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diff --git a/old/44544-8.txt b/old/44544-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..20c7e21 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44544-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8609 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, April +1899, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, April 1899 + Volume LIV, No. 6, April 1899 + +Author: Various + +Editor: William Jay Youmans + +Release Date: December 30, 2013 [EBook #44544] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK APPLETONS' POPULAR SCIENCE, APRIL 1899 *** + + + + +Produced by Judith Wirawan, Greg Bergquist, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by Biodiversity Heritage Library.) + + + + + + + + + + + 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. 6. + +APPLETONS' POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. + +APRIL, 1899. + +_EDITED BY WILLIAM JAY YOUMANS._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + I. The Stuff that Dreams are made of. By HAVELOCK ELLIS 721 + + II. The Best Methods of Taxation. By the Late Hon. DAVID A. + WELLS. Part I 736 + + III. Mental Defectives and the Social Welfare. By MARTIN W. + BARR, M. D. (Illustrated.) 746 + + IV. The Wheat Problem again. By EDWARD ATKINSON 759 + + V. The Coming of the Catbird. By SPENCER TROTTER 772 + + VI. Guessing, as Influenced by Number Preferences. By F. B. + DRESSLAR 781 + + VII. Concerning Weasels. By WILLIAM E. CRAM. (Illustrated.) 786 + + VIII. Care of the Throat and Ear. By W. SCHEPPEGRELL, M. D. 791 + + IX. The Physical Geography of the West Indies. I. The Mammals + of the Antilles. By Dr. F. L. OSWALD 802 + + X. Iron in the Living Body. By M. A. DASTRE 807 + + XI. The Malay Language. By Prof. R. CLYDE FORD 813 + + XII. Life on a South Sea Whaler. By FRANK T. BULLEN 818 + + XIII. Sketch of Manly Miles. (With Portrait.) 834 + + XIV. Editor's Table: Science and Culture.--Survival of the + Fittest 842 + + XV. Scientific Literature 845 + + XVI. Fragments of Science 854 + + XVII. Index to Vol. LIV 865 + + + + + NEW YORK: + D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, + 72 FIFTH AVENUE. + + SINGLE NUMBER, 50 CENTS. YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION, $5.00. + + COPYRIGHT, 1899, 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: MANLY MILES.] + + + + +APPLETONS' POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. + +APRIL, 1899. + + + + +THE STUFF THAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF. + +BY HAVELOCK ELLIS. + + +In our dreams we are taken back into an earlier world. It is a world +much more like that of the savage, the child, the criminal, the +madman, than is the world of our respectable civilized waking life. +That is, in large part, it must be confessed, the charm of dreams. It +is also the reason of their scientific value. Through our dreams we +may realize our relation to stages of evolution we have long left +behind, and by the self-vivisection of our sleeping life we may learn +to know something regarding the mind of primitive man and the source +of some of his beliefs, thus throwing light on the facts we obtain by +ethnographic research. + +This aspect of dreams has not always been kept steadily in sight, +though it can no longer be said that the study of dreams is neglected. +From one point of view or another--not only by the religious sect +which, it appears, constitutes a "Dream Church" in Denmark, but by +such carefully inquisitive investigators as those who have been +trained under the inspiring influence of Prof. Stanley Hall--dreaming +is seriously studied. I need not, therefore, apologize for the fact +that I have during many years taken note from time to time and +recorded the details and circumstances of vivid dreams when I could +study their mechanism immediately on awakening, and that I have +occupied myself, not with the singularities and marvels of +dreaming--of which, indeed, I know little or nothing--but with their +simplest and most general laws and tendencies. A few of these laws and +tendencies I wish to set forth and illustrate. The interest of such a +task is twofold. It not only reveals to us an archaic world of vast +emotions and imperfect thoughts, but by helping us to attain a clear +knowledge of the ordinary dream processes, it enables us in advance to +deal with many of the extraordinary phenomena of dreaming, sometimes +presented to us by wonder-loving people as awesomely mysterious, if +not indeed supernatural. The careful analysis of mere ordinary dreams +frequently gives us the key to these abnormal dreams. + +Perhaps the chief and most frequent tendency in the mechanism of +dreaming is that by which isolated impressions from waking life flow +together in dreams to be welded into a whole. There is then produced, +in the strictest sense, a confusion. For instance, a lady, who in the +course of the day has admired a fine baby and bought a big fish for +dinner, dreams with horror and surprise of finding a fully developed +baby in a large codfish. The confusion may be more remote, embodying +abstract ideas and without reference to recent impressions. Thus I +dreamed that my wife was expounding to me a theory by which the +substitution of slates for tiles in roofing had been accompanied by, +and intimately associated with, the growing diminution of crime in +England. Amid my