C^A«<?J2^c^ ^J /

THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

THE

POPULAR SCIENCE

MONTHLY

EDITED BY

J. MCKKEN CATTELL

VOL. LXI
NOVEMBER, 1902, TO APRIL, 1903

NEW YORK

THE SCIENCE PRESS

1903

Copyright, 1902,
THE SCIENCE PRESS.

PRESS OF

THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY

LANCASTER,. PA.

THE

POPULAR SCIENCE
MONTHLY.

NOVEMBER, 1902.

SOME REFLECTIONS UPON THE REACTION FEOM

COEDUCATION.

By Professor JAMES ROWLAND ANGELL,

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.

r| THE authorities of many of our great coeducational universities
-■- have been of late much perplexed and depressed at the astonish-
ing number of young women who insist on patronizing these institu-
tions. Taken in moderation the coeducational young woman has
succeeded in approving herself to a considerable majority of her in-
structors. But she has recently shown a disposition to outnumber the
young men in her classes, and this is resented by certain of her mentors
as an obvious impropriety. The occasion has been seized upon by re-
actionaries here and there to magnify the drawbacks of coeducation,
and there can be no question that many members of the faculties of
institutions committed to this system are restive under the extant
conditions, and apprehensive for the future. A few, especially certain
of those educated in eastern non-coeducational institutions or in
foreign universities, are severely, not to say bitterly, critical in their
attitude, and eager for anything so it be a change. We may there-
fore expect in the near future much experimentation, and more dis-
cussion, upon the coeducational program. As a symptom of the edu-
cational development of the country at large, the present agitation
possesses an interest and significance quite beyond the limits of the
regions immediately affected.

In order to see the present situation in its just perspective one
must bear in mind the remarkable educational development which has
occurred in recent years in those parts of the country where coeducation

3 1 6 G 3

6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

is indigenous. The decade from 1890 to 1900 witnessed a growth
wholly unprecedented in most of the strong coeducational colleges and
universities of the central and western states. Academic standards
were raised, equipments were lavishly provided in accordance with
modern demands, faculties were enlarged and admirably trained
specialists were secured in every department. In many institutions
graduate courses of high merit were developed. The increase in the
number of students was equally remarkable. The University of
Minnesota leaped from 1,183 to over 3,000. The University of Cali-
fornia from 763 to 3,024. The University of Wisconsin rose from
966 to 2,619. Cornell had 1,390 students in 1890, and 2,458 in 1900.
At the University of Michigan the figures for the same period were
2,420 and 3,482. Moreover, in this same decade two coeducational
universities were founded, Leland Stanford, Jr., University and the
University of Chicago, which at once took rank with the foremost
institutions of the country. In the year 1900 the former reported
1,389 students, the latter 3,520. Many other universities might be
cited, such as the State Universities of Iowa, Ohio, Missouri, Kansas,
Nebraska and Illinois, but they all tell the same story of the tropical
development of higher education throughout this central and western
region.

In 1890 there was but one of the large coeducational colleges in
which women constituted over a third of the student body. This was
true even in the courses grouped under the departments of literature,
science and the arts. In institutions possessing schools of law and
medicine the percentage of women in the total student body was very
small. Even at this early date, however, Oberlin College was enjoying
the fruits of its pioneer policy in first opening the doors of a man's
college to women by finding 53 per cent, of its students women. It is
not without interest to those nervous prophets who foresee a tidal wave
of women sweeping the helpless men before it out of the coeducational
institutions, that the percentage of women in the department of liberal
arts at Oberlin has remained almost stationary for ten years, having,
as a matter of fact, fallen somewhat toward the end of the period.
Oberlin is in this particular also an exception, however. In all the
other important universities the percentage of women has materially
increased, and in some instances passed the fifty-per-cent. mark. Thus
in 1900 the course in literature, arts and general science showed at the
University of California 55 per cent, women; at Minnesota 53 per
cent. ; at Chicago 47 per cent. ; at Michigan 47 per cent ; and at North-
western 44 per cent.*

* These figures cannot be regarded as absolutely accurate, owing to the
method of cataloguing found in the reports of certain institutions. The pe-

THE REACTION FROM COEDUCATION. 7

If professional schools are included in the computations, the figures
take on a very different complexion. Thus at Michigan, for instance,
in 1900 the law school with nearly 900 male students and the medical
departments with over 600 served, together with the engineering school
of 350, to keep the proportion of women to men in the whole institu-
tion within 3 per cent, of what it was in 1890, the figures being 16 per
cent, and 19 per cent, for the beginning and end of the decade respect-
ively. In almost every case the increase in the percentage of women
occurred in the face of an unparalleled increase in the number of male
students. Indeed, a recent writer has presented statistics to prove
that the increase in the number of men in coeducational institutions
has for some years past been relatively more rapid than the increase in
the colleges for men alone. This, too, is a hard saying for those who
maintain that women are driving men out of the coeducational institu-
tions. But it does not mean, as we shall presently see, that women
and men are increasing with equal rapidity in the same courses of study.

One finds his natural anticipations fulfilled in the almost entire
absence of women from the courses in law and technology. Medicine
attracts a small quota, but to all intents and purposes the serious em-
barrassments of the present situation may be treated as if the women
were all segregated in the department of liberal arts. When one pur-
sues the matter behind the face of the commonly published statistics,
he finds that the process of segregation extends much further than these
indicate. So far has the process of differentiation gone that certain
courses are essentially preempted by women, whereas in others the
men reign solitary and supreme. There is, to be sure, no rigid uni-
formity among the various institutions as regards the particular
courses which are thus apportioned. But the phenomena of segrega-
tion is practically universal, so that in many glasses the spirit of
coeducation is buried under the substance of a female seminary or a
man's college, as the case may be. Thus it will be found that the
classes in English literature have been largely appropriated by women.
History, the modern languages and classical studies show in many
institutions a large invasion of women, while mathematics, geology
and biology, together with the philosophical and social sciences, fur-
nish a transition to the exact sciences and to studies of an advanced
character immediately preparatory for law, medicine and technology,
in which the men have things almost to themselves. The distribution

culiarities of organization in a few institutions must also be taken into account.

Northwestern University, for example, has a large conservatory of music,

chiefly patronized by women. This is not taken into account in our figures,

which are meant to render comparative statements as nearly as possible reliable

and significant. The figures quoted are believed to be entirely trustworthy for
this purpose.

8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

of the women as regards the relative numbers pursuing the several
subjects offered by the curriculum, seem to be closely similar to that
obtaining in the courses in women's colleges, so far as statistics are
available and elective conditions comparable. It will be understood
of course that these rough classifications refer solely to elective work
taken in the broad sense, and not to such courses as are specifically
prescribed for every academic degree.

One inevitably questions what this tendency means, what its final
outcome is to be, and whether it is to be regarded as a welcome sign or
not. It is clear, as regards the first point, that two influences are pre-
dominantly responsible for the general result. The first is found in
the disposition to mold collegiate work from the earliest possible
moment in such a manner as most effectively to assist in the prepara-
tion for a professional career. The second is found in the tendency
to cultivate established tastes and to foster spontaneous intellectual
interests.

The efficacy of the first consideration in the case of men is not open
to doubt. In those parts of the country where collegiate coeducation is
the prevailing system, the great mass of the young men are expecting
immediately after graduation to enter upon a business or professional
career, and this intention frequently leads them early in their college
course to desert the humanities and the more purely cultural studies,
so called, in favor of what they, or the faculties of the professional
schools, consider the branches of immediately practical value. Litera-
ture and the classics rapidly surrender their claims upon these young
men to economics, political science, constitutional history, physics,
chemistry, biology, etc. In every large undergraduate body there is
naturally always a considerable group of men who conceive of their
educational opportunities in a more liberal manner than this, and
another group cherishing more or less definite intention of graduate
specialization in some of the departments of collegiate work other than
those allied with the professional schools. Taken together these groups
supply a considerable masculine leaven to what might otherwise in
many of the courses in the humanities be a hopelessly feminine lump.

The women taken in mass are also widely controlled by professional
considerations. However it may be in the colleges exclusively for women,
there can be no reasonable question that up to the present time, at least,
large numbers of the women in coeducational institutions have been
looking forward to self-support. Or, at all events, if this were not an
explicit purpose in their collegiate course, it was a very comforting pos-
sible consequence, exercising an indirect influence over their selection
of studies. By common consent medicine and teaching are the two pro-
fessions really open to women. Consequently the average college wo-

THE REACTION FROM COEDUCATION. 9

man who intends to live by her brains feels that she must choose between
the two. The opportunities open to women in a business career have
hitherto been too precarious or too purely clerical to attract extensive
attention from college-bred women. It is not necessary to point out
the reasons which lead the vast majority of college women, who are
looking to self-support, to choose the profession of teaching, nor yet
to dwell upon the further reasons which practically confine the larger
number of them to work in the secondary schools, whose fate is already
largely in their hands. Admitting the facts, we at once have a reason
why large numbers of women elect the courses they do in college. It
is the old familiar process of demand and supply. In no small
measure, then, the educational phenomenon from which we started,
i. e., the segregation of the sexes in pursuit of different subjects, is
attributable to social and economic causes.

Women will probably continue their plethoric patronage of the
courses in literature and the humanities at coeducational institutions
as long as the secondary schools offer them smaller salaries than are
paid to properly trained men, and as long as other vocations requiring
a college education are closed to them. It is possible that some relief
may be found through the dawning of the halcyon days, so longed for
by certain eminent educational reactionaries, when required curricula
will supersede the elective system, and the humanities once more come
to their own. The wandering male sheep would thus be brought back
into the fold. Certainly the progressive suicide of the elective system
now going on in many institutions under the influence of professional
tendencies is most interesting and suggestive. Moreover, there are
reasons for thinking that if the opportunities for women teachers of
physics and chemistry were larger, and the collegiate courses in these
subjects arranged with less of reference to ulterior professional inter-
ests of a technological character, the number of women in such courses
would be materially increased. Tradition is in these matters of some
consequence, and men have so long conducted this work in the high
schools that a rapid change is in no case a probability. There are, of
course, exceptions to the rule even now.

When one comes to speak of the influence of native abilities, native
tastes and intellectual interests in the election of courses, the avail-
able data are altogether less tangible. The prevalent doctrines con-
cerning the mental differences of men and women are matters of dogma
readily susceptible of neither proof nor disproof. In polite letters,
as in society, woman has long figured as the adorable parent of men,
not of ideas; as the repository of delicate sentiment rather than of ac-
curate knowledge and in general, as the residuary legatee of all those
interests which men do not care to cultivate. The evidence adducible

io POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

in support of the correctness of this view is often proclaimed as con-
clusive; and ranged behind it is the authority of sundry notable
physiologists, psychologists, sociologists and gentlemen of fashion. The
contrary view in accordance with which women are allowed to possess
ideas, some of them even original, is supported by evidence almost as
intelligible and by partisans quite as eminent and quite as confident.
The fact seems to be that it is extremely difficult to demonstrate how
much of a woman's intellectual bent is due to the sexual bias of her
mind, and how much to the influences which surround her from cradle
to grave. It may be, for example, that literature is intrinsically
feminine in its character, and that exact science is dominantly mascu-
line. In the meantime it must certainly be granted that the conditions
environing many girls are from childhood on such as tend to cultivate
a mild but definite variety of sentimentalism. It has been suggested
that some of the methods of studying literature current in these days
tend also to sentimentalism, and so appeal to established habits of the
feminine mind, while repelling the masculine temper. Courses deal-
ing with the more emotional and esthetic forms of literary criticism
and appreciation must necessarily be exposed to some danger from this
source. Possibly a slight corrective and palliative for the excessive
cultivation of such courses by women might be found in a larger em-
phasis upon more masculine points of view.

It seems improbable, however, that the relatively small number
of men in the courses in belles-lettres in coeducational institutions is
due in any considerable degree to this asserted fact regarding native
masculine tastes, nor in any indisposition on the part of the men to sit
in classes with women. For, as regards the second point, it must be
remembered that there are many courses in which both men and women
are well represented, and in which the ratio of the sexes to one another
has changed but little throughout considerable periods. This is true,
for example, of certain courses in history. The first point gains an
interesting side light from the observation that in several important
eastern institutions for men, where the modes of exposition and instruc-
tion in literature do not differ absolutely from those in vogue in west-
ern coeducational colleges, the attendance upon such courses shows in
recent years no extreme shrinkage, and, as regards certain courses in
English, even exhibits a marked development. The most obvious ex-
planation of this difference between the east and the west (over and
above the influence of the stimulating personality of certain success-
ful instructors) is unquestionably to be found in the social condi-
tions of which we have already spoken. The appreciation of the
educational value of literature is necessarily more circumscribed in
new and less wealthy communities than in those which have been

THE REACTION FROM COEDUCATION. u

long established, and the pressure toward the obviously practical is
inevitably far greater. The astonishing development of technological
schools in western universities affords striking confirmation of this last
named tendency — a tendency by the way which finds a counterpart in
the rapid growth of the so-called scientific schools in great eastern
universities.

The final explanation which some misogynists would offer for the
predominance of women in English courses, i. e., that English litera-
ture is ordinarily the easiest of college courses unhappily proves too
much. Such statistics as are available tend to show that were this
generally conceded, women would rarely preponderate in such classes.
On the whole, therefore, it seems probable that although the taste for
literature is more largely developed in the women of our coeducational
colleges, while the taste for exact science is largely the property of the
men, the factor which has produced the most extreme and anomalous
conditions of sex segregation, is, especially as regards the men, profes-
sional, economic and social in character. Moreover, that which passes
as native taste is itself often a mere expression of social and domestic
pressure, emphasizing with relentless insistence certain interests as
sexually appropriate or practically valuable.

Opinions are somewhat divergent touching the desirability of this
educational situation. The instructors of the classes largely dedicated
to women are sometimes a trifle violent in the expression of their
views. The instructors of the men's sections are, on the other hand,
generally complacent. The unbiased spectator is perplexed and baffled.
Evidently the advantages and disadvantages of these extreme cases
must be weighed in terms of the general educational effects of the sys-
tem as indicated by its results throughout these institutions as a whole.
It is necessary, therefore, to review briefly the current criticisms upon
the system, most of which, be it said, are hallowed by age, and many
of which are evidently trivial.

A warning hand must be held out at this point against the amiable
and ubiquitous inconsequentialist who insists on confusing the problem
of coeducation with the problem of the higher education of women. The
two are indeed connected, but by no means identical. Collegiate
coeducation as a system assumes as a premise that women are to
receive collegiate education, if they so desire, and a study of the
curricula of women's colleges indicates that women generally wish to
pursue those branches offered in the colleges for men. The coeduca-
tional problem is not, however, fundamentally one of curricula. It is
a problem of determining the conditions under which men and women
shall study in any curriculum whatsoever.

The criticisms of the present day upon coeducation dealing in part

i2 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

with strictly educational questions, and in part with general social
considerations, differ in a somewhat suggestive manner as concerns one
particular from those which were most commonly encountered in the
early days of coeducation. The most frequent probably of all criticisms
was the hygienic one. Although it was a matter of prehistoric knowl-
edge that women could work all day in the field, many learned persons
predicted a speedy decline for the audacious young female who at-
tempted to follow the same collegiate course as her brother. The young
person referred to has, however, both in coeducational colleges and in
colleges for women, generally insisted on the retention of oppressively
good health. And she has done even worse things to discredit the gen-
eral calling of prophet by discovering numbers of educated men who
were willing and eager to attempt matrimony with her assistance. Worst
of all, when she has married, she has had a normal number of vigorous
children. The irreconcilables on these points generally deny them-
selves the luxury of the available statistics. This is by no means to
call in question the possibility held out to an injudicious girl of ruining
her health by social and mental dissipation at a coeducational college.
She can in this way undoubtedly emulate some of her sisters at women's
colleges and certain of her brothers at men's universities.

But the intelligent contemporary opponent of coeducation has largely
lost interest in the health of college women, and he has of late more
often turned his attention to the baleful influence of the sex on social
and intellectual standards. It is maintained, for instance, by an oc-
casional instructor that women lower the level of scholarship in his
classes. He finds it impossible to make such rigorous exactions of
them as he would of men, and in consequence the whole tone of his class
is contaminated. There seems reason to believe that this opinion is
largely subjective in its basis, and it is suggestively rare on the lips
of instructors educated in coeducational institutions. The instructor
may have allowed himself to secure from his classes what he deemed
the best work by the aid of a class room manner which he properly
considers incompatible with the presence of ladies. In such cases one
may fairly question the propriety of the pedagogical method. He may
cherish a purely sentimental attitude toward women. This is a not
infrequent circumstance in the case of young men brought up in men's
colleges, and exposed for the first time to the ravages of coeducation.
In this case time or matrimony or both are likely to cure his complaint.
Certainly there are plenty of instructors who have taught in men's
colleges without detecting any such decline of standard upon transfer-
ring the scene of their labors to coeducational institutions. Indeed,
a contrary opinion has been not infrequently expressed, and one even
hears the antithetical argument soberly advanced that women inevitably

THE REACTION FROM COEDUCATION. 13

outstrip the men in mere class room exercises, and that the latter should
consequently be spared such depressing competition. A few eminent
Harvard professors have even gone so far as to rank their students at
Eadcliffe higher than the men in the corresponding Harvard classes.
This may of course be the exception which proves the rule. One may
safely surmise that there are no wider differences in point of scholar-
ship between coeducational institutions as a class and men's colleges,
than there are among men's colleges themselves. Indeed, in elective
courses, in which the men and women are represented in anything like
equal numbers, a common verdict of instructors concerning their rela-
tive merits is that the women are on the average the better students.
They seldom attain the eminence of the ablest men, but the ablest men
are excessively rare. There is certainly no palpable proof and not even
good circumstantial evidence to convict women of lowering the under-
graduate standards of scholarship.

A subtler form of this same criticism aimed at American education
in general, but especially applicable to coeducational institutions, is the
assertion that women exercise a repressive influence upon the spirit
of research for which they have as a sex neither capacity nor apprecia-
tion. Inasmuch as a real university must get its highest inspiration
from the spirit of investigation it is obviously a matter of paramount
importance to prevent women from securing any considerable influence
in university life. This argument can be made rhetorically effective,
but it begs the whole question and will carry no conviction to one not
already convinced.

The disrespect for women's intellectual capacity, indicated in the
above criticisms, sometimes takes still another form in the charge
that as a class women are not serious-minded in their work. For many
of them, it is said, life is a game with matrimony as its principal stake,
and college work is but an amusing episode. Coupled with another
frequent criticism based upon the professional tendencies of which we
have already spoken, i. e., that the intellectual horizon of college women
is too often bounded by purely utilitarian considerations of the bread
and butter world of pedagogics, this leaves women in possession of few
academic virtues. Apparently they are either too strenuous or too
flippant, and both characteristics are institutionally undesirable.

It must be remembered that coeducational colleges inconsiderately
differ very widely from one another, and so render the task of the
generalizer extremely hazardous. Unquestionably one could find in-
stitutions where the frivolous society girl is overmuch in evidence,
whereas in others the uncomely drudge doth too much abound, and
probably neither of these young persons is wholesome in excess. But
it is needless to say that in every coeducational university of impor-

i4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

tance there is a group larger than either of these groups made up of
young women who are neither hopelessly flippant nor distressingly
utilitarian in their intellectual interests. Moreover, if the venue be
changed from the mere fact of sex to the possession of such character-
istics as have been described, it would require a buoyant and oblivious
nature to deny the counterpart of just such persons in the male portion
of any large undergraduate body. It is certainly a cheering thing to
think that no considerable number of young men in our colleges for the
male sex are ever guilty of frivolity in their attitude toward academic
opportunities. But such thinking has no special connection with fact,
and is of a speculative rather than of a scientific character. Nor are
there lacking in men's colleges those who toil unprofitably and over-
much to the end of attaining some mundane prize not wholly superior
to the school teacher's stipend. Even the women's colleges produce
these types.

Coeducation is often charged with an insidious suppression of free-
dom of expression in the class room. Academische Freiheit is endan-
gered, therefore, by other enemies than college presidents and boards
of trustees. Some subjects are evidently ill qualified for discussion
in mixed classes. But it may be doubted whether the restrictions ema-
nating from this source have been unmixed evils. The meritricious
and obscene jests of literature, which some eminent scholars in men's
colleges delight to dwell upon, can perhaps be spared. Surely there is
no serious reason to fear that the male youth of the land will fail to
secure outside the class room all the really indispensable development
on this side of his appreciation for humor. In the fields of biology,
where embarrassments might be supposed most inevitable, the difficul-
ties have by no means proved so serious as anticipated. Nevertheless
it must be admitted without scruple that women cause some restraint
upon freedom of speech as charged in the indictment.

Although we have had constantly in mind undergraduate condi-
tions, a word may be dropped in passing as regards the criticisms upon
graduate work. There is undoubtedly an almost universal willingness
among even the most acrimonious critics of coeducation that the few
women who desire it shall be allowed the best possible opportunities for
graduate work. The only exceptions are found among the small but
aggressive group of interesting pre-raphaelite dogmatists who would
do away with all collegiate education for women. There are plenty of
scholarly men who insist that women will never become investigators
of any consequence, but who admit their capacities for assimilation and
who feel that as there must under existing conditions be some women
teachers in both schools and colleges, it is desirable that they should
receive the most thorough possible discipline. Women must expect to

THE REACTION FROM, COEDUCATION. 15

find themselves occasionally received on these terms, therefore, if they
aspire to scholastic specialization in graduate schools. It will be remem-
bered that the undergraduate courses constitute for many of those who
plan to teach in the secondary schools the sole opportunity for speciali-
zation. For them the undergraduate curriculum affords essentially a
professional training, and subserves exactly the same function as does
the graduate school for those who are preparing for collegiate posi-
tions.

It behooves us to hurry on to a rehearsal of some of the more
seditious social tendencies for which coeducation is held responsible.
Foremost among these charges in point of fatuity — for some of them
are not fatuous at all — is the asserted blight upon college spirit caused
by coeducation. Now college spirit is a capricious plant which blooms
profusely in the light of athletic victories and often leads a sickly life
of hibernation at other periods. As commonly set forth, it consists in
the belief that one's own college is the best on earth, which in some
particulars is to an intelligent person always patently untrue, and at
times of overwhelming athletic defeat, a thing extremely difficult for
even a partisan to formulate with vivacity. Conceived more seriously,
it consists in respect and affection for one's alma mater, and in ear-
nest devotion to her welfare. It is unquestionably assisted by the accu-
mulation of institutional legend and tradition. These things come
slowly and with age. It is helped into a condition of self-consciousness
by all vital student organizations which do not forget their dependence
upon the college. Secret societies in many colleges are certainly injuri-
ous to college spirit, not because they work consciously against it, but
because they absorb wholly into themselves sentimental interests which
should include the institution, and because too often they stir up
vicious animosities among themselves in a manner which necessarily
detracts from the solidarity of interests in the student body at large.
The elective system, with its disintegration of classes, has, wherever it
has gained an extensive foothold, apparently modified almost to the
point of extinction the old-time forms of college spirit. These consid-
erations affect coeducational colleges neither more nor less than other
colleges. On the more serious side of respect and affection for one's
college, it is certainly difficult to see why coeducation should be disas-
trous to college spirit in the case of students to whom the system had
always seemed the natural thing, unless it can be shown, as it certainly
can not, that all coeducational institutions are intrinsically inferior to
institutions for the separate sexes. Sufficient insistence upon the
shame and ignominy of sitting in classes with the weaker vessels may
undoubtedly undermine respect for his college in the mind of a lad
brought up in a preparatory school for boys. Other lads could un-

1 6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

doubtedly be occasionally influenced in this way. No boy likes to be
called effeminate, whether the charge be true or false. In these inter-
esting methods of undermining college spirit, many enthusiastic per-
sons are now engaged. The feeling which they are attempting to arouse
and play upon rarely or never occurs spontaneously to a boy brought
up in coeducational schools. It is only as one finds a constituency
reared in non-coeducational schools that any extensive and sincere
antipathy of this sort can be counted upon. Specific instances illus-
trative of this fact would be easy to mention. Elsewhere the animosity
of the men toward the women, if it exists at all, is an evident pose so
transparent and unreliable as to deceive no one. In some institutions
it has gained a specious prominence through resentment that the
women support male student organizations and interests so feebly.
Depleted athletic treasuries have been active ferments in this form of
anti-woman agitation. Meantime, if one wishes college spirit in its
more demonstrative and vocal forms, he must, in young colleges, at
least, arrange for athletic victories, and women have not proved a seri-
ous impediment to these.

A vaguer form of this same criticism is often met with in the
charge that women exercise a deleterious effect on that impalpable
something known as academic atmosphere. When this objection is
run to ground it is generally found to refer to the depreciation of
scholarship already sufficiently mentioned, or to certain social compli-
cations of which we shall speak in a moment, or to the fact that the
spirit of an institution differs in some other important but unnamable
particular from that peculiar to Oxford or Yale or Harvard. Needless
to say, the last form of this criticism is quite beyond controversy. It
only remains to point out that all attempts to imbue with this spirit
the occasional men's colleges found in the coeducational region have
failed, in the judgment of competent observers, quite as completely to
secure this desired result as have the efforts in coeducational institu-
tions. The difficulties involved are referable much more certainly to
tbe absence of tradition due to the youth of these colleges and to geo-
graphically determined social conditions, than to coeducation. More-
over, it is questionable if these difficulties will ever be wholly removed,
and still more questionable whether this would be desirable even if
it were possible.

The asserted violation of reasonable social proprieties constitutes one
of the most frequent and important sources of annoyance to the advo-
cates of coeducation. To behold the campus dotted with couples, bill-
ing and cooing their way to an A.B., is a thing, it is said, to rejoice
Venus or Pan rather than Minerva, and were it the frequent or neces-
sary outcome of coeducation, the future of the system would certainly

THE REACTION FROM COEDUCATION. 17

be in jeopardy. No university can safely become a matrimonial bureau,
nor yet a clearing house for flirtations. With the entire absence of
supervision, which characterizes the attitude of many coeducational in-
stitutions toward the social life of students, it is not to be wondered at
that an occasional silly boy and an occasional silly girl should occa-
sionally do some extremely silly thing. It only remains to remember
that the same boy and girl will, with remarkably few exceptions, do
equally silly things whatever educational surroundings may be given
them. Furthermore, institutions which have attempted to control these
matters by fixed rules of deportment seem on the whole to have suc-
ceeded in producing rather more risque escapades than those which
eschew restrictions altogether. Public opinion has generally proved a
safe guide in this direction. It would be folly to pretend that no social
transgressions have occurred, but on the whole judged by any standard
reasonably applicable to the situation, the relations of the men and
women in the majority of such colleges seem to have been wholesome
and unobjectionable. Instances of actual immorality have been so
extremely rare as fairly to be considered pathological. That the future
has some very serious perplexities in store on this score, however, for
some peculiarly situated institutions of which we shall speak presently,
seems more than probable. A very little injudicious conduct of the
character under consideration goes far to create an atmosphere of a
very obnoxious kind, and it is such infrequent but pervasive cases which
cause anxiety to the friends and give courage to the foes of coeducation.
Even though actual flirtation is avoided, many critics insist that
boys' interests are stimulated in other boys' sisters at a time when
it would be quite as well if they could be diverted into entirely differ-
ent channels, even football. Girls, it is said, are unduly excited by
masculine attention at a critical time in their physiological develop-
ment, when they might better be engaged in storing their minds with
useful learning. On the other side of this account it is to be observed
that the shock of the class room goes far to shatter the traditional
masculine idol in the feminine mind. This destructive process is in
the case of most young women in such coeducational colleges begun in
the primary schools and carried without interruption up to the aca-
demic level. By means of this anti-romantic treatment girls are un-
tionably spared much painful disillusionizing, and they are brought
through a difficult period with probably a minimum of silliness and
mawkish sentimentality. Moreover, they are often spared certain
highly morbid experiences familiar to the authorities of girls' col-
leges. In the case of the boy there is abundant evidence to warrant the
opinion that the grosser forms of vice to which he falls an occasional
prey are rendered distinctly less alluring by daily contact with women

VOL. LXII. 2.

18 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

of refinement and intelligence. That he ordinarily becomes effeminized
by such contact is a fantastic theory of some critics which finds abso-
lutely no tangible evidence upon which to rest. Certainly his manners
leave much to be desired at times on the side of polite usage and sug-
gest very remotely the adoption of feminine habits, and judged by
athletic prowess, which is under the circumstances a very ambiguous
index, the facts tell quite another story. At all events, athletic teams
of western coeducational colleges have not infrequently defeated the
representatives of eastern colleges for men, e. g., Yale, Princeton, Har-
vard, Brown, etc.

The complementary criticism that women necessarily suffer a loss
of refinement and feminine nicety seems equally difficult of proof. It
is certainly hard to point out any unavoidable features of coeducation
which should inevitably preclude the development or retention of good
manners and fine feeling. If the psychologists are correct, the acquire-
ment of what we call manners belongs largely to a period antedating
college life, and although a coarsening of the moral and esthetic fiber
during this period would unquestionably appear in less refined con-
duct, it is not obvious that any such change commonly occurs, much
less must occur under coeducational conditions. The fact seems rather
to be that the college must inevitably expect to reflect in large meas-
ure the manners with which its students come already supplied, and
these which are often admirable will be determined by the social
standards prevailing in the families and communities from which they
come. To be sure, the conditions of collegiate life afford an opportu-
nity for throwing into vivid relief acquired social habits. They fur-
ther afford admirable facilities for the discouragement of extreme varia-
tions from the accepted norm. But it is altogether problematic
whether they can radically alter the level of the mass, at least this is
doubtful under the prevalent conditions in most coeducational institu-
tions where little or no supervision is exercised over students outside
the class room. That the general tendency in all such colleges is
toward a greater nicety of appreciation for social cultivation, can hardly
be questioned. But the process of social leveling up is a slow one.
There are no courses in the conventionalities, and no one should con-
fuse the merits of such an institution with those of the young ladies'
finishing schools of a great metropolis.

Much was said a few years ago of the certainty that the immediate
future in university education belonged to the great urban institu-
tions. It certainly seems probable that some of the most difficult
problems in the near future belong to such of these institutions as are
coeducational. If there is any serious menace contained in a predomi-
nance of the number of women over men in a college, these urban

THE REACTION FROM COEDUCATION. 19

institutions are especially exposed to it. The number of girls in any
city of 500,000 people who possess means and leisure sufficient to per-
mit attendance upon a college is very large. If the college opens its
doors directly in the faces of these young women, it can arouse no
astonishment that many of them should walk in. Moreover, in the
western cities which enjoy a practical monopoly of the coeducational
system among city institutions, the brothers of these young women
will not regularly come with them, or indeed go to any college. They
are many of them drafted into the ranks of business life, and the nat-
ural balance of the sexes, which is displayed in the lower grades of the
coeducational public school, is here entirely to seek. The families
which will chiefly serve as recruiting grounds for these young women
will be those in which wealth or comfortable means have been acquired
in the present generation. In families where college traditions go
back a generation or two, both boys and girls, if they go to college at
all, will go to institutions determined as a rule by other than merely
geographical considerations. But the stronger the local college, the
more will it invade the ranks of this latter class, and it will probably
draw upon the girls more largely than upon the boys, because of the
indisposition to allow girls to leave home and because of the lesser sig-
nificance for them of collegiate family tradition.

It will be strange if among these city-bred girls of leisure, many
of whom will enjoy ample means, there should not be found a goodly
number who go to college inspired with the same noble sentiment that
now animates a considerable number of young men preparing for col-
lege— the disposition to have a good time and do the correct thing.
Young women of this variety have already found their way into a num-
ber of the coeducational institutions, even those located outside the
cities, and their coming even in small numbers has been attended by a
distinct change in certain features of the college atmosphere. Judged
by its external and most palpable fruits, the condition thus produced
suggests at times its counterpart as already recognized in men's col-
leges— undue leisure unwisely spent, injudicious amusements and too
many of them. Seen from the inside, it more often means on its
positive side, an ingenuous interest in the more distinctly social phases
of college life, and on its negative side, a freedom from the more impe-
rious and sordid cares of the impecunious. We are assured on high
authority that in at least one of the great universities for men, the
idle and unprofitable class of rich boys has been awakened to a sense
of responsibility and opportunity which is bringing splendid returns
to the life of the institution. This is a comforting doctrine, and if
confirmed in the progress of time, it furnishes ample ground for a
confident optimism in the solution by the women themselves of any

20 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

difficulties which may develop in coeducational institutions from these
or similar sources. In any event women have in the century just past
shown a disposition to lead, rather than to follow, in the furtherance
of social reforms. Meantime it is clear that the urban coeducational
university is exposed in larger degree than its rural neighbor to the
perplexities mentioned.

It becomes increasingly evident as one surveys the situation that
the antagonistic views of coeducation which are at present so conspicu-
ous do not rest upon any radical disagreement as to the facts in the
case, but depend almost solely upon the educational ideals and the
social creeds which are applied in interpreting the facts. Much of the
current discussion of the system is rendered futile by the obliviousness
of the protagonists to this obvious consideration. If the life and spirit
of Oxford or of Yale or of Harvard constitute one's sole standard of
educational excellence, then the average coeducational institution will
indeed seem a desolate waste. If one's ideal of social salvation for
young women involves matrimony as its only god, and the chaperone
as his prophet, then the coeducational regime must generally be con-
demned as a pagan system marking a barbarian stage of culture.
Needless to say, such standards exist tacitly or explicitly in the
minds of many cultured men and women who sincerely believe coedu-
cation to be a vulgarizing retrograde influence in both social and intel-
lectual life. It is ridiculous to pretend that the coeducational univer-
sity can meet satisfactorily the demands laid upon it by such standards.
This is not tantamount to admitting that the best coeducational insti-
tutions can not cope successfully at any point with Oxonian excellen-
cies, much less is it equivalent to denying the possibility of developing
refined and noble men and women under coeducational surroundings.
But it is an admission of — nay an insistence upon — the fact that the
only standards by which coeducation can pretend to be justified and by
which it can be justly judged, are those intrinsic to the social and
economic conditions which have produced it, and of which it is an
integral part.

One may feel toward these conditions contempt, distrust, hatred —
what one will — but one must take them into account if he will pass
intelligent judgment upon coeducation. One may deplore the fact
sincerely, as every lover of established order does, but he can not gain-
say that the development of American social and economic life is
rapidly carrying increasing numbers of women out of the beaten path
of the domestic treadmill with its everlasting insistence upon the inci-
dent of sex into fields where social service is gauged by other standards
than those of child-bearing, house-keeping and adorning pink teas.
Efficiency is certain to be the touchstone by which women are tried

THE REACTION FROM COEDUCATION. 21

in these new fields, and they will go or stay in proportion as they do
better or less well than men. The picture which one learned professor
has recently drawn of an uprising of men to force by violence a return
of women to their proper sphere, is the product of an inflamed imagina-
tion attempting to portray an oriental Utopia. In reality men are
chiefly responsible for the changes now going forward, but they are
neither the doctrinaires of academic dignity nor yet the leaders of
cotillons; they are the seekers after commercial, industrial and pro-
fessional efficiency. So long as the economic situation remains what
it is as regards the principles and motives that control in it, no amount
of merely hysterical criticism and opposition is likely seriously to
modify the case. And so long, therefore, as many women prefer self-
support to marriage on the terms they find the latter offered to them,
women will remain primary items in the economic situation, and they
cannot be treated in this realm from the merely sexual point of view.

Coeducation is a reflection, often unconscious, of the tendencies
which have produced this condition. It represents historically, as well
as intrinsically, the democratic disposition to offer equal educational
opportunities so far as possible to every human being. The touch-
stone by which it tests worthiness for such opportunities is social ser-
vice. So long as women show themselves worthy by this standard to
receive the highest forms of education, they will be given opportunity
to obtain it, and moreover they will probably, in western institutions
at least, obtain it under coeducational auspices. Justly or unjustly
the western mind is suspicious of a fallacy lurking in the proclaimed
equality of instruction in women's colleges and annexes, with that
given in men's colleges. Then, too, if there were no other considera-
tions, the economic waste involved in supporting separate institu-
tions for men and women would tell heavily in favor of coeducation
in many western communities. 'Equal but different' is not in educa-
tional matters a generally palatable doctrine away from the Atlantic
seaboard. If the male is intellectually an altogether superior indi-
vidual, the female ought on democratic principles to be given a chance
for improvement by contact with him.

As a matter of fact coeducation is one of the most characteristic
expressions of the social evolution of modern and especially western
life. It is not now, and is not likely soon to become, an adequate or
satisfactory expression of social and educational ideals in old commu-
nities or at all events in the conservative strata of such communities,
inheriting as these do directly and easily the traditions of the past,
and consequently clinging tenaciously to custom. The few instances
in which the system has made its way into New England institutions
of collegiate rank are essentially sporadic and serve rather than other-

22 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

wise to emphasize the truth of this assertion. This fact is still further
brought out by the observation that the hostility to the system is great-
est in those institutions which are most intimately in contact with
older ideals. If one follows the history of the development of the
system, one is impressed with the fact that in its inception anyhow
the movement possessed the true spirit of robust frontier democracy.
It originated in the democratic impulse to give women the highest
educational opportunities and to test their fitness for such opportuni-
ties by the use made of them, and not by a 'priori notions of the sex-
ually appropriate. Its typical virtues are earnestness, honesty and
vigor. It is frequently crude, but it is rarely shallow. It is often
obtuse, but it is seldom perverse. It springs from a deep-seated social
conviction that men and women are in the first instance human beings,
and only secondarily devices for continuing the race. It involves in
practice, whatever the theory, a vital scepticism concerning the sex-
uality of intellect, a position which finds interesting though generally
unintentional confirmation in the curricula of women's colleges and
annexes. Even under the guidance of learned men and women, it
does not seem to have proven possible to better materially the curric-
ula of the men's colleges, to which even the extremest variants are now
approximated. Individual preference operating under a liberal elective
system has almost everywhere displaced curricula developed under pre-
conceived notions of the sexually fit. Upon the catholic range of these
feminine preferences, we have already commented.

Coeducation assumes that if, as is apparently the case, men and
women are to be thrown into increasingly intimate contact in relations
that do not involve reference to sex, it is desirable that the formal
educational process, so often falsely severed from the rest of life,
should recognize this fact by bringing boys and girls into contact
with one another all their lives.

Like all other influences making for the higher education of
women, coeducation is necessarily opposed to the view that woman's
only function is maternity, and that her only proper attainments are
either of a domestic or sexual character. The condition of women in
continental and oriental countries in which this view of woman has
prevailed, and the social consequences which have sprung from it, leave
no question in the western mind as to the preferable extreme, if one
must have an extreme in this matter. On the other hand, the advo-
cates of coeducation regard maternity as a function for which no edu-
cation is too high nor too broad.

When one brings to bear upon coeducation standards that can
fairly be considered intrinsic to it, one can but admit that in the past
anyhow its operation has been remarkably successful. The register of

THE BE ACTION FROM COEDUCATION. 23

graduates from coeducational institutions shows that as a class the
young men and women trained under these auspices are filling with
honor the functions of the various stations to which life has called
them. The beauty and sanctity of domestic life does not appear to
have been shattered nor indeed shaken. In public station, to which
large numbers of them have been summoned, they appear to have
acquitted themselves with eminent credit. There is no great interest
of any kind throughout the west in which men and women of this
type will not be found important factors. This result may of course
be in spite of their education, rather than because of it, and a dif-
ferent form of education might have produced better results. Admit-
ting this, however, it remains to point out the fact, that in any event
for the vast majority of these persons coeducation has not resulted in
the disastrous fashion which it ought, if its critics were wholly correct.
It must in this connection be remembered that there are many thou-
sands of these graduates of coeducational colleges, so that the volume
of contamination which disturbs the critics should be considerable and
not difficult of recognition.

Coeducation has a monopoly of neither the virtues nor the vices
of the educational world. It is a safe assertion that many young
men and women would be better off in colleges of some other variety.
Experience certainly suggests that a coeducational university is a
dangerous place to send certain young men and especially certain
young women, brought up in schools for boys or girls severally. The
sending of certain girls to such coeducational institutions without
providing for guardianship of any kind is often in the highest degree
reprehensible. But for the average young person brought up in coedu-
cational nurseries and secondary schools the university of this type is
capable of supplying a peculiarly valuable training, and one which
could be discarded only at great cost. The system represents so much
that is intrinsic to the noblest and best spirit of democracy in the
commonwealths where it flourishes, that its immediate overthrow would
be hardly feasible even were it thought desirable. The state institu-
tions, which furnish much the larger part of the coeducational con-
stituency, could probably take no extreme measures without legislative
endorsement, and this would certainly be very slow in coming. Pri-
vate institutions are less hampered, and we may look to them for
experimental research. Leland Stanford in the west has already dis-
covered that while 500 women in an institution are tolerable and even
valuable, 501 are not to be endured. Wesleyan University in the East
has also seen a light, but one of a different hue from that seen at Stan-
ford. At Wesleyan twenty per cent, of the student body may be
women, but educational propriety draws the line at this point.

24 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Turning to the present and the future, and applying standards
properly applicable to the coeducational system, it must be admitted
that on the instructional side only one difficulty of serious import ap-
pears to exist. This is the tendency toward sex segregation in certain
courses of which we have already spoken at length. The most un-
equivocal advantages of coeducation spring from the fact of joint
instruction, and any influences which tend to preclude this are unfor-
tunate. For the various other alleged shortcomings of the system on
this side, there is no conclusive evidence and opinion is hopelessly
diverse. Furthermore, the criticisms which are advanced, so far as
they are capable of satisfactory proof, concern the merely incidental
and obviously remediable excrescences of the system, and not its funda-
mental principles. On the other hand there is almost complete una-
nimity of opinion regarding the difficulties actual and possible on the
social side of coeducational college life.

This fact itself is altogether significant — essential unanimity of
opinion regarding one class of difficulties, with radical and compli-
cated differences regarding the other class.

It does not seem chimerical to hope that the first difficulty may at
an early date in large measure take care of itself without artificial
assistance. Despite the common assertion of the educational rhapso-
dists that women's native tastes are all in emotional and esthetic
lines, even her religious bent included, a study of the elections made
by women in the courses of both coeducational and women's colleges
suggests, as we have already seen, a much more equitable and catholic
distribution of her interests. As wider academic and professional fields
open to women, and as the number of women increase who are not
obliged to conform their collegiate work to immediate bread and but-
ter interests, there will certainly be a less proportion of them found in
the literary courses than at present. And on the other hand, as regards
the men, there seems some reason to believe that we may see a reac-
tion from the present extreme tendency to cater to a purely technical
preparation for professional life. Certainly it is hard to believe that
in the long run the racial confidence in the value of the humanities,
shown by educational history, should not secure wider recognition than
it often does at present from some of the builders of required curricula
for the professions. It seems not improbable, too, that the reconstruc-
tion of the work of professional preparation both in school and college
with its tendency toward a shortening of the collegiate course, will
be accompanied by a disposition to include more of literature in the
early part of the training than is now the case. And, as in the case
of women just mentioned, there will unquestionably be an increasing
number of men in coeducational institutions whose means will per-

THE REACTION FROM COEDUCATION. 25

mit, and whose tastes will dictate, a less hasty and slavish subserviency
to the demands of professional training, and a longer dalliance with
arts and letters. This disposition will be rapidly augmented by a wider
appreciation of the educational value of these subjects on the part of
the communities whence these young men come. Should these vari-
ous influences cooperate, there can be no question that the present
anomalous conditions would be extensively modified. At all events it
would set the tide of men back into the humanities. It seems im-
probable that women will find it tempting or profitable in the near
future to attempt extensively entrance upon law or technology or theol-
ogy. But many of the courses involved in preparation for these careers
will undoubtedly appeal to them in increasing measure.

Far and away the most serious problem which coeducation has to
face is unquestionably that involved in maintaining proper social rela-
tions between the sexes, and this must, if solved permanently, gain
its solution from the action of public sentiment in the student body
itself. Faculty counsel and administrative suasion will do much, but
in the last analysis the suppression of unprofitable and excessive
social intercourse on the one hand, and the elimination of irrational
sex prejudice on the other, must be accomplished through the force of
sincere and enlightened student opinion. This is an altogether hope-
ful circumstance, although it points to a corrective which is neces-
sarily slow in development and susceptible of temporary error. To
distrust its final success is to repudiate the lesson of every liberalizing
step which has resulted in making the American college student so
completely his own master. Whether the method adopted will in-
volve the social ostracism of women which exists in a mild form at
several important coeducational universities, and in a pronounced form
at one, it is difficult to say. Certainly the result at this last institu-
tion should commend itself to many opponents of the system, for it
seems to have materially retarded the increase in the attendance of
women such as has been experienced by other coeducational colleges.
Evidently this method is calculated to correct only one form of excess
in the relations of the sexes. Stupid prejudice is not likely to die
under this treatment. Indeed, it will hardly die under any system,
for there will probably always be men as there are now, both among
faculty and students, who simply dislike personally to have women
about. This feeling is moreover warmly reciprocated by some women.
Such persons, if in coeducational institutions, should seize an early
opportunity to transfer the scene of their labors. Nothing can be
socially more unwholesome and more insidious in its effects upon per-
sonal dignity than life in a community where such forms of contempt
and antisocial sentiment are general and sincere.

26 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

The deepest and truest ethical tendencies of the time emphasize
not divisions of sex or creed or party, but the unity of social service.
And this is social service not in the moralistic, goody-goody sense, but
in the sense of actual social function. If men and women are to be
fitted for life with this ideal in its broadest implication as a primary
determinant of curriculum and method, then coeducation, judged
either by its fruits or by its promise, and acknowledging frankly its
defects, is unquestionably a hopeful system. When it shows itself
clearly disastrous to the solidarity of the highest social interests, it
Avill unquestionably be discarded. But it will not be discarded upon
any purely doctrinaire considerations of sexual functions and capaci-
ties. Meantime each one of us in the last resort tests it all by his
own social creed, and with most of us this is at bottom largely a mat-
ter of feeling and not a matter of carefully rationalized judgment, a
reflection of our own training and surroundings and not a product of
our purely logical processes. Complete agreement, therefore, upon the
merits of coeducation is hardly to be looked for in the near future.

CHEMICAL PHYSIOLOGY. 27

THE PKESENT POSITION OF CHEMICAL PHYSIOLOGY.*

By Professor W. D. HALLIBURTON, M.D., F.R.S.

KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON.

AN engineer who desires to thoroughly understand how a machine
works must necessarily know its construction. If the machine
becomes erratic in its action, and he wishes to put it into proper
working order, a preliminary acquaintance with its normal structure
and function is an obvious necessity.

If we apply this to the more delicate machinery of the animal body
we at once see how a knowledge of function (physiology and pathology)
is impossible without a preliminary acquaintance with structure or
anatomy.

It is therefore not surprising, it is indeed in the nature of things,
that physiology originated with the great anatomists of the past. It
was not until Vesalius and Harvey by tedious dissections laid bare the
broad facts of structure that any theorizing concerning the uses of the
constituent organs of the body had any firm foundation.

Important and essential as the knowledge is that can be revealed by
the scalpel, the introduction and use of the microscope furnished
physiologists with a still more valuable instrument. By it much that
was before unseen came into view, and microscopic anatomy and phys-
iology grew in stature and knowledge simultaneously.

The weapons in the armory of the modern physiologist are multi-
tudinous in number and complex in construction, and enable him in
the experimental investigation of his subject to accurately measure and
record the workings of the different parts of the machinery he has
to study. But preeminent among these instruments stands the test-
tube and the chemical operations typified by that simple piece of glass.

Herein one sees at once a striking distinction between the mechanism
of a living animal and that of a machine like a steam engine or a
watch. It is quite possible to be an excellent watchmaker or to drive a
steam engine intelligently without any chemical knowledge of the
various metals that enter into its composition. In order to set the
mechanism right if it goes wrong all the preliminary knowledge which
is necessary is of an anatomical nature. The parts of which an engine
is composed are stable; the oil that lubricates it and the fuel that feeds

* Presidential address to the Physiological Section at the Belfast Meeting
of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

28 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

it never become integral parts of the machinery. But with the living
engine all this is different. The parts of which it is made take up the
nutriment or fuel and assimilate it, thus building up new living sub-
stance to replace that which is destroyed in the wear and tear associated
with activity. This condition of unstable chemical equilibrium is
usually designated metabolism, and metabolism is the great and essen-
tial attribute of a living as compared with a non-living thing.

It seems childish at the present day, and before such an audience as
this, to point out how essential it is to know the chemical structure as
well as the anatomical structure of the component parts of the body. But
the early anatomists to whom I have alluded had no conception of the
connection of the two sciences. Speaking of Vesalius, Sir Michael
Foster says: "The great anatomist would no doubt have made use of
his bitterest sarcasms had some one assured him that the fantastic school
which was busy with occult secrets and had hopes of turning dross into
gold would one day join hands in the investigation of the problems of
life with the exact and clear anatomy so dear to him." Nor did
Harvey, any more than Vesalius, pay heed to chemical learning. The
scientific men of his time ignored and despised the beginning of that
chemical knowledge which in later years was to become one of the foun-
dations of physiology and the mainstay of the art of medicine.

The earliest to recognize this important connection was one whose
name is usually associated more with charlatanry than with truth,
namely, Paracelsus ; and fifty years after the death of that remarkable
and curious personality his doctrines were extended and developed by
van Helmont. In spite, however, of van Helmont's remarkable insight
into the processes of digestion and fermentation, his work was marred
by the mysticism of the day which called in the aid of supernatural
agencies to explain what could not otherwise be fully comprehended

In the two hundred and fifty years that have intervened between the
death of van Helmont and the present day alchemy became a more and
more exact science, and changed its name to chemistry, and a few
striking names stand out of men who were able to take the new facts
of chemistry and apply them to physiological uses. Of these one may
mention Mayow, Lower, Boerhaave, Reaumur, Borelli, Spallanzani, and
Lavoisier. Mulder and Holland and Liebig in Germany bring us
almost to the present time, and I think they may be said to share the
honor of being regarded as the father of modern chemical physiology.
This branch of science was first placed on a firm basis by Wohler when
he showed that organic compounds can be built out of their elements in
the laboratory, and his first successful experiments in connection with
the comparatively simple substance urea have been followed by num-
berless others, which have made organic chemistry the vast subject it is
to-day.

CHEMICAL PHYSIOLOGY. 29

Sir Michael Foster's book on the History of Physiology, from which
I have already quoted, treats of the older workers who laid the founda-
tions of our science, and whose names I have not done much more than
barely mention. Those interested in the giants of the past should
consult it. But what I propose to take up this morning is the work
of those who have during more recent days been engaged in the later
stages of the building. The edifice is far from completion even now.
It is one of the charms of physiological endeavor that as the older areas
yield their secrets to the explorers new ones are opened out which
require equally careful investigation.

If even a superficial survey of modern physiological literature is
taken, one is at once struck with the great preponderance of papers and
books which have a chemical bearing. In this the physiological journals
of to-day contrast very markedly with those of thirty, twenty or even
ten years ago. The sister science of chemical pathology is making similar
rapid strides. In some universities the importance of biological
chemistry is recognized by the foundation of chairs which deal with
that subject alone; and though in the United Kingdom, owing mainly
to lack of funds, this aspect of the advance of science is not very
evident, there are signs that the date cannot be far distant when every
well-equipped university or university college will follow the example
set us at many seats of learning on the continent and at Liverpool.

With these introductory remarks let me now proceed to describe
what appear to me to be the main features of chemical physiology at
the present time.

The first point to which I shall direct your attention is the rapid
way in which chemical physiology is becoming an exact science.
Though it is less than twenty years since I began to teach physiology,
I can remember perfectly well a time when those who devoted their
work to the chemical side of the science might almost be counted on
the fingers of one hand, and when chemists looked with scarcely veiled
contempt on what was at that time called physiological chemistry : they
stated that physiologists dealt with messes or impure materials, and
therefore anything in the nature of correct knowledge was not possible.
There was a good deal of truth in these statements, and if physiologists
to-day cannot quite say that they have changed all that, they can at
any rate assert with truth that they are changing it. This is due to a
growing rapprochement between chemists and physiologists. Many of
our younger physiologists now go through a thorough preliminary
chemical training; and, on the other hand, there is a growing number
of chemists — of whom Emil Fischer may be taken as a type — who are
beginning to recognize the importance of a systematic study of sub-
stances of physiological interest. A very striking instance of this is
seen in the progress of our knowledge of the carbohydrates, which has

3o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

culminated in the actual synthesis of several members of the sugar
group. Another instance is seen in the accurate information we now
possess of the constitution of uric acid. When Miescher began his
work on the chemical composition of the nuclei of cells, and separated
from them the material he called nuclein, he little foresaw the wide
practical application of his work. We now know that it is in the
metabolism of cell-nuclei that we have to look for the oxidative forma-
tion of uric acid and other substances of the purine family. Already
the chemical relationships of uric acid and nuclein have taught prac-
tical physicians some of the secrets that underlie the occurrence of
gout and allied disorders.

With the time at my disposal, it would be impossible to discuss all
the chemico-vital problems which the physiologists of the present
day are attempting to solve, but there is one subject at which many
of them are laboring which seems to me to be of supreme importance
— I mean the chemical constitution of proteid or albuminous substances.
Proteids are produced only in the living laboratory of plants and
animals; proteid metabolism is the main chemical attribute of a living
thing; proteid matter is the all-important material present in proto-
plasm. But in spite of the overwhelming importance of the subject
chemists and physiologists alike have far too long fought shy of
attempting to unravel the constitution of the proteid molecule. This
molecule is the most complex that is known: it always contains five,
and often six, or even seven elements. The task of thoroughly under-
standing its composition is necessarily vast, and advance slow. But
little by little the puzzle is being solved, and this final conquest of
organic chemistry, when it does arrive, will furnish physiologists with
new light on many of the dark places of physiological science.

The revival of the vitalistic conception in physiological work appears
to me a retrograde step. To explain anything we are not fully able to
understand in the light of physics and chemistry by labeling it as
vital or something we can never hope to understand is a confession
of ignorance, and, what is still more harmful, a bar to progress. It
may be that there is a special force in living things that distinguishes
them from the inorganic world. If this is so, the laws that regulate
this force must be discovered and measured, and I have no doubt that
those laws when discovered will be found to be as immutable and regu-
lar as the force of gravitation. I am, however, hopeful that the
scientific workers of the future will discover that this so-called vital
force is due to certain physical or chemical properties of living matter
which have not yet been brought into line with the known chemical and
physical laws that operate in the inorganic world, but which as our
knowledge of chemistry and physics increases will ultimately be found
to be subservient to such laws.

CHEMICAL PHYSIOLOGY. 31

Let me take as an example the subject of osmosis. The laws which
regulate this phenomenon through dead membranes are fairly well
known and can be experimentally verified; but in the living body there
is some other manifestation of force which operates in such a way as to
neutralize the known force of osmosis. Is it necessary to suppose that
this force is a new one? May it not rather be that our much vaunted
knowledge of osmosis is not yet complete? It is quite easy to under-
stand why a dead and a living membrane should behave differently in
relation to substances that are passing through them. The molecules
of the dead membrane are, comparatively speaking, passive and stable ;
the molecules in a membrane made of living cells are in a constant state
of chemical integration and disintegration; they are the most unstable
molecules we know. It is to be expected that such molecules would
allow water, or substances dissolved in water, to pass between them
and remain entirely inactive? The probability appears to me to be all
the other way; the substances passing, or attempting to pass, between
the molecules will be called upon to participate in the chemical
activities of the molecules themselves, and in the building up and
breaking down of the compounds so formed there will be a trans-
formation of chemical energy and a liberation of what looks like a
new force. Before a physicist decides that his knowledge of osmosis is
final, let him attempt to make a membrane of some material which is
in a state of unstable chemical equilibrium, a state in some way com-
parable to what is called metabolism in living protoplasm. I cannot
conceive that such a task is insuperable, and when accomplished, and
the behavior of such a membrane in an osmometer or dialyser is studied,
I am convinced that we shall find that the laws of osmosis as formu-
lated for such dead substances as we have hitherto used will be found
to require revision.

Such an attitude in reference to vital problems appears to be infin-
itely preferable to that which too many adopt of passive content, saying
the phenomenon is vital and there is an end of it.

When a scientific man says this or that vital phenomenon cannot
be explained by the laws of chemistry and physics, and therefore must
be regulated by laws of some other nature, he most unjustifiably assumes
that the laws of chemistry and physics have all been discovered. He
forgets, for instance, that such an important detail as the constitution
of the proteid molecule has still to be made out.

The recent history of science gives an emphatic denial to such a
supposition. All my listeners have within the last few years seen the
discovery of the Eontgen rays and the modern development of wireless
telegraphy. On the chemical side we have witnessed the discovery of
new elements in the atmosphere and the introduction of an entirely
new branch of chemistry called physical chemistry. With such examples

32 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

ready to our hands, who can say what further discoveries will not
shortly be made, even in such well-worked fields as chemistry and
physics ?

The mention of physical chemistry brings me to what I may term
the second head of my discourse, the second striking characteristic of
modern chemical physiology: this is the increasing importance which
physiologists recognize in a study of inorganic chemistry. The materials
of which our bodies are composed are mainly organic compounds,
among which the proteids stand out as preeminently important; but
every one knows there are many substances of the mineral or inorganic
kingdom present in addition. I need hardly mention the importance
of water, of the oxygen of the air, and of salts like sodium chloride
and calcium phosphate.

The new branch of inorganic chemistry called physical chemistry
has given us entirely new ideas of the nature of solutions, and the fact
that electrolytes in solution are broken up into their constituent ions
is one of fundamental importance. One of the many physiological
aspects of this subject is seen in a study of the action of mineral salts
in solution on living organisms and parts of organisms. Many years
ago Dr. Einger showed that contractile tissues (heart, cilia, etc.) con-
tinue to manifest their activity in certain saline solutions. Howell
goes so far as to say, and probably correctly say, that the cause of
the rhythmical action of the heart is the presence of these inorganic
substances in the blood or lymph which usually bathes it. The subject
has more recently been taken up by Loeb and his colleagues at Chicago :
they confirm Ringer's original statements, but interpret them now as
ionic action. Contractile tissues will not contract in pure solutions of
non-electrolytes like sugar or albumin. But different contractile tissues
differ in the nature of the ions which are their most favorable stimuli.
An optimum salt solution is one in which stimulating ions, like those
of sodium, are mixed with a certain small amount of those which like
calcium restrain activity. Loeb considers that the ions act because they
affect either the physical condition of the colloidal substances (proteid,
etc.) in protoplasm or the rapidity of chemical processes.

Amoeboid movement, ciliary movement, the contraction of muscle,
cell division and karyokinesis all fall into the same category as being
mainly dependent on the stimulating action of ions.

Loeb has even gone so far as to consider that the process of fertiliza-
tion is mainly ionic action ; he denies that the nuclein of the male cell
is essential, but asserts that all it does is to act as the stimulus in the
due adjustment of the proportions of the surrounding ions, and sup-
ports this view by numerous experiments on ova in which without the
presence of spermatozoa he has produced larvae by merely altering the
saline constituents and so the osmotic pressure of the fluid that sur-

CHEMICAL PHYSIOLOGY. 33

rounds them. Whether such a sweeping and almost revolutionary
notion will stand the test of further verification must be left to the
future; so also must the equally important idea that nervous impulses
are to be mainly explained on an electrolytic basis. But whether or
not all the details of such work will stand the test of time, the experi-
ments I have briefly alluded to are sufficient to show the importance
of physical chemistry to the physiologist, and they also form a useful
commentary on what I was saying just now about vitalism. Such
eminently' vital phenomena as movement and fertilization are to be
explained in whole or in part as due to the physical action of inorganic
substances. Are not such suggestions indications of the undesirability
of postulating the existence of any special mystic vital force ?

I have spoken up to this point of physical chemistry as a branch
of inorganic chemistry; there are already indications of its importance
also in relation to organic chemistry. Many eminent chemists con-
sider that the future advance of organic chemistry will be on the new
physical lines. It is impossible to forecast where this will lead us;
suffice it to say that not only physiology, but also pathology, pharma-
cology, and even therapeutics, will receive new accessions to knowledge
the importance of which will be enormous.

I have now briefly sketched what appear to me to be the two main
features of the chemical physiology of to-day, and the two lines,
organic and inorganic, along which I believe it will progress in the
future.

Let me now press upon you the importance in physiology, as in all
experimental sciences, of the necessity first of bold experimentation,
and secondly of bold theorizing from experimental data. Without
experiment all theorizing is futile; the discovery of gravitation would
never have seen the light if laborious years of work had not convinced
Newton that it could be deduced from his observations. The Darwinian
theory was similarly based upon data and experiments which occupied
the greater part of its author's lifetime to collect and perform.
Pasteur in France and Virchow in Germany supply other instances of
the same devotion to work which was followed by the promulgation of
wide-sweeping generalizations.

And after all it is the general law which is the main object of
research; isolated facts may be interesting and are often of value, but
it is not until facts are correlated and the discoveries ascertain their
interrelationships that anything of epoch-making importance is given
to the world.

It is, however, frequently the case that a thinker with keen insight
can see the general law even before the facts upon which it rests are
fully worked out. Often such bold theorizers are right, but even if

VOL. I.XII. 3.

34 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

they ultimately turn out to be wrong, or only partly right, they have
given to their fellows some general idea on which to work; if the gen-
eral idea is incorrect, it is important to prove it to be so in order to
discover what is right later on. No one has ever seen an atom or a
molecule, yet who can doubt that the atomic theory is the sheet anchor
of chemistry? Mendeleeff formulated his periodic law before many
of the elements were discovered ; yet the accuracy of this great general-
ization has been such that it has actually led to the discovery of some
of the missing elements.

I propose to illustrate these general remarks by a brief allusion to
two typical sets of researches carried out during recent years in the
region of chemical physiology. I do not pretend that either of them
has the same overwhelming importance as the great discoveries I have
alluded to, but I am inclined to think that one of them comes very
near to that standard. The investigations in question are those of
Ehrlich and of Pawlow. The work of Ehrlich mainly illustrates the
useful part played by bold theorizing, the work of Pawlow that played
by the introduction of new and bold methods of experiment.

I will take Pawlow first. This energetic and original Eussian
physiologist has by his new methods succeeded in throwing an entirely
new light on the processes of digestion. Ingeniously devised surgical
operations have enabled him to obtain the various digestive juices
in a state of absolute purity and in large quantity. Their composition
and their actions on the various foodstuffs have thus been ascertained
in a manner never before accomplished; an apparently unfailing re-
sourcefulness in devising and adapting experimental methods has en-
abled him and his fellow workers to discover the paths of the various
nerve impulses by which secretion in the alimentary canal is regulated
and controlled. The importance of the physical element in the pro-
cess of digestion has been experimentally verified. If I were asked to
point out what I considered to be the most important outcome of all
this painstaking work, I should begin my answer by a number of nega-
tives, and would say, not the discovery of the secretory nerves of the
stomach or pancreas; not the correct analysis of the gastric juice, nor
the fact that the intestinal juice has most useful digestive functions;
all of these are discoveries of which any one might have been rightly
proud; but after all they are more or less isolated facts. The main
thing that Pawlow has shown is that digestion is not a succession of
isolated acts, but each one is related to its predecessor and to that
which follows it; the process of digestion is thus a continuous whole;
for example, the acidity of the gastric juice provides for a delivery of
pancreatic juice in proper quantity into the intestine; the intestinal
juice acts upon the pancreatic, and so enables the latter to perform its
powerful actions. I am afraid this example, as I have tersely stated it,

CHEMICAL PHYSIOLOGY. 35

presents the subject rather inadequately, but it will serve to show what
I mean. Further, the composition of the various juices is admirably
adjusted to the needs of the organism; when there is much proteid to
be digested, the proteolytic activity of the juices secreted is corre-
spondingly high, and the same is true for the other constituents of the
food. It is such general conclusions as these, the correlation of isolated
facts leading to the formulation of the law that the digestive process
is continuous in the sense I have indicated and adapted to the needs
of the work to be done, that constitute the great value of the work
from the Eussian laboratory. Work of this sort is sure to stimulate
others to fill in the gaps and complete the picture, and already has
borne fruit in this direction. It has, for instance, in Starling's hands
led to the discovery of a chemical stimulus to pancreatic secretion.
This is formed in the intestine as the result of the action of the gastric
acid, and taken by the blood-stream to the pancreas. Whether this
secretin as it is called may be one of a group of similar chemical stimuli
which operate in other parts of the body has still to be found out.

The other series of researches to which I referred are those of
Ehrlich and his colleagues and followers on the subject of immunity.
This subject is one of such importance to every one of us that I am
inclined to place the discovery on a level with those great discoveries
of natural laws to which I alluded at the outset of this portion of my
address. I hesitate to do so yet because many of the details of the
theory still await verification. But up to the present all is working in
that direction, and Ehrlich 's ideas illustrate the value of bold theor-
izing in the hands of clear-sighted and far-seeing individuals.

But when I say that the doctrine is bold, I do not mean to infer that
the experimental facts are scanty; they are just the reverse. But in
the same way that a chemist has never seen an atom, and yet he believes
atoms exist, so no one has yet ever seen a toxin or antitoxin in a state
of purity, and yet we know they exist, and this knowledge promises to
be of incalculable benefit to suffering humanity.

It may not be uninteresting to state briefly, for the benefit of those
to whom the subject is new, the main facts and an outline of the theory
which is based upon them.

We are all aware that one attack of many infective maladies protects
us against another attack of the same disease. The person is said to
be immune either partially or completely against that disease. Vac-
cination produces in a patient an attack of cowpox or vaccinia. This
disease is related to smallpox, and some still hold that it is smallpox
modified and rendered less malignant by passing through the body of
a calf. At any rate an attack of vaccinia renders a person immune to
smallpox, or variola, for a certain number of years. Vaccination is an
instance of what is called protective inoculation, which is now practised

36 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

with more or less success in reference to other diseases like plague and
typhoid fever. The study of immunity has also rendered possible what
may be called curative inoculation, or the injection of antitoxic ma-
terial as a cure for diphtheria, tetanus, snake poisoning, etc.

The power the blood possesses of slaying bacteria was first discovered
when the effort was made to grow various kinds of bacteria in it; it
was looked upon as probable that blood would prove a suitable soil or
medium for this purpose. It was found in some instances to have ex-
actly the opposite effect. The chemical characters of the substances
which kill the bacteria are not fully known; indeed, the same is true
for most of the substances we have to speak of in this connection.
Absence of knowledge on this particular point has not, however, pre-
vented important discoveries from being made.

So far as is known at present, the substances in question are proteid
in nature. The bactericidal powers of blood are destroyed by heating
it for an hour to 56° C. Whether the substances are enzymes is a
disputed point. So also is the question whether they are derived from
the leucocytes; the balance of evidence appears to me to be in favor of
this view in many cases at any rate, and phagocytosis becomes more in-
telligible if this view is accepted. The substances, whatever be their
source or their chemical nature, are sometimes called alexins, but the
more usual name now applied to them is that of bacterio-lysins.

Closely allied to the bactericidal power of blood, or blood-serum,
is its globulicidal power. By this one means that the blood-serum of one
animal has the power of dissolving the red blood-corpuscles of
another species. If the serum of one animal is injected into the
blood-stream of an animal of another species, the result is a destruction
of its red corpuscles, which may be so excessive as to lead to the passing
of the liberated hemoglobin into the urine (hemoglobinuria). The
substance or substances in the serum that possess this property are
called hemolysins, and though there is some doubt whether bacterio-
lysins and hsemo-lysins are absolutely identical, there is no doubt that
they are closely related substances.

Another interesting chemical point in this connection is the fact
that the bactericidal power of the blood is closely related to its
alkalinity. Increase of alkalinity means increase of bactericidal
power. Venous blood contains more diffusible alkali than arterial blood
and is more bactericidal; dropsical effusions are more alkaline than
normal lymph and kill bacteria more easily. In a condition like
diabetes, when the blood is less alkaline than it should be, the suscepti-
bility to infectious diseases is increased. Alkalinity is probably bene-
ficial because it favors those oxidative processes in the cells of the body
which are so essential for the maintenance of healthy life.

CHEMICAL PHYSIOLOGY. 37

Normal blood possesses a certain amount of substances which are
inimical to the life of our bacterial foes. But suppose a person gets
run clown ; every one knows he is then liable to ' catch anything. ' This
coincides with a diminution in the bactericidal power of his blood.
But even a perfectly healthy person has not an unlimited supply of
bacterio-lysin, and if the bacteria are sufficiently numerous he will fall
a victim to the disease they produce. Here, however, comes in the
remarkable part of the defence. In this struggle he will produce more
and more bacterio-lysin, and if he gets well it means that the bacteria
are finally vanquished, and his blood remains rich in the particular
bacterio-lysin he has produced, and so will render him immune to
further attacks from that particular species of bacterium. Every
bacterium seems to cause the development of a specific bacterio-lysin.

Immunity can more conveniently be produced gradually in animals,
and this applies, not only to the bacteria, but also to the toxins they
form. If, for instance, the bacilli which produce diphtheria are grown
in a suitable medium, they produce the diphtheria poison, or toxin, much
in the same way that yeast-cells will produce alcohol when grown in a
solution of sugar. Diphtheria toxin is associated with a proteose, as
is also the case with the poison of snake venom. If a certain small
dose called a 'lethal dose' is injected into a guinea-pig the result is
death. But if the guinea-pig receive a smaller dose it will recover;
a few days after it will stand a rather larger dose ; and this may be con-
tinued until after many successive gradually increasing doses it will
finally stand an amount equal to many lethal doses without any ill
effects. The gradual introduction of the toxin has called forth the
production of an antitoxin. If this is done in the horse instead of the
guinea-pig the production of antitoxin is still more marked, and the
serum obtained from the blood of an immunized horse may be used for
injecting into human beings suffering from diphtheria, and rapidly
cures the disease. The two actions of the blood, antitoxic and anti-
bacterial, are frequently associated, but may be entirely distinct.

The antitoxin is also a proteid probably of the nature of a globulin ;
at any rate it is a proteid of larger molecular weight than a proteose.
This suggests a practical point. In the case of snake-bite the poison
gets into the blood rapidly owing to the comparative ease with which
it diffuses, and so it is quickly carried all over the body. In treat-
ment with the antitoxin or antivenin, speed is everything if life is
to be saved; injection of this material under the skin is not much good,
for the diffusion into the blood is too slow. It should be injected
straight away into a blood-vessel.

There is no doubt that in these cases the antitoxin neutralizes the
toxin much in the same way that an acid neutralizes an alkali. If

38 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

the toxin and antitoxin are mixed in a test-tube, and time allowed for
the interaction to occur, the result is an innocuous mixture. The toxin,
however, is merely neutralized, not destroyed ; for if the mixture in the
test-tube is heated to 68° C. the antitoxin is coagulated and destroyed
and the toxin remains as poisonous as ever.

Immunity is distinguished into active and passive. Active im-
munity is produced by the development of protective substances in
the body; passive immunity by the injection of a protective serum.
Of the two the former is the more permanent.

Ricin, the poisonous proteid of castor-oil seeds, and dbrin, that of
the Jequirity bean, also produce when gradually given to animals an
immunity, due to the production of antiricin and antibrin respectively.

Ehrlich's hypothesis to explain such facts is usually spoken of as
the side-chain theory of immunity. He considers that the toxins are
capable of uniting with the protoplasm of living cells by possessing
groups of atoms like those by which nutritive proteids are united to
cells during normal assimilation. He terms these haptophor groups,
and the groups to which these are attached in the cells he terms
receptor groups. The introduction of a toxin stimulates an excessive
production of receptors, which are finally thrown out into the circula-
tion, and the free circulating receptors constitute the antitoxin. The
comparison of the process to assimilation is justified by the fact that
non-toxic substances like milk introduced gradually by successive doses
into the blood-stream cause the formation of anti-substances capable of
coagulating them.

Up to this point I have spoken only of the blood, but month by
month workers are bringing forward evidence to show that other cells
of the body may by similar measures be rendered capable of producing
a corresponding protective mechanism.

One further development of the theory I must mention. At least
two different substances are necessary to render a serum bactericidal
or globulicidal. The bacterio-lysin or hemolysin consists of these two
substances. One of these is called the immune body, the other the
complement. We may illustrate the use of these terms by an example.
The repeated injection of the blood of an animal (e. g., the goat) into
the blood of another animal (e. g., a sheep) after a time renders the
latter animal immune to further injections, and at the same time
causes the production of a serum which dissolves readily the red blood-
corpuscles of the first animal. The sheep's serum is thus hemolytic
towards goat's blood-corpuscles. This power is destroyed by heating
to 56° C. for half an hour, but returns when fresh goat's serum is
added. The specific immunizing substance formed in the sheep is
called the immune body; the ferment-like substance destroyed by heat

CHEMICAL PHYSIOLOGY. 39

is the complement. The latter is not specific, since it is furnished
by the blood of non-immunized animals, but it is nevertheless essential
for hemolysis. Ehrlich believes that the immune body has two side
groups — one which connects with the receptor of the red corpuscles
and one which unites with the haptophor group of the complement,
and thus renders possible the ferment-like action of the complement
on the red corpuscles. Various antibacterial serums which have not
been the success in treating disease they were expected to be are probably
too poor in complement, though they may contain plenty of the
immune body.

Quite distinct from the bactericidal, globulicidal, and antitoxic
properties of blood is its agglutinating action. This is another result
of infection with many kinds of bacteria or their toxins. The blood
acquires the property of rendering immobile and clumping together
the specific bacteria used in the infection. The test applied to the
blood in cases of typhoid fever, and generally called Widal's reaction,
depends on this fact.

The substances that produce this effect are called agglutinins. They
also are probably proteid-like in nature, but are more resistant to heat
than the lysins. Prolonged heating to over 60° C. is necessary to
destroy their activity.

Lastly, we come to a question which more directly appeals to the
physiologist than the preceding, because experiments in relation to
immunity have furnished us with what has hitherto been lacking, a
means of distinguishing human blood from the blood of other animals.

The discovery was made by Tchistovitch (1899), and his original
experiment was as follows : Eabbits, dogs, goats, and guinea-pigs were
inoculated with eel-serum, which is toxic: he thereby obtained from
these animals an antitoxic serum. But the serum was not only anti-
toxic, but produced a precipitate when added to eel-serum, but not
when added to the serum of any other animal. In other words, not only
has a specific antitoxin been produced, but also a specific precipitin.
Numerous observers have since found that this is a general rule
throughout the animal kingdom, including man. If, for instance, a
rabbit is treated with human blood, the serum ultimately obtained from
the rabbit contains a specific precipitin for human blood; that is to
say, a precipitate is formed on adding such a rabbit's serum to human
blood, but not when added to the blood of any other animal.* The
great value of the test is its delicacy : it will detect the specific blood
when it is greatly diluted, after it has been dried for weeks, or even
when it is mixed with the blood of other animals.

* There may be slight reaction with the blood of allied animals; for in-
stance, with monkey's blood in the case of man.

4o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

I have entered into this subject at some length because it so admir-
ably illustrates the kind of research which is now in progress ; it is also
of interest to others than mere physiologists. I have not by any means
exhausted the subject, but for fear I may exhaust my audience let me
hasten to a conclusion. I began by eulogizing the progress of the
branch of science on which I have elected to speak to you. Let me
conclude with a word of warning on the danger of over-specialization.
The ultra-specialist is apt to become narrow, to confine himself so
closely to his own groove that he forgets to notice what is occurring
in the parallel and intercrossing grooves of others. But those who
devote themselves to the chemical side of physiology run but little
danger of this evil. The subject cannot be studied apart from other
branches of physiology, so closely are both branches and roots inter-
twined. As an illustration of this may I be permitted to speak of some
of my own work? During the past few years the energies of my
laboratory have been devoted to investigations on the chemical
side of nervous activity, and I have had the advantage of
cooperating to this end with a number of investigators, of whom
I may particularly mention Dr. Mott and Dr. T. G. Brodie. But we
soon found that any narrow investigation of the chemical properties
of nervous matter and the changes this undergoes during life and
after death was impossible. Our work extended in a pathological
direction so as to investigate the matter in the brains of those suffering
from nervous disease; it extended in a histological direction so as to
determine the chemical meaning of various staining reactions presented
by normal and abnormal structures in the brain and spinal cord; it
extended in an experimental direction in the elucidation of the phe-
nomena of fatigue, and to ascertain whether there was any difference
in medullated and non-medullated nerve fibers in this respect; it
extended into what one may call a pharmacological direction in the
investigation of the action of the poisonous products of the breakdown
of nervous tissues. I think I have said enough to show you how inti-
mate are the connections of the chemical with the other aspects of
physiology, and although I have given you but one instance, that which
is freshest to my mind, the same could be said for almost any other
well-planned piece of research work of a bio-chemical nature.

SCIENTIFIC PALMISTRY.

41

SCIENTIFIC PALMISTRY.

By Professor HARRIS HAWTHORNE WILDER, Ph.D.,

SMITH COLLEGE.

T3 ISING- from the waters of Kejemkoojic Lake in Nova Scotia there
-*-* stands a series of smooth slaty rocks which appear to one
approaching in a canoe so tempting a surface for the scratching of
inscriptions that they are completely covered, as far up as one can read,
with pictures, names, dates and meaningless scrawls, superimposed upon
one another and successively the work of the aboriginal Micmac Indians,
the French and the English. The oldest of these are undoubtedly pre-
columbian, while at the present day additions are continually being
made by vandalistic excursionists.

In spite of the superposition of these varied scrawls, Col. Garrick
Mallory, who has made them the subject of special study, was able to
separate the genuine Micmac inscriptions from the others and has
published many of these in the United States Eeports of the Bureau
of American Ethnology. Among those he found the accompanying
figure of the palmar surface of a
human hand (Fig. 1)* which
shows a remarkable degree of de-
tail and must have been the result
of an unusually careful observa-
tion. The figure will be better
appreciated, perhaps, if the read-
er will first scrutinize the palmar
surface of his own left hand in a
strong light and compare it with
his other hand and with the hands
of two or three of his friends.
It will be noticed, first, that the
surface in question is marked by
two distinct sets of markings ;

„ , T-1P FlG- l- INDIAN Petroglyph from the Ke-

nrst, the wrinkles, which form JEmkoojic rocks, nova scotia, one half the
the chief consideration of that SIZE 0F THE original drawing, after mal-

means of amusement known as

'palmistry' and which are caused by the movements of the fingers
and their muscles, and secondly the papillary ridges, which form
the fundamental sculpture of the skin and run in approximately
parallel directions across both the palm and the palmar surface of
* Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, p. 740, Pig. 1255.

42 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

the fingers, their general plan being unaffected by the presence
of the wrinkles. By a more careful study of the papillary
ridges it will be seen that they are often discontinued, reinforced by
new ones, forked or, in a few cases, looped, and that in certain spots
the usual course is interrupted by the insertion of a figure or ' pattern, '
as it is technically called, in the form of a spiral, a whorl or a loop.
Such patterns are of constant occurrence in the balls of the fingers,
while the palm usually, though not always, possesses from one to four
or five of them, located in certain definite localities, as at the base of the
fingers or upon the raised, pad-like outer side of the palm, the
hypothenar area. In rare cases such a pattern is met with upon the
thenar area, at the base of the thumb (Fig. 6, a) but the fine parallel
wrinkles almost always found in this region render it difficult to see.

It will be seen, now, by turning to the figure, that each of the above
details has been indicated by the Micmac artist, not literally, as we
should do it, but symbolically, that is, by something to suggest each
detail. Thus in the drawing there are two sets of palmar lines; the
foundation or background, consisting of fine lines approximately
parallel, and evidently indicative of the papillary ridges, and the super-
imposed angular ones with little or no system, which represent the
wrinkles. As for patterns, it is possible that the little curve near the
outer margin may represent the hypothenar pattern, which, though not
a constant element, is of frequent occurrence; and, at all events, the
patterns at the finger tips are well indicated save in the case of the
index finger where the omission is probably accidental. Here also the
difference in the form of the separate patterns is well shown; that of
the thumb is a spiral, a usual form for that digit, those of the third
and fourth fingers are whorls and the curious cross or mark like the
Arabic number four, found upon the little finger, may represent certain
of the components of that form known as a loop.

Turning from Indian anatomy to Indian morphology, from the
observation of facts to the construction of explanatory theories, we have
the followng remarkable passage in one of the reports of the Berliner
Gesellschaft fur Anthropologic as cited by Col. Mallory, in connection
with the figure of the hand and representing a conversation with one
of the Bella Coola Indians of British Columbia.

The frequency with which partial representation of the eye are met with
appeared to me so striking that I requested Mr. Jacobsen to ask the Bella
Coola Indians whether they had any special idea in employing the eye so
frequently. To my great surprise the person addressed pointed to the palmar
surface of his finger tips and to the fine lineaments which the skin there pre-
sents; in his opinion a rounded or longitudinal field, such as appears between
the converging or parallel lines, also means an eye, and the reason of this is
that originally each part of the body terminated in an organ of sense, particu-

SCIENTIFIC PALMISTRY. 43

larly an eye, and was only afterward made to retrovert into such rudimentary
conditions.*

This explanation is, of course, the merest guess-work, resulting
from a fancied resemblance between an eye and the shape of a pattern,
but by a singular chance, the theory comes nearer the truth than one
would at first suspect, since these scrolls and loops, not only of the fin-
gers, but those of the palm as well, are in reality rudiments, not of eyes,
but of walking pads ; a conclusion which, although it may seem at first a
little fanciful, is reached by a simple course of reasoning and rests
upon the comparison of easily available data, namely an inspection of
the volar, or lower surfaces of the paws of various mammals.

The most typical, that is, the least modified mammalian paw is one
with five toes and in which the entire volar surface, from the tips of the
digits back to the wrist or heel, comes in contact with the ground dur-
ing the act of walking. In such paws, as, for example, those found
in most rodents and in many of the carnivora, it will be seen that the
weight is borne by a series of ten projecting pads or permanent callosi-
ties, five of which are situated at the ends of the digits, while the
remaining five are placed upon the surface of the palm' or sole, and
possess the definite arrangement shown in the accompanying diagram,
(Fig. 2, a) namely, one each for the thenar and hypothenar areas, the
raised portions associated respectively with the inner and outer margins,
and three placed in a transverse row at the bases of the four fingers and
corresponding to the intervals between them. In accordance with
their positions, these pads may be conveniently named the thenar, the
hypothenar and the first, second and third palmar (or plantar, in the
case of the hind foot). Those at the ends of the digits may be
designated as apical and numbered consecutively from one to five.

In actual cases, owing to the various modifications necessitated by
habit and environment, such a diagrammatic arrangement is seldom
completely realized, but often in an embryo, before the special modi-
fication characteristic of the adult form has been introduced, the con-
dition closely approximates the typical one (Fig. 2, b). How these
modifications may affect the original plan may be well seen by a com-
parison of the fore-paws of the mink and the common cat (Fig, 2,
c and d), two carnivores representing different stages in the coalescence
of the three palmar pads to form the characteristic cushion adapted
for silent progression. In the mink these pads are still semi-distinct
and the middle one exceeds the others in size, suggesting that, in the
cat, this latter element forms the main bulk of the cushion, a con-
clusion proved to be the fact from the study of kitten embryos, as,

* Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft fur Anthropologie, March 20,
1886, p. 208. (Translated by Col. Mallory.)

44

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

in successive stages of these the lateral pads appear at first distinct,
then attached to the middle ones as a pair of lateral wings, and finally
become completely fused. In the adult cushion the part furnished by
each element is still traceable in the irregular contour of the resultant

Fig. la.

Fig. 26.

Ap. 1.

Fig. 2c. Fig. 2d.

Fig. 2. Arrangement of Pads on Mammalian Foot, (o) Typical arrangement; diagram.
(6) Typical arrangement; forefoot of rat embryo, (c) Forefoot of mink, showing a slight
modification of the type, (d) Forefoot of cat, showing fusion of palmar pads. Abbreviations :
A, apical pads; Pj-P3, palmar pads; TTi, thenar pad ; H, hypothenar pad; h. p, hair papilla ;
I-V, the digits.

mass. The noticeable projecting spur near the wrist is a modified
hypothenar pad, but the small bristle-bearing papilla still farther up
has nothing to do with it and is not a pad.

SCIENTIFIC PALMISTRY.

45

TL

A<xvH_.

H „.

A singular modification of the type, and one which forms a neces-
sary link in our present inquiry, is seen in monkeys, in which, owing
to their arboreal life and the consequent substitution of climbing for
walking, the pads have become low, flattened mounds, and the usual
hard covering has softened to a soft epidermis marked with curiously
disposed ridges, the seat of a highly developed tactile sense. The
volar surface of the paws thus forms a delicate organ of touch, specially
adapted to perceive the varying conditions of the tree-boughs, a power
often of vital importance to the
animal (Fig. 3). The epidermic
or papillary ridges cover the en-
tire volar surfaces and designate
the position of the typical pads
by elaborate patterns in the forms
of scrolls, loops and whorls as may
be seen by a comparison of the fig-
ures with the typical diagram.
It will be noticed, however, that
aside from the usual ten pads,
there is seen a small accessory
hypothenar, situated between the
hypothenar and the third palmar,
and that upon the fingers, aside
from the apical patterns, there are
suggestions of loops and other fig-
ures placed upon the first and
second joints. The morphological
significance of these extra parts is not known at present, and it is prob-
able that they have not other meaning than an attempt to increase still
farther the sensitiveness of the surface in places not covered by the origi-
nal pads.

To supply the next and final link in our chain of reasoning the
reader may be asked to consult his own hand and compare it with
Fig. 3. Upon this the apical pads, or patterns, as they may now be
called, will be easily seen, much as in the Micmac drawings, and it is
probable that one at least of the palmar patterns, and perhaps also the
hypothenar, will be in evidence. Individual human hands differ
greatly, however, in the patterns represented, the limits in the authors
collection of one hundred palm-prints being shown in Fig. 4, both
taken from whites of American parentage, yet differing from each other
in the matter of patterns more than the first and more atavistic one
differs from that of the monkey. In the same way Fig. 5 represents
the extremes of a collection of about sixty sole-prints where the differ-
ences are as great as in the palms.

Fig. 3. Volar Surface of Right Hand
of Large Monkey {Inuus) : (from author's
Illustration in Anat Anzeiger, 1896). Ace.
H, Accessory hypothenar pad (other abbre-
viations as in Fig. 2).

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

The great individual variation of these parts in the human being
is not without significance and furnishes an excellent illustration of
the biological truth that the perfection and constancy of an organ are
directly 'proportional to its necessity in the life of the organism. Thus

Fig. 4a. Fig. 46.

Fig. 4. Tracings from Palm Prints, showing Range of Variation.

in an arboreal primate, an exact appreciation of the contact surfaces
of the tree-boughs among which it climbs and swings is of vital impor-
tance, and the slightest defect or deviation from the standard in the
organs furnishing that intelligence would be apt to prove fatal; but

Fig. 5a. Fig. 56.

Fig. 5. Tracings from Sole Prints, showing Range of Variation.

when such a being assumes a terrestrial life, so high a degree of sensi-
tiveness in palms and soles is no longer necessary and the organ is
allowed to lapse. Individual variations, no longer discouraged, tend
to increase, and that which was once a necessary and vital arrangement

SCIENTIFIC PALMISTRY. 47

of the papillary ridges becomes of little importance. The influence
of environment becomes entirely removed, and the only reason for the
farther continuance of these parts is the conservative power of hered-
ity, which may perpetuate, apparently for a vast period of time, charac-
teristics no longer of necessity to the organism.

Briefly stated, the law described above is this : that only useful
and important parts retain a certain normal form in the various
individuals of a given species, and that, as they become of less impor-
tance, they tend more and more to vary individually, the range of varia-
tion increasing with time and the degree of uselessness, if such an
expression may be allowed; conversely, an organ that is seen to possess
marked individual variation is shown to be of secondary importance,
and may be either a rudimentary organ, that is, one on the way
towards a greater perfection in the future and in which the variations
represent the numerous experiments or attempts to find the form best
adapted for a special purpose, or, again, it may be a vestigial organ, or
one in which its point of highest usefulness is passed and in which
the variations represent various degrees of degeneracy, or stages in its
gradual eradication from the organism.

Returning to the case under consideration, a brief mention should
be made of another feature of the monkey palm or sole besides that of
the patterns, and that is the low but evident mounds upon which the
patterns are placed and which more properly represent the elevations
or pads themselves. Although these have suffered more in the transi-
tion to the human form they are commonly not absent, even in the adult
and may be seen with especial clearness in the embryo. In many adult
hands the three palmar pads are clearly brought out by simply bending
back the fingers and looking across the palmar region, and this not-
withstanding the fact that the modern, rather ingenious 'science' of
palmistry locates here four 'mounts' rather than three, and associates
them with the fingers instead of with the intervals between them;
an interesting illustration of what even the most careful observation
will do without a rational basis.

The endless variety shown in the disposal of the epidermic ridges
as outlined above will suggest several important lines of study, as,
for example, the discovery of a system or of laws governing the varia-
tion ; the possible influence of heredity upon the variation ; and through
this the possibility of the discovery of characters which may serve as
criteria of race ; the use of the markings in personal identification, and
so on ; and, although the simple scrutiny of a few palms may suffice for
a preliminary examination, a need will soon be felt of some method
by which a permanent and accurate record may be made, something in
the form of a print or impression which may be available at all times

48 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

for purposes of study and comparison. Numerous methods of prepar-
ing such records have been elaborated at length by Mr. Francis Galton
whose eminent labors upon the comparison and classification of the
apical patterns have resulted in an elaborate and accurate system of
personal identification, and for these the reader is referred to Chapter
III. of his ' Finger Prints. '* The method found by the present author
to be the most practicable is a slight modification of Galton 's printing-
ink method and may be best explained by a quotation from a set of
direction prepared for the use of those willing to assist him in the
collection of prints.

The method of printing is a simple one, the only needful apparatus being
(a) a tube of best quality black mimeograph ink, (6) a rubber roller six
inches long, such as is sold with photographic outfits, and (c) white, un-
ruled paper of a suitable size and quality. A large slate for spreading the ink
is a useful accessory, but a smooth sheet of paper pasted upon a flat board
or piece of cardboard will fulfil the requirements in this particular.

In printing, a bit of ink should first be squeezed from the tube upon
the slate or other surface used and should be spread evenly by rolling the
rubber roller back and forth in various directions, until a thin layer of uni-
form thickness is spread over the flat surface. When the surface is in exactly
the right state the palm or sole to be printed should first be wiped dry and
applied to it, pressing it down from above and taking care not to move
it from its original position. The pressure should be applied especially
to all regions which, like the center of the palm, are naturally raised above the
level of the other parts, and the fingers should be spread a little apart and
pressure applied between them. In removing the member from the inked sur-
face hold the corners of the latter and lift it quickly, beginning at the wrist
or heel. By now placing the member in the same position upon a clean piece
of paper and by repeating the pressure and other manipulations a print will
be obtained. Finally, a little turpentine may be used to clean the roller and
the surface of the skin.

Prints formed by the above methods reproduce the exact course
of every papillary ridge and may be studied at ease, drawn upon and
compared with one another in ways never possible in the case of the
actual surfaces ; besides which, the contrast of the black ridges with the
white interstices (white if the ink has not been used too plentifully)
causes the markings to show with far greater distinctness than when
presented in the uniform tints of the natural flesh.

In order, however, that such a print should furnish much instruc-
tion, it should be interpreted, that is, mapped out morphologically into
its natural areas, a proceeding which is always the first step in the study
and which causes the prints to appear somewhat as in the examples
given in Fig. 6. In the case of the hand, such an interpretation should
begin by the determination of five fixed points, or tri-radii, four of
which, the palmar tri-radii, are below the bases of the four fingers and

* Published by Macmillan & Co., 1892.

SCIENTIFIC PALMISTRY. 49

the fifth, the carpal tri-radius, low down near the wrist and of more
uncertain occurrence. These tri-radii are points about each of which
three sets of ridges come in contact, their boundaries forming links
which radiate from the point at about equal angles from one another.
In some cases there will be produced in this way a small triangle of
neutral ground from the angles of which the three lines proceed, while
in others the three radiating lines proceed from a point.

When these points are determined the palm is marked out into areas
by simply continuing the radiating lines until they pass beyond the
margin or coalesce with one another, a proceeding best followed at
first with a finely pointed hard black pencil, and afterward repeated
for the sake of clearness with a colored pencil, preferably red. In
tracing these lines it will be noticed that they often follow the inter-
spaces and not the ridges, and that these latter often break or fork,
sometimes causing a moment's consideration concerning the best
direction to follow. A lens may occasionally be used to advantage, but
usually it is better in doubtful cases not to scrutinize the details too
minutely, but to let the lines of interpretation follow the general trend
of the markings, rather than individual spaces or ridges.

When the interpretation is complete it will be seen that the palm is
separated into its elemental areas as in the illustration given in Fig. 6.
The two short lines going up between the fingers from each of the
palmar tri-radii are termed the digital lines, and serve to limit the small
triangular digital areas; while the third set of lines, usually more
extensive, form the four primary lines and run across the palm, marking
the boundaries of the three palmar areas. When a carpal tri-radius is
present, its extensions define a carpal area adjacent to the wrist and also
separate the two largest areas, the thenar and the hypothenar; in cases
where it is wanting, a slight divergence of the lines in about the
middle of the wrist at the margin of the palm shows the point from
which the line should be drawn that separates the two latter areas. Such
a case may be termed a 'parting,' and where this occurs there is no
definite carpal area.

These, then, are the elements into which a human palm may be
divided, and among these there is the greatest conceivable variation,
both of size, arrangement and mutual relationship. If even a
small collection of interpreted prints be made and compared
(Fig. 6), they will be found to be absolutely individual and dis-
tinct, the differences being due to variations in the elementary areas,
both in themselves and in their relationships to one another. This
variation is so great that it seems at first to be entirely without
system, and much like the detailed though purposeless descriptions of
the palmist, whose classification of the wrinkles and other features,

VOL. LXII. — 4.

5°

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

though worked out into the minutest details, is wholly artificial and
arbitrary; yet the exact correspondence of the areas with the patterned
mounds of the monkey palm show that we are dealing here with defi-
nite morphological parts, and the variations that occur are caused by
reduction, hypertrophy, fusions, separations and other principles with
which the morphologist is familiar.

Thus, considering the three palmar areas alone, they will be found
either all distinct (Fig. 6, a and b) or two of them may be conflue?it
(Fig. 6, c, P2 and P3), or semi-confluent (Fig. 6, d, Px and P3). They
may be open, i. e., may extend to the margin (Fig. 6, b, Px and P2) or
closed (Fig. 6, c, P2 and P3). Semi-confluent areas may also be termed

Fig. 6a.

Fig. 66.

Fig. 6c. Fig. 6d.

Fig. 6. Tracings of four Palm Prints, ro Illustrate Various Modifications.

divided, since this condition is brought about by the division of one
of the areas by a primary line, and in the same way a single
closed area (Fig. 6, b, Ps) may be termed circumscribed, since this con-
dition is brought about by the fusion of the two primary lines which
serve as boundaries.

In size an area may vary between a very large one (Fig. 6, b, PJ
and a greatly reduced one (Fig. 6, d, P2), and in the latter case the
reduction may become so extreme as to end in the complete loss of an
area, a condition which would be obtained if we should consider the
second and third palmar tri-radii of Fig. 6, d, which are here very near

SCIENTIFIC PALMISTRY. 51

together, to approximate still closer until they became entirely coin-
cident, a condition not infrequent.

These modifications of areas may be readily expressed in terms of
the primary lines which determine and bound them, and as each of
these four lines possesses a large number of possible positions, they
may be made the basis of a classification by which an individual palm
not only might have a definite place in a series, but might also be
conveniently designated and briefly described; furthermore, the terms
constantly occurring in such a description might be expressed by
obvious symbols, thus reducing it to a simple formula. To illustrate
this the four palms given in Fig. 6 may be described in terms of the
primary lines as follows:

(a) Line 1, open to margin; line 2, open to margin; line 3, fused with
eighth digital line; line 4, recurrent, dividing third palmar area.

(6) Line 1, open to margin, low; line 2, open to margin; line 3, fused with
line 4; line 4, fused with line 3.

(c) Line 1, involved in pattern, returning above; line 2, fused with line 4;
line 3, recurrent, dividing third palmar area; line 4, fused with line 2.

(d) Line 1, open to margin; line 2, fused with line 3; line 3, fused with
line 2; line 4, dividing first palmar area.

By the employment of a few obvious symbols these descriptions
might be transformed into formulae, as, for example:

(a) 0 — 0 — d8 — ^

(6) 0 — 0 — -f-4-- + 3

p

(c) In H ret. above h 4 — ---s h 2

(d) 0 — +3 — + 2 —

This exposition of individual differences in the course of the papil-
lary ridges, and the suggestion of methods of recording, interpreting
and describing them, leads us away from the realm of morphology to
that of their practical use in establishing personal identity and thus
brings us to the work of Mr. Francis Galton, who by the patient
observation of a long series of years has elaborated a system by which
personal identification may be established by the use of the apical pat-
terns. As a result, primarily, of the suggestions of Sir William
Herschel, Galton in his anthropological laboratory at South Kensing-
ton, has spent years in collecting data for his work, and to him belongs
the entire credit of having established the two essential facts upon
which all claim to the value of such markings in the point at issue must
rest, namely; (1) their absolutely individual character, and the impos-
sibility of an exact duplicature in two individuals and (2) their per-
manence throughout life.*

* See for this Galton's numerous publications on the subject and especially
his two books on ' Finger Prints ' and ' The Decipherment of Blurred and In-
distinct Finger Prints.' Macmillan, 1892-94.

52 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

That the method of employing the prints of the apical patterns in
identification, as advocated by Galton is, in the hands of an expert, an
exact one, there can be no doubt, and it has been already accepted by the
English government and introduced in the province of Bengal and a
few other places, proving a dangerous rival to the more obvious but
less accurate system of Bertillon, which depends upon various physical
measurements; but the disadvantages occurring from the minuteness
of the parts upon which the observation depends and the necessity of
a lens, obstacles which would demand in all cases the employment of
a trained expert, would necessarily limit the application of such a
system to a few places where adequate means could be furnished.

As a practical extension of the Galtonian system ; one in which the
minute details of the apical patterns are replaced by larger and more
definite markings, the present author advocates the use of prints, not
only of the ivliole palms, but of the soles as well, a system in which in
the vast majority of cases the cursory study of the main lines and areas
alone would be sufficient, while only in the almost impossible case of
general correspondence in the markings of two individuals in all four
members would resort to what Galton terms the 'minutiae' be necessary.
In the collection of one hundred palm prints alluded to above, there are
but two or three cases where the general formula is the same in the
hands of the same side, and in these the other hands and the two sets
of soles are widely different. If this should prove to be about the
usual average, then an identity of general plan, that is a similar course
in the four primary lines, may be expected to occur once in every 25 left
hands. Continuing this line of reasoning, the chance of the coincidence
being repeated in the right hand would be but 252, or 625, and if the
same figures be true of the soles, then in complete sets the chance of
correspondence in the gross details would be 254, or once in 390,625
times. But such 'identity' is by no means a complete one and really
means, not an identity at all but a general similarity in the course of the
four primary lines and in the areas defined by them. If such very
obvious details as the occurrence of patterns, or the condition of the
carpal area be also taken into account the chance of coincidence would
be many times decreased. Furthermore, as Galton has conclusively
proved by careful statistical study of the apical patterns, even in those
identical in general plan, the 'minutiae,' that is, the disposition, number
and length of the ridges forming the patterns are always very different.

Aside from this, another line of proof of the impossibility of
complete duplicates is furnished by an examination of the hands and
palms of so-called 'identical' twins, or twins which are of the same
sex and otherwise closely resembling one another. In such cases we
have a strong biological warrant to expect a closer resemblance in these

SCIENTIFIC PALMISTRY. 53

and all other parts than could possibly be the case with any other two
individuals, but even here, although the correspondence as to the general
formulae is, as a matter of fact, identical or nearly so, the variation in
proportions, in the number of ridges forming a given area, and in other
similar details, is so great that no one would be deceived into considering
them really identical.

If the use and practical application of the system above outlined
may be briefly alluded to here, it will be seen that the cases where such
a system would be of great importance are numerous and varied.
Aside from the case of criminals where the possession of a set of prints
by the authorities would be a far better and surer guide than the usual
'Kogues Gallery' photograph or even a set of Bertillon measurements,
there are cases of accidents of various sorts in which the bodies may be
sufficiently mutilated to render recognition uncertain or impossible;
cases of claimants of estates, like the famous Tichbourne claimant;
cases of the supposed restoration of lost children, and many others.

With regard to criminals, prints could be made and filed away at
headquarters, as is now done with photographs and written descriptions,
for in the case of a suspect who has taken refuge under an alias, the
mere hesitation to submit to the process would increase suspicion, and
one could have no just ground for refusal. Should a refractory case
occur, the use of chloroform would violate no principle of humanity, and
the mere threat of it would be apt to enforce compliance.

In accident cases, as in the classical one of Jezebel, to whom Galton
has feelingly alluded, the palms and the soles are apt to be the last
external parts to be destroyed, being protected respectively by the
involuntary clenching of the hands and by the heavy soles of the
shoes. With regard to the durability of the epidermic ridges Galton
states that they are still present and plainly seen in many Egyptian
mummies and in an experiment made by the author upon the feet of an
infant belonging to the prehistoric cliff-dwellers of southern Utah,
where the bodies were not even embalmed but simply dried in the
rarefied mountain air, the thenar and apical patterns could be definitely
traced after a comparatively simple preliminary treatment.

To provide for both accident cases and those involving all forms of
claimants, it would be a very simple matter for families to take and
preserve a set of prints of each individual, although it would be still
better, as in all cases of public versus private supervision, if each com-
munity were required by law to add such a set of prints to the birth
records of each of its citizens, records which could be easily taken at
the entrance to the public schools or at some other definite time when
the child is old enough to voluntarily assist in the process. These
records could be easily duplicated by photography if wanted for com-

54 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

parison at a distance, but in most cases the sending of the formulae
either alone or with the addition of a few details would suffice, and
could be easily telegraphed.

To insure the rapid selection of a given print, especially in a large
collection, some method of classification other than by name and family
would be requisite and this could be done by filing the actual prints
alphabetically and making a card catalogue of the formula? and descrip-
tions, the arrangement of which would depend upon certain features
selected from these.

By such means it would be easily possible to keep even a great
number of records in a very compact form, and in the larger towns
and in cities this would demand the use of a special room in the
municipal building and the maintenance of a clerk to take and file the
prints and to be on hand for consultation in case of need, yet the small
expense involved in this would be trivial in comparison with the large
amounts which would often be saved by a prompt and accurate deter-
mination.

It is, then, a matter of certainty that a system of personal identifi-
cation founded upon the epidermic markings of palms and soles would
endure all the tests required of such a system and would be in point
of absolute accuracy, rapidity of application, simplicity and conve-
nience in classification much superior to any system now in vogue. Its
uses would be as numerous as are the cases in which the identification
of a body, living or dead, becomes for any reason a matter of im-
portance and it may be prophesied that the countless cases where doubt,
uncertainty and great expense are involved, and which are now of con-
stant occurrence, may be ultimately prevented through its establish-
ment.

TOWARDS THE NORTH POLE. 55

TOWARDS THE NORTH POLE.*

r I ^HE collapse of Mr. Baldwin's expedition by Franz Josef Land
-*- and the return of Commander Peary and Captain Sverdrup from
their abortive attempts to reach the Pole from the American side may
make it interesting to give a brief account of the various efforts that
have been made to push northwards towards this goal during the last
400 years. Mr. Baldwin's richly-equipped expedition was frankly
stated to have as its almost sole object a dash at the Pole, and although
both the expeditions of Commander Peary and Captain Sverdrup had
other and more substantial objects in view, still, in each case, these
were to be combined with an attempt to pass all previous records in
this direction. We await details of Captain Sverdrup 's proceedings,
but it is improbable that he has attained anything like the latitude
achieved by Commander Peary.

During the latter half of the sixteenth century and the early years
of the seventeenth, when so many stages of the long journey to the
North Pole were covered, great progress was made in that section of
the north polar area which lies to the north of Europe and includes
the extensive land masses of Novaya Zemlya and Spitzbergen. Sir
Hugh Willoughby, in the Bona Esperanza, 120 tons, Richard Chan-
cellor, in the Edward Bonaventure, 160 tons, and Cornelius Durfourth,
in the Bona Confidentia, 90 tons, first led the way in 1553. The first
two vessels reached Kolguev Island, or as some claim even the south-
western shore of Novaya Zemlya, in about 72° N. latitude; but the
extent of the voyage is uncertain, as in the following winter all on
board, numbering some 62 souls, miserably perished of cold and hunger.
There is no doubt, however, that Stephen Burrough in the Searchthrift
pinnace reached 70°20' N. latitude in 1556 and sighted the coast of
Novaya Zemlya. The next great step northwards in this direction was
made by the Dutch mariner, William Barents. Sent by the merchants
of Amsterdam in the Mercury, 100 tons, to discover a passage to China
round the north of the island, he sighted on July 4, 1594, the west
coast of Novaya Zemlya in 73° 25' N. latitude. Continuing his journey,
he passed the northern limit of the island, finally reaching Orange
Island north of the 77th parallel. Two years later another stage in
the direction of the Pole was covered. A Dutch expedition compris-
ing two vessels, Barents being chief pilot of the one and Cornelius

* From the London Times.

56 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Ryp in command of the other, sailed north past Bear Island to Spitz-
bergen, and in following its shores, then explored for the first time,
reached a latitude of close on 80° 1ST. Even this high northing was
surpassed, however, by Henry Hudson in 1607, who, in a little vessel
of 80 tons, the Hopewell, followed the Spitzbergen coast to a point
by dead reckoning 81° 1ST. Land was stated to have been seen as far
north as 82°, but either the reckoning must have been erroneous or ice
must have been mistaken for land. In 1612, however, Jonas Poole
met at Spitzbergen Thomas Marmaduke, of Hull, in the Hopewell, who,
Poole states, sailed as far north as 82°, two degrees beyond Hakluyt's
Headland. If this statement is well founded, no further advance
towards the Pole was made in this or any other direction — that is, no
well-authenticated advance — for considerably over 200 years. But if
Marmaduke 's claim is allowed, so must be the claims of the Dutch and
other whalers, large numbers of whom for many long years thought
nothing of passing 80° N. latitude, and in favorable seasons may
possibly have reached a degree or two higher. Confining our attention,
however, to authenticated records, and remembering that the highest
northing calculated from observations that was reached by Hudson was
80°23', we may mention, in this brief record of the stages passed in
the journey northwards, the expedition sent out by the Admiralty in
1773 under Captain J. C. Phipps (afterwards Lord Mulgrave). Phipps
reached 80°48' N. latitude off the northwest coast of Spitzbergen. It
is interesting to note that this was the polar expedition on which Nelson
served. A more marked advance was made in 1806, when the famous
whaler, William Scoresby, was able to advance good proof that he had
reached 81° 30' N. latitude in the Spitzbergen Sea.

But it was reserved for Lieutenant W. E. Parry far to outdistance
all his predecessors in the work of north polar exploration. Parry set
sail in the Hecla in 1827, and making Trureaberg Bay, on the north
coast of Spitzbergen, his base of operations, started northwards with
two boats, which were fitted with steel-shod runners so that they might
serve as sledges. In spite of the toilsome nature of the journey, he
and his men pushed over the ice, piled with great blocks and bristling
with splinters which pierced through boots and feet, to latitude
82° 4-5' N. Then it was found that the southerly drift of the ice
practically counterbalanced the progress made during the onward march
and the expedition was compelled to turn back. Before Dr. Hansen's
ever-memorable expedition, Parry's was the highest northing attained
in the Eastern Hemisphere. But it may be noted that the Austrian
Lieutenant Julius Payer, who, in conjunction with Lieutenant Carl
Weyprecht, discovered Franz Josef Land in 1873, reached in the fol-
lowing year the highest point on land yet attained in the Eastern
Hemisphere, in 82° 05' 1ST. latitude. Neither Mr. Jackson, Mr. Well-

TOWARDS THE NORTH POLE. 57

man, nor Mr. Baldwin established a record. Dr. Nansen's famous
journey in 1893-96, on which the explorer made so great a stride
towards the Pole, is still fresh in the minds of all. Here we will only
recall that the Fram, after entering the ice near the New Siberian
Islands, touched the 86th parallel in the course of her long drift west-
wards, while Dr. Nansen himself and Lieutenant Johansen, having
left the ship in 84° N., finally reached (at least) 86° 5' N., in longitude
roughly 90° E. Two years ago this record was surpassed by Captain
Cagni, of the Duke of the Abruzzi's expedition, who reached 86° 33'
i\T. latitude, the highest northing yet attained in either the Eastern or
the Western Hemisphere.

Hitherto the passage north tbrough Behring Strait has not led any
traveller to very high latitudes. Behring himself discovered neither
the strait nor the sea that bear his name. His utmost northing was
67° 18', attained on his first expedition in 1728. Exactly 50 years
later Captain James Cook, the great navigator, reached 70° 44' north,
and in 1826 another British naval officer, Captain F. W. Beechey, who
had been told off to cooperate with Franklin in his researches on the
mainland of North America, attained the latitude of 71° 08' N.
Beechey 's mate, Elson, pushed 126 miles beyond Icy Cape to Point
Barrow, in 71° 24' N. latitude. In 1849 Captain Kellet reached the first
island to the north of Behring Strait, in 71° 18' N., and six years later
Commander John Eodgers, of the United States navy, surpassed Elson 's
latitude, his northing being 72° 05'. But the highest latitude recorded
in these seas was that attained by Commander GL W. De Long, of the
United States navy, to the north of the Liakoff or New Siberian Islands.
This group had first been reached from the north coast of Asia in 1770,
by a Eussian trader named Liakoff, and in 1823 Lieutenant P. F.
Anjou, who since 1820 had been exploring among the islands in com-
pany with Lieutenant F. von Wrangell, had succeeded in getting as
far north as 76°36'. De Long sailed through Behring Strait in the
ill-fated Jeannette in 1879. The pack-ice was entered near Herald Is-
land in 71° 35' N., and for two years the vessel drifted westward and
northwards. Wrangell Land, which De Long had thought was part of a
continent, and on which he expected to winter, was passed in the sum-
mer of 1779; in June, 1881, Jeannette Island in 76°47' N. latitude
was reached; later in the same month Henrietta Island, in 77°08' N.
was passed, and then the Jeannette was crushed in the ice. The sur-
vivors drifted north to 77° 3 6', the highest northing yet attained in
those seas. How at last the north coast of Asia was reached, and how
all but Chief Engineer Melville and eleven of the crew perished, does
not here concern us.

Only a slightly, if at all, higher latitude than that reached by De
Long has been attained by travellers following the east coast of Green-

58 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

land. Hudson sighted this coast in 1607, in about latitude 73° north,
and, according to the old Dutch chart of Gerrit van Keulen, as high
latitudes were attained during the course of the seventeenth century
as have ever since been reached in this direction. In 1654 Gale Hamke
found land in 74°30', in 1670 Lambert touched 78°30'. So difficult
is the East Greenland coast of approach, however, and so little was
known about it in the early years of last century, that the famous
whaler, Captain William Scoresby, son of him whose northing off the
coast of Spitzbergen we have already recorded, may well be said to
have advanced a stage towards the Pole in this direction when in 1822
he surveyed and charted the coast comprised between latitude 73° 30'
north and latitude 75° north. In the following year Captain Claver-
ing, assisting Captain Edward Sabine, in his great pendulum work,
reached Shannon Island in 75° 12' north, and saw the coast stretching
as far as the 76th parallel. No higher northing was made until the
second German North Polar Expedition visited the coast in 1869.
After wintering on Pendulum Island, Koldewey and Payer followed
the shore northwards in sledges, and in April, 1870, reached the extreme
northing along the East Greenland coast — if we except that with which
Lambert is credited on the old Dutch chart — of 77° 01'. The stretch
of coast between this and Peary's furthest on the north coast of Green-
land still remains uncharted, though both Peary and Sverdrup pro-
fessed to have its survey in view as one of their objects. None of these
latitudes can compare with those attained by way of the Spitzbergen
and Franz Josef Land routes. Indeed, the only route which may
be said to rival these latter in the facilities it affords for approach-
ing the Pole is that which runs between the west coast of Green-
land and the vast land masses lying to the north of North
America. In this direction the first stages of the long journey towards
the Pole were covered by the expeditions which began to be despatched
towards the close of the fifteenth century in search of a Northwest
passage.

Leaving out of account the two uncertain records connected with
the names of the two Cabots, as well as the unfortunate enterprise of
Frobisher, we come to the brave John Davis, who made a great stride
northwards. After twice barely crossing the Arctic circle, in 1585 and
1586, he set out a third time, in 1587, from Dartmouth. The expedi-
tion comprised three small vessels, the two larger of which were left
near Gilbert Sound, while Davis pushed ahead in the third, a mere
pinnace. On June 24 he reached 67° 40' N. latitude, and saw many
whales, and on the 28th attained his highest northing, 72° 12', where
be found the bold promontory which he named Cape Hope Sanderson.
Hudson, of course, was far to the south of this in Hudson Bay, and it
was reserved for William Baffin to reach what was, for more than two

TOWARDS THE NORTH POLE. 59

centuries, the most northerly point attained by this route. Robert
Bylot, master, and William Baffin, pilot, set out from Gravesend in
1616, with 15 men on board the Discovery, 55 tons. Proceeding
along the west coast of Greenland, they reached Cape Hope Sanderson
on May 30. As they continued north, Women's Island was found and
named in 72°45'. In 73°45' the expedition was detained for a short
time among natives of Horn Sound, but the ice broke up, and on July
1 an open sea lay before the travellers in 75° 40' N. Pushing across
this, the expedition reached the entrance to what was named Sir Thomas
Smith's Sound, and an extreme northing of 77°45' was recorded.

When one takes into account all the attendant circumstances, this
was really a most remarkable voyage, but, notwithstanding the success
which attended it, Davis Strait and Baffin Bay were so neglected by
explorers for the next two hundred years that when interest in this
section of the north polar field revived, early in the nineteenth century,
the narrative of Baffin's discoveries was quite discredited. The accuracy
of his observations was soon confirmed, but not until 1852 — unless it
may have been some whaler — did any one push our knowledge of the
Arctic regions in this direction a stage nearer the Pole. In that year
Captain E. A. Inglefield, in the Isabel, coupled with a summer search
for Franklin an attempt to ascertain whether Smith Sound was con-
nected with the Polar Sea. On August 26, the expedition reached
Cape Alexander, the most northerly point seen by Baffin, and Inglefield
saw the open sea "stretching through seven points of the compass."
He started to steam northwards, but twelve hours later, when only
forty miles beyond Baffin's furthest, was turned back by the ice. His
extreme northing was 78°21'. In the following year the Americans
took the field. Elisha Kent Kane, in a vessel fitted out by Grinnell
and Peabody, straightway broke the new record and reached and win-
tered in Eensselaer Harbor, 78° 37' N. In the summer of 1854 the sur-
geon of the expedition, Isaac I. Hayes, crossed Kane Sea to Grinnell
Land, which he traced to Cape Frazer, 79°43' 1ST. In the meanwhile,
on the Greenland side of Kane Sea, two other members of the expedition,
William Morton and Hans Hendrik, reached and scaled the south side
of Cape Constitution, in 80°35' N., overlooking Kennedy Channel.
These results were the more praiseworthy in that the expedition suf-
fered terribly from scurvey and in other ways, and barely succeeded
in reaching the relief expedition that rescued them in 1855. C. F.
Hall was the next traveller to push back the line dividing the known
from the unknown. Though neither a sailor nor a scientist by pro-
fession, he possessed all the qualities of courage and perseverence and
endurance which go to the making of a great explorer, and, favored
by an exceptionally open season, he succeeded, in 1870, in pushing
right through Smith Sound, Kennedy Channel, and Eobeson Channel

6o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

to the polar sea beyond. Heavy pack-ice stopped his advance in 82° 11'
N. latitude. His vessel, the Polaris, wintered under an enormous
floeberg in 81° 37' north. Before winter really set in Hall journeyed
by sledge northwards to the 82d parallel, and there saw land on the
west side of Eobeson Strait, extending north, as far as he could judge —
and subsequent observations practically confirmed his estimate — to
about 83° 05' N. During the winter Hall died, and the other members
of the expedition only escaped after experiencing a succession of
disasters.

But the success which had attended the efforts of the expedition
to reach a high northern latitude and the other valuable geographical
results obtained, roused a spirit of emulation in this country. In
1875 was despatched the famous Xares expedition, in the Alert and the
Discovery. They found all plain sailing as far as Cape Sabine, but
beyond that point the ice conditions were as unfavorable to an advance
northwards as Hall had found them favorable. By degrees, however,
the Alert and the Discovery made their way along the "West Greenland
coast past Cape Lieber and across Lady Franklin Bay to Discovery Har-
bor. Here the Discovery wintered, but Nares, pushing north in the Alert,
managed before the close of the summer to advance a step nearer the
Pole than any who had previously followed the Smith Sound route.
His winter station on the edge of the Polar Sea was in 82° 25' 1ST. But
even this high northing was not to mark the limit of the expedition's
success that year. Lieutenant Pelham Aldrich, whilst in command
of a sledging party, reached on September 25, 1875, latitude 82°48'
north, on the coast of Grinnell Land, and established what was then
a world's record. In the following summer Aldrich was yet more
successful, passing round the north end of Grinnell Land from Cape
Columbia, in 83° 07' north, to Cape Alfred Ernest, in 82° 16' north.
Meanwhile Commander A. H. Markham was attaining still higher
latitudes. After following the coast to Cape Henry, in 82° 5 5' N.,
Markham struck across the ice-bound Polar Sea in a direct attempt
to reach the North Pole. He was accompanied by seventeen men, with
two sledges, and after almost superhuman exertions reached a latitude
of 83°20'. On the valuable work accomplished in other directions it is
not now our purpose to dilate. It is curious to note, however, when
one bears subsequent expeditions in mind, that the Nares expedition,
successful as it undoubtedly was, was supposed to have closed that
particular route to the Pole. "To send another expedition in that
direction would," it was declared, "be a waste of money and energy."
In spite of this dictum, the Greely Expedition, sent north by the United
States Government as a result of the International Polar Conferences
of 1879-80, made its way up Smith Sound in 1881. The expedition
remained in the polar regions three years, and carried out a series of

TOWARDS THE NORTH POLE. 61

very important scientific observations. But here we have only to record
that it covered yet another stage of the long journey to the Pole. In
April, 1882, Lockwood, with eight companions, started north from
Newman Bay. Repulse Harbor was reached in five days after great
exertions. From this point the conditions of travel were most trying,
but the little party pressed on to Cape Bryant, where Lockwood decided
to continue the journey with only Brainard and one of the Eskimo.
Gradually they crept northwards. Towards the end "floes so high
that the sledge was lowered by dog traces," ice so broken that the axe
cleared the way, and widening water cracks in increasing numbers im-
peded progress; but, despite all obstacles, they reached, May 13, 1882,
Lockwood Island, 83° 24' N., which remained the highest northing
until Nansen made so great an advance towards the Pole.

Commander Peary 's magnificent record has already been detailed in
these columns. Here we need only recall that Peary set out on his last
great expedition in the summer of 1898. Having come to the con-
elusion that no further advance was to be effected by way of the Green-
land inland ice, he determined to push north through the great water-
way that lies between the west coast of Greenland and the vast island
masses lying to the north of the Dominion of Canada. Peary sailed
in the Hope, and was followed by the Windward, which had been
generously presented to him by Mr. Alfred Harmsworth. The two
ships obtained some walrus in Whale Sound, between Hakluyt Island
and Littleton Island, and then, while the Hope returned south, Peary
turned the prow of the Windward northwards and endeavored to reach
Sherard Osborne Fiord in Kennedy Channel. But the season was
unfavorable, and Peary was compelled to winter 150 miles south of his
objective, near Cape d'Urville. Leaving the ship towards the close of the
year, Peary journeyed by land to Fort Conger, the headquarters of
Greely's famous expedition, mentioned above. But this attempt to
utilize the winter months for travelling delayed rather than advanced
the expedition. In a terrible snow storm which overtook the little
party, on New Year's Day, Peary suffered badly from frost bite, and on
his arrival at Fort Conger it was found necessary to amputate seven
of his toes. After this it was, of course, impossible for him to make
any serious attempt to reach the Pole in the spring of 1899. Peary,
however, had himself drawn about in a sledge, so that he might become
accustomed to the conditions of travel in that region, and then, return-
ing to the Windward, sailed for the Eskimo encampment at Etah, near
Cape York. Here he found the Diana awaiting him with supplies.
These were landed, and then both the Diana and the Windward sailed
south, leaving Peary to winter at Etah and make an attempt to reach
a high northing in the spring of 1900. A start was made from Etah
on April 15 of that year. Following, apparently, the west coast of

62 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Greenland, Peary passed Lockwood's farthest north between three and
four weeks later. The coast was found to run north some ten miles
further to 83° 39' N. latitude, where it turned abruptly to the east.
Striking across the great Polar Sea, Peary struggled on to 83° 50' N.,
where he was turned back by a considerable expanse of open water.
Before he returned to headquarters, however, useful work was accom-
plished along the North Greenland coast, which was surveyed as far
as Independence Bay, the point reached by Peary on his two great
journeys across the inland ice-cap in 1892 and 1895. The winter
months were spent partly at Fort Conger, partly at Meat Caches, 250
miles to the north.

Another attempt to reach the Pole in the spring of 1901 had early
to be abandoned, as neither men nor dogs were in a fit condition to make
any prolonged march. Peary accordingly made his way south, and on
June 6 came across the Windward with Mrs. Peary and the explorer's
little daughter on board. The Windward had gone north in search
of Peary in the summer of 1900, and, failing to find him, had wintered
in Payer Harbor near Cape Sabine. Here, too, in 1901, came the Erik
in search of the Windward. Disappointment was naturally felt when
it was found that Peary has failed to reach the Pole, or even to attain
a higher northing than that of Nansen and Cagni in the Western
Hemisphere. The strain of so long a sojourn in the Arctic regions
had naturally been great upon a man of even Peary's iron physique and
dauntless courage, but the explorer determined to make one last effort
this year. Both the Windward and the Erik sailed south in August,
1901. So far as can be made out from the telegrams to hand, Com-
mander Peary has followed, as far as practicable, the plans which he
had laid down according to the information brought home by the Erik,
which left him on August 20, 1901, in his temporary camp on the south
side of Herschel Bay, on the west side of Smith Sound, about a dozen
miles southwest of his permanent quarters at Payer Harbor, near Cape
Sabine, about 78° 45' 1ST. He was then stated to have been well provided
with all necessaries, although the difficulty of taking sufficient food for
the dogs was regarded as rather a serious one. It was also stated
that he intended to take with him a "marine equipment," so as to be
able to cross open water wherever it should occur. The telegrams to
hand do not refer to a boat as part of the equipment, but, as open leads
of water were met with, it is presumed that the expedition had some
means of crossing them.

The move northwards began with the advance party of six sledges
in charge of Peary's faithful colored companion, Henson, on March
3, followed three days later by the main party with 18 sledges. These
parties, no doubt, traveled northwards along the ice foot on the Amer-
ican side, close to the shore, the distance to Fort Conger on the north

TOWARDS THE NORTH POLE. 63

shore of Lady Franklin Bay, which was the heaquarters of the Greely
expedition, being some two hundred miles. Fort Conger lies about
81° 50' N. Apparently little time was spent at Fort Conger, and a
fresh start was made for Cape Hecla, which lies a little to the south
of the 83d parallel, to the northwest of the northern end of Eobeson
Channel. If, as is probable, the journey continued to be made along
the ice foot, the distance to be covered was not far short of one hunderd
miles. Evidently the water right across to Greenland in this channel
was remarkably open, while open stretches of water were visible as far
as could be seen to the north. From Cape Hecla a start was made
on April 1 to face the serious task which Commander Peary had set be-
fore him — an advance northwards, if possible, to the Pole. Commander
(now Admiral) Markham's furthest north, 83°20'26", was reached
on May 12, 1876, at 64° W. longitude. Markham started from Cape
Joseph Henry in 82° 5 5' 1ST. on April 10, so that he took one month to
reach his furthest point about thirty miles to the northwest of his
starting point. The difficulties which he met with in trying to sur-
mount the hills of palseocrystic ice which had been thrown up along
his route seem to have been greater than even those encountered by
Peary. And it should be remembered that Markham had no dogs,
and only two sledges and 17 men. The same palasocrystie ice, due to
pressure and the piling up of floe upon floe, seems to have been met
with by Peary, although he encountered open leads of water and floes
in motion. Although he only reached 84° 17' N., about 75 miles to the
northwest of his starting point, in order to accomplish this he seems to
have been compelled to make long detours. But, as further progress with
the means at his disposal was utterly impossible, he had to give up, and
was back at Cape Hecla again on April 29, and at his headquarters
at Cape Sabine about a fortnight later. Although Commander Peary
seems to have met with more open water than did Commander Markham,
still the conditions here seem to have been essentially the same as they
were in 1876. The vast masses of ice which come down from the north
have no adequate exit south of 83° N., so that they are bound to
accumulate under the immense pressure that must take place, and so
produce those palaeocrystic ice ranges which seem to render advance
impossible in this direction. It is possible that, had Commander Peary
had more abundant means at his disposal, and been able to continue
still further to the north, he might have found the conditions more
favorable; but the record of this, as of previous attempts in the same
direction, seems to confirm the opinion of distinguished Arctic authori-
ties that the Pole is not to be reached by this route. No doubt Com-
mander Peary will have an exciting story to tell, but those interested
in the advance of knowledge will anxiously await details of the abund-
ant scientific results which he is reported to have accomplished. Mean-

64 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

time, although he holds the record on the American side of the Polar
area, on the other side he has been surpassed by Captain Cagni by over
two degrees — about 150 miles.

With regard to Captain Sverdrup, who left Godhavn, in Greenland,
on August 8 and has just arrived in Norway, it is evident that he has
been quite unable to carry out his somewhat ambitious program,
which, besides getting as far north as possible, included a survey of the
northeast coast of Greenland. When last seen, in 1899, the Fram
was making for Jones Sound (misprinted Soner Sound in the telegram)
and to that region he seems to have devoted his attention during the
past three years. On the north of Jones Sound lies Ellesmere Land,
about which we know but little. Captain Sverdrup has apparently
surveyed the south and west coasts of that region, and if he has carried
his explorations far enough north and west to connect with the results
of previous expeditions he will have accomplished a fair amount of
good work. But unless he has done much more it can hardly be said
that he has fulfilled the expectations of his many admirers and friends.
But before expressing any opinion on the results of the expedition,
we must await further information. In Jones Sound he certainly
selected a region of which our knowledge is slight and defective. In
a memorandum on the subject, by Sir Clements Markham, president
of the Eoyal Geographical Society, some interesting information is
given as to the progress of our knowledge in this particular region.
Jones Sound was discovered by Baffin in 1616, but no other expedition
approached it until that under the command of Sir John Eoss in 1818.
In 1848 a Scotch whaler sailed up the Sound for a hunderd miles, until
stopped by ice. In 1851 it was explored by Admiral Sir Horatio Austin
who was stopped by ice about 60 miles from the entrance. In 1852
he was followed by Captain Inglefield, and from their explorations it
became clear that Jones Sound was a channel leading to the Polar Sea,
and not a mere bay or inlet. Possibly that is the reason which induced
Captain Sverdrup to make his way into it with the Fram; but, as the
Polar ice comes crowding down from the north among the numerous
islands which seem to stud the sea to the west of Ellesmere Land, it is
doubtful if a route in this direction is practicable.

Now that Peary and Sverdrup and Baldwin have all three returned
from their abortive attempts to reach the Pole, the only expedition
left in the Arctic region is that under Baron Toll, the well-known Kus-
sian explorer, who is at work in the direction of the New Siberian
Islands, in search of what is known as Sannikoff Land, which is sup-
posed to exist still further to the north. Of Captain Bernier's proposed
North Polar expedition nothing has recently been heard.

In conclusion, Commander Peary's work in the interior of Green-
land before his last great expedition ought not to be forgotten. His

TOWARDS THE NORTH POLE. 65

additions to our knowledge of the Greenland ice-cap are very important,
seeing how little is known of the interior of the country. Geological
investigations carried out by Giesecke in 1806-14 along the west coast
of Greenland for 60° N. to 73° N. form the basis of our knowledge
of the geology of this vast island. The Danes have done much useful
work along the southwest and southeast coasts, and the comparatively
narrow strip of territory between the sea and the ice-cap is very well
known from the 66th parallel on the east coast round to the 75th paral-
lel on the west. Attempts to cross Greenland from west to east were
early made. In 1728 Major Pars even set out at the head of an armed
mounted force. But for long all attempts failed. Dalager, Rae, Brown
and Whymper were unsuccessful in their efforts to explore the ice-cap.
In 1870 Baron A. E. Nordenskiold could only penetrate some 35 miles
inland from the head of Auleitsivik Fiord, to an elevation of 2,200 feet.
In 1878 Lieutenant Jensen reached a point 47 miles inland from
Frederikshaab, where he found the ice 5,000 feet above sea level. In
1883 Nordenskiold again visited Greenland, and made fifteen marches
on the inland ice from the same point as before. He himself penetrated
only a little way, but the Lapp ski-runners whom he had taken with him
mounted the ice for 140 miles, reaching an elevation of 6,600 feet. At
last Nansen effected the crossing from east to west. Umivik, the start-
ing point, in 64° 45' N. latitude, was reached only after many hard-
ships on August 10, 1888. By August 27 he and his companions, five
in number, had ascended 7,000 feet, but only advanced forty miles.
The ice-cap, however, was found to terminate in a broad flat plateau
from 8,000 feet to 9,000 feet high, and over this such rapid progress
was made that the west coast was reached, some fifty miles south of
Goothaab, on September 29. Peary's crossings were effected in the
reverse direction, and across the northern end of Greenland. After
a preliminary journey from Disco Bay in 1886, Peary made his first
attempt from McCormick Bay early in 1892, and, striking due north-
east, came out on the north coast at Independence Bay. This journey
was repeated in 1894, and briefly Peary may be said on these occasions
to have determined the relief of an exceptionally large area of the
inland ice, to have delineated the northern extension of the great in-
terior ice-cap, to have demonstrated the insularity of Greenland, and
to have proved the existence of detached land masses to the north. A
valuable account was also obtained of the Smith Sound Eskimo.

VOL. LXII. 5.

66 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ECONOMICAL UTILITIES FOR
HANDLING RAW MATERIAL.

By VVALDON FAWCETT.

HPHE existence in crude form of some elementary devices for hoist-
-*- ing or otherwise handling certain classes of raw material, notably
stone and logs, dates back many years, but it has been within the past
decade and a half that there has taken place that remarkable pro-
gression which has constituted one of the most impressive achieve-
ments of the modern engineering world. Not only is bulk material,
practically without limitation as to weight, hoisted to any height de-
sired, but it has been rendered possible to transfer commodities at high
speed for either long or short distances, and thus the mechanical opera-
tives of the modern industrial world secure the trilogy of an economy
of time, a saving of labor and the conservation of expenditures.

Easily the most interesting as well as the most significant advance-
ment in this broad field is found in the introduction of improved meth-
ods for the handling of those two most important commodities — coal and
iron, the latter embracing of course a variety of forms from iron ore to
finished steel. Indeed, in the case of the most useful of metals there
has been evolved a cordon of mechanical devices, the functions of
which so supplement each other that from the time the ore leaves the
mine until it has been transformed into marketable iron or steel the
factor of manual labor directly applied, is practically eliminated.

The initiatory machine in this chain is found in the steam shovel
which takes the iron ore from the ' open pit ' mines of the Lake Superior
district and later is called into requisition to transfer the ore from the
stock piles at the mines to the railroad cars provided to carry it either
direct to the blast furnaces or to the vessels wherein it will be given
water carriage to the Great Lakes. The steam shovels for the latest
approved practice range in weight from fifty-five to ninety-five tons
and in this feature alone is afforded ample evidence of progress, for
but a few years since the shovels of thirty-five or fortj^-five tons weight
were deemed sufficient for all the exactions imposed by this work. The
shovels now in use have dippers ranging in capacity from two and one
half to five yards, and something of the celerity of movement with which
they are operated may be appreciated from the fact that on many
occasions ordinary railroad cars are loaded with ore and pushed out
of the way of the machine at the rate of one every two minutes.

In the unloading of the immense cargo-carrying vessels of the

UTILITIES FOR HANDLING RAW MATERIAL. 67

inland seas wherein the iron ore is conveyed from the Lake Superior
mining district to the ports adjacent to the blast furnaces of the
Middle West are employed the various forms of hoisting and conveying
apparatus, all of American origin, which probably constitute the most
famous of all the installations for transportation purposes. In this
field of activity methods advanced, at a single step, from the old plan
of unloading the vessels by means of wheelbarrows and permanent
trestles to the bridge tramway structures which are up to the present
date in almost universal use.

The conspicuous elements in any such installation embrace the
elevated tramway — spanning the dumping ground or railroad yard and

Steam Shovel.

connecting it with the vessels — the trolley or carriage traversing this
tramway and the system of mechanism by which the whole is operated
and controlled. Such an apparatus is operated, of course, by a motive
power located beyond the limit of travel, and while the operation is at
every stage subject to the control of an operator, a large proportion of
the important functions are automatic, the positive movements of the
parts through such operations being derived entirely from the bodily
movement of the apparatus itself, while actuated by momentum,
gravity or the direct action of the hoist rope. Attached to the trolley
of each machine is an automatic dumping-tub or bucket, the dis-
charge of which may be made at the will of the operator, either at the

68

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

r

*

i

'1 1

lit

j

; „, i ,

T»

1 1

, !

/WPm!

!~ju fit£

i

!j','^|

^^^* 1 -i -i_ ]'\

Hflttksh. "*"*" ~"^ftSfck

^' ■ *«,-

~^^{5hC

jggfoU

J^i^—

jSsr

p*pfr

*

■

:

,_.„., ^, ,,

Bridge Tramways.

Cantilever Aprons Extending oyer Vessel

UTILITIES FOR HANDLING HAW MATERIAL. 69

full height of the tramway or hy an automatic deflection of their
motion and with no appreciable loss of speed the buckets may be
caused to descend and discharge their contents at any point below the
tramway.

The bridge tramways are usually built in plants or groups of
three or four bridges which may be supported on either single or double
piers. The tramways are, as a rule, provided with hinged aprons de-
signed to extend over the vessels and very frequently cantilever ex-
tensions are provided at the opposite end, so that the buckets are
enabled to serve a space of 300 to 350 feet in width. The operation of
the tub or bucket is effected by means of a wire cable connected with
a drum in the engine room, and the engine is usually of the double
cylinder type. The piers supporting a bridge tramway are on wheels,
and it is thus possible to skew or move sideways the entire structure, in
order to bring the bridges in line with the hatches of the vessel being
unloaded. This type of machine hoists the bucket of ore from the hold
of the vessel, conveys it to any desirable point on the tramway and
automatically dumps the material on the dock or into waiting railroad
cars.

As indicating the capacity of the bridge tramway, it may be cited
that a plant of three bridges will readily handle 1,200 tons of ore in a
day of ten working hours, hoisting the material, conveying it a distance
of 100 to 150 feet and dumping automatically. In the case of the
bridges of exceptional length a
round trip can be made from the
hold of the vessel to the extreme
end of the cantilever and back
again, a distance of 600 feet in
one minute, and in actual opera-
tions a rate of 45 seconds per trip
has been maintained for hours at
a time. The buckets or tubs for
conveying ore are usually of one
ton or a ton and a half capacity.
There are several modifications of
the bridge tramway system, nota-
bly cable tramways in which wire
cables are substituted for the
bridges and what are technically
known as ' fast plants ' wherein in-
stead of the long bridges there are extremely short ones with tramway
projections over the vessel and cantilever extensions over the railroad
tracks on the dock, the effect of this short haul being to reduce tremen-

Clam-shell Bucket of Automatic Unloader.

7o

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

dously the lapse of time necessary for the transference of raw material
from vessels to cars.

In the case of all forms of bridge tramway apparatus it is necessary
to employ large gangs of men to fill by means of hand shovels the tubs
or buckets carried by the trolleys and naturally therefore there is in the
transportation world a tendency to regard with favor the latest inven-
tions in the line of machinery for the rapid unloading of iron ore,
namely, the automatic unloaders which dispense entirely with human
energy directly applied in the unloading operations. The fundamental
principle of all the automatic unloaders is found in the operation of
some sort of a clam-shell bucket which is let down into the hold of a
vessel with its iron jaws extended and, closing them, retains in its grasp

Bridge Tramways for Handling Ore and Coal. Menominee Dock at Ashtabula.

one or more tons of ore while it is lifted from the hold and run back
to a stock pile or waiting railroad cars after the manner of the bucket
of the bridge tramway. The original automatic unloader, introduced
only two or three years ago and in active use to-day, weighs several
hundred tons, and is equipped with a great mast to be lowered through
the vessel hatch and from which depends a clam-shell bucket capable
of holding ten tons of ore. The later patterns of unloaders, automatic
in their action, are fitted with excavating buckets of only about one ton
capacity, and which therefore permit of hoisting and transference by
wire cable instead of necessitating the ponderous iron and steel struc-
ture required to support the mast and clam-shell in the original design.

UTILITIES FOR HANDLING RAW MATERIAL.

7i

Bridge tramways similar to those in use on the ore-unloading docks
are employed in the furnace yards to convey the ore from the railroad
cars to stock piles, and a patent furnace hoist automatically conveys
the ore together with the coke and limestone to the top of the blast
furnace and performs the operation of ' charging. ' The automatic hoist
consists of an inclined iron-trussed bridge reaching from the floor of
the stock house to the top of the furnace shell and from thence over the
top opening of the furnace. On this bridge is laid a track of T rails
on which travels a skip or ear, containing the charge of one to three
tons as may be desired. The track is so arranged at the top that the
contents of the car are automatically dumped into the hopper on the
arrival of the car at the top. The skip car is hoisted or hauled to the
top by a double engine with a friction clutch drum.

Car Dumping Machine.

The exigencies of handling great quantities of coal for shipment
have been quite as productive of ingenious mechanical devices as have
the requirements of the iron industry. Bridge tramways have been
employed extensively for both loading and unloading of fuel, and in
the case of anthracite coal clam-shell buckets and bucket shovels which
scoop up the coal have been introduced in connection with the bridge
tramway instead of the ordinary bucket. However, preeminent among
all the varied forms of coal-handling apparatus stands the car-dumper,
a class of machine, each step in the evolution of which has been marked

72

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

by a distinct type of apparatus, but which has finally reached a point
of development where it is possible for one of these machines to hoist
a loaded coal car into position alongside a vessel, pour its contents into
chutes communicating with the hold and return the empty car to the
track in the elapsed time of one minute. In the case of the most ap-
proved styles of car-dumpers the loaded car is clamped to the track in
a sort of cradle in such manner that it may be turned completely
over and yet by means of a reciprocating movement on the part of a
huge pan suspended in the framework of the machine and connected
with the chute leading to the hold of the vessel, the coal is transferred
with a minimum amount of breakage.

McMyles Car Dump.

A class of coal-handling machinery in which recent years have
witnessed great development is found in the various forms of chain
elevators and link-belt machinery. This form of equipment is used
extensively at railroad coaling stations designed to supply fuel to
locomotives. In a representative installation one run of the upper
conveyor is for stocking the coal and the other for distributing it into
chutes, while the lower conveyor delivers coal from storage. Each
conveyor is an endless chain interspersed with metal partitions form-
ing pockets, is 600 feet in length and has a capacity of 120 tons of
coal per hour. In many stations an inclined conveyor delivers coal
from cars to a distributing convej'or and the latter apportions the fuel
among twelve or more chutes. Conveyors of this same general type are

UTILITIES FOR HANDLING RAW MATERIAL.

73

.also used for transferring coal from mine to storage pile or cars. For
such utilization there is selected apparatus of great simplicity of design,
namely, a scraper conveyor with steel nights of proper shape attached
to the chain and drawing the material along in a steel trough. Some
installations of this character have a length of about 300 feet and a
capacity of four tons of coal per minute.

Modifications of the belt conveyor are now to be found in use in
.almost every branch of the industrial domain, being put to a variety

Car Dumping Machine.

•of uses ranging all the way from the movement of grain to the carriage
of logs and stone. Moving platforms, constructed on the endless chain
plan, also have an important place among the utilities for handling
bulk commodities. Likewise is there extensive employment of traveling
cableways and aerial ropeways wherein either the impetus of gravity
or hauling ropes are depended upon for propulsive power. Some of
the recently installed traveling cableways have a span exceeding 700
feet and are adapted for handling loads of from five to ten tons. The
most modern of all of these aerial transportation systems is that
designated 'telpherage,' whereby electricity is relied upon as an opera-
tive force. In this class of installations the overhead trolley system of
the ordinary electric railway has simply been adapted to the rope rail-
ways, and by the provision of an ingenious device the electric car or
telpher is enabled automatically to slacken speed when approaching a

74

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

curve, resuming the normal rate of travel when the dangerous point has
been passed.

The part which cranes of various kinds have played in the solution
of the problem of the economical handling of raw material of various
kinds is indeed an important one and there has been a steady increase
in capabilities until there are now in service in the United States a
number of cranes each of which is capable of handling a load of one
hundred tons.

Easily the most remarkable of all the cranes yet constructed are the
great balanced cantilevers invented by Alexander Brown, an American.
The cantilever crane is applicable to a large range of work and is the

Cantilever Crane.

most perfect machine yet devised for use in handling armor plate and
other heavy parts in ship-yards and manufacturing establishments
generally. The cantilever is divided into two arms, which in some
instances have a span of over 350 feet. By means of trolley and hoist
block, mounted on the cantilever of the crane, the load can be hoisted
from the ground and traversed from one end of the cantilever to the
other, the pier or base of the crane being so arranged that the load
passes through it. These cantilever cranes have an automatic counter-
weight running on a track along the bridge and above the hoisting
trolley, and connected by ropes to the latter, so that whatever the
position of the hoisting trolley on one arm of the crane, the counter-

UTILITIES FOR HANDLING RAW MATERIAL. 75

weight at all times automatically occupies a similar position on the
other arm. The latitude of the operations of the apparatus is further
broadened by reason of the fact that the entire crane travels by its own
power up and down the track or trestle on which it is mounted. A
crane of this type is capable of marvelous speed. A load of fourteen
tons may be hoisted at a speed of 200 feet a minute; the trolley travels
back and forth along the cantilever arms at a speed of 600 feet a
minute; and the entire crane has sufficient propulsive power to enable
a speed of 750 feet a minute in traversing the track or trestle.

In conclusion attention must be given to the so-called lifting
magnet, the most wonderful of all the new appliances for handling
weighty raw material. The electro-magnet, by the aid of electricit}7,
performs on a large scale something of the same function as the toy
with which children have long been familiar. One magnet will elevate
a mass of metal weighing two tons and it is possible to use several
magnets simultaneously in handling a particularly heavy steel plate
or bar. This plan of handling material also possesses immense economic
advantages, inasmuch as a single mechanic is usually in charge of the
crane to which the magnets are attached.

76 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. IV.

By Dr. FREDERICK ADAMS WOODS,

HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

Evidence from Sweden.
Gustavus Vasa to Charles XIII.
fT^HE houses of Vasa, Palatine and Holstein, which held the throne
-*- of Sweden from 1527 to 1818, give us the names of 48 related
persons in the direct family and cover a period of eleven generations.
By including the ancestors to the third degree for each generation of
children, we bring in 122 more names, and have in this total of 170
an abundant and interesting field for the study of heredity. These
families of Sweden are full of eccentricities, abilities and weaknesses,
and the tracing of these peculiarities will be the subject of this section
of the work.

Gustavus I. Vasa, 1496-1560, the founder of the celebrated dynasty
bearing his name, was a most remarkable and inspiring character.
Of a noble though poor and uninfluential family, young Gustavus
gave proof even in youth of that striking personality which was des-
tined to deliver Sweden from the terrors of misrule and foreign con-
trol, and make his name ever cherished in the hearts of his country-
men. Even as a boy he 'played the king' and declared he would live
to drive the Danes out of Sweden.

In 1517 Gustavus was captured by a Danish ship of war and im-
prisoned for a year in castle Kalloe in North Jutland. Having escaped
from prison, he fled to the mountains of Dalencaride, where, after
enduring great hardships, he at last succeeded in attaching to himself
a powerful party, with which he marched towards Stockholm, which
finally surrendered in 1524 after an obstinate defense. The throne of
Sweden was now offered to him, but he at first refused. At last, after
general solicitation with the interest of the welfare of his country at
heart, he accepted and was crowned king in June, 1527.

Bom in a private station and bred in the school of adversity, equally great
in the public characters of a legislator, warrior and politician, he distin-
guished himself in every station of life, whether we consider his cool intrepidity
and political foresight, his talents for legislation, his propensity to letters and
encouragement of learning, his affability to the lowest ranks and his solid and
enlightened piety.

All his qualities set off by a majestic and graceful person and still further
heightened by the most commanding eloquence, drew the esteem and admiration

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 77

of all, so that it might justly be said that the most arbitrary monarch never
exercised a more unbounded sway over his vassals than Gustavus possessed from
the voluntary affection of his free-born subjects. In a word he was a sovereign
who was esteemed by foreigners no less than by his own people, by contem-
poraries as well as by posterity, one of the wisest and best that ever adorned
a throne.*

We shall see later how closely he was reproduced in his grandson Gus-
tavus Adolphus the Great.

The father of this founder of the house was Eric Johnson, who is
described as an insignificant little man with a violent and uncontrollable
temper. f The other ancestors are 'obscure' and, as far as known, were
without special gifts of any sort. So Gustavus Vasa must be consid-
ered a new variation or a 'sport' in biological terminology. How this
genius was transmitted we shall see in the subsequent history of the
house.

Of the nine children available for our study, we have very complete
accounts concerning five. These are Eric, John, Charles, Magnus and
Cecelia. The others did not distinguish themselves in any way as far
as known. Of these five, all but one, Charles, were violent or eccentric
or both. The mother of all but Eric, Margaret Lejonhufond, was a
gentle, beautiful and tactful princess! with whom Gustavus lived very
happily. Therefore, since the grandfather, Eric, was violent and cruel,,
and since insanity appeared in Eric and Magnus, the children of both
marriages of Gustavus, it seems fair to assume that the lack of mental
balance was hereditary, and on the male side. Whatever may have
been its origin, the neurosis was a family trait and eccentricities of
one sort or another will be found in several of the descendants.

Eric, the eldest son and next king, was suspicious, gloomy and
cruel; and finally becoming insane was obliged to abdicate.^ He was
nevertheless extremely learned, having a profound acquaintance with
the classics and all the sciences of his day, especially the occult
branches.

John, the second son, was both passionate and weak.

His tender conscience, though it did not prevent him poisoning his father,
Eric, yet induced him to pay a most scrupulous obedience to the ridiculous
penance ordered by the pope for commission of the murder. His temper hasty,
his disposition selfish, with strong instinctive attachments, so that in domestic
life he oscillated between the extreme of indulgence and severity ... he at last
grew to be afraid of his own shadow. ||

Magnus became insane. Cecelia, his sister, brought disgrace on
the family even in her youth. Later she went to England with her

* Coxe, ' Travels in Russia, Sweden and Denmark,' IV., 132-134.

t Geijer, ' History of Sweden,' I., 97.

t Geijer, I., 127.

§ Coxe, 'Travels,' IV., 126, and ' Ency. Brit.,' 8th ed.

|| Coxe, Op. cit., IV., 247.

78 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

husband, where she got frightfully into debt, and died after leading
a rambling and dissolute life.*

Charles IX., by far the flower of the family, inherited much of
the genius and character of his father.

Although the transcendent merits of Charles the Ninth are eclipsed by the
superior qualities of his father and son, yet even as the son of Gustavus Vasa
and father of Gustavus Adolphus he seems to shine no less with nature than
reflected luster. He was enterprising yet cautious in war, sagacious and
decisive in the cabinet, a friend to humanity, yet severe in punishment of
crimes. Attached by principle to the Protestant cause, he raised it, almost
drooping, again to preeminence. Zealous to promote the interest of his people,
he built towns, encouraged commerce and agriculture and patronized letters.
Of quick and lively feelings, he was subject to violent but short transports of
passion, which harassed his frame and finally occasioned his death. f

Another type of Yasa eccentricity is found in the career of Gus-
tavus, the son of the mad Eric XIV. Gustavus had from youth an
adventurous and curious existence. Eescued when an infant from the
sac in which he was to have been murdered, he was conveyed from
Sweden to the Jesuit convents of Thorn and Vienna.

