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diff --git a/44097-0.txt b/44097-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a6ffe2 --- /dev/null +++ b/44097-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7299 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44097 *** + + Established by Edward L. Youmans + + APPLETONS' + POPULAR SCIENCE + MONTHLY + + EDITED BY + WILLIAM JAY YOUMANS + + VOL. LIV + + NOVEMBER, 1898, TO APRIL, 1899 + + NEW YORK + D. APPLETON AND COMPANY + 1899 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1899, + BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. + + + + +VOL. LIV. ESTABLISHED BY EDWARD L. YOUMANS. No. 3. + +APPLETONS' POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. + +JANUARY, 1899. + +_EDITED BY WILLIAM JAY YOUMANS._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + I. The Evolution of Colonies. VI. Industrial Evolution. By + JAMES COLLIER 289 + + II. The Mind's Eye. By Prof. JOSEPH JASTROW. (Illustrated.) 299 + + III. Nature Study in the Philadelphia Normal School. By L. L. W. + WILSON, Ph. D. 313 + + IV. Principles of Taxation. XX. The Diffusion of Taxes. By the + Late Hon. DAVID A. WELLS 319 + + V. Our Florida Alligator. By I. W. BLAKE. (Illustrated.) 330 + + VI. The Racial Geography of Europe. The Jews. II. By Prof. + WILLIAM Z. RIPLEY. (Illustrated.) 338 + + VII. True Tales of Birds and Beasts. By DAVID STARR JORDAN 352 + + VIII. Glacial Geology in America. By Prof. DANIEL S. MARTIN 356 + + IX. Modern Studies of Earthquakes. By GEORG GERALAND 362 + + X. A Short History of Scientific Instruction. By Sir J. N. + LOCKYER 372 + + XI. Should Children under Ten learn to Read and Write? By Prof. + G. T. W. PATRICK 382 + + XII. Soils and Fertilizers. By CHARLES MINOR BLACKFORD, Jr., + M. D. 392 + + XIII. Sketch of Friedrich August Kekulé. (With Portrait.) 401 + + XIV. Editor's Table: A Voice from the Pulpit.--Lessons of + Anthropology.--An Example of Social Decadence.--The + Advance of Science 409 + + XV. Scientific Literature 415 + + XVI. Fragments of Science 425 + + + + + NEW YORK: + D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, + 72 FIFTH AVENUE. + + SINGLE NUMBER, 50 CENTS. YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION, $5.00. + + COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. + + Entered at the Post Office at New York, and admitted for + transmission through the mails at second-class rates. + + + + +[Illustration: AUGUST VON KEKULÉ.] + + + + +APPLETONS' POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. + +JANUARY, 1899. + + + + +THE EVOLUTION OF COLONIES. + +BY JAMES COLLIER. + + +VI.--INDUSTRIAL EVOLUTION. + +The earliest nomadic stage of mankind has left traces in many of the +colonies. The first age of French Canada, of New York, of great part +of North America, was one of hunters and trappers, and it has +continued in the Northwest till recent times. The first brief period +of Rhodesia was that of the big-game hunter. The Boers of the +Transvaal are still as much hunters as farmers. The American +backwoodsman who clears a patch, then sells his improvements to the +first newcomer, and, placing his wife and children and scanty +belongings on a cart, proceeds _da capo_ elsewhere, is a nomadic +pioneer. The stage is in one way or another perpetual, for the class +never quite dies out. The drunken English quarryman who, driven by a +demon of restlessness, continually goes "on tramp," and in his +wanderings covers on foot a space equal to twice the circumference of +the globe, is a demi-savage whose nomadism is only checked by the +"abhorred approaches of old age." If he emigrates, he repeats the old, +wild life as a pick-and-shovel man in Queensland or a quarryman in New +South Wales. The soberer colonial youth, who more luxuriously canters +from farm to farm in New Zealand on the back of a scrub, is a tamer +specimen who settles down when he marries. Nay, the "restless man" who +periodically applies for leave of absence from a colonial legislature +in order to travel in India, China, and Timbuctoo, is a still milder +but not less incorrigible example of the same indestructible type. + +The pastoral stage is all but universal. Wherever grass grows (and +there is wild grass almost everywhere) sheep can graze, and where +there are succulent twigs cattle will fatten on them. The South +American _estancias_ and the ranches of Colorado, the cattle runs of +Queensland and northern New Zealand, the sheep runs of Victoria and +New South Wales repeat and perpetuate this stage. The genesis of it +may even now be daily observed. A Manchester accountant who has never +before been astride a horse will in twelve months learn the mysteries +of cattle and sheep farming, then purchase a hundred acres or two from +the colonial Government, gradually clear it of timber, build of his +own trees, with no skilled assistance, a weatherboard cottage, and +take home a swiftly wooed wife to lead with him a rather desolate +existence in "the bush." Or (on a larger scale) a squatter,[1] who is +commonly a gentleman by birth and education, comes out from England +with inherited wealth, buys or leases from the Government a large +inland tract of grazing land, takes with him flocks and herds, +shepherds and stockmen, builds a bark or wooden manor house, and +settles down to the life of Abram on the plains of Mamre. In earlier +days, when the colony was in its infancy, he would not have had to +purchase or lease his "run." One country after another saw the golden +age of a would-be landed aristocracy. As Norman William parceled out +all England among his nobles and knights, rulers of conquered +countries were then mighty free with what did not belong to them. +Possessing the authority of a sovereign, Columbus made lavish grants +of land, and thus pacified his rebels. Charles II presented Carolina +to eight proprietors. Baronies of twelve thousand acres in South +Carolina, manors of twenty thousand acres in Maryland, were dwarfed by +territorial principalities of more than a million acres in New York. +The absolute governors of early Australia gave away wide tracts. When +land was not given it was taken, on Rob Roy's principle. During the +interregnum that followed the recall of the first Governor of New +South Wales, military robbers seized fifteen thousand acres, and under +subsequent administrations they continued their depredations. Land was +held on various tenures. The first American forms were varieties of +belated feudalism; of a hundred often strange and ridiculous emblems +of suzerainty perhaps a dozen repeated Old World customs.[2] Sir H. S. +Maine has proved that nearly all the feudal exactions that maddened a +whole people to mutiny in 1789 were then in force in England. How +shadowy they must have grown is shown by the fact that none of them +was transported to Botany Bay in that or later years. They were +atrophied portions of the British land system when Australia was +founded in 1788. For fully sixteen years the possession of lands +granted or seized was as absolute as the English law ever allows it to +be. Then the landholders, finding the large tracts already conceded +insufficient for the development of the pastoral industry, applied for +more, and themselves suggested in 1803 a plan of leasing crown lands +which in the following year was legalized as "the first charter of +squatterdom"; it was the beginning of a system that has brought under +pastoral occupancy territories as extensive as the largest European +countries. The land system formed part of or gave birth to a political +organization. A host of so-called _seigneurs_ imported into old Canada +as much of the _ancien régime_ as would bear the voyage. Manors in +Maryland reproduced the feudal courts-baron and courts-leet. The great +New York landowners, as inheriting both English and Dutch +institutions, presided in such courts and were at the same time +hereditary members of a powerful legislative order.[3] The courts were +dropped on the way out to Australia, but the political influence of +the English landed aristocracy inhered in their representatives at the +antipodes. As the Southern slavearchy, through its Washingtons and +Jeffersons, Clays and Calhouns, was for three quarters of a century +the driving force in American politics, the Australian squatterarchy +for one generation or more ruled the seven colonies with a sway that +waxed as the absolute power of the governor waned. It composed the +legislature, appointed the judges, controlled the executive, and if +the governor was refractory it sent him home. In both southern +countries social life reflected its tastes and was the measure of its +grandeur. It constituted "society," ran the races, gave the balls, and +kept open house; the surrounding villages lived in its sunshine. Why +could not this patriarchal state last, as it has lasted in Arabia for +thousands of years and in Europe for centuries? In the Southern States +it was brought to bankruptcy by the civil war. In Australia it +collapsed before two enemies as deadly--a succession of droughts and a +fall in the price of wool. The banker has his foot on the squatter's +neck. If one may judge from the published maps, three fourths of the +freehold land in the older colonies is in the hands of the money +lenders. The once lordly runholder, who would have excluded from his +table, or at least from his visiting circle, any one engaged in +commerce, is now the tenant of a mortgage company which began by using +him too well and ended by crushing him unmercifully. + +It is also brought to a close by the rise of the agricultural stage. +The colonial _latifundia_ gets broken up for the same economic reasons +as that of the mother country. Whenever from the increase of +population wheat-growing becomes more profitable than grazing, land +rises in value, and vast sheep walks are subdivided into +two-hundred-acre farms, which are put under the plow. The transition +may be retarded in some countries and altogether arrested in others. +Nasse has shown that, in consequence of the moisture of the climate, +there was in the sixteenth century a continual tendency in England to +revert from agriculture to pasture. The light rainfall, high +temperatures, and unfertilized soil will forever keep nine tenths of +Australia under grass. Most of the mountainous north and the +glacier-shaved portions of the south of New Zealand must be perpetual +cattle runs and sheep walks. A century or perhaps centuries will pass +before much of the light soil of Tasmania, hardly enriched by the +scanty foliage of the eucalyptus, is sufficiently fertilized by +grazing to grow corn. Rich alluvial or volcanic lands are put under +the plow, without passing through the pastoral stage, as soon as +markets are created by the advent of immigrants. There is a cry for +farm lands. Companies that have bought large estates break them up +into allotments. When they or other large landholders still resist +pressure, the radical colonial legislature accelerates their +deliberations by putting on the thumbscrew of a statute which +confiscates huge cantles of their land. Or the colonial Government, if +socialist-democratic, purchases extensive properties, which it breaks +up into farms and communistic village settlements. Over wide tracts +the agriculturist, great and small, takes the place of the +pastoralist. He holds his lands under a variety of tenures. New South +Wales, in its search for an ideal form, has flowered into fifteen +varieties. Other colonies are stumbling toward it more or less blindly +through a succession of annual statutes. Where land is abundant the +tenure will be easy. In North America nominal quitrents were general; +the system was long since introduced into South Africa, and it has +lately been imported into New Zealand in spite of all previous +experience to the effect that such rents can not be collected. Mr. +Eggleston remarks that in the United States the tendency was to "a +simple and direct ownership of the soil by the occupant." Since those +days Henry George has come and (alas!) gone. A craze for the +nationalization of the land buzzes in the bonnets of all who have no +land. There is an equal reluctance on the part of colonial +legislatures to grant waste lands as freeholds and on the part of +purchasers to accept them on any other terms. Hence the constant +effort to devise a tenure which shall reserve the rights of the colony +and yet not oppress the tenant. One legislature has blasphemed into +the "eternal lease," which would seem to be almost preferable to +absolute ownership in a country subject to earthquakes! But the +tenure in the early days is unimportant. With a virgin soil yielding +at first seventy and then regularly forty bushels to the acre, and +high prices ruling, the farmer can stand any tenure. Seen at market or +cattle show, his equine or bovine features and firm footing on mother +earth suggest a sense of solidity in the commonwealth to which he +belongs. He gives it its character. The legislature consists of his +representatives. Laws are passed in his interest. He controls the +executive. His sons fill the civil service. Judges sometimes come from +his ranks, and lawyers easily fall back into them. He supports the +churches and fills them. Small towns spring up in place of the +pastoral villages to supply his wants. As the period of the Golden +Fleece was the colonial age of gold, when Jason, the wool king, made a +fortune, received a baronetcy, and, returning to the mother country, +founded a county family and intermarried with the British aristocracy, +so the agricultural stage is the colonial age of silver, in money as +in morals. It lasted in England till well into the century, in Germany +till the other day, in France till now. It is, in the main, the stage +of contemporary colonies. What brings _it_ to an end? The soil gets +exhausted, prices fall, and a succession of wet seasons in New Zealand +or of dry seasons in Australia or South Africa sends the farmer into +the money market. Nearly every province of almost every colony gets +mortgaged up to the hilt. The foot of the land agent is on the neck of +the farmer, who becomes his tenant or serf--_adscriptus glebæ_ as much +as the Old English villeins who were the ancestors of the farmer, or +the Virginia villeins who repeated in the seventeenth century the Old +English status. But tenancy does not always arise out of bankrupt +proprietorship. A capitalist may drain an extensive marsh (like that +along the valley of the Shoalhaven River in New South Wales) and +divide the rich alluvial soil into hundreds of profitable dairy farms. +More inland marshes, like the Piako Swamp in New Zealand, have been so +completely drained as to make the soil too dry to carry wheat, and so +have swamped both capitalists and banker. Where the squatter owner +keeps the land in his own hands, he may lease an unbroken-up tract for +three or five years to a farmer who plows and fences it, takes off +crops, pays a light rent of from five to fifteen bushels per acre, and +leaves it in grass. On one tenure or another the whole colony +gradually comes into cultivation. + +The predominance of the agricultural interest is long threatened and +at length shaken by the rise of the industrial stage. It is partly +evolved from the pastoral and agricultural stages and partly +independent. Nor do these stages at once and necessarily give rise to +collective industry. In all young colonies where the population is +scanty and processes are simple there are no division and no +association of labor. The account that one of the best of American +historians gives of the Northwest Territory might be accepted as a +description of this primitive state, and realizes Fichte's ideal of a +_geschlossener Handelstaat_ (closed trade state). Shut in by +mountains, the people raised their own flax and sometimes grew their +own wool, which they spun and wove at home. They made their own +spinning wheels and looms, as they made their own furniture. They +tanned their own leather and cobbled rude shoes of it. Of Indian-corn +husks they spun ropes and manufactured horse collars and chair +bottoms. Barrels and beehives were formed of sawn hollow trees. They +extracted sugar from the maple and tea from the sassafras root. Their +boats were dug-out canoes. In colonies of later foundation this +self-sufficing stage, which repeats an earlier period in the mother +country than the time when the colony was given off, is dropped, +though there are traces of it everywhere to be found. Sheep countries +give birth to the woolen industry. New Zealand reduplicates the woolen +manufactures of England and, owing to protective duties, has attained +a deserved success. New South Wales, with finer wools, has not +succeeded, for no other apparent reason than that she refuses to +impose such duties. For it is to be observed that it is under +legislative protection--bounties, bonuses, drawbacks, export and +especially import duties--that almost every colonial industry has +grown up, as the industries of the mother country grew up. Sometimes +the profit in a particular undertaking is exactly equal to the amount +of the import duty, and it is seldom greater. By taking extravagant +advantage of the liberty long refused (as leave to manufacture was +long refused to the North American colonies), but at length conceded, +to impose import duties, an Australasian colony, misled as much by its +own splendid energy as by evil counselors (Carlyle among them), built +up a whole artificial system of industries which sank in ruinous +collapse when the boom had passed. Independent industries spring first +from the soil. Gold and silver mining lose their wild adventurous +character, and become regular industries, worked by companies with +extensive plants. The digging of gum in Auckland (bled from the +gigantic Kauri pine) is operated by merchants who keep the gum diggers +in a species of serfage. The discovery of coal makes native industries +possible or remunerative, but till iron has been found the system is +incomplete. All countries, and therefore all colonies, are late in +reaching this stage; the most advanced contemporary colonies have not +yet reached it. None the less have they followed England with swifter +steps, if with less momentum, into the modern age of iron--that +Brummagem epoch which has the creation of markets for its war cry, +state socialism for its gospel, Joseph of Birmingham for its prophet, +and the British Empire for its deity. + +The iron age is fitly inaugurated by the most degraded relationship +that man can bear to man--that of slavery. Only the oldest of modern +colonies imitate the mother countries in passing through this stage; +in those of later foundation a mere shadow of it remains, or it takes +other shapes. Colonists first enslave the natives of the country where +they settle. In the South American colonies, where they went to find +gold, they would work for no other purpose; they therefore needed the +natives to till the soil; they needed them also as carriers. For these +purposes they were used unscrupulously. They were distributed among +the Spaniards under a system of _repartimientos_ which repeated the +provisions of Greek and Roman slavery, and was itself reduplicated +three centuries later in the convict assignment system of New South +Wales. With such savage cruelty was it worked that, according to the +testimony of Columbus, six sevenths of the population of Hispaniola +died under it in a few years. The same form of slavery, but of a very +different character, prevailed in Africa down almost to our own times. +In the British colonies it was submerged in 1834, from causes exterior +to itself, by the humanitarian wave that wrecked the West Indies; in +the French colonies it was abolished by the revolutionary government +of 1848; in the Dutch colonies it possibly subsists to this day. +Theoretically abolished or not, the relationship between civilized +whites and savage blacks must be everywhere a modified form of +slavery; and a white colonization of the African tropics can only take +place under conditions indistinguishable from a limited slavery. In +colder or younger colonies, even if a more refined sentiment had +permitted it, there could be no question of enslaving the fierce red +Indians, the warlike Maoris, or the intractable Australian blacks. The +Indians rendered some services to the northern colonists. The Maoris +worked for the first immigrants into Canterbury, but as free laborers, +and the phase soon passed away as more valuable labor arrived. Blacks +were in the early years employed by the Australian settlers, but like +nearly all savages they were found incapable of continuous industry. +The next step is to import slaves. To lighten the oppression of the +Mexicans, negroes were introduced, as they had previously been into +Europe. There, and still more in the southern colonies of North +America, they were the chief pioneers. They cut down forests, cleared +the jungles, drained the swamps, and opened up the country. For the +best part of two hundred years the world's sugar, rice, cotton, +tobacco, and indigo were grown by negro labor. The effect on the negro +himself has been to raise him one grade in the scale of being. If, as +Mr. Galton believes, he is naturally two grades below the European, a +place in the "organization of labor" will have to be found for him +midway between the white workman and the slave. It is, indeed, being +found. As a farmer the negro has totally failed. "But he is a good +laborer under supervision. He is a success in the mines. He has found +acceptance in the iron furnaces and about the coke ovens. He is in +great demand in periods of railroad construction," and he is a Western +pioneer. Above born and bred slaves for life there is the status of +imported slaves for a term. For years Kanakas, hired or captured from +the Melanesian Islands of the Pacific, were used as slaves by the +sugar planters of Queensland, until the outcry in England put a stop +to an ill-conducted traffic. It has since been resumed under humaner +conditions, which make it as defensible as slavery can ever be. +Coolies from India are imported into Fiji and Hongkong practically as +free laborers. They are also employed on board the great liners that +ply between India, China, Australia, and England, much to the +discontent of the working class and to the great satisfaction of the +well-to-do, who thus gain cheaper passages and lower freights. The +radical opposition is no more likely to prevent this form of native +labor from spreading to all suitable environments than the +conservative opposition has prevented women from filling the +employments within their improved capacities. The ubiquitous Chinaman, +again, has imported himself into most colonies, and so long as he +takes a place that the white laborer refuses to occupy, he will +present the ugly problem of the coexistence of an indestructible alien +race with a civilized people whose type of civilization and his are +irreconcilable. + +European colonies have also known white slavery, as Greek and Roman +colonies knew it, and slavery of their own race and nation, as +European countries knew it. Its most degraded type has doubtless been +Spanish, English, and French convictism. The Australian-English is the +most familiar and the worst. The Australian convict was a slave for +life or a long term. Like the slave, he was at the mercy of his +master, excepting that corporal punishment could not be inflicted by +the master's hands. The lash was none the less kept going; in a single +year, in New South Wales, nearly three thousand floggings were +administered. The Roman _ergastula_ were pleasure bowers compared with +the convict hells of Parramatta, in New South Wales, and Port Arthur, +in Tasmania. Marcus Clarke's terrible fiction proves to be still more +terrible fact. Convicts were herded together like pigs; kindness was +rare, oppression general, and many fine men died inch by inch. Such +was the state of things even after the introduction of the assignment +system. According to that system, convicts were assigned as +agricultural laborers and shepherds to settlers who cried out for +them, as the American planters did for slaves. Craftsmen were allotted +to high officials in lieu of salary or to influential persons who +hired them to others (herein repeating English serfdom) or permitted +them to work for themselves, receiving a portion of their earnings +(herein repeating Greek slavery). Mechanics were employed on public +works, and hundreds of buildings were erected by convict masons, +bricklayers, and carpenters. Day laborers were employed on roads, and +hundreds of miles of solid highway are a durable monument to the +memory of the convict. They were the true pioneers of the country, +braving the dangers of the "bush," resisting the aborigines, clearing +and cultivating the land, and developing the resources of the +colonies. For themselves they did well and ill. Many reformed, and +after manumission, which was at first special and at length general, +became respectable citizens, dealers, and traders. Some grew to be +prosperous merchants, wealthy squatters, editors, legislators, and all +but ministers. Their sons are judges, legislators, solicitors, +Government officials, newspaper proprietors. After lasting for sixty +years the system of transportation was at length abolished in +consequence of the opposition of the working class, who objected to +competition, and of the respectable classes generally. The legislative +body and the large landowners were rather in favor of its perpetuity, +and there are still members of the old "slave-driving party" in +Tasmania who regret its discontinuance. + +The bond servants, who were common in New England and at first more +numerous than slaves in the Southern States, repeated the status of +the English serfs. Their origin was various. Crime, debt, sale by +parents, voluntary surrender, and kidnapping all contributed their +quota. The period of indentured service was at first from seven to ten +years, and was ultimately reduced to a fixed term of four years. They +were exchanged and sold like any other commodity. Their treatment +seems to have been often harsh. Like the Australian convicts, many of +them prospered. Leading families in the United States trace their +origin to bondmen. Not a few of the Southern overseers, free laborers, +and small farmers are believed to be descended from them. The vagabond +element in all the States, the "white trash" of the South, and the +criminal and pauper inhabitants of certain regions in the North are +also affiliated on the more degraded sections of the class.[4] + +The worst of modern inventions, it has been said, is the invention of +the workingman. The workingman, however, has a pedigree; he is the son +of the bondman or the serf, and the grandson of the slave, who would +have been still more discreditable "inventions" if they had not been +the outgrowth of their time and place. The servile character of the +workman long survived in European countries; it was not till the +beginning of this century that the last trades were emancipated in +England. While in North America and New South Wales the transition is +plainly traceable, all vestiges of it have disappeared in the younger +colonies. In these, almost from the first, the mechanic is master of +the situation. The carpenter who can put up a wooden cottage commands +regular work and high wages, while the preacher who builds him a house +not made with hands is starved. The anomaly is in perfect consistency +with the biological analogy; the brain is everywhere of late +development. As the colony grows, wages fall, and the position of +professional men becomes more tolerable, but, _en revanche_, the +workman acquires and at length almost monopolizes political power. The +premier and cabinet ministers are sometimes former peddlers, gold +diggers, coal miners, shepherds, etc. The legislative bodies consist +largely of labor representatives. Laws are passed in the interest of +labor. Not content with a share of political power out of all +proportion to their numbers or importance, the regimented trades, +under the command of unscrupulous leaders, deliver a pitched battle +against the employers, with the object of gaining practical possession +of the agencies of production and distribution. They are necessarily +defeated. The value of labor and the importance of the mechanic +decline with the application of machinery to all industrial processes. +Accumulated wealth, subsidizing inventions, acquires an increasing +ascendency. The industrial system is in no greater danger from the +onslaughts of labor than civilized countries from the invasion of +barbarians. + +Only the beginnings of the commercial epoch, or age of bronze, are to +be found in colonies. In production we witness the same supersession +of individual enterprise by the limited liability company. This is +also the case in distribution, where many obsolete Old World stages +are recapitulated. We may still see the long, slow bullock team, the +wearied pack horse (the fur trade in Canada was carried on by +"brigades of pack horses"), the hawker, purveyor of news and gossip. +We easily trace the evolution of the shop: at first a ship, then +landed, with everything inside--groceries, meat, bread, fruit, and +vegetables, clothes, crockery, ironmongery, stationery, and tobacco; +the butcher first hives off, then the baker, the grocer; in course of +time reintegration takes place, and shops are to be found in the +colonial cities which reduplicate Whiteley's in London, where +everything may again be had as in the beginning. The processes of +exchange likewise recapitulate the past. Barter is long universal, and +is still common in colonial villages. Even then a standard is needed. +In the Old English period the "currency" consisted of cattle, named by +a facetious writer "the current _kine_ of the realm." In Virginia and +Maryland tobacco was the circulating medium for a century and a half, +supplemented in Maryland with hemp and flax; taxes were paid in +tobacco, and rent in kind. In Illinois and Canada, skins and furs, +with wampum for small coin; in New England the latter singular +currency was used far into the eighteenth century. New South Wales has +the demerit of inventing the destructive medium of rum; wages were +paid in it or in wheat; meal or spirits were taken at the doors of +theaters. Store receipts for produce were given by the Government and +passed current, not without depreciation; military officers issued +bills for all sums up to one hundred pounds; private individuals, in +the lack of specie, gave promissory notes. Fixed prices were long +unknown; extortioners in the early days of all the colonies made a +profit of a thousand per cent; and in quite recent days usurious +attorneys exacted interest at the rate of a hundred per cent. + +Colonies sometimes anticipate the development of the mother country. +The communistic dreams of the forties in France and England were for a +brief while realized in old Virginia, as they are at this hour being +realized in the village settlements of South Australia; and the state +socialism rendered popular by the German victories of 1870 was perhaps +more thoroughly embodied in convict New South Wales than anywhere else +outside of Peru under the Incas, as it is now sweeping all of the +Australasian colonies onward to an unknown goal. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] In its primary American sense the word _squatter_ denotes the +backwoodsman described in the foregoing paragraph. In its secondary +Australian sense it means the large landholder now described. + +[2] See an instructive article by Mr. Edward Eggleston, Social +Conditions in the Colonies. Century Magazine, 1884, pp. 849, 850. + +[3] Eggleston, _op. cit._, p. 850. + +[4] Eggleston, _op. cit._, p. 858. + + + + +THE MIND'S EYE. + +BY JOSEPH JASTROW. + + HAMLET.--My father,--Methinks, I see my father. + + HORATIO.--O, where, my lord? + + HAMLET.--In my mind's eye, Horatio. + + +It is a commonplace taught from nursery to university that we see with +our eyes, hear with our ears, and feel with the fingers. This is the +truth, but not the whole truth. Indispensable as are the sense organs +in gaining an acquaintance with the world in which we live, yet they +alone do not determine how extensive or how accurate that acquaintance +shall be. There is a mind behind the eye and the ear and the finger +tips which guides them in gathering information, and gives value and +order to the exercise of the senses. This is particularly true of +vision, the most intellectual of all the senses, the one in which mere +acuteness of the sense organ counts least and the training in +observation counts most. The eagle's eye sees farther, but our eyes +tell us much more of what is seen. + +The eye is often compared to a photographic camera, with its eyelid +cap, its iris shutter, its lens, and its sensitive plate--the retina; +when properly adjusted for distance and light, the image is formed on +the retina as on the glass plate, and the picture is taken. So far the +comparison is helpful; but while the camera takes a picture whenever +and wherever the plate happens to be exposed, the complete act of +seeing requires some co-operation on the part of the mind. The retina +may be exposed a thousand times and take but few pictures; or perhaps +it is better to say that the pictures may be taken, but remain +undeveloped and evanescent. The pictures that are developed are +stacked up, like the negatives in the photographer's shop, in the +pigeonholes of our mental storerooms--some faded and blurred, some +poorly arranged or mislaid, some often referred to and fresh prints +made therefrom, and some quite neglected. + +In order to see, it is at once necessary that the retina be suitably +exposed toward the object to be seen, and that the mind be favorably +disposed to the assimilation of the impression. True seeing, +observing, is a double process, partly objective or outward--the thing +seen and the retina--and partly subjective or inward--the picture +mysteriously transferred to the mind's representative, the brain, and +there received and affiliated with other images. Illustrations of such +seeing "with the mind's eye" are not far to seek. Wherever the +beauties and conformations of natural scenery invite the eye of man +does he discover familiar forms and faces (Fig. 1); the forces of +Nature have rough-hewn the rocks, but the human eye detects and often +creates the resemblances. The stranger to whom such curiosities of +form are first pointed out often finds it difficult to discover the +resemblance, but once seen the face or form obtrudes itself in every +view and seems the most conspicuous feature in the outlook. The +flickering fire furnishes a fine background for the activity of the +mind's eye, and against this it projects the forms and fancies which +the leaping flames and the burning embers from time to time suggest. +Not all see these fire-pictures readily, for our mental eyes differ +more from one another than the physical ones, and perhaps no two +persons see the same picture in quite the same way. It is not quite +true, however, as many have held, that in waking hours we all have a +world in common, but in dreams each has a world of his own, for our +waking worlds are made different by the differences in what engages +our interest and our attention. It is true that our eyes when open are +opened very largely to the same views, but by no one observer are all +these views, though visible, really seen. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.[5]--The man's face in the rocks is quite +distinct, and is usually readily found when it is known that there is +a face somewhere. (For this view from the Dalles of the St. Croix, +Minn., I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. W. H. Dudley, of Madison, +Wis.)] + +This characteristic of human vision often serves as a source of +amusement. The puzzle picture with its tantalizing face, or animal, or +what not, hidden in the trees, or fantastically constructed out of +heterogeneous elements that make up the composition, is to many quite +irresistible. We turn it about in all directions, wondering where the +hidden form can be, scanning every detail of the picture, until +suddenly a chance glimpse reveals it, plainly staring us in the face. +When several persons are engaged in this occupation, it is amusing to +observe how blind each is to what the others see; their physical eyes +see alike, but their mental eyes reflect their own individualities. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.--In order to see the lion's head, hold the +dollar exactly inverted and the head will be discovered facing the +left, as above outlined. It is clearer on the dollar itself than in +this reproduction.] + +Thousands upon thousands of persons handle our silver dollar, but few +happen to observe the lion's head which lies concealed in the +representation of the familiar head of Liberty; frequently even a +careful examination fails to detect this hidden emblem of British +rule; but, as before, when once found, it is quite obvious (Fig. 2). +For similar reasons it is a great aid in looking for an object to know +what to look for; to be readily found, the object, though lost to +sight, should be to memory clear. Searching is a mental process +similar to the matching of a piece of fabric in texture or color, when +one has forgotten the sample and must rely upon the remembrance of its +appearance. If the recollection is clear and distinct, recognition +takes place when the judgment decides that what the physical eye sees +corresponds to the image in the mind's eye; with an indistinct mental +image the recognition becomes doubtful or faulty. The novice in the +use of the microscope experiences considerable difficulty in observing +the appearance which his instructor sees and describes, and this +because his conception of the object to be seen is lacking in +precision. Hence his training in the use of the microscope is +distinctly aided by consulting the illustrations in the text-book, for +they enable his mental eye to realize the pictures which it should +entertain. He may be altogether too much influenced by the pictures +thus suggested to his mental vision, and draw what is really not under +his microscope at all; much as the young arithmetician will manage to +obtain the answer which the book requires even at the cost of a resort +to very unmathematical processes. For training in correct and accurate +vision it is necessary to acquire an alert mental eye that observes +all that is objectively visible, but does not permit the subjective to +add to or modify what is really present. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Observe the appearance of these letters at a +distance of eight to twelve feet. An interesting method of testing the +activity of the mind's eye with these letters is described in the +text.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 3_a_.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 3_b_.] + +The importance of the mind's eye in ordinary vision is also well +illustrated in cases in which we see or seem to see what is not really +present, but what for one cause or another it is natural to suppose is +present. A very familiar instance of this process is the constant +overlooking of misprints--false letters, transposed letters, and +missing letters--unless these happen to be particularly striking. We +see only the general physiognomy of the word and the detailed features +are supplied from within; in this case it is the expected that +happens. Reading is done largely by the mental eye; and entire words, +obviously suggested by the context, are sometimes read in, when they +have been accidentally omitted. This is more apt to occur with the +irregular characters used in manuscript than in the more distinct +forms of the printed alphabet, and is particularly frequent in reading +over what one has himself written. In reading proof, however, we are +eager to detect misprints, and this change in attitude helps to make +them visible. It is difficult to illustrate this process +intentionally, because the knowledge that one's powers of observation +are about to be tested places one on one's guard, and thus suppresses +the natural activity of the mind's eye and draws unusual attention to +objective details. Let the reader at this point hold the page at some +distance off--say, eight or twelve feet--and draw an exact +reproduction of the letters shown in Fig. 3. Let him not read further +until this has been done, and _perhaps_ he may find that he has +introduced strokes which were not present in the original. If this is +not the case, let him try the test upon those who are ignorant of its +nature, and he will find that most persons will supply light lines to +complete the contours of the letters which in the original are +suggested but not really present; the original outline, Fig. 3_a_, +becomes something like Fig. 3_b_, and so on for the rest of the +letters. The physical eye sees the former, but the mental eye sees the +latter. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.--For description, see text.] + +I tried this experiment with a class of over thirty university +students of Psychology, and, although they were disposed to be quite +critical and suspected some kind of an illusion, only three or four +drew the letters correctly; all the rest filled in the imaginary light +contours; some even drew them as heavily as the real strokes. I +followed this by an experiment of a similar character. I placed upon +a table a figure (Fig. 4) made of light cardboard, fastened to blocks +of wood at the base so that the pieces would easily stand upright. The +middle piece, which is rectangular and high, was placed a little in +front of the rest of the figure. The students were asked to describe +precisely what they saw, and with one exception they all described, in +different words, a semicircular piece of cardboard with a rectangular +piece in front of it. In reality there was no half-circle of +cardboard, but only parts of two quarter-circles. The students, of +course, were well aware that their physical eyes could not see what +was behind the middle cardboard, but they inferred that the two side +pieces were parts of one continuous semicircle. This they saw, so far +as they saw it at all, with their mind's eye. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.--The black and white portions of this design +are precisely alike, but the effect of looking at the figure as a +pattern in black upon a white background, or as a pattern in white +upon a black background, is quite different, although the difference +is not easily described.] + +There is a further interesting class of illustrations in which a +single outward impression changes its character according as it is +viewed as representing one thing or another. In a general way we see +the same thing all the time, and the image on the retina does not +change. But as we shift the attention from one portion of the view to +another, or as we view it with a different mental conception of what +the figure represents, it assumes a different aspect, and to our +mental eye becomes quite a different thing. A slight but interesting +change takes place if we view Fig. 5 first with the conception that +the black is the pattern to be seen and the white the background, and +again try to see the white as the pattern against a black background. +I give a further illustration of such a change in Fig. 6. In our +first and natural view of this we focus the attention upon the black +lines and observe the familiar illusion, that the four vertical lines +seem far from parallel. That they are parallel can be verified by +measurement, or by covering up all of the diagram except the four main +lines. But if the white part of the diagram is conceived as the design +against a black background, then the design is no longer the same, and +with this change the illusion appears, and the four lines seem +parallel, as they really are. It may require a little effort to bring +about this change, but it is very marked when once realised. + +[Illustration: FIG. 6.--When this figure is viewed as a black pattern +on a white background, the four main vertical lines seem far from +parallel; when it is viewed as a white pattern on a black background +this illusion disappears (or nearly so), and the black lines as well +as the white ones seem parallel.] + +A curious optical effect which in part illustrates the change in +appearance under different aspects is reproduced in Fig. 7. In this +case the enchantment of distance is necessary to produce the +transformation. Viewed at the usual reading distance, we see nothing +but an irregular and meaningless assemblage of black and white +blotches. At a distance of fifteen to eighteen feet, however, a man's +head appears quite clearly. Also observe that after the head has once +been realized it becomes possible to obtain suggestions of it at +nearer distances. + +[Illustration: FIG. 7.--This is a highly enlarged reproduction taken +from a half-tone process print of Lord Kelvin. It appeared in the +Photographic Times.] + +A much larger class of ambiguous diagrams consists of those which +represent by simple outlines familiar geometrical forms or objects. We +cultivate such a use of our eyes, as indeed of all our faculties, as +will on the whole lead to the most profitable results. As a rule, the +particular impression is not so important as what it represents. Sense +impressions are simply the symbols or signs of things or ideas, and +the thing or the idea is more important than the sign. Accordingly, we +are accustomed to interpret lines, whenever we can, as the +representations of objects. We are well aware that the canvas or the +etching or the photograph before us is a flat surface in two +dimensions, but we see the picture as the representation of solid +objects in three dimensions. This is the illusion of pictorial art. So +strong is this tendency to view lines as the symbols of things that if +there is the slightest chance of so viewing them, we invariably do so; +for we have a great deal of experience with things that present their +contours as lines, and very little with mere lines or surfaces. If we +view outlines only, without shading or perspective or anything to +definitely suggest what is foreground and what background, it becomes +possible for the mind to supply these details and see foreground as +background, and _vice versa_. + +[Illustration: FIG. 8.--This drawing may be viewed as the +representation of a book standing on its half-opened covers as seen +from the back of the book; or as the inside view of an open book +showing the pages.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 9.--When this figure is viewed as an arrow, the +upper or feathered end seems flat; when the rest of the arrow is +covered, the feathered end may be made to project or recede like the +book cover in Fig. 8.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 10.--The smaller square may be regarded as either +the nearer face of a projecting figure or as the more distant face of +a hollow figure.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 11.--This represents an ordinary table-glass, the +bottom of the glass and the entire rear side, except the upper +portion, being seen through the transparent nearer side, and the rear +apparently projecting above the front. But it fluctuates in appearance +between this and a view of the glass in which the bottom is seen +directly, partly from underneath, the _whole_ of the rear side is seen +through the transparent front, and the front projects above the back.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 12.--In this scroll the left half may at first +seem concave and the right convex, it then seems to roll or advance +like a wave, and the left seems convex and the right concave, as +though the trough of the wave had become the crest, and _vice versa_.] + +A good example to begin with is Fig. 8. These outlines will probably +suggest at first view a book, or better a book cover, seen with its +back toward you and its sides sloping away from you; but it may also +be viewed as a book opened out toward you and presenting to you an +inside view of its contents. Should the change not come readily, it +may be facilitated by thinking persistently of the appearance of an +open book in this position. The upper portion of Fig. 9 is practically +the same as Fig. 8, and if the rest of the figure be covered up, it +will change as did the book cover; when, however, the whole figure is +viewed as an arrow, a new conception enters, and the apparently solid +book cover becomes the _flat_ feathered part of the arrow. Look at the +next figure (Fig. 10), which represents in outline a truncated pyramid +with a square base. Is the smaller square nearer to you, and are the +sides of the pyramid sloping away from you toward the larger square in +the rear? Or are you looking into the hollow of a truncated pyramid +with the smaller square in the background? Or is it now one and now +the other, according as you decide to see it? Here (Fig. 13) is a +skeleton box which you may conceive as made of wires outlining the +sides. Now the front, or side nearest to me, seems directed downward +and to the left; again, it has shifted its position and is no longer +the front, and the side which appears to be the front seems directed +upward and to the right. The presence of the diagonal line makes the +change more striking: in one position it runs from the left-hand +_rear_ upper corner to the right-hand _front_ lower corner; while in +the other it connects the left-hand _front_ upper corner with the +right-hand _rear_ lower corner. + +[Illustration: FIGS. 13, 13_a_, and 13_b_.--The two methods of viewing +Fig. 13 are described in the text. Figs. 13_a_ and 13_b_ are added to +make clearer the two methods of viewing Fig. 13. The heavier lines +seem to represent the nearer surface. Fig. 13_a_ more naturally +suggests the nearer surface of the box in a position downward and to +the left, and Fig. 13_b_ makes the nearer side seem to be upward and +to the right. But in spite of the heavier outlines of the one surface, +it may be made to shift positions from foreground to background, +although not so readily as in Fig. 13.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Each member of this frieze represents a +relief ornament, applied upon the background, which in cross-section +would be an isosceles triangle with a large obtuse angle, or a space +of similar shape hollowed out of the solid wood or stone. In running +the eye along the pattern, it is interesting to observe how variously +the patterns fluctuate from one of these aspects to the other.] + +[Illustration: FIGS. 15, 15_a_, and 15_b_.--The two views of Fig. 15 +described in the text are brought out more clearly in Figs. 15_a_ and +15_b_. The shaded portion tends to be regarded as the nearer face. +Fig. 15_a_ is more apt to suggest the steps seen as we ascend them. +Fig. 15_b_ seems to represent the hollowed-out structure underneath +the steps. But even with the shading the dual interpretation is +possible, although less obvious.] + +Fig. 15 will probably seen at first glimpse to be the view of a flight +of steps which one is about to ascend from right to left. Imagine it, +however, to be a view of the under side of a series of steps; the view +representing the structure of overhanging solid masonwork seen from +underneath. At first it may be difficult to see it thus, because the +view of steps which we are about to mount is a more natural and +frequent experience than the other; but by staring at it with the +intention of seeing it differently the transition will come, and often +quite unexpectedly. + +[Illustration: FIG. 16.--This interesting figure (which is reproduced +with modifications from Scripture--The New Psychology) is subject in a +striking way to interchanges between foreground and background. Most +persons find it difficult to maintain for any considerable time either +aspect of the blocks (these aspects are described in the text); some +can change them at will, others must accept the changes as they happen +to come.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 17_a_.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 17_b_.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 17. + +FIGS. 17, 17_a_, and 17_b_.