wife's rather contemptuous opposition, I opposed this +theory, pointing out the picturesqueness of tiles, their cheapness, +greater comfort both in winter and summer, but at the same time it +occurred to me as a peculiar coincidence that tiles should have a +sanguinary tinge suggestive of criminal bloodthirstiness. I need +scarcely say that this bizarre theory had never suggested itself to my +waking thoughts. There was, however, a real connecting link in the +confusion--the redness--and it is a noteworthy point, of great +significance in the interpretation of dreams, that that link, although +clearly active from the first, remained subconscious until the end of +the dream, when it presented itself as an entirely novel coincidence. + +The best simile for the mechanism of the most usual type of dream +phenomena is the magic lantern. Our dreams are like dissolving views +in which the dissolving process is carried on swiftly or slowly, but +always uninterruptedly, so that, at any moment, two (often indeed +more) incongruous pictures are presented to consciousness which +strives to make one whole of them, and sometimes succeeds and is +sometimes baffled. Or we may say that the problem presented to +dreaming consciousness resembles that experiment in which +psychologists pronounce three wholly unconnected words, and require +the subject to combine them at once in a connected sentence. It is +unnecessary to add that such analogies fail to indicate the subtle +complexity of the apparatus which is at work in the manufacture of +dreams. + +It is the presence of the strife I have just referred to between +apparently irreconcilable groups of images, in the effort of +overcoming the critical skepticism of sleeping consciousness--a feeble +skepticism, it may be, but, as many people do not seem to recognize, +a real skepticism--that the impressive emotional effects of dreams are +often displayed. It sometimes happens that two irreconcilable groups +of impressions reach sleeping consciousness, one flowing from a recent +stratum of memories, the other from an older stratum. A typical form +of this phenomenon often occurs in our dreams of dead friends. +Professor Sully remarks that in dreams of the dead "awareness of the +fact of death wholly disappears, or reduces itself to a vague feeling +of something delightfully wonderful in the restored presence." That, +however, as I have elsewhere shown,[1] is not the typical process in +dreaming of the dead; although in the later dreams of those who often +see their dead friends during sleep, the process is abbreviated, and +the friend's presence is accepted without a struggle--a very +interesting point, for it tends to show that in dreams, as in the +hypnotic state, the recollection of previous similar states of +consciousness persists, and the illusion is strengthened by +repetition. + +In typical dreams of a dead friend there is a struggle between that +stream of recent memories which represents him as dead and that older +stream which represents him as living. These two streams are +inevitably caused by the fact of death, which sets up a barrier +between them and renders one set of memories incongruous with the +other set. In dreams we are not able to arrange our memories +chronologically, but we are perpetually reasoning and striving to be +logical. Consequently the two conflicting streams of memories break +against each other in restless conflict, and sleeping consciousness +endeavors to propound some theory which will reconcile them. The most +frequent theories are, as I have found, either that the news of the +friend's death was altogether false, or that he had been buried alive +by mistake, or else that having really died his soul has returned to +earth for a brief space. The mental and emotional conflict which such +dreams involve renders them very vivid. They make a profound +impression even after awakening, and for some sensitive persons are +too sacred to speak of. Even so cautious and skeptical a thinker as +Renan, when, after the death of his beloved sister Henriette, he +dreamed more than once that she had been buried alive, and that he +heard her voice calling to him from her grave, had to still his +horrible suspicions by the consideration that she had been tended by +experienced doctors. On less well-balanced minds, and more especially +in primitive stages of civilization, we can scarcely doubt that such +dreams, resting as they do on the foundation of consciousness, have +had a powerful influence in persuading man that death is but a +transient fact, and that the soul is independent of the body. I do not +wish to assert that they suffice to originate the belief.