In these different seminaries he made considerable progress in literature
and in particular distinguished himself in so much by his proficiency in chem-
istry that he was called the second Paracelsus. He was no less remarkable for
his knowledge of languages, speaking with fluency, besides his native tongue,
French, Italian, German, Polish, Russian and Latin. He was indeed so zealous
in the prosecution of his studies, that on account of his indigent circumstances,
after attending the schools by day, he used in the evening to play at the
inns in the lowest capacity, in order to procure a scanty subsistence.

His literary acquisitions, however, did not advance his future, for he passed
a wandering life in the greatest misery; was reduced to such straits that he
frequently had recourse to charity and at other times earned his living by the
meanest occupations .J

Here we see a striking instance of a son resembling his father.
The literary and scientific one-sidedness so strongly marked appears
with equal force even under these trying and humble circumstances,
and when no influence of family example could have taken a share
in its formation, since Gustavus when an infant was removed from the
surroundings in which he was born.

Sigismond III., 1566-1632, the next to be considered, was also
in his way a rather unusual character, though the figures 4.5 do not
indicate it. This son of the brother. John, and of Catherine, daughter
of Sigismond I. of Poland, acquired the throne of Sweden before his
uncle, Charles IX. The bigotry of Sigismond, combined with his weak-
ness and peevishness, led to discords and estranged his subjects from

* W. B. Rye, ' England as seen by Foreigners,' 1865, introduction.

+ Coxe, V., 175.

% Coxe, ' Travels in Russia, Sweden, Denmark,' IV., 251.

MENTAL AXD MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 79

him, so that his uncle, Charles, was gladly welcomed as a deliverance to
the country, and Sigismond was formally deposed in 1G0I.

It should be noticed that of all the children of the illustrious Gu>-
tavus Vasa, Charles IX. was by far the best, and it was the son of this
king who became the brightest light in Swedish history, probably every-
thing considered, the greatest figure in all modern royalty, and one of
the most ideal heroes who ever lived, Gustavus Adolphus the Great.

To recount the characteristics of this celebrated champion of the
Protestant cause would be but to repeat again the eulogies for the
founder of the house, his grandfather. The nobility and genius of
Gustavus Adolphus are too well known to need much comment here.
It will be sufficient to quote a few extracts from the many works
devoted to his life and achievements.

He ascended to the throne in his seventeenth year and soon gave proof of
his extraordinary abilities. The military talents of Gustavus Adolphus were
of the highest order, but they were surpassed by his admirable qualities as a
man and his virtues as a ruler.* Gustavus was, says Schiller, incontestably
the first commander of his century and the bravest soldier in the army which
he created. His eye watched over the morals of the soldiers as strictly as over
their bravery. In everything their lawgiver was also their example. In the
intoxication of his fortune he was still a man and a Christian, and in his
devotion still a hero and a king.

Such is the universal testimony of both contemporaries and histo-
rians in admiration of the sublime personality of Gustavus Adolphus.
the Lion of the North, who like a brilliant comet flashed for a brief
time over European affairs, until his course Avas terminated all too
soon while defending the faith for which he gave his life.

Cut off in his thirty-eighth year, when most men are only begin-
ning to assume the full responsibilities for which they are fitted, we do
not know what might have been the limit to the manifold acts of
benefit and righteousness that would have been conferred by Sweden's
greatest king. Let us pause in passing to consider the mysteries of
fate that heaped upon this man, sandwiched in between the maniacs
and weaklings of his family, all the gifts of mind and heart ever
allotted to mortals. If great men are divine, then heredity is, for
Gustavus Adolphus is but a perfect repetition of his illustrious grand-
father.

After the death of the great king, Sweden passed into the hands
of a regency for Christina, his only child. Her sprightly wit and spirit,
her energy and taste for learning, all gave her countrymen the greatest
hope for a brilliant future for their beloved little queen 'who aston-
ished her guardians by the vigor of her understanding.' In 1614 on
her eighteenth birthday, she assumed supreme power and for some

Lippincott's ' Biog. Diet.'

8o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

time fulfilled all the expectations which had been formed for her
reign.

The Swedish people were anxious that Christina should marry, but
she declined to sacrifice her independence. In 1649, however, she per-
suaded the Diet to accept as her successor the best of her suitors,
Charles Gustavus of Palatine-Deux-Ponts, the son of the only sister
of Gustavus Adolphus. In the following year she was crowned with
great pomp.

About this time Christina's character seemed to undergo a remarkable
change. She became wayward and restless, neglected her tried counsellors,
and followed the advice of self-seeking favorites. So much discontent was-
aroused by her extravagance and fickleness that she at last announced her
determination to abdicate.*

After abdication in 1651 she left for foreign courts, where her eccen-
tricities and daring disregard for conventionalities became the talk of
Europe. Upon the whole her character presents a strange combination
of faults and foibles, pushed to the most extravagant excess. She says
of herself, 'that she was mistrustful, ambitious, passionate, haughty,,
impatient, contemptuous, satirical, incredulous, undevout, of an ardent
and violent temper and extremely amorous.'

The violent temper was common to a large number of her paternal
ancestors, but it is especially interesting to note that the change in
her character was very similar to that of her uncle, Eric XIV., who'
began his reign very well, and whose unstable temper did not display
itself until he was about twenty-five years old.f Magnus, his brother,
likewise became insane at just about the same age. The inconsistencies
of character which stand out so strongly in many of the members of
this family have not been very common among royalty. They were
found to be very common among the relations of Peter the Great,
where they were considered related to a family neurosis. Here there
is also a neurosis, so we have in the coincidence a very strong proof
that much of the moral nature here inherited in the form of inconsis-
tencies, as well as the mental, is subject to heredity.

Since Christina abdicated to her cousin, Charles Gustavus, we now
take up the Palatine Deux-Pont dynasty of Sweden, which includes
the characters numbered from 19 to 27 inclusive.

Charles Gustavus, it is to be remembered, was the best of the many
suitors for the hand of the eccentric Christina, and although he, like
all the others, failed to change her mind regarding her determination
to remain single, her appreciation and regard for him were such that
she succeeded in having the succession made in his name. The father
to this new heir to the throne was likewise a man of excellent charac-

* * Ency. Brit.,' 9th ed., art. Sweden.
t Cont. Geijer * Hist. Sweden,' I., 148.

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 81

ter, energy and abilities. Besides, we find Wolfgang of Palatine,
1569, the great grandfather, a man of great distinction in his day.
As Catherine, the mother of Charles and sister of the great Gustavus
Adolphus, was intellectual and energetic, we have here in starting the
new dynasty a selection of by far the better members of the family.

Charles X., himself, was a rather remarkable character, being a
man of the greatest enterprise and, as a commander, showed the family
brilliancy in a striking degree. His measures were in general entirely
just, his only noteworthy weakness being his passionate temper.*

The only child of Charles X. was Charles XI., who became king of
Sweden in his turn and began to exercise his power in 1692. He seems
to repeat the character of his father almost exactly.

Charles was chaste, temperate, economical, vigilant and active, a patron
of letters, severe yet not implacable, prone to anger but easily softened. If
we consider the interior administration of affairs, Charles XI. was one of the
wisest monarchs who ever sat upon the throne of this kingdom. To him Sweden
stands indebted for many excellent regulations which still subsist.f He
promoted manufacture, commerce, science and arts, subverted the power of the
senate, and when he died, left a flourishing kingdom to his son Charles XII. t
He died aged forty-two, lamenting, it is said, upon his death bed, as the only
reproach to his memory, the natural violence of his temper, which he had not
sufficiently corrected. §

Charles XI. married Ulrica Eleonora, a virtuous and intellectual
princess. She was a daughter of Frederick III. of Denmark, and sole
representative among six children of that little group of brighter lights
forming Denmark's highest intellectual wave, and centered about
Christian IV., her greatest king.

From this union sprang two daughters, in no way remarkable,
beside one son, born in 1682, who, as Voltaire says, 'became as Charles
XII. perhaps the most remarkable man who ever existed upon this
earth, who united in himself all the great qualities of his ancestors,
and who had no fault or misfortune except in having them too greatly
exaggerated.' Invincibly obstinate from childhood, the only way of
moving his will was through his sense of honor. Charles was inordi-
nately ambitious from youth, his only desire being to imitate the
career of Alexander the Great. When only eighteen years old an oppor-
tunity was given him to display his 'extraordinary martial genius' in
his unequal contest against three of the most powerful monarchs in
Europe. Peter the Great, of Eussia ; Frederick IV., of Denmark, and
Augustus, King of Poland, thinking on account of the youth of
Charles to divide his kingdom between them, formed a league against

* Coxe, ' Travels,' IV., 34. ' Ency. Brit.' 9th ed.

fCoxe, 'Travels, IV., 39.

% Lippincott's ' Biog. Diet.'

§ Schloetzer's ' Briefwechsel,' I., 147.

VOL. LXII. — 6.

82 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

him. With only 20,000 Swedes he attacked 80,000 Kussians under the
Czar Peter who were besieging Narva and then, with only 8,000 men,
before the arrival of his main army, gave the Kussians such a severe
defeat that they were rilled with consternation.* A little later when
Peter made overtures for peace he replied that he would 'treat with
the Czar at Moscow.'

Charles was by no means successful in his subsequent battles, but
considering the enormous odds against him, this demibarbarian 'whose
ambition was madness and whose valor was ferocity' may justly be
considered one of the greatest commanders of modern times, as well
as one of the most remarkable men who ever lived. Kude, but chaste,
frugal in his dress, food and mode of living, he seems to have had few
failings save his impetuosity and inordinate ambition.

Of course such a character as Charles can never be directly derived
from any law of heredity like G-alton's. A man who has more of cer-
tain characteristics than other men can not be produced by adding
together in a proportionate way the same characteristics of his ances-
tors. But if these extreme types like Charles, Peter the Great, Don
Carlos, son of Philip II., and Frederick the Great occur most fre-
quently where there is much of the same sort of character in several
of the ancestors, we are better satisfied that the types are the product
of hereditary influence, than if they frequently occurred in regions
where none of the relatives show the character in question. The wave
does not flow back towards the mean for every child or even for every
generation. It also flows in an upward swell, and it is only to be
expected that variations shall occur that show its highest manifesta-
tion where there is already some considerable indication of its pres-
ence in the neighborhood of the person in whom it appears in such an
extreme degree.

In referring back to the ancestry we find the character of Charles
XII. almost exactly repeated, though in a lesser degree, in both his
father and grandfather. They were both active, vigilant, enterprising
and warlike, frugal in daily living, but passionate in their temper.
There were ambitions or marked talents in nearly all the other ances-
tors. His mother was intellectual and virtuous and derived as we have
seen from the most able region of Denmark. So, after all, taking into
consideration the two sisters of Charles XII., who were nobodies in the
intellectual scale, we do not find this fraternity to which he belongs
giving us more than is called for.

We are now brought to the dynasty of Holstein, which in the six
characters, numbered from 28 to 33 inclusive, gives us no names that
amount to anything; nor am I able to find out anything concerning
the apparent nonentities who formed the ancestry and relationship of

* Lippincott's.

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 83

these. With the exception of Charles Frederick of Holstein, also an
inferior character, this new dynasty is in no way related to the former
dynasty of Palatine, which, like that of Vasa, we have found so re-
markable.

Adolphus Frederick of Holstein, one of the inferior ones above
mentioned, married Louisa Ulrica, a sister of Frederick the Great.
We find in her a woman of a very different stamp. Among all the
richly endowed sisters of Frederick the Great, Louisa Ulrica, Queen of
Sweden, stands probably at the head of the list. An idea of her charac-
ter and attainments can be drawn from several contemporaries here
quoted.

The Queen Dowager to whom we had the honor of heing presented, a sister
of the King of Prussia ... a princess who resembled her brother as well in the
features of her countenance as in those eminent qualities which characterize
the house of Brandenburg.

She was accustomed to rule the cabinet with absolute authority in the
reign of her husband.*

A great and inflexible woman of rare endowment and uncommon cultiva-
tion. Really merited the appellation of the ' Minerva of the North.'

Since Louisa Ulrica belongs, of course, among the Hohenzollerns,
we have passed rather rapidly over the dynasty of Holstein, which to
this point has furnished no great names. The next generation, chil-
dren of Adolphus Frederick and Louisa Ulrica, gives us four, and
among them, third in the list, Gustavus Adolphus III., who was des-
tined to shine as another Swedish king of extraordinary ability.

His ardent mind and fertile genius acted as a perpetual impetus to things
that were new, grand and out of the common track. He was so accomplished
a gentlemen that there was scarcely a professor of literature or any of the
liberal arts but he was able to excel each in his own peculiar study. He was
always spoken of as a prodigy of talents.f

Lippincott's 'Biographical Dictionary' says that

In addition to his talents as a statesman, he was distinguished as a poet
and dramatist.

This literary bent was very strong in his mother as well as in many

members of her family.

His sister, Sophia Albertina, 'was possessed of a great share of
personal virtue and a capacity as vast and varied as her brother, and
unsullied by his vices.' The oldest brother amounted to nothing,
while the youngest, as Charles XIII., showed in his ambition, wisdom
and skill in the management of the country's affairs much of the
family genius.

Gustavus IV., the only son of Gustavus III. and the last of the

*Coxe, 'Travels,' IV., 30.

t J. Brown, ' Northern Courts.'

84 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

family, though gifted to a certain extent, carried ambition to madness
and folly, and being finally deposed, supported himself by writing,
together with a small pension. Since Charles XIII., the uncle of Gus-
tavus IV. who succeeded him on the throne, adopted and made suc-
cessor, Bernadotte, Napoleon's agent, we have now reached the close
of our chapter on modern Sweden.

In the study of this country, from Gustavus Vasa to Gustavus III.
Adolphus, we find throughout a most perfect confirmation of the
theory of mental and moral heredity. We find that in selecting those
who were to become the progenitors of the next generation, twice a
choice of the best among them all in Charles IX. and Charles X., and
the cause of this selection lay in the fact that their very merits
brought to them the throne. In the union of Charles the Tenth's
great son with the strongest part of Denmark's dynasty, we have still
another point where the genius was not allowed to die. We find no
more great names, only the petty Holsteins, until Gustavus III. Adol-
phus reclaims once more the glory of his ancestors, but this we find
to be not the ancient genius but a fresh graft, and from the famous
Hohenzollerns taken at the height of their intellectual eminence in
the time of Frederick the Great.

In all this Swedish history the lives of these men and women can
not be explained by environment. If we adopt this view, why did so
many among them who must have had most abundant opportunities,
fail entirely to exhibit any of these remarkable mental statures? The
only serious failing on the moral side was their violent and ungovern-
able temper. Since there was also mental unbalance in the family,
it seems fair to assume that these violent tempers were a manifesta-
tion of the neurosis, and not to be ascribed to their high and arbitrary
position.

Also, relative to the moral qualities in this family, there does not
seem to be any good reason from the standpoint of environment, why
there should be such an absence of that dissolute and licentious type
so continually found in Spain, France and Eussia during these same
centuries. But if we look at it from the standpoint of heredity, we
can easily see why this is so, since it was neither there to any great
extent in the earlier generations, nor was it in those who became the
subsequent ancestors of the different male lines considered. It does
not seem as if the example set to princes by their parents should be
of more effect than general temptations such as come to all who have
abundant means at their disposal; and we know too many examples
both in royalty and out, where parental influence has sadly failed to
inculcate such desirable lessons.

HOW TO COLLECT FISHES. 85

HOW TO COLLECT FISHES.

By President DAVID STARR JORDAN,

LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY.

[~N the collection of fishes, three things are vitally necessary — a keen
*- eye, some skill in adapting means to ends, and some willingness
to take pains in the preservation of material.

In coming into a new district the collector should try to preserve
the first specimen of every species he sees. It may not come up again.
He should watch carefully for specimens which look just a little differ-
ent from their fellows, especially for those which are duller, less
striking or with lower fins. Many species have remained unnoticed
through generations of collectors who have chosen the handsomest or
most ornate specimens. In some groups, with striking peculiarities,
as the Trunk-fishes and Porcupine-fishes, practically all the species
were known to the predecessors of Linnaeus. No collector could pass
them by. On the other hand, new gobies or blennies can be picked up
almost every day in the lesser known parts of the world. For these
overlooked forms, herrings, anchovies, sculpins, blennies, gobies, scor-
pion-fishes, the competent collector should be always on the watch. If
any specimen looks different from the rest, take it at once and find out
the reason why.

In most regions, the chief dependence of the collector is on the
markets, and these should be watched most critically. By paying a
little more for unusual, neglected or useless fish, the supply of these
will rise to the demand. The word passed along among the people
of Onomichi, in Japan, that ' Ebisu the fish-god was in the village ' and
would pay more for Okose (poison Scorpion-fishes) and Umiuma (Sea-
horses) than real fishes were worth soon brought (in 1900) all sorts
of Okose and Umiuma into the market when they were formerly left
neglected on the beach. Thus with a little ingenuity the markets in
any country can be greatly extended.

The collector can, if he thinks best, use all kinds of fishing tackle
for himself, hooks, flies, bait, seines, traps, anything that will catch
fishes. In Japan he can use the 'dabonawa' long lines, and secure
the fishes which were otherwise dredged by the Challenger and Alba-
tross. If dredges or trawls are at his hand he can hire them and use
them for scientific purposes. He should neglect no kind of bottom, no
conditions of fish life which he can reach. Especially important is the

86 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

fauna of the tide-pools, neglected by almost all collectors. As the tide
goes down, especially on rocky capes which project into the sea, myriads
of little fishes will remain in the rock-pools, the algse and the clefts
of rock. In regions like California, where the rocks are buried with
kelp, blennies will lie in the kelp as quiescent as the branches of the
algse themselves until the flow of water returns.

A sharp, three-tined fork will help in spearing them. The water in
pools can be poisoned on the coast of Mexico, with the milky juice of
the 'Hava' tree, a tree which yields strychnine. In default of this,
pools can be poisoned by chloride of lime, sulphate of copper, or, if
small enough, by formaline. Of these, a solution of commercial
chloride of lime, yielding free chlorine gas is cheapest and most service-
able. By such means the contents of the pool can be secured and the
next tide carries away the poison. The water in pools can be bailed
out, or better emptied by a siphon made of small garden hose or rubber
tubing. On rocky shores and about coral reefs dynamite can be used
to very great advantage, if the collector or his assistant dare risk it,
and if the laws of the country do not prevent. Most effective in rock-
pool work is the help of the small boy. In all lands the collector will
do well to take him into his pay and confidence. Of the hundred or
more new species of rock-pool fishes lately secured by the writer in
Japan, fully two thirds were obtained by the Japanese boys. Equally
effective is the 'muchacho' on the coasts of Mexico.

Masses of coral, sponges, tunicates and other porous or hollow
organisms often contain small fishes and should be carefully examined.
On the coral reefs the breaking up of large masses is often most
remunerative. The importance of securing the young of pelagic fishes
cannot be too strongly emphasized.

Fishes must be permanently preserved in alcohol. Dried skins
are far from satisfactory, except as a choice of difficulties in the case
of large species. Dr. Gunther thus describes the process of skinning
fishes :

Scaly fishes are skinned thus: with a strong pair of scissors an incision
is made along the median line of the abdomen from the foremost part of the
throat, passing on one side of the base of the ventral and anal fins, to the
root of the caudal fin, the cut being continued upwards to the back of the tail
close to the base of the caudal. The skin of one side of the fish is then severed
with the scalpel from the underlying muscles to the median line of the back;
the bones which support the dorsal and caudal are cut through, so that these
fins remain attached to the skin. The removal of the skin of the opposite side
is easy. More difficult is the preparation of the head and scapulary region;
the two halves of the scapular arch which have been severed from each other
by the first incision are pressed towards the right and left, and the spine is
severed behind the head, so that now only the head and shoulder bones remain
attached to the skin. These parts have to be cleaned from the inside, all soft
parts, the branchial and hyoid apparatus, and all smaller bones being cut away

HOW TO COLLECT FISHES. 87

with the scissors or scraped off with the scalpel. In many fishes which are
provided with a characteristic dental apparatus in the pharynx (Lahroids,
Cyprinoids), the pharyngeal bones ought to be preserved, and tied with a
thread to their specimen. The skin being now prepared so far, its entire inner
surface as well as the inner side of the head are rubbed with arsenical soap;
cotton-wool or some other soft material is inserted into any cavities or hol-
lows, and finally a thin layer of the same material is placed between the two
flaps of the skin. The specimen is then dried under a slight weight to keep it
from shrinking.

The scales of some fishes, as for instance of many kinds of herrings, are
so delicate and deciduous that the mere handling causes them to rub off easily.
Such fishes may be covered with thin paper (tissue paper is the best) which
is allowed to dry on them before skinning. There is no need for removing
the paper before the specimen has reached its destination.

Scaleless fishes, as siluroids and sturgeons, are skinned in the same man-
ner, but the skin can be rolled up over the head; such skins can also be
preserved in spirits, in which case the traveller may save himself the trouble
of cleaning the head.

In the field it is much better to use formalin (formaldehyde) in
preference to alcohol. This is an antiseptic fluid dissolved in water,
and it at once arrests decay, leaving the specimen as though preserved
in water. If left too long in formalin fishes swell, the bones are
softened and the specimens become brittle or even worthless. But for
ordinary purposes (except use as skeleton) no harm arises from two
or three months' saturation in formalin. The commercial formalin
can be mixed with about 20 parts of water. On the whole it is better to
have the solution too weak rather than too strong. Too much formalin
makes the specimens stiff, swollen and intractable, besides too soon
destroying the color. Formalin, has the advantage, in collecting, of
cheapness and of ease in transportation, as a single small bottle will
make a large amount of the fluid. The specimens also require much
less attention. An incision should be made in the right side of the
abdomen to let in the fluid. The specimen can then be placed in
formalin. When saturated, in the course of the day, it can be wrapped
in a cloth, packed in an empty petroleum can and at once shipped.
The wide use of petroleum in all parts of the world is a great
boon to the naturalist. Before preservation, the fishes should be
washed, to remove slime and dirt. They should have an incision to
let the fluid into the body cavity and an injection with a syringe is a
useful help to saturation, especially with large fishes. Even decaying
fishes can be saved with formalin.

The collector should mark localities most carefully, with tin-tags
and notebook records, if possible. He should, so far as possible, keep
records of life colors, and water color sketches are of great assistance
in this matter. In spirits or formalin, the life colors soon fade,
although the pattern of marking is usually preserved or at least indi-

88 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

cated. A mixture of formalin and alcohol is favorable to the pre-
servation of markings. In the museum all specimens should be
removed at once from formalin to alcohol. No substitute for alcohol as
a permanent preservative has been found. The spirits derived from
wine, grain, or sugar is much preferable to the poisonous methyl or
wood-alcohol.

In placing specimens directly in alcohol, care should be taken not to
crowd them too much. The fish yields water which dilutes the spirit.
For the same reason, spirits too dilute are ineffective. On the other
hand, delicates fishes put into very strong alcohol are likely to shrivel,
a condition which may prevent an accurate study of their fins or other
structures. It is usually necessary to change a fish from the first alcohol
used as a bath into stronger alcohol in the course of a few days,
the time depending on the closeness with which fishes are packed. In
the tropics, fishes in alcohol often require attention within a few hours.
In formalin, there is much less difficulty with tropical fishes.

Fishes intended for skeletons should never be placed in formalin.
A softening of the bones which prevents future exact studies of the
bones is sure to take place. Generally alcohol or other spirits, arrack,
brandy, cognac, rum, sake, 'vino' can be tested with a match. If
sufficiently concentrated to be ignited, they can be safely used for pre-
servation of fishes. The best test is that of the hydrometer. Spirits for
permanent use should show on the hydrometer 40 to 60 above proof.
Decaying specimens show it by color and smell, and the collector
should be alive to their condition. One rotting fish may endanger
many others. With alcohol it is necessary to take especial pains to
ensure immediate saturation. Deep cuts should be made into the
muscles of large fishes as well as into the body cavity. Sometimes
a small distilling apparatus is useful to redistil impure or dilute
alcohol. The use of formalin avoids this necessity. Small fishes should
not be packed with large ones; small bottles are very desirable for
their preservation. All spinous or scaly fishes should be so wrapped
in cotton muslin as to prevent all friction.

The methods of treating individual groups of fishes and of hand-
ling them under different climate and other conditions are matters to
be learned by experience. Eternal vigilance is the price of a good
collection as it is said to be of some other good things. Mechanical
collecting, picking up the thing got without effort and putting it in
alcohol without further thought, rarely serves any useful end in science.
The best collectors are usually the best naturalists. The collections
made by the men who are to study them and who are competent to do
so are the ones which most help the progress of ichthyology. The stu-
dent of a group of fishes misses half the collection teaches if he has
made no part of it himself.

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.

89

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.

PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION.

' The Varieties of Religious Expe-
rience ' is the interesting title of Pro-
fessor William James's most recent vol-
ume, ' being the Gilford. Lectures on
Natural Religion delivered at Edin-
burgh in 1901-1902.' It is ' a study in
human nature,' a contribution to the
empirical psychology of man's religious
constitution, and as such marks an
innovation in the course pursued by
Gifford lecturers, who had previously
concerned themselves with the philos-
ophy of religion or its history objec-
tively considered. It was a happy
thought which set Professor James the
difficult and delicate task of analyzing
the subjective phenomena of the relig-
ious life — or, rather, of religious lives.

In the attempt to classify types of
religious experience, the author has
laid under extensive contribution auto-
biographical documents which represent
all manner of sects in and out of Chris-
tendom. The chapters abound in quota-
tions from the extravagant deliver-
ances of these souls, selected to empha-
size the several tendencies in an ex-
treme form.

The scope of the book may be sug-
gested by the titles of some of the
chapters : ' Religion and Neurology,'
'The Reality of the Unseen,' 'The
Religion of Healthy Mindedness,' ' The
Sick Soul,' ' The Divided Self and the
Process of its Unification,' ' Conversion,'
' Saintliness,' ' Mysticism,' ' Philos-
ophy,' etc.

While this book is principally occu-
pied with a descriptive account of re
ligious experiences, and a sharp line is
drawn between description and valua-
tion, a critical estimate of each type is
attempted. Herein the author's wide
sympathies come into play, with a ca-

pacity for appreciation extreme almost
to a fault. Not by its origin, but by
its ' fruits for life,' shall a religion be
judged, says Professor James, in ac-
cordance with his philosophical prag-
matism. And the complexity of life
provides for the utility of diverse types.
The very ' variety ' is esteemed signifi-
cant of possible ranges of unexplored
experience. This falls into line with
Professor James's individualistic or
pluralistic attitude toward the uni-
verse, and brings us to the characteris-
tic philosophical considerations which
are merely hinted at toward the end of
the volume, but which it is intended to
marshal systematically in a later work.

Professor James confesses to a lean-
ing toward a vague supernaturalism
which he himself characterizes as
' crass,' and which is queer to say the
least. It may be said to rest upon the
conception of a ' subliminal ' region of
consciousness, not yet generally admit-
ted into scientific psychology, but which
is regarded by Professor James as the
more significant part of our human
nature, whereby we come into deepest
relation with the universe.

No thoughtful reader, least of all a
psychologist, can fail to profit by the
immense suggestiveness of these lec-
tures, which reveal afresh that psycho-
logical insight long since recognized as
genius, while they are written in that
no less brilliant style so familiar to
Professor James's readers for a felicity
of phrase unequaled in scientific litera-
ture. If one misses something of the
scientific vigor of the ' Principles of
Psychology,' one finds in compensation
much of the mellow wisdom which has
marked all of Professor James's later
writings.

9o

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

One of the most remarkable religious
movements of the nineteenth century
was that inaugurated by Joseph Smith,
Jr., from 1820 to 1830. The announce-
ment of the finding of a set of golden
plates hidden in a hill in New York
state and revealed to the prophet ot
the Almighty; said plates when inter-
preted by the prophet proving to be
the history of the lost ten tribes of
Israel, their journeying to America,
their identification with the Indians,
their further trials and tribulations,
and their ultimate salvation and re-
construction in the Church of the Lat-
ter Day Saints, — this is indeed a suffi-
ciently fantastic story. Mr. I. W.
Riley devotes a volume (Dodd, Mead
& Co.) to an analysis of the charac-
ter of the founder of this sect. His in-
terest is not in what the man did and
the ultimate consequences of his estab-
lishment of a peculiar sect, but in the
motives and impulses that led to the
doing of it and to its successful prop-
agandum. The study is psychological;
and in the abnormal mentality of the
founder Mr. Riley finds the clue to
his actions. The tale is by no means
complete, but the author has been most
diligent in his search; and circumstan-
tial evidence and arguments by analogy

reach a high degree of probability. As
a young man, Smith gave evidence of
epileptic attacks; he was given to vis-
ions and was absorbed in crass forms of
religious devotion; the 'Book of Mor-
mons' was dictated while the author
was in a semi-hypnotic condition self-
induced, and directing his thoughts to
the conviction of his own inspiration;
his first converts were themselves cred-
ulous and suggestible, and the testi-
mony of the witnesses to the vision of
the plates was probably the result of
a hypnotic suggestion. In brief, a study
of abnormal psychological states con-
vinces the author that Joseph Smith
was a neurotic degenerate, with an an-
cestry of like temperament, and that
his revelations were the riotous imag-
inings of his automatic imagination,
exhibiting the kind of shrewdness and
adaptation to existing conditions often
to be found in mental products of such
origin. The cumulative evidence for
this view can be appreciated only by a
direct reading of the book; it forms an
interesting example of the application
of modern psychological conceptions to
the comprehension of a most unusual
factor in the religious history of this
country.

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

9i

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION.

Scientific interest this month is
focused on the approaching meeting of
the trustees of the Carnegie Institution.
At the first meeting of the trustees,
officers and an executive committee
were appointed, and adjournment was
taken to November without any decis-
ion on matters of policy. During the
summer reports have been prepared
by advisory committees of scientific
men, and the secretary and other mem-
bers of the executive committee have
been engaged in careful consideration
of the methods by which the Carnegie
Institution can most effectively con-
tribute to the advancement of science.
The president of the institution has
been abroad in consultation with for-
eign men of science and studying their
institutions. The advisory committees
have been selected with care, and it is
doubtless proper that their reports
should be regarded as confidential until
they have been presented to the trus-
tees. Scientific men would, however, be
better pleased if the nomination of the
members of the advisory committees
had been entrusted to the scientific
societies of the country and if they
were sure that the trustees would take
nc action involving the institution in a
definite policy until the questions at
issue have been more thoroughly dis-
cussed. It would not be possible to
select more representative trustees than
those of the Carnegie Institution, but
they are men of affairs, engaged in the
conduct of important enterprises, and
can not be expected to devote their
attention to the policy of the institu-
tion. The plan which obtains in this
country of entrusting the ownership
and control of educational and scien-

tific institutions to a board of business
men, who appoint a president with
great power, provides an efficient ad-
ministration. It is not, however, ideal
from the point of view of the scientific
man — so long as he is an employee
or slave he may do his work satisfac-
torily and economically, but he natu-
rally looks forward to becoming a free
man. We all know the difficulties and
dangers of a democracy, but we have
decided that this is for us the best form
of government. Perhaps the greatest
service that the Carnegie Institution
could perform for science would be to
entrust scientific men with its manage-
ment. They would doubtless make
mistakes and perhaps fall into quar-
rels, but in the end their education
would be attained, and thereafter they
would be more competent to manage
their own affairs than any board of
business men placed in authority over
them.

As was stated in the September issue
of the Monthly, the corporation of the
Marine Biological Laboratory has
voted to transfer its property to the
Carnegie Institution; and this is the
only intimation that has been made
public in regard to the probable policy
of the institution. But while the insti-
tution has secured an option on the
laboratory, it is by no means certain
that it will undertake the ownership.
It has been announced by the chairman
of the executive committee of the trus-
tees of the laboratory that this will
only be done after careful considera-
tion and full discussion, and there is
reason to believe that the Carnegie
Institution may assist the laboratory
without insisting on its becoming a
branch or department. This question

92

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

opens the main problem before the in-
stitution, namely, whether it shall con-
duct several great laboratories for re-
search or shall cooperate with existing
institutions. There is doubtless much
to be said on both sides. It appears
from a series of articles by leading sci-
entific men, published in reeent issues
of Science, that opinion is pretty
equally divided. Some hold that the
resources of the institution can be
best utilized in the establishment of
laboratories at Washington or else-
where, while others think that for the
present at least assistance should be
given where it appears to be most
needed. There is in either case some
danger of too great centralization of
power and of interference with indi-
vidual initiative, and with agencies
supported or likely to be supported
from other sources. As a labor saving
invention may at first disorganize a
trade, though in the end for the benefit
of society, so the great resources of
the Carnegie Institution must be used
with discretion if there is not to be a
temporary inhibition of other agencies.
When compared with any similar
agency, the funds of the Carnegie Insti-
tution are bewilderingly large. Thus
in his presidential address before the
British Association, Professor Dewar
stated that the Carnegie Institution
will dispose in a year of as much
money as the members of the Royal
Institution have expended in a century
on its purely scientific work. The
other institution most like that en-
dowed by Mr. Carnegie is the Smith-
sonian, whose endowment was about
equal to the annual income of the Car-
negie Institution. Compared, how-
ever, with certain other agencies, for
example, the U. S. Geological Survey,
with its appropriation of $1,300,000,
the funds of the Carnegie Institution
are limited, and it is evident that they
must be used economically, without any
attempt to rival the government or
universities, but doing what can be

done only by an institution so unique
in its possibilities.

THE COLLEGE AND THE UNI-
VERSITY.

The first report of President Butler
to the trustees of Columbia University
exhibits the benefit of a university pres-
ident's being from the outset a student
of educational problems. The domes-
tic economy of the university is re-
viewed in a masterly fashion, and ques-
tions of wide-reaching importance for
the development of the educational in-
stitutions of the country are discussed
by an acknowledged leader. The most
pressing problem is the relation of the
college to the university, and here Pres-
ident Butler outlines a policy which
while radical appears to be in the line
of advance. The plan of Harvard,
Johns Hopkins and to a certain ex-
tent of Columbia has been to require a
college degree for entrance to the pro-
fessional schools. Students now enter
the freshman class of these univer-
sities at the age of eighteen or nineteen.
If they follow a four years' course at
college and a three or four years' course
in the professional school, they are on
the average twenty-five years of age
before they begin actual work with a
period of apprenticeship before them.
This is wrong both economically and
educationally. Only the sons of the
rich, who accept parental support when
they should themselves be heads of
families, are able to enter professional
careers. The actual practice essential
to professional work is postponed
until the age of plasticity is passed.

President Eliot has long advocated a
college course of three years, making it
at the same time elective, so that a
certain amount of work preparatory to
the professions can be done at college.
Columbia University admits seniors to
its schools of medicine and law, per-
mitting them to count part of their
professional work toward the bachelor's
degree. President Butler now advo-

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

93

cates admitting students to the profes-
sional schools at the close of the soph-
omore year, either giving them the
degree of A.B. then or after a certain
amount of professional work. The
newspapers have raised an outcry over
this suggestion — they declaim against
debasing the bachelor's degree, attract-
ing students by low requirements and
the like, confusing the question of the
degree as a mere counter with the
educational problem. Thirty or forty
years ago the A.B. degree did not rep-
resent more than the equivalent of the
completion of the present sophomore
year. It signified rather less than com-
pletion of the course of the German
gymnasium, of the French lycee or of
the English and Scottish universities.
Unwise competition for the best stu-
dents has raised, not lowered, the re-
quirements for the A.B. and for en-
trance to the professional schools. The
A.B. might be abandoned, as in Ger-
many, without any particular loss to
the educational system. Its meaning is
now vague and unsatisfactory. The
real question is: Shall we require stu-
dents who have completed the high
school course to spend four years on
so-called liberal studies and athletics
before they may begin their real work?
This question must be answered in the
negative and has been so answered by
the logic of events. It is far better to
make the professional schools more lib-
eral— that is, more insistent on meth-
ods, general principles arid research
than on mere technique — rather than
to require the A.B. degree as a prelim-
inary. A more natural division of
studies has been developed in France
and Germany than here. The prepara-
tory school and high school should be
developed to include all studies that
are required and pursued by text-books
and recitations. The small denomina-
tional college should be placed on the
level of the high school, where it can do
good work. High schools and colleges
should be found in every community.

The universities can also conduct col-
leges for those who wish to go forward
to the professional schools and facul-
ties of philosophy or science. The stu-
dent of the professional school who
must complete his work in three years
should be permitted to do so, while
those who show ability for investiga-
tion and independent thought should
work both in the professional school
and the graduate school, and should
be permitted to prepare simultaneously
for the professional qualification and
for the degree of A.M. or Ph.D., or
what they represent.

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT
BELFAST.

The seventy-second annual meeting
of the British Association will not have
the same historical significance as the
famous meeting held in Belfast in
1874. At that meeting Tyndall deliv-
ered the address which was so widely
criticized and discussed. It will be
remembered by many that Tyndall
there went beyond the limits of science
and discussed problems of philosophy
and religion. While his remarks were
frank and outspoken, it is somewhat
difficult for us to realize the obj action
taken to them thirty years ago. Scien-
tific freedom has since been attained;
and this to a certain extent may be
said to date from Tyndall's address at
the Belfast meeting of the Association.
Professor Dewar's address at the pres-
ent meeting was more nearly what is
expected of such an address. After an
introduction reviewing scientific organ-
ization and the place of Great Britain
in science, he described those problems
of chemistry on which he is the great-
est living authority, namely, the his-
tory of cold and the absolute zero;
the liquefaction of gases, especially
hydrogen and helium; and various low
temperature researches.

At the meeting of the sections a
great number of important papers were
presented, there being, however, an in-

94

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

creasing tendency for these to be tech-
nical rather than popular in charac-
ter, as is also the case in our own
national association. There is printed
above the address by Professor Halli-
burton on physiology, ana we hope to
be able to publish subsequently the
address by Professor Armstrong before
the Section of Education, these being
perhaps the two most interesting of
the presidential addresses. In the
physical section papers were pre-
sented by Lord Kelvin and Lord Ray-
leigh, perhaps the two greatest physi-
cists now living. Lord Rayleigh dis-
cussed the question as to whether
motion through the ether causes double
refraction of light, reviewing the evi-
dence which has led physicists to con-
clude that the earth in its motion does
not drag the ether with it. Lord Ray-
leigh's experiments have confirmed
those of our American physicists,
Michelson and Morley, which showed
that light travels through a body trav-
ersed by a stream of ether with the
same speed along it as against or across
it. Another paper of considerable in-
terest before the Mathematical and
Physical Section was one by Professor
Schuster discussing the relative im-
portance of collecting observations in a
science such as meteorology and of de-
ducing laws from them. Before the
Chemical Section the subjects which
seem to have attracted special interest
were the action of enzymes and the aro-
matic compounds. Papers before the
Zoological Section were presented by
Professor Poulton and others on mimi-
cry, and by Professor Herdman on his
expedition to study the pearl oyster
beds in the Gulf of Manaar, and on the
plans for protecting the North Sea
fisheries. The Sections of Economics,
Geography and Anthropology usually
attract the greatest general interest,
but space does not permit reference
to the papers and discussions. A word
should, however, be said in regard to
the Section of Education, established

last year, which bids fair to become
one of the most attractive departments
of the Association, setting a model
which the American Association should
follow.

The attendance at the meeting was
1,620 as compared with 1,951 at the
Belfast meeting twenty-eight years ago.
The decrease in attendance was not,
however, due to fewer scientific men
being present, but to a smaller local
interest in the meeting. One of the
most interesting features of the general
meeting was the invitation presented
by Professor Charles S. Minot, last
year president of the American Asso-
ciation, asking as many members as
possible to attend the Washington
meeting of the American Association.
Professor Minot described the steps
that have been taken in America to se-
cure the reorganization of scientific
societies under the auspices of the
American Association and the secur-
ing of a convocation week in mid-win-
ter for the meetings. President Dewar,
in replying on behalf of the Associa-
tion, emphasized the importance of a
visit to America, and expressed the
hope that there would be a large at-
tendance of English men of science at
the meeting to be held at Washington
beginning on the Monday after Christ-
mas.

The meeting of the British Associa-
tion next year will be at Southport
under the presidency of Sir Norman
Lockyer, one of the most prominent
of living astronomers and editor of
Nature. The meeting in 1904 will be
at Cambridge, where efforts will doubt-
less be made to rival the important
meeting at Oxford in 1894. Plans are
being made which may lead to a meet-
ing in South Africa in 1905, the colo-
nies having offered to defray a large
part of the expenses of delegates.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF ANTHRA-
CITE COAL.
Anthracite differs from ordinary or
bituminous coal in that it contains a

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

95

small percentage of volatile combusti-
ble matter. Commercial anthracite
varies from the hard, dry Lehigh with
little more than one per cent, to the
easily lighted Bernice coals of Sulli-
van county, Penn., with ten per cent.
The Lackawanna and Lykens Valley
coals, so much prized for domestic use,
are midway between Lehigh and Ber-
nice. The use of hard coal has be-
come so well-nigh universal in the
eastern towns and cities that one hard-
ly understands how the community
could become accustomed to the use of
soft coal; yet the available supply of
anthracite in America is so small that,
unless some other fuel be discovered,
the use of bituminous coal must pre-
vail within seventy-five years at the
most. The anthracite fields of Penn-
sylvania will be exhausted within
seventy-five years, even though the an-
nual production should not exceed that
of 1901 — which is improbable. There
is no other deposit of anthracite in the
United States, aside from some wholly
unimportant patches in North Carolina,
New Mexico and Colorado, so unimpor-
tant that all combined would yield hard-
ly enough for one year's consumption.
Europe has very little anthracite. Most
of the Welsh coal is bituminous, the
anthracite of the South Wales field
being confined to the western end of
that field. The Worm basin of Prus-
sia yields perhaps 2,000,000 tons per
annum of a semi-anthracite; near
Ostrau in the Silesian field and in the
Donetz field of south Russia anthracite
occurs in moderate quantities; but
these are all unimportant. China,
however, has vast fields compared with
which our Pennsylvania fields are mere
dots on the map; there being upward
of 40,000 square miles underlain by
anthracite coals in Hunan, Honan and
East Schansi.

BORAX AS A FOOD PRESER-
VATIVE.
The question of the use of borax and
boric acid as food preservatives has

attracted much attention of late, es-
pecially in Germany, where it has been
brought forward as a convenient lever
to exclude American food products.
The results of different investigators
are far from uniform, and the conclu-
sions drawn as to its use are corre-
spondingly at variance with each other.
It is generally conceded that as far as
regards digestion neither borax nor
boric acid have any specific influence,
but when considerable quantities are
present the alkalinity of the former
or slight acidity of the latter may be
of some effect. In a similar way they
may act as mild irritant poisons, occa-
sioning diarrhoea. With continued use
most observers find a loss of weight,
which seems to be due to loss of fat
in the body, and this may occur, with-
out any symptoms of ill health, when
small quantities of borax or boric acid
are ingested daily. It is possible that
this result might attend the regular
use of food products which have been
preserved by boric acid. While the
quantity of the acid present is usually
quite small, it is completely eliminated
from the system rather slowly. In
doses of three grams, one half was
eliminated in the first twelve hours,
but from five to nine days were re-
quired for the disappearance of the
remainder. In this way boric acid
might have the effect of a cumulative
poison. It is said to be a common
practice in this country to preserve
butter and meat by packing in a mix-
ture of salt with some borax or boric
acid. Such a mixture was the ' rex
magnum ' largely sold fifteen years or
so ago. Recent experiments by Polen-
ske show that fat takes up very little
of the borax powder, while meats take
up no inconsiderable quantity. Ameri-
can pork was found in one case to have
absorbed in its outer portion no less
than two per cent, of its weight of
borax, while in another case four per
cent, was taken up in three weeks.
This latter amount may, however, be
considered extreme. In this connec-

96

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

tion an observation of von Lippmann'a
is of interest. On investigating a de-
posit in a vacuum apparatus for con-
centrating lemon juice, he found quite
a quantity of boric acid, and on fur-
ther examination discovered that boric
acid is present in small quantity in
most fruit, as in lemons, apples, etc.
As a result it cannot be inferred, be-
cause boric acid is found in preserved
or dried fruits, that it has been added
as a preservative. Altogether it must
be said that the whole matter needs
further study, and that it must be de-
termined to what limit the use of boric
acid and borax is permissible without
endangering health.

SCIENTIFIC ITEMS.

We record with great regret the
death of John Wesley Powell, director
of the Bureau of American Ethnology
and formerly director of the U. S. Geo-
logical Survey. His death occurred at
his summer home in Maine on Septem-
ber 23, he" being in his sixty-ninth year.
There was published in the Popular
Science Monthly for January, 1882,
an article reviewing Major Powell's
life and work, illustrated by a portrait,
and we hope to publish in the next
number a further appreciation of his
work. — We regret also to record the
death of Sir Frederick Abel, known for
his important researches on explosives,
and of Dr. John Hall Gladstone,
known for his researches on chemical
combinations.

Dr. Charles S. Mlnot, professor of
histology and embryology in the Har-
vard Medical School, was given the
degree of Doctor of Science at Oxford
University, on the occasion of the ter-
centenary of the Bodleian Library. —

Professor W. H. Welch, of the Johns
Hopkins University, delivered the Hux-
ley lecture before the Charing Cross
Hospital on October first. — Dr. Andrew
D. White, Ambassador to Germany,
has presented his letters of recall. His
successor, Dr. Charlemagne Tower, is
also interested in literary and scientific
subjects. — An expedition from the
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
under Major Ronald Ross has gone to
the Suez Canal to institute preventa-
tive measures against malaria.

A committee has been formed for the
erection of a public memorial of the
late Professor Virchow in Berlin, with
Professor Waldeyer as chairman. — A
monument, consisting of a pedestal and
a bust by the sculptor, Marqueste, is
to be erected in the Paris Museum of
Natural History, in memory of Al-
phonse Milne-Edwards. — The eightieth
birthday of John Fritz, ironmaster and
inventor, of Bethlehem, Pa., will be
celebrated by a dinner given in his
honor on October 31. The dinner will
also signalize the founding of the
John Fritz gold medal for achievement
in the industrial sciences, the medal to
bo awarded annually by a committee of
members of the American Society of
Civil Engineers, the American Society
of Mechanical Engineers, the American
Institute of Mining Engineers and the
American Institute of Electrical Engi-
neers. The organizing committee hav-
ing the matter in charge on behalf of
these societies has already raised $6,-
000, representing the contributions of
some 500 members of the engineering
professions in this country and in
Europe. The medal has been entrusted
to the American sculptor, Victor D.
Brenner.

THE

POPULAR SCIENCE

MONTHLY.

DECEMBER, 1902.

THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN.*

By President DAVID STARR JORDAN,

LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY.

r MHE subject of the higher training of young women may resolve
-*~- itself into three questions:

1. Shall a girl receive a college education?

2. Shall she receive the same kind of a college education as a boy?

3. Shall she be educated in the same college?

As to the first question: It must depend on the character of the
girl. Precisely so with the boy. What we should do with either de-
pends on his or her possibilities. No parent should let either boy or
girl enter life with any less preparation than the best he can give.
It is true that many college graduates, boys and girls alike, do not
amount to much after the schools have done all they can. It is
true also that higher education is not a question alone of preparing
great men for great things. It must prepare even little men for
greater things than they would otherwise have found possible. And so
it is with the education of women. The needs of the time are impera-
tive. The highest product of social evolution is the growth of the
civilized home, the home that only a wise, cultivated and high-minded
woman can make. To furnish such women is one of the worthiest func-
tions of higher education. No young women capable of becoming such
should be condemned to anything lower. Even with those who are in
appearance too dull or too vacillating to reach any high ideal of wis-
dom, this may be said — it does no harm to try. A few hundred dollars
is not much to spend on an experiment of such moment. Four of the

* Abstract of an address before the Federation of Woman's Clubs, Los
Angeles, May 5, 1902.
vox,, lxii. — 7.

98 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

best years of one's life spent in the company of noble thoughts and
high ideals cannot fail to leave their impress. To be wise, and at the
same time womanly, is to wield a tremendous influence, which may be
felt for good in the lives of generations to come. It is not forms of
government by which men are made and unmade. It is the character
and influence of their mothers and their wives. The higher education
of women means more for the future than all conceivable legislative
reforms. And its influence does not stop with the home. It means
higher standards of manhood, greater thoroughness of training, and
the coming of better men. Therefore let us educate our girls as well
as our boys. A generous education should be the birthright of every
daughter of the republic as well as of every son.

It is hardly necessary among intelligent men and women to argue
that a good woman is a better one for having received a college educa-
tion. Anything short of this is inadequate for the demands of modern
life and modern culture. The college training should give some basis
for critical judgment among the various lines of thought and effort
which force themselves upon our attention. Untrained cleverness is
said to be the most striking characteristic of the American woman.
Trained cleverness, a very much more charming thing, is characteristic
of the American college woman. And when cleverness stands in the
right perspective, when it is so strengthened and organized that it
becomes wisdom, then it is the most valuable dowry a bride can bring to
her home.

Even if the four K's, 'Kirche, Kinder, Kuchen and Kleider,' are
to occupy woman's life as Emperor William would have us believe, the
college education is not too serious a preparation for the profession of
directing them. A wise son is one who has had a wise mother, and to
give alertness, intelligence and wisdom is the chief function of a college
education.

2. Shall we give our Girls the Same Education as our Boys ?

Yes, and no. If we mean by the same, an equal degree of breadth
and thoroughness, an equal fitness for high thinking and wise acting,
yes, let it be the same. If we mean this : Shall we reach this end by
exactly the same course of studies ? then the answer must be, No. For
the same course of study will not yield the same results with different
persons. The ordinary 'college course' which has been handed down
from generation to generation is purely conventional. It is a result of
a series of compromises in trying to fit the traditional education of
clergymen and gentlemen to the needs of a different social era. The
old college course met the needs of nobody, and therefore was adapted
to all alike. The great educational awakening of the last twenty years
in America has lain in breaking the bonds of this old system. The

THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN. 99

essence of the new education is constructive individualism. Its pur-
pose is to give to each young man that training which will make a
man of him. Not the training which a century or two ago helped to
civilize the mass of boys of that time, but that which will civilize this
particular boy. The main reason why the college students of to-day
are twenty times as many as twenty years ago is that the college train-
ing now given is valuable to twenty times as many men as could be
reached or helped by the narrow courses of twenty years ago.

In the university of to-day the largest liberty of choice in study is
given to the student. The professor advises, the student chooses, and
the flexibility of the courses makes it possible for every form of talent
to receive proper culture. Because the college of to-day helps ten times
a? many men as that of yesterday could hope to reach it is ten times as
valuable. This difference lies in the development of special lines of
work and in the growth of the elective system. The power of choice
carries the duty of choosing rightly. The ability to choose has made a
man out of the college boy and has transferred college work from an
alternation of tasks and play to its proper relation to the business of life.
Meanwhile the old ideals have not risen in value. If our colleges were
to go back to the cut-straw of medievalism, to their work of twenty
years ago, their professors would speak to empty benches. In those
colleges which still cling to these traditions the benches are empty to-
day, or filled with idlers.

I do not mean to condemn the study of the ancient classics and
mathematics which made almost the whole of the older college course.
These studies must always have their place, but no longer an exclusive
place. The study of the language and literature of Greece still ranks
with the noblest efforts of the human intelligence. For those who
can master it Greek gives a help not to be obtained in any other way.
As Thoreau once observed, those who would speak of forgetting the
Greek are those who never knew it. But without mastery there is
no gain of strength. To compel all men and boys of whatever character
or ability to study Greek is in itself a degradation of Greek, as it is a
hardship to those forced to spend their strength where it is not effective.
There are other forms of culture better fitted to other types of man, and
the essential feature lies in the strength of mastery.

The best education for a young woman is surely not that which
has proved unfit for the young man. She is an individual as well as he,
and her work gains as much as his by relating it to her life. But an
institution which meets the varied needs of varied men can also meet the
varied needs of the varied women. The intellectual needs of the two
classes are not very different in many important respects. In so far
as these are different the elective system gives full play for the expression

ioo POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

of such differences. It is true that most men in college look forward
to professional training and that very few women do so. But the
college training is not in itself a part of any profession, and it is broad
enough in its range of choice to point to men and women alike the way
to any profession which may be chosen. Those who have to do with the
higher education of women know that- the severest demands can be met
by them as well as by men. There is no demand for easy or 'goody-
goody' courses of study for women except as this demand has been
encouraged by men. In this matter the supply has always preceded the
demand.

There are, of course, certain average differences between men and
women as students. Women have often greater sympathy or greater
readiness of memory or apprehension, greater fondness for technique.
In the languages and literature, often in mathematics and history, they
are found to excel. They lack, on the whole, originality. They are not
attracted by unsolved problems and in the inductive or 'inexact' sci-
ences they seldom take the lead. The 'motor' side of their minds and
natures is not strongly developed. They do not work for results as
much as for the pleasure of study. In the traditional courses of study
— traditional for men — they are often very successful. Not that these
courses have a fitness for women, but that women are more docile and
less critical as to the purposes of education. And to all these state-
ments there are many exceptions. In this, however, those who have
taught both men and women must agree; the training of women is just
as serious and just as important as the training of men, and no training
is adequate for either which falls short of the best.

3. Shall Women be taught in the Same Classes as Men?

This is partly a matter of taste or personal preference. It does no
harm whatever to either men or women to meet those of the other sex
in the same class rooms. But if they prefer not to do so, let them do
otherwise. No harm is done in either case, nor has the matter more
than secondary importance. Much has been said for and against
the union in one institution of technical schools and schools of liberal
arts. The technical quality is emphasized by its separation from gen-
eral culture. But I believe that better men are made when the two are
brought more closely together. The culture studies and their students
gain from the feeling of reality and utility cultivated by technical work.
The technical students gain from association with men and influences
of which the aggregate tendency is toward greater breadth of sympathy
and a higher point of view.

A woman's college is more or less distinctly a technical school. In
most cases, its purpose is distinctly stated to be such. It is a school
of training for the profession of womanhood. It encourages womanli-

THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN. 101

ness of thought as more or less different from the plain thinking which
is called manly. The brightest work in woman's colleges is often
accompanied by a nervous strain, as though its doer were fearful of
falling short of some outside standard. The best work of men is nat-
ural, is unconscious, the normal result of the contact of the mind with
the problem in question.

In this direction, I think, lies the strongest argument for coeduca-
tion. This argument is especially cogent in institutions in which the
individuality of the student is recognized and respected. In such
schools each man, by his relation to action and realities, becomes a
teacher of women in these regards, as, in other ways, each cultivated
woman is a teacher of men.

In woman's education, as planned for women alone, the tendency
is toward the study of beauty and order. Literature and language take
precedence over science. Expression is valued more highly than action.
In carrying this to an extreme the necessary relation of thought to
action bcomes obscured. The scholarship developed is not effective,
because it is not related to success. The educated woman is likely to
master technique, rather than art; method, rather than substance. She
may know a good deal, but she can do nothing. Often her views of life
must undergo painful changes before she can find her place in the
world.

In schools for men alone, the reverse condition often obtains. The
sense of reality obscures the elements of beauty and fitness. It is of
great advantage to both men and women to meet on a plane of equality
in education. Women are brought into contact with men who can do
things — men in whom the sense of reality is strong, and who have defi-
nite views of life. This influence affects them for good. It turns
them away from sentimentalism. It gives tone to their religious
thoughts and impulses. Above all, it tends to encourage action as
governed by ideals, as opposed to that resting on caprice. It gives
them better standards of what is possible and impossible when the
responsibility for action is thrown upon them.

In like manner, the association with wise, sane and healthy women
has its value for young men. This value has never been fully realized,
even by the strongest advocates of coeducation. It raises their ideal
of womanhood, and the highest manhood must be associated with such
an ideal. This fact shows itself in many ways; but to point out its
existence must suffice for the present paper.

At the present time the demand for the higher education of women
is met in three different ways :

1. In separate colleges for women, with courses of study more or
less parallel with those given in colleges for men. In some of these the

io2 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

teachers are all women, in some mostly men, and in others a more or
less equal division obtains. In nearly all these institutions, those old
traditions of education and discipline are more prevalent than in
colleges for men, and nearly all retain some trace of religious or denom-
irational control. In all, the Zeitgeist is producing more or less
commotion, and the changes in their evolution are running parallel with
those in colleges for men.

2. In annexes for women to colleges for men. In these, part of the
instruction to the men is repeated for the women, though in different
classes or rooms, and there is more or less opportunity to use the same
libraries and museums. In some other institutions, the relations are
closer, the privileges of study being similar, the difference being mainly
in the rules of conduct by which the young women are hedged in, the
young men making their own.

It seems to me that the annex system cannot be a permanent one.
The annex student does not get the best of the institution, and the best
is none too good for her. Sooner or later she will demand it, or go
where the best is to be had. The best students will cease to go to the
annex. The institution must then admit women on equal terms, or not
admit them at all. There is certainly no educational reason why a
woman should prefer the annex of one institution when another equally
good throws its doors wide open to her.

3. The third system is that of coeducation. In this system young
men and young women are admitted to the same classes, subjected to the
same requirements, and governed by the same rules. This system is
now fully established in the State institutions of the North and West,
and in most other colleges in the same region. Its effectiveness has
long since passed beyond question among those familiar with its oper-
ation. Other things being equal, the young men are more earnest, better
in manners and morals, and in all ways more civilized than under
monastic conditions. The women do more work in a more natural way,
with better perspective and with saner incentives than when isolated
from the influence of society of men. There is less of silliness and
folly where a man is not a novelty. In coeducational institutions of
high standards, frivolous conduct or scandals of any form are rarely
known. The responsibility for decorum is thrown from the school to
the woman, and the woman rises to the responsibility. Many professors
have entered western colleges with strong prejudices against coeduca-
tion. These prejudices have not often endured the test of experience
with men who have made an honest effort to form just opinions.

It is not true that the character of the college work has been in any
way lowered by coeducation. The reverse is decidedly the case. It is
true that untimely zeal of one sort or another has filled the West with a
host of so-called colleges. It is true that most of these are weak and

THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN. 103

doing poor work in poor ways. It is true that most of these are
coeducational. It is also true that the great majority of their students
are not of college grade at all. In such schools low standards rule, both
as to scholarship and as to manners. The student fresh from the
country, with no preparatory training, will bring the manners of his
heme. These are not always good manners, as manners are judged.
But none of these defects is derived from coeducation; nor are any
of these conditions made worse by it.

Very lately it is urged against coeducation that its social demands
cause too much strain both on young men and young women. College
men and college women, being mutually attractive, there are developed
too many receptions, dances and other functions in which they enjoy
each other's company. But this is a matter easily regulated. Further-
more, at the most the average young woman in college spends in social
matters less than one tenth the time she would spend at home. With
the young man the whole matter represents the difference between high-
class and low-class associates and associations. When college men stand
in normal relation with college women, meeting them in society as well
as in the class room, there is distinctly less of drunkenness, rowdyism
and vice than obtains under other conditions. And no harm comes to
the young woman through the good influence she exerts. To meet freely
the best young men she will ever know, the wisest, cleanest and strong-
est, can surely do no harm to a young woman. Nor will the association
with the brightest and sanest young women of the land work any harm
to the young men. This we must always recognize. The best young
men and the best young women, all things considered, are in our col-
leges. And this has been and will always be the case.

It is true that coeducation is often attempted under very adverse
conditions. Conditions are adverse when the little girls of preparatory
schools and schools of music are mingled with the college students and
given the same freedom. This is wrong, whatever the kind of disci-
pline offered, lax or strict; the two classes need a different sort of
treatment.

When young women have no residence devoted to their use, and
are forced to rent parlors and garrets in private houses of an unsym-
pathetic village, evil results sometimes arise. Not very often to be
sure, but still once in a while. These are not to be charged to coeduca-
tion but to the unfit conditions which make the pursuit of personal
culture difficult or impossible. Women are more readily affected by
surroundings than men are, and squalid, ill-regulated, Bohemian con-
ditions should not be part of their higher education.

Another condition very common and very undesirable is that in
which young women live at home and traverse a city twice each day

io4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

on railway or street cars to meet their recitations in some college. The
greatest instrument of culture in a college is the 'college atmosphere,'
the personal influence exerted by its professors and students. The col-
lege atmosphere develops feebly in the rush of a great city. The ' spur-
etudenten' or railway track students, as the Germans call them, the
students who live far from the university, get very little of this atmos-
phere. The young woman who attends the university under these con-
ditions contributes nothing to the university atmosphere, and therefore
receives very little from it. She may attend her recitations and pass
her examinations, but she is in all essential respects 'in absentia,' and
so far as the best influences of the university are concerned, she is
neither 'coeducated' nor 'educated.' The ' spur '-student system is bad
enough for young men, virtually wasting half their time. With young
women the condition of continuous railroading, attempted study on
the trains, the necessary frowsiness of railway travel and the laxness
of manners it cultivates, are all elements very undesirable in higher
education. If young women enter the colleges, they should demand
that suitable place be made for them. Failing to find this, they should
look for it somewhere else. Associations which develop vulgarity can-
not be used for the promotion of culture either for men or for women.
That the influence of cultured women on the whole is opposed to vul-
garity is a powerful argument for education, and is the secret basis of
much of the agitation against it.

With all this it is necesary for us to recognize actual facts. There
is no question that a reaction has set in against coeducation. The
number of those who proclaim their unquestioning faith is relatively
fewer than would have been the case ten years ago. This change in
sentiment is not universal. It will be nowhere revolutionary. Young
women will not be excluded from any institution where they are now
welcomed, nor will the almost universal rule of coeducation in state
institutions be in any way reversed. The reaction shows itself in a
little less civility of boys towards their sisters and the sisters of other
boys; in a little more hedging on the part of the professors; in a little
less pointing with pride on the part of college executive officials. There
is nothing tangible in all this. Its existence may be denied or referred
to ignorance or prejudice.

But such as it is, we may for a moment inquire into its causes.
First as to those least worthy. Here we may place the dislike of the
idle boy to have his failures witnessed by women who can do better. I
have heard of such feelings, but I have no evidence that they play much
actual part in the question at issue. Inferior women do better work
than inferior men because they are more docile and have much less to
detract their minds. But there exists a strong feeling among rowdyish
young men that the preference of women interferes with rowdyish

THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN. 105

practices. This interference is resented by them, and this resentment
shows itself in the use of the offensive term 'coed' and of more offensive
words in vogue in more rowdyish places. I have not often heard the
term 'coed' used by gentlemen, at least without quotation marks.
Where it is prevalent, it is a sign that true coeducation — that is, educa-
tion in terms of generous and welcome equality — does not exist. I
have rarely found opposition to coeducation on the part of really serious
students. The majority are strongly in favor of it but the minority in
this as in many other cases makes the most noise. The rise of a student
movement against coeducation almost always accompanies a general
recrudesence of academic vulgarity.

A little more worthy of respect as well as a little more potent is the
influence of the athletic spirit. In athletic matters, the young women
give very little assistance. They cannot play on the teams, they can
not yell, and they are rarely generous with their money in helping those
who can. A college of a thousand students, half women, counts for no
more athletically than one of five hundred, all men. It is vainly im-
agined that colleges are ranked by their athletic prowess, and that every
woman admitted keeps out a man, and this man a potential punter or
sprinter. There is not much truth in all of this, and if there were, it
is of no consequence. College athletics is in its essence by-play, most
worthy and valuable for many reasons, but nevertheless only an adjunct
to the real work of the college, which is education. If a phase of educa-
tion otherwise desirable interferes with athletics, so much the worse for
athletics.

Of like grade is the feeling that men count for more than women,
because they are more likely to be heard from in after life. Therefore,
their education is of more importance, and the presence of women im-
pedes it.

A certain adverse influence comes from the fact that the oldest and
wealthiest of our institutions are for men alone or for women alone.
These send out a body of alumni who know nothing of coeducation,
and who judge it with the positiveness of ignorance. Most men filled
with the time-honored traditions of Harvard and Yale, of which the
most permeating is that of Harvard's and Yale's infallibility, are
against coeducation on general principles. Similar influences in favor
of the separate education of women go out from the sister institutions
of the East. The methods of the experimenting, irreverent, idol-break-
ing West find no favor in their eyes.

The only serious new argument against coeducation is that derived
from the fear of the adoption by universities of woman's standards of
art and science rather than those of men, the fear that amateurism
would take the place of specialization in our higher education. Women

io6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

take up higher education because they enjoy it; men because their
careers depend upon it. Only men, broadly speaking, are capable of
objective studies. Only men can learn to face fact without flinching,
unswayed by feeling or preference. The reality with woman is the way
in which the fact affects her. Original investigation, creative art, the
'resolute facing of the world as it is' — all belong to man's world, not
at all to that of the average woman. That women in college do as good
work as the men is beyond question. In the university they do not,
for this difference exists, the rare exceptions only proving the rule,
that women excel in technique, men in actual achievement. If instruc-
tion through investigation is the real work of the real university, then
in the real university the work of the most gifted women may be only
by play.

It has been feared that the admission of women to the university
would vitiate the masculinity of its standards, that neatness of technique
would replace boldness of conception, and delicacy of taste replace
soundness of results.

It is claimed that the preponderance of high-school-educated women
in ordinary society is showing some such effects in matters of current
opinion. For example, it is claimed that the university extension
course is no longer of university nature. It is a lyceum-course designed
to please women who enjoy a little poetry, play and music, read the
novels of the day, dabble in theosophy, Christian science, or physic
psychology, who cultivate their astral bodies and think there is some-
thing in palmistry, and are edified by a candy coated ethics of self-reali-
zation. There is nothing ruggedly true, nothing masculine left in it.
Current literature and history are affected by the same influences.
Women pay clever actors to teach them — not Shakespeare or Goethe,
but how one ought to feel on reading King Lear or Faust or Saul. If
the women of society do not read a book it will scarcely pay to publish
it. Science is popularized in the same fashion by ceasing to be science
and becoming mere sentiment or pleasing information. This is shown
by the number of books on how to study a bird, a flower, a tree, or a
star, through an opera glass, and without knowing anything about it.
Such studies may be good for the feelings or even for the moral nature,
but they have no elements of that ' fanaticism for veracity, ' which is the
highest attribute of the educated man.

These results of the education of many women and a few men, by
which the half-educated woman becomes a controlling social factor have
been lately set in strong light by Dr. Miinsterberg. But they are.
used by him, not as an argument against coeducation, but for the
purpose of urging the better education of more men. They form
likewise an argument for the better education of more women. The

THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN. 107

remedy for feminine dilettantism is found in more severe training.
Current literature as shown in profitable editions reflects the taste of
the leisure class. The women with leisure who read and discuss vapid
books are not representative of woman's higher education. Most of
them have never been educated at all. In any event this gives no argu-
ment against coeducation. It is thorough training, not separate train-
ing, which is indicated as the need of the times. Where this training
is taken is a secondary matter, though I believe, with the fullness of
certainty that better results can be obtained, mental, moral and physical
in coeducation, than in any monastic form of instruction.

A final question: Does not coeducation lead to marriage? Most
certainly it does; and this fact can not be and need not be denied.
The wonder is rather that there are not more of such marriages. It
is a constant surprise that so many college men turn from their college
associates and marry some earlier or later acquaintance of inferior
ability, inferior training and often inferior personal charm. The mar-
riages which result from college association are not often premature —
college men and college women marry later than other men and women
— and it is certainly true that no better marriages can be made than
those founded on common interests and intellectual friendships.

A college man who has known college women, as a rule, is not
drawn to those of lower ideals and inferior training. His choice is
likely to be led toward the best he has known. A college woman is not
led by mere propinquity to accept the attentions of inferior men.

Where college men have chosen friends in all cases both men and
women are thoroughly satisfied with the outcome of coeducation. It i^
part of the legitimate function of higher education to prepare women,
as well as men, for happy and successful lives.

An Eastern professor, lately visiting a Western State university,
asked one of the seniors what he thought of the question of coeduca-
tion.

' I beg your pardon,' said the student, ' what question do you mean ?'
' Why coeducation,' said the professor, ' the education of women in colleges
for men.'

' Oh,' said the student, ' coeducation is not a question here.'

And he was right. Coeducation is never a question where it has
been fairly tried.

io8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CONDITION OF YOUNG

BIRDS AT BIRTH.

BY W. P. PYCRAFT, A.L.S., F.Z.S.

IT is a matter of common knowledge that the young of birds are
ushered into the world in very different degrees of development,
according to the species to which they belong. The helplessness of
the callow young of the crow-tribe, for example, stands in strong con-
trast to the activity displayed by the young of the game-birds. Again
the young of birds are remarkable for the very wide degrees of varia-
tion which obtain in the matter of clothing on their escape from the
shell, variations which range from absolute nakedness to abundant
feathering, albeit feathering of a peculiar type.

Out of these commonplace facts the systematic ornithologists, on
the one hand, and the philosophical zoologists, on the other, have
woven theories which have undergone many changes; but, so far, we
venture to think, all have missed the point. A survey of the work
of the systematic ornithologist will show that on more than one
occasion the condition of the young at birth has been made either
the corner-stone of a classification, or one of the main supports thereof.

For the one purpose or the other these young have been duly
labeled and classified. In consequence, they may be contemplated
from two different points of view : ( 1 ) According to their helplessness
or otherwise, and (2) according as they are clothed or otherwise.
When the young emerge from the shell in a fully active state, they
are known as nidifugous or prascocial; those, on the contrary, which
are quite blind and helpless on leaving the shell are known as nidicolous
or altricial young. The nidicolous young may be, as we have already
remarked, absolutely naked, in which case they are said to be
psilopgedic. If, on the other hand, they are clothed, they are said to be
ptilopsedic. All nidifugous young are ptilopsedic. The nidicolous
young, being helpless and often blind, are assiduously fed by the
parents, whilst among the nidifugous types, the young either feed them-
selves under the guidance of their parents, or accompany them in the
search for food, and are fed by the way as the food is procured.

Two very different standards of thought have inspired those who
selected the condition of the young at birth as a basis of avian classi-
fication. The older naturalists, adopting what we now regard as the
purely artificial standards of their time, grouped birds according as

THE CONDITION OF YOUNG BIRDS AT BIRTH. 109

the young were 'altricial' or ' prascocial, ' nidicolous or nidifugous,
thus creating an entirely arbitrary system of the same value as those
other systems based upon the form of the bill, shape of the wing and
so on. The post-Darwinians, working on the lines of evolution, see
in these very different conditions, a phylogenetic significance, and re-
gard the nidifugous as more reptilian than the nidicolous young.
Consequently, those groups which have nidifugous young are to be
regarded as standing comparatively low in the scale, whilst those with
nidicolous young must be considered to have risen to a higher plane.
This newer view is undoubtedly an improvement on the older, but
il must, we think, give place to a yet wider interpretation.

If we turn from the purely systematic point of view to the more
philosophical side of the question, as it at present stands, we shall,
I think, find an equally unsatisfactory state of affairs. The two
most recent text-books of zoology may be cited as authorities.

According to Jordan and Kellogg ('Animal Life,' 1901), 'those
animals are highest in development, with best means of holding their
own in the struggle for life, that take best care of their young,' and
'among the lower or more coarsely organized birds, such as the chicken,
the duck, and the auk, as with reptiles, the young animal is hatched
with well-developed muscular system and sense organs, and is capable
of feeding itself,' but the offspring of the 'more highly organized forms,
such as the thrushes, doves, and song-birds generally' are hatched in
a wholly helpless condition, with ineffective muscles, deficient senses,
and dependent wholly upon the parent. Similarly Shipley and Mac-
Bride write : ' ' The manner the young are cared for is a most important
feature. . . . The just-hatched young of the Pheasant and Game-birds
are able to run about and look after themselves, whereas those of the
Passeres or Songsters, require constant care and attention for a long
time. These last are considered ... to be the most highly developed
of all birds, both as to their intellects and their flying powers, so that
it is hardly too much to say that the increasing sacrifice of the
parents on behalf of the young has had its reward, in the improvement
it has brought about in all the faculties of the race."

Those who are responsible for the views just enunciated appear
to have forgotten that the cormorants, for example, also bring their
young into the world blind, naked and helpless, and not infrequently
rear them in a nest of sticks on tree tops; yet the warmest admirer
of these birds can not claim for them either a high degree of organ-
ization or great intelligence among birds. Their near allies, the dar-
ters, gannets, tropic and frigate birds also have helpless young, which
in the case of the frigate birds and darters are also reared in nests in
trees. We might multiply instances, but these are sufficient for our

no POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

present purpose. They show at least that 'sacrifice of the parents on
behalf of the young' has not been uniformly rewarded 'in the im-
provement ... in all the faculties of the race..' More than this, they
seem to me to show that this factor has had little or nothing to do
with either inclination or structural development.

The real explanation of the matter seems rather to turn upon a
question of expediency, designed, so to speak, to reduce infant mortality.

We shall show presently, on evidence well nigh incontrovertible,
that the nidifugous condition is indeed a primitive one, but associated
with a strictly arboreal habitat. This is an important point, as the
nidifugous condition is commonly regarded as peculiar to, and pos-
sible only in, a terrestrial habitat. Let us assume for the moment
that the former is an established fact.

One great disadvantage attendant on precocious development of the
young whose nursery is the tree top is obvious — the nestlings would
be constantly in danger of falling to the ground, and a large number
would indeed meet this fate. Some would fall through weakness, the
habit of dispersing themselves among the branches of trees in which
the nest was placed resulting in a loss of regular food supply, owing
to the difficulty of being on the spot when the parents returned with
food. Thus the more sedentary members of the family would stand
the best chance of being regularly fed, but among these the danger
of falling by accident would be an ever present one. Once on the
ground it is probable they would perish speedily, for it is almost cer-
tain that the earliest birds were entirely arboreal, and either would
not or could not seek for lost offspring amid the thick undergrowth.

Now two courses were open whereby this infant mortality could be
reduced. Either the eggs could be deposited on the ground, or the
activity of the young curtailed. The game-birds, ducks and geese,
rails, cranes and plovers may serve for examples of those species which
have descended from the trees to the ground for nesting purposes, and
although, as a consequence, the young have undergone considerable
modifications in adaptation to the new environment, these changes
are not so striking as those which have taken place among the young
of the tree-dwelling species to be described presently.

The modifications which we should expect to find in the offspring
of those species which, instead of curtailing the activity of the young,
descended to the ground to breed, would be (1) peculiar habits of con-
cealment aided by protective coloration; and (2) a reduction in the size
of the wings and feet, now no longer required solely as grasping organs.

Protective coloration and peculiar habits of concealment are ob-
viously direct responses to the increased need of escaping enemies, and
hence we find these devices have been universally adopted. It is

THE CONDITION OF YOUNG BIRDS AT BIRTH. in

possible, however, that protective coloration was preceded by the de-
velopment of precocious powers of flight, which have since been dis-
carded by all save the game-birds. Probably this rejection was
brought about because excessive activity on the ground was found
to be as fatal as in the trees; since the young, in escaping from one
danger, would be liable to run into another, or to stray too far away
to render return possible.

At the present day, though the young of all the game-birds are
protectively colored they have yet preserved more or less perfectly their
earlier precocial powers of flight, the birds, when escaping danger, using
their wings either like the ostrich, as an aid in running, or in actual
flight, and there is evidence to show that the broods in consequence
suffer. As an example, the observations of Mr. Ogilvie Grant on this
subject may be cited. In writing of the common pheasant, he tells
us that the mother, on alarm, with a warning note to the young, at
once flies off and leaves them to take care of themselves. This they
do by scattering in all directions, and then squatting down and trust-
ing to their protective coloration for safety. Quiet restored, the
parent returns, often only to recover but three or four of her chicks,
the rest having strayed to such a distance that they are left to perish.

Thus, then, the hypothesis of precocious flight seems by no means
an improbable one. Its development will be easy to understand when
it is remembered that the raw material therefor is furnished by that
aberrant member of the game-birds — the hoatzin. The life-history of
this bird will be discussed later.

We may pass now to a consideration of those species which, retain-
ing their arboreal nesting habits, have adopted the method of curtailing
the activity of the young. This process was accomplished by reducing
the food-yolk within the egg, and thus inducing an earlier hatching
period. We may approximately measure the extent to which this
reduction has been carried by the degree of helplessness displayed by
the newly hatched bird, and by the nature and extent of its clothing.

The number of species which have adopted this expedient out-
number those which have not, and this speaks volumes for its success.
As examples, we may instance the passerine or song-birds, parrots,
cuckoos, birds of prey, cormorants and their allies, and the stork-
tribe. The young of these are all born extremely helpless, many per-
fectly naked, others enveloped in a thick coat of down, whilst in some
down is developed soon after hatching, and, in a few, not at all.

Having once however reduced the amount of food-yolk, return to
the older fashion of nidifugous young became impossible, and this
explains why nidicolous young are still born to those parents which
have adopted the practice of depositing their eggs upon the ground.
It proves that the arboreal habit has been forsaken since the specializa-

ii2 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

tion. Some, like the cormorants, herons and certain of the gull-tribe,
for example, build as occasion demands, either on the ground or in
trees. Now it is interesting to note that among these birds the young
cormorants and herons are completely nidicolous, the young gulls only
partially so, whilst the near and less specialized allies of the gulls, the
plovers, have nidifugous young. This indicates that in the gulls the
food-yolk is in process of reduction. To species breeding in large
colonies, or on ledges of precipitous cliffs, the reduction of the food-
yolk and helplessness of the young are obviously advantageous.

That this is so may be seen in the case of the colony-breeding
species, since it would be impossible for the parents to recognize their
own offspring, if nidifugous, when running about amid those of their
neighbors. In consequence a large number would almost certainly
go unfed and soon starve, whilst great activity among the young of the
cliff-breeding species would be accompanied by an enormous mortality,
owing to falls from the cliff.

It is contended that the facts so far submitted amply justify the
interpretation put upon them, but the following instances should carry
conviction. In the aberrant South American game-bird, the
hoatzin, we have probably a direct survival of the protoavian type of
nestlings. They are, of course, nidifugous, but they differ from all
other nidifugous young in the prehensile character of their wings,
which are armed with large claws borne upon the thumb and index
digit. Claws on the wing are common among birds, and hitherto they
have been regarded merely as vestiges — indices of a reptilian ancestry.
The part which they play, however, in the life-history of the hoatzin,
coupled with certain correlated modifications to be discussed presently,
shows that they have a wider significance than this.

The adult hoatzin is an absolutely arboreal bird, inhabiting the
dense scrub and trees bordering the lagoons and river banks of British
Guiana and the Amazon Valley. Its powers of flight are extremely
limited, and it has never been observed to alight upon the ground.

The young, like those of other nidifugous birds, are clothed in
down, conspicuous, in the present instance, for its hair-like appearance
and sparse distribution. But whilst the locomotion of the nidifugous
young of other birds is bipedal that of the hoatzin must be described
as quadrupedal, the wings as well as the legs being brought into requisi-
tion as the birds make their way along the branches. Even the beak
is sometimes used, as in the parrots.

In a wing used a*s a prehensile organ we should expect to find cer-
tain peculiarities which would not be observable in the normal wing.
These are not wanting. One of the first points which attract attention
in the examination of such a wing is the great length of the hand, which

THE CONDITION OF YOUNG BIRDS AT BIRTH. 113

is considerably longer than the forearm. The thumb is found to be
unusually long, and to extend beyond the level of the tip of the third
digit. Both thumb and finger are armed with large claws. The
index finger is furthermore remarkable in that it is produced beyond
the fold of skin which runs along the hinder or post-axial border of
the wing for the support of the quill-feathers. Examined further, the
palmar surface of the thumb and second finger are found to be swollen
into little cushions resembling the cushion-like undersurface of the
finger-tips of the human hand. Next the budding quill-feathers at-
tract attention, and if a series of young is being examined, probably
the first point to be noted is the fact that the development of the quill
feathers of the hand were peculiar inasmuch as in the older forms
whilst the inner quills are found to have pushed their way some con-
siderable distance beyond the post-axial border of the wing, the outer
quills are only represented by simple down-feathers. Thus, a long,
free finger-tip is left beyond the quills. The thumb also, as yet, bears
only down-feathers, the future quills being conspicuous by their ab-
sence. On a little reflection the meaning of this becomes clear.

The arrested development of the quills of the thumb and the tip of
the finger is an adaptation to the bird's peculiar needs, albeit a deep-
seated character, dating from the dawn of avian development. If all
the quills were to grow at an equal rate, a stage would soon arrive when
the wing would be useless as a climbing organ, by reason of the de-
veloping feathers and so expose the bird to constant danger of falling
before the quills had sufficiently developed to break the force of such
a fall. Thus then the arrested development of the quills begins to
look as if it might have a definite meaning, and this becomes a cer-
tainty when still older specimens are examined. In them we find
that as soon as the inner quills of the second digit have grown sufficiently
long to enable the bird to recover itself in falling the hand begins
to shorten, and the claw to diminish, till at the time of puberty the
hand has become shorter than the forearm, the claws both of the thumb
and finger have disappeared, the thumb no longer extends to the
level of the third digit, and the second finger no longer projects beyond
the hinder wing fold (post patagium).

That the structural peculiarities observable in the wing of the
hoatzin are not recently acquired characters can not be doubted. The
presence of the claws is almost sufficient to prove this, for having once
become vestigial it is unlikely they would reacquire their primitive size.

But we have other evidence affording the strongest confirmation of
the contention that the wing of the hoatzin represents an ancient
order of things once common to all birds. This evidence is 'writ large'
upon the wing of those allies of the hoatzin, the common fowl, the

VOL. lxii. — 8.

ii4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

turke}r or the pheasants, for example. Herein we find the same de-
velopmental stages, but with certain modifications easy to interpret.

In the limb itself — as considered apart from the appendages, the
incipient quills or flight-feathers — one of the first things to attract
attention is the hand, which although relatively shorter than that of the
hoatzin, is still longer than the forearm; next the cushion-like pads of
the thumb and second finger are missed, as also are the claws. That of
the thumb, however, is generally present though in an extremely re-
duced condition, and in the index finger it appears only during
embryonic life.

The flight feathers again reveal some very interesting features,
inasmuch as the inner quills develop at a rate relatively much greater
than in the hoatzin, so that they become functional earlier in the life-
history, whilst the outer quills, three in number, are still only repre-
sented by delicate down feathers, thus, be it noted, leaving a free finger-
tip as in the hoatzin. The abrupt changes from quill feathers to
nestling down observable in the wing of the chick and turkey seem to
show that the quills have undergone a process of forcing or accelerated
development, in which the inner quills have developed at an excessively
rapid rate, so as to out-distance their fellows at the distal or outer
extremity of the wing, which as yet are only represented by nestling
down. The rapid development of the inner quills is probably due to
the fact that the terrestrial mode of life demanded the aid of the wings
for the purposes of flight at an earlier period than would be the case if
they dwelt, like the hoatzin, in comparative security among the trees.

The developmental history of the wings of the fowl and its allies
seems to leave but little room for doubt that the ancestors of these
birds, like the hoatzin, were hatched in trees and crawled about among
the branches. Moreover, the change from an arboreal to a terrestrial
nursery seems to have taken place comparatively recently. On no
other assumption can we explain the free finger-tip and the arrested
development of the outer quill feathers. Nevertheless, a sufficient time
has elapsed wherein to bring about the suppression of the claws. That
of the index digit, being no longer useful, appearing later and later
in development, has now entirely ceased to put in an appearance
save only during embryonic life; in other forms, separated by a still
greater lapse of time from their tree-crawling ancestors, even the
embryonic claw has ceased to be.

Of considerable importance is the fact that whilst in the hoatzin
and the fowl and its allies the quill feathers appear long before the
contour feathers of the body — that is to say, whilst the body is still
clothed in down — in the nidifugous young of ground-breeding forms
such as the plovers, for example, which seek protection by concealment
alone, unaided by flight, the quill feathers appear together with thp

THE CONDITION OF YOUNG BIRDS AT BIRTH. 115

contour-feathers of the body and at a much later date than in the
above. So also with the nidifugous young of aquatic forms.

The accelerated development of the quills is probably a remnant
of an earlier phase in the life-history before protective coloration was
adopted. As we have already shown, precocious flight is attended by
too many perils to prove an effective means of escape from enemies.

In conclusion we may say a word about the young of the megapodes.
The eggs of the megapode are, as is well known, hatched in decaying
vegetables heaps, or in hot sand, instead of being incubated by the
parents. To this end the amount of food-yolk within the egg has been
enormously increased, enabling the normal nestling period to be passed
within the egg, the young passing through the downy stage during
embryonic life, and emerging from the shell, fully fledged.

That the ancestral megapode was originally hatched in trees like
the young hoatzin, there can be no doubt, since like the latter the wing
of the young shows a free finger-tip and an arrested development of
the outer quill feathers, characters which, as we have already seen, are
direct adaptations to the peculiar locomotion of tree-climbing nestlings.
We may be almost certain that the increase in the food-yolk, just re-
ferred to, did not take place until some time after the descent to the
ground for breeding purposes, since the wing of the young megapode
forms an exact counterpart of that of the young fowl and turkey, and
their allies, whilst, had the increase taken place earlier, the wing
would have resembled that of the hoatzin in the possession of large
claws. The latter are present now only during embryonic life.

The increase in the food-yolk, allowing the earlier nestling stages
to be passed within the shell, must be accounted for by supposing the
adult megapode to have been obliged to adopt this expedient to avoid
perils attendant on normal incubation, perils which may since have
passed away leaving no record of their nature. A return to the normal
method of incubation is now impossible, the instinct therefor having
been replaced by that which induces the birds to bury their eggs and
leave them to be hatched by heat other than that of their bodies.

Finally, we may compare the hoatzin with the ancient archasopteryx,
and the result of such a comparison will go far to prove that the former
represents the most primitive of living birds.

That archaeopteryx was strictly arboreal there can be no doubt —
the structure of the feet indicates this much; and its long tail is a
scarcely less certain index, for such an appendage is undoubtedly but
ill-adapted for ground-dwelling habits. The long hand, and the
large claws thereon are, so to speak, primitive characters. The period
of their greatest functional activity was during the nestling stage when
the young clambered about among the branches of the trees like the
young hoatzin of to-day. The species was perhaps not phylogenetically

n6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

old enough to eliminate the traces of nestling-life on reaching puberty,
when the quills rendered claws, and climbing, not only needless, but
impossible; hence then the retention by the adult of both elongated
manus, free finger-tips and claws. It has been suggested, however,
that the claws and elongated manus of the adult archasopteryx were
periodically functional, the periods being the moulting seasons. It
is well known that many existing birds, the anseres to wit, when
moulting, shed all the quills at once, and in consequence are for a
season flightless. It may well be that this system of losing the quill
is a primitive one and obtained in archgeopteryx, in which case it is
obvious that in a bird so strictly arboreal, the climbing hand of infancy
would be of some service. The more usual method of moulting the
quills in couples prevailing amongst modern birds so as not to impair
the power of flight has probably come about by selection, and hence
the reduced and clawless hand of the adult hoatzin, fowl and turkey
for example; birds in which, for reasons already explained, the primi-
tive form of manus is still temporarily exhibited by the nestling.

Thus then, through the wing of the hoatzin we have a revelation
of a phase of bird-life hitherto unsuspected; inasmuch as its peculiar
developmental stages, each with its period of functional activity, enable
us to interpret the hitherto meaningless and puzzling characters seen
in the wing of the fowl and turkey, and their allies. These constitute
wellnigh invincible proofs of an earlier and universal arboreal ex-
istence, extending back to the time of the earliest known bird archre-
opteryx. Certainly the skeleton, especially the wing, lends the
strongest support to this view. This carries us further back still,
and suggests the conclusion that the reptile stock from which the aves
are descended was probably also arboreal.

That too much stress has been laid by systematists on the condition
of the young birds at birth is admitted. It is further maintained
here that its significance has been misunderstood, and that the facts
now brought forward are strong enough, on the one hand, to refute
the older views, and on the other, to justify the theory, firstly, that birds
were originally arboreal and their young nidifugous; secondly, that
nidicolous habits and helplessness of young birds are specialized adapta-
tions to an arboreal or gregarious mode of life; and, thirdly, that the
young of gallinaceous birds form a link in the chain of the evolution
of nidifugous habits. The free finger-tip and arrested development
of the outer quill-feathers point to a prior arboreal habit; whilst the
accelerated development of the inner quill-feathers indicates an adapta-
tion to enable the young to escape from the enemies surrounding
a terrestrial nursery. The third and last stage is represented by the
protective coloration, a device which has been almost universally
adopted by nidifugous birds, owing to its greater effectiveness.

THE MOTIVE POWER OF HEAT. 117

THE MOTIVE POWER OF HEAT.

By C. K. EDMUNDS,

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY.

■A/TR. ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE, in his 'Wonderful Cen-
-L>-*- tury,' describes those great material and intellectual achieve-
ments which especially distinguish the nineteenth century from any and
all of its predecessors, and shows how fundamental is the change they
have effected in our life and civilization. From a comparative esti-
mate of the number and importance of these achievements, he concludes
that not only was the century just passed superior to any one that had
gone before, but that it must in its results be compared with the whole
preceding historical period. It, therefore, marks the beginning of a
new era of human progress.

There appears, however, upon looking back through the long, dark
vista of human history, one step in material progress that seems to be
really comparable with several steps of modern times. It was when
fire was first utilized and became the servant and friend rather than
the master and enemy of man. From that day to this, fire, in
various forms and in ever-widening spheres of action, has been the
greatest, the essential factor in that increase of man's power over
nature, which has in turn been a chief means of developing what we
term civilization. As Mr. Fernald, in his 'Gulf of Fire,'* points out,
all men, however widely separated by millenniums of time and by
utmost range of space, by mountains, deserts and oceans, by color,
language and occupation, by custom and religion, all agree in this —
they make fire a servant and a friend. Mr. Fernald shows how the
firebrand draws an impassable line between man and the brute creation,
and graphically depicts the part played by the ancient element fire in
aiding man along that upward path which, having entered, he had only
to follow on to make the universe his own.

Steam engines in their infancy were known as 'fire' (i. e., heat)
engines; and, in point of fact, the older term is the more correct,
because the water or steam is used only as a convenient medium
through which the form of energy which we call heat is made to
perform the required mechanical operations. The claims of the steam
engine (as locomotive, marine and stationary) to the greatest share
in the marvelous material progress of the nineteenth century are too

* Harper's Monthly Magazine, July, 1902.

n8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

well known and acknowledged to need recounting here. We wish
merely to call to mind one upon whose theoretical deductions all the
advances in the science of thermodynamics since his day have been
based: Sadi Carnot, a young French military engineer.

Appreciation of genius is a mark of the civilization and culture
of a people, and the world can ill afford to neglect the memory not only
of the men who by practical application have helped to make that
civilization possible, but also of those who by theoretical deduction
have pointed out the way of progress. The world must needs remem-
ber those by whose brain power, as Mr. Fernald says, we have been

Nicholas Leonard Sadi Carnot (179G-1832), Father of the Science of Thermodynamics.

enabled to cross the gulf of fire to the paradise of invention and
achievement that lies beyond, of which none can see the farther bound.
Every schoolboy knows of James Watt, of the Stephensons and their
'Eocket,' but who, save the special student, has ever heard of Sadi
Carnot ?

Watt made his great improvements in the steam engine (really
almost invented it) during the last quarter of the eighteenth century.
But for the next fifty years, including those covered by the life of
Carnot, the development was seemingly the result of chance. The

THE MOTIVE POWER OF HEAT. 119

recognition of this fact led Carnot, when but twenty-eight years old,
to undertake to lay the foundation on which all future progress was to
rest, by publishing in 1824 a small memoir, 'Reflexions sur la puissance
motrice du feu' ('Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat'). George
Stephenson made his wonderfully simple, but exceedingly effective,
improvements in the locomotive from 1814 to 1829, at a time when the
world was still ignorant of the value of Carnot 's ideas. To-day, how-
ever, when physicists fully realize the importance of his work, the
world at large is still ignorant of Carnot 's biography; and so it is
the purpose of this article to recall the life and character of him whose
name must always be intimately associated with the development of
tbe modern 'heat engine' and its influence upon civilization.

Carnot 's father, Lazare Nicholas Marguerite Carnot, soldier and
statesman, was a member of one of the oldest and most distinguished
families in France. Educated as a military engineer, he gained a
second lieutenancy at eighteen and in later life won renown as a
mathematical writer. Minister of War under Napoleon, he took a
prominent part in the French Revolution and was regarded by his
countrymen as the genius and organizer of victory, exhibiting the
talents later illustrated by the German, Von Moltke. He voted against
the extension of the consulate and against the Empire, and was forced
into private life in the early days of the latter and died, proscribed, at
Magdeburg in 1823. Carnot 's brother, Lazare Hippokyte Carnot, was
twice a member of the Chamber of Deputies and also Minister of
Public Instruction. He died as recently as 1888. A fact which brings
Carnot 's life still closer to us of to-day is that the late president of
'France, Sadi Carnot, who was assassinated in 1890, was a grand-
nephew of the founder of thermodynamics, the subject of this sketch.

Nicholas-Leonard-Sadi Carnot was born June 1, 1796, in the
smaller Luxembourg palace, a part of which was occupied by his father
as a member of the Directory. Christened 'Sadi' after the celebrated
Persian poet and moralist, he merited the name in that his nature
proved to be highly artistic as well as philosophic. Hardly a year after
Carnot 's birth, in consequence of his father's proscription and enforced
exile, his mother took refuge at her homestead in Saint Omer. The
boy's delicate constitution was so affected by the vicissitudes of his
mother's life that he regained his bodily powers later on only by
judicious exercise. He was of medium stature, gifted with extreme
sensibility and at the same time with extreme energy, generally
reserved, sometimes timid, but singularly quick upon occasion. When-
ever he believed that he was encountering injustice, nothing served to
restrain him. An incident, which his brother has described, exhibits
him in this light even as a child.

120

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

The Directory giving place to the Consulate, Carnot senior, after
two years of exile, reentered France, being called to the Ministry of
War by Bonaparte, who, remembering Carnot 's services to him at the
beginning of his career, wished to continue the intimate relations that
had existed between them during the Directory. Often when the
minister came to work with the consul he brought his son, now about
four years of age, and left him in the charge of Madame Bonaparte,
who was very fond of him. On one such occasion, Madame Bonaparte
and some of her ladies, mounted on a little raft, were paddling about

upon a pond in the palace court.
Napoleon, happening along, began
to amuse himself by throwing
stones at the raft so as to splash
the water over the clean dresses
of the would-be sailors. The lat-
ter feared to manifest their dis-
pleasure, but the little boy, after
watching the procedure for a
while, suddenly faced the con-
queror of Marengo and, shaking
a stick at him, cried: 'Animal of
a First Consul, are you not
ashamed to torment these ladies ! '
Sadi showed such interest in
machinery and applications of
physics that his father early di-
rected his studies toward science,
and he was just sixteen when
he entered the Ecole Polytech-
nique in 1812. He made rapid
progress, graduating the next year with first rank in the artillery.
But he was thought too young for the military school at Metz, and
was allowed to continue his studies at Paris for another year. Having
fought with his gallant fellow-students at Vincennes in March, 1814,
he returned when peace was established to his studies at the Polytech-
nique, but left in October with the rank of sixth-cadet of engineers
and repaired to Metz as a sublieutenant in the school of practical
fortifications.

The events of 1815 brought Carnot senior again upon the political
field during the 'Hundred Days.' This was the occasion for Sadi to
make a test of men, of which he never spoke afterwards without dis-
gust. His little quarters of sublieutenant were visited by certain supe-
rior officers, who did not hesitate to mount three flights of stairs in
order to greet the son of the new minister. Waterloo put an end to

Lazare Nicholas Marguerite Carnot,
Father of Nicholas Leonard Sadi Carnot.

THE MOTIVE POWER OF HEAT.

I 21

all this. The Bourbons reestablished upon the throne, General Carnot
was proscribed, and Sadi was sent successively to several forts as
engineer, to count bricks, to repair walls and to draw up plans destined
to lie buried in the official archives. However, he worked conscien-
tiously, although his name, which but now had won for him so many
official pleasantries, served to retard his due advancement for some
time. In 1819, desiring greater leisure for private study, Carnot pre-
sented himself as a candidate for a new staff-corps then forming, and
received an appointment as lieutenant on the general staff. His duties
brought him to Paris and the surrounding country, and he led a studi-
ous life, interrupted but once by several happy months spent with his
brother and exiled father at Magdeburg.

He followed original lines in all his work, and was a constant enemy
to the traditional and conventional. Upon his table were found only
Pascal, Moliere or La Fontaine, and he knew these favorites by heart.
With him music was a passion inherited from his mother; not content
in attaining a superb execution on the violin, he must needs plunge
into the study of theory. His insatiable intelligence led him to follow
assiduously courses at the College de France, at the Sorbonne and at
the Ecole des Mines. He visited manufacturing plants and familiar-
ized himself with the different processes. Mathematical sciences, nat-
ural history, industrial arts, political economy, all these were cultivated
with ardor. Not only did he indulge in gymnastic exercises, but he
investigated the theory of fencing, swimming, dancing and skating.

Toward the end of 1826 he requested and obtained his return to
the corps of engineers, receiving by reason of seniority the rank of
captain. However, military service was onerous to him, jealous as he
was of his liberty, and in 1828 he resigned in order to devote himself
more fully to science.

His manuscript notes show that he had perceived the relation
which is believed to exist between heat and mechanical work; and
after having established the principle which now bears his name, he
began researches which would have established with surety the prin-
ciple of equivalence of mechanical energy and heat had they not been
suddenly interrupted by his enthusiastic participation in the revolution
of 1830.

An anecdote which shows his impetuous nature as a man, even as
we have seen it exhibited as a child, is also given us by his brother.
On the day of the funeral of General Lamarque, Carnot was strolling
for curiosity's sake in the neighborhood of the insurrection. A cava-
lier who headed a charge and who appeared intoxicated passed down
the street at a gallop, flourishing his saber and striking the pedestrians.
Carnot rushed forward nimbly avoiding the soldier's sword, seized him

122 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

by the leg, threw him to the earth, tumbled him into the gutter and
went on his way amid the shouts of the crowd, who were amazed at
this exhibition of dexterity and strength.

The hopes of the Democracy, however, appeared to be short-lived,
and Carnot returning to his scientific studies applied to them his pent-
up political ardor. He undertook important researches upon the phys-
ical properties of gases and vapors, especially upon their elastic ten-
sions. Unfortunately his tables were not completed. His excessive
application was followed by an attack of scarlet fever in June, 1832, and
while convalescing from this attack he was seized on the twenty-fourth
of August with the epidemic of cholera and died in a few hours. As
if by a sinister presentiment he had been watching the advance of the
epidemic very closely, when without previous warning he was carried
away upon its tide in the very prime of life, being but thirty-six years
of age.

Although the one work that he published is sufficient to keep his
name from being forgotten among scientists, yet it is from portions
of his note-book that we learn of the activity of his spirit, the variety
of his knowledge, his love for humanity and his clear ideas of justice
and liberty. In these notes we find rules of practical conduct; observa-
tions later embodied in his memoir; some thought that happened
especially to strike him, sad or gay; sometimes also, though seldom, an
outburst of ill feeling against men and society; thoughts on general
political economy or on taxation in particular; and on morals and
religion. Some of the ideas contained in these notes remind one not
a little of 'Poor Eichard's Almanac,' and are so quaintly set that it
will doubtless be of interest to quote a few.

The promptness with which a resolution comes to one generally accords
with the justice of it.

Never feign a character that you do not possess, and never assume a
personality that you will not be able to sustain.

Speak little of that which you know; not at all of that which you do not
know. Why not the more often say : ' I do not know ' 1

Hope is the greatest of blessings; it is necessary, therefore, in order to be
happy, to sacrifice the present to the future.

I do not know why one always confounds the two expressions : ' Good
sense ' and ' common sense.' Nothing is less common than good sense.

People speak of the laws of war, as if war were not the destruction of
all law.

Men attribute to chance that of which they do not know the cause. If
they come to divine the cause, the chance disappears. To say that a thing
happens by chance is to say that we have not been able to foresee it. What
is chance for an ignorant man, may not be chance for a man more instructed.

Carnot possessed a repugnance toward publicity, so that, except in
conversation with a small number of intimate friends, those among

THE MOTIVE POWER OF HEAT. 123

whom he lived were entirely ignorant of the fund of knowledge he
had accumulated. His brother, who was called upon to read the manu-
script of his memoir on the motive power of heat in order to see that
it was clear enough to be understood by others than scientists, says
that he never did understand why Carnot made this one exception.
It seems that his solitary life in small garrisons, in the office and in
the laboratory served to increase his natural reserve. Yet he was not
in the least reticent in a small company; he took part willingly in the
gayest joys and abandoned himself to the liveliest conversation. His
language was then full of witticism, biting but not malignant, original
but not eccentric, sometimes paradoxical, but never with any other
pretension than that of an active mind.

It was in 1824 while still an officer on the general staff that Carnot
published his 'Keflections on the Motive Power of Heat.' Struck with
the fact that chance alone seemed to direct the construction of steam
engines, he undertook to raise to the rank of a science the art that was
still so imperfect in spite of its importance. He investigated the
phenomena of the production of motion by heat from the most general
point of view, independent of any particular mechanism and of any
particular agent. It was only some years after his death that the
value of his work was revealed to his fellow countrymen by an echo
from England. However, it did merit the attention of a few French
scientists, notably the celebrated engineer, Clapeyron, who in 1834 pub-
lished in the Journal Ecole Polyteclwique a paper which was a com-
ment upon and an extension of the ideas of Carnot, in which he called
attention to Carnot 's reasoning, represented Carnot 's processes in an
analytical form and arrived at some new results, usefully applying,
and for the first time, the principle of Watt's indicator diagram to
the geometrical exhibition of the different quantities involved in the
cycle of operations by which work is derived from heat by the tem-
porary changes it produces in the volume and molecular state of bodies.
It was through this work of Clapeyron that Carnot 's ideas became
known to Lord Kelvin, who presented them to the world in 1848,
pointing out that they enabled us to give for the first time an absolute
definition of temperature, i. e., a thermodynamic scale of temperature
which is independent of the properties of any particular substance.
On this scale the absolute values of two temperatures are defined to
be in the same ratio as the amounts of heat-energy taken in and
rejected by a perfect (i. e., reversible) thermodynamic engine, working
with its source and its refrigerator at the higher and lower of these
temperatures respectively. Lord Kelvin showed that the ratio between
these quantities of heat-energy depends only on these two working
temperatures and is independent of the substance used in the engine,

i24 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

and so the scale of temperature thus defined may be termed absolute.
Moreover, such a scale leads at once to the idea of an absolute zero, for
no engine could be supposed to convert more heat-energy into work
than it received; and, choosing the temperature of the refrigerator
(calling it T), so that no heat-energy is rejected by the engine, but all
the heat-energy taken from the source is turned into work, it is impos-
sible for T to be negative, else the engine would have an efficiency
greater than 100 per cent. Therefore zero is the smallest algebraic
value the temperature of the refrigerator can have, and temperatures
reckoned from this zero are called absolute. The size of the degrees
on this scale is arbitrary, and has been conveniently chosen so that
there are one hundred degrees between the temperatures of boiling
and freezing water. If now a reversible engine be worked between
these temperatures and the quantities of heat-energy received and
rejected be measured, the temperature of boiling water on the absolute
scale may be found. It is not necessary actually to try the experiment,
for the work done by the expansion of a substance which obeys the
ordinary laws of gases may be calculated by the methods of the infini-
tesimal calculus. In this way Kelvin's thermodynamic scale has been
shown to be practically identical with that of a perfect gas ther-
mometer, which shows the absolute zero of the thermodynamic scale
to lie about 273 degrees below the zero of the Centigrade scale.

Professor Tait has said : ' ' Without this work of Carnot, the modern
theory of energy, and especially that branch of it which is at present by
far the most important in practice, the dynamical theory of heat, could
never have attained in so few years its now enormous development.
Carnot 's claims to recognition are of an exceedingly high order, because
they depend not merely upon his method, which is one of startling
novelty and originality and is not confined to the subject of heat; but
upon the fundamental principle upon which he based his mode of com-
paring the heat employed with the work procured from it. Every
reasoner who has applied himself to the subject of heat since Carnot
has gone right so far as he attended to Carnot 's principle; but has
inevitably gone wrong when he forgot or did not attend to it."

The two things which Carnot introduced, which were entirely orig-
inal with him and which left his hands in an almost perfect form, were
the idea of a ' Cycle of Operations ' and the further idea of a ' Eeversible
Cycle,' giving also the notion of a 'Eeversible and Perfect Engine,'
showing that the efficiency of such depends only on temperature.

The peculiar merit of Carnot 's reasoning consists in the idea of
bringing the body back to its initial state as to temperature, density
and molecular condition, after a cycle of operations, before making
any assertion as to the amount of heat-energy gained or lost. This he

THE MOTIVE POWER OF HEAT. 125

accomplished by causing the working substance (a gas in Carnot's
case) to pass through two isothermal changes, the first at a higher and
the second at a lower temperature, alternated with two adiabatic*
changes by which the temperature of the working substance is allowed
to fall and then raised again. Each separate step was itself reversible
and so the whole cycle was reversible. The great virtue in this is that
at the close of the cycle of operations the intrinsic energy of the body
is exactly the same that it was at the beginning; and so we make no
mistake in saying that the difference between the quantity of heat-
energy given out by the body during the isothermal change at the
higher temperature and that absorbed by it during the isothermal
change at the lower temperature is exactly equal to the amount of
external work done by the body in the course of the cycle.

By applying this principle Carnot showed that the production of
motive power is possible wherever there is a difference of temperature,
the motive power being due to a transfer of heat-energy from the
hotter to the colder body, its quantity being independent of the agents
employed to develop it, but depending solely upon the temperatures of
the bodies between which the transfer occurs, provided the process is
reversible.

The most striking fact concerning this memoir is that Carnot used
hardly any mathematics at all, but arrived at his conclusions by sheer
logical exercise of his mind, expressing the different processes entirely
in words and using only such terms as would be clear to one not a
scientist. Some of his conclusions are incorrect on account of the
erroneous assumption of the materiality of heat, but sometimes he is
led to conclusions correct in form, although the deduction is erroneous.
Instinct seems to have led him in the right direction.

It may be of interest to go through Carnot's memoir and pick out
the various important statements as he himself italicized them. They
are in part as follows :

The production of motive power in the steam-engine is not due to a real
consumption of the caloric, but to its transfer from a hotter to a colder body.

Wherever there is a difference in temperature the production of motive
power is possible, and conversely.

The maximum motive power resulting from the use of steam is also the
maximum motive power which can be obtained by any other means.

The motive power of heat is independent of the agents employed to develop
it; its quantity is determined solely by the temperature of the bodies between

* By isothermal changes are meant changes in volume and pressure in-
volving changes in the heat-energy of the working substance, but unaccom-
panied by any changes in temperature.

By adiabatic changes are meant changes in volume and pressure involv-
ing changes in temperature, but unaccompanied by any gain or loss of heat-
energy of the working substance.

126 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

which in the final result (i. e., upon the completion of the cycle) the transfer
of caloric occurs.

When a gas passes without change of temperature from one definite volume
and pressure to another, the quantity of caloric absorbed or emitted is always
the same, irrespective of the nature of the gas chosen for the experiment.

The difference between the specific heat under constant pressure and the
specific heat under constant volume is the same for all gases.

When the volume of a gas increases in geometrical progression its specific
heat increases in arithmetical progress.

Of course these last two statements are now known to be incorrect,
it being established that the difference between Cp and Cv is a con-
stant for any one gas, but not for all gases; and also that the specific
heat of permanent gases is independent of pressure and temperature.
These conclusions were obtained by Carnot on account of the erroneous
assumption of the materiality of heat. Moreover, the assumption of
the change of specific heat with volume led him to incorrect conclu-
sions in other cases.

The deductions from Carnot 's work made by Clapeyron are correct
by reason of the fact that he used differential equations in the exten-
sion of Carnot 's ideas. For, although Carnot in considering the energy
changes of a body subjected to a Carnot 's cycle made the mistake of
equating the amount of heat-energy (H) given out by the body during
the isothermal change of volume and pressure at the higher tempera-
ture to the heat-energy (h) absorbed by the body during the isothermal
change at the lower temperature, Clapeyron was correct in his equa-
tions because they dealt only with infinitesimal changes in tempera^
ture, and hence the difference H — h, which is the area included between
the two adjacent adiabatics and the two isothermals, is an infinitesimal
of the second order as compared with the length of the adiabatic
included between the two adjacent isothermals, which was taken itself
as an infinitesimal of the first order.

It is fortunate that Clapeyron was mathematician enough to use
differential equations in expressing these processes analytically. In-
deed, in contrast to Carnot he used such a method wherever he could
throughout all his memoirs, and always to good advantage.

Carnot used the materialistic theory of heat; but it must not be
supposed that he was throughout a believer in the same. For even in
his memoir as published in 1824 he gives more than a suspicion of its
falsity, and in the extracts from his laboratory note-book,* published
by his brother after his death, we have direct evidence that he not only
foresaw the dynamical theory of heat, but even went so far as to calcu-

* These MS. notes, and also the MS. copy of the ' Reflexions ' are on file
in the ' Academie des Sciences,' to which body they were presented in 1878 by
Carnot's brother, H. Carnot. The notes were entirely unknown to the public
until that late date, forty-six years after their author's death.

THE MOTIVE POWER OF HEAT.

127

late the mechanical equivalent and to plan the very experiments since
carried out by later workers. To give emphasis to this statement, we
have but to consider the following translation of his own words :

Heat is nothing else than motive power, or rather, motion which has
changed its form. It is a movement of the particles of a body. Wherever
there is a destruction of motive power, there is at the same time the production
of a quantity of heat precisely proportional to the quantity of motive power
destroyed. Reciprocally, wherever there is destruction of heat, there is the
production of motive power.

We can lay down the general proposition that motive power is a quantity

<r?

fno*-~j*.*~S

^CZ^'^,» ^^^l^^^g^.

s"^ / £. /\S

"s>f/h^^''jrf<^

y9' ?q .

J

4

9

P* ^ M

^^

"7'

9 ,

/T^ '£[_ /2 ^u-r^yT1

foot)

Facsimile of a Page of Carnot's Note-book Relative to the Transformation of
Heat into Motive Power, containing a valuation (the first known to be made) of the so.
called " mechanical equivalent of heat." This estimate gives for the mechanical equivalent
of heat 370 kilogram-meters, which is nearer the correct value (^20, Rowland) than Mayer's
later determination (365).

128 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

invariable in nature, that it is never, properly speaking, either produced or
destroyed. In truth, it simply changes form — sometimes producing one kind
of motion, sometimes another; but it is never annihilated.

This is a clear and positive statement of the now well-known
'Principle of the Conservation of Energy'; and yet, by reason of the
fact that these notes were not published by their author and did not
come to light for half a century after his death, the world awaited
the enunciation of this universal principle till the day of Mayer, Helm-
holtz and Joule. Shall all honor be denied Carnot simply because his
work remained undiscovered so long? While we ascribe great and
merited praise to those philosophers who were fortunate enough first
to present the doctrine of energy to the world, we must not forget him
who by reason of the much earlier day in which he lived, made a far
greater stride in arriving at the same conclusion.

We complete our quotations by giving some of the passages in
which Carnot outlines experiments for determining the mechanical
equivalent of heat :

Stir vigorously a mass of water in a small barrel or in the cylinder of a
double-action pump, the piston of which is pierced with small holes. Ex-
periments of the same kind on the agitation of mercury, of alcohol, of air, and
of other gases. Measure the motive power consumed and the hent produced.
. . . Allow air to enter a vacuum or a space occupied by air more or less
rarefied; the same for other gases or vapors; examine the rise in temperature.
Estimate the error of the thermometer by noting the time taken for the
temperature of the air to vary a given number of degrees. These experiments
will serve to measure the changes of temperature produced in a gas by changes
in volume; they will furnish, among other things, the means of comparing
these changes with the quantities of motive power produced or consumed. . . .
Allow a quantity of air compressed in a larger reservoir to escape therefrom,
and check its velocity by having it escape through a large tube containing a
number of solid bodies; measure the temperature when it has become uniform.
See if it is the same as that in the reservoir. Same experiments with other
gases and with vapor formed under various pressures.

How effectually such experiments did accomplish what Carnot ex-
pected is fully attested by the subsequent researches of Joule, Kelvin,
Hirn, Eegnault and others.

Carnot 's work was followed up by the epoch-making papers of
Sir William Thomson (now Lord Kelvin) in England, and of Kudolph
Clausius in Germany.

The science of thermodynamics, founded on the labors of these three
illustrious men, has led to the most important development in all departments
of physical science. It has pointed out relations among the properties of
bodies which could scarcely have been anticipated in any other way; it has laid
the foundation for the science of chemical physics; and, taken in connection
with the kinetic theory of gases, as developed by Maxwell and Boltzmann, it
has furnished a general view of the operations of the universe which is far in
advance of any that could have been reached by purely dynamical reasoning.

SOLOMON'S HOUSE. 129

SOLOMON'S HOUSE.*

By FRANCIS BACON.

f\ OD bless thee, my son; I will give thee the greatest jewel I have.
^~* For I will impart unto thee, for the love of God and men, a
relation of the true state of Salomon's House. Son, to make you
know the true state of Salomon's House, I will keep this order.
First, I will set forth unto you the end of our foundation. Secondly,
the preparations and instruments we have for our works. Thirdly,
the several employments and functions whereto our fellows are assigned.
And fourthly, the ordinances and rites which we observe.

The End of our Foundation is the knowledge of Causes, and secret
motions of things ; and the enlarging of the bounds of Human Empire,
to the effecting of all things possible.

The Preparations and Instruments are these. We have large and
deep caves of several depths : the deepest are sunk six hundred fathom ;
and some of them are digged and made under great hills and moun-
tains: so that if you reckon together the depth of the hill and the
depth of the cave, they are (some of them) above three miles deep. For
we find that the depth of a hill, and the depth of a cave from the flat,
is the same thing; both remote alike from the sun and heaven's beams,
and from the open air. These caves we call the Lower Region. And
we use them for all coagulations, indurations, refrigerations, and con-
servations of bodies. We use them likewise for the imitation of natural
mines; and the producing also of new artificial metals, by composi-
tions and materials which we use, and lay there for many years. We
use them also sometimes, (which may seem strange,) for curing of some
diseases, and for prolongation of life in some hermits that choose to
live there, well accommodated of all things necessary; and indeed live
very long; by whom also we learn many things.

We have burials in several earths, where we put divers cements,
as the Chinese do their porcellain. But we have them in greater variety,
and some of them more fine. We have also great variety of composts,
and soils, for the making of the earth fruitful.

We have high towers; the highest about half a mile in height;
and some of them likewise set upon high mountains; so that the
vantage of the hill with the tower is in the highest of them three

* From the ' New Atlantis,' published in 1627. The text of the edition of
Ellis and Spedding is followed.
VOL. lxii. — 9.

130 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

miles at least. And these places we call the Upper Region: account-
ing the air between the high places and the low, as a Middle Eegion.
We use these towers, according to their several heights and situations,
for insolation, refrigeration, conservation; and for the view of divers
meteors; as winds, rain, snow, hail; and some of the fiery meteors
also. And upon them, in some places, are dwellings of hermits, whom
we visit sometimes, and instruct what to observe.

We have great lakes both salt and fresh, whereof we have use for
the fish and fowl. We use them also for burials of some natural
bodies: for we find a difference in things buried in earth or in air
below the earth, and things buried in water. We have also pools, of
which some do strain fresh water out of salt; and others by art do
turn fresh water into salt. We have also some rocks in the midst
of the sea, and some bays upon the shore, for some works wherein is
required the air and vapour of the sea. We have likewise violent
streams and cataracts, which serve us for many motions: and like-
wise engines for multiplying and enforcing of winds, to set also on
going divers motions.

We have also a number of artificial wells and fountains, made
in imitation of the natural sources and baths; as tincted upon vitriol,
sulphur, steel, brass, lead, nitre, and other minerals. And again we
have little wells for infusions of many things, where the waters take
the virtue quicker and better than in vessels or basons. And amongst
them we have a water which we call Water of Paradise, being, by that
we do to it, made very sovereign for health, and prolongation of life.

We have also great and spacious houses, where we imitate and
demonstrate meteors ; as snow, hail, rain, some artificial rains of bodies
and not of water, thunders, lightnings; also generations of bodies in
air; as frogs, flies, and divers others.

We have also certain chambers, which we call Chambers of Health,
where we qualify the air as we think good and proper for the cure of
divers diseases, and preservation of health.

We have also fair and large baths, of several mixtures, for the cure
of diseases, and the restoring of man's body from aref action: and
others for the confirming of it in strength of sinews, vital parts, and the
very juice and substance of the body.

We have also large and various orchards and gardens, wherein we
do not so much respect beauty, as variety of ground and soil, proper
for divers trees and herbs : and some very spacious, where trees and
berries are set whereof we make divers kinds of drinks, besides the
vineyards. In these we practise likewise all conclusions of grafting
and inoculating, as well of wild-trees as fruit-trees, which produceth
many effects. And we make (by art) in the same orchards and gar-
dens, trees and flowers to come earlier or later than their seasons ; and

SOLOMON'S HOUSE. 131

to come up and bear more speedily than by their natural course they
do. We make them also by art greater much than their nature; and
their fruit greater and sweeter and of differing taste, smell, colour,
and figure, from their nature. And many of them we so order, as
they become of medicinal use.

We have also means to make divers plants rise by mixtures of
earths without seeds; and likewise to make divers new plants, differ-
ing from the vulgar; and to make one tree or plant turn into an-
other.

We have also parks and inclosures of all sorts of beasts and birds,
which we use not only for view or rareness, but likewise for dissec-
tions and trials ; that thereby we may take light what may be wrought
upon the body of man. Wherein we find many strange effects; as
continuing life in them, though divers parts, which you account vital,
be perished and taken forth; resuscitating of some that seem dead in
appearance; and the like. We try also all poisons and other medicines
upon them, as well of chirurgery as physic. By art likewise, we make
them greater or taller than their kind is; and contrariwise dwarf
them, and stay their growth: we make them more fruitful and bear-
ing than their kind is; and contrariwise barren and not generative.
Also we make them differ in colour, shape, activity, many ways. We
find means to make commixtures and copulations of different kinds;
which have produced many new kinds, and them not barren, as the
general opinion is. We make a number of kinds of serpents, worms,
flies, fishes, of putrefaction; whereof some are advanced (in effect)
to be perfect creatures, like beasts or birds; and have sexes, and do
propagate. Neither do we this by chance, but we know beforehand of
what matter and commixture what kind of those creatures will arise.

We have also particular pools, where we make trials upon fishes, as
we have said before of beasts and birds.

We have also places for breed and generation of those kinds of
worms and flies which are of special use; such as are with you your
silk-worms and bees.

I will not hold you long with recounting of our brew-houses, bake-
houses, and kitchens, where are made divers drinks, breads, and meats,
rare and of special effects. Wines we have of grapes; and drinks of
other juice of fruits, of grains, and of roots: and of mixtures with
honey, sugar, manna, and fruits dried and decocted. Also of the
tears or woundings of trees, and of the pulp of canes. And these
drinks are of several ages, some to the age or last of forty years. We
have drinks also brewed with several herbs, and roots, and spices ; yea
with several fleshes, and white meats ; whereof some of the drinks are
such, as they are in effect meat and drink both: so that divers, es-

i32 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

pecially in age, do desire to live with them, with little or no meat or
bread. And above all, we strive to have drinks of extreme thin parts,
to insinuate into the body, and yet without all biting, sharpness, or
fretting; insomuch as some of them put upon the back of your hand
will, with a little stay, pass through to the palm, and yet taste mild
to the mouth. We have also waters which we ripen in that fashion,
as they become nourishing; so that they are indeed excellent drink;
and many will use no other. Breads we have of several grains, roots,
and kernels: yea and some of flesh and fish dried; with divers kinds
of leavenings and seasonings: so that some do extremely move appe-
tites ; some do nourish so, as divers do live of them, without any other
meat; who live very long. So for meats, we have some of them so
beaten and made tender and mortified, yet without all corrupting, as
a weak heat of the stomach will turn them into good chylus, as well
as a strong heat would meat otherwise prepared. We have some meats
also and breads and drinks, which taken by men enable them to fast
long after; and some other, that used make the very flesh of men's
bodies sensibly more hard and tough, and their strength far greater
than otherwise it would be.

We have dispensatories, or shops of medicines. Wherein you may
easily think, if we have such variety of plants and living creatures
more than you have in Europe, (for we know what you have,) the
simples, drugs, and ingredients of medicines, must likewise be in so
much the greater variety. We have them likewise of divers ages, and
long fermentations. And for their preparations, we have not only all
manner of exquisite distillations and separations, and especially by
gentle heats and percolations through divers strainers, yea and sub-
stances; but also exact forms of composition, whereby they incorpo-
rate almost, as they were natural simples.

We have also divers mechanical arts, which you have not; and
stuffs made by them; as papers, linen, silks, tissues; dainty works of
feathers of wonderful lustre; excellent dyes, and many others; and
shops likewise, as well for such as are not brought into vulgar use
amongst us as for those that are. For you must know that of the
things before recited, many of them are grown into use throughout
the kingdom; but yet if they did flow from our invention, we have of
them also for patterns and principals.

We have also furnaces of great diversities, and that keep great
diversity of heats; fierce and quick; strong and constant; soft and
mild; blown, quiet; dry, moist; and the like. But above all, we have
heats in imitation of the sun's and heavenly bodies' heats, that pass
divers inequalities and (as it were) orbs, progresses, and returns,
whereby we produce admirable effects. Besides, we have heats of

SOLOMON'S HOUSE. 133

dungs, and of bellies and maws of living creatures, and of their bloods
and bodies; and of hays and herbs laid up moist; of lime unquenehed;
and such like. Instruments also which generate heat only by motion.
And farther, places for strong insolations; and again, places under the
earth, which by nature or art yield heat. These divers heats we use,
as the nature of the operation which we intend requireth.

We have also perspective-houses, where we make demonstrations of
all lights and radiations; and of all colours; and out of things uncol-
oured and transparent, we can represent unto you all several colours;
not in rain-bows, as it is in gems and prisms, but of themselves single.
We represent also all multiplications of light, which we carry to great
distance, and make so sharp as to discern small points and lines; also
all colorations of light : all delusions and deceits of the sight, in fig-
ures, magnitudes, motions, colours: all demonstrations of shadows.
We find also divers means, yet unknown to you, of producing of light
originally from divers bodies. We procure means of seeing objects afar
off; as in the heaven and remote places; and represent things near as
afar off, and things afar off as near; making feigned distances. We
have also helps for the sight, far above spectacles and glasses in use.
We have also glasses and means to see small and minute bodies per-
fectly and distinctly; as the shapes and colours of small flies and
worms, grains and flaws in gems, which cannot otherwise be seen ;
observations in urine and blood, not otherwise to be seen. We make
artificial rain-bows, halos, and circles about light. We represent also
all manner of reflexions, refractions, and multiplications of visual
beams of objects.

We have also precious stones of all kinds, many of them of great
beauty, and to you unknown; crystals likewise; and glasses of divers
kinds; and amongst them some of metals vitrificated, and other mate-
rials besides those of which you make glass. Also a number of fossils,
and imperfect minerals, which you have not. Likewise loadstones of
prodigious virtue; and other rare stones, both natural and artificial.

We have also sound-houses, where we practise and demonstrate all
sounds, and their generation. We have harmonies which you have not,
of quarter-sounds, and lesser slides of sounds. Divers instruments of
music likewise to you unknown, some sweeter than any you have;
together with bells and rings that are dainty and sweet. We represent
small sounds as great and deep; likewise great sounds extenuate and
sharp; we make divers tremblings and warblings of sounds, which in
their original are entire. We represent and imitate all articulate sounds
and letters, and the voices and notes of beasts and birds. We have
certain helps which set to the ear do further the hearing greatly. We
have also divers strange and artificial echos, reflecting the voice many

i34 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

times, and as it were tossing it: and some that give back the voice
louder than it came ; some shriller, and some deeper ; yea, some render-
ing the voice differing in the letters or articulate sound from that they
receive. We have also means to convey sounds in trunks and pipes, in
strange lines and distances.

We have also perfume-houses; wherewith we join also practices of
taste. We multiply smells, which may seem strange. We imitate
smells, making all smells to breathe out of other mixtures than those
that give them. We make divers imitations of taste likewise, so that
they will deceive any man's taste. And in this house we contain also
a confiture-house; where we make all sweet-meats, dry and moist, and
divers pleasant wines, milks, broths, and sallets, far in greater variety
than you have.

We have also engine-houses, where are prepared engines and instru-
ments for all sorts of motions. There we imitate and practise to make
swifter motions than any you have, either out of your muskets or any
engine that you have; and to make them and multiply them more
easily, and with small force, by wheels and other means : and to make
them stronger, and more violent than yours are ; exceeding your great-
est cannons and basilisks. We represent also ordnance and instru-
ments of war, and engines of all kinds: and likewise new mixtures
and compositions of gun-powder, wildfires burning in water, and un-
quenchable. Also fire-works of all variety both for pleasure and use.
We imitate also nights of birds ; we have some degrees of flying in the
air; we have ships and boats for going under water, and brooking of
seas; also swimming-girdles and supporters. We have divers curious
clocks, and other like motions of return, and some perpetual motions.
We imitate also motions of living creatures, by images of men, beasts,
birds, fishes, and serpents. We have also a great number of other
various motions, strange for equality, fineness, and subtilty.

We have also a mathematical house, where are represented all
instruments, as well of geometry as astronomy, exquisitely made.

We have also houses of deceits of the senses ; where we represent all
manner of feats of juggling, false apparitions, impostures, and illu-
sions; and their fallacies. And surely you will easily believe that we
that have so many things truly natural which induce admiration, could
in a world of particulars deceive the senses, if we would disguise those
things and labour to make them seem more miraculous. But we do
hate all impostures and lies: insomuch as we have severely forbidden
it to all our fellows, under pain of ignominy and fines, that they do
not shew any natural work or thing, adorned or swelling; but only
pure as it is, and without all affectation or strangeness.

These are (my son) the riches of Salomon's House.

SOLOMON'S HOUSE. 135

For the several employments and offices of our fellows; we have
twelve that sail into foreign countries, under the names of other na-
tions, (for our own we conceal;) who bring us the books, and abstracts,
and patterns of experiments of all other parts. These we call Mer-
chants of Light.

We have three that collect the experiments which are in all books.
These we call Depredators.

We have three that collect the experiments of all mechanical arts;
and also of liberal sciences ; and also of practices which are not brought
into arts. These we call Mystery-men.

We have three that try new experiments, such as themselves think
good. These we call Pioners or Miners.

We have three that draw the experiments of the former four into
titles and tables, to give the better light for the drawing of observa-
tions and axioms out of them. These we call Compilers.

We have three that bend themselves, looking into the experiments
of their fellows, and cast about how to draw out of them things of use
and practice for man's life, and knowledge as well for works as for
plain demonstration of causes, means of natural divinations, and the
easy and clear discovery of the virtues and parts of bodies. These we
call Dowry-men or Benefactors.

Then after divers meetings and consults of our whole number, to
consider of the former labours and collections, we have three that take
care, out of them, to direct new experiments, of a higher light, more
penetrating into nature than the former. These we call Lamps.

We have three others that do execute the experiments so directed,
and report them. These we call Inoculators.

Lastly, we have three that raise the former discoveries by experi-
ments into greater observations, axioms, and aphorisms. These we call
Interpreters of Nature.

We have also, as you must think, novices and apprentices, that the
succession of the former employed men do not fail; besides a great
number of servants and attendants, men and women. And this we do
also : we have consultations, which of the inventions and experiences
which we have discovered shall be published, and which not : and take
all an oath of secrecy, for the concealing of those which we think fit
to keep secret: though some of those we do reveal sometimes to the
state, and some not.

For our ordinances and rites: we have two very long and fair gal-
leries : in one of these we place patterns and samples of all manner of
the more rare and excellent inventions : in the other we place the
statua's of all principal inventors. There we have the statua of your
Columbus, that discovered the West Indies : also the inventor of ships :

136 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

your monk that was the inventor of ordnance and of gunpowder: the
inventor of music: the inventor of letters: the inventor of printing:
the inventor of observations of astronomy: the inventor of works in
metal: the inventor of glass: the inventor of silk of the worm: the
inventor of wine: the inventor of corn and bread: the inventor of
sugars: and all these by more certain tradition than you have. Then
have we divers inventors of our own, of excellent works; which since
you have not seen, it were too long to make descriptions of them; and
besides, in the right understanding of those descriptions you might
easily err. For upon every invention of value, we erect a statua to
the inventor, and give him a liberal and honourable reward. These
statua 's are some of brass; some of marble and touch-stone; some of
cedar and other special woods gilt and adorned: some of iron; some
of silver; some of gold.

We have certain hymns and services, which we say daily, of laud
and thanks to God for his marvellous works: and forms of prayers,
imploring his aid and blessing for the illumination of our labours,
and the turning of them into good and holy uses.

Lastly, we have circuits or visits of divers principal cities of the
kingdom ; where, as it cometh to pass, we do publish such new profitable
inventions as we think good. And we do also declare natural divina-
tions of diseases, plagues, swarms of hurtful creatures, scarcity, tem-
pests, earthquakes, great inundations, comets, temperature of the year,
and divers other things; and we give counsel thereupon what the
people shall do for the prevention and remedy of them.

And when he said this, he stood up; and I, as I had been taught,
kneeled down; and he laid his right hand upon my head, and said;
"God bless thee, my son, and God bless this relation which I have
made. I give thee leave to publish it for the good of other nations;
for we here are in God's bosom, a land unknown." And so he left
me; having assigned a value of about two thousand ducats, for a
bounty to me and my fellows. For they give great largesses where
they come upon all occasions.

NITROGEN-FIXING BACTERIA. 137

NITROGEN-FIXING BACTEEIA.

By J. G. LIPMAN,

NEW JERSEY AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.

THE soil may truly be regarded as a vast laboratory. The many
processes normally taking place in cultivated soils lead to the
gradual formation of plant-food, to the solution of the mineral con-
stituents, to the breaking down of the organic molecules into simpler
forms, such that are in a condition to furnish the chlorophyl-bearing
plants the material for the building up of plant tissue. The cycle of
transformation from the simple to the complex and the falling apart of
these complex molecules involve the activity of higher plant life, on
the one hand, and that of lower organisms, on the other. Primarily it
is the energy derived from the sun that, with the cooperation of the liv-
ing protoplasm, impels the atoms to enter one or another of the innum-
erable combinations. These atoms are, as Carlyle would put it, ' but the
garment of the spirit,' and the atom of carbon or nitrogen, which
to-day is in the leaf of the oak or in the brain-cell of man, may on the
next day become a structural part of some bacterial spore that is scarce-
ly visible even with magnification of 1,500 or 2,000 diameters. The
different kinds of atoms whose presence is essential in order that living
tissue may arise, are not many. Among the less than one dozen of
these, it is the migration and transmigration of the nitrogen atoms
that undoubtedly form the most interesting, as well as the most im-
portant, phase of agricultural research. Of all the elements that enter
into the composition of vegetable and animal substances, nitrogen is
the most expensive, the most evasive, the most difficult to replace. And
every person who at all concerns himself with questions as to the origin
and the development of the various forms of life, can not be indifferent
as to the source of nitrogen in the soil, and the factors that in one way
or another affect the store of nitrogen at the disposal of the living
world. Whence is the soil nitrogen derived? What conditions are
most favorable for the maintenance of an adequate supply of this
precious material? What means have we at our disposal for replacing
the losses that occur, that in the nature of things must occur?

We should remember of all things, that the great aerial ocean, con-
taining as it does more than 78 per cent, by volume of gaseous nitrogen,
does not directly offer that element to the plant world. In order that
this nitrogen may become available, it must be combined with other

138 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

elements. Like Coleridge's Mariner, floating on the sea, surrounded
by the sea, and yet perishing for lack of water, so plants growing on
the bottom of the aerial ocean, with four fifths of its bulk consisting of
nitrogen, and that to a depth of 200 miles or more, would yet starve for
lack of nitrogen if there were not means in nature's workshop to com-
bine that very inert gas. Now, soils of average fertility contain rather
more than .1 per cent of nitrogen; in other words, the soil taken to a
depth of one foot contains 3,500 pounds of nitrogen to the acre. The
quantity is not constant, because of the various factors that lead either
to the increase or decrease of that treasure hoard which it had taken ages
to accumulate. In the processes of decay and fermentation, due to the
activity of molds and bacteria, much of the combined nitrogen is set
free and is returned to the atmosphere ; in all processes of burning and
explosion great quantities of nitrogen are again liberated. This latter
fact led Bunge to say that every shot fired kills whether it hits anything
or not, for it takes away that much life-giving substance from living
things. Then again, as the insoluble proteid molecules are broken down
and changed into simple salts, the nitrogen that thus becomes soluble, if
not taken up by the crop, is leached out of the soil, and ultimately finds
its way to the ocean. Enormous quantities of nitrates are thus car-
ried by the streams to the sea, there to feed its denizens, to return, per-
haps, in very slight measure to the land, though changed into other
forms. Thus the great swarms of coarse fish caught for fertilizer
purposes return in their bodies the nitrogen that had once traveled to
the sea; thus, also, the still extensive nitrate beds of arid South
America are a fractional return of what the sea had taken to itself.
That the dissolved nitrates poured into the sea year after year by streams
great and small do not remain there as such is clearly evidenced by the
analysis of sea-water which shows but traces of nitrates. And so it
appears that the soluble nitrogen salt, greedily taken up by plants in the
field, is also quickly consumed in the sea. Of course, the nitrate de-
posits of South America were not deposited from the ocean as such,
but resulted from the decay of great masses of seaweed.

Then there are opposite tendencies. There are agencies which lead
to the increase of the nitrogen stock in the soil. It was Cavendish who
first showed that when electric sparks are passed through air confined
over a solution of caustic potash, small quantities of oxidized nitrogen
are formed. In a similar manner, the electric discharges in the atmos-
phere cause the formation of small quantities of combined nitrogen, and
Berthelot had shown that silent electric discharges also cause the
combination of gaseous nitrogen. Similarly it has been claimed that
in the burning of gas, coal, wax, etc., slight amounts of nitrogen become
combined. All these factors, and others not mentioned, are, however, of

NITROGEN-FIXING BACTERIA. 139

minor importance as regards the maintaining of the store of com-
bined nitrogen. We should remember that a fair crop of hay will re-
move from the soil more than 50 pounds of nitrogen, that at times
there is removed from the soil 100 to 150 pounds of nitrogen per acre
in one season, and remembering that, we can easily appreciate how
entirely inadequate the 3 or 4 pounds of nitrogen per acre that are
brought down from the atmosphere by dew, rain or snow are for sup-
plying the nitrogen requirements of even a very meager crop.

There must be, then, another factor, or other factors, that are con-
cerned in the supply of the vast quantities of combined nitrogen that
are consumed from day to day. The mineral portion of plant food,
that portion which constitutes the ash of plants, containing the cal-
cium, magnesium, potassium, sulphur, iron, phosphorus, etc., is de-
rived from the common rocks of the earth's crust. It is otherwise with
nitrogen; to be sure, small quantities of it are contained in primitive
rocks in iron deposits, in meteoric iron, etc.; yet, speaking generally,
nitrogen is not a normal constituent of rocks. It is the atmosphere, and
the atmosphere only, which must remain its source for plant and animal
life. It is idle to speculate in what condition that nitrogen existed when
the earth's crust first began to solidify. It is not likely that it existed
as ammonia, for the hydrogen having a greater affinity for oxygen would
have combined with the latter. It is not improbable, however, that it
existed in combination with oxygen when the temperature of the earth's
atmosphere had become sufficiently low. Be it as it may, when the sur-
face rock began to disintegrate and lower plant life first appeared,
there was no soil nitrogen. As rock disintegration proceeded, as the
rock fragments became finer and offered a more favorable dwelling
place for plants and bacteria, the store of nitrogen in the soil began to
accumulate. And now we come to those agencies that are of the
greatest importance in this gradual increase of the nitrogen store.
Small amounts of combined nitrogen formed through electric dis-
cbarges and brought down to the soil by precipitation would be suffi-
cient in themselves through countless centuries to give rise to vast ac-
cumulations, provided that there was a gain only and no loss. But we
have already seen that nitrogen is constantly being leached out of the
soil. Analytical data at hand show that there is drained away from the
land as much as 75 pounds of nitrogen per acre in the form of nitrates,
and this certainly is lost to the soil. On some soils the loss is much
smaller, on other soils it is even greater, but this, taken together with
the amount removed in the crops taken off from year to year, shows
clearly that unless there are other means in the economy of nature for
drawing upon the great store of atmospheric nitrogen, the present store
would soon be exhausted, in fact, it could never have accumulated.

i4o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Untiring research by many men and in many places has taught us
that it is the mysterious force in living protoplasm that in its aggres-
sive way reaches out and appropriates the restless molecules of at-
mospheric nitrogen; that though it destroys it also builds up. Prac-
tical experience had taught the ancients that crops of the legume family,
crops like clover, beans, lupines, etc., do not exhaust the soil to such an
extent as do crops not belonging to the same family. They had learned
that after a crop of clover they could raise a larger crop of wheat.
Why it was so they did not know, nor did the many generations of
farmers who followed them; yet not knowing they availed them-
selves of the advantages that time had pointed out to them. It was
reserved for the men of our generation, for men equipped with the
methods of our own day, to illuminate the darkness, to unveil for us
still another of nature's mysteries, to show us an intelligent way for
replacing the unceasing losses of nitrogen. It was scarcely more than
fifteen years ago that Hellriegel and Wilfarth published a series of
wonderfully conceived and wonderfully exact experiments that de-
cided for all time a much-debated question, which for a century had
taxed the ingenuity of the foremost scientists of Europe. What Boussin-
gault with all his mental penetration and clearness of vision had failed
to accomplish, what Lawes and Gilbert with all their painstaking care
and admirable equipment had failed to achieve, the German
investigators had made clear. They showed conclusively that in the
root nodules of leguminous plants there are found certain bacteria that
in a way still unknown to us enable the host plant to make use of the
gaseous atmospheric nitrogen. We do know that there is a continual
struggle between the plant and the invading bacteria; we are justified
in believing that the bacteria, compelled by the plant, unlock to it the
hitherto inaccessible store of nitrogen. It was in this wise, partly, that
the nitrogen accumulation in our soils resulted ; it was in this wise that
the rich prairie soils, containing at times as much as twenty thousand
pounds of combined nitrogen per acre to a depth of one foot, had ac-
quired that nitrogen. This dwelling together of two distinct forms
of life with mutual benefit resulting is known as symbiosis, and the
symbiotic life of leguminous plants and of the organism known as
Bacillus radicicola has made possible to a great extent the terrestrial
life of to-day. Yet there is another phase of the question, a phase
that but a few years ago had not been recognized. There are bacteria
in the soil that can avail themselves of atmospheric nitrogen without
the aid of leguminous plants. Kecent work in this field of research in-
dicates that such fixation of atmospheric nitrogen is of vast significance,
of greater moment, perhaps, than the fixation of nitrogen by legumes.
To understand more clearly the relations existing among the many

NITROGEN-FIXING BACTERIA. 141

forms o-f bacterial life that are concerned with the transformations of
the soil nitrogen it is necessary to consider separately some distinct
phases of the nitrogen question. The plant tissues from which life
had departed hold in them the nitrogen that had once moved in soluble
form through the soil. The nitrogen in the dead plant tissue can not,
however, again become a part of the food for other plants; not until
it has again been changed into simpler soluble forms. This locking
up of the nitrogen in forms slowly decaying, and therefore slowly
available, is a wise provision, otherwise the nitrogen would soon
be washed out of the soil. Thus we see that the soil nitrogen is con-
tained in an insoluble form in the remains of former plants, and, no
matter how much of it the soil contains it is inaccessible to the plant
growing upon it until it has been first changed into the simpler forms.
Now, as to the agents that produce this transformation. Bacteriology,
in general, and soil-bacteriology, in particular, are subjects to which the
attention of the scientific world has turned very recently. Of the
many hundreds of different species of bacteria living in the soil, but
few are known. Nevertheless, even at the present time, enough has
been learned to enable us to form a conception, at least, of the changes
that take place there. The nitrogen of organic substance, whether plant
or animal, usually exists in the form of albuminoids, more frequently
termed proteids. These proteid molecules are seized by the soil
bacteria and are utilized by them for the formation of their own
bodies. Being saprophytic by nature, that is, unable to build up or-
ganic substance from the simpler materials, as is done by higher plants,
they must derive their energy from the tissues that chlorophyl-bearing
plants had fashioned with the aid of sunlight. In availing themselves
of this potential energy for their own purposes, they break down the
complex molecules ; to use a popular expression, they cause decay. Tn
order to gain their end, that is, to secure the food contained in the pro-
teid molecules, the bacteria must first change it into a readily diffusible,
soluble form. For this purpose the chemical ferments known as en-
zymes are produced. With the aid of these enzymes, the albuminoid
substances are ' peptonized.' In the laboratory such organisms are de-
scribed as gelatin-liquefying bacteria. A part of the food thus made
accessible is appropriated by the microorganisms and in their physio-
logical processes is still further simplified. A part of the carbon is
oxidized and escapes into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, gaseous
hydrogen or oxygen is set free, or the two are combined to form
water. The nitrogen with which we are here concerned is subject
to many changes. In the course of its migration it forms a part of
the amid molecules; from these it is split off in the form of am-
monia, and this again may be destroyed and gaseous nitrogen set free,
or seized by another distinct class of organisms, and oxidized to nitrites

i42 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

and nitrates. The last is the form in which the nitrogen is usually-
taken up by the plants. On the other hand, the nitrates are them-
selves subject to the opposite forces of deoxidation. There are species
of bacteria in the soil which reduce nitrates to nitrites, to ammonia
or even to gaseous nitrogen. To recapitulate, then, there take place
in the soil processes of nitrification, denitrification and also the fixation
of free nitrogen. It was necessary to consider the former two, in order
to understand the third. It would be out of place here to speculate
upon the manner in which the soil nitrogen is oxidized ; it might not be
out of place here to consider the possible ways in which nitrogen is set
free from its compounds, on the one hand, or is e fixed,' on the other
hand. Quite recently hypotheses have been advanced which would re-
gard the processes of ' fixation ' and of ' denitrification ' as being very
much related phases of the same physiological activities. The investi-
gators who have labored in this field of research, and to whom we owe
most of our knowledge on the subject, are Berthelot, Winogradsky,
Beyerink and Stoklasa. Berthelot was among the first to observe that
soils free from vegetation can increase their store of nitrogen. Wino-
gradsky, after much painstaking search, isolated from the soil an or-
ganism,'which, in company with two others, can grow in nitrogen-free
media and fix considerable quantities of nitrogen in a short time. Bey-
rink, also, has isolated within the last few months several organisms that
possess a similar power, and Stoklasa has done a great deal of care-
ful work to determine just how the fixation of nitrogen is accomplished.
Moreover the subject has assumed more than a mere scientific interest
within the last three or four years. The firm of Friedrich Bayer and
Co., of Elberfeld, Germany, has placed on the market a bacterial culture
bearing the fancy name of ' Alinit.' This alinit they claim can under
favorable conditions increase the yield of non-leguminous crops 40 per
cent. On examination, the alinit proved to be a pure culture of B.
ellenbachii, mixed with a starchy material resembling dried and pulver-
ized potatoes. The organism was isolated by a German gentleman-
farmer, Caron by name, and named B. ellenbachii after his estate,
Ellenbach. This bacillus differs but little from the organism isolated
by Du Bary some years earlier, and called by him B. megaterium. This
organism, Stoklasa claims, is not only similar to, but identical with B.
ellenbachii. The accumulated evidence of several investigators on this
point inclines me to the belief that the two are not identical, though
very much allied. At any rate, Stoklasa has shown that B. megateri-
um is capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen in media containing but
traces of fixed nitrogen; it develops and adds to the nitrogen content
of the medium by drawing upon the nitrogen of the air. This organ-
ism has, as it were, a double nature. In the first place, as just noted, it
is capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen ; in the second place, it exerts

NITROGEN-FIXING BACTERIA. 143

a deoxidizing effect when grown in solutions containing nitrates, with
the production of nitrites and ammonia. This double action leads us
to inquire into the nature of the physiological processes taking place in
either case. His investigations in this field led Stoklasa to assert that
there is much in common between the two processes. He believes that
the deoxidation of nitrate is due to the action of the bacteria on water,
with the liberation of hydrogen and the formation of hydroxyl. Nascent
hydrogen is a powerful reducing agent, and would of itself withdraw
the oxygen from nitrates to form nitrites, while hydroxyl in contact
with ammonia will cause the formation of water and the liberation of
nitrogen. Part of this nitrogen is undoubtedly utilized by the bacteria,
and the rest is returned to the air. How the inert nitrogen molecule
is torn apart and the nascent nitrogen atoms thus formed utilized by the
bacteria for their growth is a question that is more difficult of solution.
We do know that the amount of nitrogen fixed by B. megaterium is
affected by the composition of the nutritive medium. The same is
true of denitrification. The molecular structure of some carbohydrates
or of organic acids and the arrangements of the atoms in the molecule
influence the activity of the bacterial cell and its life processes. I have
found, for instance, that the more complex citric acid molecule offers a
more favorable source of energy to a denitrifying organism that I have
isolated than do either succinic, tartaric or lactic acid. And the lab-
oratory work clearly indicates that the amount of organic substance in
the soil, as well as its nature, determines the course of development, and
the prevalence of the one or the other of the soil organisms. Certain
it is that where the fixation of nitrogen takes place in the soil, it
occurs only when its store of nitrogen is very meager. This is analo-
gous to the behavior of the legumes. It has been found that these
plants when growing in a soil rich in soluble nitrogen do not to any
considerable extent draw upon the atmosphere for that element. It is
only when the soil offers little or no nitrogen that the atmospheric
treasure house is unlocked for it. All experimental evidence thus far
accumulated indicates that there is a struggle between the plant and the
bacteria invading its roots, that the latter are so modified by the aggres-
sive activity of their host that they form a fine network of tissue in
which the atmospheric nitrogen is captured, as it were. That this as-
sumption is not entirely erroneous is shown by the fact that legumes,
inoculated with cultures of B. radicola that are particularly virulent,
although they form root tubercles, show nitrogen hunger when there is
none in the soil at their disposal, and the microscopic examination re-
veals bacteria that are not modified as is the case in vigorous plants.
In other words, the bacteria resist the encroachment of their host and
would not be compelled to furnish it with the nitrogen that it can
not get otherwise. In connection with this, the question naturally

144 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

arises whether B. radicola, the bacteria of the legume tubercles, can
fix atmospheric nitrogen independently of its life in the legume tuber-
cles. As a matter of fact, Beyerink and Maze claim to have proved
that this organism can fix elementary nitrogen independently of leg-
umes. We should note here the remarkable fact that although this or-
ganism is so universally distributed and common in all soils, all attempts
to isolate it from the soil directly have not been successful.

There are probably a half a dozen bacteria capable of fixing atmos-
pheric nitrogen known to-day, and there is little doubt that others will
be found before long. As it is, we are fully justified in the claim that
soil bacteria are a potent, nay, an indispensable, factor in the creation
of the world's food. Though they are to most of us an invisible world,
though many of us never suspect their existence, they are yet our
staunch friends, living their brief life, contributing to a broader life,
making it possible for the finite to dream of the infinite.

SOME ARACHNIDS AT HANOVER, CAPE COLONY. 145

SOME ARACHNIDS AT HANOVER, CAPE COLONY.

By S. C. CRONWRIGHT SCHREINER,

HANOVEB, CAPE COLONY.

WHEN I left Cape Town for Hanover, my friend, Dr. Purcell,
of the South African Museum, the leading South African
authority on spiders and their kin, asked me to send him any of
these creatures I might capture. The district of Hanover, he said,
and indeed, practically, the whole high Karoo plateau, was unexplored
arachnologically ; there had been no collection from the high plateau,
and he was particularly anxious to have one to compare with the
arachnid fauna of the lower-lying Great Karoo.