--How many blocks are there in this pile? +Six or seven? Note the change in arrangement of the blocks as they +change in number from six to seven. This change is illustrated in the +text. Figs. 17_a_ and 17_b_ show the two phases of a group of any +three of the blocks. The arrangement of a pyramid of six blocks seems +the more stable and is usually first suggested; but hold the page +inverted, and you will probably see the alternate arrangement (with, +however, the black surfaces still forming the tops). And once knowing +what to look for, you will very likely be able to see either +arrangement, whether the diagram be held inverted or not. This method +of viewing the figures upside down and in other positions is also +suggested to bring out the changes indicated in Figs. 13, 13_a_, +13_b_, and in Figs. 15, 15_a_, 15_b_.] + +The blocks in Fig. 16 are subject to a marked fluctuation. Now the +black surfaces represent the bottoms of the blocks, all pointing +downward and to the left, and now the black surfaces have changed and +have become the tops pointing upward and to the right. For some the +changes come at will; for others they seem to come unexpectedly, but +all are aided by anticipating mentally the nature of the +transformation. The effect here is quite striking, the blocks seeming +almost animated and moving through space. In Fig. 17 a similar +arrangement serves to create an illusion as to the real number of +blocks present. If viewed in one way--the black surface forming the +tops of the blocks--there seem to be six arranged as in Fig. 18; but +when the transformation has taken place and the black surfaces have +become the overhanging bottoms of the boxes, there are seven, arranged +as in Fig. 19. Somewhat different, but still belonging to the group of +ambiguous figures, is the ingenious conceit of the duck-rabbit shown +in Fig. 20. When it is a rabbit, the face looks to the right and a +pair of ears are conspicuous behind; when it is a duck, the face looks +to the left and the ears have been changed into the bill. Most +observers find it difficult to hold either interpretation steadily, +the fluctuations being frequent, and coming as a surprise. + +[Illustration: FIG. 18.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 19.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 20.--Do you see a duck or a rabbit, or either? +(From Harper's Weekly, originally in Fliegende Blätter.)] + +All these diagrams serve to illustrate the principle that when the +objective features are ambiguous we see one thing or another according +to the impression that is in the mind's eye; what the objective +factors lack in definiteness the subjective ones supply, while +familiarity, prepossession, as well as other circumstances influence +the result. These illustrations show conclusively that seeing is not +wholly an objective matter depending upon what there is to be seen, +but is very considerably a subjective matter depending upon the eye +that sees. To the same observer a given arrangement of lines now +appears as the representation of one object and now of another; and +from the same objective experience, especially in instances that +demand a somewhat complicated exercise of the senses, different +observers derive very different impressions. + +Not only when the sense-impressions are ambiguous or defective, but +when they are vague--when the light is dim or the forms obscure--does +the mind's eye eke out the imperfections of physical vision. The vague +conformations of drapery and make-up that are identified and +recognized in spiritualistic _séances_ illustrate extreme instances of +this process. The whitewashed tree or post that momentarily startles +us in a dark country lane takes on the guise that expectancy gives it. +The mental predisposition here becomes the dominant factor, and the +timid see as ghosts what their more sturdy companions recognize as +whitewashed posts. Such experiences we ascribe to the action of +suggestion and the imagination--the cloud "that's almost in shape like +a camel," or "like a weasel," or "like a whale." But throughout our +visual experiences there runs this double strain, now mainly outward +and now mainly inward, from the simplest excitements of the retina up +to the realms where fancy soars freed from the confines of sense, and +the objective finds its occupation gone. + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[5] In order to obtain the effects described in the various +illustrations it is necessary in several cases to regard the figures +for a considerable time and with close attention. The reader is +requested not to give up in case the first attempt to secure the +effect is not successful, but to continue the effort for a reasonable +period. Individuals differ considerably in the readiness with which +they obtain such effects; in some cases, such devices as holding the +diagrams inverted or at an angle or viewing them with the eyes half +closed are helpful. + + + + +NATURE STUDY IN THE PHILADELPHIA NORMAL SCHOOL. + +BY L. L. W. WILSON, PH. D. + + +When it was first proposed to me to write for the Popular Science +Monthly a brief account of the biological laboratories in the +Philadelphia Normal School, and of the Nature work carried on under my +direction in the School of Observation and Practice, I felt that I +could not do justice either to the place or the work; for, in my +judgment, the equipment of the laboratories and the work done in +connection with them are finer than anything else of the kind either +in this country or abroad--a statement which it seemed to me that I +could not make with becoming modesty. But, after all, it is not great +Babylon that I have built, but a Babylon builded for me, and to fail +to express my sense of its worth is to fail to do justice to Dr. W. P. +Wilson, formerly of the University of Pennsylvania, to whom their +inception was due; to Mr. Simon Gratz, president of the Board of +Education, who from the beginning appreciated their value, and without +whose aid they never would have taken visible form; to the principals +of the two schools, and, above all, to my five assistants, whose +knowledge, zeal, and hard work have contributed more than anything +else to the rapid building up of the work. + +THE LABORATORIES AND THEIR EQUIPMENT.--The rooms occupied by the +botanical and zoölogical departments of the normal school measure each +seventy by twenty feet. A small workroom for the teachers cuts off +about ten feet of this length from each room. In the middle of the +remaining space stands a demonstration table furnished with hot and +cold water. Each laboratory is lighted from the side by ten windows. +From them extend the tables for the students. These give plenty of +drawer space and closets for dissecting and compound microscopes. +Those in the zoölogical room are also provided with sinks. Each +student is furnished with the two microscopes, stage and eyepiece +micrometers, a drawing camera, a set of dissecting instruments, +glassware, note-books, text-books, and general literature. + +The walls opposite the windows are in both rooms lined with cases, in +which there is a fine synoptic series. + +In the botanical laboratory this systematic collection begins with +models of bacteria and ends with trees. In other cases, placed in the +adjoining corridor, are representatives, either in alcohol or by means +of models, of most of the orders of flowering plants, as well as a +series illustrating the history of the theory of cross-fertilization, +and the various devices by which it is accomplished; another, showing +the different methods of distribution of seeds and fruits; another, +of parasitic plants; and still another showing the various devices by +means of which plants catch animals. + +As an example of the graphic and thorough way in which these +illustrations are worked out, the pines may be cited. There are +fossils; fine specimens of pistillate and staminate flowers in +alcohol; cones; a drawing of the pollen; large models of the flowers; +models of the seeds, showing the embryo and the various stages of +germination; cross and longitudinal sections of the wood; drawings +showing its microscopic structure; pictures of adult trees; and +samples illustrating their economic importance. For the last, the +long-leaved pine of the South is used, and samples are exhibited of +the turpentine, crude and refined; tar and the oil of tar; resin; the +leaves; the same boiled in potash; the same hatcheled into wool; yarn, +bagging and rope made from the wool; and its timber split, sawn, and +dressed. + +The series illustrating the fertilization of flowers begins with a +large drawing, adapted by one of the students from Gibson, showing the +gradual evolution of the belief in cross-fertilization from 1682, when +Nehemiah Grew first declared that seed would not set unless pollen +reached the stigma, down to Darwin, who first demonstrated the +advantages of cross-fertilization and showed many of the devices of +plants by which this is accomplished. The special devices are then +illustrated with models and large drawings. First comes the dimorphic +primrose; then follows trimorphic _Lythrum_, to the beautiful model of +which is appended a copy of the letter in which Darwin wrote to Gray +of his discovery: + + "But I am almost stark, staring mad over Lythrum.... I + should rather like seed of Mitchella. But, oh, Lythrum! + + "Your utterly mad friend, + "C. DARWIN." + +Models of the cucumber, showing the process of its formation, and the +unisexual flowers complete this series. Supplementing this are models +and drawings of a large number of flowers, illustrating special +devices by which cross-fertilization is secured, such as the larkspur, +butter and eggs, orchids, iris, salvia, several composites, the +milkweed, and, most interesting of all, the Dutchman's pipe. This is a +flower that entices flies into its curved trumpet and keeps them there +until they become covered with the ripe pollen. Then the hairs wither, +the tube changes its position, the fly is permitted to leave, carrying +the pollen thus acquired to another flower with the same result. + +Pictures and small busts of many naturalists adorn both of the rooms. +Of these the most notable is an artist proof of Mercier's beautiful +etching of Darwin. Every available inch of wall space is thus +occupied, or else, in the botanical laboratory, has on it mounted +fungi, lichens, seaweeds, leaf cards, pictures of trees, grasses, and +other botanical objects. + +The windows are beautiful with hanging plants from side brackets +meeting the wealth of green on the sill. Here are found in one window +ferns, in another the century plant; in others still, specimens of +economic plants--cinnamon, olive, banana, camphor. On the tables are +magnificent specimens of palms, cycads, dracænas, and aspidistras, and +numerous aquaria filled with various water plants. Most of these +plants are four years old, and all of them are much handsomer than +when they first became the property of the laboratory. How much +intelligent and patient care this means only those who have attempted +to raise plants in city houses can know. + +The zoölogical laboratory is quite as beautiful as the botanical, for +it, too, has its plants and pictures. It is perhaps more interesting +because of its living elements. Think of a schoolroom in which are +represented alive types of animals as various as these: amoeba, +vorticella, hydra, worms, muscles, snails and slugs of various kinds, +crayfish, various insects, including a hive of Italian bees, goldfish, +minnows, dace, catfish, sunfish, eels, tadpoles, frogs, newts, +salamanders, snakes, alligators, turtles, pigeons, canaries, mice, +guinea-pigs, rabbits, squirrels, and a monkey! Imagine these living +animals supplemented by models of their related antediluvian forms, or +fossils, by carefully labeled dissections, by preparations and +pictures illustrating their development and mode of life; imagine in +addition to this books, pamphlets, magazines, and teachers further to +put you in touch with this wonderful world about us, and you will then +have some idea of the environment in which it is the great privilege +of our students to live for five hours each week. + +In addition to these laboratories there is a lecture room furnished +with an electric lantern. Here each week is given a lecture on general +topics, such as evolution and its problems, connected with the work of +the laboratories. + +THE COURSE OF STUDY PURSUED BY THE NORMAL STUDENTS.--Botany: In +general, the plants and the phenomena of the changing seasons are +studied as they occur in Nature. In the fall there are lessons on the +composites and other autumn flowers, on fruits, on the ferns, mosses, +fungi, and other cryptogams. In the winter months the students grow +various seeds at home, carefully drawing and studying every stage in +their development. Meanwhile, in the laboratory, they examine +microscopically and macroscopically the seeds themselves and the +various food supplies stored within. By experimentation they get +general ideas of plant physiology, beginning with the absorption of +water by seeds, the change of the food supply to soluble sugar, the +method of growth, the functions, the histology, and the modifications +of stem, root, and leaves. In the spring they study the buds and +trees, particularly the conifers, and the different orders of +flowering plants. + +The particular merit of the work is that it is so planned that each +laboratory lesson compels the students to reason. Having once thus +obtained their information, they are required to drill themselves out +of school hours until the facts become an integral part of their +knowledge. + +For the study of fruits, for example, they are given large trays, each +divided into sixteen compartments, plainly labeled with the name of +the seed or fruit within. Then, by means of questions, the students +are made to read for themselves the story which each fruit has to +tell, to compare it with the others, and to deduce from this +comparison certain general laws. + +After sufficient laboratory practice of this kind they are required to +read parts of Lubbock's Flower, Fruit, and Leaves, Kerner's Natural +History of Plants, Wallace's Tropical Nature, and Darwinism, etc. + +Finally, they are each given a type-written summary of the work, and +after a week's notice are required to pass a written examination. + +Zoölogy: The course begins in the fall with a rather thorough study of +the insects, partly because they are then so abundant, and partly +because a knowledge of them is particularly useful to the grade +teacher in the elementary schools. + +The locust is studied in detail. Tumblers and aquaria are utilized as +vivaria, so that there is abundant opportunity for the individual +study of living specimens. Freshly killed material is used for +dissection, so that students have no difficulty in making out the +internal anatomy, which is further elucidated with large, home-made +charts, each of which shows a single system, and serves for a text to +teach them the functions of the various organs as worked out by modern +physiologists. + +They then study, always with abundant material, the other insects +belonging to the same group. They are given two such insects, a bug, +and two beetles, and required to classify them, giving reasons for so +doing. While this work is going on they have visited the beehive in +small groups, sometimes seeing the queen and the drone, and always +having the opportunity to see the workers pursuing their various +occupations, and the eggs, larvæ, and pupæ in their different states +of development. Beautiful models of the bees and of the comb, together +with dry and alcoholic material, illustrate further this +metamorphosis, by contrast making clearer the exactly opposite +metamorphosis of the locust. + +At least one member of each of the other orders of insects is compared +with these two type forms, and, although only important points are +considered at all, yet from one to two hours of laboratory work are +devoted to each specimen. This leisurely method of work is pursued to +give the students the opportunity, at least, to think for themselves. +When the subject is finished they are then given a searching test. +This is never directly on their required reading, but planned to show +to them and to their teachers whether they have really assimilated +what they have seen and studied. + +After this the myriapods, the earthworm, and peripatus are studied, +because of their resemblance to the probable ancestors of insects. In +the meantime they have had a dozen or more fully illustrated lectures +on evolution, so that at the close of this series of lessons they are +expected to have gained a knowledge of the methods of studying +insects, whether living or otherwise, a working hypothesis for the +interpretation of facts so obtained, and a knowledge of one order, +which will serve admirably as a basis for comparison in much of their +future work. + +They then take up, more briefly, the relatives of the insects, the +spiders and crustaceans, following these with the higher +invertebrates, reaching the fish in April. This, for obvious reasons, +is their last dissection. But with living material, and the beautiful +preparations and stuffed specimens with which the laboratory is +filled, they get a very general idea of the reptiles, birds, and +mammals. This work is of necessity largely done by the students out of +school hours. For example, on a stand on one of the tables are placed +the various birds in season, with accompanying nests containing the +proper quota of eggs. Books and pamphlets relating to the subject are +placed near. Each student is given a syllabus which will enable her to +study these birds intelligently indoors and out, if she wishes to do +so. + +In the spring are taken up the orders of animals below the insect, and +for the last lesson a general survey of all the types studied gives +them the relationships of each to the other. + +THE COURSE OF STUDY PURSUED IN THE SCHOOL OF PRACTICE.--In addition to +the plants and animals about them, the children study the weather, +keeping a daily record of their observations, and summarizing their +results at the end of the month. In connection with the weather and +plants they study somewhat carefully the soil and, in this connection, +the common rocks and minerals of Philadelphia--gneiss, mica schist, +granite, sandstone, limestones, quartz, mica, and feldspar. + +As in the laboratories, so here the effort is made to teach the +children to reason, to read the story told by the individual plant, or +animal, or stone, or wind, or cloud. A special effort is made to teach +them to interpret everyday Nature as it lies around them. For this +reason frequent short excursions into the city streets are made. Those +who smile and think that there is not much of Nature to be found in a +city street are those who have never looked for it. Enough material +for study has been gathered in these excursions to make them a feature +of this work, even more than the longer ones which they take twice a +year into the country. + +Last year I made not less than eighty such short excursions, each time +with classes of about thirty-five. They were children of from seven to +fourteen years of age. Without their hats, taking with them +note-books, pencils, and knives, they passed with me to the street. +The passers-by stopped to gaze at us, some with expressions of +amusement, others of astonishment; approval sometimes, quite +frequently the reverse. But I never once saw on the part of the +children a consciousness of the mild sensation that they were +creating. They went for a definite purpose, which was always +accomplished. + +The children of the first and second years study nearly the same +objects. Those of the third and fourth years review this general work, +studying more thoroughly some one type. When they enter the fifth +year, they have considerable causal knowledge of the familiar plants +and animals, of the stones, and of the weather. But, what is more +precious to them, they are sufficiently trained to be able to look at +new objects with a truly "seeing eye." + +The course of study now requires general ideas of physiology, and, in +consequences, the greater portion of their time for science is devoted +to this subject. I am glad to be able to say, however, that it is not +"School Physiology" which they study, but the guinea-pig and The +Wandering Jew! + +In other words, I let them find out for themselves how and what the +guinea-pig eats; how and what he expires and inspires; how and why he +moves. Along with this they study also plant respiration, +transpiration, assimilation, and reproduction, comparing these +processes with those of animals, including themselves. + +The children's interest is aroused and their observation stimulated by +the constant presence in the room with them of a mother guinea-pig and +her child. Nevertheless, I have not hesitated to call in outside +materials to help them to understand the work. A series of lessons on +the lime carbonates, therefore, preceded the lessons on respiration; +an elephant's tooth, which I happened to have, helped to explain the +guinea-pig's molars; and a microscope and a frog's leg made real to +them the circulation of the blood. + +In spite of the time required for the physiology, the fifth-year +children have about thirty lessons on minerals; the sixth-year, the +same number on plants; and the seventh-year, on animals; and it would +be difficult to decide which of these subjects rouses their greatest +enthusiasm. + + + + +PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION.[6] + +BY THE LATE HON. DAVID A. WELLS. + + +XX.--THE LAW OF THE DIFFUSION OF TAXES. + +PART I. + +No attempt ought to be made to construct or formulate an economically +correct, equitable, and efficient system of taxation which does not +give full consideration to the method or extent to which taxes diffuse +themselves after their first incidence. On this subject there is a +great difference of opinion, which has occasioned, for more than a +century, a vast and never-ending discussion on the part of economic +writers. All of this, however, has resulted in no generally accepted +practical conclusions; has been truthfully characterized by a leading +French economist (M. Parieu) as marked in no small part by the +"simplicity of ignorance," and from a somewhat complete review +(recently published[7]) of the conflicting theories advanced by +participants one rises with a feeling of weariness and disgust. + +The majority of economists, legislators, and the public generally +incline to the opinion that taxes mainly rest where they are laid, and +are not shifted or diffused to an extent that requires any +recognition in the enactment of statutes for their assessment. Thus, +a tax commission of Massachusetts, as the result of their +investigations, arrived at the conclusion that "the tendency of taxes +is that they must be paid by the actual persons on whom they are +levied." But a little thought must, however, make clear that unless +the advancement of taxes and their final and actual payment are one +and the same thing, the Massachusetts statement is simply an evasion +of the main question at issue, and that its authors had no intelligent +conception of it. A better proposition, and one that may even be +regarded as an economic axiom, is that, regarding taxation as a +synonym for a force, as it really is, it follows the natural and +invariable law of all forces, and distributes itself in the line of +least resistance. It is also valuable as indicating the line of +inquiry most likely to lead to exact and practical conclusions. But +beyond this it lacks value, inasmuch as it fails to embody any +suggestions as to the best method of making the involved principle a +basis for any general system for correct taxation; inasmuch as "the +line of least resistance" is not a positive factor, and may be and +often is so arranged as to make levies on the part of the State under +the name of taxation subservient to private rather than public +interests. Under such circumstances the question naturally arises, +What is the best method for determining, at least, the approximative +truth in respect to this vexed subject? A manifestly correct answer +would be: _first_, to avoid at the outset all theoretic assumptions as +a basis for reasoning; _second_, to obtain and marshal all the facts +and conditions incident to the inquiry or deducible from experience; +_third_, recognize the interdependence of all such facts and +conclusions; _fourth_, be practical in the highest degree in accepting +things as they are, and dealing with them as they are found; and on +such a basis attention is next asked to the following line of +investigations. + +It is essential at the outset to correct reasoning that the +distinction between _taxation_ and _spoliation_ be kept clearly in +view. That only is entitled to be called a tax law which levies +uniformly upon all the subjects of taxation; which does not of itself +exempt any part of the property of _the same_ class which is selected +to bear the primary burden of taxation, or by its imperfections to any +extent permits such exemptions. All levies or assessments made by the +State on the persons, property, or business of its citizens that do +not conform to such conditions are spoliations, concerning which +nothing but irregularity can be predicated; nothing positive +concerning their diffusion can be asserted; and the most complete +collection of experiences in respect to them can not be properly +dignified as "a science." And it may be properly claimed that from a +nonrecognition or lack of appreciation of the broad distinction +between taxation and spoliation, the disagreement among economists +respecting the diffusion of taxes has mainly originated. + +With this premise, let us next consider what facts and experiences are +pertinent to this subject, and available to assist in reaching sound +conclusions; proceeding very carefully and cautiously in so doing, +inasmuch as territory is to be entered upon that has not been +generally or thoroughly explored. + +The facts and experiences of first importance in such inquiry are that +the examination of the tax rolls in any State, city, or municipality +of the United States will show that surprisingly small numbers of +persons primarily pay or advance any kind of taxes. It is not probable +that more than one tenth of the adult population or about one +twentieth of the entire population of the United States ever come in +contact officially with a tax assessor or tax collector. It is also +estimated that less than two per cent of the total population of the +United States advance the entire customs and internal revenue of the +Federal Government. + +In the investigations made in 1871, by a commission created by the +Legislature of the State of New York to revise its laws relative to +the assessment and collection of taxes, it was found that in the city +of New York, out of a population of over one million in the above +year, only 8,920 names, or less than one per cent of this great +multitude of people, had "any household furniture, money, goods, +chattels, debts due from solvent debtors, whether on account of +contract, note, bond, or mortgage, or any public stocks, or stocks in +moneyed corporations, or in general any personal property of which the +assessors could take cognizance for taxation"; and further, that not +over _four_ per cent, or, say, forty thousand persons out of the +million, were subject to any primary tax in respect to the ownership +of any property whatever, real or personal; while only a few years +subsequent, or in 1875, the regular tax commissioners of New York +estimated that of the property defined and described by the laws of +the State as personal property, an amount approximating two thousand +million dollars in value was held in New York city alone. Later +investigations show that this state of things has continued. Thus, in +1895, out of a population of about two million, it was estimated that +only seventy-nine thousand, or not over four per cent of the +inhabitants of the city, were subject to primary taxation, and that +one half the whole amount collected in that year was paid by less than +a thousand persons. In the city of Boston, where the tax laws are +executed in the most arbitrary manner, the ratio of population +directly assessed is somewhat greater, but aside from the poll tax, +which is a per capita and not a property tax, only 7.27 per cent of +residents paid a property tax in 1895 out of a population of 494,205. +In one of the smaller cities of Massachusetts, where persons and +property are capable of more thorough supervision than larger numbers +and areas--namely, the city of Springfield, with a population of about +fifty thousand--the report of its tax officials shows that for the +year 1894-'95 the number of persons and corporations assessed on +property (mainly real estate) was 7,745, or one for every 6.4 of its +citizens, while 10,560 other citizens were assessed for a poll tax of +two dollars only. Of the total amount of taxes assessed--namely, +$735,948--the above number, 10,560, paid only $21,120; and this is the +experience generally throughout the United States, as it will be in +every country under a free popular government, where arbitrary +inquisitions and arrests of persons and seizures of property are not +allowed, and where a soldier does not practically stand behind every +tax assessor and collector. + +The time (1871) when the personal investigations above referred to +were made was when the masses of the city of New York were moved with +indignation at the misuse and private appropriation by a few officials +(Tweed and his associates) of the municipal revenues raised by +taxation, under cover of instituting public improvements, and which +finally led to their prosecution, imprisonment, or self-imposed exile; +and the questions which naturally suggested themselves were: If only +some forty thousand of the million in New York city paid the taxes, +what interest had the other nine hundred and sixty thousand who never +saw the face of a tax assessor or collector in opposing corruption? +What, in an honest administration of the city government and in a +reduction of taxes? Must it not be for the interest of the many that +the expenditures of the State shall always be as large as possible? +Must they not be benefited by exorbitant taxes on the owners of +property, and a distribution of the money collected, even if stolen by +corruptionists, but spent by them lavishly on enterprises that will +furnish new opportunities for employment or amusement for the masses? +Clearly, so far as any personal experience growing out of any _direct_ +assessment and levy was concerned, ninety-six per cent of the +population of the city had no more cause of personal grievance by +reason of the unlawful taking of money from the city treasury than +they would have had at the taking of an equivalent amount from the +municipal treasuries of London, Paris, or any other city. + +The answer to these questions is to be found in the fact, as John +Adams once remarked, that "if the Creator had given man a reason that +is fallible, he has also impressed upon him an instinct that is sure." +And this instinct teaches the masses everywhere, though they have +never read a book on political economy, or heard any one discourse +learnedly on the principles of taxation, that if taxes are increased, +either by a lawful or unlawful expenditure of public money, they can +not in any possible way avoid paying some portion of its increase; or, +in other words, that increased taxes meant increased cost of living, +through increased rents, increased price of fuel, clothing, and +provisions, and possibly diminished opportunity to labor through such +increased cost of the products of labor as would limit and restrict +markets or consumption. In short, that taxes inevitably fall upon them +through the increased price of all they consume, even if they pay +nothing to the tax collector directly. A large proportion of the +masses of the city of New York in 1871-'72, who paid no taxes +directly, accordingly and spontaneously joined hands with the +comparatively few of their fellow-citizens who did pay in resisting +extravagance and corruption.[8] + +We are thus led up and forced to the recognition of two propositions, +or rather principles, in respect to taxation that can not be +invalidated. The _first_ is, that it is not necessary that a tax +assessor or collector should personally assess and levy upon every +citizen of a State or community in order that all should be compelled +to contribute of his property for the support of such State or +community; _second_, that there is an inexorable law by which every +man must bear a portion of the burden of public expenditures, even +though the official assessors take no direct cognizance of him +whatever. + +The following incident may here be cited as instructive: In one of the +recent official hearings before a legislative committee of one of the +States, a strenuous advocate of the popular doctrine that there was +and could be no such thing as equality in taxation except by rigidly +taxing everybody directly for all his property, of every description, +both real and personal, and that to not tax immediately and directly +was, in at least a great degree, to exempt from taxation, expressed +himself as entirely opposed to any system of restricting assessments +to a comparatively few things, on the ground that it would be a +recognition in the United States of a system which in Great Britain +had ground down the masses into poverty. He, however, obtained some +new light on the subject of nondiffusion by being reminded that if the +masses of England had been grievously oppressed by taxation, it had +been under a system of many years' standing, which never in any way +brings the tax collector in direct contact with nineteen twentieths of +the entire population; the customs taxes of Great Britain being +practically levied on only four articles--spirits, tea, coffee, and +tobacco; and the inland revenue also on practically four--spirits, +beer, legacies and successions, and stamps (on deeds, insurance +policies, bills of exchange, receipts, drafts, etc.). Generalizing, +then, on the basis of so broad a fact, how illogical and unscientific +was the assumption that whatever persons, property, or business are +not taxed directly are exempt from taxation!--and yet the practical +exemplification of such a system, in the case of England, was a most +efficient instrumentality for grinding the masses of her people down +to poverty. + +On the other hand, to generalize from the experience of an individual +or a class in place of that of a nation or community, let us take the +case of a person who passes all the year _in transitu_--moving +backward and forward, for example, in a boat on the line of the Erie +Canal, or between the head waters of the Mississippi and its mouth; a +citizen of no one State, a resident in no one town, and buying all +that he eats, drinks, and wears wherever he can buy cheapest. Does +this man escape taxation because he has no permanent _situs_ +(residence as a citizen), and is unknown by any assessor? If he does, +then his occupation is more profitable to the extent of the taxes he +avoids than is that of the individual who, following analogous +occupations, resides permanently in one location, and pays taxes +regularly; or else some notable, easily discernible cause, as undue +competition to obtain situations, will account for his exemption. + +Let us next consider how practical experience definitely indicates the +line of least resistance, in conformity with which those contributions +of property or service which the State requires its citizens to make +for its support, and are worthy of designation as taxes, diffuse +themselves. Let us take first that form of indirect taxation which is +known as customs, or taxes on imports, one from which the Federal +Government of the United States has derived in recent years more than +half of its revenue, and Great Britain more than one fourth of its +total receipts from all forms of imperial taxes. That all such taxes +as a rule diffuse themselves, and ultimately fall upon and are paid by +final consumers, is capable of demonstration by a great variety of +evidence. Every remission of customs duties on the imports into any +country of its staple articles of consumption is followed by a +reduction of cost approximately equal to such reduction, and a +consequent increase in consumption. On the other hand, nothing is +better settled than that an increase in customs taxes on imported +articles as a rule increases prices and tends to reduce consumption. +When Great Britain, in 1863, reduced her taxes (duties) on her imports +of tea from 1_s._ 5_d._ to 1_s._ per pound, her importation of tea +increased from 114,000,000 pounds in 1862 to 139,000,000 in 1866, and +her per capita consumption during the same period from 2.70 pounds to +3.42 pounds; and again, when the duty was further reduced in 1865 from +1_s._ to 6_d._ per pound, the annual importations increased from +139,000,000 in 1866 to 209,000,000 in 1881, and the per capita +consumption from 3.42 pounds to 4.58. + +When by the act of October, 1890, the tax was removed from the imports +of crude sugars into the United States, the price of the same went +down almost immediately to an equal extent in all American markets; +while the consumption of sugar in the country increased from an +average of about fifty-four pounds per capita in 1890 to more than +sixty-seven pounds in 1892. A like result has attended a similar +experience in respect to this in other countries, and especially in +Great Britain. Thus, the aggregate consumption of sugar by the British +people in 1844 was returned at 237,143 tons. A reduction of taxes on +its importation in 1864 increased its domestic use to 528,919 tons; a +reduction of fifty per cent on existing rates in 1870 made it 695,029 +tons; another reduction of fifty per cent in 1873 carried up +consumption to 779,000 tons; and when, in 1874, all taxes on the +imports of sugar were abolished, the annual domestic consumption +increased in little more than a year's period to 930,000 tons. On the +other hand, when by the tariff act of 1890 an additional tax of half a +cent per pound was imposed on the import of tin plate into the United +States, tin plate went up to an equal extent in price all over the +country; and so also on pearl buttons, linen goods, and other articles +of foreign production on the importations of which the tariff taxes +were largely increased. By the tariff act of 1890, also, eggs, which +could formerly be imported into the United States free of duty, were +made subject to a tax of five cents per dozen. Since then the price of +eggs imported from Canada into districts of the United States within +the same sphere of territorial competition has been increased to the +American consumers to almost exactly the extent of the import tax to +which they are subjected. Thus, when the price of eggs was ten and a +half cents per dozen in Toronto, they were sixteen cents in Buffalo +and sixteen and a half to seventeen cents in New York. Such a result +would be unaccountable if the Canadian farmers paid the duty on eggs +sent by them to the United States. + +It is interesting to here ask attention to the opinions entertained +and expressed by those whose situation and experience have qualified +them to speak with authority: "The duty constitutes the price of the +whole mass of the article in the market. It is substantially paid on +the article of domestic manufacture, as well as that of foreign +production" (John Quincy Adams). "I said it, and I stand by it, that +as a general rule the duties paid on imports operate as a tax upon the +consumer" (John Sherman). Mr. Blaine, in his Twenty Years in +Congress, says, speaking of the increase of duties on imports by the +tariff act of July 14, 1862, that it "shut out still more conclusively +all competition from foreign fabrics. The increased cost was charged +to the consumer." Mr. McKinley, in 1890, in a report introducing a +bill for revision of the tariff of the United States, in the direction +of increased rates of duties on imports, said it was not the intent of +the bill "to further cut down prices," that the people were "already +suffering from low prices," and would not be satisfied "with +legislation which will result in lower prices." In an elaborate +opinion given by the New York Court of Appeals in 1851 (see vol. iv, +New York Reports), in which there was no suspicion of any issue of +free trade or protection, the courts, in carefully considering the +relative powers of the legislature and the judiciary in respect to +taxation, assumed the proposition that "_all duties on imported goods +are taxes on the class of consumers_" to be in the nature of a +self-evident truth or economic axiom. + +Henry Clay, in a celebrated speech in the United States House of +Representatives in 1833, in advocacy of a protective tariff policy, +candidly admitted that "in general it may be taken as a rule that the +duty upon an article forms a portion of its price." But he +subsequently qualified such admission by claiming that it does not +follow that any consequent enhancement of its price is a tax on +consumers, inasmuch as "directly or indirectly, in one form or +another, all consumers of protected articles, enhanced in price," will +get an equivalent. But this may be equally affirmed of all necessary +and equitable taxation, and does not in any way antagonize the theory +that the final incidence of the class of taxes under consideration +falls on consumption. + +But, notwithstanding these conclusions and the incontrovertible +evidence by which they are supported, not a few persons occupying +places of great legislative influence, and no small part of the +general public, hold to the view that taxes on imports are really in +the nature of premiums paid by foreigners for the privilege of selling +their goods in the markets of the importing country, and do not fall +on its people who consume them. That means that if the foreigner has a +yard of cloth, or other commodity, which he sells at home for one +dollar, and the United States imposes a tariff of fifty cents on it, +he will then sell it for export to America at fifty cents. There is no +instance mentioned in history where this has ever been done, but +history unfortunately is rarely taken into account by the public in +the discussion of these questions. In this connection the following +historical incident is interesting and instructive: In 1782 an attempt +by the Congress of the Confederation of the several American States to +provide a system of revenue to defray the general expenses of the +Confederation by duties on imports, which then was not permissible, +was blocked by the refusal of the State of Rhode Island to concur in +it, the Legislature of that State unanimously rejecting the measure +for three reasons--one of which was that it would bear hardest on the +few commercial States, particularly Rhode Island, which in virtue of +their relations with foreign commerce monopolize imports, and lightest +on the agricultural States, that directly imported little or nothing. +Congress appointed Alexander Hamilton to draft a reply to Rhode +Island, and in his answer he relied mainly on what he regarded as an +incontrovertible fact, that duties on imports would not prove a charge +on an importing State, but on the final consumers of imports, wherever +they may be located. + +If the theory and assumption so confidently and generally asserted are +to be accepted as correct, that the foreigner pays the protective +taxes which a country levies on its imports, and that they do not fall +upon or are not paid by its people who consume them, then it must +follow that to the extent that a country taxes its imports it lives at +the expense of foreign nations; and that, as Great Britain is the +country with which the United States has the largest foreign trade, it +must pay the largest share of the customs taxes of the United States, +or a good share of its annual revenue from all sources. Attention is +further asked to the exact practical application of this theory. Thus, +the United States in 1895 imported $36,438,196 worth of woolen +manufactures, on which it assessed and collected duties (taxes) to the +amount of $20,698,264, or 56.80 per cent of the value of such imports. +Certainly this was a pretty heavy tax on foreign nations in respect to +the sales of only one class of these commodities; but it represented +but a tithe of what the tariff taxes of the United States, if paid by +foreigners, cost them. Thus they had to sell their woolens to the +people of the latter country at less than half their value in order to +compensate for the 56.8 per cent tax. But a nation engaged in foreign +trade can not as a rule have two prices for the product of its +industries; or one price for what it sells at home and another and +different price for what it sells to foreigners. So the fifty-six per +cent deducted from the cost of the woolens sold by foreigners to the +United States necessarily had to be deducted not only from so much of +their product consumed at home, but also from what they sent for sale +to all foreign countries. A further practical application of this +theory is worthy of consideration. As Great Britain imposes no +protective duties or taxes on its imports, it evidently can not +collect anything from other nations by the system of taxation under +consideration. On the other hand, the aggregate value of its exports +sent to foreign nations during the year 1892 was $1,135,000,000, and +if these several nations taxed this value at the average rate which +the United States imposed in 1894 on all its dutiable imports--namely, +fifty per cent--Great Britain obviously had to pay some $557,000,000 +in that year for the support of foreign governments; and while this +has been the experience of Great Britain for more than forty years of +this century, she has as a nation been increasing in wealth during +this whole period. + +Some of the recent official experiences of the Government of the +United States that are pertinent to the topic under consideration are +sufficiently curious to make them worthy of an economic record. In a +speech introducing a bill into the United States House of +Representatives, which subsequently resulted in the tariff act of +1890, the then chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means laid down +the following proposition: "The Government ought not to buy abroad +what it can buy at home. Nor should it be exempted from the laws it +imposes upon its citizens." + +This would seem to warrant the characterization of a discovery that +the United States had some reliable and important source of revenue +independent of taxation,[9] and that, by compelling the application of +a part of this income to the payment of taxes to itself, the +Government is placed upon an equality with the citizens. A legitimate +criticism on this proposition is that the idea that all the income of +the Treasury is derived from the people, and that to transfer portions +of this income from one official recipient to another can have hardly +any other result than an additional cost of bookkeeping, seems never +to have entered the mind of the speaker. + +Again, the United States tariff act of 1883 contained in its free list +a provision for the admittance of "articles imported for the use of +the United States, provided that the price of the same did not include +the duty" imposed on such importations. Under the tariff act of 1890 +this provision was stricken out of the statute, with the result that +when the Government imported any articles for its own use which were +subject to duties (as, for example, materials to be used in the +National Bureau of Printing and Engraving), it was obliged, in virtue +of its nonexemption from the laws which it imposed on its own +citizens, to pay such duties itself. But as the Government has no +authority to expend money for any purpose without the authority of +Congress, the latter body accordingly authorized the Federal Treasury +to appropriate money from its tax receipts and make payments with the +same to the customhouse, which the customhouse was to immediately pay +back into the Treasury. Just what process was gone through with to +effect such a result the public was not informed, but probably the +collector of customs drew his warrant on the Treasury, had the amount +credited to his account, and then recredited to the Treasury. But, be +this as it may, it is clear that the Government, under the conditions +above stated, paid the tax on its imports; that the tax may be +regarded in the light of a penalty on the Government for importing +articles for its own use; and that the action of Congress in +authorizing the Treasury to appropriate money for the payment of such +taxes was a recognition or admission by that body that a tax upon +imports neither puts anything _in_ nor takes anything _from_ the +pocket of the foreigner. Does it not, moreover, invest with a degree +of comicality a law enacted by the Congress of the United States for +the purpose of taxing foreign importers, which necessitated the +enactment by it of another law appropriating money to enable the +United States to pay customs taxes every time on everything that it +may import for its own use?