[2] + +While dreams are thus often formed by the molding together of more or +less congruous images by a feeble but still intelligent sleeping +activity, another factor is to be found in the involuntary wavering +and perpetually mere meaningless change of dream imagery. Such +concentration as is possible during sleep always reveals a shifting, +oscillating, uncertain movement of the vision before us. We are, as it +were, reading a sign-post in the dusk, or making guesses at the names +of the stations as our express train flashes by the painted letters. +Any one who has ever been subject to the hypnagogic imagery sometimes +seen in the half-waking state, or who has ever taken mescal, knows +that it is absolutely impossible to fix an image. It is this factor in +dreams which causes them so often to baffle our analysis. In addition +to the mere, as it were, mechanical flowing together of images and +ideas, and the more or less intelligent molding of them into a whole, +there is thus a failure of sleeping attention to fix definitely the +final result--a failure which itself may evidently serve to carry on +the dream process by suggesting new images and combinations. I dreamed +once that I was with a doctor in his surgery, and saw in his hand a +note from a patient saying that doctors were fools and did him no +good, but he had lately taken some _selvdrolla_, recommended by a +friend, and it had done him more good than anything, so please send +him some more. I saw the note clearly, not, indeed, being conscious of +reading it word by word, but only of its meaning as I looked at it; +the one word I actually seemed to see, letter by letter, was the name +of the drug, and that changed and fluctuated beneath my vision as I +gazed at it, the final impression being _selvdrolla_. The doctor took +from a shelf a bottle containing a bright yellow oleaginous fluid, and +poured a little out, remarking that it had lately come into favor, +especially in uric-acid disorders, but was extremely expensive. I +expressed my surprise, having never before heard of it. Then, again to +my surprise, he poured rather copiously from the bottle on to a plate +of food, saying, in explanation, that it was pleasant to take and not +dangerous. This was a vivid morning dream, and on awakening I had no +difficulty in detecting the source of its various minor details, +especially a note received on the previous evening and containing a +dubious figure, the precise nature of which I had used my pocket lens +to determine. But what was _selvdrolla_, the most vivid element of the +dream? I sought vainly among my recent memories, and had almost +renounced the search when I recalled a large bottle of salad oil seen +on the supper table the previous evening; not, indeed, resembling the +dream bottle, but containing a precisely similar fluid. _Selvdrolla_ +was evidently a corruption of "salad oil." I select this dream to +illustrate the uncertainty of dream consciousness, because it also +illustrates at the same time the element of certainty in dream +_subconsciousness_. Throughout my dream I remained, consciously, in +entire ignorance as to the real nature of _selvdrolla_, yet a latent +element in consciousness was all the time presenting it to me in +ever-clearer imagery. + +While the confusions of dreaming are usually the union of unconnected +streams of imagery which have, as it were, come from widely remote +parts of the memory system to strike together at the narrow focus of +shaping consciousness, in some rarer cases the fused images are really +suggested by analogy and are not accidental. Maury records successions +of dream imagery strung together by verbal resemblances; I have found +such dreams rare, but other forms of association fairly common. Thus I +once dreamed that I was with a dentist who was about to extract a +tooth from a patient. Before applying the forceps he remarked to me +(at the same time setting fire to a perfumed cloth at the end of +something like a broomstick in order to dissipate the unpleasant odor) +that it was the largest tooth he had ever seen. When extracted I found +that it was indeed enormous, in the shape of a caldron, with walls an +inch thick. Taking from my pocket a tape measure (such as I always +carry in waking life) I founds the diameter to be not less than +twenty-five inches; the interior was like roughly hewn rock, and there +were sea-weeds and lichenlike growths within. The size of the tooth +seemed to me large, but not extraordinarily so. It is well known that +pain in the teeth, or the dentist's manipulations, cause those organs +to seem of extravagant extent; in dreams this tendency rules +unchecked; thus a friend once dreamed that mice were playing about in +a cavity in her tooth. But for the dream first quoted there was no +known dental origin; it arose solely or chiefly from a walk during the +previous afternoon among the rocks of the Cornish coast at low tide, +and the fantastic analogy, which had not occurred to waking +consciousness, suggested itself during sleep. + +The following dream illustrates an association of quite a different +order: I imagined I was sitting at a window, at the top of a house, +writing. As I looked up from my table I saw, with all the emotions +naturally accompanying such a sight, a woman in her night dress appear +at a lofty window some distance off and throw herself down. I went on +writing, however, and found that in the course of my literary +employment--I am not clear as to its precise nature--the very next +thing I had to do was to describe exactly such a scene as I had just +witnessed. I was extremely puzzled at such an extraordinary +coincidence: it seemed to me wholly inexplicable. Such dreams, +reduplicating the imagery in a new sensory medium, are fairly common, +with me at all events, though I can not easily explain them. The +association is not so much of analogy as of sensory media, in this +case the visual image becoming a verbal motor image. In other cases a +scene is first seen as in reality, and then in a picture. It is +interesting to observe the profound astonishment with which sleeping +consciousness apperceives