I have devoted special attention to spiders, Solifugge and scorpions,
though, naturally, other things have found their way into the col-
lecting bottles. These have all, from time to time, been sent to
Dr. Purcell for classification, and the results have been, on the
whole, as surprising as interesting.

If the reader will take a map of the Cape Colony and follow the
railway from Cape Town to Bloemfontein, he will find the little
station of Hanover Road lying about midway between De Aar and
Naauw Poort Junctions. Nine miles across the veld, southwest from
Hanover Road, is the little dorp or village of Hanover, which lies at
the foot of two ijzer (iron-stone) kopjes, on a great Karoo flat, 4,700
feet above the sea level. A superb fountain gushes out from a
covered furrow at the foot of the kopjes, furnishing an abundant
supply of water for the houses and the fruit gardens; a great vley
runs east and west past the dorp; groups of kopjes dot the mighty
veld at intervals, and purple hills and mountains fringe the clean-
cut and distant horizon. Hanover is bare and at times very cold
in the winter; but, in the summer, when the willow trees along the
water furrows that line the streets, and the fruit trees in the gardens
about the white houses, are green, the little dorp is, of all small
towns I have seen, by far the most beautiful. It lies like a great
flower on the brown Karoo — not as an excrescence, but as though
it were part of the veld. There are old men here who have seen
lions in the neighborhood, and younger men who have seen wilde-
beeste (gnus) career through the streets.

My collecting has been confined practically to the commonage in
the immediate neighborhood of the dorp, over which, under martial

VOL. LXII. — 10.

146 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

law, I have had a permit to walk. But fortunately the Dutch farmers
have been interested in my work, and both adults and children have
gladly taken bottles of spirits and collected on the farms. I have
thus received many interesting specimens of spiders and Solifugae.
The farmers are pleased that so many new things have come out of
their district, and are eager that it shall hold a front place in the
great museum at the capital. A gray-headed old man handed me a
bottle of spiders the other day with the remark 'Ik denk Hanover is
nou zeker voor' ('I expect Hanover is in front now'), and was much
pleased when I told him how well Hanover was holding its own at
Cape Town. The school children too, especially the girls, have done
well. I have a couple of charming young friends who, in three weeks,
sent me over three hundred specimens, some new and of great interest.

The result of the collecting up to the time of writing is, that, out
of over two thousand arachnids I have sent to the museum (and
excluding some spiders still undetermined), Dr. Purcell has found
some twenty-one families of spiders, comprising more than a hundred
species (the great majority of which are new to science), some ten
species of Solifugae (several of which are also new to science), four
species of scorpions and one pseudo-scorpion.

One can not speak with any certainty yet, but it would almost
seem that the high plateau has, largely, its own peculiar arachnid
fauna, which, if it be so, is a very interesting fact.

But the interest does not lie wholly in the finding of an apparently
new fauna and many new species of very rare genera; it is perhaps
greatest in connection with what has been learned concerning spiders
whose habits were thought to be known.

Before passing on to the arachnids, one or two interesting finds
in other orders may be noted.

Among snakes, a small rare species (Prosymna sundevalli) —
speckled, handsome and non-poisonous — is remarkable as having a
hard snout for burrowing into the ground. Another snake is inter-
esting from the manner of its capture. I was reading one evening
inside the house and my wife was walking up and down the stoep
after the heat of the day, when I heard her call anxiously. I went
out and found the snake, which I killed two feet from our open door,
for which it was making. A beautiful family are the Kous slangen
(garter-snakes). They are very poisonous, but fortunately they are
smallish and have very small teeth. The best specimen of these snakes
I have caught is perhaps the most beautiful of them all. It is circled
throughout its whole length with alternate bright red and deep black
bands about half an inch wide. I nearly trod on it, and was warned
by the most violent short hisses. I looked down at my feet, and
there, standing up on a red iron-stone, was this enraged and lovely

SOME ARACHNIDS AT HANOVER, CAPE COLONY. 147

creature, swaying to and fro with flattened head, ready to fight. It
looked like the gay stalk of some beautiful aloe; and its beauty and
pluck so appealed to me that I captured it only with great reluctance.
Of course, the kopjes and the flats abound with various lizards,
some of the most gaudy colors. For instance, there is one with
spiked coat and rough, ringed tail, which has a red head, blue throat,
neck and sides, while the back varies from red to brown towards
the tail. It sits on a rock and quaintly raises itself up and down
on its forelegs. If danger approaches, it slips into a crevice, from
whence it can hardly be taken alive, for the spikes catch on the stone
so firmly that the lizard is able to resist almost all attempts to take
it out. But most interesting, perhaps, are the Geckos (Pachydactylus
mariquensis) , which the Dutch call getjes, also generally found under
stones. They are about six inches long and not so quick in their move-
ments as lizards usually are. This and their defencelessness have
induced a peculiar method of protection. Their fleshy tails are quite
loosely affixed, being deeply constricted all round where they join the
body. A slight touch will break them off — so much so that at times
the getje seems almost to throw them off. Then is seen a strange
thing. The tail jumps about in the most lively manner, and thus
attracts the attention of the pursuer, while the getje quietly and unob-
trusively moves away unobserved — and goes and grows another tail !
This is a peculiar and yet very effective method of protection; there
are other local lizards that part with their tails with comparative ease,
but they are quicker in their movements and their tails are not nearly
so lively; the method has reached perfection in the case of the getje
only. I am generally accompanied in my walks by my wife's little
fox terrier. She seldom catches a getje. When she jumps at one,
off flies the tail, which she invariably seizes as it plunges frantically
about, and the getje escapes. The getjes are of various colors, some
very handsome. Some kinds burrow holes in the sand, and these occa-
sionally take possession of deserted nests of the large trap-door spiders.
(I say deserted; they may, however, kill the spiders; but I do not
think they do.) They somewhat narrow the opening of the tube
just under the lid, to about the size of their body, but they leave
the lid intact and keep it in use, opening and shutting it (or allowing
it to shut itself) at will. On lifting a lid on one occasion, I found
the getje in the hole, peering out from under the slightly-gaping lid,
with its head just level with the surface of the ground — a very odd
sight. I dug down, and at the bottom of the hole found its egg, which
it was evidently guarding. On another occasion I found two at the
bottom of a large closed trap-door nest. The lid of a nest, when
occupied by the getje, does not close so perfectly as when occupied
by the spider, due perhaps to the narrowing of the opening. Though

148 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

generally held to be poisonous, these charming little lizards are really
quite harmless. Hottentots have a great dread of the getje, believing
that if it bites them, they will live just long enough to reach home,
01 at most till sundown.

Among this miscellaneous collection is a wasp (Mutilla), of which
I have found some twelve or fourteen kinds. The males are winged,
as usual with wasps, but the females are wingless. She has a red
thorax and a yellow-spotted hairy abdomen. She runs very quickly
among the karoo bushes, and, if alarmed, hides under them or buries
herself in the loose hot sand at their roots. She has to be handled
carefully, as she has a very powerful sting. She also stridulates, no
doubt a call to her flying mate who, by the way, cannot sting. I have
found only three males (one dead in a Stegodyphus nest), but the
males are very rare. I do not know why the females are wingless and
the sexes so different in appearance. But the same thing occurs with
some grasshoppers; I have one kind particularly in my mind, the
female of which is dark, huge and heavy, with only rudimentary wings,
while the male is small, slight, smart, brick red and a splendid flyer.
The variety of grasshoppers and ants here is extraordinary, and the
protective shapes and colors are most wonderful. Such protective
devices are, of course, quite a feature of the fauna of the bare and
stony karoo; but no one who had not seen them could believe how
efficacious they are. Even a trained eye may lose an insect while look-
ing at it.

Passing on to scorpions, the four species found here embrace three
genera. One kind (Opisthophthahnus austerus), a burrower, is very
common; one may catch fifty almost any day. They grow to six or
seven inches in length and are pugnacious and poisonous. Most
Opisthophthalmi dig holes from one to two feet deep, sometimes but not
generally under stones, with the opening oval-shaped like a human
eye; but 0. austerus here is, as far as my experience goes, invariably
found under stones by day, sometimes with only a shallow burrow
under the stone, at other times with a burrow ending in a hole which
varies in depth, often not being deep enough to hide the scorpion.
When you raise the stone you expose the scorpion, which runs to and
fro in its now roofless burrow, and, if it has sunk a hole, eventually dives
down into that, sometimes tail first. If you irritate these scorpions,
they tilt the hind part of the body forward and up by straightening
their hind legs under it; then jerking it quickly and stridulating
angrily, they rush at you; and most ugly creatures they are — all nip-
Tpers and sting. The stridulating sound is produced by rubbing the
jaws which are lined with short, stiff, yellow hairs against the front
edge of the head-plate. The male closely resembles the female up

SOME ARACHNIDS AT HANOVER, CAPE COLONY. 149

to the last molt, but after that he is longer and slenderer and has
longer and slenderer hands (nippers), but he is quicker and more
vicious. 0. austerus is handsomely marked; the back is dark brown,
the sides purple sometimes greenish, and the hands often a rich mix-
ture of red and brown. Scorpions have an organ, like two small
delicate white wings, attached underneath the body between and in a
line with the last pair of legs, which in the male is toothed along the
back edge to the base, while in the female the last quarter is not
toothed ; its functions are unknown, but it is some delicate sense organ
presumably.

The other kinds of scorpions found here do not call for special
remark, though it may be noted that one of them (Parabuthus
neglectus, Pure.) was not thought to occur so far east. There is,
however, a very interesting pseudo-scorpion, a small tailless creature,
otherwise much like a scorpion, found under stones and in sand, which
has the curious habit of burying itself in the sand, and then, when it
wishes to change its quarters and opportunity offers, it seizes a bee or
fly by the leg and is thus strangely transported through the air by the
flying insect.

Scorpions are of course viviparous and carry their young when
small on their back.

The next group, the Solifugre, is a very interesting one. The
Dutch call them Jacht Spinnekoppen or Haar Scheerders, and, as
usual, these are the names by which the Solifugge are generally known
in South Africa. Except that the Solifugse are not spiders (though,
outside of scientific circles, held to be so in South Africa), Jacht
Spinnekop (hunting spider) is a very appropriate name, for, to the
casual observer, they resemble spiders, and they are mighty hunters.
Haar Scheerder (hair shearer) is even more appropriate. They are
called Haar Scheerders because of their two enormous 'shears.' Many
a person believes that, if they get into your hair, you will not get them
out again until they have shorn it all off; others believe that they
wait until you are asleep and then come and cut your hair off to build
their nests with — imaginery operations, suggested no doubt by the
name and the shape of the jaws.

I know of no creature which, for its size, is so terribly armed as the
Jacht Spinnekop; practically the whole of its huge head is trans-
formed into two pairs of terrible nippers of quite extraordinary size
and power. These nippers run straight forward, the eyes being placed
just where they emerge above. Each pair of nippers has its own inde-
pendent nipping action, and, in addition, each has an independent
up-and-down and backward-and-forward motion, giving the jaws an
awful tearing power, so that, as soon as the prey is seized, it is ripped
into pieces.

i5o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

The 'Tommies' along the railway sometimes make one of these
creatures fight with a scorpion. They place the combatants in some
slippery vessel so that they can not run out. The scorpion is nearly
always much the larger and heavier and has, in addition to its long
arms and powerful nippers, a deadly sting. Yet it not infrequently
happens that the Jacht Spinnekop comes off victorious, for it seizes
the scorpion in its terrible shears and tears a huge hole in it with a
quickness and force against which the scorpion is often powerless.

I have a fine large one before me as I write, nearly three inches
long (from tip of jaws to end of abdomen), whose jaws alone are more
than a quarter of its length, and are, across in front of the eyes, the
broadest and solidest part of the whole creature. It is not poisonous;
it needs no poison with such terrible jaws.

Passing from the most obvious feature of the Solifugge, one re-
marks several other unique characteristics. In spiders, there are, in
front of the first pair of legs, two feelers, one on each side of the head,
called palps, shorter than the legs, except in very rare instances ; in the
scorpion, these palps become long arms with powerful nippers at the
ends, and there are no delicate feelers; in the Solifugse, these palps
become long, stout and leg-like, with suckers at the ends for holding
cr climbing, while there is the very interesting further development
that the first pair of legs have ceased to be legs and have become thin,
delicate feelers. But there is yet another development, if possible
even more interesting still. Along the lower side of the last pair
of legs are little white oval plates, supported at regular intervals on
short stalks. These delicate little pedestals are sense organs of un-
known function; it is possible they are organs of scent, enabling this
great hunter to track his prey as he rushes along on the spoor.

Of the SolifugaB I have found some ten or twelve kinds, some be-
longing to genera hitherto very rare in South Africa. Dcesia is the
rarest of the known genera here, and the local species is new. The
first male found was only the second of the genus in the South
African Museum collection. Dcesia is smallish and of a light, almost
transparent, yellowish tint, and nocturnal in its habits. By day one
finds them (if lucky enough to do so) under stones. Blossia, of which
the species found is also new, is smaller than Dcesia and of a delicate
pink color; of these I have found several females, but only one male.
Another form is a tiny black one, belonging to an undescribed species
and genus, and not more than a quarter of an inch long.

But I pass on to the genus Solpuga, in which the large kinds,
diurnal and nocturnal, are found. When one first sees one of them
on the veld, especially the commonest (S. chelicornis) , one can hardly
believe it is not a beautiful karoo flower. This Solpuga is about two

SOME ARACHNIDS AT HANOVER, CAPE COLONY. 151

inches long (exclusive of legs) when full grown, and of a most brilliant
yellow, with a heavy black band down the back of the abdomen, while
the legs are covered with long yellow hair, which, in the male, be-
comes a distinct mane and is iridescent. As it lies on the sand on a
hot day, sparkling in the sunshine, it is a most exquisite creature.
Touch it, and away it darts; catch it — and take care it doesn't catch
you! The male of this Solpuga may be distinguished from the female
by two little curved horns, like wires, more than a quarter of an inch
long, one on top of each pair of nippers near the points. If you watch
a Solpuga closely, you may see its sides palpitating rapidly, even
violently if you hold it in your hand. Like all active, high-strung,
quick-breathing creatures, the Solifugse perish almost instantaneously
when immersed in spirits, while large scorpions and large Harpactirae
will live for two or three hours. Another Solpuga has a yellow
cephalothorax and a red abdomen, another is wholly yellow with spikes
on its legs.* Very little is known with regard to their methods of
reproduction and the nurture of their young. They are great bur-
rowers, but do not make regular holes apparently, and they lie
dormant underground during the winter. They are a feature of the
thirsty veld and the blazing sun.

Coming now to spiders, and dealing first with the four-lunged
group, one may remark that the lung plates are very obvious as four
yellowish or pinkish discs on the fore part of the lower side of the
abdomen (as are the two discs in the two-lunged genera). The
largest here are the Theraphosidas, known in South Africa by the
Dutch name, Baviaan Spinnekoppen (baboon spiders). I have been
able to discover only one kind here, a new Harpactira. The adults,
with their legs extended, are roughly as large as a man's hand. Their
huge bodies and long powerful legs are covered closely with long hair,
which is almost identical in color with the hairy coat of a baboon —
hence, perhaps, the appropriate name; putting aside the fact that
baboons, who turn stones over in search of scorpions and insects of
various kinds, are said to be very partial to them. They are poisonous
and have very large and powerful fangs directed backwards and sub-
parallel. When these fangs, which ordinarily lie tucked backwards
under the cephalothorax, are shot forward and opened apart, the huge
hairy spider has a dreadful appearance. The pads on the legs (ex-
tending along the lower side of the two end joints and over the tips)
are soft and clingy, like the skin of a monkey's hand, and iridescent.
Baviaan Spinnekoppen are nocturnal, living by day under stones in

* These two species, and possibly one or two others, are probably new,
but this cannot be determined for certain until the males are caught, and, aa
yet, I have caught only the females.

152 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

burrows, which sometimes end in a hole or a cup-like depression in
the ground and are beautifully lined with soft, white silk. Very large
spiders are nearly always under large heavy stones; one might almost
say that the size of the stone varies as the size of the spider. They
prefer the stones on the flats or rands or the boulders at the foot of
the kopjes. Occasionally they sink a hole an inch and a half in
diameter in the open karoo soil and spin strands of web across its
mouth. In one such hole I dug up an adult female with her num-
erous young, and it was a curious sight to see the young swarming over
the great spider. The hole dropped perpendicularly for about six
inches and ran at right angles for another foot. The lairs of these
spiders are always strewn with bodies of beetles, large and small,
eloquent evidences of the sad tragedies that are enacted in insect life.
The new Harpactira is common at Hanover, though one does not often
find really fine examples of adults. The adult males are rarer than the
females, from which they may be distinguished by their slighter bodies
and longer legs and by a peculiar pear-shaped spine at the ends of
the palps.

We now come to the regular trap-door spiders, the Ctenizidse, that
sink a cylindrical silk-lined tube into the earth and affix a hinged lid
to the opening. Of these I have found seven species, all of them,
I believe, new. Perhaps the greatest interest gathers round a new
Hermachastes. At Cape Town, the representative of this genus has
hitherto invariably been found by Dr. Purcell with a trap-door to its
hole, but the Hanover species has made a new departure. I have dug
up over a hundred, I should think, and have never yet found one with
a door. Some have escape blind side chambers, but I have been
unable to find a door, either inside or outside. On the contrary, they
have the uniform habit of building up a tube with irregular rim, pro-
jecting above the ground and varying in height from being just per-
ceptible to a perpendicular regularly cylindrical funnel about an inch
and a half high, the average height being more than half an inch.
These projecting tubes are built of leaves, pieces of grass or small
sticks, and are bound together and lined inside with white web, which
extends throughout the length of the underground hole. This habit,
as far as regular trap-door spiders are concerned, was, up to this dis-
covery, quite unknown in South Africa; though I believe there are
trap-door spiders in northern Africa which apparently build a similar
projecting tube. I have not yet found the adult male of this
Hermachastes, which probably lives under stones by day — a habit com-
mon to the males of this family; but the making of the nest as
described has been established with regard to adult females, males up
to the last molt, and the young of both sexes.

SOME ARACHNIDS AT HANOVER, CAPE COLONY. 153

What has made this spider abandon its trap-door nest and adopt
the projecting tube habit? The karoo is dry and dusty and wind
swept, and so one can easily understand why an underground, doorless
hole should have a projecting funnel; but this will hardly account for
the abandoning of the trap-door.

One may note, however, that one of the most common spiders here
is a Lycosa (L. subvittata) which sinks a hole in the ground with
projecting tube with irregular rim. A trained eye can generally
detect the difference between these two nests at a glance, though some-
times even such an eye will be at fault; but, to the untrained eye, the
projecting tubes are so much alike that they are, in the majority of
cases, indistinguishable. Now, this Lycosa belongs to a wholly dif-
ferent family of spiders, in the two-lunged group; it is a less hand-
some, smaller spider, pugnacious when handled and remarkably active
and wary — unlike Hermachastes, which is slow and dull. Can it be
a case of imitation, and that Hermachastes has adopted the habit of
building a nest like L. subvittata in a part of the country where this
tube-building Lycosa is common all over the veld? The interest
deepens, as will be seen, when I come to describe the habits of another
Lycosa.

There is another trap-door spider, Hermacha (also a new species),
closely allied to Hermachastes, which also has a doorless hole but no
projecting tube. Its hole, which is sometimes ten inches deep and
beautifully lined with white silk, just ends straight off, level with
the surface of the ground. Frequently, however, the opening has
a delicate, smoke-like web curtain spun across it, which effectually
prevents dust getting into it and bars the way to such enemies as do
not dig the spider out. Dr. Purcell thinks this habit may be merely
the spider's way of shutting itself in when moulting, but it seems to
me to occur too frequently and the inmate to be too lively for the
acceptance of such an explanation. Hermacha builds in stiff clayey
(brak) soil, which cakes like a stone when dry. When dug up, it
shows fight, rearing itself up, raising its legs, and throwing forward
and parting its fangs so that a bright red gap is exposed between
them. The nest of Hermacha was unknown until I found it here.

Passing by several new and interesting species of this family, we
come to perhaps its most representative members, the large spiders
that make the largest and strongest doors. Of these I have found
three species here, two new Stasimopus and one new Gorgyrella (a
new genus, recently named by Dr. Purcell.) These two forms are
closely allied and superficially bear a strong resemblance to each other,
except that, generally, Stasimopus has a darker cephalothorax and
legs. They are slow in their movements, large, with powerful digging
teeth and stout, strong, shortish legs. Their silk-lined holes are prac-

iS4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

tically alike, generally dropping almost perpendicularly into the earth
for about six to nine inches, with the opening a little larger than the
rest of the cylinder; but the doors are different. Stasimopus has a
thick cork-like door, with bevelled edge, which fits into the hole, being
a little larger at the top than at the bottom. The thickness of the
door of Gorgyrella varies; sometimes it is cork-like (though not so
thick as the thickest Stasimopus lids), and, at other times, thin and
not so firm and solid, in which case its bevelled edge is not so pro-
nounced, and it more overlaps the edge of the hole. The lids of both
are always on bare ground, covered with earth, and just flush with the
surrounding surface. But there is one essential, and, as far as my
experience goes, constant variation in the lids; that of Stasimopus is
round, with a slighter hinge, which does not apparently break into
the outline of the circle, while that of Gorgyrella is an incomplete
circle, more or less D-shaped, with a broad, strong hinge. In the
case of both, the silk that forms the hinge is so arranged as to act
as an elastic spring which closes the door automatically. (The nest
of Gorgyrella was unknown until I found it here, but I have sent
some good specimens — as well as many other nests — to the museum,
where they may be compared with those of Stasimopus ; the spider
itself is unrepresented — or at any rate unrecorded — in any European
museums.)

It is only the females and young that build these nests; the adult
males of the whole family are supposed to live under stones. Both
sexes are nocturnal in their habits. The females are common but
difficult to find; the males, however, are extremely rare; the male of
Gorgyrella has never yet been found. I found one male Stasimopus,
which was the second specimen in the South African Museum collec-
tion, only one other specimen — that in the British Museum — having
been recorded previously. He is hardly recognizable as being what
he is, for he is small (about half an inch long), black, with greatly
elongated palps. He cuts a very diminutive figure beside his huge and
powerful consort.

Among my Gorgyrella finds recently have been two with cocoons
and one with young. It would seem that, when the eggs are laid and
until the young are strong, the female shuts herself up in the hole;
for in all three cases I found the lid closed down securely. The hole
containing the mother and young was actually so fastened down that
I had to tear it open all round the edge. I am not sure that the
other two were also stitched down, but the ground had caked round
the edges, effectually fastening them down.

These nests are difficult to discover, indeed almost impossible,
except after rain, when, if you know where to look and what to look
for, you may find a good many; for the holes being hollow, the lids

SOME ARACHNIDS AT HANOVER, CAPE COLONY. 155

dry before the surrounding earth and show as lighter colored discs.*
One needs a little practice, however, even then. The spider is gen-
erally at the bottom of the hole, but sometimes, when she hears any-
thing stirring at the lid, she rushes up, digs her claws into it (the
lid of Stasimopus has a double circle of holes on the inside, into
which the claws are inserted), presses her body against one side of
the tube and her legs against the other, and holds the door shut with
a strength that is simply amazing. Then you may dig her out easily,
by removing only a couple of inches of the tube. If you take the
piece of earth which contains the spider holding the door shut, and
prod her from the back, she will rush partly out of the door and look
around, but she generally keeps a claw of a back leg fixed in the lid,
by means of which she can, up to the last moment, withdraw herself
again like a flash, so that you may occasionally hear the door slam,
if you have good ears and listen carefully ! I once hurriedly tried
to drag one away while she had her claw fast in the lid, and she
parted with her leg rather than lose her last chance of retreat. When
she does let go, the door closes of its own accord by means of its
spring hinge.

Their chief enemy here is a burrowing animal, a 'mierkat' (Sur-
icata tetradactyla) , I think, which destroys a great number of them,
•discovering them by scent, no doubt.

Some South African trap-door spiders have become climbers. The
family Migidse have, in some instances, become tree trap-door spiders,
where they are safe from some of their hereditary enemies and are
•equally well off for food. They build oval sack-like nests, one to
two inches long, under stones or on trees, and cover them externally
with "moss, lichens, etc., and place a trap-door at one end — a very
interesting adaptation. I have found one new species of the genus
Moggridgea here, but have not yet discovered its nest.

Coming now to the two-lunged spiders, with opposite fangs (which
•comprise the great majority of spiders), a notable one is Latrodectus,
which has the most evil reputation in South Africa. It is black
with medium long legs and a globular abdomen. (The male is much
the smaller and has a thin abdomen.) Fortunately this poisonous
spider has a warning color, a red flag showing danger at hand ! On
the back of the abdomen she has a bright red spot (or spots or stripes).
She builds a bell-like nest, about three inches long, in a small bush.
At the bottom of the bell, which hangs mouth downwards, the web is
very fine and open, and from the mouth radiate web strands. As
the webbing approaches the top of the bell, it becomes closer woven,
until, for about the last inch or so, it is quite opaque and often cov-

* This method was suggested by Mr. Charles Groom.

156 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

ered with small stones, some of them astonishingly large in proportion
to the size of the spider, which she has carried up one by one from
the ground. There the deadly spider lurks invisible. If you touch
the nest, she rushes out, a beautiful creature, with the red patch
blazing on her back like fire.

A charming little spider is a Nemoscolus (one of the Argiopidse),
which makes a curled nest just like a tiny bugle, within which she
lurks. If you walk over the flats, you will see these little bugles sus-
pended upright, mouth downwards, on the karoo bushes, about a foot
from the ground. The 'bugle' is kept in position by means of about
five powerful strands, tightly strained in different directions, and
from its mouth radiates a beautiful little geometric web, hung over the'
ground like a tiny parasol. If you take hold of the bugle, the spider
rushes to its mouth, gives a quick glance round, and then drops to'
the earth like a plumet, where she lies, feigning death, and is by no
means easy to discover.

Another genus of the same family is Argiope, which spins a good-
sized geometric web with a light pyramidal tangle below it. A
favorite site is the open mouth of an ant-bear hole. She sits in the
middle of the web, back downwards. The abdomen is large, and
somewhat flat with deeply serrated edges, and both it and the cephalo-
thorax, which is slight and to some extent overhung by the abdomen,.
are whitish or whitish-yellow above and darkly speckled brown and
yellow below, while the legs are longish and definitely banded. If she'
hung back upwards, the white would betray her, but with the lower
side up it is wonderful how inconspicuous she is against the ruddy
soil of the karoo. If alarmed she shakes the web until it vibrates with
astonishing rapidity, so that she becomes merely a haze; and then she
drops to the earth, where she either lies still on her back or clings:
to a small twig low down, presenting the speckled side to the pursuer,,
remaining motionless and well hidden.

Yet a third genus of this family may be mentioned. Cyrtophora
is often found in prickly pear (Opuntia) hedges. Here she builds
a large geometric web with a dense pyramidal tangle below it, both
composed of thread of immense strength. The color varies with'
these spiders and is of considerable beauty. The abdomen is notched'
above and projects over the cephalothorax to such an extent that the
spider has quite a hunch-backed appearance. Like Argiope, she hangs-
back downwards in the middle of the web, with the pyramidal tangle
below her. The threads of her web and tangle are so strong and the-
prickly pear hedges are at times so densely covered with them that
the long stick with which one plucks the sweet ripe fruit often becomes-
so coated with the powerful strands and so impeded thereby that it
cannot be used effectively till cleaned.

SOME ARACHNIDS AT HANOVER, CAPE COLONY. 157

Selenops, one of the Clubionidae, is notable for the lightning-like
rapidity of its movements. It is a singularly flat spider of a speckled
reddish-brown color, almost exactly like that of the dolerite rocks on
the kopjes where it is found. Its legs are long and distinctly banded,
giving the whole spider a mottled appearance. When you turn up a
stone under which it is, you will find it, clinging back downwards to the
lower side. The moment it becomes alarmed it begins to run, sidewise,
with a circular motion, first in one direction, then in another, with such
astounding rapidity that it becomes just a blur on the stone; and then
it flashes sidewise over the edge.

We come now to perhaps the most interesting finds, which concern
two of the Lycosidae and one of the Eresidae.

It was long held to be an established fact that no two-lunged spiders
were trap-door makers; even up to the present, it seems that only a
couple of instances had been observed of two-lunged spiders construct-
ing trap-doors to their nests, and these only in the family Lycosidae
(one in South Africa, one in North Africa and one in Eussia). But
the finds at Hanover have clearly established the trap-door habit as a
regular thing in the case of two species of South African Lycosidae
(one of which may or may not be identical with L. domicola, the South
African instance above referred to) and one species of Eresidae. I
have found many of these nests and have sent specimens to the South
African Museum.*

The Lycosidae are numerous and common throughout South Africa.
One finds them in great numbers under stones, in the projecting tube
nests and running about the veld. I have found fourteen species
here, varying greatly in color and shape, and in size from one eighth
of an inch to about an inch in length. Ten of these are new.

Lycosa subvittata has already been mentioned as building the nest
with projecting tube, closely resembling that of the new Hermachastes.
The underground holes of these two nests differ considerably, mainly
perhaps in the fact that, whereas that of Hermachastes is regularly
cylindrical and beautifully white-silk-lined throughout, that of
L. subvittata is not silk-lined at all but only brown-webbed for about
an inch at the top and is not regularly cylindrical. It is not, how-
ever, necessary to compare the holes in detail here; the interest is now
in connection with the web-lined, irregularly rimmed, projecting
tubes, whose essential differences may be briefly noted. The tube of
the Lycosa is generally shorter, greater in diameter and untidier in
appearance than that of the Hermachastes, and, while it often slants

* It is remarkable that, while I was laying the facts of the first trap-door
Lycosa before Dr. Purcell, he should have established at Cape Town the trap-
door habit in the case of Cydrela, one of the Zodariidse, another two-lunged
family.

158 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

and gapes and is not a true cylinder, that of the Hermachastes is neat,
upright and regularly cylindrical. But the nests frequently occur
side by side in the same ground and are almost identical in appear-
ance. For instance, I recently found a nest of the Lycosa whose pro-
jecting tube was two inches high and so like that of the Hermachastes
that I had to dig it up to ascertain for certain which spider was the
builder.

Thus we have the interesting fact that a true trap-door spider
here has abandoned its trap-door making and adopted the projecting
tube habit characteristic of a Lycosa common to this part of the
country ; while, on the other hand, we have the equally interesting fact
that two species of Lycosa have abandoned the habits of their tribe and
family and have become regular trap-door makers.

The commoner and smaller of these two trap-door Lycosa is a
very alert, often ruddy, spider with banded legs. It makes a hole
which is generally a true cylinder and deeper than the hole of L.
subvittata, and at the opening it always has a door. The doors are
thin lids, firm, cup-like in shape, and are attached to the rim of
the hole by several almost invisible strands of web. So delicate are
these strands (which serve as a hinge, being affixed at several points
to the edge of the lid), that I almost invariably move the lid with
the point of my knife to ascertain whether it is fixed; for it some-
times comes loose and lies at varying short distances from the mouth
of the hole (remaining in use all the time apparently — though of
this I am not quite sure). The spider closes the lid in the heat of
the day, with the concave, web-lined side down, and opens it late in
the afternoon and early in the morning, but so late and so early that
it may be said to be open only during the night; though, before the
weather became very hot and dry, it was common to see small lids
open during the day. Sometimes the lid is attached, on the upper
side, to a stone or stick or leaf, but generally it is just covered with
earth and lies almost flush with the ground. It is practically undis-
coverable when closed. It may be noted that the trap-door Lycosa
is apparently (perhaps only when young) not wholly nocturnal, and
that many have been found under stones, also that the adult male is as
much a trap-door maker as the female, and that, when the spider comes
from the hole, it opens the door and leaves it lying beside the open-
ing with concave side up — all habits which are certainly not shared
by the Ctenizidae and are apparently peculiar to itself.*

The Lycosidse are an interesting family in other respects. The
female, when about to lay her eggs, makes a neat cup with circular

* I have described the commoner trap-door Lycosa, because I have had
greater opportunities of observing it; but, as far as my observation goes, the
description applies equally to the larger and less common trap-door species.

SOME ARACHNIDS AT HANOVER, CAPE COLONY. 159

rim, in which she deposits her eggs, heaped up. She then makes a
similar cup which she inverts over them, after which she encloses
the eggs between them by soldering them together round the rims.
The whole ball of eggs is then spun over with whity-brown silk and
attached to the spinners at the end of the abdomen, to be carried about
till the young emerge, which crawl out and on to the mother's back,
where they remain in a great cluster and are carried about by her for
several weeks. She presents an odd spectacle as she rushes about with
her numerous progeny on her back.

The Lycosidse as a family are rovers and do not make regular nests,
and this is why the females carry first the egg sacks and then the
young about with them. But it is interesting to note that the habit
of attaching the egg sack to the spinners (and no doubt also of carry-
ing the young about) persists in the projecting- tube builder and in
the trap-door species, although the paramount necessity for doing
so apparently no longer exists.

The female Lycosa is said to be often curiously dainty about the
color of the silk she uses for the inner cup; it is frequently of some
bright color, say orange, while the rims are cemented with silk of
some other gay color, say bright green. Sometimes she uses as many
as four different colors. But, after all this trouble, she has to cover
up her gaudy and attractive cocoon with some dull-covered silk, so
as not to attract the notice of flies and wasps on the lookout for a
nest of fat eggs in which to deposit an egg or two of their own.

My finds in Eresidse cover five species. Several of them, belonging
to Eresus and Dresserus, found under stones in dense tangles of web,
are very slow in their movement and feign death when exposed; one
of them is a large creature with an abdomen nearly an inch long and
half an inch broad, resembling a huge cattle tick in shape and color
(a brownish or bluish slate), even to the puncture-like marks on the
back. Of the other species, one is Stegodyphus; you may see their
dense ball-like yellow nests on the karoo bushes, with powerful strands
binding them in all directions. At least one species of Stegodyphus
is social, but the local form lives solitary or in pairs.

Another is perhaps the most interesting Hanover find. A neigh-
boring Dutch farmer (who carefully obtains the Latin name of every
species he brings, and who has been a most useful contributor) asked
me if I knew of a small 'licht bruin' (light brown) spider that made
a double door. Neither I nor any one else, so far as I know, had ever
heard of such a thing. But my friend was not far wrong. Where
there are ijzer-kopjes (kopjes of dolerite boulders) there are generally,
somewhere on the gentle slopes of the flat at the foot, patches of
gritty red sand, composed largely of the disintegrated dolerite. The

i6o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTH/ v.

sand is loose and desert-like for about two inches in depth, after
which it meets sand finer in grain and baked hard. The larger grit
lies on the surface. If you look carefully at these patches, you may
see a delicate outline, shaped like a butterfly's wings, traced on the
red sand, one pair of 'wings' being generally larger than the ether,
as is the case with a real butterfly. The impression is very beautiful
and fairy-like. These 'wings,' which are covered with gritty red
sand and lie flush with the surface of the ground, are generally about
an inch and a quarter square, the longest measurement being across
the front pair. If you insert the blade of your knife under the
smaller wings, you may turn the lid over its hinge, which is on the side
of the larger pair. This needs to be done carefully, for the lid is limp
and delicate and easily doubles up and loses it shape; the operation
is somewhat suggestive of tossing a pancake. You expose a smooth
bare spot, shaped like the double wings, nearly in the middle of which
is the hole.

Though this butterfly lid is about an inch and a quarter square,
the hole is hardly, if anything, more than an eighth of an inch in
diameter. It is situated almost under the middle of the lid, just
below what corresponds to the thorax of the butterfly. The lid is
attached to the side of the hole towards the head of the butterfly,
and the attachment is restricted to the width of the thorax, leaving
the whole outline of the wings free. The hole, which is from two to
three inches deep and beautifully brown-webbed throughout, runs
straight into the ground at an acute angle under the hinge. The side
of the opening opposite the hinge slants, and on the slant, attached
to the web lining of the hole, lies a small, loose, felt-like flap.

It must be remembered that

~wv~, i...n„n^ ^L...?l T, the large ' butterfly ' lid is never

/v=E --' raised — indeed, cannot be raised —

=W^I| by the spider ; for she is not strong

^^f^-P^fi enough, and, if she were, it would

ijjBggdljf Je^S^^s^ double up and lose its shape. So

IJIlllJitAp1^ it always remains flat on the

ground, covering the hole and the

Median Section op Nest of New Trap- -, » , , , , » . ,

dook eresid. a-a>. Extent of lid across ground for more than half an inch
hole ; c-c, Extent of ' wings ' on each side all around it. The spider creeps

of hole; A, Where hinge is affixed; B, -. , -, ., »

Flaps; a Blind side chamber. m and out underneath, as from

under a blanket; you can trace its
passage by a little wave rippling along under the sand-covered wings.
The flap, I think, has two purposes. First, it affords the little
spider a means of easy ingress and egress to the hole under the lid;
it is firm and felt-like to give the spider a good hold for her feet
over the loose shifting sand, and it is slanting to enable her gradually

SOME ARACHNIDS AT HANOVER, CAPE COLONY. 161

to overcome the downward pressure of the large lid; if the hole were
perpendicular, the spider would have difficulty in levering herself over
the edge against the weight of the lid, and, if the exit were not slant-
ing and there were no flap, the loose, gritty sand would give way under
her feet as she strove to get out. The little felt-like flap leads her
gradually on to level ground, where she can easily make her way in
any direction to the edge of the lid.

Secondly, the flap can, in case of necessity, serve as a make-shift
door. If you tear the lid off and wait a little while, you will see
the front legs of the spider emerge at A and pull at any fragment of
hinge left, in order to close the hole temporarily; if she fails at this,
she will pull up the flap, which, as I have said, is loose and just long
enough to close and conceal the hole admirably. It is interesting to
note that the spider always comes up facing A, which results in her
being pretty well concealed while closing the hole; whereas, if she
came up facing B, the slant would, to a considerable extent, expose
her. This would seem to indicate that the flap is resorted to as a
make-shift door only if the spider finds there is not enough web for
the purpose left from the torn-off hinge.

Sometimes if you sit and watch an undisturbed nest, you will
see the large 'butterfly' lid tremble, and then you will see the points
of the little legs appear at the edge as the spider throws out the re-
mains of a small ant or fly or some grains of sand. If you then
quickly remove the lid, she will pop round and hide under it on the
open ground. If exposed she lies perfectly still with her legs drawn
in, feigning death, and may be handled like a dead thing. As she
is very much the color of the loose sand, it is quite common to miss
her, unless great care be taken.

It will be seen that this wonderful little spider is far ahead of the
trap-door Lycosa in the complexity of her nest; but we have not yet
reached the limit of her intelligence. Often she builds a beautifully
webbed blind side-chamber, about half way down the hole, into which
she escapes, and which, when the sand is disturbed, collapses over
her and enfolds and hides her. I did not find the side chamber till
I sought for it carefully. It is a late development, and shows she
is no mere brilliant amateur like the Lycosa.

The trap-door eresid never, as far as I know, leaves the nest during
the day, and certainly never opens the door, but creeps in and out
under it, thus always leaving it closed. Neither do the adult males
make doors or live under ground. Digging shows females, adult and
young in the nests, but males only up to the last molt.

Here again comes a new and very interesting departure on the
part of the eresid. The male, which, for all practical purposes, is,

VOL. LXII.— 11.

i62 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

up to the last molt, identical with the female in size, color and
shape, becomes quite another being in every respect afterwards. The
female and immature males and young have a light brown cephalo-
thorax and legs and a smoky abdomen, the colors being not widely
different. But, after the last molt, the male is simply unrecog-
nizable. He emerges a handsome, very alert creature, that runs
about openly by day — a habit I think unknown in the Ctenizidae.
His magical change is no less radical in character than in appearance.
His cephalothorax and legs are black, except that the front pair of
legs, which are considerably elongated, have the fore parts white;
his abdomen is black underneath, with a thin band of black round
the sides, while the upper part is bright yellow. He moves alertly,
often in a series of short rushes, and, if interfered with, does not
feign death, like the rest of the eresidse, but fights promptly and
viciously, raising his body in front, lifting his forelegs on high and
shaking the white parts angrily at you. To anything near his size
he must be a most terrifying object.

Now, why this wonderful change in appearance and habits? Why
he has adopted the habit of running about by day, I do not know.
But, having done so, I cannot help thinking that his changed appear-
ance and habits may have been evolved as a protection to him. At
the time of the year when he appears, a very vicious ant (Camponotus
fulvipilosus) is common over the veld during the day. The adult
male eresid closely resembles this ant in color and style of movement.
The ant, like the eresid, has a black head, thorax and legs and a
yellow abdomen, and it moves in rushes. The resemblance is so close
that, when I first saw the eresid, I took it, for a moment, to be the
ant, and when I sent it to Dr. Purcell I described it as 'ant-like.'

No such spider as this eresid was previously known in South
Africa. Dr. Purcell says it forms a new genus. I have sent several
of its nests in situ to Cape Town. This could be done sucessfully
only by melting hard paraffin and then pouring it into the sand
around the nest, letting it soak up to the lid. Then, when the
paraffin had hardened in the sand and bound it together, the nest
could be removed in perfect order. The paraffin may be removed
from the lid by treating it with warm oil of turpentine. Dr. Purcell
will some day give detailed descriptions of all the interesting spiders
and other things I have chatted about, with sketches of them and
the nests in situ, and then we shall be able to call them by the names
they will receive from him. Meanwhile I have thought a popular
account of some Hanover arachnids might prove interesting.

ZOOLOGY IN AMERICA. 163

ZOOLOGY IN AMERICA.

By Pkofessor T. D. A. COCKERELL,

EAST LAS VEGAS, NEW MEXICO.

THE articles in the North American Review of January and Febru-
ary on the condition of science in America have naturally aroused
a good deal of attention, but no attempt seems to have been made to
determine our exact position in any one branch of science. Feeling
that the criticisms offered did not apply justly to American zoology, I
sought to obtain more exact data upon the subject. Fortunately we
have the annual volume of the Zoological Record, which enumerates
very fully the zoological contributions of each year, omitting only
those which are of little or no value. This work, ably edited by Dr. D.
Sharp, is published by the Zoological Society of London, and therefore
cannot be suspected of enumerating an undue proportion of American
articles. As a matter of fact, it errs somewhat in omitting several
works published in this country, which cannot easily be obtained in
London; while no doubt its list of European writings is very complete.
The latest volume of the Zoological Record to hand contains the
titles for 1900, including also a small proportion of papers accidentally
omitted from previous volumes. I have extracted from this volume
the following data :

Per cent, of

Division.

Total titles.

American titles.

American titles

General subject,

763

112

14

Mammals,

346

68

19.6

Birds,

580

105

18

Reptiles and Amphibians,

239

33

13

Fishes,

235

32

13.6

Mollusca,

588

148

25

Brachiopods,

48

13

27

Bryozoa,

30

9

30

Crustacea,

192

17

8.8 .

Arachnida,

131

13

9.9

Myriapoda,

35

1

2.8

Prototracheata,

16

1

6.2

Insects,

1431

235

16

Echinoderms,

370

56

15

Worms,

345

50

14

Ccelenterates,

106

26

24

Sponges,

83

19

21

Protozoa,

167

17

10

1 64 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

I have included among the American titles those published in
Europe by residents of America, except when there was reason to be-
lieve that they might have been prepared during visits to Europe. I
have included papers published in Canada, and one or two from Mexico,
but if these were deducted they would not (except in the case of the
sponges) materially affect the result. Of course it must be acknowl-
edged that the titles indicate contributions of every size and degree of
merit; but as I have looked them over, it has seemed to me that ours
were not inferior in quality or size to those of other countries.

The editor of the Popular Science Monthly (March, p. 476) has
justly remarked that we ought not to expect to equal the rest of the
world in our product ; and in his opinion if we contribute one seventh
we are doing our share. It will be seen from the above list that we
actually are contributing approximately this amount in most of the
divisions of zoology, while in some groups the proportion is greater.
This conclusion agrees well with the impression gained by the writer
through his experience of zoology and zoologists both in England
and America.

It may be worth while to add some particulars regarding the
workers who represent zoology in America to-day.

General Subject. — The list for 1900 includes 82 workers, and the names
of Alexander Agassiz, Calvert, Davenport, B. Dean, Eigenniann, Eisen, Gill,
Hyatt, Kingsley, Loeb, Minot, H. F. Osborn, Peckham, Pilsbry and Wilson
are as familiar to European zoologists as they are to us. Many of the papers
both here and in other groups are the work of the great body of University
students, prepared under the guidance of leading zoologists, of whom C. B.
Davenport, of Chicago, is especially conspicuous for his large following.

Mammalia. — 26 workers, of whom J. A. Allen, D. G. Elliott, C. H. Mer-
riam and H. F. Osborn are perhaps the most widely known. The study of the
mammals in this country is being carried on with a zeal and industry which
finds no parallel in any previous period; and the careful investigation of the
geographical races is giving us material of the greatest value in the study of
evolution. The credit for this revival is mainly due to Merriam; and the
Europeans, who at first ridiculed his methods, are beginning to follow in his
footsteps. American mammalogists have also begun to compete vigorously with
Europeans in the study of old-world mammals, and G. S. Miller has even
described a number of new ones from Europe.

Birds. — 66 workers, including J. A. Allen, F. M. Chapman, E. Coues (now
dead), R. Ridgway, R. W. Shufeldt and many others well-known in both
hemispheres. We have a first-class journal (The Auk) devoted to birds, to-
gether with a number of minor ones.

Reptiles and, Batrachia. — 29 workers; the titles including the great work
on North American reptiles by the late E. D. Cope. Our principal writer now
living is Stejneger of the National Museum.

Fishes. — 22 writers; the titles include a part of the great work on the
fishes of North America, by Jordan and Evermann. The American fishes have
been and are being very thoroughly studied; and Dr. Jordan, with several
helpers, is making known the fish-faunae of Japan and the Hawaiian Islands.

ZOOLOGY IN AMERICA. 165

Mollusca. — 58 workers, of whom Pilsbry and Dall, in particular, are in
the very front rank. H. A. Pilsbry in 1900 published 36 papers, besides three
others in cooperation with different workers, and at the same time continued
the great Manual of Conchology, which is a monograph of the mollusca of the
world. W. H. Dall published 15 papers, and the great value of his work on
the bivalves, in particular, is recognized in every country. Other prominent
names are those of Beecher, C. T. Simpson, Stearns, Sterki, Verrill, Bush and
Whitfield. It must be confessed that there is a lack of good workers on the
Pacific coast, though amateur collectors are quite numerous, and are contin-
ually discovering wonderful things, which are mostly described by Eastern
conchologists.

Tunicata. — There is one paper by Verrill, of Yale, but Professor W. E.
Ritter, of the University of California, has this group practically to himself
in this country. He is preparing an elaborate work on the numerous species
of the Pacific coast, which at present are almost wholly unknown.

Brachiopoda. — Ten workers; the work relates almost entirely to the fossil
forms.

Bryozoa. — Eight workers. J. M. Nickles and R. S. Bassler give a synopsis
of all the American fossil species, in a work of G63 pages. The principal work
on living species is in two papers by Miss Alice Robertson, who has found the
Pacific coast prolific in interesting forms.

Crustacea. — Thirteen writers, of whom the two most active are both women
— Miss M. J. Rathbun and Miss H. Richardson, of the National Museum.

Arachnida (Spiders, Scorpions, Mites, etc.). — Only about five workers.
This group is much neglected in this country, but Nathan Banks, of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture, is industrious enough to count for two; while the work
of the Peckhams on hunting-spiders is not to be forgotten.

Myriapoda (Centipedes). — Only one paper in 1900, and that bibliographic!
In former years 0. F. Cook has done important work, but his attention is now
diverted elsewhere, at least for the time being.

Insects. — 107 writers, not counting a considerable number of papers on
economic entomology not seen by the editor of the Zoological Record. The more
prominent names include Ashmead, Banks, Beutenmiiller, Casey, Coquillett,
Chittenden, Dyar, Fernald, Fox, Bruner, Williston, Holland, Howard, Hulst,
Needham, H. Osborn, Schwarz, Scudder, Skinner, J. B. Smith, Strecker, Wheeler
and Wickham. Much of the work is descriptive; but the economic work of
Howard and his associates is the best in the world3 if we may accept the
opinion of European entomologists; while the new entomology, which combines
the study of form with that of habits, finds admirable exponents in Wheeler
and Needham. Dyar's work on the immature stages of insects has been freely
used and acknowledged in Europe, and parasitic hymenoptera are sent from
London and Paris to Ashmead for identification. G. B. King, the janitor of the
court-house at Lawrence, Mass., has, with everything against him, made a repu-
tation as a student of scale-insects, and his cooperation has been sought even
in Germany.

Echinoderma (Star-fishes, Crinoids, etc.). — 43 workers, much of the work
relating to fossil forms. Prominent names are those of Clarke, Loeb, Springer,
Vaughan and Verrill. F. Springer, our best authority on crinoids, has been able
to produce the most elaborate and careful works in the intervals of a busy
life as a lawyer; works which, it may be remarked, are much better known
in London than in New Mexico, where he resides.

Worms. — 37 writers, but it must be confessed that the papers are mostly
of minor importance. Verrill has described a large number of new species.
The earthworms and fiatworms are greatly in need of more attention.

1 66 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Coslenterata. — 19 writers. The great work of Nutting on hydroids must
be mentioned. Professor Nutting has made this subject very much his own,
and was even able to go to Plymouth, England, and discover new forms under
the eyes of the English zoologists.

Sponges. — 15 writers, three being Canadian.

Protozoa. — 15 writers. This group is not receiving a fair share of atten-
tion.

So, on the whole, it appears that America is not seriously behind in
zoology. Yet, I certainly cannot claim that the position of the science
in this country is satisfactory. After all, the real question is, not
whether we are doing as much as other people, but whether we are
doing what we might, and ought. From this standpoint our deficien-
cies are serious enough. We are not, as yet, nearly able to cope with
the work that lies ready to our hands. When the writer was a boy, he
used to read and re-read such works as Wallace 's ' Malay Archipelago, '
and look forward to the time when he too would travel, and would dis-
cover something new. To-day, in New Mexico, he would undertake
to find something new every day of the year, if he had no other occu-
pation; and hardly a day passes in the laboratory without the deter-
mination of some new fact. But alas, thousands of specimens remain
in closed boxes because there is nobody to work upon them; dozens of
promising investigations are never undertaken because there is nobody
to undertake them. Buildings, apparatus and books are well enough
in their way ; but the great need is for workers to make use of what is
already gathered and ready for use, and to take up the threads of
thought which flow from every investigation, and follow them to the
end.

While we are seeking to add to the number of workers, something
should also be said about their quality. Undoubtedly, there is too
much narrowness, and too little general culture, an outward and visible
sign of which is the bad Latin published by many of the younger men
in the form of zoological names. At the meetings of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, there are sections of zool-
ogy, botany, geology, anthropology, etc., all in session simultaneously.
The writer found it extremely annoying that he could not be in two or
more places at the same time, but very few seemed to see any objection
to the arrangement. This indicates limitations which must be regret-
ted, and it is hard to believe that they are inevitable. When the zool-
ogist ceases to know anything about the plants animals eat, or the
physical environment in which they live, or even the animals of other
groups than his own specialty, the broader ideas of biology will become
obscured and evolution itself will cease to be intelligible, just as archi-
tecture is nothing to him who studies only single and isolated bricks.

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 167

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY, IV.

BY DR. FREDERICK ADAMS WOODS,
HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

Spain.
f I ^HE early history of its great family is coincident with the his-
-*- tory of the rise of Spain's greatness as a nation. Whatever
value other factors may have had in producing Spain's glory the
presence of the long line of great rulers and warriors must have
been one of the greatest. This influence of the great leaders could
make itself felt then, even more than now.

Within a short time we have had an example in Lord Roberts of
what genius for generalship can accomplish in the turn of events.
How much greater impress on his times the great man must have
made in those medieval days when the masses knew almost nothing!

I know of no other direct line, except the then reigning one in
Portugal, where greatness was maintained for so long a period, nor
has there appeared any other than these two dynasties, where vigorous
and distinguished blood was so continuously introduced into the stock.
Portugal was five times united with the best of the stock of Spain
to its evident advantage. Spain took wives three times from Por-
tugal. Two of these, the marriage of Ferdinand II. of Leon (d. 1187)
and Ferdinand IV. (d. 1317), were of great benefit. The third was
valuable as far as the introduction of Portugal's blood was concerned,
but happened to be very unwise, because it brought back again in a
double way the cruel traits of Sancho IV. which resulted in producing
Pedro 'the Cruel' whose tyrannies amounted almost to madness.

There are a few exceptions among the noble characters, such as
the cruel tyrants just referred to, whose traits will be seen to be
evidently caused by heredity. Still for twenty-one generations in the
direct male line of Castile from Sancho II. in the tenth century to
Charles Quint, the greatest ruler of his time (d. 1558), there were
only four who did not possess a high degree of strength and ability.
These were Alfonso IX., Ferdinand IV., John I. of Castile and
Ferdinand I. of Aragon.

The first two of these were in the early centuries. John I. of
Castile and Ferdinand I. of Aragon were father and son, who lived
in the period just before the time of Ferdinand and Isabella.

There were two others, also father and son, who ruled over Castile

1 68 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

at about this same time, who were exceedingly weak. These were
John II. and Henry IV. They are not in the direct line under dis-
cussion at present, but it is interesting to see that John II. was a
grandson of John I. just noted for his weaknesses and the causes of
this temporary running out and subsequent rejuvenation in Ferdinand
and Isabella will be discussed later.

During the early centuries of Christian Spain the conditions of
the times were such that every sovereign was obliged to defend his
right to the throne against the jealousies of his family, so that almost
constant wars were being waged among the nearest kin and it was
practically impossible that several generations of weak and incom-
petent kings should not have been wrested from the throne. This
factor of natural selection undoubtedly did much to insure the strength
of the stock.

The long minorities of the sovereigns of Castile and Aragon which
occurred time and again during these centuries have always been con-
sidered by all historians as one of her greatest misfortunes, leading
to intrigues, civil wars and disasters; affairs being put in a healthy
condition again only when the king himself was old enough to take
things in his own hands.

This and the fact that the country invariably gained ground under
good rulers and just as certainly lost under weak ones make it evident
how much more important the king was in those days and under those
conditions than he has been in England, for instance, where the pro-
gress has been due to the people as a whole, especially her aristocracy
and upper classes.*

Such a long line of great rulers as this, such an almost unbroken
repetition of great physical and mental strength is almost unparalleled,
save by Portugal, in all history. If there is much in heredity it
must certainly be necessary here to show that the dynasty was con-
tinually maintained by the introduction of just such great qualities
either from the best part of its own stock or from outside families.

We can discuss twenty marriages in the direct line. The following
fourteen can be seen to have introduced stock equally vigorous and
able. These fourteen are those of Sancho II., Ferdinand I. of Leon,
Alfonso VI., Ferdinand II., Alfonso IX., Ferdinand IV., Alfonso II.,
Henry III., Don John II. of Aragon, Ferdinand and Isabella, Johanna
'the Mad.' These were scattered along the course and sufficiently
account for the perpetuation of the strain. Many of these unions
were remarkably good, being well backed on all sides. Of the other
six, four were 'obscure,' tending that much to dilute the distinguished
qualities.

* Conf. Havelock Ellis, ' Study of British Genius,' Popular Science
Monthly. (Geniuses have come from the upper classes.)

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 169

There was one, the marriage of Alfonso VI., that was distinctly
bad, as its average value was incapable as well as vicious. The re-
maining one introduced mostly poor stock but had a small element
of goodness in it. I refer to the marriage of John the First of Castile.
Half the pedigree of Henry II. of Transtama and of Alfonso VI.
are uncertain for different reasons, as will appear.

Beginning now with the most ancient times let us take up the
character of each sovereign and discuss the effect on the breed of
blood introduced in the marriage of each. Sancho I. by his courage
and mental and physical energy extended his dominion in all direc-
tions. He reduced important fortresses on both banks of the Ebro,
recovered Eioja and conquered the country from Tudela to Najera,
Tarragona and Agreda, and the mountain districts surrounding the
sources of the Duero. He was also prudent and pious by nature and
his conquests were retained throughout his life by the wisdom of his
acts. He died in 994.

Sancho married Urraca, daughter of Ferdinand, belonging to
the same stock. They had a son Garcias, called 'the Trembler,' about
whom little is known with certainty except that he won battles and
apparently he was a successful warrior. The name of 'Trembler'
was applied to him because before battle, as he himself put it, 'My
body trembles before the danger to which my courage is about to
expose it.' The pedigree of his wife, Ximenia, is unknown to me,
but from this time on to the present, the descent of the female side
can be shown with very satisfactory completeness, and it is these
pedigrees which show that qualities were infused in the stock all the
way down the line, sufficient to keep up the elements of greatness
which never ran out in Spain until the death of the Emperor Charles
Quint. After this the worst possible unions were made, and then
Spain fell.

Sancho III., who died in 1035, was the son of the 'Trembler.'
He must have had great ability for war and government, as he made
himself the most powerful prince of his age and country. He mar-
ried jSTunnia, the heiress of Castile, who belonged to a powerful
family. He held what he got by inheritance and marriage and even
extended his dominions by conquest. He was called 'the Major,' or
'the Great.'

Sancho III. was followed by his son, Ferdinand I. He had high
abilities and virtues and made himself the most powerful among
many monarchs in Spain. He also is called in history 'the Great.'
He married a daughter of Alfonso V. of Leon, a successful soldier and
ruler and the son of the valiant Bermudo II., who had won distinc-
tion by defeating the Moors.

17© POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Ferdinand died in 1065. His son, Alfonso VI., was a great warrior
and called 'the Valiant.' Alfonso VI. allied himself to an outside
stock. He married a daughter of Kobert, Duke of Burgundy. It
does not appear that her ancestors were especially distinguished, ex-
cept that her great-grandfather was Hugh Capet. This can not be
classed among the brilliant marriages from the present point of view,
as the great qualities are so remote.

Their daughter, Urraca, became queen. She was overbearing and
tyrannical in her conduct, with morals of very questionable repute.
Her mind was of a light and trivial order, though her ambition was
as great as it was unprincipled. 'She left to posterity a character
darkened by many crimes and scarcely redeemed by a single virtue.'
Her reign, 1109-1126, was fortunately for her people a short one, but
she succeeded in keeping the country embroiled in family feuds.
(Dunham, 'Spain,' II., 162.) Urraca is the first one in the group
who had any such traits. On searching for character of her mother's
people, who must have introduced these qualities if they came by
heredity, I found them amply accounted for in her grandfather and
his mother. Eobert, Duke of Burgundy, her grandfather, is described
in a short column in the 'Biog. Univer.,' most of which tells of his
violent temper. His mother, Constance, was a 'wicked intriguer,'
and instigated his revolting from his weak and peace-loving father,
King Eobert of France. 'Eobert (the Duke) had a most violent
temper and was capable in the excesses of his anger of the most atrocious
extremes. ' He showed no application to affairs of state and abandoned
the government to cruel and incompetent ministers. Queen Urraca
married Eaymond, Count of Burgundy. He was not at all distin-
guished, nor were his family.

The successor of the notorious Queen Urraca was Alfonso VII.,
who luckily did not repeat his mother's character. Unfortunately
for our purpose we cannot be sure of his father, owing to the licentious-
ness of the Queen. The characteristics of this son and his effect on
the country may be well shown by quoting Dunham, 'History of Spain
and Portugal,' II., 165:

Alfonso was no common monarch. Though he lost Portugal and was unable
to withstand the genius of his namesake of Aragon, whom he imitated in assum-
ing the imperial title, yet with fewer pretensions, though he is undeserving the
exaggerated praises of the national historians, it cannot be denied that he ex-
hibited great firmness in circumstances often very difficult, that he caused his
territory to be respected by his Christian neighbors and greatly aggrandized
it at the expense of the Mohammedans. His talents, however, were inferior to
his ambition, and his moderation to both.

If this Alfonso VII. had wedded only average qualities it is prob-
able that the ancient greatness of the race would have run out, but

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 171

what happened is unusual in the story of families. Just at the time
when it is weakened by dilution it is again strengthened by the qualities
of a great man. The wife of Alfonso was the daughter of Eaymond
Berengaria III. (d. 1131), Count of Provence, a prudent sovereign
who extended his dominions by inheritance, marriage and victory,
ruled fifty years and actually carried his conquests across the sea to
the shores of Majorica and made successful wars against the Arabs.

The product of this union was Ferdinand II. (1187) of Leon. He
was a very able general and had many estimable and generous personal
qualities. He made a marriage calculated to perpetuate the great
qualities of his stock, that with Urraca, daughter of Alfonso I., the
great founder of Portugal, who by consulting the Portugal chart
may be seen to be backed up by distinguished fathers and grandfathers
and to have himself derived in part his genius for war from the same
stock of Spain already discussed, namely, Alfonso VI. 'the Valiant.'

However, Alfonso IX., his son, was without distinguished qualities
or virtues. Coming as he does at the union of greatness he must be
counted as an exception. Still the genius of the race does not die
here. His marriage was one of the very best. His wife, Berengaria,
was a famous heroine of Spanish history. She was a truly great and
noble woman. Not only in her own qualities, but by her ancestors
she must have brought into Spain one of the best strains that any royal
person at that time would have been likely to have represented.

She was the daughter of Alfonso VIII. of Castile, rightly called
'the Noble,' whose reign was of great benefit to the country, himself
a son of a successful warrior during a short career and grandson of
Alfonso VII. already noted for his success. Her grandfather was
Henry II., one of England's most vigorous and able kings, according
to Hume 'the greatest prince of his time for wisdom, virtue and
abilities. '

After the death of Alfonso IX., the throne was taken up by
Ferdinand III. his son. 'He was a just, pious, able and paternal
ruler, as well as a valiant soldier. ' He triumped over the infidels and
•considerably extended his domains. His wife was a daughter of the
Emperor Philip, a vigorous, warlike character, who, being assassinated
when only thirty years old, never had an opportunity to display his
real abilities. Philip was the son of Frederick Barbarosa, the greatest
man and greatest power of his day. Thus a certain amount of able
blood was here introduced. Still we see Isaac Angelus in the pedigree,
an abusive and incapable ruler. A little more than half of it all
was very beneficial, for Frederick was just and wise as well as ex-
tremely able, while the Emperor Philip was up to the standard
already established here in Spain. The power of the country was
considerablv increased under Ferdinand III.

172 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Alfonso X., who was the son of Ferdinand III., had abilities and
ambition, but was not at all a man suited to the times. He was
weak and irresolute, not obeyed by his subordinates, and his reign
was far from successful. His time was devoted to learning and the
advancement of science, which alone prospered under his rule. He
showed a slight amount of cruelty, but this was not conspicuous
compared to others in this age and land. There is no question but
that Alfonso X. was a man of great intellect.

His character forms an exception and is the only one of the sort
I have met with in this region. It is easily accounted for by a com-
bination of ancestral qualities, but such combinations are apparently
far from common. He was a poet, scientist and writer, and through
his influence learning was greatly advanced. He is said to have been
the first royal personage who was also a man of letters. The marriage
of Alfonso X. with Violanta undoubtedly served to a certain extent
to perpetuate the strength of the stock, for his wife was a daughter
of James, the Giant Conqueror of Aragon. Still James with his great
abilities as a warrior was violent, cruel, passionate and licentious, and
aside from James tbere is not much distinguished blood in the char-
acteristics of Violanta 's pedigree.

We now come to a period of misfortune for christian Spain, and
it is interesting to note how closely the welfare of the country fol-
lows the character of the sovereigns, how great the impress of the
ruler was on his times in those early days in spite of the theoretical
representation of the people in the popular branch of the Cortes.

During the reigns of the next two succeeding monarchs, Sancho
IV. and Ferdinand IV., the family feuds and lack of a strong and
wise ruler affected the country so disastrously that practically anarchy
may be said to have prevailed.

Sancho IV. inherited the cruel, passionate disposition of his grand-
father, James of Aragon, witbout his wisdom. His character was
also warlike, vigorous and cruel and the only good fruits of his reign
were his conquests against the Moors, whom he defeated in Andalusia
and even carried his victories into Tarifa, a town in the very furthest
extremity of Spain. The marriage Sancho made, when considered
on the grounds of perpetuating greatness, may be considered half or
more than half good. His queen, Mary, can be seen on the chart to
be descended from largely 'obscure' stock, though she was the great-
granddaughter of the famous heroine, Berengaria, already mentioned.
She was her worthy descendant, for she repeated her character in
every particular. Resolute, calm and devoted, she was an astute
diplomatist and politician. Whatever successes there were were due
largely to her.

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 173

Sancho's reign was short, lasting only eleven years. During the
life of the queen mother, she exercised, as we have said, a beneficial
influence, but after her death the reign of the feeble Ferdinand IV.
was one long list of disasters. Some may wonder why Ferdinand
should have been so weak, but as many of his immediate ancestors
were far from being endowed with vigorous minds, of course he had
a chance to get qualities from the poorer of them. He did repeat
the cruel, passionate and tyrannical disposition to perfection, but no
one appears to have paid any attention to his wishes.

Now again when the mental qualities are threatened we find them
brilliantly restored. Constantine, the wife of Ferdinand, was just
the one to effect this, as a glance at the chart will show. It is inter-
esting to see Alfonso X., the scholar and poet, again in his grandson
Diniz of Portugal, in another country and in another day where
probably no influence of environment could come into play. Alfonso
was the first and he was the second royal personage who was also a
man of letters. The issue of this union was another one of the heroes
of old Castile, Alfonso II., who succeeded to the throne in 1312,
when only one year old ; grew to be a great warrior against the Moors,
and taking after his maternal grandmother possessed a large share
of prudence and virtue, some of the rarer characteristics of his tribe.
As an example of the respect felt for him even by his enemies the
following may suffice : The Moorish king of Granada is said to have
exclaimed when he heard of Alfonso's death, 'We have lost the best
king in the world — one who knew how to honor the worthy, whether
friend or foe.' This eulogy is, however, somewhat offset by the evi-
dence that he was extremely cruel at times.

It is now to be noted that there are an unusual number in the
pedigree of Alfonso, who have the adjective cruel or some other designa-
tion of depravity attached to them. Now a close intermarriage here
will undoubtedly give rise to some of those great and valiant qualities,
courage, energy and ability in the leadership of men, which were pos-
sessed by some, though not by all these royal lords and dames. There
is a fair chance that the literary or possibly the pious and amiable
qualities may reappear. But such a close intermarriage would be a
hazardous one to say the least.

Let us take a survey of the pedigree of Alfonso XL in order to
see what proportionate amount of cruelty and depravity there is in
the ancestr}- of each succeeding generation.

In five degrees of kinship back of Ferdinand II. (d. 1187) we
find three such, among the nine persons whose records were obtain-
able. In the same degree for Alfonso IX. there were only two among
the nine. Ferdinand III. (d. 1252), who represents the next genera-

i74 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

tion, had but three degenerate ancestors among the twelve. In the
same degree of kinship for his son Alfonso X., we find five among
eighteen. For the next generation (Sancho IV.) the number is two
in twelve. Ferdinand IV. (d. 1312), his son, had three in fifteen.
So we see that this type of character, though common, was present
in Spanish royalty in these early centuries only to the extent of
about one in four or five, but in the ancestry of Alfonso XI., on
account of a gathering of this cruel type, we find no less than eleven
such among the fifteen who could furnish records of any sort. It
is simply that about Alfonso XI. there happens to be brought together
a number of strains from the four different countries, Aragon, Castile,
Hungary and Portugal, each containing an average amount of the
qualities in question. However, owing to strange jumping about,
which so many characteristics show in the course of hereditary trans-
mission, Alfonso himself shows none of them, but is himself the bridge
over which they pass to appear in his son whose actions seemed more
like that of a demon than a man — the incarnation of cruelty itself.

A very close intermarriage was made by this Alfonso IX. of Castile.
His wife was the daughter of Alfonso IV. of Portugal, a brilliant
warrior, but withal a cruel tyrant and the one of all rulers in Portugal
on whom rests the greatest odium.*

Now let us see what proportion of the passionate and cruel would
be found in five degrees of kinship for a child of Alfonso XI. by
such a wedlock. Owing to the intermarriage we find but eleven
different persons as several names appear twice. There are only
three who are free from the characteristics in question, or eight in
eleven show the passionate and cruel type. If we take all for six
degrees removed we find the number even worse, eleven in fourteen.
A son could scarcely escape the worst sort of inheritance, except by
the greatest fortune. What did happen was this. Pedro, the only
legitimate son of Alfonso XL, known in all history as 'Pedro the
Cruel,' amused himself in some such ways as this. He imprisoned
and foully treated his first wife, Blanche of Bourbon, and during
the first part of his reign had many noblemen, among others Don
Juan, his cousin, executed in his presence. Once, it is stated, in
the presence of the ladies of the court he commanded a number of
gentlemen to be butchered until the Queen, his mother, fell into a
dead faint in company with most of the ladies present. "He then
caused to be murdered his own aunt, Dona Leonora of Aragon, mother
of the above Don Juan, for nothing except that Aragon would
not make peace with him — 'being compelled to get Moors to do the
job, as no Castilian could be induced to undertake it,' says King
Pedro IV. of Aragon in his memoirs. A certain priest coming before

* McMurdo's ' History Portugal,' three volumes, London, 1899.

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 175

him to say that St. Domingo had appeared to him in a dream and
counselled him to tell the king that he would meet his death at the
hands of his brother, Henry Pedro insisted that the priest must have
been prompted by Don Henry himself, and so ordered the poor dreamer
to be burnt alive. One lady, Urraca Osorio, for refusing his address,
was burnt alive in the market place of Seville. Another disfigured
herself in order to escape his attentions. "He was as devoid of gen-
erosity as of pity, as reckless of the truth as of life, as greedy of
gain as of blood — a false knight, a perjured husband, a brutal son."*

Thus Pedro 'the Cruel' is amply accounted for by heredity alone,
without bringing in the question of the inheritance of any acquired
characters, and it does not seem that this brutality could be the result
of the environment in which he lived since before his clay when
times were even rougher we find so many kings and queens possessing
every virtue. There were never any before as bad as Pedro nor were
there any, on grounds of heredity alone, as likely to be so. It is
interesting to note that he was the great-great-grandfather of Eichard
III. of England, with whom he is often compared. Pedro's actions
cost him the loss of most of his subjects, and finally his life at the
hands of his bastard brother, Henry, who had somewhat the same
characteristics though in a lesser degree.

Henry established a new line under the title of Henry II. His
own origin was, probably, without distinction on his mother's side,
and this is one of the four successive unions now to be discussed
which can not in any way be used to illustrate the perpetuation of
genius. It is also at this time that we find four incompetent rulers,
three of whom are described as imbeciles. This is very significant,
though I do not see that the imbecility of John I. of Castile is at
all properly accounted for by heredity. Mere weakness, cruelty and
licentiousness might be well expected, but not imbecility in the medical
sense of the word, and I do not know that this medical sense is implied
by the historians when using this term in connection with these persons.
The origin of the well-known insanity in the Spanish and Austrian
houses, perpetuated over thirteen generations and involving more than
a score of individuals, is a very interesting question. It cannot be
traced with certainty prior to Isabella, the Queen of John II. of
Castile. This Isabella was out and out insane, according to the cele-
brated English alienist, Ireland, f and from her, onward, the insanity
passed along in one form or another by the very intermarriages which
their pride and political motives caused them to arrange, with the
intended idea of making permanent their world power, but with the
inevitable result of losing that same prestige by placing it in the

* Watts' ' The Christian Recovery of Spain.'
f Ireland, ' Blot on the Brain.'

176 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

hands of the unfortunate children whose inheritance was necessarily
mental weakness as the result of such unwise wedlocks.

Without taking up the characters separately we need only look at
the chart to get a clear idea of the predetermined cause which lead
to the peculiar characters who were foremost during this epoch and
to see how perfectly natural it was that there should have been some
exhibiting the most depraved characteristics while others, like Ferdi-
nand and Isabella, were fortunate enough to inherit the genius which
we see is likewise present in a conspicuous degree. The chart shows
that Isabella might be expected to be greater than Ferdinand. She
had five elements of genius in her pedigree, being through intermar-
riage twice the great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lan-
caster, one of the great men of his day, and John the Great of Portugal
appears twice in the pedigree for the same reason. She was also
the granddaughter of Henry III. of Castile, who was a model of all
that a king should be. Both Ferdinand and Isabella possessed high
ability and character, as can be fully confirmed by consulting any
history of the times. They were married through personal choice
of the queen, as she appreciated in Ferdinand a man worthy of her
love. Nothing could be better for the welfare of the country than
that two such able rulers should sit upon the throne at once. But
Ferdinand was her second cousin and the descendant of weak or
perfidious rulers.

We now see that the children of this union have two estimable
parents but they have a remarkably bad lot of grandparents, and back
of this we find the worst weaknesses in some while in others is much
ability of a very high sort. We should not expect a child to be
ordinary. On the other hand the most extraordinary is only to be
expected. The two descendants whom we have here to consider are
Joanna and her son, the Emperor Charles Quint. The former got
the insanity and imbecility, the latter the genius and a touch of the
neurosis as well. Every one in this region of the chart fills in a link
in a way to be expected and is readily and perfectly explained.

The pedigree of Philip the Fair, who married this mad Joanna,
contains the great fighting qualities of the old kings, tremendous
energy, and great ruling functions without a bit of the insanity and
weaknesses shown in Castile and Leon. This was the famous mar-
riage that placed the Hapsburgs on the highest pinnacle of power —
a marriage almost certain to produce genius and as certain to produce
some descendants whose heritage would be imbecility or weakness,
or whose ambition would only lead them to mad extremes. Both the
genius and the insanity appear quite as we should expect, and it is
to be noted that the neuroses are now seen to appear for the first

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 177

time in the Hapsburgs, since they are introduced into this family
through the blood of Castile and Leon ; and furthermore these afflictions
appear at once. From this time onward, insanity is rampant. Why
should it have remained so and not have diminished through reversion
to the mean? Let us look at the subsequent marriages.

The Emperor Charles V. married Isabella, a daughter of Emanuel
the First of Portugal, a mediocre king; and an inbred descendant of
the great Portugal house. Her mother was a sister of the mad Joanna
and granddaughter of John the imbecile, and Isabella, the insane.
So this may be called a pretty close intermarriage, as well as an un-
advisable one. The Emperor himself was somewhat eccentric. He
was cruel as well as inordinately ambitious, but he was withal a great
ruler. Towards the latter part of his life he was especially subject
to melancholia. The effect of this unwise marriage was of course
to perpetuate these traits. We shall see under Austria how the evil
qualities were much less conspicuous and how the influence of outside
stock made itself felt in counteracting these undesirable perversions.
The descendants bred true to kind, and in all regions of the chart
we find the vicious qualities appearing in places where we should
most expect them, that is, in places where the intermarriages were
closest.

It is a matter of common belief that intermarriage alone is a cause
of insanity, therefore, it is worth while to consider that here it is
merely perpetuating what already exists and cannot be considered the
cause of its beginning. In a later chapter this question will be more
fully discussed. It was not yet time for the intellectual qualities to
entirely disappear, for Charles Quint had two descendants who are
celebrated historical characters. These were Don John of Austria
and Alexandre Farnese, both of whom so distinguished themselves
by virtue of their great abilities that abundant material can be found
in any biographical dictionary to confirm the belief that these men
were geniuses. His grandson, Albert Archduke of Austria and Gov-
ernor of the Netherlands (son of Maximilian II.), was a man of high
though not the highest talents. There are three others worth men-
tioning in this connection. The Archduke Charles, his great-grand-
son, is spoken of in this way:

He died in the twenty-sixth year of his age of a malignant fever. He was
deeply regretted hy the nation, being universally considered a prince of extra-
ordinary merit and endowments . . . active and ambitious spirit.*

The Cardinal Ferdinand, his brother, was a man of equal mark
and merit, who as Governor of the Netherlands there warded off
Spain's impending disasters until his untimely death brought a great

* Dunlop, ' Mem. Spain.'
vol. xlii.— 12.

178 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

loss upon his country. He is spoken of in the highest terms by all
historians, especially for his bravery, prudence and magnanimity.*
Don John, a natural son of Philip IV., also was the possessor of great
qualities.

It is noteworthy that three of these six were illegitimate, and that
the greatest, Alexandre Farnese and Don John, were of these three.
It seems probable that owing to the extremely high-strung and un-
stable condition of nearly all the members of the family, a union
with an entirely different class of people would be of advantage to
the health and balance of mind. It was not so much that ability was
needed as a toning down of the excessiveness that had been manifesting
itself in so many ways.

Of these mentioned, one was a son, two were grandsons, two were
great-grandsons and one was a great-great-grandson. The most
eminent were the closest related, and it is probable that the
number of more distant relationship would not have been so large
(as in the case of Galton's tables) but for the close intermarriages,
giving the genius a chance to be further perpetuated than would
ordinarily have been the case.

The kings of Spain never again had anything of the renowned
abilities of Isabella, Charles, or the celebrated warriors of early days
like Alfonso VI. (1126), James I. of Aragon, or John the Great of
Portugal. It might have been that some of the eldest sons should
have inherited the great qualities instead of little ones, but Spain
may be said to have been unlucky in this, and as the next three,
Philip II., III. and IV., did not get the best, in each succeeding gen-
eration the chances of its reappearing become more and more dim
until the probabilities of a reversion were entirely unlikely.

Let us now notice the neuroses in this same region. The amount
of insanity, or at least marked deviation from the normal, should be
strikingly conspicuous owing to the intermarriages. It is so. Philip
II. is described in this way by Motley.

He was believed to be the reverse of the Emperor (his father). Charles
sought great enterprises, Philip would avoid them. . . . The son was reserved,
cautious, suspicious of all men and capable of sacrificing a realm from hesi-
tation and timidity. The father had a genius for action, the son a predeliction
for repose. His talents were in truth very much below mediocrity. A petty
passion for contemptible details characterized him from youth . . . diligent
with great ambition. . . . He was grossly licentious and cruel. f

Philip II. evidently took after his grandmother, Joanna 'the Mad,'
who was weak and melancholic, and perhaps also his grandfather, the
feeble Philip 'the Fair' of Austria. He did not resemble either his

* Dunlop, ' Mem. Sp.,' I., 183, also Hume's ' Spain.'
Motley's 'Rise Dutch Rep.,' Vol. I., p. 142.

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 179

father or mother. Both of Philip's marriages were from the biolog-
ical point of view extremely unwise, the first being worse than the
second, as Mary was a daughter of John III. of Portugal, who was
weak and bigoted, in fact, a man much like Philip himself. Philip's
wife was doubly related to him, being both first and second cousin,
and this relation coming by way of the insane ancestors. So what
wonder that the child of this union, Don Carlos, should have been
one of the most despicable and unfortunate specimens of humanity
in modern history?

The following pedigree of Don Carlos shows his chances of in-
heriting the inbred neurosis :

John, = Isabel,
imbecile, insane.

Isabella.

John, = Isabel,
imbecile, insane.
Isabella.

John, = Isabel,
imbecile, insane.

Isabella.

John, = Isabel,
imbecile, insane.

Isabella = Ferdinand.

Johanna. = Philip,
' mad.' weak.

Chas. V., = Isabel,
melancholic.

Emanuel, = Mary,
weak.

John III. = Catherine,
weak.

Mary. = Philip II.,
morose,
cruel.
Don Carlos,
madly depraved and cruel

Johanna, Emanuel I., = Mary.

'mail.' weak.

Chas. V., = Isabel,
melancholic.

Here if there had been many children instead of one I should say
that in a rough way extreme degeneration would be likely to be present
in somewhat more than half the number. It is significant to notice
that the two worst characters in all modern royalty, Don Carlos and
Peter 'the Cruel,' are also the two who have the worst pedigrees.

Don Carlos, it will be observed, though a great-grandson of Joanna
'the Mad' and Philip 'the 'Weak,' has almost exactly the same blood.
Ferdinand and Isabella extend right across the chart. Emanuel I.
takes his origin from a root almost identical with both Ferdinand
and Isabella, and this root we have seen is the reign in which the
insanity must have originated.

I do not see how Philip could have planned it better if he had
wanted this son whom he really so much despised.

The son by Philip's only other productive marriage was Philip III.
Here again we have a close inbreeding, though through a somewhat
"better route. Anne was his own niece and even more closely related
than a niece, as her father was Philip's own cousin. The only out-
side blood was distant, by Ladislaus. King of Hungary. This blood
was presumably healthy though not distinguished. Philip was a man
of very low mental calibre (about grade 2). Hume says he was not

i8o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

a fool, though Prescott calls him the imbecile grandson of Charles V.
The melancholic tendency a]3peared in him, though not to the extent
of insanity. Ireland sums the whole situation up thus : ' ' Philip was
a man of feeble and indolent character, governed by worthless favor-
ites. The power of Spain declined as rapidly as it had risen."*

This is the same story over again in the history of Spain. We
find the condition of the country reflecting the character and strength
of the monarch. Many times through the course of the centuries
she had been blessed apparently through heredity by great and able
rulers and her course had been hampered only here and there by the
presence of a weak one; but all this from the great Emperor Charles's
day onward was to be just reversed by the same almost unerring law
of descent. I do not mean that a weak monarch might not excep-
tionally, even in those early days, reign over a glorious period. The
greatness of Portugal lasted through the reigns of two weak sovereigns,
Emanuel I. and John III., though the germs of decay were clearly
at work. Likewise Spain's glory had its greatest outward manifesta-
tion of splendor in the time of Philip II. whose acts were nearly all
injudicious. The increment of one period made itself felt in a later.
Still in general the countries prospered only under the great leaders.

Philip was not as bad as Carlos, nor was his pedigree quite as
hopeless. The roots from which he sprung were practically all from
the weak John II. of Castile and Isabella the insane. In this he is
like Carlos. However, it is to be noted that three of his immediate
ancestors were excellent characters, though not especially gifted. These
are represented as such on the chart. Ferdinand I. and Maximillian
II. will be taken up under Austria.

The marriage of Philip III. was no more fortunate. His queen
was the daughter of Charles, Duke of Styria, who was evidently not
the possessor of great talents, as I have never been able to find a
reference to his character or achievements. He was the son of the
same Ferdinand I. Charles's wife was of 'obscure' origin. Thus
the neurosis was perpetuated and furthermore the genius was not
maintained. However, very high ability still cropped out in two of
Philip the Third's many children. These were Charles and Ferdi-
nand, already treated. But unfortunately the crown did not fall to
either of them, and so we have an artificial election of the worst.
The reign of Philip IV., who became kins:, was a period of great
misfortune. His only good qualities were his love of .art and litera-
ture, and perhaps his best bequests to the world are the famous por-
traits of himself and family painted by the great Velasquez.

Besides being weak and foolish he was 'far inferior to his prede-

* Ireland, 'Blot on the Brain,' p. 156.

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 1S1

cessor in purity of life.' "Spain might still have regained the lofty
station she once held in the rank of kingdoms if at the succession
of Philip IV. a wise and energetic monarch had ascended the throne."*
By his marriage with his niece, Maria Anne, he succeeded in
having two degenerates, Prosper, who had convulsive fits from his
birth and died young, and Charles II., who became king.

Charles was the last of the Spanish-Austria line and in him all its weak-
nesses were combined. Feeble in mind and body, he was grossly superstitious
and so ignorant that he did not know the names of some of his own towns and
provinces. |

By his marriage with Elizabeth, who was a great-granddaughter
of Ferdinand I., and consequently partially of the same tainted stock,
Philip IV. had one licentious weakling out of three children. This
child, Don Balthaza, the subject of the famous Velasquez recently
acquired by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, was so dissipated that
he brought himself to his grave before he had reached his seventeenth
year. % Another of the three, Maria Theresa, who married Louis
XIV., was extremely stupid.

Charles V. did not have any posterity and the war of the Spanish
succession deluged Europe with blood, but the Austrian House did not
reach its end through any sterility caused by inbreeding, for in spite
of the inbreeding it is noteworthy that they had large families, quite
as large as elsewhere. Many of the children died in infancy, but
the wives were not sterile. It can not be argued that inbreeding was
a cause of the large percentages of early deaths, since we have also to
deal with the question of insanity and neuroses. All sorts of mental
and physical defects, such as are known to be frequently found in
families with an insane diathesis, may have been the cause.

This completes the study of what may be conveniently classified
as two groups. First (a) the old Castile, Leon and Aragon, families;
second, (b) the Hapsburgs in Spain. Let us first review the char-
acteristics of the former. This subgroup (a) contains 97 names.
The character and ability of the 97 have been found in 63 cases with
sufficient fullness for the purpose in hand. The other 34 must be
marked 'obscure.' They are valuable in a negative way. There were
about 39 of the total who had very marked ability, evidently con-
siderably above the average of kings and queens and such as should
place them in grades 7 to 10 of the standard here used. This per-
centage of over one in three is a high one, but the most striking fact
is that out of the thirty actual sovereigns on the thrones of Castile,
Leon and Aragon, no less than twenty-two are of this group. This

*Dunlop, 'Mem. Spain,' Vol. I., p. 23.
f Young, 'Hist. Netherlands,' p. 611.
X Dunlop, ' Mems. Spain,' Vol. I., p. 378

182 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

I attribute in part to the constant struggle between the rival families,
between brothers of the same family and other close relatives, in their
jealous greed for power and domain, thus keeping up a struggle for
existence, capable of showing itself in results, and partly to fortuitous
chance endowing the heir to the throne with the qualities of the
stronger rather than the weaker of his ancestry. The number of
weak or indolent is correspondingly small, though high temper,
jealousy and ambition are present in nearly all.

I find about six persons to whom the terms feeble, characterless
and indolent, are applied. Two of these, Andrew II., King of Hun-
gary, and Ferdinand IV., of Castile, are apart from the others. The
remaining four are very closely related, being father, son, nephew
and his son. These are John I., John II., Henry IV. of Castile and
Ferdinand I. of Aragon.

The family had already existed twelve generations before these
characteristics appeared in it. In the tenth generation one of the
greatest names is found in Ferdinand IV., and even in the nineteenth
and twenty-first generations some of the best and most vigorous and
ambitious appear in Ferdinand, Isabella and the Emperor Charles, all
of whom were the descendants of the privileged few with a pedigree
practically entirely of this sort extending back through more than
twenty generations on all sides, and including many thousands of
nobles titles.

These names which close the group are as great as those which
opened it. How can this be if the assumption of rank and power is
to lead to degeneration? It may be argued that the necessity for
action in these times of incessant strife obliged the individuals to
be energetic and so the characters were the product of their times,
but we have seen that the selection alone would produce this. Further-
more, against the environment explanation we must remember the
great number of able and vigorous men who appear much later in his-
tory in other countries and the descendants of forty instead of twenty
generations of blue-bloods. The modern Saxe-Coburg-Gotha chart
is almost entirely free from weaknesses and indolence.

The insanity apparently starts in Peter the Cruel. We have seen
how his character might well have been the result of a combination
of a large number of cruel persons. This insanity continually re-
appeared in Spain, where one finds it most rampant. It occasionally
appeared in Austria, where it was less often introduced. It probably
was also the origin of the Plantagenet neurosis, the full history of
which I have not yet had time to study with any completeness.

THE SIZE OF ALASKA.

183

THE SIZE OF ALASKA.

By GEORGE B. HOLLISTER,
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.

A LASKA, as a portion of our national domain, is at this time justly
-*--*- demanding our interested attention. Its marvelous resources
and their probable rapid development are already bringing many to its
shores, and will undoubtedly attract many more; hence, new facts
regarding it, or old facts placed in a new light, must be of general
interest. For many reasons, but chiefly because of its distance from
the United States and the present difficulties of travel in its interior
the size of the territory has been but little understood and probably
much underestimated.

We know that its area has been stated by the geographers to be
about 600,000 square miles, but unrelated figures, after all, give to

69* *7' 6J*

/ 1 / 7< T—-J lT-r — J 1 \~2JT'

"vAi/ Ned n~r~f — i L P

nT>r \t~T---4-L4P rl III

_l_

Sl

^

1 L— +-~\ \ \ V V— -V"

rpA«|

if

1 flfl

— -~1 i\[~~fyj — r~~l~—l—-i>'

1 °2Brzi

n^S333^

1

1 ,

^

!

■i.

__L-#-j — wyiEOy'Vy 1 \

m^*

I —

T E

XA

s

y

k¥MAMr\\

4i\ ]TYT T f

1

N

'—>

■"^Mf »A 1 _4 ft • Bj \

\

?

r-

— 1 ~***T

Id

1

•4

iis° ii7u ns° irf uj° ioo° h>7° 105" 103* 101* W tn* *s° w IP # w1 «" w «" 7**

77" 79*

Fig. 1.

the average mind but vague ideas of the extent of territory. When
it is said that Alaska has one fifth the area of the whole United States,
one begins to have a more intelligent conception of its size, for in a
general way the average American readily forms a fairly accurate
mental picture of the broad size relations of his country. But so great
is the extent of the United States and so difficult is it to judge accu-
rately of the relations of geographical measurements that even this is

1 84 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

not a satisfactory comparison. For this reason our practical knowl-
edge would not be much benefited were it stated that the area of
Alaska is equal to that of three and one quarter Calif ornias, or ten
Iowas, or one hundred and twenty-seven and one half Connecticuts.
But if it were possible to take the whole territory of Alaska and its
adjoining islands and place them upon the portion of North America
occupied by the United States it would be a simple thing to show
exactly what the relations of these great possessions to our own country
are. Just this, in effect, has been done, as the accompanying illustra-
tion shows. The chart was prepared by Mr. Alfred H. Brooks, geolo-
gist of the U. S. Geological Survey, in charge of the government work
of exploration and geological investigation of the territory, who has
drawn upon the map of the United States an outline of Alaska. The
scale used in both instances is the same, and the result is 'most interest-
ing. When Point Barrow, the most northerly extremity of Alaska, is
placed upon the Canadian border in northern Minnesota, Mt. St.
Elias falls near the Ohio Biver between western Kentucky and Indiana,
and the main portion of the territory covers almost the entire area of
the Great Plains and Mississippi Valley as far south as Arkansas. The
extreme southeasterly portion of the narrow strip of Alaska, upon
which Sitka and Juneau are situated, would extend to the Atlantic
Ocean at Georgia; the celebrated Nome District would fall in western
South Dakota near the Wyoming line, and the most westerly of the
Aleutian Island group would lie upon the Pacific coast line near Los
Angeles; the intermediate islands touching the Mexican border in
Arizona and New Mexico. In other words, the territory of Alaska is
sufficient in geographical extent to reach from the Atlantic to the
Pacific and from Canada to Mexico. Placed in this position on the
United States Alaska would cover, in whole or in part, twenty-three
states and territories, and the western third of Lake Superior.

DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE.

185

DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE.

A BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF THE

MEN OF SCIENCE OF THE
UNITED STATES.

At the request of the executive com-
mittee of the Carnegie Institution I am
■compiling a biographical index of the
men of science of the United States. It
is intended in the first instance for the
use of the institution, but it will prob-
ably also be published. The index
should include all those who have car-
ried on research in science, the term,
however, being used in its narrower
sense so as not to include on the one
hand philology, history, economics, etc.,
nor on the other hand medicine, engi-
neering, education, etc., except in so far
as these applied sciences may contribute
to pure science.

During the summer I sent to a large
list of names (some 8,000) a blank with
the request that it be filled in and re-
turned. The blank asked more espe-
cially for information in regard to the
scientific career and work of those to
whom it was addressed. The response
has been very gratifying, but as the
circular was sent with a one cent
stamp, it did not reach immediately
some of those absent from home during
the summer holidays. I shall be glad
if those who have received this blank
will fill it in and return it to me. It
will be necessary to send a second

request by letter postage to those who
have not replied; but time and money
will be saved if those who see this note
will be so kind as to fill in and return
the blank in case they have not already
done so.

The list of those to whom the blank
was sent was compiled with care, and
includes the members of the scientific
societies of the United States requiring
research as a qualification (some fifty),
the scientific staffs of the leading insti-
tutions of learning (some seventy), the
scientific men included in ' Who's Who
in America ' and others whose names
were accessible. There are, however,
many connected with smaller institu-
tions and in private life, not members
of scientific societies, who have pub-
lished research work of value, and I
shall be glad to have assistance in
securing their names and addresses.
I shall be under obligations to any
readers of this journal who have car-
ried on research in the sciences, but
who have not received the blank, if
they will send me their names; and I
shall be glad to receive the names and
addresses of any who have carried on
research, but whose names would not
be discovered from the lists of societies,
larger institutions of learning and ex-
isting biographical dictionaries.

J. McKeen Cattell.

Garrison-on-Hudson, N. Y.

i86

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

THE PKOGRESS OF SCIENCE.

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.
The lamented death of Major Powell
should not affect the work of the two
great national institutions for the crea-
tion and organization of which he was
chiefly responsible. Powell resigned
the directorship of the U. S. Geological
Survey in 1894, leaving it one of the
strongest scientific agencies of the gov-
ernment. During the later years of
his life when his health began to fail,
he entrusted the administration of the
Bureau of American Ethnology to his
principal assistant, Dr. W J McGee,
who was given the title ' ethnologist in
charge.' Such divided control is not
usually advisable, but in this case
there was perfect sympathy and co-
operation, and Major Powell appeared
to have provided with remarkable fore-
sight for the continuation of the work
that he had inaugurated and success-
fully conducted. It is a serious blow
to scientific work under the govern-
ment and to anthropology in the coun-
try that Powell's plans have failed.

Many do not know that three of the
important scientific institutions sup-
ported by the government are adminis-
tered by the Smithsonian Institution — ■
namely, the National Museum, the Na-
tional Zoological Park and the Bureau
of American Ethnology. The two first
secretaries of the Smithsonian, Henry
and Baird, were always ready to under-
take plans for ' the increase and diffu-
sion of knowledge among men,' in
accordance with the terms of Smith-
son's remarkable bequest. When a
scientific movement had been inaugu-
rated they were glad to place it under
the conditions most favorable to its
development. It suffices to mention
the weather reports inaugurated by

Henry and now conducted as the'
Weather Bureau under the Depart-
ment of Agriculture, and the move-
ment for fisheries inaugurated by
Baird, which has become the Fish Com-
mission. In accordance with this
policy, Henry recommended the separa-
tion of the National Museum from the
Smithsonian Institution, believing that
it would be more liberally supported
under direct governmental control and
that the institution would be freed for
work that it only could do.

The policy of his predecessors has
not been followed by the present secre-
tary of the institution. It is generally
believed that the miserable building
of the museum would long ago have
been replaced by a building such as is
possessed by the American Museum of
Natural History in New \ork City and
that the collections would be far larger
and more symmetrical than they are
if the museum had been handed over
to the Department of Agriculture. The
development of the museum under
adverse conditions was largely due to-
the late G. Brown Goode. On the occa-
sion of his death some six years ago,
however, the secretary of the institu-
tion did not for some time appoint a
successor at the museum, but divided
the work among three head curators.
Now, on the occasion of the death of
Major Powell, the secretary has given
to one of these curators the director-
ship of the Bureau of American Eth-
nology, not, however, giving him the
title of 'director,' but that of 'chief,'
thus lessening the importance of the
position, while subordinating it to the
National Museum and to the secretary
of the institution. If this were done
in order that the secretary might take
more direct interest in the work of th&

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

187

bureau it might be excused, but as he
is known to have shown lack of sym-
pathy with its work in the past, it is
naturally supposed that he purposes to
subordinate the research work of the
bureau to the collections of the
museum. It seems extraordinaiy that
a bureau supported by an appropria-
tion from Congress should be entirely
at the mercy of one who is not an
officer of the government and whose
action is apparently exempt from any
control. The office of director of the
Bureau of American Ethnology, though
not created by Congress, has been offi-
cially acknowledged by an act of Con-
gress, and it does not seem possible
that this office can be summarily
abolished or that Congress will agree
to the subversion of the bureau. It is
not likely that a physicist, supposed
not to be in full sympathy with work
in natural history, will be allowed to
dictate the policy of the National Mu-
seum, the National Zoological Park
and the Bureau of American Ethnol-
ogy, when it is known that his actions
are almost unanimously disapproved
by the scientific men of the country.
It is obvious that the situation is
complicated rather than relieved by the
fact that the secretary of the Smith-
sonian Institution and those whom he
has placed in charge of its dependencies
are men of eminent scientific attain-
ments and of the highest character.

It is probable that the result will be
the separation of these institutions
from the Smithsonian Institution. The
National Zoological Park will then be
made not merely a toy for the enter-
tainment of children, but also a labor-
atory for scientific work. The Na-
tional Museum will no longer be re-
garded chiefly as one of the sights for
visitors to Washington, but will take
its place with the museums of the
British, French and German govern-
ments. The Bureau of Ethnology will
extend its work, so that it will include
in its scope the native tribes of our
newly acquired possessions, the negroes,

the immigrant races and the general
ethnology of the people, affording in-
formation of the utmost importance
for their government. The president
of the United States recommended in
his first message to congress that the
scientific bureaus be concentrated under
the Department of Agriculture, and it
is to be hoped that Congress will find
time to consider the question in the
approaching session. If this occurs
there is no question but that the insti-
tutions supported by the government
but administered by the Smithsonian
Institution will be transferred to the
Department of Agriculture. This will
not only give these institutions scope
for free development, but will release
the Smithsonian Institution from irk-
some official duties, and will permit it
to carry forward more effectively its
mission for the increase and diffusion
of knowledge.

THE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT.

Four important institutions of learn-
ing have witnessed the inauguration of
new administrations during the past
month. Hereafter we must speak of
President Wilson of Princeton, Presi-
dent Swain of Swarthmore, President
James of Northwestern and Chancellor
Strong of Kansas. Dr. Carroll D.
Wright has also been installed as pres-
ident of the collegiate department of
Clark University. The duties of a uni-
versity president are so comprehensive
and diverse that it is not surprising
that men of varying qualifications and
types of character are chosen. To run
back ten years we find a professor of
Semitics at Chicago, a zoologist at
Stanford, a philosopher at Cornell, a
man of business at Pennsylvania, a stu-
dent of Greek at California, a clergy-
man at Brown, an economist at Yale, a
chemical investigator at Johns Hop-
kins, a student of education at Colum-
bia and so on. Those acquainted with
these men and even those who have
merely seen them together on the stage
at one of the inaugural exercises or

i88

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

P&Jt^

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

189

oilier university functions that have
become so numerous in recent years
realize that their types of character
are as various as their interests. As
evolution progresses by variation and
survival of the fit we may look for
rapid progress in educational adminis-
tration from the great diversity of col-
lege presidents presented for natural
selection.

The most striking contrast is evi-
dent between the inaugural addresses
of the new presidents of Northwestern
and Princeton. The Salvation Army
captain and the Jesuit priest are not
more unlike. President James is full
of the spirit of democracy and pro-
gress ; he overflows with the populariza-
tion of the university, technical train-
ing, coeducation, university extension,
correspondence schools and the like.
President Wilson dreads all these
things. " In order to learn," he tells
us, " men must for a little while with-
draw from action, must seek some
quiet place of remove from the bustle
of affairs." " I believe general train-
ing, with no particular occupation in
view, to be the very heart and essence
of university training." President
Wilson here obviously confuses the col-
lege with the university, due doubtless
to the fact that the college of New
Jersey has altered its name to Prince-
ton University, without a correspond-
ing extension of its functions. Whether
or not a college for liberal culture,
student life and athletics should be
maintained apart from a university is
still a disputed question. President
Hadley in his address at the installa-
tion of Chancellor Strong, seems to have
struck the correct note when he said:

We should seek for the solution of
our university problems, not in the en-
forced addition of a German course to
an English one, but in a combination
of the English spirit with the German
organization; so that we can teach
professional studies without teaching
the spirit of professionalism. ... If
our educators can manage to combine
the framework of the German univer-
sity with the spirit of the English uni-

versity, or of the old-fashioned Amer-
ican college, they will economize the
time of the student without sacrificing
the educational result to be achieved.
They will give to the community, for
whose benefit they exist, the trained
experts on which the community in-
sists; and they will at the same time
provide for the maintenance of that
healthful public spirit in the individ-
ual and public sentiment in the body
politic on which it may sometimes
perhaps not so strongly insist, but
which it needs all the more for its
permanent continuance and prosperity.

THE JOHN FRITZ MEDAL.

The four great American engineer-
ing societies — The American Society
of Civil Engineers, The American In-
stitute of Mining Engineers, The
American Society of Mechanical Engi-
neers and The American Institute of
Electrical Engineers — have united to
establish a medal in honor of John
Fritz, the well-known iron master and
mechanical engineer, who has at Beth-
lehem done so much to forward the
engineering interests of the country.
Subscriptions of $10 were invited from
the members of these societies and the
sum of $6,000 was contributed. The
design has been executed by Mr. Victor
Brenner, and a gold medal will be
awarded each year for achievement in
the industrial arts and sciences by a
joint committee of the societies men-
tioned above, and it is expected that
this medal will have the same repre-
sentative character as is held by the
Bessemer medal conferred by the Brit-
ish Iron and Steel Institution. In
addition to the establishment of this
medal, a dinner was held in New
York City on October 31 to celebrate
Mr. Fritz's eightieth birthday. The
arrangements were made by the same
societies and five hundred members
and guests were present. Speeches
were made by representatives of the
different societies and others, and Mr.
Fritz responded. We reproduce the
frontispiece of the program — a portrait
of Mr. Fritz, the industries with which
he has been identified and his signature.

190

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

GASES IN INTERPLANETARY
SPACE.

The question of whether interplane-
tary and interstellar space is a vacuum
or contains matter in an exceedingly
attenuated form is an interesting prob-
lem, and one upon which there has long
been much speculation. On the one
hand the planets give no evidence of an
impeding friction, but on the other
hand the evidence of such friction in
the case of certain comets seems pos-
sible. When the earth's atmosphere
was supposed to consist solely of
oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxid, it
appeared very improbable that these
should pass to any considerable dis-
tance away from the surface of the
earth, but, with the more recent
knowledge of the constituents of the
atmosphere, this thesis seems less cer-
tain. The discovery of argon by Ray-
leigh and Ramsay has led to the fur-
ther discovery of the presence of he-
lium, neon, krypton and xenon, which
have enriched chemistry with a new
type of chemical element, having no
affinity, forming no compounds, and
being, as far as has yet been found,
perfectly inert. At the same time
comes the knowledge that no incon-
siderable quantity of hydrogen is a con-
stant constituent of the atmosphere.
This has been abundantly proved by
Gautier, by Dewar and by Ramsay.
Of these gases, hydrogen is the lightest
of terrestrially known elements, but
helium is not far behind it, and has not
yet been changed from its gaseous form
to that of a liquid. The methods which
have availed to condense hydrogen to a
liquid have thus far failed with helium.
Turning to the chemistry of the sun,
the spectroscope shows the presence of
an atmosphere largely of hydrogen, but
helium is also present, extending far
out from the central mass of the sun.
The same instrument reveals lines indi-
cating other elements at still greater
heights in the sun's atmosphere, among
them one which has been named coro-
nium. From its position far away
from the surface of the sun, it seems

probable that coronium has a density
far less than that of even hydrogen.
Again, the evidence of the spectroscope
upon the lightest constituents of our
atmosphere points to the presence of
other gases than helium and hydrogen,
and this is reinforced by what the same
instrument shows of the aurora. The
latter appears to be an electric phe-
nomenon, concerned with elements at
least in part now unknown to us, and
at a height above the surface of the
earth at which it was long supposed
there could be no appreciable atmos-
phere.

It thus appears that the upper
strata, both of the sun and of the
earth, consist of the lighter consti-
tuents which are largely removed from
the lower atmosphere by their light-
ness, and no limit can be placed upon
the distance to which these elements
would travel from sun or earth into
interplanetary space. What is true of
sun and earth is doubtless true also of
other planets and other suns, and it
seems not impossible that even inter-
stellar space may contain these and
similar gases in an almost infinitely
attenuated condition. What the con-
dition of these gases may be at the
temperature of interstellar space,
which cannot be far removed from
absolute zero, it is difficult to say. On
the one hand, at such a temperature
they might be expected to be solids,
but, on the other hand, the particles
would be relatively so few and far
apart from each other that they would
have the properties of a gas. The
great advance in our knowledge of
these fields during the last few years
gives promise of much new light in the
near future.

THE DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS
BY FIRE.
A press bulletin from the Bureau of
Forestry gives an abstract of a forth-
coming paper entitled ' Forest Fires,'
by Mr. Alfred Gaskill. By impressing
the public with some idea of the peril
it suffers from forest fires, and the

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

191

■enormous damage they do, the bureau
hopes to induce more effective legis-
lation in suppressing them.

Investigation has shown that, in an
average year, 60 human lives are lost
in forest fires, $25,000,000 worth of
real property is destroyed, 10,274,089
acres of timber land are burned over,
and young forest growth worth, at the
lowest estimate, $75,000,000, is killed.
A special canvass of the country by
the Department of Agriculture in 1891
discovered 12,000,000 acres of timber
land destroyed by fire. These figures
are mere estimates, which fall far
short of showing in full the damage
done. No account at all is taken of the
loss to the country due to the impov-
erishment of the soil by fire, to the
ruin of water courses, and the drying-
up of springs. Even the amount of
timber burned is very imperfectly cal-
culated, and the actual quantity
destroyed is far in excess of that ac-
counted for. Forest fires in this coun-
try have grown so common that only
those are reported that are of such
magnitude as to threaten large com-
munities. The lumbering industry in
remote sections of the country may be
ruined and people forced to flee for
their lives without a mention of the
disaster beyond the places near where
it occurred.

The fires that burnt this year in
Washington and Oregon were uncom-
mon only in the number of lives lost.
The burning of logging and mining
camps and farm buildings, the loss to
the country in the destruction of tim-
"ber and young tree growth, is of yearly
occurrence. Every fall, not only in
Washington, Oregon, Colorado and
Wyoming, but up and down the Pacific
coast and all over the Rocky Mountain
country fires burn great holes in the
forests and destroy the national wealth.
The air of the mountains over hundreds
of miles is pungent with the smoke of
conflagration, and navigation on Puget
"Sound has often been impeded by

smoke. The following comment by Dr.
Henry Gannett, of the U. S. Geological
Survey, should convey a fair idea of
the damage done in the state of Wash-
ington : " In less than a generation
two fifths of the standing timber has
been destroyed in one of the richest
timber regions on the continent, and of
the destruction more than half has
been caused by fire. Assuming that the
timber would, if standing, have the
value of 75 cents per thousand feet,
not less than $30,000,000 worth has
gone lip in smoke, a dead loss to the
people of the state."

SCIENTIFIC ITEMS.

Ogden Nicholas Rood, since 1863
professor of physics in Columbia Uni-
versity, one of the most eminent Amer-
ican men of science, died on November
12, in his seventy-second year. We
hope to publish subsequently some ac-
count of Professor Rood's life and
work.

Some years ago Mr. Hodgkins left
his fortune to the Smithsonian Insti-
tution to be used for the increase and
diffusion of more exact knowledge in
regard to the nature and properties of
atmospheric air in connection with
the welfare of man, the endowment
amounting to about $250,000. Part of
the fund has been used to establish a
Hodgkins gold medal, which in 1899
was awarded to Lord Rayleigh and
Professor Ramsay for their discovery
of argon. A second award of the medal
has now been made to Professor J. J.
Thomson, of the University of Cam-
bridge, for his investigations on the
conductivity of gases, especially the
gases that compose the atmospheric air.
An engraving from this medal, made
by M. Chaplain, is here given. Pro-
fessor Thomson has just been appointed
the first lecturer at Yale University
on the foundation established with a
bequest of $85,000 from Benjamin
Silliman.

The degree of LL.D. was conferred
on Dr. Alexander Graham Bell at St.

192

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Andrew's University on October 23, on
the occasion of the installation of Mr.
Andrew Carnegie as rector. — Mr. Wil-
liam Sellers has been nominated for
the presidency of the American Society ;
of Mechanical Engineers. — Professor
Kohlrausch, president of the Reichsan-
stalt, has been elected a foreign mem-
ber of the Swedish Academy of Sci-
ences.

Mb. John Morley has given the
library of the late Lord Acton to Cam-

University of Chicago. — The collection
of the birds of Holland, formed by
Baron Snouckaert van Schaubvirg and
mounted by Tar Meer, the celebrated
Dutch taxidermist, has been purchased
by the Carnegie Museum.

A commemorative tablet has been
placed on the house at Favieres in
which Professor A. A. Liebeault was
born. It states that he opened a new
era in the medical sciences by his dis-
covery of the systematic application of

bridge University. It will be remem-
bered that this valuable historical
library of some 70,000 volumes was
purchased some time ago by Andrew
Carnegie from Lord Acton, who was
allowed to retain it until his death.
Upon Lord Acton's death Mr. Carnegie
gave the library unconditionally to Mr.
Morley. — It is announced that the
entomological collection of the late John
Ackhurst, of Brooklyn, containing some
50.000 specimens, has been purchased
for the zoological department of the

suggestion and induced sleep in the
treatment of disease. The tablet was
unveiled in the presence of Professor
Liebeault on his seventy-ninth birth-
day.— An effort is being made by the
mayor and municipal council of St.-
Just-en-Chaussee, Oise, France, to raise
a memorial to two famous men who
were born in that town, the brothers
Haiiy-Rene Just, founder of mineralogy
as an exact science, and Valentin, the
philanthropist, who founded the first
school for the blind.

THE

POPULAR SCIENCE

MONTHLY.

JANUARY, 1903.

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN.

By Professor WILLIAM TRELEASE,

DIRECTOR OF THE GARDEN.

IN 1840, Henry Shaw, an Englishman who had settled in St. Louis
in 1819, retired from business with the — for that time — large
fortune of a quarter of a million dollars. Revisiting the land of his

Henry Shaw.

birth, he saw how Englishmen enjoy the fruits of labor such as that
by which he had acquired this large sum of money. Traveling on the
vol. lxii. — 13.

i94 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

continent, lie saw what the world of pleasure offers to those who are
able to pay for it. But he returned to the land of his adoption, deter-
mined to make for himself there surroundings as nearly as possible
comparable with those of his own countrymen; and he so far succeeded
that the modest little garden with which he surrounded his country
house in the suburbs of St. Louis came in time to be the pleasantest
of the resorts of the residents of that city, and the one place to which
they were all sure to wish to take their visiting friends.

If he had stopped with this, he would have caused his name to be
long remembered by his fellow-citizens, for he did not hold his home
as his own exclusively, but admitted to the enjoyment of its beauties
any who wished to share them with him. But while his grounds were
developing and growing in beauty, he learned, through the helpful
acquaintance of Sir William Hooker and of his own fellow townsman,

Wall Gardening.

Dr. George Engelmann, that it might be possible to perpetuate his
name in a surer and more lasting manner, and to cause the garden
that he had planned and planted to become of use in the world of
science and to grow in such usefulness through the centuries, while
losing nothing of its beauty and attractiveness to those who cared to
enjoy without using it. In 1859 he secured the passage of an act
by the legislature of Missouri which empowered him to deed or will,
as he might elect, such of his property as he wished, to trustees for
the maintenance of "a botanical garden for the cultivation and propa-
gation of plants, flowers, fruit and forest trees, and for the dissemina-
tion of the knowledge thereof among men, by having a collection
thereof easily accessible; by the establishment of a museum and library
in connection therewith, as also by establishment of public lectures
and instruction upon botany and its allied sciences, when it shall be

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

>95

deemed advisable in furtherance of the general objects of said trust;
and . . . for the purpose of maintaining a perpetual fund for the
support and maintenance of said garden, its care and increase, and
the museum, library and instruction connected therewith."

As the new and larger plans shaped themselves in Mr. Shaw's mind,
they began to take form on the grounds, and a flower garden, arbor-
etum, and fruticetum — Loudon's main parts of a garden — were quickly
laid out and planted, and separated and fronted by rubble walls in the
outermost of which a severe but rather impressive gate-house, bearing

the chosen name of the establishment — Missouri Botanical Garden

was built. Xot far from his house, Mr. Shaw put a small fireproofed
building, over the door of which the inscription 'Botanical Museum

^^* . .• V

The Museum Buildim;.

and Library" was cut in the stone, and in which, largely through the
interest of Dr. Engelmann, were soon installed a small but well chosen
collection of books, and some 60,000 specimens of plants, consisting
of the herbarium of the then lately deceased Professor Johann Jakob
Bernhardi and a small local collection made by Eiehl. The arrange-
ment of these specimens, Mr. Shaw once informed me, was entrusted
to 'a young man named Fendler,' whose name was already known as
that of an expert collector and destined to be made still better known
by subsequent work in the tropics. On the occasion of my introducing
to him a gentleman who was making a study of the flora of Missouri
and who wished to consult the Eiehl collection, Mr. Shaw expressed
the regret with which he observed that though the flower garden was

196 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

visited by thousands of people each year, and the contents of the small
and miscellaneous museum attracted them, this was the only request
for access to the herbarium or library that. had been made by a botanist
for years.

From time to time he turned his thoughts toward the fuller realiza-
tion of his plans, apparently hesitating between leaving their inception
to the trustees that he had provided for appointing by will, and making
the beginning himself either alone or in conjunction with trustees —
a possibility specifically provided for in the enabling act of the legisla-
ture. On the occasion of my first visit to him, in the early spring of
1885, he pointed out to me the place, on Flora Avenue, before the main
gate of the garden, where he had seriously thought of building lecture
rooms, laboratories and residences for a faculty of botany. It was
somewhat earlier than this that he called the great botanist, Asa Gray,
into his counsels, and largely because of the wise advice of Dr. Gray,
who saw that the time was not yet come in St. Louis for an institution
such as was contemplated, he decided to let its growth be a normal
one from small beginnings — but without in the least modifying his
provisions for the final attainment of the largest results he had ever
contemplated. Amid the beautiful surroundings of his country home,
though also maintaining a city house, Mr. Shaw passed the latter half
of a very long life — always coining back to the reconsideration of the
coming development of his plans, modifying them in details, but never
altering their original breadth as shown in the act that had been passed
so many years before. To the garden he welcomed all who cared to
visit it, and himself dictated the position of nearly every tree or
smaller plant set out.

It was apparently the death of Engelmann, a resident of St. Louis
and one of the greatest as perhaps the most accurately painstaking of
American botanists, that caused the next step forward to be taken.
Shortly after this, in 1884-5, Dr. Gray was once more, and this time
rather urgently, called into consultation, that the city in which the
plans were laid might not be entirely without a botanist; and the
result was that in the spring of 1885 Mr. Shaw proposed to the directors
of Washington University to endow in that institution a school of
botany, with the understanding that by testamentary provision the
best uses of his garden for scientific study and investigation should
be ensured to its professor and students. The offer being accepted,
the Henry Shaw School of Botany was formally inaugurated on the
sixth of November following, and its single professor was thrown into
a pleasant and frequent personal intercourse with Mr. Shaw which
lasted until the death of the latter. About this time, suggestions were
not lacking, from men of judgment, that by rendering the union be-

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

197

/f^ m

%*

tween the garden and school of hotany still closer through placing
the former under the care of the directors of the university, it might
be possible to ensure a much larger revenue for the needs of the garden
since the university enjoys exemption from taxation under an old
charter, which the new establishment could scarcely expect to secure
with the existing constitutional provisions of the state. The argu-
ments were well consid-

ered, but the saving of
money — which to-da}''
would amount to over
$25,000 annually — did
not weigh in Mr. Shaw's
mind as contrasted with
autonomy, and when he
died, in August, 1889, his
will was found to provide
for the administration of
the garden by an inde-
pendent board of trustees,
consisting of fifteen per-
sons; ten named by the
testator, and the other five
holding office as trustees
ex officio, in various ca-
pacities : The chancellor
of Washington Universit}^,
the bishop of the episcopal
diocese of Missouri, the

president of the public school board of St. Louis, the president of the
Academy of Science of St. Louis, and the mayor of the city. Two
additional honorary trustees, whom he evidently hoped to have assist
in the inauguration of the establishment on broad lines, were named:
Dr. Asa Gray and Professor Spencer F. Baird — neither of whom, un-
fortunately, survived Mr. Shaw, while it is evident from the phrasing
of his will that their places were not intended to be filled. Two other
citizens of St. Louis, named as trustees in the will, had died, also,
before the testator, and it was held by the courts that their places
should not be filled. Except for the members ex officio, the board of
trustees is a self-perpetuating body, itself filling vacancies as they occur.
The testamentary provisions for the carrying out of Mr. Shaw's
purposes do not differ in any essential respect from the plan sketched
in the enabling act of 1859 — passed because there was at that time
some uncertainty as to the possibility of otherwise making the provisions

George Engelmann.

i98

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

that he wished to make in such manner as to ensure their permanence.
The purposes of the trust are stated by him in his will to be "having
for the use of the public a botanical garden easily accessible, which
should be forever kept up and maintained for the cultivation and
propagation of plants, flowers, fruit and forest trees, and other produc-
tions of the vegetable kingdom; and a museum and library connected
therewith, and devoted to the same and to the science of botany, horti-
culture, and allied objects." Provision is distinctly made for the
perpetual maintenance of the establishment on the original site; for
holding the endowment in the form of real estate, in which Mr. Shaw,
following English custom, had made most of his investments; for
the establishment of public lectures on botany and allied sciences;
additions to the collections of plants, the museum and the library;
exchanges; increase in the means and appliances of instruction; and

A Bit of Horticulture. Figs Prepared for Winter.

the maintenance of the revenue of the school of botany up to a speci-
fied point. It is provided that there shall always be a director of
the garden, appointed and subject to removal by the board of trustees,
by whom his duties are from time to time to be prescribed, but who,
"when within the sphere of his duties thus prescribed and while he
shall faithfully perform those duties thus prescribed . . . shall not
be subject to the interference, management or control of said board,"
though without such construction of this provision being possible as to
take away from the board the permanent control over the garden and
the grounds of the institution. The director's residence is indicated
as the garden home of its founder, and he is required by the will to
devote his entire time and efforts to its interests, and to so employ his
energies that from year to year the institution shall grow up in
efficiency in promoting the ends in view in its inception.

THE M1SS0UJU BOTAXH'AL CAllDEX

199

Provision is made for the cooperation of the garden and the school
of botany by the requirement that the professor or professors in the
latter shall be the director of the garden or his chief assistant; or both,
or that they shall be appointed on nomination of or subject to tin.'
approval of the trustees of the garden. The instruction of garden
pupils is specifically indicated as a purpose of the institution, and
among the subjects that are mentioned as forming a part of the pur-
pose of its founder are horticulture, arboriculture, medicine and the
arts, so far as botany enters into them, and scientific investigations in
botany proper, vegetable physiology, the diseases of plants, the forms
of vegetable life, and of ani-
mal life injurious to vegeta-
tion, and experimental in-
vestigations in horticulture,
arboriculture, etc. ; but the
testator wisely adds: 'I
leave details of instruction
to those who may have to
administer the establish-
ment, and to shape the. par-
ticular course of things to
the condition of the times.'

The intention and ob-
vious need of maintaining
the establishment as an
ornamental garden are evi-
dent in the many references
to it as a fundamental idea,
and Mr. Shaw very spe-
cifically states that he con-
siders it 'an important
feature to always keep up
the ornamental and flori-

cultural character of the garden.' Direction is given that the yearly
net revenue from the endowment shall be applied 'first to the payment
of the salaries of the director, assistants, professors and gardeners,
and the payment of the wages of the employees and laborers, in
keeping up the grounds in good style and providing for the preser-
vation and increase of the plants and trees, and preserving the build-
ings and inclosures of the grounds, and secondly to the purchase of
plants, flowers, and trees, additions to the library, the enlargement
and improvement of the garden when necessary or advisable, and such
other expenditures as from time to time may lie found necessary' in
furtherance of the purposes of the testator.

The Garden Home.

200

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

That, in the man}' specifications of provision for instruction and
research, sight should not be lost of his wish that the institution, as
a place of beauty, should always afford the pleasure to coming genera-
tions that it had given to the people of Mr. Shaw's own day, and that
its connection with the outside world might be a pleasing, helpful and
broad one, he provides that, though closed on holidays and Sundays
as a rule, it shall be ojjened on the afternoon of the first Sunday each
in June and September — dates on which it presents at their best two
distinct phases of its attractiveness, the roses and other spring shrub-
bery on the one, and the decorative bedding on the other; that there
shall be preached each yea]-, by a preacher and in a church selected
by the episcopal bishop of the diocese of Missouri, a sermon on the
wisdom and goodness of God as shown in the growth of flowers, fruits,

Sunday Visitors.

and other products of the vegetable kingdom; that premiums may
each year be awarded at a flower show in St. Louis; and that each year
there shall be given a banquet to the trustees of the garden and the
guests they may invite — literary and scientific men, and friends and
patrons of the natural sciences, and a banquet to the gardeners of the
institution and invited florists, nurserymen and market gardeners of
St. Louis and vicinity.

Immediately after Mr. Shaw's death, the admittance of his will to
probate making known the constitution of his board of trustees, the
latter organized and appointed as director the professor selected by
Mr. Shaw to take charge of the school of botany, defining his duties
as 'the duties prescribed for that office in the last will of Henry Shaw,
deceased, and such other duties as may from time to time be pre-

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN.

20I

scribed by this board in pursuance of the trusts declared in said will.'
Under its organization, the board holds monthly meetings for the
transaction of business connected with the management of the large
endowment property — which at the time of Mr. Shaw's death was
appraised at not far from a million and a third dollars, and which is
now carried on the books as $1,588,274.60 — and the consideration of
current administrative details of the Garden. The board consists of
some of the most representative citizens of St. Louis, and is possessed
of the fullest confidence of the community, as is shown by the attitude
of the courts, when, as has several times proved desirable, instructions
have been asked on questionable points, or special powers requested.
The most notable instance of this is afforded by a request of the board
for power to sell certain endowment real estate left by Mr. Shaw and
distinctly made inalienable by the terms of both the enabling act and
his will, but which was found incapable of utilization for long-term
residence leases, as contemplated by him, because of the unwillingness
of American home builders to make use of leased ground. Notwith-
standing the clear provisions against the alienation of real estate, the
courts, being convinced that these provisions brought a detail of the
will into conflict with its purpose,
granted the desired permission
after full consideration of the
question in both the lower and
supreme court. By the provision
of small committees charged with
specific duties, the board is able to
give remarkably detailed care to
the many phases of its trust, and
from month to month the plans of
the director for the administration
of the establishment are passed in
review and provided for by suitable
appropriation of funds.

In the development of the Mis-
souri Botanical Garden, two distinct
periods are already distinguishable: a first, now drawing to an end,
in which, because of the unproductiveness of a very large part of the
endowment property, and the need of protecting the latter by the
accumulation of a reserve fund sufficient to cover improvement costs
that might at any time be assessed against it, little could be hoped for
except the bare maintenance of the institution on the lines indicated
by its founder, which, having been inaugurated by him only in part,
at once increased the expense of maintenance considerably beyond the

A Carnivorous Plant — Drosera brevifolia.

202

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

point at which it had been when the garden was only the home of a
private gentleman ; and a second, now in sight, in which, the realization
of his plans to make of the garden a center of research and instruction
is to be looked for in greater measure with the passage of every year.
During the first, or maintenance, period, both trustees and director

General Effect— the Grove.

have taken the ground that standing still was impossible — that the
institution must either advance or recede — and maintenance, there-
fore, has really meant slow growth in most of the directions contem-
plated by its founder. In one single respect, only, has ground seem-
ingly been lost — for the small museum, which, in the later years of

Detail— a Mosaic of Succulents.

Mr. Shaw's life, under the care of household servants had deteriorated
so far as to be neither useful nor creditable, was closed when his
trustees took charge of the establishment; and the need of using the
museum building for other purposes has as yet prevented renovating
and reopening it. Under the liberal policy of his trustees, the collec-

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GAh'PhW

20'

tion of living plants has increased from a scant 2,000 to 10,000 species
or varieties; the decorative features have each year grown in variety
and attractiveness; the library has increased from less than 1,000
volumes to over 36,000 books and pamphlets; the herbarium has in-
creased from a little over 60,000 sheets of specimens to about 400,000
sheets; a course of instruction for garden pupils has been put in opera-
tion, which has trained a number of the best of the young men now

' Jo

engaged in horticulture — in the broad sense — in the country; the
school of botany, though it has not had many students, has given
botanical instruction to such o f
the undergraduates of Wash-
ington University as wished to
take up this study, either as
pure botany or in connection
with medicine or engineering,
and has prepared for the Doc-
tor's degree in the university
several candidates whose theses
have reflected credit on the in-
stitution as well as on them-
selves; and, during the laying
of what must be conceded as a
solid foundation for the more
rapid development and greater
productiveness of the next
period of the garden's history,
time has been found by the
garden staff for the perform-
ance of sufficient research
work in various departments
of botany and horticulture to
have caused its recognition as
an establishment for this pur-
pose.

During the laying of the
foundation for the greater
productiveness of the garden, sight has not been lost for a moment of
the desirability of maintaining it as an attractive resort for the lovers
of the beautiful, and it may be said that considerably over 100,000 per-
sons visited it last year — some 43,000 on the two open Sundays. As is
always the case in large places, detail is often lost in mass effect, or the
seeker after detail sees nothing of broad treatment ; and in the adminis-
tration of the institution there is not a day which does not bring to the
director more dissatisfaction with either general effect or detail than is

A Specimen Plant— Martinezia earyotcefolia-

204

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

made good by contemplation of the best that either offers. And yet the
impression that the garden makes on those whose comments reach the
office, appears to be that of a place of beauty — and it is often a matter
of surprise when I become critical of the dwarfing of individual
plants that attends their massing either in the open air or in the

The Mausoleum.

crowded plant houses, to find that excellent specimen plants of hun-
dreds of species are capable of disentanglement whenever they are
needed for any particular use or can be allowed adequate space.

At the time of Mr. Shaw's death a fraction less than forty-five

In the Parterre.

acres of land were included in the garden, divided into : garden proper,
9.4 acres; arboretum, 20.5; fruticetum, 8; lawn about residence, 2.7;
grove about the mausoleum of the founder, who, by his own direction,
is buried on the grounds, 0.6; and vegetable garden — the garden first
laid out by Mr. Shaw, at the rear of his house — 3.5 acres. Though

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN.

205

changes cannot be held off indefinitely, the several parts of the garden
as existing at the time of the organization of the board of trustees have
thus far been maintained in much the form that they presented dur-
ing Mr. Shaw's life.

one op Mr. Guhney's Lilies.

The central garden consists of a sunken parterre immediately facing
the main gate, through which most visitors enter the grounds; a
series of regular beds separated by low hedges, lying to the left and
centered about a pavilion from which a bird's-eye view of the whole
is had; and a group of plant houses, with lawn and bed surroundings,

'Zeds*

Wild Flowers among the Trees.

at the right. It is on this part of the garden that the largest annual
expenditure for maintenance is made, for there is no class of open-air
gardening so expensive as flower-gardening in beds separated by lawns
that are kept properly mown. Among the additions that have been

2o6

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

made to this part of the garden are ponds for the cultivation of the
Koyal Lilies (Victoria Regia and V. Cruziana) and other water plants
—a group which is a particular favorite of the head gardener, Mr.
James Gurney, who has originated several beautiful and remarkable
hybrids and seedlings in it.

The arboretum, which for some reason was planted with the trees
in rows, as in a nursery, has always been kept in a less polished condi-
tion than the flower garden, affording opportunity for the spontaneous

growth of many of the wild
plants of the region — indeed,
a portion of it has never been
plowed, and its prairie vege-
tation is left undisturbed by
the scythe until after the
year's growth is finished. It
contains a varied collection of
trees, many of them now of
mature growth, though the
tornado which devastated St.
Louis in 1896 destroyed some
of the choicest of them and
mutilated others. In its park-
like character, the arboretum
affords a restful change from
the more formal flower gar-
den, and its studied air of
neglect is not the least of its
charms. With the growth of
the manufacturing interests
that have necessarily followed
the lines of the great railroads
passing not far from the northern and western limits of the garden,
has come a considerable change in the possibility of growing peren-
nial plants, and particularly coniferous evergreens, which, intolerant
of smoke to a degree scarcely surpassed except among the lichens —
which I have never seen growing in the garden — have gradually suc-
cumbed, until, notwithstanding constant efforts to replace them, they
have all but dropped out of cultivation.

In the so-called fruticetum, which, from the nature of its present
use, is kept closed to the ordinary sight-seer though always opened to
those to whom its contents are of real interest, is growing, in addition
to the shrubbery properly constituting a fruticetum, a small collec-
tion of the fruits best adapted to the climate of St. Louis, replacing

In the Arboretum.

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

207

the old orchard into which, in the Later years of ^lr. Shaw's life, this
section had grown, but which was almost entirely destroyed by the
tornado.

The vegetable garden furnishes to the pupils being taught under
the founder's will, the means of practise in vegetable growing, which,

A Mushroom Bed — Agaricus amygdalinus.

by the provision of a small forcing house, is carried through the entire
year. About the old residence, which, by direction of Mr. Shaw, is

The Old Range.

occupied by the director, is still maintained the ample expanse of grass
which has always characterized this part of the grounds; this is aug-
mented by a shaded and shrub-planted strip around the vegetable gar-
den, which Mr. Shaw called the pleasure ground, and which has been

208

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

the scene of some of the pleasantest entertainments of a bygone gen-
eration of St. Louisans.

Adjoining the arboretum and vegetable garden is a pasture area of
some eighty acres, of which one fourth has recently been graded, drained,

Modern Houses.

supplied with water, and partially planted to a synopsis of North
American plants arranged in the familiar sequence of families adopted
by Bentham and Hooker, while the remainder will shortly be molded
and planted to a general synopsis exemplifying the more modern
arrangement of Engler and Prantl, on plans already largely prepared.

A Cactus House.

Gardening within doors was not a large part of the art as formerly
practised, and the plant houses are far from meeting the wishes
of the gardeners, even to-day. The earlier of these were built before
the days of light and airy steel construction, and to grow symmetrical

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDES.

209

and elegant specimen plants, or to bring along through the season a
constant succession of flowers, was not and is not possible. In them,
however, are to be seen choice or picturesque specimens of a variety
of plants best adapted to the conditions that they offer, and of late
vears they have been supplemented by a range of modern houses,
which, though small, is sufficiently large for the growth of many
plants that are not seen outside of botanical establishments, as well
as of those that possess commercial value because of their ready growth
and abundant production of flowers. Among the collections of tender
plants that are especially
worthy of mention are the
cacti and agaves, which, the
special subjects of much of
the work of Engelmann, have
long been well represented in
the living collections, and have
been added to with the passage
of time until there are to-
day few collections of these
groups which surpass or even
approach them in size or im-
portance. One house is de-
voted to representatives of the
Bromeliaceae, of which some-
thing over 100 species are cul-
tivated, and to which others
are being added at short inter-
vals. One tower is occupied
with tender yuccas, which,
planted in the ground, are be-
ginning to assume a size ami
character impossible in the
open air in a latitude so far
north as that of St. Louis, or
in tubbed specimens. In one
house are brought together the sago plants, Cycadaceae, of which a
fairly good collection is owned by the garden, and added to with every
opportunity. In another, are planted out tree-ferns. In others,
orchids, already numbering some 600 forms, aroids, in considerable
variety, carnivorous plants, acacias and plants of similar foliage, and
other groups of particular decorative, economic or biological interest,
are displayed, and the provision this season of several new houses for
the propagation of plants and for. growing tliose that are needed for

VCL. LXII. — 14.

Agaves.

2IO

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

the embellishment of the houses that are open to the public, makes
possible increased beauty of the latter.

Vegetable gardening is not ordinarily attractive, and a truck
garden is usually associated with compost piles, bad smells, and dis-
order. It is not necessary for this to be true, however, and the little
vegetable garden connected with Shaw's Garden is not only not
unsightly in itself, but it has from year to year afforded the means of
cultivating in the fullest variety a number of kinds of vegetables. Here,
for instance, were grown for several seasons all procurable varieties

and spontaneous species of
chiles, and the monograph on
Capsicum which the horticul-
turist of the establishment
published as a result of the
studies that he was thus en-
abled to make, takes rank as
of value alike to botanists and
gardeners. Here, too, have
been grown, year after year,
the chief varieties of beans that
the world's markets afford,
and on the plants so cultivated
lias been based another and
equally useful monograph, by
the same gentlemnn. Mr. Irish.
Though not classed as vege-
tables, sweet peas in all pro-
curable sorts have been grown
for like purposes of study in
this enclosure, its seclusion
affording needed protection
of the plants while under
observation ; the thesis of
one of the garden pupils,
Mr. * Eudolph Mohr, on this
group of decorative plants, is of more than passing interest.

It is the lot of all living and growing institutions which give prom-
ise of prolonged existence, to have gifts of greater or less magnitude
made to them. The Missouri Botanical Garden has not proved an
exception to this rule. Even before the death of its founder, Dr.
George J. Engelmann placed in the hands of the present director of the
garden the invaluable herbarium of his father, the late Dr. George
Eno-clmann. and shortly after the organization of the board of trustees

The New Orchid.

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN

211

this was formally transferred to them by Dr. Engelmann, together
with the library of his father, which, however, had actually been placed
at the garden and in part arranged before the death of Mr. Shaw. One
of Dr. Engelmann 's biographers expressed the great surprise occasioned
by the vast amount of work that he, a busy physician, had found time
to do. The number and minute accuracy of his unpublished notes,
which form part of this gift from his son, were even more surprising.
Over 20,000 of them exist, varying in character from a mere memo-
randum of the appearance of a plant which he had observed in a foreign
garden, or a simple bibliographic reference, to accurate detail sketches
of all of the specimens on which his conception of a species in a
difficult group rested ; and the
sixty thick volumes in which
they are now contained are
counted among the choicest
possessions of the institution.
It was but a few years after
the organization of the garden
under its present management
that the Director one morning
received a letter from the late
Dr. E. Lewis Sturtevant, a
correspondent for many years,
but one whom he never had §
the privilege of meeting per-
sonally, asking if the garden
would accept a large collection
of specimens, reference cards,
sketches, partly in water-
colors, and other material

illustrative of the genus Capsicum, with a view to its ultimate utiliza-
tion in the preparation of an illustrated monograph such as the donor
had for years had in contemplation for his own pen, but which he
then saw that he must place in other hands. The gift was accepted,
and the resulting publication, which has been referred to above, is
now a matter of history and, I am pleased to say, met with Dr. Sturte-
vant's approval. Some years later, stricken with mortal illness, Dr.
Sturtevant once more wrote to ask if the garden would accept as a gift
the large and important collection of pre-Linnean books that it had
been his pleasure to accumulate through the years of his active study
of the origin and modifications of the plants cultivated by man, adding
that he wished to attach no conditions to the gift if it would be accept-

E. Lewis Sturtevant.

2 I 2

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

able, though he offered the suggestion that the best use of the books
would be secured if they might be separately shelved from other
classes of books and if a catalogue of them and the other pre-Linnean
books of the library might be printed, so that persons wishing to make
use of them might know where they were to be found. Visitors to
the library are more interested in the quaint volumes of this part of
its contents than in any other, and investigators have called its treas-
ures into use on many occasions, not infrequently writing from a dis-
tance for transcripts of passages that they have needed to use, but
have not been able to consult elsewhere. Sometimes, for days at a
time, students of particular groups of plants long cultivated, have

been occupied with the camera,
reducing to unimpeachable
form their quotations from
these books. Quite recently,
it has been found possible to
nearly double this collection,
by the purchase of a similar
collection formed by a gentle-
man in Europe, and the cata-
logue of the Sturtevant library
— made and printed some years
ago in compliance with the
suggestion of its donor, which
was considered of the greatest
importance — will be supple-
mented by a list of these later
acquired works. Very touch-
ing was the last thought of
Dr. Sturtevant for the garden.
Knowing that death was at
hand, he took from their cab-
inet the last and greatest of
his treasures, his manuscript
card references to the literature of cultivated plants, and himself
packed them in a safe manner for shipment, giving instruction that they
should be forwarded to the garden immediately after his death. May
the institution never be less worthy than it then was of such confidence !
To go into details concerning the library at large would be weari-
some and useless. Suffice it to say that, based on the small but well
selected library bought by Dr. Engelmann for Mr. Shaw many years
before his death, and augmented by the gift of the libraries of Engel-
mann, Sturtevant and the director of the garden as well as many

In theLibkary. A Mantel of the City Home.

THE MISSOURI BOTAMCAL GARDEN.

3

smaller collections, it has been increased by annual purchases of con-
siderable size, selected with discrimination from the libraries of some
of the world's greatest botanists, as these, through the death of their
owners, have come into the market, until it now comprises over 16,000
volumes and 20,000 pamphlets, valued at over $60,000 and fairly sym-
metrical in all fields of botany and the sciences that must be taken into
consideration in botanical work, as well as in gardening, landscape
work, horticulture, forestry, greenhouse construction, and the like.
Large as it is, however, it is so far from being satisfactorily complete
for the uses it is put to that a sum greater than its present valuation
could be spent on it within a few years, if the money were available
and the works needed were in the market, without having even then
a surfeit of the good things that such a library, destined for research
purposes, should offer the busy man who, to use them, must be freed
from too great care and delay in searching them out and placing his
hand on their contents. Strongest in the library, as would be ex-
pected from the fact that the Garden is a garden and possesses a
large herbarium and is at present more concerned with the systematic
study of flowering plants than with other subjects, are the departments
devoted to floras and monographs; those difficult things to have at
hand, series of journals and proceedings in whole or in part devoted
to botany; and the compendiums of gardening and garden plants; but
there are in this country few fuller collections of treatises on plant
morphology and physiology, and the works on the ecology of the flower
are probably nowhere surpassed in completeness of representation.
From the first establishment of the school of botany in the university,
it has been the policy to spare no trouble or reasonable expense to
make the library as complete as possible in any field in which special
work is taken up, and the result is that each piece of research accom-
plished has been marked by a corresponding growth in the library.

A herbarium is an uninteresting collection to the average person
who does not need to use it, whether he be a botanist or not. In
envelopes, or glued or bandaged down on sheets of paper are thousands
of more or less fragmentary plants, sometimes moldy or worm-eaten,
for time works havoc with all organic matter, and usually much faded.
And yet not even the library is more indispensable for the worker on
the species that they represent; for they are the real plants, and not
some one's interpretation of them. The choicest part consists always
of the original specimens preserved by an author when describing and
naming a species or genus, for however his description or figure may
have erred, this type persists as a record showing the true generic and
specific characters. An herbarium is not always a conclusive source to
which to turn for final information, for the author mav have and

2i4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

often has had two or more related species under his eye when describ-
ing the one to which he gave recognition and a name, and herbarium
study calls for some discriminating power; but notwithstanding the
inherent difficulties, its value is real and lasting. Though the founder
of the Missouri Botanical Garden did not specifically mention a
herbarium in his will, his purchase of the Bernhardi collection in the
early years of his planning shows his practical appreciation of the need
of such a part of the equipment of the institution, and in some manu-
script suggestions for his trustees, not made a part of his will, he
distinctly states that the correct naming of the plants cultivated in
an educational and research garden 'can only be done by a botanist,
aided by an herbarium and botanic library'; and one of the world's
greatest botanists, in speaking of the relative value of living collections
and the hortus siccus or herbarium, expresses himself as follows:*
"If the collections of dried plants are compared with those of living
plants, the advantages of each are more nearly balanced than is usually
thought. In a herbarium you see simultaneously specimens of related
species and also different localities, different ages or different condi-
tions of the same species. You know the name of the plant, if the
herbarium is well determined, and you go at once to the authors who
have spoken of it. You learn its origin, which is indicated on the
label. On its side, the living plant gives more means for certain
anatomical observations. It permits one to better describe certain
characters of little importance, such as color, odor, etc., but in the
country the plants are not named, and in a botanical garden they are
often badly named. . . . The geographic origin of the plants is there
almost always uncertain or unknown; the individuals are often modi-
fied by cultivation and crossing; fruits are rarely seen with the
flowers; rarely several individuals of the same species or several
related species; and still more rarely are botanists permitted to gather
enough specimens of an exotic plant to examine it to their satisfaction
and to preserve the proofs of their work." And he goes so far as
to head the chapter devoted to this consideration with the lines: 'Of
herbaria in general and of their superiority to every other zoological
or botanical collection.' It might have been added, truthfully, that
in a garden the representation of any given species is likely to be
transient, since the casualties to which living specimens are liable
are innumerable ; on the other hand, the specimens in the herbarium,
though subject to their own particular dangers, are far less likely to
suffer, and rarely disappear even in the course of very long periods of
time except as a result of gross carelessness.

The principal collections of this class at the Missouri Botanical
Garden are, in the first place, the herbarium of Engelmann, which,

* De Candolle, La Pliytographie, p. 365.

THE MISSOURI BOTA SIC AL GARDEN. 215

containing the types of his work on cacti, Agave, Cuscuta, Yucca,
conifers, and other groups of plants on which he was a recognized
authority, and in which he described many species, will long form the
most essential resource of students of these plants, for clearing up
difficulties in their interpretation. Some years since, one of the
young men at the garden was struck by the frequent coincidence of
a certain handwriting with species of grasses known to have been
collected by Haenke, and to have served for studies by Presl; and
investigation showed that the writing was really Presl 's, 'and that in
the Bernhardi herbarium, which contains many valuable — but un-
fortunately inadequately labeled — specimens, was a nearly full set
of this important collection of Haenke — the grasses of which were
subsequently studied in detail by Professor Lamson-Scribner, to the
elucidation of a number of questions concerning the grasses of the
United States, which could be answered only by recourse to the original
specimens on which Presl 's species rested.

It would be even more tiresome to give a minute analysis of the
contents of the herbarium than of the library. Suffice it to say that
in addition to the Engelmann and Bernhardi herbaria, it contains
the herbarium of Sturtevant — purchased after his death from an old
friend to. whom he had given it, but who desired it to be placed with
the other material serving as a record of his friend's work; a pre-
Linnean collection formed by the German botanists, Ludwig and
Boehmer, on which a Prussian flora was based long since ; the
cryptogamic herbarium of the director of the garden; a very large and
full collection of the plants of Alaska, made on the Harriman Alaska
Expedition, and containing, through the Bernhardi herbarium, repre-
sentatives of a considerable number of the species collected by the
early Bussian explorers; a good representation of the plants of the
West Indies, collected by a former assistant at the institution, who
was sent into the Caribbean region on a collecting trip; one of the
fullest representations of plants from the Azores, in which, and to
a smaller extent in Madeira, the director has spent some time; a very
full representation of the flora of Missouri, in which the Biehl col-
lection and a set of specimens many years since put up by Professor
G. C. Broadhead, and on which his early notes on the plants of the
state rest, are of especial interest; and probably the fullest set of
Chinese plants that has yet come to this country. All the more
important current collections of the plants of North America, and
many of those from foreign lands, have been bought as they have
been offered for sale. Not long before his death, Dr. Chapman, long
the only authority on the flora of our southern states, asked the director
to visit him, in order that arrangements might be made for the ultimate

2i6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

passage to the garden of his personal herbarium. Twice, the Chap-
man herbarium had been sold — each time the best representatives in
it being selected, and supplemented by fragments from his scrap
books when these were essential for the representation of a species;
but there remained at the time of his death a large amount of material
which as he said consisted of the original fragmentary specimens
representative of his earlier work on the southern flora, and, there-
fore, really the types of the species contained in it as he then under-
stood them. ' For every student of the plants of this region, there-
fore, this collection is of the greatest value, as showing, so far as

Seed Beds.

it goes, what he really had in mind when using a particular name —
and it was precisely that this record of his work might be permanently
preserved, that he was desirous that his collection should find its
home in the garden.

In themselves, living plants, books and herbarium specimens are
but a burden to those charged with looking after and caring for
them. He is a happy botanist who has no care except for the thing
that his mind is turned to at any given moment. Happy the gardener
with only a bay-window to care for ! The need for accumulating more
than the use of the moment demands lies in the impossibility of other-
wise having at hand facilities when they are needed. The sight-seer
finds nothing but a curious scene in half an acre of seed beds, thickly
studded with little labels which mark the lines where thousands of
kinds of seeds lie awaiting the quickening action of sun and rain;
but to the student of morphology its value is untold. The sightseer,
too, is impressed with but a small part of the things that he sees in
passing through a large collection of even the most beautiful plants.
A mass of color, a clump of graceful foliage, repeated in different

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 217

forms and places by the use of perhaps a scant score of species, is all
that the average mind carries away from the greatest botanical estab-
lishment. The difference between five hundred and five thousand
species in a collection is utterly lost on the casual observer. Let
him, however, wish to see some particular plant that he has chanced
to read of, and the difference becomes evident. To the botanist, even,
the difference between one thousand and ten thousand species is not
readily perceptible until he has need of some particular thing, which
the larger collection may afford while the smaller is almost certain
to offer only disappointment.

However large or small it may chance to be, any collection is
useful or valueless according as it does or does not give information
as well as please the eye. Curiosity, alone, prompts nearly every

A Named Specimen*.

observer to look for the name and native home of a plant that he sees
growing in a garden. Much more than this is desired by some, and
could be added profitably for all were it not for the fact that more
deters the ordinary visitor and so defeats the very object for which
it is offered, by keeping him from reading at all. No small part
of the usefulness of a botanical garden lies in giving information
that is not sought, and that the recipient would not himself think of
seeking, but which reaches him through such natural channels that
he unconsciously acquires not only it, but the habit of looking for the
same kind of information about other things, and for more on the
particular one that he has first become interested in. One of the
principal objects of the founder of the garden therefore is served by
the simple presentation of a named collection of attractive and attract-
ively placed plants, which educates while pleasing those who see it.
This is varied by the provision of special collections that are tempting

2i8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

in themselves — such, for instance, as a part of the grounds devoted
to plants that are hardy in the city. Thousands of persons each
year see in this little collection something that by its beauty or oddity
attracts them, and the provision of a general label showing that all
are hardy, and of the individual label, telling its name, causes them
to wish it for their own garden and enables them to order it of their
florist, or, if he does not know how to supply it, puts them in the way
of seeking it in the lists of other dealers.

Very frequently, parties of visitors are accompanied through the
garden by an employee who points out to them the more important
features or aids them in finding things in which they are particularly
interested. One portion of the grounds contains, in sequence, the
principal families of higher plants, represented by several hundred
attractive species chosen with reference to the fullest possible generic
representation. Another is set aside for the growth of medicinal
plants, and elsewhere are grown representatives of the commoner
agricultural crops, of savory herbs, etc. These collections, in particu-
lar, are much used by teachers in the public schools, who bring classes
to the garden for a part of their nature work, in the open air.

Even surplus and waste material contributes in a way to the same
end. It is always necessary to propagate bedding plants in excess of
the number actually needed, so that replacements may be possible
in case of accidents or inclement weather following their transplant-
ing into the open. While only two or three permanent specimens of
a kind are wanted for tender plant,?, most species grown from seed
are sure to be germinated in a greater number of individuals than
this. When frost necessitates the clearing of the beds in autumn,
many plants that have served their purpose during the growing season
are still living, though disfigured. This surplus or refuse material
is not thrown away, but by the expenditure on it of a very little care
is potted, set aside in frames for recuperation if this is necessar}r, and
distributed to hospitals and schools, where, particularly in the poorer
and more densely populated parts of the city, it quietly continues the
refining influence that Henry Shaw appreciated as one of the most
desirable effects of his garden in his own time.

But the great ultimate purpose of a botanical garden is the foster-
ing of research with the purpose of adding to knowledge. This was
recognized by Mr. Shaw, and repeatedly mentioned in his provisions for
the future of his establishment. Opportunity for it lies in every plant
in the collections, and in every book on the shelves. To get men to
use the opportunities offered is the greatest problem of administration.
So far, the garden has employed only the most necessary care-takers,
and it would have been impossible for a single one of its employees

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDES. 219

to have been spared from the force without neglect of some essential.
Yet, though over-work and a permissible if entirely undesirable neglect
of details of convenience in use, but not of preservative care, have
been necessary, each of the higher employees has every year found
time to do something worth doing in the field of investigation. The
achievements, it is true, are neither as many nor as great as the
workers or the management of the establishment would have wished
them to be, but considering the fact that the garden has been in
course of transition from the pleasure grounds of a gentleman to a
scientific establishment, and that what has been done has been care-
fully done, they are not insignificant or unworthy, and each of the
thirteen annual reports on the institution thus far printed contains
at least one scientific publication of original results, of permanent
interest to botanical workers. What will come of the staff of capable
investigators that it may shortly be expected to gather together, is a
matter of conjecture only — but the conjecture refers rather to the
success with which men may be selected than to the opportunities
that they will enjoy for the most earnest and serious application of
which they are capable.