[10] Finally, if the foreigner and not our +citizens pays our customs taxes on imports, what is the object of +placing by specific statutes any article on the free list? Why not let +him continue to pay millions of taxes for us, as, for example, on +sugar? + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] It is fortunate that Mr. Wells had practically completed his +essays on taxation before death put an end to his activity. The +manuscript of two chapters was found among his papers--one on the Best +Methods of Taxation, and the other on the Law of the Diffusion of +Taxes, begun in this number. The first manuscript has some pages +missing, and it has been thought best to postpone its publication, in +the hope that the missing pages may be found. It is evident that the +last touches were yet to be put upon the chapter on the diffusion of +taxes--a chapter that was to sum up the theory of taxation developed +by the writer. So much of that summary is contained in it as to make +the meaning of Mr. Wells unmistakable, and its publication is further +amply justified by the number of practical illustrations and happy +application of theory to fact, in the selection and explanation of +which the author excelled. The entire series, which has been running +in the Popular Science Monthly for more than three years, will now be +collected in a volume--a worthy memorial to one whose powers of +popular exposition of abstract problems placed him among the first of +economists in the United States. + +[7] On the Shifting and Incidence of Taxation, by Prof. Edwin R. +Seligman, 1892. + +[8] The assertion would not be warranted that the masses of New York +were wholly unanimous in condemning Tweed, for a portion of them were +undoubtedly well content with the situation. He had curried favor with +the very poor and ignorant by distributing coal and flour, and making +ostentatious presents of money; and these "charities" are remembered +to this day in the poorer parts of New York city, and Tweed is +esteemed by many as the victim of injustice, and a man who suffered +because he was the friend of the people. + +[9] Of the net ordinary receipts of the Federal Government +($385,819,000) in 1893, only about $12,000,000 was derived from +sources that could not be regarded as taxes, and were mainly receipts +from the sales and surveys of public and Indian lands ($4,120,000) and +of other Government property. + +[10] In 1897 the merchant tailors of the United States, who ought to +know something about the incidence of a custom tax on imported +clothing, united in a petition to Congress asking that Americans +returning from Europe be permitted to introduce only two suits of +foreign-made clothes free of duty; and in support of their request +they comment as follows on a ruling of the Treasury in respect to this +matter: "Under this ruling it was possible to enter free of duty vast +quantities of foreign-made garments which had never been actually in +use, and which were so imported solely because there exists a relative +difference of at least fifty per cent in values between the cost of +made-up garments in the United States and Europe, thus saving to the +purchaser of garments abroad one half of their actual value upon +arrival within the United States duty free." But if the foreigner who +made and sold the goods in question was liable to pay the duty on +dutiable clothing, and attended to his duty, there would be no profit +to the returning tourist in importing clothing free of duty. It is +further evident also that American tailors agree in opinion with +Alexander Hamilton that the consumers of imported articles pay the +customs taxes. + +The records of the commercial relations between the United States and +Canada are exceedingly instructive on this matter. They all show that +for the products which the Canadian sends to the United States, and on +which somebody pays the duty, he receives exactly the same price as +for those products which he sends to England, on which nobody pays any +duty. This experience is exactly the same as that of the farmers of +the Northwestern States of the Federal Union, who usually get the same +price for their wheat furnished to a Minnesota flour mill, or for +shipment to free-trade England, as to countries like France and +Germany, where heavy duties are assessed upon its import. The term +"usually" is employed, for producers in the United States and Canada +alike do not always get as large a price for the articles they export +as for the same articles they sell to their fellow-countrymen. Again, +if it be true, as the advocates of extreme protection assert, that the +foreign exporter and not the consumer pays the duties on goods sent by +him for sale in this country, how does it happen that it is not true +concerning the farm produce and live stock exported from Canada? And +why should American farmers be exempt from this rule in sending their +grain to Europe? Has anybody ever known of England buying American +products any cheaper in New York than France or Germany, and is it not +also true that the French or German or Italian consumer usually pays +at least the amount of the duty levied by his Government more for +American products than his English competitor has, whose imports are +subjected to no duty? During the period from 1854 to 1866 there was, +under the reciprocity treaty, practically free trade between Canada +and the United States in live stock, wool, barley, rye, peas, oats, +and other farm products, while subsequent to 1866, when the +reciprocity treaty had been repealed, duties were imposed on all these +articles on their import from Canada into the United States. During +the first period Canadian horses, for example, sold under free trade +for shipment to the United States at from sixty-five to eighty-five +dollars each, while during the years next subsequent to 1866 the value +of the Canadian horses imported into the United States was returned at +from ninety-two to one hundred and four dollars each; thus showing +that the United States tariff did not force the Canadian horse +breeders to lower their prices in order to compensate American +purchasers for the duties exacted. And as regards the other products +mentioned, the official data show that in no case did the imposition +of duties under the United States tariff reduce the prices paid by +American purchasers to the Canadian farmers for their products. These +are very commonplace, very familiar, and very convincing facts which +ought to silence all this talk about the foreign exporter or anybody +else but the consumer paying the duty; but it is not at all probable +that they will. + + + + +OUR FLORIDA ALLIGATOR. + +BY I. W. BLAKE. + + +An alligator is not an attractive creature. He has not a single virtue +that can be named. He is cowardly, treacherous, hideous. He is neither +graceful nor even respectable in appearance. He is not even amusing or +grotesque in his ungainliness, for as a brute--a brute unqualified--he +is always so intensely real, that one shrinks from him with loathing; +and a laugh at his expense while in his presence would seem curiously +out of place. + +His personality, too, is strong. Once catch the steadfast gaze of a +free, adult alligator's wicked eyes, with their odd vertical pupils +fixed full upon your own, and the significance of the expression "evil +eye," and the mysteries of snake-charming, hypnotism, and hoodooism +will be readily understood, for his brutish, merciless, unflinching +stare is simply blood-chilling. + +Zoölogically the alligator belongs to the genus _Crocodilus_, and he +has all the hideousness of that family, lacking somewhat its +bloodthirstiness, although the American alligator is carnivorous by +nature, and occasionally cannibalistic. Strictly speaking, however, +the true alligator is much less dangerous than his relatives of the +Old World, and he is correspondingly less courageous. + +One would suppose the saurians, or crocodilians, from their general +appearance to be huge lizards, but the resemblance is superficial. The +whole internal structure differs widely, and, subdivided into +gavials, crocodiles, and alligators, they form a family by themselves +which is widespread, extending into considerable areas of the +temperate regions. + +All crocodilians are great, ungainly reptiles, having broad, depressed +bodies, short legs, and long, powerful, and wonderfully flexible tails +which are compressed--that is, flattened sideways. Upon the upper +surface of the tail lie two jagged or saw-toothed crests, which unite +near the middle of the appendage, continuing in a single row to the +extremity. + +All have thick necks and bodies protected by regular transverse rows +of long, horny plates or shields, which are elevated in the center +into keel-shaped ridges, forming an armor that is quite bullet-proof. +The throat, the under side of the neck, and belly are not thus +protected, and it is at these places, as well as at the eyes, and also +just behind the ears, that the hunter directs his aim. + +The principal points of difference between a gavial and a crocodile +are these: the former has very long, slender jaws, set with +twenty-seven teeth in each side of the upper jaw and with twenty-five +teeth in the under, while at the extremity of the snout there are two +holes, through which pass upward the lower large front teeth, but all +the remaining teeth are free, and slant well outward; whereas a +crocodile has a head that is triangular, the snout being the apex; a +narrow muzzle, and canine teeth in the lower jaw, which pass freely +upward in the notches in the side of the upper jaw. + +An alligator has a broad, flat muzzle, and the canine teeth of the +lower jaw fit into sockets in the under surface of the upper jaw. It +is strictly an American form of the family. Its feet being much less +webbed, its habits are also less perfectly aquatic, and, preferring +still or stagnant fresh-water courses or swamps, it is rarely found in +tide-water streams. + +The crocodile, on the contrary, is commonly found in swift-running, +fresh and salt water rivers. He is a sagacious brute, and ferocious, +often attacking human beings without provocation; but the alligator, +as a rule, is not disposed to fight, although in South America, where +it goes by the name of _caiman_ or _cayman_, it grows to an enormous +size, and is said to be fully as dangerous as the crocodile. There is +also a variety of the family--that is, a true crocodile--found in +Florida, but it is very rare, and smaller than its Asiatic relative. + +The mouths of all these reptiles, which are large and extend beyond +the ears, present a formidable array of sharp, conical teeth of +different sizes, set far apart in the crocodile and the alligator, +some being enlarged into tusks. All are implanted in separate sockets, +and form a single row upon each jaw. When a tooth is shed or broken, +a new one promptly comes up beneath the hollow base of the old one; +and in this way, all ready for the need, sometimes three or four +waiting teeth, packed together like a nest of thimbles, may be seen in +the jaw of a dead alligator. + +[Illustration: YOUNG PET ALLIGATOR. From photograph by E. L. Russell, +Palm Beach.] + +The alligator is at best an awkward brute. Slow and ungainly upon +land--although even there his powerful tail can, when necessary, +assist the scuffling paws to an astonishing extent if the creature is +in haste--he shows to better advantage in the water. There he turns +his clumsy body with wonderful dexterity and swiftness, when, at the +sight of a swimming muskrat or a wading dog, he instantly changes from +what has resembled a drifting log idly floating upon the calm surface +of the swamp, into a thing of life--fierce and horrible. + +The general food of an alligator is fish, turtles, and frogs, with an +occasional heedless dog or fowl. A number of adult alligators will +quickly deplenish a small, clear-water lake of its finny inhabitants, +which statement to would-be Florida fishermen will readily account for +the lack in many localities. There is also a curious belief in the +South that the creature has an especial liking for a "darkey steak," +and for this reason he is feared by the negroes. That he becomes +carnivorous to a dangerous extent when pressed by hunger, there is no +doubt, for, the supply of fish exhausted, he must look for larger +game. + +Partially concealed by rubbish, or floating idly close to the +bank--always only a short distance from his retreat--he so closely +resembles an old and weather-worn log that no suspicion is aroused. +Presently a razorback comes down the narrow trail that meanders +through the scrub and passes close to the reptile. Let it pass between +the alligator and the water--that is, between the creature and his +_cave_--and the end has come. An alligator seldom misses, and one +spring, leap, or plunge, or whatever the swift, clumsy movement may be +called, and the wretched animal is seized and held fast, either by the +nose or leg, as a rule. Then the struggle begins, for the razorback +loves its life, despised pig of the Florida flatwoods though it is. + +Alligators drown their prey. Their own nostrils and throats are so +arranged that they themselves can sink to the bottom without danger of +suffocation, although their mouths, or rather their jaws, may be +widely stretched with the body of their victim. Indeed, they can +reascend to the surface to breathe without releasing the prize; and, +as this power is so closely connected with their method of killing the +larger animals, a description of the latter, repulsive though it is, +may not be out of place. + +The teeth of an alligator are better adapted for crushing and +crunching than for biting. Therefore, for him to eat a struggling +animal would be difficult. Instinct teaches him that it must first be +killed. + +To dispose of a dog or a chicken is a small matter, for when the +alligator meets it upon the bank one strong, far-reaching sweep of the +powerful tail tosses it far out upon the lake. The alligator simply +follows, grasps the half-stunned creature in his jaws, and disappears +beneath the surface, where he remains until all is quiet. With a +larger animal, however, he proceeds differently, for the reason that a +yearling, a colt, or a razorback is not so easily handled. First, +therefore, a description of an alligator's cave must be given, since +it is to this grewsome retreat that the hideous brute takes his booty. + +Selecting some spot where the water is deep--usually beneath some +overhanging bank--an alligator excavates what is called a "cave." Any +one, standing upon the border of a lake or swamp in Florida, may, all +unconsciously, be directly over one of these places. He makes it +sufficiently large to accommodate one or more of his kind, by dragging +out the mud and roots with the strong claws or nails that arm his fore +paws or legs. These "caves" serve in winter for hibernation, and at +other times for the purpose that will be explained. + +Once in the water, then--to return to the unhappy razorback--the +alligator does not rely wholly upon his teeth and jaws to hold the +desperate animal. He can not yet sink, for the victim is too strong. +It must first be drowned, and a furious struggle for the mastery then +begins. + +By degrees the brute finally succeeds in dragging the animal out into +water sufficiently deep to suit his purpose, and then he clasps it +firmly with his paws, precisely like the hugging of a bear. He then +begins to roll over and over. Now beneath the surface, now out, he +turns and turns, first the alligator uppermost, then his prey, +alternately, until the poor animal is drowned literally by inches. +Before long the razorback weakens, his struggles lessen, and then the +alligator sinks to the bottom, and when all motion has ceased he +deposits the body in his cave, well pleased with the prospect of a +full larder for some time to come. + +One might naturally ask just here whether or not this scene would be +the same were a human being the victim. The reply would be--precisely. + +The alligator undoubtedly prefers his food in a partly decomposed +condition, although it is an undecided point whether this preference +arises from a natural taste, or for the reason that food in that state +is softer and more easily torn apart. Whichever may be the case, +Nature unasked supplies the remedy, and the alligator takes advantage +of her assistance, and deposits his victim in his hiding place, +confident that at the proper time it will rise to the surface in the +condition best adapted to his needs. + +Although by nature the alligator is amphibious, he passes the greater +part of his time upon land during the breeding season. At such times, +also, he migrates from one clear-water lake or swamp to another, +should he not find a mate in his own locality, and he may not +infrequently be met in his overland journeyings. Alligators are not +strictly gregarious, although large numbers are found in the same body +of water; while, on the contrary, there will often be but one or two +that will haunt a certain tract for a long period. + +During this season the bull alligator is very noisy, and his deep +bellowing may be heard for a long distance. To state that this noise +causes the ground to vibrate may seem an exaggeration, but the fact +may easily be proved by visiting a swamp where the reptiles have +congregated. The water in the vicinity will plainly show the jarring +of the ground. + +This bellow is a thundering, rumbling sound; and when it is combined +with the startling hisses, blowings, sighs, and deep-breathed snorts +which the creature can produce at will, no one will be likely to +dispute that his collection of diabolical noises is quite complete. + +During the period of incubation the female alligator is a devoted +mother. She does not desert her nest from the time that the eggs are +laid until they are hatched--lying concealed in the scrub close +by--and she is naturally, at this time, most dangerous to approach, +although her vigilance does not always save a portion of her unhatched +progeny from the numerous enemies that have a fondness for alligator +omelet. + +[Illustration: GROUP OF CAPTIVE ALLIGATORS. From photograph by O. P. +Hareus, Jacksonville.] + +The nest is a large, well-rounded heap or mound, composed of sand and +rubbish, which she drags and pushes together with her claws. +Throughout this mound she deposits her eggs, from forty to seventy and +over. These eggs resemble those of a goose, only that they are larger; +they have a thick, tough shell, and are of about the same size at both +ends. In about sixty days, the heat of the sun, combined with the +warmth and moisture generated by the fermentation of the rubbish, +completes the process of incubation, and the little ones begin to come +forth. + +Forcing their way through the sand, they hurry down the sloping sides +of the mound, straightway seeking the water by instinct. While these +baby 'gators are thus kicking and flinging off their shell overcoats +as they emerge from their incubator, perfect little duplicates of +their mother--only that they are rather pretty in their clean, glossy, +black or dark-brown skins, which have orange-colored stripes that +completely ring their miniature tails and bodies--she wanders +anxiously about, probably wondering how many of her family will +succeed in running the very uncertain gantlet of life. + +For, eaten while in the egg stage by birds and animals, and swallowed +by open-mouthed, expectant fishes, and by other alligators--often led, +if the truth must be told, by the interesting father himself--as soon +as they reach the water, the early days of an alligator are full of +trouble. That enough escape to prevent extinction, however, goes +almost without saying. + +Alligators are hunted for their teeth, which find a ready market when +made up into pretty ornaments; and of late years extensively for their +hides, which make a very handsome leather. For this purpose the older +specimens are not valuable, their hides being too gnarled, knotty, and +moss-grown to tan well. After ten or fifteen years the hide coarsens. +It is always the skin from the under side of the body and head which +is used, that from the back being so heavily armored with tough, horny +plates and shields as to be practically useless. The flesh for food +finds but few admirers. Like the eggs, it is permeated by a strong, +musky flavor, too rank to find appreciation from a refined palate; but +in some places the steaks from the reptile are eaten by the negroes +and pronounced good. + +To successfully hunt the alligator requires experience, for quick work +is necessary, the brute disappearing at the least suspicion of danger. +Hunting by "jack" is the usual method pursued, for the light seems to +charm the creature, so that he may be more easily detained until a +properly directed bullet speedily puts an end to his existence. + +A professional alligator hunter, or a "'gator man," as he is called, +leads a life full of adventure, but his business is upon the wane, +since the fad for alligator leather is being pushed aside to make way +for something later and more novel. Nevertheless, a description of his +outfit may not be uninteresting. + +A most important adjunct to this outfit is the man who usually +accompanies the 'gator man upon his expeditions. He might properly be +called the silent partner, for his duty is to instantly and silently +obey the different hand signals, meaning "To the right," "To the +left," "Stop," "Back," "Hurry," "Forward," "Spurt," "Slow," given by +the hunter, while standing erect in the bow of the boat, when out with +the "jack." Indeed, upon his alertness depends much of the success or +failure of the night's work. + +The other tools used by the 'gator man are a light, strong boat, a +pair of light oars and a broad-bladed paddle with a four-foot handle, +neatly coiled rope, a jack lamp furnished with a powerful reflector, +an axe, a long, keen-bladed hunting knife, two guns (twelve-bore +breech-loaders, for a heavy charge at one delivery is absolutely +necessary), bags of ammunition, some strong chains, rawhide rope, and +a 'gator pole. This last-mentioned "tool" is a stout pole about ten +feet long, armed with a heavy hook of quarter-inch iron, bearing a +barbed shank of two inches or more, and it is used for hauling the +dead alligators from the bottom, for the creatures sink as soon as +killed. + +The brilliant rays from the "jack" reveal a curious and a grewsome +sight when thrown upon a bank or island upon which a group of the +creatures have congregated. The shining waters of the swamp, so still +and black at that hour of midnight; the hideous tangle of huge gray +forms, as a dozen or more alligators, fairly intoxicated by the gleam +of the mysterious light, steadfastly watch its incomprehensible +presence. Gazing intently, their evil eyes blood-red in the glare from +the powerful reflector, some lie motionless, others roar and hiss and +snort with thrilling fierceness as the mystery deepens, incessantly +arching their bodies, then alternately depressing them to the ground. +Still others, crawling from beneath their companions, scuffle angrily +to the front, and stand with jaws partly open--now and then slowly +inflating their lungs, until their throats and sides puff out like +bellows. Yet, strange to say, instinct seems to warn the mother +alligator, for there she may be seen quietly creeping away with her +young. + +Then, the loud reports from the guns, and the mystery is dispelled! +The island is deserted, and the work of raising the successfully shot +saurians begins. + + * * * * * + + Boards of rural engineering, syndicates of specialists + organized in several of the countries of northern Europe to + look after drainage and irrigation, have rendered great + services to the populations of the country districts. With + their aid 591 villages in Alsace-Lorraine were provided with + water between 1881 and 1895, and 516 communes in Baden have + been benefited by their assistance. The expense of the + improvement has not exceeded $6.61 (33 francs) per + inhabitant. The Agricultural Bureau in Prussia has in the + past five years drawn the plans and directed the work of 554 + hydraulic syndicates, covering a total surface of more than + 600,000 acres. A numerous body of these agricultural + engineers is formed every year in Germany, 517 students + having pursued the course of the section of rural + engineering in 1893 in the agronomical institutes of Bonn + and Berlin alone. + + It is generally accepted that the spider is a solitary + animal, that will tolerate no companions, even the male + being in danger of being devoured by his female. But a + spider--the _Stregodyphus gregarius_--is described as living + in the Transvaal in communities, including males and + females, young and old. The nests are sometimes voluminous + and have partitions and numerous passages running through + them. The spiders usually escape observation by wrapping + themselves in dry leaves that hang from stems. + + + + +THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. + +A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY. + +(_Lowell Institute Lectures, 1896._) + +BY WILLIAM Z. RIPLEY, PH. D., + +ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF +TECHNOLOGY; LECTURER IN ANTHROPO-GEOGRAPHY AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. + + +SUPPLEMENT.--THE JEWS (_continued_). + +Tradition has long divided the Jewish people into two distinct +branches: the Sephardim, or southern, and the Ashkenazim, or north, +European. Mediæval legend among the Jews themselves traced the descent +of the first from the tribe of Judah; the second, from that of +Benjamin. The Sephardim are mainly the remnants of the former Spanish +and Portuguese Jews. They constitute in their own eyes an aristocracy +of the nation. They are found primarily to-day in Africa; in the +Balkan states, where they are known as Spagnuoli; less purely in +France and Italy. A small colony in London and Amsterdam still holds +itself aloof from all communion and intercourse with its brethren. The +Ashkenazim branch is numerically far more important, for the German, +Russian, and Polish Jews comprise over nine tenths of the people, as +we have already seen in our preceding article. + +Early observers all describe these two branches of the Jews as very +different in appearance. Vogt, in his Lectures on Man, assumes the +Polish type to be descended from Hindu sources, while the Spanish +alone he held to be truly Semitic. Weisbach[11] gives us the best +description of the Sephardim Jew as to-day found at Constantinople. He +is slender in habit, he says; almost without exception the head is +"exquisitely" elongated and narrow, the face a long oval; the nose +hooked and prominent, but thin and finely chiseled; hair and eyes +generally dark, sometimes, however, tending to a reddish blond. This +rufous tendency in the Oriental Jew is emphasized by many observers. +Dr. Beddoe[12] found red hair as frequent in the Orient as in Saxon +England, although later results do not fully bear it out.[13] This +description of a reddish Oriental type corresponds certainly to the +early representations of the Saviour; it is the type, in features, +perhaps, rather than hair, painted by Rembrandt--the Sephardim in +Amsterdam being familiar to him, and appealing to the artist in +preference to the Ashkenazim type. This latter is said to be +characterized by heavier features in every way. The mouth, it is +alleged, is more apt to be large, the nose thickish at the end, less +often clearly Jewish, perhaps. The lips are full and sensual, offering +an especial contrast to the thin lips of the Sephardim. The complexion +is swarthy oftentimes, the hair and eyes very constantly dark, without +the rufous tendency which appears in the other branch. The face is at +the same time fuller, the breadth corresponding to a relatively short +and round head. + +Does this contrast of the traditional Sephardim and Ashkenazim facial +types correspond to the anthropometric criteria by means of which we +have analyzed the various populations of Europe? And, first of all, is +there the difference of head form between the two which our +descriptions imply?[14] And, if so, which represents the primitive +Semitic type of Palestine? The question is a crucial one. It involves +the whole matter of the original physical derivation of the people, +and the rival claims to purity of descent of the two branches of the +nation. In preceding papers we have learned that western Asia is quite +uniformly characterized by an exceeding broad-headedness, the cephalic +index--that is to say, the breadth of the head in percentage of the +length from front to back--often rising to 86. This is especially +marked in Asia Minor, where some of the broadest and shortest crania +in the world are to be found. The Armenians, for example, are so +peculiar in this respect that their heads appear almost deformed, so +flattened are they at the back. A head of the description appears in +the case of our Jew from Ferghanah on our second portrait page, 344. +On the other hand, the peoples of African or negroid derivation form a +radical contrast, their heads being quite long and narrow, with +indices ranging from 75 to 78. This is the type of the living Arab +to-day. Its peculiarity appears in the prominence of the occipital +region in our Arab and other African portraits. Scientific research +upon these Arabs has invariably yielded harmonious results. From the +Canary Islands,[15] all across northern Africa,[16] to central Arabia +itself,[17] the cephalic indices of the nomadic Arabs agree closely. +They denote a head form closely allied to that of the long-headed +Iberian races, typified in the modern Spaniards, south Italians, and +Greeks. It was the head form of the ancient Phoenicians and Egyptians +also, as has recently been proved beyond all question.[18] Thus does +the European Mediterranean type shade off in head form, as in +complexion also, into the primitive anthropological type of the negro. +The situation being thus clearly defined, it should be relatively easy +to trace our modern Jews, if, indeed, as has so long been assumed, +they have remained a pure and undefiled race during the course of +their incessant migrations. We should be able to trace their origin if +they possess any distinctive head form, either to the one continent or +the other, with comparative certainty. + + -------------------------+--------------------+----------+------------ + AUTHORITY. | Place. | Number. | Cephalic + | | | Index. + -------------------------+--------------------+----------+------------ + Lombroso, 1894 a |Turin, Italy. | 112 | 82.0 + Weisbach, '77 |Balkan states. | 19 | 82.2 + Majer and Kopernicki, '77|Galicia. | 316 | 83.6 + Blechmann, '82 |W. Russia. | 100 | 83.2 + Stieda, '83 (Dybowski) |Minsk, Russia. | 67 | 82.2 + Ikof, '84 |Russia. | 120 | 83.2 + Ikof, '84 |Constantinople. |17 crania | 74.5 + Ikof, '84 |Crimea. |30 crania | 83.3 + | | (Karaim).| + Majer and Kopernicki,'85 |Galicia. | 100 | 81.7 + Jacobs, '90 |England. | 363 | 80.0 + Jacobs, '90 |England (Sephardim).| 51 | + Talko-Hyrncewicz, '92 |Lithuania. | 713 | + Chantre, '95 |Caucasia. | 34 | 85.0 + Weissenberg, '95 |South Russia. | 100 | 82.5 + Weissenberg, '95 |South Russia. |50 women. | 82.4 + Glück, '96 |Bosnia (Spagnuoli). | 55 | 80.1 + Livi, '96 |Italy. | 34 | 81.6 + Elkind, '97 |Poland. | 325 |{Men, 81.9 + | | |{Women, 82.9 + Deniker, '98 |Daghestan. | 19 | 87.0 + -------------------------+--------------------+----------+------------ + +During the last quarter of a century about twenty-five hundred Jews +have submitted their heads to scientific measurement. These have +naturally for the most part been taken from the Great Russian and +Polish branch; a few observers, as Lombroso, Ikof, Jacobs, Glück, and +Livi, have taken observations upon a more or less limited number from +southern Europe. For purposes of comparison we have reproduced in our +footnote a summary of all the results obtained thus far. Inspection of +the table shows a surprising uniformity. Ikof's limited series of +Spagnuoli from Constantinople, and that of the Jews from Caucasia and +Daghestan, are the only ones whose cephalic index lies outside the +limits of 80 to 83. In other words, the Jews, wherever found in +Europe, betray a remarkable similarity in head form, the crania being +considerably broader than among the peoples of Teutonic descent. As we +know, the extremes of head form in Europe, measured by the cephalic +index, extend from 74 to 89; we thus observe that the Jews take a +place rather high in the European series. They are about like the +northern French and southern Germans. More important still, they seem +to be generally very closely akin in head form to the people among +whom they reside. Thus, in Russia and Poland scarcely an appreciable +difference exists in this respect between Jews and Christians. The +same is true in Turin, while in the direction of Asia our Jews are as +bullet-headed as even the most typical Armenians and Caucasians round +about them. + +[Illustration: ARAB. Index, 76. + +MUSSULMAN, TUNIS. Index, 75. + +JEW, TUNIS. Index, 75. + +AFRICAN SEMITIC TYPES.] + +This surprising similarity of head form between the Jews of North and +South Europe bears hard upon the long-accepted theory that the +Sephardim is dolichocephalic, thereby remaining true to the original +Semitic type borne to-day by the Arabs. It has quite universally been +accepted that the two branches of the Jews differed most materially in +head form. From the facial dissimilarity of the two a correlative +difference in head form was a gratuitous inference. Dr. Beddoe +observes that in Turkey the Spagnuoli "seemed" to him to be more +dolichocephalic. A few years later Barnard Davis (1867) "suspected" a +diversity, but had only three Italian skulls to judge from, so that +his testimony counts for little. Then Weisbach (1877) referred to the +"exquisitely" long heads of the Spagnuoli, but his data show a +different result. Ikof, with his small series of crania from +Constantinople, is the only observer who got a result which accords in +any degree with what we know of the head form of the modern Semitic +peoples. On the other hand, Glück in Bosnia and Livi in Italy find no +other sign of long-headedness than a slight drop in index of a point +or two. Jacobs, in England, whose methods, as Topinard has observed, +are radically defective, gives no averages for his Sephardim, but they +appear to include about eleven per cent less pure long-headed types +than even their Ashkenazim brethren in London. This, it will be noted, +is the exact opposite of what might normally be expected. This tedious +summary forces us inevitably to the conclusion that, while a +long-headed type of Sephardim Jews may exist, the law is very far from +being satisfactorily established. + +Thus, from a study of our primary characteristic--the proportions of +the head--we find our modern Jews endowed with a relatively much +broader head than that of the average Englishman, for example: while +the best living representative of the Semitic race, the Arab, has a +head which is even longer and narrower than our own type. It is, in +short, one of the longest known, being in every way distinctly +African. The only modern Jews who even approach this type would seem +to be those who actually reside to-day in Africa, as in the case of +our two portrait types from that region. Two possible explanations are +open to us: either the great body of the Jews in Europe +to-day--certainly all the Ashkenazim, who form upward of ninety per +cent of the nation, and quite probably the Sephardim also, except +possibly those in Africa--have departed widely from the parental type +in Palestine; or else the original Semitic type was broad-headed, and, +by inference, distinctly Asiatic in derivation; in which case it is +the modern Arab which has deviated from its original pattern. Ikof is +the only authority who boldly faces this dilemma, and chooses the +Asiatic hypothesis with his eyes open.[19] Which, we leave it to the +reader to decide, would be the more likely to vary--the wandering Jew, +ever driven from place to place by constant persecution, and +constantly exposed to the vicissitudes of life in densely populated +cities, the natural habitat of the people, as we have said; or the +equally nomadic Arab, who, however, seems to be invariable in type, +whether in Algeria, Morocco, the Canary Islands, or Arabia Felix +itself? There can be but one answer, it seems to us. The original +Semitic stock must have been in origin strongly dolichocephalic--that +is to say, African as the Arabs are to-day; from which it follows, +naturally, that about nine tenths of the living Jews are as widely +different in head form from the parent stock to-day as they well could +be. The boasted purity of descent of the Jews is, then, a myth. Renan +(1883) is right, after all, in his assertion that the ethnographic +significance of the word Jew, for the Russian and Danubian branch at +least, long ago ceased to exist. Or, as Lombroso observes, the modern +Jews are physically more Aryan than Semitic, after all. They have +unconsciously taken on to a large extent the physical traits of the +people among whom their lot has been thrown. In Algiers they have +remained long-headed like their neighbors, for, even if they +intermarried, no tendency to deviation in head form would be provoked. +If, on the other hand, they settled in Piedmont, Austria, or Russia, +with their moderately round-headed populations, they became in time +assimilated to the type of these neighbors as well. + +Nothing is simpler than to substantiate the argument of a constant +intercourse and intermixture of Jews with the Christians about them +all through history, from the original exodus of the forty thousand +(?) from Jerusalem after the destruction of the second temple. At this +time the Jewish nation as a political entity ceased to exist. An +important consideration to be borne in mind in this connection, as +Neubauer suggests very aptly, is that opposition to mixed marriages +was primarily a prejudice of religion and not of race. It was +dissipated on the conversion of the Gentile to Judaism. In fact, in +the early days of Judaism marriage with a nonbeliever was not +invalid at all, as it afterward became, according to the Jewish +code. Thus Josephus, speaking of the Jews at Antioch, mentions that +they made many converts, receiving them into their community. An +extraordinary number of conversions to Judaism undoubtedly took place +during the second century after Christ. As to the extent of +intermarriage which ensued during the middle ages discussion is still +rife. Renan, Neubauer, and others interpret the various rigid +prohibitions against intermarriage of Jews with Christians--as, for +example, at the church councils of 538, 589, at Toledo, and of 743 at +Rome--to mean the prevalent danger of such practices becoming general; +while Jacobs, Andree, and others are inclined to place a lower +estimate upon their importance. Two wholesale conversions are known to +have taken place: the classical one of the Khozars, in South Russia, +during the reign of Charlemagne, and that of the Falashas, who were +neighboring Arab tribes in Yemen. Jacobs has ably shown, however, the +relatively slight importance of these. It is probable that the +greatest amount of infusion of Christian blood must have taken place, +in any event, not so much through such striking conversions, as +insidiously through clandestine or irregular marriages. + +[Illustration: FERGHANAH, TURKESTAN. + +HÉRAULT, FRANCE. + +ELIZABETHGRAD, RUSSIA. + +SPAGNUOLI, BOSNIA. + +ELIZABETHGRAD, RUSSIA. + +JEWISH TYPES.] + +We find, for example, much prohibitive legislation against the +employment of Christian servants by Jews. This was directed against +the danger of conversion to Judaism, by the master, with consequent +intermarriage. It is not likely that these prohibitions were of much +avail, for, despite stringent laws in Hungary, for example, we find +the archbishop of that country reporting in 1229 that many Jews were +illegally living with Christian wives, and that conversions by +thousands were taking place. In any case, no protection for slaves was +ever afforded. The confinement of the Jews strictly to the Ghettos +during the later centuries would naturally discourage such +intermixture of blood, as also the increasing popular hatred between +Jew and Christian; but, on the other hand, the greater degree of +tolerance enjoyed by the Israelites even during this present century +would be competent speedily to produce great results. Jacobs has +strenuously, although perhaps somewhat inconclusively, argued in favor +of a substantial purity of the Jews by means of a number of other +data--such as, for example, by a study of the relative frequency of +Jewish names, by the supposed relative infecundity of mixed marriages, +and the like. Experience and the facts of everyday observation, on the +other hand, tend to confirm us in the belief that racially no purity +of descent is to be supposed for an instant. Consider the evidence of +names, for example. We may admit a considerable purity, perhaps, to +the Cohns and Cohens, legitimate descendants of the Cohanim, the sons +of Aaron, early priests of the temple. Their marital relations were +safeguarded against infusion of foreign blood in every possible way. +The name is, perhaps, in its various forms, the most frequent among +Jews to-day. But how shall we account for the equally pure Jewish +names in origin, such as Davis, Harris, Phillips, and Hart? How did +they ever stray so far from their original ethnic and religious +significance, unless the marital bars were lowered to a large degree? +Some of them certainly claim a foremost position numerically in our +Christian English directories. We have an interesting case of +indefinite Jewish delimitation in our portraits. The middle portrait +at page 341 is certainly a Jewish type. Dr. Bertholon writes me that +all who saw it immediately asserted it to be a Jew. Yet the man was a +professed Mussulman, in fact, even though his face was against him. + +There is, as we have sought to prove, no single uniform type of head +peculiar to the Jewish people which may be regarded as in any sense +racially hereditary. Is this true also of the face? Our first +statement encounters no popular disapproval, for most of us never, +perhaps, happened to think of this head form as characteristic. But +the face, the features! Is this another case of science running +counter to popular belief? + +The first characteristic to impress itself upon the layman is that the +Jew is generally a brunette. All scientific observers corroborate this +impression, agreeing in that the dark hair and eyes of this people +really constitute a distinct racial trait. About two thirds of the +Ashkenazim branch in Galicia and Russia, where the general population +is relatively quite blond, is of the brunette type, this being +especially marked in the darker color of the hair. For example, Majer +and Kopernicki,[20] in Galicia, found dark hair to be about twice as +frequent as the light. Elkind,[21] in Warsaw, finds about three fifths +of the men dark. In Bosnia, Glück's observations on the Sephardim type +gave him only two light-haired men out of fifty-five. In Germany and +Austria[22] this brunette tendency is likewise strongly emphasized. +Pure brunette types are twice as frequent in the latter country, and +three times as frequent in Germany, among Jewish as among Christian +school children. Facts also seem to bear out the theory, to which we +have already alluded, that the Oriental Jews betray a slightly greater +blond tendency, thus inclining to rufous. In Germany also the blond +tendency becomes appreciably more frequent in Alsace-Lorraine, a +former center of gravity of the nation, as the map in our previous +article has shown. This comparative blondness of the Alsatian Jew is +not new, for in 1861 the origin of these same blondes was matter of +controversy. Broca believed them to be of northern derivation, while +Pruner Bey traced them from a blondish Eastern source. The English +Jews seem also to be slightly lighter than their continental brethren, +even despite their presumably greater proportion of Sephardim, who are +supposed to be peculiarly dark. As to the relative red blondness of +the Oriental Jew, the early observations of Dr. Beddoe, and those of +Langerhans (1873) as to the blue eyes and red-brown hair of the Druses +of Lebanon, do not seem to be borne out; or, as Jacobs puts it, the +"argument may be dismissed with costs." Certainly the living Semites +are dark enough in type, and the evidence of the sacred books bears +out the same theory of an original dark type. Thus "black" and "hair" +are commonly synonymous in the early Semitic languages. In any case, +whatever the color in the past, we have seen that science corroborates +the popular impression that the Jews as a people are distinctively of +a brunette type. This constitutes one of the principal traits by which +they may be almost invariably identified. It is not without interest +to notice that this brunetteness is more accentuated, oftentimes, +among the women, who are, the world over, persistent conservators of +the primitive physical characteristics of a people.[23] + +Secondly, as to the nose. Popularly the humped or hook nose +constitutes the most distinctive feature of the Jewish face. +Observations among the Jews, in their most populous centers, do not, +however, bear out the theory. Thus Majer and Kopernicki (1885), in +their extended series, found only nine per cent of the hooked type--no +greater frequency than among the Poles; a fact which Weissenberg +confirms as to the relative scarcity of the convex nose in profile +among his South Russian Jews. He agrees, however, that the nose is +often large, thick, and prominent. Weisbach (1877) measured the facial +features of nineteen Jews, and found the largest noses in a long +series of people from all over the earth; exceeded in length, in fact, +by the Patagonians alone. The hooked nose is, indeed, sometimes +frequent outside the Jewish people. Olechnowicz found, for example, +over a third of the noses of the gentry in southeast Poland to be of +this hooked variety. Running the eye over our carefully chosen series +of portraits, selected for us as typical from four quarters +of Europe--Algeria, Russia, Bosnia, and the confines of +Asia--representing the African, Balkan Spagnuoli, and Russian +Ashkenazim varieties, visual impression will also confirm our +deduction. The Jewish nose is not so often truly convex in profile. +Nevertheless, it must be confessed that it gives a hooked impression. +This seems to be due to a peculiar "tucking up of the wings," as Dr. +Beddoe expresses it. Herein lies the real distinctive quality about +it, rather than in any convexity of outline. In fact, it often +renders a nose concave in profile, immediately recognizable as Jewish. +Jacobs[24] has ingeniously described this "nostrility," as he calls +it, by the following diagrams: Write, he says, a figure 6 with a long +tail (Fig. 1); now remove the turn of the twist, and much of the +Jewishness disappears; and it vanishes entirely when we draw the lower +continuation horizontally, as in Fig. 3. Behold the transformation! +The Jew has turned Roman beyond a doubt. What have we proved, then? +That there is in reality such a phenomenon as a Jewish nose, even +though it be differently constituted from our first assumption. A +moment's inspection of our series of portraits will convince the +skeptic that this trait, next to the prevalent dark hair and eyes and +the swarthy skin, is the most distinctive among the chosen people. + +[Illustration: _Fig. 1._] + +[Illustration: _Fig. 2._] + +[Illustration: _Fig. 3._] + +Another characteristic of the Jewish physiognomy is the eyes. The +eyebrows, seemingly thick because of their darkness, appear to be +nearer together than usual, arching smoothly into the lines of the +nose. The lids are rather full, the eyes large, dark, and brilliant. A +general impression of heaviness is apt to be given. In favorable cases +this imparts a dreamy, melancholy, or thoughtful expression to the +countenance; in others it degenerates into a blinking, drowsy type; +or, again, with eyes half closed, it may suggest suppressed cunning. +The particular adjective to be applied to this expression varies +greatly according to the personal equation of the observer. Quite +persistent also is a fullness of the lips, often amounting in the +lower one almost to a pout. The chin in many cases is certainly rather +pointed and receding, Jacobs to the contrary notwithstanding. A +feature of my own observation, perhaps not fully justified, is a +peculiar separation of the teeth, which seem to stand well apart from +one another. But a truce to speculations. Entering into greater +detail, the flat contradictions of different observers show that they +are vainly generalizing from an all too narrow base of observations. +Even the fancied differences in feature between the two great branches +of the Hebrew people seem to us to be of doubtful existence. Our +portraits do not bear it out. It seems rather that the two +descriptions of the Ashkenazim and Sephardim types which we have +quoted denote rather the distinction between the faces of those of the +upper and the lower classes. Enough for us to know that there is a +something Jewish in these faces which we instantly detect. We +recognize it in Rembrandt's Hermitage, or in Munkaczy's Christ before +Pilate. Not invariable are these traits. Not even to the Jew himself +are they always a sure criterion. Weissenberg gives an interesting +example of this.[25] To a friend, a Jew in Elizabethgrad, he submitted +two hundred and fifty photographs of Russian Jews and Christians in +undistinctive costume. Seventy per cent of the Jews were rightly +chosen, while but ten per cent of the Russians were wrongly classed as +Jews. Of what concern is it whether this characterization be entirely +featural, or in part a matter of expression? The first would be a +matter of direct heredity, the second hypothesis partakes more of the +nature of a characteristic acquired from the social environment. Some +one--Jacobs, I think--speaks of it as the "expression of the Ghetto." +It certainly appears in the remarkable series of composite Jewish +portraits published in his monograph. It would not be surprising to +find this true. Continued hardship, persecution, a desperate struggle +against an inexorable human environment as well as natural one, could +not but write its lines upon the face. The impression of a dreary past +is deep sunk in the bodily proportions, as we have seen. Why not in +the face as well? + +We are now prepared, in conclusion, to deal with what is perhaps the +most interesting phase of our discussion. It is certainly, if true, of +profound sociological importance. We have in these pages spoken at +length of the head form--primary index of race; we have shown that +there are Jews and Jews in this respect. Yet which was the real Jew it +was not for us to decide, for the ninety-and-nine were broad-headed, +while the Semite in the East is still, as ever, a long-headed member +of the Africanoid races. This discouraged our hopes of proving the +existence of a Jewish cephalic type as the result of purity of +descent. It may indeed be affirmed with certainty that the Jews are by +hereditary descent from early times no purer than most of their +European neighbors. Then we discovered evidence that in this head form +the Jews were often closely akin to the people among whom they lived. +In long-headed Africa they were dolichocephalic. In brachycephalic +Piedmont, though supposedly of Sephardim descent, they were quite like +the Italians of Turin. And all over Slavic Europe no distinction in +head form between Jew and Christian existed. In the Caucasus also they +approximate closely the cranial characteristics of their neighbors. +Hypnotic suggestion was not needed to find a connection here, +especially since all history bore us out in our assumption of a large +degree of intermixture of Gentile blood. Close upon this disproval of +purity of type by descent came evidence of a distinct uniformity of +facial type. Even so impartial an observer as Weissenberg--certainly +not prejudiced in favor of cephalic invariability--confesses this +featural unity. + +How shall we solve this enigma of ethnic purity, and yet impurity, of +type? In this very apparent contradiction lies the grain of comfort +for our sociological hypothesis. The Jew is radically mixed in the +line of _racial descent_; he is, on the other hand, the legitimate +heir to all Judaism as a matter of _choice_. It is for us a case of +purely artificial selection, operative as ever only in those physical +traits which appeal to the senses. It is precisely analogous to our +example of the Basques in France and Spain. What we have said of them +will apply with equal force here. Both Jews and Basques possessed in a +high degree a "consciousness of kind"; they were keenly sensible of +their social individuality. The Basques primarily owed theirs to +geographical isolation and a peculiar language; that of the Jews was +derived from the circumstances of social isolation, dependent upon the +dictates of religion. Another case in point occurs to us in this +connection. Chantre,[26] in a recent notable work, has shown the +remarkable uniformity in physical type among the Armenians. They are +so peculiar in head form that we in America recognize them at once by +their foreshortened and sugar-loaf skulls, almost devoid of occiput. +They too, like the Jews, have long been socially isolated in their +religion. Thus in all these cases, Basques, Armenians, and Jews, we +have a potent selective force at work. So far as in their power lay, +the individuality of all these people was encouraged and perpetuated +as one of their dearest possessions. It affected every detail of their +lives. Why should it not also react upon their ideal of physical +beauty? and why not influence their sexual preferences, as well as to +determine their choice in marriage? Its results became thus +accentuated through heredity. But all this would be accomplished, be +it especially noted, only in so far as the physical traits were +consciously or unconsciously impressed upon them by the facts of +observation. There arises at once the difference between artificial +selection in the matter of the head form and that concerning the +facial features. One is an unsuspected possession of individuality, +the other is matter of common notice and, it may be, of report. What +Jew or Christian, till he became anthropologist, ever stopped to +consider the shape of his head, any more than the addition of a number +of cubits to his stature? Who has not, on the other hand, early +acquired a distinct concept of a Jewish face and of a distinctly +Jewish type? Could such a potent fact escape observation for a moment? + +We are confirmed in our belief in the potency of an artificial +selection, such as we have described, to perpetuate or to evolve a +Jewish facial type by reason of another observation. The women among +the Jews, as Jacobs[27] notes, in confirmation of our own belief, +betray far more constantly than the men the outward characteristics +peculiar to the people. We have already cited Weissenberg's testimony +that brunetteness is twice as prevalent among Russian Jewesses as +among the men. Of course this may be a matter of anabolism, pure and +simple. This would be perhaps a competent explanation of the +phenomenon for physiologists like Geddes and Thompson. For us this +other cause may be more directly responsible. Artificial selection in +a social group, wherein the active choice of mates falls to the share +of the male, would seem to tend in the direction of an accentuated +type in that more passive sex on which the selective influence +directly plays. At all events, observations from widely scattered +sources verify the law that the facial individuality of a people is +more often than otherwise expressed most clearly in the women. Thus, +for example, the women betray the Mongol type more constantly than the +men among the Asiatic tribes of eastern Russia.[28] On the other hand, +Mainof, best of authority, confirms the same tendency among those of +Finnic descent.[29] The _Setti Communi_ in northern Italy still +preserve their German language as evidence of a historic Teutonic +descent. They seem to have lost their identity entirely in respect of +the head form,[30] but Ranke[31] states that among the women the +German facial type constantly reappears. This, I confess, is not +altogether easy to understand, unless the Lombards, of whom these +colonies are supposedly the remnants, brought their native women with +them across the Alps. Perhaps, however, not bringing their women, a +new Teutonic resemblance has been evolved out of whole cloth. A better +example than this is offered among the Hamitic peoples of Africa north +of the Sahara. These peoples, from Abyssinia to Morocco, really belong +to the white races of Europe. Among nearly all their tribes the +negroid traits are far more accentuated among the women, according to +Sergi.[32] It is not necessary to cite more specific testimony. The +law occupies a respected place among anthropologists. That the Jews +confirm it, would seem to strengthen our hypothesis at every point. + +Our final conclusion, then, is this: It is paradoxical, yet true, we +affirm. The Jews are not a race, but only a people, after all. In +their faces we read its confirmation, while in respect of their other +traits we are convinced that such individuality as they possess--by no +means inconsiderable--is of their own making from one generation to +the next, rather than as a product of an unprecedented purity of +physical descent. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] 1877, p. 214. + +[12] 1861 b, pp. 227 and 331. + +[13] Glück, 1896 a. Jacobs, 1890, p. 82, did not find a trace of it in +the Sephardim congregation in London. See Andree, 1878, in this +connection. + +[14] The cephalic index by which we measure the head-form is merely +the breadth of the head in percentage of its length from front to +back. The index rises as the head becomes relatively more broad. + +[15] Verneau, 1881 a, p. 500. + +[16] Pruner Bey, 65 b; Gillebert d'Hercourt, 1868, p. 9; and +especially Collignon, 1887 a, pp. 326-339; Bertholon, 1892, p. 41; +also Collignon, 1896 b. + +[17] Eliséev, 1883. + +[18] Bertholon, 1892, p. 43; Sergi, 1897 a, chapter i, and even more +recently Fouquet, 1896 and 1897, on the basis of De Morgan's +discoveries. + +[19] Compare Brinton, 1890 a, p. 132, and 1890 b, for interesting +linguistic data on the Semites. + +[20] 1877, pp. 88-90; 1885, p. 84. + +[21] Centralblatt für Anthropologie, vol. iii, p. 66. + +[22] Virchow, 1886 b, p. 364; Schimmer, 1884, p. xxiii. + +[23] Weissenberg, 1895, p. 567, finds brunettes twice as frequent +among the south Russian Jewesses as among the men. + +[24] 1886 a, p. xxxii. + +[25] 1895, p. 563. + +[26] Recherches anthropologiques dans l'Asie Occidentale (Archives du +Museum d'histoire naturelle, Lyons, vol. vi, 1895). + +[27] 1886 a, p. xxviii. + +[28] Sommier, 1887, reprint, p. 116. Cf. Zograf, 1896, p. 50, on +crania from the sixteenth century in Moscow. + +[29] Congrès int. des sciences géographiques, Paris, 1875, p. 268. + +[30] Livi, 1896 a, pp. 137 and 146. + +[31] Beiträge zur Anth. Bayerns, vol. ii, 1879, p. 75. + +[32] Africa, Antropologia della stirpe Camitica, Torino, 1897, p. 263. + + + + +TRUE TALES OF BIRDS AND BEASTS. + +BY DAVID STARR JORDAN. + + +I.--SEÑOR ALCATRAZ. + +He was just a bird when he was born, and a very ugly bird at that. For +he had big splay feet, with all the toes turned forward and joined +together in one broad web, and his wings were thick and clumsy, and +underneath his long bill there was a big red sack that he could fill +with fishes, and when it was full he could hardly walk or fly, so +large the sack was and so great was his appetite. + +But he kept the sack well filled and he emptied it out every day into +his stomach, and so he grew very soon to be a large bird, as big as a +turkey, though not as fat, and each day uglier than ever. + +But one morning, when he was walking out on the sand flat of the +Astillero at Mazatlan, Mexico, where he lived, he saw a big fish which +had been left by the falling tide in a little pool of water. It was a +blue-colored fish with a big bony head, and no scales, and a sleek, +slippery skin. He did not know that it was a _bagre_, but he thought +that all fishes were good to eat, so he opened his mouth and slipped +the fish, tail first, down into his pouch. It went all right for a +while, but when the fish woke up and knew he was being swallowed, he +straightened out both of his arms, and there he was. For the bagre is +a kind of catfish, and each arm is a long, stiff, sharp bone, or +spine, with a saw edge the whole length of it. And all the bagre has +to do is just to put this arm out straight and twist it at the +shoulder and then it is set, and no animal can bend or break it. And +it pierced right through the skin of the bird's sack, and the bird +could not swallow it, nor make it go up nor down, and the bagre held +on tight, for he knew that if he let go once he would be swallowed, +and that would be the last of him. + +So the bird tried everything he could think of, and the fish held on, +and they kept it up all day. In the afternoon a little boy came out on +the sands. His name was Inocente, and he was the son of Ygnacio, the +fisherman of Mazatlan. And Inocente took a club of mangrove and ran up +to the struggling bird and struck it on the wing with the club. The +blow broke the wing, and the bird lay down to die, for with a broken +wing and a fish that would not go up nor down, there was no hope for +him. + +When Inocente saw what kind of a fish it was, he knew just what to do. +He reached down into the bird's sack and took hold of the fish's +spines. He gave each one a twist so that it rolled over in its socket, +the upper part toward the fish's head, and then they were not stiff +any more, but lay flat against the side of the fish, just as they +ought to lie. Then the fish knew that it had found a master, and lay +perfectly still. So the bird gave a great gulp, and out the bagre went +on the sand, and when the tide came up it swam away, and took care +never to go again where a bird could get hold of it. And the bird with +the broken wing had learned something about fishes, too. But he could +not fly away, so he waited to see what the boy was going to do. + +The boy took the bird into his boat and brought him home. And old +Ygnacio put a splint on his wing and covered it with salve, and by and +by it healed. But the bone was set crooked, and the bird could not fly +very well. So the boys called the bird Señor Alcatraz, which is the +Spanish for Mr. Pelican, and Señor Alcatraz and all the boys and dogs +and goats became good friends, and all ran about on the streets +together. And when the boys would shout and the dogs bark, all Señor +Alcatraz could do was to squawk and hiss and open his big mouth and +show the inside of his red fish sack. + +And when the boys would go fishing on the wharf, Alcatraz would go, +too, and he would stow away the fishes in his pouch as fast as the +boys could catch them. But if they caught a bagre fish, he would turn +his head the other way and then run away home just as fast as his +splay feet would take him. + +And when the men drew the net on the beach Alcatraz would splash +around inside the net, catching whatever he could, and having a great +deal of fun in his clumsy pelican fashion. Then he would run along the +street with the boys, squawking and flapping his wings and thinking +that he was just like the rest of them. And if you ever go to +Mazatlan, ask for Dr. Rogers, and he will show you the way to +Ygnacio's cabin on the street they call Libertad. And there in the +front yard, in a general scramble of dogs, goats, and little Indian +boys, you will see Señor Alcatraz romping and squabbling like the best +of them. And you will know which he is by the broken wing and the red +sack under his throat. But if you say "Bagre" to him, he will run +under the doorstep and hide his face till you go away. + + +II.--THE LITTLE BLUE FOX. + +Once there was a little blue fox, and his name was Eichkao, and he was +a thief. So he built his house down deep among the rocks under the +moss on the Mist Island, and his little fox children used to stay down +among the rocks. There they would gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, whenever +they heard anybody walking over their heads. Eichkao and his fox wife +used to run all round over the rocks to find something for them to +eat, and whenever Eichkao saw anybody coming he would go clin-n-n-g, +cling-g-g, and his voice was high and sharp, just like the voice of a +buzz saw. + +One day he walked out on the rocks over the water and began to talk to +the black sea parrot, whose name is Epatka, and who sits erect on his +carelessly built nest with one egg in it, and wears a great big bill +made of red sealing wax. He has a long white quill pen stuck over each +ear, and over his face is a white mask, so that nobody can know what +kind of a face he has, and all you can see behind the mask is a pair +of little foolish twinkling white glass eyes. What the two said to +each other I don't know, but they did not talk very long, for in a few +minutes when I came back to his house among the rocks Eichkao was +gone, and there lay out on the bank a bill made of red sealing wax, a +white mask, and two little white quill pens. There were a few bones +and claws and some feathers, but they did not seem to belong to +anything in particular, and the little foxes in the rocks went gurgle, +gurgle, gurgle. + +One day I lay down on the moss out by the old fox walk on the Mist +Island, and Eichkao saw me there and thought I was some new kind of +walrus which might be good to eat, and would feed all the little foxes +for a month. So he ran around me in a circle, and then he ran around +again, then again and again, always making the circle smaller, until +finally the circle was so narrow that I could reach him with my hand. +As he went around and around, all the time he looked at me with his +cold, gray, selfish eye, and not one of all the beasts has an eye as +cruel-cold as his. When he thought that he was near enough, he gave a +snap with his jaws, and tried to bite out a morsel to take home to the +little foxes; but all I offered him was a piece of rubber boot. And +when I turned around to look at him he was running away as fast as he +could, calling klin-n-g-g, klin-n-g, klin-n-g, like a scared buzz saw +all the time as he went out of sight. And I think that he is running +yet, while the little foxes still go gurgle, gurgle under the rocks. + + +III.-HOW THE RED FOX WENT HUNTING. + +(_With acknowledgment to Mr. A. C. Bassett, of Menlo Park, +California._) + +Once on a time there was a great tall rabbit, the kind the miners call +a "narrow-gauge mule"; but he was not a mule at all, and his real name +was "Jack Rabbit." His home was in Montana, and he lived by the river +they call the Silver Bow. He could run faster than any of the other +beasts, and he went lickety-clip, lickety-clip, bounding over the tops +of the sagebrush, for he had no brush of his own to carry. + +And there was a red fox who lived on the Silver Bow, too, and he went +hunting because he wanted rabbit for dinner. But while he could run +very fast he could not bound over the tops of the sagebrush, for his +own brush, which he always carried with him because he was so proud of +it, would catch on the thorns of the other kinds of brush and so would +keep him back. + +So he sent for his cousin, the coyote, to come and help him. Now, the +coyote lived out in the country by Emigrant Mountain. He was not proud +at all, for he hadn't much of a brush, and nobody flattered him for +his beauty. But for all that the coyote could run very fast, as he had +Indian blood in him. The only trouble was that his hind feet ran +faster than his fore feet. So he had to stop every little while and +run sidewise to unkink himself and give his fore feet a chance to +catch up. + +When the coyote came up the rabbit was bounding along through the +bushes, going around in a great circle so that he always came back to +the same place, for that is the way of the rabbit-folk. So the fox lay +low and hid his brush in the sage, and the coyote followed the rabbit +around the circle. And he just kept up with the rabbit all the way, +for the rabbit wasn't scared, and didn't run very fast. And when they +had gone once around the circle the rabbit passed the hidden fox. Then +the fox got up and chased him, and was only a few feet behind. And the +coyote stopped and ran sidewise for a while to unkink himself, and +then he lay down in the bushes and waited for the rabbit to come back. +The rabbit was much scared when he saw the fox close behind him, so he +ran and bounded very fast, and the fox kept falling behind because he +had his long brush to carry. But he kept at it just the same, and when +the rabbit came around the circle to where he started there was the +coyote waiting for him. The rabbit had to make a great jump to get +over the coyote's head. Then they went around again and the coyote +kept close behind all the way, and the rabbit began to get tired. When +the coyote's hind legs got tangled up then the fox was rested, and he +took up the chase; and so they kept on, each one taking his turn, +except the rabbit, who had to keep his own turn all the time. + +When the race was over there was nobody there to see how they divided +up what they caught. But I saw the coyote the next day, and he looked +so very empty that I think that the red fox must have taken all the +rabbit meat for himself. Most likely he left his cousin just the ears +for his part, with a rabbit's foot to carry in his pocket for good +luck. + + + + +GLACIAL GEOLOGY IN AMERICA. + +BY PROF. DANIEL S. MARTIN. + + +Under this title the vice-president of Section E (Geology) of the +American Association--Prof. Herman L. Fairchild, of the University of +Rochester, New York--gave an admirable _résumé_ of the whole history, +progress, and scope of the study of ice phenomena in North America, as +the opening address before the section at the recent Boston meeting. +Apart from the interest of the subject in itself considered, this +address was a model of what such addresses should be. While strictly +scientific, without the least attempt at rhetorical effect, it was at +the same time so clear, so well arranged and so simple in language, +that any intelligent auditor could enjoy it and grasp it, and carry +away a distinct impression of the gradual development and present +status of this great department of geological study. Professor +Fairchild's choice of his subject was happy also in its fitness to the +occasion, as covering almost exactly the half century of the life of +the association, though going back indeed a few years further, into +the period of the earlier society which developed into the association +in 1848. + +The great body of phenomena comprised under the term "drift," and the +smoothed and scratched surfaces of rock, etc., had been by no means +unnoticed by the early students of American geology, but they were +attributed to violent and widespread water action, and were spoken of +in general as "diluvial" formations. When the agency of ice began to +be recognized, it was regarded as that of floating and stranding +bergs; and this view for a long time contended with the theory of +glacial action, even when the latter had been adopted and advocated by +eminent students of the subject. + +The first allusion to drifting ice as the agent of transportation of +bowlders, etc., appears to have been made as early as 1825, by one +Peter Dobson, of Connecticut, in a letter to Prof. Benjamin Silliman, +of Yale College. Sir Roderick Murchison, who became the great champion +of this view, credits Mr. Dobson's letter with giving him the first +suggestion of it. Twelve years later, in 1837, T. A. Conrad made the +earliest reference to land ice as the cause of our drift phenomena; he +does this in very striking words when read in the light of the studies +and determinations of later years, although of course imperfectly and +vaguely. + +Meanwhile, however, Agassiz and others had been working among the +glaciers of the Alps, and their views as to a great period of former +extension, in Europe and the British Isles, were finding some +acceptance abroad. In this country, Prof. Edward Hitchcock, in his +address as retiring president of the Association of American +Geologists, in 1841, gave a broad and careful review of the drift +phenomena in eastern North America, and referred to the work of +Agassiz, Buckland, and Lyell with great interest, as having given him +"a new geological sense" in observing these phenomena, and said, with +prophetic foresight, "Henceforth, glacial action must form an +important chapter in geology." + +But the time was not ripe for the understanding and acceptance of the +glacial theory as a later generation has come to know it. The studies +of Agassiz and his _confrères_ had been among glaciers upon mountain +slopes, and hence, while many of the drift phenomena were strikingly +accounted for, others were not and could not be. So it came to pass +that, while Professor Hitchcock and others in this country were +strongly impressed, they were not satisfied, and held for years an +uncertain position. The glacial indications conformed in some aspects +to the theory, but not in others; the striæ and groovings, instead of +following valleys, all had a general trend to the southward, and the +bowlders were carried across great depressions and deposited upon +heights. How could these conditions be due to glaciers? Could ice flow +uphill, or move long distances over level areas? These and other +phenomena, such as the peculiar distribution of drift material, in +"drumlin" ridges and the like, had no explanation. Hence, +notwithstanding President Hitchcock's utterances above quoted, and his +similar Postscript on the subject of drift and moraines, appended in +the same year to his volume on the Geology of Massachusetts, we find +him in 1843, when again addressing the Association of Geologists, +adopting a modified tone, dwelling upon these points of difficulty, +and seeking a compromise view, which he called "glacio-aqueous." The +great influence also of Murchison and Lyell had been thrown into the +scale in favor of the iceberg theory, and this fact doubtless had much +to do with the slow development of true conceptions. Lyell visited +America in 1842, and was present at the American Geologists' meeting, +advocating the floating-ice doctrine, to which most of our observers +already leaned; and so the views of Agassiz and the glacial school had +to wait for a decade before they found general acceptance or even +audience. + +This, we may note in passing, is but one marked instance out of many +in the history of science, wherein the personal influence of eminent +leaders has obstructed and retarded the advance of true knowledge. The +whole recognition of the Cambrian system, as pre-Silurian and +distinct, was suppressed and prevented for many years by Murchison's +intense opposition to the views of Sedgwick. Similar facts might be +cited in this country, did we care to mention names. Science can not +claim, as is sometimes asserted, that it possesses or imparts any +entire exemption from the influence of authority, and bestows complete +independence from the tendency to "swear to the words of a master." + +Of the New York geologists, Vanuxem alone, in his Geology of the Third +District, 1842, inclined to the glacial theory; the others--Emmons, +Mather, and Hall--advocated floating ice, the latter urging as a chief +objection the absence of any great northern highlands from which +glaciers could extend southward. Prof. Henry D. Rogers advocated De la +Beche's view, of great catastrophic waves or _débacles_ of water and +ice, produced by sudden uplifts of the floor of a circumpolar ocean, +and sweeping southward with tremendous power over the middle +latitudes. These views were presented by him in 1844, at the +Washington meeting of the geologists, and are to us a most curious +illustration of the old "cataclysmic" phase of geological conceptions. + +Two years later Agassiz came to America, and at once set about +studying the ice evidences here, first in the White Mountains and then +around the Great Lakes. At the first meeting of the American +Association, in 1848, he presented his views as to the identity of our +phenomena with those studied by himself, Desor, and Guyot abroad. His +views were not very warmly received, however, and he did not attempt +their public presentation again for some years, turning his attention +more to the field of zoölogy. In 1850, in a work on Lake Superior, he +refers somewhat sharply to the prejudice that seemed to prevail in +relation to this subject. + +From this time, however, the aqueous theories began to be less +strongly presented; and a new generation of geologists was coming on, +largely under the training of Guyot and Agassiz, and more open to +their observed results. C. B. Adams, in 1850, presented a view nearly +akin to that adopted by Dana a few years later, of an elevation of the +high northern latitudes, resulting in a southward-moving glacial +sheet, and a subsequent depression connected with its retreat, to +account for the stratified deposits. Professor Dana accepted this +doctrine in his presidential address before the association in 1855, +adding the "Terrace period" of partial re-elevation. From this time he +became the leader of the American glacialists, and his great Manual, +issued in 1862, carried these views into all the colleges of the +country. + +In 1857 Prof. Edward Hitchcock published an important treatise on +Surface Geology, particularly of the Connecticut Valley, in the +Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. In this paper he noted the +distinction, so important and now so familiar, between local striæ and +those with the general southward course of the "drift." Two years +later his son, Prof. C. H. Hitchcock, extended this distinction +widely over New England. In 1863 the report of progress of the +Geological Survey of Canada gave an extended review of the surface +geology, by Prof. Robert Bell, in which he fully adopted the glacial +theory. Meantime, also, Professor Ramsay, in England, had abandoned +the iceberg doctrine for that of glaciers. + +In 1866 and 1867 important papers appeared by Charles Whittlesey, and +one by Edward Hungerford; this last, read before the association, +adopted the general views of Agassiz, with some important limitations +now generally received. In the same year the revised edition of Dana's +Manual gave yet fuller statement and wider diffusion to the generally +accepted views as held to-day. + +Professor Fairchild sums up this historical sketch as comprising four +periods--viz., prior to 1841, undisputed reign of diluvial hypotheses; +1841 to 1848, suggestion and discussion of glacial hypotheses; 1849 to +1866, gradual acceptance of the latter view; from 1867 onward, +development of glacial geology. + +From this point, the address was occupied with consideration of the +various aspects of the subject as studied and wrought out during the +past twenty years by numerous observers. These are grouped under four +main heads, each with various subdivisions--viz., (1) the ice sheet, +as to its area, its thickness, its centers of dispersion, its +migration of centers, etc.; (2) the ice period, as to its cause, its +divisions, its duration, its distance in time; (3) the interpretation +of special phenomena, such as moraines, drumlins, eskers, "kettles," +and the like, valley drift, terraces, loess, etc.; and (4) existing +glaciers, as discovered on our high mountains of the far West, and as +studied in closer relation to the ancient phenomena in the great ice +cap of Greenland and the immense glacier development in Alaska. + +It is impossible to go into a detailed review of the numerous points +of interest covered in this discussion. Suffice it to say that one who +heard or who reads it finds an admirably clear and condensed account +of all the problems and phenomena that have been and that are now +encountered in the study of glacial geology on this continent, and of +their gradual interpretation and solution by the combined labors of +many students. The progress of knowledge over this wide field, +advancing step by step, amid conflicting views and perplexing +conditions, is beautifully shown, and leaves a very striking +impression on the mind, of the difficulties and the successes of +scientific research. Nor is Professor Fairchild disposed to claim too +much or assert too strongly. He recognizes that, with all that has +been met and mastered, there are still questions unsolved, and laurels +to be won by others. + +Among the facts brought out, a few may be briefly alluded to. The +early abandonment of Agassiz's original view of a vast extension of +the polar snow caps, and the recognition of separate centers of +continental glaciation, now distinctly determined as three in +number--a western, a central, and an eastern--the former being the +earliest, and the others following in succession; the recognition by +the Western geologists of the twofold character of the Glacial epoch, +as also determined in western Europe, but less markedly traceable in +our Eastern States, though now generally admitted; in close relation +to this the determination of the line of the great terminal moraine, +traced by successive observers from the Atlantic seaboard to +Minnesota, and the subsequent recognition of an older, eroded, and +fragmentary morainal "fringe," marking the line of the earlier ice +sheet, somewhat beyond the later. With regard to the actual distance +of the last glacial retreat, as expressed in years, Professor +Fairchild is both cautious and frank. He notes the general consensus +of recent observers toward a much shorter period than was formerly +supposed--from five to ten or perhaps fifteen thousand years. At the +same time, there are many elements of uncertainty involved, and the +problem is by no means settled. The Niagara gorge, so long looked upon +as a possible chronometer, grows more complicated as it is further +studied; the rate of erosion has evidently varied much with the volume +of water carried by the river; and this, in turn, has varied with the +changes of level, and consequently of drainage routes, in the basin of +the Great Lakes. There have been times when only the Erie waters +flowed through the Niagara outlet, the upper lake drainage passing +eastward independently, until a gradual northern rise of the land, +which is proved to be still going on, turned the entire drainage into +the present St. Clair route from Lake Huron into Lake Erie, and so +through Niagara. + +This point leads us to digress for a moment from the address under +consideration to allude to a very interesting department of study that +is now growing into prominence--to wit, the restoration of pre-glacial +geography and hydrography, and the genesis of our existing river and +lake systems throughout the northern part of the country. The +discussions and results in regard to Niagara and the Great Lakes are +somewhat familiar, but the work on the rivers and smaller lakes is not +so widely known. Professor Fairchild himself has done much in relation +to the "central lakes" of New York State; and one very interesting +paper of this kind on The Development of the Ohio River was read +before the section by Prof. William G. Light, of Granville, Ohio, +besides many papers by others on similar topics. + +The work done within a few years upon the glaciers of Arctic America +has proved peculiarly fruitful in results. Here, again, the whole +subject is reviewed historically, and the name and work of each +observer are impartially noted. Much of the difficulty encountered by +the glacial theory arose, as we have seen, from the fact that only +mountain glaciers had been studied, so that many of the phenomena +produced by continental ice could not be explained. Professor +Fairchild says, as to this aspect: "More has been learned of the +structure, behavior, and work of our ancient ice sheets by the study +of the Alaskan glaciers during the last ten years, and especially by +the study of the Greenland ice cap during the last four years, than by +all the study of the Alpine glaciers for the seventy years since they +have been observed." Prominent among those who have worked in this +field are the names of Professors Chamberlain and Salisbury in +Greenland, and Professors H. F. Reid and I. C. Russell in Alaska; +other important contributors are Prof. W. P. Blake, the pioneer +geologist in Alaska, 1867; Dall and Baker, who discovered and named +the Malaspina Glacier in 1874; and John Muir, 1878, for whom the Muir +Glacier was named; Wright, Baldwin, Schwatka, Libbey, and others, and +Barton and Tarr in Greenland. + +Professor Russell, in 1891, recognized and named a type of glacier +that was before unknown. In his studies on the Malaspina he found a +condition that does not occur, so far as yet observed, anywhere else +than on the northwest coast of America; this is where a number of +mountain glaciers debouch upon a low, flat coast plain, and unite to +form a great sluggishly moving sheet of ice. This particular +development he called the Piedmont type. + +In closing his address, Professor Fairchild remarks that the word +"theory," as applied to the glacial origin of the drift and its +phenomena, may and should now be abandoned. The subject has passed +beyond the stage of theory, and is as well understood and as clearly +established as the volcanic origin of the cone of Vesuvius or the +sedimentary origin of stratified rocks. + + * * * * * + + In the center of the artificial platforms or platform + mounds, characteristic of many of the ancient Peruvian + towns, Mr. Bandelier has observed features that recall + forcibly the New Mexican Indian custom of giving to each + inanimate object its heart. In some instances, says Mr. F. + W. Hodge, in his paper, round columns formed a kind of an + interior niche; in others, a small chamber contained urns or + jars with maize meal. A remarkable and very significant + feature was observed by the explorer in a partly ruined + mound at Chanchan. The core of this structure when opened + showed two well-preserved altars of adobe. In such interior + apartments, figurines of metal, clay, or wood are almost + invariably found; and the materially valuable finds made in + Peruvian ruins in earlier times came from the "heart" of one + or the other of the artificial elevations described. + + + + +MODERN STUDIES OF EARTHQUAKES. + +BY GEORG GERALAND. + + +The investigation of earthquakes, seismology, has become in the +present day an independent subject of scientific interest. In lands +where earthquakes are frequent, as in Italy and Japan, seismic +observations have been officially systematized over the whole country, +with central and branch stations at which the work is never still. A +net of seismic observations of all nations is being more and more +closely woven over the whole earth, and there are yearly and monthly +collations of observations of even the slightest shocks. Seismic +literature is, therefore, nearly inexhaustible, and theory and praxis +are in constant vogue; in short, seismics has grown to be a separate +branch of science, and to demand independent treatment, calling for +the energy and labor of many students. What gives it so great +importance? What is the condition of our present knowledge and its +history? What will be reached in the future through the competition of +the nations? These questions possess a high scientific as well as +culture-historical interest. We here attempt to answer them. + +The first really scientific description of an earthquake--that of +Lisbon--with its far-reaching accompanying phenomena, was the work of +the greatest contemporary thinker, Kant, and it is not too much to say +that his paper opened a new epoch in the knowledge of earthquakes. +That terrible event and the extreme terror which it caused everywhere +were followed in 1783 by the likewise extremely destructive earthquake +of Calabria. The attention of the people was thus directed to this +mysterious mighty activity of the earth, and was kept especially +lively in Italy, the country of Europe most subject to earthquakes. +The newly rising science of geology therefore found in the last third +of the last century in these phenomena a problem of prominent +importance. Geologists were the first to apply themselves to seismic +studies, as the most widely current explanation of the phenomena is +still a geological one. The scientific interest of the question +prevailed over the practical. More attentive observation was given to +earthquakes, the accounts of them scattered through the ancient +chronicles were collated, and the already very numerous seismic notes +of great earthquake manifestations--such as those by Hoff, Perry, +Mallet, Volger, Fuchs, etc.--constituted a very important factor in +the study. One of the earliest results of the inquiry was to show that +directly perceptible earthquakes are not perceptible everywhere; that +they are most common on the great upfoldings of the earth's crust on +the mountain chains, such as the Andes, Alps, and Himalayas; and that, +further, they are connected with the shores of the Pacific, the +Antilles, and the Mediterranean, and with places also where great +breaches and various disturbances are evident; that they are at home +likewise in volcanoes; and that they are most frequent in the northern +hemisphere, and when the earth is nearest to the sun. The descriptions +of powerful shocks furnish us evidence of a double movement of the +earth's crust--an alternate up-and-down vibration and an often very +marked wave motion. The destruction which earthquake shocks and waves +inflict on buildings, and the remarkably rapid and wide spread of the +tremblings over the surface of the earth, have been very diligently +inquired into; and when, in 1856, Naples and Calabria were visited by +a great earthquake, an English investigator, Robert Mallet, made a +full study of it, and believed that by comparing the direction of the +rents in walls and buildings, which were assumed to correspond with +that of the tremblings, he could identify the focus of the shocks in +the earth's interior, and the course of the wave movement over its +surface--a view which has long prevailed in seismology. Still more +important was the work of the geologist Karl von Seebach, of +Göttingen, on the great earthquake in central Germany, which kept the +northern part of the plains of the upper Rhine, around Mayence, +Grossgerau, and Darmstadt, disturbed for several years after 1869. Von +Seebach's chief effort was to obtain the most exact data possible as +to the time of the beginning of the shocks from as many places as +possible, from which he might deduce the spot where the shocks began +and were strongest, the epicenter which lay directly over the point in +the earth's interior where the movement originated. From them he also +deduced a series of localities where the shocks were simultaneous and +of equal intensity, which could be connected by certain nearly +circular lines called _homoseists_. As the distance of these from the +epicenter increases, the undulations take place later and are weaker, +and facts may be thus furnished from the velocity of propagation of +the shocks can be computed. The observations are also important +because von Seebach undertook through a simple mathematical +calculation to determine from them the situation of the forces of the +subterranean point where the undulations originated. + +With these investigations, the process of annihilating time and space +by steam and the applications of electricity was also going on. By the +effect of this great event, the conditions of earthquake investigation +were revolutionized. A comparative study of the phenomena, fundamental +and essential to a science of seismology, on the basis of material +furnished from all the regions of the earth, was rendered possible. An +earthquake service was organized in Japan, by J. Milne, of England; +one had already been organized for a considerable time in Italy, and +the results obtained at the two places of observation so widely +separated corresponded. Japanese, Indian, and American earthquakes +could be simultaneously studied in Italy, Russia, Germany, and +England; and thus a new, hitherto undeveloped field was gained, the +scope of which has already extended far beyond its merely geological +aspect. + +This could have happened only through another advance that has been +made in our century, which has first rendered a real seismology, a +scientific knowledge of the seismic conditions of the earth, possible +through the immense development of technics, by which a system of +instrumental observation of earthquakes was established. Only through +this could the acquisitions of recent times be utilized. While +formerly observations were macroscopic and touched only earthquakes +that could be directly felt, they now cover essentially microscopic +tremors of the earth's crust, of less than a thousandth of a +millimetre, that are wholly imperceptible to human senses; and we can +read them, enlarged at our pleasure, on our photographically +registering seismometers. We already had instruments which correctly +indicated the time of the beginning and possibly the direction of a +shock; but we needed and have invented new instruments--various sorts +of horizontal and vertical pendulums--for the observation and +representation of the whole course of the movement. The vertical +indicating instruments are much used in Italy, and the horizontal ones +almost exclusively in England, Japan, and Germany. The horizontal +pendulum was invented in Germany in 1832 by Hengler, adapted to +scientific use by Professor Zöllner, of Leipsic, and afterward applied +in that form by English, German, and other observers. The most +complete shape and the one best adapted to extremely delicate seismic +observations was given to it by the late German astronomer and +geographer Dr. Ernst von Rebeur Paschnitz, of Merseburg. Having +undergone a few small changes, fixed in a threefold combination it +serves as our most sensitive and accurate seismometer. Its movements +and its very exact time markings are photographically represented. The +pendulum box is only forty centimetres in diameter. In consequence of +its convenience and cheapness, its self-action and its serviceability, +it is becoming adopted more and more generally as an international +instrument. + +Microseismic investigation and its wide extension over the earth have +raised seismology another step during the last twenty years, so that +it may be said that really exact seismic research began with it. +Modern seismology has confirmed many of the older results, such as the +localization of earthquakes on the shores of the Pacific, the +Mediterranean and in the mountain chains of the earth, and also the +importance of homoseists and the epicenter. It has, on the other hand, +greatly modified the former estimates of the velocity of propagation +of the shocks. It has cast much doubt on speculations as to the +seasons in which earthquakes are more or less frequent; and it has +demonstrated the inadequacy of former methods of determining the +central focus. It has furthermore brought us much that is new. First +is the momentous fact that the earth's crust is never at rest; that it +undergoes a multitude of very diversified movements besides those of +the earthquake. Thus a periodical swelling, a flood wave, is produced +by the attraction of the moon; and other heavings are induced by the +daily and annual course of the sun's heat. But such movements and +other similar ones do not come within the scope of this article. + +Real earthquakes, or movements that originate in the depths of the +earth, also appear in very different forms. First are the directly +perceptible shocks, from the powerful ones that create great +disturbances to the merely local ones often hardly remarked. Of the +immediate workings of these shocks, microscopic instruments have +taught us nothing essentially new. But very many macroscopic +movements, often continuing for several hours, but which are not felt, +have been revealed, that have been shown in many instances to be +distant effects of other strong earthquakes; effects which are +sometimes propagated over the whole surface of the earth. There is, +furthermore, another series of movements, only partly explained as +yet, of a peculiar sort: first, small, quickly passing disturbances, +which appear in the photographic reproductions of the curves as larger +or smaller knots, and which are regarded with great probability as +distant effects of minor seismic movements most likely imperceptible +anywhere. They can not be local earthquakes, for they give entirely +different curves. There also appear, with considerable regularity, at +certain seasons of the year, very slow movements of the ground, called +pulsations; and finally the multitude of vibrations called tremors, +which assume various forms. Sometimes they come as forerunners, +accompaniments, or followers in close association with those great +disturbances that originate in distant earthquakes; sometimes as +shocks of minute intensity in separate groups, which it has not yet +been possible to account for; and in other cases they are traced to +the shaking of the ground by the wind. It is hardly necessary to +observe that the seismic apparatus should be most carefully guarded +against disturbance by the movements of trade, wagons, etc., so that +the problem shall not be complicated by them. + +The theory of the nature of earthquake shocks, their transmission and +their velocity, has been set in a new light by the labors of Augustus +Smith, of Stuttgart. From some calculations of their velocity made by +G. von Nebeur, it is found that the earthquake of April 17, 1889, in +Tokio, Japan, was perceived in Potsdam, Prussia, nine thousand +kilometres distant, in thirteen minutes; that of October 27, 1894, in +Santiago, Chili, in Rome, eleven thousand five hundred kilometres +distant, in seventeen minutes, and in Charkow, Russia, two thousand +kilometres from Rome, between one and two minutes later. It reached +Tokio at the same time, after a transit of seventeen thousand four +hundred kilometres. + +Still another task of modern seismology is the investigation of +earthquakes at sea, or seismic movements of the bottom of the ocean, +and the manner in which they are propagated through the water, of +which a very fine cartographic representation has been published by +Dr. C. Rudolph, of Strasburg. + +The question of the origin of earthquakes stands in constant +connection with this external development of seismology. It is +significant and remarkable that the answers to it, though they may be +given differently from different scientific points of view, are always +consistent in one fact, that earthquakes are a phenomenon of the whole +earth. Some of the investigators seek to explain them, aside from +those that occur in volcanic regions, as a part of the great changes +in the earth's crust which have taken place during the last geological +epoch, and are still, perhaps, taking place; others find their seat +and cause in the unstable condition of the interior of the earth, +beneath its solid and red-hot envelope. The former explanation, the +older and heretofore the prevalent one, is called the tectonic theory, +because it is based, leaving out volcanic earthquakes, on the +structure of the earth's crust; the second, which is gaining ground, +and requires no separate explanation for volcanic earthquakes, may be +called, reviving an expression used by L. Fr. Naumann, of Leipsic, the +Plutonic theory, because it goes down into the unexplored depths of +the earth. If seismic manifestations depend upon the action of the +whole earth, a single explanatory principle, as is always the case +with great natural phenomena, is not sufficient, and tectonic as well +as Plutonic earthquakes must be recognized, and the reverse. + +The tectonic theory is of geological origin, and properly supplanted +the older Plutonic theory of Humboldt, which was only an unverified +supposition. As a whole it was first worked out by Otto Volger in +1858, after various similar hypotheses had been set forth by other +investigators. He was confirmed by the independent researches of +Rudolf Hoernes, Edouard Suess, and most of the German, French, and +English seismologists. + +Their theory supposes that there are large hollow spaces in the crust +of the earth, into which immense falls of material take place, and +that these are the cause of a part of the earthquakes; that the crust +of the earth is often and variously disturbed in consequence of the +constant contraction dependent upon the cooling of the globe. It is +broken up into separate masses which in their turn are dislocated +horizontally or vertically; is lifted up and folded into immense +mountain ranges, the arches of which, breaking, may again suffer +dislocation. Thus continuous action in movement of masses and foldings +is constantly going on in the earth. Edouard Suess, the distinguished +Austrian geologist, has indeed constituted a special earthquake type +to correspond with this type of mountain formation. Since, in +consequence of this condition, tension is present everywhere in the +crust of the earth, it may come to pass that it shall be relieved by a +distant earthquake, and another earthquake, which may be called a +relay or transmission earthquake, be produced thereby. Hence we have, +besides the volcanic, the landfall, the tectonic (in the strict +sense), and the transmission earthquakes. The sources of earthquake +force lie, then, according to this theory, in the incompleteness of +the earth's crust, the effects of gravity, and the earth's loss of +heat. + +And is the supposition not very probable? Do we not see similar +processes going on over the whole earth, in the shape of earthquakes, +landslides, fissures, subsidences of land, and the like? And as the +Alps were lifted up, and the plain of the Rhine was depressed between +the Vosges and the Black Forest, may not mightier dislocations, +breaches, and destruction occur? Why may not the processes which took +place in the earlier epochs of the earth's history and were so +powerful in the more recent Tertiary be still going on? All this seems +so plausible that, with a few exceptions, the theory has been almost +universally agreed in. + +I briefly mention here Falb's theory, which, accepting the earlier +views, ascribes earthquakes to periodical swellings of the fiery fluid +interior of the earth, only because of the effect it has had on the +public in connection with some wholly unscientific predictions. More +worthy of consideration is the theory of Daubrée, the late +distinguished master of French and especially Alsatian geology, who +did not attribute the similar phenomena of volcanic and nonvolcanic +earthquakes to different causes, but maintained that all earthquakes +were produced by superheated steam issuing from surface waters. But +this theory needs no refutation. There are, however, some serious +objections to the tectonic theory of earthquakes, plausible as it may +seem. In order to weigh them as we ought, we must as briefly as +possible construct a picture of the constitution of the earth's +interior. + +The average distance from the earth's surface to its center is +sixty-three hundred and seventy kilometres. The temperature of the +earth increases with the depth, at the rate, on a moderate estimate, +of about one degree centigrade for every forty metres. Hence, at a +depth of one thousand kilometres we would have a temperature of +25,000° C.; even if we call it only 15,000°, we should expect to find +there only gases, and those in a simple state, for with that heat all +the compound gases would be dissociated. The zone of fluidity for all +rocks lies at a depth of about one hundred kilometres, where the +temperature is 2,500° C. While the crust of the earth is between 2.5 +and three times as heavy as distilled water at 4° C., its specific +gravity rises toward the center of the earth to more than eleven, or +about fourfold. Iron has a specific gravity of 7.8, or about threefold +that of the crust of the earth; but the specific gravity of the earth +at the greatest depth is considerably higher than this. Hence must +arise an enormous pressure, steadily increasing toward the center, +where, according to the English geophysicist, the Rev. Osmond Fisher, +it reaches about three million atmospheres to the English square inch. +It results from these conditions that with the enormous pressure and +heat, and specific gravity, the interior of the earth consists of +dissociated gases compressed to great rigidity, which exert an immense +counter-pressure--for their tendency is always to expand. They pass +out continuously into a zone of fluid matter, and this again is held +by the pressure of the interior gases in a like compact condition. +Thus a very high pressure still prevails in the lower parts of the +solid crust of the earth, which is so high that even the most solid +rocks there are in a latent plastic condition--that is, they behave +toward different forces like plastic clay, and like it can be deformed +without breaking. Rents, slides, caves, and clefts are out of the +question there; things of that kind can exist only in the upper +strata. + +This fact constitutes a very strong objection to the tectonic theory +of earthquakes, and thus the very depths of the earth speak against +it. We have already mentioned that K. von Seebach estimated the depth +of the earthquake focus from the movements of the waves, and found it +not very great. But his estimates, as Prof. August Schmidt has shown, +rest upon physically incorrect premises; according to Schmidt's more +correct calculation, the center of the Charleston earthquake of 1886 +lay at a depth of one hundred and twenty kilometres, where there can +be no question of tectonic movements, because general fluidity is +reached at one hundred kilometres. Further, the earthquake at Lisbon, +if the tectonic theory is valid, might, taking the character of the +region into consideration, have been occasioned by a slide. But how +large must the plunging mass, how deep the plunge or slide have been +to produce such shocks as destroyed Lisbon and shook Europe to beyond +Bohemia! Where can we find room in the closely compressed interior of +the earth for such irruptions? Even if such a sudden sinking had left +no trace in the interior, it should have left its marks on the +surface. Mr. John Milne counts up not less than 8,331 considerable +earthquake shocks in Japan between 1885 and 1892; Julius Schmidt, +former director of the observatory in Athens, enumerated three hundred +severe and dangerous and fifty thousand light shocks for Phocis alone +between 1870 and 1873, of which not a trace of land changes or +depressions can be perceived, aside from superficial avalanches (on +Parnassus, for example) and subsidence of meadows and other spongy +soil, like the famous depression of the Molo at Lisbon. + +All this speaks so emphatically against the tectonic origin of +earthquakes that it can not be considered as a general cause. Even the +mighty disturbances and shocks of the times when such ranges as the +Alps and Himalayas were lifted up can prove nothing for the present +time; for the conditions, the mechanical work and acting forces, of +the earth were quite different, and the latter much greater and more +acute than in our time, as the number and magnitude of the volcanoes +of those ages show, before which ours are almost as nothing. We have +no adequate comprehension of the way that mechanical work was done. A +depression like that of the plain of the Rhine could certainly not +have taken place without severe earthquakes; but we do not know how +they may have come to pass, for we have nothing analogous to them. The +upper strata of the earth's crust are broken up, fissured, and +cavernous; hence purely local minor earthquakes may undoubtedly be +produced by cavings-in, landslides, and settlings of small extent. But +this explanation, in view of the nature of the crust, is not possible +for strong earthquakes, even in the upper layers, which send their +waves far over the land; their origin must be, almost of necessity, in +the greater deeps beneath the crust, far down where the immense gas +globe of the interior is constantly forcing its way into the fluid +band, and this into the solid stone; in those zones of changing +conditions a mighty movement must be incessantly prevailing. The +pressure upon the gases of the interior diminishes here, and the +excessive temperature as well. This can not take place without +changes. Temperature and pressure now fall, now rise again, but +continue very high through it all. The dissociated gases unite and +separate again, and most violent explosions are infallibly produced +thereby. Water exists in the interior in immense masses, and that not +solely in consequence of percolation from the surface. Vapor at very +high pressure separates into its elements--hydrogen and oxygen--the +reunion of which ensues with violent explosions, similar to our gas +explosions, which must be very numerous in the interior of the earth, +and accompanied with great development of force. The principal effect +of such explosions is, of course, against the cooler and more weakly +resisting sides, and therefore not toward the interior but toward the +crust and the weakest parts of it, toward the rupture lines of the +zones of disturbance, the synclinals. Such attacks, striking the +earth's crust from within, occasion most earthquakes, especially +violent, destructive, deep-seated outbursts like those of Lisbon and +Charleston. The relation of the seismic and the volcanic phenomena is +clearly to be seen. + +One series of seismic phenomena remains to be explained--the lighter +undulations, the tremors, and the remarkable irregularity of the +movements of the ground. The indications of the vertical pendulum +apparatus which represent these movements form an inextricable tangle +of lines running over and crossing one another. The late Japanese +professor of seismology, Sekiya, prepared an enlarged model of the +tracings of the seismic movements of a point of the earth's surface, +which has been much copied. It represents an extremely confusing +vibration of the lines. + +Now we have to confront a very important fact which adds much to the +difficulty of seismic research. We never feel and observe the +earthquake shocks themselves, never directly in their simplicity or +multiplicity, but only the wave movements that are sent out from them +in the elastic crust of the earth. These, however multifold their +origin, proceed in an immense spherical wave which moves in more or +less numerous repetitions through the earth's interior. It is this +shaking of the earth by the spherical waves that our instruments +represent as earthquakes. We can not include as the earth's crust the +surface of the earth on which we live, and which consists of loose +materials disintegrated by weathering, breaking, and numerous causes, +but the solid crust, often lying at a considerable distance beneath +us, which bears these materials, and from which the spherical waves +emerge. As the waves of the sea, beating upon the coast, are turned, +split up, divided, thrown up, etc., in their surging, so surge, too, +the seismic waves upon the disintegrated surface of shingle, pebbles, +broken rocks, sand, and earth, in clefts and gorges. We thus never +observe the original spherical waves, but only their fragmentary +derivative forms, their resolution into numerous single waves which +come to us diverted into the most various directions. It is thus most +plainly shown that Mallet's effort to determine the center and origin +of the earthquake from the direction of the shock was futile. We can +only draw scientific conclusions respecting the time of beginning, the +duration, and force of the movement. It is thus evident that many of +the tremors (not all, by any means) originate in this division; that a +fixed point of the earth's surface must describe a very complicated +path in so intricate a wave movement; that the division is less marked +on firm ground than on loose; that the former, in consequence of the +more evenly protracted movement, is less dangerous than the latter; +and that multiplied waves interfere, overlay, weaken, or strengthen +one another just as water waves do. Thus are explained the earthquake +bridges or spots which always remain unmoved through repeated +earthquakes, either because they are firmer, or because the progress +of the waves is arrested at them by interference. + +The sounds, too, which so frequently accompany earthquakes are +likewise simply results of this division of the waves and their escape +into the air, for we perceive wave motions in the air as sound. The +admirable delicacy of our sense of hearing is here manifested, for +seismic movements are not rarely perceptible, or heard, as air waves, +which we can not perceive as movements of the ground. Earthquake +thunder is caused, like storm thunder, by shocks to the air, of which +we hear the nearest and latest first, and the farthest and earliest +last. The different tone shades of the earthquake sound depend upon +their various sources, as from small, sharp fragments, clinking, +rattling, and humming; from sand and earth, dull rumbling; from trees, +whistling, etc. The echo in ravines not rarely operates to add +strength to them. Earthquake sounds that seem to come out of the air +from above are caused by earthquake waves reaching us by way of trees, +houses, etc.; the different directions and degrees of force which they +seem to indicate in different houses or in different rooms of the same +house are explainable by the different elasticity conditions of the +houses and rooms. But not the most insignificant conclusion can be +drawn from these sounds concerning the nature and causes of +earthquakes. It is important to emphasize this fact, for errors have +often originated in conclusions drawn from such things.