fattening  animals  must  therefore  be  determined  by  indirect  methods, 
as  by  calculation  from  the  data  furnished  by  the  differences  in  the 
composition  of  the  food  and  the  excretions  ;  or  from  assumed  con- 
stants, in  the  form  of  averages  obtained  by  analyzing  a  large  number 
of  representative  animals. 

The  most  satisfactory  data  relating  to  this  subject,  that  have  ever 
been  published,  will  be  found  in  the  results  of  the  numerous  analyses 
of  the  entire  bodies  and  parts  of  animals,  in  different  conditions  a3 
to  fatness,  that  have  been  conducted  at  Rothamsted.  Determinations 
were  made  of  the  fat,  nitrogenous  substance,  and  mineral  matter  of 
the  entire  body,  and  of  certain  separated  parts,  of  ten  animals,  de- 
scribed as  follows  :  1.  A  fat  calf,  of  the  shorthorn  breed,  nine  or  ten 
weeks  old,  taken  from  its  dam,  feeding  on  grass  ;  2.  A  half-fat  Aber- 
deenshire ox,  about  four  years  old,  fed  on  fattening  food,  but  which 
had  grown  rather  than  fattened  ;  3.  A  moderately  fat  Aberdeenshire 
ox,  about  four  years  old  ;  4.  A  fat  Hampshire  Down  lamb,  about  six 
months  old  ;  5.  A  Hampshire  Down  store  sheep,  about  one  year  old  ; 

6.  A  half-fat  Hampshire  Down  ewe,  three  and  one  fourth  years  old ; 

7.  A  fat  Hampshire  Down  sheep,  one  and  a  fourth  year  old  ;  8.  A 
very  fat  Hampshire  Down  sheep,  one  and  three  fourths  year  old  ;  9. 
A  store  pig  ;  10.  A  fat  pig.  The  pigs  were  of  the  same  litter,  and, 
when  selected,  were  as  nearly  as  possible  alike,  one  weighing  one  hun- 
dred pounds  and  the  other  one  hundred  and  three  pounds.     "  One  was 


SCIENTIFIC  FARMING  AT  ROTHAMSTED.         387 


slaughtered  at  once,  and  its  contents  of  nitrogenous  substance,  fat, 
mineral  matter,  etc.,  accurately  determined.  The  other  was  fed  on  a 
mixture  consisting  of  bean-meal,  lentil-meal,  and  bran,  each  one  part, 
and  barley-meal  three  parts,  given  ad  libitum,  but  accurately  weighed, 
for  a  period  of  ten  weeks,  when  it  had  nearly  doubled  its  weight.  The 
animal  was  then  slaughtered,  and  analyzed  as  the  other  had  been.  The 
composition  of  the  food  was  also  determined  by  analysis." 

According  to  the  generally  accepted  theory  of  nutrition  at  the  time 
the  Rothamsted  feeding  experiments  were  planned,  the  constituents 
of  foods  were  divided  into  two  leading  groups,  each  of  which  was 
assumed  to  serve  a  special  purpose  in  the  system.  It  was  believed 
that  the  nitrogenous  constituents  were  the  only  nutritive  elements, 
and  that  the  carbonaceous  constituents  (including  the  fat,  starch,  etc.) 
served  as  fuel,  which  was  burned  in  the  system  to  keep  up  the  animal 
heat.  In  the  published  analyses  of  animals  and  of  foods  at  Rotham- 
sted,  this  distinction  was  recognized,  and  the  results  are  given  in  terms 
of  these  groups  of  constituents.  A  summary  of  the  results  of  the 
analyses  of  the  ten  animals  described  above  is  given  in  the  following 
table,  in  percentage  values  of  groups  of  constituents,  in  the  carcass 
and  in  the  total  offal  parts  : 


Mineral 
mattor 
<ash). 

Nitrogenous 

substance 

(dry). 

Fat  (dry). 

Total 

dry 

substance. 

Water. 

0  fi 

§ 

0 

C3    * 

0§ 

0 

1 
0 

u     . 

t 
0 

t 
0 

S   V 

a 
>— 1 

a  « 

a 

« « 

a 

O   " 

a 

HH 

35-1 

c  0 

t-H 

a 

t-H 

Fat  calf 

4-48 

341 

16-6 

17-1 

16-6 

14-6 

37-7 

62-3 

649 

Half-fat  ox 

5-56 

4*05 

17-8 

20-6 

22-6 

15-7 

4G-0 

40-4 

54-0 

59-6 

Fat  ox 

4-56 

340 

15-0 

17-5 

34-S 

26-3 

54-4 

47-2 

45-6 

52-8 

Fat  lamb 

363 

2-45 

10-9 

18-9 

36-9 

201 

51-4 

41-5 

48-6 

58-5 

4-36 

2-19 

14o 

18-0 

23-8 

16-1 

42-7 

36-3 

5V3 

63-7 

Half- fat  old  sheep .    ... 

4-13 

2-72 

149 

17-7  1 

31-3 

18-5 

50-3 

38-9 

49-7 

61-1 

3-15 

2-32 

11-5 

16-1 

45-4 

26-4 

60-3 

44S 

39-7 

55-2 

2-77 

3-64 

91 

16-8  ! 

55-1 

34-5 

67-0 

54-9 

3-°/0 

45-1 

Store  pig 

2-57 
1-40 

3-07 
2-97 

14-0 
105 

14-0 
14-8 

17-2 

28-1 
49-5 

344 

150 

22-8 

44-7 
Gl-4 

32-1 
406 

55'3 
3S-6 

67-9 

59-4 

369 

3-02 

13-5 

210 

516 

41-2 

4S-4 

5S-8 

This  table  furnishes  some  important  data  for  an  intelligible  discus- 
sion of  the  economics  of  nutrition,  with  reference  to  human  dietaries, 
but  there  are  many  points  of  interest  presented  in  the  details  of  the 
analyses  of  these  animals  that  can  not  be  embraced  in  such  a  tabular 
abstract.  In  the  carcass  of  the  fat  calf,  it  will  be  noticed,  the  per- 
centage of  nitrogenous  substance  and  of  /at  is  the  same,  while  in  the 
other  animals  the  fat  is  largely  in  excess,  even  in  those  in  store  con- 
dition. There  is  likewise  a  larger  percentage  of  nitrogenous  substance 
in  the  offal  parts  than  in  the  carcass  in  all  cases.  It  was  also  found 
that  <£  the  fat  of  the  bones  bears  but  a  small  proportion  to  that  of  the 
whole  carcass,  while,  of  the  whole  of  the  nitrogen  of  the  carcasses, 
perhaps  not  less  than  one  fifth  will  be  in  the  bones.  .  .  .  As  the  animal 


388 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


matures,  the  mineral,  the  nitrogenous,  and  the  fatty  matters  all  in- 
crease in  actual  amount ;  but  the  percentage  of  both  mineral  matter 
and  nitrogenous  substance  decreases,  while  that  of  the  fat  increases  so 
as  to  much  more  than  compensate  for  the  decrease  in  that  of  the  other 
solid  matters.  The  result  is  that  there  is  an  increase  in  the  percentage 
of  total  dry  substance."  The  young  animals,  as  the  lamb  and  calf, 
had  a  larger  proportion  of  water  in  the  carcass  than  other  animals  in 
the  same  condition  ;  and  there  was  a  larger  proportion  of  bones  in  the 
carcass  of  the  calf  than  in  the  carcass  of  the  other  animals. 

In  estimating  the  composition  of  the  increase  in  live  weight  of  fat- 
tening animals  it  was  assumed  that  the  composition  of  the  original 
weight,  that  is,  the  weight  at  the  beginning  of  the  feeding  period, 
was  the  same  as  in  the  "store"  or  "half- fat"  animals  that  had  been 
analyzed  ;  and  that  the  composition  of  the  animal  at  the  close  of  the 
feeding  period  was  the  same  as  that  of  the  "  fat "  or  the  "  very  fat " 
animal  that  had  been  analyzed.  By  a  proper  exercise  of  judgment  as 
to  the  comparative  condition  and  quality  of  the  animals  at  the  begin- 
ning and  end  of  the  feeding  period,  and  applying  the  data  derived 
from  the  analysis  of  animals  of  similar  quality,  a  close  approximation 
to  the  composition  of  the  increase  could  thus  be  obtained,  and  the 
probable  error  would  be  reduced  to  a  minimum  when  the  averages 
were  made  up  from  a  large  number  of  animals.  In  this  way  the  com- 
position of  the  increase  was  estimated  in  the  case  of  ninety-eight  fat- 
tening oxen,  three  hundred  and  forty-nine  fattening  sheep,  and  eighty 
fattening  pigs,  divided  into  numerous  classes  according  to  breed,  con- 
dition of  maturity,  and  description  of  food  consumed.  The  estimated 
average  percentage  of  mineral  matters,  nitrogenous  substance,  fat,  and 
total  dry  substance,  in  the  increase  of  these  animals,  is  given  in  the 
following  table  : 


ANIMALS. 

Mineral 
matter 
(ash). 

Dry 

nitrogenous 
substance. 

Tat. 

Total  dry 

substance. 

98  oxen — average 

1-47 
2-34 
0-06 
0-53 

TG9 
7-13 
644 
7"76 

66-2 
70-4 
71-5 
631 

75-4 

349  sheep         "       

79-9 

80  pigs           "      

78-0 

71-4 

Means 

1-10 

7-26 

67-8 

70-2 

The  averages  of  all  the  animals  under  experiment,  fed  under  a 
variety  of  conditions,  and  including  the  "  fat  "  and  the  "  very  fat,"  are 
here  given.  In  the  tables  which  follow,  however,  data  from  selected 
cases  are  made  use  of,  which  do  not  change  the  general  results,  but 
represent,  it  is  believed,  more  nearly,  the  results  obtained  in  ordinary 
farm  practice. 

The  percentage  of  mineral  constituents  in  the  increase  of  the  sheep 
as  given  in  the  table  is  undoubtedly  too  high,  from  the  presence  of 
foreign  matters  in  the  wool  which  could  not  well  be  separated  ;  this 


SCIENTIFIC  FARMING  AT  ROTHAMSTED.         389 

will  of  course  affect  the  percentage  of  total  dry  substance  which  is  the 
sum  of  the  figures  given  in  the  three  preceding  columns. 

We  may  now  consider  the  relations  of  the  constituents  of  the  food 
to  the  constituents  stored  up  in  the  increase.  In  the  experiments  to 
determine  the  amount  of  food  and  of  its  several  constituents,  con- 
sumed by  an  animal  of  given  weight  within  a  given  time,  and  required 
to  produce  a  given  increase  in  live  weight,  the  foods  presented  a  wide 
range  of  variation  in  composition,  and  the  rations  were  so  planned 
that  the  animals  had  a  supply  of  ad  libitum  food  containing  more  or 
less  nitrogenous  substance,  that  enabled  them  practically  to  fix  for 
themselves  the  relative  proportions  of  the  nitrogenous  and  non-nitroge- 
nous constituents  consumed.  In  all  of  the  feeding  experiments  it 
was  found  that  the  amount  of  food  consumed  by  a  given  live  weight 
of  the  animal,  within  a  given  tine,  and  also  the  increase  in  live  weight 
obtained  from  it,  depended  more  upon  the  non-nitrogenous  constitu- 
ents, or  even  on  the  total  dry  substance,  than  upon  the  nitrogenous 
constituents,  which  had  been  generally  assumed  to  be  the  true  measure 
of  nutritive  value.  In  experiments  with  animals  expending  their 
energies  in  the  form  of  work,  the  same  demand  for  the  non-nitrogenous 
constituents  of  the  food  was  observed  as  in  the  case  of  fattening  ani- 
mals. A  certain  moderate  amount  of  nitrogenous  substances  was 
evidently  needed  in  the  food,  but  any  increase  beyond  this  required 
quantity  had  no  influence  upon  the  returns  obtained  for  food  con- 
sumed, either  in  the  form  of  muscular  force  in  working  animals,  or  in 
increase  in  live  weight  in  those  that  were  fattened,  or  even  on  the 
amount  of  nitrogen  contained  in  such  increase.  The  nitrogen  dis- 
charged in  the  urine,  in  the  form  of  urea,  was  found  to  have  no  rela- 
tion to  the  activity  of  the  muscles,  but  it  was  directly  increased  by  an 
increment  of  nitrogenous  materials  in  the  food.  The  age  and  habits 
of  the  animals  themselves,  when  growing  or  fattening,  seemed,  how- 
ever, to  determine,  to  some  extent,  the  proportions  of  nitrogenous 
materials  in  the  stored-up  increase. 

The  average  results  show  that  oxen  supplied  liberally  with  food  of 
good  quality,  containing  a  moderate  proportion  of  grain  or  other  con- 
centrated food,  would  consume  at  the  rate  of  from  twelve  to  thirteen 
pounds  of  dry  substance  *  per  week  for  each  hundred  pounds  of  their 
weight,  and  that  one  pound  of  increase  in  live  weight  would  be  re- 
turned for  it.  Sheep,  of  several  different  breeds,  consumed,  on  the 
average,  about  fifteen  or  sixteen  pounds  of  dry  substance  of  slightly 
better  food  per  week  for  each  hundred  pounds  of  live  weight,  and  re- 
turned about  one  pound  of  increase  in  weight  for  each  nine  pounds  of 
dry  substance  in  their  food.     Pigs,  with  food  composed  largely  of 

*  Cattle-foods  differ  widely  in  the  amount  of  contained  water ;  the  average  being  in 
hay  from  ten  to  fifteen  per  cent,  in  grain  from  eight  to  fifteen  per  cent,  and  in  roots  from 
seventy-five  to  ninety  per  cent.  The  strictly  "dry  substance,"  excluding  this  variable 
element  of  water  contents,  is  therefore  taken  as  a  basis  in  estimating  nutritive  values. 


39° 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


grain,  consumed  from  twenty-six  to  thirty  pounds  of  dry  substance 
per  week,  for  each  hundred  pounds  of  live  weight,  and  yielded  one 
pound  of  increase  in  weight  for  each  four  or  five  pounds  of  dry  sub- 
stance in  their  food.  Oxen,  therefore,  consume  more  dry  substance  of 
food,  in  proportion  to  their  weight,  than  sheep,  and  sheep  consume 
more  than  pigs,  while,  in  return  for  feed  consumed,  pigs  yield  more 
than  sheep,  and  sheep  gave  better  results  than  oxen.  It  must  be  re- 
membered in  this  connection,  as  has  already  been  pointed  out,  that  the 
food  of  oxen  contained  more  woody  fiber,  while  that  of  the  pigs  was 
comparatively  concentrated  and  digestible,  and  therefore  of  better 
quality.  With  sheep  of  different  breeds  it  was  found  that,  under  the 
same  conditions  as  to  age  and  fatness,  the  food  consumed  was  in  pro- 
portion to  their  live  weight.  The  relative  value  of  the  larger  and 
smaller  breeds  seems,  therefore,  to  depend,  to  a  great  extent  at  least, 
upon  their  habits  and  hardiness,  and  their  adaptation  to  the  conditions 
of  the  locality  in  which  they  are  placed. 

In  studying  these  experiments,  it  will  be  well  to  keep  in  mind  the 
twofold  function  of  food  in  the  animal  economy  :  first,  as  the  source 
of  energy  for  the  performance  of  work  in  the  various  organs  of  the 
body,  which  is  required  in  elaborating  the  peculiar  animal  products 
sought  in  the  process  of  feeding  (as  milk,  flesh,  wool,  etc.),  and  in  car- 
rying on  the  processes  of  repair  and  reconstruction  to  maintain  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  animal  machinery  ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  as  supplying 
the  materials  for  the  construction  or  elaboration  of  the  special  animal 
products.  The  popular  notions  of  nutrition  assume  that  this  supply 
of  materials  in  the  food  for  the  new  product  sought  is  the  most  impor- 
tant, and  the  supply  of  energy  for  the  performance  of  work  is  over- 
looked or  assigned  a  subordinate  position. 

The  results  of  the  experiments  relating  to  the  use  and  ultimate  dis- 
position of  the  food  consumed  by  animals  when  fattened  under  average 
conditions,  as  to  feed  and  increase,  are  given  in  the  following  table  : 


Each  100  pounds  of  dry  substance  in  the  food  consumed  was 
disposed  ofcs  follows: 

ANIMALS. 

Stored  up  as 
increase. 

In  manure. 

Used  in  internal  work 
of  the  system,  and 
not  accounted  for  in 
manure  or  increaso. 

Oxen 

6-2 

8-0 

17-6 

36-5 
319 
16-Y 

'57-3 

60-1 

Pigs 

65-7 

The  figures  in  the  last  column  of  the  table  are  not  intended  to  rep- 
resent all  of  the  internal  work  of  the  system.  They  simply  show  the 
amount  of  non-nitrogenous  constituents  that  are  not  accounted  for  in 
the  stored-up  increase,  or  in  the  manure,  and  thus  are  properly  desig- 
nated as  having  been  used  in  internal  work.  From  an  agricultural 
etand-point,  the  proportions  of  food-constituents  stored  up  as  increase, 


SCIENTIFIC  FARMING  AT  ROTHAMSTED. 


39* 


and  voided  as  manure,  are  of  the  first  importance,  as  these  are  the  two 
factors  that  determine  the  economy  of  feeding.  The  expenditure  of 
energy  in  the  system,  from  the  nitrogenous  constituents  of  the  food,  is 
not,  therefore,  included  in  the  last  column,  as  all  of  the  nitrogen  of  the 
food  that  is  not  stored  up  as  increase  is  finally  excreted  in  the  urine. 
The  first  and  second  columns  of  the  table,  therefore,  include  the  ni- 
trogenous and  the  mineral  substances  of  the  food,  and  any  energy  that 
may  have  been  expended  as  a  result  of  their  metamorphoses  is  not 
represented  in  the  table. 

From  the  data  presented,  it  appears  that  more  than  one  half  (57*3 
per  cent)  of  the  food  of  oxen  when  fattening  is  required  in  internal 
work,  or  in  keeping  the  animal  machinery  in  repair,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  energy  expended  by  the  nitrogenous  constituents,  while  but  6-2 
per  cent  is  stored  up  as  increase  in  weight,  and  more  than  one  third  is 
found  in  the  manure.  With  sheep,  8*0  per  cent  of  the  food  is  stored 
up  as  increase,  less  than  one  third  appears  in  the  manure,  and  60*1  per 
cent  is  used  in  work  of  the  system.  The  pigs  give  17*6  per  cent  of 
the  food  in  increase,  or  more  than  twice  as  much  as  the  sheep,  while 
nearly  two  thirds  is  required  for  internal  work,  and  the  manure  con- 
tains less  than  one  half  as  much  as  in  the  case  of  the  oxen.  The  pigs 
store  up  a  much  larger  proportion  of  their  food  as  increase  than  either 
the  sheep  or  the  oxen,  but  a  larger  percentage  is  used  in  internal  work, 
and  less  appears  in  the  manui*e.  The  increased  expenditure  in  work 
would  naturally  follow  from  the  larger  amount  stored  up  as  increase, 
which  involves  as  a  matter  of  course  an  expenditure  of  energy  in  its 
elaboration.  But  this  is  not  the  whole  truth,  as  will  be  seen  on  mak- 
ing a  comparison  of  the  figures  in  the  first  and  last  columns  of  the 
table.  For  a  given  amount  of  increase  stored  up,  the  oxen  actually 
expend  more  in  internal  work  than  sheep,  and  the  sheep  expend  more 
than  the  pigs  It  evidently  costs  more,  in  internal  work  of  the  sys- 
tem, to  elaborate  the  stored-up  increase  from  the  crude  feed  of  the 
oxen  than  from  the  more  nutritive  food  of  the  pigs.  When  the  facts 
are  examined  from  a  different  stand-point,  the  relations  of  the  increase 
to  work  of  the  system  will  be  more  clearly  seen,  as  in  the  following 
table,  which  gives  the  results  obtained  from  a  given  live  weight  of  the 
animals  in  a  given  time  : 


For  each  100  pounds  of  live  weight,  per  week. 

Stored 
as 
increase. 

Dry  substance. 

ANIMALS. 

Consumed  in 
food. 

Recovered  in 
manure. 

Used  in  internal 

work  of  the 

system,  and  not 

accounted  for 

in  manure  and 

increase. 

Used  in  internal 
work  for  each 
one  pound  of 

stored  increase. 

Oxen 

Pounds. 
1-13 
176 
6-43 

Pounds. 
12-5 
160 

27-0 

Pounds. 
4-56 
5.10 
4-51 

Pounds. 
7-16 
962 

17-74 

Pounds. 
6-34 
5-47 
2-76 

Sheep 

Pigs 

392 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


The  oxen  make  in  increase  but  little  more  than  one  per  cent  of 
their  weight  per  week,  the  sheep  make  one  and  three  fourths  per  cent, 
and  the  pigs  nearly  six  and  one  half  per  cent  of  their  weight  per  week. 
Nearly  the  same  amount  of  dry  substance  of  the  food  appears  in  the 
manure  of  the  different  animals  per  week  for  each  hundred  pounds  of 
their  live  weight.  In  proportion  to  their  weight,  the  pigs  consume 
more  food,  and  a  larger  amount  of  food-constituents  is  actually  used 
in  work  of  the  system,  but,  from  the  greater  rate  of  increase,  the  work 
required  to  produce  a  pound  of  increase  is  less  than  one  half  of  that 
required  in  oxen.  These  facts  are  of  particular  interest  in  connection 
with  the  differences  already  noticed  (page  384),  in  the  relative  percent- 
age weights  of  the  digestive  organs  of  oxen,  sheep,  and  pigs. 

The  dry  substance  of  the  food  has  alone  been  taken  into  the  account 
in  the  preceding  table,  but,  if  we  trace  the  final  disposition  of  its  sev- 
eral constituents  in  the  system,  we  shall  find  marked  differences  in  the 
proportions  of  each  that  are  stored  up  as  increase,  voided  in  manure, 
or  used  in  work  of  the  system.  The  percentage  of  each  group  of  food- 
constituents  stored  up  as  increase  and  voided  in  the  manure  is  given  in 
the  next  table  : 


CONSTITUENTS  OF  FOOD 

Each  100  pounds  of  food-constituents  consumed  was 
disposed  of  as  follows : 

Stored  up  in  increase. 

Voided  in  mature. 

Non-nitrogenous  substance. .  .  . 
Mineral  matters 

Oxen. 
4-1 

1-2 
1-9 

Sheep. 
4-2 
94 
31 

Pigs. 

13-5 

18-5 

7-3 

Oxen. 
95-9 
14-1 
98-0 

Sheep. 

95-8 

8-9 

97-0 

Pigs. 

865 

4-1 

92*7 

The  nitrogenous  substance  and  mineral  matters,  as  will  be  seen,  are 
all  accounted  for  in  the  stored-up  increase  and  the  manure,  but  there 
remains  from  77'4  to  81*7  per  cent  of  the  non-nitrogenous  substances 
that  can  not  be  found  in  the  increase  of  the  body  or  in  the  residual 
manurial  excretions,  as  they  have  been  used  in  internal  work  and  ex- 
creted in  the  process  of  respiration. 

Sheep  store  up  as  increase  a  larger  proportion  of  all  the  food-con- 
stituents than  oxen,  and  pigs  store  up  a  much  larger  proportion  than 
sheep.  The  percentage  of  nitrogenous  constituents  stored  up  as  in- 
crease or  voided  as  manure  will  vary  widely  with  different  foods.  We 
have  seen,  as  a  result  of  these  experiments,  that  but  a  small  proportion 
of  nitrogenous  substance  was  required  in  the  food,  and  that  the  needed 
amount  was  comparatively  constant  under  varying  conditions.  If  the 
food  contains  but  a  moderate  amount  of  nitrogenous  substance,  a  larger 
percentage  of  it  will  be  required  by  the  system,  and  the  amount  ap- 
pearing in  the  manure  will  be  so  much  diminished  ;  but  with  highly 
nitrogenous  foods  a  small  percentage  of  the  nitrogenous  constituents 
will  suffice  for  the  purposes  of  the  system,  and  the  excess  will  appear 
in  the  manure. 


SCIENTIFIC  FARMING  AT  ROTHAMSTED.         393 

Among  the  many  important  results  obtained  in  the  experiments  at 
Rothamsted,  the  data  furnished  for  estimating  the  relative  value  of 
barn-yard  manures  are  of  particular  interest.  The  essential  constitu- 
ents of  barn-yard  manure,  or  those  having  a  commercial  value,  are 
nitrogen,  potash,  and  phosphoric  acid,  which  are  of  course  derived 
from  the  feed  consumed  by  the  animals  making  the  manure.  The 
composition  of  the  food  being  known,  the  percentage  of  its  several 
constituents  that  are  voided  in  the  manure  may  be  estimated  from  the 
data  obtained  in  these  experiments,  so  that  the  relative  value  of  the 
manure  produced  from  different  articles  of  food  can  be  determined 
with  sufficient  accuracy  for  all  practical  purposes.  From  the  results  of 
the  Rothamsted  feeding  experiments,  we  can  not  avoid  the  conclusion 
that  the  cereal  grains  and  the  highly  nitrogenous  linseed  and  cotton- 
seed cakes  have  essentially  the  same  value  as  fattening  foods,  and  that 
there  is  but  little,  if  any,  difference  in  the  feeding  value  of  timothy 
and  clover  hay.  When  the  production  of  manure  is  concerned,  how- 
ever, the  clover  has  a  much  higher  value  than  timothy,  and  the  linseed 
and  cotton-seed  cakes  are  worth  very  much  more  than  the  cereal  grains. 
That  is  to  say,  the  digestible  and  available  non-nitrogenous  constitu- 
ents of  the  food  determine  its  nutritive  value,  provided  always  the 
moderate  required  supply  of  nitrogenous  materials  is  present,  and  the 
comparative  manurial  value  is  determined  by  the  nitrogenous  constitu- 
ents. A  variety  in  the  ration  would  undoubtedly  be  desirable  for 
nutritive  purposes,  as  the  best  results  can  not  be  obtained  with  any 
single  article  of  diet. 

From  the  facts  already  presented  it  appears  that  a  large  proportion 
of  the  increase  of  fattening  animals,  in  many  cases  more  than  two 
thirds,  is  fat.  It  was  formerly  supposed  that  the  fat  of  animals  was 
derived  from  the  fatty  materials  in  the  food,  but  this  source  was  found 
to  be  entirely  inadequate.  The  non-nitrogenous  constituents  of  the 
food — the  carbo-hydrates — were  then  quite  naturally  looked  upon  as 
the  source  from  which  the  fat  was  elaborated  ;  but  afterward  Pro- 
fessors Voit  and  Pettenkofer  insisted  that  the  fat  of  animals  was  almost 
exclusively  formed  from  the  nitrogenous  constituents  of  the  food.  In 
experiments  with  pigs,  which  are  evidently  the  most  suitable  animals 
for  experiments  relating  to  the  formation  of  fat,  Drs.  Lawes  and  Gil- 
bert conclusively  show  that,  with  foods  in  which  the  ratio  of  the  ni- 
trogenous to  the  non-nitrogenous  constituents  was  a  suitable  one  for 
fattening  purposes — as  in  Indian  corn  and  barley — a  large  proportion 
of  the  fat  in  the  stored-up  increase  must  have  been  produced  at  the 
expense  of  the  non  -  nitrogenous  constituents.  There  was  also  evi- 
dence that  the  nitrogenous  constituents  of  the  food,  when  in  excess, 
might  replace  the  carbo-hydrates,  to  some  extent,  in  the  formation 
of  fat. 

The  analysis  of  the  entire  bodies  and  parts  of  the  ten  animals  made 
at  Rothamsted  furnish  some  interesting  data  in  regard  to  the  compo- 


394 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


sition  of  the  animal  food  consumed  by  man.  It  has  been  generally 
assumed  that  the  effect  of  animal  food,  in  human  dietaries,  is  to  in- 
crease the  proportion  of  the  nitrogenous  constituents  :  from  the  results 
of  these  analyses,  however,  we  can  not  escape  the  conclusion  that  the 
animal  elements  of  a  diet,  as  a  whole,  increase  the  proportions  of  the 
carbo-hydrates  or  non-nitrogenous  constituents.  It  appears  that  two 
thirds  of  the  nitrogen  of  the  entire  body,  of  the  calf  and  bullocks,  was 
found  in  the  carcass,  and  of  this  twelve  parts  were  in  the  bones,  leav- 
ing fifty-four  per  cent  of  the  whole  nitrogen  of  the  body  in  the  soft 
parts  of  the  carcass.  Of  the  thirty-three  per  cent  of  the  nitrogen  of 
the  entire  body  in  the  offal  parts,  it  was  estimated  that  in  the  calf 
seven  to  eight  parts,  and  in  the  oxen  four  to  five  parts,  would  be  con- 
sumed as  human  food.  Of  the  total  fat  of  the  body,  about  seventy 
per  cent  in  the  calf,  and  rather  more  than  seventy-live  per  cent  in  the 
oxen,  were  found  in  the  carcass.  Of  the  fat  contained  in  the  offal  parts, 
it  was  estimated  that  five  sixths  in  the  calf  and  one  fifth  in  the  oxen 
would  be  consumed  as  human  food.  The  percentage  of  the  total  ni- 
trogenous and  total  non-nitrogenous  constituents  of  animals,  included 
in  the  food  of  man,  has  been  tabulated  by  Drs.  Lawes  and  Gilbert  as 
follows  : 


ANIMALS. 

Per  cent  consumed  as  human  food. 

Of  the  total 

nitrogenous  compounds 

of  tho  body. 

Of  the  total  fat  of 
the  body. 

CO 
60 
50 
50 

78 

95 

80 

95 

75 

90 

According  to  this  estimate,  "  there  would  be,  in  the  fat  calf  ana- 
lyzed, \\  time,  in  the  fat  ox  2|  times,  in  the  fat  lamb,  fat  sheep,  and 
fat  pig  nearly  4|  times,  and  in  the  very  fat  sheep  6^  times  as  much 
dry  fat  as  dry  nitrogenous  constituents  "  in  the  parts  of  the  animals 
consumed  as  human  food.  As  one  part  of  fat  is  equivalent  to  two  and 
one  half  parts  of  starch,  as  a  source  of  potential  energy  which  must  be 
taken  as  the  measure  of  nutritive  value,  it  will  be  necessary  to  estimate 
the  fat  in  its  equivalent  as  starch  in  making  a  comparison  of  vegetable 
and  animal  foods  with  reference  to  their  nutritive  value,  and  the  rela- 
tive ratio  of  their  nitrogenous  and  non-nitrogenous  constituents.  On 
this  basis  the  results  of  the  Rothamsted  analyses  have  been  tabulated 
as  follows : 


SCIENTIFIC  FARMING  AT  ROTHAMSTED.         395 


RATIOS. 

Proportion  of  dry  fat  to  1  of 
dry  nitrogenous  compounds. 

Proportion  of  starch-equiva- 
lent of  fat  to  1  of  dry 
nitrogenous  compounds. 

In  carcasses, 

including 

bone. 

In  estimated 

consumed 

portions  of  the 

animals. 

In  carcasses, 

including 

bone. 

In  estimated 

consumed 

portions  of  the 

animals. 

1-64 

4-09 

2-01 

.... 

5-02 

1-27 

l-o3 

3-17 

3-S3 

2-11 

2-51 

5-27 

628 

1-00 

1-54 

2-49 

3-85 

2-31 

2-76 

6-78 

6-91 

3'89 

4-40 

8-49 

11-01 

3.96 

4-37 

9-S9 

10-93 

6-07 

6-28 

15-18 

15-09 

4-71 

4-48 

11-77 

11-20 

1-76 

2-02 

439 

5.05 

3-57 

3-97 

S-93 

993 

2-85 

3-48 

7-11 

8-71 

DESCRIPTION  OF  ANIMALS. 


Store,  lean  and  half -fat  animals 

Store  sheep 

Store  pig 

Half-fat  ox 

Half-fat  old  sheep 

Fat  and  very  fat  animals : 

Fat  calf 

Fat  ox 

Fat  lamb 

Fat  sheep 

Very  fat  sheep 

Fat  pig 

Means : 

Store  and  half-fat  animals  . .  . 

Fat  and  very  fat  animals 

Of  the  ten  animals  analyzed. . 


For  comparison  with  these  ratios  of  the  nutritive  constituents  of 
animal  foods,  wheat-flour  hread  was  selected  as  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant of  the  representative  articles  of  vegetable  food.  The  fat  in 
the  bread  itself,  estimated  at  one  per  cent,  which  is  probably  above  the 
average,  was  reckoned  in  its  equivalent  of  starch,  and  the  ratio  of  ni- 
trogenous and  non-nitrogenous  constituents  was  then  found  to  be  1  to 
6*8.  Of  the  animals  fattened  for  the  butcher's  use,  the  fat  calf,  only, 
gives  a  smaller  proportion  of  non-nitrogenous  constituents  than  the 
bread  ;  the  fat  ox  has  nearly  the  same,  and  the  other  animals  very 
much  more.  The  averages  also  show  that  beef,  mutton,  and  pork,  on 
the  whole,  are  not  deficient  in  carbo-hydrates  or  non-nitrogenous  nu- 
tritive constituents.  After  a  full  discussion  of  the  subject,  Drs.  Lawes 
and  Gilbert  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  great  advantage  of  a 
mixed  bread  and  meat  diet,  over  one  of  bread  alone,  does  not  depend 
on  the  nitrogenous  substance,  but  rather  in  substituting  fat  for  a  por- 
tion of  the  starch  of  vegetables.  From  the  greater  value  of  fat  as  a 
source  of  energy,  and  the  general  advantages  of  a  variety  of  nutritive 
elements  in  the  composition  of  a  diet,  this  view  of  the  influence  of 
animal  food  seems  to  be  well  founded. 

The  limits  of  this  article  will  not  allow  us  to  notice  the  experiments 
with  sewage,  and  the  feeding  value  of  sewage-grown  crops  in  the  pro- 
duction of  meat  and  milk  ;  or  the  milling  products  of  grain  grown 
under  a  variety  of  conditions,  and  other  special  subjects  of  investiga- 
tion, that  have  been  included  in  the  work  at  Rothamsted.. 

It  is  perhaps  worthy  of  notice  that  nitrogen  was  the  prominent 
object  of  interest  in  the  Rothamsted  field  experiments,  whilo  the 
carbo-hydrates  or  non-nitrogenous  constituents  of  the  food  seemed  to 


396  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

be  the  ruling  elements  in  the  feeding  experiments.  Is  this  apparent 
contrast  in  the  materials  required  as  leading  factors  in  the  economy 
of  plants  and  animals  a  mere  coincidence  arising  from  the  methods  of 
investigation,  or  does  it  represent  one  of  the  correlations  of  organic 
life  concerned  in  the  conservation  of  energy  ?  The  mineral  and  ni- 
trogenous constituents  of  plants  are  taken  up  by  their  roots  from  the 
soil,  which  is  almost,  if  not  quite,  the  exclusive  source  of  these  ele- 
ments of  plant-growth,  while  all  of  the  carbon  is  elaborated  by  the 
leaves  from  the  supplies  in  the  atmosphere.  The  mineral  and  nitroge- 
nous constituents  of  the  food  of  animals,  on  the  other  hand,  are  all 
discharged  from  the  system,  after  performing  their  functions,  in  the 
liquid  and  solid  excretions,  and  thus  find  their  way  to  the  soil,  where 
they  can  be  appropriated  as  plant-food  ;  while  a  large  proportion  of 
the  carbo-hydrates  are  exhaled  in  respiration  as  carbonic  acid,  the  at- 
mospheric food  of  plants.  By  this  constant  circulation  in  their  appro- 
priate channels  the  conservation  of  the  nutrient  elements,  of  both 
plants  and  animals,  is  fully  maintained. 

The  legitimate  objects  of  agricultural  experiments  are  too  often 
overlooked,  and  it  is  certainly  a  satisfaction,  in  a  review  of  exj^eri- 
ments  that  have  been  systematically  prosecuted  for  so  many  years,  on 
such  an  extended  scale,  to  find  that  they  have  been  fully  appreciated 
throughout  the  entire  work.  In  one  of  the  first  reports  of  experiments 
at  Rothamsted,  on  turnip-culture,  published  in  1847,  it  is  said,  "  The 
object  of  the  experiments  has  not  been  the  production  of  immense 
crops,  but *to  trace,  as  far  as  we  were  able,  the  real  conditions  of 
growth  required  by  the  turnip,  and  to  distinguish  these  from  those  of 
the  crops  to  which  it  is,  to  a  great  extent,  subservient."  In  this  en- 
deavor to  trace  the  laws  which  underlie  the  phenomena  under  inves- 
tigation, results  of  permanent  value  have  been  secured  ;  and  the  prac- 
tical benefits,  measured  in  pecuniary  values,  which  have  been  derived 
from  them  are  of  greater  importance  from  the  fact  that  they  are  not 
merely  empirical  and  detached  facts  that  are  true  only  under  certain 
conditions,  but  have  a  foundation  in  principles  of  general  application. 
Too  often  experiments  are  made  in  which  the  practical  or  pecuniary 
ends  are  the  direct  and  immediate  objects  of  inquiry,  but  such  efforts, 
in  the  main,  must  result  in  disappointment,  so  far  as  any  permanent 
interest  is  concerned,  from  the  failure  to  trace  the  results  obtained  to 
their  appropriate  causes. 

The  work  so  well  begun  at  Rothamsted  is  now  carried  on  with 
undiminished  energy,  with  a  prospect  of  still  more  important  results 
in  the  future.  Dr.  Lawes  is  now  expending  in  his  experiments  more 
than  815,000  annually.  A  new  building  will  be  erected  next  year  to 
relieve  the  laboratory  from  its  accumulated  stores  of  samples,  that 
have  a  definite  history  and  form  the  materials  for  future  investigations. 
From  five  to  nine  hundred  samples  of  the  ash  of  experimental  crops 
are  collected  each  year,  and  with  each  sample  of  ash  there  is  a  dupli- 


RECENT  ADVANCES  IN  PHOTOGRAPHY.  397 

cate  plant  that  is  dried  and  bottled.  With  the  true  spirit  of  an  origi- 
nal investigator,  who  sees  that  there  is  more  to  be  learned  than  has 
already  been  discovered,  and  with  a  modesty  that  well  becomes  one 
who  has  accomplished  so  much,  Dr.  Lawes  (now  Sir  John  Bennet 
Lawes)  writes  me  :  "  We  are  getting  greatly  in  arrears  of  what  may 
be  called  published  work,  and  both  Dr.  Gilbert  and  myself  are  much 
more  interested  in  searching  after  the  unknown  than  in  making  public 
what  little  we  do  know.  I  think,  however,  it  is  not  right  to  keep  back 
so  much  valuable  matter,  and  I  shall  try  and  publish  next  year  the 
whole  series  of  our  ash  analysis,  without  comment  of  any  sort,  merely 
giving  the  history  of  the  experiments  in  regard  to  manures,  etc.,  so 
that  the  reader  may  be  able  to  trace  tbe  remarkable  changes  which 
take  place  from  time  to  time.  You  will  see  that  we  have  got  to  a 
point  in  our  experiments  in  which  the  mere  growth  of  the  crop  is  one 
item,  and  a  very  small  one,  in  the  scope  of  our  inquiry  ;  the  relations 
of  the  crop  to  the  manure  and  to  the  soil  and  atmosphere  bring  us 
face  to  face  with  problems  of  great  difficulty,  which  require  several 
life-times  to  elucidate." 


-»-»♦- 


KECENT  ADVANCES  IN  PHOTOGKAPHY* 

Br  Captain  ABNEY,  E.  E.,  F.  E.  S. 

TAKING  the  case  of  a  daguerreotype  plate  which  has  been  ex- 
posed, and  which  we  are  about  to  develop  by  the  action  of  mer- 
cury, I  should  like  you  to  understand  exactly  what  takes  place  in  the 
plate  when  it  is  exposed  and  developed.  On  the  surface  of  the  plate 
we  have  a  mixture  of  silver  iodide  and  bromide  ;  but,  for  simplicity's 
sake,  I  will  suppose  that  it  is  simply  silver  iodide.  When  light  acts 
on  such  a  compound,  the  result  is  the  liberation  of  iodine  and  the  for- 
mation of  a  new  salt,  which  we  call  silver  subiodide,  Ag„Ia  =  Ag3I  + 1. 
The  iodine  is  taken  up  by  the  silver  plate  at  the  back  of  the  sensitive 
film.  To  develop  the  picture,  mercury-vapor  is  caused  to  condense  on 
the  subiodide,  and  leave  the  iodide  intact.  In  the  Talbotype  process, 
the  picture,  which  has  been  taken  on  a  paper  that  has  been  washed 
with  nitrate  of  silver,  iodide  of  potassium,  and  nitrate  of  silver  again, 
is  developed  by  washing  with  gallic  acid  and  silver  nitrate.  The 
picture  begins  to  appear  on  washing  after  a  very  short  exposure  to  the 
light,  and  becomes  gradually  more  visible  as  the  washing  goes  on.  A 
paper  process  is  a  most  fascinating  process,  because  you  can  dabble 
about,  and  do  exactly  what  you  like  ;  it  is  not  like  the  gelatine  plates 
of  the  present  day,  which  you  have  to  leave  to  come  out  mechanically. 
With  paper,  if  you  want  to  bring  out  a  little  better  detail  in  one  place, 

*  Abstract  of  four  Cantor  Lectures  delivered  before  the  Society  of  Arts. 


398  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

you  can  dab  it  out,  and,  if  you  want  to  keep  it  back,  you  can  put  a 
little  water  over  the  place.  There  is  no  process  like  the  paper  process 
to  please  an  artist.  Now,  what  is  the  meaning  of  the  development  in 
this  process  ?  This  morning  I  was  in  my  laboratory,  and  I  saw  lying 
on  the  bench  a  feeble  negative  which  I  had  badly  developed,  and 
which  I  had  fixed  with  hyposulphite  of  soda.  On  taking  it  up,  I 
found  the  salt  had  crystallized  over  the  surface  in  the  most  beautiful 
manner  ;  and  I  do  not  think  I  could  point  out  to  you  anything  which 
would  give  you  a  better  idea  of  what  development  is  than  those  crys- 
tals. When  you  have  silver  precipitated  from  a  solution  by  any  means 
whatever,  you  have  it  always  in  a  crystalline  form,  and,  as  all  crystals 
possess  polarity,  so  crystals  of  silver  possess  polarity  ;  and  where  one 
silver  particle  is  deposited,  there  another  silver  particle  will  deposit. 
I  look  upon  this  as  a  physical  development ;  we  have  a  crystalline 
action  going  on  during  development,  and  nothing  else.  The  iodide  of 
silver  is  altered  into  a  subiodide,  and  this,  like  the  pole  of  a  magnet, 
attracts  the  precipitating  silver,  and  from  that  time,  where  the  silver 
is  deposited,  other  crystals  of  silver  are  deposited.  That  is  what  I  call 
physical  development. 

There  is  another  kind  of  development  which  some  call  chemical 
development  ;  it  is  shown  by  a  change  in  the  color  or  material  of  the 
substance  acted  upon,  and  not  by  a  building-up  process,  such  as  we 
have  just  had  illustrated.  The  process  may  be  illustrated  in  the  devel- 
opment, by  means  of  silver  nitrate,  of  a  picture  which  has  been  printed 
on  nitrate  of  uranium.  The  picture  is  formed  by  silver  oxide  reduced 
by  the  particles  of  uranium  nitrate  which  have  been  acted  upon  by 
light,  and  by  nothing  else.  The  silver  oxide  reduced  is  an  exact  equiv- 
alent of  the  uranium  salt  which  has  been  acted  upon  by  light.  This 
differs  from  the  previous  process  in  that  the  gallic  acid,  in  the  one 
case,  reduces  the  silver  solution  to  the  state  of  metallic  silver  ;  and,  in 
the  other  case,  the  uranious  image  itself  reduces  it  to  the  state  of 
silver  oxide. 

Another  mode  of  development,  called  chemical  development  in 
Germany,  may,  I  think,  more  properly  be  termed  alkaline  develop- 
ment. Its  theory  is,  that  when  you  have  a  strongly  oxidizing  agent 
in  the  presence  of  an  alkali  and  a  silver  compound,  solid  or  in  solution, 
the  last  will  bo  reduced  to  the  metallic  state.  Such  an  oxidizing  agent 
we  have  in  pyrogallic  acid,  and  the  alkali  generally  used  is  ammonia. 
Now,  this  kind  of  reduction  is  evidently  useless,  unless  it  can  discrimi- 
nate between  a  compound  which  has  been  acted  upon  by  light  and  one 
which  has  not.  When  pyrogallic  acid  is  used,  in  order  to  make  the 
discrimination,  something  more  has  to  be  added  as  a  restrainer  to 
cause  the  reduction  inducing  the  change  to  take  place  only  in  the  part 
acted  upon  by  the  light.  A  solution  of  the  bromide  of  an  alkali  is 
generally  used  for  this  purpose.  Without  a  restrainer,  the  tendency 
is  for  those  parts  to  be  first  reduced,  but  the  action  extends  to  that 


RECENT  ADVANCES  IN  PHOTOGRAPHY.  m 

which  has  not  been  acted  upon  by  the  light.  It  has  been  usually  said 
that  alkaline  development  is  only  available  for  bromide  of  silver,  but 
my  experience  has  taught  me  that  iodide  of  silver  is  as  amenable 
to  alkaline  development  as  the  bromide,  although  not  so  rapidly, 
and  that  chloride  is  very  amenable  to  it,  and  will  give  most  beautiful 
pictures. 

Another  mode  of  development,  now  very  much  in  vogue,  is  that 
with  ferrous  oxalate.  In  this  case  we  have  an  organic  salt  of  iron  in 
the  ferrous  state,  which  is  capable  of  reducing  silver  bromide,  iodide, 
and  chloride  to  the  metallic  state,  while  itself  is  reduced  to  the  ferric 
state.     This  process  also  requires  a  restrainer. 

I  have  found  a  kindred  developer,  the  use  of  which  I  consider  one 
of  the  most  recent  advances  in  photography.  It  is  an  iron  developer, 
which  is  capable  of  being  used  without  any  restrainer  whatever.  I 
call  it  ferrous  citro-oxalate.  It  is  made  by  adding  to  a  solution  of 
citrate  of  potash  ferrous  oxalate  till  no  more  will  dissolve  ;  the  result- 
ing compound  is  probably  citrate  of  iron,  but  in  a  stronger  form  than 
is  usually  found. 

Mr.  Berkeley  has  lately  introduced  an  improvement  in  the  ordinary 
alkaline  developer,  in  which  he  mixes  with  the  pyrogallic-acid  solution 
four  times  the  weight  of  sulphite  of  soda.  The  action,  apparently,  is 
that  the  sulphite  of  soda  absorbs  the  oxygen  with  greater  avidity  than 
does  the  pyrogallic  acid,  thus  leaving  that  agent  to  do  its  work  ;  con- 
sequently, we  have  a  developer  which  remains  uncolored  for  a  very 
long  period. 

Another  developer,  which  is  competent  to  work  also  without  a  re- 
strainer, but  has  not  been  used  to  a  very  great  extent  on  account  of 
its  high  price,  is  hydro-kinone.  It  is  a  much  more  powerful  absorber 
of  oxygen  than  pyrogallic  acid,  to  such  a  degree  that  one  grain  of  it, 
is  as  active  as  two  grains  of  that  substance.  Not  requiring  any  re- 
strainer, even  when  so  troublesome  a  salt  as  silver  chloride  is  used,  it 
is  able  to  give  a  better  detail  and  allow  a  shorter  exposure  in  the  cam- 
era than  when  the  ordinary  alkaline  developer  is  used.  It  is  applicable 
to  any  plate  with  which  you  can  work. 

The  next  point  to  which  I  wish  to  call  attention  is  the  action  of 
sensitizers.  It  may  be  proper  first  to  explain  what  a  sensitizer  is. 
When  you  have  chloride  of  silver  exposed  to  light,  you  have  a  new 
compound  formed,  which  is  called  subchloride,  or  argentous  chloride 
(Ag2Cl2  =  Ag2Cl  +  Cl),  and  chlorine  is  liberated.  This  chlorine  is 
very  difficult  to  eliminate,  if  you  do  not  give  it  something  that  can 
take  it  up  ;  for  instance,  if  you  place  perfectly  pure  chloride  of  silver 
in  vacuo,  without  any  trace  of  organic  matter  present,  you  will  find 
that  you  get  no  darkening  action,  even  if  it  is  exposed  to  brilliant 
sunlight  for  months.  If  a  white  powder  of  the  kind  was  submitted 
to  you,  to  determine  its  character,  you  would  say  at  once  that  it  was 
not  chloride  of  silver,  because  it  was  not  darkened,  since  one  of  the 


400  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

tests  of  chloride  of  silver,  among  chemists,  is  that  it  shall  darken  in 
the  light.  Here  I  have  a  little  bulb  of  it  which  was  prepared,  dried 
carefully,  and  sealed  up.  It  has  been  exposed  for  months  to  the  light, 
and  is  as  pure  a  white  as  it  was  the  first  day  it  was  put  into  the  bulb. 
Another  experiment  was  made  at  the  same  time  ;  but,  unfortunately, 
as  I  thought  then,  a  small  globule  of  mercury  got  into  the  vacuum,  and 
was  sealed  up  with  the  chloride  ;  the  consequence  was  that  the  chlo- 
ride of  silver  immediately  darkened  :  although  the  mercury  was  not  in 
contact  with  the  salt,  the  chlorine  flew  to  the  mercury,  and  formed 
chloride  of  mercury.  This  is  an  instructive  experiment,  showing  that 
chloride  of  silver  will  darken  merely  in  the  presence  of  something  that 
will  mop  up  the  chlorine.  Silver  iodide,  when  exposed  to  light,  splits 
up  into  silver  subiodide  and  iodine,  and  silver  bromide  into  silver  sub- 
bromide  and  bromine.  Now,  in  order  that  there  shall  be  a  ready  dark- 
ening of  either  of  these  salts,  you  must  have  something  which  will 
absorb  the  iodine  or  bromine  (or,  in  the  case  of  the  latter,  allow  it  to 
escape),  according  to  the  salt  you  expose  to  the  light.  This  some- 
thing is  the  sensitizer. 

One  point  that  has  exercised  the  minds  of  a  great  many  photog- 
raphers is  the  illumination  of  their  dark  rooms.  [The  lecturer  having 
shown  the  relation  of  the  several  parts  of  the  solar  spectrum  with  the 
absorption  properties  of  different  substances  used  in  photography,  pro- 
ceeded to  demonstrate  the  effect  of  differently  colored  glasses  upon 
the  passage  of  rays,  and  announced  his  conclusions.]  If  photogra- 
phers want  to  have  an  absolutely  safe  light  in  developing  their  pict- 
ures, let  them  glaze  their  studios  withe  obalt  glass  and  stained  red,  and 
they  will  get  nothing  but  the  light  of  that  particular  refrangibility, 
which  will  not  affect  any  gelatine  plate  of  the  ordinary  type.  You 
may  glaze  and  glaze  with  ruby,  but  you  will  never  get  rid  of  blue 
light  entirely.  Of  course,  it  diminishes  with  every  thickness  you  take. 
If  you  want  to  use  ordinary  plates,  which  are  not  so  sensitive  that 
you  can  not  look  at  them,  my  advice  is  to  use  a  combination  of  stained 
red  and  ruby  glass,  which  will  give  you  a  comfortable  light  to  work 
in,  for  it  cuts  off  the  blue  and  leaves  the  red  in  a  brilliant  patch.  If 
the  operator  wishes  to  be  still  more  secure,  let  him  use  a  combination 
of  cobalt  glass  and  stained-red  glass.  A  combination  of  red  and 
green  is  a  fairly  safe  light  for  iodide  plates  or  ordinary  plates,  but  not 
for  gelatine  plates,  which  are  very  sensitive.  Next  we  come  to  a  series 
of  pretty  colors,  which  may  be  very  useful  to  us  :  magenta,  with  which 
the  yellow  is  cut  out  entirely,  and  the  green,  leaving  the  blue,  violet, 
and  orange  ;  aurine  and  chrysoidine,  which  cut  off  the  blue  ;  a  com- 
bination of  magenta  and  aurine,  which  gives  a  perfect  red  light,  and 
is  very  good  indeed  for  the  photographic  studio  ;  and  scarlet  and 
aurine,  which  give  the  same  effect.  If  all  means  of  securing  the 
right  light  fail,  the  photographer  may  use  the  ferrous  oxalate  de- 
veloper, for  you  may  bring  the  most  sensitive  plate  out  into  a  white 


RECENT  ADVANCES  IN  PHOTOGRAPHY.         401 

light,  when  developing  in  a  dish  with  a  covering  of  that  substance 
over  it. 

In  1874  the  discovery  was  made  that  an  increased  action  of  the 
spectrum  could  be  got  by  dyeing  the  film  of  sensitive  collodion.  If 
you  take  one  of  the  aniline  dyes  and  expose  it  to  the  light  behind  a 
piece  of  black  paper,  you  get  an  image  on  the  dye.  What  is  the 
meaning  of  tbat  ?  The  meaning  is,  that  the  dye  is  oxidized,  for,  if  you 
apply  an  oxidizing  agent,  you  get  the  same  result.  Dr.  Vogel  found 
that  if  he  dyed  a  plate  with  one  of  these  fugitive  dyes,  he  was  able  to 
obtain  an  extension  of  the  impressed  spectrum,  and  he  introduced  the 
term  "  optical  sensitizer  "  to  describe  the  fact.  I  object  to  the  term, 
for  it  gives  a  wrong  impression  of  the  action  that  takes  place,  which  is 
simply  the  reduction  of  the  iodide  or  bromide  of  silver  by  the  oxida- 
tion of  the  dye,  and  the  provision  of  a  nucleus  on  which  development 
can  take  place. 

Collodion  emulsions  have  been  in  vogue  for  seven  or  eight  years, 
although  they  have  now  been  superseded,  to  a  large  extent,  by  gela- 
tine emulsions.  Whether  the  last  be  an  improvement  over  the  former 
process  or  not,  the  collodion  process  is  admirably  adapted  for  land- 
scape-work. If  the  emulsion  is  of  silver  bromide  or  chloride,  it  is 
easily  formed  ;  an  iodide  emulsion  is  more  difficult.  The  point  in 
emulsion-making  seems  to  be  to  get  the  precipitate  in  as  fine  particles 
as  possible,  and  it  is  said  that  this  can  only  be  obtained,  except  at  very 
great  cost  of  time  and  trouble,  by  first  adding  the  soluble  bromide  or 
iodide  to  the  collodion.  If  you  take  the  trouble  to  add  the  silver  to 
the  collodion  first  of  all,  the  aspect  of  emulsion-making  is  entirely 
changed,  and  you  can  get  any  amount  of  fineness  by  adding  the  iodide 
or  bromide  to  the  silver  contained  in  the  collodion  so  long  as  you  keep 
the  silver  nitrate  in  excess.  If  you  put  the  iodide  into  the  collodion 
first,  and  then  add  silver  nitrate,  you  will  find  that  you  have  precipi- 
tated the  iodide  of  silver  at  the  bottom  of  the  bottle,  and  in  a  form 
which  will  not  emulsify  at  all.  My  advice  to  those  who  wish  to  make 
collodion  or  gelatine  emulsion  is,  to  add  the  silver  to  the  collodion  or 
gelatine,  and  then  add  the  haloid  salts  afterward,  and  you  will  get  as 
perfect  an  emulsion  as  you  choose. 

It  is  a  great  comfort  in  the  collodio-bromide  process  that  the  oper- 
ator is  able  to  give  local  intensity  (a  most  desirable  quality  in  all  artis- 
tic work)  to  the  image.  I  do  not  believe  any  process  is  perfect  until 
that  power  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  manipulator  ;  and  the  great 
defect  of  the  next. process  to  be  mentioned  is,  that  it  does  not  give 
that  power,  but  leaves  the  operator  at  the  mercy  of  his  plate,  on  which 
he  must  let  come  out  what  will.  This  next  process  is  the  gelatine 
process,  which  may  be  described  as  one  in  which  the  silver  bromide  is 
held  in  suspension  in  gelatine  in  the  same  way  that  in  the  previous 
process  it  is  held  in  collodion.  Mr.  Bennett  showed  how  a  gelatine 
emulsion  can  be  made  very  sensitive  by  keeping  it  at  a  comparatively 
tol.  xx:i. — 26 


402  THE  POPULAR  SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

low  temperature  in  a  liquid  condition  for  many  days.  Colonel  Wortley 
afterward  claimed  that  he  could  get  the  same  sensitiveness  by  heating 
up  to  150°  Fahr.  for  a  short  time  ;  and  then  Mr.  Mansfield  got  it  in  a 
few  minutes  by  boiling.  Another  method  was  then  introduced  by  Dr. 
Monkhoven  for  the  production  of  very  sensitive  gelatine  emulsions  by 
adding  ammonia  with  the  nitrate  of  silver.  The  ammonia  process 
found  many  admirers,  among  them  Dr.  Eder,  whose  method  of  adding 
a  large  quantity  of  ammonia  has  given  very  sensitive  pictures,  and 
very  vigorous  ones  when  the  sensitiveness  is  not  too  great.  A  process 
introduced  by  Mr.  Cowan  is  even  superior  to  that  of  Dr.  Eder.  He 
emulsifies  his  bromide  in  a  very  small  quantity  of  gelatine  with  ammo- 
nia, and  adds  sufficient  gelatine  when  the  emulsion  is  ripened.  Dr. 
Eder's  method  was  to  add  the  full  amount  of  gelatine  with  the  am- 
monia. Mr.  Cowan's  method  gives  greater  rapidity  and  greater  cer- 
tainty. 

What  is  the  reason  of  the  sensitiveness  of  the  gelatine  emulsion  ? 
Pictures  can  be  taken  with  it  in  a  tenth  of  the  time  necessary  for  a 
wet  plate,  and  perhaps  a  thousandth  of  that  necessary  for  an  ordinary 
dry  plate.  The  first  reason  is,  that  the  emulsion  has  a  blue  form. 
Another  reason  is,  that  you  can  use  a  more  powerful  developer.  If  you 
separate  bromide  of  silver  which  has  been  emulsified  in  gelatine,  and 
place  it  in  collodion,  the  extreme  rapidity  will  be  gone,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  you  can  not  use  as  strong  a  developer  as  you  can  with  a 
gelatine  emulsion  ;  in  fact,  the  property  that  gelatine  possesses  of  act- 
ing as  a  physical  restrainer  comes  into  play  :  each  little  particle  or 
aggregation  of  particles  of  the  salt  is  surrounded  by  gelatine,  which 
prevents  the  developer  acting  rapidly  on  them.  Again,  the  fact  that 
by  boiling,  or  by  the  ammonia  process,  you  get  a  coarser  deposit  of 
bromide  of  silver,  also  points  to  increased  sensitiveness.  Furthermore, 
if  you  boil  or  heat  bromide,  or  any  haloid  salt  of  silver,  with  an  organic 
substance,  it  has  a  tendency  to  separate  into  a  metallic  state  ;  in  fact, 
the  bromide  of  silver  is  then  in  a  state  of  very  tottering  equilibrium  ; 
the  bromine  is  ready  to  be  given  off  at  the  very  slightest  disturbance 
of  the  molecule,  much  more  so  than  before  it  is  boiled.  I  think  that 
the  fact  that  you  so  often  get  fogged  emulsion  when  you  overboil  is 
proof  of  this  statement.  If  you  were  to  ask  me  to  illustrate  the  sen- 
sitiveness of  a  gelatine  plate,  I  should  show  you,  not  some  of  those 
marvelous  instantaneous  photographs,  but  a  photograph  by  Mr.  Hen- 
derson, by  moonlight,  and  another  of  some  under-ground  cellars  at 
Reigate,  by  Mr.  William  Brooks,  taken  by  lamp-light.  If  anything 
can  show  what  gelatine  plates  can  do,  it  is  the  fact  that  candle-light 
and  moonlight  can  be  utilized  for  impressing  the  surface  with  an 
image.  Dr.  Vogel  has  recently  introduced  an  emulsion  made  with 
acetic  acid,  gelatine,  pyroxyline,  and  bromide  of  silver,  which  is  very 
clean  and  very  fairly  rapid.  Plates  are  more  readily  coated  with  it 
than  with  gelatine  emulsion,  but  less  so  than  with  collodion  emulsion. 


RECENT  ADVANCES  IN  PHOTOGRAPHY.         4c3 

Another  very  decided  advance  in  photography  is  the  doing  away 
with  glass  as  a  support  for  the  emulsion.  Mr.  Warnerke  has  perfected 
a  process  by  which  the  photograph  is  taken  on  paper  instead  of  on  glass. 
He  has  a  sensitive  tissue  which  can  be  made  of  any  length,  and  can  be 
l-olled  on  a  roller  and  exposed  in  the  dark  slide.  By  turning  another 
roller,  a  fresh  surface  is  brought  into  the  plane  of  the  focusing-screen. 
The  sensitive  tissue  is  developed  in  the  ordinary  way  with  alkaline 
development.  The  film  can  be  either  stripped  off,  or  else  transferred 
to  glass.  In  the  latter  case,  we  come  to  another  point  which  marks  a 
distinct  advance.  Mr.  Warnerke  has  found  that  when  you  develop  a 
gelatine  plate  with  alkaline  development,  the  parts  which  have  been 
acted  upon  by  light,  and  which  have  been  developed,  become  insoluble 
in  hot  water.  He  is  thus  able,  after  development,  instead  of  using  the 
hyposulphite  bath  to  fix  the  print,  to  transfer  it  to  glass,  and  wash 
away  with  hot  water  the  parts  of  the  film  which  have  not  been  acted 
upon  by  the  light  ;  and  he  thus  gets  a  transparency.  To  do  this,  it  is 
necessary  that  the  back  surface  of  the  gelatine  film  should  be  exposed 
to  the  water,  as  in  carbon  printing,  and  this  is  secured  by  transfer  to 
glass.  Mr.  Warnerke  is  not  satisfied  with  doing  away  with  glass  for 
the  camera,  but  he  does  away  with  glass  for  printing  ;  and,  in  order  to 
accomplish  this,  he  retransfers  the  negative  from  the  glass  to  a  sheet 
of  gelatine.  I  may  say  that  the  glass  is  freshly  collodionized,  and  this 
enables  the  film  to  strip  off  readily.  It  is  one  of  the  advantages  of 
these  negatives  that  you  can  print  from  either  side,  each  one  yielding 
sharp  points — a  desideratum  when  using  processes  where  reversed 
negatives  are  required.  In  the  matter  of  gelatine  films,  we  have  Pro- 
fessor Stebbings's,  which  are  really  workable.  The  gelatine  emulsion 
is  apparently  flowed  on  an  insoluble  film  on  glass,  which  is  then 
stripped. 

The  next  point  I  touch  upon  is  the  enlargement  of  negatives.  The 
best  way  I  know  of,  of  getting  an  enlargement  of  a  negative,  is  one 
that  was  brought  forward  a  few  years  ago  by  Mr.  Valentine  Blanchard. 
He  takes  the  original  negative  which  he  wishes  to  enlarge,  and  places 
it  in  an  enlarging  camera.  He  then  takes  a  transparency  of  the  exact 
size  he  wants  his  negative  to  be.  He  next  takes  a  piece  of  common 
albumenized  paper,  and  prints  that  transparency  upon  it,  and  by  this 
means  gets  a  very  soft  and  beautiful  negative.  If  you  have  a  hard 
negative,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  get  a  soft  transparency  by  the  wet- 
plate  process  ;  but,  by  this  artifice  of  "  printing  out "  your  transpar- 
ency and  using  that  as  a  negative,  you  get  a  decidedly  soft  paper 
negative. 

One  of  the  new  applications  of  the  gelatine  process  is  the  develop- 
ment of  a  print  on  paper  coated  with  gelatino-bromide.  The  paper  is 
prepared  by  coating  ordinary  paper  with  gelatino-bromide  (of  the 
most  sensitive  kind,  if  you  like).  Such  paper  can  then  be  exposed  to 
the  image  formed  by  an  ordinary  magic-lantern  ;  by  that  means  you 


404  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

can  get  an  enlarged  print.  We  may  thus  say  that  an  advance  has 
been  made,  when,  by  an  ordinary  magic-lantern,  with  a  good  negative, 
you  can  get  a  perfect  enlarged  print  by  development.  Perhaps  it  will 
not  have  that  luster  which  albumenized  prints  have,  but  it  is  a  matter 
of  taste  whether  you  like  that  gloss  or  not. 

As  gelatine  plates  are  now  prepared  they  all  have  an  excess  of 
soluble  bromide.  While  this  is  the  case,  the  highest  sensitiveness 
possible  will  not  have  been  obtained.  Dr.  Eder  has  found  that  an  in- 
crease of  sensitiveness,  two  or  three  fold,  may  be  produced  by  neutral- 
izing this  excess.  The  gelatine-plate  makers  have  the  problem  to 
solve,  how  to  get  rid  of  any  possible  excess  of  soluble  bromide  in  their 
films. 

We  will  next  consider  what  causes  the  destruction  of  the  photo- 
graphic image.  You  may  destroy  it  by  any  substance  which  will 
readily  part  with  oxygen.  You  can  destroy  it,  for  instance,  by  bi- 
chromate of  potash,  by  any  of  the  ferric  salts,  or  by  oxygen-yielding 
substances,  like  permanganate  of  potash,  ozone,  peroxide  of  hydrogen, 
or  hydroxyl  ;  in  fact,  there  is  hardly  any  substance  which  will  part 
with  oxygen,  which  will  not  destroy  the  developable  image.  The  pho- 
tographic image  remains  behind  as  a  rule,  though  not  always,  but  these 
re-agents  prevent  it  becoming  developable.  Bromine  also  acts  some- 
times as  a  destructive  agent,  by  escaping,  when  the  exposure  is  too 
long,  from  the  lower  part  of  the  bromide  coating  of  the  plate,  and 
forming  a  fresh  film  of  bromide  at  the  surface  after  it  has  been  acted 
on  by  the  light. 

A  remarkable  utilization  of  the  oxidizing  process  has  been  proposed 
and  carried  out  by  M.  Bolas.  Wishing  to  reproduce  an  ordinary 
gelatine  negative  having  the  proper  gradations  of  light  and  shade,  he 
took  a  gelatine  plate,  immersed  it  in  bichromate  of  potash,  allowed 
the  film  to  dry,  and  then  exposed  it  to  light  behind  the  negative  to  be 
reproduced.  In  this  exposure  he  had  an  oxidizing  agent  present  in 
his  film  ;  the  oxidized  parts  were  acted  upon  by  the  light,  leaving  the 
other  part  intact  ;  and  by  that  means  he  got  a  reversed  image.  Oxi- 
dizing agents  enable  us  also  to  get  rid  of  fog.  A  gelatine  plate,  which 
has  been  fogged  by  exposure  to  light,  can  be  cleared  by  immersing  it 
in  bichromate  of  potash. 

I  have  learned  in  my  experiments  that  halations,  or  the  appearance 
of  haloes  around  the  picture  can  be  prevented,  by  touching  the  back 
of  the  plate  with  asphaltum  or  some  varnish  ;  the  reflection  is  toned 
down  according  to  what  medium  is  placed  on  the  back  of  the  plate. 
The  most  perfect  cure  for  halation  is  Brunswick-black.  It  admits 
no  reflection  from  the  back  of  the  plate,  and  thus  enables  the  operator 
to  get  rid  of  every  tendency  to  f  uzziness  of  the  image. 

A  most  useful  instrument  has  been  introduced  by  Mr.  Warnerke, 
which  is  known  as  a  sensitometer,  or  measurer  of  sensitiveness,  it 
consists  of  squares  of  colored  gelatine  of  different  opacities  through 


SKETCH   OF    PROFESSOR   HENRY  DRAPER.       405 

which  light  is  allowed  to  fall  on  a  sensitive  plate,  and  is  intended  as  a 
guide  to  determine  the  comparative  rapidity  of  the  plates.  Mr.  War- 
nerke  has  also  introduced  an  actinometer,  or  instrument  to  measure 
the  intensity  of  light,  which  is  dependent  on  phosphorescence  for  its 
value.  It  consists  of  a  phosphorescent  tablet,  by  the  exposure  of 
which  to  the  action  of  light  he  is  able  to  tell  the  photographic  value 
of  the  particular  light.  The  discovery  is  of  the  more  value,  because 
phosphorescence  is  induced  by  very  nearly  the  same  rays  as  those 
which  affect  bromide  of  silver.  Another  simple  way  of  telling  the 
amount  of  exposure  to  give  the  plates  is  by  Woodbury's  photometer, 
in  which  a  piece  of  bromide  paper  exposed  to  the  light  is  compared 
and  read  off  with  one  of  a  series  of  tinted  circles.  A  rule  to  be  re- 
membered in  using  this  instrument  is,  that  if  a  bromide  plate  is  used, 
a  bromide  paper  only  should  be  used  for  securing  the  tint  ;  if  a  chloride 
plate,  a  chloride  paper.  Recent  researches  of  mine  have  shown  that 
the  dai'kening  intensity  and  the  developing  intensity  go  hand  in  hand  ; 
therefore,  when  the  operator  has  the  number  which  gives  the  right 
tint,  he  may  always  be  sure  of  getting  the  right  exposure. 

Some  of  the  most  recent  and  striking  exemplifications  of  the  scien- 
tific applications  of  photography  are  the  composite  photographs  by 
Mr.  Galton,  which  may  be  peculiarly  useful  in  the  study  of  anthro- 
pology. One  of  them  is  a  typical  family  composite  portrait  composed 
of  a  mother  and  two  daughters,  in  which  all  three  faces  are  blended 
together.  We  are  thus  given  a  likeness  of  the  female  branch  of  the 
family  ;  another,  a  blending  of  the  father  and  mother,  two  sisters,  and 
two  brothers,  gives  the  typical  family  group.  Other  pictures,  in 
which  the  same  principles  are  applied,  give  a  typical  group  of  engineer 
officers  and  a  typical  group  of  sappers. 


SKETCH  OF  PROFESSOR  HENRY  DRAPER. 

~T^T~0  greater  calamity  could  have  befallen  American  science  than 
-L.N  the  recent  and  sudden  death  of  Professor  Henry  Draper.  The 
news  of  it  was  an  inexpressible  shock  to  his  friends,  and  was  felt  with 
painful  regret  by  the  whole  community.  But  forty-five  years  of  age, 
with  the  full  promise  of  apparent  health,  and  in  the  midst  of  an  active 
and  a  brilliant  career,  he  was  cut  off  by  an  illness  so  short  that  but 
few  had  heard  of  it  when  his  death  was  announced.  In  an  excursion 
to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  in  August  and  September,  he  had  been  sub- 
jected to  severe  exposure  and  contracted  a  heavy  cold  ;  he  returned, 
however,  in  October,  considerably  recovered  and  able  to  resume  his 
scientific  labors.     He  gave  a  dinner  to  the  National  Academy  of  Sci- 


4o6  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

ences,  at  his  residence,  on  November  16th,  and  made  special  and  elabo- 
rate preparations  for  the  occasion  by  electric  illumination  of  the  din- 
ing-hall  in  a  way  to  produce  some  novel  and  agreeable  effects.  It  is 
supposed  that  the  anxiety  and  exertion  of  this  preparation  were  more 
than  he  could  well  endure.  He  was  attacked  with  severe  pains  in  the 
chest,  and  suffered  much  while  at  dinner,  but  thought  that  he  would 
get  relief  by  a  warm  bath.  But,  instead  of  relief,  his  symptoms  were 
aggravated,  and  a  physician  was  sent  for  who  recognized  his  attack 
as  one  of  violent  double  pneumonia  and  pleurisy.  It  was  hoped,  how- 
ever, that  he  might  recover  until  shortly  before  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred early  in  the  morning  on  the  20th  of  November. 

Heney  Deapeb  was  born  in  Prince  Edward  County,  Virginia, 
March  7,  1837,  and  two  years  later  his  father,  Dr.  John  William  Dra- 
per, removed  to  this  city  to  take  the  chair  of  Chemistry  in  the  New 
York  University.  Henry,  at  first,  went  through  the  course  at  the 
public  school,  but  at  the  age  of  fifteen  he  entered  the  Academic  De- 
partment of  the  university,  though  he  did  not  graduate  there.  At  the 
end  of  his  sophomore  year  he  entered  the  Medical  Department  of  the 
university,  which  his  father  had  been  prominent  in  establishing,  and 
from  which  he  took  his  medical  degree  in  1858.  He  at  first  thought 
of  practicing  medicine,  and  received  an  appointment  upon  the  medical 
staff  of  Bellevue  Hospital,  which  he  held  for  sixteen  months,  and  then 
decided  to  abandon  practice,  and  give  himself  to  teaching.  He  was 
elected  Professor  of  Physiology  in  the  Academical  Department  of  the 
university  in  1860,  and  in  1866  became  professor  of  the  same  branch 
in  the  University  Medical  School.  He  resigned  this  post  in  1873,  and 
afterward  taught  advanced  analytical  chemistry  in  the  Academical 
Department  of  the  institution.  After  the  death  of  his  father  he  was 
appointed  to  fill  his  chair,  but  previous  to  the  opening  of  the  last  fall 
term  he  severed  entirely  his  connection  with  the  institution. 

Professor  Henry  Draper  is  one  of  the  men  who  is  not  to  be  inter- 
preted in  his  individuality  alone.  With  his  father  he  represents  one 
of  the  double  stars  in  the  firmament  of  scientific  celebrities  of  which 
we  have  now  a  considerable  catalogue.  Among  the  illustrious  pioneers 
of  mathematical  physics  there  are  the  Bernoullis,  father  and  son  ;  in 
chemistry,  the  Gmelins  and  the  Brodies  ;  in  botany,  the  De  Candolles 
and  the  Hookers  ;  and,  in  astronomy,  the  Cassinis  and  the  Herschels  ; 
and  to  these  must  be  added  the  Drapers,  father  and  son.  Many  more 
examples,  though  less  eminent,  might  be  given  in  which  sons  have 
distinguished  themselves  by  pursuing  with  success  the  branches  of 
research  opened  by  their  fathers,  and  to  trace  the  influence  that  is 
exerted  and  the  effects  that  are  produced  in  these  cases  would  be  an 
interesting  biographical  study.  In  the  present  instance  the  son  was 
the  inheritor  both  of  his  father's  genius  and  of  his  subjects  of  research, 
while  his  early  education  was  shaped  with  a  view  to  the  pursuits  to 
which  his  life  was  devoted.     This  point  is  thus  referred  to  in  the 


SKETCH   OF  PROFESSOR  HENRY  DRAPER.      407 

sketch  of  Henry  Draper  which  appeared  in  a  late  number  of  "  Har- 
per's Weekly  ": 

"  He  had  for  a  companion,  friend,  and  teacher,  from  childhood, 
one  of  the  most  thoroughly  cultivated  and  original  scientific  men  of 
the  present  age,  who  attended  carefully  to  his  instruction,  and  im- 
pressed upon  him  deeply  the  bent  of  his  own  mind  in  the  direction  of 
science.  The  boy  was,  in  fact,  immersed  in  science  from  his  young- 
est years,  and  not  merely  crammed  with  its  results,  but  saturated  with 
its  true  spirit  at  the  most  impressible  period.  He  was  taught  to  love 
science  for  the  interest  of  its  inquiries,  and  was  early  put  upon  the 
line  of  original  investigation  in  which  he  has  won  his  celebrity.  Henry 
Draper  inherited  not  only  his  father's  genius,  but  his  problems  of  re- 
search. Dr.  John  W.  Draper  was  an  experimental  investigator  of 
such  fertility  of  resources  and  such  consummate  skill  that  the  Euro- 
pean savcmts  always  deplored  his  proclivity  to  literary  labors  as  a 
great  loss  to  the  scientific  world.  Henry  Draper  inherited  from  his 
father  in  an  eminent  degree  the  aptitude  for  delicate  experimenting, 
and  a  fine  capacity  of  manipulatory  tact.  The  elder  Draper  was  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  recent  science  of  photo-chemistry.  He  worked 
early  and  brilliantly  in  the  new  and  fascinating  field  of  the  chemistry 
of  light,  and  more  than  forty  years  ago  by  his  extensive  contributions 
to  this  subject  he  prepared  the  way  for  those  who  entered  to  reap  the 
fruits  of  his  labors  in  the  splendid  field  of  spectrum  analysis.  But 
the  scepter  was  not  to  depart  from  the  family.  Henry  pursued  the 
same  line  of  research,  and  by  his  extension  of  it  will  have  a  permanent 
place  among  the  discoverers  of  the  period." 

Henry  Draper's  first  important  scientific  investigation  was  made 
at  the  age  of  twenty,  and  was  embodied  in  his  graduating  thesis  at 
the  Medical  College.  It  was  on  the  functions  of  the  spleen,  which 
was  illustrated  by  microscopic  photography — an  art  then  in  its  in- 
fancy. Soon  after  receiving  his  degree  he  went  to  Europe,  and  while 
there  visited  the  widely-known  observatory  of  Lord  Rosse,  and  studied 
the  construction  and  working  of  his  celebrated  colossal  reflecting 
telescope.  This  led  him  to  consider  the  problem  of  using  reflecting 
telescopes  for  the  purpose  of  photographing  celestial  objects.  On  his 
return  home  he  constructed  a  telescope  of  this  kind  of  fifteen  and  a 
half  inches  aperture,  and  with  it  took  a  photograph  of  the  moon  fifty 
inches  in  diameter — the  largest  ever  made.  His  success  spurred  him 
on  to  further  improvements,  so  that  he  became  an  adept  in  grinding, 
polishing,  and  testing  reflecting  mirrors.  An  equatorial  telescope  was 
afterward  constructed  by  him,  with  an  aperture  of  twenty-eight  inch- 
es, for  his  observatory  at  Hastings-on-the-Hudson.  The  instrument 
was  wholly  the  work  of  his  own  hands,  and  was  designed  mainly  to 
photograph  the  spectra  of  the  stars.  After  a  long  series  of  experi- 
ments, it  was  finished  in  1872,  and  has  been  pronounced  by  President 
Barnard  as  '  probably  the  most  difficult  and  costly  experiment  in  celes- 


4o8  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

tial  chemistry  ever  made.'  He  was  the  first  to  obtain  a  photograph 
of  the  fixed  lines  in  the  spectra  of  stars,  and  he  continued  the  work 
until  he  had  obtained  impressions  of  the  spectra  of  more  than  one 
hundred  stars. 

When  the  commission  was  created  by  Congress  for  the  purpose  of 
observing  the  transit  of  Venus,  in  1874,  Professor  Draper  was  in- 
trusted with  the  charge  of  the  photographic  department.  He  spent 
much  time  in  the  preparations,  for  which  he  declined  to  receive  any 
compensation.  So  signal  was  the  success  of  his  disinterested  exer- 
tions, that  the  commissioners  had  a  gold  medal  struck  in  his  honor  at 
the  Philadelphia  Mint,  bearing  the  inscription,  though  in  an  extinct 
tongue,  "He  adds  luster  to  ancestral  glory."  In  1878  he  went  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains  to  observe  the  total  eclipse  of  the  sun,  and  there 
successfully  photographed  the  spectrum  of  the  solar  corona.  For  the 
last  two  or  three  years  he  had  been  much  engaged  in  the  difficult  work 
of  photographing  nebulas,  and  he  startled  the  scientific  world  by  the 
announcement  that  he  had  succeeded  in  getting  a  fine  photograph  of 
the  great  nebula  in  Orion  and  of  its  spectrum. 

Professor  Draper  was  not  a  prolific  author,  like  his  father,  and 
only  wrote  one  book  ;  but  he  died  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  had  he 
lived  would  undoubtedly  have  given  to  the  world  the  results  of  his 
ripened  investigations  in  enduring  treatises.  He,  however,  wrote 
much  for  the  scientific  periodicals,  describing  the  results  of  his  work. 
He  contributed  several  papers  to  the  "  American  Journal  of  Science 
and  Arts  "  and  to  "Nature."  He  published  in  1864  a  " Text-Book  of 
Chemistry,"  and  a  paper  on  the  "  Philosophic  Use  of  Silvered  Glass 
Reflecting  Telescopes."  The  paper  was  published  in  "The  Philo- 
sophical Magazine."  In  the  same  year  he  published  a  pamphlet  on 
"Silvered  Glass  Telescopes  and  Celestial  Photography."  "The  Quar- 
terly Journal  of  Science,"  in  1865,  published  his  views  of  "  Petroleum, 
its  Importance  and  its  History,"  and  "  American  Contributions  to  the 
Spectrum  Analysis."  The  Smithsonian  Institution,  in  its  "  Contribu- 
tions, vol.  xiv.,  of  1864,"  published  a  paper  on  "  Construction  of  Sil- 
vered Glass  Telescopes,  Fifteen  and  a  Half-Inch  Aperture,  and  their  Use 
in  Celestial  Photography."  The  following  papers  have  been  published 
in  "The  American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts"  :  "On  the  Diffrac- 
tion Spectrum  Photography,"  in  1872  ;  "  Astronomical  Observations 
on  the  Atmosphere  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,"  and  "  Spectra  of  Venus 
and  a  Lyrce,"  in  1877  ;  "  Discovery  of  Oxygen  in  the  Sun  by  Photog- 
raphy, and  a  New  Theory  of  the  Solar  Spectrum,"  which  was  fol- 
lowed by  another  paper  on  the  same  subject,  entitled  "  On  the  Coin- 
cidence of  the  Bright  Lines  of  the  Oxygen  Spectrum  with  Bright 
Lines  in  the  Solar  Spectrum,"  in  1877  ;  "  Eclipse  of  the  Sun  in 
July,  1878,"  in  1878  ;  « Photographing  the  Spectra  of  the  Stars 
and  Planets,"  in  1879  ;  "  Photograph  of  Jupiter's  Spectrum,"  and 
"Photograph  of  the  Nebula   in  Orion,  on  September  30,  1880,"  in 


SKETCH   OF  PROFESSOR  HENRY  DRAPER.       409 

1880  ;  and  "  Photograph  of  the  Spectra  of  the  Comet  of  June,  1881," 
last  year. 

Probably  Henry  Draper's  most  important  work  was  his  discovery  of 
oxygen  in  the  sun,  which  was  duly  chronicled  and  made  a  matter  of  dis- 
cussion in  "  The  Popular  Science  Monthly  "  at  the  time.  It  was  the 
result  of  great  sagacity,  experimental  skill,  and  an  immense  amount  of 
labor.  It  was  too  unexpected  and  surprising  to  command  the  ready 
assent  of  eminent  physicists  and  astronomers,  while  its  experimental 
proofs  were  on  such  an  expensive  scale  that  the  processes  could  not  be 
easily  repeated.  But  the  opinion  has  undoubtedly  gained  strength 
that  the  discovery  is  valid,  and  by  reference  to  a  recent  work  by  Pro- 
fessor Young  on  "  The  Sun  "  and  the  "  Popular  Astronomy"  of  Professor 
Newcomb,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  weight  of  authoritative  opinion  is 
in  favor  of  its  reality. 

Henry  Draper  was  a  man  of  medium  height,  rather  stoutly  built, 
with  the  appearance  of  vigorous  health.  His  manners  were  agreeable, 
he  was  a  lively  and  a  witty  talker,  and  a  very  fluent  and  instructive 
lecturer.  He  was  enthusiastic  in  his  passion  for  science,  and  persistent 
and  tenacious  in  carrying  out  his  elaborate  plans  of  research. 

In  1867  he  married  the  daughter  of  Courtlandt  Palmer,  Esq.,  a 
cultivated  lady  who  entered  with  a  kindred  enthusiasm  into  all  his 
studies,  and  rendered  the  most  faithful  and  efficient  service  in  his  deli- 
cate and  arduous  investigations.  So  thorough  was  her  understand- 
ing of  the  problems  he  was  engaged  upon,  and  so  considerable  her 
share  in  the  manipulatory  practice,  that  it  is  hoped  she  may  be  able  to 
complete  and  publish  his  more  important  unfinished  work.  At  the 
death  of  his  father-in-law,  Professor  Draper  became  a  trustee  of  the 
large  estate,  and  was  henceforth  much  absorbed  in  business.  But, 
though  in  command  of  very  liberal  means,  his  passion  for  science  was 
too  strong  to  be  diverted  by  new  solicitations,  and  he  set  a  noble  ex- 
ample by  making  use  of  his  ample  resources  to  carry  on  the  work  of 
scientific  research  on  a  scale  that  is  but  rarely  attempted  because  of  its 
great  expense. 


410 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


EDITOR'S    TABLE. 


TEE  BANQUET  TO  EERBERT SPENCER. 

ALTHOUGH  the  visit  of  Mr.  Spen- 
cer to  this  country  has  been  in 
some  respects  painfully  unsatisfactory, 
yet  in  other  and  the  most  important 
respects  it  has  been  most  gratifying  and 
successful.  His  state  of  health  was  such 
that  he  was  good  for  nothing  for  social 
purposes.  He  has  been  long  an  invalid, 
and  compelled  much  to  restrict  his  so- 
cial life  at  home.  He  left  England  in 
a  bad  condition,  which  was  aggravated 
by  his  voyage,  and  then  made  worse  by 
the  exciting  experiences  of  a  new  coun- 
try, where  he  found  many  things  very 
different  from  those  he  had  been  used 
to.  Social  intercourse  was  so  exciting 
and  exhausting  that  he  was  compelled 
to  abstain  from  it,  and  many  of  his 
friends  were  sadly  disappointed  that 
they  could  not  meet,  welcome,  and 
converse  with  him,  as  is  the  habit  with 
other  eminent  strangers.  This  was  a 
serious  drawback  upon  his  visit,  equally 
to  himself  and  to  others,  and  will  be  a 
source  of  lasting  regret. 

But  now  that  Mr.  Spencer  is  gone, 
and  has  got  home  safely,  everybody  is 
glad  he  came.  They  are  pleased  that 
he  has  seen  something  of  the  country, 
if  but  little,  and  that  he  will  have  more 
correct  and  adequate  ideas  of  what  is 
going  on  here  than  if  he  had  never 
come.  It  will  be  a  fact  of  no  small  im- 
port, perhaps,  in  his  mental  history. 
But  the  chief  significance  and  the  most 
gratifying  feature  of  his  visit  will  be 
the  way  he  has  been  received  by  the 
American  public.  If  he  has  not  been 
seen,  he  has  been  heard ;  and  the  wide 
effect  is  that  he  is  both  better  known 
and  more  highly  regarded  by  friends 
and  enemies  alike. 

It  had  been  determined  by  those  in- 
terested in  Mr.  Spencer  that  some  ex- 
pression of  public  feeling  should  be 
made  before  he  left,  but  it  was  long 


uncertain  whether  the  state  of  his 
health  would  allow  him  to  accept  it. 
And,  when  at  length  he  decided  to  do 
so,  he  at  the  same  time  found  it  neces- 
sary to  shorten  the  time  of  his  stay. 
This  gave  but  a  very  limited  opportuni- 
ty to  make  the  preparations  for  a  ban- 
quet that  should  be  at  all  adequate  to 
express  the  interest  of  the  occasion. 
Excellent  dinners  are,  of  course,  very 
easy  things  to  get  up,  and  there  are  al- 
ways plenty  of  fluent  and  sparkling 
speakers  to  add  to  them  the  pleasure 
of  oratory.  But  there  was  something 
of  seriousness  in  this  affair  that  was 
not  to  be  overlooked.  We  had  with 
us,  perhaps,  the  most  eminent  thinker 
in  the  wcrld,  and  one  whose  name  has 
now  become  identified  with  the  greatest 
movement  of  thought  in  this  age.  It 
was  every  way  desirable,  therefore,  that 
the  demonstration  should  be  made  sin- 
cerely and  even  gravely  expressive  of 
American  appreciation  of  Mr.  Spencer's 
character,  position,  and  work ;  and  this 
was  felt  to  be  the  more  necessary  as  a 
bare  act  of  justice,  because  his  quiet 
and  unobtrusive  life  has  called  forth  no 
signal  opportunities  for  the  declaration 
of  the  profound  regard  entertained  for 
him  by  many  men  of  the  highest  intel- 
ligenca.  Representing  no  party  or  sect, 
supported  by  none  of  those  associations 
that  are  so  efficacious  for  the  encour- 
agement of  talent,  representing  rather 
all  that  is  most  objectionable  and  un- 
popular in  modern  opinion,  he  has  been 
left  to  the  quietude  of  his  solitary  stud- 
ies, and,  while  stamping  himself  deeply 
upon  the  mind  of  the  period,  he  has 
been  at  the  same  time  regarded  as  the 
most  impersonal  of  men.  This  has  un- 
doubtedly had  its  advantages,  and  is 
not  to  be  complained  of.  But  it  was 
very  properly  thought  that,  when  he 
came  to  this  country,  where  he  is  ad- 
mired and  venerated  by  multitudes  who 


EDITOR'S   TABLE. 


411 


are  indebted  to  him  for  light,  awaken- 
ing, and  emancipation,  there  should  be 
some  formal  and  decisive  utterance  of 
what  may  be  fairly  taken  as  the  Amer- 
ican estimate  of  the  man.  In  obedi- 
ence to  this  sentiment,  the  best  arrange- 
ments were  made  that  the  time  would 
allow  for  speeches  more  thoughtful  and 
even  solid  than  are  usual  on  such  com- 
plimentary occasions.  The  wisdom  of 
the  policy  was  abundantly  vindicated. 
The  temper  of  the  gathering  required 
that  the  addresses  should  not  only  be 
interesting,  but  weighty  with  apprecia- 
tion of  the  opportunity.  The  guest  of 
the  evening  was  received  with  enthusi- 
asm, and  listened  to  in  utter  silence, 
that  not  a  word  should  be  lost.  All 
the  other  speakers  were  received  with 
the  most  cordial  applause ;  and  when 
Mr.  Beecher  ended  his  stirring  and 
whole  -  hearted  address,  at  twelve 
o'clock,  there  was  a  fervid  enthusiasm 
on  the  part  of  all  that  broke  into  a 
common  expression  of  pleasure  at  the 
success  of  the  affair.  Many  others  there 
were  ready,  and  would  have  been  glad, 
had  time  allowed,  to  join  in  the  em- 
phatic tribute  of  respect  and  admiration 
for  the  distinguished  guest. 

It  may  be  added  that  the  only  draw- 
back upon  the  Spencer  banquet  was  the 
large  number  of  those  who  were  disap- 
pointed in  not  being  present.  Had 
there  been  more  time  for  preparation, 
the  committee  of  arrangements  would 
have  chosen  a  place  capable  of  seating 
five  hundred,  instead  of  two  hundred, 
at  table ;  though,  had  publicity  been 
given  to  the  affair  through  the  press, 
the  same  difficulty  would  have  occurred 
on  a  larger  scale. 


THE  QUESTION  OF  OVERWORE. 

In-  his  address  at  the  complimentary 
dinner  tendered  to  him  in  New  York, 
Mr.  Spencer  took  up  the  subject  of 
overwork — criticised  the  Americans  as 
faulty  in  this  respect,  pointed  out  the 
evil  consequences  of  excess  in  this  di- 
rection, said  that  it  implied  an  imper- 


fect social  ideal,  and  intimated  that  as  a 
people  we  need  more  relaxation.  His 
criticisms  and  advice  have  been  gener- 
ally received  as  sound  and  proper,  but 
they  have  also  elicited  protests  in  vari- 
ous shapes,  some  of  which  it  may  be 
well  to  notice. 

Mr.  Spencer's  countryman,  George 
Jacob  Holyoake,  was  recently  honored 
with  a  reception  in  this  city,  and  in  his 
remarks  he  referred  to  Mr.  Spencer's 
criticism  dissentingly.  He  is  reported 
as  expressing  great  admiration  of  Amer- 
ican activity  and  enterprise.  As  for  the 
people  being  in  too  great  a  hurry,  he 
thought  Mr.  Spencer  himself  would  get 
to  be  in  a  hurry  if  he  staid  here  six 
months,  in  the  midst  of  opportunities 
and  competitions  that  are  enough  to 
make  an  angel  hurry.  Shrewd  Eng- 
lishmen understand  that  Americans  love 
to  be  told  that  they  are  smart  and  beat 
the  world  in  enterprise. 

But  can  so  clear-headed  a  man  as 
Mr.  Holyoake  fail  to  see  that  there  is  a 
special  danger  whero  the  tendency  to 
exertion  becomes  so  irresistible — where 
individual  impulses  are  only  intensified 
by  surrounding  influences  ?  The  greater 
the  temptation  the  greater  is  the  peril 
of  success,  and  the  greater  the  need  of 
restraint.  Will  it  be  said  that  there  is 
no  such  thing  possible  as  injurious  over- 
work, or  that  the  powerful  strain  upon 
men  can  be  safely  kept  up  without  cor- 
responding counteractions  ?  The  very 
question  is  absurd.  The  common  ex- 
perience of  human  nature  testifies  that 
men  can  very  easily  kill  themselves  by 
over-exertion.  The  problem  is  simply 
one  of  a  proper  balance  between  op- 
posing tendencies.  Where  there  is  great 
stress  in  the  direction  of  laborious  ac- 
tivity, adequate  counter-checks  are  de- 
manded. Mr.  Spencer  did  not  so  much 
condemn  strenuous  work,  in  which,  in- 
deed, he  believes,  as  the  lack  of  com- 
pensating recreations  to  countervail  its 
mischievous  effects. 

Mr.  Seymour  Haden,  another  of  Mr. 
Spencer's  countrymen,  in  a  compliment- 


412 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


ary  reception  speech,  expressed  also 
his  quite  emphatic  disagreement  with 
Spencer,  and  his  admiration  of  the  spirit 
of  American  enterprise  and  the  splendid 
activity  of  the  American  people.  As 
to  the  injury  done  by  overwork,  he  did 
not  believe  in  it,  and  the  eminent  phy- 
sician, Sir  William  Gull,  told  him  he 
had  never  known  a  man  who  had  died 
from  it.  It  is  worry,  not  work,  which 
kills,  said  Mr.  Iladen. 

Undoubtedly,  but  is  not  the  deadly 
worry  one  of  the  inevitable  accompani- 
ments and  consequences  of  the  over- 
work under  the  conditions  of  competi- 
tive enterprise  in  this  country  ?  It  is 
work  carried  to  such  extremes  as  to 
engender  anxiety  and  harassment  under 
the  fierceness  of  business  struggles  and 
the  eagerness  of  unchecked  ambition 
that  is  condemned.  It  is  not  claimed 
that  the  man  who  kills  himself  at  fifty 
by  unremitting  labor  has  done  it  by  too 
much  physical  exertion.  He  has  done 
it  by  assiduous  mental  solicitudes  with- 
out break  or  reaction,  and  the  neglect 
of  the  conditions  of  health  which  that 
absorption  of  thought  and  strain  of 
the  feelings  imply.  Spencer's  criticisms 
were  leveled  at  the  want  of  regulation 
and  of  a  corrective  in  the  shape  of  sys- 
tematic relaxations  that  shall  give  more 
contrast  in  life,  and  greater  freedom  to 
the  play  of  agreeable  feeling,  in  place  of 
the  vexatious  solicitudes  which  spring 
from  devotion  to  work.  To  say  that  it 
is  not  overwork  that  kills,  but  the  worry 
that  is  entailed,  is  merely  to  quibble 
with  the  subject.  Sir  William  Gull 
might  as  well  have  declared  that  he 
had  never  known  a  case  of  death  from 
cholera  or  consumption  because  it  is 
the  lack  of  power  in  the  constitution  to 
resist  these  diseases  that  is  really  the 
cause  of  death.  It  is  only  by  such  cav- 
iling that  the  notorious  fact  can  be 
evaded,  that  thousands  of  men  in  this 
country  sacrifice  health  and  life  to  the 
passionate  eagerness  of  business  pur- 
suits. Every  observing  person  can  give 
examples  within  the  sphere  of  his  own 


acquaintance  of  such  premature  break- 
downs by  the  score. 

The  New  York  "  Sun  "  gives  an  edi- 
torial to  the  subject,  and  maintains  that 
the  warning  of  Mr.  Spencer  is  quite 
mistaken,  as  the  Americans  are  far  from 
being  an  overworked  people.  "  There 
may  be  more  fret  and  worry  about 
money-making  due  to  the  haste  to  get 
rich,  and  the  greater  dissatisfaction  with 
a  position  in  mediocrity,  but  real  over- 
work is  not  among  our  vices/'  But  it 
would  have  been  well  to  point  out  how 
"  frettand  worry  about  money-making," 
"  haste  to  get  rich,"  and  "  dissatisfac- 
tion with  a  position  in  mediocrity,"  op- 
erate to  produce  discretion  in  the  regu- 
lation of  our  activities! 

But  the  "  Sun  "  gives  expression  to 
a  criticism  of  Mr.  Spencer  which  has 
been  heard  in  various  quarters,  and  re- 
quires atteution.  It  intimates  that  he 
is  under  an  objective  illusion,  and  has 
simply  generalized  from  his  own  mor- 
bidities to  the  condition  of  everybody 
else  whom  he  saw.  The  editor  says : 
"It  is  not  at  all  remarkable  that  Mr. 
Herbert  Spencer  took  this  view  of  us, 
and  that  he  made  it  the  subject  of  the 
only  speech  he  delivered  while  in  the 
United  States.  Himself  suffering  from 
the  lack  of  rest,  he  was  naturally  dis- 
posed to"discover  symptoms  of  the  same 
trouble  among  the  men  in  the  strange 
country  to  which  he  had  come  on  an 
unavailing  search  for  repose.  He  had 
found  in  his  American  travels  many 
nervous  sufferers  who  could  sympathize 
with  him,  just  as  every  victim  of  a 
chronic  malady,  no  matter  how  seem- 
ingly peculiar  to  himself,  is  sure  to 
meet  others  who  are  more  or  less  in 
the  same  state.  His  disease  is  natu- 
rally foremost  in  his  thoughts,  and  his 
conversations  are  likely  to  lead  up  to 
it,  so  that  he  gets  in  the  way  of  hear- 
ing of  similar  cases.  There  is  a  strong 
sympathy  which  brings  together  inva- 
lids of  like  kinds.  They  like  to  com- 
pare symptoms." 

This  is  a  very  easy  theory  of  the 


EDITOR'S   TABLE. 


4'3 


case,  but  wholly  groundless.  Mr.  Spen- 
cer is  the  last  man  to  perpetrate  a  fal- 
lacy of  this  kind.  He  may  be  an  in- 
valid, but  he  is  clear-headed  enough  to 
deal  with  this  subject  on  its  logical  mer- 
its. When  Mr.  Schurz,  at  the  dinner, 
made  a  reference  to  "  dyspeptic  philos- 
ophers "—although  Spencer  is  a  man  of 
excellent  digestion— Mr.  Beecher  aptly 
replied  that,  "at  any  rate,  Spencer's 
books  have  no  dyspepsia."  It  seems  to 
have  curiously  occurred  to  many  that 
the  tables  could  be  turned  upon  Mr. 
Spencer  by  referring  to  his  own  case, 
although  for  the  life  of  us  we  can  not 
see  how  his  own  experience  of  the  very 
matter  he  was  treating  could  have  dis- 
qualified him  from  speaking  upon  it 
with  pertinence  and  intelligence.  But 
he  did  not  choose  to  make  it  a  personal 
matter,  although  if  he  had  done  so  it  I 
would  have  redoubled  the  force  of  his 
argument.  Mr.  Spencer  did  undoubted- 
ly break  down  badly,  and  long  ago,  and 
has  suffered  the  painful  consequences 
of  it  ever  since. 

But  his  invalidism  has  certainly  been 
of  a  kind  not  to  affect  the  clearness, 
rectitude,  and  soundness  of  his  thought. 
His  work  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  is 
not  only  marvelous  in  its  amount,  but 
it  is  unparalleled  in  its  originality,  aeute- 
ness  of  insight,  literary  finish,  and  log- 
ical stability.  No  faintest  taint  can  be 
traced  anywhere  in  his  books  of  the 
nervous  exhaustion  of  their  author. 
And  the  abundant  reason  is,  that  Spen- 
cer has  followed  his  own  prescription, 
aud  made  relaxation,  amusement,  and 
recreation,  in  every  form,  a  daily  re- 
ligious duty.  By  making  work  always 
subordinate  to  the  unbending  that  is 
essential  to  its  highest  quality,  he  has 
proved  the  value  of  recreations  as  tribu- 
tary, not  only  to  length  of  life,  but  to 
the  perfection  of  work.  When,  there- 
fore, he  spoke  to  the  Americans  upon 
the  subject,  and  warned  them  of  the 
dangers  of  their  high-pressure  civiliza- 
tion, we  have  no  right  to  assume  that 
there  is  any  personal  equation  of  un- 


healthiness  on  his  part  to  be  corrected. 
We  are  bound  to  take  his  advice  as  a 
sound  thinker  of  unclouded  discern- 
ment, and  well  disciplined  in  the  work 
of  drawing  safe  conclusions  from  dis- 
criminated facts. 

But  Mr.  Spencer's  argument  is  far 
from  ; depending  upon  breakdown  sta- 
tistics that  he  may  have  observed  or  col- 
lected from  others.  The  lesson  that  he 
inculcated  is  broadly  derived  from  his 
social  studies,  and  from  his  doctrine  of 
the  evolution  of  society.  lie  pointed 
out  that  the  social  ideals  of  men  are 
subject  to  change — that  fighting  as  a 
universal  passion  has  passed  away,  and 
that  work  as  a  universal  passion  has 
taken  its  place.  In  this  there  has  been 
an  euormous  improvement,  but  the  ex- 
isting ideal  is  not  a  finality.  It  remains 
to  take  a  further  step  forward  by  organ- 
izing more  completely  the  means  of  hu- 
man enjoyment.  No  advent  of  a  poet- 
ical or  prophesied  millennium  is  to  be 
expected,  but  men  can  nevertheless  ad- 
vance in  this  life  to  a  happier  state. 
And  this  becomes  an  immediate  and 
practical  question  with  every  individ- 
ual. The  problem  is  only  to  be  solved 
by  making  rational  enjoyment,  in 
larger  measure,  the  object  of  life,  and 
of  each  day  in  life.  This  is  the  proper 
end  of  knowledge  and  of  work.  It  is 
true  beyond  question  that  the  lives  of 
immense  multitudes  in  this  country  are 
narrowed  down  to  the  one  absorbing 
gratification  of  money-getting,  to  the 
exclusion  of  all  other  gratifications.  Of 
the  nobler  capacities  of  enjoyment  they 
know  nothing,  and  they  have  lost  the 
power  of  even  becoming  interested  in 
anything  but  the  purpose  that  enslaves 
them.  Can  this  be  defended  as  a  nor- 
mal or  satisfactory  condition  of  the  in- 
dividual, or  of  a  society  largely  com- 
posed of  such  individuals?  Work  is 
not  an  end,  nor  is  study  an  end:  work 
brings  a  surplus  of  means,  and  study 
should  show  how  to  use  it  for  the  most 
varied  gratification — both  should  be- 
tributary  to  completer  and  richer  life. 


4H 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


No  timelier  or  weightier  message 
was  ever  delivered  to  a  people  than  the 
farewell  words  of  Herbert  Spencer  to 
the  Americans  on  the  eve  of  his  de- 
parture from  our  shores. 


THE  BARTUOLDI  STATUE. 

Everybody  has  heard  of  the  enor- 
mous statue  of  "Liberty  Enlightening 
the  World,"  now  nearly  completed  by 
Bartholdi,  the  French  sculptor,  to  be 
presented  to  the  Americans  for  erec- 
tion in  the  harbor  of  New  York.  It  is 
of  magnificent  proportions,  the  figure 
being  one  hundred  and  forty-five  feet 
in  height,  and  is  intended  to  stand  upon 
a  massive  pedestal  of  equal  height.  The 
arm  of  the  figure  supports  an  uplifted 
torch  which  will  be  a  brilliant  electric 
light  at  an  elevation  of  more  than  three 
hundred  feet  above  tide-water.  It  will 
be  a  splendid  object  of  art,  and  cer- 
tainly embodies  a  grand  idea,  standing 
as  it  will  at  the  port  of  the  commercial 
metropolis  of  the  United  States — an 
impressive  symbol  of  the  progress  of 
political  liberty. 

The  statue  has  been  constructed  at 
the  cost  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  dol- 
lars, which  has  been  raised  by  the  sub- 
scriptionsof  a  hundred  thousand  French- 
men. It  is  to  be  presented  by  the  great 
Republic  of  Europe  to  the  great  Repub- 
lic of  America,  and  its  acceptance  in- 
volves only  the  single  condition  that 
the  American  shall  furnish  a  suitable 
foundation  to  support  it.  It  will  be 
ready  for  delivery  and  erection  the 
coming  summer,  and  it  is  therefore  de- 
sirable to  bestir  ourselves  to  prepare 
for  it.  The  pedestal  is  to  be  paid  for, 
and  will  cost  at  least  two  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars.  There  are  a  hundred 
American  millionaires  who  would  be 
delighted  with  the  opportunity  of  de- 
fraying the  whole  expense  if  they  could 
have  the  name  of  the  donor  engraved 
upon  it  in  colossal  letters,  and  thus 
make  it  a  monument  of  selfishness,  but 
it  would  be  better  to  sink  it  in  mid- 


ocean  than  to  suffer  its  perversion  in 
this  way.  It  belongs  to  the  American 
people  to  construct  this  pedestal,  and  it 
should  be  a  burden  upon  nobody.  Let 
half  a  dozen  puhlic  -  spirited  and  re- 
sponsible men  and  women  of  each  town 
organize  themselves  into  a  committee 
to  obtain  subscriptions  from  one  dollar 
to  twenty-five  dollars,  and  the  amount 
will  soon  be  raised.  It  is  no  charity, 
and  there  needs  to  be  no  begging. 
There  are  plenty  of  people  who  would 
like  to  have  a  little  stock  in  this  new 
wonder  of  the  world  which  will  attract 
multitudes  from  the  four  quarters  of 
the  earth  to  behold  it. 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 

James  Mill.  A  Biography.  By  Alexan- 
der Bain,  LL.  D.  New  York :  Henry 
Uolt  &  Co.     Pp.  426.     Price,  $2. 

The  influence  of  John  Stuart  Mill  upon 
the  reputation  of  his  father,  James  Mill, 
has  been  twofold :  he  has  advertised  him, 
and  at  the  same  time  eclipsed  him.  It  is 
frequently  said  of  James  Mill  that  his  great- 
est work  was  John  Mill ;  and  there  are 
many  who  suppose  that  this  is  his  chief 
title  to  be  remembered.  Others  think  that, 
though  the  father  may  have  been  a  man  of 
some  consideration  in  his  time,  yet  that  he 
has  been  so  superseded  by  his  son  that  all 
interest  in  him  has  disappeared. 

But  James  Mill  is  not  to  be  disposed  of 
in  this  way.  It  is  hardly  questionable  if 
James  Mill  is  not,  in  fact,  the  greater  and 
more  original  man  of  the  two.  If  one  is 
to  be  regarded  as  an  appendage  to  the  oth- 
er, the  order  of  time  will  correspond  to  the 
order  of  rank.  No  doubt  the  two  Mills  will 
have  to  be  taken  together  as  representative 
of  one  system  of  ideas.  But  the  system,  as 
such,  belongs  to  the  father  much  more  than 
to  the  son.  James  Mill  led  in  its  develop- 
ment and  John  Mill  followed.  The  son  con- 
tinued the  father's  work,  expanding,  extend- 
ing, and  elaborating  it ;  but  he  inherited  it 
as  a  half-constructed  system,  and,  if  the  fa- 
ther was  unable  directly  to  give  it  its  more 
developed  form,  he  did  it  indirectly  by  edu- 
cating his  son  entirely  with  reference  to  the 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


415 


fulfillment  of  his  own  mission  as  the  founder 
of  a  new  school  of  philosophy. 

In  seeking  to  rectify  past  judgments  and 
to  form  a  more  just  idea  of  the  relative 
greatness  of   these  two  eminent  men,  we 
must  remember,  not  only  that  the  father 
was  self-made,  while  John  Stuart  Mill  had 
James  Mill  for  a  teacher,  but  we  must  re- 
member also  that  the  father  had  to  make 
himself  over  again  after  he  had  at  first  been 
very  bady  constructed.     He  was  educated 
as  a  clergyman  in  the  orthodox  school  of 
Scotch  Calvinism,  and  was  of  course  early 
saturated   with  the  whole   order  of  ideas 
which  belongs  to  that  system.     From  this 
he  got  himself  free  by  a  total  rejection  of 
the  whole  body  of  theological  belief  that 
belongs  to  Christianity.     He  therefore  be- 
gan  the   reconstruction  of  his  views   and 
opinions  late  in  life,  and  had  to  work  them 
all  out  for  himself.     His  son,  on  the  con- 
trary, had  the  immense  advantage  of  begin- 
ning early  a  systematic  training  in  the  line 
which  he  pursued  without  a  break  through 
life.     James  Mill  was  an  independent  and 
indeed  a  masterly  thinker  in  the  fields  of 
psychology,  of  political  economy,  of  logic 
and  the  philosophy  of  government,  and  he 
was  a  pioneer  of  modern  English  liberalism. 
John  Stuart  Mill  ran  in  upon  all  these  sub- 
jects, revising,  amplifying,  and  making  them 
his  own  through  the  accomplishments  of  a 
wider  erudition  and  a  more  thorough  prep- 
aration ;  but  if  he  had  possessed  more  of 
his  father's  quality  he  would  have  broken 
loose  from  more  of  his  father's  errors,  and 
the  system  of  thought  that  is  now  identi- 
fied with  both  names  might  have  been  made 
more  enduring  than  it  is. 

Dr.  Bain's  life  of  James  Mill  is  a  very 
interesting  book.  It  is  interesting  in  its 
biographical  features  and  as  a  delineation 
of  a  strong  and  remarkable  character  ;  and 
it  is  also  especially  instructive  as  a  history 
of  the  times,  as  illustrated  by  the  active 
and  influential  career  of  a  man  who  had 
much  to  do  with  the  reshaping  of  modern 
liberal  opinion  in  social  and  political  affairs. 
James  Mill  was  a  man  of  immense  intellect- 
ual activity,  as  shown  not  only  by  the  "  Anal- 
ysis.of  the  Human  Mind  "  and  the  "  History 
of  India,"  but  by  a  host  of  lesser  produc- 
tions, such  as  articles  contributed  to  cyclo- 
paedias and  to  many  of  the  leading  reviews, 


all  of  which  were  able  in  thought  and  writ- 
ten with  remarkable  clearness  and  force. 

The  Winners  in  Life's  Race;  or,  the 
Great  Backboned  Family.  By  Ara- 
bella B.  Buckley.  New  York:  D. 
Appleton  &  Co.  Pp.  36V.  Price, 
$1.50. 

As  a  popular  scientific  writer  the  po- 
sition of  Miss  Buckley  is  now  assured.  Her 
knowledge  is  sound,  her  judgment  trust- 
worthy, and  her  power  of  elementary  expo- 
sition much  above  the  common  standard. 
Her  first  book,  "  A  Short  History  of  Natu- 
ral Science,"  was  needed  and  was  well  done. 
The  "Fairy  Land  of  Science"  was  also 
excellent.  "  Life  and  her  Children  "  struck 
into  the  new  biological  path,  and  gave  an 
interesting  account  of  the  invertebrates,  or 
the  lower  forms  of  living  creatures.  The 
present  work  is  a  continuation  of  it  into  a 
higher  field,  although  the  present  is  an  in- 
dependent and  self-explanatory  work. 

The  work  we  now  have  from  Miss  Buck- 
ley was  much  demanded.  "We  wanted  a 
popular  book  on  the  vertebrates,  the  back- 
boned family  from  the  historic  or  evolution 
point  of  view.  This  made  necessary  un- 
usual qualifications  in  the  writer,  and  im- 
plied a  knowledge  of  geology  and  paleon- 
tology, as  well  as  natural  history.  Miss 
Buckley  had  been  for  many  years  the  secre- 
tary and  special  student  of  Sir  Charles  Lyell, 
:  and  had  therefore  the  best  opportunities  to 
become  familiar  with  those  branches  that 
have  now  become  indispensable  parts  of 
biology.  Miss  Buckley  says  of  the  method 
of  her  book : 

"  I  have  therefore  endeavored  to  de- 
scribe graphically  the  early  history  of  the 
backboned  animals,  so  far  as  it  is  yet  known 
I  to  us,  keep  strictly  to  such  broad  facts  as 
ought  in  these  days  to  be  familiar  to  every 
child  and  ordinarily  well-educated  person, 
if  they  are  to  have  any  true  conception  of 
natural  history.  At  the  same  time  I  have 
dwelt,  as  fully  as  space  would  allow,  upon 
the  lives  of  such  modern  animals  as  best 
illustrate  the  present  divisions  of  the  ver- 
tebrates upon  the  earth ;  my  object  being 
rather  to  follow  the  tide  of  life,  and  sketch 
in  broad  outline  how  structure  and  habit 
have  gone  hand-in-hand  in  filling  every 
available  space  with  living  beings,  than  to 


416 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


multiply  descriptions  of  the  various  species. 
If  my  younger  readers  will  try  and  become 
familiar  with  the  types  selected,  either 
alive  in  zoological  gardens  or  preserved  in 
good  museums,  they  will,  I  hope,  acquire  a 
very  fair  idea  of  the  main  branches  of  the 
Backboned  Family." 

This  acceptance  of  the  evolution  stand- 
point, this  tracing  of  the  stream  of  life 
along  the  great  course  of  terrestrial  changes, 
this  marking  of  the  epochs  of  advancing  or- 
ganization in  the  ascending  movement,  and 
this  tracing  of  genetic  relationships,  all  con- 
cur in  giving  a  new  and  impressive  signifi- 
cance to  the  idea  of  unity  in  the  great 
scheme  of  life,  and  give  to  natural  history 
a  new  element  of  almost  romantic  interest. 
Miss  Buckley  has  given  attractiveness  to  the 
subject  by  her  wealth  of  information,  the 
clearness  and  simplicity  of  her  descriptions, 
and  she  has  heightened  the  effect  by  the 
skillfully  conceived  and  finely  executed 
illustrations  with  which  the  volume  is 
filled. 


Herbert  Spencer  on  the  Americans,  and 
the  Americans  on  Herbert  Spencer. 
Being  a  Full  Report  of  Mr.  Spencer's 
Interview,  and  of  the  Proceedings  at 
the  Farewell  Banquet.  New  York :  D. 
Applcton  &  Co.  Pp.  96.  Price,  ten 
cents,  or  $5  per  hundred. 

This  pamphlet  contains  the  most  for  the 
money  of  anything  that  can  be  found  in 
the  market.  It  has  been  carefully  prepared, 
so  as  to  be  entirely  correct  and  authentic. 
The  newspaper  reports  were  defective  and 
incomplete.  The  revised  addresses  of  Hon. 
William  M.  Evarts,  Mr.  Spencer,  Professor 
W.  G.  Sumner,  Mr.  Carl  Schurz,  Pro- 
fessor 0.  C.  Marsh,  Mr.  John  Fiske,  and 
Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  are  given  in 
full ;  and  to  these  are  added  the  unspoken 
speeches  of  Mr.  E.  L.  Youmans,  Mr.  Lester 
F.  Ward,  and  Mr.  E.  R.  Leland,  together  with 
all  the  letters  sent  to  the  committee,  and 
which  have  not  before  been  published. 
The  document  is  weighty  with  important 
thought  that  can  not  fail  to  dispel  much 
prejudice,  and  every  one  who  cares  for  the 
dissemination  of  truth  should  send  on  his 
five  dollars  and  get  a  hundred  to  distribute 
among  his  neighbors.  They  will  be  sure 
to  appreciate  the  favor. 


Unity  Pui.pit.     Sermons  of  M.  J.  Savage. 

Vol.  IV.     No.  9.     Herbert  Spencer :  his 

Influence    on    Religion    and    Morality. 

Published  weekly.     Boston :  George  H. 

Ellis.     Price,  $1.50  a  year,  or  six  cents 

single  copy. 

There  is  no  more  encouraging  sign  of 
the  times  than  the  indications  we  see  that 
the  pulpit  is  beginning  to  yield  to  the  spirit 
of  progress.  As  science  slowly  advances  in 
the  reformation  of  knowledge,  bringing  new 
subjects  under  the  influence  of  its  method, 
regenerating  the  ideals  of  mankind,  and 
making  truth  the  supreme  object  of  quest 
and  devotion,  it  is,  of  course,  impossible  for 
the  pulpit  to  remain  unaffected  by  the  gen- 
eral movement.  The  highest  victory  of 
evolution  will  be  to  transform  the  biased 
preacher  into  the  unbiased  teacher.  The 
pulpit,  as  we  have  inherited  it,  is  becoming 
more  and  more  anomalous  in  these  times. 
It  is  the  place  that  has  been  sacredly  pro- 
tected from  the  competitions  of  inquiry. 
Everywhere  else  error  goes  merely  for  what 
it  is  worth,  and  must  take  its  chances  in  the 
open  conflicts  of  discussion,  but  in  the  pul- 
pit error  is  consecrated.  It  is  the  bulwark 
of  tradition.  Beliefs  that  are  outgrown  and 
abandoned  everywhere  else  find  refuge  in 
the  pulpit.  The  preacher  is  the  expositor 
of  ancient  creeds,  the  leader  of  a  sect,  a 
rhetorical  homilist,  anything  except  an  in- 
dependent seeker  after  truth.  The  virtue  of 
the  pulpit  is  submissive  faith,  its  crime  free- 
thinking.  This  characterization,  of  course, 
applies  more  to  the  past  than  to  the  pres- 
ent, but  it  is  still  too  extensively  true. 
There  is,  however,  a  silent,  insidious,  but 
inevitable  change  going  on  in  a  great  num- 
ber of  pulpits  that  is  loosening  ancient 
prejudices,  undermining  past  bigotries,  soft- 
ening theological  asperities,  and  tending  to 
a  larger  liberality  in  all  religious  matters. 
The  position  of  the  clergyman  in  a  time  of 
transition  like  the  present  is  difficult,  and, 
if  he  be  a  deeply  conscientious  as  well  as 
a  clear-sighted  man,  is  often  painful.  But 
many  of  them  are  learning  how  to  meet  the 
emergency,  to  yield  gracefully  that  which 
must  go,  and  to  accept  cordially  that  which 
must  unavoidably  come.  Some  pulpits,  in- 
deed, and  their  number  is  increasing,  are 
already  free.  Their  occupants  are  content 
to  be  simply  teachers,  and  have  liberated 
themselves  from  all  trammels  that  tend  to 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


417 


hinder  the  promulgation  of  truth.  The 
doctrine  of  evolution  will  certainly  sweep 
away  a  large  amount  of  old  belief  that  has 
hitherto  been  venerated  by  its  religious  asso- 
ciations, but  in  various  qualified  forms  the 
essential  truth  of  that  doctrine  is  already 
acknowledged  in  many  pulpits  where  it  is 
sure,  as  time  goes  on,  to  yield  its  liberal- 
izing fruits. 

Unity  pulpit,  in  Boston,  occupied  by  the 
Rev.  Minot  J.  Savage,  has  long  been  eman- 
cipated from  those  restraints  of  dogma 
which  hinder  the  acceptance  of  the  great 
truths  established  by  science.  Mr.  Savage 
has  met  the  new  questions  of  the  time  with- 
out hesitation  and  with  a  cordial  welcome, 
holding  that  neither  will  a  sound  morality  be 
weakened  nor  pure  religion  suffer  through 
the  extensions  of  science  and  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  domain  of  truth.  lie  maintains  ! 
rather  that  a  more  authoritative  ethics  and 
more  ennobling  religious  conceptions  must 
be  the  inevitable  result  of  that  progress  of 
thought  which  now  finds  its  highest  expres- 
sion in  the  evolution  philosophy.  Unity 
pulpit  at  any  rate  is  free,  and  its  occupant 
is  unable  to  perceive  why  in  his  sphere  of 
inquiry  he  should  not  have  exactly  the  same 
liberty  of  investigation  that  is  exercised  by 
every  member  of  the  National  Academy  of 
Sciences.  His  last  sermon,  now  before  us,  is 
devoted  to  Herbert  Spencer,  and  to  an  esti- 
mate of  his  influence  on  religion  and  moral- 
ity. It  certainly  can  not  be  said  that  the 
pulpit  has  hitherto  sinned  in  the  way  of 
neglecting  this  representative  thinker ;  but 
the  utterance  of  Mr.  Savage  differs  so 
widely  from  what  we  have  been  accustomed 
to  hear  from  the  lips  of  clergymen,  that  we 
have  pleasure  in  quoting  its  opening  pas- 
sages : 

A  quiet,  modest  unassuming  gentleman,  with 
no  assumption  of  greatness,  with  no  air  of  pre- 
tense, with  not  the  slightest  approach  to  an  ap- 
pearance of  patronage  toward  those  who  may  he 
considered  as  less  noted  or  great  than  himself, 
has  been  for  the  last  two  or  three  months  seeking 
rest  and  refreshment  here  in  America.  Heard  in 
public  but  once,  seen  in  private  only  by  a  few, 
the  country  has  still  felt  that  a  great  man  was 
here,  a  man  like  those  to  whom  Emerson  refers 
when  he  says,  "  A  great  man  is  himself  an  occa- 
sion." We  have  all  felt  this  presence,  and  noted 
some  indication  of  it  now  and  then.  For,  when 
he  has  chosen  to  utter  himself  concerning  the 
impressions  that  have  been  made  upon  him  in 
this  country,  the  whole  nation  has  listened  as 

vol.  xxii. — 27 


though  something  were  being  said  that  was 
worthy  of  attention.  The  newspapers  have 
caught  it  up ;  and  all  the  leading  organs  for  the 
expression  of  public  opinion  have  commented 
on  it,  recognizing  the  (act  that  here  at  least  was 
something  not  to  be  passed  by  in  silence. 

This  man,  to  whom  we  have  been  so  ready 
to  listen,  has  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century 
wrought  a  work  that,  I  think  I  may  say,  without 
exaggeration,  has  no  parallel  in  the  history  of 
human  thought,  lie  has  so  wrought  himself 
into  the  very  fiber,  the  warp  and  woof  of  this 
modern  world,  that  I  can  say  of  him,  what  can 
be  said  of  no  other  man  living,  and  what  has 
never  been  said  of  any  man  who  has  ever  lived  : 
he  has  made  himself  so  vital  a  part  of  science, 
of  philosophy,  of  education,  of  the  science  of 
government,  of  sociology,  of  ethics,  of  religion 
—he  has  so  mastered  and  entered  into  the  pos- 
session of  all  these  great  realms  of  human 
thought  and  human  life,  which  in  their  totality 
almost  make  up  what  is  meant  by  life  itself,  that 
to-day  no  serious  and  intelligent  thinker  can 
discuss  any  importaut  question  pertaining  to 
any  one  of  these  departments  without  being 
compelled  to  reckon  with  Herbert  Spencer.  You 
can  not  discuss  science,  you  can  not  discuss 
philosophy,  you  can  not  discuss  education,  poli- 
tics, society,  and  the  laws  that  underlie  them, 
you  can  not  discuss  ethics,  you  can  not  touch 
the  subject  of  religion,  without  either  agreeing 
with  or  differing  from  this  quiet  scholar.  And 
to  have  wrought  himself  so  intimately  and  so 
essentially  into  the  very  life  of  the  world— this,  I 
say,  is  an  achievement  unparalleled  in  the  history 
of  human  thought.  I  care  not  in  which  depart- 
ment you  pick  up  a  book  to-day,  you  will  find 
that  the  writer,  if  he  comprehends  his  theme, 
is  either  working  along  the  lines  which  Herbert 
Spencer  has  laid  out,  or  else  he  is  telling  the 
world  why  he  does  not  do  so.  He  does  not  ig- 
nore him — he  can  not  ignore  him.  About  a 
week  ago,  it  was  my  privilege  and  pleasure  to 
join  one  or  two  hundred  gentlemen  in  giving 
Mr.  Spencer  a  public  dinner  in  New  York,  on 
the  eve  of  his  departure.  It  was  something 
striking  and  wonderful  to  sec  there  the  leading 
men  of  the  nation  in  all  departments  of  thought 
and  culture,  sitting  at  his  feet  and  acknowledg- 
ing his  supremacy. 

A  Practical  Treatise  on  Hernia.  By 
Joseph  H.  Warren,  M.  D.  Second  and 
revised  edition.  With  Illustrations. 
Boston :  James  R.  Osgood  &  Co.  Pp. 
428.     Price,  $5. 

The  author  of  this  book  is  widely  known 
as  a  successful  practitioner  and  writer  on 
hernia  and  kindred  affections,  and  his  aim 
has  been  to  make  this  a  trustworthy  work 
of  reference  on  the  subject.  The  first  edi- 
tion was  received  in  the  most  favorable 
manner  by  the  profession ;  the  present 
new  edition  has  been  improved  with  all 
the   advantages   that    further   studies   and 


418 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


continued  experience  in  practice  could  en- 
able the  author  to  add.  A  new  introduc- 
tion has  been  written,  and  six  new  and  care- 
fully prepared  chapters  have  been  added, 
while  a  part  of  the  old  work,  considered 
less  essential,  has  been  omitted.  The  vol- 
ume contains  a  condensation  of  whatever 
seems  most  worth  preserving  from  the 
world's  literature  on  the  subject,  and  much 
that  is  original  with  the  author,  embody- 
ing the  results  of  his  own  studies  for  many 
years,  and  having  never  before  been  given 
to  the  public  in  a  printed  form.  The  trea- 
tise begins  with  a  discussion  of  the  causa- 
tion of  hernia,  in  fetal  and  infantile  life 
and  in  adults,  to  which  are  added  some  re- 
marks on  its  effects.  Next  are  considered 
its  kinds  and  frequency;  its  anatomy,  de- 
scriptive and  surgical,  and  strangulation. 
The  essential  purpose  of  the  work  is  devel- 
oped in  the  fifth  chapter,  in  which  the  op- 
erations for  hernia  are  considered  generally ; 
and  the  sixth,  in  which  the  author's  own 
method  is  described  and  explained.  Under 
the  former  head  full  justice  is  done  to  pre- 
vious operators,  all  of  whose  methods  that 
seem  to  have  merit  are  candidly  and  im- 
partially described  and  estimated  ;  and  ac- 
knowledgment is  given  for  what  the  author 
has  derived  from  them,  particularly  from 
Ileaton's  method,  of  which  Dr.  Warren's 
is  a  modification  and  improvement.  The 
principle  of  Warren's  method  is  the  in- 
jection of  an  astringent  solution  to  induce 
closure  of  the  rings  and  canals,  to  produce 
what  is  commonly  called  a  radical  cure. 
This  principle  was  suggested  by  Dr.  Pan- 
coast,  of  Philadelphia,  extended  and  ap- 
plied with  much  success  by  Dr.  Heaton, 
and  was  brought  to  a  higher  degree  of  per- 
fection by  a  more  complete  adaptation  of 
the  injecting  instrument  to  the  conditions 
required  by  the  delicate  tissues  operated 
upon,  and  some  modifications  in  the  in- 
jected fluid,  by  Dr.  Warren.  All  of  the 
operations,  from  that  of  Chauliac  to  that 
of  Wood,  are  declared  to  be  "  severe,  and 
likely  to  be  attended  with  great  danger  to 
life,  if  not  absolute  loss  of  it."  No  such 
arguments,  Dr.  Warren  adds,  "can  be  used 
against  the  operation  that  I  recommend,  as 
no  fatal  results  have  ever  occurred  in  any 
of  the  operations  performed  by  the  various 
.surgeons  who  have  undertaken  them  " ;  and 


the  only  losses  likely  to  occur,  he  intimates, 
are  from  blunders  and  awkwardness.  He 
is  particularly  at  pains  to  demonstrate  that 
no  danger  of  peritonitis,  so  much  feared  by 
physicians,  is  incurred  in  it.  A  great  deal, 
however,  is  acknowledged  to  depend  on  the 
proper  selection  of  cases  to  be  operated 
upon.  Beaton's  great  success  may  be 
largely  ascribed  to  the  disci  imination  he  ex- 
ercised in  this  matter,  and  we  arc  told  that 
"  when  speaking  of  his  invariable  success, 
he  was  in  the  habit  of  giving  me  a  peculiar 
wise  and  knowing  look  of  the  eye,  and  he 
would  say  that  he  cured  all,  or  about  all, 
that  he  would  operate  on."  The  general 
health  of  the  patient  has,  of  course,  much 
to  do  with  the  success  of  the  operation,  and 
something  depends  on  the  kind  of  hernia. 
The  succeeding  chapters  to  those  on  opera- 
tions are  devoted  to  the  treatment  of  stran- 
gulated hernia,  kelotomy,  or  herniotomy, 
"Artificial  Anus  and  Wounds  of  the  Intes- 
tines," hydrocele  and  varicocele,  some  ob- 
servations on  trusses  which  might  be  made 
of  general  application,  copious  accounts  of 
cases,  an  extensive  bibliography,  and  a  list 
of  operators.  The  work  is  presented  by  the 
publishers  in  excellent  shape,  with  the  best 
of  paper  and  print,  and  an  abundance  of 
clearly  delineated  illustrations. 

Proceedings  of  the  Biological  Society  of 
Washington.  Vol.  I.  Washington : 
Printed  for  the  Society.  (G.  Brown 
Goode,  Secretary.)     Pp.  110. 

This  volume  contains  the  constitution  of 
the  society,  the  list  of  honorary,  correspond- 
ing, and  active  members,  and  the  proceed- 
ings from  the  first  meeting,  for  organization, 
November  19,  1880,  to  May  26,' 1882.  In 
addition  are  given  in  full  the  addresses  de- 
livered on  the  occasion  of  the  Darwin  Me- 
morial Meeting,  May  12,  1SS2,  comprising 
"  The  Doctrine  of  Darwin,"  by  Theodore 
Gill ;  a  "  Biographical  Sketch,"  by  William 
H.  Dall ;  "  Darwin's  Work  in  Entomology," 
by  Dr.  Riley ;  "  Darwin  as  a  Botanist,"  by 
Lester  P.  Ward ;  "  Darwin  on  the  Expres- 
sion of  the  Emotions,"  by  Frank  Baker,  M. 
D. ;  and  "  A  Darwinian  Bibliography,"  by 
Frederick  W.  True.  President  Gill's  inau- 
gural address  of  1881,  on  "The  Proper  Use 
of  the  Term  Biology,"  is  also  published  in 
full. 


LITER AR  Y  NO  TICES. 


419 


A  Guide  to  Modern  English  History.  By 
William  Cory.  Part  II,  1830  to  1835. 
New  York  :  Henry  Holt  &  Co.  Pp.  567. 
Price,  $3.50. 

The  first  part  of  this  work  related  to  the 
first  fifteen  years  of  the  great  peace.  The 
expansion  of  the  present  volume,  which  in- 
cludes only  about  a  third  as  much  time,  is 
justified  by  the  author,  on  the  ground  of  the 
"  excessive  value  of  the  work  done  for  the 
British  Commonwealth  in  the  years  now 
surveyed."  These  years,  the  author  adds, 
"  are  full  of  the  virtue  and  wisdom  which 
make  modern  England  supremely  worthy  of 
a  student's  contemplation  ;  it  seems  not  too 
much  to  say  that  they  form  a  period  of 
paramount  importance  in  the  history  of 
legislation  and  government."  The  work  is 
the  composition  of  a  sharp  observer,  and  is 
marked  by  vigorous  thought  and  forcible 
expression,  and  a  bold,  captivating  style 
that  engages  the  reader  and  holds  him.  Mr. 
Samuel  R.  Gardiner,  who  may  be  regarded 
as  an  expert  in  the  specialty  of  English  his- 
tory, characterizes  it  as  "  one  not  very  well 
calculated  to  guide  those  who  do  not  know 
a  good  deal  of  the  way  already,  but  admira- 
bly fitted  to  enable  those  who  do  to  test 
those  opinions  which  they  have  sometimes 
too  hastily  formed." 

Address  delivered  by  Edward  Atkinson 
at  the  Opening  of  the  Second  Annu- 
al Fair  of  the  New  England  Manu- 
facturers' and  Mechanics'  Institute 
in  Boston,  September,  6,  1882.     Pp.  32. 

The  end  to  be  subserved  by  such  indus- 
trial exhibitions,  Mr.  Atkinson  tells  us,  is  to 
make  less  arduous  the  daily  work  whereby 
the  larger  part  of  the  community  earn  their 
daily  bread.  The  author  is  not  one  who 
takes  a  pessimist's  view  of  life,  and,  al- 
though he  shows  that  the  measure  of  com- 
fort that  each  man,  woman,  and  child  can 
yet  enjoy,  even  in  our  prosperous  land,  does 
not  exceed  on  an  average  fifty  or  sixty  cents 
per  day,  he  does  not  think  or  believe  that 
increase  of  wealth  is  of  necessity  comple- 
mented by  increase  of  poverty.  Still  the 
small  minority  of  people  who  can  become 
possessors  of  capital  in  any  large  measure 
must  justify  the  leisure  which  they  or  their 
fathers  have  earned,  by  the  use  which  they 
make  of  the  time  and  means  at  their  dispos- 
al.   After  showing  how  it  is  possible  for  our 


railroad  kings  to  put  money  in  our  pockets 
while  amassing  fortunes  themselves,  he  com- 
pares our  happy  lot  with  the  unfortunate 
condition,  from  an  economic  point  of  view, 
of  those  countries  that  are  burdened  by 
huge  standing  armies,  and  where  the  cpian- 
tity  produced,  although  relatively  less,  must 
be  divided  among  a  greater  number.  The 
advantages  of  developing  the  hand  and 
brain  together  are  then  referred  to.  The 
last  man  or  woman  whom  you  desire  to  dis. 
charge  from  the  works  which  you  control, 
when  the  times  are  hard,  is  the  one  earning 
the  most  for  himself  or  herself ;  the  first  to  be 
discharged  is  the  unfortunate  one  whose  hand 
and  brain  have  not  been  developed  together, 
and  who  can,  in  hard  times,  no  loncer  reo- 
der  you  a  service,  even  if  paid  a  sum  barely 
sufficient  to  support  life.  "  Owing  to  the 
great  natural,  social,  and  political  advan- 
tages that  we  enjoy,  the  wages  of  labor  and 
the  remuneration  of  capital  must  be  greater 
in  proportion  to  the  effort  used  than  in  any 
other  section  of  the  world's  surface ;  and 
these  facts  prove  that  the  cost  of  produc- 
tion is  less  in  ratio  to  product  than  it  can 
be  anywhere  else." 

Although  intended  for  delivery  before  a 
limited  audience  on  a  particular  occasion, 
the  address  is  of  such  general  interest  as  to 
deserve  a  wide  circulation. 

Contributions  to  Mineralogy.  By  F.  A. 
Genth.  Read  before  the  American  Phil- 
osophical Society,  August  18,  1882. 
This  pamphlet  of  twenty -four  finely- 
printed  pages  represents  a  large  amount  of 
actual  labor,  and  contains  several  important 
contributions  to  science,  in  the  form  of 
analyses  and  observations  on  altered  min- 
erals. That  one  mineral  should  be  grad- 
ually changed,  particle  by  particle,  mole- 
cule by  molecule,  into  a  different  mineral 
having  other  chemical  and  physical  proper- 
ties, is  a  curious  and  interesting  phenome- 
non, worthy  the  study  of  such  a  chemist  a3 
Professor  Genth.  The  first  case  described 
is  the  alteration  of  corundum,  in  Madison 
County,  North  Carolina ;  it  is  found  partially 
altered  to  a  massive  greenish-black  spinel ; 
in  Towns  County,  Georgia,  a  pink  corundum 
is  found  surrounded  by  greenish-white,  cleav- 
able  zoisite ;  an  interesting  occurrence  of  the 
alteration  of  corundum  into  a  feldspar  is 
near  Media,  Pennsylvania,  at  the  "  Black- 


420 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


Horse"  tavern;  Haywood  County,  North 
Carolina,  has  furnished  specimens  of  co- 
rundum altered  into  feldspar,  as  well  as 
mica ;  examples  of  corundum  altered  into 
margarite  (calcium  mica),  cases  of  the  alter- 
ation of  corundum  into  fibrolite  and  cyanite 
are  also  mentioned.  The  altered  minerals 
were  more  or  less  water-worn  and  rounded, 
while  the  corundum  which  they  inclose  is 
sharp  and  angular,  which  proves  that  since 
the  great  gravel  deposits  were  formed  no 
alteration  of  the  corundum  has  taken  place 
in  these  deposits. 

The  other  interesting  alterations  de- 
scribed by  Professor  Genth  are  the  altera- 
tion of  orthoclase  into  albite,  and  talc  into 
anthophyllite,  and  pseudomorphs  of  talc 
after  magnetite.  Several  other  investiga- 
tions of  mineral  species  follow,  among  them 
gahnite,  rutile  and  zircon,  sphalerite  and 
prehnite,  pyrophyllite,  beryl,  niccolite,  and 
artificial  alisonite.  The  author  also  de- 
scribes the  accidental  formation  of  artificial 
crystals  of  rutile  during  fusion  with  potas- 
sium hydrogen  sulphate ;  two  crystals  of 
octahedrite  were  likewise  produced  at  the 
same  time,  and  had  a  decided  blue  color. 

On  the  Age  of  the  Tejon  Rocks  op  Cali- 
fornia, and  the  Occurrence  of  Am- 
monitic  Remains  in  Tertiary  Deposits. 
By  Angelo  Heilprin.  From  "  Proceed- 
ings of  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences 
of  Philadelphia,"  July,  1882. 

The  author  undertakes  to  settle  the 
point  in  dispute  between  Conrad  and  Gabb, 
as  to  the  age  of  the  Tejon  rocks,  referred  by 
the  former  to  the  Eocene  series,  and  by  the 
latter  to  the  Cretaceous.  A  list  of  one 
hundred  and  twelve  species  is  given,  repre- 
senting the  fauna  of  the  Tejon  group  with 
the  various  localities  of  occurrence,  as 
claimed  by  Gabb,  and  evidence  presented  to 
show  that  Gabb  was  in  error  in  many  cases, 
and  hence  that  the  tables  do  not  afford  a 
safe  criterion  for  the  solution  of  the  prob- 
lem. The  author  then  goes  on  to  show  that, 
of  the  seventy-seven  genera  represented  in 
the  Tejon  group,  at  the  very  least  twenty-two 
are  more  or  less  distinctively  Tertiary,  and 
out  of  these  eleven  are  not  positively  known 
to  have  appeared  before  that  geological 
epoch.  Also  that,  with  the  exception  of  six 
or  seven  fragments  of  Ammonitidm,  there  is 
not  a  single  distinctively  Cretaceous  generic 


type  in  the  entire  number.  He  therefore 
concludes  that  the  rocks  of  the  Tejon  group, 
despite  their  comprising  in  their  contained 
faunas  a  limited  number  of  forms  from  the 
subjacent  (cretaceous)  deposits,  and  a  few 
undoubted  representatives  of  the  Ammoni- 
lidce,  are  of  Tertiary  (Eocene)  age. 

The  Eocene  age  of  the  Tejon  rocks  is 
likewise  maintained  by  Professor  Jules  Mar- 
con,  who  made  a  personal  examination  of 
the  region. 

Proceedings  of  the  Davenport  Academy 
of  Natural  Sciences.  Vol.  Ill,  Part  II. 
Davenport,  Iowa :  Published  by  the 
Academy.     Pp.  192,  with  Four  Plates. 

The  present  number  contains  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Academy  during  18*79  and 
1880,  with  the  president's  addresses  of  Mrs. 
M.  L.  D.  Putnam  and  Mr.  W.  H.  Pratt.  The 
numerous  papers  testify  to  the  great  activity 
of  the  members  of  the  Academy  in  the  lead- 
ing departments  of  investigation,  predomi- 
nantly in  archaeology,  to  the  study  of  which 
the  location  of  the  society  offers  excellent 
facilities.  A  very  interesting  paper  is  that 
of  Professor  G.  Seyffarth  on  the  inscrip- 
tions of  the  Davenport  Tablets,  the  con- 
clusions of  which  are  startling  for  their 
boldness. 

How  to  Succeed  :  A  Series  of  Essays  by 
Various  Authors.  Edited  by  the  Rev. 
Lyman  Adbott,  D.  D.  New  York :  G.  P. 
Putnam's  Sons.  Pp.  131.  Price,  50 
cents. 

This  is  a  republication  of  a  series  of 
papers  which  appeared  last  winter  in  the 
"  Christian  Union,"  on  the  general  subject 
and  its  applications,  headed  with  articles  by 
Senators  Bayard  and  Edmunds  on  "  Success 
in  Public  Life,"  and  continued  with  other  ar- 
ticles, by  men  who  have  attained  eminence  in 
their  various  professions  or  arts,  on  the  ele- 
ments of  success  in  their  respective  callings. 

Cerebral  Hyperemia  :  Does  it  exist  ?  A 
Consideration  of  some  Views  of  Dr. 
William  A.  Hammond.  By  C.  F.  Buck- 
ley, B.  A.,  M.  D.,  formerly  Superintend- 
ent of  Haydock  Lodge  Asylum,  Eng- 
land. New  York :  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons. 
Pp.  129. 

The  author  opposes  the  theory  which 
Dr.  Hammond  has  published  concerning  the 
effects  of  excess  or  deficiency  of  blood  in 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


421 


the  brain  with  an  earnestness  which  it  is 
safe  to  call  extreme.  lie  assails  with  con- 
troversial ardor  the  logic  of  Dr.  Hammond's 
views,  and  endeavors  to  show  that  they  are 
inconsistent  with  themselves,  and  are  not 
supported  by  the  facts  whence  they  are 
drawn,  or  by  the  authors  from  whose  works 
Dr.  Hammond  has  endeavored  to  substan- 
tiate particular  points  of  his  theory. 

The  Solution  of  the  Pyramid  Problem, 
or  Pyramid  Discoveries,  with  a  New 
Theory  as  to  their  Ancient  Use.  By 
Robert  Ballard,  of  Queensland.  New 
York:  John  Wiley  &  Sons.  1882.  Pp. 
109. 

Mr.  Ballard  is  not  the  first  who  has  ad- 
vanced a  theory  as  to  the  purpose  for  which 
the  pyramids  were  built,  nor  even  the  first 
to  conjecture  that  they  were  of  use  in  resur- 
veying  the  land  after  the  annual  inundations 
of  the  Nile.  "Built  by  scientific  men,  well 
versed  in  geometry,  these  great  stone  monu- 
ments are  so  suited  in  shape  for  the  pur- 
poses of  land-surveying,  that  the  practical 
engineer  or  surveyor  must,  after  considera- 
tion, admit  that  they  may  have  been  built 
mainly  for  this  purpose."  The  author  also 
thinks  that  he  has  discovered  the  unit  of 
measure  used  in  their  construction,  and  to 
which  he  gives  the  name  of  Royal  Babylonian 
cubit.  This  cubit  he  makes  equal  to  20-22 
British  inches,  and  as  there  are  77,Y60,OOD 
royal  Babylonian  cubits  to  the  polar  circum- 
ference of  the  earth,  the  cubit  represents  the 
-(/a  of  a  second.  This  he  claims  is  the  most 
perfect  ancient  measure  yet  discovered.  It 
is  a  perfect,  natural,  and  convenient  measure 
which  fits  the  plan  of  the  pyramids  and  fits 
the  circumference  of  the  earth.  The  author 
also  states  that  the  pyramid  of  Cheops  is 
situated  on  one  acute  angle  of  a  right-angled 
triangle,  and  the  pyramid  called  Mycerinus 
is  on  the  other  acute  angle,  the  other  two 
sides  of  which  run  respectively  east  and 
south  from  these  pyramids.  The  sides  of 
this  triangle  are  respectively  3,  4,  and  5. 
The  pyramids  of  Cheops  and  Cephren  are 
situated  on  the  acute  angles  of  a  still  more 
remarkable  triangle,  the  sides  of  which  are 
to  each  other  as  20,  21,  and  29.  Many  other 
curious  facts  are  mentioned  regarding  the 
dimensions,  position,  and  slope  of  the  pyra- 
mids, and  a  description  of  the  method  in 
which  the  author  supposes  them  to  have 


been  used  as  the  "  theodolites  of  the  Egyp- 
tians." Many  of  the  obelisks,  he  thinks,  were 
probably  marks  on  pyramid  lines  of  survey, 
and  the  pyramid  may  have  been  a  develop- 
ment of  the  obelisk  for  this  purpose. 

A  Guide  to  Collodio-Etching.  By  Ben- 
jamin Hartley.  Illustrated  by  the  au- 
thor. New  York :  The  Industrial  Pub- 
lication Company.  Pp.  48,  with  Six 
Plates. 

This  little  work  is  for  the  benefit  of 
amateurs,  who  feel  the  need  of  some  simple 
and  inexpensive  method  of  duplicating  their 
sketches  and  studies  for  the  benefit  of  their 
friends.  The  various  methods  by  lithog- 
raphy, photography,  and  the  photo-engrav- 
ing of  pen-and-ink  drawings  which  have 
been  suggested  by  different  persons,  have 
been  found  by  the  author  to  be  inconven- 
ient, expensive,  and  troublesome.  He  de- 
scribes, as  more  nearly  realizing  than  any 
other  one  the  conditions  required  by  the 
amateur,  a  process  for  drawing  the  sketch 
with  a  needle  upon  the  glass  plate,  as  pre- 
pared by  the  photographer  for  the  camera, 
and  printing  from  the  etching  as  an  ordi- 
nary photograph  is  printed.  He  undertakes 
to  give  all  the  practical  information  neces- 
sary on  the  subject,  so  that  persons  who 
know  nothing  about  photography  may  be 
able  to  carry  into  effect  all  the  details  of 
his  system. 

United  States  Commission  of  Fish  and 
Fisheries.  Report  of  the  Commission- 
er for  1879.  Washington:  Government 
Printing-Office.     Pp.  846. 

The  report  embraces  an  inquiry  into  the 
history  and  statistics  of  food-fishes,  and  a 
summary  of  what  has  been  accomplished  in 
the  matter  of  their  propagation  in  the 
waters  of  the  United  States.  Among  the 
collateral  subjects  of  attention  by  the  com- 
mission have  been  an  investigation  into 
the  chemical  composition  of  fish  under  the 
varying  circumstances  of  age,  sex,  and  the 
condition  of  the  reproductive  apparatus ;  re- 
searches into  the  temperature  of  fishes,  ex- 
periments in  the  production  of  cold  for  the 
preservation  of  fish,  and  the  preparation 
of  a  series  of  casts  in  plaster  and  papier- 
mache  of  the  larger  species.  The  pole- 
flounder,  which  was  discovered  off  the  coast 
of  New  England  in  1877,  proves  to  be  one 


422 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


of  the  most  abundant  of  the  flat-fish  family, 
and  promises  to  be  an  important  addition 
to  the  food  resources  of  the  country.     A 
second  species  of  fish,  known  as  the  tile- 
fish,  and  constituting  a  genus  and  species 
entirely  new  to  science,  was  discovered  dur- 
ing the  summer  of  1S79.     The  most  im- 
portant item  of  the  year  in  the  work  of 
propagation  was  the  beginning  of  the  dis- 
tribution of  young  carp  to  various  points 
in  the  United  States.     The  demand  for  the 
fish  was  very  great,  even  with  a  relatively 
small   supply,   and  the  calls  increased  so 
rapidly  that  it  became  doubtful  whether, 
even  with  a  much  larger  production,  all  the 
requirements  could  be  met.     Good  progress 
is  reported  in  the  propagation  and  distri- 
bution of   salmon  and  trout  of  the  vari- 
ous species,  shad,  codfish,  and  striped  bass. 
Among  the  valuable  papers  with  which  the 
report  proper  is  supplemented  are  one  by 
Professor  W.  G.  Farlow,  on  the  "Marine 
Algae  of   New  England,"  containing   tech- 
nical descriptions  of  all  the  known  species ; 
an  account  of  the  cephalopods  of  the  north- 
eastern coast  of  America,  by  A.  E.  Verrill ; 
and  articles  on  the  propagation  of  the  eel, 
the  food  of  marine  animals,  the  Iceland 
herring  fisheries,  the  periodicity  of  the  great 
herring-fisheries,  the  herring's  mode  of  life, 
the  fisheries  of   the  west  coast  of  South 
America,  the  scientific  examination  of  the 
German  seas,  the  effects  of  sawdust  and  the 
pollution  of   waters  by  factory  refuse  on 
fishes;    and   articles   and   reports   bearing 
upon  more  special  features  of  fish  propa- 
gation. 

The  Gulf  Stream.  Additional  Data  from 
the  Investigations  of  the  Coast  and  Geo- 
detic Steamer  Blake.  By  Commander 
J.  R.  Bartlett.     Pp.  16. 

This  publication  embodies  the  substance 
of  a  paper  which  was  read  by  the  author 
before  the  American  Geographical  Society, 
and  is  supplementary  to  a  previous  paper. 
The  author  states  that  he  is  "  not  hampered 
with  any  theories,"  and  merely  gives  his 
deductions  from  the  actual  facts  obtained 
by  the  Blake's  party,  which  may  serve  to 
correct  a  few  popular  errors,  even  if  they 
do  not  throw  much  new  light  on  the  subject. 
His  principal  conclusions  have  already  been 
noticed  in  "  The  Popular  Science  Monthly." 


Proceedings  of  the  Department  of  Super- 
intendence of  the  National  Educa- 
tional Association,  March  21  to  23, 
1882.  Washington:  Government  Print- 
ing-Office.     Pp.  112. 

Value  is  added  to  the  report  of  the  ordi- 
nary discussions  of  this  body  by  the  papers 
of  Drs.  Billings  and  Charles  Smart  relating 
to  "  Ventilation  "  ;  of  the  Hon.  H.  S.  Jones 
on  "  Obstacles  in  the  Way  of  a  Better 
Primary  Education  "  ;  of  Professor  G.  Stan- 
ley Hall  on  "  Chairs  of  Pedagogy  in  our 
Higher  Institutions  of  Learning  ";  of  Drs.  A. 
D.  Mayo  and  J.  L.  M.  Curry  on  "  National  Aid 
to  Education  "  ;  of  Dr.  Sheldon  Jackson  on 
"  Education  (or  the  Want  of  it)  in  Alaska  "  ; 
of  Dr.  John  M.  Gregory  on  the  "  Common- 
School  Studies. " 

Putnam's  Art  Hand-Books.  Edited  by 
Susan  N.  Carter.  Drawing  in  Black- 
and  -  White.  —  Sketching  in  Water- 
Colors.  New  York  :  G.  P.  Putnam's 
Sons.  Pp.  55  and  69.  Price,  50  cents 
each. 

The  first  manual,  by  the  editor,  is  an 
effort  to  show  beginners  ''why  they  had 
best  choose  one  material  in  black-and-white, 
or  another ;  and  to  tell  them,  by  a  few  plain 
directions,  how  they  can  best  manage  their 
charcoals,  crayons,  pen-and-ink,  or  lead- 
pencils."  The  directions  are  clear,  and  are 
complemented  by  typical  illustrations,  from 
masters,  in  each  of  the  styles  ;  but  it  would 
be  better,  perhaps,  if  the  directions  and 
illustrations  were  more  conformed  to  each 
other.  The  second  book  is  by  Thomas 
Ilatton,  and  is  intended  for  the  use  of  such 
students  "  as  arc  accustomed  to  copy  water- 
color  drawings,  and  find  no  difficulty  in 
sketching  natural  objects  in  black-and- 
white,"  yet  need  the  instructions  it  under- 
takes to  give  them,  to  enable  them  to  re- 
produce Nature  expressively  in  her  own 
colors. 

A  Dictionary  of  Music  and  Musicians. 
Edited  by  George  Grove,  D.  C.  L.  Parts 
XV  and  XVI  (Double  Part).  London 
and  New  York :  Macmillan  &  Co.  Pp. 
272.     Price,  $2. 

We  have  already  called  attention  to  the 
fullness  and  the  other  merits  of  this  excel- 
lent work.  The  present  double  number 
contains  the  articles  under  the  titles  from 
"  Schoberlechner  "  to  "  Sketches." 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


423 


The  "  Hoffman  Cover  and  Binder  "  is  a 
very  useful  aid  for  the  convenient  handling 
and  preservation  of  magazines  and  pam- 
phlets while  in  use  and  afterward.  It  is  a 
well-finished  book-cover,  so  arranged  that  a 
magazine  can  be  placed  and  fastened  within 
it  in  a  moment,  so  as  to  form  a  substantial 
bound  book;  then,  when  the  next  number 
arrives,  can  be  taken  out  and  replaced  by 
the  new  one ;  or  it  can  be  left  in  Und  de- 
posited as  a  single  volume  in  the  library. 
The  magazine  is  thus  kept  in  perfect  order, 
whether  it  is  intended  to  be  bound  with  its 
fellow-numbers  or  filed  singly.  Six  sizes 
arc  kept  in  stock,  to  accommodate  the 
variously  shaped  publications  from  "The 
Popular  Science  Monthly r'  to  "  Harper's 
Weekly  "  or  the  "  Illustrated  London  News," 
and  other  sizes  will  be  furnished  to  order, 
by  Joseph  A.  Hoffman,  208  Montgomery 
Street,  San  Francisco.  " 

"  The  American  Journal  of  Physiology  " 
is  a  new  monthly  periodical,  each  number 
of  which  will  consist  of  sixteen  pages,  edited 
and  published  by  D.  II.  Fernandes,  M.  D., 
Indianapolis,  Indiana.  It  is  intended  to  sup- 
ply what  the  editor  believes  to  be  a  lack  in 
American  scientific  literature,  and  is  prom- 
ised communications  from  several  promi- 
nent specialists. 

"  The  Modern  Stenographic  Journal "  is 
a  new  Phonographic  Magazine,  published 
at  Buffalo,  New  York,  by  George  H.  Thorn- 
ton, editor,  and  Emory  P.  Close,  associate 
editor.  It  will  keep  its  readers  in  the  cur- 
rent of  what  is  going  on  in  the  stenographic 
world ;  will  contain  a  department  of  in- 
struction, with  serial  lessons,  and  a  depart- 
ment devoted  to  the  type-writer  and  calli- 
graph  ;  and  will  endeavor  to  popularize  "  a 
simple  and  rapid  system  of  writing  " 


PUBLICATIONS  RECEIVED. 

Address  before  Section  B  (Physics')  or  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  at  the  Montreal  Meeting:.  By  T.  C. 
Mendenhall.    Salem,  Mass.,  1882.    Pp.  14. 

Test  of  Building  Material,  made  at  Watertown 
Arsenal,  Mass.,  August,  1882.  Philadelphia,  1882. 
Pp.  33. 

Aberrations  of  Audibility  of  Fog-Sitrnals.  By 
Arnold  B.  Johnson.  Washington  :  Jndd  &  Det- 
weiler,  Printers.    1882.    Pp.  14,  with  Two  Maps. 

The  Longfellow  Calendar  for  1883,  with  Se- 
lections for  Every  Bay  iii  the  Year.  Boston  : 
Houghton,  Mifflin' &  Co. 


Statement  of  Work  done  at  the  Harvard  Col- 
lege Observatory  during  the  Years  18i"7-1832. 
Pp.23:  and,  A  Plan  for  securing  Ouservatious 
of  the  Variable  Stars.  Pp.  15.  By  Edward  C. 
Pickering.  Cambridge:  John  Whson  &  Son, 
188a. 

The  Worship  of  the  eciprocal  Principles  of 
Nat  lire  among  the  Ancient  Hebrews.  By  J.  P. 
MacLean.  Cincinnati:  Robert  Clarke  &  Co.  1S82. 
Pp.  -a.    25  cents. 

Seventh  Annual  Report  of  Johns  nopkins 
University.     Baltimore,  Md.    1882.     Pp.  122. 

'•  Paleontological  Bulletin,"  No.  35.  By  Pro- 
fessor E.  D.  Cope.  Philadelphia :  A.  E.  Foote. 
1882.    Pp.44. 

Northern  Transcontinental  Survey.  First  An- 
nual Report  of  Rapnae!  Puinpelly,  Director. 
NewYorii:  Wells  backelt  &  i.ankin,  Printers. 
1882.     Pp.  16. 

Some  Observations  on  Ostriches  and  Ostrich- 
Farming.    Pp.  11. 

Some  Indications  of  an  Early  Race  of  Men  in 
New  England.  By  Henry  W.  Haynes.  From 
the  "  Proceedings  of  the  Boston  Society  of  Natu- 
ral History."     lp.  9. 

On  the  Determination  of  the  Flashing  Point 
of  Petroleum.    By  John  T.  Stoddard.    Pp.  4. 

Radiant  Heat  an  Exception  to  the  Second 
Law  of  Thermo-Dynamics.  By  H.  T.  Eddy, 
Ph.  D.    1882.    Pp.  10. 

The  Sense  of  Dizziness  in  Deaf-Mutes.  By 
William  James,  M.  D.  Cambridge,  1882.  Pp.16. 
Transactions  of  the  Anthropological  Society 
of  Washington.  From  February,  18ri9,  to  Janu- 
ary, 1882.  Vol.  I.  Washington.  1882.  Pp.  142. 
Food  Adulterations.  By  Professor  Albert  B. 
Prescott,  M.  D.  Reprint  from  "Annual  Report 
of  Michigan  State  Board  of  Health  for  1882." 
Pp.  6. 

The  Tides.  By  John  Nader,  Civil  Engineer. 
1879.    Pp.  31. 

Sketch  of  Lewis  H.  Morgan.  By  F.  W.  Put- 
nam. From  the  "  Proceedings  of  (he  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,"  May,  1882.  Pp.  8. 
Facts  and  Phases  of  Animal  Life.  By  Vernon 
S.  Morwood.  Illustrated.  Netv  York  :  D.  Ap- 
pleton  &  Co.    Pp.286.    Price,  $150. 

Winners  in  Life's  Race  ;  or.  The  Great  Back- 
boned Family.  Bv  Arabella  B.  Bucklev.  Illus- 
trated. New  York:  D.  Appleton  &  Co.  Pp.367. 
Price,  $1.50. 

Lectures  on  Art,  delivered  in  Support  of  the 
Society  for  the  Protection  of  Ancient  Buildings 
Bv  Reginald  Stuart  Poole  and  others.  London  : 
Macmillan  &  Co.    Pp.  232.    Price,  $1.50. 

Anatomical  Technology  as  applied  to  the  Do- 
mestic Cat.  An  Introduction  to  Human.  Verte- 
brate, and  Comparative  Anatomy.  By  Burt  G. 
Wilder  and  Simon  H.  Gage.  New  York  and 
Chicago:  A.  S.  Barnes  &  Co.  Pp.  575.  Price, 
$4.50.' 

The  Life  of  James  Clerk  Maxwell,  with  a  Se- 
lection from  his  Correspondence  and  Occasional 
Writings,  and  a  Sketch  of  his  Contributions  to 
Science.  By  Lewis  Campbell  and  William  Gar- 
nett.  London  :  Macmillan  &  Co.  Pp.  662.  Price, 
$6. 

New  Method  of  Learning  the  French  Lan- 
guage. By  F.  Berber.  New  York:  D.  Appleton 
&  Co.     Pp\  138.     Price.  $1. 

A  Study,  with  Notes,  of  "The  Princess" 
(Tennyson's  poemV  By  S.  E.  Dawson.  Mon- 
treal: "Dawson  Brothers.    Pp.  120. 

American  Hero-Myths  :  A  Study  in  the  Na- 
tive Religions  of  the  Western  Continent.  By 
Daniel  G.  Brinton,  M.  D.  Philadelphia:  H.  C. 
Watts  &  Co.     Pp.  251.     Price.  $1.75. 

Traits  of  Representative  Men.  By  George 
W.  Bungav.  Illustrated.  New  York  :  Fowler 
&  Wells.  "Pp.  286.    Price,  $1.50. 


424 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


Charles  Darwin.  Memorial  Notices,  reprint- 
ed from  "'  Nature."  London  :  Macinillau  &  Co. 
Pp.  82.    Price,  75  cents. 

A  Whimsical  Wooing.  By  Anton  Giulio  Ba- 
rili.  From  the  Italian  hy  Clara  Bell.  New  iork: 
Y\  illiain  S.  Gottsberger.    Pp.  88. 

Experimental  Physiology.  Its  Benefits  to 
Mankind.  By  Richard  Owen,  C.  B,  M.  D., 
P.  JR.  S.,  etc.  London:  Longmans,  Green  &  Co. 
Pp.  216.     Price,  live  shilling;;. 

Youth:  Its  Care  and  Culture.  By  J.  Mortimer 
Granville.  New  York:  M.  A.  lio'jbiook  &  Co. 
Pp.  107. 

The  Scieniific  and  Technical  Reader.  Lon- 
don: T  Nelson  &  Sous.    Pp.  400.    Price,  2s.  6U. 

The  Factors  of  Civilization,  Real  and  As- 
sumed. Considered  m  I  heir  Relation  to  Vice, 
Misery,  Happiness,  Unhappiuess,  and  Progress. 
Vol.  II.  Atlanta,  Georgia;  James  P.  Harrison 
<&  Co.    Pp.  359. 

Text-Book  of  Geology.  By  Archibald  Geikie. 
London:  Macmillan  &  Co.  Pp.  971.  Price,  $7.50. 

The  Coties  Check-List  of  North  American 
Birds.  Second  edition.  Boston:  Estes  &  Lau- 
riat.    Pp.  165. 

The  Diseases  of  the  Liver,  with  and  without 
Jaundice.  Hy  George  Harley.  M.D.  Philadel- 
phia :  P.  Blakiston,  Son  &  Co.  Pp.  751.  Price,  $5. 

Novissimum  Organon  :  The  Certainties, 
Guesses,  and  Observations  of  John  Thinking- 
machine.  By  James  Ferdinand  Mallinckrodt. 
St.  Louis  :  Hugh  R.  Hildreth  Printing  Co.  Pp. 
116. 

Quintus  Claudius  :  A  Romance  of  Imperial 
Rome.  By  Ernst  Eckstein.  From  the  German 
by  Clara  Bell  In  two  vols.  New  York  :  Will- 
iam S.  Gottsbercer.     Pp.  61G.    Price,  $1.75. 

Dress  and  Care  of  the  Feet.  By  L'r.  P.  Kah- 
ler.    New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.    Pp.  39. 


POPULAR   MISCELLANY. 

Mortality  in  Town  and  Conntry.— Pro- 
fessor Finkelnburg  attempted  to  show,  in  a 
paper  read  at  the  recent  Sanitary  Congress 
in  Cologne,  that  cities  are  not  of  necessity 
less  healthy  than  country  districts,  and  that, 
where  they  appear  to  be  so,  the  fact  can 
generally  be  attributed  to  local  influences 
affecting  the  hygienic  or  economical  condi- 
tion of  the  population.  The  analysis  and 
comparison  of  adult  male  and  female  mor- 
tality and  infant  mortality  bring  out  many 
interesting  facts.  The  male  population  of 
the  cities  is  described  as  being  less  healthy 
than  the  female  population,  and  liable  to 
consumption  and  affections  of  the  heart, 
brain,  and  kidneys.  In  Cologne,  the  mor- 
tality among  women  over  thirty  years  of 
nge  is  not  only  less  than  among  men,  but  is 
less  than  the  death-rate  among  women  of 
the  same  ages  in  other  parts  of  the  Cologne 
district.  Similar  results  are  shown  at  Bonn. 
The  deaths  of  men  from  consumption  show 
a  marked  predominance  in  the  centers  of 
the  textile  and  metal  industries.     The  fact 


that  a  similar  result  appears  in  country  dis- 
tricts where  labor  of  a  similar  character  is 
carried  on  is  presumptive  evidence  that  the 
mortality  is  associated  with  the  industrial 
activity  of  the  towns.  Epidemic  diseases 
seem  to  show  an  excessive  urban  mortality 
only  in  the  case  of  young  children.  Infant 
mortality  appears  to  reach  its  highest  point 
where  the  population  is  most  dense,  and  the 
proportion  of  female  labor  in  the  factories 
is  most  considerable.  A  more  favorable 
condition,  however,  seems  to  prevail  in  those 
districts  where  domestic  labor  is  general. 
It  is  proved  with  a  certain  amount  of  clear- 
ness that  infant  mortality  varies  according 
to  the  dwelling  accommodation  in  towns  and 
the  amount  of  parental  care  which  circum- 
stances permit.  This  result  is  not  a  sure 
guide  as  to  all  diseases,  for  which  diarrhoea 
and  similar  disorders  contribute  a  notable 
proportion  to  urban  mortality  in  general ; 
deaths  from  diphtheria  and  whooping-cough 
in  the  Rhine  provinces  are  more  numerous 
in  the  country  than  in  the  towns.  Professor 
Finkelnburg  also  notices  that  the  mortality 
in  cities  increases  in  the  summer  and  fall, 
while  the  increase  in  the  country  takes 
place  during  the  winter  and  spring. 

Indians  of  the  Undson  Bay  Territory. 

— Dr.  John  Rae  has  furnished  the  Society 
of  Arts  with  some  information  about  the 
native  tribes  of  the  Hudson  Cay  Compa- 
ny's Territories,  which  is  all  the  more  val- 
uable because  it  is  thirty  years  or  more 
old ;  for  it  brings  us  nearer  to  the  original 
condition  of  the  tribes  before  they  were  af- 
fected as  much  as  they  are  now  by  inter-^ 
course  with  the  white  men.  Dr.  Rae  divides 
the  native  tribes  of  the  Territory  into  the 
Innuits,  or  Esquimaux,  of  the  Arctic  sea- 
board down  to  Labrador;  the  Dene  Dind- 
jie,  eleven  tribes  east  of  the  Rocky  Mount- 
ains and  south  of  the  Esquimaux;  the 
Algonquins,  twelve  tribes ;  and  the  IIu- 
rons-Iroquois,  of  Lake  Huron,  the  Ottawa 
River,  and  the  Province  of  Quebec.  The 
Wood  Crees,  one  of  the  principal  tribes  on 
Hudson  Bay,  are  a  fine,  docile  race,  with 
comparatively  few  faults,  and  these  inju- 
rious only  to  themselves.  They  are  very 
fond  of  strong  drinks,  and  have  a  great  dis- 
like to  agricultural  labor  on  their  own  ac- 
count, although   they   work  very  well   for 


P  OP  ULAR  MIS  CELL  ANY. 


425 


others  when  paid  for  it.  They  make  their 
living  by  hunting  wild  fowl  and  animals,  of 
which  the  most  valuable  to  them  appears  to 
be  the  rabbit.  Their  clothing  was  chiefly 
made  of  rabbit  and  reindeer-skins  before 
they  came  in  contact  with  the  white  men. 
Rabbit-skins  sewed  together  make  the  warm- 
est of  blankets,  even  though  the  fingers  may 
be  pushed  through  them  anywhere,  and  an 
Indian  child  dressed  up  in  them,  like  "  baby 
bunting,"  is  a  funny-looking  but  very  cozy 
creature.  The  Indian  babies  seem  never  to 
cry,  never  to  squall,  as  more  civilized  babies 
are  in  the  habit  of  doing,  and  are  never 
chastised.  "  It  would  be  thought  very  un- 
natural and  cruel  in  a  mother  to  flog  or 
strike  her  child."  All  the  Indians  treat  with 
much  ceremony  and  respect  the  body  of  any 
bear  they  may  have  killed.  He  is  placed 
in  a  sitting  posture  against  a  tree,  and  long 
speeches  are  made  of  apology  and  regret 
for  having  been  under  the  disagreeable 
necessity  of  killing  him.  Then,  as  the  bear 
may  come  to  life  again  even  after  he  has 
been  disemboweled,  a  stick  is  put  into  his 
mouth  to  keep  it  wide  open,  and  a  profuse 
and  humble  apology  is  made  to  him  for  the 
additional  indignity.  The  supposed  neces- 
sity for  this  precaution  is  believed  to  have 
arisen  from  the  fact  that  a  bear,  thought  to 
be  dead,  came  to  life  again  while  being  car- 
ried home,  and  took  a  mouthful  out  of  one 
of  his  Indian  bearers.  With  a  small  tribe 
called  the  Dog-ribs,  or  slaves,  the  custom 
prevails  of  wrestling  for  the  right  to  a  wife, 
"  the  lady  sitting  by,  an  appai-ently  careless 
and  indifferent  spectator  of  the  struggle  for 
possession.  No  other  ceremony  is  required 
than  that  the  victor,  whether  her  former 
husband  or  not,  claims  his  wife."  Another 
custom,  and  an  unfortunate  one,  is  that  on 
the  death  of  a  near  relative  these  Indians 
must  destroy  every  article  of  property  of 
value  that  they  possess,  excepting  perhaps 
an  old  deer-skin  robe  and  a  few  other  arti- 
cles. They,  moreover,  can  not  hunt  during 
the  season  in  which  the  loss  occurs,  and  are 
thus  exposed  to  great  poverty.  With  nearly 
all  the  Indians,  a  certain  favorite  piece  of 
deer  or  bird  is  tabooed  to  the  women,  and 
they  dare  not  taste  it,  or  even  come  near 
where  it  is  cooking,  under  a  severe  penalty. 
With  the  Chippewas  it  is  the  moose-nose, 
with  the  Wood  Crees  some  part  of  the  wild- 


goose,  and  with  the  Dog-ribs  the  reindeer 
head.  A  peculiarity  of  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company's  tariff,  which  has  been  considera- 
bly misrepresented,  is  that  far  higher  prices, 
in  proportion  to  their  value,  are  paid  to  the 
Indians  for  inferior  furs  than  for  the  finer 
ones.  The  object  of  this  regulation  is  sim- 
ply to  prevent  the  undue  hunting  of  the 
more  expensive .  furs.  "  I  fear,"  says  Dr. 
Rae,  "  that  little  can  be  done  for  these 
northern  Indians,  unless  they  can  be  rea- 
soned out  of  their  prejudices  and  supersti- 
tions, which,  with  their  imprudences  and 
wastefulness,  are  the  cause  of  their  being 
so  poor." 

Ass's  Milk  for  Infants. — M.  Parrot,  phy- 
sician at  the  Hospital  for  Assisted  Children 
in  Paris,  has  recently  made  a  report  of  the 
success  which  has  attended  the  efforts  he 
has  made  to  introduce  an  improved  system 
of  alimentation  into  the  nursery  of  that  in- 
stitution. His  conclusions,  confirmed  as 
they  are  by  the  observations  of  his  colleague, 
M.  Tarnier,  who  had  the  charge  of  an  im- 
portant class  of  young  nurses,  deserve  the 
particular  attention  of  hospital  and  munici- 
pal administrations.  Good  nurses  are  very 
scarce,  and  it  is  hard  to  keep  a  strict  watch 
upon  the  children  consigned  by  the  public 
charities  to  their  care.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  goodly  number  of  these  poor  little  ones 
come  into  the  world  afflicted  with  diseases 
which  forbid  their  being  committed  to  a 
nurse,  because  they  would  be  in  danger  of 
infecting  her.  At  the  Children's  Hospital, 
where  the  proportion  of  these  wretched  in- 
fants is  always  considerable,  it  has  been 
found  necessary  to  feed  them  from  the  bot- 
tle in  the  halls  of  the  infirmary.  Notwith- 
standing the  most  intelligent  care,  this  means 
has  not  been  efficient  to  restore  the  strength 
of  the  infants,  who  were,  in  fact,  nearly 
moribund  with  disease  contracted  in  their 
mother's  womb.  M.  Parrot  had  a  single 
chance  to  save  them  and  tried  it ;  it  was 
to  nurse  them  directly  at  the  teat  of  an 
animal.  The  nursery  which  has  been  es- 
tablished in  the  gardens  of  the  Hospital 
for  Assisted  Children  has  been  in  operation 
for  about  a  year,  and  the  results  of  the  ex- 
periments have  been  so  satisfactory  that  no 
reason  exists  for  waiting  for  a  longer  trial 
before  making  them   known.     In  the  face 


426 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


Ass's  Milk  Nursery  at  the  Hospital  for  Assisted  Children,  Paris. 


of  the  preliminary  difficulties  in  personal 
instruction  and  the  insufficient  number  of 
animals  at  the  disposal  of  the  hospital,  the 
rate  of  mortality  has  been  greatly  reduced. 
The  infants  were  at  first  fed  with  goat's 
milk,  but  it  was  soon  found  that  ass's  milk 
was  better  for  them  ;  and  they  are  now  all 
fed  with  milk  which  they  draw  directly  from 
the  teat  of  the  animal.  One,  two,  and  some- 
times three  children  are  presented  to  the  ass 
at  the  same  time,  being  held  at  the  teat  in 
the  arms  of  the  nurse,  and  the  operation  is 
performed  with  wonderful  ease.  Numbers 
speak  most  eloquently  of  the  success  of  the 
method.  During  six  months,  eighty-six 
children  afflicted  with  congenital  and  con- 
tagious diseases  were  fed  at  the  nursery. 
The  first  six  were  fed,  by  stress  of  par- 
ticular circumstances,  with  cow's  milk  from 
the  bottle ;  only  one  of  them  recovered. 
Forty-two  were  nursed  at  the  teat  of  the 
goat ;  eight  recovered,  thirty-four  died. 
Thirty-eight  were  nursed  at  the  teat  of  the 
ass ;  twenty-eight  recovered,  ten  died.  In 
the  face  of  such  results  there  can  be  hardly 
any  hesitation  in  declaring  that  in  hospitals, 


at  least,  the  best  method  of  feeding  new- 
born children,  who  can  not,  for  any  rea- 
son, be  confided  to  a  nurse,  is  to  put  them 
to  suck  directly  from  the  teat  of  an  ass. 
The  virtues  of  ass's  milk  have  not  waited 
for  recognition  till  this  late  day.  Paris  and 
other  large  cities  have,  for  many  years,  en- 
joyed the  visits  of  troops  of  asses  which 
have  been  brought  in  to  supply  the  restora- 
tive liquid  to  the  sick  and  feeble.  If  we 
may  credit  the  legend,  the  use  of  this  milk 
was  introduced  into  France  during  the  reign 
of  Francis  I.  That  brave  monarch  had 
fallen  into  a  state  of  extreme  exhaustion,  in 
consequence  of  his  over-exertion  in  military 
and  other  exercises.  His  physicians  not 
being  able  to  produce  any  change  in  his  con- 
dition, a  Jew  was  brought  from  Constanti- 
nople, who  prescribed  simply  a  beverage  of 
ass's  milk ;  he  took  it,  according  to  the 
chronicle,  and  became  better.  Ass's  milk 
owes  the  advantages  which  it  possesses  over 
that  of  goats  to  its  chemical  composition, 
the  distinguishing  feature  of  which  is  that 
it  contains  less  plastic  substance  and  butter 
than  goat's  milk.     Like  mother's  milk,  it 


P  OP  ULAR  MIS  CELL  ANY. 


427 


forms  a  precipitate  of  little  isolated  flakes 
easily  soluble  in  an  excess  of  gastric  juice. 
It  does  not  load  the  stomach  of  the  sickly 
and  puny  infants,  who  ought  to  be  spared 
all  possible  difficulty  in  digestion.  Mare's 
milk  would  be,  if  it  were  easy  to  get,  a  still 
better  substitute  for  mother's  milk.  It  has 
nearly  the  same  composition,  and  M.  Ber- 
ling,  a  Russian  physician  who  has  tried  it, 
has  found  in  it  all  the  qualities  necessary 
to  sustain  new-born  children. 

Aborigines  of  the  Isthmus. — Mr.  E.  G. 

Barney  has  given  in  the  "  American  Anti- 
quarian "  an  account  of  the  history  and 
present  condition  of  the  native  races  of  the 
United  States  of  Colombia.  The  territory 
of  that  republic,  now  divided  into  nine 
States  and  six  Territories,  was  inhabited  at 
the  time  of  the  discovery  and  conquest, 
from  1498  to  1545,  by  a  dense  population, 
which  was  variously  estimated  at  from  eight 
million  to  twenty  million  souls.  The  inhab- 
itants of  the  State  of  Panama  were  in  vari- 
ous stages  of  advancement,  "  from  dwellers 
in  the  tree-tops  to  a  degree  of  civilization 
very  much  superior  to  that  of  Britain  at  the 
time  of  the  Roman  conquest,  or  indeed  at 
the  time  the  Saxons  ruled  the  island."  Co- 
lumbus in  one  of  his  letters  speaks  of  his 
brother  having  seen  a  house  devoted  to  the 
dead,  and  containing  many  well-embalmed 
bodies,  over  which  were  wooden  slabs  en- 
graved with  the  figures  of  various  animals, 
and  one  bearing  a  good  portrait  of  the  de- 
ceased. During  a  journey  in  the  interior, 
this  brother  found  a  dense  population,  en- 
tirely agricultural,  and  passed  at  one  place 
eighteen  miles  through  continued  fields  of 
corn.  The  inhabitants  of  the  coasts  and 
islands  wore  little  clothing,  but  valuable  or- 
naments of  gold,  and  these  appear  to  have 
been  imported  from  other  states,  being 
bought  for  gold-dust,  dried  fish,  and  prod- 
ucts of  the  soil.  Balboa  and  his  forces 
were  entertained  in  the  spacious  house  of  a 
cacique,  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  which  were 
kept  the  embalmed  ancestors  of  the  chief 
for  many  generations,  and  which  was  sur- 
rounded by  large  grounds  with  towering 
palm-trees  and  gardens  and  orchards.  These 
people,  who  appear  to  have  compared  favor- 
ably with  most  European  nations  before  the 
invention   of    gunpowder,  are   believed   to 


have  been  of  the  same  race  with  the  North 
American  Indians,  but  agricultural  in  their 
habits.  Their  weapons  of  Avar  were  bows 
and  arrows,  darts,  lances,  war-clubs,  etc. 
Their  implements  of  husbandry  were  stone 
axes  and  sharpened  sticks  hardened  in  the 
fire,  and  their  mills  were  smooth  stones, 
rubbed  together  with  the  hand.  Their  nets 
for  fishing  were  made  of  the  fibers  of  the 
Agave  Americana,  and  their  hooks  were 
made  from  turtle-shells.  On  the  head-wa- 
ters of  some  of  the  tributaries  of  the  Atrato 
"  were  found  one  tribe  of  very  skillful  arti- 
sans in  golden  ornaments ;  another  equally 
skillful  in  spinning  and  weaving  cotton 
cloths,  nets,  hammocks,  etc.,  the  former  be- 
ing very  tastefully  colored ;  and  another 
tribe  adjacent  were  agriculturists,  but 
showed  unusual  taste  in  adorning  the  sur- 
roundings of  their  homes  with  gardens, 
fruit-orchards,  etc.  One  tomb  is  mentioned 
as  having  been  artistically  constructed,  from 
which  the  sum  of  forty  thousand  dollars 
was  taken  by  Cesar  and  his  party.  .  .  . 
These  tribes  are  said  to  have  had  adorato- 
rios,  and  a  system  of  religious  belief  too 
variously  stated  to  enable  me  to  form  any 
opinion  of  its  character."  In  the  upper 
valley  of  the  Cauca,  on  the  slopes  and  val- 
leys of  two  immense  mountain-ranges,  dwelt 
many  tribes,  either  wholly  agriculturists  or 
partly  agriculturists  and  partly  fishermen, 
or  manufacturers  of  salt,  golden  ornaments, 
or  cotton  cloth,  etc.  Many  of  the  tribes  in 
this  valley  were  considerably  advanced  in 
culture ;  some  had  the  streets  of  their 
towns  wide  and  regular ;  some  were  manu- 
facturers of  cotton  goods ;  one  manufact- 
ured golden  ornaments,  and  two  made  salt 
by  boiling  down  saline  waters.  It  cost  much 
Castilian  blood  to  subdue  these  people,  but, 
finding  that  they  could  not  contend  against 
the  superior  weapons  of  the  Europeans,  they 
generally  refused  to  plant,  and  in  two  years 
the  Spaniards  were  compelled  to  begin  to 
introduce  negroes  to  till  the  ground  so  lately 
occupied  by  a  happy  and  contented  people. 
"  Along  the  eastern  side  of  the  Gulf  of  Da- 
rien  and  along  the  northern  slopes  of  the 
Abibe,  the  descendants  of  the  independent 
tribes,  whose  poisoned  arrows  defeated 
nearly  every  attempt  to  penetrate  their 
country,  still  hold  their  native  land  as  free 
from  the  intruder  as   when  the   European 


428 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


invader  first  attempted  its  conquest.  .  .  . 
An  infinity"  of  mounds  was  found  in  one 
locality,  and  twenty-four  human  figures  in 
wood  in  one  of  the  temples,  and  golden 
bells  outside, "  which  gave  out  sweet  chimes 
in  ever-varying  tones."  Some  of  the 
mounds  contained  ornaments,  in  imitation 
of  every  form  of  life,  from  the  ant  to  a  hu- 
man being,  and  of  every  value  from  $10  to 
$30,000. 

Waste  of  the  World's  Forests.— When 
the  forests  of  such  a  country  as  Cyprus  were 
destroyed,  said  Mr.  Thistelton  Dyer  in  a  dis- 
cussion in  the  British  Society  of  Arts,  it  was 
like  a  burned  cinder.  Many  of  the  West 
Indian  Islands  are  in  much  the  same  condi- 
tion, and  the  rate  with  which  the  destruction 
takes  place  when  once  commenced  is  almost 
incredible.  In  the  Island  of  Mauritius,  in 
1S35,  about  three  fourths  of  the  soil  was  in 
the  condition  of  primeval  forest,  viz.,  300,000 
acres ;  in  1879,  the  acreage  of  woods  was 
reduced  to  'ZO/lOO  ;  and  in  the  next  year, 
when  an  exact  survey  was  made  by  an  In- 
dian forest  officer,  he  stated  that  the  only 
forest  worth  speaking  about  was  35,000 
acres.  Sir  William  Gregory  says  that  in 
Ceylon,  the  eye,  looking  from  the  top  of  a 
mountain  in  the  center  of  the  island,  ranged 
in  every  direction  over  an  unbroken  extent 
of  forest.  Six  years  later  the  whole  forest 
had  disappeared.  The  denudation  of  the 
forests  is  accompanied  by  a  deterioration  in 
the  soil ;  and  the  Rev.  R.  Abbay,  who  went 
to  Ceylon  on  the  eclipse  expedition,  calcu- 
lated, from  the  percentage  of  solid  matter  in 
a  stream,  that  one  third  of  an  inch  per  an- 
num was  being  washed  away  from  the  culti- 
vated surface  of  the  island.  In  some  colo- 
nics the  timber  was  being  destroyed  at  such 
a  rate  as  would  soon  lead  to  economic  diffi- 
culties. In  Jamaica,  nearly  all  the  timber 
required  for  building  purposes  has  already 
to  be  imported.  In  New  Brunswick,  the 
hemlock-spruce  is  rapidly  disappearing,  one 
manufacturer  in  Boiestown  using  the  bark 
of  one  hundred  thousand  trees  every  year 
for  tanning.  In  Demerara,  one  of  the  most 
important  and  valuable  trees,  the  green- 
heart,  is  in  a  fair  way  of  being  exterminat- 
ed. They  actually  cut  down  small  saplings 
to  make  rollers  on  which  to  roll  the  large 
trunks.     In  New  Zealand,  Captain  Walker 


says  he  fears  that  the  present  generation  will 
see  the  extermination  of  the  Kauri  pine,  one 
of  the  most  important  trees.  All  these  facts 
show  that  this  is  a  most  urgent  question, 
which  at  no  distant  date  will  have  to  be 
vigorously  dealt  with. 

Professor  Hoggius  on  Comets.— Profess- 
or Iluggins  endeavored,  in  a  recent  lecture 
on  comets,  to  distinguish  as  clearly  as  pos- 
sible between  what  we  know  about  those 
bodies,  and  what  is  only  speculation.  Some 
comets  have  become  permanent  members 
of  our  system,  while  others  probably  visit 
us  once  only,  never  to  return.  It  de- 
pends upon  a  comet's  velocity  whether  its 
orbit  shall  take  the  shape  of  a  returning 
curve  or  not.  If  the  velocity,  at  the  earth's 
distance  from  the  sun,  exceeds  twenty-six 
miles  a  second,  the  comet  will  go  off  into 
space,  never  to  come  back  to  us.  The  small 
portion  of  the  comet's  life  during  which  we 
are  able  to  study  it — when  it  is  in  a  condi- 
tion of  extreme  excitement,  in  consequence 
of  its  nearness  to  the  sun — is  quite  unlike 
its  ordinary  humdrum  existence,  when  it  has 
only  a  nucleus  and  no  tail.  Spectroscopic 
observations  of  comets  show  that  they  shine 
with  an  original  light,  the  bands  of  which 
indicate  a  composition  of  carbon  combined 
with  hydrogen,  and  also  with  a  reflected 
light,  the  lines  of  which  indicate  the  pres- 
ence of  a  nitrogen  compound  of  carbon. 
Moreover,  "certain  minor  modifications  of 
the  common  type  of  spectrum  are  often 
present,  and  show,  as  was  to  be  expected, 
that  the  conditions  prevailing  in  different 
comets,  and,  indeed,  in  any  one  comet  from 
day  to  day,  are  not  rigidly  uniform."  The 
study  of  meteorites,  Mr.  Iluggins  suggests, 
may  throw  some  light  on  the  constitution  of 
the  nuclei  of  comets,  which  are  probably 
similar  to  them,  and  therefore  solid.  The 
tails  have  been  supposed  to  be  gaseous  mat- 
ter sent  off  by  the  sun's  repulsive  action. 
The  gases  are  probably  not  products  of  de- 
composition, but  matter  that  has  been  oc- 
cluded. Experiments  so  far  throw  little 
light  on  the  question  whether  cyanogen  is 
present  in  combination  or  otherwise  within 
the  comet,  or  whether  it  is  found  at  the 
time  by  the  interaction  of  carbonaceous  and 
nitrogenous  matter.  In  the  latter  case  we 
should  have  to  admit  a  high  temperature, 


POPULAR  MISCELLANY. 


429 


which  would  be  in  favor  of  the  view  of  an 
electric  origin  of  the  comet's  light.  The 
curved  forms  of  the  tails  of  comets,  and 
their  greater  densit}'  on  the  convex  side, 
admit  of  explanation  on  the  supposition 
that  they  are  matter  repelled  from  the  sun. 
On  this  hypothesis,  also,  a  comet  would 
suffer,  of  course,  a  large  waste  of  material 
at  each  return  to  perihelion,  since  the  nu- 
cleus would  be  unable  to  gather  up  again  to 
itself  the  scattered  matter  of  the  tail ;  and 
this  view  is  in  accordance  with  the  fact  that 
no  comet  of  short  period  has  a  tail  of  any 
considerable  magnitude.  There  seems  to 
be  a  rapidly  growing  feeling  among  physi- 
cists that  both  the  self-light  of  comets  and 
the  phenomena  of  their  tails  belong  to  the 
order  of  electrical  manifestations. 

The  Snnken  Southern  Continent  again. 

— The  French  Academy  of  Sciences  recently 
had  before  it  the  question  of  the  former 
existence  of  the  hypothetical  Southern  Con- 
tinent. M.  Emile  Blanchard  presented  the 
condition  of  living  faunas  and  floras  as 
affording  evidence  of  the  former  existence 
of  such  a  continent.  Additional  proof  was 
suggested  by  the  examination  of  the  charts 
of  the  sea-depths,  which  show  that  the  whole 
region  where  the  lands  that  may  be  regarded 
as  the  remains  of  a  continent  are  located  is 
one  of  comparatively  shallow  water ;  beyond 
this  space,  the  seas  are  very  deep.  The 
large  accumulations  of  remains  of  moas  that 
are  observed  in  small  districts  indicate  that 
an  enormous  number  of  those  gigantic  birds 
must  have  existed  in  New  Zealand  at  no 
very  remote  period.  It  is  hard  to  believe 
that  their  extinction  can  have  been  brought 
about  by  the  Maories,  never  very  numerous. 
Physical  events  must  probably  have  been 
the  primary  cause  of  their  destruction. 
While  they  were  scattered  over  an  extensive 
territory,  their  existence  was  easy ;  as  the 
land  sunk  from  under  them,  they  had  to  take 
refuge  in  the  spaces  that  remained  above 
water.  Under  the  new  conditions  the  moas 
would  have  perished  by  hundreds  wherever 
they  became  crowded  together  in  too  great 
numbers.  Thus  the  extinction  of  these 
birds  lends  further  probability  to  the  hy- 
pothesis of  the  sinking  of  a  southern  con- 
tinent. We  are  still  without  sufficient  in- 
formation respecting  the  floras,  especially 


do  we  lack  precise  knowledge  of  the  ento- 
mological fauna  of  the  little  islands  which 
are  suspected  of  being  the  remains  of  a 
continent.  M.  Alphonse  Milne-Edwards  re- 
marked that  it  seemed  hard  to  believe  that 
the  Mascarene  Islands,  small  as  they  are,  and 
apparently  so  little  favorable  to  the  vigor  of 
their  respective  faunas,  can  each  have  been 
the  cradle  of  species  so  well  characterized 
and  so  different  from  those  that  exist  else- 
where. More  probably  each  of  the  volcanic 
cones  constituting  the  nucleus  of  those  isl- 
ands existed  before  the  lands  were  sunk  to 
a  considerable  extent,  and  served  as  the 
last  refuge  for  the  now  extinct  zoological 
population  of  the  neighboring  region.  This 
fauna  has  such  points  of  resemblance  with 
those  of  New  Zealand  and  other  parts  of 
the  Antarctic  region,  that  we  can  not  hesi- 
tate to  class  it  with  the  Austral  faunas.  It 
may,  thus,  possibly  have  extended  farther 
south.  We  are  thus  brought  to  the  idea  of 
a  great  land  formerly  existing  in  the  part 
of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  now  occupied  by  the 
immense  masses  of  marine  plants  commonly 
known  as  kelp.  The  absence  of  mammalia 
from  any  region  does  not  particularly  indi- 
cate that  the  land  was  unfitted  for  them, 
but  that  it  was  separated  from  the  rest  of 
the  globe  before  mammalia  appeared. 

The  Decline  of  Life-insurance. — The 

English  life-insurance  agents  arc  remarking 
upon  the  fact  that  a  pause  has  come  in  the 
expansion  of  their  business.  This  may  be 
partly  owing  to  a  change  in  the  general  dis- 
position to  insure,  in  consequence  of  the 
growth  of  the  idea  that  the  same  end  may 
be  reached  by  saving ;  partly  by  the  increas- 
ing age  at  which  the  insuring  classes  marry ; 
and  partly  by  the  vigorous  and  successful 
competition  of  American  offices,  which  seem 
to  be  offering  better  security  and  better 
terms.  The  "  Spectator  "  thinks  that  these 
causes  are  relatively  insignificant,  and  that 
the  main  reason  for  the  decline  of  insurance 
"  is  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  public 
for  less  trouble,  more  security,  and  better 
terms."  It  suggests  that  the  companies  re- 
gard themselves  too  much  in  the  light  of 
benefactors  of  the  human  species,  and  not 
as  much  as  they  ought  in  the  light  of  trades. 
men  anxious  for  custom.  "  At  present 
the  insurer  is  treated  as  a  swindler,  to  be 


43° 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


guarded  against,  and  cross-questioned,  and 
watched  ;  and,  as  he  seldom  insures  in  com- 
plete free-will,  but  is  compelled  by  his  rela- 
tives, or  his  wife's  relatives,  or  his  creditors, 
he  is  unusually  and  unduly  affected  by  his 
treatment."  The  minuteness  of  the  medi- 
cal inquiry  required  as  a  preliminary  to  in- 
surance operates  as  a  deterrent.  The  can- 
didate does  not  like  to  have  symptoms 
discovered  by  an  over-zealous  examiner 
which  arc  invisible  to  laymen,  and  even  to 
himself  ;  "  to  have  all  his  weak  places  found 
out ;  to  stand  a  cross-examination  from  a 
man  he  did  not  select,  and  regards,  for  the 
moment,  as  an  enemy,  as  to  his  habits  of 
life ;  or  to  run  the  risk  of  the  shock  involved 
in  a  rejection,  for  reasons  left  unexplained." 
Insurance  is  a  business  in  which  a  much 
slighter  annoyance  than  this  will  turn  a 
waverer,  and  induce  him  to  resolve  that  he 
will  save  his  money  to  himself.  The  value 
of  the  inquiry  is,  moreover,  vastly  overrated. 
The  physician  may  be  able  to  decide  upon 
the  candidate's  bodily  condition  at  the  mo- 
ment, but  he  can  not  decide  what  it  will  be 
three  months  hence,  nor  estimate  "  that 
quality  of  vitality  which,  and  not  health,  is 
the  question  for  the  insurance-office."  Per- 
sons who  seem  almost  at  the  point  of  death 
frequently  live  for  years  ;  while  those  who 
appear  most  vigorous  are  as  subject  as  any 
to  quick  death  from  fever.  Persons  also 
hesitate  to  insure  because  they  can  never 
understand  the  financial  condition  of  the 
company,  or  satisfy  themselves  that  they 
can  get  back  the  money  they  pay  in  premi- 
ums. More  clear  statements  of  accounts 
would  commend  the  offices  to  a  degree  of 
confidence  they  do  not  now  enjoy ;  and  a 
provision  by  which  the  loss  of  premiums  al- 
ready paid  in,  in  case  of  default,  would  be 
obviated,  would  go  far  toward  strengthen- 
ing the  courage  of  the  weak,  and  toward 
meeting  the  secret  apprehension  of  the  in- 
tending insurer  that  he  might  not  be  able 
to  keep  up  his  insurance. 

Coeval  Grades  of  Civilization. — A  writer 
in  "  Blackwood's  Magazine  "  has  found,  in 
the  Island  of  Coll,  of  the  Hebrides,  evidence 
of  the  co-existence  of  widely  removed  de- 
grees of  civilization  at  an  extremely  remote 
antiquity.  The  storm  of  December,  1S79, 
which   caused  the   destruction  of  the  Tay 


Bridge,  also  effected  the  removal  of  a  few 
inches  of  sand  from  the  bottom  of  a  deep 
sand-valley  near  the  castle,  and  exposed  a 
number  of  old  dwellings  and  human  remains. 
Among  the  remains  were  kitchen-middens 
like  those  of  Denmark,  composed  of  littoral 
shells  ;  bones  and  teeth  of  wild  and  domes- 
tic animals,  split  up  for  the  sake  of  their 
marrow  ;  chips  of  flint,  all  unpolished  or 
paleolithic  ;  and  many  fragments  of  rude, 
unglazed  pottery.  Along  with  these,  in  one 
of  the  heaps,  were  two  curious  bronze  im- 
plements or  ornaments,  one  of  them  a  rich 
penannular  brooch,  of  considerable  beauty 
and  finish,  jeweled  in  twelve  holes,  and 
bearing  distinct  traces  of  having  been  gilt. 
The  other  ornament  was  a  bronze  pin,  which 
had  apparently  been  molded.  Here,  then, 
"  at  the  most  remote  point  of  the  prehistoric 
life  of  Coll  to  which  we  can  reach,  we  find 
man,  if  a  savage,  still  a  person  of  taste,  who 
could  appreciate  high  art,  and  knew  how  to 
supply  the  wants  of  the  dandy."  These 
people  carried  on  a  commerce,  for  they  had 
flints,  which  are  not  found  in  Coll,  or  any- 
where near  it,  and  were  acquainted  with  the 
art  of  sailing,  for  their  flints  must  have 
been  brought  from  the  south  of  England. 
The  antiquity  of  the  remains  is  estimated 
from  their  geological  situation.  They  lie 
in  the  bottom  of  a  shifting-sand  valley, 
with  large  masses  of  sand  around  them,  in  a 
situation  where  no  man  would  have  ventured 
to  settle  if  the  sand  had  then  been  in  the 
neighborhood  to  anything  like  the  extent 
it  is  now.  The  sand  is  the  result  of  the 
disintegration  of  the  shells  of  snails  which 
live  on  the  island,  and  must,  the  most  of 
it,  have  accumulated  since  the  village  was 
occupied.  A  palaeolithic  age  and  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  civilization  were  coeval 
then  in  the  Hebrides,  and  they  are  coeval 
there  now.  At  Tiree,  which  is  separated 
from  Coll  by  a  channel  only  two  miles  wide, 
craggans  and  other  articles  of  pottery,  ex- 
actly similar  to  these  paleolithic  ones  of 
Coll,  are  manufactured  and  used  at  this  day. 
"  The  old  woman  of  Tiree,  in  this  very  year, 
takes  the  brown,  stiff  clay  at  her  cabin- 
door,  picks  the  pebbles  out  of  it,  pounds  it 
down  and  softens  it  with  a  rude  wooden 
mallet,  molds  it  into  shape  with  her  rough, 
horny  hands,  and,  without  the  aid  of  a  pot- 
ter's wheel,  ornaments  it,  after  a  time-hon- 


NOTES. 


431 


ored  fashion,  with  a  little  stick  or  her 
thumb-nails  ;  places  the  rude  vessel  thus 
formed — a  kind  of  bowl  or  cup  —  in  the 
strong  heat  of  the  sun,  or  before  the  blaze 
of  the  peat-fire,  and  so  produces  a  rough, 
unglazcd  craggan,  out  of  which  she  drinks 
her  milk,  and  in  which  she  infuses  her  tea. 
And  all  the  while — let  it  be  noted  with  all 
the  emphasis  at  our  command — several  of 
her  neighbors,  with  whom  she  is  in  daily 
intercourse,  and  with  whom  her  teacher  has 
been  in  daily  intercourse,  possess  and  use 
some  of  the  finest  ware  that  Leek  or  Burs- 
1cm  can  produce.  All  round  here,  even  in 
Tiree,  are  products  of  advanced  art ;  but 
this  native  artist  goes  on  her  way  unheed- 
ing all  change  and  all  advance,  and  turn- 
ing out  her  unglazed  ware  as  her  ancestors 
had  done — though  probably  in  a  superior 
style  of  art  and  workmanship — for  per- 
haps thousands  of  years."  Another  fact 
to  be  noticed  about  these  prehistoric  re- 
mains is  "  that,  of  existing '  Celtic  '  brooches 
and  penannular  rings  exhumed  from  great 
depths,  the  most  highly  finished,  both  in 
form  and  ornamentation,  design  and  work- 
manship, are  certainly  the  oldest,"  all  show- 
ing that  there  has  "  at  least  been  a  relapse 
in  a  particular  art." 

Birds  in  Cold  Weather.— M.  F.  Lescu- 
yer  has  published  some  interesting  observa- 
tions concerning  the  power  that  was  shown 
by  the  birds  of  his  district  of  the  valley  of 
the  Marne,  France,  for  resisting  the  severe 
cold  of  the  winter  of  1879-80.  The  spar- 
rows, finding  shelter  and  food  around  the 
houses,  passed  the  season  fairly  well,  but 
some  of  them  perished  in  the  roads  and  gar- 
dens ;  they  became  more  scarce  toward  the 
end  of  the  winter,  and  lost  all  their  liveli- 
ness. The  partridges  gave  way  under  sixty- 
one  days  of  cold  and  hunger,  and  those  that 
survived  fell  an  easy  prey  to  the  hawks.  A 
private  watchman  caught  more  than  thirty 
with  his  hands,  warmed  them  up,  and  let 
them  loose  again.  The  owls  in  the  lofts 
and  steeples  could  not  resist  the  cold,  and 
fell  dead  to  the  ground,  or  took  refuge  in 
the  houses,  where  they  were  captured.  The 
stomachs  of  all  these  birds  were  empty  or 
nearly  empty.  The  crows,  which  range  over 
a  larger  extent  of  land  than  the  former  birds, 
which  may  be  called  sedentary  birds,  came 
nearer  to  the  houses  when  the  cold  was  at 


its  worst,  and  considerable  numbers  of  them 
were  seen  during  the  whole  winter  in  the 
barn-yards  and  fields.  Some  of  them  came 
into  the  court-yards  to  eat  with  the  pigeons, 
but  many  were  frozen  to  death  on  the  limbs 
where  they  roosted.  The  few  birds  of  pas- 
sage that  staid  in  the  country  to  winter 
showed  very  unequal  powers  of  resistance. 
The  bullfinches  and  grossbeaks  did  not  seem 
to  suffer,  but  the  larks,  yellow-hammers, 
greenfinches,  robin  -  redbreasts,  magpies, 
blackbirds,  and  jays  were  decimated.  Never 
were  so  few  birds  seen  in  the  woods  at  that 
season  as  in  the  following  spring.  Birds  of 
passage,  coming  from  the  north  to  seek  a 
milder  climate  in  France,  were  disappointed. 
Domestic  birds  would  have  suffered  greatly 
but  for  the  shelter  and  feeding  they  en- 
joyed ;  fowls  were  worse  affected  than  web- 
footed  birds.  The  winter  to  which  these 
observations  relate  was  one  of  the  severest 
ever  experienced  in  France,  and  was  very 
much  like  one  of  our  Northern  winters. 


NOTES. 

Dr.  D.  E.  Salmon  has  pursued  parallel 
investigations  with  those  of  M.  Pasteur,  of 
the  microbe  of  hen  cholera,  and  has  conclu- 
sively satisfied  himself  of  the  accuracy  of 
the  results  announced  by  the  latter.  lie 
regards  his  researches  as  demonstrating  that 
the  virulent  liquids  of  the  fowl's  body  con- 
tain micrococci,  that  these  can  be  cultivated, 
and  that  liquids  in  which  bacteria  are  cul- 
tivated produce  the  disease  by  inoculation. 
His  experiments  indicate  that  the  activity  of 
the  virus  is  destroved  at  a  temperature  of 
182°  Fahr. 

George  II.  K.  Thwaites,  Director  of  the 
Royal  Botanic  Garden  at  Peradcniga,  Cey- 
lon, died  September  1 1th.  He  was  appointed 
to  the  position  in  1849,  and  in  connection 
with  it  published  in  185S-'64  an  enumera- 
tion of  the  plants  of  Ceylon  ("  Enumeratio 
plantarum  Zeylanice").  He  was  active  in 
introducing  to  the  island  the  cultivation  of 
cinchona,  tea,  cocoa,  Liberian  coffee,  and  the 
India-rubber  tree. 

According  to  Mr.  G.  Macloskie,  the  elm- 
leaf  beetle  hibernates  in  cellars  and  attics 
in  countless  numbers.  Three  broods  are 
brought  forth  in  a  season.  This  destructive 
insect  is  found  only  in  the  Eastern  States 
and  parts  of  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania. 
Poison  is  the  most  complete  remedy  for  it 
— one  pound  of  London  purple  to  one  hun- 
dred gallons  of  water,  squirted  up  into  the 
tree. 


432 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


Louis  Palmieri,  Professor  of  Physics 
in  the  University  of  Naples  and  Director  of 
the  Seismological  Observatory  on  Mount  Ve- 
suvius, has  recently  died,  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enty-five years.  He  was  appointed  to  the 
two  posts  in  connection  with  which  he  has 
gained  scientiiic  renown  in  1854,  and  has 
since  pursued  the  study  of  earthquakes  and 
the  phenomena  associated  with  them,  with  a 
real  devotion.  lie  was  the  inventor  of  an 
electro-magnetic  seismograph,  by  which  the 
most  delicate  indications  of  subterranean 
action  could  be  detected. 

M.  Potel  has  recently  submitted  to  the 
French  Society  of  Encouragement  a  new 
substance,  which  he  has  named,  after  him- 
self, "  poteline,"  and  which  appears  to  be 
susceptible  of  numerous  applications.  It  is 
a  mixture  of  gelatine,  glycerine,  and  tannin, 
and  is,  according  to  the  inventor,  absolutely 
impermeable  to  the  air.  When  warmed,  it 
becomes  liquid,  or  nearly  so,  and  takes  all 
the  contours  of  an  object.  M.  Potel  has 
made  corks  of  it,  which  form  an  economical 
substitute  for  metallic  capsules,  and  secure 
an  hermetic  closing.  lie  has  used  it  as  a 
coating  to  preserve  meat.  At  a  temperature 
of  112°,  it  envelops  the  meat,  kills  the 
genus  of  putrefaction,  and  prevents  any 
new  germ  passing  in.  According  to  M. 
Potel,  meat  thus  treated  will  retain  all  its 
freshness  for  two  months. 

According  to  the  experiments  of  M. 
Demarcay,  the  metals  which  are  generally 
regarded  as  fixed,  even  iron,  give  out  real 
vapors  at  relatively  low  temperatures.  Cad- 
mium, for  example,  volatilizes  at  25*7°  and 
zinc  at  302°.  Magnesia  had  already  been 
found  to  be  volatile  below  a  red  heat,  when 
acted  upon  by  water  and  chloride  of  silicon. 

With  the  aid  of  M.  Lippman's  electrom- 
eter, M.  Trousseau  has  succeeded  in  meas- 
uring the  electrical  conductibility  of  the 
poorer  conductors,  particularly  of  glass. 
Common  glass  is  very  perceptibly  conduct- 
ive, Bohemian  glass  is  less  so,  while  cut- 
glass  has  no  sensible  conducting  powers. 
M.  Dumas  regards  this  classification  as  re- 
peating from  the  electrical  point  of  view  the 
one  which  he  has  established  as  dependent 
on  the  presence  of  alkaline  salts  in  the 
vitreous  mass ;  of  which  cut-glass  has  none, 
Bohemian  glass  very  little,  and  common  glass 
a  considerable  quantity. 

Admiral  Count  Feodor  Petrovitch 
Lutke,  founder  of  the  Russian  Geograph- 
ical Society  and  President  of  the  St.  Peters- 
burg Academy  of  Sciences,  died  in  August 
last.  His  name  is  identified  to  a  considerable 
extent  with  the  history  of  Russian  polar  and 
exploring  expeditions,  and  with  the  discov- 
ery of  some  island  groups  in  the  Pacific. 
He  had  published  narratives  of  his  Arctic 
expeditions  and  of  a  voyage  round  the  world. 


The  fact  that  an  aniline  black  can  be 
formed  with  vanadium  has  provoked  inves- 
tigation into  the  feasibility  of  the  produc- 
tion of  that  metal  for  commerce.  MM. 
Osmond  and  G.  AVitz  have  found  a  consid- 
erable source  of  supply  in  the  foundrj--sco- 
rias  of  Creuzot,  France,  which  contain  two 
per  cent  of  vanadic  acid.  The  scorias  have 
only  to  be  treated  with  hydrochloric  acid  to 
obtain  from  them  a  green  liquor  which  can 
be  used  directly  in  dyeing. 

It  has  been  urged  against  the  theoretical 
importance  of  the  agency  of  insects  in  fer- 
tilizing flowers,  that  the  insects  relied  upon 
are  rare  upon  mountain-heights,  where  the 
flowers  that  should  be  fertilized  by  them 
are  still  abundant.  The  observations  of 
M.  Ch.  Musset,  of  Grenoble,  France,  which 
range  up  to  10,000  feet  in  height,  tend 
greatly  to  break  the  force  of  this  objection. 
He  finds  that  all  the  orders  of  insects  are 
represented  to  the  height  of  T,400  feet,  and 
that  the  number  of  nectar-seeking  insects  is 
proportionate  to  the  number  of  flowers.  The 
hours  of  wakefulness  and  of  sleep  of  the 
nyctitropic  flowers — the  number  of  which  is 
greater  than  is  supposed — and  those  of  the 
insects  are  synchronous.  The  apparent  num- 
ber of  nectar-seeking  insects,  also,  is  related 
to  the  number  of  their  favorite  flowers. 

JoriANNES  Theodor  Eeinhart,  Professor 
of  Zoology  at  the  University  of  Copenhagen, 
and  Inspector  of  theNatural  History  Museum 
of  that  city,  died  October  23d,  aged  sixty-six. 
He  was  eminent  in  ornithology,  and  was  au- 
thor of  a  memoir  on  the  birds  of  the  Cam- 
pos of  Brazil,  and  of  numerous  papers  in  the 
scientific  periodicals  of  Copenhagen. 

M.  Bergeron  has  produced  imitations  of 
the  forms  of  lunar  craters,  by  turning  a 
current  of  gas  into  a  melted  metallic  mass 
at  the  moment  when  solidification  is  about 
to  begin.  He  obtained  exact  representations 
of  the  different  varieties  of  hollows  shown 
upon  the  moon  by  using  different  metallic 
mixtures. 

Professor  Sollas,  of  Bristol,  has  pro- 
posed to  the  British  Association  a  scheme 
for  securing  a  complete  record  of  published 
scientific  work,  the  essential  feature  of  which 
is,  that  each  nation  furnish  a  record  of  its 
own  work  and  of  that  only,  and  exchange 
with  all  other  nations  for  their  records. 
National  committees  are  to  attend  to  the 
preparation  of  the  records,  the  transmission 
of  exchanges,  the  translating  and  the  com- 
position of  the  records  into  a  single  work, 
and  an  International  Congress  is  to  take  care 
of  the  uniformity  and  the  successful  work- 
ing out  of  the  scheme. 

TnE  death  is  announced,  at  forty-three 
years  of  age,  of  M.  Georges  Leclanche,  the 
inventor  of  the  oxide  of  manganese  constant 
elements. 


IIENRI  MILNE-EDWARDS. 


THE 

POPULAR    SCIENCE 
MONTHLY. 


FEBRUARY,  1883. 


THE  AFKICAN  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES. 

By  Professor  E.  W.  GILLIAM. 

THE  future  of  the  African  in  the  United  States  is,  in  the  judg- 
ment of  many,  the  gravest  question  of  the  day.  It  must,  from 
its  nature,  swell  in  volume  and  thrust  itself  forward  more  and  more  ; 
and  though  the  evils  as  depicted  in  these  pages  he  in  their  worst  forms 
comparatively  remote,  yet,  if  there  he  real  grounds  for  them,  the  time 
for  action  in  seeking  and  applying  a  remedy  lies  in  the  present.  The 
far-reaching  and  critical  character  of  the  subject  demands  that  it 
should  be  approached  without  political  bias,  and  treated  solely  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  national  welfare. 

In  this  spirit  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  tabulated  figures  on  a 
succeeding  page,  derived  from  an  analysis  of  the  census  of  the  United 
States,  and  of  several  of  the  Southern  States,  for  each  decade  from 
1830  to  1880  inclusive,  and  showing  the  rate  per  cent  of  increase  or 
decrease  of  the  white  and  the  black  population  for  the  basis  of  the 
following  discussion. 

The  very  high  rate  of  increase  for  the  whites  in  the  United  States, 
in  the  first,  second,  and  third  decades,  is  due  to  a  copious  immigration 
adding  itself  to  a  lesser  population.  As  the  population  of  a  country 
swells,  and  tbe  immigration  remains  about  the  same,  the  rate  per  cent 
of  increase  falls. 

The  enormous  rate  of  increase  in  several  of  the  States,  in  the  early 
decades,  notably  Arkansas  and  Mississippi,  is  altogether  abnormal,  and 
readily  accounted  for.  These  were  then  new  regions,  just  opening  to 
settlers,  and  the  older  slave  States  poured  into  their  rich  bosoms  an 
overwhelming  tide.  Multitudes  of  whites,  with  and  without  slaves,. 
like  bees  from  a  hive,  swarmed  forth  from  tbe  older  States,  to  settle 
in  these  cheap  and  productive  parts.  Hence  it  is  that  South  Carolina,, 
vol.  xxii. — 23 


434  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

for  an  example,  shows,  from  1830  to  1840,  an  increase  of  only  one 
half  per  cent  for  the  whites,  and  three  per  cent  for  the  blacks,  while  for 
Arkansas  the  corresponding  figures  are  two  hundred  and  six  per  cent, 
and  three  hundred  and  thirty-two  per  cent.  Only  when  States  have 
been  fairly  settled,  and  peculiar  causes  affecting  population  removed, 
does  an  enumeration  reveal  the  natural  increase  of  a  people  ;  and  this, 
as  a  wide  and  accurate  observation  in  the  United  States  has  shown, 
can  not  be,  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  above  thirty-five 
per  cent — at  least  for  the  white  race. 

Thoughtful  minds  awaited  with  special  interest  the  results  of  the 
census  for  1880.  It  closed  the  first  decade  of  freedom  for  the  blacks  ; 
and  whether  this  race,  under  its  new  conditions,  was  an  increasing  or 
decreasing  one — whether  it  was  increasing  more  rapidly  than  the 
whites,  or  otherwise — these  were  questions  of  critical  and  far-reaching 
importance. 

It  is  seen  that  over  the  United  States  the  gain  for  the  whites  has 
been  twenty-nine  per  cent,  that  for  the  blacks  thirty-four  per  cent,  and 
that  the  latter  is  by  much  the  highest  figure  reached  by  the  blacks  in 
the  several  decades.  Referring  to  the  figures  of  the  last  decade,  be- 
longing to  the  States,  it  is  further  seen  that,  while  the  gain  in  all 
these  States,  both  for  white  and  black,  is  remarkably  high,  the  gain  in 
several  instances — as  in  the  case  of  Arkansas^  South  Carolina,  and 
Mississippi  (for  the  blacks) — is  too  high  to  be  credible,  transcending  as 
it  does  the  natural  procreative  power  of  the  most  prolific  race.  (The 
reader  will  remember  that  from  1870  to  1880  the  population  of  these 
States  received  little  or  no  accession  from  immigration.)  The  gain  in 
population,  immediately  succeeding  a  continued  and  desolating  Mar, 
must  be  more  or  less  abnormally  large.  It  is  readily  accounted  for 
by  the  separation  of  husbands  and  wives,  the  procrastination  of  mar- 
riage on  the  part  of  the  young,  and  the  prevailing  destitution,  at  least 
comparative  destitution,  accompanying  a  state  of  war.  But,  with 
every  allowance  on  these  grounds,  the  rate  of  increase  in  the  States 
just  mentioned  remains  incredible,  and  either  the  census  for  1870,  or 
that  for  1880,  must  be  in  error. 

The  error  is  doubtless  in  the  former.  The  census  for  1870  was 
made  under  the  old  law  of  1850,  a  law  which  those  well  qualified  to 
judge  deem,  in  some  important  particulars,  grossly  defective.  Again, 
the  enumerators  were,  for  the  most  part,  negroes,  often  ignorant  and 
inefficient ;  and  it  is  on  evidence  that  the  enumeration  of  coixnties  (at 
least  as  regards  South  Carolina)  was  not  unfrequently  made  at  court 
sessions  and  on  muster-grounds,  and  not  by  a  house-to-house  canvass. 
The  exceedingly  high  rate  of  increase  in  South  Carolina  as  a  State, 
and  particularly  in  certain  districts  thereof,  induced  the  Census  Super- 
intendent for  1880  to  send  thither  a  special  agent,  for  the  purpose  of 
ascertaining  the  facts.  Not  all  the  State  was  canvassed,  but  enough 
to  substantially  verify  the  census  for  1880  ;  and  this,  with  the  further 


THE  AFRICAN  IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.        435 


consideration  that  the  census  for  1880  was  made  under  a  new  and 
improved  law,  and  by  enumerators  who,  as  a  body,  were  thoroughly 
qualified,  ought  to  be  considered  as  settling  the  matter,  and  placing 
the  error  at  the  door  of  the  preceding  census.  It  is  to  be  observed,  in 
passing,  that  if  the  error,  as  practically  it  does,  bears  equally  against 
white  and  black  alike,  however  the  figures  for  the  two  races,  taken  ab- 
solutely, may  vary  from  the  truth,  yet  are  they  still  a  proximate  guide, 
considered  relatively,  to  the  comparative  rate  of  increase  of  the  races. 


(1.) 

United  States. 

(2.) 
Alabama. 

White. 

Black. 

White. 

Black. 

1830  to  1840. 

. . .34  percent. 

.  23  pe 

r  cent. 

1830  to  1840. . 

.76  per  cent. 

114  percent. 

1840  to  1850. 

QQ              U 

.23 

u 

1840  to  1850. . 

.21       " 

35 

1850  to  1860. 

...38        " 

.22 

u 

1850  to  1860. . 

.21       " 

.   27       " 

1860  to  1870. 

...24       " 

.   9 

<< 

1860  to  1870.. 

.  1      "  loss. 

8       " 

1870  to  1880. 

...29        " 

.34 

u 

1870  to  1880. . . 

.27      " 

.  26 

(3.) 
Arkansas. 

(4.) 
South  Carolina. 

White. 

Black. 

White. 

Black. 

1830  to  1810. 

. .  .206  percent. 

.332  per  cent. 

1830  to  1840. . 

.     \  per  cent 

.  3  per  cent. 

1840  to  1850. 

...Ill      "      . 

.133 

u 

1840  to  1850. . 

.   6        " 

.17       " 

1850  to  1860. 

...98      "      . 

.133 

« 

1850  to  I860.. 

.   6        " 

.    5 

1860  to  1S70. 

...11      "       . 

.     9 

<< 

1860  to  1870.. 

.     \     "loss. 

.   1        "loss 

1870  to  1S80. 

...63      "       . 

.  72 

11 

1870  to  1880. . 

.35       " 

.45        " 

(5.) 
North  Carolina. 

(6.) 

Mississippi. 

White. 

Black. 

White. 

Black. 

1830  to  1840. 

...   2  per  cent . 

.    1  per  cent. 

1830  to  1840. . . 

.155  percent. 

.  197  per  cent. 

1840  to  1850. 

...14        " 

.17 

a 

1840  to  1850. . 

.64      "       . 

.   57       " 

1850  to  1S60. 

...14        " 

.14 

it 

1850  to  1860.  .. 

.19      "       . 

.   40       " 

1860  to  1S70. 

...7       "       . 

.    8 

<( 

1860  to  1870. . 

.      8       "       . 

•      H     " 

1S70  to  18S0. 

. .  .28        " 

(7.) 
Louisiana. 

.36 

M 

1870  to  1880. . 

.25       "       . 

(8.) 
Georgia. 

.   47       " 

White. 

Black. 

White. 

Black. 

1S30  to  1840. 

. .  .77  per  cent. 

.  53  per  cent. 

1830  to  1840... 

.37  per  cent. 

.28  per  cent. 

1840  to  1850. 

...61        " 

.35 

K 

1840  to  1850. . . 

.27       " 

.35        " 

1850  to  1860. 

...39 

.33 

a 

1850  to  1860... 

.13 

.20       " 

1860  to  1870. 

.  ..    1        " 

.  4 

(( 

1860  to  1870. . . 

.  8       "        . 

.17       " 

1870  to  1880 

.33 

« 

1870  to  1S80 

97       " 

.32        " 

It  is  estimated  that  five  per  cent  from  the  rate  of  gain  for  the 
entire  Southern  blacks,  as  by  census  for  1880,  is  a  fair  allowance  for 
this  error,  making  their  real  gain  about  thirty  per  cent.  Yet,  as  an 
obvious  consideration  points  to  the  conclusion  that  the  blacks  will  for 
the  future  develop  in  the  South  under  conditions  more  and  more 
favorable,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  think  that,  in  subsequent  decades, 
this  five  per  cent  will  be  regained. 

That  consideration  is  the  more  complete  adjustment  of  the  black 
man  to  his  new  surroundings.     His  comparative  helplessness  imme- 


436  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

diately  after  emancipation  was  a  condition  adverse  to  his  increase.  The 
absence  of  thrift,  energy,  and  management,  many  think,  marks  negro 
character  at  its  best.  It  is  certain  that  the  contraries  to  these  quali- 
ties had,  under  a  long  condition  of  servitude,  been  abnormally  devel- 
oped. Emancipation  found  the  negro  without  the  master's  care  (and, 
as  a  body,  slaveholders,  at  least  from  motives  of  self-interest,  were 
humane),  without  the  customary  oversight  and  medical  attention,  de- 
pendent, not  self-reliant.  No  wonder  that  many  of  the  negroes  have 
been  worse  off  than  under  their  former  bondage  ;  that  the  burden  of 
life  has  been  so  often  excessive  ;  that  infanticide  has  been  so  often 
resorted  to,  to  lessen  it ;  and  that  death  from  want  and  exposure  has 
been  so  exceptionally  frequent.  A  body  of  four  million  slaves,  igno- 
rant, uncivilized,  and  trained  in  habits  of  dependence,  suddenly  set 
free,  then  invested  with  the  ballot,  and  intoxicated  with  political 
power,  then  checked,  and  in  many  instances  violently  checked,  by 
the  necessary  and  wholesome  self-assertion  of  the  white  race,  that 
they  should  have  increased  as  they  have  done  is  astonishing,  and  can 
be  accounted  for  only  by  the  remarkable  fecundity  of  the  African. 
For  the  future  the  adverse  influence  to  population,  arising  from  this 
cause,  will  become  less  and  less  potent.  The  negro,  adjusted  to  his 
surroundings,  will  work  with  more  ease  and  effect.  He  is  ascending 
from  the  lowest  round.  Education  must  give  him  increased  power  to 
accumulate,  experience  must  improve  his  thrift,  and,  life  passing  under 
better  conditions,  it  is  reasonable  to  think  that  in  subsequent  decades 
he  will  add  five  per  cent  of  increase  to  that  of  the  past.  We  put  this 
rate  at  thirty -five  per  cent. 

The  gain  for  the  whites  in  the  last  decade  is  very  nearly  thirty  per 
cent.  This  is  to  be  docked  in  the  Southern  States  to  the  extent  of 
five  per  cent  for  the  error  in  the  census  of  1870.  Since,  however,  this 
error  appertains  only  to  the  twelve  million  Southern  whites,  and  the 
census  in  regard  to  the  thirty  million  Northern  whites  is  accepted  as 
correct,  the  rate  of  increase  for  the  total  white  population  is  a  frac- 
tion under  twenty-nine  per  cent.  Of  this  at  least  nine  per  cent  should 
be  attributed  to  immigration.  Immigration  is  now,  and  for  a  year  or 
two  past  has  been,  largely  in  excess  of  this  figure,  but  probably  not 
for  the  past  decade  ;  and  the  resultant  is  a  gain  of  twenty  per  cent 
for  the  entire  native  white  population. 

There  is  a  wide,  and,  at  first  view,  startling  difference  between  the 
twenty  per  cent  for  the  whites  and  the  thirty-five  per  cent  for  the 
blacks.  The  solution  is  found  in  the  superior  fecundity  of  the  latter. 
This  superiority,  while  it  belongs  to  the  blacks  as  a  race,  is  strength- 
ened for  them — 1.  As  being  the  laboring  class  ;  2.  As  laboring  under 
favorable  climatic  conditions  ;  that  is  to  say,  living  in  a  semi-tropical 
region. 

The  laboring  class  is  naturally  the  more  fruitful  class.  In  the 
case  of  a  laboring  woman  the  child-bearing  period  is  greater  by  a 


THE  AFRICAN  IN   THE    UNITED    STATES.         437 

number  of  years  than  in  one  more  delicately  reared.  Again,  in  esti- 
mating fecundity,  the  pain  and  danger  attendant  upon  parturition  are 
factors,  and  its  comparative  ease  to  the  laboring  woman,  contrasted 
with  the  profound  and  long-continued  prostration  it  brings  to  the  lady 
of  tender  palms  and  jeweled  fingers,  is  well  known. 

Again,  the  African  on  climatic  grounds  finds  in  the  Southern  coun- 
try a  more  congenial  home.  In  many  districts  there,  and  these  by  far 
the  most  fertile,  the  white  man  is  unable  to  take  the  field  and  have 
health.  It  is  otherwise  with  the  African,  who,  the  child  of  the  sun, 
gathers  strength  and  multiplies  in  these  low,  hot,  feverish  regions. 

The  wide  advantage,  therefore,  in  the  rate  of  increase  on  the  side 
of  the  African  finds  its  solution  in  a  superior  natural  fecundity,  exert- 
ing itself  under  these  favoring  conditions. 

Now  mark  the  following:  The  white  population,  increasing  at 
the  rate  of  twenty  per  cent  in  ten  years,  or  two  per  cent  per  annum, 
doubles  itself  every  thirty-five  years.  The  black,  increasing  at  the 
rate  of  thirty-five  per  cent  in  ten  years,  or  three  and  a  half  per  cent 
per  annum,  doubles  itself  in  twenty  years.     Hence  we  find  : 

« 

Whites  in  United  States  in  1880  (in  round  numbers) 42.000,000 

«                     "                  1915         "               "           84,000,000 

"                    "                  1950         "               " 168,000,000 

"                     "                  19S5         "               " 336,000,000 

Northern  whites  in  1880 30,000,000 

"             "           1915 60,000,000 

"             "           1950 120,000,000 

"             "           1985 240,000,000 

Southern  whites  in  1880 12,000,000 

"             "            1915 24,000,000 

"             "           1950 48,000,000 

"             "            19S5 96,000,000 

Blacks  in  Southern  States  in  1880 6,000,000 

"                 "                 "         1900 12,000,000 

"                  "                  "          1920 24,000,000 

"                  "                  "         1940 48,000,000 

"                  "                  "         1960 96,000,000 

"                 "                 "         1980 192,000,000 

Our  interest  is  in  the  progress  of  population  in  the  Southern  States, 
where  the  blacks  almost  altogether  now  are,  and  where  they  will  con- 
tinued to  be  massed  more  and  more  ;  and  above  stand  the  significant 
figures.  These  will  be  modified  more  or  less  by  disturbing  causes,  the 
most  prominent  being  immigration.  But  even  should  immigration 
ever  take  a  pronounced  Southern  direction,  yet  immigration  must 
slacken,  and  before  many  years  practically  cease,  while  the  black 
growth  must  be  perpetually  augmenting,  perpetually  advancing  its 
volume  ;  and,  every  allowance  being  made,  it  is  morally  certain  that, 
in  seventy  or  eighty  years  (as  things  now  go)  the  blacks  in  every 
Southern  State  will  overwhelmingly  preponderate. 


438  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

The  second  factor  in  our  argument  is  the  impossibility  of  fusion 
between  whites  and  blacks.  The  latter  have  been,  and  must  continue 
to  be,  a  distinct  and  alien  race.  The  fusion  of  races  is  the  resultant 
from  social  equality  and  intermarriage,  and  the  barrier  to  this  here  is 
insurmountable.  The  human  species  presents  three  grand  varieties, 
marked  off  by  color — white,  yellow,  and  black.  One  at  the  first,  in 
origin  and  color,  the  race  multiplied  and  spread,  and  separate  sections, 
settled  in  different  latitudes,  took  on  under  climatic  conditions  acting 
with  abnormal  force  in  that  early  and  impressionable  period  of  the 
race's  age — took  on  (we  say)  different  hues,  which,  as  the  race  grew 
and  hardened,  crystallized  into  permanent  characteristics.  Social  affin- 
ity exists  among  the  families  of  these  three  groups.  The  groups 
themselves  stand  rigidly  apart.  The  Irish,  German,  French,  etc.,  who 
come  to  these  shores,  readily  intermarry  among  themselves  and  with 
the  native  population.  Within  a  generation  or  two  the  sharpness  of 
national  feature  disappears,  and  the  issue  is  the  American  whose  mixed 
blood  is  the  country's  foremost  hope.  It  can  not  be — a  fusion  like 
this  between  whites  and  blacks.  Account  for  it  as  we  may,  the  antip- 
athy is  a  palpable  fact  which  no  one  fails  to  recognize — an  antipathy 
not  less  strong  amontj  the  Northern  than  amonsr  the  Southern  wdiites. 
However  the  former  may,  on  the  score  of  matters  political,  profess 
themselves  special  friends  to  the  blacks,  the  question  of  intermarriage 
and  social  equality,  when  brought  to  practical  test,  they  will  not  touch 
with  the  end  of  the  little  finger.  Whether  it  be  that  the  blacks,  be- 
cause of  their  former  condition  of  servitude,  are  regarded  as  a  perma- 
nently degraded  class  ;  whether  it  be  that  the  whites,  from  their  his- 
toric eminence,  are  possessed  with  a  consciousness  of  superiority  which 
spurns  alliance — the  fact  that  fusion  is  impossible  no  one  in  his  senses 
can  deny. 

These,  then,  are  the  factors  in  our  argument,  and  the  source  of  the 
inferences  to  follow  :  1.  That  the  black  population  is  gaining  on  the 
whites  ;  2.  That  the  former  is,  and  must  continue  to  be,  a  distinct  and 
alien  people. 

Two  inferences  follow — the  first  of  a  social  character  ;  the  second, 
political  : 

1.  The  status  of  the  black  population,  as  a  distinct  and  alien  race, 
condemns  the  race  to  remain,  in perpetuum,  the  laboring  class.  If  its 
blood  can  not  commingle  with  that  of  the  whites,  social  advancement 
ceases  at  an  early  stage  ;  the  higher  social  planes  are  incapable  of  at- 
tainment ;  whereby  is  broken  a  fundamental  social  law  that  allows  to 
the  individual  full  freedom  to  rise  or  fall  in  the  social  scale,  without 
hindrance  from  race  prejudice  or  prestige. 

That  is  the  healthiest  society  which  is  the  freest,  which  gives  the 
fullest  play  to  individual  intelligence  and  energy  ;  and  in  such  a  social 
state  we  note  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  rich  upper  class  to  sink, 
and  the  poor  laboring  class  to  rise  ;  we  observe  therein  a  social  cycle 


THE  AFRICAN  IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.        439 

at  whose  completion  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  upper  and  the  lower 
orders,  are  found,  as  a  whole,  to  have  changed  places.  It  is  a  law  of 
slow  action,  but  sure. 