Research is coming to be recognized as of greater value for the
practical development of our natural resources, with the passage of
every year. The investigator sometimes sees in his subject only a
problem that he must solve whether its solution can ever be of value
or not. Sometimes he appears to be so constituted that the suspicion
that it can result in anything useful is deterrent to him. Some-
times his chief interest lies in the very possibility of its utilization.
But, in any case, no fact well made out and properly correlated is
valueless, and the results of the most unpractical of discoveries are
often utilized in commerce or in the arts with surprising prompt-
ness. While the research thus far carried on at the garden has been
dictated largely by consideration of the needs of botanical science
alone, or the personal interest of the investigator, I should not like
to close this reference to it without mentioning that the studies of
one of the intructors in the school of botany, Dr. von Schrenk, have
taken the direction of the causes and means of prevention of the decay
of timber, on which, under the authority of the National Department
of Agriculture, he has done work which has brought him merited
scientific recognition, while at the same time its practical results in
the saving to railroads and other large users of timber already promise
very large financial returns to the community at large.

While its own staff is, therefore, reasonably certain to utilize the
facilities of the garden in an ever growing degree for the performance
of research work, the results of which are and will always be an ample

2 2o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

justification of their acquisition, it is not at all improbable that the
passage of time will see their utilization to an even greater extent
by investigators not connected with the administration of the establish-
ment. Whatever it possesses is freely placed at the disposal of any
one capable of making good use of books or material, and while its
own staff, however developed, will always comprise but a small part
of the persons capable of making good scientific use of its treasures,
it is probable that a recognition will grow with the years, through at
least the entire central part of our country, that a visit to the garden
is not only possible and practicable, but almost a necessity for all of
the botanists outside of the few large universities, who desire to do
in its best form the work that lies in the line of their interest and
training. Much use has already been made of the garden by men
who would not have done their work so well without this help, and
much more use of it would doubtless be made were it not for the fact
that travel and residence in a city are found more expensive than
staying at home, when the isolated worker counts up the cost and con-
sults his limited income. It may be remarked, however, that the man
who counts cost too closely through life is often the man who sacrifices
future usefulness to present economy, and it may safely be said that
few lines of saving are less profitable in the long run than those
pursued at the expense of the equipment and wide acquaintance on
which professional and financial success usually rests.

Prophecies are always of uncertain value and attended with danger
if the prophet seeks a reputation in that field: I shall hardly venture,
therefore, to say much about the detailed future of the garden. This
much, however, may be said with certainty, that its endowment appears
to be so ample and so well founded that, though growth and attainment
will be gradual and large immediate undertakings are not within its
power, its perpetuity as an important and growing center of study
and education are beyond question. The research work already in
progress in the garden under the control of the government is sug-
gestive of the continued attainment of better, and largter results
through cooperation with other establishments than would be possible
to either alone. That the grounds will be greatly enlarged, that a
supplementary garden of much larger size and more picturesque con-
formation will some day be opened at a distance from the smoke of
the city, which has already sounded the death knell of some of the
plants that were formerly cultivated with success in the present
garden — which, under the provisions of Mr. Shaw's will is certain to
be maintained as the real center and home of the establishment what-
ever adjuncts it may have — and that there will be erected in the near
future a system of large conservatories of modern construction, worthy

THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN.

221

of a great botanical garden, large additions to the single small plant
house now devoted to experimental work in mycology and plant pathol-
ogy, and a suitable home for its herbarium and library, with ample
laboratory facilities, it is easy and safe to predict. That these shall
all and alwa}*s be freely at the disposal of any who wish to make
serious use of them in research work of any kind, is an established
policy, not likely to change. Finally, it may be said that, as its
founder's wish was to make its scope broad, so the purpose of those
to whom he has left its administration is to develop it, so far as the
means at their disposal admit, on lines which shall better fit it with
the passage of each year for the performance of useful work in any
part of the field, while strengthening it to the fullest during the
progress of each particular study that is taken up — and, throughout,
never to let it become anything but a place to which the lover of the
beautiful may turn in the full assurance that he will never find it
less beautiful than when it was Henry Shaw's home, but rather a
place to which wealth of scientific resource has but added greater
possibilities for pleasure, when pleasure only is sought.

222 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

THE SAVING OF VANISHING DATA.

By ALFRED C. HADDOX, F.R.S.,

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY.

IPIVE years ago I pointed out* that it is well from time to time
-L to take stock of our knowledge and our methods of inquir}*-, to
see whether we are working on sound lines. As the business man
finds it necessary to go over his stock periodically and to balance his
books, so, also, the scientific man, especially the biologist, should per-
form an analogous operation, lest perchance he finds out too late that
he has been entering on a comparatively non-profitable work, or has been
neglecting valuable opportunities. While it is impossible to say that
any scientific work will be ultimately unprofitable, it is right to point
out that particular subjects for investigation may be of more immedi-
ate importance than others.

In order not to complicate the question, we will dismiss the practical
applications of science by admitting that they are of immediate im-
portance. This leaves the field clear for the consideration of scientific
subjects which are studied solely for their own sake.

We can, perhaps, gain a clear view of the question by looking at it
from the standpoint of our successors. What will be the opinion of the
naturalist of a hundred, or of a thousand years hence of the work now
being done? What is the scientific work he would wish us to have
undertaken? This question is not a difficult one to answer.

He would not consider it very necessary for us to elucidate the struc-
ture, development or physiology of every common animal; these re-
searches can be pursued at any time. The investigation of the life in
the oceans — whether on the surface, in shallow water, or in abysmal
depths — can be done by him as well as by us.

The naturalist of the future will certainly and most justly com-
plain if we busy ourselves entirely with problems that can wait, which
he can solve as well as we, and at the same time neglect that work which
we alone can do. Our first and immediate duty is to save for science
those data that are vanishing; this should be the watchword of the pres-
ent day. Those students of botany, zoology and anthropology who have
at all considered the matter are impressed with the fact that the present
time is a very critical period for the native flora and fauna of many
parts of the world. Owing to the spread of commerce, the effects of

* Nature, January 28, 1897, p. 305.

THE SAVING OF VANISHING DATA. 223

colonization, and the intentional or accidental importation of plants
and animals, a very rapid change is affecting the character of the
indigenous life of numerous districts. This is notably the case in
oceanic islands, the area of which is often extremely limited, and whose
native forms have been found to be specially liable to be swamped by
the immigrants; but it is just those spots which are of especial interest
to the naturalist, on account of their isolation from the great land
areas. Thus the flora and fauna of many of the most interesting dis-
tricts for the field-naturalist are in our day becoming largely extermi-
nated before they have been adequately recorded. The investigation of
disappearing animals and plants can, in many cases, be undertaken
by us alone — and even now much has disappeared and more is fast pass-
ing away. Attention has been called to the spread of land species
by the agency of man by Mr. L. 0. Howard, of Washington. In this
very interesting and suggestive article* he deals more especially with
insects and most of his illustrations are drawn from America.

In other parts of the world the same dislocation of the indigenous
fauna is taking place and even the flora is also becoming modified, for
example, Sir Walter Buller, F.R.S., has statedf that all the more inter-
esting birds of New Zealand are passing away. Not a few species have
already been exterminated, many more are on the borderland, so to
speak, of final extinction; and some even of the commonest birds of
thirty years ago have become so scarce that it is difficult to know where
to look for them. The saddest part of it is that it seems hopeless now
to arrest the evil, owing to the introduction of stoats, weasels and ferrets
that are now swarming over every part of the country and defy all
attempts to check their increase. The following facts speaks for them-
selves. No specimen of the once very abundant New Zealand quail
(Coturnix novae zealandice) has been seen for a quarter of a century:
of the celebrated Notornis mantelli only three perfect specimens have
been obtained; it is probably extinct. Even the extremely abundant
woodhens {Ocydromus sp.) are on the verge of extinction, as are the
various species of kiwi (Apteryx), the great ground parrot (Stingops
habroptilus) , the stitch-bird (Pogonornis cincta), the bell-bird, the
native robin, and many others, not forgetting the beautiful huia or
mountain starling (Heteralocha acutirostris), celebrated in Maori song
and tradition. The huia, which is greatly prized by the Maoris on
account of its tail feathers — for personal adornment and as a badge of
tribal mourning — -has, from time immemorial, been confined to a narrow
strip of mostly mountainous wooded country forming part of the old
Wellington Province.

* Science, N. S., Vol. VI., September 10, 1S97. p. 3S2.

f'The Vanishing Forms of Bird-life in Xew Zealand.* The Press, Christ-
church, N. Z., January 11, 1807.

224 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

It is only just to the New Zealand Government to point out that
several years ago the provisions of the ' Wild Birds Protection Acts '
were extended so as to include some species that were being destroyed
indiscriminately and Little Barrier Island and Resolution Island have
been set apart as bird preserves.

Sir Walter goes on to point out that there is just a chance that, in
the course of time, some of these vanishing species may learn to adapt
themselves to the new conditions of things, and take a fresh lease of life.
The tooth-billed pigeon (Didunculus strigirostris) , a native of the
Samoan or Navigator Islands, was supposed to be rapidly becoming
extinct, as its terrestrial habits rendered it an easy prey to predatory
animals, such as cats and rats, introduced into the islands from Euro-
pean vessels; but late accounts show that it has changed its habits,
feeding or resting exclusively on large trees, and that it is now increas-
ing in numbers. Commenting on this, Professor Newton says:

It is in this way, through the struggle for existence, that habits which have
been transmitted from parent to offspring through unknown generations are
suddenly abandoned, and entirely opposite ones adopted that give the needed
protection to life and continued prosperity, which the inherited methods no
longer are able to secure.

Now, singularly enough, the whitehead (Clitonyx albicapilla) was forty
years ago the commonest bird in the North Island, and at that time
a strict inhabitant of low scrubby vegetation, where its habits were
gregarious. For many years it seemed to have become extinct, Mr.
Reischek, during several years' hunting in the Auckland woods never
having met with a single example. During the last few years it has
reappeared, but in an entirely new character, as the frequenter of the
highest tree-tops, and it appears to be sensibly increasing. On the
Little Barrier, however, where it has never been much disturbed, it still
continues to frequent the low vegetation.

If so marked a change is apparent on a large land surface like New
Zealand, how much more rapid and effectual must be the change in
small islands. There is an interesting example of this in the Hawaiian
group. In 1890 a committee was appointed by the British Association
to investigate the zoology of those islands. The committee secured the
services of Mr. Pi. C. L. Perkins, who has proved himself to be a most
efficient collector; his investigations prove that quite a noticeable
decrease in the indigenous fauna is taking place each season. The
district around Honolulu was perhaps originally the richest in endemic
forms, but now introduced forms are in vast preponderance; the dis-
tinctive fauna of the plains, if there was one, has quite disappeared.
Captain Cook found certain birds, for example, near the shore ; of these,
some are extinct, and others are to be found only in the mountains.

TEE SAVING OF VANISEING DATA. 225

In a letter to S. D. Sharp, dated Lihue, Kauai, July 21, 1896, Mr.
Perkins states:

This place has been a dead failure. The country where I camped here was
a low-lying, densely-covered forest hog-land, at first sight a paradise for Cara-
bida3 (ground beetles), and differing from any other place known to me. Its
fauna is entirely lost forever. I turned during my stay thousands of lop, any
one of which at 4,000 feet would have yielded Carabidae. Of all these there was
not a single one under which Pheidole megacephala had not a nest, and I never
beat a tree without this ant coming down in scores.

This is an introduced ant which is overrunning the islands, and which
exterminates the native insect fauna. Mr. Perkins finds that earwigs
alone can withstand this ant, and his only chance of collection of
endemic insects is to get ahead of the ant. In the ' Eeport ' for 1900 it
is stated that on his return from a visit to England Mr. Perkins found
that great changes had taken place in the islands during his absence,
and that the forests were beiug extensively destroyed and replaced by
sugar-cane. The grants by the British Association have been supple-
mented by grants from the Government Grant Committee administered
by the Eoyal Society, and from the trustees of the Bernice P. Bishop
Museum in Honolulu. Eight parts of the three volumes intended to
form the ' Fauna Hawaiiensis' have now been published and others are
in the press. The inception of this investigation was due to Professor
Alfred Newton, and if he had not persisted until he succeeded, com-
paratively little would ever have been known about the fauna of the
Hawaiian islands.

In a communication to Nature* Mr. Perkins says that few countries
have been more plagued by the importation of insect pests than the
Hawaiian Islands ; in none have such extraordinary results followed the
introduction of beneficial species to destroy them, of the effect of which
he gives many instances. He goes on to say :

Why has the success of the imported beneficial insects been so pronounced
here, while in other countries it has been attained in a comparatively small
measure? The reason, I think, is sufficiently obvious. The same causes which
have led to the rapid spread and excessive multiplication of injurious introduc-
tions, have operated equally on the beneficial ones that prey upon them. The
remote position of the islands and the consequently limited fauna, giving free
scope for increase to new arrivals, the general absence of creatures injurious to
the introduced beneficial species, and the equality of the climate, allowing of
almost continuous breeding, may well afford results which could hardly be
attained elsewhere on the globe. The keen struggle for existence of continental
lands is comparatively non-existent, and, so far as it exists, is rather brought
about by the introduced fauna than by the native one.

To this Mr. Howard adds:

* Nature, March 25, 1897, p. 499.
vol. lxii. — 15.

226 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

One prime reason of success is that the most successful of the imported
species have come from another portion of the same great faunal region, while
others have been received from the region most nearly allied, viz., the Oriental.*'

Mr. Perkins then turns to the darker side of the picture for the natural-
ist's point of view and forecasts what will be the result of all these
importations on the endemic fauna. He says sooner or later the greater
part of this most interesting native fauna is in all probability doomed
to extinction.

Investigations such as those here advocated should be undertaken
by a competent naturalist. He should not only be a good collector, but
a keen observer, in fact, a naturalist in the true sense of the term; for
unless the work is well done it had almost be better left undone. There
are many examples of collecting being so imperfectly done as to lead
to very erroneous conclusions. It takes time for a naturalist to become
acquainted with the local types. The endemics do not show themselves,
as usually the conditions of life are such that insects, for example, live
retired lives and are not seen, while those that manifest themselves are
often foreigners.

It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to point out that the biological
investigation of islands is not a matter of interest to the systematist
only, but it is of great importance in connection with the problems of
geographical distribution of animals and plants, some of which open up
fascinating vistas of the extension of continents in former ages and of
their partial submergence, while others relate to the when and how of
the peopling of remote islands. Then there are to be considered the
bearing of specific and individual varieties on the intricate questions of
the origin of species and of evolution in general, and the adaptation of
peculiar forms to their particular localities as well as those wonderful
inter-relations between plants and plants, plants and animals, animals
and animals, and between all and their environment. In a word, all
those problems which are to be classed under the term ethologyf require
painstaking and immediate study; probably no branch of the study of
life is of such pressing importance as this, for everywhere ' the old order
change th' and it is that ' old order ' which we have to discover.

The extermination of animal life is more rapid and striking than that of
plants, but what has been stated for animals applies equally to plants.

More than twenty years ago the late Professor H. 1ST. Moseley raised
a note of warning and the concluding sentences of his ' Notes by a Nat-
uralist on H. M. S. Challenger ' are as follows :

With regard to any future scientific expeditions, it would, however, be well
to bear in mind that the deep sea, its physical features and its fauna, will

* Science, loc. cit., p. 396.

f ' Natural History, Oncology or Ethology,' W. M. Wheeler, Science, N. S.,
Vol. XV., June 20, 1902, p. 971.

THE SAVING OF VANISHING DATA. 227

remain for an indefinite period in the condition in which they now exist and as
they have existed for ages past, with little or no change, to be investigated at
leisure at any future time. On the surface of the earth, however, animals and
plants and races of men are perishing rapidly day by day, and will soon be, like
the Dodo, things of the past. The history of these things once gone can never
be recovered, but must remain forever a gap in the knowledge of mankind.

The loss will be most deeply felt in the province of anthropology, a science
which is of higher importance to us than any other, as treating of the develop-
mental history of our own species. The languages of Polynesia are being rap-
idly destroyed or mutilated, and the opportunity of obtaining accurate informa-
tion concerning these and the native habits of culture will soon have passed
away.

Many other naturalists besides Moseley have been impressed with
the need there is for the study of native races, indeed most of the
zoologists who have traveled afield have turned their attention to anthro-
pology, in the broadest sense of the term and not a few have partially,
or even entirely, relinquished the study of zoology for that of anthro-
pology. The reason is to be sought not only in the interest of the
study of man, but in the conviction that the opportunities for that
study are fast slipping away and fastest in those countries where the
most important results are likely to be obtained.

In many islands the natives are rapidly dying out, and in more
they have become so modified by contact with the white man and by
crossings due to deportation by Europeans, that immediate steps are
necessary to record the anthropological data that remain. Only those
who have a personal acquaintance with Oceania, or those who have care-
fully followed the recent literature of the subject, can have an idea of
the pressing need there is for prompt action. No one can deny that it
is our bounden duty to record the physical characteristics, the handi-
crafts, the psychology, ceremonial observances and religious beliefs of
vanishing peoples ; this also is a work which in many cases can alone be
accomplished by the present generation.

How often have I, when questioning the younger men about their
old custom, been told, ' Me young man, me no savvy, old man he savvy, '
and so it was. Even a quarter of a century of contact with the white
man will cause the attenuation or disappearance of old customs, the
memory of which is retained only by a few old men ; when these die the
full knowledge of the old cults dies too.

I often wonder what the ethnologist of the future will think of us.
The Tasmanians have entirely disappeared and we know extremely
little about this primitive people. Howitt, Tison, Spencer, Gillen and
Walter Eoth have done memorable work among the Australians, but
if these few men had not labored how much should we really know
about the meaning of the social and religious observances of a rapidly
vanishing people?

228 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Apart from the work of Codrington and the special investigations
of Parkinson, Danks, Fison, Von Pfeil and a few others, how little is
known about the practises and beliefs of the varied natives of the
Melanesian archipelago. Our knowledge of their physical characteris-
tics is slight; we have collections of many of the objects they make, but
of what they do and think our knowledge is as insufficient as it can
well be.

The case is not so bad for Polynesia, but even then most of our
information is scrappy and many branches of inquiry are practically
untouched. Books of travel and missionary records afford ample testi-
mony to the great change that has come over these people. Much is
irrevocably lost; but if steps are taken without delay some facts of
importance may yet be rescued.

What occurs with almost dramatic rapidity or thoroughness in islands
takes place also on the lowland areas where the white man comes into
close contact with native races. There are many tracts of Africa which
are in need of immediate investigation by trained observers.

Fortunately there is no need to point the moral for North America ;
although much yet remains to be done, the American anthropologists
have not neglected the indigenes whom their civilization is repressing.
They, too, recognize that in most cases it is only the fragments of the
past that they are able to recover. What they have accomplished has
been due mainly to the wise liberality of public-spirited business men.

There is no need to continue, examples could be multiplied indefi-
nitely; our scientific literature is full of laments of the insufficiency of
our knowledge of almost every custom or belief in every part of the
world. Untrained observers have imperfectly recorded events of which
they generally knew little and cared less. Those who have traveled
are in universal agreement as to the rapid change that everywhere is
taking place, and yet many anthropologists are content to measure
skulls or to describe specimens in museums !

A word of warning is not unnecessary. There is still a great danger
that travelers will make it their first endeavor to amass extensive col-
lections quite regardless of the fact that a sketch or a photograph of
an object about which full particulars have been collected is of much
greater scientific value than the possession of the object without the
information. The rapid sweeping up of specimens from a locality does
great harm to ethnology. As a rule only the makers of an object can
give full details respecting it, and no traveler who is here to-day and
gone to-morrow can get all the requisite information. This takes time
and patience. The rapid collector may get some sort of a story with
his specimen, but he has no time to check the information by appeal to
other natives, no time to go over the details in order to see that he has

TEE SAVING OF VANISEING DATA. 229

secured them all and in a right order. It is probable that many native
objects have a deeper significance than would be suspected. This can
only be coaxed out of the native by patient sympathy. Some informa-
tion may be ' rushed, ' but the finer flowers of the imagination, the spir-
itual concepts and sacred aspirations, can only be revealed to those with
whom the native is in true sympathy and, quite apart from idiosyncrasy,
the time element is most important. No, the rapid collector does posi-
tive harm, as, like the unskilled excavator, he destroys the collateral
evidence. He may add a unit to a collection, but its instructive value
is reduced to a minimum ; it is the gravestone of a lost opportunity.

My plea then is for investigators, not for mere collectors, as many
of the former as possible and as few of the latter. There is not much
difficulty in finding men willing and competent to undertake such inves-
tigations if funds were forthcoming. One point is worth mentioning:
in most branches of scientific enquiry, later investigations, owing to
more minute study, improved methods or a new point of view, are apt
to eclipse the earlier investigations. Now this is not the case with
ethnological research in the field. The earlier the observations are, pro-
vided they are full and accurate, the more liable they are to be of
greater importance than later ones. Students continually refer to the
oldest books of travel, and they will always do so. From this point of
view it is evident that properly qualified investigators should set to
work without delay. Every year's delay means that the work will be
so much the less perfect. All who are concerned in any field work can
have the satisfaction of feeling that students of mankind in future
ages will have to consult their publications, and they have the tremen-
dous responsibility that what they write will have to be accepted as
correct as there will be no means in the future of checking it.

In order that satisfactory work may be done it ought to be con-
tinuous, and two or three good men should be always in the field;
to accomplish this an income of at least $5,000 per annum is required.
To insure an efficient, economical and fair administration it would
be desirable to appoint a small international council of some half
dozen members; the council should not be too large, as the business
must be carried on by correspondence. This council would decide as
to the field work to be undertaken at any particular time and as to the
disposal and working out of the material that was collected. Only
systematists are aware of the necessity there is that the types of new
species should be deposited in the most central institution and regard
ought to be paid to the special circumstances of each particular group,
independent of country or nationality. Patriotism should not over-
ride the practical requirements of science.

23o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE AMERICAN'S DISTRUST OF THE IMMIGRANT.

by dr. a. j. Mclaughlin,

V. S. PUBLIC HEALTH AND MAEINE HOSPITAL SERVICE.

OPPOSITION to immigrants is not new. Even in the conven-
tion that framed the Constitution a minority looked with dis-
trust at the alien. A little later came the Alien Act of John Adams's
administration. Again, in 1812, the Hartford Convention proclaimed
'The stock population of these states is amply sufficient to render this
nation in due time sufficiently great and powerful.' During the
discussion of the bill to establish the territorial governments of Kan-
sas and Nebraska, Senator John M. Clayton, of Delaware, introduced
in the Senate an amendment confining the elective franchise to native
Americans; but, although some prominent statesmen warmly favored
the measure, sense of justice and a prudent regard for the national
welfare triumphed over narrow race prejudice, and the amendment
was lost. In the debate on the bill dealing with preemption rights
of settlers on public lands, approved May 29, 1830, Senator Merrick,
of Maryland, offered an amendment barring aliens from such rights;
but again there were enough clear heads and broad minds to prevent
the measure from becoming a law. Finally, in the early fifties, opposi-
tion to the alien culminated in the Know-Nothing movement, when
misguided fanatics, actuated by insane jealousy of foreigners, not only
discriminated against all aliens, but attempted actual persecution.

By 1855, however, the immigrant had proved his usefulness and
opposition lessened. He had convinced the intelligent American that
he was not a menace, but an indispensable upbuilding force. From
this time, therefore, up to a few years ago, he was subject to little
or no restriction on entering our ports. It is fortunate for our
growth that the immigrant of those early years was of a caliber vastly
superior to that of the immigrant of to-day. To-day the immigrants
are mostly of other stock than were those who gave us their brawn
and muscle and indomitable courage to conquer a wilderness. It
was national economy to avail ourselves of their services. They cut
down the forests, dug the canals, and built the railroads, thus making
our national life possible long before it could have existed without
their assistance. These were the days when the immigrants were
the German, the Irishman and the Scandinavian.

Of late there has been a rebirth of distrust of the immigrant.
That this feeling exists and is even stronger than ever is attested by

DISTRUST OF THE IMMIGRANT. 231

the numerous magazine and newspaper articles on immigration. Time
and again we read protests against the 'horde of illiterates/ or the
'scum of Europe/ or the 'pauper invasion' which is 'swarming into
our country.' The articles are usually the feverish output of some
enthusiastic patriot who has not come in close contact with the immi-
grant for any extended length of time, and whose remarks are mis-
leading, though eloquent and readable.

That the writers are as inaccurate as they are intemperate may
be seen from a consideration of one of the most frequent errors into
which they fall, confusion of race with nativity. For example, ob-
serve how they use the term 'Eussian.' We receive a great many
immigrants, good and bad, from Russia, but very few Eussians. So-
called Eussian immigration is composed (exclusive of real Eussians,
who form so small a part that they can scarcely be considered a factor)
of five distinct races: Hebrews, Poles, Germans, Lithuanians and
Finns. The same is true in almost as great a degree of 'Huns.' The
immigrants from Austria-Hungary are commonly called Huns; but,
while the race line can not be so unerringly drawn as in the case of
Eussia, the term does not apply racially to the majority of the immi-
grants. The bulk of the immigration from Austria-Hungary is made
up of Hebrews, Slovaks, Poles, Croatians, Magyars (the real Huns)
and Germans. This confusion of race and nativity is due to the fact
that the statisticians of the past took no cognizance of race, but
recorded simply the nativity of the immigrant. Writers in using
these statistics jumped at the conclusion that all immigrants born in
Eussia were Eussians, and all born in Hungary were Huns. For
the past few years, however, immigrants passing through the Barge
Office, or Ellis Island, have been classified according to race as well
as nativity. The statistics thus compiled have a scientific value.

If we examine the cause of an American citizen's distrust of the
immigrant we find that it varies according to the citizen's point of
view. The mechanic fears cheap competition, resulting in low wages;
the stirpiculturist, noting the poor physique and low mental caliber
of some of the immigrants, fears race degeneration; the reformer, or
political purist, increase of crime or pauperism and the influence of
a mass of ignorant voters controlled by unscrupulous political bosses;
and the law-abiding citizen fears from the immigrant, not only the
germ of bodily disease, but the germ of anarchy and also favorable
media for its growth.

The great majority of male immigrants are not mechanics, but
unskilled laborers. If they possess the qualifications that the early
immigrants established as the prime requisites of a desirable immigrant
— rugged physique and willingness to work — and if there is a demand

232 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

for unskilled labor and this demand is not met by Americans, then
their admittance or non-admittance resolves itself, to-day as in the
past, into a question of national economy. The native American does
not engage in the digging of excavations, carrying the hod, or mining.
No native American resents that the immigrant has turned him out of
the great Pennsylvania mines. The American mechanic's objection
is, however, well founded. There is quite a large class of immigrants
composed of men of poor physique, with their families, admitted every
year, because they are skilled in tailoring, shoemaking, baking or
other trades which do not require much physical strength. These
people are undesirable immigrants. They enter into direct competi-
tion with the American tradesman or mechanic, accepting lower wages
and working more hours.

The American mechanic, artisan or tradesman can have no griev-
ance against the poor unskilled laborer, who does not compete with
Americans, but with other foreigners who have preceded him and
who is able and willing to do work that the American will not do —
work that is necessary for our industrial progress. He has, however,
cause to complain of the admittance through our ports every year of
the thousands of skilled laborers, tailors, shoemakers and all kinds of
factory hands who fill the sweat shops and factories and tend to
greatly lower the American scale of wages.

The following table gives the relative value of the different races
as shown by the percentages of skilled and unskilled laborers. It
also shows the percentage of each race coming here between the ages
of fifteen and forty-five. It is between the ages of fifteen and forty-five
that the economic value of the immigrant to the country is greatest.

Unskilled laborers are absolutely essential for our industrial prog-
ress. The demand for the necessary unskilled laborers is not satisfied
by native Americans.

Skilled laborers, coming as immigrants, may or may not be ad-
vantageous to the country, but they are not necessary for our advance-
ment. The demand for skilled laborers can, with very rare excep-
tions, be supplied by native Amercan applicants. Therefore, the
races having the highest percentages of unskilled laborers and of im-
migrants between the ages of fifteen and forty-five are the most neces-
sary and the most desirable.

J Percentage Be-

Percentage tween 15 and 45

Race. Unskilled. Years of Age.

Lithuanian 86.5 90.5

Slav 86.9 88.2

Magyar 83.9 87.2

Finn 82.5 85.5

Italian 75.5 79.4

Syrian 48.1 75.7

Hebrew 13.6 68.5

DISTRUST OF THE IMMIGRANT. 233

The reformer's reason for distrust is a grave one. It is a fact that
thousands of immigrants receive qualification as voters when under
the law they are clearly not entitled to it. There is no doubt that
such a mass of ignorant voters constitutes a great power for evil.
But the blame can hardly be charged to the immigrant; rather is it
due to the unscrupulous ward politicians who thus increase their fol-
lowing and to the judge who grants citizenship papers without proper
investigation of the applicant.

So far as the fear of loathsome and contagious disease is con-
cerned the danger is comparatively slight. The immigrants are sub-
jected to a rigid physical examination at Ellis Island by the officers
of the United States Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service.
The double system of inspection practiced there makes it practically
impossible for any immigrant suffering from a loathsome or dangerous
contagious disease to pass without detection. The ratio in each race
of the number so affected, to the total number of that race landed,
during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1901, is here given:

Slav (Pole, Slovak, Croatian)

Magyar

Italian

Lithuanian

Hebrew

Finn

Syrian

1 in every

7,000

1 "

6,500

1 "

3,450

1 "

1,250

1 M

1,100

1 (t

1,000

1 ii

135

As far as the fear of increase of crime and pauperism is concerned,
it is true that prison statistics usually show a majority of those con-
victed of crime to be foreign born. But the industrious statistician
loses sight of the fact that the 'other half of the population of a
great city, the poor and the needy, the underpaid and the underfed,
are almost all foreign born, and it is from this class of course that we
expect to fill our jails. It was not, however, his birth, but his poverty,
that caused the immigrant to commit crime. We do not expect to
find criminals so frequently on Fifth Avenue as on the Bowery.

Hunger may prompt a poor starving wretch to steal, and his act
is a criminal offense duly recorded, but when greed of money or
position or fondness for good living makes the comparatively rich
man commit a 'breach of trust,' his error does not appear in prison
statistics. Pauperism is the result of the absence of one or both of
the prime requisites of a desirable immigrant. The pauper is either
unwilling to work or lacks the physique to stand hard labor. The
amount of money brought does not affect greatly an immigrant's
chances of becoming a pauper. One immigrant may have little money,
but with a rugged physique and willingness to work he will not become
a public charge; another immigrant, too lazy for laboring work, or

234 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

not physically strong, but who is admitted because he claims to be
skilled in a trade requiring no great physical strength, may have
considerable money and yet be almost certain to become sooner or
later dependent upon some one.

There remains the question of race degeneration. On this score
the coming of the German, the Irishman, or the Scandinavian no
longer causes apprehension. He has demonstrated his capability of
making a useful and permanent citizen. His children have attended
American schools, and they enter upon life with American ideals in
their heads and American patriotism in their hearts. But, as was
said before, these races no longer constitute the majority of the immi-
grants. It is a question whether the Italian, the Jew, or the Slav is
willing to merge his identity in that of the nation, and whether such
a fusion would not degenerate our race. In order not to deteriorate
a race the new elements blended with it should be at least as physically
strong as the native race itself.

Some idea of the relative physical condition of the different races

from southern and central Europe can be gleaned from the following

tables :

Table 1.

Ratio of Immigrants by Race requiring Hospital Treatment on Arrival to
the Number of that Race Landed during the Fiscal Year ended June 80, 1901 :

Race. Ratio

Slav (Pole, Slovak, Croatian) 1 in every 300

Magyar 1 "

Finn 1

Italian 1

Lithuanian 1 "

Hebrew 1 "

Syrian 1 "

Table 2.

Ratio of Immigrants Certified as having some Disability grave enough to
make them Public Charges, or Dependent upon some one, by Race to the Total
Number Landed during the Month of May, 1901 :

Lithuanian 1 in every 1,908

Slav (Pole, Slovak, Croat) 1

Italian

Finn

Magyar

Hebrew

Syrian

The average immigrants are of course not only far below the
average American in intellect, but are physically inferior. Sensible
expectation does not look for race improvement, but rather that before
the new element is assimilated the improved surroundings, better food
and cleaner habitations will build up physically the immigrant parent

Total number of

Arrivals.

300

90,888

250

13,311

200

9,999

185

137,807

140

8,815

100

58,098

35

4,064

1

664

1

172

1

163

1

148

1 '

42

1

29

DISTRUST OF THE IMMIGRANT. 235

Table 3.

Ratio of Minor Defects in each Race to Number Landed. These were
Defects or Conditions not grave enough for Actual Rejection, yet likely to Affect
the Immigrant's Chances in making a Living or Usefulness as an Immigrant,
such as Poor Physique, Anwmia, Loss of an Eye or Finger, etc. Month of June,
1900 :

Finn

Slav ( Croat, Pole, Slovak )

Lithuanian

Magyar

Italian

Syrian

Hebrew

in every 81
65
64
40
26
" 24
16

stock whose children, brought up in American schools and in American
environment can be assimilated without detriment to the native race.
It is not the assimilation of the immigrant but of his children we have
to consider.

The American's distrust of the immigrant at present is rational
and natural. It is the logical sequence of the sweat shop, the increase
of crime and pauperism in New York and other great cities, and of
the assassin's act at Buffalo. The percentage of undesirable immi-
grants is no doubt higher to-day than it was twenty, thirty or forty
years ago. It may even be admitted that it has been growing higher
year by year during the past two decades. But we are no longer
unprotected against undesirable immigrants. Bestrictions on admit-
tance have been growing more stringent year by year and a great
system has been perfected on Ellis Island for sifting the grain from
the chaff, that is doing splendid work, not as a dam to keep out good
and bad alike, but as a sieve fine enough in the mesh to keep out the
diseased, the pauper and the criminal while admitting the immigrant
with two strong arms, a sound body and a stout heart.

Amendment of the present immigration laws has been suggested
in some important particulars. It has been urged by a great many
people that an educational requirement should be added to the law,
barring all immigrants who are illiterate. A glance at the following
table will show that this restriction would debar many thousands of
our most desirable immigrants — would, in fact, be felt most by the races
furnishing us with nearly all of the unskilled labor necessary for our
industrial progress. It would not, on the other hand, act as a barrier
to some of the least desirable immigrants we receive. The passing of
this educational amendment would have one good result: It would
lessen the total number of immigrants landed and thus permit of
an even more rigid examination of the immigrants upon arrival.

Other remedies suggested for the improvement of the immigration
laws are raising the head tax and increasing the time of the Govern-

2 36 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

In the following Table by Illiterates is Meant those who are unable to Read
and Write in some Language:

Total number landed year Percentage of

Race. ended June 30, 1901. illiterates.

Italians 137,807 51.26

Lithuanians 8,815 44.85

Slavs 90,888 34.07

Hebrews 58,098 23.31

Magyars 13,311 7.04

Finn 9,999 1.84

merit's jurisdiction over all landed immigrants and increasing the
period of liability of the steamship company for return of undesirable
immigrants from one year (the present period) to five years. Increas-
ing the head tax from one dollar, the amount imposed at present
upon each arriving alien, to five or ten dollars would probably lessen
the number of immigrant arrivals. This reduction in number would
be due to the fact that many large families, with children and aged
dependents, would be obliged to stay in Europe; the extra five or
ten dollars per head in a large family would be sufficient in many
cases to make the cost of passage prohibitive. Young single men
would pay $40 for passage to America almost as readily as $30;
consequently the additional head tax would not greatly affect the
number of single unskilled laborers. The young laborer would not
go back and forth quite so often perhaps if he had to pay the addi-
tional five or ten dollars upon landing here each time.

The period of Government jurisdiction over the landed alien and
the period of the liability of the steamship companies for return of
undesirable aliens for cause should be extended from one year to five
years, or better, until the immigrant becomes a citizen. This would
enable the immigration authorities to deport within five years after
landing many diseased, insane and pauper immigrants, anarchists and
other criminals whose undesirability was not manifest upon landing
or within one year thereafter. Eelatives and interested persons would
not be so ready to offer to the boards of special inquiry a guarantee
that detained aliens would not become public charges if such guar-
antee were binding for five years instead of one year, as at present.

The enactment of these amendments into law and the enactment
of stringent legislation bearing upon anarchists, together with a rigid
enforcement of our naturalization laws, would go far toward dissi-
pating the present popular distrust of the immigrant, and would
still further minimize the dangers due to immigration.

VARIATION IN MAN AND WOMAN. 237

VARIATION IN MAN AND WOMAN.

By HAVELOCK ELLIS.

A RE variations more common in males than in females? That
-£-*- is a question which has passed through various phases during
the past century. John Hunter, who touched on the matter from a
biological standpoint, vaguely indicated that males are more variable
than females. Meckel, on the contrary, came to the conclusion, on
pathological grounds, that in the human species females show a
greater degree of variability, and he thought that since man is the
superior animal and variation a sign of inferiority the conclusion was
justified. ' ' We may state as a principle, ' ' Meckel wrote ninety years
ago at the outset of his manual of descriptive and pathological anat-
omy, "that anomalies are more common in the female. This phe-
nomenon seems to depend on the eighth law [Meckel's 'law of develop-
ment,' according to which woman is more primitive than man] since
the organization of the female results from development being arrested
at an inferior degree." But while he regards deviations as on the
whole more common in woman he admits certain exceptions, and more
especially instances the heart and the bladder as more variable in man.
Meckel was a profound student of anatomy, but not a very lu-
minous thinker. Some years later Burdach took up the question in
his ' Physiologie. ' That great biologist at once raised the problem to
a higher level, realized its wider bearings and cleared away the preju-
dices which had surrounded it. He recognized that in some respects
women are more variable than men, but pointed out that, contrary
to Meckel's opinion, this was no indication of woman's organic inferi-
ority. He showed from the statistics of the Anatomical Institute of
Konigsberg that we must distinguish between different kinds of ab-
normality. Further he referred to the facts that indicate that woman
is more childlike than man, but, he added, "it is a very common
but a very gross error to consider age as a scale of perfection and
to regard the child as absolutely imperfect as compared to the adult.
It is not imperfection but simply certain childlike characteristics
which women preserve"; and, he points out, it is in decrepitude
that women take on the characteristics of the so-called superior sex.
His general conclusion was that the nature of man and the nature
of woman are both excellent, but there are wider variations in men,
more genius and more idiocy, more virtue and more vice.

238 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Darwin turned his attention towards this point and accumulated
data. In the 'Descent of Man' he brought together many of the
chief facts then known concerning variation in man and woman.
All the evidence that he could find pointed in the same direction,
and he concluded (Part II., Ch. 8) that there is a 'greater general
variability in the male sex.'

Some twenty years later in a summary study of human secondary
sexual characters entitled 'Man and Woman,' written as a brief
introduction to a more elaborate study of the sexual instinct in man,
I devoted a chapter to this question, dealing with it more compre-
hensively than had previously been done and drawing data from a
much wider field, but finding no reason to differ fundamentally from
the conclusions of Hunter, Burdach and Darwin. I could not indeed
assert that as regards man the greater variability of the male is
'general,' but all the facts available since Darwin's day indicated that
a greater variability of the male occurred in the majority of the
groups of data investigated. And when I considered that this greater
organic variational tendency of men is apparently true of psychic
variations also — of genius, of idiocy and other mental anomalies
having an organic basis — it seemed to me that in the greater varia-
tional tendency of man we are in the presence of a fact that has
social and practical consequences of the widest significance, a fact
which has affected the whole of our human civilization. Although
the greater variational tendency of men is balanced by the more
equable level of women, we have to recognize that the existence of the
exceptional men who have largely created the lines of our progress is
based on natural law. It is a conclusion which does not yet appear
to me to be fundamentally affected.

There was, however, one important omission in my statement
of this question, and I wish to emphasize the importance of the
omission because its significance will subsequently become apparent
to the reader. I said little or nothing as to the variability of men
and women in size, either as regards total stature and weight, or
the dimensions of parts of the body.* The reason for that omission
is clearly indicated in various parts of the volume and we shall en-
counter it in due course.

Three years later, in a volume of miscellaneous essays entitled
'The Chances of Death,' Professor Karl Pearson published a lengthy
paper entitled 'Variation in Man and Woman.' This writer started
with the assertion that in 'Man and Woman' I had 'done much

* I did not consider that such evidence must be absolutely rejected — I
admitted it in one or two cases (printed in smaller type) — but simply that as
it was liable to a discount of unknown extent it could not be placed in the first
rank of evidence.

VARIATION IN MAN AND WOMAN. 239

to perpetuate some of the worst of the pseudo-scientific superstitions,
notably that of the greater variability of the male human being/
and that it was the object of his essay 'to lay the axe to the root of
this pseudo-scientific superstition.' In fact, as he is careful to tell
us at frequent intervals, before he himself entered the field (a field,
be it remembered, occupied by some of the world's greatest biol-
ogists) all was 'dogma,' 'superstition,' 'nearly all partisan,' at the
best 'quite unproven,' I am inclined to think that these terms,
which spring so easily to Mr. Pearson's pen, are automatic reminis-
cences of the ancient controversies he has waged with theologians
and metaphysicians. They are certainly a little out of place on the
present occasion.

In selecting the material for his demonstration, Professor Pearson
tells us he sought to eliminate all those 'organs or characteristics
which are themselves characteristic of sex,' such being, in his opinion,
gout and color-blindness; he also threw aside all variations which
can be regarded as 'pathological,' on the hypothetical ground that
such 'pathological' variations may have a totally different sexual
distribution from 'normal' variations. He decided that size is the
best criterion of variability. As to how a 'variation' may be defined
Professor Pearson makes no critical inquiry, though such inquiry
would very seriously have modified his final conclusions.*

"What we have to do," he states, "is to take healthy normal
populations of men and women, and in these populations measure
the size of organs which do not appear to be secondary sexual char-
acters, or from which the sexual character can be eliminated by dealing
solely with ratios." Various kinds of size are therefore selected for
treatment, such as that of the skull, chiefly as regards its capacity
and length-breadth index, stature, span, chest-girth, weight of body
and of various internal organs, etc., all these, it is observed, being
various aspects of the one factor of size. It is shown by careful
treatment of the available data — the so-called coefficient of variation
being accepted as a possible or indeed probable measure of signifi-
cant variation — that, as far as there is any difference at all, women
are, on the whole, slightly more variable than men. Having reached
this result the author leaps bravely to the conclusion, that 'accord-
ingly, the principle that man is more variable than woman must be
put on one side as a pseudo-scientific superstition.'

* It is true, indeed, that Mr. Pearson remarks that the question ' What
are the most suitable organs or characteristics for measuring the relative
variability of man and woman?' 'really involves a definition of variability.'
But he adds that ' the definition given may be so vague as to beg off-hand the
solution of the problem we propose to discuss.' That suspicion, as we shall
see, is not altogether unjustified.

24o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

If a reply has so far not been forthcoming from the writer against
whom this elaborate paper was chiefly directed, this has not been
either because I admitted the justice of its conclusions, or compla-
cently accepted a damnation to which I had been consigned in very
excellent company. The subject lay only on the outskirts of my own
field; I could claim no originality in it; all that I had done was to
sift and bring to a focus data which had hitherto been scattered, and
to show their significance. At the same time I again placed the
subject on my agenda paper for reconsideration. In the meanwhile,
it scarcely appeared that Mr. Pearson's arguments met with much
acceptance, even from those whom they most concerned.*

Almost the only attempt to consider them, indeed, which I have
met, is in a review of 'The Chances of Death' by Professor W. F. II.
Weldon, in Natural Science: This sympathetic critic, with a biol-
ogist's instincts, clearly felt that there was something wrong with
Mr. Pearson's triumphant demonstration, although as the subject lay
outside his own department he was not able to indicate the chief flaws.

There is indeed one initial flaw in Professor Pearson's argument,
to which Professor Weldon called attention; it could scarcely fail
to attract the notice of a biologist. We are told that we must put
aside 'characteristics which are themselves characteristics of sex,' like
gout and color-blindness, which 'without being confined to one sex'
are yet peculiarly frequent in one sex. Thus, we see, characteristics
not confined to one sex may yet be characteristic of one sex, and
when we seek to find what characters vary more in one sex than in
the other, we must carefully leave out of account all these characters
which are most clearly more prevalent in one sex. Professor Pearson
thus sets out with an initial confusion which is never cleared up.
His object, he tells us, is to seek such degrees of variability as are
'secondary sexual characters of human beings,' and we infer from
the course of his argument that the desired characters while not con-
fined to one sex must yet be peculiarly frequent in one sex. Yet
these are precisely the group of characters ruled inadmissible at the
outset! No definition of secondary sexual characters is anywhere
given, or on such premises could be given.

Professor Pearson seems to assume that the conception of a sec-

* Mr. Pearson has endeavored to find an opponent of the greater variational
tendency of men in Tennyson, who wrote:

For men at most differ as Heaven and earth,
But women, worst and best, as Heaven and Hell.
This argument, however — whatever it may be worth — had already been answered
by anticipation in a chapter of ' Man and Woman ' on the affectability of woman
in which I pointed out that the ' Heaven and Hell ' of woman are both aspects
of her greater affectability; not only does one woman differ from another as
' Heaven and Hell ' but the same woman may so vary at different times.

VARIATION IN MAN AND WOMAN. 241

ondary sexual character is too obvious to need definition. As a matter
of fact there is considerable difference of opinion. Since Hunter first
spoke of the 'secondary properties' of sex, which he regarded as
dependent on the primary, only developing at puberty, and principally,
though not entirely, confined to the male, the conception has very
much changed; there has been a tendency to throw all sorts of mis-
cellaneous sexual differences into the category. I have suggested that
it would be convenient to introduce a group of 'tertiary' sexual char-
acters, keeping the term 'secondary' to its original sense and reserving
as 'tertiary' all those minor differences which are not obvious, which
can have no direct influence on mating, and only exist as averages;
such are the composition of the blood and the shape of the bones.*
It is difficult to correct all the errors and confusions which Pro-
fessor Pearson falls into at this point. He remarks that we must
not regard the greater prevalence of idiocy among men as evidence
of greater male variability, unless we count on the other side the
greater prevalence of insanity among women. The error here is
double. As a matter of fact, although in England and Wales during
recent years the incidence of insanity has been as great on women
as on men,f nearly everywhere else it is markedly greater in the
case of men. Indeed even in England and Wales, at the present
time, if we may trust the Commissioners in Lunacy in their latest
annual report (1902), the incidence of insanity as indicated by the
admissions to asylums, is, in ratio to the male population, still slightly
greater in the case of men. Professor Pearson has been misled by
the greater accumulation of females in asylums, failing to take into
consideration the greater longevity of women, which among the insane
is specially marked. J But even if the facts had been as stated by

* Professor Waldeyer, who has done me the honor of critically examining
some of the main points in my book (in the form of an address at one of the
annual meetings of the German Anthropological Society) is inclined to doubt
the value of this distinction since there is no clear line of demarcation between
secondary and tertiary characters. That, however, I had myself pointed out,
and the objection cannot logically be held by any one who accepts secondary
sexual characters and recognizes that they merge into the primary. There
are many natural groups which have nuclei but no definite boundary walls.

f It so happens that I was the first to call attention to the fact that
towards the end of the last century the number of women admitted to asylums
in England and Wales had for the first time begun to exceed the number of men.
(Art: 'Influence of Sex on Insanity,' in Tuke's 'Dictionary of Psychological
Medicine.')

I How serious this fallacy is may be indicated by an illustration that
chances to come to hand almost as I write. I read in a South American medical
journal that in the Asylum of Santiago in Chili on the 1st of January, 1901,
there were 560 men and 655 women, but, during the year, 539 men were admitted
and only 351 women.

VOL. lxii. — 16.

242 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Mr. Pearson, his inference would still have been wrong; idiocy is
mainly a congenital condition and therefore a fairly good test of
organic variational tendency; insanity, though usually on a hereditary
basis, is invariably an acquired condition, dependent on all sorts
of environmental influences, so that it can not possibly furnish an
equally fundamental test. Color-blindness, Mr. Pearson also tells us, is
a peculiarly male 'disease,' and must not be used as an argument for
greater variability in men unless we use the prevalence of cancer
of the breast in women on the other side. Again there is a double
error; not only is a congenital anomaly improperly compared to an
acquired disease, but a gland like the breast which is only functional
in one sex is paired off with an organ like the eye which is equally
functional in both sexes. The prevalence of gout among men is,
again, paired off against the prevalence of hysteria among women.
Here the error is still more complex. Not only is gout not a truly
congenital condition, though, like insanity, it frequently has a hered-
itary basis, but if we take into account conditions of 'suppressed'
gout it is by no means more prevalent in men than in women, and
even if we do not take such conditions into account, it is still not
possible to pair off gout against hysteria, since, although in some
countries hysteria is more prevalent in women, in others (as, accord-
ing to some of the best authorities, in France) it is found more
prevalent in men. But it would be tedious to explore further this
confused jungle of misstatements.

From the point of view of sexual differences in variational tend-
ency it is not necessary to exclude rigidly either 'tertiary,' 'secondary,'
or even 'primary' sexual characters, provided we are careful to avoid
fallacies which are fairly obvious, and do not compare organs and char-
acters which are not truly comparable. Even those secondary sexual
characters which are almost or entirely confined to one sex may prop-
erly be allowed a certain amount of weight as evidence, especially
if we grant that such characters are merely the perpetuation of con-
genital variations. If, therefore, as is generally agreed, such char-
acters more often occur in males, that fact is a presumption on the
side of a greater male variational tendency which there is no reason
entirely to ignore. It is not conclusive, but it must receive its due
weight. To assume, with Professor Pearson, that a variation has no
variational significance because it occurs often in one sex and seldom
in the other* seems altogether unwarrantable.

If, however, Professor Pearson's attempt to discriminate between
different kinds of sexual characters from the point of view of sexual

* In the case of ordinary gout, which Professor Pearson regards as typical
of the tests to be excluded, opinions differ considerably as to sexual liability;
according to one leading authority it is 68 men to 12 women.

VARIATION IN MAN AND WOMAN. 243

variability fails to work out, and is in any case unnecessary, at
another point he falls into the opposite mistake of making no attempt
to discriminate when discrimination is of the first importance. As
we have already incidentally seen, it seems to him to be of no impor-
tance whether the variational tendency is tested by variations having
an organic congenital base, or by variations which may be merely due
to environmental influences during life.* To him they are all alike
i variations, ' and the most important are those that can most con-
veniently be caught in the mathematical net. Indeed he goes further
than this. He actually discriminates against the more organic and
fundamental kinds of variation. It seems to him 'erroneous' to take
into account congenital abnormalities of any kind when we wish to
test the relative variability of the sexes. In determining the varia-
tional tendencies of the sexes we must leave out of account the ma-
jority of variations !

The ground on which Professor Pearson rejects abnormalities is
that they are 'pathological,' and that it is conceivable that patho-
logical variation might be greater and normal variation less in the
same sex.f He believes that in regarding the 'normal' and the
'abnormal' as two altogether different and possibly opposed groups
of phenomena he is warranted by 'current medical science.'

This is very far indeed from being the case. It is quite true that
in ordinary clinical work the physician does make such a distinction;
it is practically convenient. But it is not science, and if the physi-
cian is a genuine pathologist he admits that it is not. This is so
well recognized that I had thought it sufficient to quote the remark
of the greatest of pathologists, Virchow, to the effect that every
deviation from the parental type has its foundation in a pathological
accident — a statement which Professor Pearson, on the strength of
what is really a verbal quibble, contemptuously puts aside as 'mean-
ingless.' We ought not to say the 'parental type,' he tells us, we
ought to say 'a type lying between the parental type and the race
type'; let us say it — and the statement remains substantially the same,
so far as the question before us is concerned. %

* It is scarcely necessary to remark that the two groups cannot be abso-
lutely separated.

t This conception, Mr. Pearson remarks, seems never to have occurred to
me. In that shape, happily, it has not. But in ' Man and Woman ' and else-
where I have repeatedly called attention to the fact that, as regards various
psychic and nervous conditions, while gross variations are more frequent in
men, minor variations are more common in women. This seems to cover
whatever truth there may be in Mr. Pearson's supposition.

X Virchow repeatedly emphasized the statement in question and by no
means always in the form that offends Professor Pearson. Thus he remarked
in 1894, at the annual meeting of the German Anthropological Society, that

244 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Virchow is by no means the only pathologist of high authority
who has distinctly laid down this principle. Thus, as Ballantyne
points out — when remarking that the ancient belief, held even by
Simpson, that anomalies and malformations are due to disease has
been supplemented by modern research — Mathias Duval has emphatic-
ally declared that it is not to be thought that the malformation of any
part is a result of disease of that part.*

Even, however, if we go back to the time of Simpson, and earlier,
we find that Meckel — who is sometimes regarded as one of the
founders of the study of variations — clearly recognized that the
simplest anomalies and varieties pass gradually into monstrosities,
and that the same laws apply to both.f

Indeed so did Hunter in the previous century. 'Every deviation/
he wrote at the outset of his almost epoch-marking 'Account of an
Extraordinary Pheasant,' 'may not improperly be called monstrous,'
so that 'the variety of monsters will be almost infinite.'

The tendency of scientific pathology is at once to push the fron-
tiers of the normal into regions popularly regarded as belonging to
disease, and at the same time, when actual disease comes into question,
to refuse to admit that any new laws are brought into operation.
"Between any form of disease and health," one of the founders of
modern pathology declared a quarter of a century ago, "there are
only differences of degree. No disease is anything more than an
exaggeration or disproportion or disharmony of normal phenomena. ' ' %
The notion that disease and health are distinct principles or entities
Bernard regarded as a sort of idea belonging to the medical lumber

whenever ' the physiological norm hitherto subsisting is changed ' we are in the
presence of an anomaly and that in this sense every departure from the norm
is a pathological event, though it is not a disease and may not be harmful,
may even be advantageous. In what was perhaps his last utterance on the sub-
ject (Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, 1901, p. 213) he repeated that pathology as
well as physiology is an essential factor in the development of the human race.
Pathologists will, I know, agree with me that a conviction of the essential
unity of physiology and pathology lay at the foundation of the pathological
revolution which Virchow effected.

* With this result Dr. Ballantyne — who may be said to be the chief
British authority on pathology in its antenatal aspects — in the main concurs.
He even goes so far as to assert ('Manual of Antenatal Pathology,' 1902, p. 35)
that natural birth in its effects on the child may almost be regarded as a
pathological process; 'it is very certain that the same amount of distortion of
parts, occurring at a later period of life, would be termed pathological.'

t ' Handbuch der pathologischen Anatomie,' 1812, Vol. I., p. 9.

% Claude Bernard, ' Lecons sur la chaleur animale ' (19th Lesson), 1875.

VARIATION IN MAN AND WOMAN. 245

room. These conceptions have been brilliantly developed in the work
of recent pathologists.*

And if it is argued that a mathematician cannot be supposed
familiar with the principles of pathology, it must be replied that
Mr. Pearson has here ventured along a path which leads immediately
up to these principles, and, further, that the principle in question is
so simple and elementary that it may already be said to have entered
general culture. I take up the latest volume of Nietzsche's works
('Der Wille zur Macht') — written more than ten years ago, though
only now published — and read: "The value of all morbid conditions
is that they show us in magnified form certain conditions that are
normal, but in the normal condition not easily visible. . . . Health
and disease are not essentially different, as the old physicians and
some modern practitioners have believed. To regard them as distinct
principles struggling for the living organism is foolish nonsense and
chatter. ' '

On the whole, then, there is no reason for rejecting abnormalities
when we are considering the relative variational tendencies of men
and women. To the mathematical mind — Professor Pearson forces
us to admit — it is possible to conceive that the laws of pathology
may reverse the laws of physiology, but such a conception the biologist
regards as absurd.

More than this must, however, be said. Not only can we not leave
anomalies out of account in dealing with this question, but it is pre-
cisely the anomalies which furnish us with the most reliable evidence.
The word 'abnormality' is apt to mislead, and Professor Pearson
somewhat prejudices the matter in unscientific ears by insisting on
its use. It is not a scientific term; the so-called anomaly is not
abnormal in the sense that it is morbid; it is only exceptional. It
merely indicates the extreme swings of a pendulum whose more fre-
quent oscillations are popularly regarded as 'normal.' What is com-
monly termed an 'anomaly' might really be regarded as the 'variation'
par excellence.

Such an assertion would be by no means arbitrary. It does in
fact correspond with the usage of most of the writers who have investi-
gated this matter until the present day, and it is possible to justify
such usage. If — to return to the image of the pendulum — we wish
to find out whether the male or female pendulums swing farthest,
we must so far as possible let them swing freely; the more they are
restrained by external forces the less the significance of the results we

* To those who may wish to gain an attractive insight into modern concep-
tions of pathology — according to which disease is a relative term and its study
a branch of biology — I would recommend Professor Woods Hutchinson's highly
suggestive 'Studies in Human and Comparative Pathology' (1901).

246 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

reach. Now the congenital ' anomalies ' are precisely the kind of varia-
tion that most nearly corresponds to the free swing of the pendulum.
It is true that there is no absolute distinction between the initial
energy and the subsequent modifying influences, but it is equally
true that if we wish to measure and compare the aboriginal energies
of the male and female organisms, we must so far as possible disregard
those characters which are very considerably influenced by late modi-
fying forces.

Professor Pearson has, however, chosen, as a final and crucial test
of the variational tendency in men and women, the single point of
difference in size, chiefly in adults. That is to say, he has selected
as a final and unimpeachable test one of the most fragile of distinc-
tions, a distinction that has been exposed to a lifetime of modifying
influences that are incalculable.

Even if we admit that size at birth constitutes a sound test — and
this can not be admitted without qualification, as we shall soon see —
it is evident that the comparative variation of the sexes in this respect
is liable to be affected by environmental circumstances as age increases.
The influences of life differently affecting and exercising the two
sexes, the influence of death probably exerting an unequal selective
influence — both alike must be allowed for if this kind of evidence
is to be regarded as a test of the first rank of importance. Other-
wise we are not dealing with the incidence of variations at all, but
with the elimination of variations — an altogether different matter.
Professor Pearson himself gradually awakes to a realization of this
fact as he proceeds with his task, and remarks at last that he strongly
suspects that the slightly greater variability of woman which his
results show is mainly due to a relatively less severe struggle for
existence ! Probably he is right, but if so his whole argument falls
to the ground. The question of the organic variational tendencies
of men and women remains untouched; we have been introduced
instead to a problem in selection. So true is it that, as Bacon said,
the half of knowledge lies in asking the right question.

We are bound to suppose that when Professor Pearson set out
lie intended to use the term 'variation' in the same sense as his pre-
decessors had used it — for otherwise his results could not validly be
opposed to theirs — but it would appear that as he went on, by an
unconscious process of auto-suggestion, he insensibly glided into a
familiar field.*

It may seem unnecessary to pursue Professor Pearson any further.
It is sufficiently clear that the inquiry he has carried out, however

* It is perhaps significant that while I had dealt with the ' organic varia-
tional tendency ' Mr. , Pearson prefers the vaguer term ' variability,' which en-
ables him to bring in such matters as strength of pull and squeezes of hand,
whieh are merely due to functional exercise.

VARIATION IN MAN AND WOMAN. 247

valuable it may be in other respects, has no decisive bearing on the
question he undertook to answer, and can have no very damaging
effect on the writers he attacks. But there is considerable interest
in driving the point of the discussion still further home.

It may be agreed that since differences in size are probably affected
by the influences of life and death to a considerable extent, and per-
haps unequally eliminated in the two sexes, they do not form a
reliable guide to the sexual incidence of variations. But, it may
be argued, this cannot affect measurements made at birth, and we
must therefore accept the validity of those of Professor Pearson's
measurements which concern the infant at birth. Here, however, we
encounter a fact which is of the first importance in its bearing on
our subject: the elimination of variations in size has already begun
at birth, and there is reason to suppose that that elimination unequally
affects males and females. This was duly allowed for in 'Man and
Woman,' but there is no hint of it throughout Professor Pearson's
long paper. He does not dispute this influence, nor does he realize
that until he has disputed it his conclusions can not be brought to
bear against mine. Professor Pearson's earlier statistical excursions
into the biological field were chiefly concerned with crabs; in passing
from crabs to human beings he failed to allow for the fact that
human beings do not come into the world under the same conditions.
I make no large claim for superior insight in this matter; it was
probably a question of training; I was practically familiar with the
phenomena of childbirth; he was not. But his ignorance has pro-
foundly affected the validity of his cherished criterion of sex vari-
ability, in so far as it is used against his predecessors in this field.

Every child who is born into the world undergoes a severe ordeal,
due largely to the limited elasticity of the bony pelvic ring through
which it has to pass. Probably as a result of this, a certain propor-
tion perish as they enter the world or very shortly after. Among
the number thus eliminated there appears to be a very considerable
proportion of the largest infants. Doubtless because male infants
tend to be larger than female infants, males suffer most at and shortly
after birth. This appears to be the rule everywhere.*

So far as I am aware, the first attempt to explain this matter
scientifically was made in 1786 by an English doctor named Clarke,
physician to the Lying-in Hospital at Dublin. f By weighing and

* For the exact proportion of male to female still-born children in most
civilized countries, see, e. g., Ploss, ' Das Weib,' 7th edition, 1901, Vol. I., p. 336.

f Joseph Clarke, ' Observations on some Causes of the Excess of the
Mortality of Males above that of Females,' Philosophical Transactions, 1786.
It may be said here that the very first attempt to weigh and measure infants
accurately had only been made not so many years previously, by Roederer, in
1753.

248 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

measuring 120 newborn infants of both sexes he found that there
was a marked tendency for the males to be larger than the females.
'Hence appears/ as he is pleased to put it, 'the merciful dispensations
of Providence towards the female sex, for when deviations from the
medium standard occur it is remarkable that they are much more
frequently below than above this standard.' He considered that the
greater mortality of males at and shortly after birth is largely due
to the injuries to the head occurring at birth, but also that, since
the males are larger and therefore make from the first a larger demand
on the nutritive capacity of the mother, they are more likely to suffer
from any defect of the mother in this respect. The problem and its
possible and probable explanations were thus clearly stated more than
a century ago.

As often happens with pioneers, Clarke's little paper was for-
gotten, and for more than half a century, although a number of
workers brought extensive contributions of new data, their attitude
was frequently illogical or one-sided, and the progress of scientific
knowledge was not great. In 1844 Simpson published a well-known
study which brought together a mass of evidence bearing more or
less on the question before us. He showed that in male births the
mothers suffered excessively as well as the infants; he refused to admit
that the greater mortality of males at and shortly after birth could be
due to any other cause than the generally recognized larger size of
the male head (mainly on the ground that foetal deaths up to birth
are fairly apportioned to the two sexes) and concluded that the
greater size of the male head is the cause of a vast annual mortality.
A number of later obstetrical inquirers furnished additional con-
tributions to the matter, at one point or another, though not always
agreeing that so great a mortality could be due to a difference of
size which seemed so small. One authority, indeed, roundly declared
that the belief in the larger size of the male head was merely 'a pop-
ular prejudice'; this led to fresh measurements, and in this field Stadt-
feldt of Copenhagen received credit which really belonged to Clarke
of Dublin. Veit showed that even at equal weights more boys than
girls die at birth, but, on the other hand, according to Pfannkuch's
results, even at equal weights boys' heads are larger than girls'. In
any case it certainly seemed probable that the larger size of the male
child's head was an important factor in this mortality, and when at
length the question began to attract the attention of statistical anthro-
pologists this conclusion was confirmed. The Anthropometric Com-
mittee of the British Association, presided over by Mr. Francis Galton,
in its final report in 1883 stated its belief that "it would appear that
the physical (and most probably the mental) proportions of a race,
and their uniformity within certain limits, are largely dependent on

VARIATION IN MAN AND WOMAN. 249

the size of the female pelvis, which acts as a gauge, as it were, of
the race, and eliminates the largest infants, especially those with
large heads (and presumably more brains), by preventing their sur-
vival at birth."

It must be added, however, that no direct and final demonstration
has been brought forward of the tendency to the elimination of the
males (or even infants independently of sex) of the greatest weight
or those having the largest heads. For this we require to compare
male and female stillborn infants at full term with those who are
born living and which subsequently survived for at least a week (a
longer period would be more desirable but difficult to secure). Such
measurements are not to be found in medical literature, so far as I
can discover; at the most we find averages, which are meaningless
from the present point of view. I applied to obstetrical and anatomical
authorities in various countries and received a number of interesting
letters and data, including series of entries from the registers of
maternity hospitals. But none of the series so far received contains
a sufficient number of stillborn children. So far as they go, they are
confirmatory of the belief that it is more especially the large children
that are eliminated by the selection of birth. The largest series
(with 60 stillborn male babies and 50 stillborn females), for which
I am indebted to Dr. C. M. Green, of the Boston Lying-in Hospital,
shows that among the stillborn of either sex the range of variation
is greater than among the living of the same sex, the absolute range
of variation being not only greater as compared with the living babies
of the same sex, but there being a greater piling up at each end in
the case of the stillborn. The data do not suffice to indicate that
there is a greater mortality of the largest sized males than of the largest
sized females, when we compare the stillborn with the living of the
same sex and weight. Another series, more elaborate in its details
but still smaller in number as regards the stillborn — for which I am
indebted to Professor Whitridge Williams, of Johns Hopkins Hospital
— leads to a similarly incomplete conclusion. I still await more exten-
sive data which have been promised me from a British source.*

There is, however, another test which, while it can by no means
be put forward as having any statistical validity, yet furnishes a highly
significant indication in this matter. Just as on the psychic side cer-
tain very rare individuals appear in the world whose intellectual
capacity enormously excels that of their fellows, so, corresponding to

* It seems unnecessary to deal with this point more in detail, not only be-
cause of the lack of sufficient data but because the establishment of this point
is not necessary for the criticism of Professor Pearson's position. I expect
to return to the point elsewhere, and hope tbat others, who may be more
fortunate than I am in obtaining extensive data, will be able to deal with it
on the lines I suggest.

25o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

'genius,' we have on the physical side certain equally rare individuals
who at birth enormously excel their fellows in physical size, while
yet remaining normal and well proportioned. Now, we may ask, do
these individuals possessing congenital physical 'genius' resemble per-
sons of psychic genius in being more often male than female? Ordi-
nary statistics are not here available, for these cases are so rare that
they very seldom fall into an ordinary series. Smellic found one
child weighing over 13 pounds in 8,000 cases; in France, a child of
12 pounds was only found in 20,000 cases.* As even a child of 9
pounds is generally considered large, it is clear that when we get
beyond 13 pounds we reach a point at which the average difference
between males and females is trifling, so that there is almost as
great a chance of females as of males reaching the extremely large
weights. The only practicable way of obtaining information concern-
ing these cases lay in collecting the scattered records. I have collected
all that I can find in medical journals of standing, chiefly English,
during the past half century, being aided by the references in Neale's
'Medical Digest.' I have only noted the cases that appear to have
been healthy and well developed and weighed over 13 pounds at
birth. One unexpected difficulty I encountered : in many cases, even
when numerous measurements were given, no reference was made to
sex. While such cases were necessarily rejected, I may say that I
think it probable that most, and perhaps all, of these rejected cases
were males; this was so in the only case in which, by writing to the
medical reporter immediately on publication, I was able to repair the
omission; the medical mind seems to share in some degree the instinc-
tive conviction that the typical human being is a male, and that in
the case of males it is unnecessary to make any reference to sex.
My cases were thus reduced to 21. Of these there were only 3 females
to 18 males. The females all died at birth, as well as about half the
males. However rough this method of estimation may be, it is highly
improbable that any more methodical inquiry on children of this size
would entirely reverse so large a preponderance of males.

Such a result, it will be seen, can not be considered as absolutely
conclusive proof that there exists a selection of birth which in its
operation tends to the destruction of the larger male children either at
the moment of birth or during the succeeding days and weeks, though
it renders such selection probable. This element of doubt, however,
by no means makes Professor Pearson's position any stronger. It

* It must also be said that (as in the case of psychic genius) it is among
the well-to-do classes that these very large infants are most usually found, not
only because the parents tend to be larger among these classes, but because,
as has lately been shown, other things being equal, women who rest during
pregnancy tend to have larger children.

VARIATION IN MAN AND WOMAN. 251

is sufficient to show that for more than a century past evidence has
accumulated which indicates that the group of data on which Professor
Pearson solely and absolutely relies for the foundation of his argument
is modified by an influence which renders it tainted for such a purpose.
In view of this circumstance, and of the fact that I had rejected this
group of evidence on these grounds, the onus probandi clearly rested
with Professor Pearson. In other words, he had to show either that
male children are not larger than female children at birth, or else
that large children do not suffer more than smaller children in passing
through the maternal pelvis. The fact that Professor Pearson gives
no indication that he had realized the necessity of this preliminary
step is sufficient proof that he was not adequately equipped for the
task he has undertaken.

We now come to a point which is not the less interesting for being
entirely hidden from Mr. Pearson. It has been seen that the selection
exercised by the pelvis to the detriment of male children is not abso-
lutely proved. But if for the moment we assume that it exists, what
are the phenomena that we should expect to find, as regards size,
among the survivors? Obviously, a more or less diminished sexual
difference during life, with a maximum of sexual difference imme-
diately after birth* Now this is exactly what Professor Pearson
found ! ' Summing up in general our conclusions for weight, ' he states,
'it would appear that, except at birth, man is not more variable than
woman.' The very great significance of this exception, as affecting
any argument on these premises brought against the position main-
tained in 'Man and Woman,' he undoubtedly failed to see. Still the
exception evidently puzzled him. He accumulated series of data on
the subject, and indeed initiated an entirely new and very extensive
investigation. But the conclusion remained on the whole unaffected.
Thus we see that our author, in all innocence, supplies a valuable piece
of proof in favor of that very position which he imagines that he is
upsetting ! Tf this is the way that the axe is to be laid to the root
of 'pseudo-scientific superstitions' they will certainly continue to
flourish exceedingly.

We have now reached the climax of Professor Pearson's argument.
It is from this giddy height that Mr. Pearson surveys with contempt
those foolish persons who still believe that the variational tendency
is greater in men than in women, and nothing further remains to be
said. If instead of hastening to execute a war-dance on what he
vainly imagined was the body of a prostrate foe, Mr. Pearson had
pointed out, as he would have been quite warranted in doing, that

* In children dying at or soon after birth, as a result of undue pressure,
hemorrhages or congestions are nearly always found in the internal organs,
but they are not of necessity immediately fatal.

252 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

his conclusions, so far as they rested on a definite basis of fact, con-
firmed the thesis maintained by Darwin and more fully enforced in
'Man and Woman,' his position would have been unimpeachable. If,
again, he had refrained altogether from attempting to interpret his
own data — a task for which, it is obvious, he was singularly ill-pre-
pared— and had put them forth simply as a study in natural selection
— which is what they really are — his position would, again, have been
altogether justifiable. But as the matter stands he has enmeshed
himself in a tangle of misapprehensions, confusions and errors from
which it must be very difficult to extricate him.

It may be well to summarize briefly the main points set forth
in the foregoing pages.

1. In opposition to the doctrine of Darwin, more fully set forth
in my 'Man and Woman,' that the variational tendency is, on the
whole, more marked in men than in women, Professor Pearson re-
solved to show that this is one of 'the worst of the pseudo-scientific
superstitions. '

2. Unfortunately, however, it never occurred to him to define what
ho meant by 'variation,' nor to ascertain what the writers whom he
was opposing meant by the term.* A very little consideration suf-
fices to show that a typical variation, in what may fairly be called its
classic sense, is a congenital organic character on which selection
works, while, as understood by Professor Pearson, though without
definite statement, a typical variation is a character — of almost any
kind, occurring at any period of life — produced by selection. 'To
the biometrician, ' Professor Pearson has recently stated, 'variation is
a quantity determined by the class or group without reference to its
ancestry.' That is to say, it need not be organic or congenital, and
it must usually be modified, and sometimes entirely produced, by its
environment. This definition may be better than the more classical
conception of a variation. But it is certainly very different. To
suppose that conclusions reached concerning this kind of variation
can be used to overthrow conclusions reached concerning the other
kind is obviously unreasonable.

3. Having silently adopted this conception of a variation, Pro-
fessor Pearson proceeds to inquire what 'different degrees of variability
are secondary sexual characters' and not 'characteristics which are
themselves characteristics of sex'; and is hereby led into various
eccentricities of assertion which it is unnecessary to recapitulate.

* It is somewhat unusual, Professor Pearson has remarked in a recent con-
troversial paper (' Biometrika,' April, 1902, p. 323), 'in a discussion to give
entirely different meanings to the terms originally used, and leaves your ad-
versary to find out with what significance you may be using them.' It seems
to occur sometimes however.

VARIATION IN MAN AND WOMAN. 253.

'Secondary sexual characters' remain, in his hands, like variation,
undefined.

4. All 'abnormalities' are added to the material rejected as unsuit-
able for investigation, on the ground that they are 'pathological.'
It has been easy to show that this notion cannot be maintained, and
that in his pious horror of 'pseudo-scientific superstitions' Professor
Pearson here lays himself open to retort. Anomalies are not patho-
logical, except in the sense of Virchow, who regarded pathology as
simply the science of anomalies. Moreover, scientific pathologists do
not admit that even diseases can be regarded as involving any new
or different laws. Morbid as well as normal phenomena alike furnish
proper material, if intelligently used, for the investigation of this
question.

5. Professor Pearson decides that differences in size furnish the
best measure of the variability of the sexes. In reaching this decision
he makes no reference to the fact that the probabilities accumulated
during a century tended to discredit this group of evidence for the
purposes he had in view.

6. If, however, we put aside those probabilities which tend to
render this evidence tainted, so far as the object of Professor Pearson's
special argument is concerned, we still find that the results he reaches
are precisely the results we should expect if the position he assails is
sound. That is to say that at birth, before the results of the assumed
selective action of the pelvis have yet been fully shown, there is greater
variability of the males, while later, as a result of that selection, there
is a tendency to equality in sexual variability.

7. The net outcome of Professor Pearson's paper is thus found
to be a confirmation of that very doctrine of the greater variational
tendency of the male which he set out to prove to be 'either a dogma
or a superstition.'

It may be as well to state, finally, that nothing I have said can
be construed as an attempt to disparage those ' biometrical ' methods
of advancing biology of which Professor Pearson is to-day the most
brilliant and conspicuous champion. I am not competent to judge of
the mathematical validity of such methods, but so far as I am able
to follow them I gladly recognize that they constitute a very valuable
instrument for biological progress. I say nothing against the instru-
ment : I merely point out that, on this occasion, the results obtained
by its application have been wrongly interpreted.

254 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE ENGINEERING MIND.

By J. C. SUTHERLAND,

RICHMOND, QUE., CANADA.

I

N a fragment of autobiography written some years before his death,
Mr. Huxley said:

But, though the Institute of Mechanical Engineers would certainly not own
me, I am not sure that I have not all along been a sort of mechanical engi-
neer in partibus infidelium. I am now occasionally horrified to think how very
little I ever knew or cared about medicine as the art of healing. The only
part of my professional course which really and deeply interested me was
physiology, which is the mechanical engineering of living machines; and
notwithstanding that natural science has been my proper business, I am
afraid there is very little of the genuine naturalist in me. I never collected
anything, and species work was always a burden to me; what I cared for
was the architectural and engineering part of the business, the working out
the wonderful unity of plan in the thousands and thousands of diverse living
constructions, and the modifications of similar apparatuses to serve diverse ends.

Those who have read, however, the intensely interesting 'Life and
Letters' of Huxley by his son, will recall that at the very close of his
career, when driven to the continent in search of health, he took to
collecting gentians and determining their species, with great en-
thusiasm. The physical enjoyments of the search, as well as the
pleasure of recognizing each new species that he ran across, were
doubtless added to the more direct pleasure he derived from observing
the distribution of the genus and the adaptations that the different
species had undergone.

At the same time, Huxley's analysis of the foundation of his
intellectual pleasure serves to indicate a special 'note' of modern cul-
ture; or rather that part of modern culture which has been most
profoundly affected by scientific thought. The age, at its best, is
the age of the engineering mind. By this is not meant merely that
it is an age of vast engineering feats and of a remarkable develop-
ment of the engineering profession, but that a distinct habit of
thought which may be called both with convenience and propriety the
' engineering mind, ' is deeply influencing modern culture and is steadily
preparing the way for the realization of a better ideal in popular
education. The capable engineer computing to a nicety the elements
of his bridge structure, the botanist studying the wonderful mechanism
for the dispersal of seeds on the withered autumn weeds, the captain

THE ENGINEERING MIND. 255

of industry organizing his factory, the skilled workman himself, the
surgeon, the sea-captain — each and all of these, with many other
representatives of human activity, are, at their best, endowed or equip-
ped with a common habit of thought more or less directly connected
with what Huxley called 'the architectural or engineering part of the
business.' In other words, the more or less distinctly pronounced
'note' of modern culture is a capacity for the recognition of the
universal in the particular or the reign of law in nature.

Unquestionably, the intellectual training which leads to the for-
mation of the engineering mind, in its larger sense, affords a larger
scope and capacity for pure intellectual pleasure, as well as a more
permanent source of such pleasure, than is afforded, for instance, by
the popular resort to light fiction. The poetry of common tilings,
disclosed in enormous volume by the science of the nineteenth cen-
tury, is familiar to many; but it is sealed to many more, not without
a certain measure of intellectual culture, by the lack of the special
training which forms the scientific habit of thought.

But, apart from the value of the engineering habit of mind re-
garded from the point of view of intellectual culture for its own sake,
the question is at last being recognized with widespread interest as
one of importance to nations struggling for industrial supremacy or
stability. In Great Britain particularly, thanks in part to the large
attention it received at the September meeting of the British Asso-
ciation not only at the hands of the president, Professor Dewar, but
from the engineering and educational sections, the question is up
for very general discussion in the country and, it is to be hoped, for
progressive settlement. The incompetence displayed so often by
British officers in South Africa has driven the British people to a
severe stock taking, and that stock taking has brought into prominence
a fact, more or less fully recognized by a wise minority from the time
of Dr. Arnold of Bugby to the present day, namely, that the traditional
methods of education in England are not conducive to the formation
of trained habits of scientific thought.

Professor Perry, the president of the engineering section of the
British Association, has been insisting for some time, and insisted
again at the Belfast meeting, that the great fault of the traditional
method is the manner in which mathematics is taught. Mensuration
is dissociated too sharply from geometry, and geometry too sharply from
algebra. That is to say, contrary to the example of Germany and
France for nearly a century and to the more recent example of the
American universities, the employment of the modern proofs of
geometry has been resisted in favor of the more cumbersome and, to
the average young mind, the far more difficult proofs employed by

256 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Euclid. The amount of geometrical ground that can be covered by
means of the algebraical methods in one year by an average pupil is
about equal to that which can be acquired by the same pupil in three
years following the Euclidean method. And as there is no loss what-
ever in rigidity of proof, the natural consequence is surely that of two
pupils who have devoted an equal period of time to mathematics dur-
ing their school training, the one employing in his geometry the
modern methods and the other the Euclidean, the former must be
more prepared for the intelligent use of mathematical formulae and
reasoning in the university or the technical school than the latter.
This consideration, indeed, derives still more strength from the fact
that the proving of geometrical propositions by means of operations
upon algebraical symbols extends the mental grasp of algebra itself.

Professor Perry appears to have hopes of speedy reform in this
respect, the University of Oxford having decided to omit Euclid from
the 'locals' of 1903, Oxford being capable of setting the pace for the
great schools and the principles of the Society for the Improvement
of Geometrical Teaching having made, during the past twenty years,
sufficient theoretical headway to ensure the opportunity of the change
being welcomed and grasped.

At the same time, it is to be remembered that the mathematical
is not the whole or the only training even for the engineering mind.
We have the constant reminder of Faraday's example in this respect.
Faraday was able to reason most accurately and profoundly upon
curves, centers of motion and other phenomena arising from his
experiments in electricity and magnetism, although he was obliged
to confess in a letter to Professor Clerk Maxwell that although he
had tried hard he had never been able to understand even simple
equations in algebra — a comforting confession for others to whom
mathematical studies have been a great difficulty ! — but perhaps more
profitably to be regarded simply as a proof that a sufficiently helpful
text-book was not placed within his reach at the struggling period
when he laid the foundations of his marvelous self-culture.

POST-GBADUATE DEGREES IN ABSENTIA. 257

POST-GRADUATE DEGREES IN ABSENTIA.

By A. L. BENEDICT, A.M ., M.D.,

BUFFALO.

COLLEGE faculties have, within the last few years, conferred post-
graduate degrees with conservatism and even reluctance. The
time is long past when there was a germ of truth in the assertion
that A.M. was a decoration for principals of preparatory schools who
sent a sufficient number of students to college, or for young alumni
whose interest in their alma mater persisted after graduation. The
free distribution of honorary degrees, always a possible source of
evil, is especially dangerous in the case of professional degrees, since
the latter indicate the completion of an apprenticeship rather than
the attainment of learning and confer privileges of practical commer-
cial value and subject to abuse.

Unfortunately, the reaction against the old custom of applying
degrees ' honoris causa ' and with no very definite requirement of scholar-
ship, has led the majority of colleges to insist that the master's and
the doctor's degree shall be reached only by courses of study pursued
under the immediate supervision of the faculty and has closed the
path to these honors for all who are unable to protract their residence
in a college town, except those who have distinguished themselves in
the most signal manner. It is, doubtless, presumptuous for criticism
of an educational system to emanate from one who has no closer con-
tact with education than the training of a professional student and the
practice of a profession, yet the general tendency of colleges to adapt
their methods and aims to conform with the demands of practical life,
encourages the writer in pleading in behalf of the worker in the great
university of the world, who still desires to keep in touch with the
scholarship of the college.

Through long custom, we have one degree which is admirably
adapted to use as a decoration. This is the title of Doctor of Laws,
which has come to be the patent of practical success in any line of
activity, not incompatible with a reasonable degree of refinement and
intellect. Its significance is executive ability and wide influence of
the highest kind. If deservedly applied, it can never add materially
to the dignity of the recipient, while any tendency to its abuse is
checked by the reflex discredit cast upon the donor.

The master's and doctor's degrees in arts and sciences, on the
other hand, represent purely educational attainments, of higher order
vol. lxii. — 17.

2 58 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

than the bachelor's, but of the same general scope, and they may be
sought with the same propriety as any other reward which represents
a performance of a definite task and which is honorary only in the
sense that the formal recognition of an accomplished work is an
honor. The plea for conferring these degrees in absentia might, at
first thought, be regarded as in the interests of young men and women,
prevented by poverty — actual or relative — from pursuing their studies
beyond the usual limits of the college course. On the contrary, few
are prevented from continuing their education at college by lack of
funds, on account of the generous provision of scholarships and be-
cause the experience of undergraduate life renders it comparatively
easy for the post-graduate student to be self-supporting, as a tutor,
a literary hack or in some other capacity. The real obstacle to post-
graduate study in prcesentia is that every young person of energy and
ambition realizes, with the advent of that indefinable condition which
we call maturity, that it is time for him to be about the serious
business of life, that he must cease to be a consumer, even of scholar-
ship, and that he must become a producer. Some few lines of life
work admit of a protraction of residence at a university without
interference with the demands which society justly makes on a well-
trained intellect, some few are favored by accident of location, but,
in the vast majority of all instances, the man or woman who decides
to remain at college beyond the usual undergraduate period, must
make a sacrifice of the best years of life, years which might better
be applied to the preliminary struggle for position which is inevitable
to success in every business or profession and which must be under-
taken in the arena of actual life. The desire for thorough educational
preparation, however laudable, must be recognized as futile in the
sense that no scholar can hope to gain the point at which he can con-
sider his past progress as having measurably subtracted from the
infinite possibility of the future. On the other hand, all educational
systems must frankly recognize that senility begins its inroads before
full maturity is reached. The appearance of grey hairs before the
beard is fully established is but the symbol of all physical and mental
development. The man who waits for his judgment to be fully formed
and his knowledge to be completed — even according to human stand-
ards— before engaging on his life work, has already lost something
of mental flexibility and of the vigor of innervating centers. It is
impossible to translate this principle into terms of age and the formu-
lation of standards must be left to the collective experience of educa-
tors, sociologists and of that paramount factor in education and social
progress which we so often forget — the people. A surprisingly large
number of great men have practically completed their work in life

POST-GRADUATE DEGREES IN ABSENTIA. 259-

at thirty-five. A critical study of most others will demonstrate
that, while the recognition of their labors may have been deferred by
circumstances — mainly lack of opportunity — till later in life, they
were actively engaged in their life work by the twenty-fifth year and
had laid the foundation of success by the thirtieth. The late Dr.
William Pepper, though one of the most earnest advocates of a liberal
education for medical men as well as of thorough medical training,
declared at the time of his ripest experience that any educational
system was a mistake which would not allow the average man to enter
upon actual practice at the age of twenty-three or twenty-four. It
would prolong this paper unduly to quote his arguments, none of which
however, was so convincing as his own life-history. Business men
would, probably, assign a still earlier age. Among educators and scien-
tists, there exists a considerable diversity of opinion; probably the
majority would favor a lengthening of the period of preparation but
it is questionable whether their personal biographies would support
this opinion. On the whole, it would seem that the preparatory period
should not occupy more than a third of the maximum duration of
active life and that it should not extend much beyond the period of
physiologic growth.

As a matter of abstract fairness, it may be argued that the ad-
vanced degrees are, at present, open to all college graduates on equal
terms — let them accept or reject these terms as they please; if the
A.M. or Ph.D. is not worth the sacrifice of a year or two of active life,
why complain because one cannot eat his cake and have it too? But
is this a wise attitude to assume? Granted that the privileges of the
master or doctor and the esteem in which he is held by the community
in no practical way exceed those enjoyed by the bachelor, long custom
has established the post-graduate degrees, and they should stand for
the best, ripest, most practical and wisest scholarship of the times.
When the immature critic and student of other men's writings is
eligible to a title that is denied to the man who creates literature
that is deemed worthy of serious consideration, even though not of
epoch-making value; when the laboratory worker who follows the
lines laid down by others receives a tangible reward from which the
pioneers of such study are often excluded; when field-work in science
must radiate from a college rather than from a center which offers
equal or greater scientific opportunities; when one museum or library
yields not only information but a scholastic degree, while another, as
good or better but not incorporated as part of a university, receives
no such recognition; when second-hand knowledge of old-world
linguistics and anthropology is placed on a higher level than original
research, carried on independently, and dealing with similar problems

26o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

in American fields; when one must be a 'scholar' in the incorrect
sense of the grammar school to obtain a scholastic recognition which
can not be earned by the slower self-denial and effort of the man who
devotes his leisure from the earnest of life to broadening his own
intellect and extending the limits of human knowledge — may we not
well ask if the reaction against honorary degrees has not carried the
colleges too far in the opposite direction?

The necessary regulation of study in prasentia may be applied with
only literal alterations, to study in absentia. There can be the same
supervision by a faculty committee, the same minima of time re-
quired after the receipt of the bachelor's degree, the same inspection
of work or formal examination, the same insistence upon a thesis
the same or even higher standard of originality, the same precaution
against too great concentration, even the same fees unless the college
prefers to guard against the superficial appearance of interested mo-
tives. The post-graduate student in prwsentia is seldom held to a
definite schedule of attendance; the student in absentia needs only an
extension of the same courtesy, and he may be required to report in
person at stated intervals. Evidence of adequate resources for the
special kind of study undertaken may be required and this could be
supplied, so far as museums, libraries, art galleries, laboratories, me-
chanical workshops, etc., are concerned, by nearly very resident of a
large city, while there is scarcely a region of the entire country which
does not offer opportunities for one or more kinds of scientific field-
work, in which original investigation is urgently needed. A slightly
less formal requirement in regard to the customary 'two minor' sub-
jects of study, would probably be wise in most instances and more
careful inquiry into the probity and reputation of the candidate
would be necessary than in the case of the resident student who is
under the immediate and almost constant observation of the faculty,
but it would seem that these various modifications of the regulations
of study in prwsentia are feasible, without too great effort on the
part of the college authorities.

In conclusion, the writer would again emphasize, as the main plea
of this article, that the present custom of limiting the post-graduate
degrees to students in prcesentia, places the intellectual consumer on
a higher basis than the producer while it has a corresponding tendency
to lower the scholastic value of the titles which ought, par excellence,
to represent the highest attainments of the broadest scholarship.

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 261

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY, VI.

By Dr. FREDERICK F. WOODS.

Bourbons in Spain.

Philip V. to the present day.

THE male or Hapsburg line having become extinct on the death
of Charles II., the Bourbons came upon the Spanish throne.
This group may be subdivided into six smaller groups:

1. Children of first marriage of Philip V.

2. Primogeniture line of Spain.

3. Children of Philip Duke of Parma.

4. Male line in the Two Sicilies.

5. The Carlists.

6. Children of Francesco de Paula.

1-2 I shall start with Philip V. and include in the group with
him all his ancestors to the third or great-grandparent degree. This
supplies 871/2 per cent, of influence according to Galton's law. Next
all the children of Philip V. will be included, as well as all their
ancestors to the third degree. Then following down the line that
corresponds to the throne, I shall treat of each fraternity in turn
until the present Alfonso XIII. is reached. After this the other
male lines (3-6) will be taken up. The daughters are also included,
but not their children, as these are considered under the male lines
in other countries — Austria, France, Portugal, etc. There are thirty-
four persons in this group who require tracing. As each has four-
teen ancestors in the third degree (two parents, four grandparents,
eight great-grandparents) the total number of persons concerned is
(14 X 34) -f- 34, or 510. All are of value, even the remote edges,
because any striking trait, insanity, genius or moral depravity ex-
hibited in any ancestor should reappear further down; if not in
some branch represented in its own country, then perhaps here in
Spain. There are many of these second- and third-degree ancestors
who have the worst possible epithets bestowed upon them, such as
the type of Louis XV. of France, but strange as it may seem to those
who discredit heredity, there are only two out of the five hundred
and ten who have ever been called great or who could be ranked with
the geniuses of a grade as high as 9.

These are Maria Theresa of Austria and her grandson, the cele-
brated Archduke Charles, who won so much distinction in his battles

262 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

against Napoleon. Maria Theresa comes in this group no nearer
than a grandparent and then only twice, and as a great-grandparent
only three times. In none of these does the genius reappear, though
over on the part of the chart where most of her descendants are one
sees higher marks for intellect. The Arch-duke Charles enters this
group merely as a grandfather of the present Queen Eegent of Spain,
who is no unworthy descendant. The tracing of this higher mental
strain, its origin and its reappearance, is to be found under Austria.
So as regards genius the results are conclusive. The others are nearly
all between 1 and 6, the great majority being below mediocrity, illus-
trating the intellect of the Bourbons which, as some one has said,
never rose above cunning. Although this statement is not absolutely
true, there seems to be a certain characteristic in the type of mind
most often seen: low craftiness for intrigue, combined with laziness,
debauchery, tyranny and often cowardice. This last is the slur we
can least frequently bring against royalty. YvTiatever they are, they
are nearly always brave.

The mental qualities are, for the most part, below the mean, while
the moral qualities fall as far below the average as any of the worst
regions in the older times; as bad as the Eomanhofs in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries. Charts dealing with this group show just
how, if heredity be a great force, Spain was brought to her unfortunate
fate, how nearly impossible it was that she should have escaped it.

Another important thing to notice is the strong variation in the
moral qualities. It is very easy to separate the sheep from the goats.
There are only a few about whom we should hesitate to say whether
they were good or bad. I have attempted to so classify them in the
following list:

♦Philip V. Alfonso Xll.

♦Ferdinand VI. Alfonso XIII.

fLouis. fFerdinand, D. of Parma.

Charles III. fMaria Louisa.

Philip, Duke of Parma. *Elizabeth.

Marie Anne. fFrances I., Two Sicilies.
Charles IV. Antonia.

t*Ferdinand I., Two Sicilies. fFerdinand II. ('Bomba').
t*Philip, imbecile son of Charles III. fChristina.

Maria Louisa, wife of Leopold II. of Carlotta, wife of Francis de Paula.

Austria. fFrancis II., Two Sicilies.
t*Ferdinand VII. Don Carlos VI.

Carlos, first pretender. *John.

Isabella. fDon Carlos VII.
fCarlotta, Queen of Portugal. Alfonso.

Francisco de Paula. fElwora.

flsabella II. (Queen). f Henrique.
Maria Louisa Montpensier. Francis d'Assis.

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 263

There are thirty-five persons in this list, of whom fifteen were either
cruel or dissolute or hoth. These have the mark f against them.
There are at least seven either insane or showing the neurosis in a
marked degree. These have the mark * applied to them. This
leaves only thirteen free. Of these, four are known to have been
indolent almost to point of disease. Thus, only about nine in the
thirty-five were normal. This is a remarkably small ratio of normal
and is less than found in any other country.

It will be shown that selection of the worst in each generation
will account for it without other causes being necessarily introduced.
We get some idea here of the extent to which a degeneration can be
carried, and it is worthy of note that it may be perpetuated for a
great number of generations, even when breeding in. There is no
evidence that the in-breeding has led to sterility, as is usually con-
tended by historians and students of the subject. Although the male
line by way of the oldest sons ceased once at Charles IL, and again
at Ferdinand VII., nearly every marriage was prolific of many chil-
dren, even among the closest blood relations, and one has but to
glance at the 'Almanach de Gotha' for the current year to see the
number of descendants that are being born to the closely inter-related
families of Hapsburg, Bourbon and Orleans.

Summary of Modern Spain.

The occurrence just where they fall of every one of these modern
Spanish Bourbons is compatible with the theory of mental and moral
inheritance. There is no greatness springing up where we least expect
it; there is no viciousness and imbecility that might not be explained
from heredity alone. There is nothing that need be more than pure
selection and repetition.

Of course we expect from Galton's law that, on the average, the
descendants will show less of any peculiarity than the parents, and
here we shall show that averaging all the descendants it is so, but all
descendants would include other countries. Portugal, Austria, Italy,
France, and including all these it will be shown in a later summary
that there is a bettering of affairs from the time of Philip V. onward,
but one must notice the artificial selection that took place in Spain.
It was as if they were breeding mental monstrosities for a bench show.
We see no diminution in either the debauchery or tyranny. The
insanity does appear less at the bottom of the chart, but it will also
be noticed that the early degenerates, Ferdinand VI. and Philip, son
of Charles III., who were avowedly insane, had no children and the
worst was consequently eliminated, while the worst moral depravity
and laziness were not only perpetuated, but usually drawn from and
in a double or triple way. This view of selection alone is important,

264 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

because this same family is usually considered to have run out through
external circumstances and to have followed an easy road from opulence
and luxury to indolence and decline.

I shall show that among all the races considered in this book a
family never runs out except by selection, no matter what the condi-
tion of environment may be. It is far from my wish to assume that
environment has done nothing in molding these characters, and espe-
cially the moral characters that fall under this group of modern
Spain. If it has done much in order to account for a considerable
number of excellent ones, and these often as good as any princes that
have ever lived, we must assume that it, like the pedigree, was cal-
culated to bring great variations. This probability will be discussed
when all the greater groups are compared one with the other. If
environment did have much to do with molding their individual
destinies there is no apparent culminated inherited effect from it.
After five or six generations the people are practically neither worse
nor better than at first.

Nineteenth century estimates had no effect in lessening the cruelty
and arrogance of Ferdinand II., 'Bomba.' He was as bad a tyrant
as ever lived in the middle ages. His son was a man of the same type.
The conditions in Portugal and Spain were not very different from
those in Italy where Ferdinand lived, and yet Portugal and Spain
show us nothing to be compared with the brutalities of this father
and son. Ferdinand II. was no more a tyrant than his grandmother
or some others among the Hapsburgs; Francis of Modena, for in-
stance. Carlotta alone of those belonging to the immediate branch
of the throne of Spain (occurring in the middle of the chart) would
be rightly characterized by the word tyrant. Yet the conditions in
Spain for the formation of an autocrat might be justly considered as
conducive to this effect as were those of Italy. It will be noticed that
the branches in Spain are practically free from this tyrannical type,
except that Carlotta, daughter of Charles III., showed something of
this character, and one of her sons, Migual, exhibited it in a high
degree. She was one among four children to show the violent type.
On the other or left side of the chart where the blood of the tyran-
nical Caroline of Austria is closest, we have Bomba and Carlotta,
two of the same type in three children, and also Henrique, one in
two, and Francis II., one in one. Imitation may have played a role,
but then why did a certain definite number imitate and only a certain
number do so?

What shall we say here of free-will? How could it have played
any appreciable part in molding the characters of these scores of people,
each apparently filling a little link in a chain, the destinies of which

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 265

seem as much the result of birth and breeding as the product of the
most carefully conducted racing stable?

Evidence from Denmark.

The royal house of Oldenburg from which the kings of Denmark
are descended covers, from Frederick II. to the daughter of Frederick
IV., three centuries and ten generations. Including in each genera-
tion not only the reigning sovereign, but also his brothers and sisters,
the number of names brought into this family is thirty-seven. In
order to get the necessary material for heredity study, there have been
added in each generation all the ancestors of every child back to the
great-grandparents, so the number brought together in this group is
raised by 132, or 169 represents the total.

With the exception of the first two kings, this period of Danish
history covers what is known as the 'Age of Absolutism,' 1670-1848.
A good idea of the sovereign rights at this time and the general char-
acteristics of the rulers may be gathered from the following quotation :

Although the Royal Law conferred so absolute a power on the king, a
power such as was perhaps not vested in any other sovereign in Europe, the
autocrats of the Oldenburg dynasty — good-natured, upright and not more than
ordinarily gifted as they were — exercised the prerogative, on the whole, with
moderation and leniency, and the country had often reason to be thankful
for the advantages secured to it during this period, especially when among
the royal councillors were to be found men of talent and capacity.

Good-natured, upright and not more than ordinarily gifted is a
fair estimate for our thirty-seven members of the Oldenburg family
taken as a whole. There are not more than three or four exceptions
to this among them all. In other words, the Oldenburgs show no
great mental and moral variations. Do the characteristics of the
other 132, who, united with the male line, are the formers of the
breed, warrant us in saying that this result is only what we might
expect from the direct inheritance of the traits of these progenitors?
It will be seen that the characteristics of these outsiders who represent
the maternal side amply bear out such a belief.

In the pedigree of the Oldenburgs there is no Hapsburg, Bourbon
or Romanhof insanity, or moral depravity. There is no Orange or
Hohenzollern genius. In searching out the quality of the maternal
blood as it was introduced all down the line, one finds no distinguished
ancestry and few peculiar characters of any sort. Two of the queens
had brilliant gifts of mind, one being also extremely unprincipled in
her political actions. Aside from this there is little of interest in
the ancestry. Frederick II., 1534—1588, was a headstrong and arbi-
trary ruler with too great a fondness for strong drink, but otherwise
was not strange in any way and is not a striking figure in Danish

266 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

history. His consort, Sophia, however, was a woman much praised
for her intellectual eminence.* From this union sprang Christian
IV., the idol of Danish history and the only sovereign who ranks at
all with the more able kings of other countries. There were six other
children, but Christian is the only one who has left a distinguished
record. Anna, the wife of Christian IV., descended from a compara-
tively obscure branch of the Brandenburg family, was a mild, sweet-
tempered, charitable princess,! Dut. not a conspicuous character in
contemporary records. Their son, Frederick III., 1609-70, was a
wise and shrewd sovereign, but of languid disposition. His temper
was amiable, and his reign popular. The brilliant, haughty and
vindictive Sophia Amelia was queen during this reign. It was she
who imprisoned the king's half sister for twenty-two years, because,
when trying on the crown, it is said, Eleonora Christian dropped it
and injured a very fine jewel. The same authority gives us the
anecdote that she ordered a noble executed, because he claimed she
would fall in love with him. The Brunswick stock from which she
came shows at this point no eminence of any kind; still we expect
some of her six children to have been mentally gifted. The next
generation gives us a rather mediocre showing, with Prince George,
husband of Queen Anne of England, almost a fool. Ulrica Elenora,
who married Charles XI. of Sweden and became the mother of the
remarkable Charles XII., was the only one among the six children
to represent the intellectual side of the family.

Christian V. 1646-1699, the eldest son, courageous, enterprising
and chivalrous, was no ordinary man, but the strong tendency to ease
and pleasure and the weakness he showed in being governed by others
forbid us to give him a high rating for intellect when this is judged
by the standard of outward achievements. His marriage brought
in no mental uplifting, since the Queen Charlotte Amelia was from
an 'obscure' region in the family of Hesse Cassel. Neither in the
next generation (Frederick IV.) or the two following this (Christian
VI. and Frederick V.) do we find any noteworthy mental variations.
In all these generations a study of the chart will show the stock good
but far from illustrious.

We now come to a very interesting anomaly in Christian VII.,
the only son of Frederick V. by his first wife Louisa, daughter of
George II. of England. Among all modern royalty there is scarcely
a feebler specimen of the human race than this poor little, half-mad,
debauchee king. His type of mind was so purile and his self-restraint
so weak that it seems only charity to consider him among the irre-
sponsibles. From L. Wraxall and Walpole an idea may be obtained

* Allen, ' Hist, de Dannemark,' II., 29.

t L. Flamancl, ' Danmarke Dronninger,' 1848, pp. 11, 12.

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 267

of his conduct during his visit to England, giving the positive im-
pression that he was a degenerate of the worst type. He would be
in just the place we might expect to find him, if he belonged among
the older Eomanhofs or modern Bourbons, yet there is none of this
blood in him, nor is there any other equally bad. Christian VII. was
a grandson of George II., and whether he got his bad qualities from
him it is impossible to say. If he did he was certainly a great deal
worse than George and much feebler intellectually. It is interesting
in connection with heredity to note that Christian VII. was a first
cousin of George III. who was insane, and also the first cousin, once
removed, of the two imbecile sons of Augusta Princess of Brunswick,
sister of George III.

Another more convincing bit of evidence in this connection is to
be found in the neighboring House of Hesse Cassel; here we find
another first cousin, once removed, of Christian VII., who became
insane and died in early manhood. The observation that this man
Christian, son of Charles of Hesse Cassel, is doubly descended from
the suspected strain (Palatine House) makes it almost certain that
we are dealing with an inherited insanity in all cases. Both the
mother and father of this Christian of Hesse were grandchildren of
George II., and consequently from the Palatine House. I almost
forgot to mention Frederick William I., of Prussia, about whom
Macaulay said, 'His eccentricities were such as had never been seen
out of a mad house.' Frederick William was a first cousin of George
II. and stands as near the actual Palatine insanity as a nephew.

These six cases would, if occurring in families of ordinary social
grades, be sent to asylums and never make their way into the records
as showing a congenital tendency. Since they stand apart from the
other regions of neurosis such as the Spanish, Eussian and modern
Bavarian groups, at first we might suspect nothing, but here where
we have the family tree and can look up the ancestry, curiously enough
we find all related, and through the same source (Palatine) and this
the only one of their many lines of descent in which there was insanity.

It should be noticed that the percentages for heredity among the
insane run from 20 to 90, according to the observer, and this should
make us think that the higher rather than the lower figures are more
likely to be correct.

Besides this evidence we may mention the following facts: that
the uncle of Christian VII., the Duke of Cumberland, was extremely
cruel, and his other uncle, Frederick, Prince of Wales, was a dissolute
specimen and William IV. of England was eccentric to say the least.
Whatever we may say for hereditary influence, at any rate the bring-
ing up of Christian VII. was pretty bad. He was in the hands of
his step-mother, Juliana Maria of Brunswick, who is said to have used

268 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

every means to corrupt his morals and stunt his education that she
might get the more power in her own hands. I only mention this
to show a good example of the sort of cases that should make us bend
strongly towards the importance of environment in molding the psy-
chical form. It is the relative absence of such cases that has led to
the view taken in this book. In spite of the fact that Christian VII.
married his first cousin, related on the bad side of the house, since
she was a sister of George III., his two children were not of the worst
sort by any means, though in general we may say that one took after
the father and one the mother. Louisa Augusta, the daughter, had
relatively very little intellect, no ambition and a very quick temper,
while Frederick VI., the next king, mild, affable and sensible, re-
sembled his mother.

The remaining characters, Christian VIII. and Frederick VII.,
were merely examples of good normal men, liberal, popular and suffi-
ciently able to fill their positions with honor to their country. There
is nothing particularly interesting just here, so we can conclude the
chapter of the Oldenburg dynasty with a glance back at the seven-
teenth century.

It will be noticed that there is one little region where the intel-
lectual ratings are fairly high and that included in this group is
Christian IV., the greatest of Danish kings. The only slight error
from expected heredity is. that the intellectual eminence fails to be
perpetuated to quite the extent we might have expected in any of the
children of Frederick III. Ulrica Elenora, the only gifted child, was
'distinguished for her knowledge.' She was the mother of Charles
XII., of Sweden, and in him the genius was more than rejuvenated.

Aside from this heredity is very well satisfied in the study of this
country, there being not more than one or two exceptions at most to
what we might expect from the workings of this force. It is also
important to note that the age of absolutism entirely failed to pro-
duce a type of cruel and arrogant kings. Had such a type been here
engendered it would certainly have been ascribed largely to the en-
vironment in which they lived.

MENDEL'S LAW. 269

MENDEL'S LAW.

BY W. J. SPILLMAN,

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

^VT"0 discovery in recent years has aroused more interest amongst
-^ biologists than that of Mendel's Law. If subsequent investiga-
tions confirm it as those thus far made have done it can not be consid-
ered less than epoch-making. Its importance to plant breeders seems
hardly less than that of the atomic theory to the science of chemistry.
Professor Bateson, of Cambridge, says there is reason to believe that
the plant breeder may eventually be able, by means of this law, to
produce a desired hybrid type with the same degree of accuracy as the
chemist now constructs a compound. It is impossible, on the thresh-
old of such a discovery, to state just how far-reaching its importance
is; we must wait for further investigation before hoping for too much.

As the history of this discovery is not yet generally known, it
may be stated that Mendel 's original paper was published in an obscure
periodical at Briinn, Austria, in 1865.* This publication received
slight notice until De Vries, in March, 1900,f published an exact
counterpart of Mendel's theory, including some technical terms pro-
posed by Mendel, and gave some of the results of his own researches
to confirm the theory. Shortly after this, Correns of Germany and
Bateson of England published results of their own work, showing
that each of them had discovered the same law. Meanwhile the
writer, working on hybrid wheats in this country, announced the law
(but not the theory) in November, 1901. J The knowledge of this
discovery has become general only during the past few months. It
now remains for other investigators to apply it to their own results
for confirmation or modification.

As the distinction between varieties and species can not always
be drawn with exactness, and particularly since Mendel's law applies
alike to crosses and hybrids, it seems justifiable, at least in a dis-
cussion such as the present one, to conform to the growing usage of
biologists in this country by using the term hybrid to include crosses
of all kinds, whether between varieties or distantly related species.
I shall, therefore, use the term hybrid in this sense. In the following

* Verhandl. d. Naturf. Vereines, Briinn, 1865.

t Compte Rendus, March 20, 1900.

% Bui. 115, Off. Exper. Sta., U. S. Dept. Agric.

i7o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

discussion it is to be understood, unless otherwise stated, that the
parent forms are all well-established varieties or species (i. e., they
come true to type from seed), and that the hybrids are close fertilized
(either self-fertilized or fertilized by others like them).

Mendel's law is, briefly stated, as follows: In the second and
later generations of a hybrid, every possible combination of the parent
characters occurs, and each combination appears in a definite pro-
portion of the individuals.

Mendel did not leave his work unfinished. He proposed a theory,
or rather deduced one by a simple course of reasoning that renders
the theory almost an established fact as far as results thus far secured
are concerned, that explains the facts in the case in a brilliant
manner.* As I have shown elsewhere, this theory explains most of
the so-called exceptions to the law pointed out by several investigators.
It explains so many apparent anomalies in such a simple manner
that there is danger of applying it too extensively. This point will
be brought up again below.

The theory may be illustrated as follows: Suppose the two parent
varieties differ with respect to a single character. For instance, a
variety of bearded wheat is crossed with one that is smooth (not
bearded). When the hybrid thus produced forms its germ cells
(pollen and ovules), the characters of the two parents separate, the
beard-producing character passing into part of the pollen grains
and part of the ovules, the smooth-head character of the other parent
passing into the remaining germ cells. The character passing into
any single germ cell being governed by chance, on the average half
the pollen and half the ovules will receive the character of one parent,
the other half that of the other. The results of this separation of
characters may be illustrated by the following diagram, in which B
stands for the beard-producing character and 8 for its opposite. The
reason for the use of a small b in designating the hybrid will appear
later.

B

8

Since the ovules of each kind are offered both kinds of pollen, half
of each, on the average, will be fertilized by one and half by the other
kind of pollen, giving the four fertilizations shown at the right.
(Abundant experience has shown that Sy(B=BX.S.) From this
it appears that one fourth of the progeny of the hybrid Sb will be like
the parent B, one fourth like 8, and one half like the hybrid itself.

* It seems that both Correns and De Vries had arrived at the same theory
independently.

Pollen.

Ovules

86

B

B

r B X B = B
SXB = 8b

(hybrid)

-

BXS = Sb

s

8 .

SX8 = 8

MENDEL' 8 LAW. 271

Nothing has been said so far concerning the external appearances
of the hybrid, whether it is intermediate between the parents, or
resembles one or the other of them. The efforts of investigators
since the time of Kolreuter have been directed to the futile attempt
to find some law which would enable the breeder to predict the appear-
ance of this hybrid. In general, this can not be done, with our
present knowledge. There are two cases to consider. In certain
instances hybrids are strictly intermediate between the parents. In
others they are unlike either parent. These cases will be noticed
later. In the more common case the hybrid either shows a parent
character fully developed or shows it not at all. A parent character
which is fully developed in the hybrid is said to be 'dominant'; if
it is apparently absent it is said to be 'recessive.' In my work with
hybrid wheats, beards have always been recessive, hence the designa-
tion of the hybrid as Sb.

It will now be seen that, externally, the progeny of the hybrid
will consist of only two types, one type (B), constituting one fourth
of the progeny, being like one parent, and the other, constituting three
fourths of the progeny, resembling the other parent. Of this three
fourths, one part (S) is actually like one parent, and will produce
progeny like itself. The other two parts (Sb) are hybrids, and will
produce progeny of all the types, exactly as the original hybrid did.
Plants of the type 8 may easily be separated from those of the type
Sb by planting the seed of each plant separately, and noting the
character of the progeny.

The above diagram may easily be extended to any desired number
of generations. Extended to the third generation it is:

B

S

Sb

B

Sb

S

Assuming that each of the types S, Sb and B are equally produc-
tive, and mixing and sowing all the seed of each generation, the fol-
lowing table shows the percentage of each type in each generation
to the sixth:

Generations.
1
2
3
4
5
6

s

Sb
100

B

25

50

25

37.5

25

37.5

43.75

12.5

43.75

46.87

6.25

46.87

48.44

3.12

48.44

Here it is seen that the hybrid, based on a single pair of antagon-
istic characters, tends to split up into the two parent types. A hybrid

2 72 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

whose parents differ in one respect is called a monohybrid; a dihybrid
is one whose parents differ in two respects; and so on. Dihybrids
and polyhybrids do not tend to split up into the two parent forms,
as will be seen later.

Heretofore, plant breeders have been producing hybrids, and then
by selecting to type each year from the progeny, trying to fix new
types. Let us see what light Mendel's law throws on this practice.
In the illustration given above, if the breeder had selected the type
B of the progeny of the hybrid, he would have had a fixed type at
once. Had he selected for type S, he would have had a mixture of
the pure type S with the mixed type Sb. (Professor Bateson pro-
poses the useful terms homozygote for pure types like 8, and hetero-
zygote for mixed types like Sb.) Next year the homozygotes 8 would
reproduce their kind only, while the heterozygotes would produce the
three types B, Sb and S in the proportion 1:2:1. The second gen-
eration would therefore consist of S, 62.5 per cent.; Sb, 25 per cent.;
and B, 12.5 per cent. This method of selection would never result
in a fixed type unless the breeder should accidentally choose seed of
the type S only. It has already been shown that the fixed type S
could have been separated out at once by saving the seed of each
selected plant separately, and observing which reproduced true to
type. Nature fixes the type whether the breeder selects or not;
heretofore, the breeder secured his fixed type by chance selection.
With the knowledge of Mendel's law, he now selects his fixed type
in a methodical manner, in the third generation.

Dihybrids are much more interesting, since they present the more
usual case with which the breeder has to deal. With them, fixed
types unlike either parent may be secured in the third generation.
It frequently occurs that a breeder finds two characters in different
varieties that he wishes to combine in a single variety. This is easily
done when the characters obey Mendel's law. To illustrate this case
I shall use characters which are of no particular importance, but
for which I happen to possess experimental data. The principles
are exactly the same for any characters that obey Mendel's law.
Suppose we have a variety of wheat that has velvet chaff and another
that has smooth heads (is not bearded) and that we wish to combine
these two characters in a single variety. It is assumed that neither
of the varieties has these two characters already; hence we have to
deal with two pairs of opposite characters, namely, beards — no beards,
and velvet — glabrous. We may, for brevity's sake, represent these
characters by their initial letters, using small letters in cases where
they are latent. In my work with wheats, beards have always been
recessive, as stated above, and velvet chaff has always been dominant

MENDEL'S LAW.

(except in a single individual). Hence the cross VB X GS gives
us the hybrid VgSb. When this hybrid produces pollen and ovules,
the pair of characters V and G separate, V going to half the pollen
grains and ovules, and G to the other half. S and B do the same
thing, but without reference to V and G. Hence we have four kinds
of pollen grains and four of ovules, as shown in the following diagram :

VB

GS

VgSb

Pollen.

f VB

vs

GB
GS

Ovules.

VB

VS
GB
GS

Here we have a mixture of
four kinds of pollen offered to
four kinds of ovules. On the
average, one fourth of each kind
of ovules will be fertilized by
each kind of pollen, giving six-
teen equally numerous fertiliza-
tions, as follows:

l.
2.
3.

4.
5.

6.

7.
8.

VB X
VS X
GB X
GS X
VBX
VS X
GB X
GS X

VB = VB.

VB = VSb.
VB = VgB.
VB = VgSb.
VS=VSb.

VS = vs.

VS = VgSb.
VS = VgS.

9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.

VB X

vsx

GBX
GS X
VB X
VSX
GB X
GS X

GB = VgB.
GB = VgSb.
GB = GB.
GB = GSb.
GS=VgSb.
GS = VgS.
GS = GSb.
GS = GS.

Here it will be noticed that (2) and (5) give the same result.
Similarly, (3) and (9); (8) and (14); (12) and (15); and (4),
(7), (10) and (13). We may, therefore, represent the hybrid and
its progeny thus:

VB \

GS ]

VgSb

1

VS

2

VSb

1

VB

2
4
2
1

VgS

VgSb

VgB

GS ■

Sb

1

GB

16 parts.

This diagram may easily be extended
to later generations. VS will produce
VS. The progeny of the type VSb will
all have the character V, but one fourth
of it will have the character S, two
fourths Sb, and one fourth B; thus,

VSb J,

1 VS

2 VSb
1 VB

4 parts.

In like manner the progeny of the other types may be written out.

Of the nine types produced from the hybrid, four of them, VS,
VB, GS, GB, are pure, and will reproduce true to seed. They have
no characters hidden in them to crop out in later generations. It
will be noticed that each of these pure types constitute one sixteenth
of the progeny of the hybrid. Four other types, VSb, VgS, VgB

VOL. lxii. — 18.

274 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

and GSb, have each one latent character, and each constitutes two
sixteenths of the whole. The type VgSb, having two latent characters,
constitutes four sixteenths. In general, a type having n latent char-
acters will be present in the second generation of any hybrid in a
proportion 2n times as great as any type having no latent characters.

Suppose now we sow all these nine kinds of seed and secure mature
plants from each. Those of the type GB can easily be distinguished
by their appearance. It can be selected out at once, as a new variety
fixed in character. The case is different with VS, VB and GS.
For example, if we attempt to select GS, we get also GSb, which has
exactly the same external characters. But if we take all the plants
with glabrous chaff and smooth heads ( GS -f- GSb ) and save the seed
of each plant separately, we can separate the next generation by noting
which j)lants re]3roduce true to type; for the seed of GS will produce
GS plants only, while that of GSb will produce one fourth GS, two
fourths GSb, and one fourth GB, according to Mendel's law. Or,
since GS and GSb appear alike, one fourth of the progeny of GSb
will be GB (glabrous and bearded), the remaining three fourths
being glabrous and smooth. In the same way we can separate VS
from VSb, VgS and VgSb, and VB from VgB.

Now VS, VB, GS and GB are all the possible pure (homozygote)
combinations of the parent characters, two of them being identical
with the two parents, the others constituting new varieties. The
practical plant breeder, therefore, does not need to carry his hybrids
beyond the third generation to secure all the possible results of a
given cross, as far as new fixed varieties are concerned. It should
be remembered that this is true only of characters that obey Mendel's
law. It is plain, therefore, that it is a matter of the highest practical
importance to ascertain how general this law is.

By the same methods outlined above, it is easy to ascertain what
types would result from a trihybrid, and from hybrids of all higher
orders. In the case of trihybrids, eight permanent combinations
result, one like each parent and six new ones. Quadrihybrids give
sixteen types, fourteen of which are new; and so on. In general,
the number of new fixed types springing from a hybrid is 2" — 2,
where n is the order of the hybrid.

The proportion of the various types in later generations of a
hybrid is a matter of more than curious interest. We have already
seen that, in the case of monohybrids, the later generations tend to
split up into the two parent types. It was stated above that this is
not so with hybrids of higher order. If we assume that each of the
nine types (four homozygote and five heterozygote) resulting from
a dihybrid is equally productive, the proportion of each of these
types in each generation to the sixth is as follows:

MENDEL'S LAW. 275

Percentage of each Type in first six Generations of the Dihybrid

VB X GS.

Sixth
First. Second. Third. Fourth. Fifth. Genera-

tion.

vs 1

VB |

GS

each 0

6.25

14.0G

19.10

21.97

23.46

GB J

VgS '

VqB

VSb

each 0

12.50

9.38

5.47

2.93

1.15

GSb

VgSb

100

25.00

6.25

1.56

.39

.10

Hence, if we sow all the seed of each generation, it is seen that
each of the homozygote types approaches 25 per cent, of the whole,
while all the heterozygote types approach zero, and the larger the
number of latent characters in a type, the more rapidly it decreases
in proportion. In trihybrids, we should have eight homozygote types,
each increasing toward 12y2 per cent, of the whole. Hence the
generalization, a hybrid of the wth order tends to split up into 2"
fixed types, all types not fixed tending to disappear. The effect of
such a law, in the case of accidental hybrids between species and
varieties in the wild state, can not fail to be important in the evolu-
tion of species. I leave the discussion of this interesting phase of
the subject till the law is more generally confirmed. In this con-
nection it may be well to state that, at the recent international con-
ference of plant breeders in New York, Professor Bateson asserted
that Mendel's law has been found to hold in every case where it
had been thoroughly tested.* The groups in which these tests have
been made are so varied, representing both plants and animals, that
the presumption in favor of the generality of the law is strong enough
to warrant breeders in searching for it everywhere.

It has been urged by certain breeders that, even if the law is gen-
eral, it can not be put to practical use by breeders; for it nearly
always happens that the varieties crossed differ in an indefinite num-
ber of respects, and we should therefore get so vast a number of re-
sulting types that no two individuals could be classed together. This
objection is not altogether valid. In the first place, if we take any
established variety and examine the individuals closely, we find no
two of them alike. Hence, even if the variety we are trying to pro-
duce must consist of an indefinite number of types differing only in
minor details, we are no more than duplicating the actual conditions
existing amongst present useful varieties. In the second place, a
very common problem of the breeder is to unite two characters found

* This does not agree with Correns ( I. c. ) . I think, however, that the cases-
to which Correns refers may be explained by means of Mendel's law.

276 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

in related varieties, where the remaining characters of both varieties
are unimportant. Hence, in practice, we have in reality to deal with
dihybrids in many cases. It should also be remembered that, if we
treat a hybrid as a dihybrid, neglecting all but the two characters of
most concern, the type we select actually splits up into fixed types
with reference to all other characters, so that in a few generations we
can secure uniformity, even in minor characters, by selection.

There is a very interesting phase of the subject which, for the sake
of clearness, has been purposely overlooked in what has been said above.
We have dealt only with the case in which a parent character appears
in the hybrid in a fully developed state, or is not apparent at all. This
is actually the case with the characters discussed above. Cases are
known, however, in which both of a pair of opposite characters appear
in the hybrid. This may result in a form intermediate between the
parents, as I found to be the case when I crossed short-headed club
wheats with the ordinary long-headed varieties. The same phe-
nomenon appeared in crosses between varieties with red chaff and
those with white chaff. Sometimes, in crosses between white and red
flowers, for instance, the heterozygote types are variegated. It is
easy to see that this fact may have an important bearing on the
flavor and other characters of hybrid fruits, such as apples, peaches,
strawberries, etc. It is highly probable that a great majority of these
fruits are heterozygote in character, which fact would explain their
well-known variability when grown from seed. It would naturally be
expected, since flavors are due to the presence, in various proportions,
of certain chemical substances, that entirely new flavors should be
found in seedlings of this character, for in almost every seedling we
should have a new combination of the flavor-giving substances.

One reason why Mendel's law was not discovered long ago is doubt-
less to be found in the fact that the large majority of seedlings that
have come under the breeder's eye have had heterozygote parents of
unknown constitution. If all our leading commercial varieties had
been commonly close-fertilized, the law would long ago have forced
itself upon us. Professor Bailey's remarkable and careful work on
hybrid squashes and pumpkins probably came to naught for this very
reason. Had he done the same work with varieties that are normally
close-fertilized, he would probably have discovered this law. He was
on the right road, but he was in the wrong vehicle.

Let us consider what results would follow the growing of apple
seed generation after generation with close-fertilization, if the char-
acters of the apple obey Mendel's law. We start with a tree that is
already multihybrid. Suppose it to consist of N pairs of opposite
character, A-A', B-B', :—s N-N'. The hybrid and the first genera-

MENDEL'S LAW. 277

tion of its progeny would then be, supposing the primed characters to
be recessive :

Aa' Bb' Cc' AV ( ABC N, ABC Nn', ABC A7', etc.

(hybrid.) \ (progeny.)

The total number of types occurring in the progeny is 3"; the
number of fixed types (homozygote) is 2". The number of types
with r latent characters is nCr2n~r, where nCr is the number of com-
binations of n things taken r at a time. Only one type, namely,
A'B'C • • • N', consisting entirely of recessive characters, could be
selected out without getting with it one or more heterozygote types.
But by saving the seed of each tree of this generation separately, and
observing which, with close fertilization, would reproduce true to type,
we could at once secure, in fixed from, all the 2 homozygote types.

If the tree happened to be of the type VgSb, discussed above, in
which all the characters of its original parents are present, the above
process of analysis would give, not only all its original parents, but
all possible combinations of them, and each in a form that would
reproduce true to seed, if self-fertilized. If it were of the type VgB,
in which some of the parent characters are missing, it would give all
the original parents whose characters are all present, together with
all their combinations with characters that are present from other
parents, some of whose characters are missing. Since apples are con-
fessedly many times multihybrids, it is probable that a very large
number of seed would have to be used to secure all the types capable
of resulting from combinations of the N pairs of characters.

Suppose we neglect all but essential characters; we might, in the
case of the apple, reduce the number of types to a point which would
make the task a possible one. If this were done, it would mean much
to the plant breeder. Having a large number of fixed varieties of
apples, supposing, of course, that Mendel's law holds, we could select
parents with a view to producing any combination of characters we
desire. Did not Downing, many years ago, assert that much better
results could be secured in producing new seedling apples by using
seed from strains that had already been propagated several genera-
tions from seed? And why? Possibly because the continuous prop-
agation from seed tends to produce pure strains. If the seed used
were always produced by self-pollination, there certainly would be a
tendency to pure strains if Mendel's law applies. This problem is
worth working out, both from practical and from theoretical grounds.
It could be done more easily with strawberries, or with some of the
common ornamentals that do not reproduce true to seed. This
method of analysis is one way of testing Mendel's law in such groups.

This subject is too new to permit of any useful generalizations

278 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

respecting animal breeding. True, Mendel's law has been found to
apply with animals so far as the test has been applied, but it will be
some time before much use can be made of it in that direction. It
will take years to overcome the prevailing prejudices of animal breeders
in favor of old-time theories that govern practice in that line.

Exceptions to the Law.

Millardet and others have given accounts of hybrids that im-
mediately split up into the two parent forms, having no, or very few,
hybrid progeny, and these have been cited as exceptions to Mendel's
law. I have elsewhere* shown that Mendel's theory of the separation
of parent characters offers a perfectly rational explanation of these
cases. If a hybrid is obtained from two varieties each of which
prefers its own pollen to that of the other, the resulting hybrid must
split up at once into the two parent types, if it obeys the law in ques-
tion, since each of the two kinds of ovules produced by the hybrid,
being offered both kinds of pollen, is fertilized only by its own kind.
Yet even in these cases, according to the laws of probability, it ought
occasionally to happen that such a hybrid would produce a few hybrids,
for it would occasionally happen that an ovule would be offered only
one kind of pollen. And this is what actually occurred in hybrids of
this class reported by De Vries. A few hybrids occurred along with an
excess of both the parent types.

Likewise, when two varieties are crossed, each of which prefers the
other's pollen, there will also be an apparent departure from the law;
for in this case each of the two kinds of ovules on the hybrid will be
fertilized only with the opposite kind of pollen, giving all heterozygotes.
Such a hybrid will appear to be fixed in type at once. Such cases
have been reported by many observers, including Darwin. In this
case it may occasionally happen in later generations of the apparently
stable hybrid, that an ovule will be offered only its own kind of pollen
and we then get a reversion to one of the parent forms. We may yet
find that many sports are to be explained in this manner.

Breeders frequently report entirely new characters in hybrids.
If these actually occur we must look further than Mendel's theory
for their cause. It must not be overlooked, however, that if the two
parents of a hybrid are themselves heterozygote hybrids, Mendel's
theory would call for characters unlike any of the visible characters
of either parent. In this case, all latent characters in both parents
would necessarily crop out in the second generation of the hybrids.
We can not dismiss Mendel's theory in such cases until it has been
demonstrated that the parents have no latent characters in them.

* Science, October 31, 1902.

MENDEL'S LAW. 279

It is very probable that marry supposed new characters are merely
the peculiar result of the blending of opposite characters, neither of
which 'dominates' the other; or it may be that the blending of two
unrelated dominant characters gives rise to new characters. As an
instance of how this might occur, the presence of two chemical sub-
stances, one derived from each parent, might give new flavors in fruit,
or new colors in flowers. Bateson has demonstrated a case of the
latter and shown that the new and radically different color is not a new
character at all, but a blending of parent characters which obey
Mendel's law perfectly.

Is it not possible that Mendel has also shown to us an explanation
of bud sports? These sports are notoriously common on plants known
to be hybrids. May not the separation of parent characters occa-
sionally occur at stages of growth other than the formation of germ
cells ? If such is the case, bud sports at once come under the law.

It does not seem improbable that, once in a while, the parent char-
acters might fail to separate in the usual manner on the formation of
germ cells, so that we might have a few cells inheriting both of a pair
of opposite characters, and this might extend over a series of genera-
tions before the separation finally occurred. Under such conditions,
a recessive character might be carried over any number of generations
without showing itself, finally cropping out and giving a case of
atavism. Perhaps this is the explanation of atavism. It would be
interesting in this connection to know if atavic characters are
ordinarily recessive.

It is clear that we have before us a working hypothesis that offers
a possible explanation of a large number of phenomena^ heretofore
absolutely inexplicable. It will require time to test the hypothesis,
even in the limited number of cases suggested above.

The only data thus far published in this country that may be
used as a direct test of Mendel's theory are those I secured from
hybrid wheats.* At the time these data were arranged for publica-
tion similar work in Europe was unknown in this country; they
were merely arranged to show that similarly bred hybrids split up
into the same types, each type tending to occur in a definite proportion.
In all my hybrids characters were present that apparently separated
in a manner different from that called for by Mendel's theory. For-
tunately, however, the data referred to may easily be arranged to test
the applicability of this theory to two characters, namely, beards and
velvet chaff. In five out of fourteen crosses one parent was bearded
and the other smooth, two of the five being reciprocals. Beards
being recessive, theory would call for 25 per cent, of bearded plants

Bui. 115, Off. Ex. Sta. U. S. Dept. Agr.

28o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

in the progeny of the hybrids. The seed of each hybrid plant was
kept separate and sown as a plat. In three plats from a cross between
Valley (J1), a bearded variety, and Little Club (5), there was an
average of 25.7 per cent, of bearded plants. Eleven plats of the
reciprocal cross averaged 25.2 per cent, beards. Six plats of a cross
between Little Club and Emporium gave bearded plants to the extent
of 24.6 per cent.; three plats of Lehigh X Red Chaff, 25.9 per cent.;
and seven plats of Turkey X Little Club, 30.8 per cent. In the
last example there were two aberrant cases, the remaining five lying
between 25 and 29 per cent.

Much evidence of a similar nature has been brought forward by
De Vries, Correns, Bateson and others, in addition to that given by
Mendel. These investigators worked with widely different groups of
plants and animals.

Thus far, no one has shown definitely that Mendel's theory is
inapplicable to a single case. Correns, however, mentions hybrids
which do not behave exactly as called for by theory, but I am not
sufficiently familiar with the details concerning them to discuss them
here. In my own work I found that the color of the chaff and the
length of the head behave in a manner most easily explained by
a modification of Mendel's theory. Instead of the pair of opposite
characters, long heads and short heads, separating completely on the
formation of pollen and ovules, they seemed to separate in all possible
proportions, giving in the next generation a series of plants having
heads of every possible gradation of length between those of the
two parents, and even extending in both directions beyond the parents.
In my work I arbitrarily separated the hybrids into three groups —
long, semi-long and short heads. As this separation was entirely
arbitrary, the results are very irregular, and the original figures do
not represent very accurately the actual facts with reference to this
character. Exactly the same thing occurred with reference to color
of chaff. I have not yet had the opportunity of examining the
third generation of these hybrids, so that it can not yet be stated
definitely that they really form an exception to Mendel's law.

As is the case with any startling discovery, we are apt either to
minimize its importance or to extend its application much beyond
legitimate bounds. I fear I shall be accused of the latter. But
this new thory is so suggestive and offers a rational explanation to
so many hitherto enigmatical phenomena, that a few suggestions
as to its possible application can do no harm.

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

281

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

THE CONVOCATION OF SCIEN- '.
TIFIC SOCIETIES

The American Association for the
Advancement of Science and in affilia-
tion with it the American Society of
Naturalists and more than twenty
special scientific societies will meet in
Washington at the end of December
and beginning of January. This first
of the convocation week meetings of
scientific societies will probably always
be an important date in the history
of science in America. It is a truism to
say that the progress of science con-
sists in cooperation among men of sci-
ence. For such cooperation two main
agencies exist which are equally es-
sential— the printing press and per-
sonal contact. Books and journals
bring the whole world together and
make science truly international; but
the coming together of the men of sci-
ence of the country is necessary for a
national spirit. This spirit has suf-
fered in the past owing to the disper-
sion of our scientific workers over an
immense area with no one center, such
as exists in all foreign countries. A
year and a half ago the American
Association and its affiliated societies
met for the first time west of the banks
of the Mississippi, and a year ago the
American Society of Naturalists and
its affiliated societies met for the first
time west of the Atlantic seaboard.
Now these two associations and the
twenty special societies affiliated with
them will for the first time meet to-
gether, and we are about to have our
first national congress of scientific men.

A convocation week in mid-winter
for the meetings of societies has been
provided by the action of the leading
universities and other institutions,
which have extended their Christmas
holidays or made other provision by

which the week in which the first of
January falls is left free from academic
exercises. Under these circumstances
it is a duty as well as a privilege for
all to attend the meetings who are
able to do so, and there is no doubt
but that the number of scientific men
at Washington will be the largest that
has ever been gathered together in this
country. While the special societies
are for scientific experts, it should be
remembered that the American Asso-
ciation is concerned with the diffusion
as well as with the advancement of
science. Its membership is divided
into fellows and members. The former
class consists of those who are en-
gaged in research, while the latter
class contains those who are interested
in science. Readers of this journal can
obtain information in regard to mem-
bership from the permanent secretary,
Dr. L. O. Howard, Cosmos Club, Wash-
ington, D. C. It may be said here
that the dues are only $3 a year, and
that members receive free of charge the
weekly journal, Science. We should
be pleased if ten thousand readers of
this journal would join the association.
They would receive a full return for
the small membership fee and would
at the same time perform an impor-
tant service in keeping men of science
in contact with the large public from
which sympathy, support and recruits
must be drawn. Science in the United
States has suffered seriously from the
fact that there is too great a gulf be-
tween the professional man of science
and the educated public. In Great
Britain there exists a class bridging
this gulf, and from it have come men
such as Darwin, Rayleigh, Avebury,
Huggins and many more. Much
would be accomplished for the promo-
tion of such a class here if the member-

282

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

ship of the American Association were
made twice or ten times what it now is.
Both the scientific man and those
only interested in science will be amply
repaid by attendance at the Washing-
ton meetings. Indeed no scientific
man can afford to be absent. Those
who wish merely to keep in touch with
the forward movement of science will
profit much from attendance. They
can visit Washington at a favorable
time at greatly reduced rates and hotel
charges, and there will be much to
interest them in the programs. Presi-
dent Roosevelt is honorary president
of the local committee and it is ex-
pected that he will open the meetings.
It would be impossible to quote the
titles of the hundreds of papers that
will be presented, but their general
character is indicated by the names
of some of those who will give official
addresses : Before the Association
President Asaph Hall, and before the
sections of the association vice-presi-
dents Hough, Weber, Derby, Culin,
Welch, Franklin, Flather, Nutting,
Campbell, and Wright; before the
Astronomical and Astrophysical So-
ciety of America, President Simon
Nevveomb; before the Chemical Society,
President Ira Remsen; before the
American Society of Naturalists, Presi-
dent J. McKeen Cattell ; before the Bo-
tanical Society, President J. C. Arthur ;
before the Geological Society, Presi-
dent N. H. Winchell; before the Psy-
chological Association, President E. C.
Sanford, etc. Public lectures will be
given before the Association by Pro-
fessors Russell and Heilprin on the
volcanoes of the West Indies, and be-
fore the Naturalists by Dr. Merriam on
protective and directive coloration.
The discussion before the Naturalists
is on ' How can endowments be
used most effectively for research?',
the speakers including Professors
Chamberlin, Welch, Boas, Wheeler,
Coulter and Miinsterberg. These are
only a few of the hundreds of scien-
tific men who will be present and pre-

sent papers or take part in the dis-
cussions of the meetings, which
promise to be more interesting and im-
portant than any ever before held on
this continent.

TEE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION.

It might be expected that after the
annual meeting of the trustees of the
Carnegie Institution on November 25,
some statement could be made here in
regard to the policy of the institution.
Nothing has, however, been made public
beyond the news item given to the
reporters to the effect that $200,000
had been appropriated for the work
to be determined by the executive
committee, $40,000 for publication,
$50,000 for administration and $100,-
000 for a reserve fund. The institu-
tion will, however, publish a year-book,
which will doubtless contain various
matters that have hitherto been kept
secret, such as the names of members
of the advisory committees of scientific
men and their reports. Though no
official announcement has been made, it
appears that certain grants have been
approved by the executive committee.
Thus the medical papers report that
$10,000 a year has been appropriated
to revive the ' Index Medicus,' formerly
compiled under the direction of Dr.
John S. Billings, now vice-president of
the institution.

A form of application for grants has
been printed and approved by the
trustees, to which it seems that men
of science are likely to object, if in-
deed reputable men of science will con-
sent to sign it at all. This form re-
quires scientific men to promise to be-
gin the research ' forthwith and to
prosecute it diligently,' not to publish
their results elsewhere if the institu-
tion wants them and to give all their
apparatus, material, collections, etc. to
the institution. These and other con-
ditions on the contract seem to be
almost an affront to men of science,
calculated to profit the Carnegie In-
stitution at the expense of others. It

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

283

is perhaps premature to criticize the
institution when so little is known in
regard to its plans. So long, how-
ever, as these are not disclosed the
institution must be judged by what
has been made public. It is known
that when the Marine Biological Labor-
atory at Woods Hole asked for the as-
sistance that it so well deserves, the
executive committee replied that they
would assist the laboratory if it were
given to them, and the corporation
actually voted to give the laboratory
to the institution.

We hope and believe that the appear-
ance of seeking to aggrandize the
Carnegie Institution at the cost of
other agencies and of men of science,
instead of cooperating with them for
the advancement of science, is not real,
but due only to lack of information in
regard to the purposes of the institu-
tion. It is, however, but just to men
of science that this information be
made public at an early day. The lines
of Mr. Carnegie's great gift were drawn
broadly and generously, and in spite
of the apparent mistakes that have
been made, there is every reason to be-
lieve that the institution will be con-
ducted in the spirit in which it was
founded.

THE BRITISH EDUCATION BILL.

It is a striking fact that the British
parliament and the British people have
in recent months been occupied chiefly
with the concerns of primary educa-
tion; and it is at the same time some-
what depressing to consider that almost
no attention is paid to the subject here,
the daily papers publishing fuller de-
tails of the last divorce case connected
with the nobility than of the bill now
before parliament. The bill which the
House of Commons has sent to the
House of Lords is really of very great
interest. The affairs of primary educa-
tion in Great Britain and Ireland have
been somewhat anomalous. About half
the children who receive free education
attend the board schools, supported by

the state and by local taxation, and
corresponding pretty closely to our
public schools. The voluntary schools,
controlled chiefly by the church of
England, provide for the other half of
the children. They do not share in
the local taxes, but when they remit
tuition fees they receive from the gen-
eral government a per capita grant of
$1.25 for each student. The main
feature in the bill passed by the House
of Commons is the support of the volun-
tary schools by taxation, local and
central, leaving them largely under the
control of the church. This is un-
doubtedly a step in the direction of
local and state control, and might be
supposed to be acceptable to the liberal
and radical parties and distasteful to
the conservative and church parties.
The exact reverse is the case; the bill
has been made the chief measure of the
government, and has been bitterly op-
posed in and out of parliament by
liberals and nonconformists. It is
claimed that it is a subversion of the
principles of free government to tax
the community for schools which are
conducted by the church and which
teach the creed of the church. As a
matter of fact the denominational
schools are already supported in part
by taxation as is also the established
church. It, however, appears to be a
real hardship that the children of dis-
senters must be sent to schools where
rites are practised that are distasteful
to their parents. Our public schools
are so completely exempt from denom-
inational control that we can scarcely
understand the position of the bishop
of London when he says in a public ad-
dress ' an undenominational education
is a rotten system.' The bill will
doubtless be passed, and the church
will for a while receive from rates
what has hitherto been paid by sub-
scription. But it seems almost evident
that the voluntary schools will be less
subservient to the church than hitherto
and that a long step has been taken in
the direction of popular control.

284

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

OGDEN N. ROOD.
In the death of Professor Ogden N.
Rood, America has lost one of its few

artist no longer belong to distinct
types. They take their places in an
organized army with generals, petty

men of genius. He belonged to a type officers and privates; there is no longer
of the scientific man which seems to be place for the adventurer. But Rood

OGDEN N. ROOD.

disappearing. Scientific work is be- was a man of genius, in the sense in
coming in its methods somewhat like which the word is popularly and per-
any other business and the man of haps properly used. There was some-
science, the man of letters and the thing unexpected and unaccountable

THE PROGRESS OE SCIENCE.

=85

both in his scientific discoveries and in
his personal traits. He was not a
mathematician, he was not always
familiar with work that had been done
in the same direction as his own, he
did not have assistants nor use the
ordinary machinery of research. But

Yale College for some student escapade
— it is said because he stopped chapel
by shooting an arrow into the face of
the college clock — and it was with some
satisfaction that he received the doc-
torate of laws from Yale University
on the occasion of its bicentennial.

<H>CA-

he had ideas, which he worked out with
originality and persistence, devising his
own methods and making his own in-
struments.

Rood was born in Connecticut on
February 3, 1831, his father being a
clergyman. He was dismissed from

He graduated at Princeton in 1852, and
spent several years in study abroad, a
course not common in the fifties. For
five years he was professor in a small
denominational institution at Troy.
Then at the early age of thirty-three he
was called to Columbia College and at

286

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

the same time was made a member of
the National Academy of Sciences. For
thirty-eight years he held the pro-
fessorship of physicSj while Columbia
developed from a small college into a
great university, his own work add-
ing much to its fame. His researches
in experimental physics are too numer-
ous even for naming, extending as
they do over a large part of the sci-
ence. They include work on photog-
raphy, projectiles, vacuum pumps, elec-
tricity and especially physiological
optics. Every one of his papers, per-
haps seventy-five in number, embodied
a new idea, worked out with ingenuity
and persistence. He was also an artist,

a notable personality. He was a good
enemy and a good friend; and the
present writer regards it as a special
privilege that he was counted a friend.

TEE PROPOSED ENLARGEMENT
OF THE NAPLES STATION.
The untiring energy of the founder
of the Naples Station, Professor Anton
Dohrn, has made it possible, with the
help of generous friends, to add a new
building to the two already existing
ones. When first started, in 1873, the
station consisted of a single building —
the middle one of the three in the ac-
companying figure. It soon became
necessary to add another part, and the

CTto. -'-

^ihdi<

The Naples Station.

his water-color sketches being highly
esteemed, and was perhaps especially
interested in those phases of research
that required the knowledge of the
physicist, the psychologist and the
painter.

Rood was one of the marked men of
Columbia University and of New York
City. Striking in appearance and in
manners, possessing and possibly af-
fecting certain peculiarities, working
behind locked doors, sometimes living
with his family and sometimes not,
in part a recluse, though not averse to
congenial company or an evening at the
Century Club, he possessed altogether

building to the left in the figure was
tend erected. The station has now out-
grown both of these, and another build-
ing is about to be added. As shown
in the figure the new part will be a
duplicate of the oldest building as far
as the exterior is concerned. In the
interior, however, the arrangement will
be entirely different. It is proposed
to have a large laboratory on the first
floor devoted to physiological research;
another on the floor above to physiolog-
ical chemistry. In addition there will
be a large number of private rooms for
zoologists and physiologists. A new
feature will be rooms in which the

THE PROGRESS OE SCIENCE.

287

water in the aquaria can be kept at
any desired temperature throughout
the year. This will give an oppor-
tunity, not only for keeping alive a
number of different kinds of animals
that will not live at ordinary tempera-
tures, but will also give to the investi-
gator a chance to carry out important
researches on the effect of different
temperatures on marine forms.

The addition to the station will
double its working capacity, since the
new part will be entirely devoted to
investigation, while in the two older
buildings there are the public aquaria,
the collecting department, and the
library. Zoology, botany physiology,

gard to solutions. If we drop a lump
of sugar into a glass of water, the
sugar disappears and we have in the
tumbler a colorless liquid which looks
like water, but which has a different
taste. We are all agreed as to the
fact, but there has always been a dif-
ference of opinion as to what became
of the sugar. One view is that the
sugar and water are still there, but so
finely divided that we do not see the
sugar. If we grind a little dry sug*r
together with a good deal of charcoal,
we get a black mixture in which the
eye does not detect the sugar though
the sugar is unqestionably there. An-
other view is that we have neither

r^ivfflltrtttflti*

m

The Proposed Enlargement of the Naples Station.

physiological-chemistry and psychology
will benefit the world over by this en-
largement of the Naples Station. Pro-
fessor Dohrn deserves to be heartily
congratulated that his labors have
been crowned by success. May the time
come before long when the station will
be made symmetrical by the addition
of a fourth building!

ARE SOLUTIONS MECHANICAL
MIXTURES OR NEW SUB-
STANCES?
In a recent volume Duhem sketches
the development of our ideas in re-

water nor sugar in the tumbler, but a
new substance having properties dif-
fering more or less completely from
those of the sugar and water. This is
the view that we take in regard to
sugar itself when we speak of it as
made up of charcoal and water. The
first view, of a mechanical mixture,
was held by the Greek atomistic philo-
sophers under Epicurus while the sec-
ond view was defended by Aristotle and
the peripatetic philosophers. Through
the Middle Ages, the views of Aristotle
prevailed; but Bacon and Descartes
i brought the atomistic view to the front

288

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

again, while Newton modified the views
of Descartes by substituting assump-
tions in regard to mutual attractions
and repulsions for assumptions as to
the shape of the atoms. In the second
half of the nineteenth century, the
application of thermodynamics to chem-
istry has led to the discovery of new
laws, and these discoveries have been
made without assuming anything in
regard to atoms. The natural tend-
ency is therefore to reject the atomic
theory as a superfluous hypothesis.
The only distinction that we can draw
between chemical compounds, like sugar
or salt, and solutions, such as a mix-
ture of sugar and water, is that the
composition of the solutions can vary
continuously while the composition of
the compounds can not. The natural
inference is that solutions are to be
looked upon as compounds or new sub-
stances with varying composition. The
scientific world has thus come back to
the view of Aristotle. The matter
stands now as it stood centuries ago.
One school still holds the views of Epi-
curus, another stands ready to break a
cudgel for Aristotle. Even now we do
not know what happens when we put

sugar in our coffee though we know
why we do so — except where it is
merely a matter of habit.

SCIENTIFIC ITEMS.
We regret to record the death of Pro-
fessor Henry Mitchell, the eminent en-
gineer, and of Major Walter Reed, well
known for his researches on the rela-
tion of the mosquito to yellow fever.

Dr. W J McGee, ethnologist in
charge, Bureau of American Ethnology,
has been appointed to represent the
United States on the American Inter-
national Archeological Commission. —
Professor J. Willard Gibbs, of Yale
University, has been elected a corre-
sponding member of the Munich Acad-
emy of Science.

It is reported that the Nobel prizes
for this year will be awarded as fol-
lows : In chemistry, to Professor Emil
Fischer, of Berlin; in physics, to Pro-
fessor S. A. Arrhenius, of Stockholm;
in medicine, to Professor Niels E.
Finsen, of Copenhagen, and to Major
Ronald Ross, of Liverpool. The value
of these prizes, it will be remembered,
is about $40,000 each.

VOL. LXII. — 19.

DR. CARROLL D. WRIGHT,

PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.

THE

POPULAR SCIENCE

MONTHLY.

FEBRUARY. 1903-
THE SCIENCE OE ASTKONOMY.*

By Professor ASAPH HALL, U.S.N. (Retired).

TAKE for the subject of my address the science of astronomy, and
-*- propose to give a brief historical sketch of it, to consider its future
development, and to speak of the influence of the sciences on civilization.

The science of astronomy is so closely connected with the affairs of
life, and is brought into use so continuously and in such a systematic
manner, that most people never think of the long labor that has been
necessary to bring this science to its present condition. In the early
times it was useful to the legislator and the priest, for keeping records,
the times of public ceremonies and of religious festivals. It slowly
grew into the form of a science, and became able to make predictions
with some certainty. This was many centuries ago; Hipparchus, who
lived 150 B. C, knew the periods of the six ancient planets with con-
siderable accuracy. His periods are :

Period. Error X 100
Period

Mercury 87d .9698 + (M .0007

Venus 224.7028 + 0.0009

Earth 365.2599 + 0.0010

Mars 686.9785 — 0.0002

Jupiter 4332.3192 — 0.0061

Saturn 10758.3222 — 0.0083

These results indicate that more than two thousand years ago there
existed recorded observations of astronomy. Hipparchus appears to
have been one of those clear-headed men who deduce results from
observations with good judgment. There was a time when those ancient

* Address of the President of the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science, Washington meeting, December 29, 1902.