such simple reduplication. + +It sometimes happens that the confused imagery of dreams includes +elements drawn from forgotten memories--that is to say, that sleeping +consciousness can draw on faint impressions of the past which waking +consciousness is unable to reach. This is a very important type of +dream because of its bearing on the explanation of certain dream +phenomena which we are sometimes asked to bow down before as +supernatural. I may illustrate what I mean by the following very +instructive case. I woke up recalling the chief items of a rather +vivid dream: I had imagined myself in a large old house, where the +furniture, though of good quality, was ancient, and the chairs +threatened to give way as one sat on them. The place belonged to one +Sir Peter Bryan, a hale old gentleman who was accompanied by his son +and grandson. There was a question of my buying the place from him, +and I was very complimentary to the old gentleman's appearance of +youthfulness, absurdly affecting not to know which was the grandfather +and which the grandson. On awaking I said to myself that here was a +purely imaginative dream, quite unsuggested by any definite +experiences. But when I began to recall the trifling incidents of the +previous day I realized that that was far from being the case. So far +from the dream having been a pure effort of imagination I found that +every minute item could be traced to some separate source. The name of +Sir Peter Bryan alone completely baffled me; I could not even recall +that I had at that time ever heard of any one called Bryan. I +abandoned the search and made my notes of the dream and its sources. I +had scarcely done so when I chanced to take up a volume of +biographies which I had glanced through carelessly the day before. I +found that it contained, among others, the lives of Lord +_Peter_borough and George _Bryan_ Brummel. I had certainly seen those +names the day before; yet before I took up the book once again it +would have been impossible for me to recall the exact name of Beau +Brummel, and I should have been inclined to say that I had never even +heard the name of Bryan. I repeat that I regard this as, +psychologically, a most instructive dream. It rarely happens (though I +could give one or two more examples from the experience of friends) +that we can so clearly and definitely demonstrate the presence of a +forgotten memory in a dream; in the case of old memories it is usually +impossible. It so happened that the forgotten memory which in this +case re-emerged to sleeping consciousness was a fact of no consequence +to myself or any one else. But if it had been the whereabouts of a +lost deed or a large sum of money, and I had been able to declare, as +in this case, that the impression received in my dream had never to my +knowledge existed in waking consciousness, and yet were to declare my +faith that the dream probably had a simple and natural explanation, on +every hand I should be sarcastically told that there is no credulity +to match the credulity of the skeptic. + +The profound emotions of waking life, the questions and problems on +which we spread our chief voluntary mental energy, are not those which +usually present themselves at once to dream consciousness. It is, so +far as the immediate past is concerned, mostly the trifling, the +incidental, the "forgotten" impressions of daily life which reappear +in our dreams. The psychic activities that are awake most intensely +are those that sleep most profoundly. If we preserve the common image +of the "stream of consciousness," we might say that the grave facts of +life sink too deeply into the flood to reappear at once in the calm of +repose, while the mere light and buoyant trifles of life, flung +carelessly in during the day, at once rise to the surface, to dance +and mingle and evolve in ways that this familiar image of "the stream +of consciousness" will not further help us to picture. + +So far I have been discussing only one of the great groups into which +dreams may be divided. Most investigators of dreams agree that there +are two such groups, the one having its basis in memories, the other +founded on actual physical sensations experienced at the moment of +dreaming and interpreted by sleeping consciousness. Various names have +been given to these two groups; Sully, for instance, terms them +central and peripheral. Perhaps the best names, however, are those +adopted by Miss Calkins, who calls the first group representative, the +second group presentative. + +All writers on dreaming have brought forward presentative dreams, and +there can be no doubt that impressions received during sleep from any +of the external senses may serve as a basis for dreams. I need only +record one example to illustrate this main and most obvious group of +presentative dreams. I dreamed that I was listening to a performance +of Haydn's Creation, the chief orchestral part of the performance +seeming to consist chiefly of the very realistic representation of the +song of birds, though I could not identify the note of any particular +bird. Then followed solos by male singers, whom I saw, especially one +who attracted my attention by singing at the close in a scarcely +audible voice. On awakening the source of the dream was not +immediately obvious, but I soon realized that it was the song of a +canary in another room. I had never heard Haydn's