The  causes  are  apparent.  The  sons  of  the  rich  eat  daintily,  exer- 
cise daintily,  keep  late  hours  for  resting  and  rising,  are  self-indulgent 
and  extravagant.  There  are,  of  course,  exceptions.  Undoubtedly, 
however,  the  surroundings  of  the  sons  of  wealth  create  tendencies  this 
way,  toward  effeminacy  of  body  and  uneconomical  habits  of  mind. 
These  are  downward  tendencies,  and,  pressing  through  a  cycle  of 
years,  bring  the  descendants  of  the  rich,  as  a  class,  to  the  social 
bottom. 

The  poor,  on  the  other  hand,  are  compelled,  by  their  condition  of 
life,  to  strength-giving  exercise,  and  careful,  saving  methods  in  the 
management  of  means.  Robust  bodies  and  thrifty  ways  give  upward 
tendencies,  which,  acting  through  the  social  cycle,  lift  the  descendants 
of  these  poor  to  the  higher  planes.  Taking  men  in  the  mass,  tenden- 
cies and  results  are  this  way. 

Now,  as  regards  the  blacks,  this  fundamental  law  is  broken,  and 
the  issue,  in  a  state  of  society  theoretically  free,  is  approaching  dis- 
order. 

•  The  blacks  are  an  improving  race,  and  the  throb  of  aspiration  is 
quickening.  Progress  with  the  pure  African  is,  indeed,  slow.  How 
could  it  be  otherwise  ?  A  long  dark  night  of  barbarous  ignorance  in 
his  native  land,  succeeded  on  these  shores  by  nearly  a  century  of  servi- 
tude, wherein  letters  were  denied  him,  and  improvident,  unthrifty 
habits  necessarily  engendered,  could  rapid  progress  for  the  race,  under 
these  circumstances,  be  rationally  expected  ?  Advancement  in  mental 
training  and  in  economic  science  must  needs  be  slow — but  there  is 
advancement. 

That  portion  of  the  colored  population  known  as  mulattoes  show, 
in  mind  and  manners,  a  marked  superiority,  drawn  from  the  side  of 
their  white  parentage.  This  element,  though  increasing  among  them- 
selves, is  not  increasing  (appreciably)  from  admixture  of  bloods  ;  be- 
cause the  white  man  can  not  now  cohabit  with  negresses  with  the 
impunity  belonging  to  days  of  slavery.  With  all  its  gradations  it 
still,  however,  forms  a  very  large  class.  They  mingle  freely  with  the 
pure  African  on  terms  of  perfect  equality,  have  the  African  instinct, 
and  make  a  great  factor  in  determining  the  average  progress  of  the 
race. 

This  laboring  class,  working  upward  along  the  social  cycle,  meets, 
almost  on  the  threshold  of  development,  an  impassable  barrier.  With 
growing  aspirations  incapable  of  being  realized,  they  are  doomed  to 
remain  where  they  have  been,  and  be  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of 
water.  Individuals  here  and  there,  by  force  of  peculiar  talent  and 
fortunate  circumstances,  break  through  the  opposing  obstacle,  and  at- 
tain high  positions  ;  or  such  positions  may  be  conferred  in  the  interest 


440  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

of  some  political  party.  The  heart  knows,  however,  that  the  incum- 
bents are  recognized  with  an  involuntary  wince.  They  are  tolerated 
by  reason  of  their  fewness.  The  mass  of  the  blacks  are  held  back  in 
their  state  of  toil.     It  is  the  mandate  of  American  instinct. 

We  say  American  instinct — which  is,  that  America  is  for  Ameri- 
cans, not  for  German,  Irish,  or  African,  as  such.  The  German  here 
rises  and  rules,  not  as  a  German  ;  nor  the  Irishman  as  an  Irishman. 
When  the  German  gets  out  his  naturalization  papers,  he  theoretically 
gets  out  of  his  German  skin.  Practically,  he  gets  out  of  it  in  a  gen- , 
eration  or  two,  through  intermarriage  and  association  ;  mingles  freely 
and  equally  with  the  mass  of  population  ;  and,  in  the  attainment  of  the 
highest  social  or  political  privilege  or  distinction,  is  limited  solely  by 
the  worth  of  his  individuality.  The  rise  and  rule  of  the  African  must 
be,  according  to  American  spirit,  after  the  same  method.  Disappear- 
ing in  the  mass  of  population,  he  must  lose  the  African  cast,  and  trans- 
form himself,  by  intermarriage  and  social  association,  into  an  actual 
American  ;  for  he  could  be  no  American,  however  the  letter  of  the 
law  might  read,  who,  after  the  lapse  of  a  century,  should  retain  the 
exclusive  hue  and  affinity  of  a  stranger  race.  But  this  transformation 
is  impossible,  seeing  the  blacks  stand  apart  from  the  whites,  and  make 
a  distinct  and  alien  people.  Any  advancement  of  the  blacks  is  an  ad- 
vancement of  the  African,  as  such  ;  and  the  advancement  of  individ- 
uals, here  and  there,  above  the  laboring  level,  is  the  vanguard  of  the 
race's  advancement. 

The  advancement  of  the  blacks,  therefore,  becomes  a  menace  to  the 
whites.  No  two  free  races,  remaining  distinctly  apart,  can  advance 
side  by  side,  without  a  struggle  for  supremacy.  The  thing  is  impos- 
sible. The  world  has  never  witnessed  it,  and  a  priori  grounds  are  all 
against  it.  Hence,  the  whites  instinctively  oppose  the  black  invasion 
(as  it  were),  and  seek  to  keep  this  people  below  the  labor-line  ;  and  a 
large  superiority,  at  present,  in  numbers,  and  a  vastly  larger  superior- 
ity in  intelligence  and  wealth,  make  them  easily,  and  perhaps  without 
conscious  effort,  successful. 

But  a  fundamental  social  law  is  thus  broken — a  law,  under  whose 
operation,  in  a  free  social  state,  the  poor,  lower,  laboring  class  natu- 
rally rise,  while  the  rich  upper  class  descend  ;  and  no  law,  whatever 
the  sphere  to  which  it  belongs,  can  be  broken  with  impunity.  To  the 
discontent  arising  from  this  source  may  be  traced  the  periodic  exodus 
movement  among  the  negroes.  Politicians,  for  party  ends,  have  as- 
signed other  causes,  and  declared  that  "  exodus  "  means  bull-dozing, 
Ku-kluxing,  imposition,  oppression,  enforced  pauperism,  etc.  These  are 
all  wide  of  the  mark.  Since  the  Southern  States  have  been  under  the 
rule  of  its  intelligent  population,  the  blacks,  as  a  whole,  and  in  the 
main,  have  been  free  in  the  exercise  of  political  rights  ;  and,  moreover, 
they  have  prospered  as  never  before.  The  underlying  cause  of  the 
exodus  fever,  stimulated  to  some  extent  by  railroad  men  and  other  side 


THE  AFRICAN  IN  THE   UNITED   STATES.        441 

agencies,  is  the  broken  social  law  obstructing  the  upward  tendency  of 
the  laboring  class.  Naturally  they  are  uneasy  and  restless  at  the  pros- 
pect of  being  held  perpetually  in  one  place,  and  made  the  bottom  caste 
under  a  social  status  professedly  free.  Hence,  these  periodical  up- 
heavals and  outflowings  toward  Kansas,  Indiana,  etc.,  in  expectation 
of  relief  hoped  for  in  vain  ;  for  there,  too,  they  are  no  less  a  distinct 
and  alien  race,  and  the  same  broken  social  law  bears  its  issues. 

But  what  will  the  upshot  be,  when  the  black  population,  advanc- 
ing on  the  white,  finally  outnumbers  it?  The  outlook  is  most  serious. 
It  is  a  repetition  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt,  a  lower  and  laboring  class 
gaining  in  population  on  the  upper,  and,  as  a  distinct  and  alien  race, 
causing  apprehensions  to  the  Egyptians.  There  is  a  point  at  which 
mere  numbers  must  prevail  over  wealth,  intelligence,  and  prestige 
combined.  Unless  relief  comes,  when  that  point  approaches,  woes 
await  the  land.  This  dark,  swelling,  muttering  mass  along  the  social 
horizon,  gathering  strength  with  education,  and  ambitious  to  rise,  will 
grow  increasingly  restless  and  sullen  under  repression,  until  at  length 
conscious,  through  numbers,  of  superior  power,  it  will  assert  that 
power  destructively,  and,  bursting  forth  like  an  angry,  furious  cloud, 
avenge,  in  tumult  and  disorder,  the  social  law  broken  against  it. 

2.  Treatment  of  the  political  aspect  of  our  subject  follows  a  simi- 
lar line  of  .thought,  and  must  needs  be  brief. 

We  take  it  for  a  certainty  that  a  distinct  and  alien  race  like  the 
blacks  will  always,  in  the  main,  vote  together.  Why  they  all  are  now 
Republicans  is  readily  seen.  But  should  present  political  parties 
break  up,  and  others  be  formed  on  new  issues,  the  blacks  would  still 
naturally  go  as  a  body.  The  circumstances  under  which  they  live 
here,  compelling  them  to  stand  together  socially,  will  also  morally 
compel  them  to  stand  together  politically.  Confined  injuriously  by 
a  social  barrier,  they  may  be  expected  to  develop  abnormally  the 
natural  race-instinct,  and,  under  a  powerful  esprit  de  corps,  cast  a 
solid  ballot. 

It  is  here  to  be  said  that  we  regard  it  as  a  mistake,  both  for  the 
country  and  for  the  interests  of  the  Republican  party  (and  this  we 
say  with  complete  freedom' from  political  bias),  that  the  enfranchise- 
ment of  the  blacks  followed  immediately  upon  emancipation.  The 
glittering  sentence  in  the  inaugural  of  the  late  lamented  President 
Garfield,  that  there  is  no  middle  ground  between  citizenship  and  the 
ballot,  will  scarcely  bear  examination.  The  ballot  is  not  a  natural 
right,  but  a  trust,  to  be  granted  or  withheld  for  cause.  The  free 
blacks,  in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  were  (if  we  mistake 
not)  a  voting  body.  Experience,  however,  showing  that  the  ballot  in 
their  hands  became  a  wide-spread  source  of  corruption,  and  therefore 
an  evil,  the  privilege  was  withdrawn.  It  was  a  mistake,  we  conceive, 
to  have  given  this  privilege  to  a  people  just  freed  from  the  bonds  of 
slavery,  and  still  characterized,  as  a  whole,  by  profound  ignorance  ; 


442  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

and,  that  no  greater  harm  has  resulted  is,  because  white  intelligence 
has  been  able  to  exert  a  controlling  influence  and  shape  legislation. 
Certainly,  while  the  whites  were  disfranchised,  and  the  blacks  polit- 
ically supreme,  the  state  of  the  South  was  intolerable.  Had  the  Re- 
publican party,  devoting  its  entire  energies  to  the  moral  and  intellect- 
ual elevation  of  the  blacks,  deferred  their  enfranchisement  to  a  more 
reasonable  day,  when  the  race,  in  the  mass,  would  be  less  unworthy  of 
the  ballot,  the  power  of  that  party  throughout  the  South  would  have 
been  otherwise  than  it  is  to-day.  The  issue  of  the  war  had  practically 
settled  and  silenced  the  old  Democratic  State-rights  doctrine.  Not- 
withstanding the  war-engendered  bitterness,  a  large  white  minority,  if 
not  a  majority,  at  the  South — partly  the  remnants  of  the  old-line 
Whigs  who  antagonized  the  political  tenets  connected  with  the  war's 
beginning,  partly  converts  to  results  which  force  had  imposed,  partly 
recruits  from  moribund  Democracy — these  were  ready,  in  good  faith, 
to  accept  the  new  order  of  affairs,  and  act  with  Republicanism  ;  and  if 
the  Republican  party,  rejecting  the  mistaken  policy  of  seeking  a  foot- 
hold in  the  South  through  negro  suffrage,  had  fostered  the  friendly 
white  element,  it  could  easily  have  developed  this  element,  aided  by 
executive  patronage  extending  through  a  series  of  terms,  into  over- 
whelming Republican  strength.  Under  the  course  pursued  the  almost 
extinct  Democratic  }3arty  at  once  revived,  from  a  pressing  sense  among 
the  whites  of  self-preservation.  The  negroes  voting  as  a  body  on  one 
side,  the  whites  necessarily  became  politically  massed  on  the  other.  It 
made  little  difference  under  what  name  they  rallied.  The  term  "  Dem- 
ocrat "  had  been  opposed  to  Republican  in  days  gone  by,  and  was 
now  adopted.  Yet  thousands,  banded  under  this  party  title,  had  no 
sympathy  with  leading  and  distinctive  Democratic  doctrines,  such  as 
those  regarding  the  tariff,  finance,  or  State  rights.  They  were  against 
negro  political  supremacy,  as  meaning  disaster  to  the  land.  It  had 
prevailed  for  a  short  period  (just  after  the  war),  and  left  desolation  in 
its  course.  The  ignorance  and  inexperience  of  this  unlettered  mass, 
fresh  from  slavery,  were  immensely  unequal  to  the  science  of  enlight- 
ened governing.  For  the  whites  it  was  a  matter  of  life  or  death. 
They  became  a  "  solid  South,"  as  any  other  people,  similarly  circum- 
stanced, would  have  become.  "Wealth  and  intelligence  gave  them  the 
victory,  as  it  ever  will,  where  numbers  approach  an  equality — a  vic- 
tory that  does  not  mean  injury  to  the  blacks,  but  which  is  the  pledge 
for  good  government  and  order — the  proof  whereof  is  the  present 
peaceful  and  prosperous  condition  of  the  Southern  States,  for  the 
blacks  no  less  than  for  the  whites,  compared  with  their  state  of  wretch- 
edness, under  negro  political  rule,  in  the  days  following  immediately 
upon  the  close  of  the  war. 

We  must  again  ask  the  question,  What,  from  this  standpoint,  will 
the  upshot  be  when  the  blacks  numerically  will  so  far  exceed  the 
whites  as  to  overcome  the  vantage  that  the  superior  wealth  and  in- 


THE  AFRICAN  IN    THE    UNITED   STATES.        443 

telligence  of  the  latter  now  give  thern  ?  The  outlook  here  is  no  less 
serious.  Whatever  civic  capability  the  blacks  may  have,  it  is  now  in 
germ  ;  whatever  governing  aptitude  the  race  may  possess,  it  is  at 
present  dormant.  In  the  history  of  nations  it  has  nowhere,  as  yet, 
been  exhibited.  If  this  race  in  the  United  States  is  improving,  its 
improvement,  as  was  to  have  been  expected,  is  slow ;  and  in  every 
political  virtue  it  will  still  be  vastly  below  the  whites,  when  in  voting 
strength  its  fecundity  will  have  put  it  vastly  beyond  them— so  far 
beyond  as  to  overcome  every  counter-influence,  and  give  the  political 
reins  entirely  into  its  hands. 

Who  can  doubt  that,  when  this  day  comes,  the  blacks  will  obey  a 
race-instinct  which  all  their  surroundings  will  have  powerfully  tended 
to  develop,  and  vote  blacks  alone  into  office  ?  Thus  have  they  done 
wherever  the  power  existed.  Kept,  as  they  are,  a  distinct  and  alien 
race,  no  other  issue  is  reasonably  conceivable.  And  who  can  doubt 
that,  under  this  state  of  affairs — an  inferior  and  incompetent  race 
completely  dominating,  by  mere  numbers,  a  superior  one — the  worse 
disorders  would  ensue  ?  The  whites  would  not  submit,  and  a  violent 
and  disastrous  conflict  of  races  must  follow.  The  whites  would  hold 
(1)  that,  while  America  is  a  nation  governed  by  majorities,  yet  by 
those  who  framed  the  Constitution  it  was  never  intended  that  a  race 
brought  here  as  slaves,  an  inferior  race,  one  kept  distinct  by  this  very 
inferiority,  should,  merely  through  a  superior  fecundity,  become  polit- 
ically supreme,  and  lord  it  over  the  land.  They  would  hold  (2)  that 
this  political  lordship  would  be  ruinous  to  every  interest ;  that  for  a 
short  period  subsequent  to  the  close  of  the  war  it  had  partially  pre- 
vailed, and  with  the  unhappiest  results  ;  and  that,  should  this  lordship 
become  distinctively  fastened  upon  a  large  section  of  the  Union,  the 
incompetency  of  the  negro  to  provide,  legislatively,  for  the  manifold 
and  complex  interests  of  an  advanced  civilization,  would  arrest  its 
activities,  paralyze  its  trade,  and  spread  a  decline  throughout  the  en- 
tire country. 

These  are  real  and  gigantic  evils  gradually  looming  up,  and  they 
merit  the  immediate  and  best  attention  of  American  statesmen. 

Colonization,  we  conceive,  is  the  remedy — a  scheme  which  the  far- 
seeing  Henry  Clay  so  warmly  advocated,  though  it  cost  him  the  presi- 
dency. President  Mr.  Clay  doubtless  would  have  been  had  his  oppo- 
nents not  raised  against  him  the  cry  of  being  an  abolitionist.  But  he 
was  no  abolitionist.  He  was  a  colonizationist.  In  the  negro  element, 
even  in  the  relatively  small  pi-oportions  it  bore  in  his  day,  his  political 
sagacity  saw  an  increasing  danger.  It  was  not  only  that  the  negro, 
while  in  bondage,  made  a  breach  between  the  free  and  the  slave  States 
(whereof  the  civil  war  was  the  issue),  but  his  clear-sightedness  saw 
evil  in  the  presence  of  the  negro  as  a  negro,  whether  bound  or  free. 
The  negro,  he  perceived,  could  not  unite  with  any  branch  of  the 


444  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

whites,  and  in  the  mass  of  population  lose  race  distinctiveness.  He 
was  compelled  to  stand  off  by  himself,  a  separate  and  alien  people. 
Like  food  incapable  of  digestion,  and  which  lies  in  the  stomach  only 
stimulative  of  disease,  he  remained  in  the  body  politic  a  foreign  ele- 
ment, without  opportunity  or  power  of  assimilation,  and  a  perpetual 
source  of  alarm.  Hence,  Mr.  Clay  advocated  colonization  ;  and  happy 
would  it  have  been  for  the  country  if  his  views  had  prevailed,  and  the 
slaves  been  bought  up  by  the  Government  at  an  appraised  rate,  and 
transported  either  to  their  native  land  or  to  some  section  provided  for 
them  exclusively. 

We  have  an  impression  that  a  move  was  made  in  Congress  last 
winter  by  some  Senator,  looking  to  the  accprisition  of  territory  in 
Central  America  as  a  home  for  the  blacks.  Though  nothing  came  of 
it,  it  is  matter  for  rejoicing  that  Congressmen  are  turning  their  eyes 
this  way.  The  sole  ground  whereon  Ave  favored  ex-President  Grant's 
project  to  buy  San  Domingo  was  that  it  would  afford  a  home  for  our 
black  population.  Some  home  for  them  outside  of  this  country  must 
be  provided  at  an  early  day,  or  ultimately  their  presence  here  will  lead 
to  complications  and  disorders  of  appalling  character.  The  current 
news  from  the  South,  amid  much  that  is  cheering,  strengthens  our 
forebodings.  There  are  a  present  peace  and  prosperity  ;  but,  to  an 
attentive  ear,  mutterings  of  this  storm  are  already  beginning  to  be 
heard. 

The  republic  is  so  rich  and  so  prosperous,  and  its  future,  from 
some  stand-points,  so  fair,  that  it  seems  invidious,  perhaps,  to  mar  the 
picture  and  reveal  a  frightful  evil  slowly  developing  in  its  bosom. 
Some  would  fain  deem  the  danger  imaginary  ;  and,  even  when  fully 
realized,  the  trouble,  in  its  ultimate  and  worst  forms,  is  comparatively 
so  remote  that  there  is  a  tendency  to  forget  it,  or  at  least  to  transfer  its 
consideration  to  another  day  and  generation.  The  remoteness  of  an 
evil,  however,  does  not  carry  with  it  remoteness  in  applying  the  rem- 
edy. Let  American  statesmen  of  the  present  day  be  looking  in  the 
direction  we  have  indicated.  A  subject  so  vast  and  so  momentous  it 
is  the  part  of  wisdom  to  regard  before  immediate  threatenings  compel 
consideration.  Assuredly,  the  question  will  more  and  more  thrust 
itself  forward  for  solution.  The  black  man  is  still  the  "  irrepressible 
conflict."  Great  difficulties,  under  any  circumstances,  must  attend  its 
solution.  Let  it  be  solved  while  a  peaceful  adjustment  is  yet  prac- 
ticable, for  there  is  a  point  beyond  which  the  attempt  to  solve  it 
would  involve  the  rupture  of  the  republic. 


A  PREHISTORIC   CEMETERY.  445 


A    PKEHISTORIC    CEMETEEY. 

By  JOSEPH  F.  JAMES, 

CUSTODIAN    CINCINNATI    SOCIETY    OF   NATURAL   HISTORY. 

ABOUT  ten  miles  from  Cincinnati,  along  the  Little  Miami  River, 
is  a  locality  which  has  long  been  known  to  the  country  people 
as  the  "  Potteiy-Field."  The  ground  was  strewed  with  fragments  of 
pottery,  bones,  arrow-points,  and  other  remains  of  like  character,  and 
the  place  was  generally  considered  to  be  the  site  of  an  ancient  work- 
shop. The  primitive  forest  still  occupies  the  locality,  and  is  made  up 
of  oak,  beech,  elm,  maple,  Avalnut,  etc.  All  around  are  found  numer- 
ous mounds  or  tumuli,  most  of  them  small.  A  few  of  these  were 
opened  by  Mr.  Florian  Gianque,  in  1876,  and  some  interesting  things 
found.  But,  in  1878,  Dr.  Charles  Metz  and  other  gentlemen  interested 
in  archajology  commenced  a  systematic  exploration  of  the  country 
thereabout,  and  so  much  has  been  found  that  we  are  enabled  to  form 
some  idea  of  the  habits,  and  get  a  glimpse  into  the  life,  of  the  people 
who  once  lived  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  city  of  Cincinnati. 

During  the  four  years  that  the  excavations  have  been  carried  on, 
between  six  hundred  and  fifty  and  seven  hundred  skeletons  have  been 
brought  to  light.  Many  of  them  are  in  an  advanced  state  of  decay, 
and  crumble  to  pieces  on  the  slightest  touch,  while  others,  again,  are 
in  a  very  good  state  of  preservation.  It  can,  therefore,  hardly  be  in- 
ferred that,  because  some  of  the  skeletons  are  much  decayed,  they 
are  necessarily  very  old  ;  for,  though  we  have  well-preserved  remains 
of  bones  from  Babylon,  Nineveh,  and  Egypt,  which  are  certainly 
twenty-five  hundred  or  three  thousand  years  old,  still  the  cases  are 
exceptional  in  which  they  are  found  in  good  condition  after  the  lapse 
of  many  years.  Different  kinds  of  soil  and  differences  in  climate 
have  much  to  do  with  the  matter  :  for,  in  a  dry  and  equable  climate, 
bones  may  resist  for  a  long  time  the  influences  which  would  cause 
their  decay,  while,  in  a  moist  climate,  and  with  sudden  and  extreme 
changes  of  temperature,  such  as  we  have  here,  any  boue,  unless  buried 
in  peat,  or  subject  constantly  to  heavy  pressure,  so  as  to  become  par- 
tially fossilized,  is  liable  to  soon  decay. 

An  examination  of  the  skulls  found  in  the  cemetery,  as  it  is  called, 
as  well  as  the  other  parts  of  the  skeleton  shows  some  interesting  facts. 
In  a  paper  by  Dr.  F.  "YY.  Langdon  *  is  given  a  table  of  measurements 
of  the  crania  which  shows  that  the  brachycephalous  skulls  (those 
with  an  index  of  breadth  of  "800  and  over)  f  are  largely  in  the  major- 
ity, there  being  fifty-two  out  of  seventy-two  of  this  character.  None 
of  them,  however,  exhibit  any  signs  of  the  flattening  of  the  frontal 

*  "  Journal  of  the  Cincinnati  Society  of  Natural  LTistory,"  vol.  iv,  pp.  237,  cl  seq. 
\  The  long  diameter  being  taken  as  100. 


446  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

bone,  which  is  such  a  characteristic  feature  of  the  Natchez  and.  other 
'  Southern  races  of  Indians.  The  Caribs  of  the  West  Indies  and  the  Chi- 
nooks  of  Oregon  both  flattened  the  heads  of  their  children  in  infancy  ; 
and  the  skulls  of  the  ancient  Peruvians  and  the  figures  on  the  monu- 
ments at  Palenque  show  a  remarkable  flattening  of  the  frontal.  This 
is  generally  considered  to  have  been  the  natural  form  of  the  skull,  to 
have  been  the  type  of  beauty  cultivated  by  the  Peruvians,  Central 
Americans,  Toltecs,  etc.,  and  not  to  have  been  produced  altogether  by 
compression.  The  peculiar  form  of  skull  became  hereditary,  and  chil- 
dren were  born  with  this  (to  us)  deformity. 

Various  forms  of  diseased  bones  are  found  among  the  human  re- 
mains. One  of  these  is  a  peculiar  anchylosis  of  the  spinous  and  articu- 
lar processes  of  some  of  the  vertebra?,  the  bodies  remaining  free.* 
It  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  vertebral  column  of  a  female  dwarf, 
the  skeleton  of  which  presented  several  other  points  of  interest. 
Among  the  crania  are  several  which  have  been  fractured  by  some 
blunt  implement,  and  the  fracture  has  been  partially  or  completely 
healed.  Two  other  very  interesting  specimens  are  among  the  human 
bones.  One  is  the  eleventh  dorsal  vertebra,  in  which  is  imbedded  for 
a  quarter  of  an  inch  one  of  the  small  flint-points  called  war-arrows. 
The  other  specimen  is  a  sacrum  in  which  there  is  imbedded  a  similar 
point.  This  last  was  found  in  a  pit  with  twenty-two  skeletons,!  and 
doubtless  belonged  to  an  individual  killed  with  the  others  in  a  battle, 
all  of  the  killed  having  been  buried  together.  These  specimens  show 
with  what  force  the  people  could  send  their  arrows.  Both  had  entered 
from  the  front  of  the  body,  passed  through  it,  and  were  only  stopped 
by  the  vertebral  column.  Some  of  the  long  bones  exhibit  various 
excrescences  which  have  been  referred  to  syphilitic  diseases,  and  which 
show  that  the  people  here  buried  were  afflicted  with  that  fearful 
scourge  which,  as  some  one  has  expressed  it,  "  turned  Europe  into  a 
charnel-house." 

But  the  bones  of  an  extinct  race  of  men,  interesting  though  they 
may  be,  can  tell  us  but  little  of  their  domestic  habits,  and  it  is  to  the 
implements  found  here  that  we  turn  with  greatest  interest.  These  are 
so  abundant,  and  often  of  such  a  peculiar  character,  that  we  have  much 
to  speculate  upon.  First  of  all  is  the  remarkable  circumstance  of  find- 
ing so  many  implements  of  bone  ;  the  abundance  of  which  has  gener- 
ally been  thought  to  be  a  proof  of  a  low  grade  of  civilization.  But 
probably  their  abundance  or  their  rarity  has  been  regulated  also  by 
the  age  of  the  deposit,  for,  the  older  the  deposit,  the  less  likely  it  is 
that  the  bone  relics  have  resisted  the  action  of  time. 

Many  of  the  remains  are  of  a  peculiar  character,  unlike  anything 
found  elsewhere,  and  speculations  in  regard  to  their  origin  and  use  are 

*  For  a  figure  of  this  and  various  other  diseased  bones,  see  article  in  "  Journal  of  the 
Cincinnati  Society  of  Natural  History,"  vol.  iv,  pp.  241-257. 
f  Ibid.,  vol.  iv,  p.  253. 


A   PREHISTORIC   CEMETERY. 


447 


rife.  Still  other  relics  are  strikingly  like  some  found  elsewhere,  not 
particularly  in  this  country,  but  in  Europe,  as  will  be  shown  further 
on.  Among  the  most  curious  and  anomalous  of  all  are  certain  pecul- 
iarly grooved  bones,  as  represented  in  Fig.  1.*     They  are  usually  made 


Fig.  i. 


of  the  leg-bones  of  the  deer  or  elk.  But  few  of  the  specimens  are  per- 
fect, the  majority  having  been  broken  by  use  and  wearing  away  of  the 
bone.  The  groove  is  often  highly  polished,  though  scratches  running 
the  long  way  are  visible.  These  scratches  were  made  in  the  manu- 
facture or  use  of  the  instrument  or  tool,  but  what  its  use  was  no  one 
has  been  able  satisfactorily  to  determine.  Archaeologists  are  puzzled, 
and  pronounce  them  to  be  unique.  It  has  been  supposed  by  nearly 
every  one  that  they  were  used  in  dress- 
ing skins,  but  no  such  scratches  as  are 
observed  could  be  made  in  that  opera- 
tion. Some  have  suggested  that  perhaps 
they  were  made  to  serve  some  purpose 
of  ornamentation,  but  neither  is  this  ex- 
planation probable.  It  seems  to  me  that 
the  groove  has  been  the  result  of  rub- 
bing, for  the  purpose  of  polishing  certain 
other  relics  found  here.  There  have  been 
found  numbers  of  peculiar  cylindrical 
pieces  of  bone  and  horn,  like  Fig.  2,  as 
unlike  anything  found  elsewhere  as  the 
grooved  bones  ;  and  it  seems  probable 
that  these  cylinders  of  bone  have  been 
rubbed  and  polished  in  the  grooved 
bones.  We  find  that  the  different-sized 
cylinders  fit  well  into  the  different-sized  grooves,  and  certainly  constant 
rubbing  would  both  round  off  and  polish  the  cylinders,  and  leave 
scratches  in  the  groove.  It  has  been  a  matter  of  speculation,  also, 
to  determine  the  use  of  these  cylinders.  Some  have  said  that  they 
were  used  in  playing  a  game  ;  but  it  is  more  likely  that  they  were 
made  into  a  belt  for  the  waist,  or  a  necklace,  thongs  being  woven  be- 

*  Copied  from  "  Journal  of  the  Cincinnati  Society  of  Natural  History,"  vol.  iii.,  plate  1. 
Most  of  the  figures  herein  given  are  made  from  specimens  in  the  collection  of  the  Cincin- 
nati Society  of  Natural  History. 


Fig. 


443 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


tween  them,  first  round  one,  then  the  next,  and  so  on.     None  of  them 
show  any  signs  or  attempts  at  boring  from  end  to  end.* 

Deer  and  elk  horns  enter  largely  into  the  manufacture  of  many  of 
the  relics.     Among  others  are  what  are  known  as  bone  arrow  or  spear 


Fig.  3. 

points,  shown  in  Figs.  3  and  4.  They  are  invariably  made  from  the 
sharp  points  of  horn,  the  piece  being  first  cut  off,  and  then  a  hole 
drilled  into  the  blunt  end  with  a  flint.  Marks  made  by  the  drill  are 
still  distinctly  seen  in  the  holes.  The  points  were  fastened  to  wooden 
shafts  inserted  in  the  holes.     Now,  strange  though  it  may  seem,  relics 


Fig.  4. 


Fig.  5. 


of  an  exactly  similar  make  and  of  exactly  the  same  sort  of  material 
are  found  thousands  of  miles  away.  Dr.  F.  Keller,  in  his  elaborate 
book  on  the  "  Lake-Dwellers  of  Europe,"  gives  figures  f  of  these  imple- 
ments found  in  the  Swiss  lake-dwellings,  and  Fig.  5  is  taken  from  his 
book.  It  is  immediately  seen  that  the  relics  from  the  two  localities 
are  identical,  with  the  exception  of  the  small  hole  drilled  into  the  side. 
In  Fig.  5  one  of  the  arrow-points  has  a  portion  of  the  shaft  still  fast- 
ened in  the  hole. 

Large  pieces  of  deer  and  elk-horn,  with  the  prongs  polished  by 
constant  use,  have  probably  been  employed  as  digging  implements. 
Smaller  pieces  of  the  flat  part  of  the  horn,  with  two  or  three  prongs, 

*  Since  this  was  written,  Dr.  Phene,  of  England,  suggests  that  they  were  used  as  cur- 
rency,  and  it  is  very  possible  that  this  was  the  case. 

f  See  plates  45,  G2,  89,  and  91  for  these  figures.  The  ones  here  given  are  copied  from 
Figs.  25  and  28  on  plate  62,  and  Fig.  6  on  plate  91. 


A   PREHISTORIC   CEMETERY. 


44-9 


like  Fig.  6,  have  circular  holes  drilled  into  them,  and  were  probably 
used  for  loosening  the  ground  in  agricultural  labors.  Here  also  we  have 
similar  pieces  found  in  Switzerland,  and  Fig.  7  is  copied  from  Dr.  Kel- 


Fig.  6. 


ler's  book,  before  mentioned.*  The  same  idea  has  evidently  actuated 
the  makers  of  both  these  articles.  Still  other  implements  o.f  horn  are 
known  as  skin-dressers.  These  are  made  of  the  broad  bases  of  deer- 
horn,  sometimes  six  or  eight  inches  long  and  four  inches  wide.     They 


Fiq.  7. 


are  polished  at  the  broad  end  by  constant  use,  so  that  they  look  like 
ivory.  Occasionally  one  is  found  with  a  hole  bored  in  it,  but  such 
are  exceptional,  and  were  perhaps  used  for  another  purpose.  Here, 
again,  we  find  relics  of  a  similar  character  in  Switzerland,  as  figured  by 
Dr.  Keller,  f  * 

Bone  beads  are  also  found  with  the  other  relics.     These  vary  in 
length  from  one  to  three  inches,  and  are  often  very  highly  polished. 

*  See  plate  13,  Fig.  2.  f  See  plate  13,  Fig.  14. 

TOL.    XXII.  —  29 


45° 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


Fig.  8  is  a  large  one,  and  has  some  peculiar  zigzag  markings  on  it,  the 
significance  of  which  is  not  known.     Bone  fish-hooks,  as  represented 


Fig.  8. 


in  Fig.  9,  show  the  race  to  have  lived  by  the  product  of  the  Little 
Miami  River  as  well  as  by  the  chase.    Bone  harpoons,  similar  in  make 

to  those  still  in  use  by  the  Esquimaux,*  show 
further  that  they  derived  sustenance  from  the 
river,  while  Fig.  10  shows  a  needle  made  of  a 
fish-spine  (c)  with  a  large  hole  in  one  end,  a  deer- 
bone  (b),  used  perhaps  as  an  awl,  and  a  turkey- 
bone  (a),  also  used  as  an  awl. 

Besides  the  useful  articles  of  bone  that  have 
been  mentioned,  there  are  others  used  more  for 
ornament.  The  beads  have  already  been  referred 
to.  A  peculiarly-shaped  piece  of  elk-horn,  with 
five  teeth  and  a  perforated  handle,  has  been 
found,  and  has  been  called  a  comb.  Fig.  11  f 
represents  it,  and  a  striking  resemblance  between  it  and  one  from 
the  Swiss  lake-dwellings  (Fig.  12 J)  maybe  noticed.  Another  piece, 
the  use  of  which  is  not  known,  but  which  is  supposed  to  have  been 


Fig.  9. 


Fig.  10. 


perhaps  some  sort  of  flute  or  whistle,  is  shown  in  Fig.  13.     It  is  a 
hollow  piece  of  bone,  with  six  holes  of  different  sizes  made  in  one  side, 

*  Lubbock,  "Prehistoric  Times,"  p.  504,  Fig.  219. 

f  Copied  from  the  "  Journal  of  the  Cincinnati  Society  of  Natural  History,"  vol.  iii, 
p.  132. 

\  Keller,  "  Lake-Dwellings,"  plate  28,  Fig.  8. 


A   PREHISTORIC   CEMETERY. 


45» 


and  marks  of  another  where  the  relic  has  been  broken.     How  much 
longer  it  was  we  can  not  tell.     In  Fig.  14  we  have  still  another  tube, 


Fig.  11. 


with  only  three  holes,  placed  farther  apart  than  in  the  preceding,  and 
oblong  instead  of  round;  and  in  Keller*  there  is  figured  almost  an 


Fig.  13. 


exact  counterpart,  except  that  the  center  hole  is  placed  a  little  below 
the  level  of  the  other  two.  This  last  is  called  a  weaver's  shuttle,  and, 
if  our  relic  may  be  similarly  named,  we  have  evidence  that  weaving 


Fig.  13. 


was  another  occupation  of  this  people.  And  other  facts  are  at  hand 
to  show  that  they  did  weave.  Among  the  stone  relics  is  one  of  those 
peculiar  oblong  pieces  of  polished  slate  which  have  sometimes  gone  by 


Fig.  14. 


the  name  of  "  gorgets."  These  pieces  have  one  to  three  holes  drilled 
through  them,  supposed  to  have  been  made  to  carry  the  object  by. 
Still  another  and  more  probable  purpose,  however,  is  for  weaving,  the 

*  Lac.  cit.,  plate  41,  Fig.  9. 


452  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

holes  being  used  to  regulate  the  size  of  the  thread.  But  all  doubt 
vanishes  when  it  is  found  that  some  "  ash-pits,"  in  which  most  of  the 
relics  have  been  found,  contain  pieces  of  coarse  matting.  This  has 
been  carbonized,  so  that  it  can  not  now  be  ascertained  of  what  mate- 
rial it  was  made.  Enough,  however,  remains  to  show  that  the  fibers 
running  one  way  are  secured  by  twisted  cords  running  across,  and 
woven  in  and  out  between  and  around  them. 

As  is  very  well  known,  the  copper-mines  of  Lake  Superior  were 
extensively  worked  at  an  early  day,  and  articles  made  of  the  copper 
are  found  all  through  the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio  Rivers. 
The  present  cemetery  is  no  exception,  for  fragments  of  copper  are 
quite  common.  The  pieces  are  mostly  small,  however,  and  do  not 
seem  to  have  been  in  very  general  use.  In  all  probability  the  metal 
was  highly  prized,  and  used  simply  for  personal  adornment.  The 
most  of  the  pieces  are  simply  coiled  or  rolled,  and  Fig.  15  represents 


Fig.  15. 

common  shapes.  These  two  pieces  still  have  the  remains  of  a  leather 
thong  in  them,  showing  that  they  had  been  used  like  beads.  Another 
piece  is  a  sort  of  copper  bell,  made  of  a  single  piece  of  metal,  with  a 
hole  in  the  side,  a  handle,  and  a  small  piece  of  copper  inside,  which 
rattles  when  the  bell  is  shaken.  Still  another  large  piece  is  like  a 
cross  with  two  arms,  the  use  or  purpose  of  it  being  entirely  unknown. 
Objects  like  it  have  occasionally  been  found  elsewhere.  Squier  and 
Davis*  have  figured  a  similar  piece,  but  of  silver,  which  they  refer  to 
the  French  Jesuits  ;  and  Professor  Putnam  figures  another,  f  which 
differs  in  having  only  one  arm.  He  considers  it  an  ornament,  "  made 
in  its  present  form  simply  because  it  is  an  easy  design  to  execute,  and 
one  of  natural  conception."  We  must  beg  leave  to  differ  from  him 
in  this  latter  point,  for,  if  the  design  is  one  of  natural  conception,  why 
do  we  make  a  point  when  it  is  found  ?  Why  are  the  forms  like  it  not 
more  numerous,  and  why  does  not  the  ornamented  pottery  have  in- 
numerable examples  of  it  in  the  ornamentation  ? 

Beads  made  of  pieces  of  fresh-water  and  marine  shells  are  found 
among  the  other  remains.  Sometimes  pieces  are  cut  from  the  mussel- 
shell,  rubbed  round,  and  then  a  hole  bored.  Sometimes  specimens  of 
Melania  or  Pahidinahad  holes  bored  near  the  aperture,  and  were  then 
used  as  beads.  The  beads  made  of  marine  shells  show  that  some  sys- 
tem of  barter  or  commerce  existed  with  the  Atlantic  Ocean  or  the  Gulf. 

*  "Ancient  Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  p.  208. 

f  "  Eleventh  Annual  Report  of  the  Peabody  Museum  of  Archseology  and  Ethnology," 
p.  307. 


A   PREHISTORIC   CEMETERY. 


453 


Quantities  of  shells,  of  species  of  the  genus  ZTriio,  "  fresh-water  oys- 
ters," are  found.  They  go  to  show  that  shell-fish  formed  an  article  of 
diet  of  the  race.  And  not  only  did  they  eat  the  animal,  but  they 
made  good  use  of  many  of  the  shells.  Many  of  them  have  been  ground 
off  at  the  edge,  and  were  used  as  spoons  or  ladles,  while  others  have 
holes  punched  in  the  valves,  and  were  probably  used  for  hoes  in  their 
agricultural  operations.  An  examination  of  many  of  these  shells 
shows  no  difference  between  them  and  individuals  of  the  same  species 
now  found  in  the  river.  Still,  a  change  could  hardly  be  expected  in 
the  inhabitants  of  any  locality,  without  a  change  in  the  conditions  of 
life,  and  there  is  no  evidence  of  a  change  in  conditions  since  the  shells 
were  taken  from  the  river. 

The  flint  pieces,  of  various  shapes,  are  quite  numerous,  and  many 
of  them  beautifully  worked.  In  Fig.  16  are  shown  some  of  the  war 
arrow-points,  and  they  are  so  abundant 
that  one  is  almost  inclined  to  believe  the 
people  who  made  them  were  not  so  peace- 
able as  has  been  supposed.  In  Fig.  17  is 
shown  one  of  the  "  leaf  -  shaped  "  flints, 
some  of  which  are  beautifully  worked  ; 
while,  in  Fig.  18  are  some  of  the  drills 
used  in  boring  holes  in  bones  or  shells. 
There  is  one  thing  to  be  noticed  among 
the  flint  pieces.  It  is  said  that,  in  war, 
arrows  like  those  in  Fig.  16  were  exclu- 
sively used,  while,  in  hunting,  points  which 
were  notched  at  the  broad  or  lower  end  were  used.  Now,  the  pecul- 
iarity noticed  is  the  scarcity  of  points  of  the  latter  character.  For, 
out  of  316  worked  flints,  selected  from  some  thousands,  there  are  but 
four  which  are  notched  at  the  lower  ends.  One  of  two  things  is  to  be 
inferred.     Either  that  the  race  was  more  warlike  than  agricultural, 


Fig.  16. 


Fig.  18. 


454 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


and  used  horn  arrows  in  hunting  instead  of  the  notched  ones  ;  or  else 
they  were  manufacturers  of  war-points  for  other  tribes,  and  lived 
peaceably  by  hunting,  fishing,  and  agricultural  labors.  All  that  we 
know  could  be  interpreted  more  in  favor  of  the  first  view  than  of  the 
second,  for,  while  we  are  sure  they  were  agricultural  to  a  certain  extent, 
this  fact  would  not  be  opposed  to  an  argument  for  their  warlike  char- 
acter. The  Southern  Indians,  within  the  historic  j)eriod,  were  at  war 
all  the  time,  and  still  raised  quantities  of  maize.* 

The  fact  of  the  race  of  people  here  buried  raising  maize  is  estab- 
lished by  finding,  in  some  pits,  quantities  of  it  completely  carbonized. 
Corn  seems  to  have  often  been  placed  in  pots  and  buried  with  the 
bodies,  to  serve,  perhaps,  as  food  for  the  journey  to  the  spirit-land. 
Another  of  their  agricultural  labors  was  that  of  raising  tobacco  ;  for, 
in  common  with  nearly  all  the  other  North  American  races,  they  were 
smokers.  Numbers  of  pipes,  of  various  styles  and  materials,  are  found 
here.  Some  of  them  are  of  the  red  clay  known  as  Catlinite,  others  of 
ordinary  limestone.     In  Fig.  19  is  shown  a  pipe  carved  out  of  hard 


Fig.  19. 


limestone.  It  is  very  highly  polished,  and  considerable  skill  is  exhibit- 
ed in  the  carving  of  the  head.  It  is  evidently  meant  for  a  wolf,  and 
the  teeth,  though  interlocking  in  a  peculiar  way,  are  still  tolerably  true 
to  nature  in  having  the  long  canines. f 

*  Jones,  "  Antiquity  of  the  Southern  Indians,"  p.  7.  "  When,  in  1730,  the  whites  in- 
terposed their  good  offices  to  bring  about  a  pacification  between  the  Tuscaroras  and  the 
Cherokees,  the  latter  responded  :  '  We  can  not  live  without  war;  should  we  make  peace 
with  the  Tuscaroras,  with  whom  we  are  at  war,  we  must  immediately  look  out  for  some 
other  with  whom  we  can  be  engaged  in  our  beloved  occupation.'  "  For  notice  of  agri- 
cultural labors,  see  Jones,  pp.  296  to  320. 

f  Many  other  forms  of  pipes  from  this  locality  are  given  in  the  "Journal  of  the  Cin. 
cinnati  Society  of  Natural  History,"  vol.  iii,  Nos.  1,  2,  and  3. 


A   PREHISTORIC   CEMETERY. 


455 


The  stone  implements  are  much  the  same  as  those  found  in  various 
parts  of  the  country.  There  seems,  however,  to  be  a  remarkable  pau- 
city of  grooved  axes,  there  having  been  but  two  found  so  far.  There 
are  numbers  of  the  ungrooved  "  celts,"  as  well  as  of  sling-stones, 
blunt  at  each  end,  but  with  a  groove  in  the  middle  by  which  to  fasten 
the  handle.  Some  of  these  stones  were  also  probably  used  as  sinkers 
for  nets  in  fishing,  and  are  very  similar  to  those  found  in  Swiss  lakes, 
as  noticed  by  Dr.  Keller.  Rubbing-stones  for  polishing  celts,  ham- 
mers, anvils,  pestles,  and  corn-pounders,  are  also  abundant.  Some 
pieces  of  a  coarse,  gritty  sandstone  have  shallow  grooves  worn  into 
them,  which  are  supposed  to  have  been  used  in  rubbing  down  some  of 
the  bone  or  flint  implements.  ■  Other  pieces,  with  similar  grooves,  but 
made  of  close-grained  sandstone,  were  probably  used  to  straighten  the 
shafts  of  the  arrows.  The  shaft,  at  first  wet  and  green,  was  rubbed 
up  and  down  in  the  groove,  and  all  the  bends  or  twists  thus  taken  out. 
Stones  like  these  have  been  used  by  the  Indians  of  the  historic  period. 

Reference  was  made  in  the  early  part  of  this  article  to  the  name  of 
the  "  Pottery-Field,"  given  to  the  burying-ground.  It  may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  name  that  pieces  of  pottery  were  abundant,  and  the 
number  of  vessels  taken  out  fully  confirms  the  appropriateness  of  the 
name.  These  are  all  of  one  general  shape  and  character.  The  mate- 
rial is  a  clay  mixed  with  finely-powdered  shells,  and  was  baked  in  the 
sun.  Nearly  all  the  vessels  are  furnished  with  four  handles,  and  are 
generally  devoid  of  any  ornamentation.  Some  have  salamander-shaped 
handles,  and  the  few  that  are  ornamented  have  simply  cross-lines  and 
stripes  with  lines  running  round  the  vessel 
near  the  top,  and  perhaps  a  few  dots. 
Though  some  of  them  are  very  well 
formed,  they  do  not  show  any  great  ad- 
vance in  art. 

Among  the  most  interesting  remains  of 
any  race  of  people,  are  the  rude  beginnings 
of  art  they  have  left  behind  them  ;  and, 
though  the  people  under  consideration  did 
not  have,  as  far  as  we  know,  any  written 
language,  they  have  left  a  few  memorials 
of  their  artistic  feelings  in  the  shape  of 
some  carvings  on  bone,  and  a  few  in- 
scribed stones.  The  most  interesting  of 
these  are  here  figured.  Fig.  20  represents, 
on  a  piece  of  limestone,  the  head  and  fore- 
legs of  some  curious  animal.  What  is 
meant  is  hard  to  imagine.  The  teeth  are 
marvelous,  but  still,  in  their  arrangement, 
are  like  the  teeth  of  the  wolf -pipe  in  Fig.  19.  Fig.  21  is  a  portion  of 
a  bone  having  peculiar  marks  cut  on  it.     The  marks  are  the  same  on 


Fig.  20. 


456 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


both  sides,  but  the  meaning  intended  to  be  conveyed  is  beyond  the 
interpreting  powers  of  the  writer,  nor  does  he  know  of  any  explanation 
having  been  attempted. 

From  the  remains  here  described,  and  from  others  found  in  the 
cemetery,  for  such  the  locality  undoubtedly  was,  we  can  form  some 


iiilP'l  ''"g  I'tllplJIIIill 

jpiiii 


Fig  31. 

idea  of  the  habits  of  the  people.  They  were  warlike,  yet  agricultural, 
hunters  as  well  as  fishermen.  They  killed  the  bear,  deer,  elk,  beaver, 
raccoon,  and  other  animals  of  the  forest,  for  the  remains  of  all  are  quite 
abundant.  They  ate  the  shell-fish  of  the  Little  Miami  River,  and 
caught  fish  with  hooks  and  nets.  They  raised  corn,  as  well  as  tobacco, 
in  quantities.  They  wove  matting,  made  fish-nets,  and  perhaps  blank- 
ets. They  ornamented  themselves  with  necklaces  of  bone  and  shell 
beads,  bear  and  beaver  teeth.  They  dressed  in  skins,  prepared  with 
horn  and  stone  implements.  They  painted  their  bodies,  as  cakes  of 
paint  testify.  They  had  commercial  intercourse,  or  some  system  of 
barter,  with  Lake  Superior  and  the  Gulf,  or  the  Atlantic.  They  were 
frequently  embroiled  in  wars  with  neighboring  tribes.  They  could 
hardly  have  been  far  advanced  in  civilization,  if  bone  implements  in- 
stead of  stone  is  any  indication.  They  had  no  written  language,  but 
yet  left  some  record  of  their  existence  in  the  shape  of  carved  bones 
and  inscribed  stones.  Finally,  if  the  burial  of  vessels  containing  food 
for  the  dead  be  any  indication,  they  had  some  idea  of  a  future  life. 
Much  further  than  this  in  their  history  we  can  not  go. 

The  attention  of  the  reader  has  been  repeatedly  called  to  the  simi- 
larity between  the  implements  found  in  this  "  Cincinnati "  cemetery 
and  those  found  in  the  Swiss  lakes.  No  one  could  claim  that,  because 
of  this  similarity  and  almost  identity  of  forms,  the  two  races  of  people 
ever  had  intercourse  with  each  other.  But  the  fact  is  interesting  as 
showing  how,  in  two  countries,  thousands  of  miles  apart,  and  separated 
by  a  period  of  hundreds  of  years  in  time,  there  were  made,  with  the 
same  materials,  the  same  forms  of  weapons  and  implements.  The  re- 
semblance is  no  argument  for  a  common  origin,  but  simply  shows  that 
nearly  the  same  grade  of  civilization  may  be  developed  spontaneously 
in  two  widely  separated  countries. 

It  now  becomes  an  interesting  matter  of  speculation  to  discover 
the  age  of  the  cemetery.  It  has  been  referred  to  the  age  of  the 
mound-builders,  but,  if  so,  it  is  a  most  remarkable  fact,  unless  we  con- 


A   PREHISTORIC   CEMETERY.  457 

sider  the  modern  Indians  as  the  lineal  descendants  of  the  mound- 
builders,  which  is  quite  probable.  Heretofore  but  three  or  four  au- 
thentic skulls  of  the  mound-builders  have  been  found  in  any  sort  of 
preservation,  while  here  we  have  a  great  many  taken  from  a  small 
area.  Further,  if  we  are  to  refer  the  cemetery  to  the  mound-build- 
ing race,  we  must  admit  that  the  race  disappeared  within  a  very  re- 
cent period.  On  a  level  bank  near  the  Little  Miami  River  is  a  circular 
excavation  about  forty  feet  in  diameter  and  seven  feet  deep.  "  An 
old  settler  relates  that  fifty  years  ago  remains  of  stakes  or  palisades 
could  be  seen  surrounding  this  excavation."  *  These  have  since  disap- 
peared, but  their  being  there  shows  within  how  recent  a  period  the 
ground  was  abandoned.  Then  the  age  of  the  forest-trees  growing  on 
the  ground  argues  against  any  very  great  antiquity.  The  largest  trees 
measured  are  a  walnut  fifteen  and  a  half  feet  in  circumference,  an  oak 
twelve  feet,  an  oak  and  a  maple  each  nine  and  a  half  feet  in  circum- 
ference, f  equal  to  about  five,  four,  and  three  feet  in  diameter  respect- 
ively. Now,  the  average  growth  of  fourteen  different  species  of  trees 
is  about  "12  of  an  inch  a  year,  or  one  foot  radius  (two  feet  diameter) 
in  ninety-eight  years.  \  Taking  this  average,  a  tree  five  feet  in  diame- 
ter would  be  two  hundred  and  forty-five  years  old  ;  one  four  feet  in 
diameter,  one  hundred  and  ninety-six  years  old  ;  and  one  three  feet  in 
diameter,  one  hundred  and  forty-seven  years  old  ;  or,  in  round  num- 
bers, two  hundred  and  fifty,  two  hundred,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  respectively. 

There  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  there  was  any  growth  of  forest 
on  this  ground,  after  its  abandonment  by  the  former  residents,  previ- 
ous to  the  one  now  covering  it.  The  roots  of  living  trees  having 
trunks  two  and  three  feet  in  diameter  have  been  found  penetrating 
the  crania  of  skeletons  found  here,  a  tolerably  sure  indication  of  a  first 
growth.  Notwithstanding  the  assertions  of  many  people  to  the  con- 
trary, the  process  of  covering  land  with  dense  forest  is  by  no  means  a 
slow  one.  A  field  allowed  to  go  without  being  cultivated  becomes  in 
a  few  years  covered  with  a  new  growth  of  saplings.  Mr.  Robert 
Ridgway,  in  a  late  paper,  after  referring  to  the  cutting  off  of  timber, 
and  also  to  its  encroachment  on  prairie-land  in  Illinois,  says  :  "  The 
growth  of  this  new  forest  is  so  rapid  that  extensive  woods  near  Mount 
Carmel  [Illinois],  consisting  chiefly  of  oaks  and  hickories  (averaging 
more  than  eighty  feet  high,  one  to  nearly  two  feet  in  diameter),  were 
open  prairie  within  the  memory  of  some  of  the  present  owners  of  the 
land."  *     Taking  this  fact  into  consideration,  and  remembering  that 

*  "  Prehistoric    Monuments   of   the   Little   Miami    Valley,"    by   Dr.    Charles   Metz, 
"Journal  of  the  Cincinnati  Society  of  Natural  History,"  vol.  i,  p.  123. 

f  Ibid.,  vol.  iii,  p.  44. 

\  See  table,  by  Dr.  A.  Lapham,  of  age  of  trees  in  Wisconsin,  given  in  Foster's  "Pre- 
historic Races  of  the  United  States,"  p.  374. 

*  "  Notes  on  the  Native  Trees  of  the  Lower  Wabash  and  White  River  Valleys  in 


458  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

the  largest  tree  found  on  the  ground  was  not  over  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  old,  the  time  of  the  abandonment  of  the  cemetery  can  not 
be  more  than  three  hundred  years  ago.  This  would  take  it  back  to 
less  than  one  hundred  years  after  the  discovery  of  America  by  Colum- 
bus. The  present  State  of  Ohio  was  then  probably  occupied  by  a 
tribe  of  Indians  known  as  the  Eries,  who  were  totally  exterminated 
in  1656,*  and  it  is  possible  we  have  in  this  cemetery  one  of  the  burial- 
places  of  this  tribe  of  Indians. 

Catlinite  pipes  were  unknown  to  the  mound-builders,  yet  some 
made  of  this  material  are  found  in  this  cemetery.  Hogs  rooting  in 
the  ground  find  sufficient  nutriment  in  the  bones  to  eat  them  greedily, 
and  probably  there  would  be  fewer  bone  implements  found  if  they 
had  not  been  buried  in  ash-pits. f  Everything,  therefore,  tends  to 
show  the  comparatively  recent  date  of  this  cemetery,  and  I  would 
state,  as  a  reasonable  conclusion,  that  the  remains  are  those  of  a  tribe 
of  Indians,  perhaps  the  Eries,  and  were  deposited  not  more  than  three 
hundred  and  perhaps  only  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago. 


-*♦♦- 


THE  UNIVEKSITY  IDEAL.} 

By  ALEXANDER  BAIN,  LL.  D. 

/~^  EISTTLEMEN" :  By  your  flattering  estimate  of  my  services,  I  have 
VJ~  been  unexpectedly  summoned  from  retirement  to  assume  the 
honors  and  the  duties  of  the  purple,  and  to  occupy  the  most  histor- 
ically important  office  in  the  universities  of  Europe. 

The  present  demands  upon  the  rectorship  somewhat  resemble  what 
we  are  told  of  the  Homeric  chief,  who,  in  company  with  his  council 
or  senate,  the  Boule,  and  the  popular  assembly,  or-  Agora,  made  up 
the  political  constitution  of  the  tribe.  The  functions  of  the  chief,  it 
is  said,  were  to  supply  wise  reason  to  the  Boule  (as  we  might  call  our 
court),  and  unctuous  eloquence  to  the  Agora.  The  second  of  these 
requirements  is  what  weighs  upon  me  at  the  present  moment. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  practice  of  my  predecessors,  gener- 
ally strangers  to  you,  it  would  be  altogether  unbecoming  in  me  to 
travel  out  of  our  university  life  for  the  materials  of  an  address.  My 
remarks,  then,  will  principally  bear  on  the  Univebsity  Ideal. 

Illinois  and  Indiana,"  printed  in  "  Proceedings  of  the  United  States  National  Museum," 
1882,  p.  54. 

*  "  Some  Early  Notices  of  the  Indians  of  Ohio,"  by  M.  F.  Force,  published  by  K. 
Clarke  &  Co.,  Cincinnati,  18*79,  pp.  1-11. 

f  For  an  account  of  these  pits,  see  "  Journal  of  the  Cincinnati  Society  of  Natural  His 
tory,"  vol.  iii. 

X  Rectorial  Address  to  the  Students  of  Aberdeen  University,  Wednesday,  November 
15,  1882. 


THE   UNIVERSITY  IDEAL.  459 

To  the  Greeks  we  are  indebted  for  the  earliest  germ  of  the  univer- 
sity. It  was  with  them  chiefly  that  education  took  that  great  leap, 
the  greatest  ever  made,  from  the  traditional  teaching  of  the  home, 
the  shop,  the  social  surroundings,  to  schoolmaster  teaching  properly 
so  called.  Nowadays,  we  schoolmasters  think  so  much  of  ourselves, 
that  we  do  not  make  full  allowance  for  that  other  teaching  which 
was,  for  unknown  ages,  the  only  teaching  of  mankind.  The  Greeks 
were  the  first  to  introduce,  not  perhaps  the  primary  schoolmaster  for 
the  R's,  but  certainly  the  secondary  or  higher  schoolmaster,  known  as 
rhetorician  or  sophist,  who  taught  the  higher  professions  ;  while  their 
philosophers  or  wise  men  introduced  a  kind  of  knowledge  that  gave 
scope  to  the  intellectual  faculties,  with  or  without  professional  appli- 
cations ;  the  very  idea  of  our  Faculty  of  Arts. 

So  self-asserting  were  these  new-born  teachers  of  the  sophist  class, 
that  Plato  thought  it  necessary  to  recall  attention  to  the  good  old  per- 
ennial source  of  instruction — the  home,  the  trade,  and  the  society. 
He  pointed  out  that  the  pretenders  to  teach  virtue  by  moral  lecturing 
were  as  yet  completely  outrivaled  by  the  influence  of  the  family  and 
the  social  pressure  of  the  community.  In  like  manner  the  arts  of  life 
were  all  originally  handed  down  by  apprenticeship  and  imitation. 
The  greatest  statesmen  and  generals  of  early  times  had  simply  the 
education  of  the  actual  work.  Philip  of  Macedon  could  have  had  no 
other  teaching  ;  his  greater  son  was  the  first  of  the  line  to  receive 
what  we  may  call  a  liberal  or  a  general  education,  under  the  educator 
of  all  Europe. 

I  must  skip  eight  centuries  to  introduce  the  man  that  linked  the 
ancient  and  the  modern  world,  and  was  almost  the  sole  luminary  in 
the  West  during  the  dark  ages,  namely,  Boethius,  minister  of  the  Gothic 
Emperor  Theodoric.  As  much  of  Aristotle  as  was  known  between 
the  sixth  and  the  eleventh  centuries  was  handed  down  by  him.  Dur- 
ing that  time  only  the  logical  treatises  existed  among  the  Latins  ;  and 
of  these  the  best  parts  were  neglected.  Historical  importance  attaches 
to  a  small  circle  of  them  known  as  the  Old  Logic  {vetus  logica),  which 
were  the  pabulum  of  abstract  thought  for  five  dreary  centuries.  These 
consisted  of  the  two  treatises  or  chapters  of  Aristotle  called  the  "  Cate- 
gories," and  the  "  De  Interpretation e,"  or  the  theory  of  propositions  ; 
and  of  a  book  of  Porphyry,  the  neo-Platonist,  entitled  "  Introduc- 
tion "  (Isagoge),  and  treating  of  the  so-called  Five  Predicables.  A 
hundred  average  pages  would  include  them  all ;  and  three  weeks 
would  suffice  to  master  them. 

Boethius,  however,  did  much  more  than  hand  on  these  works  to 
the  mediaeval  students  ;  he  translated  the  whole  of  Aristotle's  logical 
writings  (the  "  Organon  "),  but  the  others  were  seldom  taken  up.  It 
was  he  too  that  handled  the  question  of  universals  in  his  first  Dia- 
logue on  Porphyry,  and  sowed  the  seed  that  was  not  to  germinate  till 
four  centuries  afterward,  but  which,  when  the  time  came,  was  to  bear 


460  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

fruit  in  no  measured  amount.  And  Boethius  is  the  name  associated 
with  the  scheme  of  higher  education  that  preceded  the  university 
teaching,  called  the  quaclrivium,  or  quadruple  group  of  subjects, 
namely,  arithmetic,  geometry,  music,  and  astronomy.  This,  together 
with  the  trivium,  or  preparatory  group  of  three  subjects — grammar, 
rhetoric,  and  logic — constituted  what  was  known  as  the  seven  liberal 
arts  •  but,  in  the  darkest  ages,  the  quadrivium  was  almost  lost  sight 
of,  and  few  went  beyond  the  trivium. 

In  the  seventh  century,  the  era  of  deepest  intellectual  gloom,  phi- 
losophy was  at  an  entire  stand-still.  Light  arises  with  the  eighth, 
when  we  are  introduced  to  the  cathedral  and  cloister  schools  of  Char- 
lemagne ;  and  the  ninth  saw  these  schools  fully  established,  and  an 
educational  reform  completed  that  was  to  be  productive  of  lasting 
good  results.  But  the  range  of  instruction  was  still  narrow,  scarcely 
proceeding  beyond  the  Old  Logic,  and  the  teachers  wTere,  as  formerly, 
the  monks.  The  eleventh  century  is  really  the  period  of  dawn.  The 
East  was  now  opened  up  through  the  Crusades,  and  there  was  frequent 
intercourse  with  the  learned  Saracens  of  Spain  ;  and  thus  there  were 
brought  into  the  West  the  whole  of  Aristotle's  works,  with  Arabic 
commentaries,  chiefly  in  Latin  translations.  The  effervescence  was 
prodigious  and  alarming.  The  schools  were  re-enforced  by  a  higher 
class  of  teachers,  lay  as  well  as  clerical ;  a  marked  advance  was  made 
in  Logic  and  Dialectic  ;  and  the  great  controversy  of  realism  versus 
nominalism,  which  had  found  its  birth  in  the  previous  century,  raged 
with  extraordinary  vigor.  We  are  now  on  the  eve  of  the  founding 
of  the  universities  ;  Bologna,  indeed,  being  already  in  existence. 

The  university  proper,  however,  can  hardly  be  dated  earlier  than 
the  twelfth  century  ;  and  the  important  particulars  in  its  first  consti- 
tution are  these  : 

First,  the  separation  of  philosophy  from  theology.  To  expound 
this,  would  be  to  give  a  chapter  of  mediaeval  history.  Suffice  it  to 
say  that  Aristotle  and  the  awakening  intellect  of  the  eleventh  century 
were  the  main  causes  of  it.  Two  classes  of  minds  at  this  time  divided 
the  Church — the  pious,  devout  believers  (such  as  St.  Bernard),  who 
needed  no  reasons  for  their  faith,  and  the  polemic  speculative  divines 
(such  as  Abelard),  who  wished  to  make  theology  rational.  It  was.  an 
age,  too,  of  stirring  political  events  ;  the  crusading  spirit  was  abroad, 
and  found  a  certain  gratification  even  in  the  war  of  words.  The 
nature  of  univei'sals  was  eagerly  debated  ;  but,  when  this  controversy 
came  into  collision  with  such  leading  theological  doctrines  as  the 
Trinity  and  predestination,  it  was  no  longer  possible  for  philosophy 
and  theology  to  remain  conjoined. 

A  separation  was  effected,  and  determined  the  leading  feature  of 
the  university  system.  The  foundation  was  philosophy,  and  the  fun- 
damental faculty  the  Faculty  of  Arts.  Bologna,  indeed,  was  eminent 
for  law  or  jurisprudence,  and  this  celebrity  it  retained  for  ages  ;  but 


THE    UNIVERSITY  IDEAL.  46i 

the  University  of  Paris,  which  is  the  prototype  of  our  Scottish  univer- 
sities, as  of  so  many  others,  taught  nothing  but  philosophy — in  other 
words,  had  no  faculty  but  arts — for  many  years.  Neither  theology, 
mediciue,  nor  law  had  existence  there  till  the  thirteenth  century. 

Second,  the  system  of  conferring  degrees,  after  appropriate  trials. 
These  were  at  first  simply  a  license  to  teach.  They  acquired  their 
commanding  importance  through  the  action  of  Pope  Nicholas  I,  who 
gave  to  the  graduates  of  the  University  of  Paris  the  power  of  teach- 
ing everywhere,  a  power  that  our  own  countrymen  were  the  foremost 
to  turn  to  account. 

Third,  the  organization  of  the  primitive  university.  Europe  was 
unsettled  ;  even  in  the  capitals,  the  civil  power  was  often  unhinged. 
Wherever  multitudes  came  together,  there  was  manifested  a  spirit  of 
turbulence.  The  universities  often  exemplified  this  fact  ;  and  it  was 
found  necessary  to  establish  a  government  within  themselves.  The 
basis  was  popular  ;  but,  while  in  Paris  only  the  teaching  body  was 
incorporated,  in  Bologna  the  students  had  a  voice.  They  elected  the 
rector,  and  his  jurisdiction  was  very  great  indeed,  and  much  more  im- 
portant than  speechifying  to  his  constituents.  His  court  had  the 
power  of  internal  regulation,  with  both  a  civil  and  criminal  jurisdic- 
tion. The  Scotch  universities,  on  this  point,  followed  Bologna  ;  and 
that  fact  is  the  remote  cause  of  this  day's  meeting. 

So  started  the  university.  The  idea  took  ;  and,  in  thi*ee  centuries, 
many  of  the  leading  towns  in  Italy,  France,  the  German  Empire,  had 
their  universities  ;  in  England  arose  Oxford  and  Cambridge  ;  the 
model  was  Paris  or  Bologna. 

Scotland  did  not  at  first  enter  the  race  of  university  founding,  but 
worked  on  the  plan  of  the  cuckoo,  by  laying  its  eggs  in  the  nests  of 
others.  For  two  centuries,  Scotchmen  were  almost  shut  out  of  Eng- 
land ;  and  so  could  not  make  for  themselves  a  career  in  Oxford  and 
Cambridge,  as  in  later  times.  They  had,  however,  at  home,  good  gram- 
mar-schools, where  they  were  grounded  in  Latin.  They  perambulated 
Europe,  and  were  familiar  figures  in  the  great  university  towns,  and 
especially  Paris.  From  their  disputatious  and  metaphysical  attitude 
they  worked  their  upward  way  : 

"  And  gladly  would  they  learn  and  gladly  teach." 

At  length,  the  nation  did  take  up  the  work  in  good  earnest.  In 
1411  was  founded  the  first  of  the  St.  Andrews'  Colleges  ;  1451  is  the 
date  of  Glasgow  ;  1494,  King's  College,  Aberdeen.  These  are  the  pre- 
Reformation  colleges  ;  but  for  the  Reformation,  we  might  not  have 
had  any  other.  Their  founders  were  ecclesiastics  ;  their  constitution 
and  ceremonial  were  ecclesiastical.  They  were  intended,  no  doubt, 
to  keep  the  Scotch  students  at  home.  They  were  also  expected  to 
serve  as  bulwarks  to  the  Church  against  the  rising  heretics  of  the 
times.  In  this  they  were  disappointed  ;  the  first-begotten  of  them 
became  the  cradle  of  the  Reformation. 


462  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

In  these  our  three  eldest  foundations  we  are  to  seek  the  primitive 
constitution  and  the  teaching  system  of  our  universities.  In  essen- 
tials, they  were  the  same  ;  only  between  the  dates  of  Glasgow  and 
Old  Aberdeen  occurred  two  great  events.  One  was  the  taking  of  Con- 
stantinople, which  spread  the  Greek  scholars  with  their  treasures  over 
Europe.  The  other  was  the  progress  of  printing.  In  1451,  when  Glas- 
gow commenced,  there  was  no  printed  text-book.  In  1494,  when  King's 
College  began,  the  ancient  classics  had  been  largely  printed  ;  the  early 
editions  of  Aristotle  in  our  library  show  the  date  of  1486. 

Our  universities  have  three  well-marked  periods  ;  the  first  anterior 
to  the  Reformation  ;  the  second,  from  the  Reformation  to  the  begin- 
ning of  last  century  ;  the  third,  the  last  and  present  centuries.  Con- 
fining ourselves  still  to  the  Faculty  of  Arts,  the  features  of  the  pre- 
Reformation  university  were  these  : 

First,  as  regards  the  teaching  body.  The  quadrennial  arts'  course 
was  conducted  by  so-called  regents,  who  each  carried  the  same  stu- 
dents through  all  the  four  years,  thus  taking  upon  himself  the  burden 
of  all  the  sciences — a  walking  encyclopaedia.  The  system  was  in  full 
force,  in  spite  of  attempts  to  change  it,  during  both  the  first  and  the 
second  pei'iods.  You,  the  students  of  arts,  at  the  present  day,  encount- 
ering, in  your  four  years,  seven  faces,  seven  voices,  seven  repositories 
of  knowledge,  need  an  effort  to  understand  how  your  predecessors 
could  be  cheerful  and  happy,  confined  all  through  to  one  personality  ; 
sometimes  juvenile,  sometimes  senile,  often  feeble  at  his  best. 

Next,  as  regards  the  subjects  taught.  To  know  these  you  have 
simply  to  know  what  are  the  writings  of  Aristotle.  The  little  work 
on  him  by  Sir  Alexander  Grant  supplies  the  needful  information.  The 
records  of  the  Glasgow  University  furnish  the  curriculum  of  Arts  soon 
after  its  foundation.  The  subjects  are  laid  out  in  two  heads — Logic 
and  Philosophy.  The  Logic  comprised  first  the  three  Treatises  of  the 
Old  Logic  ;  to  these  were  now  added  the  whole  of  the  works  making 
up  Aristotle's  "  Organon."  This  brought  in  the  Syllogism  and  allied 
matters.  There  was,  also,  a  selection  from  the  work  known  as  the 
"  Topics,"  not  now  included  in  logical  teaching,  yet  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  and  distinctive  of  Aristotle's  writings.  It  is  a  highly- 
labored  account  of  the  whole  art  of  disputation,  laid  out  under  his 
scheme  of  the  Predicables.  The  selection  fell  chiefly  on  two  books — 
the  second,  comprising  what  Aristotle  had  to  say  on  Induction,  and 
the  sixth,  on  Definition  ;  together  with  the  "  Logical  Captions,"  or 
Fallacies.  Disputation  was  one  of  the  products  of  the  Greek  mind  ; 
and  Aristotle  was  its  prophet. 

Now  for  Philosophy.  This  comprised  nearly  the  whole  of  Aris- 
totle's Physical  treatises — his  very  worst  side — together  with  his  Met- 
aphysics, some  parts  of  which  are  hardly  distinguishable  from  the 
Physics.  Next  was  the  very  difficult  treatise — "  De  Anima,"  on  the 
Mind,  or  Soul — and  some  allied  psychological  treatises,  as  that  on 


THE    UNIVERSITY  IDEAL.  463 

Memory.  Such  was  the  ordinary  and  sufficing  curriculum.  It  was 
allowed  to  be  varied  with  a  part  of  the  Ethics  ;  but  in  this  age  we  do 
not  find  the  Politics  ;  and  the  Rhetoric  is  never  mentioned.  So,  also, 
the  really  valuable  biological  works  of  Aristotle,  including  his  book 
on  Animals,  appear  to  have  been  neglected. 

Certain  portions  of  Mathematics  always  found  a  place  in  the  cur- 
riculum. Likewise,  some  work  on  Astronomy,  wThich  was  one  of  the 
quadrivium  subjects. 

All  this  was  given  in  Latin.  Greek  was  not  then  known  (it  was 
introduced  into  Scotland  in  1534).  No  classical  Latin  author  is  given  ; 
the  education  in  Latin  was  finished  at  the  Grammar  School. 

Such  was  the  Arts'  Faculty  of  the  fifteenth  century  :  a  dreary, 
single-manned,  Aristotelian  quadriennium.  The  position  is  not  com- 
pletely before  us  till  we  understand  further  the  manner  of  working. 

The  pupils  could  not,  as  a  rule,  possess  the  text  of  Aristotle.  The 
teacher  read  and  expounded  the  text  for  them  ;  but  a  very  large  por- 
tion of  the  time  was  always  occupied  in  dictating,  or  "  diting,"  notes, 
which  the  pupils  were  examined  upon,  viva  voce;  their  best  plan 
usually  being  to  get  them  by  heart,  as  any  one  might  ask  them  to 
repeat  passages  literally,  while  perhaps  few  could  examine  well  upon 
the  meaning.  The  notes  would  be  selections  and  abridgments  from 
Aristotle,  with  the  comments  of  modern  writers.  The  "  diting "  sys- 
tem was  often  complained  of  as  a  waste  of  time,  but  was  not  discon- 
tinued till  the  third,  or  present,  university  dynasty,  and  not  entirely 
then,  as  many  of  us  know. 

The  teaching  was  thus  exclusively  text  teaching.  The  teacher  had 
little  or  nothing  to  say  for  himself  (at  least  in  the  earliest  period). 
He  was  even  restricted  in  the  remarks  he  might  make  by  way  of  com- 
mentary.    He  was  as  nearly  as  possible  a  machine. 

But,  lastly,  to  complete  the  view  of  the  first  period,  we  must  add 
the  practice  of  disputation,  of  which  we  shall  have  a  better  idea  from 
the  records  of  the  next  period.  This  practice  was  coeval  with  the 
universities  ;  it  was  the  single  mode  of  stimulating  the  thought  of  the 
individual  student  ;  the  chief  antidote  to  the  mechanical  teaching  by 
text-books  and  dictation. 

The  pre-Reforraation  period  of  Aberdeen  University  was  little 
more  than  sixty  years.  For  a  portion  of  those  years  it  attained  celeb- 
rity. In  1541  the  town  was  honored  by  a  visit  from  James  V,  and 
the  university  contributed  to  his  entertainment.  The  somewhat  penny- 
a-lining  account  is,  that  there  were  exercises  and  disputations  in  Greek, 
Latin,  and  other  languages  !  The  official  records,  however,  show  that 
the  college  at  that  very  time  had  sunk  into  a  convent  and  conventual 
school. 

The  Reformation  introduced  the  second  period,  and  made  impor- 
tant changes.  First  of  all,  in  the  great  convulsion  of  European  thought, 
the  ascendencv  of  Aristotle  was  shaken.     It  is  enough  to  mention  two 


464  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

incidents  in  the  downfall  of  the  mighty  Stagyrite.  One  was  the  attack 
on  him  by  the  renowned  Peter  Ramus,  in  the  University  of  Paris. 
Our  countryman,  Andrew  Melville,  attended  Ramus's  Lectures,  and 
became  the  means  of  introducing  his  system  into  Scotland.  The  other 
incident  is  still  more  notable.  The  Reformers  had  to  consider  their 
attitude  toward  Aristotle.  At  first  their  opinion  was  condemnatory. 
Luther  regarded  him  as  a  very  devil ;  he  was  "  a  godless  bulwark  of 
the  papists."  Melanchthon  was  also  hostile  ;  but  he  soon  perceived 
that  Theology  would  crumble  into  fanatical  dissolution  without  the 
co-operation  of  some  philosophy.  As  yet  there  was  nothing  to  fall 
back  upon  except  the  pagan  systems.  Of  these,  Melanchthon  was 
obliged  to  confess  that  Aristotle  was  the  least  objectionable,  and  was, 
moreover,  in  possession.  The  plan,  therefore,  was  to  accept  him  as  a 
basis,  and  fence  him  round  with  orthodox  emendations.  This  done, 
Aristotle,  no  longer  despotic,  but  as  a  limited  constitutional  monarch, 
had  his  reign  prolonged  a  century  and  a  half. 

The  first  thing,  after  the  Reformation  in  Scotland,  was  to  purge  the 
universities  of  the  inflexible  adherents  of  the  old  faith.  Then  came 
the  question  of  amending  the  curriculum,  not  simply  with  a  view  to 
Protestantism,  but  for  the  sake  of  an  enlightened  teaching.  The  right 
man  appeared  at  the  right  moment.  In  1574  Andrew  Melville,  then 
in  Geneva,  received  pressing  invitations  to  come  home  and  take  part 
in  the  needed  reforms.  He  was  immediately  made  Principal  of  Glas- 
gow University,  at  that  time  in  a  state  of  utter  collapse  and  ruin.  He 
had  matured  his  plans,  after  consultation  with  George  Buchanan,  and 
they  were  worthy  of  a  great  reformer.  He  sketched  a  curriculum, 
substantially  the  curriculum  of  the  second  university  period.  The 
modifications  upon  the  almost  exclusive  Aristotelianism  of  the  first 
period  were  significant.  The  Greek  language  was  introduced,  and 
Greek  classical  authors  read.  The  reading  in  the  Roman  classics  was 
extended.  A  text-book  on  rhetoric  accompanied  the  classical  readings. 
The  dialectics  of  Ramus  made  the  prelude  to  Logic,  instead  of  the 
three  treatises  of  the  Old  Logic.  The  mathematics  included  Euclid. 
Geography  and  Cosmography  were  taken  up.  Then  came  a  course  of 
Moral  Philosophy  on  an  enlarged  basis.  With  the  Ethics  and  Politics 
of  Aristotle  were  combined  Cicero's  ethical  works  and  certain  Dia- 
logues of  Plato.  Finally,  in  the  physics,  Melville  still  used  Aristotle, 
but  along  with  a  more  modern  treatise.  He  also  gave  a  view  of  uni- 
versal history  and  chronology. 

This  curriculum,  which  Melville  took  upon  himself  to  teach,  in 
order  to  train  future  teachers,  was  the  point  of  departure  of  the 
courses  in  all  the  universities  during  the  second  period.  With  varia- 
tions of  time  and  place,  the  Arts'  course  may  be  described  as  made 
up  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  with  rhetoric,  logic,  and  dialectics, 
moral  philosophy  or  ethics,  mathematics,  physics,  and  astronomy.  The 
little  text-book  of  rhetoric,  by  Talon  or  Talseus,  was  made  up  of  notes 


THE    UNIVERSITY  IDEAL.  465 

from  the  Lectures  of  Peter  Ramus,  and  used  in  all  our  colleges  till 
superseded  by  the  better  compilation  of  the  Dutch  scholar,  Gerard 
John  Voss. 

Melville  had  to  contend  with  many  opponents,  among  them  the 
sticklers  for  the  infallibility  of  the  Stagyrite.  Like  the  German  Re- 
formers, he  had  accepted  Aristotelianism  as  a  basis,  with  a  similar 
process  of  reconciliation.  So  it  was  that  Aristotle  and  Calvin  were 
brought  to  kiss  each  other. 

Melville's  next  proposal  was  all  too  revolutionary.  It  consisted 
in  restricting  the  regents  each  to  a  special  group  of  subjects  ;  in 
fact,  anticipating  our  modern  professoriate.  He  actually  set  up  this 
jflan  in  Glasgow  :  one  regent  took  Greek  and  Latin  ;  another,  his 
nephew,  James  Melville,  took  mathematics,  logic,  and  moral  philos- 
ophy ;  a  third,  physics  and  astronomy.  The  system  went  on,  in  ap- 
pearance, at  least,  for  fifty  years  ;  it  is  only  in  1642  that  we  find  the 
regents  given  without  a  specific  designation.  Why  it  should  have 
gone  on  so  long,  and  been  then  dropped,  we  are  not  informed.  Mel- 
ville's influence  started  it  in  the  other  universities,  but  it  was  defeated 
in  every  one  from  the  very  outset.  After  six  years  at  Glasgow,  he 
went  to  St.  Andrews  as  Principal  and  Professor  of  Divinity,  and  tried 
there  the  same  reforms,  but  the  resistance  was  too  great.  In  spite  of 
a  public  enactment,  the  division  of  labor  among  the  regents  was  never 
carried  out.  Yet,  such  was  Melville's  authority,  that  the  same  enact- 
ment was  extended  to  King's  College,  in  a  scheme  having  a  remark- 
able history — the  so-called  New  Foundation  of  Aberdeen  University, 
promulgated  in  a  royal  charter  of  about  the  year  1581.  The  Earl 
Marischal  was  a  chief  promoter  of  the  plan  of  reform  comprised  in 
this  charter.  The  division  of  labor  among  the  regents  was  most  ex- 
pressly enjoined.  The  plan  fell  through  ;  and  there  was  a  legal  dis- 
pute fifty  years  afterward  as  to  whether  it  had  ever  any  legal  validity. 
Charles  I  was  made  to  express  indignation  at  the  idea  of  reducing  the 
university  to  a  school  ! 

We  now  approach  the  foundation  of  Marischal  College.  The  Earl 
Marischal  may  have  been  actuated  by  the  failure  of  his  attempt  to  re- 
form King's  College.  At  all  events,  his  mind  was  made  up  to  follow 
Melville  in  assigning  separate  subjects  to  his  regents.  The  charter  is 
explicit  on  this  head.  Yet,  in  spite  of  the  charter  and  in  spite  of  his 
own  presence,  the  intention  was  thwarted  ;  the  old  regenting  lasted 
one  hundred  and  sixty  years. 

Still  the  curriculum  reform  was  gained.  There  was,  indeed,  one 
great  miss.  The  year  before  Marischal  College  was  founded,  Galileo 
had  published  his  work  on  mechanics,  which,  taken  with  what  had 
been  accomplished  by  Archimedes  and  others,  laid  the  foundations  of 
our  modern  physics.  Copernicus  had  already  published  his  work  on 
the  heavens.  It  was  now  time  that  the  Aristotelian  Physics  should  be 
clean  swept  away.     In  this  whole  department,  Aristotle  had  made  a 

VOL.   XXII. — 30 


466  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

reign  of  confusion  ;  he  had  thrown  the  subject  back,  being  himself  off 
the  rails  from  first  to  last.  Had  there  been  in  Scotland  an  adviser  in 
this  department,  like  Melville  in  general  literature,  or  like  Napier  of 
Merchiston  in  pure  mathematics,  one  fourth  of  the  college  teaching 
might  have  been  reclaimed  from  utter  waste,  and  a  healthy  tone  of 
thinking  diffused  through  the  remainder. 

A  curious  fascination  always  attached  to  the  study  of  astronomy, 
even  when  there  was  not  much  to  be  said,  apart  from  the  unsatisfac- 
tory disquisition  of  Aristotle.  A  little  book,  entitled  "  Sacrobosco  on 
the  Sphere,"  containing  little  more  than  what  we  should  now  teach  to 
boys  and  girls,  along  with  the  globes,  was  a  university  text-book 
throughout  Europe  for  centuries.  I  was  informed  by  a  late  King's 
College  professor  that  the  use  of  the  globes  was,  within  his  memory, 
taught  in  the  Magistrand  Class.  This  would  be  simply  what  is  termed 
a  "  survival." 

Now,  as  to  the  mode  of  instruction.  There  were  viva-voce  exami- 
nations upon  the  notes,  such  as  we  can  imagine.  But  the  stress  was 
laid  on  disputations  and  declamations  in  various  forms.  Besides  dis- 
puting and  declaiming  on  the  regular  class-work  before  the  regent,  we 
find  that,  in  Edinburgh,  and  I  suppose  elsewhere,  the  classes  were 
divided  into  companies,  who  met  apart,  and  conferred  and  debated 
among  themselves  daily.  The  students  were  occupied,  altogether,  six 
hours  a  day.  Then  the  higher  classes  were  frequently  pitched  against 
each  other.  This  was  a  favorite  occupation  on  Saturdays.  The  doc- 
trines espoused  by  the  leading  students  became  their  nicknames.  The 
pass  for  graduation  consisted  in  the  propugning  or  impugning  of  ques- 
tions by  each  candidate  in  turn.  An  elaborate  thesis  was  drawn  up 
by  the  regent,  giving  the  heads  of  his  philosophy  course  ;  this  was 
accepted  by  the  candidates,  signed  by  them,  and  printed  at  their  ex- 
pense. Then  on  the  day  of  trial,  at  a  long  sitting,  each  candidate 
stood  up  and  propugned  or  impugned  a  portion  of  the  thesis  ;  all  were 
heard  in  turn  ;  and  on  the  result  the  degree  was  conferred.  A  good 
many  of  these  theses  are  preserved  in  our  library  ;  some  of  them  are 
very  long — a  hundred  pages  of  close  type  ;  they  are  our  best  clew  to 
the  teaching  of  the  period.  We  can  see  how  far  Aristotle  was  quali- 
fied by  modern  views. 

I  said  there  might  have  been  times  when  the  students  never  had 
the  relief  of  a  second  face  all  the  four  years.  The  exceptions  are  of 
importance.  First,  as  regards  Marischal  College.  Within  a  few  years 
of  the  foundation,  Dr.  Duncan  Liddell  founded  the  Mathematical 
chair,  and  thus  withdrew  from  the  regents  the  subject  that  most  of 
all  needed  a  specialist  ;  a  succession  of  very  able  mathematicians  sat 
in  this  chair.  King's  College  had  not  the  same  good  fortune.  From 
its  foundation  it  possessed  a  separate  functionary,  the  Humanist  or 
Grammarian  ;  but  he  had  also,  till  1753,  to  act  as  Rector  of  the  Gram- 
mar School.     Edinburgh  obtained  from  an  early  date  a  Mathematical 


THE   UNIVERSITY  IDEAL.  467 

chair,  occupied  by  men  of  celebrity.  There  was  no  other  innovation 
till  near  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when  Greek  was  isolated 
both  in  Edinburgh  and  in  Marischal  College  ;  but  the  end  of  regenting 
was  then  near. 

The  old  system,  however,  had  some  curious  writhings.  Durino- 
the  troubled  seventeenth  century,  university  reform  could  not  com- 
mand persistent  attention.  But,  after  the  1688  Revolution,  opinions 
were  strongly  expressed  in  favor  of  the  Melville  system.  The  obvious 
argument  was  urged  that,  by  division  of  labor,  each  man  would  be 
able  to  master  a  special  subject,  and  do  it  justice  in  teaching.  Yet,  it 
was  replied  that,  by  the  continued  intercourse,  the  masters  knew  better 
the  humors,  inclinations,  and  talents  of  their  scholars.  To  which  the 
answer  was — the  humors  and  inclinations  of  scholars  are  not  so  deeply 
hid  but  that  in  a  few  weeks  they  appear.  Moreover,  it  was  said,  the 
students  are  more  respectful  to  a  master  while  he  is  new  to  them. 

The  final  division  of  subjects  took  place  in  Edinburgh  in  1708  ;  in 
Glasgow,  in  1727  ;  in  St.  Andrews,  in  1747.  In  Marischal  College, 
the  change  was  made  by  a  minute  of  January  11,  1753  ;  but,  whether 
from  ignorance,  or  from  want  of  grace,  the  Senatus  did  not  record  its 
satisfaction  at  having,  after  a  lapse  of  five  generations,  fulfilled  the 
wishes  of  the  pious  founder.  In  King's  College  the  old  system  lasted 
till  1798. 

This  closes  the  second  age  of  the  universities,  and  introduces  the 
third  age,  the  age  of  the  professoriate,  of  lecturing  instead  of  text- 
books, the  end  of  disputation,  and  the  use  of  the  English  language.  It 
was  now,  and  not  till  now,  that  the  Scottish  universities  stood  forth, 
in  several  leading  departments  of  knowledge,  as  the  teachers  of  the 
world. 

The  second  age  of  the  universities  was  Scotland's  most  trying 
time.  In  a  hundred  and  thirty  years,  the  country  had  passed  through 
four  revolutions  and  counter-revolutions  ;  every  one  of  which  told 
upon  the  universities.  The  victorious  party  imposed  its  test  upon  the 
university  teachers,  and  drove  out  recusants.  You  must  all  know 
something  of  the  purging  of  the  university  and  the  ministry  of  Aber- 
deen by  the  Covenanting  General  Assembly  of  1640.  These  deposed 
Aberdeen  doctors  may  have  had  too  strong  leanings  to  episcopacy  in 
the  church  and  to  absolutism  in  the  state,  but  they  were  not  Vicars  of 
Bray.  The  first  half  of  the  century  was  adorned  by  a  band  of  schol- 
ars, who  have  gained  renown  by  their  cultivation  of  Latin  poetry  ;  a 
little  oasis  in  the  desert  of  Aristotelian  dialectics.  It  would  be  needless 
and  ungracious  to  inquire  whether  this  was  the  best  thing  that  could 
have  been  done  for  the  generation  of  Bishop  Patrick  Forbes. 

Your  reading  in  the  history  of  Scotland  will  thus  bring  you  face 
to  face  with  the  great  powers  that  contended  for  the  mastery  from 
1560  :  the  monarchy,  always  striving  to  be  absolute  ;  the  Church, 
whose  position  made  it  the  advocate  of  popular  freedom  ;  the  univer- 


468  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

sities,  fluctuating  as  regards  political  liberty,  but  standing  up  for  in- 
tellectual liberty.  In  tbe  seventeenth  century  the  Church  ruled  the 
universities  ;  in  the  eighteenth,  it  may  be  said  that  the  universities 
returned  the  comjfliment. 

Enough  for  the  past.  A  word  or  two  on  the  present.  What  is 
now  the  need  for  a  university  system,  and  what  must  the  system 
be  to  answer  that  need  ?  Many  things  are  altered  since  the  twelfth 
century. 

First,  then,  universities,  as  I  understand  them,  are  not  absolutely 
essential  to  the  teaching  of  professions.  Let  me  make  an  extreme 
supposition.  A  great  naval  commander,  like  Nelson,  is  sent  on  board 
ship,  at  eleven  or  twelve  ;  his  previous  knowledge,  or  general  training, 
is  what  you  may  suppose  for  that  age.  It  is  in  the  course  of  actual 
service,  and  in  no  other  way,  that  he  acquires  his  professional  fitness  for 
commanding  fleets.  Is  this  right  or  is  it  wrong  ?  Perhaps  it  is  wrong, 
but  it  has  gone  on  so  for  a  long  time.  Well,  why  may  not  a  preacher 
be  formed  on  the  same  plan  ?  John  Wesley  was  not  a  greater  man  in 
preaching  than  Nelson  in  seamanship.  Take,  then,  a  youth  of  thir- 
teen from  the  school.  Apprentice  hiru  to  the  minister  of  the  parish. 
Let  him  make  at  once  preparations  for  clerical  work.  Let  him  store 
his  memory  with  sermons,  let  him  make  abstracts  of  divinity  systems  ; 
master  the  best  exegetical  commentators.  Then,  in  a  year  or  two,  he 
would  begin  to  catechise  the  young,  to  give  addresses  in  the  way  of 
exposition,  exhortation,  encouragement,  and  rebuke.  Practice  would 
bring  facility.  Might  not,  I  say,  seven  years  of  the  actual  work,  in 
the  susceptible  period  of  life,  make  a  preacher  of  no  mean  power,  with- 
out the  grammar-school,  without  the  Arts  classes,  without  the  Divinity 
Hall? 

What,  then,  do  we  gain  by  taking  such  a  roundabout  approach  to 
our  professional  work?     The  answer  is  twofold  : 

First,  as  regards  tbe  profession  itself.  Naarly  every  skilled  occu- 
pation, in  our  time,  involves  principles  and  facts  that  have  been  inves- 
tigated, and  are  taught,  outside  the  profession  ;  to  the  medical  man 
are  given  courses  of  chemistry,  physiology,  and  so  on.  Hence,  to  be 
completely  equipped  for  your  professional  work,  you  must  repair  to 
the  teachers  of  those  tributary  departments  of  knowledge.  The  re- 
quirement, however,  is  not  absolute  ;  it  admits  of  being  evaded.  Your 
professional  teachers  ought  to  master  these  outside  subjects,  and  give 
you  just  so  much  of  them  as  you  need,  and  no  more  ;  which  would  be 
an  obvious  economy  of  your  valuable  time. 

Thus,  I  apprehend,  the  strictly  professional  uses  of  general  knowl- 
edge fail  to  justify  the  grammar-school  and  the  Arts'  curriculum. 
Something,  indeed,  may  still  be  said  for  the  higher  grades  of  profes- 
sional excellence,  and  for  introducing  improved  methods  into  the  prac- 
tice of  the  several  crafts,  for  which  wider  outside  studies  lend  their 
aid.     This,  however,  is  not  enough ;  inventors  are  the  exception.     In 


THE   UNIVERSITY  IDEAL.  469 

fact,  the  ground  must  be  widened,  and  include,  secondly,  the  life  be- 
yond the  profession.  We  are  citizens  of  a  self -governed  country  ; 
members  of  various  smaller  societies  ;  heads  or  members  of  families. 
We  have,  moreover,  to  carve  out  recreation  and  enjoyment  as  the 
alternative  and  the  reward  of  our  professional  toil.  Now,  the  entire 
tone  and  character  of  this  life  outside  the  profession  are  profoundly 
dependent  on  the  compass  of  our  early  studies.  He  that  leaves  the 
school  for  the  shop  at  thirteen  is  on  one  platform.  He  that  spends 
the  years  from  thirteen  to  twenty  in  acquiring  general  knowledge  is 
on  a  totally  different  platform  ;  he  is,  in  the  best  sense,  an  aristocrat. 
Those  that  begin  work  at  thirteen,  and  those  that  are  born  not  to  work 
at  all,  are  alike  his  inferiors.  He  should  be  able  to  spread  light  all 
around.  He  it  is  that  may  stand  forth  before  the  world  as  the  model 
man. 

All  this  supposes  that  you  realize  the  position  ;  that  you  fill  up  the 
measure  of  the  opportunities  ;  that  you  keep  in  view  at  once  the  pro- 
fessional life,  the  citizen  life,  and  the  life  of  intellectual  tastes.  The 
mere  professional  man,  however  prosperous,  can  not  be  a  power  in 
society,  as  the  Arts'  graduate  may  become.  His  leisure  occupations 
are  all  of  a  lower  stamp.  He  does  not  participate  in  the  march  of 
knowledge.  He  must  be  aware  of  his  incompetence  to  judge  for  him- 
self in  the  greater  questions  of  our  destiny  ;  his  part  is  to  be  a  follower, 
and  not  a  leader. 

It  is  not,  then,  the  name  of  graduate  that  will  do  all  this.  It  is 
not  a  scrape  pass  ;  it  is  not  decent  mediocrity  with  a  languid  interest. 
It  is  a  fair  and  even  attention  throughout,  supplemented  by  auxiliaries 
to  the  class-work.  It  is  such  a  hold  of  the  leading  subjects,  such  a 
mastery  of  the  various  alphabets,  as  will  make  future  references  intel- 
ligible, and  a  continuation  of  the  study  possible. 

Our  curriculum  is  one  of  the  completest  in  the  country,  or  perhaps 
anywhere.  By  the  happy  thought  of  the  Senatus  of  Marischal  Col- 
lege, in  1753,  you  have  a  fundamental  class  not  existing  in  the  other 
colleges.  You  have  a  fair  representation  of  the  three  great  lines  of 
science — the  abstract,  the  experimental,  and  the  classifying.  When 
it  is  a  general  education  that  you  are  thinking  of,  every  scheme  of 
option  is  imperfect  that  doe3  not  provide  for  such  three-sided  cultiva- 
tion of  our  reasoning  powers.  A  larger  quantity  of  one  will  no  more 
serve  for  the  absence  of  the  rest  than  a  double  covering  of  one  part  of 
the  body  will  enable  another  part  to  be  left  bare. 

Your  time  in  the  Arts'  curriculum  is  not  entirely  used  up  by  the 
classes.  You  can  make  up  for  deficiencies  in  the  course  when  once 
you  have  formed  your  ideal  of  completeness.  For  a  year  or  two  after 
graduating,  while  still  rejoicing  in  youthful  freshness,  you  can  be 
widening  your  foundations.  The  thing,  then,  is  to  possess  a  good 
scheme  and  to  abide  by  it.  Now,  making  every  allowance  for  the 
variation  of  tastes  and  of  circumstances,  and  looking  solely  to  what  is 


47Q  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

desirable  for  a  citizen  and  a  man,  it  is  impossible  to  refuse  the  claims 
of  the  department  of  Historical  and  Social  study.  One  or  two  good 
representative  historical  periods  might  be  thoroughly  mastered,  in 
conjunction  with  the  best  theoretical  compends  of  Social  Phi- 
losophy. 

Further,  the  ideal  graduate,  who  is  to  guide  and  not  follow  opinion, 
should  be  well  versed  in  all  the  bearings  of  the  Spiritual  Philosophy 
of  the  time.  The  subject  branches  out  into  wide  regions,  but  not 
wider  than  you  should  be  capable  of  following  it.  This  is  not  a  pro- 
fessional study  merely  ;  it  is  the  study  of  a  well-instructed  man. 

Once  more.  A  share  of  attention  should  be  bestowed  early  on  the 
higher  literature  of  the  imagination.  As,  in  after-life,  j)oetry  and 
elegant  composition  are  to  be  counted  on  as  a  pleasure  and  solace,  they 
should  be  taken  up  at  first  as  a  study.  The  critical  examination  of 
styles,  and  of  authors,  which  forms  an  admirable  basis  of  a  student's 
society,  should  be  a  work  of  study  and  research.  The  advantages  will 
be  many  and  lasting.  To  conceive  the  exact  scope  and  functions  of 
the  imagination  in  art,  in  science,  in  religion,  and  everywhere,  will 
repay  the  trouble. 

Ever  since  I  remember,  I  have  been  accustomed  to  hear  of  the 
superiority  of  the  Arts'  graduate,  in  various  crafts,  more  especially  as 
a  teacher.  Many  of  you  in  these  days  pass  into  another  vocation — 
letters,  or  the  jn-ess.  Here,  too,  almost  everything  you  learn  will 
pay  you  professionally.  Still,  I  am  careful  not  to  rest  the  case  for 
general  education  on  professional  grounds  alone.  I  might  show  you 
that  the  highest  work  of  all — original  inquiry — needs  a  broad  basis  of 
liberal  study  ;  or,  at  all  events,  is  vastly  aided  by  that.  Genius  will 
work  on  even  a  narrow  basis,  but  imperfect  preparatory  study  leaves 
marks  of  imperfection  in  the  product. 

The  same  considerations  that  determine  your  voluntary  studies 
determine  also  the  university  ideal.  A  university,  in  my  view,  stands 
or  falls  with  its  Arts'  faculty.  Without  debating  the  details,  we  may 
say  that  this  faculty  should  always  be  representative  of  the  needs  of 
our  intelligence,  both  for  the  professional  and  for  the  extra-professional 
life  ;  it  should  not  be  of  the  shop,  shoppy.  The  university  exists 
because  the  professions  would  stagnate  without  it  ;  and,  still  more, 
because  it  may  be  a  means  of  enlarging  knowledge  at  all  points.  Its 
watchword  is  progress.  We  have,  at  last,  the  division  of  labor  in 
teaching  ;  outside  the  university,  teachers  too  much  resemble  the 
regent  of  old — having  too  many  subjects,  and  too  much  time  spent  in 
grinding.     Our  teachers  are  exactly  the  reverse. 

Yet,  there  can  not  be  progress  without  a  sincere  and  single  eye  to 
the  truth.  The  fatal  sterility  of  the  middle  ages,  and  of  our  first  and 
second  university  periods,  had  to  do  with  the  mistake  of  gagging  men's 
mouths,  and  dictating  all  their  conclusions.  Things  came  to  be  so 
arranged  that  contradictory  views  ran  side  by  side,  like  opposing  elec- 


CURIOSITIES    OF  SUPERSTITION.  4?1 

trie  currents  ;  the  thick  wrappage  of  ingenious  phraseology  arresting 
the  destructive  discharge.  There  was,  indeed,  an  elaborate  and  pre- 
tentious logic,  supplied  by  Aristotle,  and  amended  by  Bacon  ;  what 
was  still  wanted  was  a  taste  of  the  logic  of  freedom. 


-+*+- 


CURIOSITIES   OF  SUPERSTITION. 

Br  FELIX  L.  OSWALD,  M.  D. 
II. 

DURING  the  reign  of  Philip  II  of  Spain,  the  Government  spies  in 
the  province  of  Malaga  made  a  curious  discovery.  In  the  highest 
valleys  of  the  Alpujarras,  and  surrounded  by  a  population  of  recently 
converted  Moors,  they  found  a  tribe  of  mountaineers  whose  vernacular 
was  as  different  from  the  Arabian  as  from  the  Spanish  language,  and 
whose  neighbors  believed  them  to  be  descendants  of  the  ancient  Ibe- 
rians. The  Ghabirs,  as  the  Moors  called  them,  were  a  most  primitive 
and  harmless  race,  their  food  consisted  of  the  vegetable  products  of 
their  peaceful  valley,  their  only  religious  function  in  sacrificing  milk 
and  fruits  to  the  spirit  of  the  mountains.  A  few  weeks  after  the  dis- 
coverer had  made  his  report  to  the  Holy  Office,  a  detachment  of  troop- 
ers and  monks  invaded  the  Alpujarras,  the  Ghabirs  were  dragged  to 
Velez  Malaga,  and  burned  by  order  of  the  Grand  Inquisitor.  Their 
crime  could  not  be  condoned  :  they  had  disregarded  the  proclamation 
of  1562,  and  evaded  tithes  and  baptism  for  seven  years.  In  vain  they 
pleaded  their  poverty,  their  ancient  customs,  and  their  ignorance  of 
the  Spanish  language  ;  "  they  were  all  invested  with  the  sanbenito" 
says  the  chronicler,  "  and  broiled  to  death  with  the  proper  ceremonies." 
The  shrieks  of  the  victims  were  heard  at  Loja,  and  for  three  days  the 
harbor  of  Velez  was  filled  with  the  stench  of  burned  human  flesh.  It 
was  a  most  edifying  auto  dafe — "an  act  of  faith."  The  same  faith 
had  filled  the  Netherlands  with  blood  and  horror,  had  raged  like  the 
Black  Death  among  the  helpless  aborigines  of  the  New  World,  and 
had  orthodoxed  Spain  by  the  systematic  suppression  of  freedom,  com- 
mon sense,  manhood,  industry,  and  science. 

And  yet  that  monstrous  superstition  had  undoubtedly  supporters 
who  honestly  mistook  it  for  the  purest  and  most  beneficent  of  all  pos- 
sible creeds.  But  we  may  be  equally  sure  that  mere  ignorance  would 
never  have  produced  such  delusions.  The  worst  delusions  are  not  the 
primitive  ones,  not  the  crude  superstitions  of  a  primitive  people.  The 
dogmas  of  an  Ashantee  rain-maker  are  harmless  compared  with  those 
of  a  Spanish  Inquisitor.  "We  find  priests  and  ignorance  both  in  Ash- 
antee and  in  Spain,  but  with  this  difference,  that  in  Ashantee  igno- 


472  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

ranee  produces  the  priests,  while  in  Spain  the  priests  produce  igno- 
rance. 

Henry  Thomas  Buckle  holds  that  religions  are  influenced  hy  the 
climate  and  topography  of  each  country,  and  by  the  character  of  the 
inhabitants.  "  Barbarous  creeds,"  says  he,  "  are  the  result  rather  than 
the  cause  of  a  primitive  stage  of  intellectual  development.  Supersti- 
tion is  merely  the  concomitant  of  the  evils  it  seems  to  produce."  The 
fallacy  of  the  conclusion  arises  from  the  deficient  specification  of  the 
premises  ;  the  logician  overlooks  the  important  difference  between  nat- 
ural and  factitious  creeds ;  between  local  superstitions,  produced  by  a 
process  of  natural  development,  like  the  customs  and  the  language  of  a 
nation,  and  epidemic  superstitions,  engendered  in  the  brain  of  a  crazed 
visionary,  and  propagated  by  force  and  fanaticism.  The  former  bear 
the  marks  of  various  national  characteristics,  the  latter  impress  their 
own  characteristics  on  each  conquered  nation.  Natural  superstitions  re- 
flected the  poetical  genius  of  the  ancient  Greeks  and  the  warlike  spirit 
of  the  Spanish  Celts,  but  the  national  spirit  of  both  Greece  and  Spain 
was  crushed  out  by  the  dogmas  of  anti-naturalism.  There  are  local 
superstitions  that  can  not  be  exported  ;  the  myths  of  Brahmanism  can 
not  be  separated  from  the  physical  geography  of  their  East  Indian 
habitat,  while  the  sagas  of  the  frost-giants  and  fur-clad  hunter-gods 
could  originate  only  in  a  frigid  latitude.  The  Hindoo  sticks  to  his 
rice,  the  Icelander  to  his  whale-blubber.  But  poisons  are  more  cosmo- 
politan :  whisky  and  pessimism  find  votaries  in  every  clime.  The 
oldest  creeds  are  the  most  harmless  ones,  for  the  superstitions  of  a 
primitive  people  are  founded  on  natural  impressions,  which  are  not  apt 
to  mislead  us  to  any  dangerous  degree.  "What  harm  could  there  be  in 
the  fancy  of  the  Arcadian  shepherd  who  heard  a  spirit-voice  in  the 
answering  echo  of  his  mountains,  and  ascribed  the  sudden  stampede  of 
his  flock  to  the  trick  of  a  frolicsome  faun  ?  Bread-and-honey  offer- 
ings to  the  fairies  did  not  bankrupt  the  Hibernian  peasant.  Nearly 
all  children  of  nature  recognized  the  benevolent  purpose  in  the  gifts 
of  the  great  All-Mother  ;  the  gods  of  antiquity  Avere  mostly  helpful 
and  beautiful  spirits,  while  the  nature-hating  creed  of  the  middle 
ages  peopled  the  world  with  legions  of  hideous  demons.  The  first 
May-night,  when  Hertha  awakens  the  slumbering  wood-spirits,  became 
the  Walpurgis  Nacht,  with  its  hellish  revival-meetings.  The  satyrs 
became  mountain-devils  ;  St.  Irenseus  intimates  that  Jupiter  Olympius 
was  the  disguised  arch-fiend  in  person,  the  chief  of  evil  spirits — nay, 
Ritter  Tannhauser  does  not  hesitate  to  denounce  the  Goddess  of  Beauty 
to  her  face  :  "Frau  Venus,  schone  Gattin  mein,  Ihr  seid  eine  Teufel- 
inne  "  ("  My  lady,  ye  are  a  female  devil").  The  pantheon  of  the  Medi- 
terranean nations  became  a  pandemonium,  and  in  all  Christian  coun- 
tries of  mediaeval  Europe  this  devil-mania  raged  with  a  uniformity  of 
violence  and  persistence  that  completely  refutes  Buckle's  theory.  From 
the  fourth  to  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  fanaticism  was  clearly 


CURIOSITIES    OF  SUPERSTITION.  473 

not  the  result  but  the  cause  of  ignorance.  The  dogma  of  unnatural- 
ism  raged  like  a  pandemic  disease,  and  the  changes  it  suffered  in  its 
progress  from  Asia  to  Spain  are  altogether  trifling  compared  with 
those  it  produced.  Its  influence  leveled  all  national  distinctions  ;  it 
emasculated  the  valiant  Visigoth  and  completed  the  degradation  of 
the  degenerate  Byzantine  ;  it  increased  the  superstitions  of  Abyssinia 
and  perverted  the  learning  of  Western  Europe. 

The  works  of  Bodin,  Sprenger,  and  Robert  Burton  furnish  astound- 
ing proofs  of  what  an  amount  of  learning  is  compatible  with  the  most 
extravagant  superstitions.  They  were  all  three  earnest  lovers  of  Truth 
for  her  own  sake — had  accumulated  stores  of  erudition  that  would 
break  the  intellectual  backbone  of  a  modern  scholar  ;  they  were  logi- 
cians of  inexorable  exactitude,  but  the  very  profoundness  of  their  con- 
clusions only  reveals  the  bottomless  absurdity  of  their  premises. 

Dr.  Sprenger  does  not  condescend  to  examine  the  reality  of  dia- 
bolical apparitions  and  infernal  liaisons — it  would  be  mere  waste  of 
time,  he  says,  to  discuss  such  well-proved  facts — but  applies  the  power 
of  his  logic  to  such  questions  as  the  following  :  If  the  offspring  of  a 
male  devil  and  a  human  female  can,  by  a  proper  course  of  penance, 
efface  the  stigma  of  his  birth,  can  he  be  intrusted  with  the  responsi- 
bilities of  a  municipal  or  subaltern  clerical  office  ?  And,  in  case  he 
should  succeed  in  concealing  his  parentage  and  obtain  ecclesiastical 
preferment,  should  not  a  conscientious  diffidence  at  least  inspire  him 
to  plead  a  noli  episcoparif  And  if,  by  any  chance,  his — progenitor 
should  appear  to  him,  is  he  bound  to  treat  the  old  gentleman  with 
anything  like  filial  respect  ?  would  he  be  obliged  to  exorcise  his  own 
father  ?  or  how  could  he  compromise  the  difficulty  ?  And  what  if  he 
should  find  that  he  has  inherited  the  paternal  talent  for  magic  arts, 
and  can  not  rid  himself  of  the  fatal  bequest — does  the  welfare  of  his 
soul  require  that  he  should  denounce  himself  to  the  proper  authori- 
ties ?  Persistent  good  luck,  success  in  vaticination,  etc.,  might  be  re- 
garded as  mere  presumptive  evidence,  but  if  a  Christian  finds  that  he 
can  fly,  it  would  be  a  very  suspicious  circumstance  ;  would  he  be  justi- 
fied in  exercising  his  gift  for  worthy  purposes — take  a  flit  to  Loretto, 
for  instance,  or  should  he  fly  straight  to  the  king's  attorney,  and  thus 
prove  both  his  guilt  and  his  contrition  ?  Or  if.  by  prayer  and  fasting, 
he  should  hope  to  disqualify  himself  for  such  exploits,  would  it  be 
right  to  give  himself  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  ?  An  orthodox  Catholic 
had  better  strictly  abstain  from  volitation,  but  if  such  scruples  were  to 
seize  him  in  mid-air,  would  it  be  advisable  for  him  to  let  himself  drop  ? 
The  gift  of  prescience  would  also  embarrass  a  man  in  that  predicament 
— would  it  be  right  to  conceal  his  foreknowledge  if,  by  a  timely  hint, 
he  could  avert  a  public  calamity  ?  Reticence  would,  on  the  whole,  be 
the  safest  plan.  But  should  a  man  abstain  from  marriage,  lest  his 
wife  might  be  less  discreet  ?  Persons  troubled  with  a  burdensome 
secret  are  apt  to  talk  in  their  sleep. 


474  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

Jean  Bodine  quotes  St.  Augustine  to  the  effect  that  a  certain  Pra3- 
stantius  confided  to  him  an  adventure  of  his  father's,  who,  having  been 
drugged  by  a  witch,  was  transformed  into  a  horse,  and  had  to  carry  a 
load  of  corn  ("De  Civitate  Dei"  xviii,  18).  Such  transformations,  says 
Bodine,  are  still  of  daily  occurrence,  and  only  a  false  modesty  prevents 
the  victims  from  achieving  the  glory  of  exposing  the  enchanter. 

Witches,  it  is  well  known,  can  change  only  the  body,  but  not  the 
soul,  of  a  fellow-creature  ;  the  corn-carrying  contemporary  of  St.  Au- 
gustine was  doubtless  conscious  of  his  degradation,  and  no  horse  of 
proper  principles  should  hesitate,  under  such  circumstances,  to  gallop 
away  and  state  his  case  to  the  next  exorcist.  In  Northern  Germany, 
metamorphoses  of  that  kind  are  especially  frequent,  the  object  of  the 
wizards  being  to  secure  a  mount  on  their  way  to  the  Blocksberg,  and, 
though  individuals  have  no  jurisdiction  in  such  matters,  Monsieur  Bo- 
dine would  advise  the  anthropohippos  to  watch  his  opportunity  and  dis- 
able his  rider  by  a  well-aimed  kick.  Two  gamekeepers  of  the  Duke  of 
Brunswick,  both  men  of  unimpeachable  veracity,  once  saw  a  whole  cav- 
alcade of  Walpurgis-riders,  but  hesitated  to  shoot  for  fear  of  hitting  a 
hack  instead  of  a  hag.  In  the  same  duchy  a  witch  in  tormentis  once 
revealed  a  sentence  that  would  horsify  a  man  in  a  minute,  but  Mon- 
sieur Bodine  is  happy  to  state  that  he  has  forgotten  the  formula.  To  re- 
member such  things  is  highly  dangerous.  One  judge  of  the  Criminal 
Court  of  Lorraine  had  cross-examined  so  many  witches  that  he  at  last 
began  to  suspect  himself,  and,  having  dropped  a  hint  to  that  effect, 
was  seized  and  burned  with  the  proper  rites. 

"With  the  exception  of  Ibn  Chaldir,  who  passed  nine  tenths  of  his 
long  life  in  a  public  library,  Robert  Burton,  the  vicar  of  Segrave,  was 
probably  the  best-read  man  who  ever  lived.  He  had  studied  philology, 
philosophy,  theology,  law,  and  medicine  ;  he  was  a  first-class  mathema- 
tician, a  zealous  astronomer,  and  "  calculator  of  nativities  ";  he  had  read 
nearly  every  volume  in  the  Bodleian  collection  and  in  the  library  of 
Christ-Church  College.  He  was  well  versed  in  the  philosophical  spec- 
ulations of  the  mediasval  school-men.  He  had  mastered  the  inductive 
system  of  his  great  contemporary.  All  this  learning  did  not  prevent 
him  from  perpetrating  the  following  dicta  : 

"  The  air  is  not  so  full  of  flies  in  summer  as  it  is  at  all  times  of  in- 
visible devils.  .  .  .  Fiery  devils  are  such  as  commonly  work  by  blaz- 
ing stars,  fire-drakes,  or  ignes  fatui  (which  lead  men  often  in  fiumina 
aut  prazcijoitia),  whom,  if  travelers  wish  to  keep  off,  they  must  pro- 
nounce the  name  of  God  with  a  clear  voice,  or  adore  him  with  their 
faces  in  contact  with  the  ground.  .  .  .  Aerial  devils  are  such  as  keep 
quarters  in  the  air,  cause  tempests,  thunder  and  lightning,  make  it  rain 
stones,  wool,  frogs,  etc.  .  .  .  Subterranean  devils  are  as  common  as 
the  rest,  and  do  as  much  harm.  The  last  are  conversant  about  the 
center  of  the  earth,  to  torture  the  souls  of  damned  men  to  the  day  of 
judgment ;  their  egress  and  regress  some  suppose  to  be  about  Etna, 


CURIOSITIES    OF  SUPERSTITION.  475 

Lipari,  Terra  del  Fuego  (!),  etc.,  because  many  shrieks  and  fearful 
cries  are  continually  heard  thereabouts,  and  familiar  apparitions  of 
dead  men,  ghosts,  and  goblins.  .  .  .  The  devil  being  a  slender  and  in- 
comprehensible spirit,  can  easily  insinuate  himself  into  human  bodies. 
A  nun  did  eat  lettuce  without  grace,  or  signing  it  with  the  sign  of  the 
cross,  and  was  instantly  possessed.  ...  A  young  maid  called  Kathe- 
rine  Gaiter,  a  cooper's  daughter,  had  such  strange  passions  and  convul- 
sions that  three  men  could  sometimes  not  hold  her  ;  she  purged  a  live 
eel,  which  suddenly  vanished;  she  vomited  some  twenty-four  pounds  of 
strange  stuff  of  all  colors,  twice  a  day  for  fourteen  days,  and  after  that 
she  voided  great  balls  of  hair,  pieces  of  wood,  pigeon's  dung,  parch- 
ment, goose-dung,  coals,  and  large  stones.  They  could  do  no  good  on 
her  with  physic,  and  left  her  to  the  clergy.  .  .  .  The  arts  of  witches 
are  almost  as  infinite  as  the  devil's,  who  is  still  ready  to  grant  their 
desires,  to  oblige  them  the  more  unto  him.  They  can  cause  tempests 
and  storms,  which  is  familiarly  practiced  by  witches  in  Norway  and 
Iceland,  as  I  have  proved  (!).  They  can  make  friends  enemies,  and 
enemies  friends  by  philters,  turpes  amores  conciliare,  enforce  love,  tell 
any  man  where  his  friends  are,  about  what  employed,  though  in  the 
most  remote  places,  and,  if  they  will,  bring  their  sweethearts  to  them 
by  night,  upon  a  goat's  back  flying  in  the  air."— ("  Anatomy  of  Mel- 
ancholy," Part  I,  section  2,  subject  i-iii.) 

Neither  learning  nor  logic  afforded  a  safeguard  against  the  mono- 
mania of  the  middle  ages,  and  Northern  Europe  owed  its  final  deliv- 
erance to  the  love  of  freedom  rather  than  the  love  of  science.  The 
delusion  of  the  fourteen  hundred  years'  interregnum  of  reason  was  to 
all  purposes  a  contagious  mental  disease  ;  and  who  shall  say  if  the 
prophylactics  of  our  present  civilization  afford  a  guarantee  against  the 
recurrence  of  such  epidemics  ?  In  the  mind  of  a  mental  pathologist 
the  progress  of  spiritualism,  with  its  revived  thirst  for  miracles,  might 
awaken  unpleasant  recollections  of  the  second  century — the  eve  of  the 
era  when  St.  Gregory  Thaumaturgus  carried  the  day  against  the  pro- 
tests of  the  Roman  Huxleys  and  Carpenters.  The  trouble  is,  that  the 
creed  of  science  has  thus  far  been  always  agnostic,  and  its  negative 
propaganda  could  not  maintain  the  field  against  the  enthusiasm  of  a 
positive  superstition.  Faith  strikes  deeper  roots  than  skepticism,  and 
the  dogmas  that  could  crush  out  the  logic  of  Aristotle  found  their 
match  in  some  of  the  silliest  myths  of  paganism.  Several  myths  of 
this  sort  proved  so  wholly  ineradicable  that  the  new  creed  could  assert 
its  supremacy  only  by  a  kind  of  grafting  process,  a  mythical  metastasis 
that  enabled  the  new  dogma  to  draw  its  nourishment  from  the  root 
of  an  old  superstition.  The  period  of  many  Catholic  festivals  coin- 
cides with  the  season  of  ancient  Roman  and  Druidical  mysteries. 
Sacred  fanes  became  miraculous  shrines  ;  Ceres,  Bacchus,  Venus, 
Pan,  and  Priapus  still  collect  their  old  perquisites  in  the  name  of 
new  saints. 


476  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

Even  popular  traditions  have  thus  been  metamorphosed.  In  the 
mystic  recluse  of  the  Barbarossa  legend,  Professor  Grimm  recognized 
the  All-father  Wodan,  whose  attributes  had  been  transferred  to  the 
person  of  Charlemagne,  and  afterward  to  Frederick  Barbarossa.  When 
the  oaks  of  the  sacred  groves  were  felled  for  church-timber,  the  old 
Saxon  god  retired  to  the  mountains,  the  usual  refuge  of  exiled  deities, 
and  finally  went  to  sleep  in  a  mountain-cave,  the  Untersberg,  near 
Salzburg,  and  the  Kyfhauser  in  Northern  Germany,  where  he  awaits 
the  return  of  better  times,  the  resurrection  of  the  buried  nature-wor- 
ship and  the  departure  of  the  black  crows,  the  clerical  birds  of  ill-omen 
that  fly  croaking  around  his  rocky  retreat.  The  prototypes  of  these 
croakers  did  not  relish  the  legend,  and  managed  to  substitute  a  secular 
hero,  and  in  another  case  even  a  spook.  The  Wild  Huntsman  was 
originally  a  Welt-jager,  a  world-hunter,  the  old  sport-loving  wrood-god, 
with  his  hounds  and  falcons  and  train  of  merry  companions.  In  West- 
ern Pomerania  the  leader  of  the  nocturnal  chase  appears  under  the 
semi-incognito  of  a  Junker  Hakelberg,  the  "cowl-bearer" — another 
cognomen  of  the  mist-shrouded  Odin. 

Sir  William  Jones's  researches  into  the  sacred  writings  of  Brahman- 
ism  revealed  a  still  stranger  metempsychosis  of  myths — the  transfer  of 
the  primeval  Krishna  legend  to  the  personal  history  of  Buddha  Sakya- 
Muni,  and  its  subsequent  exportation  to  a  far  Western  colony  of  Bud- 
dhism. According  to  Maurice's  translation  of  the  Bhagavat  Purana, 
Krishna  (like  Buddha)  was  a  Parthenogenitus,  a  virgin-son.  The  birth 
of  both  Krishna  and  Buddha  was  foretold  by  a  heavenly  messenger. 
Both  were  of  royal  descent.  The  delivery  of  the  virgin-mothers  was 
attended  by  the  same  prodigies,  the  rising  of  a  new  star  and  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  company  of  heavenly  choristers.  Three  Eastern  monarchs 
visited  the  new-born  infant.  Cansa,  the  ruler  of  Krishna's  birth-land, 
ordered  a  massacre  of  young  children  in  order  to  prevent  the  fulfill- 
ment of  an  ominous  prophecy.  Both  Krishna  and  Buddha  passed 
several  years  in  exile  before  they  entered  upon  their  mission  of  reform. 
Krishna,  like  Buddha,  had  twelve  favorite  converts,  who  accompanied 
him  on  his  missionary  travels.      Ccetera,  qui  nescitP 

Our  very  hobgoblins  are  of  Eastern  origin  ;  nearly  all  international 
fairy-stories  and  popular  traditions  have  their  roots  in  the  fruitful 
myth-garden  of  Hindostan.  The  stories  of  Cinderella,  of  Tamerlane, 
and  Jack  the  Giant-killer,  amused  the  children  of  Sind  before  Nimrod 
built  his  great  adobe  palace  ;  William  Tell  learned  his  trade  in  the 
archer  brigade  of  a  Nepaulese  tyrant  ;  and  the  fair  Melusina  used  to 
bathe  in  the  Ganges  before  she  built  her  swimming-hall  in  the  castle 
of  Poitiers. 

Of  the  Melusina  legend  a  modern  French  evolutionist  (M.  de  Les- 
cure)  gives  the  following  curious  exegesis  :  "  The  discovery  of  the 
Marquis  of  Poitiers,  which  resulted  in  the  dissolution  of  his  connubial 
tie,  may  yet  lead  to  other  divorces  if  the  allies  of  the  orthodox  cos- 


METHODS  IN  MODERN  PHYSICAL  ASTRONOMY.  477 

mogony  should  take  a  peep  through  a  certain  key-hole.  The  allegory 
reveals  the  great  arcanum  of  nature,  the  secret,  namely,  that  the 
human  shape  divine  has  been  evolved  from  the  form  of  a  fish." 

[To    be   concluded .] 


METHODS  IN  MODERN  PHYSICAL  ASTEONOMY* 

By  M.  JULES  C.  JANSSEN. 

IT  has  become  an  almost  consecrated  custom  for  the  President  of 
this  Association,  instead  of  relating  the  progress  which  has  been 
made  in  all  the  sciences  that  are  the  objects  of  your  investigations,  to 
treat  more  particularly  of  a  single  one  of  them,  and  to  present  a  sum- 
mary of  the  progress  it  has  made.  This  custom  appeal's  an  excellent 
one  to  me.  By  it  we  gain  in  precision  and  authority  what  we  lose 
in  extensiveness  ;  and  we  owe  to  it  many  masterly  efforts,  the  impres- 
sion of  which  has  not  yet  been  effaced  from  our  minds,  and  which 
cause  in  me  a  just  apprehension  that  I  may  fall  far  short  of  their 
standard. 

I  shall  endeavor  to  present  to  you  a  picture,  sketched  in  broad 
outline,  of  the  progress  and  influence  of  a  branch  of  research  which 
has  played  a  considerable  part  in  contemporary  scientific  movements, 
and  the  discoveries  of  which  have  not  only  revolutionized  our  astro- 
nomical knowledge,  but  have  also  opened  new  and  unexpected  hori- 
zons to  philosophy — I  mean  physical  astronomy. 

Physical  astronomy  is  a  wholly  modern — yes,  as  to  its  best  parts, 
contemporary — science  ;  and  it  can  be  regarded  as  old  only  as  concern- 
ing its  object.  From  the  earliest  times,  in  fact,  that  men  began  to 
look  toward  the  sky,  and  the  first  reflections  on  nature  were  born  of 
these  fii-st  observations,  man  has  asked  what  is  that  sun  whose  im- 
mense and  beneficent  function  caused  it  to  be  designated  at  that  early 
period  as  the  soul  of  nature.  He  has  asked  himself  what  is  the  cause 
which  lends  to  the  moon  the  sweet  and  mysterious  light  that  gives  to 
the  nights  so  poetical  a  charm  ;  and  afterward  questions  arose  con- 
cerning those  brilliant  points  with  which  the  celestial  vault  is  strewed. 
All  these  problems  appertain  to  our  science,  but  how  little  was  man 
then  in  a  condition  to  deal  with  them  !  Long  ages  of  observations 
and  labor  were  necessary  before  even  the  corner  of  the  veil  could  be 
raised. 

This  was  because  physical  astronomy  presupposes  a  very  clear 
knowledge  of  the  properties  of  light,  both  as  to  itself  and  as  to  its 
relations  with  bodies,  and  great  perfection  in  the  mechanical  arts  to 

*  President's  address  at  the  French  Association  for  the  Advancement   of  Science, 
La  Rochelle,  August,  18S2. 


478  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

permit  the  construction  of  the  apparatus,  at  once  extensive  and  deli- 
cate, which  it  employs. 

Astronomy  as  a  description  of  motions,  on  the  contrary,  only  re- 
quired the  eyes  and  very  simple  instruments.  Therefore  the  first 
astronomers  began  with  that  branch.  At  a  later  period,  the  science, 
ceasing  to  be  purely  descriptive,  became  geometric,  and  at  last  took  a 
sublime  flight ;  and  by  the  application  of  the  higher  calculus  we  had 
the  celestial  mechanics. 

During  this  long  period,  the  physical  branch  of  the  science,  to 
speak  correctly,  did  not  exist.  Reduced  to  hypotheses  that  could  not 
be  verified,  the  theories  of  celestial  physics  had  even  fallen  into  dis- 
credit. It  should  be  said  that  the  beauty  and  importance  of  the  dis- 
coveries with  which  the  geometricians  endowed  the  elder  sister  of  our 
branch  contributed  no  little  to  this  result.  Three  great  discoveries 
have,  however,  completely  changed  the  situation,  by  giving  to  the 
physical  branch  arms  which  permit  it  at  last  to  enter  gloriously  into 
the  competition.  I  refer  to  the  telescope,  spectrum  analysis,  and  pho- 
tography. 

The  foundations  of  physical  astronomy  were  laid  in  the  invention 
of  the  telescope.  Every  one  has  heard  of  the  emotion  which  filled 
Europe  at  the  announcement  of  the  discovery  of  an  instrument  which 
had  the  power  of  making  distant  objects  appear  as  if  they  were  near. 
It  was  at  that  time  that  Galileo,  having  only  learned  that  such  an 
instrument  existed,  discovered  its  arrangement,  constructed  one, 
turned  it  toward  the  sky,  and,  with  this  aid,  fertilized  by  his  genius, 
made  a  series  of  magisterial  discoveries.  These  discoveries  belong 
pre-eminently  to  physical  astronomy,  and  form  its  first  courses.  If  we 
except  the  sun  and  moon,  which  have  a  very  sensible  diameter,  and 
admit  of  some  observations  without  the  aid  of  the  telescope,  all  the 
stars  appear  to  the  eye  only  as  brilliant  points,  and  admit  of  no  studies 
except  of  their  motions.  Therefore,  an  astronomy  without  the  tele- 
scope would  never  have  permitted  us  otherwise  than  as  a  matter  of 
probability  to  consider  the  planets  as  like  the  earth  in  form,  constitu- 
tion, and  office.  But  when  it  was  seen  that  these  brilliant  and  almost 
blazing  points  were  resolved  under  the  telescope  into  well-defined 
disks,  showing  indications  of  continents,  clouds,  and  atmospheres  ; 
when  satellites  were  perceived  around  those  globes  playing  the  same 
part  to  them  as  the  moon  plays  to  the  earth — then  probabilities  gave 
place  to  a  clear  certainty.  Telescopes,  then,  are  the  instruments  by 
means  of  which  the  constitution  of  the  solar  system  has  been  defini- 
tively unveiled,  and  the  earth  has  been  assigned  its  part  and  its  rank 
in  the  system  of  the  planets.  The  discovery  of  the  spots  on  the  sun 
and  of  its  rotation  completed  the  conception  of  the  solar  system  and 
prepared  for  the  theory  of  its  formation.  Here  is  marked  a  well-de- 
termined phase  in  the  history  of  human  ideas  respecting  the  universe, 
and  it  is  characterized  by  the  great  name  of  Galileo. 


METHODS  IN  MODERN  PHYSICAL  ASTRONOMY.  479 

Was  it  possible  at  once  to  go  beyond  this  ?  Was  it  possible  to 
question  the  stars  in  their  turn,  and  inquire  if,  like  the  sun,  they  had 
a  sensible  disk,  spots,  a  rotation,  and  planets  revolving  around  them  ; 
was  it  possible,  in  short,  to  extend  to  the  stellar  universe  the  notions 
we  had  already  acquired  concerning  the  solar  system  ?  The  methods 
in  use  did  not  yet  permit  this. 

The  most  delicate  measurement  of  parallaxes  has  proved  that  the 
star  nearest  to  us  is  two  hundred  thousand  times  as  far  off  as  we  are 
from  the  sun.  We  should,  then,  need  a  telescope  magnifying  more 
than  two  hundred  thousand  times  to  show  us,  under  the  most  favor- 
able circumstances,  a  star's  diameter  equal  to  that  which  the  sun  pre- 
sents to  the  naked  eye.  Such  a  power  is  a  hundred  times  greater  than 
the  strongest  powers  that  can  be  used.  We  are,  therefore,  obliged  to 
stay  within  the  limits  of  our  system,  and  proceed  by  analogy  when  we 
desire  to  go  out  of  it.  The  analogies,  it  is  true,  were  very  powerful 
means  even  with  Copernicus  and  Galileo,  but  with  Kirchhoff  and 
Huggins  they  were  destined  to  acquire  very  shortly  an  irresistible 
force.  Nature  habitually  reserves  for  the  assiduous  and  sagacious 
observer  sui'prises  that  exceed  his  hopes.  So,  while  the  study  of  the 
stars,  considered  as  individual  worlds,  still  remained  beyond  our  reach, 
a  great  observer  discovered  facts  of  a  very  general  bearing. 

This  leads  us  to  a  second  phase  of  the  period  of  telescopes — a  phase 
that  was  characterized  by  the  observations  of  the  great  Herschel. 
Herschel  changed  the  form  of  the  instrument,  and  adopted  one  that 
was  more  adaptable  to  the  realization  of  the  great  powers  he  sought 
to  obtain.  Then,  by  his  magnificent  studies  of  the  nebulae,  and  by  his 
discovery  of  multiple  stars  revolving  around  one  another,  he  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  theory  of  worlds  with  multiple  centers.  This  was 
a  new  conception,  which  did  not  proceed  from  that  of  the  solar  sys- 
tem, but  was  much  more  general.  The  problem  was  thus  resolved  in  its 
extreme  terms  ;  but  between  these  extremes  yawned  an  immense  gap. 

The  gap  has  not  yet  been  filled.  We  can  not  directly  study  those 
worlds  which  each  star  forms  with  the  planets  of  its  suite,  but  a  new 
method  of  investigation  has  come  forward  to  shed  unexpected  light 
on  the  unanswered  questions. 

The  first  period  of  physical  astronomy  was  opened  with  the  modest 
telescope  of  Galileo,  and  closed  with  the  large  telescopes  of  Herschel. 
As  early  as  the  beginning  of  this  century,  when  the  astronomer  of 
Slough  had  finished  his  review  of  the  sky,  it  was  felt  that  the  tele- 
scopic harvest  was  nearly  gathered,  and  another  instrument  of  prog- 
ress was  looked  for.  Arago  thought  he  had  found  it  in  the  discovery 
of  Malus,  to  which  he  made  brilliant  additions,  and  earnestly  endeav- 
ored to  found  a  new  branch  of  physical  astronomy  on  polarization. 
He  was  not  successful.  His  discoveries  ceased  after  a  few  beautiful 
applications  of  his  method.  At  this  time  the  polariscope  process  is 
only  employed  to  determine  whether  light  is  reflected  or  emitted. 


480  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

Quite  different  was  it  with  a  method  the  origin  of  which,  we  be- 
lieve, goes  back  to  the  very  birth  of  optics.  This  method  is  likewise 
founded  on  the  actions  of  bodies  on  light,  but,  so  rich  and  profound 
are  the  modifications  with  which  it  has  to  deal,  that  it  has  been  able 
to  pass  over  that  in  the  matter  which  concerns  only  its  general  prop- 
erties, and  look  into  its  peculiar  individuality,  its  specific  chemical 
quality.  The  principle  which  is  the  basis  of  the  new  method  of  spec- 
trum analysis  is  as  simple  as  general,  and  may  be  stated  by  saying 
that  the  elementary  rays  emitted  by  every  kind  of  radiating  gasiform 
matter  depend  upon  and  characterize  the  chemical  species  to  which 
that  matter  belongs.  Hence  it  follows  that  the  spectral  image  result- 
ing from  the  analysis  of  the  beam  of  rays  emitted  by  any  body  will 
vary  according  to  the  chemical  nature  of  that  body.  Spectum  analy- 
sis is  founded  upon  the  examination  of  spectra. 

It  must  be  added  that  the  chemical  nature  of  a  body  is  not  the 
exclusive  element  in  the  constitution  of  its  spectrum,  but  that  that 
may  vary  with  the  physical  circumstances  of  the  phenomenon,  the 
temperature,  the  cause  generating  the  radiation,  etc.  ;  but  these  are 
subordinate  effects,  which  only  add  to  the  richness  of  the  method, 
without  detracting  from  its  certainty  and  its  value. 

We  have  been  able  to  leap  over  the  enormous  distance  which  sepa- 
rates the  conception  of  the  body,  viewed  as  to  its  general  properties, 
from  the  notion  of  it  as  individualized  in  such  a  manner  as  to  consti- 
tute a  chemical  species  by  regarding  light  not  only  as  a  whole,  but 
also  in  its  elementary  parts  ;  by  not  only  studying  the  whole  beam  and 
the  general  modifications  that  affect  it,  but  by  extending  the  examina- 
tion to  the  elementary  rays  of  which  it  is  composed.  The  little  mass 
of  matter  forming  the  chemical  molecule,  when  it  can  vibrate  freely, 
as  in  the  gaseous  state,  emits  a  peculiar  system  of  waves,  a  system 
which  varies  principally  with  the  chemical  species  of  the  molecule,  but 
which  varies  also,  though  rather  secondarily,  with  the  distance  apart 
of  the  molecules  and  the  nature  and  intensity  of  the  forces  that  induce 
a  vibratory  movement  in  it.  We  might  illustrate  the  nature  of  the 
system  of  luminous  rays  emitted  by  such  a  molecule  by  comparing  it 
to  the  system  of  sounds  given  off  by  a  vibrating  cord,  which  is  de- 
pendent for  the  principal  characteristic  on  the  length  of  the  cord,  and 
for  the  secondary  phenomena  of  volume,  tone,  etc.,  on  other  circum- 
stances accompanying  the  vibration. 

It  is  proper  to  remark  at  this  point  that,  when  we  analyze  light  in 
this  way  to  examine  it  in  its  elements,  we  perform  an  operation  entirely 
parallel  to  that  of  the  chemist  who  separates  the  simple  elements  of  a 
compound  body.  The  elementary  ray  is  a  chemical  species  in  light. 
It  has  all  the  characteristics  of  a  species.  It  is  incapable  of  decom- 
position, it  has  an  individuality  of  its  own,  characterized  by  its  wave- 
length, by  the  physiological  effects  it  induces,  whether  acting  alone  or 
in  association  with  other  rays,  and  by  the  phenomena  which  it  exhibits 


METHODS   IN  MODERN  PHYSICAL  ASTRONOMY.  481 

in  its  relations  with  bodies.  We  then  bring  the  two  sciences  together 
by  performing  on  light  an  operation  parallel  to  the  one  that  has  been 
made  on  matter.  Chemical  analysis  by  light  was  performed  in  posse 
on  the  day  when  its  rays  were  regarded  in  the  light  of  chemical  spe- 
cies. 

This  great  idea  of  the  specific  character  of  luminous  rays  is  due  to 
Newton.  It  was  introduced  into  science  when  that  great  genius  gave 
his  explanation  of  the  action  of  the  prism  on  white  light.  The  founda- 
tions of  spectrum  analysis  were  laid  at  that  time,  and  the  study  of  it 
might  have  been  begun  then  at  once  ;  but  the  human  mind  does  not 
proceed  with  so  penetrating  and  absolute  a  logic  as  that.  The  succes- 
sive and  often  fortuitous  acquisition  of  revealing  facts  had  to  be  left 
to  time.  It  must,  however,  be  said  that,  when  the  facts  were  presented, 
their  real  significance  would  have  been  overlooked,  notwithstanding 
the  genius  of  the  experimenters,  had  not  the  grand  idea  of  Newton 
illuminated  them  with  its  brilliant  light.  The  conception  of  the  indi- 
viduality of  the  rays  made  its  way  so  slowly  into  our  minds  that  it 
bore  its  fruits,  as  it  were,  unknown  to  us.  But  history,  whose  vision 
goes  back  to  the  beginnings,  will  have  to  assign  their  respective  parts 
to  the  causes  which  have  been  influential  toward  the  end.  The  allot- 
ment will  in  no  degree  diminish  the  admiration  which  is  due  to  the 
creators  of  the  marvelous  instrument.  They  have  given  a  body  of  life 
to  what  was  slumbering  in  posse  /  they  have  thus  shown  themselves 
worthy  continuers  of  the  work  of  Newton. 

You  know  that  this  spectrum  analysis  made  its  appearance  very 
suddenly  in  science.  You  may  recollect  the  emotion  that  affected  us 
all  when  it  was  announced  that  the  solar  atmosphere  had  been  chem- 
ically analyzed,  and  a  list  of  the  metals  it  contained  was  published. 
You  are,  however,  too  well  acquainted  with  the  history  of  science  to 
suppose  that  a  method  as  complete  as  the  one  that  was  thus  announced 
had  no  antecedents.  The  antecedents  in  fact  existed,  and  they  were 
even  numerous.  With  the  labors  which  contributed  to  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  definitive  method  were  associated  the  names  of  Sir  John 
Herschel,  Talbot,  Miller,  Wheatstone,  Swan,  Masson,  Foucault,  etc.  ; 
but  Kirchhoff  and  Bunsen  were  able  to  make  a  synthesis  of  all  these 
efforts,  and  they  gave  the  method  its  general  and  practical  form. 
When  spectrum  analysis  presented  itself  to  the  scientific  world,  it  held 
in  one  hand  cresium  and  rubidium  and  in  the  other  hand  a  list  of  the 
metals  recognized  in  a  star  ninety-three  million  miles  away.  Why, 
then,  should  we  be  surprised  at  the  enthusiastic  reception  that  was 
given  it  ? 

At  first  it  was  believed  that  the  incandescence  of  gases  was  one  of 
the  conditions  of  elective  absorption  by  them.  A  French  physicist, 
judging  that  the  phenomenon  related  rather  to  the  gaseous  condition 
than  to  the  temperature,  was  led  to  believe  that  the  earth's  atmos- 
phere, as  well  as  the  atmosphere  which  was  supposed  to  exist  around 

VOL.  XXII. — 31 


482  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

the  sun,  might  exercise  such  an  action  ;  and  he  showed  that  the  solar 
spectrum  contained  a  whole  system  of  dark  and  fine  lines,  comparable 
to  the  lines  of  solar  origin,  but  which  were  due  to  the  action  of  our 
atmosphere.  Brewster  had  already  discovered  that  the  solar  spectrum 
was  enriched  with  dark  bands  at  sunrise  and  sunset,  but  that  in  his 
instrument  they  wholly  disappeared  during  the  day.  Both  Brewster 
and  Gladstone,  his  eminent  co-laborer,  declared  in  their  last  memoir 
on  this  subject,  in  1860,  that  they  could  not  determine  the  cause  of  the 
phenomenon. 

The  absorbing  action  of  our  atmosphere  was  still  more  plainly 
demonstrated  by  an  experiment  on  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  in  which  the 
absorption  rays  were  obtained  with  the  light  of  a  fire  passing  over 
Lake  Leman,  from  a  distance  of  fourteen  miles.  It  was  also  shown  in 
an  experiment  made  at  Villette,  with  a  tube  filled  with  vapor  at  seven 
atmospheres  of  pressure  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long,  that 
the  vapor  of  water  has  a  complete  absorption  spectrum,  and  that  the 
largest  proportion  of  the  absorption  phenomena  of  our  atmosphere 
should  be  attributed  to  it. 

These  observations  and  experiments  doubled  the  field  of  investiga- 
tion opened  to  spectrum  analysis.  Not  only  could  the  incandescent 
atmospheres  of  the  sun  and  the  stai-s  now  be  made  to  reveal  their 
nature  and  their  composition  to  us,  but  our  researches  might  also  be 
extended  to  objects  having  a  still  greater  interest  for  us.  We  could 
at  once  take  our  own  atmosphere  for  an  object,  investigating  high  and 
inaccessible  regions,  and  making  analyses  in  them  which  could  not  be 
attempted  by  any  other  means.  Then,  going  away  from  the  earth,  we 
could  interrogate  the  planetary  atmospheres,  and  seek  in  them  the 
vapor  of  water,  and  with  it  one  of  the  first  conditions  of  the  develop- 
ment of  terrestrial  life.  We  could  also,  comparing  the  composition 
of  the  planetary  atmospheres  with  the  astronomical  facts  which  per- 
mit us  to  judge  of  the  geological  conditions  of  the  surfaces  of  the 
planets,  follow  in  them  the  atmospheric  evolutions  which  on  the  earth 
belong  to  the  domain  of  the  past  or  of  the  future.  Finally,  the  same 
study  of  the  planetary  atmospheres,  when  it  shall  have  become  more 
complete,  will  show  us  whether  our  atmosphere  is  a  type  reproduced 
everywhere,  the  composition  of  which  appears  from  that  fact  indis- 
pensable to  the  existence  of  living  beings,  or  whether,  discovering 
atmospheres  of  varied  compositions,  we  shall  be  led  to  suppose  that 
life  may  appear  and  be  developed  in  media  essentially  different.  The 
planetary  stars  are  not,  however,  the  only  ones  that  lend  themselves 
to  these  applications.  There  are  also  fixed  stars  the  spectra  of  which 
reveal  the  characteristics  of  the  vapor  of  water.  Now,  we  know  that 
the  atmosphere  of  a  star  must  be  considerably  cooled  to  permit  the 
gases  of  which  water  is  constituted  to  combine  and  generate  a  vapor. 
Our  sun  is  still  very  far  from  this  critical  condition.  It  is  also  remark- 
able that  the  stars  presenting  these  characteristics  are  generally  red  or 


METHODS  IN  MODERN  PHYSICAL  ASTRONOMY.  483 

yellow  ones.  In  this  manner  the  spectroscope  may  help  us  to  esti- 
mate in  some  degree  the  age  of  a  sun,  and  measure  the  length  of  the 
career  which  it  has  already  accomplished. 

While  studies  of  this  kind  were  going  on  in  France,  spectrum 
analysis  was  receiving  magnificent  developments  in  England,  more  in 
the  line  which  its  authors  had  indicated.  Messrs.  Miller  and  Huggins 
entered  upon  the  study  of  the  stars,  and  found  in  all  of  them  which 
they  examined  the  solar  elements  in  various  combinations.  This  dis- 
covery had  an  immense  philosophical  bearing,  for  it  proved  that  the 
matter  forming  the  solar  and  the  stellar  world  is  obtained  from  the 
same  elements.  It  was  a  demonstration  of  the  material  unity  of  the 
universe.  The  study  was  prosecuted  still  further.  There  are  stars 
which  we  regard  as  situated  on  the  confines  of  the  visible  universe, 
the  light  of  which  is  so  weakened  by  the  immense  journey  it  has  to 
make  to  reach  us  that  they  appear  only  as  feeble  glows.  Mr.  Hug- 
gins  succeeded  in  analyzing  some  of  them,  and  showed  that  there 
exists  a  whole  class  of  nebulae  which  are  really  unresolvable  into  stars, 
and  are  formed  of  incandescent  gases,  among  which  hydrogen,  which 
thus  seems  to  be  the  principal  element  in  the  composition  of  the  uni- 
verse, is  the  most  prominent. 

So  the  whole  visible  universe — not  only  our  central  star  and  the 
planets  of  our  family,  but  those  stars,  too,  which  are  so  far  off  that 
our  most  powerful  telescopes  can  not  give  them  a  sensible  diameter, 
and  those  nebulae  which  only  make  a  weak  glow  in  our  instruments — 
is  reached  by  our  chemistry,  seized  by  our  analysis,  and  made  to  fur- 
nish the  proof  that  all  matter  is  one,  and  that  these  stars  are  made  of 
the  same  stuff  as  we.  More,  still,  than  this  :  at  those  great  distances, 
and  in  the  presence  of  the  vague  and  indefinite  forms  of  the  nebulae, 
it  would  not  be  possible  to  study  precise  movements  and  discover 
whether  the  great  law  of  gravitation  reigns  in  such  remote  regions. 
Chemistry  here  comes  to  the  aid  of  mechanics,  and  we  may  say  boldly 
that  that  matter,  which  is  identical  with  ours,  is  subject,  like  it,  to 
the  laws  of  gravitation.  Certainly,  when  Newton  decomposed  a 
beam  of  white  light,  and  laid  the  first  basis  of  the  theory  of  the  spec- 
trum, he  had  not  the  slightest  suspicion  that  his  law  of  gravitation 
would,  at  a  later  period,  find  in  it  wings  to  carry  it  into  regions  where 
all  measurement  ceases  and  all  calculation  is  powerless. 

Spectrum  analysis,  after  having  in  this  manner,  in  a  few  years, 
gone  through  the  universe  and  reaped  the  magnificent  harvest  I  have 
just  described,  now  returns  to  the  sun,  the  point  whence  it  departed, 
to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunity  afforded  by  eclipses.  These 
phenomena,  it  is  well  known,  exhibit  a  collection  of  magnificent  spec- 
tacles of  an  extraordinary  character,  which  had  heretofore  remained 
unexplained.  Those  rosy-colored  protuberances  of  strange  forms  which 
surround  the  dark  limb  of  the  moon,  that  magnificent  luminous  corona, 
those  radiances  in  the  form  of  a  glory  and  extending  to  enormous  dis- 


484  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

tances — all  constituted  so  many  riddles  for  astronomers  till  1868.  In 
that  year  one  of  the  great  eclipses  of  the  sun  took  place.  We  might 
say  that,  at  the  very  moment  when  the  heavens  had  just  suffered  their 
most  precious  secrets  to  be  revealed,  the  star  of  day  had  deigned  to 
invite  us  to  the  study  of  his  admirable  structure. 

The  eclipse  was  observed,  and  the  result  surpassed  even  the  general 
expectation.  The  nature  of  the  protuberances  was  immediately  recog- 
nized, and  a  method  was  discovered  that  permitted  the  study  of  these 
phenomena  every  day,  without  having  to  wait  for  the  rare  occasions 
of  eclipses.  This  method  led  in  a  short  time  to  the  discovery  of  the 
chromospheric  atmosphere,  and  this  completed  and  explained  the  phe- 
nomena of  the  protuberances.  The  first  results  of  the  spectroscopic 
investigations  may  be  stated  thus  : 

The  sun  of  Herschel  and  Arago,  formed  of  a  central  nucleus  and 
a  luminous  envelope,  the  photosphere,  has  an  additional  stratum  formed 
chiefly  of  incandescent  hydrogen.  This  stratum,  in  immediate  contact 
with  the  photosphere,  is  very  thin,  being  only  from  eight  to  ten  sec- 
onds thick  ;  it  is  the  seat  of  small  eruptions  of  metallic  vapors  rising 
from  the  photosphere,  in  which  sodium,  magnesium,  and  calcium  pre- 
dominate. Frequently,  however,  principally  at  the  time  when  the 
sun-spots  become  abundant,  there  rise  from  the  solar  globe  formidable 
eruptions  of  hydrogen,  which  pass  through  this  same  envelope  and  rise 
to  a  height  of  sixty  thousand  or  ninety  thousand  miles.  These  erup- 
tions are  the  protuberances  of  the  total  eclipses,  the  nature  of  which  is 
thus  revealed  and  the  forms  explained. 

The  corona  and  the  phenomena  exterior  to  it  were  the  objects  of 
study  in  the  next  eclipses.  In  1874  French  observations  showed  that 
the  corona  constituted  a  new  solar  atmosphere,  a  very  rare  one  and 
enormously  extended,  in  which  hydrogen  still  dominated,  while  it  pre- 
sented spectral  conditions  as  yet  unexplained.  This  atmosphere  seemed 
to  borrow  a  part  of  the  appearances  of  the  protuberance-eruptions 
which  penetrate  it  and  are  extinguished  in  it.  It  also  seemed  prob- 
able, and  that  opinion  was  expressed  by  the  author  of  these  observa- 
tions, that  the  figure  of  the  corona  would  vary  with  the  condition 
of  external  activity  of  the  sun.  At  the  times  of  the  maximum  of 
spots,  when  the  protuberance-eruptions  were  in  the  highest  activity, 
the  coronal  atmosphere  would  be  intersected  by  numerous  and  rich  jets 
which  would  increase  its  extent  and  density,  and  change  its  aspect. 
This  opinion  was  confirmed  by  one  of  the  observers  of  the  last  eclipse 
in  Egypt. 

I  shall  conclude  this  brief  review  of  the  methods  of  physical  astron- 
omy with  a  word  upon  an  art  which  has  recently  brought  a  really 
wonderful  aid  to  all  our  scientific  studies — I  mean  photography.  Con- 
sidered in  its  old  and  primary  object,  the  aim  of  photography  is  to  fix 
the  images  of  the  camera-obscura.  Its  aim,  however,  and  its  means 
have   been   singularly  extended.      We   have   to   consider   here   only 


METHODS  IN  MODERN  PHYSICAL   ASTRONOMY.  485 

the  aid  and  the  applications  which  physical  astronomy  can  expect 
from  it. 

The  first  application  which  was  made  of  photography  to  the  study 
of  the  sky  was  in  France,  whatever  may  be  said  about  it.  The  first 
image  of  a  fixed  star  upon  the  daguerrean  plate  was  that  of  the  sun, 
and  it  was  taken  by  the  authors  of  the  admirable  processes  for  meas- 
uring upon  the  earth  the  velocity  of  light — MM.  Fizeau  and  Fou- 
cault.  Shortly  afterward,  images  of  the  moon  were  obtained  in  the 
United  States.  These  labors  were  followed  by  others,  of  which  the 
sun  and  the  moon  were  also  the  objects.  Beautiful  proofs  of  lunar 
photographs  have  been  taken  by  Mr.  Warren  de  La  Rue  and  Mr. 
Rutherfurd.  Photographs  of  the  sun  are  taken  regularly  in  many 
observatories,  as  aids  in  the  study  of  the  spots  and  faculae  of  that  star. 
More  recently,  Mr.  Rutherfurd  and  Mr.  Gould  have  begun  to  make 
celestial  maps,  and  photographs  of  the  nebula  in  Orion  have  been  ob- 
tained in  New  York  (by  Mr.  Draper)  and  at  Meudon. 

These  works  are  all  very  important ;  they  bear  upon  the  primary 
object  of  astronomical  photography,  that  of  obtaining  durable  and 
trustworthy  images  of  the  stars  and  the  phenomena  produced  upon 
them,  available  for  further  studies  and  measurements.  Hitherto,  ob- 
servers had  only  memory,  a  written  description,  or  a  drawing,  to  de- 
pend  upon  for  the  preservation  of  the  recollection  of  a  phenomenon. 
Photography  substitutes  for  this  the  material  image  of  the  phenom- 
enon itself.  It  is  an  admirable  artifice,  which  in  a  certain  manner 
prevents  the  extinction  of  the  phenomenon  and  its  passage  to  among 
the  things  that  were,  and  keeps  it  always  with  us  for  examination  or 
study.  Important  as  these  results  may  be,  the  latest  labors  of  which 
photography  has  been  the  object,  especially  in  what  concerns  the  sun, 
have  demonstrated  that  the  method  may  be  employed  as  a  means  of 
making  discoveries  in  astronomy. 

The  large  solar  images  which  have  been  obtained  in  the  latest 
years  at  Meudon  have  revealed  phenomena  of  the  surface  of  the  sun 
which  our  largest  observatory  instruments  could  not  have  shown,  and 
which  open  a  new  field  of  studies.  By  their  aid  we  can  at  last  dis- 
tinguish the  real  form  of  those  elements  of  the  photosphere,  respecting 
which  so  many  different  and  contradictory  assertions  have  been  made. 
The  elements  in  question  are  composed  of  a  fluid  substance  readily 
obedient  to  the  action  of  external  forces.  At  points  of  relative  calm, 
the  matter  of  the  photosphere  assumes  forms  more  or  less  approaching 
the  spherical,  and  its  aspect  is  that  of  a  general  granulation.  Where- 
ever,  on  the  other  hand,  currents  and  more  violent  movements  of  the 
matter  prevail,  the  granular  elements  are  more  or  less  drawn  out,  and 
present  aspects  suggesting  the  forms  of  grains  of  rice,  willow-leaves, 
or  veritable  threads.  The  regions,  however,  where  the  photosphere  is 
more  agitated,  are  limited  spots,  and  the  granular  form  is  generally 
observed  in  the  intervals  between  them.     The  result  of  this  peculiar 


486  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

constitution  is,  that  the  surface  of  the  sun  presents  the  aspect  of  a  net- 
work, the  web  of  which  is  formed  of  strings  of  more  or  less  regular 
grains,  with  here  and  there  elongated  bodies  drawn  out  in  all  direc- 
tions. An  attentive  study  of  these  curious  phenomena  leads  us  to  a 
very  simple  explanation  of  them. 

The  stratum  of  luminous  matter  to  which  the  sun  owes  its  power 
of  radiation  is,  as  we  know,  very  thin.  If  this  sti'atum  was  in  a  state 
of  perfect  equilibrium,  the  fluid  matter  of  which  it  is  constituted  would 
form  a  continuous  envelope  around  the  nucleus  of  the  sun  ;  and  the 
granular  elements  being  confounded  together,  the  solar  surface  would 
have  everywhere  a  uniform  brightness.  But  the  ascending  currents, 
of  which  the  eruptions  of  metallic  vapors  and  the  hydrogen -protuber- 
ances are  evidences,  rupture  the  fluid  stratum  which  is  tending  to  form 
at  a  great  number  of  points.  It  is  then  broken  up  and  divided  into 
more  or  less  considerable  fragments.  Wherever  the  perturbing  forces 
leave  the  elements  of  the  photosphere  in  a  state  of  relative  repose, 
they  take  a  more  or  less  pronounced  globular  form.  At  those  points, 
on  the  other  hand,  which  are  the  seats  of  ascending  currents,  these 
elements  give  evidence  in  their  aspect  of  the  violence  of  the  actions  to 
which  they  are  subjected.  Hence  the  variable  forms  of  the  elements 
of  the  photosphere,  concerning  which  there  has  been  so  much  discus- 
sion. Hence,  also,  the  explanation  of  that  net-work-like  structure  of 
the  solar  surface  which  has  been  revealed  by  photography. 

These  images  also  show  the  enormous  difference  between  the  lumi- 
nous power  of  the  elements  of  the  photosphere  and  that  of  the  medium 
in  which  they  float,  which  seems  quite  dark  by  the  side  of  them.  A 
result  of  this  constitution  is,  that  the  radiating  power  of  the  sun  will 
be  affected  according  to  the  number  and  brightness  of  these  elements. 
The  spots,  then,  can  no  longer  be  regarded  as  the  principal  element  in 
the  variations  of  the  solar  radiation  ;  a  new  factor,  the  action  of  which 
may  be  preponderant,  must  hereafter  be  added  to  them. 

These  photographs  permit  another  study,  which  promises  results 
of  extreme  importance — the  study  of  the  motions  which  the  granular 
elements  take  on  under  the  action  of  the  forces  that  rumple  the  photo- 
sphere. For  the  study  of  these  motions,  successive  images  of  the 
same  point  on  the  surface  of  the  sun  are  taken  at  very  brief  intervals 
with  the  photographic  revolver.  A  comparison  of  the  images  demon- 
strates that  the  matter  of  the  photosphere  is  animated  by  movements 
of  the  violence  of  which  our  terrestrial  phenomena  can  convey  only  a 
very  feeble  idea. 

Following  the  example  of  spectrum  analysis,  photography  is  mak- 
ing  a  circuit  of  the  heavens.  The  year  1881  witnessed  the  first  tak- 
ing of  the  photograph  of  a  comet,  with  a  considerable  portion  of  its 
tail.  This  picture  has  revealed  some  curious  particulars  of  structure 
and  has  permitted  a  number  of  photometric  measurements,  the  most 
notable  of  which   is  one  showing  that  the  tail,  notwithstanding  the 


METHODS   IN  MODERN  PHYSICAL  ASTRONOMY.  487 

brightness  with  which  it  appears  to  shine,  is,  at  only  a  few  decrees 
from  the  nucleus,  two  or  three  hundred  times  less  luminous  than  the 
moon.  There  will  doubtless  be  room  enough  to  perfect  these  first 
efforts,  for  it  will  be  of  the  highest  importance  to  obtain  by  photogra- 
phy incontestable  documents  for  the  history  of  these  stars,  the  nature 
of  which  still  presents  so  many  enigmas. 

Equally  interesting  efforts  have  been  made  with  respect  to  the 
nebula?.  Mr.  Draper,  in  America,  and  the  observatory  at  Meudon, 
have  obtained  photographs  of  the  nebulas  in  Orion.  The  nebula?  are 
of  great  importance  in  their  bearing  on  the  theory  of  the  formation 
of  stellar  systems  and  the  genesis  of  worlds.  It  would  be  immensely 
interesting  to  establish  clearly  the  existence  and  the  nature  of  changes 
going  on  in  their  structure,  and  good  photographs  of  them  would  be 
valuable  for  this.  They  are,  however,  difficult  subjects,  on  account  of 
the  extreme  weakness  of  their  light,  the  uncertainty  of  their  outlines, 
and  the  variations  of  brightness  in  their  different  parts.  Consequent- 
ly, we  are  liable  to  have  images  of  the  same  nebula?,  in  no  way  com- 
parable with  each  other,  but  varying  according  to  the  length  of  the 
exposure,  the  clearness  of  the  sky,  and  the  sensitiveness  of  the  plate  ; 
and  it  becomes  imperiously  necessary  to  define  the  conditions  under 
which  the  images  are  obtained. 

The  images  of  any  object  impressed  by  light  upon  the  eye  are  fu- 
gacious, and  can  be  of  only  a  limited  intensity.  The  images  fixed 
upon  the  photographic  plate  are  permanent,  and  can  be  made  of  an 
intensity  that  becomes  cumulative  with  the  duration  of  the  exposure. 
The  photographic  retina  may  be  expected,  when  the  art  has  been  per- 
fected in  the  highest  degree,  to  give  us  images  corresponding  with  an 
extremely  expanded  range  in  the  duration  of  the  exposure.  We  now 
obtain  photographic  impressions  of  the  sun  in  the  one  hundred  thou- 
sandth part  of  a  second,  and  can  not  yet  guess  what  the  final  limit  will 
be  in  the  direction  of  brevity.  On  the  other  hand,  the  images  of  the 
comet  required  an  hour,  and  that  of  the  nebula?  in  Orion  more  than 
three  hours  of  luminous  action.  Thus  the  luminous  action  was  more 
than  five  hundred  million  times  as  long  in  the  last  case  as  in  the  first. 
What  phenomena  can  have  wide  enough  ranges  in  brightness  or  ob- 
scurity to  escape  so  admirable  an  elasticity  ? 

The  photographic  plates,  moreover,  which  are  prepared  now,  are 
not  only  sensitive  to  all  the  elementary  rays  which  excite  the  retina, 
but  the  power  also  extends  into  those  ultra-violet  regions  and  the  op- 
posite regions  of  dark  heat  in  which  the  eye  has  no  power. 

The  priceless  advantages  which  photography  offers  for  the  prose- 
cution of  our  experiments  are,  in  short,  the  preservation  of  the  im- 
ages, the  extension  of  sensibility,  and  the  faculty  of  seizing  phenom- 
ena of  the  most  different  degrees  of  illumination,  including  the  ex- 
tremely strong  and  the  extremely  weak. 

The  above  is  a  very  incomplete  picture  of  what  has  been  accom- 


488  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

plished  by  physical  astronomy.  Is  it  not  enough,  however,  to  show 
that  our  branch  of  the  science  has  already  attained  the  height  of  its 
elder  sister  ?  Are  not  the  two  worthy  of  each  other,  and  will  they 
not  be  able  to  march  hereafter  at  an  equal  pace  to  the  conquest  of  the 
heavens  ?  On  one  side  we  behold  the  calculus — that  marvelous  intel- 
lectual lever,  putting  the  data  of  observation  to  work,  and  drawing 
from  them  magnificent  and  unexpected  consequences.  On  the  other 
side,  that  wonderful  apparatus  which  analyzes  light  as  if  it  were  mat- 
ter, which  forces  it  to  give  images  of  near  and  distant  objects  alike, 
and,  seizing  the  fugitive  images,  makes  them  fixed  and  durable. 

Behold  on  one  side,  again,  the  mathematical  genius  that  has  cre- 
ated the  analysis  of  the  infinite,  a  genius  of  exactness  and  thorough- 
ness, which  is  able  to  enter  into  all  the  elements  of  a  question  and 
disengage  from  the  complication  of  data  the  ultimate  consequences 
signified  by  them.  On  the  other  side,  the  genius  of  observation, 
which  now  watches  phenomena  with  the  innate  and  superior  sense 
that  enables  it  to  discover  their  intimate  relations,  now  questions  Nat- 
ure and  carries  on  its  experiments  as  the  geometrician  carries  on  his 
analysis  when  he  wishes  to  prove  or  discover  something,  and  now, 
illuminated  by  a  sudden  inspiration,  makes  at  a  stroke  one  of  those 
approaches  that  open  immense  horizons. 

On  one  side  behold,  finally,  the  heavens  measured,  the  solar  world 
placed  in  the  balance,  and  its  movements  so  well  linked  together  by 
the  law  that  governs  them  that  soon,  perhaps,  past,  present,  and  fut- 
ure will  no  longer  exist  for  astronomy.  On  the  other  side,  wonders 
still  more  astonishing  :  stars  revealing  to  us  their  forms  and  the  most 
minute  details  of  their  structure,  as  if  they  had  left  the  depths  of 
space  to  offer  themselves  submissively  to  our  study  ;  worlds  intrust- 
ing the  secrets  of  the  matter  that  engenders  them  to  the  rays  which 
they  send  us  ;  and  the  history  of  the  sky  written  by  the  sky  itself. 
Finally,  by  the  united  efforts  of  the  two,  the  entire  universe,  in  its 
majesty  and  its  grandeur,  become  the  intellectual  domain  of  man. 


-«•♦♦- 


EVOLUTION  OF  THE   STETHOSCOPE. 

By  SAMUEL  WELKS,  M.  D.,  F.  E.  S., 

PIIYSICIAN   AND   LECTURER   ON   MEDICINE,  GL'T's  HOSPITAL. 

INSTEAD  of  placing  on  the  table  every  imaginary  form  of  stetho- 
scope manufactured  out  of  every  possible  material  gathered  from 
the  shops  of  the  instrument-makers,  I  will  carry  you  back  to  the 
origin  of  the  stethoscope,  and  you  will  see  how,  on  the  principle  of 
selection  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  the  primitive  instruments  have 
departed  from  the  scene  and  are  now  only  to  be  found  among  the 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE  STETHOSCOPE. 


489 


fossilized  curiosities,  the  relics  of  former  ages,  on  the  antiquated 
shelves  of  some  very  old  medical  practitioner.  The  stethoscope,  as 
you  know,  was  invented  by  Laennec.  He  relates  how  in  the  year 
1816  he  happened  to  recollect  a  well-known  fact  in  acoustics  of  solid 
bodies  conveying  sound,  and  he  goes  on  to  say  :  "  Immediately  on 
this  suggestion  I  rolled  a  quire  of  paper  into  a  kind  of  cylinder  and 
applied  one  end  of  it  to  the  region  of  the  heart  and  the  other  to  my 
ear,  and  was  not  a  little  surprised  and  pleased  to  find  that  I  could 
thereby  perceive  the  action  of  the  heart  in  a  manner  much  more  clear 
than  by  the  application  of  the  ear.  .  .  .  The  first  instrument  which  I 
used  was  a  cylinder  of  paper  formed  of  three  quires  completely  rolled 
together  and  kept  in  shape  by  paste."  Laennec  then  goes  on  to  de- 
scribe how  he  copied  this  roll  of  paper  in  wood,  metals,  glass,  and 
other  substances,  and  finally  he  says  :  "  In  consequence  of  these  vari- 
ous experiments  I  now  employ  a  cylinder  of  wood  an  inch  and  a  half 
in  diameter  and  a  foot  long,  perforated  longitudinally  by  a  bore  three 
lines  wide  and  hollowed  out  into  a  funnel-shape  to  the  depth  of  an 
inch  and  a  half  at  one  of  its  extremities.  It  is  divided  into  two  por- 
tions, partly  for  the  convenience  of  carriage  and  partly  to  permit  its 
being  used  of  half  the  usual  length.  The  instrument  in  this  form — 
that  is,  with  the  funnel-shaped  extremity — is  used  in  exploring  the 
respiration  and  rattle  ;  when  applied  to  the  exploration  of  the  heart 
and  the  voice,  it  is  converted  into  a  simple  tube  with  thick  sides,  by 
inserting  into  its  excavated  extremity  a  stopper  or  plug  traversed  by 
a  small  aperture  and  accurately  adjusted  to  the  excavation.  This  in- 
strument I  have  denominated  the  stethoscope? 

Fig.  1  represents  Laennec's  roll  of  paper,  and  Figs.  2  and  3  the 
copy  of  this  in  wood  as  he  describes.  The  latter  figure  is  drawn  from 
an  instrument  kindly  given  me  by  Dr.  Galton,  of  Norwood,  being  the 
stethoscope  long  used  by  his  father.     It  does  not  separate  into  two 


Fig.  3. 


pieces,  but  contains  the  plug  which  can  be  removed  so  as  to  leave  the 
end  hollow.  Fig.  4  is  the  same  instrument  with  the  sides  cut  out  to 
make  it  lighter  and  more  elegant,  the  ear-piece  being  the  same  as 
before,  and  the  mouth  also  hollowed  out.  This  was  the  stethoscope 
used  and  recommended  by  the  late  Dr.  Hughes.     By  making  the  in- 


49Q 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


strument  still  more  elegant  and  slender  we  have  the  modern  stetho- 
scope in  endless  variety,  as  in  Fig.  5.  It  is  thus  very  evident  how  the 
modern  instrument  has  been  framed  out  of  the  original  block  of  wood 
which  was  made  the  counterpart  of  Laennec's  roll  of  paper. 

I  know  not  who  invented  the  instruments  with  flexible  tubes,  but 
I  have  no  doubt  that  a  search  into  medical  history  could  tell  us.  I 
remember,  however,  that  the  first  flexible  stethoscope  which  I  ever 
saw  was  the  one  depicted  in  Fig.  6,  and  used  by  Dr.  Golding  Bird 
when  he  saw  out-patients  in  the  year  1843.  Being  much  crippled  with 
rheumatism,  and  therefore  not  wishing  to  rise  from  his  chair,  he  found 


Fig.  6. 


Fig.  7. 


Fig.  8. 


this  instrument  very  convenient ;  he  also  was  enabled  to  pass  the  ear- 
piece to  gentlemen  standing  near  him,  while  he  held  the  cup  on  the 
part  to  be  examined.  I  always  thought  it  was  his  own  invention. 
But,  whether  so  or  not,  I  do  not  think  any  great  effort  of  genius  was 
required  to  frame  a  flexible  instrument,  and  then  adapt  it  for  the  use 
of  one  or  two  ears.  This  being  done,  the  next  step  would  be  to  make 
two  mouth-pieces  to  apply  to  the  chest  at  different  spots.  Various 
modifications  of  these  instruments  have  been  made  of  late  years,  but 
the  first  notice  of  them  I  have  any  knowledge  of  in  my  reading  is  to 
be  found  in  a  letter  to  the  "  Lancet "  of  August  29,  1829,  by  Mr. 
Comins,  of  Edinburgh,  headed  "A  Flexible  Stethoscope."  This  was- 
only  twelve  years  after  Laennec's  invention.  It  is  difficult  from  his 
description  to  picture  the  instrument,  but  it  seems  to  have  been  com- 
posed of  jointed  tubes,  and  made  for  two  ears  as  well  as  one.  Mr. 
Comins  expresses  his  surprise  that  the  discoverer  of  mediate  ausculta- 
tion did  not  suggest  a  flexible  instrument,  as  he  says  "  it  can  be  used 
in  the  highest  ranks  of  society  without  offending  fastidious  delicacy." 
A  very  interesting  fact  was  first  pointed  out  to  me  by  Dr.  Andrew 
Clark,  with  respect  to  a  pecidiarity  of  the  binaural  in  the  objective 
appreciation  of  sounds  ;  that  if  each  ear-piece  be  separately  used,  and 


SOCIAL  FORCES  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE.  491 

any  sound  be  made  near  the  mouth-piece,  it  is  heard  in  the  ear  itself, 
but,  if  the  two  pieces  are  employed  together,  the  sound  is  heard  at  the 
spot  where  it  is  produced.  The  fact  is  very  interesting  in  a  physio- 
logical point  of  view,  and  further  corroborates  the  theory  as  to  the 
value  of  a  double  set  of  senses,  or,  in  a  word,  of  the  body  being  made 
up  of  two  halves,  for  just  as  the  two  hands  feeling  different  parts  of 
an  object  gain  an  idea  of  extension,  and  the  two  eyes  by  obtaining 
different  views  of  any  substance  get  a  knowledge  of  its  solidity,  so  in 
the  same  way  the  two  ears  listening  to  the  same  sound  more  thoroughly 
appreciate  its  objectivity. 

If  you  look  at  this  series  of  drawings  you  may  perceive  but  little 
resemblance  between  the  first  figure  and  the  last,  but  take  them  one 
by  one  and  you  will  see  that  the  figures  are  really  progressive.  My 
story  of  development  is  not  imaginary,  but  historical. — Lancet. 


SOCIAL  FOECES  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE* 

By  HEKBERT  SPENCER. 

A  FEW  words  may  fitly  be  added  respecting  the  causes  of  this 
over-activity  in  American  life — causes  which  may  be  identified 
as  having  in  recent  times  partially  operated  among  ourselves,  and  as 
having  wrought  kindred,  though  less  marked,  effects.  It  is  the  more 
worth  while  to  trace  the  genesis  of  this  undue  absorption  of  the  ener- 
gies  in  work,  since  it  well  serves  to  illustrate  the  general  truth  which 
should  be  ever  present  to  all  legislators  and  politicians,  that  the  indi- 
rect and  unforeseen  results  of  any  cause  affecting  a  society  are  fre- 
quently, if  not  habitually,  greater  and  more  important  than  the  direct 
and  foreseen  results. 

This  high  pressure  under  which  Americans  exist,  and  which  is  most 
intense  in  places  like  Chicago,  where  the  prosperity  and  rate  of  growth 
are  greatest,  is  seen  by  many  intelligent  Americans  themselves  to  be 
an  indirect  result  of  their  free  institutions  and  the  absence  of  those 
class-distinctions  and  restraints  existing  in  older  communities.  A  so- 
ciety in  which  the  man  who  dies  a  millionaire  is  so  often  one  who 
commenced  life  in  poverty,  and  in  which  (to  paraphrase  a  French  say- 
ing concerning  the  soldier)  every  news-boy  carries  a  president's  seal  in 
his  bag,  is,  by  consequence,  a  society  in  which  all  are  subject  to  a  stress 
of  competition  for  wealth  and  honor,  greater  than  can  exist  in  a  society 
whose  members  are  nearly  all  prevented  from  rising  out  of  the  ranks 
in  which  they  were  born,  and  have  but  remote  possibilities  of  acquir- 
ing fortunes.     In  those  European  societies  which  have  in  great  meas- 

*  Remarks  appended  to  Spencer's  address  at  the  New  York  banquet,  reprinted  in  the 
"  Contemporary  Review." 


492  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

ure  preserved  their  old  types  of  structure  (as  in  our  own  society  up  to 
the  time  when  the  great  development  of  industrialism  began  to  open 
ever-multiplying  careers  for  the  producing  and  distributing  classes) 
there  is  so  little  chance  of  overcoming  the  obstacles  to  any  great  rise 
in  position  or  possession,  that  nearly  all  have  to  be  content  with  their 
places  :  entertaining  little  or  no  thought  of  bettering  themselves.  A 
manifest  concomitant  is  that,  fulfilling,  with  such  efficiency  as  a  mod- 
erate competition  requires,  the  daily  tasks  of  their  respective  situ- 
ations, the  majority  become  habituated  to  making  the  best  of  such 
pleasures  as  their  lot  affords,  during  whatever  leisure  they  get.  But 
it  is  otherwise  where  an  immense  growth  of  trade  multiplies  greatly 
the  chances  of  success  to  the  enterprising  ;  and  still  more  is  it  other- 
wise where  class-restrictions  are  partially  removed  or  wholly  absent. 
Not  only  are  more  energy  and  thought  put  into  the  time  daily  occu- 
pied in  work,  but  the  leisure  comes  to  be  trenched  upon,  either  liter- 
ally by  abridgment,  or  else  by  anxieties  concerning  business.  Clearly, 
the  larger  the  number  who,  under  such  conditions,  acquire  property, 
or  achieve  higher  positions,  or  both,  the  sharper  is  the  spur  to  the  rest. 
A  raised  standard  of  activity  establishes  itself  and  goes  on  rising. 
Public  applause  given  to  the  successful,  becoming  in  communities  thus 
circumstanced  the  most  familiar  kind  of  public  applause,  increases 
continually  the  stimulus  to  action.  The  struggle  grows  more  and 
more  strenuous,  and  there  comes  an  increasing  dread  of  failui'e — a 
dread  of  being  "  left,"  as  the  Americans  say  :  a  significant  word,  since 
it  is  suggestive  of  a  race  in  which,  the  harder  any  one  runs,  the  harder 
others  have  to  run  to  keep  up  with  him — a  word  suggestive  of  that 
breathless  haste  with  which  each  passes  from  a  success  gained  to  the 
pursuit  of  a  further  success.  And,  on  contrasting  the  English  of  to- 
day with  the  English  of  a  century  ago,  we  may  see  how,  in  a  consid- 
erable measure,  the  like  causes  have  entailed  here  kindred  results. 

Even  those  who  are  not  directly  spurred  on  by  this  intensified 
struggle  for  wealth  and  honor  are  indirectly  spurred  on  by  it.  For 
one  of  its  effects  is  to  raise  the  standard  of  living,  and  eventually  to 
increase  the  average  rate  of  expenditure  for  all.  Partly  for  personal 
enjoyment,  but  much  more  for  the  display  which  brings  admiration, 
those  who  acquire  fortunes  distinguish  themselves  by  luxurious  habits. 
The  more  numerous  they  become,  the  keener  becomes  the  competition 
for  that  kind  of  public  attention  given  to  those  who  make  themselves 
conspicuous  by  great  expenditure.  The  competition  spreads  down- 
ward step  by  step,  until,  to  be  "  respectable,"  those  having  relatively 
small  means  feel  obliged  to  spend  more  on  houses,  furniture,  dress,  and 
food,  and  are  obliged  to  work  the  harder  to  get  the  requisite  larger 
income.  This  process  of  causation  is  manifest  enough  among  our- 
selves ;  and  it  is  still  more  manifest  in  America,  where  the  extrava- 
gance in  style  of  living  is  greater  than  here. 

Thus,  though  it  seems  beyond  doubt  that  the  removal  of  all  polit- 


SOCIAL  FORCES  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE.  493 

ical  and  social  barriers,  and  the  giving  to  each  man  an  unimpeded 
career,  must  be  purely  beneficial,  yet  there  is,  at  first,  a  considerable 
set-off  from  the  benefits.  Among  those  who,  in  older  communities, 
have  by  laborious  lives  gained  distinction,  some  may  be  heard  privately 
to  confess  that  "  the  game  is  not  worth  the  candle,"  and,  when  they 
hear  of  others  who  wish  to  tread  in  their  steps,  shake  their  heads  and 
say,  "  If  they  only  knew  !  "  Without  accepting  in  full  so  pessimistic 
an  estimate  of  success,  we  must  still  say  that  very  generally  the  cost 
of  the  candle  deducts  largely  from  the  gain  of  the  game.  That  which 
in  these  exceptional  cases  holds  among  ourselves  holds  more  generally 
in  America.  An  intensified  life,  which  may  be  summed  up  as  great 
labor,  great  profit,  great  expenditure,  has  for  its  concomitant  a  wear 
and  tear  which  considerably  diminishes  in  one  direction  the  good 
gained  in  another.  Added  together,  the  daily  strain  through  many 
hours  and  the  anxieties  occupying  many  other  hours — the  occupation 
of  consciousness  by  feelings  that  are  either  indifferent  or  painful, 
leaving  relatively  little  time  for  occupation  of  it  by  pleasurable  feel- 
ings— tends  to  lower  its  level  more  than  its  level  is  raised  by  the  grati- 
fications of  achievement  and  the  accompanying  benefits.  So  that  it 
may,  and  in  many  cases  does,  result  that  diminished  happiness  goes 
along  with  increased  prosperity.  Unquestionably,  as  long  as  order  is 
fairly  maintained,  that  absence  of  political  and  social  restraints  which 
gives  free  scope  to  the  struggles  for  profit  and  honor  conduces  greatly 
to  material  advance  of  the  society — develops  the  industrial  arts,  ex- 
tends and  improves  the  business  organizations,  augments  the  wealth  ; 
but  that  it  raises  the  value  of  individual  life,  as  measured  by  the 
average  state  of  its  feeling,  by  no  means  follows.  That  it  will  do  so 
eventually,  is  certain  ;  but,  that  it  does  so  now,  seems,  to  say  the  least, 
very  doubtful. 

The  truth  is,  that  a  society  and  its  members  act  and  react  in  such 
wise  that  while,  on  the  one  hand,  the  nature  of  the  society  is  deter- 
mined by  the  natures  of  its  members,  on  the  other  hand,  the  activities 
of  its  members  (and  presently  their  natures)  are  re-determined  by  the 
needs  of  the  society,  as  these  alter  :  change  in  either  entails  change  in 
the  other.  It  is  an  obvious  implication  that,  to  a  great  extent,  the  life 
of  a  society  so  sways  the  wills  of  its  members  as  to  turn  them  to  its 
ends.  That  which  is  manifest  during  the  militant  stage,  when  the  so- 
cial aggregate  coerces  its  units  into  co-operation  for  defense,  and  sacri- 
fices many  of  their  lives  for  its  corporate  preservation,  holds  under 
another  form  during  the  industrial  stage,  as  we  at  present  know  it. 
Though  the  co-operation  of  citizens  is  now  voluntary  instead  of  com- 
pulsory, yet  the  social  forces  impel  them  to  achieve  social  ends  while 
apparently  achieving  only  their  own  ends.  The  man  who,  carrying 
out  an  invention,  thinks  only  of  private  welfare  to  be  thereby  secured, 
is  in  far  larger  measure  working  for  public  welfare  ;  instance  the  con- 
trast between  the  fortune  made  by  Watt  and  the  wealth  which  the 


494  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

steam-engine  has  given  to  mankind.  He  who  utilizes  a  new  material, 
improves  a  method  of  production,  or  introduces  a  better  way  of  carry- 
ing on  business,  and  does  this  for  the  purpose  of  distancing  competi- 
toi's,  gains  for  himself  little  compared  with  that  which  he  gains  for  the 
community  by  facilitating  the  lives  of  all.  Either  unknowingly  or  in 
spite  of  themselves,  Nature  leads  men  by  purely  personal  motives  to 
fulfill  her  ends  :  Nature  being  one  of  our  expressions  for  the  Ultimate 
Cause  of  things,  and  the  end,  remote  when  not  proximate,  being  the 
highest  form  of  human  life. 

Hence  no  argument,  however  cogent,  can  be  expected  to  produce 
much  effect  :  only  here  and  there  one  may  be  influenced.  As  in  an 
actively  militant  stage  of  society  it  is  impossible  to  make  many 
believe  that  there  is  any  glory  preferable  to  that  of  killing  enemies  ; 
so,  where  rapid  material  growth  is  going  on,  and  affords  unlimited 
scope  for  the  energies  of  all,  little  can  be  done  by  insisting  that  life 
has  higher  uses  than  work  and  accumulation.  While  among  the  most 
powerful  of  feelings  continue  to  be  the  desire  for  public  applause  and 
dread  of  public  censure — while  the  anxiety  to  achieve  distinction,  now 
by  conquering  enemies,  now  by  beating  competitors,  continues  pre- 
dominant— while  the  fear  of  public  reprobation  affects  men  more  than 
the  fear  of  divine  vengeance  (as  witness  the  long  survival  of  dueling 
in  Christian  societies) — this  excess  of  work  which  ambition  prompts 
seems  likely  to  continue  with  but  small  qualification.  The  eagerness 
for  the  honor  accorded  to  success,  first  in  war  and  then  in  commerce, 
has  been  indispensable  as  a  means  to  peopling  the  earth  with  the 
higher  types  of  man,  and  the  subjugation  of  its  surface  and  its  forces 
to  human  use.  Ambition  may  fitly  come  to  bear  a  smaller  ratio  to 
other  motives,  when  the  working  out  of  these  needs  is  approaching 
completeness  ;  and  when  also,  by  consequence,  the  scope  for  satisfying 
ambition  is  diminishing.  Those  who  draw  the  obvious  corollaries 
from  the  doctine  of  evolution — those  who  believe  that  the  process  of 
modification  upon  modification  which  has  brought  life  to  its  present 
height  must  raise  it  still  higher,  will  anticipate  that  "  the  iast  infirmity 
of  noble  minds  "  will  in  the  distant  future  slowly  decrease.  As  the 
sphere  for  achievement  becomes  smaller,  the  desire  for  applause  will 
lose  that  predominance  which  it  now  has.  A  better  ideal  of  life  may 
simultaneously  come  to  prevail.  When  there  is  fully  recognized  the 
truth  that  moral  beauty  is  higher  than  intellectual  power — when  the 
wish  to  be  admired  is  in  large  measure  replaced  by  the  wish  to  be 
loved — that  strife  for  distinction  which  the  present  phase  of  civili- 
zation shows  us  will  be  greatly  moderated.  Along  with  other  benefits 
may  then  come  a  rational  proportioning  of  work  and  relaxation  ;  and 
the  relative  claims  of  to-day  and  to-morrow  may  be  properly  balanced. 


THE  FORMATION   OF  LUNAR    CRATERS.  495 


THE   FORMATION   OF  LUNAR  CRATERS. 

M  JULES  BERGERON  says,  in  a  paper  communicated  to  the 
.  French  Academy  of  Sciences,  and  republished  in  "La  Na- 
ture "  :  "I  have  noticed  that  when  gases  or  vapors  pass  through  a 
mass  having  the  consistency  of  paste,  they  leave  behind  them  funnel- 
shaped  holes.  Struck  by  the  analogy  which  these  holes  present  with  the 
craters  of  the  moon,  I  have  endeavored  to  reproduce  the  phenomena 
on  a  larger  scale.  To  simplify  my  experiments  as  much  as  possible,  I 
used  alloys,  melting  at  relatively  low  temperatures,  taking  first  Wood's 
alloy,  of  seven  parts  of  bismuth,  two  of  cadmium,  two  of  tin,  and  two 
of  lead,  which  melts  at  about  158°  Fahr.  Having  introduced  into  the 
mass,  melted  in  the  salt-water  bath,  a  current  of  warm  air  by  means 
of  a  tin  pipe,  I  allowed  it  to  cool  slowly  while  the  inflation  of  warm 
air  was  still  continued.  The  ebullition  which  took  place  reached  all 
the  parts — which  were  beginning  to  solidify  and  form  a  pellicle — over 
a  considerable  surface;  and  there  was  formed  before  me  a  large  circle, 
around  which  the  edges  gradually  rose  under  the  continued  inflation, 
till  it  began  to  assume  the  appearance  of  a  crater.  At  the  same  time, 
the  metallic  mass  becoming  thicker  as  the  cooling  went  on,  while  it 
was  still  blown  out  by  the  air,  could  no  longer  drive  the  solid  particles 
away  from  itself,  and  rose  above  the  crater  in  such  a  way  as  to  form 
a  cone,  which  grew  visibly  more  prominent.  The  crater  also  became 
more  hollow,  with  its  inner  walls  more  inclined  than  the  outer  walls, 
and  I  had  before  me  a  formation  strikingly  analogous  to  the  craters 
of  the  moon.  The  same  phenomena  were  observed,  whatever  alloy  I 
employed. 

"  Similar  processes  have  possibly  taken  place  on  the  moon.  In- 
stead of  gas,  the  reliefs  may  have  been  produced  by  the  vapors,  which 
rose  freely  from  the  body  while  it  was  in  a  fluid  state  ;  but  the  super- 
ficial part  of  the  planet  being  cooled  much  more  rapidly  than  the 
interior,  the  lattei',  still  fluid,  continued  to  emit  vapors  after  the  sur- 
face had  become  quite  thick.  The  vapors  found  their  way  along  the 
superficial  envelope,  and  came  out  only  at  particular  points,  where, 
doubtless,  the  process  of  solidification  was  least  nearly  accomplished. 
The  vapors  may  subsequently  have  been  condensed,  or  absorbed,  by 
the  substances  constituting  the  rock  of  the  moon. 

"  As  my  first  experiments  were  made  in  a  capsule,  the  objection 
might  be  made  that  the  circular  form  of  the  crater  was  produced 
under  the  influence  of  the  shape  of  the  walls  of  the  vessel.  To  ob- 
viate such  criticism,  I  employed  a  rectangular  basin,  in  which  I  melted 
an  alloy  of  four  parts  of  lead,  four  of  tin,  and  one  of  bismuth.  The 
phenomena  were  produced  as  in  the  former  case  ;  but  I  found  that 
the  aspect  of  the  mass  after  the  formation  of  the  crater  varied  accord- 


496 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


ing  to  what  metal  was  used.  With  Wood's  alloy,  which  is  very  fusi- 
ble, the  projections  that  fell  on  the  edge  of  the  crater  flowed  away, 
and  left  no  trace  of  their  passage.     With  the  second  alloy  the  pro- 


Fig.  1.— Artificial  Crater  oetained  with  an  Allot. 

jections  all  continued  visible,  and  gave  a  rent  aspect  to  the  crater. 
Moreover,  since  the  warm  air  was  not  hot  enough  to  melt  the  metal, 
the  projections  might  eventually  overhang  the  bottom,  as  appears  in 
Fig.  1. 


Fig.  2.— Action  of  a  Current  of  Air  on  a  Melted  Allot. 


"The  second  experiment  was  marked  by  a  very  interesting  inci- 
dent. Two  concentric  circular  areas  were  noticed,  the  one  nearer  to 
the  center  being  the  higher.     This  was  due  to  an  interruption  to  the 


SCIENCE  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM.  497 

passage  of  the  air  during  the  formation  of  the  crater.     The  edges  of 
Copernicus,  Archimedes,  and  several  other  lunar  craters  are  marked  by 

analogous  features. 

"  A  formation  like  a  dike  appears  to  rise  in  the  center  of  a  con- 
siderable number  of  craters  on  the  moon.  I  have  been  able  to  pro- 
duce something  analogous  to  this  also,  a  representation  of  which  is 
visible  in  Fig.  2.  After  I  had  ceased  blowing  in  air,  a  last  bubble  was 
formed,  which  uplifted  the  mass,  but  could  not  project  it  above  the 
edge  of  the  crater.  The  lunar  dikes  are  very  probably  formed  in 
this  way,  by  the  action  of  the  gas,  at  the  end  of  the  active  period  of 
the  craters." 


SCIENCE  m  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

Br  CLARA  S.  WEEKS. 

THERE  is  no  subject  of  so  much  general  interest  as  this,  concerning 
which  there  is,  at  the  same  time,  such  a  widely  prevalent  igno- 
rance. There  are  few,  especially  among  women,  upon  whom  will  not 
devolve,  at  some  time  in  their  lives,  the  care  of  the  sick ;  fewer  still 
who  will  not  at  some  time  become  dependent  upon  such  care  ;  and  it 
migbt  naturally  be  supposed  that  matters  of  such  primary  and  univer- 
sal importance  as  sanitary  conditions  and  the  practical  application  in 
the  sick-room  of  scientific  jDrinciples  would  be  too  familiar  to  every 
one  to  need  to  be  further  enlarged  upon.  But  the  fact  is,  it  too  fre- 
quently happens  that  all  the  scientific  knowledge  which  ever  enters 
the  sick-room  comes  in  with  the  doctor  and  goes  out  again  with  him. 

Tbis  state  of  things  requires  to  be  improved.  Knowledge,  and 
tbat  correct  knowledge  we  call  science,  is  just  as  indispensable  to  the 
nurse  as  to  anybody  else.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  all 
women — even  all  good  women — make  good  nurses.  Tbe  best  inten- 
tions and  the  tenderest  heart  may  coexist  with  an  utter  lack  of  execu- 
tive ability,  and  be  more  than  counterbalanced  by  ignorance  and  preju- 
dice. Native  aptitude  gives  advantage,  but  it  can  not  be  relied  upon 
alone.  Even  those  who  possess  in  the  highest  degree  the  natural  gift 
of  ministration  which  renders  them  so  acceptable  to  the  invalid  would 
find  their  power  of  usefulness  very  largely  increased  by  a  familiarity 
with  what  may  be  properly  called  the  science  of  the  sick-room.  Phy- 
sicians are  recognizing  more  and  more  tbe  importance  of  hygienic 
agencies  in  the  treatment  of  disease,  and  with  this  there  has  come  an 
increasingly  urgent  call  for  the  scientific  instruction  and  practical 
training  of  those  who  are  to  take  charge  of  invalids.  Science  explains 
the  conditions  upon  which  the  art  of  the  nurse  depends,  and  lays  down 
principles  which  can  not  be  violated  without  injury  ;  but  it  is  not  at 
all  necessary  to  make  a  parade  of  technical  language  in  stating  its  re- 

TOL.    XXII. — 32 


498  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

quirements.  It  is  the  object  of  the  present  article  to  furnish  a  few 
simple  directions  for  the  care  of  the  sick  that  have  the  warrant  of 
practical  experience. 

The  first  thing  to  be  considered  is  the  room  itself.  And  the  proper 
time  to  consider  it  is  when  you  build  your  house.  But,  as  most  of  us 
are  forced  to  be  content  with  houses  already  built,  and  built  with  no 
reference  in  the  mind  of  the  architect  to  the  probability  of  illness 
among  its  inhabitants,  it  is  only  left  for  us  to  see  how  we  may  best 
avail  ourselves  of  such  conveniences — or  inconveniences — as  we  may 
chance  to  have.     There  is  always,  at  least,  a  choice  of  evils. 

The  sick-room  should  be  on  the  sunny  side  of  the  house,  and  have 
plenty  of  windows.  Only  in  exceptional  cases,  such  as  inflammation 
of  the  eye  or  brain,  is  it  necessary  to  have  the  room  darkened,  and 
even  then  a  south  room,  with  the  light  carefully  moderated  by  blinds 
and  curtains,  is  to  be  preferred  to  a  darker  one  on  the  north  side.  In 
the  majority  of  cases,  light,  and  not  only  light,  but  direct  sunshine,  is 
to  be  desired,  not  only  for  the  additional  cheerfulness  which  it  gives, 
but  because  of  its  actual  physical  effects.  Sunlight  is  a  powerful 
remedial  agent.  You  put  the  drooping  plants  which  you  wish  to  re- 
store to  vigor  in  the  brightest,  sunniest  spot  in  your  house — do  the 
same  with  the  feeble  and  sickly  human  being  for  whose  improvement 
you  arc  so  anxiously  looking,  and  you  will  derive  similar  beneficial 
results. 

The  sick-room  should  be,  as  far  as  possible,  remote  from  the  noises 
of  the  house  and  of  the  street.  If,  as  is  sometimes  the  case,  this  desid- 
eratum is  quite  incompatible  with  the  last-named,  still,  except  where 
there  is  great  nervous  irritability,  give  the  preference  to  the  sunny  side, 
even  at  some  loss  of  quiet. 

Noise  which  is  understood  and  inevitable  is  far  less  annoying  than 
would  be  a  much  slighter  noise,  unexplained  or  unnecessary.  Inter- 
mittent is  more  hurtful  than  continuous  noise.  Sudden,  sharp,  and 
jarring  sounds  are  especially  to  be  avoided.  Manage,  if  possible,  to 
have  the  room  over  your  patient  unoccupied.  Modern  houses  are  so 
slightly  built,  and  their  vibrations  so  trying,  that,  unless  you  can  so 
arrange,  you  will  often  find  it  better  to  put  your  patient  at  the  top  of 
the  house,  in  spite  of  the  fatigue  of  the  stairs. 

Many  slight  and  apparently  unimportant  noises,  which  are  never- 
theless peculiarly  annoying  to  the  sensitive  nerves  of  the  sick,  may 
easily,  with  a  little  care  and  forethought,  be  entirely  done  away  with. 
If  you  have  coal  to  put  on  the  fire,  bring  it  in  wrapped  in  a  paper, 
and  lay  it  on  paper  and  all.  Oil  the  hinges  of  creaking  doors.  Fix 
wedges  in  rattling  windows.  Keep  rocking-chairs  out  of  the  room. 
Avoid  wearing  clothes  that  rustle  or  shoes  that  squeak.  Do  not 
whisper,  either  in  your  patient's  room,  or  just  outside  his  door.  A 
low,  distinct  tone,  when  conversation  is  necessary,  will  seldom  annoy. 
Whispering  always  will,  as  will  any  sound  which  creates  strained  at- 


SCIENCE  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM.  499 

tention  or  a  sense  of  expectation.  If  you  have  anything  to  say  which 
you  do  not  wish  your  patient  to  hear,  say  it  somewhere  else  than  in 
his  presence. 

The  first  and  greatest  requisite  in  a  sick-room  is  purity  of  air. 
This  is  only  to  be  attained  by  constant  and  thorough  ventilation. 
Ventilation  is  the  displacement  of  impure  by  pure  air.  To  secure 
this,  there  should  be  two  apertures  to  the  room,  one  for  the  egress  of 
the  foul  air,  and  one  for  the  admission  of  fresh  air.  The  best  possible 
arrangement  is  that  of  an  open  window  and  an  open  fire-place.  If  you 
do  not  wish  a  constant  fire,  keep  a  lamp  burning  at  the  mouth  of  the 
chimney  to  create  a  draught.  Arrange  a  blind  or  screen  so  that  the 
air  will  not  blow  directly  upon  your  patient,  and  you  may  keep  the 
window  open  day  and  night  without  danger  of  chilling  him.  Do  not 
make  the  common  mistake  of  confounding  cold  air  with  pure  air.  You 
may  keep  the  room  at  any  desired  temperature,  and  still  have  the 
atmosphere  perfectly  fresh  ;  or  you  may  lower  the  temperature  to 
any  extent  without  removing  a  particle  of  the  poisonous  impurities 
with  which  the  air  is  laden.  Keep  your  patient  as  wai-rn  by  means- 
of  external  appliances  as  his  comfort  demands,  but  never  shut  out 
the  fresh  air.  Fresh  air  can  only  come  from  outside  the  house. 
Opening  a  door  into  a  passage  or  an  adjoining  room,  itself  imper- 
fectly  aired,  is  not  ventilation.  Fresh  air,  may,  however,  be  admitted 
to  the  sick-room  through  an  adjoining  apartment,  first  thoroughly 
ventilated.  This  is  sometimes  the  best  method  of  procedure.  It  re- 
quires, of  course,  more  care  to  keep  a  small  room  well  aired  without 
objectionable  draughts  than  a  large  one. 

Stationary  basins  should  never  be  used  in  the  sick-room.  The  per- 
fect system  of  house-drainage  has  yet  to  be  invented,  and  the  danger 
from  leaky  and  defective  traps  is  so  great  that  the  only  safe  way  is  to 
avoid  them  altogether.  If  you  have  such  arrangements  in  the  room 
which  you  propose  to  devote  to  your  invalid,  cork  up  the  overflow- 
holes — or,  better,  stop  them  with  plaster-of -Paris — and  fill  the  basin 
with  water,  which  must  be  changed  from  time  to  time,  or  cover  it  en- 
tirely with  a  board.  The  increased  healthfulness  of  the  atmosphere 
will  more  than  compensate  for  the  extra  trouble  which  will  be  occa- 
sioned by  adherence  to  this  precautionary  measure. 

No  cooking  should  ever  be  done  in  the  sick-room.  Neither  should 
damp  towels  or  articles  of  clothing  be  aired  and  dried  there.  All  ex- 
creta should  be  promptly  removed.  Upon  attention  to  these  details 
depends  that  which  should  be  the  first  care  of  every  person  in  charge 
of  the  sick — that  the  air  they  breathe  should  be  as  pure  as  that  outside. 

The  room,  then,  which  we  select  for  our  invalid  should  be  sunny, 
quiet,  the  one  which  affords  the  best  facilities  for  ventilation  and 
warmth,  and  without  sewerage. 

In  the  arrangement  of  the  room,  the  same  regard  for  the  comfort 
and  welfare  of  its  occupant  should  be  maintained. 


500  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

The  Ibed  should  be  in  the  lightest  part  of  the  room,  far  enough  re- 
moved from  the  wall  to  allow  a  free  circulation  of  air  around  it,  and 
to  be  easily  accessible  from  both  sides.  It  should  be  so  situated  that 
the  patient  can  see  out  of  the  window.  If  you  can  give  him  a  view 
from  two  windows,  so  much  the  better.  Few  people  who  have  not 
experienced  it  can  realize  the  weariness  of  mind  which  arises  from 
long  confinement  to  one  set  of  surroundings.  You  have  but  to  spend 
a  few  days  in  one  room  to  become  painfully  familiar  with  every  petty 
detail  of  its  furnishing,  and  such  variety  as  may  be  obtained  from  a 
glimpse  out-of-doors  will  often  afford  an  infinite  relief. 

It  is  frequently  recommended  that  all  superfluous  and  merely  orna- 
mental articles  be  removed  from  the  sick-room,  as  useless  incumbrances, 
only  affording  so  many  additional  lodging-places  for  dust  ;  but,  unless 
you  are  dealing  with  contagious  disease,  you  will  find  it  better  to  spend 
a  little  more  time  in  the  removal  of  dust  than  to  leave  the  sufferer 
with  only  the  bare  walls  to  gaze  at,  and  nothing  visible  to  vary  the 
monotony  of  his  thoughts.  That  a  carpet  or  wall-paper  of  set  pattern, 
or  anything  else  presenting  regularly  recurrent  figures,  is  objection- 
able, does  not  need  to  be  suggested  to  any  one  who  has  ever  been 
beset  by  the  counting  and  classifying  fiend  who  so  often  takes  posses- 
sion of  the  invalid  left  with  no  occupation  for  his  vacant  mind  beyond 
such  as  is  suggested  by  the  objects  within  his  limited  field  of  vision. 

Let  the  room  be  as  cheerful  as  possible  in  its  aspect.  Flowers  are 
quite  permissible.  Growing  plants  are  better  than  cut  flowers.  The 
latter  must  be  removed  as  soon  as  they  cease  to  be  perfectly  fresh. 

There  should  be  no  medicine-bottles  or  medical  appurtenances  of 
any  kind  in  sight.  They  belong  in  the  closet,  and  should  be  kept 
there,  except  when  in  actual  use. 

A  thermometer  is  indispensable.  Never  permit  yourself  to  judge 
the  temperature  of  the  room  by  your  own  sensations  or  by  those  of 
your  patient.  Hang  the  thermometer  as  nearly  as  possible  in  the  cen- 
ter of  the  room — at  all  events,  neither  against  a  chimney  in  use  or  the 
outer  wall.  The  one  will  be  hotter  and  the  other  colder  than  the 
mean  temperature,  which  is  what  you  wish  to  have  registered.  This 
should  be,  unless  you  have  contrary  orders  from  the  physician,  about 
G8°  Fahr. 

The  necessity  for  absolute  cleanliness  can  not  be  too  strenuously 
insisted  upon.  Dusting  can  only  be  efficiently  done  with  a  damp 
cloth.  The  ordinary  methods  in  vogue  simply  serve  to  transfer  the 
dust  from  one  spot  to  another.  Removal,  not  distribution,  should  be 
the  object  in  view.  The  room  can  only  be  thoroughly  swept  and 
cleaned  when  the  patient  can  be  moved  out  of  it  for  a  time  ;  but  the 
dust  may  be  removed  from  the  carpet  quite  effectively  and  noiselessly 
by  means  of  a  damp  cloth  wrapped  around  a  broom. 

Not  only  for  the  sake  of  appearances,  but  from  more  directly  hy- 
gienic considerations,  are  cleanliness  and  order  to  be  regarded. 


SCIENCE  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM.  5oi 

Upon  the  proper  arrangement  and  care  of  the  bed  will  largely 
depend  your  patient's  comfort.  This  should  be  low  and  narrow 
enough  for  you  easily  to  reach  him  from  either  side.  The  bedstead 
should  be  of  iron  or  brass,  with  springs  of  woven  wire,  permeable  by 
the  air  in  every  part.  This  is  the  only  kind  which  you  can  be  sure  of 
keeping  thoroughly  clean.  On  this  should  be  a  hair  mattress,  never  a 
feather  bed.  Make  the  under  sheet  as  tight  and  smooth  as  possible, 
and  take  especial  pains  to  keep  it  thoroughly  dry  and  free  from  wrin- 
kles, crumbs,  and  other  inequalities.  Neglect  in  this  particular  will 
give  rise  always  to  much  discomfort  and  sometimes  to  serious  troubles 
in  the  form  of  pressure-sores — which  are  extremely  difficult  to  cure, 
but  nearly  always  preventable  by  care.  Very  heavy  or  very  much 
emaciated  patients,  and  those  suffering  from  affections  of  the  brain, 
are  particularly  liable  to  these.  It  is  often  advisable,  especially  where 
a  bed  is  prepared  for  long  occupancy,  to  put  next  to  the  under  sheet 
one  of  rubber,  covered  with  a  second  folded  sheet,  or  draw-sheet.  This 
can  be  easily  and  frequently  changed  with  but  very  slight  disturbance 
to  the  patient.  The  bed-coverings  should  be  such  as  are  warm  with- 
out being  heavy,  as  their  weight  is  often  found  oppressive.  In  some 
cases  even  slight  pressure  is  unendurable.  The  weight  of  the  clothes 
may  then  be  supported  by  a  wooden  frame-work  underneath. 

All  bedding  should  be  frequently  renewed,  and  always  well  aired 
and  warmed  before  being  used.  If  you  have  a  patient  entirely  con- 
fined to  bed,  it  will  add  greatly  to  his  comfort  if  you  can  give  him 
two  beds,  each  provided  with  its  own  complement  of  sheets,  blankets, 
etc.  Let  him  occupy  one  during  the  day,  and  be  transferred  to  the 
other  for  the  night.  If  they  are  of  equal  height,  this  can  be  easily 
done,  and  the  smooth,  fresh  condition  of  the  unused  bed  will  do  more 
than  any  narcotic  toward  securing  for  him  a  good  night's  rest. 

To  prop  a  patient  up  with  pillows,  begin  by  slipping  one  as  far 
down  as  possible  against  the  small  of  the  back.  Put  the  next  and 
succeeding  ones  each  behind  the  last  ;  this  will  prevent  them  from 
slipping.  Aim  to  raise  the  head,  and  support  the  shoulders  without 
throwing  them  forward  so  as  to  interfere  with  the  free  play  of  the 
lungs.  Two  or  three  small  pillows,  which  can  be  moved  from  place 
to  place  as  occasion  requires,  will  be  found  of  great  service. 

About  the  person  of  your  patient,  no  less  than  about  his  room, 
labor  to  secure  the  most  scrupulous  cleanliness.  Neglect  of  this  too 
often  arises  from  a  fear  that  the  patient  will  take  cold  ;  but  it  entails 
a  greater  risk  than  this  to  leave  him  in  clothing  saturated  with  morbid 
effluvia,  and  with  the  pores  of  his  skin  clogged  by  the  noxious  products 
of  disease.  No  patient  is  ever  too  ill  to  be  kept  clean.  If  proper 
precautions  are  used  and  unnecessary  exposure  avoided,  no  danger 
need  be  apprehended. 

The  proper  administration  of  food  is  often  the  great  problem  of 
the  sick-room.     There  must  be  due  regard  to  the  kind,  quality,  and 


502  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

quantity,  and  to  the  time  and  manner  of  giving  it.  The  kind  of  food 
to  be  given  is  usually  prescribed  by  the  physician.  If  it  is  left  to  your 
own  discretion,  consult,  as  far  as  possible,  the  tastes  of  your  patient, 
try  to  secure  a  judicious  variety,  and  do  not  let  him  know  until  you 
bring  it  what  he  is  going  to  have  next.  Milk  is  the  only  article  of 
diet  which  contains  in  itself  all  the  essential  elements  of  nutrition.  It 
is,  therefore,  the  only  thing  upon  which  you  may  allow  your  patient 
entirely  to  subsist  for  any  length  of  time.  The  most  concentrated 
forms  of  food  are  to  be  preferred,  such  as  convey  the  greatest  amount 
of  nourishment  in  the  smallest  bulk. 

Whatever  you  give,  be  sure  that  it  is  the  best  of  its  kind — milk 
perfectly  sweet,  eggs  above  suspicion.  Remember  that  you  have 
more  than  the  ordinary  fastidiousness  to  contend  with,  and  never  offer 
a  sick  person  anything  which  you  have  not,  pr-jviously  tasted  yourself, 
and  so  feel  absolutely  sure  of.  This  does  not  mean  that  you  are  to 
taste  it  in  his  presence.  Bring  only  so  much  as  can  be  taken  at  once. 
A  large  amount  looks  so  discouraging  that  it  destroys  the  appetite  for 
even  a  little.  Take  away  promptly  what  is  not  eaten.  It  is  worse 
than  useless  to  leave  it  in  sight  in  the  hope  that  it  will  soon  be  wanted. 
Give  only  a  small  quantity  of  food  at  a  time,  but  give  it  at  short  and 
regular  intervals.  A  capful  every  two  hours  is  more  easily  managed 
by  weak  digestive  organs  than  would  be  a  large  meal  three  times  a 
day.  When  a  table-spoonful  can  not  be  taken  hourly  without  distress, 
you  may  give  successfully  a  tea-spoonful  every  quarter  of  an  hour. 
The  idiosyncrasies  of  each  individual  case  must  be  considered.  Regu- 
larity is,  however,  always  important.  When  you  do  not  feed  your 
patient  again  until  morning,  it  is  well  to  give  him  some  light  and 
easily  assimilated  nourishment  the  last  thing  at  night. 

If  you  have  a  helpless  patient  to  feed,  do  it  slowly,  and  avoid  un- 
manageable quantities.  It  requires  attention  and  care  to  do  this  well 
without  making  an  external  application  of  it.  Fluid  food  is  most 
easily  given,  and  with  the  least  exertion  on  the  part  of  the  patient, 
through  a  bent  glass  tube. 

Serve  the  food  in  as  attractive  a  form  as  possible.  If  it  pleases  the 
eye,  it  has  a  much  better  chance  of  proving  acceptable  to  a  delicate 
appetite.  You  can  at  least  have  the  dishes  spotlessly  clean,  and  dry 
on  the  outside.  Have  hot  things  hot,  and  cold  ones  very  cold.  To 
successfully  cater  to  the  capricious  appetite  of  an  invalid  requires  the 
faculty  of  observation,  judgment,  and  no  little  ingenuity  ;  but  it  is 
worth  the  exercise  of  them  all,  for  in  most  cases  the  question  of  nour- 
ishment is  more  important  than  that  of  medicine. 

Give  medicine  or  stimulant  ordered  always  on  time,  and  measure 
it  accurately.  Acquire  the  habit  of  always  reading  the  label  before 
you  open  a  bottle.  Pour  the  contents  from  the  unlabeled  side.  Cork 
tightly  after  using,  as  many  drugs  lose  their  virtue  upon  exposure  to 
the  air.     Use  no  remedies,  however  beneficial  you  may  fancy  they 


THE  DECREASE   OF  GOLD.  503 

would  be,  without  the  approval  of  the  physician  in  attendance.  You 
may  otherwise  most  disastrously  conflict  with  his  plan  of  treatment. 

The  patient  himself  should  have  no  responsibility  about  the  taking 
of  medicine,  the  preparation  of  food,  or  anything  else  which  can  be 
spared  him.  In  all  small  matters,  relieve  him  entirely  of  the  onus  of 
decision.  If  there  is  any  doubt  in  your  own  mind  as  to  the  expedi- 
ency of  this  or  that  measure,  do  not  let  him  share  it.  Let  him  feel 
that  you  know,  and  can  be  relied  upon  to  do,  what  is  best  for  him, 
without  any  necessity  for  thought  on  his  part. 

Perfect  freedom  from  anxiety  and  cheerful  surroundings  are  as 
essential  for  his  mental,  as  are  free  ventilation,  absolute  cleanliness, 
and  nourishing  food  for  his  physical,  well-being.  These  are  the  ele- 
ments of  good  nursing,  and  surely  they  are  within  the  reach  of  all.  Se- 
cure these,  and  you  will  have  given  the  sick  person  under  your  care 
the  best  possible  chance  for  recovery  ;  at  least  you  will  ameliorate 
his  sufferings,  and  relieve  him  from  many  an  unnecessary  aggravation. 


THE   DECREASE   OF   GOLD. 

By  F.  von  BKIESEN. 

WHEN,  in  the  beginning  of  1850,  California  and  Australia  sent 
annually  about  one  hundred  and  eighty  million  dollars  of  gold 
into  the  world,  national  economists  became  frightened,  and  Michel 
Chevalier  and  Cobden  expressed  the  fear  that  the  world  would  be  com- 
pletely inundated  with  a  flood  of  gold.  But  when,  after  the  year  1867, 
this  production  decreased  with  alarming  rapidity,  the  opposite  fears 
were  expressed.  As  early  as  1869,  the  London  "  Economist,"  when 
reviewing  the  year  past,  said  that  it  would  be  a  great  blessing  if  new 
sources  of  gold  could  be  discovered,  since  the  production  of  thirty 
thousand  pounds  sterling  per  year  was  barely  sufficient  to  cover  the 
necessities  of  a  flourishing  commerce,  more  especially  since  America 
consumed  a  great  part  of  the  gold  for  itself,  thus  withdrawing  it  from 
the  European  market.  Notable  statesmen  saw  in  it  the  cause  of  the 
periodically  recurring  commercial  crises  ;  and  Professor  Suss,  of  Vi- 
enna, demonstrated  in  his  pamphlet,  "The  Future  of  Gold,"  that  the 
present  sources  of  gold  are  being  exhausted,  and  that  the  territory 
in  which  new  deposits  might  be  found  is  gradually  diminishing  in 
extent. 

It  is  not  our  purpose,  however,  to  dissuss  the  national,  economical 
side  of  the  question,  but  merely  to  consider  it  in  its  scientific  bearing. 

Gold  and  silver  are  the  so-called  precious  metals,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  they  are  rare.  But,  if  we  ask  why  gold  is  so  scarce, 
Dr.  Siiss  answers  that  its  scarcity  is  caused  by  its  specific  gravity. 


504  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

We  possess  three  metals  distinguished  for  their  great  density — iridi- 
um, platinum,  and  gold.  If  we  assume  the  weight  of  water  as  unity, 
the  gravity  of  these  metals  is — iridium,  22*23  ;  platinum,  21 -50  ;  gold, 
19-25.  With  the  exception  of  iridium,  rare  as  well  as  remarkable, 
gold  and  platinum  weigh  more  than  any  other  metal :  for  instance, 
lead  has  a  specific  gravity  of  11*35  ;  silver,  10*47  ;  copper,  8*80  ;  and 
iron,  only  7*84.  The  question  occurs  next,  whether  the  scarcity  of 
gold  stands  in  any  connection  with  its  gravity. 

Since  the  earth  originally  passed  from  a  gaseous  into  a  fluid  state, 
the  heaviest  components  must,  in  its  fluid  condition,  have  tended 
toward  the  center.  If  it  he  true  that  our  entire  planetary  system 
developed  from  an  immense  nebula,  it  follows  that  the  planets  nearest 
to  the  center  must  be  the  heaviest. 

"  Their  great  specific  gravity,"  says  Professor  Petzholt,  speaking 
of  metals,  "  is  the  reason  that  they  can  so  rarely  be  seen  on  the  surface 
of  the  earth;  the  largest  masses  are  to  be  found  within  the  interior, 
in  a  molten  condition,  and  are  there  protected  against  the  cupidity  of 
man." 

Further  observations  have  confirmed  the  truth  of  this  view.  Be- 
cause spectral  analysis  reveals  no  gold  in  the  sun,  we  must  accept  the 
fact  that  it  lies  hidden  in  its  interior,  and  that  it  is  covered  by  lighter 
bodies,  which,  in  a  gaseous  state,  form  the  photosphere  of  the  sun. 
Hydrogen,  the  lightest  of  all  gases,  constitutes  the  chief  component  of 
this  photosphere.  Now,  the  planets  are  divided  into  two  groups,  ac- 
cording to  their  weight  :  the  heavy,  which  lie  within,  and  the  light, 
which  lie  beyond,  the  circle  of  the  asteroids.  Mercury,  the  nearest  to 
the  sun,  is  seven  times  as  heavy  as  water  ;  Venus,  the  Earth,  and  Mars 
are  five  times  as  heavy  ;  while  Jupiter  barely  attains  the  weight  of  wa- 
ter. The  specific  weight  of  Saturn  is  0*73  ;  of  Uranus,  0*84  ;  conse- 
quently, they  are  lighter  than  water.  The  density  of  Neptune,  not 
yet  exactly  determined,  is  at  any  rate  very  small.  We  therefore  find 
in  our  planetary  system  that  the  densest  bodies  are  nearest  to  the  cen- 
ter, and  this  leads  us  to  the  presumption  that  the  same  law  governs 
on  each  individual  planet,  and  that,  therefore,  the  heavy  gold  must 
be  found  nearest  to  the  center. 

This  leads  to  the  question,  Whence  the  gold  and  platinum  to  be 
found  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth  ?  These  two  heavy  metals  are 
only  found  in  places  where  volcanic  rocks  have  penetrated  through 
earlier  formations,  and  the  granite  has  split  up.  Platinum,  only  found 
in  excess  in  the  Ural  Mountains,  is  obtained  from  rocks  that  have  come 
up  from  below  ;  gold  is  found  only  in  quartz-veins.  These  veins  have 
been  formed  in  the  following  manner  :  As  a  natural  consequence  of 
the  contraction  of  the  earth's  crust,  internal  revolutions,  and  volcanic 
eruptions,  crevices  opened,  which  were  partly  filled  by  hot  springs, 
partly  by  eruptions  with  quartz.  Rich  deposits  are  often  found  in 
these  crevices,  called  by  the  American  miners  "  pockets,"  or  "  bonan- 


THE  DECREASE   OF  GOLD.  505 

zas  "  ;  but,  besides  these  bonanzas,  crevices  contain  no  gold,  and  only 
the  hope  of  encountering  them  leads  to  their  being  worked. 

The  places  in  which  gold  is  found  may  be  divided  into  the  follow- 
ing three  classes — auriferous  ore,  auriferous  veins,  and  auriferous  allu- 
vium : 

The  first  group  contains  ore,  rich  in  magnesium,  interspersed  with 
gold.  It  is  frequently  found  in  the  Ural  Mountains.  As  a  transi- 
tion to  the  second  class  may  be  regarded  the  auriferous  minerals,  in 
rock  of  volcanic  origin,  as  it  occurs  on  the  west  coast  of  South  Amer- 
ica atid  in  many  parts  of  Brazil.  The  granite  of  the  Erz  Gebirge,  in 
Bohemia,  which  contains  tin,  is  a  similar  formation.  Interesting  as 
this  class  is,  considered  from  a  geological  stand-point,  it  is  of  little 
practical  value  to  the  gold  miner. 

The  next  class  consists  of  the  auriferous  veins,  which  are  fissures 
filled  by  hot  springs,  geysers,  or  volcanic  eruptions.  The  gold  is  found 
here  together  with  silver,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Comstock  lode,  in 
Nevada,  the  gold  deposits  in  Queensland  and  New  Zealand,  as  well  as 
the  mines  near  Kremnitz,  in  the  Carpathian  range,  in  Hungary.  The 
gold  is  sometimes  found  in  them  pure,  sometimes  mixed  with  silver, 
copper,  or  sulphur.  In  the  older  volcanic  veins  the  gold  is  not  mixed 
with  silver,  and  bonanzas  are  never  found  in  them.  In  many  of  these 
veins,  also,  granite  veins  are  encountered,  and,  although  remote  from 
volcanic  regions,  it  is  presumed  that  the  gold  was  carried  up  by  the 
granite.  The  celebrated  "  Mother  lode  "  of  California  is  a  sample  of 
this  kind. 

The  third  class  is  the  gold-bearing  alluvium.  This  alluvium  (earth 
washed  down  by  rivers  upon  lower  lands)  has  been  produced  by  the 
decomposition  of  auriferous  rock,  and  the  gold  is  found  in  grains  and 
lumps  to  the  size  of  a  hen's  egg.  It  is  a  peculiar  fact  that  the  gold 
found  in  these  deposits  is  purer  than  that  contained  in  the  veins  from 
which  it  originated,  nor  is  the  formation  of  lumps  and  grains  satisfac- 
torily explained.  The  deposits  of  California,  Australia,  and  Siberia 
pertain  to  this  group,  which  may  again  be  subdivided  into — a.  Depos- 
its on  the  earth's  surface,  from  which  the  gold  is  obtained  by  simple 
washing  ;  b.  Deposits  which  have  been  covered  by  subsequent  inunda- 
tions, and  from  which  the  gold  has  to  be  mined  only  by  difficult  work 
and  great  expense.  These  old  deposits  in  California  are  frequently 
covered  with  basalt  or  lava,  and  are  called  "  deep  leads."  They  are 
worked  by  the  hydraulic  system  :  the  water  is  conducted  through  pipes, 
and  directed  with  full  force  against  the  soil,  which  is  hereby  converted 
into  a  fluid  mud,  and  passes  in  this  condition  through  a  long  line  of 
sluices,  set  in  zigzag,  in  which  the  particles  of  gold  are  deposited. 

The  most  remarkable  deposits  of  this  kind  are  to  be  found  at  Bal- 
larat,  Australia,  where  they  are  covered  with  four  hundred  feet  of 
ground  and  four  layers  of  lava,  which  have  come  from  a  neighboring 
volcano.     These  deposits  are  the  banks  and  bars  of  former  streams, 


5o6  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

which  have  subsequently  been  filled  up.  The  greatest  part  of  the  gold 
comes  from  these  sources.  Dr.  Suss  estimates  that,  of  all  tbe  gold 
which  has  been  mined  between  the  years  1848  and  1875,  the  work- 
ing of  the  ore  has  yielded  12'02,  while  that  of  the  former  deposits  fur- 
nished 87'98  per  cent. 

Since  these  deposits  are  exhausted,  attention  has  for  the  past  few 
years  been  directed  to  the  working  of  the  ore.  As  soon  as  gold-mines 
are  exhausted,  new  ones  must  be  found.  While  the  mining  of  silver 
is  sometimes  continued  in  the  same  regions  for  centuries,  that  of  gold 
is  always  of  short  duration,  wherefore  gold-mines  are  only  to  be  found 
in  the  extreme  limits  of  civilization.  Herodotus  remarked,  when  speak- 
ing of  the  quantity  of  gold-dust  paid  as  a  ti'ibute  to  Darius  by  the 
inhabitants  of  India,  that  the  greatest  treasures  always  come  from 
the  most  remote  places  of  the  earth.  The  old  countries  have  entirely 
ceased  to  be  productive,  and  search  must  be  instituted  in  the  yet 
unexplored  regions  in  order  to  discover  new  fields. 

Gold  was  in  excess  in  ancient  times,  and  mostly  taken  from  the 
rivers  in  Asia.  The  fables  of  Pactolus,  of  the  golden  fleece  of  the 
Argonauts,  of  the  gold  from  Ophir,  the  history  of  King  Midas,  etc., 
all  point  to  an  Eastern  origin  of  this  metal.  According  to  Pliny,  Cyrus 
returned  with  34,000  Roman  pounds  of  gold  (about  $10,000,000).  The 
treasures  exacted  from  Persia  by  Alexander  the  Great  amounted  to 
351,000  talents,  or  $400,000,000.  Gold  also  came  from  Arabia,  and 
upon  the  Nile  from  the  interior  of  Africa.  Pliny  calls  Asturias  the 
country  in  which  the  most  gold  is  found.  A  tablet  bearing  the  fol- 
lowing inscription  was  found  in  Idanha  Velha,  Portugal  :  "  Claudius 
Rufus  returns  his  thanks  to  Jupiter  for  having  permitted  him  to  find 
one  hundred  and  thirty  pounds  of  gold." 

These  sources  of  wealth  have  ceased  to  flow,  and  the  endeavor  of 
several  Englishmen  to  reopen  them  have  been  unsuccessful.  Bohemia, 
Mahren,  Silesia,  and  Tyrol,  all  have  produced  gold,  and  the  reced- 
ing of  the  glaciers  has  caused  old  mines  to  be  uncovered,  while  upon 
the  Italian  side,  at  Monte  Rosa,  Yal  Sesina,  and  Val  Ansaca,  gold- 
mines are  still  worked  to-day,  although  with  indifferent  success.  The 
only  works  of  any  note  are  those  of  Kremnitz,  Hungary.  It  may, 
therefore,  be  safely  asserted  that  Europe  is  completely  exhausted  in 
this  respect. 

After  America  was  discovered,  the  Antilles,  especially  Hispaniola, 
and  the  western  coast  of  Mexico,  furnished  incredible  quantities  of 
gold.  That  used  by  Alexander  VI  to  gild  Saint  Mary  Maggiore  came 
from  Hispaniola,  as  is  seen  by  the  following  inscription  :  "Quod  primo 
Catholici  reges  ex  India  receperant."  But  the  production  of  these 
mines  did  not  last  loner. 

We  find  several  peculiar  statements,  with  regard  to  the  mining  of 
gold,  in  an  old  Dutch  book,  printed  in  Amsterdam  in  the  year  1590. 
It  says  :  "  Gold  comes  from  different  countries,  from  the  mountains  in 


THE  DECREASE    OF   GOLD.  507 

Bohemia,  and  the  rivers  in  Sweden.  More  than  twenty  thousand 
pounds  came  formerly  from  Spain,  but  these  mines  are  exhausted.  It 
came  next  from  the  Sj^anish  Indies,  first  from  San  Domingo,  then  from 
other  parts,  but  that  also  has  stopped.  It  comes  at  present  from  Peru, 
formerly  three  millions  annually,  at  present  five,  six,  and  eight  millions, 
but  it  will  not  be  long  until  these  mines  also  will  be  exhausted  and 
abandoned."     The  prophecy  of  the  old  book  has  been  fulfilled. 

Humboldt  entertained  great  hopes  of  New  Granada  and  Colombia, 
where  precious  metals  are  found,  but,  in  spite  of  English  capital  and 
highly-improved  machinery,  the  mines  do  not  produce  beyond  two 
millions  annually. 

The  Indians  of  Chili,  Peru,  and  the  entire  western  coast  of  South 
America,  formerly  dug  much  gold  from  the  alluvium  ;  they  obtained 
plenty  of  silver  afterward,  but  little  gold,  while  at  the  present  time 
they  produce  ten  or  twelve  times  less  than  at  the  time  of  Humboldt's 
visit.  The  total  production  of  South  America,  except  Brazil,  from 
1500  to  1875,  was  about  thirteen  hundred  million  dollars.  We  can 
nowhere  follow  the  history  of  mining  better  than  in  Brazil.  Toward 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  inhabitants  of  Sao  Paulo  were 
struck  with  the  gold  trinkets  worn  by  the  savages,  and  they  began 
washing.  In  the  year  1697  Bartholomeo  Bueno  found  rich  gold 
deposits  in  the  province  of  Minas  Geraes,  in  consequence  of  which 
many  adventurers  went  there,  and  a  war  broke  out  between  the  Paul- 
ists  and  the  Portuguese.  The  governor  finally  succeeded  in  restoring 
peace,  and  gold-washing  was  prosecuted  according  to  a  fixed  system, 
whereby  the  mines  became  very  productive.  Towns  were  built — for 
instance,  Villa  Rica — and  people  flocked  from  all  regions.  The  prov- 
ince of  Matto  Grosso,  after  the  year  1720,  ceased  to  produce  gold,  and 
in  the  eighteenth  century  Brazil  occupied  the  place  of  California  in 
the  nineteenth.  Minas  Geraes  alone,  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  produced  seven,  and  Brazil  ten,  million  dollars  per  year,  but 
the  deposits  were  soon  exhausted,  and  toward  1820  the  entire  produc- 
tion of  Brazil  had  dwindled  to  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The 
leads  were  next  commenced  to  be  worked,  but  without  success,  in  spite 
of  the  vast  sums  expended  upon  them  by  large  capitalists.  Brazil, 
which  a  hundred  years  ago  excelled  any  other  country  in  the  produc- 
tion of  gold,  has  in  this  respect  become  fully  impoverished  within  the 
last  fifty  years.  Its  total  production,  from  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century  up  to  to-day,  amounts  to  one  hundred  and  sixty  million  dol- 
lars. 

In  ancient  times,  and  in  the  beginning  of  the  middle  ages,  Africa 
was  known  as  the  gold  country.  Herodotus  speaks  of  the  Carthagini- 
ans, who  gathered  gold  on  the  other  side  of  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  ; 
the  Arabian  geographer  El  Edrisi  (1154)  speaks  of  gold  in  Wangara, 
the  source  of  the  Niger,  and  the  same  mention  is  made  by  the  Moor, 
Leo  Africanus,  who  was  baptized  by  Pope  Leo  X  ;  he  had  explored 


5o8  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

Africa  and  the  countries  of  Wangara  and  Timbuctoo.  The  Moors  of 
Spain  and  Northern  Africa  obtained  their  precious  metals  from  these 
countries.  The  French  of  Senegal  lately  took  possession  of  them. 
They  still  found  gold,  but  no  longer  in  paying  quantities,  and  the  once 
famous  Gold  Coast  at  present  furnishes  not  half  a  million  dollars  per 
year.  The  auriferous  sand  is  washed  by  the  negroes  during  leisure 
hours,  and  they  are  content  with  a  yield  which  would  ruin  a  European 
enterprise. 