292 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Greek astronomers had conceived the heliocentric motions of the
planets, but this true theory was set aside by the ingenious Ptolemy,
who assumed the earth as the center of motion, and explained the
apparent motions of the planets by epicycles so well that his theory
became the one adopted in the schools of Europe during fourteen cen-
turies. The Ptolemaic theory flattered the egotism of men by making
the earth the center of motion, and it corresponded well with old
legends and myths, so that it became inwoven with the literature, art
and religion of those times. Dante's construction of Hell, Purgatory
and Paradise is derived from the Ptolemaic theory of the universe. His
ponderous arrangement of ten divisions of Paradise, with ten Purga-
tories and ten Hells, is said by some critics to furnish convenient places
for Dante to put away his friends and his enemies, but it is all derived
from the prevailing astronomy. Similar notions will be found in
Milton, but modified by the ideas of Copernicus, which Milton had
learned in Italy. The Copernican theory won its way slowly, but surely,
because it is the system of nature, and all discoveries in theory and prac-
tical astronomy helped to show its truth. Kepler's discoveries in
astronomy, Galileo's discovery of the laws of motion and Newton's dis-
covery of the law of gravitation, put the Copernican theory on a solid
foundation. Yet it was many years before the new theories were fully
accepted. Dr. Johnson thought persecution a good thing, since it weeds
out false men and false theories. The Copernican and Newtonian
theories have stood the test of observation and criticism, and they now
form the adopted system of astronomy.

The laws of motion, together with the law of gravitation, enable the
astronomer to form the equations of motion for the bodies of our solar
system ; it remains to solve these equations, to correct the orbits, and to
form tables of the Sun, Moon and the planets. This work was begun more
than a century ago, and it has been repeated for the principal planets
several times, so that now we have good tables of these bodies. In the
case of the principal planets the labor of determining their orbits was
facilitated by the approximate orbits banded down to us by the ancient
astronomers; and also by the peculiar conditions of these orbits. For
the most part the orbits are nearly circular ; the planets move nearly in
the same plane, and their motions are in the same directions. These
are the conditions Laplace used as the foundation of the nebular
hypothesis. With approximate values of the periods and motions, and
under the other favoring conditions, it was not difficult to form tables
of the planets. However the general problem of determining an orbit
from three observations, which furnish the necessary and sufficient data,
was not solved until about a century ago. The orbits of comets were
first calculated with some precision. Attention was called to these
bodies by their threatening aspects, and by the terror they inspired

THE SCIENCE OF ASTRONOMY. 293

among people. It was therefore a happy duty of the astronomers to
show that the comets also move in orbits around the Sun, and are sub-
ject to the same laws as the planets. This work was easier because the
comets move nearly in parabolas, which are the simplest of the conic
sections. Still the general problem of finding the six elements of an
orbit from the six data given by three observations remained to be
solved. The solution was given by Gauss a century ago in a very elegant
manner. His book is a model, and one of the best ever written on
theoretical astronomy. No better experience can be had for a student
than to come in contact with such a book and with such an author. The
solution of Laplace for the orbit of a comet is general, but demands
more labor of computing than the method of Olbers, as arranged by
Gauss. It is said by some writers that the method of Laplace is to be
preferred because more than three observations can be used. In fact
this is necessary in order to get good values of the derivatives of the
longitudes and latitudes with respect to the time, but it leads to long and
rather uncertain computations. Moreover it employs more data than
are necessary, and thus is a departure from the mathematical theory of
the problem. This method is ingenious, and by means of the deriva-
tives it gives an interesting rule for judging of the distance of a comet
from the earth by the curvature of its apparent path, but a trial shows
that the method of Olbers is much shorter. Good preliminary orbits
can now be computed for comets and planets without much labor. This,
however, is only a beginning of the work of determining their actual
motions. The planets act on each other and on the comets, and it is
necessary to compute the result of these forces. Here again the condi-
tions of our solar system furnish peculiar advantages. The great mass
of the sun exerts such a superior force that the attractions of the planets
are relatively small, so that the first orbits, computed by neglecting this
interaction, are nearly correct. But the interactions of planets become
important with the lapse of time, and the labor of computing these
perturbations is very great. This work has been done repeatedly, and
we now have good numerical values of the theories of the principal
planets, from which tables can be made. Practically, therefore, this
question appears to be well toward a final solution. But the whole story
has not been told.

The planets, on account of their relative distances being great and
because their figures are nearly spherical, can be considered as material
particles and then the equations of motion are readily formed. In the
case of n material particles acting on each other by the Newtonian law,
and free from external action, we shall have ?>n differential equations
of motion, and 6n integrations are necessary for the complete solution.
Of these only ten can be made, so that in the case of only three bodies
there remain eight integrations that cannot be found. The early

294 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

investigators soon obtained this result, and it is clearly stated by La-
grange and Laplace. The astronomer, therefore, is forced to have
recourse to approximate methods. He begins with the problem of two
bodies, the sun and a planet, and neglects the actions of the other
planets. In this problem of two bodies the motions take place in a
plane, and the integrations can all be made. Two constants are needed
to fix the jjosition of the plane of motion, and the four other constants
pertaining to the equations in this plane are easily found. This solution
is the starting point for finding the orbits of all the planets and comets.
The mass of the sun is so overpowering that the solution of the problem
of two bodies gives a good idea of the real orbits. Then the theory of
the variation of the elements is introduced, an idea completely worked
out into a practical form by Lagrange. The elements of the orbits are
supposed to be continually changed by the attractions of the other
planets. By means of this theory, and the mathematical machinery
given by Lagrange, which can be applied to a great variety of questions,
the observations of the planets can be satisfied over long intervals of
time. When this theory of the motions was carried out a century ago it
appeared that the great problem of planetary motion was near a com-
plete solution. But this solution depends on the use of series, which
undergo integrations that may introduce small divisors. An examina-
tion of these series by Hansen, Poincare and others indicates that some
of them are not convergent. Hence the conclusions formerly drawn
about the stability of our solar system are not trustworthy, and must be
held in abeyance. But looking at the construction of our system, and
considering the manner in which it was probably evolved, it appears to
be stable. However the mathematical proof is wanting. In finding the
general integrals of the motions of n bodies, the assumption that the
bodies are particles gets rid of the motions of rotation. These motions
are peculiar to each body, and are left for special consideration. In the
case of the earth this motion is very important, since the reckoning
of time, one of our fundamental conceptions, depends on this motion.
Among the ten general integrals that can be found six belong to the
progressive motion of the system of bodies. They show that the center
of gravity of the system moves in a right line, and with uniform
velocity. Accurate observations of the stars now extend over a cen-
tury and a half, and we are beginning to see this result by the motion
of our sun through space. So far the motion appears to be rectilinear
and uniform, or the action of the stars is without influence. This is a
matter that will be developed in the future. Three of the other gen-
eral integrals belong to the theory of areas, and Laplace has drawn
from them his theory of the invariable plane of the system. The
remaining integral gives the equation of living force. The question of
relative motion remains, and is the problem of theoretical astronomy.

THE SCIENCE OF ASTRONOMY. 295

This has given rise to many beautiful mathematical investigations, and
developments into series. But the modern researches have shown that
we are not sure of our theoretical results obtained in this way, and we
are thrown back on empirical methods. Perhaps the theories may be
improved. It is to be hoped that the treatment of the differential
equations may be made more general and complete. Efforts have been
made in this direction by Newcomb and others, and especially by
Glyden, but so far without much practical result.

The problem of three bodies was encountered by the mathematicians
who followed Newton, and many efforts were made to solve it. These
efforts continue, although the complete investigations of Lagrange
appear to put the matter at rest. The only solutions found are of very
special character. Laplace used one of these solutions to ridicule the
doctrine of final causes. It was the custom to teach that the moon was
made to give us light at night. Laplace showed by one of the special
solutions that the actual conditions might be improved, and that we
might have a full moon all the time. But his argument failed, since
such a system is unstable and cannot exist in nature. But some of the
efforts to obtain partial solutions have been more fruitful, and G. W.
Hill has obtained elegant and useful results. These methods depend
on assumed conditions that do not exist in nature, but are approxi-
mately true. The problem of two bodies is a case of this kind, and the
partial solutions may illustrate, but will not overcome, the fundamental
difficulty.

The arrangement of our solar system is such that the distances of
the planets from one another are very great with respect to their
dimensions, and this facilitates very much the determination of their
motions. Should two bodies approach very near each other the dis-
turbing force might become great, even in the case of small masses. In
the case of comets this condition happens in nature, and the comet may
become a satellite of a planet, and the sun a disturbing body. In this
way it is probable that comets and meteoric streams have been intro-
duced into our solar system. We have here an interesting set of prob-
lems. This question is sometimes treated as one of statics, but since the
bodies are in motion it belongs to dynamics. Further study may throw
light on some relations between the asteroids and the periodical comets.

The great question of astronomy is the complete and rigorous test
of the Newtonian law of gravitation. This law has represented observa-
tions so well during a century and a half that it is a general belief that
the law will prove true for all time, and that it will be found to govern
the motions of the stars as well as those of our solar system. The proof
is cumulative and strong for this generality. It will be a wonderful
result if this law is found rigorously true for all time and throughout
the universe. Time is sure to bring severe tests to all theories. We

296 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

know that the law of gravitation is modified in the motions of the
matter that forms the tails of comets. There is an anomaly in the
theory of Mercury which the law does not explain, and the motion of
our moon is not yet represented by theory. The lunar theory is very
complicated and difficult, but it does not seem probable that the defect
in Hansen's theory will be found by recomputing the periodical coeffi-
cients, that have been already computed by many mathematicians and
astronomers, and with good agreement by Hansen and Delaunay, by
very different methods. Hansen was a computer of great skill, but he
may have forced an agreement with observations, from 1750 to 1850,
by using a coefficient of long period with an erroneous value. No doubt
the error of this theory will be discovered. Back of all theories, how-
ever, remains the difficulty of solving the equations of motion so that
the result can be applied with certainty over long periods of time.
Until this is done we shall not be able to subject our law to a crucial test.
The constants that enter the theories of the planets and moon must
be found from observations. In order to compare observations made
at distant epochs, the motions of the planes of reference must be
known with accuracy, and also the motion of our solar system in space.
As the stars are our points of reference their positions and their proper
motions must be studied with great care. This department of astron-
omy was brought to a high degree of order by the genius of Bessel,
whose work forms an epoch in modern astronomy. The recent progress
made in determining the positions of the stars in all parts of the
heavens will be a great help to the investigations of the future. We
must have observatories where accurate and continuous observations are
made. Our country is well situated to supplement the work of Europe,
and we hope it will never fail to add its contribution to the annals of
astronomy. American astronomers should keep pace in the improve-
ments for increasing the ease and accuracy of making observations.
The spectroscope has given a new element in the motions of the stars,
not to speak of the interesting physical results obtained by its use.
Photography will give great aid in determining the relative positions of
the stars and in forming maps of the heavens. All new methods,
however, will need examination and criticism, since they bring new
sources of error. Fifty years ago it was thought the chronograph
would increase very much the accuracy of right ascensions. It has not
done this directly to any great extent, but it has increased the ease and
rapidity of observing. We must remember that astronomical results
finally depend on meridian observations, and that it is the duty of
astronomers to make these continuous from generation to generation.
In this way we shall gain the powerful influence of time to help control
and solve our problems. There is one point where a reform may be
needed from the dead weight of the large and expanding volumes sent

THE SCIENCE OF ASTRONOMY. 297

forth by observatories and scientific institutions. The desire for publi-
cation is great, but the results should be well discussed and arranged,
so that the printing may be shortened. Otherwise our publications may
become burdensome, and when they are piled up in libraries some
future Caliph Omar may be tempted to burn them. Even mathematics
appears to labor under a similar oppression, and much of its printed
matter may be destined to molder to useless dust.

In the not distant future stellar astronomy will become a great
and interesting field of research. The data for the motions of the stars
are becoming better known, but these motions are slow, and the
astronomer of to-day looks with envy on the astronomer of a thousand
years hence, when time will have developed these motions. Much may
be done by the steady and careful work of observation and discussion,
and the accumulation of accurate data. Here each one of us can add
his mite. But the great steps of progress in science have come from
the efforts of individuals. Schools and universities help forward
knowledge by giving to many students opportunities to learn the present
conditions, and from them some genius like Lagrange or Gauss may
come forth to solve hard questions, and to break the paths for future
progress. This is about all the schools can do. We need a body of men
who can give their lives to quiet and continuous study. When the
young Laplace was helped to a position where he could devote his life
to research D'Alembert did more for the progress of astronomy than
all the universities of Europe.

One needs only to glance at history to see how useful astronomy has
been in the life of the world. It has wonderfully enlarged the universe,
and widened the views of men. It shows how law and order pervade
the world in which we live ; and by the knowledge it has disseminated
and by its predictions it has banished many superstitions and fears.
The sciences will continue to grow; and they will exert the same
influence. The erroneous and dogmatic assertions of men will be
pushed aside. In our new country the energies of the people are
devoted chiefly to commercial and political ends, but wealth is accumu-
lating, leisure and opportunity will come, and we may look forward to
a great development of scientific activity. We must be patient. Men
do not change much from generation to generation. Nations that have
spent centuries in robbery and pillage retain their dispositions and
make it necessary for other nations to stand armed. No one knows
when a specious plea for extending the area of civilization may be put
forth, or when some fanatic may see the hand of God beckoning him
to seize a country. The progress of science and invention will render
it more difficult for such people to execute their designs. A century
hence it may be impossible for brutal power, however rich and great, to
destroy a resolute people. It is in this direction that we may look for

298 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

international harmony and peace, simply because science will make war
too dangerous and too costly.

The influence of the sciences in bringing men of different national-
ities into harmony is great. This is done largely by the common lan-
guages that are formed in each science. In mathematics the language
i& so well formed and generally adopted that mathematicians all over
the world have no trouble in understanding one another. It may be
difficult to read Kussian, but every one can read the formulas of Tche-
bitchef and Lobaschewsky. In astronomy the common language is
nearly as well established, so that there is little difficulty in under-
standing the astronomy of different nations. A similar process is
going on in chemistry, botany and in the other sciences. When men
are striving for the discovery of truth in its various manifestations,
they learn that is is by correcting the mistakes of preceding investi-
gators that progress is made, and they have charity for criticism.
Hence persecution for difference of opinion becomes an absurdity. The
labors of scientific men are forming a great body of doctrine that can
be appealed to with confidence in all countries. Such labors bring peo-
ple together, and tend to break down national barriers and restrictions.
The scientific creed is constantly growing and expanding, and we have
no fears, but rejoice at its growth. We need no consistory of bishops,
nor synod of ministers, to tell us what to believe. Everything is open
to investigation and criticism.

In our country we have one of the greatest theaters for national
life that the world has ever seen. Stretching three thousand miles from
ocean to ocean, and covering the rich valleys of the great rivers, we
have a land of immense resources. Here is a vast field for scientific
work of various kinds. No doubt the men of the future will be com-
petent to solve the problems that will arise. Let us hope that our
national character will be just and humane, and that we may depart
from the old custom of robbing and devouring weak peoples. Any one
who saw the confusion and waste in this city in 1862 might well have
despaired of the Republic; and he who saw the armies of Grant and
Sherman pass through the city in 1865 felt that he need fear no foreign
foe: neither French emperor, nor English nobleman nor the sneers of
Carl vie. To destroy a democracy by external force the blows must be
quick and hard, because its power of recuperation is great. The
danger will come from internal forces produced by false political and
social theories, since we offer such a great field for the action of
charlatans. Our schools and colleges send forth every year many edu-
cated people, and it is sometimes disheartening to see how little
influence these people have in public life. Those who are trained in
the humanities and churches ought to be humane in dealing with other
people, ready to meet great emergencies and powerful to control bad

THE SCIENCE OF ASTRONOMY. 299

tendencies in national affairs. But this is rarely the case. On the
other hand the most unscrupulous apologists and persecutors have been
educated men, and the heroes of humanity have come from the common
people. This anomaly points to something wrong in the system of
education, which should disappear. The increase and teaching of
scientific ideas will be the best means of establishing simple and natural
rules of life. Nature, and science her interpreter, teach us to be honest
and true, and they lead us to the Golden Eule.

ioo

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

THE EVOLUTION" OF SEX IN PLANTS.

By Professor BRADLEY MOORE DAVIS,

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.

TN" a former paper published in The Popular Science Monthly*
-J- we considered the origin of sex in plants, describing the progeni-
tors of the sexual elements or gametes and some of the conditions
under which these cells assume sexual characters. No attempt was
made to trace the later history of these primitive gametes as they
become differentiated into the two extremes of sexual cells, the egg
and sperm. This is a subject quite independent of the origin of sex
and deserves the separate treatment that we are now to present.

Primitive gametes are sexual cells so similar in size, form and
internal structure that they cannot be distinguished as male or female.

They are found in a number of the
lower groups of algae and have the
general appearance and same mode
of formation as the zoospores from
which they have been derived. Ex-
cellent illustrations are presented
by Ulothrix, Cladophora, Hydrodic-
tyon, JJlva and Ectocarpus. In these
types the gametes are small motile
cells, generally formed numerously
C°) in the mother cell or gametangium
'fa^^f^^r and discharged into the water where
^fHWjL they conjugate in pairs. The prin-
cipal events of their formation and
behavior are illustrated for Clado-
phora and JJlva in Fig. 1. In my
former paper I described and figured
the conditions for Ulothrix and Hydrodictyon. (Popular Science
Monthly, November, 1901, pp. 70-73, figs. 2 and 3.)

Any one familiar with the examples mentioned above will note im-
mediately that they are representatives of diverse groups which are not
closely related to one another. On the contrary, most of the forms
are associated with very clearly marked divergent lines of development.

^r^70rm>-

Fig. l. Gametes antd Gametangia of
(a) Cladophora, (b) Ulva.

* Davis: 'The Origin of Sex in Plants,' Popular Science Monthly, No-
vember, 1901, p. 66.

THE EVOLUTION OF SEX IN PLANTS. 301

This is important, for it shows that sex did not arise at one period only
and at a certain level of the plant kingdom, but, on the contrary, at a
number of totally distinct times and in connection with as many
independent lines of ascent. We can see no reason why zoospores
might not at any time take on the attributes of sex, for the latter
conditions are controlled and probably in large measure developed
by the chemical and physical environment of the plant. Although
sex has arisen a great many times in the plant kingdom and in groups
independent of one another, the steps in the process and the structure
of the primitive gametes are essentially the same in all cases. There
are good reasons for believing that even now certain groups of the
algae are developing sexuality, and that this process may be expected
to continue wherever the lower algae have the habit of reproducing by
zoospores.

With the origin of sex in any group of plants there is immediately
presented the possibility of such further evolution as will give the
differentiated and highly specialized sexual cells, the eggs and sperms.
This evolutionary history is briefly expressed as the development of
heterogamy from isogamy or the oosporic type of reproduction from
the zygosporic.

Isogamy is the term applied to conditions in which the sexual cells
are similar in form, morphologically identical. Heterogamy is the
condition in which the female gamete is a motionless cell without
cilia and the male gamete generally a ciliated sperm frequently highly
specialized in form. Our problem is to understand the steps in the
evolution of heterogamy from isogamy and, as far as possible, the
factors influential in the process.

Isogamy is a condition very generally distributed among the
various groups of algae. We may find it in almost all lines of ascent
above the unicellular forms and it is not uncommon among these.
Heterogamy always appears at higher levels of development than iso-
gamy and in connection with general advances in vegetative complexity.

It customary to speak of the forms expressing the highest develop-
ment of evolutionary lines as climax types. Climax types among the
algae are almost all heterogamous. There are a few lines in which
this level of sexual evolution has not been attained, as for example,
the pond scums ( Conjugates), the Hydrodictyaceae, Ulvaceae and
several smaller groups of the lower algae. On the other hand, there
are several heterogamous types standing quite by themselves as the
final expression of certain lines of evolution that we can only con-
jecture because the lower representatives have become extinct. Notable
illustrations of this character are the stoneworts (Charales) and the
Oedogoniaceae.

3o2 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Among the remaining groups of algae, and containing by far the
greatest portion of this class, are a number of orders and families
comprising isogamous and heterogamous forms clearly related in var-
ious ways to one another, by vegetative structure and similar life-
histories, but offering a wide range of variation in the form and
habits of the sexual cells. And it is among these algae that we may
find material upon which to base general conclusions on the sexual
evolution of plants. These processes are illustrated more or less
completely by stages in several groups, but especially so in three lines
of development which we shall use as the illustrative basis of this
paper. They are the Volvocaceae, certain groups of the brown algae
(Phaeophyceae) and the region of the green algae comprising the
Ulothricaceae, Chaetophoraceae and Coleochaetaceae.

These three lines are very far removed from one another and
must have become separated at an exceedingly early period of develop-
ment, probably before the origin of sex and certainly before any
extended sexual evolution. The Volvocaceae is an extreme side line,
by which we mean that its higher members are very far removed from
the theoretical main line of accent that runs through the algae to the
next higher group of plants, the Bryophytes. The groups of the Phaeo-
phyceae form a system of side lines very much more highly organized
vegetatively than the Volvocaceae. The Ulothricaceae, Chaetophora-
ceae and Coleochaetaceae are the nearest of all algae to the theoretical
main line of ascent, and some of their representatives are very close
to this chain of extinct forms; it is, of course, too much to expect
that any living alga should be actually one of the links. Each of
these three series tells the same story of the general events of sexual
evolution as do all other lines of ascent amrng the algae, fragmentary
though some of them are.

We shall take up the Volvocaceae first. This is a peculiar family
of plants, remarkable for the fact that the vegetative conditions are
motile. Its highest member and a well-defined climax type is Vol-
vox, one of the most highly specialized of the algae in its peculiar
way. The lowest representatives of the Volvocaceae are unicellular
(CMamydomonas, Sphaerella, etc.), and between these simple organ-
isms and the complex Volvox there is a series of forms, all cell colonies
{Gonium, Pandorina, Eudorina and Pleodorina), each more complex
than the other as to the number, arrangement and degree of special-
ization of the cells. I know of no family of plants that illustrates so
many important evolutionary principles as clearly as the Volvocaceae,
and it might be made the subject of an interesting paper. But we
are to consider now only the differentiation of the sexual cells.

The lower members of the Volvocaceae are mostly isogamous. In

THE EVOLUTION OF SEX IN PLANTS.

3°3

Sphaerella a large number of gametes (32-64) are formed in a mother
cell. These sexual cells are quite similar in size and form, and when
they conjugate no one could assert a difference in sex. Most species
of Chlamydomonas resemble Sphaerella in having gametes essentially

Fig. 2. Gametes and gametangia of the Volvocaceae; a, Chlamydomonas Steinii; b,
Pandorina ; c, Eudorina ; d, Volvox. (a, after Goroschankin ; b, Pringsheim ; c, Goebel.)

similar (see Fig. 2, a), but there are forms in this genus presenting
a marked advance. In Chlamydomonas Braunii* the gametes are of
two sizes and the smaller always unite with the larger. However,
both are ciliate and consequently motile, so that morphologically they
are similar, although there can be no doubt of the sexual differentia-
tion. It is not customary to call the female cell an egg until it has
lost its free swimming possibilities and as a passive cell awaits the
specialized motile sperm.

Pandorina, like Sphaerella, produces a large number of gametes,
16-32 in the mother cell, but here there is a considerable range of
variation in the size of the sexual elements, although the form is always
the same. Sometimes these gametes will pair, a small one with a
larger (see Fig. 2, b), as in Chlamydomonas Braunii, thus showing
the tendency towards sexual differentiation. However, there is no
rule in this habit of Pandorina, for frequently gametes of equal size
conjugate, and one can not assert that the larger cells are always
destined to be female sought by smaller male elements. What de-
termines the variation in size of the gametes in Chlamydomonas
Braunii and Pandorina, and the consequent differentiation in sex?
It. depends entirely on the number of gametes formed in the mother
cells and on the size of the latter. The larger female gametes are
formed less numerously and general^ in larger mother cells and conse-

* Figured in Popular Science Monthly, November, 1901, p. 67.

3o4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

quently receive two to four times more protoplasma and food material
than the smaller male gametes. This is an important distinction and
fundamental to all sexual evolution. The differentiation of one of
the gametes as the cell specialized to hold the greater part of the food
supply marks the first step in the series of changes that follow.

Eudorina and Volvox are heterogamous. The eggs are large, the
sperms highly specialized (see Fig. 2, c and d) and in all respects the
differentiation of sex seems to be carried about as far as in any group
of algae. The eggs are formed singly in the mother cell (oogonium),
which means that all the protoplasm and all the food available is
reserved for that gamete and this is a great advance over the lower
types of the V'olvocaceae. The sperms are produced abundantly in
each antheridium, 64 in Eudorina and sometimes more than 200 in
Volvox. Naturally one would expect the sperms to be minute and
they are proportionally very many times smaller in relation to these
eggs than the male gametes of Chlamydomonas are to the female.

The condition of heterogamy and its advance over isogamy is the
result of several well-defined factors at work wherever sex is present.
It is advantageous to specialize one gamete for the purpose of holding
as much nourishment as possible, thereby providing well for the
vegetative possibilities of the next generation. The most effective
way to accomplish this end is to reduce the number of female gametes
produced in each oogonium, and the best results will obtain when all
the protoplasm from such a mother cell goes to a single female gamete.
The absence of motility characteristic of eggs is an accompaniment
of the increased food supply. It is a very natural condition and
advantageous to the species. In the first place large cells can not
move through the water as easily as small cells, and again most of the
higher algae have the habit of retaining the eggs in oogonia, pro-
tecting them in that way for long periods and of course such eggs must
naturally be quiescent. With respect to sperms the evolutionary tend-
encies are very easily understood. Relieve them of the responsibility
of contributing much food material to the egg and it is obviously a
great advantage to the organism that sperms be produced as numerously
as possible, consistent with economy of energy. This demands the
reduction in size of the sperm and also results in that high specializa-
tion of form so characteristic of motile male elements.

It is evident that all the factors work for the good of the species
and are so vital in their bearings as to fall well within the sphere of
natural selection. There are doubtless physiological principles taking
part in the developmental processes of gamete formation, and at the
bigher levels of sexual differentiation important factors of heredity.
But these have not been very clearly separated, except that the egg

THE EVOLUTION OF SEX IN PLANTS. 305

is commonly considered as lacking certain energy which is supplied
by the protoplasm (kinoplasm) of the male cell. The sperm, on the
other hand, while replete with energy, is ill supplied with nutritive
protoplasm (trophoplasm) characteristic of the egg. The phenomenon
of parthenogenesis and the recent work on artificial parthenogenesis in
animal types show that the energy in the egg may be liberated and the
wheels of development set in motion by the proper chemical and physical
environment without the intervention of the sperm. But generally
the sperm is required to start the egg into activity, and complete and
normal development in most organisms probably requires fertilization.

Although most of the stages of sexual evolution are presented in the
Volvocaceae, one important stage is there lacking which is especially
well illustrated among the brown algae and in the Chaetophoraceae.
This is the period of transition from the large free-swimming female
gamete to the motionless egg, and covers that evolutionary forward
step when the female gamete gives up its motility and the independ-
ence of its ancestor the zoospore and becomes the passive receptive egg.

The brown algae (Phaeophyceae) probably developed as an offshoot
from the green algae (Chlorophyceae) at a level considerably above
the unicellular forms. The lower members of this group are generally
well developed filamentous types or more elaborately organized fronds
of considerable thickness. Isogamy is general among the lower forms
and heterogamy is characteristic of the highest groups (Fucales and
Dictyotales). The sexual conditions among the lower groups are
especially well exemplified in the genus Ectocarpus, whose species
present a remarkable series of stages illustrating sexual evolution.
The gametes are biciliate cells produced in peculiar types of gametangia
which are modified branches whose cells become divided into an im-
mense number of cubical compartments, each of which develops a
single gamete. This type of structure is peculiar to the brown algae
and is called the plurilocular sporangium or gametangium. It is one
of the most interesting organs in the whole group of the Thallophytes
because its structure throws light on the difficult problem of the origin
of the archegonium.

Some species of Ectocarpus have gametes so nearly the same size
as to be indistinguishable, but the genus as a whole is remarkable for
certain variations in this particular. The plurilocular sporangia are
frequently of three distinct sizes, and the zoospores that come from
them vary accordingly. It is not always necessary that these zoospores
from plurilocular sporangia conjugate in order to grow. There is a
great amount of parthenogenetic development depending on environ-
mental conditions that are in part understood. Thus cool temperature
and bright illumination tend to suppress sexuality in these zoospores,

vol. lxii. — 20.

306

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

making them neutral. In other words, sex in Ectocarpus is at such
a low level of differentiation that its characteristics are still under
the potent influence of external factors, and zoospores that will be
sexual under certain conditions, e. g., high temperature, will germinate
parthenogenetically if this environment is not present. Ectocarpus
is then another illustration with Ulothrix and Hydrodictyon of that
primitive state, considered in my former paper, when the asexual
zoospore became the gamete under the influence of external factors.

But when the zoospores of Ectocarpus have sexuality there is a
decided tendency for the smaller gametes to seek the larger more slowly
swimming elements and fuse with them. The small gametes have,
therefore, male characteristics, which is further shown by the fact that
they are unable to develop parthenogenetically or, if they do so, grow
into small plants much weaker than the normal.

Fig. 3. a, Ectocarpus siliculous, Female Gamete Surrounded by Male, Stages in the Fu-
sion op Gametes, b, Ectocarpus secundus, showing the two sizes of the gametes ; c, Cutleria
muUiftda, male and female gametes and gametangia. (a, after Berthold; b, Sauvageau; c
Thuret.)

And now we may consider a habit peculiar to certain species of
Ectocarpus which is of great interest as an important stage in the pro-
cess of sexual evolution. It has been most thoroughly studied in
Ectocarpus siliculosus. The female gametes of this species have a
limited period of motility. They swim about slowly and shortly come
to rest, attaching themselves. The male gametes are motile for a
much longer time. While at rest the female gametes attract the males
which hover around (see Fig. 3, a), with the result that one fuses with
a motionless cell and fertilizes it. This is an exceedingly interesting

TEE EVOLUTION OF SEX IN PLANTS. 3°7

condition and furnishes the last link in the chain of stages through
which gametes pass in their sexual evolution. The gametes of
Ectocarpus siliculosus are morphologically isogamous, i. e., both are
biciliate cells similar in form when first set free from their respective
gametangia. At the time of fusion, however, the condition is physio-
logically that of heterogamy, for the female cell is essentially a quies-
cent egg sought by motile sperms. There are species of Ectocarpus
whose gametes have habits similar to siliculosus and which are also of
two sizes (see Fig. 3, &), so that the resemblance to egg and sperm at
the time of fertilization is very marked.

Another brown alga should be considered in connection with the
forms noted above. Cutleria represents a family quite removed from the
Ectocarpaceae and much more highly organized. The gametes differ
greatly in size as do also the respective gametangia in appearance
(see Fig. 3, c). The female gamete is exceptionally large and deeply
colored, the male small and almost colorless. At certain seasons of
the year (late summer and autumn on the coast of France and Eng-
land) the female gametes germinate parthenogenetically. If sexual
it moves about for a short time and then comes to rest, when it is
fertilized as a quiescent cell. The conditions are then the same as in
the species of Ectocarpus previously described.

Before leaving the brown algae, I am tempted to call attention to
a very interesting condition in the group of the kelps (Laminariales).
These forms are structurally very complex and are unequaled among
the algae in size and luxuriance. But the zoospores of the kelps are
never sexual, as far as is known, and the group is conspicuous as a
wonderfully successful assemblage that has established itself in nature
without the advantage of sexuality, which some biologists have sup-
posed to be absolutely necessary for the high development of any
group of organisms. The genus Caulerpa among the green algae
presents a similar illustration.

We are now ready to examine certain groups of the green algae
(Chlorophyceae). There are three families above the unicellular
algae that are certainly nearer the main line of ascent than any other
groups. They are related to one another and present an ascending
scale in vegetative and sexual complexity. The Ulothricaceae, typified
by Ulothrix, is the lowest group. They are isogamous and illustrate
especially well the origin of sex as described in my former paper
(Popular Science Monthly, November, 1901, pp. 70 and 71). The
Chaetophoraceae are likewise isogamous, but sex is more firmly estab-
lished in this group, and structurally its members {Drapamal&ia, Chae-
tophora, Stigeoclonium, etc.) are much more elaborate than the forms
of the Ulothricaceae. The Coleochaetaceae end the series with an
heterogamous type of considerable complexity.

3o8

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Among the Chaetophoraceae is the genus Aphanochaete (see Fig.
4), presenting one of the most interesting stages of sexual evolution
and bridging over a very important gap. Aphanochaete develops its
female gamete singly in a mother cell. It is discharged into the
water surrounded by a delicate vesicle. The gamete, although very
large, is ciliate. However, it moves about scarcely at all, and does
not leave the vesicle. The sperms gather around the dissolving
vesicle, and finally one pierces it and fuses with the female gamete.
The fertilized egg immediately begins to turn on its axis and
moves about in the water for a few moments and then settles
down to rest. It is probable that the cilia remain on the egg for
this short period of motility, but it is evident that the female
gamete has entirely given up the free-swimming habit. But what is
more important, the oogonium appears to deliver its gamete with
reluctance, for it is not entirely freed from its investing membrane

Fig. 4. Aphanochaete repens ; a, antheridia; b, oogonia ; c, sperms; d, eggs. (After
Huber.)

until after fertilization. It would be but a small step for Aphano-
chaete to retain this female gamete in the oogonium as a motionless
egg and thereby present the furthest extreme of heterogamy. Such
a condition would place Aphanochaete very close to Coleochaete, which
it strikingly resembles in some important respects.

The last form in this series of green algae is Coleochaete, the sole
representative of the family Coleochaetaceae. Of all the algae this
type probably stands the closest to the liverworts, not because its sexual
organs are similar, but because it presents a sphorophyte generation
resembling that of the lowest liverworts (Eicciales). Coleochaete is
heterogamous, but its sexual organs can scarcely be compared with
the archegonia and antheridia of the Bryophytes. These structures
are to be related only with the greatest difficulty to the sexual organs
of the algae, and probably not through any existing type of structure,
unless it be the organ called the plurilocular sporangium.

THE EVOLUTION OF SEX IN PLANTS. 3°9

There are several other groups of algae that confirm and illustrate
in various particulars the principles of sexual evolution that we have
traced in the three lines of development here described. The Sipho-
nales duplicate the history in most of the stages. Isogamy with
variation in the size of the gametes is found in several of the remaining
groups. Heterogamy in its most extreme form is presented in such
isolated types as the stoneworts (Charales), Oedogonium, Bulbochaete
and Sphaeroplea. All these types stand as representatives of lines
of extinct ancestry, whose sexual evolution must have passed through
the stages that we have described.

The red algae (Rhodophyceae) do not enter into this discussion.
They started with sexuality at an advanced stage of heterogamy.

Let us now briefly summarize with examples the steps in sexual
evolution which we have discussed, beginning with isogamy, at the
dawning of sex, and ending in heterogamy.

First Stage. — Isogamy with exactly similar gametes; the condi-
tion at the origin of sex. Exemplified by many of the lower algae,
Hydrodictyon, Ulotlirix, Viva, Cladophora, etc., certain species of the
lower brown algae and unicellular green.

Second Stage. — Isogamy with gametes similar in form but of dif-
ferent sizes, the female large and richly nourished, the male relatively
small. Illustrated by species of Chlamydomonas and Ectocarpus,
Bryopsis and the forms that also illustrate the third stage. An
index to this condition is the differentiation of the gametangia with
respect to the number of gametes developed. The female gametan-
gium tends to reduce the number until a single egg takes all the
material of the oogonium. The male gametangium increases the
number of sexual products, becoming an antheridium that may develop
numerous sperms.

Third Stage. — Isogamy in that peculiar form when the gametes are
similar in form at the time of their discharge from the gametangia,
but different at the time of fusion, because the female gamete becomes
a motionless cell. Examples: Ectocarpus siliculosus and secundus
and Cutleria multifida. This stage is the transition point between
isogamy and heterogamy. Morphologically these gametes are iso-
gamous; physiologically they are heterogamous.

Fourth Stage. — Heterogamy which has several grades in the degree
of differentiation and specialization of the egg and sperm.

Fifth Stage. — The retention of the egg in the oogonium (female
gametangium), a condition peculiar to but not at all universal among
heterogamous higher algae. Illustrated by Oedogonium, Bulbochaete,
Coleochaete, Sphaeroplea, Chara and Vaucheria. This stage would
be developed quickly when once started, and a tendency in this direc-
tion is probably shown in Aphanochaete.

3io POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OP FORESTRY.

By OVERTON W. PRICE,

BUREAU OF FORESTRY.

EXPERIMENT has already demonstrated the value of practical
forestry as a sound business measure. The general applica-
tion of conservative methods in the handling of public and private
forest lands in this country is no longer a remote possibility. Ten
years ago, the prevailing attitude towards forestry was one skeptical
of its practical advantages. To-day the lumbermen, at one time
the strongest opponents of the movement towards conservative forest
management, are its staunchest advocates.

Although the application of practical forestry already exerts
marked local influence, it is not yet sufficiently extended to form
an important factor in our national economy. The time is not far
distant, however, when its more general adoption will be felt in all
industries dependent upon the forest. Forestry alone can perpetuate
lumbering, and the fullest development of the mining industry rests
largely upon it. Irrigation, and therefore agriculture upon irrigated
lands, can be permanent only through forest preservation.

Mr. Henry Gannett gives the value of the products of the lumber
industry for 1900 as about $567,000,000, and $611,000,000 as the
invested capital. There were employed, exclusive of those working in
dependent logging camps, about 400,000 persons, who received during
the year a total of $140,000,000 in wages. Estimating conservatively,
the lumber industry gave support in 1900 to 2,000,000 persons, while
the number engaged in dependent trades, to whom it indirectly afforded
a means of livelihood, was many times greater.

The geographical movement of the lumber industry is significant
of a rapidly waning supply of merchantable timber. Fifty years ago,
the northeastern states contributed more than one half the total
lumber product of the country. They now furnish less than one sixth.
In 1880 the Lake states produced one third of the supply, which has
already sunk to about one fourth. In the southern and Pacific states,
on the other hand, there has been a steady increase in production.
These facts show that in the two geographical divisions nearest to the
great centers of population, the available supply of timber is rapidly
nearing exhaustion. The southern and the Pacific states, therefore,
already yielding nearly forty per cent, of the total lumber product, will
soon become the chief sources of supply.

THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF FORESTRY. 31*

In spite of steady improvement in tools, in machinery and in
facilities for transportation, the increase in the value of logs and lum-
ber becomes more and more rapid. The American lumberman has
always been remarkable for enterprise and effectiveness, while American
saw-mills compare favorably with those in any other country. These
conditions, which would naturally tend to a sustained decrease in the
cost of lumber products, are more than offset by the scarcity of avail-
able timber.

To sum up, the lumber industry of this country is approaching the
end of its resources with alarming rapidity. It has, by over-production,
fostered an abnormal demand, and by methods aimed at present profit
alone, hampered the production of a second crop upon the lumbered
area. Notwithstanding the growing economy in the harvesting, manu-
facture and distribution of forest products, their value is each year
higher, while there is enormous increase in the importation of softwoods
from Canada and of hardwoods from the tropics. Existing data as to
the quantity of standing timber in the United States is insufficient for
a close estimate of how long it will last at the current rate of consump-
tion. It is inevitable, however, that the present generation will see
the exhaustion of our first growth timber. Nor is the supply now
standing so secure that it may be counted upon with certainty. Forest
fires destroy annually timber aggregating over $50,000,000 in value,
and measures to prevent them so far have not proved generally effective.
It will be understood, moreover, that the crippling of the lumber trade
and of all industries dependent upon it does not await the actual ex-
haustion of our forests. The geographical distribution of the great
timber regions in this country, with relation to the chief sources of
demand, is such that the local and not the total available supply is
the urgent question. The fact that the heavy forests of the Pacific
slope are sufficient to yield for many years an amount equal to the
present annual consumption will not prevent a timber famine in the
East, when to the price of the bulk of the wood it consumes is added
the cost of transportation across the continent. Statistics giving com-
forting assurance of an abundant yield still at hand do not consider
the effect upon wood industries of the substitution of timber of a few
kinds only to fill a widely varying demand. The presence of hard-
woods in the southern Appalachians and pine 'in the southern pine
belt, in quantity sufficient to replace for some time the waning supply
of spruce in the north woods, offers no substitute for the latter species
in the manufacture of paper pulp. The redwood, red fir and hemlock
of the Pacific coast will in some respects take the place of the longleaf
pine, the exhaustion of which, at the present rate of consumption, will
soon be accomplished. They can not, however, serve as the source of

312 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

naval stores, the production of which renders the longleaf pine the
most important timber tree of the South. JN"o general statements of
large supplies of timber still available can disguise the gravity of the
situation which now confronts the lumber industry. The solution of
the problem can come only through a change in the policy and in the
methods of the lumberman.

The history of lumbering in the United States has not differed
essentially from that of the same industry in other countries. In the
early days, the chief obstacle of the settler was the forest, while the
growing need both of cleared land and of timber kept pace with the
advance of colonization. The multiplication of demands for forest
products developed feverish activity in the conversion of trees into
money, while the methods employed in the harvesting of timber were
the natural outcome of existing conditions. Forestry, with its per-
petual but conservative returns, offered no financial inducement to the
lumberman until the first crop of timber began to fail. With the forest
stretched before him, large enough to feed his saw-mill for his lifetime,
he had no need to consider the potential value of cut-over lands, often
allowing them to revert in default of taxes to the state. His methods
of lumbering were significant of his attitude. Skillful and effective
in the cutting and transport of logs and the manufacture of lumber,
he showed utter obliviousness to the productive capacity of the lum-
bered areas. Abuse of the lumberman is unmerited and unreasonable.
His utilization of natural resources has been accomplished by mistakes
similar to those incurred in the development of other industries in
this country. The necessity for modification of his methods involves
no emotional considerations. The question is one simply of the
best business policy.

The attitude of the lumberman towards the source of his industry
has so far been generally similar to that of the miner towards the gold
mine. He has considered the value of the forest to lie only in the
merchantable timber it contains, just as the mine is worthless when the
end of the vein is reached. He has cut and burned with complete dis-
regard of the welfare of immature trees, with the result that he has
deprived the future of a supply of timber many times the value of the
material he has actually utilized. There has been incalculable waste,
which in some cases could have been avoided through slight expense,
in others simply by the exercise of reasonable care, and which has
hastened enormously the approaching exhaustion of the lumber supply.
No one realizes more keenly than does the lumberman that the time for
forestry has fully arrived.

The influence of the general adoption of practical forestry upon the
lumber industry will be felt gradually, but it will eventually accom-

THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF FORESTRY. 313

plish fundamental changes. It will substitute for an enterprise at
present aimed only at the utilization of existing resources one embrac-
ing also measures for the production of its own supply. There will
be steady and fair returns from lumbering, but spectacular opportun-
ities for the investment of capital will cease to exist. The industry
will assume normal proportions based upon the actual production of
our forests, and will develop soundly with the increase in yield due to
the improvement in conservative methods. A steady and sustained
output, which may be estimated closely in advance, will tend to the
maintenance of a constant scale of values, and to hamper speculation
in logs or lumber. The size of the saw-mill will be regulated by the
actual annual production of timber in the forest which supplies it.
There will be a gradual elimination of enormous milling plants, and
the general substitution of the saw-mill of medium size equipped for
permanent use and under the same control as an area of forest land
yielding a continued supply of timber equal to the capacity of the
mill itself.

The general tendency towards wide distribution of the lumber in-
dustry will be an important economic feature of its development under
conservative methods. The present movements towards centralization
in the bodies of merchantable timber still remaining will cease with
their consumption. In turning to second growth as a source of supply,
the lumberman will establish himself wherever the productive capacity
of cut-over lands under conservative handling offers him a fair re-
turn for his labor. The final result will be the development in each
locality of a permanent class trained to forest work and a favorable
geographical allotment of opportunities for the wage earner.

No man can foretell with certainty the value of timber produced
under the application of practical forestry, nor the sustained supply
which this country is capable of producing. The urgent necessity for
the general adoption of conservative methods in lumbering does not rest
upon the solution of these questions, but upon the established fact that
the present value and the growing scarcity of timber render it profitable
to foster the production of a second crop upon cut-over lands. It is
to be remembered, also, that the results of forestry follow certainly but
gradually. Its immediate adoption throughout the country would
serve to shorten the period of decline which is the price the lumber
industry must pay for phenomenal but unsound development, but the
trees must have time to grow again. The new policy firmly established,
the productive capacity of our forests fully utilized, it is believed —
and the statement is amply sustained by the record of other countries
with a proportionately smaller wooded area and a proportionately equal
consumption of forest products — that neither will the value of timber

3i4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

be excessive, nor its supply inadequate to meet the home demand. The
establishment of lumbering as a sound and stable industry will be
attained only when it reaps, as well as harvests, the crop upon which its
existence depends.

Of the indirect returns from conservative forest management, the
most valuable is its influence upon the flow of streams. The arid
lands comprise two fifths of the area of the United States, and cover
nearly all the western half of the continent. Their character varies
with the amount of rainfall, ranging from true desert conditions to
those capable of supporting a nomadic kind of grazing and a form of
farming so low in its production that it promises little in inviting settle-
ment. In his timely and forcible volume, 'Irrigation in the United
States,' Mr. Newell states that the utilization of the vacant public lands
can come about only through irrigation, or the artificial application
of water to the soil, to supplement the scanty rainfall or to supply its
absence. The area within the arid region which is irrigable is esti-
mated at not less than 60,000,000 acres. The streams which may be
diverted for purposes of irrigation rise in the forests, whose conserva-
tion is necessary to the maintenance of an abundant and sustained
supply of water.

The passage of the Irrigation Bill, on March 1, 1902, paves the
way for the adequate reclamation of the public lands. It sets aside
receipts aggregating about $5,000,000 per year, received from the sale
of lands within the arid region, and provides that they shall be applied
to the construction of works for water conservation. The success of
this great undertaking may be assured only through the preservation
of the forests which feed the streams available for purposes of irriga-
tion. The careful protection of these forests can be accomplished only
by the federal government, through their management as national
forest reserves. The exclusion from settlement of forest lands com-
prising the catchment basin of streams important for irrigation began
under President Harrison, and has resulted in the creation of fifty
reserves, with a total area of 53,107,685 acres, or 82,981 square miles.
These are administered with a view to timber production only in so
far as their more valuable function of water conservation is not
affected. Their management is still hampered by its distribution
among three branches of the government, and by difficulty in the rapid
building up of a force of thoroughly trained and effective executive
officers. There has, however, been progress in the prevention of timber
theft and of fire, and the development of the fullest usefulness of the
forest reserves is beset by no insurmountable difficulties. Their ex-
tension to include all large bodies of mountainous forest within or
tributary to the arid region is essential to the fullest development of

THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF FORESTRY. 315

the West. There is no more forcible statement of the dependence of
irrigation upon forestry than the following extract from the first mes-
sage of President Eoosevelt to Congress:

In the arid region, it is water, not land, which measures production. The
western half of the United States would sustain a population greater than that
of our whole country to-day, if the waters that now run to waste were saved
and used for irrigation. The forest and water problems are perhaps the most
vital internal questions of the United States.

The forests are natural reservoirs. By restraining the floods and by re-
plenishing them in drought, they make possible the use of water otherwise
wasted. They prevent the soil from washing, and so protect the storage reser-
voirs from filling up with silt. Forest conservation is, therefore, an essential
condition of water conservation.

Another function of the forest reserves, the regulation of which
is at present the most urgent problem of their management, is the use
of the grazing lands within their boundaries. Sheep and cattle raising
are, and will continue to be, two of the great industries of the arid
region. The over-grazing of lands important in the conservation of
water supply is harmful in the dying out and hardening of the soil,
as a result of the removal of its cover of herbs and grasses, and, in the
case of over-grazing by sheep, in the destruction of seedlings and young
trees. The purpose of forestry is not to impose unreasonable restric-
tions upon the development of the grazing industry within the reserves,
but to regulate it with due reference to the interests both of the stock-
man and the irrigator.

The production of timber to fill the increasing needs of the mining
industry is another great function of the national forest reserves. The
laws governing their management confer upon the Secretary of the
Interior power to designate, appraise and sell timber within them.
The exercise of this provision under conservative measures can alone
continue to permit an adequate supply of timber to the miner and for
the home uses of settlers within the arid region.

Wood and water are the chief returns from forested areas. They
produce the one and they conserve the other. So far, the treatment
of our forests has tended only to impair their usefulness. Preservation
without use is required neither of the private owner nor the federal
government. Forest preservation by wise use alone can meet the
national and the individual need.

316 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY, VII.

By Dr. FREDERICK ADAMS WOODS.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

Evidence from the House of Nassau.
A. Elder Branch of Orange.
f I 'VMS branch of Nassau for five generations from William the Elder
-*- (1487-1559) to William, Prince of Orange, who became king of
England (1650-1702), includes in the direct line 30 names. Com-
pleting the pedigree on the maternal side for each fraternity brings in
83 additional persons, and raises the entire group to 113.

The thirty in the direct line show remarkable characteristics and
probably average, among the direct lines already discussed, more genius
than all the rest of the countries put together, excepting that little
region about Frederick the Great which we believe to have been formed
from this. These illustrious names are William the Silent (10),
Maurice (9), Frederick Henry (8), William II., Prince of Orange
(18), William III., of England (9). These are father, two sons,
grandson and great-grandson. If due to heredity, why was it per-
petuated through four generations without reverting to the mean?
This was largely due, as far as the second generation was concerned,
to the fact that the stock was remarkably well maintained on the
maternal side. Maurice had, for his mother's father, Maurice, the
celebrated Elector of Saxony (9) and for a great-grandfather Philip
' Landgrave Hesse (7).

Frederick Henry was a grandson of Gaspard de Coligny, the great
admiral of France (9), himself of distinguished stock, and the most
remarkable member of the Montmorency-Coligny combination. Fred-
erick Henry married Amelia of Sohns, a woman of fine character and
high mental endowments; so it is not surprising that his son, William
II., who died young, should have been a prince of exceedingly high
promise.

In the next generation William II. married Mary, a daughter of
Charles I. of England, so that the relatively poor blood of the Stuarts
was introduced. He had but one child, William III., one of the
greatest of England's kings. That the last of the line took from
the paternal rather than the maternal side must be considered good
luck, to say the least. Thus besides the remarkable unions we see
also a selection inasmuch as the most highly gifted were sons, many

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 317

of the daughters showing the reversion to mediocrity and balancing
up matters in the outside families into which they married, most of
whom, if they left descendants at all, left only such as never rose
above obscurity.

There were, however, among the other twenty-two grandchildren
of William the Silent, three who were distinguished, one of whom,
Turenne (10), ranks among the highest. The origin of the genius
of William the Silent is not quite clear, since none of his ancestry
in several degrees of remoteness were worthy of being called great,
although they were of the sterling sort and above mediocrity. So
William the Silent himself can not be taken as an instance of heredity,
though all his descendants can. The moral tone was very high
throughout, and corresponds either with the education or with the
blood, since no bad characters were introduced, except Anne, second
wife of William the Silent. She was violent, dissolute and finally
insane. The later descendants are not from her. She had but two
children and no legitimate grandchildren. Except that her daughter
Amelia was extremely headstrong, her children appear to have escaped
any influence from her.

Thus we see that the branch of Nassau is entirely confirmatory of the
theory of heredity, and this should be taken into consideration in
studying the causes of the rise of the Dutch Republic, since whatever
was due to the personalities of these men finds its inner reason in
the pedigrees which lie behind them.

The following is a list of all the grandchildren of William the
Silent. This list analyzes the branch of Nassau in another way.

Those who are in (8), (9) or (10) are marked with an asterisk.
To be in ranks (9) and (10) the persons must receive high praise in
Lippincott's. Those in (8) may not always appear in Lippincott,
but must at least receive very high adjectives in other authorities.

a. Children by Anne, daughter of *12. Frederick Henry (8), celebrated
Maximilian, Count of Buren:, stadtholder.

1. Philip William.

2. Mary. Grandchildren.

6. Children by Anne, daughter of a. Children of Maurice of Nassau

Maurice, Elector of Saxony: (illegitimate) :

*3. Maurice of Nassau (9), 'one of 1. William Lord of Lecke, Vice-Ad-

the greatest captains of modern miral of Holland,

times.' 2. Lewis Lord of Lecke, Beverweed

4. Anne. and Odyck, a general.

5. Amelia = Emanuel of Portugal. 6. Children of Amelia of Por-

c. Children of Charlotte, daughter tugal :

of Lewis, Duke of Montpensier; 3. Mary Belgica.

6. Louisa Juliana = Palatine. 4. Emanuel Felix of Portugal.

7. Isabella = de Bouillon. 5. Amelia.

8. Catherine = Hanau. 6. Anne.

9. Flandria, a nun. 7. Juliana Catherine.

10. Charlotte = de la Tremoille. 8. Mauritia Eleonora.

11. Amelia = Palatine Deux-Ponts. 9. Lewis of Portugal.

3i8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

c. Children of Louisa Juliana : 22. Catherine Juliana.

10. Frederick V., Elector Palatine. 23. Henry Lewis.

11. Elizabeth = Brandenburg. 24. James John.

12. Louisa Juliana = PalatineJJeux- f. Children of Charlotte de la
Ponts. Tremoille:

13. Louis Philip = Palatine-Simmern. 25. Henry Duke Thonan Count Laval.

d. Children of Isabella, Duchess *26. Charlotte Countess Derby (9), a
de Bouillon : skilful commander and was ' the

14. Frederick Maurice, Lord of Sedan. last person in the three kingdoms
*15. Turenne (9), celebrated general. who submitted to the parliament.'

16. Mary = Henry, Duke Tuars. g. Children of Amelia = Palatine

17. Juliana Catherine = Francis Deux-Ponts:

Count Roye. 27. Frederick Louis, Count Palatine

18. Elizabeth = Marq. Duras. Landsberg.

19. Henrica Catherine = Goyau de la h. Children of Frederick Henry:
Moussaye. 28. Henrietta.

e. Children of Catherine of 29. Mary.
Hanau: 30. Louisa.

*20. Amalia Elizabeth (9) = Hesse 31. Albertina.

Cassel. *32. William II., Prince of Orange

21. Philip Maurice, Count of Hanau. (8), a youth, of great promise.

Among the twelve children there were two distinguished. There
were four distinguished grandchildren, but only four out of thirty-
two, so we see a greater proportionate amount near to William the
Silent himself; the greatest of the grandchildren, Turenne, occurs
where he would most probably fall. He had a brilliant backing on
both sides since his father was also 'a distinguished general.'*

B. Younger Branch of Nassau Dietz.

This other branch of the House of Nassau from which the present
ruling family of Holland is descended may be well compared with
that of Orange since for a number of years they lived and fought
side by side in their struggles for liberty, and subsequent to their
divergence took their blood largely from the same general sources that
produced the geniuses already discussed. Although we find the bril-
liant branch of the family very largely represented in the pedigree as
more remote ancestors, there was no such selection as would require
heredity to place genius on the heads of any of the direct descendants.

This, together with the fact that none of the princes had large
families of children, seems to sufficiently account for the observation
that no great genius subsequently appeared in this branch.

The following is a list of the descendants in the direct line, their
maternal pedigree having been looked up in each case, complete to all
great-grandparents, and the distinguished ancestors are noted:

Children of John Sr. of Orange (no distinguished maternal ancestors) :

1. William Louis, Stadtholder of Friesland — 1620.

2. John Count of Siegen— 1623.

3. Elizabeth — 1611 = Nassau-Saarbruck.

4. Mary — 1625 = John Louis Nassau Weisbaden.

5. Machtild — 1625 = William Count Mansfeld.

* Lippincott's.

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 319

6. George, Count Nassau Dillenburg — 1623.

7. Louis Gunther— 1604.

8. Ernst Casimir— 1558-1632.

Children of Ernst Casimir (no distinguished maternal ancestors) :

9. Henry Casimir of Nassau Dietz — 1640.

10. William Frederic, Count of Nassau Dietz — 1664.

Children of William Frederick (had Henry Frederick (8) as grandparent
and William The Silent (10) as great-grandparent) :

11. Henry Casimir, Prince of Nassau Dietz — 1657-1696.

12. Amelia.

Children of Henry Casimir (had Henry Frederick (8) as a great-grand-
parent) :

13. John William Frizp— 1687-1711.

14. Sophia Hedwig.

15. Isabella Charlotte.

Children of John William Frizp (had three distinguished great-grand-
parents, Henry Frederick (8) twice and Amelia of Hesse (9) :

16. William, Prince of Nassau Dietz — 1711-1757.

17. Anne Charlotte = Baden Durlach.

Children of William IV (had Caroline, Queen of England (8) as grand-
mother) :

18. William V., Prince of Nassau— 1748-1806.

19. Wilhelmina Carolina = Nassau-Wielburg.

Children of William V. (had Frederick the Great as grejkt-uncle) :

20. William I., King of the Netherlands.

21. William George Frederick — 1774-1799.

22. Frederica Louisa = Brunswick.

Children of William I. :

23. William II., King of the Netherlands.

24. Frederick William Charles, Prince of the Netherlands — 1792-1881.

Children of William II. (had Catherine II. as great-grandmother) :

25. William III., King of the Netherlands.

26. Henry Prince of the Netherlands — 1820.

27. Sophia = Saxe-Weimar.

Among the twenty-seven only three deserve the adjective brilliant.
These are William I., king of the Netherlands, 'a captain, a hero, a
legislator and a great man,'* and his younger brother, William George
Frederick, who lived to be only twenty-five, but won considerable dis-
tinction and appears in the 'Biographie Universelle, ' 'a rare model
of all talents, virtues and precious qualities. ' The third is the second
son of William I., Frederick William Charles, who 'took a prominent
part in the war of the Belgian revolution in 1830. 'f These came
together, and we suppose their talents came from the high wave about
Frederick the Great.

Reviewing the list:

In the first two generations we get what we might well expect,
since John Sr. of Orange, a brother of William the Silent, was,
although an able man, in no way a genius.

In the third generation, we might not be surprised to see it re-
appearing, and heredity would demand it in a large number of chil-
dren, but as there are only two, these may have taken after their
parents who were obscure.

* Alphonce Rablee in ' Biographie des Contemporaires.'
f Lippincott's.

32o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

The second generation after this is similar, so it seems to me
there is nothing in the history of this house to speak against heredity,
except that among the three children of William V., we find in two
brothers a too large proportion of mental endowment, since there was
no eminent relation nearer than great uncles and aunts. Thus about
twenty-six of the twenty-seven give us the expected. This is another
example of a royal house that did not degenerate through assumption
of rank and power.

The moral tone remained good throughout and, although probably
explicable on grounds of environment, is also in line with heredity.

Evidence from the House of Brunswick.

This family may be conveniently taken up next, since it is much
like Saxe-Coburg in character, has intermarried with it and taken its
tap-roots from much the same sources.

From Henry of Brunswick Danneburg (1546-1598) to William
Duke of Brunswick Oels (1806-) we have eight generations with
thirty-nine members of the direct house who are available for study.
Of these thirty-nine all but Henry, above mentioned, and August
(1579-1666) are given a full pedigree to the great-grandparent gen-
eration and studied with uncles and aunts as additional material.
This brings into the group ninety-five more persons, or 144 in all.
Among the thirty-nine we find one in grade (9), Amelia of Saxe
Weimar, the distinguished patron of men of learning, and three in
grade (8), William Adolphus, an author, and Charles William Fred-
erick, the celebrated general in the Seven Years' War, and Juliana, the
very ambitious and unprincipled queen of Frederick V., of Denmark.
The gifted ones, Amelia of Saxe- Weimar, Charles William Ferdinand
and William Adolphus, are niece and nephews of Frederick the Great
and also of Juliana. The generation to which Juliana belongs also
contains Ferdinand, a celebrated general, but his fraternity does not
average quite as high as the next, which was formed by a union with
the Hohenzollerns at the height of their greatness.

The first five generations of the House of Brunswick contain eight
as high as grade (7), but none of these were distinguished sufficiently
to be mentioned in Lippincott's. Only two, Ferdinand and his
father, Ferdinand Albert II., were noted as generals.

The literary activity was very great, there being among the thirty-
nine no less than ten who were authors. This authorship ran through
five of the eight generations and should have appeared as it did, even
setting aside the influence of education and example, since we find a
remarkable breeding in of literary qualities somewhat comparable to
what was found in the family of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 321

August (1579-1666), the second generation, married an authoress,
Sophia Elizabeth; they had four children who were authors, among
them Ferdinand Albert I. Ferdinand had several children, but no
authors. One of these, Ferdinand Albert II., married Charlotte, not
literary, whose father, uncle, aunt and grandfather were all authors.
Among their nine children one, Elizabeth, published a number of
translations and another, Ernst Ludwig, had literary taste and became
the tutor of William of Orange.

The next generation is formed by the union with the literary
Hohenzollerns and shows a fair proportion of authors, three in nine.
After this none appeared. If these five generations of authors had
accrued without any rejuvenation of blood, it would speak strongly
for the effects of education. As it is, it could be used for an argument
on either side. All that one can say is that heredity is satisfied.
On the purely intellectual side there seems to be two rather serious
deviations from Galton's law. The generation which contains the
nieces and nephews of Frederick the Great is even more brilliant
than would be expected. This may have been, as in the case of
Frederick's own fraternity, either prepotency or superior opportunities
of distinction, one can not tell which.

The next generation gives one of the worst results from the stand-
point of heredity found anywhere, and we have quite the unexpected
happening.

Two of the children, George William and Charles George, were
mentally unfit to rule and consequently disinherited. In this con-
nection it may be stated that a study of Denmark, Hesse Cassel and
England has brought the author to the belief that this mental disease
in the House of Brunswick was but a cropping out of the old Palatine
insanity at the time of James I., of England. Christian VIL, of
Denmark, who was an uncontrolable imbecile and finally became mad,
was a first cousin of George III., of England, who was insane during
his later life, and Christian was also a first cousin once removed of
the two little imbecile sons above mentioned, of Augusta, princess of
Brunswick. Another more convincing bit of evidence in this con-
nection is to be found in the neighboring House of Hesse Cassel.
Here we find another who became insane and died in early manhood,
and was a first cousin, once removed, of Christian VII. of Denmark.
All these are related and only through the same source, the Palatine
House, and since this Christian, of Hesse Cassel, is doubly descended
from this suspected strain (Palatine House) it seems more than prob-
able that we are dealing with an inherited insanity in all these cases.
We may also mention Frederick William I., of Prussia, about whom
Macaulay said: 'His eccentricities were such as had never been seen
out of a mad house.' Frederick William was a first cousin of George

vol. Lxn. — 21:

322 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

II., of England, and stands as near the actual Palatine insanity as a
nephew.

These six cases would, if occurring in families of ordinary social
grade, never make their way into asylum records as exhibiting a con-
genital tendency, since their close relations were not insane, but here,
where we have the family tree and can look up the ancestry, curiously
enough we find them all related and through the same source, "Pala-
tine, and this moreover the only one of their many lines of descent
in which there was insanity. This is to be thought of when regarding
the percentage which runs from twenty to 90 for heredity among
the insane, according to the observer, and it should make us think
that the higher rather than the lower figures are more likely to be
correct.

This condition which caused the extinction of the House of Bruns-
wick in the male line is often considered a common one in aristocracy,
that is, a degeneration due to the assumption of rank and power, and
consequent tendency to ease, dissipation and decline.

Jacobi has tried to show that the majority of royal and powerful
families tend to end in degeneration and sterility. Degeneration
without a corresponding pollution of blood, a contamination sufficient
in itself to explain the condition I believe to be exceedingly rare, and
I may say that there are no instances of such a degeneration among
all the royal families that I have studied.

Among the 144 included in this group by reason of close relation-
ship, there are two in (10), three in (9) and seven in (8). These
are all centered about within two degrees of relationship of Charles
William Ferdinand who was probably the most celebrated of any
bearing the name of Brunswick. By making him the center of a
group of forty-one, including only those more closely related to him,
we find two in (10), three in (9), five in (8), eight in (7), that
is ^ of genius and of high talent. This is practically the same
group of geniuses that centered about Frederick the Great in Prussia.
It seems very probable on the grounds of heredity and entirely un-
likely on any other.

THE SMITH SOX I AN INSTITUTION. 323

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.*

"r^pHE advancement of the highest interests of national science and
-L learning and the custody of objects of art and of the valuable
results of scientific expeditions conducted by the United States have been
committed to the Smithsonian Institution. In furtherance of its de-
clared purpose — for the 'increase and diffusion of knowledge among
men' — the congress has from time to time given it other important
functions. Such trusts have been executed by the institution with
notable fidelity. There should be no halt in the work of the institution,
in accordance with the plans which its secretary has presented, for the
preservation of the vanishing races of great North American animals
in the National Zoological Park. The urgent needs of the National
Museum are recommended to the favorable consideration of the con-
gress." (President Eoosevelt's first message to Congress.)

In the first Smithsonian report issued in the twentieth century it
may not be amiss to tell the readers of this volume very briefly what
the institution is, how it came into being, and how it has fulfilled the
purposes for which it was established.

In the popular mind the Smithsonian Institution is a picturesque
castellated building of brown stone, situated in a beautiful park at
Washington, containing birds and shells and beasts and many other
things, with another large adjacent building, often called the Smith-
sonian National Museum. The institution is likewise supposed to have
a large corps of learned men, all of whom are called 'professors' (which
they are not) , whose time is spent in writing books and making experi-
ments and answering all kinds of questions concerning the things in the
heavens above, the earth beneath, and the waters under the earth.

Contrast this popular notion with the facts. The Smithsonian Insti-
tution is an 'establishment' created by an act of congress which owes
its origin to the bequest of James Smithson, an Englishman, a scien-
tific man, and at one time a vice-president of the Eoyal Society, who
died in Genoa in 1829, leaving his entire estate to the United States of
America 'to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian
Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowl-
edge among men. '

* This article is reprinted from the recent report of the Smithsonian In-
stitution. We have pleasure in reproducing the official account of the founda-
tion and activities of the institution, as we have had occasion to criticize its
present management.

324

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

After ten years of debate in congress, turning partly on the ques-
tion whether the government ought to accept such a bequest at all
nnd put itself in the unprecedented position of the guardian of a
ward, congress accepted the trust and created by enactment an 'estab-

i— i
P

i— i
P

«

<

i— i

o

a

h- 1

a

w

lishment' called by the name of the Smithsonian Institution, consisting
cf the President of the United States, the Vice-President, the Chief
Justice of the United States, and the members of the President's
Cabinet. It has also a secretary, with varied functions, among others
that of being the keeper of the museum.

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 325

Smithson's money, which amounted to over half a million dollars,
and later to three quarters of a million, a great fortune in that day of
small things, was deposited in the United States Treasury, the gov-
ernment afterwards agreeing to pay perpetually six per cent, interest
upon it.

In the fundamental act creating the institution, congress, as above
stated, provided that the President and the members of his cabinet
should be members of the institution, that is, should be the institution
itself, but that nevertheless it should be governed by a board of regents,
composed of the Vice-President and Chief Justice of the United States,
three regents to be appointed by the president of the senate (ordinarily
the vice-president), three by the speaker of the house of representa-
tives, and six to be selected by congress; two of whom should be resi-
dents of the District of Columbia, and the other four from different
states, no two being from the same state. The fundamental act further
provides that the secretary of the institution already defined shall also
be secretary of the board of regents. The museum is primarily to con-
tain objects of art and of foreign and curious research; next, objects
of natural history, plants, and geological and mineralogical specimens
belonging to the United States. Provision is also made for a library,
and the functions of the regents and of the secretary were denned.

The preamble of this bill states that congress has received the prop-
erty of Smithson and provided ' for the faithful execution of said trust
agreeable to the will of the liberal and enlightened donor. ' It will thus
be seen that the relations of the general government to the Smith-
sonian Institution are most extraordinary, one may even say unique,
since the United States solemnly bound itself to the administration of
a trust. Probably never before has any ward found so powerful a
guardian.

The first meeting of the regents occurred on September 7, 1846, and
in the autumn of the same year they elected as secretary Joseph Henry,
then a professor at Princeton, known for his extraordinary experiments
on the electromagnet, and other subjects relating to electricity. Under
his guidance the institution took shape. Its work at first consisted, in
the main, of the publication of original memoirs, containing actual
contributions to knowledge, and their free distribution to important
libraries throughout the world ; to giving popular lectures in Washing-
ton, publishing them, and distributing them to libraries and indi-
viduals; stimulating scientific work by providing apparatus and by
making grants of money to worthy investigators, cooperating with other
government departments in the advancement of work useful to the
general government, etc. These were the principal methods employed
by Henry to carry out the purposes of Smithson, for the increase and
diffusion of knowledge. Here, too, were initiated certain studies which

326 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

afterwards became most fruitful and have resulted in important gov-
ernment work, such as the present Weather Bureau, among others.
The beginning of cooperation in library work was at this institution.
At the same time many — we might almost say most — of the present
scientific activities of the government have grown out of it or been
stimulated by it. Experiments in fog signaling, in the acoustics and
ventilation of public buildings, and in numerous other subjects, were
inaugurated. In fact, in these earlier days, with one or two exceptions,

^

JAMES SMITHSON.
FOUNDER OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.

the Smithsonian was the sole representative of active scientific work
directly or indirectly connected with the United States government. Its
influence upon the character of private scientific work, too, was very
great, since half a century or more ago the avenues for publishing were
few, and the funds for the purpose slender.

Gradually, out of the collections which had been kept in the Patent
Office, the private collections of Smithson, and of appropriations of

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 327

his money made by the regents, and largely also through the results
of the great exploring expedition of Captain Wilkes, there grew up a
Smithsonian Museum, one which was exclusively cared for from the
Smithson fund; but which, partly through the greater activity of the
government surveys and partly through the gifts of private individu-
als, and also through the valuable objects presented to the United
States government by foreign nations at the close of the Centennial
at Philadelphia in 1876, brought about the establishment of what is
now known as the United States National Museum of the Smithsonian
Institution, which is under control of the regents of the institution,
for which a building was. provided, and which now receives direct sup-
port from congress. This museum has now the matter belonging to the
original institution collected by the Smithsonian's own observers, with
much more secured through the general government, making in all over
5,000,000 specimens, and is the foremost collection in the world in
everything that relates to the natural history, ethnology, geology, and
paleontology of that portion of North America now the United States,
besides containing many valuable series from other countries. The col-
lections have been visited by over 7,500,000 persons, and the institution
has carried selections of its specimens to every large exhibition held in
the United States, and distributed 850,000 specimens to colleges and
academies, thus powerfully stimulating the growth of museums large
and small in every section of the country.

The publications of the Smithsonian have been in several series,
mostly to convey to specialists the results of its original scientific
investigations and to thus represent the first half of its fundamental
purpose 'for the increase of knowledge,' and, subordinately, others
to include handbooks and indexes useful to students, and some publi-
cations which, while still accurate, contain much information in a style
to be understood by any intelligent reader, and thus represent the
second half of the founder's purpose for the 'diffusion of knowledge.'
Many valuable publications, too, have been issued by the museum and
the Bureau of Ethnology, and recently by the Astrophysical Observa-
tory. In all, 265 volumes in over 2,000,000 copies and parts have been
gratuitously distributed to institutions and private individuals, these
works forming in themselves a scientific library in all branches.

Partly by purchase, but in the main by exchange for these publica-
tions, the institution has assembled a library of over 150,000 volumes,
principally of serial publications and the transactions of learned socie-
ties, which is one of the notable collections of the world. The major
portion of it has been since 1866 deposited in the Library of Congress,
with which establishment the most cordial and mutually helpful rela-
tions subsist.

328

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

In 1850 Spencer Fullerton Baird, a distinguished naturalist, was
elected assistant secretary of the institution. To him the great activity
in natural history work was due, and by him the museum was fostered,
he being greatly aided from 1875 by a young and enthusiastic naturalist,
George Brown Goode. Secretary Baird initiated in the Smithsonian
Institution those economic studies which led to the establishment of the
United States Fish Commission.

JOSEPH HENRY.

FIRST SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1846-1878.

As another means of diffusing knowledge there was early established
the bureau of international exchanges, originally intended simply for
the proper distribution of the Smithsonian's publications, but which
gradually assumed very wide proportions, becoming no less than an
arrangement with learned societies throughout the world to recipro-
cally carry free publications of learned societies, or of individual scien-
tific men, intended for gratuitous distribution. This system was after-

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.

329

-wards taken up by various governments which, through treaties, bound
themselves to exchange their own publications in the same way. Since
the inaguration of this service, 5,000,000 pounds weight of books and
pamphlets have been carried to every portion of America and of the
world. The institution existing not only for America, in which it has
over 8,000 correspondents, but for the world, has throughout Europe,

SFEXCER Fl'LLERTOX BAIRD.
SECOND SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1S7S-18.S".

Asia, Africa, and the islands of the sea, nearly 28,000 correspondents —
more without the United States than within — justifying the words
'Per Orbem,' as the device on the Smithsonian seal.

Other work has been intrusted to the institution by the govern-
ment, such as the Bureau of American Ethnology, for studies relating
to the aborigines of this continent ; the Astrophysical Observatory,

33°

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

which for ten years has been chiefly devoted to the enlargement of
Newton's work on the spectrum, and the National Zoological Park.
The establishment of the latter was intended primarily to preserve the-
vanishing races of mammals on the North American continent; but it
has also assumed the general features of a zoological park, affording
the naturalist the opportunity to study the habits of animals at close
range, the painter the possibility of delineating them, and giving pleas-
ure and instruction to hundreds of thousands of the American people.

SAMUEL PIERPONT LANGLEY.
THIRD SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, ELECTED IN 1887.

These two latter establishments are due to the initiative of the present
secretary, Mr. S. P. Langley, elected in 1887; a physicist and astron-
omer, known for his researches on the sun, and more recently for
his work in aerodynamics. While the fund has been increased of
later years by a number of gifts and bequests, the most notable being
that of Mr. Thomas G. Hodgkins of a sum somewhat over $200,000, its

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 331

original capital, once relatively considerable, has now, in spite of these
additions, grown relatively inconsiderable where there are now numer-
ous universities having twenty times its private fund. It threatens now
to be insufficient for the varied activities it has undertaken and is pur-
suing in every direction, among these the support of the higher knowl-
edge by aiding investigators everywhere, which it does by providing
apparatus for able investigators for their experiments, etc. Investiga-
tions in various countries have been stimulated by grants from the
fund. It has been the past, as it is the present, policy of the institu-
tion to aid as freely as its means allowed, either by the grant of
funds or the manufacture of special apparatus, novel investigations
which have not always at the moment seemed of practical value to
ethers, but which subsequently have in many instances justified its dis-
crimination in their favor and have proved of great importance.

The growth of the institution has been great, but it has been more
in activity than in mere bigness. The corner-stone was laid fifty years
ago. In 1852 the entire staff, including even laborers, was twelve. In
1901 the institution and the bureaus under it employed sixty-four men
of science and 277 other persons. These men of science in the institu-
tion represent very nearly all the general branches, and even the
specialties to some extent of the natural and physical sciences, besides
history and the learning of the ancients; and it may perhaps be said that
the income of the institution (which, relatively to others, is not one
tenth in 1901 what is was in 1851) has been forced to make good, by
harder effort on the part of the few, what is done elsewhere in the gov-
ernment service by many.

The private income of the Smithsonian Institution is not quite
$60,000, but it controls the disbursement of about $500,000 per annum
appropriated by the government for the bureaus under its charge.

Certain other functions difficult to describe are still of prime im-
portance. The Smithsonian is called on by the government to advise
in many matters of science, more especially when these have an inter-
national aspect. Its help and advice are sought by many thousands of
persons every year, learned societies, college professors, journalists, and
magazine editors, and thousands of private individuals, seeking informa-
tion, which is furnished whenever it can be done without too serious a
drain, though naturally a percentage of the requests is unreasonable.
It has cooperated with scientific societies of national scope, like the
xAjnerican Historical Association, and has stimulated the growth of a
number of the Washington scientific societies, and it may be said to teem
with other activities.

The regents control the policy of the institution, and the secretary
is their executive officer. Since the beginning the regents have been
selected from among the most distinguished men in public life and

332

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

in the educational and scientific world. Their roll contains the names
of the most distinguished American citizens for half a century.

An unwritten policy has grown
up which, without instructions or
regulations, has heen of profound
influence in the work. The Smith-
sonian Institution does not under-
take work which any existing
agency can or will do as well. It
does not engage in controversies ; it
limits its work to observation and
the diffusion of ascertained knowl-

GEORGE BROWN GOODE.

Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Insti-
tution, 1887-1896.

LOUIS AGASSIZ.

Recent of the Smithsonian Institution.
1863-1873.

edge, not to speculation. It pre-
serves an 'open mind' for all
branches of knowledge and con-
siders any phenomena which are
the object of serious study within
its purview. Its benefits are not
confined to Washington nor to the
United States, but as far as con-
sistent are extended to all men.
Its secretaries, assistant secretaries, and scientific officers have
from the beginning — long before a classified service existed — been

ASA GRAY.

Regent of the Smithsonian Institution, 1874-S8.

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.

jjj

elected and appointed for merit, and for that alone. No person has
ever been appointed on the scientific staff for any political reason or
consideration.

It is impossible to look into the future. The Smithsonian Institu-
tion has a remarkable organization for the administration of funds
for the promotion of science; yet amidst the great benefactions of
the past quarter of a century relatively few have come to it. Its
activities could be still further increased if it had greater means under
its control, and the regents, because of the peculiarly independent posi-
tion they hold, can be of great public service in suggesting the channel
into which gifts for scientific purposes might be directed, even if they
do not see their way clear to accepting such donations for the institution
itself.

For the National Museum a great new building is a prime necessity.
The museum has practically reached a point where it is physically
impossible that it should grow under present conditions.

Secretary Langley has for several years past been urging upon the
government the dispatch of several expeditions for capturing the species
of large mammals so rapidly being destroyed in the United States and
Alaska; but even without this, the National Zoological Park, with its
relationships to the other great national parks, is destined to be one of
the great collections of the world.

The Bureau of American Ethnology, which since its organization
has devoted itself to the aborigines of this continent, may have new
work to do in Porto Eico and in Hawaii.

Among still other activities, of which there is now but a premoni-
tion, a National Gallery of Art (provided for by Congress in the
original charter) may be alluded to.

The past of the Smithsonian Institution is secure, its present is
known to all men, and it looks forward to the future in the belief that it
will worthily continue under whatever changing conditions to 'increase
find diffuse knowledge among men.'

334 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

RECENT JEWISH IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED

STATES.

By ROGER MITCHELL,

NEW YOEK CITY.

FEOM a stretch of territory of irregular breadth, and extending
from the Baltic Sea to the Levant, there are now coming here
in considerable numbers as immigrants a people of unmistakable iden-
tity of origin and differentiated from the other inhabitants of the
districts whence they come not only by physical appearance, but by
the possession of distinctive customs, traits of character and a lan-
guage of their own. Even though the purity of their blood may
be questioned, they stand as the modern representatives of one branch
of the ancient Hebrew race. Their language is composite like Eng-
lish, and also like English it has a Germanic basis whose old inflec-
tions have been largely lost and to which words and suffixes of other
origin, mainly Hebrew and Polish, have been added. This language
is invariably expressed in Hebrew characters and read from right to
left. Although occasionally efforts are made in certain quarters to
disparage its claims to independent recognition, it is to be noted that
it has served since ancient times as the medium of a literature, both
meritorious and extensive, and is spoken whether in Eiga or Constan-
tinople with as little variation as may be found in the case of spoken
English within the limits of the United States. In this language,
solely by their own efforts, those who use it have lowered the illiteracy
among the immigrant class to twenty per cent, while their Slavic
neighbors, in spite of some public provision for instruction, show an
illiteracy of about forty per cent.

All the people of whom Yiddish is the mother tongue are given
special recognition in our Immigration Bureau's classification of
arriving immigrants under the term 'Hebrews.' The people thus
designated do not constitute the only branch of the Hebrew race in
the region above mentioned, nor is Yiddish the mother-tongue of
them all, but where the modern Hebrew fails to show this distinctive
tongue and has become so merged with the nation in which he lives
as to be indistinguishable except by pedigree or religious creed, he
is classified with the immigrants of the nationality he has assumed.

By thus removing this one element of so distinctly a national
character, not only is a means furnished for differentiating the other

RECENT JEWISH IMMIGRATION. 335

national elements included within the same territorial limits, but
there is also brought out in stronger relief a racial migration of
essentially modern character, due to exceptional influences and one
that will go down in history as among the most important in the
annals of the Hebrew race.

Jews have been represented among the arrivals to this country
since early colonial times. They appeared in considerable numbers
as an accompaniment and sequel of our German immigration and
were then derived largely from the German Polish provinces, but
now the Jewish as well as the Polish immigration from these prov-
inces has practically ceased. The Hungarian Jewish immigrant has
likewise disappeared.

The immigration of the Yiddish-speaking Hebrew in the shape
of an extensive exodus dates back scarcely twenty years, during which
time probably not far from a million have come to this country from
the Eussian Empire, Galicia and Koumania, not as returning travelers
or temporary sojourners, but for the most part as a new and perma-
nent increment to our population.

An important factor in the causation of this movement is to be
found in the acute phase which anti-Jewish feeling had assumed in
eastern Europe twenty years ago. About 1880 widespread outbreaks
of popular fury against the Jews were occurring in Kussia. These
disorders were followed by attempts on the part of the Russian gov-
ernment to enforce existing though neglected laws relative to the
privileges of these people within the empire and to devise new measures
for allaying popular clamor and complaint.

The unexaggerated accounts of the violence, robbery and brutality
to which the Jews were being subjected by the Russian populace, the
tenor of the Russian laws and the harshness with which they were
enforced attracted foreign attention to the unfortunate condition of
these people and opened to them a refuge in more western countries
where the Jew had not been unfavorably known or where, by a similar
violent process, he had been eliminated as an important economic
factor centuries before.

Exceptional obstacles stood in the way of their emigration. Ad-
vance toward the east was forbidden by Russia and the police laws of
the continental countries toward the west made a permanent refuge
in this direction out of the question. The class to whom emigration
would appeal lacked the resources for joining in distant colonial move-
ments as the Germans and Scandinavians had done, and, unlike the
Italians, Slovaks and Poles, these Jews were unprepared to supply the
sort of labor for which a demand existed in other lands.

Foreign sympathy and organized charitable aid furnished the chief
means of overcoming their inertia and starting the stream of migra-

336 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

tion to England and America. Prominently associated with the
earlier aspect of this movement was a Jewish Colonization Associa-
tion, which had at its disposal a fund of $50,000,000, a donation of
the late Baron de Hirsch, but so far as the United States is con-
cerned the new arrivals found in various vocations a sufficient degree
of success to establish the immigration on a prepaid ticket basis on
which it still continues.

The disabilities imposed upon the Jews in eastern Europe and
the events associated with the Eussian emigration are wont to be
referred to as religious persecution. Tales of the use of the blood
of christian children in religious rites and of stolen holy wafers
punctured with a knife give a decidedly religious aspect to certain local
outbreaks of violence. But the Eussian church and the Eussian
people lack the proselyting spirit so characteristic of western people
of whatever faith. "While intolerant of dissenting sects from his
own church 'because they invent their religions out of their own
heads,' the Eussian is inclined to respect the diverse religions of
alien races as 'received from God.' Neither the Lutheran German
nor the Mohammedan Tartar complains of religious persecution. In
the case of the Jews, however, the matter of religious faith serves
in Eussia, Austria and Eoumania as it has served in other lands to
intensify a deep-seated feeling of popular resentment toward a race
alien in speech and customs and closely identified with economic con-
ditions that are commonly regarded as prejudicial to the common
good; and it is not in the mere chronicle of clerical invective, political
discrimination, violence and murder that the cause of this immigra-
tion and the explanation of its character are to be found, but in the
economic history of a land where for centuries society was divisible
into three classes, nobles, Jews and peasants.

Jews are known to have existed in Hungary and Eoumania since
Eoman times, and within the present limits of Eussia at a date almost
as remote. But those emigrating to-day owe their presence there to
much later migrations, both voluntary and involuntary, from more
western Europe to Polish territory. Whenever the political condition
of the western states of Medieval Europe became somewhat stable the
expulsion of the Jews 'was almost sure to follow, and the refugees
always tended eastward, finding more favorable conditions in those
states whose political turmoil and continual squabbles gave little time
for the consideration of internal affairs.

Poland offered such favorable conditions long after more western
Europe had quieted down. Here the ancient Jewish element was
obscured by continual Jewish immigration from the west, of which
the wholesale migration from Bohemia near the close of the eleventh

RECENT JEWISH IMMIGRATION. 33 7

century furnishes the first notable example. Later in the fourteenth
century this movement was further stimulated by the historical privi-
leges secured for the Jews through the influence of Esther of Opoeno,
the Jewess favorite of Kasimir the Great. It is here also that the
conception of the civil status of the Jew under Medieval Roman law
received its fullest development, determining in a great measure the
part which the Jew has played in the economic history of eastern
Europe and still surviving as an important factor in the Jewish
problem there to-day.

In the Germanic Roman Empire of the middle ages civil rights
in a christian state were only for the orthodox Christian. An infidel
or a heretic was an anomaly that was not supposed to exist. But,
owing to their connection with the Roman empire and the relation
of their faith to Christianity, the Jews and the Jewish worship received
special recognition and were tolerated within certain prescribed limits.
In theory the Jews were regarded as being under the personal pro-
tection of the king, who accorded them their privileges by virtue of
his being the legitimate successor and representative of the Emperor
Titus.

In accordance with this status the Jews spread over the Polish
kingdom as an alien nation, having a complete organization, a central
authority, a system of jurisprudence and a language ^f their own,
owing but a qualified allegiance to Poland and receiving their privileges
and the laws determining their relations with the Polish people through
bargains with the Polish king.

Moreover, as individuals they brought into eastern Europe, among
a people not yet emerged from barbarism, intellects sharpened by
centuries of mental training, habits and customs which had stood the
test of two thousand years of civilization, and arts for which their
race has been famous since the days of Jacob. Tales of their perse-
cution, mingled with the clamoring and complaints of the Poles,
are early in evidence. It is needless to undertake a recital of the
results that have followed, for they have been no different from what
might be imagined and, though superficially the story is one of racial
prejudice and religious persecution, the underlying economic problem
is always discernible.

In the meantime the Jews have shared the political vicissitudes
of the Polish and Lithuanian kingdom, their ancient civil status has
been modified, their former privileges abridged or readjusted and
repeated attempts have been made to limit their opportunities for
coming into competition with the thriftless slow-witted Slav; yet
at the end of the nineteenth century we find the Russian government
still claiming that the Jews prosper, like our trusts, to the detriment

VOL. LXII. — 22.

333 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

of the country, and that also, like our trusts, they can not be made
amenable to existing laws. An imperial circular directed to local
officials after the disorders of 1882 reads as follows:

The proceedings at the trial of those charged with rioting and other
evidences bear witness to the fact that the main cause of those movements
and riots, to which the Russians as a nation are strangers, was but a com-
mercial one, and is as follows:

During the last twenty years the Jews have gradually possessed them-
selves of not only every trade and business in all its branches, but also of a
great part of the land by buying and farming it. With few exceptions they
have as a body devoted their attention, not to enriching or benefiting the
country, but to defrauding by their wiles its inhabitants, and particularly its
poor people. This conduct of theirs has called forth protests on the part of
the people, as manifested in acts of violence and robbery. The government,
while, on the one hand doing its best to put down the disturbances and to de-
liver the Jews from oppression and slaughter, have also, on the other hand,
thought it a matter of urgency and justice to adopt stringent measures in
order to put an end to the oppression practised by the Jews and to free the
country from their malpractices which were, as is shown, the cause of the
agitation. With this in view, it has appointed a commission (in all towns in-
habited by Jews) whose duty it is to inquire into the following matters:

I. What are the trades of the Jews injurious to the inhabitants of the
place?

II. What makes it impracticable to put into force the former laws
limiting the rights of the Jews in the matter of buying and farming land,
the trade in intoxicants and usury?

III. How can these laws be altered so that they shall no longer be enabled
to evade them, or what new laws are required to stop their pernicious conduct
in business?

Give additional information on:

(a) Usury practised by Jews in their dealings.

(b) Number of public houses kept by Jews in their own names or in that
of a Christian.

(c) Number of persons in service with Jews or under their control.

(d) The extent (acreage) of the land in their possession by buying or
farming.

(e) Number of Jewish agriculturists.

Each line of inquiry directed therein had reference to some con-
dition which had been a specific source of trouble. To take one
instance which concerned the matter of land tenure, one of the most
perplexing problems with which Eussia, with its agricultural popula-
tion, is called on to deal. The fondness of the Pole and Russian for
drink served to make the liquor business particularly lucrative, and
the Jewish liquor dealer utilized it as a means of involving the peasant
in debt, and of finally securing from him the possession of his property
rights; and where there was an annual assignment of communal lands
the dealer with an eye to his own income saw that his best customers
got the most productive parcels.

RECENT JEWISH IMMIGRATION. 339

From old Poland the Jews spread north, east and south. In 1880
they were found to have penetrated the prohibited Kussian territory
to the east. In southern Eussia they have added another failure to
the efforts of their race to succeed as agriculturists. A considerable
migration found its way to Eoumania, and to a lesser extent to the
Turkish empire. Since the western migration began numbers have
gone into Palestine, though not always to remain, and the resources
of the Baron de Hirsch fund have been used liberally in efforts to
encourage and sustain a migration to South America, but to judge
from the reports of the colonists who may be found coming to the
United States by every South American ship, the movement has not
yet proved a success.

The migration to Eoumania went to increase an existing and prac-
tically Eoumanized Jewish population of Spagnuoli and more ancient
Hebrew stock and served to revive troubles that were believed to be
past. At the bottom of the present anti-Jewish agitation in Eoumania
is an economic problem similar to that in Eussia, likewise aggravated
by a more or less improvident and shiftless indigenous population,
but made still worse by the fact that the bearing of the Jew on the
economic ills of the country has become a sort of political issue. Com-
plicating the situation are also certain other elements entirely wanting
in Eussia.

Eoumanian territory in the past has constituted a barrier to west-
ward advance of the Mohammedan Turk, and the keynote of its his-
tory is resistance to racial religious aggression. As a dependency of
Turkey the treaties and conventions which have determined its auton-
omy have repeatedly emphasized and affirmed a principle of religious
inequality, the propriety of withholding full civil rights from a person
of non-christian faith and of making a distinction between nationality
and citizenship.

When, therefore, the powers in 1878 recognized the independence
of Eoumania, they overturned all local precedents in prescribing the
principle of religious equality within the new kingdom. Subsequent
events proved unfavorable to the popular reception of such a revolu-
tionary idea. Stimulated by anti- Jewish agitation in adjoining for-
eign countries, an abnormal Jewish immigration poured into Eoumania,
and the alarm and resentment which this movement caused has been
intensified by the new national spirit which independence has awakened
among the Eoumanians themselves.

Still regarded in accordance with old ideas as aliens whose rights
were largely a matter for legislative action, the Jews have been de-
prived even of privileges which they formerly enjoyed, as have Ger-
man settlers, Italian workmen, and other foreigners as well.

34o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

But to pass from the antecedents of our Jewish immigrants to
the immigrants themselves. Except to some extent from portions
of Austria and Roumania, they present little evidence of a state of
prosperity that would be believed to be sufficient to excite the envy of
the Slavic or Eoumanian peasant. In general appearance and de-
meanor, as well as in the degree of their physical deterioration, they
are in the main what might be expected from their civil status and
immediate environment in the particular locality whence they come.
But, in spite of an unprepossessing exterior and apparent contentment
in squalid surroundings, the consciousness and pride of belonging to a
superior race is always active and personal ambition is seldom extinct.
They and their children have given abundant evidence of the qualities
which have won distinction for their race in so many fields. Among
them may be found the same active and well-balanced minds and the
same tendency to concentration of energy for the accomplishment of
the task on hand. They have a nervous make-up that is not easily
susceptible to the formation of habits of body or thought, and it
would often appear that their mental processes were not of the western
order, but, after all, the Hebrew is only a more or less modified
Oriental still.

So also they seem to possess to a high degree the power of divesting
from the bias of prejudice or self -gratification the conclusions by
which a course of action is governed, and to be less inclined than
western people to be influenced by precedent or convention in making
use of visible means for reaching a desired end. Like the southern
Italians, they have a reputation for parsimony, but whereas the Italian
in stinting himself and his family feels satisfaction in the thought
that he has added an infinitesimal amount to the fund that will lead
to the accomplishment of some indefinite future object, the Russian
Jew only looks on the increments to his assets, like an athlete's
medals, as evidence of contests that have been won and as an incen-
tive, not to further efforts to save, but to increase his capacity to
gain. To carry the contrast still further, the Hebrew immigrant in
the most unaccustomed and bewildering surroundings never abandons
his efforts to think for himself, and if compelled to rely upon guid-
ance he will be as likely to repose a limited amount of confidence in
a gentile stranger as in an unknown Jew. Instead of settling per-
sonal differences 'out of court' like the Italian, he is constantly in
litigation, for he can not resist the temptation to utilize the obvious
imperfections of our system of jurisprudence as a means of serving
some personal end.

By far the majority of these immigrants have prospered. While
still represented in the vocations with which they are commonly

RECENT JEWISH IMMIGRATION. 341

associated in the public mind, and still exhibiting a predilection
for commercial life, they or their children are also to be found
in nearly every trade and profession, and are coming into increasing
prominence in connection with those positions in the public service
which are open to competitive examinations.

This immigration has also another side. The fact that it has
been stimulated by pressure from behind rather than a demand in
the industrial market here has tended not only to make it possible
for the movement to override or evade our immigration laws but
also to get beyond the control of the philanthropic organizations
which have the best interests of the immigrants at heart.

The tendency of Hebrews to prosper diminishes as they congre-
gate together, and, quite apart from the matter of civil disabilities,
there is a proportion above which they are unable to thrive in any
given city or town. These conditions have already been realized in
certain localities here, and philanthropic effort which was once con-
cerned principally in inducing emigration from unfavorable surround-
ings in Europe is now attempting to prevent and relieve the equally
serious evils of congestion in localities to which it is tending. With
reference to the situation in New York city the 27th Annual Eeport
of the United Hebrew Charities (October, 1901) makes the state-
ment 'that a condition of chronic poverty is developing in the Jewish
community of New York that is appalling in its immensity.' It
goes on to state that, of the applicants to that society for assistance
during the year, 45 per cent., 'representing between 20,000 and 25,000
human beings, have been in the United States over five years; have
been given the opportunities for economic and industrial improve-
ment which this country affords, yet notwithstanding all this, have
not managed to reach a position of economic independence.' It,
furthermore, makes the estimate that 'from 75,000 to 100,000 mem-
bers of the New York Jewish community are unable to supply them-
selves with the immediate necessaries of life, and who for this reason
are dependent, in some form or other, upon the public purse.'

To a degree wholly unlooked for among Jews, the above-mentioned
phase of the present Hebrew immigration is accompanied by a moral
degradation which has, to some extent, been made familiar through
recent events in local municipal politics.

As the report of the society above referred to stated in 1898, 'those
who are familiar with the crowded section on the lower east side know
that vices are beginning to spring up which heretofore have been
strangers to the Jewish people.' Eeferring to the same conditions,
it is asserted in the report for 1901 that 'the vice and crime, the
irreligiousness, lack of self-restraint, indifference to social conventions,

342 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

indulgence in the most degraded and perverted appetites are growing
daily more pronounced and more offensive.'

There would seem to be a disposition to regard such moral dete-
rioration as the result of the prevalent squalor and overcrowding, but
it is to be noted that the conditions in which these people live in
New York at the present day are superior to those to which most of
the immigrants were accustomed before they came, and are much
better than those which they find in our other large cities or in Lon-
don. The squalor and overcrowding, though conspicuous because of
the extent of the 'Ghetto,' is much less pronounced than in the
Italian, Syrian or Greek quarters, and the household regime of the
poorest Jews gains by comparison with the family life of other for-
eigners in the tenement districts.

Moral deterioration may be pointed out in the case of every foreign
element that has come to this country, just as it may be among the
country-bred youth of our own population who feel in new abodes loss
of personal identity and exemption from former moral restraints. In
the case of foreigners there is added also a loss of parental control
through the greater facility with which children identify themselves
with the language and customs of the new environment and by what
passes for the process of 'becoming Americanized,' the younger Jews
come to look with indifference and even contempt upon the precepts
which have safeguarded their race through a troublous past.

After all, when it is considered that the Jews have been estimated
as constituting one fourth of the population of Manhattan, it may
be questioned whether evidence of moral degradation may not have
attracted attention because it was unexpected rather than because it
is unproportionally prevalent.

In a great measure the poverty to be found in the 'Ghetto' is
due to disease or lack of physical strength. Jewish immigrants of
a military age who could pass our army requirements for recruits are
comparatively rare, while few of their fellow immigrants, the Poles,
would fail to pass such a test. Among the Jews also, senile decay
is pronounced at an age when the German, Englishman or Scandi-
navian is still in his physical and mental prime. Chronic disease
is much more prevalent among the Hebrew than among the Slavic
immigrants, and common among the former are diseases rarely if
ever seen in the case of the latter. The mental standard of the Jewish
immigration fails to offset its physical inferiority when brought into
active competition with other elements of our cosmopolitan popula-
tion. Physical breakdown comes sooner or later and the ravages of
tuberculosis are in evidence to an extent that is quite at variance with
old notions of racial insusceptibility to this disease. This state of

RECENT JEWISH IMMIGRATION. 343

affairs is further aggravated by the favorable expectation of life for
the Jew, something quite distinct from the matter of health or
capacity for work. Temperate habits and the religious factor in the
conduct of ordinary matters of diet and life, as well as their absence
from hazardous occupations, contribute to this result. An apparent
longevity also results from the fact that infant mortality among them
is exceedingly low. The centuries through which these people have
been associated with the worst phases of civilized life have undoubtedly
led to an inherited ability on the part of the children to exist in un-
favorable surroundings and an increased power of resistance to certain
diseases, but it is also to be noted that in the humblest Jewish house-
hold the first symptoms of acute illness will not be overlooked nor
neglected, and that the sick child will receive the best available pro-
fessional attention, together with such a degree of unremitting care
and attention on the part of the family, as can seldom be realized
among Gentiles of the same station in life.

344 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE BEHAVIOUE OF BLIND ANIMALS.

By Professor WESLEY MILLS, M.A.. M.D.,

MCGILL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL.

IN the course of years I have had the opportunity of observing a con-
siderable number of animals totally blind in either one or both eyes
and to these only shall I refer in this paper.

Pigeons. — All those observed, that were otherwise normal, have been
blind on one side only. The defect does not seem to have resulted in
any great inconvenience or disadvantage to the individual. Birds do
not, it is likely, possess binocular vision, in the sense in which the term
may be applied to many mammals; and in consequence of the defect,
cutting off the field of vision on one side completely, the bird endeavors
to make up for this by adaptive movements of the head, which it can
bring about with a facility not possible to the mammal.

It also, through experience, becomes more alert than the average
pigeon; nevertheless, when the struggle for existence becomes keen, as
for example when a limited quantity of food is strewn about, it is
shown to be plainly at a disadvantage, both in securing the food and in
the bodily conflicts that are apt to arise between it and its competitors.

White Rats. — I have observed several white rats, some of which were
blind in only one eye, others in both. The results were in some respects
very different from what might have been expected, and in this the
difference between the bird and the rabbit, on the one hand, and the rat,
on the other, was striking.

Even in the case of total blindness, the rat is not handicapped as one
might suppose must be the case. In a very few days the rat blind in
only one eye seems to ordinary observation to be in no appreciable
degree worse off than his fellows. In a short time the specimen, totally
blind, moves about so well that one would need to look carefully to be
assured that he gets no assistance from the visual sense. But in his case
there are times when it is evident that he is handicapped. In exploring
new surroundings he proceeds with special caution, stretching out his
neck, sometimes resting on his hind legs, more frequently elevating his
fore parts and sniffing in an unusual way, showing an extreme care and
plainly making use of his acquired greater facility, or perhaps one
should say, his accustomed and habitual greater use of senses that
normally are not required to function to such a marked degree.

He is also somewhat more timid and retreats in the way rats do
toward their place of exit, with greater readiness. He is of course more

TEE BEHAVIOUR OF BLIND ANIMALS. 345

at the mercy of his enemies, and yet not to the degree one might have
supposed on account of his greater caution as well as the fact that his
senses of touch and smell make up so fully for the lack of sight. It
must be borne in mind that the olfactory tracts of the central nervous
system in the rat are highly developed and their association-paths
numerous, so that in an eminent degree the rodent, and especially the
rat, is worked, so to speak, as an entire mechanism largely through the
reflex paths of smell.

One of the unexpected results of sudden blindness in the case of
white rats, whether affecting one or both eyes, was a most marked
alteration in disposition. Eats that were perfectly tame became at once
ferocious ; it was unsafe any longer to attempt to handle them as f or-
merfy, or to remove anything from their cage, for in an instant they
seemed aware of the approach of one's hand and were not only ready
but able to pounce upon it at once; even metal forceps were seized by
the teeth. After a considerable period in a rat blind in both eyes this
ferocity disappeared, but not so, or to but a slight extent, in those
lacking the power of vision on only one side.

In our experience in the breeding of white rats, it is rare for the
female to devour her young, but invariably have those blind white rats
killed and eaten to a greater or less extent every litter they have had,
though placed under circumstances exactly similar to those of the intact
rats.

Babbits. — My opportunities to observe this species of rodent when
blindness was found on one or both sides, has been almost as good as in
the case of the rat. The differences noted in the animals is considerable.
A rabbit totally blind behaves in general much like a rat similarly
defective, but he shows less tendency on occasion to retreat towards his
place of safety, is less alert and apparently less prepared to meet emer-
gencies. But the readiness with which he manages to avoid obstacles
in his path is striking. He also, like the rat, stretches out his neck,
rises sometimes on his hind legs, but more frequently raises the fore
parts of his body into the air, all with the obvious purpose of exploring
the nature of his environment to a degree and with a frequency not
witnessed in the normal rabbit. Such an animal is, however, more
likely to fall under the power of his enemies than is the rat, though «so
long as food is plenty near his burrow the wild animal would no doubt
develop that caution and use his other senses to such an extent that he
would generally escape ; but that he would in the long run fall a prey to
some wily fox seems more than probable.

I have noticed no change in disposition in the case of the rabbit akin
to that in the rat and none of the blind specimens has had young.

Neither the rabbits nor the rats ever make the mistake of walking
off a place elevated above terra firma. As I have elsewhere pointed out,

346 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

this tendency seems to be a fundamental instinct manifested by even
the youngest mammals and is evidently of vital importance for their
preservation.

Cat. — The cat on which I am able to report was not in good condi-
tion after she became suddenly blind in both eyes, and lived but a few
days, or I should have been able to note more fully whether her psychic
state had been modified by experience.

When put down on the floor she moved about in a slow and appar-
ently cautious way, and, though plainly perfectly blind, when she came
near objects she touched them only slightly. In this the whiskers
evidently served a good purpose, as was also observed in the rodents.
When one made a noise on the floor as by tramping with the feet, puss
invariably moved towards the sound, and so perfectly that by walking
about one could cause her to describe complicated figures, from which
and other observations I conclude that she had become a mere reflex
mechanism worked by the most prominent stimuli of the moment from
the external world. When she came to a wall, and especially a corner,
she stopped and sometimes lay down — showing that the 'puss in the
corner ' tendency has a deep foundation, for I am inclined to believe that
this animal was not conscious in the true sense of the term. This cat
had become blind owing to a hemorrhage into the optic thalamus of
the brain and lived but a few days afterwards.

I have not reported any other cases in this paper in which there
were brain lesions, the discussion being too complicated for my present
purpose. That the cat was guided purely reflexly by sounds was evident
from the fact that when one stood on a table and tramped as before,
puss underneath the table was soon brought to a standstill just below
the source of the sounds. Such a remarkable case of guidance reflexly
by the ear I had not seen before, and it proved very instructive to me.

Dog. — Of the blind dogs I have observed I shall refer to but one.
He was a cross-bred skye terrier and formed one of a litter kept in a room
in the college basement. He became totally blind when between two and
three months old. After this he soon changed greatly in disposition;
he, like the rats, seemed to revert to a sort of feral condition. He
would on the entrance of any one into the room hide, and when
approached would bite savagely at the extended hand ; in fact, in order
to catch him it was necessary to throw a sack or some such object over
him. He had gnawed away the legs on which Ms cage stood and to
which he was chained for a time.

This dog seemed to be at least equal in intelligence to the other
members of the litter, his companions. So far as the objects in the
room that had a stable situation were concerned, he was perfectly
oriented, but if a new object was laid down he would run against it and

THE BEHAVIOUR OF BLIND ANIMALS. 347

then attack it as savagely as he would one of his fellows who came in his
way.

If any stranger came to the door of the room he seemed to know
instantly and would bark fiercely, but he never did this when the regular
attendant entered, however silently he approached, being guided prob-
ably largely, but by no means wholly, by the sense of smell. He was by
far more alert than any of his companions and seemed to be put into a
state of high tension by the slightest stimulus.

This dog had a ravenous appetite, and when the vessel containing
food for all the dogs of this litter was put down he was generally the
first to reach it, though at the moment he might possibly be in the most
distant part of the room, and certainly he did not come off second best
in the struggle.

He was so like a wild animal, was of so bad a temper, and altogether
so undesirable a creature, I thought it best to chloroform him at the
end of a few weeks.

348 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

PKEVENTIVE MEDICINE.*

By General GEORGE M. STERNBERG, U.S.A..

TT^EOM the earliest times physicians have taken the lead in all that
-*- relates to the prevention of disease. In times of epidemic their
advice is sought by afflicted communities and they have been instru-
mental in securing most of the legislation which has been enacted with
a view to preventing or restricting the prevalence of infectious dis-
eases. As members of boards of health, they are largely responsible for
the enactment and execution of proper sanitary legislation, and as
medical officers of the Army and Navy, they are charged with the duty
of guarding the health of soldiers and sailors enlisted in the service of
their country.

While the principal function of a physician engaged in civil practice
is to give proper advice and treatment to the sick, he is constantly
called upon to point out the most effectual methods of preventing the
extension of infectious diseases in the homes of his patients; to indi-
cate the proper diet and mode of life to be followed by convalescents
and other members of families which he regularly attends, etc. All
this he does cheerfully, although he rarely receives any compensation
for advice of this kind and his professional income is diminished in
direct proportion to his success in the prevention of disease among the
families constituting his clientele.

The compensation for voluntary work in public or domestic sanita-
tion is to be found in the consciousness of good accomplished and of
high and humane motives worthy of the profession to which we belong,
and the willingness to perform such voluntary service is one of the
most noteworthy distinctions between the educated and honorable
physician and the ignorant and mercenary quacks who prey upon the
community with no other object in view than that of gain. The bene-
ficent results of preventive medicine are seen in the greatly reduced
mortality rates in civilized countries generally, and especially in the
fact that certain pestilential maladies which formerly prevailed as
wide-spread and devastating epidemics, causing the death of hundreds
of thousands of human beings annually, have to a great extent lost
their deadly potency as a result of the progress of our knowledge with
reference to their etiology and the best methods of combating them.

* Address introductory to the course in preventive medicine, given on
January 12, 1903, at the opening of the Washington Post-graduate Medical
School.

PREVENTIVE MEDICINE. 349

Smallpox no longer claims its victims in any considerable numbers
except in communities where vaccination is neglected; cholera has
been excluded from our country during the last two widespread epi-
demics in Europe and its ravages have been greatly restricted in all
civilized countries into which it has been introduced; the deadly plague
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is no longer known in
Europe and the prevalence of typhus — so-called spotted or 'ship fever'
— has been greatly limited. Typhoid fever, tuberculosis and diphtheria
are still with us and claim many victims, but we know the specific cause
of each of these diseases; we know where to find the bacteria that
cause them and the channels by which they gain access to the human
body ; and we know how to destroy them by disinfecting agents.

The mortality from tuberculosis is constantly diminishing in our
large cities and the complete destruction of the infectious sputa of those
suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis would no doubt go a long way
towards the extermination of this fatal disease.

Perhaps the triumphs of preventive medicine can not be better
illustrated than by a brief historical account of the prevalence of
bubonic plague during the past three or four centuries. It can scarcely
be doubted that the 'black death' of the fourteenth century was the
same disease which subsequently prevailed in Europe under the name
of 'the plague' — now more generally spoken of as 'bubonic plague.'
While modern methods of diagnosis have enabled us to recognize
typhoid fever, typhus fever, relapsing fever and bubonic plague as
distinct diseases, it must be remembered that up to the end of the
fifteenth century no such differentiation had been made and the term
' pest ' was applied to any fatal malady which prevailed as an epidemic,
and no doubt in some instances included smallpox, which prior to the
discovery of Jenner contributed largely to the general mortality of the
population of Europe.

Bubonic plague continued to prevail in various parts of Europe at
the end of the sixteenth century, and early in the seventeenth century
(1603) an epidemic occurred in London which caused the death of
38,000 of its inhabitants. It continued to prevail in this city and in
various parts of England, Holland and Germany and six years later
caused a mortality of 11,785 in the city of London. During the year
1603 a most disastrous epidemic occurred in Egypt, which is said to have
caused a mortality of at least a million. After an interval of ten or
fifteen years, during which there was a marked diminution in the num-
ber of cases and the extent of its distribution in European countries,
it again obtained wide prevalence during the year 1620 and subse-
quently, especially in Germany, Holland and England. The epidemic
in the city of London in 1625 caused a mortality of more than 35,000.
In 1630 a severe epidemic occurred in Milan, and in 1636 London

350 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

again suffered a mortality of over 10,000, while the disease continued
to claim numerous victims in other parts of England and on the con-
tinent. Later in the century (1656) some of the Italian cities suffered
devastating epidemics. The mortality in the city of Naples was in
the neighborhood of 300,000, in Genoa 60,000, in Koine 14,000. The
smaller mortality in the last-named city has been ascribed to the sani-
tary measures instituted by Cardinal Gastaldi. Up to this time prayers,
processionals, the firing of cannons, etc., had been the chief reliance for
the arrest of pestilence, with what success is shown by the brief his-
torical review thus far presented. But this enlightened prelate inaugu-
rated a method of combating the plague and other infectious maladies
which, with increasing knowledge and experience in the use of scien-
tific preventive measures, has given us the mastery of these pestilential
diseases, and has been the principal factor in the extinction of bubonic
plague from the civilized countries of Europe.

But it was long after the time of Cardinal Gastaldi before sanitary
science was established upon a scientific basis and had acquired the
confidence of the educated classes. Indeed, the golden age of preventive
medicine has but recently had its dawn, and sanitarians at the present
day often encounter great difficulty in convincing legislators and the
public generally of the importance of the measures which have been
proved to be adequate, when properly carried out, for the prevention of
this and other infectious maladies.

We have now arrived in our review at the period of the ' great plague
cf London.' For some years this city had been almost if not entirely
free from the scourge, but in the spring of 1665 it again appeared and
within a few months caused a mortality of 68,596 in a population esti-
mated at 460,000. This, however, does not fairly represent the per-
centage of mortality among those exposed, for a large proportion of the
population flew from the city to escape infection.

Upon the continent the disease prevailed extensively, especially in
Austria, Hungary and Germany. The epidemic in Vienna in 1679
caused a mortality of 76,000. In 1681 the city of Prague lost 83,000
of its inhabitants. During the last quarter of this century the disease
disappeared from some of the principal countries of Europe. Accord-
ing to Hirsch it disappeared from England in 1679, from France in
1668, from Holland about the same time, from Germany in 1683 and
from Spain in 1681. In Italy it continued to prevail to some extent
until the end of the century.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century bubonic plague pre-
vailed in Constantinople and at various points along the Danube; from
here it extended in 1704 to Poland, and soon after to Silesia, Lithuania,
Germany and the Scandinavian countries. The mortality in Stockholm

PREVENTIVE MEDICINE. 351

was about 40,000. The disease also extended westward from Con-
stantinople through Austria and Bohemia.

In 1720 Marseilles suffered a severe epidemic, probably as a result
of the introduction of cases on a ship from Leghorn. The mortality
was estimated as being between 40,000 and 60,000. From Marseilles as
a center it spread through the province of Provence, but did not invade
other parts of France. In 1743 a severe outbreak occurred on the
island of Sicily. A destructive but brief epidemic, which is estimated
to have caused a mortality of 300,000, occurred during the years 1770
and 1771 in Moldavia, Wallachia, Transylvania, Hungary and Poland.
At the same time the disease prevailed in Eussia, and in 1771 caused
the death of about one fourth of the population of the city of Moscow.

Early in the nineteenth century (1802) bubonic plague appeared
at Constantinople and in Armenia. It had previously prevailed in the
Caucasus, from which province it extended into Russia. In 1808 to 1813
it extended from Constantinople to Odessa, to Smyrna and to various
localities in Transylvania. It also prevailed about the same time in
Bosnia and Dalmatia. In 1812 to 1814 it prevailed in Egypt, and, as
usual, was conveyed from there to European countries. During the
same year it prevailed extensively in Moldavia, Wallachia, and Bessa-
rabia. In 1831 it again prevailed as an epidemic in Constantinople
and various parts of Roumelia, and again it appeared in Dalmatia in
1840 and in Constantinople in 1841. Egypt, which for centuries had
been the principal focus from which plague had been introduced into
Europe, continued to suffer from the disease until 1845 when it dis-
appeared from that country.

The last appearance of oriental plague in Europe, until its recent
introduction into Portugal, was the outbreak on the banks of the Volga
in 1878-79. The disease had previously prevailed in a mild form in
the vicinity of Astrakhan and was probably introduced from that
locality. An interesting fact in connection with this epidemic is that in
Astrakhan the disease was so mild that no deaths occurred, and that the
earlier cases on the right bank of the Volga were -of the same mild
form, but that the disease there increased rapidly in severity and soon
became so malignant that scarcely any of those attacked recovered.
This is to some extent the history of epidemics elsewhere, and not only
of plague, but of other infectious diseases, such as typhus fever, cholera
and yellow fever. In all of these diseases the outset of an epidemic may
be characterized by cases so mild in character that they are not recog-
nized, and during the progress of the epidemic many such cases may
continue to occur. These cases are evidently especially dangerous as
regards the propagation of the disease, for when they are not recognized
no restrictions are placed upon the infected individuals, although they
may be sowing the germs broadcast.

352 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

The termination of an epidemic in the pre-sanitary period depended
to a considerable extent upon the fact that those who suffered a mild
attack acquired thereby an immunity; and that when the more sus-
ceptible individuals in a community had succumbed to the prevailing
disease there was a necessary termination of the epidemic for want of
material.

Another factor which no doubt has an important bearing upon the
termination of epidemics is a change in the virulence of the germ as
a result of various natural agencies. Time will not permit me to dis-
cuss this subject in its scientific and practical aspects, but the general
fact may be stated that all known disease germs may vary greatly in
their pathogenic virulence, and that in every infectious disease mild
cases may occur, not only because of the slight susceptibility of the
individual, but also because of the 'attenuated' virulence of the specific
germ. In the eighteenth century, the beginning of sanitary science,
isolation of the sick and seaboard quarantines came to the aid of these
natural agencies, and did much in the way of arresting the progress of
this pestilential disease. At the present day these measures, together
•with disinfection by heat or chemical agents, are relied upon by sani-
tarians with great confidence as being entirely adequate for the ex-
clusion of this disease or for stamping it out if it should effect a lodg-
ment in localities where an enlightened public sentiment permits the
thorough execution of these preventive measures; but when the disease
prevails among an ignorant population which strenuously objects to
the carrying out of these measures, the contest between the sanitary
officer and the deadly germ is an unequal one, and the stamping out of
an epidemic becomes a task of great magnitude, if not entirely hopeless.
This is illustrated by the experience of the English in their encounter
with bubonic plague in their Indian Empire.

Plague seemed to be almost a thing of the past and no longer gave
any uneasiness in the countries of Europe which had formerly suffered
from its ravages, when in February, 1894, it made its appearance in
the city of Canton-) China, and three months later in Hong Kong. The
disease is known to have been epidemic in the province of Yunnan,
which is about 900 miles distant from Canton, since the year 1873, but
it attracted little attention until the lives of Europeans living in the
city of Hong Kong were threatened by the outbreak of an epidemic
among the Chinese residents of that place. Many thousands of deaths
occurred in Canton during the three months which elapsed after its
introduction to that city before it effected a lodgment in Hong Kong.

Fortunately this outbreak gave the opportunity for competent bac-
teriologists to make scientific investigations relating to the specific
cause of this scourge of the human race and to the demonstration that
it is due to a minute bacillus. This discovery was first made by the

PREVENTIVE MEDICINE. 353

Japanese bacteriologist, Kitasato, who had received his training in
the laboratory of the famous Professor Robert Koch, of Berlin. This
discovery was made in the month of June, 1894, in one of the hospitals
established by the English officials in Hong Kong. About the same
time the discovery was made, independently, by the French bac-
teriologist, Yersin. From this time the study of the plague has been
established upon a scientific basis and very material additions have been
made to our knowledge with reference to the prevention and 'treatment
of the disease.

That the plague bacillus has not lost any of its original virulence
is amply demonstrated by the high death-rate among those attacked,
and we are justified in ascribing its restricted prevalence to the gen-
eral improvement in sanitary conditions in civilized countries and to
the well-directed efforts of public health officers in the various locali-
ties to which it has been introduced during recent years. In the
Philippine Islands, where it prevailed to a considerable extent when
our troops first took possession of the City of Manila and where the
conditions among the natives are extremely favorable for its extension,
it has been kept within reasonable bounds and, indeed, the latest reports
indicate that it has been practically exterminated by the persistent
efforts of the medical officers of our army, charged with the duty of
protecting the public health in those Islands.

The monthly report of the Board of Health for the city of Manila
for September, 1902, the last at hand, records but one death from
plague during that month. During the same period there were ten
deaths from typhoid fever, thirty-five deaths from dysentery and
seventy-six deaths from 'the great white plague,' pulmonary tuber-
culosis.

Bubonic plague, cholera and typhoid fever have long been classed
as 'filth diseases,' and in a certain sense this is correct, although we
now know that the germs of these diseases not only are not generated
by filth, but do not multiply in accumulations of filth. They are
present, however, in the alvine discharges of the sick, and when this
kind of filth is exposed in the vicinity of human habitations or gains
access to wells or streams, the water of which is used for drinking, the
germs are likely to be conveyed to the alimentary canals of susceptible
individuals, and thus the disease is propagated. Until quite recently
the attention of sanitarians was so firmly fixed upon the demonstrated
transmission of cholera and typhoid fever through the agency of con-
taminated water or milk that certain other modes of transmission were
overlooked, or at least underrated. I refer to the transmission by
insects, or as dust by currents of air. I have for many years insisted
upon the part played by flies as carriers of infectious material from
moist masses of excreta from cases of cholera and typhoid fever. There

VOL. LXII. — 23.

354 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

is good reason to believe that the bacillus of bubonic plague may be
transmitted in the same way. The cholera spirillum is quickly killed
by desiccation and this disease is probably very rarely, if ever, com-
municated through the medium of dust. But the germs of typhoid
fever and of bubonic plague are more resistant and, without doubt,
under certain circumstances, these diseases are extensively propagated
by means of dust containing desiccated excreta. There is a good reason
to believe that in several of our camps, during the Spanish-American
War, this was an important factor in the etiology of typhoid fever epi-
demics. The average mortality from typhoid fever in our regular
army since the Civil War has been, for the first decade (1868-1877)
95 per 100,000 of mean strength; for the second decade (1878-1887)
108 per 100,000, for the third decade (1888-97) 55 per 100,000. This
latter rate compares favorably with that of many of our principal cities ;
for example, it is exceeded by the typhoid death-rate of the city of
Washington, which is 78.1 per 100,000 (average of 10 years, 1888-
1897), by that of the city of Chicago, which is 64.4 per 100,000; by
that of Pittsburgh, which is 88 per 100,000. As a result of insanitary
conditions existing in the camps in which our troops were hastily
assembled at the outset of the Spanish-American War, the typhoid
death-rate in our army of volunteers and regulars during the year
ending April 30, 1899, was more than 22 times as great as it had been
in our regular army during the decade immediately preceding the war
period. As compared with the Civil War, however, there was a decided
improvement, the typhoid mortality for the first year of the Civil War
having been 1,971 per 100,000 of mean strength and for the Spanish-
American War 1,237 per 100,000.

Experience shows that new levies of troops are especially subject
to typhoid fever and other infectious 'camp diseases,' not only because
of lack of discipline and consequent difficulty in the enforcement of
sanitary regulations, but also because the individual soldiers are very
susceptible to infection, owing to their age, the abrupt change in their
mode of life, the exposure and fatigue incident to camp life, and last,
but not least, their own imprudence as regards eating, drinking, exer-
cise, etc. In the absence of sewers or other adequate means of removing
excreta, the camp site is likely to become infected by the discharges of
unrecognized cases of typhoid and typhoid bacilli are carried by flies
to the kitchens and mess-tents and deposited upon food, or as dust are
directly deposited upon the mucous membranes of the respiratory
passages of those living in the infected camp. That preventive medicine
has still serious work before it is shown by the fact that according to
the last census return there were 35,379 deaths from typhoid fever in
the United States during the census year 1900. The increase in mor-
tality over the number in 1890 (27,056) is out of proportion to the

PREVENTIVE MEDICINE. 355

increase in population, notwithstanding the general improvement in
the sanitary condition of towns and cities. This is no doubt due to the
continued pollution of water supplies and to the extension of this
infectious disease in rural districts. It is in fact now an endemic dis-
ease in nearly all parts of the United States.

According to the census report of 1900, there were 111,000 deaths
from tuberculosis during the year 1900. This does not, however, in-
clude the deaths in certain states in which the vital statistics are incom-
plete or unreliable, and it is probable that there are at least 145,000
victims of the great white plague annually within the limits of the
United States. The last census return in those states where registration
was approximately correct, including a population of about 21,000,000
people, shows that 12 per cent, of all deaths resulted from pulmonary
tuberculosis, 8.5 per cent, from pneumonia, 3 per cent, from typhoid
fever and 3 per cent, from diphtheria and croup. These figures indi-
cate to some extent the task which preventive medicine has still to
accomplish.

A most interesting and notable example of the beneficent results
following the practical application of sanitary measures based upon
exact knowledge relating to the etiology of an infectious disease
is afforded by the recent extinction of yellow fever in the city of
Havana, which for many years had been the principal focus of infection
in the West Indies, and the port from which it has been repeatedly
carried to the seaport cities of the United States. According to the
reports of the health officers in that city, there has not been a case of
yellow fever in Havana for more than a year, and the extinction of the
disease is ascribed entirely to the vigorous measures enforced to prevent
its transmission by mosquitoes of the species proved by the researches of
Reed and Carroll to be the immediate hosts of the yellow fever parasite
and the active agents in the transmission of the disease from man to
man. During the first sixty years of the past century, yellow fever pre-
vailed almost annually in one or more of the southern seaports of the
United States and not infrequently it extended its ravages to the in-
terior towns in one or more of the southern states. So frequently did
it prevail during the summer months in New Orleans and Charleston
that the permanent residents of those cities commonly regarded it as a
disease of the climate and a necessary evil which it was folly to attempt
to combat by quarantine restrictions.

In the great epidemic of 1853, yellow fever prevailed extensively in
the states of Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and
Texas. The epidemic of 1867 was limited to the states of Louisiana
and Texas. Those states again suffered severely in 1873 and the states
of Florida, Alabama and Mississippi were also invaded. A still more
extended and deadly epidemic occurred in 1878, causing a mortality

356 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

of 15,934 out of a total number of cases exceeding 74,000. In this
epidemic the disease followed the Mississippi Eiver to the very suburbs
of St. Louis, and the state of Tennessee suffered severely as well as the
states south of it. The city of Memphis alone had a mortality from the
disease of about 5,000. These repeated epidemics not only cost the
lives of thousands of citizens and paralyzed business of all kinds during
their prevalence, but apprehension with reference to the recurrence of
the disease very materially interfered with the growth of many south-
ern cities and retarded greatly the development of those portions of the
country most liable to invasion. All this is now changed ; public health
officials are no longer filled with apprehension upon the approach of
summer by the thought that any ship arriving from Havana may
introduce the deadly pestilence to our shores; commerce is no longer
subjected to the serious restrictions formerly considered necessary for
the exclusion of the disease ; and the public generally have been made
aware that the fangs of this threatening monster have been drawn by
the scientific demonstration of its mode of attack and the simple meas-
ures which have been proved to be effective in preventing its propaga-
tion. Until the recent demonstration of the transmission of yellow
fever by mosquitoes, this disease was generally regarded as one of the
filth diseases, although there were many facts opposed to this view.
In the light of our present knowledge we can no longer class it with
typhoid fever, cholera, bubonic plague and dysentery, in which diseases
the germ is known to be present in the alvine discharges of the sick and
which are, consequently, well named filth diseases.

We now see clearly, however, why in certain particulars relating to
its etiology it resembles the malarial fevers. It is limited as regards
its prevalence to comparatively warm latitudes or to the summer
months in more temperate regions and is dependent, to a certain extent,
upon rainfall or the proximity of standing water, because these condi-
tions are necessary for the propagation of mosquitoes. As regards the
filth diseases, properly so-called, no single agency is more important for
their prevention than the use of properly constructed sewers for the
reception of excreta and its removal from the vicinity of human habita-
tions. Sewers had come into use and had the warm endorsement of
sanitarians long before the discovery of the germs of the infectious
maladies under discussion, and before it was positively known that
the infectious agent in these diseases is contained in the discharges
from the bowels. But now that we have an exact knowledge of the
etiology of these diseases, the reason for the beneficent results attend-
ing the use of sewers, in connection with an ample and pure water
supply, is apparent. It may be safely asserted that a city or town
having a complete and satisfactory sewer system and a pure water
supply is practically immune from epidemics of cholera or typhoid

PREVENTIVE MEDICINE. 357

fever, provided, of course, that the sewers are used for the purpose for
which they are inteuded, aud that streets and back yards no longer serve
as receptacles for filth, as was usual during the presanitary period even
in great cities like London and Paris. The axiom 'tout a l'egout' now
governs the practice not only in Paris, but wherever the fundamental
principles of municipal sanitation are understood and sewers have been
constructed. Unfortunately, the cost of sewer construction, the re-
luctance of tax-payers to part with their money and the ignorance
or indifference of municipal authorities have conspired to prevent the
accomplishment of this fundamental sanitary measure in very many
towns in the United States, and our endemic plague — typhoid fever —
continues to claim a large annual quota of victims in such localities.
Even in the national capital our sewer system is incomplete and in
many out-of-the-way places, especially in the densely populated alleys
of the city, shallow box privies are in use as receptacles for human
excreta and the typhoid fever rate, owing to this and other causes, is
disgracefully high.

Mortality rates in towns and cities throughout the civilized world
depend to a large extent upon the purity of the water-supply and the
efficiency of the system of sewage disposal; and the constant improve-
ment which is shown by the mortality statistics of England and other
countries which have made the most progress in this direction is un-
doubtedly largely due to these two factors. This is well illustrated by
the mortality statistics of armies. In the German army the annual
death-rate in 1868 was 6.9 per thousand, a decade later it was 4.82, in
1888 it had fallen to 3.24 and in 1896 to 2.6. In our own army, the
death-rate during the period of peace just prior to the Mexican War
(1848) was about three and one half times as great as during the five
years preceding our recent war with Spain, and since the year 1872
there has been a diminution of the death-rate of nearly forty per cent.
In the British army at home stations the mortality rate during the
decade ending in 1884 was 7.2 per thousand, in 1889 the rate had
fallen to 4.57 and in 1897 to 3.42. In the Italian army there has been
a gradual and progressive reduction from 13.3 per thousand in 1875
to 4.2 in 1897. The mortality in the French army was a little over
21 per thousand during the five years ending in 1825. In 1890 it had
fallen to 5.81 per thousand.

According to the best estimates the average of human life in the
sixteenth century was somewhat less than twenty years. At the present
time it is more than twice as long and during the past twenty-five years
the average duration of life has been lengthened about six years. During
the first thirty-five years of the past century the vital statistics of the
city of London showed a mortality of about 29 per thousand. At the
present time the mortality in that great city has been reduced to from

358 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

17 to 19 per thousand. I will not burden you with further statistics,
but will simply say that even more notable results have been obtained
in many parts of the civilized world as a result of increased knowledge
and improved methods for the prevention of infectious diseases and the
general improvement in hygienic conditions.

The time at my disposal only permits of a brief general survey of
the field which comes within the purview of the department of pre-
ventive medicine of the Washington Post-Graduate Medical School. It
will be our aim during the course to give detailed information and
practical laboratory instruction upon all the more important subjects
connected with this branch of medicine. This will be apparent to those
who have read our 'circular of information' with reference to the
course of instruction. This includes personal and municipal hygiene,
a practical knowledge of sanitary chemistry, including food adultera-
tions and pathogenic bacteria, of animal parasites injurious to man,
of preventive inoculations, of disinfection, of military and naval
hygiene, of national and international quarantine, etc. Fortunately
we have among our professors, experts upon all of these subjects and we
believe that the city of Washington offers unequaled facilities for a
comprehensive and scientific course of instruction in preventive medi-
cine. Such a course as would seem best fitting for preparing graduates
in medicine for the responsible duties of health officers in the towns
and cities throughout the United States, and as is essential for medical
officers in the various branches of the public service. But, while we
have many special advantages for giving a comprehensive and practical
course in the department of preventive medicine, it must not be thought
that clinical medicine and surgery are to be neglected. On the con-
trary, we have ample advantages for clinical instruction in the various
hospitals of the city and a corps of competent and experienced pro-
fessors who are prepared to give practical instruction in all branches
of medicine and surgery. Those physicians who enroll themselves as
students in the Washington Post-Graduate Medical School and faith-
fully follow the course of instruction which is open to them, can not fail
to return to their professional work with broader and more exact infor-
mation on many subjects relating to scientific medicine, with increased
skill in the diagnosis and treatment of disease and with greater
confidence in the resources of the noble profession to which they have
devoted their lives.

A STATISTICAL STUDY OF EMINENT MEN. 359

A STATISTICAL STUDY OF EMINENT MEN.

By PROFESSOR J. McKEEN CATTELL,
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY.

HHHE accounts of great men in biographies and histories belong to
-*- literature rather than to science. Modern science is either genetic
or quantitative. It seeks to discover those uniformities which we call
causes and to use that method of description which we call measure-
ment. It is now time that great men should be studied as part of social
evolution and by the methods of exact and statistical science.

History is only the last chapter of organic evolution, and both where
similar causes are at work and where new factors have arisen, the
parallel between social and organic evolution is instructive. While the
Darwinian principle of natural selection as an explanation of the origin
of species has an aspect which makes it almost as naive as the doctrine
of special creations, it has given an extraordinary stimulus to modern
thought. Natural selection is no cause of the origin of species or of
anything else, but the environment is the condition of the survival of
species and of individuals. Evolution has progressed through the
occurrence of variations sanctioned by the environment. We are, it is
true, not only ignorant of the causes of variations, but even of their
nature. We do not know whether one species has been derived from
another by gradual variations in many individuals or by sudden jumps
in a few. We do not know whether the type prescribes the individual,
or whether the individual forms the type. Yet in spite of our ignor-
ance not only of the causes but even of the nature of organic evolution
the distinctions formulated by the naturalist are fruitful when applied
to social evolution.

It is evident that there are two leading factors in producing a man
and making him what he is — one the endowment given at birth, the
other the environment into which he comes. The main lines are cer-
tainly laid down by heredity — a man is born a man and not an ape. A
savage brought up in cultivated society will not only retain his dark
skin, but is likely to have also the incoherent mind of his race. On
the other hand, environment has at least an absolute veto. Had the
infant Newton been cast among Hottentots he could have announced
no laws of motion. But were those differences — small from the point
of view of organism, great from the point of view of function — which
distinguished Dante from his Florentine fellow townsmen innate or due
to the circumstances of his life? Here the biological parallel may be

360 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

serviceable. Are those variations which produce new species caused
by the environment ? Can life be regarded as the resultant of physical
forces? Many zoologists and physiologists answer in the affirmative,
but it appears rather that life develops not on account of, but in large
measure in spite of, physical forces — these tend to the dissipation of
energy, they are the causes of death rather than of life. So in like
manner it seems that the environment would tend to reduce the great
man to its level rather than to lift him above it — Dante wrote in spite
of his surroundings, not on account of them. Still the environment
counts for much. If the seed of the white pine is dropped among New
England rocks it will grow into a small bush, if planted in the rich
soil of the south it will become a great tree. We have the 'Divine
Comedy' because Dante had 'the steep stairs and bitter bread' in place
of Beatrice.

As the environment tends to reduce all things to' its level, so
heredity tends to maintain the type. Whence then the great man who
brings something new into the world? Carlyle had the same heredity
and the same initial environment as his brothers. Why should he write
of heroes and become one, while they remained peasants? Why, we
may ask the theory of organic evolution, should certain individuals of a
species possess variations tending to greater complexity, which lay
down the lines of evolution ? Perhaps all we can say is that the question
'why' is more in place in the nursery than in the laboratory. Why
heredity should maintain the type is as obscure as why new types should
arise. If the world were a chaos, no questions would be asked, as it is a
cosmos it must have a certain definite order. But if when we ask
'why' we really mean 'how,' then we have the plain way of science
before us. We can investigate the stability and variability of the type,
we can study the effects of the environment on the individual. We
know perhaps in a general way that any great war will find the material
at hand for the making of a Grant and a Lee, and, on the other hand,
that a Shelley may be what he is in spite of heredity and environment.
More exact knowledge can only come from an inductive study of facts.

As in organic evolution the effects of variations are less obscure
than their causes, so in social evolution we can trace more easily the
influence of great men than we can account for their origin. As we
ascend the scale of animal life and human development the role of
social tradition becomes increasingly potent. A new trait in a single
individual among lower animals, even though it may be both useful
and stable, can have but an infinitesimal effect in altering the species.
In man a new advance made by a single individual becomes quickly
the common property of all. Let fire be discovered and we have a trait
that endows every one. Let the printing press be invented and each
can speak with a thousand tongues. Let Dante see . the ideal of

A STATISTICAL STUDY OF EMINENT MEN. 361

romantic love and every boy and girl in Christendom has his life altered
thereby. What we now are — as men — depends chiefly on social tradi-
tion ; withhold it for a generation and we should revert to savagery and
further. It is also true that social tradition sets the course of organic
development. Individuals who are unfit for their social environment
can not survive in it; those who possess variations, however slight,
making adjustment to social conditions and social ideals more easy are
more likely to survive and to transmit their traits. If we depended
only on social tradition, progress would be limited by the extreme range
of individual adaptations. But by the preservation of stable variations
in the line of social evolution, we secure a new type from which new
forward variations are more likely.

Whether great men really lay down the line of social evolution or
only anticipate and hasten its necessary course is an unsolved question.
Are great men, as Carlyle maintains, divinely inspired leaders, or are
they, as Spencer tells us, necessary products of given physical and
social conditions? If Dante had not set the ideal of romantic love,
would it not have come from other sources? Did Darwin do more than
express what was ' in the air ' and hasten by a dozen years the necessary
course of science? We can only answer such questions by an actual
study of facts.

When we regard the noteworthy men that have appeared in the
world, it is evident that they have but little in common. 'Some are
born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon
them.' We have men of genius, great men and men merely eminent.
Thus many a genius has been a 'mute inglorious Milton' lacking the
character or the circumstance for the accomplishment of his task.
Washington was scarcely a genius, but was a truly great man. Napoleon
III. was neither a genius nor a great man, but was eminent to an
unusual degree. But if we simply take those men who have most
attracted the eyes and ears of the world, who have most set its tongues
and printing presses in motion, we have a definite group. Beginning
with this we can analyse and classify; we can study these individuals,
their causes and their effects; we can regard them as types of a given
age and race ; we can use them to measure interests and tendencies.

For these purposes our first need is a definite list of the most
eminent men, sufficiently large for statistical study.* The method I
followed to discover the 1,000 men who are preeminent was this: I

* The statistics of this paper were presented to the American Psychological
Association in December, 1894, and an abstract was published in The Psycholog-
ical Review for March, 1895. It was read in its present form as a lecture before
the Philosophical Club of Yale University in 1897.

362 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

took six biographical dictionaries or encyclopaedias* — two English, two
French, one German and one American and found the two thousand
men (approximately) in each who were allowed the longest articles.
In this way some 6,000 men were found. I then selected the men who
appeared in the lists of at least three of the dictionaries, and from these
(some 1,600) selected the thousand who were allowed the greatest
average space, the value of the separate dictionaries being reduced to
a common standard. Thus was obtained not only the thousand men
esteemed the most eminent, but also the order in which they stand.

This list represents the point of view of these dictionaries, and
would be somewhat different had other works been selected. Mathe-
matical science can indeed assign a probable error to each name on the
list, and tell us how likely it is that the man should be there, and
within what limits his place on the list is likely to be correct. But the
greater men of the thousand would remain whatever the authorities
collated; and although the personal names of the lesser men might
vary, this would affect but little the statistics sought. The preparation
of this list required more work than may be supposed, but it has an
objective impartiality and value, which it would not have if the names
had been selected by an easier method.

According to this list the ten most eminent men are Napoleon,
Shakespeare, Mahommed, Voltaire, Bacon, Aristotle, Goethe, Csesar,
Luther, Plato. There is no doubt but that Napoleon is the most emi-
nent man who has lived. Yet it should give us pause to think that this
Titan of anarchy stands first in the thoughts of most men. It is curious
that these ten preeminent men are so widely separated in race and age
— two Greeks, two Frenchmen, two Germans, two Englishmen, one
Roman and one Arab : two in the fifth century and one in the first cen-
tury before Christ, one in the sixth, one in the fifteenth, two in the
sixteenth and three in the eighteenth century. The ten names last on
the list are Otho, Sertorius, Macpherson, Claudian, Domitian, Bugeaud,
Charles I. of Naples, Fauriel, Enfantin and Babeuf. These are scarcely
great men, yet they fairly represent the lower limits of the thousand
who are most eminent. Each hundred in the list shows a nice gradation
in eminence. There are indeed many cases where each of us would
shift a man up or down, but further examination will show that the
opinion in such cases is usually individual, not having the objective
validity of this series. I give for reference the thousand preeminent
men of the world in the order of eminence, divided into groups of one
hundred.

* ' Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary,' 'The Encyclopaedia Britannica,'
Rose's ' Biographical Dictionary,' ' Le dictionnaire de biographie generale,'
Beaujean's ' Dictionnaire biographique ' and Brockhaus's ' Conversationslexicon.'
There is no biographical dictionary in German nor any encyclopedia as satis-
factory as the Britannica, neither do such works exist in Italian, Dutch or
Scandinavian, otherwise it would have been desirable to have used them.

A STATISTICAL STUDY OF EMINENT MEN. 363

Napoleon, Shakespeare, Mohammed, Voltaire, Bacon, Aristotle, Goethe,
Julius Caesar, Luther, Plato, Napoleon III., Burke, Homer, Newton, Cicero,
Milton, Alexander the Great, Pitt, Washington, Augustus, Wellington, Raphael,
Descartes, Columbus, Confucius, Penn, Scott, Michelangelo, Socrates, Byron,
Cromwell, Gautama, Kant, Leibnitz, Locke, Demosthenes, Mary Stuart, Calvin,
Moliere, Lincoln, Louis Philippe, Dante, Rousseau, Nero, Franklin, Galileo,
Johnson, Robespierre, Frederick the Great, Aurelius, Hegel, Petrarch, Horace,
Charles V. (Germany), Mirabeau, Erasmus, Virgil, Hume, Guizot, Gibbon,
Pascal, Bossuet, Hobbes, Swift, Thiers, Louis XIV., Wordsworth, Louis XVI.,
Nelson, Henry VIII., Addison, Thucydides, Fox, Racine, Schiller, Henry IV.
(France), W. Herschel, Tasso, Jefferson, Ptolemy Claudius, Augustine, Pope,
Machiavelli, Swedenborg, Philip II., Leonardo da Vinci, George III., Julian,
Pythagoras, Macaulay, Rubens, Burns, Mozart, Humboldt, Comte, Cousin,
Cuvier, Justinian, Euripides, Camoens.

Talleyrand, Fenelon, Carlyle, Pius IX., Pitt, More, Hannibal, Spinoza,
Chateaubriand, Abelard, Grant, Charles I. (England), Darwin, Mazarin,
Bolingbroke, Elizabeth (England), Ovid, Joan d' Arc, Livy, Corneille, Rabelais,
Huss, a' Becket, d' Alembert, Grotius, Peter I., Polo, Linnaeus, Raleigh, Palmer-
ston, Lamartine, Jos. Bonaparte, Tennyson, Plutarch, Charlemagne, Aristophanes,
Melanchthon, St. Ambrose, Richelieu, James I., Hunter, Hugo, Disraeli, Dryden,
Origen, Titian, Boccaccio, Alberoni, Lessing, Fichte, Condillac, Dickens, Wal-
lenstein, Schelling, Diirer, Charles XII., Kepler, Trajan, Knox, Constantine,
La Fontaine, Van Dyck, Cervantes, Stael, Hippocrates, Louis XVIIL, Clive,
Rembrandt, Diderot, Chaucer, Montaigne, Napier, Sand, Marmont, Tiberius, Peel,
Francis I. (France), Nicholas I., William I., J. S. Mill, Sophocles, J. Adams,
Webster, Athanasius, Bentley, Savonarola, Marlborough, J. Cook, Seneca,
Zwingle, Cavour, Buffon, Goldsmith, Brougham, Alexander VI., Gerson, Alex-
ander I. (Russia), Louis XV., R. Bacon, Pericles.

Herodotus, Hadrian, Davy, Frederick II. (Germany), Catherine II., Cond€,
B. Jonson, Antony, Lucretius, Pompey, James II. (England), Canning, Strafford,
Mencius, La Fayette, A. Hamilton, Alfred the Great, Gassendi, Cortez,
Beethoven, L. Bonaparte, Sevigne", Xenophon, Wycliffe, Alfieri, Charles X.
( France ) , Harvey, Marius, Juvenal, Firdousee, Gutenberg, Lope de Vega Carpio,
La Place, Garibaldi, Necker, Froissart, Arius, ^Eschylus, Etienne, Epicurus,
Mithridates, Isocrates, Jerome, A. Jackson, Canova, Atterbury, Bulwer, Gay-
Lussac, Wilhelm I. (Prussia), Niebuhr, Fielding, George IV., Haller,
Schleiermacher, J. Watt, St. Bernard, William III., Joinville, Arago, Fouche,
Handel, Spenser, Lagrange, Herder, Velasquez, Bunsen, Alcibiades, De Foe,
Hastings, Colbert, Metternich, Richard I., Tertullian, Lamennais, Leo X.,
Cobden, Gustavus Adolphus, Wieland, Berkeley, Law, Maintenon, Cranmer,
Coleridge, Chrysostom, Beza, Murat, Mazzini, Condorcet, Polybius, Ariosto,
Chatterton, Pliny (Elder), Turgot, Tacitus, Malebranche, John of England,
Danton, Chalmers, Germanicus, Haydn.

St. Basil, William of Orange, Longfellow, Philip IV., Sully, Huygens,
Louis XL, Montesquieu, Eugene, Charles II. (England), Bernadotte, A.
Severus, Klopstock, Innocent III., Zoroaster, Attila, G. Monk, A. Smith, Ney,
Victor Emmanuel, Prescott, Pindar, Beranger, Gregory VII., Beaumarchais,
Rossini, Bentham, Drake, Moreau, Faraday, Boetius, T. Moore, S. Clarke, Chan-
ning, Alexander II. (Russia), Maria Theresa, Wagner, Priestley, Josephine,
Thackeray, Copernicus, Blucher, Soult, Maximilian, Carnot, Philo, Averroes,
Calderon, Bolivar, Sulla, Ali-weli-zade, Le Sage, Heine, Boyle, Loyola,
Marie Antoinette, Wesley, Poussin, Winckelmann, Turenne, R. B. B. Sheridan,

364 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Weber, W. Hamilton, Avicenna, Shaftesbury, Bright, Catullus, Boerhaave, C.
Grey, Leopold I. (Germany), W. Irving, Henry IV. (Germany), Tamerlane,
Massena, Retz, B. Constant, Reuchlin, Sainte-Beuve, Baxter, K. W. Humboldt,
Jenner, Liebig, Philip II. (Germany), Aquinas, Dumouriez, Murillo, Lucian,
Agassiz, Mehemet Ali, Wolsey, Solon, Jansen, Lavoisier, R. Walpole, Hogarth,
Derby, Bichat, Sherman, Frederick W. III. (Prussia), St. Simon.

Wilkes, Phidias, Philip Augustus, Mendelssohn, Boniface VIII., Cobbett,
Bailley, Emerson, Joseph II. (Germany), Russell, Vauban, Ferdinand V.
(Spain), Bayle, Archimedes, Christina, Scipio, Thou, T. Fairfax, Metastasio,
Louis IX., L' Hopital, Marat, Guicciardini, Berzelius, Akbar, Sarpi, Varro,
Armenius, Vergniaud, Bayard, Gregory I. (Pope), Louis XIII. , Beaton, Wil-
berforce, Tieck, Andrews, Lycurgus, O'Connell, Burnet, Reynolds, Seward, J.
Franklin, Galen, A. Dumas, Alaric, Campanella, Arnauld, Balzac, Plautus, a'
Kempis, Richelieu, Pius VI., Terence, Charles VII. (France), Renan, Pizarro,
Henry II. (England), Martial, Theodosius, R. Blake, J. J. Scaliger, Cardan,
Cowper, Musset, Pius II., Villars, Helvetius, Belisarius, Candolle, W. Temple,
Palestrina, Robertson, Strauss, Kotzebue, Bach, Madison, Hesiod, George I.
(England), Dupin, F. A. Wolf, St. Hilaire, Farragut, J. Q. Adams, Cato
(Elder), Gluck, Grote, Cyrus, Bunyan, J. L. Grimm, L. Bonaparte, Antoninus
Pius, Chesterfield, Pius VII., Leopardi, L. de Medici, Richard II., Gouvion St.
Cyr, Gregory Naz., Warburton, Strabo.

Euclid, Desmoulins, Genlis, Clarendon, De Witt, Essex, Brahg, Eusebius,
Mahmud II., Ferdinand VII. (Spain), Frederick I. (Germany), Euler, G.
Howard, Reid, Gambetta, Ledru-Rollin, Lulli, Michaelis, Mahmud, Southey,
Monge, Lucullus, Oersted, Hutten, Selden, Henry VI., Hawthorne, Villemain,
Gall, Goldoni, Beaumont, Aguesseau, Beauharnais, J. F. Cooper, Catilina,
Clement, J. B. Rousseau, Castlereagh, Fontanelle, Casaubon, Cellini, Charles
VI. (France), L. R. St. Simon, Lavater, Jacobi, Herod, Margaret of Anjou,
Philip VI. (France), Richter, Voss, Mackintosh, Lao-Tsze, Paracelsus, Persius,
Themistocles, J. C. Wolf, Ampere, George II. (England), Huskisson, iEschines,
Albuquerque, Bruyere, Dalhousie, SuwarofF, Hampden, Coligni, Photius, Cud-
worth, Alva, Pufendorf, Rumford, Anderson, de Malherbe, Mary, J. B. Jourdan,
Louis XII., Theodoric, Barrere, Titus, Ranke, Aurelian, Gaskell, T. Paine,
Herbart, Lee, Phocion, Mme. Roland, Henry III. (France), St. Pierre, Ingres,
Warwick, Garrison, Erskine, Halley, Cato (younger), Gustavus I., Vasco da
Gama, Maupertuis, Guyon, Courier.