--_Translated +for the Popular Science Monthly from the Deutsche Rundschau._ + + * * * * * + + Examples of a race of curiously protectively colored mice + which inhabit the sandy island, the North Bull, in the Bay + of Dublin, were exhibited by Dr. H. Lyster Jameson in the + Zoölogical Section of the British Association. A + considerable percentage of them were distinctly lighter hued + than the ancestral type of house mouse, though every + possible gradation occurred between the typical house mouse + and the palest examples. The speaker regarded the marked + predominance of sand-colored specimens as due to the action + of natural selection. The hawks and owls which frequent the + island, and are the only enemies the mice have to compete + against, most easily capture the darkest examples, or those + that contrast most strongly with the color of the sand. Thus + a protectively colored race is becoming established. The + island came into existence only about a hundred years ago. + Consequently it is possible to fix a time limit within which + the sandy-colored race has been evolved. Its evolution also, + as Professor Poulton observed in his comment on Dr. + Jameson's paper, gives additional evidence to that afforded + by the shore crabs described by Professor Weldon in his + presidential address to the section, that the transmutation + of species is not necessarily so slow as to be + indiscernible. + + + + +A SHORT HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUCTION[33] + +BY J. NORMAN LOCKYER, K. C. B., F. R. S. + + +The two addresses by my colleagues, Professors Judd and +Roberts-Austen, have drawn attention to the general history of our +college and the details of one part of our organization. I propose to +deal with another part, the consideration of which is of very great +importance at the present time, for we are in one of those educational +movements which spring up from time to time and mold the progress of +civilization. The question of a teaching university in the largest +city in the world, secondary education, and so-called technical +education are now occupying men's minds. + +At the beginning it is imperative that I should call your attention to +the fact that the stern necessities of the human race have been the +origin of all branches of science and learning; that all so-called +educational movements have been based upon the actual requirements of +the time. There has never been an educational movement for learning's +sake; but of course there have always been studies and students apart +from any of those general movements to which I am calling attention; +still we have to come down to the times of Louis Quatorze before the +study of the useless, the _même inutile_, was recognized as a matter +of national concern. + +It is perhaps the more necessary to insist upon stern necessity as +being the origin of learning, because it is so difficult for us now to +put ourselves in the place of those early representatives of our race +that had to face the problems of life among conditionings of which +they were profoundly ignorant: when night meant death; when there was +no certainty that the sun would rise on the morrow; when the growth of +a plant from seed was unrecognized; when a yearly return of seasons +might as well be a miracle as a proof of a settled order of phenomena; +when, finally, neither cause nor effect had been traced in the +operations of Nature. + +It is doubtless in consequence of this difficulty that some of the +early races have been credited by some authors with a special love of +abstract science, of science for its own sake; so that this, and not +stern necessity, was the motive of their inquiries. Thus we have been +told that the Chaldeans differed from the other early races in having +a predilection for astronomy, another determining factor being that +the vast plains in that country provided them with a perfect horizon. + +The first historic glimpses of the study of astronomy we find among +the peoples occupying the Nile Valley and Chaldea, say 6000 B. C. + +But this study had to do with the fixing of the length of the year, +and the determination of those times in it in which the various +agricultural operations had to be performed. These were related +strictly to the rise of the Nile in one country and of the Euphrates +in the other. All human activity was, in fact, tied up with the +movements of the sun, moon, and stars. These, then, became the gods of +those early peoples, and the astronomers, the seers, were the first +priests; revered by the people because as interpreters of the +celestial powers they were the custodians of the knowledge which was +the most necessary for the purposes of life. + +Eudemus of Rhodes, one of the principal pupils of Aristotle, in his +History of Geometry, attributes the origin of geometry to the +Egyptians, "who were obliged to invent it in order to restore the +landmarks which had been destroyed by the inundation of the Nile," and +observes "that it is by no means strange that the invention of the +sciences should have originated in practical needs."[34] The new +geometry was brought from Egypt to Greece by Thales three hundred +years before Aristotle was born. + +When to astronomy and geometry we add the elements of medicine and +surgery, which it is known were familiar to the ancient Egyptians, it +will be conceded that we are, in those early times, face to face with +the cultivation of the most useful branches of science. + +Now, although the evidence is increasing day by day that Greek science +was Egyptian in its origin, there is no doubt that its cultivation in +Greece was more extended, and that it was largely developed there. One +of the most useful and prolific writers on philosophy and science who +has ever lived, Aristotle, was born in the fourth century B. C. From +him, it may be said, dates a general conception of science based on +_observation_ as differing from experiment. If you wish to get an idea +of the science of those times, read his writings on Physics and on the +Classification of Animals. All sought in Aristotle the basis of +knowledge, but they only read his philosophy; Dante calls him the +"master of those who know."[35] + +Why was Aristotle so careful to treat science as well as philosophy, +with which his master, Plato, had dealt almost exclusively? + +The answer to this question is of great interest to our present +subject. The late Lord Playfair[36] in a pregnant passage suggests the +reason, and the later history of Europe shows, I think, that he is +right. + +"We find that just as early nations became rich and prosperous, so +did philosophy arise among them, and it declined with the decadence of +material prosperity. In those splendid days of Greece when Plato, +Aristotle, and Zeno were the representatives of great schools of +thought, which still exercise their influence on mankind, _Greece was +a great manufacturing and mercantile community_; Corinth was the seat +of the manufacture of hardware; Athens that of jewelry, shipbuilding, +and pottery. The rich men of Greece and all its free citizens were +actively engaged in trade and commerce. The learned class were the +sons of those citizens, and were in possession of their accumulated +experience derived through industry and foreign relations. Thales was +an oil merchant; Aristotle inherited wealth from his father, who was a +physician, but, spending it, is believed to have supported himself as +a druggist till Philip appointed him tutor to Alexander. Plato's +wealth was largely derived from commerce, and his master, Socrates, is +said to have been a sculptor. Zeno, too, was a traveling merchant. +Archimedes is perhaps an exception, for he is said to have been +closely related to a prince; but if so, he is the only princely +discoverer of science on record." + +In ancient Greece we see the flood of the first great intellectual +tide. Alas! it never touched the shores of western Europe, but it +undoubtedly reached to Rome, and there must have been very much more +observational science taught in the Roman studia than we generally +imagine, otherwise how account for Pliny, the vast public works, their +civilizing influence carried over sea and land from beyond +Bab-el-Mandeb to Scotland? In some directions their applications of +science are as yet unsurpassed. + +With the fall of the Roman Empire both science and philosophy +disappeared for a while. The first wave had come and gone; its last +feebler ripples seem to have been represented at this time by the +gradual change of the Roman secular studia wherever they existed into +clerical schools, the more important of which were in time attached to +the chief cathedrals and monasteries; and it is not difficult to +understand why the secular (or scientific) instruction was gradually +replaced by one more fitted for the training of priests. + +It is not to be wondered at that the ceaseless strife in the center of +Europe had driven what little learning there was to the western and +southern extremities, where the turmoil was less--I refer to Britain +and South Italy--while the exiled Nestorians carried Hellenic science +and philosophy out of Europe altogether to Mesopotamia and Arabia. + +The next wave--it was but a small one--had its origin in our own +country. In the eighth century England was at its greatest height, +relatively, in educational matters, chiefly owing to the labors of two +men. Beda, generally called the Venerable Bede, the most eminent +writer of his age, was born near Monkwearmouth in 673, and passed his +life in the monastery there. He not only wrote the history of our +island and nation, but treatises on the nature of things, astronomy, +chronology, arithmetic, medicine, philosophy, grammar, rhetoric, +poetry, music, basing his work on that of Pliny. He died in 735, in +which year his great follower was born in Yorkshire. I refer to +Alcuin. He was educated at the Cathedral School at York under +Archbishop Egbert, and, having imbibed everything he could learn from +the writings of Bede and others, was soon recognized as one of the +greatest scholars of the time. On returning from Rome, whither he had +been sent by Eaubald to receive the pallium, he met Karl the Great, +King of the Franks and Lombards, who eventually induced him to take up +his residence at his court, to become his instructor in the sciences. +Karl (or Charlemagne) then was the greatest figure in the world, and +although as King of the Franks and Lombards, and subsequently Emperor +of the Holy Roman Empire, his court was generally at Aachen, he was +constantly traveling throughout his dominions. He was induced, in +consequence of Alcuin's influence, not only to have a school always +about him on his journeys, but to establish, or foster, such schools +wherever he went. Hence it has been affirmed that "France is indebted +to Alcuin for all the polite learning it boasted of in that and the +following ages." The universities of Paris, Tours, Fulden, Soissons, +and others were not actually founded in his day, but the monastic and +cathedral schools out of which they eventually sprang were +strengthened, and indeed a considerable scheme of education for +priests was established--that is, an education free from all sciences, +and in which philosophy alone was considered. + +Karl the Great died in 814, and after his death the eastward traveling +wave, thus started by Bede and Alcuin, slightly but very gradually +increased in height. Two centuries later, however, the conditions were +changed. We find ourselves in presence of interference phenomena, for +then there was a meeting with another wave traveling westward, and +this meeting was the origin of the European universities. The wave now +manifested traveling westerly, spread outward from Arab centers first +and finally from Constantinople, when its vast stores of Greek lore +were opened by the conquest of the city. + +The first wavelet justified Eudemus's generalization that "the +invention of the sciences originated in practical needs," and that +knowledge for its own sake was not the determining factor. The year +had been determined, stone circles erected almost everywhere, and +fires signaled from them, giving notice of the longest and shortest +days, so that agriculture was provided for, even away from churches +and the festivals of the Church. The original user of geometry was not +required away from the valleys of the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates, and +therefore it is now medicine and surgery that come to the front for +the alleviation of human ills. In the eleventh century we find +Salerno, soon to be famed throughout Europe as the great medical +school, forming itself into the first university. And medicine did not +exhaust all the science taught, for Adelard listened there to a +lecture on "the nature of things," the cause of magnetic attraction +being one of the "things" in question. + +This teaching at Salerno preceded by many years the study of the law +at Bologna and of theology at Paris. + +The full flood came from the disturbance of the Arab wave center by +the crusades, about the beginning of the twelfth century. After the +Pope had declared the "Holy War," William of Malmesbury tells us "the +most distant islands and savage countries were inspired with this +ardent passion. The Welshman left his hunting, the Scotchman his +fellowship with vermin, the Dane his drinking party, the Norwegian his +raw fish." Report has it that in 1096 no less than six millions were +in motion along many roads to Palestine. This, no doubt, is an +exaggeration, but it reflects the excitement of the time, and prepares +us for what happened when the crusaders returned. As Green puts +it:[37] "The western nations, including our own, 'were quickened with +a new life and throbbing with a new energy.' ... A new fervor of study +sprang up in the West from its contact with the more cultured East. +Travelers like Adelard, of Bath, brought back the first rudiments of +physical and mathematical science from the schools of Cordova or +Bagdad.... The long mental inactivity of feudal Europe broke up like +ice before a summer's sun. Wandering teachers, such as Lanfranc or +Anselm, crossed sea and land to spread the new power of knowledge. The +same spirit of restlessness, of inquiry, of impatience with the older +traditions of mankind, either local or intellectual, that drove half +Christendom to the tomb of its Lord, crowded the roads with thousands +of young scholars hurrying to the chosen seats where teachers were +gathered together." + +_Studium generale_ was the term first applied to a large educational +center where there was a guild of masters, and whither students +flocked from all parts. At the beginning of the thirteenth century the +three principal studia were Paris, Bologna, and Salerno, where +theology and arts, law and medicine, and medicine almost by itself, +were taught respectively; these eventually developed into the first +universities.[38] + +English scholars gathered in thousands at Paris round the chairs of +William of Champeaux or Abélard, where they took their place as one of +the "nations" of which the great middle-age university of Paris was +composed. + +We have only to do with the arts faculty of this university. We find +that the subject-matter of the liberal education of the middle age +there dealt with varied very little from that taught in the schools of +ancient Rome. + +The so-called "artiens," students of the arts faculty, which was the +glory of the university and the one most numerously attended, studied +the seven arts of the trivium and quadrivium--that is, grammar, +rhetoric, dialectic and arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy.[39] + +This at first looks well for scientific study, but the mathematics +taught had much to do with magic; arithmetic dealt with epacts, golden +numbers, and the like. There was no algebra, and no mechanics. +Astronomy dealt with the system of the seven heavens. + +Science, indeed, was the last thing to be considered in the +theological and legal studia, and it would appear that it was kept +alive more in the medical schools than in the arts faculties. +Aristotle's writings on physics, biology, and astronomy were not known +till about 1230, and then in the shape of Arab-Latin translations. +Still, it must not be forgotten that Dante learned some of his +astronomy, at all events, at Paris. + +Oxford was an offshoot of Paris, and therefore a theological studium, +in all probability founded about 1167,[40] and Cambridge came later. + +Not till the Reformation (sixteenth century) do we see any sign of a +new educational wave, and then we find the two which have had the +greatest influence upon the history of the world--one of them +depending upon the Reformation itself, the other depending upon the +birth of experimental inquiry. + +Before the Reformation the universities were priestly institutions, +and derived their authority from the Popes. + +The universities were for the few; the education of the people, except +in the various crafts, was unprovided for. + +The idea of a general education in secular subjects at the expense of +the state or of communities is coeval with the Reformation. In +Germany, even before the time of Luther, it was undreamed of, or +rather, perhaps, one should say, the question was decided in the +negative. In his day, however, his zeal first made itself heard in +favor of education, as many are now making themselves heard in favor +of a better education, and in 1524 he addressed a letter to the +councils of all the towns in Germany, begging them to vote money not +merely for roads, dikes, guns, and the like, but for schoolmasters, so +that all children might be taught; and he states his opinion that if +it be the duty of a state to compel the able-bodied to carry arms, it +is _a fortiori_ its duty to compel its subjects to send their children +to school, and to provide schools for those who without such aid would +remain uninstructed. + +Here we have the germ of Germany's position at the present day, not +only in scientific instruction but in everything which that +instruction brings with it. + +With the Reformation this idea spread to France. In 1560 we find the +States-General of Orleans suggesting to Francis II a "levée d'une +contribution sur les bénéfices ecclésiastiques pour raisonablement +stipendier des pédagogues et gens lettrés, en toutes villes et +villages, pour l'instruction de la pauvre jeunesse du plat pays, et +soient tenus les pères et mères, à peine d'amende, à envoyer les dits +enfants à l'école, et à ce faire soient contraints par les segnieurs +et les juges ordinaires." + +Two years after this suggestion, however, the religious wars broke +out; the material interests of the clerical party had predominated, +the new spirit was crushed under the iron heel of priestcraft, and the +French, in consequence, had to wait for three centuries and a +revolution before they could get comparatively free. + +In the universities, or at all events alongside them, we find next the +introduction not so much yet of science as we now know it, with its +experimental side, as of the scientific spirit. + +The history of the Collége de France, founded in 1531 by Francis I, is +of extreme interest. In the fifteenth century the studies were chiefly +literary, and except in the case of a few minds they were confined +merely to scholastic subtleties, taught (I have it on the authority of +the Statistique de l'Enseignement Supérieur) in barbarous Latin. This +was the result of the teaching of the faculties; but even then, +outside the faculties, which were immutable, a small number of +distinguished men still occupied themselves in a less rigid way in +investigation; but still these studies were chiefly literary. Among +those men may be mentioned Danès, Postel, Dole, Guillaume Budé, +Lefèvre d'Étaples, and others, who edited with notes and commentaries +Greek and Latin authors whom the university scarcely knew by name. +Hence the renaissance of the sixteenth century, which gave birth to +the Collége de France, the function of which, at the commencement, was +to teach those things which were not in the ordinary curriculum of the +faculties. It was called the Collége des Deux Langues, the languages +being Hebrew and Greek. It then became the Collége des Trois Langues, +when the king, notwithstanding the opposition of the university, +created in 1534 a chair of Latin. There was another objection made by +the university to the new creation: from the commencement the courses +were free; and this feeling was not decreased by the fact that around +the celebrated masters of the Trois Langues a crowd of students was +soon congregated. + +The idea in the mind of Francis I in creating this Royal College may +be gathered from the following edict, dated in 1545: "François, etc., +savoir faisons à tous présents et à venir que Nous, considérant que le +sçavoir des langues, qui est un des dons du Saint-Esprit, fait +ouverture et donne le moyen de plus entière connaissance et plus +parfaite intelligence de toutes bonnes, honnêtes, saintes et +salutaires sciences.... Avons fait faire pleinement entendre à ceux +qui, y voudraient vacquer, les trois langues principales, Hébraïque, +Grecque, et Latine, _et les Livres esquels les bonnes sciences_ sont +le mieux et le plus profondément traitées. A laquelle fin, et en +suivant le décret du concile de Vienne, nous avons piéça ordonné et +establi en nôtre bonne ville de Paris, un bonne nombre de personnages +de sçavoir excellent, qui lisent et enseignent publiquement et +ordinairement les dites langues et sciences, maintenant +florissantautant ou plus qu'elles ne firent de bien longtemps ... +auxquels nos lecteurs avons donné honnêtes gages et salaires, et iceux +fait pourvoir de plusieurs beaux bénéfices pour les entretenir et +donner occasion de mieux et plus continuellement entendre au fait de +leur charge, ... etc." + +The Statistique, which I am following in this account, thus sums up +the founder's intention: "Le Collége Royal avait pour mission de +propager les nouvelles connaissances, les nouvelles découvertes. Il +n'enseignait pas la science faite, il la faisait." + +It was on account of this more than on account of anything else that +it found its greatest enemy in the university. The founding of this +new college, and the great excitement its success occasioned in Paris, +were, there can be little doubt, among the factors which induced +Gresham to found his college in London in 1574. + +These two institutions played a great part in their time. Gresham +College, it is true, was subsequently strangled, but not before its +influence had been such as to permit the Royal Society to rise +phoenixlike from its ashes; for it is on record that the first step in +the forming of this society was taken after a lecture on astronomy by +Sir Christopher Wren at the college. All connected with them felt in +time the stupendous change of thought in the century which saw the +birth of Bacon, Galileo, Gilbert, Hervey, Tycho Brahe, Descartes, and +many others that might be named; and of these, it is well to remark, +Gilbert,[41] Hervey, and Galileo were educated in medical schools +abroad. + +Bacon was not only the first to lay down _regulæ philosophandi_, but +he insisted upon the far-reaching results of research, not forgetting +to point out that "_lucifera experimenta, non fructifera +quærenda_,"[42] as a caution to the investigator, though he had no +doubt as to the revolution to be brought about by the ultimate +application of the results of physical inquiry. + +As early as 1560 the Academia Secretorum Naturæ was founded at Naples, +followed by the Lincei in 1609, the Royal Society in 1645, the Cimento +in 1657, and the Paris Academy in 1666. + +From that time the world may be said to have belonged to science, now +no longer based merely on observation but on experiment. But, alas! +how slowly has it percolated into our universities. + +The first organized endeavor to teach science in schools was naturally +made in Germany (Prussia), where, in 1747 (nearly a century and a half +ago), Realschulen were first started; they were taken over by the +Government in 1832, and completely reorganized in 1859, this step +being demanded by the growth of industry and the spread of the modern +spirit. Eleven hours a week were given to natural science in these +schools forty years ago. + +TEACHING THE TEACHERS.--Until the year 1762 the Jesuits had the +education of France almost entirely in their hands, and when, +therefore, their expulsion was decreed in that year, it was only a +necessary step to create an institution to teach the future teachers +of France. Here, then, we had the École Normale in theory; but it was +a long time before this theory was carried into practice, and very +probably it would never have been had not Rolland d'Erceville made it +his duty for more than twenty years, by numerous publications, among +which is especially to be mentioned his Plan d'Education, printed in +1783, to point out not merely the utility but the absolute necessity +for some institution of the kind. As generally happens in such cases, +this exertion was not lost, for in 1794 it was decreed that an École +Normale should be opened at Paris, "ou seront appelés de toutes les +parties de la République, des citoyens déjà instruits dans les +sciences utiles, pour apprendre, sous les professeurs les plus habiles +dans tous les genres, l'art d'enseigner." + +To follow these courses in the art of teaching, one potential +schoolmaster was to be sent to Paris by every district containing +twenty thousand inhabitants. Fourteen or fifteen hundred young men +therefore arrived in Paris, and in 1795 the courses of the school were +opened first of all in the amphitheater of the Museum of Natural +History. The professors were chosen from among the most celebrated men +of France, the sciences being represented by Lagrange, Laplace, Haüry, +Monge, Daubenton, and Berthollet. + +While there was this enormous progress abroad, represented especially +by the teaching of science in Germany and the teaching of the teachers +in France, things slumbered and slept in Britain. We had our coal and +our iron, our material capital, and no one troubled about our mental +capital, least of all the universities, which had become, according to +Matthew Arnold (who was not likely to overstate matters), mere _hauts +lycées_, and "had lost the very idea of a real university";[43] and +since our political leaders generally came from the universities, +little more was to be expected from them. + +Many who have attempted to deal with the history of education have +failed to give sufficient prominence to the tremendous difference +there must necessarily have been in scientific requirements before and +after the introduction of steam power. + +It is to the discredit of our country that we, who gave the perfected +steam engine, the iron ship, and the locomotive to the world, should +have been the last to feel the next wave of intellectual progress. + +All we did at the beginning of the century was to found mechanics' +institutions. They knew better in Prussia, "a bleeding and lacerated +mass";[44] after Jena (1806), King Frederick William III and his +councilors, disciples of Kant, founded the University of Berlin, "to +supply the loss of territory by intellectual effort." Among the +universal poverty money was found for the Universities of Königsberg +and Breslau, and Bonn was founded in 1818. As a result of this policy, +carried on persistently and continuously by successive ministers, +aided by wise councilors, many of them the products of this policy, +such a state of things was brought about that not many years ago M. +Ferdinand Lot, one of the most distinguished educationists of France, +accorded to Germany "a supremacy in science comparable to the +supremacy of England at sea." + +But this position has not been obtained merely by founding new +universities. To Germany we owe the perfecting of the methods of +teaching science. + +I have shown that it was in Germany that we find the first organized +science teaching in schools. About the year 1825 that country made +another tremendous stride. Liebig demonstrated that science teaching, +to be of value, whether in the school or the university, must consist +to a greater or less extent in practical work, and the more the +better; that book work was next to useless. + +Liebig, when appointed to Giessen, smarting still under the +difficulties he had had in learning chemistry without proper +appliances, induced the Darmstadt Government to build a chemical +laboratory in which the students could receive a thorough practical +training. + +It will have been gathered from this reference to Liebig's system of +teaching chemistry that still another branch of applied science had +been created, which has since had a stupendous effect upon industry; +and while Liebig was working at Giessen, another important industry +was being created in England. I refer to the electric telegraph and +all its developments, foreshadowed by Galileo in his reference to the +"sympathy of magnetic needles." + +Not only then in chemistry, but in all branches of science which can +be applied to the wants of man, the teaching must be practical--that +is, the student must experiment and observe for himself, and he must +himself seek new truths. + +It was at last recognized that a student could no more learn science +effectively by seeing some one else perform an experiment than he +could learn to draw effectively by seeing some one else make a sketch. +Hence in the German universities the doctor's degree is based upon a +research. + +Liebig's was the _fons et origo_ of all our laboratories--mechanical, +metallurgical, chemical, physical, geological, astronomical, and +biological.--_Nature._ + +[_To be continued._] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[33] An address delivered at the Royal College of Science on October +6, 1898. + +[34] Greek Geometry from Thales to Euclid, p. 2. Allman. + +[35] Inferno, canto iv, p. 130 _et seq._ + +[36] Subjects of Social Welfare, p. 206. + +[37] History of the English People, vol. i, p. 198. + +[38] See Histoire de l'Université de Paris. Crévier, 1791, _passim_. + +[39] Enumerated in the following middle-age Latin verse: + + "Lingua, tropus, ratio, numerus, tonus, angulus, astra." + +[40] Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, by Rashdall, vol. ii, +p. 344. + +[41] William Gilbert, of Colchester, on the Magnet. Mittelag, p. x. + +[42] Novum Organum, vol. 1, p. 70. Fowler's edition, p. 255. + +[43] Schools and Universities on the Continent, p. 291. + +[44] University Education in England, France, and Germany, by Sir +Rowland Blennerhassett, p. 25. + + + + +SHOULD CHILDREN UNDER TEN LEARN TO READ AND WRITE? + +BY PROF. G. T. W. PATRICK. + + +There are certain propositions about education so evidently true that +probably no parent or teacher would question them. For instance, the +best school is one in which the course of study is progressively +adapted to the mental development of the children. Again, certain +subjects are adapted to children of certain ages or stages of +development, and others are not. One would not recommend the study of +logic or of the calculus to the average child of ten, nor would the +teaching of English be wisely deferred until the age of fifteen. +Finally, if the courses of study in our present school system shall be +found to be arranged without regard to the order of mental +development, they will sooner or later be modified in accordance with +it. + +Now the educational system in practice in the two or three hundred +thousand public schools in the United States is a somewhat definite +one, with a somewhat fixed order of studies through the different +years or grades. In a majority of the States children are admitted to +the schools at the age of six; in more than one third of the States +children of five are admitted. In a general way we may say that during +the first four years of school life the principal subjects occupying +the time of the children are reading, writing, and arithmetic. To be +more exact, we may cite, for instance, the city schools of +Chicago.[45] Exclusive of recesses and opening exercises, there are in +these schools thirteen hundred and fifty minutes of school work per +week. Of this time, in the first and second grades, six hundred and +seventy-five minutes are devoted to reading, seventy-five minutes to +writing, and two hundred and twenty-five minutes to mathematics. +Seventy-two per cent of the total time is therefore consumed by these +subjects. In the third grade the proportion is the same; in the fourth +grade it is somewhat more than fifty per cent. I have mentioned the +Chicago schools because this is one of those school systems where a +liberal introduction of other subjects, such as Nature study, physical +culture, singing, and oral English, has somewhat lessened the time +given to reading, writing, and arithmetic. Other cities, with few +exceptions, will be found to give more rather than less time to these +subjects. In the country schools, and indeed in a vast number of town +and city schools, practically all the time during these early years is +given to reading, writing, and arithmetic. + +We must conclude, therefore, if our educational system is a rational +one, that reading, writing, and arithmetic are the subjects peculiarly +adapted to the mind of the child between the ages of five and ten. It +is worth while to inquire from the standpoint of child psychology +whether this be true. It should be observed, in the first place, that +the manner in which our educational system has grown up is no +guarantee that it rests upon a psychological basis. Our schools are +exceedingly conservative. Any innovations or radical changes are +resisted by the parents of the children even more strenuously than by +school boards, superintendents, and teachers. Notwithstanding numerous +and important minor improvements, the school system as a whole remains +unchanged. Our children of seven and eight years are learning to read +and write because our grandfathers were so doing at that age. + +We can not here discuss the origin of our present school curriculum, +but, as explaining the prominence given to reading, writing, and +arithmetic, it is worthy of notice that originally the elementary +school existed to teach just these three subjects. The primitive +schoolmaster was not superior to the parents of the child, usually not +their equal, in anything except his knowledge of "letters." So the +child was sent to school for a short time to learn letters. It was not +at all the function of the school to _educate_ the child in all that +was necessary to fit him for the duties of life. Afterward, as the +scope of the school was enlarged, other subjects were added, and these +were put _after_ the original ones, and the schoolmaster, furthermore, +came rather to take the place of an educator than a mere teacher of +letters. It is conceivable, therefore, that the present accepted order +of studies in our elementary schools rests upon an accidental rather +than upon a psychological basis. It is true that modern educators have +expressly considered the subject of the order and correlation of +studies, as, for instance, in the case of the Committee of Fifteen, +and that, while recommending minor changes in the school curriculum, +they have not usually thought of questioning the position so long held +by reading, writing, and arithmetic. In the report of the committee +just referred to we find this expression: "The conclusion is reached +that learning to read and write should be the leading study of the +pupil in his first four years of school." But, again, it was not the +function of this committee to suggest sweeping changes, nor to raise +the inquiry whether the system itself rests upon a psychological +basis. Even if it did not rest upon such a basis, expressions like the +above would not be unnatural on the part of committees appointed by +bodies representing the system as a whole. + +We may not, then, conclude _a priori_ that our system of primary +education is a sound one. There have indeed been other wholly +different systems giving excellent results in their time, as, for +instance, that of the ancient Greeks, where music and gymnastics, not +reading, writing, and arithmetic, were the principal subjects +occupying the time of the pupils. + +Much attention has recently been given to the subjects of the +physiology and psychology of children. These studies have been +systematic, painstaking, and exact. It seems, indeed, to many people +improbable that anything very new or very remarkable should just at +this time be found out about children, and there have not been wanting +either prominent educators or psychologists who have given public +expression to warnings against the new "child study." But this, again, +is not conclusive, for students of history may recall that every +advance in science has met just such opposition--for instance, +bacteriology, organic evolution, chemistry, and astronomy. +Furthermore, when we reflect that scientific advance in this century +has ever been, and inevitably, from the simple to the complex, and, +further, that the brain of the child is the most complex thing in the +whole range of natural history which science will ever have to +attempt, it is not difficult to understand that scientific knowledge +of it with its pedagogical implications has not belonged, at any rate, +to the past. It will belong to the future, having, perhaps, its +beginnings in the present. An educational system which has not +reckoned with an accurate knowledge of the brain of the child may by +accident be a correct one, but until such reckoning is made we can not +be sure. + +Our increasing knowledge of the child's mind, his muscular and nervous +system, and his special senses, points indubitably to the conclusion +that reading and writing are subjects which do not belong to the early +years of school life, but to a later period, and that other subjects +now studied later are better adapted to this early stage of +development. What is thus indicated of reading and writing may be +affirmed also of drawing and arithmetic. The reasons leading to this +conclusion can be only very briefly summarized here. + +As regards reading, writing, and drawing, they involve, in the first +place, a high degree of motor specialization, which is not only +unnatural but dangerous for young children. Studies in motor ability +have shown that the order of muscular development is from the larger +and coarser to the finer and more delicate muscles. The movements of +the child are the large, free movements of the body, legs, and arms, +such as he exhibits in spontaneous play. The movements requiring fine +co-ordination, such as those of the fingers and the eyes, are the +movements of maturer life. If we reverse this order and compel the +child to hold his body, legs, and arms still, while he engages the +delicate muscles of the eyes and fingers with minute written or +printed symbols, we induce a nervous overtension, and incur the evils +incident to all violation of natural order. The increasing frequency +of nervous disorders among school children, particularly in the older +countries, is probably due in part to these circumstances. If we +consider the brain of the child of seven or eight years, our +conclusions are strengthened that he should not be engaged in reading +and writing. At this age the brain has attained almost its full +weight, and is therefore large in proportion to the body. Its +development is, however, very incomplete, particularly as regards its +associative elements--that is, the so-called association fibers and +apperception centers. Such a brain constantly produces and must expend +a large amount of nervous energy, which can not be used +centrally--that is, psychologically speaking--in comparison, analysis, +thought, reflection. It must flow out through the motor channels, +becoming muscular movement. The healthy child is therefore incessantly +active in waking hours, the action being of the vigorous kind +involving the larger members. Hence we can understand that, of all the +ways in which a young child may receive instruction, the method +through the printed book is pre-eminently the one ill fitted to him. + +The evil of this method is aggravated by the fact that, before the +child can receive instruction through the book, a long time--several +years, in fact--is spent in the confining task of learning to read. It +comes about, therefore, that the child, at the very age when he should +be leading a free and expansive life, is obliged to fix his eyes upon +the narrow page of a book and decipher small printed symbols, in +themselves devoid of life and interest. With respect to writing and +learning to write the case is worse. A considerable amount of motor +specialization is involved in forming letters upon the blackboard, but +when the pencil and pen are used it becomes of an extreme kind. In the +whole life history of the man there are no movements requiring finer +co-ordination than those of writing with pencil or pen, yet our school +system requires these of the child of six or seven years, makes them, +indeed, a prominent part of elementary school life. In addition to the +motor specialization of reading and writing is the physical +confinement in the narrow seat and desk which is necessarily connected +with them. The child of six or seven has not reached the age when such +confinement is natural or safe. + +The injuries which I have mentioned relate to the nervous system as a +whole. There are other injuries resulting from the reading habit in +young children which concern the eyes directly. So much has been said +and written lately about the increase of myopia and other defects of +the eye among school children, that I shall merely refer to this +subject here. Upon entering school, children are practically free from +these defects. Upon leaving school, a strikingly large percentage are +suffering from them, more, however, as yet, in European countries than +in America. The causes are many, but it is scarcely doubted that the +chief cause is found in bending over finely printed books and maps, +and fine writing, pencil work, and drawing. If pencils, pens, paper, +and books could be kept away from children until they are at least ten +years of age, and their instruction come directly from objects and +from the voice of the teacher, this evil could be greatly lessened. + +If the above reasons for not teaching reading and writing to young +children were the only ones, the objections could to a certain extent +be overcome. Writing might, for instance, be practiced only on the +blackboard with large free-hand movements, and letters could be taught +from large forms upon charts. But we have to consider the questions +whether reading and writing are in themselves branches of instruction +which belong to the early years of school life, whether they may not +be acquired at a great disadvantage at this period, and whether more +time is not spent upon them than is necessary. It is a well-known +fact that a child's powers, whether physical or mental, ripen in a +certain rather definite order. There is, for instance, a certain time +in the life of the infant when the motor mechanism of the legs ripens, +before which the child can not be taught to walk, while after that +time he can not be kept from walking. Again, at the age of seven, for +instance, there is a mental readiness for some things and an +unreadiness for others. The brain is then very impressionable and +retentive, and a store of useful material, both motor and sensory, may +be permanently acquired with great economy of effort. The imagination +is active, and the child loves to listen to narration, whether +historical or mythical, which plays without effort of his will upon +his relatively small store of memory images. The powers of analysis, +comparison, and abstraction are little developed, and the child has +only a limited ability to detect mathematical or logical relations. +The power of voluntary attention is slight, and can be exerted for +only a short time. All this may be stated physiologically by saying +that the brain activity is sensory and motor, but not central. The +sensory and motor mechanism has ripened, but not the associative. The +brain is hardly more than a receiving, recording, and reacting +apparatus. It would be inaccurate, however, to express this +psychologically by saying that perception, memory, and will are the +mental powers that have ripened at the age of seven. This would be +true only if by perception we mean not apperception, which involves a +considerable development of associative readiness, but mere passive +apprehension through the senses, and if by memory we mean not +recollection, but mere retentiveness for that which interests, and if +by will we mean not volition, but only spontaneous movement and +readiness to form habits of action, including a large number of +instinctive movement psychoses, such as imitation, play, and language +in its spoken form. + +Following out, then, somewhat as above, the psychology of the child, +what kind of education would be particularly adapted to his stage of +development? We ask not what _can_ the child be taught, but what +studies are for him most natural and therefore most economical. In the +first place, from the development of the senses and the perceptive +power above described, we infer that the child is ready to acquire a +knowledge of the world of objects around him through the senses of +sight, hearing, touch, temperature, taste, and smell. His education +will have to do with real things and their qualities, rather than with +symbols which stand for things. If we wish a general term for this +branch of instruction, we may call it natural science, or, to +distinguish it from science in its more mature form as the study of +laws and causes, we may call it natural history, or, more briefly, +Nature study. Although the appropriateness and economy of this study +for young children has been known and proclaimed for more than a +century, it is still in practice the study of later years, while young +children study _letters_. + +In the second place, from the development of the retentive powers of +the child we infer that he is qualified to gain acquaintance not only +with the real world around him, but with the real world of the past. +We may call this history. History is now studied later by means of +text-books. It may be studied with far greater economy during earlier +years by means of direct narration by parent or teacher. It is +wonderful how eagerly a child will listen to historical narration, and +how easily he will retain it. This method of teaching history forms a +striking contrast to the perfunctory manner in which it is often +studied in the upper school grades, with the text-book "lesson," +"recitation," and the "final examination." Upon the minds of many +young people the study of history has a deadening effect when the +history epoch is passed and the mathematical epoch has arrived. It has +already been proposed, at a conference of educators lately held in +Chicago, to extend the study of history downward into the lower +grades, a proposition fully sanctioned by psychological pedagogy. In +what I have here said about history for young people I refer not to +the philosophy of history, which comes much later in the life of the +student, but to history as a mere record of facts and events, the kind +of history which is now studied in the grammar and high schools, the +kind which many educators who would make all children philosophers are +now saying should not be studied at all. + +In the third place, what studies correspond to the development of the +will in the child from five to ten? It is the habit-forming epoch. It +is the time when a large and useful store of motor memory images may +be acquired, and when permanent reflex tracts may be formed in the +spinal cord and lower brain centers. This is the time to teach the +child to do easily and habitually a large number of useful things. If +we use the term in its broadest sense, we may call this branch of +instruction morals, but it will also include, besides habits of +conduct, various bodily activities, certain manual dexterities, and +correct habits of speech, expression, and singing. But here some +restrictions must be observed. The habit-forming period begins at +birth and continues far beyond the age of ten, and the period from +five to ten is not the time for the formation of all habits. The order +of muscular development must be observed, and all dexterities +involving finely co-ordinated movements of the fingers, or strain of +the eyes, should be deferred beyond this period, or at most begun only +in the latter part of it; such, for instance, as writing, drawing, +modeling, sewing, knitting, playing upon musical instruments, and +minute mechanical work, as well, of course, as the plaiting, pricking, +stitching, weaving, and other finger work still practiced in some +kindergartens and primary schools. + +We have thus seen that there are certain branches of instruction for +which the mind of the child from five to ten has ripened, and which +may therefore be taught most economically and safely during this +period. Concerning the teaching of language I shall speak presently, +but thus far we have found that from the psychological standpoint +there are at any rate three subjects which are strikingly adapted to +this period, namely, natural science, history, and morals, using these +terms with the latitude and restriction already explained. Certain +branches of Nature study and one branch of what we have called +morals--namely, manual training--have in recent years been introduced +into our best elementary city schools, and in a few schools history is +taught systematically in the lower grades by means of stories. They +have not, however, crowded out reading, writing, and arithmetic so +much as crowded into them. But if we consider the great mass of +schools in city, town, and country throughout the