The  Egyptians  obtained  their  gold  from  the  upper  Nile  and  Ethi- 
opia, attested  by  inscriptions  dating  from  the  year  1600  before  Christ. 
Herodotus  mentions  a  king  of  Ethiopia  who  was  attacked  by  Cam- 
byses,  but  not  conquered,  who  shackled  his  prisoners  with  golden 
chains,  since  gold  was  more  common  than  bronze.  According  to 
Edrisi,  there  was  so  much  gold  in  Sofala  that  a  copper  trinket  was 
worth  more  than  one  of  gold.  The  celebrated  explorer  Mauch,  in 
1867,  found  the  remains  of  ancient  gold-mines,  but  the  gold  of  Africa 
belongs  to  the  past.  The  celebrated  necklace  of  the  Queen  Aalie 
Topeh,  said  to  be  three  thousand  six  hundred  years  old,  and  still  to  be 
seen  in  Boolak  ;  the  gold  chains  worn  by  the  Afghan  prisoners  at  the 
time  of  Cambyses  ;  the  treasures  brought  by  the  Queen  of  Sheba  to 
Solomon's  Temple  ;  the  masses  of  gold  with  which  the  throne  of  the 
King  of  Ghana  was  adorned — all  these,  no  matter  whether  they  be 
fables  or  not,  indubitably  point  to  the  former  immense  gold  wealth 
of  Africa,  while  to-day  it  produces  barely  a  million  dollars.  Entire 
Northern  Africa,  as  far  as  the  Sahara  and  the  Falls  of  the  Nile,  con- 
sists of  sedimentary  ground,  which  never  can  have  furnished  metals  ; 
but  in  the  interior  we  find  old  rock — granite,  gneiss,  and  hornblende — 
and  there  the  auriferous  alluvial  soil  had  been  formed  ;  but  it  appears 
that  it  has  been  thoroughly  exhausted  in  antiquity  and  the  middle 
ages.  According  to  Ab.  Jevones,  the  natives  have  been  the  first  to 
discover  auriferous  sand.  It  is,  therefore,  possible  that  the  interior 
country  still  contains  deposits,  and  even  bonanzas,  but  large  ones  may 
no  longer  be  expected,  since  its  gold  would  long  ago  have  reached  the 
coast. 

Neither  China  nor  Japan  produces  sufficient  gold  for  home  con- 
sumption. 

The  three  chief  sources  are  at  present  Siberia,  the  United  States, 
and  Australia,  while  the  last  two  are  becoming  exhausted.  An  im- 
mense alluvial  territory  exists  in  Siberia,  covering  the  entire  space 
from  the  Ural  to  the  river  Amoor,  but  the  climate  prevents  washing 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  year.  Here,  similar  to  California,  gold 
is  found  wherever  granite  fills  the  fissures.  Although  the  yield  of 
the  washings  is  gradually  decreasing,  it  is  really  increased  by  daily 
discoveries  of  new  fields,  and  amounts  at  present  to  about  $28,000,000 
annually.  The  greatest  quantity  of  gold  has  of  late  years  been  mined 
in  America,  partly  due  to  its  natural  wealth,  partly  to  the  energy 


THE  DECREASE   OF  GOLD.  509 

brought  to  bear  for  obtaining  it.  Volcanic  forces  have  brought  gold 
as  well  as  silver  to  the  surface  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  but  its  exhaus- 
tion is  approaching  rapidly.  Montana,  in  1860,  produced  $18,000,000, 
while  to-day  its  yield  is  $2,500,000  ;  Idaho,  from  18G4  to  1871,  yielded 
from  $5,000,000  to  $7,000,000,  which  in  the  year  1880  has  decreased 
to  $1,510,546  ;  Oregon  and  Washington  yielded,  in  the  year  1868, 
$4,000,000  ;  in  1879,  not  more  than  $1,275,000  ;  Dakota  has  increased 
a  little,  and  produced  $2,420,000  in  1879  ;  Colorado  has  an  average 
yield  of  $3,000,000  ;  California  has  passed  through  the  several  stages 
of  a  gold-producing  country  ;  the  washing  of  the  river-sands,  after 
1848,  produced  immense  wealth,  while  at  present  only  the  Chinese 
are  engaged  in  it,  and  earn  a  bare  living.  The  gold  on  the  surface  is 
exhausted,  and  only  the  deep  deposits  and  the  veins  remain  to  be 
worked. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  $1,200,000,000  of  gold  and  silver  have 
been  mined  in  the  West  of  the  United  States  within  the  last  thirty 
years  ;  and  that,  in  spite  of  the  recklessness  and  extravagance  which 
characterized  the  two  decades  from  1849  to  1869,  a  net  profit  of  $30,- 
000,000  per  year  was  realized.  Since  1850,  the  money  invested  and 
the  labor  expended  in  mining  in  the  West  for  precious  metals  are  esti- 
mated at  $710,000,000.  What  may  fairly  be  called  the  mining  terri- 
tory of  the  United  States  embraces  an  area  of  1,190,000  square  miles, 
with  a  population  of  barely  1,500,000. 

The  entire  ridge  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  consists  of  granite  ;  but  on 
the  western  slope  limestone  is  found  mixed  with  it.  Where  these  two 
rocks  come  together,  a  belt  from  eight  to  nine  miles  wide,  and  running 
from  north  to  south,  is  found,,  which  contains  all  the  gold  leads  of  the 
district.  The  "  Mother  lode  "  commences  at  Mariposa,  passes  through 
the  northern  boundary  of  the  State,  and  is  covered  by  the  lava  of  the 
large  (not  yet  extinguished)  volcanoes  Pilot  Peak  and  Lossan  Peak 
farther  north.  This  lava  also  covers  an  old  alluvial  bottom  with 
overlying  layers  of  basalt  from  fifty  to  two  hundred  feet  thick,  and 
these  form  the  so-called  "  Table  Mountains."  We  find  the  same  for- 
mation south  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  near  the  "  Big  Trees,"  where  the 
sedimentary  deposits,  lying  upon  granite,  are  covered  with  basalt. 
From  here  the  auriferous  sand  was  washed  away  by  mountain-streams, 
and  appeared  on  the  surface.  These  deep  deposits,  in  connection  with 
the  offshoots  of  the  Mother  lode,  still  sustain  the  gold  production  of 
California  at  from  fifteen  to  seventeen  million  dollars. 

In  Nevada  was  discovered  the  Comstock  lode,  for  a  long  time  held 
to  be  inexhaustible,  and  this  is  also  covered  with  later  volcanic  for- 
mation. The  largest  of  these  bonanzas  is  the  Gold  Hill  mine,  which 
lies  700  feet  deep,  and  several  companies  have  commenced  to  work 
this  rich  vein.  The  most  important,  the  Virginia  Consolidated,  has 
sunk  a  shaft  1,600  feet  deep,  and  driven  a  tunnel  of  20,000  feet  in 
length  through  the  side  of  the  mountain,  projected  by  Engineer  Sutro, 


5o8  THE  FOUL  All    SCIEXCE  MOXTHLY. 

Africa  and  the  count  is  of  Wangara  and  Timbuctoo.     Tl 
.Spain  and  Northern  .^rica  obtained  their  precious  me 
countr      .     The  Frent  of   5        _al  lately  took  ] 
They  still  found  gold,  ut  no  longer  in  paying   juantith 
famous  Gold  <        '    :;t>resent  furni>hes  not  half  a  million 
year.     The  auriferou-sand  is  washed  by  the  negroes  dui 
hours,  and  they  are  eotent  with  a  yield  which  would  ruin 
enterprise. 

The  Egyptia:.  ned  their  gold  from  the  upper  Nil 

opia,  attested  by  ins  :  from  tbe  year  1G00  In 

Herodotus  mentions    king  of  >pia  who  was  atta< 

-.   but  not  conqdred,   \  :kled  h:-  ith 

chains,   since  gold   v      i  'inmon  than    bronz- 

Edrisi,  there  was  so  inch  gold   in   Sofala  that  a  copper  trii 
worth  more  than  onlof  gold.     The  eel  I   expl< 

7,  found  the  rema  ;  of  anc:  'Id-mines,  but  the  Lr"M  o 

belongs  to  the  |  1  necklace  of  tl 

Topeh,  said  to  be  thi  -  hundred  years  ol  1.  an  : 

seen  in  Boolak  ;  the  Afghan 

time  of  Cambyses  ;  rought  by  the  G. 

Solomon's  Temple  ;  gold  with  which  tl 

King  of  Ghana  was      med — all  these,  no  matter  whetl 
faldes  or  not,  indul  point   to  the  former  immen- 

of  Africa,  while  to-'  barely  a  million  <] 

Northern  Africa,  as  ra  and  the  Fall>  of  tl 

a  of  sedimentary  never  can  have  fu: 

but  in  the  interior  w  ck — granite,  gneiss,  and  h 

and  there  the  aurifer  s  alluvial  soil  had  been  formed  :  bti 
that  it  has  been  th<  Highly  exhausted  in  antiquity  and  tin 
ages.     According  to  Vb.  J  the  na^^^have  been  tin 

discover  auriferous  ;nd.  ierefoM       ■Lie  that  the 

country  still  contain  :   i  even  1  ^B  but  lar 

no  longer  be  expectC'  since  its  g>ld  wot^  ^B°  have 

coast. 

Neither  China  n<-  Japan  produced  at 

sumption. 

The  three  chief  rorces  ar< 
and  Australia,  while  he  last  two 
mense  alluvial  terrifrv  in 

from  the  Ural  to  tb  river  An 
during  the  greater  pat  of 
is  found  wherever 
the  washings  is  gr 
discoveries  of  no 
annually.     The 
in  America,  part]  .,  partly   t  i    tin 


5^3 


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district.    The  "Mother  lo-i 
the  northern  bound:.  viatt. 

large  (not  yet  ertinguishe 
farther  north.    Thb  lava 
overlying  layers  of  basalt  from 
these  form  the  so-cali 
mation  south  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  mi 
sedimentary  deposits,  lying  upon 
From  here  the  auriferous  sand  was  w^: 
and  appeared  on  the  n 
the  o 


■  ■::-' 


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t.    But  the 
opularized 
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["  in  1871. 
on  the 
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5i2  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

entire  "Creed  of  Christendom."  But,  perhaps,  Matthew  Arnold's 
"  Empedocles  on  Etna,"  which  appeared  in  1853,  best  enables  us  to 
appreciate  the  religious  state  of  the  younger  generation.  The  soul  of 
man  hangs  like  a  mirror,  blown  upon  by  every  wind,  and — 

"A  thousand  glimpses  wins, 
And  never  sees  a  whole." 

Man  is  the  sport  of  the  gods,  man — 

"Who  knows  not  what  to  helieve, 
Since  he  sees  nothing  clear, 
And  dare  stamp  nothing  false  where  he  finds  nothing  sure." 

The  gospel  of  the  writer  is  that  of  Stoicism  : 

"  Once  read  thy  own  breast  right, 
And  thou  hast  done  with  fears ; 
Man  gets  no  other  light, 
Search  he  a  thousand  years." 

He  repudiates  all  compromises  such  as  that  which  had  been  offered  by 

"  In  Memoriam  "  : 

"  Born  into  life! — who  lists, 
May  what  is  false  hold  dear, 
And  for  himself  make  mists 
Through  which  to  see  less  clear ; 
The  world  is  what  it  is,  for  all  our  dust  and  din. 

"  Streams  will  not  curb  their  pride, 
The  just  man  not  to  entomb, 
Nor  lightnings  go  aside 
To  give  his  virtues  room  ; 
Nor  is  that  wind  less  rough  which  blows  a  good  man's  barge. 

•  •••■•••• 

"Fools!     That  in  man's  brief  term 
He  can  not  all  things  view, 
Affords  no  ground  to  affirm 
That  there  are  gods  who  do ; 
Nor  does  being  weary  prove  that  he  has  where  to  rest." 

The  impression  one  gets  from  such  a  poem  is  one  of  despair  ;  the 
agnostic  tone  is  quite  as  pronounced  as  that  of  any  writer  at  the 
present  day  ;  but  there  is  much  less  hope,  no  outlook  into  the  future, 
no  talk  of  the  future  destiny  of  humanity,  which,  however  vague  and 
dreamy,  is  better  than  the  dead  level  of  an  agnostic  introspection. 
And  yet  this  poem  was  written  by  one  whose  contemporary  writings 
are  quite  free  from  this  despairing  tone,  who  has  faith  in  a  tendency 
not  ourselves,  and  believes  that  we  can  learn  something  of  it  from  the 
Bible  and  the  best  literature  of  all  ages.  This  change  in  tone,  which 
is  not  peculiar  to  Matthew  Arnold,  I  attribute  to  a  great  extent  to  the 
new  vistas  opened  up  by  the  school  of  evolutionists,  and  by  the  writers 


''NATURAL  RELIGIONS 


513 


who  have  drawn  attention  off  mere  umbilicular  contemplation  such  as 
Morris,  Rossetti,  and  Swinburne.  We  have  accordingly  to  trace  in 
the  succeeding  years  the  rise  of  new  schools  of  thought,  as  well  as 
the  several  attempts  of  religious  writers  to  accommodate  traditional 
religion  to  the  new  light  thrown  upon  it.  This  will  take  us  through 
twenty  years,  up  to  the  memorable  years  1873-74,  when  the  different 
schools  came  into  open  antagonism. 

To  trace  out  the  different  lines  of  thought  with  any  fullness  would 
require  a  separate  study  ;  as  I  am  simply  passing  over  the  ground 
with  the  view  of  setting  a  single  book  in  a  clearer  light,  I  must  con- 
tent myself  with  mentioning  the  names  of  a  few  leading  works,  with 
their  dates.  The  rise  of  the  evolution  school  was  heralded  in  1845  by 
Robert  Chambers's  "  Vestiges  of  the  Natural  History  of  Creation,"  an 
expansion  of  the  Lamarckian  theories  of  natural  development.  But  the 
writings  by  which  what  we  now  mean  by  evolution  were  popularized 
fall  within  the  present  period.  "  The  Origin  of  Species  "  appeared  in 
1859,  Spencer's  "First  Principles"  in  1862,  Huxley's  "Evidence  as  to 
Man's  Place  in  Nature"  in  18G3,  and  "The  Descent  of  Man"  in  1871. 
With  this  school  also  we  may  class  Max  Midler's  "  Lectures  on  the 
Science  of  Language,"  which  appeared  in  1861,  as  tending  to  widen 
the  conception  of  evolution.  Of  the  effects  of  this  new  view  of  life 
upon  religious  thought  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that,  if  it  cut  the 
ground  from  under  the  intuitionalist  theory  of  right  and  wrong,  and 
of  the  origin  of  conscience,  to  the  skeptic  in  regard  to  supernaturalism 
it  gave  a  prospect  and  a  future  glorious  with  hope.  To  many  minds 
the  ascent  of  man  serves  a  more  glorious  conception  than  his  fall.  The 
door  was  opened  for  a  pantheistic  view  of  the  universe,  and  this  tend- 
ency was  enhanced  by  the  influence  of  Ruskin,  who  was  already  writ- 
ing in  1850.  George  Eliot,  who  has  exercised  a  distinct  influence  upon 
the  age  by  popularizing  the  ethical  side  of  positivism,  and  showing 
men  that  it  gives  a  work-a-day  theory  of  life,  began  to  publish  in  the 
year  1858. 

What  has  been  called  the  fleshly,  and  more  recently  the  aesthetic 
school  of  poetry,  is  best  represented  by  the  names  of  Swinburne,  Will- 
iam Morris,  and  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti.  Swinburne's  works  are  too  nu- 
merous to  mention,  but  his  "  Chastelard  "  appeared  in  1865,  his  "  Poems 
and  Ballads,"  of  unhappy  notoriety,  in  the  following  year  ;  Morris's 
"  Defense  of  Guinevere,"  his  first  work,  appeared  in  1858,  his  "  Earthly 
Paradise"  in  1868;  Rossetti's  first  celebrated  volume  of  "Poems" 
appeared  in  1870.  Of  this  school  it  may  be  said  that,  without  being 
brought  into  actual  contact  with  supernaturalism,  the  tendency  of 
their  writings  was  to  take  men's  thoughts  into  a  different  field,  to  con- 
secrate the  passions  and  sentiment,  to  revive  with  a  difference  the  old 
Greek  modes  of  looking  at  man  and  his  destiny  in  the  world.  With 
this  school  we  must  rank  the  important  name  of  Walt  Whitman,  whose 
first  series  of  "Leaves  of  Grass"  came  in  1855.  Of  course  his  influ 
tol.  xx:i. — 33 


5 14  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

ence  was  more  catholic  than  that  of  the  fleshly  school,  properly  so 
called,  his  aim  being  the  apotheosis  of  man  as  man.  Three  lines  from 
"  One's  Self  I  Sing  "  reveal  to  us  clearly  his  point  of  view  : 

"  Of  physiology  from  top  to  toe  I  sing ; 

Not  physiognomy  alone,  nor  brain  alone,  is  worthy  for  the  Muse — I  say  the 
form  complete  is  worthier  far ; 
The  female  equally  with  the  male  I  sing." 

Of  what  may  be  called  skeptical  writers,  i.  e.,  writers  who  treated 
different  branches  of  study  in  a  manner  hostile  to  Christianity,  and 
with  their  eyes  distinctly  turned  upon  it,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  men- 
tion Buckle,  whose  "History  of  Civilization"  appeared  in  1857 ;  Dra- 
per, whose  "  Intellectual  Development  of  Europe "  was  published  in 
1861;  and  Lecky,  whose   "Rationalism"  appeared  in  1865,  and  his 
work  on  "  European  Morals  "  in  1869.    Dr.  Jowett's  "  Plato  "  appeared 
in  1871,  the  introductions  to  the  separate  dialogues  of  which  were  a 
distinct  contribution  to  contemporary  thought,  while  they  are  valuable 
as  a  fair  index  to  the  results  of  moderate  liberalism  of  the  time  in 
different  fields.     Thus,  in  his  introduction  to  the  "  Republic,"  he  de- 
fines the  modern  notion  of  God  as  an  "  intelligent  principle  of  law  and 
order  in  the  universe,  embracing  equally  man  and  nature."     Spencer's 
"  Study  of  Sociology "  appeared  in  1872,  and  the  "  Fortnightly  Re- 
view "  was  started  in  1865.     In  tracing  the  line  of  thought  taken  by 
writers  more  immediately  concerned  with  the  book  before  us,  we  come 
first  to  "  Essays  and  Reviews  "  in  1860.     Archdeacon  Pratt  had  pub- 
lished, in  1856,  an  attempt  to  prove  that  Scripture  and  science  were 
not  at  variance.     The  publication  of  the  volume  of  "  Essays  and  Re- 
views "  may  be  taken  as  a  symptom  that  intellectual  Churchmen  felt 
that  the  old  stand  was  no  longer  possible  ;  that  concessions  must  be 
made  to  modern  science,  modern  investigations,  and  modern  thought ; 
that  the  proper  way  to  judge  of  an  ancient  work  was  to  interpret  it 
by  the  light  of  its  own  day.     These  views  were  to  some  extent  popu- 
larized by  the  first  series  of  Stanley's  "  Lectures  on  the  History  of  the 
Jewish  Church,"  appearing  in  1863,  the  year  following  the  publication 
of  Bishop  Colenso's  work  on  the  Pentateuch  and  the  Book  of  Joshua. 
Stanley's  preface  tells  us  that  it  is  his  intention  "  to  present  the  main 
characters  and  events  of  sacred  narrative  in  a  form  as  nearly  historical 
as  the  facts  of  the  case  will  admit"  ;  to  set  the  characters  and  institu- 
tions of  the  time  in  a  clearer  light ;  "  to  recognize  in  sacred  subjects 
their  identity  with  our  own  flesh  and  blood,''''  at  the  same  time  not 
"  wishing  to  efface  the  distinction  which  good  taste,  no  less  than  rever- 
ence, will  always  endeavor  to  preserve  between  the  Jewish  and  other 
histories."     "  Ecce  Homo "  appeared  in  1865.     It  was  an  attempt  to 
base  religion  upon  the  enthusiasm  of  humanity  as  preached  by  the 
man  Christ,  and  was  succinctly  characterized  at  the  time  by  a  pious 
nobleman  as  "  vomited  from  the  jaws  of  hell."     The  author,  now  uni- 


"NATURAL   RELIGIONS  5!5 

versally  recognized  as  Professor  Seeley,  promised  a  supplementary 
volume  of  applications  of  his  theory.  This  has  never  appeared,  and 
we  may  look  upon  the  present  work  as  the  fulfillment  of  his  promise. 
The  wide  difference  between  them  must  be  ascribed  to  the  progress 
since  made  by  liberal  thought.  Still,  "Ecce  Homo"  was  regarded 
with  fear  and  disgust  in  its  day  by  the  orthodox,  among  all  sections 
of  Christianity,  and  at  once  provoked  an  eloquent  and,  from  Professor 
Seeley's  point  of  view,  unanswerable  rejoinder  in  Dr.  Liddon's  Bamp- 
ton  Lectures  "  On  the  Divinity  of  Christ,"  delivered  at  Oxford  in  the 
following  year. 

We  now  come  to  the  two  celebrated  years  1873  and  187-4 — years 
of  open  utterance  on  all  sides,  and  which  we  may  look  upon  as  the 
crisis  of  the  revolution  of  thought.  In  these  years  appeared  the  first 
two  volumes  of  "  Supernatural  Religion,"  an  elaborate  investigation 
from  two  points  of  view  into  the  foundations  of  Christianity,  and  Mat- 
thew Arnold's  "  Literature  and  Dogma,"  an  attempt  to  rehabilitate 
Christianity,  while  openly  recognizing  the  futility  of  all  attempts  to 
base  it  upon  miracles  or  the  supernatural.  Christianity  was  to  remain 
in  force,  but  without  a  personal  God.  At  such  a  moment,  Leslie 
Stephen's  direct  question,  "Are  we  Christians?"  came  home  to  us 
with  full  force.  It  was  anticipated,  by  one  year,  by  the  amusing  bro- 
chure entitled  "Modern  Christianity,  a  Civilized  Heathenism."  In 
the  same  year  Max  Midler  carried  the  critical  spirit  of  science  into 
religion  itself  in  his  "  Introduction  to  the  Science  of  Religion."  Mean- 
wmile,  there  appeared  a  beautif id  volume,  carefully  printed  upon  ex- 
quisite paper,  containing  "  Studies  in  the  History  of  the  Renaissance," 
which  their  author,  Mr.  Pater,  concluded  with  the  following  words  : 
"  We  are  all  condamnes,  as  Victor  Hugo  says,  ' Les  liomm.es  sont  tous 
condamnes  d  morte  avec  des  siirsis  indefines'' ;  we  have  an  interval, 
and  then  our  place  knows  us  no  more.  Some  spend  this  interval  in 
listlessness,  some  in  high  passions,  the  wdsest  in  art  and  song.  For 
our  one  chance  is  in  expanding  that  interval,  in  getting  as  many  pul- 
sations as  possible  into  the  given  time.  High  passions  give  one  this 
quickened  sense  of  life,  ecstasy  and  sorrow  of  love,  political  or  relig- 
ious enthusiasms,  or  the  '  enthusiasm  of  humanity.'  Only,  be  sure  it 
is  passion,  that  it  does  yield  you  this  fruit  of  a  quickened,  multiplied 
consciousness.  Of  this  wisdom,  the  poetic  passion,  the  desire  of  beauty, 
the  love  of  art  for  art's  sake,  has  most  ;  for  art  comes  to  you  profess- 
ing frankly  to  give  nothing  but  the  highest  quality  to  your  moments 
as  they  pass,  and  simply  for  those  moments'  sake." 

In  1874  appeared  Green's  "  Short  History  of  the  English  People," 
of  the  importance  of  which  I  shall  speak  presently  ;  Mill's  "  Autobi- 
ography," revealing  the  blameless  life  of  a  true  humanitarian  who 
had  lived  without  a  God,  in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  term  ;  and 
George  Eliot's  "  Jubal,  and  other  Poems."  In  this  volume  the  relig- 
ious aspirations  of  the  new  faith  were  thus  given  poetical  expression  : 


5i6  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

"  0  may  I  join  the  choir  invisible, 
Of  those  immortal  dead  who  live  again 
In  minds  made  better  by  their  presence :  live 
In  pulses  stirred  to  generosity. 
In  deeds  of  daring  rectitude,  in  scorn 
For  miserable  aims  that  end  with  self; 
In  thoughts  sublime  that  pierce  the  night  like  stars, 
And,  with  their  mild  persistence,  urge  men's  search 
To  vaster  issues.     So  to  live  is  heaven.''' 

* 

In  this  year,  too,  at  Belfast,  Professor  Tyndall  delivered,  before 
the  British  Association,  his  celebrated  address,  in  which,  "  abandoning 
all  disguise,"  he  says  that  "  the  confession  that  I  feel  bound  to  make 
before  you  is,  that  I  prolong  the  vision  backward  across  the  boundary 
of  the  experimental  evidence,  and  discern,  in  that  matter  which  we,  in 
our  ignorance  and  notwithstanding  our  professed  revei'ence  for  its 
Creator,  have  hitherto  covered  with  opprobrium,  the  promise  and  po- 
tency of  every  form  and  quality  of  life."*  The  discovery,  if  it  may 
be  called  so,  was  not  exactly  a  new  one.  The  same  avowal  had  been 
made,  more  than  twenty  years  before,  by  W.  B.  Carpenter,  but  the 
rise  of  the  evolution  school  in  the  interim  caused  an  importance  to 
attach  to  Professor  Tyndall's  utterances  that  has  not  attended  upon 
Dr.  Carpenter's. f  The  address  at  once  took  rank  as  the  high-water 
mark  of  materialism.  Lastly,  in  the  same  year,  we  come  to  Greg's 
"  "Warnings  of  Cassandra,"  and  to  a  work  which,  together  with  this,  is 
symptomatic  of  the  feelings  of  the  next  f ew  years — Hartmann's  "  Phi- 
losophy of  the  Unknowable."  \ 

The  prevailing  tone,  after  the  battle  had  been  fought,  was  one  of 
despair  and  pessimism.  Science  had  won  the  victory,  but  thoughtful 
minds,  even  on  that  side,  saw  that  it  might  be  possible  to  push  it  too 
far.  Hence  came  attempts  at  compromise,  the  cry  for  which  went  up, 
in  1874,  from  John  Morley,  the  editor  of  the  "  Fortnightly  Review," 
the  chief  Positivist  organ.  Still,  for  the  present,  the  general  tone  was 
disheartening  in  the  extreme,  and  its  influence  is  traceable  in  many 
ways.  Poetry  has  been  distinctly  deteriorated  by  it.  In  politics  it 
led  to  a  temporary  reaction  in  favor  of  conservatism.  Life  appeared 
to  be,  as  Pope  had  said,  a  mighty  maze,  but  the  plan  was  lost.  In- 
stead of  the  authoritative  tone  of  the  Church,  the  voices  of  different 

*  Quoted  from  the  original,  as  reprinted  iu  "Nature."  The  passage  is  reworded  in 
the  published  address.  The  variations  between  the  two  arc  curious,  and  well  worthy  of 
study. 

f  For  Dr.  Carpenter's  words,  see  his  article  upon  "  Life,"  in  Todd's  "  Cyclopaedia  of 
Anatomy  and  Physiology,"  vol.  iii,  p.  150.  This  work  appeared  in  1847.  He  refers,  in 
a  foot-note,  to  an  earlier  essay,  on  the  laws  regulating  vital  and  physical  phenomena,  in 
the  "  Edinburgh  Philosophical  Journal,"  April,  1838. 

%  I  may  here  remark  that  I  have  confined  my  review  to  works  in  the  English  lan- 
guage. Many  foreign  names,  such  as  Strauss  and  Haeckel,  will  occur  to  every  one.  To 
have  extended  my  review  to  these  would  have  required  a  separate  essay. 


"NATURAL  RELIGIONS  5i7 

schools  were  heard  bidding  against  one  another  for  adherents.  This 
condition  of  affairs  was  cleverly  brought  home  to  readers  by  "  The 
New  Republic,"  Mr.  Mallock's  first  work,  appearing  in  1878.  To 
minds  distracted  by  the  hubbub  of  opinion,  and  despairing  of  cer- 
tainty elsewhere,  the  only  sure  refuge  again  appeared  to  lie  in  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  this,  as  the  only  alternative  for  the  gospel  of 
Positivism,  was  offered  in  the  book  entitled  "  Is  Life  worth  Living  ?  " 
which  was  published  in  1879.  "  The  Romance  of  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury "  appeared  two  years  afterward.  Such  a  temporary  depression 
of  tone  was  a  natural  result  of  the  conflict  through  which  the  age  had 
been  passing. 

But  other  and  more  important  results  followed.  It  is  unequivo- 
cally recognized,  by  most  writers  of  eminence,  that  Christianity  can 
no  longer  look  to  its  supernatural  elements  for  support — nay,  more, 
that  the  excellence  of  some  parts  of  its  morality  can  not  even  receive 
credence  for  their  inferential  elements  ;  at  least  they  have  to  be  defi- 
nitely discarded  as  a  necessary  part  of  faith,  if  Christianity  intends  to 
bid  for  the  allegiance  of  the  intellectual  portion  of  mankind.  It  is 
therefore  ridiculously  wide  of  the  truth  to  boast,  as  the  clerical  mind 
is  inclined  to  do,  that  Christianity  has  weathered  the  storm,  that  she 
will  pass  into  the  twentieth  century  unaltered  in  essentials.  This  is 
fully  recognized  by  the  author  of  "  Natural  Religion."  "  The  Church," 
he  writes,  "  has  now  entered  upon  that  phase  when  minds  of  the 
higher  order  are  seldom  found  to  receive  its  ancient  dogmas  with 
complete  conviction,  when  they  do  not  altogether  belong  to  it,  even 
when  they  most  admire  it,  and  most  appreciate  the  service  it  has  ren- 
dered to  mankind.  It  has  reached  this  rather  advanced  stage  of  de- 
cline, and  has  left  quite  behind  it  the  first  stage  when  individual  dis- 
believers were  indeed  numerous  enough,  but  still  minds  disposed  to 
religion,  even  when  they  were  minds  of  the  highest  order,  were  troubled 
with  no  skepticism  that  they  could  not  overcome."  The  fact  is,  that 
the  Church  does  not  pretend  to  be  the  interpreter  of  human  society,  to 
open  to  us  the  vista  of  the  future,  or  to  give  us  guidance  upon  matters 
of  contemporary  importance.  "  We  know,"  writes  our  author,  "  that 
for  the  most  part  it  is  occupied  with  quite  other  topics.  To  most  of 
its  utterances  the  world  listens  in  half -contemptuous  silence,  feeling 
that  it  is  useless  to  controvert  the  propositions  laid  down,  and  that  no 
results  would  follow  from  admitting  them.  The  propositions  are 
archaic ;  they  show  that  the  Church  once  understood  its  function, 
and  discharged  it  efficiently." 

The  natural  result  has  been,  that  its  authority  has  been  quietly  dis- 
regarded by  all  branches  of  investigation.  Before  1873  and  1874,  hos- 
tility to  orthodox  Christianity  was  more  or  less  openly  shown  by  the 
chief  writers  of  science,  history,  art,  morals,  etc.,  but  since  these  years 
this  tone  has  been  generally  abandoned  for  one  of  supreme  indiffer- 
ence, or  of  perfect  fairness.     The  tone  of  the  "  Fortnightly  Review," 


5i8  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

which  had  led  the  van  in  the  attack  on  the  Church,  has  visibly 
changed,  and  has  thrown  aside  the  unfairness  and  Positivist  provin- 
cialism, which  was  its  note  ten  years  ago.  Thus,  again,  instead  of 
covertly  sneering  at  the  marvels  of  the  Bible  and  Christianity,  as 
Grote  and  Buckle  loved  to  do,  Mr.  Green  finds  no  difficulty,  in  his  "His- 
tory," in  fully  acknowledging  all  that  the  Church  had  done  for  the 
civilization  of  England.  But  this  does  not  close  his  eyes  to  the  facts 
of  the  case,  or  prevent  his  recognizing,  in  the  Bible  literature,  a  het- 
erogeneous collection  of  "legends  and  annals,  war-song  and  psalm, 
state-rolls  and  biographies,  etc."  It  should  be  remembered  that  Mr. 
Green's  history  was  intended  for  the  student  ;  that  it  was  written  by 
a  clergyman,  and  one  who  had  been  an  earnest  worker  in  the  purlieus 
of  eastern  London  ;  and,  lastly,  that  this  free  tone  in  regard  to  matters 
of  religion,  a  tone  that  recognized  with  equal  impartiality  Protestant 
and  Catholic,  has  never  been  objected  to  as  unfitting  the  book  for  gen- 
eral use.  Thus  we  may  say  that  history  has  been  emancipated.  The 
revision  testifies  to  the  emancipation  of  scholarship. 

Another  important  result  of  the  battle  of  opinion  was  the  perfect 
freedom  with  which  different  writers  now  expressed  themselves,  as 
well  as  in  the  toleration  that  they  mutually  extended  to  one  another. 
As  it  were  to  mark  this  era,  a  new  review  was  started  in  March,  1877, 
as  a  perfectly  free  medium  for  all  shades  of  honest  opinion.  A  poem 
was  contributed  by  the  poet-laureate  as  a  preface,  which  we  quote  as 
distinctive  of  the  "  Nineteenth  Century  "  : 

"Those  that  of  late  had  fleeted  far  and  fast 
To  touch  all  shores,  now  leaving  to  the  skill 
Of  others  their  old  craft  seaworthy  still, 
Have  chartered  this  ;  where,  mindful  of  the  past, 
Our  true  co-mates  regather  round  the  mast, 
Of  diverse  tongue,  but  with  a  common  will 
Here,  in  this  roaring  moon  of  daffodil 
And  crocus,  to  put  forth  and  brave  the  blast; 
For  some,  descending  from  the  sacred  peak 
Of  hoar,  high-templed  Faith,  have  leagued  again 
Their  lot  with  ours  to  rove  the  world  about ; 
And  some  are  wilder  comrades,  sworn  to  seek 
If  any  golden  harbor  be  for  men 
In  seas  of  Death  and  sunless  gulfs  of  Doubt." 

But  on  two  sides  something  more  is  observable.  Art  and  science 
not  only  claim  to  be  completely  free  from  the  power  of  Church  dicta- 
tion ;  they  have  set  up,  so  to  speak,  an  opposition  Church.  Science 
was  emancipated  in  1874,  it  has  since  turned  its  attention  to  the  con- 
struction of  a  scientific  morality.  The  "  Data  of  Ethics  "  appeared 
in  1879,  but  long  before  this  science  had  shown  itself  capable  of  ris- 
ing to  the  enthusiasm  of  a  religion,  and  we  have  to  thank  the  author 
of  "The  New  Paul  and  Virginia  "  for  laboriously  collecting  the  utter- 


"NATURAL  RELIGION:' 


5*9 


ances  of  men  of  science  upon  this  point  in  the  notes  appended  to  that 
work.  It  is  true  that  all  men  of  science  do  not  associate  their  worship 
with  the  name  of  God,  but  we  are  fully  in  agreement  with  our  author 
when  he  writes  :  "By  what  names  they  call  the  object  of  their  contem- 
plation is  in  itself  a  matter  of  little  importance.  Whether  they  say 
God,  or  prefer  to  say  Nature,  the  important  thing  is  that  their  minds 
are  filled  with  the  sense  of  a  Power  to  all  appearances  infinite  and 
eternal,  a  Power  to  which  their  own  being  is  inseparably  connected,  in 
the  knowledge  of  whose  ways  alone  are  safety  and  well-being,  in  the 
contemplation  of  which  they  find  a  beatific  vision." 

The  claims  of  art  to  an  independent  position,  to  a  right  to  the 
undivided  attention  of  its  votaries,  are  no  less  unequivocal.  When 
W.  Morris  published  his  "  Earthly  Paradise  "  in  1868,  he  prefaced  it 
with  an  "  Apology,"  in  which  he  acknowledged  the  littleness  of  his 
undertaking,  almost  lamenting  that  he  could  not  rise  to  higher  work  : 

"  Of  heaven  or  hell  I  have  no  power  to  sing, 
I  can  not  ease  the  burden  of  your  fears, 

Or  make  quick-coming  death  a  little  thing, 
Or  bring  again  the  pleasure  of  past  years, 
Nor  for  my  words  shall  ye  forget  your  tears, 

Or  hope  again  for  aught  that  I  can  say, 

The  idle  singer  of  an  empty  day." 

He  only  professes  to  tell 

"...  a  tale  not  too  importunate 
To  those  who  in  the  sleepy  region  stay." 

I  have  quoted  Mr.  Pater's  claim  for  art  put  forth  in  1878.  Listen, 
lastly,  to  the  terms  in  which  the  newest  singer  bids  his  soul  abandon 
the  secular  world  : 

" .  .  .  O  come  out  of  it, 
Come  out  of  it,  my  soul,  thou  art  not  fit 
For  this  vile  traffic-house,  where  day  by  day 
Wisdom  and  reverence  are  sold  at  mart, 
And  the  rude  people  rage  with  ignorant  cries 
Against  an  heritage  of  centuries. 

It  mars  my  calm  :  wherefore  in  dreams  of  Art 
And  loftiest  culture  I  would  stand  apart, 
Neither  for  God,  nor  for  his  enemies." 

To  sum  up  the  intellectual  and  religious  revolution  of  the  last  few 
years  :  Matthew  Arnold's  poetry  aptly  represents  the  tone  of  mind  of 
advanced  religious  thinkers  during  the  fifties.  Looked  at  from  the 
orthodox  stand-point,  his  poems  are  intended,  like  the  reasonings  of  the 
devils  in  hell  upon  theological  problems,  to — 

"...  arm  the  ohdured  breast 
"With  stubborn  patience  as  with  triple  steel." 


520  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

Matthew  Arnold  aptly  expresses  his  own  point  of  view  when  he  speaks 
of  himself  as 

"  Wandering  between  two  worlds,  one  dead, 
The  other  powerless  to  be  born, 
"With  nowhere  yet  to  rest  my  head." 


or,  again 


"...  The  sea  of  faith 
"Was  once,  too,  at  the  full,  and  round  earth's  shore 
Lay  like  the  folds  of  a  bright  girdle  furled, 
But  now  I  only  hear 
Its  melancholy,  long,  withdrawing  roar, 
Ketreating  to  the  breath 

Of  the  night-wind,  down  the  vast  edges  drear 
And  naked  shingles  of  the  world." 

Meanwhile,  as  the  old  faith  began  to  lose  power,  art,  science,  and 
the  religion  of  humanity  stepped  forward  into  prominence,  at  first  in 
antagonism  to  Christianity.  The  struggle  became  critical  during  the 
years  1873-74,  and  left  a  feeling  of  despair  and  pessimism  for  a  time 
on  men's  minds.  But  with  time  this  feeling  has  begun  to  wear  off, 
and  we  see  that  the  allegiance  formerly  claimed  for  the  old  theology 
is  claimed  now  by  its  rivals.  The  interval  of  pessimism,  the  period  of 
dormant  anarchy,  was  marked  by  many  gropings  in  different  direc- 
tions. Scholars  drew  attention  to  the  great  rivals  of  Christianity,  to 
Judaism,  to  Mohammedanism,  to  Buddhism.  To  this  we  owe  in  part 
such  books  as  "  Daniel  Deronda  "  (1876)  and  "  The  Light  of  Asia  " 
(1879).  The  theories  of  great  philosophers  of  the  past  began  to  be 
studied  with  fresh  attention,  especially  the  writings  of  Plato  and  Aris- 
totle, of  Berkeley,  Spinoza,  and  Kant.  Even  spiritualism  and  the  doc- 
trine of  metempsychosis  were  found  to  give  the  support  needed  to  un- 
scientific souls  who  lacked  the  courage  to  stand  by  the  old  orthodoxy 
which  the  Zeit-geist  had  condemned. 

The  need  of  some  reconstruction  was  felt  even  by  philosophy's  of 
the  new  school.  Spencer  propounded  an  evolution  theory  of  morals  in 
his  "  Data  of  Ethics  "  (1879)  ;  and  George  Eliot,  as  a  reconstructive 
radical,  in  her  "  Theophrastus  Such  "  (1879),  drew  attention  to  the 
fact  that  "  ideas  acquired  long  ago  reappear  as  the  sequence  of  an 
awakened  interest  or  a  line  of  inquiry  which  is  really  new  to  us."  As 
stable  elements  of  the  religion  of  the  future,  she  pointed  to  the  love  of 
ideals,  and  specially  to  the  constantly  renewed  ideal  self  ;  to  the  value 
of  external  nature,  as  exercising  a  soothing  influence,  of  family  life, 
and  of  national  sentiments.  We  are  thus  led  to  the  work  before  us. 
Its  importance  is  due  to  its  recognition  of  the  facts  which  this  short 
review  of  the  religious  thought  of  the  last  thirty  years  has  brought 
into  prominence,  and  it  takes  up  and  makes  a  part  of  its  system  the 
ideas  on  culture  and  civilization,  which  Matthew  Arnold  has  reiterated 
at  intervals,  ever  since  his  publication  in  18G9  of  "  Culture  and  An- 


SCIENTIFIC  PHILANTHROPY.  521 

archy."  I  have  called  it  a  system,  and  herein  lies  its  weakness  as  well 
as  its  strength.  "  Theophrastus  Such  "  was  a  distinct  contribution  to 
the  thought  of  the  time,  hut,  through  not  aiming  at  the  completeness 
of  a  system,  it  failed  to  secure  the  attention  which  would  have  re- 
vealed its  short-comings.  Many  parts  of  "Natural  Religion"  are 
doubtless  of  great  value,  but  what  a  writer  does  not  seem  to  have 
great  faith  in  personally  is  not  likely  to  be  warmly  welcomed  by  out- 
siders. 

\To    be    continued.] 


-*♦♦- 


SCIENTIFIC  PHILANTHROPY. 

By  M.  ALFEED   F0U1LLEE. 

II. 

WE  have  examined,  subjecting  them  to  their  just  measure,  the  in- 
conveniences which  philanthropy  produces  when  it  takes  as  its 
rule  the  vague  sentiment  of  love  instead  of  the  precise  and  scientific 
ideas  of  justice  and  general  interest  ;  it  is  proper  for  us  to  show  the 
advantages  which  can,  in  a  certain  measure,  compensate  for  these  in- 
conveniences. This  is  a  point  of  view  on  which  the  Darwinians  have 
not  sufficiently  insisted. 

The  first  advantage  of  philanthropic  institutions,  when  they  are 
well  conceived  and  subordinated  to  the  rules  of  science,  is,  that  they 
tend  to  diminish  excessive  inequality,  whether  economical,  political,  or 
intellectual,  among  men.  The  necessity  of  restoring  some  degree  of 
equality  in  mankind  arises  from  the  laws  of  natural  selection  them- 
selves. It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  these  laws,  after  having  at  first  ap- 
peared favorable  to  aristocracies  and  aristocratic  institutions,  are  now 
invoked  in  favor  of  social  equality.  According  to  Dr.  Jacoby,  polit- 
ical and  economical  inequality,  even  by  virtue  of  the  laws  of  natural 
selection,  produce  "  ignorance  and  misery  below,  crime  and  sterility 
above.  .  .  .  From  the  mass  of  mankind  emerge  individuals,  families, 
and  races,  who  tend  to  rise  above  the  common  level  ;  they  toilsomely 
scale  the  rugged  heights,  attain  the  summit  of  power,  of  wealth,  and 
of  intelligence,  and,  when  once  they  have  got  there,  they  are  cast 
down  and  disappear  in  the  depths  of  folly  and  degeneracy."  Death 
is  the  great  leveler  ;  by  destroying  everything  that  rises,  it  democra- 
tizes mankind.  "  Men  thus  appear  to  have  been  organized,"  according 
to  Dr.  Jacoby,  "  with  a  view  to  equality."  Every  too  abrupt  distinc- 
tion into  classes,  political,  economical,  or  intellectual,  and  all  selection, 
which  is  the  logical  and  natural  consequence  of  such  distinctions,  are 
equally  disastrous  to  mankind,  to  the  elect  as  well  as  to  the  rest  of 
men  ;  "  they  produce  with  the  latter  deficiency,  with  the  former  ex- 


5 22  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

cess  of  the  element  which  is  the  principle  of  the  distinction  of  classes." 
Whenever  any  part  of  mankind  has  too  much  of  anything,  whether  it 
be  of  material  goods  or  intellectual  qualities,  the  rest  of  the  race  im- 
mediately finds  itself  having  too  little,  and  both  parties  suffer  equally 
from  the  excess  and  from  the  lack.  But  Nature  seems  to  desire  to 
avenge  herself  for  such  violations  of  her  laws,  and  cruelly  afflicts  the 
elect  and  fortunate  ones,  chastising  them  "  to  the  fourth  and  seventh 
generation." 

The  laws  of  Nature  are  immutable,  and  woe  to  the  man  who  violates 
them  !  "  Every  privilege  a  man  accords  himself  is  a  step  toward  de- 
generacy, mental  decline,  and  the  death  of  his  race."  By  abasing 
whoever  tries  to  raise  himself  above  the  common  level  of  mankind,  by 
chastising  the  haughty,  by  exacting  satisfaction  for  excess  of  pleasure, 
Nature  appoints  the  privileged  ones  themselves  the  scourges  of  their 
race.  "  Too  much  fortune  offends  and  irritates  the  gods,"  the  ancients 
thought,  and  the  medical  study  of  the  consequences  of  all  intellectual 
or  moral  distinction,  and  of  all  selection,  leads  us  to  the  same  conclu- 
sion. "  Humana  imprudentia  impares  esse  voluit  quos  Deus  cequave- 
raV  ("Human  folly  desires  to  make  unequal  those  whom  God  has 
made  equal "),  said  Pope  Clement  IV,  but,  if  this  is  the  case,  can  the 
Darwinians  complain  that  philanthropy  is  trying  to  diminish  in  some 
degree  the  inequalities  that  are  born  of  the  social  regime?  Does  it 
not,  in  this  case,  act  in  the  same  direction  with  Nature,  and  according 
to  its  design  ? 

We  should,  besides,  be  less  pessimist  than  Mr.  Jacoby  in  respect 
to  distinctions  and  selections  of  every  kind.  The  theory  which  Mr. 
Jacoby  has  deduced  from  Darwinism,  if  pushed  to  the  extreme  with- 
out making  necessary  distinctions  and  restrictions,  would  go  to  the 
extent  of  destroying  even  the  principles  from  wThich  it  is  drawn,  and 
would  overthrow  the  laws  postulated  by  Darwin  ;  in  effect,  all  superi- 
ority, requiring  an  expenditure  of  force,  might,  by  that  fact  itself, 
become  in  the  struggle  for  existence  a  germ  of  degeneracy  instead  of 
a  germ  of  improvement.  There  would  be  nothing  really  durable  ex- 
cept what  did  not  rise  above  the  common  level,  and  living  beings 
would  resemble  those  corals,  the  madrepores,  which  grow  to  form  the 
basis  of  continents  as  long  as  they  do  not  pass  the  level  of  the  sea, 
and  are  not  brought  to  die  above  the  level  of  its  surface.  It  is  nec- 
essary to  distinguish  here  between  useful  and  injurious  inequalities, 
between  natural  and  acquired  ones  ;  among  the  last,  also,  must  be  dis- 
tinguished those  which  are  in  accord  with  Nature,  and  those  which 
are  opposed  to  her.  These  distinctions,  too  much  neglected  by  Mr. 
Jacoby,  are  the  very  ones,  in  our  opinion,  which  scientific  philanthropy 
ought  always  to  have  in  view.  Its  aim  should  be  to  re-establish,  so 
far  as  possible,  a  degree  of  equality  at  those  points  where  social  ar- 
rangements have  created  artificial  inequalities,  injurious  and  contrary 
to  Nature.     To  spread  and  equalize  general  instruction,  the  moral  sen- 


SCIENTIFIC  PHILANTHROPY.  523 

tiinents,  labor,  the  first  and  essential  instruments  of  labor,  to  raise 
what  is  down,  to  bring  up  to  the  common  light  what  is  in  darkness, 
to  restore  to  life  and  health  what  on  account  of  want  was  threatened 
with  sickness  or  death,  is  to  do  real  reparative  justice,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  re-establish  some  equality  among  men  in  the  great  competition 
of  life  ;  it  is  by  this  very  fact  to  suppress  factitious  inequalities  in  order 
to  give  free  play  to  natural  superiorities,  in  essence  beneficent  and  no 
longer  malign.  It  is,  we  see,  the  theory  of  natural  selection  itself 
coming  to  the  support  of  the  philanthropic  sentiments  against  which 
it  had  furnished  objections. 

May  not  this  preservation  of  the  weak,  which  the  partisans  of 
Darwin  condemn,  while  it  may  sometimes  become  dangerous  to  tbe 
physical  health  of  the  race,  also  save  from  death  useful  or  even  su- 
perior minds  who,  without  the  cares  given  by  tbe  family  or  the  aid 
rendered  by  strangers,  might  not  have  been  able  to  live  and  develop 
themselves  ?  Do  we  have  to  lament  that  a  Pascal  and  a  Spinoza  were 
rescued  from  the  death  with  which  their  feeble  constitutions  threat- 
ened them  from  their  youth  ?  How  many  poor  children  have  there 
been  who,  by  means  of  the  aid  tbey  have  received,  have  afterward 
become  great  men  of  science  or  great  artists  !  Here,  then,  is  a  second 
advantage  of  philanthropy.  After  correcting  injurious  inequalities, 
it  favors  useful  superiorities.  Furthermore,  the  preservation  of  organ- 
isms which  want  would  otherwise  have  destroyed,  induces,  by  virtue 
of  the  competition  of  life,  an  increasing  elevation  of  intelligence  which 
becomes  continually  more  necessary  :  all  those  who  can  not  count  on 
the  vigor  of  their  limbs  are  obliged  in  the  struggle  for  existence  to 
appeal  to  their  mental  faculties.  Other  men  have  had  to  employ  con- 
siderable intelligence  to  save  them  from  death,  and  they  are  them- 
selves obliged  to  employ  it  in  their  turn  to  preserve  themselves,  to 
support  themselves,  to  secure  for  themselves  a  place  in  the  light  of  the 
sun.  Hence  arises  a  progressive  elevation  of  the  intellectual  level  in 
the  whole  mass  of  the  nation.  This  movement  is,  in  many  points, 
nothing  but  that  of  civilization  itself,  to  which  philanthropy  is  cor- 
relative. 

We  meet  here  a  new  objection  :  it  is  represented  that  talent,  and 
still  more  genius,  are  advantages  of  individuals  which  are  paid  for 
at  the  expense  of  the  race.  We  hear  it  repeated,  with  Plato,  that  a 
soul  which  is  mistress  of  itself  will  knock  in  vain  at  the  doors  of 
poetry  ;  with  Aristotle,  that  there  is  no  great  genius  without  a  mixture 
of  folly  ;  and  with  Seneca,  that  nothing  great  or  superior  to  what  is 
vulgar  can  be  manifested  without  some  trouble  of  mind  ;  more  than 
this,  the  objectors  would  extend  to  the  race  of  the  great  man  the 
trouble  and  the  morbid  germ  which,  working  itself  out  in  some  form 
or  another,  will  make  the  children  pay  dearly  for  the  fame  of  their  fa- 
thers. "  Every  man  of  genius  or  talent,"  says  M.  Renan,  "  is  a  capital 
accumulated  from  several  generations."     "  This  capital,  accumulated 


524 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


and  personified  in  a  man,"  says  M.  Jacoby,  "  does  not  return  again  to 
the  commonwealth,  but  is  lost  from  it,  at  least  in  a  physical  point  of 
view  ;  it  is  withdrawn  from  circulation,  and  the  only  trace  it  leaves  is 
folly,  wretchedness,  and  degeneracy  in  posterity."  Nothing  is  made 
out  of  nothing,  and  all  production  supposes  some  consumption.  Sci- 
ence, art,  and  ideas,  to  be  born  and  develop  themselves,  consume 
generations  and  peoples.  Individuals  and  nations  exhaust  themselves 
by  production,  like  lands  not  manured,  because  the  products  are  not 
returned  to  the  common  ground,  and  are  materially  lost  to  it.  M.  de 
Candolle  also  shows  that  civilized  man,  by  the  very  fact  of  his  mental 
superiority,  is  generally  inferior  to  the  savage  in  physical  force  and 
health.  With  the  savage,  in  fact,  the  chief  conditions  of  selection 
are  a  piercing  sight,  a  fine  hearing,  muscular  strength,  and  the  faculty 
of  resisting  cold,  heat,  moisture,  and  hunger.  The  civilized  man  has 
not  these  qualities  in  the  same  degree  ;  what  he  gains  on  one  side  he 
loses  on  the  other,  and  the  law  of  equivalence  of  forces  is  verified  here 
as  elsewhere.  The  brain  grows  only  at  the  expense  of  the  muscles  ; 
the  man  who  thinks  is  in  a  sense  a  depraved  animal.  Such  are  the 
inconveniences  of  the  intellectual  development  which  modern  philan- 
thropy tends  to  favor  at  the  expense  of  physical  force.  We  are  far 
from  desiring  to  deny  these  inconveniences,  but  conclusions  which  go 
further  than  the  premises  need  not  be  drawn  from  them.  Social  sci- 
ence is  doubtless  right  in  saying  it  is  dangei-ous  for  individuals  and 
peoples  to  break  entirely  the  natural  equilibrium  of  physical  and  men- 
tal functions  :  mens  sana  in  corpore  sano  (a  sound  mind  in  a  sound 
body)  ;  if  a  nation  becomes  physically  enfeebled  too  rapidly,  it  will 
have  neither  time  nor  means  to  fortify  itself  mentally,  for  intelligence 
can  not  make  real  progress  in  decaying  organisms  ;  all  will  end  in  a 
simultaneous  dwindling  of  mind  and  body.  But  it  is  necessary,  on 
the  other  side,  to  look  out  that  the  natural  movement  of  civilization 
be  not  trammeled.  Now,  this  movement  is  characterized  by  the  in- 
creasing predominance  of  thought  and  feeling  among  modern  nations. 
This  predominance  favors  the  development  of  philanthropy,  and  is  in  its 
turn  favored  by  that  through  an  inevitable  reaction.  The  question  of 
philanthropy,  then,  when  generalized,  ultimately  becomes  confounded 
with  that  of  civilization  itself.  Now,  it  would  not  do  to  repeat  to-day 
Rousseau's  dissertation  against  inequality  and  the  arts  ;  we  could  not 
take  man  back  to  the  savage  state  under  the  pretext  that  civilization 
exhausts  his  physical  forces  and  the  best  of  his  vigor  in  the  intellectual 
blossoming.  The  whole  of  society,  in  profiting  by  the  discoveries  of 
science  or  art,  profits  by  the  sacrifice  of  individuals  or  of  their  imme- 
diate posterity,  if  there  is  a  sacrifice,  and  the  profit  exceeds  the  loss. 

This  loss  even  might  be  avoided  by  a  better  understanding  of 
hygiene  and  a  better  system  of  education  ;  and  precisely  these  ought 
to  be  the  principal  aims  of  philanthropy.  Hitherto  the  economy  of 
nature,  in  order  to  repair  the  loss  incurred  by  intellectual  culture,  has 


SCIENTIFIC  PHILANTHROPY.  525 

been  obliged  to  proceed  by  a  kind  of  fallowings,  by  suffering  a  vege- 
tation too  luxuriant  and  too  concentrated  at  one  point  to  be  succeeded 
by  a  provisory  rest  and  sterility  ;  but  a  superior  system,  which  has 
prevailed  in  the  cultivation  of  the  land,  will  without  doubt  be  applied 
some  day  to  the  cultivation  of  the  mind  :  it  is  the  system  of  allotments 
and  improvements,  and  it  should  be  made  the  basis  of  general  educa- 
tion. We  can,  furthermore,  avoid  at  this  point,  also,  the  excessive 
evils  of  repartition,  the  antinomies  of  intellectual  luxury  and  intellect- 
ual want,  by  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  through  the  mass  of  the  na- 
tion ;  and  this  is  one  of  the  essential  objects  and  one  of  the  beneficent 
results  of  scientific  philanthropy.  Without  that,  mankind,  divided 
into  a  class  of  intelligent  men  and  a  class  of  ignorant  ones,  would  re- 
semble the  twins  of  Presburg,  who  were  united  by  the  after  part  of 
the  thorax.  One  of  them  was  bright  and  gentle,  while  the  other  was 
stupid  and  ill-natured,  and  constantly  struggling  against  her  sister, 
notwithstanding  both  their  bodies  were  united  into  one  ;  and  her 
violent  conduct  did  harm  to  both. 

In  addition  to  the  material  and  intellectual  advantages  we  have 
just  demonstrated,  philanthropy  brings  precious  moral  advantage  to 
the  whole  race.  It  develops,  in  the  individuals  and  the  people  who 
exercise  it,  the  qualities  of  heart  most  important  for  social  life.  Dar- 
win and  his  partisans  early  recognized  how  essential  to  society  is  the 
development  of  altruistic  inclinations  ;  even  justice  is  impossible  with- 
out those  inclinations,  for  they  alone  can  restrain  egoism.  A  soci- 
ety without  pity  is  always  careless  of  the  right.  Natural  selection, 
which  is  exercised  now  to  the  advantage  of  the  most  intelligent  peo- 
ples, will  also  in  the  future,  we  hope,  be  exercised  to  the  advantage  of 
the  best  and  most  just,  when  the  understanding  of  the  truth  shall  be 
complete  enough  to  win  over  the  will  of  the  best.  Selection  always 
gives  the  day  to  those  who  adapt  themselves  most  perfectly  to  the 
new  medium  ;  and  the  human  medium  of  the  future  will  without 
doubt  be  the  reign  of  fraternity  and  justice.  Those  nations  only  will 
survive  then  which  shall  be  best  adapted  to  the  altruistic  type  ;  that  is, 
which  shall  be  able  to  live  best  and  to  propagate  themselves  in  a  me- 
dium chiefly  intellectual  and  moral,  in  which  knowledge  and  sympathy 
shall  have  the  first  rank. 

This  adaptation  of  actual  societies  to  the  ideal  society  by  the  simul- 
taneous advance  of  science  and  sympathy,  will  probably  bring  about  a 
transformation  of  the  type  of  the  species,  a  greater  development  of 
the  brain  than  of  the  other  organs,  a  substitution  of  mental  and  moral 
strength  for  physical  force.  The  actual  brain  is  already  an  immensely 
enlarged  vertebra  ;  the  brain  of  future  races  will  perhaps  be  not  only 
in  volume  but  in  organization,  also  and  especially,  as  different  from 
the  brain  of  existing  races  as  that  is  from  simple  vertebra?.  The  nerv- 
ous system  of  civilized  man  is  already  thirty  per  cent  greater  than 
that  of  the  savage.     Now,  cerebral  development  seems  to  have  a  re- 


526  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

strictivc  influence  on  fecundity  ;  it  should  tend,  then,  to  re-establish 
that  equilibrium  between  the  increase  of  population  and  the  increase 
of  subsistence  which  scientific  philanthropy  seeks  to  realize,  and  which 
it  reproaches  sentimental  charity  with  destroying.  The  point  is  worthy 
of  examination. 

What  are  the  laws  of  the  multiplication  of  species,  neglect  of 
which,  according  to  Malthus,  Darwin,  and  Mr.  Spencer,  is  as  preju- 
dicial to  the  philanthropist  as  to  the  naturalist,  in  the  connected  prob- 
lems of  population,  selection,  civilization,  and  benevolence  ?  The  first 
of  these  laws,  as  formulated  by  Messrs.  Howorth,  Doubleday,  and 
Spencer,  is  that  a  greater  development  of  individuality  brings  on  a 
diminished  fecundity  for  the  species  :  if  animals  of  one  species,  the 
human  species,  for  instance,  have  a  more  intense  individual  life  than 
those  of  another  species,  the  progress  in  the  volume  of  the  brain,  in 
physical  or  moral  development,  and  in  the  complexity  and  activity  of 
the  functions,  is  compensated  for  as  to  that  species  by  a  lessened  gen- 
erative aptitude.  Man  is  the  living  species  in  which  individuality  and 
its  functions  are  carried  to  the  highest  point ;  and  it  is  also  the  least 
prolific  of  the  species.  The  reason  of  this  law,  according  to  Mr.  Spencer 
and  M.  de  Candolle,  is  that  the  intensity  of  the  individual  life  implies 
a  taking  possession  of  materials  which  can  no  longer  serve  for  other 
organisms  ;  generation,  on  the  contrary,  is  a  disintegration  which  sub- 
tracts from  the  organism  a  part  of  its  substance.  In  short,  individu- 
ality is  an  acquisition  ;  generation  is  a  loss.  Now,  that  which  com- 
pletes individuality,  which  is  what  we  might  call  its  highest  expansion, 
is  the  life  of  the  intellect  and  affections.  Consequently,  the  animal 
species,  or  the  human  races  that  live  most  by  thought  and  feeling,  are 
those  which  have  the  least  generative  power.  To  the  objection  that, 
in  fact,  civilized  races  are  more  numerous  than  others,  Mr.  Spencer 
answers  that  civilization,  by  diminishing  a  host  of  destructive  forces, 
augments  the  means  of  subsistence,  and  thus  maintains  population  at 
a  superior  figure ;  but  the  height  of  this  figure  is  dependent  on  indi- 
viduals having  a  greater  faculty  of  conserving  themselves,  not  on  the 
species  having  a  greater  generative  power. 

The  second  law  that  regulates  the  multiplication  of  beings  is,  that 
richness  of  nutrition  augments  fecundity,  while  the  expenditure  pro- 
duced by  the  exercise  of  the  functions  of  relation,  and  chiefly  the 
intellectual  expenditure,  diminishes  it.  Poor  and  badly-fed  races  are 
naturally  the  least  prolific.  The  Irish  seem  to  form  an  exception  ;  but 
the  increase  in  number  among  them  is  dependent  on  their  marrying 
early  (whence  is  derived  a  faster  succession  of  generations),  and  on 
their  improvidence  in  imposing  no  restraint  upon  themselves  ;  in  short, 
upon  quite  other  causes  than  the  generative  force  proper.  Recipro- 
cally, the  increase  of  the  vital  expenditure,  especially  of  the  intellect- 
ual expenditure,  tends  to  lower  the  degree  of  fecundity.  This  law 
still  proceeds  from  the  same  principle  :  that  what  the  individual  ac- 


SCIENTIFIC  PHILANTHROPY.  527 

quires  or  expends  on  his  own  account  and  for  the  exercise  of  his  own 
personal  functions  he  can  not  transmit  again  by  generation  to  other 
individuals. 

It  is  certainly  not  proper  to  push  the  preceding  biological  induc- 
tions, the  truth  of  which  is  only  general,  to  extremes.  Mr.  Spencer 
himself  has  not  always  kept  the  measure  or  avoided  inexact  intepreta- 
tions  of  the  laws  in  question.  Practically,  and  in  the  actual  condition 
of  affairs,  the  superior  races  and  the  individuals  belonging  to  those 
races,  do  not  lose  their  generative  power  except  when  they  give  them- 
selves up  to  what  we  might  call  intellectual  debauchery.  But  sterility 
rarely  comes  from  this  cause.  Man  can  nearly  always,  even  when  he 
abandons  himself  to  mental  labors,  maintain  a  procreative  power  fully 
equivalent  to  that  of  the  woman  with  whom  he  is  mated,  and  it  is  un- 
reasonable to  demand  more  of  him.  It  is,  then,  the  woman  that  must 
be  considered,  looking  at  the  question  from  this  point.  Mr.  Spencer 
remarks,  in  support  of  his  thesis,  that  the  women  among  the  higher 
classes,  in  whom  mental  labor  is  carried  to  excess,  are  relatively  infer- 
tile ;  but  there  are  also  several  elements  to  be  distinguished  here.  The 
women  of  Paris  have,  for  instance,  a  weight  of  brain  which,  accord- 
ing to  the  anthropologists,  raises  them  but  little  above  negresses  :  they 
should,  then,  by  the  theory  we  are  considering,  be  very  fertile,  like 
the  negresses  ;  but  the  contrary  is  the  case.  The  real  reason  of  this 
is,  that  while  the  brain  of  a  Parisian  woman  is  definitively  but  little 
overstocked  with  ideas,  her  whole  body  is  still  less  developed  than  her 
brain  ;  but  it  is  not  so  with  the  strong-limbed  negresses.  Why  has  the 
body  of  the  Parisian  woman  been  arrested  in  its  development  ?  Do 
not  lay  it  to  her  intelligence,  but  to  her  want  of  intelligence,  to  cos- 
tumes and  fashion,  to  bad  hygienic  conditions,  to  parties,  vigils,  balls, 
and  theatres  ;  to  the  activity,  at  the  same  time  feverish  and  frivolous, 
of  a  wholly  worldly  life  in  an  air  more  or  less  vitiated.  In  the  same 
way,  if  the  daughters  of  aristocratic  families  are  relatively  infertile, 
there  is  nothing  to  prove  that  their  infertility  arises  from  mental  labor. 
In  short,  whenever  mental  labor  is  really  a  cause  of  diminished  fer- 
tility, it  is  so  by  being  excessive,  and  not  by  its  Well-regulated  exer- 
cise. The  same  is  the  case  with  every  excess  of  labor,  even  physical  ; 
the  common  workman  or  laborer  may  exhaust  himself  as  much  as  the 
thinker.  Mr.  Spencer  has  not  sufficiently  distinguished  here  between 
the  normal  and  the  exaggerated  exercise  of  the  brain.  A  normal  ex- 
ercise, in  which  the  functional  expenditure  is  not  above  the  nutrition 
of  the  organs,  but  below  it,  does  not  appear  to  us  to  diminish  fecun- 
dity, or,  at  least,  does  not  diminish  it  enough  to  trammel  the  develop- 
ment of  the  species.  In  the  normal  individual,  intellectual  produc- 
tivity and  sexual  productivity  march  in  line  ;  they  are,  as  it  were,  the 
two  poles  at  which  the  excess  of  nutrition  is  expended  after  a  right 
fashion  ;  but,  in  case  one  of  the  poles  draws  all  to  itself,  it  is  evident 
that  the  other  pole  will  lose  correspondingly.     The  almost  exclusive 


5 28  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

direction  of  an  energetic  nutrition  toward  a  particular  function  results 
in  the  exaltation  of  that  function  and  the  depreciation  of  all  the 
others  ;  it  might  even  create  a  kind  of  physiological  monstrosity. 

It  is,  then,  the  excessive  and  abnormal  application  of  the  brain 
that  diminishes  by  compensation  the  generative  vigor  ;  and,  still  more, 
the  bad  hygienic  conditions  under  which  thinkers  live,  and,  perhaps, 
the  pressure  of  necessity,  causing  them  to  overwork  themselves. 
Among  the  people  who  lead  the  march  of  civilization,  the  minorities 
who  work  excessively  for  the  advancement  of  that  civilization  quickly 
exhaust  themselves,  and  have  to  be  replaced  by  new  generations.  This 
is  the  cause  of  the  relative  sterility  of  cities  as  compared  wTith  the 
fecundity  of  country  places.  The  centers  of  intellectual  life,  the  great 
cities,  are,  to  M.  Jacoby,  the  Minotaurs  of  civilization  ;  but  this  is 
not  only,  as  M.  Jacoby  seems  to  believe,  because  they  think  too 
much  in  the  great  cities,  but  because  they  think  badly  and  live  con- 
trary to  all  the  rules  of  hygiene.  The  biological  law  accepted  by  Mr. 
Spencer  is  true  only  in  its  most  general  principles,  not  in  the  extreme 
consequences  which  he  has  drawn  from  them,  while  special  circum- 
stances may  intrude  many  a  perturbation  among  the  effects  of  the 
law. 

In  every  case  a  time  must  come  when  equilibrium  will  at  last  be 
established.  The  nervous  system  will  finally  become  capable  of  meet- 
ing, without  being  overcome,  the  difficulties  of  existence,  and  of  sup- 
plying all  usual  demands.  It  will  then  cease  to  develop  at  the  expense 
of  the  organism.  By  this  very  fact,  fecundity  will  be  normal,  neither 
too  great  nor  too  little  ;  and  there  will  be  harmony  between  the  popu- 
lation and  the  conditions  of  existence.  There  is,  then,  truth  in  this 
final  conclusion  at  which  Mr.  Spencer  arrives  :  that  the  excess  of  fe- 
cundity has  rendered  the  march  of  civilization  inevitable  (let  us  add 
the  march  of  philanthropy),  and  the  march  of  civilization  should  inevi- 
tably restore  fecundity  to  its  normal  conditions.  In  this  manner,  per- 
haps, will  be  resolved  the  problem  which  troubled  Malthus  so  much. 
In  this  way,  also,  we  see  that  scientific  philanthropy,  by  diffusing  in- 
struction along  with  well-being,  and  by  raising  the  intellectual  level  of 
the  needy  classes,  tends  to  establish  among  them  the  equilibrium  of 
fecundity  and  of  the  intellectual  functions,  and  consequently  to  dimin- 
ish that  blind  and  sometimes  excessive  proliferation  which  gives  econ- 
omists anxiety  concerning  the  future,  if  not  about  the  present.  At 
this  point,  again,  the  advantages  of  philanthropy  compensate,  and 
more,  for  evils  which  involve  nothing  essential. 

If  it  is  important  to  establish  in  principle,  as  we  have  tried  to  do, 
the  legitimacy  and  utility  of  philanthropy,  it  is  not  less  necessary  to 
fix  the  rules  and  limits  of  its  application.  An  enlightened  philanthropy 
should  not  bestow  its  benevolence  at  hazard  and  without  conditions  ; 
it  should  be  reparative  and  preventive  justice  together,  instead  of  re- 
maining that  ancient  "  Christian  charity  "  which,  like  love,  too  often 


SCIENTIFIC  PHILANTHROPY.  529 

has  a  bandage  over  its  eyes.  Now,  reparative  justice  should  endeavor 
to  re-establish  the  normal  conditions  of  human  association,  of  the  "  so- 
cial contract."  These  normal  conditions  require  that  the  contracting 
parties  or  associates  be  really  free  and  major.  Society,  then,  ought  to 
see  that  all  minority,  all  servitude,  all  excess  of  inequality  that  may  be 
produced  by  the  fatal  effect  of  the  laws  of  nature  or  of  the  social  laws, 
is  suppressed  or  alleviated  as  much  as  possible.  That  is  the  general 
rule  which  should  first  be  laid  down.  We  pass  now  to  its  principal 
applications. 

In  the  first  place,  what  are  the  best  means  which  philanthropy,  or 
rather  justice,  has  at  its  disposal  in  regard  to  the  disinherited  of  life  ? 
In  our  view,  they  are  education  and  work,  not  the  traditional  alms. 
Education  can  not  be  anything  but  useful ;  it  tends  to  the  develop- 
ment of  intelligence,  and  is  an  aid  that  raises  up,  not  an  aid  that  de- 
presses. By  education,  instead  of  favoring  the  propagation  of  imbe- 
ciles, we  prepare  more  and  more  intelligent  and  capable  generations. 
The  bearing  of  education  extends  to  all  kinds  of  servitude  and  want, 
but  principally  to  intellectual  servitude  and  want,  which  are  the  origin 
of  all  the  other  kinds.  Ignorance  of  the  things  most  essential  to  social 
life,  and  even  to  private  life,  is  the  worst  state  of  minority.  It  exists 
by  nature  in  all  children  ;  it  is  kept  up  by  the  lack  of  instruction 
among  poor  children,  and  persists  in  the  grown-up  man.  The  effort  of 
the  state  should  be  brought  to  bear  especially  upon  this  point,  for  it 
is  the  point  at  which  all  kinds  of  justice,  defensive,  preservative,  and 
reparative,  as  well  as  real  fraternity  or  philanthropy,  converge  and 
agree.  Instruction  is  a  matter  of  duty  and  right  as  of  all  toward  all, 
and  from  all  points  of  view  ;  but,  to  speak  only  of  the  duty  of  repa- 
ration, in  what  way  can  it  be  exercised  to  better  advantage,  more 
pacifically,  more  conformably  to  the  true  interests  and  real  rights  of  all 
classes,  than  by  distributing  knowledge  widely  among  all  ?  Instruction 
is  the  universal  instrument  of  labor,  useful  for  all  professions,  adapting 
itself  flexibly  to  the  most  varied  employments,  an  instrument  which  in 
virtue  of  this  very  fact  helps  us  to  find  new  resources  when  the  usual 
ones  fail.  This  general  instrument  of  labor  ought  to  be  gratuitous  ; 
it  ought  to  constitute  a  kind  of  moral  capital  distributed  by  all  to 
every  one.  Furthermore,  instruction  is  the  only  public  assistance,  or, 
if  that  is  better,  the  only  indemnity,  the  only  public  reparation,  in  ap- 
plying which  we  do  not  risk  sacrificing  the  interest  and  health  of  future 
generations  to  those  of  existing  ones.  The  second  means  at  the  serv- 
ice of  an  enlightened  philanthropy  is  work,  which  of  itself  can  not  be 
anything  but  useful :  labor  elevates  the  character  as  instruction  ele- 
vates the  mind  ;  by  compelling  those  to  work  who  are  capable,  by  giv- 
ing to  the  less  well-endowed  tasks  proportioned  to  their  capacity,  we 
may  be  doing  something  to  raise  the  moral  level. 

To  whom  ought  the  benefactions  of  philanthropy  to  be  addressed, 
and  within  what  limits  ought  they  to  be  restricted  ?    In  the  first  place, 

YOL.    XXII. 34 


53o  TEE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

the  child  abandoned  by  its  parents  finds  itself  in  one  of  those  situa- 
tions of  major  force  and  fatal  servitude  in  which  a  member  of  society- 
is  incapable,  unless  he  is  assisted,  of  participating  in  the  social  life. 
In  lifting  up  the  orphan,  society  does  not  perform  a  work  of  mere 
charity,  as  those  believe  who  speak  of  children  brought  up  by  charity  ; 
it  simply  performs  a  work  of  justice,  not  reparative  only,  but  con- 
tractual justice.  Shall  we  maintain  that  society  has  a  right  to  let  the 
foundling  die,  under  the  pretext  that  the  support  of  children  is  the 
duty  of  the  parents,  and  the  parents  are  unknown  ?  The  most  that 
can  be  said  of  such  a  conception  is  that  it  would  be  worthy  of  China 
and  Japan.  A  society  in  the  midst  of  which  abandoned  children  may 
still  be  found  is  engaged  toward  such  children  by  what  the  legists 
call  a  "  quasi-contract "  ;  it  owes  them  food,  with  general  and  pro- 
fessional instruction,  and  in  giving  these  to  them  it  does  nothing  more 
than  pay  a  general  debt  of  reparative  justice.*  The  same  observation 
is  applicable  to  the  case  of  infirm  old  men,  and,  in  general,  of  all  per- 
sons who,  being  reduced  to  an  absolute  incapacity  to  work,  have  no 
parents  who  can  support  them  ;  they  also  find  themselves  in  a  con- 
dition of  minority  and  servitude  which  renders  them  incapable  of 
taking  care  of  themselves.  A  real  moral  right  to  assistance  exists  in 
these  cases  ;  in  default  of  relatives,  the  duty  of  assistance  falls  upon 
the  city  ;  in  default  of  the  city,  it  falls  upon  the  state  ;  here  is  a  point 
which  legists,  economists,  and  naturalists  misconceive  who  see  in 
public  measures  of  relief  an  attempt  on  the  liberty  of  individuals 
committed  under  the  pretext  of  a  charity  that  should  be  left  free. 
Absolute  liberty  of  charity  is  a  religious  and  moral  prejudice  born  of 
a  defective  analysis  of  rights. 

Does  society  owe  assistance  only  to  those  who  are  incapable  of 
working,  or  does  it  owe  it  also  to  those  who  are  capable  but  are  ex- 
ceptionally out  of  work,  and  thereby  reduced  to  a  condition  of  extreme 
misery — to  a  kind  of  temporary  servitude  and  minority  ?  The  ques- 
tion is  big  with  difficulties  ;  it  is  one  which  has  engendered  too  strong 
prepossessions  to  receive  a  scientific  solution  at  the  first  view  ;  and, 
between  the  contradictory  exaggerations  of  the  socialists  and  econo- 
mists and  the  Darwinians,  it  still  remains  theoretically  pending.  "We 
remark,  in  the  beginning,  that  all  countries,  England,  Germany,  Sweden, 
etc.,  have  recognized,  whether  right  or  wrong,  a  public  duty  to  assist 
working-men.  But  they  have  not  always  taken  the  pains  to  limit  the 
duty  and  give  it  a  rational  interpretation.  The  existence  of  the  pub- 
lic duty  of  assistance  can  not  confer  upon  the  individual  the  right  to 
demand  work,  either  by  force  or  by  legal  process.     The  state  can  not 

*  As  raueh  may  be  said  of  children  "  morally  abandoned  "  and  reduced  to  vagabond- 
age. The  public  relief  of  the  Seine,  instead  of  shutting  them  up  in  a  house  of  correction, 
from  which  they  will  come  out  corrupted,  has,  since  1881,  placed  them  as  apprentices  in 
the  departments.  This  measure  needs  to  be  completed  by  the  passage  of  the  bill  for  the 
protection  of  infancy,  which  was  presented  to  the  Senate  on  December  8,  1881. 


SCIENTIFIC  PHILANTHROPY.  531 

engage  itself,  in  a  general  and  vague  way,  to  give  places  or  work  to 
all  who  demand  them,  neither  to  the  physician  without  patients,  the 
advocate  without  causes,  nor  the  poet  without  readers.  It  can  no 
more  make  itself  an  ironmonger,  a  dealer  in  dress-goods,  a  furniture- 
manufacturer,  or  a  house-decorator.  In  short,  it  can  not  substitute 
itself  for  the  individual,  artificially  create  work  for  him,  nor  artificially 
continue  the  production  of  any  article,  whenever  a  suspension  reveals 
the  fact  that  production  has  been  excessive,  and  ought  to  be  arrested. 
The  merely  moral  right  of  the  indigent  engenders,  in  respect  to  this  mat- 
ter, only  a  moral  duty  on  the  part  of  society,  a  combined  duty  of  re- 
parative justice  and  fraternity.  Since,  moreover,  the  demands  of  every 
duty  should  be  fulfilled,  so  far  as  is  possible,  society  ought  progress- 
ively to  secure  the  satisfaction  of  them  by  the  means  which  it  shall 
judge  best.  But  it  can  not  grant  its  assistance  to  healthy  individuals 
except  under  determined  conditions  and  by  a  reciprocal  convention. 
It  is  a  case  of  a  contract  imposing  mutual  obligations,  all  the  clauses 
of  which  ought  to  be  settled  with  care.  Here,  more  than  anywhere 
else,  the  right  to  assistance  is  limited  in  a  thousand  ways,  not  only  by 
the  rights  of  personal  property,  but  also  by  the  real  resources  of  the 
states,  by  practical  impossibilities,  and  finally  by  the  consequences  that 
would  follow  if  we  should  erect  it  into  an  absolute  and  positive  right. 
It  would  in  that  case  not  stop  short  of  self-  destruction.  We  should 
recollect  that,  in  the  question  of  reciprocal  rights  and  duties,  we  have 
to  consider  the  future  as  well  as  the  present.  In  this  point  of  view, 
we  can  say  in  truth  with  the  Malthusians  and  the  Darwinians  that  the 
increase  of  sustenance  would  not  follow  the  increase  of  population. 
As  Malthus  shows,  an  absurd  consequence  is  implied  in  acknowledging 
an  indefinite  and  unlimited  right  to  assistance  and  to  work  ;  it  is,  that 
the  funds  destined  to  support  labor  can  be  made  to  grow  at  will,  and 
that  an  order  of  government  or  a  tax,  like  Elizabeth's  tax,  is  all  that 
is  needed  to  bring  this  about.  It  would  not  be  more  unreasonable  to 
order  that  two  ears  of  corn  shall  grow  where  the  earth  has  heretofore 
produced  but  one.  Canute  did  not  arrogate  a  greater  power  over  the 
laws  of  nature  when  he  prohibited  the  waves  from  touching  his  royal 
feet.  To  say  that  we  ought  to  furnish  work  to  all  who  only  ask  to  work, 
is  really  to  say,  in  other  words,  that  the  forces  dedicated  to  labor,  in 
any  country,  are  infinite,  that  they  are  not  subject  to  any  variation, 
and  that  the  ability  to  give  work  and  good  wages  to  the  working 
classes  ought  to  remain  absolutely  the  same,  without  regard  to  whether 
the  resources  of  the  country  are  rapidly  or  slowly  progressive,  station- 
ary, or  retrograde. 

This  assertion,  therefore,  Malthus  concludes,  with  reason,  contra- 
dicts the  most  simple  and  most  evident  principles  of  the  tender  and 
the  demand,  and  includes  by  implication  the  absurd  proposition  that 
a  limited  territory  can  feed  an  unlimited  population.  The  question 
of  assistance  is  inseparable  from  that  of  subsistence  and  population  ; 


53z  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

it  is  what  we  might  call  a  bilateral  question.  The  right  to  place  chil- 
dren in  the  world  is  not  a  right  merely  individual  and  personal  ;  there 
is  in  it  an  act  that  concerns  not  the  parents  alone,  hut  all  society  as 
well.  When  the  idle  and  careless  call  new  beings  into  life,  the  task 
of  feeding  them  falls  back  unjustly  upon  industrious  and  thrifty  men. 
One  does  not  have  to  take  his  children  to  the  dispensary  to  put  them  in 
charge  of  society  ;  the  man  who  fills  his  house  with  children  he  can  not 
support  changes  his  house  itself  into  a  hospital,  and  that  by  his  OAvn 
authority,  without  consulting  the  convenience  or  considering  the  re- 
sources of  any  other  one.  The  act  involves  an  evident  violation  of 
stipulative  justice.  The  state  might,  in  such  a  case,  say  to  the  la- 
borer :  "  You  demand  a  promise  of  me,  but  are  you  disposed  to  give 
another  one  in  exchange  for  it '?  My  duty  is  correlative  with  your 
duty,  and  your  right  is  not  unconditional,  but  is  subordinate  to  indis- 
pensable conditions.  Will  you  give  up  the  right  of  propagation  ?  If 
you  will,  assistance  is  possible  ;  if  not,  it  is  not,  for  you  can  not  re- 
quire those  who  have  labored,  produced,  and  saved,  before  you,  to 
abstain  from  the  enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of  their  labor  till  they  have 
assured  the  support  of  all  the  beings  whom  it  may  be  convenient  for 
you  or  your  descendants  to  call  into  existence."  The  procreation  of 
children  is  not  an  act  of  individual  whim,  it  is  of  the  nature  of  a  social 
act  and  of  a  contract.  It  is  proper  to  have  paternal  and  maternal  du- 
ties determined  by  law.  The  false  principle  that  every  one  has  the 
right  to  procreate  according  to  his  fancy,  without  showing  any  more 
foresight  than  a  brute,  will  eventually  be  rejected,  says  Stuart  Mill, 
the  same  as  the  right  of  a  merchant  to  buy  and  sell  without  keeping 
accounts  is  already  rejected.  To  place  children  in  the  world  without 
being  able  to  support  them  will  be  regarded  as  a  new  kind  of  failure  ; 
it  is,  in  fact,  frequently  more  than  a  failure  ;  it  is  a  homicide  by  im- 
prudence, because  the  children  are  destined  to  a  certain  misery  and  an 
almost  certain  death.     All  liberty  involves  responsibility. 

Stuart  Mill  undoubtedly  attaches  too  much  importance  to  the  legal 
regulation  of  population  for  the  present  time.  In  some  countries,  as 
in  France,  the  population  is  now  tending  to  diminish,  rather  than  to 
increase  too  much.  Furthermore,  the  bringing  of  American  and  Aus- 
tralian lands  under  cultivation  assures  subsistence  to  mankind  for  a 
long  time,  even  if  the  population  should  increase  rapidly.  It  never- 
theless remains  true  that  the  relief  given  by  the  state  can  not  be  un- 
limited, and  that  assistance  can  not  be  erected  into  a  right  on  which 
the  individual  can  found  a  claim.  Experience  has  shown  us  what  kind 
of  work  we  may  look  for  out  of  the  shops  opened  by  public  jmilan- 
thropy.  "  When  we  do  not  give  wages  for  work  that  we  need,"  says 
Stuart  Mill,  "  but  give  out  work  so  as  to  furnish  wages  to  those  who 
need  them,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  work  will  not  be  worth  what  it 
costs."  When  we  shall  have  no  longer  the  power  of  dismissing  the 
workmen,  we  shall  not  be  able  to  get  work  except  by  the  lash.    Assist- 


SCIENTIFIC  PHILANTHROPY.  533 

ance  to  working-men  is,  then,  still  only  a  moral  and  general  duty  of  the 
state. 

We  can  not  enter  here  into  the  detail  of  the  economical  or  political 
reforms  which  would  render  the  giving  of  assistance  more  sure  and 
more  effective  by  removing  the  inconveniences  (moral  and  physical) 
of  what  is  properly  called  charity  ;  we  have  only  desired  to  show  forth 
an  ideal,  and  to  give  an  apprehension  of  the  difficulty  no  less  than  of 
the  necessity  of  progressively  attaining  realization  of  it.  The  particu- 
lar means  by  which  the  ideal  is  to  be  realized  lie  within  the  domain  of 
applied  sociology  and  politics.  We  merely  indicate  as  among  them 
the  most  perfect  laws  respecting  property,  the  more  equitable  reparti- 
tion of  imposts,  which  should  not  be  allowed  to  aggravate  the  proleta- 
riat by  falling  most  heavily  on  the  proletaries  themselves  ;  a  better 
application  of  the  imposts  ;  the  encouragement  of  institutions  of  credit, 
and  of  other  means  of  credit  less  onerous  than  the  mons-de-piete ; 
the  establishment  of  intelligence-offices  for  workmen  seeking  work  ; 
the  extension  of  the  system  of  mutual  assurance  on  the  initiative  of 
the  state  and  the  communes,  to  a  vast  scale,  in  order  to  avert  the  most 
frequent  and  most  grave  material  disasters  ;  colonies,  removal  to  which 
should  be  the  natural  destination  of  every  healthy  citizen  who  has  no 
trade  or  profession,  and  who,  by  begging,  or  a  vagabond  life,  puts  him- 
self under  suspicion  ;  and,  lastly,  the  encouragement  and  increase  of 
particular  associations  within  the  grand  association  of  the  state.  Real 
benevolence  is  that  which  encourages,  not  idleness,  improvidence,  and 
the  degeneration  of  the  race,  but  labor,  economy,  and  the  moral  and 
physical  progress  of  generations. 

"  The  state,"  says  a  writer  who  will  be  little  suspected  of  social- 
ism, M.  Thiers,  "  ought  to  undertake  to  contrive  means  of  preparation 
for  panics.  It  may  not  be  able  to  do  all  that  could  be  asked  of  it,  but 
with  foresight  it  might  do  something,  and  even  much,  for  the  state 
has  forts,  machines,  vessels,  cordage,  guns,  cannons,  wagons,  harness, 
shoes,  dresses,  hats,  cloth,  linen,  palaces,  and  churches  to  be  made  ; 
and  a  competent  administration,  which  would  reserve  these  works,  so 
varied,  for  the  times  of  panic,  which  should  have  for  some  articles, 
such  as  machines,  arms,  wagons,  and  cloths,  establishments  capable  of 
being  extended  or  contracted  at  will  ;  which  should  have  designs  for 
the  strong  places  or  the  palaces  it  has  to  build  prepared  and  kept  ready 
for  the  seasons  when  the  labors  of  private  industry  are  suffering  from 
interruption  ;  which  should  thus  gather  up  upon  the  general  market 
the  unemployed  arms  as  speculators  buy  depreciated  public  securities, 
which  should  add  financial  foresight  to  an  administrative  foresight  of 
this  kind,  and  should  keep  its  floating  debt  free  and  disengaged,  so 
that  it  could  find  money  when  no  one  had  any — an  administration 
which  should  take  upon  itself  all  of  these  difficult  but  not  impossible 
cases,  would  succeed  in  greatly  reducing  distress  without,  however, 
suppressing  it  entirely.  ...  Do  not  assert,  then,  that  we  must  let  the 


534  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

man  without  work  die  of  hunger,  for  I  contend  that  we  can  support 
him  without  giving  him  either  wages  equal  to  those  of  prosperous 
times,  or  wages  that  will  allow  him  to  become  a  mischief-maker  or  a 
soldier  of  the  civil  war." 

The  state  concerns  itself  with  the  general  interests  of  agriculture 
and  commerce  ;  with  public  works,  the  fine  arts,  posts,  telegraphs,  etc.  ; 
different  ministries  have  been  constituted  for  these  ends ;  we  believe 
there  ought  also  to  be  a  ministry  of  philanthropic  institutions,  charged 
with  the  duty  of  taking  the  initiative  and  creating  foundations  of  this 
kind,  with  encouraging  and  aiding  those  that  already  exist,  and  with 
centralizing  the  efforts,  gifts,  and  loans  of  individuals  for  philanthropic 
establishments.  New  organs  should  be  provided,  in  the  great  body  of 
the  state,  to  answer  to  new  needs.  We  now  witness  in  this  matter, 
especially  in  France,  an  absolute  dispersion  of  forces,  an  anarchy,  and 
faults  in  initiative  and  organization  that  impede  all  reform  ;  if  a  special 
ministry  existed  for  such  questions,  which  seem  not  less  important  than 
those  of  the  posts,  commerce,  and  agriculture,  the  impulse  would  be 
quickly  given.  Loans,  gifts,  and  legacies  would  permit  the  state  to 
institute  experiments  under  scientific  methods  or  to  aid  those  which 
might  be  made.  Individuals  do  not,  as  a  rule,  care  to  bequeath  their 
property  to  the  state  in  general,  for  a  general  and  neutral  use;  but  how 
many  persons  would  be  glad  to  make  gifts  or  legacies  to  philanthropic 
institutions  !  Religious  congregations  have  a  wonderful  art  of  find- 
ing money  for  their  works  of  benevolence  ;  the  state  ought  not  to  fold 
its  arms  and  be  indifferent  as  if  it  had  no  precise  obligation  in  the  mat- 
ter. Foresight,  public  benevolence,  and  "  fraternity,"  in  our  modern 
societies  regulated  by  laws  of  increasing  complexity,  ought  not  to 
remain  a  kind  of  moral  luxury  wholly  abandoned  to  the  chances  of 
individual  inspiration.  Charity  is  a  general  duty  of  justice,  a  work  of 
science  and  not  of  mere  sentiment,  in  which  social  economy  and  nat- 
ural history  ought  to  co-operate.  In  reality,  the  idea  inspired  by  the 
labors  of  the  Darwinian  school  on  heredity  and  selection  is,  upon  a 
final  analysis,  that  of  solidarity  ;  and  that  is  the  very  foundation  of 
moral  fraternity.  Solidarity,  doubtless,  causes  the  miseries  of  one  to 
fall  upon  the  other  members  of  the  society,  but  it  also  extends  the 
good  fortune  of  each  one  to  all  and  that  of  the  mass  to  each  one.  By 
this  very  fact,  it  obliges  society  to  find  a  remedy  for  every  evil  that 
afflicts  the  individual,  because  every  such  evil  tends  to  become  social. 
Solidarity  limits  our  modern  societies  to  the  alternative  of  progress  or 
dissolution.  In  the  perfected  machines  which  modern  industry  uses  to 
weave  linen,  cotton,  or  wool,  when  a  single  thread  breaks,  the  loom 
stops  of  itself,  as  if  the  whole  had  been  informed  of  the  accident  that 
had  befallen  one  of  its  parts,  and  could  not  continue  its  work  till  the 
breach  is  repaired.  This  is  a  type  of  the  solidarity  which  is  destined 
to  reign  more  and  more  extensively  in  human  society.  In  that  social 
web  in  which  all  individual  destinies  intercross,  it  must  come  to  pass 


THE  SCHOOLS    OF  MEDICINE.  535 

that  not  a  thread  can  be  broken,  not  an  individual  can  suffer,  without 
the  general  mechanism  being  informed  of  the  accident,  affected  by  it, 
and  forced  to  repair  the  damage  as  much  as  possible.  This  is  the  ideal 
which  philanthropy  is  pursuing,  and  which  it  will  approach  more  close- 
ly as  it  becomes  more  scientific  in  its  method,  without  ceasing  to  be 
also  generous  in  its  inspirations. — Translated  from  the  Revue  des  Deux 
Mondes. 

[Concluded.] 


-♦♦♦- 


THE   SCHOOLS  OF  MEDICINE. 

Br  E.   0.   BEAED,   M.  D. 

"^VTOTIIING  is  so  popular  as  prejudice,  and  no  prejudice  so  popular 
-LN  as  that  resting  upon  a  supposed  scientific  basis,  or  backed  by 
reputed  scientific  authority.  Always  obstructive  to  the  spirit  of  prog- 
ress, it  is  peculiarly  so  when  related  to  a  subject  so  closely  concerning 
the  interest  of  the  people  as  the  study  and  treatment  of  disease.  In 
these  physically  degenerate  days  the  avoidance  or  remedy  of  the 
thousand  "  ills  which  flesh  is  heir  to  "  is  a  question  of  well-nigh  uni- 
versal import.  The  urgency  of  this  common  need  offers  a  partial  rea- 
son for  the  adoption  and  perpetuation,  by  the  public  mind,  of  the 
differences  which  are  supposed  to  exist  between  the  two  great  schools 
of  medicine  ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  it  measures  the  greatness  of  the 
misfortune  of  the  fact. 

Rooted  in  the  professional  ignorance  and  bigotry  of  almost  a  cent- 
ury ago,  fostered  by  the  bitter  rivalries  and  exclusivism  of  opposing 
theorists,  these  differences  have  been  taken  up  and  fed  by  popular 
opinion,  until  they  seriously  embarrass  the  progress  of  medical  knowl- 
edge, and  tend  to  destroy  all  faith  in  the  science  and  art  of  healing. 

The  medical  fraternity  at  large,  and  of  both  schools  alike,  is  re- 
sponsible for  this  unfortunate  condition  of  affairs.  When  professional 
men,  who,  supposably,  represent  the  best  phases  of  liberal  thought 
and  scientific  culture,  lend  their  names  to  the  partisanship  of  mere 
theory,  and  array  themselves  under  sectarian  titles  which  signify  their 
adherence  to  an  exclusive  dogma,  it  is  small  wonder  that  the  laity 
should  follow  in  their  footsteps,  and  cast  their  views  into  the  yet  nar- 
rower mold  of  unreasoning  prejudice. 

And,  as  professional  hands  have  sown  this  seed  of  error,  it  is  they 
who  must  gather  its  barren  harvest,  and  uproot  the  tares  of  false  opin- 
ion from  the  popular  mind. 

The  recent  agitation  within  the  ranks  of  the  one  school  of  medi- 
cine, of  the  question  of  establishing  consulting  relations  with  duly 
qualified  members  of  the  other,  presents  a  good  opportunity  of  offer- 


536  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

ing  to  the  general  reader  a  few  facts  which  may  serve  to  illumine  ex- 
isting error,  and  prepare  the  way  for  the  appreciation  of  some  gener- 
ally unrecognized  truths. 

It  may  be  safely  asserted  that  the  chief  obstacle  which  the  pro- 
fession has  to  encounter,  in  the  attempt  to  harmonize  the  hitherto  con- 
flicting systems  of  medicine,  is  the  existence  of  so  violent  a  prejudice 
among  the  people  in  favor  of  one  school  or  the  other  that  the  doctor's 
income  is  liable  to  suffer  as  an  effect  of  any  concession  to  his  liberal 
convictions. 

When  an  imknown  physician  appears  in  any  community,  and  so- 
licits a  share  of  public  patronage,  what  does  the  inquiring  public  first 
demand  to  know  concerning  him  ?  Does  society  take  the  measure  of 
his  social  standing,  or  estimate  the  quality  of  his  moral  character  and 
training  ?  Do  his  prospective  patients  seek  evidence  of  his  profes- 
sional ability,  his  special  acquirements,  or  his  general  scientific  cult- 
ure ?  No.  They  submit  him  to  no  such  crucial  tests  as  these.  They 
content  themselves  with  asking  the  one  grave  question,  "  Is  he  allo- 
path or  homoeopath  ? "  and,  having  reply,  assign  him,  according  to 
their  prejudices,  to  an  immediate  place  in  their  mental  register,  as 
possibly  useful  or  probably  imbecile.  What  important  principle,  then, 
lies  back  of  this  oft-repeated  query  to  account  for  its  unfailing  repe- 
tition ?  What  significance  is  attached  to  these  opposing  terms,  and 
whence  is  it  derived  ? 

In  the  first  place,  the  words  "  homoeopathy  "  and  "  allopathy  "  have 
a  common  authorship.  The  great  founder  and  apostle  of  the  homoeo- 
pathic school,  Dr.  Hahnemann,  was  responsible  for  their  coinage  and 
introduction  to  the  public.  With  the  one,  he  proposed  to  christen  the 
creed  which  embodied  his  own  peculiar  tenets  ;  by  the  other,  to  throw 
into  sharp  contrast  the  system  of  the  older  and  established  school. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  his  followers  have,  until  recently,  ac- 
cepted, with  singular  uniformity,  their  leader's  distinctive  term,  while 
his  opponents  have  always,  and  with  few  exceptions,  repudiated  the 
name  thus  contemptuously  bestowed  upon  them,  and  which  has  fast- 
ened itself  to  them  through  the  influence  of  popular  usage.  The 
definition  of  these  terms  is  somewhat  obscure.  Homoeopathy  does  not 
now  possess,  in  toto,  its  original  significance.  In  its  earlier  day  it  rep- 
resented a  group  of  dogmas,  which  most  of  its  younger  disciples  dis- 
own. Infinitesimal  dosage,  increased  potency  by  means  of  dynami- 
zation,  the  unification  of  disease,  etc.,  have  ceased  to  be  essential 
planks  in  the  homoeopathic  platform.  According  to  more  recent  in- 
terpretation, it  may  be  defined  as  a  system  of  medicine  based  upon 
the  one  theory,  " similia  similibus •curantur"  or  the  doctrine  of  a 
similarity  existing  between  the  physiological  and  the  curative  action 
of  drugs. 

Allopathy,  on  the  other  hand,  may  be  said  to  mean — in  so  far  as  it 
means  anything — the  application  of  medicine  upon  the  principle  "  con- 


THE  SCHOOLS    OF  MEDICINE.  537 

traria  contrariis  curantur,"  or  a  system  founded  upon  the  belief  in  a 
certain  antagonism  discoverable  between  drug-action  and  disease. 

Upon  the  face  of  these  definitions,  seemingly  irreconcilable  differ- 
ences exist  between  the  two  leading  schools  of  medicine  ;  differences 
which,  if  borne  out  by  the  facts  of  to-day,  furnish  ample  excuse  for 
this  persistently  anxious  query  of  the  public.  That  the  present  status, 
however,  of  medical  science  affords  no  adequate  support  to  this  popu- 
lar idea  of  a  hopeless  variance  is  clearly  susceptible  of  proof. 

When  Hahnemann  promulgated  his  new  and  remai'kable  dogmas, 
they  certainly  came  into  direct  collision  with  the  then  accepted  opin- 
ions and  practice  of  the  medical  world.  They  were  conceived  and 
brought  forth  in  an  age  of  heroic  measures  in  medicine  ;  an  age,  too, 
in  which  the  sthenic  types  of  disease  were  largely  predominant,  and 
when  the  lancet  and  its  auxiliary  depletives  were  accounted  the  un- 
failing panaceas  of  all  human  ills  in  which  failure  was  not  a  foreor- 
dained fact. 

The  homoeopathic  tenets  rushed  to  the  other  extreme  of  theory, 
and,  in  practice,  won  the  faint  praise  of  doing  at  least  no  injury  to 
human  life.  But,  starting  thus  from  widely  separated  points,  the  two 
schools  have  steadily  traveled  forward  along  paths  set  in  inevitably 
convergent  lines.  The  unbridged  space  which  lay  between  them  a 
century  ago  has  been  narrowed  imperceptibly  in  their  onward  march, 
until  men  discover  with  surprise  that  to-day,  across  the  intervening 
chasm,  they  can  safely  join  their  hands  ;  and  that,  by  mutual  ap- 
proaches, they  may  soon  walk  side  by  side,  in  common  effort  for  the 
relief  of  humanity,  and  yet  keep  steadily  "  abreast  of  truth."  Uncon- 
sciously receiving  the  impress  of  its  opponent's  teachings,  the  older 
school  has  learned,  first,  to  lessen,  and  then  to  minimize  its  doses  ;  to 
improve  the  preparation  of  its  drugs,  and  to  seek  for  better  forms  and 
methods  in  their  administration.  If  it  can  boast  the  direct  salvation 
of  no  greater  number  of  lives,  in  consequence,  it  is  at  least  responsible 
for  fewer  deaths.  Its  distinguishing  characteristics  have  ever  been  an 
active  spirit  of  investigation,  and  the  consequent  widening  of  the  lim- 
its of  its  medical  faith. 

The  homoeopathy  of  to-day  has  also  shaken  from  its  feet  the  dust 
of  more  than  one  worthless  theory.  Although  within  its  ranks  are 
still  numbered  some  so-called  "  high  dilutionists,"  its  leaders  have  long 
ceased  to  insist  upon  infinitesimal  dosage  as  an  essential  principle  of 
treatment.  Not  a  few  of  its  representative  men  administer  many  of 
their  drugs  in  crude  form,  as  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception  of 
practice.  If  it  still  clings  to  its  central  dogma,  its  principal  adher- 
ents no  longer  claim  for  it  the  respect  or  merit  of  a  universal  law. 
That  it  serves  as  a  good  indication  for  the  use  of  certain  drugs,  in  the 
treatment  of  many  conditions  of  disease,  few  careful  students  of  ma- 
teria medica  and  therapeutics  will  deny.  Witness,  as  instances,  the 
physiological  as  related  to  the  curative  action,  in  some  particulars,  of 


538  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

arsenic,  ipecacuanha,  turpentine,  mix  vomica  and  its  alkaloid,  strych- 
nia, and  camphor.  Explain  the  action  in  any  way  we  choose — as  sub- 
stitutive, as  the  primary  differing  from  the  secondary  effects  of  the 
drug,  etc. — the  relationship  of  similarity,  however  problematical  its 
value,  still  remains. 

Not  seldom  has  the  reproach  been  cast  upon  homoeopathy  that  it 
possesses  no  literature  worthy  of  the  name  ;  that  its  followers  can 
boast  no  valuable  discoveries  or  original  research.     In  the  main,  the 
criticism  is  just.     But,  in  this  one  department  of  medical  science,  the 
profession  has  received  at  its  hands  an  incalculable  benefit.     It  claims, 
and  for  the  most  part  rightly,  the  credit  of  advancing,  directly  or 
indirectly,  the  study  of  the  physiological  action  of  drugs,  as  related  to 
the  alleviation  and  cure  of  disease.     The  careful  experiments  thus  set 
on  foot  have  thrown  a  light  upon  the  selection  and  intelligent  use  of 
remedies   which  has  largely  revised  the  old  system  of  therapeutics. 
Homceopathy  has,  undoubtedly,  given  to  the  world  the  revelation  of 
more  than  one  valuable  truth,  and  the  profession  and  people  alike  owe 
to  it,  in  the  persons  of  its  advanced  thinkers,  the  gratitude  of  respect 
and  recognition.     In  short,  as  "  every  student  is  a  debtor  to  his  whole 
profession,"  so  the  schools  of  medicine  are  mutually  beholden  to  each 
other.     The  same  influences  which  have  modified  the  one  sect  have 
served  to  liberalize  both.     The  practical  result,  as  already  manifest,  is 
of  greater  interest  to  the  public  than  are  the  steps  by  which  it  has 
been  reached.     A  careful  study  of  the  course  of  treatment  commonly 
pursued  by  leading  practitioners,  and  recommended  by  the  highest  au- 
thorities in  the  two  schools,  reveals  the  fact  that,  in  eighty  selected 
forms  of  disease,  representing  maladies  of  every  type  and  every  stage, 
six  tenths  of  the  remedies  employed  by  these  supposedly  rival  schools 
are  identically  the  same  in  kind,  and  differ  only  in  respect  of  dose. 
The  variance  is  no  greater  than  probably  exists  between  the  respective 
methods  of  practice  of  any  two  physicians  of  either  school.     Were 
disease  an  entity,  and  its  types  invariable,  we  might  look  for  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  universal  law  of  therapeutics  ;  but,  considering  all 
the  varying   conditions  of  age,  sex,  temperament,  habit,  hereditary 
tendency,  personal  idiosyncrasy,  climate,  and  general  surroundings,  it 
is,  in  the   nature  of  things,  impossible.     Between  homoeopathic  and 
"  regular  "  physicians  there  is  but  one  legitimate  ground  of  quarrel — 
and  herein  the  latter  have  sufficient  cause  of  complaint — namely,  the 
continuance,  by  their  old-time  opponents,  of  name  and  title  suggestive 
of  a  rigid  exclusivism,  indicative  of  their   supposed   arrival   at   the 
ultima  TJiule  of  medical  research,  and  their  adherence  to  a  universal 
dogma,  to  which,  as  such,  they  can  no  longer  honestly  adhere.     Why 
should  it  not  be  possible  for  a  guild  of  men,  interested  in  so  grand  an 
object  as  the  relief  of  suffering  and  the  conservation  of  human  life,  to 
join  cordial  hands  with  their  fellow-laborers  in  a  common  cause,  and 
content  themselves  with  the  unequivocal  name  of  physician,  and  the 


BRAIN-POWER  IN  EDUCATION.  539 

honored  and  honorable  title  of  Doctors  in  Medicine?  Let  this  once  be 
unfait  accompli,  and  we  may  rest  assured  that  the  good  sense  and  mutual 
interests  of  the  two  great  schools  will  speedily  draw  them  together,  in 
a  process  of  mutual  absorption,  which  will  give  a  new  impetus  to  the 
growth  of  medical  science,  and  contribute  immeasurably  to  a  more  suc- 
cessful, because  more  rational,  treatment  of  disease. 

The  New  York  State  Medical  Society,  representing  the  head  and 
front  of  the  profession  in  this  country,  has  recently  taken  an  ini- 
tiatory step  in  this  direction,  by  striking  out  and  changing  certain 
clauses  of  its  ethical  code  which  prohibited  consultation  with  duly 
qualified  homoeopathic  practitioners.  Despite  the  unfortunate  ac- 
tion of  the  American  Association,  in  setting  the  stamp  of  their  use- 
less disapprobation  upon  this  timely  step,  a  thinking  public  must  needs 
declare  itself  in  approval  of  the  New  York  Society.  It  has  but  con- 
stituted itself  the  vanguard  of  a  movement  which  will  soon  be  fol- 
lowed by  all  liberal  men  in  the  profession,  and  must  ere  long  sweep 
away  those  petty  obstacles  to  the  progress  of  medicine,  which,  causing 
the  disunion  of  its  disciples,  have  limited  its  usefulness,  weakened  its 
experimental  conclusions,  and  brought  upon  it  the  popular  reproach  of 
disagreement. 

Many,  it  may  be,  of  the  older  generation  of  physicians — minds 
which  have  crystallized  unchangeably  to  the  form  of  early  ideas — 
must  "  pass  away  before  these  things  are  fulfilled,"  but  they  who  are 
stepping  forward  to  take  their  places  in  the  great  struggle  with  dis- 
ease and  death,  will  have  their  hands  strengthened  by  a  more  conscious 
unity  of  work  and  purpose  with  their  fellows,  to  which  the  profession 
of  medicine  has  long  been  a  stranger. 

The  principal  barrier,  let  me  repeat,  to  the  attainment  of  this  de- 
sired end  lies,  not  within  professional  lines,  but  in  the  existence  of  this 
unfortunate  prejudice  among  the  people.  "When  patients  demand  to 
be  assured  that  a  medical  practitioner  is — not  an  "  allopath  "  or  a 
"  homoeopath,"  but — a  reputable  and  well-educated  physician,  then  will 
the  folly  of  "  exclusivism  "  be  made  manifest,  not  alone  to  the  mind, 
but  to  the  pocket  of  the  profession  ;  and  then  will  Medicine,  unembar- 
rassed by  the  strife  of  schools,  rise  to  her  possible  place  as  a  successful 
and  a  more  exact  science. 


-<y++~ 


BKAIN-POWER  IN   EDUCATION. 

WE  are  supposed  to  live  in  an  age  when  brute-force  has  ceased  to 
rule,  and  when  brain-power  alone  is  the  governing  agent.  In 
the  good  old  days,  the  heavy,  strong-armed  knight,  protected  by  his 
impenetrable  armor,  and  skilled  in  the  use  of  his  sword,  was  almost 
invincible.     A  little  nearer  our  own  day,  the  skilled  swordsman  or 


54o  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

dead-shot  whose  ultimatum  was  the  duel,  ruled  to  a  certain  extent  the 
society  in  which  he  moved.  To  test  which  was  the  most  powerful 
knight  was  an  easy  matter  ;  for  a  combat  between  the  rivals  was 
easily  arranged,  and  the  result  was  seldom  questionable  ;  or,  if  it  were 
uncertain,  the  relative  powers  were  supposed  to  be  equal. 

In  the  present  day,  however,  the  question  of  brain-power  is  a  far 
more  difficult  problem.  We  can  not  weigh  brains  as  we  can  tea  or 
sugar ;  we  can  not  determine  their  mental  capacity  as  we  could  the 
physical  powers  of  knights  of  old,  by  setting  two  of  them  opposite 
each  other  and  leaving  them  to  fight  it  out.  "We  have,  however,  ar- 
ranged various  tests  which  we  suppose  give  us  a  correct  estimate  of 
the  brain-power  of  various  individuals.  These  tests  may  be  better 
than  none  at  all,  yet  they  are  far  from  being  perfect  ;  consequently, 
we  too  often  by  such  means  select  men  to  do  work  for  which  they  are 
quite  unsuited,  and  to  fill  offices  for  which  they  have  no  capacity. 

The  present  is  an  age  of  competitive  examinations,  yet  these  afford 
but  an  imperfect  test  of  brain-power  ;  for,  after  a  time,  competitive 
examinations  become  less  and  less  efficient  as  true  tests  of  intelligence, 
and  sink  into  a  sort  of  official  routine.  As  examples,  we  will  take  the 
following  cases  :  Brown  is  the  son  of  an  Indian  officer  who  died  when 
his  boy  was  ten  years  old,  and  left  his  widow  badly  off.  Young 
Brown  is  intended  for  the  Royal  Military  Academy,  Woolwich  ;  but 
his  mother's  means  do  not  enable  her  to  send  him  to  a  first-class 
"  crammer's,"  so  he  has  to  sit  beneath  the  average  schoolmaster.  He 
works  hard  and  thinks  a  great  deal,  and  gains  a  fair  knowledge  of  the 
subjects  he  is  required  to  learn.  He  goes  up  to  the  competitive  exam- 
ination at  Woolwich,  and  finds  each  question  so  complicated  that  he 
is  utterly  puzzled  ;  and,  when  the  results  of  the  examination  are  made 
known,  Brown  is  nearly  last  on  the  list. 

On  the  other  hand,  Smith  is  the  son  of  a  wealthy  tradesman  who 
wishes  his  son  to  enter  as  a  cadet  at  Woolwich.  Young  Smith  is  sent 
early  in  life  to  a  successful  "  crammer's,"  to  be  fattened  with  knowl- 
edge as  turkeys  are  crammed  for  Christmas.  The  crammer  does  not 
confine  his  attention  to  teaching  his  pupils  ;  but  he  watches  the  exam- 
ination papers  set  at  Woolwich,  and  he  finds  that  the  examiners  have 
each  a  peculiar  "  fad,"  and  set  their  questions  in  a  sort  of  rotation. 
He  looks  carefully  over  these,  and  he  forms  a  kind  of  estimate  of  the 
questions  which  are  likely  to  be  set  at  any  particular  examination. 
He  therefore  trains  his  pupils  for  these  questions,  and  is  often  so  suc- 
cessful in  his  predictions  that  at  least  half  the  questions  have  been 
worked  out  by  these  pupils  a  week  before  the  examination  ;  and  this 
result  is  obtained  without  any  collusion  between  the  crammer  and  the 
examiner.  On  one  occasion  that  we  know  of,  seven  questions  out  of  a 
paper  of  thirteen  were  predicted  as  "  due "  ;  and  the  pupils  conse- 
quently of  this  crammer  were  most  successful  at  this  "  competitive." 
Young  Smith  is  thus  trained,  and  passes  say  fifth  out  of  a  long  list, 


BRAIN-POWER  IN  EDUCATION.  541 

and  is  considered,  as  far  as  this  test  is  concerned,  to  possess  brain- 
power far  beyond  that  of  the  unfortunate  Brown,  who  was  nearly  last 
in  this  same  examination. 

Twenty  years  elapse,  and  Smith  and  Brown  meet.  Smith  has 
jogged  on  in  the  usual  routine  ;  he  may  have  never  either  said  or  done 
a  foolish  thing.  Brown,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  man  of  wide  reputa- 
tion, has  written  clever  books,  and  done  many  clever  things  ;  yet  peo- 
ple who  know  his  early  history  say  how  strange  it  was  that  he  was 
so  stupid  when  he  was  young,  for   he  was  ignominiously  "spun"  at 

Woolwich ! 

Those  who  thus  speak  imagine  that  the  examination  at  which 
Smith  succeeded  and  Brown  failed  was  a  test  of  their  brain-power. 
It  was  in  reality  nothing  of  the  kind  ;  it  was  merely  a  test  of  the  rela- 
tive experience  of  those  who  trained  Smith  and  Brown. 

Even  thus  far  it  will  be  evident  that  our  present  supposed  tests  are 
not  infallible  ;  but  we  will  go  even  further,  and  will  examine  the  act- 
ual work  itself  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  great  test  of  mental  capac- 
ity, and  we  can  divide  this  work  into  two  classes— namely,  acquired 
knowledge,  and  the  power  to  reason.     In  nearly  every  case,  the  train- 
ing which  enables  a  youth  to  pass  a  competitive  examination  belongs 
to  the  first  class— acquired  knowledge.     It  consists  of  a  knowledge  of 
mathematical  rules  and  formula,  classics,  modern  languages,  history, 
and  geography.     Mathematics,  if  properly  taught,. and  especially  ge- 
ometry, tends  to  strengthen  the  mind  and  fit  it  to  reason  ;  but  it  too 
often  happens  that  a  youth  is  crammed  with  mathematics  for  a  particu- 
lar examination,  and  he  has  not  mentally  digested  what  he  has  thus 
been  crammed  with  ;  and  consequently,  instead  of  his  mind  having 
been  strengthened  by  this  process,  it  has  in  reality  become  weakened  ; 
and  ten  or  fifteen  years  after  the  examination,  the  man — then  in  his 
maturity — derives  no  advantage  from  his  formerly  acquired  knowl- 
edge, because  he  has  forgotten  it.     He  merely  suffers  from  the  mental 
repletion  of  his  younger  days,  and  dislikes  mathematics  ;  just  as  a 
pastry-cook's  boy  is  said  to  abhor  tarts  and  buns,  because  he  was 
crammed  with  them  when  he  first  was  placed  among  such  temptations. 
A  knowledge  of  modern  languages  is  useful  to  those  who  travel,  or 
who  wish  to  become  acquainted  with  the  literature  of  other  countries  ; 
but,  as  a  test  of  brain-power,  the  acquisition  of  any  language  fails. 
There  is  no  language  in  use  which  is  based  on  anything  but  arbitrary 
rules  ;  reason  has  no  influence  on  languages.    The  selection  in  French, 
for  example,  of  masculines  and  feminines,  is  most  unreasonable.     Why 
should  a  chair  in  French  be  given  petticoats,  and  a  stool  placed  in 
breeches?     Why  should  the  sun  be  considered  masculine,  and  the 
moon  feminine  ?     In  German,  the  same  arbitrary  rules  exist — the  mas- 
culines, feminines,  and  neuters  have  no  reason  to  guide  them.     Take  a 
child  of  five  yeai's  old,  and  a  clever  man  of  twenty-five — let  each  use 
only  the  same  exertion  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  any  spoken  language, 


542  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

and  the  child  will  easily  excel  the  man.  This  is  because  ear,  and  the 
memory  derived  from  ear,  are  the  means  by  which  languages  are  ac- 
quired. Reason  enables  us  to  predict  what  is  probable,  when  we  know 
that  which  has  previously  occurred.  If,  then,  we  informed  a  reason- 
ing individual  that  a  chair,  an  article  made  of  wood,  with  four  legs, 
was  feminine  in  French,  and  then  called  his  attention  to  a  stool,  an 
article  made  of  wood,  with  four  legs,  and  inquired  to  what  gender  he 
considered  the  stool  belonged,  he  would  naturally  conclude  that  it  also 
was  feminine  ;  but  a  stool  {tabouret)  is  masculine  in  French. 

Then,  again,  the  pronunciation  of  words  is  purely  arbitrary.  Take 
our  own  language,  for  example,  and  such  words  as  plough,  enough, 
cough,  dough,  bough,  rough,  etc.  Where  does  reason  enter  into  the 
pronunciation  of  such  words  ?  What  power  of  intellect  would  enable 
us  to  pronounce  "cough"  correctly,  even  though  we  knew  how 
"  bough "  was  spoken  ?  Yet,  in  spite  of  these  unreasonable  laws, 
classics  and  modern  languages  are  not  unusually  referred  to,  not  as 
stored  knowledge,  but  as  tests  of  mental  power.  As  a  rule,  it  is  not 
the  reasoner,  or  person  gifted  with  great  brain-power,  who  the  most 
quickly  learns  a  language,  but  the  superficial  thinker,  gifted  with  ear  ; 
and  these  superficial  people  are  the  first  to  quiz  any  error  made  when 
a  speaker  attempts  to  converse  in  a  foreign  language. 

We  may  fairly  divide  the  subjects  employed  in  modern  mental 
training  into  those  which  store  and  those  which  strengthen  the  mind. 
Languages  ;  a  knowledge  of  history  and  geography  ;  the  facts  con- 
nected with  various  sciences,  such  as  chemistry,  electricity,  astronomy, 
etc.,  are  stores  ;  but  not  one  of  these  does  more  than  store  the  mind. 
Men's  minds  were  stored  with  a  certain  number  of  astronomical  facts 
when  Galileo  attempted  to  revive  the  olden  belief  that  the  earth  ro- 
tated ;  but  their  minds  had  not  been  strengthened,  as  it  was  the  lead- 
ing astronomers  who  most  offered  opposition  to  him.  Several  men 
with  stored  minds  were  the  great  opponents  of  Stephenson  when  he 
talked  about  traveling  twenty  miles  an  hour  on  a  railroad.  So  that  it 
appears  that,  no  matter  how  well  a  mind  may  be  stored,  if  it  is  inca- 
pable of  judging  correctly  on  a  novelty,  it  can  not  be  called  a  strong 
mind. 

Our  competitive  examinations  tend  almost  entirely  to  bring  to  the 
front  those  whose  minds  are  the  best  stored,  and  many  persons  there- 
fore have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  by  such  a  course  we  have  ob- 
tained for  our  various  services  what  are  termed  "  the  cleverest  youths." 
It  does  not,  however,  follow  that  this  result  has  been  obtained.  The 
greatest  brain-power  may  actually  be  low  down  in  the  list  of  a  com- 
petitive examination  in  which  stored  knowledge  alone  has  been  requi- 
site. There  is  a  certain  advantage  to  be  gained  by  storing  the  mind 
with  facts,  and  some  people  imagine  that  a  knowledge  of  these  facts 
indicates  an  educated  and  strong  mind.  It,  however,  merely  proves 
that  the  mind  has  been  stored  ;  it  does  not  prove  it  to  have  been 


BRAIN-POWER  IN  EDUCATION.  543 

strengthened.  We  may  know  what  Caesar  did  under  certain  condi- 
tions ;  how  Alfred  the  Great  organized  his  police  so  that  he  could 
hang  bracelets  of  value  on  sign-posts  without  fearing  that  highwaymen 
would  steal  them  ;  and  a  multitude  of  other  similar  facts  may  have 
been  stored  in  our  minds  ;  but  any  quantity  of  such  stores  would  not 
enable  an  individual  to  solve  the  present  Irish  difficulty,  unless  he 
could  find  in  the  past  an  exactly  similar  case  which  had  been  treated 
successfully  by  some  particular  system. 

It  is  even  now  considered  that  by  making  a  boy  pass  through  a 
long  course  of  mathematics  or  classics,  and  then  testing  his  acquired 
knowledge  by  an  examination,  we  adopt  the  best  method  of  obtaining 
the  greatest  brain-power.  We  may  derive  an  advantage,  supposing 
mathematics  or  classics  are  requisite  in  the  future  career  of  the  boy  ; 
but,  as  a  test  of  brain-power  and  perseverance,  we  would  much  sooner 
select  the  boy  who  could  the  most  rapidly  and  most  certainly  solve  a 
three-move  chess  problem.  And,  if  mathematics  are  not  required  in 
the  future  career  of  a  boy,  it  would  be  equally  as  unreasonable  to  de- 
vote three  years  to  the  solution  of  chess  problems  as  it  is  to  devote  a 
like  period  to  the  solution  of  the  higher  branches  of  mathematics.  In 
both  instances,  the  mental  exercise  is  supposed  to  be  for  the  purpose 
of  strengthening  the  mind,  and  the  chess  problems  are  certainly  as 
efficient  as  the  mathematical.  It  is  not  unusual  to  find  a  profound 
mathematician  who  is  particularly  dull  in  all  other  subjects,  and  who 
fails  to  comprehend  any  simple  truth  which  can  not  be  presented  to 
him  in  a  mathematical  form  ;  and,  as  there  are  a  multitude  of  truths 
which  can  not  be  treated  mathematically,  a  mere  mathematician  has 
but  a  limited  orbit. 

A  chess-player,  again,  or  a  solver  of  chess  problems,  has  always  to 
deal  with  pieces  of  a  constant  value  ;  thus,  the  knight,  bishop,  pawn, 
etc.,  are  of  constant  values,  so  that  his  combinations  are  not  so  very 
varied.  A  whist-player,  however,  has  in  each  hand  not  only  cards 
which  vary  in  value  according  to  what  is  trump,  but,  during  the  play 
of  the  hand,  the  cards  themselves  vary  in  value  ;  thus,  a  ten  may, 
after  one  round  of  a  suit,  become  the  best  card  in  that  suit.  Brain- 
power independent  of  stored  knowledge  is  therefore  more  called  into 
action  by  a  game  of  whist  than  it  is  by  mathematics,  chess,  or  classics  ; 
consequently,  while  mathematicians  and  classical  scholars  may  be 
found  in  multitudes,  a  really  first-class  whist-player  is  a  rarity  ;  and, 
if  we  required  an  accurate  test  of  relative  brain-power,  we  should  be 
far  more  likely  to  obtain  correct  results  by  an  examination  in  whist 
than  we  should  by  an  examination  in  mathematics.  In  the  latter, 
cramming  might  supply  the  place  of  intelligence  ;  in  the  former,  no 
amount  of  cramming  could  guard  against  one  tenth  of  the  conditions. 
A  first-rate  mathematician  may  on  other  subjects  be  stupid  ;  a  first- 
class  whist-player  is  rarely  if  ever  stupid  on  original  matters  requiring 
judgment. 


544  THE  POPULAR  SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

A  very  large  amount  of  the  elements  of  success  consists  in  the 
advantages  with  which  an  individual  may  start  in  life,  and  over  which 
he  himself  may  have  no  control.  The  case  of  Smith  and  Brown  al- 
ready referred  to  may  serve  to  illustrate  this  fact.  When  conclusions 
are  arrived  at  relative  to  hereditary  genius,  these  advantages  may  he 
considered.  The  son  of  a  judge  becomes  a  judge,  and  we  may  claim 
hereditary  genius  as  the  cause.  We  should,  however,  be  scarcely  jus- 
tified in  assuming  hereditary  genius  because  the  son  of  a  general  officer 
became  this  general's  aide-de-camp.  A  general  officer  with  five  thou- 
sand efficient  troops  gains  a  complete  victory  over  fifteen  thousand  in- 
differently armed  savages,  and  he  is  looked  upon  as  a  hero.  Another 
general  with  a  like  number  of  men  is  defeated  by  an  army  of  ten 
thousand  well-armed  but  unsoldier-like-looking  men,  and  he  is  regarded 
as  a  failure  ;  and  yet,  of  the  two,  the  defeated  army  may  have  pos- 
sessed the  better  general.  In  order,  therefore,  to  judge  of  the  relative 
powers  of  two  individuals,  we  must  take  into  consideration  all  the  ad- 
vantages or  difficulties  with  which  each  starts  in  life,  or  in  any  under- 
taking. The  relative  success  is  by  no  means  the  only  criterion  from 
which  to  judge  of  capacity,  any  more  than  it  would  be  correct  to  judge 
of  the  capacity  of  two  whist-players,  when  one  held  four  by  honors 
and  six  trumps  and  his  adversary  beld  a  necessarily  poor  hand. 

In  the  great  battle  of  life  these  conditions  are  perpetually  interfer- 
ing with  the  results  to  be  derived  from  the  relative  value  of  brain- 
power, and  are  so  numerous  as  to  have  an  extensive  influence.  For 
example,  a  man  possessing  great  brain-power  has  succeeded  in  attain- 
ing an  official  position  of  eminence.  He  selects  a  nephew  or  particular 
friend  to  be  his  assistant.  We  have  competed  with  this  assistant  in 
various  things,  and  there  is  no  doubt  as  to  his  inferiority.  Time  goes 
on,  and  this  assistant  succeeds  to  the  post  of  his  relative  merely  from 
what  may  be  called  departmental  claims,  and  he  is  ex-officio  supposed 
to  be  possessed  of  the  talents  and  knowledge  which  appertain  to  his 
post.  Our  opinion,  if  opposed  to  that  of  the  official,  will  by  the  su- 
perficial outsiders  be  considered  valueless  ;  yet  ours  may  be  correct, 
and  that  of  our  opponent  erroneous.  It  is  by  such  means  that  very 
feeble  men  often  occupy  official  scientific  positions  to  which  they  are 
by  no  means  entitled  in  consequence  of  their  intelligence. 

When  such  an  event  occurs,  an  immense  amount  of  damage  is  done 
to  the  caflse  of  truth  and  real  science,  because  the  individual  thus 
raised  by  personal  interest  to  the  position  of  a  scientific  judge  or  ref- 
eree, too  often  fails  to  judge  of  a  question  on  its  merits,  and  condemns 
it  if  it  be  not  in  accordance  with  routine.  A  question  thus  disposed 
of  is  very  difficult  to  again  bring  into  notice  without  prejudice.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  even  among  the  so-termed  educated  people,  the  ma- 
jority possess  only  stored  minds,  and  are  incapable,  consequently,  of 
reasoning  on  any  problem,  other  than  by  bringing  to  bear  on  it  their 
stock  of  knowledge  which,  probably,  granting  the  problem  is  original, 


SKETCH   OF  HENRI  MILNE-EDWARDS. 


?45 


will  not  apply.  No  educated  person  doubts  that  the  earth  is  a  sphere  ; 
but  few  of  these  can  prove  that  it  is  so  by  means  of  facts  with  which 
they  are  acquainted,  though  a  simple  law  of  geometry  is  able  to  prove 
the  fact. 

The  average  occupations  of  young  men  require  nothing  more  than 
stored  minds  and  powers  of  observation  ;  consequently,  our  competi- 
tive examinations  serve  to  some  extent  to  bring  to  the  front  such 
qualifications.  But  it  is  not  among  such  that  we  obtain  our  discover- 
ers, inventors,  great  statesmen,  or  good  generals.  The  mere  routine 
man  will  almost  invariably  bring  about  a  disaster  when  he  has  novel 
conditions  to  deal  with  ;  and  as  a  rule  the  routine  youth  comes  out 
best  at  an  examination. 

At  the  present  time  we  have  apparently  no  accurate  test  by  which 
to  measure  the  relative  brain-power  of  individuals.  Competitive  ex- 
aminations can  not  do  so,  for  the  reasons  that  we  have  stated.  Success 
in  life  is,  again,  dependent  on  so  many  influences  quite  outside  of  the 
individual  that  this  success  is  no  test.  The  accumulation  of  money — 
that  is  "  getting  rich  " — is  too  often  but  the  results  of  selfishness  and 
cruel  bargains,  and  can  not  be  invariably  accepted  as  a  proof  of  brain- 
power. 

Considering  these  facts,  therefore,  it  appears  that  just  as  intellect 
is  invisible,  so  the  relative  power  of  intellect  is  immeasurable  ;  and 
instead  of  forming  hasty  conclusions  as  to  the  relative  powers  of  two 
men,  from  the  results  of  examinations,  we  may  perceive  that  by  such 
means  we  may  be  selecting  those  only  who,  under  certain  conditions, 
have  succeeded  in  storing  their  minds  with  the  facts  required  for  that 
examination. —  Chambers's  Journal. 


-♦*♦- 


SKETCH  OF  HENRI  MILNE-EDWAKDS. 

ON  the  3d  of  April,  1881,  a  medal,  bought  with  the  subscriptions 
of  the  scientific  men  and  friends  of  science  of  various  nations, 
was  presented  to  M.  Henri  Milne-Edwards  by  a  committee  of  repre- 
sentative French  men  of  science,  in  honor  of  the  completion  of  his 
great  work  on  "  Comparative  Physiology  and  Anatomy."  This  mag- 
nificent treatise — of  which  M.  Blanchard,  in  making  one  of  the  pres- 
entation speeches,  said  :  "  Many  authors  have,  with  more  or  less  of 
success,  published  treatises  for  those  who  were  studying  ;  M.  Milne- 
Edwards  alone  has  made  one  for  masters  " — was  the  fitting  consum- 
mation to  which  nearly  sixty  years  of  scientific  labor  had  consistently 
led. 

M.  Milne-Edwards  was  born  on  the  23d  of   October,  1800,  at 
Bruges,  Belgium,  of  English  parentage,  his  family  having  come  from 
vol.  xxii. — 35 


546  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

Jamaica.  After  the  invasion  of  Belgium,  in  1814,  the  family  removed 
to  Paris,  and  established  themselves  there.  M.  Milne-Edwards  studied 
medicine  under  the  direction  of  his  brother,  William  Edwards,  author 
of  a  work  on  the  influence  of  physical  agents  upon  life,  and  afterward 
a  member  of  the  Institute,  and  was  graduated  as  Bachelor  in  Letters  in 
1821,  and  Doctor  of  Medicine,  at  Paris,  in  1823.  In  the  latter  year 
he  presented  several  memoirs  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  among 
which  was  one  on  "  The  Influence  of  the  Nervous  System  upon  Diges- 
tion," which  he  prepared  in  conjunction  with  Breschet.  In  1825  he 
published,  in  connection  with  Vavaseur,  a  "  Manual  of  Materia  Medi- 
ca,"  of  which  a  second  edition  appeared  in  1828,  and  translations  were 
made  into  English  and  German.  His  attention  was  afterward  concen- 
trated  upon  the  zoological  branches  of  science  ;  and  from  this  time  on 
the  history  of  his  life  is  a  record  of  his  researches  and  his  publications 
in  those  branches,  the  briefest  satisfactory  account  of  which  would 
fill  the  space  of  an  article. 

In  1826  he  began,  with  V.  Audouin,  a  long  series  of  researches  on 
the  anatomy,  physiology,  and  zoology  of  the  marine  animals  of  the 
French  coasts,  for  the  purposes  of  which  he,  either  alone,  or  with  his 
co-laborers,  made  several  sojourns  at  different  points  on  the  sea-shore. 
Between  1826  and  1830  he  thus  explored  in  succession  the  coasts  of 
Granville,  of  the  Chaussey  Islands,  of  St.  Malo,  Noirmontiers,  and  col- 
lected the  materials  for  his  work  on  "The  Littoral  of  France,"  in  two 
volumes,  one  of  which  is  devoted  to  the  history  of  the  Annelids,  and 
wTas  the  subject  of  a  long  report  by  Cuvier.  In  the  beginning  of  1827 
he  presented  to  the  Academy  a  memoir  which  he  had  prepared,  in  con- 
nection with  M.  Audouin,  on  the  circulation  of  the  blood  in  the  Crus- 
tacea, which  received  the  prize  in  Experimental  Physiology.  His 
"Manual  of  Surgical  Anatomy,"  published  in  the  same  year,  was 
translated  into  Dutch  and  English.  During  a  few  years  following  he 
was  engaged  much  of  his  time  in  chemical  investigations  in  the  lab- 
oratory of  M.  Dumas,  whose  pleasure  it  was,  in  making  one  of  the 
speeches  on  the  presentation  of  the  medal,  to  speak  of  himself  as  the 
oldest  of  his  friends  and  the  closest  witness  of  the  labors  by  wdiich 
his  life  was  made  illustrious. 

In  1832  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Natural  History  in  the  Col- 
lege Henri  IV,  and  Professor  of  Public  Hygiene  and  Natural  History 
in  the  Central  School  of  Arts  and  Manufactures.  In  the  next  year  he 
prepared  the  zoological  part  of  an  elementary  work  on  natural  history, 
by  himself  and  Achille  Comte.  In  1834  he  published  his  "  Elements 
of  Zoology,"  an  elementary  book  on  zoology  for  lyceums,  which  is  in- 
cluded, with  a  "  Botany  "  by  Jussieu  and  a  "  Mineralogy  "  by  Beudant, 
in  the  "Elementary  Course  of  Natural  History,"  and  a  general  work 
on  the  Crustacea,  in  three  large  volumes  and  an  atlas,  the  last  volume 
of  which  appeared  in  1836.  It  was  while  he  was  engaged  upon  this 
work — "  which  has  become  classic,  and  has  been  the  point  of  depart- 


SKETCH   OF  HENRI  MILNE-ED  WARDS.  547 

ure  for  all  the  studies  in  that  grand  division  of  the  animal  kingdom" 
— that  M.  Blanchard  became  acquainted  with  him,  and  it  was  of  this 
period  of  his  career  that  that  friend  said,  in  his  presentation  speech  : 
"  At  that  time  much  was  said  of  your  discoveries  on  the  organization 
of  marine  animals,  and  of  your  researches  on  the  littoral  of  France. 
.  .  .  Generally,  naturalists  have  studied  marine  animals  in  the  cabi- 
net ;  you  were  of  the  opinion  that  it  would  be  better  to  observe  them 
on  their  domain,  in  the  actions  of  their  life.  The  learned  world  ap- 
plauded." 

In  1834  he  made  a  journey  to  Algeria,  and  on  his  return  presented 
to  the  Academy  several  memoirs  on  the  marine  ajiimals  of  the  African 
coast,  and  also  one  on  the  changes  in  the  color  of  the  chameleon.  His 
researches  on  the  Polyps,  the  results  of  which  were  published  in  1838, 
were  begun  at  this  time,  and  continued  with  the  co-operation  of  M.  J. 
Haime. 

In  1839  he  published  a  work  on  the  Ascidians,  prepared  after 
investigations  at  St.  Vaast  la  Hogue  and  Nice,  and  passed  several 
months  at  Roscoff  in  making  observations  on  the  blood-circulation  of 
the  Annelids.  In  1841  he  published  a  special  work  on  the  Acalephs, 
Spermatophores,  Cephalopods,  and  Eolidians.  In  1844  he  went  to 
Sicily  with  MM.  de  Quatrefages  and  E.  Blanchard,  on  a  mission  the 
scientific  results  of  which  were  embodied  in  a  work  in  three  volumes, 
the  first  of  which  contained  the  account  of  his  studies  on  the  circulation 
of  the  mollusks.  On  his  return  from  this  journey,  he  was  appointed  a 
professor  in  the  Faculty  of  Sciences  in  Paris,  in  place  of  M.  E.  Geof- 
f  roy  Saint-Hilaire,  in  a  position  to  which  he  had  already  been  inducted 
as  a  substitute  in  1838,  while  he  had  also  been  appointed  Professor  of 
Natural  History  in  the  Museum,  in  place  of  V.  Audouin,  in  1841.  It 
is  of  this  period  that  M.  Blanchard  said  in  his  eulogy  :  "  You  became 
professor  in  the  Museum,  and  found  me  assistant  naturalist  to  the  chair 
to  which  all  the  votes  designated  you.  I  have  forgotten  nothing  of 
that  time  from  which  nearly  forty  years  now  separate  us.  One  thought 
ruled  you,  dear  master,  that  of  giving  a  strong  impetus  to  our  science. 
You  excited  to  research  by  your  example  ;  by  your  counsel,  you  indi- 
cated to  young  naturalists  the  ways  they  should  pursue.  Desiring  to 
make  explorations  in  the  warm  parts  of  the  Mediterranean  littoral,  you 
took  M.  de  Quatrefages  and  myself  to  Sicily.  We  returned  from  there 
with  a  harvest.  You  brought  a  new  light  to  science  :  you  showed 
for  the  first  time  how  certain  vital  functions  are  performed  when  the 
organic  apparatus  are  still  in  a  condition  of  relative  imperfection. 
You  were  able  in  a  short  time*  to  furnish  a  thousand  proofs  that  the 
sign  of  the  highest  perfection  of  organisms  is  given  by  the  division  of 
physiological  labor.  You  were  still  young,  Monsieur  Milne-Edwards, 
but  you  were  already  saluted  as  a  master  and  recognized  as  a  chief. 
Witnesses  of  that  epoch,  now  becoming  a  little  rare  among  us,  recol- 
lect how,  everywhere  that  science  was  in  honor,  interest  was  taken  in 


548  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

the  investigations  on  the  organization  of  marine  and  inferior  animals 
that  were  going  on  in  our  country.  We  had  among  us,  in  the  course 
of  a  few  years,  the  greater  portion  of  the  zoologists,  anatomists,  and 
physiologists  of  the  world.  The  first  door  at  which  they  knocked  was 
yours.  At  that  fortunate  period  for  science,  your  health  was  consid- 
ered quite  delicate.  It  has  since  appeared  to  all  that  your  love  for  sci- 
ence gave  you  the  strength  which  nature  had  refused  you." 

To  these  investigations  succeeded  his  studies  on  the  structure  and 
classification  of  recent  and  fossil  Polyps,  and  his  monograph  on  Brit- 
ish fossil  corals,  both  'prepared  in  connection  with  J.  Haime  (1848  to 
1852),  and  in  1851  a,series  of  memoirs  on  the  morphology  and  classifi- 
cation of  the  Crustaceans  (since  collected  in  a  volume  of  "  Carcino- 
logical  Miscellanies  ").  His  "  General  Tendencies  of  Nature,"  which 
appeared  in  the  same  year,  was  on  a  subject  which  had  occupied  him 
for  a  long  time  ;  for  his  first  publications  on  the  vitality  of  the  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  aniAal  organism,  and  on  the  law  of  the  perfection- 
ment  of  animated  beings  by  the  division  of  physiological  labor,  date 
from  1826,  and  were  published  in  the  "  Classical  Dictionary  of  Nat- 
ural History."  A  monograph  on  the  fossil  Polyps  of  the  Palaeozoic 
formations,  published  also  in  1851  in  co-operation  with  M.  J.  Haime,, 
forms  nearly  the  whole  of  the  fifth  volume  of  the  "  Archives  of  the 
Museum."  Between  1857  and  1860  he  published  his  "  Natural  His- 
tory of  the  Corals  Proper,"  and  in  1858  a  large  volume  on  the  "  Recent 
Progress  of.  Zoology  in  France." 

The  crowning  work  of  his  life,  the  "  Lessons  on  the  Comparative 
Anatomy  and  Physiology  of  Man  and  Animals,"  was  begun  in  1857, 
and  was  completed  on  the  publication  of  the  fourteenth  volume,  of 
five  hundred  pages,  in  1880.  This  work  includes  all  the  lectures  which 
were  delivered  by  the  author  at  the  Museum  of  Natural  History  dur- 
ing the  twenty-three  years  that  it  was  in  preparation.  Professor 
Michael  Foster  said  of  this  work,  the  "  beautiful  legacy,"  as  Bernard 
has  called  it,  of  the  venerable  author,  reviewing  the  ninth  volume  in 
1870,  in  " Nature "  :  "At  a  time  when  a  ' differentiation '  of  study  is 
carried  to  such  an  extent  that  many  physiologists  know  very  little 
about  other  animals  than  frogs,  rabbits,  dogs,  and  men,  and  many 
zoologists  have  a  very  meager  acquaintance  with  the  results  of  experi- 
mental physiology,  such  a  work  as  this,  which  skillfully  weaves  to- 
gether all  the  main  facts  of  animal  biology,  is  most  wholesome  read- 
ing." 

M.  Milne-Edwards  was  nominated  an  officer  of  the  Lesrion  of 
Honor  in  1847,  and  a  commander  in  the  same  order  in  1861.  He  re- 
ceived the  Copley  medal  of  the  British  Royal  Society  in  1856,  and  the 
Boerhaave  medal  of  the  Scientific  Society  of  the  Netherlands  in  1880, 
being  the  first  person  upon  whom  that  medal  had  been  conferred. 

M.  de  Quatrefages,  addressing  the  subject  of  this  sketch  on  the 
occasion  of  the  presentation  of  the  medal  to  him  in  1881,  said  :  "  We 


SKETCH   OF  HENRI  MILNE-EDWARDS.  549 

present  this  medal  to  you  in  the  name  of  the  scientifie  men  of  the 
world.  .  .  .  All  of  us  here  recognize  your  merits  ;  we  all  know  why 
our  appeal  for  homage  to  be  given  to  you  has  been  so  widely  answered. 
The  first  memoir  you  read  to  the  Academy  was  in  1823.  Since  that 
time  you  have  unceasingly  continued  to  enlarge  the  field  of  science  by 
your  personal  researches,  and  to  teach,  by  speech  or  the  pen,  your  rivals 
first,  then  the  generations  which  grew  up  at  your  side.  These  labors, 
this  teaching,  then,  have  continued  for  nearly  sixty  years.  And,  to 
crown  your  work,  you  have  collected  into  a  single  book  the  immense 
treasures  of  knowledge  amassed  by  this  long  and  noble  labor.  Your 
'Lessons'  present  a  complete  picture  of  the  past  and  present  of  the 
anatomical  and  physiological  sciences,  with  their  infinite  details  me- 
bracing  and  co-ordinating  general  ideas,  always  as  j)recise  as  elevated. 
The  book  marks  a  real  epoch  in  the  history  of  these  sciences.  It  is 
from  this  time  for  us,  it  will  be  for  our  posterity,  what  the  writings  of 
Haller  were  for  his  contemporaries  and  for  posterity.  This  is  what 
even  mere  strangers  to  your  habitual  studies  comprehend  ;  and  this  is 
why  we  are  authorized  to  present  this  medal  to  you  in  the  name  of  the 
whole  world." 

M.  Dumas  said:  "The  Academy  beholds  in  you  the  guardian  of 
the  noble  traditions  of  the  learned  and  the  most  authorized  represent- 
ative of  French  science.  With  passion  for  the  truth,  the  boldness  of 
a  strong  mind,  and  the  prudence  of  a  wise  one,  you  have  drawn  a  com- 
plete picture  of  life  in  all  its  aspects,  as  a  consummate  anatomist,  as  a 
sharp-sighted  physiologist,  as  a  physician,  and  as  a  skilled  chemist. 
With  you,  physiology,  in  its  highest  and  widest  acceptation,  has  en- 
tered permanently  into  the  study  of  the  classification  of  beings.  You 
have  had  the  rare  happiness,  my  dear  friend,  to  begin  young,  to  pur- 
sue in  your  maturity,  and  to  terminate  in  the  fullness  of  your  vigor,  a 
work  which  will  remain  a  monument." 

The  list  of  his  works,  said  M.  Gaston  Tissandier,  in  his  notice  of 
them  in  "La  Nature,"  in  May,  1881,  "has  not  closed,  for  the  eminent 
naturalist,  in  spite  of  his  years,  preserves  all  the  ardor  and  activity  of 
youth  ;  without  allowing  himself  rest,  he  consecrates  all  his  efforts  to 
scientific  progress,  offering  one  of  the  finest  examples  it  is  possible  to 
cite  of  a  magnificent  career  incessantly  fertilized  by  labor  and  genius." 

His  son,  M.  A.  Milne-Edwards,  is  pursuing  the  same  course  of  re- 
search with  the  father,  and  displays  in  it  the  same  characteristic  activ- 
ity and  thoroughness. 


53° 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


THE  BICYCLE  CONTROVERSY  IN  STOCK- 
BRIDGE. 
Messrs.  Editors : 

ALTHOUGH  the  writer  belongs  to  those 
inhabitants  of  the  village  of  Stock- 
bridge  who  are  editorially  stigmatized  in 
the  December  number  of  your  magazine  as 
destitute  of  "  moral  backbone,"  as  "  openly 
immoral,"  and  "barbarians,"  yet  cowards 
and  criminals  have  their  rights  at  the  bar  of 
editorial  as  of  other  justice,  and  he  asks  you 
to  permit  him  to  file  a  plea  to  your  indict- 
ment— in  other  words,  to  publish  this  an- 
swer to  your  strictures. 

Sound  criticism,  quite  as  much  as  sound 
philosophy,  you  will  agree,  depends  on  a 
correct  and  complete  statement  of  the  facts. 
The  following  version  of  the  bicycle  con- 
troversy can  be  maintained  by  many  wit- 
nesses. The  writer  asserts  it  to  be  in  every 
material  part  substantially  true. 

The  professor,  whom  you  justly  call  dis- 
tinguished, fresh  from  a  victory  in  the  Cen- 
tral Park  of  this  city  over  the  ladies,  in- 
valids, and  children  who  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  be  pushed  about  the  skating-rink 
on  the  sliding-chairs,  which  doubtless  in- 
terfered with  his  essays  in  skating,  and 
perhaps  on  abstruser  matters,  came  to  his 
country  retreat  in  Stockbridge  naturally 
confident  of  equal  success  in  clearing  out 
all  bicycles  from  his  path.  He  was  accus- 
tomed to  walk  with  his  eyes  downcast,  me- 
dians nescio  quid  nugarum  pliilosophicamm 
totus  in  Wis,  and  the  necessity  of  keep- 
ing wide  awake  with  his  bodily  eyes  was 
annoying.  There  was  no  Park  Commis- 
sioner and  no  "  Century  "  or  other  social 
club  where  officials  can  be  button-holed,  and 
petitions  granted  inter  pocuta ;  but  there 
were  three  selectmen,  chosen  to  guard  the 
interests  of  the  town  in  the  old  fashioned 
New  England  way.  He  drew  a  petition, 
procured  eighteen  signatures,  and  presented 
it  to  them.  Taking  it  as  a  fair  indication 
of  the  sentiment  of  the  town,  the  selectmen 
were  on  the  point  of  granting  it,  when  the 
application  chanced  to  become  known  to 
one  or  two  inhabitants  who  took  a  different 
view.  A  remonstrance  was  drawn,  based 
on  the  facts  that  accidents  more  commonly 
occurred  from  bicycles  frightening  horses 
in  the  roadway  than  from  permitting  them 
on  sidewalks;  on  the  hardship  of  practi- 
cally depriving  children  of  all  use  of  the 
bicycles  ;  on  the  impolicy  and  injustice  of 
subjecting  summer  fugitives  from  the  cities 
to  the  same  kind  of  restrictions  they  had 
fled  from  ;    and  denying  the  existence  or 


seriousness  of  the  so-called  accidents  alleged 
in  the  petition.  This  remonstrance  was 
signed  by  thirty-six  persons.  The  signers 
were  generally  heads  of  families,  and  up  to 
the  moment  of  this  act  of  turpitude  were 
(with  the  exception  of  the  present  writer) 
persons  of  recognized  standing  and  charac- 
ter. In  consequence  of  this  remonstrance, 
the  selectmen  decided  to  ignore  the  petition. 
The  shrewd  professor,  then  perceiving  that 
though,  by  dint  of  that  persistent  persua- 
siveness in  which  he  is  unexcelled,  he  might 
collect  signatures,  yet  that  all  the  names 
remaining  in  the  town  could  not  outweigh 
the  remonstrance,  called  on  the  person  who 
prepared  that  paper  and  urged  his  assent  to 
a  second  petition,  which  had  already  been 
signed  by  a  considerable  number  of  visitors 
and  residents.  This  was  a  remarkable  docu- 
ment. It  began  by  renewing  the  prayer  of 
the  original  petition ;  but  the  various  sign- 
ers had  been  permitted  to  incorporate  in  it 
their  different  views  and  prejudices,  which 
gave  it  so  motley  an  aspect  that  it  was  hard 
to  determine  what  was  the  net  application. 
It  asked  in  one  place  that  all  bicycles  be 
excluded  from  the  sidewalks ;  in  another, 
that  they  be  so  excluded  excepting  chil- 
dren's ;  in  another,  that  bicycles  exceeding 
thirty-six  inches  in  diameter  be  so  excluded  ; 
in  another,  that  bells  be  required  to  be  at- 
tached to  all  bicycles ;  and,  in  another,  that 
no  bicycle  be  allowed  to  go  anywhere  in  the 
village  faster  than  five  miles  an  hour.  The 
person  of  whom  the  request  was  made, 
though  reiterating  his  opinion  that  the  real 
and  only  serious  danger  of  accidents  in  the 
village  was  from  the  frightening  of  horses 
in  the  road,  yet  being  fond  of  peace,  some- 
thing of  a  "  moral  coward,"  and  willing  to 
see  how  a  compromise  would  work,  yielded 
to  the  professor's  strenuous  demand,  and 
reluctantly  signed  a  memorandum  to  the 
effect  that  he  considered  that  the  chief  ob- 
jection to  an  order  excluding  bicycles  from 
the  sidewalks  would  be  removed  by  per- 
mitting children  to  ride  them  there.  The 
multiform  document,  thus  re-enforced,  was 
thereupon  taken  to  the  other  signers  of  the 
remonstrance,  who,  seeing  the  memorandum 
of  their  representative,  signed  also. 

The  wheels  of  the  opposition  being  thus 
scotched,  other  signatures  were  then  ob- 
tained, to  the  number  no  doubt  correctly 
stated  by  your  informant  as  a  hundred  and 
sixty-eight.  Meantime,  a  moment's  cool  re- 
flection out  of  the  range  of  the  professor's 
battery  having  convinced  the  first  compro- 
miser that  he  had  made  a  mistake,  he  sent 


CORRESP  ONDENCE. 


55i 


a  note  to  the  professor,  requesting  that  his 
name  might  be  removed.  When  the  note 
was  received  at  the  professor's  house,  he 
was  out,  busily  engaged  in  getting  signa- 
tures. The  next  day  he  called  on  the  re- 
pentant signer  and  informed  him  that,  be- 
fore the  note  was  received,  the  document 
had  been  already  presented  to  the  select- 
men. 

These  selectmen,  though  I  maintain  just 
and  well  selected,  were  puzzled.  After  dis- 
cussing in  open  session  the  question  whether 
a  thirty-eight-inch  bicycle  ridden  by  a  small 
boy  should  be  compelled  to  take  to  the  road, 
while  big  boys  on  thirty-six-inch  bicycles 
were  allowed  to  patrol  the  sidewalks,  and 
the  difficulties  of  enforcing  regulations  de- 
pending on  the  exact  size  of  the  bicycle, 
they  decided,  as  the  wisest  practical  course, 
to  exclude  all  bicycles,  in  accordance  with 
the  original,  principal,  and  most  definite 
purpose  of  the  petition.  This  decision,  we 
believe,  was  a  perfectly  honest  one.  There 
was,  at  any  rate,  enough  to  justify  it  as 
such,  and  the  burden  is  on  those  who  charge 
dishonesty  to  prove  it.  It  is  true,  as  al- 
leged, that  this  order  necessarily  "  caused 
irritation."  Why  ?  Because  it  was  unjust, 
or  appeared  so  to  the  village.  Yet  this  in- 
discriminate exclusion  was  the  real  object 
at  which  the  professor  aimed,  and  which  he 
partly  gave  up  only  in  order  to  make  sure 
of  as  much  restriction  as  he  could  get. 

But  the  order  was  not  generally  satis- 
factory, and  a  counter-petition  (which  your 
informant  seems  to  have  forgotten)  was 
drawn  up  and  at  once  signed  by  about  two 
hundred  of  those  who  favored  the  cause  of 
the  bicycles.  The  list  included  a  great  ma- 
jority of  the  substantial  names  of  the  vil- 
lage, and  was  handed  in  long  before  any- 
thing like  a  complete  canvass  could  be  made, 
because  the  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Se- 
lectmen was  to  leave  town  the  next  morn- 
ing for  a  considerable  absence,  and  imme- 
diate action  was  necessary.  The  selectmen 
held  another  session.  Horses  were  fright- 
ened daily  under  the  eyes  of  all  by  bicycles 
oa  the  road.  No  accidents  known  to  the 
community  at  large  had  resulted  from  the  bi- 
cycles on  the  sidewalks.  The  decision  of 
the  magistrates  was  a  responsible  one  in  a 
pecuniary  sense,  as  they  might  entail  on  the 
town  heavy  damages  as  the  result  of  forcing 
the  bicycles  into  the  road,  to  the  distress 
and  dismay  of  the  riding  and  driving  public, 
Still,  prompted  by  the  desire  which  they 
throughout  showed  to  act  cautiously  and  fair- 
ly on  a  controverted  point  with  which  they 
professed  no  personal  acquaintance,  they 
made,  in  accordance  with  the  general  senti- 
ment, a  modified  and,  as  the  event  seemed 
to  prove,  a  judicious  order.  They  excluded 
the  bicycles  within  certain  designated  limits 
from  the  central  and  business  part  of  the 
village,  where  alone  they  thought  accidents 


likely  to  occur,  but  permitted  them  elsewhere 
on  the  sidewalk.  From  extreme  caution 
they  proceeded  tentatively,  however.  The 
order  was  made  about  the  middle  of  August, 
to  remain  in  force  till  the  1st  of  September. 
This  was  for  the  purpose  of  testing  its  prac- 
tical operation  before  establishing  a  rule  at 
the  expiration  of  the  time  limited.  No  ac- 
cident happened.  Nothing  happened  which 
the  lenses  of  the  learned  professor  could 
magnify  into  an  "  accident " ;  and  on  the 
1st  of  September  the  order  was  indefinitely 
continued,  with  the  like  beneficent  result. 

Now,  the  selectmen  are  charged  with 
"playing  into  the  hands  of  an  active  party 
in  favor  of  the  boys."  We  will  not  stop  to 
inquire  who  was  this  active  part}7  which 
overawed  the  selectmen  and  commanded  a 
majority  of  the  votes.  But  is  not  it  hard 
on  the  selectmen,  who  did  what  they  con- 
ceived their  duty  in  the  manner  described 
above,  to  charge  them  with  knavery,  with- 
out, so  far  as  appears,  other  grounds  than 
that  the  order  they  finally  made,  in  view  of 
all  the  facts,  was  unsatisfactory  to  the  pro- 
fessor? This  is  not  Spencerian  doctrine. 
If  it  is  what  the  editor  of  this  magazine 
calls  a  "  vigorous  canon  of  scientific  meth- 
od," it  is  rather  too  vigorous. 

In  the  article  in  the  "  Springfield  Repub- 
lican," the  accusations  (according  to  the 
writer's  recollection)  are  more  bitter,  and 
one  of  the  magistrates  is  attacked  by  name. 
We  shall  come  presently  to  the  charge  of 
Stockbridge  special  amenableness  to  Mr. 
Spencer's  indictment  against  the  American 
people.  But  here  we  may  inquire  whether 
there  is  no  other  fault  found  by  him  with 
our  people,  to  which  those  are  amenable 
who  publish  accusations  against  official  per- 
sons for  which  there  is  no  scintilla  of  proof. 
Mr.  Spencer's  ethics  prohibit  slander  and 
personalities. 

Now  let  us  glance  at  the  more  general 
facts : 

It  will  be  admitted  that  bicyclists,  like 
other  domestic  animals,  have  some  rights 
which,  once  defined,  are  as  much  entitled  to 
protection  as  the  wider  liberty  allowed  pe- 
destrians. The  question  to  decide  is,  at 
what  point  the  exercise  of  these  rights  be- 
gins to  turn  into  a  trespass.  It  will  hardly 
be  denied  that  in  the  open  country  bicyclists 
may  leave  the  rough  road  for  the  more 
traversable  path  which  runs  by  it,  and  when 
the  road  and  the  path  lead  into  a  small, 
straggling  village,  where  pedestrians  are 
rare,  the  practice  is  still  clearly  permissible. 
When  the  road  and  path  lead  into  a  larger 
village,  the  road  becomes  paved  or  macad- 
amized, and  the  path  becomes  a  sidewalk, 
the  question  changes  its  aspect.  In  villages 
like  Stockbridge,  where  there  is  plenty  of 
space,  and  the  broad,  graveled  sidewalks  are 
never  crowded,  it  is  not  a  simple  one.  A 
good  bicyclist  can  guide  his  machine  almost 


552 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


around  a  blade  of  grass,  and  the  great  pre- 
ponderance of  accidents  have  resulted  from 
bicycles  encountering  horses  in  the  road. 
In  large  towns  with  thronged  sidewalks,  it 
is  obvious  that,  whether  bicycles  are  to  be 
allowed  in  the  road  or  not,  they  are  in  the 
way  on  the  sidewalk,  and  ought  not  to  be 
permitted  there.  A  rule  adapted  to  the 
compact  English  villages  is  not  necessarily 
the  best  guide  for  ours.  But  it  is  not  true 
that  bicycles  are  not  permitted  on  their 
sidewalks  by  any  such  general  rule  as  the 
professor  states.  There,  as  here,  the  rule 
depends  on  the  size  of  the  village,  and  on 
the  question  whether  such  permission  would 
or  not  be  practically  inconvenient.  When 
the  controversy  in  Stockbridge  was  going 
on,  and  rival  posters  were  daily  going  up, 
considerable  evidence  was  collected  to  this 
effect.  In  some  villages,  as  in  "  Henley- 
on-Thames,"  the  postmen  travel  altogeth- 
er on  bicycles,  going  freely  on  the  side- 
walks. In  Massachusetts  towns  of  about 
the  size  of  Stockbridge,  such  as  the  neigh- 
boring villages  of  Lee  and  Barrington 
(which,  by-thc-way,  are  considerably  larger 
than  Stockbridge),  and  where  there  are  no 
college  professors,  or,  if  there  are,  they  re- 
serve their  perambulatory  meditations  for 
their  return  to  their  Poccile,  bicycles  are  gen- 
erally permitted  on  the  sidewalks.  In  much 
more  populous  towns,  like  Pittsfield  and 
Springfield,  they  arc  doubtless  excluded. 
Now,  who  is  to  decide  when  the  permission 
to  go  on  the  sidewalk  becomes  a  nuisance  ? 
Certainly,  in  this  country,  the  people  them- 
selves, through  their  authorities.  In  New 
England  these  are  the  selectmen.  New 
England  almost  if  not  quite  alone  retains 
the  system  of  town  self-government  which 
for  so  many  centuries  preserved  liberty  and 
fostered  civilization  in  Europe.  The  select- 
men of  a  Berkshire  village,  charged  with  the 
supervision  of  the  lives  and  property  of  the 
inhabitants,  certainly  have  better  means  of 
judging  and  a  stronger  motive  to  judge 
rightly  in  what  parts  and  places  bicycles 
should  be  permitted  within  their  jurisdic- 
tion, than  a  newspaper  in  Hampden  County, 
or  a  magazine  in  New  York  City,  acting  on 
the  ex  parte  statements  of  even  a  distin- 
guished individual,  who,  having  undertaken 
to  have  the  question  settled  to  suit  himself, 
is  indignant  because  the  selectmen,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  expressed  wish  of  a  ma- 
jority of  those  interested,  have  decided 
differently. 

The  writer  is  one  of  the  professor's 
many  admirers,  and  would  be  the  last  to  im- 
pugn his  good  faith ;  but,  once  enlisted  in 
a  campaign,  whether  in  behalf  of  science, 
charity,  or  some  idiosyncrasy,  he  goes  on 
with  a  persistency  which  is  always  indomi- 
table and  sometimes  headlong;  and  he  is 
apt  to  assume  that  his  cause  has  but  one 
side,  which,  in  cases  coming  under  the  third 


of  the  above  categories,  at  least,  is  not  in- 
variably true.  In  this  instance,  he  threw 
aside  the  sketch-book  with  which  it  had 
been  his  wont  to  exercise  his  charming  ar- 
tistic talent  during  his  vacation,  and  de- 
voted his  time  to  scouring  and  ransacking 
the  by-ways  and  corners  of  the  village  for 
rumors  and  reports  of  accidents  from  bi- 
cycles, the  existence  of  which,  before  they 
were  seen  or  heard  of  by  any  one  else,  he 
was  as  satisfied  of  as  Leverrier  was  of  the  ex- 
istence of  the  planet  Neptune  before  he  saw 
it.  He  posted  up  from  day  to  day  notices 
of  incidents  more  or  less  founded  on  fact, 
which  he  apotheosized  into  catastrophes. 
He  went  back  over  a  period  of  four  years, 
to  the  first  introduction  of  the  bicycle  into 
the  neighborhood,  and  the  only  genuine 
"  accident "  worth  mentioning,  it  is  believed, 
if  his  collection  were  dispassionately  inter- 
preted, was  the  result  of  the  fall,  on  a  baby- 
carriage,  of  a  bicycle  unskillfully  mount- 
ed by  a  learner  at  this  early  day.  People 
saw  with  wonder  lists  of  tragedies  posted  in 
front  of  the  post-office  which  no  one  had 
heard  of,  and  which  were  the  more  mysteri- 
ous as  they  were  generally  without  date, 
and  the  sufferers  were  commonly  designated 
as  Mr.,  Mrs.,  or  Miss  Blank,  or  the  infant 
child  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Blank.  Why  had  no 
one  heard  of  these  terrible  things?  Why 
were  not  half  of  us  in  mourning  or  in  tears  ? 
What  right  had  we  to  walk  erect  on  un- 
broken legs  while  so  many  were  mangled  ? 
It  seemed  as  if  a  wholesale  slaughter  had 
been  going  on  in  the  midst  of  us  without 
our  knowledge.  Fortunately,  a  little  inquiry 
into  the  facts  soon  dissipated  our  apprehen- 
sions. 

Let  me  illustrate:  the  writer,  while  look- 
ing at  the  list  of  casualties  with  feelings 
fortunately  for  him  not  quite  akin  to  those 
with  which  we  used  to  devour  the  returns 
from  the  Chickahominy,  read  somewhat 
as  follows  (the  number  and  the  precise 
words  are  not  remembered,  but  the  sub- 
stance of  the  bulletins  is  correctly  given) : 
"No.  16.  The  infant  child  of  Mrs.  Blank 
run  over  and  badly  injured  by  a  bicycle. 
For  particulars  refer  to  J.  0.  R.,  Esq." 
Looking  further  the  writer  read  as  follows  : 
"No.  21,  J.  0.  R.,  Esq.,  run  into  and  hurt 
by  a  bicycle."  (J.  0.  R.  was  the  same  per- 
son referred  to  in  No.  16.)  It  so  happened 
that  the  writer  observed  at  the  moment  in 
the  post-office  J.  0.  R.,  Esq.,  himself,  and 
improved  this  opportunity  by  inquiring  of 
him  the  particulars  of  the  two  calamities, 
calling  his  attention  to  the  alarming  record 
before  us.  "  Well,"  said  he  at  last,  "  that 
isn't  exactly  right.  I  didn't  see  anything 
happen  to  any  child,  and  I  haven't  been  run 
into  myself,  but  I  understood  that  old  Mr. 
J.  G.  had  been  run  into  and  hurt."  Soon 
after  this  conversation,  the  writer  chanced 
to  meet  the  wife  of  the  old  gentleman  in 


EDITOR'S   TABLE. 


553 


question,  and  said  to  her  he  was  very  sorry 
to  hear  that  her  husband  had  been  run  into 
by  a  bicycle,  and  hoped  it  was  nothing  seri- 
ous. "  Why,  no,"  said  she,  "he  was  not 
actually  run  into,  but  you  know  he  is  quite 
infirm,  and  a  bicycle  came  very  near  him 
and  he  was  a  good  deal  alarmed  lest  it 
might  hit  him."  This  was  the  residuum 
from  the  analysis  of  the  two  accidents.  A 
list  of  burlesque  "  escapes  "  was  posted  from 
day  to  day  by  the  side  of  that  of  the  so- 
called  "  accidents"  and  about  equal  credence 
was  given  to  each.  Both  were  worthy  of 
"  Patience,"  or  the  "  Belle  ffilene."  To  the 
annoyance  of  both  parties,  the  selectmen  at 
last  impartially  took  down  both  sets  of  no- 
tices, not  because  of  any  improper  motives 
as  charged,  but  because  of  the  crowd  which 
gathered  daily  in  front  of  the  post-office  so 
thickly  as  to  become  a  nuisance.  The  pro- 
fessor was  laughed  out  of  court;  and  we 
villagers,  while  all  conceding  his  excellence 
and  genius,  think  him  daft  on  the  bicycle 
question.  The  real  bullying  was  all  done 
by  him,  though  unconsciously ;  and  the  real 
"  cowards  "  were  those  who,  like  the  writer, 
under  the  glare  of  those  wonderful  eyes,  had 
not  dared  to  refuse  to  sign  his  pieced  and 
patched  compromise  petition. 

In  sooth,  this  particular  charge  of  moral 
cowardice  in  the  Stockbridge  people  is  un- 
founded and  ridiculous.  Not  only  were 
there  no  accidents  deserving  the  name,  but 
none  were  likely  to  occur  on  the  sidewalk, 
which  might  not  be  avoided  by  that  reason- 
able circumspection  which  the  law  expects 
from  every  one,  and  the  want  of  which 
would  precipitate  a  misfortune  from  a  post 
or  a  wheelbarrow  equally  with  a  bicycle. 
The  names  attached  to  the  bicycle-petition 
were  signed  because  of  the  deliberate  con- 
viction that  the  danger  from  frightened 
horses  was  greater  than  from  bicycles  on 
the  sidewalks.  .Horses  in  the  country  do 
not  all  get  accustomed  to  these  Centaur-like 
appearances,  as  those  in  the  city  do  to  cor- 
responding monsters,  such  as  the  elevated 
trains,  because  different  horses  come  into 
the  village  daily  from  the  surrounding  re- 
gion. These  animals  standing  on  their  hind 
legs,  or  rushing  and  shying,  were  frequent 
occurrences,  whereas  an  unskilled  bicycle- 
rider  on  the  sidewalk  can  be  avoided,  and  a 
skilled  one  can  always  avoid  the  pedestrian. 


It  is  now,  we  hope,  made  apparent  that 
Stockbridge  barbarism  has  been  premature- 
ly assumed  on  ex  parte  testimony.  Until  a 
law  should  be  passed  to  the  contrary,  the 
wide  sidewalks  away  from  the  crowded  part 
of  the  town  were  rightfully  free  to  baby- 
carriages,  children's  wagons,  wheelbarrows, 
and  bicycles,  and  in  the  present  state  of  the 
population  there  seem  to  have  been  good 
reasons  why  there  should  be  no  such  law. 
At  least,  enough  has  been  said  to  show  that 
"the  community"  does  not  "acknowledge 
the  outrage,"  and  that  the  reason  why  the 
gentleman  in  question  was  "  not  supported 
but  was  condemned  for  his  action"  was, 
that  it  was  reasonably  regarded  as  an  un- 
wise and  unnecessary  attempt  to  curtail 
those  rural  privileges  which  citizens  com- 
morant  in  the  country  as  well  as  the  villa- 
gers themselves  regard  as  a  great  charm  of 
their  summer. 

Inaccurate  "data"  and  the  proposal  of 
unnecessary  legislation  come  strangely  from 
the  disciples  of  Herbert  Spencer.  Strange, 
too,  would  it  be  if  they  were  nearer  the 
"  barbarism "  of  their  master's  code  than 
the  orderly  lovers  of  freedom  whom  they 
denounce.  "Infinite  presumption  is  dis- 
cernible in  this  attempt  at  regulating  the 
doings  of  men  by  law.  .  .  .  The  desire 
to  command  is  essentially  a  barbarous  de- 
sire" (Spencer's  "Social  Statics,"  pp.  321, 
80).    . 

The  length  of  this  communication  may 
seem  monstrous.  But  the  writer  has  been 
long-suffering.  As  a  lover  of  peace,  he  had 
allowed  the  printed  circular  distributed 
throughout  the  village,  which  contained  the 
same  one-sided  version  of  facts  on  which 
your  article  is  based,  as  well  as  the  imperti- 
nent and  libelous  attack  iu  the  "  Springfield 
Republican,"  to  go  unanswered.  For  the 
good  fame  of  Stockbridge,  at  which  the  pro- 
fessor, while  leaving  it  for  some  years,  it  is 
understood,  as  a  residence,  aims  through 
the  editor  of  "  The  Popular  Science  Month- 
ly "  this  Parthian  shot,  I  could  hardly  say 
less.  But,  unless  some  astonishing  twisting 
or  suppression  of  material  facts  compel  a 
further  statement,  I  shall  not  again  ask 
permission  to  trespass  on  your  interesting 
columns. 

Vermicclus  Obtritus. 
New  \~ork,  December  22,  18S2. 


EDITOR'S    TABLE. 


machine  education: 

TTTE  hear  much  of  the  bad  effects 

VV      of  machine  politics,   but   it  is 

questionable   if   the   evils   of  machine 

education  are  not  far  worse.     By  ma- 


chine education,  we  mean  the  rigid, 
mechanical,  law-established  routine  ap- 
plied to  great  multitudes  of  children  of 
all  conceivable  sorts  who  are  got  to- 
gether in  large  establishments  and  sub- 


554 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


mitted  to  operations  that  go  under  the 
name  of  mental  cultivation.  Machine 
education  is  of  the  very  lowest  sort, 
and  the  best  that  can  he  said  of  it  is, 
that  it  is  barely  better  than  nothing  at 
all.  The  worst  difficulty  is,  that  it  is 
not  capable  of  improvement.  The 
method  itself  is  radically  false,  so  that 
the  improvements  of  it  but  make  it 
worse.  At  the  same  time  it  borrows 
influence  from  its  enormous  extension 
and  the  authority  by  which  it  is  en- 
forced. The  education-factories  run  in 
series,  each  has  a  complex  grading,  and 
the  different  institutions  are  intimately 
belted  with  each  other,  and  all  driven 
by  the  motive  power  of  legislation.  As 
might  be  expected,  the  whole  system  is 
run  with  a  view  to  popular  effect,  which 
is  necessarily  fatal  to  the  best  results. 

If  the  reader  will  refresh  his  memory 
in  regard  to  the  first  principles  of  men- 
tal cultivation  by  reading  the  article, 
found  elsewhere  in  our  pages,  entitled 
"Brain-Power  in  Education,"  he  will 
get  a  clear  idea  of  what  must  be  the 
necessary  outcome  of  educational  me- 
chanics. In  the  work  of  the  school 
there  are  two  modes  of  dealing  with 
the  brain ;  it  can  be  stored  with  infor- 
mation, or  strengthened  in  its  functional 
operations.  True  education  consists  in 
the  development  of  brain-power  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  laws  of  its  activity, 
and  is  simply  and  always  a  discipline  in 
spontaneous  self-exertion.  In  the  at- 
tainment of  this  object  the  engineer  of 
the  educational  machine  has  very  little 
to  do.  The  office  of  the  teacher  is  im- 
portant, but  it  consists  in  encouraging, 
inciting,  and  arousing  the  pupil  to  put 
forth  his  own  efforts,  and  when  this  is 
most  effectually  done  the  result  is  not 
of  that  conspicuous  kind  that  is  suit- 
able to  make  a  showy  impression  at  a 
public  parade.  No  method  has  yet 
been  devised  for  exhibiting  such  results 
that  is  not  full  of  rank  injustice  and 
that  does  not  put  a  premium  upon  in- 
ferior work. 

But  it  is  wholly  different  when  the 


object  is  simply  to  store  the  brain.  This 
is  an  easy  process,  depending  upon 
external  appliances  and  mechanical  ar- 
rangements, and  is  capable  of  being  so 
organized  and  driven  that  a  shallow  and 
vicious  system  shall  win  the  highest 
public  applause.  As  the  article  re- 
ferred to  explains,  it  is  impossible  to  get 
indexes  of  the  hardest  brain-work  that 
are  fitted  to  astonish  gaping  outsiders ; 
but,  when  it  is  a  question  of  merely 
stuffing  with  acquisitions,  nothing  is 
easier  than  to  invent  methods  by  which 
the  results  may  be  strikingly  displayed. 
Hence  the  marking  system  which  pro- 
fesses to  indicate  degrees  of  proficiency 
and  educational  results,  and  which  gives 
so  much  business  to  teachers,  examin- 
ers, inspectors,  and  superintendents,  and 
enables  them  to  report  to  boards  of 
control,  to  parents,  and  to  the  public 
the  wonderful  success  of  the  institution. 
This  is  machine  education  in  its  per- 
fection, and  the  worst  of  it  is,  that  it 
excludes  the  possibility  of  rational  edu- 
cation. The  two  things  are  incom- 
patible, for  that  which  can  be  shown 
with  effect  is  sure  to  take  precedence 
of  that  wldch  can  not  be  exhibited,  and 
brain-storing  will  proceed  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  self-activity  by  which  men- 
tal power  is  alone  acquired.  The  sub- 
jects, moreover,  that  are  most  favorable 
to  storing  will  take  the  lead  and  come 
to  be  fundamental  in  machine  educa- 
tion. The  whole  mechanism  of  the 
public-school  system  is  now  impelled 
by  law  in  this  bad  direction.  The 
higher  schools  react  upon  the  lower,  to 
stimulate  the  method.  Competition  for 
promotion  fires  the  vanity  of  the  pu- 
pils, and  parental  influence  conspires  to 
heighten  the  result. 

A  new  confirmation  of  this  bad  state 
of  things  has  been  recently  elicited  by  the 
New  York  "Mail  and  Express,"  which 
has  started  a  little  inquest  of  its  own 
into  the  working  of  the  public  schools. 
A  reporter  was  sent  to  question  the 
different  teachers  and  officials  on  va- 
rious points,  and  the  information  he 


EDITOR'S   TABLE. 


555 


obtained  is  useful  as  illustrating  tlie 
vigorous  action  of  our  educational  ma- 
chinery upon  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  thousand  pupils.  The  Superintend- 
ent of  the  Schools  of  New  York  said  to 
the  reporter: 

"My   assistants    are    instructed   to 
visit  the  schools,  and  in  their  examina- 
tions to   find   out   what  the    children 
know  and  how  well  they  know  it.   They 
examine  in  nothing  but  the  branches  pre- 
scribed by  law  to  be  taught,  and  in  each 
grade  only  in  the  work  allotted  by  law 
to  that  grade."     Again  he  says:  "  In 
my  last  annual  report  you  will  find  that, 
out  of  twenty-six  hundred  and  ninety 
classes  examined,  eighteen  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  were  marked  'Excellent,' 
and  eight  hundred  and  nineteen  '  Good,' 
and  only  forty-four  as  'Not  commend- 
able.' "     This  is  of  course  the  kind  of 
result  that   officials   are  interested   in 
making,  as  it  naturally  brings   public 
commendation,  more   ample   appropri- 
ations, and  larger  salaries.    By  the  very 
nature  of  the  case,  therefore,  they  will 
be  disposed  to  favor  all  those  injurious 
agencies  whicb  co-operate  to  heighten 
the  effect.     To  illustrate  how  despotic- 
ally this  bad  system  works,  and  how 
completely  all  who  act  under  it  are  but 
parts  of  it,  listen  again  to  the  New  York 
Superintendent :  "  It  is  my  business  to 
stand  between  teacher  and  examiner, 
principal  and  teacher,  teacher  and  schol- 
ar, parent  and  teacher,  and  protect  all 
in  their  rights.     But  as  to  permitting 
teachers  or  principals  to  dictate  what 
questions  shall  be  asked  or  how  they 
shall  be  asked,  and  what  marks  shall 
be  given — that  would  be  equivalent  to 
resigning  my  office  and  handing  over 
the  direction  of  the  schools  to  them, 
something  which  I  do  not  propose  to 
do."     Thus  in  machine  education  the 
dictation    is    of   course   official — those 
who  are  in  closest  relation  with  indi- 
vidual requirements  being  allowed  no 
discretion. 

President  Hunter,  of  the  Normal  Col- 
lege, applauds  the  subjects  and  courses 


of  study  which  lend  themselves  to  the 
smooth  wrorking  of  the  machinery  by 
numerical  percentage  scales  of  profi- 
ciency, on  which  pupils  are  promoted 
from  grade  to  grade,  and  from  lower 
to  higher  institutions ;  but  he  does  not 
deny  that  the  marking  system  has  some 
faults ;  he  says :  "  That  some  of  the  pu- 
pils of  the  higher  grammar-grades  are 
overworked  in  preparing  for  the  col- 
lege, is  undeniable ;  but  the  fault  lies 
not  in  the  course  of  study  which  the 
board  has  prescribed,  nor  in  the  meth- 
ods pursued  in  working  out  that  course, 
but  in  the  ambition  of  parents  to  have 
their  children  rapidly  advanced,  and  in 
the  desire  of  the  pupils  themselves  to 
obtain  high  marks." 

But  where,  by  the  working  of  the 
great  machine  itself,  the  pupils  are  set 
to  racing  for  the  Normal  College,  and 
to  racing  for  the  College  of  the  City  ot 
New  York,  what  else  can  be  expected  ? 
The  honors  are  but  a  premium  for  over- 
driving in  the  direction  of  such  acqui- 
sitions as  make  the  best  show  in  ex- 
amination, and  win  the  highest  per- 
centage of  marks. 

President  Hunter  al-=o  naively  ob- 
serves: "Many  of  the  evils  complained 
of  in  the  present  system  would  be  rem- 
edied by  allowing  each  teacher  half  an 
hour  a  day  to  show  the  pupils  how  to 
study."  Verily,  verily,  the  machine 
must  be  in  perfection  where  this  is  im- 
possible. 

Mr.  Commissioner  Crawford  admits 
that  the  New  York  schools  were  once 
quite  imperfect,  but  that  "now  there 
are,  generally  speaking,  no  poor  schools. 
There  is  a  general  uniformity  of  excel- 
lence. There  is  a  greater  unity,  greater 
harmony,  a  higher  level  in  teaching 
power.  Then  supervision  was  not  so 
minute  as  at  present.  Now  we  have, 
perhaps,  too  much  supervision,  but  the 
committee  have  endeavored  in  this  re- 
port, and  the  superintendent  is  all  the 
while  trying,  to  ease  up  the  machine." 
The  ideal  of  education  here  implied, 
that  of  unity,  uniformity,  and  harmony 


556 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


in  the  external  working  of  the  system, 
shows  how  completely  the  State  ma- 
chine has  superseded  the  older  method 
by  which  the  teachers  had  some  liberty 
to  adapt  themselves  to  the  fundamental 
though  ever-varying  requirements  of 
individual  pupils.  It  is  the  character- 
istic of  machine  education  that  in  its 
working  the  individual  disappears. 

No  doubt   we   are  talking  treason 
against    the    State,    and     blasphemy 
against   a  popular    idol;    nevertheless, 
there  are  many  who  hold  that  in  edu- 
cation, as  in   politics,  the  sooner  the 
machine  is  "smashed"  the  better.     If 
practice  in  chess  and  whist  would  give 
a  better  education  than  the  machine,  it 
is  time  to  protest.     Our  most  thought- 
ful educators  are  revolting  against  the 
predominant    method,    which,    having 
been  adopted  by  the  State  as  best  suit- 
ed for  official  management,  is  extend- 
ing throughout  the  nation.    But  many, 
as   we  said,  are  striking  out,  and  de- 
manding a  good  deal  more  liberty  in 
school    management.      They   condemn 
the  pernicious  mechanics  of  the  schools 
just   in    proportion   to    its   perfection. 
Colonel  Parker,  for  example,  is  one  of 
those  who  demand  more  freedom  in  the 
play  of  educational  agencies,  and  more 
attention  to  the  kind  of  work  that  is 
least  available  for  display.     lie  is  re- 
cently represented  as  saying  that  "  uni- 
formity in  schools  is  death  "  ;  he  does 
not  believe  in  "  per  cents,"  he  would  not 
have  them  in  schools  under  any  circum- 
stances :  "  Here  is  a  child  who  is  not  so 
quick  mentally  as  another ;  he  studies 
as  hard  and  labors  as  faithfully  as  the 
others,  but,  not  being  able  to  advance 
so  rapidly,  he  is  marked  fifty  per  cent, 
while    others    walk  off  waving    their 
ninety-five  per  cent  in  triumph.     It  is 
discouraging   to    the    moderately  dull 
child,  and  wrong.     If  a  child  is  exam- 
ined and  asked  the  name  of  a  river, 
and  can  not  answer,  off  goes  five  per 
cent." 

The  difficulty  of  machine  education 
is,  that  under  it  pupils  are  not  taught 


to  think  for  themselves.  It  can  not  edu- 
cate the  judgment,  or  prepare  the  mind 
to  meet  emergencies  through  the  prac- 
tice of  self-reliance.  As  remarked  by  a 
teacher,  "The  public-school  scholars 
are  excellent  in  the  line  of  their  drill, 
but,  take  them  one  inch  outside  of  it, 
and  they  are  lost." 


BICYCLES  AND  CIVILIZATION. 

We  give  space  to  a  long  communi- 
cation on  the  bicycle  controversy  at 
Stockbridge,  replying  to  our  article 
upon  the  subject  two  months  ago.  The 
writer  makes  many  explanations,  and 
indulges  freely  in  sarcastic  personali- 
ties ;  but  the  reader  who  cares  to  com- 
pare his  letter  with  what  we  said  will 
probably  observe  that  the  facts  of  the 
case  remain  substantially  as  we  stated 
them,  while  everybody  can  judge  as 
to  the  correctness  of  the  conclusions 
drawn  from  them.  To  the  local  par- 
ticulars of  the  Stockbridge  war  we  can 
give  no  more  attention,  but  will  say  a 
few  further  words  on  the  general  aspect 
of  the  subject. 

We  assumed  in  our  former  article 
that  large  bicycles  run  upon  the  side- 
walks are  objectionable.  The  sidewalks 
are  a  portion  of  the  highway  reserved 
for  pedestrians,  made  smooth  and  hard 
to  facilitate  walking,  and  protected  from 
exposure  to  accidents  by  street  vehicles. 
A  new  wheeled  vehicle  is  introduced 
of  a  peculiar  character,  but  which  be- 
longs, if  anywhere,  to  that  part  of  the 
street  which  is  usually  devoted  to  vehi- 
cles. Thus  far  these  new  vehicles  are 
only  in  a  very  small  degree  subservient 
to  any  use  or  necessity,  public  or  private, 
but  are  run  mainly  for  the  pleasure  of 
their  riders.  These  are  mostly  boys 
seeking  their  amusement,  and,  as  the 
machine  is  somewhat  expensive,  only  a 
comparatively  few  boys  are  able  to  pos- 
sess them.  Probably  there  were  not 
more  than  half  a  dozen  boys  with  large 
bicycles  in  Stockbridge.  They  take  to 
the    sidewalk    because    they  are    ob- 


EDITOR'S    TABLE. 


557 


jected  to  in  the  street,  and  because  the 
wheeling  is  nicer.  They  run  swiftly, 
and  when  under  high  motion  can  not 
be  quickly  stopped.  That  their  move- 
ments are  disagreeable  to  pedestrians 
is  inevitable.  They  are  sources  of  con- 
stant anxiety  and  apprehension  to  them. 
Accidents  have  occurred  with  them,  and 
they  are  continually  liable  to  occur.  The 
sidewalk  belongs  to  the  community,  and 
is  indispensable  to  the  daily  uses  and  ne- 
cessities of  all  classes  of  people.  Every- 
body has  the  right  to  walk  there  with- 
out molestation  or  the  apprehension  of 
molestation.  Nothing  should  be  per- 
mitted there  which  will  awaken  the 
dread  of  danger  and  compel  the  pedes- 
trian to  be  constantly  on  the  lookout 
to  protect  himself.  Our  correspondent 
says  that  they  can  be  easily  avoided,  but 
how  can  a  bicycle  coming  noiselessly 
from  behind  be  avoided?  They  have 
India-rubber  tires,  and  people  have  no 
eyes  in  the  backs  of  their  heads.  But  it 
is  by  no  means  a  question  what  people 
with  their  senses  about  them  can  do  if 
they  give  all  their  attention  to  personal 
security.  The  instinct  of  self-preser- 
vation does,  of  course,  save  the  mass  of 
people  from  being  run  down  by  bicyc- 
les when  exposed  to  them.  But  is  it 
right  to  introduce  an  extra  exposure  of 
this  kind  on  a  public  sidewalk  that  will 
keep  the  sense  of  personal  solicitude 
against  danger  constantly  uppermost 
in  consciousness  ?  Besides,  all  people 
are  not  vigilant  in  such  matters  ;  many 
are  heedless  and  stupid,  and  others  ab- 
stracted or  absent-minded.  Then,  again, 
there  are  the  children,  the  aged  and 
infirm,  the  invalids,  the  deaf,  the  crip- 
ples, the  blind,  and  the  half-blind,  and 
these  constitute  a  very  large  proportion 
of  those  who  use  the  sidewalks,  and 
have  a  right  to  use  them  without  an- 
noyance. To  all  these  people  the  large 
bicycles  ridden  by  sporting  boys  are  a 
constant  source  of  fear  and  dread,  a  pest 
of  the  pathway,  and  an  undoubted  nui- 
sance. 

We  are  here  speaking  of  the  rights 


of  pedestrians  on  a  common-sense 
view  of  the  case.  But  our  correspond- 
ent says,  "It  will  be  admitted  that 
bicyclists,  like  other  domestic  animals, 
have  some  rights,  which,  once  defined, 
are  as  much  entitled  to  protection  as 
the  wider  liberty  allowed  pedestrians." 
Admitted,  of  course,  the  only  question 
being  on  the  definition.  We  have  con- 
tended negatively  that  the  riders  of 
large  bicycles  have  no  right  upon  the 
sidewalks,  any  more  than  equestrians, 
but  this  is  not  a  denial  of  all  rights. 
What,  then,  do  the  bicyclists  themselves 
maintain  ?  They  assert  that  the  bi- 
cycle is  a  wheeled  carriage,  and  its 
rights  simply  the  common  rights  of 
carriages  upon  the  street.  The  repre- 
sentatives of  the  bicycle  associations  in 
New  York  claim  that  their  right  is  to 
the  use  of  the  highway,  and  they  ex- 
plicitly disclaim  any  right  to  the  use  of 
the  sidewalk. 

W.  R.  Pitman,  captain  of  the  Ixion 
Bicycle  Club,  on  being  asked  his  opin- 
ion as  to  the  propriety  of  bicycles  being 
ridden  on  the  sidewalks  of  small  vil- 
lages, said  emphatically  that  "  bicycles 
had  no  business  on  sidewalks  anywhere  ; 
that  the  sidewalks  were  meant  for  foot- 
passengers  and  not  for  carriages,  which 
the  bicyclers  claim  their  machines  to 
be." 

Dr.  N.  M.  Beckwith,  captain  of  the 
Citizens'  Bicycle  Club,  said  that  in  his 
opinion  bicyclers  had  no  right  to  side- 
walks at  all,  and  remarked  that  the  bi- 
cyclers wished  to  have  their  machines 
regarded  as  carriages,  and  claimed  all 
the  rights  and  privileges  given  to  car- 
riages, and  in  so  doing  they  certainly 
could  not  also  wish  to  be  looked  upon 
as  foot-passengers. 

Charles  A.  Reed,  captain  of  the  Co- 
lumbia College  Bicycle  Club,  said  that 
he  thought  bicycles  had  no  right  on 
sidewalks  or  foot-paths  except  when 
the  road  was  utterly  impassable  to 
them,  and  that  a  bicycle  could  certainly 
be  ridden  wherever  a  light  buggy  could 
be  driven. 


558 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


Extensive  dealers  have  expressed 
themselves  to  similar  effect.  The  Bi- 
cycle Union  of  Great  Britain,  in  its  rec- 
ommendations regarding  road  -  riding, 
said,  "  It  is  desirable  that  a  rider  should 
at  all  times  keep  to  the  left-hand  side 
of  the  road,  even  if  no  vehicle  be  in 
sight,  and  riding  on  the  footway  should 
never  be  resorted  to."  (Pope's  "Man- 
ual," p.  128.) 

The  circumstances  in  which  it  is  ad- 
missible for  bicycles  to  deviate  into 
the  foot-path  are  thus  stated  in  "  The 
American  Bicycle,"  p.  122:  "As  to 
riding  on  foot-paths  and  sidewalks,  it 
may  be  said  that  bicyclers,  like  travel- 
ers generally,  have  not  only  a  right  to 
travel  in  the  highway,  but  they  have 
a  right  to  a  passage  along  the  high- 
way, notwithstanding  obstructions;  and, 
if  the  middle  of  the  road  be  impass- 
able for  their .  carriage,  the  side  may 
be  taken  ;  and,  if  the  whole  roadway — 
including  foot-paths  —  be  impassable, 
they  even  have  a  right  to  turn  out  upon 
the  abutting  close,  and  pass  over  pri- 
vate land  around  the  obstruction,  pro- 
vided they  can  do  so  without  commit- 
ting irreparable  or  very  incommensurate 
damage.  So  that  if,  in  suburban  streets 
or  country  roads,  the  carriage-track  is 
in  so  bad  a  condition  as  to  be  difficult 
or  impossible  of  passage  by  a  bicycle, 
and  the  foot-path  can  be  taken  without 
imminent  risk  to  foot-passers  at  the 
time,  it  is  justifiable  for  the  bicycler  to 
take  it."  The  bicycle  authorities  are 
thus  in  full  agreement  with  common 
sense. 

And  now  about  the  impeachment 
of  "  the  good  name  of  Stockbridge." 
That  lovely  village,  through  its  consti- 
tuted authorities,  and  after  due  deliber- 
ation, decreed  that  such  a  nuisance  as 
bicycles  upon  the  sidewalks  shall  be  tol- 
erated. Is  it  not  fair  to  take  this  fact 
as  a  measure  of  its  moral  status,  and  its 
grade  in  the  scale  of  social  progress  ? 
We  were  taught  many  years  ago,  in 
"  Woodbridge's  Geography,"  that  com- 
munities of  men  are  ranked  as  savage, 


barbarous,  half-civilized,  civilized,  and 
enlightened.  Any  such  classification  is 
misleading  which  implies  a  stratifica- 
tion or  a  definite  gradation  of  socie- 
ties, so  that  one  shall  belong  altogether 
at  the  bottom,  and  another  at  the  top. 
The  thing  is  much  more  mixed.  There 
are  savage  streaks  running  through  civ- 
ilization, and  enlightenment  often  co- 
exists with  barbarism.  Society  does 
not  improve  in  all  things  alike.  Every 
advanced  community  retains  vestiges 
of  its  primitive  lower  condition.  We 
gave  Stockbridge  credit  for  a  large 
complement  of  virtues  and  excellences, 
but  Stockbridge  has  proved  herself  to 
be  no  exception  to  the  common  law 
which  gives  rise  to  social  anomalies. 
It  has  plenty  of  culture,  intelligence, 
refinement,  and  religion ;  but,  in  com- 
mon with  many  other  highly  cultivated 
communities,  it  betrays  elements  which 
are  characteristic  of  the  inferior  grades 
of  society.  The  ideal  virtue  of  any  com- 
munity, its  highest  attainment,  is  justice. 
There  is  knowledge  enough.  People 
know  well  enough  what  is  right,  but  in 
the  undeveloped  character  conscience 
does  not  rule  the  actions.  That  is  to 
he  a  matter  of  future  evolution ;  and, 
meantime,  we  are  concerned  with  the 
relative  attainments  of  different  socie- 
ties in  this  respect.  The  sense  of  jus- 
tice is  so  dull  in  Stockbridge  that  it  is 
measured  by  the  selfishness  of  a  small 
group  of  boys.  What  those  boys  want 
for  their  personal  gratification  must  be 
conceded,  no  matter  what  inconvenience 
to  others  stands  in  the  way.  What  the 
standard  of  justice  is  among  boys  is  pret- 
ty generally  understood.  The  moral 
sentiments  are  the  last  to  ripen  in  the 
growth  of  character,  and  the  immature 
man  has  about  him  a  good  deal  of  the 
barbarian.  Boys  are  thoughtless,  self- 
ish, uncompassionate,  and  often  cruel. 
They  delight  to  worry  the  cats,  to 
stone  the  dogs,  to  plague  their  sisters, 
and  fight  each  other.  College  practices 
and  outbreaks  often  indicate  the  imma- 
turity of  youthful  moral  sense.  The  boys 


EDITOR'S    TABLE. 


559 


taught  the  forms  of  civility,  and  that  it 
is  good  manners  to  defer  to  others,  hut 
unless  morally  precocious  they  are  not 
gentle  men.  That  they  should  be  indif- 
ferent at  annoying  and  distressing  peo- 
ple on  the  sidewalk  with  their  bicycles 
is  but  natural.  But  as  boys  they  are 
more  than  inconsiderate,  and,  if  they 
did  not  run  down  old  women,  would 
enjoy  scaring  them.  "We,  however,  find 
little  fault  with  the  Stockbridge  boys. 
But  they  need  discipline  in  the  recogni- 
tion of  mutual  rights  as  well  as  indulg- 
ence for  their  pastimes,  and  the  com- 
munity which  allows  them  to  pursue 
their  gratifications  at  the  expense  of 
the  comfort  of  their  neighbors  is  in 
that  respect  and  to  that  degree — well 
— not  in  the  highest  degree  civilized. 


BAIN  ON  UNIVERSITY  EDUCATION. 

The  brief  history  of  the  higher  edu- 
cation contained  in  the  Eectoral  Ad- 
dress of  Dr.  Bain  at  Aberdeen  on  "  The 
University  Ideal,"  which  is  herewith 
printed,  will  interest  all  thoughtful 
readers.  It  will  prove  chiefly  interest- 
ing as  a  compact  review  of  changing 
university  methods  daring  the  rise  of 
modern  knowledge,  and  a  statement  of 
the  present  status  of  the  university  in 
the  exigencies  of  modern  life.  As  re- 
gards modes  of  teaching,  the  type  of 
the  university  which  has  grown  up 
within  the  last  hundred  years  is  based 
upon  the  principle  of  the  division  of 
labor  by  which  men  specially  qualified 
for  the  work  are  especially  intrusted 
with  the  subjects  they  have  mastered. 
Obvious  as  this  principle  is  to  us,  and 
difficult  as  it  is  for  us  to  conceive  how 
the  higher  education  could  stand  upon 
any  other  principle,  yet  the  present 
method  is  but  the  product  of  centuries 
of  struggle  before  this  policy  could  be 
established.  It  is  undoubtedly  a  result 
of    that   general   progress   of   science 


which  can  not  be  said  to  have  got  its 
initiation  in  the  older  university  meth- 
ods.    With   the  division  of   labor  in 
teaching  comes  the   new  aim   of  the 
higher  schools  of  learning.    "  Its  watch- 
word is  progress,  and  there  can  not  be 
progress  without  a  sincere  and  single 
eye  to  the  truth.     The  fatal  sterility  of 
the  middle  ages,  and  of  our  first  and 
second  university  periods,  had  to  do 
with    the    mistake    of   gagging   men's 
mouths  and  dictating  all  their  conclu- 
sions.   Things  came  to  be  so  arranged 
that  contradictory  views  ran  side  by 
side    like    opposing    electric    currents, 
the  thick  wrappage  of  ingenious  phra- 
seology arresting  the  destructive  dis- 
charge.    There  was,  indeed,  an  elabo- 
rate and  pretentious  logic  supplied  by 
Aristotle  and  emended   Bacon ;    what 
was  still  wanted  was  a  taste  of  the  logic 
of  freedom." 

Dr.  Bain  insists  that  the  bearing  of 
modern  science  upon  the  higher  educa- 
tion creates  the  demand  for  three  fun- 
damental elements  in  any  adequate 
university  curriculum,  and  he  main- 
tains that  Aberdeen  Universitv  holds 
the  leading  place  in  having  recognized 
these  elements  for  the  past  hundred 
years.  He  says:  '"Our  curriculum  is  one 
of  the  completest  in  the  country,  or  per- 
haps anywhere.  By  the  happy  thought 
of  the  Senatus  of  Marischal  College,  in 
1753,  you  have  a  fundamental  class  not 
existing  in  the  other  colleges.  You 
have  a  fair  representation  of  the  three 
great  lines  of  science  —  the  abstract, 
the  experimental,  and  the  classifying. 
"When  it  is  a  general  education  that  you 
are  thinking  of,  every  scheme  of  option 
is  imperfect  that  does  not  provide  for 
such  three-sided  cultivation  of  our  rea- 
soning powers.  A  larger  quantity  of 
one  will  no  more  serve  for  the  absence 
of  the  rest  than  a  double  covering  of 
one  part  of  the  body  will  enable  an- 
other part  to  be  left  bare." 


560 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 

Ragnarok  :  The  Age  of  Fire  and  Gravel. 
By  Ignatius  Donnelly,  author  of  '•  At- 
lantis :  the  Antediluvian  World."  Illus- 
trated. D.  Appleton  &  Co.  Pp.  452. 
Price,  $2. 

This  must  rank,  we  suppose,  as  a  book 
of  science,  though  it  is  of  a  quite  peculiar 
kind.  It  is  something  like  what  one  of 
Jules  Yerne's  books  would  be  if  that  author 
should  stoutly  protest  that  the  story  was  all 
true.  The  author  put  forth  a  work  not  long 
since,  entitled  "  Atlantis :  the  Antediluvian 
World,"  in  which  he  maintained  that  there 
is  a  good  deal  more  truth  than  poetry  about 
the  old  story  of  the  fabled  island.  The 
book  was  readable  and  popular ;  and,  en- 
couraged by  its  success,  he  has  now  struck 
out  more  boldly,  and  given  us  in  "  Ragna- 
rok"  perhaps  the  most  stunning  and  stu- 
pendous romance  of  science  that  has  ever 
been  perpetrated. 

Opinions  will  be  divided  as  to  whether 
the  author  is  practicing  upon  public  credu- 
lity by  an  enormous  joke,  or  whether  he 
does  not  really  himself  half  believe  half 
that  he  says.  He  is  probably  a  lawyer,  and 
at  all  events  a  politician ;  and  it  would, 
therefore,  not  be  fair  to  him  to  raise  any 
question  of  the  sincerity  of  his  views.  Nor 
is  it  at  all  important  how  this  point  is  re- 
garded by  the  reader,  for  this  is  just  the 
peculiar  kind  of  science  that  escapes  all 
perplexing  and  stupid  inquiry  about  its 
truth. 

The  work  is  geological,  astronomic,  and 
religious,  because  it  falls  back  upon  these 
three  subjects  for  the  materials  of  the  au- 
thor's theory.  This  theory  has  two  aspects, 
a  negative  and  critical,  and  a  positive  and 
constructive  aspect.  It  first  maintains  that 
the  loose  materials  of  the  earth's  surface — 
gravel,  pebbles,  stones,  sand,  clay,  bowlders, 
and  the  miscellaneous  mineral  stuff  which 
makes  up  the  drift  or  diluvial  deposits  upon 
the  earth's  surface — are  not  derived  from 
the  rocks  that  make  up  the  earth's  crust,  as 
taught  by  geology.  The  author  has  read 
over  all  the  geological  treatises  and  spec- 
ulations on  the  origin  of  these  superficial 
formations,  and  devotes  his  first  eight  chap- 
ters to  a  very  ingenious  presentation  of  the 
insufficiency  of  all  existing  theories  upon 


the  subject.  Evidently  knowing  little  about 
it  himself,  in  the  real  sense  of  knowing 
(that  is,  as  a  first-hand  observer  of  facts), 
and  addressing  an  audience  in  a  quite  sim- 
ilar state  of  mind,  he  has  no  difficulty  in 
making  out  a  wonderfully  plausible  case. 
If  the  experts  in  "  evidence"  can  often  con- 
vict innocent  men  and  get  scoundrels  ac- 
quitted in  the  very  teeth  of  opposing  repre- 
sentations, it  is  easy  to  get  up  a  telling  case 
where  there  are  many  gaps  and  discrepan- 
cies in  our  knowledge  of  a  new,  extensive, 
and  very  complex  subject. 

Having  thus  impeached  the  geologists, 
our  author  has  a  clear  field.  If  the  loose 
mineral  materials  under  our  feet  are  not 
from  the  rocks,  then  pray  where  do  they 
come  from  ?  The  human  intellect  can  not 
stand  still,  as  if  struck  with  paralysis,  and 
wait  forever  for  the  geologists  to  settle 
their  disputes ;  we  must  have  an  answer, 
and  be  at  peace.  Mr.  Donnelly  then  pro- 
ceeds to  supply  the  answer.  He  here  strikes 
off  into  astronomy,  and  maintains  that  this 
mineral  debris  is  of  meteoric  origin.  Stones 
are  known  to  fall  from  the  heavens,  and 
spectrum  analysis  proves  that  the  celestial 
bodies  are  composed  of  the  same  mineral 
constituents  that  are  found  upon  the  earth. 
There  being,  as  old  Kepler  says,  more  com- 
ets in  the  heavens  than  fishes  in  the  sea, 
and  their  movements  being  so  apparently 
capricious  and  irregular  that  they  dash  about 
through  the  solar  system  with  the  greatest 
liability  of  striking  its  steady-going  mem- 
bers, it  is  maintained  that  the  earthly  drift 
has  been  dropped  upon  this  globe  by  one  of 
these  incontinent  wanderers,  as,  perhaps,  the 
earth  went  through  its  tail. 

The  author  propounds  this  idea  as  an 
hypothesis,  insufficient  it  may  be  at  first 
blush,  but  admissible  when  all  others  have 
broken  down.  But  he  does  not  by  any 
means  leave  the  question  in  this  specula- 
tive condition ;  he  proceeds  to  summon  the 
proofs  that  his  hypothesis  must  take  rank 
among  great  scientific  truths.  For  this  pur- 
pose he  enters  the  vast  field  of  legendary 
lore,  and  shows  by  the  myths,  traditions, 
fables,  allegories,  and  obscure  imaginative 
inventions  of  all  peoples  and  nations,  that 
something  prodigious  once  happened  to  this 
globe,  which  he  claims  was  nothing  else 
than   the   deposit   of   the  .drift   formation 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


561 


which  the  geologists  are  so  much  troubled  | 
about.  The  Greek,  Roman,  Egyptian,  In-  ' 
dian,  Arabian,  and  Aztec  theogonies  are 
learnedly  ransacked  for  the  evidence  they 
afford  to  the  truth  of  the  new  theory. 
Thirty-nine  pages  are  given  to  sifting  the 
testimony  of  Job,  who  seems  to  have  had  a 
very  luminous  forecast  of  Mr.  Donnelly's 
great  discovery,  and  wrote  as  if  he  were 
happy  in  the  idea  that  he  might  be  per- 
mitted to  contribute  something  to  it.  Then 
we  have  twenty-four  pages  of  instructive 
exegesis,  entitled  "  Genesis  read  by  the 
Light  of  the  Comet,"  and  at  the  close  of 
this  chapter  the  author  invites  attention  to 
the  full  accordance  of  the  Biblical,  Druid- 
ical,  Hindoo,  and  Scandinavian  legends  in 
confirming  "  the  great  unwritten  theory  that 
underlies  all  our  religion."  The  fundamental 
ideas  which  underlie  the  underlying  theory 
of  our  religion  are  thus  enumerated:  "1. 
The  golden  age ;  the  paradise.  2.  The 
universal  moral  degeneracy  of  mankind; 
the  age  of  crime  and  violence.  3.  God's 
vengeance.  4.  The  serpent ;  the  fire  from 
heaven.  5.  The  cave-life  and  the  darkness. 
6.  The  cold ;  the  struggle  to  live.  1.  The 
'fall  of  man,'  from  virtue  to  vice;  from 
plenty  to  poverty  ;  from  civilization  to  bar- 
barism ;  from  the  tertiary  to  the  drift ;  from 
Eden  to  the  gravel.  8.  Reconstruction  and 
regeneration." 

All  the  religions  of  the  world  being  thus 
levied  upon  for  proofs  of  the  author's  the- 
ory, and  our  own  being  found  so  eminent- 
ly tributary  to  it,  we  are  entitled  to  say  that 
this  is  not  only  a  peculiarly  scientific  book, 
but  also  a  peculiarly  religious  book.  He 
certainly  makes  a  good  deal  of  "  matter,"  but 
he  lets  us  know  that  he  is  no  "  materialist." 
Be  assured,  says  he,  "be  assured  of  one 
thing — this  world  tends  now  to  a  deification 
of  matter."  But  we  can  not  heartily  com- 
mend that  combination  of  waggishness  and 
piety  which  is  but  too  obvious  in  a  passage 
like  this  from  his  farewell  chapter  : 

Do  not  count  too  much,  Dives,  on  your  lands 
and  houses  and  parchments;  your  guns  and 
cannon  and  laws;  your  insurance  companies 
and  your  governments.  There  may  be  even 
now  one  coming  from  beyond  Arctums  or  Alde- 
baran,  or  Coma  Berenices,  with  glowing  coun- 
tenance and  horrid  hair  and  millions  of  tons  of 
debris,  to  overwhelm  you  and  your  possessions, 
and  your  corporations  and  all  the  ant-like  de- 
vices of  man,  in  one  common  ruin. 
vol.  xxii. — 36 


Again : 

Build  a  little  broader,  Dives.  Establish  spir- 
itual relations.  Matter  is  not  everything.  You 
do  not  deal  in  certainties.  You  are  but  a  vital- 
ized speck,  rilled  with  a  fraction  of  God's  dele- 
gated intelligence,  crawling  over  an  egg-shell 
filled  with  fire,  whirling  madly  through  infinite 
space,  a  target  for  the  bombs  of  the  universe. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  Dives  will  heed 
these  appalling  admonitions. 

On  the  whole,  "  Ragnarck  "  is  too  ab- 
surd to  do  much  mischief,  and  contains 
much  that  is  readable,  and  that  may  in  a 
certain  way  prove  instructive ;  that  is,  it 
may  serve  to  kindle  an  interest  in  some 
minds  upon  subjects  to  which  they  would 
not  be  attracted  by  ordinary  didactic  trea- 
tises. 

Zoological  Sketches.  A  Contribution  to 
the  Out-door  Study  of  Natural  History. 
By  Felix  L.  Oswald,  author  of  "  Sum- 
merland  Sketches  of  Mexico  and  Central 
America."  Philadelphia  :  J.  B.  Lippin- 
cott  &  Co.  Pp.  266,  with  36  Illustra- 
tions.    Price,  $2. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  commend  to  the 
readers  of  "  The  Popular  Science  Monthly  " 
the  writings  of  Dr.  Oswald,  but  we  must 
keep  them  informed  of  what  he  is  doing. 
His  last  volume  of  "  Zoological  Sketches " 
is  undoubtedly  the  most  entertaining  of  his 
publications.  We  know  of  no  delineator  of 
animal  traits  who  has  so  entered  into  the 
spirit  of  that  lowlier  order  of  beings  that 
have  hitherto  been  so  contemned,  misunder- 
stood, and  outraged.  For  perhaps  in  noth- 
ing has  the  brutality  of  man  been  so  ex- 
emplified as  in  his  treatment  of  what  he 
calls  the  "  brutes."  No  doubt,  a  kinder 
feeling  is  beginning  to  grow  up  as  his  kin- 
ship with  those  below  him  is  better  under- 
stood ;  and  as  men  are  beginning  through 
the  rise  of  an  intelligent  sympathy  to  op- 
press and  abuse  each  other  less,  their  hum- 
ble and  more  defenseless  relatives  are  cer- 
tain to  share  some  of  the  results  of  this 
human  amelioration.  Such  works  as  this 
of  Dr.  Oswald  will  do  much  to  strengthen 
these  kindlier  sentiments  toward  the  animal 
creation.  There  is  an  exquisite  good  hu- 
mor, a  lively  wit,  and  a  joyous  exuberance 
of  feeling  in  Dr.  Oswald's  descriptions  of 
the  life  of  our  inferior  relatives  in  which 
nature  has  not  yet  been  perverted. 

The  learning  of  this  author  in  the  field 


562 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


of  natural  history  is  extensive.  We  refer 
not  so  much  to  the  scientific  knowledge  of 
the  animal  kingdom,  its  relationships  and 
classifications,  as  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
ways,  habits,  instincts,  and  curious  perform- 
ances of  the  higher  grades  of  the  animate 
tribes.  And  this  knowledge  is  by  no  means 
of  the  second-hand  order  so  characteristic 
of  popular  books  on  natural  history.  Dr. 
Oswald  has  been  an  indefatigable  observer 
of  animal  habits,  of  widely  extended  oppor- 
tunity in  various  countries,  and  with  a  pas- 
sion for  what  we  may  call  companionship 
with  inferior  creatures.  There  is  more  of 
novelty,  freshness,  and  out-of-the-way  in- 
cident connected  with  the  author's  experi- 
ence in  this  volume  than  in  any  other  we 
have  lately  seen.  The  admirable  woodcuts, 
no  doubt,  give  effect  to  many  of  the  curious 
situations,  but  the  writer's  text  is  pictorial, 
and  vividly  images  what  the  limner  can  not 
represent.  We  have  undertaken  to  make 
some  selections,  but  choice  is  difficult  where 
you  can  find  nothing  better  than  all  the  rest. 
The  chapters  on  "  Our  Four-handed  Eela- 
tives,"  "  Sacred  Baboons,"  "  Animal  Rene- 
gades," "  Pets,"  "  Secretiveness,"  "  Traps," 
and  "Four-footed  I'rize-fighters,"  are  es- 
pecially rich,  but  the  others  are  hardly  less 
interesting.  The  book  is  to  be  commended 
not  only  for  its  instructiveness  as  a  higher 
study  of  natural  history,  but  for  its  human- 
izing spirit,  its  sympathetic  insight  into  ani- 
mal characteristics,  and  its  vivid  and  pleas- 
ing style. 

There  is  a  very  considerable  unity  in 
Dr.  Oswald's  various  writings.  They  are 
animated  by  a  common  feeling,  and  per- 
vaded by  the  same  fundamental  ideas.  Dr. 
Oswald  is  a  passionate  lover  of  nature.  In 
his  interesting  book  upon  Mexico,  the 
brightness  and  fervor  of  his  pictures  of 
natural  scenery  betray  the  poetical  tend- 
encies of  his  mind,  which  rejoices  in  com- 
munion with  all  that  is  beautiful,  pictur- 
esque, wild,  and  sublime  in  mountains,  pla- 
teaus, and  valleys  that  have  not  yet  been 
desecrated  and  desolated  by  the  hand  of 
man.  He  holds  that  "the  children  of  Nat- 
ure have  not  lost  their  earthly  paradise  " ; 
it  is  only  those  that  have  turned  away  from 
her  that  have  fallen.  In  his  book  on 
"  Physical  Education,"  there  is  an  earnest 
pleading  for  a  return  to  Nature  on  the  part 


of  those  who  have  wandered  away  into  mis- 
leading courses  under  the  guidance  of  false 
ideas.  There  is  something  of  sadness  in 
the  impatient  denunciation  and  stinging 
invective  of  Dr.  Oswald's  writing,  when  he 
speaks  of  the  anti-natural  apostasy  which 
has  entailed  so  many  evils  on  mankind. 
Even  in  the  preface  to  the  present  volume, 
he  returns  to  this  subject  as  giving  a  clew 
to  the  spirit  in  which  it  has  been  written, 
and  the  presentation  is  so  characteristic  that 
our  readers  will  thank  us  for  giving  the 
extract  entire : 

The  tendencies  of  our  realistic  civilization 
make  it  evident  that  the  study  of  natural  science 
is  destined  to  supersede  the  mystic  scholasti- 
cism of  the  middle  ages,  and  I  believe  that  the 
standards  of  entertaining  literature  will  undergo 
a  corresponding  change.  The  Spirit  of  Natural- 
ism has  awakened  from  its  long  slumber. 

A  year  after  the  birth  of  the  Emperor  Tibe- 
rius, says  Plutarch,  a  Grecian  trading-vessel 
sailed  along  the  coast  of  MtoYia.  in  the  Gulf  of 
Patras,  and  when  the  sun  went  down  the  crew 
assembled  at  the  helm  to  while  away  the  night 
with  songs  and  stories.  The  night  was  calm, 
and  some  of  the  sailors  had  already  fallen  asleep, 
when  they  heard  from  the  coast  a  loud  voice 
calling  the  name  of  their  steersman,  Thamus. 
They  were  all  struck  dumb  with  amazement, 
but,  at  the  third  call,  Thamus  manned  himself, 
and  answered  with  a  loud  mariner's  shout. 

"O  Thamus,"  the  voice  called  again,  '■  when 
you  reach  the  heights  of  Palodes  announce  that 
the  great  Pan  is  dead  1 " 

Four  hours  later,  when  the  moonlit  hills  of 
Palodes  hove  in  sight,  Thamus  complied  with 
the  strange  request,  and,  a  minute  after,  the 
coast  resounded  with  indescribable  shrieks  and 
lamentations  that  continued  for  a  long  time,  tiil 
they  finally  died  away  in  the  heights  of  the 
Acarnanian  Mountains. 

The  tradition  bears  the  mark  of  that  sug- 
gestiveness  which  distinguishes  a  philosophical 
allegory  from  a  priest  legend.  Pan  was  the 
God  of  Nature.  Can  Plutarch  have  divined  the 
significance  of  the  impending  change?  What- 
ever is  natural  is  wrong,  was  the  keystone  dogma 
of  the  mediaeval  school-men.  The  naturalism  of 
antiquity  was  crushed  by  supernatural  and  anti- 
natural  dogmas.  The  worship  of  joy  yielded  to 
a  worship  of  sorrow,  the  study  of  living  nature 
to  the  study  of  dead  languages  and  barren  soph- 
isms. Literature  became  a  farrago  of  ghost- 
stories,  monks'  legends,  witchcraft  and  mira- 
cle traditions,  and  astrological  vagaries.  The 
poison  of  anti-naturalism  tainted  every  science 
and  every  art,  and  perverted  the  very  instincts 
of  the  human  mind.  Painters  vied  in  the  rep- 
resentation of  revolting  tortures.  The  exiles  of 
Mount  Parnassus  assembled  on  Mount  Golgotha. 
The  moralists  that  had  suppressed  the  Olympic 
festivals  compensated  the  public  with  autos-da- 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


563 


/(?'.  The  whole  history  of  the  middle  ages  is, 
indeed,  the  history  of  a  loug  war  against  Nature. 

But  Nature  has  at  last  prevailed.  Delusions 
are  clouds,  and  the  storm  of  the  Thirty  Years' 
War  has  cleared  our  sky.  The  real  secret  of  the 
astoundiug  success  of  modern  science  and  in- 
dustry is  a  general  renaissance  of  naturalism, 
and  the  same  revival  hegins  to  manifest  its  in- 
fluence in  the  tendencies  of  modern  literature. 
Ghost-stories  are  going  out  of  fashion.  Like 
scrofula  and  other  bequests  of  the  middle  ages, 
the  sickly  pessimism  of  the  sentimental  school 
is  yielding  to  the  influence  of  a  revived  taste 
for  the  pleasures  of  out-door  life.  Books  of 
travel,  of  sports  and  adventure,  historical,  zo- 
ological, and  even  biological  and  cosmologica] 
studies,  are  fast  superseding  the  historical 
romances  of  the  last  generation.  Even  the 
pariahs  of  our  reading-rooms  have  advanced 
from  ghost-hunts  to  scalp  hunts,  from  impossi- 
bilities to  improbabilities.  And,  moreover,  the 
progress  of  natural  science  tends  to  supersede 
fiction  by  making  it  superfluous — even  for  ro- 
mantic purposes.  There  is  more  romance  in 
the  travels  of  Humboldt,  more  magic  in  the 
idyls  of  Thoreau  and  the  revelations  of  Darwin 
and  Haeckel,  than  in  all  the  fancies  of  the  me- 
diaeval miracle-mongers.  The  wonders  of  nature 
begin  to  eclipse  the  wonders  of  supernaturalism. 
A  Zoological  Garden  attracts  more  eight-seers 
than  the  best  Passion-play.    Pan  has  revived. 

The  plan  of  the  present  volume  is  modest 
enough:  its  theories  are  mere  suggestions  ;  its 
limits  have  often  obliged  me  to  reduce  a  chapter 
of  zoological  adventures  to  a  page  of  zoological 
anecdotes.  But,  in  offering  it  as  a  contribu- 
tion to  the  entertaining  literature  of  the  Eng- 
lish language,  my  diffidence  arises  from  a  dis- 
trust in  my  own  abilities  rather  than  from 
the  deficient  interest  of  the  subject  itself,  for 
the  history  of  that  literature  has  repeatedly 
proved  that  natural  science  can  be  made  more 
attractive  than  the  products  of  fiction  or  mys- 
ticism—by just  as  much  as  the  resources  of 
Nature  exceed  the  resources  of  her  rivals. 

The  Codes  Check  List  op  North  Ameri- 
can Birds.  Second  edition,  revised  to 
date.  With  a  Dictionary  of  the  Ety- 
mology, Orthography,  and  Orthoepy  of 
the  Scientific  Names.  Boston :  Estes 
&  Lauriat.     Pp.  165. 

The  first  edition  of  the  "Check  List" 
was  published  in  1874,  and  was  a  bare  cata- 
logue of  the  scientific  and  vernacular  names. 
It  contained  seven  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight  names  of  species  and  sub-species,  and 
was  prepared  with  a  degree  of  accuracy  that 
is  exhibited  by  the  fact  that  it  has  been 
found  necessary  in  the  revision  to  remove 
only  ten  names  of  duplicates  or  extra-limital 
species,  while  a  hundred  and  twenty  names 
have  been  added.  The  large  majority  of 
the   additions   are   bona  fide   species,   and 


actual  acquisitions  to  the  North  American 
list — birds  discovered  since  1873  in  Texas, 
Arizona,  and  Alaska,  together  with  several 
long  known  to  inhabit  Greenland.  Except 
in  Mr.  Ridgway's  National  Museum  cata- 
logue, which  was  published  after  Mr.  Coues's 
list  was  written,  the  full  list  of  Greenland 
birds  has  never  before  been  incorporated 
with  the  North  American  list.  The  field  of 
North  American  fauna  is  generally  bounded 
by  the  northern  boundary  of  Mexico.  The  ob- 
jection is  made  that  this  is  a  political  rather 
than  a  scientific  limit ;  and  Mr.  Coues  sug- 
gests that  it  would  be  more  exact  to  extend 
the  limit,  along  the  highlands  at  least,  to 
about  the  Tropic  of  Cancer.  In  revising 
the  list,  particular  attention  has  been  paid 
to  the  matter  of  nomenclature,  not  only  as 
a  part  of  scientific  classification,  but  also  as 
an  affair  of  writing  and  speaking  the  name3 
of  birds  correctly;  and  the  work  includes, 
besides  the  list  of  the  names,  a  full  and 
scholarly  treatise  on  the  etymology,  orthog- 
raphy, and  orthoepy  of  all  the  scientific  and 
many  of  the  vernacular  words  employed  in 
the  nomenclature,  the  work  in  great  part 
of  Mrs.  S.  Olivia  Weston-Aiken. 

New  Check-List  of  North  American 
Moths.  By  August  R.  Grote,  President 
of  the  New  York  Entomological  Club. 
Pp.  75.     Price,  $1. 

This  list  contains  about  four  thousand 
names  of  species,  synonyms,  and  varieties 
of  the  North  American  Sphingida?,  Bom- 
bycidse,  iEgeriada?,  Thyridae,  Noctuida?,  Ge- 
ometridaj,  Pyralidse  and  Tortricidse.  It 
will  be  welcome  and  useful  to  the  student 
and  collector  of  the  interesting  insects 
which  it  enumerates.  The  list  embraces 
all  recent  discoveries  and  replaces  the  for- 
mer catalogues  of  the  author,  as  it  takes  in 
all  the  species.  It  also  contains  some  of 
the  results  of  a  partial  re-examination  of 
the  British  Museum  collections  made  by 
Mr.  Grote  last  winter,  and  it  includes  the 
Tortricidae  published  by  Lord  Walsingham, 
and  Professor  Fernald's  recent  arrange- 
ment of  that  family.  It  is  well  printed,  on 
good  paper,  uniform  in  style,  with  "  Pa- 
pilio,"  the  journal  of  the  New  York  Ento- 
mological Club,  and  it  may  be  had  of  the 
secretary  of  the  club,  Mr.  Ilenry  Edwards, 
No.  185  East  One  Hundred  and  Sixteenth 
Street. 


564 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


House-Drainage  and  Sanitary  Plumbing. 
Providence :  E.  L.  Freeman  &  Co. — An- 

LAGEN  VON    HaUSENTWASSERUNGEN   NACH 

Studien  Americanischer  Verhaltnisse. 
(Plans  for  House-Drainage,  after  Studies 
of  American  Arrangements.)     Berlin. — 
Diagram  ior  Sewer  Calculations.    All 
by  William  Paul  Gerhard,  Civil  and 
Sanitary  Engineer.    Newport,  Rhode  Isl- 
and.    Pp.  105,  38,  and  7.     With  Plates. 
The  first  of  these  publications  is  a  re- 
print of  a  paper  which  was  contributed  to 
the  fourth  annual  report  of  the  State  Board 
of  Health  of  Rhode  Island,  and  is  an  excel- 
lent practical  treatise  on  the  subject  con- 
sidered.    It  asserts  the  possibility  of  secur- 
ing an  efficient  and  healthful  drainage  of 
houses,  whether  upon  open  ground  or  into 
a  sewer  or  cess-pool,  by  methods  which  are 
without   mystery   or   secrecy,   and    involve 
"  nothing  more  than  the  proper  application 
of  well-known  laws  of  nature";   and  ex- 
plains specifically  and  with  intelligible  illus- 
trations the  best  systems  of  drains,  pipes, 
traps,  basins,  bath-tubs,  water-closets,  and 
6'inks,  at  the  same  time  pointing  out  the 
errors  and  defects  of  many  of  the  systems 
in  use.     The  second  work  is  intended  to 
give  to  German  engineers  a  description  of 
house-drainage  as  it  is  practiced  in  England 
and  the  United  States.     The  third  pamphlet 
is  a  description  of  a  diagram  on  sewer  cal- 
culations constructed  by  the  author,  and  is 
of  technical  value.     The  first  of  these  pub- 
lications, revised  by  the  author,  is  now  pub- 
lished by  D.  Van  Nostrand  as  No.  63  of  his 
"  Science  Series."    Pp.  205.    Price,  50  cents. 

New  Method  of  Learning  the  French 
Language.  By  F.  Berger.  New  York : 
D.  Appleton  &  Co.    Pp.  138.    Price,  $1. 

The  author  a  few  years  ago  published  a 
"  Method  "  for  French  pupils  learning  Eng- 
lish, which  has  been  used  in  France  satis- 
factorily, and  with  a  success  that  is  repre- 
sented by  the  exhaustion  of  fourteen  edi- 
tions of  it  and  a  fourfold  increase  of  the 
number  of  French  students  of  English  in 
five  years.  He  now  applies  the  features 
that  characterize  that  system  to  the  study 
of  the  French  language  by  English  pupils. 
The  features  are  a  simple  and  careful  indi- 
cation of  the  pronunciation/and  a  conver- 
sational method,  in  which  are  given — 1.  The 
French  text,  with  the  pronunciation  and  a 
literal  translation ;  2.  A  review  of  words ; 


and,  3.  The  French  text  again,  with  the 
English  opposite,  translated  closely,  so  as 
to  enable  the  pupil  to  translate  alternately 
into  French  and  into  English.  Besides  tlie 
lessons  on  this  plan  are  given  conversational 
phrases,  paradigms  of  the  verbs  Sire  and 
avoir,  conversational  phrases,  a  version  of 
Miss  Edgeworth's  play  of  "  Old  Poz,"  and  a 
collection  of  words,  sentences,  phrases,  and 
idioms. 

Chapters  on  Evolution.  By  Andrew  Wil- 
son, Ph.  D.,  F.  R.  S.  E.,  etc.  With  259  Il- 
lustrations. New  York :  G.  P.  Putnam's 
Sons.     Pp.  383.     Price,  $2.50. 

We  have  no  hesitation  in  cordially  rec- 
ognizing this  volume  as  a  timely  contribu- 
tion to  a  subject  that  is  now  attracting  wide 
and  serious  attention.  It  meets  an  undoubt- 
ed want,  and  is  certain  to  prove  helpful  to 
all  general  students  of  the  subject  of  or- 
ganic development. 

Yet,  the  title  of  the  book  may  be  ob- 
jected to  as  somewhat  misleading.  It  is 
not  devoted  to  evolution  in  the  full  meaning 
now  given  to  that  term,  but  is  restricted  to 
one  division  of  it,  which  ought  to  have  been 
designated  in  the  title.  It  is  more  properly 
confined  to  that  phase  or  section  of  evolution 
which  has  come  to  be  represented  by  the 
term  "  Darwinism,"  and  is  a  book  that  should 
be  ranked  with  Professor  Gray's  "  Darwini- 
ana  "  and  Oscar  Schmidt's  German  volume 
on  "  Descent  and  Darwinism."  There  should 
be  no  confusion  here,  for  Darwinism  is  not 
evolution,  and  is  but  a  part  of  it.  Dr. 
Wilson  virtually  concedes  this  by  employing 
in  his  text  the  term  "  Darwinian  evolution," 
thus  recognizing  that  it  is  but  one  sort  of 
something  of  a  larger  kind  ;  and  also  when 
he  speaks  of  "  development "  as  a  strong 
pillar  of  the  theory  of  evolution. 

With  the  reservation  here  made,  Dr. 
Wilson's  work,  as  we  have  said,  may  be 
heartily  commended.  It  is  a  very  full  and 
popular  treatise  on  the  important  and  in- 
teresting questions  of  organic  development, 
and  abounds  in  the  biological  information 
that  has  now  been  accumulated  in  illustration 
of  the  law  of  descent  with  variation.  The 
principle  of  natural  selection  is,  of  course, 
assumed  and  interpreted  as  a  great  contri- 
bution to  organic  progress,  and  the  various 
questions   that   have   arisen   in  connection 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


565 


with  the  development  of  the  organic  king- 
dom are  considered  with  fullness,  and  by 
a  naturalist  competent  to  deal  with  them. 
In  his  preface  the  author  observes  :  "A  con- 
siderable experience  as  a  biological  teacher 
has  long  since  convinced  me  that  the  hesi- 
tancy with  which  evolution  is  accepted  and 
the  doubt  with  which  even  cultured  persons 
are  occasionally  apt  to  view  this  conception 
of  nature  arise  chiefly  from  lack  of  knowl- 
edge concerning  the  overwhelming  evidences 
of  its  existence  which  natural  history  pre- 
sents. Doubtless,  a  training  in  botany  and 
zoology  is  required  before  the  case  for  evolu- 
tion can  be  fully  mastered,  but  there  need  be 
no  difficulty  in  the  way  of  any  intelligent  per- 
son forming  a  just  estimate  of  evolution  upon 
even  an  elementary  acquaintance  with  the 
facts  of  biology.  I  have  accordingly  sought 
to  bring  such  facts  prominently  before  the 
notice  of  my  readers,  and  I  would  fain  hope 
that  even  the  complex  topic  of  '  develop- 
ment '  itself,  a  strong  pillar  of  the  theory  of 
evolution,  is  susceptible  of  easy  appreciation 
when  the  facts  and  inferences  to  be  drawn 
therefrom  are  plainly  stated." 

Youth  :  Its  Care  and  Culture.  An  Out- 
line of  Principles  for  Parents  and  Guard- 
ians. By  J.  Mortimer-Granville.  New 
York :  M.  L.  Holbrook  &  Co.     Pp.  167. 

The  author  is  known  as  a  thoughtful 
and  vigorous  writer  on  subjects  of  practical 
hygiene  and  discipline.  The  aim  of  his 
present  work  is  to  expose  "  certain  fallacies  " 
which  prevail  on  the  subject  of  child  man- 
agement and  education,  ar_d  to  indicate,  "  in 
suggestive  outline,"  the  principles  which 
should  guide  parents  in  the  care  and  culture 
of  youth.  He  considers  the  physical  and 
moral  training  of  boys  and  girls,  advocating 
the  allowance  of  the  freest  scope  for  phys- 
ical growth  in  both  sexes,  with  a  "hardy" 
treatment  and  no  coddling,  and  a  particu- 
larity in  moral  culture  which  is  as  strange 
to  the  general  society  of  the  day  as  it  is 
much  needed. 

Dress  and  Care  of  the  Feet.  By  Dr.  P. 
Kahler.  New  York :  G.  P.  Putnam's 
Sons.     Pp.  37. 