Albertus Magnus, Boehme, E. T. W. Hoffmann, T. E. Hook, Marot,
Henry I. (England), Massillon, Quintilian, Monmouth, Maecenas, Philip V.,
Michelet, Luxembourg, Tintoretto, Vespucci, Saladin, G. Buchannan, Henry V.
(England), Butler, Anselm, Rochefoucauld, Charles the Bold, Manutius, Gus-
tavus III., Cornelius, John of Austria, Delille, Adanson, Cherubini, Champollion,
Mornay, Sieyes, H. Walpole, Jenghiz Khan, Magellan, William IV. (England),
Boleyn, Ronsard, Meyerbeer, Ramus, Steele, Servetus, Orleans d' P., Gray,
Josephus, Royer-Collard, F. C. M. Fourier, St. Francis, H. Clay, Gioberti,
Desaix de Voygoux, Grattan, Montecuculi, Sacy, Bruno, Paley, Jerome Bona-
parte, Barras, Maury, De la Vigne, Ali (Ibn abi talib), Cavaignac, Cromwell,
Charles d' Orleans, Sterne, Malesherbes, Middleton, Vico, Berthollet, Jane Grey,
A. Sidney, Salmasius, Pliny (younger), MacDonald, Sallust, Saxe, Marmontel,
Clarendon, Sylvester II., J. Taylor, Lamarck, Holbein, Henry VIII., Volta,
Rosa, Whiston, Haiiy, Cyprian, A. Chenier, Diocletian, Pompadour, J. Herschel,
Kaulbach, Poggio, Holberg, Miller, Henry IV. (England), Oehlenschliiger,
Boden, Manes.

A STATISTICAL STUDY OF EMINENT MEN. 365

Sappho, Sarto, Anaxagoras, Isabella of Castile, A. W. Schlegel, Justin,
Godoy, Epaminondas, P. Henry, Fulton, Dumont d' Urville, Garrick, Andrieu,
Ginguen6, Regnard, Du Guesclin, Wellesley, H. Vernet, George Eliot, Fuller,
Heraclitus, Newman, Struensee, Thorwaldsen, Cleopatra, Zeno, Poushkin, E.
Coke, Augereau, Bronte, Jerome of Prag., Aurungzebe, Vespasian, Philopoeman,
Vane, Jouffroy, Bonnet, Giotto, Agrippa, Alcuin, Gregory of Nyssa, Proudhon,
Politian, Arndt, Fr£ret, R. Hall, Charles IX. (France), Anne, Smollett,
Demetrius Polior, Democritus, Gay, Cabanis, J. Flaxman, Gallatin, Fouquet,
Cujas Guido Reni, C. S. Gracchus, Jeffreys, Gardiner, Oxenstierna, Kl€ber,
Scipio, Mabillon, Lac£pede, Stewart, Lyell, Rameau, Cassini, Lalande, Sumner,
Parker, Plotinus, Cagliari, Lacordaire, Marguerite d' Angouleme, Kosciusko,
P. H. Sheridan, Tocqueville, Hipparchus, Henry III. (England), Whitegift,
Rudolph I., de Volney, Jugurtha, Prior, Menage, Oken, Murray, Bellarmino,
Churchill, Laffitte, Henry II. (France), W. Jones, J. Owen, Cecil, Darius I.,
Charles Edward Stuart, Donizetti.

Hammer-Purgstall, J. L. David, Propertius, Boileau, Leighton, Correggio,
Grouchy, Francke, Lysias, Lannes, Bonner, Pichegru, Erigena, Casanova,
C. de Medici, Nadir (Shah), Whitefield, J. P. J. d'Orleans, Lucan, Teniers,
Richard III., Apelles, Meckiewitz, Ximines, Sobieski, E. Irving, Stein, Hoche,
Louvois, Saadi, Montague, Alfonso X., Scribe, Oudinot, Livingston, E. Herbert,
K. W. F. Schlegel, Mariana, Rienzi, Sixtus V., Hahnemann, Celsus, von Gentz,
Deak, Pym, Gustavus IV., Monroe, Gauss, Keats, C. Bell, Godwin, De la Croix,
Charles VI. (Germany), Edward IV., Ennius, Epictetus, Ferdinand II., Harold
II., Zeno, Fiesole, Pestalozzi, Dundonald, Tippoo Sahib, Clovis, Huet, Maistre,
Cagliostro, Ray, Malthus, Atticus, Barrow, Somers, Arkw'right, Wren, Quinet,
iNodier, Kriidener, Bede, Claude of Lorraine, Theocritus, L. Stanislaus, Hooker,
P. Sidney, Miiller, Maimonides, Odoacer, Henault, Theresa, Barthez, Espartero,
Decazes, Martineau, T. Brown, Fermat, Agathocles, Empedocles, Charles V.,
Banks, Zinzendorf, Thierry.

T. S. Gracchus, Delambre, Caligula, Edward III. (England), Richardson,
Porphyry, Nicole, Waller, Balboa, Solyman, Catherine de Medici, La Harpe,
Pole, Thales, Marie de Medici, Procopius, Lactantius, Borgia, Berengarius de
Tours, Tallien, Camden, Armstrong, Jeffrey, Capo, Sismondi, R. Owen, Apuleius,
St. Just, Spontini, W. Laud, Irenaeus, Lacretelle, J. B. Lulli, Paul I. (Russia),
Stilicho, Arbuthnot, Dampier, Auber, Gregoire, Dolet, La Chaise, Francis II.
(Germany), Dolomieu, ^Esop, F. M. Grimm, Dupuytren, M. J. Brutus, Feuer-
bach, Barnaveldt, Farel, Akenside, Prince Albert, Bouillon, Hauser, Frederick
Wilhelm II. (Prussia), Gerando, W. Wallace, Chamfort, Agrippa, Garat,
Audubon, A. Doria, Hareeree, Cowley, Heyne, Martinez, Petronius, Hortense,
Mahommed II., Mai, Sue, J. Barry, Marivaux, Sebastian, Rotrou, W. Russell,
Suchet, Paoli, Bopp, Romilly, Montalembert, John XXII. , Rohan, Iambi icus,
Bernhard, Simonides, Baggesen, Raspail, Thomson, Louis I., Otho, Sertorius,
Macpherson, Claudianus, Domitian, Bugeaud, Charles I. (Naples), Fauriel,
Enfantin, Babeuf.

The preparation of this list was incidental to the main purpose of
my research, and I do not wish to lay undue stress upon it. Still it is of
interest to find that we can compare and even measure a thing as
intangible as the eminence of great men. We should not need to refer
to such a list to decide whether Homer or Virgil is the more eminent;
but it may satisfy that curiosity which is the beginning of science to

366 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

know that there are to the best of our present knowledge twelve men
more eminent than Homer and fifty-six men more eminent than
Virgil. Further by reckoning the probable errors it is found that the
chances are even that Homer's place on the list is between 10 and 26
and Virgil's between 42 and 98.

But while our general knowledge apart from any such list as this
may suffice to compare Homer with Virgil as accurately as is needful,
this does not hold for men whose work is not readily comparable. Is
Raphael, Descartes or Columbus the more eminent? As a matter of
fact they stand respectively 2 2d, 23d and 24th on the list, and are
equally eminent. I do not see how this result could have been reached
from any general knowledge we may have of the work and fame of these
men. Or again, Newton follows Homer and Hume follows Virgil on
the list, consequently Newton is as much more eminent than Hume as
Homer is than Virgil.

Things can be arranged in order more easily than they can be
measured. We know that one sound is louder than another, though
we may be unable to say whether it is more or less than twice as loud.
We can arrange without much difficulty the examination papers of our
students in the order of excellence, though unable to decide that one
paper is twice as good as another. But the theory of probability makes
even the measurement of the eminence of great men possible.

If all the men of the races and ages with which we are concerned
were arranged in order, we might divide them into quarters. Sup-
posing there to be one hundred million individuals in all from whom
these men might have arisen, taking the adult male population of the
countries and periods producing nearly all of them, we should have at
the end the 25 million least deserving of credit, including the defective
and delinquent classes. Then we should have two groups each con-
taining 25 million, one falling below and one rising above the average.
These are the ordinary men who depart from the median by an amount
less than the probable error. Then at the upper end we have the group
of 25 million individuals who through some special trait or through
a combination of traits rise above the others. At the extreme end of
this group are the thousand preeminent men of our list.

What a man is and does is the result of innumerable influences,
chiefly small and independent, some pulling him down and some lifting
him up. In so far as this is the case, the men will be grouped together
and depart from each other in a certain definite fashion. The matter
can most readily be illustrated by taking a single trait such as height.
If these men were placed in a row arranged according to height, the
tops of their heads would form a curve of which an exaggerated form is
given. In a general way the middle man would be of the average height,

A STATISTICAL STUDY OF EMINENT MEN. 367

say 5 ft. 8 in., and a great part of all the men would be of nearly this
height, one quarter being not more than 1% inches shorter and one
quarter not more than l1^ inches taller. The line of the heads would
be nearly horizontal, but would gradually slope more and more, until
at one end we should have the comparatively few dwarfs and at the
other the few giants. These relations can be illustrated by the bell-
shaped curve, whose properties are well known.

8

Ogive and Bell-shaped Curves Showing the Distribution of Traits.

Five feet eight inches is the average height of men, and the number
of men of that height (within say 1/10 in.) is proportional to the line
OY. The number of men say 1% inches (within 1/10 in.) larger than
the average by an amount equal to the probable error or V/2 in. is
proportional to the line PQ, and the number of men within these limits,
one quarter of all the men, is proportional to the area OYQP which
is one quarter the area of the curve. The number of men 6 ft. 2 in.
in height — who depart from the mean by 6 in., or four times the
probable error — would be OJJ , only 1/50 as many as are 5 ft. 9y2 in.
in height, and but three in a thousand of all men would be taller than
6 ft. 2 in.

Now applying this to the collective traits giving efficiency, we have
one half of all men coming within the limit OP which may be taken as
a unit of measure. The total number of men surpassing the average
by four times the amount of the average departure would be about
300,000. Most of us may hope to fall within this group. The thou-
sand preeminent men filling the extreme area of the curve would begin
at a point six times the average departure, and the relative excellence
of the greater men on the list can also be expressed numerically.

Turning now to the distribution of these eminent men in time and
race we may review statistics not wholly devoid of interest. The num-
ber of great men born in each half century since the beginning of his-
tory is shown in the accompanying curve. In still more remote ages
there were leaders of men, gods, prophets and heroes, whose names are
forgotten or obscured, and at the beginning we have four names, rep-
resenting rather work than persons — Zoroaster, Homer, Hesiod,

368

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Lycurgus — followed by the rise of Greek civilization and culture — the
most notable event in the world's history. Here we have a race as
superior to us as we are to the negroes — a great race, for whose origin
we can no more account than we can explain the birth of Shakespeare
at Stratford-on-Avon. The curve shows the progress of the Greek race
as represented by its great men — leaders then and now in war, in

1HC

juo

%00

vo

|M

I<i0

no

loo

80

to

40

20

a.d ioo ^oo 'ioo 400 ?oo

fcOO 100 400 900 1000

1100

IZ0O

1300

moo

IJ00

i too

1100

IS0O

The Curve Represents the Distribution of the Thousand Most Eminent Men of His-
tory from 600 B. C. to the First Half of the Nineteenth Century. The numbers are given
on the left side, the ordinates or height of the curve above the base line representing the num-
ber of eminent men born in each half century. Thus there were five preeminent men born be-
tween 600 and 550 B. C and 241 in the second halt of the eighteenth century. As men attain
eminence about fifty years later than they are born, the periods of productivity are one place
further to the right.

statesmanship, in philosophy, in literature, in art — and its more sudden
decline in the third and second centuries before Christ. But the
supremacy relinquished by the Greeks was grasped by the iron hand
of the Romans, who in the centuries just before Christ rise rapidly and
then fall. The relation of Greek to Roman civilization is shown in
a separate figure.

A STATISTICAL STUDY OF EMINENT MEN. 369

These curves — which of course give only a graphic representation
of quantitative relations whose general character we all know — indicate
that heredity, including under the term both stability and variability
of the stock, is more potent than social tradition or physical environ-
ment. We have these races forming by their own inherent genius a
social environment far beyond anything the world had ever witnessed,
but when this was at its maximum it had not power to counteract the
weakening influence of race admixture and exhaustion of the stock.
The physical environment also remained the same, and those who
would account for Greek and Eoman culture by the favorable position
of the two Mediterranean peninsulas — their climate, soil, coast line

loo too 10c (to sco iioo 300 100 100 -0 0+ 100. loo 300 ido $00
The Curves Show the Distribution of Eminent Men in the Greco-Roman Period.

and the like — should tell us why these could not maintain what they
had formed. Why should the Greeks then have resisted the countless
hordes of Persia, while recently on the same ground they fled before a
few thousand Turks? Physical environment and social tradition may
be conditions of development, but they are not its efficient causes.

Following the extraordinary development of the two nations of
classical antiquity we have a decline, not sudden, for Rome still pro-
duced soldiers and writers, the Christian Church had its leaders and
theologians, and the Greeks witnessed their Indian summer in Alex-
andria. But the light fails toward the fifth century — never, however,
to be quenched, for there were always one or two to pass on the torch
until the fire was rekindled in newer races. In Britain, in Germany
and in France there developed centers of civilization. The mixed races
of Italy gave birth to an art and a literature rivaling that of Greece.
The Roman Catholic Church fairly established its authority by the
great men it produced. It was a strange time, all Europe was in tur-
moil, but universities were established and the arts of peace flourished
in the midst of wars.

The curve shows a rise from the tenth century increasing in rapidity
as it proceeds. As the list includes only men no longer living, and as
many of those born during the first half of the nineteenth century were
still living and had not even attained eminence when the books of refer-
ence on which the list is based were compiled, the absolute numbers of
those born since 1800 have no value, but they serve for comparison

VOL. LXII. — 24.

37o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

The increase in eminent men as we approach our own day may be
partly a matter of perspective. Still the numbers should normally
increase with larger population and multiplication of opportunity and
interests. It is unfortunately very difficult to compare the number of
great men with the total population from which they arose. Were a
curve of this sort drawn, however, it would be very dfferent from that
here exhibited. The rise in modern times would be much less ; and the
Greek and Koman periods would surpass that of the end of the eigh-
teenth century.

In our curve there are three noticeable breaks. Perhaps nothing
could serve better than such a curve to impress on the minds of school
children, or even on our own, the eddies in the stream. It must be
remembered that the curves give the numbers of men born in each half
century, while the period in which they nourished is about fifty years
later. Thus in the fourteenth century there was a pause followed by a
gradual improvement and an extraordinary fruition at the end of the
fifteenth century. Painting is represented in Italy by Eaphael, Angelo,
Leonardo, Titian, Correggio and Sarto, in Germany by Holbein and
Durer. Savonarola failed, while Luther led a reformation. Columbus
discovered a new world and Copernicus discovered innumerable worlds.
There was then a pause in progress, until a century later England
and France took the lead. Spenser was quickly followed by Shakes-
peare, who did not stand alone among English dramatists. A little
later Moliere, Kacine and Corneille represented the drama in a group
of eminent French men of letters. Descartes and Bacon revived phi-
losophy and science; while Italy, failing in art, produced Galileo.

The latter part of the seventeenth century was a sterile period, fol-
lowed by a revival culminating in the French revolution. Here, as in
other periods, it is difficult to decide how far men were made eminent
by circumstance and how far great men were leaders in new movements.
The social upheaval in France gave eminence to political and military
leaders who otherwise would have remained in obscurity, and given a
Napoleon his complement is a Wellington. The progress of science may
in part be an answer to the demands of increasing population. But
philosophy and art also witnessed a renaissance. In Germany we have
Kant, Goethe and the development of music, in England, poets speaking
a new language. Here great men seem not so much the creatures as the
creators of their environment.

As we come nearer to our own times it becomes increasingly difficult
to measure tendencies by the methods we are using. The positions of
men on the list are subject to larger probable and constant errors.
Byron may be a household word on the continent and Shelley unknown,
while the best criticism may place Shelley above Byron. Our list
places Mendelssohn above Bach and ignores Schumann altogether —

A STATISTICAL STUDY OF EMINENT MEN. 371

while the last thirty years have altered not only critical opinion, but
also popular taste.

If we regard now more especially the racial distribution of our great
men, we get results conveniently exhibited in the accompanying figure.
The heights of the rectangles are
proportional to the numbers of
great men produced by several
nations. France leads, followed
pretty closely by Great Britain.
Then there is a considerable fall
to Germany and Italy. Borne
and Greece are nearly alike.
America has produced one more
eminent man than Spain (not on
the chart) which is followed by
Switzerland,Holland and Sweden.
"We then reach the nations headed
by Eussia, which have produced
fewer than 10 preeminent men.
The shaded rectangles show the
distribution of the 500 men who
are the most eminent and the
heavily shaded rectangles the
hundred who are the greatest of
all. Here the relations are some-
what altered. Great Britain sur-
passes France, and Greece has
produced more exceptionally great men than Germany.*

We have already noticed the curves showing separately the Greek
and Eoman periods. Similar curves for the leading modern nations are
given in the chart. The Italian renaissance is followed by its decadence
with a partial revival in recent times. Germany for one short period
in the fifteenth century rivaled France and England, but in the two
following centuries lagged far behind, to rise with great rapidity in the
eighteenth century. France and Great Britain, as we have seen, have
produced nearly the same number of great men, and their curves during
the centuries cross and recross. The British curve is somewhat more
regular than the French, exhibiting perhaps certain racial characteris-
tics. As has been already stated, the French revolution brought into
prominence many men not truly great, and the position then attained
by France is not held in the nineteenth century. In so far as the curves

* These relations are somewhat dependent on the authorities collated ; their
validity may be assigned by the calculation of probable errors, but there may
be a constant error due to the fact that the collation of names depends chiefly
on French and Anglo-Saxon standards.

The Rectangles are Proportional to the
Numbers of the Most Eminent Men Pro-
duced by Different Nations. The shaded
parts represent the more eminent five hun-
dred, and the heavily shaded parts the hun-
dred most eminent of all.

372

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

for the nineteenth century are valid, the promise for America is large.
We should during the twentieth century produce more notable men
than any other nation. It is ill for us, having the largest population
and the richest resources, if we do not keep this promise.

30 •

1100 isdo i too noo noo

The Curves Show the Production of Great Men at Different Periods by Several
of the Leading Nations.

Our racial divisions are given to us ready made. The subject
becomes more difficult when we try to class eminent men in accordance
with their traits. We can, however, perhaps use the tripartite sub-
division current in psychology. There we are apt to treat separately
cognitions, feelings and volitions. This classification proves useful
when applied to the traits of great men. Some excel because they
have strong wills, are quick and sure in action. These become leaders
in war and in political affairs. Others have strong feelings — artists,
poets, men of letters. Others surpass in pure thought — philosophers,
scholars, men of science. Distinguishing then men of action, men of
feeling, and men of thought, we secure the curves shown on the accom-
panying chart. It is seen that more men are eminent for action than
for either thought or feeling, though if the latter two classes are com-
bined it is found that the quiet work of the student has after all pro-
duced more eminent men than war and politics. Each class shows an
increase as we approach our own time and the secular variations affect
them together, though it is noticeable that men of thought have been

A STATISTICAL STUDY OF EMINENT MEN. 373

much more constant in their appearance and bid fair to surpass the
others in the twentieth century.

In passing I may state that modern psychology does not admit that
we can divide mental processes into such as are cognitions, such as are
feelings and such as are volitions, any more than we can divide physical
bodies into such as have size, such as have color and such as have weight,
but must rather regard these as aspects of all mental processes. So

•HOO

1-500

HOD

1100

1S0D

The Curves Show the Relative Numbers of Men of Action, Men of Thought, and
Men of Feeling at Different Periods.

with our great men — if a man excels in action he probably is not
deficient in feeling and judgment — on the contrary these are probably
strong. My statistics show, contrary perhaps to the current opinion,
that a man who excels in one direction is likely also to excel in others.
An artist is much more likely to be a poet than is an ordinary man and
is, though in a less degree, more likely to be a soldier or a man of science.
Curves showing further subdivisions are also given. From the
upper chart it is clear that there have been more eminent statesmen
than soldiers, especially since the beginning of the eighteenth century.

374

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

StoItinteTV1

Soldiers are also surpassed in numbers by men of science and our curves
foretell the gradual cessation of wars. Churchmen and theologians are
of decreasing importance in human affairs. It is interesting to note that
the sterility at the end of the seventeenth century and the subsequent

revival hold for nearly every sep-
arate department. Fiction and
belleslettres make the only excep-
tion, their growth in the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries
continued in the nineteenth cen-
tury, and the number of prose
writers, novelists, essayists and
the like, who attained eminence
in the past century, surpasses that
in any other department. Any
librarian can confirm this by tell-
ing what books are most read.
Poetry and art seem to be fail-
ing. Next to politics and belles-
lettres, science occupies the most
important place.

The first five hundred were
separated from the five hundred
less eminent men, but they were
found to be nearly equally di-
vided in the different classes,
except that there are more very
great poets and fewer very great
men of letters.

The accompanying chart
shows the contributions of dif-
ferent nations to different depart-
ments. It is evident that France has excelled in war, in belleslettres
and in science — England in politics, in poetry and in philosophy — Italy
in art. Germany has produced ten and Italy six of the eighteen great
musicians. Of the fourteen great explorers England has produced five
and Spain four.

There are two somewhat anomalous classes of eminent men which
I have not as yet mentioned. Hereditary sovereigns and those made
eminent purely by circumstance. The hereditary sovereigns included
are of course only the more eminent, 102 in all, but they can not be
compared with the other classes. Only eight have been included under
the class of those eminent by circumstance, of whom Casper Hauser is
typical — but several others, especially the wives of kings, might be
placed there.

ItOO

It 00

1100

The Curves Show the Distribution of Men
of Action, Men of Thought and Men of Feel-
ing, Separated into Groups for Different
Lines of Activity.

A STATISTICAL STUDY OF EMINENT MEN. 375

I have spoken throughout of eminent men as we lack in English
words including both men and women, but as a matter of fact women
do not have an important place on the list. They have in all 32 repre-
sentatives in the thousand. Of these eleven are hereditary sovereigns
and eight are eminent through misfortunes, beauty or other circum-
stances. Belleslettres and fiction — the only department in which
woman has accomplished much — give ten names (of which three are in
the first 500) as compared with 72 men. Sappho and Joan d'Arc are

ranee

The Curves Show the Relative Contribution of Different Nations to Different
Lines of Activity.

the only other women on the list. It is noticeable that with the excep-
tion of Sappho — a name associated with certain fine fragments — women
have not excelled in poetry or art. Yet these are the departments least
dependent on environment and at the same time those in which the
environment has been perhaps as favorable for women as for men.
Women depart less from the normal than man — a fact that usually
holds for the female throughout the animal series; in many closely
related species only the males can be readily distinguished. The dis-
tribution of women is represented by a narrower bell-shaped curve.*

* Since the above was written Professor Karl Pearson has questioned the
lesser variability of woman. The matter can only be decided by facts; these
statistics certainly show greater variability for the male.

376 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

This paper is only preliminary to the real object of my research.
We have many books and articles on great men, their genius, their
heredity, their insanity, their precocity, their versatility and the like,
but, whether these are collections of anecdotes such as Professor Lom-
broso 's or scientific investigations such as Dr. Galton 's, they are lacking
in exact and quantitative deductions. Admitting that genius is hered-
itary, or, what is more doubtful, that it is likely to be associated with
insanity, we have only the ' yes ' or ' no ' as our answer. But this is only
the beginning of science. Science asks how much ? We can only answer
when we have an objective series of observations, sufficient to eliminate
chance errors, such as this list of a thousand preeminent men.

When we have such a series we can use what psychological insight
we possess to classify our material. We can seek to distinguish genius
from talent, and, having given these terms a more exact signification,
can secure quantitative data regarding their relative frequency under
varying conditions. We can determine how the man of unusual endow-
ment in its various manifestations differs from his fellow men, both in
those traits which distinguish him from them and in those traits which
he shares with them. With traits that can be measured such as length
of life, height, etc., we can readily compare the several classes of
eminent men with other classes in the community. In the case of other
traits, insanity for example, we must first determine its prevalence,
according to a proper definition, in the various classes of eminent men
and can then give a definite statement as to its relative frequency among
them and a comparison with other classes. Other more intangible traits
I am also endeavoring to measure. Qualities such as originality or
kindliness are graded on a scale of eight, mistakes are eliminated by the
numbers and we secure fairly reliable averages. The different classes
of eminent men can then be compared inter se, and with other classes
of the community, when the data for these are at hand. Then we have
the distinctions on which I have already dwelt. We can only determine
the causes of great men and their effects by a careful study of a number
sufficiently large to eliminate accidental causes and errors in our esti-
mate ; but having done this, our results can be expressed in the definite
measures of exact science.

In conclusion attention may be called to the practical importance of
such determinations. Science must precede the applications of science.
The father must discover the laws of the pendulum before the son can
apply them to the clock. A Faraday and a Henry must investigate the
phenomena of electricity before we can have the electric motor. It is
evident that applications of psychology and sociology are not as yet
numerous or important. But may not this be chiefly because the scien-
tific principles are wanting? Education and government are carried

A STATISTICAL STUDY OF EMINENT MEN. 377

on by the rule of thumb, not because this is the best way, but because
we lack the knowledge to prescribe a better way. The struggle for
existence, careless of the individual, proceeds with reckless waste of life,
and it is only the fit that survives, and not what we regard as the best.
The Chinese civilization of the age of Confucius was more stable than
that of classical Greece. The progress to our present civilization may
have depended largely on the comparatively few men who have guided
it, and the civilization we hope to have may depend on a few men.
Can we not with the knowledge we have and with the knowledge we
should acquire do more to produce such men, to select them, to train
them and to use them?

We can not perhaps apply the methods of horticulture to society,
nor carry Plato's Eepublic into effect. But great men tend to be pro-
portional in numbers to the total populations producing them and to
the average of the stock. If we can improve the stock by eliminating the
unfit or by favoring the endowed — if we give to those who have and
take away from those who have not even that which they have — we can
greatly accelerate and direct the course of evolution. If the total popu-
lation, especially of the well endowed, is larger, we increase the number
of great men. We should make sure that all are given such preliminary
education and opportunity that none fail through lack of these. Lastly
great men and also the well endowed should be so placed that their
abilities are not spent on trivial or selfish ends.

We may have still stocks that are immature — the Slavs, the Czechs
and the Scandinavians — and there is a possibility of vitality in the
negroes. But we have finally broken the links between us and the lower
animals. When our stock is exhausted, when there are no longer varia-
tions towards what we regard as advance, then for thousands of years
the human race may be dependent on the social tradition now set. We
are perhaps beginning to fail in art and in poetry, but for a century
or more science and its applications will probably be at their maximum.
What is accomplished during this short period must be either the
foundation for a new stock or the endowment policy for a long old age.

373

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.

BIOGRAPHIES OF EMINENT
CHEMISTS.

Besides the individual works named
in recent numbers of The Popular
Science Monthly, the collected works,
or dictionaries, of biography, particu-
larly those treating specially of scien-
tific men, contain valuable information
of the lives and labors of the chemists.
So far as known to the writer there is
only one book devoted to chemists ex-
clusively, and that one is so full of
mistakes and so weak through its
omissions of conspicuous men of all
nationalities, especially Americans,
that it could only be named for the
purpose of condemning it. Suffice it
to say the book is of German origin,
yet it does not include all the honor-
ary members of the German Chemical
Society. The fact that it is of recent
origin and is issued by a prominent
publisher does but strengthen its
weakness.

The most valuable of all biographical
dictionaries dealing solely with men of
science is also of German origin, and
owing to its unwieldly title is usually
designated by the words : ' Poggen-
dorff's Dictionary.' The ' Biographisch-
literarisches Handworterbuch zur Ge-
schichte der exakten Wissenschaften,'
begun in 1858 by J. C. Poggendorff,
and continued to 1900 by Feddersen
and von Oettingen, now comprises
three large volumes, and another is
promised; it is most comprehensive, in-
cluding all nationalities, all epochs of
history and all branches of exact sci-
ence. Under the last heading, how-
ever, as interpreted by its originator,
the dictionary does not include biol-
ogy, so that with few exceptions, bot-
anists and zoologists, as well as
physicians, are omitted; otherwise for

mathematicians, astronomers, geolo-
gists, physicists and chemists it is
most valuable. This dictionary not
only gives very brief outlines of the
lives of those catalogued, but in addi-
tion, fairly full lists of their scientific
publications both in independent books
and in periodicals. To the historian,
and the student of the literature of
sciences within the categories named,
these volumes are indispensable; to-
gether with ' Who's Who in America '
they form a vade mecum with reference
to the dead and the living actors in
science. If a personal remark may be
here permitted, the writer will venture
to add that his copy of ' Poggendorff's
Dictionary ' has been enhanced in value
by the insertion of more than six hun-
dred engraved portraits of savants,
each one adjoining the appropriate
biography, thereby doubling the num-
ber of volumes and increasing the in-
terest of the reader.

Several works are particularly ad-
mirable for the abundance of the por-
traits of scientists within their covers;
among these may be mentioned the
four volumes published in 1833-40 by
the Philanthropic Society, ' Montyon et
Franklin,' containing likenesses not
easily found elsewhere, and Figuier's
' Vie des savants ' in five volumes,
containing many portraits and illus-
trations in which imagination has been
of great assistance to the artist. Hof-
mann's ' Erinnerungen an vorange-
gangene Freunde ' (three volumes,
1889) embraces sketches of the lives
of chemists only, illustrated by por-
traits, which unfortunately are not
well engraved, though the text is that
of a master as well as a sympathetic
friend appreciative of the scientific
work of those he portrays. The biog-

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.

379

rapines by Hofraann include Graham,
Liebig, Buff, von Fehling, Wohler,
Dumas, Quintino Sella, Kirchoff and
Wurtz, as well as some of his own
pupils; besides portraits of these chem-
ists the volumes contain facsimiles
and other illustrations.

Of English scientists living at the
beginning of the nineteenth century
there exists a very large, handsomely
engraved print, which represents the
men assembled in the Royal Institu-
tion; this was designed by Gilbert and
drawn by Skill and W. Walker, the
latter of whom being also the engraver ;
it was published in June, 1862. It
contains fifty portraits, including
twelve distinguished chemists, Caven-
dish, Dalton, Davy, Runiford, Watt,
Wollaston, Rutherford and others; and
is accompanied by a key and a volume
giving biographies of all the scientists
whose portraits are given. The book
is edited by William Walker, junior,
and with the print forms a most valu-
able publication of artistic merit.

Of American scientists the chief
treasury for portraits and biographies
are the volumes of The Popular Sci-
ence Monthly as is well known to our
readers. From the pages of this jour-
nal the late editor compiled a hand-
some book of over five hundred pages,
entitled ' Pioneers of Science in Ameri-
ca ' (New York, 1896), and embracing
sketches of forty-nine eminent men;
the excellent portraits in this work
were in large measure drawn and en-
graved expressly for it, and some of
them can scarcely be found elsewhere.

In concluding these desultory com-

ments on biographies of eminent chem-
ists, begun in the April number, men-
tion, must be made of two more volumes
of interest; 'Essays in Historical
Chemistry,' by T. E. Thorpe (London,
1894), might be more accurately en-
titled essays in chemical biography, for
the volume consists of addresses and
lectures dealing with the lives and sci-
entific labors of twelve distinguished
chemists, from Hon. Robert Boyle, the
' Father of Chemistry and Brother to
the Earl of Cork,' to Dimitri Ivano-
witsh Mendeleeff, the Russian whose
name is memorably linked to the peri-
odic law. Dr. Thorpe's essays are
gracefully written and read well, but
he has not always taken pains to veri-
fy his statements. The assertion, for
example, that Claudio Bereguardi made
experiments with the barometer on the
leaning tower of Pisa (prior to Torri-
celli's invention) is a myth.

The second work to be named in con-
clusion is entitled ' Memorial Lectures
delivered before the Chemical Society
[of London] ' (London, 1901), to which
allusion has already been made; it
contains masterly sketches of the lives
and labors of twelve of the most emi-
nent chemists who have died within
the last decade, each written by a
sympathetic friend or by one whose
investigations were analogous. This
work can be cordially commended as
the most recent, authoritative and com-
prehensive volume published on the
subject. Fine portraits embellish the
valuable contribution to chemical biog-
raphy.

38o

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE PEOGEESS OF SCIENCE.

THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR
THE ADVANCEMENT OF
SCIENCE.
The first convocation week meet-
ing of the American Association and
its affiliated societies was a notable
event in the progress of science in
America. We have on several occa-
sions called attention to the circum-
stances that led up to this meeting.
The American Association with its
affiliated societies has hitherto held
its meetings in the summer, when the
dispersal of men of science and the heat
have been disturbing factors. The
American Society of Naturalists with
its affiliated societies has met during
Christmas week when the time was too
short, especially for those who traveled
from a distance. The American Asso-
ciation was successful in securing a
short extension of the Christmas holi-
days from all our leading institutions
of learning, some seventy in number,
leaving free for the meetings of sci-
entific and learned societies the week
in which the first of January falls.
The American Association and the
American Society of Naturalists and
most of the national societies devoted
to the special sciences then united to
hold the great congress which met at
Washington from December 29 to Jan-
uary 3.

There were at the meetings more
scientific men than had ever before as-
sembled on this continent. The enrol-
ment of members of the association was
989, which was increased to 1,352 by
the registration of those attending the
meeting of affiliated societies, but not
members of the association. The at-
tendance was larger than the registra-
tion, and may be estimated at consider-
ably more than 1,500. The addresses,

papers and discussions were truly be-
wildering in their number and range.
There were about thirty-five special
societies and sections of the associa-
tion meeting nearly or quite simul-
taneously. Under these circumstances
conflicts and inconveniences were not
entirely absent, but on the whole the
complicated machinery worked with
remarkable smoothness. Such a great
meeting accomplished much in promo-
ting solidarity among men of science,
and in demonstrating their activity and
power of organization to the world.
It was especially fortunate that this
meeting should have been held at Wash-
ington, which is now the scientific, as
well as the political, capital of the
country. Men of science from all parts
must have been greatly impressed by
the immense quantity and admirable
quality of scientific work being done
under the national government, whereas
the government officers must have been
encouraged in their research by the
visitors.

A number or even a volume of the
Monthly would go but a small way to-
ward publishing the addresses and
papers presented at the Washington
meeting. We print elsewhere the ad-
dress of the retiring president, Pro-
fessor Asaph Hall, one of the world's
great astronomers. Other addresses
and abstracts of the proceedings will be
found in Science; the real scientific
work of the meeting, however, must be
looked for in the special journals and
series of publications.

Dr. Carroll D. Wright, U. S. Com-
missioner of Labor, was chosen as the
next president, and St. Louis as the
next place of meeting. The range of the
association and its affiliated societies
was demonstrated by both selections.

TEE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

381

For the first time social and economic
science was recognized in the election
to the presidency, whereas the place
of meeting acknowledged the middle
west as coordinate with the east in
its scientific activity.

THE RECOGNITION OF THE IM-
PORTANCE OF PREVENTIVE

MEDICINE.
While it is quite impossible to give
an account of the multifarious activ-
ities of the association, what may be
accomplished by organized science may
be illustrated by two resolutions passed
by the council. One of these recognized
the service of the late Major Walter
Reed in exterminating yellow fever
at Havana, the other emphasized the
need of expert medical supervision in
the construction of the Isthmian Canal.
The first resolution reads:

Resolved, That the American Asso-
ciation for the Advancement of Science
hereby records its sense of the great
loss sustained by science in the death
of Major Walter Reed, surgeon in the
United States Army, and its apprecia-
tion of the far-reaching and invaluable
services which he has rendered to hu-
manity. By solving the problem of
the mode of spread of yellow fever,
Major Reed not only made a great
contribution to science, but at the same
time conferred inestimable benefits upon
his country and upon mankind. To
have discovered and demonstrated the
methods, which have already been suc-
cessfully tested in Cuba, of eradicating
a wide-spread and terrible pestilence,
is a benefaction of imperishable re-
nown, of incalculable value in the sa-
ving of human lives, of vast importance
to commercial interests, and deserving
of the highest rewards in the power of
his countrymen to bestow. This asso-
ciation earnestly urges upon the atten-
tion of Congress the duty of making full
provision for the support of his family.

Resolved, That the President desig-
nate a committee of nine members of
this Association, with power to increase
its number, which shall be authorized
and requested to devise and carry out
a plan, or aid in similar efforts else-
where instituted, by which a suitable
and permanent memorial of this great
benefactor of his race may be secured.
This committee shall be authorized to

prepare and publish a statement of the
services of the late Major Reed in dis-
covering the mode by which yellow
fever may be exterminated.

The members appointed to serve as
such committee are: Dr. D. C. Gilman,
Dr. A. Graham Bell, General George
M. Sternberg, Mayor Seth Low, Hon.
Abram S. Hewitt, President J. G.
Schurman, Dr. S. E. Chaille, Dr. W.
H. Welch, Dr. Charles S. Minot.

The second resolution was as follows :

Inasmuch as the construction of the
Isthmian Canal is through a region in
which without energetic sanitary con-
trol there is sure to be enormous loss
of human life from preventable dis-
eases, particularly from pernicious ma-
laria and yellow fever, as well as great
waste of energy and of money from dis-
abilities caused by such diseases, and

Inasmuch as the measures for the
restraint of these diseases, which have
already achieved even their extermina-
tion in Cuba under American adminis-
tration, require expert knowledge based
upon practical familiarity with tropical
diseases, experience in the application
of these measures, and large authority
in their administration,

Resolved, That the American Asso-
ciation for the Advancement of Science
begs most respectfully and earnestly to
call to tne attention of the President of
the United States the importance of ap-
pointing as a member of the Isthmian
Canal Commission a medical man pos-
sessed of the qualifications indicated.
The association is convinced that the
mere employment of such a sanitary
expert by the commission will not be
likely to secure the desired results.

Resolved, That the permanent secre-
tary of the association transmit a copy
of these resolutions to the President of
the United States.

A NEWLY RECOGNIZED FACTOR

IN AMERICAN ANEMIAS—' THE

GERM OF LAZINESS.'

Under the sensational heading of
' the germ of laziness,' the daily press
has been endeavoring to tell the public
something about a new discovery made
by the U. S. Public Health and Marine
Hospital Service. Owing to the word-
ing of the first report, by the New York
Sun, many newspapers have not known
whether this alleged discovery should

382

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

be taken seriously or in jest, and the
editorial remarks upon the subject have,
therefore, varied from the serious to
the sarcastic. The following are the
facts of the case, as learned by the
Popular Science Monthly from a
reliable source.

The Eber's Papyrus, an Egyptian
manuscript, about 3,500 years old, de-
scribed a tropical malady as the
'AAA' or the ' U H A ' disease, which
is characterized by an extreme anemia,
pains in the abdomen, palpitation of
the heart, and certain other symptoms.
This same disease is described by vari-
ous authors in the eighteenth century,
but its cause was not discovered until
1843, when Dubini, of Milan, found a
parasitic, roundworm which inhabits
the intestine and which he named
Anchylostoma duodenale. This worm
belongs to the strongyles and is closely
related to the ' hookworm,' Uncinaria
vulpis, described by Frolich in 1789.

It has been thoroughly established
that Dubini's hookworm sucks the
blood and produces a poison; also that
it causes the conditions known under
the various names of St. Gothard
anemia, miner's anemia, brickmaker's
anemia, Egyptian chlorosis, uncinaria-
sis, ankylostomiasis, etc. This dis-
ease is known to be very prevalent in
tropical countries, but curiously enough
no positive case in the United States
was recognized as such until 1893,
when Dr. Blickman, of St. Louis, found
a German who had brought the infec-
tion with him from Europe. Dr. Stiles,
zoologist of the Public Health and
Marine Hospital Service, has main-
tained for eight or ten years that this
disease must be more or less common
in the southern portion of this country,
and that physicians have undoubtedly
confused it with malaria. This view,
which he has repeatedly defended before
medical and scientific audiences, has
been looked upon as extreme and has
not been adopted by the American prac-
titioners. Isolated cases of the disease
were reported occasionally, but between

1892 and 1902 only about 35 cases
were found in the United States, and
most of these were imported. Dr.
Ashford had, however, shown that the
disease is common in Porto Rico. In
May, 1902, Dr. Stiles obtained the
parasites from three cases which oc-
curred respectively in Virginia, Galves-
ton and Porto Rico, and he showed that
they were not identical with the para-
site which causes miner's anemia in the
Old World. He described this new
worm as Uncinaria americana, and
using Virginia, Galveston and Porto
Rico as the three angles of a triangle,
he maintained that this area must
harbor a more or less common disease
caused by the new parasite. In Sep-
tember, 1902, he started out to demon-
strate the correctness of this view and
in eight weeks time he proved his point.

The extreme and in some cases non-
sensical statements made by the daily
press have been startling, but not
more so than the more serious and con-
servative statements Dr. Stiles made be-
fore the medical society to which he
presented his results. The press has,
however, misquoted his statements in
more than one particular. His results
briefly stated are these :

If we go south from Virginia to the
gulf we meet two totally different
kinds of anemia, which can be dis-
tinguished by the soils on which they
occur, the parasites which cause them,
the symptoms which result, and the
treatment which is necessary. One
of these anemias follows the more im-
pervious soils such as clay and is due
to malaria, which, as is well known,
i3 caused by a minute parasite which
lives in the blood and which may be
cured by a proper use of quinine.
The other anemia, preeminently a
disease of the sandy regions, is caused
by a parsitic ' hookworm ' ( Uncinaria
americana) which lives in the intestine
and which is not affected by quinine
but can be killed by the use of thymol.
These two anemias have heretofore been
confused by most physicians, hence this

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

383

new discovery clears up a matter of
great importance from the standpoint
of the practising physician, and it is
not an exaggeration to state that it
means a revolution in the treatment of
fully half of the sick people found in
the southern sand areas.

One of the most important symptoms
of ' hookworm ' disease is an extreme
lassitude, both mental and physical;
this condition is due to the emaciation
and to the thin watery character of
the blood, which does not properly
nourish either the brain or the muscles.
Now, curiously enough, it is especially
in the sand areas of the south that the
poorer whites, known as the ' poor
white trash,' are found, and Dr. Stiles,
who has been living among these people
for a number of weeks, positively states
that it is among these people that
hookworm disease is especially common
and especially severe. He found entire
families and entire neighborhoods af-
fected, and owing to the symptoms
which the disease causes, he asserts that
this malady is very largely responsible
for the present condition of these
people. He states in fact that if we
were to place the strongest class of
men and women in the country in the
conditions of infection under which
these poorer whites are living, they
would within a generation or two de-
teriorate to the same poverty of mind,
body and worldly goods, which is pro-
verbial for the ' poor white trash.'

It is true that the poorer whites are
found on clay soils as well as on sand,
but Dr. Stiles maintains that on clay
soil these people are healthier, stronger
and more intelligent, hence that they
are better fitted for the competition in
life, from which the hookworm dis-
ease practically excludes the poorer
whites of the sand farms. He has
further traced families from sand to
clay or to the cities and proved their
improvement under the new conditions;
and conversely he has traced families
from clay to sand and proved their
deterioration.

An important point claimed in
these investigations is that hookworm
disease is especially prevalent among
children, and that it not only inter-
feres with their school attendance, but
that children who are afflicted with the
malady and who have gone from sandy
districts to a city have the reputation
among their teachers of being more or
less backward and even stupid in their
studies. All this agrees with well-
established symptoms of the disease,
for it is thoroughly established, not
only by Dr. Stiles's investigations, but
by observations in Europe and Africa,
that hookworm diseases stunts both
the physical and the mental develop-
ment. Dr. Stiles states in fact that he
has found patients of twenty to twenty-
three years of age who both mentally
and physically were not developed be-
yond the average boy or girl of eleven
to sixteen years old.

There are other points in connection
with this work, such as the perverted
habit of dirt-eating, the presence of
the disease among factory hands who
formerly lived in the country, the
financial loss involved, etc., into which
we can not enter here at present. The
happiest part of the entire work is that
the disease can be easily prevented and
that it can be cured. Under these cir-
cumstances, we may look for decided
improvement among the poorer whites
in the sand districts of the south,
although this remark is not to be inter-
preted as meaning that we consider that
' hookworm disease ' gives us a com-
plete explanation of all ills in the south-
ern states.

The full report of these investigations
will be in the printers' hands this month
and will be issued as a bulletin of the
Hygienic Laboratory, U. S. Public
Health and Marine Hospital Service.

CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF
WASHINGTON.
It is the purpose of the Carnegie In-
stitution of Washington, among other
plans, to encourage exceptional talent

384

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

by appointing a certain number of re-
search assistants.

These positions will not be those
commonly known as fellowships or
scholarships; nor is the object of this
provision to contribute to the payment
of mechanical helpers or of assistants
in the work of the institution. It is
rather to discover and develop, under
competent scrutiny and under favorable
conditions, such persons as have un-
usual ability. It is not intended to
provide means by which a student may
complete his courses of study, nor to
give assistance in the preparation of
dissertations for academic degrees.
Work of a more advanced and special
character is expected of all who re-
ceive appointment.

The annual emolument will vary ac-
cording to circumstances. As a rule,
it will not exceed $1,000 per annum.
No limitations are prescribed as to
age, sex, nationality, graduation or
residence. Appointments will at first
be made for one year, but may be con-
tinued.

It is desirable that a person thus
appointed should work under the super-
vision of an investigator who is known
to the authorities of the Carnegie In-
stitution to be engaged in an impor-
tant field of scientific research, and
in a place where there is easy access to
libraries and apparatus — but there may
be exceptions to this.

Applications for appointments may
be presented by the head of, or by a
professor in, an institution of learning,
or by the candidate. They should be
accompanied by a statement of the
qualifications of the candidate, of the
research work he has done, and of that
which he desires to follow, and of the
time for which an allowance is desired.
If he has already printed or written
anything of interest, a copy of this
should be enclosed with the application.

Communications upon this subject
should be distinctly marked on the out-

side envelope, and on the inside, Re-
search Assistant, and should be ad-
dressed to the Carnegie Institution of
Washington, 1439 K Street, Washing-
ton, D. C.

The Carnegie Institution has made
a grant to the Marine Biological Lab-
oratory and now has at its disposal
twenty tables in the Laboratory at
Woods Hole, Mass., for the season of
1903. These tables are intended for the
use of persons engaged in original re-
search in biology, and carry with them
the right to be furnished with the ordi-
nary supplies and material of the
Laboratory. Applications for the use
of one of these tables should be ad-
dressed to the Secretary of the Carnegie
Institution, Washington, D. C, stating
the period for which the use of the
table is desired, and the general char-
acter of the work which the applicant
proposes to do.

SCIENTIFIC ITEMS.
Dr. Carroll D. Wright, U. S. Com-
missioner of Labor, was elected presi-
dent of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science at the
recent Washington meeting. The vice-
presidents for the sections are: Sec-
tion A, Mathematics and Astronomy,
0. H. Tittmann, U. S. Coast and
Geodetic Survey; B, Physics, E.
H. Hall, Harvard University; C,
Chemistry, W. D. Bancroft, Cornell
University; D, Mechanical Science and
Engineering, C. M. Woodward, Wash-
ington University; E, Geology and
Geography, I. C. Russell, University
of Michigan; F, Zoology, E. L. Mark,
Harvard University; G, Botany, T. H.
Macbride, University of Iowa; H,
Anthropology, M. H. Saville, Ameri-
can Museum of Natural History; I,
Social and Economic Science, S. E.
Baldwin, New Haven; K, Physiology
and Experimental Medicine, H. P.
Bowditch, Harvard University.

VOL. LXII. — 25.

.

THE

POPULAR SCIENCE

MONTHLY.

MARCH, 1903.

HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED LETTERS OF CHARLES

DARWIN.*

To A. R. Wallace.

Down, April 6th, 1859.
I this morning received your pleasant and friendly note of No-
vember 30th. The first part of my MS.-j- is in Murray's hands to
see if he likes to publish it. There is no preface, but a short intro-
duction, which must be read by every one who reads my book. The
second paragraph in the introduction I have had copied verbatim from
my foul copy, and you will, I hope, think that I have fairly noticed
your paper in the Linn. Journal. You must remember that I am
now publishing only an abstract, and I give no references. I shall,
of course, allude to your paper on distribution; and I have added that
I know from correspondence that your explanation of your law is
the same as that which I offer. You are right, that I came to the
conclusion that selection was the principle of change from the study
of domesticated productions; and then, reading Malthus, I saw at
once how to apply this principle. Geographical distribution and geo-
logical relations of extinct to recent inhabitants of South America

* ' The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin,' edited by his son, Professor
Francis Darwin, and published in this country in 1887 by Messrs. D. Appleton
and Company, is not surpassed in interest by any similar records, and for the
man of science it is of unparalleled importance. From unused material and
additional letters, Professor Francis Darwin and Mr. A. C. Seward have com-
piled a second series, entitled ' More Letters of Charles Darwin : A record of
his work in a series of hitherto unpublished letters,' which will be published
shortly in two volumes by Messrs. D. Appleton and Company. By their cour-
tesy we are enabled to print here a number of letters which show the surpassing
interest of the work. — Editor.

f ' Origin of Species.'

•88

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

*v'-*

^^Br

■

.

- -

Jiuwhiistm piiuc. .

Stmghtirn jsulp

/'■' <5 J.

//:.:y.

LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN. 389

first led me to the subject : especially the case of the Galapagos Islands.
I hope to go to press in the early part of next month. It will be a
small volume of about five hundred pages or so. I will of course
send you a copy. I forget whether I told you that Hooker, who is
our best British botanist and perhaps the best in the world, is a full
convert, and is now going immediately to publish his confession of
faith; and I expect daily to see proof-sheets. Huxley is changed,
and believes in mutation of species : whether a convert to us, I do
not quite know. We shall live to see all the younger men converts.
My neighbour and an excellent naturalist, J. Lubbock, is an enthu-
siastic convert. I see that you are doing great work in the Archi-
pelago; and most heartily do I sympathise with you. For God's sake
take care of your health. There have been few such noble labourers
in the cause of Natural Science as you are.

P. S. You cannot tell how I admire your spirit, in the manner
in which you have taken all that was done about publishing all our
papers. I had actually written a letter to you, stating that I would
not publish anything before you had published. I had not sent that
letter to the post when I received one from Lyell and Hooker, urging
me to send some MS. to them, and allow them to act as they thought
fair and honestly to both of us; and I did so.

To T. H. Huxley.

July 20th [I860],

Many thanks for your pleasant letter. I agree to every word you
say about Eraser and the Quarterly. I have had some really admirable
letters from Hopkins. I do not suppose he has ever troubled his head
about geographical distribution, classification, morphologies, etc., and
it is only those who have that will feel any relief in having some sort
of rational explanation of such facts. Is it not grand the way in which
the Bishop asserts that all such facts are explained by ideas in God's
mind? The Quarterly is uncommonly clever; and I chuckled much
at the way my grandfather and self are quizzed. I could here and
there see Owen's hand. By the way, how comes it that you were not
attacked? Does Owen begin to find it more prudent to leave you
alone? I would give five shillings to know what tremendous blunder
the Bishop made; for I see that a page has been cancelled and a nev
page gummed in.

I am indeed most thoroughly contented with *the progress of
opinion. From all that I hear from several quarters, it seems that
Oxford did the subject great good. It is of enormous importance the
showing the world that a few first-rate men are not afraid of express-
ing their opinion. I see daily more and more plainly that my unaided

39°

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

book would have done absolutely nothing. Asa Gray is fighting ad-
mirably in the United States. He is thorough master of the subject,

which cannot be said by any means
of such men as even Hopkins.

I have been thinking over what
you allude to about a natural his-
tory review. I suppose you mean
really a review and not a journal
for original communications in
Natural History. Of the latter
there is now superabundance. With

T. H. HUXLEY.

J. D. HOOKER.

ASA GRAY.

respect to a good review, there
can be no doubt of its value and
utility; nevertheless, if not too
late, I hope you will consider de-
liberately before you decide. Re-
member what a deal of work
you have on your shoulders, and
though you can do much, yet there
is a limit to even the hardest
worker's power of working. I
should deeply regret to see you sacrificing much time which could be
given to original research. I fear, to one who can review as well as

LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN. 391

you do, there would be the same temptation to waste time, as there
notoriously is for those who can speak well.

A review is only temporary; your work should be perennial. I
know well that you may say that unless good men will review there
will be no good reviews. And this is true. Would you not do more
good by an occasional review in some well-established review, than
by giving up much time to the editing, or largely aiding, if not editing,
a review which from being confined to one subject would not have a
very large circulation? But I must return to the chief idea which
strikes me — viz., that it would lessen the amount of original and per-
ennial work which you could do. Keflect how few men there are in
England who can do original work in the several lines in which you
are excellently fitted. Lyell, I remember, on analogous grounds many
years ago resolved he would write no more reviews. I am an old slow-
coach, and your scheme makes me tremble. God knows in one sense
I am about the last man in England who ought to throw cold water
on any review in which you would be concerned, as I have so immensely
profited by your labours in this line.

With respect to reviewing myself, I never tried: any work of that
kind stops me doing anything else, as I cannot possibly work at odds
and ends of time. I have, moreover, an insane hatred of stopping
my regular current of work. I have now materials for a little paper
or two, but I know I shall never work them up. So I will not promise
to help; though not to help, if I could, would make me feel very un-
grateful to you. You have no idea during how short a time daily I
am able to work. If I had any regular duties, like you and Hooker,
I should do absolutely nothing in science.

I am heartily glad to hear that you are better; but how such labour
as volunteer-soldiering (all honour to you) does not kill you, I cannot
understand.

For God's sake remember that your field of labour is original re-
search in the highest and most difficult branches of Natural History.
Not that I wish to underrate the importance of clever and solid reviews.

To J. D. Hooker.

Down, Feb. 14th [I860].
I succeeded in persuading myself for twenty-four hours that Hux-
ley's lecture* was a success. Parts were eloquent and good, and all
very bold ; and I heard strangers say, ' What a good lecture ! ' I told
Huxley so; but I demurred much to the time wasted in introductory
remarks, especially to his making it appear that sterility was a clear
and manifest distinction of species, and to his not having even alluded

* At the Royal Institution.

392 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

to the more important parts of the subject. He said that he had
much more written out, but time failed. After conversation with
others and more reflection, I must confess that as an exposition of the
doctrine the lecture seems to me an entire failure. I thank God I
did not think so when I saw Huxley ; for he spoke so kindly and mag-
nificently of me, that I could hardly have endured to say what I now
think. He gave no just idea of Natural Selection. I have always
looked at the doctrine of Natural Selection as an hypothesis, which,
if it explained several large classes of facts, would deserve to be ranked
as a theory deserving acceptance; and this, of course, is my own
opinion. But, as Huxley has never alluded to my explanation of
classification, morphology, embryology, etc., I thought he was thor-
oughly dissatisfied with all this part of my book. But to my joy I
find it is not so, and that he agrees with my manner of looking at the
subject; only that he rates higher than I do the necessity of Natural
Selection being shown to be a vera causa always in action. He tells
me he is writing a long review in the Westminster. It was really
provoking how he wasted time over the idea of a' species as exemplified
in the horse, and over Sir J. Hall's old experiment on marble.
Murchison was very civil to me over my book after the lecture, in
which he was disappointed. I have quite made up my mind to a
savage onslaught; but with Lyell, you, and Huxley, I feel confident
we are right, and in the long run shall prevail. I do not think Asa
Gray has quite done you justice in the beginning of the review of me.
The review seemed to me very good, but I read it very hastily.

To J. D. Hookek.

Down, Nov. 20th [1862].
Your last letter has interested me to an extraordinary degree, and
your truly parsonic advice, 'some other wise and discreet person,'
etc., etc., amused us not a little. I will put a concrete case to show
what I think A. Gray believes about crossing and what I believe. If
1,000 pigeons were bred together in a cage for 10,000 years their
number not being allowed to increase by chance killing, then from
mutual intercrossing no varieties would arise; but, if each pigeon
were a self-fertilising hermaphrodite, a multitude of varieties would
arise. This, I believe, is the common effect of crossing, viz., the
obliteration of incipient varieties. I do not deny that when two
marked varieties have been produced, their crossing will produce a
third or more intermediate varieties. Possibly, or probably, with
domestic varieties, with a strong tendency to vary, the act of crossing
tends to give rise to new characters; and thus a third or more races,
not strictly intermediate, may be produced. But there is heavy evi-

LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN. 393

dence against new characters arising from crossing wild forms; only
intermediate races are then produced. Now, do you agree thus far?
if not, it is no use arguing; we must come to swearing, and I am
convinced I can swear harder than you, . • . I am right. Q.E.D.

If the number of 1,000 pigeons were prevented increasing not by
chance killing, but by, say, all the shorter-beaked birds being killed,
then the whole body would come to have longer beaks. Do you agree?

Thirdly, if 1,000 pigeons were kept in a hot country, and another
1,000 in a cold country, and fed on different food, and confined in
different-size aviary, and kept constant in number by chance killing,
then I should expect as rather probable that after 10,000 years the
two bodies would differ slightly in size, colour, and perhaps other
trifling characters; this I should call the direct action of physical con-
ditions. By this action I wish to imply that the innate vital forces
are somehow led to act rather differently in the two cases, just as heat
will allow or cause two elements to combine, which otherwise would
not have combined. I should be especially obliged if you would tell
me what you think on this head.

But the part of your letter which fairly pitched me head over
heels with astonishment, is that where you state that every single
difference which we see might have occurred without any selection.
I do and have always fully agreed; but you have got right round the
subject, and viewed it from an entirely opposite and new side, and
when you took me there I was astounded. When I say I agree, I must
make the proviso, that under your view, as now, each form long re-
mains adapted to certain fixed conditions, and that the conditions of
life are in the long run changeable; and second, which is more im-
portant, that each individual form is a self-fertilising hermaphrodite,
so that each hair-breadth variation is not lost by intercrossing. Your
manner of putting the case would be even more striking than it is
if the mind could grapple with such numbers — it is grappling with
eternity — think of each of a thousand seeds bringing forth its plant,
and then each a thousand. A globe stretching to the furthest fixed
star would very soon be covered. I cannot even grapple with the
idea, even with races of dogs, cattle, pigeons, or fowls; and here all
admit and see the accurate strictness of your illustration.

Such men as you and Lyell thinking that I make too much of a
Deus of Natural Selection is a conclusive argument against me. Yet
I hardly know how I could have put in, in all parts of my book,
stronger sentences. The title, as you once pointed out, might have
been better. No one ever objects to agriculturists using the strongest
language about their selection, yet every breeder knows that he does
not produce the modification which he selects. My enormous dim-

394 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

culty for years was to understand adaptation, and this made me, I
cannot but think, rightly, insist so much on Natural Selection. God
forgive me for writing at such length; but you cannot tell how much
your letter has interested me, and how important it is for me with
my present book in hand to try and get clear ideas. Do think a bit
about what is meant by direct action of physical conditions. I do
not mean whether they act; my facts will throw some light on this.
I am collecting all cases of bud-variations, in contradistinction to
seed- variations (do you like this term, for what some gardeners call
'sports'?); these eliminate all effects of crossing. Pray remember
how much I value your opinion as the clearest and most original I
ever get.

I see plainly that Welwitschia will be a case of Barnacles.

I have another plant to beg, but I write on separate paper as more
convenient for you to keep. I meant to have said before, as an excuse
for asking for so much from Kew, that I have now lost two seasons,
by accursed nurserymen not having right plants, and sending me the
wrong instead of saying that they did not possess.

To J. D. Hookek.

Freshwater, Isle of Wight, July 28th [1868].

I am glad to hear that you are going to touch on the statement
that the belief in Natural Selection is passing away. I do not sup-
pose that even the Athenceum would pretend that the belief in the
common descent of species is passing away, and this is the more im-
portant point. This now almost universal belief in the evolution
(somehow) of species, I think may be fairly attributed in large part
to the Origin. It would be well for you to look at the short Intro-
duction of Owen's Anat. of Invert eh rates, and see how fully he admits
the descent of species.

Of the Origin, four English editions, one or two American, two
French, two German, one Dutch, one Italian, and several (as I was
told) Eussian editions. The translations of my book on Variation
under Domestication are the results of the Origin; and of these two
English, one American, one German, one French, one Italian, and
one Eussian have appeared, or will soon appear. Ernst Hackel wrote
to me a week or two ago, that new discussions and reviews of the
Origin are continually still coming out in Germany, where the interest
on the subject certainly does not diminish. I have seen some of these
discussions, and they are good ones. I apprehend that the interest
on the subject has not died out in North America, from observing in
Professor and Mrs. Agassiz's Book on Brazil how excessively anxious
he is to destroy me. In regard to this country, every one can judge

LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN. 395

for himself, but you would not say interest was dying out if you were
to look at the last number of the Anthropological Review, in which I
am incessantly sneered at. I think Lyell's Principles will produce
a considerable effect. I hope I have given you the sort of information
which you want. My head is rather unsteady, which makes my hand-
writing worse than usual.

If you argue about the non-acceptance of Natural Selection, it
seems to me a very striking fact that the Newtonian theory of gravi-
tation, which seems to every one now so certain and plain, was rejected
by a man so extraordinarily able as Leibnitz. The truth will not
penetrate a preoccupied mind.

Wallace, in the Westminster Review, in an article on Protection
has a good passage, contrasting the success of Natural Selection and
its growth with the comprehension of new classes of facts, with false
theories, such as the Quinarian Theory, and that of Polarity, by poor
Forbes, both of which were promulgated with high advantages and the
first temporarily accepted.

To C. Lyell.

15, Marine Parade, Eastbourne, Oct. 3rd [I860].

Your last letter has interested me much in many ways.

I enclose a letter of Wyman's which touches on brains. Wyman is
mistaken in supposing that I did not know that the Cave-rat was an
American form; I made special enquiries. He does not know that the
eye of the Tucutuco was carefully dissected.

With respect to reviews by A. Gray. I thought of sending the
Dialogue to the Saturday Review in a week's time or so, as they have
lately discussed Design. I have sent the second, or August, Atlantic
article to the Annals and Mag. of Nat. History. The copy which you
have I want to send to Pictet, as I told A. Gray I would, thinking
from what he said he would like this to be done. I doubt whether
it would be possible to get the October number reprinted in this
country; so that I am in no hurry at all for this.

I had a letter a few weeks ago from Symonds on the imperfection
of the Geological Eecord, less clear and forcible than I expected. I
answered him at length and very civilly, though I could hardly make
out what he was driving at. He spoke about you in a way which it
did me good to read.

I am extremely glad that you like A. Gray's reviews. How gen-
erous and unselfish he has been in all his labour ! Are you not struck
by his metaphors and similes? I have told him he is a poet and not
a lawyer.

I should altogether doubt on turtles being converted into land tor-
toises on any one island. Eemember how closely similar tortoises are

396 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

on all continents, as well as islands ; they must have all descended from
one ancient progenitor, including the gigantic tortoise of the Himalaya.

I think you must be cautious in not running the convenient doc-
trine that only one species out of very many ever varies. Eeflect on
such cases as the fauna and flora of Europe, North America, and
Japan, which are so similar, and yet which have a great majority of
their species either specifically distinct, or forming well-marked races.
We must in such cases incline to the belief that a multitude of species
were once identically the same in all the three countries when under
a warmer climate and more in connection; and have varied in all the
three countries. I am inclined to believe that almost every species
(as we see with nearly all our domestic productions) varies suffi-
ciently for Natural Selection to pick out and accumulate new specific
differences, under new organic and inorganic conditions of life, when-
ever a place is open in the polity of nature. But looking to a long
lapse of time and to the whole world, or to large parts of the
world, I believe only one or a few species of each large genus ulti-
mately becomes victorious, and leaves modified descendants. To give
an imaginary instance: the jay has become modified in the three
countries into (I believe) three or four species; but the jay genus is
not, apparently, so dominant a group as the crows; and in the long
run probably all the jays will be exterminated and be replaced perhaps
by some modified crows.

I merely give this illustration to show what seems to me probable.

But oh ! what work there is before we shall understand the geneal-
ogy of organic beings!

With respect to the Apteryx, I know not enough of anatomy; but
ask Dr. F. whether the clavicle, etc., do not give attachment to some
of the muscles of respiration. If my views are at all correct, the
wing of the Apteryx cannot be (p. 452 of the Origin) a nascent organ,
as these wings are useless. I dare not trust to memory, but I know I
found the whole sternum always reduced in size in all the fancy and
confined pigeons relatively to the same bones in the wild Eock-pigeon:
the keel was generally still further reduced relatively to the reduced
length of the sternum ; but in some breeds it was in a most anomalous
manner more prominent. I have got a lot of facts on the reduction
of the organs of flight in the pigeon, which took me weeks to work
out, and which Huxley thought curious.

I am utterly ashamed, and groan over my handwriting. It was
'Natural Preservation.' Natural persecution is what the author
ought to suffer. It rejoices me that you do not object to the term.
Hooker made the same remark that it ought to have been 'Variation
and Natural Selection.' Yet with domestic productions, when selec-

LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN. 397

tion is spoken of, variation is always implied. But I entirely agree
with your and Hooker's remark.

Have you begun regularly to write your book on the antiquity of
man?

I do not agree with your remark that I make Natural Selection do
too much work. You will perhaps reply that every man rides his
hobby-horse to death; and that I am in the galloping state.

To C. Lyell.

Torquay, Aug. 21st [1861].

I am pleased that you approve of Hutton's review. It seemed to
me to take a more philosophical view of the manner of judging the
question than any other review. The sentence you quote from it
seems very true, but I do not agree with the theological conclusion.
I think he quotes from Asa Gray, certainly not from me; but I have
neither A. Gray nor Origin with me. Indeed, I have over and over
again said in the Origin that Natural Selection does nothing without
variability; I have given a whole chapter on laws, and used the
strongest language how ignorant we are on these laws. But I agree
that I have somehow (Hooker says it is owing to my title) not made
the great and manifest importance of previous variability plain
enough. Breeders constantly speak of Selection as the one great means
of improvement; but of course they imply individual differences, and
this I should have thought would have been obvious to all in Natural
Selection; but it has not been so.

I have just said that I cannot agree with 'which variations are
the effects of an unknown law, ordained and guided without doubt by
an intelligent cause on a preconceived and definite plan.' Will you
honestly tell me (and I should be really much obliged) whether you
believe that the shape of my nose (eheu!) was ordained and 'guided
by an intelligent cause?' By the selection of analogous and less dif-
ferences fanciers make almost generic differences in their pigeons;
and can you see any good reason why the Natural Selection of analo-
gous individual differences should not make new species? If you say
that God ordained that at some time and place a dozen slight varia-
tions should arise, and that one of them alone should be preserved in
the struggle for life and the other eleven should perish in the first or
few first generations, then the saying seems to me mere verbiage. It
comes to merely saying that everything that is, is ordained.

Let me add another sentence. Why should you or I speak of
variation as having been ordained and guided, more than does an
astronomer, in discussing the fall of a meteoric stone? He would
simply say that it was drawn to our earth by the attraction of gravity,

398 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

having been displaced in its course by the action of some quite un-
known laws. Would you have him say that its fall at some particular
place and time was 'ordained and guided without doubt by an in-
telligent cause on a preconceived and definite plan?' Would you not
call this theological pedantry or display? I believe it is not pedantry
in the case of species., simply because their formation has hitherto
been viewed as beyond law; in fact, this branch of science is still with
most people under its theological phase of development. The con-
clusion which I always come to after thinking of such questions is
that they are beyond the human intellect; and the less one thinks on
them the better. You may say, Then why trouble me? But I should
very much like to know clearly what you think.

To Asa Gray.

Down, Nov. 29th [1859].

This shall be such an extraordinary note as you have never received
from me, for it shall not contain one single question or request. I
thank you for your impression on my views. Every criticism from
a good man is of value to me. What you hint at generally is very,
very true: that my work will be grievously hypothetical, and large
parts by no means worthy of being called induction, my commonest
error being probably induction from too few facts. I had not thought
of your objection of my using the term 'natural selection' as an
agent. I use it much as a geologist does the word denudation — for an
agent, expressing the result of several combined actions. I will take
care to explain, not merely by inference, what I mean by the term;
for I must use it, otherwise I should incessantly have to expand it into
some such (here miserably expressed) formula as the following:
"The tendency to the preservation (owing to the severe struggle for
life to which all organic beings at some time or generation are ex-
posed) of any, the slightest, variation in any part, which is of the
slightest use or favourable to the life of the individual which has thus
varied; together with the tendency to its inheritance." Any varia-
tion, which was of no use whatever to the individual, would not be
preserved by this process of 'natural selection.' But I will not weary
you by going on, as I do not suppose I could make my meaning clearer
without large expansion. I will only add one other sentence: several
varieties of sheep have been turned out together on the Cumberland
mountains, and one particular breed is found to succeed so much bet-
ter than all the others that it fairly starves the others to death. I
should here say that natural selection picks out this breed, and would
tend to improve it, or aboriginally to have formed it. . . .

LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN. 399

You speak of species not having any material base to rest on, but is
this any greater hardship than deciding what deserves to be called a
variety, and be designated by a Greek letter? When I was at syste-
matic work I know I longed to have no other difficulty (great enough)
than deciding whether the form was distinct enough to deserve a
name, and not to be haunted with undefined and unanswerable ques-
tions whether it was a true species. What a jump it is from a well-
marked variety, produced by natural cause, to a species produced by
the separate act of the hand of God ! But I am running on fool-
ishly. By the way, I met the other day Phillips, the palaeontologist,
and he asked me, 'How do you define a species?' I answered, 'I can
not.' Whereupon he said, 'At last I have found out the only true
definition — any form which has ever had a specific name ! . . . '

To Asa Geat.

Down, June 8th [I860].
I have to thank you for two notes, one through Hooker, and one
with some letters to be posted, which was done. I anticipated your
request by making a few remarks on Owen's review. Hooker is so
weary of reviews that I do not think you will get any hints from him.
I have lately had many more ' kicks than halfpence. ' A review in the
last Dublin Nat. Hist. Review is the most unfair thing which has
appeared, — one mass of misrepresentation. It is evidently by Haugh-
ton, the geologist, chemist and mathematician. It shows immeasur-
able conceit and contempt of all who are not mathematicians. He
discusses bees' cells, and puts a series which I have never alluded to,
and wholly ignores the intermediate comb of Melipona, which alone
led me to my notions. The article is a curiosity of unfairness and
arrogance; but, as he sneers at Malthus, I am content, for it is clear
he can not reason. He is a friend of Harvey, with whom I have had
some correspondence. Your article has clearly, as he admits, influ-
enced him. He admits to a certain extent Natural Selection, yet I
am sure does not understand me. It is strange that very few do, and
I am become quite convinced that I must be an extremely bad ex-
plainer. To recur for a moment to Owen: he grossly misrepresents
and is very unfair to Huxley. You say that you think the article must
be by a pupil of Owen ; but no one fact tells so strongly against Owen,
considering his former position at the College of Surgeons, as that he
has never reared one pupil or follower. In the number just out of
Fraser's Magazine there is an article or review on Lamarck and me
by W. Hopkins, the mathematician, who, like Haughton, despises the
reasoning power of all naturalists. Personally he is extremely kind
towards me; but he evidently in the following number means to blow

4oo POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

me into atoms. He does not in the least appreciate the difference in
my views and Lamarck's, as explaining adaptation, the principle of
divergence, the increase of dominant groups, and the almost necessary
extinction of the less dominant and smaller groups, etc.

To Asa Gray.

Down, July 23rd [1862].

I received several days ago two large packets, but have as yet read
only your letter ; for we have been in fearful distress, and I could attend
to nothing. Our poor boy had the rare case of second rash and sore
throat . . . ; and, as if this was not enough, a most serious attack of
erysipelas, with typhoid symptoms. I despaired of his life; but this
evening he has eaten one mouthful, and I think has passed the crisis.
He has lived on port wine every three-quarters of an hour, day and
night. This evening, to our astonishment, he asked whether his stamps
were safe, and I told him of one sent by you, and that he should see
it to-morrow. He answered, 'I should awfully like to see it now'; so
with difficulty he opened his eyelids and glanced at it, and, with a
sigh of satisfaction, said, 'All right.' Children are one's greatest
happiness, but often and often a still greater misery. A man of science
ought to have none — perhaps not a wife; for then there would be
nothing in this wide world worth caring for, and a man might (whether
he could is another question) work away like a Trojan. I hope in a
few days to get my brains in order, and then I will pick out all your
orchid letters, and return them in hopes of your making use of
them. . . .

Of all the carpenters for knocking the right nail on the head, you
are the very best; no one else has perceived that my chief interest in
my orchid book has been that it was a ' flank movement ' on the enemy.
I live in such solitude that I hear nothing, and have no idea to what
you allude about Bentham and the orchids and species. But I must
enquire.

By the way, one of my chief enemies (the sole one who has annoyed
me), namely Owen, I hear has been lecturing on birds; and admits
that all have descended from one, and advances as his own idea that
the oceanic wingless birds have lost their wings by gradual disuse. He
never alludes to me, or only with bitter sneers, and coupled with Buf-
fon and the Vestiges.

Well, it has been an amusement to me this first evening, scribbling
as egotistically as usual about myself and my doings; so you must
forgive me, as I know well your kind heart will do. I have managed
to skim the newspaper, but had not heart to read all the bloody
details. Good God! what will the end be? Perhaps we are too de-

LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN. 401

spondent here; but I must think you are too hopeful on your side of
the water. I never believed the 'canards' of the army of the Potomac
having capitulated. My good dear wife and self are come to wish for
peace at any price. Good night, my good friend. I will scribble on
no more.

One more word. I should like to hear what you think about what
I say in the last chapter of the orchid book on the meaning and cause
of the endless diversity of means for the same general purpose. It
bears on design, that endless question. Good night, good night !

To J. D. Dana.

Down, Dec. 5th, 1849.

I have not for some years been so much pleased as I have just been
by reading your most able discussion on coral reefs. I thank you most
sincerely for the very honourable mention you make of me. This day
I heard that the atlas has arrived, and this completes your munificent
present to me. I have not yet come to the chapter on subsidence, and
in that I fancy we shall disagree, but in the descriptive part our
agreement has been eminently satisfactory to me, and far more than
I ever ventured to anticipate. I consider that now the subsidence
theory is established. I have read about half through the descriptive
part of the Volcanic Geology (last night I ascended the peaks of Tahiti
with you, and what I saw in my short excursion was most vividly
brought before me by your descriptions), and have been most deeply
interested by it. Your observations on the Sandwich craters strike
me as the most important and original of any that I have read for a
long time. Now that I have read yours, I believe I saw at the Gala-
pagos, at a distance, instances of those most curious fissures of erup-
tion. There are many points of resemblance between the Galapagos
and Sandwich Islands (even to the shape of the mound-like hills) —
viz., in the liquidity of the lavas, absence of scoria?, and tuff-craters,
Many of your scattered remarks on denudation have particularly inter-
ested me ; but I see that you attribute less to sea and more to running
water than I have been accustomed to do. After your remarks in your
last very kind letter I could not help skipping on to the Australian
valleys, on which your remarks strike me as exceedingly ingenious and
novel, but they have not converted me. I can not conceive how the
great lateral bays could have been scooped out, and their sides ren-
dered precipitous by running water. I shall go on and read every
word of your excellent volume.

If you look over my Geological Instructions you will be amused
to see that I urge attention to several points which you have elab-
orately discussed. I lately read a paper of yours on Chambers' book,

vol. lxh. — 26.

4o2 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

and was interested by it. I really believe the facts of the order de-
scribed by Chambers, in S. America, which I have described in my
Geolog. volume. This leads me to ask you (as I can not doubt that
you will have much geological weight in N. America) to look to a dis-
cussion at p. 135 in that volume on the importance of subsidence to
the formation of deposits, which are to last to a distant age. This
view strikes me as of some importance.

When I meet a very good-natured man I have that degree of bad-
ness of disposition in me that I always endeavour to take advantage of
him; therefore I am going to mention some desiderata, which if you
can supply I shall be very grateful, but if not no answer will be re-
quired.

Thank you for your Conspectus Crust., but I am sorry to say I
am not worthy of it, though I have always thought the Crustacea a
beautiful subject.

To J. D. Dana.

Down, July 30th (1860).

I received several weeks ago your note telling me that you could
not visit England, which I sincerely regretted, as I should most heartily
have liked to have made your personal acquaintance. You gave me
an improved, but not very good, account of your health. I should at
some time be grateful for a line to tell me how you are. We have had
a miserable summer, owing to a terribly long and severe illness of my
eldest girl, who improves slightly but is still in a precarious condition.
I have been able to do nothing in science of late. My kind friend Asa
Gray often writes to me and tells me of the warm discussions on the
Origin of Species in the United States. Whenever you are strong
enough to read it, I know you will be dead against me, but I know
equally well that your opposition will be liberal and philosophical.
And this is a good deal more than I can say of all my opponents in this
country. I have not yet seen Agassiz's attack, but I hope to find it
at home when I return in a few days, for I have been for several weeks
away from home on my daughter's account. Prof. Silliman sent me
an extremely kind message by Asa Gray that your Journal would be
open to a reply by me. I cannot decide till I see it, but on principle
I have resolved to avoid answering anything, as it consumes much time,
often temper, and I have said my say in the Origin. No one person
understands my views and has defended them so well as A. Gray,
though he does not by any means go all the way with me. There was
much discussion on the subject at the British Association at Oxford,
and I had many defenders, and my side seems (for I was not there)
almost to have got the best of the battle. Your correspondent and my
neighbour, J. Lubbock, goes on working at such spare time as he has.

LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN. 403

This is an egotistical note, but I have not seen a naturalist for months.

Most sincerely and deeply do I hope that this note may find you almost

recovered.

To A. Hyatt.

Down, Dec. 4th, 1872.

I thank you sincerely for your most interesting letter. You refer
much too modestly to your own knowledge and judgment, as you are
much better fitted to throw light on your own difficult problems than
I am.

It has quite annoyed me that I do not clearly understand yours
and Prof. Cope's views; and the fault lies in some slight degree, I
think, with Prof. Cope, who does not write very clearly. I think I
now understand the terms 'acceleration' and 'retardation'; but will
you grudge the trouble of telling me, by the aid of the following illus-
tration, whether I do understand rightly? When a fresh- water deca-
pod crustacean is born with an almost mature structure, and there-
fore does not pass, like other decapods, through the Zoea stage, is this
not a case of acceleration? Again, if an imaginary decapod retained,
when adult, many Zoea characters, would this not be case of retarda-
tion? If these illustrations are correct, I can perceive why I have
been so dull in understanding your views. I looked for something
else, being familiar with such cases, and classing them in my own
mind as simply due to the obliteration of certain larval or embryonic
stages. This obliteration I imagined resulted sometimes entirely from
that law of inheritance to which you allude; but that it in many cases
was aided by Natural Selection, as I inferred from such cases occur-
ring so frequently in terrestrial and fresh-water members of groups,
which retain their several embryonic stages in the sea, as long as
fitting conditions are present.

Another cause of my misunderstanding was the assumption that

in your series ,

a — a D_

the differences between the successive species, expressed by the ter-
minal letter, was due to acceleration : now, if I understand rightly, this
is not the case; and such characters must have been independently
acquired by some means.

The two newest and most interesting points in your letter (and in,
as far as I think, your former paper) seem to me to be about senile
characteristics in one species appearing in succeeding species during
maturity; and secondly about certain degraded characters appearing
in the last species of a series. You ask for my opinion: I can only
send the conjectured impressions which have occurred to me and which
are not worth writing. (It ought to be known whether the senile

404 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

character appears before or after the period of active reproduction.)
I should be inclined to attribute the character in both your cases to
the laws of growth and descent, secondarily to Natural Selection. It
has been an error on my part, and a misfortune to me, that I did not
largely discuss what I mean by laws of growth at an early period in
some of my books. I have said something on this head in two new
chapters in the last edition of the Origin. I should be happy to send
you a copy of this edition, if you do not possess it and care to have it.
A man in extreme old age differs much from a young man, and I pre-
sume every one would account for this by failing powers of growth.
On the other hand the skulls of some mammals go on altering during
maturity into advancing years; as do the horns of the stag, the tail-
feathers of some birds, the size of fishes, etc. ; and all such differences
I should attribute simply to the laws of growth, as long as full vigour
was retained. Endless other changes of structure in successive species
may, I believe, be accounted for by various complex laws of growth.
Now, any change of character thus induced with advancing years
in the individual might easily be inherited at an earlier age than that
at which it first supervened, and thus become characteristic of the
mature species; or again, such changes would be apt to follow from
variation, independently of inheritance, under proper conditions.
Therefore I should expect that characters of this kind would often
appear in later-formed species without the aid of Natural Selection, or
with its aid if the characters were of any advantage. The longer I
live, the more I become convinced how ignorant we are of the extent
to which all sorts of structures are serviceable to each species. But
that characters supervening during maturity in one species should
appear so regularly, as you state to be the case, in succeeding species,
seems to me very surprising and inexplicable.

With respect to degradation in species towards the close of a series,
I have nothing to say, except that before I arrived at the end of your
letter, it occurred to me that the earlier and simpler ammonites must
have been well adapted to their conditions, and that when the species
were verging towards extinction (owing probably to the presence of
some more successful competitors) they would naturally become re-
adapted to simpler conditions. Before I had read your final remarks
I thought also that unfavourable conditions might cause, through the
law of growth, aided perhaps by reversion, degradation of character.
No doubt many new laws remain to be discovered. Permit me to add
that I have never been so foolish as to imagine that I have succeeded
in doing more than to lay down some of the broad outlines of the
origin of species.

After long reflection I cannot avoid the conviction that no innate
tendency to progressive development exists, as is now held by so many

LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN. 405

able naturalists, and perhaps by yourself. It is curious how seldom
writers define what they mean by progressive development; but this
is a point which I have briefly discussed in the Origin. I earnestly
hope that you may visit Hilgendorf s famous deposit. Have you seen
Weismann's pamphlet Einfluss der Isolirung, Leipzig, 1872? He
makes splendid use of Hilgendorf 's admirable observations. I have
no strength to spare, being much out of health; otherwise I would
have endeavoured to have made this letter better worth sending. I
most sincerely wish you success in your valuable and difficult re-
searches.

I have received, and thank you, for your three pamphlets. As far
as I can judge, your views seem very probable; but what a fearfully
intricate subject is this of the succession of ammonites.

To B. D. Walsh.

Down, Dec. 4th [1864].

I have been greatly interested by your account of your American
life. What an extraordinary and self-contained life you have led !
and what vigour of mind you must possess to follow science with so
much ardour after all that you have undergone ! I am very much
obliged to you for your pamphlet on Geographical Distribution, on
Agassiz, etc. I am delighted at the manner in which you have bearded
this lion in his den. I agree most entirely with all that you have
written. What I meant when I wrote to Agassiz to thank him for a
bundle of his publications, was exactly what you suppose. I confess,
however, I did not fully perceive how he had misstated my views; but
I only skimmed through his Methods of Study, and thought it a very
poor book. I am so much accustomed to be utterly misrepresented that
it hardly excites my attention. But you really have hit the nail on the
head capitally. All the younger good naturalists whom I know think
of Agassiz as you do; but he did grand service about glaciers and fish.
About the succession of forms, Pictet has given up his whole views,
and no geologist now agrees with Agassiz. I am glad that you have
attacked Dana's wild notions; [though] I have a great respect for
Dana. ... If you have an opportunity, read in Trans. Linn. Soc.
Bates on 'Mimetic Lepidoptera of Amazons.' I was delighted with
his paper.

I have got a notice of your views about the female Cynips inserted
in the Natural History Review: whether the notice will be favourable,
I do not know; but anyhow it will call attention to your views. . . .

As you allude in your paper to the believers in change of species,
you will be glad to hear that very many of the very best men are coming
round in Germany. I have lately heard of Hackel, Gegenbauer, F.

4o6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Miiller, Leuckart, Claparede, Alex. Braun, Schleiden, etc. So it is,
I hear, with the younger Frenchmen.

To C. V. Eilet.

Down, June 1st [1871].

I received some little time ago your report on noxious insects, and
have now read the whole with the greatest interest. There are a vast
number of facts and generalisations of value to me, and I am struck
with admiration at your powers of observation.

The discussion on mimetic insects seems to me particularly good
and original. Pray accept my cordial thanks for the instruction and
interest which I have received.

What a loss to Natural Science our poor mutual friend Walsh has
been; it is a loss ever to be deplored. . . .

Your country is far ahead of ours in some respects; our Parliament
would think any man mad who should propose to appoint a State
Entomologist.

To E. S. Morse.

Down, Oct. 21st, 1879.

Although you are so kind as to tell me not to write, I must just
thank you for the proofs of your paper,* which has interested me
greatly. The increase in the number of ridges in the three species of
Area seems to be a very noteworthy fact, as does the increase of size
in so many, yet not all, the species. What a constant state of fluctua-
tion the whole organic world seems to be in ! It is interesting to hear
that everywhere the first change apparently is in the proportional num-
bers of the species. I was much struck with the fact in the upraised
shells of Coquimbo, in Chili, as mentioned in my Geological Observa-
tions on South America.

Of all the wonders in the world, the progress of Japan, in which
you have been aiding, seems to me about the most wonderful.

To A. Agassiz.

Down, May 5th, 1881.

It was very good of you to write to me from Tortugas, as I always
feel much interested in hearing what you are about, and in reading
your many discoveries. It is a surprising fact that the peninsula of
Florida should have remained at the same level for the immense
period requisite for the accumulation of so vast a pile of debris.

You will have seen Mr. Murray's views on the formation of atolls
and barrier reefs. Before publishing my book, I thought long over
the same view, but only as far as ordinary marine organisms are con-
cerned, for at that time little was known of the multitude of minute

* ' The Shell Mounds of Omori.'

LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN. 407

oceanic organisms. I rejected this view, as from the few dredgings
made in the Beagle in the S. Temperate regions, I concluded that
shells, the smaller corals, etc., etc., decayed and were dissolved when
not protected by the deposition of sediment; and sediment could not
accumulate in the open ocean. Certainly shells, etc., were in several
cases completely rotten, and crumbled into mud between my fingers;
but you will know well whether this is in any degree common. I have
expressly said that a bank at the proper depth would give rise to an
atoll, which could not be distinguished from one formed during sub-
sidence. I can, however, hardly believe, in the former presence of as
many banks (there having been no subsidence) as there are atolls in
the great oceans, within a reasonable depth, on which minute oceanic
organisms could have accumulated to the thickness of many hundred
feet. I think that it has been shown that the oscillations from great
waves extend down to a considerable depth, and if so the oscillating
water would tend to lift up (according to an old doctrine propounded
by Play fair) minute particles lying at the bottom, and allow them to
be slowly drifted away from the submarine bank by the slightest cur-
rent. Lastly, I can not understand Mr. Murray, who admits that
small calcareous organisms are dissolved by the carbonic acid in the
water at great depths, and that coral reefs, etc., etc., are likewise dis-
solved near the surface, but that this does not occur at intermediate
depths, where he believes that the minute oceanic calcareous organisms
accumulate until the bank reaches within the reef-building depth.
But I suppose that I must have misunderstood him.

Pray forgive me for troubling you at such length, but it has oc-
curred to me that you might be disposed to give, after your wide
experience, your judgment. If I am wrong, the sooner I am knocked
on the head and annihilated so much the better. It still seems to me
a marvelous thing that there should not have been much and long-
continued subsidence in the beds of the great oceans. I wish that
some doubly rich millionaire would take it into his head to have bor-
ings made in some of the Pacific and Indian atolls, and bring home
cores for slicing from a depth of 500 or 600 feet.

To Mrs. Emily Talbot, Boston.

Down, July 19th, [1881?].
In response to your wish, I have much pleasure in expressing the
interest which I feel in your proposed investigation on the mental
and bodily development of infants. Very little is at present accurately
known on this subject, and I believe that isolated observations will
add but little to our knowledge, whereas tabulated results from a very
large number of observations, systematically made, would probably

4o8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

throw much light on the sequence and period of development of the
several faculties. This knowledge would probably give a foundation
for some improvement in our education of young children, and would
show us whether the system ought to be followed in all cases.

I will venture to specify a few points of inquiry which, as it seems
to me, possess some scientific interest. For instance, does the educa-
tion of the parents influence the mental powers of their children at
any age, either at a very early or somewhat more advanced stage?
This could perhaps be learned by schoolmasters and mistresses if a
large number of children were first classed according to age and their
mental attainments, and afterwards in accordance with the education
of their parents, as far as this could be discovered. As observation
is one of the earliest faculties developed in young children, and as this
power would probably be exercised in an equal degree by the children
of educated and uneducated persons, it seems not impossible that any
transmitted effect from education could be displayed only at a some-
what advanced age. It would be desirable to test statistically, in a
similar manner, the truth of the oft-repeated statement that coloured
children at first learn as quickly as white children, but that they after-
wards fall off in progress. If it could be proved that education acts
not only on the individual, but, by transmission, on the race, this
would be a great encouragement to all working on this all-important
subject. It is well known that children sometimes exhibit, at a very
early age, strong special tastes, for which no cause can be assigned,
although occasionally they may be accounted for by reversion to the
taste or occupation of some progenitor; and it would be interesting to
learn how far such early tastes are persistent and influence the future
career of the individual. In some instances such tastes die away with-
out apparently leaving any after effect, but it would be desirable to
know how far this is commonly the case, as we should then know
whether it were important to direct as far as this is possible the early
tastes of our children. It may be more beneficial that a child should
follow energetically some pursuit, of however trifling a nature, and
thus acquire perseverance, than that he should be turned from it
because of no future advantage to him. I will mention one other small
point of inquiry in relation to very young children, which may possibly
prove important with respect to the origin of language; but it could
be investigated only by persons possessing an accurate musical ear.
Children, even before they can articulate, express some of their feel-
ings and desires by noises uttered in different notes. For instance,
they make an interrogative noise, and others of assent and dissent, in
different tones; and it would, I think, be worth while to ascertain
whether there is any uniformity in different children in the jaitch of
their voices under various frames of mind.

LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN. 409

I fear that this letter can be of no use to you, but it will serve to
show my sympathy and good wishes in your researches.

To A. R. Wallace.

Down, April 29th [1867].

I have been greatly interested by your letter, but your view is not
new to me. If you will look at p. 240 of the fourth edition of the
Origin you will find it very briefly given with two extreme examples of
the peacock and black grouse. A more general statement is given at
p. 101, or at p. 89 of the first edition, for I have long entertained this
view, though I have never had space to develop it. But I had not
sufficient knowledge to generalise as far as you do about colouring and
nesting. In your paper perhaps you will just allude to my scanty
remark in the fourth edition, because in my Essay on Man I intend to
discuss the whole subject of sexual selection, explaining as I believe
it does much with respect to man. I have collected all my old notes,
and partly written my discussion, and it would be flat work for me to
give the leading idea as exclusively from you. But, as I am sure from
your greater knowledge of Ornithology and Entomology that you will
write a much better discussion than I could, your paper will be of great
use to me. Nevertheless I must discuss the subject fully in my Essay
on Man. When we met at the Zoological Society, and I asked you
about the sexual differences in kingfishers, I had this subject in view;
as I had when I suggested to Bates the difficulty about gaudy cater-
pillars, which you have so admirably (as I believe it will prove) ex-
plained. I have got one capital case (genus forgotten) of a [Aus-
tralian] bird in which the female has long tail-plumes, and which
consequently builds a different nest from all her allies. With respect
to certain female birds being more brightly coloured than the males,
and the latter incubating, I have gone a little into the subject, and
can not say that I am fully satisfied. I remember mentioning to you
the case of Rhynclicea, but its nesting seems unknown. In some other
cases the difference in brightness seemed to me hardly sufficiently ac-
counted for by the principle of protection. At the Falkland Islands
there is a carrion hawk in which the female (as I ascertained by dis-
section) is the brightest coloured, and I doubt whether protection will
here apply; but I wrote several months ago to the Falklands to make
enquiries. The conclusion to which I have been leaning is that in
some of these abnormal cases the colour happened to vary in the female
alone, and was transmitted to females alone, and that her variations
have been selected through the admiration of the male.

It is a very interesting subject, but I shall not be able to go on
with it for the next five or six months, as I am fully employed in cor-

41 o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

recting dull proof-sheets. When I return to the work I shall find it
much better done by you than I could have succeeded in doing.

It is curious how we hit on the same ideas. I have endeavoured to
show in my MS. discussion that nearly the same principles account
for young birds not being gaily coloured in many cases, but this is too
complex a point for a note.

On reading over your letter again, and on further reflection, I do
not think (as far as I remember my words) that I expressed myself
nearly strongly enough on the value and beauty of your generalisa-
tion, viz., that all birds in which the female is conspicuously or
brightly coloured build in holes or under domes. I thought that this
was the explanation in many, perhaps most cases, but do not think I
should ever have extended my view to your generalisation. Forgive
me troubling you with this P.S.

To A. It. Wallace.

Down, May 5th [1867].
The offer of your valuable notes is most generous, but it would
vex me to take so much from you, as it is certain that you could work
up the subject very much better than I could. Therefore I earnestly,
and without any reservation, hope that you will proceed with your
paper, so that I return your notes. You seem already to have well
investigated the subject. I confess on receiving your note that I felt
rather flat at my recent work being almost thrown away, but I did not
intend to show this feeling. As a proof how little advance I had made
on the subject, I may mention that though I had been collecting facts
on the colouring, and other sexual differences in mammals, your ex-
planation with respect to the females had not occurred to me. I am
surprised at my own stupidity, but I have long recognised how much
clearer and deeper your insight into matters is than mine. I do not
know how far you have attended to the laws of inheritance, so what
follows may be obvious to you. I have begun my discussion on sex-
ual selection by showing that new characters often appear in one sex
and are transmitted to that sex alone, and that from some unknown
cause such characters apparently appear oftener in the male than in
the female. Secondly, characters may be developed and be confined
to the male, and long afterwards be transferred to the female.
Thirdly, characters may arise in either sex and be transmitted to both
sexes, either in an equal or unequal degree. In this latter case I have
supposed that the survival of the fittest has come into play with female
birds and kept the female dull-coloured. With respect to the absence
of spurs in the female gallinaceous birds, I presume that they would be
in the way during incubation; at least I have got the case of a Ger-
man breed of fowls in which the hens were spurred, and were found

LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN. 411

to disturb and break their eggs much. With respect to the females
of deer not having horns, I presume it is to save the loss of organised
matter. In your note you speak of sexual selection and protection as
sufficient to account for the colouring of all animals, but it seems to
me doubtful how far this will come into play with some of the lower
animals, such as sea anemones, some corals, etc., etc. On the other
hand Hackel has recently well shown that the transparency and ab-
sence of colour in the lower oceanic animals, belonging to the most
different classes, may be well accounted for on the principle of pro-
tection.

Some time or other I should like much to know where your paper
on the nests of birds has appeared, and I shall be extremely anxioUd
to read your paper in the Westminster Review. Your paper on the
sexual colouring of birds will, I have no doubt, be very striking. For-
give me, if you can, for a touch of illiberality about your paper.

To Aug. Weismann.

Down, Feb. 29th, 1872.
I am rejoiced to hear that your eyesight is somewhat better; but I
fear that work with the microscope is still out of your power. I have
often thought with sincere s}rmpathy how much you must have suffered
from your grand line of embryological research having been stopped.
It was very good of you to use your eyes in writing to me. I have just
received your essay; but as I am now staying in London for the sake
of rest, and as German is at all times very difficult to me, I shall not
be able to read your essay for some little time. I am, however, very
curious to learn what you have to say on isolation and on periods of
variation. I thought much about isolation when I wrote in Chapter
IV. on the circumstances favourable to Natural Selection. No doubt
there remains an immense deal of work to do on 'Artbildung. ' I have
only opened a path for others to enter, and in the course of time to
make a broad and clear high-road. I am especially glad that you are
turning your attention to sexual selection. I have in this country
hardly found any naturalists who agree with me on this subject, even
to a moderate extent. They think it absurd that a female bird should
be able to appreciate the splendid plumage of the male; but it would
take much to persuade me that the peacock does not spread his gorgeous
tail in the presence of the female in order to fascinate or excite her.
The case, no doubt, is much more difficult with insects. I fear that
you will find it difficult to experiment on diurnal lepidoptera in con-
finement, for I have never heard of any of these breeding in this state.
I was extremely pleased at hearing from Fritz Muller that he liked my
chapter on lepidoptera in the Descent of Man more than any other
part, excepting the chapter on morals.

412 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

To T. H. Huxley.

Worthing, Sept. 9th, 1881.
We have been paying Mr. Rich* a little visit, and he has often
spoken of you, and I think he enjoyed much your and Mrs. Huxley's
visit here. But my object in writing now is to tell you something,
which I am very doubtful whether it is worth while for you to hear,
because it is uncertain. My brother Erasmus has left me half his for-
tune, which is very considerable. Therefore, I thought myself bound
to tell Mr. Eich of this, stating the large amount, as far as the execu-
tors as yet know it roughly. I then added that my wife and self
thought that, under these new circumstances, he was most fully justi-
fied in altering his will and leaving his property in some other way.
1 begged him to take a week to consider what I had told him, and then
by letter to inform me of the result. But he would not, however,
hardly allow me to finish what I had to say, and expressed a firm deter-
mination not to alter his will, adding that I had five sons to provide
for. After a short pause he implied (but unfortunately he here be-
came very confused and forgot a word, which on subsequent reflection
I think was probably 'reversionary') — he implied that there was a
chance, whether good or bad I know not, of his becoming possessed of
some other property, and he finished by saying distinctly, 'I will be-
queath this to Huxley.' What the amount may be (I fear not large),
and what the chance may be, God only knows; and one can not cross-
examine a man about his will. He did not bind me to secrecy, so I
think I am justified in telling you what passed, but whether it is wise
on my part to send so vague a story, I am not at all sure; but as a
general rule it is best to tell everything. As I know that you hate
writing letters, do not trouble yourself to answer this.

P. S. — On further reflection I should like to hear that you receive-
this note safely. I have used up all my black-edged paper.

To Anthony Rich.

Down, Feb. 4th, 1882.

It is always a pleasure to me to receive a letter from you. I am
very sorry to hear that you have been more troubled than usual with
your old complaint. Any one who looked at you would think that you

* Anthony Rich ( 1804?-1891 ) . Educated at Caius College, Cambridge, of
which he was afterwards an Honorary Fellow. Author of Illustrated Com-
panion to the Latin Dictionary and Greek Lexicon, 1849, said to be a useful book
on classical antiquities. Mr. Darwin made his acquaintance in a curious way
— namely, by Mr. Rich writing to inform him that he intended to leave him his
fortune, in token of his admiration for his work. Mr. Rich was the survivor,
but left his property to Mr. Darwin's children, with the exception of his house
at Worthing, bequeathed to Mr. Huxley.

LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN. 413

had passed through life with few evils, and yet you have had an unusual
amount of suffering. As a turnkey remarked in one of Dickens' nov-
els, 'Life is a rum thing.' As for myself, I have been better than
usual until about a fortnight ago, when I had a cough, and this pulled
me down and made me miserable to a strange degree ; but my dear old
wife insisted on my taking quinine, and, though I have very little
faith in medicine, this, I think, has done me much good. Well, we
are both so old that we must expect some troubles : I shall be seventy-
three on Feb. 12th. I have been glad to hear about the pine-leaves,
and you are the first man who has confirmed my account that they are
drawn in by the base, with a very few exceptions. With respect to
your Wandsworth case, I think that if I had heard of it before pub-
lishing, I would have said nothing about the ledges; for the Grisedale
case, mentioned in my book and observed whilst I was correcting the
proof-sheets, made me feel rather doubtful. Yet the Corniche case
shows that worms at least aid in making the ledges. Nevertheless, I
wish I had said nothing about the confounded ledges. The success
of this worm book has been almost laughable. I have, however, been
plagued with an endless stream of letters on the subject; most of them
very foolish and enthusiastic, but some containing good facts, which I
have used in correcting yesterday the 'sixth Thousand.'

Your friend George's work about the viscous state of the earth
and tides and the moon has lately been attracting much attention, and
all the great judges think highly of the work. He intends to try for
the Plumian Professorship of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy
at Cambridge, which is a good and honourable post of about £800 a
year. I think that he will get it when Challis is dead, and he is very
near his end. He has all the great men — Sir W. Thomson, Adams,
Stokes, etc. — on his side. He has lately been chief examiner for the
Mathematical Tripos, which was tremendous work; and the day before
yesterday he started for Southampton for a five- weeks' tour to Jamaica
for complete rest, to see the Blue Mountains, and escape the rigour
of the early spring. I believe that George will some day be a great
scientific swell. The War Office has just offered Leonard a post in
the Government Survey at Southampton, and very civilly told him to
go down and inspect the place, and accept or not as he liked. So he
went down, but has decided that it would not be worth his while to
accept, as it would entail his giving up his expedition (on which he
had been ordered) to Queensland, in Australia, to observe the Transit
of Venus. Dear old William at Southampton has not been very well,
but is now better. He has had too much work — a willing horse is
always overworked — and all the arrangements for receiving the British
Association there this summer have been thrown on his shoulders.

4i4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

But good Heavens ! what a deal I have written about my sons. I
have had some hard work this autumn with the microscope; but this
is over, and I have only to write out the papers for the Linnean Society.
We have had a good many visitors; but none who would have inter-
ested you, except perhaps Mrs. Ritchie, the daughter of Thackeray,
who is a most amusing and pleasant person. I have not seen Huxley
for some time, but my wife heard this morning from Mrs. Huxley,
who wrote from her bed, with a bad account of herself and several of
her children; but none, I hope, are at all dangerously ill. Farewell,
my kind, good friend.

Many thanks about the picture, which if I survive you, and this I
do not expect, shall be hung in my study as a perpetual memento of
you.*

* Charles Darwin died on April 19, 1882, in his seventy-fourth year.

THE VIENNA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 415

THE VIENNA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE.

BY EDWARD F. WILLIAMS,
CHICAGO, ILL.

TT^ARLY in the fifteenth century scholars on the continent of Europe
-■— * began to discuss questions in little companies out of which grew
what are now known as academies of science. At first these societies
were made up of thoughtful men who met to compare their ideas on
questions and discoveries which were exciting universal interest. The
Academia Pontaniana in Naples was organized in 1433 ; the Academia
Platonica in Florence in 1474. The proceedings in these academies
were for the most part open to the public, and the work accomplished
through them became the means of the formation of the academies of
science, which, in most of the capitals of Europe, have filled so promi-
nent a place the past century and have done so much to utilize and
spread abroad historical, philosophical and scientific knowledge.

The history and the work of one of these academies, that in Vienna,
will, it is believed, be of interest.

A private academy, the Literaria Sodalitas Danubia, started in
Ofen in 1490 by Konrad Pickle, a Frenchman known as Celtes, was
moved to Vienna in 1497, where it received into its membership phi-
losophers, jurists, doctors of medicine and privy councillors. Its prime
object was declared to be to broaden out 'the Humanism' of the time.
It continued to prosper while Celtes was its directing spirit, but after
his death in 1508 its influence gradually declined.

Early in the eighteenth century Leibnitz was anxious that an
academy should be established in the Austrian capital, similar to the
one which in 1700 he had persuaded the King of Prussia to organize in
Berlin.

The central position of Vienna, the prestige of the Austrian gov-
ernment and the low estate into which universities all over Europe had
fallen led him to visit the city and seek aid from those in authority
in carrying out his project. Although his plans received favorable
attention, wars with the Turks, opposition from Eoman Catholics, espe-
cially from the Jesuits, and the difficulty of obtaining means for the
support of an academy prevented their execution. Still Leibnitz per-
sisted in urging his plans, and on his fifth visit in 1712 began to be
confident that the greatly needed academy would soon be organized.
His death the following year led to the abandonment of the project for
the time. A Leipzig professor, by the name of Gottsched, in 1749

416 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

sought to revive the plan of Leibnitz, but although courteously
received nothing came from his efforts. He wanted to be a professor
in the university and president of the academy, but the fact that he was
a protestant undoubtedly stood in his way. Still others than he were
interested in the establishment of an academy. A plan presented by
Baron von Petrasch in 1746 at the request of Count Haugnitz was laid
before the government in 1750 and carefully considered. Under the
terms science and the fine arts it proposed to cover the whole field of
knowledge. Nothing came of this effort nor of another put forth in
1774, perhaps because the government feared the influence of the union
of men so prominent for learning and ability, and perhaps because
it did not see whence the means for its support were to come. The
project for an Academy was not taken up again in earnest till 1837,
when twelve men met in Vienna to talk the matter over. They recog-
nized and emphasized the fact that in most of the large cities on the
continent academies had been founded not only to the benefit of their
members but to the credit of the cities in which they had their seat.
Patriotism, they insisted, required the union of the scholarship of
Vienna in an academy as a channel of communication with the learned
world. As all who met to discuss the formation of an academy were of
one mind as to its necessity, they formulated a plan of work, suggested
means for its support and signed a petition to the government for its
immediate organization. A small stamp tax on certain articles and the
right of the academy to publish a calendar would, they thought, produce
the necessary funds. The petition was seriously discussed. Men high
in office, of noble birth and near the emperor were in favor of granting
the request. The plan now presented was compared with that drawn
up in 1750. Public sentiment as represented by the learned class was
tested. The professors in the university were asked for their opinion.
Some thought there were already too many institutions in the city and
that there was neither room nor place for another. The medical
faculty as a whole was not in favor of an academy. Some thought its
work could not fail to come into conflict with that of the university.
But the dean of the faculty of arts, Professor J. J. von Luttrow, wrote
that the two could not come into conflict, that a university is a place
for imparting knowledge already acquired and tested, while an academy
seeks to increase knowledge by investigations and discoveries and fur-
nishes a place where scientific men may compare their theories, criticize
them and weigh carefully and judicially the evidence upon which they
have been formed. For years the discussions about the forming of an
academy continued. The matter was referred, in May, 1838, to a
special commission formed by the court. This commission reported
favorably in June of the following year. Nothing however was really
done till 1847, although several commissions had meanwhile been

THE VIENNA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 417

appointed and without exception had reported that they looked upon
the project of an academy with approval. Tired of waiting the move-
ments of the government, a private academy was organized in January,
1846. Its members favored an academy with two classes, historical
philosophical, and mathematical scientific, and did their work along
these lines. When the petition for the formation of an academy reached
the prime minister, Metternich, he simply said that it was unnecessary
as he had long since determined to found an academy and had secured
a plan for it. From its discussions he proposed to exclude theology,
literature, politics and ethics, and limit them to the subjects connected
with positive science. In presenting his plan to the emperor, which
received his approval, the minister said that the conservatism of the
academy would counteract prevailing disturbances in thought, espe-
cially in politics, and furnish a center around which monarchical ideas
would crystallize. It was decided that a prince of the reigning house
should be curator, that the president should be a nobleman, that there
should be 48 active members, as many corresponding members, and one
public meeting a year ; that the cost should be borne by the government,
but must be limited to 40,000 gulden annually; that for each of the
two classes a secretary should be chosen, to whom, with the dean and
the president, small salaries should be paid, but that ordinary members
should receive nothing, inasmuch as many of them, professors in the
university and in other offices, were already in the service of the gov-
ernment. Final and favorable action was taken in November, 1847,
though the formation of the academy had been officially announced
in May of that year. The Academy consisted of 40 active members,
18 of them resident in Vienna, the others representing various sections
of the realm. Many reasons prevented the curator, Archduke John,
from issuing a call for the meeting of the academy till February, 1848.
It had been agreed that in addition to the forty members named by the
emperor out of the lists furnished him, these forty should have the
privilege of choosing eight more members and, subject to the emperor's
approval, of electing its president, its secretaries and its dean. The
cost of printing the papers presented to the academy was to be met by
the government, but to the request that these papers be free from police
supervision a negative answer was returned. This was in the revo-
lutionary year 1848. The day after the request for freedom of publica-
tion had been denied a mob gathered in Vienna, the emperor sur-
rendered his absolute power and granted the academy the liberty it
desired. He also permitted the academy to increase its membership,
by 12 in each class, and to elect an equal number of corresponding
members. Though providing amply for the study of history and phi-
losophy, the first place was given to science. Hammer Purgstall was
chosen the first president. "An academy," said he, "is a union of
vol. Lxir. — 27.

4i8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

spiritual forces for the advance of knowledge in its highest develop-
ment and power. It does not busy itself with the instruction of youth
but with protecting and stimulating men of learning. It is a sort of
judgment seat to which scientific attainments are brought and at which
their real value is appraised. ' '

Though hesitating so long over the establishment of an academy,
having permitted its organization, the government did not fail to favor
it in every possible way and to provide handsomely for its support.
Rooms were set aside for its sessions and its work, in the Polytechnic
Institute. Since 1857, it has had a home of its own in a building long
used as barracks for soldiers, but designed, according to tradition, by
the Empress Maria Theresa for the academy which she herself intended
to found. Here the general secretary resides, and as the building is
very large, several scientific societies have courteously been granted
shelter. The correspondence of the members of the academy within the
realm goes free. Save in the summer months, sessions are held every
week and, with the exception of a single meeting each month, the differ-
ent sections of the academy meet by themselves. The proceedings of
the meetings fill many volumes and form a collection of scientific,
historical, philosophical and archeological papers of almost inestimable
value. Twenty-four active members now reside in Vienna. Strangers
properly introduced are permitted to attend the sessions of the academy,
though none of these sessions are open to women.

The means at the disposal of the academy, though they cannot be
given with absolute accuracy, are for an institution of the kind quite
large. They make it clear that its members have the confidence of the
public and that the work they are doing appeals to men of wealth and
lovers of learning. From the sale of an almanac which contains brief
reports of the proceedings of the academy the profits are not incon-
siderable. Extraordinary grants from the government and gifts from
rich men have from time to time been made for special purposes. That
infirm officers of the academy may receive pensions, since 1898 the
government has given 50,000 gulden annually, instead of the 40,000
previously received. To this sum are added 20,000 gulden for printing,
and 7,000 gulden to each class for pressing needs. Property left to the
academy for prizes, or to be used in any way which in the judgment of
its members will increase knowledge and promote its diffusion, now
produces a large income. Since 1890, Prince John of Lichtenstein has
given 5,000 gulden annually for excavations in Asia Minor, and since
1900 has doubled the amount.

Experience has convinced the academy that the giving of prizes is
not the best way to use money. Only such are awarded as are made
necessary by the terms of a bequest. The offer of prizes, it is affirmed,
only stimulates a man who has work in hand to complete it, but rarely

THE VIENNA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 419

induces one to begin new work or to enter upon investigations which
may result in important discoveries and valuable additions to human
knowledge. So far as possible the income of the academy, which is now
between forty and fifty thousand dollars a year from its own funds, is
employed in subventions, to aid in printing important treatises, for
travel, for excavations or special work. A brief reference to what has
been accomplished will justify the demands of the friends of the acad-
emy for its establishment. It has provided for the publication of the
'Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticarum Eerum' in many volumes and
of many volumes of reports of the excavations of the prehistoric com-
mission for whose work it furnished the means. It has nearly com-
pleted the petrographic study of the central chain of the Eastern Alps,
and has made a map of the region. In 1894 it joined in an international
enterprise to discover the weight of the earth. In 1897 it sent, at a cost
of more than 20,000 gulden, an expedition to Bombay to study the
bubonic plague. Its bacillus was discovered, but the young man in
charge of the expedition lost his life. In 1898 and 1899, it had a
commission at work in southern Arabia, and on the island of Socotra.
In 1897 it completed deep sea soundings in the Mediterranean, espe-
cially in what is called the Adriatic Sea. In 1899 it sent a double
expedition to India to study meteors and the eclipse and in 1891 it sent
a botanic expedition to Brazil. The results of all these expeditions
and of others almost as important have been carefully edited and given
to the world through the press.

In 1901 36 annual 'advertisers' had appeared and 49 'almanacs.'
These were filled with information not elsewhere to be obtained. At
that time the philosophical class had published 48 volumes of works
prepared under its direction and 141 volumes of 'Proceedings.' The
scientific class had published 68 volumes of special treatises and 108
volumes of ' Proceedings. ' Five parts of the ' Eeport of the Prehistoric
Commission' had also appeared. For twenty years and more monthly
reports of the condition of chemistry in Europe and throughout the
world have been printed and circulated. Of the 'Archives for Austrian
History' 88 volumes have appeared, of the 'Sources (Fontes) for
Austrian Affairs,' 8 volumes in the First Part, 51 in the Second Part;
of 'Announcements from the National Archives,' 2 volumes, of the
'Monumenta Concilliorum, ' 2 volumes, and 4 volumes of Part III.
Of the 'Hapsburg Memorials,' divisions two and three of Vol. I. have
been printed and one part of Vol. II. Ten volumes of the 'Tables of
Codices' have appeared, three of the 'Venetian Dispatches' and the
second division of Vol. II.

The Academy claims to have suggested and obtained the appoint-
ment of a committee to consider the sources of Indian lexicography;
to investigate the condition of the Corpus Scriptorum of Oriental

42o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

knowledge; to look after Grecian grave inscriptions and to create a
commission for the study of oceanography. It shares with the Berlin
Academy and with the academies of Munich, Gottingen and Leipzig
in the preparation of a Latin dictionary. The work is done in Munich
and on a scale which may require twenty years to complete. Together
with the academies of Munich, Gottingen and Leipzig, it has carried
through and nearly completed an 'Encyclopedia of Mathematics and
Eelated Knowledge,' and has agreed to join with them in the future
in any work which ought to be undertaken, but which is too large for
the resources of a single academy. It joined the international associa-
tion of academies in 1900, and is taking part in the publication of the
international catalogue of scientific literature. Statements by the secre-
tary of what was done during the year 1899-1900 show the great place
the academy now fills. The Prehistoric Commission, he says, continued
its investigations at Toplitz near Krain, and discovered in graves which
had never been opened many articles belonging to a prehistoric race.
The work is nearly complete and full reports of it will soon be pub-
lished. Successful efforts have been made to obtain a complete collec-
tion of objects needed for the 'Phonographic Archives' of the academy.
The third part has been published of the report of the Austrian Plague
Commission on the morphology and biology of the bacillus, and on
the means to be used for the disinfection of man and beast and their
future protection against danger from this source. A report of the
visit to India to photograph meteors and observe the eclipse has been
printed. Opportunity was taken during this visit to secure measure-
ments of the intensity of the sun's heat and to collect twenty speci-
mens of orchids. The petrographic survey of the Alps has been con-
tinued and provision made for publishing part A of Vol. VI. of the
'Mathematical Encyclopedia.' The material is in hand for nearly all
the work. The Earthquake Commission has made observations in
Istria and Dalmatia, in Krain and Gorz. The number of earthquakes
studied is 190, in the previous year 209. Eeports from several hundred
meteorological stations have been received and tabulated for use not
only in the study of meteorology but for the study of terrestrial
magnetism.

Under the patronage of the 'historical class' of the academy
important publications have been brought out on the early history of
Austria-Hungary. Some new historical facts have been discovered
during the year. Work on the edition of the Latin church fathers has
continued, and the writings of Arnobius Minor have been worked over
by J. Schnarnagl, those of Caesar Arelatorius by G. Morris, those of
Prudentius by J. Bergmann. It is hoped to get these writings into
such shape as to make them valuable. The collection of manuscripts
belonging to the library, through the aid of other libraries and by pur-

THE VIENNA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 421

chase, has been greatly increased. As the result of an archeological
journey to Permesos in Pisidia nine graves, differing in type from any
yet opened, were carefully examined. Vol. I. of this report has now
been published.

The Academy is trying to obtain for its 'Phonographic Archives':
(1) Exact representations of the sounds of European languages and
dialects at the beginning of the twentieth century, (2) representations
of the best musical accomplishments of the present time and of the
musical productions of peoples of different degrees of culture as a basis
for comparison, (3) rejjresentations of the tones of the voices of dis-
tinguished men. These tones the phonograph will preserve. The
results of the expedition to southern Arabia and Socotra will soon
appear in a large number of volumes, giving an account of reptiles,
fishes, insects, lepidoptera, diptera, coleoptera, neuroptera, etc. The
gains for linguistics and epigraphy are said to be very great.

The study of the results of the commission to India to gather infor-
mation in regard to the cause of the bubonic plague has discovered its
bacillus and made it possible to prevent the spread of the plague in
the future. An essay on 'Die Porcia von Socotra,' published by the
academy, has pointed out the possible relation of this Porcia to the
Portia of Shakespeare. Several tales current among the people of
Socotra and on the coast were carefully written down and will not only
show how stories of this character travel from country to country, but
will add to our knowledge of folk-lore. Work which promises to be of
importance has been done in the study of the syntax and philology of
the Slavic languages, and several publications have appeared on the
political history and philosophy of the Slavic peoples. The Academy
is attempting to investigate and study accurately the history, archeology,
philology and ethnology of the entire Balkan peninsula.

The archeological work of the academy proved to be of such impor-
tance and extent that a special society was formed to carry it forward.
Explorations in Ephesus were made in 1897, preliminary reports of
which have appeared, and also of work done in Cilicia. In the spring
of 1898 measurements were made in Luxor, Egypt, to determine the
influence of winter climate on atmospheric electricity, in Siberia to
discover the influence of extreme cold, and in a balloon at the height
of 4,000 meters. The Academy has taken part with the German
academies in preparing an Encyclopedia of Mohammedanism and it
shares with the academies of Berlin and Munich the income of the
Savigny bequest for the study of Law, German and Eoman, and the
law of all nations. The subventions, which cover almost every depart-
ment of scientific research, and those made for historical and philo-
sophical purposes, over fifty in number, now exceed in amount 75,000
florins annually. They indicate an activity in research equaled by no

422 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

other academy save that of Berlin on the continent and are producing
results in which the members of the academy may justly take great
pride.

In closing this brief account of what a single academy of science
on the continent of Europe has done, it may not be out of place to add
that, as the work of the academy has expanded, other societies, chiefly
scientific or archeological, have grown out of it, thus proving it to
be, as was predicted long before its formation that it would be, the
mother of scientific and historical learning in Austria. The academy
in Buda Pesth has larger resources of its own than the Vienna Academy
and has pushed its work with untiring zeal. Barriers of language
render the results of its work less accessible than those of the German
academies. Two academies in Prague, one for the Germans of the
city and of Bohemia, and one for the Czechs, both under the protection
of the government and in receipt of grants from it year by year, have
done excellent work, but on a smaller scale than at Vienna. Of lesser
academies in various cities in the empire, or of learned societies it is
unnecessary to speak, inasmuch as the Vienna Academy is the model
which, so far as possible, all of them try to follow.

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 423

MENTAL AND MOEAL HEREDITY IN EOYALTY, VIII.

By Dr. FREDERICK ADAMS WOODS,
HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

Evidence from Lehr's Genealogy.

IF there is any one still unconvinced that heredity is by far the most
important of all causes leading to high mental activity resulting
in what we call eminence or distinction, he need only carefully study
the great book of pedigrees compiled by Paul Ernst Lehr. If he will
follow these charts of relationship and, at the same time, use any
general biographical dictionary, he will find how seldom has distinction,
as judged by achievements, fallen to those not close blood relations
of others of the same stamp. And this consanguinity of distinction
is in spite of the varying degrees of education and opportunity that
must have been presented to these different princes even when living in
the same age or the same family. If we find, as we do on certain pages
of the book, great barren regions containing dozens of titles of the
highest social rank, the bearers of which lived in different countries and
eras, there is no reason to suppose that these undistinguished princes
did not average just as much opportunity as the average of dozens on
some other page where clustered together are the names of those whose
achievements have been the themes of biographers and historians.

For instance, there does not seem to be any reason why the kings
and princes of Denmark should not have averaged just about the same
opportunity as the princes of Prussia; education of varying degrees
of perfection, stirring times and chances to display ability in war and
government fell to the lot of a certain number in each country, certainly
to no more in Prussia than in Denmark, yet Denmark is barren of
genius, and Prussia at the same time is full of it. At that time not
only do we find great men and women in Prussia, but also their rela-
tions in Brunswick and Sweden, engaged in vigorous activity, while the
princes of nine tenths of the other countries of Europe are doing
nothing really worthy of any mention at all, although education and
events must certainly be favorable to a great many of them.

It is not that education is of no moment, for it must be, as we all
know, of conspicuous influence in mental development. Even those
'self-made' men who have had no education worth mentioning in the
ordinary sense of the word, have nevertheless educated themselves by
observation and experience. It is not that education is of no moment,
but it must be that the determining factor in the production of the

424 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

more important man, is not his education or his opportunities, but
the inherent desire for knowledge and power that makes him seek an
education in one way or another, while the mediocre man is not willing
to have more thrust upon him than his native attention can stand.

Lehr's 'Genealogy' is a book compiled for purely heraldric pur-
poses and traces to the twelfth degree of remoteness eight of the prin-
cipal reigning families of northern Europe. Since in going back
twelve generations every person has 4,096 ancestral quarterings, the
total value of the material brought together in this way is 8 X 4,096 =
32,768, an immense field for the study of heredity. Owing to inter-
marriages the total number of different persons is considerably less than
this, being 3,312, but it makes no difference from the standpoint of
science whether we repeat the same person several times in the pedi-
gree or whether another of the same characteristics is introduced in his
stead, the scientific value of this book is represented by the larger num-
ber, 32,768. This is of course ignoring the possibility that inbreeding
of itself creates a different value for the stock; but since inbreeding in
these families is never very close, and since it is the best scientific opin-
ion that inbreeding per se as usually carried on among human beings
is of no consequence, other things being equal,* this error, if it be one,
may be neglected.

A group of 32,768 persons, such as we have in the pages of Lehr, pos-
sesses several peculiar advantages for the study of the origin of genius.
First, it is gathered together in an entirely impersonal way, Lehr
having no scientific theory in view. Second, it contains also medioc-
rities, so that we may see how many times mediocrity has produced
its like before any genius appears. Third, the exact relationship of
every person to every other person is known, and the pedigrees are
perfectly complete. Fourth, nearly all are of royal or noble birth, very
few being below the rank of a count, so that although their environ-
ments are very different, their social position is always much the same.

Among all these 3,312 I found only sixteen worthy of the nine or ten
grades here employed. These are given in the list below, the word
(new) being appended to those whose immediate ancestry is devoid
of others of equal intellectual worth.

1. (new) Anhalt: Catherine II., Empress of Russia.

Catherine must be considered as a ' sport ' in more than the popular
use of the term, since her ancestry was in no way remarkable. She
did not leave any descendants nearly as capable as herself.

2. Brunswick: Amelia, Duchess of Saxe- Weimar.

' Distinguished patron of genius and learning.' Friend of Goethe.
She was an excellent student, in which she showed ' wonderful
perseverance ' and also composed considerable music. Amelia was
a niece of Frederick the Great and consequently closely related to
about a dozen of the most brilliant of modern royalty.

* Conf. Huth, ' Marriage of Near Kin.' 8vo. London, 1887.

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 425

3. Castile: Isabella, the Catholic, wife of Ferdinand of Aragon.

Isabella was probably a reversion due to the remarkable and repeated
inbreeding from John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and John the
Great of Portugal. Her illustrious descendants were numerous.
Among others may be mentioned the emperor Charles Quint, Don
John of Austria and Alexander Farnese.

4. Coligny: Caspard, the great admiral.

The great admiral was the product of the union of the Colignys with
the Montmorencys when both families possessed illustrious names.
He also left great descendants ( Maurice of Nassau and others ) .

5. Henriette: poetess, a grand niece of the admiral.

6. (new) Douglas: Archibald Earl of Angus.

Not a conspicuous example of heredity. His son Gavin was distin-
guished as a poet.
'/. (new) Egmont: Lamoral, -1558.

Had two sons of some distinction.

8. Hanau: Amelia, married William V. of Hesse-Cassel.

As regent, ' extraordinary energy, wisdom and virtue.' William the
Silent, the illustrious founder of the Dutch Republic, had thirty-two
grandchildren, four of whom were distinguished. Amelia was one
of these four.

9. Hohenzollern : Frederick William, the Great Elector of Brandenburg.

True founder of the eminence of the Hohenzollerns and greatest man
in Germany in his day. He was one of the numerous great grand-
children of William the Silent.

10. Lorraine: Rene II., Duke of, -1508.

Defeated Charles the Bold. Mother was a daughter of Ren6, Duke of
Aragon ( distinguished ) .

11. Lorraine: Claude, first Duke of Guise, son of the above. He served in the

army with distinction at Marignano and other places, and was created
Duke of Guise by Francis I. His fame was exceeded by his son,
Francis, who became ' one of the greatest commanders of his time/
and also by his grandson, Henry, the bitter opponent of the Protes-
tants.

12. (new) Orange: William the Silent, illustrious founder of the Dutch Re-

public. Sprang from comparatively mediocre stock, but his genius
was wonderfully well perpetuated owing to his remarkably brilliant
alliances.

13. Palatine: Sophia, Electress of Hanover, an undoubted example of heredi-

tary talent, owing to her many brilliant relations, and one of the
connecting links between the genius in the families of Orange and
Hohenzollern.

14. Parthenay: Catherine, Vicomtesse de Rohan, -1631.

" A spirited and gifted French lady, was a Huguenot. She distin-
guished herself at the siege of La Rochelle in 1627, and later pub-
lished some poems." The famous Duke of Rohan was her son. He
was called ' the perfect captain,' also wrote valuable memoirs and a
treatise on war. The father and aunt were both distinguished.

15. (new) Romanhof : Peter the Great of Russia.

It is a question whether Peter is to be regarded as a new variation
or a reversion to his great grandfather, Feodor, who was the greatest
man in Russia in his day. His only other very brilliant relation was
Sophia, his half sister.

426 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

16. (new) Vasa: Gustavus I., illustrious founder of the dynasty.

Certainly a new variation. Genius amply inherited in Gustavus
Adolphus and others.

These are all the great names found among 3,312. All the quota-
tions are taken from Lippincott's 'Dictionary,' so the work has an
entirely impersonal basis. In considering the remaining, 3,296, who,
as far as Lippineott's great dictionary is concerned, have left no lives
worthy of distinguished merit, we gain an insight into the rarity of
such men and women as the Great Elector of Brandenburg or Catherine
Parthenay. What of these 3,296? Can it be possible that, living in
the highest social position as they did, a very large majority of them
did not have abundant opportunities to exercise ability had they been
the possessors of it.

What is to be said on the side of heredity? It will be seen that at
least seven of these sixteen numbers (2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13) belong in
what may be called the great main mountain chain of royalty, composed
of the families Conde, Coligny, Montmorency, Orange, Palatine and
Hohenzollern, whose course can be traced from Anne de Montmorency
1493-1562, as far as one generation beyond Frederick the Great in the
beginning of the nineteenth century.

Of the other nine, Catherine II. of Paissia, alone gives no striking
proof of heredity. It is examples of this sort that should be most fre-
quent were environment the main cause. Since wars have been going
on during most of the period covered in this book, and since the
majority of princes have had positions in the army and cabinet, and have
been given fair educations, and since the effects of environment must
have been mostly questions of chance, apart from family influence,
there does not seem to be any reason why environment should group the
great ones together in any way except as regards time or place. But
these sixteen are not grouped as regards time or place, but are scattered
over the centuries and in various countries. If more than ninety
per cent, of them are compatible with all that can be expected from
heredity, and the chances are tremendously against such an occurrence
owing to the large preponderance of mediocrity, then we must con-
clude that heredity is far more important than environment in the
causation of the above facts.

About half the number are new variations. This is pretty well in
line with results in the study of genius in general. That is, the vast
horde of mediocrities is just about as likely to produce a great man as
the relatively small number of great are likely to perpetuate their own
kind. The reason why genius for war and government was maintained
through more generations than scientific or literary genius ever has
been is probably simply this: leading families in science and art do
not in general intermarry in the way that these great governing

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 427

families have done. Some exceptions to this may occur, as among
the descendants of Jonathan Edwards and the famous musician, Bach,
but in these cases the mental qualities were perpetuated.

In the lower forms of animal life we know by actual experimenta-
tion that slight changes in the environment occasion the greatest dif-
ference in results, still in spite of the strange modifications that may
be occasioned in the developing fish or frog by external mechanical
or chemical means, the question resolves itself under ordinary conditions
to the nature of the primary germ-cells.

If a naturalist were stocking two tanks, one for fishes and one for
frogs, and had eggs of both to use for that purpose, the first practical
question for him would be — which are the eggs of fishes and which are
the eggs of frogs?

It is just so in the development of the human mind. As far as
the practical results are concerned, the one bit of knowledge, the pos-
session of which will best enable us to predict the fully developed
adult, is an answer to the same sort of question as that we would first
wish to know in the case of the fishes and the frogs. What is the
nature of the primary germ-cells? Since for obvious reasons we can
not know this nature, the next' best thing to know is its theoretical
probabilities as derived from a proper study of the ancestry.

It would seem from the facts here studied that the probabilities
will be roughly as given below. Quality possessed by entire ancestry
is almost sure to appear. Quality possessed by one parent and half
the ancestry is likely to appear with almost equal force, in one out of
every two descendants. Quality possessed by one parent only, and
not present in the ancestry, has one chance in about four for its
appearance in the progeny. Quality not possessed by either parent,
but present in all the grandparents and most of the remaining ancestry,
would also have about one chance in two for its appearance in one of
the children. If only one of the great grandparents possessed the quality
in question, then the chances of its appearance in any one of the
grandchildren of this ancestor would be only about one chance in six-
teen. It would be, however, very unlikely that some of the remote
ancestry had not also the quality in question, so the chances would
be raised in a greater or less degree according to the proportionate
amount of this remote influence.

There does not seem to be the least reason for assuming that the
male side is any more or less potent than the female side in the
transmission of family characteristics, nor does there seem to be any
grounds for the fancied belief that sons tend to resemble their mothers
and daughters their fathers, or the more generally accepted scientific
belief to the contrary. No figures have been compiled on this subject

428 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

because it has seemed to the author to be profitless in view of the
approximate equality of the instances pro and con.

The above estimates for the characteristics of offspring are in
accordance with Galton's law of ancestral heredity, except that pro-
vision is made for the fact that mental and moral qualities do not
freely blend, so that a child is apt to 'take after' pretty completely
some one of his ancestors, more often the near one, less and. less often
the remote one, until the chances of reversion to a very distant one are
exceedingly slight.

Once in a large number of times occurs one of those fortuitous*
combinations of ancestral qualities that is destined to make a person
inheriting them vary much from any of his kind, and in fortunate
instances shine as a genius, springing from a mediocre stock. The
figures drawn from Lehr 's ' Genealogy ' were about one in five hundred
for this sort of occurrence.

At this point it may be well to consider a popular misconception
concerning the value of hereditary influence — a mistake very frequently
made. Many people argue that great geniuses, coming as they fre-
quently do from humble families, Franklin and Lincoln for instance,
discount our belief in mental heredity; when, on the other hand,
these men should only strengthen our reliance in this same force.
We should consider the thousands, indeed millions, of mediocrities, who
have to be born from mediocrities, before one mind of the type of
Franklin's is produced.

That they rise superior to their circumstances is in itself a proof
of the inborn nature of their minds and characters. A man of this
sort represesents just the combination of the best from many ancestors.
It would be possible in a great many throws to cast a large number of
dice so that they would all fall aces. But here in certain regions of
royalty as among the Montmorencys and Hohenzollerns where the dice
are loaded, such a result may be expected in a large percentage of throws.

* It is to be remembered that when we speak of chance as a cause of
the combinations of characteristics, that even the throwing of dice or pitching
of pennies is entirely subject to the laws of mathematics, as has been abun-
dantly proved by experiments. (Conf., K. Pearson, ' Chances of Death,' etc.)

HIGH-GRADE MEN: IN COLLEGE AND OUT. 429

HIGH-GKADE MEN": IN COLLEGE AND OUT.

By Professor EDWIN G. DEXTER,

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

HHHE American college graduate has often been called upon to face
-*- the accusation of impracticability. From time to time men of
wide influence and broad experience have censured not only his ideals,
but his fitness for participation in those affairs which count for most
in a modern civilization. The burden of their complaint is that he is
a dreamer of dreams, not a doer of deeds, and that there is little place
for him in the strenuous competition of the life of to-day. Such
accusations are gradually becoming less and less frequent. Enough has
been written upon the subject to prove the general falsity of the posi-
tion, and no further defense is needed of college men as a class. It can
not, however, be denied that as individuals college graduates meet, with
very different degrees of perfection, the demands of life. Some take
first rank in their chosen callings ; others see their efforts crowned only
with moderate success, while another, and we believe a smaller class,
make partial or total shipwreck of their hopes. But this differentiation
and stratification which is so noticeable in the struggle for honors in
the various competitions of business and professional life was equally
true for them during their undergraduate courses. In the student body
of every institution of learning we find the high-grade men, the moder-
ate successes, from the standpoint of college education, and the rear
guard. A question of no little importance, and one with which the
present paper deals is this: Is the high-grade man of his college days
high-grade still when put to the severer tests of active life ? Is the level
to which he rose or sank in competition for college honors his level for
life, or is there a general shifting of strata for the changed conditions ?
The answer to these questions is of broad educational significance. It
has to do with ideals : those of the college and of life. The high-grade
man in college has realized most nearly the ideal of his alma mater.
He is its best product according to its criterion of success and is given
its highest stamp of approval. If he fails in life, it means that judged
by another criterion — that of society in its broadest sense — he is not
a success ; that the two criteria are different, based upon different ideals,
and, as a corollary, since life is the final test, that the college ideal is not
a practical one and that the aim of higher academic education is false.
If, however, he holds first place in life, as he did in the preparation
for it, we must conclude that the two ideals, that of the college and

43° POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

that of the civilization of which it forms a part, are coincident; that,
in terms of the ultimate test, the college ideal is a good one.

The present study is an attempt to follow the subsequent careers of
high-grade college men in order to determine their evaluation by the
world at large. It presupposes two criteria, each of which must be
arbitrarily chosen, one for high grade or success in college, and the
other for achievement of the same character in after life. As the former
criterion, I have taken membership in Phi Beta Kappa, the honorary,
college Greek letter fraternity; as the latter, mention in '"Who's Who
in America' the annual biographical cyclopedia published in Chicago.

There can be, I believe, little question as to the validity of the first
criterion. Election to Phi Beta Kappa is based upon marks given in
course, only the high-grade men (and women) being admitted, and so
far as I know, no complaint has ever been made as to the justice of
election on this basis. There are at present fifty chapters of the
fraternity in the colleges and universities of our country. Only
students matriculated for the bachelor's degree are elected and of the
entire membership 85 per cent, or more have received it in arts; the
remainder in science or philosophy. This eliminates from our study
the professional, technical and graduate schools and reduces it prac-
tically to the academic institutions of higher grade : in fact, the typical
American college whose raison d'etre has been more boldly questioned
than has almost any other part of our educational machinery. The
percentage of graduates elected to Phi Beta Kappa by the different
chapters varies, being as low as 8 per cent, for Harvard and as high as
33 per cent, for several other colleges, with an average of about 16 per
cent., or one graduate in six, for the whole. It is, then, this upper
stratum of college men which we are considering in this study.

The criterion of success in after life which I have made use of is
perhaps not so free from valid criticism. It is possible that not all
would wish to accept mention in 'Who's Who' as indicative of high
grade in life, yet with all its shortcomings, I know of no better criterion
of success that can be applied to large numbers of living Americans.
Although the names of many men and women of eminence fail to find
place on its pages, it is nevertheless probably true that each who is there
mentioned has achieved more than an ordinary degree of success in the
chosen calling and is, therefore, entitled to be classed as high grade.

The volume chosen for the purpose of the present study was that
for 1900, since it was contemporary with the 'Handbook and General
Address Catalog of Phi Beta Kappa,' compiled by the Secretary, Eev-
erend E. B. Parsons, of Williamstown, Mass., which is used in connection
with it. The volume referred to contains the names of 8,602 living
Americans, from every calling and profession. Of this number 3,237
are college graduates, with degrees from more than 200 institutions.

HIGH-GRADE MEN: IN COLLEGE AND OUT. 431

A classification of the names in it, in terms of the various professions
and vocations, gives us the following numbers for the twenty-four
which seem to form the most natural divisions. Actor: male 54,
female 40. Artist, including illustrators: male 260, female 21.
Author, including writer, historian, novelist and poet: male 528,
female 272. Business, including the various mercantile pursuits:
male 200. Clergyman, including bishop, rabbi, missionary, priest,
salvation army and monk: male, 655, female 7. College professor,
including president, dean and chancellor: male 1,090 female 11. Con-
gressman (both senate and house), 446. Editor, including journalist,
critic, correspondent and reporter: male 509, female 13. Educator,
including superintendent, teacher, philanthropist and reformer: male
188, female 30. Engineer, including architect and miner: male 284.
Financier, including capitalist and banker : male 215. Inventor: male
26. Lawyer, including justice, judge, and jurist : male 857, female 4.
Lecturer: male 21, female 6. Librarian: male 362, female 9. Musi-
cian, including singer: male 111, female 21. Physician: male 540,
female 7. Railroad official: male 102. Sailor: 103. Scientist, includ-
ing naturalist : male 416, female 7. Soldier: 205. Statesman, includ-
ing governor, diplomat, politician and mayor: 202. U. S. official: male
98, female 1. Miscellaneous, running all the way from farmer to insur-
ance president: male 53, female 2. This classification is given in
order to show that there is nothing in the nature of the work to make
it draw more largely from the class of high-grade college men than
from the low because of any limitation of calling.

The method of the present study is as follows : First, those colleges
were selected which have had a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa for at least
twenty years previous to 1900; and graduates only of those colleges are
considered. This selection was made because of the fact that very few
young men find place in 'Who's Who,' and recent graduates are prac-
tically excluded because of a virtual age limit. We have then as the
basis, the twenty-two colleges mentioned in the table (a). Next, by
reference to the 'Phi Beta Kappa Handbook,' the exact number of
living members of each chapter were ascertained (&), 8,122 for all.
Then by means of a comparison of these names in the ' Phi Beta Kappa
Handbook,' with those in 'Who's Who,' the number for each chapter
found in both was determined (c), i. e., the number of Phi Beta Kappa
men in 'Who's Who,' or the number of high-grade college men who
maintained a high grade in after life, according to our criterion. The
next column of the table (d) shows the percentage of such for each col-
lege, which percentages form one term of a comparison. The other term
was determined as follows : By various means, though largely through
the use of the 'World's Almanac for 1901' (figures for 1900), the total
number of living alumni for each of the twenty-two colleges of our

432

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

list was determined and then, by a complete tabulation of all the names
in 'Who's Who,' the number from each college who found mention
there, ascertained, i. e., the number of the rank and file — high-grade
and low — who were high grade in the ultimate evaluation. These num-
bers are not given upon the table, but the percentage of such for each
college is in column e. In the two columns, d and e, we have the basis
of what seems to me an important comparison, the first representing the
percentages of high-grade college men who were successful in life
according to our criterion, and the second the percentage of good, bad
and indifferent college men who achieved success in terms of the same
criterion. The averages at the bottom of these columns are very ex-
pressive: 5.9 per cent, for the former to 2.1 per cent, for the latter. If
we are to accept these figures, our conclusion must be that the Phi Beta
Kappa man 's chances of success are nearly three times those of Ms class-
mates as a whole; that the upper stratum of college life is the upper
stratum still when put to the test and, to borrow further from the
nomenclature of the geologist, the cataclysm of graduation does not
produce a subversion of strata. An examination of the table shows that
for only five of the colleges studied was the percentage of success for

College?.

OQ

3o

■9-

a

• ■-* •.

« s

go

°s

Per cent.

4>pK Graduates in

'Who's Who.'

Per cent.

Living Graduates in

' Who's Who.'

o

<o

o

a>

a
<o

o
u

c

Per cent, of

'Who's Who' Men

Elected to 4>Pk.

a.

6.

c.

d.

e.

/.

a-

Amherst

Bowdoin

630
358
658
184
310
212
650
366
1110
135
140
175
135
185
190
285
225
360
375
140
435
864

29

36

22

4

21

11

38

9

139

2

3

1

3

2

6

5

12

23

21

5

33

56

4.6

10
3.3
2.1
6.7
5.2
5.8
2.4

12.5
1.5
2.1
.6
2.3
1.1
3.1
1.7
5.3
6.4
5.6
3.6
7.6
6.5

2.6
2.2
1.8
1.7

.8
1.6
2.4
3

2.7
2.6
3.6
1.1
3.3

.8

.4
1.6
4.1
3
3.4

.4
2.8
2.3

20
25
25
25
20
12
16

8
25

33
33
12

25
33
25

25

20
12

40.3

59.8

52.4

57.1

39.6

30

45.2

45

40.8

40

33

33

30

10

42

83

Brown

Colgate

Columbia

Cornell

Dartmouth

Hamilton

Harvard

Hobart

Kenyon

N. Y. City Col ... .

N. Y. Univ

Rutgers

Trinity

40

Union

Wesleyan (Conn.) .

Western Res

Williams

34.3

47.7
45.5
54.1

Yale

24.5

8122

Tot. 481

Av. 5.9

Av. 2.1

Av. 15.7

Av. 39.3

HIGH-GRADE MEN: IN COLLEGE AND OUT. 433

the graduates as a whole (e) greater than for their high grade men
(d), and these colleges had so few alumni mentioned in 'Who's Who'
as to give their figures but little weight in a statistical study of this
nature.

The names in the two books furnishing our data, considered in still
another relation, tend to corroborate the conclusion already arrived at.
In column / of the table is shown the percentage of graduates which
each college, so far as I have been able to secure the figures, elects to
Phi Beta Kappa. It will be seen that there is no common custom and
that the variation is considerable. Each represents, however, the pro-
portion of high-grade men, according to our criterion, among its living
alumni, and, consequently, the proportion we might expect to find
among its representatives in 'Who's Who,' if high grade in college has
nothing to do with one's expectancy of place in that book. The aver-
age percentage of such for all the colleges considered, as shown at the
foot of the column, is 15.7.* The next column, however (g), shows the
percentages of such men who have actually received such honorable
mention, and in the two we have the basis for another comparison:
that between representation based upon the numerical expectancy of
the high-grade college men (an average of 15.7 for all the colleges) and
upon their actual achievement (39.3 per cent.). The comparison is
certainly an encouraging one to the high-grade men, showing as it does
that they have surpassed their mathematically computed expectancy by
more than 150 per cent.

I have been able, through the courtesy of officers connected with
two of the larger New England colleges, to supplement this study of
Phi Beta Kappa graduates by one based upon the exact standing in
class, of each one of their alumni mentioned in 'Who's Who.' This
enables us to determine not only the percentage of high-grade men
receiving mention, but also the distribution of the rest through the
lower grades of the class. I had hoped to make this study cover a larger
number of institutions, but have been unable to secure the data. The
figures for the two are as follows :

Total number of living alumni 13,705

Total number mentioned in ' Who's Who ' 303

Percentage mentioned in ' Who's Who ' 2.2

Percentage mentioned, of those who graduated in first tenth

of class 5.4

Percentage mentioned, of those who graduated in second

tenth of class 2.9

Percentage mentioned, of those who graduated in third

tenth of class 2.5

Percentage mentioned, of those who graduated in fourth

tenth of class 1.8

* Percentages in the column ' weighted ' in terms of living graduates.
vol. lxii. — 28.

434 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Percentage mentioned, of those who graduated in fifth

tenth of class 1.8

Percentage mentioned, of those who graduated in last

half of class 1.9

As may be seen from these figures, 2.2 per cent, of the rank and file
of the living graduates of these two institutions achieved 'Who's Who'
success, and we might with reason expect this percentage to hold true
for each tenth of the classes, provided scholarship has nothing to do
with honors subsequent to graduation. What we do actually find for
the separate tenths is shown lower down in the column of percentages;
for the first tenth of the class, considerably more than double the
expected number; for the second and third tenths, slightly more than
expectancy, and for the remainder of the class, considerably less. These
percentages are based upon the supposition that mortality has been equal
throughout the class and that one tenth of the living alumni were
graduated in each tenth of the class, based upon scholarship. It will
be seen from the figures that the percentage of success is a little greater
for the last half of the class, based upon marks, than for the tenths
just preceding it. This fact is even more pronounced for those who
graduated practically at the foot of the class, although my figures cover-
ing that portion are not sufficiently accurate to form the basis of
percentages for the tenths considered separately. I know of no way to
account for this, unless it be that those students who were able to keep
a foothold among their classmates only with the greatest difficulty, gave
up all hope of success in those pursuits ordinarily chosen by the college
graduates, following others for which they were fitted by nature rather
than by training, but in which competition would be with a weaker
class; while those who had made a moderate success of college work
continued in a losing competition with their classmates. If this be
valid hypothesis it would account for the relative success of the lowest
tenth of the class.

Supplementary still to this minor study of the two colleges, I have
figures for one — the larger of the two — showing the success, according
to our criterion, of the men who have received first, second, third and
fourth places at graduation ; that is, not simply of high grade, but those
who have most nearly fulfilled the ideals of their alma mater. Of the
living alumni of this institution 2.3 per cent, were mentioned in 'Who's
Who' and the law of probability would lead us to expect that the per-
centage would hold good for the men of any given place in the class.
We find that eight men of the first place were mentioned; nine of
second place, and six each of third and fourth places. Since, however,
the class of 1832 was the oldest contributing to 'Who's Who' for 1900,
we are safe in assuming that not more than seventy men of each of
these places can possibly be alive and this assumption is based upon

HIGH-GRADE MEN: IN COLLEGE AND OUT. 435

the supposition that not one has died in all these years. Even upon this
generous supposition we find that of the possibly living first-place men,
11.4 per cent, have gained that renown which we have taken as an indi-
cation of high grade in life: 12.8 per cent, of those of second college
place and 8.6 per cent, for the next two places of honor. If, however,
we apply the figures for the mortality tables of life insurance to the
honor men of the last seventy college classes, we find that in all prob-
ability but forty-one of them have survived the three-score and ten
years of baccalaureate life, and that our percentages are 19, 22 and 15
respectively. These, when compared with the 2.3 per cent, which rep-
resents the success of the alumni of the institution as a whole, should,
it seems to me, go some way toward refuting the widely accepted belief
that the college salutatorian and valedictorian are doomed to obliquity.
The statistical evidences that the high-grade college man maintains
his status in after life, which are here presented, though open to all
the criticisms of the statistical method, are nevertheless in accord with
our general belief of what should be. If the college course is a true
preparation for life, it is but natural to expect that he who best fulfils
the requirements of the former is best fitted for the latter. Were this
not so, we must pronounce the preparation a failure. But the educa-
tional career is more than a mere preparation for life; it is a sample
of it, cut in such a way as to show as much as possible of the figure.
The elementary school course, cut small as it is, can give but little of
the design of the whole piece, yet it does suggest at least its general
color tone. In the secondary school one may hope to discover some
few of the tracings, to gain some general idea of the figure as a whole.
But in the college course, taking one as it does to the period of man-
hood, we may expect a sample of sufficient breadth to disclose the bolder
shades and the more general designs of the whole pattern. If it does
not, the trouble is with the cutting, and we should cut it differently.
Seemingly the work with the educational scissors is well done, and it is
a matter of no surprise that the man who matches the sample best
cut matches the whole piece.

436 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE SOUECE OF NITROGEN IN FOREST SOIL.

By RAPHAEL G. ZON,

BUREAU OF FORESTRY, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE.

"VyORMAL development and growth of forest plants is possible
-*-^ only when the plants are able to obtain a sufficient amount
of nutritive substances from their medium.

Among the substances indispensable for the nutrition of plants
nitrogen occupies a conspicuous place. On an average, sixteen per
cent, of this element is included in the composition of albuminous
matter. Nitrogen is necessary for the formation of protoplasm of
vegetative cells, and when it is absent no formation of protoplasm
can take place; hence, no development of organic life in general is
possible. Plants derive nitrogen from the soil, where it is found in
a free state (air), or combined in the form of nitrogenous compounds.

If plants had the capacity of absorbing atmospheric nitrogen and
assimilating it like carbon, the question as to the presence of nitrogen
in the soil would have no interest, since the air would be a sufficient
source of nitrogen. While some plants have the capacity of absorbing
atmospheric nitrogen, the majority draw their supply from the salts
of nitrogen found in the soil.