land, the subjects +which practically complete the elementary school curriculum--reading, +writing, arithmetic, and geography--are, with the exception of the +latter, found to be subjects which do not naturally belong to this +period at all. Mathematics in every form is a subject conspicuously +ill fitted to the child mind. It deals not with real things, but with +abstractions. When referred to concrete objects, it concerns not the +objects themselves, but their relations to each other. It involves +comparison, analysis, abstraction. It calls for a fuller development +of the association tracts and fibers of the cerebral hemispheres. The +grotesque "number forms" which so many children have, and which +originate in this period, are evidence of the necessity which the +child feels of giving some kind of bodily shape to these abstractions +which he is compelled to study. Under mathematics I do not of course +include the mere mentioning or learning a number series, such as in +the process called "counting," or the committing to memory of a +multiplication table. Furthermore, in this and in all discussions of +this kind it must be remembered that there are exceptional children in +whom the mathematical faculty, or musical faculty, or literary +faculty, develops much earlier than with the average child. If +possible, they should have instruction suited to their peculiarities. +But it is evident that, so long as children are educated in "schools," +there must be a general plan of education, and that it can not be +based upon exceptional children. + +What we learn from physiology and psychology about the ripening of the +child's mind is confirmed by the theory of the "culture epochs." I can +not discuss here the doctrine of "recapitulation," with its great +truths and its minor exceptions, but it is well known that in a +general way the development of the child, both physical and mental, is +an epitome of the development of the race. If we compare the physical +and mental activities of the modern civilized man with those of the +more primitive member of the race, we may learn what forms of physical +and mental activity are natural in the different periods of child +life. Some of the things which are characteristic of the modern as +contrasted with the primitive man are sedentary habits, manual +dexterities requiring finely co-ordinated movements both of the eyes +and fingers, increasing devotion to written language and books as +contrasted with spoken language, the lessened dependence upon the +memory, the increasing subjectivity of mental life as contrasted with +the purely objective life of the savage, and the increased importance +of reflection, deliberation, and reasoning, with decrease of impulsive +and habitual action. These things, then, we should expect to belong to +the later period of child life, and studied which involve these +activities will not be economically pursued in the elementary school +grades. These laws are wholly overlooked in our traditional school +curriculum. In practice we are saying to the young child: "Man is a +sedentary, reading, writing, thinking, reasoning being, possessing the +power of voluntary attention. I am to educate you to be a man. +Therefore you must learn to sit still, to read, write, think, reason, +and give attention to your work." The child of six or eight years is +therefore given a book or pen, and put into a closely fitting seat and +left to give attention to his work. This is precisely as if the mother +should say to the infant at the beginning of the period of creeping: +"You are a man, not a brute. Men go upright, not on all fours. You +must walk, not creep." + +I wish to call especial attention to the fact that it is only late in +the history of the race that language has passed to its written form. +Man is indeed now a reading and writing animal, but only recently has +he become so. It is only since the invention of printing and the wide +dissemination of books, magazines, and newspapers that reading has +become a real determining factor in the life of the people. Even now +the human organism is engaged in adapting itself to the new strain +brought upon the eyes and fingers in reading and writing. We can +understand, therefore, that it will demand a considerable maturity in +the child before he is ready for that which has developed so late in +the history of the race. The language of the child, like that of the +primitive man, is the language of the ear and tongue. The child is a +talking and hearing animal. He is ear-minded. There has been in the +history of civilization a steady development toward the preponderating +use of the higher senses, culminating with the eye. The average adult +civilized man is now strongly eye-minded, but it is necessary to go +back only to the time of the ancient Greeks to find a decided +relative ear-mindedness. Few laboratory researches have been made upon +the relative rapidity of development of the special senses in +children, but such as have been made tend to confirm the indications +of the "culture epochs" theory, and to show that the auditory centers +develop earlier than the visual. + +More and more attention is given in our elementary schools to the +subject of language--more, as some think, than the relative importance +of the subject warrants; but without discussing this question, it is +indubitably shown by child psychology that it is the spoken language +which belongs to the elementary school. The ear is the natural medium +of instruction for young children, and all the second-hand knowledge +which it is necessary that the child should receive should come to him +in this way. It should come from the living words of the living +teacher or parent, not through the cold medium of the printed book. In +the elementary school, then, the child may be instructed in language +as it relates to the ear and the tongue, and this is the real +language. He may be taught to speak accurately and elegantly, and he +may be taught to listen and remember. He may study in this way the +best literature of his mother tongue, and get a living sympathetic +knowledge of it, such as can never come through the indirect medium of +the book. Indeed, this language study need not be limited to the +mother tongue. There is no age when a child may with so great economy +of effort gain a lasting knowledge of a foreign language as when he is +from seven to eleven years old. + +When the spoken language has been mastered in this way, and when the +child has arrived at the reading and writing age, language in its +written form may be acquired in a very short time, and that which now +fills so many weary years of school life will sink into the position +of comparative insignificance in which it rightfully belongs. Reading +and writing have usurped altogether too much time. In the schools of +to-day there is a worship of the reading book, spelling book, copy +book, and dictionary not rightfully due them. By dropping the study of +letters from the lower grades much needed time may be found for other +timely and important subjects, such as Nature study, morals, history, +oral language, singing, physical training, and play. + +One of the greatest goods which would follow the banishing of the book +from the primary and elementary schools would be the cultivation of +better mental habits. Children suffer lasting injury by being left +with a book in their seats and directed to "study" at an age when the +power of voluntary attention has not developed. They then acquire +habits of listlessness and mind-wandering afterward difficult to +overcome. They read over many times that which does not hold their +attention and is not remembered. Lax habits of study are thus +acquired, with the serious incidental result of weakening the +retentive power which depends so much upon interest and concentration. +With the substitution of the oral for the book method, reliance upon +the memory during the memory period will permanently strengthen the +child's power of retention. + +The period between the ages of five and ten years is an important one +in the child's life. It is the time when the "let-alone" plan of +education is of most value, for the reason that nearly all our +educational devices beyond the kindergarten are more or less attempts +to make men and women out of children. If the child at this age must +be put into the harness of an educational system, his course of study +will not be impoverished by the omission of reading and writing. To +teach him to speak and to listen, to observe and to remember, to know +something of the world around him, and instinctively to do the right +thing, will furnish more than enough material for the most ambitious +elementary school curriculum. + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[45] See the article on Courses of Study in the Elementary Schools of +the United States, by T. R. Crosswell, Pedagogical Seminary, April, +1897. + + + + +SOILS AND FERTILIZERS.[46] + +BY CHARLES MINOR BLACKFORD, JR., M. D. + + +The word "soil" is used in several arts and sciences to denote the +material from which something derives nourishment. The meat broths and +jellies on which bacteria are grown are soils for them, as the earth +of a field is a soil for the ordinary farm crops; but in general we +mean by soils the various mixtures of mineral and organic substances +that make up the surface of the earth. + +The object of this paper is to show as briefly as possible the way it +was formed, of what it is composed, the manner in which it nourishes +plants, and the rules that should guide us in replenishing its +nutritious matter when exhausted. So broad a field can be but lightly +touched, and the effort will be to give only hints from which rules +for specific cases may be deduced. + +When a sample of ordinary fertile soil is analyzed, it is found to +consist of a number of minerals, of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus +in various combinations, water, and certain other ingredients +dependent on the locality. Among the minerals the most important are +potassium, sodium, lime, iron, and silicon, and the history of these +is of the greatest interest. + +Scientific students are generally agreed that the surface of the earth +is but a shell inclosing a liquid, or at all events a highly heated +interior. Originally the whole mass was fluid, but the surface has +cooled more rapidly than the interior, and so a firm crust has been +formed. As the central mass cooled, it contracted, and the crust +became wrinkled and folded, as does the skin of an apple as its pulp +dries, and, by this folding, great ridges were thrown up in some +places and vast depressions formed in others. When the crust became +cool enough for water to remain on it, most of the depressions were +filled by it, and the "dry land appeared," not only on the crests of +the ridges, but on the elevated plateaus about them, and thus oceans +and continents were formed. + +Had one of us seen the earth at that time he would have been loath to +select it as a residence. Rugged, rocky ranges of precipitous +mountains surrounded by stretches of naked rock made the landscape. +Dense clouds from the tepid oceans dashed against the icy peaks, and +torrents of water rushed back to the sea. Where the slopes permitted, +the glaciers spread over wide areas, for no vegetation checked the +rapid radiation of heat, and night brought bitter cold. The crust +waved and fluctuated over the liquid interior as does thin ice under a +daring skater, and as it fell the sea rushed over the land, only to +flow elsewhere as the depressed area rose again. The freezing and +thawing and the effects of wind and water in time produced a change. +The rocks were riven and broken to powder, their nearly vertical +slopes became less steep, and instead of bare rock the earth showed +dreary morasses and stretches of sand. + +Over these marshes vegetation began to thrive. In the sea there lived +then, as now, a teeming population, animal, vegetable, and living +beings that can with difficulty be assigned to either of these +classes. Each of them, however, contained carbon, and many had built +lime, phosphorus, nitrogen, and other valuable substances into their +bodies. Where food was abundant these grew in vast numbers, and though +many are infinitely small singly, their aggregate mass is enormous. +Among the tiny organisms is one called the _Globigerina_, a being so +small as to require a microscope to study it, but in the past, as now, +growing in great numbers in the sea. The animal is soft and jellylike, +but it forms an outside skeleton of shell of carbonate of calcium or +chalk, a structure that protects it living, but entombs it dead. When +death comes, the little _Globigerina_ sinks to the bottom, and its +tiny shell helps to cover the sea floor. + +In the days of long ago these lived as now, and when some convulsion +of Nature lifted the bottom of prehistoric seas, the _Globigerina_ +ooze was lifted as well, and thus the "limestone" formed. In our land +a bed of this kind extends from Alabama to Newfoundland; thence, as +the "telegraphic plateau," it passes under the Atlantic, rising into +the chalk downs and cliffs of England; then, again dipping under the +sea, it passes through Europe, and finally furnishes the marble +quarries of Greece. Heat, water, and chemical action give a ceaseless +variety to the forms of the limestone, but wherever found it shows the +former seat of an ocean. + +As soon as the "ooze" was lifted from below the sea it began to +change. Some has been exposed to heat and has crystallized into +marble, but for our purposes the most interesting changes have been +wrought by water. Chalk, limestone, and marble--for these are +chemically the same--are almost insoluble in pure water. But water is +rarely pure; it dissolves many things, and among them the +carbonic-oxide gas that every fire, every animal, every decaying scrap +of wood is pouring into the atmosphere. The rain, charged with this +gas, dissolves the limestone, but when the gas escapes the lime falls, +as you know happens when "hard" water is boiled, for the heat drives +off the gas. By this solution, however, the lime is scattered widely +through the soil, and is rarely lacking in untilled earth. + +Besides lime, phosphorus is necessary in a good soil. This is widely +spread in Nature, but its great reservoir is the ocean, that boundless +mine of wealth. Many marine animals have the power of building it into +their tissues, and the shells of oysters and other mollusks, the bones +of nearly all animals, terrestrial and marine, and parts of other +organisms, are composed of phosphates to a greater or less degree. In +the ceaseless changes of level the primal oyster beds and coral reefs +are raised to the surface or far above it, and the slow action of time +begins to tear down the deposits and spread them wide-cast. Since that +far-off time "in the beginning" no new matter has been put on earth +save the small amounts of the meteorites, and the economy of Nature +can allow not one atom to lie in idleness, but calls on each one to +play its part ceaselessly, "without haste and without rest." A certain +amount of a substance is disseminated through the earth; by rains it +is washed into the streams, and thence to the sea. Here plants or +animals eagerly await it, and by means of them it is again restored to +the land, to begin again its endless round. + +The metals most necessary for plant life are potassium, sodium, and +iron; indeed, the very name of the first shows its importance. If the +ashes which contain all the mineral constituents of plants be put in a +vessel and water poured on them, a solution of lye will percolate +through the mass. The word lye is an abbreviation for alkali, and when +chemistry became sufficiently advanced, a metal was discovered in this +lye to which the name potassium--i. e., potash-metal--was given. If +seaweeds be burned and leeched in the same way we can obtain from the +lye another metal, sodium, that is much like potassium, and that is +one of the most widely spread substances on earth as its chloride, or +common salt. + +Potassium and sodium enter into the composition of many rocks, and as +these become eroded by weather they are scattered through the soil, +whence their salts are extracted by rootlets and enter into the +formation of vegetable tissue. + +Behind these stands iron. The green coloring matter of plants is a +very complex substance known as chlorophyll, the duty of which is to +take carbonic oxide from the air, utilize the carbon, and restore the +oxygen. Iron enters into the composition of chlorophyll, and to it is +due the brown color of dead leaves. This metal is well-nigh universal, +all the reds and browns in soils and rocks being made by it, and so it +is rarely lacking anywhere. + +So much for the metals in soils; but, important as they are, plants +can not live on them alone. Among the nonmetallic bodies phosphorus +stands high among essentials, and for it we are indebted to the sea +and the interior of the earth. Many living creatures extract +phosphorus from the sea water--combine it chiefly with lime, and use +the phosphate for making skeletons or shells, as the case may be. +After the death of the possessors the bones or shells sink to the +bottom, as do the _Globigerina_, and in time are either lifted up, as +were the limestones, and form "phosphate beds" like those of Georgia +and Florida, or are dredged up and ground into powder with bones of +land animals. + +Much of the matter forced up from the interior of the earth contains +phosphorus; indeed, it is the bane of Southern iron ores; but though +iron masters dread it, farmers welcome it, as the rains and frosts +crumble the phosphatic rocks and add them to the mass of _débris_ that +forms our soil. + +Now let us take a test tube and put into it lime, potash, soda, iron, +silicon, or sand, and phosphorus, add to it a grain of corn, and watch +results. Under suitable conditions of warmth and moisture the grain +will sprout, but when the store of food laid up in it is exhausted our +little plant will die. It is obvious that something else is needed for +a soil, and analysis shows that it is nitrogen, the gas that forms +nearly four fifths of our atmosphere--a gas useless, as such, to +animals, but essential to plants. Nitrogen is abundant in Nature. +Besides being nearly four fifths of the air, it forms twenty-two per +cent of nitric acid, forty-five per cent of saltpeter or niter, +eighty-two per cent of ammonia, and about twenty-five per cent of sal +ammoniac. Plants can not use nitrogen in its pure form, but one or +another of these forms will be found in the soil, whence it may be +extracted. + +Now we have the chief articles of plant food, and it is necessary to +know how they are to be used. A plant usually consists of two parts, +one that appears above ground, bearing branches, twigs, and leaves, +and another that remains below ground. It is this latter that concerns +us now, and it is worth study. This lower part consists of a number of +twigs called rhizomes, from which proceed a vast number of fine, +threadlike rootlets, and these are the mouths of the plant, through +which it draws nourishment from the earth about it. + +Before any living thing can use nourishment from without, it must be +dissolved, and this solution requires much preparation at times. Men, +and other animals with a wide range of food stuffs, effect this by the +secretions of the digestive organs; but most plants have no digestive +apparatus, strictly speaking, and were they supplied with an abundance +of the foods they most need, they would starve unless the food were in +a suitable state for absorption. + +The way in which Nature effects this solution is the key to many of +her secrets, and it has been understood only within the past few +years. If we have a piece of meat freshly taken from an animal we find +it firm, coherent, and almost odorless. If it be put into a warm, +moist chamber for a few days a great change comes over it, and it +becomes soft, offensive in odor, and liable to fall to pieces. We say +that it is rotten or putrid. If a bit of it be put under a microscope, +it is seen to be teeming with bacteria, and these are responsible for +the decay. Now, if a specimen of earth be examined, we find that it +contains bacteria, that attack all kinds of organic matter, tearing it +to pieces to get their food, and making many different things out of +what is left. There is one sort of ferment that grows in apple juice +and splits the sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid, forming "hard +cider," and if the fermentation stops at this point the well-known +drink results. However, there is another ferment called "mother of +vinegar" that may get in, and, if so, a different kind of fermentation +is started that forms acetic acid instead of alcohol; or the bacteria +of decomposition may come in and the whole go back to its elements. + +There is a wonderful provision of Nature shown in these stages. The +bacteria--the organisms that produce decay--can not live in a strong +sugar solution, but the ferments, like common yeast, can live in it, +and they split the sugar into alcohol, carbonic oxide, and other +things. In these another set can live, and when the first have died of +starvation or from the alcohol they form, the second set step in and +turn the weak alcohol into acetic acid. Acetic acid is a preserving +agent, as our sour pickles show, but if it is not too strong there are +some organisms that can live in it, and the whole process ends in +decay. Now, it should be noticed that each of these organisms paves +the way for the next by converting an unsuitable food stuff into a +suitable one. + +This familiar example indicates the lines on which Nature works. It is +the same everywhere, and shows the advantage of specialization, of +allowing some one with peculiar facilities for performing an act to do +that exclusively, that others may profit by his skill. So long as each +man sought and killed his food, cooked his meals, made his own +clothing, weapons, and implements--in a word, lived alone--advance was +impossible. It was only when he who was most skillful with the needle +made garments for the hunter in exchange for a haunch of venison, that +the hunter could practice marksmanship, and the tailor design a new +cut for the mantle with which the warrior might dazzle the daughter of +the arrow maker. It is the same in Nature. Some organisms possess +powers of elaborating certain materials of which others are quick to +avail themselves. Plants can manufacture starch, an article needed by +animals, but of which their own capacity, so far as producing it is +concerned, is very limited, and thus animals find it advantageous to +avail themselves of these stores instead of taxing their own +resources. Similarly, plants need the organic matters of the animal +bodies, and wise agriculture supplies carbon, nitrogen, and other +articles of food in the shape of animal and vegetable refuse. But this +matter requires digestion; it must be made soluble before it can be +absorbed, and but few plants can effect this solution unaided. The +"Venus's flytrap," the sundew, the wonderful "carrion plant," and +others, are equipped with elaborate apparatus by which they are +enabled to capture, kill, and literally digest the insects that supply +them with nitrogeneous food, but these are exceptional cases. Nature +usually employs other agents. + +The action of bacteria in causing decay has been said to be in general +similar to fermentation--that it is effected by the bacteria in +seeking their food. If oxygen be abundant, putrefaction occurs; if it +be scant or absent, then fermentation takes place, for the tiny +organisms require oxygen, and, if the air fails them, they pull to +pieces the organic matters near them to obtain it. In doing this they +get the nitrogen into such shape that the plants can use it, and thus +digest their food for them. All organic matter contains carbon, +hydrogen, and oxygen as a general rule, and to these are often united +phosphorus, sulphur, nitrogen, and others, making very complex +arrangements, veritable houses of cards, in fact, only held together +by the strange power of life. When a leaf falls or a bird dies, some +of these combinations are broken, and then the bacteria and other +lowly organisms have full sway, for living matter is impregnable to +all save a few of them. As oxygen or something else is taken out of +the complex molecules, the compound falls to pieces, but as in the +kaleidoscope the bits of colored glass tumble into endless varieties +of symmetrical figures, so do the atoms fall into new combinations. If +the keystone of an arch be removed, the stones fall apart; but atoms, +unlike bricks or stones, can not stand alone as a rule; they must be +united to something, and so, as soon as old associations are +dissolved, new ones are formed. These new ones are those needed by +plants, and thus is plant food digested. + +The term "plant food" has been frequently used, and should now be +distinctly explained, for merely stating the chemical elements is not +describing the food. When a physician tells a nurse to feed a patient +he does not order so much carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and the like, +but specifies a soup, certain vegetables, and so on, detailing every +particular; and the same should be done for vegetable invalids. + +In medical practice a condition is recognized that is called scurvy. +It is not exactly starvation, but is produced by lack of some food +materials usually supplied by fresh vegetables. If scurvy appears at +sea, no amount of meat, bread, cakes, or pastry will stop it; +vegetables, and they only, will stay it. Sometimes a similar condition +prevails among crops: some ingredient in a soil is lacking, and the +others may be supplied indefinitely without giving the desired relief. +To this may be attributed much of the fault found with fertilizers; +for if the soil does not need a particular compound it is useless to +apply it, and an excellent fertilizer is often blamed for not +producing a crop on land already overstocked with it and crying for +something else. + +Let us suppose a field on which cotton has been grown for many +successive years until it has become exhausted. Analysis shows that a +crop yielding one hundred pounds of lint to the acre removes from the +soil: + + Nitrogen 20.71 pounds; + Phosphoric acid 8.17 " + Potash 13.06 " + Lime 12.60 " + Magnesia 4.75 " + ----- + Total 59.29 " + +The weight of the whole crop from which these figures were taken was +eight hundred and forty-seven pounds, so that cotton exhausts land +less than any staple crop, if the roots, stems, leaves, etc., be +turned under and only the lint and seed be removed. Of these the lint +(one hundred pounds) takes 1.17 pound from the soil, and the seed +13.89 pounds, making 15.06 pounds net loss.[47] But ignoring returns +that may be made in the shape of cotton-seed meal, etc., and lime, +with which our soils are abundantly supplied, we see that nitrogen, +phosphoric acid, and potash have been removed. Suppose the owner puts +bone meal on his exhausted land: the phosphoric acid in the bone will +supply one need, and an improvement results. On the strength of this, +bone meal will be loaded into the soil again, and let us suppose the +deficit not yet made up, the crop again shows improvement. Now, +phosphoric acid abounds in the soil, though the deficiency in nitrogen +and potash has become steadily greater; so, when the customary bone +meal is applied, the crop falls back, because the plants are starving +for potash and nitrogen. They are like scurvy-smitten sailors, but +many thoughtless farmers would attribute the decline to the maker of +the bone meal, and say that its quality was not so high as +formerly--an opinion similar to that of a sea captain who would +ascribe to the poor quality of salt beef an outbreak of scurvy on his +vessel. + +As crops of any description extract potash, nitrogen, and phosphoric +acid from soils, the question how they are to be replaced is an +important matter, and its answer may be most readily found by studying +Nature's methods. In parts of the Old World there are fields that are +fertile in the extreme after thousands of years of tillage, and it is +apparent that mere cultivation does not prove injurious. The tropical +forests have something growing wherever a plant can find foothold--a +population in which the struggle for food is secondary to that for +light and air, and yet the soil supporting this vegetation is +marvelously rich. Every leaf that falls remains where it fell until in +the warm, moist, half-lighted forest it becomes a little heap of mold. +The bacteria of decomposition require warmth and moisture for their +life; light is deleterious to them, but they thrive in the dense shade +of the jungle. The tangled web of roots, weeds, and vines retains the +rainfall, retarding evaporation, and preventing both droughts and +freshets. Receiving dead and broken leaves, boughs, and other +vegetable products, and spared the washing of violent torrents, the +forest is inestimably fertile. + +On a smaller scale this goes on universally. The annual weeds, +deciduous leaves, and such matter, fall prey to molds and bacteria, by +which they are made soluble. Snows and rains bear the products into +the soil, and there other bacteria, clustering around the roots, form +the acids needed to complete solution. Every one knows that +"well-rotted" manure is better than that which is fresh, and many +wonder at this, but the reason is apparent. In feeding delicate +patients, physicians often prescribe predigested foods or the +digestive ferments to aid enfeebled assimilation; and similarly the +manures that have been thoroughly acted on by bacteria, or containing +those capable of producing the matters that plants need, are of most +value for nourishing vegetation. + +In producing an article of any sort, the cheapness and ease with which +it can be made is largely dependent on the shape in which the raw +material reaches the factory. If a foundry can procure iron that needs +only to be melted and cast, the owner can fill his orders more +readily than would be possible if he had to reduce the metal from the +ore; and Nature uses this principle over and over again. The +importance of nitrogen to plants and its abundance in Nature have been +mentioned, but it has also been said that plants can not use it +directly, as most animals do with oxygen. The tiny bacteria intervene, +and this they do in two ways: first, by causing decay of animal or +vegetable matter containing nitrogen, and by this decay producing +substances that plants can absorb; and, secondly, by producing little +nodules or "tubercles" on the rootlets, through which the plant can +take up nitrogen.[48] Now, when a plant is sated with nitrogen, it +ceases to form these tubercles, and their formation is a sure sign +that the plant is craving this article of food. When it is supplied, +and its own life is ended, these form reservoirs from which other +plants may be supplied, as new castings may be made from broken +wheels. The great value of "green manuring" depends on the store of +available nitrogen so laid up, but it is open to failure in one +direction. The liability of fermentation to go to the acid stage from +contamination with acid-forming ferments has been mentioned, an +accident the possibility of which is impressed on us from time to time +by sour bread; and similarly the organic matter turned under may +undergo acid fermentation, rendering the ground "sour" and unfit for +cultivation. + +The limits of this paper forbid the consideration of special +fertilizers, but from the general principles laid down the rules for +any special case may be deduced. A soil should contain a sufficient +amount of potash, soda, lime, iron, and a few other minerals; +phosphoric acid, nitrogen, organic matter, and, for some special +crops, some other ingredients may be needed. When the soil needs +renewing, there are two ways of accomplishing it. One way is to guess +at what is needed; to buy fertilizers at high prices, without +inquiring whether the soil needs the substances in that particular +brand or not. Though very common, this is not a good plan. It is as +though a physician were to give a patient any drug that was +convenient, without inquiring into the disorder or the needs of the +system, and it is followed by much the same result. That acid +phosphate gave Farmer A a good crop, is no reason that Farmer B's land +is also deficient in phosphorus. The same reasoning would teach that a +heart stimulant that rouses a patient from shock would benefit one in +danger of apoplexy, where the least increase in heart force might be +fatal. A physician using such reasoning as the basis of his practice +would not be considered a master of his art; and were he to attribute +the fatal outcome of his logic to the poor quality of his stimulant, +he would display criminal ignorance of drugs as well as disease; yet +it is very common to see farmers put guano on a soil begging for +potash, and then heap execration on the head of the dealer who sold +the guano when the crop failed. To revert to a simile used above, a +captain must not blame the salt pork for scurvy. + +The other way to buy and use fertilizers is to ascertain what a +certain crop needs; then find out whether these be in the soil, and to +what extent. With these data the deficiency may be made good without +the wasteful cost of the former method. State and Federal Departments +of Agriculture furnish their aid freely and gladly, and already the +signs are seen of the day when agriculture will take its place among +the semiexact sciences, and the present haphazard methods will become +obsolete. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[46] An address delivered before the Richmond County (Georgia) +Agricultural Society, on February 19, 1898. + +[47] United States Department of Agriculture. Farmers' Bulletin, No. +48. + +[48] Leguminous Plants for Green Manuring and for Feeding. E. W. +Allen, Ph. D. United States Department of Agriculture. Farmers' +Bulletin, No. 16. + + + + +SKETCH OF AUGUST KEKULÉ. + + +"This news," said Herr H. Landrelt, president, announcing Kekulé's +death in the German Chemical Society at Berlin, "will be received with +sorrow not only by our society but by the whole chemical world. +Science has again lost one of its greatest representatives, one of +those extremely rare spirits who were called upon to found a new epoch +in it and push it mightily forward." + +FRIEDRICH AUGUST KEKULÉ was born at Darmstadt, September 7, 1829, and +died, after a long illness, at Bonn, July 13, 1896. He was originally +destined by his father for the profession of an architect; and some +houses, he told his students in a festival address, still existed (in +1892) in Darmstadt of which he drew the plans when, a youth, he was +attending the gymnasium. The leading events of his life were very +tersely told by himself in an address responding to an ovation from +the students of the University of Bonn on the twenty-fifth anniversary +of his professorship there; a translation of which, from the +_Kölnische Zeitung_, was published by Mr. J. E. Martin in Nature, June +30, 1892. + +At Giessen, he said, where he went to study architecture, he attended +Liebig's lectures, and was thereby attracted to chemistry. But his +relatives would not at first hear of his changing his profession, and +he was given a half-year's grace to think over it. He spent his time +in the Polytechnicum at Darmstadt. His first teacher in chemistry at +Darmstadt was Moldenhauer, the inventor of lucifer matches. His +leisure time was spent in modeling in plaster and at the lathe. He was +then permitted to return to Giessen. "I attended," he said, "the +lectures, first of Will and then of Liebig. Liebig was at work on a +new edition of his letters on Chemistry, for which many experiments +had to be carried out. I had to make estimations of ash, of albumen, +to investigate gluten in plants, etc. The names of the young chemists +who helped Liebig were mentioned in the book, among them mine. The +proposal was then made to me, just at the time Liebig intended to make +me his assistant, that I should go for a year abroad, either to +Berlin, which was at that time to Giessen a foreign land, or to Paris. +'Go,' said Liebig, 'to Paris; there your views will be widened; you +will learn a new language; you will get acquainted with the life of a +great city; but you will not learn chemistry there.' In that, however, +Liebig was wrong. I attended lectures by Frémy, Wurtz, Pouillet, +Regnault; by Marchandis on physiology, and by Payen on technology. One +day, as I was sauntering along the streets, my eyes encountered a +large poster with the words _Leçons de philosophie chimique par +Charles Gerhardt, ex-professeur de Montpellier_. Gerhardt had resigned +his professorship at Montpellier, and was teaching philosophy and +chemistry as _privat docent_ in Paris. That attracted me, and I +entered my name on the list. Some days later I received a card from +Gerhardt; he had seen my name in Liebig's Letters on Chemistry. On my +calling upon him he received me with great kindness, and made me the +offer, which I could not accept, that I should become his assistant. +My visit took place at noon, and I did not leave his house till +midnight, after a long talk on chemistry. These discussions continued +between us at least twice a week for over a year. Then I received the +offer of the post of assistant to von Plauter, at the Castle of +Reichenau, near Chur, which I accepted, contrary to Liebig's wish, who +recommended me as assistant to Fehling, at Stuttgart. So I went to +Switzerland, where I had leisure to digest what I had learned in Paris +during my intercourse with Gerhardt. Then I received an invitation +from Stenhouse, in London, to become his assistant, an invitation I +was loath to accept, since I regarded him, if I may be allowed the +expression, as a _Schmierchemiker_. By chance, however, Bunsen came to +Chur on a visit to his brother-in-law, at whose house I first met him. +I consulted Bunsen as to Stenhouse's offer, and he advised me by all +means to accept it. I should learn a new language, but I should not +learn chemistry. So I came to London, where as Stenhouse's assistant I +did not learn much. By means of a friend, however, I became acquainted +with Williamson. The latter had just published his ether theory, and +was at work on the polybasic acids (in particular on the action of +PCl_{5} on H_{2}SO_{4}). Chemistry was at one of its turning points. +The theory of polybasic radicals was being evolved. With Williamson +was also associated Odling. Williamson insisted on plain, simple +formulæ, without commas, without the buckles of Kolbe or the brackets +of Gerhardt. It was a capital school to encourage independent +thought. The wish was expressed that I should stay in England and +become a technologist, but I was too much attached to home. I wished +to teach in a German university. But where? In order to get acquainted +with the circumstances at several universities, I became a traveling +student. In this capacity I came, among other universities, to Bonn. +Here there was no chemist of eminence, and hence there were no +prospects. Nowhere did there seem so much promise and so great a +future as at Heidelberg. I could ask no help of Bunsen. 'I can do +nothing for you,' he said, 'at least not openly. I will not stand in +your way, but more I can not promise.' I fitted up a small private +laboratory in the principal street of Heidelberg at the house of a +corn merchant--Gross, by name--a single room with an adjoining +kitchen. I took a few pupils, among whom was Baeyer. In our little +kitchen I finished my work on fulminate of silver, while Baeyer +carried out the researches, which subsequently became famous, on +cacodyl. That the walls were coated thick with arsenious acid, and +that silver fulminate is explosive, we took no thought about. After +two years and a half I received a call to Ghent as ordinary professor. +There I stayed nine years, and had to lecture in French. With me to +Ghent came Baeyer. Through the kindness of the then Prime Minister of +Belgium, Rogier, I obtained the means to establish a small laboratory. +I had there with me a number of students, among whom I may name +Baeyer, Hübner, Ladenburg, Wichelhaus, Linnemann, Radzizewski. There +was not so much a systematic course of instruction as a free and +pleasant academic intercourse. After nine years' work I received the +call to Bonn." Professor Kekulé concluded his address with some +account of his work at Bonn, and of the great attention he had always +received from his pupils. For a full account of Kekulé's scientific +career and achievements, we are indebted to the memorial address made +by President Landelt to the German Chemical Society on the occasion of +his death, of which we translate the more important passages from the +_Berichte_: + +"The works which Kekulé has left behind him belong, as we all know, to +the bases of all chemistry. His teachings have so passed into our +flesh and blood that it seems almost superfluous to remind a circle of +professional chemists of them. I shall be able to present only in the +most general outlines this evening the immense influence which the +dead master has exercised upon science; a complete view of all his +labors is a subject for a biography, which we must wait for. + +"Kekulé's scientific work began in 1854, with the discovery of +thiacetic acid, by which he at once separated from the old school of +chemistry that was still prevailing, and, founding a new one, +revealed himself as an adherent of the new doctrine of types. After +his habilitation at Heidelberg, which followed in 1856, came the essay +on fulminating mercury, in which the view so important for the future +was expressed, that to the three typical combinations of +chlorhydrogen, water, and ammonia, hitherto recognized, might be added +a fourth, marsh gas. In the next essay, on binary combinations and the +theory of polyatomic radicals, he put forward the conception of mixed +types, and first reached the knowledge of various atomicity or valency +of the radicals. These researches were continued, and there appeared +shortly afterward, in the spring of 1858, the two great treatises +which have since exercised so powerful an influence on chemistry--that +on the constitution and metamorphoses of chemical combinations, and +that on the chemical nature of carbon. In these theses Kekulé passed +from the valency of the radicals to that of the elements themselves, +and showed that the composition of all those compounds that contain +one atom of carbon lead to the conclusion that that element is +quadrivalent; and that, further, the relations of combination of a +complex of carbon atoms are explainable if we suppose that the latter +are mutually bound by a certain number of their four unities of +attraction. This idea was suggested very carefully, and the words +which the author added at the end of his essay read very curiously +to-day: 'Finally, I think I ought still to insist that I attach only +little value to speculations of this sort. Since one delving in +chemistry must once in a while, in the lack of exact scientific +principles, content himself with probabilities and temporary +hypotheses, it seems proper to communicate these conceptions, because, +as it appears to me, they furnish a simple and fairly general +expression for the newest discoveries, and because, therefore, the use +of them may assist in the discovery of new facts.' How diffident the +words sound, and how far have the expectations been exceeded! We all +know that the theory of valency is to-day the leading guide through +all our science; and, although another investigator had a share in its +origination, no one disputes that its main foundation and its eminent +value in organic chemistry are primarily due to Kekulé's idea of the +quadrivalency of carbon. + +"After he was called to the University of Ghent, in 1858, Kekulé +exhibited an indefatigable activity. He began the great series of +investigations of the organic acids which, beginning with succinic +acid, malic acid, and tartaric acid, and extending afterward to many +others, have given complete conclusions as to the nature of these +bodies. Contemporaneously, in 1860, appeared the first number of the +_Lehrbuch der organischen Chemie_, which was soon followed by other +numbers, so that the whole first volume was completed in 1861. All his +fellow-chemists who are acquainted with the events of that period +will remember the enthusiasm with which the work was received. For the +first time, in place of the former system of organic chemistry based +on the old radicals of Berzelius, a system of treatment appeared which +in the dress of the theory of types had the doctrine of valency as its +foundation, and exposed the construction as well as the isomeric +relations of the numerous carbon compounds with wonderful clearness. +The work, the first two published volumes of which contained the +substances designated by Kekulé as the fatty compounds, is still +recognized as the prototype of many text-books that followed it. + +"In 1855 Kekulé put forth the second of his great theories. First in +the Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Paris, and afterward in fuller +form in Liebig's _Annalen_, appeared the essay, Researches among the +Aromatic Compounds, in which he showed that the substances so +designated all contain six or more atoms of carbon, and that they +could be described as derivatives of the simplest of them, benzene. He +proposed two hypotheses to explain the constitution of this substance, +one of which, the only one afterward pursued, supposed that the six +carbon atoms are associated in a ring, and alternately linked by one +and two valencies. By replacing the hydrogen atoms corresponding to +each carbon atom by other elements or radicals one could arrive at the +knowledge of the constitution of a large number of aromatic bodies +which now figure as benzol derivatives. These considerations led, +however, to another question--namely, whether or not the supplied +places of the six hydrogen atoms are chemically equivalent. The +question of space relations in chemistry first came up in connection +with this investigation, and Kekulé at once endeavored to solve it. +All these ideas were, however, expressed at first with reserve, and +this essay closes with the words, 'I place no more value on these +views than they are worth, and I believe that much labor must still be +applied before such speculations can be regarded as anything else than +more or less elegant hypotheses; but I believe, too, that at least +experimental speculations of this kind must be used in chemistry.' + +"In this case, again, Kekulé's modest expectations have been +surpassed. The wonderful results that have accrued from the benzol +theory are patent to all of us. We know that it was the instigation to +the carrying out of an innumerable multitude of researches which are +still pursued with undiminished industry. Rarely has a thought +exercised so fructifying and forwarding an influence on chemistry, and +so redounded to the advantage of both pure science and art. +Thankfulness for this gift, as you know, prompted our society to honor +the author of the benzol theory and the twenty-fifth year of the +announcement of it by a public festival; and the Kekulé celebration, +which took place in this house on the 11th of March, 1890, is +memorable to all for the brilliant and witty speech with which the +master responded to the many addresses made to him. It is preserved in +our reports (_Berichte_ 23, 1892), and the repeated reading of it +always affords rich enjoyment." + +Kekulé assumed his last position, as professor at the University of +Bonn, in the fall of 1867. He there devoted his attention for a period +to the erection of a new institute building, but it was not long +before numerous works began again to appear--some of them by himself +alone, like the important investigation of the condensation products +of aldehyde; and others in co-operation with his many students. The +continuation of his _Lehrbuch_ was taken in hand at the same time. In +1867 he gratified his fellow-chemists by the publication of the first +volume of his Chemistry of the Benzol Derivatives. This was followed +from 1880 to 1887 by single numbers, prepared with the help of +co-workers, of the second and third volumes. + +Prof. F. R. Japp, in the Kekulé memorial lecture before the Chemical +Society of London, speaking of Kekulé's residence in that city, +September, 1897, said that he always acknowledged the influence which +Liebig and Odling and Williamson, with whom he became acquainted in +London, exercised on the formation of his opinions. Kekulé's theories, +Professor Japp said, were based on Gerhardt's type theory; on +Williamson's theory of polyvalent radicals, which by their power of +linking together other radicals render possible the existence of +multiple types; and Odling's theory of mixed types, which was a +deduction from Williamson's theory. Less consciously, perhaps, his +opinions were influenced by E. Frankland's theory of the valency of +elementary atoms, and by Kolbe's speculation on the constitution of +organic compounds. Kekulé gathered together the various ideas which he +found scattered throughout the writings of his predecessors, added to +them, and welded the whole into the consistent system which forms our +present theory of chemical structure. In 1857, in the course of a +memoir on the constitution of fulminic acid, he gave a tabular +arrangement of compounds formulated on the type of marsh gas, this +being the earliest statement, though put forward only in an imperfect +form, of the tetravalency of carbon. In the same year he published an +important theoretical paper On the So-called Conjugated Compounds and +the Theory of Polyatomic Radicals, which contains a complete system of +multiple types and mixed types. In 1858 the celebrated paper, On the +Constitution and Metamorphoses of Chemical Compounds, and on the +Chemical Nature of Carbon, appeared. It embodies the fully developed +doctrine of the tetravalency of carbon, together with Kekulé's views +on the linking of atoms and on the valency of such chains of atoms, +the foundation on which our modern system of constitutional chemistry +rests. In 1865 Kekulé put forward his well-known benzene +theory--pronounced by Professor Japp the crowning achievement, in his +hands, of the doctrine of the linking of atoms, and the most brilliant +piece of scientific prediction to be found in the whole range of +organic chemistry. The conception of closed chains, or cycloids, which +he thus introduced, has shown itself to be capable of boundless +expansion. + +Kekulé's students all speak admiringly of his qualities as a teacher. +The memorialist of the German Chemical Society said: "All of us who +have attended his lectures or heard him in other places will ever +remember what a teacher Kekulé was. With incomparable lucidity and +sometimes with the happiest humor, he could go playfully through the +theme he was considering, masterfully presenting it in new and often +surprising aspects. The charm of his personality affected all who came +in contact with him; it was the geniality which shone out of his whole +being, and involuntarily commanded admiration. Numerous pupils flocked +to him, and many of those who to-day fill chairs of chemistry in +Germany and other countries have made his name highly honored." + +Professor Thorpe, of London, who spent a little time in Kekulé's +laboratory, describes him as having been one of the very best +expositors, with the single possible exception of Kirchhoff, to whom +it had been his lot to listen. As a laboratory teacher he was +excellent. He was a most severe judge of work, striving to exact the +same high manipulative finish, the same neatness and order, which he +invariably bestowed on everything he did, and he was absolutely +intolerant of anything slovenly or "sloppy." "But it was as a lecturer +that he was seen at his best. He was singularly luminous as a thinker, +a close and accurate reasoner, with a remarkable power of concentrated +expression.... His language was apt and well chosen, and his delivery +easy and natural"; and his whole address showed that every detail had +been carefully considered. + +At a distance of thirty years, Professor Dewar said, at the London +memorial meeting, that to look back and call to mind the presence and +personality of the great chemist as he knew him was indeed a pleasure. +He was a man of noble mien, handsome, dignified, and yet of a homely +and kindly disposition. He was a severe critic, having a haughty +contempt for the accidental and bizarre in scientific work. His +originality and suggestiveness seemed endless, so that he had no need +to commit trespass or to follow just in the wake of other people's +ideas. "Everything that passed through the Kekulé alembic was indeed +transmuted into pure gold. His precision of thought and diction +rendered his papers profoundly suggestive to other workers." + +"The last years of the master's life," his German eulogist says, "were +often troubled by illness, but there were not wanting bright days +which the love of his students and colleagues prepared for him." Such +a one was the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his +professorship at Bonn, June 1, 1892, in which the students and +officers participated with cordial unanimity. The ceremony began in +the morning with an enthusiastic ovation by the students. The chemical +theater was decorated with plants; the benzene hexagon was figured on +the blackboard with garlands of flowers, in the midst of which the +letters A. K. were wrought in a monogram of roses. Alfred Helle, one +of the chemical students, delivered a felicitous address, in which he +congratulated his fellow-students on being privileged to sit at the +feet of the greatest of living chemists, after which three cheers were +given to the professor. Kekulé responded to the offering in an address +giving some of the details of his life, from which we have already +quoted. Kekulé's personal staff and the officers of the university +then presented their congratulations. + +In the evening the students honored him with a torchlight procession, +it being the third time he had received this, the most conspicuous +honor which is bestowed by German students. The first occasion was in +1875, when he declined the professorship at Munich; the second was in +1878, when he was rector of the university, and was given in +celebration of the restoration of unity among the students, after a +long period of disunion. Among the torchbearers on that occasion was +the present Emperor of Germany. + +During the later period of his life Kekulé was comparatively sterile. +Those who knew him, however, Professor Thorpe says, "would be the +first to affirm that this seeming apathy sprang from no natural +indifference. There is no doubt that he suffered, even in the early +period of middle life, from the intense stress and strain of his +mental labors prior to the Ghent period. He too surely exemplified the +sad truth of Liebig's saying that he who would become a great chemist +must pay for his pre-eminence by the sacrifice of his health. There is +reason to know that it was the consciousness of failing power which +prevented him from finishing much to which he had put his hand, and +that his fastidiousness and his sense of 'finish,' amounting almost to +hypercriticism, restrained him from publishing much which he realized +fell short of his ideal." + +The last time Kekulé's name was brought before the public was on the +occasion of the renewal of the ancient title of nobility of his +family, as August Kekulé von Stradowitz. + + + + +Editor's Table. + + +_A VOICE FROM THE PULPIT._ + +We called attention last month to a weak attack on the doctrine of +evolution by a certain Mr. A. J. Smith, Superintendent of Public +Schools in the city of St. Paul. The only thing which gave any +consequence to the deliverance in question was that it was addressed +to a large gathering of public-school teachers, who might possibly +have been unduly influenced in their appreciation of it by the +speaker's official position. We are glad now to learn that, very +shortly after the publication of Superintendent Smith's address, an +excellent statement of the true relation of the doctrine of evolution +to education was made in one of the city pulpits by the Rev. S. G. +Smith, who did not boast, as the superintendent had done, of having +made an exhaustive study of the subject, but who, nevertheless, showed +that he had a grasp of it which the other altogether lacked. The Rev. +Mr. Smith's discourse would have merited attention wherever it might +have been delivered; but, considered as a pulpit utterance, it seems +to us to possess a special and very encouraging significance. We need +hardly say that the pulpit has not always been friendly to broad +scientific views, but in this case it has spoken with a candor, a +breadth, and an intelligence which the lecture platform can not do +more than equal, and which it would certainly be too much to look for +in all our colleges. + +"The law of evolution," said the reverend gentleman, "is as universal +in its application as the law of gravitation. It holds that in every +realm the simple tends to become complex, and that the complex is more +stable than the simple. Motion and matter have a history in which the +simple and the indefinite take on variety of organization and +definiteness of adaptation." This is a statement in which the author +of the Synthetic Philosophy would probably have very little change to +suggest. Mr. Smith does not, like so many who discuss the subject in a +superficial manner, confound evolution with Darwinism. Darwinism, he +recognizes, may, in its particular explanations as to the origin of +species and the descent of life, be in error; but evolution is +universal in its scope, and can only fail if it can be shown that the +fundamental postulates on which it rests, such as the instability of +the homogeneous, the continuity of motion, the law of rhythm, etc., +are not to be depended on. Must a person have made the circle of the +sciences and comprehended all knowledge before he can reasonably +profess a belief in evolution? No, says Mr. Smith; when the +foundations of a doctrine have been clearly laid, when they have been +tested by many different investigators from many different points of +view, and when these, almost without exception, affirm that the +doctrine is not only in harmony with, but lends a new and deeper +significance to, the several orders of fact with which they are +individually concerned, any person of ordinary intelligence is +justified in considering that doctrine as satisfactorily proved and +giving it his personal adhesion. + +What chiefly excited the ire of Superintendent A. J. Smith was the +contention of evolutionists that the modern child reflects the earlier +stages of human development. He asked his audience if they really +thought the children of to-day were young savages, and quoted Emerson +and Longfellow as authorities on the question. The Rev. S. G. Smith +takes up the point and expresses himself as follows: "When it is +stated that the child has many points of contact with primitive man, +it is not meant that the child is a savage, but that 'in its +immaturity' we can learn much respecting it from the study of child +races. The child has neither the virtues nor the vices of the savage, +but he has many of the mental characteristics. Embryology does not +teach that in prenatal life the child passes into the form of every +animal in a menagerie, but that its life passes through the stages +that mark the great subdivisions of all life. Nor do the comparisons +of the child with primitive man imply that he must pass through all +the activities of savage races, but that the development of his +faculties, the tendencies of his desires, the state of his ignorance, +all illustrate the history of the development of the race. Primitive +man may be understood by a study of the child, and, conversely, the +child may be illustrated by primitive man." + +It must be borne in mind that the child is in constant contact with +its elders, that it is subject to the restraints which they impose, +and that it lives more or less in an atmosphere of affection and care. +There is excellent reason, therefore, why it should not resemble +primitive man in all points. Its daily life is really controlled and +guided by a higher power. In some cases there is even too much control +and guidance; the conditions are made too artificial, and the +development of the child's nature suffers in consequence. When the age +of manhood or womanhood is reached there is something lacking, +precisely because enough scope was not left for the primitive or, as +we may very properly say, the "savage" instincts of childhood. A great +French writer, Joseph de Maistre, quotes a popular saying to the +effect that "spoilt children always turn out well."