Dr.  Kahler  believes  that  chiropody 
should  be  recognized  as  a  profession,  and 
that  those  who  intend  to  practice  it  should 
be  scientifically  qualified  for  their  vocation. 


lie  enforces  the  importance  of  caring  for 
the  feet,  a  healthy  condition  of  which  is 
considered  very  closely  connected  with  hap- 
piness and  the  soundness  of  the  whole  body, 
and  particularly  of  the  brain  and  nervous 
system.  His  manual  consists  chiefly  of 
practical  suggestions  respecting  the  treat- 
ment of  diseases  and  aches  of  the  feet,  con- 
cerning the  care  of  the  feet  that  will  pre- 
vent their  acquiring  diseases  and  aches,  and 
on  the  proper  construction  and  form  of 
shoes. 

Report  of  T.  B.  Ferguson,  a  Commissioner 
of  Fisheries  of  Maryland.  Hagers- 
town,  Maryland.     Pp.  152,  with  Plates. 

The  report  describes  the  work  done  in 
the  western  part  of  the  State  during  1880. 
This  work,  which  includes  also  the  distribu- 
tion of  1,500,000  shad  and  090  carp  in  wa- 
ters wholly  within  the  eastern  section  of  the 
State,  under  the  direction  of  the  Western 
Commissioner,  is  regarded  as  very  impor- 
tant, both  on  account  of  the  success  attained 
in  the  attempted  propagation  of  several  va- 
rieties of  valuable  fish  by  artificial  means, 
and  because  of  the  accumulated  proofs 
which  the  year  afforded  of  the  happy  re- 
sults of  the  effort  fully  to  restock  the  wa- 
ters of  the  State  with  shad.  A  valuable 
account  of  experiments  and  observations  in 
oyster-culture,  by  John  A.  Ryder,  is  added. 

Sixth  Annual  Report  of  the  State  Board 
of  Health  of  Wisconsin.  1881.  Madi- 
son, Wisconsin.  (J.  T.  Reeve,  Appleton, 
Secretary.)     Pp.  14G. 

The  health  of  the  State  was  generally 
good  during  the  year,  notwithstanding  the 
unusually  large  number  of  deaths  from  dis- 
eases of  the  respiratory  organs  among  old 
people,  caused  by  the  severe  winter  of  1880- 
'81.  The  history  of  the  various  contagious 
diseases  which  appeared  is  reviewed  Es- 
pecial attention  is  given  to  the  condition  of 
the  schools  and  school-houses,  in  respect  to 
which  the  board  trust  that  the  beginning  of 
a  change  for  the  better  may  be  seen,  the 
end  of  which  shall  be  that  the  improve- 
ments which  are  demanded  shall  receive  the 
consideration  due  to  them,  and  "  the  child 
shall  be  recognized  as  a  being  of  higher 
value  than  the  grade,  rather  than  as  subor- 
dinate thereto." 


566 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


First  Annual  Report  of  the  Boakd  of 
Health  of  Detroit.  1882.  Detroit, 
Michigan  :  0.  W.  Wight,  Health-Officer. 

The  report  appears  in  the  form  of  a 
"  frank,  earnest  discourse  to  citizens  on  sub- 
jects of  sanitary  importance  at  home,"  rath- 
er than  of  a  scientific  discussion  of  hygi- 
enic concerns.  Among  the  subjects  consid- 
ered are  the  board's  system  of  dealing  with 
contagious  and  infectious  diseases ;  the  pre- 
ventive management  of  small-pox ;  the  sew- 
erage and  house-drainage  system  of  Detroit ; 
the  question  of  slaughtering  in  the  city  ; 
the  administrative  method  in  the  case  of  the 
abatement  of  nuisances ;  the  purity  of  the 
ice-supply;  the  milk-supply;  the  "smoke 
nuisance "  ;  and  the  water-supply.  Other 
equally  important  subjects  are  reserved  for 
future  reports. 

Van  Nostrand's  Science  Series,  Nos.  59, 
60,  and  Gl.  Railroad  Economics,  by 
S.  W.  Robinson,  C.  E. ;  Strength  of 
Wrought-Iron  Bridges,  same  author ; 
Potable  Water  and  the  Relative  Ef- 
ficiency of  Different  Methods  of  de- 
tecting Impurities,  by  Charles  Wat- 
son Folkard.  New  York  :  D.  Van  Nos- 
trand.  Pp.  131,  175,  138.  Price,  50 
cents  each. 

Mr.  Robinson's  "  Railroad  Economics  " 
is  the  fruit  of  an  official  tour  of  inspection 
under  the  direction  of  the  State  Commis- 
sioner of  Railways,  over  the  railroads  of 
Ohio,  and  is  intended  to  bring  out  such 
facts  observed,  and  call  attention  to  such 
features  of  practice,  as  shall  assist  in  the 
attainment  by  railroads  of  a  uniform  stand- 
ard of  excellence.  The  second  work,  which 
has  also  been  prepared  in  connection  with 
the  State  railway  inspection  service  of 
Ohio,  furnishes  practical  formulas  for 
beams,  struts,  columns,  and  semi-columns, 
as  calculated  by  the  author  in  the  perform- 
ance of  his  work  of  examining  bridges  for 
strength  and  trustworthiness.  The  formu- 
las are  not  otherwise  generally  accessible  in 
published  form.  Mr  Folkard's  "  Potable 
Water  "  is  the  substance  of  an  essay  origi- 
nally presented  to  the  British  Institution 
of  Civil  Engineers,  and  considers  the  vari- 
ous ways  in  which  water  becomes  contam- 
inated ;  the  methods  employed  to  detect 
and  determine  the  extent  of  contamination, 
and  their  value  ;  the  bearing  of  the  results 
of  biological  and  microscopical  research  on 


the  question,  and  the  adequacy  or   inade- 
quacy of  proposed  remedial  measures. 

Ottawa  Field  Naturalists'  Club.  Trans- 
actions No.  3.  Ottawa,  Canada.  (W. 
Hague  Harrington,  Secretary-Treasurer.) 
Pp.  66,  with  Two  Plates. 

The  record  is  for  the  year  ending  March 
21,  1882.  The  club  has  one  hundred  and 
fifteen  members.  Four  excursions  were 
held  during  the  summer ;  a  conversazione 
was  given  on  the  6th  of  January,  and  a 
lecture  on  the  "  Capabilities  of  the  Prairie 
Lands  of  the  Northwest,  as  shown  by  their 
Flora  and  Fauna,"  was  delivered  by  Pro- 
fessor Macoun,  on  the  7th  of  April.  Re- 
ports of  the  geological,  botanical,  entomo- 
logical, ornithological  and  oological,  and  con- 
chological  branches  are  included  among  the 
Transactions,  with  papers  on  the  "  Geology 
of  the  Ottawa  Palaeozoic  Basin,"  "  Pine 
Life,"  "The  Utica  Slate,"  and  other  sub- 
jects. 

Report  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of 
the  Ninth  Cincinnati  Industrial  Ex- 
position, 1881.  (J.  R.  Murdoch,  Secre- 
tary, Cincinnati.) 

The  Ninth  Exposition  is  believed  to  have 
far  exceeded  in  completeness  and  novelty  all 
that  preceded  it.  The  departments  of  Art, 
Horticulture,  and  Natural  History,  were  full 
of  interest  and  attractiveness,  and  the  ex- 
pert tests  of  machinery,  a  new  feature, 
added  greatly  to  the  attractions  of  that  de- 
partment. 

The  American  Citizen's  Manual.     Part  I. 

Edited  by  Worthington  C.  Ford.     New 

York :  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.     Pp.  146. 

Price,  SI. 

This  is  the  fifth  of  Messrs.  Putnam's 
series  of  hand-books  on  "  Questions  of  the 
Day."  It  gives  plain  statements  for  the  in- 
formation and  guidance  of  citizens,  on  the 
nature,  distribution,  and  functions  of  our 
governments,  national,  State,  and  local,  the 
electoral  system,  and  the  regulations  sur- 
rounding the  exercise  of  the  franchise  and 
the  verification  of  the  results,  and  the  char- 
acter of  our  civil-service  administration. 
The  present  condition  of  civil-service  abuse 
and  the  need  of  reform  are  clearly  shown 
under  the  last  head.  A  succeeding  volume 
will  more  fully  consider  the  functions  of 
government. 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


567 


Practical   Life   and   the  Study  of  Man. 

By  J.   Wilson,  Ph.   D.     Newark,  New 

York :  J.   Wilson  and  Son,  Publishers. 

Vp.  390.     Price,  $1.50. 

A  volume  of  sober  essays  on  topics  re- 
lating to  one  or  the  other  of  the  subjects 
mentioned  in  the  title,  expressed  in  plain 
language  and  pleasant  style.  The  author's 
object  is  simply  to  interest  and  instruct 
those  who  are  seeking  improvement,  by 
bringing  to  notice,  on  the  subjects  consid- 
dered,  the  best  thoughts  in  the  language, 
in  his  own  words,  when  they  have  seemed 
fitting,  in  the  words  of  others,  where  they 
expressed  them  best.  The  work  has  been 
done  not  to  make  a  book,  but  because  the 
author,  as  he  remarks,  "  feels  that  he  knows 
much  that  ought  to  be  written,"  and  with 
assurance,  "  because  he  has  studied  what 
he  says,  and  has  confidence  in  his  state- 
ments." 

Schilling's  Transcendental  Idealism.  A 
Critical  Exposition.  By  Professor  John 
Watson,  LL.  D.,  of  Queen's  University, 

i  Kingston,  Canada.  Chicago :  S.  C. 
Griggs  &  Co.     Pp.  250.    Price,  $1.25. 

This  is  the  second  of  the  series  of  "  Ger- 
man Philosophical  Classics,"  which  Messrs. 
Griggs  &  Co.  are  publishing,  under  the 
general  editorial  supervision  of  Professor 
George  S.  Morris,  of  the  University  of 
Michigan.  In  the  present  volume  the  ed- 
itor has  endeavored  to  exhibit  the  phases 
of  Schelling's  philosophical  development  as 
they  are  registered  in  the  various  treatises 
which  form  their  vehicle,  supplying  all  the 
elements  for  an  independent  judgment,  to- 
gether with  some  hints  of  weak  points  of 
the  system. 

Speech  and  its  Defects,  considered  Path- 
ologically, Historically,  and  Beme- 
dially.  By  Samuel  0.  L.  Potter,  M.  A., 
M.  D.  Philadelphia  :  P.  Blakiston  &  Co. 
Pp.  117.     Price,  $1. 

The  first  prize  was  accorded  to  this 
work  as  a  thesis  by  the  unanimous  vote  of 
the  faculty,  at  the  fifty-seventh  annual  com- 
mencement of  the  Jefferson  Medical  Col- 
lege, Philadelphia.  The  author  selected  the 
subjeet  for  his  prize  thesis,  because  it  was 
one  on  which  from  his  own  sufferings  and 
experiments  he  felt  "  somewhat  qualified  to 
write,"  and  could  contribute  to  knowledge ; 
for  he  had  made,  in  his  own  person,  prac- 


tical trial  of  several  of  the  recognized  meth- 
ods of  cure,  and  had  examined  all  the  at- 
tainable literature  on  the  subject.  We  give 
a  note  of  warning  from  the  author  to  those 
who  have  cases  of  stammering  to  deal  with : 
"  The  ignorance  of  this  subject  which  pre- 
vails among  those  having  the  care  of  chil- 
dren, is  productive  of  much  distress  and 
serious  results .  to  the  innocent  sufferers. 
The  child  who  manifests  a  disposition  to 
stutter  is  usually  abused  in  more  ways  than 
one.  The  affection  is  intensified  by  any 
cause  which  disturbs  the  equipoise  of  the 
nervous  system ;  and  the  most  frequent 
and  potent  cases  of  this  kind  are  derived 
from  the  reception  which  his  infirmity  re- 
ceives from  those  who  are  endowed  with 
perfect  speech  themselves.  Mockery  on  the 
part  of  companions,  and  threats,  even  blows 
from  parents  and  teachers,  have  made  more 
confirmed  stutterers  than  any  other  exten- 
sive influence,  besides  making  the  life  of 
the  patient   cne  of  unutterable  wrctched- 


)i 


ness. 

The  Magazine  of  Art.  London,  Paris,  and 
New  York:  Cassell,  Petter,  Galpin  & 
Co.  December,  1882.  Monthly.  $3.50 
a  year. 

We  have  received  Messrs.  Cassell,  Pet- 
ter, Galpin  &  Co.'s  "  Magazine  of  Art,"  as 
it  has  appeared  in  monthly  numbers  through 
the  year,  with  much  satisfaction,  and  are 
pleased  to  commend  it  as  a  good  represent- 
ative of  what  is  true  and  meritorious  in 
art.  In  its  letterpress  it  teaches  what  it  is 
well  to  teach  in  art,  in  a  manner  that  ap- 
peals to  the  popular  understanding  and  is 
likely  to  elicit  popular  interest.  Its  illus- 
trations are  selected  with  discrimination 
from  worthy  and  agreeable  subjects,  and 
are  well  executed,  while  the  typography  is 
nearly  perfect.  Its  articles  arc  varied  in 
subject  and  method,  and  its  news  and  other 
departments  are  acceptably  sustained  ;  and 
a  fair  degree  of  attention  is  given  to  Ameri- 
can art.  In  the  December  number  some  of 
the  American  pictures  at  the  Salon  of  1882 
are  candidly  criticised  ;  articles  are  given 
on  Japanese  book  illustration  ;  a  subject  of 
prehistoric  art ;  a  department  of  ceramics  ; 
the  works  of  an  Italian  artist ;  and  Mr. 
Hamerton's  "  Graphic  Arts,"  all  of  which  are 
appropriately  illustrated. 


568 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


The  "  Revue  Scientifique,"  of  Paris,  lias 
won  a  high  rank  among  journals  of  its 
class,  by  the  prominent  space  it  gives  to 
the  original  papers  of  leaders  of  scientific 
thought,  and  by  the  international  catholici- 
ty which  it  has  shown  in  enrolling  among 
its  contributors  writers  from  different  coun- 
tries in  Europe  and  America,  including  such 
men  as  Pasteur,  Berthelot,  Wurtz,  Milne- 
Edwards,  Tyndall,  Huxley,  Bu  Bois-Rey- 
mond,  Virchow,  and  some  of  our  own  men 
of  science.  It  is  edited  by  Charles  Richet, 
a  physiologist  eminent  particularly  in  the 
investigation  of  nervous  disorders.  It  is 
published  by  Germer-Bailliere  &  Co.,  108 
Boulevard  Saint-Germain. 

The  next  number  of  the  "  International 
Scientific  Series  "  will  be  on  a  subject  of  un- 
usual popular  interest,  and  of  extreme  im- 
portance. It  will  be  on  "  The  Science  of 
Politics,"  and  is  contributed  to  the  series 
by  Br.  Sheldon  Amos,  author  of  "  The 
Science  of  Law."  The  science  of  politics 
is  a  subdivision  or  branch  of  social  science, 
the  next  great  subject  in  the  order  of  sci- 
entific progress.  The  science  of  politics  is 
therefore  in  the  early  stage  of  its  develop- 
ment, and,  as  its  principles  are  as  yet  but 
imperfectly  elucidated,  no  treatise  upon  it 
can  have  completeness,  or  the  authority  of 
perfected  elucidation.  Nevertheless,  the  be- 
ginning must  be  made,  and  already  enough 
is  known,  both  of  the  data  of  the  inquiry 
and  the  method  to  be  employed,  to  give 
great  interest  and  value  to  a  well-elaborated 
popular  treatise. 

PUBLICATIONS  RECEIVED. 

Annals  of  the  Astronomical  Observatory  of 
Harvard  College.  Vol.  XIII,  Part  I.  Micrometric 
Measurements.  By  Joseph  Winlock  and  Ed- 
ward C.  Pickering.  Cambridge,  Massachusetts  : 
John  Wilson  &  Son.    Pp.  203. 

Transactions  of  the  Linngean  Society  of  New 
York.  Vol.  I.  New  York :  L.  S.  Foster.  Pp. 
108. 

"  The  Decorator  and  Furnisher."  December, 
1882.  75  Fulton  Street,  New  York :  E.  W.  Bul- 
linger.    Pp.  32.    Price,  35  cents. 

The  Manufacture  of  Iron  and  Steel  direct 
from  the  Ore.  "Bull's  Process."  By  Mr. 
Vaugban  W.  Jones.  Liverpool,  England:  An- 
drew Russell.    Pp.  15. 

Spirits  in  Prison.  A  Discourse  delivered  on 
a  Special  Occasion.  By  George  R.  Elis.  Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts:  John  Wilson  &  Son. 
Pp.  27. 

Proceedings  of  the  American  Society  of  Mi- 
croscopists.  Fifth  Annual  Meeting.  August,  1882. 
Buffalo :  Bigelow  Brothers.    Pp.  300. 


Yellows  in  Peach-Trees.  By  D.  P.  Penhal- 
low.    Boston:  Kockwell  &  Churchill.    Pp.8. 

Physics,  and  Occult  Qualities.  An  Address 
before  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Washing- 
ton. By  William  B.  Taylor.  Washington  :  Judd 
&  Detweiler.     Pp.  50. 

"  The  Modern  Age,"  January.  1683.  Buffalo/: 
Modern  Age  Publishing  lo.  Pp.  60.  Price,  15 
cents. 

Contributions  to  the  Anatomy  of  Birds.  By 
R.  W.  Shufeldt,  M.D.  Author's  edition.  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.    Pp.  216,  including  Plates. 

Meteorological  Researches,  United  States 
Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey.  Part  III.  Wash- 
ington ;  Government  Printing-Oflice.     Pp.  48. 

Signal-Service  Tables  of  Rain-fall  and  Tem- 
perature compared  with  Crop  Production.  By 
H.  H.  C.  Dun  woody.  Washington:  Govern- 
ment Printing-Offlce.    Pp.  15. 

Observations  on  Fat-Cells  and  Connective- 
Tissue  Corpuscles  of  Necturus  (Menobranchus). 
By  Simon  H.  Gage.  Buffalo  :  Bigelow  Broth- 
ers. 

"  The  American  Journal  of  Forestry."  Edited 
by  Franklin  B.  Hough.  October,  November, 
and  December,  1882.  Cincinnati :  Robert  Clarke 
&  Co.    Pp.  48  each.    Price,  $3  a  year. 

Some  Thoughts  on  Phthisis.  By  M.  F. 
Coomes,  M.  D.  Louisville,  Kentucky.  Pp.  7. 
Menstrual  Amblyopia.    Same  author.    Pp.  4. 

Footprints  found  at  the  Carson  State-Prison 
(Nevada).  By  II.  W.  Darkness,  M.  D.  Pp.7,  with 
Plates. 

Electric  Lighting  in  Mills.  By  C.  J.  H.  Wood- 
bury.   Pp.  7. 

W.  II.  Cory's  Artificial  Fuel,  and  Press  for 
Use  in  its  Manufacture.    Philadelphia.    Pp.  20. 

Standard  Time,  for  the  United  States.  Can- 
ada, and  Mexico.  By  E.  R.  Knorr.  Washing- 
ton :  Judd  &  Detweiler.    Pp.  16. 

Optical  Illusions  of  Motion.  By  II.  P.  Bow- 
ditch  and  G.  Stanley  Hall.    Pp.  10,  with  Plates. 

How  to  use  Florence  Knitting  Silk,  No.  4. 
Nonotuck  Silk  Co.    Pp.  62. 

The  Responsibility  of  Criminal  Lunatics. 
By  S.  S.  Herrick,  M.  D.,  Secretary  of  the  Stale 
Board  of  Health,  Louisiana.  New  Orleans.  Pp. 
7. 

Comparative  Vital  Movement  of  the  White 
and  Colored  Races  in  the  United  States.  By 
S.  S.  Herrick,  M.D.,  Louisiana.  Cambridge  :  Riv- 
erside Press.    Pp.  6. 

Miscellaneous  Literary,  Scientific,  and  His- 
torical Notes,  Queries,  and  Answers.  N.  B. 
Webster,  Editor,  Norfolk,  Virginia.  Manches- 
ter, New  Hampshire:  S.  C.  &  L.  M.  Gould. 
Double  number,  December  and  January.  Pp. 
32.    Price,  20  cents. 

Sunlight  and  Skylicht  at  High  Altitudes.  By 
Professor  S.  P.  Langley.    Pp.  398. 

The  Structure  of  the  Muscles  of  the  Lobster. 
By  M.  L.  Holbrook,  M.  D.  New  York  City. 
Pp.8. 

The  Disposal  of  the  Dead.  By  W.  n.  Curtis, 
M.  D..  Chicago,  Illinois.  Cambridge :  River- 
side Press.    Pp.  22. 

How  Congress  and  the  Public  deal  with  a 
Great  Revenue  and  Industrial  Problem.  By 
David  A.  Wells.    Pp.  16. 

The  Termination  of  the  Nerves  in  the  Liver. 
By  M.  L.  Holbrook,  M.  D.  New  York  City. 
Pp.6. 

Fifteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Trustees  of 
the  Peabody  Museum  of  American  Arehoeoloiry 
and  Ethnology.  Cambridge,  Massachusetts.  Pp. 
148. 

"Babvland."  Holiday  number.  Boston  :  D. 
Lotbrop  "&  Co.  1682.  Monthly,  50  cents  a  year. 
Illustrated. 


POPULAR  MISCELLANY. 


569 


Carnivorous  Plants.  By  W.  K.  Higley.  First 
Series.    Pp.  t>0. 

"  Wide  Awake."  Boston  :  D.  Lothrop  &  Co. 
December,  1882.     Monthly,  $2.50  a  year. 

House  Drainage  and  Sanitary  Plumbing.  By 
William  Paul  Gerhard.  New  York  :  D.  Van 
Nostrand.    Pp.  205.    Price,  50  cents. 

Poems  by  Minot  J.  Savage.  Boston  :  George 
II.  Ellis.    1882.    Pp.  247.  . 

Annual  Report  of  the  Chief-Engineer  of  .lie 
Water  Department  of  the  City  ot  Philadelphia, 
for  the  Year  1S31.  Philadelphia:  J.  Spencer 
Smith,  printer.    1882. 

Tables  for  the  Use  of  Students  and  Beginners 
in  Vegetable  Histoid.  By  D.  P.  Peuhanow, 
B.  S.    Boston:    S  E.  Cassino.     1882.    Pp.  d J. 

The  Builder's  Guide  and  Estimator's  Price- 
Book.    Bv  Fred  T.Hodgson.     New    \ork:  In-  | 
dustrial  Publication  Co.    1832.    Pp.  331. 

The  Elements  of  Forestry.  By  Franklin  B. 
Hough,  Ph.  D.  Cincinnati:  Robert  Clarke  & 
Co.    1882.    Pp.381.    $2. 

Ra<*narok:  The  Age  of  Fire  and  Gravel.  Py 
Ignatius  Donnelly.  New  York:  D.  Appleton  & 
Co.    1882.     Pp.452.    $2. 

First  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Eth- 
nology. 1879-80.  By  J.  W.  Powell,  Director. 
Washington:  Government  Priutiug-Ofnce.  1S81. 
Pp.  603.    Illustrated. 


POPULAR   MISCELLANY. 

Observations  of  tic  Recent  Transit  cf 
Venns. — Professor  C.  A.  Young  has  pub- 
lished in  the  "  New  York  Times "  a  sum- 
mary of  the  results,  so  far  as  they  can  be 
estimated  so  soon,  that  have  attended  the 
observations   of   the   transit   of  Venus   of 
December  6th  in  this  and  other  countries. 
On   the   whole,  he   says,  the   observations 
were   successful   beyond   expectation.     Al- 
though in  the  United  States  there  was  more 
or  less  cloudiness,  there  were  very  few  sta- 
tions that  did  not  succeed  in  accomplishing 
the  most  essential  portions  of  their  intended 
work.     The  first  contact,  although  it  is  the 
most  difficult  part  of  the  phenomenon  of 
which  to  get  an  accurate  observation,  and 
although  it  was  not  seen  by  more  than  half 
as  many  observers  as  the  other  three  con- 
tacts, was  noted  by  some  of  the  observers 
at  twenty  out  of  the  thirty-nine  stations  on 
the  continent  where  it  might  have  been  vis- 
ible.   An  unusually  satisfactory  observation 
was  obtained  at  Princeton.     The  other  con- 
tacts were  observed  with  more  general  suc- 
cess, the  second  at  twenty-nine,  the  third  at 
thirty-two,  and  the  fourth  at  thirty  stations. 
As  far  as  can  be  judged  from  the  present 
incomplete  calculations,  "  it  would  appear 
that  the  planet  was  about  20"  to  25"  behind 
time  in  her  orbit,  and  that  her  diameter  as- 


sumed in  the  computations  was  at  least  1", 
and  probably  1"5",  too  large.     The  duration 
of  the  transit  appears,  also,  to  have  been 
about    25"    longer    than    computed,    which 
might  indicate  either  of  two  things  or  a 
little  of  both — that  the  planet  was  1"  or  2" 
of  an  ai-c  north  of  its  computed  position,  or 
that  the  diameter  of  the  sun  is  a  trifle  larger 
than  was  assumed.     The  agreement,  how- 
ever, was  remarkably  close."     Heliometer 
observations  were  made  by  German  parties 
at  Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  Aiken,  South 
Carolina,  and  by  Professor  Waldo,  at  Yale 
College.     Measurements  of  the  sun's  diam- 
eter by  similar  or  somewhat  different  in- 
struments were  also  made  by  the  French 
at  St.  Augustine,  the  Belgians  at  San  An- 
tonio, and — with  a  wonderfully  simple  but 
accurate  apparatus — at  Cambridge  and  New 
Ilaven.     Photographs  were  taken  by  differ- 
ent methods  at  a  number  of  places,  and  with 
unexpected  success,  except  at  Washington. 
"  At  Fort  Selden  and  at  the  Lick  Observa- 
tory the  day  was  perfect,  and  the  photog- 
raphy went  on  without  a  hitch."     Micro- 
metric   observations    for    the   diameter   of 
Venus  were  made  at  fifteen  or  sixteen  sta- 
tions on  this  continent,  and  perhaps  at  near- 
ly as  many  more  foreign  stations.     The  re- 
sults are  not  yet  reduced,  but  the  indications 
correspond  with  the  conclusion,  which  was 
drawn  from  the  contacts,  that  the  planet's 
diameter  is  really  considerably  smaller  than 
has   hitherto   been   assumed.     The   photo- 
metric observations  showed  that  Venus  was 
distinctly  darker  than  the  sky  just  outside 
of  the  sun's  limb.     The  results  of  the  spec- 
troscopic observations  at  Cambridge,  South 
Iladley,    Princeton,    and    Alleghany    were 
"  purely   and    surprisingly   negative,"    and 
showed  for  the  most  part  no  conspicuous 
evidence    of    selective    absorption    by   the 
planet's   atmosphere.      The   Princeton   ob- 
servers, however,  were  so  fortunate  as  to 
find  distinct  indications  of  water-vapor,  thus 
confirming  certain  old  observations  of  Hug- 
gins.     Professor  Langlcy,  at  Alleghany,  ob- 
served a  spot  of  abnormal  brightness  in  a 
part  of  the  atmosphere  of  the  planet  where 
such  an  appearance  would  be  least  expected, 
which   may   denote   auroral   and   magnetic 
phenomena.     Professor  Harrington,  at  Ann 
Arbor,  made  out  spots  and  markings  on  the 
planet's  disk,  but  no  one  else  has  spoken  of 


57° 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


them.  In  Europe  the  weather  was  generally 
bad.  Good  observations  were  made,  how- 
ever, at  Potsdam,  Prussia.  The  reports  so 
far  received  from  the  southern  hemisphere 
are  most  gratifying ;  and,  whatever  it  may 
be  with  the  stations  yet  to  be  heard  from 
(chiefly  near  the  Straits  of  Magellan), 
''  enough  is  already  secure  to  make  it  cer- 
tain that  we  have  observations  sufficient  in 
number  and  character  to  test  the  full  value 
of  the  transit  as  a  means  of  determinimr 
the  solar  parallax."  It  must  be  several 
years,  however,  before  the  observations  can 
be  fully  reduced  and  published,  and  the 
exact  results  ascertained. 

Work  cf  the  Dearborn  Observatory. — 

The  great  equatorial  of  the  Dearborn  Ob- 
servatory, Chicago,  was  employed  during 
1SS1,  under  the  direction  of  Professor  G. 
W.  Hough,  chiefly  in  the  observation  of  the 
great  comet  of  the  year,  the  planet  Jupiter, 
the  satellites  of  Uranus,  and  difficult  double 
stars.  A  drawing  of  the  nucleus  and  en- 
velope of  the  comet,  showing  the  peculiar 
formation  of  the  head  and  surrounding  en- 
velopes, was  made  on  the  23d  of  June  by 
Professor  Colbert,  who  also  first  announced 
the  distance  of  the  comet  from  the  earth. 
In  attempting  to  reconcile  the  various  phe- 
nomena alleged  to  have  been  seen  on  the 
disk  of  Jupiter,  the  greatest  difficulty  is 
found  to  exist  in  determining  what  is  real 
and  what  is  imaginary.  Contemporaneous 
sketches  by  different  persons,  or  even  two 
by  the  same  observer,  show  such  marked 
discrepancies  that  they  are  of  but  little  use 
in  ascertaining  suspected  changes.  The 
observations  made  here  during  the  past 
three  years  confirm  the  statement  that  the 
changes  on  the  disk  of  the  planet  are  slow 
and  gradual.  The  attempted  observations 
on  the  inner  satellites  of  Uranus  were  im- 
peded by  unfavorable  night  weather.  About 
two  hundred  and  fifty  micrometer  measure- 
ments of  double  stars  were  made,  including 
nine  measurements  of  the  companions  of 
Sirius.  Sixty  difficult  double  stars,  not 
found  in  the  catalogues,  were  discovered, 
including  two  quadruple  systems  and  one 
naked-eye  star,  with  a  very  minute  com- 
panion. Mr.  S.  W.  Burnham  is  preparing 
for  publication  a  catalogue  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty-one  double  stars  discovered  at  the 


observatory  during  the  past  three  years ; 
also,  a  compilation  of  all  the  star  observa- 
tions made  by  him  during  the  same  period, 
comprising  about  twenty-five  hundred  meas- 
urements. The  observatory  is  open  to  mem- 
bers of  the  Chicago  Astronomical  Society  on 
Thursday  evenings ;  and  classes  from  the 
city  high-schools  and  elsewhere  are  occa- 
sionally admitted. 

The  Poles  of  Extreme  Cold. — There  ap- 
pear to  be  two  districts  on  the  northern  hemi- 
sphere, widely  separated  from  each  other,  in 
which  the  coldest  places  on  the  earth  are 
to  be  found.  One  is  in  Northeastern  Sibe- 
ria, the  other  in  the  American  Arctic  Archi- 
pelago. The  particular  points  within  these 
regions,  that  have  the  property  of  being 
colder  than  all  surrounding  points,  may  be 
called  the  poles  of  extreme  cold.  Their 
geographical  situation  is  not  precisely  ascer- 
tained, because  a  sufficient  number  of  ob- 
servations have  not  been  made,  but  enough 
is  known  to  make  it  safe  to  conclude  that 
the  Asiatic  pole  is  north  of  Yakutsk,  and 
the  American  pole  northwest  of  the  Parry 
Islands,  toward  Eastern  Siberia.  The 
Asiatic  pole  is  upon  the  mainland,  the 
American  pole  in  a  sea  studded  with  isl- 
ands ;  and  from  this  the  two  regions  derive 
distinct  climatic  characters.  Near  the  Si- 
berian pole,  which  lies  in  the  comparatively 
low  latitude  of  from  60°  to  70°,  the  conti- 
nental climate  is  exhibited  in  an  extremely 
cold  winter  and  a  warm  summer,  while  the 
more  maritime  climate  of  the  American 
pole,  which  lies  between  65°  and  68°  of  lati- 
tude, is  expressed  in  a  relatively  milder 
winter  and  cooler  summer.  Yakutsk  has 
hitherto  been  considered  the  coldest  place 
on  the  earth,  it  having  a  mean  temperature 
in  January  of  —  45°.  Colder  places  have 
since  been  found  that  have  a  mean  temper- 
ature for  January  as  low  as  —  55°.  They 
are  situated  in  about  latitude  67£°  north, 
near  Werkojansk,  in  Siberia.  The  cold-pole 
is  located  here  from  November  till  March  ; 
it  then  moves  in  April  and  May  toward  the 
northwest  into  the  Arctic  Ocean,  between 
the  mouth  of  the  Obi  and  Nova  Zembla,  and 
afterward  returns  to  Werkojansk.  Werko- 
jansk is  the  only  place  that  lies  within  the 
isotherm  of  —  403  during  November,  De- 
cember, January,  and  February,  or  for  four 


P  OP  ULAB  MIS  CELL  ANY. 


57i 


months ;  Yakutsk  suffers  this  mean  tem- 
perature during  December  and  January ; 
Ustjansk,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yana,  only 
during  January  ;  while  Tolstoi  Noos,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Yenisei,  lies  entirely  outside 
of  the  isotherm  of  —  40°.  The  mean  an- 
nual temperature  of  the  Siberian  cold-pole 
may  be  estimated  at  2°.  A  still  colder  place 
appears  to  have  been  found  by  M.  Klut- 
schak,  of  Lieutenant  Sehwatka's  expedition, 
at  the  Adelaide  Peninsula,  in  Cockburn  Bay, 
latitude  66°  to  68°,  where  the  temperature 
in  January,  1880,  reached  —  72° ;  in  Decem- 
ber, 1879,  and  February,  1880,  -  68° ;  and 
in  September,  October,  and  November,  1S79, 
5°,  —  3S°,  and  —  49"  respectively.  The 
mean  temperature  from  December  to  Feb- 
ruary, —  48°,  varies  but  little  from  that  of 
"Werkojansk,  and  is  from  18°  to  21°  lower 
than  had  been  previously  noticed  in  the 
American  cold  region. — Die  Natur. 

Do  House-Flies  convey  Infection  ? — Dr. 

Thomas  Taylor,  of  Washington,  has  pub- 
lished an  account  of  some  examinations  he 
has  made  into  the  capacity  of  the  common 
house-fly  to  transmit  disease  by  carrying  the 
germs  from  place  to  place.  The  question  is 
really  one  of  exceeding  importance,  for, 
"  considering  the  habits  and  habitat  of  the 
house-fly,  it  will  appear  evident  that,  should 
it  prove  to  be  a  carrier  of  poisonous  bodies, 
its  power  to  distribute  them  in  human  habi- 
tations is  greater  than  that  of  any  other 
known  insect.  Under  our  system  of  public 
travel,  the  common  house-fly  may  be  trans- 
ported from  one  end  of  the  continent  to  the 
other.  It  may  feast  to-day  in  the  markets 
of  Washington,  and  to-morrow  in  those  of 
New  York,  and  in  a  like  manner  it  may  be 
transported  from  a  hospital  for  contagious 
or  infectious  diseases  to  homes  in  the  vicin- 
ity, or  even  in  remote  localities.  It  may 
also  be  taken  from  one  hospital  to  another, 
or  from  one  ward  to  another  within  the 
same  hospital,  and  may  plant  the  germs  of 
disease  in  exposed  wounds,  or  deposit  them 
in  food,  or  liberate  them  in  the  atmosphere 
breathed  by  patients  afflicted  by  diseases  of 
a  different  class."  Millions  of  the  minute 
germs  of  putrefaction  could  be  carried  to  a 
distant  city  by  a  single  fly.  These  consid- 
erations justify  and  should  prompt  inquiry. 
Dr.  Taylor's  attention  was  called  to  the  sub- 


ject by  his  witnessing  the  sufferings  of  a 
fly  afflicted  with  anguilulce.  In  the  direct 
experiments  which  were  suggested  to  him 
by  this  observation,  the  larvae  of  flies  con- 
fined in  a  receiver  with  rust-spores  ate  the 
germs.  When  spores  were  sprinkled  on 
sugar,  the  insects  themselves  consumed  both 
spores  and  sugar ;  but  some  of  the  spores 
became  fastened  on  the  legs  of  the  flies, 
and  were  only  the  more  closely  attached  by 
the  efforts  made  to  get  rid  of  them.  They 
might,  however,  be  brushed  off  by  objects 
with  which  they  were  brought  in  contact, 
while  their  germinating  powers  would  long 
outlast  the  life  of  the  insect  itself.  Dr.  Tay- 
lor regards  it  as  evident  from  his  experi- 
ments that  flies  are  capable  of  conveying 
spores  to  plants  and  other  bodies,  but  con- 
siders that  the  fact  that  the  greater  part 
of  the  spores  were  consumed  by  the  flics  or 
their  larva?  shows  that  the  insect  may  de- 
stroy microscopic  germs  as  well  as  dissemi- 
nate them,  and  indicates  that  in  some  cases 
its  agency  in  keeping  down  their  number 
may  more  than  counterbalance  its  action  in 
contributing  to  their  dissemination. 

American  Stature. — Mr.  George  W.  Peck- 
ham,  teacher  of  biology  in  the  Milwaukee 
High  School,  has  been  making  investigations 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Wisconsin  State 
Board  of  Health  into  the  growth  of  children. 
From  examinations  and  measurements  made 
chiefly  in  the  schools  of  Milwaukee  he  has 
deduced  the  conclusion  that  the  relative  rate 
of  growth  of  the  sexes  is  such  that  the  boys 
are  taller  till  the  twelfth  year  and  heavier 
till  the  thirteenth,  after  which,  between  thir- 
teen and  fifteen  the  girls  are  both  taller  and 
heavier.  After  the  age  of  fifteen,  however, 
the  boys  exceed  the  girls  both  in  weight  and 
stature.  Girls  cease  to  grow  when  about 
seventeen  years  of  age.  Children  of  pure 
American  descent  are  taller  than  children 
of  foreign-born  parents,  but  are  generally 
lighter  in  weight  than  children  of  German 
parents.  The  children  of  Irish  parents  are 
also  taller  than  those  of  German  parents. 
Comparing  his  results  with  those  of  similar 
observations  made  in  Boston,  he  concludes 
that  school-children  in  Milwaukee  are  taller 
than  those  in  Boston,  and  the  boys  weigh 
more,  but  the  girls  of  Boston  are  slightly 
heavier  than  those  of  Milwaukee.     The  su- 


572 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


periority  in  height  of  the  Milwaukee  chil- 
dren is  ascribed  to  the  inferior  density  of 
population  and  the  existence  of  fewer  urban 
disadvantages  in  that  city  than  in  Boston  ; 
and  the  general  hypothesis  is  drawn,  from 
Mr.  Peckham's  tables,  that  the  height  of 
American-born  men  is  more  modified  by  the 
conditions  accompanying  density  than  by  all 
other  influences,  race  excepted,  urban  life 
as  compared  with  rural  life  tending  toward 
a  decrease  of  stature.  The  rate  of  growth 
of  Germans  appears  to  be  considerably  modi- 
fied by  residence  in  this  country  through  one 
generation;  and,  in  intermarriage  between 
Americans  and  Germans,  the  offspring  seem 
to  take  the  height  of  the  taller  parent. 

Use  of  the  Gummy  Secretions  of  Plants. 

— Inquiry  has  often  been  made  respecting 
the  functions  of  the  secretory  apparatus  of 
plants,  or  that  which  stores  up  special  juices, 
such  as  the  resins,  gums,  caoutchouc,  milky 
juic83,  and  the  waxes.  Sachs,  even  in  the 
last  edition  of  his  botany,  places  these  sub- 
stances among  those  the  office  of  which  in 
the  economy  of  the  plant  is  wholly  unknown. 
Because  the  secretions  in  question  have 
been  observed  to  be  poor  in  oxygen  and 
generally  unassimilable,  they  have  com- 
monly been  regarded  as  waste  matter,  use- 
less to  the  organism.  M.  de  Vries  is  of 
a  different  opinion,  and  regards  these  sub- 
stances as  a  kind  of  protective  salve,  and 
considers  them  helpful  in  the  healing  of 
wounds.  Of  the  resin  of  conifers,  he  re- 
marks that,  if  it  were  simply  a  product  of 
secretion,  the  accumulation  of  it  would  not 
cause  the  tree  to  suffer.  The  extraction  of 
resin,  however,  weakens  pines  very  consid- 
erably, and  diminishes  the  growth  of  wood 
by  about  one  third.  Accidental  wounds, 
moreover,  and  even  normal  wounds  pro- 
duced by  the  fall  of  limbs  or  by  splitting  of 
the  bark,  are  very  numerous  in  conifers. 
Whenever  a  wound  is  produced,  it  is  forth- 
with covered  over  with  a  viscous  and  thick 
mass  of  resin,  which  gradually  hardens  in 
the  air.  Among  non-resinous  plants  wounds 
become  isolated  by  means  of  a  pad  of  heal- 
ing tissue  which  sometimes  covers  the  wound 
completely  over,  but  often  too  late  to  effect 
the  purpose.  From  this  point  of  view,  M. 
de  Vrics  suggests,  the  conifers  are  superior 
in  organization  to  common  angiospermous 


trees.  The  organism  in  coniferous  trees 
seems  in  a  manner  to  have  foreseen  possi- 
ble wounds,  and  a  system  of  canals  designed 
solely  to  furnish  a  covering  for  wounds 
seems  to  have  been  differentiated  in  them. 
In  a  second  part  of  his  work,  M.  de  Vries 
treats  of  the  function  of  the  juices  analo- 
gous to  the  resins  whieh  are  found  in  other 
plants,  and  seeks  to  assimilate  to  the  resins, 
from  different  points  of  view,  the  latex,  some 
ef  the  gums,  caoutchouc,  and  waxy  matters, 
lie  shows  that  these  substances  also  exude 
for  the  occlusion  of  wounds,  even  in  herba- 
ceous plants  like  the  northern  chicories 
and  spurges,  and  cites  some  recent  experi- 
ments by  M.  Moll  in  favor  of  his  view.  It 
would,  however,  be  a  narrow  judgment  to 
conclude  with  him,  from  these  experiments, 
that  the  sole  object  of  the  secretions  is  the 
healing  of  wounds.  M.  Raumhoff,  criticis- 
ing the  work  of  M.  de  Vries,  has  shown 
that  the  considerations  on  which  his  theory 
rests  do  not  furnish  an  adequate  demonstra- 
tion of  it.  It  is  evident,  for  instance,  that 
the  purpose  of  the  lactiferous  tissues  can 
not  be  6olely  the  healing  of  wounds,  for 
these  tissues  in  the  spurges  contain  starch, 
a  substance  that  does  not  assist  in  that  of- 
fice, and  which  is  not  a  product  of  secretion. 
The  studies  of  M.  Treub  on  the  tropical 
spurges  furnish  evidence  that  one  of  the 
probable  offices  of  their  lactiferous  tissues 
is  the  conveyance  of  starch. 

Tlie  Possible  Annnal  Yield  of  a  Forest. 

— The  basis  on  which  all  sound  forest  man- 
agement depends,  says  Colonel  G.  F.  Pear- 
son, is  the  revenue  which  any  forest  can  be 
made  to  pay — that  is  to  say,  the  income 
which  it  will  produce  in  proportion  to  the 
volume  of  the  standing  trees,  or,  in  other 
words,  its  capitalized  value.  To  this  end  a 
forest  should  be  considered  as  so  much  cap- 
ital, represented  by  so  many  cubic  feet  of 
wood  ;  while  the  amount  of  wood  produced 
each  year,  by  its  growth,  represents  the  in- 
terest thereon,  and,  in  fact,  is  the  revenue 
of  the  forest.  It  is  evident  that  it  is  possi- 
ble to  cut  and  remove  every  year  a  quantity 
of  timber  equal  to  this  annual  increase  of 
wood,  without  diminishing  the  volume  of 
the  standard  crop.  The  possible  annual 
yield  of  a  forest  may  be  estimated  on  the 
basis  of  a  calculation  that  a  tree,  ten  feet  in 


POPULAR  MISCELLANY. 


573 


girth,  which  makes  a  ring  of  wood  of  only 
one  eighth  of  an  inch  in  thickness,  adds  to 
its  bulk  at  the  rate  of  rather  more  than  one 
cubic  foot  of  timber  annually  for  every  ten 
feet  of  the  length  of  its  stem ;  or,  in  other 
words,  such  a  tree,  if  its  stem  be  thirty  feet 
in  height,  will,  in  thirty  years,  have  increased 
in  bulk  by  at  least  one  hundred  feet  01  solid 
timber.  At  the  same  time,  during  these 
thirty  years,  the  young  trees  which  are 
springing  up  will  have  become  perfectly 
hardy,  and  capable  of  supporting  the  whole 
force  of  the  summer  heat  and  winter  frost. 

Marriage  Cnstoms  of  the  Kae heen. — Mr. 

R.  Gordon,  who  has  been  exploring  among 
the  sources  of  the  Irrawaddy  River,  has  given 
to  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  some  ad- 
ditional facts  concerning  the  marriage  cus- 
toms of  the  Kacheen,  the  curious  Burmese 
tribe  who  were  described  by  Lieutenant 
Kreitler  in  the  July  number  of  "  The  Popu- 
lar Science  Monthly  "  :  "  When  a  man  and 
woman  set  up  house,  the  man  has  to  give 
to  the  parents  of  the  woman  cattle,  pigs, 
gongs,  muskets,  das,  slaves,  clothes,  spears, 
and  money  ;  and  for  his  wife's  use  he  has 
to  give  coral  beads,  tameings,  jackets, 
broadcloths,  etc.,  according  to  his  circum- 
stances. After  the  gifts  the  woman  is 
brought  to  the  man's  house,  and  the  man 
has  to  feast  the  bringers  of  the  woman  with 
rice,  and  curry,  and  spirits,  and  liquors. 
To  the  elders,  also,  he  has  to  give  blue 
waist-cloths,  turbans,  das,  or  spears,  accord- 
ing to  their  degree.  The  man  then  shows 
the  woman  all  the  work  to  be  done  in  the 
house,  and  bids  her  do  the  work.  After 
having  lived  together  for  a  long  period,  if 
the  man  dies,  the  woman  can  not  marry 
any  one ;  but  the  elder  or  younger  brother 
has  to  set  up  house  with  her.  If  there  be 
no  brother,  the  deceased  man's  father  (the 
woman's  father-in-law)  takes  possession  of 
her,  and  makes  her  his  wife.  If  an  elder 
brother  dies,  the  younger  brother  takes 
over  his  wife.  If  the  father  dies,  the  son 
takes  over  his  father's  wives,  and  makes 
them  his  own,  except  his  own  mother.  If 
a  wife  dies,  the  husband  goes  to  her  parents 
and  asks  for  another  wife,  and  they  have  to 
give  him  her  elder  or  younger  sister — a 
woman  who  is  unmarried.  If  there  be  no 
sister  to  give,  they  have  to  give  a  female 


relative.  Husbands  and  wives  must  not  be 
at  enmity  with  each  other.  Divorce  is  un- 
known as  a  custom.  However  bad  hus- 
band or  wife  may  be,  they  can  not  separate, 
unless,  in  the  case  of  the  husband,  he  gives 
double  the  amount  of  what  he  originally 
gave  her,  and,  in  the  case  of  the  wife,  un- 
less she  gives  quadruple  the  amount  she 
originally  received.  If  the  man  sets  aside 
his  wife  and  takes  another,  the  head  wife 
has  the  right  to  take  possession  of  all  the 
property  of  the  younger  wife,  as  well  as  to 
sell  her.  The  young  unmarried  men  and 
women,  so  long  as  they  are  not  brothers 
and  sisters,  act  as  they  please  inside  the 
apartments  of  the  house."  The  Kacheen 
women  wear  waist-cloths  dyed  black  and 
blue,  five  hands  long  and  not  very  wide. 
The  jackets  are  close-fitting,  and  over  them 
they  have  a  looser  one  set  off  with  cowries. 
This  is  probably  full  dress.  Round  their 
waists  they  have  perforated  cowries  on  three 
or  four  hoops  of  rattan.  From  their  knees 
down  to  their  calves  they  wear  hoops  of 
rattan.  Some  women,  the  wives  of  the 
principal  men,  tattoo  their  legs  from  the 
knee  to  the  ankle. 

European  Technical  Schools. — Mr.  Ed- 
ward C.  Robins  has  presented  to  the  British 
Society  of  Arts  the  results  of  the  inquiries 
he  has  made  into  the  causes  of  the  differ- 
ences in  the  degree  in  which  different  coun- 
tries have  profited  from  technical  education. 
The  clew  is  not  found  in  differences  in  pri- 
mary education ;  but,  when  the  provisions 
made  in  foreign  colleges  for  higher  educa- 
tion are  examined,  something  will  be  found 
in  them  so  superior  to  anything  in  England 
as  to  afford  a  lesson  of  value.  The  intel- 
lectual and  social  condition  of  the  industrial 
population,  he  premises,  and  the  character 
of  the  education  it  should  receive  to  fit  the 
national  mind  to  cope  with  the  national 
progress,  can  not  be  met  by  an  extension  of 
scholastic  institutions,  based  on  the  require- 
ments of  the  middle  ages.  Yet  this  is  the 
principle  which  has  dominated  the  universi- 
ties, "  and,  until  very  lately,  no  concessions 
have  been  made  to  the  reasonable  demands 
of  progressive  civilization."  Secondary  and 
primary  education  are  left  in  no  better  con- 
dition with  reference  to  this  point.  The 
improvement  in  the  technical  education  of 


5  74 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


the  masses,  however,  which  has  begun  in 
the  board  schools,  and  is  destined  to  widen, 
will  necessitate  a  like  improvement  in  all 
the  grades  above  them.  The  English  are 
nevertheless  gaining  in  artistic  development, 
and  the  freedom  of  choice  and  the  individu- 
ality of  the  English  artist  arc  beginning  to 
tell  abroad,  and  English  taste  in  architect- 
ure and  ornamental  design  is  rapidly  sup- 
planting Continental.  It  is  to  England  that 
Germans  come  for  Christmas-cards,  original 
ornamental  pottery,  patterns  for  embroid- 
ery, etc. ;  "  and,  in  Vienna  lately,  I  could 
scarcely  buy  a  souvenir  that  was  not  adorned 
with  cuttings  from  Kate  Greenaway's  charm- 
ing crudities."  The  Royal  Commissioners 
on  Technical  Education  show  in  their  re- 
ports that,  among  the  French,  it  is  not  in 
the  technical  education  of  the  ordinary 
working-classes  that  the  differences  6ought 
are  to  be  found;  and  the  reports  of  the 
French  commissioners  reveal  a  state  similar 
to  that  prevailing  in  England,  so  far  as 
their  ordinary  workmen  are  concerned. 
Schools  of  arts  and  trades  have  been  estab- 
lished, but  their  pupils  expect  to  be  fore- 
men, not  workmen.  Apprenticeship  schools 
have  also  been  started,  with  more  prom- 
ising results.  The  best  and  most  successful 
technical  schools  are  in  Switzerland  and 
Germany,  and  conform,  as  a  rule,  to  Pro- 
fessor Ayrtoun's  definition,  that  they  are 
not  a  school  where  the  manipulation  or  rou- 
tine of  a  trade  is  taught,  but  one  where  a 
lad  receives  general  instruction  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  applied  science,  and  special  in- 
struction in  the  application  of  those  princi- 
ples to  the  particular  trade  he  is  following, 
or  which  he  is  about  to  follow.  In  them 
everything  is  taught  that  can  be  gained  at 
the  universities,  except  the  dead  languages, 
while  modern  languages  and  the  applica- 
tions of  modern  science  to  art  and  industry 
are  added,  with  such  thoroughness  that 
nearly  all  the  leading  men  of  England  have 
found  it  desirable  to  spend  some  years  in 
Germany.  In  the  Pohjtcehnikum  at  Zurich, 
Professor  Meyer  teaches  chemistry  in  a  pure- 
ly scientific  direction,  irrespective  of  any 
practical  application  ;  then  Professor  Lunge 
treats  the  chapters  which  refer  to  practical 
applications,  at  greater  length,  and  enters 
into  a  number  of  details  relating  to  various 
chemical   industries,    placing  the  technical 


side  foremost,  but  laying  the  principal  stress 
on  explaining  the  scientific  principles  un- 
derlying the  applications.  Models  of  every 
kind  of  mechanical  action  and  of  every  kind 
of  machine  are  found,  but  manual  labor  is 
excluded ;  while  the  student  in  architecture, 
for  instance,  has  to  work  out  the  strains  of 
every  floor  or  roof  or  specialty  in  construc- 
tion, and  to  delineate  the  same  in  skeleton 
diagrams  attached  to  every  plan  he  draws ; 
and  the  mechanical  draughtsman  is  not 
given  a  subject  to  copy,  but  only  the  parts 
of  a  machine,  which  he  has  himself  to  piece 
together,  thus  thoughtfully  working  out  in 
practical  draughtsmanship  the  theory  he 
has  been  taught  to  apply  constructively. 
The  highly  educated  young  men  from  these 
polyteclinilcums  finally  become  masters  when 
they  can,  but  are  not  ashamed,  till  then,  to 
act  as  foremen  of  manufactories,  etc. 

M.  RespigM  on  the  Light  of  Comets. — 

M.  Kespighi,  admitting  the  fact  that  a  part 
of  the  light  of  comets  is  due  to  the  reflec- 
tion of  solar  light,  is  of  the  opinion  that  it 
is  yet  too  soon  to  decide  that  any  part  of  it 
is  a  proper  light  due  to  the  comet's  own 
incandescence.  He  believes  that  the  dis- 
continuity of  the  comet's  spectrum,  and  the 
bright  lines  or  bands,  may  proceed  from 
light  modified  by  passing  through  the  masses 
of  vapors  or  gases,  of  which  the  cometary 
bodies  are  composed.  It  is  certain,  he  ob- 
serves, that  a  large  part  of  the  cometary 
light  comes  from  the  interior  of  the  bodies, 
and  passes  through  extensive  strata  of  va- 
pors, in  which  it  is  subjected  to  a  select- 
ive absorption  that  causes  it  to  give  lines 
different  from  the  Fiaunhofer  lines  of  the 
sun.  So  we  may  have  both  the  weak  but 
complete  spectrum  produced  by  the  light 
reflected  from  the  outer  strata  in  which  the 
absorption  has  been  insensible,  and  another 
spectrum  coming  from  the  deeper  parts, 
with  which  the  absorption  has  been  greater. 
This  view  is  confirmed  by  M.  Rcspighi's 
spectroscopic  observations  of  comet  h,  1SS1. 
The  phenomenon,  he  observes,  is  of  a  simi- 
lar nature  to  that  of  the  dark  bands  of  the 
spectrum  of  the  sun  in  the  horizon,  but  is 
greatly  exaggerated  in  the  case  of  the  comets 
by  the  enormous  volume  of  the  vapors,  the 
richness  of  their  chemical  composition,  and 
the  feebleness  of  the  light  they  reflect. 


NOTES. 


575 


IVcrvc-Vibration  as  a  Remedy. — Dr.  J. 

Mortimer-Granville  writes  in  the  "  Lancet  " 
that  enlarged  experience  in  nerve-vibration, 
as  a  means  or  method  of  treating  disease, 
has  confirmed  his  belief  in  its  value,  and 
he  has  no  longer  any  hesitation  in  recom- 
mending its  adoption  by  the  profession.  He 
has  employed  it  in  a  very  considerable 
number  of  cases,  differing  widely  in  their 
nature  and  characteristics,  and,  although  he 
has  had  many  failures — mainly,  as  he  be- 
lieves, from  errors  in  diagnosis,  and  mis 
management  in  the  application  of  the  treat- 
ment— "  the  net  result  has  been  such  as  to 
place  beyond  reasonable  question  the  fact 
that,  in  precisely  applied  mechanical  vibra- 
tion of  nerves  and  nerve-centers,  we  have 
a  means  of  eliciting  function  and  stimulat- 
ing nutrition  which  surpasses  for  directness 
and  rapidity  of  action  any  other  system  or 
method  extant."  Regarding  the  principles 
of  the  practice,  Dr.  Mortimer-Granville  be- 
lieves that,  in  the  treatment  of  neuralgia, 
percussion  acts  simply  by  interrupting  a 
morbid  series  of  vibrations  and  substituting 
for  it  another  series  which  is  not  morbid. 
Its  success  is  by  no  means  certain ;  but  it 
deserves  a  trial,  and  particularly  in  cases 
which  would  otherwise  be  treated  by  nerve- 
stretching.  The  method  is  believed  to  be 
of  the  highest  possible  value  for  the  rous- 
ing of  torpid  nerve-centers  and  eliciting 
function  from  the  several  organs  of  the 
body.  Every  organ  "  may,  in  the  absence 
of  disabling  organic  disease,  be  made  to 
perform  its  proper  function  by  exciting  the 
nerve  which  supplies  it  with  energy  by 
mechanical  vibration.  In  this  way  I  have 
seen  the  liver  unloaded,  and  what  seemed 
to  be  inveterate  torpidity  of  the  intestines 
remedied  in  a  few  successive  vibrations.  I 
have  now  under  treatment  the  case  of  a  child 
who  was  six  weeks  ago  to  all  appeai-ance 
an  idiot,  but  who  has  already  devel- 
oped so  much  cerebral  activity  and  growing 
intelligence,  under  the  influence  of  specific 
center  and  nerve-vibration,  that  I  entertain 
the  strongest  hope  of  his  ultimate  awakening, 
and  a  fair  approach  to  the  normal  state. 
A  surprising  amount  of  success  has  attended 
percussion  in  cases  of  obstinate  and  what 
was  supposed  to  be  irremediable  deafness. 
...  In  neurasthenia,  neurasthenia,  and 
even   commencing   sclerosis   of  the   spinal 


cord  with  loss  of  tendon  reflex,  the  most 
remarkable  effects  are  produced  by  apply- 
ing the  percuteur  over  the  spinous  processes 
of  the  appropriate  vertebra?." 

OMtaary. — Science,  in  California,  lost 
by  the  death  of  the  Hon.  Benjamin  B.  Red- 
ding, State  Fish  Commissioner,  in  August 
last,  one  of  its  most  active  promoters.  Mr. 
Redding  was  a  Regent  of  the  University  of 
California,  and  President  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  California  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences. He  took  great  interest  in  all  scien- 
tific work,  especially  in  the  paleontology  of 
the  Pacific  coast,  and  was  an  indefatigable 
collector  of  prehistoric  and  aboriginal  relics. 
He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Geographical 
Society  of  the  Pacific,  and  read  before  it  in 
April  last  a  paper  describing  a  visit  to  the 
Galapagos  Islands,  made  in  1850.  A  list 
of  his  contributions  to  current  literature 
since  October,  1877,  contains  the  titles  of 
more  than  eighty  papers,  nearly  all  of  which 
had  a  scientific  bearing.  No  record  is  pre- 
served of  his  previous  contributions.  His 
papers  have  been  described  as  always  full 
of  original  facts,  clearly  and  simply  ex- 
pressed. Mr.  Redding  was  fifty-eight  years 
old. 


NOTES. 

A  powerful  magnetic  storm  prevailed, 
both  in  the  United  Slates  and  England, 
shortly  after  the  middle  of  November, 
reaching  its  intensity  in  both  countries  on 
the  17th.  It  was  described  by  American 
electricians  as  unlike  any  disturbance  here- 
tofore known,  and  as  acting  upon  the  wires 
in  strong  waves,  which  produced  constant 
changes  in  the  polarity  of  the  current.  In 
England,  Mr.  Preece  pronounced  it  the 
most  terrific  storm  he  had  ever  witnessed, 
after  thirty  years  of  observation,  aud  de- 
scribed it  as  characterized,  like  the  Amer- 
ican storm,  by  alternate  waves  of  great 
strength.  The  storm  was  accompanied,  in 
both  countries,  by  brilliant  auroras  on  the 
night  of  the  17th.  French  accounts  repre- 
sent the  storm  as  equally  remarkable  on 
the  Continent. 

The  death  is  announced  of  Dr.  Franz 
Ritter  von  Kobell,  Professor  of  Mineralogy, 
and  keeper  of  the  mineralogicnl  state  col- 
lections at  Munich,  Bavaria.  He  was  sev- 
enty-nine years  old,  and  was  well  known 
through  his  numerous  mineralogical  publi- 
cations. 


576 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


M.  Melsens,  a  Belgian  physicist,  has  sug- 
gested that  objects  which  it  is  most  impor- 
tant to  protect  from  lightning,  like  powder- 
magazines,  should,  besides  being  furnished 
with  lightning-rods,  be  wholly  surrounded 
with  a  metallic  net-work.  He  rests  upon  the 
fact  that  animals  in  such  inclosures  never 
experience  any  mischievous  effects  from  dis- 
charges which  must,  under  ordinary  condi- 
tions, have  stunned  them.  A  correspondent 
of  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences  asserts 
that  trees  that  have  been  struck  by  light- 
ning have,  for  many  years  afterward,  the 
same  effect  upon  the  compass  that  magnet- 
ized bodies  have.  The  statement  needs  veri- 
fication. 

M.  G.  Le  Bon  has  called  attention  to 
two  new  and  very  effective  antiseptics,  the 
glyceroborate  of  calcium  and  the  glycerobo- 
1  ate  of  sodium.  They  are  both  very  soluble, 
odorless,  and  unpoisonous,  and  deliquesce 
rapidly  when  exposed  to  the  air.  They  are 
powerful  antiseptic  agents,  even  in  very  di- 
lute solutions.  The  calcic  salt  appears  to  be 
the  more  effective  of  the  two,  in  a  therapeu- 
tic point  of  view,  and  may  be  applied,  even 
in  strong  solution,  and  to  so  delicate  an  or- 
gan as  the  eye,  without  bad  results.  These 
halts  have  been  proved  to  be  excellent  pre- 
servers of  meat  during  a  South  American 
voyage. 

Tt  is  not  Professor  Louis  Palmieri,  as 
slated  in  our  last  number,  who  is  dead,  but 
his  nephew,  Marino  Palmieri,  Professor  of 
Physics  in  the  University  of  Naples,  and  also 
well  known  for  his  seismological  researches. 
Wc  referred  the  death  to  the  older  Pal- 
mieri through  an  error  in  the  balancing  cf 
probabilities.  The  English  journal,  "Nat- 
ure," contained  a  notice  of  the  death  of  the 
younger  Palmieri,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty- 
two  years ;  the  French  journal,  "  La  Nat- 
ure," of  about  the  same  date,  gave  the 
obituary  as  of  Luigi,  the  septenarian.  Con- 
sidering both  publications  entitled  to  an 
equal  degree  of  respect,  we  regarded  the 
probabilities  as  in  favor  of  the  death  of  the 
elder  one,  who  had  passed  the  ago  of  three- 
score and  ten. 

The  new  volume  in  the  French  edition 
of  the  "  International  Scientific  Series  "  is 
on  the  "  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants,"  by  M. 
de  Candolle.  It  appears  from  this  author's 
researches  that,  out  of  about  40,000  known 
species  of  plants,  mankind  make  use  cf 
only  about  three  hundred. 

The  Marquis  of  Nadaillac,  author  of  a 
famous  work  on  "  The  First  Men,"  has  just 
completed  a  work  on  "  Prehistoric  Ameri- 
ca," published  by  G.  Masson,  Paris,  which, 
according  to  "  La  Nature,"  is  the  first  com- 
plete work  on  America  prior  to  the  Spanish 
Conquest  that  has  been  placed  within  the 
reach  of  the  French  reading  public. 


In  "  The  Popular  Science  Monthly,"  vol. 
v,  page  198,  mention  is  made  of  an  im- 
mense Japanese  spider-crab  in  the  cabinet 
of  Rutgers  College,  New  Jersey,  which 
measures  eleven  feet  six  inches  when  ex 
tended.  It  is  the  Macroclieira  Vamperi.  It 
was  for  many  years  the  largest  specimen 
known  in  any  collection.  Since  then  one 
ten  feet  long  was  taken  to  Edinburgh.  A 
specimen  is  now  advertised  for  sale  in  Lon- 
don, which  measures  over  fifteen  feet  in 
length  !  The  strange  thing  is,  its  owner 
appears  to  be  ignorant  of  its  name. 

The  international  scries  of  stations,  for 
the  examination  of  the  polar  regions  and 
phenomena,  have  been  completed,  and  the 
designated  posts  have  all  been  occupied  by 
the  parties  representing  tne  several  states 
to  which  they  were  assigned.  The  United 
States  is  represented  at  Point  Barrow  and 
Lady  Franklin  Bay,  by  parties  under  Lieu- 
tenant Bay  and  Lieutenant  Greeley ;  Great 
Britain  and  Canada,  at  Fort  Bae  ;  Germany, 
at  Cumberland  Gulf  and  the  South  Georgian 
Islands ;  Russia,  in  Nova  Zcmbla  and  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Lena;  Austria,  at  Jan 
Mayen ;  France,  at  Cape  Horn  ;  and  Den- 
mark, Sweden,  Norway,  Finland,  and  the 
Netherlands,  at  other  points  in  the  Arctic 
regions. 

On  the  25th  of  July,  1881,  the  British 
Indian  Survey  observed  an  extraordinary 
outburst  of  solar  spots,  covering  630,000,- 
000  square  miles.  The  phenomena  were  all 
observed  within  a  period  of  thirty-seven 
minutes.  Says  "  Nature,"  "  It  is  rare  that 
so  grand  an  outburst  is  so  closely  located  in 
time." 

The  citizens  of  Montreal  have  begrm 
their  preparations  to  receive  the  British 
Association  in  18S4,  by  sending  out  circulars 
to  inform  their  invited  visitors  that  the  city 
can  take  care  of  them,  and  that  they  will 
find  their  visit  a  pleasant  one.  Among  the 
inducements  held  forth  are  easy  excursions 
to  Quebec  and  Ottawa,  and  longer  and 
pleasant  ones  to  Toronto,  Niagara  Falls, 
Boston,  New  York,  and  New  Haven,  or 
whatever  Eastern  city  the  American  Asso- 
ciation may  meet  in.  The  Government  of 
the  Dominion  is  expected  to  make  liberal 
grants  of  money  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
British  members,  the  railroads  and  steam- 
boats will  provide  excursions  to  the  Great 
Lakes  and  Chicago,  and  to  the  provinces  of 
the  Northwest  as  far  as  the  Rocky  Mount- 
ains ;  and  the  Association  is  promised  its 
usual  revenue  from  the  meeting. 

The  extreme  western  boundary  of  the 
United  States  is  in  the  Island  of  Attoo,  as 
far  beyond  San  Francisco  as  that  city  is 
from  Maine.  San  Francisco  is  thus  only 
the  half-way  station  in  the  journey  across 
our  country. 


SIR  CHARLES   WYVLLLE  THOMSON. 


THE 

POPULAR    SCIENCE 
MONTHLY. 


MAKCH,  1883. 


THE   GKOWTH  AND  EFFECT  OF  EAILWAY  CONSOLI- 
DATION. 

By  GEEEIT  L.  LANSING. 

IT  is  charged  by  the  politician,  it  is  spread  by  the  press,  and  it  is 
believed  by  the  people,  that  railroads,  being  operated  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  corporations  themselves,  are  operated  against  the  interest 
of  the  communities  ;  that  by  consolidations  and  combinations  all  com- 
petition is  removed,  and  monopolies  are  formed  which  levy  extortion- 
ate tolls,  with  no  regard  to  the  rights  or  interests  of  their  patrons. 
And  so  dangerous,  it  is  believed,  has  this  arbitrary  exercise  of  power 
become,  that  the  people  of  the  whole  country  are  invited  to  bind  them- 
selves together  into  an  "  anti-monopoly  "  league,  to  be  able  to  strike 
for  their  liberties,  and  punish  the  destroying  avarice  of  these  giant 
corporations. 

There  is  an  increasing  number  of  inquiring  minds  who  have  come 
to  look  with  distrust  upon  the  statements  of  politicians,  the  opinions 
of  the  press,  and  that  popular  judgment  which  is  based  upon  the  mis- 
information furnished  by  these.  It  is  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to 
inquire  into  these  charges  and  beliefs  and  endeavor  to  disclose  what 
truth  or  error  they  may  contain. 

The  word  monopoly  is  associated  in  the  mind  with  the  legal  and 
artificial  monopolies  of  the  last  three  centuries.  Such,  for  instance, 
as  the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  which,  having  the  entire  product 
of  the  Spice  Islands,  would  destroy  a  portion  of  the  crop  rather  than 
lower  the  price  by  bringing  the  whole  to  market.  The  workings  of 
all  these  old  monopolies  were  opposed  to  the  public  good,  as  they 
were  operated  in  the  maintenance  of  high  prices.  In  England,  under 
the  successors  of  Henry  VIII,  they  had  become  so  numerous  and 
grievous,  that  by  an  act  of  James  I,  all  monopolies  were  abolished 
vol.  xxii. — 37 


578  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

excepting  the  right  of  patents.*  To  this  has  since  been  added,  in 
England  and  America,  the  government  monopoly  of  the  postal  service. 

Yet,  all  railroads  are  monopolies  in  a  certain  sense  and  to  a  certain 
extent  ;  that  is  to  say,  they  are  without  practical  competition  be- 
tween certain  points.  The  use  of  the  word  monopoly,  however,  as 
applied  to  railroads,  should  be  qualified  by  the  word  natural.  Natural 
monopolies  are  such  because,  under  the  free  and  equal  operation  of  the 
laws  of  nature  and  of  the  nation,  they  monopolize  the  business  by  doing 
it  more  satisfactorily,  more  economically,  and  more  expeditiously,  than 
it  can  be  done  by  any  other  means.  Insomuch  as  they  fail  in  this, 
they  are  not  monopolies.  There  should  not,  then,  be  associated  with 
the  idea  of  natural  monopolies  the  old  and  well-grounded  hatred  that 
existed  against  legal  monopolies.  The  latter,  under  the  operation  of 
special  laws,  were  operated  for  the  benefit  of  the  few  ;  the  former, 
under  the  operation  of  general  laws,  are  operated  for  the  greatest  good 
of  the  greatest  number.  There  seems  no  better  illustration  of  the 
change  which  has  taken  place  in  the  meaning  of  this  term  in  the  popu- 
lar mind  than  its  present  application  to  free  competing  corporations  ; 
and  that  one,  among  the  prominent  measures  of  reform  proposed  by 
the  "  anti-monopolists,"  is  the  absolute  destruction  of  all  competition 
through  the  operation  of  the  entire  railroad  system  of  the  country  by 
a  great  government  monopoly. 

Combination  and  consolidation  being  the  spirit  of  monopoly,  are 
supposed,  in  the  public  mind,  to  be  opposed  to  the  common  good. 
But  they  contain  the  actual  substance  of  natural  monopoly,  which  is 
such  from  its  merits  and  benefits,  and  not  from  privilege. 

Consolidations  produce  responsibility  and  uniformity  in  their  serv- 
ice, economy  in  their  operations,  and  tariffs  at  minimum  rates.  These 
are  the  essential  requirements  of  the  public  good,  and  these  the  public 
constantly  receive  from  the  great  corporations.  By  the  consolidation 
of  several  branch  lines  under  a  central  management,  an  economy  is 
effected  in  all  those  expenses  of  general  supervision,  and  of  junction 
and  terminal  stations,  which,  under  the  individual  operation  of  the 
roads,  each  has  to  stand  by  itself.  This  is,  in  fact,  a  reduction  of  the 
ratio  of  expenses  to  the  amount  of  business  done,  as  it  reduces  to  a 
minimum  those  fixed  expenses  which  have  little  relation  to  the  increase 
or  decrease  of  traffic  ;  and,  as  the  consolidated  company  has  a  much 
larger  traffic  over  which  to  distribute  these  fixed  expenses  than  the 
short  line,  it  becomes  possible  for  the  former  to  make  lower  rates  and 
still  have  the  same  profit  earned  by  the  latter  on  higher  rates. 

Again,  consolidations  are  continually  being  effected  between  short 
lines  and  roads  without  any  through  connections.  On  these  the  high- 
est rates  have  always  prevailed,  because  their  traffic  has  been  always 
limited.  By  a  combination  with  other  lines  having  a  common  interest, 
and  perhaps  by  building  a  short  line  to  connect  them,  they  become 

*  Blackstone,  book  iv,  p.  159. 


BAIL  WAY  CONSOLIDATION.  579 

part  of  a  through  route  ;   and  the  addition  of  the  through  to  the  for- 
mer local  traffic  reduces  still  further  the  ratio  of  the  cost  of  service. 

This  reduction  in  the  ratio  of  the  cost  to  the  amount  of  traffic, 
which  results  more  or  less  from  all  consolidations,  secures  an  increase 
of  profits  even  with  no  change  in  the  rates  or  traffic.  Thus  far  there 
is  an  injury  to  no  one,  and  a  benefit  to  the  stockholder.  But  the  ad- 
vantages of  the  consolidation  do  not  stop  here.  It  has  made  possible 
lower  rates  with  the  same  profit  that  formerly  was  earned  with  higher 
rates.  Without  risk  of  injury  the  new  company  is  now  able  to  make 
greater  reductions  in  the  rates  on  those  local  products  of  nature  and 
of  man,  which  will  allow  them  to  reach  more  distant  markets,  or  will 
stimulate  their  development  by  enabling  them  to  sell  in  their  former 
markets  with  greater  profit.  By  this  means,  more  than  by  any  other, 
is  the  railroad  enabled  to  secure  an  increase  of  traffic  ;  and,  as  an  in- 
crease of  traffic  can  be  carried  with  only  a  fraction  of  the  relative 
increase  of  cost,  the  decrease  of  rates  increases  the  net  income. 

The  extension  of  the  same  policy  leads  to  the  highest  development, 
both  of  the  resources  of  the  country  and  the  earning  power  of  the  cor- 
poration. To  effect  the  increase  of  traffic  is  the  constant  study  and 
aim  of  the  railroad  manager  ;  and  it  is  a  self-evident  fact  that  the  in- 
crease of  traffic  can  only  be  secured  by  furthering  the  interests  of  the 
shippers.  It  is  true  that  all  railroads,  both  great  and  small,  have  the 
same  necessary  interest  in  the  prosperity  and  development  of  the  ter- 
ritory served  by  them,  and  they  all  alike  endeavor  to  increase  their 
traffic.  But  the  large  corporation,  supported  by  the  traffic  of  the  va- 
rious products  of  many  districts,  is  in  a  better  condition  to  experiment 
in  the  development  of  new  districts  and  industries.  It  frequently  af- 
fords thus  a  rate  or  service  beyond  the  point  warranted  by  the  present 
traffic,  and  is  able  to  operate  portions  of  its  system  at  a  temporary 
loss,  in  the  hope  of  a  future  gain.  With  a  small  road,  on  the  other 
hand,  depending  upon  the  present  traffic  of  a  limited  area,  its  rates 
must  be  immediately  remunerative,  and  to  meet  the  current  expenses 
there  is  frequently  required  the  practice  of  every  temporary  economy, 
even  at  the  expense  of  the  future  value  of  the  property.  The  small 
roads,  unless  the  circumstances  are  exceptional,  maintain  the  highest 
rates,  and  afford  the  poorest  service.  The  interest  of  the  great  com- 
panies in  the  development  of  the  districts  from  which  they  derive 
their  revenue  is  in  proportion  to  their  size  ;  while  their  more  eco- 
nomical management  and  extended  resources  free  them  from  the 
bonds  that  confine  the  small  local  corporations. 

That  the  advantages  accruing  from  consolidation  lead  toward  the 
adoption  of  that  policy  throughout  the  world  is  a  conspicuous  feature 
of  railroad  development  ;  and  the  facts  overwhelmingly  demonstrate 
that  the  results  as  constantly  lead  to  a  reduction  of  the  tariffs. 

The  Massachusetts  Railroad  Commissioners,  in  their  report  for 
1873  (page  80),  draw  the  following  conclusions,  after  an  examination 


580  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

of  the  experience  of  Great  Britain  upon  this  subject,  which  may  fairly 
be  taken  as  an  illustration  of  the  general  law  :  "The  evidence,"  they 
tell  us,  "  published  at  great  length  in  the  '  blue-books,'  seems  to  be 
almost  conclusive  that  positive  benefit  rather  than  injury  has  there 
resulted  from  amalgamation,  so  far  as  it  has  gone.  Not  only  have 
the  evils  anticipated  not  resulted,  but  it  would  seem  that  the  public 
has  invariably  been  better  and  more  economically  served  by  the  con- 
solidated than  by  the  independent  companies.  The  larger  companies 
employ  abler  officers,  and  seem  to  be  managed  more  on  the  system  of 
great  departments  of  commerce,  and  less  on  that  of  lines  of  stage- 
coaches ;  the  time  and  attention  of  the  officers  are  not  mainly  absorbed 
in  questions  of  corporate  hostility,  and  the  money  of  the  companies  is 
wasted  in  a  somewhat  less  degree  in  warfare  with  each  other ;  there 
is,  in  fact,  far  less  of  friction  in  the  work  of  transportation,  and  far 
more  of  system.  Finally,  as  regards  the  community  at  large,  it  is 
found  that  large  companies  can  be  held  to  a  closer  responsibility  than 
small  ones.  Their  prominence  enables  public  opinion  to  concentrate 
upon  them — they  are  more  closely  watched  and  held  to  a  stricter 
account." 

In  1872  a  committee  was  appointed  by  the  Parliament  of  Great 
Britain  to  investigate  and  report  upon  the  supposed  evil  of  railroad 
amalgamation.  From  their  report  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  Jr.,  in 
his  valuable  and  interesting  work  upon  "  The  Railroad  Problem,"  makes 
the  following  quotation  :  "  The  Northeastern  Railway  was  composed 
of  thirty-seven  once  independent  lines,  several  of  which  had  formerly 
competed  with  each  other.  Prior  to  their  consolidation  these  lines 
had,  generally  speaking,  charged  high  rates,  and  they  had  been  able  to 
pay  but  small  dividends.  Now,  the  Northeastern  is  the  most  com- 
plete monopoly  in  the  United  Kingdom  ;  from  the  Tyne  to  the  Hum- 
ber  it  holds  the  whole  country  to  itself,  and  it  charges  the  lowest  rates 
and  pays  the  highest  dividends  of  all  the  great  English  companies. 
It  was  not  vexed  by  litigation  ;  and  while  numerous  complaints  were 
heard  from  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire,  where  railroad  competition 
exists,  no  one  has  appeared  before  the  committee  to  prefer  any  com- 
plaint against  the  Northeastern." 

Mr.  Adams,  in  his  comments  upon  the  views  and  statements  of  this 
and  other  parliamentary  committees  appointed  for  similar  purposes, 
concludes  as  follows  :  "  The  clearer  political  observers  have  come  to 
realize  at  last  that  concentration  brings  with  it  an  increased  sense  of 
responsibility.  The  larger  the  railroad  corporation,  the  more  cautious 
is  its  policy.  As  a  result,  therefore,  of  forty  years  of  experiment  and 
agitation,  Great  Britain  has  on  this  head  come  back  very  nearly  to 
its  point  of  commencement.  It  has  settled  down  on  the  doctrine  of 
laissezfaire"  (page  94). 

If  the  facts  were  noticed,  the  American  public  could  not  long  re- 
sist the  same  conclusion  upon  this  subject  that  has  been  reached  in 


BAIL  WAY   CONSOLIDATION-.  58i 

England.  In  commenting  upon  the  favorable  result  of  railway  con- 
solidation in  Great  Britain,  the  chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  in 
his  report  upon  the  "Internal  Commerce  of  the  United  States  for 
1881 "  (page  35),  says  :  "  A  similar  result  has  followed  railroad  con- 
solidations in  the  United  States.  It  has  heretofore  been  shown  that 
the  average  of  all  the  rates  charged  on  fifteen  leading  railroads  of  the 
country,  including  those  of  the  great  East  and  West  trunk-lines,  and 
the  principal  railroads  west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  engaged  in 
traffic  betAveen  the  Western  and  Northwestern  States  and  the  Atlantic 
sea-board,  has  decreased  39*45  per  cent  since  1870,  this  reduction  in 
railroad  freight  charges  having  been  more  than  three  times  as  great 
as  the  average  reduction  during  the  same  period  in  the  prices  of 
twenty-two  of  the  leading  articles  of  commerce." 

This  refers  to  those  great  trunk-lines  against  which  there  is  the 
most  frequent  charge  of  monopoly,  and  upon  which,  singularly  enough, 
there  are  the  lowest  average  rates  charged  by  any  railroad  on  the  earth. 

Yet  the  objection  to  using  these  lines  as  an  illustration  of  low  rates 
voluntarily  made  by  the  companies  with  the  object  of  increasing  their 
traffic  may  be  made  with  some  appearance  of  fairness,  as  they  are 
largely  employed  in  moving  the  enormous  products  of  the  Western 
States  to  the  sea-board,  and  the  rates  upon  this  portion  of  their  traffic 
are  controlled  by  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Erie  Canal,  and  in  part  also, 
perhaps,  by  competition  with  one  another.  We  may  find  an  illustra- 
tion, to  which  no  objection  of  this  kind  can  be  raised,  in  the  great 
California  corporation. 

The  Central  Pacific  Railroad  Company  owns,  or  controls,  with  a 
few  exceptions,  all  the  railroads  in  California,  and  the  western  termini 
of  three  transcontinental  lines.  In  an  address  to  the  people,  by  the 
National  Anti-Monopoly  League  (page  15),  the  condition  of  railroad 
competition  is  stated  here  as  follows  :  "  Monopoly  is  growing  in  all 
the  States.  It  has  completely  subjugated  only  one.  In  California  it 
has  ripened  its  fruit.  There,  Monopoly  is  king.  There,  a  few  men 
control  steam-transportation.  They  have  annihilated  competition." 
This  language  has  certainly  the  merit  of  being  vigorous,  and  is  well 
calculated  to  influence  its  hearers  by  its  sound.  "  Subjugated,"  "  king," 
and  "  monopoly,"  are  words  which  in  themselves  excite  a  feeling  of 
rebellion  in  the  breast  of  a  freeman  ;  but,  like  many  other  sounding 
things,  they  are  empty.  This  great  system  of  roads,  having  crossed 
the  trackless  wastes  and  pierced  the  mountain-ranges,  has  brought  a 
thriving  population  to  thousands  of  square  miles  of  land  which  there- 
tofore were  uninhabitable  and  without  benefit  to  humanity.  Since  the 
first  mile  of  track  was  operated  by  the  owners  of  this  company,  the 
surplus  earnings  have  been  reinvested  in  extending  its  lines,  and  so 
increasing  its  benefits  to  the  community. 

Now  let  us  see  the  effect  of  this  absence  of  competition  by  other 
roads.     Let  us  see  if,  as  the  consolidations  and  extensions  have  pro- 


58z  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

gressed,  the  rates  have  been  raised,  so  that  "there  is  not  a  producer 
that  does  not  pay  heavier  tribute  than  conquered  people  ever  paid  their 
conquerors."*  This  is  the  common  expectation  and  belief.  I  think 
there  are  many  who  will  be  disappointed  to  find  that  it  is  not  true. 

The  Central  Pacific  charged,  on  its  freight  traffic  in  1872,  the  av- 
erage rate  of  2-96  cents  ;  f  in  1881  this  had  been  reduced  to  2*16  cents  ;  J 
an  average  decrease  in  the  past  ten  years  of  eight  tenths  of  a  cent  on 
each  ton  hauled  one  mile.  This  is  a  reduction  upon  that  local  traffic 
which  is  commonly  supposed  to  be  beyond  the  control  of  any  compe- 
tition, as  well  as  upon  through  traffic.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
the  increase  of  local  tonnage  for  the  period  was  216  per  cent,  while 
the  increase  of  receipts  from  the  same  source  was  but  162  per  cent.*  Had 
the  average  rate  of  1872  been  maintained  by  the  company  on  its  freight 
traffic  for  1881,  the  receipts  would  have  been  $5,866,287  ||  more  in  the 
latter  year  than  they  actually  were.  During  this  period  of  ten  years, 
in  which  there  has  been  a  continuous  reduction  of  rates,  the  compe- 
tition by  water  has  remained  without  change,  and  competition  by  rail 
has  not  existed  ;  yet,  under  the  control  of  the  natural  laws  of  trade 
there  has  been  such  a  reduction  in  the  rates  on  frieght  that  it  now 
amounts  to  the  annual  sum  of  over  five  and  three  quarter  million  dol- 
lars. This  additional  amount  of  earnings  would  have  enabled  the  rail- 
road company  to  pay  a  dividend,  in  1881,  of  sixteen  per  cent,  instead 
of  the  six  per  cent  which  was  paid. 

It  should  be  observed,  also,  that  the  miles  of  road  operated  during 
the  period  under  consideration  have  been  increased  from  1,158  in 
1872  to  2,707  in  1881, A  a  greater  portion  of  which  increase  has  been 
upon  roads  built  through  places  almost  entirely  without  inhabitants, 
and  which,  as  a  consequence,  for  the  first  few  years  could  furnish  but 
a  limited  traffic.  It  will  at  once  be  seen  that  the  rates  necessary,  under 
such  conditions,  to  pay  the  cost  of  service,  must  have  been  much  higher 
than  in  districts  where  a  population  and  trade  already  existed.  The 
traffic  on  these  newer  portions  of  the  road  having  been  carried  at  rates 
which  were  justly,  because  necessarily,  higher  than  over  the  older 
portion  of  the  line,  has  had  the  effect  of  making  the  average  rate  of 
the  whole,  in  1881,  much  higher  than  it  would  have  been  had  no  new 
roads  been  built. 

A  fair  consideration  of  these  facts  must,  it  seems  to  me,  lead  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  has  been  as  great  a  reduction  in  the  rates  of  this 
Western  system  of  roads  as  has  taken  place  in  the  same  time  upon  any 
of  the  Eastern  lines. 

It  is  difficult  to  make  any  comparison  between  the  operations  of 

*  "Anti-Monopoly  Address,"  p.  15. 

f  "  Central  Pacific  Railroad  Annual  Report,"  1872. 
%  Poor's  "Manual,"  1882,  p.  868. 

*  Computed  from  Annual  Reports  of  the  Company  for  18*72  and  1881. 

1  Poor's " Manual,"  1882,  p.  868.  A  "Annual  Report,"  1881,  p.  16. 


RAIL  WA  Y   CONS  OLID  A  TION 


583 


two  systems  having  so  few  items  of  resemblance  as  the  California  com- 
pany and  the  Eastern  lines.  Yet,  if  such  comparisons  are  made,  with 
the  aim  only  of  discovering  the  truth,  and  both  systems  are  placed 
upon  terms  as  nearly  equal  as  circumstances  will  admit,  there  will  ap- 
pear as  a  result  no  contrast  between  the  lines  where  there  is  the  most 
complete  competition  and  those  which  are  popularly  supposed  to  be 
controlled  only  by  their  own  will. 

The  rates  charged  by  the  Pacific  coast  roads  are,  on  the  average, 
considerably  higher  than  those  of  the  great  trunk-lines  on  the  older 
and  more  thickly  populated  side  of  the  continent.  This  statement 
presents  a  natural  condition,  for  the  circumstances  are  necessarily  so 
different  in  regard  to  the  volume  of  traffic  that  almost  as  great  a  dif- 
ference is  necessary  in  rates.  The  necessity  of  the  difference  compels 
the  acknowledgment  of  its  justice.  It  is  obvious  that,  where  a  stated 
traffic  will  pay  the  expenses  of  operating  the  road  and  a  fair  rate  of 
interest  on  the  property,  half  of  the  amount  of  traffic  must  pay  nearly 
twice  the  rates  in  order  to  produce  the  same  result.  Yet,  if  the  popu- 
lar belief  is  echoed  by  the  press  of  California,  the  rates  charged  by  the 
Central  Pacific  system  are  considered  unreasonably  high,  because  they 
are  higher  than  the  charges  of  the  Eastern  trunk-lines.  The  inequality 
and  injustice  of  this  basis  of  comparison  are  demonstrated  by  its  appli- 
cation. 

The  lowest  average  rate  in  the  United  States  has  been  reached  upon 
those  lines  running  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia  and  the  West. 
The  charges  by  these  lines  average  less  than  one  cent  upon  each  ton  of 
freight  hauled  one  mile.  Poor's  "  Manual "  for  1881  (pp.  41-47)  gives 
tables  of  the  rates  and  cost  of  service  of  the  New  York  Central,  the  Erie, 
the  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Pittsburg,  Fort  Wayne  and  Chicago  Rail- 
roads, from  which  I  have  made  the  following  comparative  statement  : 

Comparative  Statement  of  Freight  Earnings,  Expenses,  and  Traffic  for  the 

Year  1880. 


New  York 

Central, 
1,01S  miles. 

Erie, 
1,010  miles. 

Pennsylvania, 
1,120  miles. 

Pittsburg. 
Fort  Wayne, 
and  Chicago, 

463  miles. 

Central 

Pacific, 

2,467  miles.2 

Freight  earn'gs,  gross 
Freight  expenses .... 

$22,199,966 
13,670,884 

$8,529,082 
8,378 

$14,391,115 
9,188,297 

$5,202,818 
5,151 

$20,234,046 
10,892,368 

$7,359,452 
4,069,097 

$13,252,730! 
5,976,448' 

Freight  earnings,  net. 

Freight  earnings,  per 

mile  of  road,  net. . 

$9,341,678 
8,340 

$3,290,355 
7,122 

$7,276,282' 
2,949 

Tons  freight  carried . 
Tons  carried  1  mile. . 
Tons    carried    over 
each  mile  of  road. 
Average  rate,  cents.. 

10,533,038 
2,525,139,145 

2,480,490 

.aa. 

1 11 11 

8,715,892 
1,721,112,095 

1,704,070 

-81. 

1  nil 

15,364,788 
2,298,317,323 

2,052,070 

.'.'  8  - 
1  00 

3,865,675 
806,257,399 

1,722,722 

.91. 
1  00 

2,140,8793 
565,063,7683 

229,050 

0.3  i-  3 

•^1  0|) 

1  Report  of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  to  the  State  Board  of  Railroad  Commissioners, 
California,  1880  (unpublished). 

2  "  Central  Pacific  Railroad  Annual  Report,"  1881,  p.  14. 

3  Poor's  "Manual,"  1881,  p.  800. 


584  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

The  most  conspicuous  difference  here  shown  is  that  between  the 
tonnage  of  the  Central  Pacific  and  the  Eastern  roads.  This  must  be 
considered  in  noticing  the  rates  charged  ;  for  the  revenue  depends  not 
so  much  upon  what  rate  is  charged  as  what  it  is  charged  upon.  The 
average  rate  of  these  Eastern  roads  is  -£fo  of  a  cent,  while  the  Central 
Pacific  charge  is  2^-  cents.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Eastern  lines 
hauled  upon  an  average,  to  each  mile  of  road,  1,989,851  tons  ;  which 
is  a  rather  strong  contrast  to  the  229,050  tons  hauled  by  the  Central 
Pacific.  While  the  average  rate  of  the  Western  company  is  two  and 
a  half  times  greater,  the  tonnage  is  eight  and  a  half  times  less  than  on 
the  Eastern  lines.  The  difference  in  the  rates  thus  seems  to  be  more 
than  counterbalanced  by  the  great  disparity  shown  in  the  traffic. 

Among  other  inequalities  which  command  consideration  in  any 
comparison  of  the  rates  of  different  roads  is,  in  addition  to  the  amount 
of  traffic,  the  miles  of  road  on  which  the  traffic  is  carried.  There  must 
clearly  be  a  great  difference  between  the  expenses  of  two  lines,  the  one 
having  100  miles  of  road  with  a  traffic  of  10,000,000  tons,  the  other 
having  1,000  miles  of  road  with  the  same  amount  of  tonnage — sup- 
posing, of  course,  that  the  average  distance  each  ton  is  hauled  to  be 
the  same  in  either  case.  Many  of  the  expenses,  in  connection  with 
stations,  etc.,  are  nearly  ten  times  as  great  in  the  latter  as  in  the 
former  case,  while  all  the  expenses  of  maintenance  and  operation  are 
much  greater  with  the  longer  than  with  the  shorter  line. 

There  is,  of  course,  added  to  this,  the  consideration  of  the  value 
of  the  property.  A  line,  for  instance,  of  100  miles,  representing 
$5,000,000  of  value,  would  make,  other  things  being  equal,  ten  times 
the  profit  of  a  road  of  1,000  miles,  representing  $50,000,000  of  value. 
An  equal  amount  of  traffic  upon  roads  between  which  such  disparity 
exists  places  the  shorter  road  at  a  great  advantage  in  any  comparison 
— it  would  make  a  larger  net  profit,  though  having  a  smaller  capital. 

Any  approximation  to  an  equality  of  conditions  must  thus  recog- 
nize, in  addition  to  the  amount  of  traffic,  the  miles  of  road  operated. 
Taking  this  into  consideration,  we  find  further  that  the  average  net 
earnings  per  mile  of  road  operated,  from  the  freight  traffic  on  the 
above  Eastern  lines,  is  $7,285  ;  and  upon  the  Central  Pacific  it  is  but 
$2,949.  We  should  consider,  on  the  other  hand,  that,  although  the 
Central  Pacific  system  of  roads  twice  crosses  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  has 
many  expensive  tunnels  and  snow  galleries  that  cost  $40,000  a  mile, 
yet  the  Eastern  lines  represent  more  value,  as  a  portion  of  each  road 
has  double  tracks,  and  the  New  York  Central,  for  a  distance  of  286 
miles,  has  even  four  parallel  tracks.*  Fully  considering  these  differ- 
ences, however,  there  still  appears  no  such  difference  in  the  values  as 
exists  in  the  net  earnings.  The  conclusion,  therefore,  seems  fully 
justified,  that,  although  the  rates  on  the  Central  Pacific  are  greater, 
the  net  receipts  are  less,  than  on  the  Eastern  lines  ;  and  the  difference 

*  "  Report  of  the  New  York  Central  Railroad  to  State  Engineer,"  1880,  p.  9. 


RAILWAY  CONSOLIDATION.  585 

in  rates  is  a  necessary  and  natural  result  of  the  difference  in  the  length 
of  lines  and  the  amount  of  traffic. 

The  differences,  which  appear  in  the  above  figures,  between  the 
lines  mentioned,  in  the  net  earnings  per  mile  of  road  operated,  and  in 
the  tons  of  freight  carried  over  each  mile  of  road,  will  be  more  clearly 
realized  with  the  aid  of  the  following  graphic  method  of  comparative 
lines,  which  has  been  so  well  employed  by  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson  : 

Net  Earnings  from  Freight,  per  Mile  of  Road. 

N.  Y.  Cent..  $8,378  . 

Pennsylvania  8,340  — — 

P.,F.W.&C.  7,122  ■ 

Erie 5,154  

Cent.  Pacific.  2,949  

Tons  of  Freight  carried  over  each  3Iile  of  Road. 

N.  Y.  Cent. .  2,480,490 

Penn 2,052,070 

P.,F.W.&C.  1,722,772 

Erie 1,704,070 

Cent.  Pacific.     229,050 

It  would  be  easy  to  continue  the  comparison  further,  and  show 
that  the  rates  charged  on  the  Eastern  lines — whether  fair  or  not  upon 
them — would  be  unfair  if  applied  to  the  Central  Pacific  ;  for,  applied 
to  the  traffic  of  the  latter,  they  would  fall  far  short  of  paying  the 
necessary  expense  of  the  service,  while  on  the  former  roads  they  pay 
not  only  the  expenses,  but  afford  also  a  profit.  But  the  foregoing 
facts,  it  seems  to  me,  sufficiently  show  that  there  can  be  no  satisfac- 
tory nor  fair  comparison  between  the  rates  on  different  roads,  unless 
the  amount  of  traffic  and  the  length  of  line  have  in  each  case  some 
approximation.  Perhaps  the  most  equitable  test,  by  any  comparison 
which  it  is  possible  to  furnish  of  the  charge  of  high  rates  made  against 
the  Central  Pacific  Company,  is  supplied  by  the  railroads  of  Massa- 
chusetts. 

Here,  from  the  first  railroad  built  in  the  United  States,  in  1826,  to 
the  present  time,  there  has  been  a  continuous  extension  of  lines  by 
various  companies  in  all  directions,  till  now,  according  to  Mr.  Atkin- 
son, the  Commonwealth  has  more  miles  of  railroad  in  proportion  to  its 
territory  than  exists  in  any  other  State  or  country  in  the  world.  These 
roads  represent  sixty-four  independent  corporations.*  Here,  then,  is 
the  greatest  contrast  to  be  found  between  any  two  systems  in  regard 
to  consolidation  and  that  competition  of  parallel  roads  which  is  sup- 
posed to  be  the  chief  regulator  of  rates.  There  ought,  therefore,  ac- 
cording to  the  popular  belief  in  these  matters,  to  be  a  contrast  equally 
as  great  between  the  rates  of  the  different  systems.  Here,  again,  we 
shall  find  the  popular  belief  to  be  in  error. 

The  following  table  shows  the  freight  earnings,  traffic,  and  rates, 
*  "Massachusetts  Pieport,"  1879,  p.  2. 


586 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


and  also  the  miles  of  road  operated,  by  the  Central  Pacific  system,  com- 
pared with  the  Massachusetts  roads  : 

Central  Pacific. 


YEAES. 

Miles. 

Earnings. 

Tons  one  mile. 

Kate. 

Cents. 

1878 

2,119 

$10,802,276 

392,949,592 

2-751 

1879 

2,319 

10,934,574 

449,580,783 

2  432 

1880 

2,467 

13,245,857 

565,063,768 

2-343 

1SS1 

2,707 

15,842,139 

733,285,889 

2  164 

Average . .  . 

2,403 

12,706,211 

535,220,080 

2-371 

Massachusetts. 


TEAKS. 

Miles. 

Earnings. 

Tons  one  mile. 

Kate. 

Cents. 

1873 

2,365 

$16,927,594 

615,769,300 

2-755 

1874 

2,418 

15,771,689 

597,085,805 

2-645 

1875 

2,459 

14,225,535 

579,868,983 

2-456 

1876 

2,479 

13,644,278 

628,577,176 

2  17" 

Average . . . 

2,430 

15,142,274 

605,325,316 

2-501 

1  Poor's  "Manual,"  1879,  p.  932. 

2  "Central  Pacific  Annual  Report,''  1879,  pp.  20,  30.  I  find,  upon  examination  and 
inquiry,  that  Poor's  "  Manual "  for  this  year  repeats  the  tonnage  and  rates  of  the  pre- 
vious vear,  in  error. 

3  Poor's  "Manual,"  1881,  p.  800. 

4  Poor's  "Manual,"  1882,  p.  868.  Poor  states  the  rate  for  1881  at  2-14  cents,  which 
appears  to  be  the  result  of  an  error  in  calculation.  I  take  2'16  cents,  as  calculated  from 
data  given. 

5  "Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Railroad  Commissioners,"  1875,  pp.  126,  127. 

6  Ibid.,  1877,  pp.  188,  189. 

.  7  The  rate  given  in  each  case  is  the  average  per  ton  per  mile  for  all  freights.     (See 
"  Massachusetts  Report,"  1S77,  p.  101.) 

To  arrive  at  the  latest  results  the  figures  taken  are  for  the  last  four 
years  of  the  Central  Pacific,  but,  in  order  to  make  an  equitable  com- 
parison in  the  volume  of  the  tonnage,  it  is  necessary  to  take  the  Mas- 
sachusetts roads  for  a  few  years  previously.  In  any  corresponding 
year  the  Massachusetts  roads  have  a  considerably  larger  tonnage  than 
the  Central  Pacific  ;  thus,  as  has  been  shown,  making  any  fair  compari- 
son impossible.  Even  in  the  years  given  they  have  an  annual  average 
of  thirteen  per  cent  more  tonnage  than  the  Central  Pacific,  placing  the 
latter  system  to  that  amount  of  disadvantage  in  the  comparison. 

On  the  other  hand,  however,  is  the  consideration  that  the  prices  of 
material  and  labor  necessary  in  the  operation  of  railroads  have  been 
considerably  reduced  during  the  periods  shown  in  the  above  table, 
but,  in  California,  they  have  always  been  much  higher  than  in  the  At- 
lantic States,  and  were  probably  higher  in  the  former  State  in  1881 
than  they  were  in  Massachusetts  in  1876.  The  relative  conditions 
seem,  upon  the  whole,  as  fair  as  it  is  possible  to  make  them  between 
any  two  systems. 

As  a  result,  the  following  more  important  comparisons  may  be 
noticed  :   The  average  mileage  of  road  operated  is  about  the  same  in 


RAILWAY  CONSOLIDATION. 


537 


each  case.  While,  on  the  Massachusetts  roads,  the  average  annual  ton- 
nage is  thirteen  per  cent  more,  the  earnings  are  nineteen  per  cent  more, 
and  the  average  difference  in  rates  is  Ty„  of  a  cent  more  than  on  the 
Central  Pacific  system. 

This  brings  us  to  the  unexpected  conclusion  that,  had  the  rates 
charged  by  the  Central  Pacific  prevailed  with  the  Massachusetts  roads, 
it  would  have  effected  an  annual  saving  to  that  State  of  $786,923,  and 
this,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  through,  freight,  upon  which 
the  lowest  rates  always  prevail,  was  fifty-eight  per  cent  of  the  whole 
traffic  in  Massachusetts,*  while  upon  the  Central  Pacific  f  it  was  but 
thirty-nine  per  cent. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  bring  the  affairs  of  this  great  corporation 
home  to  its  own  State,  and  see  how  it  compares  there  with  other  roads 
which  are  independent  of  it. 

In  California,  in  1878  \  (the  last  year  for  which  statistics  have 
been  published),  there  were  1,170  miles  of  road,  of  which  844  miles 
were  controlled  by  the  Central  Pacific,  and  326  miles  were  of  small 
roads,  none  of  which  were  of  sufficient  magnitude  to  create  envy  or 
gain  the  appellation  of  monopoly.  The  average  rates  of  eleven  of 
these  shorter  roads,  representing  248  miles,  are  stated  by  the  State 
Commissioner  of  Transportation,  from  whose  report  I  take  the  follow- 
ing figures  : 

Table  of  Rates  on  Railroads  not  controlled  by  the  Central  Pacific  Rail- 
road Company,  reported  by  the  Commissioner  of  Transportation 
of  Calif ornia,  for  the  Year  1878. 


Miles  of 

road 
operated. 

Table  II. 


6- 

26 

50 

5 

33 

106 

24 

29 

4 

22 

64 

10 

67 

21 

16 

9 

7 

33 

247-87 


NAME  OF  KOAD. 


Black  Diamond  Coal  Company 

California  Northern 

Pittsburg 

San  Francisco  and  Northern  Pacific 

Vaca  Valley  and  Clear  Lake 

Mendocino 

Nevada  County  Narrow-Gauge 

San  Luis  Obispo  and  Santa  Maria  Valley. 

Santa  Cruz 

Santa  Cruz  and  Felton 

Visalia 


AVERAGE   BATE. 


Freight, 
per  ton. 


Per 

passenger. 


Table  XV. 


Cents. 


Total  miles. 

Average  rates 


33 
5 
9 

7 
7 
16 
15 
9 
8 


33 

86 


87 
89 


19 


12-46 


Cents. 


8 

7 

3 
8 

S 
8 
7 

10 


33 

50 
91 


14 
50 


G-82 


1  For  the  Visalia  Railroad,  the  average  rate  for  freight  stated  in  the  report  of 
the  commissioner  is  li  cent.  This,  upon  examination,  proves  to  be  an  error.  In  the 
same  report,  p.  183,  the  highest  rate  is  stated  at  68/,-  cents,  the  lowest  at  2  cents,  and 
the  average  li  cent.      This  is,  of  course,  impossible.     In  the  report  of  the  previous 

*  "  Massachusetts  Reports."  f  "  Central  Pacific  Railroad  Annual  Reports." 

\  Report  of  Commissioner  of  Transportation,  Table  II. 


588  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

commissioners,  for  June  30,  1876,  p.  132,  the  highest  rate  is  stated  at  68  ft-  cents,  and 
the  lowest  at  6-ft-  cent.  I  have,  therefore,  omitted  the  rate  given  of  If  cent  from  the 
above  table. 

As  these  short  lines  are  supported  entirely  by  local  traffic,  a 
proper  comparison  of  their  rates  with  those  of  the  Central  Pacific 
should  consider  only  the  local  rates  of  the  latter.  The  commissioner, 
in  the  same  table,  furnishes  us  with  these,  so  that  we  are  enabled  to 
make  the  following  comparison  : 

The  average  charge  per  passenger  per  mile  was,  on  the  short  lines, 
^ttht  cents  ;  on  the  Central  Pacific  (for  local  only),  2T8^-  cents.  The 
average  charge  per  ton  of  freight  per  mile  was,  on  the  short  lines 
i^roV  cents  ;  a*d  on  the  Central  Pacific — for  local  only — 3^^-  cents. 

Here,  again,  the  facts  show  that  this  great  California  corporation, 
which  is  charged  by  the  Anti-Monopoly  League  with  constant  and 
destroying  extortion,  has  much  lower  average  rates  than  these  smaller 
companies  which  are  not  conspicuous  enough  in  size  or  wealth  to  draw 
the  attention  of  the  press  or  the  attacks  of  politicians. 

The  tendency  of  railroad  ownership  and  management  has  from  the 
beginning  been  toward  amalgamation.  This  is  apparent  to  all,  and 
is  popularly  termed  the  growth  of  monopoly.  The  facts  that  have 
herein  been  presented  all  tend  to  illustrate  the  truth  that  this  amalga- 
mation has  been  accompanied  by  as  constant  a  reduction  of  rates. 
The  so-called  "  monopoly  "  is  thus  shown  to  be  exactly  the  opposite 
of  those  privileged  corporations  which,  in  the  past  centuries,  have 
given  the  word  its  evil  significance  :  for,  without  any  special  or  ex- 
clusive privilege,  the  railroad  is  in  itself  an  institution  which  naturally 
secures  whatever  monopoly  it  has  of  the  business  of  transportation 
by  the  superior  advantages  and  cheapness  which  it  affords.  With  the 
reduction  of  rates,  therefore,  the  "  monopoly  "  must  increase  ;  for  the 
reduction  of  rates  means  an  increase  of  traffic. 

The  reduction  of  rates,  however  much  it  may  be  influenced  by  the 
competition  of  parallel  lines,  is  absolutely  controlled  by  the  operation 
of  those  great  natural  laws  which  govern  all  commercial  transactions. 
These  laws  are  summed  up  in  the  statement,  made  some  years  since  by 
the  President  of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  that  "  the  in- 
terests of  the  railroad  and  the  community  are  identical."  The  pros- 
perity of  the  former  is  absolutely  dependent  upon  the  prosperity  of 
the  latter  ;  and  the  development  of  the  industries  and  the  increase  of 
the  products  of  the  communities  depend  upon  cheap  transportation, 
perhaps  more  than  upon  any  single  thing.  It  becomes,  therefore, 
not  only  the  interest  of  the  railroads  to  furnish  cheap  transportation, 
but  they  are  led  also  to  the  same  action  in  their  efforts  to  increase 
their  net  income.  As  the  ratio  of  expenses  decreases  with  the  increase 
of  traffic,  a  reduction  of  rates  which  secures  an  increase  of  traffic  thus 
produces  an  increase  of  net  profit.  Consolidations,  by  reducing  the 
ratio  of  expenses,  make  possible  the  greater  reduction  of  rates  ;  and 


QUEER  PHASES    OF  ANIMAL  LIFE.  589 

great  corporations,  having  their  interest  connected  with  wider  and 
more  extended  territory,  have  broader  views  in  their  management, 
and  are  guided  by  policies  which  tend  more  to  the  healthful  and  per- 
manent development  of  their  properties  and  the  territories  which  they 
•depend  upon  for  their  revenue.  The  facts,  in  America  as  well  as  in 
Europe,  fully  confirm  the  statement  of  the  Parliamentary  Committee 
of  Great  Britain,  that  amalgamations  result  in  furnishing  better  serv- 
ice, lower  rates,  and  higher  dividends — a  benefit  to  all  alike. 

In  the  popular  mind,  the  solution  of  the  railroad  problem  is  based 
upon  the  fundamental  misconception  that  the  so-called  railroad  "  mo- 
nopolies "  raise  the  tariffs  at  their  pleasure,  are  controlled  only  by  their 
own  wills,  and  so,  influenced  alone  by  selfish  interests,  they  maintain 
unreasonably  high  or  extortionate  rates.  Yet,  it  will  always  be  found 
that,  in  seeking  to  advance  their  own  interests,  they  are  absolutely 
controlled  by  those  general  economic  laws  through  the  operation  of 
which  every  one  is  seeking  his  own  good,  under  terms  as  nearly  equal 
as  is  allowed  by  nature  itself  ;  and  their  interests  can  only  be  advanced 
by  advancing  also  the  interests  of  their  patrons.  Freight  will  only  be 
shipped  when  its  transportation  results  in  a  profit  to  the  shipper.  The 
greater  this  profit,  or  the  more  it  is  extended  to  all  articles  of  trade, 
the  greater  is  the  traffic  ;  and  the  greater  the  traffic  of  the  railroads, 
the  greater  is  their  profit.  Under  the  operation  of  natural  laws,  each, 
in  seeking  its  own  interests,  must  advance  also  the  interests  of  the 
other  ;  this  result  can  only  be  changed  when  the  laws  of  nature  are 
suspended  by  the  legislation  of  man. 

The  railroad,  heretofore  generally  untrammeled  by  restrictive  legis- 
lation, has  been  productive  of  more  beneficent  results  to  the  country 
at  large  than  the  most  sanguine  enthusiast  of  a  generation  ago  would 
have  dreamed.  As  it  is  a  human  institution,  it  has  contained  also  the 
faults  common  to  humanity.  These,  experience  and  interest  will  in 
time  reduce  to  a  minimum  ;  and,  guided  by  the  same  laws  which  in 
the  past  have  produced  so  favorable  results,  its  future  operations  must 
constantly  work  toward  the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number. 


QUEER  PHASES   OF  ANIMAL  LIFE* 

Bt  FELIX  L.  OSWALD,  M.  D. 

OUR  nearest  relatives  in  the  large  family  of  the  animal  kingdom 
are  undoubtedly  the  frugivorous  four-handers,  with  some  of  their 
nocturnal  congeners,  but  it  would  be  difficult  to  classify  the  quadru- 

*  This  article  is  made  up  from  the  text  of  Oswald's  "  Zoological  Sketches  "  (noticed 
in  our  pages  last  month),  by  permission  of  the  publishers  of  the  volume,  Messrs.  J.  B. 
Lippincott  &  Co.,  of  Philadelphia,  to  whose  courtesy  we  are  also  indebted  for  the  accom- 
panying illustrations. — Eds.  P.  S.  M. 


59° 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


mana  after  the  degree  of  that  relationship  :  no  naturalist  could  name 
the  most  man-like  ape.  It  is  a  reticulated  rather  than  a  graduated 
system  of  affinity,  as  Carl  Vogt  expresses  it  ;  the  type  of  the  human 
form  is  a  center  from  which  the  connecting  lines  diverge  in  various 
directions.  To  every  supposed  characteristic  of  our  physical  structure 
some  genus  or  other  of  the  multiform  family  has  been  found  to  exhibit 
a  parallel  ;  only  the  combination  of  these  attributes  distinguishes  man 
from  all  monkeys. 

The  Latin  word  simia  is  derived  from  simus  (fiat-nosed),  and  -/Elian 
considered  the  prominence  of  the  human  nose  as  a  prerogative  of  our 
species  ;  but  Sir  Stamford  Raffles  discovered  a  nose-ape,  the  Bornean 
representative  of  the  genus  Semnopithecus,  a  big,  long-tailed  brute, 
with  a  truly  Roman  proboscis  and  the  narrow  nostrils  of  the  Cauca- 
sian race.  In  proportion  to  his  size,  the  white-handed  capuchin-monk- 
ey of  Western  Guiana  has  a  higher  forehead  than  the  two-legged  in- 
habitants of  his  native  woods  ;  and  the  anatomist  Camper  demonstrated 
that,  with  respect  to  the  length  of  the  tail-bones,  immortal  man  forms 
the  connecting  link  between  the  lower  apes  and  the  orangs.  The  Arabs, 
who  question  the  human  pedigree  of  the  beardless  Ethiopian,  would 
have  to  hail  the  wonderoo  as  a  man  and  a  brother  ;  and  the  male 
orang-outang,  too,  can  boast  of  a  chin-tuft  that  would  do  credit  to  a 
modern  senator. 

It  would,  indeed,  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  all  monkeys  are  nat- 
urally mischievous.  The  little  Tamarin  {Midas  rosalia)  handles  its 
playthings  more  carefully  than  most  children,  and  the  females,  espe- 
cially, seem  almost  afraid  to  stir  without  their  keeper's  permission. 
Gratuitous  destructiveness  is  rather  a  distinctive  trait  of  the  African 
quadrumana,  and  their  representative  in  this  respect  is,  perhaps,  the 
Cercopithecus  maurus,  the  Moor-monkey,  or  monasso,  as  they  call  him 
in  Spain,  a  fellow  who  seems  to  consecrate  his  temporal  existence  to 
mischief  with  an  undivided  and  disinterested  devotion.  This  maurus 
and  his  cousin,  the  rock-baboon,  are  the  terror  of  the  Algerian  farmer  ; 
but  the  baboon  contents  himself  with  filling  his  belly,  while  the  other 
tears  off  twenty  ears  of  corn  for  one  he  eats,  and  often  enters  a  fig- 
garden  for  the  exclusive  purpose  of  stripping  the  trees  of  their  leaves 
and  unripe  fruit.  In  captivity  he  can  not  be  trusted  even  with  a 
leather  jacket,  and,  finding  nothing  else  to  spoil,  does  not  hesitate  to 
exercise  his  talent  upon  his  younger  relatives,  to  the  detriment  of  .their 
woolly  fur.  Still,  his  intelligence  and  restless  activity  make  him  a  prime 
favorite  of  the  fun-loving  Spanish  sailors,  and  in  the  Andalusian  sea- 
ports every  larger  household  has  a  monasso  or  two — mo?ios  de  cadena, 
"chain-monkeys,"  as  the  dealers  call  them,  a  Moor-monkey  and  a 
cadena  being  as  necessary  concomitants  in  civilized  regions  as  a  king 
and  a  constitution.  A  rupture  of  the  concatenation  creates  an  alarm, 
as  if  the  chained  beast  of  the  Apocalypse  had  broken  loose,  and,  if  an 
unchained  monasso  gets  a  five  minutes'  chance  at  a  kitchen  or  a  parlor, 


QUEER  PHASES    OF  ANIMAL   LIFE. 


59i 


he  can  be  relied  upon  to  commit  all  the  havoc  a  creature  of  his  strength 
could  possibly  execute  in  five  times  sixty  seconds  ;  an  instinct  border- 
ing on  inspiration  seems  to  tell  him  at  the  first  glance  where  and  how 
to  perpetrate  the  greatest  amount  of  actual  damage  in  the  shortest  pos- 
sible time.  In  a  harbor-hotel  of  Cartagena  I  saw  a  mono  whose  terpsi- 
chorean  talents  had  made  him  a  more  than  local  celebrity.  He  could 
dance  the  Moorish  zameca,  besides  the  bolero  and  fandango,  and  was 
sometimes  released  at  the  request  of  his  admirers,  who  pitied  his  con- 
stant collisions  with  the  lock  of  his  drag-chain  ;  but  on  such  occasions 
the  landlady  used  to  charge  a  real  extra,  for  even  her  presence  did  not 
prevent  the  mono  from  indulging  his  ruling  passion.  Under  pretext 
of  returning  the  caresses  of  his  visitors,  he  managed  to  abstract  their 
buttons,  upset  a  flower-pot  or  two,  or  interrupted  his  performances  to 
make  a  grab  at  a  litter  of  poodle  puppies  on  the  veranda.  His  scar- 
covered  skull  proved  that  the  lot  of  the  transgressor  is  hard  ;  but  the 


1  M( 
■I     M 


Fig.  1. — Total  Depravity. 


depilated  condition  of  his  neck  was  owing  to  a  peculiar  trick  of  his, 
as  the  posadera  explained  it.  He  would  hug  a  post  near  his  couch 
under  the  veranda,  and,  stretching  his  head  back  and  his  tongue  out, 
would  twist  his  neck  to  and  fro,  as  if  in  the  agonies  of  strangulation. 


592  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

During  a  temporary  absence  of  their  mother  he  once  succeeded  in  de- 
ceiving the  children  by  these  symptoms  of  distress  ;  they  loosened  his 
chain-strap  an  inch  or  two,  but  happily  took  the  precaution  to  shut  the 
house-door  and  the  cellar-gate.  But  they  had  forgotten  the  poultry- 
house  ;  and  when  the  lady  returned  in  the  evening  her  sixteen  hens 
had  been  converted  into  Platonic  homunculi — "  bipeds  without  feathers 
and  without  the  power  of  volitation."  On  another  occasion  he  came 
near  setting  the  house  on  fire  by  drenching  the  cat  with  the  contents 
of  a  large  kitchen-lamp.  Still,  after  trying  sundry  other  four-handers, 
the  lady  declined  to  part  with  her  monasso,  though  she  lamented  his 
utter  want  of  principle,  like  the  Devin  du  Village : 

"  H61as  !  que  les  plus  coupables 
Toujours  sont  les  plus  aimables!  " 

The  anthropoid  apes  are  a  somewhat  taciturn  race,  but  a  chim- 
panzee's murmur  of  affection  is  very  expressive,  and  quite  different 
from  his  grunt  of  discontent.  A  sick  orang-outang  sheds  tears,  moans 
piteously,  or  cries  like  a  pettish  child  ;  but  such  symptoms  are  rather 
deceptive,  for  the  orang,  as  well  as  the  chimpanzee,  is  a  great  mimic, 
not  of  men  only,  but  of  passions  and  pathological  conditions.  Two 
years  ago  I  took  temporary  charge  of  a  young  chimpanzee  who  was 
awaiting  shipment  to  the  Pacific  coast.  His  former  landlord  seemed 
to  have  indulged  him  in  a  penchant  for  rummaging  boxes  and  coffers, 
for  whenever  I  attempted  to  circumscribe  the  limits  of  that  pastime 
my  boarder  tried  to  bring  down  the  house,  metaphorically  and  liter- 
ally, by  throwing  himself  upon  the  floor  and  tugging  violently  at  the 
curtains  and  bell-ropes.  If  that  failed  to  soften  my  heart,  Pansy  be- 
came sick.  With  groans  and  sobs  he  would  lie  down  in  a  corner,  pre- 
paring to  shed  the  mortal  coil,  and  adjusting  the  pathos  of  the  closing 
scene  to  the  degree  of  my  obstinacy.  One  day  he  had  set  his  heart 
upon  exploring  the  letter  department  of  my  chest  of  drawers,  and,  after 
driving  him  off  several  times,  I  locked  the  door  and  pocketed  the  key. 
Pansy  did  not  suspect  the  full  meaning  of  my  act  till  he  had  pulled  at 
the  knobs  and  squinted  through  the  key-hole,  but,  when  he  realized 
the  truth,  life  ceased  to  be  worth  living  :  he  collapsed  at  once,  and 
had  hardly  strength  enough  left  to  drag  himself  to  the  stove.  There 
he  lay,  bemoaning  his  untimely  fate,  and  stretching  his  legs  as  if  the 
rigor  mortis  had  already  overcome  his  lower  extremities.  Ten  min- 
utes later  his  supper  was  brought  in,  and  I  directed  the  boy  to  leave 
the  basket  behind  the  stove,  in  full  sight  of  my  guest.  But  Pansy's 
eyes  assumed  a  fai'-off  expression  ;  earth  had  lost  its  charm  ;  the  in- 
humanity of  man  to  man  had  made  him  sick  of  this  vale  of  tears. 
Meaning  to  try  him,  I  accompanied  the  boy  to  the  staircase,  and  the 
victim  of  my  cruelty  gave  me  a  parting  look  of  intense  reproach  as  I 
left  the  room.  But,  stealing  back  on  tiptoe,  we  managed  to  come 
upon  him  unawares,  and  Pansy  looked  rather  sheepish  when  we  caught 
him  in  the  act  of  enjoying  an  excellent  meal. 


QUEER  PHASES    OF  ANIMAL  LIFE. 


593 


In  Hindostan  monkeys  enjoy  all  the  privileges  of  a  Mohammedan 
lunatic,  being  permitted  to  rob  the  orchards  with  impunity,  decimate 
the  rice-crop,  and  rob  all  the  birds'-nests  they  want  ;  but,  not  content 
with  levying  out-door  contributions,  they  pillage  the  cottages  of  the 
natives  while  the  proprieters  are  at  work  in  the  fields  ;  nay,  they  often 
manage  to  despoil  the  larder  of  the  foreign  residents,  or  black-mail 
their  children  if  they  leave  the  bungalow  with  a  lunch-basket  or  a 
pocketful  of  nuts. 

The  Rev.  George  Thielmann,  of  the  Moravian  mission,  who  passed 
several  years  in  the  Eastern  Punjaub,  describes  the  despair  of  his  Ger- 
man cook  at  the  impudence  of  the  light-fingered  gentry.  "  I  do  not 
see  how  the  natives  can  stand  it,"  said  she;  "if  they  take  those 
baboons  for  Christians,  they  ought  to  have  a  penitentiary  in  every  vil- 
lage." If  she  went  to  the  door  to  answer  a  bell,  the  macaques  entered 
the  kitchen  through  the  rear  window  ;  going  to  look  after  her  sun- 
dried  peaches,  she  found  that  the  Bhunder  apes  had  been  beforehand 
with  her  ;  and  if  she  left  her  bedroom-window  open  she  was  awakened 


.--'' 


r:?s. 


■BHKPE 

Fig.  2.— Misplaced  Confidence. 


by  a  committee  of  Honumans  taking  an  inventory  of  her  wardrobe. 
One  day  she  left  the  gardener's  dinner  under  a  tree  where  he  used  to 
take  his  siesta,  but,  returning  with  a  dessert  of  German  doughnuts,  she 
was  just  in  time  to  see  a  troop  of  Rhesus  baboons  running  off  with 
the  dishes  and  bottles. 

From  the  moment  that  a  young  monkey  is  weaned  he  has  to  steal, 
vol.  xxii. — 38 


594  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

for  Dr.  Brehm's  observation  applies  strictly  and  literally  to  every 
species  of  quadrumana  ;  the  mother-monkey  robs  her  own  child,  and 
forces  it  to  eat  its  food  by  stealth.  The  proprietor  of  the  "  Zoolog- 
ical Coffee-Garden,"  in  Savannah,  Georgia,  has  been  very  successful  in 
rearing  young  monkeys,  and  the  visitors  of  his  happy-family  depart- 
ment can  witness  the  same  scene  thrice  a  day — a  number  of  half-grown 
capuchin  babies  fleeing  from  the  wrath  of  their  own  parents.  As  soon 
as  the  dinner-bucket  is  brought  in,  the  youngsters  hide  in  the  corner 
and  wTatch  their  opportunity,  for  while  their  seniors  are  feeding  there 
is  no  hope  of  a  crumb  or  a  drop  of  milk  ;  but  sooner  or  later  the  old 
ones  are  sure  to  fall  out,  and  during  a  general  scrimmage  for  a  tidbit 
the  children  sometimes  get  a  chance  at  the  bucket,  and  take  care  to 
make  the  best  of  it.  But  woe  unto  them  if  their  progenitors  catch 
them  in  flagranti!  Sires,  mothers,  and  aunts  combine  to  avenge  the 
sacrilege,  and  the  noise  of  the  punishment  often  sets  the  whole  men- 
agerie agog.  I  have  seen  a  she-macaque  jamming  her  bantling  up 
against  the  wall  and  extracting  from  its  cheek-pouches  the  gifts  of  a 
charitable  visitor,  together  with  all  the  crumbs  and  scraps  the  little 
one  had  gleaned  from  the  floor,  and  then  adding  outrage  to  injury  by 
cuffing  the  victim's  ears. 

The  English  word  stalwart  is  derived  from  stael-wortJi — i.  e.,  worth 
stealing  •  and  the  same  criterion  seems  to  be  a  monkey's  standard  for 
the  value  of  earthly  things  in  general.  Any  novel,  movable,  and 
portable  object  at  once  excites  his  interest.  If  the  digestible  quali- 
ties of  the  novelty  seem  doubtful,  he  appeai-s  to  act  on  the  principle 
that  in  the  mean  while  it  can  do  no  harm  to  appropriate  it.  North  of 
the  Rio  Grande  most  capuchin-monkeys  are  martyrs  to  rheumatism,  and 
three  poor  cripples  of  the  Cebidse  species  had  been  assigned  winter- 
quarters  in  the  kitchen  of  a  New  Orleans  boarding-house.  They  could 
be  trusted,  as  their  complex  ailments  disqualified  them  from  running 
and  climbing,  their  only  mode  of  progression  being  a  sidelong  wrig- 
gling on  their  haunches  and  elbows.  But  one  day  the  landlady  heard 
a  frightful  caterwauling,  and,  entering  the  kitchen  in  haste,  was  sur- 
prised to  see  one  of  her  patients  on  top  of  the  chimney-ladder,  while 
another  was  rolling  about  in  a  fit  of  fantastic  contortions.  The  cook 
had  left  on  the  floor  a  bucketful  of  Pontchartrain  crabs,  and  during 
her  momentary  absence  the  monkeys  had  fallen  victims  to  the  cause 
of  free  inquiry.  Somehow  or  other  the  cook's  manoeuvres  had  drawn 
their  attention  to  the  bucket,  and,  having  managed  to  upset  it,  their 
ring-tails  had  got  entangled  with  the  not  less  prehensile  crustaceans. 

The  tardo  (black  sloth)  has  a  peculiar  talent  for  making  himself 
invisible.  Even  a  medium-sized  tree,  without  an  excessive  supplement 
of  tangle-vines,  has  to  be  inspected  thoroughly  and  from  different 
points  of  view  before  a  slight  movement  in  the  upper  branches  attracts 
your  attention  to  a  fluffy-looking  clump,  not  easy  to  distinguish  from 


QUEER   PHASES    OF  ANIMAL   LIFE. 


595 


the  dark-colored  clusters  of  the  feather-mistletoe  (  Viscum  rubrum) 
which  frequents  the  tree-tops  of  this  mountain-region.  Closely  re- 
sembling clusters  of  feathery  leaves  and  feathery  hair  are  often  seen 
side  by  side  on  the  same  bi'anch.  Which  of  them  is  the  animated  one  ? 
A  load  of  buckshot  may  fail  to  settle  the  point.    I  have  seen  a  troop  of 


m 


kMWf-  ■  ** 


Pig.  3.—  Martyrs  to  Free  Inquiry. 

idle  soldiers  bombarding  a  sloth-tree  for  half  an  hour  with  the  heaviest 
available  missiles  without  being  able  to  force  the  stronghold  of  the 
occupant,  who  only  tightened  his  grip  when  a  well-aimed  stone  crushed 
his  head  visibly  and  audibly.  But  with  a  good  rifle  you  may  dislodge 
the  most  tenacious  tardo  by  hitting  his  branch  somewhere  below  his 
foot-hold,  for  a  fractured  caucho-stick  will  snap  like  a  cabbage-stalk. 
Thus  displanted,  the  falling  sloth  clutches  at  the  empty  air  or  snaps  off 
twig  after  twig  in  his  headlong  descent,  but  generally  manages  to  fetch 
up  on  one  of  the  stout  lower  branches,  and  at  once  hugs  it  with  all  the 
energy  of  his  prehensile  organs  ;  and  there  he  hangs,  within  easy  reach 
of  your  arm,  perhaps,  but  without  betraying  the  slightest  concern  at 
your  approach.  The  human  voice  has  no  terrors  for  the  stoic  tardi- 
grade ;  menacing  gestures  fail  to  impress  him.  A  blank  cartridge  ex- 
ploded under  his  nose  will  hardly  make  him  wink,  unless  the  powder 


596 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


should  singe  his  eyelids.  He  permits  you  to  lift  his  claw,  but  drops 
it  as  soon  as  you  withdraw  your  hand.  If  you  prod  him,  he  breaks 
forth  in  a  moan  that  seems  to  express  a  lament  over  the  painfulness 
of  earthly  affairs  in  general  rather  than  resentment  of  your  particular 
act.  By-and-by  his  love  of  caloric  may  lure  him  back  to  the  sunny 
side  of  the  tree,  but  no  incentives  a  tergo  will  accelerate  his  move- 
ments. His  claws  are  a  quarter  of  a  foot  long  and  rigidly  tenacious, 
and,  once  unhooked,  he  forthwith  transfers  his  attachment  to  your 
own  person.  After  spreading  his  talons  fan-shape,  he  clasps  your  arm 
with  an  intimacy  that  seems  intended  to  reassure  you  of  his  peaceful 
intentions,  but  will  gradually  draw  himself  well  up,  as  if  unwilling  to 
interfere  with  your  locomotive  facilities. 

But,  as  Stanislaus  Augustus  said  from  sad  experience,  "  Innocence 
is  no  excuse  before  the  tribunal  of  war,"  and,  in  the  tropics  at  least,  a 
state  of  nature  is  a  state  of  incessant  warfare.  In  spite,  therefore,  of 
all  his  precautions  and  his  monopoly  of  an  almost  unlimited  food- 
supply,  the  sloth  is  found  nowhere  in  great  numbers  ;  his  enemies  are 
too  many  for  a  creature  that  can  neither  fight  nor  fly.     The  harpy- 


2^ 


Fie.  4.— A  New  Departure. 

eagle  skims  the  tree-tops  of  the  tierra  caliente,  or  falls  upon  him  like 
a  flash  from  the  clouds  ;  the  lynx  lurks  in  the  twilight  of  the  shade- 
trees  ;  the  sneaking  ocelot  explores  the  inmost  penetralia  of  the  liana- 
maze  ;  if  he  meets  him,  he  meets  his  death.  Carnivora  have  to  com- 
bine caution  with  sudden  swiftness  to  catch  a  monkey  in  day-time,  but 
sloth-hunting  is  a  search  rather  than  a  chase  ;  small  palm-cats  or  slug- 


QUEER   PHASES    OF  ANIMAL  LIFE.  597 

gish  bears  may  take  a  morning  ramble  through  the  branches  of  his 
chosen  tree,  and,  if  they  espy  the  poor  leaf-eater,  his  capture  follows 
as  a  matter  of  course  ;  they  need  not  pursue  him,  they  can  collar  him 
at  their  leisure  ;  a  hungry  bear  collects  a  family  of  sloths  as  he  would 
gather  a  bnnch  of  grapes. 

Still,  Fate  has  granted  the  much-bereft  edentate  one  compensation 
— a  cheap  one,  indeed,  but  still  an  offset  to  many  defects — a  most 
contented  disposition.  On  the  morning  of  an  unusually  cold  April 
day  I  was  summoned  to  a  neighboring  town,  and  took  a  look  at  my 
tool-house  menagerie  before  I  left.  Finding  that  the  female  sloth  had 
monopolized  the  family  couch,  I  carried  her  mate  up  to  an  empty  gar- 
ret, and  attached  his  claws  to  a  mantel-piece,  where  he  could  warm 
himself  by  putting  his  back  against  a  flue  of  a  hot-air  chamber.  An 
unexpected  delay  prevented  my  return  that  night,  and  Avhen  I  got 
home  the  next  morning  I  entered  the  garret  with  sore  misgivings 
about  the  survival  of  my  tardo.  But,  no  ;  there  he  hung,  on  the  very 
same  spot  and  in  the  same  attitude,  imbibing  caloric  at  every  pore, 
and  pun-ing  to  himself  in  dreamy  beatitude — a  tardo  temporarily  satis- 
fied that  life  was  worth  living. 


•»• 


A  striking  contrast  to  the  sluggishness  of  the  sloth  is  presented  by 
Dr.  Oswald's  description,  in  another  part  of  the  book,  of  the  Honuman 
monkey  at  play. 

Without  wings,  agility  could  hardly  go  farther  ;  from  the  stand- 
point of  a  practical  anatomist,  it  is  almost  inconceivable  how  muscles 
and  sinews,  apparently  so  very  similar  to  our  own,  can  execute  such 
movements.  Without  the  least  visible  effort,  the  marvelous  half-bird 
darts  through  the  air  in  a  wide  zigzag,  merely  touching  a  branch  here 
and  there  ;  upward  suddenly  with  a  series  of  mighty  swings,  regard- 
less and  apparently  forgetful  of  obstacles;  down  with  a  gradationed 
spring  that  looks  like  a  single  leap  ;  up  again  with  a  flying  rebound 
through  a  tangle-work  of  branches,  yet  at  the  same  time  watching  his 
comrades,  aiming  and  parrying  slaps  or  dodging  a  shower  of  missiles  ; 
then,  wdth  a  sudden  grab,  a  quick  contraction  of  the  hind-legs,  and  the 
acrobat  sits  motionless  on  a  projecting  branch,  watching  a  movement 
in  the  grass  that  has  not  escaped  his  eye  during  his  headlong  evolu- 
tions. 

A  bat  is  a  living  anachronism  ;  there  is  something  obsolete  and 
paradoxical  in  every  part  of  its  organization.  Skin  wings  were  quite 
in  vogue  in  the  days  of  the  Devonian  monster -period,  but  have  gone 
out  of  fashion  among  the  representative  creatures  of  our  latter-day 
world  ;  and  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  all  winged  mammals  have  become 
nocturnal,  as  if  they  could  not  compete  with  the  talents  of  their  day- 
light contemporaries.  The  winged  lemur  (Galeopithecus  volans),  the 
flying-fox,  and  the  flying-squirrel,  are  all  moonshiners,  and  dread  sun- 


598  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

light  as  miracle-mongers  dread  the  light  of  science  ;  but  they  all  have 
the  exaggerated  optics  of  an  owl,  evening-eyes,  that  catch  every  ray 
of  the  fading  twilight,  while  the  eyes  of  the  bat  proper  are  as  rudi- 
mentary as  those  of  a  mole,  or  of  the  strange  fishes  that  were  dis- 
charged from  the  subterranean  tarns  of  Mount  Cotopaxi. 

As  the  Euclidean  punctum  is  defined  as  a  point  without  extension, 
the  voice  of  a  bat  might  be  called  a  sound  without  vibrations — a 
shrill,  sudden  squeak,  unlike  any  other  sound  in  nature  or  art.  Though 
piercing  enough  to  be  heard  from  afar,  it  is  too  abrupt  to  guide  the 
ear  in  any  special  direction  ;  you  can  put  a  wood-bat  in  a  narrow 
box,  and  the  box  on  the  table,  and  bet  large  odds  that  the  incessant 
shrieks  of  the  captive  will  not  betray  its  hiding-place  ;  to  nine  per- 
sons out  of  ten  the  sound  will  seem  to  come  from  all  parts  of  the  room 
at  once. 

Many  of  their  habits,  too,  distinguish  the  cheiropters  from  all 
other  creatures  of  our  planet.  Aristotle  classed  them  with  the  birds  ; 
and  in  one  respect  they  might  even  be  considered  the  representatives 
of  the  class,  being  par  excellence  creatures  of  the  air.  All  winged 
insects  can  run  or  hop  ;  the  sea-gull  runs,  swims,  and  dives  ;  but,  with 
the  sole  exception  of  the  Javanese  roussette,  bats  are  completely  "  at 
sea"  in  the  water,  and  almost  helpless  on  terra  firma ;  they  eat,  drink, 
and  court  their  mates  on  the  wing,  and  the  Nycteris  Thebalca  even 
carries  her  young  on  her  nightly  excursions.  Nay,  bats  may  be  said 
to  sleep  in  the  air,  for  they  build  neither  day-nests  nor  winter-quarters, 
but  hang  by  the  thumb-nail,  touching  their  support  only  with  the 
point  of  a  sharp  hook.  But  this  hand-hook  connects  with  muscles  of 
amazing  tenacity.  In  cold  climates,  where  bats  have  to  club  together 
for  mutual  warmth,  fifty  or  sixty  of  them  have  been  found  in  one 
bundle,  representing  an  aggregate  weight  of  about  fifteen  pounds,  all 
supported  by  one  thumb-nail!  The  "head-centers"  must  sleep  as 
warm  as  a  child  in  a  feather-bed  ;  but  it  is  hard  to  understand  how 
the  outsiders  can  survive  the  cold  season,  for,  in  spite  of  its  voracity, 
the  bat  accumulates  no  fat,  and  the  flying-membrane  is  a  poor  pro- 
tection against  a  North  American  winter.  The  only  explanation  is  that 
their  winter  torpor  is  a  trance,  a  protracted  catalepsy,  rather  than  a 
sleep  ;  hibernating  bears  and  dormice  get  wide  awake  at  a  minute's 
notice,  but  I  have  handled  bats  that  might  have  been  skinned  without 
betraying  a  sign  of  life,  and  needed  more  than  the  warmth  of  my 
hands  to  revive  them,  for  their  wings  were  quite  brittle  with  rigid 
frost.  Bats  prefer  a  cave  with  tortuous  ramifications  that  shelter 
them  against  direct  draughts,  but  still  with  a  wide  though  not  too 
visible  opening,  as  they  do  not  like  to  squeeze  themselves  through 
narrow  clefts.  A  dormitory  combining  these  requisites  is  sure  to 
attract  lodgers  from  far  and  near  ;  the  northern  entrance  of  the  tunnel- 
grotto  of  Posilippo  and  the  Biels-Hohle  in  the  Hartz  are  tenanted 
by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  bats  that  avoid  all  the  neighboring  cav- 


QUEER  PHASES    OF  ANIMAL  LIFE, 


599 


eras  ;  and  our  Mammoth  Cave,  with  its  countless  grottoes,  has  only 
two  bat-uolcs,  whose  occupants  have  never  been  known  to  change 
their  quarters. 


„,.-!      '< 


Fig.  5.— Children  of  Erebus. 


Nearly  all  the  South  Asiatic  vegetarians  treat  mischievous  ani- 
mals with  a  more  than  Christian  forbearance  ;  but  the  worshipers  of 
Brahma  have,  besides,  been  taught  to  regard  certain  species  of  the 
brute  Creation  as  half  divine,  and  consequently  altogether  inviolate, 
and  entitled  to  the  active  charity  of  every  true  believer — the  most 
privileged  of  the  zoological  demi-gods  being  the  bhunder-baboon 
{Papio  Rhesus),  the  Honuman  (Semnopithecus  entellus),  the  Brahmin 
cow,  the  pigeon,  and  the  common  crocodile.  In  Hindostan  the  public 
spirit  of  wealthy  philanthropists  rarely  rises  above  the  orthodox  con- 
servatism of  the  national  mind  ;  bequests  are  not  devoted  to  public 
improvements,  but  rather  to  the  maintenance  in  statu  quo  of  incor- 


6oo 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


porated  societies  and  multitudes  of  secular  and  clerical  mendicants  ; 
and  Sir  Emerson  Tennent  estimates  that  the  produce  of  fully  ten  per 
cent  of  all  the  stipends  of  a  most  charitable  population  of  one  hundred 
and  sixty  millions  is  consecrated  to  the  support  of  lazy  or  mischievous 
brutes. 

Like  Italian  lazzaroni,  city  baboons  live  in  cliques — clannish  com- 
munities, very  exclusive  in  times  of  scarcity,  and  always  rather  dis- 


Fig.  6. — Four-handed  Lazzaroni. 


inclined  to  enlarge  their  membership  except  by  natural  increase  and 
advantageous  alliances,  as  with  fat  house-baboons  with  a  roving  dis- 
position. Four-handed  vagrants  are  promptly  stopped  and  cross- 
examined  :  no  mercy  for  the  homeless  stranger  suspected  of  specu- 
lating upon  a  share  of  their  scanty  sportules,  while  the  household 


QUEER  PHASES    OF  ANIMAL   LIFE.  601 

pet  with  his  brass  collar  and  sleek  pouch  is  merely  scrutinized  with 
silent  envy.  The  half-grown  bhunder-monkeys  are  so  pretty  that  they 
are  often  domesticated,  but  their  relatives  dislike  to  part  with  them — 
from  motives  that  have  nothing  to  do  with  "  philoprogenitiveness." 

The  holy  children  are  their  mediators,  their  apple  and  bread  win- 
ners. The  entreaties  of  the  little  beggars  are  not  easy  to  resist :  they 
will  climb  you  after  the  manner  of  pet  squirrels,  embrace  you  with 
one  arm  and  beg  with  the  other,  accompanying  their  gestures  with  a 
deprecatory  mumble  that  becomes  strangely  expressive,  as  if  they 
were  pleading  extenuating  circumstances,  if  you  offer  to  strike  them. 
Even  the  idol-hating  Mussulman  is  thus  often  beguiled  into  a  liber- 
ality which  his  conscience  may  be  far  from  approving.  If  the  little 
spongers  have  struck  a  bonanza,  they  swallow  in  situ  all  they  can  find 
room  for,  well  knowing  that  upon  their  return  the  contents  of  their 
cheek-pouches  will  be  claimed  by  their  relatives,  for  even  a  mother- 
monkey  has  no  hesitation  in  plundering  her  own  child  in  that  way. 
To  avoid  coercive  measures,  the  poor  kids  surrender  their  savings  vol- 
untarily and  with  great  dispatch  at  the  approach  of  the  ruthless  parent. 
Like  our  artist-mendicants  who  keep  a  beggar-boy  ad  captandum,  old 
baboons  sometimes  kidnap  a  baby  of  another  tribe,  keep  a  strict  watch 
on  its  movements,  but  urge  it  with  slaps  and  grunts  to  work  the  pass- 
ers-by. Crippled  baboons,  too,  are  a  most  welcome  acquisition  to  any 
clique.  These  twice-worthy  objects  of  charity  have  their  regular  head- 
quarters, where  they  can  be  found  at  any  time  of  the  day  surrounded 
by  eupeptic  relatives  who  hope  to  participate  in  the  largess  of  the 
pious.  The  poorest  huckster  will  stop  his  cart  in  a  gate-way  to  hand 
his  tribute  to  a  decrepit  bhunder-monkey  who  supplicates  him  with 
outstretched  hands.  No  true  believer  must  stint  his  gifts  upon  such 
occasions  ;  and  so  well  does  the  hairy  mendicant  know  the  stringency 
of  that  duty  that  he  flies  out  into  a  paroxysm  of  virtuous  wrath  if  any 
passer-by  should  dare  to  disregard  his  appeal.  The  relatives  promptly 
yield  their  aid,  and  fruit-carts  are  in  danger  of  being  monkey-mobbed 
if  the  driver  hesitates  to  propitiate  their  resentment  by  a  liberal  con- 
tribution. 

In  a  sparsely  settled  but  tolerably  fertile  country  animal  refugees 
soon  accustom  themselves  to  the  vicissitudes  of  their  wild  life.  The 
ten  months'  drought  of  1877,  which  almost  exterminated  the  do- 
mestic cattle  of  Southern  Brazil,  was  braved  by  the  pampa  cows, 
whom  experience  had  taught  to  derive  their  water-supply  from  bul- 
bous roots,  cactus-leaves,  and  excavations  in  the  moist  river-sand. 
Solid  food  is  only  a  secondary  requirement  ;  with  a  good  supply  of 
drinking-water  many  animals  would  beat  Dr.  Tanner's  time.  But 
how  the  Syrian  Khamr  dogs  manage  to  make  out  a  living  only  the 
gods  of  the  desert  know.  They  rough  it  in  regions  where  no  human 
hunter  would  discover  a  trace  of  game,  and  where  water  is  as  scarce 


602 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


as  in  the  eternal  abode  of  Dives  ;  nay,  they  multiply,  for  the  Khamr 
bitch,  like  other  poor  mothers,  is  generally  overblessed  with  progeny  ; 
six  youngsters  a  year  is  said  to  be  the  minimum.  A  sausage-maker 
would  probably  decline  to  invest  in  Khamr  dogs  ;  the  word  leanness 
does  not  begin  to  describe  their  physical  condition  ;  strappedness 
would  be  more  to  the  purpose,  if  an  Arkansas  adjective  admits  of 


Fig.  7.— Wild  Dogs. 

that  suffix — skin  and  sinews  tightly  strapped  over  a  frame-work  of 
bones.  I  saw  their  relatives  in  Dalmatia,  and  often  wondered  that 
they  did  not  rattle  when  they  ran  ;  but  Dalmatia  is  still  a  country  of 
vineyards  and  sand-rabbits,  while  the  Syrian  desert  has  ceased  to  pro- 
duce thorn-berries.  Without  moisture  not  even  a  curse  can  bear  fruit. 
Where  food  is  plenty,  wind  and  weather  seem  to  modify  the  phy- 
sique of  a  tramp  animal.  Most  wild  dogs  are  bushy-tailed,  gaunt,  and 
fox-headed,  and  for  some  occult  reason  almost  invariably  black-muz- 
zled. It  is  their  clan-mark  :  judging  from  the  snout  alone,  few  natu- 
ralists would  be  able  to  distinguish  a  tramp-dog  from  the  pampa  cur, 
the  Khamr  hound,  the  dog-wolf  {Canis  anthus),  or  the  Abu  Hossein 
( Cants  lupaster).  It  does  not  improve  their  appearance  ;  in  connec- 
tion with  their  wolfish  eyes,  it  reminds  one  too  much  of  a  hyena-head. 

The  question  whether  there  are  any  untamable  animals  requires  a 
nearer  definition  of  the  somewhat  ambiguous  adjective.  Untamable, 
in  the  sense  of  undomesticable,  I  believe  there  are  none.  AVith  the 
proviso  of  a  guarantee  against  socage-duty  or  a  change  of  their  natural 
habits,  few  animals  would  decline  the  hospitality  of  the  homo  sapiens, 


QUEER   PHASES    OF  ANIMAL  LIFE.  603 

especially  in  countries  where  the  sapient  one  has  become  the  monopo- 
list of  all  the  good  things  of  this  earth.  Let  any  one  sweep  the  snow 
from  his  balcony,  scatter  the  cleared  space  with  crumbs,  and  put  the 
balcony-key  where  the  children  can  not  find  it,  and  see  how  soon  his 
place  will  become  the  resort  of  feathered  guests — not  of  town-spar- 
rows only,  but  of  linnets,  titmice,  and  other  birds  that  are  rarely  seen 
out  of  the  woods.  A  little  discretion  will  soon  encourage  them  to 
enter  the  window  and  fetch  their  lunch  from  the  breakfast-table — by- 
and-by  even  in  the  presence  of  their  host — for  the  fear  of  men  is  a  fac- 
titious instinct,  unsupported  by  the  elder  intuition  that  teaches  animals 
to  distinguish  a  frugivorous  creature  from  a  beast  of  prey.  With  so 
simple  a  contrivance  as  a  wooden  box  with  a  round  hole,  starlings, 
blackbirds,  martins,  crows,  jays,  and  even  owls,  can  be  induced  to  rear 
their  young  under  the  roof  of  a  human  habitation  ;  squirrels,  hedge- 
hogs, and  raccoons  soon  find  out  a  place  where  they  can  get  an  occa- 
sional snack  without  having  to  pay  with  their  hides.  Hamman,  the 
famous  German  skeptic,  used  to  feed  a  swarm  of  sea-gulls,  often  the 
only  visitors  to  his  lonely  cottage  on  the  shore  of  the  Baltic.  The 
neighbors  suspected  him  of  necromantic  tricks,  but  he  assured  them 
that  his  whole  secret  consisted  in  never  interfering  with  his  guests — 
keeping  a  free  lunch  on  hand,  and  letting  them  take  their  own  time  and 
way  about  eating  it. 

The  same  magic  had  probably  bewitched  the  pets  of  Miss  Meirin- 
ger,  the  daughter  of  a  German  colonist  of  New  Freyburg,  Brazil. 
Her  father  was  a  self-taught  naturalist,  and  his  collections  have  been 
described  by  several  South  American  travelers  ;  but  in  the  ojDinion  of 
the  natives  his  curiosity-shop  was  eclipsed  by  the  menagerie  of  his 
daughter,  who  had  tamed  some  of  the  wildest  denizens  of  the  forest, 
though  evidently  on  the  suaviter  in  modo  plan,  since  most  of  her  pets 
boarded  themselves,  or  only  took  an  occasional  breakfast  at  the  fazenda. 
Among  her  more  regular  guests  were  a  couple  of  red  coaties,  or  nose- 
bears,  several  bush-snakes,  and  one  large  boa,  a  formidable-looking 
monster  with  the  disposition  of  a  lap-dog,  for  at  a  signal  from  his 
benefactress  he  would  try  to  curl  himself  up  in  her  apron,  with  a 
supernumerary  coil  or  two  around  her  knees. 

There  is  hardly  any  doubt  that  animals  must  possess  some  means 
of  communicating  their  ideas.  Arsenic  has  no  perceptible  taste  or  odor, 
and  an  ounce  of  it  mixed  with  a  bushel  of  corn-meal  will  destroy  a 
cart-load  of  sewer-rats  in  a  single  day  ;  but  all  professional  vermin- 
killers  agree  that  such  receipts  lose  their  efficacy  in  a  very  short  time. 
Somehow  or  other  the  survivors  manage  to  trace  the  mischief  to  its 
cause  ;  and  old  rats  have  been  observed  in  the  act  of  driving  their 
young  from  a  dish  of  poisoned  hash.  When  the  British  first  effected 
a  settlement  in  Singapore,  the  traffic  in  monkeys  soon  became  a  regu- 
lar branch  of  industry.     The  ubiquitous  Chinamen  used  to  go  on  trap- 


604 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


Fig.  8.— Strange  Messmates. 


ping  expeditions  to  the  hills,  at  a  time  of  the  year  when  the  mountain 
macaques  were  rather  hard  up  for  provisions  and  could  be  baited  with 
"  fuddle  -  cakes  " — i.  e.,  rice-bread  soaked  in  a  mixture  of  sugar-and- 
rum.  The  trapper  used  to  hide  behind  a  tree,  and  let  the  monkey  as- 
semblage enjoy  his  bounty  till  their  antics  suggested  that  it  was  time 
for  him  to  rush  in,  like  Cyrus  into  the  banquet-hall  of  Belshazzar. 
Experience,  however,  soon  taught  the  little  mountaineers  to  change  their 
tactics.  Instead  of  devouring  the  fuddle-cakes  on  the  spot,  they  learned 
to  gather  them  up  and  defer  the  feast  till  they  reached  a  retreat  where 
they  could  hope  to  be  left  alone  in  their  glory.  But  the  trappers,  too, 
have  since  changed  their  plan.  They  manufacture  a  sort  of  narrow- 
necked  jars,  about  the  size  of  sarsaparilla  bottles,  and,  after  filling  them 
with  a  melange  of  sirup  and  alcohol,  they  tie  them  firmly  to  the  root 
of  a  tree  and  withdraw  out  of  sight.  The  monkeys  come  down  and 
sip  the  nectar,  a  little  at  a  time,  till  many  a  mickle  has  muddled  their 
perceptives  to  the  degree  which  the  founder  of  Buddhism  would  have 
called  the  first  stage  of  Nirvana — indifference  to  earthly  concernments 
in  general.     The  trapper  then  approaches  and  collects  his  guests,  whose 


QUEER  PHASES    OF  ANIMAL  LIFE. 


605 


exalted  feelings  often  manifest  themselves  in  a  peculiar  way.     Some 
receive  their  captor  with  open  arms,  some  hug  their  bottles  with  ap- 


Fig.  9  —The  Wages  op  Sin. 


probative  grunts,  while  others  lie  on  the  ground,  contemplating  the 
sky  in  ecstatic  silence. 

Practical  naturalists  are  generally  the  most  successful  trappers,  for 
Lord  Bacon  is  probably  right,  that  observation  is  quite  as  prolific  a 
mother  of  inventions  as  necessity.  Only  observation  could  have  re- 
vealed the  fact  that  little  song-birds  can  be  attracted  by  the  sight  of  a 
bird  of  prey.  A  common  chicken-hawk  will  serve  that  purpose.  Fasten 
a  tame  hawk  to  a  bush,  and  before  the  end  of  an  hour  all  the  finches 
and  thrushes  in  the  township  will  find  it  out  and  meet  in  general 
convention — an  indignation-meeting,  perhaps — though  it  is  hard  to 
understand  what  they  can  hope  to  accomplish  against  an  enemy  who 
could  kill  a  score  of  them  in  ten  minutes.  But  the  experiment  never 
fails  :  a  hawk,  an  eagle,  but  especially  a  ferocious-looking  old  horn- 
owl,  will  allure  birds  at  a  time  when  they  would  disdain  to  neglect 
their  domestic  business  for  the  sake  of  any  tidbit.  An  owl-riot  they 
seem  to  consider  as  a  sort  of  public  duty  which  must  take  precedence 


6o6 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


of  all  other  affairs,  for  even  migratory  birds  will  stoop  from  their 
flight  through  air  and  light  to  screech  around  an  old  night-spectre. 
In  Northern  Italy,  where  game  is  scarce,  every  farmer  has  a  tame  buba 


:  ,    :-    ' 


Fig.  10.— Decoy  Owls. 


and  a  potful  of  bird-lime,  and  thousands  of  northern  songsters,  hasten- 
ing fondly  home  from  their  winter-quarters  on  the  Mediterranean,  fall 
a  victim  to  their  ruling  passion  and  perish  in  exile — "  butchered  to 
make  a  Roman  holiday." 


"NATURAL   RELIGION." 

A  STUDY  IN  THE  GROWTH  OP  SCIENTIFIC  MORALITY. 


By  R.  W.  BOODLE. 

II. 

k  now 
Its  writer 
is  clearly  himself  a  believer  in  supernaturalism,  if  not  as  very  tangi- 
ble, yet  as  an  underlying  possibility.     He  begins  by  stating  the  prob- 


TIIE  preliminary  discussion  of  last  month  enables  us  to  speak 
more  directly  of  the  work  on  "  Natural  Religion." 


"NATURAL   RELIGIONS  607 

lem  before  us:  "Two  opposite  theories  of  the  universe  are  in  con- 
flict. On  the  one  side  is  the  greatest  of  all  affirmations,  on  the 
other  the  most  fatal  of  all  negations.  There  never  yet  was  a  con- 
troversy which  was  not  trivial  in  comparison  with  this.  It  is  cruel 
trifling  to  speak  of  compromise,  it  is  waste  of  time  to  draw  verbal 
distinctions."  And  then,  after  two  hundred  pages  of  verbal  distinc- 
tions, many  of  which  are  really  no  better,  a  compromise  is  effected 
upon  the  basis  of  natural  religion,  which  is  also  natural  Christian- 
ity without  its  supernaturalism.  But  the  writer  has  no  wish  to  de- 
ceive either  himself  or  his  readers,  and  concludes,  "  Who  will  not 
say  that  a  supernatural  religion,  supplementing  a  natural  one,  may 
be  precious,  nay,  perhaps  indispensable?"  And  indispensable  he 
shows  it  to  be,  from  his  own  point  of  view  :  "  When  the  supernatural 
does  not  come  in  to  overwhelm  the  natural  and  turn  life  upside  down, 
when  it  is  admitted  that  religion  deals  in  the  first  instance  with  the 
known  and  the  natural,  then  we  may  well  begin  to  doubt  whether  the 
known  and  the  natural  can  suffice  for  human  life.  No  sooner  do  we 
try  to  think  so,  than  pessimism  raises  its  head.  ...  A  moral  paralysis 
creeps  upon  us.  .  .  .  Supernatural  Religion  met  this  want  by  connect- 
ing Love  and  Righteousness  with  eternity.  If  it  is  shaken,  how  shall 
its  place  be  supplied  ?  And  what  would  Natural  Religion  avail  then  ?  " 
We  have,  then,  to  remember  that  this  attempt  to  establish  a  harmony 
between  orthodoxy  and  the  votaries  of  art  and  science,  upon  the  mini- 
mum basis  of  a  faith  without  a  personal  God  and  without  miracles,  is 
a  compromise  honestly  offered  by  one  who  himself  apparently  still 
cherishes  these  beliefs.  It  is  a  fair  attempt  to  arrive  at  some  under- 
standing by  sinking  out  of  sight  the  points  upon  which  people  differ, 
and  by  bringing  into  prominence  their  points  of  agreement. 

As  I  suppose  that  most  of  my  readers  have  either  read  this  book 
or  intend  to  do  so,  anything  like  a  full  account  of  its  contents  here 
will  be  unnecessary.  It  will  not,  however,  be  out  of  place  to  attempt 
a  slight  sketch  of  its  general  argument  and  conclusions.  Our  author 
begins  by  pointing  to  the  divinity  of  nature  as  the  common  ground 
between  Clmstianity  and  science.  The  real  issue  is  not  between  the- 
ism and  atheism,  for  science  is  in  a  veiy  real  sense  a  theology,  and 
believers  in  nature  have  many  of  the  feelings  of  Christians  for  their 
deity.  Thus,  we  have  a  natural  theology  ;  it  will  widen  into  a  nat- 
ural religion,  when  the  science  of  the  relation  of  the  universe  to  hu- 
man ideals  has  grown  up  ;  and  this  science,  upon  a  purely  natural 
basis,  is  fast  constructing  itself.  Defining  worship  as  "  habitual  and 
permanent  admiration,"  he  sees  nothing  to  fear  in  the  gospels  of  art 
and  humanity.  Just  as  the  gospel  of  science  is  an  allotropic  form  of 
mediaeval  theology,  so  is  the  gospel  of  art  the  revival  of  Greek  pagan- 
ism under  altered  conditions,  and  the  gospel  of  humanity  that  of  Chris- 
tianity. Each  is,  to  some  individuals,  a  faith  in  itself,  because  it  lifts 
them  above  mere  materialism,  above  conventionalism,  above  the  ordi- 


608  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

nary  run  of  men  ;  in  short,  above  what  our  author  calls,  boldly,  athe- 
ism. "An  atheist,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word,"  he  writes,  "  is  not 
a  man  who  disbelieves  in  the  goodness  of  God,  or  in  His  distinctness 
from  Nature,  or  in  His  personality.  These  disbeliefs  may  be  as  seri- 
ous in  their  way  as  atheism,  but  they  are  different.  Atheism  is  a  dis- 
belief in  the  existence  of  God — that  is,  a  disbelief  in  any  regularity  in 
the  Universe  to  which  a  man  must  conform  himself  under  penalties." 
The  religion  of  the  future  must  combine  all  three  worships.  In  the 
individual  the  results  will  be  practically  equivalent  to  culture,  in  the 
aggregate  to  civilization.  The  ideal  of  antiquity  was  one  of  separate 
nationalities,  with  separate  religions  ;  the  ideal  of  the  middle  ages  was 
an  imperial  state  and  a  catholic  church.  The  two  ideals  will  be  com- 
bined in  the  church  and  state  of  the  future.  The  writer  points  out 
very  clearly  the  connection  between  the  spirit  of  nationality  and  the 
spirit  of  religion.  The  church  of  the  future  will  be  missionary,  carry- 
ing its  faith  into  uncivilized  Asia  and  Africa  ;  it  will  be  undogmatic, 
it  may  even  be  without  a  temple,  but  it  will  not  be  without  worship, 
for  we  have  objects  for  this  in  nature  on  its  various  sides.  He  thus 
takes  occasion  to  correct  a  very  common  misconcejition  with  regard  to 
nature  : 

"  It  is  often  said  that,  when  you  substitute  Nature  for  God,  you 
take  a  thing  heartless  and  pitiless  instead  of  love  and  goodness.  Un- 
doubtedly much  less  of  love  and  goodness  can  be  discovered  in  Nature 
than  Christians  see  in  God.  But  when  it  is  said  that  there  are  no 
such  qualities  in  Nature,  that  Nature  consists  of  relentless  and  ruth- 
less laws,  that  Nature  knows  nothing  of  forgiveness,  and  inexorably 
exacts  the  utmost  penalty  for  every  transgression,  a  confusion  is 
made  between  two  different  meanings  which  may  be  given  to  the 
word  Nature.  We  are  concerned  here  with  Nature  as  opposed  to  that 
which  is  above  Nature,  not  with  Nature  as  opposed  to  man.  We  use 
it  as  a  name  comprehending  all  the  uniform  laws  of  the  Universe  as 
known  in  our  experience,  and  excluding  such  laws  as  are  inferred  from 
experiences  so  exceptional  and  isolated  as  to  be  difficult  of  verifica- 
tion. In  this  sense  Nature  is  not  heartless  or  unrelenting  ;  to  say  so 
would  be  equivalent  to  saying  that  pity  and  forgiveness  are  in  all  cases 
supernatural.  It  may  be  true  that  the  law  of  gravitation  is  quite  piti- 
less, that  it  will  destroy  the  most  innocent  and  amiable  person  with  as 
little  hesitation  as  the  wrong-doer.  But  there  are  other  laws  which 
are  not  pitiless.  There  are  laws  under  which  human  beings  form 
themselves  into  communities,  and  set  up  courts  in  which  the  claims  of 
individuals  are  weighed  with  careful  skill.  There  are  laws  under 
which  churches  and  philanthropical  societies  are  formed,  under  which 
misery  is  sought  out  and  relieved,  and  every  evil  that  can  be  discov- 
ered in  the  world  is  redressed.  Nature,  in  the  sense  in  which  we  are 
now  using  the  word,  includes  humanity,  and  therefore,  so  far  from  be- 
ing pitiless,  includes  all  the  pity  that  belongs  to  the  whole  human  fam- 


"NATURAL  RELIGIONS  609 

ily,  and  all  the  pity  that  they  have  accumulated  and,  as  it  were,  capi- 
talized in  institutions,  political,  social,  and  ecclesiastical,  through  count- 
less generations"  (pp.  65,  06). 

The  writer  thus  looks  upon  natural  theology  as  the  "  true  deduc- 
tion of  the  laws  that  govern  the  universe,"  as  the  "  science  of  the  rela- 
tion of  the  universe  to  human  ideals,"  and  the  following  are  some  of 
\  the  questions  that  it  has  to  answer  :  "  Is  there  a  reward  for  virtue  '? 
Is  there  a  condensation  for  undeserved  misery  ?  Is  there  a  sure  retri- 
bution for  crime  ?  ...  In  one  word,  is  life  worth  having,  and  the  Uni- 
verse a  habitable  place  for  one  in  whom  the  sense  of  duty  has  been 
awakened?"  (p.  61).  On  the  other  hand,  natural  religion  is  "worship 
of  whatever  in  the  known  Universe  appears  worthy  of  worship,"  it  "is 
no  mere  dull  morality,  for  in  the  first  place  it  is  far  wider  than  any 
morality,  being  as  wide  as  modern  culture,  and  in  the  second  place,  so 
far  as  it  is  moral  and  bears  fruit  in  morality,  even  here  it  is  no  mere 
morality,  but  an  historic  religion  of  humanity"  (p.  172).  It  is  "the 
principle  by  which  alone  life  is  redeemed  from  secularity  and  animal- 
ism." "  Thus,  instead  of  saying  that  the  substance  of  religion  is  mo- 
rality, and  the  effect  of  it  moral  goodness,  we  lay  it  down  that  the 
substance  of  religion  is  culture,  and  the  fruit  of  it  the  higher  life  "  (p. 
138). 

The  strong  point  of  such  a  system  as  this  lies  in  its  fully  recog- 
nizing the  facts  of  spiritual  development  that  the  review  of  the  past 
thirty  years  reveals,  viz. :  that  the  religion  of  the  churches  is  but  one 
among  other  religions  of  the  present  day  ;  that  the  work,  heretofore 
done  by  religion,  in  raising  the  general  tone  of  life,  is  now  really  being 
accomplished  by  the  separate  influences  that  are  summed  up  in  what 
we  call  modern  civilization.  But  along  with  religion  in  the  old  sense 
went  something  more.  Part  of  its  charm  lay  in  the  light  it  threw  on 
the  darkness  which  encompassed  men's  lives.  "So  seems  the  life  of 
man,"  said  one  of  the  early  English  converts  to  Christianity,  "as  a 
sparrow's  flight  through  the  hall  when  you  are  sitting  at  meat  in 
winter-tide,  with  the  warm  fire  lighted  on  the  hearth,  but  the  icy  rain- 
storm without.  The  sparrow  flies  in  at  one  door,  and  tarries  for  a  mo- 
ment in  the  light  and  heat  of  the  hearth-fire,  and  then  flying  forth 
from  the  other  vanishes  into  the  wintry  dai-kness  whence  it  came.  So 
tarries  for  a  moment  the  life  of  man  in  our  sight,  but  what  is  before 
it,  what  after  it,  we  know  not.  If  this  new  teaching  tells  us  aught 
certainly  of  these,  let  us  follow  it."  Thus  religion  acquired  part  of 
its  hold  on  the  minds  of  men  by  ministering  to  their  growing  desire 
for  knowledge.  But  the  completion  of  knowledge  only  leads  to  the 
realization  of  our  own  ignorance,  and  the  gospel  of  science  with  re- 
gard to  the  Unknowable  is  but  the  echo  of  the  words  of  Hooker,  that 
"  oitr  soundest  knowledge  is  to  know  that  we  know  him  not  as  indeed 
he  is,  neither  can  know  him,  and  our  safest  eloquence  concerning  him 
is  our  silence." 

vol.  xxii. — 39 


6io  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

The  chief  objection  that  any  naturalistic  scheme  of  religion  has  to 
encounter  comes  from  those  who,  applying  the  language  of  jurispru- 
dence to  every-day  life,  urge  that  the  three  terms,  command,  duty, 
and  sanction,  are  inseparably  connected  ;  that  command  and  duty  are 
correlative  terms  ;  that,  wherever  a  duty  lies,  a  command  has  been  sig- 
nified. Such  arguers  refuse  to  recognize  in  a  religion  without  some 
supreme  will  constraining  a  religion  at  all.  Thus  Canon  Liddon  * 
calls  religion  "  essentially  a  relation  to  a  person.  .  .  .  Religion  con- 
sists fundamentally  in  the  practical  recognition  of  a  constraining  bond 
between  the  inward  life  of  man  and  an  unseen  Person  ;  ...  the  main- 
tenance of  a  real  relation  with  the  personal  God,  or  with  a  Divine 
Person  really  incarnate  in  Jesus  Christ."  The  same  objection  appears 
in  a  slightly  altered  form  in  pages  of  the  London  "  Spectator,"  in  the 
course  of  a  discussion  upon  natural  religion,  suggested  by  the  work 
before  us  : 

"  We  do  not  differ  from  this  able  writer  in  thinking  that  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  'natural  religion,' but  we  do  differ  from  him  when 
he  asserts  there  is  such  a  thing  for  one  who  declines,  or  is  unable,  to 
discover  in  the  universe  traces  of  a  superphysical,  we  would  rather 
say,  than  a  supernatural,  Power — that  is,  traces  of  a  power  to  mold 
and  modify  that  in  nature  which  is  physical,  in  the  direction  and  for 
the  purposes  of  that  in  nature  which  is  not  physical,  but  mental  and 
moral.  There  is  no  end  of  '  natural  religion  '  in  the  mere  discovery  of 
human  free-will,  for  that  is  the  discovery  that  the  adamantine  chain 
of  physical  necessity  has  been  and  is  interrupted  by  the  will  of  man 
itself — a  discovery  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  favorite  scientific 
view.  There  is  no  end  of  '  natural  religion '  in  the  discovery  of  con- 
science, that  there  is  a  moral  obligation  on  us  to  do  this  rather  than 
that — an  obligation  from  which  it  is  simply  impossible  to  escape,  with- 
out bringing  on  ourselves  an  unappeasable  remorse,  and  a  sense  of 
conscious  unworthiness  from  which  it  is  impossible  to  dissociate  the 
conviction  of  invisible  condemnation  and  displeasure.  There  is  no  end 
of  natural  Christianity  in  the  discovery  that  Christ  is  an  ideal  infinite- 
ly and  hopelessly  above  and  beyond  us,  and  yet  full  of  power  to  draw 
us  upward,  if  we  will,  toward  himself.  But  there  is,  to  our  minds, 
nothing  worthy  of  the  name  of  natural  religion  or  natural  Christian- 
ity at  all  that  does  not  promise  us  guidance  and  excite  in  us  trust.  .  .  . 
The  author  of  '  Ecce  Homo '  seems  to  us  content  to  find  a  natural 
religion  in  that  which  is  neither  natural  nor  religious — not  natural, 
because,  in  spite  of  the  paradox,  it  is  in  the  highest  sense  natural  to 
man  to  lean  on  something  beyond  Nature  ;  not  religious,  because  re- 
ligion means  something  which  is  binding,  something  which  we  can 
not  in  our  hearts  defy,  and  we  can  in  our  hearts  defy  any  power  which 
only  threatens  us  with  extinction,  and  does  not  threaten  us  with  inex- 
tinguishable remorse." 

*  "  Some  Elements  of  Religion." 


"NATURAL  RELIGIONS  611 

We  may  pass  over  the  first  objection  to  natural  religion,  viz.,  that 
it  is  not  natural,  because  the  argument  appears  a  mere  play  upon 
words.  Natural  religion  is  called  so  because  it  differs  from  super- 
natural religion  ;  because  it  is  the  religion  that  is  deducible  solely 
from  the  course  of  Nature,  from  the  observance  of  the  laws  that  gov- 
ern the  world  in  which  we  live.  But  it  is  also  objected  that  the  relig- 
ion inculcated  by  civilization  without  supernaturalism  is  one  that  is 
not  binding,  one  which  ice  can  in  our  hearts  defy. 

But  are  virtue,  truth,  and  love  less  realities  in  life  because  we  have 
dissociated  from  them  the  mythology  in  which  they  were  originally 
bodied  forth  to  the  primitive  mind — the  clothes  which  were  originally 
wrapped  around  them  ?  Listen  to  the  eloquent  words  of  a  recent 
writer  :  "  We  must  suffer  with  Christ  whether  we  believe  in  Him  or  not. 
We  must  suffer  for  the  sin  of  others  as  for  our  own,  and  in  this  suffer- 
ing we  find  a  healing  and  purifying  power  and  element.  This  is  what 
gives  to  Christianity,  in  its  simplest  and  most  unlettered  form,  its 
force  and  life.  Sin  and  suffering  for  sin  ;  a  sacrifice,  itself  mysterious, 
offered  mysteriously  to  the  Divine  Nemesis,  or  Law  of  Sin — dread, 
undefined,  unknown,  yet  sure  and  irresistible,  with  the  iron  necessity 
of  law.  .  .  .  Virtue,  truth,  love,  are  not  mere  names  ;  they  stand  for 
actual  qualities  which  are  well  known  and  recognized  among  men. 
These  qualities  are  the  elements  of  an  ideal  life,  of  that  absolute  and 
perfect  life  of  which  our  highest  culture  can  catch  but  a  glimpse.  As 
Mr.  Hobbes  has  traced  the  individual  man  up  to  the  perfect  state,  or 
Civitas,  let  us  work  still  lower,  and  trace  the  individual  man  from  small 
origins  to  the  position  he  at  present  fills.  We  shall  find  that  he  has 
attained  any  position  of  vantage  he  may  occupy  by  following  the  laws 
which  our  instinct  and  conscience  tell  us  are  Divine."  * 

Yes  !  these  laws  are  divine — not  because  we  can  see  the  legislator, 
not  because  they  were  supported  in  the  past  by  supernaturalism  ;  but 
because  they  rest  upon  our  subjective  consciousness,  supported  by  sci- 
ence, by  poetry,  and  the  history  of  the  life  of  man  upon  the  earth  ; 
because  they  are  vouched  for  by  voices,  of  the  wise  in  all  ages,  and 
because  they  have  become  part  of  ourselves.  And  we  have  to  obey 
these  laws,  not  because  we  fear  punishment  in  another  woi-ld,  but  be- 
cause the  violation  of  them  is  followed  by  remorse  and  disaster  in 
this  ;  we  have  to  do  right,  because  it  is  right,  because  we  can  only 
attain  the  full  perfection  of  our  natures  by  doing  so,  because  human- 
ity will  have  it  so.  Mr.  Mallock  pointed  out  that,  while  science  has 
reduced  the  earth  to  insignificance,  has  robbed  it  of  its  glory  as  the 
center  of  the  universe,  and  man  of  his  boasted  eminence  as  the  special 
pet  of  the  Creator,  still  an  intense  self-consciousness  has  been  devel- 
oped in  the  modern  world.  "  During  the  last  few  generations  man 
has  been  curiously  changing.  Much  of  his  old  spontaneity  of  action 
has  gone  from  him.     He  has  become  a  creature  looking  before  and 

*  "  John  Inglesant,"  chapters  xxiii,  xxxix. 


612  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

after,  and  his  native  hue  of  resolution  has  heen  sicklied  over  by 
thought."  True,  and  with  this  increase  of  self-consciousness  have  in- 
creased the  binding  force  of  the  subjective  feelings  upon  which  right 
and  wrong  depend  ;  we  expect  more  of  ourselves,  and  we  expect  more 
of  our  fellow-men.  "  Three  hundred  years  before  "  (I  am  quoting 
again  from  Mr.  Shorthouse),  "  in  the  child-like  unconsciousness  of 
spiritual  conflict  which  the  unquestioned  rule  of  Rome  for  so  long 
produced,  it  had  been  possible,  in  the  days  of  Boccaccio,  for  cultivated 
and  refined  society  to  shut  itself  up  in  some  earthly  paradise,  and,  sur- 
rounded by  horrors  and  by  death,  to  spend  its  days  in  light  wit  and 
anecdote,  undisturbed  in  mind,  and  kept  in  bodily  health  by  cheerful 
enjoyment ;  but  the  time  for  such  possibilities  as  these  had  long  gone 
by."  And  if  this  was  true  of  life  in  the  seventeenth  century,  as  com- 
pared with  the  fourteenth,  with  how  much  greater  force  does  it  apply 
to  life  in  the  nineteenth  century  ! 

I  will  approach  the  same  subject  from  another  point  of  view.  It 
is  possible  to  allow — in  fact,  it  is  impossible  to  deny — that  conscience 
has  not  lost  its  force,  notwithstanding  the  apparent  weakening  of  the 
supernaturalism  to  which  it  has  been  usual  to  ascribe  its  origin  and 
binding  force.  But  the  necessity  of  recognizing  some  supreme  per- 
sonal will  is  often  urged  as  a  mental  necessity,  at  least  as  a  convenient 
theory.  If  the  Supreme  Being  did  not  exist,  it  would  be  necessary 
to  invent  him.  We  can  often  see  our  own  fallacies  in  a  clearer  light 
by  comparing  them  with  modes  of  thought  in  the  past,  now  recognized 
to  be  no  longer  sound.  And  this  struck  me  very  forcibly  the  other 
day  when  I  was  reading  Dante's  pleading  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
supreme  power  of  the  emperor  in  the  middle  ages.  These  arguments, 
I  thought,  in  the  "  Be  Monarchia,"  are  exactly  the  arguments  we  hear 
urged  every  day  in  favor  of  the  existence  of  a  personal  will  in  the 
government  of  the  universe.  Yet  it  may  be  possible  that,  as  society 
has  managed  to  exist  and  to  improve  without  the  existence  of  the 
former,  so  our  moral  and  religious  life  will  continue  practically  unal- 
tered without  the  conscious  recognition  of  the  latter.  I  will  illustrate 
by  extracts. 

Dante  points  out  what  may  be  called  the  physical  necessity  for  a 
single  monarch  :  "  Since  the  whole  heaven  is  regulated  with  one  mo- 
tion, to  wit,  that  of  the  primum  mobile,  and  by  one  mover,  who  is 
God,  in  all  its  parts,  movements,  and  movers  (and  this  human  reason 
readily  seizes  from  science)  ;  therefore,  if  our  argument  be  correct, 
the  human  race  is  at  its  best  state  when,  both  in  its  movements  and  in 
regard  to  those  who  move  it,  it  is  regulated  by  a  single  Prince,  as  by 
the  single  movement  of  heaven,  and  by  one  law,  as  by  a  single  motion. 
Therefore,  it  is  evidently  necessary  for  the  welfare  of  the  world  for 
there  to  be  a  Monarchy,  a  single  Princedom,  which  men  call  the  Em- 
pire." * 


*  (i 


De  Monarchia,"  Book  I,  chap.  ix. 


"NATURAL  RELIGIONS  613 

In  the  same  manner  he  shows  that  justice  and  order  depend  upon 
the  stability  of  the  imperial  power  :  "  Justice  is  strongest  in  the 
world  when  it  is  in  one  who  is  most  willing  and  most  powerful  ;  only 
the  Monarch  is  this  ;  therefore,  only  when  Justice  is  in  the  Monarch  is 
it  strongest  in  the  world.  ...  All  concord  depends  on  unity  which  is 
in  wills  ;  the  human  race,  when  it  is  at  its  best,  is  a  kind  of  concord  ; 
for  as  one  man  at  his  best  is  a  kind  of  concord,  and  as  the  like  is  true 
of  the  family,  the  city,  and  the  kingdom  ;  so  is  it  of  the  whole  human 
race.  Therefore,  the  human  race  at  its  best  depends  on  the  unity 
which  is  in  will.  But  this  can  not  be  unless  there  be  one  will  to  be 
the  single  mistress  and  regulating  influence  of  all  the  rest.  And  this 
can  not  be  unless  there  is  one  prince  over  all,  whose  will  shall  be  the 
mistress  and  regulating  influence  of  all  the  others.  But  if  all  these 
conclusions  be  true,  as  they  are,  it  is  necessary  for  the  highest  welfare 
of  the  human  race  that  there  should  be  a  Monarch  in  the  world  ;  and, 
therefore,  Monarchy  is  necessary  for  the  good  of  the  world."  * 

It  is  curious  to  remark  that  for  a  moment  Dante  seems  to  have 
caught  sight  of  the  modern  point  of  view  in  regard  to  supreme  power 
in  the  political  and  religious  world.  He  is  arguing  against  the  medi- 
aeval symbolism  which  saw  in  the  sun  and  moon  the  types  of  the  two 
great  powers  on  earth  :  "Seeing  that  these  two  kinds  of  power  are,  in 
a  sense,  accidents  of  men,  God  woidd  tints  appear  to  have  used  a  per- 
verted order,  by  producing  the  accidents  before  the  essence  to  which  they 
belong  existed.''''  In  the  same  way  we  should  argue,  extending  the 
terms,  that  before  the  essential  point  of  government  in  the  political 
and  religious  world,  viz.,  order  and  morality,  became  distinctly  con- 
scious in  the  minds  of  men,  their  accidents,  the  divine  state  and  the 
divine  Church,  came  into  being.  This  view,  however,  he  summarily 
rejects  :  "  It  is  ridiculous  to  say  this  of  God.  For  the  two  great 
lights  were  created  on  the  fourth  day,  while  man  was  not  created  till 
the  sixth  day,  as  is  evident  in  the  text  of  Scripture."  f 

The  real  secret  of  the  persistence  of  the  supernatural  in  an  age  of 
science  is  the  tacit  allowance  that  "what  can  not  be  demonstrated  by 
observation  not  to  exist  may  be  taken  as  existing  for  purposes  of  edi- 
fication." I  For  many  years  to  come  we  shall  probably  continue  to 
meet  in  the  same  communities  with  what  would  at  first  appear  to  be 
strange  inconsistencies.  Thus,  at  the  end  of  August,  Montreal  was 
welcoming  with  open  arms  the  high-priests  of  the  new  faith,  the  lead- 
ers of  the  American  scientific  world.  Little  more  than  a  fortnight 
afterward,  they  were  expressing  their  devout  gratitude  to  the  Giver  of 
all  good  for  enabling  British  soldiers  to  crush  the  wretched  Egyptian, 
and  add  to  the  luster  and  renown  of  British  arms.*     And  to  those  who 

*  "  De  Monarchia,"  Book  I,  chaps,  xi-xv.  f  Ibid.,  Book  III,  chap.  iv. 
X  Leslie  Stephen. 

*  On  September  16th  a  resolution  was  passed  by  a  public  meeting  of  the  citizens  of 
Montreal,  expressing  "  devoted  loyalty  to  her  Majesty's  crown  and  Government,"  and 


6i4  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

have  faith  in  the  future  of  humanity,  in  the  eventual  evolution  of  a 
verifiable  and  complete  science  of  life,  such  a  mixture  of  the  strands 
of  religious  consciousness  will  cause  no  uneasiness.  For  just  as  the  ear- 
liest scientific  psychology  cheerfully  recognized  the  two  sides  of  the 
human  mind — the  rational  and  the  irrational — as  equally  necessary, 
equally  human,  so  in  an  altered  sense  we  may  say  that  the  religion  of 
humanity,  as  it  springs  from  the  human  heart,  must  not  only  take  cog- 
nizance of  its  justifiable  aspirations,  but  of  those  hopes  and  fears  also 
which  in  a  strict  sense  of  the  word  we  might  be  tempted  to  call  irra- 
tional, as  in  no  sense  founded  on  reason,  if  not  in  direct  antagonism 
with  it.  Yet,  we  are  not,  for  all  that,  obliged  to  postulate  an  essence 
above  and  beyond  human  reason,  as  the  cause  of  these  emotions  and 
sentiments.  Rather,  they  are  the  gropings  of  the  human  spirit  in  its 
efforts — efforts  ever  to  be  renewed  and  ever  baffled — to  comprehend 
the  Unknowable.  "  Poor  men,  most  admirable,  most  pitiable,"  cries 
"  A  Voice  from  the  Nile  " — 

"...  man 

Has  fear  and  hope  and  fantasy  and  awe 

And  wistful  yearnings  and  unsated  loves 

That  strain  beyond  the  limits  of  his  life, 

And  therefore  Gods  and  Demons,  Heaven  and  Hell ; 

This  Man,  the  admirable,  the  pitiable."' 

And  therefore,  we  may  add,  recognizing  the  fact  as  fully  as  the  ad- 
herents of  the  old  faith,  therefore  does  man  differ  from  the  other  ani- 
mals. But  none  the  less  are  we  bound  to  recognize  also  that  in  this 
special  sphere,  in  religion,  whose  function  it  was  to  raise  men  above 
themselves  by  raising  their  thoughts  to  something  higher  than  them- 
selves, the  center  of  gravity,  so  to  speak,  has  changed.  To  the  ancient 
mind,  the  highest  truth  lay  in  the  region  of  idea  ;  to  the  modern  mind, 
in  the  world  of  fact.  The  religion  of  men  in  the  middle  ages  was 
their  poetry,  their  science,  their  consolation  for  the  ills  of  life  ;  it  made 
mankind  better,  but  did  not  consciously  aim  at  making  the  world  a 
better  place  to  dwell  in  ;  their  eyes  were  turned  to  a  resting-place 
above,  for  which  life  on  earth  was  at  best  a  school  of  discipline.  The 
supposition  upon  which  these  beliefs  rested,  "that  our  living  nature 
will  continue  after  death,"*  we  can  rest  upon  with  confidence  no 
longer— it  is  at  best  but  an  aspiration  ;  and  our  religion  is  nothing  if  it 
does  not  aim  at  the  improvement  of  the  world  in  which  we  live,  if  it 
does  not  ground  itself  upon  a  basis  of  fact.  Yet,  even  so,  the  best 
advice  is  probably  that  of  the  great  master  of  human  wisdom,  who, 

resolving  that  "  we  express  our  devout  gratitude  to  Almighty  God,  the  Giver  of  all  good, 
for  the  brilliant  successes  granted  to  the  British  arms  in  Egypt ;  that  we  rejoice  that  our 
forces  have  by  their  courage  and  devotion  added  to  the  luster  and  renown  which  British 
valor  has  achieved  in  all  quarters  of  the  globe."  The  resolutions  "were  all  carried 
unanimously,  amid  enthusiastic  cheering." 
*  Butler' l;  "  Analogy,"  conclusion  to  Part  I. 


VIVISECTION  AND   PRACTICAL  MEDICINE.      615 

living  long  years  ago  before  the  hubbub  of  Christian  and  anti-Christian 
controversy,  exhorted  us  not  to  follow  the  advice  of  those  who  bid  us 
tame  down  our  aspirations  to  our  mortal  condition,  but  as  far  as  possi- 
ble to  think  the  thoughts  of  immortals,  and  to  live  in  our  every  act  up 
to  the  noblest  part  within  us.* 


■++*-- 


VIVISECTION  AND   PEACTICAL  MEDICINE. 

By  G.  F.  YEO,  F.  E.  C.  S., 

PROFESSOR   OF  PHYSIOLOGY   IN   KING'S   COLLEGE. 

OVER  and  over  again  we  have  been  challenged  by  the  opponents 
of  science  to  give  "  one  conclusive  example  where  experiment 
has  been  of  direct  use  to  practical  medicine."  To  any  one  familiar 
with  the  history  of  scientific  medicine  there  can  be  no  difficulty  in 
finding  numerous  such  instances,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  many  exam- 
ples have  from  time  to  time  been  given  by  various  writers  ;  but  to 
make  these  cases  satisfactory  and  conclusive  to  persons  who  know  but 
little,  and  do  not  care  to  know  more,  of  the  true  bearings  of  the  ques- 
tion, is  a  very  difficult  matter.  Such  a  test  is  totally  wrong  and  mis- 
leading when  applied  to  the  utility  of  experiment  on  the  lower  ani- 
mals. The  matter  must  be  viewed  from  a  wider  stand-point  than  that 
embracing  only  single  instances  of  direct  benefits  accruing  from  spe- 
cific experiments. 

The  primary  object  of  experimental  research  is  to  advance  physi- 
ology— the  science  which  teaches  us  the  uses  of  the  various  organs 
and  textures  of  the  body  in  the  normal  state,  and  how  the  working  of 
the  animal  economy  is  carried  on  in  health.  The  value  of  physiology 
depends  on  the  knowledge  it  gives  us  of  the  normal  operations  of  the 
body,  and  not  on  the  few  cases  in  which  certain  experiments  happen 
to  aid  us  in  understanding  disease,  and  thus  directly  promote  the 
practice  of  the  healing  art.  Our  argument  is  rather  this  :  Physiology 
is  the  foundation  of  both  pathology  and  therapeutics,  which  together 
make  up  medicine  ;  and  therefore  rational  medicine  depends  directly 
upon  physiology  for  its  strong  growth  and  genuine  progress. 

Now,  physiology  can  not  advance  without  vivisection  ;  experiment 
on  living  animals  is  as  essential  to  its  progress  (though  far  less  general 
in  application)  as  is  dissection  for  the  study  of  anatomy.  Therefore, 
experimental  research,  including  that  carried  out  on  living  animals,  is 
as  necessary  for  the  progress  of  the  practice  of  medicine  as  is  experi- 
mental research  in  any  other  science  for  its  advancement  and  appli- 
cation to  daily  life.  The  immediate  object  of  physiological  experi- 
ment is,  then,  not  to  make  out  new  practical  methods  of  treating  dis- 

*  Aristotle's  "  Nic.  Ethics,"  Book  X,  chap,  vii,  §  8. 


616  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

ease,  but  rather  to  attain  to  a  more  complete  and  sound  understanding 
of  those  general  laws  which  govern  the  actions  of  the  living  body  in 
health — laws  which  must  ever  form  the  only  firm  basis  of  the  knowledge 
of  disease,  and  the  only  sure  guide  to  judicious  modes  of  treatment. 

The  rational  practice  of  physic,  as  it  is  carried  on  in  the  present 
day,  is  in  a  great  measure  the  outgrowth  of  a  slowly  growing  physio- 
logical science,  upon  which  it  depends,  and  from  which  it  can  not  be 
separated.  There  is  hardly  a  thought  that  can  strike  a  practitioner 
that  does  not  in  some  way  depend  upon  physiological  facts  which  have 
been  elicited  by  experimental  research.  I  do  not  mean  to  state  that 
the  accurate  and  painstaking  observation  of  clinical  facts  and  post- 
mortem appearances  has  not  done  much — probably  more  than  any- 
thing else — to  bring  our  medical  knowledge  to  its  present  stand-point ; 
but  I  contend  that  clinical  observation  and  post-mortem  experience 
without  physiological  research  would  never  have  been  able  to  advance 
medicine  to  the  position  it  holds  in  modern  times  ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  I  believe  that  physiological  study,  even  unaided,  could  arrive  at 
a  rational  system  of  treatment.  No  doubt  both  clinical  study  and 
pathological  observation  have  not  only  helped  practical  medicine  on- 
ward, but  they  have  also  greatly  contributed  to  the  progress  of  physi- 
ology itself.  In  fact,  I  find  it  impossible  to  separate  exact  clinical 
and  pathological  work  from  scientific  research  of  a  purely  physiological 
nature.  Is  not  all  treatment  more  or  less  experiment  ?  And  is  not 
this  particularly  true  of  purely  empirical  treatment?  Nowadays, 
where  is  the  pathological  laboratory  in  which  a  mere  record  of  post- 
mortem changes  in  the  human  subject  is  not  aided  by  experimental 
inquiry  into  pathological  changes  in  the  lower  animals  ? 

In  assigning  to  each  department  of  medical  study  its  due  meed  of 
credit,  their  relative  ages  must  be  borne  in  mind.  It  has  been  asserted 
that  all  the  improvements  brought  about  by  experimental  research 
would  have  been  introduced  with  equal  certainty  had  experiment  on 
living  animals  never  been  attempted.  Observation,  experience,  and 
thought  would  have  attained  all  the  results  we  now  enjoy.  Possibly 
so  ;  but  when  ?  Clinical  observation  can  be  traced  back  some  three 
or  four  thousand  years,  and  even  then  it  started  with  a  rich  legacy  of 
traditional  knowledge.  Experimental  physiology  as  a  science  was 
only  born  about  a  hundred  years  ago.  If  we  compare  the  progress 
made  by  medicine  during  the  last  hundred  years  with  that  of  the  pre- 
vious thousand  years,  we  shall  be  able  to  judge  of  the  relative  rates 
of  progress  of  the  two  systems  of  working.  The  difference  seems  to 
me  to  lie  in  the  fact  that  unaided  clinical  observation — that  is,  prac- 
tically the  empiric  method — goes  the  wrong  way  about  arriving  at  a 
conclusion.  It  says,  Try  this  or  that  or  the  other  remedy,  and  note 
which  is  successful.  This  is  like  a  boy  who  will  not  systematically 
work  out  his  sum  in  long  division,  but  prefers  to  arrive  at  the  quotient 
by  guessing  probable  numbers  one  after  the  other,  and  multiplies  them 


VIVISECTION  AND   PRACTICAL  MEDICINE.       617 

to  see  which  is  the  right  one  ;  he  may,  after  much  trouble,  by  chance 
hit  upon  the  correct  answer,  but  he  more  commonly  fails  :  and  most 
probably  the  boy  who  works  out  his  sum  in  the  straightforward  way 
will  far  sooner  arrive  at  the  desired  result.  Physiology  moves  onward 
by  means  of  accumulating  and  arranging  facts  which  have  borne  the 
test  of  experiment.  Empiricism  accumulates  observations  which, 
without  further  test,  are  used  to  formulate  theories  that,  as  likely  as 
not,  are  unfounded,  and  are  as  apt  to  mislead  as  to  advance  medical 
knowledge.  When  asked  to  give  an  example  of  the  utility  of  experi- 
mental physiology  in  the  treatment  of  disease,  I  feel  inclined  to  an- 
swer with  another  question  :  Is  there  one  reliable  system  of  diagnosis 
or  one  mode  of  treatment  now  in  use  which  has  not  been  modified  or 
improved,  if  not  directly  suggested,  by  physiological  knowledge  ? 
And  I  must  certainly  confess  that  I  know  none.  Before  attempting 
to  bring  forward  single  cases,  as  instances  where  certain  experiments 
have  been  of  direct  use  to  medical  and  sui'gical  practice,  I  shall  ex- 
amine the  question  from  the  opposite  stand-point,  by  taking  some  simple 
case  of  every-day  occurrence,  and  glancing  at  its  routine  examination 
and  treatment.  We  can  then  see  to  what  extent  vivisection  influences 
the  practitioner  in  the  details  of  his  daily  work.  We  may  safely  take 
a  case  at  random  ;  one  not  associated  very  closely  in  our  minds  with 
any  brilliant  experimentation  will,  perhaps,  be  the  best.  The  follow- 
ing case,  which  I  happen  to  have  seen  recently,  will  do  as  well  as  any 
other  : 

Not  long  since  I  found  a  policeman  examining  a  poor  woman  who 
was  said  to  have  had  a  "  stroke."  She  lay  speechless  and  motionless 
on  a  door-step  ;  she  showed  no  signs  of  convulsions,  no  stertorous 
breathing,  no  frothing  at  the  mouth.  So  the  policeman  hesitated  to 
make  a  diagnosis — thinking,  no  doubt,  that  other  causes  besides  a 
"  stroke "  might  give  rise  to  such  a  want  of  muscular  irritability. 
Gently  shaking  her  had  no  effect,  but  on  his  applying  some  form  of 
stimulus  to  the  finger  she  showed  signs  of  returning  consciousness,  and 
the  left  leg  and  arm  moved  slightly.  The  right  eye  remained  partly 
open,  the  other  was  closed  ;  when  the  eyelid  was  raised,  so  as  to  ex- 
pose the  pupil  to  the  sunshine,  some  movement  of  the  muscles  of 
expression  was  observable,  but  only  on  the  left  half  of  the  face,  to 
which  side  the  mouth  was  slightly  drawn.  This  became  more  obvious 
when  some  drops  of  cold  water  were  thrown  at  her.  The  pulsation 
of  the  temporal  artery  was  visible.  Putting  my  ear  to  the  top  of  her 
chest  I  found  the  heart  beating  violently,  and  heard  a  prolonged  blow- 
ing noise  instead  of  the  sharp,  clear  tone  of  the  second  heart-sound. 
Without  much  effort  my  thoughts  had  passed  from  the  pulsating  tem- 
poral artery  to  the  heart,  and  from  the  imperfect  aortic  valves  to  the 
middle  cerebral  artery,  where  I  fancied  an  embolus  must  be  impacted. 
I  told  the  policeman  the  woman  had  better  be  taken  to  a  hospital, 
which  was  done  accordingly. 


618  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

How  was  it  that  I  was  able  confidently  to  advise  the  policeman 
about  this  poor  woman,  though  he  was  no  doubt  very  experienced  in 
this  sort  of  cases?  What  aid  did  experimental  inquiry  give  me  in 
arriving  at  my  conclusion  ? 

Well,  in  the  first  place,  I  knew  that  the  paralysis  was  restricted  to 
voluntary  movements,  without  the  motions  belonging  to  organic  life 
being  in  the  least  interfered  with.  Vivisections  of  the  earliest  times 
informed  me  that  this  was  quite  possible  as  a  result  of  some  injury  of 
the  nerve-centers,  and  experiments  of  more  recent  date  enabled  me  to 
exclude  a  large  part  of  these  centers  from  being  the  seat  of  the  lesion. 
That  there  was  no  local  injury  of  the  spinal  cord  in  the  dorsal  region 
I  knew,  both  from  the  loss  of  consciousness  and  from  the  fact  that  the 
I'eflex  action  of  the  lower  limbs  was  not  intensified,  and  vivisections  in- 
formed me  they  would  have  become  so  had  this  been  the  case.  I  could 
see  by  the  movement  of  the  left  leg  that  only  one  side  of  the  body 
was  paralyzed  ;  and  then  the  look  of  the  face  distinctly  showed  that 
part  of  the  seventh  cranial  nerve,  which  Charles  Bell's  vivisections 
taught  me  to  know  to  be  motor  in  function,  was  paralyzed.  This  fact, 
together  with  the  ready  reflex  action  of  the  eyes  and  the  sound  side  of 
the  face,  which  I  knew  by  vivisection  required  unimpaired  sensory 
nerves,  showed  me  that  it  could  not  be  a  case  of  profound  toxaemia 
such  as  the  policeman  supposed  to  be  possible.  I  knew  by  vivisec- 
tions performed  by  many  English  physicians  and  physiologists,  some 
of  whom  are  still  among  us,  that  the  second  heart-sound  depended  on 
a  certain  action  of  the  aortic  valves.  Not  hearing  the  familiar  sound, 
I  concluded  that  the  aortic  valves  must  be  diseased.  Experiments  on 
living  animals  concerning  coagulation  of  the  blood  within  the  vessels 
informed  me  that  when  the  lining  coat  of  a  blood-vessel,  or  the  heart, 
is  diseased,  little  clots  are  often  formed  at  the  diseased  or  injured  part. 
I  knew,  further,  from  Virchow's  classical  experiments  on  living  ani- 
mals, that  emboli  introduced  into  the  arterial  blood-current  often  be- 
come impacted  in  the  middle  cerebral  artery,  and  that  the  embolic 
blocking  of  a  brain-artery,  by  shutting  off  the  blood  from  the  area  it 
supplied,  caused  a  sudden  arrest  of  function  of  the  part.  Although  the 
nerves  going  to  the  various  paralyzed  muscles  arose  from  very  differ- 
ent regions  of  the  cord  and  brain,  I  know  by  vivisections  that  there  is 
a  part  of  the  cortex  of  the  brain  the  injury  of  which  would  cause  them 
all  to  be  powerless.  Clinical  observation  and  pathological  anatomy 
would  have  informed  me  that  it  was  probably  a  brain-lesion  ;  but,  had 
it  not  been  for  the  light  thrown  by  vivisection  on  the  few  facts  I  was 
able  thus  hurriedly  to  observe,  I  should  not  have  been  much  wiser  than 
any  other  by-stander,  and  could  only  have  agreed  with  them  that  it  was 
a  "  stroke  "  of  paralysis. 

Now  let  us  consider  a  surgical  case.  The  other  day  I  mentioned 
some  of  the  old  methods  of  operation,  when  buttons  of  vitriol,  caus- 
tics, steel  compresses,  boiling  oil,  hot  irons,  a  copious  receptacle  for 


VIVISECTION  AND   PRACTICAL  MEDICINE.       619 

catching  the  blood,  and  elaborate  machines,  such  as  those  on  the 
table,  were  among  the  apparatus  the  surgeon  had  to  prepare  for  opera- 
tion. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  a  modern  operation,  and  let  us  consider  whether 
our  present  modus  operandi  is  influenced  by  the  light  which  experi- 
mental inquiry  has  shed  on  physiology  during  the  last  century.  I 
shall  not  attempt  to  recount  any  one  of  the  numerous  cases  which  the 
surgeon  now  approaches  with  perfect  confidence  of  undoubted  success, 
although  a  comparatively  short  time  back  they  would  have  been 
looked  upon  as  completely  beyond  his  reach.  Many  such  cases,  which 
formerly  would  have  led  either  to  certain  death,  enduring  misery,  or 
life-long  inconvenience,  must  occur  to  the  minds  of  all  here.  Let  us 
take  a  case  of  disease  or  injury  requiring  the  amputation  of  a  portion 
of  an  extremity.  In  the  first  place  the  patient  is  made  quite  insen- 
sible to  pain  by  the  administration  of  chloroform,  or  some  such  drug  ; 
not  only  is  he  insensible  to  pain,  but  also  unconscious  to  all  that  he 
formerly  would  have  been  obliged  to  see  and  hear,  by  no  means  the 
least  painful  part  of  the  operation.  With  regard  to  the  use  of  anaes- 
thetics, I  shall  not  delay,  for  vivisection  can  not  claim  to  be  the  sole 
means  of  introducing  this  great  boon  to  modern  surgery,  although  ex- 
periment on  living  animals  played  a  most  prominent  part  both  in  their 
discovery  and  their  introduction  into  common  use  in  this  country,  as 
has  been  frequently  pointed  out. 

The  next  step  in  the  operation  is  to  make  the  part  bloodless.  This 
can  be  done  in  the  following  way  :  By  holding  up  the  limb  for  some 
time  to  facilitate  the  flow  of  blood  from  the  veins,  and  thus  to  reduce 
the  blood-pressure  within  these  vessels,  by  which  means  the  local  vaso- 
motor mechanisms  are  brought  into  play  with  considerable  force,  so  as 
to  reduce  the  quantity  of  blood  in  the  limb,  allowing  only  a  limited 
flow  to  continue.  Then  Esmarch's  elastic  bandage  may  be  applied  to 
further  empty  the  minute  blood-vessels.  By  this  means  the  textures 
to  be  cut  into  may  be  made  to  remain,  during  the  active  part  of  the 
operation,  as  bloodless  as  those  of  a  corpse.  The  advantage  of  having 
no  dread  of  hemorrhage  to  induce  haste,  no  blood  to  impede  the  view, 
or  render  the  instruments  difficult  to  handle,  can  hardly  be  overesti- 
mated. So  that,  even  apart  from  the  all-important  point  of  prevent- 
ing the  weakly  patient  losing  blood,  this  bloodless  surgery  must  be 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  important  improvements  in  modern  meth- 
ods. And  how  far  may  it  be  traced  to  vivisection  ?  We  know  that 
the  contractility  of  the  blood-vessels,  and  the  high  pressure  of  the 
blood  in  the  arteries,  as  well  as  the  motions  of  the  heart  and  the 
course  of  the  blood,  were  demonstrated  by  this  means  ;  and  is  not  this 
the  key  of  the  whole  matter  ?  But,  further,  were  we  not  familiar  by 
vivisections,  and  by  the  removal  of  tissues  from  the  bodies  of  recently 
killed  animals,  with  the  fact  that  the  textures  can  retain  their  life  and 
function  for  a  considerable  period  after  their  normal  circulation  has 


62o  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

ceased,  who  would  have  dared  to  suggest  that  the  entire  limb  of  a  liv- 
ing man  should  be  deprived  of  its  blood  during  the  time  occupied  by 
a  tedious  operation  ? 

Then,  with  regard  to  the  means  of  permanently  arresting  the  es- 
cape of  blood  from  the  wounded  vessels.  We  have  no  longer  a  recep- 
tacle for  blood  ;  indeed,  the  handful  of  sawdust  on  the  floor  that  was 
fashionable  when  I  began  medicine  is  no  longer  used.  John  Bell, 
after  giving  a  graphic  and  fearful  account  of  the  terrors  of  haemor- 
rhage, says:  "Is  not  this  fear  of  haemorrhagy  always  uppermost  in  the 
mind  of  the  young  surgeon  ?  Were  this  one  danger  removed,  would 
he  not  go  forward  in  his  profession  almost  without  fear  ?  "  I  do  not 
think  this  fear  ever  crosses  the  mind  of  the  young  surgeon  now,  so 
rare  are  deaths  from  external  haemorrhage.  I  have  never  seen  one 
death  from  such  loss  of  blood  in  the  twenty  years  that  have  passed 
since  I  first  commenced  to  study  medicine.  Why  has  the  dread  of 
bleeding  ceased  to  chill  the  heart  of  the  surgeon  when  entering  on  an 
operation?  Vivisection  has  not  done  all,  but  it  has  done  much  to 
help  us  to  attain  to  this  degree  of  excellence  in  our  present  methods. 

The  use  of  the  ligature  can  be  traced  so  far  back  in  the  history  of 
medicine  that  it  is  impossible  to  say  whether  it  was  first  used  upon 
man  or  animals.  Very  definite  accounts  of  it  occur  in  the  writings  of 
the  Arabians  of  the  tenth  or  twelfth  century.  Although  its  value,  or 
rather  its  great  convenience,  in  military  surgery  was  recognized  and 
extolled  by  Ambroise  Pare,  the  inestimable  value  of  the  ligature  re- 
mained unknown  in  general  pi'actice  for  nearly  a  hundred  years  after 
his  time.  This  was,  no  doubt,  partly  on  account  of  the  fact  that  ex- 
periment was  not  used  to  test  its  efficacy  and  mode  of  action  until 
comparatively  recently.  By  vivisections  the  chief  errors  in  its  appli- 
cation were  by  slow  degrees  removed,  and  now  we  rest  almost  exclu- 
sively on  the  improved  method  of  tying  arteries  as  the  means  of 
arresting  the  flow  of  blood  from  a  recent  wound.  First  of  all,  the 
nerves  used  to  be  included  in  the  ligature.  Vivisection  showed  the 
folly  of  thus  attempting  to  confine  the  animal  spirits,  or  nervous  fluid, 
and  practice  proved  that  thus  tying  the  nerves  always  caused  excru- 
ciating agony,  and  often  gave  rise  to  fatal  spasms  (tetanus),  which 
made  ligature  to  be  dreaded  even  by  its  warmest  advocates.  In  the 
second  place,  the  wide  ligatures  which  were  made  of  soft  material 
and  lightly  tied  over  corks,  etc.,  often  failed  to  check  the  bleeding. 
Dr.  John  Thomson,  of  Edinburgh,  was  among  the  first  who  made  ex- 
periments on  this  subject,  and  I  believe  much  of  the  credit  given  to 
Jones  really  belongs  to  him.  Following  the  precepts  taught  by 
Thomson,  Jones  also  made  numerous  experiments  on  animals.  He 
found  that  a  hard,  thin  ligature,  applied  so  as  to  cut  the  elastic  inner 
coats  and  leave  the  tough  outer  wall  of  the  vessel  uninjured,  was 
much  more  surely  followed  by  a  deposit  of  "  coagulable  lymph,"  and 
by  more  satisfactory  occlusion  of  the  vessel,  than  when  one  or  several 


VIVISECTION  AND   PRACTICAL  MEDICINE.       621 

soft  bands  were  tied  lightly  on  it.  This  fact  hardly  gained  the  uni- 
versal and  complete  confidence  of  surgeons  until  further  vivisections 
performed  by  Lister,  Briicke,  and  others,  showed  that  the  smooth  lin- 
ing of  the  vessel  was  the  chief  factor  in  preventing  coagulation,  and 
that  intravascular  clots  are  formed  most  readily  when  the  lining  of 
the  vessel  was  injured  and  the  blood  ceased  to  move.  Instead  of 
timidly  tying  a  loose  knot  for  fear  of  injuring  the  vessel,  the  surgeon 
now  ties  a  firm  ligature  so  as  to  rupture  its  lining  coat,  or  at  least  to 
apply  sufficient  pressure  to  cut  off  its  nutrition  and  thus  cause  its  death 
in  order  to  make  a  starting-point  for  the  coagulation  which  must  occur 
to  secure  its  permanent  closure. 

Another  great  objection  to  the  old  ligatures  was  the  delay  they 
caused  in  coming  away.  This  wearied  the  surgeon  and  exhausted  the 
patient.  The  ligature  was  sometimes  pulled  away  before  its  time,  and 
this  often  gave  rise  to  the  much-dreaded  secondary  haemorrhage.  In 
counseling  that  the  ligature  be  left  alone,  Petit  adds  the  remark,  as  a 
kind  of  consolation,  that  he  finds  them  generally  to  come  away  of 
themselves  in  about  two  or  three  months.  Of  this  sort  of  annoyance 
we  hear  nothing  now.  Experiment  on  the  lower  animals  has  taught 
us  the  existence  of  the  lymphatics  and  their  absorbing  power.  Ex- 
periments upon  living  animals  has  shown  us  that  this  power  of  absorb- 
ing extends  to  such  things  as  catgut,  a  material  readily  made  into 
strong  cords.  Properly  prepared  catgut  is,  therefore,  almost  univer- 
sally used  as  a  ligature,  the  ends  are  cut  off  short,  and  the  knot  is  left 
to  be  absorbed,  and  never  once  thought  of  again. 

And,  lastly,  the  edges  of  the  wound  are  brought  together  with 
stitches  of  silver  wire,  silk,  catgut,  horse-hair,  according  to  whether 
much  or  little  traction  or  more  or  less  coaptation  is  demanded.  Un- 
due tension,  compression,  gaping,  and  irregularity  of  the  wounded 
part,  are  all  avoided  ;  a  means  of  exit  for  serous  oozing,  etc.,  is  pro- 
vided by  non-irritating  drainage-tubes.  The  antiseptic  dressings  are 
applied  carefully  and  exactly.  Large  tents,  dossils  of  lint,  rude  com- 
presses are  not  thought  of.  The  aseptic  wound  heals  without  swell- 
ing or  inflammation.  No  throb  disturbs  the  patient's  rest.  No  drop 
of  pus  comes  from  the  cut  surface.  Fever,  tetanus,  pyaemia,  second 
haemorahage,  as  well  as  the  old  dread  of  the  bleeding  during  the  oper- 
ation, are  all  nearly  forgotten. 

To  the  minds  of  the  surgeons  of  the  last  century  such  a  method  of 
operation  and  such  a  mode  of  healing  would  probably  suggest  the 
longed-for  magic  remedies  by  means  of  which  many  hoped  to  replace 
the  cauteries,  caustics,  compresses,  and  filthy  dressings  with  which  they 
strove  to  heal  the  open  wTounds  of  their  exhausted  and  cachectic 
patients. — Lancet. 


622  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

EVOLUTION   OF  THE  CAMP-MEETING. 

By  JOSEPH  PAEEISH,  M.  D. 

HALF  a  century  ago,  camp-meetings  were  chiefly  the  outgrowth 
of  Methodist  zeal  and  enthusiasm.  They  were  a  sort  of  re- 
ligious holiday,  when  good  men  and  women  who  were  loyal  to  their 
convictions,  and  earnest  to  disseminate  the  truth  as  they  understood 
and  believed  it,  came  from  far  and  near,  in  sparsely  settled  regions  of 
country,  to  kindle  afresh  in  the  hearts  of  each  other  the  fervor  and 
inspiration  of  their  peculiar  dogmas  and  methods. 

Ox-teams  and  hay-wagons,  the  old-fashioned  chaise  and  chair,  the 
side-saddle  and  cart,  were  among  the  means  employed  to  reach  the 
place  of  meeting.  Many  also  went  on  foot,  making  a  long  and  weary 
pilgrimage.  Congregations  joined  each  other,  employed  their  own 
means  of  transportation,  carrying  their  own  society  tent  and  commis- 
sariat ;  and  thus  thousands  came  together  with  but  one  single  object 
in  view,  which  was,  in  the  language  of  their  distinguished  founder, 
"  to  spread  holiness  throughout  these  lands."  Their  greatest  preach- 
ers were  called  to  join  and  help  them  ;  and,  with  characteristic  fidelity, 
and  sacrifice  of  personal  ease,  ecclesiastics  of  highest  renown  joined 
in  the  simplest  and  rudest  methods  of  tent-life,  and  labored  with  power 
and  efficiency  to  bring  the  thoughtless  and  wandering  to  a  better  and 
a  higher  life. 

The  preaching  was  simple,  direct,  and  powerful,  and  the  result  was, 
large  accessions  to  the  church.  A  camp-meeting  was  a  sort  of  relig- 
ious harvest-home,  an  in-gathering  of  fruit  from  seed  that  had  been 
sown  during  the  year,  in  local  churches,  as  well  as  from  the  direct 
influence  of  the  special  services.  In  addition  to  this,  old  fellowships 
were  renewed  and  fraternal  interests  and  greetings  were  revived,  and, 
at  its  close,  thousands  of  the  faithful  scattered  to  their  homes  again, 
with  renewed  assurances  that  camp-meeting  work  was  a  blessing  to 
themselves  and  to  others.  Such  was  the  old-time  line  of  thought  and 
expression.  But  now,  times  have  changed.  Population  has  increased 
rapidly,  facilities  for  travel  have  multiplied,  the  desert  and  wilderness 
have  been  penetrated  by  railroads,  and  the  adventurous  frontiersman 
is  not  without  numerous  companionshrps. 

Towns  and  churches  have  grown  up,  as  the  migrating  crowds  have 
moved  on  in  one  continuous  caravan,  until  the  mountains,  and  the 
Pacific  slope  beyond  them,  are  already  occupied  ;  and  we  find  pros- 
perous settlements  of  miners,  farmers,  and  adventurers  of  all  kinds 
and  grades,  dwelling  in  the  midst  of  each  other.  The  fathers  in  the 
olden  time  would  have  looked  to  the  West,  with  its  moving  multi- 
tudes, and  planted  their  tents  to  capture  them  ;  but  modern  Method- 
ism plants  the  churches  as  the   people  settle,   and,  to  preserve  the 


EVOLUTION   OF  THE   CAMP-MEETING.  623 

camp-meeting  feature  of  the  denomination,  they  seek  fields  already- 
populated  and  locate  themselves  in  more  profitable  places.  Where 
are  these  places  ?  The  answer  to  this  question  discloses  a  phenomenal 
fact,  that,  could  it  be  announced  to  them,  would  bring  the  scarlet  to 
the  cheek  of  Wesley,  and  bow  the  heads  of  Asbury  and  Whitefield 
with  confusion  of  face. 

The  camp-meeting  of  to-day  is  a  very  different  affair.  It  is  not  an 
extemporaneous  festival  in  which  the  membership  of  one  or  more 
churches  take  the  lead,  select  a  place  of  meeting,  and  invite  neighbor- 
ing churches  to  participate  in  a  common  service,  each  bearing  its 
share  of  the  burden,  and  then  scatter  to  their  homes,  to  disband  and 
be  as  if  they  had  not  been.  No,  it  is  a  very  different  thing.  It  is  the 
fruit  of  a  chartered  association,  with  corporate  rights  and  franchises, 
of  the  same  nature  as  those  which  belong  to  banking  and  railroad 
associations.  Of  course,  the  corporators  are  religious  men,  and  the 
controlling  influence  is  secured  to  the  ministry.  A  copy  of  such  a 
charter  is  now  before  me.  It  gives  the  institution  its  corporate  name, 
and  states  its  object  to  be  "  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  a 
sea-side  resort,  founded  upon  Christian  principles,  and  affording  relig- 
ious privileges  as  well  as  healthful  recreation." 

Provision  is  made  for  the  transfer  and  redemption  of  stock,  for 
voting  by  shares  and  by  proxy,  as  is  usual  in  other  money-making  com- 
panies. It  defines  the  number  of  directors,  one  third  of  whom  shall  be 
ministers,  and  one  other  third  shall  be  ministers  and  members  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Its  president  "  shall  be  a  regularly  or- 
dained minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  having  control  of 
the  conventions,  assemblies,  and  other  meetings  that  may,  from  time 
to  time,  be  held  on  the  premises  ;  and  the  secretary  and  treasurer 
must  give  bonds  for  the  faithful  performance  of  their  duty — in  one 
instance,  as  high  as  thirty  thousand  dollars.  Is  not  this  an  anomaly  ? 
The  camp-meeting  feature,  if  indeed  it  is  prominent  enough  to  be  a 
feature,  is  merely  incidental  to  the  main  object,  viz.,  the  establishment 
of  a  sea-side  resort.  To  do  this,  land  must  be  purchased,  stock  must 
be  sold  to  pay  for  it,  and  the  pastor-president  is  to  be  the  executive 
officer  through  whom  these  conveyances  are  to  be  made,  and  by  whom 
all  the  real-estate  transactions  are  to  be  ratified.  The  entire  time,  out 
of  the  three  hundred  working  days  of  the  year,  that  is  to  be  set  aside  for 
camp-meeting  services,  is  ten  days  or  a  fortnight,  and  the  remainder 
is  occupied  with  the  secular  business  of  the  concern.  We  are  largely 
indebted  to  these  associations  for  the  grand  development  they  have 
made,  on  the  New  Jersey  coast  especially.  Witness  Ocean  Grove, 
Ocean  City,  and  Atlantic  Highlands.  They  have  taken  up  coast-lands, 
some  of  which  were  comparatively  worthless,  and  made  them  into 
fruitful  towns,  with  prosperous  and  happy  peoples.  They  are  to  be 
credited  also  with  the  testimony  they  have  borne  to  sobriety  and  good 
morals,  by  preventing  the  sale  of    intoxicating  liquors  within  their 


624  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

boundaries  ;  but  it  is  a  question  for  them  to  consider,  "whether  the 
cause  of  Christianity  has  been  actually  benefited  by  their  policy.  It 
is  a  question  whether  the  sample  preaching  of  the  present  camp-meet- 
ing style  is  as  effectual  as  were  the  direct  and  incisive  appeals  of  those 
whose  voices  are  now  hushed  in  the  grave.  Is  it  not  more  after  the 
manner  of  "  trial-efforts  "  '?  Which  can  do  the  best  ?  Who  can  make 
the  best  impression  ?  It  may  be  ornate,  picturesque,  and  beautiful.  It 
may  captivate  the  senses  and  satisfy  the  taste  of  the  hearers  ;  but  does 
it  meet  the  needs  of  the  multitudes  who  come  to  hear  ? 

Again,  are  immense  crowds  of  people  wholesome  ?  Are  there  al- 
ways vigor  and  force  and  efficiency  in  numbers,  unless  there  is  exact 
unity  ? 

In  such  promiscuous  multitudes  as  crowd  the  cottages  and  the 
strand,  and  as  go  in  and  out  of  tents  and  barracks,  coming  as  they  do 
from  all  parts,  and  representing  as  they  do  various  grades  of  social 
life,  there  must  be  forces  and  influences  that  are  constantly  at  work, 
and  whether  their  influence  is  toward  the  better  or  worse  side  of 
human  nature  it  is  hard  to  say.  They  are  not  all  Christian  professors, 
and  they  are  all  human.  They  are  loosed  from  the  restraints  of  home, 
and  are  on  a  vacation  for  pleasure.  They  are  crowded  together,  and, 
in  order  to  be  physically  healthy  and  morally  pure,  their  environment 
must  do  much  to  assist  them.  In  this  regard  their  relation  to  space 
and  surroundings  should  be,  if  possible,  essentially  promotive  of  such 
conditions.  How  is  it  ?  In  the  number  of  cottages  and  tents,  espe- 
cially those  appropriated  to  cheap  boarding,  we  venture  to  say  that 
there  are  more  people  lodged  and  fed  than  can  be  found  in  any  equal 
number  of  dwellings  in  any  other  city  or  community  of  an  equal 
population  of  well-to-do  people.  This  is  of  itself  demoralizing.  It 
is  out  of  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  age,  which  demands  freedom 
and  space,  in  proportion  to  population,  in  a  ratio  that  is  overlooked  or 
disregarded  at  such  sea-side  resorts.  There  is,  however,  one  conserva- 
tive and  redeeming  fact  in  connection  with  this  practice  of  promiscu- 
ous crowding,  and  that  is,  that  the  season  is  short  and  the  people  live 
most  of  the  time  out-of-doors.  The  time  is  at  hand,  however,  when 
there  will  be  a  change.  It  will  not  be  tolerated  by  a  sanitary-wise 
people  that  there  shall  continue  an  unwholesome  contact  of  dwellings, 
with  cess-pools  and  water- wells  within  stepping-distance  of  each  other 
and  from  the  kitchen-doors.  Nor  should  buildings  continue  to  be  so 
contiguous  that  one  may  walk  from  roof  to  roof,  under  which  people 
live  in  contracted  apartments,  separated  by  thin  board  partitions, 
which,  even  for  purposes  of  common  privacy  and  projDriety,  are 
scarcely  sufficient.  It  is  true,  and  justice  demands  its  utterance,  that 
later  improvements  have,  to  a  good  extent,  avoided  these  evils,  and 
that  the  class  of  private  homes  and  boarding-houses  now  being  built 
are  more  in  accord  with  a  civilization  that,  at  a  Christian  resort  espe- 
cially, should  be  conspicuous. 


SEWAGE  AT  THE  SEA-SIDE.  625 

The  great  end  of  these  corporations  is  to  establish  and  maintain 
sea-side  resorts  ;  that  is  to  say,  to  sell  and  lease  lots  and  to  build  houses. 
To  provide  a  market  and  secure  competition,  conventions  of  various 
kinds  meet  at  these  ample  grounds,  occupy  the  commodious  buildings, 
and  transact  their  legitimate  business.  It  is  all  done  in  the  name  of 
religion,  and  may  or  may  not  be  in  fact  and  in  spirit  harmonious  with 
the  most  exalted  standard  of  Christian  methods,  according  to  the  out- 
look from  which  the  subject  is  viewed.  If  we  take  Ocean  Grove  as 
the  type  of  such  places,  it  is  not,  after  all,  so  great  a  marvel  that  it 
has  grown  from  a  desolate  sand-bank  to  a  beautiful  city  within  the 
last  twelve  years,  when  we  consider  the  whole  case.  With  missionary 
conventions,  Sunday-school  anniversaries,  temperance  assemblies,  and 
camp-meetings,  drawing  upon  an  immense  constituency  in  all  parts  of 
the  country,  and  bringing  thousands  of  visitors  to  the  spot,  with  fair 
opportunities  for  investing  money  with  a  good  hope  of  speedy  return, 
it  is  not  surprising  that  investments  were  made.  Then,  every  laud- 
able thing  was  done  to  rekindle  and  keep  alive  denominational  pride 
and  loyalty.  The  lakes  that  bound  the  Grove  on  the  north  and  south 
are  named  for  Wesley  and  Fletcher,  while  the  avenues  and  parks  are 
known  by  the  names  of  departed  worthies,  whose  memory  is  revered 
by  the  Church  ;  and  then,  to  complete  the  programme  of  attractions, 
the  annual  camp-meeting,  occurring  in  the  height  of  the  holiday  season, 
is  made  the  central,  the  pivotal  figure  around  which  all  the  others  are 
grouped.  It  has  been  a  success  as  a  venture  to  establish  a  sea-side 
resort ;  whether  it  has  been  a  success  as  a  means  of  intensifying  and 
purifying  the  religious  life  of  the  people  is  as  yet  a  problem  without 
a  solution.  The  time  is  past  when  even  the  common  mind  measures 
the  depth  of  human  character,  and  gives  it  credit  or  not  for  truth  and 
righteousness,  by  the  amount  of  religious  fervor  or  the  degree  of  re- 
ligious profession  it  may  exhibit.  To  be  acceptable  to  common  sense, 
and  appreciated  by  right-minded  people,  the  manhood  must  show 
itself  moved  to  all  good  activities  by  a  force  from  within  that  is  in- 
vincible— a  force,  in  itself  silent  and  unobserved,  but  in  its  effect  on 
character  demonstrative  in  a  life  of  goodness. 


-*»♦- 


SEWAGE   AT   THE   SEA-SIDE. 

By  ALICE  HYNEMAN  EHINE. 

A  MONG  the  thousands  who  go  to  the  sea-side  for  health  and 
~L\.  pleasure,  few  pay  any  attention  to  the  hygienic  conditions  under 
which  they  are  to  live  for  three  of  the  most  trying  months  in  the  year. 
The  furniture  of  parlors  and  size  of  dancing-rooms  and  amusement- 
halls  are  taken  into  consideration,  instead  of  finding  out  how  sewage 

VOL.  xxii. — 40 


626  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY, 

is  disposed  of  and  what  relations  cess-pool  drains  are  having  with  the 
wells.  Land-owners  and  hotel-keepers,  following  the  drift  of  fashion, 
furnish  what  their  patrons  desire,  neither  side  caring  apparently  how 
close  a  connection  is  established  between  animal  excreta  and  the  food 
which  is  eaten,  the  water  which  is  drunk,  and  the  air  which  is  breathed. 

Nor  is  this  carelessness  confined  to  places  merely  fashionable.  In 
Ocean  Grove,  a  religious  resort,  no  attempt  has  yet  been  made  to 
remove  fecal  accumulations  by  means  of  sewerage,  or  to  substitute 
cleanly  earth-closets  for  the  disgusting  cess-pool  and  privy.  Hence 
the  wells  are  polluted  by  human  excreta,  and  the  air  smells  vilely,  par- 
ticularly during  the  period  of  the  great  open-air  camp-meetings. 

At  these  gatherings  over  twenty  thousand  people  assemble,  who 
congregate  together  in  a  comparatively  small  space.  The  greater  part 
of  this  multitude  dwell  in  long  lines  of  camp-tents,  closely  huddled 
together,  and  pay  but  little  regard  to  hygienic  methods.  The  execu- 
tive committee  of  the  association  owning  the  place  is  equally  neglect- 
ful, as  they  have  made  totally  inadequate  provision  for  carrying  away 
the  excreted  material  of  so  many  people. 

For  the  purpose  of  insuring  better  sanitary  conditions  than  those 
prevailing  elsewhere  on  the  Jersey  coast,  Asbury  Park  was  sewered, 
during  the  winter  and  spring  of  1882,  with  eleven  miles  of  clay  pipes. 
Unfortunately  for  the  traveling  public,  this  sewerage  system  was  a 
failure.  Constructed  in  the  slap-dash  manner  that  prevails  over  the 
country  generally,  its  working  illustrated  the  fact  that  an  imperfect 
sewer  for  sewage  is  worse  than  no  sewer  at  all. 

Why  this  system  should  not  work  well  is  easily  understood  by 
looking  at  the  flat  dead  level  of  the  Atlantic  coast  at  this  point,  and 
learning  that,  to  assist  the  discharge  of  sewage-matter  into  the  ocean, 
the  sewers  have  scarcely  a  fall  of  one  inch  in  many  hundred  feet. 
Their  outlets  are  built  but  little  above  low-water  mark  ;  consequently, 
when  they  get  clogged  by  the  tide,  which  they  do  except  at  low 
water,  their  gaseous  contents  are  turned  back  over  the  land,  to  deal  out 
disease  and  death  in  as  many  ways  as  Panurge  had  of  making  money. 

Again,  the  principal  outlet  of  the  sewers  empties  immediately  in 
front  of  and  at  the  foot  of  the  main  street  ;  effluvia  from  this,  during 
the  months  of  July  and  August,  were  emitted  in  morbific  quantities  ; 
and,  although  natural  causes  prevented  any  outbreak  of  virulent 
types  of  disease,  physicians  were  kept  busy  attending  cases  of  fever, 
cramps,  and  dysentery.  While  it  is  admitted  that  this  sewage-stench 
per  se  might  not  have  been  the  cause  of  these  disorders,  yet  there  is 
strong  probability  of  it,  when  it  is  considered  that  the  sewage  of 
Glasgow,  although  conveyed  in  barges  over  twenty-five  miles,  to  a 
deep  and  wide  loch  out  in  the  country,  engendered  new  types  of  dis- 
ease, and  converted  one  of  the  healthiest  sea-side  resorts  into  a  pesti- 
lential fever-center. 

Some  attempt  at  remedying  this  condition  in  Asbury  was  made  by 


SEWAGE  AT  THE  SEA-SIDE.  627 

erecting  ventilators,  consisting  of  vertical  wooden  pipes,  about  twelve 
feet  in  height.  These  chimneys,  placed  upon  sites  chosen  apparently 
without  any  attention  to  vertical  or  horizontal  curves  in  the  system, 
gave  forth  such  fearful  smells  that  at  times  the  beach  in  their  vicinity 
was  unendurable.  One  near  the  principal  promenade  was  abolished 
upon  the  insistance  of  hotel  proprietors. 

This  failure  added  one  more  to  the  list  of  futile  experiments  which 
have  been  made  with  tall  chimneys,  having  for  their  purpose  the  crea- 
tion of  a  strong  draught  from  the  sewer.  Tried  in  England,  they  are 
said  never  to  have  worked  satisfactorily. 

The  placing  such  ventilators,  as  well  as  sewers,  in  a  sandy  soil,  is 
always  a  hazardous  experiment.  If  the  principal  streets  are  unpaved, 
surface-sand  is  liable  to  fill  the  sewer  and  choke  it.  And  paving  will 
not  prevent  silting  up  where  there  is  an  insufficient  fall  to  allow  hy- 
drostatic pressure  to  force  out  incoming  waves  and  tides.  When 
egress  of  sewer-contents  is  thus  checked,  " cela  va  sans  dire"  the  air 
is  filled  with  a  most  dissrustinof  stench. 

Unhealthy  as  this  contaminated  air  is,  sea-side  visitors  incur  a  more 
common  danger  in  the  pollution  of  water  by  sewage.  This  poisoning 
is  done  in  many  ways — by  close  proximity  of  wells  to  sewer-drains, 
and  by  flood-water  from  rain-storms,  which,  instead  of  being  utilized, 
is  allowed  to  flow  off  along  the  gutters,  sidewalks,  and  roadways. 
Across  level  lands,  down  through  porous  sand,  this  water  sinks  un- 
checked into  the  soil,  carrying  with  it  all  the  filth  washed  from  streets 
teeming  with  human  life  during  the  hottest  months  of  the  year. 

Civilization's  barbarism  makes  this  the  more  dangerous  through 
the  custom  of  crowding  pig-sties,  cow  and  stable  yards,  cess-pools, 
and  all  dirt-receptacles  close  to  springs,  wells,  and  other  sources  of 
drinking-water. 

Little  or  no  attention  is  paid  to  this  dirty  practice,  on  account  of 
the  popular  belief  that  filtration  through  the  sand  purifies  water  of 
the  poisonous  principles  contained  in  sewage-matter.  This  idea  has 
been  disproved  by  experiments  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey 
in  1881.  Results  were  then  ascertained  which  showed  very  clearly 
that  sand  interposes  absolutely  no  barrier  between  wells  and  the  bac- 
terial infection  from  cess-pools  and  privies  lying  even  at  great  dis- 
tances in  the  lower  wet  stratum  of  sand.  Professor  R.  Pumpelly,  who 
conducted  the  survey,  says  that  filtration  of  sewage-water,  through  a 
great  many  feet  even  of  sand  as  well  as  gravel,  fails  to  free  it  of  its 
organic  impurities  and  the  germs  of  disease. 