The consumption of atmospheric nitrogen has been fully deter-
mined for the wild acacia (black locust) and for the white and black
alders. Thus in quartz sand completely free from nitrogen, seeds
of black locust, while developing into seedlings, increased their con-
tents of nitrogen from 0.0024 gr. to 0.092 gr., or more than 38 times,
between May 1 and September 10. The locust in this respect resembles
all the other leguminosse, which have long been known to agriculturists
as accumulators of nitrogen. On examining plants which absorb the
free nitrogen contained in the soil, it was found that the roots of these
plants have tubercles inhabited by organisms. These organisms are
bacteria, which, attracted by the excretions of the roots, immigrate
from the soil and cause the formation of root-tubercles which are
invariably present in the papilionaceas. The bacteria absorb the atmos-
pheric nitrogen and transmit it to the plant. A great many bacteria
cause tubercles on the roots; they can be classified according to the
species which they choose as their host, more conveniently than by
their external appearance. Each species of the leguminosae seems
to possess its own race of bacteria, which can be made serviceable to

NITROGEN IN FOREST SOIL. 437

other species only by gradual adaptation. Leguminosae which lack
proper bacteria are backward in development.

If, for instance, black locusts are grown in soil which contains no
bacteria or only bacteria taken from the tubercles of leguminosse some-
what less closely allied to them, they thrive only moderately; whereas
under the influence of the locust bacteria they develop luxuriantly.
The organism living in the root tubercles of the alder is also, accord-
ing to Hiltner, instrumental in the absorption of nitrogen. It dis-
plays its activity particularly whenever the available nitrogen of the
soil begins to be exhausted on account of its vigorous consumption
by the tree. The fungi which cover the suction rootlets of oaks,
beeches, birches, and other cupuliferse, as well as conifers and many
other woody plants, probably also assist the trees in the taking up of
nitrogen. They do not, however, absorb the atmospheric nitrogen,
but only decompose, among other organic substances, the nitrogenous
compounds of humus, and thus convert them into chemical combina-
tions more accessible to the tree.

Thus, excepting the leguminosse and a few species of other families,
plants depend for their supply of nitrogen upon the nitrogenous com-
pounds in the soil. And it is with these plants that the question as to
the source of nitrogen in the soil becomes important, inasmuch as there
are no minerals containing nitrogen so widely distributed as to satisfy
the demand of trees for this element. Atmospheric precipitations and
the product of the decay of animal and vegetable refuse are usually
supposed to be the sources of nitrogenous compounds in the soil. The
chemical compounds in which nitrogen occurs in the soil are chiefly
nitrates, ammonia, and organic nitrogenous compounds resulting from
the decomposition of organic substances. The best sources of nitrogen
for green vegetation are generally supposed to be the nitrates; but
for forest trees, at least, these seem to be of small account, because,
as Ebermayer says, in forest and marshy soils nitrates are present,
if at all, only in small traces. Also, in the interior of stems nitrogen
is found in the form of nitric acid only when they are grown on a
soil containing nitrates; for instance, on cultivated land. Among
the compounds of nitrogen which are supplied to the soil through
atmospheric precipitation, some nitric acid is found, but two to five
times as much ammonia is present. The whole amount of nitrogen
which is held in combination and supplied to the soil in this manner
through snow and rain amounts, according to Eamann, to nine pounds
per year per acre, and even less. This is insufficient to supply
the demands of trees for nitrogen, as they store up a much greater
quantity. Ebermayer states the average amount of nitrogen taken
up by various kinds of trees per year and acre as follows:

438 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Beech forest, about 44 lbs. of nitrogen;

Silver fir forest, " 35 " "

Spruce forest, " 33 " "

Scotch pine forest, " 30 " "

Thus, only the ammonium salts and the organic compounds of
nitrogen formed in the process of decay are available for the roots
as sources of nitrogen. The amount of nitrogen supplied to the
soil through atmospheric precipitation, either in the form of nitrates
or ammonia, is not sufficient to supply the needs of trees for nitrogen.

There remains still another source, and this is the organic com-
pounds of nitrogen formed in the process of decay of litter. In
fact, Ebermayer has recorded strongly developed roots of spruces and
firs on the Bavarian Alps that grew in pure humus one meter thick,
from which he concludes that the dark forest humus furnishes all
the nitrogen and other mineral nourishment required by trees.

If, therefore, the source of nitrogen in forest soil is nitrog-
enous compounds resulting from the decay of the litter, one would
expect in a forest which is managed on a business basis (that is,
in which trees are removed when ripe), a gradual decrease of the
contents of nitrogen in the soil, as occurs on a larger scale in agri-
culture. In agriculture, where the annual harvesting of crops de-
prives the soil of almost all the nitrogen which is assimilated by
the plants, and returns to the soil only a small part of it by the decay
of the roots of the plants, and where the easily soluble nitrates are
washed out by rains and carried away from the fields, or deposited
in layers inaccessible to the roots, the exhaustion of nitrogen in the
soil sets in soon, and the artificial introduction of nitrogen becomes
a necessity.

One of the most common ways of replenishing the nitrogen taken
up by crops is manuring and the growing of leguminous plants which
have the capacity of absorbing atmospheric nitrogen. These plants
are plowed under during the period of blooming, and when they
decompose they give their nitrogen to the soil. In the forest, it is
true, a considerable part of the nitrogen is returned to the soil in
the form of shed leaves, and only part of it, which is contained in
the trunk of the tree, is removed. The washing out of nitrates from
forest soil does not occur, because no nitrates are formed in it, and
those which are brought in by atmospheric precipitation are de-
composed under the influence of a special microorganism known
as Bacillus dentrificans, which is formed in soils with acid reaction.

But forest soil, though it loses less nitrogen than does arable
land, nevertheless loses it; and more remarkable yet, forest soils
not only do not become poorer in nitrogen, but, on the contrary,

NITROGEN IN FOREST SOIL. 439

become enriched with it, a fact readily demonstrated in poor soils
planted to forests.

How this loss is compensated by nature was not known until
recently. The introduction of nitrogen into forest soils artificially
is not practicable, and therefore the enrichment of the soil with
nitrogen must go on under the influence of other causes. A cer-
tain number of leguminous plants grow in forests, but these are by
no means sufficient to compensate for the loss of nitrogen through
the felling and removal of forest trees. In some arborescent spe-
cies, as Alnus glutinosa, Robinia pseudacacia, and others, tubercles
which stimulate assimilation of free nitrogen are found on the roots.
It may happen that such species do not occur in the forest, or that
the necessary bacteria do not develop in the soil, when the loss of
nitrogen would not be replenished at all. This replenishing, how-
ever, always occurs, and some sources must be found to account for it.

Eecently, E. Henry, professor in the forest academy at Nancy,
France, discovered a new source of enrichment of the soil with nitro-
gen, which is of great interest to foresters. Professor Henry has
proved by experiments that the loss of nitrogen in forest soil is con-
stantly repaired by means of absorption of atmospheric nitrogen by
fresh forest litter.

In November, 1894, Professor Henry collected leaves only recently
dead and still hanging on oaks and hornbeams (Carpinus betulus).
The amount of nitrogen in these leaves was determined in per cent.
of the dry substance. In this way it was found that the leaves of
oaks contained 1.108 per cent, of nitrogen, and the leaves of the
hornbeams 0.747 per cent. The oak leaves were placed in two
zinc boxes. The bottom of one of the boxes was covered with lime-
stone, that of the other with sandstone not containing lime. Both
boxes were covered with a netting of galvanized wire. The leaves
were dried in the laboratory, and 48.16 grams of their dry substance
were placed in the first box, and 53.54 grams in the second. The
leaves of the hornbeams were distributed in the same way. All four
boxes were exposed to air, with necessary precautions against enriching
the leaves with nitrogenous compounds. In December, 1895, the
following year, Professor Henry determined the contents of nitrogen
in the leaves taken from two boxes, whereby it was found that the
oak leaves taken from the box with the limestone bottom contained
1.923 per cent, of nitrogen, and the leaves of hornbeam taken from
the box with the sand bottom, 2.246 per cent. After making the
necessary allowance for loss in weight of oak and hornbeam leaves
owing to decomposition, Professor Henry computed the increase of
nitrogen in the oak leaves at 4 per cent., in the hornbeams at .78
i

440 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

per cent. Thus it was proved by him that fresh leaves fallen from
trees absorb atmospheric nitrogen in the process of decomposition.

The two other boxes remained exposed to the air for another
year, and in May, 1896, fifty grams of fine forest soil were added to
each box. On subjecting the leaves contained in them to a chemical
analysis, Professor Henry found almost the same contents of nitrogen
that had been found in the leaves of the first two boxes which were
exposed to the air during only one year. From these results he
concluded that the capacity of fallen leaves to absorb nitrogen from
the air is retained only in leaves freshly fallen on old litter.

The capacity of forest litter to absorb nitrogen develops probably
under the influence of special microorganisms, active only at the
beginning of the process of decomposition of fallen leaves; later,
however, when the process of decomposition of leaves goes on under
the influence of exclusively inorganic agents, no increase of nitrogen
i? observed; on the contrary, a loss is shown.

It is thus scientifically proved that forest litter is capable of
enriching the soil with nitrogen, but only under the condition that
the decomposition of freshly fallen leaves goes on. As to the assum-
tion that bacteria are developed in freshly fallen leaves, which, like
BMzobium leguminosarum Frk., possess the capacity of absorbing
atmospheric nitrogen, it can only be said that as yet no bacteria
have been found in forest litter.

A practical deduction from Professor Henry's scientific investi-
gation is the advisability of planting cut-over areas as soon as possible,
so that the young seedlings may find in the soil a quantity of nitrogen
sufficient for their nourishment. The longer cut over areas remain
unplanted, the less is success to be expected from planting, as the
young trees develop poorly because of insufficient nourishment.

Thus, the forest not only furnishes timber and other products,
prevents snow- and land-slides, and regulates the flow of rivers, but
enriches the soil with nitrogen, one of the most essential nutritive
elements of plants, and in this way transforms poor soils, fit only
for tree growth, into rich agricultural lands.

EDUCATION FOB PROFESSIONS. 441

EDUCATION FOR PROFESSIONS.*

By Director R. H. THURSTON,

SIBLEY COLLEGE, CORNELL UNIVERSITY.

f I ^HE preparation of the man who has chosen to enter a profession
-*- involves, jjroperly, suitability for the profession chosen, in char-
acter, ability and a special talent, if not a genius, as a basis and an
excuse for that preparation. It should include a general education
sufficient to give the individual the knowledge and culture demanded,
in this generation, of all who aspire to enroll themselves in the ranks
of the leaders of the professions, broad enough and deep enough to
command respect and to justify confidence both in the man's attain-
ments and in their utilization. It must involve training, both gym-
nastic and 'practical,' and development of that strength and maturity
without which the professional apprenticeship of the special school can
not be appreciated or its best results attained. Education, in the com-
monly accepted meaning of the term, should be carried as far and as
high as the time, the means and the ability of the man permit and
continued, if possible, until he has acquired maturity, earnestness, in-
telligent ambition and thorough assurance that he has chosen the right
field of work for his life's long endeavors. Yet, from the day when
it becomes certain that his field of work may be safely selected, a thread
of special preparation may run through all the sequence of his studies
without injury to their value in the development of the man.

Mathematics may be taught by examples selected from the practical
problems of the coming days of professional work; modern languages
may be given large place in the curriculum; the sciences may be
studied in a serious manner and intensively; these latter studies may
be made to conspire for his advantage in the reading of scientific
matter in foreign literatures. In many and very various ways, the
bent of the child, the youth, the man, may be favored without loss of
culture and with the great advantage of stimulating and maintaining
his interest throughout. But, in the earlier stage, it would be a mis-
take to sacrifice culture and gymnastic training, true education, to
professional training. Quite enough can usually be accomplished in
the manner just indicated without observable distortion of the general
education which every youth should rightfully claim. As secondary
education and collegiate work in the 'liberal' arts are to-day conducted,
it is probably always possible to secure a large part of the needed sci-

* Read before the N. Y. State Science Teachers' Association, Syracuse meet-
ing, December 30, 1902.

442 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

entific and linguistic preparation for professional study before entrance
into the professional school and, as in law, for example, it is seldom
wise to attempt to incorporate such work in the curriculum of the
school.

It is becoming more and more common to exact of the can-
didate for admission into professional study the preparatory work
which brings with it the diploma of a reputable college giving a liberal
A.B. course. In the professional school, it is sometimes sought to
arrange a system of electives for the A.B. course in the university or
the college, such as will best combine its work with the requirements
of the professional school, and will thus permit the accomplishment of
the two lines of work in a reduced period, as, for example, at Cornell,
in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences and of Engineering, in six years.

It is progress such as this which justifies the comment of Wendell

Phillips regarding the value of modern education and that of Andrew

Carnegie respecting the changes which have justified the words of that

great orator, in our day as never before:

' Education,' says the orator, ' is the only interest worthy the deep, con-
trolling anxiety of thoughtful men.' Says the business man and philanthropist:
" The changes and the advances made in education, in deference to modern ideas,
have almost transformed our universities. These now give degrees for scientific
instruction upon the same footing as for classics. . . . No imiversity could
stand to-day which had not changed its methods and realized, at last, that its
duty was to make our young men fit to be American citizens and not to waste
their time trying to make poor imitations of Greeks and Romans."

Now, as never before, education is coming to represent the ideal of
John Milton, so often quoted and so rarely disputed, an ideal that can
not be too often or too impressively placed before the youth of our own
day : " I call a complete and generous education that which fits a man
to perform, justly, skilfully, and magnanimously, all the offices, both
public and private, of peace and war." This ideal was embodied in
the plan of Cowley for a 'Philosophic College' more perfectly than in
the curriculum of any modern institution until, in fact, that aspiration
began to find expression in the liberalized and enriched elective system
inaugurated by President Wayland, and until, in the last generation,
Ezra Cornell proclaimed his aspiration to 'found an institution in
which any man can find instruction in any study.' This modern, and
now almost universally accepted, Miltonian curriculum is based upon
principles well-stated by Forel :

Education should promote comprehension and combination, but discharge
the vast work of memorizing as much as possible upon books, which should be
merely consulted, not learned. Make haste to forget useless trash. It obstructs
your own thoughts, paralyzes your artistic sense, and dries up your emotions.
Read only the choice books from among the thousands with which we are flooded.

Man must seek to improve his brain ' by a sane, voluntary and rational
selection, rather negative than positive, by instructing both sexes, and by urging

EDUCATION FOR PROFESSIONS. 443

the most highly organized brains and bodies to reproduce themselves as much
as possible, while forcing the inferior and incompetent ones to the opposite direc-
tion.' This reform secures evolutional perfectibility, while the educational re-
form meets the conditions of superadded perfectibility; and only thus can the
greatest of human problems be solved.*

The same idea is expressed in somewhat different words, and as
viewed by Huxley's different type of mind, from a different standpoint,
thus:

That man, I think, has had a liberal education who has been so trained in
youth that his body is the ready servant of his will and does with ease and
pleasure all the work that, as a mechanism, it is capable of; whose intellect is
a clear, cold, logic-engine, with all its parts of equal strength and in smooth
working order, ready, like the steam-engine, to be turned to any kind of work
and spin the gossamers, as well as forge the anchors, of the mind; whose mind
is stored with knowledge of the great and fundamental truths of nature and of
the laws of her operations; who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire but
whose passions are trained to come to heel by a vigorous will; the servant of a
tender conscience who has learned to love all beauty, whether of nature or of
art, to hate all vileness, and to respect others as himself.t

The right sort of a liberal education obviously begins in childhood
with the growth of the observational faculties, continues through
youth with the development of the power of comprehension and reflec-
tion, is finally terminated, so far as formal education goes, with those
studies which are the expression of the thoughts or of the discoveries
or of the deductions of great minds and which demand the employment
of mature, acute, powerful and trained talent.

This is the university period, and if this can be prefaced to the
professional training the man is indeed fortunate. It is the modern
incorporation of the Miltonian ideal into our educational work that
makes it possible for one of our ablest business men to say:

It used to be assumed that education was a hindrance to ' success in life.'
The great merchant was to begin by sweeping out the store. The weakling was
the proper candidate for college, whence a living might be assured him in the
church or other ' learned profession.' A college education was thought a handi-
cap against ' practical ' achievement. This superstition is one of the husks the
world has thrown off.+

In an ideal university, as I conceive it, says Huxley, almost in the words
of Cornell, a man should be able to obtain instruction in all forms of knowledge
and discipline in the use of all the methods by which knowledge is obtained.
In such a university, the force of living example should fire the student with
a noble ambition to emulate the learning of learned men and to follow in the
footsteps of the explorers of new fields of knowledge. And the very air he
breathes should be charged with that enthusiasm for truth, that fanaticism
of veracity, which is a greater possession than much learning, a nobler gift than
the power of increasing knowledge; by so much greater and nobler than these

* August Forel, University of Zurich. — ' Current Encyclopedia,' November,
1901.

t Huxley, Vol. II., p. 320.

% ' Of Business,' It. R. Bowker, 1901.

444 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

as the moral nature of man is greater than the intellectual; for veracity is the
heart of morality.*

This declaration should be accepted as the fundamental principle,
and the very inner spirit, of true education in all departments and as
being as truly characteristic of the right form of culture as of the
correct method of seeking professional knowledge. It is a character-
istic of every correct form of study or of aspiration.

The 'ladder' which, in our country, leads 'from the gutter to the
university' for every man who, possessing brain and physical vigor,
wills it, includes the successive rounds of the public-school system.
The purpose of that organization is to fit, as well as may be, 'all sorts
and conditions' of youth for the life of the average citizen of our repub-
lic. It properly includes in its curriculum only those subjects which
are of most value to the average citizen and it can not, and should not
be expected to, provide either those luxuries of education rightfully
desired by the well-to-do, or the special forms of training demanded by
those proposing to enter on special lines of work, as into either of the
professions. If it offers manual training, it is because that is found,
on the whole, advantageous to all citizens, and sufficiently so to justify
its insertion into an already crowded curriculum. Should, here and
there, as in Europe, often, a trade-school be established, it should be
justified by the general demand, among the people of the vicinity, for
such a training; being a requirement of the place as a seat of the
special manufacture, or, as with the common trades, by its systematic
teaching of principles and methods that meet the needs of all and
which can not be as readily, perfectly, completely and economically
taught by other systems.

That 'ladder' includes our secondary schools, in which a selected
body of youth are collected who have been found, by a sort of evolu-
tionary selection, to be exceptionally well fitted to receive that higher
sort of instruction. Here it is often possible for a determination of
the choice of vocation intelligently and safely to be made. The pole-
star may be discovered and the course may be laid directly for the
desired haven. But this course must be steered, as best possible,
through available and safe channels and the youth seeking ultimately
to enter a great profession may be compelled — often indeed, greatly to
his advantage — to follow the courses set for him by the school which
is intended to promote the education of other sorts of minds. It is
commonly the fact, however, that the studies here offered include those
fundamentals of professional preliminary work which should always
be acquired previous to entrance upon purely professional study and
hence time is not wasted in securing this, which is also, fortunately,
always desirable culture.

* Huxley, * Coll. Essays/ III., 189.

EDUCATION FOE PROFESSIONS. 445

The preparation of the aspirant for entrance into a profession in-
volves the provision of a fundamental knowledge of means of acquire-
ment of professional knowledge and this means acquaintance with the
languages in which the literatures of the profession are to be found.
In the case of the law school, this means Latin; with the theologist it
includes Greek and Hebrew; with the medical man, it means mainly
Latin, as with the others, so far as affecting early history; while, with
all, this means the necessary acquirement of the modern languages,
French or German, or more commonly both, and sometimes Italian and
others. In engineering, it involves the acquisition of the modern lan-
guages, the sciences of the physicist and the chemist, of the mathema-
tician, sometimes of the geologist and of the mineralogist; and it sup-
plements these with special studies furnishing the peculiar, 'expert,'
knowledge constituting preparation for the characteristic branches of
the professional course.

When the whole course of preparatory work is surveyed, from pri-
mary to secondary and special, and when its relation to the strictly
professional course is noted, it will be found that the latter involves
so much of the admittedly educational, as distinguished from the pro-
fessional, work that it thus becomes practicable for the aspirant to give
all the years which his individual means and his time may allow, and
most profitably, to liberally educating his faculties and to the storing
of his mind with useful knowledge.

Says Dr. W. T. Harris, the philosophic educator and psychologist:*

Specialization in science leads to the division of aggregates of knowledge
into narrow fields for closer observation. This is all right. But, in the course
of study in the common school, it is proper and necessary that the human in-
terest should always be kept somewhat in advance of the physical.

This is simply a statement of the fact, admitted by all, that pro-
fessional training in the special school is the application, in a restricted
field, of principles which should be applied in every field and in all
studies, whether those characteristic of a profession or those which con-
stitute divisions of a broad, liberal and cultural education. But it is
also true that, before specialization can be properly commenced, the
scholar must have terminated that division of his education which is
intended to give him general preparation for 'the future of his life.'
It is true that a certain amount of specialization may be practicable
in the preparatory years ; but it is none the less true that, in prepara-
tion for the latest stage, the student must give main attention to the
educational side and leave the professional to be given main attention
in years following those of growth and of development of character
and of intellectual power.

The guiding hands of parent and teacher may do much in the

* The Forum, January, 1901.

446 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

adjustment and regulation of the educational life and progress of the
young in securing that correct perspective and that direct course from
haven to haven which, only, can give the highest possible result in
training, in education, and, finally, in professional life. The best dis-
position of time, the best choice of subjects of study, the best adjust-
ment of hours and the most satisfactory appropriation of time to work,
to play, to gymnastics, and to practically fruitful exercises of mind
and body, can only be determined by wise and experienced advisers.

Eeferring to industrial and professional training, Dr. Lyman Abbott
says:

Industrial education, in the broad sense of the term, is a function of the
state; not because it is the duty of the state to give to every, or to any, man a
training in his profession, but because it is the function of the state to prepare
man for self-support. One difficulty with our system of education thus far
seems to me to be that we have paid too much attention to the higher education
and too little to the broader education. We need to broaden it at the base even
if we have to trim a little at the top.*

The importance of the provision of every citizen, of either sex, with
systematic and scientific preparation for the duties of life is thus a
most essential provision for the future of the State. Even were we
not compelled, in providing for the individual, to make provision for
systematic education and training in subjects that relate to the useful
arts and the duties of every-day life, it would be none the less impera-
tive, as being vital in the maintenance of the highest interests of the
people as a whole. We can not escape this duty, either individually or
as a nation, and it is supremely important that we go about our work
in a systematic and intelligent manner.

Eegarding methods: It is interesting to observe how completely

educational processes have changed, in the last generation, in every

department and in every division. The old methods, which reminded

one of the stuffing of the Strasbourg goose, have largely disappeared

and, while it must be admitted that work under high pressure is now

too generally the rule, it may be claimed that a very great gain has

been effected in finding reasonable ways of teaching, and especially of

importing into the study of serious, and perhaps intrinsically difficult

and uninteresting, subjects methods of treatment which render the

task far more attractive than formerly.

The system of instruction by didactic methods still exists in places, but
only because the machinery for carrying on the work on more rational prin-
ciples has not been obtained. Wherever the object is education, the methods of
research have been introduced and it is recognized that real scientific knowledge
can only be gained by individual experience .'-j-

This is as true of other subjects than those which, like physics and

* Lyman Abbott, * The Rights of Man,' p. 161.

f Sir John Gorst at the Glasgow meeting of British Association, 1901.

EDUCATION FOE PROFESSIONS. 447

chemistry, like all the naturalist's subjects, the observational and ex-
perimental, seem necessarily to carry with them the paraphernalia of
the laboratory. In every department of study there is some method
apposite to that line of work which permits an appeal to the sense of
inquisitiveness — a fundamental element of human nature and a most
admirable and desirable one — and gives thus a means of approaching
the mind by a direct and pleasant path. This is a principle now com-
ing to be accepted as axiomatic, in education, in all its branches, and
the once 'dry-as-dust' subjects are taking on new life and assuming
lovely and engaging forms.

Thus we may steadily keep in mind, through the whole career of
the youth intended to ultimately take part in the constructive work of
the world, the fact that he must after a time take up technical studies
and that, the more the work of the later years can be facilitated in the
earlier, the better and the more profitable the earlier as well as the later
work. The courses of instruction may perfectly well he made to in-
clude work in literature and in the pure sciences which is both valu-
able in the early gymnastic branches of education and useful in the
later professional work. The earlier courses, in the case of the pupil,
for example, who is proposing to fit himself for entrance into engineer-
ing or architecture, may perfectly well, and wisely should, be made to
include just as much pure mathematics as can be had, just as much of
chemistry and physics as the schools can provide and the modern lan-
guages in liberal amount.

Assuming that the aspirant for admission to the professional school,
in this department, may follow his own bent, and that he desires to be
educated and cultured as well as professionally expert, he will continue
his work into the higher education, and there will elect advanced mathe-
matics, will secure opportunities for experimental work in the physical
laboratory, for work in analysis and synthesis in the chemical labora-
tory and for the study of the technical, as well as of the literary, works
of modern writers in French and German and possibly in Italian and
Spanish. If he is preparing himself to take up ultimately law or medi-
cine or theology, he will similarly find in the college and university
curricula various branches of study which will be of service either
in shortening or in supplementing his work in the professional school.
All such opportunities being taken advantage of, it will be found that
the total time required to secure first an education and then a pro-
fessional training will be greatly abridged without sensible loss in final
results.

There are often subjects obtainable in the educational curriculum,
or at least obtainable in connection therewith, which will be found
either to constitute a part of the required work of the technical course,
or to be likely to prove of special interest and advantage in connection

448 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

with it, and which may be incorporated with advantage to the former
course, also. There are many subjects, outside the liberal courses as
usually prescribed, which, nevertheless, will be found quite as valuable,
as cultural and as educational, as are some subjects which are the usual
elements of that older scheme. The wise man will look for opportuni-
ties to secure a good hold upon these, in substitution, if needs be, for
more usual electives. .

It will also be sometimes found that, to the earnest, competent and
ambitious man, the commonly prescribed courses of instruction are by
no means sufficient to provide a good day's work, each day, and that he
may, with great advantage and without the slightest difficulty or sacri-
fice, increase the prescribed time and number of subjects by perhaps a
third. He can not afford, in fact, to forego the opportunities which
present themselves in such numbers and such wealth, up to the natural
limit of his powers of safe and healthful exertion. He has but one
such opportunity in his lifetime and only the man lacking in intelli-
gence or in moral fiber will waste one hour of such precious time. In
the large universities and the leading colleges of our time, the student
is perplexed and embarrassed by the wealth of opportunity which is
presented him. He will usually find that it will require very great care
and deliberate thought to make a wise choice of subjects, to adjust him-
self to a wise limitation of time, so to adjust and schedule his work
and his play as to make each day and each college-year in maximum
degree profitable. This he should do, having in view the coming life,
private as well as professional, and contemplating the utilization of that
life most perfectly in the promotion of the highest interests of self,
family, friends, country.

Thus, in summary, the ideal preparation of the aspirant, profes-
sionally, involves even a supervision of the child in its earliest efforts
to obtain a knowledge of the outside world into which it has been intro-
duced, a guidance of kindergartner and of the pupil in the elementary
schools in the acquirement of those fundamental knowledges which fur-
nish the means of acquirement of all knowledge, a discreet steering
of the course of the older student in the preparatory schools and the
finishing school or the college, and deliberate, earnest and careful choice
of subjects of study and investigation in higher learning; all to the
purpose of insuring that no hour of work shall be wasted by misappro-
priation to studies which have a less value for the ultimate purpose of
the individual life than others equally available.

The preparation of the aspirant to professional standing and dis-
tinction, or even to the most modest success, thus involves wise counsel
from older and more experienced minds, from the earliest to the latest
years of this long apprenticeship.

EDUCATION FOB PROFESSIONS. 449

Francis of Verulam thought thus, and such is the method which he de-
termined within himself, and which he thought it concerned the living and pos-
terity to know.

Being convinced, by a careful observation, that the human understanding
perplexes itself, or makes not a sober and advantageous use of the real helps
within its reach, whence manifold ignorance and inconveniences arise, he was
determined to employ his utmost endeavors towards restoring or cultivating a
just and legitimate familiarity betwixt the mind and things.

Bacon says, also :

And whilst men agree to admire and magnify the false powers of the mind,
and neglect or destroy those that might be rendered true, there is no other course
left but, with better assistance, to begin the work anew, and raise or rebuild
the sciences, arts, and all human knowledge from a firm and solid basis.

Nor is he ignorant that he stands alone in an experiment almost too bold
and astonishing to obtain credit ; yet he thought it not right to desert either the
cause or himself, but to boldly enter on the way and explore the only path
which is pervious to the human mind. For it is wiser to engage in an under-
taking that admits of some termination than to involve oneself in perpetual
exertion and anxiety about what is interminable.

In the mechanic arts, the case is otherwise — these commonly advancing
towards perfection in a course of daily improvement, from a rough unpolished
state, sometimes prejudicial to the first inventors; whilst philosophy and the
intellectual sciences are, like statues, celebrated and adored, but never advanced ;
nay, they sometimes appear most perfect in the original author, and afterwards
degenerate. For since men have gone over in crowds to the opinion of their
leader, like those silent senators of Rome, they add nothing to the extent of
learning themselves, but perform the servile duty of waiting upon particular
authors, and repeating their doctrines.

The end of our new logic is to find, not arguments, but arts; not what
agrees with principles, but principles themselves; not probable reasons, but
plans and designs of works — a different intention producing a different effect.*

Finally : The preparation of the physical man, like the preparation
of the foundations of any great architectural structure, is a first and a
last essential. Of little value is a noble conception or a high aspira-
tion, the noblest work of the greatest architect or the highest attain-
ments of the greatest human genius, without a solid and safe substruc-
ture, capable of supporting it at all times, in all weathers and in all
contingencies, throughout a long and constantly satisfying life.
Health, strength, vigor, ambition and high spirits are essential strata
in this foundation of every human structure of character and value.
The human mind, the human intellect, the spiritual and the moral man,
can only survive and properly flourish within a wholesome and vigor-
ous body. So closely are the mind and body related that the failure
of the one carries with it, inevitably, loss of efficiency and ultimate
failure of the other. Every minutest defect of body and brain of the
physical man detracts from the possibilities of accomplishment of the
highest and best in the profession, in the home, in the house of one's

* ' Novum Organum.'
vol. iiXii. — 29.

450 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

friend. No man can do his very best as an intellectual, moral, spirit-
ual, being without employing his physical part in its very best estate
in the work. Defect of body means, always, defect in the work of the
man, either in quality or in quantity.

The physical frame is a machine, a transformer of natural energies.
It is at once a home for the soul and a wonderful, an intricate and
mysterious prime mover, an engine of which the motive forces are as
yet undetermined and unmeasured. We know that its perfection is
essential to the perfection of the humanity which it encloses and of
which it is the vehicle ; we know that the display of the intellectual and
the spiritual power, the genius, of humanity is dependent upon the pro-
vision of ample stored physical energy and of efficient means of kinetiz-
ing and applying it to the purposes of the mind as well as of the body ;
we know that the animal machine is not a heat-engine; we think it is
not an electrical generator; we are coming to believe that it is some
form of chemical motor — possibly one in which the vital, the physical,
and especially the chemical and electrical, energies find common source
and origin in a common point of emanation. We know that, whatever
its nature as a motor, it has an inherent efficiency far superior to that
of any heat-engine yet devised and constructed by man. We know that
it requires certain well-ascertained elements as its fuel — or food — that
it must be kept well within the requirements of certain well-established
physical laws ; that, to maintain and promote its best and highest work,
it must be cared for with scrupulous attention to certain definite hygi-
enic laws. We know that the best possible, the highest possible, can
only be attained by man when this curious and mysterious and insep-
arable vehicle of the soul is thus maintained in its best estate.

The building of the body — which means the building of the brain,
always, and just as absolutely — the construction of the physical side
of the man, is actually a problem in architecture and engineering and
one, like all such problems, capable of a good or a bad or an indifferent,
but never of a perfect, solution in any actual case. The building is
carried on by mysterious and unknown forces within it and we can
never touch them or their work without embarrassment or injury to
both. We do, however, know positively certain laws and their action
and certain rules of procedure in the adjustment of exterior conditions,
favorably or unfavorably, and in supplying the necessaries of whole-
some life. We know, in a general way, what should be the methods
of life, of diet, of exercise, of use of powers of body and of mind. We
know enough to make the difference, in most cases, between health and
disease, success and failure of the physical man, and, in consequence,
thus largely to determine the success or the failure of the real, the
intellectual and spiritual, man.

The materials of the builder and their preparation for use are, on

EDUCATION FOB PROFESSIONS. 45*

the whole, well known, for best construction, and it is well established
that a frugal yet ample supply is essential of those substances which
furnish in potential form the energy which is demanded by the animal
machine. Especially should we avoid such kinds as will clog the ma-
chine and impede the evolution of the potential energies in kinetic form.
These constitute main conditions of production and of maintenance of
the maximum efficiency of the machine, and also of its passenger, the
inner man, with whom, even in our individual selves, we have so uncer-
tain and so mysterious an acquaintance.

Man has learned by scientific methods to identify and utilize a vast
number of materials distributed amongst the various kingdoms of na-
ture and the physician and the surgeon are able to perform wonders in
the maintenance and repair of this mysterious motor. Plainness and
simplicity of diet, frugality and maintained efficiency of the apparatus
of preparation, are thus requisites for highest attainments, whether in
physical or in intellectual and moral and spiritual realms, whether in
gymnastics, in learning, or in imagination and in spiritual life. The
famous athlete, the great man of science, the philosopher, the poet or
the divine, each and all live a better life and are more perfect men in
proportion as they perfect the physical side.

Methods of life and habits of body and mind exercise an enormous
influence upon the health, happiness, capacity and achievement of the
man. It is the daily experience of every one that only when the body
is at its best can the mind and the soul rise to highest levels. Keep the
animal machine in good order and the highest efficiency of the being
dwelling within it is maintained — and only thus can efficiency be at-
tained or maintained.

The teachings of comparative physiology, indicating what are the
desirable and what the undesirable materials of construction, and the
teachings of the natural instincts which, in the child as in the animal,
reject harmful substances, give ample instructions to him who seeks,
honestly and earnestly, for such knowledge. Guided by these precepts,
an ambitious and intelligent man can usually find his way safely and
successfully through the snares of this world which everywhere trap
the foolish and unwary.

With ordinarily good physical health and a good body within which
to dwell, at the outset, the way by which to an approximation of the
ideal perfection of Agassiz, the 'soul of the sage in the body of the
athlete,' is open to every man. No aspiring and earnest youth need
doubt which is the proper course. The way toward the ideal, the per-
fect, man, is open to him.

The prerequisites of a successful life are health, strength, intelli-
gence ; power of self-control and of self-direction ; selection of that pro-
fession, or that vocation, which gives largest opportunity for the pecul-

452 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

iar talents and ambitions of the aspirant; a good general education; a
complete professional training; habits of work and play in due propor-
tion; ability to keep abreast of the times, socially, professionally and
generally; capability of meeting and of making mutually helpful all
people with whom the accidents of life bring one in contact in social or
in professional life, and a good-tempered persistence in making a record
that shall, with its steadily lengthening and strengthening chain, be-
come a constantly more and more helpful factor of all success.

Professional success attained, the greatest problem, that of making
that success in highest degree valuable and productive, is one which
appeals to the thoughtful man more importunately than ever could the
problem of gaining a triumphant success in any division of the great
world of humanity. It is not so much the acquirement of wealth,
whether of money or of wisdom or of fame, which must compel thought
and anxious sleeplessness, as it is the problem of investment and of
securing safe and satisfactory returns on the accumulated and invested
capital. If the capital consists of material wealth, the question how to
use it for the highest and best purposes becomes a serious one and the
example of the great philanthropist is studied to ascertain the outcome
of his endeavor to do most and best with his surplus, to learn how far
such attempts have hitherto proved successful and how far they have
proved unfruitful or harmful. If the capital is personal fame and
power and influence, the same question comes up in a modified form
and the successful man is fortunate, or unfortunate, after all, propor-
tionally as he is able to make his fame and power and influence felt for
good in the great world's movements.

The ultimate measure of the man, of the woman, is the degree of
final approximation to the success of a Peabody in promoting education,
of a Carnegie in giving men opportunity to learn and to develop, of a
Booker Washington in promoting the advance of a race, of a Eoose-
velt in advancing the standard of honest and patriotic politics, of a
Rockefeller in discreetly seeking out the greatest needs of humanity and
providing for their effective supply, of a Vassar in promoting the spe-
cial care of women in their intellectual life, of any approximation
gained for self and others to a higher life in wisdom and learning, in
knowledge and culture.

The prerequisites of success are the perfect training of the body,
brain and soul; the methods are scientific, in education, in training
and in practice. The resultant form is a specific type, a species. The
results of the work are as specific, in every profession; usually meas-
ured, crudely, by accumulated capital, in form of learning, of skill, of
property; but its use is ever the same, its abuse usually common to
all forms. Its use is the elevation and upbuilding of humanity, its
abuse self-gratification ; its glory is seen in the progress of mankind.

SCIENCE VERSUS ART-APPRECIATION. 453

SCIENCE VERSUS ART-APPRECIATION.

By JOHN QUINCY ADAMS,

PHILADELPHIA, PA.

A PERSON traveling for the first time in a foreign land is often
-£-*- puzzled by its customs and institutions. He can not understand
why people lay so much stress on forms which seem to him trivial, and,
with good intentions, habitually do so many things which he considers
immoral and vicious. These will remain incomprehensible to him as
long as he attempts to judge them by the laws and habits of his own
land — the common mistake of travelers.

In like manner, an inhabitant of the realm of science, entering the
domain of art, misconceives its character, because he does not under-
stand its language, methods nor traditions. The scientist carries with
him into the field of art the mental habits and standards peculiar to
his native soil, and whatever can not be measured by scientific methods
escapes his notice.

We know that the botanist, the housewife and the farmer see a
different set of properties in the common dandelion, and would classify
it respectively as composite, food or weed. In the same way, one sees
in each object what one looks for, and this is determined by one's
mental habits. It is but logical that the scientists should seek in
environment the leading characteristics of science, and should expect
to arrive at truth by analysis and generalization.

Scientific ideas rule not only the scientists — they dominate also our
science-trained age. Evidence of this confronts us whichever way we
turn.

We see nearly every field of human effort controlled by specialization.
It is no less clear that the aim of the manufacturer, as of the investi-
gator, is to set forth 'the latest thing out.' Every province of human
interest has been brought under scientific classification, so that nearly
all thought is now cast in 'general ideas.' This mode of thinking
ignores individuality and sees in men and things only units of a class.
For this reason, man is content with countless repetitions of the same
form because his class idea is realized if it find in each object the few
characteristics common to the group. Therefore, in general many of
man's needs are satisfied with mere form, and if he sees objects pos-
sessing these formal features sitting in art's accustomed seats, he does
not call in question their titles, but allows articles of furniture, forms

454 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

of ornament and styles of architecture to retain their historic names,
and though their beauty has departed like the glory of some ancient
family, he renders homage to their silly and meaningless descendants
because of their name and position. The world has been filled with
these ugly forms made in the name of art, but they only bear witness
that science has subdued the earth and now holds undisputed sway.

Not only has it driven art into the background, but it has misrep-
resented its character.*

Science has led man to expect art to set forth phenomena, to illus-
trate events, to communicate knowledge with absolute exactness. It
has taught us to believe a work of art worthless unless it give precise
information which can be verified by an appeal to facts. But man
turns to art for the fulfilment of these expectations only to be sadly
disappointed. Weary and cast down, crowds leave the museums with
curiosity unsatisfied, with small addition to their learning, but denounc-
ing art for failing to keep the promises of science. As well condemn
the law of gravitation for the death caused by a falling rock.

Accustomed, as we are, to the precise and unequivocal terms of
science, we expect the language of art to be equally explicit, and just
at this point we are led astray by supposing that the artist — like the
scientist — has something definite to communicate. Like the pioneer,
the artist does not know what is ahead of him, but, driven by his creative
impulse, beset by all sorts of perplexities, he struggles on over unknown
regions until he reaches a point which satisfies him. What he pro-
duces is the outcome of his creative power, which picks and chooses its
material from nature, breaks up and recombines again, and this process
is continued until an effect is produced which his esthetic judgment
pronounces good. The very terms which the artist uses are vague and
indefinite, each one having an infinite number of meanings, determined
not by any inherent quality, but by its relation to other terms in the
same work of art. For example, a straight line has little esthetic value
in itself; nevertheless, it is of great importance in one picture and
almost indispensable in another. In like manner, the meaning of every
bit of color varies with each change in its combination with other
colors ; or a musical tone may be a commonplace noise in itself, but as
a part of Lohengrin's Wedding March it thrills one with delight.
For this reason, a dictionary of artistic language is impossible. Not a
line, a form, a color nor a rhythm stands for a definite idea, the mean-
ing of each one depending not only upon its relative position as
expressed by the artist, but also as appreciated by the spectator or
listener.

* The reader must keep in mind that we are not contesting the great value
of science and its methods, but that we object to these methods being applied
to art.

SCIENCE VERSUS ART-APPRECIATION. 455

I think we all agree that for each learner, science consists essentially
of definite, objective facts which must be acquired in much the same
way that one gets possession of other external objects. Upon demand,
the student must show the amount of stock on hand, and this is taken
as the index of his success. When the teacher wants to mark progress,
he requires each one to open his mental storehouse and exhibit the sum
of its contents.* It naturally follows as a corollary that the chief
aim of science-teaching is to stimulate the pupil to gain possession of
scientific realities, and thus add to his stock of knowledge. Each fact
acquired is an addition to his mental possessions. Therefore, he must
dispassionately learn what actually exists, never forgetting that he is
nature's witness and that his testimony is valuable only in so far as he
tells the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

On the other hand, art can not be analyzed into equal units, nor its
composition expressed by a formula. Neither can its character be
determined by the application of rules and measurements, for each
work of art is a new thing in the world, and is, in fact, a law unto
itself. To attempt to measure art by these quantitative and objective
standards is like taking a sieve to fetch water. Art being a degree
of harmony, an expression of feeling, a way of doing, it can be estimated
only by one who has sufficient capacity of feeling. There is no yard-
stick which can indicate to every person the exact amount of art in any
given production. The only way to estimate it is by a direct appeal to
one's own internal measure, called appreciation. As Plotinus long ago
said, ' The kingdom of Art is within us. ' We are misled into thinking
that there exists a common objective standard, because we so often find
many competent judges agreeing as to the merits of a work of art.
Undoubtedly, there may be a great similarity in personal standards
due to a common artistic environment and a similar social heritage,
which have formed our conceptions of art as of all other objects depend-
ing on personal valuation. The main object of art-teaching therefore
should be to build up within each pupil the highest possible standard
of esthetic appreciation. He must be incited to make esthetic judg-
ments as to the quality of objects, and in this way he develops his
capacity to appreciate. Each decision made is a distinct mental growth.

However, to meet the demands of our examination system for a
definite quantity of knowledge, we teach only a body of collateral facts
so closely related to art as to deceive us into thinking that it is art. We
are satisfied to obtain results which can be measured by a definite,

* As the pupil finds that courses of study, systems of examinations, methods
of promotions, and in fact, the phenomena of science itself, are all based on
the quantitative and external standard of measurement, it is but natural that
the one idea that takes possession of and dominates his intellectual life is
that quantity is the sole criterion of success.

456 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

objective standard. For example, as literature, we teach analytical
grammar, philology, history and events. As a regular exercise in
English literature in many schools, students are required to put a
beautiful passage of Shakespeare into English ! Now, in reality, such a
process never carries one beyond the mere incidents of a literary
masterpiece, and the one element which makes it a work of art, namely,
its power to infect the reader, with the emotion of the writer eludes all
such analytical pursuit. Many of us after leaving college, take up
Shakespeare, Lowell, Wordsworth or Hawthorne, and are astonished
to find them interesting and inspiring. Our apparent purpose in teach-
ing music is to develop dexterity, as though every child were to be a
musician.

The plastic arts are taught as parts of an external body of knowl-
edge which the pupil may take in and then give out again, as though
his nervous system were glass with the power of transmitting, with
more or less accuracy, forms, colors and sounds. Such strong emphasis
on the acquisition of technical skill reduces the study of art almost to
the level of learning a trade. Those teachers and pupils who pursue
higher ideals find themselves in conflict with the accepted educational
canons. These, as I said above, demand measurable results which are
most easily secured in the plastic arts by devoting the time to training
all the faculties to bear upon production. While the appreciation of art
may be learned, incidentally, by this method, the index of progress is
the amount of dexterity acquired so that all the faculties become set
towards making something. This, no doubt, is an excellent way to
learn a handicraft, but a questionable method of cultivating under-
standing and appreciation. Although it can not be denied that a
thorough knowledge of how a work of art is produced, of the skill dis-
played in overcoming special difficulties, affords a peculiar pleasure,
we must not forget that the same pleasure comes from seeing, for the
first time, anything skilfully done, the difficulties of which one under-
stands. And this is true whether it be artistic or purely mechanical.
Whether it be the production of a tone on the violin or the ingenuity of
a knitting or type-setting machine. Such ephemeral pleasure comes
not from esthetic emotion but from scientific knowledge.

In the days when manufacturing was by handicraft and every work-
shop was a school of art, there was less need for teaching art in any
ether way. But since the factory has displaced the workshop, and the
operative the handicraftsman, there is no chance in industry for the
application of art, except in a few cases. Art is no longer a quality of
the product of every-day work as formerly, and it is hopeless for us to
expect it to be. And with its departure from industry, art has vanished
from the daily life of men. This is not surprising, because, although
the long and toilsome road to art by way of production is closed up by

SCIENCE VERSUS ART-APPRECIATION. 457

the advent of machinery, we still insist on teaching all pupils to
approach by this route. The result is that few ever emerge from the
drudgery to enjoy the beauty in the world, because in school they learn
only the a, b, c of drawing, painting or modeling and such meager
skill is a very poor guide to the great domain of art. In fact it has
restricted the attention to a very small part only of the artistic field
and so narrowed our conception of art that to-day very few, even
intelligent persons, think of art as a possible quality of nearly every
human act as well as of its expression in the concrete. I have heard
eminent professional men denounce art in language too strong to print,
declaring it to be only an absurdity. I once asked one of these art-
haters if he thought the room in which we were sitting would be as
comfortable and pleasant if it were four times as long and one fourth
as wide ? I followed his emphatic ' No, of course not ! ' with the remark
that proportion is the corner stone' of decorative art.

A short time ago, in conversation with a very successful worker (an
Oxford man) in one of the great social settlements of London, I was
emphasizing the importance of art in social work. He interrupted me
with: "Oh, yes, we don't go in for art here, but they do at Toynbee
Hall. We go in for music, acting plays, literature and dancing. ' ' He
seemed very much taken aback when I exclaimed; 'But I include all
those under art.'

This testimony of these two typical witnesses, I have selected from
a large amount of evidence which shows, that to most persons art is a
small book written in a strange tongue. It seems incredible that the
intelligent world should limit art to pictures and statues. Even Mr.
Whistler, when he says: 'There never was an art-loving nation,'
evidently has in mind only the plastic arts; for there never was a
people who did not love art in some form. Ever since man began to
reshape the external world; to employ his leisure to give pleasure to
himself and others, art has been the one universal mode of communi-
cating feeling. There is not, and there has never been, a group of
people which has not expressed its emotions in some form of art.

As I have said above, science is largely responsible for the wide-
spread misconceptions and indifference to art. It has dug a new
channel into which it has turned the current of our thought. Out of
these conditions naturally arise methods of teaching art which reinforce
our wrong notions and increase our apathy; for the results approved
by science are produced by pupils and teachers devoid of all apprecia-
tion for art.

In art, as in all forms of human activity, to produce and to consume
are diverse operations which call into play different sets of intellectual
faculties. Why, then, are not both producers and consumers legitimate
claimants to recognition in education ? In the nature of things, is there

458 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

any reason for granting the claims of production, only, and teaching
art in all our schools as though all children were to be nothing but
producers ? Is it not as important to use wisely as to make well ? In
art, should not children be taught to appreciate, independently of the
use of tools ? Certainly, no one will maintain that appreciation depends
upon ability to do, but on the capacity to understand. One may enjoy
the beauty of a house although one lack the skill to drive a nail ; great
pleasure may be had from the splendors of a gothic cathedral without
knowing how to build one; and even the primrose may fill one with
esthetic delight.

Here, then, we have two educational ideals. While I do not wish
to minimize the great value of technical training in handicrafts as a
means of developing character, I wish to insist that learning to do and
learning to enjoy are independent and totally different functions.
Every writer on economics dwells upon the important distinctions
between makers and users, and the common experience of every-day life
teaches that it is possible for man to make what he detests and thor-
oughly enjoy what he can not do.

There is no doubt of our ability as producers, and this vast power
has been obtained by sacrificing our artistic instincts on the altar of
production. Our modern society, like some great oak, has put forth all
its vitality to extend one mighty branch, but to do this, it has sacrificed
its symmetry and beauty.

The pleasure derived from an object of art — as from any object of
enjoyment — does not depend upon an external standard, for, though
a work of art may be pronounced perfect by competent judges, I may
derive no pleasure, whatever, from it. In order to enjoy, I must be able
to join hands with the artist and partake of his feelings. Every
artistic conception is surrounded by an atmosphere of pleasurable emo-
tion, and the art consists in giving expression to this. To be infected
with this feeling, the mind of the spectator, like the sensitive plate in a
camera, must be prepared to receive it, that is, it must possess the
requisite capacity. Let us keep clearly before us that our goal, now, is
not the acquisition of facts and opinions; it is not learning esthetic
rules, nor relying upon some authority ; these may assist, but no amount
of such collateral truths can add aught to one's standard of apprecia-
tion— this can be done only by the action of the mind itself. The power
to enjoy art, like the strength of the blacksmith's arm, is developed only
through use. As a meteor entering the earth's atmosphere is set on
fire by friction, so the feelings are enkindled by vital contact with art.
Now this does not come alone from visiting picture galleries ; attending
grand operas, or reading the poets. These are favorable conditions, but
in order to increase the power of appreciation, one's esthetic sense
must find a place to rest its foot — where it may pause with delight.

SCIENCE VERSUS ART-APPRECIATION. 459

This implies the perception of art. In this we have the process of
growth, for the standard of appreciation is built up out of a countless
number of these esthetic judgments — judgments rendered by the joint
action of the emotion and the intellect. Hence the art-teacher is typified
by the horticulturist who trims, buds and nourishes, making all condi-
tions as favorable as possible, but recognizing that here his power ends,
and that all growth must come from within. As all plant culture
requires essentially the same methods, so the cultivation of appreciation
rests on a few identical principles, no matter what branch of art is
studied. Beneath the apparent diversity, art is a unity. — When the
pupils of Angelo asked : ' Master, which is the greatest art ? ' he replied :
'I know of but one art.' So that our art instruction must rest on the
great fact that art is not something done in a corner, but is as broad as
human life. Not a nook nor cranny of human activity which does not
hold some gem of joyous workmanship. Art shuns no medium, but
clothes alike the Parthenon and the humblest object of daily use with
dignity and. beauty. As it forms some part of the environment of every
child we naturally begin to build its standard of appreciation with the
material nearest to hand. In literature, we do not begin with Words-
worth and Emerson, nor in music with the Ninth Symphony; why
should we begin the study of plastic art with its most exalted forms?
Life's interest centers in its immediate environment, and as it is with
this that all rational education begins, we commence our instruction by
teaching children to appreciate the art in the common and familiar
objects which they touch and handle every day. In spite of the most
rigid demands of utility, a big percentage of man's toil is devoted to
the ornamentation of practical objects. The concrete world takes on
•every whimsical shape or color that can be thought of to solicit favor,
and we pick out objects chiefly for the attributes which please the eye.
Few will deny that very much of this is in bad taste and does not satisfy
the esthetic sense, but gratifies some merely transitory feeling. Not-
withstanding, we surround ourselves with these tawdry objects, because
in the bewildering flood of forms and colors in which human effort takes
shape we must direct our course by the chart with which we are most
familiar, and this as the world goes is a price-list. Trusting too much
to this, and urged on by fickle motives, it is not strange that in our
search for art we lose all bearings, like the sailors perishing from thirst
who hailed a distant ship for a little fresh water: 'Dip down! You're
in the Amazon ! ' was signaled back.

Though few are aware of it, in every neighborhood are some works
of art in daily use, and more hidden away in garrets, such as articles of
table service, embroideries, household furniture, toys, kitchen utensils
and workmen's tools. Nearly every kind of article has at times been
made by artists. What a surprise to most young people to find out that

460 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

art is not something afar off; to discover, as well, that every object
made by man is full of meaning, having not only a character of its own,
but being also an epitome of its maker's biography and a page of the
history of his time. In fact it is a truer record of human action than
printed page or spoken word.

With such a wide range of objects, the choice must be left to the
teacher who can guide only where his love and appreciation light the
way. As any object will do for a sign-post to beginners in this field,
let us take a good specimen of a Chippendale chair which we place
before the pupils. We call attention to its simplicity ; lead the pupils
to see the sincerity shown in its workmanship ; to feel the dainty touches
of originality in working out a pattern ; help them to see the sufficiency
of clean wood, free from ostentatious ornament, sham graining, and
specious varnish; point out that the carving does not vaunt itself but
artlessly adds to the charm of the whole; aid them to find out that no
small curve could have been left off without loss of beauty; lead them
up to appreciate its symmetry and unity — the highest notes in a work
of art.

To place beside this a costly and gaudy chair, and to contrast it
point for point with the Chippendale, will clarify many hazy esthetic
perceptions. A mere hint will persuade most pupils of the futile
attempt to make an ugly object beautiful by excessive ornamentation;
that the chief end of varnish seems to be to fill cracks and cover up
faulty workmanship ; and that a chair filled with twistings and turnings
is not unlike the fool who thinks he will be heard for his much speaking.

Let the young people but look at and think of the two chairs, and
the simple dignity of the one will soon bring to view the braying
vulgarity of the other. Their character will come out strongly if the
pupils are prompted to strip off, in thought, as much as they can from
each chair, without marring its beauty or taking from its utility. The
Chippendale will bear the loss of very little, if any; whereas the other
can give up a large heap of rings, warts, grooves, paint and contortions
without taking from its usefulness, but, on the contrary, adding much
to its beauty. Now as a better chair rises out of this rubbish, an
economic truth will come into view: that a large amount of labor is
spent to produce ugliness — to debase raw material. As one by one the
artistic objects of common life are examined in this way and approved
by this quickened power of appreciation, the non-artistic, also, will
be forced to stand before the bar of the esthetic judgment to give an
account of their purpose in the household. In most houses, the great
number that will have to plead 'guilty' to the charge of worthless,
defective or faulty must lead to an inquiry as to the function and
relation of articles in the home, and an added zest will be given to this
study of decoration by the discovery that the choice and arrangement

SCIENCE VERSUS ART-APPRECIATION. 461

of furniture are fingerposts to character. We see, in turn, the homes
of the loquacious, the conventional, the shallow, the vain, the sincere,
the refined, the deceitful, the vulgar; in fact most human virtues and
weaknesses are unconsciously stamped on man's chosen surroundings.
Such a study of decorative art will fit the student to take up, in the
same way, other branches of art, and finally painting and sculpture.

Although now recognized by a few people that these two subjects
may be intelligently studied without learning to paint or model, their
true educational value is lost through the manner of teaching them.
Either they are taught as purely sentimental subjects with which rude
facts have nothing to do — as though they possessed some mysterious
essence of beauty too ethereal to touch or think on ; or else, like chemical
substances, they are analyzed into their elements, the relation of their
parts determined mathematically and the mannerisms of the artists'
pointed out and carefully noted down. Now while certain attributes of
a painting and the balance of its parts are curious, and, for certain
purposes, important items of knowledge, to single them out and teach
them for their own sake, supposing it to be the study of art, is not
unlike the mistake of the foolish virgins. The few features of a
painting made use of to build up appreciation must be judiciously
selected as witnesses to testify to the character of the art and thus
assist the student to arrive at a just esthetic decision. The choice of
facts for teaching art is determined by the capacity of the learners and
like the pawns on a chess board, their value lies in the way they are
used. Every choice that man makes illustrates the truth that all
appreciation roots in experience ; it therefore follows that a work of art
is a sealed book to the spectator unless it deals with phenomena which
are related to his mental world. For this reason, it is unwise to place
before pupils paintings and statues which lead them into a foreign
world of ideas and customs. The subject-matter should be explainable
by the pupil 's experience, leaving the art as the only new thing. As the
character of pictures should be determined by the age and under-
standing of the pupils, rather than by the glory of the work of art, it
naturally follows that for young people it is wise to select those works
which portray familiar features of their known world. Our cities con-
tain first-rate collections of modern art which can be thoroughly studied
instead of making use of photographs of old masters, so foreign to
the pupils. This will not seem so difficult if once recognized that a
museum is not a storehouse, but a laboratory.

All art instruction, however good it may be, is bound to remain
incomplete unless the school-room, its background, is brought into
harmony with it. This can not be done by merely hanging the walls
with pictures, as is clearly shown by the attempts in two of our large
cities. The class-rooms in at least one public school in each of these

462 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

cities have been 'decorated' with large and beautiful photographs of
famous works of art. But the want of harmony in the proportions of
the rooms, the ugly color of the walls and woodwork, the hopelessly
commonplace paneling, and the inartistic seats, make the pictures as
much out of place as mailed knights in a modern regiment. While
such incongruity may make the vulgar stare, it can not but make the
judicious grieve.

During recent years the cause of art has been espoused by pro-
fessional esthetes with whom art is merely a fad. They use it as a
means of self-advertisement. Such persons have no feeling for art
and are blind leaders of the blind with the well-known result. As Mr.
Whistler says in ' Ten 0 'clock ' : ' The voice of the aesthete is heard in
the land and catastrophe is upon us.' For only he can teach, in whom
the spirit of the artist dwells.

Considered and taught from the standpoint of appreciation, art
becomes a vital force in the lives of men and forms an important factor
of their effective environment. Each person, gratified at his growing
powers of appreciating art at first-hand, is led to re-survey the sur-
rounding world with this new artistic standard. This quality of
expressing its maker's delight, which many objects possess — and nearly
all may possess — is sought for without any other stimulus than the
pleasure derived from gratifying the esthetic sense. Each object is
made to stand a new trial and respond to a new set of demands. All
the elements of environment are scrutinized, then condemned or
approved ; for, contrary to the popular notion, the majority of mankind
have a latent power of appreciation for art, but like the water hidden
in the rocks in Cyprus, it will come forth only when struck in the right
place and manner.

If a woman, with a good esthetic standard, goes forth to buy furni-
ture, she is no longer in a mood to be persuaded to buy an object, unless
it comes up to her conception of beauty. Neither gilded ugliness,
expensive tawdriness, nor the 'latest thing out' is wanted, but a char-
acter which she can live with and enjoy. Such a demand on the part
of a goodly portion of purchasers would materially change the character
of our manufactured product and leaven our social and industrial life.

THE FOSSIL MAN OF LANSING, KANSAS. 463

THE FOSSIL MAN OF LANSING, KANSAS.

By Professor 8. W. WILLISTON,

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.

/""^LOSE by the mouth of a small but deep ravine opening into the
^-' valley of the Missouri River eighteen or nineteen miles north-
west of Kansas City, and two and a half miles east of Lansing, Kansas,
a farmer and his two sons, some two or three years ago, began the ex-
cavation of a cave to be used for the storage of their farm and dairy
products. In the intervals of their more active farm work, this ex-
cavation was carried further into the side of the hill, until it had
reached a length of nearly seventy feet. In February, 1902, a human
skeleton was exhumed at the end of this cave or tunnel, but it excited
no great surprise, since many fragments of bones had been found in
the progress of their work. Fortunately, however, most of the bones
were saved, though some were broken up and removed with the ex-
cavated material, from which not a few were recovered later. In the
latter part of March, Mr. Michael Concannon, the elder son, took with
him to Kansas City a fragment of one of the jaws and showed it to a
reporter of one of the daily papers, by whom a brief account of the
discovery was published.

This notice attracted the attention of Mr. M. C. Long, the curator
of the Kansas City Museum, a gentleman who has long been inter-
ested in things archeological. Mr. Long immediately visited the place
of the discovery in company with Mr. F. Butts, and secured such
parts of the skeleton as had been saved. They recognized the impor-
tance of the discovery, and, from Mr. Long's description, a more
extended account was widely published by the newspapers, with more
or less embellishment, as that of a glacial man. On July 18, the
present writer, in company with Mr. Long, made as thorough an
examination of the place of the discovery and the accessible remains
as was possible at the time, the results of which were briefly published
in Science of August 1. In this paper he affirmed his belief in the
post-glacial age of the remains, attributing their inhumation to a time
when the Missouri Eiver flowed at an elevation of forty to fifty feet
above its present bed.

Very soon thereafter the subject received the attention of a number
of eminent geologists and anthropologists, those most competent to
express an opinion upon the age of the deposits in which the bones

464

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

were found and the character of the remains, who thoroughly ex-
amined the excavation and the bones. Among these were Professors
Winchell and Upham, of Minnesota, Haworth, of Kansas, Chamberlin

Sketch Map of the Lansing Site, a, Concannon dwelling and point of contact of
limestone river bluff and recent bench, b, Entrance to cellar-tunnel, c, Inner end of tunnel
where skeleton was found, d, Trench opened by Bureau of American Ethnology, e-e, Out-
crop of limestone of floor of excavation. /, Entrance of rivulet to Missouri river flood-plain.
g, Contact of limestone spur and bench remnant on north side. After Holmes.

and Salisbury, of Chicago, Calvin, of Iowa, and Drs. Dorsey, of
Chicago, Holmes, of Washington, and Hrdlicka, of New York, all of

Section of the Lansing Site showing Bluffs and River beyond, looking South.
a, Concannon dwelling and point of contact of limestone river bluff and recent bench. 6,
Entrance to cellar-tunnel, c, Inner end of tunnel where skeleton was found, d, Trench opened
by Bureau of American Ethnology, e-e, Outcrop of limestone in rivulet bed. /, Entrance of
rivulet to Missouri river flood-plain, s, Grade of steam bed. After Holmes.

whom agree upon the essential facts concerning the discovery and the
genuineness of the remains themselves.

While, however, the authenticity of the find has never been ques-
tioned, save by a Kansas City newspaper, the nature of the deposits in

THE FOSSIL MAN OF LANSING, KANSAS.

465

which the bones were found, and, in consequence thereof, the age of
the bones themselves has been the subject of not a little discussion,
and of wide differences of opinion. Already the literature of the sub-
ject is considerable, and the reader who chooses may find it in the dis-
cussions by Professors Wmchell and Upham, in Science and the Amer-
ican Geologist, by Professor Chamberlin, in the Journal of Geology,
and, more recently, by Dr. Holmes, in the American Anthropologist.
The subject, too, has been fully discussed at the Congress of American-
ists in New York, and at the various meetings in Washington during
the session of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
It is fortunate that the conditions were such that there can be no

View looking Northward across the Mouth of the Tributary? Valley, showing
Concannon's house at the left and the truncated slope under it, the mouth of the valley just
beyond, and in the center the north bluff with its truncated face 07erlooking the Missouri
bottoms, on the edge of which the railroad lies. The bluff is about 160 feet high. From a
photograph by Mr. Chamberlin.

serious doubt concerning either the discovery itself or the nature of
the remains. The small ravine, near the mouth of which the bones
were discovered, opens upon the flood-plain of the Missouri Eiver from
the west. The ravine is less than a mile in length, with a fall of more
than one hundred feet, and has no running stream, save perhaps for
a short time in wet weather. Very near its mouth it has a tributary
branch, perhaps a quarter of a mile in length, coming from the south,
nearly parallel with the river bank. It is at the extremity of the inter-
vening spur that the excavation was made, beginning a few feet above
the bed of the ravine and extending southward nearly horizontally for a
distance of seventy feet. The cave itself has for its floor in its whole

VOL. LXII. — 30.

466

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

length, a thick, nearly horizontal stratum of carboniferous limestone,
but the material excavated is believed, in most part at least, to have
been deposited by either the river or the recurrent freshets in the
tributary ravine. The excavation has a width of about ten feet, and a
height of seven or eight, the roof being slightly arched, which, with the
walls, have retained their shape without support. Upon the floor, for a
thickness of one or two, or in some places perhaps more, feet, there
are many broken pieces of limestone, and shales, for the most part
worn and disintegrated, that were evidently the talus from the
adjacent hillside of carboniferous rocks. With these, however, and
sometimes at higher altitudes there are not a few larger masses of

Entrance to the Excavation, Looking South.

sharp-angled limestone masses, lying horizontally. In this talus
material a number of fragments of water shells were found. About
three feet above the floor, on the west side of the tunnel, and extend-
ing nearly horizontally inward, there is a stratified layer of finer
material. At places this stratum is pinched out and scarcely distin-
guishable, and later excavations show that it does not extend further
than the end of the tunnel as first excavated.

Its material is not unlike that of the walls of the tunnel elsewhere,
though less coarse. Above this stratum, evidences of water stratifica-
tion are indistinct or wanting. In some places there are whitish hori-
zontal streaks of limited extent, and some observers believe that dis-
tinct indications of stratification are shown in the disposition of the

TEE FOSSIL MAN OF LANSING, KANSAS.

467

occasional masses or small nodules of limestone and pebbles. How-
ever that may be, there are not a few fragments of worn limestone and

Side View of Skull and Femur found in the Tunnel. From a photograph by Mr. M.
C. Long.

Front View of the Skull, Tibia and Femur of Adult Skeleton, with Maxilla of Child
in foreground. From a photograph by Mr. M. C. Long.

occasional pebbles, for the most part of local origin. Otherwise the
material of the walls and roof everywhere is a fine, siliceous, sharp

468

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

angled silt, firm and lumpy when dry, but a soft mud when wet. It
contains some, but not much, carbonate of lime disseminated through
it, and is of a yellowish brownish color. At the edge of the roof,
near the outer extremity of the tunnel, the writer dug from the wall
a complete cast of a river clam. The original shell had entirely dis-

Limb Bones of the Lansing Skeleton.

appeared, leaving, however, the external markings sharp and clear.
No other similar specimen has been discovered in the later excavations.
Land shells, of three or four species, are abundant everywhere in the
material. Fragments of bones of other animals than man have been
discovered in the excavation, but they are indecisive" in character, — a
part of a bison vertebra, a mere fragment of a small artiodactyl meta-
podial, etc.

Additional excavations at the end of the tunnel, and a cross-section,
undertaken at the instigation of Mr. Holmes, have disclosed the pro-
jecting point of carboniferous shales underlying the superincumbent
drift material, between the end of the tunnel and the near-by bank of
the river. Above the skeleton, the thickness of this silty material is

THE FOSSIL MAN OF LANSING, KANSAS.

469

about twenty feet, and the elevation of the terrace or knoll, between the
tunnel and river bank, is about ten feet greater.

The present course of the Missouri River is at the opposite side of
the flood plain a mile or more distant. Until within a few years,
however, the river flowed within a few hundred yards of the entrance
of the cave. In 1881, the year of the highest water known in the river
at this place since 18-14, the water reached to within about seventy-five
feet of the cave entrance, and to within twelve and a half feet of the

View in the Mouth of the Tributary Valley looking out upon the Missouri
Bottoms and showing the Entrance to the Tunnel at the Extreme Right. From a
photograph by Professor Chamberlin.

horizon of the skeleton, as determined from Mr. Martin Concannon's
testimony.

The bones discovered in the excavation belong to two different
skeletons. One of these skeletons is represented by a single bone, the
left upper maxilla, belonging to a child about nine years of age, as
determined by the teeth, of which the permanent incisors and first
molar were fully erupted, while the deciduous molars were much worn.
This bone was found about sixty feet from the entrance of the cave,

47o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

nearly upon the floor of the tunnel. The other skeleton was evidently
complete, or nearly so, and but little disturbed. It was found about
ten feet further away from the entrance, lying upon the limestone
talus, though wholly covered by the silty material characteristic of the
tunnel throughout. This skeleton is that of an adult between forty and
fifty years of age, about five feet two inches in height, of slight build
and, in much probability, of a female. The bones were firm, and as
fully fossilized as could be expected in such material as enclosed them.
The bones show in places an incrustation of a stony matrix commonly
observed about bones of pleistocene animals preserved in river deposits
in the west. I may also add that some of the bones of the leg show
pathological deposits, probably rheumatoid. The young man who ex-
humed the skeleton stated that it was irregularly placed. As the
specimen came under my observation it was largely enclosed in its
original matrix. Very clearly it had not been covered by the lime-
stone talus upon the floor of the cave. Portions of the encrusting
matrix enabled one to determine that the bones had been in large part,
if not wholly, articulated when discovered. Every collector of verte-
brate fossils knows how rarely so large a skeleton as that of a man is
found preserved entire and with the bones in position. The right
femur was lying in its socket, but reversed; the left femur had been
partly dislocated from its acetabulum, and was lying obliquely across
the pelvis. Various other bones showed connections, and some of the
bones of the feet are still united. Altogether, sufficient fragments
were recovered to show that nearly every bone in the skeleton had been
present. The femur measures a little more than seventeen inches in
length (430 mm.), the tibia fourteen inches (350 mm.), the humerus
twelve inches (302 mm.), the radius ten inches (250 mm.), and the
forearm, from olecranon to wrist, eleven inches (277 mm.).

It seems very probable that the skeleton had been immersed in water
while yet held together by the flesh. It is impossible that it could have
been subjected to strong currents of water after the decomposition of
the ligaments had occurred, nor could it have been exposed to the
atmosphere for any length of time, nor even for a short time to the
depredations of predatory animals while yet enclosed in the flesh. In
other words, it seems almost beyond dispute that the person had either
been thrown into the water very soon after death, or had been drowned,
and that the body had remained immersed in comparatively quiet water
until covered so deeply by the soil that it could no longer suffer the
vicissitudes of exposure to the atmosphere and predatory animals.
Evidences of artificial or accidental burial beneath the silt are wanting
and are improbable. So far as any theory of the age of the skeleton
is contradictory to this evidence it may be rejected.

Two chief views as to the age of the remains are now held : the one
by Professors Winchell and Upham ; the other by Professor Cham-

THE FOSSIL MAN OF LANSING, KANSAS.

47i

berlin, with the assent of Professors Salisbury and Calvin. To give all
the reasons upon which these views are based is to repeat the already
voluminous discussion, and we must content ourselves with the con-
clusions only.

According to Professors Winchell and Upham, the material cover-
ing the skeletons was deposited during the time of the fourth recru-
descence or southward extension of the glaciers in the United States,
in that stage known as the Iowan, that is, during the next to the last
glacial extension which reached as far south as central Iowa. Under

View from the West showing Intersecting Trench dug to join the Original
Tunnel, with the Concannon residence in background. The skeleton was found nearly below
the place indicated by the larger light spot at the right of the trees. From a phoiograph by
Professor Chain berlin.

this view, the valley of the Missouri River was at this time filled to
a depth of a hundred feet or more, but has since been excavated to its
present level, and the material covering the Lansing skeleton is a part
which has not since been carried away. In support of this view, it is
claimed that the material covering the skeleton is of the character of
glacial loess; that it shows evidence of water stratification; and that
there is no evidence to prove that there has been any subsidence of the
valley subsequent to glacial time.

472 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

The other view is that presented by Professor Chamberlin. He be-
lieves that the inhumation of the remains dates from a time when the
river bed was from fifteen to twenty-five feet above its present level,
that is, when the waters of the river eroded the surface of the lime-
stone upon which the bones were lying, and that the bones themselves
were covered by the action of the river, or by the wash from the ad-
jacent uplands. The material above the stratum already described, Pro-
fessor Chamberlin believes to be without evidence of water stratifica-
tion; that it was built up chiefly by the action of the tributary, which
deposited its washed down silt from the uplands upon the comparatively
low gradient of the end of its valley, while the river itself was flowing
at the opposite side of its flood-plain. He admits as possible, though
less probable, that the whole of the material covering the skeleton
may have been deposited by the action of the river while flowing at
a high elevation. Whether his views are finally accepted or not, they
are supported by valid arguments, and are conservative. By this ex-
planation a considerable antiquity is accorded to our Lansing man, but
one far short of the glacial times. If the other explanation is accepted,
the one first offered by the present writer, and the one suggested as
possible by Professor Chamberlin, the age of the skeleton would be
considerably greater, though still much short of the glacial times.

Yet another opinion is held by certain able geologists — that the
whole of the material covering the skeleton, and to the top of the
knoll, full forty feet above the flood-plain, has been built up, for the
most part at least, by the action of the tributary. This explanation
might permit the inhumation of the skeleton within very recent times,
since the settlement of the valley by white men, indeed. But, this
view seems incompatible, not only with the physical conditions pre-
sented, but also with the evidence afforded by the skeleton itself, and
is, I believe, untenable. This explanation would require the cover-
ing of the skeleton while yet in the flesh, by some sudden freshet in
the ravine, so deeply as to be beyond the effects of the atmosphere, and
the reach of the many prowling wolves and other predatory animals —
a requirement that seems quite improbable, considering the position
and condition of the skeleton. Such a freshet would be far more likely
to wash the body or skeleton far out into the valley of the river.

Dr. Holmes has somewhat modified Professor Chamberlin 's views,
in that he believes that a change of level in the altitude of the river
of five or ten feet would be sufficient to have met the conditions pre-
sented. However, Mr. Holmes frankly says that the decision must
finally rest with the glacial geologists, none of whom has so far pub-
lished anything to sustain the lessened estimate. Furthermore, Mr.
Holmes' views are open to the same objections as those just given. It
seems to me that nothing short of Professor Chamberlin 's estimate
will meet the paleontological requirements.

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 473

As to the character of the remains themselves, both Dr. Hrdlicka
and Dr. Dorsey, to whom may confidently be left the final decision,
assert that they are of modern type, and might well belong to an
Indian inhabiting the plains region within quite recent times, so far
as anthropological evidence goes. Nor does this verdict as to the char-
acter of the remains have much to do with either of the views presented.
It is certainly not improbable that the widespread races of American
Indians date back for thousands of years in their history. Mr.
Upham's estimate of the time since the death of the Lansing man is
about twelve thousand years, a not unreasonable time for the evolution
of the American Indian.

Evidences of the high antiquity of man in America have hitherto
been wanting, or doubtful, and the Lansing man, whichever age is
assigned to him, can claim but little greater age than might be given
him from a priori reasoning. One must frankly admit that proofs
of man's contemporaneity with the many extinct animals of the
pleistocene times in North America have been few, and perhaps in
some cases doubtful. But, that man has existed with some of the
large extinct animals of North America, the present writer, in com-
pany with other vertebrate paleontologists, believes. But this belief
does not carry with it, necessarily, a belief in any very great antiquity.
It seems very probable that some of these large animals, such as the
elephant, mastodon and certain species of bison, have lived on this
continent within comparatively recent times.

Furthermore, if the evidences of the commingling of human and
extinct animal remains in South America are to be accepted, and such
evidences seem almost beyond dispute, it must necessarily follow that
man has existed on our own continent for a yet longer time, since there
could have been no other way for him to reach the southern continent
than through the Isthmus of Panama. In additional support of the
evidence of man's high antiquity in South America, I am permitted
to quote the following from a recent letter by Professor W. B. Scott,
the distinguished paleontologist of Princeton University, who has re-
cently spent some time in those regions in the study of the extinct
vertebrate fauna: "I am convinced, from personal examination, that
man existed in South America contemporaneously with the great, ex-
tinct mammals. To be more explicit, human remains have been found
in the Pampean beds in association with large numbers of extinct mam-
malian genera." Is it not reasonable to suppose that we must seek
for the earliest indications of man's habitation on our continent in
the Pacific regions?

474

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

THE PEOGEESS OF SCIENCE.

THE SMITHSONIAN AND CAR-
NEGIE INSTITUTIONS.
The regents of the Smithsonian In-
stitution held their annual meeting
on January 28, and the report of
the secretary for the year ending June
30, 1902, has been made public. The
first year-book of the Carnegie In-
stitution is nearly ready, and will
probably be distributed at about the
same time as the present number of
the Monthly. Those who are inter-
ested in science have, therefore,
an opportunity to judge the work of
these institutions, so unique in their
objects and so great in their possibil-
ities. The two institutions have
many points of similarity in their or-
ganization and aims. The original
bequest of Smithson, approximately
$500,000, was about the same as the
average endowment of the leading col-
leges at the time, and the $10,000,000
given by Mr. Carnegie is now about
equal to the average endowment of our
great universities. Each institution is
managed by a board, which meets once
a year at Washington and is composed
of eminent citizens of the country.
Each institution has an executive head,
but lacks any body corresponding to
the faculty of a university. There
are, however, several points of differ-
ence. The Smithsonian Institution is
concerned with the diffusion as well
as with the increase of knowledge, and
its activities are supposed to extend
' per orbem.' The Carnegie Institu-
tion is confined to the advancement of
knowledge by research, and the founder
has stated : ' That his chief purpose
is to secure, if possible, for the United
States of America leadership in the
domain of discovery.'

The Smithsonian Institution has per-

formed a service of immense impor-
tance, though probably not on the lines
expected by the founder. What should
be done with Smithson's bequest was
for years a matter of debate in con-
gress and elsewhere. When the insti-
tution was finally organized in 1846,
it was the main center of scientific
work in the country. Its ' establish-
ment ' was the president of the United
States with his cabinet, the vice-presi-
dent and the chief justice. The re-
gents represented the executive, the
supreme court, the senate, the house,
the District of Columbia and different
states. The secretary was keeper of
the museum, librarian and practically
the head of all the scientific work
done at Washington. But in fifty
years the scientific activity of the
country has developed in a way that
is without precedent. The incomes of
our leading universities are twice the
original endowment of the Smithson-
ian, and the national government
spends annually on the geological sur-
vey or the weather bureau twice this
endowment.

The Smithsonian Institution might
conceivably have become a branch of
the government coordinate with the
executive, legislative and judicial
branches, but the reverse of this has
happened; its functions have become
increasingly unimportant, and it prob-
ably now is a drag on the government
agencies that it still administers. The
establishment is a mere name; the
regents meet annually for an hour or
two to listen to the report of the secre-
tary; there is no more reason why the
secretary should continue as keeper of
the national museum than as librarian
of the national library. The last re-
port of the secretary is certainly dis-

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

475

appointing. So far from recommend-
ing that the National Museum and the
Bureau of Ethnology should be given
greater autonomy, he proposes to ad-
minister at the expense of the govern-
ment a national gallery of art and has
abolished the office of director of the
Bureau of Ethnology. The researches
done by the institution proper are
described in four lines. One memoir
of an outsider and three compilations
have been published. The only at-
tempt to do anything for the diffusion
of science is the reprinting (at the
cost of the government) in the annual
report of scientific articles from this
and other journals, the sales of which
in the preceding year amounted to
$16.41. The international exchanges
are supported by the government to
the profit of the institution and, so far
as they concern science at all, belong
to the age of barter. It is of course
easier to criticize than to outline a
constructive policy. The regents will
hold an adjourned meeting on March
11, when there will be opportunity for
discussion of the administration of the
institution. Most men of science would
agree, if invited to give their opinion,
that the National Museum and the
Bureau of Ethnology should be given
greater autonomy and that the Smith-
sonian Institution should be brought
into closer touch with the scientific in-
terests of the country.

Appreciation is far pleasanter than
criticism, but we can not express un-
qualified admiration for the work of
the Carnegie Institution as related in
its first year-book. The trustees passed
a resolution requesting the executive
committee to prepare a report on the
work that should be undertaken by the
institution, but apparently no definite
policy has been adopted. Advisory
committees of scientific men were ap-
pointed, and their reports, as published
in the year-book, give interesting sug-
gestions as to the needs of science.

The members of these committees were,
we understand, paid from $100 to $200
and then discharged. Were eminent
lawyers, engineers or physicians re-
tained for services so important, their
fees would be from $1,000 to $10,000.
Under these circumstances it is not
surprising that the reports are some-
what unequal, and no attempt seems to
have been made to coordinate them.
There were no general meetings to con-
sider the policy of the institution.
Thus the committees on physics and on
geophysics recommended an annual ex-
penditure of $400,000, apart from
buildings, publications, etc.; yet they
probably do not expect the entire in-
come of the institution to be spent as
they recommend. If there is any one
point on which the various committees
tend to agree it is that the scientific
work and policy of the institution
should be directed by experts, but no
provision has been made for such direc-
tion. In place of any large plans for
the advancement of science, the trus-
tees have appropriated $200,000 for
subsidies which have been allotted by
the executive committee. The details
of these subsidies have not been pub-
lished, but, in so far as they have be-
come known, they appear to be rather
obvious. Grants for the Harvard, Lick
and Yerkes Observatories are safe in-
vestments, but do not appeal to the
imagination. The revival of the Index
Medians is a worthy undertaking, but
such a drag-net of medical literature
should be supported by the physicians
whose cases it further advertises.
Fortunately the institution has avoid-
ed any serious errors such as the
assumption of ownership of the Marine
Biological Laboratory on which an op-
tion was purchased by the executive
committee. The well-meaning but
rather colorless policy of the institu-
tion is adequately shown by the re-
port of the president which we re-
produce.

476

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

PRESIDENT OILMAN'S SUMMARY
OF THE PLANS AND METHODS
OF THE CARNEGIE IN-
STITUTION.

As a convenient summary of the
plans and methods thus far agreed
upon the following minute is approved:

The methods of administration of
the Carnegie Institution thus far de-
veloped are general rather than
specific.

The encouragement of any branch of
science comes within the possible scope
of this foundation, but as the fund,
munificient as it is, is inadequate to
meet the requests for aid already pre-
sented, not to mention others which are
foreseen though not yet formulated,
attention has been concentrated upon
a selection of those objects which, at
this time and in our country, seem to
require immediate assistance.

Efforts have been and will be made
to secure cooperation with other
agencies established for the advance-
ment of knowledge, while care will be
exercised to refrain from interference
or rivalry with them. Accordingly,
ground already occupied will be
avoided. For example, if medical re-
search is provided for by other
agencies, as it appears to be, the Car- '
negie Institution will not enter that i
field. Systematic education, abund-
antly provided for in this country by
universities, colleges, professional
schools, and schools of technology, will
not be undertaken. Nor will the as-
sistance of meritorious students in the
early stages of their studies come
within the scope of this foundation.
Sites or buildings for other institutions
will not be provided.

Specific grants have been and will
be made, for definite purposes, to in-
dividual investigators, young or old, of
marked ability, and for assistance,
books, instruments, apparatus and ma-
terials. It is understood that such
purchases are the property of the Car-
negie Institution and subject to its

control. The persons thus aided will
be expected to report upon the methods
followed and the results obtained. In
the publication of results it is ex-
pected that the writer will say that
he was aided by the Carnegie Institu-
tion of Washington, unless it be re-
quested that this fact be not made
known.

In order to carry out the founder's
instructions in respect to bringing to
Washington highly qualified persons
who wish to profit by the opportunities
for observation and research afforded
by the various scientific bureaus of
the United States Government, a cer-
tain sum is set apart for this purpose.

In addition, the Carnegie Institution
will appoint from time to time a num-
ber of persons to be known as research
assistants, who may or may not reside
in Washington, and who shall under-
take to carry on such special investi-
gations as may be entrusted to them
by the institution. The appointments
will be made for a year, and may be
renewed in any case where it seems
desirable. Permission may be given to
go abroad, if special advantages not
accessible in this country can thus be
secured.

Publication is regarded by the
founder as of special importance. Ac-
cordingly, appropriations will be made
for this purpose, especially for ths
printing of papers of acknowledged
importance, so abstruse, so extended
or so costly that without the aid of this
fund they may not see the light.

With respect to certain large under-
takings involving much expense, which
have been or may be suggested, care-
ful preliminary inquiries have been and
will be made.

In order to secure the counsel of
experts in various departments of
knowledge, special advisers have been
and will be invited from time to time
for consultation. Valuable suggestions
and counsel have already been received
from such advisers.

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

477

SIR GEORGE GABRIEL STOKES.
In the death, on February 1, 1903, of
Sir George Gabriel Stokes, the mathe-
matico-physical sciences have lost one
of their most eminent representatives.
For sixty years he has been a leader
in the British school of mathematical
physicists, a school including as peers
and contemporaries George Green, Sir
William R. Hamilton, Sir George Airy,

elected a fellow of Pembroke the same
year. In 1849 he became Lucasian
professor of mathematics at Cam-
bridge, and he held this position up
to the time of his death. He served
his college and university also in num-
erous other positions of honor, having
been master of Pembroke for many
years and a member of parliament for
Cambridge from 1887 to 1892.

SIR GEORGE GABRIEL STOKES.

James Clerke Maxwell, Lord Kelvin
and Lord Rayleigh.

Stokes was born at Skreen, County
Sligo, Ireland, in 1819. He was edu-
cated at Bristol College, and at Pem-
broke College, Cambridge, where he
was senior wrangler in 1841. He was

The fields of work to which Stokes
devoted his attention chiefly are those
of hydromechanics, including the
theories of fluid motion and sound;
the undulatory theory of light, includ-
ing among his more recent papers re-
searches on the X-rays; and physical

478

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

geodesy, including investigations on
the figure and constitution of the
earth and the variation of the accelera-
tion of gravity at its surface. Taking
up the work in these fields at the
stage of advancement attained in the
early part of the last century, mainly
through the labors of the distinguished
French investigators, among whom La-
grange, Laplace, Poisson and Fresnel
were preeminent, Stokes contributed a
large part of the decided progress
gained during the past sixty years.
He shares with Helmholtz the credit
for the important advances in hydro-
mechanics since the epoch of Lagrange;
he did more than any other writer to
extend the brilliant work of Fresnel;
and his additions to the theory of
geodesy are the most noteworthy
since the epoch of Laplace.

His long and active career was
crowned with recognition such as falls
to few men of science. Universities
and learned societies of his own and
foreign countries conferred upon him
the highest marks of distinction; while
at the ' Stokes Jubilee,' celebrated
at Cambridge in the summer of 1899,

the whole scientific world united in
presenting the heartiest tribute of ap-
preciation of his laborious and fruit-
ful life.

*

THE NEW YOKE ZOOLOGICAL
PARK

The New York Zoological Park and
Society have made important progress
during the past year. We have already
called attention to the fact that the
New York Aquarium has been placed
under the charge of the Zoological So-
ciety. The city appropriates $45,000
for the maintenance of the aquarium,
while the society undertakes the scien-
tific control. The importance of the
aquarium as an educational institution
is borne witness to by the fact that the
average daily attendance is 5,000 per-
sons. The new director, Dr. C. H.
Townsend, has made a number of im-
provements in the aquarium. He has
planned a fish-hatching exhibit, which
will be in operation throughout the
year, and alterations that will greatly
improve the illumination and ventila-
tion. He also proposes to bring the
aquarium in closer touch with the

Cage showing Bengal Tigers.

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

479

school system of New York by pro-
viding material for biological classes
and in other ways.

The Zoological Park has during the
year greatly enlarged its buildings and
its collections. The city provided $85,-
000 for maintenance, which is this
year increased to about $105,000. The
board of estimate and apportionment
last year made a special appropriation
of $250,000 for the improvement and
extension of the park, which was used
for the making of paths, etc., and

ture of the building is a studio for
artists, which will encourage painters
and sculptors to make studies of ani-
mal life.

The lion house was opened in Feb-
ruary; a new antelope house, costing
$50,000, will soon be ready. The sum
j of $25,000 has been subscribed chiefly
I for the increase of the collections and
valuable gifts have been received. The
society pays special attention to scien-
tific work, having established a patho-
| logical laboratory and appointed scien-

Main Hall of Lion House.

for the construction of several build-
ings. The most important of these is
the lion house, erected at a cost of
$150,000. We give views of the inte-
rior of the main hall, which is 192 feet
in length, and of one of the cages,
which is 18x22 feet in size. It will
be noticed that the cages are enclosed
with netting instead of with bars.
The cages are covered with glass tiling
of a dull jungle green color, which
forms an excellent background for the
display of the animals and has many
sanitary advantages. A unique fea-

tific curators in place of the usual
keepers. The park was visited last
year by 731,515 persons, in spite of its
present inaccessible position ; when the
rapid transit system is completed, the
attendance will doubtless be doubled or
trebled.

SCIENTIFIC ITEMS.
We record with regret the deaths of
Dr. H. E. Schunk, F.R.S., the British
chemist; of the Rev. Dr. Henry W.
Watson, F.R.S., known for his contri-
butions to mathematics and physics; of

4S0

POPULAB, SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Mr. James Winshurst, F.R.S., known
for his work in electricity; of Dr. John
Young, lately professor of natural his-
tory at Glasgow University; of M.
Pierre Lafitte, professor of the history
of science in the College de France; of
Professor Leonard Landois, professor
of physiology at Greifswald, and of Dr.
Morrill Wyman, one of the best known
American physicians.

The Nobel prizes for 1902 were
formally awarded on December 10 — the
prize in chemistry to Professor Emil
Fischer, of Berlin; the prize in medi-
cine to Professor Ronald Ross, of
Liverpool University, and the prize in
physics to Professor H. A. Lorentz, of
Leiden, and Professor P. Zeeman, of
Amsterdam. The value of each of the
prizes is about $40,000. — The Desma-
zieres prize of the Paris Academy of
Sciences has been awarded to Professor
Roland Thaxter, of Harvard Univer-
sity, for his study on the parasitic
fungi of American insects.

Professor F. W. Clarke, of the U. S.
Geological Survey, has been invited to
deliver the Wilde lecture before the
Manchester Literary and Philosophical
Society next year on the occasion of
the celebration of the hundredth anni-
versary of the propounding of the

atomic theory at Manchester by Dal-
ton. — Dr. Edgar Smith, pi-ofessor of
chemistry in the University of Penn-
sylvania, has been elected president of
the American Philosophical Society. —
Commander Robert E. Peary, U.S.N.,
was elected president of the American
Geographical Society, New York, at its
annual meeting on January 27. — Sir
William Turner, professor of anatomy,
has been appointed principal of the
University of Edinburgh. — Professor
G. N. Stewart, of Western Reserve Uni-
versity, has been appointed professor
of physiology at the University of Chi-
cago, to fill the vacancy caused by the
removal of Dr. Jacques Loeb to the
University of California.

The hundredth anniversary of the
birth of Heinrich Daniel Rhumkorff
was celebrated at Hanover on January
15. A tablet was placed on the house
in which he was born and a new street
was given his name. Professor W.
Kohlrausch made an address on Rhum-
korff's scientific work. — Mr. Carnegie
has intimated to the provost of Green-
ock that he is prepared to present to
a properly authorized authority in the
town the sum of $50,000 to defray the
cost of the erection of a memorial to
James Watt.

THE

POPULAR SCIENCE

MONTHLY.

APRIL, 1903.

ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES.*

By Professor HUGO de VRIES,

UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM.

WHAT are species? To answer this question is as difficult now
as it was in the days of Linnaeus. Formerly it was supposed
that a certain number of forms had been created, and that these, obey-
ing natural laws as yet undiscovered, had split up and so given rise
to groups, which afterwards were called genera. Such genera were
clover, rose and buttercup, plums, apples and pears. Among them,
by the addition of a name, certain species were distinguished, such as
red clover, white clover, etc.

Linnaeus, in his first publications, adopted the above view.
'Each genus is created as such,' is one of his best known theses.
Later he changed this in so far as to declare species created, i. e.,
those species which he recognized as such, and which he had
endowed with binomials. In this manner, the power to split up, to
produce new forms, and thus to form groups, was transferred to the
species, which offered the great advantage, that, since species greatly
surpassed the genera in number, the necessary number of splittings
was correspondingly reduced.

Next to the disciples of Linnaeus and a few others who still ad-
hered to the "old doctrine, there soon arose a group of botanists and
zoologists who went much farther in applying the principle of Lin-
naeus than was intended by him. The former continued to consider

* Translated from ' Album der Natur,' by H. T. A. Hus, Assistant in
Botany, University of Amsterdam, and revised by the author. Cf. 'Die Muta-
tionstheorie, Versuche und Beobachtungen iiber die Entstehung von Arten im
Pflanzenreich.' Bd. I., Entstehung der Arten durcb Mutation, Leipzig, Veit &
Co., 1901.

VOL. IiXII. — 31.

482 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

genera as created, and species to have originated from them. When
the number of known species increased and soon assumed undreamed
of proportions, it seemed but natural not to accept for each species a
separate creation. But the others denied the possibility of a transi-
tion from an old form to a new one by natural means. Each actually
existing form, constant from seed, must, according to their idea, have
been created as such. They denied the right to collect groups of forms
under one specific name, as did Linnaeus and, after him, his disciples,
especially when, owing to constant research, an exceedingly large num-
ber of forms became known. Instead, they recognized each form as
a unity — unities which could be collected under a generic name only.

But Linnaeus, guided more by the talents of a lawyer than by
those of an investigator, had once for all connected his conception of
a species with the use of the binomials introduced by him. Whatever
bears two names is a species. This is the law which all must obey.
Genera bear simple names, subdivisions of species tri- or quadrinomials.
Whoever wishes to have a form recognized as a species, must give it
two names. Unless this be done he will not attain his object. But
the number of simple forms, constant from seed, increased year by
year and, even for Europe alone, threatened to become ten times
greater than it had been.

Since the validity of the theory of descent has been generally rec-
ognized, these questions have lost much of their importance.

The work of Darwin embraces two main theses which as a rule
are not sufficiently distinguished and which even by him were fre-
quently collated. The one was to ascertain the common descent of
plants and animals, the other, to find how one species could have orig-
inated from another. These two points are mutually independent,
and were especially so at the time of publication of Darwin's 'Origin
of Species.'

The doctrine of the common descent of all organisms holds that
genera, families and even the larger divisions of the plant- and animal-
kingdoms originated in a manner identical with the one which, before
the days of Linnaeus, was largely accepted for the splitting of genera
into species and afterwards for the formation of subspecies from spe-
cies. The common origin of groups of smaller types was recognized;
but how large these groups were no one knew exactly. Darwin ex-
tended their limits so as to enclose all living organisms, practically
collecting them into a single genus.

For this purpose it was not even necessary to know how the simple
forms themselves originated. What was conceded for these by every
one, had only to be applied to the larger groups. Yet Darwin attached
considerable weight to this question and threw much light upon it.

ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. 483

That the smaller species are created as such is the view now held by
a comparatively small group of scientists. It is a contention, the truth
of which has never been generally recognized, and at the present time
has of course lost all right of existence. Before and after Linnaeus,
before and after Darwin, the formation of the smaller species, the one
from the other, has, except by the few above mentioned, been generally
recognized, a recognition based upon experience as well as on tradi-
tion.

The smaller species are called subspecies or, as in horticulture,
varieties, and are therefore considered as subdivisions of the species
of Linnaeus.

Their descent from other species was conceded even before the days
of Darwin, but nothing was known regarding the manner of their
origin. It was generally deemed sufficient to attribute it to environ-
mental influence. In agriculture and in horticulture it occurred from
time to time that new forms originated from older ones; it always
happened unexpectedly and without gradual transitions, always by
skips and jumps. The new forms were called sports; whether in
nature the same thing occurred was unknown.

Both in agriculture and horticulture these sudden changes were
very rare and always shrouded in mystery. They occurred without any
apparent preparation, the new form appeared unexpectedly, and once
its presence had become apparent it was impossible to trace its origin.
One could but state the fact, which, for cultivation- and trade-purposes,
was deemed quite sufficient; but its nature remained wrapped in dark-
ness. Truly no tempting basis on which to found a grand theory.

It was for this reason that Darwin preferred to turn to more gen-
erally known, or, at least, more tangible, facts. He laid much stress
on over-production, on the struggle for life which must be the conse-
quence, and on the greater chances of success possessed by the strongest
individuals or by those best adapted to their surroundings.

He pointed to the dissimilarity, the so-called variability of indi-
viduals, and showed it might be met with everywhere and at all times,
in all organs and in all characters. This dissimilarity is decisive in
the struggle for life; not in every individual case of course, for here
chance plays too prominent a part, but in the majority of cases and
in the long run. That which is not fitted for the surroundings must
succumb; each species adapts itself more or less to its environment;
each species is different in nature from what it would be in the absence
of all disturbing influences and were its reproduction unhampered.

How far can variability extend its influence? Has variability its
limits? May variability proceed for centuries in the same direction
or must it necessarily return to the starting point? Can variability
bring about the formation of new characters or new organs or is it

484 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

limited to differences in the degree of development of those already
extant ? Most of these questions were left unanswered at the time and,
for the greater part, have remained so. And, as long as no answer
was forthcoming, imagination had free play as regards the manner in
which one species originated from another.

A stop was put to this when Quetelet discovered his famous law.
Variability obeys certain rules; nothing outside the compass of these
rules can be attributed to it. Variability is not unlimited and always
returns to its starting point. There may be various causes for a pro-
longed deviation of variability from the mean, of which continued
selection of individuals, strongly developed in any particular direc-
tion, is the most important; but as soon as these causes cease to exist
or this selection ceases to be practiced, it must return to the mean.
Variability is nothing but a more or less, a plus-variation or a minus-
variation; it does not go in any direction other than the greater or
lesser development of a character already present. Variability merely
causes a decrease or an increase; it does not create.

It remained for the disciples of Quetelet to draw attention to the
consequences of his discovery, which are among the most recent re-
sults of scientific research. Darwin and Wallace were not ac-
quainted with these objections to their theory, it was only long after
the publication of their works, that science became aware of the exist-
ence of these objections and of their importance.

The theory of variability, such as we know it at the present day,
does not lead to conclusions favorable to the theory of the gradual
origin of species, the theory which assumes that species originated by
a gradual increase in the degree of variability. Hence many writers
have at various times declared more or less openly against this theory.
Others again have tried to reconcile it with the newly discovered facts.
But Darwin's explanation is a most plausible one, which, apparently
at least, solves all difficulties. And the voice of his antagonists is as
yet not so powerful but that the great majority should remain faith-
ful to the old banner.

Besides, Darwin never expressed himself so definitely upon this
point as some would have us believe. Openly in one passage, less so
in a second one, he acknowledges the possibility of another explana-
tion. It might very well be possible that the changes of the species
in nature might occur suddenly, as had been observed to be the case
in agriculture and horticulture. This would, as satisfactorily as the
theory of gradual change, explain the relationship existing between
smaller species in nature and more especially between those agricultural
plants which systematic botany unites into a single species. Without
a doubt, the formation of the various kinds of beets, of oats or of
barley, would have required many centuries, but the results are ac-

ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. 4§5

counted for as easily by accepting exceedingly slow changes as the
causes of the formation of species, as they would be were we to con-
sider them due to shocks occurring but once in a protracted period.
Darwin fully realized this and considered the doubt upon this subject
as one of the weakest points of his theory.

Darwin, as did many since, compared the origin of species in
nature to the methods, ordinarily used in agriculture, to obtain im-
proved races of plants and animals. On this subject much confusion
exists. Horses, for instance, are improved principally by crossing with
specimens of a superior race, which specimens more or less fully trans-
fer the good qualities of the race to the descendants. But it is certain
that in nature the species did not originate in this manner, at least
not as a general rule. Improved races are obtained only by careful
and constant selection in one direction. This bears a great resemblance
to the origin of species, but there is this objection, that such a race
would never be independent of selection; as soon as selection ceases,
the good qualities disappear. Species and subspecies, even true varie-
ties, on the other hand, are totally independent of the mother species ;
neither in nature nor in cultivation do they return to the old type,
either by a change in environmental conditions or by the cessation of
a selection; always provided of course, that accidental crossing is
impossible.

The experience yielded by agriculture would lead one to consider
a gradual transition from one species into another improbable. They
point to a distinct difference between gradually improved races and
those suddenly formed, so-called varieties. The former bear no resem-
blance, the others a resemblance in all respects to wild species.

During the last few decades several writers have expressed them-
selves more or less strongly against the conception of a gradual origin
of species. In America Cope was the one to set the example. Among
paleontologists Dollo, among zoologists Bateson, and recently among
botanists Korschinsky declared themselves in favor of the doctrine of
the discontinuity of the natural ancestral trees. But their opinions
have not been sharply defined and formulated and are based upon an
acquaintance with facts not much larger than that commanded by Dar-
win himself. Hence their small influence and the small progress
made by their convictions. Hence the American paleontologist Scott,
a devoted adherent of Cope's doctrine, deemed it necessary to defend
this doctrine against Bateson 's book. For his conception of discon-
tinuity is entirely different from that of Bateson. They are both dis-
satisfied with the reigning views on the origin of species by gradual
variability, but in its place each wishes to put an entirely different con-
ception.

486 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

It would lead too far were I to enter here upon the various points
on which their theories differ; let it be sufficient to note some parts of
Scott's treatise, since this gives the sharpest and clearest contrast to
the reigning view. In the long ancestral trees which have been
brought to light by the study of prehistoric animals, one form leads
gradually to another. When the strata are sufficiently known there
remain no breaks in the pedigree. Breaks are met with only where
the strata are wanting or where it has as yet been impossible to study
them thoroughly. Each ancestral tree consists of an uninterrupted
series of forms. Between two adjacent ones there exists no greater
difference than between the two most closely related species of the pres-
ent day. And in the successive strata they follow each other up in
such a manner as corresponds to the gradual development of the ances-
tral tree.

But how did each form originate from the one immediately pre-
ceding it? Gradually or suddenly? Directly, paleontology can of
course not teach us anything upon this subject. Did the species orig-
inate suddenly, then there can have been no intermediate forms, but
even if they originated gradually the chances that such intermediate
forms would have become fossilized, are exceedingly slight. For how
small is the proportion of fossilized specimens to those which once
must have existed ! In any case, no such intermediate forms have
been found, and it is for this reason that many paleontologists accept
a sudden formation of new forms from the older ones. The transition
is slight, as slight for instance as the well-known differences between
the local races of slugs; but as these races are constant, so in paleon-
tology are the closest related forms sharply separated from one an-
other.

The contrast between the views of Scott and those of the majority
of botanists and zoologists has, I believe, been sufficiently shown here.
According to Scott species did not originate gradually, but by small
jumps. By each jump a limit was passed, but after that the species
remained constant until, perhaps many centuries later, a new shock
produced a new form. Each species, each subspecies, or even each
variety, is constant in all its characters; they remain the same from
the beginning till the end, until, later on, either after having pro-
duced other species, or without having done so, they succumb in the
struggle for life.

This theory restores the doctrine of the invariability of species to
its old place. And this invariability is so general a matter of expe-
rience that it has always remained an exceedingly weak point of Dar-
win's theory of descent. The continual, slow, even inappreciable
changes of species, which Darwin, but more especially Wallace and his
disciples, accepted, and which are so lineally opposed to every-day expe-

ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. 487

rience, do not exist for Scott. Each species remains unchanged as
long as its period of existence lasts. All its characters vary more or
less according to the law of Quetelet, but the type, to which all varia-
tions return, remains the same through centuries.

A species changes only when it produces others. Or rather, it does
not change, but continues to exist next to the species newly formed. It
may be compared to a tree, which, though it produces branches, does
not cease growing in length. Only when among its descendants there
are types better fitted for the battle of life, a species may locally suc-
cumb. But it would require a long time before the new species had
entirely taken the place of the old.

It is clear that one must distinguish by some simple term varia-
tion by jumps from variation obeying the law of Quetelet. It is not
practical to use the terms, sport, discontinuous variation or spontane-
ous variation, since they tend to produce the impression of something
incomprehensible. Scott did not use these terms. He speaks of 'mu-
tations. ' A mutation occurs when one species is formed from another.
As it is, 'mutation' is the expression in general use before the days of
Darwin, and at first used by Darwin himself. Since it has apparently
fallen into disuse, except in paleontology, where it is met with in vari-
ous authors, always conveying the same meaning, it seems best to
continue to use this term. Hence as long as species produce others
they are called mutable, and this part of the doctrine of variability is
known as mutability.

Once it has been conceded that species originate from others by
mutation, one can go on to investigate what deductions must be made
in regard to this process from the facts with which we are acquainted.
And as long as an empirical investigation was impossible it was of the
utmost importance to be able, even in this manner, to form an opin-
ion about it.

First of all, we can come to the conclusion that mutations must
be the smallest changes which can produce a difference between two
species or rather between two constant types. Ordinarily the estima-
tion of the differences existing between two related species is too
great. Differences as between a horse and a donkey are of course not
the result of a single mutation; there must have been a series of
transition forms, at present extinct. Nobody will expect to see so
great a change occur at once. Even much slighter differences, for
instance those existing between our native violets, are still too large;
here also there must have existed transition forms. And indeed a
comparison with the floras of other countries actually does show a
number of forms which bridge over these differences.

488 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Yet differences between species are often so small that only a very
careful study can make us acquainted with them. Among our native
plants I have but to mention Cochlearia Anglica and C. danica, Lepi-
gonum [Spergularia~\ salinum and L. medium, Chrysanthemum mariti-
mum and C. inodorum, Car ex Oederi and C. flava. These are differ-
ences which one would rather neglect. Other examples can be met
with in the genera Rosa, Rubus, Salix, Hieracium and many others;
each botanist is acquainted with them, they are the common stumbling-
blocks on botanical excursions. Yet in systematic botany they are
regularly recognized as bona fide species.

It sometimes occurs that two of these species which closely re-
semble each other grow side by side, as in the instances above-men-
tioned. In this case one can as a rule compare them when fresh, and
in this manner fully realize the differences existing between them.
But it happens far more frequently that the two plants, or three or
four members of a small group, occur in different countries, often
at great distances from one another. Then the differences are far
less apparent. To this must be added that by the drying process neces-
sary for herbarium purposes, many characters are lost. In that case
the plants are no longer clearly distinguished, and are ordinarily con-
sidered as a single species, united under one name. This happens with
Draba verna, Viola tricolor, Helianthemum vulgare and numerous other
plants. It is only when we obtain them from different countries and
grow them next to each other in the garden that the differences become
apparent, and it is only then that these differences prove to be as great
as those existing between the members of the above-mentioned couples
of species.

One must therefore consider each mutation a step not greater than
the differences between Chrysanthemum inodorum and C. maritimum
for instance. I choose this example because the first species, the
double form, with entirely filled, pure white, exceedingly graceful
heads, is a well-known component of bridal bouquets. Besides, both
are native species and of common occurrence, but generally not dis-
tinguished on botanical excursions. Where the differences between
related species are greater, the lack of transition forms must be at-
tributed to the fact that these live in other countries, or to their having
become extinct.

In the second place, various investigators have come to the con-
clusion that mutations must occur periodically. For it is only in this
manner that we can make the theory of descent agree with the unde-
niable fact that the species, such as we know them at present, have
remained unchanged for centuries. In certain localities, on islands
for instance, or places so situated that for centuries no transportation
of plants or seeds can have taken place, the individuals of any one

ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. 489

species do not show any or, at least, no constant differences, the above-
mentioned couples of species, and compound species excepted. Spruces
form a compound species, consisting of numerous types, but the com-
mon fir which without doubt is older than our era has remained the
same everywhere. It is ever thus; the species do not undergo any
gradual change, but each species is constant and remains so until
others take its place. It never or but rarely occurs that new species
make their appearance in fully investigated countries, unless indeed
they happen to have been introduced from elsewhere. Yet it is prob-
able that new species are formed quite frequently, but that, being too
weak, they succumb before one becomes aware of their existence.

The numerous small species which are united under the name
Draba verna are constant to seed, they do not change, besides they are
distributed throughout Europe. It is therefore considered probable
that there was a time during which they were formed, probably in a
comparatively small region in the central part of Europe [at the pres-
ent day they are most frequent along the Khine and the Loire], and
that in this locality flourished one or more species from which the
present forms originated. At the end of this mutation-period the spe-
cies would again have become constant. In this manner mutable and
immutable periods in the development of species would have alternated
more or less regularly.

There is a great tendency to consider a rapid increase in number
as one of the reasons which cause a species to become temporarily
mutable. Many species multiply exceedingly rapidly when they are
transported to a new region where the conditions are favorable. Many
European plants did this in America, likewise many American plants
in Europe, as is only too well known through the waterpest, Elodea
canadensis. As a matter of fact, we did not see them 'mutate,' but
this may have been due to insufficient observation. It would be of
great importance to pay close attention to this point when draining
lakes, clearing waste lands, after forest fires and in similar cases.

Whether the mutations, during the mutable period, have been one-
sided or many-sided, is a most important question and one frequently
discussed by the adherents of the mutation theory. The case of Draba
verna, just mentioned, certainly speaks in favor of many-sided varia-
bility; the 200 'subspecies' known, vary in all organs and in all pos-
sible ways. Numerous other instances might be quoted. But opposed
to them are the results obtained by paleontology. The progress in
zoological times, more particularly in the animal kingdom, has always
followed definite lines; by a straight line nature tried to reach her
goal, not by zigzag lines, feeling her way. The main line has of
course numerous small side branches, but branches which do not lead
to still living types are rare. Scott and others deduce from this that
mutability is one-sided, only progressing in the desired direction. Yet

49Q POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

it might as well be possible that the mutations were many-sided, but
that of them only those survived which excelled their ancestors in a
particular direction, better fitting them for the existing conditions.

Finally one can come to a very important conclusion in regards
the manner in which plants and animals mutate. It is this, that new
species did not originate in a single individual, but in a number of in-
dividuals, either at the same time or during a number of years. Del-
boeuf was the first to formulate this idea, and Scott and others agree
with him on this point.

This is a quite simple and natural view to take. A single indi-
vidual would, among all the members of his former species, practically
have no chance of life and reproduction, even if it were a hermaph-
rodite plant and much better adapted to local conditions than the
others. For this chance plays too prominent a part in the struggle
for life. There are a thousand chances that a seed does not germinate
or is killed in its prime, independent of any qualities it may possess.
Once the young plant has passed this period, the chances certainly are
better, but even then many succumb because they occupy an unfavor-
able place. But when a plant produces a number of individuals of
the new species at the same time, and repeats this for a number of
years, then the chances of the new species are sufficient; and this
even if it is weaker or in some regards inferior, and certainly if it is
as good as the mother species. It is not at all necessary that the new
species be stronger, or be at once offered the opportunity to make use
of its superior qualities. Delboeuf carefully calculated the chances,
but even without these calculations one can see the truth of his re-
marks. For the larger the number of mutating individuals, and the
more generations this mutating lasts, the greater will become the
chance of the new species to maintain itself among the old one, always
supposing the former is not so weak as to be crowded out each time.
To be better equipped than others before entering upon the struggle
for life is certainly a great advantage, but not a sine qua non for ulti-
mate success.

Reviewing the above, we find that the mutation theory comprises
the following theses. Species originated from others by sudden but
small changes, often so small as to be hardly visible to the neophyte.
They are constant and true to seed from the first; neither are they
connected with the mother species by a series of intermediate forms,
nor do they have to pass in their prime, a stage of gradual develop-
ment. This formation of new forms does not take place continually,
but it is only from time to time that a species enters a period of muta-
bility; in this case it produces, during a certain number of years, one
or more, perhaps an exceedingly large number of new species. The
mother species itself remains unchanged ; it may persist after the muta-

ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. 491

ble period is passed, and in that case retains its old characters. The
new species make their appearance in several, probably in numerous,
individuals, and during each year of the mutation period. If they do
not do this, their chances of life are exceedingly small, but in the
other case their chances are sufficient, even if the new species are not
in any regard superior to the mother species. The weaker ones among
the new forms disappear of course very early.

The real struggle for life, in which natural selection must decide
whether the young types shall continue to exist or not, only comes later
on; it is not a war between species, but against other organisms, and
against climate and soil.

In 1886, when I was preparing to write my Intracellular Pangene-
sis, the above mentioned considerations were only partly known to
me. De Bary's studies on Draba verna only appeared in 1889, Bate-
son's book in 1894, Scott's article a little later, etc. But what was
known at this time was sufficient to convince me that the formation
of species should lend itself to experimental investigation. This was
certainly directly opposed to the reigning opinion and especially the
conception of a slow and gradual origin was not in favor of my view.
It was thought that sudden transitions were limited to the so-called
varieties, that they occurred in agriculture and horticulture only, and
besides so rarely that an actual study of the problem was not to be
thought of.

I then began a more systematic study of the variability of plants,
a subject which always had possessed a great attraction for me. It
very soon became apparent that observations in nature and in the
garden could not lead to the desired goal. Even if one pays constant
attention to the same individuals and the same localities, visiting them
in various seasons and in different years, the observations remain too
incomplete. This is but natural, since mutability commences with
the seed and in nature but comparatively little seed, after germinat-
ing, attains its full development. I therefore decided to have recourse
to sowing-experiments and for this purpose collected as much seed
as possible from wild growing plants.

This seed was sown in my experimental garden, in some cases on
quite a large scale. Besides I sowed seed gathered from some speci-
mens of wild plants growing isolated in the garden. It was of course
my aim to try to find among them one or more species which were pass-
ing through a mutation period. Among the seed sown was for in-
stance that of Verbascum thapsiforme, Thrincia hirta, Crepis bien?iis,
Centaurea nigra, Capsella Bursa pastoris, Bidens cernua, Aster Tripo-
lium, Cynoglossum officinale, Sisymbrium Alliaria, Daucus Carota, and
a number of other wild plants. As far as possible I allowed myself

492 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

to be guided by symptoms of a particular tendency to variability, and
hence chose by preference seed from plants with fasciated stems, split
leaves or other variations. I also sowed, as far as room permitted,
seed of annual garden plants, bought in shops.

It is clear that, notwithstanding the immense amount of work in-
volved, the chances of success were exceedingly small. Yet I was lucky
enough to find the very thing wanted. Among a hundred species
there was a single one which proved to be mutable, at first but in a
small degree, but sufficiently to decide me to abandon nearly all other
experiments and to study this one plant as thoroughly as possible. Of
the other species I had in the meantime obtained a number of mon-
strous races; these I continued to cultivate, but not the others.

The plant referred to was Oenothera Lamarckiana, a species of
American origin, which has here escaped from cultivation, as did for-
merly both the evening primroses, Oenothera biennis and Oenothera
muricata, which at the present time are quite common on our sand
dunes. Oenothera Lamarckiana, the large evening primrose, surpasses
both other "species in size of flowers, but for the rest is very much like
them. This plant was first described by Lamarck as Oenothera
grandiflora, but by this name a number of other species of Oenothera
are known. Seringe changed the name to Oenothera Lamarckiana,
which name has been retained.

In 1886 I collected a quantity of seed from wild plants of Oenothera
Lamarckiana and also transported a number of rosettes of biennial
specimens to the botanical garden at Amsterdam. The next year they
flowered profusely and produced a large quantity of seed.

The seed obtained from wild plants was sown in 1887 and yielded
at once what we desired. For among the plants obtained from it, there
were three which, though agreeing among each other, possessed charac-
ters entirely deviating from those of the rest. This species was, there-
fore, able to produce at least one new form. The new form differed
more from the mother species than the three species above mentioned
did among each other. The leaves were broader, rounder and more
obtuse, the buds swollen and the fruits small. The stems were small,
weak and remained brittle even in autumn. At the tips of the
branches the young leaves and buds were collected in crowded rosettes,
so that at first the plants were denoted 'roundheads.' In a number
of other particulars they differed more or less from the ordinary form,
in fact they did not entirely agree with it in a single point. The most
important difference, however, was the inability to produce good pollen.
The anthers of the mother species are, when open, thickly covered with
a sticky powder, which is entirely lacking in the case of the round-
heads. The anthers of the new form are dry, what little pollen there
is is shriveled, for the greater part unfertile and entirely unfit for

ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. 493

fertilization. The plant is purely feminine. Male or hermaphrodite
specimens I never saw, though I have often cultivated hundreds of
roundheads. On account of the broad leaves, and thick buds, Oeno-
thera lata was chosen as the systematic name.

Encouraged by these results, I continued my investigation, partly,
during the same year, by a closer study of the locality where the seed
was collected, partly by sowing experiments on a large scale in the
spring of the year following. The former made me acquainted with
two new types, which had remained unobserved in 1886, but which, as
rosettes of root-leaves, must have been present at the time, since Oeno-
thera Lamarclciana is, in that locality, biennial, with hardly any ex-
ception. The one was glabrous, more delicate and more graceful, but
as robust as the common form, the other had so short a style that the
stigma, instead of protruding far above the stamens, was situated at
the base of the flower. Both forms were formerly absolutely unknown,
and, later on, in the sowing-experiments, proved to be as constant and
true to seed as the mother species. That they originated in the local-
ity where they were found may be considered as certain, but how this
happened could not be investigated.

The seed, sown in the spring of the following year, again yielded
two new forms. The one was a dwarf form, such a one as occurs from
time to time among all kinds of culture plants — but a few decimeters
high, whereas the mother species attains a height of l1/* to 2 meters
and more. The other was a form with shiny leaves, about half the
size of Oenothera Lamarclciana, narrow, dark green, and very graceful.
Both were quite fertile and produced a large quantity of seed.

Dwarf forms are ordinarily described along with the species to
which they belong, as varietas nana or nanella, and my dwarf forms
agree with them in every respect. They offer a good contrast with the
other types, which cannot be termed varieties in the ordinary sense.
For, in the first place, they deviate from the parent species not in a
single character, but in all, and, in the second, they do not have their
parallel in other genera. For repetition, such as appearance of white
flowers, glabrous leaves, thornless stems and fruits, unbranched stems,
variegated leaves, double flowers, etc., is one of the most common
characteristics of true varieties.

Later the dwarfs proved to be constant to seed. Not so the shiny
variety. Though I did not sow the latter each year, I did it fre-
quently; its characters reappeared as a rule in but about one third of
the individuals.

By sowing I obtained in 1888 nearly 15,000 plants, among which
there were five dwarfs and five latas, that is to say, of each about 1 on
every 3,000. In later years, when I became familiar with the most
favorable methods of treatment, the percentage increased considerably,

494 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

until at last there appeared approximately one new form on every 100
individuals.

The latas were, as we have seen, obtained partly from seed col-
lected from wild plants and partly from seed yielded by wild plants
transported to and cultivated in the botanic garden. Yet they agreed
entirely in all respects, forming but a single well-defined type. Later
in 1889 and in 1894, I also found them in the original locality.* In
my garden they made their appearance nearly every year. Each lata-
plant which, without similar ancestors, originated from the Oenothera
Lamarchiana, bears always exactly the same characters; one can always
recognize it shortly after germination, and predict at the time all
characters which it will exhibit later on. The same is true for the
dwarfs, for the shiny forms, etc.

Once the certainty obtained of having found a mutating plant, I
of course applied myself as closely as possible to a study of this phe-
nomenon. Naturally this was at first connected with great difficulties,
especially because I did not have an exact idea of what I was to look
for. It was only in 1895 that I succeeded in surmounting these diffi-
culties. I had by that time realized how small were the differences to
which I had to pay attention, and that these differences, at least for the
greater part, are apparent in the earliest stages of development. I
therefore sowed on a large scale, reviewed my plants nearly daily, and
changed each clearly deviating form to another bed, where it was given
plenty of room and tended with great care.

That year I obtained about 14,000 plants from seed. Dwarfs and
roundheads made their appearance in large numbers, 60 of the former
and 73 of the latter. Their parents had been ordinary Lamarckianas,
carefully pollinated with each other's pollen, as had been their ances-
tors of the last two generations and therefore of pure descent, as were
probably all their ancestors of the original locality. The shiny form
also made its appearance, again in but a single specimen. Besides
there appeared five entirely new forms; three of these were separated
as rosettes, one only showed itself to be a new form, when flowering,
and the other only during the next year after hibernating.

The last two were rare, the one, O. leptocarpa, appeared in two
specimens, the other, O. gigas, in a single individual. Both are at
present constant to seed, absolutely unchangeable. The former is not
beautiful, but ranker and taller than O. Lamarchiana, and flowers
later in the season. Oenothera gigas, on the other hand, is a splendid,
exceedingly robust plant, which, with a rich crown of very large flow-
ers, easily excels the mother species.

The three others I denoted as 'red-nerved,' O. rubrinervis, 'white,'
O. albida, and O. oblonga. They appeared respectively in 8, 15 and

* Likewise this year [1902].

ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. 495

176 specimens. The whites were very weak, and all of them died with-
out flowering. But they reappeared each year, and in 1897 I suc-
ceeded in getting them to blossom. After that they proved to be con-
stant and true to seed. The same is true for the red-nerved ones and
for the oblong as, which are very typical and easily cultivated species.

Since 1895 I have each year sown Oenothera Lamarchiana, always
taking care that the seed was pure. Fertilization was always artificial,
with their own pollen, and with the exclusion of all insects. Yearly
I had a thousand or more seedlings and regularly found among them
a number of mutations. The new forms with which I already was
acquainted reappeared each time; with a single exception no others
have been added. The percentage of mutants remained the same each
year, of course with slight variations.

Eepeatedly I saw new species originate which either did not flower
or were sterile or which on account of general weakness succumbed
early in life. Some of these clearly originated several times, others so
rarely that it was practically impossible to make a diagnosis. A few
of these I also found in the original locality. Hence nature evidently
makes besides species capable of existence also those which are not so.
The latter disappear very soon and hence are hardly ever seen; the
former persist for a greater or smaller number of years.

The above may be considered sufficient to prove that the origin of
species is a phenomenon falling entirely within the limits of ordinary
observation. One has but to search his surroundings for a plant which
happens to be passing through a mutation period to be able to study
the entire process. Transportation to the garden only serves to make
isolation of the plant possible; it but shows what happens in nature,
but which there, on account of unfavorable conditions, is but seldom
or imperfectly observed.

At the same time one sees that experiment, in this first example,
confirms the deductions made a long time since from paleontological
and biological data.

Delboeuf, as well as Scott, requires that each new species does not
appear in a single specimen, but in a number of specimens, and not
once but during a number of years. For only under these conditions
are their chances sufficient. It is exactly this which happens with the
Oenotheras. They are formed each year, 1 per 1,000 or 1 per 100, in
any case in a sufficiently large number to fall within the requirements
formulated by the savants just mentioned. They are with a single
exception at once constant from seed, without ever returning to the
type of the mother species; they would, by sufficient isolation, at once
form groups of uniform individuals. Nothing indicates their appear-
ance in advance, there is not even a hint of transition; once formed

496 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

they are perfect, and retain, even after several generations, their orig-
inal characters. They originate with a shock or jump and then are
constant.

They are formed from the mother species as side issues, and not
because the mother species undergoes a gradual change. On the con-
trary in nearly all mutations, the species continues unchanged, and
to it belongs the great mass of individuals, until one day the strug-
gle for life shall turn the scales.

Mutability is not one-sided, as many paleontological series would
lead one to expect, but many-sided as must be deduced from the prin-
ciples laid down by Darwin. And the new Oenotheras vary in differ-
ent organs and in various directions; most frequently the new charac-
ters are injurious, sometimes indifferent, occasionally beneficial, prob-
ably at least. Next to strong new species there occur weak ones, next
to these, those so weak as never to reach the flowering period; and
finally sterile forms. From this array of forms nature, in the strug-
gle for life, later on makes its choice ; only those most fit continue to
exist. Even here experiment confirms theory.

What is the duration of a mutation period? Geology answers:
probably very long, for otherwise the chances of life of the new species
would be too small. And it seems to me that in the case of Oenothera
Lamarckiana I have seen neither the beginning nor the end. The
fifteen years during which I studied the species comprises probably
but a very small part of that period.

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 4 97

MEXTAL AND MOEAE HEKEDITY IX ROYALTY. IX.

By Dr. FREDERICK ADAMS WOODS,

HARVARD UNIVERSITY.

Regression to the Mean.

T3 Y taking each country separately and analyzing it minutely, we have
-*— ' seen how almost perfect heredity appears to be as a cause of the
mental and moral peculiarities wherever found. In order to ascertain if
talent is properly related to genius in point of consanguinity, so that we
have a progressive falling off in relationship to 9, 10 grades as we descend
from the high ranks to the mediocrities, a count has been made of the
number of geniuses (9, 10 grades) which each person possesses as a
blood relation both in the first degree of consanguinity and in the
second. By the first degree is meant the number of geniuses who are
as closely related as father, mother, brother, sister, son or daughter.

The second degree includes also grandparents, uncles, aunts, grand-
children, nephews and nieces. If the proportionate relationship of
geniuses to men and women of their own type is greater for the first
degree of relationship than for the second, we shall see the principle
of heredity satisfied, especially if the ratio is the same as found by
other observers for physical traits.

The curves show that such is the case, and we have an almost
perfect rise in eminent relationship as we ascend from mediocrity to
the highest scale. This is true for both the males and females. The
average of both sexes smoothes out the curve and gives an even more
regular rise than is given by each sex separately. It is to be remem-
bered that such facts mean a great deal since were the geniuses scat-
tered over the entire number, without any law of distribution in regard
to blood — as I claim they should be from the effect of environment
on the intellectual side at least — there would be instead a reverse of
the facts, or an actual falling off in percentage of eminent relations
among the higher grades.

This can be made clear by considering any one instance. Take
the case of Catherine II. of Russia. All her near relations receive
one count for being related to her, yet she herself receives no count,
since none of her near relations stand in a 9 or 10 grade. The same
would be true of Frederick the Great were he the only one in his
immediate family who belonged to 9 or 10 grade. As a matter of
fact he counts 6 such relations.

The accompanying curves (Blate I.) show the percentage of eminent
(or 9, 10) relations which each grade possesses. The lower lines show

VOL. lxii. — 32.

49§

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

the considerable falling off for mediocrity when only the first degree
of relationship is considered, but it will be seen that the falling off is
relatively greater when we consider the eminent relations of mediocri-
ties than when we regard the eminent relations of geniuses.

In the second degree of relationship the average of the 9, 10 have
about 1.7 eminent relations while the mediocrities have about .6. In
the first degree the average of the 9, 10 have about .85 eminent rela-
tions while the mediocrities have but about .2. In other words, in

14 633

tbe second degree the geniuses have about 2.83 times as many relations
in the genius grades as the mediocrities have, while in the first degree
they have about 4.25 or the regression from the first to the second
degree is .GG59. This is strikingly close to Galton's first estimate
for filial and fraternal regression given in 'Natural Inheritance,' p.
133, as %.

With regard to the relationship between genius and insanity, it is
to be observed that the line does not fall off as we go from the mediocre

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 499

to the lowest grades. This would confirm the results obtained by
Havelock Ellis in his study of British genius that there is a slight
relationship between genius arid insanity, though nothing like as much
as is claimed by Lombroso.

Grade 10 for intellect contains, as Plate I. shows, only fourteen
persons. The names of the men are here given as a sample: also the
eighteen who belong to grade 9. Probably few will question the right
of the following to enter these elect grades, though some might place
one or two a grade higher or lower. The number of relations in the
9 or 10 grades which each person possesses is placed on the left,
the first figure being for the first and second degree, the second figure
being the number in the first degree alone or the number of (9, 10)
relations as close as father or son.

Grade 10 (Names alphabetically).

1,1, Bourbon, Conde, Louis II., ' The Great Conde.'

4,1, Orange, William the Silent.

1,1, Portugal, John I., ' The Great.'

0,0, Prussia, Hohenzollern, Frederick William the ' Great Elector.'

6,3, Prussia, Frederick the Great.

1.0, Sweden, Gustavus Vasa, Founder of the Dynasty.

2.1, Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus, ' The Great.'

15,7

The fractions 15/7 and 7/7 give us the averages 2.14 and 1.00
found on Plate I. (See dotted line for males.)

Grade 9.
1,0, Austria, The Archduke Charles, who commanded against Napoleon,
b. 1771.

1.0, Don John of Austria. Celebrated naval commander.

1.1, Austria, Maximilian I., Emperor, b. 1459.
3,1, Bourbon, Henry IV., King of France.

0,0, Caspard de Coligny. The great admiral of France.

1.0, Alexander Farnese.

6,3, Hohenzollern. Henry, brother of Frederick the Great. Considered
by many to be the equal of Frederick.

4.1, Orange, Maurice of Nassau. One of the greatest captains of modern

times.
1,0, Orange, William III., King of England.
0,0, Portugal, Alfonso I., Founder of the Kingdom.

1.0, " Diniz, ' Father of his Country.'

1^1, " Henry 'the Navigator' celebrated as a mathematician.

Son of John 'The Great.'

1.1, Romanhof, Peter the Great of Russia.
0,0, Savoy, Prince Eugene, celebrated general.

1,0, Saxony, Maurice Elector of, celebrated general.
0,0, Sweden, Charles XII., military genius.

5oo POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

5,1, Sweden. Gustavus III., extraordinary mind. His large eminent re-
lationship is Hohenzollern due to his heing a nephew of Fred-
erick the Great.

3,0, Tour. Great Turenne, celebrated commander.

30,9

Since there are eighteen persons in this group, the fractions 30/18
and 9/18 give us the averages 1.67 and .50 seen in Plate I. to be the
figures for grade 9.

The Inheritance of Moral Qualities.
The reasons for the belief that heredity is almost the entire cause
for the mental achievements of these men and women and that environ-

4.8
44

4.0

3.6

3.2

28

24

2.0

1.6

1.2

08

04

\

-V

*\

iy

^

Grades

A*

-£-

/

s'

^

, \

AA.

/,-

Plate

Virtue

Blood

Male
Female

2.

s and
relatio

riship

\

\\

N \

V

/■\

&

J&\

/

7

8

C9:\o)

x

\

■^

10

nient must consequently play a very minor role, have already been
given. The reasons are of a twofold nature. First, the practically
perfect results derived from what might be expected of heredity, both

MESIAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 501

from the internal study of the families separately and from the curves
of correlated relationships in the first and second degree. Second,
the belief of the author that environment would not cause the great
names to be associated in blood.

If a great king succeeds in building up an extended empire, it
does not appear to the writer that his son would have an easier task
in becoming famous as a great governor. The importance which
Prussia assumed under the Great Elector did not make his son, Fred-
erick I., rank any higher than 3 in our scale. Still the genius has
always been properly perpetuated somewhere, in some of the descend-
ants. Also the times have continually 'called for great men.' Never
did a dying country call more urgently than Spain in her last three
centuries ; yet none appeared. Italy had to wait fifty years for Cavour,
Garibaldi and Victor Emanuel. England could not get a good Stuart,
but in a descendant of William the Silent she found a hero in Wil-
liam III.

When we come to analyzing the moral qualities we find more diffi-
culty than in the mental. First, because good parentage would tend to
bring a better environment ; and, second, because the curves of distribu-
tion, though in general entirely compatible with hereditary influence,
are less perfect. Still it has come to be the belief of the author that
even on the moral side heredity is more important than surroundings
for the following reasons : First let us consider the curves of relation-
ship. It will be seen (Plate II.) that the men and women in the high
grades have some three times as many relations of their own kind as
the bad characters have in the way of relationship to these best ranks.
The degenerates (grades 1, 2, 3,) have between two or three times as
many relations of their own ilk as the best have in these lower grades,
while the best have actually more in their own 9, 10 grades than they
have in the three lower grades put together. A second reason is
drawn from a count of the different grades relative to the period in
which they lived. ^ We might expect that in the old days, when the
standard of morality was rough, lawlessness and licentiousness would
be fouud in a greater percentage than during more recent times.
Three divisions have been made.

The period prior to the year 1(300 is here called 'old'; from
1600 to 1800, 'middle'; from 1800 onward, 'recent.' It will be seen
in the chart (Plate III.) that the proportionate distinction of characters
according to this method arranges them in each rank, almost perfectly
according to the law of 'deviation from an average,' each group old,
middle and recent, falling off equally from the mediocrities, so that
when we attempt to make curves for old, middle and recent, according
to the percentage in each rank, we get no curves at all, but lines almost
flat. The only irregularities are at the edges 1, 2 and 9, 10 grades,

;o2

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

and mean only that here the instances are too few to make them group
themselves in perfect harmony.

I was somewhat surprised that the recent royalty should not give
a better showing than the more ancient members, but this is because
modern royalty, that is, from 1600 up to 1850, has such a large per-
centage of badly selected Bourbon blood in it. If we took royalty
as it exists to-day we should undoubtedly find a much higher tone,
but this is to be ascribed to the fact that most of the existing members
are derived from Saxe-Coburg and other excellent German families.
Up to 1850 France, Spain, Portugal and Italy were full of Bourbon
blood, and we have seen that nineteenth century demands or the awful
example of predecessors had no effect on it.

80

60
Middle

O

40

8 oid

Q_ Recent

Grades

Old,

Middle

Receht

/

\

v /

Plat
Virfi

= 3.

les an

d Env

ironm

ent by

/

\

Aqe.

> in wh

ich The

•y Live

d.

N-s

I

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

4
9
2

7
9
12

Numbe
14-
29
12

r of Pe
IS
42
14

rsons i
18
62
20

n each
18
57
20

Grade
19
44
18

21
33
13

6
28

7

4
9
4

Another way of attacking the problem is the study of each country
separately. Spain, France and Russia give us most of the moral de-
generates. In all these the individuals are closely associated in blood
with a marked mental neurosis. This is of itself a coincidence to be
explained by those who doubt the inherited nature of morality, and
besides this we have to consider the fact that prior to the appearance
of the moral depravity and mental unbalance as well, there was a
period when these countries were relatively free from such degenerate
types.

Why did the three rulers of the Romanhof dynasty who lived before
Peter the Great, in whose generation the neurosis first appeared,
exhibit such mild and amiable characteristics, although arbitrary rulers
of an ignorant people, and living in the rudest epochs ? Then suddenly,
with the appearance of the epilepsy and imbecility, we find such ex-
amples of moral depravity as the Empress Elizabeth. Strangely
among the degenerates we find her sister Anne ' serious, cultivated and
virtuous. ' Some might contend that rude conditions brought out both
good and bad, but then they would have to explain why in Germany

MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 5°3

(Saxe-Coburg, etc.) even in the earliest times here traced, we find
practically no such variation in characters. They also would have to
explain why in Spain and Italy in the nineteenth century, we also find
a variation in moral characters exactly like that found in Russia in
the early eighteenth or in Spain in the sixteenth centuries.

Another aspect of the question, that is more in line with heredity
than environment, is the fact that variations among the children are
always duplicated by corresponding variations in the ancestry. This
is equally true of both mental and moral and indeed facial character-
istics. Children born of the same parents and reared in the same court
must usually have pretty nearly the same surroundings, yet instead
of their being molded to any standard type, we find that when the
blood is diverse in character, just about the proper proportion of chil-
dren show these same peculiarities both for good and bad. It is only
when the blood is uniformly good as in the families of Brunswick,
Saxe-Coburg and Sallefeld that we find unanimity in the morality of
the descendants.

So that heredity appears to the writer to have exercised in mental
life a factor not far from nine tenths, while from the moral side it is
something over one half. As to anything in the nature of 'soul' or
' free-will ' in the sense of a motive power lying outside of natural laws,
such evidence can not, of course, exclude its existence. It does, how-
ever, show that snch a power, if it exists at all, has only a very minor
influence, and even the arch argument of theology, the heroic soul
who tries and tries again, is found to be but the reduplication of
another. So it appears that the three possible factors in mental and
moral life are to be expressed in the following order: Heredity, En-
vironment, and finally, printed with the same old question mark.
Free-will.

5°4

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE GEE AT AUK IN ART. 505

THE GKEAT AUK IX ART.

By FRANK BOND,
1 . S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

A CAREFUL examination and comparison of the available illiis-
-*--*- trations of the great auk leaves the mind in some doubt as to
the appearance of this extinct, flightless bird. Some of these illus-
trations are found in recent publications, while others illuminate de-
scriptive articles written over a century ago. A few voyagers, notably
Richard Hakluyt, sometime preacher, and M. Martin, Gent., un-
doubtedly saw the bird in great abundance on certain islands of the
north Atlantic which were notorious as the home of the auk — Hakluyt
on the American siele and Martin off the coast of Scotland. But
neither of these travelers left even a rough sketch of what his eyes saw.
Zoologists, naturalists, taxidermists and ornithologists have, however,
given us their conception of the bird in black and white, and a number
of their illustrations are reproduced and accompany this article.

Undoubtedly the only sources of inspiration for the earlier draw-
ings are the written descriptions of the bird, or the attempts to recon-
cile several divergent descriptions by a plate which would strike a
happy mean, the dried skin coming in later as a desirable artists'
accessory. The mounted skin also has had a baneful influence upon
the jDencil of the artist, for in no other way can the differences in
form and outline be understood or the reckless indifference to details
be satisfactorily explained. Turning to the sources of inspiration
which are chiefly responsible for the erroneous, visual evidence of ex-
tinction of as many species of great auk as there are drawings of the
bird extant, we find that descriptions in detail force a most charitable
view of the shortcomings of the pencil and brush. One would not be
justified in charging superlative imaginative powers upon the artists,
until the apparent mendacities of the writers had been explained. How-
ever, to careless observation and lack of familiarity with birds may be
charged the majority of the mistakes of both pen and brush. A care-
ful sifting of the available evidence seems to warrant the conclusion
that the pictures of the great auk, heretofore published, are defective
in many important particulars. These will lie considered later in
detail.

In the following paragraphs descriptions of similar parts of the
great auk, furnished by writers of the past 3 '20 years, are grouped to-
gether making comparison easy and the fact that the quotations from
some of these authors cover but a point or two does not render the
information given by them any the less interesting. That but three

5°6

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

-HEAT AUK OF THOMAS PENNANT, IQt2.

THE GREAT AUK IN ART.

5°7

of the authors quoted below, Hakluyt 1583, Wormius 1655, and Martin
1697, ever saw the great auk alive or in the flesh is an item of more
than passing interest.

Size of the Great Auk. — Very large, not much less than a goose — Hakluyt,
1583. Did not much exceed the bigness of a goose — Wormius, 1655. Above the
size of a Solan goose — Martin, 1697. Size of a goose — Brookes, 1771. Three
feet to the end of the toes — Pennant, 1812. Three feet long, size of a goose but
slender — Buffon, 1812. Approaches that of a goose — Cuvier, 1817. Approaches
a goose — Willoughby. Length to end of tail, 29 ins., 3H ins. to end of feet —
Audubon, 1840. Thirty inches to three feet — Jardine, 1860. About 3 feet long
— Dallas, 1867. Size of a goose — Seebohm, 18S6. Twenty-seven and a half
inches to tail — Duchaussoy, 1897.

The Great Auk of Audubon.

Bill of the Auk. — A long broad bill — Martin, 1697. Like a broad cutlass,
sides fiat and hollowed with notches — Buff on, 1812. Marked with several fur-
rows— Pennant, 1812. Black, with 8 or 10 grooves, long and broad — Cuvier,
1817. Black with grooves between transverse ridges white — Audubon, 1840.
Black with transverse furrows, the grooves white — Jardine, 1860. White
grooves less conspicuous than in Razorbills — Seebohm, 1S86. Bill black with
7 or S whitish grooves on upper, 10 or 11 on lower — Duchaussoy, 1897.

Vt'hi te Marks on Head. — Large white spot under each eye, red about the
eyes — Martin, 1697. White oval spot before the eye — Linnaeus, 1761. Large
Avhite spot between eye and bill — Pennant, 1812. Great oval white spot between
bill and eye, margin rising like a rim on each side of the head, which is very
flat — Buffon, 1812. Oval white patch between the eye and bill — Cuvier, 1817.
Large oblong white patch before each eye — Audubon, 1840. In front and around
the eyes is a large oval patch of white — Jardine, 1860. White oval patch from
eye to bill — Seebohm, 1S86. In front of eyes oval white spot on side of head
from base of bill — Duchaussoy, 1897.

Description of Neck. — Short and thick — Audubon, 1840.

Character of Wing. — Cannot flie, their wings not able to carry them — Hak-
luyt, 1583. Its wings short, it flies not at all — Martin, 1697. So small as to

5°§

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE GREAT AVE IN ART.

5°9

be useless in flight, four inches from tip to first joint — Pennant, 1812. Great,
feathers exceed not 3 inches in length, cannot raise into the air — Buffon, 1812.
Very small in proportion to other birds, for subaquatic progression — Cuvier,
1817. Extremely small but perfectly formed — Audubon, 1840. Very small
although formed of regular feathers, serve as fins when diving — Dallas, 1867.
Like small duck — Seebohm, 1886. Rudimentary, useless fur flight; used in
swimming and diving — Duehaussoy, 1897.

Feet. — She is whole-footed — Martin, 1697. Placed far behind, but very
st rong — Audubon, 1840.

Smithsonian Great Auk Skeleton.

Altitude and Mode of Progression. — Stands stately, its whole body erected
— Martin, 1697. Can scarcely even walk; pace heavy and sluggish; lies
stretched out on rocks and ice; erect attitude is painful — Buffon, 1812. Stood
very erect, never flapped along water surface — Wooley, 1858. Only shuffled
along — Seebohm, 1S86.

After having compared the above descriptions, one is not inclined
to criticize harshly the illustrations based upon them, except in cases
where the author, after having carefully noted an important specific
marking, entirely omits it in his drawing. The white spots on either
side of the head of the great auk seem to have been a most serious
stumbling-block to writers and artists alike. Martin, in 1697, states
that the white spot is under the eye. ~No other description agrees with
this, and the photographs of mounted skins show no such phenomenon

51'

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

SMI MiaONIAN GHEATHUKBtl'W "I ' NTING 51 ,'IIAM6FiEAT AUh AFTER RE V. O -TiT ' N S.

THE GREAT AUK IN ART. 511

— but Martin saw the birds. Sir William Jarcline, in I860, says the
white spot is in front and around the eye, but his drawing shows he
had not the courage of his conviction. However, Carpenter, in 1866,
and Dallas, in 1867, took Jardine at his word, as appears from their
illustrations of the bird. It is noteworthy that while nearly all the
authors quoted describe the form of this spot as ' oval, ' the photographs
of mounted birds rarely show such an outline. This is owing to faulty
taxidermy. A sub-triangular spot seems to have been the popular
form with the majority, both of artists and taxidermists, in spite of the
practical uniformity in description as to the oval shape. From the
time of Brookes, in 1771, until a comparatively recent date, there has
existed a strong desire to continue the spot under the eye, thus in a
degree conforming to Martin's description in 1697. Audubon aimed
to satisfy everybody, for in his swimming bird a white triangular spot
continues under the eye while the ' large oblong white patch before each
eye' of his standing bird conforms to his description.* Referring to
the illustration of the Smithsonian auk, after remounting, it will be
noted that the white spot is oval or elliptical in shape, with a compara-
tively even and regular outline, and this is believed to represent this
characteristic marking of the species in its correct form and position.
Any taxidermist can understand how a dried skin which has been soft-
ened unevenly might be stretched in such manner as to extend the
margin of the spot outward in any direction, even under the eye, as in
Audubon's swimming bird, or how an indentation could be produced
such as appears on the front margin of the spot in his standing bird.
Neither of these outlines, however, is tenable in the light of the evi-
dence offered. The oval spot surrounding the eye can only be sup-
ported by an appeal to the offhand statement of Sir William Jardine,
& statement which is disputed by every available fact.

Little need be said concerning the illustrations of the bill of the
great auk, except thkt the outline in the majority is fairly good, al-
though the representation of the grooves and their location on the bill
appears to have been subject to speculative influences. The 'white
grooves' of several authors should not be confounded with the white
lines which appear crossing both maxilla and mandible in all published
photographs. These lines are high-light lines due to light reflected
from the elevated ridges above the grooves. An examination of the
bills of mounted great auks shows that the grooves are a horn-white
or whitish in the bottom, a shade much darker than the reflected light
from the polished ridge would appear.

* The auks of Audubon accompanying this article were copied from the
plate in the Library Edition of 1840 in which he says, regarding the illustra-
tions— "the drawings on stone and the colouring, have also been well done and
the former are almost all superior to the first numbers of the work, which I
•considered very good.'

512 POPULAR SCIENCE MOXTHLY.

THE MAKING OF BIOLOGISTS.

By Professor T. D. a. COCKERELL,

EAST LAS VEGAS, N. MEX.

TT is doubtless true that biologists are 'born' rather than 'made/
*- but it is probably no less true that the)- may be and are nipped in
the bud in many instances by the frost of adverse circumstances. I
speak of the making of biologists by the same right and in the same
sense that the farmer speaks of raising crops, although as a matter of
fact the crops raise themselves by their own inherent vitality. Encour-
aged by a lively conviction that the infant mortality of biological talent
is much greater than is commonly supposed, I have sought to ascertain
the conditions which permitted the survival of so much as we actually
have, thinking that ways might be found to increase the crop. While
neither expecting nor desiring that every one should become a specialist
in biology, one may be pardoned for ardently wishing that the existing
native talent should be more fully utilized, in view of the innumerable
biological investigations lacking investigators.

In the United States to-day there are about four hundred publishing
zoologists, exclusive of those whose writings are of little or no impor-
tance as contributing to the advancement of the science. The botanists
are probably about as numerous, but I have not yet attempted to cata-
logue them. Of the zoologists about 140 are enumerated in 'Who's
Who,' and these include most of those who have done any considerable
amount of work, although there are some surprising omissions, and a
few nearly as surprising inclusions. It would be a useful thing to pub-
lish at some future time a biographical index of all American biologists,
living or dead, who have really contributed to the subject. In the mean-
while I have extracted a good deal of interesting information from
'Who's Who,' and a few other sources.

Starting with the idea that 'nature' counts for at least as much as
'nurture,' I looked for racial distinctions. Unfortunately it is impos-
sible to ascertain the exact influence of race upon the development of
talent, because those of different races are not subject to the same envi-
ronment. It is well understood that the Germans, as a people, are in-
clined to be scientific, and considering the enormous influx of Germans
into America, one would look for a large body of German-born biologists.
There are, indeed, many German amateurs ; but in our list of prominent
American biologists the German-born are less than half-a-dozen, the
best-known being Loeb, Ortmann and Eigenmann. Similarly, the Eng-

THE MAKING OF BIOLOGISTS. 513,

lish-born are scarcely worth mentioning ; while Norway, Hungary, Switz-
erland and Canada have single representatives in Stejneger, Heilprin,
A. Agassiz and McMurrich. On the whole, the foreign-born element in
American biology is insignificant, and as it were accidental.

Such facts as these make us doubt the validity of the opinion that
talent will always come to the front, whatever the conditions. Among
those who have immigrated from Germany and the British Islands there
must have been a larger number capable of biological research than the
figures show; but as a matter of fact the conditions surrounding these
people were not commonly favorable to scientific work. The same must
be true of the French immigrants who settled long ago in the south;
they have never yet shown anything like the scientific talent which their
origin would lead us to expect.

Dr. G-. B. Halsted told me last year that he believed that about one
in two hundred persons in this country possessed some sort of mathemat-
ical genius. Being afterwards uncertain whether he meant university
students or the general population, I wrote to him and received the fol-
lowing interesting reply:

One in two hundred university students has marked mathematical ability.
Of those who do not get to any university the percentage may be just as high,
since only race, and not caste, is necessary for this gift. A Hindoo has just
been senior wrangler at Cambridge, England; and Gauss was a bricklayer's
son. No one with a drop of African blood has ever given us a theorem in
mathematics. Shaler accounts for the stupidity of the Romans in mathematics
by supposing that the primitive basal race in Italy was from Africa. There
is a marked difference between ability in geometry and ability in arithmetic
and algebra. The Jews give us more great mathematicians than any other
race, but never a geometer. Geometry is hindered by a necessity for visualiza-
tion. Todhunter said with penetrating wisdom that the person who had to see
the relations definitely on a figure could not go on in the higher mathematics.
Non-Euclidean geometry, my subject, cannot be visualized. Calculating prodi-
gies are usually idiots, absolutely lacking in power of visualization. I enclose
you a long account of one such [Jacques Inaudi] which is very definite on this
point [i. e., the absence of visualization]. Most eminent mathematicians are
deficient as calculators, some do not know their multiplication table. ... I
have never in my life had to extract a root of a number. The thing which seems
most to foster mathematical ability is use in very early youth, strong stimula-
tion in early youth. (Litt., December 24, 1901.)

With respect to the negro race unfavorable conditions may have had
more to do with unproductiveness than is supposed. The Tuskegee
Institute under Professor Booker T. Washington has lately obtained
the means of carrying on original research in science, and it will be ex-
tremely interesting to watch the results. I ventured to ask Professor
Washington whether he had observed any scientific talent among his
people, and he referred me to Dr. Eoscoe Conkling Bruce, who wrote
as follows on the subject of talented negroes :

VOL. LXII. — 33.

514 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Scientific aptitudes have to my knowledge appeared among the negroes
not infrequently. Among negroes who have actually achieved a degree of emi-
nence in scientific research are the late L. A. Willson, of Cleveland, Ohio; T.
McC. Stewart, Jr., of New York city; Frederick Hemmings, of Boston; and
Dr. S. C. Fuller, of Westboro', Mass. Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, of Atlanta Uni-
versity, has made two solid contributions to descriptive sociology, ' The Supres-
sion of the Slave Trade ' and ' The Philadelphia Negro.' Dr. Kelly Miller, of
Howard University, has made important mathematical researches. Professor
Hugh M. Browne, of Baltimore, is an eminent physicist. Professor George A.
Towns, of Atlanta, has written a valuable theory of aesthetics; Professor Ferris,
of Cambridge, is now engaged in writing a book on metaphysics. Our Professor
Carver, of Tuskegee, has done something in biology. There is frequently notice-
able among our students at Tuskegee the scientific attitude and spirit. (Litt.,
April 6, 1902.)