[49] So far as +there is any truth in it, the explanation is that the spoilt child is +one that has a great deal of its own way, and is left to work out the +savage and so acquire a sounder foundation for its future life. In how +many of us are there not chained savages that might have made their +escape in earlier years if they had only been allowed! It is a +dangerous thing to try to make little angels of children. + +The Rev. Mr. Smith is quite right in what he says as to the +predominance of the imagination in children, this being another strong +point of resemblance to primitive man. "The beginnings of history and +institutions," he truly says, "can only be understood when we remember +that races in their early development do not have clearly marked +activities of imagination, reason, and memory. They mix the three. So +legends, myths, and heroics are earnest efforts of the undeveloped +mind to make objective the truth, and are not clumsy lies at all." +Applying this to the child, the conclusion is that "he must be fed +through his imagination or he will not grow." A very imaginative child +is apt to be accused of falsehood, when he simply fails to distinguish +between things imagined and things remembered. Neither the child nor +the savage can concentrate his attention, and to force either to do so +beyond a certain very limited measure is simply to injure and deform +such natural powers as he possesses. The amount of mischief which a +dogmatic and over-logical teacher, wholly ignorant of the psychology +of the child, can do is beyond all calculation. + +It is needless, however, to pursue the parallel further, though the +Rev. Mr. Smith very properly carries it into the region of morals, +where it is no less close than in that of intellectual action. There +is another interesting aspect of evolution which the reverend +gentleman glances at, and that is its bearing on general courses of +study. History and literature, considered as departments of research, +it has largely transformed by substituting for conventional categories +and abstract notions the perception of a genetic process pervading all +the works of the human spirit and linking them into an organic unity. +In conclusion, we may observe that, if Superintendent A. J. Smith had +not made some foolish remarks in a rather ostentatious manner, it is +probable the Rev. S. G. Smith would not have delivered the excellent +discourse on which we have commented, and which we feel sure will far +outweigh in general effect the performance which called it forth. The +conclusions to be drawn are the pleasing ones that good may sometimes +come out of evil, and that a free pulpit is admirably adapted to guard +the interests of liberty and common sense. + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[49] "Les enfans gâtés réussissent toujours." + + +_LESSONS OF ANTHROPOLOGY._ + +The address delivered at the last meeting of the British Association +by the president of the Anthropological Section contained nothing that +was strikingly novel--it is not every year that striking novelties can +be announced--but it dealt in an interesting manner with several +phases of a most important subject. The speaker, Professor Brabrook, +took the position that the order of the universe is expressed in +continuity, not cataclysm, and that this principle will be found +illustrated in every branch of anthropological research, in direct +proportion to the completeness of the data obtained. He admitted the +vastness of the gap which still separates the remains of palaeolithic +from those of neolithic man, but expressed the belief that further +explorations would bring intermediate relics to light. To quote the +speaker's words: "The evidence we want relates to events which took +place at so great a distance of time that we may well wait patiently +for it, assured that somewhere or other these missing links must have +existed, and probably are still to be found." + +Reference was made to the labors which are now being usefully expended +in gathering what is called the folklore of various communities, and +to the result which continually appears with fuller evidence, namely, +that the tendency of mankind everywhere is to develop like fancies and +ideas at a like stage of intellectual development. Full of detail as +these stories are, they are found to contain but a few primitive +ideas; and it seems not improbable that to a large extent they are +essentially Nature myths. Mr. Brabrook happily quotes Lord Bacon's +description of such narratives as "sacred relics, gentle whispers and +the breath of better times." The "better times" are a part of the +general system of myth; but who will deny that there is a special +charm in these early documents of our race? "Let one of our literary +exquisites," said a thoughtful French writer, "try to write a fairy +tale which shall neither be a pretentious apologue nor a tiresome and +transparent allegory, and he will soon feel that mere cleverness does +not suffice to create these marvelous narratives, and will conceive a +just admiration for those who constructed them, that is to say, +everybody and nobody." + +The progress of anthropology, according to the president of the +section, seems more and more to confirm the theory adopted by Fustel +de Coulanges in France and Spencer in England, that the belief in +spirits lies at the basis of all religious systems. We thus see, to +use his words, "that the group of theories and practices which +constitute the great province of man's emotions and mental operations +expressed in the term 'religion' has passed through the same stages, +and produced itself in the same way, from rude early beginnings, as +every other mental exertion." Mr. Brabrook mentions a work lately +published by "a distinguished missionary of the Evangelical Society of +Paris," the Rev. Mr. Coillard, in which an account is given of the +superstitions prevailing among the natives of the upper Zambesi. The +reverend gentleman tells of their belief in witchcraft, and gives a +story of a young woman who was condemned to penal labor on suspicion +of having bewitched, or tried to bewitch, another young woman who had +taken her husband from her; the evidence of the crime being found in a +dead mouse, which had been discovered in the second young woman's +chamber. The missionary says: "She was made a convict. A few years ago +she would have been burned alive. Ah, my friends, paganism is an +odious and a cruel thing!" On which the president of the +Anthropological Section observes: "Ah, Mr. Coillard, is it many years +ago that she would have been burned alive or drowned in Christian +England or Christian America? Surely the odiousness and the cruelty +are not special to paganism any more than to Christianity." This is +much to the point. If witchcraft is no longer a recognized crime in +England or America, it is not because these lands are Christian, but +because science is mixed with their Christianity. Even missionaries +ought to know this. + +A great many different sciences are grouped under the name +"anthropology," but they all have their rallying point in man, whose +nature and history they seek to explore. The fact is that all sciences +should have the same rallying point; and we trust that the greater +interest which is visibly being taken year by year in anthropological +studies will tend to humanize in a beneficial degree the whole circle +of human knowledge. + + +_AN EXAMPLE OF SOCIAL DECADENCE._ + +That the incessant encroachment of the Government upon the rights of +the individual will produce social decadence is a truth that most +Americans have yet to learn. With a light heart they are constantly +approving scheme after scheme for social regeneration that involves +some restriction upon freedom, or an increase of taxation, or both. It +is not perhaps singular that the history of similar schemes in the +past should possess no lesson for them. When President Eliot, of +Harvard University, says that the experience of the Italian republics +has no value for us, it is not to be expected that persons with less +capacity to interpret the records of other times should attach little +or no importance to them. But they ought not most certainly to +maintain the same attitude toward the experience of the nations of +to-day. It is to blind their eyes to what does not rest upon hearsay +or upon dubious documents--to what admits of the clearest +demonstration at the hands of living witnesses. + +For this reason we urge upon all students of social science the study +of the condition of the inhabitants of the black-earth region of +Russia. In that field, one of the largest and most fruitful in the +world for investigation, they will find the amplest evidence of the +frightful havoc wrought by the abridgment of individual freedom and +the seizure of private property in the form of taxes for public +purposes. If it be said that Russia is an autocracy, and can not +therefore furnish instruction to a democracy like the United States, +the answer is easy, if not obvious. Despotism, like gravitation, is +the same all over the world. It makes no difference in the long run +whether a law abridging freedom issues from the palace of a czar or +from the legislative halls of a popular assembly. The individual +objecting to it is obliged to regulate his life, not in accordance +with his own notions, but in accordance with the notions of some one +else. It makes no difference, either, whether taxation is imposed by +an imperial edict or by a legislative vote. The citizens that have to +bear it against their will contribute money for purposes that some one +else only approves of. The only difference between Russia and the +United States is that this kind of despotism has been carried to much +greater lengths in one country than in the other. If, therefore, we +can find out what the effect has been in Russia, we will be able to +predict what the effect will be in the United States. + +As every person familiar with Russia knows, the black-earth region is +one of the richest and most productive in the world. It ought to be +inhabited by one of the wealthiest and happiest of peoples. Yet such +is not the case. According to Count Tolstoi, who contributed recently +a letter to the London Times on the subject, the inhabitants are among +the poorest and most miserable in the world. They are in a state of +chronic starvation. They are obliged to content themselves with nearly +a third less food than is sufficient to maintain normal health. The +physical effect of this insufficiency of food is a decrease in +vitality, a diminished stature, and a check to the growth of +population. It is proved, first, by the failure of the peasants of the +region to meet the requirements for military service, and, second, by +the statistics of population, which show that the increase of births +over deaths has fallen from the maximum reached twenty years ago to +zero. + +But the mental effects of the destitution wrought by the robberies of +the Government are more distressing even than the physical. It gives +birth to a stolidity and despair that tend to paralyze all effort +toward betterment. The people subjected to it come to feel that there +is no use of making any struggle beyond the maintenance of mere +existence. Whatever they get in excess of this requirement will be +taken from them. "A peasant," says Tolstoi, illustrating this fact, +"feels that his position as an agriculturalist is bad, but he believes +that it can not be improved; and, consequently, adapting himself to +this hopeless position, he no longer fights against it, but lives and +acts only in so far as he is stirred by the instinct of +self-preservation. Moreover, the very wretchedness of his condition +increases still more his depression of spirit. The lower the economic +condition of a population sinks, like a weight on a lever, the more +difficult it becomes to raise it again; the peasants feel this, and, +as it were, throw away the helve after the hatchet. 'Why should we +trouble ourselves?' they say. 'We sha'n't get fat. If we can only keep +alive.'" + +The fruits of this mental state are as palpable as those of the lack +of food. They are to be found in every direction. In manners, habits, +and customs the peasants are hopelessly conservative. They belong, not +to the nineteenth century, but to the ninth. Instead of adopting new +and improved methods of agriculture, they cling to those of the +subjects of Rurik. They use the old plow, distribute tillage in three +crops, and divide their fields into long, narrow strips. So slowly do +they toil with primitive implements and debilitated animals, and so +indifferent are they to what they are doing, that it takes them a day +to do the work that a well-fed and alert peasant would do in half the +time. A more deplorable sign of demoralization is the prevalence of +family discord and loss of interest in a higher life. The aggressions +of the state have stimulated selfishness, bad temper, and incipient +rebellion. The children disobey their parents, the younger brothers +reject the primacy of the older, and money earned elsewhere is kept +from the family treasury. With the decadence of family life there is a +decadence of religious life. Although the peasants are nominally +orthodox, they care nothing for religion. Even the clergy confirm the +fact that they are becoming more and more indifferent to the church. +What they seek is not to penetrate the mysteries of life, but to +obliterate consciousness of them. "Under these circumstances," says +Tolstoi, alluding to the economic and mental decadence, "the craving +for forgetfulness is natural, and accordingly spirits and tobacco are +being consumed in ever greater and greater quantities." He adds that +"even quite young boys drink and smoke." + +Since the loss of freedom due to the seizure of property is the same +in the last analysis as that due to an abridgment of the right to +think and act, the evils of ecclesiastical and bureaucratic despotism +do not differ from those of excessive taxation. Nevertheless, they +receive separate attention at the hands of Tolstoi. As a proof of the +blight of a church that the peasants have no part in directing, he +points to the profound and beneficent change wrought the moment they +fall in with a sect of dissenters. "Their spirits at once rise," he +says, "and at the same time the foundation of their material +prosperity is laid." A blight of the same kind can be traced to the +attempt of the state to play the paternal rôle. "Nominally," says +Tolstoi again, "there exist for the peasants special laws with regard +to the possession and division of land, to inheritance, and to all the +duties connected with it, but in reality there is a kind of +hodge-podge of regulations, explanation, customary laws, decrees of +courts of cassation, and so on, which naturally makes the peasants +feel their absolute dependence on the will of innumerable officials." +Knowing that they are powerless to resist the Government, which is +constantly flogging them for disobedience or stupidity, they comply as +best they can with the thousand rules and regulations made for them. +Seldom do they think of acting upon their own responsibility. Thus +they lose the power of private initiative. What the impoverishment of +taxation has not done to ruin them is left to ecclesiastical and +bureaucratic despotism to complete. + +It is curious to note that Tolstoi's remedy for these evils is the one +that Herbert Spencer himself might have suggested. With one stroke he +dismisses the prescriptions that the social reformer in the United +States as well as in Russia attaches so much importance to. It is not, +in his opinion, "the ministry of agriculture, with all its +contrivances," that will reclaim the peasants, nor is it "exhibitions +nor schools for rural economy," nor that "unfailing" remedy "for all +evils," i. e., parish schools. The thing they need is freedom. "It is +necessary," says Tolstoi, "to give them religious liberty, to subject +them to common instead of special laws--the will of rural officials; +it is necessary to give them liberty of education, liberty of reading, +liberty of moving about, and, above all, to remove the power to +torture brutally by flogging grown-up people simply because they +belong to the peasant class." But to give them such freedom means to +deliver them not only from excessive taxation but from vexatious rules +and regulations. It is to apply to them the same remedy that must be +applied in the United States to save the American people, now so +heavily taxed and so oppressed by countless laws, from the same social +decadence that afflicts Russia. + + +_THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE._ + +The paper by Sir J. Norman Lockyer, which we publish in this number, +recounts in an interesting manner the steps by which science gained a +place for itself in the educational systems of the world. To us, in +the latter years of the nineteenth century, it is apt to seem strange +that the recognition of science as an essential element in all +education should have come so late in the world's history; but +reflection shows that it could not well have been otherwise. To view +and examine any subject scientifically involves not only a deliberate +and prolonged mental effort, but the holding in check of some of the +most active propensities of the human mind, such as imagination and +what Bagehot has called "the emotion of belief." In a certain sense +imagination is the precursor of science; but, in the early stages of +human development the precursor is mistaken for the true teacher. The +lesson that there is no royal road to truth, nothing but a highway on +which much wearisome plodding must be done, is one which human nature +in general does not take to kindly. Even in the present day how many +there are who chafe at the restraints which Science imposes on belief, +whose disposition is to break her bonds asunder and have none of her +reproof! When we think, indeed, of what the intellectual condition of +the world is to-day, with the wonders which science has wrought +raising their testimony on every hand, it is hardly surprising that, a +couple of centuries ago, it was difficult to get any systematic +provision made for the teaching of science. However, that battle has +been fought and won, and Science has long since definitely entered on +her career of beneficent conquest. Systems founded on imagination, or +on merely abstract reasoning, come and go, wax and wane; but the +empire of science once set up can never be subverted. We must hope +that some day it will rule in the realm of morals as now it does in +that of material things. Not till then will its perfect work be done. + + + + +Scientific Literature. + + +SPECIAL BOOKS. + +Prof. _Dean C. Worcester_, of the University of Michigan, spent eleven +months, beginning in September, 1887, in the Philippine Islands in +connection with the second scientific expedition of Dr. J. B. Steere. +He went there again, with an expedition of which he was chief, in +July, 1890, and spent two years and eight months. His object in both +expeditions was the study of birds. In the course of them he visited +twenty-two islands. The first expedition was unofficial and was +regarded suspiciously by the authorities of the islands; the second +was armed with a special permission from the Spanish Minister of the +Colonies and enjoyed every advantage. The scientific results of both +were reported to the United States National Museum, and the +collections were deposited in its cabinet. The general results, the +story of the adventures of the members of the expedition, with their +observations on the geographical features of the islands, their +peoples, and the social conditions prevailing there, are given in a +popular style in the volume before us.[50] The account is preceded by +a short sketch of the history of the islands, as an aid to the better +comprehension of their present condition and the reasons for it. Of +the natives, who form the bulk of the 8,000,000 of the population of +the islands, there are more than eighty distinct tribes, each with its +own peculiarities, scattered over hundreds of islands. The more +important of these islands may be reached by lines of mail and +merchant steamers, which afford tolerably frequent communication +between them. The difficulties begin when one attempts to make his way +into the interior of the large and less explored of them, or desires +to reach ports at which vessels do not call. Roads are scarce and to a +large extent impracticable, while enemies and dangers are many, and +such boats as one can find off the regular routes are precarious. As +to climate, if one is well, able to live as he pleases, and most +scrupulously observes all sanitary rules, keeping the most healthy +spots, he may escape disease; but if he steps a little aside at any +point he is in danger. It is very doubtful, in the author's judgment, +if many successive generations of European or American children could +be reared there. Evidences of the action of earthquakes and volcanoes +are seen almost everywhere, and elevation and subsidence are going on +with great rapidity at the present time. Hence it is not safe to build +substantial houses in Manila. The soil is astonishingly fertile: +fruits--in about fifty varieties--are the chief luxury; the value of +the forest products is enormous; the mineral wealth is great, but has +never been developed. Professor Worcester speaks of five millions of +civilized natives of the Philippines. They belong for the most part to +three tribes: the Tagalogs, Ilocanos, and Visayans. Without drawing +fine distinctions between these, they are regarded as showing +sufficient homogeneity to be treated as a class. They have their bad +qualities and their good, which are reviewed with an apparent +inclination on the part of the author to like them, and the conclusion +that, having learned something of their power, they will now be likely +to take a hand in shaping their own future. There are also barbarians, +of whom the Moros of Sulu are a type--bloodthirsty and faithless, and +as careless of human life as one would be of weeds in a field; and +savages of all degrees, down to the lowest. The government is various, +according to the particular governor and the people he has to deal +with, but all of the Spanish or Moro type. The clergy are the dominant +class; and of these the friars or brethren of the orders exert an evil +influence, while the Jesuits are believed to be a distinctive power +for good. Much can be said in favor of the insurgents' demand that the +friars be expelled from the colony and their places taken by secular +clergymen not belonging to any order. Professor Worcester has made a +very lively, interesting, and instructive book, which is marred, +however, by occasional evidences that, while begun with serious +purpose, it has been hurried to meet a passing demand, and by the too +frequent intrusion of trivialities and slang. + + * * * * * + +We are often surprised at manifestations of individuality and +intelligence in domestic animals and pets, and are accustomed to +attribute extraordinary qualities to the beasts in which we perceive +them; as if each animal could not have its peculiar traits and talents +as well as each man. We hardly imagine that there are any special +differences in wild animals, and that idiosyncrasies of character and +diversities of gifts and powers of adaptation may run through the +whole animal kingdom. A closer acquaintance with Nature would teach us +better. Certain stories and myths of savages show that they had a fair +appreciation of the individual peculiarities of animals, and farmers' +boys, who live in natural surroundings, know something of these +things. The subject is now presented to us in a fairly clear light by +Mr. _Ernest Seton Thompson_, as illustrated in the careers of a number +of typical specimens of animals and birds whose characters and acts, +as they came under his observation, are related in _Wild Animals I +have Known_.[51] The stories, he avers, are true; the animals in the +book are all real characters. They lived the lives he has depicted, +and showed the stamp of heroism and personality more strongly by far +than it has been in the power of his pen to tell. Among them was Lobo, +the wolf, of the Corrumpaw Cattle Range, New Mexico, the leader of a +gang, who exhibited some of the qualities of an able general, and was +a beast of influence, powerful, vigilant, crafty, and the terror of +the settlement; and who was only trapped when grief for the loss of a +female companion deprived him of the wit by which he had escaped all +previous efforts to take him. Silverspot, the crow, was the leader of +a large band. He had his calls, which the other crows obeyed, and was +always to be seen at the head of his company in their incursions into +the fields, and guiding them in their journeys northward and +southward. Raggylug, the rabbit, is acknowledged to be a composite, +embodying in one the ways of several rabbits, their nesting habits and +ways of concealment and devices to baffle pursuers. Bingo, the dog, +had associates as well as enemies among the wolves, and different +characters by day and by night. In a similar way to these, the traits +of the fox, the pacing mustang, other dogs than Bingo, and the +partridge are portrayed. In all the stories the real personality of +the individual and his view of life are the author's theme, rather +than the ways of the race in general, as viewed by a casual and +hostile human eye. The moral is suggested by the lives and emphasized +by Mr. Thompson, that "we and the beasts are kin. Man has nothing that +the animals have not at least a vestige of; the animals have nothing +that man does not at least in some degree share. Since, then, the +animals are creatures with wants and feelings differing only in degree +from our own, they surely have their rights." It would be hard to +speak too well of the graphic expressiveness of the illustrations. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[50] The Philippine Islands and their People. A Record of Personal +Observation and Experiences, with a Short Summary of the More +Important Facts in the History of the Archipelago. By Dean C. +Worcester. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 529. Price, $4. + +[51] Wild Animals I have Known, and 200 Drawings. By Ernest Seton +Thompson. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 358. Price, $2. + + +GENERAL NOTICES. + +"An unscientific account of a scientific expedition" is what Mrs. +Mabel Loomis Todd happily styles the story of the Amherst Eclipse +Expedition, told in _Corona_ and _Coronet_[52]--"Corona" being what +the expedition went to see, and "Coronet" the vessel that took it to +the observing station. Professor Todd was the astronomer of the party, +and Mrs. Todd, who has published a work on astronomy, was his +companion. She believes that certain aspects of the trip, covering as +it did more than ten thousand miles of sailing for the party, and at +least forty-five thousand miles of deep-sea voyaging for the Coronet, +were worthy of narration. The astronomical purposes of the expedition, +the objects it sought to obtain, the scientific bearings of the +observations, and the methods, are intelligibly set forth in the +introduction to the book. The rest is devoted mostly to narrative, the +social aspects of the voyage, and the incidents. A short sojourn was +made at the Sandwich Islands, where the more interesting objects were +visited. Mrs. Todd was with Kate Field when she died there, and gives +an account of her last hours. A voyage of four weeks carried the party +to Yokohama, whence some of the members went to the capital and other +interesting points in Japan, while the rest were preparing the +observing station at Esashi, eleven hundred miles north of +Yokohama--"a village on the shores of the Sea of Okotsk, among the +hairy Ainu," in a region so remote that the native steamers had only +recently begun to go there at all. Besides the account of the +observations, descriptions are given of such Japanese experiences as +life in Kioto, cormorant fishing, yachting in the Inland Sea, the +tidal wave, and observations among the Ainu, with a visit on the way +home to an Arizona copper mine. + +The late Prof. _James D. Dana_ had begun a revision of his _Text-Book +of Geology_ a short time before his death. Prof. William North Rice +was requested by his family to complete the revision, and the result +is the present volume.[53] It was intended in the original plan of +revision to preserve as far as possible the distinctive +characteristics of the book. It was to be brought down to date as +regards its facts, but was still to express the well-known opinions of +its author, with the general plan of arrangement kept unchanged. It +soon became evident, however, that more and greater changes than had +been contemplated would be required. The zoölogical and botanical +classifications would have to be modified; the theory of evolution +must have more recognition than it had received, especially as +Professor Dana himself had adopted some of its features before his +death; and the treatment of metamorphism was believed to require +considerable modification. In the present edition the bearing of +various events in geological history upon the theory of evolution is +pointed out in the appropriate places, and the general bearing of +paleontology upon evolution is discussed in the concluding chapter. +All these changes seem to be in the line of continuing the usefulness +of Professor Dana's most excellent and standard work, and of keeping +his name before students as that of "one of the greatest of geologists +and one of the noblest of men." + +A true son of Nature is Mr. _F. Schuyler Mathews_, and he shows +himself at his best in his _Familiar Life in Field and Forest_.[54] +"There are few things," he says, "more gratifying to the lover of +Nature than these momentary glimpses of wild life which he obtains +while passing through the field or forest. Wild animals do not confine +themselves exclusively to the wilderness; quite frequently they +venture upon the highway, and we are apt to regard the meeting of one +of them there as a rare and fortunate occurrence. The daisy and the +wild rose appear in their accustomed places on the return of summer, +and the song sparrow sings in the same tree he frequented the year +before; but the wood-chuck, the raccoon, and the deer are not so often +found exactly where we think they belong. To seek an interview with +such folk is like taking a chance in a lottery; there are numerous +blanks and but few prizes. But because wild life is not in constant +evidence, like the wild flower, is no proof that it is uncommon. To +those who keep in touch with Nature, it becomes a very familiar thing, +and to live a while where the wild creatures make their homes is to +cross their paths continually." Mr. Mathews is in touch with Nature. +He does not exactly know where to find the wild and shy, for they do +not come at call, but he can put himself where he will meet them if +they come around--and "one can never tell at what moment some +surprising demonstration of wild life will occur at one's very +doorstep." In this book Mr. Mathews records some of his meetings, at +home and in his daily walks, offering as his excuse for the record, +that he has lived long enough among wild animals to "respect their +rights of life, and speak a good word for them when occasion offers." + +The _Short Manual of Analytical Chemistry_,[55] prepared by Mr. John +Muter, follows the course of instruction given in the South London +School of Pharmacy. Encouraged by the continued favor which the book +has received in Great Britain, the author offers a special edition of +it to American students, a concise and low-priced manual, designed to +introduce them to the chief developments of analytical chemistry from +the simplest operations upward. It includes many organic questions +generally overlooked in initiatory books. By working through it the +author claims the student may expect to become familiar with a great +variety of processes, and to be in a position to use with satisfaction +the more exhaustive treatises dealing with any special branch he may +desire to follow. In preparing it for American students, the +directions, wherever the British methods differ from the American, +have been modified to agree with the latter. The processes given +include the qualitative analysis, all the general operations and those +relating to detection of the metals, of acid radicals and their +separation, of unknown salts, of alkaloids and certain organic bodies +used in medicine--with a general sketch of toxicological procedure; +and in quantitative analysis, directions on weighing, measuring, and +specific gravity; gravimetric analysis of metals and acids, ultimate +organic analysis, special processes for the analysis of air, water, +and food; analysis of drugs, urine, and calculi; and analysis of +gases, polarization, spectrum analysis, etc. + +The pure geometry of position is mainly distinguished, according to +Professor Reye's definition,[56] from the geometry of ancient times +and from analytical geometry, in that it makes no use of the idea of +measurement. Nothing is said in it "about the bisection of segments of +straight lines, about right angles and perpendiculars, about ratios +and proportions, about the computation of areas, and just as little +about trigonometric ratios and the algebraic equations of curved +lines, since all these subjects of the older geometry assume +measurement.... We shall be concerned as little with isosceles and +equilateral triangles as with right-angled triangles; the rectangle, +the regular polygon, and the circle are likewise excluded from our +investigations, except in the case of these applications to metric +geometry. We shall treat of the center, the axes, and the foci of +so-called curves of the second order, or conic sections, only as +incidental to the general theory; but, on the other hand, shall become +acquainted with many properties of these curves, more general and more +important than those to which most text-books upon analytical geometry +are restricted." Of all the other branches of geometry, the +descriptive is the most helpful in facilitating the study of the +geometry of position; and perspective or central projection plays an +important part in it. It stands in a certain antithetical relation to +analytical geometry on account of its method, which is synthetic, and +whence it is sometimes known as synthetic geometry. Since metric +relations are not considered in it, its theorems and problems are very +general and comprehensive. As presented in von Standt's complete work, +it is regarded by the author as an excellent aid to the exercise and +development of the imagination; and the important graphical methods +with which Professor Culmann has enriched the science of engineering +in his work on graphical statistics, being based for the most part +upon it, a knowledge of it has become important for students of that +science. In the present work, the outgrowth of his lectures, Professor +Reye has attempted to supply the want of a text-book which shall offer +to the student the necessary material in a concise form. + +Prof. _Cyrus Thomas_ brings the qualification which a lifetime devoted +to study of the subject develops, to the preparation of an +_Introduction to the Study of North American Archæology_.[57] He is +known to all students in this branch as a careful, judicious +investigator whose work in the field has been supplemented by valuable +contributions to its literature. In this volume he presents a brief +summary of the progress that has been made in the investigation of +American antiquities--which has been recently great indeed, and well +calls for a new synopsis. His chief object has been to present the +data and arrange them so as to afford the student some means of +bringing his facts and materials into harmony, and of utilizing them. +He presents the theories that have been advanced, and mentions +opposing views; regarding it, he says, as important to the progress of +the student to know which of the questions that arise have been +answered, and which hypotheses have been eliminated from the class of +possibilities. The materials for the study and the methods are first +explained. The relics of ancient men and the mounds are then described +as under three divisions--the Arctic, the Atlantic, and the Pacific. +Local as well as regional characteristics and differences are pointed +out; as in the mounds as a whole, the special class of animal mounds, +the pueblos, the cliff dwellings, and the Mexican and Central American +monuments, the peculiar features of each are pointed out, and their +territorial limits are defined. All these various kinds of works are +ascribed to substantially the same people, who are supposed to have +come down from somewhere in the north or northwest (the extreme +northwest Pacific coast), although the different immigrations may +perhaps have arrived by various routes. The people were the present +Indians or their ancestors; the time of the immigration was not +extremely remote; and the "mound-building habit" is shown to have +persisted and been practiced till since the advent of the Europeans. + +In entitling his book _The Art of Taxidermy_,[58] the chief of the +Department of Taxidermy in the American Museum of Natural History +evidently intends to use the word art in the high sense of a fine art; +for he speaks of the enormous strides toward perfection which it has +made from the former "trade of most inartistically upholstering a +skin"--stuffing it, we used to call it--and of its study having been +taken up of late years by a number of men of genius and education. It +is largely owing to the exertions of these men that the taxidermy of +the present day is so far in advance of what it was a decade since. +The proverb says that art is long, and accordingly Mr. Rowley takes +for the motto of his book a sentence from Thoreau, that "into a +perfect work time does not enter." To the possible objection that some +of his methods seem to involve considerable time and expense, the +author replies in substance that if the work is not worth this, it is +hardly worth while to take it up at all. If it is a proper work, and +one has the proper degree of energy and enthusiasm, let him give the +specimen all the time it demands. In preparing his treatise, the +author has aimed to eliminate all extraneous matter, and to give +mainly the results of his own experience, coupled with that of other +taxidermists with whom he has come in contact. He begins with +instructions about collecting tools and materials, and casting, and +treats further of the preparation of birds, of mammals, and of fish, +reptiles, and crustaceans; the cleansing and mounting of skeletons, +and the reproduction of foliage for groups. The appendix contains +addresses of reliable firms from whom tools and materials used in +taxidermy may be purchased. + +The preparation of this book on _The Storage Battery_ was suggested to +Mr. Treadwell[59] by his finding a lack in working on these machines +of any compact data concerning their construction, and the paucity of +reliable discharge curves; and he concluded that a book containing +such data and curves, with rules for the handling and maintenance of +cells, would be valuable to all interested in storage batteries as +well as to the student and manufacturer. Among the points specially +mentioned by the author are the lists of American and foreign patents +given as footnotes for the various types, not complete but noticing +the principal patents for each cell; the chapter on the chemistry of +secondary batteries, which gives the latest and most generally +accepted theory concerning the chemical reactions taking place in an +accumulator, and which has been approved by Dr. Sewal Matheson; and, +in the appendix, tables of data comprising figures of all the +batteries, methods for the measurement of the E. M. F. and internal +resistance of a storage battery; and data from which the theoretical +and practical capacity of an accumulator may be determined. + +The _Natural Advanced Geography_[60] is a successful application of +modern methods to the teaching of this science, and presents it with +the interest undiminished which really appertains to it. While in the +elementary book of this, the "natural" series, the pupil starts from +his own home and is introduced to the study of man in relation to his +environment, in the present work the fact is developed that +environment itself is the chief factor in the various activities and +economies of man. One of the salient features of the presentation of +the subject, marked throughout the work, and one that commands high +praise, is the arrangement of the facts into such order that their +correlation may be perceived and the unity of Nature recognized. The +isolated, barren, curt, unrelated statements that made the study of +many of the old geographies hard and tedious are conspicuously absent, +and the subject, studied in orderly sequence, "unfolds itself +naturally and logically, each lesson preparing the way for those which +follow." The first part of the work is devoted to a study of the world +as a whole. The second part, comprising about three fourths of the +volume, is an application of these laws to the various countries of +the globe, beginning with the United States. In the United States, for +instance, a general description of the whole is given, which presents +a real, comprehensive mental picture of the country; and the process +is repeated, in measure according to the conditions, for the several +States, so that the pupil is taught what are the factors that give the +characteristics and local features to each. A like method is pursued, +on a more general scale, with other countries. The colored maps are +drawn on a system of uniform scales, with reliefs plainly shown +according to the accepted conventions; graphic charts or sketch maps +showing the distribution of products and resources are employed; and +pedagogical exercises and aids are afforded abundantly. + +A text-book on the _Differential and Integral Calculus_,[61] for +students who have a working knowledge of elementary geometry, algebra, +trigonometry, and analytical geometry, by Prof. _P. A. Lambert_, has +the threefold object of inspiring confidence, by a logical +presentation of principles, in the methods of infinitesimal analysis; +of aiding, through numerous problems, in acquiring facility in the use +of these methods; and, by applications to problems in physics, +engineering, and other branches of mathematics, to show the practical +value of the calculus. By a division of the matter according to +classes of functions, it is made possible to introduce these +applications from the start, and thereby to arouse the interest of the +student. By simultaneous treatment of differentiation and integration +and the use of trigonometric substitution to simplify integration it +is sought to economize the time and effort of the student. + +_The Birds of Indiana_, by _Amos W. Butler_, lately published as part +of Willis S. Blatchley's Twenty-second Annual Report on the Geology +and Natural Resources of Indiana, is just at hand. It is one of the +most accurate, detailed, and satisfactory local catalogues yet +published. Three hundred and twenty-one species of birds have been +taken in Indiana, and of each of these is given a detailed +description, with a general account of its habits, song, migration, +and nesting. In the case of the more rare species, full records of the +dates and places of capture of the known specimens are appended. +Analytical keys to genera and species are also given, so that every +facility is furnished for the identification of species. This book is +a model of its kind, and is a worthy fruit of Mr. Butler's twenty +years of devoted study of the birds of his native State. + +_Robert H. Whitten_, in his monograph on _Public Administration in +Massachusetts_--the relation of central to local activity--pursues a +parallel course with that taken by Mr. John A. Fairlie in a similar +essay on the Centralization of Administration in New York State, of +this same series of Columbia University studies in History, Economics, +and Public Law. Having found the systems and tendencies of +administration in the early settlement of Massachusetts all for +expansion and decentralization, Mr. Whitten now perceives the course +altogether changed, and centralization more and more the rule. The +change corresponds with changes in the conditions of life, and keeps +track with them step by step. Of great dynamic forces which have been +set to work and are bringing about a complete reconstruction of the +social structure, improvements in transportation and communication +were the most vital--first, turnpikes, then the steamboat, railroad, +and telegraph; then the horse railway, cheap postage, the telephone, +the electric railway, and the bicycle. The tendency at first was to +bring about a concentration which was attended by the congestion of +population in cities and the depopulation of the rural towns. "The +electric railway, the telephone, and the bicycle came in to counteract +these evils; while their tendency is strongly toward the +centralization of bureaus, it is also toward the diffusion of +habitations. These great socializing forces, going hand in hand with +the development