In  consequence  of  general  ignorance  of  this  fact,  even  when  water 
is  sufficiently  impregnated  with  impurities  to  have  acquired  a  foul 
taste,  the  mass  of  people  will  drink  it  without  observation  ;  or  only 
notice  it  so  far  as  to  remark  that  "  good  water  is  never  found  at  the 
sea-side."  The  majority  drank  without  hesitation  at  Long  Branch,  or 
simply  adulterated  the  water  with  wine  or  brandy,  even  after  inves- 


628  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

tigation  had  shown  that  the  feeding-springs  from  which  the  water  sup- 
ply was  drawn  were  contaminated  hy  soakage  from  hog-pens  and  other 
animal  refuse  which  had  been  allowed  to  percolate  the  soil  unchecked. 

The  careless  drinking  of  water  so  poisoned  was  the  cause  of  an  out- 
break of  typhoid  fever  during  the  past  season  at  Seabright,  a  village 
adjacent  to  Long  Branch,  and  supplied  with  water  from  the  same 
source.  Red  Bank  and  Atlantic  City  were  simultaneously  afflicted 
with  zymotic  and  malarial  fevers  through  a  similar  cause  ;  while 
Newport,  heretofore  considered  a  healthy  sea-side  resort,  had  a  case 
of  Asiatic  cholera,  and  diarrhoea  was  almost  epidemic.  These  condi- 
tions resulted  from  imj^erfect  sewer-traps,  by  which  almost  every  well 
and  cellar  in  Newport  was  contaminated,  unclean  streets,  filthy  with 
the  dirt  of  numerous  horses,  and  sewers  in  a  state  the  worst  that 
could  possibly  be  imagined. 

From  such  causes  as  these  an  unusual  amount  of  sickness  prevailed 
during  the  past  season  along  the  whole  line  of  the  Atlantic  sea-coast. 

In  these  sporadic  cases  Nature  sounded  that  key-note  of  warning 
with  which  she  always  precedes  an  epidemic.  If  unheeded,  another 
season  may  witness  the  usual  calamitous  results  that  have  invariably 
occurred  before  man  has  been  taught  that  saddest  and  most  difficult 
of  hygienic  lessons — how  to  protect  life  from  filth-diseases. 

This  problem  has  been  solved  in  great  measure  for  the  hamlet  by 
almost  all  large  cities.  Wherever  men  have  congregated  in  great 
numbers,  plagues  have  occurred  until  they  have  learned  to  be  careful 
of  the  disposition  of  their  sewage.  Memphis,  which  is  one  of  the 
latest  instances,  after  being  terribly  scourged  by  yellow  fever  in  1878, 
and  again  in  1879,  took  the  precaution  to  immediately  institute  sani- 
tary reforms,  which  have  been  followed  by  the  best  practical  results. 
The  leading  features  in  these  improvements  were  :  the  cleansing  of  the 
city  of  all  objectionable  accumulations,  the  abolition  of  all  privy-vaults, 
cess-pools,  and  improperly  constructed  underground  and  surface  drains, 
and  the  substitution  of  a  complete  system  of  sewers  and  subsoil  drainage- 
pipes.    The  water-supply  was  improved,  and  the  streets  properly  paved. 

What  has  been  accomplished  by  these  measures  for  the  proper  sani- 
tation of  Memphis  and  other  business  centers  is  what  remains  to  be 
done  for  the  health  and  comfort  of  sea-side  towns  and  villages  along 
the  Atlantic  coast. 


ICEBERGS  AND  FOG  IN  THE  NORTE  ATLANTIC. 

By  Captain  J.  W.   SHACKFOED. 

DURING  the  season  of  1882  the  ice  and  fog  in  the  track  of  steam- 
ers running  between  Europe  and  North  America  appear  to  have 
attracted  much  more  attention  than  heretofore,  not  only  in  consequence 
of  the  unusual  quantities  of  field-ice  and  bergs  reported,  but  also  be- 


ICEBERGS  AND  FOG  IN  THE  NORTH  ATLANTIC.  629 

cause  of  the  increase  in  the  traffic,  and  in  the  number  of  passengers 
transported. 

Every  one  who  has  sailed  for  any  number  of  passages  on  the  west- 
ern route  via  43°  latitude  and  50°  longitude — the  track  usually  fol- 
lowed in  ice-months — must  have  often  experienced  the  sudden  change 
from  a  dense  fog  to  fine,  clear  weather,  and  sometimes  to  an  almost 
cloudless  sky.  This  change  occurs  most  frequently  to  the  westward 
of  the  Grand  Bank,  and  with  the  wind  to  the  south  of  west ;  the 
clearing  which  follows  a  northerly  wind  taking  place  more  slowly. 
This  sudden  lifting  of  the  fog  is  nearly  always  due  to  a  change  in 
the  temperature  of  the  surface-water.  In  sailing  from  the  43d  to  the 
41st  parallel,  between  the  Grand  Bank  and  George's,  1  have  occasion- 
ally known  the  fog  to  clear  and  shut  down  again  many  times  during 
the  twenty-four  hours  ;  and  almost  invariably,  upon  trying  the  sur- 
face-water, found  that  while  the  weather  continued  clear  the  surface- 
temperature  rose  to  between  55°  and  65°  Fahr.,  and,  upon  the  tem- 
perature of  the  water  falling  below  55°  Fahr.,  the  fog  again  closed  in  ; 
to  be  again  followed  by  clearer  weather  as  the  ship  sailed  into  warmer 
water — thus  alternating  from  a  dense  fog  to  a  clear  sky  and  pleasant 
weather  for  hundreds  of  miles. 

In  the  summer  of  1875,  during  which  great  quantities  of  ice  were 
encountered,  I  began  to  experiment  on  running  south  to  clear  the  fog. 
Probably  the  idea  originated  from  my  knowledge  of  the  courses  taken 
by  the  old  New  York  and  Liverpool  packets,  nearly  all  of  which,  on 
leaving  Sandy  Hook,  in  the  spring  and  summer  months,  steered  east 
by  south  true  until  they  were  to  the  eastward  of  70°  longitude,  and 
crossed  the  50th  meridian  very  rarely  to  the  northward  of  43°  lati- 
tude, and  generally  in  42°  or  south  of  that  parallel.  In  the  course  of 
one  or  two  seasons,  on  comparing  our  logs  of  previous  years  and 
those  of  other  steamers  leaving  about  the  same  dates,  with  our  logs  on 
the  southerly  route,  the  conviction  became  irresistible  that  crossing 
50°  west  to  the  southward  of  41°  latitude  was  the  safest  course  east- 
ward bound.  I  am  fully  aware  of  the  many  arguments  that  may  be 
used  against  this  southern  route  for  both  east  and  west  bound  steam- 
ers ;  among  others,  the  Gulf  Stream,  the  longer  distance,  the  discom- 
fdvt  to  passengers  in  a  crowded  ship,  the  excessive  heat  in  the  fire- 
room,  and  probably  many  others  ;  but,  after  much  attention  to  the 
subject,  I  am  convinced  that  these  objections  are  more  than  counter- 
balanced by  almost  certain  immunity  from  fog  and  ice,  or  the  assurance 
that,  if  the  latter  is  encountered,  it  will  be  in  clear  weather.  I  have 
therefore  continued  crossing  the  meridians  of  50°  and  45°  farther  to  the 
southward  every  year  during  the  ice-months,  until  in  the  present  year 
(1882),  after  having  made  ten  passages  east  and  west,  from  March  to 
August  inclusive,  only  one  hour  and  thirty-one  minutes  of  fog  has 
been  encountered  between  Cape  Henlopen  and  Cape  Clear  on  the 
eastern  passages,  and  that  was  experienced  in  65°  west  in  the  month 


630  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

of  March  ;  and,  on  the  western  passages,  nine  hours  and  forty-three 
minutes  in  May,  to  the  westward  of  70°  longitude,  and  six  hours  and 
thirty-six  minutes  in  August,  between  the  23d  and  33d  meridians  ; 
while  not  a  particle  of  ice  has  been  seen  during  the  entire  season. 
Bergs  have  no  doubt  been  reported  to  the  southward  of  these  tracks 
this  year,  but  very  rarely,  and  so  few  of  them  reach  this  latitude  that 
the  chances  of  seeing  any  are  very  small. 

What  this  immunity  from  fog  and  ice  means  may  be  appreciated 
by  any  one,  landsman  or  sailor,  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  look  over 
the  files  of  the  "  New  York  Herald  "  for  the  "  reports  "  of  arrivals  of 
steamers,  or  those  of  the  New  York  "  Maritime  Register,"  where  their 
logs  are  published.     Here  are  a  few,  selected  at  random  : 

"  Steamer  '  Emberiza  '  (Br.),  Dundee,  February  12th,  via  Halifax  :  February 
25th,  8  p.  m.,  while  running  before  a  strong  easterly  wind  with  a  heavy  sea,  got 
into  immense  quantities  of  field-ice ;  hauled  ship  to  southeast  and  east  to  clear 
it ;  steamed  slow  all  night,  and  received  some  damage  to  bows  while  clearing 
the  ice,  ship  making  a  little  water  in  fore  compartment ;  28th,  8  a.  m.,  after 
three  days'  slow  steaming,  during  which  time  the  ship  was  at  times  completely 
blocked,  passed  a  small  iceberg  and  the  last  of  the  ice." — New  York  Herald, 
March  7th. 

"Steamer  'Nevada'  (Br.),  Liverpool:  April  12th,  passed  several  large  ice- 
bergs, and  great  quantities  of  field-ice." — Ibid.,  April  2Jfth. 

"  Halifax,  April  26th  :  The  steamer  '  Mark  Lane  '  left  Dundee,  .  .  .  thirty- 
six  days  ago.  Three  weeks  ago  the  ice  was  sighted  and  every  effort  was  made 
to  keep  away  from  it,  but  without  success,  and  the  steamer  was  soon  in  the 
midst  of  a  vast  field,  with  a  very  slight  prospect  of  an  early  escape.  From  then 
until  last  Monday,  although  clear  water  would  sometimes  be  reached  for  a  short 
time,  ice  was  never  lost  sight  of.  .  .  .  Shortly  after  getting  into  the  ice  the  coal 
on  board  gave  out.  .  .  .  All  the  wood  available  was  then  obtained  and  burned, 
and  at  last  the  shipping  (shifting?)  boards  had  to  be  cut  away,  and  even  the  top- 
mast broken  up  for  fire-wood." — IMS,.,  about  April  27th. 

"  Steamer  '  Daniel  Stienmann  '  (Belg.),  Antwerp,  April  12th :  Had  strong 
southwest  winds  to  longitude  40°;  thence  variable  winds,  foggy  and  misty 
weather.  April  25th,  passed  a  large  iceberg;  28th,  saw  a  large  iceberg,  and  sub- 
sequently passed  fifteen  others,  also  an  ice-field  ten  miles  long ;  steered  one  hun- 
dred miles  southwest  by  west  one  half  west  (south  37°  west  true?),  when  the 
last  iceberg  was  passed." — Ibid.,  May  2d. 

"Boston,  May  1st:  The  British  steamer  'Glamorgan,'  of  the  Warren  line, 
arrived  here  this  morning  from  Liverpool.  .  .  .  About  four  o'clock  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  26th  (April),  while  going  eleven  knots  an  hour,  she  ran  into  a  field  of 
pack-ice  and  icebergs ;  .  .  .  a  run  of  twenty  miles  was  made  to  the  southeast, 
when  the  ship  was  put  on  her  course  again.  She  steamed  one  hundred  and 
sixty  miles  on  the  southern  edge  of  the  field-ice,  and  during  that  time  passed 
fully  one  hundred  large  icebergs.  .  .  .  The  course  of  the  vessel  was  changed,  as 
the  presence  of  the  ice  made  it  necessary,  and  a  long  passage  was  the  result." — 
Ibid.,  May  2d. 

"  Steamer  '  Jason '  (Dutch),  Amsterdam,  April  20th :  May  1st,  fell  in  with 
ice,  and  remained  in  it  three  days  ;  passed  numerous  very  large  icebergs  ;  had  a 
hole  stove  in  fore-peak." — Ibid.,  May  12th. 


ICEBERGS  AND  FOG  IN  THE  NORTH  ATLANTIC.  631 

"  Steamer  '  India '  (Ger.) :  May  24th,  passed  two  icebergs  during  a  dense  fog" 
Slowed  engines  until  next  morning,  when  fog  lifted  and  found  vessel  surrounded 
by  icebergs ;  counted  thirty-five  of  them.  The  fog  shut  down  again,  and  was 
obliged  to  stop  vessel  several  times.  At  10  a.  m.  struck  an  iceberg  and  stove 
two  holes  in  starboard  bow.  The  last  ice  was  seen  in  latitude  42°  35',  longitude 
52°,  when  three  bergs  were  passed."— Ibid.,  May  31st. 

"  Steamer  '  America '  (Ger.),  .  .  .  was  detained  on  the  Banks  and  vicinity 
many  hours  by  fog.  June  10th,  latitude  42°  30',  longitude  50°  3G',  passed 
through  a  regular  fleet  of  icebergs,  one  of  them  at  least  three  hundred  feet 
high;  .  .  .  weather  thick  and  foggy,  and  was  obliged' to  proceed  slowly." — 
Ibid.,  June  14th. 

"  Steamer  '  State  of  Nebraska '  (Br.)  was  detained  thirty  hours  on  the  Banks 
by  dense  fog." 

"Steamer  '  Devonia '  (Br.)  was  detained  eighteen  hours  by  dense  fog." — 
Ibid.,  July  19th. 

"Steamer  'Polaria'  (Ger.)  had  strong  westerly  gales  and  high  head-seas 
with  dense  fog  nearly  all  the  passage." — Ibid.,  July  20th. 

"Steamer  '  Devon *'  (Br.)  sighted  a  large  iceberg  on  the  eastern  edge  of  the 
banks ;   thence  light  winds  and  fog." — Ibid.,  July  23d. 

"  '  Abyssinia  '  left  Liverpool  June  3d  :  June  11th,  light  wind  and  dense  fog, 
passed  several  icebergs,  engines  slowed  and  stopped  ;  12th,  light  winds  and  dense 
fog,  passed  several  icebergs ;  13th,  light  southeast  winds  and  fog,  passed  several 
icebergs,  engines  slowed." — New  York  Maritime  Register,  June  21st. 

The  above  are  only  a  few  of  the  many  instances  of  steamers  en- 
countering fog  and  ice  during  the  last  season,  and  sustaining  more  or 
less  damage.  It  is  difficult  which  to  most  admire,  the  skill  and  sea- 
manship exercised  in  extricating  some  of  these  vessels  from  difficult 
and  dangerous  situations,  or  the  pertinacity  with  which  they  continued, 
month  after  month,  to  follow  the  same  track  in  the  face  of  the  reports 
published  day  after  day  in  the  "  Herald  "  and  "  Maritime  Register," 
with  hardly  any  intermission,  from  March  to  August.  It  may  be  re- 
plied that  the  last  spring  and  summer  have  been  exceptional  ones  for 
ice,  which  is  doubtless  true  ;  but,  since  18T5,  including  that  year  eight 
seasons,  we  have  had,  for  the  first  year,  ice  down  very  early  ;  field-ice 
and  bergs  were  seen  in  February,  and  continued  into  September  and 
October.  For  1876,  bergs  and  field-ice  seen  in  the  early  part  of  the 
year,  February  ;  and  in  August,  September,  and  October  an  immense 
number  of  bergs  on  the  Banks  and  to  the  northward  of  them.  During 
the  three  following  years,  very  few  seen  ;  only  occasional  bergs,  includ- 
ing the  one  seen  by  the  Arizona  in  November,  1879.  In  the  season 
of  1880  there  was  a  constant  stream  of  icebergs  along  the  eastern  edge 
of  the  Grand  Bank  from  March  until  July,  some  of  them  having  been 
seen  as  far  south  as  40°  latitude.  In  1881,  occasional  bergs  ;  and  the 
ice  and  fog  of  the  last  season  are  too  recent  to  have  been  as  yet  for- 
gotten. Here  we  have,  out  of  eight  seasons,  four  in  which  ice  was 
almost  certain  to  be  encountered  from  two  to  six  months  in  each 
spring  and  summer.     In  those  seasons  during  wdiich  very  little  ice 


632  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

was  reported,  Low  was  it  to  be  known  at  what  moment  it  might  not 
have  been  fallen  in  with  ?  As  we  have  seen  above,  in  some  years  the 
ice  comes  down  in  February  ;  perhaps  the  next  year  not  until  Sep- 
tember. Can  any  one  doubt  that,  the  longer  we  continue  to  run  with- 
out seeing  ice,  the  more  emboldened  we  become  to  continue  running 
through  the  region  where  it  is  liable  to  be  met  with,  in  all  kinds  of 
weather,  trusting  partly  to  our  escape  from  accident  in  the  past  for 
security  in  the  future  ?  If  this  is  not  so,  the  nature  of  shipmasters 
must  be  different  from  ordinary  human  nature  ;  and  that  the  observa- 
tion is  a  true  one  is,  I  think,  proved  by  the  experience  of  the  past 
season,  when  so  many  steamers  continued  to  round  the  south  end  of 
the  Grand  Bank,  voyage  after  voyage,  in  a  latitude  where  ice  was 
almost  as  certain  to  be  encountered  as  the  sun  was  sure  to  rise  in  the 
morning  ;  and  when  it  was  also  as  certain  that,  by  crossing  the  me- 
ridian of  50°  a  hundred  miles  farther  to  the  southward,  the  ice  could 
have  been  avoided  altogether. 

The  facts  appended  are  the  result  of  careful  observations,  taken 
from  June,  1875,  to  August  of  last  year.  The  instruments  were  com- 
pared frequently  with  standards,  the  temperature  of  the  water  taken 
at  least  every  hour,  and,  when  changes  were  anticipated,  sometimes 
every  ten  minutes,  between  Henlopen  and  Cape  Clear,  and  the  hours 
and  minutes  of  fog  noted  when  the  whistle  was  blowing  or  when 
we  could  not  see  far  enough  to  clear  a  vessel  without  difficulty.  I 
presume  it  will  be  conceded  that  many  more  hours  of  hazy  or  misty 
weather  would  be  encountered  on  the  northern  than  on  the  southern 
route  ;  the  vicinity  of  the  colder  water  naturally  bringing  with  it 
more  hours  when  a  vigilant  lookout  would  have  to  be  kept,  but  when 
it  would  not  be  necessary  for  the  steam-whistle  to  be  sounded.  The 
observations  comprise  thirty-two  eastern  and  twenty-seven  western 
passages,  from  March  to  August  inclusive,  on  routes  one  to  five,  and 
five  western  passages  in  August,  via  Cape  Race,  on  the  middle  of 
the  Bank.  The  eastern  passages,  from  1875  to  1879,  were  sailed  on 
track  No.  3,  wThich  crosses  the  50th  meridian  in  about  41°  latitude, 
and  hauls  sharp  to  the  northward,  on  the  Great  Circle  for  the  Fast- 
net.  For  1880-81  track  No.  4  was  followed,  wTith  the  exception 
of  the  March  passage  in  1881,  when  50°  longitude  was  crossed  in  42° 
latitude,  thereby  reducing  slightly  the  average  distance  for  the  season. 
During  the  season  of  1882,  track  No.  5  was  taken  from  April  to 
August. 

On  the  western  passages,  track  No.  1,  the  route  generally  taken 
in  these  months,  was  followed  as  closely  as  possible  from  1875  up  to 
and  including  the  June  trip  of  1880.  The  July  passage  of  that  year 
was  made  on  track  No.  4.  For  the  year  1881  the  earliest  trip,  April, 
was  made  on  track  No.  1  ;  the  subsequent  passages  on  No.  4.  During 
the  present  year,  with  the  exception  of  the  March  trip,  the  passages 
have  been  made  entirely  on  the  extreme  southern  track,  No.  5. 


ICEBERGS  AND  FOG  IN  THE  NORTH  ATLANTIC.   633 

In  following  track  No.  4,  on  eastern  passages  5G  and  63,  six  hours 
and  forty  minutes  of  fog  was  encountered  between  40°  and  60°  longi- 
tude, and  on  the  western  passages  56,  63,  and  64,  nine  hours  and  fifty- 
one  minutes  between  the  same  meridians.  This  fog,  on  these  five  pas- 
sages, was  found  always  very  near  the  48th  meridian  ;  the  mean  tem- 
perature of  the  surface-water,  while  the  weather  continued  foggy,  be- 
ing 53°  Fahr.  in  the  early  part  of  July,  and  65°  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  same  month  ;  falling  in  a  few  moments  from,  and  rising  as  rapidly 
to,  89°  in  the  former  and  78°  in  the  latter  instance.  This  belt  of  cold 
water,  and  of  fog,  which  was  entirely  avoided  on  route  No.  5  in  1882, 
is  described  in  Maury's  "  Physical  Geography  of  the  Sea."  In  writ- 
ing of  the  Gulf  Stream  and  climates  of  the  ocean,  he  says  :  "  Navi- 
gators have  often  been  struck  with  the  great  and  sudden  changes  in 
temperature  of  the  waters  hereabout  ;  .  .  .  this  '  bend '  is  the  great 
receptacle  of  the  icebergs  which  drift  down  from  the  north  ;  cover- 
ing frequently  an  area  of  hundreds  of  miles  in  extent,  its  waters  differ 
as  much  as  20°,  25°,  and  in  rare  cases  as  much  as  30°  in  temperature 
from  those  about  it.  Its  shape  and  place  are  variable.  Sometimes  it 
is  like  a  peninsula,  or  tongue  of  cold  water,  projected  far  down  into 
the  waters  of  the  Gulf  Stream."  In  May,  1881,  on  track  No.  4,  the 
width  of  this  "  tongue  "  was  about  fifty  miles,  and  on  the  following  pas- 
sage in  June  less  than  thirty  miles.  On  the  latter  passage  I  was  en- 
abled to  predict  its  position  with  such  certainty  that  I  struck  it  inside  of 
half  an  hour  of  the  time  expected.  All  the  fog  experienced  on  track 
No.  4  between  the  40th  and  60th  meridians  has  been  met  with  in  this 
immediate  vicinity.  With  the  limited  number  of  observations,  taken 
only  on  one  ship,  it  would  no  doubt  be  premature  to  give  an  opinion 
as  to  the  fixed  locality  of  this  tongue  of  the  Arctic  current  ;  but  I  can 
nevertheless  confidently  affirm  that  between  40°  and  60°  longitude,  the 
tables  below,  with  the  observations  of  the  temperature  of  the  surface- 
water,  show,  beyond  dispute,  that  by  an  additional  hundred  miles  of 
distance,  the  chances  of  meeting  fog  in  the  spring  and  summer  months 
are  almost,  if  not  entirely,  avoided.  Whether  it  is  worth  the  loss,  from 
the  additional  distance,  to  escape  fog  and  very  nearly  all  the  ice,  is  a 
question  for  each  to  decide  for  himself. 

The  following  table  shows  the  hours  of  fog  and  distance  sailed  on 
the  voyages  described  above  : 

Teack  No.  1.-43°  latitude,  50°  longitude,  to  Fastnet  on  the  Great  Circle. 

]STo.  2.-42°  latitude,  50°  longitude,  to  Fastnet  on  the  Great  Circle. 

No.  3. — 41°  latitude,  50°  longitude,  to  Fastnet  on  the  Great  Circle. 

No.  4.-41°  latitude,  50°  longitude,  to  42°  latitude,  45°  longitude,  thence  to 
Fastnet  on  Great  Circle. 

No.  5,  East. — 40°  30"  latitude,  50°  longitude,  to  41°  latitude,  47°  longitude, 
thence  to  Fastnet  on  Great  Circle. 

No.  5,  "West.— Fastnet  to  41°  latitude,  47°  longitude,  thence  to  40°  latitude, 
50°  longitude,  thence  to  Cape  llenlopen. 


634 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


EASTERN    PASSAGES. 


13. 
14. 


20. 
21. 
22. 
23. 


45. 

46. 

47. 
48. 


VOYAGE. 


2  passages 
Average  .  . 


4  passages 


53. 
54. 
55. 
56. 
57. 


62. 

63. 
64. 

65. 

66. 


Average 


3  passages 
Average  .  . 


4  passages 
Average  . . 


June. 

July  and  August. 


March  and  April. 

May 

June 

July  and  August. 


April 
May 


June. 
July  . 


4  passages 
Average  .  . 


March 

April 

May 

June  and  July. 
August 


5  passages 
Average  . . 


March 

April  and  May. 
May  and  June  . 

July 

August 


5  passages 
Average  . . 


Hours  of  Fog. 

Total. 

Between 
40°  and  Co°  W. 

Distance  sailed. 

Hours.  Min. 

Hours.  Min. 

Miles. 

1875. 

0     0 

0     0 

2,995 

0     0 

0     0 

2,979 

0     0 

0     0 

5,974 

0     0 

0     0 

2,987 

1876. 

0     0 

0     0 

2,995 

0     0 

0     0 

2,988 

23  15 

20  45 

2,978 

8     0 

8     0 

2,955 

31  15 

28  45 

11,916 

7  49 

7  11 

2,979 

1877. 

0     0 

0     0 

2,982 

8     0 

0     0 

2,975 

0     0 

0     0 

2,944 

8     0 

0     0 

8,901 

2  40 

0     0 

2,967 

1878. 

0     0 

0     0 

2,987 

10  45 

0     0 

2,990 

17  45 

17  45 

2,989 

13  39 

0     0 

2,950 

42     9 

17  45 

11,916 

10  32 

4  26 

2,979 

1879. 

0     0 

0     0 

2,962 

5  52 

3  50 

2,9S8 

4  15 

4  15 

2,974 

8  43 

0     0 

2,9S8 

8  50 

8     5 

11,892 

4  42 

2     1 

2,973 

1880. 

0     0 

0     0 

2,995 

0     0 

0     0 

2,997 

8     0 

0     0 

2,999 

7     0 

3     0 

3,005 

0     0 

0     0 

2,991 

15     0 

3     0 

14,987 

3     0 

0  36 

2,997 

1881. 

2  35 

2  35 

2,959 

3  40 

3  40 

2,984 

8  58 

0     0 

3,025 

2  54 

0     0 

3,018 

0     0 

0     0 

2,971 

18     7 

6   15 

14,957 

3  37 

1   15 

2,991 

ICEBERGS  AND  FOG  IN  THE  NORTH  ATLANTIC.  635 


eastern  passages — (continued). 


VOYAGE. 


71. 
72. 
73. 
74. 
75. 


Month. 


March 

April 

May 

June  and  July. . . 
July  and  August. 


5  passages 
Average  .  . 


HOTTKS 

OP 

Fog. 

Total. 

Between 

Distance  sailed. 

41 

°  and  00°  W. 

Hours.  Min. 

Hours 

Min. 

Miles. 

1882. 

1   31* 

0 

0 

3,005 

0     0 

0 

0 

3,016 

0     0 

0 

0 

3,026 

0   0 

0 

0 

3,025 

0     0 

0 

0 

3,025 

1   31 

0 

0 

15,097 

0  18 

0 

0 

3,019 

WESTERN    PASSAGES. 


Month. 

Hours 

w  Foo. 

VOYAGE. 

Total. 

Between 
40°  and  00°  W. 

Distance  sailed. 

13 

July 

Hours.  Min. 

1875. 
18     5 

Hours.  Min. 

0     0 

Maes. 
2,945 

1  passage  . . . 

18     5 

0     0 

2,945 

20 

April 

1876. 
15   15 
44  55 
53  33 

113  43 

37  54 

9  35 

16  45 

5  20 

2,950 

21 

May  and  June 

2,935 

22 

July 

2,902 

3  passages 

31  40 
10  33 

8,787 

Averasre 

2,929 

28 

March 

1877. 
16     0 

4     0 
39     0 

0     0 

4     0 

26     0 

2,913 

29 

May 

2,915 

30 

July 

2,908 

59     0 

19  40 

30     0 
10     0 

8,736 

2,912 

36 

March  and  April. . 

1878. 
23  30 
36  13 
10  19 

17     0 

24  28 

0     0 

2,920 

37 

May 

2,925 

38 

June  and  July 

2,918 

70     2 
23  21 

41  28 
13  49 

8,763 

Average 

2,921 

All  these   passages   on   track   No.    1,  via  43°  latitude,   50°  lon- 
gitude. 


*  In  longitude  65 °  west,  between  tracks  No.  2  and  No.  3. 


626 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


WESTERH   PASSAGES. 


44. 
45. 
46. 
47. 


71. 
72. 
73. 
74. 
75. 


VOYAGE. 


4  passages 
Average  . . 


4  passages 
Average  . . 


4  passages 
Average  . . 


5  passages 
Average  . . 


Month. 


March , 

April 

May  and  June. 
July 


March  and  April 

May 

June , 

J«iy 

August , 


HoTJBS 

3F  Fog. 

Total. 

Between 
40°  and  60°  W. 

Distance  sailed. 

Hours.  Min. 

1879. 

Hours.  Min. 

Miles. 

5  16 
4  35 

0     0 
0     0 

2,917 
2,913 

17  30 

12     0 

2,919 

10  50 

0  30 

2,912 

38  11 

12  30 

11,661 

9  33 

3     7 

2,915 

1880. 

2  30 

2  30 

2,912 

22  25 

11  15 

2,915 

0     0 
8     0 

0     0 
8     0 

2,917 
3,019 

32  55 

21  45 

11,763 

8  14 

5  26 

2,941 

1881. 

12  20 
3     5 

12  20 
1   15 

2,907 
3,023 

3  41 

0  36 

3,020 

0  50 

0     0 

3,011 

19  56 

14  11 

11,961 

4  59 

3  33 

2,990 

1882. 

0     0 

0     0 

3,016 

9  43* 

0     0 

3,024 

0     0 

0     0 

3,026 

0     0 

0     0 

3,026 

6  36+ 

16  19 

0     0 

3,026 

0     0 

15,118 

3   16 

0     0 

3,024 

CAPE   RACE   PASSAGES. 


Year. 

Month. 

Hours  of  Fog. 

VOYAGE. 

Total. 

Between 
40°  and  60°  W. 

Distaneo 
sailed. 

14 

1875 

1876 

August 

Hours.  Min. 

26     5 
5  30 
5  30 

23  51 
0  30 

Hours.  Min. 

10  50 
5  30 
2  30 
1   15 
0     0 

Miles. 

2,861 

23 

August 

2,862 

31 

1877. . 

August 

2,853 

39 

1878 

August.  . 

2,857 
2  856 

48 

1  879 

5  passage 
Average  . 

61   26 
12  17 

20     5 
4     1 

14,289 

2,858 

The  comparisons  for  the  cliff erent  years,  omitting  the  Cape  Race 
passages,  are  as  follows  : 


*  West  of  70°  longitude. 


\  Between  23°  and  33°  west. 


ICEBERGS  AND  FOG  IN  THE  NORTH  ATLANTIC.  637 


EASTERN   PASSAGES. 


Number 

TEAR. 

of 

passages. 

1875 

2 

1876 

4 

1877 

3 

1878 

4 

1879 

4 

1880.. 

5 

1881 

5 

1882 

5 

Houks  op  Fog. 


Total. 


Hours.  Min. 

0  0 
31   15 

8  0 
42  9 
IS  50 
15     0 

18     7 

1  31 


Average, 

per  passage. 

Hours. 

Min. 

0 

0 

7  49 

2 

40 

10 

32 

4 

42 

3 

0 

3 

37 

0 

18 

40°  to  60°  W. 

Hours. 

Min. 

0 

0 

28 

45 

0 

0 

17  45 

8 

5 

3 

0 

G 

15 

0 

0 

Average, 

per  passage. 

Hours. 

Min. 

0 

0 

7 

11 

0 

0 

.     4 

26 

o 

1 

0 

36 

1 

15 

0 

0 

Average  distance 

sailed, 

per  passage. 

Miles. 

2,987 
2,979 
2,967 
2,979 
2,973 
2,997 
2,991 
3,019 


WESTERN   PASSAGES. 


Number 

of 
passages. 

Hotms  op  Foe. 

Average  distance 

TEAR. 

Total. 

Average, 
per  passage. 

40°  to  60°  W. 

Average, 
per  passage. 

sailed, 
per  passage. 

187,5 

1876    , , . 

1877 

1878 

1879 

1880* 
1881f    , . . . 
1882$ 

1 
3 
3 
3 
4 
4 
4 
5 

Hours.  Min. 

18  5 
113  43 

59     0 
70     2 
38  11 
32  55 

19  56 
16  19 

Hours.  Min. 

18  5 
37  54 

19  40 
23  21 

9  33 
8  14 
4  59 
3   16 

Hours.  Min. 

0  0 
31  40 
30  0 
41  28 
12  30 
21  45 
14   11 

0     0 

Hours.  Min. 

0     0 

10  33 

10     0 

13  49 

3     7 

5  26 

3  33 

0     0 

Miles. 

2,945 
2,929 
2,912 
2,921 
2,915 
2,941 
2,990 
3,024 

By  the  above  tables  the  average  hours  of  fog  for  each  passage 
show  a  decrease  in  the  eastern  passages  from  seven  hours  forty-nine 
minutes  in  1876  and  ten  hours  thirty-two  minutes  in  1878,  to  three 
hours,  and  three  hours  and  thirty-seven  minutes  in  1880  and  1881,  and 
eighteen  minutes  in  1882  ;  and  between  the  sixtieth  and  fortieth  me- 
ridians, the  ice-region,  from  an  average  of  seven  hours  eleven  minutes 
in  1876  to  one  hour  fifteen  minutes  in  1881,  and  an  entire  immunity 
from  fog  in  1882  ;  for  the  western  passages  a  decrease  from  an  aver- 
age of  thirty-seven  hours  fifty-four  minutes  of  each  passage  in  1876 
to  four  hours  fifty-nine  minutes  in  1881,  and  three  hours  sixteen  min- 
utes in  1882  ;  while  in  crossing  the  ice-region  the  average  is  reduced 
from  ten  hours  thirty-three  minutes  in  1876  to  three  hours  thirty-three 
minutes  in  1881,  and  an  entire  absence  of  fog  in  1882. 

Comparing  the  western  passages  via  43°  latitude,  50°  longitude 
(route  No.  1),  with  the  extreme  southern  passages  (routes  4  and  5), 
the  result  is  as  follows  : 


*  One  passage,  southern  route  (track  No.  4). 
f  Two  passages,  southern  route  (track  No.  4). 
\  One  passage,   southern  route   (track  No.   4). 
(track  No.  5). 


Four  passages,    southern  route 


638 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


WESTERN    PASSAGES, 
via  43°  latitude,  50°  longitude.     (Route  Ko.  1.) 


VOYAGE. 


13 

20 
21 
22 
28 
29 
30 
36 
37 
38 
44 
45 
46 
47 
53 
54 
55 
62 


Month. 


July 

April 

May  and  June . .  . 

July 

March 

May 

July 

March  and  April. 

May 

June  and  July.  .  . 

March , 

April 

May  and  June. . . 

July 

March , 

May 

June , 

April 


18  passages. 
Average . . 


HorEs 

of  Fog. 

Distance 

Total. 

40°  to  G0°  W. 

6ailed. 

Hoars.     Min. 

Hours.     Min. 

Miles. 

18       5 

0       0 

2,945 

15     15 

9     35 

2,950 

44     55 

16     45 

2,935 

53     33 

5     20 

2,902 

16       0 

0       0 

2,913 

4       0 

4       0 

2,915 

39       0 

26       0 

2,908 

23     30 

17       0 

2,920 

36     13 

24     28 

2,925 

10     19 

0       0 

2,918 

5     16 

0       0 

2,917 

4     35 

0       0 

2,913 

17     30 

12       0 

2,919 

10     60 

0     30 

2,912 

2     30 

2     30 

2,912 

22     25 

11      15 

2,915 

0       0 

0       0 

2,917 

12     20 

12     20 

2,907 

336     16 

141     43 

52,543 

18     41 

7     52 

2,919 

WESTERN    PASSAGES, 
via  Southern  Route.     (Nos.  4  and  5.) 


VOYAGE. 


56 
63 
64 

65 
71 
72 
73 

74 
75 


Month. 


July 

May 

June 

July  and  August. 
March  and  April . 

May 

June 

July. 


August , 


9  passages. 
Average . 


Houbs 

of  Fog. 

Distance 

Total. 

40°  to  60°  W. 

sailed. 

Hours.    Min. 

8       0 

Hours.    Min. 

8       0 

Miles. 

3,019 

3       5 

1     15 

3,023 

3     41 

0     50 

0     36 
0       0 

3,020 
3,011 

0       0 

0       0 

3,016 

*9     43 

0       0 

0       0 
0       0 

3,024 
3,026 

0       0 

0       0 

3,026 

|6     36 

0       0 

3,026 

31     55 
3     S3 

9     51 

1       6 

27,191 
3,021 

and  the  comparative  loss  of  distance  as  under 

Miles. 

Average  distance  lost  each  western  passage 102 

Average  distance  lost  in  nine  passages 918 

To  compensate  for  which  loss  of  distance,  we  have — 

n.      m. 
Average  of  fog  per  passage  on  the  northern  route  (track  No  1)   18    41 


*  West  of  longitude  70°. 


f  Between  23°  and   33°  west. 


ICEBERGS  AND  FOG  IN  THE  NORTH  ATLANTIC.  639 

reduced  to — 

Average  of  fog  each  passage  on  the  southern  route 3    33 

and — 

Average  of  fog  each  passage  through  the  ice-region  by  former 

route 7    52 

reduced  to — 

Average  of  fog  each  passage  through  the  same  by  latter  route. .     1      G 

and,  omitting  the  fifty-eighth  voyage,  have  actually  an  average  of  only 
fourteen  minutes  of  each  passage  for  eight  passages  through  the  whole 
region  of  the  Atlantic  where  ice  is  liable  to  be  encountered.  Another 
fact  that  should  not  be  foi'gotten  in  the  comparison  is  the  maximum 
amount  of  fog  liable  to  be  met  with  (see  twrenty-second  and  thirtieth 
passages  west)  on  the  northern  route  (track  No.  1). 

Cape  Race  in  August. — On  this  route  for  this  month  we  have — 

MILES. 

Average  distance  sailed  each  passage 2,858 

Average  distance  sailed  each  passage  by  extreme  southern  route.  3,021 

Loss  of  distance  each  passage 1G3 

Against  which  loss  of  distance,  we  find  the  average  of  fog  as  above, 
instead  of — 

H.       M. 

Average  hours  of  fog,  Cape  Race 12    17 

Average  hours  of  fog  through  the  ice-region 4      1 

and — 

Maximum  amount  of  fog  on  thirty-ninth  voyage 23    51 

As  I  have  seen  ice  on  three  out  of  five  of  these  August  passages 
via  Cape  Race,  it  is  an  open  question  which  is  the  best  route  for  this 
month  in  ordinary  years.  Where  the  ice  has  continued  so  late  as  in 
the  present  season,  I  should  certainly  prefer  the  southern  route. 
Below  is  the  report  of  the  steamer  Main  (Ger.),  via  Cape  Race,  in 
July  of  the  present  year,  arriving  in  New  York  on  the  20th  of  that 
month  :  "  Passed  Cape  Race  July  18th  ;  .  .  .  from  Sable  Island  to 
Sandy  Hook  had  continuous  fog  ;  July  19th  (?)  latitude  47°  45',  longi- 
tude 48°  12',  passed  an  iceberg  ;  same  date,  latitude  46°  56',  longitude 
52°  24',  up  to  Cape  Race,  for  a  distance  of  thirty  miles  numerous 
large  and  small  icebergs  ;  same  date,  latitude  40°  11',  longitude,  53° 
54',  two  large  icebergs." 

Currents. — I  was  much  surprised,  on  comparing  the  total  dis- 
tances, by  observation  and  account,  for  these  westerly  passages,  to 
find  that  the  average  current  was  less  on  the  southern  than  on  the 
northern  route. 

The  following  sIioavs  the  comparison  for  the  twenty-seven  westerly 
passages  : 


640 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


CURRENT   ON   WESTERN    PASSAGES, 

via  latitude  £3°,  longitude  59°.     {Track  No.  1.) 


VOYAGE. 


13 
20 
21 
22 

28 
29 
30 
36 
3V 
38 
44 
45 
46 
47 
63 
54 
55 
62 


Month. 


July 

April 

May  and  June . . . 

July 

March 

May 

July 

March  and  April . 

May 

June  and  July . . . 

March 

April 

May  and  June. 

July 

March , 

May 

June 

April 


18  passages. 
Difference . . 


Average  per  passage. 


Distance. 


Observed. 


Miles. 
2,945 
2,950 
2,935 

2,902 
2,913 
2,915 
2,908 
2,920 
2,925 
2,918 
2917 
2,913 
2,919 
2,912 
2,912 
2,915 
2,917 
2,907 


52,543 


Account. 


Miles. 
3,071 

2,942 
3,010 
2,948 
2,901 
2,867 
.  2,948 
2,920 
2,848 
2,935 
2,939 
2,925 
2,909 
2,967 
2,879 
2,904 
3,015 
2,977 


52,905 
362 


20 


CURRENT. 


East. 


126 

75 
46 


40 


17 
22 

12 

55 


98 
70 


561 
easterly 


"West. 


12 
48 


10 

33 
11 


199 


VOYAGE. 


56 
63 
64 
65 

71 
72 
73 

74 

75 


CURRENT    ON   WESTERN    PASSAGES, 
via  Southern  Route.      ( Tracks  JVos.  Jj.  and  5.) 


Month. 


July 

May 

June 

July  and  August. 
March  and  April. 

May 

June 

July. 


August , 


9  passages. 
Difference. 


Average  for  passage. 


Distance. 


Observed. 


Miles. 

3,019 
3,023 
3,020 
3,011 
3,016 
3,024 
3,026 
3,026 
3,026 


27,191 


Account. 


Miles. 

3,015 
2,973 
3,068 
3,046 
3,028 
3,009 
3,056 
3,056 
3,027 

27,27S 
87 

10 


Current. 


East. 


48 
35 
12 

30 
30 

1 


156 
easterly. 


West. 


4 
50 


15 


69 


As  long  as  our  navigation  laws  of  the  last  century  continue  unre- 
pealed, probably  the  facts  contained  in  the  above  tables  will  be  of  little 
interest  to  steamship-owners  in  the  United  States  ;  but  underwriters 
and  shippers  are  certainly  concerned,  as  to  the  proportion  of  steamers 
in  the  North  Atlantic  trade  that  escape  from  or  meet  with  detention, 


REMEDIAL   VALUE  OF  THE  CLIMATE  OF  FLORIDA.  641 

accident,  or  loss.  The  immense  proportions  that  the  traffic  between 
Europe  and  the  United  States  is  bound  to  assume  within  the  next  fifty 
years  appear  to  make  it  almost  a  necessity  that  the  ocean  between  the 
two  countries  should  be  as  well  known  as  the  country  between  New 
York  and  San  Francisco,  or  between  Liverpool  and  London.  That  this 
subject  has  been  almost  a  matter  of  indifference  to  the  governments  in- 
terested, until  very  recently,  can  not  be  better  illustrated  than  by  the 
fact,  almost  incredible,  but  nevei'theless  true,  that  a  shoal  on  the  east- 
ern edge  of  the  Grand  Bank,  directly  in  the  track  of  steamers  running 
between  the  two  countries  for  the  greater  portion  of  the  year,  marked 
"  Ryder  Rock,  twenty-one  feet,  position  doubtful,"  was  laid  down  on 
the  charts  published  by  the  British  Admiralty  and  United  States  Hy- 
drographic  Offices,  until  1879,  in  which  year  the  bank  was  resurveyed, 
and  the  shoal  found  to  have  had  no  existence.  The  United  States  and 
British  Governments  have  recently  spent  thousands  of  dollars  in  Arctic 
explorations  and  relief  expeditions,  one  of  the  results  of  which  has 
been  to  show  how  gallantly  death  can  be  encountered.  Surely,  a  few 
thousands  would  be  well  expended  in  the  survey  of  this  ocean  highway 
on  which  thousands  of  lives  are  constantly  afloat ;  and  certainly  gov- 
ernment ships  might  be  worse  employed  than  in  an  attempt  to  give 
greater  security  to  life  and  property  on  its  treacherous  surface. 

If  the  publication  of  these  two  articles  *  should  be  the  means  of 
causing  one  ship-master  to  try  the  southern  route,  or  deter  one  steamer 
from  ramming  into  an  ice-field  on  the  eastern  edge  of  the  Grand 
Bank,  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  the  writer  will  be  amply  repaid  for 
any  time  and  trouble  they  may  have  cost  him. 


-<>—*- 


REMEDIAL  YALUE   OF  THE   CLIMATE   OF  FLORIDA. 

By  GEOEGE  E.  WALTON,  M.  D., 

MEMBKE   DE   LA  SOCIETE   FEANgAISE   d' HYGIENE,   PARIS,   ETC. 

"  Know  ye  the  land  of  the  cedar  and  vine, 
"Where  the  flowers  ever  blossom,  the  beams  ever  shine, 

Where  the  citron  and  olive  are  fairest  of  fruit, 
And  the  voice  of  the  nightingale  never  is  mute  ?  " 

WHEN  one  approaches  this  land,  from  the  northward,  in  the  win- 
ter season,  having  left  the  hills  and  valleys  about  his  home 
covered  with  the  cold,  white  mantle  of  winter,  he  is  pleased  and 
cheered  by  the  green  foliage.  The  breezes  which  touch  him  possess  a 
delicious  softness  and  a  fragrant,  spicy  aroma.  When,  at  the  shores 
of  the  St.  John's  River,  he  looks  over  miles  of  clear  and  unruffled 

*  See  the  first  article,  in  "Harper's  Magazine"  for  August,  1882. 

VOL.    XXII. 41 


642  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

water,  many  miles  in  width,  like  an  inland  lake,  and  reaching  far  away, 
hundreds  of  miles  to  the  south,  fringed  hy  green  inlet  and  headland, 
bearing  the  tropical  foliage  of  cypress  and  orange,  palmetto  and  palm; 
when  the  mild  sunshine,  falling  so  softly  upon  forest,  bank,  and  river, 
has  penetrated  him  till  he  feels  a  gentle  warmth  flowing  through  his 
veins  ;  when  a  delicious  languor  has  possessed  him,  and  it  would  seem 
perfect  happiness  to  rest  in  the  genial  sunshine  forever — then  he  knows 
he  has  found  the  sweet  do-nothing  land  of  America. 

Warmth  is  life,  cold  is  death,  and  the  medical  study  of  climate  is 
only  an  analysis  of  those  conditions  of  heat  which  will  best  secure  an 
abounding  vitality  in  the  healthy  human  organism,  or  restore  a  shat- 
tered organism  to  its  normal  physical  relations. 

Men,  like  children,  continually  cry  for  the  unattainable.  We 
would  like  a  land  in  which  a  perfect  June  always  prevails. 

What  are  the  factors  in  the  climate  of  Florida  ?  Heat,  water,  and 
light — warmth,  moisture,  and  sunshine. 

The  health  resort  of  Florida  is  the  peninsular  portion,  averaging 
one  hundred  miles  in  width  and  projecting  southward  over  three  hun- 
dred miles,  amid  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

It  is  a  flat  land,  composed  almost  entirely  of  sand.  So  much  does 
it  resemble  a  jetty  of  sand,  such  as  we  see  formed  at  the  confluence 
of  streams,  that  it  may  appropriately  be  termed  an  ocean  sand-bar, 
with  everglades,  marshes,  and  lagoons  in  the  southern  portion,  testify- 
ing how  recently,  geologically  speaking,  it  has  emerged  from  the  depths 
of  the  sea.  Around  this  sickle-shaped  peninsula  the  Gulf  Stream, 
with  an  average  temperature  of  86°  Fahr.,  sweeps  from  the  south- 
ernmost point  along  the  eastern  shore  at  a  distance  of  ten  to  one  hun- 
dred miles  from  the  coast.  Across  it  the  salt-laden  breezes  of  the 
ocean  continually  play,  by  day  and  by  night.  Upon  it  the  warm  rays 
of  a  semi-tropical  sun  almost  continually  shine. 

What  are  the  results  of  these  physical  conditions,  stated  in  the 
exact  terms  of  meteorological  science  ?  For  this  purpose  it  is  not 
necessary  to  array  long  tables  of  average  temperature,  mean  monthly 
range,  rain-fall,  barometric  pressure,  relative  humidity,  etc. 

It  is  sufficient  to  know  that  the  average  temperature  of  Jackson- 
ville, for  the  month  of  November,  is  61°  Fahr.;  December,  54°  Fahr.; 
January,  55°  Fahr. ;  February,  57°  Fahr. ;  March,  62°  Fahr.  The  rain- 
fall in  November  is  3£  inches  ;  December,  3  inches  ;  January,  3  inches  ; 
February,  2|  inches  ;  March,  4^  inches.  St.  Augustine,  Palatka,  and 
Gainesville  average  2°  or  3°  warmer  than  Jacksonville.  At  St.  Augus- 
tine the  rain-fall  is  less  than  at  Jacksonville,  being,  November,  1*2 
inch;  December,  2  inches;  January,  2  inches;  February,  l-6  inch; 
March,  2'3  inches.  The  mean  monthly  range  of  temperature  for  these 
places  during  the  winter  months  is  between  20°  and  30°  Fahr. 

These  figures  indicate  a  mild,  equable,  and  sunshiny  climate  during 
winter  for  all  that  portion  of  Florida  frequented  by  invalids,  embrac- 


REMEDIAL  VALUE  OF  THE  CLIMATE  OF  FLORIDA.  643 

ing  a  region  on  the  east  side  of  the  State,  from  Jacksonville  as  far 
south  as  Palatka.  For  a  country  lying  on  a  parallel  with  the  Canaries, 
off  the  coast  of  Africa,  they  indicate  a  climate  which  in  temperature 
approaches  that  of  Malaga,  Malta,  and  Algiers,  but  does  not  nearly 
equal  them  in  evenness  and  unchangeableness,  though,  in  point  of 
clear,  sunshiny  weather,  far  superior. 

However,  from  the  facts  given,  we  are  unable  to  fix  accurately  the 
position  of  the  Florida  climate.  We  neither  know  the  atmospheric 
humidity  nor  the  electrical  potential ;  and,  as  yet,  the  phenomena  of 
nature  have  not  been  interrogated  for  an  answer. 

A  cardinal  question  is  whether  the  climate  be  moist  or  dry,  brac- 
ing or  relaxing. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  note  here  an  error  committed  by  a  profes- 
sional gentleman  of  Jacksonville.*  In  a  pamphlet  on  the  climatology 
of  Florida,  he  gives  tables  of  the  mean  relative  humidity  of  Jackson- 
ville and  other  stations  in  Florida,  and  attempts  to  prove  therefrom, 
by  comparison  with  similar  observations  in  Northern  States,  that  the 
atmosphere  of  Florida  is  dry,  much  drier  than  that  of  Minnesota,  Mount 
Washington  (New  Hampshire),  Alpina  (Michigan),  Omaha  (Nebraska), 
and  other  Northern  localities.  It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that 
there  is  a  wide  difference  between  relative  humidity  and  absolute  hu- 
midity, and  their  relation  is  frequently  diametrically  opposite.  Relative 
humidity  does  not  indicate  the  amount  of  vapor  present  in  the  air  per 
cubic  foot,  but  only  the  tendency  to  deposit  it  in  a  wet  state  on  a  sur- 
face but  little  lower  in  temperature  than  the  surrounding  atmosphere. 
Absolute  humidity,  on  the  contrary,  is  the  actual  amount  of  vapor 
present  in  each  cubic  foot  of  air.  To  illustrate,  suppose  the  cubic  foot 
of  air  to  be  a  hollow  cubic  vessel  of  tin.  Absolute  humidity  is  the 
actual  amount  of  watery  vapor  contained  in  that  tin  vessel.  Relative 
humidity  is  the  tendency  of  that  vapor,  be  it  great  or  small  in  quan- 
tity, to  leak  out  of  the  vessel  and  show  itself  on  the  outside  in  the 
form  of  mist  or  dew.  Sir  John  Herschel  says,  "  As  a  general  meteor- 
ological fact,  there  is  not  merely  a  want  of  accordance,  but  an  actual 
opposition  between  both  the  diurnal  and  annual  progress  of  the  '  de- 
gree of  humidity '  or  '  relative  humidity '  of  the  air  and  the  '  tension 
of  vapor '  as  indicated  by  hygrometric  observation,  a  seeming  para- 
dox, but  one  very  easily  explained."  f  He  then  shows  how  the  rela- 
tive humidity  is  greatest  just  before  sunrise  of  each  day,  and  the 
vapor  tension  or  absolute  humidity  is  least;  that  as  the  day  advances 
the  relative  humidity  diminishes  and  the  absolute  humidity  increases, 
till  the  maximum  temperature  of  the  day  is  reached,  when  absolute 
humidity  is  greatest  and  relative  humidity  is  least.  It  is  also  well  to 
know,  in  considering  this  question,  that  air  at  a  temperature  of  60 
Fahr.  is  capable  of  containing  double  the  quantity  of  vapor  by  weight 

*  Dr.  J.  C.  Kenworthy. 

\  "  Meteorology,"  by  Sir  John  F.  W.  Herschel,  Edinburgh,  1861,  p.  193. 


644 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


that  it  is  at  a  temperature  of  40°  Fahr.,  and  this  ratio  continues 
throughout  the  thermometric  scale.  Whether  air  at  an  average  hio-h 
temperature,  like  that  in  Florida,  will  contain  this  excess  of  moisture, 
depends  only  on  the  proximity  of  water  whence  the  vapor  may  he 
obtained. 

The  figures  of  relative  humidity  recorded  by  the  Signal  Service  at 
Jacksonville  only  indicate  the  ratio  in  per  cent  which  the  humidity  of 
the  air  at  the  time  bears  to  saturated  air  at  the  same  temperature. 
But  the  weight  of  vapor  in  saturated  air  at  that  temperature  is  not 
given,  therefore  the  absolute  value  of  this  percentage,  so  far  as  the 
records  are  concerned,  is  unknown.  The  basis  for  the  calculation  is, 
however,  easily  obtainable — the  weight  of  vapor  in  troy  grains,  con- 
tained in  saturated  air  at  different  temperatures  (Glaisher's  Table) — 
and  will  be  found  to  increase  in  an  ascending  scale  from  zero.  The 
following  record  of  the  Signal  Service  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio  (Sergeant 
R.  B.  Watkins,  U.  S.  A.,  observer),  well  illustrates  the  subject : 


TEMPERATURE  AND  HUMIDITY. 

January  1,  1881  : 

Thermometer,  degrees  Fahr. . .  . 
Relative  humidity,  per  cent. . . . 
Actual  humidity,  grains 

June  1,  1881 : 

Thermometer,  degrees  Fahr.. . . 
Relative  humidity,  per  cent. .  .  . 
Actual  humidity,  grains 


1080 

2-30 

10-80 

7  A.M. 

A.  M. 

2  p.m. 

P.M. 

9  p.m. 

P.M. 

4 

12 

27-5 

29-5 

30 

28 

74 

61 

76 

73 

68 

77 

0-44 

0-59 

1-35 

1-35 

1-35 

1-41 

73 

78 

79 

80 

70 

69 

72 

61 

54 

51 

80 

85 

6-36 

6-46 

5-95 

5-76 

6-41 

6-57 

Average. 


21-8 
71-5 
1-08 

74-8 
67-1 
6-25 


From  the  above  table  we  see  that  on  a  day  of  high  temperature 
and  low  relative  humidity  there  was  nearly  six  times  more  vapor  in 
the  air  than  on  a  day  of  low  temperature  and  high  relative  humidity. 

By  way  of  comparison  we  here  insert  a  table  showing  the  mean 
annual  and  winter  temperature,  also  the  relative  humidity  and  abso- 
lute humidity,  of  three  winter  stations.  It  shows  the  average  quantity 
of  vapor  in  the  air  at  Jacksonville,  throughout  the  year,  to  be  twice 
as  great  as  at  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  and  four  times  more  during  the 
winter  season  : 


STATIONS.* 

Altitude. 

Annuals. 

Winter  months : 

November,  December,  January, 

February,  March. 

i   . 

p.t. 

S3 

Relative 
humidity, 
per  cent. 

Absolute 

humidity, 

per  cubic 

foot. 

Relative 
humidity, 
per  cent. 

Absolute 

humidity, 

per  cubic 

foot. 

Jacksonville,  Florida  . . 
San  Antonio,  Texas  . .  . 
St.  Paul,  Minnesota.  .  .  . 

i    Feet. 
20 
600    ; 

800  ! 

Deg.  F. 
68-98 
69-6 
42-32 

71-0 
68-1 
68-4 

Grains. 
5-48 
5-36 
212 

Deg.  F. 
5817 
56-63 
20-17 

70-6 
68-6 
70-9 

Grains. 
3-81 
351 
0-92 

*  The  temperature  of  these  places  is  from  the  "  Smithsonian  Temperature  Tables." 
The  relative  humidity  is  calculated  from  data  of  five  years — 1877-1881  inclusive — sup- 
plied the  writer  by  the  Chief  Signal-Officer,  General  W.  B.  llazen,  Washington,  D.  C. 


REMEDIAL   VALUE  OF  THE  CLIMATE  OF  FLORIDA.  645 

In  consideration  of  these  facts,  we  are  compelled  to  cast  aside  tables 
of  "  relative  humidity  "  as  valueless  when  taken  alone,  for  the  purpose 
of  determining  the  humidity  of  climates.  The  physical  properties  of 
vapor  in  the  air — the  absolute  humidity — are  essential  elements  which 
can  not  be  ignored,  and  are  of  exceeding  significance  in  the  treatment 
of  disease. 

We  have  given  prominence  to  this  topic,  inasmuch  as  the  pamphlet 
of  Dr.  Kenworthy  is  widely  circulated  by  the  Bureau  of  Immigration 
of  the  State  of  Florida,  and  is  quoted  in  a  pamphlet  on  Florida  issued 
by  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  and  also  in  the  well- 
known  work  on  Florida  by  G.  H.  Barbour,  as  establishing  conclusively 
the  dryness  of  the  climate.  It  well  shows  how  figures,  correct  in  them- 
selves, may,  by  misapprehension  of  their  import,  become  the  source  of 
mischievous  error. 

Given — a  peninsular  land  subjected  to  the  burning  rays  of  a  semi- 
tropical  sun  and  surrounded  by  an  ocean  of  warm  water,  the  average 
temperature  of  which  is  77°  Fahr.* — then  it  is  not  necessary  to  ask 
the  Signal  Service  whether  the  climate  be  moist  or  dry.  If  they  sup- 
plied us  with  tables  of  absolute  humidity,  they  could  only  add  to  our 
information  accurate  knowledge  of  the  excess  of  moisture.  Every 
breeze  that  blows  touches  the  face  with  the  softness  of  a  moist  May 
morning  at  the  North.     The  atmosphere  is  delicious,  balmy. 

In  addition  to  physical  sensation  and  deductions  drawn  from  geo- 
graphical position,  there  ai*e  other  reasons  for  deciding  that  the  climate 
is  moist.  The  necessity  of  frequently  emptying  closets  during  the 
summer  season,  and  drying  clothing-apparel  ;  the  impossibility  of  using 
cellars,  because  of  the  quickness  with  which  mold  destroys  goods  there 
stored  ;  the  thick  formation  of  vert-cle-gris  on  articles  of  brass  ;  the 
rapid  decay  of  structures  made  of  wood,  as  compared  with  Northern 
localities  ;  the  presence  almost  everywhere  of  the  Southern  moss  (Til- 
landsia),  swaying  in  festoons  from  the  trees — these  facts  tell  of  exces- 
sive atmospheric  moisture. 

Sunshine,  which  is  so  cheering  to  the  invalid,  and  the  absence  of 
which  is  so  depressing  even  to  the  well,  is  abundant  in  Florida.  There 
it  glitters  continually  on  leaf  and  flower.  Five  years'  observation  at 
Jacksonville  shows  an  average  of  only  seven  cloudy  days  for  each 
winter  month,  the  other  twenty-three  being  arched  by  a  soft  Italian- 
like sky. 

What  relation  electrical  potential  may  have  to  climate  as  regards 

The  absolute  humidity  is  calculated  f rom  "  Table  X ''  of  "  Smithsonian  Meteorological 
Tables,"  by  Guyot,  giving  weight  of  vapor  in  grains  troy,  contained  in  a  cubic  foot  of 
saturated  air  between  0°  and  105°  Fahr. 

*  The  temperature  of  the  surface-water  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  off  Key  West,  in  May, 
was  Y7i°  Fahr.,  as  determined  by  the  United  States  Coast  Survey,  1857,  p.  102. 

The  average  temperature  of  the  St.  John's  River,  at  Jacksonville,  to  the  depth  of 
eighteen  feet,  determined  by  daily  observations  by  Sergeant  J.  W.  Smith,  United  States 
Signal  Service,  from  September,  1881,  to  March,  1882,  is  70°  Fahr. 


646  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

its  so-called  elasticity  or  bracing  properties  is  yet  undetermined.  That 
it  is  continually  fluctuating,  and  that  it  varies  considerably  at  different 
places,  is  known.  When  instruments  shall  have  been  devised  by  which 
this  element  can  be  accurately  recorded,  we  may  then  discover  that 
those  climates  which  are  termed  bracing  possess  special  peculiarities 
as  to  electrical  distribution. 

We  then  estimate  the  climate  of  Eastern  Florida  to  be  mild  in 
winter  temperature,  moist,  sunshiny,  relaxing,  and  for  an  American 
climate  equable,  though  not  to  be  compared  in  this  respect  with  the 
Genoese  Riviera. 

What  is  the  value  of  this  climate  in  the  treatment  of  disease  ? 

We  will  first  consider  that  scourge  of  overcrowded  populations — 
consumption — a  disease  which  is  limited  to  no  zone,  and  for  which  the 
benefit  of  change  of  climate  is  most  frequently  sought.  The  discov- 
eries of  Koch,  of  Berlin,  in  his  researches  on  the  cause  of  this  disease, 
may,  if  they  are  satisfactorily  confirmed,  enable  us  in  the  future  to  in- 
terpose barriers  to  its  invasion.  They  may  also  enable  us  to  eliminate 
"taking  cold"  as  one  of  the  causes  of  consumption.  But  they  will 
not  change  the  nature  of  the  bacillus  tuberculosis,  the  habits  of  which, 
although  itself  unknown,  have  been  familiar  to  the  world  for  many 
centuries.  Persons  of  feeble  constitution,  whether  hereditary  or  ac- 
quired, will  still  be  the  subjects  of  its  incursion,  and  the  disease  en- 
gendered by  its  presence  will  require  the  same  treatment  as  heretofore, 
unless  happily  we  find  a  remedy  which  will  destroy  these  morbific 
germs  in  situ,  and  thus,  by  relieving  the  patient  of  the  exciting  cause, 
lead  to  immediate  recovery. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  cite  authorities  to  show  that  the  prime  need 
of  a  consumptive  is  that  he  shall  be  a  great  deal  out-of-doors,  that  he 
shall  breathe  pure  air,  that  he  shall  exercise,  that  his  entire  physical 
organization  shall  be  invigorated.  Is  the  climate  of  Florida  fitted  to 
do  this  ?  I  answer,  No  !  The  climate  is  simply  and  delightfully 
soothing.  Being  so — being  moist  and  relaxing — it  will  cause  tubercu- 
lous deposits  to  disintegrate  rapidly.  Expectoration  will  be  increased, 
and  there  will  be  no  rally  of  the  system  to  oppose  this  new  call  upon 
the  strength.  Instead  of  exercising  freely  and  expanding  his  lungs  as 
he  should,  the  consumptive  invalid  will  sit  listlessly  on  the  piazzas  of 
the  hotels,  awaiting  his  fate.  Hundreds  are  seen,  wherever  you  go,  so 
doing.  Seldom  do  you  see  one  attempting  to  exercise,  and,  if  one  is 
seen,  he  is  moving  in  that  sluggish  and  apathetic  manner  so  character- 
istic of  every  one  living  there. 

It  is  unfortunate  that,  of  the  thousands  of  consumptives  who  go  to 
Florida,  we  can  get  no  reliable  statistics  of  the  result.  The  people  of 
Florida,  the  owners  of  the  soil,  the  railroad  and  steamboat  owners  and 
agents,  the  hotel-keepers,  the  physicians  residing  there,  are  all  so  much 
interested  personally  in  the  prosperity  of  the  State,  which,  since  the 
close  of  the  war,  has  been  opened  up  like  a  newly-discovered  country, 


REMEDIAL   VALUE  OF  THE  CLIMATE  OF  FLORIDA.  647 

that  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  for  them  to  give  unprejudiced  state- 
ments concerning  the  healthf  ulness  of  the  State,  its  adaptation  to  the 
cure  of  disease,  or  any  other  subject,  which  even  remotely  touches 
their  personal  interest.  A  prism  is  placed  before  your  eyes,  and  you 
are  caused  to  see  everything  covered  with  the  colors  of  the  rainbow. 

However,  I  snatched  one  fragment  from  the  page  of  fact.  During 
the  last  six  months  of  1881  there  were  thirteen  deaths  in  Jacksonville 
(population  8,000  *)  from  consumption,  these  deaths  being  of  residents 
only,  and  excluding  all  non-residents  or  visiting  invalids.  This  is  a 
mortality  of  1*62  per  1,000,  being  a  greater  mortality  than  occurred  in 
Cincinnati  during  the  same  time,  which  was  4*24  in  a  population  of 
280,000,  or  1*51  per  1,000.  These  figures  do  not  establish  the  rate  of 
mortality,  from  this  disease,  in  the  city  of  Jacksonville,  for  in  so  small 
a  place  a  series  extending  over  a  number  of  years  would  be  necessary. 
But,  when  facts  are  so  difficult  to  find,  we  must  content  ourselves  even 
with  a  straw.  It  is  much  more  satisfactory  to  thus  have  an  indication 
from  a  populous  center,  than  the  rate  from  sparsely  populated  country 
districts,  which,  as  is  well  known,  are  comparatively  immune  every- 
where. It  may  be  stated,  in  this  connection,  that  natives  of  Florida 
taken  with  consumption  frequently  seek  other  places  and  climates  as  a 
means  of  cure. 

In  endeavoring  to  show  the  unfitness  of  Florida  for  consumptives, 
I  have  spoken  of  the  disease  en  bloc,  and  made  no  reference  to  the  dif- 
ferent types,  as  I  believe  it  better  to  convey  the  impression  that  Florida 
is  not  suitable  for  any  type  of  the  disease.  Possibly  in  the  rare  inflam- 
matory kind,  with  dry  and  heated  bronchial  tubes  and  beginning 
laryngeal  symptoms,  the  soothing  and  relaxing  air  of  Florida  may  be 
of  temporary  advantage.  But  the  forecast  of  such  cases  is  seen  ab 
initio,  and  we  do  not  look  for  a  cure,  such  as  may  frequently  occur  in 
cases  of  the  more  chronic  sort,  when  proper  medicinal  treatment  is 
given  and  a  proper  climate  is  selected. 

We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  cases  of  consumption  never  improve  in 
Florida.  Undoubtedly  there  are  cases  which  get  well  in  Florida,  just 
as  there  are  in  every  locality,  and  even  at  home. 

Turning  from  consumption,  we  will  look  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  picture.  Are  there  no  diseases  of  the  lungs  in  which  this  delight- 
ful climate  is  beneficial  ?  Undoubtedly  ;  and  it  is  the  efficacy  of  the 
climate  in  this  other  group  of  diseases — the  bronchial,  often  wrongly 
diagnosed  as  consumption — that  has  given  reputation  to  the  climate. 
The  "taking  of  cold"  in  Florida  is  a  comparatively  infrequent  event. 
Even  when  one  does  take  cold  it  is  only  manifested  by  slight  sneezing, 
and  that  is  the  end  of  it.  There  is  no  tendency  to  acute  inflammation 
of  the  Schneiderian  membranes,  the  extension  by  continuity  to  the 
fauces,  larynx,  trachea,  and  bronchial  tubes;  in  fine,  to  that  compound 

*  The  population  of  Jacksonville,  including  suburbs,  is  considerably  above  this,  but 
the  mortality  statistics  are  limited  to  a  district  the  population  of  which  is  as  stated. 


648  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

of  malaise,  difficult  breathing,  soreness  of  the  chest,  and  cough,  termed 
a  "  severe  cold,"  which  is  so  excessively  frequent  in  this  latitude,  and 
which,  often  repeated  in  certain  constitutions,  leads  to  chronic  inflam- 
mation and  diminution  of  the  caliber  of  the  bronchial  tubes,  to  dila- 
tation of  air-cells,  to  bronchorrhcea,  and  all  those  attendant  evils 
which  are  little  less  baneful  than  consumption  itself.  For  those  in 
whom  frequent  colds  have  induced  the  condition  of  chronic  bronchitis, 
I  believe  there  is  no  better  climate  than  Eastern  Florida,  and  those  in 
comparatively  good  health  who  suffer  from  repeated  colds  without 
other  ill  effects  will  find  in  that  climate  freedom  from  tthe  inconven- 
ience. That  other  condition  termed  winter  cough,  frequent  among 
people  advanced  in  years  and  which  is  little  other  than  chronic  bron- 
chitis with  a  quiescent  period  during  the  summer  months,  will  also  be 
entirely  relieved  in  that  land.  Indeed,  if  the  person  removes  there 
for  life  he  will  soon  become  unconscious  that  he  ever  had  such  an 
affliction. 

Chronic  laryngitis,  and  pharyngitis  granulosa,  or  clergyman's  sore- 
throat,  will  also  be  decidedly  benefited  by  winter  sojourn  or  perma- 
nent residence  in  Florida. 

In  the  spasmodic  constriction  of  the  bronchial  tubes — asthma — it 
can  only  be  said  that  many  cases  will  be  entirely  relieved  in  Florida, 
while  with  some  it  will  fail,  and,  if  one  is  to  be  exiled  in  the  interest 
of  health,  there  is  probably  no  pleasanter  place  for  enduring  semi- 
expatriation. 

A  climate  of  this  kind  is  also  favorable  to  the  prolongation  of  the 
life  of  those  afflicted  with  chronic  JBrighfs  disease  of  the  kidneys — 
chronic  parenchymatous  nephritis.  The  person  will  be  little  exposed 
to  chilling  of  the  surface  of  the  body,  which  arrests  cutaneous  perspi- 
ration, congests  the  blood-vessels  of  the  internal  organs,  and  forces  ex- 
cessive work  on  the  already  damaged  cortical  net- work  of  the  kidneys. 

Sufferers  from  muscular  and  chronic  rheumatism  find  the  genial 
warmth  of  this  region  softens  the  unpliable  and  painful  muscles,  and 
loosens  the  rigid  tendons,  while  the  increased  secerning  activity  of  the 
skin  removes  the  morbid  humor,  whatever  that  may  be. 

For  none  do  I  know  a  land  more  delightful,  than  for  him  who,  by 
long  and  severe  mental  activity,  has  exhausted  the  vital  battery  of 
nerve-force  and  disturbed  the  harmonious  balance  between  the  varied 
complex  nerve-circuits.  The  person  who  suffers  from  this  condition, 
sometimes  called  nervous  prostration,  and  which  often  passes  under 
other  cognomens,  will  there  find  a  panacea.  The  soothing  softness  of 
the  climate  invites  to  continuous  repose,  and  for  him  perfect  rest  is  a 
prelude  to  restoration  ;  repair  of  tissue  gains  upon  waste,  the  nerve- 
currents  gradually  resume  their  normal  course  and  vigor,  and  a  return 
of  health  results. 

Old  age  crawls  shivering  along  our  cheerless  streets,  the  frigid 
northern  blasts  fluttering  the  garments  about  his  attenuated  limbs, 


REMEDIAL   VALUE  OF  THE  CLIMATE  OF  FLORIDA.  649 

chilling  the  blood  till  stasis  occurs  in  some  vital  organ,  and  inflamma- 
tion and  death  result.  There,  the  old  man  pursues  out-door  life  fearless 
of  frost  or  intense  heat,  and,  in  a  prolonged  and  painless  existence,  for- 
gets that  his  summer  is  gone,  and  the  snows  of  winter  are  upon  his  head. 

In  closing  this  paper,  some  reference  to  places  in  Florida  most  suit- 
able for  invalids  may  be  of  intei'est. 

Leaving  Jacksonville  in  the  afternoon  of  any  day,  by  one  of  the 
beautiful  side-wheel  steamers,  the  passenger,  sitting  on  the  forward 
guard,  sees  unrolled  before  him  a  semi-tropical  scene.  The  vessel 
makes  its  way  in  the  midst  of  a  broad  stream  of  placid  stillness, 
whose  shoaling  shores  are  curved  and  fretted  by  inlet  and  headland, 
bearing  above  them  the  rich  luxuriance  of  evergreen  foliage,  like  a 
broad  mirror  festooned  with  myrtle  and  vine.  Often,  so  far  away 
from  the  course  of  the  boat  are  the  distant  shores  that  one  may  with 
difficulty  descry  the  towns  and  houses  which  are  indicated  in  the  dis- 
tance. For  seventy-five  miles  and  more  to  the  southward  the  river 
retains  this  similitude  to  a  broad  and  extended  lake.  Indeed,  it  seems 
but  a  long  arm  of  the  sea,  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tide  being  percep- 
tible even  at  that  distance.  Night  closes  on  the  journey.  During  the 
time  you  pass  through  an  expanse  of  the  river  twelve  miles  wide  and 
eighteen  miles  long  (Lake  George),  and  when  you  awake  you  find  the 
boat  in  a  narrow  stream,  running  beneath  the  shade-  of  overhanging 
vines  and  palmettos,  the  waters  bearing  upon  their  surface  a  strange, 
floating,  bright-green  vegetation,  well  described  by  the  popular  name 
water-lettuce.  Along  the  shore  acres  of  broad-leaved  water-lilies 
rise  and  fall  with  the  rapidly-running  waves,  which  surge  along  the 
course  of  the  steamer.  Here  the  stream  is  exceedingly  tortuous,  and 
the  greatest  care  is  needed  on  the  part  of  tbe  pilot  lest,  in  turning  the 
acute  agles  of  low-lying  land  which  project  to  the  right  and  left  like 
alternating  narrow  blades,  his  boat  will  shoot  forward  beyond  his  con- 
trol and  fasten  itself  amid  the  tangled  boughs  of  a  partially  submerged 
forest.  This  is  the  paradise  of  the  sportsman,  the  home  of  wild  ducks 
and  turkeys,  and  pelicans,  and  pink  curlews. 

At  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  ninety  miles  from  Jacksonville 
another  broad  expanse  of  water  is  entered — Lake  Monroe — five  miles 
wide  and  twelve  miles  long.  On  the  shore  of  this  lake  the  boat  lands 
at  Sanford,  Orange  County,  which  is  the  head  of  navigation  for  large 
steamers.  Beyond  this  lake  the  river  again  diminishes  in  depth,  and 
is  navigable  only  for  very  light-draught  boats.  The  origin  of  the 
river  is  in  Lake  Washington,  amid  the  marshes  of  the  Everglades,  two 
hundred  and  fourteen  miles  farther  to  the  south. 

There  are  but  few  places  on  the  course  of  the  river  that  are  desir- 
able for  invalids,  on  account  of  the  proximity  of  swamps  and  danger 
from  malaria.  At  Sanford  I  was  somewhat  amused  to  see  the  proprie- 
tor of  a  prominent  hotel,  which  solicits  the  patronage  of  invalids, 
taken  with  a  severe  chill  while  at  the  desk  receiving  his  guests. 


65o  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

The  best  places  on  the  river  are  Magnolia  and  Green  Cove  Spring, 
twenty-eight  and  thirty  miles  south  of  Jacksonville,  and  Palatka, 
seventy-five  miles  from  there,  each  of  which  possesses  superior  hotel 
accommodations,  and  is  subject  but  little,  if  at  all,  to  malaria  during 
the  winter  season. 

Gainesville,  some  forty  miles  west  of  Palatka  on  the  line  of  the 
Transit  Railway,  is  one  of  the  best  locations  in  the  State.  It  is  situ- 
ated on  comparatively  high  land  for  Florida,  is  surrounded  by  pine- 
woods,  and  free  from  malaria — but,  other  than  as  a  health  resort,  has 
no  attractions. 

Jacksonville,  the  center  of  trade  activity,  eighteen  miles  from  the 
mouth  of  the  St.  John's,  is  a  city  of  considerable  enterprise.  The  com- 
forts and  conveniences  of  a  Northern  city  can  be  obtained  there  in 
greater  degree  than  anywhere  else  in  the  State.  It  has,  however, 
in  addition,  some  of  the  injurious  influences  which  pertain  to  large 
cities.  There  is  more  danger  of  typho-malarial  diseases  and  intestinal 
troubles. 

St.  Augustine — twenty-five  miles  south  of  the  mouth  of  the  St. 
John's,  on  the  coast — that  old  Spanish  town  which  rests  so  tranquilly 
by  the  sea,  looking  out  over  the  broad  waves  of  the  Atlantic,  which 
roll  across  from  the  mother-land,  is  a  most  interesting  place  to  the 
voyager.  Its  quaint  houses,  built  in  the  Spanish  fashion,  from  the 
coquina  or  imperfectly-formed  limestone  which  is  quarried  on  the 
beach  ;  its  narrow  and  winding  streets,  which  one  may  almost  cross 
with  a  single  stride  ;  its  old  fort,  dating  from  169G,  when  Spanish  power 
still  ruled  a  large  portion  of  the  world,  and  Florida  was  one  of  the 
least  of  its  possessions — these,  and  the  many  legends  which  linger 
around  the  only  moss-covered  ruins  in  America,  are  the  attractions  of 
the  place.  Long  before  Jacksonville  or  any  settlement  on  the  St. 
John's  River  existed,  St.  Augustine  was  noted  for  its  salubrious  cli- 
mate. It  is  now  known,  however,  that  its  exposed  position  on  the 
coast,  subjecting  it  to  the  whims  of  every  wild  northeaster,  make  it 
unfitted  for  very  sensitive  invalids,  though  still  a  favorite  resort  for 
several  wealthy  New  York  gentlemen  of  yachting  proclivities,  who 
have  villas  there— and  also  for  those  of  youthful  fervor  who  cling 
to  romance  and  sentiment. 


-<*>*~ 


A  SOUTH  AFRICAN  ARCADIA* 

By  C.  G.  BUTTNEE. 

THE  traveler,  coming  fresh  from  Europe  into  Damaraland,  is  struck 
by  the  complete  communistic  freedom  with  which  every  man  ap- 
propriates the  land  and  its  natural  products.     Roads  have  been  worn 

*  Translated  for  "The  Popular  Science  Monthly  "  from  "  Das  Ausland." 


A   SOUTH  AFRICAN  ARCADIA.  651 

through  the  thickets  by  foot-men  and  the  heavy  ox-wagons,  and  the 
chief  villages  are  connected  by  a  kind  of  highway,  but  no  one  is 
obliged  to  keep  the  roads  if  he  does  not  want  to.  They  are  of  no  more 
significance  than  the  zebra  or  rhinoceros  tracks  which  led  to  the  drink- 
ing-places  before  man  appeared  in  the  country  ;  and  there  is  no  reason 
why  the  traveler  should  not  make  a  new  road  at  pleasure.  The  past- 
urage is  free  for  the  teamster's  hungry  cattle,  the  wood  for  the  fire 
needed  to  cook  his  supper.  If  a  stray  spark  sets  the  grass  on  fire,  no 
one  thinks  of  complaining  ;  if  a  hunter  commits  devastation  among 
the  game,  the  native  may  grumble  at  the  waste,  but  he  will  not  imag- 
ine that  his  rights  are  trespassed  upon,  or  venture  to  interfere  with 
the  proceedings.  The  game  is  as  much  the  strange  hunter's  as  his. 
If  one  sees  a  spot  that  pleases  him,  he  is  at  liberty  to  settle  upon  it,  and 
build  himself  a  house  there.  If  any  objection  is  made  to  the  stranger, 
nothing  worse  happens  than  that  something  unreasonable  is  demanded 
of  him,  in  the  same  way  that  people  in  other  parts  of  the  world  are 
not  ashamed  to  overreach  strangers  :  this  is  not  so  easily  done,  how- 
ever, if  the  intruder  is  a  native  or  a  member  of  the  same  tribe  ;  and 
even  a  stranger,  if  he  does  not  allow  himself  to  be  scared  away,  is  at 
last  permitted  to  remain  undisturbed.  Whoever  settles  in  any  partic- 
ular spot  must,  however,  expect  that  other  persons,  finding  it  well  sup- 
plied with  water  and  pasturage,  will  bring  their  herds  there  too  ;  and 
it  is  the  practice  of  the  Herero,  when  they  wish  to  get  rid  of  an  un- 
welcome neighbor,  notwithstanding  their  communism,  to  bring  up  so 
many  herds  and  establish  so  many  cattle-ranges  about  his  house  that 
he  becomes  disgusted  with  the  frequent  intrusions,  and  is  obliged  to  go 
away  from  the  exhausted  tract.  Some  of  the  Herero  chiefs  have 
recently  begun  to  drive  single  settlers  away  by  force,  but  they  are 
actuated  by  ulterior  jjolitical  views.  The  people  are  not  disposed  to 
grudge  a  stranger  the  particular  spot  of  land  he  occupies,  but  they 
wish  to  drive  foreigners  out  of  the  country  altogether.  An  incident 
from  Damara  history  will  help  to  illustrate  the  extent  to  which  this 
sense  of  communism  goes.  When  the  Hereros  had  succeeded,  after 
nine  years  of  warfare,  in  shaking  off  the  domination  of  the  Namaquas, 
to  whom  they  had  previously  been  subjected,  the  Namaqua  chief,  Jan 
Afrikaner,  asked  the  missionaries  to  help  him  make  a  peace  with  them. 
The  missionaries  proposed  that  the  two  parties  should  fix  a  boundary 
between  themselves,  which  they  would  both  respect.  Both  refused  to 
do  this.  They  were  ready  to  make  a  peace,  they  said,  and  keep  it,  but 
they  would  have  the  land,  over  which  they  had  fought  so  hard,  in 
common.  The  Herero  chief,  Kamaherero,  declared  repeatedly  that 
Jan  might  live  in  any  part  of  the  land  he  chose  after  the  peace,  and 
that  he  should  expect  a  fair  proportion  of  his  own  people  to  be  allowed 
to  live  in  Jan's  land.  The  peace  contracted  on  these  terms  lasted 
fully  ten  years. 

The  custom  is  the  same  with  regard  to  that  which  the  earth  con- 


652  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

ceals  :  every  one  takes  of  its  treasures  wherever  he  finds  them.  All, 
from  all  directions,  fetch  iron  and  copper  ores  from  those  parts  of  the 
land  where  the  mines  have  been  known  to  exist  from  time  imme- 
morial ;  and  the  people  who  ordinarily  live  near  the  mines  have  never 
on  that  account  thought  of  assuming  any  right  of  proprietorship  over 
them.  There  are  but  few  salt-licks  in  the  land  ;  and,  as  soon  after  the 
rainy  season  as  the  ground  becomes  passable,  the  herders  from  all 
quarters  drive  their  cattle  across  the  pasture-lands  indifferently  to  the 
springs.  The  dwellers  around  these  places  look  on  quietly,  while  the 
cattle  and  the  sheep,  flocking  up  by  thousands  from  all  the  regions 
around,  tread  down  and  destroy  the  grass  of  their  pastures.  They 
may  complain  to  themselves  about  the  destruction,  but  it  never  occurs 
to  them  to  drive  the  strangers  away.  It  would  be  decidedly  foreign 
to  the  Damara  mind  for  any  one  to  undertake,  as  Europeans  are  accus- 
tomed to  do,  to  monopolize  the  salt-springs  and  charge  a  higher  price 
for  the  use  of  them  as  they  become  more  indispensable  to  others. 

The  Hereros  will  even  resist,  in  every  way,  any  one  conceding,  by 
sale,  a  particular  right  to  any  person  to  hold  any  piece  of  land.  The 
Roman  Catholic  missionaries,  who  recently  sought  to  gain  a  footing 
in  Damaraland,  made  themselves  suspected  more  than  in  any  other  way 
by  representing  to  the  people  that  they  would  do  better  by  them  than 
the  Protestant  missionaries  had  done,  for  they  would  buy  land  for  their 
churches,  schools,  and  dwellings,  while  the  Protestant  missionaries 
were  occupying  land  for  those  purposes  free.  They  ruined  their  cause, 
and  prompted  the  heathen  chief  to  try  every  device  to  get  them  away. 
In  a  similar  manner,  the  chiefs  told  us  German  missionaries,  whenever 
the  subject  came  up,  "  You  may  live  in  our  country  as  long  as  you 
wish,  and  no  one  shall  molest  you  so  long  as  the  land  belongs  to  us, 
but  we  will  not  sell  a  bit  of  it  to  any  man." 

There  are  not  even  any  real  boundaries  between  the  different  tribes. 
Some  of  the  chiefs  have,  indeed,  set  up  exclusive  claims  to  particular 
tracts,  but  have  never  assumed  to  enforce  them  ;  and  other  tribes  have 
never  been  required  to  leave  the  land.  The  natural  result  of  this  com- 
munism is,  that  no  one  has  a  personal  care  for  the  land,  but  gets  all  he 
can  out  of  it,  and  then  leaves  it  waste  to  go  to  a  new  spot.  Hence 
the  language  of  the  Hereros  has  no  terms  for  home,  fatherland,  or 
boundary-lines. 

This  communism  extends  to  all  the  productions  of  the  earth  that 
have  not  been  separated  from  it.  Whatever  a  man  has  put  his  hand 
upon,  that  becomes  his  private  property.  Whoever  takes  from  a  man 
anything  that  he  has  appropriated  to  his  own  use,  is  a  thief.  Game, 
free  in  the  fields,  belongs  to  whoever  can  kill  it  ;  but  to  take  it  away 
from  a  hunter  who  has  bagged  it  is  a  theft,  or  robbery.  In  Damara 
law  even  game  which  has  only  been  hit,  and  has  afterward  been  killed 
by  some  one  else,  belongs  to  the  hunter  who  first  hit  it,  although  he  is 
expected  to  give  a  share  of  it  to  the  other  one.     This  feeling  is  so 


A   SOUTH  AFRICAN  ARCADIA.  653 

strong  that,  when  shooting-parties  are  made  up,  the  right  to  the  first 
shot  passes  from  one  to  another  by  turns,  so  that  it  may  be  possible 
for  each  one  to  get  a  piece  of  game.  The  hunter  who  has  to  make  the 
first  shot  is  in  that  case  the  real  hunter,  and  the  others  are  only  his 
helpers  ;  but,  if  he  misses,  the  right  passes  over  to  the  next  one. 

Any  one  can  cut  down  a  tree  who  wishes  to,  but  another  is  not 
allowed  to  appropriate  the  wood  after  it  has  been  taken  possession  of. 
Any  one  may  dig  a  well  for  his  cattle  wherever  there  is  hope  of  find- 
ing water,  but  no  one  can  drink  out  of  the  well  which  another  has  dug 
without  the  permission  of  the  owner.  The  lord  of  the  well,  when  he 
is  asked  for  water,  will  generally  order  his  people  to  wait  upon  the 
one  making  the  request,  so  that  he  does  not  get  paid  for  the  water, 
but  for  the  attendance  ;  and,  if  he  does  not  choose  to  permit  the  well 
to  be  used  for  another  man's  cattle,  the  argument  that  he  did  not 
create  the  water  has  no  effect  upon  him.  When  any  one  finds  a  piece 
of  land  suitable  for  a  garden,  he  can  fence  it  and  till  it,  and  the  crop 
will  belong  to  him  ;  and  it  is  generally  considered  wrong  for  any  one 
to  enter  upon  land  that  has  been  put  under  cultivation  by  another  and 
till  it  for  himself.  But  it  would  be  contrary  to  custom,  and  provoke 
resistance,  if  any  one,  leaving  the  place  and  abandoning  his  garden, 
should  attempt  to  sell  any  right  in  it.  The  tract  again  becomes  free 
for  the  first  comer  to  occupy. 

A  kind  of  property  in  personal  goods  is  theoretically  recognized, 
but  the  right  is,  in  practice,  one  that  rather  appertains  to  the  family 
than  to  the  individual.  A  general  principle  seems  to  prevail  that  it  is 
not  right  to  refuse  a  gift  to  one  who  asks  it,  particularly  if  he  is  a 
relative  or  a  friend,  or  is  powerful  or  rich.  People  of  this  class  have 
no  hesitation  in  begging,  and  the  stranger  may  be  sure  that  the  ragged 
fellow  who  asks  him  for  a  new  shirt  in  place  of  his  worn-out  one  is  a 
person  of  wealth  who  thinks  he  is  doing  him  honor,  and  is  according 
him  the  recognition  he  would  give  to  his  lord  or  his  father.  The  de- 
nial of  the  first  request  does  not  generally  give  offense  ;  but,  if  the 
request  is  granted,  the  asker  will  demand  more  and  greater  things, 
and  will  expect  to  get  them  ;  and,  if  a  person  gives  to  one  of  a  number 
of  beggars,  he  must  give  to  all  the  rest,  or  they  will  think  he  is  dis- 
honoring them. 

The  people,  however,  exercise  without  scruple  the  right  to  appro- 
priate their  relative's  goods  to  their  own  use,  if  he  is  not  there  to  pre- 
vent it  ;  and  this  state  of  public  opinion  leads  to  some  comical  scenes. 
A  wealthy  old  chief,  who  had  hundreds  of  dependents,  possessed  nu- 
merous articles  of  European  clothing,  without  owning  a  complete 
suit ;  but,  whenever  he  went  out,  he  had  to  put  his  clothes  all  on, 
however  hot  the  weather.  He  came  to  me  to  be  photographed  one 
day,  having  on  a  pair  of  shoes,  three  pairs  of  thick  moleskin  trousers, 
a  waistcoat  over  an  indefinite  number  of  shirts,  a  large  shawl  around 
his   body,    a   thick   jacket,  a   shawl   around   his  neck,  with  a  large 


654  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

dressing-gown  over  the  whole  ;  and  on  his  head  a  kerchief,  a  Ca- 
labrian  cap,  and  a  velvet  cap  with  pearl  ornaments  ;  and  all  this  in 
a  heat  in  which  his  aboriginal  nakedness  would  have  been  much 
more  comfortable — because  he  was  afraid,  if  he  left  the  garments 
at  home,  the  members  of  his  household  would  appropriate  them. 
This  same  chief  asked  one  of  my  friends  for  a  piece  of  soap,  so 
that  he  could  wash  his  clothes  himself  ;  for  he  was  afraid,  if  he 
gave  them  to  any  one  else  to  wash,  they  would  not  be  returned. 
If  the  clothes  are  locked  up  in  a  trunk  they  will  be  safe,  for  it  is  con- 
sidered stealing  to  take  them  when  they  are  thus  secured  ;  but,  if  the 
trunk  is  left  open,  Damara  custom  permits  the  clothes  to  be  lifted  care- 
fully out  and  put  one  side,  and  the  trunk  to  be  carried  off.  Articles 
of  personal  property  may,  however,  be  devoted  to  special  uses,  or  to 
special  persons,  by  a  kind  of  form  of  consecration,  when  the  right  to 
them  is  respected.  A  custom  of  this  kind  has  prevailed  from  antiquity 
with  reference  to  cattle  and  milk-vessels.  Frequently,  also,  the  head 
of  the  house  has  the  right  to  the  first  use  of  things  ;  among  the  Hot- 
tentots they  are  his  so  long  as  they  are  whole,  but  as  soon  as  they  are 
damaged  the  relatives  are  at  liberty  to  get  them  if  they  can. 

New  milk  must  be  taken  to  the  master  to  taste  before  the  rest  can 
partake  of  it ;  and  this  imposes  no  small  labor  on  the  lord  of  a  thou- 
sand milch-cows.  Likewise  whatever  is  killed  must  be  brought  to 
him  first.  If  he  is  not  at  home,  the  ancestral  staff  represents  him, 
and  must  be  dipped  into  the  milk  or  touch  the  meat.  Particular  animals 
are  sometimes  milked  for  each  member  of  the  family,  into  a  vessel  set 
apart  for  him,  and  then  it  is  wrong  for  any  one  to  touch  the  dish  with- 
out the  owner's  permission.  The  master's  dish  is  filled  even  when  he 
is  absent,  and  must  not  be  used  by  any  one  else  under  penalty  of  bad 
luck  ;  but,  when  it  is  needed  for  the  next  milking,  the  milk  already  in 
it  is  poured  out  on  the  ground.  If,  however,  a  visitor  comes  to  the 
place,  he,  as  the  master's  guest,  can  use  his  dish  and  drink  his  share 
of  the  milk  without  impropriety.  After  the  owner  of  the  cow  and 
the  vessel  is  dead,  the  vessel  is  still  regularly  filled  and  emptied,  un- 
less some  guest  comes  along  to  whom  the  contents  can  be  given. 

The  principal  property  of  the  Herero  consists  in  cattle.  As  the 
lambs  and  calves  and  the  mother-cows  are  never  slaughtered,  and  other 
animals  only  on  festal  occasions,  the  herds  increase  very  rapidly  in  the 
warm  climate  of  the  country,  and  require  constantly  larger  pasturage 
tracts.  This  leads  to  frequent  interferences,  with  occasions  for  con- 
tention ;  and  at  intervals  the  pasturage  becomes  exhausted,  and  great 
suffering  ensues.  The  Hereros  are  thus  exposed  to  periodical  alterna- 
tions of  wealth  and  poverty. 

The  chiefs  have,  however,  a  tolerably  secure  possession  in  their 
retainers  ;  and  the  feudal  and  patriarchal  relation  in  which  the  men 
stand  to  each  other  is  in  strong  contrast  with  the  community  of  title 
to  the  land  and   soil.      Theoretically,  the  function  of   head  of   the 


A   SOUTH  AFRICAN  ARCADIA.  655 

family  descends  to  the  eldest  son  ;  practically,  it  is  exercised  by  the 
strongest  member  of  the  family — who  is  most  likely  an  uncle  of  the 
heir — around  whom  the  other  members  group  themselves  as  depend- 
ents. The  position  of  the  women  is  not  essentially  different  from 
that  of  the  women  of  the  working-classes  in  Europe.  The  work  is 
divided  between  the  two  sexes  about  as  it  is  in  Europe,  and  the  women 
are  not  called  upon  to  do  men's  work,  except  in  case  of  need,  while 
the  men  are  willing  enough  to  help  in  the  peculiar  women's  work 
whenever  they  can  make  themselves  useful  and  have  nothing  better  to 
do,  provided  no  strangers  are  in  sight.  Polygamy  is  freely  allowed, 
and  as  many  alliances  as  possible  are  formed  by  the  head  of  the  fam- 
ily, as  a  means  of  strengthening  his  influence  and  conciliating  his 
neighbors  and  rivals.  The  provisions  of  matrimonial  alliances  are 
carefully  considered  and  guarded,  so  that  each  family  may  receive  all 
the  honor  it  is  entitled  to,  and  neither  shall  get  the  advantage  of  the 
other.  Slavery  exists  in  a  mild  form,  but  the  sale  of  slaves  seldom 
occurs.  Children  are  taken  into  the  council  of  their  parents,  and  are 
consulted  about  important  matters  from  a  very  early  age  ;  and  the 
parent  will  seldom  disregard  the  advice  of  his  child,  or  exercise  con- 
straint upon  him  in  any  matter  except  indirectly  and  in  the  most  gen- 
tle way. 

The  most  wealthy  cattle-owners  number  their  herds  by  the  thou- 
sand head.  It  is  impossible  to  keep  them  all  in  one  place,  and  they 
are  therefore  distributed  at  different  stations  under  the  charge  of  par- 
ticular herdsmen.  The  herdsman's  position  is  a  considerable  one,  and 
brings  with  it  privileges  enough  to  make  it  desirable.  The  cattle  are 
not  distinguished  by  any  specific  marks,  and  the  owner's  only  means 
of  recognizing  them  is  by  his  personal  acquaintance  with  them.  This 
requires  him  to  be  continually  on  the  wTatch,  and  to  go  frequently 
the  round  of  the  stations  to  inspect  them,  else  his  herdsmen  might 
make  some  of  them  their  own.  Most  owners  become  extremely  skill- 
ful in  noticing  and  recognizing  the  individual  peculiarities  of  their 
animals. 

The  system  of  inheritance  is  determined  by  the  circumstances  of 
the  country  and  its  customs,  which  require  that  the  head  of  the  family 
must  be  strong  and  wise  enough  to  maintain  his  rights.  By  its  opera- 
tion, when  a  chief  dies  and  leaves  a  family  of  minors,  his  whole  per- 
sonal estate  goes,  not  to  his  widow  and  children,  but  to  the  nearest 
man  of  might  in  the  family.  The  cattle  and  servants  become  his,  and 
the  widow  and  children  become  his  wife  and  children,  the  latter  on  an 
equal  footing  with  his  own  children,  so  precisely  that  the  language  of 
the  country  has  no  word  for  step-father  and  step-child.  One  of  the  re- 
sults of  the  system  is  that  the  rich  and  powerful  grow  more  wealthy 
and  influential  the  longer  they  live,  while  the  children  and  younger 
members  of  the  family  receive  nothing  as  of  right.  It  has,  however, 
become  customary  for  the  children  to  be  given  particular  animals  as 


656  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

their  own,  their  right  to  which,  with  the  increase,  is  regularly  and 
formally  recognized  ;  and  with  these  and  what  additions  to  their  stock 
they  may  acquire  in  one  way  or  another,  they  are  ahle  gradually  to 
accumulate  a  considerable  property  as  they  grow  up. 

The  wealth  of  a  man  who  has  grown  fat  in  riches  may  consist  in 
what  he  has  inherited  from  his  father,  or  from  the  chief  of  his  family  ; 
in  what  he  has  received  from  more  distant  relatives  ;  in  what  he  has 
gained  in  fees  from  his  herdsmen  ;  and  in  what  of  the  property  of 
other  estates  he  has  received  by  becoming  the  head  of  the  family. 
The  line  of  descent  of  all  this  property,  which  consists  almost  wholly 
of  the  pedigrees  of  the  cattle,  is  carefully  preserved,  and  the  accumu- 
lations of  each  kind  can  be  as  carefully  computed  and  allotted  as  is 
done  in  the  case  of  the  accounts  of  European  bankers.  When  the  lord 
dies,  all  this  property,  with  its  increase,  must  go  where  it  came  from. 
The  division,  or  the  fact  that  it  is  to  take  place,  brings  all  the  connec- 
tions of  the  family  from  far  and  wide  around  the  bed  of  the  lord  when 
he  has  died  or  is  expected  to  die,  for  each  claimant  must  be  present  in 
person  to  assert  his  claim,  or  it  will  be  overlooked  or  overpowered. 
The  herdsmen  must  likewise  bring  up  all  the  cattle  from  the  various 
stations,  that  they  may  be  identified  according  to  their  pedigrees. 
The  division  of  all  these  animals  and  the  adjudication  of  the  claims  of 
all  the  pretendants  who  appear,  sometimes  consumes  months  of  time, 
with  discussions  which  are  often  carried  on  in  the  midst  of  great  ex- 
citement. The  dying  man  may  himself  give  directions  respecting  the 
division  of  his  property,  which  are  then  implicitly  carried  out,  other- 
wise the  man  who  disregards  them  may  be  troubled  by  his  ghost. 


-*•»*- 


PIRATICAL   PUBLISHERS. 

By  LEONAED  SCOTT. 

THE  republishes  of  foreign  books  and  periodicals  at  cheap  rates 
have  long  and  meekly  borne  the  name  which  heads  this  article. 
I  propose  to  show  that  they  do  not  also  deserve  it. 

Piracy  is  robbery  in  its  boldest  form,  having  no  warrant  but  the 
strength  of  the  bloody  hand  that  commits  it.  It  is  against  all  law 
and  all  right,  human  or  divine.  It  has  no  sanction  nor  show  of  sanc- 
tion from  the  practice  of  others  recognized,  in  all  the  walks  of  life,  as 
respectable  and  honored  citizens. 

Will  this  description  apply  to  the  reprinting  of  foreign  books? 
Certainly  not.  What,  then,  is  the  crime  of  which  republishers  are 
guilty  ?  Their  calumniators  will  answer,  "  Oh  !  they  rob  the  foreign 
author  of  the  product  of  his  brain."  Let  us  see  if  this  is  true.  I 
grant  that  if  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  had  one  common  interest  and 


PIRATICAL   PUBLISHERS.  6$7 

one  common  government  to  support  it,  so  that  legislation  should  always 
be  for  the  mutual  advantage  of  all  the  inhabitants — the  same  in  one 
section  as  in  another — then  the  reprinting  of  a  book  by  or  for  any  one 
but  its  author  would  be  a  violation  of  right ;  but  as  this  Utopia  does 
not  and  never  will  exist,  we  must  deal  with  men,  and  governments, 
and  their  selfishness  as  wTe  find  them.  Nations  legislate  for  what  they 
believe  to  be  to  their  own  advantage,  and  without  regard  to  the  interests 
of  their  neighbors.  Thus,  England  manufactures  goods,  and  the  manu- 
facturer claims  that  he  has  a  natural  right  freely  to  offer  these  goods 
as  cheaply  in  one  part  of  the  world  as  in  another,  save  only  the  cost 
of  conveyance.  But  do  other  countries  recognize  such  right?  Does 
this  country,  for  instance,  acknowledge  it  when  she  lays  a  heavy  duty 
upon  such  manufactures  ?  "When  such  duty  is  so  great  as  to  prohibit 
the  importation  of  a  manufactured  article  that  would,  if  free  of  duty, 
sell  largely  in  the  United  States,  is  not  the  manufacturer  as  effectually 
robbed  as  the  author  whose  sales  are  rendered  impossible  by  a  reprint 
of  his  book  ? 

Doubtless  I  shall  be  told  that  the  cases  are  not  parallel,  inasmuch 
as  in  the  one  case  the  Government  of  the  United  States  commits  the 
trespass,  and  in  the  other  its  private  citizens.  I  confess  I  see  no  differ- 
ence. Government  represents  and  legislates  for  its  private  citizens. 
Its  tariff  for  revenue  furnishes  the  means  which  would  otherwise  have 
to  be  taken  by  direct  taxation  froni  the  pockets  of  the  people.  Its 
tariff  for  protection  gives  encouragement  to  native  manufacturers  ; 
the  whole  system  of  levying  duties  upon  foreign  merchandise  is  one 
of  pure  selfishness,  and  as  much  a  robbery  or  piracy  of  the  natural 
rights  of  the  foreigner  as  anything  yet  done  by  an  American  repub- 
lisher.  Suppose  there  were  no  such  market  for  English  books  as  the 
United  States  now  offers,  would  English  publishers  any  the  less  con- 
tinue to  print  them  ?  These  works  are  produced  mainly  for  the  mar- 
kets of  Great  Britain  and  its  English-speaking  dependencies.  The 
withholding  of  an  international  copyright  law  does  not  take  away 
from  them  wdiat  they  never  possessed  or  had  any  right  to  claim.  The 
American  republisher,  therefore,  in  the  absence  of  such  a  law,  buys  the 
English  book  at  the  English  price,  and  thinks  he  has  done  all  that  is 
required  of  him  to  become  its  absolute  owner,  to  do  with  it  whatever 
the  laws  of  his  country  do  not  forbid.  Who  shall  say  that  among 
these  rights  is  not  the  right  to  reprint  it  ?  "  But,"  say  the  advocates 
of  copyright,  "  inventors  are  protected  by  international  patent-right, 
and,  if  the  product  of  the  inventor's  brain  is  entitled  to  protection, 
that  of  the  author's  is  no  less  so."  Here,  however,  self-interest  is 
again  clearly  indicated.  There  was  a  time  when  international  patent- 
right  did  not  exist  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  ;  but 
when  it  became  notorious  that  the  inventions  of  Americans  were  more 
numerous  and  more  valuable  than  those  of  other  countries,  our  Gov- 
ernment willingly  consented  to  international  patent-right,  and  I  vent- 

VOL.  XXII. — 42 


658  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

ure  to  say  that,  when  American  books  shall  be  as  popular  in  England 
as  English  books  are  in  the  United  States,  copyright  will  no  longer  be 
withheld. 

It  will  doubtless  be  urged  that  I  am  placing  our  government  in  an 
unenviable  light  ;  that  selfishness  and  not  right  rules  its  conduct.  I 
answer  that  all  governments,  under  like  conditions,  would  pursue  a 
similar  course.  Great  Britain  may  arrogate  to  herself  national  lib- 
erality for  having  opened  her  ports,  with  little  or  no  restriction,  to 
the  commerce  of  the  world  ;  but  the  motives  which  prompted  such 
liberality  were  as  purely  selfish  as  were  those  of  the  United  States  in 
fettering  commerce  by  her  high  tariff.  Great  Britain,  assured  of  her 
supremacy  as  the  great  manufacturer  of  the  world,  did  not  fear  the 
competition  of  other  manufacturers,  whether  protected  or  not ;  and 
she  became,  at  once,  the  advocate  and  the  exemplar  of  free  trade, 
believing  that  other  nations  would  reciprocate,  and  thus  give  greater 
encouragement  to  the  commerce  in  which,  as  a  nation,  her  chief  in- 
terest lies.  Disappointed  in  her  expectations  that  other  countries 
would  follow  her  example,  she  is  now  considering  the  policy  of  aban- 
doning "  free  trade "  for  what  she  calls  "  fair  trade,"  self-interest 
again  prompting  this  change  of  attitude  toward  other  nations  ;  and 
yet  she  is  not  in  reality  any  more  selfish  in  the  one  case  than  in  the 
other. 

Referring  again  to  what  is  called  the  moral  wrong  of  using  the 
product  of  another's  brain  without  remuneration,  I  would  ask,  "  Why 
this  special  claim  of  a  foreign  author  ?  "  Does  not  our  government 
send  experts  abroad  to  gain  information  on  subjects  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  our  interests  at  home  ?  Do  not  these  experts  closely 
examine  the  establishments,  public  and  private,  of  the  Old  World  and 
gain  all  the  information  possible  in  regard  to  them  ?  Do  they  not 
visit  the  great  manufactories  in  all  their  variety  ;  the  workshops,  the 
docks,  war-vessels,  arsenals,  colleges,  schools,  prisons,  hospitals,  and 
churches  ;  and  inquire  into  and  observe  the  modes  of  foreign  life, 
social,  industrial,  political,  and  religious  ?  In  short,  do  they  not  in- 
form themselves  of  everything  likely  to  be  of  benefit  to  their  own 
country,  and,  although  the  information  given  them  may  have  been 
the  result  of  centuries  of  brain-labor,  do  their  countrymen  hesitate  to 
appropriate  such  information  to  their  own  use  and  without  pay  ?  The 
fact  is  that,  the  intercommunication  of  nations  gives  advantages  which 
isolation  could  not  afford,  and  if  such  advantages  include  the  spread 
of  knowledge  among  the  people,  obtained  either  in  the  way  I  have 
here  described,  or  by  the  cheap  reprint  of  a  foreign  book,  it  would  be 
difficult  to  show  anything  criminal  in  thus  acquiring  it. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  well  to  remark  that,  even  in  England, 
brain -property  is  not  treated  like  that  known  as  personal  or  real,  for, 
while  the  latter  has  perpetual  protection  by  law,  the  former  has  only 
pi-otection  within  prescribed  limits,  the  English  copyright  extending 


A    CHAP  TUB  IN  TRANSCENDENTAL  PATHOLOGY.  659 

only  for  a  certain  number  of  years,  and  it  is  well  known  that  many 
of  the  most  valuable  standard  works,  both  in  prose  and  poetry,  are 
being  continually  republished  in  England  without  any  remuneration 
to  the  authors  or  their  heirs.  If  authors  have  an  inherent  right  to 
the  products  of  their  brains,  the  lapse  of  time  should  be  no  reason  for 
taking  that  right  away,  and  English  publishers  are  as  morally  guilty 
of  robbery  when  they  fail  to  make  remuneration  to  such  authors  or 
their  legal  representatives,  after  the  law  no  longer  protects  them,  as 
are  the  American  publishers  who  do  the  same  with  English  copy- 
right books  for  which  there  is  no  American  protection.  O  most  con- 
scientious Briton !  when  thou  doest  unto  others  as  thou  wouldst 
that  others  should  do  unto  thee,  then  mayst  thou,  with  more  con- 
sistency, indulge  in  the  abuse  of  those  whom  thou  delightest  to  call 
"piratical  publishers." 


A  CHAPTER  IN  TRANSCENDENTAL  PATHOLOGY. 

IN  his  address  to  the  Pathological  Section  of  the  British  Medical 
Association,  on  the  occasion  of  its  meeting  at  Worcester  this 
year,  the  distinguished  president  of  the  section,  Dr.  J.  Hughlings- 
Jackson,  threw  out  the  suggestion  that  inflammation  should  be  re- 
garded as  a  process  of  dissolution.  His  meaning  will  be  fully  intelli- 
gible only  to  those  who  have  some  knowledge  of  the  system  of  phi- 
losophy which  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  has  given  to  the  world.  It  may 
be  interesting,  both  to  those  who  are  familiar  with  Mr.  Spencer's  writ- 
ings, and  to  those  who  are  not,  if  we  somewhat  expand  Dr.  Jackson's 
hint,  and  inquire  briefly  how  far  inflammation  corresponds  to  Mr. 
Spencer's  definition  of  dissolution.  If  we  find  that  it  is  included  in 
that  definition,  it  may  enable  us  to  trace  relations  between  inflamma- 
tion and  other  allied  processes — mineral,  vegetal,  animal,  psychological, 
and  social — which  can  not  but  enlarge  and  make  clearer  our  views  of 
it  and  them. 

Evolution,  our  readers  will  hardly  need  reminding,  is  the  process 
of  growth  and  life  ;  dissolution,  that  of  decay  and  death.  The  defi- 
nition of  inflammation  which  is  given  by  one  of  the  most  eminent 
writers  upon  the  subject  starts  from  the  proposition  that  inflammation 
is  the  result  of  injury.  We  should,  therefore,  a  priori,  expect  that 
changes  which  are  the  result  of  injury  would  have  their  analogues 
rather  in  the  processes  of  decay  and  death  than  in  those  of  life  and 
growth.  The  definition  of  evolution  which  Mr.  Spencer  formulates  is 
as  follows  :  "  Evolution  is  an  integration  of  matter  and  concomitant 
dissipation  of  motion,  during  which  the  matter  passes  from  an  indefi- 
nite, incoherent  homogeneity  to  a  definite,  coherent  heterogeneity,  and 
during  which  the  retained  motion  undergoes  a  parallel  transformation." 


660  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

Dissolution  is  the  reverse  of  this.  "We  have,  then,  to  see  if  inflamma- 
tion corresponds  to  a  definition  running  thus  :  Dissolution  is  a  disinte- 
gration of  matter  and  concomitant  absorption  of  motion,  during  which 
the  matter  passes  from  a  definite,  coherent  heterogeneity  to  an  indefi- 
nite, incoherent  homogeneity,  and  during  which  the  retained  motion 
undergoes  a  parallel  transformation. 

The  first  thing  which  our  definition  asserts  is,  that  inflammation  is 
a  disintegration  of  matter.  This  proposition  needs  little  defense.  Do 
we  not  find  that  inflamed  parts  are  always  softened,  and  that  when  the 
process  is  severe  and  continued  they  become  liquefied,  converted  into 
pus  ?  Inflammation  clearly  is  a  process  which  tends  to  the  disintegra- 
tion of  matter.  We  learn,  next,  that  the  disintegration  of  matter  is 
accompanied  with  concomitant  absorption  of  motion.  This,  on  con- 
sideration, will  be  found  equally  true,  although,  perhaps,  not  so  obvi- 
ous. In  the  process  of  evolution  the  motion  of  units  (molecular  mo- 
tion) becomes  converted  into  the  motion  of  aggregates  (molar  motion) ; 
and  in  dissolution  the  reverse  takes  place.  The  latter  we  shall  find 
hold  good  of  inflammation.  An  inflamed  part  is  not  only  softened — 
which  means  that  its  component  molecules  move  more  readily  upon 
one  another — but  it  is  swollen.  The  particles  previously  integrated 
into  a  solid  mass,  occupying  a  small  space,  have  most  of  them  moved 
farther  away  from  one  another,  and  now  occupy  a  comparatively  great 
space.  Besides  this,  it  is  hotter  than  natural,  and  heat  is  a  mode  of 
motion.  There  is  thus  an  increase  of  molecular  motion.  "With  this, 
the  functional  activity  of  the  part  which,  from  our  present  point  of 
view,  is  its  motion  as  an  aggregate  (for  all  force  is  a  mode  of  motion), 
is  lessened.  To  take  the  most  literal  illustration  :  an  inflamed  muscle 
can  not  contract  with  the  force  of  a  healthy  one.  Seeing,  then,  that 
there  is  an  increase  of  molecular  motion  in  an  inflamed  pai't,  we  might 
be  content  with  pointing  out  that  this  motion  must  have  been  obtained 
from  somewhere.  But  we  may  go  further.  There  is  one  remedy,  the 
potency  of  which,  in  checking  inflammatory  change,  can  not  be  gain- 
said. It  can  not  everywhere  be  efficiently  applied,  and  it  is  not  always 
decidedly  for  the  patient's  benefit  that  inflammation  should  be  too 
rudely  cut  short ;  but,  when  circumstances  admit  of  cold  being  brought 
into  play,  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  will  arrest  or  suspend  inflammatory 
change.  We  find  throughout  the  universe  that  cold  everywhere  arrests 
molecular  motion.  It  makes  fluids  into  solids,  vapors  into  fluids ; 
checks  chemical  as  well  as  vital  change.  The  inflamed  part  to  which 
cold  is  applied  is  surrounded  by  a  medium  from  which  it  can  not  ab- 
sorb motion  ;  and,  if  motion  can  not  be  absorbed,  inflammation  can 
not  go  on.  Inflammation,  then,  is  a  change  attended  with  the  absorp- 
tion of  motion  as  well  as  with  the  disintegration  of  matter. 

Proceeding  with  our  definition,  we  find  it  next  informs  us  that  the 
matter  (in  the  present  case  the  inflamed  part)  passes  from  a  definite, 
coherent  heterogeneity  to  an  indefinite,  incoherent  homogeneity.     It 


A    CHAPTER  IN  TRANSCENDENTAL  PATHOLOGY.  661 

is  a  general  assertion  that  holds  good  of  inflammation  in  every  part  of 
the  body,  that  from  the  first  stage  to  the  last  it  tends  to  blend  and 
confuse  together,  to  destroy  the  distinctive  features  of  the  individual 
structures  of  the  part  affected.  In  the  beginning  we  have  infiltration 
with  leucocytes,  replacing  with  cells  of  indefinite  type  the  muscular, 
nervous,  fibrous,  and  other  naturally  well-defined  elements  of  the  part 
affected.  Finally,  we  have  every  trace  of  the  latter  lost ;  the  definite- 
ness  of  structure,  its  coherence  and  heterogeneity  have  gone,  and  we 
have  in  place  simply  a  collection  of  fluid  homogeneous  pus.  The 
progress  is  clearly  from  the  definite,  the  coherent,  and  the  heterogene- 
ous, to  the  indefinite,  the  incoherent,  and  the  homogeneous.  The  last 
part  of  the  definition  asserts  that  the  retained  motion  undergoes  a 
like  transformation.  This  we  have  partly  touched  on  already.  The 
healthy  body  contains  structures  which  absorb,  transform,  and  give 
out  force — that  is,  motion — in  different  ways.  By  the  intestinal  canal, 
force  stored  up  by  plants  and  animals  is  taken  into  the  body.  By  the 
lymphatic  and  vascular  system  it  is  transferred  from  the  place  where 
it  is  taken  in  to  the  place  where  it  is  wanted  for  use.  By  the  nervous, 
muscular,  and  glandular  apparatus  it  is  converted  into  sensible  motion 
of  the  organism  as  a  whole,  or  into  secretions  capable  of  setting  up 
various  changes  in  the  substances  with  which  they  come  in  contact,  or 
of  producing  and  nourishing  a  new  being.  We  have,  therefore,  in 
the  normal  organism,  motion  given  out  in  many  heterogeneous  forms, 
each  form  being  definite,  and  each  so  related  to  the  activity  of  the 
rest  that  the  body  forms  a  whole  as  coherent  in  function  as  it  is  in 
structure.  When  inflammation  affects  a  part,  these  features  of  its 
dynamic  activity  disappear.  Natural  function  is  either  lost,  or  per- 
formed only  in  an  imperfect  way.  In  place  of  the  exertion  of  force 
in  ways  heterogeneous,  but  definite,  we  have  the  homogeneous  molec- 
ular motion  manifested  by  liquefaction,  swelling,  and  warmth.  Defi- 
niteness  of  function,  as  of  structure,  is  lost ;  heterogeneity  of  tissue- 
changes,  as  of  the  tissues  themselves,  is  altered  to  homogeneity  ;  and 
in  place  of  the  part  fulfilling  its  function  to  the  advantage  of  every 
other  part,  that  is,  in  a  manner  coherent  with  functional  activity  else- 
where, it  exercises  only  a  perturbing,  injurious  effect — its  functional 
activity  has  become  incoherent  instead  of  coherent. 

The  subject  is  a  very  large  one  ;  and  in  the  space  that  we  are  able 
to  give  to  it  we  can  not  do  more  than  imperfectly  indicate  the  analo- 
gies which  inflammatory  changes  bear  to  those  of  dissolution  gener- 
ally. If  our  remarks  should  incite  others  to  follow  up  the  subject  in 
a  more  exact  and  comprehensive  manner,  our  object  in  making  them 
will  have  been  amply  fulfilled. — Medical  Times  and  Gazette. 


662  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

THE  PEDIGKEE   OF  WHEAT. 

By  Peofessoe  GRANT  ALLEN. 

WHEAT  ranks  by  origin  as  a  degenerate  and  degraded  lily.  Such 
in  brief  is  the  proposition  which  this  paper  sets  out  to  prove, 
and  which  the  whole  course  of  evolutionary  botany  tends  every  day 
more  and  more  fully  to  confirm.  By  thus  from  the  very  outset  plac- 
ing clearly  before  our  eyes  the  goal  of  our  argument,  we  shall  be  able 
the  better  to  understand  as  we  go  whither  each  item  of  the  cumulative 
evidence  is  really  tending.  We  must  endeavor  to  start  with  the  sim- 
plest forms  of  the  great  group  of  plants  to  which  the  cereals  and  the 
other  grasses  belong,  and  we  must  try  to  see  by  what  steps  this  primi- 
tive type  gave  birth,  first  to  the  brilliantly  colored  lilies,  next  to  the 
degraded  rushes  and  sedges,  and  then  to  the  still  more  degenerate 
grasses,  from  one  or  other  of  whose  richer  grains  man  has  finally  de- 
veloped his  wheat,  his  rice,  his  millet,  and  his  barley.  We  shall  thus 
trace  throughout  the  whole  pedigree  of  wheat  from  the  time  when  its 
ancestors  first  diverged  from  the  common  stock  of  the  lilies  and  the 
water-plantains,  to  the  time  when  savage  man  found  it  growing  wild 
among  the  untilled  plains  of  prehistoric  Asia,  and  took  it  under  his 
special  protection  in  the  little  garden-plots  around  his  wattled  hut, 
whence  it  has  gradually  altered  under  his  constant  selection  into  the 
golden  grain  that  now  covers  half  the  lowland  tilth  of  Europe  and 
America.  There  is  no  page  in  botanical  history  more  full  of  genuine 
romance  than  this  ;  and  there  is  no  page  in  which  the  evidence  is 
clearer  or  more  convincing  for  those  who  will  take  the  easy  trouble  to 
read  it  aright. 

The  fixed  point  from  which  we  start  is  the  primitive  and  undiffer- 
entiated ancestral  flowering  plant.  Into  the  previous  history  of  the 
line  from  which  the  cereals  are  ultimately  descended,  I  do  not  propose 
here  to  enter.  It  must  suffice  for  our  present  purpose  to  say  dogmat- 
ically that  the  flowering  plants  as  a  whole  derive  their  origin  from  a 
still  earlier  flowerless  stock,  akin  in  many  points  to  the  ferns  and  the 
club-mosses,  but  differing  from  them  in  the  relatively  important  part 
borne  in  its  economy  by  the  mechanism  for  cross-fertilization.  The 
earliest  flowering  plant  of  the  great  monocotyledonous  division  (the 
only  one  with  which  we  shall  here  have  anything  to  do)  started  ap- 
parently by  possessing  a  very  simple  and  inconspicuous  blossom,  with 
a  central  row  of  three  ovaries,  surrounded  by  two  or  more  rows  of 
three  stamens  each,  without  any  colored  petals  or  other  ornamental 
adjuncts  of  any  sort.  I  need  hardly  explain  even  to  the  unbotanical 
reader  at  the  present  day  that  the  ovaries  contain  the  embryo  seeds, 
and  that  they  only  swell  into  fertile  fruits  after  they  have  been  duly 
impregnated  by  pollen  from  the  stamens,  preferably  those  of  another 


THE  PEDIGREE   OF   WHEAT.  663 

plant,  or  at  least  of  another  blossom  on  the  same  stem.  Seeds  fertil- 
ized by  pollen  from  their  own  flower,  as  Mr.  Darwin  has  shown,  pro- 
duce relatively  weak  and  sickly  seedlings  ;  seeds  fertilized  by  pollen 
from  a  sister  plant  of  the  same  species  produce  relatively  strong  and 
hearty  seedlings.  The  two  cases  are  exactly  analogous  to  the  effects 
of  breeding  in  and  in  or  of  an  infusion  of  fresh  blood  among  races  of 
men  and  animals.  Hence  it  naturally  happens  that  those  plants  whose 
organization  in  any  way  favors  the  ready  transference  of  pollen  from 
one  flower  to  another  gain  an  advantage  in  the  struggle  for  existence, 
and  so  tend  on  the  average  to  thrive  and  to  survive  ;  while  those 
plants  whose  organization  renders  such  transference  difficult  or  impos- 
sible stand  at  a  constant  disadvantage  in  the  race  for  life,  and  are 
liable  to  fall  behind  in  the  contest,  or  at  least  to  survive  only  in  the 
most  unfavorable  and  least  occupied  parts  of  the  vegetal  economy. 
Familiar  as  this  principle  has  now  become  to  all  scientific  biologists, 
it  is  yet  so  absolutely  necessary  for  the  comprehension  of  the  present 
question,  whose  key-note  it  forms,  that  I  shall  make  no  apology  for 
thus  once  more  stating  it  at  the  outset  as  the  general  law  which  must 
guide  us  through  all  the  intricacies  of  the  development  of  wheat. 

Our  primitive  ancestral  lily,  not  yet  a  lily  or  anything  else  nam- 
able  in  our  existing  terms,  had  thus,  to  start  with,  one  triple  set  of 
ovaries,  and  about  three  triple  sets  of  pollen-bearing  stamens  ;  and  to 
the  very  end  this  triple  arrangement  may  be  traced  under  more  or  less 
difficult  disguises  in  every  one  of  its  numerous  modern  descendants. 
No  single  survivor,  however,  now  represents  for  us  this  earliest  ideal 
stage  ;  we  can  only  infer  its  existence  from  the  diverse  forms  assumed 
by  its  various  divergent  modifications  at  the  present  day,  all  of  which 
show  many  signs  of  being  ultimately  derived  from  some  such  primor- 
dial and  simple  ancestor.  The  first  step  in  advance  consisted  in  the 
acquisition  of  petals,  which  are  now  possessed  in  a  more  or  less  rudi- 
mentary shape  by  all  the  tribe  of  trinary  flowers,  or  at  least,  if  quite 
absent,  are  shown  to  have  been  once  present  by  intermediate  links  or 
by  abortive  rudiments.  There  are  even  now  flowers  of  this  class 
which  do  not  at  present  possess  any  observable  petals  at  all  ;  but  these 
can  be  shown  (as  we  shall  see  hereafter)  not  to  be  unaltered  descend- 
ants of  the  prime  type,  but  on  the  contrary  to  be  very  degraded  and 
profoundly  modified  forms,  derived  from  later  petal-bearing  ancestors, 
and  still  connected  with  their  petal-bearing  allies  by  all  stages  of  in- 
tervening degeneracy.  The  original  petalless  lily  has  long  since  died 
out  before  the  fierce  competition  of  its  own  more  advanced  descend- 
ants ;  and  the  existing  petalless  reeds  or  cuckoo-pints,  as  well  as  the 
apparently  petalless  wheats  and  grasses,  are  special  adaptive  forms  of 
the  newer  petal-bearing  rushes  and  lilies. 

The  origin  of  the  colored  petals  is  almost  certainly  due  to  the  selec- 
tive action  of  primeval  insects.  The  soft  pollen,  and  perhaps,  too,  the 
slight  natural  exudations  around  the  early  flowers,  afforded  food  to 


664  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

the  ancestral  creatures  not  then  fully  developed  into  anything  that  we 
could  distinctively  call  a  bee  or  a  butterfly.  But,  as  the  insects  flew 
about  from  one  head  to  another  in  search  of  such  food,  they  carried 
small  quantities  of  pollen  with  them  from  flower  to  flower.  This 
pollen,  brushed  from  their  bodies  on  to  the  sensitive  surface  of  the 
ovaries,  fertilized  the  embryo  seeds,  and  so  gave  the  fortunate  plants 
which  happened  to  attract  the  insects  all  the  benefits  of  a  salutary 
cross.  Accordingly,  the  more  the  flowers  succeeded  in  attracting  the 
eyes  of  their  winged  guests,  the  better  were  they  likely  to  succeed  in 
the  struggle  for  existence.  In  some  cases,  the  outer  row  of  stamens 
appears  to  have  become  flattened  and  petal-like,  as  still  often  happens 
with  plants  in  the  rich  soil  of  our  gardens  ;  and  in  these  flatter  sta- 
mens the  oxidized  juices  assumed  perhaps  a  livelier  yellow  than  even 
the  central  stamens  themselves.  If  the  flowers  had  fertilized  their 
own  ovaries  this  change  would  of  course  have  proved  disadvantageous, 
by  depriving  them  entirely  of  the  services  of  one  row  of  stamens  ;  for 
the  new  flattened  and  petal-like  structures  lost  at  once  the  habit  of 
producing  pollen.  But  their  value  as  attractive  organs  for  alluring 
the  eyes  of  insects  more  than  counterbalanced  this  slight  apparent  dis- 
advantage ;  and  the  new  petal-bearing  blossoms  soon  outstripped  and 
utterly  lived  down  all  their  simpler  petalless  allies.  By  devoting  one 
outer  row  of  stamens  to  the  function  of  alluring  the  fertilizing  flies, 
they  have  secured  the  great  benefit  of  perpetual  cross-fertilization,  and 
so  have  got  the  better  of  all  their  less  developed  competitors.  At  the 
same  time,  the  exudations  at  the  base  of  the  petals  have  assumed  the 
definite  form  of  sweet  nectar  or  honey,  a  liquid  which  is  mainly  com- 
posed of  sugar,  that  universal  allurer  of  animal  tastes.  By  this  means 
the  plants  save  their  pollen  from  depredations,  and  at  the  same  time 
offer  the  insects  a  more  effectual,  because  a  more  palatable,  sort  of 
bribe. 

Passing  rapidly  over  these  already  familiar  initial  stages,  we  may 
go  on  to  those  more  special  and  distinctive  facts  which  peculiarly  con- 
cern the  ancestry  of  the  lilies  and  cereals.  It  is  probable  that  the 
nearest  modern  analogue  of  the  earliest  petal-bearing  trinary  flowers 
is  to  be  found  in  the  existing  alisma  tribe,  including  our  own  English 
arrowheads  and  flowering  rushes.  As  a  rule,  indeed,  it  may  be  said 
that  fresh-water  plants  and  animals  tend  to  preserve  for  us  very  ancient 
types  indeed  ;  and  all  the  alismas  are  marsh  or  pond  flowers  of  an  ex- 
tremely simple  character.  They  have  usually  three  greenish  sepals 
outside  each  blossom,  inclosing  one  whorl  of  three  white  or  pink  petals, 
two  or  three  whorls  of  three  stamens  each,  and  a  number  of  separate 
ovaries,  which  are  not  united,  as  in  the  more  developed  true  lilies,  into 
a  single  capsule,  but  remain  quite  distinct,  each  with  its  own  individ- 
ual stigma  or  sensitive  surface.  Even  within  this  relatively  early  and 
simple  group,  however,  several  gradations  of  development  may  yet  be 
traced.     I  incline  to  believe  that  our  English  smaller  alisma,  a  not  un- 


THE  PEDIGREE   OF   WHEAT. 


665 


common  plant  in  wet  ditches  and  marshes  throughout  the  whole  of 
Southern  Britain,  represents  the  very  earliest  petal-bearing  type  in  this 
line  of  development  ;  indeed,  save  that  its  petals  are  now  pinky-white, 
while  those  of  the  original  ancestor  were  almost  certainly  yellow,  we 
might  almost  say  that  the  marsh-weed  in  question  was  really  the  ear- 
liest petal-hearing  plant  of  which  we  are  in  search.     It  closely  resem- 
bles in  appearance,  and  in  the  arrangement  of  its  parts,  the  buttercups, 
which  are  the  earliest  existing  members  of  the  other  or  quinary  divis- 
ion of  flowering  plants  ;  and   in  both  we  seem  to  get  a  survival  of  a 
still  earlier  common  ancestor,  only  that  in  the  one  the  parts  are  ar- 
ranged in  rows  of  three,  while  in  the  other  they  are  arranged  in  rows 
of  five  ;  and  concomitantly  with  this  distinction  go  the  two  or  three 
other  distinctions  which  mark  off  the  two  main  classes  from  one  an- 
other—namely, that  the  one  has  leaves  with  parallel  veins,  only  one 
seed-leaf  to  the  embryo,  and  an  endogenous  stem,  while  the  other  has 
leaves  with  netted  veins,  two  seed-leaves  to  the  embryo,  and  an  exog- 
enous stem.     Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  such  fundamental  differences, 
we  may  say  that  the  alismas  and 
the  buttercups  really  stand  very 
close  to  one  another  in  the  order 
of  development.     When  the  two 
main  branches  of  flowering  plants 
first  diverged  from  one  another, 
the   earliest  petal  -  bearing  form 
they  produced  on  one  divergent 
branch  was  the  alisma,  or  some- 
thing very  like   it ;   the  earliest 
petal-bearing  form  they  produced 
on   the    other   divergent   branch 
was  the  buttercup,  or  something 
very  like  it.    Hence,  whenever  we 
have  to  deal  with  the  pedigree  of 
either  great  line,  the  fixed  historical  point  from  which  we  must  needs 
set  out  must  always  be  the  typical  alismas  or  the  typical  buttercups. 
The  accompanying  diagram  will  show  at  once  the  relation  of  parts  in 
the  simplest  trinary  flowers,  and  will  serve  for  comparison  at  a  later 
stage  of  our  argument  with  the  arrangement  of  their  degraded  descend- 
ants, the  wheats  and  grasses. 

Our  own  smaller  alisma  has  a  number  of  ovaries  loosely  scattered 
about  in  its  center,  as  in  the  buttercups,  with  two  rows  of  three  sta- 
mens outside  them,  and  then  a  single  row  of  three  petals,  followed  by 
the  calyx  or  inclosing  cup  of  three  green  pieces.  Its  close  ally  the 
water-plantain,  however,  shows  signs  of  some  advance  toward  the 
typical  lily  form  in  the  arrangement  of  its  ovaries  in  a  single  ring, 
often  loosely  divisible  into  three  sets.  And  in  the  pretty  pink  flower- 
ing rush  (not  of  course  a  rush  at  all  in  the  scientific  sense)  the  advance 


/?  '   [>   tllWdS 


,s\ 


Fig.  I.— a.  ovaries ;  5,  stamens,  inner  whorl ;  c, 
stamens,  outer  whorl;  d,  petals  ;  e,  calyx-pieces. 


666  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

is  still  more  marked  in  that  the  number  of  ovaries  is  reduced  to  six, 
that  is  to  say,  two  whorls  of  three  each,  accompanied  by  nine  stamens, 
similarly  divisible  into  three  rows.  In  all  these  very  early  forms  (as 
in  their  analogues  the  buttercups)  the  main  point  to  notice  is  this,  that 
there  is  as  yet  no  regular  definiteness  in  the  numerical  relations  of  the 
parts.  They  tend  to  run,  it  is  true,  in  rows  of  three  ;  but  often  these 
rows  are  so  numerous  and  so  confused  that  nature  loses  count,  so  to 
speak,  and  it  is  only  in  their  higher  and  more  developed  members  that 
we  begin  to  arrive  at  any  distinct  symmetry,  such  as  that  of  the  flow- 
ering rush.  Even  here,  the  symmetry  is  far  from  being  so  perfect  as 
in  the  later  lilies.  There  are,  however,  a  few  very  special  members  of 
the  alisma  family  in  which  the  approach  to  the  true  lilies  is  even 
greater.  These  are  well  represented  in  England  by  our  own  common 
arrowgrasses — inconspicuous  little  green  flowers,  with  three  calyx- 
pieces,  three  petals,  six  stamens,  and  either  six  or  three  ovaries.  Here, 
too,  the  ovaries  are  at  first  united  into  a  single  pistil  (as  it  is  technic- 
ally called),  though  they  afterward  separate  as  they  ripen  into  three 
or  six  distinct  little  capsules.  One  of  our  British  kinds,  the  marsh 
arrowgrass,  has  almost  reached  the  lily  stage  of  development ;  for  it 
has  three  calyx-pieces,  three  petals,  six  stamens,  and  three  ovaries,  ex- 
actly like  the  true  lilies  ;  but  it  falls  short  of  their  full  type  in  the 
fact  that  its  pistil  divides  when  ripe  into  separate  capsules,  whereas 
the  pistil  of  the  lilies  always  remains  united  to  the  very  end  ;  and  this 
minute  difference  suffices,  in  the  eyes  of  systematic  botanists,  to  make 
it  an  alisma  rather  than  a  lily.  In  reality,  it  ought  to  be  regarded  as 
a  benevolent  neutral — a  surviving  intermediate  link  between  the  two 
larger  classes. 

The  specialization  which  makes  the  true  lilies  thus  depends  upon 
two  points.  In  the  first  place,  all  the  parts  are  regularly  symmetrical, 
except  that  there  are  two  rows  of  stamens  to  each  one  of  the  other 
organs  :  the  common  formula  being  three  calyx-pieces,  three  petals, 
six  stamens,  and  three  ovaries.  In  the  second  place,  the  three  ovaries 
are  completely  combined  together  into  a  single  three-celled  pistil. 
The  advantage  which  the  lilies  thus  gain  is  obvious  enough.  Then- 
bright  petals,  usually  larger  and  more  attractive  than  those  of  the 
alismas,  allure  a  sufficient  number  of  insects  to  enable  them  to  dispense 
with  the  numerous  stamens  and  ovaries  of  their  primitive  ancestors. 
Moreover,  this  diminution  in  number  is  accompanied  by  an  increase  in 
effectiveness  and  specialization  :  for  the  lilies  have  only  three  sensi- 
tive surfaces  to  their  pistil,  combined  on  a  single  stalk  ;  and  the  honey 
is  usually  so  placed  at  its  base  that  the  insect  can  not  fail  to  brush  off 
pollen  at  every  visit  against  all  three  surfaces  at  once.  Again,  while 
the  number  of  ovaries  has  been  lessened,  the  number  of  seeds  in  each 
has  been  generally  increased,  which  also  marks  a  step  in  advance, 
since  it  allows  many  seeds  to  be  impregnated  by  a  single  act  of  polli- 
nation.    Tbe  result  of   all   these  improvements,   carried   further  by 


THE  PEDIGREE   OF  WHEAT.  667 

some  lilies  than  by  others,  is  that  the  family  has  absolutely  outstripped 
all  others  of  the  trinary  class  in  the  race  for  the  possession  of  the 
earth,  and  has  now  occupied  all  the  most  favorable  positions  in  every 
part  of  the  world.  While  the  alismas  and  their  allies  have  been  so 
crowded  out  that  they  now  linger  only  in  a  few  ponds,  marshes,  and 
swamps,  to  which  the  more  recent  lily  tribe  have  not  yet  had  time 
fully  to  adapt  themselves,  the  true  lilies  and  their  yet  more  advanced 
descendants  have  taken  seizin  of  every  climate  and  every  zone  upon 
our  planet,  and  are  to  be  found  in  every  possible  position,  from  the 
arborescent  yuccas  and  huge  agaves  of  the  tropics  to  the  wild  hyacinths 
of  our  English  woodlands  and  the  graceful  asphodels  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean hill-sides. 

The  lilies  themselves,  again,  do  not  all  stand  on  one  plane  of  ho- 
mogeneous evolution.  There  are  different  grades  of  development 
still  surviving  among  the  class  itself.  The  little  yellow  gagea  which 
grows  sparingly  in  sandy  English  fields  may  be  taken  as  a  very  fair 
representative  of  the  simplest  and  earliest  true  lily  type.  It  bears  a 
small  bunch  of  little  golden  flowers,  only  to  be  distinguished  from  the 
higher  alismas  by  their  united  ovaries  :  for  though  both  calyx  and 
petals  are  here  brightly  colored,  that  is  also  the  case  in  the  flowering 
rushes,  and  in  many  others  of  the  alisma  group.  On  the  other  hand, 
though  it  may  be  said  generally  of  the  lilies  that  their  calyx  and  pet- 
als are  colored  alike — sometimes  so  much  so  as  to  be  practically  in- 
distinguishable— yet  there  are  many  kinds  which  still  retain  the  green- 
ish calyx-pieces,  and  that  even  in  the  more  developed  genera.  But 
most  of  the  lilies  are  far  handsomer  than  gaarea  and  its  allies  :  even 
in  England  itself  we  have  such  very  conspicuous  and  attractive  flow- 
ers as  the  purple  fritillaries,  which  every  Oxford  man  has  gathered  by 
handfuls  in  the  spongy  meadows  about  Iffley  lock,  with  their  dark 
spotted  petals  converging  into  a  bell,  and  the  nectaries  at  the  base 
producing  each  a  large  drop  of  luscious  honey.  Some,  like  our  wild 
hyacinths,  have  assumed  a  tubular  shape  under  stress  of  insect  selec- 
tion, the  better  to  promote  proper  fertilization  ;  and  at  the  same  time 
have  acquired  a  blue  pigment,  to  allure  the  eyes  of  azure-loving  bees. 
Others  have  become  dappled  with  spots  to  act  as  honey-guides,  or 
have  produced  brilliant  variegated  blossoms  to  attract  the  attention  of 
great  tropical  insects.  Our  British  lilies  alone  comprise  such  various 
examples  as  the  lily-of-the-valley,  a  tubular,  white,  scented  species, 
adapted  for  fertilization  by  moths  ;  the  very  similar  Solomon's-seal  ; 
the  butcher's-broom  ;  the  wild  tulip  ;  the  star-of-Bethlehem  ;  the  va- 
rious squills  ;  the  asparagus  ;  the  grape-hyacinth  ;  and  the  meadow- 
saffron.  Some  of  them  (for  example,  asparagus  and  butcher's-broom) 
have  also  developed  berries  in  place  of  dry  capsules  ;  and  these  ber- 
ries, being  eaten  by  birds  which  digest  the  pulp,  but  not  the  actual 
seeds,  aid  in  the  dispersion  of  the  seedlings,  and  so  enable  the  plant 
to  reduce  the  total  number  of  seeds  to  three  only,  or  one  in  each 


668  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

ovary.  Among  familiar  exotics  of  the  same  family  may  be  mentioned 
the  hyacinth,  tuberose,  tulip,  asphodel,  yucca,  and  most  of  the  so-called 
lilies.  In  short,  no  tribe  supplies  us  with  a  greater  number  of  hand- 
some garden  flowers,  for  the  most  part  highly  adapted  to  a  very  ad- 
vanced type  of  insect  fertilization. 

Properly  to  understand  the  development  of  our  existing  wheat 
from  this  brilliant  and  ornamental  family,  as  well  as  to  realize  the 
true  nature  of  its  relation  to  allied  orders,  we  must  first  glance  briefly 
at  the  upward  evolution  of  the  other  branches  descended  from  the 
true  lilies,  and  then  recur  to  the  downward  evolution  which  finally  re- 
sulted in  the  production  of  the  degenerate  grasses.  In  the  main  line 
of  progressive  development,  the  lilies  gave  origin  to  the  amaryllids, 
familiarly  represented  in  England  by  the  snow-drops  and  daffodils,  a 
family  which  is  technically  described  as  differing  from  the  lilies  in 
having  an  inferior  instead  of  a  superior  ovary — that  is  to  say,  with 
the  pistil  apparently  placed  below  instead  of  above  the  point  where 
the  petals  and  calyx-pieces  are  inserted.  From  the  evolutionary  point 
of  view,  however,  this  difference  merely  amounts  to  saying  that  the 
amaryllids  are  tubular  lilies,  in  which  the  tube  has  coalesced  with  the 
walls  of  the  ovary,  so  that  the  petals  seem  to  begin  at  its  summit  in- 
stead of  at  its  base.  The  change  gives  still  greater  certainty  of  im- 
pregnation, and  therefore  benefits  the  race  accordingly.  At  the  same 
time,  the  amaryllids,  being  probably  a  much  newer  development  than 
the  true  lilies,  have  not  yet  had  leisure  to  gain  quite  so  firm  a  footing 
in  the  world  ;  though  on  the  other  hand  many  of  them  are  far  more 
minutely  adapted  for  special  insect  fertilization  than  their  earlier  allies. 
They  include  the  so-called  Guernsey  lilies  of  our  gardens,  as  well  as 
the  huge  American  aloes  which  all  visitors  to  the  Riviera  know  so 
well  on  the  diy  hills  around  Nice  and  Cannes.  The  iris  family  are  a 
similar  but  rather  more  advanced  tribe,  with  only  three  stamens  instead 
of  six,  their  superior  organization  allowing  them  readily  to  dispense 
with  half  their  complement,  and  so  to  attain  the  perfect  trinary  sym- 
metry of  three  sepals,  three  petals,  three  stamens,  and  three  ovaries. 
Among  them,  the  iris  and  the  crocus  are  circular  in  shape,  but  some 
very  advanced  types,  such  as  the  gladiolus,  have  acqitired  a  bilateral 
form,  in  correlation  with  special  insect  visits.  From  these,  the  step  is 
not  great  to  the  orchids,  undoubtedly  the  highest  of  all  the  trinary 
flowers,  with  the  triple  arrangement  almost  entirely  obscured,  and 
with  the  most  extraordinary  varieties  of  adaptation  to  fertilization  by 
bees  or  even  by  humming-birds  in  the  most  marvelous  fashions.  Alike 
by  their  inferior  ovary,  their  bilateral  shape,  their  single  stamen,  their 
remarkable  forms,  their  brilliant  colors,  and  their  occasional  mimicry 
of  insect-life,  the  orchids  show  themselves  to  be  by  far  the  highest  of 
the  trinary  flowers,  if  not,  indeed,  of  the  entire  vegetable  world. 

From  this  brief  sketch  of  the  main  line  of  upward  evolution  from 
lilies  to  orchids,  we  must  now  return  to  the  grand  junction  afforded 


THE  PEDIGREE   OF  WHEAT.  669 

us  by  the  lilies  themselves,  and  travel  down  the  other  line  of  degen- 
eracy and  degradation  which  leads  us  on  to  the  grasses  and  the  cereals, 
including  at  last  our  own  familiar  cultivated  wheat.  Any  trinary 
flower  with  three  calyx-pieces,  three  petals,  six  stamens,  and  a  three- 
celled  pistil  not  concealed  within  an  inclosing  tube,  is  said  to  be  a  lily, 
as  long  as  it  possesses  brightly  colored  and  delicate  petals.  There  are, 
however,  a  large  number  of  somewhat  specialized  lilies  with  very 
small  and  inconspicuous  petals,  which  have  been  artificially  separated 
by  botanists  as  the  rush  family,  not  because  they  were  really  different 
in  any  important  point  of  structure  from  the  acknowledged  lilies,  but 
merely  because  they  had  not  got  such  brilliant  and  handsome  blossoms. 
These  despised  and  neglected  plants,  however,  supply  us  with  the  first 
downward  step  on  the  path  of  degeneracy  which  leads  at  last  to  the 
grasses,  and  they  may  be  considered  as  intermediate  stages  in  the  scale 
of  degradation,  fortunately  preserved  for  us  by  exceptional  circum- 
stances to  the  present  day.  Even  among  the  true  lilies,  there  are 
some,  like  the  garlic  and  onion  tribe,  which  show  considerable  marks 
of  degeneration,  owing  to  some  decline  from  the  type  of  insect  fer- 
tilization to  the  undesirable  habit  of  fertilizing  themselves.  Thus, 
while  our  common  English  rampsons  or  wild  garlic  has  pretty  and 
conspicuous  white  blossoms,  some  other  members  of  the  tribe,  such  as 
the  crow  allium,  have  very  small  greenish  flowers,  often  reduced  to 
mere  shapeless  bulbs.  Among  the  true  rushes,  however,  the  course  of 
development  has  been  somewhat  different.  These  water-weeds  have 
acquired  the  habit  of  trusting  for  fertilization  to  the  wind,  which  car- 
ries the  pollen  of  one  blossom  to  the  sensitive  surface  of  another,  per- 
haps at  less  trouble  and  expense  to  the  parent  plant  than  would  be 
necessary  for  the  allurement  of  bees  or  flies  by  all  the  bribes  of  brill- 
iant petals  and  honeyed  secretions.  To  effect  this  object,  their  stamens 
hang  out  pensile  to  the  breeze,  on  long,  slender  filaments,  so  lightly 
poised  that  the  merest  breath  of  air  amply  suffices  to  dislodge  the 
pollen  :  while  the  sensitive  surface  of  the  ovaries  is  prolonged  into  a 
branched  and  feathery  process,  seen  under  the  microscope  to  be  studded 
with  adhesive  glandular  knobs,  which  readily  catch  and  retain  every 
golden  grain  of  the  fertilizing  powder  which  may  chance  to  be  wafted 
toward  them  on  the  wings  of  the  wind.  Under  such  circumstances, 
the  rush  kind  could  only  lose  by  possessing  brightly  colored  and  at- 
tractive petals,  which  would  induce  insects  uselessly  to  plunder  their 
precious  stores  :  and  so  all  those  rushes  which  showed  any  tendency 
in  that  direction  would  soon  be  weeded  out  by  natural  selection  ;  while 
those  which  produced  only  dry  and  inconspicuous  petals  would  become 
the  parents  of  future  generations,  and  would  hand  on  their  own  pecul- 
iarities to  their  descendants  after  them.  Thus  the  existing:  rushes  are 
all  plain  little  lilies  with  dry,  brownish  flowers,  specially  adapted  to 
wind-fertilization  alone. 

Among  the  rushes  themselves,  again,  there  are  various  levels  of 


670  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

retrogressive  development — retrogressive,  that  is  to  say,  if  we  regard 
the  lily  family  as  an  absolute  standard:  for  the  various  alterations  un- 
dergone by  the  different  flowers  are  themselves  adaptive  to  their  new 
condition,  though  that  condition  is  itself  decidedly  lower  than  the  one 
from  which  they  started.  The  common  rush  and  its  immediate  con- 
geners resemble  the  lilies  from  which  they  spring  in  having  several 
seeds  in  each  of  the  three  cells  which  compose  their  pistil.  But  there 
is  an  interesting  group  of  small  grass-like  plants,  known  as  wood-rushes, 
which  combine  all  the  technical  characteristics  of  the  true  rushes  with 
a  general  character  extremely  like  that  of  the  grasses.  They  have 
long,  thin,  grass-like  blades  in  the  place  of  leaves  ;  and,  what  is  still 
more  important,  as  indicating  an  approach  to  the  essentially  one-seeded 
grass  tribe,  they  have  only  three  seeds  in  the  flowei*,  one  to  each  cell 
of  the  capsule.  These  seeds  are  comparatively  large,  and  are  richly 
stored  with  food-stuffs  for  the  supply  of  the  young  plantlet.  One 
such  richly  supplied  embryo  is  worth  many  little  unsupported  grains, 
since  it  stands  a  much  better  chance  than  they  do  of  surviving  in  the 
struggle  for  existence.  The  wood-rushes  may  thus  be  regarded  as 
some  of  the  earliest  plants  among  the  great  trinary  class  to  adopt  those 
tactics  of  storing  gluten,  starch,  and  other  food-stuffs  along  with  the 
embryo,  which  have  given  the  cereals  their  acknowledged  superiority 
as  producers  of  human  food.  They  are  closely  connected  with  the 
rushes,  on  the  one  hand,  by  sundry  intermediate  species  which  possess 
thin  leaves  instead  of  cylindrical,  pithy  blades  ;  and  they  lead  on  to 
the  grasses,  on  the  other,  by  reason  of  their  very  grass-like  foliage,  and 
their  reduced  number  of  large,  well-furnished,  starchy  seeds. 

In  another  particular,  the  rush  family  supplies  us  with  a  useful  hint 
in  tracing  out  the  pedigree  of  the  grasses  and  cereals.  Their  flowers 
are,  for  the  most  part,  crowded  together  in  large  tufts  or  heads,  each 
containing  a  considerable  number  of  minute  separate  blossoms.  Even 
among  the  true  lilies  we  find  some  cases  of  such  crowding  in  the  hya- 
cinths and  the  squills,  or,  still  better,  in  the  onion  and  garlic  tribe. 
But,  with  the  wind-fertilized  rushes,  the  grouping  together  of  the 
flowers  has  important  advantages,  because  it  enables  the  pollen  more 
easily  to  fix  upon  one  or  other  of  the  sensitive  surfaces,  as  the  stalks 
sway  backward  and  forward  before  a  gentle  breeze.  Among  yet  more 
developed  or  degraded  wind-fertilized  plants,  this  crowding  of  the 
blossoms  becomes  even  more  conspicuous.  A  common  American  rush- 
like water-plant,  known  as  eriocaulon,  helps  us  to  bridge  over  the  gap 
between  the'  rushes  and  such  compound  flowers  as  the  sedges  and 
grasses.  Eriocaulon  and  its  allies  have  always  one  seed  only  in  each 
cell  of  the  pistil ;  and  they  have  also  generally  a  very  delicate  corolla 
and  calyx,  of  from  four  to  six  pieces,  representing  the  original  three 
sepals  and  three  petals  of  the  lilies  and  rushes.  But  their  minute 
blossoms  are  closely  crowded  together  in  globular  heads,  the  stamens 
and  pistils  being  here  divided  in  separate  flowers,  though  both  kinds 


THE  PEDIGREE   OF  WHEAT.  671 

of  flowers  are  combined  in  each  head.  From  an  ancestral  form  not 
unlike  this,  but  still  more  like  the  wood-rushes,  we  must  get  both  our 
sedges  and  our  grasses.  And  though  the  sedges  themselves  do  not 
stand  in  the  direct  line  of  descent  to  wheat  and  the  other  cereals,  they 
are  yet  so  valuable  as  an  illustration  from  their  points  of  analogy  and 
of  difference  that  we  must  turn  aside  for  a  moment  to  examine  the 
gradual  course  of  their  evolution. 

The  simplest  and  most  primitive  sedges  now  surviving,  though 
very  degenerate  in  type,  yet  retain  some  distinct  traces  of  their  deri- 
vation from  earlier  rush-like  and  lily-like  ancestors.  In  the  earliest 
existing  type,  known  as  scirpus,  the  calyx  and  petals,  which  were 
brightly  colored  in  the  lilies,  and  which  were  reduced  to  six  brown 
scales  in  the  rushes,  have  undergone  a  further  degradation  to  the  form 
of  six  small,  dry  bristles,  which  now  merely  remain  as  rudimentary  relics 
of  a  once  useful  and  beautiful  structure.  In  some  species  of  scirpus, 
too,  the  number  of  these  bristles  is  reduced  from  six  to  four  or  three. 
There  is  still  one  whorl  of  three  stamens,  however ;  but  the  second 
whorl  has  disappeared  ;  while  the  pistil  now  contains  only  one  seed 
instead  of  three  ;  though  it  still  retains  some  trace  of  the  original 
three  cells  in  the  fact  that  there  are  three  sensitive  surfaces,  united 
together  at  their  base  into  one  stalk  or  style.  Each  such  diminution 
in  the  number  of  seeds  is  always  accompanied  by  an  increase  in  the 
effectiveness  of  those  which  remain  ;  the  difference  is  just  analogous 
to  that  between  the  myriad  ill-provided  eggs  of  the  cod,  whose  young 
fry  are  for  the  most  part  snapped  up  as  soon  as  hatched,  and  the  two 
or  three  eggs  of  birds,  which  watch  their  brood  with  such  tender  care, 
or  the  single  young  of  cows,  horses,  and  elephants,  which  guard  their 
calves  or  foals  almost  up  to  the  age  of  full  maturity.  What  the  bird 
or  the  animal  effects  by  constant  feeding  with  worms  or  milk,  the  plant 
effects  by  storing  its  seed  with  assorted  food-stuffs  for  the  sprouting 
embryo. 

In  the  more  advanced  or  more  degenerate  sedges  we  get  still  fur- 
ther differentiation  for  the  special  function  of  wind-fertilization.  Take 
as  an  example  of  these  most  developed  types,  on  this  line  of  develop- 
ment, the  common  English  group  of  carices.  In  these  the  flowers  have 
absolutely  lost  all  trace  of  a  perianth  (that  is  to  say,  of  the  calyx  and 
petals),  for  they  do  not  possess  even  the  six  diminutive  bristles  wdiich 
form  the  last  relics  of  those  organs  in  their  allies,  the  scirpus  group. 
Each  flower  is  either  male  or  female — that  is  to  say,  it  consists  of 
stamens  or  ovaries  alone.  The  male  flowers  are  represented  by  a  single 
scale  or  bract,  inclosing  three  stamens  ;  and  in  some  species  even  the 
stamens  are  reduced  to  a  pair,  so  that  all  trace  of  the  original  trinary 
arrangement  is  absolutely  lost.  The  female  flowers  are  represented 
by  a  single  ovary,  inclosed  in  a  sort  of  loose  bag,  which  may  perhaps 
be  the  final  rudiment  of  a  tubular,  bell-shaped  corolla  like  that  of  the 
hyacinth.     This  ovary  contains  a  single  seed,  but  its  shape  is   often 


672  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

triangular,  and  it  has  usually  three  stigmas  or  sensitive  surfaces,  thus 
dimly  pointing  back  to  the  three  distinct  cells  of  its  lily-like  ancestors, 
and  the  three  separate  ovaries  of  its  still  earlier  alisma-like  progeni- 
tors. In  many  species,  however,  even  this  last  souvenir  of  the  trinary 
type  has  been  utterly  obliterated,  the  ovary  having  only  two  stigmas, 
and  assuming  a  flattened,  two-sided  shape.  In  all  the  carices  the  flow- 
ers are  loosely  arranged  in  compact  spikes  and  spikelets,  with  their 
mobile  stamens  hanging  out  freely  to  the  breeze,  and  their  feathery 
stigmas  prepared  to  catch  the  slightest  grain  of  pollen  which  may  hap- 
pen to  be  wafted  their  way  by  any  passing  breath  of  air.  The  varie- 
ties in  their  arrangement,  however,  are  almost  as  infinite  among  the 
different  species  as  those  of  the  grasses  themselves  ;  sometimes  the 
male  and  female  flowers  are  produced  on  separate  plants  ;  sometimes 
they  grow  in  separate  spikes  on  the  same  plant ;  sometimes  the  same 
spike  has  male  flowers  at  the  top  and  female  at  the  bottom  ;  sometimes 
the  various  flowers  are  mixed  up  with  one  another  at  top  and  bottom, 
a  regular  hotch-potch  of  higgledy-piggledy  confusion.  But  all  the 
sedges  alike  are  very  grass-like  in  their  aspect,  with  thin  blades  hy 
way  of  leaves,  and  blossoms  on  tall  heads,  as  in  the  grasses.  In  fact, 
the  two  families  are  never  accurately  distinguished  by  any  except 
technical  botanists  ;  to  the  ordinary  observer,  they  are  all  grasses 
together,  without  petty  distinctions  of  genus  and  species.  Like  the 
grasses,  too,  the  sedges  are  mostly  plants  of  the  open,  wind-swept  plains 
or  marshy  levels,  where  the  facilities  for  wind-fertilization  are  greatest 
and  most  constantly  present.* 

And  now,  from  this  illustrative  digression,  let  us  hark  back  again 
to  the  junction-point  of  the  rushes,  whence  alike  the  sedges  and  the 
grasses  appear  to  diverge.  In  order  to  understand  the  nature  of  the 
steps  by  which  the  cereals  have  been  developed  from  rush-like  ances- 
tors, it  will  be  necessary  to  look  shortly  at  the  actual  composition  of 
the  flower  in  grasses,  which  is  the  only  part  of  their  organism  differ- 
ing appreciably  from  the  ordinary  lily  type.  The  blossoms  of  grasses, 
in  their  simplest  form,  consist  of  several  little  green  florets,  arranged 
in  small  clusters,  known  as  spikelets,  along  a  single  common  axis.  Of 
this  arrangement,  the  head  of  wheat  itself  offers  a  familiar  and  excel- 
lent example.  If  we  pull  to  pieces  one  of  the  spikelets  composing 
such  a  head,  we  find  it  to  consist  of  four  or  five  distinct  florets.  Omit- 
ting special  features  and  unnecessary  details,  we  may  say  that  each 
floret  is  made  up  of  two  chaffy  scales,  known  as  pales,  and  represent- 
ing the  calyx,  together  with  a  pair  of  small  white  petals  known  as 
lodicules,  three  stamens,  and  an  ovary  with  two  feathery  styles. 
Moreover,  the  two  pales  or  calyx-pieces  are  not  similar  and  symmet- 

*  The  sedges  are  not,  in  all  probability,  a  real  natural  family,  but  are  a  group  of 
heterogeneous,  degraded  lilies,  containing  almost  all  those  kinds  in  which  the  reduced 
florets  are  covered  by  a  single  conspicuous  glume-like  bract.  It  will  be  seen  from  the 
sequel  that  these  bracts  are  not  truly  analogous  to  the  glumes  or  outer  palese  of  grasses. 


THE  PEDIGREE   OF  WHEAT.  673 

rical,  for  the  outer  one  is  simple  and  convex,  while  the  inner  one  is 
apparently  double,  being  made  up  of  two  pieces  rolled  into  one,  and 
still  possessing  two  green  midribs,  which  show  distinctly  like  ribs  on  its 
flat  outer  surface.  Here,  it  will  immediately  be  apparent,  the  traces 
of  the  original  trinary  arrangement  are  very  slight  indeed. 

But  when  we  come  to  inquire  into  the  rationale  and  genesis  of 
these  curiously  one  sided  flowers,  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  they 
have  been  ultimately  derived  from  trinary  blossoms  of  the  rush-like 
type.  The  first  and  most  marked  divergence  from  that  type,  for 
which  the  analogy  of  the  sedges  has  already  prepared  us,  is  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  ovary  to  a  single  one-seeded  cell,  whose  ripe,  fruity  form  is 
known  as  a  grain.  At  one  time,  we  may  feel  pretty  sure,  there  must 
have  existed  a  group  of  nascent  grasses,  which  only  differed  from  the 
wood-rush  genus  in  having  a  single-celled  ovary  instead  of  a  three- 
celled  pistil  with  one  seed  in  each  cell  ;  and  even  the  ovary  of  this 
primitive  grass  must  have  retained  one  mark  of  its  trinary  origin  in 
its  possession  of  three  styles  to  its  one  grain,  thus  pointing  back  (as 
most  sedges  still  do)  to  its  earlier  rush-like  origin.  That  hypothetical 
form  must  have  had  three  sepals,  three  petals,  six  stamens,  and  one 
three-styled  ovary.  But  the  peculiar  shape  of  modern  grass-flowers  is 
clearly  due  to  their  very  spiky  arrangement  along  the  edge  of  the 
axis.  In  the  wood-rushes  and  the  sedges,  we  see  some  approach  to 
this  condition  ;  but  in  the  grasses,  the  crowding  is  far  more  marked, 
and  the  one-sidedness  has  accordingly  become  far  more  conspicuous. 
Suppose  we  begin  to  crowd  a  number  of  wind-fertilized  lily-like  flowers 
alon^  an  axis  in  this  manner,  taking  care  that  the  stamens  and  the 
sensitive  feathery  styles  are  always  turned  outward  to  catch  the  breeze 
(for  otherwise  they  will  die  out  at  once),  what  sort  of  result  shall  we 
finally  get  ? 

In  the  first  place,  the  calyx,  consisting  of  three  pieces,  will  stand 
toward  the  crowded  stem  or  axis  in  such  a  fashion  that  one  piece  will 
be  free  and  exterior,  while  two  pieces  will  be  interior  and  next  the 
stem,  thus  : 

O 

a  a 

a 

Now,  the  effect  of  constant  crushing  in  this  direction  will  be  that  the 
two  inner  calyx-pieces  will  be  slowly  dwarfed,  and  will  tend  to  coalesce 
with  one  another  ;  and  this  is  what  has  actually  happened  with  the 
inner  pale  of  wheat  and  of  other  ojasses,  though  the  midribs  of  the 
two  originally  separate  pieces  still  show  on  the  compound  pale,  like 
dark-green  lines  down  its  center.  Thus,  in  the  fully  developed  grasses, 
in  place  of  a  trinary  calyx,  we  get  two  chaffy  scales  or  pales,  the  outer 
one  representing  a  single  sepal,  and  the  inner  one,  which  has  been 
dwarfed  by  pressure  against  the  stem,  representing  two  sepals  rolled 
vol.  xxii. — 43 


674  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

into  one,  with  two  midribs  still  remaining  as  evidence  of  their  original 
distinctness. 

Next,  in  the  case  of  the  petals,  which  alternate  with  the  sepals  of 
the  calyx,  the  relation  to  the  stem  is  exactly  reversed  ;  for  we  have 
here  two  petals  free  and  exterior,  with  one  interior  petal  crowded 
closely  against  the  axis,  thus  : 

O 

a 

a  a 

Here,  then,  the  two  external  petals  will  be  saved,  exactly  as  the  one 
external  sepal  was  saved  in  the  case  of  the  calyx  ;  and  these  two  petals 
are  represented  by  the  very  small  white  lodicules  nnder  the  outer  pale 
in  our  existing  wheats  and  grasses.  On  the  other  hand,  the  inner 
petal,  jammed  in  between  the  grain  and  the  inner  pale  (with  the  stem 
at  its  back),  has  been  utterly  crushed  out  of  existence,  partly  because 
of  its  very  small  size,  partly  because  of  its  functional  uselessness,  and 
partly  because  it  had  no  other  part  with  which  to  coalesce,  and  so  to 
save  itself  as  the  inner  sepals  had  managed  to  do.  Moreover,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  the  sepals  do  still  perform  a  useful  service  in  pro- 
tecting the  young  flower  before  it  opens,  and  in  keeping  out  noxious 
insects  during  the  kerning  or  swelling  of  the  grain  ;  whereas  the  lodi- 
cules or  rudimentary  petals  are  now  apparently  quite  functionless  ;  and 
so  we  may  congratulate  ourselves  that  they  are  there  at  all,  to  preserve 
for  us  the  true  ground-plan  of  the  floral  architecture  in  grasses.  In- 
deed, they  have  not  survived  by  any  means  in  all  grasses  ;  among  the 
smaller  and  more  degraded  kinds  they  are  often  wholly  wanting,  hav- 
ing been  quite  crushed  out  between  the  calyx  and  the  grain.  It  is 
only  the  larger  and  more  primitive  types  that  still  exhibit  them  in  any 
great  perfection.  On  the  other  hand,  one  group  of  very  large  exotic 
grasses,  the  bamboos,  has  three  regular  petals,  thus  clearly  showing 
the  descent  of  the  family  as  a  whole  from  rush-like  ancestors,  and  also 
obviously  suggesting  that  the  obsolescence  of  the  inner  petal  in  the 
other  grasses  is  due  to  their  small  size  and  their  closely  packed  minute 
flowers. 

Among  the  stamens,  one-sidedness  has  not  notably  established 
itself,  for  in  wind-fertilized  plants  they  must  necessarily  hang  out 
freely  to  the  breeze,  and  therefore  they  do  not  get  much  crowded  be- 
tween the  other  parts.  A  few  grasses  still  even  retain  their  double 
row  of  stamens,  having  six  to  each  floret ;  but  most  of  them  have  only 
one  whorl  of  three.  In  some  of  the  lower  and  more  degraded  forms, 
however,  even  the  stamens  have  lost  their  trinary  order,  and  only  two 
now  survive.  This  is  the  case  in  our  own  very  degenerate  little  sweet- 
vernal-grass,  the  plant  which  imparts  its  delicious  fragrance  to  new- 
mown  hay.  But  in  the  cereals  and  in  most  other  large  species  the  three 
stamens  still  remain  in  undiminished  effectiveness  to  the  present  day. 


THE  PEDIGREE    OF  WHEAT. 


675 


Finally,  we  come  to  the  most  important  part  of  all,  the  ovary. 
This  part,  alternating  with  the  stamens,  has  the  same  arrangement  of 
styles  relatively  to  the  axis  as  in  the  case  of  the  petals  ;  and  it  has 
undergone  precisely  the  same  sort  of  abortive  distortion.  The  two 
outer  styles,  hanging  freely  out  of  the  calyx,  have  been  preserved  like 
the  two  outer  lodicules  ;  but  the  inner  one,  pressed  between  the  grain 
and  the  inner  pale  (with  the  stem  behind  it),  has  been  simply  crushed 
out  of  existence,  like  its  neighbor  the  inner  lodicule. 

Thus  the  final  result  is  that  the  whole  inner  portion  of  the  flower 
(except  as  regai'ds  stamens)  has  been  distorted  or  rendered  abortive 
by  close  pressure  against  the  stem  (due  to  the  crowding  of  the  florets 
in  the  spiky  form),  while  the  whole  outer  portion  remains  normal  and 
fully  developed.  We  have  an  outer  pale  representing  a  single  normal 
sepal,  and  an  inner  pale  representing  two  dwarfed  and  united  sepals  ; 
we  have  two  normal  outer  lodicules  or  petals,  and  a  blank  where  the 
inner  petal  ought  to  be  ;  we  have  three  stamens,  symmetrically  ar- 
ranged, among  the  faithless  faithful  only  found  ;  and  we  have  finally 
two  normal  outer  styles,  with  a  blank  in  place  of  the  absent  inner  style. 
The  accompanying  diagram,  com- 
pared with  that  already  given,  will 
make  this  perfectly  clear. 

Here,  a1  represents  the  outer  pale 
or  normal  sepal,  while  «2  and  a2  rep- 
resent the  inner  pale  composed  of  the 
two  united  sepals.  Again,  bl  and  b* 
stand  for  the  two  lodicules  or  surviv- 
ing petals,  while  bz  marks  the  place 
of  the  lost  petal,  now  found  in  the 
bamboos  alone.  The  stamens  are  let- 
tered c1,  c",  and  c3.  The  two  existing 
styles  are  shown  by  dl  and  d-,  while 
d3  marks  the  abortive  inner  style, 
now  not  even  present  in  a  rudimentary  condition.  It  will  be  observed 
at  once  that  all  the  outer  side  is  normal,  and  all  the  inner  side  more  or 
less  abortive  through  pressure  against  the  axis. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  line  of  links  which  connects  the  grasses 
and  cereals  with  the  lilies  is  absolutely  unbroken,  and  that  it  consists 
throughout  of  one  continuous  course  of  degradation.  At  the  same 
time,  by  this  one-sided  and  spiky  arrangement,  the  grasses  secured  for 
themselves  an  exceptional  advantage  in  the  struggle  for  existence. 
Xo  other  race  of  small,  wind-fertilized  plants  could  compete  with  them 
for  the  possession  of  the  open,  wind-swept  plains  ;  and  over  all  these 
they  spread  far  and  wide,  rapidly  differentiating  themselves  into  a  vast 
number  of  divergent  genera  and  species,  each  aclaptively  specialized 
for  some  peculiar  habitat,  soil,  or  climate.  At  the  present  time,  the 
gi-asses  number  their  kinds  by  thousands  ;  they  extend  over  the  whole 


676  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

world,  from  the  poles  to  the  equator  ;  and  they  form  the  general  sward 
or  carpet  of  greenery  over  by  far  the  larger  portion  of  the  terrestrial 
globe.  Even  in  Britain  alone,  with  our  poor  little  insular  flora,  a  mere 
fragment  of  that  belonging  to  the  petty  European  Continent,  we  num- 
ber no  less  than  forty-two  genera  of  grasses,  distributed  into  more 
than  one  hundred  species.  In  fact,  what  may  fairly  be  called  degra- 
dation from  one  point  of  view  may  fairly  be  called  adaptation  from 
another.  The  organization  of  the  grasses  is  certainly  lower  than  that 
of  the  lilies,  but  it  fits  them  better  for  that  station  of  life  to  which  it 
has  pleased  Nature  to  assign  them. 

The  various  kinds  of  grasses  differ  very  little  from  one  another  in 
general  plan  ;  the  flower  in  almost  all  is  constructed  strictly  on  the 
lines  above  mentioned  ;  and  the  leaves  in  almost  all  are  just  the  same 
soft,  pensile  blades,  making  them  into  the  proper  greensward  for  open, 
unwooded,  wind-swept  plains.  But,  like  almost  all  other  very  domi- 
nant families,  they  have  split  up  into  an  immense  number  of  kinds, 
distinguished  from  one  another  by  minute  differences  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  florets  and  the  spikelets  ;  and  these  kinds  have  again  sub- 
divided into  more  and  more  minutely  different  genera  and  species. 
One  great  group,  with  panicles  of  a  loose  character,  and  very  de- 
graded spikelets,  has  given  origin  to  many  southern  grasses,  from  some 
of  which  the  cultivated  millets  are  derived.  Another  great  group, 
with  usually  more  spiky  inflorescence,  has  given  origin  to  most  of  our 
northern  grasses,  from  some  of  which  the  common  cereals  are  derived. 
This  second  group  has  again  split  up  into  several  others,  of  which  the 
important  one  for  our  present  purpose  is  that  of  the  Hordeinece,  or 
barley- worts.  From  one  of  the  numerous  genera  into  which  the  primi- 
tive Hordeinece  have  once  more  split  up,  our  cultivated  barleys  take 
their  rise  ;  from  another,  which  here  demands  further  attention,  we  get 
our  cultivated  wheats. 

The  nearest  form  to  true  wheat  now  found  wild  in  the  British  Isles 
is  the  creeping  couch-grass,  a  perennial  closely  agreeing  in  all  essential 
particulars  of  structure  with  our  cultivated  annual  wheats.  But  in  the 
South  European  region  we  find  in  abundance  a  large  series  of  common 
wild  annual  grasses,  forming  the  genus  uJEgilojys  of  technical  botany, 
and  exactly  resembling  true  wheat  in  every  point  except  the  size  of 
the  grain.  One  species  of  this  genus,  JEgilops  ovata,  a  small,  hard, 
wiry  annual,  is  now  pretty  generally  recognized  among  botanists  as 
the  parent  of  our  cultivated  corn.  There  was  a  good  reason,  indeed, 
why  primitive  man,  when  he  first  began  to  select  and  rudely  till  a  few 
seeds  for  his  own  use,  should  have  specially  affected  the  grass  tribe. 
No  other  family  of  plants  has  seeds  richer  in  starches  and  glutens,  as 
indeed  might  naturally  be  expected  from  the  extreme  diminution  in 
the  number  of  seeds  to  each  flower.  On  the  other  hand,  the  flowers 
on  each  plant  are  peculiarly  numerous  ;  so  that  we  get  the  combined 
advantages  of  many  seeds,  and  rich  seeds,  so  seldom  to  be  found  else- 


A  FEW  WORDS  ABOUT  EATABLES.  677 

where,  except  among  the  pulse  family.  The  experiments  conducted 
by  the  Agricultural  Society  in  their  College  Garden  at  Cirencester 
have  also  shown  that  careful  selection  will  produce  large  and  rich 
seeds  from  JEgilops  ovata,  considerably  resembling  true  wheat,  after 
only  a  few  years'  cultivation. 

Primitive  man,  of  course,  did  not  proceed  nearly  so  fast  as  that. 
Of  the  very  earliest  attempts  at  cultivation  of  JEgilops,  all  traces  are 
now  lost,  but  we  can  gather  that  its  tillage  must  have  continued  in 
some  unknown  Western  Asiatic  region  for  some  time  before  the  neo- 
lithic period  ;  for  in  that  period  we  find  a  rude  early  form  of  wheat 
already  considerably  developed  among  the  scanty  relics  of  the  Swiss 
lake-dwellings.  The  other  cultivated  plants  by  which  it  is  there  ac- 
companied and  the  nature  of  the  garden-weeds  which  had  followed  in 
its  wake  point  back  to  Central  or  Western  Asia  as  the  land  in  which  its 
tillage  had  first  begun.  From  that  region  the  Swiss  lake-dwellers 
brought  it  with  them  to  their  new  home  among  the  Alpine  valleys. 
It  differed  much  already  from  the  wild  JEgilopis  in  size  and  stature  ; 
but  at  the  same  time  it  was  far  from  having  attained  the  stately  di- 
mensions of  our  modern  corn.  The  ears  found  in  the  lake-dwellings 
are  shorter  and  narrower  than  our  own  ;  the  spikelets  stand  out  more 
horizontally,  and  the  grains  are  hardly  more  than  half  the  size  of  their 
modern  descendants.  The  same  thing  is  true  in  analogous  ways  with 
all  the  cultivated  fruits  or  seeds  of  the  stone  age  ;  they  are  invariably 
much  smaller  and  poorer  than  their  representatives  in  existing  fields 
or  gardens.  From  that  time  to  this  the  process  of  selection  and  ame- 
lioration has  been  constant  and  unbroken,  until  in  our  own  day  the 
descendants  of  these  little  degraded  lilies,  readapted  to  new  functions 
under  a  fresh  regime,  have  come  to  cover  almost  all  the  cultivable 
plains  in  all  civilized  countries,  and  supply  by  far  the  largest  part  of 
man's  food  in  Europe,  Asia,  America,  and  Australia. — Macmillarfs 
Magazine. 


-«*•*-*"- 


A  FEW  WOEDS  ABOUT  EATABLES. 

By  C.  B.  KADCLIFFE,  M.  D. 

/CLERIC  US.  I  have  had  a  good  breakfast. 

^-/      Medicus.  So  have  I. 

C.  I  should  not  say  so.  I  have  emptied  the  toast-rack,  and  helped 
myself  to  three  or  four  slices  of  cold  roast-beef  ;  you  have  had  some 
galantine  *  with  brown  bread  and  butter,  and  not  much  of  them.  But 
I  suppose  it  is  all  right.     I  am  going  in  for  a  hard  day's  boating  ;  you 

*  Something  like  hcad-cbeese,  but  made  of  white  meat. 


678  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

are  proposing  to  spend  the  clay  at  home  in  finishing  the  diagrams,  or 
tables,  which  you  are  going  to  use  to-morrow  at  the  hospital  in  your 
lecture  on  eatables,  and  which  are  now  very  much  in  the  way  when 
I  want  to  see  the  pictures  on  the  walls,  or  to  take  a  booh  from  a 
book-case.  What  you  have  taken  would  not  enable  you  to  do  my 
work. 

M.  I  am  not  so  sure  of  that.  At  all  events  I  am  quite  sure  of  this 
— that  you  are  not  wise  in  eating  so  much  lean  meat,  in  picking  out 
every  scrap  of  fat,  and  in  taking  no  butter. 

C.  I  want  muscular  power,  and  I  feed  my  muscles  by  eating  lean 
meat,  which  is  muscle.     I  am  right,  so  far,  I  suppose  ? 

M.  The  muscle  must  no  doubt  be  fed  to  enable  it  to  act,  but  you  are 
not  at  liberty  to  suppose,  as  you  do,  that  the  amount  of  urea  and  other 
excrementitious  nitrogenous  matter  in  the  urine  supplies  the  measure 
of  the  waste  of  muscle  in  muscular  action  which  has  to  be  repaired  by 
food.  You  must  seek  this  measure,  not  in  the  amount  of  urea  elimi- 
nated by  the  kidneys,  but  in  the  amount  of  carbonic  acid  exhaled  in 
the  process  of  respiration  ;  and  the  facts  with  which  you  have  to  do 
go  to  show  that,  after  all,  this  food  you  are  taking  may  not  be  that 
which  is  most  suited  to  your  wants  to-day.  As  is  shown  in  one  of  the 
experiments  in  which  Pettenkofer  was  assisted  by  Voit,  and  as  you 
may  see  in  one  of  the  tables  which  hide  the  pictures  and  books  here — 
thus,  No.  1 — the  difference  between  a  day  of  rest  and  a  day  of  hard 
work,  as  regards  the  elimination  of  carbonic  acid  and  urea,  is  marked 
not  by  an  increase  in  the  quantity  of  urea,  but  by  an  increase  in  the 
quantity  of  carbonic  acid,  the  actual  quantities  being — 

Grammes  of  carbonic  acid.     Grammes  of  urea. 

On  a  day  of  rest 911'5  37'2 

Ou  a  day  of  hard  work 1,184-2  37' 

On  the  day  of  hard  work  there  is  a  very  marked  increase  in  the  quantity 
of  carbonic  acid,  and  a  trifling  decrease  in  the  quantity  of  urea.  "What 
do  you  say  to  this  fact  ?  Again  :  As  is  shown  in  one  of  the  experi- 
ments of  Lehmann,  and  as  you  may  see  in  this  table,  No.  2,  the  amount 
of  urea  eliminated  by  the  kidney  is,  in  the  main,  proportionate  to  the 
amount  of  nitrogenous  matter  contained  in  the  food  ;  the  result  of 
feeding  a  do<i 

On  a  purely  animal  diet  being 53"2  grammes. 

On  a  mixed  diet  "     325         " 

On  a  vegetable  diet  "     22-5        " 

On  a  non-nitrogenous  diet,  consisting  of  fat  or  grape-sugar 

or  starch 15"4         " 

Once  more  :  As  is  shown  by  Edward  Smith  in  an  experiment  upon 
himself,  and  as  you  may  see  in  this  table,  No.  3,  the  amount  of  carbonic 
acid  given  off  every  minute  is  in  direct  proportion  to  the  amount  of 
work  done  in  the  time,  the  actual  amount  being — 


A   FEW  WORDS  ABOUT  EATABLES.  679 

During  sleep 4*99  grain:;. 

"When  lying  down  and  half  asleep 5'91       " 

When  walking  at  the  rate  of  two  miles  an  hour 18-10       " 

When  walking  at  the  rate  of  three  miles  an  hour 25-83       " 

When  turning  the  tread-mill  at  the  rate  of  28-65  feet  in  a 

minute -13'97       " 

Similar  facts  are  supplied  in  numbers  by  these  experimentalists,  and 
also  by  Fick  and  Winceslaus,  and  Traube  and  Parkes,  and  Pavy,  and 
other  excellent  observers  in  this  country  and  abroad  ;  but  these  three, 
about  the  correctness  of  which  there  can  be  no  doubt,  are  sufficient  to 
show  that  the  amount  of  urea  in  the  urine  does  not  supply  the  measure 
of  this  waste  of  muscular  tissue  in  muscular  action,  which  has  to  be 
repaired  by  lean  meat  and  other  nitrogenous  food,  and  that  the  food 
you  really  want  to  repair  this  waste  may  be  carbonaceous  rather  than 
nitrogenous — simple  fuel,  rather  than  plastic  material. 

C.  I  shall,  I  expect,  be  quite  ready  for  my  dinner  when  I  come 
back.  I  may  have  taken  more  lean  meat  than  I  wanted  to  keep  my 
muscles  in  trim  ;  I  have  not  taken  more  than  I  seem  to  want.  I  have 
been  breakfasting  in  this  way  for  a  long  time,  and  I  was  never  in  better 
trim  for  a  long  pull  than  now.  I  may  be  eating  too  much,  but  you 
must  allow  that  I  am  eating  the  best  kind  of  food. 

M.  I  do  not  say  that  you  are  not  eating  the  best  kind  of  food  ;  I 
only  say  that  lean  meat  is  not  the  only  kind  of  nitrogenous  food  which 
will  serve  your  purpose.  It  is  impossible  to  distinguish  between  the 
albuminose  or  peptone  into  which  fibrine  is  resolved  in  the  process 
of  digestion  and  the  albuminose  or  peptone  into  which  albumen,  or 
caseine,  or  gluten,  or  legumin,  is  resolved  in  this  process.  It  is  appar- 
ently of  little  or  no  moment  whether  these  various  nitrogenous  articles 
of  food  are  derived  from  the  world  of  animal  life  or  from  the  world 
of  vegetable  life.  You  must  allow  that  an  herbivorous  animal  is  not 
less  vigorous  than  a  carnivorous  animal  ;  and  certainly  you  would  find 
it  difficult  to  show  that  man,  who  can  live  and  thrive  under  the  most 
dissimilar  circumstances  upon  almost  any  kind  of  food,  is  vigorous  in 
proportion  to  the  amount  of  meat  he  contrives  to  consume. 

C.  You  can  hardly  wish  to  depreciate  the  nutritive  value  of  lean 
meat. 

31.  Certainlv  not.  All  the  nitrogenous  substances,  animal  and  vesre- 
table,  are  resolvable  into  albuminose  in  the  process  of  digestion,  but 
not  with  the  same  facility  in  every  case.  Some  of  them  are  digested 
more  easily  by  some  persons  than  by  others  ;  and,  besides,  there  may 
be  differences  in  the  albuminose  itself  which  are  recognizable  by 
chemical  means.  In  your  own  case,  lean  meat  may  be  more  digestible 
than  any  other  nitrogenous  compound,  and  the  albuminose  into  which 
it  is  converted  may  be  more  easily  assimilated.  In  another  case,  eggs 
or  cheese  or  macaroni  may  better  suit  the  requirements  of  the  person 
taking  it.     I  do  not  venture  to  lay  down  a  hard  and  fast  rule  for  you 


680  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

or  any  one  in  this  matter  ;  I  only  want  you  to  understand  distinctly 
that  a  person  who  can  not  get  a  full  allowance  of  lean  meat,  or  who 
does  not  choose  to  get  it,  is  not  necessarily  ill  fed  for  that  reason,  even 
though  he  have  to  do  hard  work  with  his  muscles. 

C.  If  a  large  amount  of  nitrogenous  food  is  not  wanted  as  food  for 
muscle  or  other  tissues — for  plastic  purposes,  that  is  to  say — how  is  the 
excess  disposed  of  ? 

M.  The  part  of  the  nitrogenous  food  which  is  not  wanted  for  plastic 
purposes  is,  after  digestion,  resolved  by  the  action  of  the  liver  into 
urea,  and  the  other  excrementitious  products  which  are  met  with  in 
the  urine,  and  into  a  compound  containing  carbon,  hydrogen,  and  oxy- 
gen, without  any  nitrogen,  which  compound  may  he  the  substance 
called  amyloid  substance  or  glycogen.  This  non-nitrogenous  com- 
pound is  destined  to  serve  as  fuel  for  the  production  of  heat  and  other 
forms  of  force.  The  portion  eliminated  as  urea,  which  is  simply  excre- 
mentitious, and  the  complemental  portion,  which  is  destined  to  serve 
as  fuel,  is  as  33°20  to  6G-80  ;  and  therefore  it  is  easy  to  see  that  a  large 
part  of  the  nitrogenous  food — but  little  less  than  two  thirds,  that  is  to 
say — may  be  devoted  to  other  than  plastic  purposes,  and  that  a  little 
more  than  one  third  may  be  simply  wasted.  Moreover,  the  compara- 
tively small  portion  of  nitrogenous  food  which  is  actually  wanted  for 
plastic  purposes  is,  there  is  reason  to  believe,  eventually  disposed  of  in 
the  same  way  as  the  portion  which  is  not  used  for  plastic  purposes,  a 
little  more  than  one  third  being  wasted  as  urea,  and  a  little  more  than 
two  thirds  being  utilized  as  fuel.  And  if  this  be  so,  the  question  arises 
whether  the  fuel  into  which  a  large  part  of  the  nitrogenous  form  of 
food  is  resolved  sooner  or  later  is  the  best  form  of  fuel  for  your  pur- 
poses— whether,  for  example,  you  were  wise  in  picking  out  the  fat 
and  in  taking  dry  toast  ? 

C.  I  leave  you  to  find  the  answer  to  this  question. 

M.  There  is,  I  think,  good  reason  to  believe  that  much  of  the  fuel 
without  which  life  can  not  be  maintained  may  be  more  easily  supplied 
by  non-nitrogenous  substances  than  by  nitrogenous  substances.  The 
fuel  in  nitrogenous  food  is  not  ready-made.  This  food  has  to  be  trans- 
formed, first  of  all,  into  albuminose  or  peptone,  and  then  this  albumi- 
nose  or  peptone  has  to  be  broken  up,  partly  into  the  excermentitious 
portion  which  passes  out  of  the  system  by  way  of  the  kidneys,  and 
partly  into  the  residual  portion  which  is  destined  to  act  as  fuel.  An 
abundant  supply  of  gastric  and  pancreatic  and  intestinal  juices  is 
wanted  in  order  to  bring  about  the  proper  formation  of  albuminose  ; 
without  a  healthy  condition  of  liver  and  kidney  it  is  evident  that  the 
albuminose  may  not  be  broken  up  (this  breaking-up  occurs  chiefly  in 
the  liver)  into  urea  and  amyloid  substance  or  glycogen,  and  that  the 
urea  (which  passes  out  of  the  system  by  way  of  the  kidneys)  may  not 
be  eliminated.  Moreover,  it  seems  to  be  certain  that  no  one  can  take 
a  large  amount  of  meat  and  other  highly  nitrogenous  compounds  for 


A  FEW  WORDS  ABOUT  EATABLES.  681 

a  long  time  unless  lie  also  do  a  large  amount  of  muscular  work — unless 
he  do  much  more  work  of  this  sort  than  the  great  majority  of  human 
beings  are  willing  or  able  to  do.  Fat  and  butter  and  oily  matter  gen- 
erally, on  the  other  hand,  require  no  digestion,  in  the  proper  sense  of 
the  word.  They  are  converted  into  an  emulsion — which  is  no  more 
than  a  mechanical  mixture  like  cream,  by  the  action  of  the  pancreatic 
and  duodenal  juices  chiefly,  and  by  the  action  of  the  bile  partly,  and 
this  emulsion  passes  directly  into  the  general  circulation  of  the  blood 
through  the  lacteals  directly,  without  going  the  round  of  the  portal 
circulation  and  the  liver,  as  albuminose  has  to  do.  Fat  and  butter 
and  oily  matters  generally  are  fuel  ready-made,  or  which  only  need  to 
be  emulsified  in  order  to  be  in  this  case  ;  and  they  have  this  advan- 
tage also — that  they  are  burned  up  in  the  system,  without  leaving  be- 
hind them,  so  to  speak,  any  ash  like  urea.  And,  as  force-producing 
agents — if  the  capacity  for  oxidization  may  be  taken  as  a  measure — 
the  value  of  fat  and  oil  is  almost  double  that  of  fibrine  or  albumen. 

C.  I  can  see  that  I  may  have  been  taking  too  much  lean  meat  and 
too  little  toast  ;  I  can  also  see  that  I  may  have  been  especially  wrong 
in  avoiding  fat  and  butter  ;  but  I  do  not  see  how  to  set  to  work  to 
reform  mv  doings. 

31.  What  you  have  to  do,  first  of  all,  is  to  bear  in  mind  that  the 
daily  loss  which  has  to  be  made  good  by  food,  in  a  man  of  medium 
stature  and  in  moderate  work,  amounts  to  4,800  grains  of  carbon  and 
300  grains  of  nitrogen,  and  that,  in  round  numbers,  lean  meat  contains 
11  per  cent  of  carbon  and  3  per  cent  of  nitrogen,  and  bread  30  per 
cent  of  carbon  and  1  per  cent  of  nitrogen. 

C.  Is  it  so  ? 

31.  Yes.  The  daily  rate  of  wasting  of  the  system  which  I  have 
mentioned  is  that  which  is  brought  to  light  by  very  many  observa- 
tions, carried  on  by  many  persons  in  various  ways,  with  a  view  to  reg- 
ulate the  food-rations  of  soldiers  and  sailors  and  pi'isoners,  and  other 
ration-fed  people  ;  and  as  to  the  proportion  of  carbon  and  nitrogen  in 
lean  meat  and  in  bread  the  evidence  is  sufficiently  conclusive. 

C.  Upon  these  data  I  can  easily  calculate  how  much  meat  and 
bread  I  really  want  if  I  choose  to  live  wholly  on  meat  or  bread,  and 
how  the  meat  and  bread  ought  to  be  apportioned  if  I  take  meat  and 
bread  together. 

31.  The  calculation  is  ready  made  for  you,  and  the  result  shows 
very  plainly  that  you  must  mix  your  lean  meat  and  bread  in  certain 
proportions  if  you  care  to  feed  without  wasting  good  food.  In  order 
to  replace  the  daily  loss  of  4,800  grains  of  carbon  by  lean  meat,  the 
quantity  of  meat  you  must  take  is  43,637  grains,  or  rather  over  6 
pounds — a  quantity  which  contains  1,009  grains  of  nitrogen  in  excess 
of  the  300  grains  actually  wanted.  In  order  to  replace  the  daily  loss 
of  300  grains  of  nitrogen  by  bread,  the  quantity  of  bread  you  must 
take  will  be  30,000  grains,  or  about  4  pounds — a  quantity  which  ex- 


682  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

ceeds  by  25,200  grains  the  4,800  grains  of  carbon  which,  are  actually 
wanted. 

C.  My  carnivorous  tendencies,  then,  may  not  be  so  very  extrava- 
gant, after  all.  I  never  ate  6  pounds  of  lean  meat,  or  a  third  of  that 
amount.  I  do  not  think  I  have  suffered  any  sort  of  harm  from  the 
nitrogen  which  I  may  have  taken  in  excess  ;  I  am  sure  I  could  never 
eat  4  pounds  of  bread,  or  half  that  amount,  with  impunity. 

M.  There  is  no  occasion  for  you  to  eat  these  monstrous  quantities 
of  meat  or  bread.  You  must  eat  6  pounds  of  lean  meat  every  day  if 
if  you  take  nothing  else  but  lean  meat ;  you  must  eat  4  pounds  of 
bread  every  clay  if  you  take  nothing  else  but  bread  ;  but  you  may 
get  on  very  well  upon  a  comparatively  small  allowance  of  meat  and 
bread  if  the  two  were  combined  in  proper  proportions.  You  want 
every  day  4,800  grains  of  carbon  and  300  grains  of  nitrogen  ;  you 
find  what  you  want,  as  Dr.  Pavy  shows,  in  2  pounds  of  bread  and  in 
about  f  pound  of  lean  meat,  thus  : 

Carbon.  JTitrogen. 

14,000  grains  (2  pounds)  of  bread  contain 4,200  grains.        140  grains. 

C,500      "      (about  f  pound)  of  lean  meat  contain COS       "  165      " 

Total 4,805       "  305       " 

C.  I  quite  shrink  from  the  notion  of  having  to  take  so  much  as  2 
pounds  of  bread  to  make  up  for  the  daily  waste  of  my  body. 

31.  You  need  not  take  so  much,  or  an}Tthing  like  so  much,  if  you 
will  take  fat  with  your  meat,  or  butter  with  your  bread,  or  any  oily 
matter  in  proper  quantity.  Fat  is  very  rich  in  carbon,  and  so  are  all 
fatty  and  oily  matters.  You  would  have  the  4,800  grains  of  carbon 
and  the  300  grains  of  nitrogen  which  you  want,  if  you  took  f  pound 
of  lean  meat  and  about  2\  ounces  of  fat.  In  proportion  as  you  in- 
crease the  amount  of  fatty  or  oily  matter,  you  may  diminish  the 
amount  of  bread  ;  and,  within  certain  limits,  which  you  may  deter- 
mine for  yourself,  you  may  probably  please  yourself  as  to  the  relative 
proportions  of  the  two.  Whether  you  would  get  on  satisfactorily  by 
excluding  bread  altogether,  and  taking  fatty  matter  in  its  stead,  is 
another  question.  The  growing  chick  within  the  egg  has  plenty  of 
oily  matter  to  feed  upon,  and  nothing  of  the  nature  of  starch  or  sugar, 
or  any  other  carbo-hydrate  to  take  the  place  of  bread.  The  sucking 
mammal  finds  a  large  amount  of  oily  matter  in  the  milk  upon  which 
it  feeds,  and  a  somewhat  larger  amount  of  lactine,  or  sugar  of  milk, 
Avhich,  as  a  carbo-hydrate,  may  more  or  less  take  the  place  of  bread. 
In  the  hen's  egg,  the  proportion  of  fatty  matter  to  albuminous  matter 
is  as  82  grains  to  110  grains.  In  cow's  milk  the  proportion  of  fatty 
matter  to  lactine  is  as  351  grains  to  468  grains,  and  of  these  two  sub- 
stances in  conjunction,  together  with  caseine,  as  811  grains  to  369 
grains.  In  2  pounds  of  bread  and  f  pound  of  lean  meat  the  propor- 
tion of  fatty  matter  to  carbo-hydrates   is  as   "944  ounce   to    16'320 


A  FEW   WORDS  ABOUT  EATABLES.  683 

ounces,  and  of  both  these  substances  together  to  nitrogenous  matter 
as  17*264  ounces  to  4*908  ounces.  In  point  of  fact,  the  proportions  of 
nitrogenous  matter,  of  fatty  matter,  of  carbo-hydrates,  and  of  mineral 
matter,  in  the  dry  constituents  of  a  hen's  egg,  of  a  pint  of  cow's  milk, 
and  of  2  pounds  of  bread  and  £  pound  of  lean  meat,  according  to  Dr. 
Pavy,  are  : 

1.  In  the  dry  constituents  of  the  contents  of  a  hen's  egg  : 

Nitrogenous  matter 110  grains. 

Fatty  matter 82       " 

Mineral  matter 11       " 

Total 203       « 

2.  In  the  dry  constituents  of  a  pint  of  cow's  milk  : 

Nitrogenous  matter 3G9  grains.  -843  ounces. 

Fattymatter 351       "  -802       " 

Lactine 486       "  1-069       " 

Mineral  matter 72       "  '164       " 

Total 1,260      "  2-878       " 

3.  In  the  dry  constituents  of  2  pounds  of  bread  and  £  pound  of 
uncooked  lean  beef  : 

Bread.  Beef.  Total. 

Nitrogenous  matter 2592  ounces.  2-31 6  ounces.         4-908  ounces. 

Fattymatter '512      "  '432      "  -944 

Carbo-hydrates 16-320      "  16-320 

Mineral  matter -736      "  "612      "  1*348        " 

C.  By  thus  putting  the  composition  of  egg  and  milk  side  by  side 
with  that  of  bread  and  meat,  the  conclusion  you  would  have  me  draw, 
I  suppose,  is,  not  only  that  fatty  matter  is  present  in  large  quantity  in 
the  two  model  forms  of  food,  egg  and  milk,  but  also  that  fatty  matter 
may  be  made  to  take  the  place  of  the  starch  and  sugar  of  bread. 

M.  By  comparing  the  composition  of  2  pounds  of  bread  and  £ 
pound  of  lean  meat  with  that  of  eggs,  you  may  also,  I  think,  form 
some  idea  of  the  amount  of  fatty  or  saccharine  matter  which  is  neces- 
sary to  replace  the  2  pounds  of  bread.  The  nitrogenous  matter  of  6 
pints  of  milk  or  thereabout  is  equivalent  to  that  of  2  pounds  of  bread 
and  3  pounds  of  lean  meat,  for  in  6  pints  of  milk  there  are  4-082 
ounces  of  fatty  matter  and  6*416  ounces  of  lactine  ;  and,  therefore, 
you  may  conclude  that  the  4*082  ounces  of  fatty  matter  and  6*016 
ounces  of  lactine  which  are  present  in  the  6  pints  of  milk  are  equiva- 
lent, for  practical  purposes,  to  the  *944  ounce  of  fatty  matter  and  to 
the  16*820  ounces  of  starch  and  other  carbo-hydrates  wdiich  are  met 
with  in  the  2  pounds  of  bread  and  £  pound  of  lean  meat.  The  nitroge- 
nous matter  of  20  eggs  is  about  equal  to  that  of  2  pounds  of  bread 
and  £  pound  of  lean  meat,  for  in  20  eggs  there  are  1,600  grains,  or 
3*66  ounces  of  fatty  matter,  and  therefore  you  may  conclude  that  the 


684  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

1,600  grains,  or  3*66  ounces  of  fatty  matter  which  are  present  in  the 
contents  of  20  eggs  may  take  the  place  of  its  '944  ounce  of  fatty 
matter  which  are  met  with  in  the  2  pounds  of  bread  and  in  the  f 
pound  of  lean  meat,  and  of  the  16 "320  ounces  of  starch  and  the  other 
carbo-hydrates  which  are  present  in  the  2  pounds  of  bread.  For  it 
may  be  fairly  assumed  that  the  properties  of  the  nitrogenous  and  non- 
nitrogenous  compounds  are  as  properly  balanced  in  the  egg  and  milk, 
which  are  the  two  great  typical  forms  of  natural  food,  as  they  are  in 
the  artificial  combination  of  bread  and  meat  of  which  Ave  are  speaking. 
You  may  draw  your  own  conclusions  from  the  tables  on  the  walls  in 
which  these  facts  are  set  forth. 

0.  I  also  find  in  these  tables  a  curious  correspondence  as  to  the 
amount  of  mineral  matter  in  the  three  cases  under  consideration.  The 
proportion  of  mineral  matter  in  the  other  constituents  is  as  1  to  18  in 
the  egg,  as  1  to  17  in  milk,  and  as  1  to  17  in  the  case  of  meat  and 
bread. 

31.  This  correspondence  may  not  be  quite  so  close  as  it  seems  to 
be.  In  the  case  of  the  egg  an  uncertain  amount  of  lime,  probably  a 
large  amount,  ought  to  be  added,  for  the  shell  becomes  thinner  and 
thinner  as  the  process  of  incubation  goes  on,  in  consequence  of  the 
solvent  action  of  the  phosphoric  acid  which  is  generated  by  the  oxidi- 
zation of  the  phosphorus  in  the  contents  of  the  egg.  In  the  case  of 
white  bread  (white  bread  was  used  in  this  experiment)  the  greater 
part  of  the  mineral  matter,  which  is  lodged  chiefly  in  the  husks  of  the 
grain,  is  sifted  out  in  the  preparation  of  the  flour  from  which  white 
bread  is  made.  The  earthy  matter  of  the  shell  is  certainly  necessary 
to  the  proper  development  of  the  bones  of  the  chick,  and  in  all  prob- 
ability the  bones  are  not  the  only  tissues  which  are  in  this  case.  A 
dog  lives  long  and  thrives  when  it  is  fed  upon  brown  bread,  but  not 
when  it  is  fed  upon  white  bread.  Scurvy  also  is  a  speedy  consequence 
of  living  upon  salt  meat,  which  differs  from  fresh  meat  chiefly  in  the 
fact  that  the  salts  belonging  to  it  have  been  transferred  to  the  brine. 
If  the  body  is  to  be  properly  nourished,  the  mineral  matters  which  are 
contained  in  the  different  articles  of  food  can  not  be  excluded,  that  is 
evident.  And  if  these  different  articles  of  food  are  to  be  properly 
digested,  the  common  salt,  in  the  food  or  taken  along  with  the  food, 
may  have  a  very  important  work  to  do  in  addition,  for  without  it  it  is 
not  easy  to  see  how  the  gastric  juice  could  acquire  that  part  of  its 
acidity  which  depends  upon  the  presence  of  hydrochloric  acid. 

C.  I  have  always  avoided  fat  and  butter,  on  the  supposition  that 
they  would  make  me  bilious  and  stout.  I  also  thought  that  they  were 
specially  indigestible.  I  knew  that  they  were  of  great  value  as  heat- 
producers,  as  "  elements  of  respiration,"  as  fuel,  and  that  the  inhabit- 
ants of  cold  countries  could  not  get  on  well  without  an  abundant  sup- 
ply of  them,  but  it  never  entered  into  my  head  to  suppose  that  they 
might  take  the  place  of  meat  and  bread. 


A   FEW  WORDS  ABOUT  EATABLES.  685 

31.  You  have  only  to  consider  how  olive-oil  is  used  in  the  warm. 
parts  of  Europe  where  the  olive  is  cultivated,  and  how  ghee  is  used  in 
India,  in  order  to  satisfy  yourself  that  oily  matter  may  be  taken  with 
facility  in  hot  countries  as  well  as  in  cold.  You  hear  nothing  about 
indigestion  ;  you  find  that  a  bad  olive-harvest  or  scant  supply  of  ghee 
is  a  great  national  calamity.  A  Hindoo  servant  of  a  friend  who 
kept  up  his  Indian  habits  of  eating  here  in  London  has  often  told  me 
that  in  his  own  case  nothing  would  make  up  for  a  deficiency  of  ghee 
or  butter,  and  that  his  experience  in  this  matter  was  the  common  ex- 
perience of  his  countrymen  at  home  or  away  from  home.  He  looked 
upon  a  sip  of  ghee  in  very  much  the  same  light  as  that  in  which  his 
fellow-servants  looked  upon  a  draught  of  beer.  "  Wine  is  good,  but 
oil  is  better,"  said  a  peasant  to  the  courier  who  was  with  me  the  other 
day  in  Andalusia,  and  after  gulping  down  a  large  mouthful  of  olive- 
oil  and  smacking  his  lips  more  than  once,  the  expression  of  his  coun- 
tenance was  an  apt  illustration  of  the  meaning  of  the  Scriptural  text 
which  speaks  of  oil  as  making  "the  face  to  shine."  Indeed,  it  may  be 
taken  for  granted  that  oil  may  be  used  in  large  quantities  throughout 
the  year  in  the  hot,  olive-growing  countries  of  the  south  of  Europe, 
not  only  without  making  the  people  bilious  or  out  of  order  in  any  way, 
but  with  unmistakable  benefit. 

C.  You  have  spoken  of  fat  and  butter  and  cream  as  force-produc- 
ing agents.     You  mean  heat-producing,  I  suppose  ? 

31.  No  ;  I  meant  what  I  said.  They  are  heat-producing  agents 
without  doubt,  but  heat  is  only  one  of  several  modes  of  force  which 
are  closely  correlated,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  molecular 
movement  which  gives  rise  to  heat  in  one  case  may,  in  another  case, 
give  rise  to  electricity  or  some  other  form  of  physical  force.  I  do  not 
believe  that  heat  is  transformed  into  muscular  force  or  nerve-force. 
I  believe  that  the  oxidization  of  the  force-fuel,  which  gives  rise  to 
heat  in  one  case,  may  in  the  case  of  a  muscle  and  nerve  give  rise  to  the 
electricity  which  is  peculiar  to  muscle  and  nerve  ;  that  this  electricity 
antagonizes  the  state  of  action  in  both  muscle  and  nerve  ;  that  in  mus- 
cle it  also  causes  elongation  of  the  fibers  during  the  state  of  rest,  and 
that  muscular  contraction  is  brought  about  by  the  action  of  the  attract- 
ive force  which  is  inherent  in  the  physical  constituents  of  the  mus- 
cular molecules  when  this  force  is  no  longer  antagonized  by  their  elec- 
tricity. Indeed,  all  that  I  want  to  bring  about  muscular  contraction 
is,  not  a  metamorphosis  of  muscle  which  issues  in  the  development  of 
muscular  force,  nor  a  transformation  of  heat  into  muscular  force,  but 
simply  a  supply  of  electricity  during  the  state  of  muscular  inaction 
which  will  counteract  the  tendency  which  the  muscle  always  has  to 
contract  as  an  elastic  body.  I  want,  indeed,  not  a  special  muscular 
force,  but  merely  the  common  attractive  force  which  is  inherent  in  the 
physical  constitution  of  the  muscular  molecules,  and  electricity  to 
counteract  the  working  of  their  attractive  force  when  necessary. 


686  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

C.  I  begin  to  see  that  I  should  have  been  in  equally  good  trim  for 
boating  upon  a  very  different  kind  of  breakfast — that  what  I  wanted' 
was  fuel  for  force-making  rather  than  food  for  muscle-making  ;  and 
now  that  I  call  to  mind  many  facts  which  have  been  brought  under 
my  notice  in  countries  where  olive-oil  is  a  staple  article  of  food,  I  can, 
after  what  you  have  said  about  the  connection  of  electricity  with 
muscular  action,  understand  how  a  man  whose  food  is  chiefly  polenta 
or  potato,  with  a  little  bread  and  oil,  should  have  had  as  much  muscu- 
lar power  at  his  disposal  as  ever  I  could  contrive  to  compass.  I  once 
made  the  ascent  of  Etna  with  two  Sicilian  guides,  who  scarcely  ever 
tasted  any  animal  food  except  a  morsel  of  fat  bacon,  and  who  lived 
chiefly  on  polenta  and  bread  and  olive-oil.  More  than  once  I  thought 
I  should  never  get  to  the  top  ;  they  trudged  upward  with  scarcely  a 
sign  of  distress,  though  often  having  to  expend  a  good  deal  of  strength 
in  pushing  or  pulling  me  up.  And  yet  I  was  in  what  I  thought  to  be 
an  excellent  "  condition  "  at  the  time. 

M.  Yes. 

C.  It  is,  I  suppose,  right  to  believe  that  most  of  the  weaklings 
who  are  benefited  in  this  country  by  cod-liver  oil,  in  Switzerland  by 
neat's-foot  oil,  and  in  Russia  by  train-oil,  would  never  have  required 
these  oils  as  medicine  if  their  food  had  been  sufficiently  rich  in  fatty 
and  oily  articles.  Cod-liver  oil,  I  have  heard  you  say  again  and  again, 
has  no  special  virtue  of  its  own  ;  it  does  good  simply  because  it  is  oil. 
In  my  parish,  where  cod-liver  oil  is  now  used,  suet  diffused  in  milk,  by 
boiling  the  two  together,  was  used  formerly,  and,  I  am  told,  with 
equal  benefit.  In  the  cases  where  cod-liver  oil  is  wanted  the  food  in 
all  probability  has  been  lacking  in  fatty  or  oily  matter.  More  force- 
fuel  was  wanted,  I  supjwse. 

M.  I  have  a  notion  that  the  beneficial  action  of  the  fats  and  oils  is 
not  wholly  to  be  accounted  for  by  regarding  them  mei-ely  as  force- 
producers.  I  believe  that  they  actually  serve  as  food  for  nerve-tissue. 
This  tissue  is  in  the  main  made  up  of  a  peculiar  kind  of  fat,  and  I  am 
convinced  that  nerve  is  starved  if  the  food  be  wanting  in  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  fatty  or  oily  matter.  I  find  that  very  many  persons  suf- 
fering from  various  chronic  disorders  of  the  nervous  system  have  ab- 
stained from  the  fatty  and  oily  articles  of  food,  and  that  their  state  is 
almost  invariably  very  much  changed  for  the  better  when  you  can  get 
them  to  take  what  they  have  avoided  ;  I  also  find  that  a  great  number 
of  delicate  infants  who  can  not  take  skimmed  milk,  and  who  do  not 
take  kindly  to  unskimmed  milk,  will  take  milk  without  any  difficulty 
when  it  is  enriched  with  cream.  You  may  say  if  you  will,  "These 
facts  only  show  that  the  fatty  and  oily  matters  have  done  good  in 
these  cases  by  acting  as  force-fuel,"  and  I  do  not  care  to  contradict 
you  flatly.  Indeed,  all  I  can  say  is  that  I  do  not  think  I  am  illogical 
in  supposing  that  they  may  do  good  also  in  serving  as  food  for  nerve- 
tissue. 


A  FEW  WORDS  ABOUT  EATABLES.  687 

C.  I  gather  from  what  you  Lave  said  that  you  would  prefer,  as 
food  for  invalids,  milk  enriched  with  cream  or  some  other  fatty  mat- 
ter, or  the  yolks  of  eggs,  or  something  like  the  bouillon  of  the  French 
pot-au-feu,  to  highly  nitrogenous  preparations  from  which  the  fat  has 
been  carefully  skimmed  off,  such  as  Brand's  essence,  or  Liebig's 
extraction  carnis,  or  ordinary  beef -tea. 

31.  That  I  certainly  do  ;  lean  meat  more  or  less  fluidified  and  its 
juices  are  not  the  sine  qua  non  in  food  if  what  I  have  said  be  true. 
On  the  contrary,  I  am  disposed  to  think  that  in  very  many  cases  foods 
of  this  sort  are  really  unsuitable,  if  only  by  calling  upon  the  liver  to 
do  work  which  this  organ  is  unequal  to  at  the  time. 

C.  You  approve,  then,  of  the  old-fashioned  milk  diet  rather  than 
of  the  meat  preparations  which  are  now  so  much  in  vogue  ? 

31.  I  am  quite  a  believer  in  the  virtue  of  unskimmed  milk  as  a 
most  suitable  food  for  invalids  of  all  ages  in  almost  all  cases  ;  and  I 
think  that,  in  very  many  cases  where  this  fluid  does  not  agree,  this 
difficulty  will  be  got  over  by  the  addition  of  cream  or  some  fatty 
matter.  I  can  imagine  that  many  mothers  who  can  not  feed  their 
infants  in  the  proper  way,  or  get  fresh  cow's  milk  or  cream,  will  have 
reason  to  be  glad  when  they  can  procure  preparations  of  condensed 
or  inspissated  milk  enriched  with  various  quantities  of  cream  or  some 
fatty  matter.  I  can  imagine  that  preparations  more  or  less  similar  to 
those,  which,  for  the  reason  I  have  just  hinted  at,  might  properly  be 
called  brain-food  or  nerve-food,  might  make  cod-liver  oil  almost  super- 
fluous as  medicine,  and  be  of  infinite  service  to  countless  myriads  of 
persons  in  whom  brain-power  or  nerve-power  is  lacking.  I  can  imagine 
that  in  many  cases  it  will  be  difficult  to  find  a  food  for  invalids  which 
is  to  be  preferred  to  lightly  boiled  yolk  of  egg,  or  to  ordinary  egg- 
flip.  And  in  the  cases  where  it  is  expedient  to  use  flesh — meat  in  one 
form  or  another — -I  am  sure  it  will  be  a  great  change  for  the  better 
when,  instead  of  having  recourse  to  beef-tea,  or  Brand's  essence,  or 
Liebig's  extraction  carnis,  the  thoughts  are  turned  to  something  like 
the  bouillon  of  the  French  pot-au-feu,  or  rather  to  the  very  thing  it- 
self. 

C.  In  what  respect  is  this  bouillon  better  than  broth  or  stock  ? 

31.  It  is  much  more  pleasant  to  the  taste.  It  is  the  outcome  of 
ages  of  experience  in  the  people  who  have  a  special  genius  for  cookery. 
The  animal  and  vegetable  ingredients  are  so  blended  that  the  flavor 
of  no  one  article  is  predominant.  The  bouillon  contains  all,  or  almost 
all,  the  soluble  portions  of  those  ingredients  which  are  necessary  for 
tissue-forming  or  plastic  purposes,  and  for  force-production,  and,  when 
taken  along  with  bread,  it  provides  a  meal  for  an  invalid  which  is 
most  palatable,  most  digestible,  and  most  restorative.  It  is  the  basis 
of  all  good  gravies  and  soups,  becoming,  for  example,  excellent  pur'ee 
or  pea-soup  when  a  proper  portion  of  pea-flour  is  added  to  it. 

C.  What  about  the  bouilli  which  remains  behind  in  the  pot  when 


688  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

the  bouillon  is  poured  out  ?  This  can  not  be  of  much  use  if  all,  or 
almost  all,  the  soluble  matters  have  fouud  their  way  into  the  bouillon. 
Is  it  much  more  than  mere  padding  ? 

M.  The  bouilli  can  not  be  of  any  very  great  value  as  food  ;  and  I 
am  very  much  disposed  to  think  that  its  place  may  often  be  supplied 
with  advantage  by  bread  or  potatoes,  or  some  other  form  of  farinaceous 
food.  For  myself,  I  should  infinitely  prefer  a  basin  of  bouillon  with 
bread,  or  a  basin  of  puree  with  bread,  to  a  basin  of  bouillon  and  a 
plate  of  bouilli  after  it,  without  bread  ;  and  I  think  my  instincts  do 
not  mislead  me  in  this  matter.  I  have  a  small  appetite,  and  no  super- 
abundance of  digestive  power  ;  my  inclinations  turn  toward  vegetable 
food  rather  than  toward  animal  food,  and  I  can  easily  see  that  fari- 
naceous food  may  be  really  more  suitable  to  the  wants  of  my  system 
than  anything  which  is  left  behind  in  the  bouilli. 

C.  I  have  for  years  been  trying  to  make  the  poor  in  my  parish 
acquainted  with  the  virtues  of  the  bouillon  and  bouilli  of  the  French 
ordinary  pot-mi-feu,*  but  it  never  entered  into  my  head  to  suppose 
that  the  bouillon  was  ever  to  be  preferred  to  the  bouilli,  or  that  bread, 
or  potatoes,  or  pea-flour,  or  polenta  might  now  and  then  be  substituted 
for  the  latter  with  advantage.     I  have  also  been  a  £ood  deal  inter- 

*  For  making  an  ordinary  pot-au-fcu,   Gouffe,  in  bis   "  Livrc  de  Cuisine "  (Paris, 
liacbette,  1867),  tells  us  to  take  of 

Fresh  meat   about  If   lb. 


Leeks 

u 

a 

i       " 
7       OZ. 

Carrots  1 

Onions    >- 

u 

5i    " 

Turnips  ) 

u 

1      " 

Celerv 

K 

i   " 

Salt 

M 

1      " 

1 

a  very  little. 
1  imperial  pints, 

Having  placed  the  meat  and  bones  in  the  stew-pan,  with  the  bones  undermost,  the 
water  is  poured  in,  and  the  salt  added.  Then,  after  putting  it  upon  the  fire  and  allowing 
it  to  remain  there  until  the  water  boils,  and  a  scum  collects  upon  the  surface,  the  pan  is 
removed  from  the  fire  and  tbe  scum  skimmed  off,  a  little  cold  water  being  first  added 
for  some  purpose  or  other  which  is  more  intelligible  to  a  cook  than  to  me.  Then  this 
process  of  boiling,  adding  a  little  cold  water,  removing  from  the  fire,  and  skimming, 
is  repeated  twice.  Then,  and  not  until  then,  the  vegetables  are  added,  and  the  pan  is 
placed  near  enough  to  the  fire  to  allow  the  contents  to  simmer  (not  to  boil)  for  three  or 
four  hours.  Then  the  bouillon  is  poured  off  and  the  bouilli  prepared  as  a  dish  in  one 
way  or  another.  And  lastly,  when  the  bouillon  is  in  the  soup-tureen,  and  not  until  then, 
enough  caramel  is  added  to  it  to  give  it  a  delicate  orange  tinge — une  ieinte  doree.  The 
lid  of  the  stew-pan  is  never  to  be  closed  down  tightly,  for  if  this  be  done  the  bouillon  is 
very  likely  to  spoil  by  becoming  thick  and  muddy. 

The  quantity  given  here  is  for  four  or  five  persons.  To  try  and  make  less,  Gouffe 
tells  us,  is  bad  economy,  likely  to  issue  in  bad  cookery,  and  this  is  intelligible  enough, 
for  the  bouillon  may  be  used  in  various  ways,  not  only  on  the  first  day,  but  on  the  day 
following.     The  imperial  pint,  containing  twenty  ounces,  is  the  pint  referred  to. 


A  FEW  WORDS  ABOUT  EATABLES.  689 

ested  in  an  attempt  which  is  being  made  by  Messrs.  Nelson,  of  War- 
wick, to  introduce  as  cheap  articles  of  food  the  inventions  of  our  late 
friend  Mr.  J.  R.  Johnson,  which  are  really  properly  made  bouillon, 
and  puree,  and  other  soups  in  the  form  of  dry  chips.  From  a  package 
of  one  of  these  preparations,  which  may  be  easily  carried  in  a  corner 
of  the  waistcoat-pocket,  an  excellent  mess  of  bouillon  or  potage  may 
be  got  in  a  few  minutes  with  the  help  of  a  little  water  and  fire,  and  I 
can  easily  see  that  the  invalid  and  the  working-man  will  both  of  them 
be  great  gainers  in  the  matter  of  proper  food,  as  well  as  in  pocket, 
when  this  discovery  is  taken  advantage  of. 

M.  I,  too,  have  been  greatly  interested  in  the  articles  to  which  you 
refer.  I  have  tried  the  specimens  which  have  been  sent  to  me,  and  I 
highly  approve  of  them.  I  think,  indeed,  that  their  introduction  to 
the  public  marks  a  new  epoch  in  the  proper  feeding  of  our  country- 
men, and  that  they  will  be  made  still  more  suitable  for  food  when 
they  are  enriched  to  some  extent  by  some  form  of  fatty  matter.  I 
know  how  difficult  it  is  to  convince  the  poor  of  this  country  that  all 
food  is  little  more  than  padding  except  steaks,  and  chops,  and  cuts  out 
of  joints  ;  and  it  will  be  long,  I  fear,  before  they  can  be  persuaded  to 
avail  themselves  of  these  preparations,  or  to  learn  to  make  for  them- 
selves the  pot-au-feu  of  our  neighbors  across  the  Channel. 

C.  What  else  have  you  to  say  in  the  way  of  criticism  about  my 
unfortunate  breakfast  ? 

31.  Only  a  word  or  two  about  bread  and  other  farinaceous  articles 
of  food,  and  about  the  reason  which  made  me  prefer  my  gelatinous 
galantine  of  veal  to  your  cold  sirloin  of  beef.  I  think  that  bread  may 
still  be  very  properly  spoken  of  as  "  the  staff  of  life,"  and  that  other 
farinaceous  articles  of  food  may  very  properly  be  admitted  into  the 
same  category  with  bread.  The  composition  of  wheaten-flour — which 
is  more  or  less  that  of  all  flour  prepared  from  cereal  grain  (oats,  rye, 
barley,  maize,  rice,  and  the  rest),  and  of  leguminose  seeds  or  pulse 
(peas,  beans,  lentils),  and  also  of  potatoes  and  some  other  tubers  and 
roots — according  to  Dr.  Letheby,  is  : 

Nitrogenous  matter 10-8 

Fatty  matter 2"0 

Carbo-hydrates  (starch,  sugar,  and  the  rest) ^O^ 

Mineral  matter T7 

Water 15-0 

The  nitrogenous  matter  consists  of  vegetable  fibrine,  albumen,  and 
gluteine  in  the  rough  form  of  gluten.  The  fatty  matter  is  in  no  way 
peculiar.  The  non-nitrogenous  carbo-hydrates  are  starch,  dextrine, 
sugar,  gum,  cellulose,  and  lignine — starch  chiefly.  The  mineral  arti- 
cles comprise  phosphates  of  lime  and  magnesia,  salts  of  potash,  and 
soda,  and  silica.  Leguminose  seeds  or  pulse  contain  as  much  as  from 
twenty-five  to  thirty  per  cent  of  nitrogenous  matter,  mainly  in  a  form 

VOL.   XXII. — 44 


690  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

of  caseine  called  legumine  ;  rice  and  potato  contain  as  little  as  about 
eight  per  cent  of  nitrogenous  matter,  and  as  much  as  eighty  per  cent 
of  starch,  the  amount  of  nitrogenous  matter  and  starch  in  these  arti- 
cles of  food  being  in  an  inverse  ratio  to  each  other.  Fatty  matter  is 
especially  abundant  in  oats  and  maize.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that 
there  is  much  in  these  vegetable  articles  of  food  which  may  take  the 
place  of  the  nitrogenous  and  oily  articles  which  are  supplied  in  ani- 
mal food. 

There  is  no  essential  difference  as  to  chemical  composition  between 
vegetable  albumen,  and  fibrine,  and  legumine,  and  oily  matters,  and 
animal  albumen,  and  fibrine,  and  caseine,  and  oily  matters  ;  there  is 
no  perceptible  difference  in  the  albuminose  or  peptone  into  which  the 
vegetable  and  animal  nitrogenous  substances  are  alike  transformed  in 
the  process  of  digestion  ;  there  is  no  difference  in  the  way  in  which 
the  vegetable  and  animal  oily  matters  are  emulsified,  and  then  taken 
up  directly  into  the  general  circulation  of  the  blood.  Nor  is  it  diffi- 
cult to  see  how  the  starch,  and  sugar,  and  other  non-nitrogenous  mate- 
rials which  are  peculiar  to  vegetable  bodies  are  disposed  of  within  the 
system.  The  way  in  which  starch  is  disposed  of  in  the  stomach  and 
bowels  is  not  very  well  made  out,  and  all  that  can  be  affirmed  with 
certainty  is  that  a  great  part  of  it  finds  its  way  into  the  liver  through 
the  portal  system  of  vessels,  and  is  detained  there  for  a  time  in  the 
form  of  amyloid  substance  or  glycogen — a  detention  which  is  not  al- 
together unaccountable,  for,  as  Dr.  Pavy  points  out,  this  substance 
"  possesses  diametrically  opposite  physical  properties  to  sugar,  being  a 
colloid,  and  therefore  non-diffusible,  instead  of  a  crystalloid  and  diffu- 
sible." There  is  no  sufficient  reason  to  suppose  that  the  action  of 
digestion,  be  that  what  it  may,  is  always  to  transform  the  starch  into 
sugar  ;  for  sugar  in  quantity  could  not  be  formed  in  the  stomach  and 
bowels  without  passing  directly  into  the  general  circulation,  and  so 
out  from  the  blood  into  the  urine  by  way  of  the  kidneys — without 
making,  that  is  to  say,  the  phenomena  of  diabetes  a  natural  state  of 
things  instead  of  an  unnatural.  Nor  is  there  sufficient  reason  for  sup- 
posing that  the  amyloid  substance  of  the  liver  is  transformed  into 
sugar,  for  this  substance  is  as  readily  oxidizable  and  as  fit  for  force- 
fuel  as  sugar.  Nay,  it  may  be  questioned  whether  sugar  itself  is  the 
force-fuel  which  the  system  is"  in  need  of.  There  is  a  very  rapid  gen- 
eration of  lactic  acid  in  the  stomach  and  bowels  when  sugar  is  taken 
as  food,  and  it  is  not  unintelligible  that  it  should  be  so  ;  for,  with  the 
help  of  a  ferment  of  some  sort,  grape-sugar  is  readily  converted  into 
lactic  acid.  Indeed,  all  that  has  to  be  done  is  for  one  atom  of  anhy- 
drous grape-sugar  to  split  up  into  two  atoms  of  lactic  acid.  Nor  is  it 
unintelligible  that  a  certain  part  of  the  starch  taken  as  food  should 
pass,  as  it  would  seem  to  do,  not  into  amyloid  substance  or  glycogen, 
or  into  sugar,  but  first  into  dextrine,  then  into  sugar,  and  then  into 
lactic  acid  :  for,  as  is  seen  in  the  list  which  I  show  you,  there  is  a  close 


A  FEW  WORDS  ABOUT  EATABLES.  69 1 

chemical  correspondence  between  these  various  substances  and  those 
which  are  akin  to  them.     Thus  : 

Carbon.    Hydrogen.    Oxygen. 
Starch ~) 

Dextrine | 

Cellulose Y  12  10  10 

Lignine  or  woody  matters 

Gum J 

Cane  sugar 12    ■         11  11 

Grape-sugar )  12  12  12 

Amyloid  substance ) 

Lactic  acid 6  6  6 

There  is  no  difficulty,  therefore,  in  understanding,  to  some  extent, 
how  it  is  that,  under  the  action  of  pepsin,  or  diastase,  or  some  other 
ferment,  starch,  and  dextrine,  and  cellulose,  and  lignine,  and  gum,  and 
cane-sugar,  and  grape-sugar,  and  amyloid  substance,  may  be  trans- 
formed into  the  lactic  acid  which  forms  so  important  an  ingredient  in 
gastric  juice,  and  that  the  lactic  acid  so  formed,  after  having  done  its 
work  in  digesting  nitrogenous  substances,  may  be  absorbed  into  the 
circulation  directly,  and  be  there  disposed  of  in  oxidization  as  a  very 
readily  inflammable  fuel — perhaps  as  the  more  readily  inflammable  of 
all  the  force-fuels.  And  certainly  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that 
amyloid  substance  or  sugar  is  more  inflammable  than  lactic  acid,  but 
rather  the  contrary,  for  lactic  acid  can  not  be  traced,  as  amyloid 
substance  and  sugar  can  be,  beyond  the  limits  of  the  alimentary  canal. 
In  any  case  I  am,  I  think,  at  liberty  to  assume  that  a  good  deal  of  starch 
and  sugar,  and  of  the  articles  akin  to  them,  are  of  great  use  in  supply- 
ing lactic  acid,  and  that  this  lactic  acid  has  to  do  very  important 
woi'k,  not  only  in  the  primary  processes  of  digestion,  but  also  as  force- 
fuel. 

C.  If  this  be  so,  the  effect  of  taking  sour  buttermilk,  sour  milk, 
and  sour  whey — the  sourness  of  which  depends  upon  the  presence  of 
lactic  acid — ought  to  be  unequivocally  beneficial  in  many  cases. 

M.  So  it  is.  I  have  long  been  in  the  habit  of  recommending  these 
articles  in  cases  where  the  digestive  power  is  feeble  and  the  circulation 
wanting  in  vigor,  and  I  am  quite  satisfied  that  the  practice  is  very 
satisfactory  in  its  results.  Instead  of  being  "  a  weight  to  the  stom- 
ach," as  fresh  milk  often  is  said  to  be  in  these  cases,  these  drinks  are 
generally  found  to  facilitate  digestion  and  to  keep  up  the  warmth  of 
the  system.  Indeed,  by  using  sour  buttermilk  and  sour  whey,  I  have 
often  found  it  possible  to  leave  off  doses  like  rum-and-milk,  and  to  do 
without  alcoholic  drinks  altogether. 

C.  I  am  prepared  to  believe  what  you  say  by  what  I  know  of  the 
experience  of  those  who  take  sour  milk  or  sour  buttermilk  habitually, 
or  who  have  tried  the  whey-cure.  I  have  more  than  once  heard  an 
Irish  peasant  say  that  he  misses  the  sour  milk  he  takes  along  with  his 
potatoes  almost  as  much  as  the  potatoes  themselves,  and  that  "it 


692  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

warms  him  like  whisky  and  keeps  off  the  rheumatiz."  I  have  again 
and  again  felt  myself  benefited  by  taking  buttermilk — by  returning 
to  what  was  a  common  practice  in  the  district  in  which  I  spent  my 
boyhood.  And,  certainly,  I  find  it  difficult  to  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  all 
that  I  have  heard  in  praise  of  the  whey-cure  in  Switzerland  and  else- 
where by  those  who  have  tried  it  for  dyspepsia  and  rheumatism. 

M.  I  was  led  to  recommend  sour  buttermilk  or  sour  whey  by  re- 
flecting on  the  very  facts  to  which  you  refer. 

C.  What  about  the  fattening  effects  of  starch  and  sugar  and  other 
carbo-hydrates  ?     Are  these  substances  convertible  into  fat  ? 

M.  Possibly — nay,  probably.  At  the  same  time  I  am  disposed  to 
think  that  in  many  cases  the  apparent  transformation  into  fat  is  to  be 
accounted  for  by  the  storing  up  in  the  system  of  the  fatty  and  oily 
materials  of  the  food — that  these  materials  may  remain  behind  by  be- 
ing, perhaps,  less  combustible  than  the  lactic  acid  into  which  amyla- 
ceous and  saccharine  substances  are  naturally  transformed. 