It should be added that Professor C. H. Turner has done important
work on fresh-water Crustacea.

Of course the custom of classing as 'colored' all those who have any
negro blood makes it difficult to ascertain the possibilities of talent resi-
dent in the negro blood itself. I suppose that most of those above
mentioned are of mixed blood, but I have no exact information.

Eeturning to our birth-statistics of zoologists, we may proceed to dis-
cuss the native-born. These people are the descendants of early immi-
grants who showed little or no scientific ability, doubtless for such rea-
sons as we have already discussed. The tremendous increase of intellec-
tual activity in Europe and America during the last century and
a half shows what possibilities may lie unsuspected in a people; for no
biologist can suppose that the stock itself has greatly changed in so
short a period. The same may be said concerning the recent intellectual
awakening of the Japanese, though no doubt these people formerly em-
ployed their minds in ways overlooked because unintelligible to Euro-
peans. It seems wonderful to us to-day to receive monthly an entomo-
logical journal printed in Japanese and to find some of the best work
in biology coming from natives of that country. Who knows but that
we ourselves, great as has been our progress, are capable like the Japa-
nese of yet other new births, into fields of intellectual activity hardly
yet suspected to exist ?

I have classified the native-born zoologists by the states of their birth.
New York is easily in the lead, with Massachusetts a good second, Illi-
nois third, Ohio fourth, Connecticut fifth. The more prominent names
are as follows:

New York. — Beecher, Bigelow, Birge, Call, Casey, J. M. Clarke,
0. F. Cook, B. Dean, J. Dwight, Dyar, Elliot, Gill, B. S. Jordan,
Mearns, Merriam, G. S. Miller, Miss Eathbun, Shufeldt, Slingerland,
J. B. Smith, Walcott, Ward, Whitfield, Winchell, J. B. Woodworth.

Massachusetts. — J. A. Allen, Beal, Brewster, Dall, Felt, Hitchcock,
Lucas, C. D. Marsh, Minot, Scudder, Thayer, Thorndike, Williston.
How few of these are to-day identified with Massachusetts !

THE MAKING OF BIOLOGISTS. 5*5

Illinois. — Coquillett, Gilbert, Hatcher, L. 0. Howard, Kofoid, Nut-
ting, Eidgway, Simpson, Stanton, E. B. Wilson, Walcott.

Ohio. — Chittenden, Girty, Pratt, Schuchert, C. H. T. Townsend,
Ulrich, C. M. Weed.

Connecticut. — Benedict, Blatchley, Davenport, C. L. Franklin, H.
F. Osborn, Mrs. Slosson.

Pennsylvania has given us Ashmead, Bruner, H. C. Chapman, Gar-
man, W. Stone and the late H. Strecker. From New Jersey we have
Beutenmiiller and F. M. Chapman; from Maine, Fernald, Verrill and
C. B. Wilson; from New Hampshire, Nelson; from Maryland, Uhler.
Iowa is the birth-place of Eastman, Evermann, McGee, Springer and
Pilsbry; Michigan of V. Bailey; Minnesota of C. L. and C. J. Herrick;
Wisconsin of H. Osborn, Bitter and W. M. Wheeler. The South is hardly
represented at all ; from South Carolina come J. A. Holmes and J. P.
Smith; from Kentucky, Morgan and Miss Sadie Price; Florida, Geor-
gia, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia do
not appear on my list at all ! There are, I hope, some zoologists born
in these states of whom I have no statistics, but in any event the zoolog-
ical output of the southern states is wholly insignificant. This fact
suggests again the great influence of environment, whatever the blood;
and one may add that the tropical English colonies have deprived us of
the services of many a good man, who under more stimulating social
and climatic conditions promised much.

The civilization of the West is so young that perhaps we ought not
to expect much of the native-born therein. As a matter of fact, the
showing is small indeed ; my records give only these names : Kansas, V.
L. Kellogg, Marlatt; Texas, Vaughan; California, T. S. Palmer. Of
course there are many others less well known ; indeed a very good crop
of young men and women, who will be prominent enough in the next
twenty years. Everything shows that California, in particular, will be
the center of great biological activity; but so far Colorado is by no
means doing her part. About fifteen years ago a small body of natu-
ralists founded the Colorado Biological Association, of which the present
writer was secretary; but the movement died in 1890, and to-day there
are not enough biologists in the state to revive it or found a new society
on similar lines. Even the professors in the state university seem to be
permitted rather than encouraged to engage in research. However,
Colorado has too much natural vigor to tolerate this inertia indefinitely ;
the time cannot be far distant when there will be an awakening.

I have also catalogued the prominent zoologists under the names of
the schools, colleges and universities they attended; but the results are
perhaps not very significant. Of course every one knows that many of
our leading men (e. g., Jordan, Dall, Uhler, J. A. Allen, Scudder)
studied under Agassiz, but it may be doubted whether their interest in

516 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

biology was not fully determined before they went to him. I think it
will be possible to show in due time, that the critical period for the
biologist is much earlier than some of us have supposed, is, in fact,
during the years of childhood. This would agree with Dr. Halsted's
opinion, expressed above, about mathematicians. The list of those who
received no university training is significantly long, including Ashmead,
Beutemnuller, W. Brewster, F. M. Chapman, Cockerell, Coquillett, D.
G. Elliott, Gill, Lucas, McGee, Miss Eathbun, Ridgway, Schuchert,
Simpson, J. B. Smith, Thayer, C. D. Walcott, Whitfield and Uhler.
On the other hand, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Yale, Cornell, Amherst,
Michigan and a few others have long lists of prominent graduates, and
the list of those who studied in Germany is surprisingly large. In all,
56 institutions in the United States are represented in my list, mostly
by only one or two names. There is plenty of evidence that first-class
men may come from institutions which do not ordinarily turn out zoolo-
gists of any sort, or perhaps ordinarily do turn them out, in a different
sense.

Dr. D. S. Jordan is the man who comes first into our mind as a
gift from Agassiz. He himself is always ready to insist upon his
obligations to that great naturalist; but the following information,
kindly supplied to me by Dr. Jordan, shows that he was a good biologist
before he ever saw the master.

When a boy I lived on a farm in western New York. I was very early
interested in the local botany and had made a collection of the local fauna be-
fore I entered college. At college I developed this as a thesis, called ' The
Fauna of Wyoming County, New York,' for a master's degree. I was also very
much interested in the breeding of sheep, and from my twelfth year to the time
I went to college I gave considerable attention to this, having a pretty fair
knowledge of all matters pertaining to a flock of sheep. Very soon after enter-
ing Cornell I was made laboratory assistant in botany, and was ultimately
promoted to an instructorship. I did not take up zoology as a serious matter
until after I had left Cornell. At Penikese I was instructor in marine botany.
Agassiz thought that I ought to do some work of an entirely different sort,
and placed me in charge of the work of collecting fishes, asking me to study
the habits of the different forms. On going to Wisconsin — where marine botany
is scanty — I was advised by him to take up the anatomy of fishes and especially
of the ganoid forms. I did a good deal of work on birds, but deliberately chose
fishes because the group was comparatively little known and apparently offered
a wide field. The influence of Agassiz was a great element in my scientific
progress. Not less great was that of Agassiz's student, Charles F. Hartt, sev-
eral years ago professor of geology at Cornell — a subject in which I did a good
deal of work. (Litt., October 25, 1901.)

It is perhaps by his general influence upon the country that Agassiz
did most to promote the study of biology in America. Such a man
always attracts to his person the enthusiastic young men who are able to
benefit most by his teaching, but who would probably have made good
biologists in any case. For most of these, the turning point had been

THE MAKING OF BIOLOGISTS. 517

long ago reached and passed ; but Agassiz was able to indirectly influence
the young people of the whole country, and though he is now dead, he is
not gone, and we are all in some sense his pupils.

Dr. Alfred E. Wallace, writing from Parkstone, Dorset, November
7, 1901, has given me the following most interesting account of his
early experiences :

As to my interest in biology, I can trace it I think to two very trifling
facts. I doubt if I had or have any special aptitude for it, but I have a natural
love for classification and an inherent desire to explain things; — also a great
love of beauty of form and colour. The two slight facts are these. When a
boy at school I heard a Quaker lady say that she and some friend had found
the ' Monotropa,' which was quite a discovery as being before unknown in the
district. This, and hearing the names of other flowers referred to as rare, made
me think it would be very interesting to know the names of all the plants that
grew wild,* but as I had no botanical friends the wish remained dormant, till
I was about 15, when I purchased for a shilling (I think) a little book on
botany published by the Society for the Diffusion of Christian Knowledge, and
which contained the characters of about a dozen of the commonest natural
orders in Britain. This was a revelation to me, and kept me employed for a
year or two determining the flowers I met with if they belonged to any of these
few orders. I then bought Lindley's ' Elements of Botany,' I think it was, but
was disappointed in finding no more ' orders ' described, but details of structure
which did not much interest me. When recovering from a serious illness I met
with Loudon's ' Encyclopaedia of Plants,' and finding that this contained brief
characters of all British plants, I amused myself by copying them all, except
I think the grasses and sedges, on sheets of note paper, which I interleaved in
Lindley's volume, and by means of these I was able to determine most of the
species I met with, and made a considerable herbarium. The other incident
was, meeting H. W. Bates at Leicester and being started by him as a beetle and
butterfly collector. The enormous variety of form and structure in the beetles
attracted me, and I think during all my tropical experiences the collection
of these gave as much enjoyment as even the gorgeous birds and butterflies.
Classification then began to fascinate me, through Swainson, and the ' Vestiges
of Creation,' with the works of Herbert Spencer, started me on the problem of
the origin of species; and thus my various mental tendencies had full occupa-
tion in the contemplation and study of natural objects. I also, very early,
became interested in geology, in mechanics, in physics and in astronomy, and
this breadth of scientific interest, though with no direct education in any one
of them, has been of great service to me in preventing a too exclusive attention
to any one aspect of nature.

With reference to Dr. Wallace's disclaimer at the beginning of his
letter, it may be questioned whether there is such a thing as a special
aptitude for biology, aside from the combination of just such tastes and
aptitudes as he describes. I have always fancied that the same qualities
which would make a good historian would make also a good biologist —
the interest in living things, the love of detail and of classification, the
fidelity to truth, the perseverance in inquiry, the lively imagination, and

* I also heard, to my astonishment, that every minutest weed had been
described and had a name.

518 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

so forth. It is interesting in this connection to note that the ornitholo-
gist Coues became a historian during the last years of his life. The
love of beauty is also undoubtedly a strong factor in the making of biol-
ogists, although there are some good workers who seem to be singularly
deficient in this respect.* Many years ago the present writer went with
Dr. and Mrs. Wallace to find the daffodils in an English meadow. When
we arrived at the place, we found the flowers in profusion, and it was
inspiring to see the child-like pleasure the veteran naturalist took in
their beauty. Here was a man who could never grow old, to whom
nature was a perpetual delight. As I heard Professor C. L. Herrick
say in an address to some students, the love of nature is the secret of
perpetual youth.

In the first issue of The Hibbert Journal, Sir Oliver Lodge writes
as follows:

Take a scientific man who is not something more than a scientific man, one
who is not a poet, or a philosopher, or a saint, and place him in the atmosphere
habitual to the churches — and he must starve. He requires solid food, and he
finds himself in air. . . . Take a religious man, who has not a multitude of
other aptitudes overlaid upon his religion, into the cold dry workings, the
gropings and tunnellings of science, where everything must be scrutinized and
proved, distinctly conceived and precisely formulated, — and he cannot breathe.

I think this antithesis is not altogether a natural one, but that, on
the contrary, the scientific man must be something of 'a poet, or a phi-
losopher, or a saint, ' to be completely a scientific man. It will be a sad
day for the world when we cease to have men who can live freely in the
enjoyment of the universe, and each one is permitted to know only this
or that. Let us be free to think and enjoy, even though our thoughts
wander far afield, and our enjoyment is not always that of a connoisseur.

Sometimes science suffers greatly in the opinion of those who do not
claim to be scientific, just because her proper character is not under-
stood, and it is assumed that she must be cold, hard and unimaginative.
I have heard the late William Morris speak contemptuously of science,
and in his admirable lecture on 'The Aims of Art' (1887) he says that
if socialism does not prevail ' science will grow more and more one-sided,
more incomplete, more wordy and useless, till at last she will pile herself
up into such a mass of superstition, that beside it the theologies of old
time will seem mere reason and enlightenment. ' Yet Morris was him-
self an admirable observer of nature, and possessed many of the best
qualities of a naturalist. I suppose the name of psychology would have

* I heard the other day a perfectly authentic story of a teacher in one of
our best universities, a man who has done wonderful work in classification, and
is far ahead of all others in his particular specialty. One of his students, look-
ing through the microscope, exclaimed at the beauty of some object. The pro-
fessor immediately shut him up with the remark : ' I should think that by this
time you would know that you don't come here to look at pretty things! '

TEE MAKING OF BI0L0GI8T8. 5*9

made him shudder, and yet the very lecture cited is really an important
contribution to that subject, with its theory of the moods of energy and
idleness. The views just expressed seem to be confirmed by the history
of one of the most distinguished biologists of this country, Dr. A. S.
Packard, who writes me as follows :

I may say that the love of flowers, animals and natural scenery was inborn
in me. My ancestry on both sides were ministers, we never had a naturalist
in the family, but my father was extremely fond of and appreciative of natural
scenery, and was interested in history and archaeology. As a child I was very
fond of flowers, as were my parents, and as early as I can remember had a
flower-garden of my own. When about 14-15 I began to collect minerals, and
then shells. My zeal for collecting and forming a museum led an older brother,
who also had such tastes, to give me his cabinet, containing curiosities, shells
and minerals. I was also an omnivorous reader, — devoured all the books on
natural science in the library of Bowdoin College, where I was kindly allowed
to browse, long before entering college. When about 16-17 I collected insects
in considerable numbers. I was also aided by a maiden lady in Brunswick,
Maine, who told me about shells, and aided me in naming my native plants.
I formed a herbarium before entering college. From Miss Ann Jackson when
a boy I first heard of Lamarck, and of his classification of shells, and of the
Lamarckian genera of shells. With, then, an inborn taste for natural history,
an aversion to business, and a fondness for books, my deep interest in animal
life was sustained and I was impelled to devote my life to biological study.
All through college I corresponded with Professor Baird, assistant secretary
of the Smithsonian Institution, also with conchologists and entomologists, and
this was a constant stimulus to the natural zeal and interest, or passion, for
biology which has influenced my life. Also I was a born collector, though I
have now no large collections. I trust this will show how I became interested
in natural history. Had I been brought up in a city, the result might have
been different. (Litt., October 28, 1901.)

It is interesting to think that Packard might have been our leading
conchologist, Jordan our first authority on seaweeds. In nearly every
case of which I have full information, some other branch of biology was
studied than that which afterwards became the specialty. The interest
was almost always at first a general one, afterwards limited by circum-
stances or choice. Of course one has to remember here that nearly all
children in rural districts are interested in nature, though so few become
biologists. The writer spent part of his childhood on a farm in Sussex,
England, and well remembers the interest taken by the children in the
first primroses or daffodils of the year, the arrival of the birds, the occur-
rence of efts (newts) in certain ponds, and such matters. It seems prob-
able that most children are potential biologists, to some extent, but only
a few are able to break through the crust of indifference and opposition
which surrounds them a little later, and remain naturalists to the end.
If this is true, and it is also true that stimulation at an early age is very
important, the nature study movement in the schools may yet produce
great results for science. However, in the absence of suitable teachers,

520 • POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

and in view of the crowded curriculum and consequent weariness of the
pupils, one fears that in many instances the effects of a nature study
course may be the reverse of those desired. There may be fatigue and
disgust with the whole subject.*

Most of the naturalists who have kindly written me about their early
life state that their interest began in the woods and fields — anywhere
but in the town. It would seem that the chances are very much against
a naturalist born in the city, notwithstanding certain presumed advan-
tages in the way of education, f A good typical instance of the influence
of country life is given by Dr. John M. Coulter, the well-known bota-
nist, who writes:

I was brought up in a village and had a strong out-of-door tendency.
This took me into the ravines, and woods, and along the streams in the
neighborhood almost constantly. My interest for collecting things runs back
to a time I cannot recall. The actual selection of botany among other out-
of-door subjects was probably determined by the lines of least resistance, in the
form of opportunities presented. (Litt., October 24, 1901.)

* Many an English boy has acquired a distaste for the Bible from having
to learn chapters by heart, lists of the kings of Israel, and so forth; and this
often on Sundays, depriving him of the rest and recreation to which he feels
entitled.

f One thing in favor of the city is the museum, where it exists. It is un-
doubtedly a factor of great importance, as will be shown later on.

RELATION OF MALARIA TO AGRICULTURE. 521

THE RELATION OF MALAKIA TO AGEICULTUEE AND
OTHER INDUSTRIES OP THE SOUTH.

By Professor GLENN W. HERRICK,

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, MISS.

TN a paper on 'Measures for the Decrease of Malaria in the South,'
-*- read in Nashville, Tenn., in August of the past summer before the
Southern Commissioners of Agriculture, I very briefly called atten-
tion to the important role of malaria in agriculture. It was an in-
adequate attempt to demonstrate the practical bearing of this disease
upon the wealth-producing powers of a commonwealth, with the hope
that it might prove an added inducement for putting into practice the
measures which had been recommended for the decrease of malaria.
For to induce a people to use a remedy it must first be shown that a
remedy is very much needed. We trust that this further treatment
of the same question will result in more widespread and serious dis-
cussions and investigations of the profound influence of this most
insidious disease upon the industries and wealth-producing powers of
the southern people.

The south as a whole has given little thought to the tremendous
role malaria plays in her industries, especially in agriculture. We
have no idea of the loss occasioned by malaria in unfitting men for
long or energetic hours of labor. The loss of energy and enthusiasm,
the loss of interest in one's own efforts and successes, all of which con-
tribute enormously to the inefficiency of labor and cause the wealth-
producing power, especially in agriculture, to fall far short of its
normal capacity, is due in a marvelous and undreamed of degree to
that life-sapping disease, malaria. The man that is just able to
'crawl out of bed and drag around' is certainly not the man to accom-
plish an efficient and full day's labor. Because a man is at work is
not necessarily a proof that he is actually adding to the sum total of
his own wealth or to that of the state, and in a lesser degree does it
prove that he is adding to the sum total of wealth, all of which he is
capable. A man's general state of health has quite as much relation
to his producing powers as the amount and kind of food he eats. And
certainly there is no disease known to man that more insidiously under-
mines his constitution and lessens his ability to produce his full meas-
ure of wealth than malaria. Moreover, looking at malaria from
another point of view, namely its relation to other diseases, let us hear
what the eminent Dr. Patrick Manson, of England, says. In speaking
of the importance of our knowledge concerning the relation of mos-

522

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

quitoes to malaria he says : ' This is a piece of knowledge of the utmost
importance to mankind, for we know that malarial disease in tropical
countries . . . causes more deaths and more disposition to death by
inducing cachectic states, predisposing to other affections than all the
other parasites affecting mankind together.' The italics are our own.
This is a most startling statement to the ordinary layman, yet it comes
from one who knows whereof he speaks.

Celli, the celebrated Italian authority on malaria, tells us that the
mean mortality statistics give about 15,000 deaths yearly from malaria
in Italy. He further says that, "calculating from the number of deaths
the number of patients, we arrive approximately at about two million
cases a year." "The loss of labor and of production, and the ex-
penses entailed in dealing with this disease consequently amount to
several millions of francs." About five million acres of land go
uncultivated or very improperly cultivated, which represents an enor-
mous loss. One railway company spends on account of malaria one
million fifty thousand francs ($200,000) a year. He sums up by
saying, 'one can positively assert that malaria annually costs Italy
incalculable treasure.'

Our own statistics on malaria are meager and not so clear cut as one
could wish. Yet the figures of the twelfth and last census which is
just now appearing are enlightening, as the following table taken from
that census will show. I have selected the six diseases that cause the
most deaths in the states considered. There are no other diseases that
approach near enough to these in their death rate to demand serious
consideration or comparison.

Number of Deaths for Year ending May 31, 1900.

Louisiana

Mississippi. . . .

Alabama

Georgia

South Carolina

Total.

Consump-

Heart

Pneu-

Typhoid.

Dys-

tion.

Disease.

monia.

entery.

20,955

2,016

1,149

1,945

1,077

385

20,251

2,129

876

2,168

1,370

380

25,699

2,666

1,111

2,459

1,713

864

26,941

2,651

1,350

2,598

1,585

781

17,166

2,133

843

1,324

970

578

Malaria.

1,030

983

1,005

1,011

749

It must be borne in mind that these figures concern only those
deaths that were reported. Scores of deaths occurred in these states
that were never reported. But it no doubt is safe to assume that the
deaths from one disease were reported as fully as those from another,
hence we can with fairness use these figures for making comparisons.

In the first place then, considering malaria by itself in relation to
the total number of deaths in each of the five states mentioned, we find
the following generalizations to be true. The total number of deaths
in Louisiana for the year ending May 31, 1900, was 20,955, of which
1,030 or very nearly one twentieth were from malaria fevers. In

RELATION OF MALARIA TO AGRICULTURE. 523

Mississippi for the same year there were 20,251 deaths, of which 983
or a trifle less than one twentieth were from malaria fevers. In
Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina, taking these three states as a
whole, a trifle less than one twenty-fifth of the whole number of
deaths was due to malaria. Evidently then malaria is responsible for
a surprisingly large part of the whole number of deaths in these five
states.

But there is another and much more significant fact to be drawn
from the afore-mentioned table. It is seen that, in general, consump-
tion, heart disease, pneumonia and typhoid fever caused more deaths
than malaria and these were the only diseases that did. But these
diseases are much more fatal than malaria. That is, where one person
sick with either of these four diseases recovers, dozens are sick with
malarial chills and fevers and recover. In other words, malaria
causes much more sickness than any one or all of those four diseases
rolled in one. Taking Celli's own basis of estimate, we shall find
that there were in the five states mentioned, approximately 635,000
cases of malaria in the year ending May 31, 1900, a factor truly
appalling in its influence against the wealth-producing power of a
people.

Again we must just here take into consideration the fact that the
census figures do not give an accurate and full report of all the deaths
by malaria. This is an important point because where one death
from malaria is not taken into account a dozen or more cases of sick-
ness from chills and fevers are not accounted for, whereas when one
death by consumption is not reported, it is simply one death not
reported and nothing more. The same is largely true of the other
three diseases used in our comparison. There is not a doubt that the
cases of sickness as a result of malaria would easily number a round
million could we obtain full and accurate reports.

Finally by taking all the foregoing facts and deductions into con-
sideration, we are forced to but one rather startling conclusion,
namely, that malaria is responsible for more sickness among the white
population of the south than any disease to which it is now subject.

We must now consider briefly what six hundred and thirty-five
thousand or a million cases of chills and fevers in one year mean.
It is a self-evident truth that it means well for the physicians. But
for laboring men it means an immense loss of their time together with
the doctor's fees in many instances. If members of their families other
than themselves be affected it may also mean a loss of time together
with the doctor's fees. For the employer it means the loss of labor
at a time perhaps when it would be of greatest value. If it does not
mean the actual loss of labor to the employer, it will mean a loss in the
efficiency of his labor. To the farmers it may mean the loss of their

524 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

crops by want of cultivation. It will always mean the non-cultivation or
improper cultivation of thousands of acres of valuable land. It means
a listless activity in the world's work that counts mightily against the
wealth-producing power of a people. Finally, it means from two to
five million or more days of sickness, with all its attendant distress,
pain of body and mental depression to some unfortunate individuals of
those five states.

While the above statistics are meager and inconclusive, and while
our estimates may be open to question, yet we may be sure that malaria
detracts enormously from the full wealth-producing power of the south.
To substantiate this statement one has but to reflect, from his own
personal knowledge, upon the number of working days that are lost
in a year by white men because of chills and fevers. The writer recalls
to mind many such cases within the year. Only the past summer I saw
a whole family forced to leave a farm on account of malaria. While
living there some one or all of them were sick the major portion of the
time, and although the farm was a productive one they were scarcely
able to make a living, because of their unfitness for work. In a certain
railroad town with which I am familiar it is invariably the rule that
some employee is 'laying off' because of chills and fever or because of
some indisposition at the bottom of which is malaria.

In my summer vacation which was spent in North Carolina I had
an opportunity of observing a laboring man and his family that lived
near a brook in the quiet pools of which were the malarial mosquitoes,
Anopheles. During my sojourn of about three weeks the head of the
family 'laid off' four days from chills and fevers, and no doubt he has
lost many days since during the autumn. He is a man with a delicate,
pale skin and, while conversing with him, I have noted as many as
two Anopheles mosquitoes on one hand at the same time. The ques-
tion has often occurred to me since, whether these mosquitoes prefer
to attack people with delicate skin. My own face and hands were not
troubled by them, although we stood within hand-shaking distance of
each other and the mosquitoes were fairly abundant. The mother and
children of the family were great sufferers from malaria, especially the
former, on account of which much of their earnings was used to pay
doctor's fees.

In looking for a concrete effect of malaria upon agriculture, we
have only to turn our attention to one of the most fertile regions of the
United States if not of the world, namely, the so-called Delta region
of Mississippi. It lies along the Mississippi Eiver in the western part
of the state and extends from the mouth of the Yazoo Eiver north,
nearly to the Tennessee line. It is the second best farming land in
the world, having only one rival, and that is the valley of the Nile.
Still this land to-day, at least much of it, can be bought at ten to

RELATION OF MALARIA TO AGRICULTURE. 525

twenty dollars an acre. Thousands of acres in this region are still
covered with the primeval forest, and the bears and deer still roam-
ing there offer splendid opportunities for the chase, as evidenced by the
late visit of our chief executive to those regions for the purpose of
hunting. Why is not this land thickly settled and why is it not
worth from two to five hundred dollars an acre? If it produces from
one to two or more bales of cotton on an acre, and it does, it ought to be
worth the above named figures. A bale of cotton to the acre can be
produced for thirteen dollars, leaving a net profit of twenty to forty
dollars for each bale or forty to eighty or more dollars for each acre
of land cultivated. Moreover, this land has been doing that for years
and will do it for years to come without the addition of one dollar's
worth of fertilizer. Land that will produce a net profit of forty to
eighty dollars an acre is a splendid investment at one, two or even three
hundred dollars an acre. Yet this land does not sell in the market
for anything like so much, because the demand is not sufficient, for
white people positively object to living in the 'Delta' on account of
malarial chills and fevers. A man said to me not long ago that he
would go to the ' Delta ' that day if he were sure that his own life or the
lives of the members of his family would not be shortened thereby.
There are thousands exactly like him, and the only reason that these
thousands do not go there to buy lands and make homes is on account
of chills and fevers. But there is a time coming, and that not far
distant, when malaria in the 'Delta' will not menace the would-be
inhabitants. When that time comes it will be the richest and most
populous region in the United States.

There can be no doubt that many people are kept away from the
sunny southern skies because of the dangers of malaria, sometimes
fancied 'tis true, but quite as often real. It behooves us to remove
this danger entirely. 1 feel sure the day is soon coming when chills
and fevers will have lost their terrors because we shall surely learn
how to avoid them. It is most propitious that these wonderful dis-
coveries in regard to malaria and yellow fever were made on the eve
of the south 's great awakening along industrial and educational lines.

If the experiments of Eoss, Manson, Celli, Sambon, Low and others
demonstrate that malaria can be avoided; and if the experiments of
Carroll, Eeed, Lazear and Agramonte demonstrate that quarantine and
fumigation are useless and that yellow fever can be controlled by
controlling mosquitoes or by keeping inside of a wire screen out of their
way, then I venture to predict that those experiments will go down in
the annals of the south as the most important of the nineteenth
century.

526 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE HABITS OF THE GIANT SALAMANDEE.

By De. ALBERT M. REESE,

SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY.

CEYPTOBEANCHUS (Menopoma of the earlier text-books)
Alleghaniensis or hellbender, the American representative of the
giant salamanders, although only too familiar to the fishermen of the
Ohio valley is, to most people, rather a curiosity and its habits, there-
for are worthy of some attention.

Its distribution, according to most authors, is limited to the tribu-
taries of the Ohio Eiver, but whether or not this is strictly true I am
unable to state. I have investigated several cases of the supposed
occurrence of Cryptobranchus in waters far distant from the Ohio, but
in each instance the animal in question proved to be Necturus. By
the natives of the regions it inhabits, the hellbender is called 'alligator'
or, occasionally, ' waterdog ' : it is easy to imagine how the f ormer name
might have originated, but why it should be called a 'dog' is as hard
to imagine as the reason for calling Necturusa 'mud-puppy.' The
hellbender is said to reach a length of more than 60 cm., the largest
specimen that I obtained, from a considerable number of individuals,
was 55 cm. in length. It is a most unprepossessing animal, and, prob-
ably on that account, has the reputation, among fisherman, of being
poisonous, although it is really a most inoffensive and harmless crea-
ture. I have handled many dozen individuals, some of which were
just from their native stream and some of which I have had in captivity
for more than eight months, but in no instance has any attempt been
made to bite. Its jaws are very wide and strong, however, and being
armed with numerous small, sharp teeth, are probably capable of inflict-
ing a painful wound. Its repulsive appearance seems to be largely
due to the curious flatness of the head, the tiny, almost invisible, lidless
eyes and the lateral folds of skin which extend for the greater part of its
length.

The tips of the toes, of which there are four on the anterior
and five on the posterior feet, are nearly white and are thus in curious
contrast to the dark color of the rest of the animal.

The adult hellbender breathes by means of well-developed lungs,
but there is a gill opening in each side of the throat, from which bubbles
of air occasionally escape. The nostrils are two very small openings
situated at the extreme tip of the broad snout, so that when the animal
comes to the surface to breathe, it need expose but the tip of its snout
above water. The process of inspiration, if it may be so called, is

HABITS OF THE GIANT SALAMANDER. 527

practically one of swallowing air. When it becomes necessary for the
hellbender to take in a fresh supply of air, it swims towards the sur-
face of the water until the tip of the snout is exposed ; then, by swelling
downward the skin of the floor of the mouth, a huge mouthful of air
is drawn in, and the animal, now arching upward its neck and back,
slowly sinks to the bottom, the swallowed air passing back to the lungs
either by its own buoyancy, the lungs now being higher than the throat,
or by a sort of peristaltic action of the throat. As the animal sinks,
a considerable portion of the air that was taken into the mouth escapes
through the nostrils or through the gill openings. After reaching the
bottom, the animal frequently retains, for some time, the strongly
arched position, as though the region of the lungs were buoyed up by
the air that had just been taken in. The air is gotten rid of partly
by a quick expiration when the animal comes to the surface, and partly
by an occasional bubble sent up from the bottom. If the animal be
alarmed as by a sudden approach to the tank in which it is contained,
it frequently sets free one or more large bubbles of air, perhaps by the
involuntary relaxation of certain muscles, perhaps by a voluntary ex-
pulsion of superfluous air, to enable it better to escape the supposed
danger. The length of time that the hellbender remains under water
seems, in captivity at least, to be quite variable. I made a series of
observations on three individuals, a very large one, a very small one
and a medium-sized one, and the average interval between inspirations
was about fifteen minutes. The longest time that any individual was
actually observed to remain below the surface was forty-three minutes.
In motion the hellbender is usually slow and awkward. On a
smooth dry surface, as the top of a table, it is almost helpless, because
the slime secreted by the skin soon dries and becomes so sticky as almost
to prevent motion. Even in its native element its motions are usually
awkward, though when swimming rapidly this is not apparent. In
crawling over the bottom, the diagonally opposite legs very nearly
'keep step,' i. e., the left front leg and the right hind leg move forward
at the same time. In active swimming the tail is the most effective
organ, as in the alligators. If an individual, which is lying quietly on
the bottom, be watched carefully it will frequently be noticed that it
has a slight rocking or swaying motion, caused by the alternate straight-
ening or relaxing of the legs, similar, perhaps, to the swaying motion
of elephants. In captivity they usually congregate in the darkest
portions of their tank, crawling under boards or stones if these be
present, or under each other if there be no better hiding place. If
not lifted above the surface of the water, they may be handled with
scarcely a struggle, but if taken from the water they struggle to regain
their native element. As a rule the smaller specimens were more active
than the larger.

528 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

As my chief object in collecting the hellbenders was to obtain eggs
fcr embryological work (my hope being that the animals would spawn
in captivity) and as I had at first no idea as to when the spawning
season occurred, I started in pursuit of the creatures about the first of
February, tramping many weary miles through three feet of snow
and chopping numerous holes through the thick ice that covered French
Creek in which the hellbenders abound. Hand-lines, night-lines and
traps were tried again and again, but, though several specimens of
Necturus were caught, not a single Cryptohranchus was obtained until
the twenty-eighth of March, after the ice and snow had all disappeared
and several days of warm weather had slightly warmed the water.
Fishermen, generally, stated that 'alligators' could not be caught
until the ice had melted and the water had had time to warm slightly.

Although the first specimens were caught during the last days of
March, it was not until nearly a month later that they could be
obtained in any numbers, and it was during May that they were most
abundant. About June 7, desiring to obtain a few more specimens,
I applied to the boys from whom I had been buying them, but, after
fishing for a week or more, they told me that the 'alligators' had
stopped biting, and I was unable to obtain the additional specimens
that I wanted. "Whether they usually cease taking food at this time
I am unable to say, but Mr. Chas. H. Townsend, of the New York
Aquarium, says* that they were caught by him in August, on hooks
baited with pieces of meat or fish heads. Most of the specimens I
obtained were caught in traps that had been set for fish, though many
were caught with hook and line, the disadvantage in the latter method
being that the hook was often caught so far down in the digestive tract
that it could not be extracted without seriously injuring the animal.

The color of all the hellbenders, when first caught, was a more or
less uniform dirty black or greenish-brown with numerous irregular
dark spots on the dorsal side. Fishermen were occasionally heard to
speak of 'red alligators' but I never saw a hellbender that could, in
truth, be called red, though after they had been in captivity for a couple
of months many of them changed color very perceptibly, becoming a
more decided brown, sometimes with a decided greenish tinge and
sometimes with the dark spots, mentioned above, very pronounced.
It is possible that this change in color, in a state of nature, may
be very much more marked and that when the breeding season
arrives it may become an actual red, and serve as a sexual char-
acter. Judging from analogy, it would be supposed that these more
brilliantly colored individuals would be males, but such was not
the case. Of the specimens that I had under observation, nearly all
were females ; if this were true in a state of nature, it might be possible

* American Naturalist, February, 1882.

HABITS OF THE GIANT SALAMANDER. 529

that the females had acquired this brighter coloring, as a secondary
sexual character, for the attraction of the males.

The hellbender has the reputation of being an exceeding voracious
animal, and in his native stream this is probably true, though in cap-
tivity his appetite is very moderate. The contents of the stomach of a
number of individuals were examined, and it was found that the most
common article of food was apparently crayfish, though earthworms,
small fish and, in one case, the mandibles and a foot of a small mammal,
probably a mouse, were found. Fish as much as 8 cm. in length were
sometimes found in the stomachs of large individuals. As it seemed
impossible to catch the hellbenders until comparatively late in the
spring, it is probable that they lie dormant through the winter, and
hence do not take any food until they renew their activity at the
appearance of warm weather.

A number of animals that I obtained one morning in a fish-trap
seemed very much distended, as with eggs; on being put into a tub
of water they disgorged a great mass of material consisting chiefly of
a number of small fish that had been caught in the same trap and had
thus fallen easy prey to the appetite of the hellbenders. It almost
always happened that when hellbenders were put into an ordinary
vessel of water they disgorged, within a few hours, the contents of their
stomachs, while if put into a tank of running water they seldom, if
ever, disgorged.

Although it seems certain that they catch and eat living fish and
crayfish, under natural conditions, they never ate these animals alive
in captivity nor, as far as I could see, ever attempted to catch them
when they were put into the tank and left there for days. The fact, how-
ever, that the crayfish were frequently found on top of a floating piece
of board that was in the tank would seem to indicate either that the
hellbenders had attempted to catch them or that they had an instinctive
fear of the salamanders, founded on racial experience. A couple of
small hellbenders were kept for a short time in a glass aquarium jar
for close study. These two individuals were the only ones that were
actually seen in the act of taking food. If earthworms were lowered
into the water just in front of them, they would seize them by a quick,
lateral jerk of the head and then swallow them by a series of quick
forward jerks, the tongue being, apparently, of very little use in draw-
ing food into the mouth. The quickness of this seizing motion was
quite surprising in so sluggish an animal, and showed how a fish or
crayfish that ventured within reach might easily be captured. From
the beginning of their captivity the hellbenders were fed on raw liver,
chopped into pieces as large as the end of a man's thumb. During the
first few weeks they ate very little and were fed about once a week, but

VOL. LXII. — 34.

53° POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

towards the last of July their appetites seemed to increase, and they
were fed every two days. They would never eat, as has been said,
while they were watched, but if the liver were left in the tank over
night, most of it would be eaten before morning.

The extreme slowness of their digestion is shown by the fact that
liver eaten seventy hours before, on being disgorged showed very little
change, the pieces being of about the same size and consistency as when
swallowed.

After about the middle of September, the hellbenders refused to
eat during a period of more than two months, though pieces of liver
were put into their tank at intervals. One morning at the end of this
period, on looking into the tank, something black was seen projecting
from the mouth of one of the largest hellbenders, which on close ex-
amination proved to be the end of the tail of the smallest of the
hellbenders, which had been swallowed head-first. By means of a pair
of forceps the smaller individual was withdrawn from within the
larger, and both immediately swam away, none the worse apparently
for their remarkable experience. The smaller hellbender was a little
more than half as long as the one by which it was swallowed. In spite
of this apparent return of appetite, the hellbenders ate but little of the
fresh supply of liver that was immediately given them.

The remarkable vitality of the hellbender is well known by those
who have had any opportunity of studying the living animal. Mr.
Townsend in the article mentioned above says: "They are remarkably
tenacious of life. I carried my specimens six miles in a bag behind
me on horseback, under a blazing hot sun, and kept them five weeks
in a tub of water without a morsel to eat, and when I came to put them
in alcohol they seemed almost as fresh as ever. ' '

I had several illustrations of their tenacity of life. One of the first
specimens I obtained, a large one, more than 50 cm. in length, escaped
from the tank into which it had been placed and hid itself under a lot
of lumber and rubbish that was piled near by. After a long search
it was given up for lost, but one morning, just a week later, on going
into the cellar where the tank was kept, there lay the escaped hellbender,
dry and dusty but as well as ever, and the same animal is living at the
present time. Some months later, while they were living in a tank of
running water in the back yard of a city house, another hellbender
escaped and could not be found. Exactly three weeks later it was
found lying on the pavement outside of the yard. It was still living,
though extremely thin and weak, but it died a few hours after being
put back into the tank, possibly because it was too weak to swim to the
surface for air. During the three weeks it was lost it changed color
very decidedly, becoming a reddish-brown, with the dark spots showing
in sharp contrast. During the latter part of June sixteen hellbenders,

HABITS OF THE GIANT SALAMANDER. 531

nearly all of large size, were put into a wooden box (12 in.X 9 in.X 6
in. in size) in which numerous small holes had been bored and were
taken from western Pennsylvania to Baltimore, Maryland. Although
confined in such small space for a continuous period of nineteen
hours, they reached the end of their journey in perfect condition. On
another occasion fifteen of these same animals were put into the same
box and taken by rail to a distant city; on this occasion they were in
the box continuously for twenty-five hours, and one individual died on
the journey, apparently suffocated by the mass of disgorged liver that
filled its mouth. I had purposely refrained from feeding them for
several days previous to the journey, but their fast had not been suffi-
ciently long and the undigested liver was all disgorged, apparently
causing, as has been said, the death of one individual.

Although possessed of such tenacity of life their recovery from
wounds is apparently slow, a wound in the head of one large specimen
remaining raw and open for several months. Possibly in its natural
environment recovery would have been more rapid.

My chief aim, as I have said, in working with Cryptobranchus, being
to obtain embryological material, I enquired of every fisherman and
countryman I met, and of many other people as well, concerning the
breeding habits of this little-studied animal. The only facts of any
sort that I could learn were obtained from Mr. C. H. Townsend, whom
I shall again quote. He says in the article mentioned above : ' ' Dur-
ing their confinement in the tub two of the females deposited a large
amount of spawn. This spawn was something similar to frog spawn
in its general appearance, but the mass had not the dark colors of the
latter. The ova were exuded in strings and were much farther apart
than frog eggs. They were of a yellow color, while the glutinous mass
which connected them had a grayish appearance." This deposition
of spawn, he says, took place in August. Had I had this information
earlier in the season it would have saved me many fruitless attempts
to capture the hellbenders, and possibly my efforts to obtain their eggs
might have been successful. As it was I did not get a single egg, the
animals refusing to spawn in captivity, though they were kept in a large
tank of running water under conditions as near like their natural
habitat as I could make them.

Ovaries examined during the first two months showed a gradual
development, but those examined during the early part of September
showed evident signs of degeneration. All of the individuals killed,
except one or two, were females. It would seem that hellbenders, like
some other amphibia, will not spawn in captivity if removed from their
natural environment too long before their natural breeding season.*

* The author has in preparation a paper on the anatomy and histology of
Cryptobranchus, which lie hopes to have ready for publication in a few months.

532 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE CAENEGIE INSTITUTION AND THE NATIONAL

TJNIVEBSITY.

By Professor JAMES HOWARD GORE,

COLUMBIAN UNIVERSITY.

THE recent gift of Mr. Carnegie for the founding 'in the city of
Washington, in the spirit of Washington, an institution which,
with the cooperation of institutions now or hereafter established, there
or elsewhere, shall, in the broadest and most liberal manner, encourage
investigation, research and discovery, encourage the application of
knowledge to the improvement of mankind; provide such buildings,
laboratories, books and apparatus as may be needed, and afford instruc-
tion of an advanced character to students whenever and wherever
found, inside or outside of schools, properly qualified to profit thereby'
has awakened unprecedented interest in the educational world.

There has been no lack of persons ready to criticize the purpose of
the institution and the methods by which the avowed purpose is to be
carried out. And this criticism has not always been favorable.

That it should be located in Washington, is acceptable to all; that
the 'spirit of Washington' should be observed in formulating the lines
of activity meets with universal approval. But there are many who
feel competent to expound the 'spirit of Washington' and stand ready
to measure the new institution by the standard derived from their
interpretation of this spirit.

Those who have dreamed of a national university, who have looked
upon education as a function of the general government and saw in
such a university the culmination of a general educational system —
ignoring the anomalous condition of state supervision of the schools
up to the state university and in some instances only including the
state university, with a higher institution over and above all — such
persons declared that the directing forces of the Carnegie Institution
have not caught the 'spirit of Washington.'

The workers for a national university have appealed to our patri-
otic affection for Washington by quoting from his will these words :

I proceed after this recital, for the more correct understanding of the case,
to declare; that, as it has always been a source of serious regret with me, to
see the youth of these United States sent to foreign countries for the purpose
of an education, often before their minds are formed, or they had imbibed any
adequate ideas of the happiness of their own; contracting too frequently, not
only habits of dissipation and extravagance, but principles unfriendly to re-

THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION. 533

publican government, and to the true and genuine liberties of mankind, which
thereafter are rarely overcome ; for these reasons it has been my ardent wish
to see a plan devised on a liberal scale, which would have a tendency to spread
systematic ideas through all parts of this rising empire, thereby to do away
local attachments and State prejudices, as far as the nature of things would,
or indeed ought to admit, from our national councils. Looking anxiously for-
ward to the accomplishment of so desirable an object as this is (in my estima-
tion), my mind has not been able to contemplate any plan more likely to effect
the measure, than the establishment of a University in a central part of the
United States, to which the youths of fortune and talents from all parts thereof
may be sent for the completion of their education, in all the branches of polite
literature, in arts and science in acquiring knowledge in the principles of poli-
tics and good government, and as a matter of infinite importance in my judg-
ment, by associating with each other and forming friendships in juvenile years,
be enabled to free themselves in a proper degree from those local prejudices and
habitual jealousies which have just been mentioned, and which, when carried
to excess, are never-failing sources of disquietude to the public mind, and preg-
nant of mischievous consequences to this country. Under these impressions so
fully dilated,

Item. — I give and bequeath in perpetuity, the fifty shares which I hold in
the Potomac Company (under the aforesaid acts of the Legislature of Virginia)
towards the endowment of a University, to be established within the limits of
the District of Columbia, under the auspices of the general government, if that
government should incline to extend a fostering hand towards it.

(Signed July 9, 1790.)

An analysis of this will shows that its author advocated the break-
ing down of local attachments and prejudices by stimulating a love
for the nation and bringing together youths from all sections; that he
wished to keep the young men in this country instead of encouraging
them to go abroad — two propositions that are somewhat antagonistic,
since the one seeks to broaden students by eliminating state lines, the
other to keep them narrow by erecting national barriers. Further-
more, this eradicating of 'habitual jealousies' was to be accomplished
by 'the establishment of a University in a central part of the United
States,' and it will be noticed that later on, by implication, he defines
this central part to be 'within the limits of the District of Columbia.'
It therefore seems that the correct standpoint from which to appreciate
the 'spirit of Washington' is the date when the 'District of Columbia'
was the 'central part of the United States,' and the welfare of the
nation depended upon isolation and intellectual training by domestic
talent rather than foreign culture. At this date, what could have
been Washington's ideal of a university course of study? Could
it have been far beyond the curricula of the colleges then in existence ?
An examination of the courses of study at that time available would
determine what a national university should offer unless it be asserted
that this spirit, so frequently referred to, could grow with the country
while the arguments for intellectual unification inwardly and insu-
larity outwardly should continue in force.

534

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

At the date when this will was signed, July 9, 1790, the following
colleges were in operation in the United States:

Harvard (1636).

Yale (1701).

College of William and Mary (1692).

University of Pennsylvania (1749).

Columbia (1754).

Princeton (1746).

Brown University (1764).

Dartmouth (1769).

Rutgers (1770).

Hampden- Sidney ( 1776) .

Washington and Lee (1782).

Washington University (1782).

Dickinson (1783).

St. Johns (1784).

Nashville (1785).

Georgetown (1789).

University of North Carolina (1789).

In Yale College we find the following courses offered for the session
of 1702 :

(1) Latin, five or six orations of Cicero; five or six books of Virgil; talk-
ing college Latin; (2) Greek, reading a portion of the New Testament; (3)
Hebrew, Psalter; (4) Some instruction in mathematics and surveying; (5)
Physics (Pierson) ; (6) Logic (Ramus).

In Dartmouth College, for the session of 1811, the following courses
were offered:

Freshmen — Latin and Greek classics; arithmetic; English grammar;
rhetoric.

Sophomore — Latin and Greek classics; logic; geography; arithmetic;
geometry; trigonometry; algebra; conic sections; surveying; belles-lettres;
criticism.

Junior — Latin and Greek classics ; geometry ; natural and moral philosophy ;
astronomy.

Senior — Metaphysics; theology; natural and political law.

The following courses were offered at Harvard for the session of
1825:

Freshmen — Livy, five books; plane geometry; Graeca Majora; Horace,
algebra; English grammar.

Sophomore — Solid geometry; English history; Cicero; analytic geometry;
rhetoric.

Junior — Logic; moral philosophy; chemistry; Tacitus; Homer; calculus;
mechanics ; electricity.

Senior — Intellectual philosophy; astronomy; Butler's analogy; political
economy; chemistry; natural philosophy.

By comparing even the latest and most advanced of these courses
of study, one will see that the best high schools of the present day
are nearly the equivalent of the institutions from which Washington
could have drawn his ideals, and that a university that now begins
where the best colleges of his time left off, would surely be the equal
of all that he could have hoped to see in his national university. Such
institutions we now have in every state and in almost every city.

During the early years of our national existence it might have
been possible to bring into one institution the greater part of the

THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION.

535

young men desiring higher training by offering superior courses of
study, but later, when college graduates began sending their sons, the
alma mater was the first choice and was the college finally selected
unless the opportunities were far greater at some other institution or
else for economic reasons a near-by or home college was chosen. Now,
when great efforts are put forth by the authorities of a university
to keep pace with its foremost rival, this 'going away to college' is
very great as may be seen in the accompanying table.

•6

09

>

S3

w

University of
Pennsylvania.

o

.- M

m as
fi o
o> —
>S3

•3°
p

2
4
6
4
2

oj

IS

a

O

o

Totals.

74

205
46
47
33

3

3

10

27

7

82

5

205

27
25

8
5

83
5
9

167

15

Connecticut students at

425
162

Washington students at

83
76

The small number of Boston students who do not attend Harvard
suggests the fact that there is in this city a preponderance of Harvard
alumni, and the large number of students from New York at Harvard
and Yale illustrates a similar condition, as does also the small number
of Boston, New York, Connecticut and Philadelphia students at Chi-
cago, though in this last instance distance doubtless exerts some in-
fluence.

It is evident that in the manifold centers of instruction with stu-
dents from practically all the states, the process of 'freeing themselves
from local prejudices and jealousies' is more effectual than if there
were congregated at one place numbers so great that state associations
would be formed for social reasons.

In Germany the migration of students is encouraged, and in this
country the Association of American Universities is endeavoring to
formulate a plan by which students may pass from one institution to
another, receive credit for work wherever done and return for his de-
gree to the university at which he matriculated.

In 1790 state capitals were as far apart in time as national capitals
are to-day, and the prejudices and jealousies that now differentiate
people of different nationalities are no greater than those that in
Washington's time separated the citizens of the various states of the
Union. And though the nations of the world will never be brought
under a single government, the desirability of removing national
prejudices is as great now as was a century ago the elimination of
state jealousies. The logical conclusion therefore would be that the

536 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

'spirit of Washington/ moved forward a hundred years, would call
for an international or world university.

Suppose Mr. Carnegie had responded to the invitation to found a
national university and had given ten million dollars for that purpose,
in what respect could it have been greater than the institutions now
in existence?

The assets of a university are : ( 1 ) the endowment and educational
plant per se, (2) the faculty, (3) the felicity of its situation.

The entire Carnegie bequest would be exhausted before Harvard
or Columbia could be reached, and the University of Pennsylvania
would be barely passed. It is thus apparent that even when supple-
mented by the opportunities for study which Washington affords, the
advantages in a material way would not exceed existing institutions
by an amount sufficient to overcome sentimental or other reasons that
attract students elsewhere.

A superior faculty can be secured, in general, only by offering sal-
aries in excess of those now paid, and if the new faculty is to be
greater in point of numbers and superior in attainments to all other
faculties, the income on the entire amount given would not suffice to
meet this charge alone.

Again, such men could be found, in general, only in existing
institutions, unless the risky experiment of taking untried persons
should be followed, and the withdrawal of each superior man from a
university would weaken it or the institution that was called upon to
fill the vacancy thus created.

Washington unquestionably possesses material educational advan-
tages, but the institutions already located there are living up to them
at least in as complete a degree as could be reached by a new institu-
tion, unless it should become merely a competitor. To be more than
a rival, it would require an endowment sufficiently great to procure an
equipment and faculty surpassing those now in existence.

The advocates of a national university declare that it should not
be a rival to existing institutions, and Mr. Carnegie asserts that the
aim of his institution is 'To increase the efficiency of the universities
and other institutions of learning throughout the country, by utiliz-
ing and adding to their existing facilities, and by aiding teachers in
the various institutions for experimental and other work, in these in-
stitutions as far as may be advisable. ' The purpose of one is to destroy
existing institutions — the intention of the other is to build them up.

Assuming that the plan of operation of the Carnegie Institution to
be along the lines announced in the daily press, it is easy to see that
the work of no institution will be duplicated but supplemented, that
students will be sent to the universities rather than drawn from them,

THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION. 537

;md that the ablest professors will be left under conditions where they
can do the greatest good to the greatest number.

If a great specialist were called from his present position to Wash-
ington to conduct work more advanced than he now performs, the
number of persons annually benefited by his instruction would be less-
ened. Suppose he should remain where he is, and these advanced
workers be sent to him, he would be able to carry on the greater
part, if not all, of his regular work and direct these special investigators
as well. No institution would be crippled by the loss of its strongest
men, but on the contrary it would be strengthened by the coming of
exceptional students.

The Carnegie Institution might also reach a class that could not be
benefited by a national university intended for graduate students only,
for it could assist and encourage the exceptional man even if, through
force of circumstances, he had been unable to obtain a degree. This
surely is in the spirit of the man who became the commander in chief
of an army without having passed through a military academy.

The fear that the humanities will be neglected in this institution is
not well founded. For, though emphasis has been laid upon the oppor-
tunities Washington affords for scientific investigation, there is no
implication that the sciences alone will receive attention. The ad-
vanced student in linguistics or philosophy needs direction and access
to libraries and museums, and since it is impossible to bring into one
place the ablest directors and the richest collections of books and orig-
inal material, the very best that can be done is to send the investigator
to the expert for direction and leave him free to pass from one city to
another while searching the sources from which his knowledge must
be drawn. Such workers are beyond the need of recitation drill and
daily contact with an instructor, and it is very sure that while one
guide might suffice, there would be no one locality where his work
could be carried on to the best advantage.

It is likely that the Carnegie Institution will concern itself first of
all in obtaining authentic and complete information regarding the
great specialists of the world, the extent and scope of all libraries,
museums, workshops, laboratories and special facilities for advanced
work of every sort and character. It has secured groups of ad-
visers in the various branches of art, science and philosophy, and
thus doubly equipped, is able to direct intelligently the student where
to go and how to proceed in order to complete the task which he had
undertaken. If, in addition to this advice, the institution should find
it possible to give financial aid to the worthy investigator the fondest
hope of Washington will be more than reached and a grander spirit
than his will become a thing of life.

538 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

BIOGKAPHY m THE SCHOOLS.

By Professor DAVID E. MAJOR and T. H. HAINES,

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY.

HP1IE study described in the following pages was suggested by Pro-
-*- fessor E. Eay Lankester's tribute to Huxley which, concludes,
'Ever since I was a little boy he (Huxley) has been my ideal and
hero.'* An instance of a scientist in the role of 'ideal and hero' to the
boyish imagination is rare enough to attract attention. How rare it is,
and how low a rank the scientist takes in the scale of heroes, because
of our faulty methods of education, will be indicated roughly by the
figures which follow.

The study was planned originally to find out in a general way
the relative degree of familiarity which a given number of students (high
school and university) have with the names of military leaders, on the
one hand, and the names of great scientists, on the other. Or rather,
the aim was to get a quantitative statement of the degree to which
familiarity with the names of the world's great military leaders sur-
passes familiarity with the names of its great scientists. For it is an
every-day observation that the names of the former are on everybody's
lips and that those of the latter class of men are not widely known.

When the tests reported here were actually given, the original plan,
which included only the two classes just named, was extended so as
to include eight other categories giving ten in all, as follows :

1. English and American poets. 7. Occupations and industries funda-

2. Statesmen. mental to modern life.

3. Inventors. 8. Novelists.

4. Scientists. 9. Artists, including painters, sculp-

5. Orators. tors and musicians.

6. Military leaders. 10. Greek and Roman writers.

It will be noticed that with the exception of the first and last
groups there is no limitation as to time or place.

The method followed was to ask the students to begin at a given
signal, e. g., the tap of a pencil, and write in three minutes the names
of all the English and American poets they could recall. At the end
of the first three minutes the second group, statesmen, was given, and
so on to the end of the list. In all, six hundred and fifty high school
and university students were tested on the ten classes named above.

Table I. gives the number of students belonging to each high school
and university class tested, and the average number of each of the ten

L. Huxley, ' Life and Letters of Thomas Huxley,' II., p. 447.

BIOGRAPHY IN THE SCHOOLS.

539

groups named by each class. For example, 216 pupils in the first
year of high school were tested. The average number of poets named
by the 216 pupils was 5.5 ; statesmen, 4.1, etc.

Tables II. and III. give the same items for boys and girls separately.
It will be noticed that the university students tested belonged, in the
main, to the third and fourth years.

Table I.
Average Number Named by Both Boys and Gtrls.

Year.
Number of Students

1. English and American poets

2. Statesmen

3. Inventors

4. Scientists

5. Orators

6. Military leaders

7. Occupations

8. Novelists

9. Artists

10. Greek and Roman writers. .

High School.

1

216

5.5

4.1

3.4

0.15

1.9

5.7

4.7

1.7

1.5

1.2

2
148
7.0
4.7
3.6
0.32
2.6
6.5
4.7
2.0
2.5
2.7

3

94
7.2
5.5
3.8
0.66
3.4
7.0
6.7
3.0
3.3
3.5

4
54
7.4
5.7
3.4
0.66
3.5
6.0
7.5
3.5
2.7
3.0

University.

2

26

3

88

13.2

11.0

5.9

4.1

6.8

10.6

8.9

7.2

6.9

10.2

4

24

14.8

12.5

7.3

5.9

7.1

11.2

9.7

8.1

8.1

9.4

Table II.
Average Number Named by Boys.

Year.
Number of Boys.

1. English and American poets

2. Statesmen

3. Inventors

4. Scientists

5. Orators

6. Military leaders

7. Occupations

8. Novelists

9. Artists

10. Greek and Roman writers. .

]

Sigh School

University.

1

2

3

4

1

2

3

4

102

70

46

28

26

41

14

5.2

7.1

6.6

7.2

12.6

13.7

14.2

4.5

6.0

5.7

5.8

12.1

13.0

13.6

3.7

4.1

4.8

4.2

6.9

7.9

8.6

0.5

0.3

0.8

1.0

5.3

5.4

6.5

2.3

3.2

3.7

4.0

8.5

9.1

8.1

6.7

7.5

7.7

6.1

11.6

13.1

12.3

5.3

5.4

7.2

8.0

9.5

10.0

9.9

1.4

2.0

2.7

2.9

6.0

7.6

7.8

0.9

2.5

2.5

2.1

5.1

6.5

6.5

1.1

3.4

3.3

2.9

7.3

10.5

9.7

Table III.
Average Number Named by Girls.

Year.

Number of Girls.

1. English and American poets

2. Statesmen

3. Inventors

4. Scientists

5. Orators

6. Military leaders

7. Occupations

8. Novelists

9. Artists

10. Greek and Roman writers. .

J

High School.

University.

1

2

3

4

1

2

3

4

114

78

48

26

47

10

5.8

7.0

7.8

7.6

12.8

15.7

3.7

3.5

5.4

5.6

9.2

10.7

3.3

3.1

2.8

2.6

4.1

5.4

0.2

0.3

0.5

0.2

3.0

4.5

1.6

2.1

3.1

2.9

4.9

5.5

4.8

5.7

6.3

5.6

8.5

9.4

4.1

4.1

6.1

7.3

8.0

9.5

1.9

2.0

3.2

4.1

6.9

8.7

2.0

2.5

4.1

3.4

7.2

10.5

1.2

2.1

3.6

3.2

9.9

9.0

54°

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

It is not the intention to attempt an exhaustive treatment of the
foregoing tables. They tell their own story, and the reader will draw
his own conclusions on points which may happen to interest him.
A few conclusions, however, of pedagogical and popular interest will
be stated briefly.

Passing at once to a consideration of the tables there appears, as one
naturally would expect, an increasing familiarity with the names in
all the groups as we go from the first year in the high school to the
senior year in the university. The largest percentages of gain are
shown in the increased familiarity with the names of scientists, ancient
classical writers and artists. The smallest gain is shown in the cases
of military leaders and inventors. That is, the boy or girl in passing
from the first year in the high school to the last year in the university
will learn relatively vastly more names of scientists, ancient classical
writers, and artists than he will of military men and inventors. As
a university senior he will know forty times as many scientists' names
as he knew as a first-year high school pupil; he will know eight times
as many artists' names, and twice as many military names.

Table IV.

a

1

2
3

4
5
6

7

8

9

10

High School.

Poets

Military leaders

Occupations

Statesmen

Inventors

Orators

Greek and Roman writers

Novelists

Artists

Scientists

0> 4J

.CO

as

M

OC5

a

fc-

eg

• 03

tf

< O

6.5

1

6.2

2

5.3

3

4.7

4

3.6

5

2.6

6

2.29

7

2.28

8

2.27

9

0.35

10

University.

Poets

Statesmen

Military leaders

Greek and Roman writers

Occupations

Novelists

Artists

Orators

Inventors

Scientists

P

13.5

11.3

10.7

10.0

9.0

7.3

7.0

6.8

6.2

4.4

If one examines Table IV. one finds that in the high school in order
of familiarity, the names of English and American poets rank first,
with military leaders as a close second. Statesmen stand third, in-
ventors fourth, orators fifth, Greek and Roman writers sixth, novelists
seventh, artists eighth, scientists tenth. It should be observed that the
ranks of novelists, artists and Greek and Roman writers are nearly the
same.

When we pass to the junior and senior years of the university, we
find this order considerably changed. Poets rank first, statesmen
second, military leaders third, Greek and Roman writers fourth, occu-
pations fifth, novelists sixth, artists seventh, orators eighth, inventors
ninth and scientists tenth.

BIOGRAPHY IN THE SCHOOLS. 541

If the two sets of figures are compared, it is found that the uni-
versity students are relatively — as well as absolutely — more familiar
than the high school pupils with the names of statesmen, novelists,
artists and ancient classical writers. They are relatively, though not
absolutely, less familiar with the names of inventors, orators and
military leaders.

It appears further that the three highest groups, omitting occupa-
tions, for both high school and university students are poets, states-
men and military men, and that scientists are least known by both
classes of students. This is explained partly by the fact that students
hear more about men in the first named classes and partly by the
further fact that the careers of statesmen, orators and military leaders
appeal strongly to the imagination of the young. The great deeds
of men belonging to these groups are concrete, and have form, color
and tone, easily grasped by young minds. The achievements of the
man of science have few of these characteristics, and so people generally,
young and old alike, think of the scientist much as Heine said, in sub-
stance, of Kant, ' He was a philosopher, and so has no biography. '

The figures probably will have no surprises for those who have
thought about the matter. But it is of interest to dwell briefly on
their bearing upon certain questions which are of perennial interest
to educators, and to students of the broader aspects of social tendencies.
Any one who has been through our public schools will remember a
number of studies which are rich in biographical material, hero worship,
and suggestions as to personal ideals, while others are entirely devoid
of them. It is hoped that this study will throw some light upon the
questions of what kinds of personal ideals are fostered by the school,
and what kinds of school work receive most emphasis.

To the writers the results indicate pretty clearly where modern edu-
cation, in this country at least, lays greatest stress, on what things it
drills, wherein are the main lines of interest and study, and, possibly,
what sort of ideals are held up to school children. The far-reaching
social and ethical significance of these influences needs only to be sug-
gested in this connection. Boys and girls dream of becoming like
persons whose lives and achievements they are led to admire. The
boy reads of the military man's victories and longs to follow in his
footsteps. He hears of the statesman's laurels won in legislative halls,
or on the stump, and so pictures himself likewise the admired of all
admirers. It is not an exaggeration to say that nine of every ten of the
boys who graduate from our high schools count it a greater thing to be
a member of the state legislature, or to be captain of the local militia,
than to be a Pasteur, Virchow, Huxley, Wagner or Phidias.

542 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Of course the ability to run off a long list of names of scientists,
or of artists is not necessarily accompanied by a knowledge of science,
on the one hand, or by a knowledge of art, on the other. But it is
evidence, even though slight, of interest in the achievements of the
scientists and artists and probably some degree of respect, even admira-
tion, for the great names in those two fields. On the other hand, it is
safe to say that pupils will not become zealous in the study of either
science or art without, at the same time, becoming deeply interested
in the heroes in those subjects. It is likely, for example, that a
person who knows something of music and is interested in it will be
familiar with a number of names of the world 's great musicians. And
it is also highly probable that if one does not know these great names
in music one has little knowledge of, or interest in, that art. In a
word, the presumption is strong that if a pupil is interested in a given
field of activity he will also know the great names in that field. It is
also true that one of the surest and quickest ways to get pupils inter-
tested in a given line of study is to arouse their interest in the lives
of persons distinguished in that line. President Stanley Hall puts the
matter admirably in his article on ' Criticisms of High School Physics. '*
What Dr. Hall says with reference to physics, holds true of the other
sciences. "Boys in their teens," he writes, "have a veritable passion
for the stories of great men, and the heroology of physics, which, if
rightly applied, might generate a momentum of interest that would
even take them through the course as laid out, should find a place. . . .
Physics has its saints and martyrs and devotees, its dramatic incidents
and epochs, its struggles with superstition, its glorious triumphs, and
a judicious seasoning perhaps of the whole course with a few references
and reports by choice with material from this field would, I think, do
much." The practical point in mind is — teachers of science should
do more in the way of acquainting pupils with the lives of scientists,
first from a sense of justice to the memory of those who have wrought
so vastly for the good of mankind, and for the further purpose of in-
spiring young persons to take up science as a life work.

The bearing of our figures upon the fact of the general neglect of
art in the public schools of America is worth noticing briefly. Presi-
dent Butler of Columbia University defines education as a gradual ad-
justment to the spiritual possessions or inheritances of the race, these
inheritances being literary, scientific, esthetic, institutional and relig-
ious. With reference to the importance of the esthetic inheritance and
its place in a well-rounded education he says, "We should no longer
think of applying the word cultivated to a man or woman who had no
esthetic sense, no feeling for the beautiful, no appreciation of the sub-

Pedagogieal Seminary, IX., p. 194.

BIOGRAPHY IN THE SCHOOLS. 543

lime, because we should be justified in saying, on psychological grounds,
that that nature was deficient and defective. This great aspect of
civilization ... is a necessary factor in adjusting ourselves to the full
richness of human conquest and human acquisition ... we should see
to it that the esthetic inheritance is placed side by side with the scien-
tific and the literary in the education of the human child."* Among
the humanizing elements of education as it should be organized esthetic
insight and appreciation rank high. Yet our figures bear testimony
to what every one knows without tables of statistics, that art is neglected
in the education of the American youth so far as the schools are con-
cerned. The fact that high school seniors who can name on an aver-
age 5.7 statesmen know only 2.7 painters, sculptors and musicians
in all the world's history is too significant to require comment. Is
it a fair showing? Does it not indicate an over emphasis of certain
lines of school work to the neglect of others, and to the permanent
injury of pupils? Does it not indicate an overdoing of the literary
side? Are we not too much enslaved to letters and books even in
our humanizing ? One may even ask, has the poet any just claim to so
much more of the pupil's time and interest, as indicated by the figures,
than the artist who bodies forth his ideals on canvas or in stone?

Finally a word regarding a by-product of the investigation. An
examination of the individual papers brings home to one anew that
much even of the university student's knowledge is a vague, jumbled
patch-work of shadows and blurs. A few instances from a vast number
will illustrate the point. We are told that Victor Hugo was a military
leader ; that Aristotle and Virgil were great orators ; that Isosceles was
a great orator; that Emerson and Bryant and Lowell were English
poets, and Bismarck an English statesman; that Komeo was a Eoman
writer; that Shakespeare was a Latin author and wrote Julius Caesar;
that Macaulay was a Eoman writer and wrote Lays of Ancient Eome.
Confusion and haziness are the banes of the university student as they
are of all grades of learners. We are in constant danger of over esti-
mating the number of clear-cut live facts or principles in the possession
of any pupil or student. The question naturally arises, is it not pos-
sible that modern education with its wealth of material which it pours
forth on students with such lavish hands does not smother and confuse
rather than enliven and illumine ?

* Butler, ' The Meaning of Education,' Ch. I.

544 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

A VISIT TO THE QUARRY-CAVES OF JERUSALEM.

BY CHARLES A. WHITE,

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.

nnilE hill-country of Judea consists chiefly of one great anticlinal
-■- fold of a thick series of Upper Cretaceous strata, mostly lime-
stones, the axis of the fold having a nearly due north and south trend.
This series rises from beneath the slightly elevated and comparatively
narrow Tertiary plain which borders the Mediterranean Sea, is broken
by erosion into rugged hills and deep ravines, reaches, even in its pres-
ent condition of great denudation, an elevation of about 2,500 feet,
and then dips eastward. The angle of dip being greater upon the
eastern than upon the western side of the axis, the whole series of
strata is carried beneath the surface of the Dead Sea, which is only
ten or twelve miles east of the axis in a straight line and more than
1,200 feet below ocean level. East of the western shore of the Dead
Sea the geological structure is complicated by faults, but that matter
need not be discussed. Jerusalem is situated upon the east side of,
but very near to, the axis, and because of the presence of the great
depression in the land surface called the 'Ghor' one gets good views
from the hilltops that rise around the city upon and near the axis.
Within range of distinct vision are the Wilderness of Judea, the Hills
of Edom, and especially the Mountains of Moab with the Dead Sea
and the lower end of the Jordan valley lying near their base. The great
series of strata thus folded, consisting, as it does, largely of compact
limestone, has furnished only a scanty, although fertile, soil by the
natural process of disintegration, and that memorable land is, therefore,
preeminently a region of stony ground.

The lithological character of those strata is favorable for the pro-
duction of natural caves, and many such exist there as is well known
from references to them in both sacred and profane history. All the
drainage lines of the region, however, being short and most of them
declivitous, none of those caves is of large size compared with the
great caverns of other regions. Many of those small Judean caves have
been artificially enlarged and adapted to use as store-houses, stables,
tombs and even as human dwellings. Numerous rock excavations
which are wholly artificial have also been made from time immemorial
and for various purposes, but I shall refer only to those which have
resulted from the quarrying of stone for building purposes, and

THE QUARRY-CAVES OF JERUSALEM. 545

especially mention only those which now exist at Jerusalem, and which
are among the most important of their kind.

Much of the limestone of the Judean fold is suitable for common
masonry and it is everywhere so used, hut one stratum which comes
to the surface at Jerusalem is especially valuable. Its superior
quality seems to be limited to the vicinity of that ancient city, for that
quality has not been found in the equivalent stratum of the series else-
where. It is a light gray limestone sometimes, and, not improperly,
called marble, but locally it is known as Malake or the Koyal stone.
It is of good appearance, great durability and of uniform texture, and
is worked with comparative ease. The place of surface outcrop of
this stratum within the city walls is now covered with compactly built
houses, but all the good stone was doubtless removed from there long
before the present city and its walls were built and its place filled with
the accumulated debris of centuries. The first surface quarries of this
fine stone must have been very ancient, and the condition of the ground
surface just north of the present north wall of the city shows that they
were extensive. But even in ancient times, the exposures at the surface
of this valuable stone were inadequate to the demand, and the quarries
were extended underground, following the dip of the strata, which
is there about ten degrees. In this way the quarry caves were formed,
the firm stratum above the Malake making a good roof and the equally
firm one beneath making a good floor. The so-called Grotto of Jere-
miah, just north of the present north wall of the city, is one of those
quarry caves. It is accessible to travelers for an entrance fee and
attracts considerable attention because tradition says the 'Lamenta-
tions' were written there. But the most extensive cave of this kind
exists beneath the Mohammedan quarter, or northeastern part of the
city itself, and is not accessible except by official permission. From
its location and historical references to it, I have no doubt that it was
this cave which furnished at least the greater part of the fine stone for
Solomon's temple and other great buildings of ancient Jerusalem. I
do not know by what distinctive name it may have been called in
ancient times, but it is now locally called by a name that signifies ' The
Cotton Grotto.'

Through our American consul, a small party of us got permission
from the Turkish governor of Jerusalem to visit this cave, and he de-
tailed a very courteous officer to accompany us. We passed out of the
city by the north, or Damascus gate, turned eastward and went about
one hundred yards along the trail which encircles the city near the
walls and came to a place opposite the 'Grotto of Jeremiah,' where a
rock escarpment or low cliff forms the base of the city wall. The
entrance to the cave is in the face of this escarpment, and it is so
vol. lxii. — 35.

546 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

inconspicuous that I did not specially notice it when passing the place
on former occasions. Though not originally large, the entrance has
been narrowed by rude masonry and a wooden door placed therein.
Our officer-guide opened the door by means of an ordinary key which he
brought with him, an attendant furnished each of us with a lighted
taper, and we began our march into the darkness.

The artificial character of the cave was at once apparent from the
presence of numerous rude piers of the original stone which were left
by the quarrymen to support the roof and that part of the city which
rests upon it. The floor has the general eastward dip of the strata
and, although not very even, it was nowhere difficult to traverse. The
height of the roof above the floor differs considerably at different
places, probably because of the varying thickness of the fine part of the
Eoyal stratum. In some places it is hardly more than ten feet, but
in others I estimated the height at twenty feet or more. We walked
through the long rude corridors, mostly in a southerly and south-
easterly direction, reaching a distance from the entrance that I esti-
mated to be not less than a quarter of a mile. I made no estimate of
the cubic contents of the cave, but its great size gave me a distinct
impression that it is large enough to have furnished all the fine stone
that was required for the grand buildings of the ancient city and of
its successive rehabilitations.

As we progressed southward from the entrance the west limiting
wall came occasionally into view. It appeared to be quite uneven and
I detected there no conditions of the rock which I thought attributable
to systematic quarrying such as those which I soon afterward observed
in other parts of the cave. For that, and the other reasons already
mentioned, I think all the Malake stone which originally existed on
the west side and extended to the surface in reverse direction of the dip,
was long ago removed and its place supplied with rejected and inferior
stone. When we reached the south and east limiting walls of the cave,
we found them perpendicular and bearing abundant marks made by the
quarrymen. The character of the great excavation and the peculiar
quarry-marks which we found upon its walls left no room for doubt
as to its great antiquity nor of the fact that it was wholly the work of
human hands. What we saw also agreed with numerous well-known
legends and with trustworthy historical references to quarry caves of
this kind. The surfaces, which bear the marks referred to having
never been exposed to the weather nor to extremes of heat and cold,
have remained unchanged, and even those marks which were made
by the cutting tools of the workmen are still plainly visible. Frag-
ments of their burnt-clay lamps and water bottles are also occasionally
found in the scanty debris, which was produced by their peculiar

THE Q UA RR ) -( '. 1 1 rE8 OF JER V SALEM. 5 4 7

methods of quarrying. Dr. Cyrus Adler, of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion, upon the occasion of his visit there, was so fortunate as to discover
a perfect lamp and a damaged water bottle, which he has deposited in
the U. S. National Museum. The little niches cut out of the face of
the rock to receive the lamps are still there, and far within the cave
there is a small spring, the clear water of which now fills the little basin
which was cut in the rocky floor centuries ago to receive it. Although
it is not probable that any stone has been quarried in this cave since
a period at least as remote as the beginning of the Christian era, so
little has time affected the wrought surfaces of the rock since the last
quarrying was done there, one might almost expect to see the old
masons return to their work at any time, to hear at high noon the call
from labor to refreshment and, in the dim light of their tiny lamps,
to see them gather around the spring for their mid-day meal. Per-
haps it was just here that, according to the legend, the grand master
was murdered when he came to inspect the quarry work. The thought
startled me, and I looked around half expecting to see hostile faces
peering at us out of the darkness.

The principal method of quarrying that was practised in this cave
was laborious but effective, and the same method is known to have been
practised in other ancient quarries. It is a hand method, the effect
of which is much like that of one now employed by aid of machinery
in quarrying marble and massive limestones. A perpendicidar face
of the rock was prepared and the outlines of the desired ashlars drawn
upon it. The principal tool used for the shaping and removal of such
stones was a long slender chisel, a little more than an inch wide, which
was struck on end with a hammer or mallet. A narrow groove or slot
was thus cut on all the drawn lines and of sufficient depth for the full
thickness of the ashlar. The latter was then removed by driving
wooden wedges into the slots, the impact of which split the ashlar off
at its back face and allowed it to fall upon the quarry floor. The split
face was usually nearly even, because of the uniform texture of the
stone, but any defect in that part of it would cause it to split unevenly.
We saw one large ashlar lying where it had fallen, 'rejected of the
builders,' because its back face had broken off obliquely.

In most places the quarrying of the Eoyal stratum appears to have
been prosecuted as far as was intended, and the stones were all removed,
but in one place, at least, the work was for same reason left unfinished.
Some of the ashlars were only outlined and some partially cut out, the
great stones still remaining in their original places. Perhaps the
work was interrupted by a strike of the quarrymen and never resumed
because of failure to obtain compliance with their demands. But work-
men had few rights in those days, and that suspension of quarry work

548 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

was more probably due to some deed of violence for, unfortunately,
we now know that this cave has repeatedly been the scene of horrors
that make the heart sick to contemplate. This method of cutting out
ashlars was economical of material and it produced very little debris
in the quarry. The stones were also cut so nearly of the desired shape
that they required little dressing before taking their places in the
building. This method of quarrying also agrees with the scriptural
account of the precision with which the stones of Solomon's temple
were prepared in the quarry.

Although we have now so much evidence of the true nature and
great antiquity of this cave, from and after the destruction of Jerusalem
by Titus it remained unknown for centuries. Its entrance became so
covered with the debris which accumulated in the destruction and re-
building of the city that all knowledge of its position, and even of its ex-
istence, became lost until the year 1852, when its only now known en-
trance was discovered by Dr. J. T. Barclay, an American missionary. Dr.
Barclay gives a brief account of his discovery and exploration in his
book, 'The City of the Great King,' wherein he estimates the length of
the cave at rather more than a quarter of a mile, and its greatest breadth
at less than half that distance. His estimate of its length agrees with
my own, but Dr. Adler, in the Jewish Quarterly Review, for April,
1896, estimates it at about 1,000 feet. Its position is approximately
indicated upon some lately published maps by an outline which shows
a length of only about 500 feet, but this representation is too far from
the truth to deserve consideration. _The distance from the entrance of
the cave in the north wall of the city to the south wall of the same is
barely 3,000 feet, and by my estimate of the length of the cave it
extends considerably more than one third the distance across the city.
I am, therefore, of the opinion that it extends beneath the northwest
corner of the temple area and consequently beneath the governor's
residence, which is closely adjacent.

Sir J. W. Dawson, in his book ' Egypt and Syria ' suggests that there
was formerly a ramp or sloping tramway, leading from the quarry
into the temple area by which stones were taken up to the building site
of the temple. Nothing of that kind, however, has ever been discovered
and the suggestion does not agree with the statements made by Pro-
fessor H. Graetz in his ' History of the Jews. ' Professor Graetz states
that the stones used in the building of the temple were obtained
from underground quarries by men who were compelled to labor there.
He says that ' ' Eighty thousand of these unhappy beings worked in the
stone quarries day and night by the light of lamps. They were under
the direction of a man from Biblos (Giblem), who understood the
art of hewing heavy blocks from rocks and of giving them the necessary

THE QUARRY-CAVES OF JERUSALEM. 549

shape for dove-tailing. Twenty thousand slaves removed the heavy
blocks from the mouth of the quarry and carried them to the building
site."

Hard as was the lot of the workmen in the quarry-caves in times
of so-called peace, it was not comparable in horror with that of the
beseiged inhabitant who resorted to those underground retreats in time
of war. The following paragraph from Josephus's account of what
took place in the quarry-caves of Jerusalem at the time of its seige
and destruction by Titus is frightfully descriptive of those terrible
scenes. "The Eomans slew some of them, some they carried captives
and others they made search for underground, and when they found
where they were they broke up the ground and slew all they met with.
There were also found slain there above two thousand persons, partly
by their own hands and party by one another, but chiefly destroyed by
the famine; but then the ill savor of their bodies was most offensive to
those who lighted upon them, insomuch that some were obliged to get
away immediately, while others were so greedy of gain that they would
go in among the dead bodies that lay on heaps and tread upon them,
for a great deal of treasure was found in these caverns and the hope of
gain made every way of getting it to be esteemed lawful. ' '

As the centuries have passed away decay has so completely done its
work there upon all organic matter that not even a bone of all that
multitude of the dead has been found with the floor-dust of the cave.
Even the air is not now oppressive, although there is apparently no
other aperture or entrance than the one by which we entered. I also
saw no appearance of fouling of the cave by seepage from the city
water-pools nor from the surface drainage of the unsanitary streets and
alleys overhead. As we turned to retrace our steps all was so peace-
ful and untainted it was difficult to realize that man's inhumanity to
man was ever so terribly demonstrated there as credible historians have
compelled us to believe.

Because of the great difference between the methods of modern
and ancient warfare, the scenes which accompanied the various sieges
and captures which Jerusalem has suffered can never be repeated;
but if a hostile army should ever again camp before the city with
intent to destroy it, an effort would doubtless be made to place a few
tons of dynamite at the farther end of that anciently constructed mine.
In the twinkling of an eye a more complete destruction would follow
than that which was inflicted by Titus in his six months of siege and
spoliation. Indeed, considering the present possibility of smuggling
high explosives into that mine, and the wide prevalence of wanton
anarchism, it would be prudent to guard it with special care.

55° POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE NILE DAMS AND EESEEVOIE.*

BY SIR BENJAMIN BAKER, F.R.S.,
PAST PRESIDENT INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.

THE Nile Keservoir at Aswan will contain over 1,000 million tons
of water. This statement will probably convey little meaning
to most people; and in truth the quantity may be made to appear either
small or large at will by a judicious selection of illustrations. Thus
the absolute insignificance to Egypt of 1,000 million tons of water in
a reservoir, as compared with a reasonable rainfall, will be apparent
at once when it is considered that the annual rainfall on the area in-
cluded within the four-mile cab radius from Charing Cross is about 100
million tons, and that the rainfall on London and its suburbs within a
thirteen-mile radius would, therefore, about suffice to fill the Nile
Eeservoir. On the other hand, we may, by choosing other illustrations,
restore the Nile Eeservoir to the dignity of its just position of one of
the greatest engineering works of the clay. Thus the question of the
water supply of London, and its prospective population of 11 14
millions, has been prominently before the public for some years; and
many will remember what was termed the colossal project of our mem-
ber, Sir Alexander Binnie, late Engineeer of the London County Coun-
cil, for constructing reservoirs in every reasonably available valley in
Wales, to store up water for London, and to supply compensation
water to the Welsh rivers affected thereby. Well, the united contents
of the whole of those reservoirs would be less than half that of the
great Nile Eeservoir. Again, the Nile Eeservoir would hold more than
enough water for one year's full domestic supply to every city, town
and village in the United Kingdom with its 42 million inhabitants.
But possibly the best way of giving an idea of the magnitude of the
work, and its utility to cultivation in a thirsty land, is by consider-
ing the volume of the water issuing from the reservoir during the three
or four summer months, when scarcity of supply prevails in the river
?nd the needs of the cultivators are greatest. At that time the flow
from the reservoir will be equivalent to a river double the size of the
Thames in mean annual flood condition. It will be recognized at once
that a good many buckets would have to be set at work to bale out a
river like that, and yet the scarcity of water in the Nile itself, and in
the canals, during the months of April, May and June, is such that
even dipping the water out of the channels in buckets has to be con-

* Address given before the Royal Institution of Great Britain.

THE NILE DAMS A XD RESERVOIR.

5Si

trolled by strict regulations. Thus, two years ago, when the Nile
was below the average in summer discharge, it was decreed in Upper
Egypt that the 'lifting machines,' which include the shadoof, or
bucket-and-pole system, and the sakieh, or oxen-driven chain of buckets,
should be worked not more than from five to eleven consecutive days,
and stop the following nine to thirteen days, between the middle of
April and the middle of July; and the order in which the different
districts were to receive a supply was carefully specified, so that, as far
as possible, every crop should get watered once in about three weeks.
When it is remembered that a single watering of an acre of land means,
where shadoofs are concerned, raising by manual power about 400 tons
of water to varying heights up to 25 feet, and that four or five waterings

Fig. 1. The Dam at Aswan, visited by the late Cecil Rhodes and his Party.

are required to raise a summer crop, it will be seen what a vast amount
of human labor is saved throughout the world by the providential cir-
cumstance that in ordinary cases water tumbles down from the clouds,
and has not, as in Egypt, to be dragged up from channels and wells.
Shadoof work, under average conditions, involves one man's labor for
at least one hundred days for each acre of summer crop; so that even
at 6d. per day for labor, the extra cost of cultivation due to the absence
of rain would amount to 50s. per acre.

The great Nile Eeservoir and Dam at Aswan, the Barrage at Asyut,
and various supplementary works in the way of distributing canals and
regulators, are designed with the object of mitigating the evils

552 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

enumerated above, by supplying in summer a larger volume of water
at a higher level in the canals, so that not only can more land be irri-
gated, but that labor in lifting water will be saved. When the Interna-
tional Commission, eight years ago, recommended the construction of
a large reservoir somewhere in the Nile valley, I was desirous of know-
ing what would be the opinion of a real old-fashioned native landowner
on the subject; and was introduced to one whose qualifications were
considered to be of no mean order, as he was a descendant of the
Prophet, very rich, and had been twice warned by the government that
he would probably be hanged if any more bodies of servants he had
quarrelled with were found floating in the Nile. He was a very stout
old man, and, between paroxysms of bronchial coughing, he assured
me that there could be nothing in the project of a Nile reservoir, or it
would have been done at least 4,000 years ago. In contrast with this
I may mention that, a few months ago, the most modern and en-
lightened of all the rulers of Egypt, the present Khedive, when visiting
the dam, said he was proud that the great work was being carried out
during his reign, and that the good services rendered by his British
engineers was evidenced by the London County Council coming to his
Public Works Staff for their chief engineer.

The old system of irrigation, which the descendant of the Prophet
looked back upon with regret, was little more than a high Nile flooding
of different areas of land or basins surrounded by embankments. Less
than a hundred years ago, perennial irrigation was first attempted to
be introduced, by cutting deep canals to convey the water to the lands
when the Nile was at its low summer level. When the Nile rose, these
canals had to be blocked by temporary earthen dams, or the current
would have wrought destruction. As a result, they silted up, and had to
be cleared of many millions of tons of mud each year by enforced labor,
much misery and extortion resulting therefrom. About half a century
ago, the first serious attempt to improve matters was made by the
construction of the celebrated barrage at the apex of the Delta. This
work consists, in effect, of two brick arched viaducts crossing the Eosetta
and Damietta branches of the Nile, having together 132 arches of 16
feet 4 inches span, which were entirely closed by iron sluices during
the summer months, thus heading up the water some 15 feet, and
'throwing it at a high level into the main irrigation canals below Cairo.
The latter are six in number, the largest being the central canal at the
apex of the Delta, which, even in the exceptionally dry time of June,
1900, was carrying a volume of water one-fourth greater than the
Thames in mean flood, whilst the two canals right and left of the two
branches of the river carried together one half more than the Thames,
and the Ismailieh Canal, running down to the Suez Canal, though
starved in supply, was still a river twice the size of the Thames at the
same time of the year. At flood times the discharges of all the canals

THE NILE DAMS AND RESERVOIR. 553

are, of course, enormously increased. It will be recognized at once,
therefore, that, as in the summer months the whole flow of the Nile is
arrested and thrown into the aforesaid canals, the old barrage will
always remain the most important work connected with the irrigation
of Egypt. It was constructed under great difficulties by French engi-
neers, subject to the passing whims of their Oriental chiefs. About
fifteen years elapsed between the commencement of the work and the
closing of all the sluices, and another twenty years before the structure
was sufficiently strengthened by British engineers to fulfil the duties
for which it was originally designed. All the difficulties arose from the
nature of the foundations, as the timber sheet piling wholly failed to
prevent the substructure from being undermined by the head of water
carrying away the fine sand and silt upon which the barrage was built.
At Asyut, cast-iron sheet piling was used, as will hereafter be described.
It is impossible to say what the cost of the old barrage has been from
first to last, but probably nearly ten times that of the recently-com-
pleted Asyut Barrage. Forced labor was largely employed in its con-
struction, and at one time 12,000 soldiers, 3,000 marines, 2,000 laborers,
and 1,000 masons were at work at the old barrage.

In connection with the Nile Reservoir, subsidiary weirs have been
constructed below the old barrage to reduce the stress on that structure.
The system adopted was a novel one, reflecting great credit on Major
Brown, Inspector-General of Irrigation in Lower Egypt. His aim was
to dispense almost entirely with plant and skilled labor; and so, with-
out attempting to dry the bed of the river, he made solid masonry blocks
under water, by grouting rubble dropped by natives into a movable
timber caisson. Both branches of the Nile were thus dammed in three
seasons, at a cost, including navigation locks, of about half a million
sterling. Many other subsidiary works have been and will be con-
structed, including regulators, such as that on the Bahr Yusuf Canal.

Asyut Barrage.

By far the most important of the works constructed to enable the
water stored up in the great reservoir to be utilized to the greatest
advantage is the Barrage across the Nile at Asyut, about 250 miles
above Cairo, which was commenced by Sir John Aird and Co. in the
winter of 1898, and completed this spring. As already stated, in gen-
eral principle this work resembles the old barrage at the apex of the
Delta; but in details of construction there is no similarity, nor in
material, as the old work is of brick and the new one of stone.

The total length of the structure is 2,750 feet, or rather more than
half a mile, and it includes 111 arched openings of 16 feet 1 inches
span, capable of being closed by steel sluice gates 16 feet in height.
The object of the work is to improve the present perennial irrigation of
lands in Middle Egypt and the Fayoum, and to bring an additional

554

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

area of about 300,000 acres under such irrigation, by throwing more
water at a higher level into the great Ibrahimiyah Canal, whose intake
is immediately above the Barrage (Fig. 2).

The piers and arches are founded upon a platform of masonry
87 feet wide and 10 feet thick, protected up and down by a continuous
and impermeable line of cast-iron grooved and tongued sheet piling,
with cemented joints. This piling extends into the sand bed of the
river to a depth of 23 feet below the upper surface of the floor, and
thus cuts off the water and prevents the undermining action which
caused so much trouble and expense in the case of the old barrage. The
height of the roadway above the floor is 41 feet, and the length of the
piers up and down stream 51 feet. The river bed is protected against
erosion for a width of 67 feet up stream by stone pitching, with clay

Fig. ?,. Asyut Lock.

puddle underneath to check infiltration, and down stream for a similar
width by stone pitching, with an inverted filter-bed underneath, so
that any springs which may arise from the head of water above the
sluices shall not carry sand with them from underneath the pitching.

It is easy enough to construct dams and barrages on paper, but
wherever water is concerned the real difficulty and interest is in the
practical execution of the works, for water never sleeps, but clay and
night is stealthily seeking to defeat your plans. On the Nile the con-
ditions are very special, and in some respects advantageous. There is
only one flood in the year, and within small limits the time of its occur-
rence can be foretold, and arrangements made accordingly. It would
have been impossible to have carried out the Nile works on the system
adopted had the river been subject to frequent floods. The working
season for below- water work on the Nile lies practically between Novem-

THE NILE DAMS AND RESERVOIR. 555

ber and July, for nothing would be gained by starting the temporary
enclosing embankments, or sudds, when the river was at a higher level
than it is in November; nor would it be possible at any reasonable
cost to prevent the sudds from being swept away by the flood in July.
At Asyfit the mode of procedure was to enclose the site of the proposed
season's work by temporary dams or sudds of sandbags and earthwork,
then to pump out and keep the water down by powerful centrifugal
pumps, crowd on the men, excavate, drive the cast-iron sheet piling,
build the masonry platform and piers, lay the aprons of puddle and
pitching, and get the work some height above low Nile level before the
end of June, so that the temporary dams should not require reconstruc-
tion after being swept away by the flood. The busiest months were
May and June, when in the year 1900 the average daily number of men
was 13,000. It is also then the hottest; the shade temperature rising
to 118 degrees. To keep the water down, seventeen 12-inch centrifugal
pumps, throwing enough water for the supply of a city of two million
inhabitants, had to be kept going, and in a single season as many as
one and a half million sandbags were used in these temporary dams.
The bed of the river being of extremely mobile sand, the constant
working of the pumps occasionally drew away sand from under the
adjoining completed portions of the foundations, necessitating the
drilling of many holes through the 10-foot thick masonry platform,
and grouting under pressure with liquid cement. About 1.000 springs
also burst up through the sand, each one of which required special
treatment. A new regulator had to be constructed for the Ibrahimiyah
Canal, with nine arches and sluices, to control the high floods and
prevent damage to the Canal and the works connected therewith.

Aswan.

Asvut, as already observed, is about 250 miles above Cairo. The
great dam at Aswan is 600 miles above the same point. Between Asyfit
and Aswan the remains of many temples exist, of far greater interest
and importance than those at Phila?. The latter ruins, however, have
attracted more attention in recent days, because, being situated imme-
diately above the Dam, the filling of the reservoir will partially flood
Phila? Island during the tourist season.

It would be idle to speculate as to who first thought of constructing
a reservoir in the Xile valley, or who first arrived at the conclusion
that the site of the present dam above Aswan was the best one. Mr.
Willcocks, one of the ablest engineers of the Public Works Department
of Egypt, who was instructed by Sir William Garstin to survey various
suggested sites for a dam between Cairo and Wady Haifa, unhesi-
tatingly decided that the Aswan site was the best, and the majority of
the International Committee, who visited the sites in 1894, came to
the same conclusion. This conclusion had, however, been anticipated

556 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

by Sir Samuel Baker more than forty years ago, from mere inspection
of the site without surveys. In suggesting a series of dams across the
Nile to form reservoirs from Khartoum downwards, he wrote: "The
great work might be commenced by a single dam above the first cataract
at Aswan, at a spot where the river is walled in by granite hills. By
raising the level of the Nile 60 feet, obstructions would be buried in
the depths of the river, and sluice-gates and canals would conduct the
shipping up and down stream." This single dam, proposed by Sir
Samuel Baker forty years ago, is in effect the one which is now on the
point of completion. Mr. Willcocks' original design consisted prac-
tically of a group of independent dams, curved on plan, and the
arrangement of sluices and dimensions of the dam differed consider-
ably from those of the executed work. There is no doubt that the single
dam, 114 miles in length, constitutes a more imposing monumental
work than a series of detached dams, and that it also offered greater
facilities to a contractor for the organization of his work and rapid
construction ; and, further, the straight dam is better able to resist tem-
perature stresses from extreme heat without cracking. Two dams
across the Nile, the old barrage and the Asyut Barrage, have already
been described; and it will be hardly necessary to say, therefore, that
the Aswan Dam is not a solid wall, but is pierced with sluice openings
of sufficient area for the flood discharge of the river, which may
amount to 15,000 tons of water per second. There are 180 such open-
ings, mostly 23 feet high by 6 feet 6 inches wide; and where subject
to heavy pressure, when being moved, they are of the well-known Stoney
roller pattern.

Although the preliminary studies of Mr. Willcocks and the other
government engineers occupied some four years, there was neither
time nor money to sink shafts in the bed of the river, to ascertain the
real character of what was called in the engineer's report 'an extensive
outcrop of syenite and quartz diorite clean across the valley of the
Nile,' giving 'sound rock everywhere at a very convenient level.' Un-
fortunately, the rock proved to be unsound in many places to a consider-
able depth, with schistous micaceous masses of a very friable nature,
which necessitated carrying down the foundations of the dam some-
times more than 40 feet deeper than was originally anticipated or pro-
vided for in the contract. As the thickness of the dam is nearly 100
feet at the base, this misapprehension as to the character of the rock
involved a very large increase in the contract quantity and cost of the
granite masonry of the dam. The total length of the dam is about
l1/^ miles; the maximum height from foundation, about 130 feet; the
difference of level of water above and below, 67 feet; and the total
weight of masonry over one million tons. Navigation is provided for
by a 'ladder' of four locks, each 260 feet long by 32 feet wide.

THE NILE DAMS AND RESERVOIR.

557

As remarked in the case of Asyut, the difficulties in dam construc-
tion are not in design, but in the carrying out of the works. It would
not be too much to say that any practical man standing on the verge
of one of the cataract channels, hearing and seeing the apparently
irresistible torrents of foaming water thundering down, would regard
the putting in of foundations to a depth of 40 feet below the bed of
the cataract in the short season available each year as an appalling
undertaking. When the rotten rock in the bed was first discovered, I
told Lord Cromer frankly that I could not say what the extra cost or
time involved by this and other unforeseen conditions would be, and
that all I could say was that, however bad the conditions, the job could
be done. He replied that he must be satisfied with this assurance, and

*«*

• c-

-

Fig. 3. North Side of Dam, looking West.

say that the dam had to be completed whatever the time and cost.
With a strong man at the head of affairs, both engineers and con-
tractors— who often are suffering more anxiety than they care to show
— are encouraged, and works, however difficult, have a habit of getting
completed, and sometimes, as in the present case, in less than the
original contract time.

The contract was let to Sir John Aird and Co., with Messrs.
Ransomes and Eapier as subcontractors for the steelwork, in February,
1898, and they at once commenced to take possession of the site of the
works, and of as much of the adjoining desert as they desired in order
to construct railways, build dwellings, offices, machine shops, stores
and hospitals, and provide sanitary arrangements, water supply, and

55§

10PULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

the multitudinous things incidental to the transformation of a remote
desert tract into a busy manufacturing town. Two months after sign-
ing the contract the permanent works were commenced, and before the
end of the year thousands of native laborers and hundreds of Italian
granite masons were hard at work. On February 12, 1899, the founda-
tion stone of the dam was laid by H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught.
Many plans were considered by the engineers and contractors for
putting in the foundations of the dam across the roaring cataract
channels, and it was finally decided to form temporary rubble dams
across three of the channels below the site of the great dam, so as to
break the force of the torrent and get a pond of comparatively still
water up stream to work in. Stones of from one ton to twelve tons in

^ss5fe?ss #S

*m*m

b^ilsf

M

ItfTOiSHria*

Fig. i. South Side of Dam, from West Bank.

weight were tipped into the cataract, and this was persevered with
until finally a rubble mound appeared above the surface of the water.
The first channel was successfully closed on May 17, 1899, the depth
being about 30 feet and the velocity of current nearly fifteen miles an
hour. In the case of another channel, the closing had to be helped by
tipping railway wagons themselves, loaded with heavy stones, and
bound together with wire ropes, making a mass of about 50 tons, to
resist displacement by the torrent.

These rubble dams were well tested when the high Nile ran over
them; and on work being resumed in November, after the fall of the
river, water-tight sandbag dams or sudds were made around the site

THE NILE DAMS AXD RESERVOIR. 559

of the Dam foundation in the still waters above the rubble dams, and
pumps were fixed to lay dry the bed of the river. This was the most
exciting time in the whole stage of the operations, for no one could
predict whether it would be possible to dry the bed, or whether the
water would not pour through the fissured rock in altogether over-
whelming volumes. Twenty-four 12-inch centrifugal pumps were pro-
vided to deal if necessary with one small channel; but happily the
sandbags and gravel and sand embankments staunched the fissures in
the rock and interstices between the great boulders covering the bot-
tom of this channel, and a couple of 12-inch pumps sufficed. The open
rubble dam itself, strange to say, checked the flow sufficiently to cause
a difference of nearly 10 feet in the level of the water above and below;

Fig. 5. From West Bank., looking East, furing Eclipse of November 11, 1901.

but when the up-stream sandbag dam was constructed the difference
was 20 feet, so that the down-stream sandbag dam was a very small
one compared with the other.

The masonry of the dam is of local granite, set in British Port-
land cement mortar. The interior is of rubble, set by hand, with
about 40 per cent, of the bulk in cement mortar, four sand to one of
cement. All the face-work is of coursed rock-faced ashlar, except the
sluice linings, which are finely dressed. This was steam-crane and
Italian masons' work. There was a great pressure at times to get a
section completed before the inevitable rise of the Xile, and as much as
3,600 tons of masonry were executed per day, chiefly at one point in the

560

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY

dam. A triple line of railway, and numerous trucks and locomotives,
were provided to convey the materials from quarries and stores to every
part of the work. The maximum number of men employed was 11,000,
of whom 1,000 were European masons and other skilled men (Figs. 3,
4 and 5).

Mr. Wilfred Stokes, chief engineer and managing director of
Messrs. Eansomes and Eapier, was responsible for the detailed design-
ing and manufacture of the sluices and lock-gates; 140 of the sluices
are 23 feet high by 6 feet 6 inches wide, and 40 of them half that
height; 130 of the sluices are on the 'Stoney' principle, with rollers,
and the remainder move on sliding surfaces. The larger of the Stoney

sluices weigh 14 tons, and are
capable of being moved by hand
under a head of water producing
a pressure of 450 tons against the
sluice.

There are five lock-gates, 32
feet wide, and varying in height
up to 60 feet. They are of an
entirely different type to ordinary
folding lock-gates, being hung
from the top on rollers, and mov-
ing like a sliding coach-house
door. This arrangement was
adopted for safety, as 1,000 mil-
lion tons of water are stored up
above the lock-gates, and each of
the two upper gates is made
strong enough to hold up the
water, assuming the four other
gates were destroyed (Fig. 6).
When the river is rising, the sluices will all be open, and the red
water will pass freely through, without depositing the fertilizing silt.
After the flood, when the water has become clear, and the discharge
of the Nile has fallen to about 2,000 tons per second, the gates with-
out rollers will be closed, and then some of those with rolllers; so
that between December and March the reservoir will be gradually
filled. The reopening of the sluices will take place between May and
July, according to the state of the Nile and the requirements of the
crops.

Between December and May, when the reservoir is full, the island
of Philse will in places be slightly flooded. As the temples are founded
partly on loose silt and sand, the saturation of the hitherto dry soil
would cause settlement, and no doubt injury to the ruins. To obviate
this risk, all the important parts, including the well-known Kiosk, or

Fig. 6. Navigation Canal. First Lock-
gate from North.

TEE NILE DAMS AND RESERVOIR. 561

'Pharaoh's bed/ have been either carried on steel girders or under-
pinned down to rock, or, failing that, to the present saturation level. It
need hardly be said that, having regard to the shattered condition of
the columns and entablatures, the friability of the stone, and the run-
ning sand foundation, the process of underpinning was an exceptionally
difficult and anxious task. There were few men to whom I would have
entrusted the task, but amongst those was Mat Talbot — one of the
well-known Talbots who have done such splendid service as non-com-
missioned officers in the army of workmen employed by contractors
during the past forty years; and well has he justified his reputation at
home — where his last job was the most difficult part of the Central
London Railway — and the commendation of Dr. Ball, who had charge
of the works at Philse.

It would be invidious to single out for special acknowledgment
the services of members of a staff, where all have enthusiastically
done their best for the accomplishment of the great work projected
and patiently persisted in against all opposition, by Lord Cromer
and his trusty lieutenant, Sir William Garstin, Under Secretary of
State for Public Works. The successive Director-Generals of the
Reservoirs were Mr. Willcocks, Mr. Wilson, and Mr. Webb; the chief
engineers at Aswan, Mr. Fitzmaurice and Mr. May, and at Asyut, Mr.
Stephens. The almost unprecedented labor and anxiety of arranging
all the practical contractors' details of supply of labor, materials, and
execution of the work fell upon the shoulders of Mr. Blue, except as
regards Asyut, where Mr. McClure relieved him of a part of his re-
sponsibility.

As regards the initial stages of the project, I may say that when
the Egyptian Government informed me that they wanted the works
carried out for a lump sum, and no payment to be made to the
contractor until the works were completed, I felt it would be idle to
invite tenders until some arrangement had been made as to finance. As
in other cases of doubt and difficulty, therefore, I went to my friend,
Sir Ernest Cassel, and the difficulties vanished. The way was then
clear for getting offers for the work. Sir John Aird and Co. were the
successful competitors, and they have completed a largely increased
quantity of work in less than the contract time, to the entire satisfac-
tion of the Egyptian Government and of every one with whom they
have been associated. The same recognition is due to Messrs. Eansomes
and Rapier, and their able engineer and manager, Mr. Wilfred Stokes,
who was unexpectedly called upon to complete all the complicated
machinery of the sluices and gates in one year under the contract time,
and did it.

vol. lxii. — 36.

562

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

SCIENTIFIC LITERATUEE.

CHEMISTRY.

Theee Presidential addresses, deliv-
ered recently in this country and
abroad, give admirable surveys of the
present status, of past growth and of
the future needs of chemistry. The
address of Professor F. W. Clarke to
the American Chemical Society, given
December 30, 1901, on ' The Develop-
ment of Chemistry ' deals with the
four principal agencies that have been
instrumental in building the chemical
structure of to-day; these are: private
enterprise, the commercial demand,
governmental requirements, and uni-
versity teaching. At the beginning all
these agencies had not been established,
the two great stimuli to chemical re-
search were the intellectual interest of
the problem to be solved, and practical
utility; these still have great influence,
but the most important need at the
present time, says Professor Clarke, is
a well equipped and endowed research
laboratory, in which to conduct sys-
tematic and thorough investigations.

Dr. Ira Remsen chose for his ad-
dress to the same society, given a year
later, ' The Life History of a Doc-
trine.' In a scholarly and witty way
he sketched the early history, develop-
ment and modern phases of the atomic
theory, saying that in the light of late
advances we must enlarge our concep-
tion of atoms. He pointed out that
the many obituaries on the electro-
chemical theory of Berzelius were prob-
ably premature, since in the latest
conception of atoms electrical charges
play an important part. An atom
charged with electricity is called an
ion, and only then is it ready for action.
At the same time President Remsen re-
fers to physicists the explanation of

some of the features of the theory of
ions.

Professor James Dewar, in his ad-
dress as president of the British Asso-
ciation for the Advancement of Sci-
ence, delivered September 10, 1902, was
of a more comprehensive nature, re-
viewing many aspects of science. In-
cidentally he compared the chemical
equipments of England and Germany
to the decided disadvantage of the
former, stating that Germany possessed
a professional staff one third larger in
numbers and superior in quality. One
firm in Germany, employing 5,000
workmen, has a staff of 160 chemists,
260 mechanics and engineers, besides
680 clerks. Owing to the high educa-
tion and practical character of their
chemists German manufacturers enjoy
a monopoly. Passing from this theme,
Professor Dewar gave some of the in-
teresting results obtained in his re-
searches on low temperatures, espe-
cially in liquefying hydrogen and
helium. The whole address, which is
very readable, can be found in the Octo-
ber numbers of Science. Besides these
addresses another one by Dewar must
not be overlooked, the ' Centenary Com-
memoration Lecture ' at the Royal In-
stitution.

The Bi-Centennial of Yale Univer-
sity, celebrated in 1901, was appro-
priately marked by the publication of
several superb volumes containing
chemical research conducted by pro-
fessors and instructors in that institu-
tion. Two of these are from the Kent
Chemical Laboratory, and embody the
labors of Professor F. A. Gooch, and
of some of his assistants; the other
two are from the Sheffield Scientific
School, and contain chiefly the labors
of Professor Horace L. Wells. The

SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.

563

papers are limited to the ten years pre-
ceding their publication and reileet
great credit on their authors. To
attempt any synopsis of the contents
of these volumes would lead to tech-
nical details beyond the scope of these
columns.

Text-books in English and in other
languages continue to flow from the
press in undiminished numbers; some
are very elementary, giving no novelty
in treatment nor other advantages over
the host of those preceding them, but
others are on a higher plane, endeavor-
ing to embody the most recent theories
and to adapt them for the purposes of
instruction. One of the most praise-
worthy of the latter group first ap-
peared in Holland in 1898, was soon
translated into German, and two years
later into English. Its author is Dr.
A. F. Holleman, professor at the Uni-
versity of Groningen, its translator is
Dr. Harmon C. Cooper, of Syracuse
University, and it bears the imprint of
John Wiley and Sons, New York City.
Holleman's text-book combines the new
achievements of physical chemistry
with the mass of long-established facts
of inorganic chemistry so as to form

a unified whole; it makes it unneces-
sary for beginners to get acquainted
with the common phenomena of ele-
mentary chemistry by the study of one
book written on the old plan, and then
to take up the independent study of
those laws of physical chemistry es-
tablished by Ostwald, van't Hoff, Ar-
rhenius, and their disciples, as set
forth in some other manual devoted to
those subjects. All these features are
combined by Holleman in a single gra-
ded course, making it a superior, up-to-
date work. The translation by Dr.
Cooper is satisfactory and free from
ambiguity.

Another book of very high grade is
that by Dr. Mellor, of Manchester,
England, entitled : ' Higher Mathe-
matics for Students of Chemistry and
Physics.' Chemistry is developing
along mathematical lines, and it is evi-
dent that its students must hereafter
be practical mathematicians. Of sev-
eral books applying mathematics to the
scientific evolution of chemistry, Mel-
lor's book is very complete and satis-
factory, and can be warmly recom-
mended.

564

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE PEOGEESS OF SCIENCE.

THE ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE
FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH.

Scientific medicine in the United
States is to be congratulated on the
establishment of a laboratory for re-
search that may be compared with
those of the great European capitals.
There are in this country more than a
hundred thousand practising physi-
cians, somewhat over two hundred med-
ical journals and a large number of
medical schools, and many important
advances in technical medicine are due
to American practise. Opportunity
for systematic research has, however,
been hitherto lacking. This will be
supplied by the laboratory to be built
in New York City on the foundation
of Mr. John D. Rockefeller. It will
be remembered that two years ago Mr.
Rockefeller gave $200,000 for the es-
tablishment of an institute for med-
ical research and placed the endowment
in the hands of a strong and compact
board of directors, consisting of Dr.
William H. Welch, Baltimore; Dr. T.
Mitchell Prudden, New York; Dr.
Theobald Smith, Boston; Dr. Simon
Flexner, Philadelphia ; Dr. Hermann M.
Biggs, New York; Dr. C. A. Herter,
New York; Dr. L. Emmett Holt, New
York.

The fund could be used for current
expenses, and with it grants have
been made, varying in amount from
$200 to $1,500, to over twenty investi-
gators who have carried forward their
work at American and foreign uni-
versities. The directors, however, be-
lieved that, in addition to such indi-
vidual studies, there was needed a
central institution for certain lines of
research with an adequate equipment
and permanent endowment. Towards
this purpose Mr. Rockefeller has given

$1,000,000, which will be used for the
purchase of land, the erection of build-
ings and the organization of the work,
and it is understood that Mr. Rocke-
feller is prepared to give an additional
endowment when needed. A site has
been secured in New York City over-
looking the East river, and it is hoped
that the laboratory will be completed
and ready for the commencement of
work in the autumn of 1904. The
buildings will include a small hospital
which will be maintained in close asso-
ciation with the experimental work.
The institute has assumed the publi-
cation of The Journal of Experimental
Medicine, which will remain under the
editorial supervision of Dr. W. H.
Welch, professor of pathology in the
Johns Hopkins University and presi-
dent of the board of directors of the
institute. The directors will also
undertake the diffusion of knowledge
by the means of lectures, publications
and hygienic museums that will tend
to the prevention and cure of disease.
Dr. Simon Flexner, professor of pathol-
ogy in the University of Pennsylvania,
has been appointed scientific director of
the laboratories, and there will be asso-
ciated with him the heads of the dif-
ferent departments that will be estab-
lished.

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.
The board of regents of the Smith-
sonian Institution held an adjourned
meeting on March 12, at which matters
of much importance for the institution
and for the progress of science in
America were discussed. It was de-
cided that in addition to the annual
meeting in January for the transaction
of routine business, there shall here-
after be held two additional meetings,
one in December and one in March,

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

565

when the affairs of the institution may-
be discussed fully and freely. A com-
mittee that had been appointed to con-
sider the powers and duties of the ex-
ecutive committee did not make a final
report, but it was the general opinion
that this committee should have regu-
lar and stated meetings. Dr. A. Gra-
ham Bell introduced a series of resolu-
tions and moved that they be referred
to the committee appointed to consider
the powers of the executive committee.
They will be reported on and fully dis-
cussed at the meeting in December.
The resolutions are as follows:

The secretary shall nominate, and
by and with the advice and consent of
the board of regents, shall appoint the
heads of the various bureaus supported
by congress under the direction of the
Smithsonian Institution — to wit — the
National Museum, the Bureau of
American Ethnology, The National
Zoological Park, the Bureau of Inter-
national Exchanges, and the Astro-
physical Observatory.

The secretary shall have power to fill
up all vacancies that may happen in
these offices during the intervals be-
tween meetings of the board, by grant-
ing commissions which shall expire at
the next meeting of the board of re-
gents.

The head of each bureau shall nomi-
nate, and, by and with the advice and
consent of the secretary, shall appoint
the subordinates in the bureau under
his charge.

The heads of the bureaus shall be
termed directors; and the board of re-
gents hereby creates the offices of
director of the National Museum,
director of the Bureau of American
Ethnology, director of the National
Zoological Park, director of the Bureau
of International Exchanges, and direct-
or of the Astrophysical Observatory,
and instructs the secretary to fill these
offices by temporary appointment to ex-
pire at the next meeting of the board,
when nominations shall be presented
for confirmation by the board.

It will thus be seen that the entire
question of the organization of the
Smithsonian Institution and its rela-
tions to the government bureaus is
under consideration by the regents. At
the meeting two other matters of gen-

eral interest were discussed. Con-
gress has made an appropriation of
three and a half million dollars foi a
new building for the U. S. National
Museum, the construction of which has
been placed in the hands of Mr. Ber-
nard R. Green. The secretary, with
the advice and consent of the chancellor
and the chairman of the executive com-
mittee was designated to cooperate
with Mr. Green.

Owing to the need of moving the
body of James Smith son from the
grave in which it rests at Genoa, it
was proposed last year by Dr. Bell that
the remains be brought to this country,
where congress would doubtless erect
over them a suitable monument in the
grounds of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion. This suggestion was not adopted
at the time, but Dr. Bell has now
offered to have the remains removed at
his expense, which offer the regents
will doubtless be glad to accept.

TEE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICUL-
TURE.

The appropriation for the United
States Department of Agriculture pro-
vided by the recent session of congress
covers a total of practically six million
dollars, an increase over that for the
current year of $769,140, including an
emergency appropriation of a half a
million dollars. The increased funds
are for the most part to enable an ex-
tension of the work of the department
along its present lines, rather than to
take up new special features. The
largest increases are for the Bureaus
of Animal Industry, Plant Industry,
Forestry and Soils.

The Bureau of Animal Industry re-
ceives $1,287,380, an increase of $100,-
000 for the extension of its meat and
other inspection work, and an emer-
gency appropriation of $500,000 is
placed at the disposal of the secretary
of agriculture to stamp out the foot-
and-mouth disease, which has recently
raged in several of the New England
states, and other contagious diseases
of animals which may appear.

566

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

The total appropriation for the
Bureau of Plant Industry is $674,930,
an increase of $62,200 for its work in
vegetable pathology and physiology,
botanical investigations, studies of the
pomaceous fruits and their preserva-
tion, and experiments with grasses and
forage plants. These increases will en-
able carrying on the plant breeding
work on a somewhat larger scale to
secure crops resistant to alkali, dis-
ease-resistant beets, and the improve-
ment of Indian corn. More extensive
investigations and field trials will be
made of the nitrogen-fixing organisms
in growing leguminous plants; and
among the plant diseases the Texas
root-rot of cotton and the California
vine disease will receive special atten-
tion. The increase for botanical in-
vestigations will be used for developing
the studies of poisonous plants, par-
ticularly on the western ranges. The
fund for the purchase of seeds for
congressional distribution is increased
by $20,000, being now $290,000, but an
additional $10,000 is allowed to be ex-
pended out of this fund for the intro-
duction of seeds and plants from for-
eign countries, making the fund for
that purpose $30,000.

The amount for the Bureau of For-
estry is increased to $350,000, which is
$58,140 more than the current appro-
priation, and will enable an extension
of its forestry and timber investiga-
tions and the preparation of working
plans for owners of woodlands.

The Bureau of Soils receives $212,-
480, $42,800 more than the present
year. The increase will be used in ex-
panding the soil survey and the tobacco
work, which is in charge of this bureau.
Surveys will be made the coming year
in thirty-two states, which shows the
wide distribution of this work. The
tobacco investigations will be confined
principally to experiments with the
Cuban filler tobacco in Alabama, mid-
dle South Carolina, and eastern Texas,
where soils have been located similar

to those on which it is successfully
grown.

The scientific staff of the Weather
Bureau is increased somewhat, an as-
sistant chief being added, and the
bureau is authorized to erect five new
observatories and to establish cable
communication between Block Island
and Narragansett Pier, with terminal
buildings and equipment at each place.
Its total appropriation amounts to
$1,248,520.

The appropriations for the experi-
ment stations in Hawaii and Porto
Rico are increased to $15,000, making
them uniform with the stations in
other states and territories, and $5,000
is appropriated for taking up the
farmers' institute work with a view to
assisting the organizations in the dif-
ferent states and territories and mak-
ing them more effective means for the
dissemination of the results obtained
at the department and at the agricul-
tural experiment stations. These in-
creases bring the total amount for the
agricultural experiment stations and
the Office of Experiment Stations (in-
cluding irrigation investigations and
investigation in human nutrition) up
to $895,000.

The Division of Statistics is raised
to the grade of a bureau and given an
increased appropriation of $15,500 for
general maintenance, making a total of
$156,660.

Other items carried by the act are
$85,300 for the Bureau of Chemistry,
an increase of $11,600; $77,450 for the
Division of Entomology, an increase of
$10,000; $51,850 for the Division of
Biological Survey, an increase of
$6,000; $229,320 for the Division of
Publications, $105,000 of which is to
be used for the preparation and print-
ing of Farmers' Bulletins; $16,000 for
the Division of Foreign Markets; $35,-
000 for Public Road Inquiries, an in-
crease of $5,000; $20,000 for the
Library; and $138,210 for administra-
tive, contingent and general expenses.

THE PR00RE88 OF SCIENCE.

567

The growth of the department is
indicated in a general way by the
amounts authorized for the rent of
office and laboratory buildings. Start-
ing some twelve years ago with an
item of $900, the amount authorized
for rent of buildings has steadily in-
creased year by year until in the pres-
ent bill it amounts to $27,500. This
shows conclusively the inadequacy of
the present buildings, which led the
last session of congress to appropriate
$1,500,000 for a new agricultural build-
ing, plans for which are now in course
of preparation.

The agricultural appropriation act
does not carry the appropriation for
printing the publications of the depart-
ment, except in the case of the popu-
lar series known as ' Farmers' Bul-
letins.' The department's allotment
out of the general printing fund is
$185,000, an increase of $10,000, and
$300,000 is provided for printing and
binding a half million copies of the
' Year-book.' Adding to this the
cost of the regular and special reports,
which are printed by order of con-
gress, brings the amount for print-
ing the department publications up
to approximately three quarters of
a million dollars. In the last fiscal
year 757 separate publications were
issued in an aggregate edition of over
ten million copies, some six million
of which were ' Farmers' Bulletins.'
This is a larger number of separate
publications and of total copies than
are issued by any other department of
the government, and stamps the De-
partment of Agriculture as the great-
est agency in the world for the dissemi-
nation of popular and technical infor-
mation on agriculture and agricultural
science.

THE QUESTION OF THE BIRTH

RATE.

Just one hundred years ago, in 1803,

was published the edition of Malthus's

' Essay on Population ' which has had

a considerable influence on economic

theory and aided Darwin in thinking
out his principle of the origin of
species by natural selection. Mal-
thusianism has become a current word
with somewhat sinister implications,
quite foreign to the spirit of the kindly
clergyman, who announced the theory
that population tends to increase more
rapidly than the means of subsistence.
If this were true population must be
limited by moral restraint, vice or
misery, and Malthus urged people not
to marry until they had a fair pros-
pect of supporting a family. Owing
to the applications of science during
the past century the means of sub-
sistence in civilized nations have in-
creased far more rapidly than the
population. Malthus's proposition has
become inverted; the production of
goods increases in geometrical ratio,
whereas the production of people occurs
with an ever decreasing increment. It
is no longer an economic question of
starvation, but a sociological question
of race suicide.

The subject has during the past
month become prominent in newspaper
discussions owing to statements made
by the president of the United States
and by the president of Harvard Uni-
versity. President Eliot has shown that
graduates of Harvard do not repro-
duce themselves. Statistics from the
colleges for women have also been com-
piled which prove that the graduates
are not self-perpetuating. From the
point of view of social evolution there
would be certain advantages in the
need of recruiting the ruling classes
from a larger group, as this would give
room for natural selection. As a mat-
ter of fact President Eliot's conclusions
are contradicted by the only large
study of the subject at hand, that by
Rubin and Westergaard of Copenhagen
marriages. It appears from some
thousands of cases that while the birth
rate is slightly smaller for the profes-
sional and upper classes than for arti-
sans, the average number of surviving

568

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

children is greater for the former, be-
ing about 3.31 as compared with 3.14.
It may be that Harvard graduates
have as large surviving families as
those of the same race, but of lower
social class.

It is unfortunate that statistics are
not at hand on the marriage rate and

is 29, in Germany 35 and in Russia 52.
In Massachusetts the birth rate was
last year 25.07 and the marriage rate
8.67. Even if all illegitimate children
are attributed to the married, the aver-
age size of family would be less than
three. The foreign born have a much
larger fertility than the natives, and

Curve

OF

Fertility in Man

. ANGLO

•SAXONS .

^

>■

/

\

k

u

\

il

■

101)

3

]j

i\

X

r--1

i

y 1

|

i \ >

3C^\

A

<

80

1

1

o

Size or Families.
Range, [Theory

k

70
60
60

a

<D

0

>.

/

\

r

~s

H

-'-

' /

a

!6 <

'

\

XXX OnSERVF.D.

<D

if

:.

'I

V

2

i

'''il

\

Ic

ss lha

l a given size: j

Calc

ULATED.

RVED.

ULATED.

0>

'

/

j"

t

s

Cu

ve of iniegr

al Fertility:} — — ;

90

1

/

i

i

s

quauon to curve or Fertility:

|

/

i

i

L= $

•

to

b

,

-'■'

i

«^a

=„

t

-x-

r

j

i

y

»■

<

5

3

1

j

> i

0 1

1 I

2 1

3 1

4

5

«

7

3 1

a I

II

21 *£

i

SI

+x

CCTRVE OP FERTILITY fK MAN. DANES

birth rate in relation to the conditions
on which they depend. The questions
involved are of the utmost practical
importance and should be taken up at
once by the national and state govern-
ments. The birth rate in France where
the population is stationary, is about
22 per thousand. In Great Britain it

it is quite possible that the New Eng-
land stock has a mean family of only
two, as President Eliot finds to be the
case with Harvard graduates. Presi-
dent Eliot appears to be mistaken in
attributing the small families of Har-
vard graduates in part to postponement
of marriage due to protracted educa-

TEE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

569

tion. The age of marriage of men of
the upper classes in Copenhagen, with
mean families of 4.5 was over 32,
whereas it appears that the profes-
sional classes in the United States
marry at an earlier age than this.

It is surely a serious problem when
the more civilized races tend not to
reproduce themselves. It is difficult of
explanation by the laws of heredity and
natural selection. We may assume
that in the lower animals the number
of offspring is most favorable for the
survival of the race. In man there
may be a selective death rate tending
to reduce large families, but it does
not appear to be an important factor.
One quarter of the married population
produces one half of the next genera-
tion, and if fertility is inheritable or
correlated with inheritable traits the
size of families should increase rapidly.
If there were a complete correlation be-
tween fertility in mother and daughter,
the size of families would be doubled
in the fifth generation. It appears
that physiological fertility is held in
check by prudential restraint, but it is
not clear why the psychological factors
are not subject to natural selection and
social tradition. Those who would
have large families should supplant
those who would not.

We reproduce from Professor Pear-
son's ' Chances of Death ' two diagrams.
The first is based largely on 2,279 mar-
riages of a Connecticut quaker family,
to which a skew frequency curve is
fitted. The modal family, or most fre-
quent family, falls between two and
three; the median family, or the family
of such size that there are as many
larger as smaller, is 3.29; the mean or
average family is 4.22, and the range
or maximum family is 22.5. The sec-
ond curve, for 1842 families of the pro-
fessional and upper classes in Denmark,
shows a somewhat higher fertility.
Both curves indicate an artificial limi-
tation in the deficiency, as compared
with the theoretical curve, of families
of five and six; and this would prob-

ably be much more marked in French
or in recent Anglo-Saxon families.
There is indeed urgent need of further
investigation into the facts of the birth
rate. Applied science may have at the
end of the present century problems
more pressing than the increase of the
means of subsistence; there must be
people to subsist.

THE RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS.

The scholars to be appointed under
the terms of the will of the late Cecil
Rhodes will go into residence at Ox-
ford next year, and the best methods
for selecting them are now being con-
sidered. The Prussian ministry of edu-
cation has addressed a letter to the
Oxford colleges asking information as
to the reception of the fifteen scholars
to be nominated by the German em-
peror. It is assumed that students
will go to Oxford direct from the gym-
nasium, and it is asked whether the
Abiturienten-Zeugnis which admits to
the German universities will be ac-
cepted. Among other things infor-
mation is wanted as to whether stu-
dents may pursue studies preparatory
to the professions and whether scholars
may be appointed for a shorter period
than three years.

Dr. Parkin, of the Toronto Gram-
mar School, who was himself a colonial
student at Oxford, has been commis-
sioned to secure information for the
use of the executors in framing a work-
able plan for American and colonial
students. He has visited Oxford to
learn the sentiments of the educational
authorities and finds that most of the
colleges will be glad to welcome the
scholars. He is now in America hold-
ing conferences with educators and
others, and will proceed to the differ-
ent British colonies. The chief prac-
tical questions seem to concern the
methods by which the scholars shall
be appointed and the stage in their
education at which they shall go to
Oxford. The appointing authority is
complicated in this country owing to

57°

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

the existence of state and private insti-
tutions with no machinery for corre-
lation, and some question has already
arisen in one or two of the western
states as to the part to be taken by
the board of education, the state uni-
versity and the private institutions.
In several conferences that have been
held in the East the question has
arisen as to whether the boy should go
to Oxford to begin his college work or
after he has taken his A.B. degree
here.

We see no reason why the intentions
of Mr. Rhodes should not be followed.
These were certainly that the scholars
should spend the three years in resi-
dence at one of the Oxford colleges pre-
paring for the B.A. degree, and that
they should be selected by the schools,
not by the universities. Mr. Rhodes
proposed that the qualifications should
be rated on a scale of ten, one point
for leadership in manly outdoor sports
and three for qualities of manhood,
these to be determined by fellow stu-
dents, then two points for force of
character to be assigned by teachers,
and lastly four points for scholarship
to be determined by examination. Mr.
Rhodes does not seem to have con-
sidered the difficulty of comparing the
claims of students from different
schools, but if a candidate is nomi-
nated by each school wishing to do so,
the central state authority could give
the competitive examination and select
the scholar as the result of this and
of his school record. It seems proper
that Mr. Rhodes's intention should
at least be given a trial, even though
the presidents of American universities
think it better that B.A.'s should be
sent to Oxford for research work.
There is indeed much to be said for Mr.
Rhodes's plan of selecting the scholars
and for his intention that they be un-
dergraduates. Oxford is not a partic-
ularly good place for graduate work,
but its college life has certain admir-
able aspects not to be found in Ameri-
can or continental institutions. It

would not do to educate all American
boys by the Oxford method, but much
gain will accrue to the educational,
political and social life of the country
by sending thirty each year thither.

There appears to be some opposition
to the Rhodes scholarships. The stu-
dents of Gottingen are said to have
voted not to accept them, and some
American newspapers print editorial
criticisms not always well informed.
The New York Sun, for example, says
' The Rhodes bequest was based upon
a flagrant misconception of facts, and
inspired by an ill-considered purpose.'
This opposition seems to be based on
the assumption that Harvard and Ber-
lin are better universities than Oxford,
and that the student will be anglicized
to the advantage of Great Britain.
Harvard and Berlin are of course
better universities than Oxford, but
the Oxford College is sui generis,
and its influence on the students is
great and on the whole beneficial. It
would doubtless be an excellent eco-
nomic investment for Great Britain to
send one hundred students to study at
Berlin and Harvard, and it certainly
seems to be an advantage for the
United States to send one hundred stu-
dents to Oxford to be educated at the
cost of Great Britain.

CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS IN
RUSSIA.

The issue of The Popular Science
Monthly for October, which contained
an article by Dr. F. A. Woods review-
ing heredity in the Romanofs prior to
1762, was censured by the Russian gov-
ernment in a curious manner. The
leaves containing the article were cut
out from the number and the title on
the table of contents was so inked that
it could not be read. This seems to
show a considerable degree of con-
scientiousness on the part of the censor,
as it would have been easier and less
exciting to the curiosity of subscribers
to have simply destroyed the numbers.
The incident recalls, however, the in-

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE.

57i

tolerable state of affairs to which the
Russian press and people must submit.
Russian newspapers are of two classes,
censored and uncensored. The former
must show everything that is printed
to a local censor beforehand, the latter
are subject to the minister of the inte-
rior, who suppresses or punishes them
as he sees fit. It is said that the condi-
tions are not quite so bad as they were,
but a ' confidential ' letter of instruc-
tions sent to the uncensored papers
from the ministry of the interior on
the twenty-second of last July gives
striking information as to the limita-
tion imposed on freedom of speech.
Among the large number of subjects
regarding which it is forbidden to
publish news or criticism we quote the
following coming within the scope of
this journal:

Information and articles concerning
disorders in the higher educational es-
tablishments, whether secular or cleri-
cal, and disciplinary punishments
inflicted on those taking part in such
disorders, . . . and, in general, all
news relating to the internal life of
these institutions, except when the com-
petent educational authority has con-
sented to Buch publication.

Information concerning disorders, in
our factories and industrial works, or
any other breaches of public order and
tranquility, except when permission for
publication has been given by the higher
police authorities.

Information concerning the appear-
ance of epidemic diseases among the
population, or the spread of the plague
in Russia and the adjacent countries,
except when permission for publication
has been given by the medical depart-
ment of the Ministry of the Interior.

Historical and critical disquisitions,
articles and documents, printed in
specialist or strictly scientific journals
or other works, in cases where such
articles, etc., serve an exclusively sci-
entific purpose, and where, by reason
of their contents, their distribution
among a wide circle of readers might
lead to undesirable results.

We shall look forward with interest
to learn whether the censor discovers
this note and cuts it out of the copies
of the Monthly going to subscribers
in Russia.

MILEY'S COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY.

Professor W. G. Brown, of the
University of Missouri, brought to the
attention of the Chemical Section of
the American Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science, at the recent
Washington meeting, a new method of
color photography of considerable in-
terest, due to M. and H. M. Miley,
of Lexington, Va. Two photographs
were shown — a copy of Rembrandt
Peale's Washington in the uniform of
a colonial officer, and a plate of peaches.
The process is a three-color film one,
in which the essential modification of
existing processes is the use of pig-
mented gelatine films in place of
stained ones.

In making photographs by this
method, three negatives are taken in
colored light, the light being obtained
by passing ordinary light through a
medium of proper color interposed be-
tween the lens and the plate, usually
a screen of colored glass or some color-
ing matter placed between sheets of
thin glass. One negative is taken
through a red screen, a second through
a green screen and a third through a
violet screen. The colors, red, green
and violet, used for the screens should
be such as transmit rays falling within
a limited portion of the spectrum. The
photographic plates used for the nega-
tives must be adapted to the color of
the light to which they are exposed;
for the negative exposed to the red
light an orthochromatic plate stained
with cyanin solution, for that to the
green light an unmodified orthochro-
matic plate and for violet light an
ordinary gelatin-silver-bromid plate is
used. From the negatives obtained posi-
tives are. made of carbon tissue (bi-
chromated gelatin pigment paper).
The carbon tissue, perhaps better,
pigment tissue, used with the red
light negative is charged with an
inalterable blue pigment, the blue be-
ing the complementary of the red used
in the production of the negative. The

572

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

pigment tissue for the red and yellow
positives, that is, the tissue used with
the green and violet-light negatives is
charged with the complementary in-
alterable red and yellow pigments. The
pigment tissue, of whatever color, is
sensitized, exposed and developed in
the usual way with some modifications
made to facilitate the manipulation
during the development, transference
and subsequent superposition of the
films.

The yellow positive is made first and
transferred to gelatine-coated paper
which forms the final support of the
photograph, the red positive is next
made and before drying is superposed
on the yellow positive, finally the blue
positive is superposed on the other two.
The resulting photograph, if the
negatives have been of the right
density, the pigments of the proper
colors and the technique right, is one of
which it can be safely said that none
made by any other process can be
compared with it. The photographs
are superior to three-color prints, just
as a carbon photograph is superior to
a half-tone print, and are superior to
an ordinary photograph in the same
measure that a carbon print is.
Miley's color photographs possess all
the richness, depth and permanence of
carbon photographs with the addition
of color. Unlike the three-color half-
tone prints, there is no break in the
continuity of the color. The texture and
minute details of the subject are faith-
fully reproduced with a naturalness
that can only be compared with the
originals.

So far the process has been used for
still life, landscapes and paintings, but
it is possible to take portraits by it,
as the time of exposure through the

red screen is about fifteen seconds and,
with a suitable plate-holder and screen-
holder, all three plates could be ex-
posed easily in less than thirty seconds.
It is hardly necessary to say that the
method can be used for the produc-
tion of transparencies and lantern
slides. These, however, have not yet
been made.

SCIENTIFIC ITEMS.
We regret to record the deaths of
Professor William Harkness, the emi-
nent astronomer, past president of the
American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science; of Dr. Norman
Macleod Ferrers, F.R.S.., the mathe-
matician, master of Gonville and Caius
College, Cambridge, and of Mr. James
Glaisher, F.R.S., known for his work
in meteorology and aeronautics.

Mr. Joseph Larmoe, fellow of St.
John's College, Cambridge, has been
elected Lucasian professor of mathe-
matics in succession to the late Sir
George Gabriel Stokes. — Professor E.
F. Nichols, of Dartmouth College, has
been elected to a chair of physics in
Columbia University. — Mr. Stewart
Culin, recently curator of the Museum
of Science and Art of the University
of Pennsylvania, has become curator of
ethnology to the Museum of the Brook-
lyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. —
The Lucy Wharton Drexel medal of
the University of Pennsylvania was
presented to Professor F. W. Putnam
at the Founder's Day celebration on
February 21. — Dr. Albert B. Prescott,
professor of chemistry in the Univer-
sity of Michigan, has Deen given the
degree of LL.D. by Northwestern Uni-
versity.

INDEX.

573

INDEX.

THE NAMES OF CONTRIBUTORS ARE PRINTED IN SMALL CAPITALS.

Academy, Vienna, of Science, Edward

F. Williams, 415.
Adams, John Quincy, Science versus

Ait-appreciation, 453.
Agriculture, and Other Industries of

the South, The Relation of Malaria

to, Glenn W. Heerick, 521; The

U. S. Department of, 565.
Alaska, The Size of, George B. Hol-

LISTER, 183.

America, Zoology in, T. D. A. Cock-
erell, 163.

American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science, 380; President of,
and the Vice-Presidents for the Sec-
tions, 384.

Anemias, American, A Newly Recog-
nized Factor in, 381.

Angell, James Rowland, Some Re-
flections upon the Reaction from Co-
education, 5.

Animals, Blind, The Behavior of,
Wesley Mills. 344.

Anthracite Coal, Distribution of, 94.

Arachnids at Hanover, Cape Colony,
S. C. Cronwright Schreiner, 145

Art-appreciation, Science versus, John
Quincy Adams, 453 ; The Great Auk
in, Frank Bond, 504.

Association, American, for the Ad-
vancement of Science, 380; Presi-
dent of, and Vice-Presidents for the
Sections, 384; British, at Belfast, 93.

Astronomy. The Science of, Asaph
Hall, 291.

Auk, The Great, in Art, Frank Bond,
504.

Bacon, Francis, Solomon's House, 129.

Bacteria, Nitrogen-fixing, J. G. Lip-
man, 137.

Bakeb, Benjamin, The Nile Dams
and Reservoir, 550.

Behavior of Blind Animals, Wesley
Mills, 344.

Belfast Meeting of the British Asso-
ciation, 93.

Benedict, A. L., Postgraduate De-
grees in Absentia, 257.

Bill, British Education, 283.

Biographical Index of the Men of Sci-
ence of the United States, J. Mc-
Keen Cattell, 185.

Biographies of Eminent Chemists, 378.

Biography in the Schools, David R.

Major and T. H. Haines, 538.
Biologists, the Making of, T. D. A.

COCKERELL, 512.

Birds, Young, at Birth, Significance of

the Condition of, W. P. Pycraft,

108.
Birth Rate, The, 567.
Blind Animals, The Behavior of,

Wesley Mills, 344.
Bond, Frank, The Great Auk in Art,

504.
Borax as a Food Preservative, 95.
Botanical Garden, Missouri, William

Trelease, 193.
British, Association at Belfast, 93;

Education Bill, 283.

Carnegie Institution, The, 91, 282, 383;
and the Smithsonian Institution,
474; President Gilman's Summary
of the Plans and Methods of, 476;
and the National University, James
Howard Gore, 532.

Cattell, J. McKeen, A Biographical
Index of the Men of Science of the
United States, 185; A Statistical
Study of Eminent Men, 359.

Caves, Quarry-, of Jerusalem, A visit
to, Charles A. White, 544.

Censorship of the Press in Russia, 570.

Chemical Physiology, The Present Posi-
tion of, W. D. Halliburton, 27.

Chemistry, 562.

Chemists, Eminent, Biographies of, 378.

Coal, Anthracite, Distribution of, 94.

Cockerell, T. D. A., Zoology in
America, 163; The Making of Biol-
ogists, 512.

Coeducation, Some Reflections upon
the Reaction from, James Rowland
Angell, 5.

College, The, and the University, 92;
High-grade Men in, and out, Edwin
G. Dexter, 429.

Color Photography, A New Process of,
571.

Convocation of Scientific Societies, 281.

Dams, The Nile, and Reservoir, Ben-
jamin Baker, 550.

Darwin, Charles, Hitherto Unpublished
Letters of, 387.

Data, Vanishing, The Saving of, Al-
fred C. Haddon, 222.

574

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Davis, Bradley Moore, The Evolution
to, Charles A. White, 544.

Degrees, Postgraduate, in Absentia,
A. L. Benedict, 257.

Destruction of Forests by Fire, 190.

Dexter, Edwin G., High-grade Men, in
College and out, 429.

Discussion and Correspondence, 185.

Distrust, The American's, of the Immi-
grant, A. J. McLaughlin, 230.

Economic Importance of Forestry,
Overton W. Price, 310.

Edmunds, C. K., The Motive Power of
Heat, 117.

Education, The Higher, of Women,
David Starr Jordan, 97; British,
Bill, 283; for Professions, R. H.
Thurston, 441.

Ellis, Havelock, Variation in Man
and Woman, 237.

Engineering Mind, The, J. C. Suther-
land, 254.

Ethnology, American, Bureau of, and
the Smithsonian Institution, 186.

Evolution of Sex in Plants, Bradley
Moore Davis, 300.

Fawcett, Waldon, The Development

of Economical Utilities for handling

Raw Material 66.
Figuier's Vie des savants, 378.
Fire, Destruction of Forests by, 190.
Fishes, How to collect, David Starr

Jordan, 85.
Food Preservative, Borax as a, 95.
Forestry, The Economic Importance of,

Overton W. Price, 310.
Forests, The Destruction of, by Fire,

190.
Fossil Man of Lansing, Kansas, S. W.

Williston, 463.
Fritz, The John, Medal, 189.

Gases in Interplanetary Space, 190.

Gilman, President, Summary of the
Plans and Methods of the Carnegie
Institution, 476.

Gore, James Howard, The Carnegie
Institution and the National Uni-
versity, 532.

Habits of the Giant Salamander, Al-
bert M. Reese, 526.

Haddon, Alfred C, The Saving of
Vanishing Data, 222.

Haines, T. H., and David R. Major,
Biography in the Schools, 538.

Hall, Asaph, The Science of Astron-
omy, 291.

Halliburton, W. D., The Present
Position of Chemical Physiology, 27.

Hanover, Cape Colony, Some Arachnids
at, S. C. Cronwright Schreiner,
145.

Heat, The Motive Power of, C. K. Ed-
munds, 117.

Heredity, Mental and Moral in Roy-
alty, Frederick Adams Woods, 76,
167, 261, 316, 423, 497.

Herrick, Glenn W., The Relation of
Malaria to Agriculture and Other
Industries of the South, 521.

Hofmann's Erinnerungen an vorange-
gangene Freunde, 378.

Hollister, George B., The Size of
Alaska, 183.

House, Solomon's, Francis Bacon, 129.

Immigrant, The American's Distrust

of the, A. J. McLaughlin, 230.
Immigration, Recent Jewish, to the

United States, Roger Mitchell, 334.
Index, Biographical, of the Men of

Science of the United States, J. Mc-

Keen Cattell, 185.
Industries of the South, Relation of

Malaria to Agriculture and, Glenn

W. Herrick, 521.
Institution, The Carnegie, 91, 282, 323,

383; President Gilman's Summary

of the Plans and Methods of, 476;

and the National University, James

Howard Gore, 532; Smithsonian,

186, 323, 564.
Interplanetary Space, Gases in, 190.

James on the Varieties of Religious

Experience, 89.
Jerusalem, A Visit to the Quarry-caves

of, Charles A. White, 544.
Jewish Immigration, Recent, to the

United States, Roger Mitchell, 334.
Jordan, David Starr, How to collect

Fishes, 85; The Higher Education of

Women, 97.

Laziness, the Germ of, A Newly Recog-
nized Factor in American Anemias,
381.

Letters of Charles Darwin, Hitherto
Unpublished, 387.

Lipman, J. G., Nitrogen-fixing Bac-
teria, 137.

McLaughlin, A. J., The American's
Distrust of the Immigrant, 230.

Major, David R., and T. H. Haines,
Biography in the Schools, 538.

Malaria, The Relation of, to Agricul-
ture and Other Industries of the
South, Glenn W. Herrick, 521.

Man and Woman, Variation in, Have-
lock Ellis, 237.

Marine Biological Laboratory and the
Carnegie Institution, 384.

Material, Raw, The Development of
Economical Utilities for handling,
Waldon Fawcett, 66.

Medal, The John Fritz, 189.

INDEX.

575

Medical Research, The Rockefeller In-
stitute for, 564.

Medicine, Preventive, George M.
Sternberg, 348; Recognition of the
Importance of, 381.

Men, Eminent, A Statistical Study of,
J. McKeen Cattell, 539; High-
grade, in College and Out, Edwin
G. Dexter, 429.

Mendel's Law, W. J. Spillman, 2G9.

Mental and Moral Heredity in Royalty,
Frederick Adams Woods, 76, 167,
261, 316, 423, 497.

Mills, Wesley, The Behavior of Blind
Animals, 344.

Mind, The Engineering, J. C. Suther-
land, 254.

Missouri Botanical Garden, William
Trelease, 193.

Mitchell, Roger, Recent Jewish Im-
migration to the United States, 334.

Mixtures, Mechanical, Are Solutions,
287.

Montyon et Franklin, 378.

Moral Heredity, Mental and, in Roy-
alty, Frederick Adams Woods, 76,
167, 261, 316, 423, 497.

Motive Power of Heat, C. K. Edmunds,
117.

Museum, National, and the Smith-
sonian Institution, 186.

Naples Station, Proposed Enlargement
of, 286.

National University, The Carnegie In-
stitution and the, James Howard
Gore, 532.

New York Zoological Park, 478.

Nile, ¥he, Dams and Reservoir, Ben-
jamin Baker, 550.

Nitrogen, -fixing Bacteria, J. G. Lip-
man, 137; Source of, in Forest Soil,
Raphael G. Zon, 436.

North Pole, Towards the, 55.

Origin of Species, Hugo de Vries, 481.

Palmistry, Scientific, Harris Haw-
thorne Wilder, 41.

Photography, Color, A New Process of,
571.

Physiology, Chemical, The Present Po-
sition of, W. D. Halliburton, 27.

Plants, The Evolution of Sex in,
Bradley Moore Davis, 300.

Poggendorff's Dictionary, 378.

Pole, North, Towards the, 55.

Postgraduate Degrees in Absentia, A.
L. Benedict, 257.

Power, Motive, of Heat, C. K. Ed-
munds, 117.

Preservative, Food, Borax as a, 95.

President, The University, 187.

Press, the, Censorship of, in Russia,
570.

Preventive Medicine, George M. Stern-
berg, 348; Recognition of the Im-
portance of, 381.

Price, Overton W., The Economic Im-
portance of Forestry, 310.

Process, A New, of Color Photography,
571.

Professions, Education for, R. n.
Thurston, 441.

Psychology of Religion, 89.

Pycraet, W. P., The Significance of
the Condition of Young Birds at
Birth, 108.

Quarry-caves of Jerusalem, A Visit to,
Charles A. White, 544.

Reese, Albert M., The Habits of the
Giant Salamander, 526.

Religion, Psychology of, 89.

Research, Medical, The Rockefeller In-
stitute for, 564.

Reservoir, The Nile Dams and, Ben-
jamin Baker, 550.

Rhodes Scholarships, 569.

Rockefeller Institute for Medical Re-
search, 564. •

Rood, Ogden N, 284.

Royalty, Mental and Moral Heredity
in, Frederick Adams Woods, 76, 167,
261, 316, 423, 497.

Russia, The Censorship of the Press in,
570.

Salamander, the Giant, Habits of,
Albert M. Reese, 526.

Scholarships, The Rhodes, 569.

Schools, Biography in the, David R.
Major and T. H. Haines, 538.

Schreiner, S. C. Cronwright, Some
Arachnids at Hanover, Cape Colony,
145.

Science, Progress of, 91, 186, 281, 380,
474, 564; versus Art-appreciation,
John Quincy Adams, 453.

Scientific, Palmistry, Harris Haw-
thorne Wilder, 41 ; Literature, 89,
378, 562; Items, 96, 191, 288, 384,
479, 572; Societies, Convocation of,
281.

Sex in Plants, Evolution of, Bradley
Moore Davis, 300.

Smithsonian Institution, 323, 564; and
its Dependencies, 186; and Carnegie
Institution, 474.

Societies, Scientific, Convocation of,
281.

Soil, Forest, Source of Nitrogen in,
Raphael G. Zon, 436.

Solomon's House, Francis Bacon, 129.

Solutions, Mechanical Mixtures or
New Substances, 287.

South, Agriculture and Other Indus-
tries of, Relation of Malaria to,
Glenn W. Herrick, 521.

Space, Interplanetary, Gases in, 190.

576

POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

Species, On the Origin of, Hugo de

Vries, 481.
Spillman, W. J., Mendel's Law, 269.
Station, Naples, Proposed Enlargement

of, 286.
Statistical Study of Eminent Men, J.

McKeen Cattell, 359.
Sternberg, George M., Preventive

Medicine, 348.
Stokes, Sir George Gabriel, 477.
Substances, New, Are Solutions, 287.
Sutherland, J. C, The Engineering

Mind, 254.

Thorpe's Essays in Historical Chem-
istry, 378.

Thurston, R. H., Education for Pro-
fessions, 441.

Trelease, William, The Missouri
Botanical Garden, 193.

University, and the College, 92; Presi-
dent, The, 187; the National, Car-
negie Institution and, James
Howard Gore, 532.

Utilities, Economical, The Development
of, for handling Raw Material,
Waldon Fawcett, 66.

Variation in Man and Woman, Have-
lock Ellis, 237.

Vienna Academy of Science, Edward

F. Williams, 415.
Vries, Hugo de, On the Origin of

Species, 481.

White, Charles A., A Visit to the
Quarry-caves of Jerusalem, 544.

Wilder, Harris Hawthorne, Scien-
tific Palmistry, 41.

Williams, Edward F., The Vienna
Academy of Science, 415.

Williston, S. W., The Fossil Man of
Lansing, Kansas, 463.

Woman, Variation in Man and, Have-
lock Ellis, 237.

Women, The Higher Education of,
David Starr Jordan, 97.

Woods, Frederick Adams, Mental and
Moral Heredity in Royalty, 76, 167,
261, 316, 423, 497.

Wright, Carroll D., President of the
American Association, 384.

Zon, Raphael G., The Source of Nitro-
gen in Forest Soil, 436.

Zoological Park, National, and the
Smithsonian Institution, 186; of
New York, 478.

Zoology in America, T. D. A. Cock-
erell, 163.

MBL WHOI UBJSAS?1

UH 1ANN K

&3A&V

.

dm

t

fXJl