Creation, except in +fragments, nor thought of it at any recent period; its reputation as +regards the realistic representation of natural sounds had evidently +caused it to be put forward by sleeping consciousness as a plausible +explanation of the sounds heard, and the visual centers had accepted +the theory. + +It is a familiar fact that internal sensations also form a frequent +basis of dreams. All the internal organs, when disturbed or distended +or excited, may induce dreams, and especially that aggravated kind of +dreaming which we call nightmare. This fact is so well known that such +dreams are usually dismissed without further analysis. It is a +mistake, however, so to dismiss them, for it seems probable that it is +precisely here that we may find the most instructive field of dream +psychology. On account of the profoundly emotional effect of such +dreams they are very interesting to study, but this very element of +emotion renders them somewhat obscure objects of study. I do not +venture to offer with absolute certainty one or two novel suggestions +which dream experiences have led me to regard as probable. + +Dreams of flying have so often been recorded--from the time of St. +Jerome, who mentions that he was subject to them--that they may fairly +be considered to constitute one of the commonest forms of dreaming. +All my life, it seems to me, I have at intervals had such dreams in +which I imagined myself rhythmically bounding into the air and +supported on the air. These dreams, in my case at all events, are not +generally remembered immediately on awakening (seeming to indicate +that they depend on a cause which does not usually come into action at +the end of sleep), but they leave behind them a vague but profound +sense of belief in their reality and reasonableness.[3] Several +writers have attempted to explain this familiar phenomenon. Gowers +considers that a spontaneous contraction of the stapedius muscle of +the ear during sleep causes a sensation of falling. Stanley Hall, who +has himself from childhood had dreams of flying, boldly argues that we +have here "some faint reminiscent atavistic echo from the primeval +sea"; and that such dreams are really survivals--psychic vestigial +remains--taking us back to the far past, in which man's ancestors +needed no feet to swim or float. Such a theory may accord with the +profound conviction of reality that accompanies such dreams, though +this may be more simply accounted for, even by mere repetition, as +with dreams of the dead; but it is rather a hazardous theory, and it +seems to me infinitely more probable that such dreams are a +misinterpretation of actual internal sensations. + +My own explanation was immediately suggested by the following dream. I +dreamed that I was watching a girl acrobat, in appropriate costume, +who was rhythmically rising to a great height in the air and then +falling, without touching the floor, though each time she approached +quite close to it. At last she ceased, exhausted and perspiring, and +had to be led away. Her movements were not controlled by mechanism, +and apparently I did not regard mechanism as necessary. It was a vivid +dream, and I awoke with a distinct sensation of oppression in the +chest. In trying to account for this dream, which was not founded on +any memory, it occurred to me that probably I had here the key to a +great group of dreams. The rhythmic rising and falling of the acrobat +was simply the objectivation of the rhythmic rising and falling of my +own respiratory muscles under the influence of some slight and unknown +physical oppression, and this oppression was further translated into a +condition of perspiring exhaustion in the girl, just as it is recorded +that a man with heart disease dreamed habitually of sweating and +panting horses climbing up hill. We may recall also the curious +sensation as of the body being transformed into a vast bellows which +is often the last sensation felt before the unconsciousness produced +by nitrous oxide gas. When we are lying down there is a real rhythmic +rising and falling of the chest and abdomen, centering in the +diaphragm, a series of oscillations which at both extremes are only +limited by the air. Moreover, in this position we have to recognize +that the whole internal organism--the circulatory, nervous, and other +systems--are differently balanced from what they are in the upright +position, and that a disturbance of internal equilibrium +always accompanies falling. Further, it is possible that the +misinterpretation is confirmed to sleeping consciousness by sensations +from without, by the absence of the tactile pressure produced by +boots on the foot, or the contact of the ground with the soles; we are +at once conscious of movement and conscious that the soles of the feet +are in contact only with the air. Thus in normal sleep the conditions +may be said to be always favorable for producing dreams of flying or +of floating in the air, and any slight thoracic disturbance, even in +healthy persons, arising from lungs, heart, or stomach, and serving to +bring these conditions to sleeping consciousness, may determine such a +dream. + +There is another common class of dreams which, it seems fairly evident +to me, must also find their psychological explanation chiefly in the +visceral sensations--I mean dreams of murder. Many psychologists have +referred with profound concern to