C.  You  have  still  a  word  to  say  in  justification  of  your  preference 
for  your  gelatinous  galantine. 

M.  The  nitrogenous  alimentary  substances  are  divided  into  pro- 
teine  compounds  and  non-proteine  compounds.  The  former  (the  al- 
buminous group)  albumen,  fibrine,  caseine  and  their  varieties,  yield 
proteine  when  treated  by  heat  and  an  alkali ;  the  latter  (the  gelati- 
nous group)  containing  gelatine  and  chondrine — gelatine  prepared  from 
bone  and  structures  containing  fibrous  tissue,  chondrine  prepared  from 
cartilage — does  not  yield  proteine  when  so  treated.  Proteine  is  looked 
upon  as  the  base  or  radical  of  the  albuminous  group  ;  but  it  may  only 
be  an  occasional  chemical  product.  In  any  case  it  does  not  do  to  sup- 
pose that  the  non-proteine  compounds  forming  the  gelatinous  group 
are  useless  as  articles  of  food.  The  proteine  and  the  non-proteine  com- 
pounds are  all  reduced  to  albuminose.in  the  process  of  digestion,  and 
resolved  afterward  in  the  same  way  into  urea  and  the  residual  force- 
producing  compounds  which  in  all  probability  is  amyloid  substance  or 
glycogen.  An  animal  soon  dies  if  it  be  fed  solely  on  gelatine  ;  and  so 
it  does  also  if  it  be  fed  solely  on  albumen,  or  fibrine,  or  starch,  or 
sugar,  or  oily  matter.  The  different  elements  of  food,  animal  or  vege- 
table, must  be  mixed  in  certain  proportions,  which  are  not  yet  very 
clearly  made  out,  before  an  omnivorous  animal  can  thrive  upon  them. 
There  may  be  no  occasion  to  take  gelatine  as  food,  for  gelatine  and 
chondrine  are  certainly  formed  in  the  system  from  any  kind  of  albu- 
minose  ;  there  can  not  well  be  any  harm  in  taking  it,  for,  as  I  have 
said,  it  is  transformed  into  albuminose  like  any  other  form  of  nitroge- 
nous substance  ;  and  there  may  be  great  good  in  taking  it,  for  the 
coatings  of  the  cells  and  fibers  of  muscle  and  nerve  are  made  up  of  a 
structure  like  elastic  tissue,  which  yields  gelatine  in  abundance.  In- 
deed, the  popular  notion  that  there  is  something  specially  strengthen- 
ing in  jelly  may  not  be  altogether  a  fallacy.     I  can  easily  believe  that 


SKETCH   OF  SIR    C.   WYVILLE   THOMSON.         693 

the  gelatine  may  be  wanted  to  provide  for  the  proper  nourishment  of 
the  coatings  of  the  fibers  and  cells  of  nerve  and  muscle,  and  that  a 
lack  iu  this  provision  may  bring  about  an  abnormal  disposition  to  in- 
voluntary action  in  nerve  and  muscle.  I  believe  that  these  coatings 
are  charged  as  the  walls  of  a  Leyden  jar  are  charged  during  the  state 
of  rest,  and  that  the  degree  of  this  charge  and  the  indisposition  to  dis- 
charge is  in  proportion  to  the  integrity  of  these  coatings  ;  in  other 
words,  I  believe  that  the  discharge  which  attends  upon  and  produces 
this  state  of  action,  voluntary  and  involuntary,  in  nerve  and  muscle 
alike,  is  more  likely  to  happen  in  the  case  where  these  coatings  are  in- 
sufficiently developed  than  in  the  case  where  they  are  sufficiently  de- 
veloped ;  and,  so  believing,  you  will  easily  understand  why  I  think 
that  gelatine  may  really  be  of  high  value  as  an  article  of  food.— The 
Practitioner. 


-♦♦♦- 


SKETCH   OF  SIR  C.  WYVILLE   THOMSON. 

THE  name  of  Sir  Charles  Wyville  Thomson  is  inseparably  asso- 
ciated with  the  first  explorations  of  the  depths  of  the  ocean,  and 
with  having  proved  that  abundant  forms  of  animal  life  lived  there 
where  it  had  been  believed  that  only  a  few  scattering  organisms  were 
able  to  maintain  an  isolated  and  precarious  existence.  Professor 
Thomson  was  born  at  Bonsyde,  Linlithgowshire,  Scotland,  March  5, 
1830,  and  died  on  the  10th  of  March,  1882.  His  father  was  a  surgeon 
in  the  service  of  the  East  India  Company,  and  spent  most  of  his  life 
abroad.  His  grandfather  was  a  distinguished  clergyman  of  Edin- 
burgh ;  and  his  great-grandfather  was  "  Principal  Clerke  of  Chancel- 
lary  "  in  the  time  of  the  Rebellion  of  1745.  He  went  to  school  at  Mer- 
chiston  Castle  Academy,  which  was  then  conducted  by  Mr.  Charles 
Chalmers,  a  brother  of  the  eminent  Rev.  Dr.  Chalmers,  after  which  he 
entered  the  medical  course  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  in  1845. 
After  three  years  of  study  here,  he  began  to  feel  the  effects  of  over- 
work, and,  as  a  means  of  gaining  a  year's  rest,  we  are  told,  he  took 
the  lectureship  on  botany  in  Queen's  College,  Aberdeen.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year  he  was  appointed  to  lecture  on  the  same  subject  in  Maris- 
chal  College  and  University.  In  1853  he  was  chosen  to  the  professor- 
ship of  Natural  History  in  the  Queen's  College,  Cork,  and  a  year  after 
that  to  the  chair  of  Mineralogy  and  Geology  in  the  Queen's  College, 
Belfast.  He  distinguished  himself  from  the  very  beginning  of  his 
active  career  as  an  investigator  among  the  lower  forms  of  animal  life. 
His  first  published  paper  appears  to  have  been  one  on  the  application 
of  photography  to  the  compound  microscope,  which  was  read  before 
the  British  Association  in  1850.  While  at  Aberdeen  he  published 
several  papers  on  the  Polyzoa  and  Sertularian  Zoophytes  of  Scotland, 


694  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

and  some  speculations  on  the  development  of  certain  medusoid  forms, 
which  attracted  notice  and  were  considered  too  daring  by  Johnston 
and  Edward  Forbes.  During  this  period,  too,  he  entered  upon  those 
researches  of  the  crinoids  of  past  times  and  the  crinoidal  forms  of 
modern  times,  of  which  he  took  Comatula  rosacea  as  a  typical  speci- 
men, which,  with  their  direct  and  indirect  results,  led  him  up  to  the 
grand  work  of  his  life.  A  British  pentacrinus  had  been  discovered  and 
described  by  Vaughn  Thompson  thirty  years  before,  and  determined 
by  him  to  be  but  the  young  stage  of  the  "  rosy  feather-star,"  but  noth- 
ing more  bad  been  learned  about  it.  Professor  Thomson  undertook  to 
complete  the  investigation  and  fill  out  the  life-history  of  the  animal  ; 
and  the  account  of  his  researches  was  given  to  the  Royal  Society  in 
1862  and  published  in  the  volume  of  the  "  Philosophical  Transactions  " 
for  1865.  This  investigation  on  the  pentacrinoid  stages  of  comatula 
was  but  a  part  of  a  series  of  observations  on  the  genus  Pentacrinus 
itself,  and  Professor  Thomson  collected  a  mass  of  material  with  the 
object  of  writing  a  memoir  on  the  group. 

Up  to  nearly  this  time,  it  had  not  been  believed  by  scientific  men 
that  life  did  or  could  exist  below  a  certain  depth  of  the  sea.  Professor 
Forbes  had  admitted  the  existence  of  a  zone  of  deep-sea  coral  extend- 
ing from  fifty  fathoms  below  the  surface  to  an  unknown  depth,  a 
region  in  which,  he  held,  "  as  we  descend  deeper  and  deeper,  its  inhabit- 
ants become  more  and  more  modified  and  fewer  and  fewer,  indicating 
our  approach  toward  an  abyss  where  life  is  either  extinguished  or  ex- 
hibits but  a  few  sparks  to  mark  its  lingering  presence."  This  skepti- 
cism, however,  was  becoming  weaker  under  the  testimony  of  living 
specimens  that  were  from  time  to  time  brought  up  from  undoubtedly 
great  depths. 

About  1864,  Mr.  G.  O.  Sars,  of  the  Norway  Fisheries  Commission, 
dredged  up  a  number  of  specimens  of  a  strange  crinoid  from  a  depth 
of  seven  hundred  feet,  and,  continuing  to  dredge,  found  an  abundance 
of  animal  life  at  about  the  same  depth.  Professor  Thomson  was  in- 
vited by  Sars's  father,  the  illustrious  Professor  Michael  Sars,  to  visit 
Christiania  and  see  the  specimens.  The  two,  after  examining  them, 
concluded  that  they  were  closely  related  to  one  of  the  fossil  genera, 
allied  to  the  family  of  the  Apiocrinidce.  Here,  then,  they  had  a  living 
representative  of  a  group  supposed  to  be  extinct,  and  of  a  form  which 
had  lived  over  from  the  Cretaceous  epoch. 

In  1868  Dr.  Carpenter,  being  engaged  in  investigations  on  a  living 
crinoid  from  the  West  Indies,  visited  Professor  Thomson  to  discuss 
the  subject  in  which  they  were  both  interested  ;  and  on  this  occasion 
Thomson  told  his  visitor  that  the  one  unexplored  field  awaiting  the 
investigation  of  naturalists  was  the  sea  ;  that  he  was  convinced  that 
when  explored  it  would  yield  immense  treasures  to  science  ;  and  sug- 
gested to  him  to  use  his  influence  with  the  Admiralty  to  secure  the 
grant  of  a  vessel,  suitably  fitted  up  for  deep-sea  research.     The  use  of 


SKETCH   OF  SIR    C.   WYVILLE   THOMSON.         695 

the  surveying-ship  Lightning  was  granted,  and  with  it  a  cruise  was 
made  in  the  North  Atlantic  Ocean  in  August  and  September,  1878. 
Among  the  results  of  the  exjDedition  was  the  procuring  of  evidence 
that  animal  life  was  varied  and  abundant  at  depths  of  between  six  and 
seven  hundred  fathoms  ;  that  great  masses  of  water  at  different  tem- 
peratures were  moving  about,  each  in  its  particular  course  ;  and  that 
many  of  the  deep-sea  forms  of  life  were  closely  related  to  fossils  of 
the  Tertiary  and  Cretaceous  periods. 

In  1869  the  surveying-ship  Porcupine  was  lent  for  exploration, 
and  made  a  survey  of  the  west  coast  of  Ireland,  under  the  scientific 
direction  of  Mr.  Gwyn  Jeffries,  and  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay  and  the 
track  of  the  Lightning's  survey  under  Professor  Thomson.  The  Por- 
cupine was  lent  again  in  1870,  but  Professor  Thomson  was  prevented 
by  ill-health  from  engaging  in  the  surveys,  and  they  were  conducted 
to  Gibraltar  by  Mr.  Gwyn  Jeffries,  and  in  the  Mediterranean  by  Dr. 
Carpenter.  By  the  time  the  Porcupine's  survey  was  completed,  and 
under  the  promptings  of  the  results  obtained  in  the  previous  surveys, 
an  extensive  scientific  interest  in  work  of  this  kind  was  awakened.  A 
representation  was  made  to  the  Government  by  the  council  of  the 
Royal  Society,  urging  that  an  expedition  be  dispatched  to  investigate 
the  great  oceans  and  take  an  outline  survey  of  their  bottoms.  The 
proposition  received  general  support,  and  was  acceded  to  by  the  Gov- 
ernment, who  granted  the  Challenger,  a  main-deck  corvette  of  2,300 
tons,  for  the  use  of  the  expedition. 

Captain  G.  S.  Nares,  R.  N.,  was  called  from  the  survey  of  the  Gulf 
of  Suez  to  take  charge  of  the  vessel,  and  the  second  place  in  command 
was  given  to  Commander  J.  P.  Maclear,  R.  N.,  son  of  the  late  Astron- 
omer Royal  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Professor  Thomson  was  given 
the  scientific  direction  of  the  expedition,  and  took  as  his  associates 
Mr.  J.  J.  "Wild,  of  Zurich,  private  secretary  ;  Mr.  J.  Y.  Buchanan,  of 
Edinburgh,  chemist ;  and  Mr.  II.  A.  Moseley,  Dr.  von  Willemoes 
Suhm,  and  Mr.  John  Murray,  naturalists.  The  vessel  was  fitted  up 
with  all  the  appliances  which  the  forethought  of  the  naval  experts 
and  scientific  men  interested  in  the  preparation  for  the  expedition 
could  devise  for  making  the  delicate  and  often  complicated  observa- 
tions which  were  to  be  undertaken,  some  of  which  had  hardly  been 
attempted  before  on  other  than  an  experimental  scale.  The  plans 
were  prepared  by  the  Admiralty  in  conjunction  with  a  committee  of 
the  Royal  Society,  and  reasonable  liberty  of  variation  from  them,  when 
circumstances  might  make  it  expedient,  was  allowed  to  the  two  chiefs. 
The  personal  composition  of  the  expedition  was  changed  during  the 
voyage  by  the  recall  of  Captain  Nares,  to  take  charge  of  an  Arctic 
expedition,  and  by  the  death  of  Dr.  Willemoes  Suhm.  Otherwise 
the  plan  was  carried  out  essentially  as  arranged  in  the  beginning.  The 
special  object  of  the  expedition  was  to  investigate  the  physical  and 
biological  condition  of  the  great  ocean-basins. 


6g6  THE  POPULAR  SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

The  Challenger  left  Sheerness  December  17,  1872,  and  crossed  the 
Atlantic  four  times,  making  a  course  of  nearly  twenty  thousand  miles 
during  1873  ;  in  1874  she  went  southward  from  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  spent  nearly  a  month  among  the  southern  ice,  dipping  into  the 
Antarctic  Circle  as  far  as  she  could  with  safety,  then  traversed  the 
seas  of  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  made  observations  in  the  Malay 
Archipelago,  and  reached  Hong-Kong  in  November,  after  making  a 
course  of  more  than  seventeen  thousand  miles  ;  in  1875  she  traversed 
the  Pacific,  making  a  course  of  about  twenty  thousand  miles,  and  in 
the  early  part  of  1876  she  crossed  the  Atlantic  for  the  fifth  time,  to 
fill  up  blanks  in  her  former  observations,  finally  reaching  England  in 
May. 

During  this  course  of  68,890  miles,  362  stations  were  established, 
and  observations  and  collections  made  at  them.  The  magnitude  of 
the  collections  is  illustrated  in  a  statement  made  by  Professor  Alex- 
ander Agassiz,  that,  "  if  a  single  individual,  having  the  knowledge  of 
eighteen  or  twenty  of  the  specialists  into  whose  hands  they  were  to 
be  placed,  were  to  work  them  up,  he  would  most  certainly  require 
from  seventy  to  seventy-five  years  of  hard  work  to  bring  out  the 
results  which  the  careful  study  of  the  different  departments  ought  to 
yield."  They  were  assigned  to  various  gentlemen  recognized  as  au- 
thorities in  different  departments  for  description  group  by  group. 

The  most  prominent  and  remarkable  result  of  the  voyage  was  the 
final  establishment  of  the  fact  that  the  distribution  of  living  beings 
has  no  depth-limit,  but  that  animals  of  all  the  marine  invertebrate 
classes,  and  probably  others  also,  exist  over  the  whole  of  the  flora  of 
the  ocean.  But,  although  life  is  thus  universally  extended,  probably 
the  number  of  species,  as  of  individuals,  diminishes  after  a  certain 
depth  is  reached. 

Professor  Thomson  had  been  led  by  his  researches  in  the  Light- 
ning to  the  belief  that  the  chief  formation  now  going  on  in  the  bed  of 
the  Atlantic  was  a  chalk,  "  the  chalk  of  the  Cretaceous  period."  This 
belief  grew  more  firm  with  continued  investigations,  but  was  modified 
after  the  Challenger  Expedition,  when  the  species  deposited  were  found 
to  be  in  very  few  instances  identical  with  those  of  the  chalk,  or  even 
with  those  of  the  modern  tertiaries.  "  But,"  he  added,  in  his  address 
on  the  subject  before  the  British  Association,  in  1876,  "  although  the 
species,  as  we  usually  regard  species,  are  not  identical,  the  general 
character  of  the  assemblage  of  animals  is  much  more  nearly  allied  to 
the  cretaceous  than  to  any  recent  fauna." 

Professor  Thomson  had  been  elected  in  1870,  previous  to  the  dis- 
patch of  the  Challenger  Expedition,  Professor  of  Natural  History  in 
the  University  of  Edinburgh,  succeeding  Dr.  Allman.  He  was  only 
relieved  from  duties  during  the  expedition,  and  held  the  professorship 
until  October,  1881,  when  he  resigned  it  upon  a  retiring  allowance 
granted  him  by  the  Senatus.     Immediately  on  Professor  Thomson's 


SKETCH   OF  SIB    C.   WYVILLE  THOMSON.         697 

return,  testimonials  of  appreciation  of  his  services  to  science  began  to 
come  in  from  various  quarters,  lie  had  already  been  a  Fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society  since  1869.  He  was  now  knighted  in  June,  1876  ;  then 
he  was  awarded  one  of  the  gold  medals  of  the  Royal  Society  ;  was 
toasted  by  Professor  Huxley  at  a  scientific  banquet  given  at  Edin- 
burgh in  honor  of  the  expedition  ;  was  created  by  the  King  of  Sweden 
a  knight  of  the  Order  of  the  Polar  Star  at  Upsala,  where  he  went  with 
Professor  Balfour,  as  a  representative  of  the  Edinburgh  Senatus,  to 
attend  the  tercentenary  of  the  ancient  university  ;  was  made  LL.  D. 
at  Aberdeen,  D.  C.  L.  at  Dublin,  a  Doctor  of  Philosophy  at  Jena, 
D.  Sc.  and  Fellow  of  various  British  and  foreign  societies.  In  1877 
he  was  appointed  to  deliver  the  Rede  Lecture  at  Cambridge.  In  1878 
he  presided  over  the  Geographical  Section  of  the  British  Association, 
and  took  as  the  subject  of  his  address,  "  The  Advances  which  have 
been  made  in  Late  Years  in  the  Application  of  the  Physical  Sciences 
to  the  Illustration  of  the  General  Condition  of  the  Earth."  He  was 
also  Vice-President  of  the  Jury  on  Raw  Products  at  the  Paris  Exhi- 
bition of  1867.  He  took  the  lead  in  organizing  the  School  of  Art  in 
Belfast,  under  the  Science  and  Art  Department,  and  was  the  chairman 
of  the  first  board  of  directors.  He  was  a  Conservative  in  politics,  and 
was  a  magistrate  and  Commissioner  of  Supply  for  the  county  of  Lin- 
lithgow. 

His  health,  never  very  vigorous,  was  not  improved  during  his  voy- 
age on  the  Challenger.  In  June  of  1879  he  was  attacked  with  paraly- 
sis, and  had  to  suspend  the  conduct  of  his  classes  in  the  university, 
and  lay  aside  the  work  of  superintending  the  compilation  of  the  Chal- 
lenger's researches.  He  was  never  able  to  work  steadily  afterward. 
He  had  a  second  attack  about  four  months  before  his  death,  after 
which  he  seemed  to  be  getting  along  through  the  winter  tolerably 
well,  till  about  two  weeks  before  his  death,  when  he  got  a  severe  chill 
from  exposure,  from  which  he  never  recovered. 

Sir  Wyville  Thomson's  principal  literary  works  include  "The 
Depths  of  the  Sea,"  containing  the  accounts  of  the  expeditions  of  the 
Lightning  and  the  Porcupine,  in  which  is  given  all  that  is  known 
as  to  the  records  of  the  existence  of  deep-sea  life  up  to  1865  ;  the 
"  Voyage  of  the  Challenger.  The  Atlantic,"  in  two  volumes,  giving  a 
preliminary  account  of  the  general  results  of  the  Challenger  Expedi- 
tion ;  and  his  part  of  the  work  in  the  formal  official  report  of  the  ex- 
pedition, of  which  he  lived  to  see  only  the  first  three  volumes  com- 
pleted. At  the  time  he  was  prostrated,  he  was  preparing  for  the  press 
a  narrative  of  the  voyage,  to  appear  in  the  official  work,  based  on  one 
drawn  up  by  Staff-Commander  Tizard,  the  chief  commanding  officer 
of  the  Challenger.  He  also  delivered  several  public  addresses  before 
scientific  and  popular  bodies,  which  were  marked  by  clearness  of  state- 
ment and  sustained  interest.  The  departments  of  zoulogy  to  which  he 
devoted   most  attention  were  those  which  included  the  corals,  cri- 


698  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

noids,  and  sponges,  and  upon  these  his  opinion  was  regarded  as  of  great 
weight.  He  was,  says  "  Nature,"  speaking  of  his  residence  at  Belfast, 
"  something  besides  an  enthusiastic  biologist.  .  .  .  By  interesting  him- 
self not  only  in  what  concerned  the  college,  but  even  in  the  welfare  of 
the  town  in  which  it  was  located,  he  soon  gathered  around  him  a  host 
of  intelligent  and  warm-hearted  friends.  In  social  life,  it  was  but  an 
accident  that  would  reveal  the  biologist,  and  one  witnessed  only  the 
general  culture  and  the  artistic  taste  of  a  well-bred  man." 

His  associate  in  the  Challenger  Expedition,  Mr.  Moseley,  has  given, 
in  a  notice  in  the  "  Academy,"  a  graphic  sketch  of  his  personality  as  it 
manifested  itself  during  the  observations  on  board  the  vessel.  "  His 
enthusiasm,"  says  Mr.  Moseley,  "  with  regard  to  everything  connected 
with  the  dredging,  sounding,  and  various  physical  and  chemical  opera- 
tions carried  on  in  the  deep  sea  during  the  cruise,  knew  no  bounds.  He 
spent  hours  on  deck  watching  them,  and  waiting  for  the  dredge  to 
come  up,  and  though,  as  time  wore  on,  the  interest  of  the  seamen  and 
naval  officers  in  the  arrival  of  the  dredge  or  trawl  at  the  surface  failed, 
and  that  even  of  the  remainder  of  the  scientific  staff  flagged,  he  was 
never  known  to  be  absent  at  the  moment  it  appeared  at  the  ship's  side, 
whatever  the  weather,  but  was  to  be  seen  peering  down  into  the  water, 
eagerly  attempting  to  diagnose  the  contents  of  the  net  when  it  was 
still  dipping  in  and  out  of  the  sea-surface  as  the  ship  rolled  to  and  fro. 
"When  once  it  was  on  board,  he  would  eagerly  grope  for  treasures, 
squeezing  each  cephalopod  between  his  fingers,  always  with  a  lurking 
hope  to  find  a  belemnite's  bone  in  it,  or  expecting  at  last  to  grasp  a 
trilobite.  These  never  came,  but  there  was  an  abundance  of  other 
wonders." 

Concluding  his  sketch,  Mr.  Moseley  says  :  "  Sir  Wyville  was  an  ex- 
cellent lecturer,  a  most  genial  companion,  and  an  excellent  host.  He 
was  fond  of  amusements  of  all  kinds,  and  was  never  happier  than  when 
he  went  on  shore  from  the  Challenger  in  some  out-of-the-way  island, 
with  his  gun  on  his  shoulder,  in  pursuit  of  birds-of -paradise,  or  other 
treasures." 

A  fund  of  five  hundred  guineas  has  been  raised  by  subscription  for 
erecting  a  memorial  to  Sir  "Wyville  Thomson  ;  with  respect  to  which 
it  has  been  decided  that  a  bust  by  Mr.  J.  T.  Hutchinson,  R  S.  A.,  shall 
be  placed  in  the  University  Hall,  Edinburgh,  and  that  what  is  left  of 
the  fund  shall  be  devoted  to  putting  a  stained-glass  window  in  the 
church  of  St.  Michael  at  Linlithgow. 


EDITOR'S   TABLE. 


699 


EDITOR'S    TABLE. 


LAW  AGAIXST  RIGIIT. 

"YTTHATEVER  truth  there  may  be 
VV  in  the  declaration  that  "paper 
constitutions  will  not  work  as  they  are 
intended  to  work,"  it  is  very  certain  that 
written  and  unwritten  constitutions  do 
not  work  in  the  same  way,  and  do  affect 
the  habits  of  mind  of  the  people  very 
differently.  In  England  "  the  Constitu- 
tion "  is  a  body  of  precedents  and  prac- 
tices, which  are  interpreted  and  applied 
to  new  cases  in  accordance  with  the 
historic  spirit  of  the  Government ;  while 
in  this  country  "  the  Constitution"  is  a 
printed  document  that  may  be  bought 
for  a  nickel,  and  learned  by  heart  in  a 
week.  To  find  out  the  meaning  and 
obligations  of  the  English  Constitution, 
we  are  referred  to  the  principles  of  the 
national  policy ;  to  find  out  the  require- 
ments of  our  own  Constitution,  we  are 
referred  to  its  explicit  clauses.  These 
Constitutions  do  not  work  alike ;  and 
in  one  important  respect  they  do  not 
work  as  we  should  anticipate.  We 
should  naturally  expect  that  the  Eng- 
lish Constitution  would  be  so  complex 
a  thing  as  to  be  far  removed  from  the 
people,  and  create  a  multitude  of  law 
interpreters,  who  would  practically  have 
the  whole  subject  in  their  own  hands. 
And  at  first  sight  it  would  seem  that 
with  a  written  constitution  so  much  is 
gained  in  the  way  of  simplicity,  where 
everything  is  made  as  plain,  definite,  and 
positive  as  language  can  make  it,  that 
the  people  should  perfectly  understand 
the  instrument,  and  there  would  be 
little  need  of  professional  commenta- 
tors. But,  in  point  of  fact,  the  English 
Constitution  is  by  no  means  withdrawn 
from  the  consideration  of  the  English 
people,  nor  does  the  simplicity  of  our 
own  written  charter  save  us  from  the 
need  of  a  host  of  lawyers.  Yet  there 
is  a  divergence  in  the  function  of  the 


lawyers  in  the  two  cases,  which  corre- 
sponds to  an  equal  diversity  in  the  men- 
tal habits  of  the  people  in  the  respective 
countries.  Where  the  supreme  law  is 
unwritten,  and  has  to  be  sought  in  the 
usages  and  principles  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  process  of  its  interpretation 
is  far  more  open  than  in  the  other  case, 
more  a  matter  of  adaptation  and  read- 
justment. Tendencies  and  progress  and 
new  circumstances  are  taken  into  ac- 
count, and  each  step  of  the  elucidation 
becomes  a  part  of  the  continuous  na- 
tional process  of  establishing  the  Con- 
stitution. The  people  know  the  funda- 
mental principles,  the  great  landmarks 
of  guidance,  which  are  to  control  the 
course  of  lawyers  and  judges,  and  they 
can  understand  whether  the  supreme 
objects  of  the  Constitution  are  fulfilled 
or  defeated.  Appeal  will  naturally  be 
made  to  the  more  rational  and  liberal 
elements  of  the  national  policy,  and  the 
task  of  amending  and  improving  the 
Constitution  itself  will  be  felt  as  a  per- 
manent responsibility.  The  men  of  to- 
day are,  therefore,  as  much  "founders 
of  the  Constitution  "  as  those  of  former 
generations. 

But  it  is  very  different  where  the 
Constitution  is  a  written  document 
which  was  made  the  supreme  law  in  a 
former  age.  Only  the  glorified  "fa- 
thers "  are  here  ranked  as  founders  of 
the  Constitution.  It  embodied  the  ideas 
and  the  wisdom  of  its  time;  but  all 
questions  are  closed  by  it,  save  those  of 
the  verbal  significance  of  its  clauses. 
It  is  amendable  only  through  political 
spasms,  and  by  an  implied  impeachment 
of  the  patriots  who  formed  it,  and  whom 
there  is  an  increasing  tendency  to  regard 
as  infallible.  Questions  of  interpreta- 
tion necessarily  arising,  tend  to  become 
narrow  and  technical,  a  matter  of  rules 
and  definitions,  while  the  lawyers  will 


700 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


naturally  become  expert  in  all  the  arts 
and  artifices  of  word-manipulation.  Un- 
der such  a  system  the  letter  of  the  law 
will  tend  to  take  the  place  of  the  spirit 
and  purpose  of  the  law.     In  these  cir- 
cumstances there  will  arise  the  habit, 
both  on   the   part  of  lawyers   and   of 
citizens,   of   reverencing  the  forms  of 
law  more  than  the  principles  which  lie 
behind  them.     The  purposes  by  which 
all  legislation  should  be  animated  and 
determined  will  come  to  be  habitually 
overlooked.      Questions   of  right   and 
justice  will  be  ruled  out  as  irrelevant, 
the  highest  and  only  solicitude  being  as 
to  the  binding  phraseology  of  specific 
clauses.     In  this  way  the  whole  appara- 
tus of  justice  may  be  perverted  to  the 
work  of  stifling  the  national  conscience, 
and  the  real  purposes  of  government 
defeated  by  its  own  agencies.     There 
are  various  exemplifications  of  this,  to 
wdiich  it  may  be  well  to  call  attention. 
The    London    "Economist,"    when 
some  time  ago  discussing  the  privateer- 
ing question  with  reference  to  England, 
Eussia,   and  America,  recognized  the 
point  here  made,  by  stating  that  the 
United  States  may  be  expected  to  fulfill 
its  treaty  stipulations,  but  that  it  will 
do  so  from  a  lawyer's  point  of  view  as 
to  their   meaning  and  obligation.     It 
says :  "  The  Government  of  the  United 
States  is  not  a  dishonest  Government, 
or  even  a  tricky  Government,  widely  as 
that  impression  is  diffused.     Owing  to 
circumstances  upon  which  it  is  unne- 
cessary here  to  enter,  it  is  a  Govern- 
ment very  much  in  the  hands  of  lawyers, 
and  of  lawyers  trained  to  encounter  one 
another  by  means  of  the  quibbles,  de- 
vices, and  '  sharp '  interpretations  of  law 
which  a  generation  ago  were  so  much 
in  vogue  among  ourselves.     Such  men 
are  very  apt  to  read  contracts  strictly, 
to  seek  loop-holes  when  clauses  in  those 
contracts  are  inconvenient,  and  to  sug- 
gest interpretations  which  give  them  an 
apparent  advantage,  and  this  practice 
undoubtedly  annoys   foreign   diploma- 
tists, who  do  their  little  trickeries  in  a 


different  and,  as  they  think,  a  more 
gentlemanly  way.  But  the  same  train- 
ing inspires  in  the  American  party- 
leaders  a  great  respect  for  law  itself, 
and  especially  for  written  law,  great 
acuteness  in  interpreting  it,  and  a  great 
reluctance  to  see  it  neglected,  and  they 
are  no  more  likely  to  break  or  evade 
unmistakable  rules  than  English  judges 
are." 

The  treatment  of  the  slave  question 
in  England  and  the  United  States  well 
illustrates  the  diverse  working  of  their 
constitutions.  It  was  by  a  recognition 
of  the  predominance  of  the  spirit  of  the 
English  Constitution  that  Chief- Justice 
Holt  was  led,  early  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, to  decide  that  "  as  soon  as  a  negro 
slave  comes  into  England  he  is  free." 
This  decision,  after  being  long  resisted, 
was  reaffirmed  by  Lord  Mansfield  in 
1772  in  the  celebrated  case  of  Somer- 
set. These  decisions  settled  the  prin- 
ciple that  the  English  Constitution  was 
adverse  to  slavery.  But  of  that  cele- 
brated jurist  and  eminent  legal  reform- 
er, Lord  Mansfield,  it  has  been  remarked 
that  "his  eagerness  to  discourage  tech- 
nicalities and  his  preference  of  the 
principles  of  civil  law  occasionally  led 
him  to  make  the  law  instead  of  ex- 
pounding it."  This,  however,  is  the 
American  view  of  the  American  biog- 
rapher who  forgot  the  constitution- 
making  function  of  the  English  judge. 
Both  Holt  and  Mansfield,  in  their  great 
decisions,  simply  fell  back  upon  the 
principles  of  natural  justice,  which  they 
assumed  it  to  be  the  supreme  object  of 
the  English  Constitution  to  secure  ;  and, 
it  being  established  forever  that  "a 
slave  can  not  breathe  in  England,"  the 
policy  of  hostility  to  slavery  became 
national,  and  was  carried  out  in  the 
gradual  and  pacific  emancipation  of  all 
slaves  in  the  British  dependencies.  The 
struggle  was  long  and  the  progress  slow, 
but  the  result  was  a  triumph  of  the 
principles  of  right  over  the  selfishness 
and  greed  that  were  legally  embodied 
in  the  slave  system. 


EDITOR'S   TABLE. 


701 


It  was  far  otherwise  in  tins  country. 
Slavery  created  by  law  was  unquestion- 
ably recognized  and  protected  by  the 
American  Constitution.  Yet  there  were 
provisions  in  the  instrument  which,  if 
liberally  and  humanely  interpreted, 
would  have  destroyed  it.  The  Consti- 
tution, however,  was  construed  liter- 
ally, verbally,  and  technically,  and  no 
question  was  permitted  to  be  raised  in 
regard  to  the  principles  of  justice  which 
should  underlie  all  such  charters,  and 
which  were  profusely  declared  in  its 
preamble  to  pervade  the  American 
Constitution.  The  written  Constitu- 
tion thus,  in  fact,  became  the  bulwark 
of  slavery,  and  was  accordingly  de- 
nounced by  the  passionate  reformers 
as  "  a  league  with  death  and  a  cove- 
nant with  hell."  To  go  behind  the 
literal  constitutional  provisions  for  the 
protection  of  slavery  was  denounced  as 
virtual  treason.  The  question  of  ab- 
stract right  and  wrong  was  held  to  be 
irrelevant  and  impertinent;  the  slave 
system  was  legal,  and  therefore  not 
to  be  meddled  with.  Henry  Clay  laid 
down  the  American  formula  upon  the 
subject  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  in  1838,  in  the  following  words: 
"  What  the  law  declares  to  be  property 
is  property."  This  was  the  lawyer's 
view,  and  it  was  also  the  people's  view ; 
and  it  was  this  triumph  of  law  over 
right  that  maintained  slavery  until, 
American  civilization  proving  unequal 
to  the  contest,  it  was  ended  at  last  by 
the  barbarism  of  war. 

Equally  marked  has  been  the  con- 
trast of  the  English  and  American  poli- 
cies on  the  question  of  the  rights  of 
authors  to  property  in  their  works. 
We  have  referred  to  this  before,  but 
our  people  can  not  be  reminded  of  it 
too  often.  The  question  is  one  of  no 
little  perplexity,  but  very  easily  be- 
fogged, and  it  is  well  fitted  to  test 
statesmanship  and  national  character. 

It  had  been  long  felt  in  England 
that  arrangements  upon  the  subject  of 
copyright,  both  national  and  interna- 


tional, were  imperfect,  and  there  was  a 
growing  demand  for  their  amendment. 
The  government  understood  its  duty  in 
the  matter,  and  a  few  years  ago  a  parlia- 
mentary commission  was  appointed  to 
sift  the  whole  subject,  to  report  upon 
the  deficiency  of  existing  legislation, 
and  what  practical  measures  of  im- 
provement are  demanded.  The  com- 
mission was  ably  constituted,  and  made 
a  deliberate  and  exhaustive  investiga- 
tion, summoning  before  it  the  weighti- 
est men  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and 
patiently  taking  their  testimony,  what- 
ever its  bearing  or  import.  The  report 
recognized  the  question  as  one  of  na- 
tional importance,  and  as  involving 
grave  state  obligations.  There  was  no 
quibbling  or  paltering  about  the  rights 
of  authors.  The  sophistries  of  crotchety 
witnesses  were  brushed  aside,  and  it 
was  broadly  affirmed  as  a  matter  of 
radical  justice  that  when  a  man  pro- 
duces a  book  by  his  labor  he  has  a  right 
to  property  in  it  which  the  government 
is  imperatively  bound  to  protect.  The 
subject,  moreover,  was  lifted  out  of  the 
sordid  sphere  of  mere  political  expe- 
diency, which  dominates  so  widely  in 
international  intercourse.  The  temp- 
tation was  sore  to  reduce  it  to  the 
trading  basis  of  reciprocity,  but  this 
temptation  was  firmly  resisted.  It  was 
felt  that,  whether  America  will  grant 
copyright  or  not,  the  course  of  Eng- 
land is  clear.  In  the  report  made  by 
the  commissioners  in  1878,  they  say: 
"It  has  been  suggested  to  us  that 
this  country  would  be  justified  in  tak- 
ing steps  of  a  retaliatory  character, 
with  a  view  of  enforcing,  incidentally, 
that  protection  from  the  United  States 
which  we  accord  to  them.  This  might 
be  done  by  withdrawing  from  the 
Americans  the  privilege  of  copyright 
on  first  publication  in  this  country. 
We  have,  however,  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  is  advisable  that  our  law 
should  be  based  on  correct  principles, 
irrespective  of  the  opinions  or  policy 
of  other  nations.     We  admit  the  pro- 


■joz 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


priety  of  protecting  copyright,  and  it 
appears  to  us  that  the  principle  of  copy- 
right, if  admitted,  is  one  of  universal 
application.  We,  therefore,  recommend 
that  this  country  should  pursue  the 
policy  of  recognizing  the  author's  rights, 
irrespective  of  nationality." 

Very  different  was  the  treatment 
of  this  question  under  similar  circum- 
stances by  the  American  Government. 
Its  attitude  in  regard  to  the  rights  of 
authorship  has  long  been  the  scandal 
of  the  civilized  world,  and  efforts  from 
time  to  time  have  been  made  to  induce 
a  change  in  the  national  policy.  A  com- 
mittee of  the  United  States  Senate  was 
appointed  in  1873  to  consider  the  sub- 
ject, and  report  what  action  it  is  desir- 
able to  take.  The  proceeding  that  fol- 
lowed was  nothing  less  than  disgraceful, 
evincing,  as  it  did,  a  contemptuous  indif- 
ference toward  the  whole  subject.  Not 
the  slightest  interest  was  expressed  in 
it,  either  as  a  question  of  private  right 
or  public  honor.  While  the  English 
report  opened  the  whole  inquiry  on 
broad  moral  grounds,  the  American  re- 
port sharply  closed  it  to  all  considera- 
tions of  equity,  justice,  and  right.  While 
the  hand  of  the  lawyer  was  hardly  dis- 
cernible in  the  English  document,  no 
other  hand  was  visible  in  ours.  In- 
stead of  a  valuable  and  instructive  state- 
ment befitting  the  magnitude  and  seri- 
ousness of  the  question,  the  American 
report  was  but  a  shabby  tract  of  half  a 
dozen  pages,  arguing  as  usual  that  the 
Constitution  is  in  the  way  of  any  change 
of  existing  practices.  In  the  discussion 
before  the  committee,  arguments  on  the 
right  and  wrong  of  the  question  were 
objected  to  by  the  senatorial  chairman 
as  irrelevant,  and  under  his  ruling  the 
debate  shrank  into  a  mere  pettifogging 
wrangle  over  constitutional  clauses,  and 
a  ventilation  of  the  most  ridiculous 
projects,  which  were  held  in  the  report 
to  show  that  the  Americau  people  are 
not  agreed  upon  the  subject.  The  com- 
mittee declared  that  they  saw  nothing 
wrong  which  it  is  desirable  to  correct, 


and  recommend  Congress  to  take  no 
action  in  the  matter.  It  was  but  an- 
other exemplification  of  the  way  legal 
and  constitutional  forms  are  used  in 
this  country  for  the  protection  of  pal- 
pable wrongs.  Instead  of  asking  first 
what  is  right,  and  then  demanding  that 
the  law  shall  be  made  to  conform  to  it, 
the  people,  like  the  lawyers,  ask  first 
what  is  the  law,  and  then  hold  that 
this  determines  the  right. 


"PIRATICAL  publishers;'  or  a  pi- 

RA  TICAL  G  O  VERXMEZ  T. 

We  print  a  brief  discussion  of  the 
copyright  question,  by  Mr.  Leonard 
Scott,  under  the  title  of  "  Piratical  Pub- 
lishers," which,  whatever  its  demerits, 
has  at  least  the  merit  of  being  thor- 
oughly American.  Although  discuss- 
ing the  question  how  a  given  act  should 
be  morally  characterized,  his  standard 
of  judgment  is  but  the  dictum  of  Amer- 
ican law. 

It  is  not  easy  to  defend  a  right  and 
its  opposite  wrong  by  the  same  argu- 
ment, as  the  reasons  which  favor  the 
one  destroy  the  other.  Hence,  in  most 
discussions  upon  the  subject,  it  will  be 
found  that  those  who  oppose  interna- 
tional copyright  do  it  upon  grounds  that 
are  equally  subversive  of  domestic  copy- 
right. All  arguments  which  put  the 
public  advantages  of  cheap  literature 
above  the  rights  of  authors  to  property 
in  their  books,  tell  just  as  effectually 
against  the  American  as  the  English 
author,  and  logically  require  the  imme- 
diate destruction  of  American  copyright 
laws.  If  the  taking  of  Professor  Tyn- 
dall's  book  from  him  without  payment, 
that  the  American  public  may  have  it 
cheaply,  is  no  crime,  neither  would  the 
taking  of  Professor  Silliman's  book,  for 
the  same  purpose,  be  a  crime.  Mr. 
Scott  reasons  that,  although  a  right 
might  be  conceded  in  a  Utopian  state 
of  society,  where  one  universal  govern- 
ment should  legislate  for  the  equal  ad- 
vantage of  all,  yet,  as  this  is  not  the 


EDITOR'S    TABLE. 


7°3 


case,  and  dishonesty  is  the  common 
policy,  the  right  of  the  individual  may 
be  properly  denied.  But  what  is  the 
limit  to  this  principle?  How  does  ex- 
isting dishonesty  make  an  excuse  for 
still  further  dishonesty?  If,  because 
the  nations  are  governed  by  selfishness, 
we  may  take  an  Englishman's  literary 
property  without  paying  him  for  it,  is 
there  not  sufficient  rascality,  jobbery, 
fraud,  corruption,  plunder,  and  general 
selfishness  in  the  operation  of  the  Amer- 
ican Government  to  justify  the  con- 
sistent fleecing  of  an  American  author 
also  ?  Again,  Mr.  Scott  maintains  that 
because  we  send  experts  abroad  to  col- 
lect information  about  manufacturing 
processes,  institutions,  etc.,  and  do  not 
pay  for  it,  therefore  he  sees  no  "  moral 
wrong  "  in  taking  larger  amounts  of  in- 
formation in  the  shape  of  books  without 
paying  for  them.  But  do  not  Western 
capitalists  send  on  their  experts  to  the 
East  to  pick  up  information  for  West- 
ern use  in  the  construction  and  opera- 
tion of  manufacturing  establishments 
for  which  appropriated  knowledge  they 
never  think  of  paying?  Would  there, 
therefore,  be  no  moral  wrong  in  taking 
an  American  author's  book  on  manu- 
factures without  compensation  ?  If  the  ! 
logic  is  good  for  anything,  it  cuts  up  all 
copyright,  root  and  branch. 

Mr.  Scott  furthermore  says,  "  The 
whole  system  of  laying  duties  upon 
foreign  merchandise  is  one  of  pure 
selfishness,  and  as  much  a  robbery  or 
piracy  of  the  natural  rights  of  the  for- 
eigner as  anything  yet  done  by  an 
American  republisher."  But  because 
we  shackle  our  trade,  and  thus  injure 
the  foreign  manufacturer,  certainly  af- 
fords no  good  reason  for  robbing  a  for- 
eign author  of  his  property. 

But  Mr.  Scott  is  most  eminently 
American  in  the  following  statement : 
"The  withholding  of  an  international 
copyright  law  does  not  take  away  from 
them  [foreign  authors]  what  they  never 
possessed  or  had  any  right  to  claim. 
The  American    republisher,  therefore, 


in  the  absence  of  such  a  law,  buys  the 
English  book  at  the  English  price,  and 
thinks  that  he  has  done  all  that  is  re- 
quired of  him  to  become  its  absolute 
owner,  to  do  with  it  whatever  the  laws 
of  his  country  do  not  forbid.  Who 
shall  say  that  among  these  rights  is  not 
the  right  to  reprint  it  ?  " 

Must  we  not  conclude  that  this  par- 
agraph betrays  some  perversion  of  the 
moral  sense  ?  The  author  who  creates 
the  book  by  his  labor,  and  makes  it 
valuable  property,  is  denied  even  the 
poor  "  right  to  claim  "  the  ownership 
of  that  property  ;  while  the  publisher, 
who  simply  buys  a  single  copy,  becomes 
its  "  absolute  owner,"  with  "  the  right 
to  reprint  it"  and  to  go  on  multiplying 
it  as  long  as  he  can  make  money  out  of 
its  market  value.  This  is  pretty  rank 
doctrine,  and  we  do  not  see  how  those 
who  hold  it  need  have  much  squeam- 
ishness  about  the  terms  in  which  it 
is  characterized.  Yet  Mr.  Scott's  arti- 
cle is  a  protest  against  the  calling  of 
American  republishes  pirates,  as  he  al- 
leges is  done  by  their  foreign  "  calum- 
niators." 

Now,  there  are  two  questions  here  : 
(1 .)  Is  the  term  "  piracy  "  properly  ap- 
plicable to  any  fcrm  of  republication  in 
this  country?  And  (2),  if  so,  who  is 
chargeable  with  it  ?  The  taking  by  one 
person  of  another  person's  property 
without  consent  or  payment  is  held  as 
a  crime,  is  called  stealing,  and  he  who 
takes  it  is  known  as  a  thief.  If  such 
appropriation  is  accompanied  by  vio- 
lence, it  is  commonly  called  robbery. 
If  the  property  has  that  peculiar  form 
which  is  termed  literary,  and  is  appro- 
priated by  indirection,  as  where  the 
embodiment  of  it  is  indefinitely  copied, 
the  taking  of  it,  without  permission  and 
without  remuneration,  has  in  it  the  pe- 
culiar meanness  which  has  led  to  its 
being  metaphorically  branded  as  "pi- 
racy." It  is  the  flagrant  wrong  of  the 
transaction  that  is  marked  by  the 
term  of  reprobation,  and  those  are  pi- 
rates who  are  guilty  of  perpetrating  it. 


7°4 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


Where  American  republishes  negotiate 
with  the  foreign  owners  of  books,  and 
pay  them  for  the  liberty  of  reprinting, 
there  is  of  course  no  piracy,  and  there 
has  been  an  increasing  tendency  in  re- 
cent years  on  the  part  of  American  re- 
publishers  to  recognize  the  foreign  au- 
thor s  ownership  of  his  book,  and  to 
pay  him  for  it.  But,  while  this  prac- 
tice has  been  growing  on  the  part  of 
reputable  publishers,  so  as  to  have  be- 
come a  rule  with  many  of  them,  another 
class  has  come  into  the  field  who  scout 
all  notions  of  authors'  rights,  and  re- 
print everything  they  can  get  hold  of 
and  make  a  profit  on.  These  are  not 
shop-lifters,  or  burglars,  or  highway- 
robbers,  or  horse-thieves,  but  they  are 
book-thieves :  they  steal  literary  prop- 
erty by  pirating  the  works  which  they 
have  not  paid  for  and  which  do  not  be- 
long to  them. 

But  an  objection  will  be  raised  here 
— an  American  objection — and,  if  an 
American  dictionary  is  consulted,  it 
will  be  found  that  piracy  is  defined  as 
an  "  infringement  of  the  law  of  copy- 
right by  publishing  the  writings  of  other 
men  without  permission."  Therefore, 
it  will  be  said,  American  republishes 
break  no  law,  and  are,  therefore,  not 
pirates.  The  escape  is  but  technical; 
the  moral  quality  of  the  transaction  re- 
mains, and  only  where  the  moral  sense 
has  been  bedeviled,  so  that  men  are  in- 
sensible to  the  intrinsic  nature  of  the 
act,  will  any  such  pretext  be  urged.  The 
foreign  author  has  a  copyright  by  law, 
and  we  recognize  that  copyright  by  law 
is  in  itself  a  righteous  thing.  If  he  can 
not  extend  the  law  as  far  as  his  books 
are  demanded,  it  is  no  fault  of  his  ;  he 
has  done  everything  in  his  power  to 
protect  his  own  rights.  His  books  are 
stolen  by  our  publishers,  and  they  quib- 
ble that  they  are  not  pirates  because 
there  is  no  American  law  against  such 
literary  theft.  But  this  changes  nothing 
in  the  essential  nature  of  the  transac- 
tion ;  it  only  shifts  the  responsibility. 
If  our  thieving  publishers  are  not  pi- 


ratical, it  is  because  the  Government 
gives  them  a  technical  relief  from  the 
charge  by  itself  assuming  the  odium. 
If  the  publishers  sneak  behind  their 
Government  to  shelter  themselves  from 
an  opprobrium,  then  the  opprobrium 
must  be  fastened  upon  the  Government. 
The  wrong  is  committed  in  its  most 
deliberate  and  aggravated  form,  and  if 
we  have  not  "Piratical Publishers"  then 
we  have  a  piratical  Government.  There 
is  no  blinking  the  scandalous  fact ;  and 
the  responsibility  of  it  must  rest  some- 
where. When  a  whole  class  of  men 
are  engaged  in  open,  systematic,  and 
extensive  stealing  —  appropriation  to 
themselves,  without  payment  or  con- 
sent, of  property  not  their  own — if  the 
state  abets  them  in  the  practice  by  re- 
fusing to  forbid  it,  the  state  is  entitled 
to  all  the  execration  demanded  by  the 
crime.  The  attitude  of  the  American 
Government  on  this  question  is  a  re- 
flection upon  the  national  character  in 
the  eyes  of  the  civilized  world.  We 
may  meet  this  with  brazen-faced  assur- 
ance, and  twaddle  about  the  dissemi- 
nation of  cheap  information  among  the 
people,  but  we  can  not  divorce  cause 
from  effect  in  the  political  any  more 
than  in  the  physical  world,  and  the  con- 
sequences of  perpetuating  a  great  na- 
tional injustice  will  tell  with  infallible 
certainty  in  the  degeneration  and  deg- 
radation of  the  national  character. 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 

Facts  and  Phases  of  Animal  Life,  inter- 
spersed with  Amusing  and  Original  An- 
ecdotes. By  Vernon  S.  Morwood,  Lec- 
turer to  the  Royal  Society  for  the  Pre- 
vention of  Cruelty  to  Animals.  New 
York:  D.  Appleton  &  Co.  Pp.  286. 
With  Engravings.     Price,  $1.50. 

The  author  has  endeavored  to  describe, 
especially  for  the  young,  in  simple  lan- 
guage, the  marvelous  organization,  the  in- 
stinct, memory,  sagacity,  and  inventive  fac- 
ulties of  some  of  the  more  common  animals 
and  insects.  He  has  also  made  a  prominent 
presentation  of  the  fidelity,  love,  affection, 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


705 


and  other  pleasing  characteristics  which  all 
animals  exhibit,  more  or  less,  one  to  an- 
other, in  order  to  cultivate  in  his  readers  a 
higher  regard  for  all  animals,  and  to  lessen 
the  aversion  with  which  some  animals  are 
contemplated.  The  whole  is  varied  and 
illustrated  with  numerous  anecdotes.  The 
usefulness  of  animals  and  the  services  they 
render  to  man  are  discussed  in  a  more  gen- 
eral manner,  and  the  considerations  which 
should  induce  a  kindly  treatment  of  them 
are  presented  in  the  final  chapters.  The 
subject-matter  of  the  work,  its  arrangement, 
even  to  the  chapter-titles,  the  method  of 
treatment,  the  anecdotes,  the  style,  and  the 
author's  genial  manner,  are  all  adapted  to 
excite  and  hold  interest,  and  make  the  book 
an  excellent  one  to  put  into  the  hands  of 
children. 

Swift.     By   Leslie   Stephen.     Harper  & 
Brothers.     1882. 

This  is  an  interesting  example  of  the  in- 
fluence of  modern  knowledge  upon  our  esti- 
mate of  character.  Swift's  life,  as  present- 
ed by  his  earlier  biographers,  has  left  the 
impression  that  he  was  so  unlike  the  rest  of 
the  world  that  he  could  not  be  judged  by 
ordinary  rules  ;  that  the  traits  of  his  char- 
acter were  inharmonious  and  inexplicable. 
He  has  been  set  down  as  a  sort  of  human 
monster,  as  made  up  of  the  rarest  genius, 
the  most  unusual  kindness,  and  the  most 
abominable  cruelty.  But,  when  we  rise  from 
the  perusal  of  this  little  volume,  we  find 
that  our  abhorrence  has  been  changed  to 
teuder  sympathy  for  the  misfortunes  of  this 
extraordinary  man. 

Mr.  Stephen  does  not  think  that  Swift 
was  a  blameless  man.  In  considering  his 
conduct  toward  the  women  he  loved,  when 
he  can  no  further  unravel  the  threads  of  the 
story  and  consistently  explain  events,  he 
closes  with  this  sensible  and  kindly  remark  : 
"  It  is  one  of  the  cases  in  which,  if  the  act- 
ors be  our  contemporaries,  we  hold  that  out- 
siders arc  incompetent  to  form  a  judgment, 
as  none  but  the  principals  can  really  know 
the  facts." 

As  an  example  of  Stephen's  mode  of 
treatment,  take  the  following.  After  giving 
na  account  of  the  poverty  endured  by  Swift 
in  his  youth,  the  author  remarks:  "  The  mis- 
ery of  dependence  was  burned  into  his  soul. 
VOL.  xxii. — 45 


To  secure  independence  became  his  most 
cherished  wish  ;  and  the  first  condition  of 
independence  was  a  rigid  practice  of  econ- 
omy. We  shall  see  hereafter  how  deeply 
this  principle  became  rooted  in  his  mind ; 
here  I  need  only  notice  that  it  is  the  lesson 
which  poverty  teaches  to  none  but  men  of 
strong  character."  This  trait  is  again  re- 
ferred to  in  connection  with  Swift's  behav- 
ior to  Stella  and  Vanessa.  He  says  :  "  Swift 
had  very  obvious  motives  for  not  marrying. 
In  the  first  place,  he  became  almost  a  mono- 
maniac upon  the  question  of  money.  His 
hatred  of  wasting  a  penny  unnecessarily,  be- 
gan at  Trinity  College  and  is  prominent  in 
all  his  letters  and  journals.  It  colored  even 
his  politics,  for  a  conviction  that  the  nation 
was  hopelessly  ruined  is  one  of  his  strong- 
est prejudices.  He  kept  accounts  down  to 
half-pence  and  rejoices  at  every  saving  of  a 
shilling. 

"  The  passion  was  not  the  vulgar  desire 
for  wealth  of  the  ordinary  miser.  It  sprang 
from  the  conviction  stored  up  in  all  his 
aspirations  that  money  meant  independ- 
ence. Like  all  Swift's  prejudices,  this  be- 
came a  fixed  idea  which  was  always  gath- 
ering strength.  He  did  not  love  money  for 
its  own  sake.  He  was  even  magnificent  in  his 
generosity.  He  scorned  to  receive  money 
for  his  writings ;  he  abandoned  the  profit 
to  his  printers  in  compensation  for  the  risks 
they  ran,  or  gave  it  to  his  friends.  His 
charity  was  splendid,  relatively  to  his  means. 
In  later  years  he  lived  on  a  third  of  his  in- 
come, gave  away  a  third,  and  saved  the  re- 
maining third  for  his  posthumous  charity, 
and  posthumous  charity,  which  involves 
present  saving,  is  charity  of  the  most  un. 
questionable  kind.  His  principle  was  that, 
by  reducing  his  expenditure  to  the  lowest 
possible  point,  he  secured  his  independence, 
and  could  then  make  a  generous  use  of  the 
remainder.  Until  he  received  his  deanery, 
however,  he  could  only  make  both  ends  meet. 
Marriage  would,  therefore,  have  meant  pov- 
erty, probably  dependence,  and  the  complete 
sacrifice  of  his  ambition.  If,  under  these 
circumstances,  Swift  had  become  engaged 
to  Stella,  he  would  have  been  doing  what 
was  regularly  done  by  fellows  of  colleges 
under  the  old  system.  There  is,  however, 
no  trace  of  such  an  engagement.  It  would 
be  in  keeping  with  Swift's  character  if  we 


706 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


should  suppose  he  shrank  from  the  bondage 
of  an  engagement." 

Egotism  and  love  of  dominion  were  also 
dominant  traits  of  his  character,  which,  along 
with  his  love  of  independence,  his  almost 
diseased  sensitiveness,  and  his  life-long  ill 
health,  enable  his  biographer  to  give,  in  most 
cases,  a  consistent  view  of  his  life.  But, 
when  psychology  breaks  down,  medical  sci- 
ence steps  in  and  completes  the  rational  ac- 
count of  this  hitherto  mysterious  man. 

Readers  of  the  "  Monthly  "  will  remem- 
ber an  article  by  Dr.  Bucknill,  in  the  April 
number  of  last  year,  giving  an  account  of 
"  Dean  Swift's  disease."  We  were  there 
told  of  Meniere's  recent  discovery  of  a  defi- 
nite form  of  disease — labyrinthine  vertigo, 
which  is  shown  by  conclusive  evidence  to 
have  been  the  "  cruel  illness "  to  which 
Swift  so  often  alludes  in  his  journal  and 
correspondence.  From  the  age  of  twenty 
he  suffered  from  this  disease,  whose  charac- 
teristic symptoms  are,  that  the  patient  is 
suddenly  seized  with  vertigo  and  a  feeling 
of  nausea  or  positive  sickness,  with  great 
constitutional  depression  and  faintuess. 

"  This  fact,"  says  Stephen,  "  requires  to 
be  remembered  in  every  estimate  of  Swift's 
character.  His  life  was  passed  under  a 
Damocles's  sword.  .  .  .  The  references  to 
his  sufferings  are  frequent  in  all  his  writ- 
ings. It  tormented  him  for  days,  weeks, 
and  months."  Dr.  Bucknill  says  that  it  was 
not  necessarily  connected  with  the  brain- 
disease  which  ultimately  came  upon  him,  but 
it  accounts  for  the  terrible  anxiety  always 
in  the  background,  and  for  much  in  Swift's 
gloomy  despondency. 

"We  commend  the  book,  as  well  for  its  in- 
trinsic charm,  as  because  it  dispels  a  most 
painful  feeling  in  regard  to  one  of  the  great- 
est of  men. 

Herbert  Spencer  on  American  Nervous- 
ness :  A  Scientific  Coincidence.  By 
George  M.  Beard,  A.  M.,  M.  D.  New 
York:  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.  Pp.  17. 
Price,  50  cents. 

The  late  Dr.  Beard,  as  is  well  known,  has 
for  some  years  made  a  professional  study  of 
nervous  diseases,  and  has  published  a  book, 
which  was  duly  noticed  in  these  pages,  en- 
titled "American  Nervousness."  As  was 
natural,  writing  and  publishing  much  upon 


the  subject,  he  came  to  regard  himself  as  a 
representative  man  who  had  made  the  field 
very  much  his  own;  and,  as  was  equally 
natural,  he  grew  somewhat  sensitive  in  re- 
gard to  the  recognition  of  his  claims. 

The  present  pamphlet  has  its  origin  in 
this  state  of  feeling.  It  is  put  forth  as  a 
reclamation  of  ideas  which  he  regards  as 
belonging  to  himself,  and  which  have  been 
used,  he  thinks,  without  due  recognition  of 
this  fact.  He  is  of  the  opinion  that  Mr. 
Herbert  Spencer  was  to  a  very  notable  ex- 
tent indebted  to  him,  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously, for  the  distinctive  ideas  of  his 
speech  at  the  late  complimentary  dinner  in 
New  York.  Dr.  Beard  does  not  accuse 
Spencer  of  plagiarism  ;  indeed,  he  repeatedly 
disclaims  the  accusation.  Yet  he  declares 
that  there  is  a  "coincidence,"  both  of 
thought  and  language,  between  what  he  had 
published  and  Mr.  Spencer's  expressions, 
that  is  so  remarkable  as  to  justify  calling 
public  attention  to  it  by  printing  the  respec- 
tive statements  in  parallel  columns.  There 
is  here,  if  not  an  insinuation  of  plagiarism, 
at  least  an  oblique  imputation  of  literary 
indebtedness  not  acknowledged. 

Dr.  Beard  is  at  the  pains  to  say  that  his 
action  in  this  matter  is  not  entirely  of  his 
own  motion ;  he  has  been  influenced  in  it 
by  others.     He  remarks :  "  I  have  not  been 
the  first  or  only  person  to  notice  this  paral- 
lelism ;  it  has  been  the  subject  of  independ- 
ent comment  by  various  individuals.     The 
frequency  of  these   comments   led   me   to 
make  the  following  detailed  comparison." 
Dr.  Beard  was    here    mislad,  both  by  his 
own   bias   and  the   bad   judgment   of   his 
friends.     There  is  nothing  even  remarkable 
in  the  similarity  of  passages  quoted,  letting 
alone  all  questionable  implications — noth- 
ing more  than   that  vague  "coincidence" 
which  is  constantly  arising  when  two  think- 
ers happen  to  be  running  upon  the  same 
track.     Dr.  Beard  puts  his  most   pointed 
illustration  first.     He  quotes   Mr.  Spencer 
as  saying :   "  We  have  had  somewhat  too 
much  of  the  gospel  of  work.     It  is  time  to 
preach  the  gospel  of  relaxation."     He  then 
quotes  from   "American  Nervousness,"  p. 
313,  his  own  expression,  "  The  gospel  of  work 
must  make  way  for  the  gospel  of  rest,"  and 
this  he  offers  as  a  remarkable  "  coincidence." 
But  certainly  no  word  is  more  stereo- 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


707 


typed  in  universal  usage  than  the  term 
"  gospel,"  as  applied  to  views  or  doctrines 
which  a  party  is  engaged  in  propagating, 
from  the  gospels  of  the  evangelists  to  Car- 
lyle's  "  Gospel  of  Dirt,"  and  the  "  gospel  of 
dig  "  now  discussed  in  the  educational  jour- 
nals. The  "coincidence"  in  the  applica- 
tion of  this  word  we  should  hold  to  be  of  a 
very  innocent  sort. 

And  here  all  coincidence  ceases.  The 
two  gospels  are  not  of  the  same  kind.  The 
two  phrases  "gospel  of  rest"  and  "gos- 
pel of  relaxation "  do  not  mean  the  same 
thing.  Instead  of  being  alike,  their  mean- 
ings are  rather  contrasted.  We  have  sim- 
ple passivity  on  the  one  hand,  and  activity 
of  a  given  kind  on  the  other.  The  "  gospel 
of  rest "  is  obeyed  by  inaction,  by  stopping 
work,  or  going  to  bed  ;  while  the  "  gospel  of 
relaxation  "  implies  rather  a  change  of  ac- 
tivity from  work  to  play,  and  it  connotes 
recreation,  entertainment,  and  amusement. 
The  "  gospel  of  relaxation  "  means  the  sub- 
stitution of  agreeable  diversion  for  tiresome 
labor.  The  Puritanical  Sunday  would  an- 
swer to  Dr.  Beard's  "  gospel  of  rest,"  but  it 
would  not  answer  to  Herbert  Spencer's 
"gospel  of  relaxation."  Dr.  Beard's  re- 
quirement was  made  into  a  gospel  of  duty 
by  the  ancient  Jews ;  Mr.  Spencer's  require- 
ment has  as  yet  been  made  into  a  gospel  of 
duty  nowhere.  The  cases  are,  therefore, 
conspicuous  for  their  lack  of  "  coincidence," 
and  the  same  thing  will  be  observed  in  all 
the  other  counts. 

The  burden  of  Dr.  Beard's  pamphlet,  as 
we  have  intimated,  is  to  show  that  he  was 
first  in  the  field  in  the  systematic  treatment 
of  "  American  nervousness  "  ;  and,  as  he  en- 
titles his  pamphlet  "Herbert  Spencer  on 
American  Nervousness,"  the  impression  is 
sought  to  be  conveyed  that  Mr.  Spencer  has 
recently  entered  upon  a  definite  field  of  in- 
quiry which  Dr.  Beard  had  made  his  own 
long  ago.  But  in  the  first  place  the  views 
of  the  two  men  are  far  from  being  of  the 
same  character,  and,  in  the  next  place,  Spen- 
cer's views  are  much  older  than  those  of 
Dr.  Beard.  As  regards  priority,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  say  that  we  heard  Mr.  Spencer 
give  expression  to  the  main  ideas  of  his  ad- 
dress long  before  the  name  of  Dr.  Beard 
was  ever  publicly  heard  of.  It  was  an  early 
outcome  of  his  evolution  studies,  that,  as  in 


social  progress  the  fighting  dispensation  of 
society  gave  way  to  the  working  dispensa- 
tion, so  the  working  dispensation  must  in 
turn  give  way  and  become  subordinate  to 
the  higher  objects  to  which  work  and  wealth 
are  tributary.  The  stage  beyond,  to  which 
he  maintains  we  are  tending,  will  be  char- 
acterized by  a  more  perfect  organization  of 
the  means  of  human  enjoyment.  That  life 
is  for  pleasure  in  its  largest  sense  is  a  car- 
dinal idea  of  the  Spencerian  philosophy, 
and  that  the  social  fulfillment  of  this  su- 
preme end  must  come  in  practical  forms,  by 
giving  larger  and  more  systematic  play  to 
our  pleasure-loving  impulses  and  varied  ca- 
pacities of  enjoyment,  is  an  explicit  and 
leading  inculcation  of  Mr.  Spencer's  works. 
That  completer  living  is  to  be  attained  by  a 
multiplication  of  pleasurable  satisfactions, 
and  the  perfected  art  of  enjoyment  was 
taught ;  for  example,  in  his  "  Education," 
written  twenty-five  years  ago,  and  the  doc- 
trine is  at  the  basis  of  the  "  Data  of  Ethics," 
the  most  advanced  treatise  of  his  philo" 
sophical  system.  Mr.  Spencer  took  up  this 
cherished  and  long-familiar  topic,  in  his 
New  York  address,  simply  because  he  was 
freshly  and  forcibly  reminded  of  its  impor- 
tance by  what  he  saw  in  this  country. 

History  of  the  Pacific  States  of  North 
America.  Central  America,  Vol.  1, 1501- 
1530.  By  Hubert  Howe  Bancroft. 
San  Francisco :  A.  L.  Bancroft  &  Co. 
Pp.  704.  Price,  cloth,  $4.50. 
This  volume,  the  sixth  in  the  great  series 
of  historical  works  by  Mr.  Bancroft,  gives 
the  history  of  the  southernmost  section  of 
North  America  which  borders  on  the  Pacific, 
during  the  period  of  discovery  and  coloniza- 
tion previous  to  1530.  The  first  chapter, 
of  a  hundred  and  fifty  pages,  is  introduc- 
tory ;  half  of  it  being  devoted  to  "  Spain 
and  Civilization  at  the  Beginning  of  the  Six- 
teenth Century,"  and  the  rest  to  a  "  Sum- 
mary of  Geographical  Knowledge  aud  Dis- 
covery from  the  Earliest  Eecords  to  the 
Year  1540."  The  summary  includes  a  se- 
ries of  voyages  by  the  Northmen  to  the 
northeastern  shores  of  America,  extending 
over  five  centuries ;  and  mentions  many  ex- 
peditions both  eastward  and  westward  by 
travelers  from  Southern  Europe,  the  earli- 
est of  these  being  made  in  1096.  The  value 
of  this  account  is  increased  by  copies  of  fif- 


708 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


teen  maps  drawn  by  the  geographers  of  this 
period.  In  the  second  chapter,  the  continu- 
ous narrative  of  exploration  and  conquest 
begins  with  the  first  voyage  of  Columbus. 

The  author  shows  that  the  princes  and 
navigators  of  this  period  had  plenty  of 
faults.  The  sovereigns  of  Spain  joined  to 
their  zeal  in  increasing  geographical  knowl- 
edge, and  in  extending  the  domain  of  the 
holy  Roman  Church,  a  lively  solicitude  for 
their  own  power  and  revenue.  The  author 
finds,  both  from  his  study  of  Spanish  au- 
thorities and  from  the  admissions  of  Pres- 
cott,  that  Queen  Isabella  has  been  far  too 
highly  lauded  by  both  Prescott  and  Irving. 
Even  Columbus,  who  generally  gets  so  much 
pity  for  the  ungrateful  treatment  he  re- 
ceived, is  shown  to  have  had  weaknesses 
and  faults  which  brought  many  of  his  mis- 
fortunes upon  him. 

The  American  natives  do  not  suffer 
much  from  a  comparison  with  their  white 
conquerors.  If  they  sometimes  showed  a 
thirst  for  Spanish  blood,  it  was  because  the 
means  employed  to  make  them  good  Catho- 
lics and  citzens  were,  to  say  the  least,  no 
gentler  than  those  in  use  in  the  Old  World. 
"  They  were  more  children  than  wild  beasts. 
....  Seldom  was  the  Indian  treacherous 
until  he  had  been  deceived." 

Mr.  Bancroft  has  consulted  many  books 
and  manuscripts  in  preparing  this  work, 
and  the  list  of  authorities  quoted,  which 
occupies  forty-eight  octavo  pages,  together 
with  the  references  in  the  foot-notes  on  spe- 
cial topics,  give  the  volume  great  biblio- 
graphical value.  The  numerous  foot-notes 
give  interesting  details  in  regard  to  ships, 
trading,  methods  of  administration,  of  di- 
viding land,  and  of  locating  towns.  The 
volume  is  well  supplied  with  maps,  and  the 
chronicle  is  enlivened  by  many  amusing  and 
illustrative  anecdotes. 

Statement  of  Work  done  at  the  Harvard 
College  Observatory,  1 811-1 882.  By 
Edward  C.  Pickering,  Director  of  the 
Observatory.  Cambridge,  Massachusetts : 
John  Wilson  &  Son.     Pp.  23. 

The  observatory  has  enjoyed  for  four 
years  the  revenue  derived  from  an  annual 
subscription  of  five  thousand  dollars.  The 
last  installments  of  the  subscription  expire 
in  the  present  month,  and  an  effort  is  now 
making  to  replace  it  with  a  permanent  en- 


dowment of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
The  director  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  increased  amount  of  work  made  possible 
by  the  increased  income  is  quite  out  of  pro- 
portion to  the  augmentation  of  funds,  be- 
cause the  expenses  are  largely  the  same 
in  either  case,  and  the  increase  is,  there- 
fore, directly  available  for  scientific  results. 
Fiftetii  assistants  are  attached  to  the  ob- 
servatory, and,  by  the  division  of  labor  ren- 
dered possible  by  so  large  a  force,  each 
man  may  be  assigned  the  kind  of  work  to 
which  he  is  peculiarly  adapted.  In  this 
way  researches  can  be  carried  out  in  a  few 
years  which  are  beyond  the  reach  of  observ- 
atories where  the  corps  of  assistants  is 
small. 

Proceedings  of  the  American  Society  of 
Microscofists.  Fifth  Annual  Meeting. 
D.  S.  Kellicot,  Secretary,  Buffalo,  New 
York.     Pp.  292,  with  Plates. 

The  meeting  of  the  society  was  held  at 
Elmira,  New  York,  August  loth  to  17th 
last,  under  the  presidency  of  George  E. 
Blackham,  F.  R.  M.  S.  The  record  contains 
a  considerable  number  of  papers  of  interest 
to  specialists  and  students  of  microscopy, 
many  of  them  well  illustrated,  of  which  two 
or  three  relating  to  organisms  in  Lake  Erie 
and  the  water-supply  of  Buffalo  and  a  me- 
moir of  Charles  A.  Spencer,  the  eminent 
maker  of  microscopes,  deserve  especial  no- 
tice and  are  of  more  general  interest. 

Contributions  to  the  Anatomy  of  Birds. 
By  R.  W.  Shufeldt,  M.  D.,  United  States 
Army.    Washington,  D.  C    Pp.  210,  in- 
cluding Twenty-four  Plates. 
This  monograph  is  also  embodied  in  the 
twelfth  annual  report  of  Professor  Hayden's 
"  Geological    and    Geographical    Survey  of 
the  Territories,"  from  which  it  is  extracted. 
It   contains  descriptions,  abundantly  illus- 
trated, of  the  osteology  of  the  Speotyto,  or 
burrowing   owl ;    the  Ereniophila  Alpestris, 
or  horned  lark ;  the  Tetraonidce,  or  grouse 
family ;  the  Lanius,  or  Shrike  ;  and  the  Ca- 
(harlidce,  or  buzzards. 

Poems.  By  Minot  J.  Savage.  Boston: 
George  H.  Ellis. 

Mr.  Sayage  sings  his  unpinioned  thought 
and  free  religion  as  well  as  preaches  it.  Not 
that  he  has  made  a  hymn-book  for  his  Bos- 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


709 


ton  society,  or  can  not  pretermit,  if  need  be, 
the  professional  function.  Quite  the  con- 
trary. There  are  many  quiet  poems  in  this 
collection  pervaded  by  genuine  humor,  or 
with  fine  touches  of  feeling  for  nature  and 
human  life,  which  show  that  the  author 
writes  from  the  inspiration  of  true  poetic 
art.  But  the  poems  that  most  interest  us 
are  those  marked  by  the  strong  poetic  ex- 
pression of  ideas  and  emotions  with  which 
the  author's  mind  is  "  possessed."  The 
poems  entitled  "Where  is  God?"  "The 
Age's  Unrest,"  "Infidelity,"  "Galileo," 
"Vanini,"  "Magellan,"  "Darwin,"  "Kep- 
ler," and  many  other  pieces,  although  mak- 
ing up  but  a  small  part  of  the  book,  would 
well  justify  the  title,  "  Songs  of  Modern 
Thought." 

The  Gospel  of  the  Stars,  or  Primeval 
Astronomy.  By  Joseph  A.  Seiss,  D.  D., 
author  of  "  A  Miracle  in  Stone,"  "  Voices 
from  Babylon,"  "  The  Last  Times,"  "Lec- 
tures on  the  Apocalypse,"  "  Holy  Types," 
etc.  Philadelphia:  E.  Claxton  &  Co. 
Pp.  450.     Price,  $1.50. 

This  is  an  instructive  book — instructive 
not  because  of  the  value  of  its  information, 
but  because  it  is  an  excellent  representation 
of  a  certain  phase  of  mind  peculiar  to  these 
times,  which  springs  out  of  the  conflict  of 
great  adverse  systems  of  thought.  In  the 
struggle  of  religion  and  science,  which  has 
been  long  developing,  and  is  precipitated 
upon  this  age  with  much  intensity,  the  fun- 
damental question  is,  Which  order  of  ideas 
— theological  or  scientific — shall  predom- 
inate, and  which  take  the  subordinate 
place  ?  It  is  now  universally  held  that  all 
truth  is  one.  But,  in  the  palpable  issues 
that  arise,  unity  can  only  be  secured  by 
some  latitude  of  interpretation  on  one  side 
or  the  other.  Though  all  truth  is  one,  the 
systems  of  belief  are  two,  and  there  has  got 
to  be  a  yielding  somewhere  before  the  al- 
leged unity  can  become  a  real  unity.  Men 
of  science  start  with  nature  as  it  exists 
around  them,  and  is  open  to  exploration 
and  the  demonstration  of  its  truths.  And, 
when  any  system  of  thought  is  offered  for 
acceptance,  the  men  of  science  insist  that  it 
must  be  brought  into  conformity  by  inter- 
pretation with  the  order  of  truth  established 
by  science.  Religious  teachers,  on  the  other 
hand — most  of  them,  at  least — start  from 


theology,  hold  its  doctrines  to  be  in  the 
ascendant,  and  demand  that  nature  shall  be 
interpreted  in  conformity  with  them  aw  a 
subordinate  system. 

The  work  of  Dr.  Seiss  is  a  thorough-go- 
ing example  of  the  dominance  of  theological 
ideas  over  scientific  ideas.  He,  too,  is  en- 
gaged in  the  laudable  work  of  reconcilia- 
tion, but,  like  Hood's  butcher,  who  "con- 
ciliated "his  sheep  by  main  force,  our  au- 
thor reconciles  science  to  theology  by  no 
little  violence  of  interpretation.  Its  lesser 
details  he  knocks  about  without  ceremony, 
and  its  larger  conceptions  he  waves  aside  as 
illusions  of  not  the  slightest  moment.  Evo- 
lution, he  declares,  "is  a  lie"  and,  as  this 
sufficiently  illustrates,  scientific  truth  has 
no  weight  with  him.  Steeped  through  and 
through  with  theological  ideas,  he  can  see 
nothing  in  the  universe  but  his  own  system 
of  divinity,  while  science  is  only  useful  as 
furnishing  material  to  be  twisted  into  con- 
formity with  theology,  as  he  understands  it. 
His  book  is  pervaded  with  Scripture,  and, 
both  from  the  titles  of  the  works  he  has 
formerly  written  and  from  the  whole  qual- 
ity of  this,  it  is  seen  that  his  mind  is  drawn 
to  the  mystical,  the  obscure,  the  enigmatic, 
cabalistic,  and  transcendental. 

The  special  object  of  the  present  work 
is  to  show  that  "  the  true  explanation  of 
the  origin  and  meaning  of  the  constellations 
of  the  heavens,  their  figures  and  their  names, 
as  they  have  come  down  to  us  from  the 
earliest  ages  of  the  human  race,"  are  only 
to  be  found  in  connection  with  Christian 
theology.  It  is  commonly  supposed  that 
those  fanciful  celestial  groupings  of  the 
stars  into  resemblances  of  animals,  men, 
and  other  objects  were  devices  of  primi- 
tive times,  before  astronomical  science  had 
arisen.  Herschel  characterizes  "those  un- 
couth figures  and  outlines  of  men  and  mon- 
sters usually  scribbled  over  celestial  globes 
and  maps"  as  "puerile  and  absurd."  Dr. 
Seiss  declares  all  this  to  be  mere  "  rational- 
ist conjecture,"  and  solemnly  maintains,  on 
the  other  hand,  that  the  constellations  are 
pious  intimations,  illustrations,  and  wit- 
nesses of  the  scheme  of  salvation.  The 
breadth  of  his  view  of  the  Christian  system 
in  the  present  year  of  grace  is  indicated  by 
the  following  passage :  "  The  gospel  is 
chiefly  made  up  of  the  story  of  the  serpent 


710 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


and  the  cross — the  doctrine  of  the  fall  and 
depravity  of  man  through  the  subtlety  of 
'the  dragon,  that  old  serpent  called  the 
Devil  and  Satan,  which  deceiveth  the  whole 
world,'  and  the  recovery  of  fallen  man 
through  a  still  mightier  One,  who  comes 
from  heaven,  assumes  human  nature,  and, 
by  suffering,  death,  and  exaltation  to  the 
right  band  of  supreme  dominion,  vanquishes 
the  dragon,  and  becomes  the  author  of  eter- 
nal salvation.  The  preaching  of  this  is  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel." 

But  the  rubbishy  erudition  that  seems 
necessary  to  understand  this  gospel,  accord- 
ing to  the  present  commentator,  is  some- 
thing frightful.  Certainly,  if  such  a  per- 
formance as  this  can  pass  muster,  and  the 
"  Pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Com- 
munion, Philadelphia,"  has  a  rightful  place 
in  the  Episcopal  Church,  Heber  Newton  has 
no  business  in  the  organization. 

Moral  Education,  its  Laws  and  Methods. 
By  Joseph  Rodes  Buchanan,  M.  B.  New 
York  :  S.  W.  Green's  Son,  74  &  7<3  Beek- 
man  Street.     Pp.  395.    Price,  $1.50. 

Although  this  work,  by  its  title,  is  lim- 
ited to  one  phase  of  the  great  subject  of 
education,  and  although  the  moral  idea  pre- 
vails throughout  the  exposition,  yet  the  book 
is  far  from  being  a  mere  homiletic  essay  in 
the  ordinary  sense.  The  moral  conception 
is  dealt  with  in  connection  with  many  prac- 
tical questions,  so  that  there  is  a  good  deal 
of  generality  in  the  instructiveness  of  the 
treatise.  Indeed,  it  is  chiefly  valuable  from 
the  breadth  of  the  author's  preparation  for 
dealing  with  radical  educational  questions. 
Dr.  Buchanan  is  an  unfettered  thinker,  and 
his  work  is  stamped  with  the  individuality 
of  his  studies.  He  is,  first  of  all,  a  physi- 
ologist— a  student  of  man  as  a  corporeal 
being,  and  he  assigns  to  the  subject  of  or- 
ganization that  fundamental  place  which  it 
must  hold  in  every  rational  system  of  cul- 
ture, and  which  is  beginning  to  be  more 
clearly  recognized  in  our  own  times  than 
ever  before.  Yet  the  work  is  by  no  means 
and  in  no  sense  a  physiological  one,  and  the 
author  is  far  enough  from  being  a  material- 
ist. The  truths  of  organic  science  are  as- 
sumed rather  than  expounded,  and  on  its 
basis  and  under  its  limitations  the  author 
deals  with  a  whole  range  of  the  higher  edu- 


cational problems.  No  person  interested  in 
education  can  read  the  book  without  being 
helped  by  its  information  and  its  sugges- 
tions. It  contains  much  of  the  philosophy 
of  life,  and  many  special  problems  that  are 
now  beginning  to  press  upon  teachers  and 
educational  managers  are  discussed  with 
acuteness,  ability,  and  much  freedom  from 
the  restraints  of  tradition.  It  is  impossible 
to  enter  here  into  any  of  the  particular  in- 
quiries opened  by  Dr.  Buchanan,  and  we 
have  to  confine  ourselves  to  a  general  esti- 
mate of  the  character  of  the  book.  But, 
while  very  cordially  commending  it,  the 
reader  will  not  infer  our  agreement  with  all 
its  views.  We  are  all  in  that  inquiring 
stage  in  regard  to  education  which  implies 
incompleteness  of  knowledge  and  a  result- 
ing diversity  of  opinion.  We  are  working, 
it  is  to  be  hoped,  toward  a  higher  agree- 
ment, and  such  contributions  as  this  of  Dr. 
Buchanan  are  unquestionably  valuable  as 
means  to  this  important  end. 

Fifteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Trustees 
of  the  Peabody  Museum  of  American 
Archaeology  and  Ethnology.  Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts.  Printed  by  or- 
der of  the  Trustees.  F.  W;  Putnam, 
Curator.     Pp.  103. 

The  trustees  of  the  museum,  in  an  ap- 
peal to  the  public  last  year,  called  attention 
to  the  fact  that  it  is  the  only  institution  in 
the  country  especially  for  the  preservation 
of  collections  and  the  study  of  American 
archaeology,  and  that  its  income  (the  inter- 
est of  $90,000)  is  only  $4,500  a  year.  Its 
rooms,  reasonably  commodious  and  contain- 
ing larger  or  smaller  collections  from  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  world — several  hundred 
thousand  specimens  in  all — are  open  free  to 
visitors  during  business  hours,  and  are  sup- 
plemented with  free  descriptive  lectures  by 
the  curator.  The  additions  during  the  year 
include  a  valuable  series  of  objects  from  the 
Ainos  of  Yesso  (Japan),  by  Professor  Pen- 
hallow  ;  more  than  two  thousand  stone  im- 
plements from  Delaware,  by  Mr.  II.  R.  Ben- 
net  ;  new  objects,  by  Dr.  C.  C.  Abbott,  from 
his  own  collections  in  New  Jersey,  and  ex- 
changes from  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  England  ; 
new  specimens  of  the  Wakefield  (Massa- 
chusetts) stone  implements  in  every  stage 
of  manufacture ;  potteries  from  Southeast- 
ern Missouri  and  Southern  New  Mexico,  by 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


711 


Mrs.  S.  B.  Schlesinger  ;  M.  Bandelier's  col- 
lections from  the  Pueblos  and  from  Cholula, 
and  Mr.  Fred  A.  Obcr's  collection  of  cop- 
per implements  from  Oajaca,  Mexico  ;  speci- 
mens from  English  caves,  and  casts,  by 
Mr.  Dawkins ;  articles  illustrating  the  mak- 
ing of  pottery  by  the  Caribs  of  British 
Guiana,  from  Professor  H.  A.  Ward ;  soap- 
stone  pots  from  Northern  Italy,  by  Dr.  Emil 
Schmidt ;  and  a  cast  of  the  "  Endicott 
Rock"  of  New  Hampshire.  The  curator 
carried  on  field-work  at  Madisonville,  Ohio, 
and  Indian  Hill,  Kentucky.  More  was  done 
to  make  the  museum  and  its  objects  known 
to  the  public,  and  more  use  was  made  of  its 
collections  for  instruction  and  research,  than 
in  any  previous  year. 

Lectures  on  Art.  Delivered  in  Support 
of  the  Society  for  the  Protection  of  An- 
cient Buildings.  London :  Macmillan 
&  Co.     Pp.  232. 

The  six  lectures  are  by  five  authors, 
each  of  whom  has  devoted  particular  atten- 
tion to  the  study  of  the  subject  he  presents. 
The  lecturers  and  their  subjects  are — Regi- 
nald Stuart  Poole,  on  "  The  Egyptian  Tomb 
and  the  Future  State " ;  Professor  W.  B. 
Richmond,  on  "  Monumental  Painting  "  ; 
Edward  J.  Poynter,  R.  A.,  on  "  Ancient 
Decorative  Art " ;  J.  T.  Micklethwaite,  on 
"English  Parish  Churches";  and  William 
Morris,  on  "  The  History  of  Pattern  Design- 
ing," and  "  The  Lesser  Arts  of  Life."  The 
lectures  are,  one  and  all,  interesting  and  in- 
structive. 

The  Factors  of  Civilization,  Real  and 
Assumed  :  Considered  in  their  Relation 
to  Vice,  Misery,  Happiness,  Unhappi- 
ness,  and  Progress.  Vol.  II.  Atlanta, 
Georgia :  James  P.  Harrison  &  Co. 
Pp.  359. 

The  whole  work  is  to  be  in  three  vol- 
umes, of  which  the  second  precedes  the  first 
in  time  of  publication.  It  treats  of  the  sub- 
jects of  more  immediate  and  practical  im- 
portance than  those  to  be  discussed  in  the 
first  volume.  The  author  maintains  that 
man  naturally  inclines  to  goodness,  and  that 
all  vice  and  misery  arise  from  the  operation 
of  theological  causes,  bad  government,  igno- 
rance, and  poverty  ;  or  that  the  structure  of 
society  is  defective  because  of  defective  in- 
stitutions. Man,  he  holds,  has  a  vital  im- 
pulse to  do  implanted  within  him,  which 


only  requires  that  the  institutions  of  society 
shall  permit  of  its  development,  to  create  a 
growth  "as  grand  in  results  as  the  mag- 
nificent oak  bears  in  comparison  to  the  in- 
significant acorn."  The  political  econom- 
ical factors  of  civilization  arc  considered  in 
this  volume  under  the  heads  of  "  The  Un- 
happiness  arising  from  Poverty  "  and  "  The 
Unhappiness  arising  from  Uncongenial  Pur- 
suits and  Labor."  The  theological,  govern- 
mental, and  educational  factors  will  be  con- 
sidered in  the  first  volume ;  and  the  third 
volume  will  be  devoted  to  "  The  Analysis  of 
Happiness." 

American  Hero-Myths.  A  Study  in  the 
Native  Religions  of  the  Western  Conti- 
nent. By  Daniel  G.  Brinton,  M.  D. 
Philadelphia:  H.  C.  Watts  &  Co.  Pp. 
251.     Price,  $1.75. 

This  volume  is  an  endeavor  to  present 
in  a  critically  correct  fight  some  of  the 
fundamental  conceptions  which  are  found 
in  the  native  beliefs  of  the  tribes  of  Amer- 
ica. The  author  does  not  consider  it  cred- 
itable that  so  little  has  been  done  in  this 
field,  and  is  disposed  to  be  severe,  but  hard- 
ly too  much  so,  on  those  who  have  had 
opportunities  to  investigate  the  subject,  and 
have  not  used  them.  He  rejects  the  idea 
that  the  native  myths  are  distorted  histor- 
ical reminiscences  and  exaggerated  state- 
ments respecting  persons  that  ever  really 
existed,  and  has  been  guided  by  the  princi- 
ple that  "  when  the  same,  and  that  a  very 
extraordinary,  story  is  told  by  several  tribes 
wholly  apart  in  language  and  location,  then 
the  probabilities  are  enormous  that  it  is  not 
a  legend,  but  a  myth,  and  must  be  explained 
as  such."  The  myths  of  the  lower  races, 
he  believes,  "  express,  in  image  and  in 
cident,  the  opinions  of  these  races  on  the 
mightiest  topics  of  human  thought,  on  the 
origin  and  destiny  of  man,  his  motives  for 
duty,  and  his  grounds  for  hope,  and  the 
source,  history,  and  fate  of  all  external 
nature.  Certainly,  the  sincere  expressions 
on  these  subjects  of  even  humble  members 
of  the  human  race  deserve  our  most  respect- 
ful heed."  With  these  views  and  in  this 
spirit,  Dr.  Brinton  presents  the  results  of 
his  studies,  from  the  most  authentic,  ac- 
cessible sources,  of  the  hero-gods  of  the 
Algonquins,  the  Iroquois,  the  Aztec  tribes, 
the  Mayas,  and  the  Quichas. 


712 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


Report  on  the  Character  of  Six  Hundred 
Tornadoes.  By  Sergeant  J.  P.  Finley, 
Signal  Corps,  U.  S.  A.  Washington: 
Office  of  Chief  Signal  Officer.  Pp.  19, 
with  Three  Charts. 

The  increasing  frequency  with  which 
notices  of  tornadoes  appear,  as  the  list  ap- 
proaches the  present  time,  is  to  be  taken 
as  a  sign,  not  of  more  tornadoes,  but  of 
better  observations.  The  season  in  which 
tornadoes  appear  most  frequent  is  summer, 
and  the  month  June.  Spring  is  the  next 
most  frequent  season,  then  autumn,  then 
winter.  The  region  most  often  visited  in- 
cludes the  States  of  Iowa,  Missouri,  Kansas, 
and  Nebraska,  of  which  Kansas  suffers  the 
most.  Outside  of  this  region  New  York 
has  the  most  tornadoes,  and  next,  Georgia. 
Suggestions  are  given  for  avoiding  the  vio- 
lence of  tornadoes ;  many  other  lessons  are 
derived  from  the  study,  and  further  ones 
are  anticipated  from  further  studies. 

The  December  (or  Christmas)  number  of 
"  Wide  Awake  "  is  a  noble  magazine  of  13G 
pages,  with  a  supplement  of  60  pages,  filled 
with  articles  of  high  literary  character  and 
unexceptionable  tendency.  It  is  adorned 
with  a  profusion  of  illustrations,  which, 
though  executed  in  the  best  style  of  the 
present  fashion  in  wood-engraving,  can  not 
be  considered  equal  to  the  illustrations  in 
the  same  magazine  ten  years  ago,  when  a 
purer  taste  and  a  better  style  prevailed. 


PUBLICATIONS  RECEIVED. 
***  Authors  and  others,  sending  papers  and 
monographs  for  notice,  will  please  specify,  for  gen- 
eral information,  where  they  can  be  procured. 

Dime  Question-Books  :  General  History,  As- 
tronomy, Mythology,  Rhetoric,  and  Composi- 
tion, Botany,  with  Notes,  Queries,  etc.  Albert 
P.  Southwick.  Syracuse,  New  York  :  C.  W.  Bar- 
deen.    Pp.  36  to  40  each.    10  cents. 

Iowa  Wenther-Service  Annual  for  1883.  Gns- 
tavus  Ilimiclis.  Central  Station,  Iowa  City.  Pp. 
40. 

Should  American  Colleges  be  open  to  Wom- 
en as  well  as  to  Men  ?  Frederick  A.  P.  Barnard, 
President  of  Columbia  College,  New  York  City. 
Pp.  17. 

Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology.  Eight- 
eenth Annual  Catalogue,  etc.  Francis  A.Walker, 
Ph.  D.,  LL.  D.,  President.    Pp.  102. 

The  Taxation  of  the  Elevated  Railroads  in  the 
Citv  of  New  York.  Roger  Foster.  New  York : 
G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.    Pp.  61. 

Apparent  Attractions  and  Repulsions  of 
Small  Floating  Bodies.  John  Le  Conte.  Berke- 
ley, California.    Pp.10. 

Medicine  and  Medicine-Men.  Anniversary 
Address.  John  Godfrey.  New  Orleans,  Louisi- 
ana.   Pp.  17. 


"  The  Sociologist :  A  Monthly  Journal."  Vol. 
I,  Nos.  1  and  2.  Adair  Creek,  Knox  County, 
Tennessee:  A.  Chavaiiues  &  Co. 

On  the  Loess  and  Associated  Deposits  of  Des 
Moines.  W.  J.  McGee,  Farley,  and  R.  Ellsworth 
Call,  Des  Moines,  Iowa.    Pp.  24. 

Circulars  of  the  Department  of  Education: 
High-Schools  for  Girls  in  Sweden,  pp.  6;  In- 
struction in  Moral  and  Civil  Government,  pp. 
4;  National  Pedagogic  Congress  of  Spain,  pp.  4  ; 
Natural  Science  in  Secondary  Schools,  pp.  9; 
The  University  of  Bonn,  pp.  67  ;  Proceedings  of 
Department  of  Superintendence  of  the  National 
Educational  Association,  1882,  pp.  112.  Washing- 
ton ;  Government  Printing-Oflice. 

The  Naval  Use  of  the  Dynamo-Machine  and 
Electric  Light.  Lieutenant  J.  B.  Murdock, 
U.  S.  N.    Annapolis,  Maryland.    Pp.  385. 

"  Census  Forestry  Bulletin,"  No.  23— Esti- 
mate of  the  Consumption  of  Forest  Products  as 
Fuel  during  the  Census  Year.    P.  1,  with  Map. 

Department  of  Agriculture— Report  of  the 
Entomologist,  1882.  C.  V.  Riley.  Washington  : 
GovernmentPrintiug-Offlce.  Pp.l04,witkPlates. 

The  Condition  of  Niagara  Falls,  and  the 
Measures  needed  to  preserve  them.  J.  B.  Har- 
rison. (Author's  address,  Franklin  Falls,  New 
Hampshire.)    Pp.  62. 

"The  Reconstructionist :  Devoted  to  the 
Substitution  of  Good  for  Evil."  Samuel  T. 
Fowler.  Quarterly.  Philadelphia :  George  A. 
Fowler  &  Co.    Pp.  64.    25  cents. 

A  Method  of  Teaching  the  Greek  Language 
Tabulated.  John  W.  Sanborn,  Batavia,  New 
York.  Published  by  the  author.  Pp.  44.  30 
cents. 

Statistical  Report  of  Imports,  Exports,  Im- 
migration, and  Navigation,  for  the  Three  Months 
endfd  September  30,1882.  Washington:  Gov- 
ernment Printing-Offlce.    Pp.  157. 

Hospital  Accommodations  of  County  Poor- 
Houses.  Dr.  Charles  S.  Hoyt,  Secretary.  New 
York  State  Board  of  Charities.  AlbaDy,  New 
York.    Pp.  53. 

Bromide  of  Ethyl  (as  an  Anaesthetic).  Julien 
J.  Chisholm,  M.  D.   Baltimore, Maryland.  Pp.  8. 

Report  of  an  Exploration  of  Parts  of  Wyo- 
ming, Idaho,  and  Montana,  in  August  and  Sep- 
tember. 1882,  made  by  Lieutenant-Genera]  Sheri- 
dan. Washington :  Government  Printiug-Office. 
Pp.  69. 

"Journal  of  Social  Science."  December,  1882. 
A.  Williams  &  Co.,  Boston,  and  G.  P.  Putnam's 
Sons,  New  York.    Pp.  178.    $1. 

Report  of  the  Standing  Committee,  New 
York  State  Board  of  Charities,  on  County  Poor- 
Houses.    Pp.  8. 

On  the  Geological  Effects  of  a  Varying  Rota- 
tion of  the  Earth.  Professor  J.  E.  Todd.  Pp. 
12. 

"  Scientific  Proceedings  of  the  Ohio  Mechan- 
ics'Institute."  Quarterly.  December,  1882.  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio.  Publishing  Committee,  Ohio  Me- 
chanics' Institute.    Pp.  48.    $1  a  year. 

The  Place  of  Original  Research  in  College 
Education.  J.  H.  Wright,  Dartmouth  College, 
Hanover,  New  Hampshire.    Pp.  29. 

Mutual  Relations  of  Intellectual  and  Moral 
Culture.  Joseph  Le  Conte.  Berkeley,  California. 
Pp.  7. 

General  Weather  -  Service,  United  States. 
"Monthly  Weather  Review,"  November,  1882. 
Washington,  D.  C. :  Office  of  the  Chief  Signal- 
Officer.    Pp.  21,  with  Maps. 

Papers  of  California  Academy  of  Sciences  on 
"  Footprints  found  at  the  Carson  State-Prison  " 
(H.  W.  Harkness,  M.D.,  Joseph  Le  Conte,  CD. 
GibDs)  ;  on  "  Fossil  Jaw  of  a  Mammoth  "  (C.  D. 
Gibbs)  ;  and  on  "  Fresh-water  Mussels  "  (Robert 
E.  C.  Stearns).  San  Francisco,  California.  Pp. 
58,  with  Plates. 


POPULAR  MISCELLANY. 


713 


Science  Ladders:  Lowest  Forms  of  Water 
Animals.  N.  D'Anvers.  New  York:  G.  P.  Put- 
nam's Sons.    Pp.  59.    50  cents. 

First  Year  Manual  and  Text-Book  of  Arith- 
metic. James  H.  House.  Syracuse,  New  York  : 
C.  W.  Bardeeu.    Pp.  15(5.    50  cents. 

A  Practical  Arithmetic.  G.  A.  Wentworth 
and  Rev.  Thomas  Hill,  D.  D.,  LL.D.  Boston: 
Ginn,  Heath  &  Co.    Pp.  351. 

Notes  on  Ingersoll.  Rev.  L.  A.  Lamhert. 
Buffalo,  New  York:  Buffalo  Catholic  Publica- 
tion Company.    Pp.  184.    50  cents. 

Herbert  Spencer  on  American  Nervousness. 
George  M.  Beard,  M.  D.  New  York  :  G.  P.  Put- 
nam's Sons.     Pp.  17.    50  cents. 

Political  Economy.  Francis  A.  Walker.  New 
York  :  Henry  Holt  &  Co.    Pp.  490.    $3.25. 

Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Organic  Chemis- 
try. Adolph  Pinner.  Translated  and  revised 
by  Peter  T.  Austen.  New  York  :  John  Wiley  & 
Sons.    Pp.403.     f2.55. 

Catalogue  and  Index  of  the  Publications  of 
the  Smithsonian  Institution.  William  J.  Bases, 
Washington,  D.  C.  Smithsonian  Institution. 
Pp.  328. 

Slight  Ailments  :  Their  Nature  and  Treat- 
ment. Lionel  S.Beale.  Philadelphia  :  P.  Blakis- 
ton,  Son  &  Co.    Pp.  283.    $1.25. 

The  Cause  of  Variation.  M.  M.  Curtis. 
Marshall,  Minnesota  :  Published  by  the  author. 
Pp.  115. 

Report  of  the  Chief  Signal-Officer,  War  De- 
partment, 1880,  pp.  1,120,  with  119  Charts.  The 
same,  1881,  pp.  1,290,  with  59  Charts.  Washing- 
ton: Government  Printiug-Office. 


POPULAR   MISCELLANY. 

Experimental  Demonstration  of  Ohm's 
Law. — An  interesting  experimental  demon- 
stration of  the  truth  of  Ohm's  law  was  re- 
cently given  by  Professor  Alfred  M.  Mayer, 
of  the  Stevens  Institute  of  Technology,  be- 
fore the  New  York  Electrical  Society.  This 
law,  as  is  well  known,  affirms  that  in  any 
electrical  circuit  the  current  flowing  varies 
directly  as  the  electro-motive  force  and  in- 
versely as  the   resistance,  or,  in   symbols, 

E 

C  =  — ,    where    C    is    the   current,   E    the 
R' 

electro-motive  force,  and  R  the  resistance  of 
the  entire  circuit,  including  that  of  the  gener- 
ator. To  demonstrate  the  truth  of  this  law,  it 
is  only  necessary  to  show  that,  the  resistance 
remaining  constant,  the  current  increases  in 
the  same  ratio  as  the  electro-motive  force 
when  this  is  augmented ;  or  that,  the  elec- 
tro-motive force  being  mainMned  constant 
the  current  varies  in  the  same  ratio  as  the 
resistance  as  this  latter  is  raised.  In  Pro- 
fessor Mayer's  experiments  the  current  was 
measured  by  means  of  a  Thompson  reflect- 
ing galvanometer — a  delicate  instrument  in 
which  the  deflections  of  the  needle  are  mul- 


tiplied to  any  desired  extent  by  means  of  a 
beam  of  light,  reflected  from  a  small  mirror 
attached  to  the  needle,  which  is  received 
upon  a  screen.  The  novel  feature  of  Pro- 
fessor Mayer's  demonstration  consisted  in 
his  mode  of  obtaining  the  current  so  that  the 
electro-motive  force  could  be  known  with 
great  accuracy,  and  readily  varied.  This 
consisted  in  generating  it  by  means  of  the 
movement  of  a  coil  of  wire  along  a  bar-mag- 
net. The  electro-motive  force  of  the  cur- 
rent so  produced  depends  upon  the  number 
of  lines  of  magnetic  force  cut  by  the  moving 
coil  in  a  unit  of  time,  so  that  this  can  be 
varied  by  varying  the  speed  with  which  a 
given  coil  is  moved,  or,  the  speed  remaining 
the  same,  by  varying  the  number  of  coils. 
Professor  Mayer  resorted  to  the  latter  meas- 
ure, his  apparatus  consisting  simply  of  an 
upright  bar-magnet  over  the  end  of  which 
a  loop  of  wire  could  be  slipped,  the  distance 
which  this  could  slide  being  limited  by  a 
stop.  The  movable  coils  consisted  of  the 
same  lengths  of  copper  wire,  in  which  there 
were  taken  one,  two,  or  more  loops,  the  re- 
sistance of  each  of  these  pieces  being  the 
same,  so  as  to  maintain  that  of  the  complete 
circuit  constant.  The  coils  were  placed  over 
the  upper  end  of  the  magnet,  and  carried 
down  until  they  rested  upon  the  stop,  the 
needle  of  the  galvanometer  brought  to  the 
zero  of  the  scale,  and  then  the  coil  pulled 
off  the  magnet  with  a  quick  motion.  The 
deflection  of  the  needle  indicated  a  variation 
in  the  current  in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  loops  of  wire  used,  and  when  the  resist- 
ance was  varied  in  proportion  to  the  amount 
of  this  variation.  A  better  form  of  the 
apparatus  is  one  in  which  the  coil,  instead  of 
being  moved  by  hand,  is  drawn  up  quickly 
by  a  spring,  when  it  is  released  by  the  pulling 
of  a  trigger.  With  this,  Professor  Mayer  is 
at  present  studying  the  development  of  mag- 
netism in  eloctro-magnets. 

More    abont   the   Lignified    Snake. — 

Doubts  are  expressed,  in  a  paper  recently 
read  by  Professor  C.  V.  Riley  before  the 
Biological  Society  of  Washington,  as  to 
the  so-called  "  lignified  serpent  "  of  Matto 
Grosso,  Brazil,  which  was  described  and  il- 
lustrated in  the  November  number  of  the 
"  Monthly,"  being  really  a  serpent  at  all ; 
Professor  Riley  rather  believes  the  forma- 


7^4 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


tion  to  bo  the  burrow  of  the  larva  of  some 
beetle,  filled  up  with  excrement  and  rudi- 
mentary fiber,  as  such  burrows  commonly 
are  filled.  In  support  of  his  view  he  makes 
the  points :  that  the  object  in  advance  of 
the  so-called  reptile's  head  to  the  unimagi- 
native eye  appears,  not  like  an  insect  larva, 
but  like  a  simple  knot,  similar  to  two  knots 
which  appear  in  the  body  of  the  more 
prominent  formation ;  that  the  diameter  of 
the  formation  is  greatest  at  the  point  where 
the  relief  ends,  as  would  be  the  case  with  a 
larva  eating  its  way  from  the  point  corre- 
sponding with  the  "  head "  of  the  "  ser- 
pent "  and  growing  as  it  advanced  toward 
the  "  tail " ;  that  the  first  curve,  which,  on 
the  serpent  theory,  the  animal  must  have 
made  in  forcing  its  way  under  the  bark,  is 
so  abrupt  and  the  relief  so  doubled  upon 
itself  that  a  snake  could  not  make  such  a 
bend  without  breaking  its  vertebra ;  that 
the  cephalic  plates  and  scales  are  imagina- 
ry ;  that  the  curves  shown,  though  natural 
to  a  burrowing  larva,  are  not  natural  to  a 
snake  forcing  itself  into  so  confined  a 
space ;  that  the  woody  formation  of  the 
relief  indicates  a  burrow  beneath  the  larva, 
and  not  the  forcing  of  anything  between 
the  bark  and  the  wood,  for  such  forcing 
would  have  loosened  the  bark  for  some  dis- 
tance on  either  side  of  the  relief,  and  a 
forcing  of  the  kind  supposed  could  not  take 
place  without  interference  with  the  growth 
or  soundness  of  the  tree  ;  that  the  granular 
appearance  to  be  seen  along  the  sides  of 
the  specimen  and  the  fibers  observable  are 
just  such  as  an  insect-larva  would  leave, 
and  can  not  be  accounted  for  on  M.  Olli- 
vier's  hypothesis ;  that  the  animal  matter 
in  the  center  of  the  body  may  be  accounted 
for  as  arising  from  the  exuviae  and  excre- 
ment of  the  larva ;  and  that  the  work  of 
human  hands  in  heightening  resemblances, 
particularly  about  the  head  and  eyes,  can  be 
detected.  The  whole  question,  finally,  could 
be  readily  settled  by  careful  section,  which 
would  show  traces  of  vertebrae  or  phos- 
phate of  lime  along  the  vertebral  line  if 
there  really  were  a  serpent.  Professor 
Gray,  in  the  January  number  of  the  "Amer- 
ican Journal  of  Science,"  suggests  two  ex- 
planations as  more  probable  than  that 
which  depends  upon  the  snake.  One  is, 
that  the  snake-like  body  is  of  the  nature  of 


a  root,  an  aerial  root,  like  those  of  a  Clusia 
or  a  Ficus,  which  was  making  its  way  be- 
tween bark  and  wood,  and  that  the  supposed 
larva  is  an  incipien  t  root  of  the  same  kind. 
The  other,  which  was  proposed  by  Professor 
Wadsworth,  of  Cambridge,  while  examining 
the  specimen  along  with  Professor  Gray, 
"  and  is  to  be  preferred,"  "  supposes  that 
the  sinuous  course  is  the  track  of  a  wood- 
eating  larva  or  some  kind  of  insect,  the 
burrowing  of  which  had  not  destroyed  the 
overlying  fiber;  consequently  the  new 
growth  filling  the  space  (except  at  certain 
points)  had  naturally  assumed  the  likeness 
of  a  snake." 

Vital  Conditions  affecting  the  Colored 
Population.— Dr.  S.  S.  Ilerrick,  Secretary  of 
the  Louisiana  State  Board  of  Health,  pre- 
sented facts  and  tables  at  the  Savannah 
meeting  of  the  American  Public  Health  As- 
sociation, showing  that,  as  between  the  two 
races,  the  rate  of  mortality  for  all  ages  is 
invariably  much  greater  among  the  colored 
than  among  the  white,  and  that  the  disparity 
is  more  marked  in  the  case  of  children  under 
five  years  of  age.  The  colored  race  appears 
to  enjoy  an  advantage  in  malarial  fevers  and 
cancerous  diseases,  while  it  is  at  a  disad- 
vantage in  all  the  other  diseases.  Mr.  Pat- 
terson's tables,  exhibiting  the  increase  by 
decades  of  the  colored  population  in  the 
United  States,  given  in  "  The  Popular  Sci- 
ence Monthly"  for  September,  1881,  show 
that  the  rate  of  increase  during  the  decade, 
including  the  war,  fell  off  by  sixty  or  sev- 
enty per  cent.  The  rate  was,  however, 
brought  up  to  near  its  highest  figure  in  the 
returns  of  the  last  census.  The  last  fact  is 
held  by  Dr.  Ilerrick  to  correct  the  belief 
that  the  African  race  is  destined  to  disap- 
pear in  the  struggle  for  existence.  "  Ap- 
parently, this  race  is  increasing  more  rapidly 
than  its  white  compatriot."  The  fact,  how- 
ever, which  seems  to  have  been  overlooked, 
should  be  borne  in  mind,  that  the  mulattoes 
and  quadroons  are  all  reckoned  as  colored, 
so  that  the  increase  is  partly  due  to  the 
whites.  If  the  rapid  increase  of  the  colored 
race  proves  anything,  it  is  that  there  is 
plenty  of  room  yet  for  that  class  of  people. 
This  leads  to  the  consideration  of  what  will 
probably  be  the  future  of  the  colored  people 
when  they  are  crowded  upon.     "  Whatever 


P  OP  TJLAR  MIS  CELL  ANY. 


7i5 


may  be  the  capacity  of  the  race  for  develop- 
ment in  a  state  of  peace,  it  is  apparent, 
from  the  great  check  on  their  increase  be- 
tween 1860  and  1S70,  by  the  operations  of 
the  civil  war,  that  any  serious  disturbance 
of  their  industrial  pursuits,  like  a  prolonged 
foreign  war  or  political  convulsions  at  home, 
would  produce  such  distress  as  to  disturb 
profoundly  their  vital  movements.  The 
same  event  would  follow  an  over-produc- 
tion of  the  staples  grown  by  their  labor, 
owing  to  their  habitual  improvidence.  Thus 
far  they  have  experienced  no  serious  rivalry, 
and  therefore  no  check  to  their  natural  in- 
crease. .  .  .  This  fact  is  undoubtedly  fa- 
vorable to  the  numerical  increase  of  the 
race,  though  it  is  equally  clear  that  it  tends 
at  the  same  time  to  delay  its  intellectual 
improvement  by  deterring  individuals  from 
pursuing  other  and  higher  industries.  In 
any  event,  there  is  little  danger  that  either 
race  will  severely  encroach  on  the  ground  of 
the  other  in  our  time,  and  no  danger  that 
the  colored  population  of  any  part  of  the 
country  will  be  in  the  way  of  the  whites, 
unless  they  should  so  far  advance  intellect- 
ually and  morally  as  to  win  a  commanding 
position  by  sheer  force  of  merit." 

Northern  Transcontinental  Snrvey. — A 

"Northern  Transcontinental  Survey"  has 
been  organized  in  the  interest  of  the  North- 
ern Pacific  Railroad  and  its  allied  lines, 
under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Raphael  Pum- 
pelly,  the  purpose  of  which  is  to  obtain  a 
satisfactory  knowledge  of  the  extensive, 
hardly  explored  regions  which  may  be  made 
tributary  to  those  lines  and  their  resources. 
It  has  been  divided  into  departments  of 
mineral  resources,  climate,  rivers  and  irri- 
gation, soils,  forests,  economic  botany,  labo- 
ratory, and  topography,  which  have  several- 
ly been  put  in  charge  of  specialists.  A 
considerable  amount  of  preliminary  work 
was  done  last  year,  the  most  important, 
perhaps,  of  which  related  to  the  examina- 
tion of  the  black  coals  of  the  western  part 
of  the  region  under  survey  and  of  the  brown 
coal-fields  of  Dakota.  The  former  coals 
were  found  to  be  good  steam-generators,  the 
latter  not,  except  in  combination  or  after 
special  preparation.  Particular  attention  is 
paid  to  the  forest  resources  of  the  country, 
in  which  we  are  glad  to  see  that  the  eco- 


nomical use  of  the  timber  is  not  wholly  left 
out  of  sight ;  and  observations  are  making 
on  the  useful  grasses  of  the  country.  The 
results  of  the  surveys  are  to  be  cartographi- 
cally  represented,  in  a  series  of  maps  de- 
lineating severally  topographical,  hydro- 
graphic,  climatic,  and  botanical  features. 

Langley's  Observations  on  Solar  Radia- 
tion.— The  scientific  expedition  of  Professor 
S.  P.  Langley,  of  the  Alleghany  Observa- 
tory, to  the  summit  of  Mount  Whitney,  in 
1881,  has  led  to  some  important  and  novel 
conclusions  with  reference  to  the  effect  of 
the  atmosphere  on  the  action  of  the  sun's 
rays,  and  to  the  temperature  of  space. 
Among  the  principal  objects  of  the  expedi- 
tion were,  to  determine  how  much  heat  the 
sun  sends  to  the  earth  (the  solar  constant), 
and  what  part  of  the  surface  temperature 
of  the  planet  is  due  to  the  sun's  direct 
radiant  heat,  and  what  part  to  the  effect  of 
the  earth's  atmosphere  in  storing  this  heat. 
Mount  Whitney,  in  Southern  California,  was 
chosen,  because  of  the  conveniences  afforded 
by  its  great  height  and  the  dryness  of  its 
atmosphere,  and  because  two  stations  could 
be  found  upon  it  within  easy  signaling  dis- 
tance, and  yet  having  a  difference  of  more 
than  eleven  thousand  feet  in  elevation.  One 
of  the  earlier  observations  of  the  expedi- 
tion was  to  notice,  as  former  observers  had 
done,  "that  as  we  ascended,  and  the  air 
grew  colder,  the  sun  grew  hotter,  till  our 
faces  and  hands,  browned  as  they  already 
were  by  weeks  of  sunshine  below,  were 
burned  anew,  and  far  more  in  the  cold  than 
in  the  desert  heat.  As  we  still  slowly  as- 
cended, and  the  surface  temperature  of  the 
soil  fell  to  the  freezing-point,  the  solar 
radiation  became  intenser,  and  many  of  the 
party  presented  an  appearance  as  of  severe 
burns  from  an  actual  fire,  while  near  the 
summit  the  temperature  in  a  copper  vessel, 
over  which  were  laid  two  sheets  of  plain 
window-glass,  rose  above  the  boiling-point, 
and  it  was  certain  that  we  could  boil  water 
by  the  direct  solar  rays  in  such  a  vessel 
among  the  snow-fields."  This  observation 
induced  the  conclusion  that  if  the  earth's 
atmosphere  were  withdrawn,  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  surface  would  greatly  fall,  though 
under  a  materially  greater  radiant  heat ;  and 
Professor  Langley  expresses  the  opinion  that 


716 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


the  fall  would  be  at  least  to  50°  below  zero 
of  Fahrenheit.  "  We  see,"  says  Professor 
Langley,  "  if  these  results  be  true,  that  the 
temperature  of  a  planet  may,  and  not  im- 
probably does,  depend  far  less  upon  its 
neighborhood  to  or  remoteness  from  the 
sun  than  upon  the  constitution  of  its  gase- 
ous envelope ;  and,  indeed,  it  is  hardly  too 
much  to  say  that  we  might  approximately 
indicate  the  constitution  of  an  atmosphere 
which  would  make  Mercury  a  colder  planet 
than  the  earth,  or  Neptune  as  warm  and 
habitable  a  one."  A  much  greater  value 
than  has  hitherto  been  accepted  appeared 
to  be  given  by  the  observations  to  the  solar 
constant,  amounting  to  one  half  more  than 
that  determined  by  Pouillet  and  by  Herschcl 
near  the  sea-level,  and  even  to  more  than 
the  recent  values  assigned  by  M.  Viollc. 
The  bolometer  observations  at  the  summit 
and  base  of  Mount  Whitney  indicate  a  dif- 
ferent distribution  of  solar  energy  at  the 
upper  station  from  that  which  prevails  at 
the  lower  one.  They  also  indicate,  as  the 
author  states  in  a  communication  to  the 
French  Academy  of  Sciences,  that  only  one 
quarter  of  the  solar  energy  which  vivifies 
the  world  is  found  in  the  familiar  field  of 
the  visible  spectrum  and  the  ultra-violet ; 
and  that  the  other  three  quarters  are  found 
in  the  infra-red.  Thus  the  action  of  our 
atmosphere,  and,  as  is  inferred  from  the 
observations,  that  of  the  solar  atmosphere, 
is  to  absorb  the  short  rays  more  than  the 
long  ones.  The  real  color  of  the  photo- 
sphere is  blue  ;  and  "  white  light  is  not  the 
'  sum  of  all  radiations,'  nor  even  of  all 
visually  recognizable  ones,  but  a  composi- 
tion of  the  small  groups  of  special  rays, 
which,  starting  from  this  essentially  blue 
sun,  by  virtue  of  their  large  coefficients, 
and  by  a  kind  of  survival  of  the  fittest, 
have  struggled  through  the  solar  and  ter- 
restrial atmospheres  to  us,  while  others  of 
short  wave-length  have  failed  on  the  way." 

Infectious  Consumption. — Dr.  Alexander 
McAldowie  has  considered  the  much-debated 
question  whether  pulmonary  consumption  is 
an  infectious  disease  in  the  light  of  his  own 
infirmary  and  private  practice.  lie  is  of 
the  opinion  that  it  is  infectious,  although  it 
is  not  so  frequently  communicated  by  in- 
fection as  it  would  be  were  the  lungs  less 


well  protected  than  they  are  against  the 
access  of  germs.  He  mentions  four  cases 
where  the  wife,  previously  healthy,  and  with 
no  family  history  of  tubercular  disease,  be- 
came affected  while  attending  to  her  phthisi- 
cal husband,  and  two  cases  in  which  per- 
sons suffering  from  the  pneumonic  form  of 
the  disease  appeared  to  communicate  the 
tubercular  form  to  healthy  persons.  Phthisis 
is  not  often  communicated  in  this  manner 
by  ordinary  intercourse,  because  the  germs 
are  sifted  out  in  the  air-passages  by  the 
vibrating  action  of  the  cilia  situated  there, 
and  are  removed  by  expectoration.  The 
germs  floating  in  the  air  are,  moreover, 
commonly  dry,  and  of  feeble  infective  pow- 
er. The  lungs  are  liable  to  infection  only 
when  the  inhaled  germs  escape  the  filtering 
action  of  the  bronchi  and  reach  the  air- 
cells,  where  they  come  in  contact  with  a 
surface  highly  favorable  for  their  absorp- 
tion. This  happens  only  under  exceptional 
conditions.  The  parts  of  the  alveoli  most 
exposed  to  the  attacks  of  inhaled  germs  are 
those  near  the  entrance,  at  the  points  where 
the  small  bronchial  tubes  lose  their  cylin- 
drical character  and  become  covered  on  all 
sides  with  the  cells ;  and  pathological  ob- 
servation has  proved  that  these  are  frequent 
starting-points  in  phthisis. 

Snbterraneous  Effects  of  Atmospheric 
Pressure. — Hardly  sufficient  account  has 
been  taken  of  the  variations  in  the  pressure 
of  the  atmosphere  as  a  force  competent  to 
produce  important  effects  within  the  earth 
and  on  its  surface.  The  pressure  on  a 
man's  body  amounts  to  thirty  thousand 
pounds,  and  that  exerted  upon  a  table  ten 
feet  long  and  five  feet  wide  is  equivalent  to 
more  than  one  hundred  thousand  pounds. 
In  both  these  cases  the  pressure  varies  alike 
on  all  sides,  and  changes  are  not  directly 
felt ;  but  the  cover  of  an  air-tight  box,  the 
pressure  in  the  interior  of  which  could  not 
vary,  would  act  very  differently,  and  would 
respond  to  the  slightest  changes.  The 
crust  of  the  earth  probably  —  certainly 
where  cavities  exist — is  like  such  a  cover. 
The  consideration  of  this  fact  may  help  to 
explain  the  connection  which  many  persons 
think  they  have  found  between  earthquakes 
and  coal-mine  explosions  and  low  stages  of 
the  barometer.     A  part  of   the  weight  of 


POPULAR  MISCELLANY. 


717 


the  atmosphere  being  removed,  the  gases 
confined  within  the  earth  exert  a  stronger 
pressure  on  the  crust,  or  flow  out  and  are 
inflamed  when  they  reach  a  light.  Mr. 
Baldwin  Latham  has  found  that  the  streams 
flowing  through  the  chalk,  even  in  dry  sea- 
sons, give  increased  supplies  of  water  when 
the  barometer  is  falling,  and  diminished  sup- 
plies when  it  is  rising. 

Mental  Shoek  and  Inebriety.— Dr.  T.  D. 
Crothers,  Superintendent  of  Walnut  Lodge, 
Hartford,  Connecticut,  has  a  paper  in  the 
"  Quarterly  Journal  of  Inebriety,"  the  ob- 
ject of  which  is  to  show  how  psychical  trau- 
matism, or  injury  from  mental  agitation  or 
powerful  emotion,  an  agency  whose  opera- 
tion is  not  generally  recognized,  is  often  an 
active  cause  of  inebriety.  He  marks  two 
distinct  periods  in  all  cases  of  inebriety,  the 
first  of  which,  beginning  somewhere  in  the 
past,  is  unknown  and  not  noticeable  to  or- 
dinary observers,  and  terminates  with  the 
first  excessive  use  of  alcohol.  The  second 
period  starts  from  this  point,  is  noted  by  the 
occasional  or  continuous  excessive  use  of 
spirits,  is  terminated  only  by  recovery  or 
death,  and  is  the  period  which  comes  under 
the  observation  of  friends  and  relatives,  and 
can  be  accurately  studied.  The  causes  and 
conditions  in  the  first,  or  neurotic  stage,  are 
often  as  varied  and  complex  as  those  which 
produce  insanity,  and  often,  notwithstand- 
ing their  obscurity,  present  distinct  intima- 
tions of  inebriety  far  in  advance.  "  A  cer- 
tain progressive  march  may  be  noted,  often 
broken  by  long  obscure  halts  or  precipitous 
strides,  changing  into  various  forms  and 
manifestations  of  disease.  The  neurotic 
stage  will  be  marked,  in  most  cases,  by 
nerve  exhaustion,  instability  of  nerve-force, 
and  nutrient  perversions.  Not  unfrequently 
delusions  and  hallucinations  about  foods  and 
drinks  are  unmistakable  symptoms.  Often 
persons  who  have  never  used  spirits,  and 
become  fanatical  in  their  efforts  to  reform 
inebriates,  are  in  this  stage,  and  sooner  or 
later  glide  into  the  next  one."  Psychical 
traumatism  may  be  considered  both  as  a  di- 
rect cause  of  inebriety  and  as  an  indirect 
cause,  as  which  it  develops  conditions  that 
rapidly  merge  into  the  disorder.  A  num- 
ber of  incidents  that  have  come  under  the 
author's  observation,  some  of  which  are  ex- 


tremely striking,  arc  given  as  illustrative  of 
its  operation  from  both  points  of  view.  In 
all  of  them  inebriety  has  immediately  or 
gradually  supervened  in  persons  who  would 
have  been  the  last  to  be  suspected  of  liabil- 
ity to  it,  after  some  intense  mental  shock 
or  surprise  or  information  of  disaster.  The 
usual  explanation  of  such  cases,  says  Dr. 
Crothers,  would  be  that  the  victims  drank 
from  despair  and  discouragement,  "but  a 
general  study  will  show  a  state  of  psychical 
pain  and  agony  for  which  alcohol  alone  acts 
as  a  sedative.  It  very  commonly  appears, 
in  a  study  of  cases  of  inebriety,  that  the  pa- 
tient will  refer  to  some  event  of  life,  or  dis- 
ease, from  which  he  is  confident  that  he  lost 
some  power  or  force  which  he  has  never  re- 
gained. These  incidents  do  not  come  out  as 
reasons  for  his  drinking,  but  as  facts  per- 
taining to  his  vigor  or  power  of  endurance." 
Such  cases  of  loss  of  power  are  found  in 
every  community,  "  and  of  course  do  not  all 
become  inebriates,  but,  like  a  large  class  of 
eccentrics,  are  on  the  border-line,  or  inner 
circle,  shading  into  inebriety  or  insanity.  A 
large  number  of  persons  engaged  in  the 
late  civil  war,  who  suffered  hardship  and 
mal-nutrition,  became  inebriates  years  after, 
following  the  psychical  and  physical  trau- 
matism received  at  that  time.  The  effects 
of  commercial  disasters,  of  bankruptcies, 
and  panics  in  Wall  Street,  can  be  seen  in 
inebriate  or  insane  asylums.  In  the  asy- 
lum at  Bingharnton,  New  York,  for  inebri- 
ates, at  one  time  were  eighteen  cases  whose 
inebriety  could  be  clearly  traced  to  a  great 
money-panic  in  Wall  Street  known  as  '  Black 
Friday.'  Many  of  these  cases  were  purely 
from  psychical  traumatism,  others  were  al- 
ready in  the  dark  circle  close  to  inebriety, 
and  needed  but  a  slight  cause  to  precipitate 
them  over.  Political  failures  are  also  fer- 
tile fields  for  the  growth  of  inebriety  and 
the  action  of  psychical  influences.  Annu- 
ally a  large  class,  after  the  close  of  a  cam- 
paign, find  themselves  literally  inebriates, 
and,  if  they  have  money,  go  to  water-cures, 
inebriate  asylums,  or  to  the  far  West,  and 
begin  life  again.  The  inebriety  is  often  of 
the  paroxysmal  or  dipsomaniacal  type,  with 
free  intervals  of  sobriety  that  give  renewed 
energy  to  the  delusive  hope  that  recovery 
will  follow  the  bidding  of  the  will.  A  class 
of  moderate  or  occasional  drinkers  are  al- 


7i8 


THE  POPULAR  SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


ways  more  susceptible  to  these  influences 
than  abstainers  "  ;  and  it  may  be  stated  as 
a  rule  that  moderate  drinkers  suffer  more 
frequently  from  psychical  shocks  of  every 
form,  and  are  more  likely  to  become  inebri- 
ates from  such  causes. 

Tine  Poison  of  Cesspools. — M.  Bouveret 
has  reported  on  a  remarkable  case  of  poi- 
soning from  a  cesspool  which  took  place  at 
Lyons.  A  workman,  twenty-one  years  old, 
having  fallen  into  a  cesspool,  was  taken  out, 
after  having  been  in  it  about  five  minutes, 
in  a  state  of  convulsions.  Inhalations  of 
oxygen  were  administered  for  several  hours, 
but  the  convulsions  continued  with  rise  of 
temperature.  Transfusion  of  blood  (defi- 
brinatcd)  was  then  tried  without  effect,  and 
death  took  place  about  twenty-four  hours 
after  the  accident.  The  blood  was  found, 
on  post-mortem  examination,  to  be  black 
and  fluid,  the  lungs  and  kidneys  were  con- 
gested, and  the  bronchial  mucous  membrane 
showed  a  bright  hyperaemia,  but  no  coagu- 
lation was  observed  in  the  pulmonary  artery. 
The  chief  toxic  agent  in  the  contents  of 
cesspools  is  supposed  to  be  sulphide  of  am- 
monium, a  poison  which  acts  on  the  blood  in 
the  same  manner  as  carbonic  oxide,  deoxi- 
dizing the  red  globules  and  making  them 
unfit  to  perform  their  functions.  Transfu- 
sion of  blood  has  been  performed  with  suc- 
cess in  cases  of  poisoning  by  carbonic  oxide, 
and  its  failure  in  the  present  case  has  pro- 
voked the  suggestion  that  cesspools  may 
contain  gaseous  poisons  far  more  complex 
and  more  virulent  than  sulphide  of  ammo- 
nium, the  action  of  which  is  more  profound 
and  complicated. 

Ancient  Maya  Records.— Dr.  Daniel  G. 
Brinton,  of  Philadelphia,  has  recently  come 
into  possession  of  a  number  of  facsimile 
copies  of  the  Books  of  Chilan  Balam,  or 
the  local  records  of  the  Mayas  of  Yucatan, 
and  has  published  an  interesting  account  of 
their  character  and  contents.  The  name, 
"  Book  of  Chilan  Balam,"  was  applied  to 
all  the  works  of  this  character,  to  Avhatever 
village  they  might  belong,  and  the  different 
ones  were  distinguished  by  adding  the  name 
of  the  village.  Only  a  few  of  the  original 
volumes  remain,  most  of  them  having  been 
destroyed  by  the  priests   as  heretical  and 


mischievous ;  but  a  few  were  afterward 
compiled  over  again  by  natives  from  their 
own  knowledge  and  recollections.  Parts 
or  descriptions  of  sixteen  of  these  works 
remain,  not  one  of  which  has  ever  been 
printed,  or  even  entirely  translated  into  any 
European  tongue.  Their  contents  consist 
chiefly  of  astrological  and  prophetic  mat- 
ters, ancient  chronology  and  history,  medi- 
cal recipes  and  directions,  and,  in  the  later 
ones,  later  history  and  Christian  teachings. 
One  of  the  most  valuable  features  in  these 
records  lies  in  the  hints  they  furnish  of  the 
hieroglyphic  system  of  the  Mayas,  concern- 
ing which  our  only  information  has  hitherto 
been  in  the  essay  of  Bishop  Landa.  Some 
features  of  Bishop  Landa's  notes  on  this 
subject  have  been  condemned  by  Dr.  Val- 
entini,  as  we  have  already  mentioned,  as 
"  fabrications,"  but  Dr.  Brinton  pronounces 
Dr.  Yalcntini's  attack  "  an  amount  of  skep- 
ticism which  exceeds  both  justice  and  prob- 
ability," and  he  believes  that  the  result  of 
a  comparison  with  the  hieroglyphics  of  the 
books  of  Chilan  Balam  and  of  the  Codex 
Troano  will  refute  the  doubts  and  slurs  that 
have  been  cast  on  the  bishop's  work,  and 
"  vindicate  for  it  a  very  high  degree  of  ac- 
curacy." 

Lessons  on  the  Danger  of  Narcotics. — 

The  deceased  poet,  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti, 
was  a  victim  of  chloral,  which  he  took  for 
sleeplessness,  with  the  inevitable  result. 
About  1868,  his  friend  Mr.  Watts  says,  in 
the  "  Athenaeum,"  he  was  attacked  with  in- 
somnia, one  of  the  most  distressing  effects 
of  which  as  manifested  in  him  was  "  a  nerv- 
ous shrinking  from  personal  contact  with 
any  save  a  few  intimate  friends.  This  pe- 
culiar kind  of  nervousness  may  be  aggra- 
vated by  the  use  of  sleeping  draughts,  and 
in  his  case  was  thus  aggravated.  ...  No 
man  ever  lived  who  was  so  generous  as  he 
in  sympathizing  with  other  men's  work, 
save  only  when  the  cruel  fumes  of  chloral 
turned  him  against  everything."  Another 
conspicuous  warning  against  the  use  of  nar- 
cotics is  given  in  the  case  of  the  death  of 
Dr.  Thomas  Atkinson  Elias,  a  physician  of 
Southport,  England,  under  circumstances 
which  led  the  coroner's  jury  to  believe  that 
it  was  caused  by  an  overdose  of  morphia. 
It  was  shown  at  the  inquest  that  he  was 


NOTES. 


719 


occasionally  troubled  with  sleeplessness  and 
frequently  took  for  it  morphia,  chloral,  ne- 
penthe, or  bromide  of  potassium.  It  is 
lamentable,  says  the  "  Lancet,"  to  see  medi- 
cal men  drift  into  such  uses  of  drugs,  which 
engender  the  very  evils  for  which  they  arc 
taken,  and  are  so  apt  to  issue  in  results 
quite  uncontemplated.  "  Such  evils  are  to 
be  cured,  and  meantime  borne  with  patience, 
not  met  by  dangerous  medicines  in  random 
doses." 

Mechanical    and    Vital    Education.— 

"  Some  dangers  of  education "  are  treated 
with  much  intelligence  in  a  thoughtful 
essay  in  the  "Saturday  Review."  One  of 
the  dangers  relates  to  the  difference  be- 
tween what  may  be  called  mechanical  and 
vital  education.  By  mechanical  education 
is  meant  "  the  imbuing  the  mind  with  those 
elements  which  can  be  taught  by  pure  rule ; 
in  which  no  demand  is  made  on  the  child 
or  youth  beyond  attention  and  industry ; 
into  which  the  clement  of  choice  on  his 
part  does  not  enter.  Such  elements  there 
are  in  every  subject."  Among  them  are 
the  teaching  of  the  alphabet,  of  the  pro- 
nunciation of  written  words  or  syllables,  of 
spelling,  of  writing,  of  the  multiplication- 
table,  of  rules  for  the  addition  or  subtrac- 
tion of  fractions,  of  many  other  arithmetical 
processes,  and,  in  the  higher  subjects,  the 
inculcation  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  gram- 
mar and  vocabulary,  of  the  propositions  of 
Euclid,  of  historical  dates  and  facts,  and  of 
many  elements  in  the  most  difficult  branches 
of  learning,  the  processes  of  which  are  me- 
chanical and  nothing  more.  "But  in  all 
sound  education  these  mechanical  rules  are 
never  treated  as  an  end  in  themselves,  nor 
again  as  a  mere  stepping-stone  to  other 
mechanical  rules  of  a  more  difficult  kind. 
They  are,  each  and  all  of  them,  keys  to 
unlock  the  several  successive  chambers  of 
the  world  in  which  we  live ;  and,  whether 
the  treasures  stored  up  in  those  chambers 
are  of  a  material  or  spiritual  kind,  .  .  .  the 
unfolding  of  these  several  treasures  is  not 
in  any  way  a  mechanical,  it  is  a  vital  process. 
And  here  a  totally  new  element  comes  in  on 
the  part  of  the  student.  It  is  no  longer 
with  him  a  matter  of  attention  only ;  he  will 
begin  to  exercise  choice.  It  is  found  by 
experience  that  boys  and  girls  are  not  in- 
capable of  taking  interest  in  the  world  in 


which  they  live ;  but  no  prescribed  plan  for 
creating  such  an  interest  in  them  is  pos- 
sible. Thousands  of  interesting  topics  may 
be  unfolded  before  the  eyes  of  a  boy,  and 
he  will  have  none  of  them :  at  last  some- 
thing occurs  which  touches  him ;  curiosity 
or  sympathy  is  awakened ;  and  from  that 
moment  he  takes  an  initiative,  his  vital 
education  is  on  the  move.  And  from  that 
moment  the  mechanical  inculcation  of  rules 
ought  to  be  somewhat  relaxed ;  not  that  it 
may  not  still  be  necessary  sometimes,  but 
it  ought  not  to  be  suffered  to  interfere  with 
the  more  important  element — the  spontane- 
ous pursuit  of  knowledge,  the  spontaneous 
feeling  of  sympathy  with  men.  Now,  here 
is  the  delicate,  the  critical  point  in  educa- 
tion, the  point  at  which  the  teacher  or  the 
educational  authority  has  such  serious  diffi- 
culties to  contend  with  in  making  a  decision. 
.  .  .  There  is  a  proper  medium  in  the  en- 
forcement of  the  mechanical  part  of  educa- 
tion :  if  it  is  enforced  too  little,  there  is  the 
mischief  attendant  upon  idleness  on  the 
child's  part,  besides  the  loss  of '  the  use  of 
a  valuable  instrument ;  if  it  is  enforced  too 
much,  vital  energies  will  be  quenched,  and 
the  whole  result  will  be  dry  and  formal." 
The  tendency  in  the  primary  schools,  and  of 
all  formal  competition  in  the  higher  schools 
and  universities,  is  to  produce  mechanical 
rather  than  vital  excellence. 


NOTES. 

Dr.  Charles  M.  Culver,  of  West  Troy, 
a  graduate  of  Union  College  and  of  the  Al- 
bany Medical  College,  has  been  making  the 
study  of  the  eye  a  specialty  under  the  guid- 
ance of  eminent  professional  men  in  Lon- 
don, Berlin,  and  Paris,  and  is  now  an  as- 
sistant of  the  celebrated  oculist,  Professor 
Landolt,  at  the  French  capital.  Dr.  Culver 
is  at  present  engaged  in  translating  from 
the  French  into  English  the  treatise  on 
"  The  Refraction  of  Light,"  by  Professor 
Landolt,  which  forms  the  second  volume  of 
the  comprehensive  work  on  "  Ophthalmol- 
ogy "  by  Wecker  and  Landolt.  It  will  be 
an  interesting  contribution  to  our  scientific 
literature. 

Dr.  George  M.  Beard,  a  physician  well 
known  for  his  investigations  in  nervous  dis- 
orders, and  the  contributor  of  several  arti- 
cles to  "  The  Popular  Science  Monthly,"  died 
in  this  city,  January  23d,  at  the  age  of  forty- 
three  years. 


720 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


Mr.  G.  W.  Tinsley,  of  Columbus,  Indiana, 
has  suggested  a  new  theory  of  the  operation 
of  solar  and  lunar  gravities  in  producing  the 
tides.  The  tide  on  the  side  of  the  earth  near- 
est to  the  attracting  bodies  is  induced  by  the 
acceleration  of  the  rotation  of  the  waters  on 
that  side  causing  them  to  rush  up  toward 
the  point  of  greatest  attraction.  The  tide 
on  the  opposite  side  is  due  to  the  formation 
of  an  axis  of  gravity  by  the  combined  at- 
tractions of  the  earth  and  moon,  around  the 
pole  of  which  the  water  accumulates ;  in  the 
same  manner  as  if,  when  we  had  a  fluid  sub- 
stance that  a  magnet  would  attract,  and  were 
to  fill  a  vessel  with  it  and  hold  a  magnet  un- 
der the  vessel,  we  might  expect  the  substance 
to  accumulate  to  a  greater  depth  immedi- 
ately over  the  magnet  than  elsewhere. 

The  Rev.  James  Challis,  Plumian  Pro- 
fessor of  Astronomy,  and  Fellow  of  Trinity 
College,  the  senior  of  the  professors  at  the 
University  of  Cambridge,  died  early  in  De- 
cember, in  the  eightieth  year  of  his  age.  He 
had  actively  discharged  the  duties  of  his 
professorship  from  1836,  when  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  succeed  Professor  Airy,  till  with- 
in two  years  of  his  death.  He  published  a 
considerable  number  of  scientific  works,  in- 
cluding twelve  volumes  of  astronomical  ob- 
servations. 

The  "  Moniteur  Industriel"  says  that 
electrical  force  is  regularly  installed  as  the 
propelling  power  of  the  trains  on  the  three 
railroads  from  Lichterfeld  to  Spandau,  Prus- 
sia ;  from  Port  Bush  to  Busa  Mills,  Ire- 
land ;  and  from  Zandvoort  to  Kostverlorcn, 
Holland.  Electrical  railway  lines  are  in 
construction  from  Wiesbaden  to  Neroberg, 
Prussia ;  at  Zankerode,  in  Saxony ;  a  sub- 
terranean and  subfluvial  road  in  London  ; 
and  one  in  South  Wales,  the  motive  power 
for  which  is  derived  from  a  fall  of  water. 
Of  lines  projected  are  the  urban  railways 
of  the  cities  of  Milan  and  Turin ;  the  Edi- 
son Company's  projected  line  in  the  United 
States ;  and  the  South  Austrian  Company's 
line. 

Signor  Antonio  Fayoro  is  about  to  pub- 
lish a  work  on  the  career  of  Galileo  while 
he  filled  the  chair  of  Mathematics  in  the 
University  of  Padua,  from  1592  to  1610,  a 
period  of  Galileo's  life  concerning  which 
little  has  been  hitherto  published.  It  will 
contain  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  docu- 
ments, for  the  most  part  unedited. 

Sir  Woodbine  Parish,  a  venerable  Eng- 
lish diplomatist,  a  former  vice-president  of 
the  Geological  and  Geographical  Societies, 
and  author  of  a  work  on  the  "  Natural  Histo- 
ry of  Buenos  Ayres  and  the  Rio  de  la  Plata," 
died  recently,  in  the  eighty-sixth  year  of  his 
age.  He  was  also  known  to  the  scientific 
world  for  having  taken  to  England  the  re- 
mains of  the  megatherium,  glyptodon,  and 
other  great  South  American  fossils. 


The  death  is  announced  of  Andrea  Ara- 
das,  of  Catania,  Sicily,  a  laborious  student 
of  marine  zoology  and  paleontology,  whose 
numerous  publications  extended  over  a  pe- 
riod of  forty  years. 

The  Peabody  Museum  of  Archaeology 
has  acquired  a  collection  of  contemporary 
potteries  in  various  stages  of  manufacture, 
and  pottery-making  tools,  of  the  Caribs  of 
British  Guiana,  which  were  bought  in  per- 
son several  years  ago  by  Professor  H.  A. 
Ward  from  a  Carib  woman  whom  he  was 
watching  make  earthen  vessels.  Among 
the  articles  were  several  small  and  rude  ves- 
sels which  Professor  Ward  saw  the  Indian 
woman  form  and  give  to  her  children  to 
play  with  and  amuse  themselves  while  she 
continued  her  work.  These  toy-vessels  sug- 
gest that  many  of  the  small  objects  of  sim- 
ilar character  found  in  mounds  and  graves 
may  have  been  the  playthings  of  children. 

Dr.  Gustave  Syanberg,  formerly  Profess- 
or of  Astronomy  and  Director  of  the  Observa- 
tory of  the  University  of  Upsala,  Sweden, 
died  November  21st,  in  his  eighty-first  year. 

One  of  the  largest  brains  on  record  is 
that  of  an  illiterate,  not  very  intelligent 
mulatto,  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  who  recently 
died  at  the  age  of  forty-five  years,  and 
whose  case  is  reported  by  Dr.  Haldeman 
in  the  "  Cincinnati  Lancet."  His  brain 
weighed  68f  ounces,  or  nearly  five  ounces 
more  than  the  famous  brain  of  Cuvier.  The 
case  was  mentioned,  in  our  December  num- 
ber, of  a  bricklayer  who  could  neither  read 
nor  write,  whose  brain  weighed  67  ounces. 

The  death  of  the  Marquis  Orazio  Anti- 
nori,  the  distinguished  zoologist  and  African 
traveler,  is  reported  from  Aden.  He  had 
just  started,  at  seventy-one  years  of  age,  on 
a  new  expedition  to  the  Upper  Nile. 

One  of  the  strongest  evidences  that  prac- 
tical education  is  destined  hereafter  to  re- 
ceive a  fairer  share  of  attention  at  the  old 
universities  is  afforded  by  the  fact  that  a 
course  of  lectures  has  been  begun  at  Cam- 
bridge, under  Professor  Stuart,  "  On  the 
Practice  of  Iron  and  Brass  Founding,  with 
Practical  Demonstrations  in  the  Foundry." 

M.  Palmieri,  Director  of  the  Observatory 
on  Mount  Vesuvius,  announces  that  he  has 
discovered,  in  the  lava  of  that  voleano,  a 
spectrum  line  corresponding  to  that  of  heli- 
um, the  element  whose  spectrum  has  hith- 
erto been  found  only  in  the  sun. 

The  French  Academy  of  Sciences  pre- 
sented M.  J.  B.  Dumas,  the  chemist,  on  the 
4th  of  December,  a  gold  medal,  in  commem- 
oration of  his  having  rsached  the  fiftieth 
year  of  his  membership  of  the  body.  M. 
Jamin,  representing  the  Academy,  expressed 
wonder  that  it  had  only  taken  fifty  years  to 
do  as  much  as  M.  Dumas  had  accomplished. 


4 


111 


I X CREASE  ALLEN  LAPHAM. 


THE 

POPULAR    SCIENCE 
MONTHLY. 


APKXL,  1883. 


NATUBE    AND    LIMITS    OF    THE    SCIENCE    OF 

POLITICS. 

By  Peofkssob  SHELDON  AMOS,  LL.  D. 

THE  progress  of  the  strictly  physical  sciences  in  modern  times  has 
had  a  twofold  influence  on  the  advancement  of  those  branches  of 
knowledge  which  deal  less  with  physical  than  with  moral,  social,  and 
political  facts.  On  the  one  hand,  the  exact  methods  and  indisputa- 
ble conclusions  of  the  sciences  concerned  with  matter  have  inaugurated 
modes  of  study  and  inquiry  which  are  believed  to  be  of  universal  ap- 
plication. On  the  other  hand,  the  standard  of  rigorous  logic  in  all 
studies  is  so  far  exalted  that  those  subjects  of  thought  or  investigation 
which  do  not  conform  to  identically  the  same  standard  as  that  main- 
tained for  the  study  of  matter  are  thought  to  be  not  worth  pursuing 
with  any  regard  to  the  claims  of  a  severe  logical  process.  This  sort 
of  antipathy  between  the  physical  and  the  ethical  regions  of  search 
and  argument  has  been  intensified  by  the  co-existence  of  two  opposed 
orders  of  minds,  the  ardently  speculative  and  the  persistently  practi- 
cal. The  former  are  discontented  with  the  notion  of  a  so-called  Sci- 
ence of  Politics,  because  of  the  complexity  of  the  subject-matter,  and 
the  intrusion,  at  all  points,  of  such  seemingly  incalculable  factors  as 
the  will  and  passions  of  mankind.  Practical  statesmen,  again,  im- 
mersed in  actual  business,  and  oppressed  by  the  ever-recurring  pres- 
ence of  new  emergencies,  almost  resent  the  notion  of  applying  the 
comprehensive  principles  of  science,  and  still  more  the  conjectural  use 
of  foresight,  in  respect  of  subjects  which,  for  them,  are  in  ceaseless 
flux,  and  can,  at  best,  only  be  safely  and  wisely  handled  by  momenta- 
rily adjusted  contrivances. 

Between  these  two  extreme  classes  lies  all  the  large  portion  of  so- 
ciety composed  of  persons  with  minds  less  distinctly  determined  and 
vol.  xxii. — 46 


722  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

trained  in  one  direction  or  the  other,  and  therefore  all  the  more  open 
to  be  impressed  by  influences  derived  from  sound  thinkers  and  ener- 
getic workers,  but  experiencing  these  influences  only  in  a  loose  and 
diluted  form.  The  aggregate  result  is  that  the  subject  of  Politics 
floats  in  the  public  mind  either  as  a  mere  field  for  ingenious  chicane 
or  as  a  boundless  waste  for  the  evolutions  of  scholastic  phantasy.  If 
Politics  are  to  be  vindicated  from  the  aspersions  cast  upon  them  from 
the  opposite  quarters  here  indicated,  and  are  ever  to  be  erected  into  a 
science,  with  its  own  appropriate  methods  and  limitations,  the  founda- 
tion of  these  skeptical  suspicions  must  be  investigated  and  their  real 
value  strictly  assessed.     The  investigation  will  proceed  as  follows  : 

1.  One  obvious  class  of  objections  to  the  possibility  of  applying 
rigorous  scientific  methods  to  Politics  is  founded  on  the  number  and 
nature  of  the  component  and  preparatory  studies  which  are  presup- 
posed in  all  strict  inquiries  into  the  theory  of  government.  Assuming 
that  the  physical  sciences — beginning  (say)  with  astronomy  and  end- 
ing with  physiology  or  jDsychology — have  reached  a  strictly  scientific 
stage,  there  yet  remain,  as  properly  leading  the  way  to  the  study  of 
Politics,  all  those  branches  of  knowledge  which  depend  on  the  compos- 
ite nature  of  man  both  as  isolated  and  as  in  society.  Such  are  Ethics 
in  the  Aristotelian  sense,  comprehending  as  topics  decorum  and  pro- 
priety as  well  as  duty  ;  political  economy,  which  deals  with  the  con- 
ditions under  which  national  wealth  is  produced,  accumulated,  and 
distributed  ;  law  and  legislation  (sometimes  comprised  under  the  gen- 
eral head  of  jurisprudence),  which  deal  with  the  essential  nature,  logi- 
cal distribution,  and  historical  growth  of  the  general  rules  of  conduct 
which  all  governments  maintain  and  enforce  ;  and,  lastly,  the  some- 
what novel  science  of  Sociology,  which  deals  with  the  inherent  prob- 
lems to  which  the  aggregation  of  mankind  into  groups  gives  rise,  so 
far  as  these  problems  can  be  abstracted  and  treated  independently  of 
government. 

This  list  of  studies,  whjch  might  be  multiplied  and  varied  to  any 
extent  according  to  individual  proclivities,  incloses  large  areas  of 
knowledge  over  the  subjects  of  which  the  human  will  and  human  pas- 
sions must  have,  at  least  in  the  course  of  ages,  and  in  passing  from 
country  to  country,  an  amount  of  influence  which  seems  to  set  scien- 
tific precision  at  defiance.  Nevertheless,  and  in  spite  of  all  the  con- 
troversies waged  among  those  who  prosecute  these  studies,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  in  all  these  pursuits  the  most  searching  and  exact  methods, 
so  far  as  they  are  applicable,  are  beginning  to  be  used,  and  the  cer- 
tainty and  universality  of  the  sequence  of  cause  and  effect — that  is,  of 
laws  of  Nature — to  be  recognized  as  a  premise. 

The  extension  of  the  like  severity  of  process  to  political  studies  is 
mainly  delayed  by  the  constantly  disappointing  incompleteness  of  the 
constituent  and  preparatory  studies  just  enumerated.  A  Science  of 
Politics,  indeed,  has  its  own  special  sources  of  embarrassment,  owing, 


NATURE  AND  LIMITS  OF  SCIENCE  OF  POLITICS.     723 

among  other  things,  to  the  necessity  of  co-ordinating  in  one  view  all 
the  conclusions  deducible  from  those  other,  and  as  it  were  introduc- 
tory, researches.  Of  course,  this  process  of  combination  abounds  with 
its  own  manifold  opportunities  of  error  ;  but  this  fact  need  no  more 
produce  despair  than  the  composite  quality  of  physiology  leads  the 
student  to  be  skeptical  of  the  scientific  character  of  inquiries  into  the 
constitution  of  the  animal  world. 

There  is  a  vast  difference  between  calling  a  branch  of  knowledge  a 
science,  because  it  can  only  be  profitably  studied  by  the  use  of  the 
same  logical  methods  as  are  indispensable  in  the  mastery  of  the  best- 
established  physical  sciences,  and  being,  as  yet,  scientifically  cultivated, 
or  advanced  in  outward  form  to  the  full  proportions  of  a  maturely  de- 
veloped science.  It  may  be,  indeed,  that,  from  a  number  of  causes  to 
be  shortly  adverted  to,  Politics  will  always  present  an  appearance 
neither  homogeneous  nor,  in  one  sense,  exact.  But  these  defects 
neither  impair  the  genuine  truth  of  the  universal  laws  to  which  the 
topic  is  submitted,  nor  ought  to  convey  any  imputation  on  the  only 
methods  serviceable  in  treating  it. 

Admitting,  as  a  provisional  and  practical  postulate,  the  freedom  of 
the  human  will,  it  might  indeed  seem  to  be  impossible,  on  the  face  of 
it,  to  bring  within  the  domain  of  stringent  scientific  methods  any  class 
of  materials  largely  conversant  with  the  direct  actions  and  emotions  of 
mankind.  But  there  are  certain  corrections  which  reduce  the  signifi- 
cance of  any  skeptical  conclusions  which  might  be  drawn. 

In  the  first  place,  the  more  extensively  and  minutely  historical 
studies  are  carried  on  and  the  investigations  of  travelers  pursued  and 
recorded,  the  more  uniform  does  human  nature  appear,  and  the  more 
calculable  are  the  actions,  sentiments,  and  emotions  of  large  classes 
of  mankind,  when  the  antecedents  and  surrounding  conditions  are 
ascertained.  So  far  as  political  inquiries  are  concerned,  it  is  more 
with  classes,  groups,  and  assemblages  of  men,  and  with  considerable 
stretches  of  time,  than  with  any  individual  men  at  a  given  moment 
that  the  investigator  is  occupied.  Thus  the  historical  method,  in  pro- 
portion as  it  is  extensively  pursued,  contains  in  itself  its  own  cor- 
rectives. 

But,  in  the  second  place,  if  the  researches  of  historians  and  the  re- 
ports of  travelers  contain  an  endless  and  boundless  mass  of  facts  which 
seem  rather  to  increase  the  list  of  human  eccentricities  than  to  reduce 
it  by  discovering  a  dominant  order  and  an  integral  unit  of  progress 
and  purpose,  yet  here  again  the  problem  of  finding  a  scientific  form 
for  the  theory  of  government  is  on  the  whole  simplified  rather  than 
otherwise.  As  explorations  of  all  sorts  are  multiplied  and  extend, 
they  take  the  place  of  the  logical  instrument  of  experiment  ;  and  the 
result  of  them  is,  that  a  limited  number  of  propositions  are  evolved 
which  admit  of  being  announced  with  a  fair  assurance  of  their  univer- 
sality.    If  the  area  of  observation  be  limited,  the  truths  reached  will, 


7 24  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

indeed,  be  proportionately  restricted  in  number,  but  within  this  area 
they  will  be  none  the  less  valid. 

Thus,  in  the  science  of  political  economy,  it  is  not  universally  true 
that,  in  all  conditions  of  society,  population  tends  to  increase  out  of 
proportion  to  the  means  of  subsistence  ;  for  the  effective  desire  of  in- 
dividual self-enrichment  constitutes  in  certain  conditions  a  reparative 
and  compensating  force.  So  in  law,  it  is  not  everywhere  true  that  a 
human  being  is,  in  a  legal  sense,  a  person  and  not  a  thing  ;  or  that 
laws  proceed  from  a  consciously  acting  political  authority  ;  or  that  it 
is  recognized  as  an  axiom  that  taxation  and  representation  go  together. 
The  several  propositions  here  chosen,  by  way  of  illustration,  from  two 
of  the  component  sciences  which,  with  others,  go  to  constitute  the 
complete  range  of  political  studies,  and  help  to  convert  those  studies 
into  a  separate  science,  are  only  partially  and  relatively  true  at  certain 
places  and  periods.  But,  within  these  limits  of  time  and  place,  their 
truth,  and  the  truth  of  all  like  propositions,  is  invariable  and  incon- 
testable. 

Thus,  if  the  composite  nature  of  Politics  impairs  the  universality 
of  the  majority  of  the  propositions  with  which  it  is  concerned,  this 
only  establishes  the  relativity  of  these  studies,  and  in  no  wise  detracts 
from  their  usefulness  or  supersedes  the  employment  of  those  rigorous 
logical  methods  which  in  other  respects  continue  to  be  applicable. 

2.  Another  reason  which  accounts  for  the  unscientific  aspect  under 
which  political  studies  usually  present  themselves  is  that  it  very  rarely 
happens,  or  has  happened,  that  conscious  attention  to  the  true  charac- 
ter of  governmental  problems,  to  their  difficulties,  and  to  the  modes  of 
their  solution,  is  aroused  in  any  nation  till  long  after  a  practical  solu- 
tion of  some  kind  has  been  instinctively  resorted  to,  and  a  consider- 
able advance  in  the  art  of  administration  achieved. 

An  exception  might  be  supposed  to  exist  in  the  case  of  colonies 
and  dependencies,  at  the  first  foundation  of  which  all  the  materials 
seem  to  be  within  the  conscious  control  of  the  parent  or  governing 
State.  But  it  is  just  on  this  very  account  that  theoretical  truths  have 
here  their  most  hopeful  platform,  and  are  habitually  applied  in  prac- 
tice to  an  extent  which,  because  of  unnoticed  but  vitiating  errors  of 
calculation,  is  often  fraught  with  serious  hazard.  The  Cornwallis  set- 
tlement in  Bengal,  the  early  land  policy  of  the  Australian  colonies, 
and  the  attempted  central  taxation  of  the  American  colonies  by  the 
British  Parliament,  are  all  instances  of  the  over-hasty  application,  to 
materials  believed  to  be  malleable,  of  firmly  fixed  political  principles. 
The  principles  themselves,  indeed,  in  all  these  cases,  needed  re-exami- 
nation and  restatement. 

The  obstacles  to  at  once  applying  even  the  best-established  prin- 
ciples of  government,  in  all  conceivable  emergencies,  so  soon  as  con- 
scious attention  happens  to  be  awakened  to  the  national  needs,  are 
sufficiently  obvious.     It  is  not   only  that  the  principles  themselves 


NATURE  AND  LIMITS  OF  SCIENCE  OF  POLITICS.     725 

usually  demand  modification  in  view  of  the  circumstances  of  the 
people  and  of  the  day,  but  that  the  greatest  allowance  must  always  be 
made  in  all  political  reforms  for  the  influence  of  fixed  sentiments  and 
habits.  It  also  may  happen  that  bad  institutions — such  as  a  bad  poor- 
law  system,  or,  in  the  criminal  law,  a  falsely-conceived  relationship 
between  crimes  and  punishments — may  have  generated  a  vast  and 
complex  web  of  affiliated  ideas,  customs,  institutions,  and  laws,  which 
can  severally  be  neither  defended  in  principle  nor  yet  rudely  disdained 
and  cast  aside. 

For  not  only  do  custom  and  habit  enable  a  peojile,  or  classes  of  a 
people,  to  work  in  long-established  grooves  with  the  smallest  amount 
of  friction  and  obstruction,  but  the  mere  fact  of  the  long  existence 
of  a  familiar  usage  so  far  fashions  in  its  own  image  the  mind  and  even 
the  conscience  of  a  people  that  a  critical  reformer  has  a  hard  and  un- 
popular task  to  perform  in  assaulting  even  the  most  indefensible 
abuses.  The  large  mass  of  the  people,  if  disused  to  political  change 
of  any  but  the  most  cautious,  slow,  and  tentative  kind,  have  their  sen- 
timents of  loyalty  and  reverence  outraged  by  the  sudden  introduction 
of  what  is  new  and  unfamiliar.  Their  mind  has  been  trained  and 
pruned  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  unable  to  conceive,  as  a  mere  intel- 
lectual notion,  a  better  ordered  world  than  that  in  which  they  live. 
Where  too  great  a  disparity,  both  in  sentiments  and  in  intellect,  exists 
between  the  reformer  and  the  people,  or  even  between  different  classes 
of  the  people  *in  the  same  community,  it  may  show  that  the  times  are 
not  yet  ripe  for  changes  recommended  by  deference  to  the  claims  of 
logic  and  of  justice. 

Instances  in  point  are  supplied  by  the  difficulties  experienced  by 
the  British  Indian  Government  in  dealing  with  such  patently  immoral 
institutions  as  polygamy  ;  by  the  attachment  of  the  Scotch  to  a  law 
of  marriage  which  notoriously  facilitates  the  most  cruel  of  frauds  ; 
and  by  the  obstacles  in  all  countries  to  any  comprehensive  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  systems  of  land-tenure  and  inheritance,  and  of  civil,  and 
still  more  of  criminal,  procedure.  These  last-mentioned  institutions 
have  seldom  been  radically  altered  in  any  country  by  any  process  short 
of  revolution,  however  persuasive  the  voice  of  right,  of  reason,  and  of 
utility,  in  favor  of  change.  So  vast  is  the  number  of  individual  per- 
sons interested  in  these  classes  of  matters,  so  well  habituated  are  they, 
and  consequently  so  deeply  attached,  to  the  recognized  forms,  usages, 
or  even  gestures,  customarily  in  use — many  of  which  are  of  a  public 
nature  and  are  daily  witnessed  by  all  men — that  any  vital  reconstruc- 
tion seems  little  short  of  sacrilege,  and  the  most  conclusive  reasons  in 
favor  of  it  are  scarcely  comprehensible. 

3.  It  is  needless  to  point  out  that  the  conception  of  Politics  as  a 
Science  is  much  affected  by  the  imperfections  of  Politics  as  a  practical 
Art.  It  is  not  only  by  reason  of  the  existence  of  ineradicable  institu- 
tions and  ideas  that  the  scientific  development  of  political  studies  is 


726  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

hampered  and  delayed.  There  is  another  reason  of  a  still  more  com- 
manding importance  which  operates  in  the  same  direction  with  a  still 
more  signal  force.  It  is  that,  at  any  given  moment,  when  the  legis- 
lator, or  administrator,  would  otherwise  most  desire  to  govern  with 
due  regard  to  well-established  principles  dictated  by  abstract  political 
science,  he  is  imperatively  urged  on  to  the  front,  and  impelled  into 
action,  by  the  pressing  necessity  of  instantly  choosing  between  a 
limited  number  of  possible  alternative  courses.  Most  of  all  is  this 
the  case  in  what  are  sometimes  called  constitutionally-governed  coun- 
tries—  that  is,  countries  in  which  representative  institutions  have 
reached  a  tolerable  degree  of  advancement,  and  political  knowledge 
and  interest  are  widely  diffused.  In  these  circumstances  a  sponta- 
neous organization  of  political  leaders  and  their  respective  followers 
into  parties  for  the  purpose  of  uniform  and  combined  action  is  sure  to 
have  taken  place. 

The  result  is,  that  an  artificial  effort  will  be  made,  at  each  critical 
occurrence  which  seems  to  call  for  the  intervention  of  the  Govern- 
ment, to  narrow  the  possible  courses  of  action  to  a  very  few  immedi- 
ately intelligible  expedients,  recommended  rather  by  their  rough  con- 
formity to  some  pre-existing  schemes  or  ideals  in  favor  with  the 
different  contending  parties  than  by  their  intrinsic  harmony  with 
scientific  requirements.  No  doubt  the  party  leader  who  is  himself 
imbued  with  a  scientific  spirit,  and  is  personally  disposed  to  do  as 
little  violence  as  possible  to  his  cultured  instincts,  will  do  his  utmost 
to  bring  all  his  measures  into  the  shape  which  his  logical  and  historical 
training,  applied  to  all  the  circumstances  of  the  special  case,  leads  him 
to  desire.  But  action  at  once  and  without  further  delay  is  unavoid- 
able. A  decision  can  only  be  deferred  at  the  cost  either  of  letting  go 
the  opportunity  for  providing  a  remedy  of  some  sort  for  a  possibly 
crying  abuse  ;  or  of  openly  confessing  impotency  ;  or  of  surrendering 
to  others  a  leadership  which,  with  all  its  demerits,  is  probably  believed 
to  be,  on  the  whole,  fraught  with  good  rather  than  with  evil.  Thus 
the  peremptoriness  of  political  opportunities  and  the  necessity  of  in- 
stant action  withstand,  in  a  country  with  free  representative  institu- 
tions, every  effort  to  impart  to  political  action  through  a  long  period  a 
comprehensive,  consistent,  and  scientific  character. 

It  is  no  wonder  if  the  same  class  of  facts  reacts  on  the  intellectual 
conception  of  the  position  of  Politics  as  a  subject  of  study  and  of 
knowledge. 

The  topic  is  naturally  relegated  to  the  region  of  caprice  and  acci- 
dent, or  to  that  of  tentative  experiment  and  spasmodic  contrivance. 
This  intellectual  consequence  is  intensified  by  the  fact  that  all  Govern- 
ments— and  not  least  those  known  at  the  present  day  as  the  freest  and, 
on  the  whole,  the  soundest — are  habitually  made  the  arena  of  purely 
ambitious  contention,  of  selfish  aspiration,  and  even  of  corrupt  con- 
spiracies against  the  public  well-being.     The  wider  the  territorial  area 


NATURE  AND  LIMITS  OF  SCIENCE  OF  POLITICS.     727 

of  any  particular  Government,  and  the  more  complicated  and  extensive 
its  essential  mechanism,  the  more  opportunity  there  is  for  the  exhibi- 
tion of  personal  or,  at  the  most,  of  local  self-seeking.  So  far  as  this 
prevails,  Politics  becomes  degraded  into  a  mere  vulgar  struggle  for 
money,  office,  or  power.  All  actual  reference  to  scientific  considera- 
tions is  excluded.  The  tone  of  public  thought  and  sentiment  becomes 
proportionately  infected,  and  all  the  claims  which  might  otherwise  be 
asserted  on  behalf  of  Politics  to  take  its  place,  by  the  side  of  other 
sciences  dealing  with  such  moral  elements  as  the  human  Will  meet 
with  a  skeptical  repudiation. 

Where  free  representative  institutions  are  not  found,  and  absolu- 
tism of  one  type  or  another  prevails,  the  way  is  more  open  for  a 
deliberate  choice  of  the  policy  to  be  pursued  in  any  sudden  emer- 
gency. Such  a  case  has  presented  itself,  again  and  again,  on  the 
occurrence  of  famines  in  British  India.  Could  such  a  casualty  occur 
without  being  long  foreseen  in  a  country  enjoying  a  popular  constitu- 
tion, the  question  of  remedies  would  be  instantly  debated  in  every 
kind  of  public  assembly,  and  by  all  the  organs  of  public  opinion,  with 
a  ferment  of  party  zeal  which  would  daily  gain  in  heat  and  vehemence, 
and  would  impel  statesmen  to  select  with  over-much  precipitation  be- 
tween the  limited  number  of  remedial  measures  which  enjoyed,  for 
one  cause  or  another,  the  popular  favor. 

The  legislation  demanded  in  the  case  of  a  failure  of  the  potato- 
crop  in  Ireland  has  more  than  once  illustrated  this  position.  One 
party  advocates  the  institution  of  public  works,  of  a  purely  wasteful 
or  superfluous  kind,  on  an  enormous  scale  ;  another  is  in  favor  of  in- 
discriminate out-door  relief  ;  a  third  recommends,  with  the  late  Lord 
George  Bentinck,  the  construction  at  the  public  cost  of  railways,  with 
the  purpose  at  once  of  employing  labor  on  a  large  scale  and  of  distrib- 
uting food.  However  much  a  judicious  statesman  may  be  opposed  to 
all  these  views,  yet  for  fear  of  being  reduced  to  nullity,  and  of  having 
to  give  place  to  opponents,  he  can  only  connect  his  own  name  with, 
and  invite  the  adhesion  of  his  followers  to,  what  seems  on  the  whole 
the  least  objectionable  of  the  popular  alternatives.  The  utmost  he 
can  do  is  to  combine  different  courses  in  such  a  way  as  that  some 
special  evil  of  one  may  neutralize  some  greater  evil  of  another,  and  to 
introduce  modifications  which  may  escape  general  attention,  but  which 
none  the  less  go  some  way,  at  least,  to  qualify  the  mischievous  opera- 
tion of  the  scheme,  a  professed  adoption  of  which  can  not  be  evaded. 

It  will  depend,  of  course,  very  largely  on  the  constitutional  cir- 
cumstances of  the  country  how  far,  even  in  the  case  of  a  pressing 
emergency,  the  art  of  Politics  may  be  made  to  comply  with  the  re- 
quirements of  scientifically  ascertained  laws.  Where  a  large  and 
promiscuous  population  has  to  be  satisfied  or  must  be  appealed  to  by 
statesmen  for  political  support,  the  measures  must  be  instantly  intelli- 


728  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

gible  and  not  too  far  removed  in  their  conception  from  the  average 
ken  of  mankind  as  represented  then  and  there.  The  ulterior  objects 
proposed  must  not  belong  to  a  too  distant  future  :  the  pursuit  of  them 
must  not  involve  what  seem  to  most  people  excessive  or  disproportion- 
ate sacrifices  :  they  must  easily  and  obviously  connect  themselves  with 
the  common  wants  and  feelings  of  the  many  at  the  moment,  rather 
than  with  the  (seemingly)  problematical  aspirations  of  a  few  in  the 
indefinite  future. 

The  case  is  different  where  popular  government  has  not  yet  estab- 
lished itself,  and  where,  in  consequence,  none  of  the  above  obstacles, 
even  at  a  critical  juncture  calling  for  the  immediate  intervention  of 
the  legislator  or  administrator,  are  presented.  But  the  exemption  of 
the  statesman  or  ruler  from  the  checks  of  popular  control  of  a  consti- 
tutional kind  by  no  means  insures  a  deference  to  purely  scientific 
demands.  Timidity,  rashness,  prejudice,  personal  rivalries,  and  the 
still  less  worthy  influences  of  calculating  self-interest  or  of  a  narrow 
ambition,  dwarf  and  vitiate  a  policy  not  less  surely  than  do  the  im- 
pediments due  to  popular  ignorance  and  incompetence.  The  states- 
man, in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other,  is  bound  to  act — and  this  too 
without  delay  ;  and,  though  a  scientific  resolution  can  not  be  ex- 
cluded, yet,  from  one  cause  or  another,  the  temptations  to  deviate 
to  this  or  that  side  are  numerous  and  urgent.  There  have  indeed 
been  statesmen  who  have  so  far  impressed  their  own  personality  on 
their  policy,  and  communicated  their  views  and  aspirations  to  the 
bulk  of  the  governing  population  that,  at  special  exigencies,  the 
public  confidence  previously  won  has  enabled  them  to  dictate  a  course 
scarcely  comprehended  by  the  people  at  large.  Such  a  position  was 
occupied  on  certain  occasions  by  Count  Cavour  in  Italy,  Presidents 
Lincoln  and  Grant  in  the  United  States,  even  to  some  extent  by 
Prince  Bismarck  in  Germany,  to  a  still  greater  extent  by  M.  Thiers  in 
France,  conspicuously  by  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  for  a  time  in  Eng- 
land, and  in  modern  times  by  Sir  R.  Peel,  Lord  Palmerston,  and  Mr. 
Gladstone. 

So  also  in  Governments  not  controlled  by  representative  institu- 
tions— such  as  those  of  almost  all  the  States  of  Europe  except  England, 
up  to  very  recent  days — there  have  always  been  found  exceptional 
rulers  who,  in  spite  of  all  temptations  to  indulge  selfish  prepossessions 
in  favor  of  ease  or  aggrandizement,  have  availed  themselves  of  the 
peculiar  felicity  of  their  situation  to  pursue  a  consistent  and  far- 
sighted  policy,  undisturbed  by  all  casual  occurrences  or  misadvent- 
ures. To  this  class  have  belonged  many  well-known  administrators 
of  British  India  and  of  the  Crown  Colonies  of  Gi'eat  Britain,  as  well 
as  certain  absolute  sovereigns  in  ancient  and  modern  times. 

It  appears,  then,  that  not  only  does  the  imminent  necessity  for 
immediate  action  present  serious  obstacles  to  the  pursuit  of  a  policy 
founded  on  the  teachings  of  critical  observation  and  a  wide-reaching 


NATURE  AND  LIMITS  OF  SCIENCE  OF  POLITICS.     729 

experience — that  is,  on  science — but  the  mere  fact  that  statesmen  are 
constantly  impelled  to  act  at  once  in  directions  which  very  imperfectly 
correspond  to  their  own  conceptions  of  what  is  really  best  throws  a 
shadow  of  doubt  and  uncertainty  over  the  scientific  character  of  the 
studies  concerned.  It  is  felt,  not  unreasonably,  that  if  those  who  are 
most  concerned  to  be  acquainted  with  the  best  methods  of  political 
research  forbear  to  turn  these  methods  to  account  at  the  moment  of 
the  utmost  need,  this  is  at  least  as  likely  to  result  from  the  inherently 
imperfect  and  illogical  nature  of  the  branch  of  knowledge  in  question 
as  from  any  other  cause.  To  this  comprehensive  skepticism  some  of 
the  classes  of  facts  above  adverted  to  may  be  held  to  supply  an  an- 
swer. The  unscientific  character  of  a  policy  adopted  at  any  crisis  has 
often  been  an  exact  measure  of  the  amount  of  external  pressure  ap- 
plied through  the  competition  of  factions,  or  through  the  impetuosity 
of  a  populace  only  jaded  into  an  unwonted  attention  to  political  affairs 
by  exceptional  events.  Where  this  pressure  is  not  at  hand,  rulers  still 
may,  indeed,  through  unworthy  influences  and  motives,  prefer  the 
worse  to  the  better  way  ;  but  enough  instances  of  the  persistent 
maintenance  of  a  deliberately  adopted  policy  in  the  face  of  the  most 
seductive  allurements  to  fluctuation  have  been  exhibited  to  show  that 
it  can  not  be  fairly  alleged  that  Politics  must  necessarily  be  unscien- 
tific because  few  in  the  real  business  of  life  have  time,  or  liberty,  or 
tenacity  of  purpose,  sufficient  to  withstand  the  impetuous  torrent  of 
popular  zeal  generated  by  sudden  crises  or  catastrophes. 

Probably  the  most  real  and  enduring  objection  to  the  claims  of 
Politics  to  assume  the  rank  of  a  true  science  is  the  confessedly  imma- 
ture and  imperfectly  developed  character  of  the  component  or  pre- 
paratory studies,  apart  from  which,  in  their  combination  with  each 
other,  the  study  of  Politics  can  not  be  pursued.  It  has  already  been 
noticed  that  the  complex  and  composite  nature  of  political  studies  is 
of  itself  a  presumption  against  the  facility,  if  not  against  the  possibility, 
of  ever  imparting  to  those  studies  the  rigorous  certainty  essential  to 
Science.  But  this  presumption  is  greatly  increased  by  the  fact  that  in 
such  broad  but  indispensable  preparatory  studies — confessedly  of  a 
scientific  aspect — as  Ethics,  Economics,  and  Jurisprudence,  there  are 
to  be  found  only  the  very  smallest' number  of  uncontroverted  propo- 
sitions. And,  even  as  to  the  logical  methods  applicable  in  each  branch 
of  knowledge,  no  generally  assented-to  decisions  have  yet  been  ac- 
cepted. 

There  is  thus  afforded  to  the  skeptically-minded  a  wide  opening 
for  treating  as  unscientific  a  study  which,  like  that  of  Politics,  must 
be  built  up  on  conclusions  yet  to  be  established  in  those  other  regions 
of  knowledge,  but  none  of  which  are  as  yet  established  with  a  certainty 
which  is  beyond  debate.  Nevertheless,  if  it  be  admitted  that  those 
component  studies  are  capable  of  being  placed  on  a  strictly  scientific 
foundation,  and  only  wait  for  longer  time  and  attention  to  assume 


730  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

scientific  exactness,  at  least  as  much  may  be  claimed  for  Politics,  and 
the  composite  study  may  advance  in  logical  perfection  at  an  equal  rate 
with  the  elementary  studies. 

The  general  result  of  these  considerations  is  that  there  are  a  variety 
of  solid  reasons  which  account  not  only  for  the  reputation  acquired  by 
Politics  of  being  an  inherently  unscientific  study,  but  also  for  the 
study  itself  having  advanced  only  a  very  short  way  toward  scientific 
completeness.  But  most  or  all  of  these  reasons  have  been  seen  to  be 
of  a  kind  which  hold  out  a  good  promise  for  the  future,  and  thereby 
afford  an  ample  encouragement  to  the  use  of  a  strictly  logical  method 
in  political  investigations,  and  to  the  attempt  to  create  a  scientific 
structure  of  ever-increasing  completeness  in  this  region,  as  well  as  in 
others  more  familiai-ly  associated  with  the  name  of  Science. 

A  science  need  not  be  built  on  universal,  nor  even  upon  general, 
propositions  ;  and  partial,  particular,  or  even  probable  premises  may 
justify  conclusions,  drawn  with  logical  correctness,  which  may  be  a 
firm  basis  for  action.  Where  truths  are  by  their  nature  restricted  in 
time  and  place,  or  where  evidence  is  yet  lacking  to  demonstrate  their 
actual  generality,  the  assemblage  of  such  truths  will  carry  with  it  a 
fragmentary  and  hypothetical  character  which  may  to  some  seem  in- 
compatible with  the  rigid  demands  of  Science.  But  where  the  inves- 
tigator himself  proceeds  in  strict  accordance  with  the  severest  logical 
requirements,  conducting  his  ratiocination  with  the  utmost  precision, 
and  distinguishing  at  all  points  the  possible  or  probable  from  the  cer- 
tain, the  universal  or  general  from  the  particular,  and  proof  from 
plausibility  or  mere  conjecture,  it  matters  little  what  name  is  given  to 
the  branch  of  inquiry  concerned.  It  lacks  no  one  of  the  essential  ele- 
ments and  recommendations  of  the  best  and  earliest-established  of  the 
physical  sciences.  Its  terms  are  submitted  to  the  same  process  of 
definition,  its  subject-matter  to  a  like  arrangement  into  groups  and 
classes,  genera  and  species,  and  the  resulting  propositions  are  reached 
by  a  course  of  reasoning  as  logically  irrefutable. 

There  ai'e,  indeed,  certain  plain  indications  that  the  study  of  Poli- 
tics is  already,  even  by  practical  statesmen,  being  placed  on  a  platform 
of  far  higher  scientific  exactness  than  ever  before. 

One  of  these  indications  is  the  large  and  discriminating  use  made 
of  statistics.  The  collection  and  due  use  of  statistics  belong  to  very 
modern  times  ;  and  owing  to  popular  prejudices  and  social  obstacles — 
such,  for  instance,  as  still  exist  in  England  with  regard  to  the  collec- 
tion of  agricultural  and  religious  statistics — they  have  not  yet  received 
anything  like  the  extension  of  which  they  are  capable.  Nevertheless, 
it  has  become  the  fashion  for  all  the  more  advanced  Governments  to 
rival  each  other  in  the  breadth,  fullness,  arrangement,  and  clearness  of 
the  numerical  information  they  obtain  on  all  the  groups  of  national 
facts  which  are  susceptible  of  being  tabulated  in  a  systematic  shape. 


NATURE  AND  LIMITS  OF  SCIENCE  OF  POLITICS.     731 

These  tables  of  statistics  are  periodically  furnished  by  the  Govern- 
ment, not  only  for  purposes  of  contemplated  legislation,  but  independ- 
ently of  all  thought  of  immediate  use.  The  fallacious  use  to  which 
purely  numerical  facts  can  be  put,  with  only  too  seductive  a  show  of 
plausibility,  is  beginning  to  be  fully  acknowledged  and  guarded  against. 
But  the  assurance  that  the  registered  number  of  births,  deaths,  and 
marriages,  within  a  given  period  and  area,  as  well  as  the  periodical 
records  of  crime  and  disease,  and,  even  more  obviously,  the  tabulated 
increase  or  decrease  of  commerce,  shipping,  and  manufactures  of  dif- 
ferent sorts,  may  serve  to  point  to  the  presence  of  general  laws — that 
is,  of  permanent  sequences  of  cause  and  effect — is  a  sufficient  justifica- 
tion of  the  labor  and  expense  involved  in  obtaining  the  severally- 
relevant  statistics.  The  comparison  between  the  numerical  results 
obtained  at  one  time  and  place  and  another,  and  between  those  pre- 
sented in  different  countries,  is  becoming  a  political  method  increasing 
in  prevalence  and  repute.  In  many  quarters,  indeed,  the  value  of 
purely  numerical  estimates  has  been  much  exaggerated,  and  its  pecul- 
iar liability  to  error,  when  made  a  basis  of  political  reasoning,  has 
been  too  much  ignored.  But  when  its  limits  of  application  are  duly 
recognized,  and  care  is  taken  to  distinguish  legal  and  political  causes 
from  those  which  are  purely  ethical  or  sociological,  the  study  and  use 
of  statistics  must  be  regarded  as  a  most  valuable  ally,  and  an  unmis- 
takable proof  of  the  scientific  character  of  political  studies. 

Akin  to  the  token  which  the  enlarged  use  of  statistics  affords  of 
the  growing  recognition  of  Politics  as  a  true  science,  is  the  ever-in- 
creasing disposition,  at  the  present  day,  to  await,  at  any  political  crisis, 
whether  legislative  or  administrative,  the  result  of  a  patient  examina- 
tion of  evidence  as  to  the  state  of  the  facts  and  the  previous  history  of 
the  question. 

It  is  now  the  practice  in  the  more  advanced  countries  to  take,  in 
the  path  of  serious  political  change,  no  step  which  seems  to  be  other 
than  the  next  step  onward  in  a  course  which  has  become  habitual, 
without  first  nominating,  by  one  process  or  another,  competent  persons 
to  conduct  a  critical  examination  and  to  deliberate  and  report  upon 
the  matter.  The  most  searching  powers  are  often  intrusted  to  this 
body  of  persons  to  enable  them  to  inform  themselves  not  only  as  to  all 
the  interests,  in  their  several  proportions,  to  be  affected  by  the  new 
policy,  but  as  to  the  history  of  the  general  policy  pursued  in  the  past, 
and  occasionally  even  as  to  the  practice  in  other  countries. 

It  often,  indeed,  happens  that  after  a  laborious  investigation,  last- 
ing for  months  or  even  for  years,  the  popular  interest  in  the  once- 
advocated  policy  is  found  to  be  exhausted,  or  diverted  into  new 
directions,  and  the  thought  of  new  legislation  is  abandoned,  and  a 
voluminous,  costly,  and  invaluable  report  cast  on  one  side.  Such  are 
among  the  inevitable  accidents  which  retard  the  progress  of  Govern- 
ment. 


732  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

But  what  is  of  importance  to  notice  in  this  place  is  that  the  grow- 
ing disposition  to  consult  past  and  surrounding  facts  before  inaugu- 
rating change  belongs  to  the  strictly  scientific  habit  of  mind  ;  and  if 
it  is  true  that  much  laborious  investigation  seems  for  the  time  to  be 
thrown  away,  yet  it  seldom  happens  that  complicated  and  far-reaching 
changes  are  encountered  without  the  assistance  of  a  previous  impartial 
and  deliberate  inquiry  of  the  kind  here  adverted  to.  The  scientific 
method,  in  Politics  as  elsewhere,  is  slowly  and  surely  getting  the  bet- 
ter of  the  empiric. 


-♦♦♦- 


THE  ECONOMIC  FUNCTION   OF  YICE. 

By  JOHN  McELEOY. 

JT^OR  some  inscrutable  reason,  which  she  has  as  yet  given  no  hint 
of  revealing,  Nature  is  wondrously  wasteful  in  the  matter  of 
generation.  She  creates  a  thousand  where  she  intends  to  make  use  of 
one.  Impelled  by  maternal  instinct,  the  female  cod  casts  millions  of 
eggs  upon  the  waters,  expecting  them  to  return  after  many  days  as 
troops  of  interesting  offspring.  Instead,  half  the  embryotic  gadi  are 
almost  immediately  devoured  by  spawn-eaters,  hundreds  of  thousands 
perish  in  incubation,  hundreds  of  thousands  more  succumb  to  the  per- 
ils attending  ichthyic  infancy,  leaving  but  a  few  score  to  attain  to  adult 
usefulness,  and  pass  an  honored  old  age,  with  the  fragrance  of  a  well- 
spent  life,  in  a  country  grocery. 

The  oak  showers  down  ten  thousand  acorns,  each  capable  of  pro- 
ducing a  tree.  Three  fourths  of  them  are  straightway  diverted  from 
their  arboreal  intent,  through  conversion  into  food  by  the  provident 
squirrel  and  the  improvident  hog.  Great  numbers  rot  uselessly  upon 
the  ground,  and  the  few  hundreds  that  finally  succeed  in  germinating 
grow  up  in  a  dense  thicket,  where  at  last  the  strongest  smothers  out 
all  the  rest,  like  an  oaken  Othello  in  a  harem  of  quercine  Desdemonas. 

This  is  the  law  of  all  life,  animal  as  well  as  vegetable.  From  the 
humble  hyssop  on  the  wall  to  the  towering  cedar  of  Lebanon — from 
the  meek  and  lowly  amceba,  which  has  no  more  character  or  individu- 
ality than  any  other  pin-point  of  jelly — to  the  lordly  tyrant,  man,  the 
rule  is  inevitable  and  invariable.  Life  is  sown  broadcast,  only  to  be 
followed  almost  immediately  by  a  destruction  nearly  as  sweeping.  Na- 
ture creates  by  the  million,  apparently  that  she  may  destroy  by  the 
myriad.  She  gives  life  one  instant,  only  that  she  may  snatch  it  away 
the  next.  The  main  difference  is  that,  the  higher  we  ascend,  the  less 
lavish  the  creation,  and  the  less  sweeping  the  destruction.  Thus,  while 
probably  but  one  fish  in  a  thousand  reaches  maturity,  of  every  1,000 
children  born  604  attain  adult  age.     That  is,  Nature  flings  aside  999 


THE  ECONOMIC  FUNCTION   OF  VICE.  733 

out  of  every  1.000  fishes  as  useless  for  her  purposes,  and  two  out  of 
every  five  human  beings. 

Many  see  in  this  relentless  weeding  out  and  destruction  of  her 
inferior  products  a  remarkable  illustration  of  the  wisdom  of  Nature's 
methods.  What  would  they  think  of  a  workman  so  bungling  that 
two  fifths  of  the  products  of  his  handicraft  were  only  fit  for  destruc- 
tion ? 

The  "  struggle  for  existence  "  is  a  murderous  scramble  to  get  rid  of 
this  vast  surplusage.  The  "  survival  of  the  fittest "  is  the  success  of 
the  minority  in  demonstrating  that  the  majority  are  superfluous.  It  is 
the  Kilkenny-cat  episode  multiplied  by  infinity.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  the  whole  trouble  arose  from  their  common  belief  that  two 
cats  were  a  surplus  of  one  for  the  Kilkenny  environment. 

Darwin's  theory  recognizes  in  this  super-fecundity  of  Nature  her 
most  potent  agency  for  improvement.  He  says,  in  effect,  that  the  im- 
possibility of  providing  subsistence  for  more  than  a  fraction  of  the 
multitudinous  creation  causes  a  mortal  struggle,  in  which  the  weaker 
and  inferior  are  exterminated,  and  only  the  stronger  and  superior  sur- 
vive. These  in  turn  have  offspring  like  the  leaves  of  the  forest,  which 
in  like  turn  are  winnowed  out  by  alien  enemies,  and  ruthless  reciprocal 
extermination,  the  process  going  on  continually  with  the  sanguinary 
regularity  of  the  King  of  Dahomey's  administration  of  the  internal 
economy  of  his  realm.  The  benignity  of  this  method  of  arranging  the 
order  of  Nature  is  not  so  apparent  as  a  member  of  the  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals  might  desire. 

But  our  opinion  of  this  law  is  not  cared  for.  The  main  importance 
attaches  to  the  recognition  of  the  fact  that  it  is  a  law.  Its  application 
to  society  is  obvious  :  Since  the  propagation  of  human  beings  goes  on 
with  entire  recklessness  as  to  the  quality  of  the  product  and  the  means 
of  subsistence,  some  strong  corrective  is  absolutely  necessary  to  estab- 
lish limits  to  population,  and  to  secure  the  continued  development  of 
the  race.  If  every  begotten  child  lived  to  the  average  age  of  forty, 
in  a  very  few  years  there  would  not  be  standing-room  on  the  earth  for 
its  people!  Even  with  such  limited  propagators  as  the  elephant,  each 
female  of  which  produces  but  six  offspring  in  her  bearing  period  of 
ninety  years,  we  are  told  that,  if  the  species  had  no  parasitic  or  other 
enemies,  it  would  only  be  740  years  until  elephants  overran  the 
earth.  Where,  then,  should  we  assign  limits  to  the  productiveness  of 
the  700,000,000  human  females  on  the  globe,  each  of  whom  is  capable 
of  producing  twenty  children  in  her  thirty  years  of  bearing  ?  If,  too, 
every  child  had  the  same  chance  of  life,  without  reference  to  its  men- 
tal and  physical  fitness  to  live,  humanity  would  soon  become  a  stag- 
nant slough  of  vicious  vitality.  As  there  are  only  food  and  room  for 
the  best,  and  as  the  development  of  the  race  demands  it,  only  the  best 
survive,  and  continue  the  work  of  propagation.  The  rest  are  destroyed. 
By  "  the  best  "  is  understood  those  having  that  harmony  of  mental  and 


734  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

physical  development  which  brings  them  most  nearly  into  accord  with 
natural  laws. 

Below  the  human  strata,  superabundant  generation  is  neutralized 
by  the  simple  device  of  having  every  organism  prey  upon  some  other 
one.  In  her  ten  years  of  fruitful  life  the  female  cod  lays  50,000,000 
eggs.  If  nothing  thwarted  the  amiable  efforts  of  herself  and  offspring 
to  multiply  and  replenish,  they  would  shortly  pack  the  ocean  as  full  as 
a  box  of  sardines.  But,  while  giving  one  animal  the  desire  and  ca- 
pacity to  produce  50,000,000  lives,  Nature  has  given  other  animals 
the  desire  and  capacity  to  annihilate  those  50,000,000  lives.  So,  all 
through  the  animal  kingdom  it  is  nearly  a  neck-and-neck  race  between 
Production  and  Extermination. 

Man  alone  is  practically  exempt  from  what  is  apparently  an  insepa- 
rable condition  of  all  other  forms  of  animal  life.  While  he  preys  on 
a  myriad  of  created  things,  there  is  no  created  thing  that  preys  on 
him,  and  assists  in  keeping  his  excessive  reproductiveness  within  the 
limits  of  subsistence.  Most  singular  of  all,  not  even  a  parasite  wages 
destructive  warfare  against  him. 

This  absence  of  destructive  enemies  must  be  compensated  for  in 
some  way,  and  it  is  accomplished  by  making  vicious  inclinations  the 
agents  to  weed  out  the  redundant  growths,  and  to  select  for  extermina- 
tion those  which  are  inferior,  depraved,  weak,  and  unfit  for  preserva- 
tion or  reproduction. 

If  five  human  beings  are  procreated  where  there  is  present  room 
and  provision  for  but  three,  how  are  the  surplus  two  to  be  picked  out 
and  exterminated  ?  Of  course,  each  one  of  us  feels  entirely  competent 
to  pick  out  in  his  own  community  the  persons  who  could  be  best 
spared,  but  public  opinion  is  at  present  hostile  both  to  any  practicable 
plan  of  making  the  necessary  thinning  out,  and  also  to  lodging  the 
power  of  selection  in  the  hands  of  even  those  of  us  best  qualified  for 
the  duty. 

Fortunately,  the  surplus  ones  relieve  us  from  embarrassment  on  this 
score,  by  selecting  and  exterminating  themselves.  Their  methods  of 
suicide  cover  a  wide  range  of  expedients,  but  all  are  very  effectual. 
Most  beneficent  of  any  of  the  facts  that  we  have  to  consider  is  the  one 
that  each  of  those  chosen  for  extermination  embraces  his  fate  with 
eagerness,  under  the  delusion  that  he  is  about  to  enhance  his  own  hap- 
piness. Immoderate  use  of  stimulants,  and  the  various  excesses  and 
vital  errors  which  are  grouped  under  the  general  head  of  "  dissipation," 
a  "  life  of  pleasure,"  or  the  still  more  expressive  phrase,  "  a  short  life 
and  a  merry  one,"  etc.,  are  favorite  plans  of  self-annihilation,  and 
leave  little  to  be  desired  in  the  completeness  with  which  they  do  their 
work. 

Competent  English  statisticians  estimate  that,  after  a  man  has 
begun  drinking  beer  in  large  quantities,  it  takes  him  21'7  years  to  kill 
himself,  and  a  whiskey-drinker  shortens  the  time  to  16*1  years.     In- 


THE  ECONOMIC  FUNCTION   OF   VICE.  735 

temperance,  being  among  the  milder  vices,  kills  slowly.  Sexual  sins 
slay  more  rapidly,  and  the  higher  grades  of  vice  do  their  work  with 
a  swiftness  proportioned  to  their  flagrancy.  The  Psalmist  says, 
"  Bloody  and  deceitful  men  shall  not  live  out  half  their  days,"  but 
police  records  will  show  that  David  materially  overstates  the  average. 
"  One  quarter  their  days  "  would  approach  much  nearer  exactness. 

Returning  to  the  major  premise,  that  the  "  survival  of  the  fittest  " 
means  the  selection  and  preservation  of  those  individuals  who  are  most 
nearly  in  harmony  with  the  conditions  of  their  environment,  and  that 
the  progress  of  the  race  or  species  involves  the  destruction  of  the 
weaker  and  inferior,  who  are  not  in  such  harmony,  the  conclusion 
follows  that  any  aberration  toward  vice  shows  such  a  discordance  in 
the  individual  with  the  laws  of  his  environment  as  marks  him  as 
inferior,  weak,  and  obstructive  of  the  race's  development. 

Vice  is  not  so  much  a  cause  as  an  effect — not  so  much  a  disease 
as  a  symptom.  Vice  does  not  make  a  nature  weak  or  defective  :  a 
weak  and  defective  nature  expresses  its  weaknesses  and  defects  in 
vice,  and  that  expression  brings  about,  in  one  way  or  another,  the  sov- 
ereign remedy  of  extermination.  • 

Temperance  agitators  fill  our  ears  continually  with  wails  as  to  how 
the  "  demon  Alcohol  is  yearly  dragging  down  to  dishonorable  graves 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  brightest  and  fairest  of  our  land."  This 
is  supreme  nonsense.  With  very  few  exceptions,  every  one  who  goes 
to  perdition  by  the  Alcohol  route  would  reach  that  destination  by  some 
other  highway,  if  the  Alcohol  line  were  not  running. 

Every  man  whose  sloth  or  improvidence  has  brought  himself  and 
his  family  to  beggary,  every  thieving  tramp  upon  the  highways,  every 
rascal  in  the  penitentiary,  every  murderer  upon  the  gallows,  hastens 
to  plead,  "Whisky  brought  me  to  this  !  "  because  he  knows  that  such  a 
plea  will  bring  him  a  gush  of  sloppy  sympathy  not  obtainable  by  any 
other  means.  But  whisky  makes  no  man  lazy,  shiftless,  dishonest, 
false,  cowardly,  or  brutal.  These  must  be  original  qualities  with  him. 
If  he  has  them,  he  will  probably  take  to  whisky — though  not  inevi- 
tably— which  then  does  the  community  the  splendid  service  of  hurry- 
ing him  along  to  destruction,  and  of  abridging  their  infliction  upon 
the  public.  People  who  have  done  much  in  the  way  of  reforming 
drunkards  have  been  astonished  to  find  how  little  real  manhood  re- 
mained after  eliminating  wdiisky  from  the  equation.  They  have  sup- 
posed the  manhood  to  be  only  obscured,  and  have  been  disheartened 
to  find  how  frequently  it  happens  to  be  demonstrated  that  there  was 
never  enough  of  it  to  pay  for  the  trouble  of  "saving  the  victim  of 
intemperance." 

If,  as  the  temperance  agitators  insist,  "  intemperance  is  yearly 
dragging  a  hundred  thousand  of  the  men  and  women  of  our  country 
down  to  the  grave,"  then  a  love  of  scientific  truth  compels  the  state- 
ment that  intemperance,  while  doing  some  harm,  as  is  usually  the  case 


736  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

with  natural  agents,  is  also  doing  an  immense  amount  of  good.  By- 
far  the  greater  portion  of  those  who  thus  succumb  to  alcoholization, 
and  to  the  deadly  practices  that  usually  accompany  it,  are  thieves, 
thugs,  prostitutes,  gamblers,  sharpers,  ruffians,  and  other  members  of 
the  criminal  and  quasi-cr'vcamdl  classes,  upon  whom  whisky  accommo- 
datingly performs  the  office  of  judge  and  executioner,  cutting  their 
careers  off  at  an  average  of  five  years,  where,  without  this  interposi- 
tion, they  would  be  extended  to  possibly  twenty  or  thirty.  The  cer- 
tainty and  celerity  with  which  it  ferrets  out  and  destroys  these  classes 
recommends  it  strongly  over  the  ordinary  processes  of  justice. 

It  was  exceedingly  unfortunate  for  the  community  that  all  the 
leaders  in  the  James  gang  were  strictly  temperate  men.  Had  it  not 
been  so,  their  career,  instead  of  extending  over  twenty  terrible  years, 
would  have  been  cut  short  inside  of  five.  Uncontrollable  predilections 
for  whisky  and  the  society  of  strange  women  brought  about  the  de- 
struction of  nearly  all  of  the  band,  who  from  time  to  time  were  slain 
by  each  other's  hands  or  those  of  justice.  Temperance  and  chastity 
in  a  rascal  of  any  kind  mean  an  immense  amount  of  mischief  to  the 
community.     Fortunately,  they  are  quite  rare. 

During  the  ages  of  terrible  oppression  of  the  European  people, 
which  culminated  in  the  French  Revolution,  the  main  amelioration  of 
the  hardships  endured  was  found  in  the  vices  of  the  oppressors.  The 
sword  of  the  duelist,  the  picturesque  horrors  of  delirium  tremens,  and 
the  loathsome  mal  de  Naples,  continually  swept  away  hecatombs  of 
tyrant  lordlings,  and  frequently  obliterated  whole  families.  In  fact, 
no  aristocratic  family  ever  withstood  these  adverse  influences  very 
long.  Extinction  came  as  promptly  and  as  certainly  as  the  curculio 
to  the  ripening  plum. 

The  student  of  French  and  English  history  is  continually  aston- 
ished at  the  brief  time  in  which  noble  names  remain  in  view.  They 
rise  to  dazzling  eminence  on  one  page,  and  on  the  next  go  down  to 
oblivion.  One  rarely  finds  a  name  of  a  century  or  two  ago  mentioned 
in  any  of  the  European  news  of  to-day.  Mr.  Freeman,  the  eminent 
English  historian,  shows  conclusively  that,  in  spite  of  the  perennial 
vaunt  of  ancestors  who  "  came  over  with  the  Conqueror,"  and  of  Ten- 
nyson's musical  mendacity  about  the  "  daughter  of  a  hundred  earls," 
the  families  who  can  trace  back  to  even  so  recent  a  date  as  the  reign 
of  the  Stuarts  are  quite  rare.  Idleness,  luxury,  and  more  or  less  fla- 
grant debauchery  have  done  their  appointed  work  in  removing  the 
deteriorated  forms  of  human  life  from  the  world,  that  their  room 
might  be  had  for  more  acceptable  growths. 

Society  has  been  most  aptly  likened  to  a  vat  of  good  wine,  which 
is  all  scum  and  froth  at  the  top,  dregs  and  sediment  at  the  bottom, 
and  good,  pure,  clear  liquor  in  the  middle.  Vice  does  admirable  work 
in  skimming  away  the  supernatant  scum,  and  in  drawing  off  the  dregs 
and  settlings.     Unceasing  fermentation  seems  to  be  a  condition  neces- 


THE  ECONOMIC  FUNCTION   OF   VICE.  737 

sary  to  the  health  of  society.  The  humhlest  work  incessantly  to  lift 
themselves  into  the  ranks  of  the  middle  classes.  The  middle  classes 
strive  as  earnestly  to  make  themselves  plutocrats,  aristocrats,  and  lord- 
lings.  This  passion  for  worldly  advancement  is  one  of  society's  most 
powerful  engines  for  good.  When  a  man  at  last  reaches  the  social 
summit,  he  desists  from  further  efforts  at  improvement,  or,  if  this 
period  comes  too  late  in  life,  his  children  do  it  after  him.  He  be- 
comes like  a  man  who  has  struggled  forward  to  the  head  of  a  proces- 
sion, and  then  refuses  to  march  another  step.  Some  vice  speedily 
removes  him,  and  clears  the  ground  for  another  man  to  come  to  the 
front,  who  is  also  removed  summarily  when  he  becomes  obstructive. 
Were  it  not  for  this,  the  upper  stratum  of  society  would  speedily  be- 
come so  crowded  that  ascent  to  it  would  be  impossible,  all  healthful, 
ambitious  motive  be  taken  away  from  the  middle  and  lower  classes, 
stagnation  follow,  and  society  perish  from  congestion. 

History  is  full  of  illustrations  of  the  benefits  of  vice  in  assisting 
to  shape  the  destinies  of  nations  and  peoples.  Take,  for  example,  the 
Bourbons,  whose  stupidity  and  tyranny  have  passed  into  a  proverb. 
In  the  last  century  their  worse  than  worthless  carcasses  filled  nearly 
every  throne  in  Southern  Europe.  They  seemed  to  breed  like  wolves 
in  a  famine-stricken  land,  and  their  fangs  were  at  every  people's  throat. 
Fortunately,  they  had  vices.  Wine  and  lechery  did  what  human  ene- 
mies could  not.  The  pack  of  wolves  rotted  away  like  a  flock  of  dis- 
eased sheep.  The  mortality  was  so  great  that  for  a  long  time  French 
kings  were  succeeded  by  their  grandsons,  and  great-grandsons,  their 
sons  all  burning  themselves  out  before  the  time  came  for  ascending 
the  throne.  The  unutterably  vile  life  of  Louis  XV  was  terminated 
by  the  small-pox,  communicated  to  him  in  the  course  of  a  most  dis- 
graceful amour.  His  grandson,  who  succeeded  him,  had  no  destructive 
vices,  and  so  the  people  were  compelled  at  last  to  resort  to  the  guillo- 
tine to  rid  themselves  of  him.  The  vast  problem  before  the  French 
in  1T90  would  have  been  greatly  simplified  if  Louis  XIV  had  been  a 
short-lived  debauche  like  his  father  and  two  brothers.  The  healthy 
German  blood  of  his  Saxon  mother  corrected  somewhat  the  virus  in 
the  Bourbon  veins,  and  he  lived  to  become  an  intolerable  cumberer 
and  obstructive. 

The  only  Bourbon  still  remaining  on  a  throne  is  the  King  of  Spain, 
with  whom  the  race,  as  a  royal  family,  will  probably  become  extinct. 
His  teeth  are  on  edge  from  the  sour  grapes  of  unchastity  which  his 
fathers  ate.  Like  his  mother,  the  notorious  Isabella  II,  his  sisters  and 
cousins,  and  indeed  every  one  of  the  Bourbons,  the  scrofula,  into 
which  the  ancestral  syphilitic  taint  has  been  modified,  has  made  of 
him  a  mass  of  physical  decay.  In  his  mother  it  has  shown  itself  in  a 
very  disgusting  cutaneous  disease,  which  she  has  for  years  tried  to 
ameliorate  or  cure,  in  a  truly  Bourbonish  way,  by  wearing  the  under- 
clothing of  a  nun  of  high  repute  for  piety.  His  sisters  and  kinsmen 
vol.  xxn. — 47 


738  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

all  have  some  one  or  more  of  the  scrofula's  varied  physical  degrada- 
tions or  sickening  deformities,  and  occasionally  one  of  them  goes  out 
like  an  ill-made  candle. 

A  few  years  ago  the  people  of  Holland  were  threatened  with  a 
most  serious  calamity.  Depraved  heredity,  unwise  sexual  selection, 
or  some  other  controlling  cause,  had  resulted  in  the  production,  as  the 
Prince  of  Orange — the  crown  prince — of  an  individual  of  a  weak,  in- 
ferior, and  depraved  nature.  His  was  such  a  nature  as,  on  a  throne, 
becomes  a  fountain  of  numberless  oppressions  and  evils,  and  rarely 
fails  to  goad  the  unhappy  subjects  into  rebellion,  attended  with  the 
usual  frightful  losses  of  life  and  property  and  vast  sorrows.  Fortu- 
nately, he  had  destructive  vices.  The  appetites  of  these  led  him  to 
Paris.  A  few  years  of  riot  and  debauchery  sapped  away  the  dan- 
gerous life  of  "  Lemons,"  as  his  worthless  boon  companions  nicknamed 
him,  and  he  died  as  the  fool  dieth.  The  only  harm  he  was  able  to 
do  was  the  indirect  damage  of  a  bad  example,  and  the  good  people  of 
the  Netherlands  were  rid  of  a  possible  Louis  XV,  at  no  greater  cost 
than  that  of  some  years  of  extravagant  life  in  the  French  capital. 
His  father's  youthful  excesses  and  present  penchant  for  pretty  ballet- 
girls  have  rendered  it  wholly  improbable  that  there  will  be  any  other 
heirs  to  the  Dutch  throne,  and  so  the  country  will  shortly  glide  into  a 
republic,  without  any  of  the  wrench  and  sanguinary  convulsions  that 
usually  attend  such  political  transitions.  The  superior  economy  and 
other  advantages  of  a  Parisian  brothel  over  civil  war  as  a  political 
means  are  obvious  to  the  naked  eye. 

The  most  commendable  feature  of  this  self-pruning  of  the  objec- 
tionable growths  in  society  is  that  the  victims  destroy  themselves 
under  the  hallucination  that  they  are  drinking  the  richest  wine  of 
earthly  pleasure.  When  execution  can  be  made  a  matter  of  keen 
relish  to  the  condemned,  certainly  nothing  is  wanting  on  the  score  of 
humanity. 

I  anticipate  the  objection  that  slaying  bad  men  by  means  of  their 
own  vicious  propensities  brings  much  misery  to  those  connected  with 
them.  But  then  all  innocent  persons  connected  with  bad  men  are 
fated  to  suffer  in  exact  proportion  to  the  closeness  of  the  connection, 
whether  the  bad  men  are  destroyed  or  not.  Weak,  selfish,  perverted, 
and  criminal  men  always  inflict  misery  upon  their  relatives  and  asso- 
ciates. This  is  not  usually  intensified  by  their  being  also  drunkards, 
or  debauches.  It  is  also  true  that  no  one  of  Nature's  methods  of  ex- 
tinction is  pleasant  to  those  connected  with  the  victim.  A  thief  or  a 
thug  providentially  dying  with  the  delirium  tremens  is  certainly  quite 
as  bearable  a  sight  to  those  before  whose  eyes  it  may  come  as  the 
spectacle  of  a  virtuous  man,  the  sole  support  of  his  family,  slowly 
wasting  away  with  consumption,  in  spite  of  all  that  loving  services 
and  agonizing  sympathy  can  do  to  retain  for  him  a  life  that  is  of  so 
much  value  to  all. 


PROGRESS    OF   THE  BACKBONED   FAMILY.        739 

To  the  next  objection,  that  the  practice  of  vice  is  not  inevitably 
suicidal,  since  many  rascals  live  to  attain  as  green  an  old  age  as  the 
most  righteous,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that,  plentiful  as  these  exceptions 
may  occasionally  seem,  their  proportion  to  the  whole  number  is  at 
least  as  small  as  that  of  the  exceptions  to  any  other  general  law  of 
biology.  The  policeman  on  the  next  corner  will  bear  decided  testi- 
mony that  the  number  of  scoundrels  who  survive  their  thirtieth  year 
is  astonishingly  small,  and  he  can  point  out  any  number  of  very  troub- 
lesome members  of  the  community  who  are  ending  their  lives  in  peni- 
tentiary or  poor-house  hospitals,  at  an  age  when  well-behaved  men  are 
just  entering  upon  the  serious  business  of  life. 

It  is  also  demonstrable  that  the  proportion  of  vicious  men  to  the 
whole  population  is  much  less  to-day  than  at  any  previous  period  in 
the  history  of  the  race.  This  shows  conclusively  the  improvement  of 
society  by  the  self-destructiveness  of  vice.  The  proportion  of  bad 
men  is  steadily  diminishing,  because  bad  men  die  sooner,  and  propa- 
gate fewer,  than  good  ones. 


-♦♦♦- 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  BACKBONED  FAMILY.* 

By  ARABELLA  B.  BUCKLEY. 

THERE  is  much  uncertainty  as  to  how  the  backboned  or  vertebrate 
animals  began  ;  but  the  best  clew  we  have  to  the  mystery  is  found 
in  a  little,  half-transparent  creature,  about  two  inches  long,  which  is 
still  to  be  found  living  upon  the  English  shores  and  the  Southern  At- 
lantic coast  of  the  United  States.  This  small,  insignificant  animal  is 
called  the  "  Lancelet,"  because  it  is  shaped  something  like  the  head  of 
a  lance  ;  and  it  is  in  many  ways  so  imperfect  that  naturalists  believe 
it  to  be  a  degraded  form,  like  the  acorn-barnacle — that  is  to  say,  that 
it  has  probably  lost  some  of  the  parts  which  its  ancestors  once  pos- 
sessed. But,  in  any  case,  it  is  the  most  simple  backboned  animal  we 
have,  and  shows  us  how  the  first  feeble  forms  may  have  lived.  Truly, 
it  is  only  by  courtesy  that  we  can  call  him  a  backboned  animal,  for  all 
he  has  is  a  cord  of  gristle,  pointed  at  both  ends,  which  stretches  all 
along  the  middle  of  his  body  above  his  long,  narrow  stomach  ;  while 
above  this,  again,  is  another  cord  containing  his  nerve-telegraph. 

There  are  large  fishes,  too,  which  have  this  cartilaginous  back- 
bone. The  young  shark  has  nothing  but  a  rod  of  gristle  or  cartilage, 
and,  though  he  is  one  of  the  strongest  of  sea-animals,  he  retains  this 
gristly  state  of  his  skeleton  throughout  his  life  ;  however  much  he  may 
strengthen  it  by  hard  matter,  it  never  becomes  true  bone. 

*  Abridged  from  Miss  Buckley's  book,  entitled  "  Winners  in  Life's  Race ;  or,  The 
Great  Backboned  Family,"  from  which  also  the  illustrations  are  borrowed. 


74° 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


The  first  feeble  ancestors  of  the  shark  and  the  sturgeon  appear  at 
a  time  when  the  crustaceans  were  the  most  powerful  animals  in  the 
world,  and  the  huge,  lobster-like  Pterygotus  was  the  monarch  of  the 


Fig.  i. 


seas.  The  plated-scaled  fish  which  existed  at  the  same  time  were 
clumsy  creatures,  for  their  skeletons  were  probably  feeble,  and  their 
armor-like  shields  were  heavy.  So,  as  history  went  on,  they  gradually 
gave  way,  becoming  smaller  and  rarer,  while  the  more  active  little 
shark-like  animals  gradually  grew  strong  and  powerful,  and  from  them 
are  descended  the  giant  sharks  of  to-day. 

The  powerful  gristly-boned  fishes  are  much  excelled  in  agility  by 
the  herring,  the  salmon,  and  their  other  bony  companions,  which  move 
with  much  less  effort  in  the  water,  and  so  have  naturally  made  their 
way  into  all  parts  of  the  rivers  and  seas.  But  where  have  they  come 
from?  We  know  very  little  of  their  early  history,  but  what  little 
we  do  know  leads  us  to  think  that  long  ago  they  branched  off  from 
the  enameled-scaled  fish,  and  struck  out  a  path  of  their  own,  to  make 
the  most  of  the  watery  world. 

If  we  wanted  to  pick  out  the  strangest  and  strongest  proof  of  how 
the  shape  of  fish  is  altered  to  suit  their  wants,  we  need  seek  no  further 


PROGRESS    OF  THE  BACKBONED   FAMILY.        741 

than  the  flat-fish.  The  young  sole,  when  it  comes  out  of  the  egg,  is  not 
flat  like  the  young  skate,  but  a  very  thin,  spindle-shaped  fish,  something 
like  a  minnow.     He  is  then  about  the  size  of  a  grain  of  rice,  very  trans- 


Fig.  2. 

parent,  and  lives  at  the  top  of  the  sea.  He  has  one  eye  on  each  side, 
like  other  fish,  only  one  eye  is  higher  up  than  the  other,  and  the  single 
fin  on  its  back  and  the  one  under  its  body  reach  almost  from  head  to 
tail.  In  this  way  he  swims  for  about  a  week,  but  he  is  so  thin  and 
deep,  and  his  fins  are  so  small,  that  swimming  edgewise  is  an  effort, 
and  soon  he  falls  down  on  one  side,  generally  the  left,  to  the  bottom 
of  the  sea.  Many  times  he  rises  again,  especially  at  first,  till  he  has 
got  used  to  breathing  at  the  muddy  bottom,  and  meanwhile  the  eye 
that  lies  underneath  is  gradually  working  its  way  round  to  the  upper 
side,  his  forehead  wrinkles  so  as  to  draw  the  under  eye  up,  wdiile  his 
whole  head  and  mouth  receive  a  twist  which  he  never  afterward  loses. 
His  skeleton,  it  must  be  remembered,  is  still  very  soft,  and  the  bones 
of  his  face  are  easily  bent ;  and  at  last  this  eye  is  screwed  round,  and 
as  he  lies  at  the  bottom  he  can  look  upward  with  both  eyes,  and  save 
the  under  one  from  getting  scratched  by  the  sand,  as  it  must  have  done 
if  it  had  remained  below. 


742 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


It  is  clear  that  if  the  backboned  animals  were  ever  to  live  upon 
land,  after  they  had  begun  their  career  in  the  water,  there  must  have 
been  some  among  them  which  learned  gradually  to  give  up  water- 
breathing,  and  to  make  use  of  free  air  ;  and  we  shall  not  have  far  to 
seek  for  creatures  which  will  help  us  to  guess  how  they  managed  it. 


Fig.  3. 


The  common  tadpole  is  to  all  intents  a  fish.  He  swims  with  a  fish's 
tail ;  he  gulps  in  water  at  his  mouth,  passing  it  out  at  the  slits  in  his 
throat  after  it  has  poured  over  his  fish's  gills.  Moreover,  he  has  a  fish's 
heart,  of  two  chambers  only,  which  pumps  the  blood  into  these  gills 
to  be  freshened,  while,  like  the  lamprey,  he  has  a  gristly  cord,  enlarged 
at  the  end  to  form  a  gristly  skull,  a  round  sucking  mouth,  and  no  limbs. 
As  he  grows  bigger  and  more  active  week  by  week,  two  little  bumps 
appear,  one  on  each  side  of  his  now  bulky  body,  just  where  it  joins  the 
tail.  These  bumps  grow  larger  every  day,  until,  lo  !  some  morning 
they  have  pierced  through  the  skin,  and  two  tiny  hind  legs  are  work- 
ing between  the  body  and  the  tail.  In  about  another  week  the  front 
legs  appear,  and  we  have  a  small  four-legged  animal  with  a  lamprey's 
tail. 

During  this  time  a  bag  has  been  forming  inside,  at  the  back  of  the 


PROGRESS    OF  THE  BACKBONED  FAMILY.        743 

throat,  which  afterward  divides  into  two,  forming  a  pair  of  lungs, 
which  he  uses  when  out  of  the  water,  though  still  using  his  gills  when 
below.  Little  by  little  the  blood-vessels  going  to  the  gills  grow 
smaller,  and  those  going  to  the  lungs  grow  larger ;  while  the  fish's 
two-chambered  heart  is  dividing  into  three  chambers — one  to  receive 
the  blood  from  the  body,  another  to  receive  it  from  the  lungs,  and  one 
to  drive  this  blood  back  again  through  the  whole  animal.  Now  that 
he  can  leap  and  swim  with  his  legs,  his  tail  is  no  longer  of  use  to  hin^ 
and  it  is  gradually  sucked  in,  growing  shorter  and  shorter,  till  it  dis- 
appears. Thus  our  backboned  animal  has  succeeded  in  getting  out  of 
the  water  on  to  the  land. 


IglppElStft 


*f?' 


>^iy 


Pig.  4. 


If  we  glance  back  to  the  far-off  time  when  the  ancient  fishes  were 
wandering  round  the  shores  and  in  the  streams  of  the  coal-forests,  we 
find  that  the  amphibia  were  not  then  the  small,  scattered  groups  they 
are  now,  but  huge  and  powerful  creatures,  which  sported  in  the  water 
or  wandered  over  the  land  with  sprawling  limbs,  long  tails,  and  bones 
on  which  gills  grew,  while  their  heads  were  covered  with  hard,  bony 
plates,  and  their  teeth  were  large,  with  folds  of  hard  enamel  on  the 
surface. 


744 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


And  now  the  transformation  is  complete,  for,  when  we  pass  on  to 
the  next  division  of  backboned  animals,  the  "  reptiles,"  we  hear  noth- 
ing more  of  gills,  nor  air  taken  from  the  water,  nor  fins,  nor  fishes' 
tails.  We  shall  all  allow  that  the  tortoises  are  the  most  singular  of 
any.  Slow,  ponderous  creatures,  with  hard,  bony  heads,  wide-open, 
expressionless  eyes,  horny  beaks,  and  thick,  clumsy  legs,  the  tortoises 
seem,  at  first  sight,  to  be  only  half  alive,  as  they  lumber  along,  carry- 
ing their  heavy  shell,  and  eating,  when  they  do  eat,  in  a  dull,  listless 
kind  of  way.  This  sluggishness  would  certainly  be  their  ruin,  in  a 
bustling,  greedy  world,  if  it  were  not  for  the  strong  box  in  which  they 
live.  You  would  hardly  guess  that  the  shell  of  the  tortoise  is  part  of 
his  skeleton.  But  it  is  so.  The  arched  dome  which  covers  his  back 
is  made  of  his  backbone  and  ribs,  and  the  shelly  plates  arranged  over 
it  are  his  skin  hardened  into  horny  shields,  which,  in  the  hawk's-bill 
turtle,  form  the  tortoise-shell  which  is  peeled  off  for  our  use  ;  while 
the  flat  shell  under  his  body  is  the  hardened  skin  of  his  belly,  and  the 
bones  which  belong  to  it. 


J\NOW|. 


It  is  not  without  some  struggle  that  the  cold-blooded  reptiles  have 
held  their  own  in  the  world,  nor  is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  only  four 


PROGRESS    OF  THE  BACKBONED   FAMILY.        74.5 

types — tortoises,  lizards,  crocodiles,  and  snakes — should  have  managed 
to  find  room  to  live  among  the  myriads  of  warm-blooded  animals 
which  have  filled  the  earth.  These  four  groups  have  made  a  good 
fight  of  it,  and  many  of  them  even  make  use  of  warm-blooded  animals 
as  food.  The  tortoises,  it  is  true,  feed  upon  plants,  except  those  that 
live  in  fresh  water,  and  feed  chiefly  on  fish,  snakes,  and  frogs,  while 
most  of  the  lizards  are  insect-feeders.  But  the  crocodile,  as  he  lurks 
near  the  river's  edge,  and  the  snake,  when  he  fastens  his  glittering 
eye  on  a  mouse  or  bird,  are  both  on  the  lookout  for  animals  higher  in 
the  world  than  themselves. 

AVe  come  now  into  quite  a  new  life,  for  we  are  going  to  wander 
among  the  conquerors  of  the  air,  who  have  learned  to  rise  far  beyond 
our  solid  ground,  and  to  soar,  like  the  lark,  into  the  clouds,  or,  like  the 
eagle,  to  sail  over  the  topmost  crags  of  the  mountains,  there  to  build 
his  solitary  eyrie. 

In  those  far  by-gone  times,  when  the  huge  land-lizards  browsed 
upon  the  trees,  the  birds  living  among  them  were  much  more  like  them 
in  many  ways  than  they  are  now.  Of  water-birds  there  were  some 
about  the  size  of  small  gulls,  which  flew  with  strong  wings  and  had 
fan-shaped  tails,  but  had  teeth  in  their  horny  jaws,  set  in  sockets  like 
those  of  the  crocodile,  while  their  backbones  had  joints  like  those  of 
fishes  rather  than  birds  ;  and  with  them  were  other  and  wingless  birds 
rather  larger  than  our  swans,  but  more  like  swimming,  fish-eating 
ostriches. 

In  these  and  many  other  points  the  early  birds  came  very  near  to 
the  reptiles — not  to  the  flying  ones,  but  to  those  which  walked  on  the 
land.  And  now,  perhaps  you  will  ask,  Did  reptiles,  then,  turn  into  birds  ? 
No,  since  they  were  both  living  at  the  same  time,  and  those  reptiles 
which  flew  did  so  like  bats,  and  not  in  any  way  like  the  birds  which 
were  their  companions.  To  explain  the  facts,  we  must  go  much  further 
back  than  this.  If  any  one  were  to  ask  us  whether  the  Australian 
colonists  came  from  the  white  Americans  or  the  Americans  from  the 
Australians,  we  should  answer,  "  Neither  the  one  nor  the  other,  and  yet 
they  are  related,  for  both  have  sprung  from  the  English  race."  In  the 
same  way,  when  we  see  how  like  the  ancient  birds  and  reptiles  were  to 
each  other,  so  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  say  which  were  bird-like  rep- 
tiles and  which  were  reptile-like  birds,  we  can  only  conclude  that  they, 
too,  once  branched  off  from  some  older  race  which  had  that  bone  be- 
tween the  jaws,  that  single  neck-joint,  and  the  other  characters  which 
birds  and  reptiles  have  in  common. 

But  where  have  the  feathers  come  from — those  wonderful,  beau- 
tiful appendages  without  which  the  bird  could  not  fly?  They  are 
growths  of  his  skin,  of  the  same  nature  as  the  scales  of  reptiles,  or 
those  on  the  bird's  own  feet  and  legs  ;  and  on  some  low  birds,  such  as 
the  penguins,  they  are  so  stiff  and  scale-like  that  it  is  often  difficult  to 
say  where  the  scales  end  and  the  feathers  begin.     All  feathers,  even 


746 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


the  most  delicate,  are  made  of  horny  matter,  though  it  splits  up  into 
so  many  shreds  as  it  grows  that  they  look  like  the  finest  hair,  and  Dr. 
Gadow  has  reckoned  that  there  must  he  fifty-four  million  branches  and 
threads  upon  one  good-sized  eagle's  feather. 


From  their  skeletons  and  feathers  which  we  find,  we  know  that  the 
strange  land-birds  which  perched  on  the  trees  at  the  time  that  large 
reptiles  were  so  numerous  had  not  a  fan-shaped  tail,  made  of  feath- 
ers growing  on  one  broad  bone,  as  our  birds  have  now,  but  they  had 
a  long  tail  of  many  joints  like  lizards,  only  that  each  joint  carried 
a  pair  of  feathers,  and  like  lizards,  too,  they  had  teeth  in  their  jaws, 
which  no  living  bird  has.  They  must  have  been  poor  fliers  at  best, 
these  earliest  known  birds,  for  their  wings  were  small  and  the  fingers 
of  their  hand  were  separate  more  like  lizards'  toes,  two  of  them  at 
least  having  claws  upon  them,  while  their  long,  hanging  tail  must  have 
been  very  awkward  compared  to  the  fan-shaped  tail  they  now  wear. 

Our  backboned  animals  have  now  traveled  far  along  the  journey 
of  life.  The  fish,  in  many  and  varied  forms,  have  taken  possession  of 
the  seas,  lakes,  and  rivers  ;  the  amphibia  fill  the  swamps  and  the  de- 
batable ground  between  earth  and  water  ;  the  reptiles  swarm  in  the 


PROGRESS   OF   THE  BACKBONED   FAMILY. 


747 


tropics,  and  even  in  colder  countries  glide  rapidly  along  in  the  warm 
sunshine,  or  hide  in  nooks  and  crannies,  and  sleep  the  winter  away  ; 
and  the  birds — the  merry,  active,  warm-hearted  birds — live  every- 
where. 

Yet  still  the  great  backboned  division  is  not  exhausted  ;  on  the 
contrary,  the  most  powerful  if  not  the  most  numerous  group  is  still  to 


Fig.  1. 


come — the  mammalia,  or  milk-giving  animals.  Let  us  first  notice  two 
important  changes  which  give  them  an  advantage  over  other  back- 
boned creatures.  We  have  found  the  fish  casting  their  eggs  out  into 
the  water,  and,  as  a  rule,  taking  no  more  thought  of  them  ;  so  it  was 
again  with  the  frogs,  so  with  the  reptiles,  whose  eggs,  even  when  care- 
fully buried  by  the  mother,  are  often  devoured  by  thousands  before 
the  little  ones  have  a  chance  of  creeping  out  of  the  shell.  And  with 
the  birds,  in  spite  of  the  parents'  care,  more  eggs  probably  are  eaten 
by  snakes,  weasels,  field-rats,  and  other  creatures,  than  remain  to  be 
hatched. 

Now,  the  cat  and  the  cow,  as  we  all  know,  do  not  lay  eggs  as  birds 
do  ;  but  the  mother  carries  the  young  within  her  body  till  they  are 
born,  perfectly  formed,  into  the  world.     And  when  at  last  her  little 


748 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


ones  see  the  light,  the  mother  has  nourishment  ready  for  them  :  part 
of  the  food  which  she  herself  eats  is  turned  into  milk,  and  secreted  by 
special  glands,  so  that  the  newly-born  calf  or  kitten  is  suckled  at  its 
mother's  breast  till  it  has  strength  to  feed  itself. 

Among  the  earliest  milk-givers  must  have  been  the  ancestors  of 
the  curious  pouched  creatures  of  Australia,  the  "  marsupials,"  which 
have  a  large  pouch  of  skin,  into  which  the  mothers  put  their  little  ones 
when  they  are  less  than  two  inches  long,  and  so  imperfect  that  their 
legs  are  mere  knobs,  and  they  can  do  nothing  more  than  hang  on  to 
the  nipple  with  their  round,  sucking  mouths,  as  if  they  had  grown 
to  it. 

There  the  little  ones  hang,  day  and  night,  and  their  mother,  from 
time  to  time,  pumps  milk  into  their  mouths,  while  they  breathe  by  a 
peculiar  arrangement  of  the  windpipe,  which  reaches  up  to  the  back 


Fig.  8. 


of  their  nose.  Then,  as  they  grow,  the  pouch  stretches,  and  by-and- 
by  they  begin  to  jump  out  and  in,  and  feed  on  grass  as  well  as  their 
mother's  milk. 

Other  singularly  old-fashioned  animals  may  be  found  in  a  Brazilian 
forest.     The  furry  little  opossum,  the  dreamy  sloth,  the  strange  ant- 


PROGRESS    OF  THE  BACKBONED   FAMILY.        749 

bear,  and  the  armadillo,  whose  back  is  covered  with  long  shields  like 
the  crocodile. 

Having  now  taken  leave  of  the  curious  pouch-bearers  and  the 
strange  primitive  sloths  and  armadillos,  we  find  ourselves  left  to  deal 
with  an  immense  multitude  of  modern  mammalia,  which  have  spread  in 
endless  variety  over  the  earth,  and  which  may  be  divided  into  five  great 
groups  :  the  Insectivora,  or  insect-eaters  ;  the  Rodents,  or  gnawers  ; 
the  climbing  and  fruit-eating  lemurs  and  monkeys  ;  the  Herblvora, 
or  large  vegetable-feeding  animals  ;  and  the  Carnivora,  or  flesh- 
eaters. 

It  is  clear  that  the  Rodents  and  Insectivores  do  not  hold  their  place 
in  the  world  by  strength  or  audacity.  Both  lowly  groups,  of  simple 
structure  and  with  comparatively  feeble  brains,  they  have  chiefly 
escaped  destruction  from  higher  forms  by  means  of  their  nocturnal 
and  burrowing  habits  or  arboreal  lives,  and  the  marvelous  rapidity  with 
which  they  breed,  combined  with  their  power  of  sleeping  without  food 
during;  the  winter  in  all  cold  countries.  But  the  insect-eaters  have  no 
water-animal  to  match  the  beaver  among  rodents  in  sagacity  or  engi- 
neering. With  his  chisel-like  front  teeth  he  gnaws  a  deep  notch  in 
the  trunk  of  a  larch  or  pine  or  willow,  and  then,  going  round  to  the 
other  side,  begins  work  there  till  the  trunk  is  severed  and  falls  heavily 
on  the  side  of  the  deep  notch,  and  therefore  away  from  himself.  He 
always  makes  the  deep  notch  in  the  trunk  on  the  side  near  the  water, 
so  that  the  tree  in  falling  comes  as  near  as  possible  to  the  stream. 
Then,  after  stripping  off  the  bark  and  gnawing  the  trunk  into  pieces 
about  six  feet  long,  he  uses  his  fore-paws  and  his  teeth  to  drag  them 
into  position  to  build  his  dam.  He  does  not  always  clear  away  all  the 
branches,  but  he  and  his  companions  place  the  logs  with  these  lying 
down  the  stream,  so  that  they  act  as  supports  to  resist  the  current  and 
prevent  the  dam  being  washed  away.  Thus  they  make  a  broad  foun- 
dation, sometimes  as  much  as  six  feet  wide,  and  upon  this  they  pile 
logs  and  stones  and  mud  till  they  have  made  a  barrier  often  ten  feet 
high  and  more  than  a  hundred  feet  long.  The  lighter  branches  he 
uses  to  make  his  oven-shaped  lodge,  laying  them  down  in  basket-work 
shape,  plastering  them  with  mud,  grass,  and  moss,  and  lining  the  cham- 
bers with  wood-fiber  and  dry  grass. 

There  remain  to  be  noticed  two  groups  of  much  larger  animals  : 
first,  the  Herblvora,  or  grass-feeders  ;  and,  secondly,  their  great  ene- 
mies, the  Carnivora,  or  flesh-feeders.  We  shall  see  that  the  vege- 
table-feeders have  filled  every  spot  where  they  could  possibly  find  a 
footing,  and  if  we  could  only  trace  out  their  pedigree  Ave  should  be 
surprised  to  find  how  wonderfully  each  one  has  become  fitted  for  the 
special  work  it  has  to  do.  But  three  things  they  all  require  and  have. 
The  first  of  these  is  a  long  face  and  freely-moving  under  jaw,  with 
large  grinding  teeth  to  work  up  and  chew  the  vegetable  food  ;  the 
second,  a  capacious  stomach  to  hold  and  digest  green  meat  enough  to 


75° 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


nourish  such  bulky  bodies  ;  and,  the  third,  good  defensive  weapons 
to  protect  themselves  against  each  other  and  against  their  enemies. 


4Lfe£Sfeft*j& 


Fig.  9. 


In  the  three-toed  group  of  the  vegetable-eaters,  the  horse  has  the 
most  interesting  history.  It  was  in  America  that  the  tribe  began,  for 
there  we  find  that  tiny  pony  not  bigger  than  a  fox,  with  four  horn- 
covered  toes  to  his  front  feet  (and  traces  of  a  fifth),  and  three  toes  on 
his  hind  ones.  Then,  as  ages  went  on,  we  meet  with  forms  with  only 
three  toes  on  all  the  feet,  and  a  splint  in  the  place  of  the  fourth  on 
the  front  ones.  In  the  next  period  they  have  traveled  into  Europe, 
and  we  find  larger  animals  with  only  three  toes  of  about  equal  size. 
One  more  step,  and  we  find  the  middle  toe  large  and  long,  and  cov- 
ered with  a  strong  hoof,  while  the  two  small  ones  are  lifted  off  the 
ground.  Lastly,  in  the  next  forms,  the  two  side-toes  became  mere 
splints  ;  and,  soon  after,  well-built  animals  with  true  horse's  hoofs 
abounded,  the  one  large  hoof  covering  the  strong  and  broad  middle 
toe.  For  what  we  call  a  horse's  knee  is  really  his  wrist,  and  just  be- 
low it  we  can  still  find  under  the  skin  those  two  small  splints  running 
down  the  bone  of  the  hand,  while  the  long  middle  finger,  or  toe,  with 
its  three  joints,  forms  what  we  call  the  foot.     It  is  by  these  small 


PROGRESS    OF  THE  BACKBONED   FAMILY.        751 

splints  that  the  horse  still  reveals  to  us  that  he  belongs  to  the  three- 
toed  animals. 