of the factory system and improvement of machinery, +make possible a vastly higher organization of society than was +possible under a stagecoach _régime_." + +The first volume of the Final Report of the State Geologist of New +Jersey, on Topography, Magnetism, and Climate, was published in 1888. +Other volumes embracing other topics have been published since, and in +the meantime the supply of the first volume has been exhausted, while +the demand has continued. It has been therefore necessary either to +reprint the volume or to publish a new work which should include the +important statistical matter of it. Accordingly, we have now _The +Physical Geography of New Jersey_, prepared by Prof. _Rollin D. +Salisbury_, with an appendix embodying "Data pertaining to the +Physical Geology of the State," by Mr. C. C. Vermeule, who was +formerly in charge of the topographic survey, and is author of the +volume on water supply. The two parts of the volume treat of the +topography of New Jersey as it now is, and the geological history of +the topography. The report is accompanied by a relief map of the +State, prepared by Mr. Vermeule on the basis of the topographical +survey, and presenting, therefore, an accurate picture of the relief. +It shows the great features of the State, its ranges of mountains, +hills, tablelands, plains, marsh lands, streams, and water areas in +their proper relations to one another; and it is contemplated to put +it in every schoolhouse in the State as an aid in the study of +geography. + +M. _Imbert de Saint-Amand's_ series of books about the Second French +Empire furnish very interesting reading, are, so far as our +recollection of events goes, historically accurate, and fill a gap +which the literary world always has to suffer concerning any period +too recently passed for a competent judicial mind to have appeared to +tell its story. The second of the series--_Napoleon III and his +Court_--takes Louis Napoleon at the height of his success and +happiness, just after he had married the beautiful Eugénie, of whom +the world has nothing harsh to say, and carries him through the +period of his wonderful popularity and brilliant accomplishments to +the close of the Crimean War and the birth of the prince whose fate +was so unhappy. It deals, in a pleasant manner, and all favorable to +Napoleon, but not adulatory, with affairs social, political, and +military, in which it is hard to say whether the tact or the good +fortune of the subject of the history shone most brilliantly. We are +told how Eugénie won the French nation; of Napoleon's good will, +especially manifested toward all that could contribute to his +exaltation; of his dealings with the sovereigns around him, gradually +winning their recognition, including that of Nicholas of Russia; of +the darkening of the clouds of war, the Crimean campaigns; of the +interchanges of courtesies, gradually rising into close, firm +friendship, with the British court; and of the birth of the Prince +Imperial. Think what we may of the character of the reign of Louis +Napoleon and of its influence, it marked an epoch in nearly every line +of development of the world's history, and was as distinctly separated +from what came before it and from what followed it as if a broad line +were drawn around it; and it left some important results that are not +likely to be soon effaced. M. de Saint-Amand writes from personal +knowledge, having witnessed or participated in much of what he +describes, and has in Elizabeth Gilbert Martin a fully competent and +acceptable translator. (Published by Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 407. +Price, $1.50.) + +The paper of the late Dr. _Theodor Eimer_ on _Orthogenesis and the +Impotence of Natural Selection in Species Formation_ is published by +the Open Court Company, Chicago, as No. 29 of their Religion of +Science Library. Pp. 56. Price, 25 cents. + +The second volume of Uncle Robert's Geography, of Appletons' +Home-Reading Series--_On a Farm_--Mr. _Francis W. Parker_, the editor, +and _Nellie Lathrop Helm_, emphasizes the importance of parents and +teachers, giving full and complete recognition of the immense +educational value of spontaneous activities as displayed in motive and +interest; a recognition which "should be followed by active +encouragement and direction of the child's play, work, and +observations." The story deals entirely with the interests and life of +children in the environment of the country. A little girl is in her +playhouse in a Virginia fence corner, with her doll and mimic +housekeeping. Her shy, retiring companions are the birds who peep into +the playhouse, and, after she has gone away, come into it and pick up +the crumbs she has left. This leads to talks about different birds and +their nest building. A St. Bernard dog is introduced and furnishes the +opportunity for bringing in stories of the Alps, their glaciers and +snows, and the Hospice of St. Bernard, and then about other dogs. Susy +makes a garden in the woods, and the wild flowers become the subjects +of her spontaneous study. So with the rabbits, bread making and the +grain that furnishes the material for the bread, and other incidents; +with more birds' nests; the nature of bulbs, squirrels, etc.; and +finally Uncle Robert sets the child to finding out how the animals in +the woods spend the winter, and whether they are doing anything now in +preparation for it. (New York: D. Appleton and Company. Price, 42 +cents.) + +The _Thirty-fifth Annual Report_ of the Secretary of the State Board +of Agriculture of Michigan includes the Ninth Annual Report of the +Agricultural College Experiment Station, and is largely taken up with +the work of the latter institution, reviewing the records of the +college departments and presenting the reports and bulletins of the +station. The record of meteorological observations, the Proceedings of +the Farmers' Institutes, the Transactions of the Association of +Breeders of Improved Live Stock, and the Transactions of the State +Agricultural Society are also incorporated in the volume. An +interesting feature of the publication is the insertion of a portrait +and biographical notice of one of the pioneer farmers of the State, +Enos Goodrich, who was also prominent in public life. + +The translation by _Eleanor Marx Aveling_ of Lissagaray's _History of +the Commune of 1871_ was made many years ago at the request of the +author from a contemplated second edition which the French Government +would not allow published. The work having been revised and corrected +by the translator's father, and for other reasons, no changes have +been made to adapt it to the time of its issue from the press. The +translator claims that Lissagaray's work is the only reliable and +accurate history that has yet been written of the Commune. He has not +attempted, she says, to hide the errors of his party, or to gloss over +the fatal weakness of the revolution. Of course, a very different view +of the movement is given from that presented in the French accounts, +as well as that generally held by English and Americans; but the +communists have a right to be represented and heard, and it is well +that they have so competent a spokesman. (Published by the +International Publishing Company, 23 Duane Street, New York.) + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[52] Corona and Coronet: Being the Narrative of the Amherst Eclipse +Expedition to Japan, in Mr. James's Schooner Yacht Coronet, to observe +the Sun's Total Obscuration, August 9, 1896. By Mabel Loomis Todd. +Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Pp. 383. Price, $2.50. + +[53] Revised Text-Book of Geology. By James D. Dana, LL. D. Fifth +edition, revised and enlarged. Edited by William North Rice. American +Book Company. Pp. 482. + +[54] Familiar Life in Field and Forest. The Animals, Birds, Frogs, and +Salamanders. By F. Schuyler Mathews. New York: D. Appleton and +Company. Pp. 284. Price, $1.75. + +[55] A Short Manual of Analytical Chemistry, Qualitative and +Quantitative, Inorganic and Organic. By John Muter. Second American +edition. Illustrated. Adapted from the eighth British edition. +Philadelphia: E. Blakiston, Son & Co. Pp. 228. Price, $1.25. + +[56] Lectures on the Geometry of Position. By Theodor R. Reye. +Translated and edited by Thomas F. Halgate. New York: The Macmillan +Company. Pp. 148. Price, $2.25. + +[57] Introduction to the Study of North American Archæology. By Prof. +Cyrus Thomas. Cincinnati: The Robert Clarke Company. Pp. 391. + +[58] The Art of Taxidermy. By John Rowley. New York: D. Appleton and +Company. Pp. 244. Price, $2. + +[59] The Storage Battery. A Practical Treatise on the Construction, +Theory, and Use of Secondary Batteries. By Augustus Treadwell. New +York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 257. Price, $1.75. + +[60] Natural Advanced Geography. By Jacques W. Redway and Russell +Hinman. American Book Company. Pp. 100. + +[61] Differential and Integral Calculus. For Technical Schools and +Colleges. By R. A. Lambert. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 245. +Price, $1.50. + + +PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. + +Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Proceedings, 1898. Part +II. April to September. Pp. 224, with plates. + +Agricultural Experiment Stations. Bulletins and Reports. Cornell +University: No. 152. Studies in Milk Secretion. By H. H. Wing and +Leroy Anderson. Pp. 56; No. 153. Impressions of our Fruit-growing +Industries. By L. H. Bailey. Pp. 18.--Iowa State College of +Agriculture, etc.: No. 10. Anatomical and Histological Studies. Pp. +25, with plates.--New Hampshire College: No. 53. The Farm Water +Supply. By Fred W. Morse. Pp. 12; The Winter Food of the Chickadee. By +Clarence M. Weed. Pp. 16.--United States Department of Agriculture: +The Chinch Bug. By F. M. Webster. Pp. 82; Some Books on Agriculture +and Sciences related to Agriculture published in 1896-'98. Pp. 45; +Forage Plants and Forage Resources of the Gulf States. By S. M. Tracy. +Pp. 55; List of Publications relating to Forestry in the Department +Library. Pp. 93.--University of Illinois: The Chemistry of the Corn +Kernel. By C. G. Hopkins. Pp. 52. + +Austin, Herbert Ernest. Observation Blanks for Beginners in +Mineralogy. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. Pp. 80. 50 cents. + +Bailey, M. A. American Elementary Arithmetic. American Book Company. +Pp. 205. + +Beddard, Frank E. The Structure and Classification of Birds. New York +and London: Longmans, Green & Co. Pp. 548. + +Barnes's National Vertical Penmanship. Nos. A and B, and 1 to 6. +American Book Company. + +Bookseller, The, Newsdealer, and Stationer. Semimonthly. New York: 156 +Fifth Avenue. Pp. 38. $1 a year. + +Boutwell, Hon. George S. Problems raised by the War. Boston: Woman's +Educational and Industrial Union. Pp. 20. + +Bulletins, Reports, Proceedings, etc. Michigan Monthly Bulletin of +Vital Statistics, October, 1898. Pp. 16.--National Pure Food and Drug +Congress: Journal of Proceedings, March, 1898. Pp. 53.--United States +Department of Labor: Bulletin No. 18, September, 1898. Pp. 124; No. +19, November, 1898. Pp. 42. + +Card, Fred W. Bush Fruits. A Horticultural Monograph of Raspberries, +Blackberries, etc. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 537. $1.50. + +Carpenter, Frank G. Carpenter's Geographical Reader, North America. +American Book Company. Pp. 352. + +Clark, William J. Commercial Cuba, with an Introduction by E. Sherman +Gould. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 514 with maps. $4. + +Collyer, Rev. Robert. The Parable of "Lot's Wife." Pp. 13. 5 cents. + +Earl, Alfred. The Living Organism. An Introduction to the Principles +of Biology. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 271. $1.75. + +Fisher, George E., and Schwatt, Isaac J. Text-Book of Algebra, with +Exercises. Philadelphia: Fisher & Schwatt. Pp. 683. $1.75. + +Hall, Fred S. Sympathetic Strikes and Sympathetic Lockouts. Columbia +University. (Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law) Pp. 118. + +Hill, Frank A. How far the Public High School is a Just Charge on the +Public Treasury. Pp. 36. + +Holman, Silas W. Matter, Energy, Force, and Work. New York: The +Macmillan Company. Pp. 257. $2. + +Hornbrook, A. R. Primary Arithmetic. American Book Company. Pp. 253. + +Geikie, James. Rock Sculpture, or the Origin of Land Forms. New York: +G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 397. $2. + +Hurley, Denis M. The Metric System of Weights and Measures in the +Congress of the United States. Pp. 4. + +Inglis, George E., Editor. The Anglo-Saxon Monthly. Chicago: The +Anglo-Saxon Publishing Company. 10 cents. $1 a year. + +Jackman, Wilbur S. Nature Study for Grammar Grades. Danville, Ill.: +Illinois Printing Company. Pp. 407. + +Jenkins, C. Francis. Animated Pictures. Washington, D. C.: C. Francis +Jenkins. Pp. 118. + +Jordan, David Starr. Footnotes to Evolution. New York: D. Appleton and +Company. Pp. 392. $1.50. + +Lassalle, Ferdinand. The Workingman's Programme. New York: +International Publishing Company. Pp. 62. + +Macmillan Company, The. Catalogue of Books, Section VII, Scientific, +pp. 24; and Section IX, Classical and Educational, pp. 26. + +Makato, Tentearo. Japanese Notions of European Political Economy. +Philadelphia. Pp. 42. + +Marshall, Henry Rutgers. Instinct and Reason. New York: The Macmillan +Company. Pp. 575. $3.50. + +Merriman, Mansfield. Elements of Sanitary Engineering. New York: John +Wiley & Sons. Pp. 216. + +Metric System, The, of Weights and Measures. Hartford, Conn.: Hartford +Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company. Pp. 196. + +Millennial Dawn, Vol. IV. The Day Of Vengeance. Allegheny, Pa.: The +Tower Publishing Company. Pp. 668. 35 cents. + +Park. J. G. Language Lessons. American Book Company. Pp. 144. + +Payne, Frank Owen. Geographical Nature Studies. American Book Company. +Pp. 144. 25 cents. + +Peabody, J. E. Laboratory Exercises in Anatomy and Physiology. New +York: Henry Holt & Co. Pp. 79. 60 cents. + +Preece, W. H. President's Address before the Institution of Civil +Engineers, November 1, 1898. Pp. 29. + +Reprints. Coulter, John M. The Origin of Gymnosperms and the Seed +Habit. (Botanical Society of America.) Pp. 16.--Brinton, Daniel G. The +Peoples of the Philippines. Pp. 16.--Eckles, C. H. The Relation of +Certain Bacteria to the Production of Butter. Pp. 10.--Graziani, Dr. +Giovanni. A Sensitive Test for Kryofine in the Urine, etc. Pp. +81.--Keen, W. W. The Advantages of a Permanent Abdominal Anus, etc., +in Operations for Cancer of the Rectum. Pp. 11; The Advantages of the +Trendelenburg Posture during Operations involving the Cavities of the +Mouth, etc. Pp. 7; Removal of Angioma of the Liver, etc. Pp. +12.--Keen, W. W., and Spiller, W. G. On Resection of the Gasserian +Ganglion, etc. Pp. 38, with plates.--Ladd, E. F. The Proteids of +Cream. Pp. 3; and Humates and Soil Fertility. Pp. 7.--Lloyd, James +Hendrie. A Study of the Lesions in a Case of Trauma of the Cervical +Region of the Spinal Cord simulating Syringomyelia. Pp. 18.--Sherwood, +W. L. The Frogs and Toads found in the Vicinity of New York City. Pp. +27.--Tromsdorff, Richard. Observations at the Clinic of Professor +Ebstein on Kryofine. Pp. 12. + +Ripley, Frederic H., and Tappen, Thomas. A Short Course in Music. Book +Two. American Book Company. Pp. 175. + +Russell, Israel C. Rivers of North America. New York: G. P. Putnam's +Sons. Pp. 327. $2. + +Sands, Maniel. Opposites in Religion. New York: Peter Eckler. (Library +of Liberal Classics, Monthly). Pp. 138. 50 cents. + +Savage, M. J. The Word of God: The Evils of Religious and Political +Pessimism. Boston: George H. Ellis. Pp. 18 each. + +Schimmel & Co., Leipzig and New York Semiannual Report (fine +chemicals), October, 1898. Pp. 64, with map. + +Seymour, A. T., Editor. The Science Teacher. Monthly. Orange, N. J. +Pp. 12. 15 cents. $1 a year. + +Smithsonian Institution and United States National Museum. Annual +Report of the Board of Regents to July, 1896. Pp. 727.--Bean, Barton +A. Notes on a Collection of Fishes from Mexico, etc. Pp. 4.--Cook, O. +F. American Oniscoid Diploda, etc. Pp. 16, with plates.--Coquillet, D. +W. Report on Japanese Diptera. Pp. 36.--Enkle, Arthur. Topaz Crystals +in the Mineral Collection of the Museum. Pp. 10.--Gilbert, C. N. +Caulolepis Longidens, Gill, on the Coast of California. P. 1.--Jordan, +David Starr, and Evermann, Barton D. The Fishes of North and Middle +America. Part III. Pp. 978.--Marlatt, C. L. Japanese Hymenoptera of +the Family Teuthredonidæ. Pp. 16.--Mearns, Edgar A. Mammals of the +Catskill Mountains. Pp. 20.--Moore, J. Percy. The Leeches of the +United States National Museum. Pp. 20, with plates.--Oberholser, Harry +C. Revision of the Wrens of the Genus Thryomanes, Sclater. Pp. +30.--Rathbun, Mary J. Brachyura Collected by the Steamer Albatross +between Norfolk, Va., and San Francisco. Pp. 50, with plate; and +Fresh-Water Crabs of America. Pp. 30.--Smith, Hugh M. Amphiura, or the +Congo Snake, in Virginia. P. 1.--Smith, John B., and Dyar, Harrison G. +The Lepidopterous Family Noctuidæ of Boreal North America, etc. Pp. +194, with plates.--Starks, Edwin C. Osteology and Relationships of the +Family Zeidæ. Pp. 8, with plates.--Stearns, Robert E. C. A Species of +Actæon from the Quaternary Deposits of Spanish Height, San Diego, Cal. +Pp. 3; and Cythera (Tivala) Crassateloides, Conrad, etc. Pp. 8, with +plate.--Stejneger, Leonhard. A New Species of Spiny-tailed Iguana from +California. P. 1.--Test, Frederick C. Variations of the Tree Frog, +Hyla Regilla. Pp. 16, with plate.--True, Frederick W. Nomenclature of +the Whalebone Whales, etc. Pp. 20.--Walcott, C. D. Cambrian +Brachiopoda, Obolus, and Singulella, etc. Pp. 36. + +Sue, Eugène. The Silver Cross, or the Carpenter of Nazareth. New York: +International Publishing Company. Pp. 151. + +Sullivan, Christine Gordon. Elements of Perspective. American Book +Company. Pp. 96. + +Terrestrial Magnetism. An International Quarterly Journal. L. A. Bauer +and Thomas French, Jr., Editors. University of Cincinnati. Pp. 46, +with plates. 60 cents. $2 a year. + +Vines, Sidney H. An Elementary Text-Book of Botany. New York: The +Macmillan Company. Pp. 611. $2.25. + +Volta Bureau, Washington, Publications of Catalogue of Books by Prof. +A. Melville Bell.--Some Differences in the Education of the Deaf and +the Hearing. Pp. 15.--International Reports of Schools for the Deaf. +Pp. 27.--Bell, A. G. Methods of Instructing the Deaf in the United +States. Pp. 4.--Gordon, J. C. The Difference between the Two Systems +of Teaching Deaf-mutes the English Language. Pp. 4.--Gilman, Arthur. +Miss Helen Adams Keller's First Year of College Preparatory Work. Pp. +14.--Bell, Mabel Gardiner. The Story of the Rise of the Oral Method in +America as told in the Writings of the Hon. Gardiner G. Hubbard. Pp. +50. + +Voorhees, Edward B. Fertilizers. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. +335. $1. + +Wadden Turner, Susan, Prof. William, and Jane. In Memoriam. By +Caroline H. Dall. Pp. 19. + +Weysse, Arthur W. An Epitome of Human Histology. New York: Longmans, +Green & Co. Pp. 90. $1.50. + + + + +Fragments of Science. + + +=The Huxley Lecture.=--The Charing Cross Medical School in London, +which had the good fortune some fifty-three years ago to number Huxley +among its pupils, had largely through this fact the honor of being +addressed on October 3d by Professor Virchow, the greatest living +pathologist and one of the greatest of living scientists. There was a +peculiar fitness in his delivering the Huxley lecture, for, while +Professor Virchow's work has been chiefly that of the specialist, his +co-operation with laborers in other fields, his continued efforts to +popularize science, and the prominent position which he has occupied +for the last thirty years in public life, have given him a standing in +Germany somewhat akin to that of Huxley in England. His career is a +striking illustration, as was also Huxley's, of the happy results to +humanity from a combination in one man of great ability as an +investigator with a facility for generalization and the practical +application of scientific truths to the concrete problems of science +and civilization. Professor Virchow is described as modest and +unassuming, and very much of a contrast in all ways to the ordinary +German professor. His address was on The Recent Advances in Science, +and their Bearing on Medicine and Surgery. It was inevitable that he +should refer to Huxley, of whom he was in some sense a pupil. In +speaking of the rapid growth of the latter during his four years on +the Beagle, he said: "How this was possible any one will readily +understand who knows from his own experience how great is the value of +personal observation.... Freed from the formalism of the schools, +thrown upon his own intellect, compelled to test each single object as +regards properties and history, we soon forget the dogmas of the +prevailing system, and become first a skeptic and then an +investigator." This paragraph is especially worthy of notice, because +it points out one of the invariable characteristics of the great man. +In whatever field his greatness may lie, he will be found to have +broken away from the formalism and conservatism of the schools, and +that his great work is based on personal observation and research. +This was notably the case with Professor Virchow's establishment of +the cellular pathology, as well as of Huxley's researches in +comparative anatomy. Our present school system is lamentably weak in +this particular, tending to stifle rather than stimulate originality +and self-dependence. Professor Virchow's address was, of course, +interesting and instructive, but, as he said, much too short for +anything like an adequate treatment of the subject. The chief interest +of the occasion lay in its associations. An address by Rudolph +Virchow, at a meeting presided over by Lord Lister on an occasion +commemorating Professor Huxley, left only one thing to be desired--the +presence of the latter. For a biologist, or in fact a modern scientist +of any description, one can not imagine a more delightful occasion. + +=The Climate of Cuba.=--Systematic records of weather appear to be +wanting in Cuba. The meteorological observations kept up for several +years by Andre Poey are not accessible, no need of their being +published having been found. The chief source of information on the +subject is the observations which have been kept up at Belen College, +Havana, since 1859. From these and a few scattered observations of +brief periods at other towns, and by comparison with notes taken at +other West Indian stations, W. F. B. Phillips, of the United States +Department of Agriculture, has attempted to describe the climate of +Cuba. The average annual temperature of the past ten years at Havana +was 77° F., and the difference between the highest and the lowest +yearly means was only 1.1° F. The warmest month is July, with an +average temperature of 82.7° F., and the coldest is January, with an +average temperature of 70.3° F. The highest temperature recorded was +100.6° F., in July, 1891, and the lowest 49.6°. Brief intermittent +records at Matanzas, more than sixty years old, give a mean annual +temperature of about 78°, with 93° as the highest and 51° as the +lowest. At Santiago the annual mean appears to be about 80°, and the +difference between the warmest and coldest months about 6° F. Records +of temperature in the interior, such as they are, give annual means of +from 73.6° to 75°, apparently showing lower temperatures than on the +coast. The average daily range of temperature is about 10°, the +highest occurring between noon and two o'clock P. M., while sudden +variations in the temperature of the day are not unknown. The average +yearly rainfall at Havana is about fifty-two inches. The season of +heavy rainfall begins in the latter part of May and first of June, and +lasts till October, and during this period about sixty-three per cent +of the year's rain is precipitated. Rain occurs on about one day in +three, in heavy downpours of short duration. Notwithstanding the +frequency of rain during the summer months, these do not present the +greatest number of cloudy days. The days on which rain does not fall +are usually perfectly cloudless, and, in general, no clouds are seen +in summer except while the showers are falling; while in other months +cloudy days sometimes occur without rain. The average velocity of the +wind is about 7.5 miles an hour, with variations, according to the +season, from 8.5 miles in winter to 6.5 miles in summer. The diurnal +variation in wind velocity is much more pronounced than the seasonal +variation. + +=The New Planet D Q.=--The number of minor planets discovered during +the last few years, and their lack of practical importance in +astronomy, has tended to distract astronomers' attention from the +search for them, as unprofitable, and the announcement of a new one +attracts little attention, as a rule. The planet D Q, however, +discovered by Herr Witt, of the Urania Observatory, of Berlin, on +August 13th last, has aroused from the first special attention through +its remarkable behavior. The orbit is a very unusual one. Mars has +always been considered our nearest neighbor, although it was known +that some of the minor planets were slightly nearer to the sun when at +perihelion than Mars is when at aphelion. But the mean distances of +the latter were in all cases much greater than that of Mars; while +that found for the new planet is only 1.46 as compared with 1.52 for +Mars, and, as the eccentricity amounts to 0.23, the perihelion +distance is only 1.13, and the least distance from the earth's orbit +only 0.15 as compared with 0.27 for Venus in transit, and 0.38 for +Mars in perihelion. The planet will thus be far closer to us than any +other member of the solar system, and will afford a most excellent +means of determining the sun's parallax. Its diameter is thought to be +about seventeen miles. + +=Extra-Organic Factors of Evolution.=--Observing that our civilization +has made advances or "strides" in recent years out of all proportion +to any improvements that have taken place in our organic faculties, +Arthur Allin has insisted, in Science, on the importance of +extra-organic factors in human development. Our sense and motor +organs, he says, are essentially instruments and tools, and so is the +brain; and most if not all of the three hundred or more mechanical +movements known in the arts are found exemplified in the human body. +Our sense organs are thus indefinitely multiplied and extended by such +extra-organic sense organs as the microscope, telescope, resonator, +telephone, telegraph, thermometer, etc. Our motor organs are +multiplied by such agencies as steam and electrical machines, etc., in +the same manner. "The printing press is an extra-organic memory far +more lasting and durable than the plastic but fickle brain. Fire +provides man with a second digestive apparatus by means of which hard +and stringy roots and other materials for food are rendered digestible +and poisonous roots and herbs innocuous. Tools, traps, weapons, etc., +are but extensions of bodily contrivances. Clothing, unlike the fur or +layer of blubber of the lower animals, becomes a part of the organism +at will. One finds himself more or less independent of seasons, +climates, and geographical restrictions." By organic heredity or the +transmission of the congenital characteristics of the parents to the +children, working alone, all progress depends upon the transmission of +variations occurring within the organism. "Moreover, these +advantageous organic variations die with the individual, and must be +born again, so to speak, with each new individual." This requires +time, and progress depending on it would be indefinitely protracted. +On the other hand, by means of social heredity, each new member of the +race has handed to him at birth the accumulated organic advantageous +variations of sense and motor organs, and the extra-organic +adaptations that have multiplied so indefinitely in the age of +civilized man. "The vast importance of accumulation of capital is +obvious." + +=Fossils as criterions of Geological Ages.=--Prof. O. C. Marsh said in +a paper on The Comparative Value of Different Kinds of Fossils in +determining Geological Age, which was read at the meeting of the +British Association, that the value of all fossils as evidence of +geological age depends mainly upon their degree of specialization. In +invertebrates, for example, a lingula from the Cambrian has reached a +definite point of development from some earlier ancestor. One from the +Silurian or Devonian, or even a later formation, shows, however, +little advance. Even recent forms of the same or an allied genus have +no distinctive characters sufficiently important to mark geological +horizons. With ammonites the case is entirely different. From the +earliest appearance of the family the members were constantly +changing. The trilobites show a group of invertebrates ever subject to +modification, from the earliest known forms in the Cambrian to the +last survivors in the Permian. They are thus especially fitted to aid +the geologist, as each has distinctive features and an abiding place +of its own in geological time. In the fresh-water forms of +mollusca--the Unios, for example--there is little evidence of change +from the palæozoic forms to those still living, and we can therefore +expect little assistance from them in noticing the succeeding periods +during their life history. The same law as to specialization holds +good among the fossil vertebrates. + +=Pedigree Photographs.=--Sir Francis Galton unfolded before the +British Association a plan for the systematic collection of +photographs of pedigree stock, particularly of cattle breeds, and of +more information about them than is now obtainable. He believes that a +system of this sort would greatly facilitate the study of heredity. +The author had previously shown how the general knowledge that +offspring can inherit peculiarities from their ancestry as well as +from their parents was superseded by a general law the nature of which +was first suggested to him by theoretical considerations, and this +ancestral law proves the importance of a much more comprehensive +system of records than now exists. The breeder should be able to +compare the records of all the near ancestry of the animals he +proposes to mate in respect to the qualities in which he is +interested. No present source for such information is comparable with +what the system proposed would furnish. A habitual study of the form +of each pure-bred animal in connection with the portraits of all its +nearest ancestry would test current opinions and decide between +conflicting ones, and could not fail to suggest new ideas. Likenesses +would be traced to prepotent ancestors, and the amount of their +several prepotencies would be defined; forms and features that +supplement one another or "nick in," and others that clash or combine +awkwardly, would be observed and recorded; and conclusions based on +incomplete and inaccurate memories of ancestry would give way to +others founded on more exact data. The value of the ancestral law +would be adequately tested, and it would be possible to amend it when +required. + +=English Names for Plants.=--In the Proceedings of the Torrey +Botanical Club, published in its journal for July, Dr. V. Havard +suggested some principles which it would be well to follow in applying +English names to plants, predicating that an authorized vernacular +binomial should be assigned to each plant, so that ambiguity and +confusion may be avoided. In the absence of suitable English names +already recognized, it seems best to adopt the Latin genus name, if +short and easy, like _Cicuta_, _Parnassia_, _Hibiscus_, or a close +translation thereof, when possible, like astragal, chenopody, +cardamin, while the specific English name should be an equivalent of +the Latin one or a descriptive adjective. In case of all English +binomials clearly applying to well-known individual species and no +others, all substantives are capitalized without a hyphen, as in Witch +Hazel, May Apple, and Dutchman's Pipe. In all genera in which two or +more species must be designated, the genus name is compounded into one +word without a hyphen, as Peppergrass, Sweetbrier, Goldenrod, +Hedgenettle, etc.; except in long names, where the eye requires the +hyphen, as Prairie-clover, Forget-me-not. Genus names in the +possessive case (St. John's-wort) are written with the hyphen, +followed by a lower-case initial. Plants commemorating individual men +(Douglas Spruce, Coulter Pine) are written without the mark of the +possessive. In specific names participial endings are suppressed, the +participle becoming a substantive, which is added as a suffix without +the hyphen; thus Heartleaved Willow is changed to Heartleaf Willow. In +the discussion that followed this paper, President Addison Brown and +Dr. T. F. Allen deprecated the manufacture of book names. The +secretary defended the use of vernacular names, saying that they +deserved more attention, and adding that in their absence the generic +name should be used unchanged. Many Latin names, as _Portulacca_, win +their way without change as soon as they are fairly made familiar. +"Coined names seldom live. A name to be successful must be a growth, +as language is." + +=Cooking Schools in Philadelphia.=--The establishment of schools in +Philadelphia for the teaching of cookery is mentioned, in the Annual +Report of the Superintendent of Public Schools in that city, among the +results of the general movement for manual training, as a means of +mental development and practical knowledge. The teaching was +introduced experimentally into the Girls' Normal School in 1887, and +was in the following year made a regular branch of the course. It was +later extended to other schools. There are now eight school kitchens +under the department of Public Instruction, situated in different +parts of the city. The question of the proper place for cookery in the +school course has been solved, for Philadelphia, by putting it in the +sixth school year, when the pupils are firmly established in the work +of the grammar grades, and their attention has not yet been directed +to preparation for admission to the High School. The course provides +between twenty-five and thirty lessons, and is completed in a single +year. It includes instruction in the care of the kitchen, and of the +stove or range, general lessons in the classification and nutritive +values of foods, the cooking of vegetables, breakfast cereals, bread, +eggs, soups, meats, simple cakes and desserts, lessons in invalid +cookery, and in table setting and serving. Special attention is given +to the preparation of nutritious and savory dishes from inexpensive +materials. About two thousand pupils, or less than one half of the +number of girls of the sixth year now in the schools, are accommodated +in the eight cookery schools. The pupils manifest an intelligent +interest in the instruction, and spend the half day per week in the +school kitchen without any appreciable loss in the other branches of +study. "It comes as a period of relaxation." + +=A Trait Common to us All.=--The doctrine of the tendency of mankind +to develop the like fancies and ideas at the like stage of +intellectual infancy was mentioned by Mr. E. W. Brabrook in his +presidential address before the Anthropological Section of the British +Association, as a generalization for which we are fast accumulating +material in folklore. It is akin to the generalization that individual +savage races present in their intellectual development a marked +analogy to the condition of the earlier races of mankind. The fancies +and ideas of the child resemble closely the fancies and ideas of the +savage and the fancies and ideas of primitive man. Mrs. Gomme has +found that a great number of children's games consist of dramatic +representations of marriage by capture and marriage by purchase, and +that the idea of exogamy is distinctly embodied in them. There can be +little doubt that they go back to a high antiquity, and there is much +probability that they are founded upon customs actually existing, or +just passing away, at the time they were first played. Upon the same +principle, if we view children's stories in their wealth of details, +we shall deem it impossible that they could have been disseminated +over the world otherwise than by actual contact of the several peoples +with each other. But if we view them in their simplicity of idea, we +shall be more apt to think that the mind of man naturally produces the +same result under like circumstances, and that it is not necessary to +postulate any communication between the peoples to account for their +identity. It does not surprise us that the same complicated physical +operations should be performed by far-distant peoples without any +communication with each other; why should it be surprising that mental +operations, not nearly so complex, should be produced in the same +order by different peoples without any such communication? + +=The Toes in Walking.=--An instructive discussion of the walking value +of the lesser toes by Dr. Heather Bigg is given in a recent copy of +the London Lancet. Dr. Bigg believes that the lesser toes of the human +foot are of little importance in walking--the great toe constituting +the important tread of the foot--and in proof of this he gives an +account of a patient, all of whose lesser toes it was found necessary +to amputate because of persistent contraction of the tendons. On +November 10, 1894, the toes were removed, especial care being taken to +keep the resulting scars well up on the dorsal aspect of the foot, so +as to be well away from the subsequent tread. In three weeks the +patient could stand on her feet, and, after her return home, sent the +following record of her progress toward complete recovery: December +30, 1894: "I am able to walk perfectly on my feet with little or no +pain, but can not yet wear either slippers or boots, as they are still +tender."--January 15, 1895: "I managed to get on my slippers yesterday +and wore them with ease for more than six hours."--January 28th: "I +put on my boots to-day for the first time. It still pains me slightly +to walk; otherwise my feet are going on all right."--February 18th: "I +ought to say that the steel plates only half way answer +splendidly."--March 24th: "You will be glad to hear that I can walk +splendidly now, just like a proper human being; it is just eighteen +weeks next Tuesday since the operation."--May 5th: "I have decided to +come to town next Monday week to let you see how well I can +walk."--June 17th: "I played two sets of tennis on Saturday, and my +feet were none the worse afterward."--July 24th: "You will be +surprised to hear that the big toes have lengthened half an inch since +the operation, and I have had all my boots lengthened and the toe line +made straighter."--August 30th: "I know that you will be interested to +hear that I have just accepted an invitation to a dance on September +13th. Whether I shall dance comfortably or not is another +thing."--September 14th: "I went to the dance on Tuesday evening and +thoroughly enjoyed myself after not dancing for so long. My feet were +on their best behavior, and did not pain me once during the evening. I +never realized before that I had no toes until I began to dance; then +it seemed so odd only to have one toe, but I suffered no inconvenience +whatever from the loss of them."--December 5th: "I get on so well with +my bicycle." Only two disadvantages showed themselves as the result of +the operation and these were temporary. One was that the great toes +tended to pervert themselves toward the middle line of the feet, a +thing which was readily remedied by the use of single-toed stockings, +and by packing the space in the boot left vacant by the missing toes +with cotton wool; the other was a loss of local sense on the outer +sides of the feet, which went to show that the lesser toes were missed +rather as tactile organs than anything else. This failure of feeling +righted itself in time, presumably by a vicarious and intenser sense +being acquired by the skin of the outer side of the foot. In all other +respects the loss of the toes discovered no inconvenience. + +=Animals' Bites.=--That there is something more serious than the mere +wound in the bite even of a healthy animal is attested by Mr. Pagin +Thornton, from a chapter in his own experience, and in the testimony +of a number of his own friends who have suffered for weeks together +from having been bitten. "And what is more surprising to me," he says, +"is that some of us may have hands crippled for some time from bites +of a man's teeth." Dog bites are always dangerous, but largely from +the size of the wound which a dog biting in earnest will inflict. With +men they usually fail to do their best. Animals recover from wounds +more easily than men do; but Lord Ebrington says that deer bitten by +the dogs in Exmoor hardly ever recover. Much of the poisoning caused +by bites is supposed to be due to the state of the animal's teeth; and +in this way the bite of a herbivorous animal, whose teeth are usually +soiled, may cause worse after effects than that of a carnivore, whose +wet mouth and wet tongue keep its teeth fairly clean. A similar +difference is observable in the effects of being clawed and bitten by +carnivora. Wounds made by the claws of leopards are poisonous, while +those caused by the teeth are rarely septic. The force with which a +bite in earnest is inflicted is an important element in its dangerous +character. "It seems," says the London Spectator, "as if for the +moment the animal threw all its force into the combination of muscular +action which we call a 'bite.' In most cases the mere shock of impact, +as the beast hurls itself on its enemy, is entirely demoralizing, or +inflicts physical injury. A muzzled mastiff will hurl a man to the +ground in the effort to fasten its teeth in his throat or shoulder. +Then, the driving and crushing force of the jaw muscles is +astonishing." Sir Samuel Baker noticed that the tiger usually seized +an Indian native by the shoulder, and with one jaw on one side and the +other on the other bit clean through chest and back. In nearly all +cases the bite penetrates to the lungs. This kind of wound is +characteristic of the bites of the _felidæ_. Hardly any bird recovers +from a cat's bite, for the same reason. The canine teeth are almost +instantly driven through the lung under the wing. + +=Doulton Potteries.=--Sir Henry Doulton, head of the Lambeth +potteries, whose death, November 17, 1897, has been recorded in the +Monthly, preferred devoting himself to the factory to engaging in the +study of a learned profession for which his parents intended him, and +himself did much of the largest work produced there in the earlier +days of his connection with it. As the factory was enlarged, it made +drain pipes, vessels and appliances of stoneware for chemical and +other similar uses, for which it gained prizes at the great +exhibitions of 1851 and 1862; ale pots and mugs of traditional and +original designs; terra-cotta vases; and first exhibited articles of +higher artistic merit at Paris in 1867. It showed a magnificent +collection at Vienna in 1873, and its exhibit at Philadelphia in 1876 +was one of the marked features of our Centennial. The chief styles of +its work are the ornamental salt-glazed stoneware known as Doulton +ware, and the underglaze-painted earthenware called "Lambeth faïence." +Sir George Birdwood ascribes as the great merit of Sir Henry's life +work his adherence to the two principles of making, as far as +possible, every piece intended for decoration on the wheel, and of +giving the utmost scope to the designer into whose hands the piece +fell for ornamentation. Four hundred designers, mostly women, and some +of them real artists, are engaged at the potteries, and each has her +way and signs her name to her work; so that "Sir Henry Doulton +succeeded in creating a most prolific school, or rather several +schools, of English pottery, the influence of which has been felt in +the revival of the ceramic arts in all the countries of the Old +World"--where they had been demoralized by the use of machinery; and +through the influence of his example, working since 1871, the United +Kingdom now produces "the most artistic commercial pottery of any +country in the world." + + +MINOR PARAGRAPHS. + +A little over a year ago Professor Fraser published the results of +some researches which showed that the bile of several animals +possessed antidotal properties against serpents' venom, and against +the toxines of such diseases as diphtheria and tetanus, and that the +bile of venomous serpents is an antidote to their venom. The results +from an extension of these first experiments have been recently +published in the British Medical Journal. The most important +conclusions are as follows: The bile of venomous serpents is the most +powerful antidote to venom, and is closely followed in efficiency by +the bile of innocuous serpents. Regarding the antidotal power of bile +on the toxines of disease, Professor Fraser found that the bile of +venomous serpents had more antidotal power than that of the majority +of the other animals examined. It is curious that among the +non-venomous animals the rabbit's bile is the most powerful in +antidotal properties. + +Three ways are mentioned by Prof. W. A. Herdman in which disease may +be communicated through oysters to the consumer; viz., by the presence +in the animal of inorganic, usually metallic, poison; or of organic +poison; or of a pathological organism or definite disease germ. From +experiments in the inoculation and disinfection of oysters, it was +found that all traces of these organisms could be removed by proper +washing. Good currents passing the beds are an important factor in +keeping the oyster healthy, and make it possible for the animal to +absorb large quantities of sewage and dispose of it. The effect of +this is to purify the water; but in the sifting process, while the +sewage is passing through, the animal retains disease germs, and may +pass them on to the consumer. Oysters should therefore be given an +opportunity to purify themselves, as is done in France, where they are +kept for a time in clean tanks before being sent to market. Oysters +may be effectively washed in fresh water. Sea water is unfavorable to +disease germs. Greenness in oysters is caused by food administered to +improve their quality; by the presence of copper; and in some American +oysters by an inflamed condition of the mantle. Green spots are also +produced by wandering cells getting under the epithelium. These cells +are loaded with granules which give a copper reaction. + +The most interesting result of the massacre and sack of Benin, the +Saturday Review says, was the capture of a large series of brass +plaques, statuettes, box lids, pipes, etc., which have been brought to +England. The various articles are all castings, and their elaborate +ornamentation bespeaks for their makers great skill in metal working. +Most African tribes have smiths who hammer pieces of brass rod and +wire into simple ornaments; but these Benin brasses represent a stage +of metal working far more advanced than anything recorded for the +native races of Africa. Nothing like them is being made by any negro +race at present, and nothing is known that can be regarded as a +precursor of them. A statuette in the Liverpool Museum of a negro +holding a flint gun fixes their date as not earlier than about 1630. +In trying to account for them, many think they were due to the +influence of some comparatively advanced tribe that reached Benin from +the central Soudan and brought with them a knowledge of brass work +derived from early, possibly Egyptian, sources; and others attribute +the work to some prisoner or trader who lived at Benin in the +seventeenth century. + + +NOTES. + +The Committee of the British Association on Meteorological Photography +reported that the result of their determinations of the heights of +clouds showed the existence of greater altitudes in hot weather under +thunderstorm conditions, when clouds may occur at five or six +different levels, extending as high as ninety thousand feet. A rise of +cloud takes place in hot weather, also during the morning and early +afternoons, while the lowest altitudes are found during cyclones. + +M. Maige, by varying the condition of exposure of plants to light, and +keeping flowering branches in the dark, has succeeded in transforming +the latter into sterile creeping or climbing branches. Inversely, he +has been able, by means of the localized action of light, to transform +creeping or climbing into flowering branches. These results were +obtained at the vegetable biological laboratory of Fontainebleau. + +F. L. Washburn, of the State University of Oregon, reports that the +condition of the Eastern oysters introduced to the Oregon coast waters +two years ago leaves nothing to be desired. The specimens have +withstood two winters successfully, and have made phenomenal growth, +"far exceeding what they would have made in the same time in their +native waters. Further, they spawned." The experiments in artificial +fertilization were not so successful. The spawn suffer from the +serious difficulties of sudden variations in the temperature and +salinity of the water resulting from the change of tide and strong +winds. It is hoped that better conditions may be found at Yaquina Bay. + +The population of Egypt has been gradually increasing during the past +hundred years. It is stated to have been about two and a half million +in 1800, and is now estimated at nearly ten million. There are about +112,000 foreigners, of whom 38,000 are Greeks; the remainder being +chiefly Italians, 24,000; English, 19,000; French, 14,000; Austrians, +7,000; Russians, 3,000; and Persians and Germans, about 1,000 each. +Only about five per cent of the population can read and write, and +nearly two thirds are without any trade or profession. + +Our record of deaths among men known in science includes the names of +Dr. Henriques de Castro, a Dutch archæologist of Portuguese descent, +member of many learned societies of the Netherlands; John Eliza de +Vry, of the Netherlands, one of the chief authorities on the chemistry +and pharmacy of the cinchona alkaloids, at The Hague, July 30th, in +the eighty-sixth year of his age; Dr. Eugenio Bettoni, director of the +Fisheries Station at Brescia, Italy, August 5th, aged fifty-three +years; Professor Arzruni, mineralogist in the Polytechnic Institute at +Aix; Heinrich Theodor Richter, director of the School of Mines at +Freiberg, Saxony; Dr. J. Crocq, professor of pathology in the +University of Brussels; Dr. C. G. Gibelli, professor of botany and +director of the Botanical Institute at Turin; Don Francisco Coello de +Portugal, president of the Geographical Society of Madrid, and author +of an atlas of Spain and its colonies; Dr. B. Kotula, author of +Researches on the Distribution of Plants; Surgeon Major J. E. T. +Aitchison, a distinguished botanist, particularly in the botany of +India, and author of numerous papers on the subject, September 30th, +in his sixty-fourth year; M. Thomas Frédéric Moreau, a French +archæologist, author of a collection of Gallic, Gallo-Roman, and +Merovingian antiquities, in his one hundred and first year; M. Gabriel +de Mortillet, the eminent French anthropologist, in Paris, November +4th, aged sixty-seven years; Sir George Smyth Baden Powell, political +economist, aged fifty-one years; Sir John Fowler, engineer in chief of +the Forth Bridge, aged eighty-one years; Dr. James I. Peck, assistant +professor of biology in Williams College, and assistant director of +the Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole; George Vestal, professor of +agriculture and horticulture at the New Mexico Agricultural College, +October 24th, aged forty-one years; Dr. W. Kochs, docent for +physiology at Bonn; M. J. V. Barbier, a distinguished French +geographer; M. N. J. Raffard, an eminent French mechanical engineer, +author of many valuable inventions; Latimer Clark, F. R. S., an +eminent English electrician, one of the founders and a past president +of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, whose name is associated +with the history of electric telegraphy and with many inventions, and +author of several books that are standard with the profession, at +Kensington, London, October 30th, in his seventy-sixth year; Count +Michele Stefano de Rossi, a distinguished Italian seismologist; M. de +Meritens, a French electrical engineer, inventor of one of the first +practical dynamos, and of other valuable electrical apparatus, aged +sixty-five years. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + +Words surrounded by _ are italicized. + +Words surrounded by = are bold. + +Obvious printer's errors have been repaired, other inconsistent +spellings have been kept. + +Illustrations were relocated to correspond to their references in the +text. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, +January 1899, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44097 *** |