the facility and prevalence of +murder in dreams, sometimes as a proof of the innate wickedness of +human nature made manifest in the unconstraint of sleep, sometimes as +evidence of an atavistic return to the modes of feeling of our +ancestors, the thin veneer of civilization being removed during sleep. +Maudsley and Mme. de Manacéïne, for example, find evidence in such +dreams of a return to primitive modes of feeling. It may well be that +there is some element of truth in this view, but even if so we still +have to account for the production of such dreams. For this we must, +in part at least, fall back upon the logical outcome of dream +confusions, owing to which, for instance, a lady who has carved a duck +at dinner may a few hours later wake up exhausted by the imaginary +effort of cutting off her husband's head. But I think we may find +evidence that the dream of murder is often a falsely logical deduction +from abnormal visceral and especially digestive sensations. + +I may illustrate such dreams by the following example: A lady dreamed +that her husband called her aside and said: "Now, do not scream or +make a fuss; I am going to tell you something. I have to kill a man. +It is necessary, to put him out of his agony." He then took her into +his study and showed her a young man lying on the floor with a wound +in his breast, and covered with blood. "But how will you do it?" she +asked. "Never mind," he replied, "leave that to me." He took something +up and leaned over the man. She turned aside and heard a horrible +gurgling sound. Then all was over. "Now," he said, "we must get rid of +the body. I want you to send for So-and-so's cart, and tell him I wish +to drive it." The cart came. "You must help me to make the body into a +parcel," he said to his wife; "give me plenty of brown paper." They +made it into a parcel, and with terrible difficulty and effort the +wife assisted her husband to get the body down stairs and lift it into +the cart. At every stage, however, she presented to him the +difficulties of the situation. But he carelessly answered all +objections, said he would take the body up to the moor, among the +stones, remove the brown paper, and people would think the murdered +man had killed himself. He drove off and soon returned with the empty +cart. "What's this blood in my cart?" asked the man to whom it +belonged, looking inside. "Oh, that's only paint," replied the +husband. But the dreamer had all along been full of apprehension lest +the deed should be discovered, and the last thing she could recall, +before waking in terror, was looking out of the window at a large +crowd which surrounded the house with shouts of "Murder!" and threats. + +This tragedy, with its almost Elizabethan air, was built up out of a +few commonplace impressions received during the previous day, none of +which impressions contained any suggestion of murder. The tragic +element appears to have been altogether due to the psychic influences +of indigestion arising from a supper of pheasant. To account for our +oppression during sleep, sleeping consciousness assumes moral causes +which alone appear to it of sufficient gravity to be the adequate +cause of the immense emotions we are experiencing. Even in our waking +and fully conscious states we are inclined to give the preference to +moral over physical causes, quite irrespective of the justice of our +preferences; in our sleeping states this tendency is exaggerated, and +the reign of purely moral causes is not disturbed by even a suggestion +of mere physical causation. + +There is certainly no profounder emotional excitement during sleep +than that which arises from a disturbed or distended stomach, and is +reflected by the pneumogastric to the accelerated heart and the +impeded respiration.[4] We are thereby thrown into a state of +uninhibited emotional agitation, a state of agony and terror such as +we rarely or never attain during waking life. Sleeping consciousness, +blindfolded and blundering, a prey to these massive waves from below, +and fumbling about desperately for some explanation, jumps at the idea +that only the attempt to escape some terrible danger or the guilty +consciousness of some awful crime can account for this immense +emotional uproar. Thus the dream is suffused by a conviction which the +continued emotion serves to support. We do not--it seems most simple +and reasonable to conclude--experience terror because we think we have +committed a crime, but we think we have committed a crime because we +experience terror. And the fact that in such dreams we are far more +concerned with escape from the results of crime than with any agony of +remorse is not, as some have thought, due to our innate indifference +to crime, but simply to the fact that our emotional state suggests to +us active escape from danger rather than the more passive grief of +remorse. Thus our dreams bear witness to the fact that our +intelligence is often but a tool in the hands of our emotions.