A  far  different  race  from  the  Herbivora  is  the  large  army  of  flesh- 
feeders,  which  we  find  throughout  all  past  ages  harassing  and  destroy- 
ing the  vegetable-feeders  on  all  sides.  And  yet  it  would  not  be  fair 
to  speak  of  these  larger  flesh-feeding  animals  as  if  they  had  worked 
nothing  but  evil  to  their  more  peaceful  neighbors,  for  how  would  Life 
educate  her  children  if  she  put  no  difficulties  in  their  way  to  be  con- 
quered, no  sufferings  to  be  endured  ?  It  was  in  the  long  struggle  for 
life  that  the  animals  with  the  largest  and  strongest  horns  got  the  upper 
hand,  that  the  swiftest  horses  or  antelopes  survived  and  left  young 
ones  ;  while  we  must  remember  that  it  is  more  often  the  sickly,  worn- 
out,  and  diseased  animals  that  fall  a  prey  to  the  devourers,  and  their 
life  is  ended  far  less  painfully  than  if  they  dragged  themselves  into 
some  hole  to  die. 

"  On  revient  toujours  d  ses  premiers  amours"  says  the  French  song. 
But  who  would  have  thought  that,  after  rising  step  by  step  above  the 
fish,  and  tracing  the  history  of  the  backboned  animals  through  their 
development  in  the  air  and  over  the  land  till  we  brought  them  to  a 
state  of  intelligence  second  only  to  man,  we  should  have  to  follow 
them  back  again  to  the  water  and  find  the  highly-gifted  milk-givers 
taking  on  the  form  and  appearance  of  fishes  ?  Nevertheless  it  is  so, 
for  seals  and  whales  are  as  truly  flesh-eating  milk-givers  as  bears  and 
wolves.  "Do  you  really  mean,  then,"  exclaim  nearly  all  people  who 
are  not  naturalists,  "  that  a  whale  is  not  a  huge  fish  ?  "  Certainly  I 
do  !  A  whale  is  no  more  a  fish  than  crocodiles,  penguins,  or  seals,  are 
fishes,  although  they  too  live  chiefly  in  the  water. 

A  whale  is  a  warm-blooded,  air-breathing,  milk-giving  animal.  Its 
fins  are  hands  with  finger-bones,  having  a  large  number  of  joints  ;  its 
tail  is  a  piece  of  cartilage,  and  not  a  fish's  fin  with  bones  and  rays  ;  it 
has  teeth  in  its  gums,  even  if  it  never  cuts  them  ;  and  it  gives  suck  to 
its  little  one  just  as  much  as  a  cow  does  to  her  calf.  Nay,  the  whale- 
bone whales  have  even  the  traces  of  hind  legs  entirely  buried  under 
the  skin,  and  in  the  Greenland  whale  the  hip-joint  and  knee-joint  can 
be  distinguished  with  some  of  their  muscles,  though  the  bones  are 
quite  hidden  and  useless. 

There  was  once  a  time  when  the  great  army  of  milk-givers  had  its 
difficulties  and  failures  as  well  as  all  the  other  groups,  only  these  came 
upon  them  not  from  other  animals,  but  from  the  influence  of  snow  and 
ice. 

For  we  know  that,  from  the  time  of  tropical  Europe,  a  change  was 
creeping,  during  long  ages,  over  the  whole  northern  hemisphere.  The 
climate  grew  colder  and  colder,  the  tropical  plants  and  animals  were 
driven  back  or  died  away,  glaciers  grew  larger,  and  snow  deeper  and 
more  lasting,  till  large  sheets  of  ice  covered  Northern  Europe,  and  in 
America  the  whole  of  the  country  as  far  south  as  New  York. 


752 


THE  POPULAR    SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


True,  there  were  probably  warmer  intervals  in  this  intense  cold, 
when  the  more  southern  animals  came  and  went,  for  we  find  bones  of 
the  hippopotamus,  hyena,  and  others  buried  between  the  glacial  beds 


•7  0" 


n^G^opic^i  ' 


Fig.  10. 


in  the  south  of  England.  But  there  is  no  doubt  that  at  this  time  num- 
bers of  land-animals  must  have  perished,  for  in  England  alone,  out  of 
fifty-three  known  species  which  lived  in  warmer  times,  only  twelve 
survived  the  great  cold,  while  others  were  driven  southward,  never  to 
return. 

Moreover,  when  the  cold  passed  away,  and  the  country  began  again 
to  be  covered  with  oak  and  pine  forests  where  animals  might  feed  and 
flourish,  we  find  that  a  new  enemy  had  made  his  appearance.  Man — 
active,  thinking,  tool-making  man — had  begun  to  take  possession  of 
the  caves,  making  weapons  out  of  large  flints  bound  into  handles  of 
wood,  and  lighting  fires  by  rubbing  wood  together,  so  as  to  protect 
himself  from  wild  beasts  and  inclement  weather. 

Many  and  fierce  must  have  been  his  conflicts,  for  the  wild  beasts 
were  still  strong  and  numerous,  and  man  had  not  yet  the  skill  and 
weapons  which  he  has  since  acquired.  But,  rough  and  savage  though 
he  may  have  been,  he  had  powers  which  made  him  superior  to  all 


PROGRESS    OF  THE  BACKBONED  FAMILY. 


753 


around  him.  lie  had  a  brain  which  could  devise  and  invent,  a  memory 
which  enabled  him  to  accumulate  experience,  and  a  strong  power  of 
sympathy  which  made  him  a  highly  social  being,  combining  with  oth- 
ers in  the  struggle  for  life. 


^A/^^;^^^to^]jAD^^EjD^^^ 


Fig.  11. 


At  one  time  naturalists  looked  upon  the  animal  kingdom  as  com- 
plete from  the  beginning,  and,  when  it  became  certain  that  different 
kinds  of  animals  had  appeared  from  time  to  time  upon  the  earth,  the 
naturalists  of  fifty  years  ago  could  have  no  grander  conception  than 
that  new  creatures  were  separately  made  (they  scarcely  asked  them- 
selves how),  and  put  into  the  world  as  they  were  wanted. 

But  a  higher  and  better  explanation  was  soon  to  be  found,  for  there 
was  growing  up  among  us  the  greatest  naturalist  and  thinker  of  our 
day,  that  patient  searcher  after  truth,  Charles  Darwin,  whose  genius 
and  earnest  labors  opened  our  eyes  gradually  to  a  conception  so  deep, 
so  true,  and  so  grand,  that  side  by  side  with  it  the  idea  of  making  an 
animal  from  time  to  time,  as  a  sculptor  makes  a  model  of  clay,  seems 
too  weak  and  paltry  ever  to  have  been  attributed  to  an  Almighty 
Power. 

VOL.   XXII. — 18 


754  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

CURIOSITIES   OF  SUPERSTITION. 

By  FELIX  L.  OSWALD,  M.  D. 

III. 

SOME  international  superstitions  have  a  symbolic  significance.  The 
vampire-fable,  for  instance,  typifies  the  insufficiency  of  human  life, 
the  sleep-disturbing  consciousness  of  its  unattained  purposes.  Like  the 
visits  of  the  White  Lady,  the  rambles  of  the  posthumous  night-walker 
have  generally  a  definite  object,  the  gratification  of  revenge  or  desire, 
or  of  some  special  crotchet,  like  that  of  the  Turkish  horse-ghoul  (men- 
tioned by  the  traveler  Kohl),  who  amused  himself  by  galloping  the 
race-horses  of  his  former  master.  Mental  aberrations  can  become  epi- 
demic, and  the  vampire-delusion  seems  to  be  as  contagious  as  the 
witchcraft-insanity.  In  Transylvania  the  "  climate  of  opinion "  ap- 
pears to  affect  even  foreigners.  In  1859  an  Austrian  notary  of  Klau- 
senburg  recorded  the  testimony  of  forty-eight  deponents  of  various 
nationalities,  who  attested  the  £>ost-mortem  appearance  of  one  Fedor 
Radotzek,  a  brevet  captain  of  the  Grenz-  Corps,  or  Military-Frontier 
Guards.  About  two  years  after  the  funeral  of  the  brevet  captain,  the 
neighbors  attended  a  birthday-party  at  the  house  of  his  widow,  and 
toward  evening  some  of  them  were  standing  in  the  open  porch,  talking 
to  one  of  his  sons,  when  they  saw  the  old  man  himself  come  round  the 
corner  and  enter  the  garden-gate.  A  few  minutes  after  the  garden 
was  crowded  with  a  mass-meeting  of  citizens,  in  a  pardonable  state  of 
excitement,  for  the  twilight  was  still  clear  enough  to  remove  all  doubts 
about  the  identity  of  the  visitor.  He  had  taken  a  seat  on  the  garden- 
bench,  making  himself  at  home,  as  if  nothing  had  happened  ;  but,  on 
being  taken  to  task  for  the  eccentricity  of  his  conduct,  he  had  the  good 
sense  to  re-die  on  the  spot,  and  met  his  fate  like  a  well-behaved  corpse, 
when  a  couple  of  priests  took  him  in  charge  and  hustled  him  off  the 
premises. 

Vampirism  prevails  all  over  Russia,  Persia,  Greece,  Bohemia,  and 
Poland,  but  especially  in  the  Danubian  Principalities,  where  the  wealthy 
families  of  the  last  century  often  buried  their  dead  in  sheet-iron-lined 
coffins  of  the  heaviest  oak-plank,  while  the  poor  would  sometimes  fet- 
ter or  even  hamstring  their  deceased  relatives,  to  prevent  them  from 
abusing  their  feet  for  posthumous  excursions.  It  is  one  of  the  few 
dogmas  which  the  Moslem  share  with  their  Christian  neighbors.  There 
is  a  variety  of  maladies,  chlorosis  and  hectic  fever,  for  instance,  which 
the  Turkish  beldames  unhesitatingly  ascribe  to  the  activity  of  a  ghoul ; 
and  after  the  massacre  of  Chios  the  Capitan  Pasha  ordered  the  bodies 
to  be  burned,  "  lest  they  should  leave  their  graves."  For  a  similar  rea- 
son, perhaps,  the  judges  of  the  Holy  Inquisition  roasted  their  victims  ; 
they  believed,  with  Aristotle,  that  "  fire  disembodies  the  principle  of 


CURIOSITIES    OF  SUPERSTITIOX.  75 5 

life,  and  restores  the  peace  of  the  original  elements."  The  Parsees 
worship  in  fire  the  purifying  principle  of  Nature.  Their  millennium, 
like  that  of  the  Nihilists,  will  he  preceded  by  a  general  explosion,  a 
thorough  actual  cautery  of  earthly  sores,  and  uncremated  corpses  will 
have  to  await  the  day  of  that  final  world-purgatory. 

The  vampire-superstition  has  been  traced  back  to  the  earliest  cent- 
uries of  the  Christian  era,  when  the  Nature-worship  of  ancient  Europe 
had  to  yield  to  the  dreary  asceticism  of  the  new  creed,  and  the  ancient 
divinities  and  their  retainers  had  to  wander  homeless — in  the  North  as 
followers  of  the  Wild  Huntsman,  and  in  the  South  as  night-hags  and 
ghouls,  like  the  Lamia  of  that  weird  and  wonderful  ballad,  Goethe's 
"  Bride  of  Corinth,"  which  his  rival,  Heine,  calls  the  "  lyrical  master- 
piece of  European  poetry."  A  citizen  of  Corinth,  a  recent  convert, 
betroths  his  daughter  first  to  a  young  Athenian,  and  next  to  the 
"bridegroom  of  the  Church,"  i.  e.,  shuts  her  up  in  a  nunnery,  where 
they  kill  her  with  prayers  and  penances.  Bridegroom  number  one 
arrives  unexpectedly  one  evening  ;  explanations  are  postponed  to  the 
next  day,  and  in  the  mean  time  the  guest  is  consigned  to  a  room  for- 
merly occupied  by  his  lost  bride.  During  the  night  her  mother  hears 
stealthy  footsteps  and  a  whispered  conversation,  and,  impelled  by  an 
irresistible  curiosity,  she  opens  the  door  of  the  guest-chamber.  A 
vampire,  caught  in  flagrante,  confronts  her,  and  she  recognizes  her 
own  daughter,  who,  instead  of  collapsing  at  the  sign  of  the  cross, 
turns  upon  her  with  fierce  reproaches,  admits  the  fatal  consequences 
of  her  visit,  mentions  other  victims,  but  finally  suggests  the  remedy — 
a  Grecian  funeral-pile.  Her  body,  she  says,  has  to  be  removed  from 
the  stifling  cloister-vault,  and  cremated  in  due  form,  together  with  the 
corpse  of  her  lover  : 

"  When  the  stake-fires  blend, 
When  the  sparks  ascend, 
Shall  our  spirits  join  the  ancient  gods." 

In  the  mountains  of  Upper  Austria  the  natives  dread  the  boding 
voice  of  the  Klage,  a  spectral  Cassandra  who  frequents  the  desolate 
highlands  of  the  Wiener  Wald  and  the  eastern  Alps.  He  who  meets 
her  meets  his  death  ;  her  voice  presages  imminent  misfortune,  or 
afflicts  the  hearer  with  chronic  hypochondria,  for  the  echo  of  her  wail 
will  haunt  the  ear  forever.  A  precisely  analogous  spook,  the  llorona 
(from  llorar,  to  weep  or  mourn),  infests  the  Sierras  of  old  Spain,  while 
La  Pleureuse  bemoans  the  sorrows  of  life  on  the  French  side  of  the 
Pyrenees.  This  concomitance  of  highlands  and  pessimism  seems 
rather  paradoxical  ;  but  mountaineers  are  mostly  autochthones  (like 
the  Basques,  Gaelic  Scotch,  Circassians,  Ghebirs,  and  Druses),  and 
may  have  preserved  the  memory  of  a  Juventus  Mundi,  which  lingered 
in  their  rocks,  together  with  paganism  and  Ruskinian  ideals. 

The  belief  in  the  malign  influence  of  the  mal-occhio,  or  evil-eye,  is 


756  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

not  confined  to  the  Latin  races,  but  prevails  in  Persia  and  China,  as 
well  as  among  the  South-China  Malays  and  their  East  Indian  neigh- 
bors. In  Southern  Italy  the  superstition  is  almost  universal.  Accord- 
ing to  the  popular  theory,  the  possessor  of  an  evil-eye  can  stare  his 
victims  into  all  sorts  of  afflictions,  palsy,  rickets,  goitre,  etc.  Nay,  his 
power  for  evil  has  hardly  any  limits  whatever,  for  by  the  same  optical 
process  he  can  produce  death  and  epidemics — cholera  infantum,  for 
instance.  And,  moreover,  such  persons  are  generally  conscious  of  their 
dreadful  talent,  and  can  forbear  its  exercise,  for  they  manage  to  con- 
nive at  their  favorites.  Evil-eye  wizards  can  be  known  by  their  pe- 
culiar way  of  squinting,  or  by  their  bushy  eyebrows,  that  conceal  the 
piercing  steadiness  of  their  gaze,  and  orthodox  crones  lament  the  de- 
cadence of  the  good  old  times  when  such  offenders  could  be  brought 
to  justice.  According  to  the  myth  of  the  Puranas,  the  god  Siva  can 
blight  a  whole  town  with  his  withering  look  ;  and  the  Indian  gods, 
who  often  visit  earth  in  the  guise  of  mortals,  are  sometimes  recognized 
by  the  rigidness  of  their  gaze  :  they  never  wink  ;  to  their  sleepless  eyes 
space  and  time  are  units.  Hecate  and  Medusa  had  such  optics,  and 
the  basis  of  the  superstition  may  possibly  be  the  primitive  man's 
dread  of  mental  superiority,  the  power  of  mind  over  matter,  ascribed 
to  the  eye,  as  the  mirror  of  the  soul.  Captain  Burton  noticed  that 
the  negroes  of  Soodan  are  almost  unable  to  meet  a  white  man's  gaze, 
though  they  quail  still  more  before  the  fire-eyes  of  their  Semitic  neigh- 
bors. The  Veddahs  of  Ceylon,  too,  seem,  to  dread  a  Siva  in  every 
foreigner. 

But  the  most  wide-spread  of  all  superstitions  is  the  belief  in  por- 
tents. In  some  of  its  modifications  the  tendency  to  ascribe  an  ominous 
significance  to  certain  events,  and  good  or  bad  luck  to  be  auspices 
of  certain  times  or  contingencies,  is  all  but  universal.  It  survives 
the  influence  of  every  other  form  of  superstition.  The  elder  Pliny, 
who  calmly  rejects  the  entire  mythological  system  of  his  country- 
men, admits  his  belief  in  the  prognostications  of  the  haruspices.  The 
skeptic,  Wallenstein,  kept  two  or  three  professional  astrologers.  Na- 
poleon the  Great  was  a  firm  believer  in  lucky  and  unlucky  days.  The 
Pyrrhonist,  Walid,  surrounded  himself  with  Egyptian  pages  on  account 
of  the  "  favorable  auspices  of  their  nationality.  The  Marquis  d'Argens, 
the  presiding  atheist  of  the  Sans-Souci  symposia,  after  shocking  even 
the  scoffing  king  and  the  king  of  scoffers  by  the  profanity  of  his  re- 
marks, was  apt  to  turn  pale  at  the  discovery  of  a  double  peach-stone 
or  the  accidental  spilling  of  the  salt.  French  mariners  have  ceased 
to  vow  wax-candles  to  Our  Lady  of  Brest,  but  they  still  dislike 
to  leave  a  harbor  on  Friday,  or  during  the  progress  of  a  hail-shower. 
The  agnostic  Chinamen  (for  the  gospel  of  Confucius  is  nothing  but  a 
secular  code  of  morals)  postpone  a  journey  if  they  meet  a  decrepit  old 
woman.  Certain  dreams  impress  them  so  strongly  with  the  dread  of 
impending  disaster  that  even  opium-smokers  will  forego  their  drug 


CURIOSITIES    OF  SUPERSTITION.  757 

for  a  day  or  two,  in  order  to  keep  all  their  available  wits  about  them. 
A  Silesian  miner  will  make  his  will  if  his  lamp  happens  to  go  out  be- 
fore its  oil  is  spent.  According  to  the  analysis  of  Immanuel  Kant,  the 
basis  of  the  whole  delusion  is  what  he  calls  the  post  hoc  ergo  propter  hoc 
fallacy — "  after  it,  therefore  because  of  it,"  or  the  tendency  to  mistake 
an  accidental  coincidence  for  the  result  of  a  causal  connection.  From 
this  point  of  view  there  is  no  specific  difference  between  a  misapplica- 
tion of  the  inductive  method  and  the  grossest  portent-superstition. 
The  precipitate  follower  of  Bacon  has  noticed  the  coincidence  of  cold 
weather  and  catarrhs,  and  jumps  to  the  conclusion  that  a  low  tempera- 
ture deranges  the  functions  of  the  respiratory  organs  ;  he  has  known 
cases  of  recovery  following  the  use  of  Dr.  Quack's  cough-medicine, 
and  ascribes  the  cure  to  the  nostrum.  The  weather  changes  about 
four  times  a  month,  a  month  has  four  lunar  phases,  therefore  the 
weather  depends  on  the  changes  of  the  moon.  At  the  roulette-table 
certain  numbers  may  now  and  then  turn  up  oftener  than  others  :  the 
gambler  concludes  that  they  must  be  lucky  numbers,  or  bets  on  red 
cards  because  he  twice  lost  his  monthly  salary  on  a  black  one.  To 
the  objection  that  the  weather-superstition  deals,  after  all,  with  fixed 
natural  laws,  and  the  roulette-superstition  with  capricious  accidents, 
the  gambler  might  reply  that  so-called  accidents  are  only  necessities 
in  disguise. 

When  that  disguise  is  practically  impenetrable,  the  theoretical  at- 
tempts to  that  effect  speak,  perhaps,  in  favor  of  an  order-loving  and 
systematic  tendency  of  the  human  mind.  Man  is  a  methodical  animal, 
and  will  regulate  his  conduct  by  the  most  fantastic  rules  rather  than 
act  entirely  at  hap-hazard.  "  In  the  game  of  life,"  says  Edmond 
About,  "  men  are  often  apt  to  follow  a  system  where  they  might  just 
as  well  play  at  random." 

In  some  cases  that  tendency  may  be  ascribed  to  a  latent  fetichism. 
In  the  age  of  faith  every  man  had  his  favorite  days,  months,  numbers} 
stars,  colors,  etc.  ;  for  all  such  things  had  their  presiding  deities,  and 
their  partisans,  as  it  were,  threw  themselves  upon  the  protection  of 
a  tutelary  spirit.  The  hero  of  the  "  Cyropsedia "  never  gives  battle 
without  sacrificing  to  the  genius  of  the  day  and  the  nymphs  of  the  sur- 
rounding rivers  and  mountains.  Scipio  Africanus  used  to  invoke  the 
deities  of  a  hostile  city  before  he  brought  his  battering-rams  into  play, 
just  as  the  Zooloo  Caffres  propitiate  the  demons  of  a  new  hunting- 
ground.  It  seemed  the  safer  way — "  If  it  does  no  good  it  can  do  no 
harm  " — as  the  mediaeval  apologists  justified  the  invocation  of  the  pa- 
tron saints,  and  in  the  same  way  a  gambler  may  defend  his  "system" 
against  the  objections  of  his  intellectual  conscience. 

The  rules  of  such  systems  often  suggest  the  influence  of  curious 
associations  of  ideas.  In  ancient  Greece  the  luckiness  of  the  first 
lunar  phase  was  deemed  so  axiomatic  that  the  Spartans  missed  the 
battle  of  Marathon  rather  than  take  the  field  before  the  new  moon. 


758  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

The  two  weeks  preceding  the  plenilunium  suggest  the  prime  of  life, 
when  things  in  general  progress  favorably,  while  the  subsequent  half 
months  correspond  to  the  age  of  declining  strength  and  general  retro- 
gression. The  haruspices  augured  on  the  principle  that  a  bird's  flight 
from  left  to  right  was  a  favorable  omen — things  were  going  the  right 
way,  while  by  the  laws  of  consistency  the  opposite  direction  suggested 
adverse  tendencies.  Birds,  as  creatures  of  the  air,  seemed  the  fittest 
messengers  of  the  gods,  who  had  a  way  of  imparting  their  revelations 
by  symbols,  and  might  be  supposed  to  choose  the  beginning  of  an  un- 
lucky enterprise  as  the  best  time  for  warning*  their  favorites  :  When 
Conradin  of  Ilohenstauffen  set  out  for  that  fatal  campaign  that  ended 
on  the  scaffold  of  Naples,  his  horse  refused  to  cross  the  Arno  Bridge, 
and  an  old  citizen  adjured  him  to  turn  back,  but  he  dismounted  and 
led  his  horse  across.  "  It  means  that  we  are  going  to  prevail  afoot,'''' 
he  laughed,  alluding  to  the  preponderance  of  his  infantry  force.  A 
year  before  the  invasion  of  the  Saracens,  King  Roderic  saw  their 
horses  and  riders  in  a  dream  ;  and  Appolonius  of  Tyana  foresaw  even 
the  great  aphanasia,  the  fifteen  hundred  years'  eclipse  of  common 
sense  and  reason.  "  Woe  be  to  our  children  !  "  he  exclaimed,  on 
awakening  from  a  trance  ;  "  I  see  a  shadow  approaching  ;  a  great 
darkness  is  going  to  cover  this  world." 

After  the  analogy  of  great  natural  catastrophes,  events  of  national 
importance  were  supposed  to  cast  premonitory  shadows,  and  in  nearly 
every  country  on  earth  the  myth-making  faculty  of  the  people  has 
accordingly  supplied  a  set  of  portents  for  every  momentous  incident 
of  their  history.  Tacitus  records  a  due  number  of  obituary  prodigies 
for  every  one  of  his  Caesars.  The  battle  of  Adrianople,  where  the 
clubs  of  the  Visigoths  broke  the  power  of  the  Roman  Empire,  was 
foretold  by  an  augur  who  had  seen  a  portentous  cloud  approaching 
from  the  east  in  the  teeth  of  a  strong  west  wind.  The  conquest  of 
Mexico  was  the  fulfillment  of  an  omen  that  had  plainly  warned  the 
natives  of  their  impending  fate.  In  the  night  when  Abderrahman  el 
Hakim  died,  shooting-stars  showered  down  as  if  they  were  going  to 
set  the  earth  afire.  The  tyrant  Polycrates  of  Samos  was  born  during 
an  earthquake  that  shook  the  foundations  of  the  island.  Before  the 
birth  of  Buddha  Sakyamuni  the  Ganges  flowed  back  to  its  source, 
flowers  sprouted  in  desert  places,  a  sound  of  music  rung  through  the 
air,  corpses  left  their  tombs,  and  a  new  star  appeared.  A  new  star 
appeared  also  after  the  murder  of  Julius  Caesar,  and  certainly  after  the 
death  of  Antinous,  for  the  Emperor  Hadrian  ordered  it  to  be  wor- 
shiped as  the  transfigured  spirit  of  his  favorite. 

The  rationale  of  the  superior  luckiness  of  odd  numbers  is  less  ob- 
vious, but  they  were  certainly  the  favorite  numbers  of  the  Gnostics 
and  of  all  mythological  systems.  The  three  Graces,  three  Fates,  three 
Furies,  three  Judges  of  the  dead,  and  three-headed  hell-hounds  appear 
as  mystical  as  the  Indian   Trimurti  and  its  derivatives.     The  seven 


CURIOSITIES    OF  SUPERSTITION.  759 

sacraments,  seven  gates  of  the  ISTew  Zion,  and  seven  golden  candle- 
sticks, correspond  to  the  seven  days  of  the  week.  Lars  Porsenna 
swears  by  the  nine  gods,  and  Ovid  by  the  nine  Muses.  All,  perhaps, 
for  the  negative  reason  (though  oddity  may  have  its  positive  attrac- 
tions) that  a  deliberative  junta  of  even  numbers  can  not  get  the  bene- 
fit of  a  casting  vote.  Gamblers  rarely  bet  on  even  numbers  ;  it  is  one 
of  their  corporation  maxims,  besides  which  every  individual  player  has 
a  by-law  code  of  his  own.  The  Spaniard  Gai*cia,  who  broke  every 
gambling-hell  on  the  Rhine,  operated  upon  the  theory  that  luck,  like 
history,  repeats  itself  in  a  certain  succession,  and  kept  a  list  of  succes- 
sive hits,  in  order  to  back  the  same  series  after  the  turning  up  of  the 
first  number.  Count  Esterhazy,  whose  portentous  luck  made  him  the 
bugbear  of  the  Swiss  watering-places,  believed  in  the  inspiration  of  a 
first  attempt,  and  relied  on  the  instinct  of  a  pointer — a"ny  novice  who 
in  consideration  of  a  percentage  woidd  consent  to  locate  his  stakes. 
That  the  tiger-wardens  themselves  are  not  above  such  superstitions 
seems  proved  by  the  fact  that  the  managers  of  the  little  Bath  Pfeffers 
once  offered  him  ten  thousand  francs  to  dig  his  gold  from  a  wealthier 
mine. 

"  Fortis  Fortuna  adjuvat "  ("  Fortune  favors  the  strong  ")  was  a 
Latin  proverb,  and  Napoleon,  like  Suvaroff  and  Bismarck,  asserted  that 
she  is  always  on  the  side  of  the  big  battalions,  though,  like  their  fel- 
low-men, they  probably  inclined  to  the  private  opinion  that  "  lucki- 
ness "  is  a  special  faculty,  and  that,  irrespective  of  their  energy,  pru- 
dence, and  perseverance,  some  people  manage  to  score  success  after 
success.  In  the  California  bonanza  period  every  camp  had  its  "  lucky 
man,"  not  always  the  best  mineralogist,  but  a  fellow  who  somehow  had 
a  knack  of  stumbling  upon  "  pay-dirt,"  and  thus  became  the  chosen 
pioneer  of  his  comrades.  It  sometimes  really  seems  as  if  the  race 
were  neither  to  the  swift  nor  the  cunning.  We  have  merchants,  spec- 
ulators, and  politicians,  whom  Fortune  declines  to  forsake,  in  spite  of 
all  their  blunders — Sontags-Jcinder,  "  Sunday-children,"  as  the  Germans 
call  them — fellows  who  have  six  points  ahead  in  every  game  and  beat 
the  best  players.  Where  others  have  wasted  their  time  in  mining  and 
counter-mining,  they  take  every  fort  at  the  first  assault,  and  for  no 
apparent  reason,  unless  good  luck  begets  self-confidence,  for  pluck  is 
perhaps,  after  all,  the  seci'et  of  every  real  success. 

The  Chinese  divide  all  auspices  into  yan  and  yicen,  male  and  fe- 
male, positive-lucky  and  negative-unlucky  streams  of  tendency.  The 
sun  is  a  yan,  the  moon  a  yuen,  luminary  ;  daylight  blesses  and  vivi- 
fies ;  moonlight  blights.  For  cognate  reasons,  perhaps,  Friday  (the 
day  of  Friya,  dies  Veneris)  is  an  unlucky  day  :  among  the  Romans, 
as  well  as  among  the  ancient  Saxons,  it  was'  sacred  to  a  female  deity. 
M.  Quetelet  estimates  that  the  Friday  superstition  costs  the  French  rail- 
way companies  an  average  aggregate  of  five  million  francs  a  year,  by 
which  sum  the  expenses  of  Friday  passenger-trains  exceed  the  receipts  ! 


760  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

If  we  consider  the  expensiveness  of  the  Delphian  oracle  and  the 
Loretto  miracle-factory,  the  suras  wasted  on  all  kinds  of  amulets,  from 
a  brickbat  fetich  to  a  marble  cathedral,  we  must  admit  that  supersti- 
tions are  costly  luxuries.  Dome-building,  the  most  expensive  phase 
of  the  mania,  culminated  during  the  night  of  the  middle  ages,  and 
that  night  is  certainly  passing  away,  but  many  of  its  specters  still 
frequent  their  ancient  haunts  ;  for  supernaturalism  is  a  Proteus,  and 
apt  to  assume  shapes  that  can  not  be  exorcised  with  daylight.  Like 
the  poison-habit,  the  thirst  for  miracles  satisfies  its  craving  with  a 
variety  of  stimulants.  Ex-Romanists  revel  in  mysticism,  as  their  an- 
cestors fuddled  with  the  Rosicrucian  Gnostics,  and  afterward  with 
magic  and  astrology.  Protestants  often  yield  to  the  craving  for 
stronger  stimulants  and  glut  it  with  rectified  spiritism,  undiluted  with 
traditions  and  homilies.  Mr.  Kiddle's  apocalypse  is  the  confession  of 
a  moral  opium-eater.  In  France  professional  free-thinkers  patronize 
not  less  professional  clairvoyants  ;  the  pythoness  Lenormand  amassed 
a  fortune  of  two  million  francs,  and  was  consulted  by  atheists  and 
philosophers,  and  twice  even  by  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  whose  specu- 
lative dogmas  were  limited  to  a  few  negative  tenets.  German  non- 
conformists are  apt  to  contract  a  passion  for  ghost-stories.  Their 
publishers  have  regular  sample-rooms  of  supernaturalism  ;  Arnim's 
novels,  a  rock-and-rye  mixture  of  romantic  poetry  and  spook  stories, 
have  become  household  works  ;  Jung  Stirling's  Geister-Jcunde  (Spec- 
trology),  a  sort  of  proof-spirits  with  a  flavor  of  pietism,  has  still  an 
enormous  circulation.  Men  who  never  enter  a  church,  and  treat  all 
sects  with  the  tolerance  of  absolute  indifference,  procure  their  tipple 
from  a  circulating  library,  like  peace-loving  topers  who  shun  tavern- 
brawls,  but  now  and  then  purchase  a  quart  of  rum  and  take  it  home 
in  a  pocket-flask.  On  the  whole,  it  is  a  step  in  the  right  direction. 
Their  liquor  is  often  as  strong  as  anything  sold  across  the  bar,  but 
the  effects  of  their  inspiration  are  limited  to  the  precincts  of  a  pri- 
vate sanctum,  and  they  are  less  apt  to  force  their  poison  upon  their 
neighbors. 

[Concluded.] 


-<►♦-♦- 


PERCEPTIONAL  INSANITIES* 

By  W.  A.  HAMMOND,  M.  D. 

THE  simplest  forms  of  insanity  are  those  which  consist  merely  of 
false  perceptions,  and  they  are  not  of  such  a  character  as  to  lessen 
the  responsibility  of  the  individual.     There  are  two  forms  of  false 

*  Abridged  from  advance  sheets  of  Dr.  Ilammond's  forthcoming  work  on  "  Insanity 
in  its  Medical  Relations." 


PERCEPTIONAL  INSANITIES.  761 

perceptions — illusions  and  hallucinations.  Uncomplicated  illusions  are 
rare  ;  still  thei-e  is  no  doubt  that  thei*e  are  illusions  not  the  results  of 
disease  in  the  organs  of  sense  or  of  circumstances  unfavorable  to  exact 
perception,  but  which  are  due  to  a  morbid  condition  of  the  percep- 
tional ganglia,  and  the  unreal  nature  of  which  is  clearly  recognized  by 
the  individual. 

Illusions  of  sight  often  relate  merely  to  the  size  of  objects.  Thus, 
a  young  lady  who  had  overtasked  herself  at  school  saw  everything  of 
enormous  size  at  which  she  looked.  The  head  of  a  person  seemed  to 
be  several  feet  in  diameter,  and  little  children  looked  like  giants.  So 
far  as  her  own  person  was  concerned  there  were  no  illusions.  Her 
own  hands  appeared  of  the  natural  size,  but  those  of  other  people 
seemed  to  be  of  enormous  proportions.  Sauvages  refers  to  a  case  in 
which  a  young  woman,  suffering  from  epilepsy,  had  the  illusion  of 
seeing  objects  greatly  magnified.  A  fly  seemed  to  her  to  be  as  large 
as  a  chicken.  In  the  case  which  came  under  my  observation,  the  un- 
real character  of  the  perception  was  fully  recognized,  and  hence  the 
intellect  was  not  involved. 

Morbid  illusions  of  hearing,  unaccompanied  by  other  evidences  of 
mental  derangement,  are  not  very  common.  One  case  only  has  come 
under  my  observation.  It  was  that  of  a  gentleman  to  whom  the 
ticking  of  a  clock  was  resolved  into  articulate  words.  Generally  the 
expressions  were  in  the  form  of  commands.  For  instance,  if  at  din- 
ner, they  would  be,  "  Eat  your  soup  !  "  "  Drink  no  wine  !  "  and  so 
on.  One  day  he  made  the  discovery  that,  if  he  closed  the  right  ear 
firmly,  the  illusion  disappeared  ;  but,  if  the  left  ear  were  closed,  the 
words  were  still  distinctly  heard.  It  was  hence  clear  that  the  center 
for  hearing  on  the  right  side  was  the  one  affected,  and  that  that  on 
the  left  side  was  normal.  For  a  long  time  this  gentleman  resisted 
accepting  any  of  these  illusions  as  facts,  but  after  a  time  he  began  to 
be  influenced  by  them  to  the  extent  of  regarding  them  as  guides. 
Eventually  he  put  clocks  in  every  room  in  his  house,  and  professed  to 
be  governed  altogether  by  the  directions  they  gave  him. 

Illusions  of  touch,  as  Michea  says,  may  relate  to  temperature,  move- 
ment, weight,  and  the  character  of  surfaces.  Thus,  to  some  patients, 
substances  that  are  hot  feel  cold,  and  vice  versa;  others  feel  the 
things  on  which  they  sit  or  lie  glide  from  under  them.  Illusions  of  a 
general  character  as  regards  the  whole  body  are  quite  common — giving 
the  sensation  of  extreme  weight  or  lightness,  or  as  if  the  body  were 
immensely  lengthened  or  shortened. 

As  regards  frequency,  illusions  of  the  sense  of  touch  occupy  the 
front  rank  ;  next  are  those  of  sight,  and  next  those  of  hearing.  Illu- 
sions of  taste  and  of  smell,  except  with  persons  who  are  otherwise  in- 
sane, are  not  common.  A  few  instances  of  the  latter,  however,  have 
occurred  within  my  personal  experience.  To  one  of  these,  a  lady, 
everything  she  put  into  her  mouth  tasted  like  cauliflower  ;  in  another 


76z  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

instance,  the  flavor  was  that  of  strong  Roquefort  cheese,  and  in  another 
of  pears. 

The  difference  between  illusions  and  hallucinations  can  be  recoor- 
nized  without  difficulty,  for  the  latter  are  entirely  cerebral  in  origin, 
and  do  not  require,  as  do  the  former,  a  material  basis.  They  can  not 
be  produced  by  any  defects  or  derangements  of  the  sensory  organs,  or 
by  any  external  circumstances  tending  to  interfere  with  the  normal  ac- 
tion of  these  organs.  We  have  to  consider  them  now  as  resulting  from 
disorder  of  the  perceptional  ganglia  without  the  implication  of  those 
parts  of  the  brain  which  are  concerned  in  the  production  of  intellect, 
emotion,  or  will. 

The  case  of  Nicolai,  the  German  bookseller,  is  a  striking  instance 
of  hallucinations  of  sight.  For  ten  months  he  had  been  a  good  deal 
disturbed  by  several  melancholy  incidents.  A  customary  blood-letting 
was  omitted,  and  added  to  all  was  an  unusual  press  of  business  mat- 
ters. One  morning  he  suddenly  perceived,  at  apparently  the  distance 
of  ten  steps,  a  form  like  that  of  a  deceased  person.  The  phantom 
continued  only  for  about  ten  minutes,  but  in  the  afternoon  it  reap- 
peared. He  arose  and  went  to  another  room,  the  apparition  accom- 
panying him — disappearing,  however,  at  intervals,  and  always  main- 
taining the  erect  posture.  Later  there  appeared  other  figures,  unlike 
the  first. 

After  the  first  day  the  figure  of  the  deceased  person  no  longer  ap- 
peared, but  its  place  was  supplied  by  many  other  phantoms,  sometimes 
representing  acquaintances,  but  mostly  strangers.  After  about  four 
weeks  he  began  to  hear  them  talk.  The  application  of  leeches  to  the 
arms  relieved  him  promptly  of  his  hallucinations. 

Hallucinations  of  hearing  are  more  common  than  those  of  any 
other  of  the  special  senses,  and,  according  to  my  experience,  are  more 
apt  to  lead  to  further  mental  disorder.  Far  more  people  kill  them- 
selves under  the  influence  of  hallucinations  of  hearing  than  from 
those  of  all  the  other  senses  combined.  The  reiteration  in  the  ears, 
during  every  minute  of  the  day,  of  the  command  to  jump  into  the 
river,  to  plunge  a  convenient  knife  into  the  heart,  and  so  on,  day  in 
and  day  out,  is  calculated  to  shake  the  power  of  control  of  the  strong- 
est-minded. 

Sometimes  a  single  word  or  a  few  words  constitute  the  hallucina- 
tion, but  in  their  more  complex  character  they  are  sentences  and  even 
long  discourses.  No  instance  that  has  come  under  my  observation 
equals  that  of  a  lady  who  hears  recited  to  her  long  pieces  of  original 
poetry  or  prose.  She  has  repeatedly  written  down  these  recitations 
and  brought  them  to  me.  This  lady  had  a  strong  hereditary  ten- 
dency to  insanity,  and,  shortly  after  the  development  of  the  hallu- 
cinations referred  to,  she  imbibed  the  delusion  that  she  had  com- 
mitted the  "  unpardonable  sin."  She  made  two  attempts  at  suicide, 
and  is  still  insane,  but  has — an  unusual  circumstance — lost  the  delu- 


PERCEPTIONAL  INSANITIES.  763 

4 

sion  of  the  "  unpardonable  sin,"  and  contracted  the  idea  that  she  has 
no  bowels. 

As  hallucinations  of  sight  often  exist  while  the  eyes  are  closed,  or 
in  persons  who  are  totally  blind,  so  hallucinations  of  hearing  continue 
though  the  ears  be  stopped,  or  originate  in  persons  who  are  entirely 
deaf.  A  deaf-mute  who  came  to  my  clinique  at  the  University  Medi- 
cal College  was  constantly  subject  to  hallucinations  of  hearing.  It  is 
said  that  in  the  last  years  of  his  life  Beethoven  became  completely 
deaf,  but  that  he  heard  his  compositions  as  distinctly  as  when  he  actu- 
ally listened  to  them  when  performed  by  an  orchestra. 

Hallucinations  of  hearing,  like  those  of  sight,  are  sometimes  uni- 
lateral— that  is,  heard  by  only  one  ear.  Baillarger  cites  several  exam- 
ples of  the  kind. 

Calmet  gives  some  interesting  details  relative  to  hallucinations. 

In  one  case  a  M.  de  S entered  his  study  one  afternoon,  and,  turning 

toward  the  door  to  go  to  his  bedroom  again,  was  much  surprised  to 
see  it  shut  and  barricade  itself  with  the  two  bolts  that  belonged  to  it. 
At  the  same  time  the  doors  of  a  large  press  opened  behind  him  and 
rather  darkened  his  study,  because  the  window  which  was  open  was 

behind  these  doors.     "  At  this  sight  the  fright  of  M.  de  S is  more 

easy  to  imagine  than  to  describe  ;  however,  he  had  sufficient  calmness 
left  to  hear,  in  his  left  ear,  a  distinct  voice,  which  spoke  to  him  in  very 
good  terms,  and  ordered  him  to  do  some  one  particular  thing  which  he 
was  commanded  to  keep  secret." 

Hallucinations  of  smell,  though  not  so  common  as  those  of  sight 
and  hearing,  are  yet  often  met  with.  A  gentleman  of  my  acquaint- 
ance was  almost  constantly  subject  to  the  hallucination  of  smelling 
paint  or  turpentine;  another  had  the  odor  of  coffee  ever  present  in  his 
nostrils;  and  another,  a  physician,  was  always  annoyed  with  the  smell 
of  the  dissecting-room.  It  is  well  known  that  some  epileptic  seizures 
are  preceded  by  the  sensation  of  a  horrible  stench. 

Hallucinations  of  taste  are  not  common.  Indeed,  it  is  sometimes 
difficult  to  say  whether  they  exist  or  not,  as  various  visceral  irregular- 
ities may  cause  the  production  of  tastes  by  modifications  impressed 
upon  the  saliva.  Mental  excitement  will  cause  a  like  effect  in  some 
persons.  I  am  acquainted  with  a  gentleman  who  can  not  participate  in 
any  engrossing  conversation  without  having  a  bitter  taste  developed  in 
his  mouth. 

Hallucinations  of  the  sense  of  touch  are,  on  the  other  hand,  very 
frequently  met  with.  Sensations  apparently  not  based  on  any  real 
impression  are  experienced  in  various  parts  of  the  body.  It  is  diffi- 
cult, however,  to  discriminate  between  illusions  and  hallucinations  of 
touch. 

Occasionally  persons  have  the  power  of  voluntarily  producing  hal- 
lucinations. A  practice  fraught  with  danger,  for  the  time  is  apt  to 
come  at  which  they  can  not  get  rid  of  their  false  perceptions.     As  an 


764  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

instance,  I  cite  the  following  case  from  Wigan.     The  painter  referred 
to  is  Blake  : 

"  A  painter,  who  inherited  much  of  the  patronage  of  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds,  was  so  fully  engaged  that  he  told  me  he  had  painted  three 
hundred  large  and  small  portraits  in  one  year.  The  fact  appeared 
physically  impossible,  hut  the  secret  of  his  astonishing  success  was 
this  :  he  required  but  one  sitting  of  his  model.  I  begged  him  to  de- 
tail to  me  his  method  of  procedure,  and  he  related  what  follows  : 
'  When  a  sitter  came,  I  looked  attentively  on  him  for  half  an  hour, 
sketching:  from  time  to  time  on  the  canvas.  I  removed  the  canvas  and 
passed  to  another  person.  When  I  wished  to  continue  the  first  por- 
trait I  recalled  the  man  to  my  mind,  and  placed  him  on  the  chair. 
Then  I  went  on  painting,  occasionally  stopping  to  examine  the  pos- 
ture, as  though  the  original  were  before  me.  This  method  made  me 
very  popular,  for  the  sitters  were  delighted  that  I  spared  them  the  an- 
noying sittings  of  other  painters.  '  By  degrees  I  began  to  lose  all 
distinction  between  the  imaginary  and  the  real  figure  ;  then  all  be- 
came confusion.  I  lost  my  reason,  and  remained  for  thirty  years  in 
an  asylum.' " 

It  is  related  of  Talma,  the  great  actor,  that  he  could  cause  the  au- 
dience to  appear  to  him  like  skeletons,  and  that,  when  the  hallucina- 
tion was  complete,  his  histrionic  genius  was  at  its  height. 

Goethe  states  that  he  had  the  power  of  giving  form  to  the  images 
passing  before  his  mind,  and,  upon  one  occasion,  saw  his  own  figure 
approaching  him. 

Several  like  cases  have  come  under  my  own  observation.  In  one, 
the  power  was  directly  the  result  of  attendance  at  spiritual  meetings, 
and  of  the  efforts  made  to  become  a  good  "  medium."  The  patient,  a 
lady,  at  first  thought  very  deeply  of  some  particular  person,  whose 
image  she  endeavored  to  form  in  her  mind.  Then  she  assumed  that 
the  person  was  really  present,  and  addressed  conversation  to  him.  At 
this  period  she  was  not  deceived,  for  she  clearly  recognized  the  fact 
that  the  image  was  not  present. 

One  day,  however,  she  was  thinking  very  intently  of  her  mother, 
and,  happening  to  raise  her  eyes,  she  saw  her  mother  standing  before 
her  exactly  as  she  had  imagined  her.  In  a  few  moments  the  phantom 
disappeared,  but  she  soon  found  that  she  had  the  ability  to  recall  it  at 
will.  During  the  spiritualistic  meetings  she  attended,  she  could  thus 
reproduce  the  image  of  any  person  upon  whom  she  strongly  concen- 
trated her  thoughts,  and  was  for  a  long  time  sincere  in  her  belief  that 
they  were  real  appearances.  At  last  she  lost  control  of  the  operations, 
and  became  constantly  subject  to  hallucinations  of  sight  and  hearing. 

Although  no  one  presumes  to  question  the  honesty  of  Jerome  Car- 
dan, or  of  Swedenborg,  it  is  probable  that  their  visions  were  also  in- 
duced by  intense  mental  concentration.  In  some  persons  very  slight 
thought  is  sufficient  to  cause  hallucinations  of  great  distinctness. 


PERCEPTIONAL  INSANITIES.  765 

The  causes  of  central  illusions  and  hallucinations  are  generally  to 
he  found  in  derangements  of  some  kind  in  the  blood  circulating  in  the 
brain.     These  may  either  relate  to  its  quantity  or  its  quality. 

Physical  influences  calculated  to  produce  cerebral  hypersemia  or 
congestion  may  give  rise  to  illusions  or  hallucinations.  Brierre  de 
Boismont  refers  to  a  case,  on  the  authority  of  Moreau,  in  which  an 
individual  was  able  to  obtain  hallucinations  of  sight  by  inclining  his 
head  a  little  forward.  A  similar  case  was  not  long  since  under  my 
own  care.  A  gentleman,  while  sitting  at  his  table  writing,  happened 
to  raise  his  eyes  without  moving  his  head,  and  saw  before  him  the 
figure  of  an  old  woman  with  black  cloak  and  hood.  Throwing  him- 
self back  in  his  chair  in  his  amazement,  he  found  that  the  image  slowly 
disappeared  ;  and,  as  often  as  he  repeated  these  movements,  a  like 
series  of  phenomena  occurred.  On  examining  him,  I  found  that  he 
wore  a  very  high,  old-fashioned  stock,  which,  as  he  sat  at  the  table 
with  his  head  bent  forward,  compressed  the  large  veins  of  the  neck, 
and  prevented  for  a  time  the  return  of  blood  from  the  brain.  On 
chanffimx  his  neck-wear  for  other  of  more  modern  fashion,  he  was  ena- 
bled  to  bend  his  head  and  raise  his  eyes  without  encountering  the  ap- 
parition. 

A  gentleman  once  consulted  me  who,  for  several  weeks,  had  seen, 
just  as  he  lay  down,  the  figure  of  a  very  old  man,  who  stood  by  the 
side  of  his  bed  grinning  and  beckoning  to  him.  At  first  he  was  de- 
ceived, and  started  suddenly  from  his  bed,  whereupon  his  visitor  dis- 
appeared. He  marie  several  tests  which  satisfied  him  as  to  the  real 
character  of  the  phantom,  and  then,  like  a  sensible  man,  tried  to  get 
to  sleep,  but  in  this  attempt  he  succeeded  badly. 

The  explanation  of  such  cases  is  very  simple.  The  recumbent  pos- 
ture facilitates  the  flow  of  blood  to  the  brain,  and  at  the  same  time 
tends,  in  a  measure,  to  retard  its  exit.  Hence  the  appearances  were 
due  to  the  resulting  congestion.  As  soon  as  the  individual  rose  in 
bed,  or  stood  erect,  the  reverse  conditions  existed,  the  congestion  dis- 
appeared, and  the  apparition  went  with  it. 

The  influence  of  cerebral  hyperozmia  in  causing  hallucinations  seems 
to  be  clearly  established.  Ferriar  wrote  a  treatise  with  the  special  ob- 
ject of  proving  that  this  is  the  only  cause.  This  is  an  extreme  view, 
however,  which  can  not  be  sustained,  for  that  the  very  opposite  con- 
dition, cerebral  anaemia,  is  an  immediate  cause  of  hallucinations  is  seen 
in  the  facts  that,  during  starvation  and  other  conditions  producing 
great  bodily  exhaustion,  hallucinations  are  common  occurrences. 

A  striking  instance  has  recently  come  under  my  observation,  which 
shows,  undoubtedly,  that  a  reduction  in  the  amount  of  blood  circu- 
lating within  the  cranium  may  give  rise  to  hallucinations.  A  young 
woman  affected  with  epilepsy  had  repeated  seizures  while  in  my  con- 
sulting-room, and,  with  a  view  of  arresting  them,  I  exerted  strong 
pressure  on  both  carotid  arteries.     Her  face  instantly  became  pale, 


766  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

and,  without  losing  consciousness,  she  uttered  a  loud  shriek,  and  pointed 
at  an  object  which  she  apparently  saw  near  her.  I  at  once  discon- 
tinued the  pressure,  when  she  informed  me  that  she  had  seen  an  im- 
mense negro  rushing  toward  her  with  a  club,  and  that  as  soon  as  I 
had  stopped  pressing  on  her  neck  the  figure  had  disappeared.  I  as- 
sured her  it  was  an  hallucination,  and  induced  her  to  let  me  repeat  the 
experiment.  I  now  exerted  moderate  pressure,  with  the  view  of  keep- 
ing it  up  for  some  little  time.  In  about  half  a  minute  she  said  that 
she  saw  the  figure,  but  not  very  distinctly,  and  I  found  that  I  could 
make  the  figure  appear  distinct  or  indistinct  by  varying  the  degree  of 
pressure. 

Children  are  very  liable  to  be  subject  to  hallucinations,  and  fre- 
quently give  circumstantial  accounts  of  incidents  which  they  believe 
have  occurred  to  them,  of  voices  they  have  heard,  etc.  It  is  often  im- 
possible for  them  to  discriminate  between  the  true  and  the  false,  and 
I  am  afraid  they  are  often  punished  for  lying  by  ignorant  parents, 
when  they  have  told  nothing  but  what  they  have  had  the  evidence  of 
their  senses  for  believing. 

A  great  deal  has  been  written  relative  to  the  physiology  of  halluci- 
nations, but  without  much  result  so  far  as  any  explanation  of  the  pro- 
cess is  concerned.  There  is  some  evidence  to  show  that  the  thalami 
optici  are  the  centers  for  all  real  perceptions,  and  that  hence  they  are 
the  organs,  which,  through  their  disease,  give  rise  to  all  centric  illu- 
sions and  hallucinations.  Luys  more  than  any  other  physiologist  has 
elaborated  this  idea,  and  has  adduced  arguments  in  its  support  which 
it  is  difficult  to  overlook.  His  docti-ine  is  that  the  optic  thalami  are 
reservoirs  for  all  sensorial  impressions  coming  from  the  periphery  of 
the  nervous  system,  and  that,  like  other  ganglionic  masses,  they  elabo- 
rate these  impressions,  and  that,  by  means  of  the  fibers  of  the  corona 
radiata,  they  transmit  them  to  the  cortex,  to  be  still  further  perpetu- 
ated by  being  converted  into  ideas. 

If  there  is  no  organ  of  sense,  there  can  be  no  normal  sensorial  im- 
pression ;  if  the  optic  nerve  be  divided,  the  sensation  can  not  be  trans- 
mitted to  the  optic  thalamus  ;  if  there  be  a  diseased  optic  thalamus, 
the  sensorial  impression  will  be  perverted  and  there  will  be  an  illusion 
of  centric  origin  ;  if  the  cortex  be  in  a  normal  condition,  this  illusion 
will  be  corrected  and  understood  as  such  erroneous  perception  ;  if, 
however,  the  cortex  be  diseased,  the  illusion  will  be  accepted  as  true, 
and  a  false  idea,  or  delusion,  will  be  formed.  Such  an  impression 
formed  in  the  optic  thalamus  is  an  hallucination,  and  will  be  accepted 
for  reality  or  not  according  as  the  cortex  is  healthy  or  diseased. 

Such  is,  I  think,  the  pathology  of  perceptional  insanity.  The  le- 
sions of  the  optic  thalamus  necessary  to  the  production  of  a  false  sen- 
sorial impression  may  be  of  varied  character.  Congestion  is  probably 
that  which  most  commonly  exists,  especially  in  the  early  stages,  and  in 
those  cases  which  are  not  accompanied  by  derangements  of  the  other 


DWARFS  AND    GIANTS.  767 

categories  of  mental  faculties.  Ansemia  is  likewise  a  condition  of  fre- 
quent occurrence.  At  later  periods,  as  Luys  says,  the  optic  thalami 
are  the  seats  of  degenerations  which  show  that  there  have  been  fre- 
quent perturbations  of  the  circulation.  He  is  very  strong  in  his  con- 
viction that  there  are  secondary  changes,  which  are  the  cause  of  the 
transformation  of  psycho-sensorial  hallucinations  into  those  which 
Baillarger  designated  psychic.  In  my  opinion,  they  are  the  cause  of 
the  hallucination  becoming  a  delusion,  and,  indeed,  between  a  psychic 
hallucination  and  a  delusion  there  is  very  little  difference.  The  former 
can  not  exist  without  the  involvement  of  the  intellect. 


-+»+- 


DWARFS  AND   GIANTS.* 

By  M.  DELBCEUF. 

A  BELGIAN  philosopher,  M.  Stas,  declared,  two  years  ago,  that 
"  no  science  to  which  measure,  weight,  and  calculation  are  not 
applicable  can  be  considered  an  exact  science  ;  it  is  only  a  mass  of 
unconnected  observations,  or  of  simple  mental  conceptions."  I  agree 
to  this  without  reserve.  Undoubtedly,  vain  imaginations  and  crude 
theories,  which  have  form  without  solidity,  should  be  banished  from 
science  ;  but  it  does  not  follow  that  we  must  define  science  as  a  col- 
lection of  weights  and  measures,  and  calculations  upon  them,  or  as 
consisting  of  combinations  of  algebraic  formulas  from  which  other 
formulas  may  be  deduced.  These  matters  of  weight,  measure,  and 
calculation  must  have  some  synthesis  or  useful  purpose  in  view.  They 
should  throw  light  upon  some  law,  and  that  a  law  which  is  an  idea,  or 
which  is  susceptible  of  being  converted  into  an  idea.  It  is  the  philo- 
sophic thought  penetrating  them  that  gives  interest  to  the  statistical 
labors  of  Quetelet.  The  cry  of  the  positivists  of  the  day  is  for  "  facts  !  " 
To  that  I  oppose  another  cry  :  "  Ideas  !  give  us  ideas  !  "  A  fact  with- 
out an  idea  is  a  body  without  a  soul,  a  useless  incumbrance  to  the 
memory.  I  come  to  the  defense  of  speculation.  While  I  view  with 
impatience  volumes  of  figures,  operations,  and  formulas,  of  which  the 
signification  and  bearing  can  not  be  perceived,  I  am  inclined  to  be 
grateful  to  the  man  who  throws  out  a  new  idea,  though  it  be  a  thou- 
sand times  false.  There  is  always  more  to  be  learned  from  the  thinker 
who  talks  nonsense  logically  than  from  the  observer  who  does  not 
reason  at  all.  From  nothing,  nothing  can  come,  but  error  may  bring 
forth  the  truth  at  the  price  of  its  own  death. 

Laying  aside  these  generalities,  let  us  consider  an  example  of  the 

*  From  an  address  before  the  Royal  Academy  of  Belgium.     Translated  for  "  The 
Popular  Science  Monthly." 


768  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

way  in  which  we  can  weigh  and  measure,  submit  the  results  to  cal- 
culation, and  draw  from  them  conclusions  which  are  formally  quite 
legitimate,  and  still  be  all  the  time  on  the  wrong  track  ;  then  examine 
how  we  may  be  set  upon  the  right  road,  and  led  to  a  new  conclusion 
more  plausible  and  more  in  harmony  with  the  rest  of  our  knowledge. 

It  has  been  discovered  that  the  flea  can  leap  two  hundred  times  its 
length.  Our  admiration  at  this  is  changed  to  astonishment  when  it  is 
demonstrated  by  calculation  that,  if  nature  had  endowed  the  horse 
with  a  degree  of  strength  similarly  proportioned  to  his  weight  he 
would  have  been  able  to  clear  the  Rocky  Mountains  at  a  bound,  and 
that  with  a  like  effort  a  whale  would  be  able  to  leap  to  a  height  of 
two  hundred  leagues.  What  can  be  more  unassailable  than  these 
conclusions,  founded  on  weight,  measure,  and  calculation  ? 

It  is  true  that,  if,  instead  of  comparing  the  weights  of  the  horse 
and  the  flea,  we  had  compared  their  heights,  we  should  have  found 
that  the  horse's  leap  would  not  measure  more  than  three  hundred  me- 
tres. Why  is  preference  given  to  the  weight  ?  Because  it  is  its  whole 
body  with  its  three  dimensions  and  its  density  that  the  flea  hurls  to  two 
hundred  times  its  height,  and  it  is  the  same  feat  of  strength  that  we 
demand  in  vain  of  the  horse.  Calculations  have  also  been  made  to 
show  that,  if  a  man  could  move  with  a  speed  proportioned  to  that  of 
certain  insects,  he  would  be  able  to  travel  more  than  ten  leagues  in  a 
minute,  or  sixty  times  as  fast  as  a  railroad-train. 

The  Amazon  ants,  going  to  battle,  travel  from  two  to  two  and  a 
half  metres  a  minute.  The  Amazons  of  antiquity,  to  be  even  with 
them,  if  we  judge  by  the  relative  heights,  should  have  traveled  eight 
leagues  an  hour.  We  have,  however,  in  this  case,  to  compare  the 
forces  with  which  given  masses  move  themselves,  and  should  take  ac- 
count of  weights  or  volumes.  If  we  proceed  by  this  rule,  we  shall 
obtain  formidable  numbers,  that  stagger  the  boldest  imagination.  The 
warlike  inhabitants  of  the  banks  of  the  Thermodon  would  have  to  get 
over  fifty  thousand  leagues  in  an  hour.  Yet,  who  can  deny  the  truth 
of  the  observations,  the  rigor  of  the  measurements,  or  the  justice  of 
the  reasoning  ? 

The  authors  of  these  interesting  calculations  have  not  had  in  mind 
only  to  make  known  some  figures  of  comparison,  good  to  store  up,  even 
if  they  are  never  used,  but  they  have  endeavored  to  set  forth  the  idea 
that  certain  insects  are  much  better  endowed  with  powers  of  leaping 
and  speed  than  the  vertebrates,  and  especially  than  man.  The  per- 
sons who  express  this  conclusion  have  failed  to  conform  to  the  precept 
that  they  must  not  extract  more  from  their  facts  than  is  rigorously 
contained  in  them,  and  are  the  victims  of  a  scientific  illusion,  which  is 
quite  wide-spread,  but  not  hard  to  dissipate.  What  is  in  question  ? 
It  is  the  valuation  of  the  labor  necessary  to  raise  a  certain  weight 
to  a  certain  height.  The  labor  increases  in  proportion  to  the  weight 
and  the  height.     When,  then,  two  animals  of  different  masses  leap  to 


DWARFS  AND    GIANTS.  769 

the  same  absolute  height,  each  one  performs  a  work  precisely  propor- 
tional to  its  mass  ;  and,  when  a  man  leaps  over  an  obstacle  sixty  centi- 
metres from  the  ground,  he  accomplishes,  other  conditions  being  the 
same,  a  task  as  considerable  again  as  that  of  the  flea  or  the  grasshop- 
per, which  can  not  spring  much  above  thirty  centimetres. 

A  few  figures  will  make  the  matter  plain.  Take  a  grasshopper 
weighing  six  decigrammes  (nine  grains),  and  a  man  weighing  sixty  kilo- 
grammes (one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds).  The  man  is  equivalent  in 
weight  to  a  hundred  thousand  grasshoppers.  But  a  hundred  thousand 
grasshoppers  grouped  into  a  single  mass  could  only  raise  that  mass 
thirty  centimetres,  while  the  man  can  lift  his  own  mass  sixty  centi- 
metres. All  the  advantage,  then,  is  on  the  side  of  the  man.  Here  is 
a  wide  variance  from  the  strength  which  has  been  exacted  of  the  horse 
to  make  him  a  rival  of  the  flea. 

The  basis  of  the  comparison  was  vicious.  The  height  or  volume 
of  the  agent  who  handles  a  weight  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  estima- 
tion of  the  labor.  A  sack  of  meal  is  no  heavier  on  the  shoulders  of  a 
man  than  on  the  loins  of  a  horse.  The  labor  and  the  effort  have  been 
confounded.  The  labor  is  a  defined  and  absolute  quantity  ;  the  effort 
a  vague  and  variable  sensation. 

The  deductions  respecting  speed  have  no  better  foundation.  The 
ant,  as  a  moving  body,  is  a  little  mass  of  matter  on  which  a  determined 
force  impresses  a  speed  of  two  and  a  half  metres  a  minute.  To  impress 
the  same  speed  on  a  mass  of  fifteen  millions  of  ants — which  I  take  to 
represent  the  volume  of  a  man — would  require  a  force  fifteen  millions 
greater.  This  force  is  developed  by  a  man  going  two  and  a  half  metres 
a  minute,  while  in  the  same  space  of  time  he  can  easily  accomplish 
a  hundred  metres  and  more.  In  this  case,  then,  if  we  take  notice  of 
any  one  of  the  data,  the  man  manifests  a  strength  forty  times  greater 
in  proportion  than  that  of  the  ant.  This  is  a  very  different  result  from 
the  one  arrived  at  by  the  other  method.  Other  data,  however,  com© 
in  to  complicate  the  comparison  and  considerably  modify  the  result. 

A  little  closer  study  of  the  phenomena  of  walking  will  show  us  that 
it  absorbs  a  considerable  quantity  of  force  that  does  not  appear  in 
speed.  It  is  not  simply  a  uniform  transportation  of  the  body  along 
an  horizontal  line  ;  but  at  each  step  the  body  is  raised,  and  falls  again. 
The  incessant  repetition  of  the  lifting  is  a  great  cause  of  fatigue. 
Hence,  walking  on  an  uneven  road  tires  us  greatly.  In  the  best  paths, 
the  differences  of  level  which  have  to  be  overcome  correspond  with  a 
notable  quantity  of  force  lost  from  speed.  The  ant,  however,  being  a 
creeping  thing,  and  supported  on  six  feet,  has  to  raise  only  a  very 
small  part  of  its  weight  at  each  step,  and  is  therefore  more  advanta- 
geously formed  than  the  man,  who,  having  only  two  feet,  gives  to  his 
whole  body  a  double  oscillation — sidewise,  and  up  and  down.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  ant  feels  even  the  slightest  inequalities  of  the  ground. 
When  it  goes  over  the  space  that  represents  a  man's  step,  and  requires 
vol.  xxii. — 49 


77o  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

only  a  single  lifting  of  his  body,  it  has  to  lift  its  own  perhaps  a  thou- 
sand times.  The  sum  of  all  these  little  lifts  would  probably  give  us  a 
considerable  one. 

The  conclusion  we  have  just  reached,  that  man  is  relatively  forty 
times  stronger  than  the  ant,  deserves,  then,  a  closer  examination  ;  and 
it  may  be  that  the  just  interpretation  of  our  facts  will  cause  us  to  be- 
lieve that  the  energetic  capacity  of  muscular  fibers  is  nearly  uniform 
in  all  animals. 

There  is  another  illusion  in  these  matters,  which  we  might  call  psy- 
chological. The  agility  of  some  animals  surprises  us.  The  monad  in 
a  drop  of  water  moves  so  nimbly  that  we  can  hardly  follow  it  ;  and 
we  naturally  make  a  comparison  between  the  distance  which  an  animal 
can  cover  in  a  certain  time  and  its  dimensions.  The  reasoning  of  this 
comparison  presents  a  problem  somewhat  difficult  of  solution.  It  is 
enough  to  know  that  we  can  not  draw  from  the  illusion  the  conse- 
quences which  we  like  to  see  in  it. 

If  I  were  to  attempt  an  explanation  of  this  agility,  which  gives 
small  animals  so  great  facility  in  escaping  their  enemies,  I  should  look 
for  it  in  the  small  momentum  of  their  mass  when  in  flight,  by  reason 
of  which  only  a  slight  effort  is  required  to  enable  them  to  change  their 
direction.  Incontestably,  we  can  run  much  faster  than  mice  ;  never- 
theless, it  is  not  easy  to  catch  a  mouse  in  a  closed  room.  Our  own 
mass  is  an  impediment  to  our  agility.  By  the  time  we  have  made  a 
spring  in  one  direction,  the  mouse  has  changed  his,  and  we  put  our 
hand,  too  late,  where  he  was.  It  is  very  hard  even  to  lay  hold  of  a 
bird  in  a  narrow  cage. 

The  part  of  our  question  that  remains  to  be  treated  is  no  less  ardu- 
ous or  obscure  than  that  which  we  have  gone  over.  I  will  try  to  throw 
what  light  is  possible  upon  it,  but  I  can  not  flatter  myself  that  I  shall 
fully  succeed.  M.  Plateau  some  seventeen  years  ago  measured,  with 
the  aid  of  ingenious  harnessings  and  other  devices,  the  muscular  force  of 
insects.  He  deduced  from  his  experiments  that,  aside  from  the  power 
of  flight,  insects  have,  as  compared  with  vertebrates,  an  enormous 
strength  in  proportion  to  their  weight  ;  and  that  in  the  same  group  of 
insects  the  strength  varies,  as  between  different  species,  inversely  as 
the  weight,  or,  in  other  words,  that  the  smallest  insects  are  the  strong- 
est. 

Some  of  his  single  results  were  really  surprising.  While  a  horse 
weighing  six  hundred  kilogrammes  can  hardly  support  four  hundred 
kilogrammes,  or  two  thirds  of  his  weight,  he  found  May-bugs,  weigh- 
ing a  sixth  of  a  gramme,  able  to  support  sixty-six  times  their  own 
weight,  or  more  than  ten  grammes.  Here,  then,  was  a  humble  and  stu, 
pid  beetle  a  hundred  times  as  strong  in  proportion  as  the  proud  and 
sturdy  horse.  Another  little  insect,  weighing  half  a  decigramme- 
could  move  a  hundred  times  its  wreight.  By  this  standard  we  men 
ought  to  be  able  to  struggle  with  weights  of  six  thousand  kilogrammes 


DWARFS  AND    GIANTS. 


771 


(or  fifteen  thousand  pounds),  and  elephants  should  move  mountains. 
We  can  not  dispute  the  accuracy  of  the  experiments  or  the  calculations, 
nor  impeach  the  sincerity  or  judgment  of  the  experimenter.  The 
facts  are,  moreover,  conformahle  to  observations.  A  caterpillar  in  the 
closed  hand  will  make  prodigious  efforts  to  open  his  prison  ;  and 
who  has  not  seen  ants  carrying  things  three  or  four  times  as  large  as 
themselves  ?  Various  attempts  have  been  made  to  escape  the  con- 
sequences that  were  deduced  from  these  experiments,  but  they  still 
stand,  apparently  defying  criticism.  Must  we,  then,  resign  ourselves 
to  beincc  a  hundred  or  two  hundred  times  weaker  than  a  beetle  ?  Are 
insects  really,  in  physical  force,  kings  of  creation  ? 

Not  yet.  An  important  element  has  been  neglected.  No  account 
has  been  made  yet  of  the  time  it  takes  the  insect  to  perform  its  won- 
derful feat.  Whenever  we  raise  a  given  weight  to  any  height,  by 
whatever  method,  the  labor  performed  is  in  proportion  to  the  weight 
multiplied  by  the  height ;  and  this  product  always  gives  the  measure 
of  that  labor.  The  same  product,  under  certain  restrictions,  furnishes 
the  measure  of  the  force  that  is  utilized  in  the  work.  A  dog  is  not  as 
strong  as  a  horse,  but  both  animals  expend  precisely  the  same  force  in 
raising  a  kilogramme  a  metre.  Whatever  the  kind  of  work  he  may  wish 
to  calculate,  even  though  it  be  horizontal,  it  is  always  reducible  to  the 
elevation  of  a  certain  weight  to  a  certain  height,  and  is  in  practice 
measured  by  a  formula  of  which  these  are  the  terms. 

While,  however,  the  quantity  of  foi'ce  that  must  be  expended  for  a 
determined  work  is  invariable,  this  is  not  the  case  with  the  manner 
in  which  that  expenditure  may  be  distributed.  If  I  wish  to  strike  a 
single  strong  blow,  I  execute  a  quick  movement.  If  my  muscular 
power  is  weak,  I  must  have  more  time.  It  is  possible,  then,  for  time 
to  supply  a  deficiency  of  power.  I  can  make  such  a  substitution  appli- 
cable in  two  ways,  by  dividing  the  resistance,  or  by  using  a  machine  as 
a  lever,  which,  when  everything  about  it  is  considered,  is  nothing  more 
or  less  than  a  device  by  means  of  which  we  replace  power  with  time. 

Accurately  to  compare  the  strength  of  a  May-bug  with  that  of  a 
man,  we  must  take  into  the  account  the  time  which  the  insect  requires 
to  perform  the  work  exacted  of  it.  Suppose  a  horse  harnessed  to  a 
load  of  half  his  weight,  and  a  May-bug  drawing  a  tray  fifty  times  as 
heavy  as  itself  :  the  beetle's  load  will  be  relatively  a  hundred  times  as 
heavy  as  the  horse's.  But  if  the  horse  needs  only  a  second  to  raise  his 
load  a  metre,  while  the  insect  takes  a  hundred  times  as  Ions;  to  pro- 
duce the  same  effect,  then  the  efforts  of  which  they  are  both  capable 
are  proportionably  the  same.  The  case  is  the  same,  only  the  appear- 
ance is  changed,  when  the  force  is  spent  in  maintaining  the  weight  at 
an  equilibrium. 

In  a  similar  manner  we  may  account  for  the  power  manifested  by 
the  insect  which  I  cover  with  a  board  a  hundred  times  as  heavy  as 
itself,  and  which  gets  its  head  under  the  edge,  raises  it,  and  escapes. 


77 2  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

You  know  that,  if  we  should  put  a  horse  under  a  bell  weighing  sixty 
thousand  kilogrammes,  it  could  not  make  its  cover  move  at  all.  That 
is  because  the  animal  can  not  insinuate  itself  under  the  eclsre  of  the 
bell,  and  is  not  formed  to  raise  weights  with  its  head.  But  fix  a  lever 
under  the  edge  so  that  the  horse  can  work  conveniently  at  its  longer 
arm,  and  require  him  to  raise  the  weight,  not  to  a  proportionate,  but 
to  an  equal  height  with  that  to  which  the  insect  raised  his  board  in 
the  same  time,  and  he  would  not  fail  to  achieve  the  task. 

The  interest  of  the  problem  before  us  does  not  lie  singly  in  learn- 
ing why  insects  are  capable  of  efforts  which  appear  enormous  as  com- 
pared with  their  size.  The  important  thing  is  to  discover  whether 
Nature,  as  has  been  said,  has  regarded  them  more  favorably  than  it 
has  the  vertebrates  and  man,  and  has  endued  them  prodigally  with 
muscular  force,  while  it  has  been  parsimonious  to  the  other  animals. 
We  need  not  believe  anything  of  this  kind.  The  prodigies  of  force 
that  astonish  us  are  due  to  a  very  simple  cause,  and  can  be  accounted 
for  under  the  common  law  that,  of  two  muscles  having  the  same  mass 
and  the  same  energy,  the  shorter  one  is  capable  of  raising  the  more 
considerable  weight.  We  may  figure  muscular  fiber  as  a  spiral  spring, 
habitually  relaxed,  which,  under  nervous  action,  flies  back  upon  itself. 
Suppose  this  fiber  to  be  a  decimetre  long  and  capable  of  contracting  to 
half  its  length,  and  that  it  has  attached  to  it  a  weight,  say,  of  a  centi- 
gramme. Under  the  nervous  action,  it  will  raise  this  weight  half  its 
length,  or  five  centimetres.  Now,  if  we  replace  this  single  fiber,  a 
decimetre  long,  by  a  muscular  bundle  weighing  just  as  much  but 
composed  of  ten  fibers  a  centimetre  long,  we  can  attach  a  centigramme 
weight  to  each  of  these  fibers,  or  ten  centigrammes  to  the  whole  bundle  ; 
but  the  weight  will  be  raised,  under  the  contraction  of  the  muscle,  only 
five  millimetres  instead  of  five  centimetres.  What  we  have  gained  in 
power  we  have  lost  in  extent  of  motion.  That  is  the  rule.  We  have 
hence  a  right  to  conclude,  that  short  muscles  have  the  peculiarity,  as 
compared  with  long  muscles  of  the  same  volume,  that  they  act  more 
slowly  but  can  move  more  considerable  masses.  Consequently,  small 
animals  perform,  absolutely,  slower  motions,  but,  in  compensation  they 
can  move  proportionately  heavier  masses.  We  can  thus  comjDrehend 
how  our  insect  can  move  masses  a  hundred  times  heavier  than  itself, 
without  having  to  infer  that  it  is  a  hundred  times  stronger  than  a 
horse.  Introducing  its  head  and  corselet  under  the  obstacle  it  desires 
to  remove,  it  stretches  its  six  legs,  raises  its  body,  and  develops  an 
apparently  surprising  force.  Really,  it  has  lifted  the  obstacle  only  in 
the  slightest  degree,  but  enough  to  allow  it  to  escape.  Its  strength 
has  been  furnished  by  the  short  and  thick  muscles  of  its  six  legs  and 
its  neck.  These  considerations  furnish  the  key  to  all  the  Herculean 
labors  performed  by  small  animals.  The  smaller  the  animal,  the  more 
capable  it  is  of  great  efforts  ;  only  it  loses  in  speed  what  it  develops  in 
force.     Hence  the  strongest  insects  are  generally  the  slowest. 


DWARFS  AND    GIANTS.  773 

Let  us  finish  our  argument  with  an  imaginary  illustration  embody- 
ing the  principles  and  the  consequences  derived  from  them.  An  ad- 
venturous explorer,  visiting  the  countries  in  which  Gulliver  traveled, 
brings  back  a  Lilliputian  and  a  Brobdingnagian.  The  giant  is  thirty 
feet  hisrh,  the  dwarf  four  inches.  Since  one  is  about  a  hundred  times 
as  large  as  the  other,  their  respective  masses,  and  consequently  the 
masses  of  their  muscles,  must  be  in  the  proportion  of  a  million  to  one. 
If  a  common  man  weighs  sixty  kilogrammes,  or  150  pounds,  the  Brob- 
dingnagian should  weigh  15,000  kilogrammes,  or  about  38,000  pounds, 
and  the  Lilliputian  only  fifteen  grammes.  They  agree  to  compete  with 
each  other  in  the  gymnasium.  At  the  pulleys,  the  Brobdingnagian 
can  easily  raise  a  weight  of  10,000  kilogrammes,  or  2,500  pounds,  as 
high  as  his  shoulders.  Looking  to  the  Lilliputian,  we  would  at  first 
sight  not  expect  him  to  be  able  to  raise  more  than  ten  grammes  to  his 
shoulders.  Pie  really  proves  able  to  lift  a  hundred  times  as  much,  or 
one  kilogramme,  or  the  equivalent  of  seventy-five  times  his  weight. 
This  is  because  the  distance  to  his  shoulders  is  a  hundred  times  less 
than  the  distance  to  his  rival's  shoulders,  and  he  is  able  to  apply 
against  the  weight  the  advantage  which  he  derives  from  the  relative 
shortness  of  the  distance. 

They  next  try  leaping  at  the  bar.  The  Lilliputian  gracefully 
clears  the  pole  at  a  metre  from  the  ground.  Will  the  Brobdingnagian 
be  able  to  make  a  bound  of  a  hundred  metres  ?  Not  at  all.  He  can 
hardly  clear  the  bar  at  five  or  six  metres.  This  is  not  because  he  is 
lacking  in  suppleness.  Compare  his  mass  with  that  of  his  little  rival, 
consider  that  he  has  raised  the  center  of  gravity  of  that  mass  to  the 
height  of  about  a  metre  as  the  other  has  done  with  that  of  his  inferior 
mass,  and  it  will  not  be  hard  to  do  justice  to  his  agility. 

They  are  next  started  on  a  foot-race.  A  course  of  a  thousand 
metres  is  laid  out.  The  Brobdingnagian  runs  it  in  five  minutes  by 
steps  of  four  metres  each  per  second.  The  Lilliputian's  steps  are  only 
four  centimetres  each,  but  he  makes  a  hundred  of  them  in  a  second  ; 
so  he  likewise  goes  over  the  track  in  five  minutes.  You  give  all  praise 
to  the  Lilliputian,  but  do  an  injustice  to  his  competitor.  Think  of 
what  the  giant  has  to  do  to  move  his  legs  !  They  are  a  million  times 
as  heavy  as  the  Lilliputian's.  But  while  he  may  have  a  million  fibers, 
or  a  thousand  in  the  diameter  of  a  transverse  section,  the  Lilliputian 
will  have  ten  fibers  in  the  corresponding  diameter,  or  a  thousand  in  all. 
Thus,  while  the  masses  are  in  the  proportion  of  a  million  to  one,  the 
proportion  as  to  the  motive  fibers  is  a  million  to  a  hundred.  The 
Lilliputian,  then,  has  the  advantage.  It  may  be  objected  that  a  hun- 
dred steps  can  hardly  be  made  in  a  second.  The  objection  is,  how- 
ever, only  specious,  for  the  wings  of  insects  show  us  what  is  possible 
in  this  matter. 

We  are  authorized  by  the  aid  of  these  illustrations  to  draw  the  im- 
portant conclusion  that  the  minute  world  is  not,  and  can  not  be,  in  all 


774  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

respects  a  proportional  reduction  of  a  larger  world.  There  is  an  im- 
possibility in  the  matter  which  I  can  only  indicate,  but  which  depends 
on  the  constitution  of  time  and  space. 

If  the  views  I  have  expressed  are  true,  we  have  a  right  to  infer 
that  all  animals  as  to  their  energy  stand  upon  the  same  line,  or,  in 
other  words,  that  a  muscular  fiber  possesses  the  same  properties, 
whether  it  belong  to  a  vertebrate,  an  articulate,  or  a  mollusk.  Such 
a  conclusion  is  more  satisfactory  at  the  first  view  than  those  which  I 
have  criticised,  for  our  mind  is  fond  of  discovering  unity  and  uniform- 
ity in  nature.  I  am  not  certain  that  it  is  exact.  That  can  be  deter- 
mined only  by  experiments.  The  question  is  now  put  into  the  hands  of 
investigators  who  are  endowed  with  the  genius  for  patient  and  minute 
researches.  Let  them  attack  it  with  their  instruments  of  observation 
and  precision.  The  arguments  they  will  deduce  will  be  those  before 
which  we  shall  be  forced  to  bow. 

The  main  object  of  my  remarks  has  been,  however,  to  plead  the 
cause,  which  in  these  days  has  been  somewhat  compromised,  of  Specu- 
lation, the  mother  of  ideas,  which  allures  us  more  frequently  than  it 
instructs  us,  but  which  stimulates,  guides,  and  pushes  us  forward,  and 
sometimes  gives  us  a  glimpse,  if  it  does  not  permit  us  to  contemplate 
them,  of  brilliant  and  grand  horizons. 


-♦-»*- 


THE  CENSUS  AND   THE  FOKESTS. 

By  N.  H.  EGLESTON. 

THE  prudent  and  thrifty  tradesman  once  a  year  takes  an  account 
of  stock,  and  thereby  assures  himself  as  to  what  goods  he  has  in 
possession,  as  well  as  what  gain  or  loss  may  have  accrued  to  him  as 
the  result  of  the  year's  transactions.  So  the  nation,  or,  if  we  please 
to  use  the  figure  of  personality,  "  Uncle  Sam,"  deems  it  wise  occasion- 
ally to  take  an  account  of  stock  ;  only  this  is  done  but  once  in  ten 
years,  and  is  called  "  taking  the  census."  It  could  not  well  be  taken 
oftener.  The  pi-ocess  is  too  long  and  too  complicated.  The  reduc- 
tion to  tabular  form  of  the  millions  of  facts  and  items  of  information, 
the  summarization  of  the  particulars  gathered  from  so  many  States 
and  Territories,  require  no  small  amount  of  time,  even  with  the  best 
an*angements  for  facilitating  the  performance  of  the  work.  The  re- 
sults of  the  census  of  1880  are  not  yet  officially  before  us.  Some 
facts  as  to  population,  the  gross  number  of  people  in  a  certain  range 
of  cities  and  towms,  and  a  few  other  facts  of  special  interest  or  im- 
portance, have  been  communicated  to  the  newspapers,  and  thus  have 
become  known  to  the  public.  But  not  a  single  volume  of  the  thirty 
which  the  census  report  is  expected  to  make  has  yet  appeared. 


THE   CENSUS  AND    TEE  FORESTS.  775 

Nor  if  we  could  have  a  more  frequent  census  would  it,  perhaps, 
be  desirable.  We  should  not  have  time  to  become  acquainted  with 
the  facts  ascertained  by  one  census,  and  to  see  their  bearing  upon  our 
life  and  present  occupations,  before  another  census  would  be  at  our 
door  with  its  claims  upon  our  attention,  because  possibly  necessitating 
some  important  change  in  our  plans  or  pursuits. 

With  the  growth  of  the  country,  the  census  constantly  becomes  a 
greater  and  more  complicated  matter.  It  was  a  comparatively  simple 
affair  at  first.  It  was  little  more  than  the  enumeration  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  country,  for  the  purpose  of  apportioning  direct  taxes  in 
the  several  States,  and  also  the  representatives  in  the  national  Con- 
gress. For  the  latter  purpose  the  respective  numbers  of  whites  and 
blacks  were  given,  three  fifths  of  the  latter  being  counted,  during  the 
existence  of  slavery,  in  determining  the  quota  of  representation  for 
each  State. 

A  noticeable  fact  in  regard  to  the  census  of  the  United  States 
is,  that  it  is  the  result  of  a  constitutional  ordinance,  the  very  first 
article  of  the  Constitution  providing  for  a  general  enumeration  of 
the  population  within  three  years  from  the  convening  of  the  first 
session  of  Congress,  and  again  during  every  subsequent  decade.  The 
first  census  was  consequently  taken  in  1790.  It  gave  the  names  of 
heads  of  families,  the  number  of  free  white  males  above  and  below 
sixteen  years  of  age,  the  number  of  females,  and  the  number  of  slaves. 
Subsequent  censuses  have  extended  the  classification  so  as  to  give  the 
number  of  persons  of  any  specified  age,  from  one  year  upward  to  a 
hundred,  and  in  recent  years  various  other  particulars.  In  1810  the 
marshals  were  directed  for  the  first  time  to  make  returns  of  the  manu- 
factures and  manufacturing  establishments  of  the  country.  So,  from 
time  to  time,  the  census  reports  have  embraced  new  facts  in  regard  to 
the  people  and  the  products  of  their  industry. 

The  ninth  census,  that  of  1870,  was  much  more  full  in  this  respect 
than  any  that  preceded  it.  It  gave  not  only  the  numbers  of  the  peo- 
ple of  all  ages  and  the  sexes,  but  their  occupations  and  the  products 
of  their  industries,  as  they  had  never  been  given  before.  Perhaps  no 
country  had  ever  had  its  material  and  social  condition,  its  resources 
and  productions,  so  fully  presented  to  view  as  were  ours  by  this  census. 
With  the  experience  gained  in  its  compilation,  and  the  satisfaction 
which  its  fullness  had  given,  the  census  of  1880  was  undertaken  with 
the  design  to  make  it  still  more  full  and  complete.  Among  other 
subjects  to  which  special  attention  has  been  given  in  taking  the  tenth 
census  is  that  of  our  forests.  Hitherto  the  forests  have  been  looked 
upon  chiefly  as  the  source  of  lumber-supply,  and  the  census  has  taken 
account  of  them  only  so  far  as  to  report  the  statistics  of  the  lumber- 
trade,  and  some  of  the  industries  connected  with  it  or  derivable  from 
it.  But  the  importance  of  the  forests  at  once  appears  when  we  con- 
sider that  the  census  of  1870  reported  the  annual  value  of   sawed 


776  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

lumber  produced  by  our  forests  as  $210,159,327,  and  that  there  were 
63,928  establishments  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  articles  made 
entirely  of  wood,  besides  109,512  establishments  in  which  wood  is  an 
important  part  of  the  material  used — as  in  the  manufacture  of  car- 
riages, agricultural  implements,  etc.  It  has  been  estimated  that  the 
value  of  the  products  annually  drawn  from  our  forests  exceeds  $1,000,- 
000,000,  and  of  the  vast  imports  of  Great  Britain  two  thirds  are  said 
to  be  of  vegetable  character.  Such  facts  show  at  once  the  very  promi- 
nent place  which  the  forests  of  the  world  hold  among  national  inter- 
ests. But,  in  addition  to  the  bearing  of  the  forests  upon  the  mechani- 
cal industries  of  life,  they  have  an  important  relation  to  climate  and 
to  the  meteorologic  conditions  on  which  agriculture  and  commerce  and 
the  health  and  life  of  the  people  depend.  When  all  these  things  are 
taken  into  account,  as  until  recently  they  have  not  been,  it  becomes  at 
once  apparent  that  no  subject,  perhaps,  deserves  more  consideration 
among  the  resources  of  a  country,  and  that  the  special  attention  given 
it  in  the  compilation  of  the  present  census  is  abundantly  warranted. 

Accordingly,  the  endeavor  has  been  made  to  ascertain,  with  more 
completeness  and  precision  than  ever  before,  the  situation  of  the 
country  in  respect  to  its  woody  covering  ;  to  learn  to  what  extent  the 
several  States  and  Territories  abound  in  trees  in  masses  ;  of  what 
species  of  trees  the  forests  are  composed,  their  location,  and  their  com- 
mercial and  industrial  value.  The  work  of  ascertaining  these  facts, 
and  presenting  them  in  proper  form  as  a  part  of  the  census  returns, 
was  committed  by  the  Department  of  the  Interior  to  Professor  C.  S. 
Sargent,  of  Harvard  University,  who  is  also  manager  of  the  Arnold 
Arboretum  at  Brookline.  In  carrying  out  the  work  assigned  to  him, 
Professor  Sargent  divided  the  whole  country  into  several  districts, 
each  of  which  was  given  in  charge  to  one  or  two  competent  persons, 
with  the  needful  assistants,  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  personal  ex- 
amination of  the  districts,  and  also  ascertaining  facts  by  correspond- 
ence with  residents  of  different  parts  of  the  districts,  so  that  a  suffi- 
ciently exact  report  might  be  made  in  regard  to  the  timber-growth  of 
the  country.  Professor  Sargent  personally  undertook  the  exploration 
of  the  Pacific  division,  including  California,  Oregon,  and  Washington 
Territory. 

The  result  of  this  forest  survey  will  be  to  give  us  a  knowledge  of 
the  species  and  varieties  of  trees  indigenous  to  our  country,  with  the 
districts  where  they  most  abound,  and  where  they  attain  their  best 
development.  It  will  show  us  what  our  forest  resources  are,  whether 
for  the  production  of  lumber,  or  fuel,  or  for  ornamental  planting.  It 
will  show  how  far  and  how  fast  our  forest  supplies  are  diminishing, 
and  from  what  cause  or  causes  ;  whether  from  the  axe  of  the  lumber- 
man, estimating  the  forests  according  to  the  number  of  feet  of  boards 
or  timber  which  they  will  yield,  or  from  the  axe  of  the  woodman  or 
the  miner  ;  whether  from  the  fire  kindled  by  the  pioneer,  eager  in  the 


THE   CENSUS  AND    THE  FORESTS.  777 

quickest  way  possible  to  clear  a  space  in  which  to  cultivate  his  wheat 
and  corn,  and  pasture  his  herds,  or  from  the  fire  lighted  recklessly  or 
by  accident  by  some  passing  huntsman  or  traveler. 

In  showing  the  relative  position  of  our  forests  in  respect  to  land 
elevation  and  the  vicinity  of  streams,  the  census  report  will  show  the 
relation  of  the  forests  to  the  water-supply,  and  consequently  their  in- 
fluence upon  agriculture  and  manufactures.  It  will  indicate  their  in- 
fluence upon  rain-fall  and  climate,  as  well  as  upon  the  course  and  effect 
of  winds,  whether  considered  in  their  mechanical  or  their  meteorologi- 
cal relations.  It  will  have  an  important  use  also  as  indicating  the 
relative  healthfulness  of  different  portions  of  our  wide  and  diversified 
domain. 

In  prosecuting  his  study  of  our  forests,  Professor  Sargent  has  gath- 
ered a  large  collection  of  specimens  of  the  different  woods.  These 
will  show  the  natural  appearance  of  the  trees,  and  the  variation  of  ap- 
pearance and  texture  caused  by  growth  under  differing  circumstances 
of  soil  and  climate.  From  these  specimens  portions  have  also  been 
taken  and  carefully  worked  down  so  as  to  show  the  grain  and  the  sus- 
ceptibility to  polish,  and  their  consequent  value  for  mechanical  and 
artistic  purposes.  The  beauty  of  our  native  woods,  and  their  adapta- 
tion on  this  account  to  the  manufacture  of  cabinet-work,  and  to  the 
interior  finish  of  dwellings,  will  be  made  to  appear  as  never  before, 
and  will  be  a  surprise  to  many.  It  will  be  seen  that  we  have  gone 
abroad  and  procured  materials  for  cabinet  and  carpentry  uses  at  great 
expense  when  our  own  forests  stood  ready  to  supply  all  that  the  most 
fastidious  taste  could  require.  Professor  Brewer,  of  Yale  College, 
reports  that  there  are  probably  800  species  of  woody  plants  indigenous 
to  the  United  States,  of  which  250  attain  a  height  of  thirty  feet,  and 
are  abundant  in  some  portion  of  the  country. 

Careful  experiments  have  also  been  made  in  order  to  determine 
the  relative  value  of  our  woods  for  the  purposes  of  construction  and 
for  use  as  fuel.  Blocks  and  sections  of  a  great  variety  of  trees  have 
been  selected,  reduced  to  the  same  dimensions,  freed  to  an  equal  ex- 
tent from  moisture — in  other  words,  brought,  so  far  as  possible,  to  the 
same  conditions — and  then  subjected  to  treatment  at  the  United  States 
Arsenal  at  Watertown,  by  means  of  nice  and  powerful  machinery,  in 
the  hands  of  careful  manipulators,  for  the  purpose  of  determining  the 
respective  amounts  of  resistance  to  a  crushing  and  a  fracturing  strain. 
Similar  pieces  have  also  been  burned,  under  like  circumstances,  as 
nearly  as  possible,  and  the  amount  of  heat  developed  by  their  combus- 
tion accurately  determined.  The  relative  value  as  fuel  of  the  different 
kinds  of  wood  with  which  our  country  abounds  has  thus  been  ascer- 
tained. Probably  no  more  trustworthy  and  decisive  experiments  have 
ever  been  made  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  value  of  different 
woods  for  the  uses  of  construction  or  as  sources  of  heat. 

One  of  the  peculiar  and,  practically,  most  valuable  features  of  the 


778  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

census  report  of  our  forest  resources  is  the  attempt  made  by  Professor 
Sargent  to  give  at  a  glance,  by  means  of  maps,  the  history  and  present 
condition  of  our  woodlands  throughout  the  country.  In  the  census  of 
1870  maps  had  been  used  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  distribution 
of  our  native  and  foreign  population,  the  greater  or  less  degree  of 
illiteracy  in  different  portions  of  the  country,  and  the  areas  of  land 
devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  the  great  staples,  corn,  wheat,  and  to- 
bacco. The  vital  statistics  were  also,  to  some  extent,  reduced  to  the 
map  form,  and  the  deaths  from  consumption,  fevers,  and  some  other 
classes  of  diseases  were  presented  in  the  same  way. 

In  the  census  report  now  in  preparation  this  plan  of  presenting 
classes  of  facts  at  once  through  the  eye  by  means  of  maps  is  applied 
to  the  woody  covering  of  the  country.  More  especially,  the  object 
has  been  to  show  the  present  extent  of  the  supply  of  pine-timber,  as 
being  of  chief  importance  in  connection  with  the  lumber  industry  of 
the  country,  and  so  bearing,  more  or  less  directly,  upon  many  other 
interests  and  occupations.  The  hard-woods,  also,  where  prevalent  to 
any  considerable  extent,  are  of  course  denoted  on  the  maps.  Other- 
wise, their  amount  and  localities  are  briefly  described  in  the  accom- 
panying text  of  the  report. 

In  general,  one  map  is  devoted  to  each  State  or  Territory,  though 
in  the  case  of  Vermont  and  New  Hampshire  the  two  are  grouped  to- 
gether. The  maps  are  carefully  prepared,  and  the  engraving  and 
printing  in  colors  are  such  that  the  eye  perceives  at  once  in  what  por- 
tion of  any  State  or  Territory  the  supply  of  pine  is  undiminished,  and 
where  and  to  what  extent  it  has  been  cut  off.  It  is  also  made  ap- 
parent  at  once  where  the  pine  has  exclusive  possession  of  the  soil,  and 
where  it  grows  mingled  with  the  hard-woods. 

In  connection  with  the  maps,  but  on  a  separate  page,  the  statistics 
in  regard  to  the  lumber-supply  are  given  in  properly  arranged  tables, 
these  with  the  corresponding  map  constituting  a  "Forestry Bulletin." 
The  first  of  the  Bulletins  to  be  printed  was  that  relating  to  the  "  Pine 
Supply  of  Texas,"  and  a  brief  description  of  this  will  show  the  method 
pursued  in  all.  The  map  of  Texas  is  on  a  scale  of  one  hundred  miles 
to  the  inch.  The  water-courses  are  given  with  great  completeness, 
and  the  county  lines  as  far  west  as  the  one  hundredth  parallel.  The 
map  is  so  printed  in  colors  as  to  show  the  parts  of  the  State  abounding 
respectively  in  the  short-leaved  or  loblolly  pine  (Pinus  toeda)  mixed  with 
the  oak  and  other  hard-woods  ;  second,  those  abounding  in  the  short- 
leaved  or  yellow  pine  {Pinus  mitis),  mixed  with  oak  and  other  hard- 
woods, together  with  a  little  loblolly  pine  ;  third,  those  abounding 
in  the  long-leaved  pine  (Pinus  Australia),  and,  fourth,  the  regions 
from  which  merchantable  pine  has  been  cut  off.  A  glance  at  the 
map  shows  that  Texas  is  poorly  supplied  with  pine-timber,  the  en- 
tire State,  with  the  exception  of  the  few  eastern  counties,  being 
uncolored,  which  indicates  the  absence  of  trees  in  any  such  numbers 


THE   CENSUS  AND    THE  FORESTS.  779 

as  to  constitute  a  forest.  It  is  evident  also  from  the  map  that  in  ten  or 
twelve  counties  there  is  a  considerable  growth  of  the  long-leaved  pine, 
and  in  perhaps  twenty  or  twenty-five  counties  a  good  deal  of  the  two 
species  of  the  short-leaved  pine  mingled  with  various  hard-woods. 
But  in  seven  eighths  of  the  State  there  is  not  sufficient  pine  to  be  in- 
dicated at  all  on  the  map. 

Turning  now  to  the  statistical  tables  accompanying  the  map,  we  find 
the  estimated  amount  of  merchantable  pine  standing  at  the  date  May 
31,  1880,  was  as  follows  :  long-leaved  pine  (Pinus  Australia),  20,508,- 
200,000  feet,  board-measure  ;  short-leaved  pine  (Plnus  mitis),  26,093,- 
200,000  feet ;  loblolly  pine  (Times  tceda),  20,907,100,000  feet. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  estimated  amoixnts  of  the  various  kinds 
of  pine  found  in  Texas  do  not  vary  greatly  from  one  another.  The 
amount  cut  during  the  year  ending  May  31,  1880,  of  the  long-leaved 
pine,  is  given  'as  06,450,000  feet ;  of  the  Pinus  mitis,  or  short-leaved, 
146,420,000  feet,  including  30,290,000  shingles  ;  and  of  the  loblolly 
pine,  61,570,000  feet. 

The  amount  of  pine  standing  in  the  counties  which  have  pine  at  all 
varies  from  19,000,000  to  3,216,000,000  feet  each. 

From  this  description  it  will  be  seen  that  from  such  a  simple  Bul- 
letin, with  its  map,  any  one  can  learn  in  a  few  minutes  very  accurately 
the  condition  of  the  lumber  interest  in  any  part  of  the  country. 

It  will  not  be  amiss,  perhaps,  to  compare  for  a  few  moments  the 
first  Bulletin,  that  of  Texas,  with  the  sixth,  that  of  Michigan,  the  two 
representing  regions  widely  separated  and  differing  also  in  climate 
while  the  latter  has  been,  until  quite  recently,  one  of  our  chief  sources 
for  the  supply  of  pine-lumber.  The  area  of  Texas  is  about  five  times  as 
great  as  that  of  Michigan.  The  Upper  and  LowTer  Peninsulas  of  Michi- 
gan are  given  upon  separate  maps,  which  are  on  a  scale  of  forty  miles 
to  the  inch.  The  engraving  and  coloring  are  such  as  to  indicate  por- 
tions abounding  respectively  in  hard-wood,  in  pine,  in  pine  and  hard- 
wood mingled  together,  the  portions  also  which  have  been  cut  over, 
whether  of  pine  alone  or  of  pine  and  hard-wood  mixed,  and  the  barrens. 

A  glance  at  the  maps  shows  at  once  that  the  lower  portion  of  the 
State,  for  a  distance  of  sixty  or  seventy  miles  from  the  Ohio  border,  is 
covered  with  hard-wood,  except  as  it  has  been  cleared  for  agricultural 
purposes.  Above  this  a  broad  belt  stretches  across  the  State,  in  which 
pine  and  hard-woods  have  grown  together,  but  in  which  the  pine  has 
been  mostly  swept  off  by  the  lumberman's  axe,  and  so  thoroughly 
swept  off  as  to  leave  no  corresponding  growth  to  follow  it  in  future 
years,  and  the  gi-eater  part  of  the  hard-wood  has  also  been  destroyed. 
In  the  northern  part  of  the  Lower  Peninsula  some  pine  remains,  but  it 
is  apparent  that  the  axe  has  felled  nearly  all  that  grew  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  streams,  so  that  what  little  is  now  standing  is  reached  only  by 
means  of  railways  built  especially  for  the  purpose  of  transporting  it  to 
market. 


78o  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

Looking  at  the  map  of  the  Upper  Peninsula,  the  eye  sees  instantly 
that  the  pine-forests  remain  only  in  a  comparatively  small  district 
bordering  on  the  northern  portion  of  Wisconsin  and  not  easily  acces- 
sible, while  from  that  part  of  the  State  lying  along  the  Menominee 
River  and  Green  Bay,  as  well  as  along  the  upper  shore  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan and  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Superior — in  short,  wherever  they 
could  be  reached  with  facility — both  the  pine  and  hard-wood  have 
been  cleared  away.  There  remains  a  belt  of  mingled  pine  and  hard- 
wood stretching  across  the  interior  of  the  Peninsula,  and  a  section, 
consisting  chiefly  of  hard-wood,  lying  in  the  extreme  northern  and 
northwestern  portions. 

These  grand  facts  in  regard  to  one  of  the  principal  sources  hitherto 
of  our  pine-lumber  are  seen  at  a  glance  from  the  clear  and  well-defined 
maps  of  the  forthcoming  census  report.  Apart  from  such  a  presenta? 
tion  to  the  eye,  they  could  not  be  gained  without  much  and  careful 
inquiry,  and  then  the  facts  would  make  no  such  clear  and  distinct 
impression  upon  the  mind  as  they  do  at  once  wrhen  thus  mapped 
before  the  sight. 

The  rate  at  which  the  supply  of  lumber  in  any  region  is  increased 
or  diminished  can  not  be  given  by  a  single  map,  or  the  relation  of  the 
supply  to  the  annual  demand.  These  facts  could  be  presented  to  the 
eye  only  by  a  series  of  maps  showing  the  areas  of  forest  as  they 
become  changed  from  year  to  year.  So,  in  a  single  page  of  figures 
accompanying  each  map,  we  have  the  estimated  amount  of  merchant- 
able timber  still  standing  on  the  31st  of  May,  1880,  and  the  amount 
cut  during  the  year  ending  with  that  date.  The  comparison  of  these 
readily  gives  the  probable  duration  of  the  supply  at  the  present  rate 
of  consumption.  Thus  the  statement  for  Michigan  is  as  follows:  In 
the  Lower  Peninsula  the  amount  of  white  pine  is: 

Board-measure. 
In  the  basins  of  the  streams  flowing  into  Saginaw  Bay. . . .     7,000,000,000  feet. 

In  the  basins  of  streams  flowing  into  Lake  Huron 8,000,000,000     " 

In  the  basins  of  streams  flowing  into  Lake  Michigan 14,000,000,000     " 


Total 29,000,000,000     " 

Cut  for  the  census  year  ending  May  31,  1880,  including  2,988,600,000  shingles  and 
428,445,000  laths,  but  exclusive  of  36,000,000  staves  and  3,330,000  sets  of  headings, 
4,06S,773,000  feet. 

It  will  be  seen  at  once  that,  at  the  present  rate  of  consumption,  the 
white-pine  lumber  of  the  Lower  Peninsula  will  be  consumed  in  about 
seven  years.  It  will  probably  last  somewhat  longer  than  this,  because 
its  increasing  scarcity  and  the  increased  difficulty  of  procuring  it  on 
account  of  its  remoteness  from  streams  by  means  of  which  it  might 
be  easily  floated  to  market,  will  advance  the  price,  and  thereby  lessen 
the  demand  for  it.  The  duration  of  the  remaining  pine-forests  of 
Michigan  wTill  also  be  extended  by  the  fact  that  the  augmented  price 
will  lead  to  the  substitution  of  the  hard-woods  for  many  purposes  in 


THE   CENSUS  AND    THE  FORESTS.  781 

the  place  of  pine.  "We  see  every  day  that  the  hard-woods  are  coming 
into  use  more  and  more  for  the  interior  finish  of  buildings,  as  well  as 
for  many  other  applications. 

There  is  in  the  Lower  Peninsula  an  estimated  amount  of  575,500,- 
000  cords  of  hard-wood  distributed  over  nearly  20,000,000  acres. 
About  twenty  per  cent  of  this  is  suitable  for  lumber  and  cooperage 
stock.  There  were  cut  for  the  census  year  ending  May  31, 1880,  exclu- 
sive of  163,821,000  staves  and  18,567,000  sets  of  headings,  and  includ- 
ing 6,038,000  feet  of  spool  stock,  440,944,000  feet. 

In  the  southern  half  of  the  Lower  Peninsula  the  forest  has  been 
largely  removed  for  agricultural  purposes  or  used  in  manufacturing 
although  considerable  wooded  areas  generally  distributed  still  remain. 
In  the  upper  part  of  this  Peninsula  the  hard-wood  is  now  being  rapidly 
consumed  in  the  manufacture  of  charcoal,  to  be  used  for  the  purpose 
of  smelting  the  iron-ores  with  which  that  region  abounds. 

Passing  now  to  the  Upper  Peninsula,  it  is  estimated  that  the 
amount  of  merchantable  pine-lumber  still  standing  is  6,000,000,000 
feet.  There  were  cut  for  the  census  year  ending  May  31,  1881,  328,- 
438,000  feet.  The  supply  here,  at  the  present  rate  of  consumption, 
would  last  about  eighteen  years. 

Of  hard-wood  there  is  an  estimated  amount  of  124,500,000  cords, 
distributed  over  10,000,000  acres.  There  were  cut  for  the  census  year, 
exclusive  of  fuel  and  railroad-ties,  1,145,000  cords.  The  southern 
counties  contain  large  areas  of  swamp  covered  with  tamarack,  white 
and  yellow  cedar,  estimated  in  the  aggregate  at  62,500,000  cords. 

We  have  not  undertaken  to  give  the  full  results  of  the  census, 
even  in  respect  to  our  forests  and  forest  products.  We  could  not  do 
so,  in  the  present  incomplete  state  of  the  returns.  We  have  only 
endeavored  to  indicate  in  advance  some  of  the  interesting  and  valu- 
able results  which  may  be  anticipated  from  the  publication  of  the 
census  returns  in  regard  to  our  forests  and  woodlands  whenever  that 
publication  shall  be  made.  We  have  sought  to  exhibit  the  method 
adopted  in  compiling  the  census,  as  showing  the  confidence  which 
may  be  given  to  the  results  presented.  Without  doubt,  under  the 
careful  management  of  Professor  Sargent,  with  his  able  corps  of  assist- 
ants, we  shall  have  set  before  us  in  the  two  volumes  of  his  special 
report,  with  the  accompanying  maps,  a  great  body  of  most  interesting 
and  important  facts  in  regard  to  the  present  and  prospective  condition 
of  our  forests.  We  shall  know,  as  it  was  not  possible  to  know  before, 
their  value  as  sources  of  lumber  and  fuel,  and  for  various  uses  in  the 
arts.  We  shall  know,  as  we  have  not  known  before,  the  various  agen- 
cies by  which  the  forests  are  destroyed,  and  the  rapidity  with  which 
their  destruction  is  effected.  We  shall  learn,  as  we  have  not  learned 
before,  that,  wasteful  as  is  the  process  of  converting  our  forests  into 
lumber,  more  of  our  precious  woodlands  are  destroyed  by  fire  than  by 
the  axe.     It  has  been  ascertained,  for  instance,  that  in  the  compara- 


782  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

tively  small  State  of  Massachusetts  more  than  14,000  acres  of  forest, 
valued  at  more  than  $100,000,  have  been  recently  consumed  by  fire  in 
a  single  year  ;  and  in  Pennsylvania  685,738  acres  of  forest  are  reported 
as  burned  over  in  1880,  with  a  loss  of  more  than  $3,000,000.  We  shall 
learn  that  the  axe  and  the  flames  together  are  consuming  our  forests 
so  rapidly  that  we  are  threatened  with  great  evils  on  this  account  in 
the  not  distant  future.  Trees  are  quickly  felled  and  quickly  burned  ; 
they  are  slow  to  grow.  The  lumberman's  axe  can  destroy  in  an  hour 
the  oak  or  the  pine  which  has  gained  its  stature  and  its  worth  only  by 
the  annual  increments  of  a  century.  The  spark  from  the  tobacco-pipe 
of  a  careless  tramp  may  kindle  a  flame  which  will  speedily  spread  over 
some  great  mountain-side  and  sweep  away  the  forest  covering  which 
has  been  growing  ever  since  the  beginning  of  our  history  as  a  nation. 
Great  revolutions  may  come  in  our  national  life,  and  generations  of 
men  will  pass  away,  before  that  forest  covering  can  be  replaced. 

The  forthcoming  census  report  will  show  that  we  have  25,708 
establishments  for  converting  the  trees  of  our  forests  into  lumber, 
that  $181,186,122  are  employed  as  the  needful  capital  for  carrying  on 
this  work,  and  that  the  value  of  the  lumber  produced  is  $233,367,729. 

The  revelations  of  the  census  will  show  with  new  clearness  that, 
in  view  of  the  rapid  destruction  of  our  forests  and  the  evils  threatened 
in  consequence,  there  is  no  time  to  be  lost  in  taking  measures  to  avert 
those  evils  so  far  as  possible.  What  measures  in  particular  should  be 
adopted  it  is  aside  from  our  present  purpose  to  show.  It  is  enough  to 
say  in  general  that  we  should  do  all  that  we  can  individually,  and  by 
legislative  enactment  where  necessary,  to  prevent  the  further  needless 
destruction  of  our  remaining  forests.  We  should  be  more  careful  and 
less  wasteful  in  cutting  them  for  the  production  of  lumber.  We  should 
guard  them  more  vigilantly,  and,  by  the  enforcement  of  severe  pen- 
alties if  need  be,  against  those  chance  fires  which  result  in  evil,  and 
evil  only,  without  any  incidental  good  to  any  one.  We  should  encour- 
age the  reproduction  of  forests,  by  leaving  a  sufficiency  of  seed  or 
mother  trees  on  the  ground  where  the  forests  are  cut,  and  by  carefully 
excluding  from  all  such  grounds  the  cattle,  whose  teeth  and  hoofs  to- 
gether are  almost  as  destructive  as  the  axe  or  the  flames.  It  is  im- 
possible to  grow  valuable  forests  where  cattle  are  allowed  to  range  in 
them  and  browse  upon  the  tender  trees.  In  Europe,  they  have  decided 
long  ago  that  the  woods  are  no  proper  pasture-grounds  for  cattle. 

Finally,  we  should  encourage  the  planting  of  many  new  forests  on 
what  are  practically  the  waste  lands  of  many  of  our  States.  Such 
lands  can  thus  be  made  the  most  productive,  pecuniarily,  of  all  our 
lands,  while  in  those  States  and  Territories  which  are  comparatively 
destitute  of  forests  no  land  is  too  good  to  be  devoted  to  this  purpose, 
and  no  labor  of  the  husbandman  promises  so  important  and  so  profit- 
able results  as  that  of  tree-planting  on  the  large  scale.  The  "North- 
western Lumberman,"  Chicago,  in  its  review  of  the  lumber  product 


ORIGIN    OF   THE  DONKEY.  783 

for  the  present  year,  says,  "  To  own  a  saw-mill  to-day,  with  ten  years' 
supply  of  standing  timber,  is  to  have  that  which  is  far  better  and 
safer  than  a  gold-mine  in  the  Occident."  The  same  paper  also  says  : 
"  The  amount  of  timber  cut  from  the  forests  of  the  Northwest  "  (mean- 
ing Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  Minnesota,  chiefly)  "  in  1881,  counting 
that  made  into  shingles  with  the  lumber,  exceeded  7,000,000,000  feet. 
It  requires  some  little  grasp  of  the  subject  to  comprehend  such  an 
enormous  sum.  Loaded  on  cars,  green,  it  would  make  a  train  nearly 
seven  thousand  miles  in  length.  The  amount  of  money  required  to 
purchase  it  from  first  hands  would  be  not  far  from  $125,000,000." 

With  such  statements  relative  to  the  consumption  of  our  existing 
forests,  from  authoritative  sources,  and  the  well-known  fact  that  the 
price  of  all  kinds  of  lumber  has  greatly  increased  during  the  last  ten 
years,  while  that  of  some  kinds  has  doubled,  there  should  be  little 
doubt  that,  looked  at  as  a  pecuniary  venture  alone,  tree-planting  on  an 
extensive  scale  will  brino;  a  sure  and  abundant  reward  to  those  who 
engage  in  it. 


ORIGIN"  OF  THE  DONKEY* 

By  C,  A.  FIETREMENT. 

THE  majority  of  modern  naturalists  have  long  attributed  an  Asiatic 
origin  to  the  domestic  asses.  They  have  believed  that  the  spe- 
cies are  derived  from  the  so-called  onagras  or  wild  asses  of  Asia, 
which  the  ancients  mention,  and  which  are  still  met  wandering  in 
droves  of  greater  or  less  size,  from  the  northern  part  of  the  Altai 
Mountains  to  the  southern  regions  of  the  continent.  As  late  as  1862, 
Isidore  Geoffroy  Saint-IIilaire  assumed  that  the  primitive  country  of 
the  ass  was  partly  in  Asia,  partly  in  Africa,  because,  he  said,  "  the  ona- 
gra  extends  from  Asia  to  Northwestern  Africa."  In  1869,  however, 
M.  H.  Milne-Edwards  considered  it "  well  demonstrated  that  the  ass  is 
essentially  an  African  species,  which  occurs  in  Asia  only  in  a  domes- 
ticated condition  ;  and  that  all  that  the  ancients,  and  modern  travel- 
lers as  well,  have  said  of  the  wild  asses  or  onagras  of  Syria,  Persia, 
etc.,  is  applicable  to  the  hemippus  and  other  varieties  of  Eqnus  hemi- 
onas,  and  not  to  Equus  aslnus.  The  horse,  on  the  other  hand,  appears 
to  have  originated  in  Central  Asia  and  a  part  of  Europe.  It  is  pre- 
sumable that  the  domestication  of  the  ass  was  effected  in  Africa, 
probably  in  Upper  Egypt  or  some  neighboring  country,  and  that  of 
the  horse  took  place  in  the  region  occupied  by  the  Indo-Germanic 
peoples.     If  the  civilization  of  Central  Asia  and  Europe  had  much 

*  From  a  new  work,  "  Les  Chevaux  dans  le  Temps  prehistoriqucs  et  historiques  " 
("  Horses  in  Prehistorical  and  Historical  Times  ").  Translated  and  abridged  for  "  The 
Popular  Science  Monthly." 


784  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

preceded  that  of  Egypt,  we  might  have  presumed  that  the  Egyptians 
received  trained  horses  from  abroad  before  taming  the  ass  that  lived 
wild  in  their  land  ;  but  nothing  authorizes  us  to  suppose  that  this  was 
the  case.  In  all  probability,  the  Egyptians  made  use  of  the  indigenous 
species,  or  the  ass,  before  they  did  of  the  horse,  an  exotic  species  that 
never  came  to  Africa  till  it  was  domesticated. 

M.  George,  in  his  "  Etudes  Zoologiques,"  brings  evidence  corrobo- 
rative of  these  views.  Real  wild  asses  are  now  found,  according  to 
him,  only  in  Abyssinia,  where  they  have  the  slate-gray  color  and  the 
cranial  peculiarities  typical  of  the  species. 

The  name  by  which  the  Semitic  peoples  call  the  ass,  hamar  (an- 
cient Assyrian,  imeru),  a  name  signifying  red  or  bright  fawn  color,  is 
applicable  to  the  hemione  and  not  to  the  ass,  and  indicates  that,  con- 
founding the  two  species  as  modern  naturalists  and  travelers  have 
done,  they  gave  to  the  introduced  animal  the  name  which  they  had 
long  applied  to  the  similar  but  not  identical  native  animal.  M.  San- 
son was  therefore  right  in  calling  the  Oriental  domesticated  beast  the 
Egyptian  breed,  or  JEquus  Caballus  Africanxis.  M.  Sanson  has  also 
made  a  distinct  race,  the  European,  of  the  asses  which  are  native  to 
the  Hispano- Atlantic  center  ;  and,  as  their  restricted  geographical  area 
leaves  no  doubt  that  their  original  home  was  there,  the  propriety  of 
this  distinction  can  hardly  be  called  in  question.  Many  documents 
also  indicate  that  no  race  of  asses  is  native  to  the  northern  regions  of 
the  old  continent.  Herodotus,  Aristotle,  and  Strabo,  all  speak  of  the  ab- 
sence of  asses  from  Scythia  and  Northwestern  Europe,  and  account  for 
it  by  the  severity  of  the  climate,  which,  they  say,  the  animals  are  not 
able  to  endure.  They  were  perfectly  familiar  with  that  part  of  those 
regions  which  lies  north  of  the  Black  Sea  ;  so  their  testimony  as  to 
that  part  is  decisive.  In  the  time  of  Diodorus,  three  hundred  years 
after  Aristotle,  horses  were  employed  in  the  transportation  of  tin 
from  the  shores  of  the  British  Channel  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rhine  ; 
and  this  indicates  that  asses  were  still  unknown  or  rare  in  that  part  of 
Gaul.  There  is  evidence,  however,  that  the  ass  had  been  acclimated 
in  the  time  of  Aristotle  in  some  of  the  most  temperate  parts  of  Cen- 
tral Europe  ;  for  Frontin,  in  his  "  Stratagems,"  tells  that  Atheas, 
King  of  the  Scythians,  a  contemporary  of  Philip  of  Macedon,  being 
at  Avar  with  the  Triballians  and  hard  pressed,  sent  around  his  whole 
unarmed  population,  with  the  asses  and  cattle,  to  appear  on  the  rear 
of  his  enemies  and  cause  them  to  believe  that  he  was  receiving  large 
re-enforcements. 

Even  now  the  ass  does  not  live  in,  by  any  means,  all  of  the  north- 
ern part  of  the  Eastern  Continent.  Ujfalvey  says  that  the  animals  live 
and  breed  at  Semipalatinsk,  where  the  temperature  falls  to  15°  below 
zero,  but  that  at  Omsk  they  are  "  fancy  stock,"  and  are  kept  alive 
only  with  great  care  ;  and  he  gives  statistics  to  show  that  asses  and 
mules  are  very  few  in  comparison  with  horses  all  through  Turkistan, 


ORIGIN   OF  THE  DONKEY.  785 

there  being  only  twelve  of  them  to  415,060  hoi-ses  in  the  coldest  and 
most  mountainous  government  of  that  country. 

We  do  not  know  when  they  were  introduced  into  China  ;  but  it  is 
related  that  the  Emperor  Ling-ti  (168-189)  made  them  fashionable  at 
his  court  instead  of  horses.  The  Abbe  Hue  says  that  they  thrive  in 
Thibet  and  the  northern  provinces  of  China.  It  is,  however,  certain 
that  they  were  not  domesticated  by  the  Proto-Mongols,  the  ancestors 
of  the  Chinese,  in  Northern  Mongolia  ;  and  there  appear  to  be  few  or 
none  of  them  now  in  that  country  ;  for  travelers  speak  of  large 
flocks  of  sheep,  goats,  cows,  camels,  and  horses,  but  never  mention 
asses. 

There  is  no  probability  that  the  Aryans  were  better  acquainted 
with  this  animal  in  their  original  home  than  the  Proto-Mongols  in 
theirs.  The  ass  is  not  among  the  animals  offered  in  sacrifice  by  the 
heroes  of  the  Avesta,  and  is  only  mentioned  once  in  that  book.  At  the 
time  the  Mazdean  law  was  given,  the  Iranians  were  in  possession  of 
Northern  Persia,  where  the  ass  had  been  introduced,  and  had  been  cap- 
tured by  Tiglath-pileser  I. 

The  ass  was  taken  to  India  very  early,  and  the  law  of  Menu  leaves 
no  doubt  of  the  antiquity  of  its  use  among  the  Hindoos.  It,  for  exam- 
ple, prohibits  a  Brahman  from  reading  on  an  ass  ;  declares  that  the 
Chandelas  and  Swapakas  shall  have  no  property  but  dogs  and  asses  ; 
and  orders  Dija,  who  had  broken  his  vow  of  chastity,  to  sacrifice  a 
dark  or  black  ass  to  Niwiti,  and  to  wear  its  skin,  begging  for  a  year, 
and  confessing  his  sin,  in  seven  houses  every  day. 

Asses  appear  to  have  been  in  use  among  the  Hebrews  from  the  time 
of  Abraham  ;  in  Assyria  and  the  neighboring  countries  from  the  time 
of  Tiglath-pileser  I,  and  in  Greece  from  the  time  of  Hesiod,  who  men- 
tions the  custom  of  castrating  mules  ;  and  Homer  compares  the  rage 
of  Ajax  with  that  of  an  ass  rushing  wildly  through  the  fields.  The 
great  Harris  papyrus,  describing  one  of  the  conquests  of  Rameses, 
speaks  of  the  chiefs  of  Tonoutu  as  arriving  at  Coptos  with  their  tribes, 
and  bringing  with  them  caravans  of  asses  and  men.  In  the  same  doc- 
ument, Menephthah  I,  relating  his  victory  over  the  Mashonash  and 
the  Libyans,  describes  the  "  vile  chief  of  the  Rebu  "  as  losing  all  his 
goods  and  precious  things,  and  "  everything  that  he  had  brought  with 
him  from  his  country,  his  cattle,  his  goats,  and  his  asses." 

The  most  ancient  instances  of  the  application  of  asses  to  useful  pur- 
poses were  in  Egypt.  A  bas-relief  in  a  hypogeum  of  Gizeh,  of  the 
date  of  the  fourth  dynasty,  represents  two  droves  of  asses  ;  and  M. 
Lenormant  remarks  :  "  As  to  the  ass,  we  see  it  figured  on  the  Egyp- 
tian tombs  as  far  back  as  we  go.  It  is  frequently  represented  in  the 
tombs  of  the  ancient  empire,  at  Gizeh,  Sakkara,  and  Abousir.  The 
beautiful  bas-relief  on  the  tomb  of  Ti  (fifth  dynasty),  representing  a 
group  of  asses,  of  which  a  model  was  exhibited  by  M.  Mariette  at  the 
Universal  Exposition  of  186T,  has  certainly  not  been  forgotten.    From 

VOL.    XXII. — 50 


786  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

the  time  of  the  fourth  dynasty,  the  ass  was  as  widely  diffused  in 
Egypt  as  it  is  now.  In  the  tomb  of  Shafra-Ankh,  at  Gizeh,  is  an  item 
of  a  drove  of  seven  hundred  and  sixty  trained  asses  among  the  assets 
of  the  deceased,  who  was  a  high  functionary  of  the  court  of  the 
founder  of  the  great  pyramid.  In  other  tombs  discovered  by  M. 
Mariette,  but  not  yet  fully  described,  I  have  remarked  cases  of  pro- 
prietors who  boasted  the  possession  of  thousands  of  asses.  .  .  .  Fur- 
thermore, the  facts  on  this  subject  derived  from  the  study  of  the 
monuments  were  not  peculiar  to  Egypt  only.  ...  In  the  paintings 
on  the  tomb  of  Noumhotep,  at  Beni-Hassan-el-Kadim,  may  be  seen 
the  arrival  of  the  family  of  Aamon,  that  is,  of  the  nomadic  shepherds 
of  the  Semitic  race,  who  came  to  establish  themselves  in  Egypt  under 
one  of  the  first  reigns  of  the  twelfth  dynasty  (about  3000  b.  a).  Their 
only  beasts  of  burden  are  the  asses  that  carry  their  goods  and  children." 

Although  asses  are  thus  frequently  figured  on  the  ancient  monu- 
ments of  Egypt,  no  representation  of  the  mule  has  been  found  there, 
not  even  on  the  numerous  monuments  built  after  the  horse  was  intro- 
duced. The  people  had  already  a  good  stock  of  camels  and  asses,  and 
their  soil  was  not  of  a  character  to  call  the  work  of  mules  into  requi- 
sition ;  and  mules  are  still  scarce  in  Egypt. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Assyrians  have  left  us  but  few  figures  of 
the  ass  ;  but  numerous  representations  of  mules  appear  in  their  bas-re- 
liefs, where  these  animals  are  plainly  recognizable  by  their  ears  and 
horse-tails. 

The  first  mules  in  the  East  were  probably  produced  in  those  regions 
of  Asia  lying  between  the  Ganges  and  the  Mediterranean  littoral  of 
Syria,  a  short  time  after  the  arrival  of  the  first  Mongolian  immigrants 
into  these  countries,  where,  through  their  residence,  the  Asiatic  horses 
and  the  African  or  Nilotic  asses  first  met.  It  is,  then,  not  surprising 
that  the  legends  carry  the  existence  of  mules  in  Assyria  back  into  fab- 
ulous times.  The  cuneiform  inscriptions,  moreover,  furnish  certain 
and  quite  numerous  facts  attesting  the  antiquity  of  the  existence  of 
mules  in  that  and  the  neighboring  countries. 

The  iise  of  mules  was  condemned  by  the  Mosaic  law,  and  was  not 
adopted  among  the  Israelites  till  after  the  priestly  power  had  been  sub- 
ordinated to  that  of  the  laity  by  the  establishment  of  royalty.  The 
most  ancient  mention  of  these  animals  among  the  Israelites  refers  to 
the  mules  on  which  the  people  of  the  tribes  of  Issachar,  Zebulon,  and 
Naphthali  brought  provisions  to  Hebron  for  David,  after  the  death  of 
Saul  (1  Chron.  xii,  40).     After  this  they  are  frequently  referred  to. 

The  mule  is  mentioned  in  the  Veda  ;  and  Strabo  says  that  the  Pra- 
sii,  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  had  them  at  the  time  of  the  voyage 
of  Megasthenes  to  India. 

Herodotus  tells  of  the  mules  which  Cyrus  had  to  draw  his  water- 
wagons  on  his  march  from  Persia  to  the  siege  of  Babylon,  and  relates 
a  curious  story  of  one  of  the  mules  attached  to  the  expedition  of 


0 RIG IX   OF  THE  DONKEY.  787 

Xerxes  against  the  Greeks.  The  markets  of  Tyre,  in  the  time  of  Eze- 
kiel,  were  supplied  with  mules  by  the  people  of  Togarma,  or  Armenia. 

According  to  Diodorus,  Alexander,  after  the  siege  of  Persepolis, 
brought  from  Babylon,  Mesopotamia,  and  Susiana,  a  multitude  of  pack 
and  draught  mules  and  three  thousand  camels,  with  which  to  take  away 
the  treasure  from  that  city  ;  and,  when  the  body  of  Alexander  was 
taken  from  Babylon  to  Egypt,  "  four  tongues  were  fixed  to  the  chariot, 
and  to  each  tongue  a  train  of  four  yokes,  each  yoke  composed  of  four 
mules,  the  whole  forming  a  team  of  sixty-four  mules  selected  for  their 
vigor  and  spirit."  Homer  furnishes  a  number  of  evidences  of  the  an- 
tiquity of  the  existence  of  mules  in  Asia  Minor  and  Greece,  and  in  one 
place  declares  them  superior  for  certain  purposes  to  oxen. 

Not  only  do  we  possess  fewer  ancient  facts  respecting  asses  and 
mules  than  respecting  horses,  because  their  part  in  history  has  been 
less  important,  but  the  historical  documents  on  asses  and  mules  per- 
mit us  to  trace  their  past  further  back  in  the  East  than  in  the  West, 
and  this  is  easily  explained.  In  the  first  place,  the  habit  of  preserving 
the  memory  of  facts  arose  earlier  in  the  East  than  in  the  West  ;  and, 
in  the  second  place,  our  facts  relative  to  the  Western  ass  are  derived 
chiefly  from  the  Latin  authors,  whose  references  are  less  exact,  because 
they  were  apt  to  include  in  a  lump  under  the  designation  of  jumenta 
all  the  kinds  of  pack  and  draught  animals,  horses,  asses,  mules,  oxen, 
and  camels,  that  composed  the  baggage-trains  of  the  armies  whose 
exploits  they  related. 

It  is,  nevertheless,  true  that  the  domestication  of  the  European  ass 
must  have  dated  from  a  very  ancient  time  ;  it  must  have  followed 
very  shortly  the  importation  into  the  Hispano-Atlantic  center  of  the 
use  of  dolmens  and  arms  of  polished  stone.  M.  Boucher  de  Perthes 
has  found  in  the  peats  of  the  Somme,  some  fifteen  or  sixteen  feet 
below  the  level  of  the  stream,  an  equoid  skull,  which  M.  Sanson  has 
recognized  as  that  of  an  African  or  Nilotic  ass.  The  animal  to  which 
it  belonged,  or  one  of  its  ancestors,  must  have  been  taken  there  by 
man. 

Only  a  few  documents  support  the  probability  that  mules  existed  in 
Southwestern  Europe  in  very  ancient  times.  Varro  says  that  the  sen- 
ator Axius  bought  a  stallion-ass  for  four  hundred  thousand  sestertise, 
or  $16,800.  Columella's  treatise  on  agriculture  bears  witness  to  the 
importance  of  work  with  mules  among  the  Romans.  This  accounts 
for  the  high  prices  that  were  sometimes  paid  for  particular  stallions, 
for  the  species  was  neither  rare  nor  new  in  Italy.  The  earliest  men- 
tion of  a  mule  in  Rome,  with  a  definite  date,  is  that  of  the  animals 
that  drew  the  chariot  in  which  Tullia  rode  over  the  body  of  her  father 
Tullius  after  he  was  assassinated,  b.  c.  534. 

The  histories  of  the  Roman  wars  contain  several  incidents  in  which 
mules  appear  to  have  been  used  in  the  army  on  a  large  scale,  and  of 
stratagems  in  which  they  were  made  to  play  a  prominent  part  :  as 


788  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

when  the  consul  L.  Papirius  Cursor,  making  war  upon  the  Samnites, 
frightened  the  enemy  with  the  noise  of  a  drove  of  them  rushing  down 
the  mountain  and  dragging  large  limbs  behind  them  ;  and  when  Julius 
Caesar,  in  the  civil  wars,  prevented  the  Pompeiians  in  Spain  from  de- 
camping by  marching  his  mules  with  a  great  bustle  by  their  camp,  and 
making  them  think  that  he  was  retiring. 

Our  historical  citations  show,  then,  with  great  probability,  that  the 
two  asinine  races  are  natives  of  hot  countries,  the  one  of  the  region  of 
the  Upper  Nile,  the  other  of  the  Hispano- Atlantic  center.  For  this 
reason  they  are  difficult  of  acclimation  in  cold  regions,  while  they  are 
better  able  than  horses  to  endure  the  torrid  temperature  of  the  dia- 
mond-regions of  Southern  Africa.  Furthermore,  the  African  or  Nilotic 
ass  was  diffused  from  a  very  ancient  period  over  a  geographical  area 
which  extended  at  least  from  the  Ganges  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  while 
the  European  or  Hispano-Atlantic  ass  has  hardly  got  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  his  original  country.  The  history  of  asses,  then,  as  well 
as  that  of  horses,  testifies  that  the  ancient  migrations  of  civilization 
did  not  start  from  the  western  part  of  the  continent. 


SPECULATIONS  ON  THE  NATURE  OF  MATTER* 

By  HENEY  HOBAET  BATES,  M.  A. 


Ti 


1HE  nature  of  matter  is  still  almost  as  unknown  to  us  in  its  essence 
as  it  was  to  the  ancients,  since  in  its  minute  structure  it  lies  far 
below  the  range  of  the  senses,  or  of  instrumental  appliances,  and, 
therefore,  beyond  that  direct  experimental  field  so  necessary  in  fur- 
nishing primary  conceptions  to  the  mind.  From  the  impossibility  of 
originating  entirely  novel  ideas  (which  would  amount  to  creative 
power),  we  are  forced  to  combine  and  recombine  such  conceptions  as 
we  have,  derived  from  experiences  within  that  excessively  small  por- 
tion of  the  scale  of  being  within  the  ken  of  our  perceptions  and  fac- 
ulties. This  perceptible  scale  has  been  somewhat  extended  in  both 
directions  by  refined  modern  instrumental  means,  and  thus  the  number 
of  elementary  concepts  has  been  slightly  increased,  while  precision 
has  been  added  to  those  already  in  possession,  by  stricter  modes  of 
analysis. 

The  field,  however,  is  still  largely  speculative.  It  might,  there- 
fore, seem  unprofitable  and  unscientific  to  labor  in  it,  were  it  not  for 
the  urgent  necessity  for  and  great  value  of  some  working  hypothesis, 
however  crude  (if  on  the  road  to  truth),  as  an  aid  and  stimulus  to 
further  progress.     Without  hypothesis,  we  can  not  interpret  or  collo- 

*  Read  before  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Washington,  January  27,  1S83. 


SPECULATIONS   ON  THE  NATURE   OF  MATTER.   789 

cate  such  facts  as  we  gain  ;  while,  without  facts,  we  can  not  improve 
our  hypothesis. 

The  great  trouble  about  matter  is  to  find  out  how  much  of  it  and 
what  in  it  is  material.  Strange  to  say,  there  is  nothing  on  which 
philosophers  are  less  agreed.  Unfortunately,  our  notions  of  matter 
are  derived  solely  from  sense  impressions  ;  and  that  form  of  it  which 
most  impresses  the  senses  is  the  most  encumbered  with  fugitive  and 
non-essential  properties.  We  can  not  say  with  certainty  whether 
these  properties  are  positive  or  negative. 

When  upon  a  clear  summer's  day  we  gaze  outward  into  a  cloudless 
sky,  we  look  apparently  into  clear  and  void  space,  except  for  the  deep- 
blue  diffused  light.  We  recognize  vacuity.  Even  while  we  gaze, 
perhaps  a  light,  fleecy  cloud  forms  itself  before  our  eyes,  and  we  form 
the  concept  of  the  creation  of  a  material  object.  We  know  that  it  is 
not  a  mere  apparition — it  is  a  form  of  substance.  Properties  begin  to 
be  recognizable  in  it.  It  reflects  light — it  displays  color — it  moves. 
Should  its  development  progress,  we  shall  have  still  further  evidence 
of  its  substantiality.  It  will  grow  darker  and  more  dense.  It  will 
exhibit  gravity,  and  descend  in  liquid  drops  or  solid  flakes,  and  these 
portions  in  turn  will  exhibit  the  typical  properties,  qualities,  and  re- 
actions of  matter. 

Now,  what  elicited  this  bundle  of  realities  out  of  apparent  nothing  ? 
A  mere  local  refrigeration — a  flaw  of  nothing  tangible — abstracted 
something  from  the  invisible  potential  occupant  of  the  space,  reduced 
its  volume,  sapped  its  mobility,  its  power  of  holding  its  own,  and  prop- 
erties began  to  appear.  Death  began  its  work,  and,  as  the  animus  fled, 
the  skeleton  framework  came  within  our  ken. 

We  might  rise  by  analogy  from  the  nimbus  to  the  nebula — from 
the  terrestrial  to  the  cosmical — and  see  with  imagination's  eye  a  simi- 
lar inverse  evolution  producing  the  apparition  of  things  substantial, 
which  may  be  really  but  the  intaglio  of  the  realities.  For  that  which 
consists  merely  in  the  negation  of  something  can  not  be  the  truest 
substance.  An  ulcer  is  not  more  material  or  real  than  the  healthy 
tissue  before  the  latter  gives  urgent  call  for  recognition  of  its  actuality 
by  inflammation,  incipient  degradation,  and  advancing  dissolution. 

It  may  be  possible,  however,  to  corner  a  reality  by  the  reverse 
process.  A  fair  type  of  matter  is  our  block  of  ice.  It  is  sufficiently 
substantial,  and  loaded  down  with  properties.  A  simple  exposure  to 
different  temperature  conditions  causes  its  sensational  properties  to 
drop  off  like  old  clothes.  We  soon  come  to  a  pair  of  invisible  and 
intangible  existences,  investigable  by  indirect  means  only,  of  which 
sufficient  knowledge  has  been  gained  to  establish  their  discontinuous 
or  corpuscular  character,  as  imagined  by  Democritus. 

This  molecule  we  must  take  as  the  representative  of  matter  ;  for 
all  masses  of  it,  whether  gaseous,  liquid,  or  solid,  are  but  aggregations 
of  similar  corpuscles.     We  can  only  pursue  it  with  the  eye  of  the 


790  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

imagination  ;  for,  as  has  been  shown  by  the  molecular  physicists,  its 
dimensions  are  so  inconceivably  minute  as  to  far  transcend  the  mech- 
anism of  vision,  since  it  would  require  at  least  twenty  thousand  in  a 
line  to  occupy  a  medium  wave-length  of  light. 

But  could  the  molecule  even  be  magnified  to  visible  and  tangible 
dimensions,  with  a  new  light  to  view  it  by,  it  could  not  by  any  means 
be  rendered  visible,  either  in  whole  or  in  its  parts,  on  account  of  its 
incessant  and  marvelous  activity,  both  interior  and  translatory.  That 
the  gas-molecule  did  not  get  its  interior  motion  from  the  heat  of  dis- 
sociation is  certain,  for,  on  being  allowed  to  recombine,  it  yields  up 
its  translatory  activity,  and  with  it  as  many  degrees  of  temperature 
as  disappeared  in  accomplishing  the  dissociation.  No  means  of  wholly 
destroying  the  interior  motion  are  known.  By  some  savants  it  is  re- 
garded as  primordial  and  ultimate.  It  is  highly  probable,  for  reasons 
which  Mr.  Taylor  has  pointed  out,*  that  the  hydrogen-molecule  con- 
tains at  least  four  pairs  of  revolving  elements,  revolving  in  different 
pei'iods,  and  in  contractile  orbits,  but  with  periods  as  undeviating  as 
those  of  the  moons  of  Mars.  It  is  in  the  revolving  or  vibratory  con- 
stituent of  this  couple  that  we  seek  the  final  essence  of  matter,  though 
perhaps  not  to  arrive  at  it.  We  must  not  endow  it  with  gratuitous 
attributes,  but  it  is  surely  an  entity  of  some  kind,  having,  in  the  first 
place,  persistent  and  regulated  motion.  Secondly,  it  has  inertia,  or 
mass — the  property  of  conserving  vis  viva.  Thirdly,  it  has  some  bond 
with  its  fellow  by  which  the  motions  of  both  are  modified  by  a  con- 
stant stress  according  to  a  definite  law  of  distance,  and  this,  following 
Newton,  we  call  attraction.  Fourthly,  it  has  the  complex  property  of 
interchange  of  momenta,  accompanied  by  that  of  conserving  and  com- 
pounding motion  by  angular  rebound  upon  an  indefinitely  near  ap- 
proach, which  we  name  resilience,  or  repulsion.  Dimension  it  need 
not  have,  nor  any  other  property  of  masses  ;  but  nobody  has  ever  yet 
succeeded  in  getting  rid  of  the  above  four.  This  is  not  universally 
recognized,  however,  and  the  recent  controversies  of  philosophy  are 
owing  to  the  strenuous  attempts  to  reduce  the  number,  especially  of 
those  called  occult.  Motion  being  in  our  ordinary  experience  a  result, 
has  not  been  so  classified,  and  indeed  has  only  more  recently  been 
recognized  as  primary.  It  is  with  causes  that  philosophy  seeks  to 
deal,  and  in  our  experience  causation  is  a  chain.  Primordial  motion, 
however,  is  as  occult  and  mysterious  as  static  force. 

One  class  of  philosophers,  recognizing  the  self -existent  character  of 
motion,  has  exhausted  ingenuity  in  the  effort  to  deduce  attraction 
from  it,  of  course  wittingly  or  unwittingly  bringing  into  co-operation 
the  occult  force  inertia,  to  obtain  vis  viva.  Another  class  would  de- 
duce all  motion  from  attraction  :  while  in  the  attempt  to  contrive  a 
mechanism  to  explain  resiliency — the  most  incomprehensible  of  all  in  a 
body  without  parts — immensely  greater  complications  and  difficulties 

*  Annual  Address  before  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Washington,  1882,  p.  24. 


SPECULATIONS    ON  THE  NATURE   OF  MATTER.   791 

have  been  introduced.  Inertia,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  has  always  been 
accepted  as  an  inscrutable  fact,  or  ignored. 

An  entity  with  four  unexplained  properties  is  regarded  as  still  a 
long  way  from  satisfactory  simplicity.  But  a  more  important  con- 
sideration is  that  the  entity  is  always  found  associated  with  its  fel- 
low or  fellows  in  a  dependent  and  artificial  way  (when  identified  at 
all),  which  indicates  an  advance  from  primitive  independence  and  sim- 
plicity. The  complexity  of  the  simplest  atom  we  know  of  has  already 
been  referred  to.  The  resemblance  of  the  atoms  to  manufactured 
articles  was  pointed  out  by  Sir  John  Herschel ;  and  not  only  that,  but 
they  resemble  articles  made  in  quantities  by  machinery,  all  exactly 
alike,  like  Waltham  watches  or  Springfield  guns.  And  the  fact  that 
any  recognizable  atom,  like  that  of  hydrogen,  for  instance,  is  always 
exactly  the  same  thing,  whether  derived  from  the  ocean  or  the  coal- 
measures,  or  from  the  occluded  gas  of  a  meteorite,  or  inspected  in  the 
sun  and  stars,  as  pointed  out  by  Maxwell  ("  Encyclopedia  Britannica," 
ninth  edition,  article  "  Atom  "),  would  seem  to  indicate  that  it  must 
be  the  result  of  an  undeviating  process,  and  in  its  ultimate  deriva- 
tion made  up  of  finally  discrete  entities,  and  not  out  of  continuous 
substance,  whatever  that  may  mean.  The  fact,  too,  of  its  occurrence 
at  such  wide  points  of  distribution,  indicates  the  unity  of  the  present 
scheme  of  evolution,  as  well  as  the  great  antiquity  of  its  origin,  and 
its  persistency  of  type. 

We  have  at  present  no  clew  to  the  evolutionary  history  of  the 
atom.  The  atom  I  distinguish  both  from  the  ultimate  particle  without 
parts,  and  from  the  complex  derivative  molecule  of  the  chemical  ele- 
ments, such  as  all  those  we  know  of  are.  In  fact,  these  must  also  be 
distinguished  from  the  still  differently  organized  compound  molecule 
of  the  chemical  combinations,  which  can  be  taken  apart,  and  the  enor- 
mously complicated  system  of  the  organic  molecule,  as  of  oil  or  albu- 
men, which,  if  a  body  so  simple  as  iron  contains  more  than  seven 
hundred  couples,  must  contain  rotary  elements  which  can  only  be 
numbered  by  millions. 

The  atom,  or  elementary  couple,  is  conceived  as  having  dimension, 
figure,  and  polarity,  and  also  perfect  elasticity,  by  reason  of  its  har- 
monic vibration.  We  have  to  seek  an  origin  for  it  if  we  are  at  all 
impressed  with  its  artificial  and  evolved  character.  Its  artificiality 
lies  in  its  rotary  motion  ;  such  motion  being  due  to  and  maintainable 
only  by  a  composition  of  forces. 

The  weight  and  ponderosity  of  matter  have  proved  a  stumbling- 
block  to  the  conceptions  of  the  later  philosophers — especially  after 
Newton  had  generalized  them  as  attraction  and  inertia — far  more  than 
the  equally  unexplainable  property  of  resistance,  though  why,  it  is 
difficult  to  say.  Lucretius  found  no  such  difficulty  with  the  concep- 
tion of  weight,  for  his  corpuscles  all  naturally  tended  "  downward," 
so  uncosmical  were  his  ideas.     Le  Sage  revived  and  modified  the  by- 


792  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

pothesis  of  Lucretius,  especially  to  get  rid  of  the  (to  him)  inconceivable 
notion  of  gravity.  Those  kinematists  who  follow  Le  Sage  do  so  with 
the  same  avowed  motive.  Another  school,  with  the  same  view,  have 
revived  the  continuous  notion  of  matter  ;  out  of  which  they  have 
constructed  an  atom  which  has  permanence  and  elasticity,  but  no 
avowed  occult  affection  except  inertia.  It  has  not  been  further  de- 
veloped. 

The  difficulty  in  accepting  the  fact  of  gravity  seems  to  be  a  meta- 
physical one,  though  even  the  metaphysicians  have  not  held  that  con- 
ceivability  is  a  criterion  of  objective  truth.  The  irrelevancy  of  this 
objection  has  been  well  stated  by  Mr.  W.  R.  Browne,  in  his  article  on 
"Central  Forces"  ("London,  Edinburgh,  and  Dublin  Philosophical 
Magazine,"  January,  1883,  page  40),  as  follows  :  "  I  am  not  aware 
that  the  term  'unthinkable,'  which  is  a  new  one, has  ever  been  defined. 
Until  it  has  been,  it  is  impossible  to  say  whether  action  at  a  distance 
is  unthinkable,  or  whether  the  fact  of  a  conception  being  unthinkable 
is  sufficient  reason,  or  any  reason,  for  holding  it  to  be  untrue."  The 
many  instances  of  unthinkable  truths  within  our  familiar  knowledge 
will  readily  recur  to  all  in  illustration,  as,  for  instance,  the  infinite 
extension  of  space,  the  infinite  approach  of  asymptotes,  the  nature  of 
interminable  series,  etc.  In  fact,  all  forms  of  absolute  knowledge  are 
unthinkable.  The  refusal  to  recognize  this  form  of  knowledge  has  led 
to  much  heresy  in  other  branches  of  exact  inquiry — even  in  mathe- 
matics. The  sentiment,  however,  such  as  it  is,  has  led  to  many  inge- 
nious and  futile  devices  in  the  branch  we  are  now  considering — among 
others,  the  invention  of  the  vortex  atom,  before  referred  to. 

The  vortex  atom  belongs,  not  to  physics,  but  to  purely  mathemati- 
cal concepts  ;  being  an  ideal  abstraction — as  much  so  as  a  surface,  or 
a  line,  or  four-dimensioned  space — invented  for  the  purpose  of  investi- 
gating problems  in  hydrodynamics.  A  homogeneous,  incompressible, 
continuous,  perfectly  mobile  but  not  miscible  substance  is  an  impos- 
sible entity,  and  it  would  seem  an  inconsistent  one  as  to  mobility  ;  and, 
if  vortex  motion  can  not  be  destroyed  in  it,  it  is  equally  true  that  no 
means  can  be  devised  for  originating  it.  An  occult  force  had  to  be 
attributed  to  it,  after  all,  as  mass.  Helmholtz,  its  inventor,  discussed 
it  as  a  purely  mathematical  problem  ;  but  its  British  adopters,  struck 
with  the  remarkable  attributes  deduced  from  the  postulates,  set  it  up 
as  the  basis  of  a  kosmos.  By  a  similar  appreciation,  when  that  char- 
acteristic product  of  British  genius,  a  modern  plow,  was  carried  to 
India — the  land  of  theosophic  contemplation — its  enthusiastic  foreign 
admirers,  after  having  been  carefully  shown  its  merits,  and  instructed 
in  its  use,  were  found  to  have  erected  it  in  the  center  of  the  field  as 
a  god  ! 

But,  though  we  have  no  need  of  the  hypothesis  of  an  ether  to  ex- 
plain away  the  weight  of  matter,  especially  since  no  such  invention 
has  been  so  perfected  as  to  prove  particularly  successful  for  the  pur- 


SPECULATIONS    ON  THE  NATURE   OF  MATTER.   793 

pose,  the  establishment  of  the  ether  with  any  demonstrated  properties 
might  aid  our  conceptions  of  matter,  and  be  concatenated  with  it  as 
one  of  its  higher  forms.  Maxwell  has  pointed  out  ("  Encyclopae- 
dia Britannica,"  ninth  edition,  article  "Ether")  that,  though  many 
ethers  have  been  proposed  for  various  purposes,  none  have  survived 
except  that  which  was  invented  by  Huygens  to  explain  the  propaga- 
tion of  light.  Evidence  accumulates  for  this  hypothesis,  in  some  form, 
for  we  have  no  other  way  of  accounting  for  the  facts,  but  the  mechan- 
ism is  still  a  mystery. 

The  very  property  of  the  supposititious  ethers  which  is  so  fatal  to 
all  explanation  of  a  static  stress,  like  gravity,  namely,  the  requirement 
of  time  for  their  functions,  qualifies  them  so  far  as  a  vehicle  of  radiant 
manifestations.  Were  it  not  for  the  transmission  of  radiant  energy  in 
specific  time,  doubtless  it  would  be  far  simpler  and  more  satisfactory 
to  explain  the  whole  effect  as  actio  in  distans,  under  the  necessary  law 
of  conservation,  or  on  the  Cartesian  principle  of  contact.  The  phe- 
nomenon of  electro-magnetic  induction — which  is  believed  to  occur  be- 
tween the  earth  and  sun,  as  a  real  material  effect  manifest  in  converted 
energy,  and  yet  acting  in  lines  transverse  to  the  lines  of  transmission, 
and  apparently  simultaneous — even  now  outstands  as  unexplainable  in 
any  other  way,  for  its  mechanism  certainly  can  not  at  present  be  com- 
prehended. Nor  is  the  mechanism  for  the  transmission  of  the  radiant 
forms  of  energy  yet  clearly  made  out,  though  some  postulates  about 
it  having  consistency  and  probability  have  been  laid  down.  The  fact 
that  something  supra-material  is  necessary  and  probable  on  other 
grounds  gives  encouragement  to  the  idea  that  a  basis  for  the  atom  can 
eventually  be  found. 

The  ether  has  been  conceived  under  four  principal  modes  of  struc- 
ture, all  fashioned  out  of  our  concepts  of  matter.  Two  of  these  are 
static,  and  two  kinetic.  The  first  is  the  pseudo-concept  of  a  continuous, 
colloidal  plenum.  This  is  a  metaphysical,  not  a  physical,  concept  ;  de- 
rived from  an  idealization  of  a  false  observation  of  matter  which  can 
not  be  realized  consistently  in  thought  with  what  is  postulated  of  it 
afterward.  As  Maxwell  happily  remarks  about  the  notion  of  homo- 
geneous and  continuous  matter  ("  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  ninth 
edition,  article  "  Atom  "),  "  it  is  in  its  extreme  form  a  theory  incapable 
of  development." 

The  second  concept  is  that  of  a  solid.  This  has  been  assumed  as  a 
conceivable  way  of  accounting  for  the  very  high  co-efficient  of  elas- 
ticity required  by  the  undulatory  theory,  and  also  for  the  transverse 
mode  of  transmitting  vibrations  exhibited.  The  word  "  solid,"  how- 
ever, can  not  have  any  meaning  such  as  we  ordinarily  attach  to  it ; 
and  under  any  signification  it  is  admitted  that  the  theory  is  encum- 
bered with  several  difficulties,  some  of  which  have  been  set  forth  by 
Professor  G.  G.  Stokes,  in  his  "  Report  on  Double  Refraction  "  ("  Brit- 
ish Association  Report,"  18G2,  p.  253). 


794  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

Thirdly,  the  ether  has  been  conceived  to  be  the  ordinary  elastic 
gases  or  atmospheres  freely  expanded  into  space.  But  these  have  no 
co-efficient  of  elasticity  sufficient  to  give  them  such  expansion,  and 
they  would  be  liable  to  condensation  and  compression  by  their  own 
gravity  about  the  planets,  which  would  cause  a  rise  of  temperature 
and  dissipation  of  energy  which  would  rob  the  ether  of  its  permanent 
character.  Besides,  Maxwell  has  shown  that  our  atmosphere  expanded 
into  space  would  be  far  too  rare  in  the  interplanetary  spaces  to  satisfy 
the  required  conditions  ;  nor  is  there  any  molecular  velocity  at  all  ade- 
quate to  the  propagation  of  wave-energy  with  the  velocities  observed, 
as  will  be  shown  further  on. 

This  brings  us  to  the  fourth  concept,  which  is  that  of  a  pure  pri- 
mordial gaseous  plenum,  of  sufficiently  high  tension,  and  in  the  condi- 
tion assumed  by  gases  in  a  rarefied  receiver,  where  the  mean  path  is  so 
long  in  proportion  to  the  mean  distance  that  a  symmetrical  movement 
arranges  itself,  according  to  the  law  first  pointed  out  by  Maxwell  as  a 
corollary  from  the  equilibrium  of  pressure  observed  in  confined  gases, 
and  the  performance  of  gases  in  a  rarefied  space  first  observed  by 
Crookes,  that  particles  in  free  collision  in  sj)ace  tend  constantly  to  re- 
arrange their  motions  automatically  so  as  to  move  uniformly  in  all 
directions  in  radial  lines  from  every  point.  With  the  gases  experi- 
mented with  the  mean  path  at  normal  pressure  and  density  is  very 
short  (only  about  -g^oWo  °f  an  incn>  when  the  molecules  have  a  mean 
distance  from  each  other  of  -fo^irFFo  °f  an  inch),  but,  at  the  extreme  of 
rarefaction  which  we  are  able  to  effect  (about  -joooooir  °^  an  atmos- 
phere, when  the  distance  of  the  molecules  is  still  only  t,0^6o  of  an 
inch),  the  mean  path  rises  to  about  four  inches  ;  and  C.  T.  Preston  has 
shown  ("Nature,"  vol.  xxiii,  p.  463),  that  could  we  carry  the  exhaus- 
tion to  the  third  power  of  that  obtainable,  so  that  the  distance  of  the 
molecules  apart  should  be  so  much  as  one  seventh  of  an  inch,  the  mean 
path  would  be  raised  to  60,000,000  miles,  since  it  increases  in  the  trip- 
licate ratio  with  the  distance.  But  with  the  ether  no  such  rarity  need 
be  postulated,  since  mean  free  path  is  but  a  question  of  size  of  mole- 
cule, and  in  comparison  with  the  hydrogen-molecule  the  size  of  the 
particle  can  only  be  infinitesimal.  It  is  clear,  however,  that,  with  the 
enormous  velocity  due  to  the  particle,  all  the  effect  of  continuity  would 
be  produced,  so  far  as  vision  is  concerned,  by  a  mean  distance  apart, 
not  merely  of  one  seventh  of  an  inch,  but  of  many  miles. 

We  may  therefore  assign  to  the  ether  any  required  free  path,  and 
any  necessary  density,  tension,  and  velocity,  all  of  these  latter  being 
imperceptible  to  molecular  structures  which  float  in  and  are  permeated 
by  it.  The  motions  also  of  molecules  in  a  gas  so  constituted  would  be 
practically  as  unaffected  as  in  free  space,  since  it  is  demonstrable  that 
the  resistance  to  motion  offered  by  a  medium  such  as  the  hypothesis 
calls  for  would  be  in  the  ratio  of  the  motion  of  the  moving  mass  to 
that  of  the  particle  of  the  medium,  which  in  the  case  supposed  would 


SPECULATIONS    ON  THE  NATURE   OF  MATTER.   795 

be  excessively  small,  the  velocity  of  the  radiant  particles  being  equal 
at  least  to  that  of  the  transmission  of  light.* 

It  is  clear  that,  by  the  use  of  the  term  "  free  path  "  by  the  invent- 
ors of  this  form  of  the  ether,  its  particle  had  already  been  tacitly 
endowed  with  the  ocult  properties  of  inertia  and  resilience.  Primor- 
dial motion  was  also  attributed — an  occult  factor,  which,  with  the  other 
two,  constitutes  and  conserves  energy. 

Such  an  ether  serves  to  explain  the  phenomena  of  light,  and  the 
other  radiant  modes  of  energy,  better  than  any  other  yet  proposed. 
It,  therefore,  measurably  serves  its  purpose.  Prior  to  its  invention, 
we  had  only — first,  Newton's  hypothesis  of  corpuscular  emission,  in- 
stantaneously propagated  with  explosive  violence  at  an  enormous  but 
still  uniform  velocity,  in  all  possible  directions,  in  radial  lines,  which 
still  were  able  to  fill  space  at  all  points  to  unlimited  distances — infinite 
and  impossible  results  from  a  trivial  cause  ;  secondly,  we  had  Huy- 
gens's  scarcely  more  credible  hypothesis  of  undulations,  propagated, 
with  the  same  instantaneous  and  uniform  velocity  in  all  directions, 
from  a  luminous  point  in  a  pervading  statical  solid  or  fluid  medium — 
another  infinite  effect  from  a  trivial  cause.  But  by  the  hypothesis  of 
its  own  independent  linear  motion,  ever  conserved — the  parasitic  en- 
ergy alone  being  transferable,  and  by  a  mechanism  different  from  the 
translatory  motion — many  difficulties  are  got  over.  The  conserva- 
tion of  the  linear  motion  is  due  to  the  law  of  radiant  matter  above 
stated,  and  also,  I  conceive,  to  another  consideration,  which  tends  to 
prevent  the  bombardment  of  the  molecules,  and  consequent  rise  of 
temperature  and  distribution  of  energy,  so  fatal  to  the  gravitation 
theory.  It  is  that  the  only  obstructive  portion  of  the  so-called  ma- 
terial atom  (which  I  have  named  the  elementary  molecule)  lies  in  the 
extreme  boundary  ;  and  even  of  this  it  constitutes  only  such  fraction 
as  the  ratio  which  the  dimension  of  the  component  particle  bears  to 
the  semi-circumference  of  the  atom,  which  is  an  infinitesimal  ratio. 
The  component,  having  a  dimension  and  velocity  of  an  order  compar- 
able with  that  of  the  ethereal  particles  themselves,  can  protect  itself 
from  collisions  by  a  readjustment,  without  rise  of  temperature,  on  the 
same  terms  as  obtain  with  ethereal  collisions.  Collisions,  however, 
would  be  excessively  rare — as  much  so  as  those  of  the  particles  among 
themselves — and  an  occasional  collision  could  not  destroy  the  atom, 
owing  to  the  peculiar  bond  of  the  component  with  its  fellow  ;  but  its 
motion  would  be  merely  compounded  into  a  gyration.     The  real  field 

*  The  velocity  would  really  be  at  least  one  third  greater.  It  has  been  shown,  by  a  cal- 
culation of  Maxwell's  ("London,  Edinburgh,  and  Dublin  Philosophical  Magazine,"  1877, 
p.  453),  that,  in  a  gas  constituted  as  assumed,  the  velocity  of  the  wave-motion  would  be 
to  the  velocity  of  the  particle  in  the  ratio  of  the  V  5  to  3 ;  that  is,  about  -745+  ;  which 
would  give  a  velocity  for  the  ethereal  particle  of  nearly  250,000  miles  per  second.  It  is 
highly  probable,  moreover,  that  some  forms  of  electrical  radiant  energy  surpass  light  in 
velocity  of  transmission. 


796  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

of  attraction  and  bombardment  would  be  the  void  focus  of  the  disk, 
toward  which  the  resultant  of  all  the  forces  in  the  ring  would  tend,  as 
a  corollary  from  the  deduction  from  synchronism  that  the  force  which 
binds  the  atomic  couples  varies  directly  as  the  distance,  instead  of  as 
the  inverse  squares. 

In  its  passage  through  the  disk-atom  the  ray  takes  up  and  conserves 
the  dropped  motion  as  a  transverse  vibratory  motion  of  some  kind  ;  or, 
as  Maxwell  styles  it,  "  some  vector  property  which  does  not  interfere 
with  the  motion  of  translation"  ("  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  ninth  edi- 
tion, article  "  Ether  "),  and  which  it  can  impart  again  to  the  revolving 
systems  of  atoms  through  which  it  travels,  in  an  inverse  mode  to  that 
of  its  derivation.  The  invention  of  the  mechanism  of  this  vector 
motion  has  its  difficulties.  I  consider,  first,  that  the  radiant  energies 
are  not  exhibited  in  matter,  except  upon  a  certain  degree  of  disturb- 
ance, showing  itself  in  a  violent  clashing  of  systems,  either  from  the 
forming  of  new  combinations  or  from  incandescence  resulting  from 
the  accession  of  energy  from  without  or  within.  These  clashings  dis- 
turb the  equilibrium  of  the  atomic  orbits,  and  occasion  their  rapid 
deformation  by  harmonic  vibration  in  elliptic  orbits  whose  rectangular 
axes  rapidly  alternate  from  major  to  minor  while  the  agitation  is  kejDt 
up.  Now,  the  circular  movements  of  the  components  do  not  disturb 
the  uniform  transit  of  the  linear  ray  ;  but  the  rapid  approach  and 
recession  of  the  components  in  passing  through  the  violent  elliptical 
transitions  cause  a  rapid  alternation  of  stress  in  the  field  of  stress 
through  which  the  rays  pass — since  the  stress  varies  as  the  distance  of 
the  components — causing  a  vibratory  deflection  of  the  stream  of  par- 
ticles, due  to  the  variation  of  the  attractive  force,  in  all  rays  except 
the  polar  ray,  and  in  the  plane  of  the  ray  normal  to  the  plane  of  stress. 
Since  the  disk-atoms  lie  in  all  planes,  we  shall  have  transverse  vibra- 
tions in  all  directions  ;  but,  if  the  rotating  disk  is  gyratory,  as  would 
be  the  rule  and  not  the  exception,  the  identical  ray  would  receive  a 
vector  or  corkscrew  motion,  similar  to  what  is  called  for  by  observation. 
The  amount  of  deflection  I  take  to  be  the  index  of  refraction  of  the 
molecule. 

It  may  seem  unaccountable  that  the  whole  ray  should  undulate 
from  passing  through  a  single  locality  of  oscillatory  disturbance,  be- 
ing composed  of  discrete  and  unconnected  particles  ;  but  we  may  com- 
pare the  parallel  phenomenon  of  a  jet  of  water,  forcibly  ejected  to  a 
great  distance  through  a  hose-nozzle,  which  exhibits  to  the  eye  similar 
undulations  when  the  source  of  discharge  is  slightly  and  rapidly  oscil- 
lated. 

It  may  also  seem  incredible  that  any  orbital  movements  could  be 
permanent  enough  to  sustain  oscillatory  vibrations  of  such  inconceiv- 
able frequency  as  those  which  luminous  rays  are  known  to  execute  ; 
but  I  have  computed,  from  the  probable  dimensions  of  the  hydrogen- 
molecule  as  assigned  by  the  molecular  physicists,  and  an  orbital  veloci- 


SPECULATION'S    ON  THE  NATURE   OF  MATTER.   797 

ty  due  to  an  ethereal  origin  for  the  components,  that  many  hundreds 
of  revolutions  must  occur  for  each  transverse  oscillation  or  elliptical 
deformation. 

In  its  passage  through  other  disk-atoms  in  equilibrium  which  are 
in  harmonic  tension  with  the  vibrating  ray  (and  therefore  not  diatber- 
mal  or  transparent),  I  conceive  that  tbe  vibratory  ray  is  able  to  invert 
the  process  and  agitate  the  diaphragm  of  stress  of  the  system,  as  a 
fish-line  does  the  surface  of  a  pool ;  thus  setting  up  an  inverse  com- 
motion and  vibration  of  orbits  due  to  accession  of  motion,  accounting: 
for  the  effects  of  reflexion,  tbe  absorption  and  conversion  of  light  into 
sensible  heat,  and  the  chemical  and  actinic  and  electrolytic  effects  ob- 
served. The  diverse  nature  of  some  of  these  effects  may  be  due  to 
the  extremely  diverse  character  of  the  vibrations,  both  of  the  disks 
and  of  the  rays  ;  e.  g.,  the  polar  ray,  which  would  have  a  pulsatory 
vibration. 

The  primitive  gas  would  not,  any  more  than  our  own  elementary 
gases,  experience  any  difficulty  in  holding  its  own,  and  maintaining 
equilibrium  forever,  under  any  ordinary  state  of  diffusion,  by  reason 
of  its  perfect  elasticity.  But  with  emerging  matter,  or  crippled  ether, 
among  other  properties  gravity  becomes  apparent  ;  and  though  hardly 
sensible,  at  first,  yet  within  the  enormous  cosmical  aggregations  of  this 
novel  drift,  pressure  and  condensation  would  ensue  at  some  point  so 
great  that  in  the  absolute  cool  of  space  the  critical  point  of  endurance 
would  be  overcome,  and  some  molecular  systems  would  cripple  and 
collapse,  with  the  resultant  liberation  of  their  motion  and  clashing  and 
agitation  of  the  neighboring  systems  known  as  rise  of  temperature. 
The  falling  in  of  others  would  follow  and  increase  the  commotion, 
causing  local  expansion,  and  currents  to  a  region  of  less  pressure — 
sometimes,  no  doubt,  with  enough  velocity  to  carry  them  entirely  into 
free  space,  and  beyond  the  control  of  the  system. 

It  would  be  futile  to  attempt  here  to  follow  out  all  the  complex 
consequences  of  this  initiated  evolution,  but  it  is  clear  tbat  tbe  temper- 
ature of  the  whole  aggregation  must  rise  until,  at  the  outer  boundary, 
where  alone  the  liberated  energy  was  able  finally  to  escape,  the  tem- 
perature must  stand  constantly  at  the  heat  of  dissociation  of  the  par- 
ticular element  or  elements  being  evolved  at  any  stage  of  develop- 
ment. But  radiation  would  proceed  only  at  the  rate  allowable  by  the 
nature  of  the  combinations  going  on  at  a  specified  stage,  though  it 
would  be  practically  constant  for  long  periods,  as  the  supply  of  motion 
could  be  extricated.  The  aggregation  could  not  become  a  simple  cool- 
ing body  wbile  molecular  mobility  remained. 

Amid  all  this  commotion  and  lavish  escape  of  energy  on  the  wings 
of  tbe  ether,  not  one  particle  of  matter  is  lost.  It  can  not  recover  its 
linear  motion.  It  joins  in  the  dance  that  is  going  on,  and  contributes 
to  swell  the  molecular  weight  of  whatever  system  of  molecules  is  being 
evolved  at  that  particular  stage  of  development. 


798  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

The  absolute  synchronism  exhibited  under  all  amplitudes  of  vibra- 
tion by  the  disk-atom  indicates  the  same  law  of  central  force  as  that 
of  the  pendulum  in  its  synchronous  forms,  or  the  spring-governor  ; 
and  if  attraction  be  the  bond,  it  is  a  similar  law  of  attraction,  namely, 
directly  as  the  distance.  This  is  the  Newtonian  law  of  gravity  within 
the  homogeneous  sphere,  and  thus  by  actual  demonstration  the  attrac- 
tive atom  observes  the  same  law  as  would  the  earth  were  it  penetrable 
— namely,  the  inverse  squares  of  the  distances  within  the  sphere.* 

The  identity  of  the  radiant  particle  with  the  component  of  the 
atom  is  inferable.  It  possesses  the  requisite  properties  of  mass  and 
resilience,  and  sufficient  linear  motion.  Whether  it  should  also  have 
attraction  imputed  to  it  as  inherent  depends  on  whether  that  property 
in  the  molecule,  where  alone  it  is  observed,  is  derived  from  the  parti- 
cle. If  not,  the  latter  needs  only  mass  to  conserve  its  deflections  and 
its  course  under  the  first  law  of  motion,  and  resilience  to  secure  its 
compensatory  readjustment  in  equilibrium.  Even  if  possessed  of 
gravity,  the  enormous  proper  velocity  of  the  particle  would  render 
such  an  affection  totally  undiscoverable,  because  the  Newtonian  curves 
of  the  second  order  resulting  from  the  composition  of  force  could  be 
nothing  less  than  hyperbolas,  whose  branches  would  be  wholly  undis- 
tinguishable  from  straight  lines. 

No  means  at  present  offer  themselves  for  suggesting  how  such  a 
discontinuity  of  action  as  is  implied  by  the  change  from  simple  linear 
motion  to  the  balanced  movements  of  the  atoms  could  have  occurred  ; 
and  especially  how  a  law  of  attraction  according  to  inverse  squares 
of  distance,  which  we  must  postulate,  could  change  for  one  so  extraor- 
dinary as  that  observed  within  the  atom,  namely,  directly  at  the  dis- 
tance. The  law  referred  to  rather  resembles  that  of  our  summer 
whirlwinds,  wherein  the  centripetal  force,  i.  e.,  the  pressure  from 
without  due  to  the  rarefaction  within,  seems  to  vary  directly  as  the 
centrifugal  force,  and  therefore  as  the  radius,  until  equilibrium  of 
rotation  is  established.  These  also  display  a  species  of  attraction 
within  the  vortex  ;  and  some  forms  of  matter — as  iron — evince  a  simi- 
lar polar  attraction  at  sensible  distances  when  rearranged  by  vortical 
motion.  But  such  a  theory  does  not  commend  itself  by  that  simplicity 
which  we  should  expect  in  the  region  of  the  atom. 

The  evolution  of  the  atom  or  elementary  molecule  from  the  par- 
ticle, even  if  real,  is  not  continuous  with  the  present  order  of  nature 
within  our  observation,  and  need  not  be,  any  more  than  the  formation 

*  This  parallel  holds  good  only  for  the  balanced  couples  themselves,  in  which  I  have 
assumed  the  cause  of  the  stress  to  reside.  The  intensity  of  the  stress  would  not  vary  as 
the  distance  from  the  center  for  a  third  body,  as  in  the  permeable  sphere,  but  the  field 
would  be  like  a  strained  elastic  tympanum,  with  varying  tension  dependent  on  the  separa- 
tion of  the  elements.  The  mathematical  discussion  of  this  field  of  force  would  be  most 
interesting,  involviug,  as  it  does,  the  investigation  of  all  the  phenomena  of  refraction  and 
reflexion. 


SPECULATIONS    ON  THE  NATURE   OF  MATTER.   799 

of  a  storm-cloud  is  a  continuous  process  in  the  atmosphere,  or  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  rash  in  the  human  patient  is  continuous.  But  the  cata- 
clysm once  accomplished,  a  new  uniformity  must  have  supervened,  and 
evolution  proceeded  from  that  point  continuously  from  the  simple  to 
the  more  heterogeneous,  in  accordance  with  strict  dynamical  law. 
Even  now  the  history  of  such  evolution  is  as  plainly  to  be  read  as  the 
history  of  the  growth  of  plants  in  a  forest.  Some  of  the  nebuloe  give 
evidence  of  being  collections  of  the  simplest  primordial  gases,  or  mix- 
tures of  such,  by  the  simplicity  of  their  spectral  lines.  Even  in  these, 
radiant  energy  is  being  set  free,  or  we  could  not  know  of  their  exist- 
ence. We  also  know  that  the  sun  and  stars  are  tremendous  labora- 
tories for  the  organization  of  matter,  where  disused  motions  are  liber- 
ated in  torrents.  The  creation  of  molecules  in  gradually  increasing 
complexity  seems  to  go  on  by  discontinuous  steps  or  stages,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  discontinuous  and  discrete  nature  of  the  elemental  fac- 
tors ;  and  its  products  at  each  certain  stage  are  all  duplicates,  whether 
in  this  sun  or  that.  Every  increase  in  complexity  apparently  liberates 
motion,  which,  by  the  law  of  conservation,  must  escape  as  an  efficient 
agent.  With  the  constant  escape  of  energy,  however,  solidification 
finally  ensues,  as  our  planet  bears  witness,  and  the  mobility  of  the 
molecules  practically  ceases.  Gases  and  moisture,  however,  remain 
over  to  supply  mobile  conditions,  and  the  work  goes  on.  At  this  stage 
new  supplies  of  sufficient  temperature  from  without  are  capable  of  re- 
versing the  process  to  a  degree,  restoring  mobility,  and  introducing 
new  modes  for  the  play  of  affinities.  The  radiant  energies  of  the  sun 
supply  for  our  planet  the  extraneous  motion  necessary  to  carry  the 
complexity  of  the  molecule  higher  than  the  simple  running  down  of 
matter  can  do,  and  we  have  the  chemistry  of  the  carbon  compounds. 
Aided  by  some  discontinuous  step,  which  we  can  not  as  yet  identify 
or  explain,  vitalized  functions  appear.  The  wondrously  compound 
molecules  of  the  tropics  are  evolved,  oils,  starches,  sugars,  spices, 
ethers,  and  alkaloids — magazines  of  stored-up  vis  viva — and,  by  the 
assimilation  of  these,  physiological  phenomena  in  sentient  beings  are 
carried  on,  accompanied  by  the  mysteries  of  will  and  consciousness, 
and  the  still  more  unaccountable  facts  of  succession  and  heredity, 
which  mock,  if  material,  all  efforts  at  conception  or  comprehension  of 
matter  in  its  ultimate  essence. 

The  actual  amount  of  energy  stored  up  in  the  elementary  molecule 
is  not  calculable,  but  it  must  be  enormous.  The  amount  of  motion 
can  not  be  certainly  known,  for  we  do  not  know  whether  any  could 
have  disappeared  at  the  birth,  and  the  mass  or  atomic  weight  of  the 
ultimate  particle  can  not  be  known  by  any  means  now  in  possession. 
The  great  rapidity  of  oscillation  across  the  small  orbit  has  been  viv- 
idly illustrated  by  G.  J.  Stoney  ("London,  Edinburgh,  and  Dublin 
Philosophical  Magazine,"  August,  1868,  page  132),  by  the  considera- 
tion (since  numbers  convey  no  idea)  that  they  bear  the  same  ratio  of 


800  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

frequency  to  a  second  of  time  that  a  second  (or  a  wave  of  the  hand) 
bears  to  30,000,000  years — one  of  the  geologic  periods,  during  which  a 
race  of  animals  may  have  been  evolved  and  have  perished. 

Such  inconceivable  velocity  of  rhythmical  motion  in  the  elementary 
molecule  points  to  some  cause  more  potent  than  the  action  of  any 
mere  static  force  combined  with  any  mere  energy  of  position.  The 
same  is  true  of  the  more  complex  molecules  of  our  experience — say  of 
iron,  or  calcium — displaying  hundreds  of  spectral  lines.  We  can  not 
suppose  these  inconceivably  energetic  motions  to  have  been  all  set  up 
by  any  mere  precipitation  which  evolved  the  element,  nor  to  have  exist- 
ed in  their  present  organization  from  eternity.  The  same  is,  of  course, 
true  of  the  organic  molecule.  Their  conserved  energy  lies  in  the  vast 
reserve  of  vis  viva  stored  up  in  their  complex  interior  movements.  A 
few  ounces  of  organized  food  suffice  for  the  expenditure  of  a  moun- 
tain-climber for  a  whole  day.  An  apparently  inert  explosive  is  trav- 
ersed by  a  tiny  spark,  or  pressed  too  closely,  and  the  increased  swing 
of  one  molecular  orbit  sets  off  the  whole  mass  into  new  paths  and 
more  economical  relations  by  which  a  vast  amount  of  motion  is  lib- 
erated, to  appear  as  temperature.  This  temporarily  expands  the  wrhole 
mass  many  volumes,  but,  as  the  agitation  subsides,  the  now  surplus 
energy  dissipates  by  radiation,  and,  being  picked  up  by  surrounding 
bodies,  temperature  becomes  equalized.  This  mechanical  modification 
and  distribution  of  motions,  resulting  in  final  equilibrium,  is  more  in- 
telligible than  the  instantaneous  setting  up  of  immense  velocities  and 
momenta  by  precipitation  from  a  state  of  absolute  rest. 

Besides,  research  proves  that  there  is  absolutely  no  room  for  any 
such  energy  of  position  as  was  fancied.  Sir  William  Thomson  has 
shown,  by  considerations  of  high  probability  ("  Nature,"  vol.  i,  page 
553),  that  the  distance  from  center  to  center  of  molecules  in  solids  and 
liquids  can  be  but  little  more  than  the  diameter  of  the  molecules.  In 
liquids,  from  their  great  resistance  to  compression,  the  practical  point 
of  contact  has  been  reached,  but  temperature  conserves  mobility. 

The  phrase  "  dead  matter,"  once  deemed  so  eminently  character- 
istic, now  seems  absurd.  To  deprive  matter  of  its  inherent  activity  is 
indeed  one  of  the  most  difficult  problems  we  can  encounter.  To  do  it, 
some  means  for  the  disposal  and  transfer  of  its  energy  must  be  pro- 
vided. Until  very  recently,  no  means  were  contrivable  for  subduing 
the  elementary  gases,  but,  by  resorting  to  the  most  extraordinary  com- 
pression, in  conjunction  with  the  lowest  temperature  procurable  by 
artificial  means,  the  feat  has  been  accomplished.  There  is  a  way,  how- 
ever, of  pitting  certain  elements  against  each  other  by  taking  advan- 
tage of  their  commensurate  atomic  periods,  and  in  this  way  we  get 
our  chief  supply  of  artificial  heat.  This  is  due  to  our  fortunate  store 
of  carbon  and  hydrogen,  free  and  combined,  and  of  uncombined 
oxygen.  The  known  distances  of  the  molecules  of  the  gases  above 
named  under  normal  temperature  and  pressure  give  no  clew  to  the 


SPECULATIONS    ON  THE  NATURE   OF  MATTER.   801 

enormous  amount  of  energy  liberated  by  their  combination  under  any 
supposable  attraction — certainly  not  under  any  that  is  observable. 

We  are,  therefore,  compelled  to  recognize  the  latent  energy  in  mat- 
ter. The  kinematists  were  profoundly  impressed  by  this  now  estab- 
lished fact,  and,  as  is  the  usual  tendency  of  the  promulgation  of  any 
brilliant  discovery,  they  undertook  too  much  with  it — to  wit,  to  con- 
struct a  kosmos. 

By  a  similar  tendency,  after  the  establishment  of  the  laws  of  mo- 
tion, and  of  universal  gravitation,  followed  by  the  discovery  of  the 
conservation  of  matter,  and  later  by  that  of  the  conservation  of  en- 
ergy, and  the  perception  of  the  energy  of  position,  these  brilliant 
advances  in  knowledge  of  the  absolute  had  encouraged  the  hope  that 
the  ultimate  could  be  explained.  Matter  was  then  viewed  almost  en- 
tirely in  its  statical  aspect — as  is  even  now  too  much  the  case,  for  we 
still  see  in  our  chemical  text-books  molecules  absurdly  represented  by 
geometrical  diagrams — and,  from  the  fact  that  motion  does  actually 
result  from  attraction  and  position,  it  was  natural  to  relegate  motion 
to  the  category  of  effects.  There  were,  then,  but  two  factors  in  the 
problem — matter,  and  its  occult  affections.  But  as  matter  they  took 
the  old  "  dead  matter,"  in  the  last  gasp  of  its  evolution,  freighted 
down  with  its  bundle  of  inert  properties  of  negation,  and,  to  evolve  a 
universe,  simply  credited  it  with  its  virtue  of  position,  and  left  it  to 
the  action  of  the  weakest  of  its  affections,  gravitation,  to  run  over 
again  a  short  portion  of  its  normal  course. 

Even  then,  the  surprising  result  appeared  that  it  would  galvanize 
itself  into  life  with  activity  enough  to  supply  the  radiant  energy 
which  our  sun  now  exhibits  for  a  period  of  some  20,000,000  years. 
This,  whether  we  follow  the  meteoric  hypothesis  of  Mayer,  or  the 
contraction  hypothesis  of  Ilelmholtz,  which  have  been  held  to  be  the 
only  conceivable  hypotheses.  How  sublime  the  solution  of  the  prob- 
lem could  we,  in  the  place  of  these  cinders,  put  into  the  mathematical 
mill  the  true  data  !  James  Croll,  in  groping  for  some  adequate  data 
to  explain  the  duration  actually  needed  for  the  exhibition  of  solar  en- 
ergy of  which  we  have  evidence,  suggests  ("  Climate  and  Time,"  page 
353)  that,  on  dynamical  principles,  given  two  masses  each  one  half  the 
sun's  mass,  moving  directly  toward  each  other  with  a  velocity  of  476 
miles  per  second,  sufficient  heat  might  be  accounted  for  to  cover  an 
emission  at  the  present  rate  for  50,000,000  years.  The  surplus  velocity, 
over  and  above  that  due  to  gravity,  he  derives  from  stellar  proper 
motion  ;  but,  while  the  supposition  is  violent  and  unphilosophical,  both 
in  respect  to  the  large  proper  motion  assumed,  and  particularly  as  to 
the  assumption  of  direct  collision,  in  the  plurality  of  cases  called  for 
by  the  multitude  of  suns,  the  result  is  still  grossly  inadequate.  The 
problem  is  insoluble  from  pure  dynamical  considerations.  They  take 
no  heed  of  the  most  important  factors — elementary  specific  heat,  ele- 
mentary affinities,   elementary  motion.     "When  we    once  succeed   in 

VOL.  XXII. — 51 


802  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

legitimizing  the  conception  that  suns  and  stars  are  evolved,  not  out  of 
debris,  and  weak  statical  force,  but  from  the  primordial  plenum  itself, 
equipped  with  latent  power  in  equilibrium,  we  can  view  them  as  they 
apparently  are — perennial  fountains  of  energy — incandescent  lamps  of 
eternity — drawing  their  supplies  from  the  mysterious  stoppage  of  pri- 
mordial motions,  with  the  accompanying  evolution  of  chemical  ele- 
ments, and  the  radiation  of  liberated  energy  in  torrents. 

Energy  of  position  is  undoubtedly  a  factor,  among  others  more 
important,  in  an  evolving  nebula  or  sun.  It  should  be  given  its  due 
value,  but  no  more.  There  is  evidence  to  show  that  even  the  transla- 
tory  motions  of  suns  and  worlds  can  not  be  wholly  accounted  for  by 
gravity  alone.  This  is  furnished  by  the  large  proper  motion  of  some 
of  the  stars,  particularly  the  notable  instance  of  1830  of  Groombridge's 
catalogue,  with  a  linear  velocity  of  at  least  two  hundred  miles  per 
second,  if  observations  are  to  be  trusted.  An  analysis  by  Newcomb 
proves  conclusively  that  all  the  stars  of  the  visible  portion  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  all  the  possible  dark  masses  which  could  exist  there,  are 
widely  incapable  either  of  furnishing  a  star  with  such  an  amount  of 
motion,  or  of  stopping  it. 

The  recognition  of  kinetics,  then,  in  conjunction  with  dynamics,  is 
what  I  desire  to  call  attention  to,  in  our  philosophical  attempts  to  ex- 
tend our  generalizations.  We  need  to  take  note  of  all  the  forces  and 
factors  which  we  can  perceive  ;  and  even  then  it  is  probable  that  our 
field  of  inspection  will  be  too  restricted  to  yield  a  satisfactory  insight 
into  that  which  was  born  from  eternity.  But  that  should  not  induce 
us  to  settle  down  on  a  "  good  enough  universe  "  for  finite  comprehen- 
sion, nor  plead  for  boundaries  to  the  infinite  and  eternal.  Some  mathe- 
maticians have  invented  a  space  cut  down  to  finite  comprehension. 
The  trouble  with  these  finite  infinities  and  limited  universes  is,  that 
they  do  not  satisfy  the  mind,  nor  the  definitions. 

Although  the  course  of  the  present  order  of  creation  is  far  longer 
than  can  be  assigned  or  imagined,  and,  even  as  to  our  solar  system, 
illimitable  as  measured  by  our  cycles,  no  doubt  it  runs  its  course,  for 
we  can  see  the  evidence  of  progressive  change.  The  struggle  for  the 
elimination  of  energy  in  its  entanglement  with  mass  is  a  fiercer  and 
more  protracted  one  than  we  dreamed  of,  but  it  goes  surely  on  to  its 
termination.  The  energy  by  which  the  small  vehicles  were  possessed 
escapes  by  slow  dissipation  back  into  the  great  storehouse  of  equili- 
brated power  whence  it  was  arrested,  as  gases  return  to  the  parent 
atmosphere  from  the  rotting  wood  of  the  forest.  The  molecule  is 
never  finally  taken  apart,  that  we  can  see.  The  skeleton-heaps,  in 
rigid  and  icy  bonds,  wander  forever  as  debris  and  dust  through  the 
streams  of  space.  Their  amount,  however,  is  so  infinitesimal  compared 
with  the  infinite  magazine  of  their  elements  which  has  never  been  sub- 
ject to  change  throughout  the  eternities,  that  they  may  be  regarded 
as  but  the  calculi  resulting  from  the  merest  nodules  of  local  and  tern- 


THE  LEGAL   STATUS    OF  SERVANT-GIRLS.       803 

porary  inflammation  —  imperceptible    to   the   health   of   the   infinite 
corpus. 

Thus  I  admit,  with  the  pure  dynamist,  that  the  material  universe, 
or  successive  material  universes  (if  such  a  solecism  is  pardonable),  as 
manifestations  of  matter  and  motion,  are  concatenated  with  time,  are 
born,  run  their  course,  and  fade  away,  as  do  the  clouds  of  air.  But 
the  infinite  reservoir  of  power  wherein  they  occur  as  disturbances 
remains.  What  can  cause  these  manifestations  of  power — these  droop- 
ings  of  energy,  with  their  complicated  results  ?  This  is  beyond  our 
finite  ken  ;  but  it  is  certain  that  the  mere  running  through  of  its 
course  of  a  finite  evolution  does  not  end  the  eternal,  the  infinite,  and 
absolute.  Nor  can  the  mind  be  restricted  to  such  a  conception  by  any 
argument  about  the  limitation  of  its  faculties. 


THE  LEGAL  STATUS   OF  SEEYANT-GIELS. 

By  OLIVER  E.   LYMAN. 

SHORTLY  after  the  Flood,  as  we  are  informed,  Abram's  wife 
turned  her  domestic,  Hagar,  out  of  the  house  on  account  of  her 
arrogant  conduct,  which  is  perhaps  the  first  authenticated  instance  on 
record  of  trouble  between  mistress  and  servant-girl.  This  sort  of 
trouble,  which  began  so  early,  still  survives  in  forms  so  various  and  often 
so  exasperating  as  to  raise  the  impatient  question  whether  the  serving 
class  is  the  only  dark  part  of  creation  which  improvement  has  failed 
to  reach.  The  question  is,  no  doubt,  full  of  aggravation  and  discour- 
agement, yet  there  has  been  improvement,  but  it  has  been  of  slow  at- 
tainment, forming  no  exception  to  the  great  law  of  progressive  social 
amelioration. 

Social  changes,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  especially  of  the  alleviating 
and  elevating  kind,  are  always  slow.  We  are  beginning  to  talk  about 
social  evolution,  and  the  new  science  of  sociology  which  treats  of  it  ; 
but  we  have  to  take  ages  into  account  before  we  can  realize  any  posi- 
tive conception  of  advance.  Much  of  the  barbarism  of  early  society 
clings  tenaciously  to  the  domestic  relations,  while  the  modification  of 
human  nature  and  the  corresponding  mitigation  of  social  imperfec- 
tions go  on  but  very  gradually,  tardily,  and  partially. 

A  still  further  reason  for  the  slowness  of  improvement  in  the  pres- 
ent case  arises  from  the  peculiarity  of  the  relations  involved.  In  times 
of  early  violence,  it  is  the  weak  that  are  subjugated  and  enslaved,  and, 
as  civilization  advances,  it  is  ever  the  lowest  and  most  ignorant  class 
of  any  society  that  falls  into  the  condition  of  menial  servitude.  The 
feeblest,  the  least  competent,  the  least  provident,  naturally  sink  to  the 
bottom  of  the  social  scale,  and  become  the  helpers,  the  dependents, 


804  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

the  drudges,  and  the  servile  appendages  of  the  classes  who  have 
wealth,  intelligence,  and  power.  In  domestic  life  these  relations  be- 
come organized  with  the  abject  class  at  the  base  of  the  social  struc- 
ture. Improving  agencies  will  obviously  not  take  effect  alike  upon  the 
higher  and  lower  elements.  Many  causes  will  operate  powerfully  to 
maintain  separate  interests,  to  favor  the  superior  class,  and  to  hinder 
their  inferiors,  so  that  servants  will  be  the  last  to  be  reached  by  ele- 
vating agencies. 

How  slowly  ameliorating  changes  in  the  domestic  relations  have 
proceeded,  and  how  long  their  worst  features  have  survived,  are  shown 
by  the  tenacity  with  which  a  vicious  system  of  domestic  servitude  was 
clung  to  even  in  this  country.  Multitudes  still  remember  the  order 
of  things  in  which  half  the  country  bought  their  servants  from  the 
auction-block.  That  primitive  condition  in  which  the  menial  was  a 
merchantable  chattel,  with  hardly  more  rights  than  a  brute,  continued 
down  to  these  times,  and  has  been  got  rid  of  only  in  the  present  gen- 
eration. The  slave  system  could  have  lasted  as  long  as  it  did  only  in 
a  form  of  society  in  which  the  menial  class  was  low,  degraded,  and 
without  influence.  And  that  the  slave  system  has  in  turn  widely  re- 
acted to  promote  the  social  debasement  of  the  working-class  there  can 
be  no  doubt.  The  slave  system,  of  course,  grew  more  and  more  anoma- 
lous as  the  sense  of  justice  and  humanity  strengthened  among  the 
people  i  but  we  must  not  forget  that  slavery  in  this  country  was  not 
destroyed  by  the  moral  reprobation  of  the  community.  It  was  de- 
fended as  an  historic  and  permanent  order  of  society  until  it  was 
incidentally  terminated  by  revolution.  It  is  now  easy  to  execrate  its 
atrocious  forms,  but  we  have  by  no  means  escaped  from  the  baneful 
influence  of  many  of  its  ideas.  The  idea  of  an  abject  menial  class  is 
still  entertained  as  a  part  of  the  normal  constitution  of  human  society, 
while  the  associations  of  a  degrading  and  but  recently  abandoned  sys- 
tem are  still  potent  for  the  debasement  of  those  who  continue  in  the 
relations  of  domestic  service. 

But,  in  spite  of  all  this,  the  serving  class,  however  disabled  and  de- 
graded, will  be  found  to  have  participated  much  in  that  general  move- 
ment which  we  term  the  progress  of  society.  Civilization  may  have 
been  staggered  by  the  "  servant-girl  problem,"  but  it  has  not  wholly 
broken  down  before  it.  The  mistress  can  no  longer  kill  her  perverse 
domestic  with  impunity — although  she  may  often  think  this  is  a  step 
backward  instead  of  forward.  General  tendencies  have  been  at  work 
which  have  put  an  end  to  the  ancient  order  in  this  respect.  In  the 
early  ages  of  domestic  servitude,  one  of  its  incidents  was  the  power 
of  the  master  over  the  life  of  the  servant.  This  prerogative  has 
long  since  disappeared,  though  not  because  of  the  sixth  command- 
ment, or  as  a  result  of  law  reform,  or  the  enactment  of  protective 
legislation.  It  was  the  culminating  effect  of  a  succession  of  natural 
causes,  whose  operation  was  gradual  and  extended  over  centuries.    By 


THE  LEGAL   STATUS   OF  SERVANT-GIRLS.       805 

captivity  in  time  of  war,  or  by  the  voluntary  submission  of  the  indi- 
gent, the  prosperous  and  opulent  became  possessed  of  numerous  ser- 
vants, whom  they  chastised,  sold,  killed,  and  subjected  to  unlimited 
jurisdiction  generally.  In  time  the  master  possessed  so  many  of  these 
abject  creatures  that  their  numbers  surpassed  the  accommodations  of 
the  household,  and  it  became  necessary  to  quarter  them  out  upon  the 
fields  they  cultivated.  Here  they  lived  in  hamlets,  and  were  called 
villagers,  or  villeins.  Living  apart  from  the  master,  it  became  less 
easy  for  him  to  keep  a  strict  watch  over  their  behavior,  or  to  compel 
them  to  labor  by  chastisement.  To  incite  them  to  work,  gifts  of 
money  were  made,  and  better  results  were  obtained  by  making  the 
pay  proportionate  to  the  results  accomplished.  Thus  the  master,  using 
bribery  instead  of  compulsion,  and  being  removed  from  constant  per- 
sonal contact  with  his  servants,  had  less  occasion  to  become  enraged 
at  their  short-comings,  or  to  visit  them  with  severe  punishment.  The 
exercise  of  dominion  over  life  became  less  frequent,  then  ceased,  and 
with  a  growing  sense  of  justice  the  arbitrary  power  was  forever  lost, 
though  it  took  centuries  of  the  slow-working  processes  of  evolution  to 
accomplish  this  result.  Potgresserus  says  that  not  till  the  twelfth 
century  was  the  power  lost. 

But  if  progress  has  brought  amelioration  to  the  servile  class  and 
promises  still  more,  it  has  brought  also  its  disadvantages,  some  of 
which  are  the  results  of  changed  and  improved  relations.  In  the 
early  ages  masters  and  servants  were  more  nearly  alike  in  employ- 
ments and  manners  of  living  than  they  are  now.  The  acquirement  of 
wealth  and  the  luxurious  habits  which  wealth  introduced  destroyed 
this  degree  of  equality  ;  the  additional  advantages  inured  to  the  benefit 
of  the  master  alone  ;  the  servant  remained  indigent.  The  effect  of 
social  progress  was  thus  to  separate  their  lives  as  well  as  their  inter- 
ests. Servants  constitute  an  isolated  class.  By  an  unwritten  social  law 
they  are  cut  off  from  intimacy  with  their  superiors,  and  consequently 
fail  to  reap  the  advantages  which  follow  a  community  of  interests  with 
those  above  them.  They  fail  to  be  leavened  by  the  influences  which 
act  for  the  elevation  of  the  community  at  large.  This  has  operated 
to  retard  their  progress  and  elevation,  and  produces  aggravating  effects 
which  are  more  marked  in  our  own  republican  country  than  in  those 
countries  where  social  gradations  are  more  definitely  established. 
Even  in  slavery  there  was  a  certain  community  of  interest  and  respon- 
sibility on  the  part  of  the  master,  of  which  we  see  but  little  in  the 
surviving  forms  of  domestic  servitude.  This  isolation  drives  servants 
to  self-defense  against  the  iron  hand  of  control  on  the  part  of  masters 
and  mistresses,  and  results  in  a  spirit  of  antagonism,  leading  to  tacit 
conspiracy  against  those  whom  they  regard  as  their  enemies.  Obliga- 
tions sit  lightly  upon  servants,  and  they  habitually  study  to  promote 
their  own  interests  by  unscrupulous  arts  and  all  kinds  of  dishonest 
practices.     This  may  be  deplored,  but  we  may  well  ask,  What  are  the 


806  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

servants  to  do  ?  They  are  a  disintegrated  as  well  as  an  isolated  class, 
and  can  gain  but  imperfectly  the  benefits  which  arise  from  combina- 
tion. Equality  is  the  universal  theory  ;  why,  then,  should  they  not  de- 
mand increasing  privileges,  and  rebel  against  the  circumstances  that 
keep  them  down  ? 

But  slow  as  has  been  the  improvement  of  this  class,  and  notwith- 
standing their  humble  social  condition,  and  although  they  are  too  fre- 
quently regarded  as  a  lower  race  of  beings,  with  no  rights  except  to 
obey,  yet  they  have  reached  a  stage  of  progress  that  entitles  them  to 
the  protection  of  law,  to  which  they  are  amenable  also  like  all  other 
people.  The  servant-girl  has  a  legal  status  just  as  much  as  her  mis- 
tress, and  rights  which  ought  to  be  held  sacred,  and,  if  they  were  so 
regarded,  one  important  step  toward  the  amelioration  of  the  relations 
of  lady  and  servant  would  be  taken. 

The  relation  of  mistress  or  master,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  servant 
is  based  upon  contract  only,  and  the  two  parties  to  the  contract  are 
upon  an  equal  footing  so  far  as  rights  are  concerned.  They  differ  only 
in  what  they  agree  to  do — one  is  to  work,  and  the  other  to  pay — and 
thereon  hang  all  the  law  and  the  prophets.  It  naturally  follows  that 
physical  punishment  can  not  lawfully  be  administered  to  a  domestic. 
As  Chancellor  Kent  said,  "  that  is  not  an  incident  of  the  contract  of 
hiring."  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  enlarge  upon  this  right  of  servants, 
as  the  physical  punishment  of  a  domestic  is  rarely,  if  ever,  heard  of. 

In  the  case  of  slavery,  where  the  servant  was  owned,  it  was  as- 
sumed to  be  for  the  interest  of  the  master  to  provide  medical  attend- 
ance in  time  of  sickness,  but  the  free  servant  has  no  such  claim.  If  a 
servant-girl  falls  sick,  the  mistress  is  not  legally  compelled  to  take 
steps  to  restore  her  to  health.  According  to  both  Chancellor  Kent 
and  Mr.  Story,  the  party  hiring  is  not  bound  to  provide  a  servant 
with  medical  attendance  or  medicines  in  case  of  sickness.*  If  a  gentle- 
man at  the  servant's  request  sends  for  a  physician,  he  is  not  liable  to 
pay  the  doctor's  bill  unless  he  omits  to  make  known  who  requests 
the  services,  or  unless  he  exceeds  his  authority,  or  expressly  or  im- 
pliedly engages  to  be  answerable,  either  by  directly  promising  to  pay 
for  them,  if  rendered,  or  by  doing  or  saying  something  which  justifies 
the  doctor  m  supposing  that  he  engages  to  pay  him.f 

But  if  the  gentleman  has  hired  a  doctor,  and  given  him  to  under- 
stand that  he  will  pay  him,  he  is  bound  to  pay  what  the  services  are 
reasonably  worth  ;  he  can,  however,  at  any  time  give  him  notice  that 
he  will  not  be  liable  for  further  services.^  If  he  calls  the  doctor  in  to 
attend  the  servant  without  the  servant's  request  or  consent,  he  must 
foot  the  bill ;  it  being  considered  merely  a  generous  act  on  his  part.* 
A  lady,  too,  under  the  same  circumstances  becomes  similarly  liable — 
provided  she  never  had  a  husband  or  has  buried  him.     If  she  is  still 

*  2  Kent,  298 ;  2  Story  on  Contr.,  §  1,298.  f  41  How-  Pr-  (N-  Y-),  3?0- 

%  1  Bosw.,  441.  *  2  Story  on  Contr.,  §  1,29V. 


THE  LEGAL   STATUS    OF  SERVANT-GIRLS.       807 

fettered  by  one,  there  seems  to  be  some  doubt  as  to  whether  she  can 
make  a  valid  contract  that  will  bind  anybody  at  all  to  pay  the  doctor. 
The  law  is  not  well  settled.     It  may  be  said,  however,  generally,  that 
she  can  not  bind  her  husband,  because  the  obligation  of  a  husband  to 
furnish  medical  attendance  does  not  extend  beyond  his  wife  and  own 
children,  and  he  is  under  no  obligations  to  provide  it  for  a  servant. 
And,  as  such  attendance  for  a  servant  can  hardly  be  called  a  necessary 
which  the  husband  must  provide  the  wife,  she  can  not  be  considered 
as  his  agent  for  the  employment  of  the  doctor.     So,  too,  she  can  not, 
as  a  rule,  bind  herself,  because  her  identity  is  merged  in  that  of  her 
husband.     She  is  not  sui  juris,  and  has  no  right  to  contract.*     But,  if 
she  has  separate  property,  the  case  may  be  different.     In  New  York 
she  can  be  held  liable  on  her  separate  estate,  if  the  intention  to  charge 
it  is  declared  in  the  very  contract,  which  is  the  foundation  of  the 
charges.f     The  rule  everywhere,  however,  is  not  the  same.     There  is 
a  conspicuous  lack  of  uniformity  on  the  subject  of  married  women's 
rights.     Some  day  uniformity  may  be  obtained.     If  those  ladies  who 
cry  for  the  right  of  suffrage  would  shed  half  of  their  tears  for  a  settle- 
ment of  the  laws  pertaining  to  married  women,  they  would  accom- 
plish results  worth  striving  for.     But  to  return  to  the  doctor.     The 
poor  man,  at  present,  had  better  take  care  when  a  married  woman 
comes  to  employ  him  for  her  servant,  or  he  may  be  "  left  out  in  the 
cold." 

Although  not  bound  to  furnish  medical  attendance  and  medicines, 
it  seems  the  party  hiring  is  bound  to  furnish  proper  food,  and  to  sup- 
port the  servant  during  her  sickness  or  disability,  so  long  as  she  re- 
mains in  his  or  her  employ. J 

Another  right  which  a  servant-girl  has,  is  a  right  to  the  enjoyment 
of  a  good  character — provided  she  has  one — and  the  law  presumes  she 
has  it  until  the  contrary  appear.*  There  is,  unfortunately,  a  tendency 
on  the  part  of  a  great  many  people  to  speak  too  freely,  too  thought- 
lessly, and  even  maliciously,  of  the  characters  of  others.  The  more 
marked  the  inferiority  in  social  position  of  the  person  talked  about,  the 
greater  the  freedom  with  which  the  unbridled  tongue  wags  ;  and  just 
in  proportion  as  the  maligned  person's  station  in  life  is  lowlier,  the 
injury  done  is  the  more  irreparable.  So  it  frequently  happens  that  the 
character  of  one  who  has  lived  in  a  menial  relation  to  us  is  spoken 
slightingly  of,  in  a  manner  not  justified  by  the  facts.  Thoughtlessness 
of  the  consequences  of  idle  words,  revenge  for  some  act  of  the  servant, 
or  some  other  motive,  may  be  at  the  bottom  of  it,  but  they  afford  no 
justification.  The  law  protects  her — or  will,  if  she  has  cash  enough 
to  invoke  its  protection,  or  can  persuade  a  lawyer  to  take  her  case  on 
speculation.  If,  however,  the  communication  is  made  by  a  person 
acting  honestly  and  without  actual  malice,  then,  even  though  it  be 

*  Sctaouler  on  Hus.  and  Wife,  §  123.  \  22  N.  Y.,  450. 

\  2  Story  on  Contr.,  §g  1,297,  1,298.  *  Starkie  on  Libel  and  S.,  p.  19. 


808  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

defamatory,  the  law  protects  the  one  making  it.  Servants  bear  such 
a  peculiar  relation  to  society  that  it  is  deemed  necessary,  for  the  com- 
mon protection  and  well-being  of  its  members,  that  honest  and  proper 
communications  in  regard  to  servants  should  be  freely  made,  and  that 
those  called  upon  to  make  such  communications  should  not  be  ham- 
pered by  the  apprehension  of  vexatious  litigation.  The  good  of  the 
many  is  not  to  be  sacrificed  to  save  the  few  from  injury.  We  see  the 
same  principle  of  protection  in  regard  to  communications  made  respect- 
ing the  solvency  of  traders,  the  skill  of  professional  practitioners,  the 
trustworthiness  of  persons  in  confidential  positions.  The  welfare  of 
society  demands  that  they  be  made  freely,  faithfully,  and  truly,  and 
to  give  a  servant  a  good  character  that  is  undeserved  is  a  grievous 
offense. 

On  the  other  hand,  one  who  designedly  gives  a  bad  character  not 
deserved,  under  the  pretense  of  discharging  some  duty  to  herself  or  to 
society,  offends  against  justice  and  humanity,  and  the  law  throws  no 
protecting  cloak  around  her  words.  On  one  occasion  a  gentleman  un- 
asked wrote  a  letter  in  regard  to  a  servant's  character  to  another  party, 
with  the  result  of  injury  to  the  servant.  The  man  was  sued,  and  the 
jury  found  that  he  had  acted  maliciously,  and  rendered  a  verdict  against 
him.  The  judge  remarked  :  "  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that,  in  order  to 
make  libelous  matter  (written  by  a  master)  privileged,  it  is  essential 
that  the  party  who  makes  the  communication  should  be  put  into  action 
in  consequence  of  a  third  party's  putting  questions  to  him.  I  am  of 
opinion  he  may  (when  he  thinks  that  another  is  about  to  take  into  his 
service  one  whom  he  knows  ought  not  to  be  taken)  set  himself  in  mo- 
tion and  do  some  act  to  induce  that  other  to  seek  information  from 
and  put  questions  to  him.  The  answers  to  such  questions,  given  bona 
fide  with  the  intention  of  communicating  such  facts  as  the  other  party 
ought  to  know,  will,  although  they  contain  slanderous  matter,  come 
within  the  scope  of  a  privileged  communication.  But  in  such  a  case 
it  will  be  a  question  for  the  jury  whether  the  defendant  has  acted  bona 
fide,  intending  honestly  to  discharge  a  duty,  or  whether  he  has  acted 
maliciously,  intending  to  do  an  injury  to  the  servant."* 

In  another  case,  a  person  told  a  servant  girl's  mistress  that  the  girl 
was  irregular  in  her  conduct.  The  result  was,  she  lost  her  place,  and 
sued  her  defamer.  The  judge  remarked  :  "If  a  neighbor  make  in- 
quiry of  another  respecting  his  own  servants,  that  other  may  state 
what  he  believes  to  be  true  ;  but  the.  case  is  diffei'ent  where  the  state- 
ment is  a  voluntary  act  ;  yet,  even  in  this  case,  the  jury  is  to  consider 
whether  the  words  were  dictated  by  a  sense  of  the  duty  which  one 
neighbor  owes  to  another."  f 

Voluntary  communications  are  looked  upon  askance.  Stronger 
evidence  is  necessary  to  show  that  they  were  made  in  good  faith  than 
when  the  statements  are  made  in  response  to  inquiry. \     And  if  a  lady 

*  8  B.  and  C,  578.  j  1  Car.  and  Mar.,  104.  \  8  B.  and  C,  5*78. 


THE  LEGAL   STATUS    OF  SERVANT-GLRLS.        809 

unasked  displays  a  forward  and  officious  zeal  in  giving  a  character 
prejudicial  to  a  former  servant,  it  will  be  a  material  guide  to  the  jury- 
in  ascertaining  the  real  motive.*  The  mere  fact,  however,  that  a  com- 
munication is  voluntarily  made  does  not  of  necessity  render  it  unprivi- 
leged, and,  if  the  publication  is  warranted  by  an  occasion  apparently 
beneficial  and  honest,  and  there  is  no  malice,  it  is  not  actionable.f  If, 
for  instance,  a  lady  who  has  given  a  servant  a  good  character  finds 
that  she  was  not  justified  in  so  doing,  it  is  her  right  and  it  becomes 
her  duty  to  communicate  the  facts  to  the  person  to  whom  the  other 
communication  was  made,  in  order  to  prevent  that  person's  being  mis- 
led by  the  previous  recommendation,  and  such  a  communication  is 
privileged.^  So,  too,  if  a  person  to  whom  a  servant  has  been  recom- 
mended finds  out  that  the  character  given  was  not  justified  by  the  ser- 
vant's actions,  and  informs  the  lady  who  recommended  her  of  the  fact, 
and  cautions  her  against  giving  recommendations  for  morality  or  hon- 
esty, this  is,  in  the  absence  of  malice,  a  privileged  communication.* 
Where  a  lady  gives  a  character  in  response  to  an  inquiry,  she  will  not 
be  presumed  to  have  been  actuated  by  malice.  |  Even  if  what  she 
says  is  untrue,  she  can  not  be  successfully  sued,  unless  the  servant  can 
prove  that  she  spoke  maliciously,  and  knew  that  what  she  said  was 
untrue  and  injurious.A  And  she  need  not  prove  the  truth  of  her  state- 
ment unless  it  is  plain  that  she  was  actuated  by  malicious  motives.  If 
under  such  circumstances  a  prima  facie  case  of  falsehood  be  made 
out,  she  will  be  bound  to  show  that  the  assertions  were  made  under  a 
belief  in  their  truth.  §  A  lady  once  had  a  yoivng  woman  in  her  em- 
ploy, who  was  afterward  dismissed.  Having  a  chance  to  make  another 
engagement,  she  referred  to  her  former  mistress,  who  wrote  to  the 
person  making  inquiry  :  "  I  parted  with  her  on  account  of  her  incom- 
petency, and  not  being  lady-like  nor  good-tempered.  P.  S. — May  I 
trouble  you  to  tell  her  that,  this  being  the  third  time  I  have  been  re- 
ferred to,  I  beg  to  decline  any  more  applications  ?  "  The  result  could 
have  been  foreseen.  The  girl  lost  the  engagement.  Stung  by  the  let- 
ter, she  sued  the  writer,  and  general  evidence  was  given  of  her  com- 
petency, lady-like  manners,  and  good  temper,  and  that,  in  reply  to  the 
two  previous  applications  which  were  made  before  her  dismissal,  the 
writer  had  recommended  her.  It  did  not  appear  in  evidence  why  she 
was  dismissed.  The  judge  told  the  jury  that  they  must  decide  whether 
there  was  sufficient  proof  that  the  defendant,  in  writing  the  letter,  had 
been  influenced  by  some  improper-feeling  toward  the  plaintiff  to  make 
a  false  statement  knowingly.  They  found  that  there  was,  and  the 
plaintiff  got  a  verdict. 

On  another  occasion  a  man  was  asked  about  the  character  of  a 
servant  who  had  been  in  his  employ,  and  he  replied  that  she  was  dis- 
honest.    Of  course,  she  lost  the  prospective  engagement.     She  sued. 

*  Starkio,  344.  f  Starkie,  344.  %  30  N.  Y.,  20.  *  1  F.  and  F.,  24. 

||  Burr,  2425.  A  3  Q.  B.,  11.  Q  3  Q.  B.,  5  ;  109  Mass.,  193. 


810  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

It  appeared  from  the  evidence  that  the  charge  of  stealing  was  not 
made  until  after  she  had  left  the  defendant's  service  ;  that  he  had 
told  her  he  would  sav  nothing  about  it  if  she  would  resume  her 
employment  at  his  house,  and  that  he  afterward  said  to  her  that, 
if  she  would  admit  the  theft,  he  would  give  her  a  character.  The 
jury  concluded  that  he  was  not  acting  bona  fide  in  the  reply  he 
gave  to  the  inquiry  as  to  the  girl's  character,  and  gave  her  a 
verdict.* 

In  making  a  damaging  statement  to  an  inquiring  person  about  a 
domestic,  it  is  perhaps  kinder  to  her  to  see  that  no  one  is  present  but 
the  one  interested  in  the  inquiry.  It  may  also  turn  out  to  be  the  safer 
course  to  pursue.  It  is  true  that  such  caution  is  not  absolutely  essen- 
tial for  the  protection  of  the  communication,  but,  if  an  opportunity  is 
sought  for  making  a  charge  before  third  persons  when  it  might  have 
been  made  in  private,  it  affords  strong  evidence  of  a  malicious  inten- 
tion, and  thus  deprives  it  of  that  immunity  which  the  law  allows  to 
such  a  statement  when  made  honestly  ;  and,  too,  the  fact  that  a  third 
person  is  present  is  a  circumstance  which,  taken  in  connection  with 
others,  such  as  the  style  and  character  of  the  language  used,  would 
have  weight  with  a  jury  in  determining  whether  the  person  making 
the  statement  had  acted  in  good  faith  or  had  been  influenced  by  mal- 
ice, f  The  same  thing  may  be  said  of  an  accusation  made  to  a  servant 
in  the  presence  of  another.  It  is  a  question  for  the  jury.  If  it  is 
made  at  such  a  time,  on  such  an  occasion,  and  under  such  circum- 
stances that  the  inference  of  malice  prima  facie  arising  from  the  ac- 
cusation is  rebutted,  the  burden  of  showing  that  it  was  actuated  by 
malice  or  ill-will  rests  upon  the  servant.  It  must,  for  instance,  be 
made  in  good  faith  and  for  a  justifiable  purpose,  in  the  discharge  of 
a  duty,  public  or  private,  legal  or  moral,  or  in  the  prosecution  of  one's 
own  rights  and  interests,  and  without  any  design  to  defame  the  person 
to  whom  it  relates,  even  though  it  is  all  untrue.J  Thus,  if  a  lady  is 
about  to  discharge  a  servant,  and  calls  in  a  third  person  to  hear  the 
reason  therefor,  and  states  the  reason  in  that  person's  presence,  the 
courts  have  held  that  such  a  communication  made  with  honesty  of 
purpose  is  privileged.*  It  has  been  held,  however,  in  Massachusetts, 
that  a  false  charge  made  before  a  third  person  is  libelous.  |  If  the 
statement  is  made  in  answer  to  inquiries,  it  must  be  to  some  person 
who  has  an  interest  in  the  inquiry,  and  not  as  mere  matter  of  gossip. A 
So,  where  a  gentleman,  having  dismissed  his  servant  for  dishonesty, 
refused  to  give  him  a  character,  alleging  to  those  who  applied  that 
he  had  dismissed  him  from  his  service  for  dishonesty,  and  the  servant's 
brother  afterward  inquired  of  the  master  why  he  had  so  treated  the 
servant,  and  was  thus  keeping  him  out  of  a  situation,  the  gentle- 
man  replied,  "  He   has   robbed   me,  and  I   believe   for  years  past." 

*  16  C.  B.  N.  S.,  829.  \  109  Mass.,  193.  %  3  How.  (IT.  S.),  266. 

*  16  Q.  B.,  322.  ||  ]  09  Mass.,  193.  A  1  C.  M.  and  R.,  181. 


THE  LEGAL   STATUS    OF  SERVANT-GIRLS.        81 1 

Only  one  instance  of  robbery  Lad  been  charged  or  proved,  but  ic 
was  held,  nevertheless,  that  the  answer  to  the  brother  was  privi- 
leged.* 

It  seems,  too,  that  it  is  within  the  scoj)e  of  privileged  communica- 
tions to  honestly  protect  one's  interest  by  informing  servants  of  the 
dishonesty  of  a  fellow-servant.  A  man,  having  dismissed  his  servant, 
afterward  remarked  to  two  other  servants  :  "  I  discharged  that  man 
for  robbing  me  ;  he  is  a  thief,  and  if  ever  you  speak  to  him  again  or 
have  anything  to  do  with  him  I  shall  consider  you  as  bad  as  him,  and 
shall  discharge  you."  This  was  held  on  a  subsequent  trial  to  be  a  privi- 
leged communication. 

Let  us  now  look  at  another  right.  Servants  have  well-defined 
rights  in  regard  to  wages.  If  they  perform  their  part  of  the  contract, 
they  are  entitled  to  a  performance  on  the  part  of  the  party  of  the  first 
part,  to  wit,  the  party  hiring.  Just  what  the  servant  has  to  do  has 
been  succinctly  stated  by  Mr.  Story  :  "A  servant,"  says  he,  "is  bound 
to  obey  all  the  just  and  reasonable  commands  of  his  master,  to  be  care- 
ful and  faithful  as  to  all  property  committed  to  his  charge,  to  do  with 
diligence  and  care  his  proper  and  appointed  work,  and  to  behave  with 
decency  and  in  a  manner  consistent  with  his  station  as  servant.  .  .  . 
But  the  command  must  be  just  and  reasonable,  and  within  the  fair 
scope  of  his  employment."  f 

The  right  to  the  wages  is  not  affected  by  the  fact  that  there  is 
nothing  for  her  to  do,  if  she  is  on  hand  and  holds  herself  ready  to 
serve. \  The  hiring  being  an  accomplished  fact,  and  the  time  of  ser- 
vice begun,  the  right  to  wages  exists.  If  there  is  nothing  to  do,  so 
much  the  luckier  for  the  servant.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  it 
may  be  safely  said  that  such  an  easy  state  of  affairs  seldom  occurs  in 
the  experience  of  most  domestics. 

The  right  to  wages  is  unaffected  also  by  damage  done  by  the  ser- 
vant. For  instance,  if  she  injure  articles  or  lose  them  in  the  course  of  the 
service,  the  party  hiring  can  not  without  a  specific  agreement  to  such 
effect,  deduct  from  the  servant's  wages  their  value,  but  must  bring  her 
cross-action  against  the  servant  for  compensation.*  So  that,  if  a  lady 
deducts  for  some  such  cause  a  portion  of  her  cook's  wages,  the  cook 
would  have  a  perfect  right  to  sue  for  the  sum  deducted.  Inasmuch, 
however,  as  the  party  hiring  can  bring  a  cross-action,  or,  as  in  New 
York  practice,  set  up  a  counter-claim  in  the  cook's  action,  for  the  lost 
articles,  the  cook's  net  recovery  would  be  nil.  In  other  words,  the 
legal  and  illegal  ways  of  settling  for  the  damaged  or  lost  articles  end 
in  similar  results.  "It  is  six  of  one  and  half -a  dozen  of  the  other." 
As  a  matter  of  practice  and  advisability,  the  illegal  method  of  deduc- 
tion, although  it  overrides  the  servant's  rights,  is  better  for  her,  as  it 
saves  her  the  expense  of  a  lawsuit  merely  for  a  principle.     The  wise 

*  16  Q.  B.,  322.  f  2  Story  on  Contr.,  §  1,304.  \  32  Barb.,  564. 

*  2  Story  on  Contr.,  §  1,297. 


8iz  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

cook  will  not  grumble  at  it.     She,  if  anybody,  ought  to  know  that  the 
frying-pan  is  better  than  the  fire. 

Nor  can  the  party  hiring  deduct  from  the  servant's  wages  any  sum 
paid  a  physician  called  in  by  the  hirer  for  the  servant  without  the  re- 
quest or  consent  of  the  latter,  nor  in  this  case  can  a  cross-action  be 
brought  for  such  sum,  as  the  act  is  considered  as  merely  one  of  gene- 
rosity.* 

If  a  servant  hired  for  a  specific  time  is  wrongfully  discharged  be- 
fore the  expiration  of  the  time  for  which  she  was  hired,  she  can  sue 
the  party  hiring  for  a  breach  of  contract.  She  can  bring  an  action 
either  to  recover  for  the  services  that  she  has  actually  rendered  or  for 
damages  for  the  breach,  in  which  latter  case  she  can  recover  any 
amount  already  due  her  for  services,  and  also  compensation  for 
damages  sustained  by  the  wrongful  dismissal.f  She  can  not  wait, 
however,  until  the  expiration  of  the  period  for  which  she  was  hired, 
and  then  sue  for  the  whole  wages  on  the  ground  of  a  constructive  ser- 
vice.! It  is  obligatory  upon  her  to  diligently  try  to  find  another  place. 
She  must  make  reasonable  exertions  to  diminish  the  damages.  This 
is  an  active  duty  which  the  law  wisely  imposes.  "  Public  interest  and 
sound  morality  accord  with  the  law  in  demanding  this,  and  if  the  in- 
jured party  through  negligence  or  willfulness  allows  the  damages  to 
be  unnecessarily  enhanced,  the  increased  loss  falls  upon  him,  and  he 
can  recover  nothing  for  damages  which  by  reasonable  diligence  on  his 
part  could  have  been  prevented."  \  If  the  servant  has  been  unable  to 
find  employment,  and  has  been  forced  into  involuntary  idleness  by 
circumstances,  her  damages  will  be  an  amount  equal  to  the  whole 
compensation  agreed  upon.  This  was  held  in  a  case  where  the  action 
did  not  happen  to  be  brought  until  the  time  of  hiring  had  expired.* 
In  another  case  where  a  servant  who  had  been  hired  for  two  months 
was  discharged  without  cause  at  the  end  of  five  days,  it  was  held  that 
the  servant  was  entitled  to  recover  the  wages  for  the  whole  two 
months,  although  there  had  been  so  few  days'  service. || 

If,  now,  on  the  other  hand,  the  servant  hired  for  a  specific  time  is 
justly  dismissed,  or  without  reasonable  cause  leaves  the  service,  what 
are  her  rights  in  regard  to  wages  ?  Chancellor  Kent  says  that  in  such 
case  she  loses  her  right  to  wages  for  the  period  she  served.A  This  is, 
undoubtedly,  the  rule  where  the  full  performance  of  the  contract  is  a 
condition  precedent  to  the  right  to  wages,  and  through  the  servant's 
fault  fulfillment  becomes  out  of  the  question.  Common  sense  and 
strict  justice,  however,  lead  to  a  different  rule  where  the  fulfillment  of 
the  contract  is  prevented  or  rendered  impossible  by  the  sickness  or 
death  of  the  servant.  The  law  makes  a  distinction  between  the  will- 
ful or  negligent  violation  of  a  contract  and  where  its  fulfillment  is 
prevented  by  the  act  of  God.     "  In  the  one  case,  the  application  of 

*  2  Story  on  Contr.,  §  1,297.  f  4  Daly,  401.  %  2S  New  York,  76. 

*  1  E.  D.  Smith,  70.  ||  26  IIow.  Pr.,  528.       A  2  Kent,  p.  292. 


THE  LEGAL   STATUS    OF  SERVANT-GIRLS.        813 

the  rule  operates  as  a  punishment  to  persons  wantonly  guilty  of  the 
breach,  and  tends  to  preserve  the  contract  inviolable.  In  the  other 
case,  its  exception  is  calculated  to  protect  the  right  of  the  unfortunate 
and  honest  man  who  is  providentially  and  without  fault  on  his  part 
prevented  from  a  full  performance."*  In  general,  the  contract  is 
subject  to  the  implied  condition  of  health  and  strength,  and  sickness 
will  excuse  a  servant  from  liability,  and  justify  her  in  rescinding  the 

agreement.f 

Such  are  some  of  the  rules  regarding  the  rights  to  wages  of  ser- 
vants who  are  hired  for  a  specific  time.  With  those  who  are  not 
hired  for  any  particular  time,  as  is  the  case  with  the  majority  of 
domestic  servants,  the  case  is  different.  The  servant  is  considered  as 
hired  with  reference  to  the  general  understanding  that  she  shall  be 
entitled  to  her  wages  for  the  time  she  serves,  and  either  party,  in  the 
absence  of  any  agreement  to  the  contrary,  may  determine  the  service 
at  any  time. J  The  question  most  likely  to  arise  on  such  termination 
is  whether  any  notice  must  be  given  by  the  party  terminating  the 
service.  In  England,  a  month's  notice  is  customary,  and,  if  it  is  the 
hirer  who  ends  the  hiring,  he  can  give  a  month's  wages  instead  of  the 
notice.  If  the  dismissal  is  for  misconduct,  however,  the  servant  is  not 
entitled  to  the  month's  wages.*  The  English  rule  has  not  been  incor- 
porated in  the  law  of  this  country.  As  was  stated  by  Chancellor 
Kent,  there  is  no  distinction  between  menial  and  other  servants. 
Whether  notice  is  to  be  given  depends  upon  the  contract  between  the 
parties,  or,  if  that  is  silent  on  the  subject,  it  depends  upon  the  custom 
of  the  particular  place.  Where  there  is  an  express  contract  upon  the 
subject,  it  is  binding,  and  must  be  observed,  except  in  case  of  the  dis- 
obedience of  the  servant,  or  under  some  other  such  circumstances.  If 
the  parties  have  not  seen  fit  to  take  the  subject  of  notice  into  consid- 
eration, no  notice  is  required  unless  a  well-established  custom  to  give 
notice  exists.  || 

Before  closing  the  discussion  of  the  right  to  wages,  mention  should 
be  made  of  an  exception  to  the  rule  that  the  servant  who  performs 
faithfully  her  contract  without  breach  is  entitled  to  wages.  The 
exception  is  that  of  persons  whom  the  law  deems  unable  to  contract. 
Take  the  case  of  a  married  woman,  for  example.  Where  the  common 
law  still  controls  the  relation  of  husband  and  wife,  all  wages  the  wife 
eai*ns  belong  absolutely  to  him,  and  any  promise  made  to  pay  her  is 
considered  as  a  promise  made  to  him.  And  the  common-law  rule 
prevails  except  where  it  has  been  modified  or  changed  by  statute.  In 
New  York  State,  before  18G0,  a  married  woman  who  contracted  for 
her  personal  services  with  the  knowledge  and  consent  of  her  husband, 
and  was  promised  by  the  party  hiring  what  her  services  were  reason- 
ably worth,  acquired  no  title  to  her  earnings  in  her  own  right. A     It 

*  20  N.  Y.,  197.  f  2  Story  on  Contr.,  §  1,303.  %  Shars.  Black.,  426,  r>. 

*  Cooky's  Black.,  p.  129,  n.  1  Shars.  Black.,  420,  n.  A  42  Barb.,  G6. 


8 14  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

was  hard  upon  a  poor  wife,  and  the  Legislature  gallantly  enlarged  the 
rights  of  married  women,  so  as  to  enable  them  to  conti-act  for  their 
services,  and  receive  and  keep  the  pay  for  them  for  their  sole  and 
separate  use,  and  to  invest  the  same.* 

Then  take  the  case  of  minor  servants.  In  general,  a  child's  earn- 
ings belong  to  and  are  recoverable  in  the  name  of  the  parent.  In  the 
absence  of  an  agreement,  express  or  implied,  that  payment  may  be 
made  to  the  child,  the  parent  alone  is  entitled  to  the  child's  earnings.f 
The  father,  if  living,  can  claim  his  child's  wages  ;  but,  if  he  be  dead, 
they  belong  to  the  widow  so  long  as  she  remains  unmarried. J  The 
law  puts  upon  her  the  support  of  the  children,  and  so,  if  they  go 
out  to  service  while  under  age,  gives  her  the  right  to  their  earnings, 
and  to  collect  them.  But  if  she  marries  again — presto  ! — her  legal  ca- 
pacity is  gone.  She  is  no  longer  herself,  but  has  merged  her  identity 
in  another,  and  she  can  no  longer  control  the  property  or  earnings  of 
her  children.* 

If  in  general  there  is  an  express  or  implied  agreement  that  the 
child  may  receive  the  wages,  that  agreement  supersedes  the  common- 
law  rule.  For  instance,  if  a  minor  makes  a  contract  for  her  services 
on  her  own  account,  and  the  father  knows  of  it  and  makes  no  objec- 
tion, there  is  an  implied  assent  that  she  shall  have  her  own  earnings.  || 
If,  again,  the  parent  resides  in  the  same  place,  and  neither  receives  nor 
claims  any  wages  for  the  daughter's  services  for  a  long  period,  the  infer- 
ence would  be  strong  that  he  or  she  intended  that  the  daughter  should 
receive  her  own  earnings.  Or,  if  the  parent  is  absent  for  several  years, 
and  leaves  the  child  to  shift  for  itself,  the  presumption  is  that  there 
was  an  intention  to  emancipate  the  child.A  In  New  York  State  the 
Legislature  has  taken  a  hand  in  this  matter,  and  provided  that  pay- 
ment of  wages  to  a  minor  in  service  shall  be  valid  unless  the  parents 
or  guardians  of  such  child  notify  the  party  employing  the  minor 
within  thirty  days  after  the  service  begins  that  they  claim  the  child's 
wages. Q  And,  under  any  circumstances,  if  it  appears  that  the  child  at 
service  has  no  parent  or  guardian  entitled  to  her  wages,  the  mistress 
must  pay  them  to  the  servant.^ 

Such  are  some  of  the  rights  of  those  who  serve  us.  It  would  be  a 
difficult  task  in  the  limits  of  a  magazine  article  to  treat  of  all  their 
rights.  Being  human  beings,  and  performing  their  lowly  duties  by 
contract  only,  the  law  clothes  them  with  rights  similar  to  those  pos- 
sessed by  other  persons,  who  are  not  compelled  to  undertake  what  we 
call  menial  work.  Their  property  rights,  for  instance,  are  as  sacred  as 
those  of  princes.  To  steal  a  dollar  from  a  cook  is  as  wrong  as  to  break 
open  the  safe  of  a  banker.  Their  rights  of  life  and  limb  also  are  just 
as  inviolable  as  those  of  their  employers.  To  kill  a  waitress  is  murder 
as  well  as  when  a  queen  is  put  to  death  violently.     To  chew  up  the 

*  L.  1860.  f  5  Wend.,  204.  %  5  Lans.,  S39.  *  5  Barb.,  122. 

|  10  Barb.,  300.       A  8  Cow.,  84.  0  L-  1S5°-  $  29  Barb*'  160, 


THE  NEW  YORK  GEOLOGICAL   SURVEY.  815 

thumb  of  a  chamber-maid  is  mayhem  just  as  surely  as  if  it  were  the 
thumb  of  the  President. 

And  so  we  might  go  on  enumerating  their  rights  in  general,  but 
the  purpose  of  this  article  has  been  attained — to  point  out  some  of  the 
rights  of  servants  more  or  less  peculiar  to  their  calling  in  life,  in  the 
hope  that  a  due  recognition  of  them  by  those  whom  fortune  has  placed 
on  a  higher  social  pedestal  will  contribute  a  little  to  mitigate  the  worst 
evil  of  housekeeping.  That  it  will  eradicate  the  evil,  or  even  be  a 
panacea  for  half  the  attendant  woes,  is  not  for  a  moment  claimed  or 
expected.  There  are  too  many  other  independent  elements  at  work  to 
keep  up  the  evil.  But  as  each  single  drop  of  water  falling  on  the 
stone  helps  to  wear  it  away,  so  the  observance  of  one  form  of  relief 
will  do  its  little  toward  wearing  away  the  trouble  which  began  with 
Hagai*,  and  will  end — Heaven  only  knows  when. 


-♦♦«- 


THE  NEW  YORK  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY.* 

By  JAMES  HALL,  LL.  D.,  State  Geologist. 

THE  history  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  New  York  from  1835, 
when  the  Legislature  passed  a  resolution  requesting  the  Secretary 
of  State  to  report  a  plan  for  a  geological  survey  of  the  State,  is  very 
easily  traced,  through  the  public  documents  and  published  reports 
made  since  that  period.  The  events  preceding,  and  which  led  to  that 
action  of  the  Legislature,  are,  however,  of  great  interest  and  impor- 
tance, and  would  of  themselves  form  a  very  interesting  chapter  in  the 
history  of  scientific  progress  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  of  the 
country  at  large. 

The  mineral  resources  of  the  State  had  been  the  subject  of  discus- 
sion and  inquiry  even  during  the  period  of  the  Revolution  ;  and,  soon 
after  the  conclusion  of  peace,  societies  were  formed  for  the  purpose  of 
continuing  these  investigations,  but  so  little  of  scientific  knowledge 
was  at  that  time  possessed  that  no  systematic  progress  could  be  made 
in  this  direction.  The  gradual  but  constantly  increasing  interest  in 
agriculture  and  the  arts  stimulated  inquiry,  and  there  were  not  want- 
ing men  of  intelligence,  wealth,  and  position  to  foster  and  encourage 
such  investigations. 

These  indirect  influences,  which  resulted  in  shaping  public  opinion 
and  making  a  geological  survey  possible,  were  for  many  years  quietly 
in  operation  ;  and  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Agriculture,  Arts, 
and  Manufactures,  afterward  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Useful 
Arts,  instituted  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1791,  laid  the  foundation 
of  scientific  inquiry  in  the  State,  and  its  transactions  afforded  the 
*  From  advance  sheets  of  "  The  Public  Service  of  the  State  of  New  York." 


816  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

means  of  communication  between  the  more  intelligent  people  of  the 
State  upon  all  subjects  embraced  in  its  title.  Chancellor  Robert  R. 
Livingston  was  the  president  of  this  society  from  its  formation  till  the 
time  of  his  death,  in  1813  ;  and  the  first  volume  of  the  Transactions 
(1791  to  1799)  contains  no  less  than  eighteen  communications  from  his 
pen  upon  various  subjects. 

The  Annual  Address  for  1813  was  delivered  before  the  Society  for 
the  Promotion  of  Useful  Arts,  at  the  Capitol,  in  Albany,  by  Dr.  Theod- 
oric  Romeyn  Beck.  In  the  preface  to  this  address  he  stated  that  his 
aim  in  composing  the  address  had  been  a  special  one.  "  It  was  to  ex- 
hibit at  one  view  the  mineral  riches  of  the  United  States,  with  their 
various  application  to  the  arts,  and  to  demonstrate  the  practicability 
of  the  increase  of  different  manufactures,  whose  materials  are  derived 
from  this  source." 

The  most  notable  and  important  movement  in  the  progress  of  scien- 
tific study  began  about  1817,  when  Professor  Amos  Eaton,  after  hav- 
ing prepared  himself  at  Yale  College  with  the  best  means  and  instruc- 
tion then  afforded,  began  his  courses  of  scientific  lectures  at  Williams 
College,  which  he  afterward  extended  to  the  larger  towns  of  New 
England  and  New  York.  In  1818,  at  the  invitation  of  Governor  De 
Witt  Clinton,  who  was  ever  a  most  enlightened  and  liberal  advocate 
of  scientific  progress,  Professor  Eaton  gave  a  course  of  lectures  before 
the  New  York  Legislature,  some  of  whose  members  had  already  been 
his  pupils.  At  this  time  much  interest  was  awakened  in  the  subjects 
of  geology  and  other  departments  of  natural  history  throughout  the 
State.  Professor  Eaton's  lectures  in  Troy  led  to  the  organization  of 
the  Troy  Lyceum  of  Natural  History,  which  at  that  time  could  boast 
of  possessing  a  more  extensive  collection  of  geological  specimens  than 
could  be  found  in  any  other  institution  within  the  State  of  New  York. 
In  1820  and  1821  Professor  Eaton,  with  the  assistance  of  Drs.  T.  Ro- 
meyn and  Lewis  C.  Beck,  under  the  patronage  of  Hon.  Stephen  Van 
Rensselaer,  carried  out  an  agricultural  and  geological  survey  of  Rens- 
selaer and  Albany  Counties.  These  surveys,  reports  of  which  were 
published,  were  intended  to  be  made  subservient  to  the  interests  of 
agriculture,  and  were  spoken  of  in  the  "  American  Journal  of  Science  " 
as  being  the  most  extensive  and  systematic  efforts  of  the  kind  made 
up  to  that  period.  In  1822,  under  the  patronage  of  Hon.  Stephen  Van 
Rensselaer,  Mr.  Eaton  undertook  a  geological  and  agricultural  survey 
of  the  district  adjoining  the  Erie  Canal.  The  report  upon  this  work 
was  published  in  1824,  in  a  volume  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-three 
pages,  with  a  geological  profile  extending  from  the  Atlantic  to  Lake 
Erie,  and  a  "  profile  of  rocks  crossing  part  of  Massachusetts  "  (from 
Boston  Harbor  to  Plainfield),  by  Rev.  Edward  Hitchcock,  who  also  fur- 
nished a  description  of  the  rocks  and  minerals  crossed  by  this  profile. 
In  1824  General  Van  Rensselaer  established  the  Rensselaer  School  in 
Troy,  and  its  graduates  became  efficient  aids  in  the  dissemination  of 


THE  NEW  YORK  GEOLOGICAL   SURVEY.  817 

scientific  knowledge  and  in  the  cultivation  of  those  scientific  tastes 
which  pervaded  all  the  better  classes  of  communities  for  many  years. 
Much  had  already  been  done,  therefore,  to  prepare  the  way,  and  the 
public  mind  was  fully  awake  to  the  interests  and  importance  of  a  geo- 
logical survey,  when  the  Albany  Institute,  in  1834,  memorialized  the 
Legislature  for  some  action  in  that  direction.* 

These  memorials  were  referred  to  a  committee  of  the  Legislature, 
who  recommended  a  resolution  by  which  the  Secretary  of  State  was 
"  requested  to  report  to  the  Legislature  at  its  next  session  the  most 
expedient  method  of  obtaining  a  complete  geological  survey  of  the 
State,  which  shall  furnish  a  scientific  and  perfect  account  of  its  rocks, 
soils,  and  minerals,  and  of  their  localities  ;  a  list  of  all  its  minei'alogi- 
cal,  botanical,  and  zoological  productions,  and  provide  for  procuring 
and  preserving  specimens  of  the  same  ;  together  with  an  estimate  of 
the  expenses  which  may  attend  the  prosecution  of  the  design,  and  of 
the  cost  of  publication  of  an  edition  of  three  thousand  copies  of  the 
report,  drawings,  and  geological  map  of  the  results." 

In  pursuance  of  the  request  contained  in  this  resolution,  the  Sec- 
retary of  State,  Hon.  John  A.  Dix,  presented  a  report  at  the  following 
session  of  the  Legislature,  wThich  contained  much  valuable  information 
with  reference  to  what  had  already  been  done  toward  developing  the 
mineral  resources  of  the  State,  giving  a  summary  of  our  knowledge 
of  the  subject  at  that  time,  and  discussing  several  questions  of  great 
interest  ;  for  example,  the  salt  and  salt-bearing  formations,  our  min- 
eral springs,  and  the  probabilities  of  finding  coal  within  the  limits  of 
the  State.  He  also  gave  a  statement  of  what  had  been  done  in  other 
States,  and  of  work  in  a  similar  direction  elsewhere  in  progress  or  in 
contemplation. 

Under  their  distinctive  heads  he  discussed  the  botany  and  zoology 
of  the  State,  and  gave  reasons  why  each  one  should  receive  due  atten- 
tion. Under  the  head  of  Zoology  the  subject  was  treated  under  the 
following  subdivisions  :  Quadrupeds,  Birds,  Fishes,  Testacea,f  Zoo- 
phytes, etc.,  and  lastly  the  Insects. 

The  report  concluded  writh  the  recommendation  of  a  plan  for  the 
Geological  Survey  by  a  subdivision  of  the  State  into  four  districts,  % 

*  Senate  Document  No.  15,  1834. 

f  Under  this  head  the  Secretary  of  State  said :  "  Our  shells,  whether  of  marine,  lake, 
river,  or  land  production,  deserve  a  very  critical  examination,  more  especially  as  the  fos. 
sil  remains  of  this  extensive  tribe  of  animals,  both  of  living  and  extinct  species,  are 
considered  as  affording  the  most  certain  criteria  for  determining  the  priority  of  existing 
geological  formations  in  the  ord^r  of  time.  There  is  no  department  of  our  natural  his- 
tory which,  for  scientific  purposes,  requires  more  careful  investigation.  Specimens  should 
be  preserved  for  systematic  classification  and  arrangement ;  and  it  is  by  no  means  im- 
probable that  these  collections,  with  the  fossil  specimens,  which  may  be  found  imbedded 
in  our  rocks  and  soils,  will  be  instrumental  in  showing  the  identity  of  formations  here  and 
in  the  Old  World,  which  have  hitherto  been  considered  entirely  different  in  their  geologi- 
cal character." 

\  The  First  District  consisted  of  the  counties  of  Suffolk,  Qucens>  Kings,  Richmond, 
vol.  xxii. — 52 


818  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

which  plan,  with  some  modifications,  was  carried  out  in  the  final  or- 
ganization. This  plan  contemplated  the  employment  of  two  geolo- 
gists for  each  district,  which  was  modified  to  the  appointment  of  one 
geologist  and  an  assistant  for  each  district.  One  mineralogist  was  ap- 
pointed for  the  entire  State,  and  also  one  botanist  and  one  zoologist. 

During  the  session  of  1836  the  Legislature  passed  "  an  act  to  pro- 
vide for  a  Geological  Survey  of  the  State,"  authorizing  and  directing 
the  Governor  to  employ  a  suitable  number  of  competent  persons, 
whose  duty  it  shall  be,  under  his  direction,  to  make  an  accurate  and 
complete  geological  survey  of  this  State,  which  shall  be  accompanied 
with  proper  maps  and  diagrams,  and  furnish  a  full  and  scientific  de- 
scription of  its  rocks,  soils,  and  minerals,  and  of  its  botanical  and  zo- 
ological productions,  together  with  specimens  of  the  same  ;  which 
maps,  diagrams,  and  specimens  shall  be  deposited  in  the  State  Library  ; 
and  similar  specimens  shall  be  deposited  in  such  of  the  literary  insti- 
tutions of  this  State  as  the  Secretary  of  State  shall  direct.* 

The  act  further  provided  for  an  annual  appropriation  for  defray- 
ing the  expenses,  and  required  the  persons  employed  to  make  an  an- 
nual report  to  the  Legislature  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  February 
in  each  year,  setting  forth  the  progress  made  in  the  survey. 

The  magnitude  and  importance  of  the  work  were  duly  considered 
by  Governor  Marcy  and  his  advisers,f  and  the  appointments  were 
made  only  after  long  deliberation,  and  extensive  correspondence  with 
the  prominent  scientific  men  of  the  country,  and  with  the  Governors 
of  other  States. 

The  appointments  of  the  principal  geologists  were  made  as  follows  : 
Lieutenant  W.  W.  Mather,  a  native  of  Connecticut,  who  had  lately 
resigned  from  the  United  States  Army,  was  assigned  to  the  First  Dis- 

New  York,  Westchester,  Rockland,  Putnam,  Dutchess,  Orange,  Sullivan,  Delaware,  Ulster 
Greene,  Columbia,  Rensselaer,  Albany,  Schoharie,  Schenectady,  Saratoga,  and  Washington 
containing  an  area  of  12,263  square  miles 

The  Second  District  consisted  of  the  counties  of  Warren,  Essex,  Clinton,  Franklin 
Hamilton,  and  St.  Lawrence,  to  which  was  afterward  added  the  county  of  Jefferson 
making  10,817  square  miles. 

The  Third  District  comprised  the  counties  of  Montgomery,  Herkimer,  Oneida,  Lewis 
Jefferson  (afterward  added  to  the  Second  District),  Oswego,  Madison,  Onondaga,  Cayu 
ga,  Wayne,  Ontario,  Monroe,  Orleans,  Genesee,  and  Livingston,  making,  as  reorganized 
11,468  square  miles. 

The  Fourth  District  consisted  of  the  counties  of  Otsego,  Chenango,  Broome,  Tioga, 
Cortland,  Tompkins,  Seneca,  Yates,  Steuben,  Allegany,  Cattaraugus,  Chautauqua,  Erie  and 
Niagara,  embracing  an  area  of  11,59-1  square  miles. 

The  Third  and  Fourth  Districts  were  afterward  reorganized,  making  all  the  counties 
to  the  west  of  Cayuga  Lake,  and  a  line  drawn  north  and  south  from  its  two  extremities, 
the  Fourth  District,  which  contained  11,060  square  miles. 

*  Laws  of  fifty-ninth  session,  chapter  142. 

f  Among  these  gentlemen  were  Hon.  John  A.  Dix,  Secretary  of  State,  Hon.  Stephen 
Van  Rensselaer,  Dr.  T.  Romeyn  Beck,  Professor  Amos  Eaton,  and  Edwin  Croswell,  Esq., 
who  had  frequent  meetings,  which  were  continued  at  intervals  through  several  months. 


THE  NEW  YORK  GEOLOGICAL   SURVEY.  819 

trict  ;  Professor  Ebenezer  Emmons,  of  Williams  College,  was  assigned 
to  the  Second  District ;  Mr.  T.  A.  Conrad,  of  Philadelphia,  was  as- 
signed to  the  Third  District  ;  and  Mr.  Lardner  Vanuxeu,  of  Bristol, 
Pennsylvania,  to  the  Fourth  District.* 

The  mineralogical  department  was  assigned  to  Dr.  Lewis  C.  Beck, 
a  native  of  Albany,  but  at  that  time  a  Professor  in  Rutgers  College, 
New  Jersey.  Dr.  John  Torrey,  of  New  York  city,  was  commissioned 
as  State  Botanist,  and  Dr.  James  E.  De  Kay,  of  Long  Island,  as  State 
Zoologist. 

The  assistants  in  the  geological  department  commissioned  by  the 
Governor  were,  Caleb  Briggs  in  the  First  Geological  District,  James 
Hall  in  the  Second,  George  W.  Boyd  in  the  Third,  and  James  Eights 
in  the  Fourth  District. 

The  instructions  given  to  these  officers  were  essentially  the  same 
as  recommended  in  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  State.  Each  of  the 
geologists  was  required  to  collect,  in  his  own  district,  eight  suites  of 
rock  specimens,  but  no  conditions  of  this  kind  were  imposed  upon 
the  mineralogist,  botanist,  or  zoologist.  A  special  draughtsman  was 
appointed  for  the  zoological  department  and  also  for  the  botanical 
department.  The  geologists  were  each  allowed  a  small  sum  ($o00) 
annually  to  pay  for  drawings  of  sections,  maps,  etc.,  which  might  be 
required  for  the  illustration  of  their  reports. 

This,  in  brief,  was  the  organization  of  the  Geological  Survey  at  its 
commencement.  At  the  end  of  the  first  year,  it  became  evident  to  the 
geologists  that  the  relations  of  the  rock  formations,  the  age  and  order 
of  superposition,  among  the  then  unknown,  or  very  imperfectly  under- 
stood, stratified  deposits,  could  only  be  determined  on  paleontological 
evidence.  They  therefore  itnanirnously  recommended  to  the  Gov- 
ernor that  some  competent  person  be  appointed  to  devote  himself  to 
that  department.  To  this  position  Mr.  Conrad  was  assigned,  thus 
leaving  a  vacancy  in  the  Third  Geological  District,  which,  after  a 
reorganization  of  its  boundaries,  as  before  explained,  was  assigned  to 
the  charge  of  Mr.  Vanuxem,  and  Mr.  Hall  was  appointed  to  the  Fourth 
District. 

As  had  been  suggested  in  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  the 
scientific  staff  assembled  each  year,  and  sometimes  twice  a  year,  in 
spring  and  in  autumn,  at  the  Capitol,  to  compare  notes  and  observa- 
tions, to  agree  upon  methods  of  work,  and  to  receive  suggestions  from 
the  Governor.  These  meetings  became  more  important  and  even 
essential  to  the  geologists,  since  they  soon  found  themselves  dealing 

*  It  will  be  seen  that  neither  of  the  principal  geologists  was  a  native  or  resident  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  though  Lieutenant  Mather  had  previously  been  instructor  in  the 
Natural  Sciences  in  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point.  Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that 
no  inquiry  was  ever  made  regarding  the  political  opinions  of  these  gentlemen,  and  it 
proved  that,  of  the  seven  principals  of  departments  thus  appointed,  six  were  in  political 
opposition  to  Governor  Marcy. 


820  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

with  a  series  of  rocks  which,  up  to  that  time,  had  received  no  full 
elucidation  in  any  country  ;  hence  the  necessity  of  comparing  obser- 
vations and  views,  with  the  purpose  of  agreeing  upon  some  common 
terms  of  designation  became  apparent,  and  very  soon,  imperative. 
The  comparison  of  observations  and  interchange  of  views  led  to  the 
opening  of  correspondence,  by  a  formal  resolution  of  the  New  York 
Board,  with  other  geologists,  especially  with  those  engaged  in  State 
surveys,  of  which  several  were  then  in  progress.  This  correspondence 
led  to  an  agreement  for  a  meeting  of  geologists  in  Philadelphia  in  the 
spring  of  1840,  and  this  assemblage  of  less  than  a  score  of  persons  led 
to  the  organization  of  the  American  Association  of  Geologists,  which, 
at  a  later  period,  on  the  occasion  of  its  third  meeting,  added  the  term 
Naturalists  ;  and  finally,  by  expanding  its  title,  it  became  the  Ameri- 
can Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  It  is  due  to  the 
State  of  New  York  that  these  facts  appear  in  this  connection,  and  it 
is  but  fair  to  state  that  her  geologists  have  contributed  largely  to  the 
subjects  of  discussion  and  to  the  array  of  new  facts  which  have  been 
brought  before  the  scientific  world  through  the  agency  of  this  organi- 
zation. 

During  the  few  years  of  field  work,  the  New  York  geologists  had 
harmonized  the  conflicting  views  before  entertained  regarding  the  rela- 
tions of  the  geology  of  the  eastern  and  western  parts  of  the  State  ; 
they  had  traced  the  boundaries  of  the  successive  geological  forma- 
tions ;  had  shown  the  extent  and  limits  of  the  iron-bearing  strata,  and 
had  rectified  the  erroneous  views  which  had  been  held  till  some  time 
after  the  commencement  of  the  survey,  regarding  the  boundaries  and 
distribution  of  the  salt-bearing  formation  of  the  State.  They  had, 
also,  shown  the  limits  of  the  granitic  formations,  and  their  associated 
mineral  products  ;  the  thickness  and  extent  of  all  the  limestone,  sand- 
stone, and  shale  formations  of  the  State,  and  had  definitely  settled  the 
relations  of  the  rocks  of  New  York  to  the  coal-measures  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  the  geological  formations  of  the  Western  States. 

Their  labors  had  in  a  great  degree  quieted  the  feverish  anxiety 
regarding  the  discovery  of  coal  within  the  limits  of  New  York,  for 
which  frequent  explorations  had  been  made  in  the  black  slates  of  the 
Hudson  River  Valley  and  elsewhere,  involving  the  expenditure  of 
much  money  and  loss  of  time.*  A  rational  idea  of  the  general  geo- 
logical structure,  and  the  relations  of  the  geological  formations  of  the 
State,  had  been  acquired  by  the  intelligent  population,  through  the 
annual  reports  of  the  survey,  which  presented  the  results  of  each  sea- 
son's work  in  the  field. 

*  Professor  Mather  has  estimated,  from  what  he  regarded  as  reliable  data,  that  the 
fruitless  coal-mining  enterprises  which  had  been  undertaken  in  the  Hudson  Valley  alone, 
during  the  fifty  years  preceding  1840,  had  cost  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars. 
The  sums  thus  expended  in  other  parts  of  the  State,  though  doubtless  much  less,  must, 
nevertheless,  have  been  very  large. 


THE  NEW  YORK  GEOLOGICAL   SURVEY.  821 

During  these  years  the  New  York  geologists  had  accumulated  a 
vast  amount  of  material  and  of  facts  regarding  the  geological  forma- 
tions within  the  State,  proving  conclusively  that  they  could  not  be 
parallelized  with  any  of  the  described  and  well-determined  formations 
of  Europe.  The  Silurian  system  of  Murchison,  as  described  and  illus- 
trated in  the  "  Edinburgh  Review,"  in  1838,  and  as  finally  published 
in  1839,  although  covering  a  portion  of  similar  ground,  was  not  broad 
enough  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  geology  of  New  York.  Thus 
failing  to  find  the  means  of  comparison  and  identification,  the  term 
"  New  York  System  "  was  proposed,  to  embrace  the  sedimentary  for- 
mations from  the  Potsdam  sandstone  to  the  base  of  the  carboniferous 
system  ;  or,  as  the  formations  were  developed  in  New  York  and  south- 
erly into  Pennsylvania,  the  upward  extension  of  this  term  reached  to 
the  base  of  the  coal-measures.*  This  term,  "  New  York  System,"  in- 
cludes the  formations  ordinarily  embraced  in  the  names  Cambrian, 
Silurian,  and  Devonian  of  England  and  the  Continent  of  Europe.  The 
geological  series  in  New  York  is  so  complete  that  the  succession  leaves 
no  lines  or  breaks  for  the  establishment  of  "  systems,"  the  whole  being 
but  a  single  system  ;  and  had  the  older  rocks  of  the  globe  been  first 
studied  in  this  State,  no  such  terms  or  subdivisions  would  ever  have 
found  their  way  into  geological  nomenclature.  The  strongest  line  of 
demarkation,  however,  or  the  most  marked  interruption  of  continuity 
in  the  succession,  occurs  at  the  termination  of  the  Hudson  River  group, 
where  a  great  conglomerate  or  a  heavy-bedded  and  well-marked  sand- 
stone terminates  the  physical  and  biological  conditions  of  the  preced- 
ing period.  This  break  in  the  continuity,  which  is  the  proposed  limit 
of  the  Cambrian  system,  is,  however,  only  of  local  importance. 

Since  there  was  no  possibility  of  identifying  the  individual  rocks 
and  groups  of  strata  with  those  of  Europe,  as  described,  the  New 
York  geologists  were  compelled  to  give  names  to  the  different  mem- 
bers of  the  series  ;  and  since  the  sandstones,  limestones,  slates,  and 
shales  are  so  similar  in  different  and  successive  groups,  it  was  impos- 
sible to  give  descriptive  names  which  would  discriminate  the  one  from 
the  other.  Therefore,  local  names  were  proposed  and  adopted,  as,  for 
example  :  Potsdam  sandstone,  Trenton  limestone,  Niagara  limestone, 
and  Niagara  shale  (the  two  latter,  with  subordinate  beds,  making  the 
Niagara  group),  the  Medina  sandstone,  the  Onondaga  salt  group,f  the 
Hamilton,  Portage,  and  Chemung  groups,  thus  giving  typical  localities 
of  the  rock  instead  of  descriptive  names.      This  method  or  system 

*  In  Southern  New  York  and  adjacent  Pennsylvania  the  highest  member  of  the  New 
York  system  is  the  Upper  Catskill  gray  sandstone  and  conglomerate.  The  rocks  pertain* 
ing  to  the  coal-measures  supervene,  without  the  presence  of  the  great  carboniferous  lime- 
stone and  associated  strata  of  this  age  in  the  States  of  the  West  and  bordering  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley. 

f  The  term  "  Onondaga  salt  group  "  was  regarded  as  objectionable  on  account  of  its 
length,  and  the  term  Salina  was  not  adopted  simply  because  the  rocks  of  the  formation 
or  group  are  not  visible  nor  accessible  in  the  town  of  Salina. 


822  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

of  nomenclature  leaves  no  possibility  of  mistake  or  confusion  which 
might  arise  from  a  different  appreciation  of  descriptive  terms.  The 
typical  locality  always  remains  for  study,  comparison,  and  reference, 
and  there  need  be  no  difference  of  opinion  or  discussion  as  to  what 
was  intended  by  the  use  of  any  one  of  the  terms.  The  progress  of 
geological  science  in  the  country  is  greatly  indebted  to  this  system  of 
nomenclature,  and  to  the  absolute  working  out  of  the  succession  of 
the  groups,  and  the  members  of  the  same,  to  which  this  system  of 
nomenclature  has  been  applied. 

At  the  final  meeting  of  the  Geological  Board  the  adoption  of  the 
term  "  New  York  System  "  was  considered  imperative,  because  of  the 
impossibility  of  harmonizing  the  formations  here  known  with  those  of 
Europe.  In  the  adoption  of  the  names  of  rocks  and  groups — the 
nomenclature  as  now  known — there  was  scarcely  a  dissenting  voice, 
and  the  names  as  then  adopted  were  published  in  the  final  reports,  and 
have  become  the  nomenclature  of  the  science  in  America. 

As  the  field-work  of  the  survey  approached  completion,  the  ques- 
tion of  publication  became  a  matter  of  deep  interest  to  every  one  con- 
nected with  the  work.  The  incumbents  in  each  one  of  the  depart- 
ments were  desirous  of  publishing  their  work  in  octavo,  that  the  re- 
sults of  the  survey  might  appear  in  a  convenient  form,  aud  become 
hand-books  for  students  in  science.  This  plan,  however,  was  over- 
ruled by  Governor  Seward  and  his  advisers,  who  considered  it  due  to 
the  dignity  and  importance  of  the  State  of  New  York  that  the  vol- 
umes should  be  published  in  quarto  form,  especially  as  they  were  to 
be  presented  to  other  States  and  foreign  governments  as  emblematical 
of  the  greatness  of  the  State.  Governor  Seward  himself  wrote  an 
introduction  of  nearly  two  hundred  pages  to  the  first  published  vol- 
ume of  the  work  (Zoology — Mammalia)  in  1842.  This  volume  was 
followed  by  others  in  the  same  year.  The  geological  reports  were  all 
completed  in  1843,  and  the  last  volume  of  Zoology,  that  upon  the 
birds  of  the  State,  by  Dr.  De  Kay,  was  published  in  1844.* 

In  1842  Mr.  Conrad  resigned  his  position  as  paleontologist  of  the 
survey  without  communicating  any  report  to  the  Governor,  and  the 
four  geologists  who  had  expected  to  avail  themselves  of  the  results  of 
his  investigations  were  left  to  their  own  resources.  In  this  state  of 
affairs  each  one  of  the  geologists  illustrated  his  own  report,  as  best  he 
could,  by  figures  of  characteristic  fossils  of  the  rocks  and  groups  which 
he  had  studied  in  his  own  district.  By  this  means  a  very  considera- 
ble number  of  the  more  common  and  characteristic  fossils  were  illus- 
trated in  woodcuts,  which  were  printed  in  the  text,  thus  giving  au- 
thentic guides  for  the  determination  of  all  the  more  important  mem- 
bers of  the  series. 

*  The  work  thus  completed  embraced  the  following  subjects:  botany,  two  quarto  vol- 
umes ;  zoology,  five  quarto  volumes ;  mineralogy,  one  quarto  volume ;  geology,  four 
quarto  volumes,  of  each  and  all  of  which  three  thousand  copies  were  published. 


THE  NEW  YORK  GEOLOGICAL   SURVEY.  823 

The  incompleteness  of  the  contemplated  Natural  History  of  the 
State  was  recognized  by  the  Governor  and  Legislature,  and  it  was  also 
claimed  that  agricultural  interests  had  not  been  sufficiently  considered 
in  the  work  already  published.  It  was,  therefore,  determined  that  the 
department  of  paleontology  should  be  re-established,  and  that  of 
agriculture  be  added  to  the  plan  of  the  work.  Under  the  latter  title 
Dr.  Emmons  published  five  volumes  ;  the  first  being  devoted  to  the 
general  relations  of  the  topography  and  geology  of  the  State  to  its 
agriculture  and  agricultural  products  ;  the  second,  to  the  chemical 
analysis  of  the  soils  and  agricultural  products,  with  extended  observa- 
tions upon  the  temperature  of  the  air,  soil,  etc.  ;  the  third  and  fourth 
(text  and  plates),  to  the  description  and  illustration  of  the  cultivated 
fruits  of  the  State  ;  and  the  fifth,  to  insects,  chiefly  those  injurious  to 
vegetation.* 

The  paleontology  was  committed  to  Mr.  James  Hall,  who  entered 
upon  the  work  in  1844.  f  Volumes  one  and  two  had  been  substantially 
completed  and  the  third  considerably  advanced,  when,  in  1850,  fur- 
ther appropriations  were  withheld  and  the  work  virtually  suspended. 
In  1855,  through  the  influence  of  the  Hon.  E.  W.  Leavenworth,  Secre- 
tary of  State,  the  work  was  revived  and  a  plan  for  its  completion  pro- 
posed. A  provision  was  also  inserted  that  an  appropriation  from  the 
State  for  the  collection  of  fossils  should  be  made  annually  for  eight 
years.  Through  this  means  large  collections  were  made  and  a  great 
amount  of  new  material  added  to  that  j^reviously  obtained,  and  this 
necessarily  and  unavoidably  expanded  the  work  much  beyond  what 
was  originally  contemplated,  and  beyond  wdiat  could  have  been  ex- 
pected before  such  collections  were  made. 

At  the  present  time,  five  volumes  of  the  Paleontology  have  been 
published,  two  of  which  were  bound  in  two  parts,  making  the  entire 
number  of  seven  bound  volumes.  These  volumes  contain  about  twen- 
ty-seven hundred  pages  of  text  and  five  hundred  and  sixteen  plates. 
At  the  time  of  this  writing  the  work  has  been  virtually  suspended  for 
the  past  two  years,  with  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  plates  already 
lithographed  and  printed,  and  more  than  sixteen  hundred  pages  of 
manuscript  ready  for  the  printer,  besides  drawings  for  more  than  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  plates.J 

*  Many  of  the  results  obtained  by  the  late  Dr.  Fitch,  of  Salem,  New  York,  and  by 
Dr.  Harris,  of  Cambridge,  are  incorporated  in  this  volume. 

f  The  work  was  begun  almost  without  collections  of  fossils  of  any  kind,  without  a 
library  for  reference,  without  artists  or  any  of  the  appliances  or  resources  considered 
necessary  in  scientific  investigation  and  illustration.  It  became  necessary  to  create  the 
department  from  the  beginning.  No  appropriations  of  money  were  made  by  the  State 
for  the  collection  of  fossils  until  1856,  and  this  burden  of  labor  and  expense  bore  heavily 
upon  the  author  of  the  work. 

%  No  printing  has  been  done  for  three  years  (since  18*79),  and  no  lithographic  work 
for  about  two  years.  The  delays  in  the  publication  of  the  volumes  during  the  past  are 
not  chargeable  to  the  author.     The  work  was  virtually  suspended  from  1850  to  1S56. 


824  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

Up  to  the  present  time  the  entire  publication  of  the  Natural  His- 
tory of  the  State,  exclusive  of  the  Annual  Reports  of  the  Survey  and 
thirty-five  Annual  Reports  of  the  State  Museum,  may  be  enumerated 
as  below  : 

Botany,  in  two  volumes bound  in  2  volumes. 

Zoology "        "5       " 

Mineralogy "        "1       " 

Geology "        "4       " 

Agriculture "        "5       " 

Paleontology,  five  volumes "        "7       " 

24  volumes. 

Of  these  twenty-four  volumes,  three  thousand  copies  each  have 
been  published,  making  the  entire  number  of  seventy-two  thousand 
quarto  volumes,  which  have  been  published  and  distributed  as  the 
result  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  the  State. 

At  the  close  of  the  field-work  of  the  survey,  the  question  of  the 
disposition  of  the  collections  which  had  been  made  became  a  subject 
of  much  interest.  It  had  been  originally  suggested  that  these  might 
occupy  a  room  in  the  State  Library,  or  be  arranged  in  some  of  the 
unused  committee-rooms  in  the  Capitol.  The  amount  of  material, 
however,  was  so  great,  and  the  importance  of  its  proper  arrangement 
so  manifest,  that  the  old  State  Hall,  at  that  time  about  to  be  vacated, 
was  appropriated  for  the  purpose  of  a  State  Museum.  At  a  later 
period  (1857)  the  old  building  was  demolished,  and  a  more  commodious 
one  erected  en  the  same  site  ;  and  this  is  now  filled  to  overflowing, 
and  a  large  amount  of  collections  remain  unprovided  for.  In  nearly 
all  respects  the  survey  has  been  carried  out  according  to  the  original 
conception  and  plan.  It  has  resulted  in  far  larger  and  more  interest- 
ing collections,  and  in  far  more  interesting  and  valuable  publications, 
than  could  ever  have  been  anticipated  by  its  original  promoters.  It 
has  laid  the  foundations  of  geological  science  in  our  country,  and 
made  the  State  of  New  York  the  classic  ground  for  the  study  of  palae- 
ozoic geology. 

The  cost  of  the  survey  being  computed  in  dollars,  the  value  of 
the  results  is  sometimes  estimated  by  a  similar  standard  ;  but  the  peo- 

Great  delay  occurred  in  the  completion  of  the  plates  of  volume  three  after  the  text  had 
been  printed.  The  fourth  volume  was  greatly  delayed,  both  in  the  printing  of  the  text 
and  the  lithography  of  the  plates,  owing  to  the  enhanced  price  of  all  materials  and  labor 
during  the  war ;  and  for  the  same  reason  very  little  progress  was  made  with  the  fifth 
volume  until  a  modification  of  the  printing  contract  was  made  in  1871,  which  enabled 
the  printer  to  go  on  with  the  work.  Fully  four  years  were  lost  on  this  account.  The 
manuscript  for  volume  five  was,  according  to  contract,  deposited  in  the  State  Library  in 
1866,  but  after  these  years  of  delay  it  became  necessary  to  revise  and  expand  the  same 
to  include  new  material,  which  had  been  obtained  and  investigated  during  this  interval. 
In  the  end,  therefore,  it  became  necessary  to  make  two  parts  of  this  volume,  one  of 
which  has  already  been  published,  and  the  other  has  been  for  three  years  ready  for 
printing. 


ORIGIN   OF  THE   CALENDAR  AND  ASTROLOGY.  825 

pie  of  the  State  of  New  York  might  with  equal  propriety  measure 
the  value  of  the  common-school  system  by  the  commercial  value  of 
their  school-houses  and  grounds.  The  absurdity  would  be  equally  as 
great  in  the  one  as  in  the  other  case.  Like  the  system  of  public  edu- 
cation, the  results  of  the  Geological  Survey  have  penetrated  into 
every  school  district  and  into  every  corner  of  the  State  ;  and  these 
results  are  not  to  be  measured  by  the  figures  representing  dollars,  but 
by  the  increased  intelligence  of  the  people,  and  the  proud  satisfaction 
that  we  have  been  able  to  lay  broad  and  deep  the  foundations  of  geo- 
logical science  in  the  soil  of  a  people  whose  motto  is  "  Excelsior." 


-<**<>- 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  CALENDAR  AND  ASTROLOGY. 

By  Professor  WILLIAM  FOESTER, 

DIRECTOR   OBSERVATORY,   BERLIN.* 

THE  significance  of  the  astronomical  portion  of  the  calendar  is  ma- 
terially different  at  present  from  what  it  was  in  the  earlier  stages 
of  its  development.  That  this  may  be  clearly  understood,  and  the 
modern  problem  with  which  astronomy  has  to  deal  in  the  yearly  con- 
struction of  the  calendar  justly  appreciated,  let  us  examine  the  history 
of  its  origin. 

The  word  "  calendar "  is  derived  from  calendium,  denoting  the 
commencements  of  months,  which,  in  the  language  of  ancient  Rome, 
were  called  dies  calendce,  or  simply  calendce ;  i.  e.,  clays  on  which 
"  calling  out "  should  occur,  from  "  calo"  I  call.  This  "  calling  out " 
took  place  upon  the  reappearance  of  the  small  crescent  after  new 
moon,  and  at  the  present  day  remains  the  custom  among  those  people 
who,  as  for  instance  the  Turks,  reckon  time  wholly  from  the  recurring 
phases  of  the  moon.  This  was  loudly  proclaimed  from  the  roofs  of 
public  buildings  by  appointed  priests  or  seers,  who  were  required  to 
seek  for  the  moon's  crescent  in  the  evening  sky  either  two  days  after 
new  moon,  or  four  or  five  days  after  the  last  appearance  of  its  light  in 
the  morning  sky  ;  this,  then,  was  established  as  the  beginning  of  the 
month,  the  single  days  being  reckoned  by  counting  backward  or  for- 
ward from  the  night,  or  from  the  intermediate  day  of  full  moon. 
This  method  of  reckoning  time  from  the  revolutions  and  phases  of 
light  of  the  moon  has  been  long  practiced  in  those  countries  in  which 
the  constant  clearness  of  the  heavens  enables  people  to  determine  with 
considerable  accuracy  the  first  appearance  of  the  moonlight,  the  so- 
called  "  new  light,"  and,  again,  among  those  whose  limited  intercourse 
with  other  nations  afforded  no  comparison   of  fixed  standards.     In 

*  '.' Popularische  astronomische  Mittheilungen."  Berlin  :  Ilorrwitz  &  Gossmann. 
Translated  by  L.  M.  Muzzey,  B.  S. 


826  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

countries,  however,  where  continued  clearness" of  the  sky  was  not 
afforded,  or  where  the  necessity  was  urgently  felt  for  a  regular  deter- 
mination of  future  dates,  the  seers  at  length  desired  that  they  be  per- 
mitted to  calculate,  upon  the  basis  of  the  past  determinations  of  the 
duration  of  the  regular  months,  the  recurrence  of  the  phases  of  the 
moon  for  a  certain  time  in  advance,  and  therewith  the  regular  succes- 
sion of  the  months,  and  to  publicly  record  the  number  and  the  method 
of  counting  the  days  of  the  single  months.  Thus,  in  place  of  the 
public  proclamation  from  the  house-tops  of  the  observed  appearances, 
the  calendar  now  came  into  use,  containing  calculations  of  the  "  call- 
ing days." 

Gradually,  however,  when  after  a  length  of  time  the  new  light  of 
the  moon  failed  to  appear  at  the  specified  date,  in  consequence  of  the 
imperfection  of  the  calendar's  determination,  the  proclaiming  was 
entirely  abandoned,  and  the  moon  in  the  calendar  became  more  the 
standard  for  reckoning  time  than  the  moon  in  the  heavens.  It  was 
repeatedly  sought  to  compensate  for  these  variations  by  revision  of 
the  calendar  ;  but  the  more  accurate  methods  for  computing  time, 
which  gradually  came  into  general  use,  soon  supplanted  the  lunar 
chronology,  and  the  months  retained  in  their  duration  simply  an  ap- 
proximate relation  to  the  lunar  month  of  twenty-nine  and  a  half  days, 
and  were  finally  apportioned  as  twelve  nearly  equal  divisions  of  the 
year. 

The  solar  year,  as  a  great  heat-period,  naturally  attracted  the  ob- 
servation of  men  at  an  early  time,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  recur- 
rence of  the  same  degree  of  warmth  was  early'recognized  as  of  great 
importance  to  the  interests  and  progress  of  agriculture  and  navigation. 
As  a  period,  however,  for  the  reckoning  of  the  days  the  year  was  too 
long,  and  it  was  only  with  the  advance  of  science  that  it  gradually 
attained  to  chronological  significance,  namely,  as  a  large  and  suitable 
unit  of  time  for  the  division  into  months  and  days.  The  recurrence 
of  similar  phases  of  the  year  and  evolution  of  heat  were  next  asso- 
ciated each  time  with  the  appearance  of  certain  celestial  phenomena, 
in  like  manner  as  the  commencement  of  the  month  with  the  resuming 
of  the  moon,  and  these  observations  were  intrusted  to  individuals,  who 
either  proclaimed  or  published  them.  A  common  yearly  calendar  was 
thus  prepared  in  advance,  upon  the  basis  of  long  and  careful  observa- 
tions of  the  times  of  the  recurrence  of  these  phenomena,  giving  the 
days  of  certain  months  of  each  year  on  which  they  were  to  be  seen,  the 
changes  of  weather  which  would  then  take  place,  and  these  days  were 
to  form  the  reckoning  points  of  time. 

These  phenomena  in  the  heavens  from  which  the  data  were  derived 
were  those  positions  of  the  sun  in  the  sky,  at  certain  intervals,  relative 
to  some  fixed  star  or  constellation,  which  could  be  most  readily  recog- 
nized with  the  naked  eye  ;  and,  since  the  light  of  the  sun  far  super- 
sedes that  of  the  brightest  fixed  star,  these  observations  could  be  made 


ORIGIN   OF  THE   CALENDAR  AND  ASTROLOGY.  827 

only  in  the  morning  or  at  evening  twilight,  when  it  was  noticed  what 
bright  star  was  visible  near  the  horizon  immediately  before  sunrise  or 
after  sunset.  The  apparent  movement  of  the  sun  in  the  sky  made 
itself  manifest  from  the  fact  that  the  stars  which  were  discernible  in 
the  western  horizon  shortly  after  sunset  ceased  to  be  visible  after  some 
days,  the  sun  seeming  to  approach  them,  and  that  those  observable  in 
the  eastern  horizon  shortly  before  sunrise  gradually  remained  longer 
visible  in  the  dawn,  the  sun  appearing  to  recede  from  them. 

In  Egypt,  for  example,  it  was  noticed  that  the  overflowing  of  the 
Nile — which  is  the  result  of  certain  tolerably  regular  changes  in  the 
weather,  caused  by  the  position  of  the  sun — always  occurred  on  those 
days  on  which  the  bright  light  of  Sirius  was  again  visible  in  the  morning 
twilight.  In  Greece  it  was  likewise  observed  that  those  risings  and 
settings  of  the  Pleiades,  of  Orion,  Arcturus,  and  others,  which  occurred 
in  the  morning  or  evening  twilight,  were  related  to  certain  yearly 
variations  of  heat,  and  to  the  directions  of  great  atmospheric  currents, 
and  were,  therefore,  convenient  guides  in  agriculture  and  navigation. 

As  the  calendar  advanced,  however,  in  the  predetermination  of 
days  and  phenomena  on  which  periods  of  human  labor  were  dependent, 
the  attention  of  the  majority  of  men  was  diverted  more  and  more 
from  the  direct  observation  of  the  moon,  the  sun,  and  stars,  resting 
contented  with  what  was  stated  in  the  calendar,  so  that  even  in  the 
civilization  of  the  present  day  an  evening  is  accepted  as  clear  if  moon- 
shine is  set  down  in  the  almanac.  The  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  together 
with  those  other  wandering  bodies  in  the  heavens,  the  planets,  won 
a  new  significance  through  the  origin  of  astrology,  which  advances 
in  the  following  manner  with  the  progress  in  calendar  calculations  : 

The  publication  of  arranged  calendar  matter  and  the  constant  im- 
provement in  the  same  were  owing  chiefly  to  the  efforts  of  wise  men, 
in  early  Greece,  for  instance,  to  the  zealous  labors  of  the  priesthood  at 
Delphi,  who  justly  esteemed  an  established  calendar  a  potent  element 
of  national  unity  and  order,  and  as  a  means  of  security  against  the 
power  and  influence  of  those  fostering  secret  teaching.  Among  other 
people,  as  the  Romans,  the  selfish  and  ignorant  priesthood  deemed  it 
for  their  interests  to  allow  such  determinations  to  remain  in  obscu- 
rity, or,  on  the  ground  of  real  or  fictitious  observations,  to  regulate 
the  calendar  as  they  desired.  In  fact,  the  influence  of  the  seers  and 
priests  upon  the  people  would  be  greatly  lessened  if  the  knowledge, 
which  they  had  acquired  of  the  times  of  revolution  of  heavenly  bodies 
and  the  chronological  periods  dependent  thereon,  were  to  become  the 
property  of  all  ;  and  this  loss  would  be  still  more  augmented,  when 
the  unavoidable  inaccuracies  of  these  public  observations  became  after 
a  time  recognizable,  rendering  repeated  changes  in  the  calendar  neces- 
sary, or  when,  in  consequence  of  this,  several  systems  of  reckoning 
time  strove  for  preference. 

The  difficulty  lay  chiefly  in  the  fact  that  the  light  phases  of  the 


8 28  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

moon  and  the  positions  of  the  sun  in  the  heavens  do  not  recur  in  a 
full  number  of  days,  and  that  a  solar  year  does  not  contain  a  full  num- 
ber of  months  ;  the  various  phases  of  the  moon  requiring  a  little  more 
than  29^  days,  and  the  positions  of  the  sun  somewhat  less  than  365£ 
days  ;  thus  making  the  solar  year  contain  about  12  months  and  11 
davs. 

To  illustrate  :  if  months  of  29  and  30  days  be  alternated,  if  365 
days  be  allotted  to  each  solar  year,  and  after  99  6uch  months  (equiva- 
lent to  eight  years),  the  counting  of  the  months  be  made  from  the  same 
date  of  the  year,  a  tolerable  agreement  with  celestial  signs  could,  in- 
deed, be  attained,  but  after  a  number  of  years  the  date  of  the  month 
would  differ  from  that  indicated  by  the  moon,  and  with  a  greater  lapse 
of  time  the  accepted  solar  year  would  show  a  decided  variation  from 
the  annual  position  of  the  sun  and  moon,  and,  in  fact,  from  the  yearly 
heating  effects  of  the  sun.  An  improvement  could,  indeed,  be  made 
if,  in  the  alternation  of  months  of  29  and  30  days,  two  months  of  30 
days  each  be  allowed  to  succeed  each  other  at  intervals  of  33  months  ; 
also,  if  each  fourth  solar  year  were  to  contain  365^  days  instead  of  365, 
and  if,  finally,  once  in  nineteen  years,  the  so-called  golden  cycle,  the 
reckoning  of  the  lunar  months  began  with  the  same  date  of  the  sun  ; 
but  a  uniform  and  perfect  coincidence  of  these  cycles  of  days,  months, 
and  years  would  also,  in  this  manner,  be  unattainable.  In  short,  the 
problem  was  purely  an  arithmetical  one,  especially  difficult  so  long  as 
it  was  sought  to  make  the  minor  divisions  of  the  year  agree  with  the 
appearances  of  the  moon,  and  it  is,  accordingly,  no  matter  of  wonder 
that  many  fruitless  attempts  at  improvement  were  made  before  a 
judicious  and  adequate  method  was  discovered.  The  founder  of 
Islam  clearly  recognized  the  danger  which  the  unsuccessful  attempts 
to  construct  a  calendar  for  future  time  engendered  for  the  authority 
of  the  leaders  in  that  religion,  and  hence  arose  the  fear  that  the  un- 
avoidable conflict  of  different  calendars  would  promote  the  formation 
of  religious  sects.  Mohammed  forbade,  therefore,  the  establishment  of 
any  connection  of  the  lunar  month  with  the  solar  year,  and  ordered  all 
calculations  to  be  made  from  the  observation  and  proclamations  of  the 
new  light  of  the  moon.  While  the  peculiar  difficulties  of  the  chrono- 
logical problems  had  afforded,  on  the  one  hand,  advance  in  the  ob- 
servation and  understanding  of  the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bod- 
ies, and,  on  the  other,  had  brought  calculations  of  time  into  discredit, 
these  astronomical  inquiries  produced  still  other  important  results  at 
an  early  date,  as  in  Babylon,  many  centuries  before  the  conquest  of 
Alexander  the  Great.  These  results,  extending  beyond  the  limits 
of  chronology,  secured  to  astronomers  a  mighty  influence  over  the 
minds  of  the  people,  notwithstanding  the  repeated  inaccuracies  oc- 
curring in  the  calendar.  This  was  attained  through  the  teachings  of 
astrology. 

The  systematic  and  long-continued  recording  of  the  celestial  phe- 


ORIGIN   OF  THE   CALENDAR  AND  ASTROLOGY.  829 

nomena  had  made  known,  among  other  things,  the  cycle  of  eighteen 
years,  eleven  days,  in  which  the  lunar  eclipses  repeat  themselves  in  the 
same  order,  and  in  which  there  occurs  also  the  possibility  of  the 
solar  eclipses  succeeding  each  other  in  nearly  the  same  order.  The 
prediction  of  eclipses,  based  upon  a  knowledge  of  these  periods,  and  of 
phenomena  which  had  no  such  regularity  of  occurrence  as  the  funda- 
mental chronological  ones,  and  which  seemed  as  frightful  disturb- 
ances among  the  heavenly  bodies,  naturally  produced  a  deep  impres- 
sion, which,  in  many  cases,  has  been  pictured  to  us,  and  therefore 
rendered  the  knowledge  of  the  stars  a  peculiarly  prophetic  wisdom  in 
the  eyes  of  the  people.  Hence  it  followed  that  the  development  of 
the  solar  calendar  and  its  connection  with  the  position  of  the  sun, 
relative  to  certain  fixed  stars  and  constellations,  necessarily  produced 
the  conception  of  a  particular  influence  of  the  stars  upon  the  destinies 
of  men. 

The  first  appearance  of  a  star  in  the  morning  twilight  was  consid- 
ered as  an  indication  of  important  earthly  events,  of  wind  and  weath- 
er, of  moisture  and  dryness,  growth  and  harvest,  and  its  simple  posi- 
tion was  held,  in  the  popular  belief,  to  be  cajsable  of  exerting  a  great 
variety  of  influences. 

Moreover,  the  advance  made  in  the  knowledge  of  the  stars  had 
also  led  to  more  careful  investigation  of  the  movements  of  those  five 
bright  stars  which,  like  the  sun  and  moon,  changed  their  position  in 
the  heavens,  two  of  them  seeming,  like  companions,  to  connect  them- 
selves with  the  sun  ;  so  that  these  five  planets  which,  on  account  of 
their  movements  among  the  stars,  seemed  nearer  the  earth  than  the 
stellar  world,  soon  came  to  receive  a  share  of  the  deification  of  the 
sun  and  moon. 

They  formed  with  the  latter  the  sacred  number  of  the  seven  heav- 
enly powers.  This  number  "  seven  "  is  supposed  to  have  led  to  the 
division  of  the  interval  between  two  successive  changes  of  the  moon, 
forming  the  week  of  seven  days.  It  was  hence  perfectly  natural  that 
the  mythical  names  which  the  planets  soon  came  to  bear,  and  their 
positions  in  the  heavens  relative  to  one  another  and  to  important  fixed 
stars  specified  in  the  calendar,  should  be  regarded  as  pregnant  with 
meaning,  and  especially  so  when  the  peculiar  character  of  the  planet 
itself,  as  illustrated  in  Mars  by  its  striking  red  light,  rendered  its 
deification  of  increased  significance. 

Thus,  the  prediction  of  eclipses  and  of  other  celestial  phenomena, 
as  the  only  means  of  forecasting  future  events  which  had  then  been 
attained,  the  explanation  in  the  calendar  of  the  rising  and  setting  of 
the  stars  and  the  mythical  characterization  of  the  planets,  were  all 
the  fruit  of  the  strong  desire  in  men  to  lift  the  veil  of  the  future  and 
of  a  deep  earnest  reverence  for  the  lights  of  heaven,  which  pursue 
their  eternal  and  unchanging  courses  above  all  earthly  mutability. 

Another  cause  of  the  power  which  this   mighty  system  of  as- 


8 3o  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

trology  continued  to  exert  over  the  minds  of  people  during  so  many 
centuries,  and  whose  traces  are  still  observable  in  greater  or  less 
degree,  not  only  in  the  minds  of  the  masses,  but  also  in  men  of  acute 
understanding,  is  suggested  in  the  pithy  remark  of  Kepler  :  "  The 
failures  of  astrological  predictions  are  soon  forgotten,  because  they  are 
of  little  consequence  ;  their  fulfillments  are  retained  with  the  greatest 
tenacity  ;  hence,  the  astrologer  remains  in  veneration." 

In  fact,  such  teachings  did  not  receive,  at  first,  unhesitating  accept- 
ance ;  and  it  was  not  until  individual  chance  successes  were  attained, 
that  the  belief  in  the  positions  of  the  stars  as  affecting  human  destiny 
found  so  deep  root  in  inclined  minds  as  to  render  the  prophecies 
themselves  instrumental  in  bringing  to  pass  predicted  events,  so  that 
for  centuries  no  doubt  to  the  contrary  found  popular  recognition. 
When  the  first  teachings  of  astrology  thus  founded  by  the  priest- 
hood, and  more  or  less  designed  to  promote  its  interests,  became  the 
possession  of  philosophers,  as  of  the  Greek  astronomers  of  the  Alexan- 
drian school,  they  then  gradually  assumed  a  certain  scientific  char- 
acter. The  force  which  the  moon  exerts  upon  the  waters  of  the  earth, 
in  causing  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tides,  was  regarded  by  Ptolemy  as 
chief  scientific  proof  that  other  heavenly  bodies  besides  the  sun  ex- 
ercise a  direct  influence  upon  terrestrial  life. 

Moreover,  it  was  held  that  the  moon  exerted  a  disturbing  influence 
upon  sleep,  its  monthly  recurrence  affecting  the  nervous  system.  On 
the  basis,  therefore,  of  these  general  predictions,  it  was  then  sought  to 
determine  the  influence  upon  life  and  destiny  which  the  various  posi- 
tions of  the  moon  and  planets  among  the  constellations  of  the  zodiac 
exerted,  and  to  discover,  partly  by  astronomical  calculation,  partly  by 
tradition,  what  positions  the  planets  had  assumed  at  the  time  of  the 
birth,  as  well  of  striking  events  in  the  lives,  of  distinguished  men  ;  or, 
in  general,  during  the  time  of  a  series  of  important  events. 

A  seeming  uniformity  in  the  casual  coincidence  of  celestial  phe- 
nomena with  certain  fortunate  and  unfortunate  events  was  thus  de- 
rived from  this  knowledge  of  the  past,  and  formed  the  foundation  of 
the  methods  for  forecasting  the  future. 

Naturally,  this  teaching  had  to  embody  a  certain  number  of  ap- 
parently verified  prophecies,  which  were  not  derived  from  conclu- 
sions concerning  the  past,  but  were  purely  conceived,  or  which  were 
associated  with  the  mythical  character  of  individual  heavenly  di- 
vinities. 

Thus  the  planet  Saturn,  or  Cronos,  was  universally  regarded  as 
destroying  and  harmful,  as  the  powerful,  all-consuming  god  of  time 
whose  name  he  bore  ;  the  planet  Jupiter,  on  the  contrary,  indicated 
universal  fortune,  majesty,  and  beauty. 

The  planet  Mars  represented  by  its  omens  the  dangerous  and 
violent  ;  Venus  the  mild  and  pleasant  ;  Mercury  the  ambiguous  and 
deceptive.     Each  of   the   planets   had,   however,   somewhat   varying 


ORIGIN   OF  THE   CALENDAR  AND  ASTROLOGY.  831 

forebodings,  according  to  the  position  which  it  assumed  by  day  or  by 
night  in  the  zodiac  or  horizon.  The  twelve  signs  were  assigned  to  the 
sun,  moon,  and  planets,  as  follows  :  Leo  to  the  sun  ;  Cancer  to  the 
moon  ;  and  two  to  each  of  the  five  planets — the  influence  of  each  of 
these  heavenly  bodies  being  regarded  as  augmented  when  it  stood  in 
that  sign  belonging  to  it,  or  at  points  in  the  other  signs  which  were 
esteemed  peculiarly  critical  for  it. 

Thus,  the  significance  of  the  combined  situation  of  all  these  bodies 
received  its  decisive  character  from  the  striking  actions  of  one  or 
more  propitious  or  unpropitious  planets,  which  stood  in  those  positions 
of  increased  influence.  The  so-called  horoscope,  however,  with  its  de- 
rived prognostications  concerning  the  entire  future  life  of  the  individual, 
was  deduced  from  that  point  of  the  zodiac  which  appeared  in  view  at 
the  hour  of  birth.  Not  only  was  the  planet  to  whose  sign  this  point 
in  the  zodiac  belonged  the  prescribed  ruler  for  life,  but  also  the  indi- 
vidual portions  of  the  zodiac,  by  means  of  their  relations  to  the  single 
planets,  furnished  special  significations  for  the  horoscope. 

The  influence  of  the  ruling  planet  was  again  essentially  modified 
by  the  relative  positions  of  the  other  planets  who  were  entitled  to  a 
respectful  hearing  in  the  prediction.  Indeed,  a  perfect  system  finally 
evolved  itself  for  thus  foretelling,  from  the  various  situations  and  as- 
pects at  the  time  of  birth,  the  important  events  in  each  year  of  the 
life  of  the  newly-born. 

In  its  beginning  it  possessed  much  profound  thought,  since  from 
the  positions  of  the  planets  at  the  time  of  birth,  with  the  aid  of  their 
times  of  revolution,  and  later,  by  a  theory  of  all  their  movements,  it 
could  be  calculated  in  advance  how  they  must  stand  in  each  year  of 
the  individual's  life  ;  but  the  whole  soon  degenerated  into  an  arbi- 
trary, invented  play  upon  numerical  relations.     During  the  lapse  of 
centuries,  in  which  astrology  was  perfecting  and  establishing  itself  in 
the  minds  of  men,  the  pre-calculations  for  the  positions  of  the  moon 
among  the  planets  had  been  zealously  pursued,  particularly  by  the 
Arabians,  and,  from  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  by  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Orient.     From  this  period  on,  these  calculations  received, 
aside  from  their  chronological  and  astrological  interest,  an  augmented 
importance,  on  account  of  the  increased  demands  in  naval  undertakings 
and  voyages  of  discovery.    The  calculations  in  calendars  and  epheme- 
rides  (in  which  literature  Nuremberg  took  the  lead)  were  continually 
amplified,  the  calendar  becoming  now  concerned  with  many  subjects 
which  grew  out  of  and  were  nourished  by  astrological  ideas,  so  that, 
even  at  the  close  of  the  past  century  and  the  commencement  of  the 
present,  it  contained  a  wonderful  mixture  of  superstitious  hints  and 
precepts.     These  related  chiefly  to  rules  of  the  weather,  health,  and 
life  ;  as,  for  instance,  the  times  favorable  for  cupping,  bleeding,  etc. 
In  fact,  in  many  calendars  now  circulated,  there  are  detailed  state- 
ments concerning  the  indications  of  the  planets,  etc.,  and  amusing 


832  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

descriptions  as  to  how  children  will  thrive  who  are  born  under  such 
and  such  signs  in  the  heavens. 

Moreover,  numerous  customs  and  prejudices  still  reveal  the  re- 
mains of  a  belief  in  the  stars  ;  such  expressions  as  "  unlucky  days  " 
and  "  numbers,"  "  our  stars,"  "  saturnine,"  "  jovial,"  and  the  like 
being  firmly  implanted  in  nearly  every  language. 

To  the  superficial  view,  the  whole  system  of  astrology  will  appear 
as  a  vexatious  error  of  mankind  ;  to  the  deeper  observation,  however, 
there  is  discernible  not  only  the  fund  of  astronomical  knowledge 
acquired,  but  also  a  purer  sentiment  lying  at  the  basis  of  all,  acknowl- 
edging man's  dependence  upon  higher  powers. 

Indeed,  soberly  considered,  the  notion  that  the  heavenly  bodies 
controlled  the  laws  of  health,  etc.,  possessed  one  noteworthy  attribute, 
in  that  it  aided  in  establishing  a  belief. 

The  acceptance  of  particularly  mysterious  agencies  often  rendered 
efficacious  such  prescriptions,  in  consequence  of  the  compulsion  which 
they  opposed  against  human  convenience  and  caprice  in  requiring  ful- 
fillment, thereby  effecting  a  salutary  influence  which  in  themselves 
they  did  not  possess. 

We  have  yet  to  consider  another  phase  of  the  calendar's  being 
which  has  a  certain  connection  with  the  astrological  predictions — 
namely,  the  "  weather  prophecies."  Among  the  most  cultured  of  the 
ancients  the  weather  was  not  an  object  of  daily  interest  and  regard  to 
the  extent  which  it  has  become  at  the  present  day.  In  the  regions  of 
Asia,  Southern  Europe,  and  Northern  Africa,  where  the  weather  was 
at  first  the  most  zealously  studied,  the  daily  as  well  as  yearly  changes 
of  temperature,  direction  of  wind,  cloudiness,  and  precipitation,  have 
a  far  greater  regularity  than  in  our  climate. 

As  Nature  there  also  yields  her  fruits  in  greater  plenitude,  the 
dependence  of  universal  welfare  on  the  weather  phenomena  is  far  less 
painful  and  disturbing  than  in  our  latitudes.  Egypt,  only,  formed  an 
exception,  her  harvests  being  largely  dependent  upon  the  overflowings 
of  the  Nile  ;  but  these  would  be  endangered  for  only  a  comparatively 
short  portion  of  the  year. 

We  have  already  considered  how  the  first  calendars  took  note  of 
the  great  yearly  changes  in  the  weather  from  their  connection  with 
the  rising  and  setting  of  bright  stars  in  the  morning  and  evening  twi- 
light. As  culture,  however,  slowly  penetrated  the  more  northerly 
regions,  which  are  the  chief  field  of  the  unremitting  conflict  between 
the  warm  equatorial  air-currents  and  the  cold  polar  currents,  and  which 
sections  are  thereby  subjected  to  incomparably  greater  changes  and 
uncertainties  of  weather,  it  was  proved  no  longer  wise  to  associate 
such  variations  with  the  slow  changes  in  the  positions  of  the  sun 
among  the  stars.  Hence  the  natural  inclination  to  regard  earthly  as 
controlled  by  celestial  influences  developed  itself  into  a  system  of  mani- 
fold predictions  concerning  weather  phenomena,  and  accordingly  the 


ORIGIN   OF  THE   CALENDAR  AND  ASTROLOGY.  833 

most  rapidly  moving  body  in  the  heavens,  the  moon,  was  regarded  as 
the  most  potential  ruler  of  sudden  changes. 

It  was  thus  always  the  problem  of  the  calendar-maker,  during  the 
middle  ages,  to  prophesy  on  the  basis  of  observations  of  celestial  in- 
fluences, and  in  a  lesser  degree  also  upon  the  weather  itself,  certain 
changes  in  the  weather,  and  the  task  was  nowhere  an  ungrateful  one  ; 
for  a  successful  prediction  was  a  foothold  for  enthusiastic  belief  in 
the  prophets,  and  scarcely  ever  was  a  failure  regarded  with  much 
attention. 

The  belief  in  the  moon's  influence  upon  the  weather  is  still  fos- 
tered with  a  tenacity  and  universality  that  seem  to  lend  an  especial 
value  to  specifications  in  the  almanac  regarding  the  so-called  "  moon's 
changes."  Many  have  no  concern  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the 
"  moon's  changes  "  can  affect  the  weather,  but  follow  simply  uncon- 
sciously the  old  astrological  inclination  in  ascribing  what  is  doubtful 
to  heavenly  influences  ;  others,  on  the  contrary,  accept,  indeed,  with- 
out question,  the  fact  of  such  influence,  but  construct  for  themselves  a 
kind  of  scientific  explanation  for  it. 

The  moonlight,  they  say,  dissipates  the  vapors  ;  and,  since  the  moon 
determines  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tides,  so  it  causes  also  an  ebb  and 
flow  in  atmospheric  currents,  thus  affecting  the  weather.  That  sounds 
quite  scientific,  yet  proves  nothing.  That  such  an  influence  is  no 
longer  not  incontestable,  but  placed  entirely  in  doubt,  careful  records 
are  more  clearly  proving  every  year. 

The  Greenwich  Observatory,  which  is  especially  engaged  with 
observations  upon  the  moon,  has  recently  fully  demonstrated,  in  its 
observation  register  of  the  moon  and  weather  extending  over  many 
years,  the  complete  insignificance  of  the  positions  and  phases  of  the 
moon  as  affecting  the  condition  of  the  atmosphere  ;  that  all  so-called 
"experiences  "  to  the  contrary  must  be  regarded  as  possessing  not  the 
slightest  value.  In  fact,  such  "  experience  "  is  a  matter  peculiar  in 
itself.  The  human  memory  of  past  events  is  often  a  very  capricious 
thing,  as  we  have  already  illustrated  in  the  words  of  Kepler,  and  the 
remembrance  of  any  one  who  has  not  learned  to  systematically  collect 
pure  and  conclusive  "  experiences,"  free  from  bias  and  superstition, 
upon  which  to  base  a  rational  and  conscientious  judgment,  possesses, 
as  a  rule,  little  value.  Scientifically  arranged  facts  are  also  not  proof 
against  erroneous  conclusions,  and  it  has  too  often  happened  that  over- 
hasty  conclusions  in  science,  which  were  opposed  to  the  clear  views  of 
practical  men,  have  been  subsequently  destroyed  by  further  scientific 
inquiry  ;  but  in  the  case  now  considered  the  aspect  is  entirely  differ- 
ent. Here  the  so-called  practical  men  are  the  visionists,  and  that  piti- 
ful remnant  of  an  ancient  false  belief  now  no  longer  cope  with  the 
intrinsic  worth,  the  clear  and  simple  results  of  coincident  measure- 
ments and  calculations.  Let  us,  therefore,  throw  into  the  ruins  of 
astrology  all  still  existing  presumption  to  forecast  for  any  extended 

TOL.    XXII. —  53 


834  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

time  the  character  and  changes  of  the  weather,  and  aid,  rather,  by- 
careful  and  honest  tabulation  of  meteorological  phenomena,  in  advanc- 
ing a  science  whose  foundations  have  already  been  laid  by  men  of 
genius,  and  which  in  conjunction  with  the  telegraph  is  furnishing  its 
timely  aid  to  agriculture  and  navigation.  By  means  of  advanced, 
systematic  research  into  the  laws  governing  the  movements  of  storms, 
wind,  and  air-currents,  it  enables  voyages  to  be  made  under  increased 
security  and  rapidity — furnishing  information  of  incalculable  value  to 
the  navigator. 

From  the  above  review  of  the  astrological  belief  in  destiny  and 
weather,  let  us  again  revert  to  our  original  question  :  What  signifi- 
cance, then,  do  the  present  astronomical  rules  in  the  calendar  possess, 
and  what  is  the  problem  therewith  associated  in  popular  astronomical 
instruction  ?  The  reckoning  of  time  has  almost  wholly  emancipated 
itself  from  astronomical  observations.  If  we  simply  continue  to 
reckon  the  days  according  to  our  present  arrangement  of  the  year, 
calling  each  fourth  year  a  leap-year  of  366  days,  and  assign  to  each 
hundredth  year  365  days — although  it  ought  to  be  a  leap-year,  accord- 
ing to  the  four-year  cycle — and  again  to  each  four  hundredth  year 
366  days,  we  shall  be  certain  to  remain  for  thousands  of  years  in  such 
agreement  with  the  sun  that  we  do  not  need  to  concern  ourselves  in 
the  least  in  the  times  of  his  revolution  and  positions  in  the  heavens. 
In  fact,  the  calendar  is  so  perfectly  arranged  and  independent  in  itself 
that  it  requires  no  special  assistance  from  astronomers.  The  state- 
ments regarding  the  position  of  the  moon  in  the  zodiac  and  the 
situations  of  the  planets,  and  even  the  exact  times  of  the  moon's 
changes  (if  we  except  the  significance  of  these  latter  respecting  the 
ebb  and  flow  of  the  tide),  no  longer  possess  any  value  in  daily  life  if 
^ve  are  free  from  astrological  superstition. 

Still,  there  is  a  persistent  clinging  to  these  ideas,  and  when,  some 
years  ago,  the  Berlin  "  Astronomical  Year-Book  "  pointed  out  the  in- 
significance of  the  moon's  influence  on  the  weather,  many  protests 
were  received  from  almanac  publishers,  especially  in  Poland  and  Hun- 
gary. 

Although,  as  above  stated,  the  popular  calendar  has  become  less 
and  less  dependent  upon  astronomy,  yet  there  is  evinced  an  increased 
interest  among  people  in  the  yearly  astronomical  communications. 
The  dependence  of  ideas  and  arrangements  on  the  heavenly  phenomena 
is  less,  but  the  desire  for  an  understanding  and  observation  of  them 
is  much  greater.  The  prediction  of  eclipses  in  the  almanac  might 
also  be  omitted  but  for  the  probable  danger  which  would  arise  from 
sudden  frightening  of  the  people  ;  they  can  not,  however,  be  well 
omitted,  since  every  one  is  desirous  of  observing  at  the  appointed 
time  the  more  or  less  remarkable  effects  of  the  phenomena,  and  of 
bearing  a  share  in  testing  the  accuracy  of  the  times  of  prediction. 

Moreover,  life  is  constantly  demanding  greater  precision,  especially 


SKETCH   OF  INCREASE  ALLEN  LAP  HAM,  LL.D.  83  5 

in  the  measurement  of  time.  The  time  is  not  far  distant  when  in- 
struments will  be  devised  for  ascertaining  in  the  simplest  manner  and 
with  the  utmost  accuracy  the  time  of  day  from  the  sun  and  stars. 
In  general,  astronomy  will  find  occasion  each  year,  in  ever-increasing 
measure,  to  communicate  for  universal  use  its  advanced  determina- 
tions and  measurements. 

The  study  of  astronomy  is  especially  fascinating  and  helpful  to 
the  understanding,  in  that  the  mind,  translated  so  far  away  from  the 
sphere  of  earth,  catches  glimpses  of  the  grand  and  universal  outlines 
of  celestial  phenomena,  and  is  enabled  to  emancipate  itself  from  the 
astrological  superstition  which  we  have  endeavored  to  illustrate  in  the 
foregoing  pages. 


-♦»-♦- 


SKETCH   OF  INCREASE   ALLEN  LAPHAM,   LL.  D. 

THE  advancement  of  American  science  has  beeu  greatly  promoted 
by  the  co-operation  of  a  host  of  earnest  workers,  who,  asking 
nothing  in  the  way  of  money  profit  or  fame,  but  moved  by  the  pure 
love  of  science  for  its  own  sake,  have  been  satisfied  to  labor  in  special 
or  local  fields,  and  contribute  of  what  they  could  produce  as  free  gifts 
to  the  sum  of  knowledge.  Such  a  man  of  science  was  Dr.  I.  A.  Lap- 
ham,  who,  according  to  a  most  excellent  authority,  "  would  have  held 
a  more  prominent  position  if  he  had  been  more  ambitious  "  ;  who  was, 
however,  well  enough  known  to  the  people  of  his  own  State  and  in 
scientific  circles  everywhere  ;  and  the  fitting  memorials  of  whose  life- 
work  are  conspicuously  visible  in  the  organization  of  the  Weather  Ser- 
vice of  the  United  States  and  the  prominent  position  Wisconsin  has 
taken  as  a  region  where  scientific  thought  is  active. 

Increase  Allen  Lapham  was  born  at  Palmyra,  New  York,  March 
7,  1811,  and  died  on  Lake  Oconomowoc,  Wisconsin,  September  14, 
1875.  His  father  was  a  contractor  on  public  works,  which,  in  the  days 
of  the  son's  youth,  were  chiefly  canals  ;  he  built  the  arches  of  the  first 
aqueduct  at  Rochestei*,  and  the  wood- work  of  the  combined  and  double 
locks  at  Lockport,  on  the  Erie  Canal,  and  was  engaged  in  other  im- 
portant works  of  a  similar  character.  Young  Lapham's  earlier  tastes 
were  guided  largely  by  the  business  pursuits  of  his  father.  He  earned 
his  first  money  by  cutting  stone  for  canal-locks  and  making  plans  of 
the  locks  for  travelers  ;  then  he  became  interested  'in  the  minerals 
that  were  found  in  the  rock-cuts  at  Lockport,  and  was  thus  directed  to 
the  observation  of  nature.  He  next  appears,  in  1826,  as  an  aid  to  his 
father,  an  assistant  engineer,  in  laying  out  a  road  down  the  Canada 
bank  of  the  Niagara  River  below  the  falls  ;  afterward  on  the  Welland 
Canal  ;  then  on  the  Miami  Canal,  under  Byron  Kilbonrn  ;  and,  during 
the  two  years  from  1827,  on  the  canal  around  the  falls  of  the  Ohio, 


836  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

at  Louisville,  Kentucky.  Here  his  attention  was  drawn  to  the  study 
of  the  luxuriant  flora  of  that  favored  region,  and  he  began  a  collection 
of  plants  which  grew  till  it  numbered  about  eight  thousand  species. 
He  also  collected  the  river-shells  of  the  region,  and  sent  several  new 
species  to  Isaac  Lea,  of  Philadelphia.  His  first  scientific  paper  was 
produced  in  connection  with  his  work  here,  and  was  "  a  Notice  of  the 
Louisville  and  Shippingsport  Canal,  and  of  the  Geology  of  the  Vicin- 
ity," illustrated  with  plans,  geological  sections,  and  a  map,  and  re- 
markable for  containing  the  first  published  notice  of  the  occurrence  of 
petroleum  in  the  cavities  of  limestone  rocks.  He  was  next  engaged 
on  the  Ohio  Canal,  at  Portsmouth,  and  published  in  1832,  in  the 
"  American  Journal  of  Science,"  where  his  former  paper  had  appeared, 
a  second  article  on  the  "  Geology  of  Ohio."  In  the  next  year  he  was 
appointed  Secretary  of  the  Ohio  State  Board  of  Canal  Commissioners, 
and  removed  to  Columbus,  where  he  continued  his  scientific  studies 
under  the  stimulus  of  improved  opportunities  ;  figured  as  an  officer 
and  active  member  of  the  Historical  and  Philosophical  Society  of 
Ohio  ;  and  served  as  a  member  of  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Legis- 
lature to  investigate  and  report  upon  the  subject  of  a  geological  sur- 
vey of  the  State. 

In  1836  he  removed  to  Milwaukee,  then  in  the  Territory  of  Michi- 
gan, now  in  the  State  of  Wisconsin,  where,  or  in  the  neighborhood, 
he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life,  and  where  he  was  identified  with  the  birth 
and  development  of  the  scientific  interests  of  the  Territory  and  State. 
It  was  his  privilege  here  to  play  an  important  part  in  the  institution 
of  security  and  the  settlement  of  land-titles,  the  effects  of  which  were 
undoubtedly  felt  in  the  peaceful  settlement  of  the  country  and  the 
establishment  of  its  society.  New-comers  found  the  Territory  as  yet 
unorganized,  and  without  any  provisions  for  the  purchase  or  pre-emp- 
tion of  the  public  lands.  Conflicts  might  easily  arise,  and  the  best 
claims  could  have  no  legal  title  to  rest  upon.  The  settlers  agreed  upon 
the  course  they  would  pursue,  and  appointed  Mr.  Lapham  a  register 
of  claims,  to  take  charge  of  the  records  of  all  entries  of  land  and  trans- 
fers. Under  this  system  farm  improvements  were  made  in  confidence, 
and,  when  the  land-offices  were  established,  the  register's  records  were 
recognized  and  acted  upon  as  authentic  evidences  of  pre-emption  right. 
Mr.  Lapham  performed  this  service  gratuitously. 

Mr.  Lapham's  life  was  henceforth  spent  between  the  conduct  of  a 
business  that  secured  him  a  competency  without  superabundant  wealth, 
and  the  scientific  study  of  all  that  related,  or  could  be  of  interest  to, 
the  Territory  and  State.  In  1838  he  printed  a  catalogue  of  the  plants 
and  shells  found  in  the  vicinity  of  Milwaukee  ;  and  in  1844  he  pub- 
lished a  comprehensive  work  on  Wisconsin  which  served  for  a  long 
time  as  a  standard  manual  of  the  character  and  resources  of  the  State 
and  a  guide  to  immigrants.  A  treatise  on  the  grasses  of  Wisconsin  and 
the  adjacent  States,  which  was  published  in  the  first  volume  of  the 


SKETCH   OF  INCREASE  ALLEN  LAP  HAM,  LL.  D.   837 

"  Transactions  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society,"  was  the  forerunner 
of  a  suggestion  which  he  made  to  the  Commissioner  of  Patents  (the 
Hon.  Charles  Mason),  that  the  agricultural  department  of  his  office 
might  appropriately  undertake  a  descriptive  catalogue  of  all  the  native, 
naturalized,  and  cultivated  grasses  of  the  United  States.  An  appro- 
priation was  obtained  from  Congress  for  this  object,  and  Mr.  Lapham 
was  invited  by  the  Commissioner  of  Patents  to  undertake  the  work. 
It  was  to  include  the  collection  of  specimens  and  their  ai-rangement  in 
books  for  distribution  among  State  societies  and  agricultural  colleges  ; 
drawings  and  enlarged  illustrations  of  the  flowers  of  each  species  ;  the 
collection  and  distribution  of  seeds  ;  the  preparation  of  an  exhaustive 
report  on  each  species,  and  all  facts  relating  to  its  economic  value  ;  and 
an  expedition  to  the  West  Indies  or  South  America  for  the  collection 
of  improved  varieties  of  sugar-cane.  Several  months  were  spent  in 
the  preliminary  arrangements  for  this  work  ;  but  when  the  first  quar- 
ter's account  for  salary  was  presented  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior, 
whose  indorsement  of  it  was  required  by  law,  that  officer,  who  had  not 
recognized  Mr.  Lapham's  appointment,  refused  to  allow  it,  saying  that 
so  useful  and  responsible  a  trust  should  not  be  conferred  upon  one 
whose  political  sentiments  were  not,  in  all  respects,  in  accord  with 
those  of  the  party  in  power.  Mr.  Lapham,  though  disappointed  and 
a  thousand  dollars  poorer  for  what  he  had  done,  went  on  with  his  cata- 
logue and  completed  it  so  as  to  include  all  the  grasses  of  the  United 
States  and  Territories,  so  far  as  they  had  been  previously  described 
and  named,  with  their  localities,  geographical  distribution,  time  of 
flowering,  etc.,  which  still  remains  in  manuscript.  The  subject  of 
authorizing  this  investigation  was  again  favorably  considered  by  Presi- 
dent Lincoln's  Administration,  but  any  action  upon  it  was  prevented 
by  the  war. 

In  1867  Mr.  Lapham,  as  chairman  of  a  committee  appointed  under 
an  act  of  the  Legislature  of  Wisconsin  "  to  ascertain  and  report  upon 
the  injurious  effect  of  clearing  land  of  forests,  and  the  duty  of  the 
State  in  relation  to  the  matter,"  made  a  report  covering  the  whole 
ground  of  the  subject,  which  was  published  as  a  legislative  docu- 
ment. 

Though  particularly  interested  in  botany,  Mr.  Lapham  was  active 
in  many  other  departments  of  scientific  work.  In  1847,  writing  in 
one  of  the  city  papers  on  the  fluctuations  in  the  level  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan, he  suggested  a  method  for  determining  whether  it  had  a  tide. 
His  observations  on  the  phenomena  of  the  level,  begun  as  early  as 
1836,  were  found  to  be  of  great  practical  value  in  the  preparation  of 
plans  for  river  and  harbor  improvements,  and  for  all  works  of  the  cities 
of  Milwaukee  and  Chicago  in  any  way  connected  with  the  lake  and 
rivers  emptying  into  it,  and  their  importance  was  recognized  in  Cap- 
tain (afterward  General)  Meade's  "  Report  on  the  Lake  Survey "  for 
1861.     On  the  3d  of  September,  1849,  he  announced,  in  a  paper  of  the 


838  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

city,  that  by  a  series  of  observations  made  every  three  hours,  during  the 
month  of  August,  he  had  ascertained  that  there  was  a  slight  lunar  tide 
in  Lake  Michigan.  A  similar  statement  was  made  to  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  in  connection  with  the  report  of  his  meteorological  ob- 
servations for  the  month.  In  a  report  made  to  the  British  Association 
in  1863,  he  stated  that  the  amount  of  this  tide  was  about  an  inch  and 
an  eighth,  and  that  subsequently  a  self -registering  tide-gauge,  similar 
to  that  used  by  Prof essor  A.  D.  Bache  on  the  Coast  Survey,  was  put  in 
operation  at  the  port,  the  indications  of  which,  deducing  the  curves 
from  5,450  half-hourly  ordinates,  between  July,  1859,  and  November, 
1860,  gave  results  almost  exactly  corresponding  with  those  of  his 
original  observation. 

Mr.  Lapham  was  engaged,  almost  from  the  beginning  of  his  resi- 
dence in  Wisconsin,  in  the  study  of  the  aboriginal  earth-works  of  the 
State.  He  was  the  first  to  notice  that  many  of  the  mounds  were 
really  gigantic  figures  of  men,  beasts,  birds,  and  reptiles  ;  and  as  early 
as  1836  he  gave  accounts  in  the  newspapers  of  a  turtle-shaped  mound 
at  Waukesha  and  of  several  other  effigies  of  animals.  Perceiving  the 
danger  of  these  structures  being  obliterated,  he,  availing  himself  of 
assistance  offered  by  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  made  a  sys- 
tematic survey  of  many  of  them,  the  results  of  which  were  published 
in  1855,  under  the  title  of  "Antiquities  of  Wisconsin,"  in  a  fine,  richly 
illustrated  volume  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  Twenty  years 
later,  near  the  end  of  his  life,  he  prepared  a  series  of  bas-relief  mod- 
els of  some  of  the  more  characteristic  mounds,  for  the  Centennial 
Exhibition  of  1876. 

In  1868  fragments  of  a  meteorite,  afterward  known  as  the  "  Doer- 
flinger  meteorite,"  were  found  on  a  farm  about  thirty  miles  northwest 
of  Milwaukee.  A  specimen  of  the  stone  was  obtained  for  the  Wiscon- 
sin Natural  History  Society,  of  which  that  body,  in  consideration  of 
the  services  he  had  performed  for  it,  gave  a  piece  to  Dr.  Lapham. 
Examining  his  piece,  which  had  been  polished  and  etched  by  Dr.  J. 
Lawrence  Smith,  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  he  discovered  in  it  the 
familiar  crystalline  markings  known  as  the  Widmannstattian  figures, 
and  within  these  another  set  of  lines,  to  which  Dr.  Smith,  on  their 
being  brought  to  his  notice,  gave  the  name  of  the  Laphamite  Mark- 
ings. A  representation  of  this  stone,  showing  both  sets  of  marks,  is 
given  in  the  new  "  American  Cyclopaedia,"  article  "  Aerolites."  In 
connection  with  these  observations,  Dr.  Lapham  prepared  a  com- 
plete list  of  North  American  meteorites,  with  a  map  showing  the 
exact  place  where  every  one  fell,  which,  however,  has  not  been  pub- 
lished. 

Dr.  Lapham  was  one  of  the  first  men  in  the  United  States,  if  not  the 
first,  to  move  effectively  in  favor  of  general  systematic  weather  obser- 
vations for  the  purpose  of  forecasting  and  preparing  for  coming  storms. 
Espy  had  shown  that  such  a  thing  was  possible  ;  Professor  Henry  had 


SKETCH  OF  INCREASE  ALL  EX  LAP  HAM,  LL.  D.    839 

suggested,  in  1847,  that  the  telegraph  might  he  used  in  aid  of  such  a 
work  ;  and  the  Cincinnati  Observatory  had  issued  a  daily  weather 
bulletin  and  chart  in  1868  and  1869  ;  but  Dr.  Lapham's  efforts  were 
the  ones  that  bore  fruit  in  the  shape  of  national  action  on  a  national 
scale.  In  1842  he  published,  for  information  and  as  a  stimulus  to  harbor 
improvement,  a  list  of  marine  disasters  on  Lake  Michigan  ;  in  1858  he 
suggested  to  a  railroad  manager,  who  was  building  a  line  of  steamers 
for  a  lake-ferry,  the  importance  of  procuring  a  knowledge  of  coming 
storms.  The  manager  answered,  politely,  that  he  had  more  confidence 
in  the  size  and  speed  of  his  boats  than  in  storm-signals.  He  afterward 
addressed  a  lake-captain  on  the  subject,  and  the  sailor  replied  that  he 
had  "  little  time  to  investigate  meteorological  papers,  and  had  never 
been  impressed  with  the  opinion  that  our  changeable  and  fickle  climate 
could  be  put  under  any  rules  by  which  mariners  might  be  guided  with 
any  certainty  or  much  profit."  The  idea,  however,  was  gradually 
commending  itself  to  the  moneyed  men  of  Chicago,  when,  in  1869, 
Dr.  Lapham  met  the  Hon.  E.  D.  Holton,  who  was  just  about  to  go  to 
attend  the  meeting  of  the  National  Board  of  Trade,  at  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia, and  explained  his  scheme  to  him.  Mr.  Holton  secured  the  pas- 
sage, by  the  National  Board  of  Trade,  of  a  resolution  which  Dr.  Lap- 
ham  had  drawn  up,  commending  the  project  to  the  consideration  of  the 
Government.  A  bill,  introduced  by  General  Paine,  of  Wisconsin,  for 
the  establishment  of  the  Weather  Service,  was  passed,  and  on  the  15th 
of  March,  1869,  "  Old  Probabilities,"  as  the  office  was  for  a  long  time 
nicknamed,  was  installed.  Dr.  Lapham  was  appointed  in  November, 
1871,  Assistant  Signal-Officer  at  Chicago,  and  had  the  pleasure  of  send- 
ing home,  at  the  end  of  a  month,  a  draft  for  "  the  fix-st  considerable  sum 
I  have  ever  received  as  salary  for  any  scientific  work."  The  amount 
was  $166.67. 

In  1873  Dr.  Lapham  was  appointed,  in  accordance  with  an  act 
constituting  the  Geological  Survey  of  Wisconsin,  Chief  Geologist,  with 
authority  to  select  his  subordinates.  The  fitness  of  the  appointment 
was  universally  recognized,  but  by  some  oversight  the  nomination  was 
not  sent  to  the  Senate  for  confirmation.  The  work  was  prosecuted  by 
him  with  great  energy  and  most  fruitful  results  for  nearly  two  years, 
by  which  time  "the  political  aspect  of  the  State  had  changed,  and 
there  had  been  an  upheaval  of  strata  of  which  our  geologist  had  taken 
no  notice."  He  first  learned  through  the  newspapers  that  he  had  been 
superseded.  Nearly  a  month  later  (March  21, 1875)  he  received  a  letter 
from  W.  R.  Taylor,  Governor,  notifying  him  that  "  all  authority  (if 
any  possessed  by  you),  as  Chief  Geologist,  ceased  and  was  annulled  on 
the  16th  day  of  February"  previous. 

On  the  14th  of  September,  of  the  same  year,  Dr.  Lapham,  having 
retired  to  his  farm  on  Lake  Oconomowoc,  had  just  finished  a  paper  on 
the  capacity  for  fish  production  of  that  and  other  small  lakes  of  Wis- 
consin.   Then  he  went  in  his  boat  upon  the  lake.    He  was  found  a  few 


840  THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 

hours  afterward,  lying  in  the  bottom  of  the  boat,  dead  from  heart- 
disease. 

The  nature  and  variety  of  Dr.  Lapham's  scientific  pursuits  are  illus- 
trated by  his  biographer,  Mr.  S.  S.  Sherman,  in  an  anecdote  :  "  When 
asked,  by  a  gentleman  well  known  in  scientific  circles,  in  what  depart- 
ment of  science  he  was  laboring,  he  replied, '  I  am  studying  Wisconsin.' " 
The  variety  and  accuracy  of  his  knowledge  made  him  a  kind  of  ency- 
clopaedia— a  ready  reference  on  almost  every  subject ;  and  Mr.  Sher- 
man fills  several  pages  of  his  biography  with  a  list  of  questions  on 
which  he  was  consulted  by  farmers,  citizens,  miners,  archaeologists, 
amateurs,  or  scientific  men  like  Professor  Agassiz  (to  whom,  apologiz- 
ing at  one  time  for  not  being  able  to  send  a  better  supply  of  certain 
fishes  he  had  asked  for,  he  pleaded  that  he  was  "  not  an  expert  fisher- 
man "),  Asa  Gray,  and  Alfonso  Wood.  Professor  Wood  placed  him 
"among  the  five  or  six  most  active  and  intelligent  botanists  in  the 
country."  Professor  Gray  declared  him  the  pioneer  botanist  of  his 
State,  whose  name  would  be  inseparably  connected  with  its  flora,  and 
called  a  new  genus  of  plants  after  him,  Lcqihamia.  He  was  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  Wisconsin  Academy  of  Sciences,  Letters,  and 
Arts,  an  LL.  D.  (1860)  of  Amherst  College,  an  honorary  member  of 
the  Royal  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Copenhagen,  and  a  member  of 
most  scientific  associations  of  the  United  States.  The  list  of  his  pub- 
lications, some  of  the  more  important  of  which  have  already  been 
indicated  in  the  course  of  this  article,  numbers  about  forty-five  titles. 
Ten  of  them  are  upon  geological  subjects,  nine  on  subjects  of  botany 
and  natural  history,  seven  climatological  and  meteorological,  three  on 
the  antiquities  and  the  Indians  of  Wisconsin,  three  upon  physical 
phenomena  (the  effects  of  the  destruction  of  the  forests,  the  great 
fires  of  1871,  and  the  great  fresh-water  lakes),  and  one  is  the  article 
"  Wisconsin  "  in  the  "  American  Cyclopaedia."  The  others  are  topo- 
graphical, or  relate  to  miscellaneous  subjects.  The  last  was  "The 
Laws  of  Embryonic  Development  the  same  in  Plants  as  in  Animals," 
which  was  published  in  the  "American  Naturalist"  of  May,  1875. 
Besides  these,  he  left  a  mass  of  valuable  notes  and  manuscripts,  show- 
ing the  fruits  of  industrious  research. 


CORRESP  ONDENCE. 


841 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


TIIE  AFKICAN  IN   THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Messrs.  Editors. 

HAVING  read  with  much  interest  Pro- 
fessor Gilliam's  article  on  "  The  Af- 
rican in  the  United  States,"  and  agreeing 
with  his  general  conclusion  that  "  they  must 
forever  remain  an  alien  race  among  us," 
it  seems  to  me  that  there  still  remains  some- 
thing to  be  said,  and  that  now  is  the  time 
to  say  it,  and  this  must  be  my  excuse  for 
this  appeal  to  your  courtesy. 

The  obstructive  Chinese  legislation  was 
received  at  first,  by  most  thinking  men  in 
the  country,  not  in  direct  contact  with  the 
question,  with  aversion,  and  a  regret  at  a 
departure  from  one  of  the  first  principles 
of  our  Government,  viz.,  the  equality  of 
man.  But  most  of  us  are  now  satisfied  that 
while  this  American  life  is  a  furnace  which 
melts  into  good  Americans  the  peculiarities 
of  all  white  races,  the  attempt  to  assimilate 
a  race  of  different  color,  and  of  a  civiliza- 
tion older  than  ours,  and  one  that  has  re- 
sisted conquest,  oppression,  and  time,  would 
certainly  have  resulted  in  failure,  and  that 
a  majority  of  citizens  of  Chinese  birth  or 
descent,  on  the  Pacific  slope,  would  have 
made  of  that  section  practically  a  foreign 
land. 

That  the  case  of  the  negro,  as  stated  by 
Professor  Gilliam,  is  hardly  as  bad,  is  evi- 
dent.    The  negro  is  not  the  heir  of  an  an- 
cient  and    scientific   social    order.      What 
knowledge  he  has  of  social  order  and  po- 
litical forms  is  American,  and,  however  much 
he  may  develop,  his  development  will  still 
follow  these  lines,  and  there  will  hardly  be 
a  race  war  of  virulence  enough  to  attract 
the  attention  of  the   country  as  a  whole. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  very  certain  that  the 
fact  of  color  will  forever  keep  the  two  races 
separate,  and  that  as  the  negroes  realize  the 
voting  strength  of  mere  numbers  there  will 
be  a  tendency  among  them  to  gather  in  cer- 
tain sections  of  the  country  in  overwhelm- 
ing power,  and  by  the  perfectly  legal  means 
of  the  jury  system  and  the  ballot  drive  the 
whites,  not  only  from  office,  but  from  among 
them.     The  process  will  be  slow  and  grad- 
ual, and  there  will  be  probably  neither  oc- 
casion nor  opportunity  for  the  interference 
of  the  Federal  power.     But  the  concentra- 
tion of  an  alien  and  unassimilable  race  in 
any  section  of  the  country,  especially  in  a 
section  of  so  much  strategic  importance  as 
the  mouth  of  the  great  river  that  is  the  fu- 
ture door  to  our  house — however  much  their 
civilization  may  be  an  outgrowth  of    our 
own — is  certainly  a  political  arrangement  to 
be  avoided  if  possible.     And  how  is  it  to 


be  avoided  ?  Professor  Gilliam  gives  us  no 
hint  except  the  vague  regret  that  the  San 
Domingo  purchase  was  lost  to  us.  The  his- 
tory of  the  centuries  is  before  us.  The  long 
education  of  the  African  is  complete.  The 
dark  continent  is  opened.  The  slave  has  re- 
ceived his  freedom.  The  generation  that 
intervened  between  the  slave  and  the  con- 
quering freeman  of  old  has  nearly  passed 
with  our  bondmen  of  to-day.  All  things 
indicate  that  the  time  has  come  when  steps 
must  be  taken  toward  the  solution  of  the 
problem  of  the  colored  race  among  us,  or 
we  must  pay  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past, 
for  our  neglect  or  mistakes  in  dealing  with 
this  matter,  with  losses  and  suffering,  per- 
haps again  with  blood. 

A  bill  passing  Congress  establishing  a 
steam  mail  line  to  Liberia  from  some  South- 
ern port — Charleston,  or  preferably  New  Or- 
leans— with  a  subsidy  for  mail-carriage, 
sufficient  to  insure  its  being  kept  up,  how- 
ever great  the  expense,  would  have  reasons 
in  its  favor  worthy  of  the  following  consid- 
erations : 

Our  merchant  marine  is  destroyed,  and 
must  for  national  and  economic  reasons  be 
rebuilt,  and,  in  spite  of  our  present  preju- 
dice against  subsidies,  capital  must  at  first 
be  attracted  to  this  field  by  national  boun- 
ties.    This  is  the  way  England's  supremacy 
was  organized,  and  is  kept  up.     It  is  the 
way  France  and    Germany  are  increasing 
their    fleets,  and    there    is   no  other  way. 
Trade  and  travel  follow  regular  steamship 
lines.     This  needs  no  demonstration.     Eng- 
land's  successful  efforts  in  this  direction 
keeps    her    to-day   the   workshop    of    the 
world.     The  wealth  of  Africa  is  at  this  mo- 
ment the  cynosure  of   industrial    nations. 
England,  France,  and  Belgium,  by  arts  of 
peace  or  war,  are  pressing  forward  to  take 
possession  of  its  coast.     It  is  only  a  ques- 
tion of  time  before,  on  some  petty  pretext, 
Liberia  will  be  attacked  and  pass  into  Eng- 
land's possession,  unless  we  cultivate  closer 
relations.     It  is  a  country  capable  of  great 
development.      It    is    already  progressing, 
and  its  governmental  forms  and  traditions 
are   American.      The    establishment    of    a 
steamship  line  to  Liberia  would  produce  the 
following  results :  The  formation  of  a  stable 
government   in  Africa,   sprung    from    and 
modeled  after  our  own.      A    nation    that 
would   assimilate  and    develop  the  native 
tribes  instead  of  destroying  them ;    a   na- 
tion that  would  have  our  customs,  our  en- 
ergy,  and    our    tools,  know  and    buy  our 
wares,  would,  by  the  railroad-building  arts 
they  take  from  us,  conquer  and  control  the 


842 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


heart  of  Africa,  and,  above  and  beyond  the 
trade  considerations,  would  settle  forever, 
in  accordance  with  natural  development, 
the  question  of  race  hatreds  among  us,  by 
affording  a  career  in  a  new  and  virgin  field, 
to  every  turbulent,  reckless,  and  energetic 
spirit  among  the  colored  Americans.  These 
are  the  advantages.  The  cost  is  the  direct 
mileage  to  steamers  of  one  thousand  tons 
or  upward  capacity,  less  the  indirect  advan- 
tage of  trade.  The  profit  of  the  freight 
and  passenger  traffic  is  probable  during  the 
second  year.  The  time  is  now.  But  the 
fact  remains  that  the  Solons  at  Washington 
are  more  interested  in  the  distribution  of 
the  offices  than  the  future  prosperity  of  the 
country,  and  that  our  republic  is  so  strong 
that  no  safety-valve  is  needed  until  after 
the  explosion.  C.  E.  Chittenden. 

Scranton,  Pa.,  February  15,  1883. 


RAILWAY  CONSOLIDATION. 

Memrs.  Editors. 

I  always  enjoy  and  value  your  able  jour- 
nal, and  feel  in  reading  it  that  the  actual 
facts  are  treated  of  without  any  fear  or 
turning  aside. 

I  must  express  particularly  the  degree 
of  education  I  have  received  from  the  paper 
on  railway  consolidation  as  especially  ex- 
emplified by  the  Union  and  Central  Pacific 
roads. 

I  see  now,  what  I  had  failed  before  to 
recognize,  that  only  complete  consolidation 
of  all  the  routes  to  the  Pacific  is  needed  to 
perfect  the  contribution  of  all  the  railways 
can  offer  to  rendering  that  coast  Utopian 
in  fact. 

There  were  once  impressions  in  the  minds 
of  ill-informed  men  that  two  gigantic  and 
immensely  subsidized  corporations,  the  Pa- 
cific roads  and  Pacific  Mail,  had  combined  to 
wring  all  that  was  possible  from  the  public 
that  contributed  so  generously  to  give  them 
existence. 

Another  fancy  was,  that  rates  were  so 
much  higher  to  points  far  this  side  of  San 
Francisco,  that  shippers  sent  goods  through 
and  brought  them  back,  at  way-freight  rates, 
to  save  money.  It  was  even  asserted  that 
paying  through  rates  would  not  secure  the 
right  of  unloading  en  route. 

Newspapers  not  inspired  with  integrity 
have  even  started  the  rumor  that  merchants 
who  would  not  sign  a  bond  committing  them- 
selves to  sending  all  their  freight  by  the  Pa- 
cific roads  were  not  given  favorable  rates. 
How  sad  that  such  things  have  been  written 
and  said ;  and  how  bitterly  must  men  feel 
who  read  the  last  sentence  of  your  exhaust- 
ive article,  and  are  conscious  that,  before 
reading  the  decimals  that  so  accurately 
measure  the  blessings  of  consolidation,  they 
thought  that  roads  untrammeled  by  legisla- 


tion might  become  imbued  with  some  selfish 
motive ! 

The  odious  term  "  monopoly  "  being  treat- 
ed with  scientific  accuracy  becomes  a  charm- 
ing expression,  and,  beyond  question,  the 
time  will  soon  come  when  its  perfection  may 
be  arrived  at  by  the  simple  result  of  all  trans- 
portation being  consolidated  in  the  hands  of 
one  man.  Then  it  can  be  done  at  a  mini- 
mum profit,  from  the  fact  that  there  will  be 
but  one  family  to  maintain  from  the  net  earn- 
ings, and,  of  course,  a  railway-man  is  prone 
to  all  economy. 

Very  few  feel  called  upon  to  pay  their 
own  fare,  or  the  hauling  of  the  cars  in  which 
they  deny  themselves  the  simple  necessaries 
of  life,  sturdily  confining  themselves  to  the 
bare  luxuries. 

The  tramps  which  the  engines  so  often 
cast  aside,  mangled  masses  of  flesh  and  old 
clothing,  may  have  done  more  for  practical 
progress  than  the  railway  "  beat "  who  lords 
it  at  the  stockholders'  cost.  Put  this  is  no 
matter,  if  the  magnate  who  hurls  along  over 
unguarded  crossings,  with  no  regard  for  life 
or  limb,  can  only  go  sixty  miles  an  hour,  and 
arrange  a  consolidation  in  a  few  moments. 

It  is  well  that  your  magazine  can  so  read- 
ily dispel  "  fundamental  misconception  "  by 
the  clear  enunciation  of  "  economic  laws  " 
as  to  remove  all  the  old  ideas,  in  twelve 
pages  of  comparative  lines  and  decisive 
decimals. 

So  guarded,  the  public  is  safe,  and  the 
"politician  and  the  press,"  other  than  the 
strictly  scientific,  are  needless. 

Grateful  for  information  so  serene  and 

simple,  I  am,  yours  very  truly, 

L.  W.  Ledtakd. 

Feenwood  Farm,  Cazenovia,  N.  Y., 
February  19,  1883. 


THE  COPYRIGHT  DISCUSSION. 

Messrs.  Editors: 

My  object  in  writing  the  article  which 
appeared  in  your  March  number,  on  "  Pi- 
ratical Publishers,"  was  to  provoke  such 
a  discussion  of  the  subject  of  international 
copyright  as  its  importance  demands,  and 
I  am  neither  disappointed  nor  displeased 
with  the  rather  severe  editorial  strictures 
which  followed  it.  But,  while  I  am  quite 
willing  to  concede  that  some  of  your  argu- 
ments have  sufficient  force  to  weaken,  in  a 
measure,  those  presented  by  me,  I  am  firm 
in  the  conviction  that  most  of  my  positions 
have  been  unsuccessfully  assailed. 

I  write,  however,  now,  to  prevent  mis- 
apprehension, by  stating — what  I  ought  to 
have  said  before  putting  my  name  to  the 
article  referred  to— that  I  have  no  personal 
concern  in  the  question  under  discussion, 
being  no  longer  a  republishes  and  having 
no  interest,  pecuniary  or  otherwise,  in  the 


EDITOR'S   TABLE. 


843 


publishing  business.  Also  that  I  have — or, 
rather,  the  publishing  house  which  has  so 
long  borne  my  name  has — for  more  than 
thirty  years  past,  paid  a  liberal  sum  to  all 
the  English  publishers  whose  works  it  re- 
printed, and  that  the  most  cordial  relations 
between  the  parties  have  always  been  main- 
tained ;  so  that  my  article  was  not  written 
in  vindication  of  my  own  conduct,  but,  as 
already  stated,  for  the  purpose  of  present- 


ing such  extreme  views  on  one  side  of  the 
question  as  should  call  forth  the  strongest 
points  that  could  be  presented  on  the  other, 
and  thus  bring  about  the  fullest  possible 
discussion  on  the  subject.  I  trust  your 
criticism  is  an  earnest  of  what  is  yet  to 
follow  from  those  who  may  have  access 
to  the  pages  of  "The  Popular  Science 
Monthly." 

Leonard  Scott. 


EDITOR'S    TABLE. 


TEE  NEW  SCIENTIFIC    WEEKLY. 

SINCE  our  last  issue  the  new  weekly, 
"Science,"  an  American  journal, 
much  on  the  plan  of  "  Nature,"  has 
made  its  appearance  at  Cambridge.  "We 
had  been  much  interested  in  the  previ- 
ous announcements  of  the  project.  The 
cultivators  of  science  in  this  country 
are  certainly  sufficiently  numerous  to 
maintain  an  organ  by  which  they  can 
promptly  communicate  with  each  other 
and  with  the  world  on  those  multifarious 
results  of  investigation  for  which  there 
have  hitherto  been  but  very  inadequate 
means.  The  want  of  such  a  periodical 
has  been  long  and  urgently  felt,  and 
attempts  have  before  been  made  to 
meet  it,  though  not  with  success.  Two 
things  are  required  to  put  such  an  en- 
terprise upon  a  satisfactory  basis — the 
general  and  hearty  support  of  scientific 
men,  and  capital  enough  for  all  the 
preliminary  needs  of  the  undertaking. 
"Science"  has  secured  both.  That  it 
has  the  abundant  confidence  and  co- 
operation of  American  scientific  men  in 
all  departments  of  inquiry  is  attested 
by  the  large  number  of  eminent  names 
that  have  appeared  in  the  newspapers 
in  connection  with  it,  and  also  by  the 
statement  of  the  prospectus  that  '"Sci- 
ence '  has  secured  in  advance  the  good- 

"  SCIENCE  " :  Published  weekly  at  Cambridge, 
Mass.  Moses  Kin?.  Publisher.  Proprietor.  ■■  The 
Science  Company ":  President,  Daniel  0.  Uilman; 
Vice-President,  Alexander  Graham  Bell;  Directors, 
D.  C.  Gilman,  A.  G-.  Bell,  G.  G.  Hubbard.  O.  C. 
Marsh;  Treasurer.  Samuel  H.  Scudder,  of  Cam- 
bridge. Pp.  2>.  Published  every  Friday;  price  15 
cents  per  number,  or  $5  a  year. 


will  and  active  support  of  a  large  body 
of  the  most  competent  scientific  men  of 
the  country,  as  will  sufficiently  appear 
upon  publication  of  a  few  numbers." 

Equally  necessary  was  a  liberal  pro- 
vision of  funds  to  float  the  enterprise. 
Notwithstanding  the  alleged  interest  in 
science  with  which  our  age  is  so  abun- 
dantly credited,  it  remains  doubtful  if  a 
journal  designed  mainly  for  the  wants 
of  specialists  can  be  remunerating,  at 
least  until  after  a  considerable  period 
of  time.  It  must  chiefly  appeal  to  the 
intellectual  requirements  of  advanced 
men ;  but  these  form  a  large  clientage. 
Working  upon  the  frontiers  of  scien- 
tific thought,  it  will  be  conversant  with 
inquiries  that  are,  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent, beyond  popular  reach.  Records  of 
the  progress  of  research  and  criticisms 
of  original  work  must  inevitably  be 
technical,  and  therefore  but  little  at- 
tractive to  the  non-scientific  classes. 
"  Science  "  will,  of  course,  have  its  pop- 
ular features,  but,  if  it  does  tolerable 
justice  to  the  body  of  American  inves- 
tigators and  gives  us  a  weekly  con- 
spectus of  the  condensed  results  of  cur- 
rent research  in  the  scientific  world,  it 
can  devote  but  limited  attention  to  pop- 
ular science.  But,  with  abundant  capi- 
tal, it  is  independent. 

The  numbers  of  "Science"  that 
have  thus  far  appeared  fulfill  every 
reasonable  expectation,  and  give  assur- 
ance that  the  journal  will  take  a  high 
i  rank  among  periodicals  of  its  class. 
There  is,  of  course,  room  for  criticism, 


844 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


as  there  would  be  at  any  rate,  whatever 
the  excellence  of  its  plan  or  the  thor- 
oughness of  its  execution ;  but  its  saga- 
cious editors  and  enterprising  managers 
may  be  best  trusted  to  detect  its  deficien- 
cies, and  to  repair  them  by  self-correct- 
ing experience.  The  first  number,  of 
course,  exemplifies  the  plan  of  the  week- 
ly. Besides  its  prospectus,  and  the  open- 
ing introductory  article,  there  are  inter- 
esting communications  from  Professor 
Langley,  Samuel  Kneeland,  Captain 
Dutton,  and  E.  H.  Hall,  together  with 
an  admirable  notice,  by  Professor  Asa 
Gray,  of  Alphonse  de  Candolle's  work 
on  "The  Origin  of  Cultivated  Plants," 
contributed  to  the  "  International  Sci- 
entific Series,"  and  soon  to  appear  in 
English.  After  a  brief  review  of  the 
"Natural  History  of  Minnesota,"  we 
come  to  perhaps  the  most  distinctive 
feature  of  the  journal,  in  the  "  Weekly 
Summary  of  the  Progress  of  Science  " 
which  is  given  in  the  first  number, 
under  the  successive  headings  of  Mathe- 
matics, Physics,  Chemistry,  Metallurgy, 
Geology,  Meteorology,  Physical  Geog- 
raphy, Geography,  Botany,  Zoology, 
Vertebrates,  Physiological  Psychology, 
and  Early  Institutions.  Several  of  these 
have  subdivisions,  as  Acoustics,  Optics, 
Photometry,  and  Photography,  under 
Physics;  and  Fish,  Reptiles,  Birds,  and 
Mammals,  under  the  title  of  Vertebrates. 
The  information  is  of  the  most  varied 
kind,  but  all  refers  to  recent  observa- 
tions, experiments,  or  inquiries.  Each 
distinct  statement  or  item  is  numbered, 
for  convenience  of  future  reference; 
and,  in  the  ten  pages  here  devoted  to 
the  weekly  progress  of  science,  we  have 
seventy-nine  of  these  brief  articles,  each 
signed  with  the  initials  of  a  responsible 
editor  in  his  own  branch.  We  know 
something  of  the  immense  care  and  la- 
bor which  such  a  department  involves. 
Following  this  is  "Intelligence  from 
American  Scientific  Stations,"  with 
"  Notes  and  News,"  general  and  person- 
al, and  a  copious  list  of  "  Recent  Books 
and  Pamphlets  on  Scientific  Subjects." 


Our  new  journal  is  thus  packed  with 
the  concentrated  nutriment  of  science, 
and  will  have  value  wherever  the  sub- 
stantial data  of  inquiry  are  appreciated. 
"Science "is  sure  to  contain  a  great 
deal  of  information  that  is  of  general 
importance,  and  we  cordially  recom- 
mend it  to  the  patronage  of  all  classes 
who  care  anything  for  the  positive  ad- 
vance of  knowledge  in  this  country. 

It  is  proper  to  add  that  we  are 
ourselves  interested  in  the  success  of 
"Science,"  with  special  reference  to 
our  own  line  of  work.  The  law  of 
progress  is  ever  through  division  of 
labor,  which  in  this  field  takes  the 
shape  of  specialty  of  publication.  We 
have  felt  the  need  of  such  a  periodical 
as  "  Science,"  because  we  have  been 
pressed  to  do  the  work  which  it  now 
undertakes,  but  which  it  has  been  im- 
possible for  us  to  perform.  A  monthly 
can  never  compete  with  a  weekly  or 
with  the  daily  press  in  giving  scien- 
tific news  ;  as  to  do  that  work  well  re- 
quires a  definite  and  comprehensive 
organization  for  the  purpose,  and  a 
frequency  of  publication  that  shall  se- 
cure the  prompt  diffusion  of  scientific 
intelligence.  "  Science "  will  do  this 
work  effectually,  and,  by  becoming  an 
organ  of  accredited  discovery  and  au- 
thorized opinion,  will  leave  us  free  to 
devote  ourselves  to  popularizing  and 
diffusing  the  approved  results  of  scien- 
tific inquiry. 


INCENTIVES   TO    THE  PURSUIT  OF  SCI- 
ENCE. 

But  while  welcoming  our  new  coad- 
jutor with  unqualified  approbation  as 
to  its  purpose  and  method,  we  confess 
to  some  misgiving  about  its  first  formal 
utterance  on  "  The  Future  of  Ameri- 
can Science,"  which  it  is  declared  almost 
in  a  tone  of  jubilation  is  to  be  distinct- 
ively and  supereminently  utilitarian. 
The  utilitarian  passion  of  the  American 
people,  it  is  here  maintained,  must  also 
become  the  animating  impulse  of  Amer- 
ican science.     Criticism  may  seem  un- 


EDITOR'S   TABLE. 


845 


gracious  in  this  place,  yet  we  can  not 
refrain  from  asking  if  it  is  quite  appro- 
priate to  the  character  of  such  an 
enterprise  to  begin  by  letting  down 
instead  of  elevating  the  ideal  of  in- 
spiration in  the  pursuit  of  original  sci- 
ence. 

After  com  mending  the  men  of  the 
past  who  have  made  eminent  achieve- 
ments in  pure  science  in  this  country, 
the  writer  says :  "  The  leading  feature 
of  American  science,  however,  and  that 
which  most  distinctly  characterizes  it,  is 
its  utilitarianism.  True  there  are  in  our 
country  able  investigators  working  in 
scientific  fields  which  do  not  offer  the 
promise  of  material  reward ;  but,  not- 
withstanding this,  it  remains  still  true 
that  those  sciences  whose  principles  are 
capable  of  useful  application  are  the 
most  zealously  cultivated  among  us,  and 
attract  the  largest  number  of  students. 
Nor  is  this  to  be  at  all  regretted.  Re- 
search is  none  the  less  genuine,  inves- 
tigation none  the  less  worthy,  because 
the  truth  it  discovers  is  utilizable  for 
the  benefit  of  mankind.  Granting  even 
that  the  discovery  of  truth  for  its  own 
sake  is  a  nobler  pursuit,  because  a  less 
purely  selfish  one,  does  it  become  any 
the  less  noble  when  it  is  ascertained 
that  the  truth  thus  discovered  is  capa- 
ble of  important  applications  which  in- 
crease tenfold  the  happiness  of  human 
life?  It  may  readily  be  conceded  that 
the  man  who  discovers  nothing  himself, 
but  only  applies  to  useful  purposes  the 
principles  which  others  have  discov- 
ered, stands  upon  a  lower  plane  than  the 
investigator.  But  when  the  investigator 
becomes  himself  the  utilizer,  when  the 
same  mind  that  made  the  discovery  con- 
trives also  the  machine  by  which  it  is 
applied  to  useful  purposes,  the  com- 
bined achievement  must  be  ranked  as 
superior  to  either  of  its  separate  re- 
sults." 

There  is  here  a  reversal  of  the  gra- 
dation in  the  motives  to  scientific  studj- 
which  has  been  too  long  and  too  clear- 
ly  recognized   to    be   lightly   brushed 


aside.  The  most  exalted  incentive  in 
the  pursuit  of  truth  is  that  high  appre- 
ciation of  it  which  makes  its  bare  dis- 
covery the  supreme  compensation  of 
the  investigator.  There  is  deeply  im- 
planted in  the  human  mind  a  desire  to 
find  out  the  secrets  of  nature;  and 
there  is  a  pleasure  in  the  satisfaction  of 
this  desire  which  has  ever  been  the 
sharpest  spur  of  scientific  research.  It 
is,  moreover,  this  impulse  to  seek  the 
truth  of  nature  for  the  simple  love  of  it 
that  has  played  much  the  most  promi- 
nent part  in  the  progress  of  science. 
But,  though  animated  by  a  noble  pur- 
pose men  are  human  still,  and  so  they 
have  been  also  impelled  to  scientific 
discoveries  by  the  lower  impulses  of 
personal  ambition,  or  because  of  the 
honor  and  fame  they  will  confer. 
There  is,  besides,  an  inducement  to 
scientific  inquiry  on  account  of  the  use- 
fulness of  its  results  in  practical  life, 
or  the  motive  of  public  utility.  And, 
finally,  there  is  the  desire  to  reach  new 
results  for  the  selfish  individual  advan- 
tage of  turning  them  to  profitable  ac- 
count: this  is  the  mercenary  motive, 
and  is,  of  course,  the  lowest  of  all. 

Now,  human  motives  are  often  a 
good  deal  mixed,  yet  dominant  inten- 
tions are  not  difficult  to  detect.  In  this 
case,  what  a  man  does  with  his  discov- 
ery must  be  taken  as  proof  of  his  inten- 
tion in  making  it.  If  a  man  finds  out 
a  new  fact,  makes  a  new  observation, 
or  works  out  a  new  principle,  and  then 
communicates  it  to  the  world,  he  is  to 
be  fairly  credited  with  the  motive  of 
laboring  for  the  increase  of  knowledge 
for  the  sake  of  knowledge.  If  he  is 
solicitous  about  the  priority  of  his  re- 
sult, we  know  that  he  prizes  the  per- 
sonal honor  that  it  will  confer.  If  he 
makes  a  discovery  and  applies  it  to 
some  useful  end,  and  then  presents  it 
to  society  for  the  promotion  of  the 
public  good,  he  is  to  be  credited  with 
the  philanthropic  motive  of  contribut- 
ing to  the  common  utility.  But,  if  he 
makes  a  discovery,  and,  shrewdly  keep- 


846 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


ing  it  to  himself,  applies  it  to  a  prac- 
tical use,  and  then  patents  it  for  his 
own  profit,  the  act  qualifies  the  motive 
as  selfish  and  sordid,  and  of  the  lowest 
kind.  The  writer  in  "Science"  main- 
tains that  where  an  invention  is  tacked 
on  to  a  discovery,  the  compound  result 
must  he  superior  to  its  separate  ele- 
ments. But  invention  is  not  science, 
and  can  not  count  in  ranking  scientific 
achievement.  Rank  is  here  determined 
solely  by  the  elevation  or  the  degrada- 
tion of  the  motives  by  which  men  are 
impelled  to  research.  Davy  made  dis- 
coveries in  combustion  which  enabled 
him  to  #invent  the  safety-lamp,  but  he 
at  once  gave  it  freely  to  the  world.  Dr. 
Wollaston  discovered  the  malleability 
of  platinum,  and  devised  the  means  of 
producing  it  on  a  commercial  scale,  but 
he  kept  his  inventions  a  secret  and  ac- 
quired great  wealth  by  them.  The  two 
transactions,  however,  are  ranked  in 
scientific  history  as  of  two  orders,  and 
as  widely  apart  as  generosity  is  from 
greed. 

Inventions  are  excellent  things,  and 
we  have  certainly  no  objection  to  pat- 
enting them ;  but,  as  we  have  said  be- 
fore, they  are  not  parts  of  science,  and 
when  introduced  in  connection  with  the 
work  of  scientific  discovery  they  serve 
only  to  mark  the  lower  purpose  for 
which  it  is  pursued.  We  are  not  re- 
sponsible for  this  mixing  up  of  patent- 
rights  with  science,  and  protest  against 
the  use  of  them  to  magnify  utility,  and 
cast  virtual  disparagement  upon  the 
highest  motives  of  scientific  investiga- 
tion. The  writer  upon  "The  Future  of 
American  Science  "  identifies  the  inter- 
ests of  invention  with  those  of  science 
in  a  way  that  antiquates  the  simple- 
minded  devotee  to  truth  for  its  own 
sake.  He  says :  "  The  inventive  genius 
of  this  country  is  pre-eminent.  We 
reap  the  benefits  of  it  on  every  side. 
Our  houses  are  more  comfortable,  our 
railways  more  safe,  our  fabrics  cheaper, 
and  our  education  more  thorough,  be- 
cause of  useful  inventions.     Becoming 


restive  at  the  slow  progress  of  discov- 
ery, the  inventor  has  himself  assumed 
the  role  of  investigator ;  and  the  results 
of  his  researches  appear  in  the  records 
of  the  Patent-Office.  In  the  olden  times, 
the  investigator  was  content  to  make 
his  discoveries,  and  to  publish  them, 
consecrating  to  science  the  knowledge 
thus  obtained.  His  more  modern  rep- 
resentative carefully  treasures  what  he 
has  discovered  until  he  has  exhausted 
its  practical  application.  In  conse- 
quence, the  discoveries  upon  which 
many  of  the  most  important  scientific 
inventions  of  the  day  rest  will  be 
searched  for  in  vain  in  scientific  litera- 
ture. The  telegraph,  the  telephone, 
and  the  electric  light  are  inventions 
which  illustrate  the  fact  now  stated  in 
an  eminent  degree." 

The  significance  of  the  new  depart- 
ure, which  substitutes  the  lowest  for 
the  highest  inducement  to  scientific 
labor,  is  here  sufficiently  apparent.  It 
is  the  old  fogy  of  "the  olden  times" 
that  was  content  "to  make  his  dis- 
coveries, and  to  publish  them " ;  it  is 
his  wide-awake  "modern  representa- 
tive" that  keeps  his  results  to  himself 
until  he  can  turn  them  to  the  purposes 
of  private  speculation,  through  the 
agency  of  the  Patent- Office.  But  if  it 
is  not  to  be  the  policy  of  the  coming  sci- 
entific utilitarian  to  publish,  pray  what 
is  the  function  of  the  new  weekly? 
And,  when  the  inventor  gets  "restive 
at  the  slow  progress  of  discovery,"  and 
proposes  to  take  hold  of  it  himself  we 
may  commend  his  enterprise,  but  there 
are  some  things  of  which  it  is  desirable 
that  he  should  be  reminded.  First  of 
all,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact,  scientific 
truth  has  been  a  slow  growth  of  ages. 
"  The  telegraph,  the  telephone,  and  the 
electric  light"  illustrate  a  good  deal 
more  than  is  here  stated.  Centuries 
of  labor,  and  the  blood  of  generations 
of  indefatigable  scientific  workers,  had 
been  expended  in  experimental  re- 
searches upon  electricity,  before  the 
facts  were  disclosed  and  the  principles 


EDITOR'S   TABLE. 


847 


established  which  have  now  become 
available  in  their  useful  applications. 
Priestley's  "History  of  Electricity," 
published  a  hundred  and  sixteen  years 
ago,  was  even  then  a  ponderous  volume, 
though  it  was  but  an  epitome  of  older 
successful  work,  and  took  little  note  of 
the  labors  that  failed  to  issue  in  new 
results.  Science  is,  indeed,  a  very  slow 
growth,  and  long  periods  of  unremit- 
ting toil  must  pass  before  its  final  stages 
of  flowering  and  fruiting  are  reached, 
even  in  those  comparatively  few  cases 
where  the  fruit  can  be  turned  into  gold. 
There  are  those  who  have  at  length  the 
good  fortune  to  shake  the  tree  of  scien- 
tific knowledge  when  its  fruit  is  ripe, 
and  they  may  be  alert  to  clap  the  pad- 
lock of  the  Patent-Office  on  their  results 
so  as  to  be  able  to  use  them  with  profit ; 
but  there  can  be  no  greater  mistake 
than  to  assume  that  the  time  has  come 
when  scientific  workers  generally  can 
be  encouraged  to  devote  themselves  to 
the  reaping  of  the  profitable  pecuniary 
harvest  of  past  researches.  In  the  broad 
field  of  original  scientific  investigation, 
not  one  part  in  a  hundred  is  capable  of 
being  cultivated  with  any  possible  hope  J 
of  turning  its  results  to  pecuniary  ac-  1 
count.  A  hasty  glance  at  the  pages  of  1 
"Science"  is  quite  sufficient  to  show 
the  utter  futility  of  supposing  that  the 
multifarious  labors  there  indicated  can 
ever  issue  in  any  pecuniary  advantage 
to  those  who  perform  them. 

But  the  writer  in  "  Science  "  pushes 
his  case  still  further,  as  follows : 

The  science  of  to-day  is  in  thorough  ac- 
cord with  the  spirit  of  the  American  peo- 
ple. They  are  proud  of  every  achievement  it 
makes,  and  are  satisfied  with  the  returns  it  is 
giving  them  for  their  investments.  To  con- 
tinue this  entente  eordiale  should  be  the  ob- 
ject of  every  scientific  worker.  He  may  the 
more  readily  concede  some  practical  return 
for  the  facilities  for  investigation  which  the 
people  have  furnished,  since  the  march  of 
discovery  is  not  in  the  least  hindered  but 
rather  promoted  by  the  practical  application 
of  the  new  truth  it  develops.  His  attitude 
toward  invention  should  be  appreciative  and 
cordial.     He  should  cast  aside  all  prejudice 


against  the  man  of  patents  and  practical  de- 
vices, and  should  stand  ready  to  welcome  the 
investigator,  m  whatever  garb  he  appears. 

Again  we  protest  against  this  con- 
founding of  science  with  business.  The 
writer  talks  about  the  American  people 
investing  in  science,  and  being  satisfied 
with  the  returns.  But  science  is  not  a 
thing  to  be  invested  in ;  people  invest 
in  patent-rights  and  stock-companies, 
and  may  be  well  pleased  with  their  re- 
turns, and  proud  of  their  inventors, 
but  they  are  not  therefore  patrons  of 
science.  Let  the  man  of  patents  stand 
upon  his  own  merits,  and  go  for  what 
he  is  worth,  and  not  construe  the  suc- 
cess  of  his  business  operations  as  an 
evidence  of  the  high  public  apprecia- 
tion of  genuine  scientific  work. 

The  disparagement  of  scientific  in- 
vestigation from  its  highest  motive,  by 
the  writer  in  "  Science,"  is  undisguis- 
edly  and  almost  offensively  explicit. 
He  says,  "  While  the  scientific  cynic 
may  condemn  the  utilitarianism  of  our 
age,  the  more  liberal  man  rejoices  in 
it."  The  devoted  student,  impelled  by 
the  loftiest  spirit,  which  refuses  to  be 
influenced  by  lower  considerations,  is 
not  well  characterized  as  a  "  scientific 
cynic  "  ;  nor  is  he  who  works  from  the 
lowest  motive  entitled  to  applause  as 
"the  more  liberal  man."  "We  reiterate 
that  the  nobler  motive  has  been  a 
thousand-fold  more  potent  in  creating 
the  great  body  of  scientific  truth  than 
the  more  sordid  motive.  The  one  su- 
preme lesson  taught  by  the  history  of 
science  for  the  last  three  centuries  is, 
that  the  world  mainly  owe3  its  great 
results  to  the  single-minded  devotion 
of  its  cultivators,  to  the  pursuit  of 
truth  for  the  sake  of  truth  alone.  This 
has  ever  been,  and  it  must  always  con- 
tinue to  be,  the  most  elevated  and  gen- 
erous, as  well  as  the  most  powerful 
mental  motor  in  the  prosecution  of 
truly  scientific  investigations.  That 
there  is  a  wide-spread  and  an  active 
tendency  in  this  country  to  degrade 
science    to   the    low,    money  -  making 


848 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


level  of  a  society  immersed  in  mate- 
rial interests  and  given  over  to  the  pur- 
suit of  wealth,  is  no  doubt  true,  but 
it  is  a  state  of  things  to  be  deplored 
and  to  be  withstood,  rather  than  to  be 
complacently  accepted  aud  applauded. 
Let  men  pursue  science  from  whatever 
motive  they  will — all  valid  results  are 
valuable — we  only  object  to  this  for- 
mal surrender  of  the  highest  ground 
at  a  time  and  in  circumstances  which 
require  that  it  should  be  steadfastly 
maintained.  It  is  neither  possible  nor 
desirable  to  disconnect  science  from  its 
useful  applications,  but  as  Goethe  says, 
"the  useful  may  be  left  to  take  care  of 
itself";  there  is  no  danger  of  its  being 
neglected.  Our  objection  is  to  this 
inaugurating  something  like  a  national 
policy  of  science,  animated  by  the  mer- 
cenary spirit  which  it  has  been  the  glory 
of  science  to  have  always  resisted  as 
the  proper  or  highest  motive  of  its  cul- 
tivation. 


HINDRANCES  TO   THE  SCIENCE  OF 
POLITICS. 

We  briefly  notice,  in  its  appropriate 
place,  a  new  book  having  the  title  of 
the  "Science  of  Politics,"  and  we  re- 
print a  portion  of  its  important  pre- 
liminary chapter,  designed  to  point  out 
the  nature  and  limits  of  this  alleged 
science.  The  author  shows  the  valid 
grounds  upon  which  it  rests,  and  the 
certainty  of  its  future  development ; 
but  he  at  the  same  time  indicates  very 
clearly  the  formidable  difficulties  which 
hinder,  and  will  long  continue  to  hin- 
der, the  recognition  of  politics  as  a 
regular  branch  of  scientific  inquiry. 

And  among  these  obstacles  attention 
is  called  to  one  which  seems  singularly 
enough  to  be  itself  a  product  of  politi- 
cal progress :  it  is  that  a  conception  of 
a  scientific  politics  may  be  expected  to 
meet  with  most  resistance  under  gov- 
ernments theoretically  most  liberal  and 
advanced.  "We  should  certainly  antici- 
pate that  where  there  is  the  greatest  in- 
telligence, and  the  form  of  government 


is  most  popular,  there  would  be  the 
greatest  tendency  to  the  study  of  politi- 
cal institutions  from  a  scientific  point  of 
view  ;  and  accordingly  we  might  expect 
that  the  subject  would  be  congenial  to 
American  students  of  political  affairs. 
And  yet  it  is  probable  that  nowhere  else 
will  there  be  found  so  wide-spread  and 
pronounced  a  skepticism  in  regard  to 
it  as  in  this  country.  If  we  could  take 
the  sense  of  the  American  Congress 
upon  this  point,  who  can  doubt  that 
its  members  would  decide  with  the 
greatest  unanimity  that  there  is,  and 
can  be,  no  such  science  as  that  of  which 
our  author  undertakes  to  lay  down  the 
elements?  Nor  can  we  for  a  moment 
expect  that  the  law-makers  in  all  our 
State  Legislatures  would  disagree  with 
such  a  congressional  decision.  So  much, 
at  any  rate,  may  be  assumed,  that, 
whether  or  not  there  be  such  a  thing  as 
a  possible  or  actual  science  of  this  kind, 
American  politicians  generally  are  pro- 
foundly ignorant  of  it,  and  will,  more- 
over, have  little  interest  to  inquire 
seriously  into  its  claims.  Nor  can  we 
escape  the  conclusion  that,  of  all  classes 
of  the  community,  none  are  so  little 
concerned  about  politics,  as  a  problem 
of  principles,  as  the  class  of  men  who 
make  politics  a  profession.  This  is  a 
curious  state  of  things  in  a  country 
where  we  hear  on  every  hand  that 
intelligence  is  the  first  condition  of 
the  perpetuity  of  popular  government. 
While  intelligence  is  held  to  be  so  fun- 
damental a  necessity  in  this  republic 
that  the  state  actually  assumes  the  duty 
and  the  responsibility  of  molding  the 
minds  and  characters  of  its  citizens  into 
conformity  with  our  political  require- 
ments, yet  the  idea  that  there  is  any 
science  or  fixed  order  of  relations,  or 
inevitable  working  of  cause  and  effect, 
in  the  political  sphere,  will  be  generally 
scouted  as  chimerical. 

What  is  the  explanation  of  this  anom- 
alous state  of  things?  The  answer  is, 
that  the  most  popular  forms  of  govern- 
ment engender  the  worst  forms  of  poli- 


EDITOR'S   TABLE. 


849 


tics,  and  favor  and  foster  states  of  mind 
that  exclude  all  considerations  of  a  sci- 
entific nature.  This  may  be  an  unpal- 
atable conclusion,  but  unpalatable  con- 
clusions are  often  true.  We  have  to 
face  the  disagreeable  fact  that  it  is  under 
the  most  liberal  and  perfected  political 
institutions,  so  called,  that  the  incal- 
culable element  of  personal  caprice  in 
political  affairs  comes  into  greatest  as- 
cendency. "We  speak  of  kingly  rule  as 
the  type  of  personal  government,  but 
personal  government  is  only  seen  in  its 
highest  power  and  effect  where  each 
citizen  has  become  a  sovereign.  It  is 
only  where  the  self-seeking  of  the  sin- 
gle monarch  is  multiplied  by  millions 
in  a  nation  of  potential  office-holders, 
that  the  selfishness  of  personal  politics 
rises  to  its  maximum  influence.  It  is 
only  in  a  country  where  everybody  is 
eligible  to  office,  where  the  incentives 
to  office-seeking  are  universal,  where 
politics  has  become  such  a  national  pas- 
sion that  the  whole  scheme  of  public 
education  is  subordinated  to  it,  that 
personal  aspirations  and  the  interests 
of  selfish  ambition  will  dominate  unre- 
stricted in  the  management  of  public 
affairs.  And  it  is  undeniable  that  poli- 
tics with  us  is  coming  to  be  more  and 
more  a  business,  a  vocation  to  be  pur- 
sued for  profit  and  emolument  by  suc- 
cessful office-seeking.  Under  such  a 
system  the  winning  politician  will  not 
be  the  man  of  intelligence,  deliberation, 
and  principle,  but  the  man  skilled  in 
all  the  low  arts  which  will  insure  po- 
litical success.  He  will  be  the  shrewd- 
est operator  of  the  partisan  mob.  Noth- 
ing is  more  notorious  than  that  under 
the  working  of  our  popular  political 
institutions,  the  best  men  go  to  the 
wall,  and  the  worst  men  come  to  the 
front.  By  the  very  conditions  of  the 
case,  it  is  the  crafty  operators,  the  long- 
headed managers,  caucus  manipulators, 
party  intriguers,  and  brazen,  indefati- 
gable demagogues,  who  secure  the  of- 
fices. From  the  General  Government 
down  through  all  the  ramifications  of 
vol.  xxii. — 54 


legislation  and  administration  to  the 
petty  town  officials,  the  places  are  fill- 
ed by  partisan  professionals,  so  that 
the  first  presumption  in  regard  to  an 
office-holder  is  that  he  is  unfit  for 
the  place.  And  such  is  the  extent  of 
this  field,  and  the  intensity  of  the  com- 
petition in  it,  that  the  preparation  for 
it  is  of  the  most  absorbing  nature,  so  as 
to  afford  a  virtual  guarantee  that  the 
incumbents  of  office  will  be  profoundly 
ignorant  of  all  that  it  is  most  important 
for  them  to  know.  These  are  of  course 
not  the  men  to  appreciate  the  scientifie 
elements  and  aspects  of  governmental 
affairs.  Such  considerations  are  not 
available  for  their  purposes.  Every- 
thing like  statesmanship,  the  forecast 
of  distant  consequences  in  government 
policy,  will  be  excluded  from  their 
minds  by  the  pressure  of  immediate 
interests,  the  advancement  of  personal 
projects,  and  the  achievement  of  po- 
litical success  in  accordance  with  cur- 
rent ideas.  The  politician  looks  out 
first  for  himself,  and  all  his  study  is  to 
get  a  better  thing  than  he  already  has. 
Only  the  one  at  the  top  can  get  no 
higher,  and  his  soul  is  devoured  by  the 
ambition  to  be  re-elected  By  the  very 
instinct  of  the  situation,  which  involves 
calculations  of  immediate  effect,  the  pol- 
itician will  be  comparatively  indifferent 
to  all  those  slow-working  agencies  which 
yield  enduring  results  of  the  highest 
value,  and  which  it  is  the  great  object 
of  science  to  elucidate,  and  of  genuine 
statesmanship  to  recognize  in  govern- 
ment policy. 

In  dealing  with  the  hindrances  to 
the  due  consideration  of  a  science  of 
politics,  the  author  of  the  work  referred 
to  remarks  as  follows  upon  the  adverse 
tendencies  which  are  to  be  met  with 
even  under  the  best  governments: 

The  topic  is  naturally  relegated  to  the 
region  of  caprice  and  accident,  or  to  that  of 
tentative  experiment  and  spasmodic  contriv- 
ance. This  intellectual  consequence  is  in- 
tensified by  the  fact  that  all  governments — 
and  not  least  those  known  at  the  present  day 
as  the  freest,  and,  on  the  whole,  the  sound- 


850 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


est — are  habitually  made  the  arena  of  pure- 
lv  ambitious  contention,  of  selfish  aspiration, 
and  even  of  corrupt  conspiracies  against  the 
public  well-being.  The  wider  the  territorial 
area  of  any  particular  government,  and  the 
more  complicated  and  extensive  its  essential 
mechanism,  the  more  opportunity  is  there  for 
the  exhibition  of  personal,  or,  at  the  most,  of 
local  self-seeking.  So  far  as  this  prevails, 
politics  becomes  degraded  into  a  mere  vul- 
gar struggle  for  money,  office,  or  power.  All 
actual  reference  to  scientific  considerations 
is  excluded.  The  tone  of  public  thought  and 
sentiment  becomes  proportionately  infected, 
and  all  the  claims  which  might  otherwise  be 
asserted  on  behalf  of  politics  to  take  its  place 
by  the  side  of  other  sciences  dealing  with 
such  moral  elements  as  the  human  will  meet 
with  a  skeptical  repudiation. 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 

INTEKNATIONAL  SCIENTIFIC  8EEIES. 
No.  XLIII. 

The  Science  of  Politics.  By  Sheldon 
Amos,  M.  A.,  author  of  "  The  Science  of 
Law,"  etc.,  late  Professor  of  Jurispru- 
dence in  Universitv  College,  London. 
Pp.  490.     Price,  $l"75. 

It  is  doubtful  if  any  book  could  be  of- 
fered to  the  American  public  of  which  they 
would  be  so  little  able  to  judge  what  it  might 
be  about,  as  a  treatise  on  "  the  science  of 
politics."  It  would  rather  be  expected  that 
the  writer  would  choose  some  such  title  to 
give  respectability  and  character  to  new  po- 
litical theories  of  his  own,  and  it  would  at 
any  rate  be  anticipated  that  the  work  would 
be  largely  of  a  visionary  and  speculative 
nature.  Yet  no  such  expectation  would 
have  been  justified  in  the  present  instance. 
Professor  Amos  has  given  to  the  world  an 
instructive  and  valuable  contribution  to  the 
important  subject  which  he  has  felt  it  incum- 
bent upon  him  to  undertake.  It  is  first  of 
all  a  moderate,  judicious  treatise,  indulging 
in  no  extreme  or  extravagant  views,  and 
imbued  throughout  with  the  true  scientific 
spirit.  Professor  Amos  has  this  claim,  which 
is  probably  an  advantage  in  the  treatment  of 
his  subject:  he  is  not  a  man  trained  in  the 
field  of  physical  science  who  has  felt  that 
he  had  a  mission  to  carry  physical  methods 
of  study  over  into  the  political  region  to 
open  a  new  dispensation  of  political  philoso- 
phy.    On  the  contrary,  he  is  an  erudite  stu- 


dent of  history,  law,  and  civil  institutions, 
and  has  made  jurisprudence  and  the  work- 
ing of  political  constitutions  a  matter  of  life- 
long and  critical  investigation.  His  prepa- 
ration has  been  in  the  general  field  which 
furnishes  the  subject-matter  of  his  book, 
and  he  has  come  to  the  large  conception  of 
a  science  of  politics  through  inquiry  into 
the  relations  of  political  phenomena.  From 
this  consideration,  his  work  will  have  a 
weight  and  a  practical  character  which  no 
amount  of  preparation  in  the  special  sciences 
could  have  given  it.  We  are  of  opinion 
that  Mr.  Spencer's  "  Development  of  Politi- 
cal Institutions,"  dealing  strictly  with  the 
subject  from  the  point  of  view  of  historic 
evolution,  is  probably  a  more  valuable  contri- 
bution towai'd  the  organization  of  a  political 
science  than  this  work  of  Professor  Amos, 
and  yet  it  may  not  be  so  well  adapted  to  inter- 
est general  readers  in  the  claims  and  grounds 
of  this  new  subject.  At  all  events,  Professor 
Amos's  book  is  better  suited  to  the  state  of 
mind  of  politicians,  who,  being  generally  of 
the  class  of  lawyers,  will  be  more  familiar 
with  his  data  and  the  questions  he  discusses 
than  they  would  be  with  the  rigorous  in- 
quiries into  the  genesis  of  political  ideas 
worked  out  by  an  analysis  of  primitive  so- 
ciety. The  plan  of  the  work  before  us  may 
be  best  gathered  from  a  statement  of  the 
topics  dealt  with  in  its  successive  chapters. 
These  are :  I.  "  Nature  and  Limits  of  the  Sci- 
ence of  Politics."  II.  "  Political  Terms." 
III.  "Political  Reasoning."  IV.  "The  Geo- 
graphical Area  of  Modern  Politics."  V. 
"  The  Primary  Elements  of  Political  Life 
and  Action."  VI.  "Constitutions."  VII. 
"Local  Government."  VIII.  "The  Gov- 
ernment of  Dependencies."  IX.  "  Foreign 
Relations."  X.  "  The  Province  of  Govern- 
ment." XL  "  Revolutions  in  States."  XII. 
"  Right  and  Wrong  in  Politics." 

Obviously  the  first  implication  of  science 
is  of  laws  or  principles  of  a  general  nature, 
or  that  are  universal  in  their  operation.  A 
science  of  politics,  therefore,  if  there  be  such 
a  thing,  must  deal  with  political  phenomena 
in  their  most  comprehensive  forms,  or  as 
exemplified  under  wide  diversities  of  consti- 
tution. It  will  be  seen  from  the  titles  above 
enumerated  that  the  range  of  discussion  in 
the  present  volume  is  broad,  and  deals  with 
all  the  chief  fundamental  problems  relating 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


851 


to  the  policy  of  government.  Under  the 
forms  of  diverse  institutions,  Professor  Amos 
seeks  to  trace  the  tendencies  and  influences 
that  are  at  work  for  good  or  for  evil,  and 
by  which  the  value  of  the  accompanying 
forms  must  be  judged.  The  book,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  can  not  be  as  spicy  as  a 
treatise  on  local  politics,  appealing  to  the 
bias  and  prejudice  of  patriotic  feeling,  but 
just  for  this  reason  its  influence  will  be  salu- 
tary and  wholesome.  We  greatly  need  that 
catholicity  of  view  in  dealing  with  political 
subjects  which  it  is  the  object  of  science  to 
illustrate  and  enforce. 

Description  of  Houghton  Farm  by  H.  E. 
A. ;  with  experiments  on  Indian  Corn, 
1880-81,  by  Manly  Miles,  Director  of 
Experiments.  With  a  Summary  of  the 
Experiments  with  Wheat  for  Forty 
Years  at  Rothamsted.  Cambridge  : 
Printed  at  the  Riverside  Press.     Pp.  75. 

Experimental  scientific  agriculture  — 
anything  truly  entitled  to  the  name— is 
perhaps  one  of  the  most  difficult  things  that 
a  man  can  undertake.  Experimental  sci- 
ence, anyhow  earnestly  pursued,  is  the  hard- 
est kind  of  work.  Mere  experiments  are,  of 
course,  easy  enough,  and  it  is  easy  to  parade 
their  results  and  talk  about  new  discoveries, 
of  which  people  generally  know  nothing. 
But  to  make  experimental  investigations 
tributary  to  any  real  advance  of  knowledge, 
to  get  new  and  valuable  results  which  will 
stand,  or  to  give  greater  precision  and  trust- 
worthiness to  accepted  conclusions,  is  as  far 
as  possible  from  easy,  and  is,  indeed,  so 
difficult  as  to  be  but  rarely  attained.  It  is 
quite  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  laboratories 
grind  out  new  truth  with  the  regularity  of 
a  flouring-mill.  Elaborate  experiments  may 
go  on  for  years,  and  nothing  come  of  them 
worth  preserving.  It  is  exactly  this  diffi- 
culty in  getting  it  that  makes  scientific  truth 
so  precious.  It  is  like  diamond-digging, 
only  the  "  finds "  are  much  less  frequent, 
and  infinitely  more  valuable. 

But,  if  in  each  of  the  sciences,  with  per- 
fected equipments  of  research  and  a  com- 
paratively narrow  field,  it  is  so  hard  to  add 
anything  new  to  the  stock  of  knowledge, 
how  much  more  difficult  must  it  be  when 
the  attack  is  made  upon  a  whole  group  ot 
mutually  dependent  sciences !  The  farm, 
taken  as  an  arena  of  experiment,  is  itself  a 


congeries  of  laboratories.  The  phenomena 
involved  are  physical,  chemical,  geological, 
meteorological,  and  broadly  biological — that 
is,  embracing  the  economy  of  vegetal  and 
animal  life,  from  mildews  to  fruit-orchards, 
from  insects  to  vertebrates.  To  know  the 
nature  of  the  soil,  the  nature  of  the  air,  the 
nature  of  fertilizers,  the  nature  of  plants 
and  animals  of  all  kinds,  so  as  to  study  them 
in  their  vital  connections  by  experimental 
processes  that  shall  bring  out  valuable  and 
lasting  results,  is  hence,  as  we  have  said, 
one  of  the  most  formidable  of  tasks. 

In  the  first  place,  there  will  arise  all  the 
difficulties  encountered  in  the  pursuit  of  the 
special  sciences,  with  the  disadvantage  that 
the  means  of  investigation  are  very  rarely 
so  perfect.  But  the  peculiar  and  most  for- 
midable difficulty  of  agricultural  science 
arises  from  the  fact  that  the  farm  is  itself 
a  grand  laboratory  of  nature,  which  imposes 
its  own  conditions  of  inquiry.  And  the 
first  of  these  conditions  is,  that  Nature  must 
be  taken  at  her  own  pace.  Her  processes 
go  on  at  their  own  rates,  and  can  not  be 
much  forced.  The  natural  changes  in- 
volved in  agricultural  effects  proceed  slow- 
ly, and  the  experimenter  must  conform  his 
plans  to  this  fact.  The  changes  of  soil,  the 
action  of  fertilizers,  the  improvement  of 
crops,  the  culture  of  stock,  involve  slowly 
accumulating  results,  require  time,  and,  in 
addition  to  knowledge  and  skill  on  the  part 
of  the  investigator,  he  must  also  have  pa- 
tience and  perseverance,  remembering  that 
the  fruits  of  his  efforts  belong  to  the  future. 
Agricultural  science,  if  honest,  can  not 
strike  for  immediate  results ;  that  scientific 
farming  which  demands  something  to  dis- 
play promptly,  like  prize-cattle  and  prize- 
crops,  or  that  seeks  to  astonish  the  neigh- 
borhood, is  a  sham,  and  only  brings  an 
excellent  thing  into  unmerited  disgrace. 
This  is  what  must  be,  and  what  is  shown 
by  abundant  experience.  The  farm  estab- 
lishments started  by  rich  men  for  the  pro- 
motion of  agricultural  science,  and  which 
have  come  to  nothing,  may  be  counted  by 
hundreds.  On  the  contrary,  the  one  which 
has  a  world-wide  reputation  for  having 
made  the  largest  contribution  to  agricultu- 
ral progress  is  working  by  a  system  which 
requires  a  long  series  of  years  to  develop  its 
results.     The  Rothamsted  farm  of  Messrs. 


852 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


Lawes  and  Gilbert  has  been  forty  years  in 
getting  under  way,  and  its  most  important 
results  are  still  matters  of  hope  and  belong 
to  the  future.  This  is  in  accordance  with 
the  spirit  and  requirements  of  true  scientific 
agriculture. 

We  have  been  led  to  these  remarks  by 
an  examination  of  the  pamphlet  before  us, 
which  reports  the  initial  steps  of  a  new 
American  attempt  at  scientific  agriculture. 
Six  hundred  acres  of  Orange  County  land, 
named  Houghton  Farm,  and  owned  by  a 
wealthy  manufacturer,  Mr.  Lawson  Valen- 
tine, have  been  devoted  by  him  to  "  a  long- 
cherished  plan  for  doing  something  toward 
the  progress  of  American  agriculture."  The 
proprietor  resolved  that  to  attain  this  ob- 
ject he  would  constitute  "  a  scientific  depart- 
ment devoted  to  agricultural  investigation 
and  experiment,  and  that  such  department 
be  of  the  highest  order " ;  and  that  "  the 
farm  operations  be  carried  on  in  accordance 
with  the  best-known  methods  and  under 
the  best  possible  organization  and  manage- 
ment, with  a  view  of  educating  and  en- 
lightening others  by  furnishing  valuable 
examples  and  results  in  practical  agricul- 
ture." A  good  deal  of  hard  thinking  and 
difficult  work  was  here  laid  out  for  some- 
body, and  very  naturally  Mr.  Valentine,  a 
business  man,  cast  about  for  able  help  in 
carrying  on  his  enterprise.  He  had  the 
good  fortune  to  secure  the  services  of  Dr. 
Manly  Miles,  of  the  Michigan  Agricultural 
College,  a  man  well  prepared  for  original 
agricultural  investigations,  to  take  the  di- 
rection of  the  farm  experiments.  It  was 
proposed  to  attempt  for  Indian  corn  in  this 
country  what  had  been  done  for  wheat  by 
Lawes  and  Gilbert  in  England — that  is,  to 
carry  its  cultivation  through  a  course  of 
years  on  assigned  plots  of  ground,  for  the 
purpose  of  determining  the  quality  and 
quantity  of  the  product  with  different  fer- 
tilizers, different  modes  of  treatment,  etc. 
The  pamphlet  before  us  contains  Dr.  Miles's 
report  on  the  work  of  1S80-'81.  This  re- 
port lays  down  the  method  to  be  pursued, 
and  embodies  the  first  results.  It  indicates 
the  plans  of  drainage  adopted,  gives  the 
previous  history  of  the  plots  of  ground, 
describes  the  selection  of  seed,  and  gives 
the  carefully  tabulated  results  from  unma- 
nured  plots,  plots  treated  with  farm-yard 


manure,  and  a  considerable  number  of  the 
most  important  artificial  fertilizers.  The 
mechanical  operations  of  culture  arc  care- 
fully described,  the  peculiarities  of  the  sea- 
son recorded,  and  there  is  a  minute  descrip- 
tion of  the  precautions  taken  to  determine 
accurately  the  quantitative  results  of  the 
matured  crops.  The  main  results,  of  course, 
assume  a  tabular  numerical  form,  but  Dr. 
Miles  has  also  introduced  very  successfully 
the  graphic  method  of  conveying  generali- 
zations and  comparisons  to  the  eye  by  means 
of  diagrams.  There  are  all  the  indications 
in  this  report  of  intelligent,  conscientious, 
painstaking,  and  persevering  work.  The 
document  is  undoubtedly  valuable  for  the 
positive  information  it  contains,  although 
from  the  nature  of  the  case  the  first  results 
of  such  a  trial-scries  of  experiments  must 
have  the  lowest  value  of  any  terms  of  the 
series.  Single  experiments  in  agriculture 
are  worth  but  little,  and  only  become  valu- 
able as  they  are  verified.  Time  and  con- 
tinued research  are  indispensable  for  the 
elimination  of  error. 

No  one  can  carefully  examine  this  report 
without  recognizing  that  the  experiments 
were  intelligently  planned  and  thoroughly 
executed  as  far  as  they  went,  giving  prom- 
ise that  by  rigorously  carrying  out  the  sys- 
tem adopted  still  more  valuable  results  will 
be  attained.  We  have  been  informed  that, 
when  Dr.  Miles  undertook  the  work,  he  did 
so  under  the  explicit  condition  that  he 
should  have  charge  of  the  experiments  for 
at  least  a  period  of  ten  years,  that  time 
being  indispensable  to  achieve  anything 
worthy  the  name  of  a  contribution  to  agri- 
cultural science.  Yet,  after  a  year  of  pre- 
paration, and  two  seasons  of  systematic 
work,  presto,  the  director  of  experiments 
at  Houghton  Farm  is  found  installed  as 
professor  in  the  Agricultural  College  at 
Amherst,  Massachusetts.  What  there  was 
about  these  initiative  experiments  on  In- 
dian corn  which  Mr.  Valentine  found  un- 
satisfactory does  not  appear  in  the  docu- 
ment before  us ;  but  we  have  heard  that  the 
director  of  experiments  was  complained  of 
as  "  slow."  This  is  probably  because  strik- 
ing results  did  not  come  out  fast  enough  to 
suit  the  enterprising  proprietor ;  but,  if  so, 
it  docs  not  augur  well  for  the  usefulness 
of  Houghton  Farm.     That  highest  order  of 


LITERARY  NOTICES. 


853 


progressive  agriculture  which  is  really  to 
educate  a  community  is  not  accompanied  by 
monthly  displays  of  sky-rockets.  A  "  fast " 
director  of  experiments  may  astonish  the 
natives  with  his  performances,  but  cautious 
deliberation  is  one  of  the  first  conditions  of 
scientific  success.  Quickstep,  hurrah-boys 
scientific  agriculture,  which  demands  that 
there  must  be  something  to  show  by  a  week 
from  next  Saturday  that  will  make  a  rattle 
in  the  newspapers  is  quite  too-too  to  be  of 
much  value  to  anybody.  No  doubt  your 
enterprising  American  is  not  going  to  daw- 
dle forever  over  miserable  trifles,  but  for 
that  simple  reason  not  much  is  to  be  ex- 
pected of  him  in  the  way  of  the  substantial 
advancement  of  science. 

Anatomical  Technology,  as  applied  to 
the  Domestic  Cat  :  An  Introduction  to 
Human,  Veterinary,  and  Comparative 
Anatomy.  With  Illustrations.  By  Burt 
G.  Wilder,  B.  S.,  M.  D.,  and  Simon  II. 
Gage,  B.  S.  New  York  and  Chicago : 
A.  S.  Barnes  &  Co.  Pp.  575.  Price, 
$4.50. 

This  book  is  intended  as  a  guide  to  stu- 
dents in  their  early  dissection- work.     The 
experience  of  the  authors  has  led  them  to 
choose  the  cat  for  the  subject  to  be  treated, 
as  being  the  mammal  most  nearly  resem- 
bling the  human  species,  which  is  readily 
obtainable,  and  of  convenient  size  to  dis- 
sect and  preserve.     They  begin  at  the  be- 
ginning, and  give  full  directions  in  regard 
to  weights  and  measures,  terminology,  note- 
taking,  instruments  and  their  care,  killing 
the  animal,  etc.,  and  throughout  the  book 
the  methods  of  dissecting   and  preserving 
the  several  parts  are  fully  detailed.     The 
book  does  not  aim  to  describe  all  the  mus- 
cles, veins,  nerves,  etc.,  of  the  animal,  and 
it  gives  a  large  proportion  of  space  to  the 
viscera.      The   illustrations   are  numerous, 
and  where  possible  the  technical  names  are 
printed  upon  the  several  parts.     There  are 
numerous  lists  and  tables,  and  many  refer- 
ences to  other  publications,  which   afford 
collateral  reading.     While  this  is  a  work 
adapted  to  a  physiological  laboratory,  where, 
no  doubt,  it  has  been  prepared,  yet  it  will 
be  of  service  to  many  who  are  denied  the 
opportunities    of   such   an  institution.      It 
will  be  a  very  useful  book  for  young  stu- 
dents at  home,  who  propose  to  pursue  the 


medical  profession.  Like  all  other  manip- 
ulation, the  earlier  dissection  is  practiced 
the  better,  and  certainly  the  earlier  the 
student  gets  an  outline  knowledge  of  prac- 
tical anatomy  by  his  own  examination  of 
anatomical  structures,  the  greater  will  be  his 
advantage  when  he  comes  to  the  crowded 
and  multifarious  studies  of  the  medical 
college. 

Experimental  Physiology,  with  an  Address 
on  Unveiling  the  Statue  of  William  Har- 
vey. By  Richard  Owen,  C.  B.,  M.  D., 
F.  R.  S.,  etc.  London  :  Longmans,  Green 
&  Co.     Pp.  216.     Price,  5  shillings. 

The  advancement  of  the  healing  art  by 
means  of  experimental  research  is  the  sub- 
ject of  which  this  little  volume  treats,  and 
which  also  forms  the  theme  of  the  address 
that  is  prefixed  to  it.     In  England  vivisec- 
tion has  been  closely  restricted  by  act  of 
Parliament,  and  a  society  exists  whose  aim 
is  to  entirely  suppress  the  practice.     Dr. 
Owen   demonstrates   the    unreasonableness 
of  the  supersensitive  members  of  this  so- 
ciety, by  showing  how  immensely  the  physi- 
cian's power  of  relieving  human  suffering 
has  been  extended  by  the  knowledge  gained 
by  Harvey,  the  discoverer  of  the  circulation 
of  the  blood,  by  Hunter,  and  by  later  ex- 
perimenters, through  vivisection.     He  men- 
tions  aneurismal   and   intra-abdominal  tu- 
mors, fevers,  and  nervous  diseases  as  among 
the   disorders    for   ■rchich    vivisection    has 
suggested  means  of   successful  treatment. 
Among  the  lesser  ills  he  mentions  the  pain 
in  teeth  that  have  been  filled,  and  states 
that  a  method  of  devitalizing  the  tooth-pulp 
was  discovered  through  experiments  on  three 
dogs.     "  As  many  millions  of  human  beings 
have  been  and  will  be,  in  the  present  gen- 
eration, relieved  through  Dr.  Arkovy's  vivi- 
sections from  sufferings  equal  to,  perhaps 
greater  and   much   more    prolonged    than, 
those   which  were   endured  in   behoof   of 
those  millions  by  three  dogs.     Add  to  these 
millions  the  generations  of  the  so-relieved 
in  time  to  come." 

Physics,  and  Occult  Qualities.  By  Will- 
iam B.  Taylor.  Washington  :  Judd  & 
Detweiler,  Printers.     Pp.  50. 

This  is  the  retiring  president's  address, 
delivered  before  the  Philosophical  Society 
of  Washington  on  the  2d  of  December  last. 


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THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


that  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  much  new 
matter  which  has  never  before  been  fully 
presented  iu  any  systematic  treatise,  and,  to 
those  who  wish  to  keep  abreast  with  the 
times  and  with  the  latest  views  of  geologists 
on  all  important  questions,  we  can  recom- 
mend a  perusal  of  Professor  Geikie's  work, 
the  value  of  which  to  the  student  is  greatly 
enhanced  by  his  copious  references  to  au- 
thorities and  works  consulted. 

Annals  of  the  Astronomical  Observatory 
of  Harvard  College.  Volume  XIII. 
Part  I.  Micrometric  Measurements. 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts :  John  Wil- 
son &  Son.     Pp.  204. 

The  work  tabulated  in  this  volume  was 
done  with  the  equatorial  telescope  of  fif- 
teen inches  aperture,  from  1866  to  the  close 
of  1881,  under  the  direction  of  Professors 
Winlock  and  Pickering,  the  successive  di- 
rectors of  the  observatory,  and  includes  ob- 
servations of  double  stars,  nebula?,  the 
satellites  of  Saturn,  Uranus,  Neptune,  and 
Mars,  the  asteroids,  comets,  and  occultations. 
Micrometric  determinations  of  position,  ex- 
cept in  the  cases  of  small  stars  near  the 
equator  and  in  and  near  the  nebula  of 
Orion,  the  results  of  which  have  appeared 
in  former  volumes,  have  formed  only  a  small 
part  of  the  work  done  with  the  large  tele- 
scope ;  and  the  present  volume  records 
chiefly  the  miscellaneous  micrometric  work 
that  has  been  accumulated  during  the  in- 
tervals of  other  investigations. 

Quintus  Claudius  :  A  Romance  of  Imperial 
Rome.  By  Ernst  Eckstein.  From  the 
German  by  Clara  Bell.  New  York:  Will- 
iam S.  Gottsberger.  2  vols.,  pp.  313,  303. 
Price,  $1.75. 

This  is  an  attempt  to  reproduce  in  a  life- 
like form,  and  with  the  interest  of  a  romance, 
the  manners  and  moods  of  a  past  age.  With 
reference  to  the  particular  era  selected,  the 
period  of  imperial  Rome  at  the  close  of  the 
first  centur}-,  the  author  observes  that  it 
bears,  in  its  whole  aspect,  a  stronger  resem- 
blance to  the  nineteenth  century  than  per- 
haps any  other  epoch  before  the  Reforma- 
tion ;  and  that  hardly  another  period  "ha> 
ever  been  equally  full  of  the  stirring  conflict 
of  purely  human  interest,  and  of  dramatic 
contrasts  in  thought,  feeling,  and  purpose." 
The  numerous  allusions  to  peculiar  features 
of  the  time  are  explained  in  foot-notes. 


Traits  of  Representative  Men.  By  George 
W.  Bungay.  New  York :  Fowler  &  Wells. 
Pp.  2S6. 

This,  says  the  author,  is  not  a  book  of 
biography,  but  of  pen  and  pencil  pictures 
of  men  of  the  time  who  have  distinguished 
themselves  in  their  respective  callings,  from 
which  the  young  may  derive  lessons  that  will 
be  of  service  to  them.  Among  the  thirty- 
five  men  whose  biographies  are  given,  with 
their  portraits,  politics,  literature,  the  clergy, 
finance,  and  art  are  represented,  but  science 
not  at  all. 


PUBLICATIONS  RECEIVED. 

%*  Authors  and  others,  sending  papers  and 
monographs  for  notice,  will  please  specify,  for  gen- 
eral information,  where  they  can  be  procured. 

The  Manual  Training  School  of  Washington 
University,  St.  Louis,  1882-1863.  C.  M.  Wood- 
ward, Secretary.    Pp.45. 

Admission  of  Women  to  Universities.  By  W. 
Le  Oonte  Stevens.  New  York  :  S.  W.  Green's 
Sons.    Pp.  £6. 

The  Foundation  Principle  of  Education  hy  the 
State.  By  Samuel  Barnet.  Boston  :  New  Eng- 
land Publishing  Company.    Pp.  11. 

Annual  Report  of  the  School  Committee  of 
the  City  of  Gloucester,  Massachusetts.  M  L. 
Hawley,  Superintendent.    Pp.  66. 

Connecticut  Agricultural  Experiment  Sta- 
tion, Annual  Report,  1882.  S.  W.  Johnson,  New 
Haven,  Director.    Pp.  114. 

Zoological  Society  of  Cincinnati,  Annual  Re- 
port, 188a.  Frank  J.  Thompson,  Superintendent. 
Pp.  16. 

Pitcher  Plants.  By  Joseph  H.  James.  Pp.11. 

The  Storage  of  Electricity.  By  Henry  Greer, 
New  York  Airmt,  College  of  Electrical  Engineer- 
ing, 122  East  Twenty-sixth  Street.    Pp.  64. 

Buffalo  Naturalists'  Field  Club  Bulletin  ;  Vol. 
I,  Nos.  1  and  2.  Buffalo,  New  York :  George 
Wardwell.    Pp.  48.    Bi-monthly.    $1  a  year. 

Nature  of  Electricity  and  Cosmie.  By  Raald 
Arentz.  Hartford,  Connecticut :  Case,  Lockwood 
&  Brainard  Co.    Pp.  24. 

Value  of  the  "Nearctic"  as  one  of  the  Pri- 
mary Zoological  Regions.  By  Professor  Angelo 
Heilprin.    Philadelphia.    Pp.  20. 

Observations  of  the  Transit  of  Venns,  1882,  at 
the  Lick  Observatory,  Mount  Hamilton.  By  Pro- 
fesssor  David  P.  Todd,  of  Amherst  College. 
Pp.8. 

State  Museum  of  Natural  History,  and  Com- 
pletion of  the  Palaeontology  of  New  York.  (Leg- 
islative Document)  Albany.    Pp.  28. 

Alcohol  a  Factor  of  Human  Progress.  By  Will- 
iam Sharpe,  M.  D.  London:  David  Bogue;  New 
York:  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.   Pp.14.    Sixpence. 

Esmarch,  A ntiseps is,  and  Bacillus.  By  Will- 
iam Hunt,  M.  D.    Philadelphia.    Pp.  2?. 

Scrofula  and  its  Gland  Diseases.  By  Frederick 
Treves.  F.R.C.S.  Philadelphia:  Henry  C.  Lea's 
Son  &  Co.    Pp.  77.    10  cents. 

The  Prevention  of  Insonity.  By  Nathan  Al- 
len, M.  D.,  Lowell,  Massachusetts.     Pp.  23. 

Vaccination  :  Its  Fallacies  and  Ev'ls.  By  Rob- 
ert A.  Gunn,  M.  D.  New  York  :  Nickles  Pub- 
lishing Company.    Pp.38,    25  cents. 

From  Zone  to  Zone.  A  Prize  Poem.  By 
Frank  D.  Y.  Carpenter.    Pp.  22. 


POPULAR  MISCELLANY. 


857 


"  The  Journal  of  Physiology."  Michael  Fos- 
ter, Editor,  January,  1883.  W.  T.  Sedgwick, 
Ph.  B.,  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Baltimore. 
Pp.  42,  with  Plate.    $5  a  year. 

The  Treatment  of  Acute  Eczema.  By  George 
II.  Rohe,  M.  D.  Baltimore,  Md. :  Office  of  Medi- 
cal Chronicle.    Pp.  7. 

What  shall  we  do  for  the  Drunkard  ?  By  Or- 
pheus Everts,  M.  D.  Cincinnati,  Ohio  :  Robert 
Clarke  &  Co.    Pp.51.    Price,  50  cents. 

Law  Reform  and  the  Future  of  the  Legal  Pro- 
fession. By  Charles  C.  Bonuey.  Chicago :  Legal 
News  Company.    Pp.  28. 

Sixteenth  Annual  Report,  State  Board  of 
Charities,  New  York.  Albany  :  Weed,  Parsons 
&Co.    Pp.28. 

Forest  Protection  and  the  Tariff  on  Lumber. 
Spirit  of  the  Press.  No  puolisher's  name.  Pp. 
35. 

Report  on  ihe  Development  of  the  Resources 
of  Colorado.  By  Allen  Smith,  State  Geologist, 
Denver,  Colorado  :  Chain  &  Hardy.  Pp.159.  35 
cents. 

Kissena  Nurseries,  Flushing,  New  York, 
Catalogue  of  Ornamental  Trees  and  Shrubs- 
Parsons  &  Sons  Company,  limited.     Pp.  88. 

Forestry  Bulletins,  Census  Office,  Nos.  24  and 
25.  Amount  of  Tannin  in  the  Bark  of  some  of 
the  Trees  of  the  United  States.— Forests  of  West 
Virginia. 

Archasological  Institute  of  America.  Bulle- 
tin, January,  1S83.  Pp.  40;  Regulations,  Offi- 
cers, and  List  of  Members.  Pp.14.  E.H.  Green- 
leaf,  Secretary,  Boston,  Massachusetts. 

Prehistoric  Trephining  and  Cranial  Amulets. 
By  Robert  Fletcher.  United  States  Army.  Wash- 
ington: Government  Printing- Office.  Pp.  32, 
with  Plates. 

A  Study  of  the  Manuscript  Troano.  By  Cyrus 
Thomas,  Ph.  D.  :  Introduction  by  D.  G.  Brinton, 
M.  D.  Washington  :  Government  Printing-Of- 
fice.   Pp.  237. 

The  Battle  of  theMoy:  or, How  Ireland  gained 
her  Independence,  1892-1894.  Boston:  Lee  & 
Shepard.    Pp.74. 

Catalogue  of  Books  published  by  Houghton, 
Mifflin  &  Co.,  Boston  and  New  York.    Pp.  80. 

TheNew-EnLilanders  :  A  Comedy  of  the  devo- 
lution. By  E.  M.  Davidson.  New  York  :  Collins 
&  Brother.   Pp.  55.    For  private  circulation. 

A  Handbook  of  Vertebrate  Dissection.  By 
H. Newell  Martin.  D.  8c,  M.D.,  M.  A.,  and  Will- 
iam A.  Moale,  M.  D.  Part  II.  How  to  Dissect  a 
Bird.  New  York:  Macmillan  &  Co.  1883.  Pp. 
85.    60  cents. 

The  Unending  Genesis.  By  H.  M.  Simmons. 
Chicago  :  Tiie  Colegrove  Book  Company.  1883. 
Pp.  111. 

Astronomy  Corrected.  By  H.  B.  PMlbrook- 
New  York  :  John  Polhemus.    1882.    Pp.  54. 

An  Outline  of  Qualitative  Analysis  for  Be- 
ginners. By  John  T.  Stoddard,  Ph.  D.,  North- 
ampton, Massachusetts.    18S3.    Pp.  55.    75  cents. 

A  Dictionary  of  Electricitv.  By  Henry  Greer, 
New  York,  Agent  of  the  College  of  Electrical 
Engineering.  122  East  Twenty -sixth  Street. 
1-S33.     Pp.  192.     $2. 

Electro-Magnets.  By  T.  H.  Du  Moncel.  New 
York  :  D.  Van  Nostrand.  1S63.  Pp.  112.  50 
cents. 

A  Word,  Onlv  a  Word.  By  Georg  Ebers. 
New  York  :  Wiliiam  S.  Gottsbergcr.  1883.  Pp. 
348. 

A  New  Theory  of  the  Origin  of  Species.  By 
Benjamin  G.  Ferris.  New  York :  Fowler  & 
Wells.    1833.    Pp.  278.    $1.50. 

Report  npon  the  i'rianirulation  of  the  United 
States  Lake  Survey.  By  Lieutenant-Colonel  C. 
D.  Comstock.  Wa-hingfon:  Government  Print- 
ing-Office.   1883.    Pp.  922,  with  30  Plates. 


The  Theories  of  Darwin  and  their  Relation  to 
Philosophy,  Religion,  and  Morality.  Ily  Rudolf 
Schmid,  with  an  introduction  by  the  Duke  of 
Argyll.  Cnicago:  Jansen,  McC'lurg  &  Co.  1883. 
Pp.  410.    $2. 

Notes  on  Evolution  and  Christianity.  By  J. 
T.  Yorke.  New  York  :  Henry  Holt  &  Co.  1883. 
$1.50. 

Astronomical  paper  prepared  for  the  Use  of 
the  American  Ephemeris  and  Nautical  Almanac 
under  the  Direction  of  Simon  Newcomb,  Ph.D., 
LL.  D.  Vol.  I.  Washington  :  Bureau  of  Naviga- 
tion.   1882.    Pp.487. 


POPULAR   MISCELLANY. 

Aberrations  iu  Fog-Signals.— Mr.  Arnold 
B.  Johnson,  of  the  Light-house  Board  of  the 
United  States,  has  been  pursuing  on  our 
coast  parallel  investigations  with  those  re- 
ported some  years  ago  by  Professor  Tyndall 
on  the  aberrations  of  audibility  of  fog-signals. 
The  results  of  this  work,  as  summarized  by 
Lieutenant-Commander  F.  E.  Chadwick,  U. 
S.  Navy,  who  aided  in  the  investigation,  are, 
that  navigators,  when  attempting  to  pick 
up  a  fog-signal,  must  give  attention  to  the 
direction  of  the  wind.  If  they  are  to  the 
windward  of  the  signal,  in  a  moderate  breeze, 
the  chances  are  very  largely  against  their 
hearing  it,  for  there  is  nearly  always  a  sec- 
tor, of  about  120°  to  windward  of  the  signal, 
in  which  it.  either  can  not  be  heard  at  all, 
or  is  very  faintly  heard.  As  they  bring  the 
signal  to  bear  at  right  angles  with  the  wind, 
the  sound  will  almost  certainly  in  the  case 
of  a  light  wind  increase,  and  will  soon  as- 
sume its  normal  volume,  being  heard  almost 
without  fail  in  the  leeward  semicircle.  Fog 
appears  not  to  be  a  factor  of  any  conse- 
quence whatever  in  the  question  of  sound. 
Signals  may  be  heard  at  great  distances 
through  the  densest  fogs,  which  may  be  to- 
tally inaudible  in  the  same  directions  and  at 
the  same  distances  in  the  clearest  atmos- 
phere. It  seems  established  by  numerous 
observations  that  the  best  possible  circum- 
stances for  hearing  a  fog-signal  are  in  a 
northeast  snow-storm,  and  they  appear  to 
be  best  heard  then  with  the  observer  to 
windward  of  the  signal.  In  light  winds  the 
signal  is  best  heard  down  the  wind  or  at 
right  angles  with  the  wind.  The  worst  con- 
ditions for  hearing  sound  seem  to  be  found 
in  the  atmosphere  of  a  clear,  frosty  morning 
on  which  a  warm  sun  has  risen  and  has  been 
shining  for  two  or  three  hours.  The  result 
of  the  whole  is,  that  "  the  mariner  will  do 


858 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


well,  when  he  does  not  get  the  expected 
sound  of  a  fog-signal,  to  assume  that  he  may 
not  hear  a  warning  that  is  faithfully  given, 
and  then  to  heave  his  lead,  and  resort  to 
the  other  means  used  by  the  careful  navi" 
gator  to  make  sure  of  his  position."  (Wash" 
ington  :  Judd  &  Detweiler,  printers.) 

Herbert  Spencer  and  the  Land  Question. 

— Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  sends  to  the  "  St. 
James's  Gazette "  (London)  the  following 
communication,  explanatory  of  his  views  on 
the  ownership  of  land:  "During  my  absence 
in  America,  there  appeared  in  the  '  St. 
James's  Gazette '  (27th  of  October,  1882) 
an  article  entitled  'Mr.  Herbert  Spencer's 
Political  Theories.'  Though,  when  it  was 
pointed  out  to  me  after  my  return,  I  felt 
prompted  to  say  something  in  explanation 
of  my  views,  I  should  probably  have  let  the 
matter  pass  had  I  not  found  that  elsewhere 
such  serious  misapprehensions  of  them  are 
being  diffused  that  rectification  seems  im- 
perative. Before  commenting  on  the  state- 
ments of  your  contributor,  I  must  devote 
a  paragraph  to  certain  more  recent  state- 
ments which  have  far  less  justification.  In 
old  days  among  the  Persians,  the  subordina- 
tion of  subject  to  ruler  was  so  extreme  that, 
even  when  punished,  the  subject  thanked 
the  ruler  for  taking  notice  of  him.  With 
like  humility  I  suppose  that  now,  when  after 
I  have  been  publishing  books  for  a  third  of 
a  century  '  the  leading  critical  organ '  has 
recognized  my  existence,  I  ought  to  feel 
thankful,  even  though  the  recognition  draws 
forth  nothing  save  blame.  But  such  elation 
as  I  might  otherwise  be  expected  to  feel  is 
checked  by  two  facts.  One  is  that  the 
'  Edinburgli  Review '  has  not  itself  discov- 
ered me,  but  has  had  its  attention  drawn 
to  me  by  quotations  in  the  work  of  Mr. 
Henry  George — a  work  which  I  closed  after 
a  few  minutes  on  finding  how  visionary  were 
its  ideas.  The  other  is  that,  though  there 
has  been  thus  made  known  to  the  reviewer 
of  a  book  of  mine  published  thirty-two  years 
ago,  which  I  have  withdrawn  from  circula- 
tion in  England,  and  of  which  I  have  inter- 
dicted translations,  he  is  apparently  uncon- 
scious that  I  have  written  other  books, 
sundry  of  them  political;  and  especially  he 
seems  not  to  know  that  the  last  of  them, 
1  Political    Institutions,'   contains    passages 


concerning  the  question  he  discusses.  Writ- 
ers in  critical  journals  which  have  reputa 
tions  to  lose  usually  seek  out  the  latest  ver- 
sion of  an  author's  views ;  and  the  more 
conscientious  among  them  take  the  trouble 
to  ascertain  whether  the  constructions  they 
put  on  detached  passages  are  warranted  or 
not  by  other  passages.  Bad  the  Edinburgh 
reviewer  read  even  the  next  chapter  to  the 
one  from  which  he  quotes,  he  would  have 
seen  that,  so  far  from  attacking  the  right  of 
private  property,  as  he  represents,  my  aim 
is  to  put  that  right  upon  an  unquestionable 
basis,  the  basis  alleged  by  Locke  being  un- 
satisfactory. He  would  have  further  seen 
that,  so  far  from  giving  any  countenance  to 
communistic  doctrines,  I  have  devoted  four 
sections  of  that  chapter  to  the  refutation  of 
them.  Had  he  dipped  into  the  latter  part 
of  the  work,  or  had  he  consulted  the  more 
recently  published  '  Study  of  Sociology  '  and 
'  Political  Institutions,'  he  would  not  have 
recklessly  coupled  me  with  Mr.  George  as 
upholding  'the  doctrines  of  communism, 
fatal  alike  to  the  welfare  of  society  and  to 
the  moral  character  of  man' ;  for  he  would 
have  discovered  the  fact  (familiar  to  many, 
though  unknown  to  him)  that  much  current 
legislation  is  regarded  by  me  as  communis- 
tic, and  is  for  this  reason  condemned  as 
socially  injurious  and  individually  degrad- 
ing. The  writer  of  the  article  in  the  '  St. 
James's  Gazette '  does  not  represent  the 
facts  correctly  when  he  says  that  the  view 
concerning  ownership  of  land  in  '  Social 
Statics '  is  again  expounded  in  '  Political 
Institutions ' — '  not  so  fully,  but  with  as 
much  confidence  as  ever.'  In  this  last  work 
I  have  said  that,  '  though  industrialism  has 
thus  far  tended  to  individualize  possession 
of  land,  while  individualizing  all  other  pos- 
session, it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  final 
stage  is  at  present  reached.'  Further  on  I 
have  said  that  '  at  a  stage  still  more  ad- 
vanced, it  may  be  that  private  ownership  of 
land  will  disappear ' ;  and  that  '  it  seems 
possible  that  the  primitive  ownership  of  land 
by  the  community  .  .  .  will  be  revived.' 
And  yet  again  I  have  said  that '  perhaps  the 
right  of  the  community  to  the  land,  thus 
tacitly  asserted,  will,  in  time  to  come,  be 
overtly  asserted.'  Now  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  words  I  have  italicized  imply  no  great 
'  confidence.'      Contrariwise,  I   think   they 


POPULAR  MISCELLANY. 


859 


show  quite  clearly  that  the  opinion  conveyed 
is  a  tentative  one.  The  fact  is,  that  I  have 
here  expressed  myself  in  a  way  much  more 
qualified  than  is  usual  with  me  ;  because  I 
do  not  see  how  certain  tendencies,  which  are 
apparently  conflicting,  will  eventually  work 
out.  The  purely  ethical  view  of  the  matter 
does  not  obviously  harmonize  with  the  polit- 
ical and  the  politico-economical  views ;  some 
of  the  apparent  incongruities  being  of  the 
kind  indicated  by  your  contributor.  This  is 
not  the  place  to  repeat  my  reasons  for  think- 
ing that  the  present  system  will  not  be  the 
ultimate  system.  Nor  do  I  propose  to  con- 
sider the  obstacles,  doubtless  great,  which 
stand  in  the  way  of  change.  All  which  I 
wish  here  to  point  out  is  that  my  opinion  is 
by  no  means  a  positive  one ;  and,  further, 
that  I  regard  the  question  as  one  to  be  dealt 
with  in  the  future  rather  than  at  present. 
These  two  things  the  quotations  I  have 
given  above  prove  conclusively." 

Valne  of  the  Evidence  of  Stone  Imple- 
ments.— Professor  Putnam  suggests  in  his 
report,  as  curator  of  the  Peabody  Museum  of 
Archaeology,  that  it  will  not  do  to  draw  too 
large  inferences  from  the  finding  of  stone 
implements.  That  our  recent  Indians,  he 
says,  "  used  many  exceedingly  rude  stone  im- 
plements can  not  be  questioned,  and  even  to- 
day, among  the  Western  tribes, stones  picked 
up  at  random  are  used  for  various  domestic 
purposes,  and  when  a  camp  is  changed  many 
such  are  left,  with  other  things  which  are  of 
too  little  value  to  be  taken  away.  From 
these  facts  it  is  evident  that  the  ruder  im- 
plements and  utilized  natural  forms  are 
not  a  certain  evidence  of  the  period  of  de- 
velopment of  the  people  who  made  use  of 
them.  That  we,  in  camping  out,  are  so  often 
forced  to  make  use  of  stones,  shells,  bones, 
and  withes  of  roots  or  bark,  should  be  con- 
sidered in  drawing  deductions  from  the  rude 
character  of  any  set  of  implements." 

Responsibility  of  Criminal  Lunatics. — 

Dr.  S.  S.  Herrick,  of  the  Louisiana  State 
Board  of  Health,  has  published  (New  Or- 
leans) a  plea  in  favor  of  enforcing  the  re- 
sponsibility of  criminal  lunatics,  to  the  extent 
at  least  of  putting  them  where  they  can  do  no 
harm.  He  starts  with  the  obvious  proposi- 
tion that  "  the  welfare  of  the  sane  members 


of  society  is  vastly  more  important  than  the 
liberty,  or  even  the  life,  of  a  dangerous  lu- 
natic," and  expresses  the  belief  that  proba- 
bly at  least  three  sane  persons  are  acquit- 
ted on  the  "  insanity  plea  "  for  every  insane 
criminal  convicted.  A  vast  amount  of  silly 
sentimentality,  he  continues,  "  is  effused  on 
criminals,  both  sane  and  insane  ;  as  if  a  few 
such  worthless  wretches  deserve  more  con- 
sideration than  the  great  mass  of  well-be- 
haved and  respectable  people.  It  is  indeed 
shocking  to  take  the  life  of  a  madman,  ju- 
dicially or  otherwise ;  but  it  is  simply  bad 
management  to  allow  a  lunatic  to  commit 
an  act  for  which  a  sane  person  would  be 
punished,  and  still  worse  to  risk  its  repeti- 
tion." Dr.  Herrick  objects  to  capital  pun- 
ishment for  any  class  of  criminals ;  but  he 
advises  that  the  insane  be  held  amenable 
to  punishment  like  other  criminals,  and  be 
made  to  know  that  its  infliction  is  sure. 
This  will  operate  as  a  restraint  upon  them, 
and  conduce  to  security  of  life  and  property 
and  to  the  welfare  of  the  insane.  It  may 
be  alleged,  adds  Dr.  Herrick,  "  that  the  res- 
toration of  penalties  upon  the  insane  is  a 
relapse  toward  the  bai'barism  of  the  past. 
The  answer  to  this  is,  that  by  their  immu- 
nity from  punishment  is  demonstrated  a 
deviation  from  progress,  inasmuch  as  it 
practically  increases  crime  and  provokes 
violent  and  unlawful  retaliation." 

What  is  Adulteration. — What  is  the 
wrong  of  adulteration  if  the  adulterant  is 
not  injurious  is  shown  up  by  Professor  Al- 
bert B.  Prescott,  of  Ann  Arbor,  in  one  of 
the  papers  of  the  Michigan  State  Board  of 
Health.  Adulteration  infringes  upon  the 
right  of  every  person — unrestricted  except 
by  considerations  of  sanitary  welfare  and 
public  police — to  decide  for  himself  what 
he  shall  eat.  "  An  adulteration  is  a  fraud,  a 
deception,  a  counterfeit.  It  is  systematical- 
ly concealed  from  the  purchaser.  Its  object 
is  to  induce  people  to  accept  an  article  which 
they  would  not  accept  for  the  use  then  want- 
ed, if  it  were  not  for  the  deceit.  To  sell 
an  admixture  of  coffee  and  chiccory,  if  the 
terms  and  proportions  of  the  mixture  are 
printed  on  the  wrapper  in  a  way  to  have 
them  seen  by  the  purchaser  is  not  adul- 
teration. To  sell  oleomargarine  under  its 
own  distinctive  name,  with  no  credit  bor- 


86o 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


rowed  from  butter,  is  not  an  adulteration. 
But  to  supply  sugar  made  from  corn-starch 
for  the  ordinary  sugar  made  from  cane-juice, 
or  to  deal  out  milk-and-water  or  skim-milk 
for  entire  milk,  is  an  adulteration — a  viola- 
tion of  the  right  of  the  consumer  to  obtain 
his  food  on  his  own  discretion."  The  plea 
that  may  be  made,  that  the  adulterant  is 
as  wholesome  as  the  real  article  "  is  not  to 
be  heard  at  all ;  it  belongs  to  the  consumer 
to  judge  for  himself  what  he  will  provide 
for  his  own  table."  Even  if  the  falsifica- 
tion be  not  committed  to  injure  health,  it  is 
directly  objectionable  on  sanitary  grounds, 
for  it  is  a  violation  of  a  great  safeguard  of 
health.  To  the  plea  that  people  are  not 
really  deceived  by  the  sophistications,  but 
that  they  are  understood,  tolerated,  and  even 
preferred  by  customers,  "  let  it  be  replied, 
if  the  pretense  is  so  thin  as  to  deceive 
no  one,  and  if  the  admixture  is  in  demand 
for  use  as  it  is,  the  pretense  can  the  more 
easily  be  dropped,  and  at  any  rate  the  ad- 
mixture must  go  under  its  own  description 
and  by  its  own  name.  Not  a  single  article, 
unless  indictable  as  a  positive  poison,  need 
be  withdrawn  from  the  market." 

Festivals  of  the  Pagan  Iroquois.— Mrs. 

Erminie  A.  Smith  gave  an  interesting  ac- 
count, at  the  late  meeting  of  the  American 
Association,  of  some  peculiar  festivals  and 
superstitions  of  the  Iroquois  Indians.  About 
half  the  Iroquois,  she  said,  are  not  Chris- 
tians, but  worship  a  Great  Spirit,  a  god  of 
love,  and  look  to  him  with  great  confidence. 
Their  religion  is  not  idolatrous,  but  quite 
spiritual.  Their  only  private  worship  is 
burning  tobacco,  and  an  occasional  solitary 
dance  of  the  squaws.  There  are  eight  an- 
nual festivals,  at  which  varied  Romish,  Jew- 
ish, or  Protestant  forms  have  been  en- 
grafted on  the  ancient  dancing,  games,  and 
incense-burning.  The  Tuscaroras  of  West- 
ern New  York  have  hardly  a  trace  of  their 
old  religion.  About  half  the  Senecas  are 
still  pagan.  The  Onondagas  have  numer- 
ous festivals,  beginning  with  the  feast  at 
the  first  new  moon  of  the  new  year,  at  which 
the  chiefs  occupy  four  days  in  narrating  the 
teachings  of  Handsome  Lake,  who  nearly  a 
hundred  years  ago  introduced  a  new  form 
into  their  religion.  On  the  next  three  days 
the  chiefs  and  their  followers  "put  their 


sins  in  the  wampum  "  (i.  e.,  confess).  The 
clans  are  then  divided  into  sides  for  the 
gambling,  which  lasts  three  days.  A  white 
dog  is  strangled  and  presented  to  the  win- 
ning side,  who  decorate  it  and  dance  around 
it.  Afterward  the  dog  is  thrown  into  the 
fire,  and  the  sides  are  reunited.  Then  there 
are  war-dances,  and  the  women  dance  with- 
out lifting  their  feet  from  the  ground.  At 
the  tapping  of  the  maple-trees  there  is  a 
war-dance  to  bring  warm  weather  and  make 
the  sap  flow.  A  seven  days'  festival  is  held 
at  corn-planting,  and  there  are  also  straw- 
berry, bean,  and  green-corn  festivals ;  the 
latter  is  preceded  by  a  hunt.  In  the  gam- 
bling the  women  sometimes  play  against  the 
men  for  the  silver  brooches  which  cover 
their  dresses.  The  last  public  festival  is  at 
the  corn-gathering,  when  there  is  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  confession  of  sins.  A  special 
dance  takes  place  at  the  death  of  a  medi- 
cine-man. The  property  of  an  oi'dinary 
dead  person  is  often  played  for.  Friend- 
ships are  cemented  by  dances.  It  is  a  sad 
fact  that  the  pagan  Iroquois  are  better  than 
their  Christian  brethren.  No  wonder  the 
missionaries  have  great  obstacles,  when  all 
the  immoral  white  intruders  are  counted 
as  Christians.  New  York  has  much  to  an- 
swer for,  and  should  care  more  for  her  In- 
dians than  for  the  Greenlanders  and  Hot- 
tentots. The  author  dwelt  on  the  great  in- 
fluence for  good  of  one  good  woman.  Great 
results  have  flowed  from  some  schools 
founded  long  ago.  Mrs.  Smith  introduced 
the  following  names  of  the  moons,  or  mouths, 
in  the  Mohawk  tongue  :  January,  old  beech- 
leaves  fall ;  February,  bull-frog  on  pond  ; 
March,  moss  all  falls ;  April,  turkeys  gob- 
ble ;  May,  plant  corn  ;  June,  strawberries 
begin ;  July,  corn  getting  ripe  ;  August, 
corn  quite  ripe ;  September,  all  ripe  and 
dry  ;  October,  getting  cold ;  November,  cold- 
er ;  December,  very  cold. 

Suicide  in  Switzerland.— Mr.  Wynell- 
Mayow  has  attributed  the  high  rate  of 
suicide  that  has  been  remarked  in  Switzer- 
land to  Calvinism,  and  assumes  that  that 
republic  "is  the  most  Calvinistic  country 
in  the  world."  Mr.  William  Westall,  in 
the  London  "  Spectator,"  shows  that  he  is 
wrong  in  two  points.  Calvinism  is  not  the 
faith  of  the  majority  in  the  confederation, 


POPULAR  MISCELLANY. 


861 


but  only  of  a  part  of  three  fifths  of  the 
population,  among  whom  Protestants  of 
every  denomination  are  included,  and  it 
has  long  ceased  to  be  a  living  faith  there. 
It  would  be  more  reasonable  to  ascribe  the 
prevalence  of  self-murder  to  drink,  for  Switz- 
erland is  one  of  the  most  drunken  countries 
in  the  world.  The  fact  is,  however,  that 
suicide  is  not  excessively  prevalent  among 
the  Swiss.  Self-murders  are  committed  in 
the  country,  but  not  by  natives.  Thus  the 
statistics  show  that,  of  263  suicides  com- 
mitted in  the  Canton  of  Geneva  between 
1873  and  1S78,  48-3  per  cent  were  com- 
mitted by  foreigners,  and  only  26-6  per 
cent  by  natives  of  the  canton,  the  others 
having  been  natives  of  other  cantons  than 
Geneva. 

Folk-Lore  of  the  Elder  and  the  Juniper. 

— The  elder  and  the  juniper  were  formerly 
sacred  to  the  German  goddess  Bercht  Hol- 
da,  and  many  traces  of  their  former  sanc- 
tity remain  in  popular  customs.  Thus  elder- 
branches  are  scattered  around,  and  juniper 
is  smoked,  on  the  day  of  Corpw  Christi. 
The  German  name  of  the  juniper  ( Wach- 
holder)  appears  to  be  a  corruption  of  a  com- 
bination of  words,  which,  when  analyzed, 
are  found  to  signify  the  living  tree  of  Holda. 
A  number  of  superstitions  may  be  traced 
back  to  the  former  connection  of  the  elder- 
bush  with  the  goddess.  Witches  are  thought 
to  produce  bad  weather  by  stirring  water 
with  branches  of  elder.  Some  believe  that 
to  burn  elder-wood  will  bring  harm  to  the 
house.  It  is  not  considered  lucky  to  cut 
down  elder-bushes  or  juniper-trees  without 
asking  their  consent,  and  offering  an  ex- 
change. February  was  the  month  of  Holda, 
and  Lady-Day  was  her  particular  day.  On 
that  day,  the  women  were  accustomed  to 
dance  in  the  sunshine,  having  elder  sticks 
in  their  hands,  with  which  they  struck  the 
men  who  came  near  them.  The  ancient 
Prussians  made  offerings  to  the  god  of  death 
under  elder-trees,  and  the  pollen  was  con- 
sidered dangerous.  The  Slovaks  made  elder- 
men  out  of  the  pith,  to  be  servants  of  the 
death-god ;  and  the  Poles  never  ventured  to 
cut  down  the  bush  except  under  the  protec- 
tion of  an  incantation.  When  any  one  died 
in  Hildesheim,  the  undertaker  took  the 
measure  for  his  coffin  in  silence  with  an 


elder-rod,  and  the  driver  of  the  hearse  had  a 
whip  of  elder-wood.  The  gods  of  the  lower 
world  were  propitious  to  every  one  who 
planted  an  elder.  In  Vinchgau,  in  the 
Tyrol,  it  was  thought  that  any  one  on  whose 
grave  a  transplanted  elder-bush  became 
green  was  happy  ;  the  bier  of  the  dead  was 
a  cross  made  entirely  of  elder-wood.  The 
wood  was  worn  as  a  charm  for  protection 
against  epilepsy,  and  whoever  took  hold  of 
the  amulet  acquired  the  disease.  Similar 
superstitions  were  attached  to  the  juniper. 
The  berries  were  holy ;  the  plant,  bearing 
green  berries  along  with  ripe  ones,  gave 
protection  against  the  small-pox,  as  well  as 
against  witches.  The  pollen  was  consid- 
ered invaluable  for  the  young  growth  of  the 
wood.  The  spirits  loved  to  dwell  among 
the  bushes ;  whoever  could  make  himself 
invisible  could  change  himself  into  a  juni- 
per-bush, which  no  one  would  dare  to  touch. 
A  statue  of  the  Virgin  was  surrounded  by 
juniper,  and  the  Christ-child  had  a  queen- 
bee  in  his  hand.  The  dead  were  burned 
with  juniper-wood.  The  hornbeam  had  such 
an  affection  for  the  juniper  that  it  would 
die  if  its  neighbor  was  plucked  up.  The 
linden,  the  hypericum,  the  hazel,  the  service- 
tree,  and  the  ash,  were  also  consecrated  to 
Holda,  and  the  first  tree  in  the  list  played  a 
prominent  part  as  a  magic  tree,  with  which 
many  different  usages  are  associated. 

Advantages  of  Cremation.— Dr.  W.  H. 

Curtis,  of  Chicago,  in  an  address  before  the 
American  Public  Health  Association,  at  its 
Savannah  meeting  in  1881,*  summarizes  the 
objections  to  the  disposition  of  the  dead  by 
burial  as  consisting  in  the  pollution  of  the 
soil,  air,  and  water — a  real  danger  in  crowd- 
ed cemeteries;  the  peril  from  body-snatchers; 
and  the  possible  danger  of  persons  being 
buried  alive.  The  objection  to  crema- 
tion, that  it  is  a  heathen  rite  and  not  a 
Christian  one,  is  dismissed  as  untenable ;  it 
may  be  as  Christian  as  any  other  method. 
There  remain  but  two  objections  that  de- 
serve notice.  Cremation  may  be  used  to 
destroy  evidences  of  crime ;  and  it  is  too 
costly  for  general  use.  The  former  objec. 
tion  is  outweighed  by  the  advantages  that 
might  be  derived  from  the  general  adoption 
of  cremation,  and  can  be  obviated  by  the 

*  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge,  Massachusetts. 


862 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY 


enforcement  of  easy  precautions.  The  cost 
is  reducible  to  a  very  small  amount  by  means 
of  the  modern  appliances.  "  In  the  im- 
proved furnaces  of  to-day  the  body  does  not 
come  in  contact  with  the  fire  at  all,  only 
with  an  intense  heat  of  2000°  or  more.  At 
this  temperature  the  body  simply  withers 
away  into  a  pure  white  ash.  The  gases  gen- 
erated are  burned  in  a  separated  chamber 
adapted  to  the  purpose,  and  no  smoke,  odor, 
or  other  unpleasant  phenomena  occur,  to 
offend  the  sensibilities  of  any  one,  be  they 
ever  so  acute.  To  attain  these  nearly  per- 
fect results,  of  course,  costs  money.  The  fur- 
nace can  not  be  erected  in  this  country  for 
less  than  from  three  to  five  thousand  dollars 
— a  mere  bagatelle  compared  with  the  cost 
of  some  of  our  cemeteries.  The  fuel  neces- 
sary to  attain  this  high  temperature,  with 
the  necessary  attendance,  makes  the  ex- 
penses of  the  incineration  of  a  single  body 
about  fifteen  dollars.  The  apparatus  used 
by  the  Danish  society  at  Copenhagen  effects 
the  cremation  in  about  an  hour,  and  costs 
only  from  five  to  seven  shillings.  After  all, 
the  costliness  of  cremation  does  not  seem  to 
be  such  a  very  great  objection.  Of  course, 
if  we  are  forced  to  send  the  body  to  Wash- 
ington, Pennsylvania,  to  Milan,  to  Padua, 
or  any  other  of  the  existing  crematories,  the 
privilege  is  placed  beyond  the  means  of  any 
but  the  rich.  But  when  the  crematories  are 
more  numerous  and  accessible,  as  they  no 
doubt  soon  will  be,  the  necessity  for  an  ex- 
pensive lot  in  an  expensive  cemetery,  an  ex- 
pensive casket,  and  all  the  pride,  pomp,  and 
circumstance  of  a  funeral  d  la  mode,  may  be 
dispensed  with." 

Instruction  in  Physics. — The  quality 
and  best  methods  of  education  in  physics 
may  be  stated  as  the  subject  of  the  address 
of  Vice-President  Mendenhall  before  Section 
B  of  the  American  Association  at  its  recent 
Montreal  meeting.*  Presupposing  that  the 
diffusion  of  information,  or  instruction,  is  an 
important  means  of  advancing  science  wor- 
thy of  a  place  by  the  side  of  original  re- 
search, and  that  teaching  should  be  accom- 
panied— not  taking  the  place  of  it  or  sur- 
rendering itself  to  it — by  experimental  work, 
he  suggests  that  quantitative  work,  and  that 
the  best  possible  under  the  circumstances, 

*  Printed  at  the  Salem  Press,  Salem,  Massa- 
chusetts. 


should  occupy  the  attention  of  the  student, 
while  illustrative  experiments  and  the  quali- 
tative work  necessary  to  a  good  understand- 
ing of  the  subject  should  be  relegated  to  the 
lecture-table  of  the  instructor.  That  which 
the  pupil  gets  which  is  of  most  worth  in  his 
course  in  a  physical  laboratory  is  not  a  fa- 
miliarity with  the  principles  of  the  science, 
but  a  training  in  the  methods  of  investiga- 
tion in  use  among  physicists,  including  a 
knowledge  of  the  use  and  abuse  of  experi- 
ment and  the  necessary  limits  of  our  knowl- 
edge derived  therefrom.  The  study  which 
he  ought  to  make  of  errors,  instrumental 
and  accidental,  will  be  of  great  value  in  va- 
rious fields.  It  is  better  for  the  laboratory 
to  contain  a  few  instruments  of  precision 
than  a  large  number  of  inferior  performance 
and  accuracy.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  great 
importance  upon  what  particular  department 
of  physics  a  student  shall  spend  his  time 
and  strength.  The  underlying  principles  of 
the  method  are  common  to  all,  and  skill  in 
one  begets  facility  in  the  others.  To  sum 
up,  the  course  of  study  in  physics  for  the 
undergraduate  collegian  should  include  a  suf- 
ficient training  in  mathematics  to  enable 
him  to  apply  his  knowledge  with  ease  and 
facility  to  the  more  common  physical  prob- 
lems; a  thorough  and  exacting  course  of  text- 
book and  lecture-work,  in  which  the  appli- 
cation of  his  mathematical  knowledge  would 
be  made,  and  during  which  all  illustrative 
experiments  necessary  to  a  complete  under- 
standing of  the  text  should  be  exhibited  by 
the  instructor  from  the  lecture-table;  and, 
finally,  this  to  be  supplemented  by  a  course 
in  the  laboratory  in  which  more  attention  is 
paid  to  the  quality  than  to  the  quantity  of 
work  done  ;  during  which  every  problem  is 
discussed,  as  far  as  possible,  both  mathe- 
matically and  experimentally,  and  especial 
attention  is  given  to  the  discussion  of  the 
results  of  experiment  and  of  the  more  ele- 
mentary portions  of  the  theory  of  errors. 
"  Considering  the  work  as  thus  divided  into 
three  parts,"  says  Professor  Mendenhall,  "I 
am  unable  to  see  which  is  the  least  essen- 
tial." 

Work  for  Amateur  Astronomers. — Pro- 
fessor Edward  C.  Pickering,  of  the  Harvard 
College  Observatory,  invites  amateurs  who 
have  small  telescopes  to  the  observation  of 
the  variable  stars,  and  assures  them  that  by 


NOTES. 


863 


systematizing  their  work,  and  each  selecting 
a  particular  field,  they  can  not  only  observe 
with  more  satisfaction  to  themselves,  but 
may  aid  the  progress  of  science.  Some  may 
make  real  discoveries,  and  they  are  prom- 
ised all  the  credit  they  may  deserve  for  them> 
if  they  give  due  early  notice  of  the  fact. 
Steady  and  repeated  observations  of  the 
same  object  are  wanted  once  or  twice  in 
every  month,  in  order  to  secure  determina- 
tions of  their  light -curves  or  variations. 
This  point  has  been  heretofore  to  a  large 
extent  omitted,  and  only  the  fact  of  varia- 
tion, its  period,  and  its  extremes,  have  as  a 
rule  been  ascertained.  Amateurs  may  do 
service  in  this  line,  while  professional  ob- 
servers are  attending  to  more  delicate  points. 
Professor  Pickering  has  published  a  pam- 
phlet giving  directions  and  the  other  infor- 
mation needed  to  secure  intelligent  observa- 
tions, which  may  be  had  on  application  to 
him  at  Harvard  College  Observatory,  Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts. 

Roman  Remains. — Mr.  Alfred  Tylor  has 
recently  described,  before  the  Royal  Institu- 
tion of  Great  Britain,  some  Roman  remains 
that  were  discovered  last  year  in  London 
about  nineteen  feet  below  the  present  sur- 
face of  the  ground.  They  include  several 
cinerary  urns,  one  of  which,  fifteen  inches 
high,  was  of  glass,  containing  the  results  of 
the  cremation  of  human  bodies,  and  a  re- 
markable turned  vase  of  stone.  Four  of 
the  urns  were  inclosed  in  leaden  ossuaria 
without  solder,  in  the  inside  of  one  of  which 
was  found  an  emblem  of  Mithra,  the  Per- 
sian sun-god.  Some  of  the  other  urns  were 
protected  by  roofing-tiles.  The  coins  found 
during  the  excavations  bore  dates  from  a.  d. 
60  to  300.  The  Mithraic  emblem  was  proba- 
bly of  a  date  soon  after  a.  d.  50. 

Dizziness  and  Deafness. — Dr.  "William 
James,  of  Harvard  University,  has  made 
some  experiments  to  test  the  modern  theory 
that  the  semicircular  canals,  instead  of  be- 
ing connected  with  the  sense  of  hearing, 
serve  to  convey  the  feeling  of  movement  of 
the  head  through  space,  which,  when  inten- 
sified, becomes  dizziness.  It  occurred  to 
him  that  deaf-mutes,  having  their  auricular 
organs  injured,  might  afford  some  corrobo- 
ration of  the  theory,  if  it  were  true,  by  show- 
ing a  smaller  susceptibility  to  dizziness  than 


persons  with  normal  hearing.  Of  519  deaf- 
mutes  examined  by  subjecting  them  to  a 
rapid  whirling,  186  were  wholly  insuscep- 
tible of  being  made  dizzy,  134  were  made 
dizzy  in  a  very  slight  degree,  and  199  were 
normally,  and  in  a  few  cases  abnormally, 
sensitive.  Nearly  200  students  and  instruct- 
ors in  Harvard  College,  supposed  to  have 
normal  hearing,  were  examined  for  purposes 
of  comparison,  and  but  a  single  one  proved 
exempt  from  the  vertigo.  These  results 
seemed  to  Dr.  James  to  support  the  theory 
which  was  the  object  of  his  inquiry.  It  oc- 
curred to  him  that  those  persons  not  affect- 
ed by  dizziness  ought  also  to  lose  their  power 
of  orientation  when  diving  under  water ;  but 
the  experiments  that  were  made  to  test  the 
correctness  of  this  view  were  so  varied  in 
their  results  that  no  conclusions  could  be 
drawn  from  them. 

Errata. — Messrs.  Editors :  Permit  me  to 
call  attention  to  a  few  errors  in  the  first  col- 
umn of  page  714  that  make  nonsense  of  what 
I  am  quoted  as  saying  of  the  supposed  "  lig- 
nified  snake."  According  to  my  remarks, 
as  published  in  the  Washington  "  Star,"  in 
line  two,  "rudimentary  "  should  read  "  re- 
jeetamentary."  In  line  twenty-seven,  "lar- 
va "  should  read  "  liber."  In  lines  thirty- 
three,  thirty-four,  "  without  interference 
with  the  growth  or  soundness  of  the  tree  " 
should  read  "except  where  the  bark  is 
already  loosened,  a  supposition  which  in- 
volves the  idea  of  death  or  decay  in  the 
tree,  and  consequent  incapacity  to  renew 
tissue.  C.  V.  Riley." 


NOTES. 

In  the  twenty-third  "  Forestry  Bulletin  " 
of  the  Census-Office,  the  total  consumption 
of  wood  for  fuel  in  the  United  States  during 
the  year  of  the  census  is  estimated  at  145,- 
77S,"l  37  cords,  the  value  of  which  was  8321,- 
962,373.  Of  this  quantity,  140,537,490 
cords  were  used  for  domestic  purposes ; 
1,971,813  cords  by  railroads  ;  7S7,SG2  cords 
by  steamboats ;  358,074  cords  in  mining  and 
amalgamating  the  precious  metals;  266,771 
cords  in  other  mining  operations;  1,157,522 
cords  in  the  manufacture  of  brick  and  tile ; 
540,448  cords  in  the  manufacture  of  salt ; 
and  158, 20S  cords  in  the  manufacture  of 
wool.  During  the  same  year  74,00S,972 
bushels  of  charcoal  were  burned,  the  value 
of  which  was  $5,276,736. 


864 


THE  POPULAR   SCIENCE  MONTHLY. 


That  plants  have  the  faculty  of  adapting 
themselves  to  suit  a  new  environment  has 
been  curiously  illustrated  in  the  case  of 
some  Australian  acacias  that  were  intro- 
duced to  the  Neilgherrics  of  India  in  1845. 
At  home,  these  trees  flower  in  October,  which 
is  there  a  spring  month.  The  transplanted 
acacias  continued  in  India  to  flower  in  Octo- 
ber till  about  1860,  when  they  were  observed 
to  flower  in  September ;  in  1870  they  flow- 
ered in  August;  in  1878  they  flowered  in 
July;  and  lastly,  in  18S2,  they  began  to 
flower  in  June,  the  spring  month  which  cor- 
responds most  nearly  with  the  Australian 
October.  The  trees  imported  since  1845 
have  not  yet  gone  so  far  back  in  the  time 
of  their  flowering. 

A  female  hippopotamus,  which  was  pre- 
sented to  the  London  Zoological  Society  in 
1853,  by  the  Viceroy  of  Egypt,  has  just  died, 
with  the  exhibition  of  all  the  signs  of  old 
age.  Her  mate  died  in  1S77,  after  having 
lived  twenty-seven  years  in  the  garden.  As 
the  condition  of  the  teeth  and  bones  indi- 
cate that  the  animals  could  hardly  have  been 
able  to  live  as  long  in  their  native  wilds  as 
they  did  under  attention  at  the  park,  the 
conclusion  is  drawn  that  the  limit  of  life  of 
the  hippopotamus  is  about  thirty  years. 

Dr.  Joseph  Kidd  relates,  in  "  The  Prac- 
titioner," a  history  of  the  course  of  disease 
in  a  family,  the  effect  of  which  is  to  illus- 
trate strikingly,  if  it  does  not  demonstrate, 
the  transmissibility  of  Bright's  disease.  A 
woman,  two  of  whose  brothers  had  died 
of  this  disease  in  early  manhood,  who  her- 
self died  of  it  when  sixty  years  of  age,  was 
the  mother  of  twelve  children,  seven  of 
whom  also  died  from  it,  and  grandchildren, 
of  whom  two  at  least  are  afflicted  with  kid- 
ney-disease. 

A  story  is  told  of  a  woman  in  Boston 
who  discovered  and  located  a  leak  in  the 
waste-pipe  of  a  wash-bowl,  by  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  fondness  of  cats  for  the  oil  of 
valerian.  Having  put  two  cats  in  the  par- 
lor, where  an  offensive  odor  was  perceived, 
the  woman  poured  the  oil  into  the  basin 
of  an  upper  room  and  watched  for  the  re- 
sult. The  cats  shortly  began  to  sniff  the 
air  and  move  toward  a  closet  through  whieh 
the  waste-pipe  ran,  then  jumped  upon  a  shelf 
and  purred  as  if  enjoying  a  great  luxury. 
The  wall  was  cut  away  to  expose  the  pipe, 
and  a  considerable  leak  was  found  at  the 
very  spot  pointed  out  by  the  cats. 

The  Russian  admiral.  Count  Frederic 
B.  Liitke,  known  as  the  "  Patriarch  of  the 
Fleet,"  a  distinguished  navigator  of  more 
than  half  a  century  apo,  has  recently  died. 
He  circumnavigated  the  globe  in  1817-18; 
was  employed  during  the  four  successive 
summers,  1821-24,  in  scientific  surveys  of 


Nova  Zembla,  from  which  rich  additions  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  Arctic  regions  were 
derived;  and  from  1S26  to  1829  he  com- 
manded an  expedition  of  the  corvettes  Se- 
niavine  and  Moller  to  Kamchatka  and  other 
parts  of  Northeastern  Asia,  Behring's  Sea 
and  its  archipelagoes,  and  Alaska,  in  the 
course  of  which  extensive  collections  were 
made  and  much  knowledge  was  acquired. 

Professor  John  Nichol,  speaking  in  his 
"  Historical  Sketch"  of  American  literature 
of  the  non-existence  of  international  copy- 
right, says  that  "this  gross  injustice  to  the 
authors  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  publishers  on  one,  leads 
to  the  intellectual  market  being  glutted 
with  stolen  goods.  Considerations  of  inter- 
est in  business  are  of  course  everything ; 
those  of  principle  or  art  or  patriotism  noth- 
ing." 

England  has  lost  an  active  and  highly 
appreciated  scientific  student  by  the  death 
of  Edward  B.  Tawney,  Assistant  Curator  of 
the  Woodwardian  Museum,  Cambridge.  He 
was  the  son  of  a  clergyman,  and  was  born 
in  1841.  For  six  years  before  going  to  the 
Cambridge  Museum,  he  had  been  Assistant 
Curator  of  the  Bristol  Museum.  He  was 
author  of  numerous  papers  on  topics  in  ge- 
ology, was  versed  in  several  Continental  lan- 
guages, and  relished  the  masterpieces  of 
literature;  thus  showing  in  his  life  that 
science  is  not  narrow  or  its  pursuit  hum- 
drum. 

The  United  States  Commission  of  Fish 
and  Fisheries  is  about  to  build,  in  connection 
with  its  new  station  there,  an  aquarium,  to 
be  devoted  to  biological  researches  of  every 
description,  at  Wood's  Hole,  Massachusetts. 
Preparations  are  being  made  at  the  adjoin- 
ing station  for  the  artificial  propagation  of 
cod,  mackerel,  halibut,  and  other  fishes  use- 
ful for  food. 

The  death  is  announced  of  Johann  Bene- 
dict Listing,  a  German  philosopher  who  was 
distinguished  for  his  studies  in  recondite 
questions  in  physics — in  such  matters  as  the 
world  ordinarily  does  not,  or  does  not  try  to, 
understand.  His  most  important  discovery 
was  a  law,  called  after  him,  Listing's  law,  in 
physiological  optics,  which  relates  to  the 
position  of  the  eyeball  when  it  turns  from 
looking  at  one  object  to  another,  without 
movement  of  the  head.  Other  studies  re- 
lated to  the  geometrical  qualities  of  knots, 
the  inversion  and  perversion  of  geometrical 
figures,  helices,  the  complexes  of  space,  and 
similar  puzzling  conceptions. 

Dr.  Carl  Hornstein,  Professor  and  Di- 
rector of  the  observatory  at  the  Carl  Ferdi- 
nand University,  Prague,  died  December  22d, 
aged  fifty-eight  years. 


INDEX 


PAGE 

Abbott,  Charles  C.,  M.  D 315 

Abney,  Captain,  F.  R.  S 397 

Aborigines  of  the  Isthmus 427 

Adulteration  ?  What  is 859 

African,  Tbe,  in  tbe  United  States 433 

African,  The,  in  the  United  States,  Letter  on 841 

Allen,  Nathan,  M.  D.,  LL.  D 139 

Allen,  Professor  Grant 94,  G62 

Anios,  Sheldon 721 

Animal  Life,  Queer  Phases  of. 589 

Antiquity  of  Man  in  America 286 

Arcadia,  A  South  African 650 

Asphalts,  American  and  Foreign 188 

Ass's  Milk  for  Infants 425 

Astronomers,  Amateur,  Work  for 862 

Astronomy,  Physical.     Modern  Methods  in 477 

Backboned  Family,  Progress  of 739 

Bain,  Alexander 458 

Bates,  Henry  Hobart,  M.  A 788 

Beard,  R.  O.,  M.  D 535 

Beets,  Wine  from 287 

Benson,  Berry 120 

Bergeron,  M 495 

Bicycles  and  Civilization 556 

Bicycle  Controversy,  The,  in  Stockbridge,  Letter  on 550 

Birds  in  Cold  Weather 431 

Boileau,  J.  P.  H.,  M.  D ' 172 

Boodle,  R.  W 511,  606 

Books  noticed : 

"  Ideological  Etymology  "  (Andrews) 123 

"  Elements  of  Universology  "  (Andrews) 123 

"  Vice  Versa  "  (Anstey) 125 

"  The  Coming  Democracy  "  (Harwood) 126 

"  The  Change  of  Life  "  (Tilt) 126 

"  The  Cornell  University  Register  "  (1881-'82) 126 

"  Light "  (Wright) 127 

"  Memoir  of  Daniel  Macmillan  "  (Hughes) 127 

"  Progressive  Religious  and  Social  Poems  "  (Vaughan) 127 

"  Water-Power  of  the  Southern  Atlantic  Water-Shed  "  (Swain) 127 

"  Studies  in  Science  and  Religion  "  (Wright) 128 

"  Physiognomy  "  (Stanton) 129 

vol.  xxii. — 55 


866  INDEX. 

Books  noticed :  page 

"  Statistics  of  the  Population  of  the  United  States  "  ("Walker) 129 

"  Wave-Lengths  of  Fraunhofer  Lines  "  (Mendenhall) 129 

"  Report  on  Submarine  Mines  "  (Abbott) 129 

"  Chronological  List  of  Auroras,"  1870  to  1879  (Greeley) 130 

"  Statistics  of  Public  Indebtedness  "  (Porter) 130 

"  Appalachia,"  June,  1882 130 

"  Atlantis  "  (Donnelly) 131 

"  Meteorology  of  Tokio,  Japan  "  (Mendenhall) 132 

"  The  Chemistry  of  Sake-Brewing  "  (Atkinson) 133 

"  Construction  and  Maintenance  of  Time-Balls  "  (Hazen) 133 

"  George  Eipley  "  (Frothingham) 276 

"  The  New  Botany  "  (Beal) 277 

"  Is  Consumption  contagious  ?  "  (Clapp) 277 

"  The  Sun  "  (Young) 278 

"  La  Navigation  Electrique  "  (Dary) 278 

"  Report  of  Smithsonian  Institution  "  (1880) 278 

"  The  Peak  in  Darien  "  (Cobbe) 279 

"  The  Fire-Protection  of  Mills  "  (Woodbury) 279 

"  Easy  Star  Lessons  "  (Proctor) 280 

"  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education  for  1880  " 280 

"  Manual  of  Blow-pipe  Analysis  "  (Cornwall) 281 

"  Catalogue  of  1,098  Stars  " 282 

"  James  Mill"  (Bain) 414 

"  The  Winners  in  Life's  Race  "  (Buckley) 415 

"  Herbert  Spencer  on  the  Americans,  and  the  Americans  on  Herbert 

Spencer  " 416 

"  Unity  Pulpit "  (Savage) 416 

"  A  Practical  Treatise  on  Hernia  "  (Warren) 417 

"  Proceedings  of  the  Biological  Society  of  Washington  " 418 

"  A  Guide  to  Modern  English  History  "  (Cory) 419 

"  Address   (New  England  Manufacturers'  and  Mechanics'  Institute) 

(Atkinson) 419 

"  Contributions  to  Mineralogy  "  (Genth) 419 

"  Age  of  Tejon  Rocks  of  California  "  (Heilprin) 420 

"  Proceedings  of  the  Davenport  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  " 420 

"  How  to  succeed  "  (Abbott) 420 

"  Cerebral  Hyperemia;   Does  it  exist?  "  (Buckley) 420 

"  The  Solution  of  the  Pyramid  Problem  "  (Ballard) 421 

"  A  Guide  to  Collodio-Etching  "  (Hartley) 421 

"  United  States  Commission  of  Fish  and  Fisheries  "  (1879) 421 

"  The  Gulf  Stream  "  (Bartlett) 422 

"  Proceedings  of  the  Department  of  Superintendence  of  the  National 

Educational  Association  "  (1882) 422 

"  Putnam's  Art  Hand-Books  "  (Carter) 422 

"  A  Dictionary  of  Music  and  Musicians  "  (Grove) 422 

"  The  Hoffman  Cover  and  Binder  " 423 

"  American  Journal  of  Physiology  " 423 

"  Modern  Stenographic  Journal " 423 

"  Ragnarok  "  (Donnelly) 560 

"  Zoological  Sketches  "  (Oswald) 561 

"  Check-List  of  North  American  Birds  "  (Coues) 563 


INDEX.  867 

Books  noticed :  PAGE 

"  New  Check-List  of  North  American  Moths  "  (Grote) 563 

"  House-Drainage  "  (Gerhard) 564 

"  Diagram  for  Sewer  Calculations  "  (Gerhard) 564 

"  New  Method  of  learning  the  French  Language  "  (Berger) 564 

"  Chapters  on  Evolution  "  (Wilson) 564 

"  Dress  and  Care  of  the  Feet  "  (Kahler) 565 

"  Report  of  the  Maryland  Fish  Commissioner  "  (Ferguson) 565 

"  Report  of  the  Wisconsin  Board  of  Health  " 565 

"  Youth :  Its  Care  and  Culture  "  (Mortimer-Granville) 565 

"  Report  of  the  Detroit  Board  of  Health  " 586 

"  American  Citizens'  Manual "  (Ford) 566 

"  Railroad  Economics  "  (Robinson) 566 

"  Strength  of  Wrought-Iron  Bridges  "  (Robinson) 566 

"  Potable  Water  "  (Folkard) 566 

"  Ottawa  Field  Naturalists'  Club  " 566 

"  Report  of  the  Ninth  Cincinnati  Industrial  Exhibition  " 566 

"  Practical  Life  and  the  Study  of  Man  "  (Wilson) 567 

"  Schelling's  Transcendental  Idealism  "  (Watson) 567 

"  Speech  and  its  Defects  "  (Potter) 567 

"  The  Magazine  of  Art  " 567 

"  Revue  Scientifique  " 568 

"  Facts  and  Phases  of  Animal  Life  "  (Morwood) 704 

"  Swift  "  (Stephen) 705 

"  Herbert  Spsncer  on  American  Nervousness  "  (Beard) 706 

"  History  of  the  Pacific  States  of  North  America."     Central  America. 

(Bancroft) 707 

"  Anatomy  of  Birds  "  (Shufeldt) 708 

"  American  Society  of  Microscopists 708 

"  Poems  "  (Savage) 708 

"  Work  at  Harvard  Observatory  "  (Pickering) 709 

"  Gospel  of  the  Stars  "  (Seiss) 709 

"  Education,  Moral "  (Buchanan) 710 

"  Report  of  the  Peabody  Museum  " 710 

"  Lectures  on  Art  " 711 

"  The  Factors  of  Civilization  " 711 

"  American  Hero-Myths ...  711 

"  Wide  Awake  " 712 

"  Report  on  Six  Hundred  Tornadoes  " 712 

"  The  Science  of  Politics  "  (Amos) 850 

"Description  of  Houghton  Farm  "  (H.  E.  A.) 851 

"  Anatomical  Technology  "  (Wilder  and  Gage) 853 

"  Experimental  Physiology  "  (Owen) 853 

"  Physics,  and  Occult  Qualities  "  (Taylor) 853 

"  Barometric  Hypsometry  " 854 

"  The  Eleventh  Commandment  "  (Barrili) 854 

"  Signal-Service  Tables  "  (Dunwoody) 854 

"  A  Study  of  Tennyson's  '  The  Princess '  "  (Dawson) 854 

"Text-Book  of  Geology  "  (Geikie) 855 

"  Annals  of  the  Astronomical  Observatory  of  Harvard  College  " 856 

"  Quintus  Claudius  "  (Eckstein) 856 

"  Traits  of  Representative  Men  "  (Bungay) 856 


868  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Brain-Weight  and  Brain-Power 172 

Briesen,  T.  von 503 

Brooks,  Professor  W.  K 195,  364 

Buckley,  Arabella  B 739 

Biittner,  C.  G 650 

Calendar,  Origin  of  the,  and  Astrology 825 

Camp-Meeting,  Evolution  of  the 622 

Cell-State,  The 174 

Cemetery,  A  Prehistoric 445 

Cesspools,  The  Poison  of 718 

Child,  A.  L.,  M.  D 204 

Chittenden,  C.  E 842 

Citric  Acid,  Action  of,  on  Minerals 288 

Civilization,  Bicycles  and 556 

Civilization,  Coeval  Grades  of. 430 

Colin,  Professor  Ferdinand 174 

Cold,  The  Poles  of  Extreme 570 

Colored  Population,  Vital  Conditions  affecting  the 714 

Comets,  M.  Eespighi  on  the  Light  of 574 

Comets,  Professor  Huggins  on 428 

Comet,  The  Great,  of  1882 289 

Consumption,  Infectious 716 

Continent,  The  Sunken  Southern,  again 429 

Copyright  Discussion,  Letter  on 842 

Correspondence 120,  550,  841 

Cowries  and  African  Currency 141 

Craters,  Lunar,  The  Formation  of 495 

Cremation,  Advantages  of 861 

Criminality  in  Animals 244 

Cults,  Ancient,  among  the  Berbers  of  Morocco 286 

Curiosities,  Physiognomic ^ 

Customs,  Ancient  Old  World  and  American,  Analogies  of. 287 

Dawkins,  W.  Boyd \2 

Deafness,  Dizziness  and °"3 

Deformities,  Bodily,  in  Girlhood ^23 

Delboeuf,  M VG7 

Depression,  The,  of  our  Atlantic  Coast 136 

Donkey,  Origin  of  the "r83 

Draper,  Professor  Henry,  Sketch  of 405 

Du  Bois-Beymond,  Eniil 

Dwarfs  and  Giants ^^ 

Eatables,  A  Few  Words  about 6'i"r 

Editor's  Table 121,268,410,553,699,843 

Education,  Bain  on  University 

Education,  Brain-Power  in 

Education,  Machine 

71 1 

Education,  Mechanical  and  Vital ' 


INDEX.  869 

PAGK 

Education,  the  Influence  of,  on  Observation  .    359 

Edwards,  Henri  Milne-,  Sketch  of 545 

Egleston,  N.  II 774 

Egypt  as  a  Health  Resort 141 

Elder  and  the  Juniper,  Folk-Lore  of  the 861 

Engler,  E.  A 156,  328 

Errata 863 

Esquimaux,  The 137 

Farming,  Scientific,  at  Rothamsted 81,  383 

FingaPs  Cave,  Is  it  artificial  ? 231 

Flora,  North  American,  Succession  of 135 

Flora,  The,  of  North  America 283 

Florida,  Remedial  Value  of  the  Climate  of 641 

Foester,  Professor  William 825 

Fog-Signals,  Aberrations  in 857 

Foot-prints,  Fossil,  Human,  in  Nevada 137 

Forestry,  Scientific,  Progress  of 140 

Forests,  The  Census  and  the 774 

Forests,  The  World's,  Waste  of 428 

Forest,  The  Possible  Annual  Yield  of  a 572 

Fouillee,  M.  Alfred 300,  521 

Geological  Map,  the  Proposed,  of  Europe 283 

Giants,  Dwarfs  and 767 

Gilliam,  Professor  E.  W 433 

Girlhood,  Bodily  Deformities  in 322 

Gold,  The  Decrease  of 503 

Growth,  Annual,  of  Trees 204 

Growths,  Some  Curious  Vegetable 30 

Gulf  Stream,  The 134 

Hall,  James,  LL.  D 815 

Hallock,  E.  J.,  Ph.  D 188 

Hamilton,  Frank  Hastings,  M.  D 1 

Hammond.  Dr.  W.  A 760 

Hericourt,  M 225 

House-Walls,  Hygiene  in 135 

Hunt,  T.  Sterry,  F.  R.  S 165 

Ice  and  Fog  in  the  North  Atlantic 628 

Implements,  Stone,  Value  of  the  Evidence  of 859 

Increase,  Human,  The  Law  of 39 

Indians  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Territory 424 

Indians,  The  American,  and  the  Aryan  Race 286 

Infection  ?  Do  House-Flies  convey 571 

Insanities,  Perceptional 760 

Iroquois,  the  Pagan,  Festivals  of 860 

Isthmus,  Aborigines  of  the 427 

James,  Joseph  F 445 

Janssen,  Jules  C 477 


870  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Jaw-Bone,  The  Infant  Giant,  of  Stramberg 138 

Juniper,  Folk-Lore  of  the  Elder  and  the 8G1 

Kacheen,  Marriage  Customs  of  the 573 

Lacassagne,  A 244 

Land  Question,  Herbert  Spencer  and  the 858 

Lansing,  Gen-it  L 577 

Lapham,  Increase  Allen,  Sketch  of. 835 

Larrabee,  W.  H 30 

Law  against  Eight 699 

Ledyard,  L.  W 842 

Le  Sueur,  W.  D.,  B.  A 145 

Letters,  Eoman,  Physiological  Analogies  of  the 285 

Life,  American,  Social  Forces  in 491 

Life,  Animal,  Queer  Phases  of 589 

Life-Insurance,  The  Decline  of 429 

Lion,  The  British 72 

Literary  Notices 123,  276,  414,  560,  704,  850 

Lockwood,  S.,  Ph.  D 341 

Lunatics,  Criminal,  Responsibility  of 859 

Lyman,  Oliver  E 803 

Magnified  Objects,  Apparent  Size  of 137 

Mallock  and  his  New  Science 121 

Man,  Antiquity  of,  in  America 286 

Marriage  Laws,  Indian 135 

Mastodon,  A,  in  an  Old  Beaver-Meadow 341 

Matter,  Speculations  on  the  Nature  of 788 

Medicine,  The  Schools  of. 535 

Mental  Shock  and  Inebriety 717 

Miles,  Manly,  M.  D 81,  383 

Moraine,  The  Glacial,  in  Pennsylvania 134 

Mortality  in  Town  and  Country 424 

Mound-Builders,  Were  the,  Indians? 285 

Musical  Sensations 225 

Names,  Geographical,  Central  American,  Letter  on 120 

Narcotics,  Lessons  on  the  Danger  of 718 

Nerve- Vibration  as  a  Eemedy 575 

North  Atlantic,  Ice  and  Fog  in  the 628 

Notes 143,  288,  431,  575,  719,  863 

Observatory,  Dearborn,  Work  of  the 570 

Ohm's  Law,  Experimental  Demonstration  of. 713 

Oswald,  Felix  L 6,  345,  471,  589,  754 

Overwork,  The  Question  of 411 

Parrish,  Dr.  Joseph 622 

Pasteur,  A  Medal  to 284 

Pathology,  A  Chapter  in  Transcendental 659 

Petroleum,  Origin  of. 284 


INDEX.  871 

PAGE 

Philanthropy,  Scientific. 300,  521 

Photography,  Eecent  Advances  in 397 

Physics,  Instruction  in 8G2 

Physiognomic  Curiosities 63 

Pietrement,  0.  A 783 

Piratical  Publishers 656 

Piratical  Publishers  or  a  Piratical  Government 702 

Plants,  Use  of  the  Gummy  Secretions  of. 572 

Playas  and  Playa  Lakes 380 

Politics,  Hindrances  to  the  Science  of 848 

Politics,  Nature  and  Limits  of  the  Science  of 721 

Popular  Miscellany 134,  283,  424,  569,  713,  857 

Prairies,  Formation  of 285 

Pre-Indian  People,  Traces  of  a 315 

Pressure,  Atmospheric,  Subterranean  Effects  of 716 

Primitive  Man  ?  Who  was 94 

Principle  in  Small  Things 273 

Publications  Received 133,  282,  423,  568,  712,  856 

Publishers,  Piratical 656 

Radcliffe,  Dr.  0.  B 677 

Radiations,  Solar,  Langley's  Observations  on 715 

Railway  Consolidation,  Growth  and  Effect  of 577 

Railway  Consolidation,  Letter  on 842 

Records,  Ancient  Maya 718 

Recreation,  the  Gospel  of. 354 

Redding,  Benjamin  B.,  Obituary  Notice  of 575 

Religion,  Natural 511,  606 

Rhine,  Alice  Hyneman 625 

Roberts,  Charles,  F.  R.  C.  S 322 

Roman  Remains 863 

Rothamsted,  Scientific  Farming  at 81,  383 

Russell,  Israel  C 380 

Russian  Geological  Research 287 

Schleiden,  Matthias  Jacob,  Sketch  of 256 

Schools,  European  Technical 573 

Schreiber,  Dr.  A 109 

Science,  Incentives  in  the  Pursuit  of 844 

Science  in  Relation  to  the  Arts 48,  206 

Science  in  the  Sick-Room 497 

Sciences,  the  Natural,  The  Relations  of 165 

Science,  The,  of  the  Present  Period 20 

Scientific  Weekly,  The  New 843 

Scott,  Leonard 656,  843 

Sea-side,  Sewage  at  the 625 

Servant-Girls,  Legal  Status  of  the 803 

Sewer-Gas  ...    1 

Shackford,  Captain  J.  W 628 

Shooting-Stars,  their  Traditions  and  Origin 142 

Sick-Room,  Science  in  the 497 


872  INDEX. 


PAGE 


Siemens,  0.  W.,  F.  R.  S 48  206 

Small  Things,  Principle  in 273 

Smith,  Mr.  Gold  win,  on  the  Data  of  Ethics 245 

Smyth,  C.  Piazzi 240 

Snake,  A  Lignitied 239 

Snake,  Lignified,  More  ahout  the 713 

Social  Porces  in  American  Life 491 

Spectroscope,  The,  and  the  Weather 240 

Spencer,  Herbert 354  491 

Spencer,  Herbert,  and  the  Land  Question 858 

Spencer,  Herbert,  The  Banquet  to 410 

Spencer's  Impressions  of  America 268 

Stanley,  H 120 

Statue,  The  Bartholdi 414 

Stature,  American 571 

Stethoscope,  Evolution  of  the 488 

Storms,  Origin  of,  Letter  on 120 

Suicide  in  Switzerland 860 

Sumatra,  Life  among  the  Battas  of 109 

Sun,  Theory  of  his  Light  and  Heat,  Letter  on 120 

Superstition,  Curiosities  of 345,  471,  754 

Survey,  Northern  Transcontinental 715 

Survey,  The  New  York  Geological 815 

Thomson,  Sir  C.  Wyville,  Sketch  of 693 

Time  Keeping  in  London 156,  328 

Trees,  Annual  Growth  of. 204 

University  Ideal,  The 458 

Varieties,  Entertaining 263 

Venus,  Observations  of  the  Recent  Transit  of . . .    569 

Vice,  The  Economic  Function  of 732 

Vivisection  and  Practical  Medicine 615 

Walton,  Dr.  George  E 641 

Weeks,  Clara  S 497 

Wheat,  The  Pedigree  of. 662 

Whitehouse,  F.  Cope,  M.  A 231 

Wilks,  Samuel,  M.  D 488 

Wine  from  Beets 287 

Wurtz,  Charles  Adolphe,  Sketch  of 114 

Yeo,  Dr.  G.  F 615 

Young,  Professor  C.  A 289 

Zoology,  Speculative 195,  364 


END    OF   VOL.    XXII. 


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