[5] + +I have had frequent occasion to refer to the objectivation of +subjective sensations as a phenomenon of dreaming. It is, indeed, so +frequent and so important a phenomenon that it needs some further +reference. In hysteria (which by some of the most recent authorities, +like Sollier, is regarded as a species of somnambulism), in +"demon-possession," and many other abnormal phenomena it is well known +that there is, as it were, a doubling of personality; the _ego_ is +split up into two or more parts, each of which may act as a separate +personality. The literature of morbid psychology is full of +extraordinary and varied cases exhibiting this splitting up of +personality. But it is usually forgotten that in dreams the doubling +of personality is a normal and constant phenomenon in all healthy +people. In dreaming we can divide our body between ourselves and +another person. Thus a medical friend dreamed that in conversation +with a lady patient he found his hand resting on her knee and was +unable to remove it; awakening in horror from this unprofessional +situation he found his own hand firmly clasped between his knees; the +hand had remained his own, the knee had become another person's, the +hand being claimed, rather than the knee, on account of its greater +tactile sensibility. Again, we sometimes objectify our own physical +discomforts felt during sleep in the emotions of some other person, or +even in some external situations. And, possibly, every dream in which +there is any dramatic element is an instance of the same splitting up +of personality; in our dreams we may experience shame or confusion +from the rebuke or the arguments of other persons, but the persons who +administer the rebuke or apply the argument are still ourselves. + +When we consider that this dream process, with its perpetual +dramatization of our own personality, has been going on as long as man +has been man--and probably much longer, for it is evident that animals +dream--it is impossible to overestimate its immense influence on human +belief. Men's primitive conceptions of religion, of morals, of many of +the mightiest phenomena of life, especially the more exceptional +phenomena, have certainly been influenced by this constant dream +experience. It is the universal primitive explanation of abnormal +psychic and even physical phenomena that some other person or spirit +is working within the subject of the abnormal experience. Certainly +dreaming is not the sole source of such conceptions, but they could +scarcely have been found convincing, and possibly could not ever have +arisen, among races who were wholly devoid of dream experiences. A +large part of all progress in psychological knowledge, and, indeed, a +large part of civilization itself, lies in realizing that the +apparently objective is really subjective, that the angels and demons +and geniuses of all sorts that seemed at first to take possession of +the feeble and vacant individuality are themselves but modes of action +of marvelously rich and varied personalities. But in our dreams we are +brought back into the magic circle of early culture, and we shrink and +shudder in the presence of imaginative phantoms that are built up of +our own thoughts and emotions, and are really our own flesh. + +There is one other general characteristic of dreams that is worth +noting, because its significance is not usually recognized. In dreams +we are always reasoning. It is sometimes imagined that reason is in +abeyance during sleep. So far from this being the case, we may almost +be said to reason much more during sleep than when we are awake. That +our reasoning is bad, even preposterous, that it constantly ignores +the most elementary facts of waking life, scarcely affects the +question. All dreaming is a process of reasoning. That artful +confusion of ideas and images which at the outset I referred to as the +most constant feature of dream mechanism is nothing but a process of +reasoning, a perpetual effort to argue out harmoniously the absurdly +limited and incongruous data present to sleeping consciousness. Binet, +grounding his conclusions on hypnotic experiments, has very justly +determined that reasoning is the fundamental part of all thinking, the +very texture of thought. It is founded on perception itself, which +already contains all the elements of the ancient syllogism. For in all +perception, as he shows, there is a succession of three images, of +which the first fuses with the second, which in its turn suggests the +third. Now this establishment of new associations, this construction +of images, which, as we may easily convince ourselves, is precisely +what takes place in dreaming, is reasoning itself. + +Reasoning is a synthesis of images suggested by resemblance and +contiguity, indeed a sort of logical vision, more intense even than +actual vision, since it produces hallucinations. To reasoning all +forms of mental activity may finally be reduced; mind, as Wundt has +said, is a thing that reasons. When we apply these general statements +to dreaming, we may see that the whole phenomenon of dreaming is +really the same process of image-formation, based on resemblance and +contiguity, which is at the basis of reasoning. Every dream is the +outcome of this strenuous, wide-ranging instinct to reason. The +supposed "imaginative faculty," regarded as so highly active during +sleep, is simply the inevitable play of this automatic logic. The +characteristic of the reasoning of dreams is that it is unusually bad, +and this badness is due chiefly to the absence of memory elements that +would be present to waking consciousness, and to the absence of +sensory elements to check the false reasoning which without them +appears to us conclusive. That is to say--to fall back on the +excellent generalization which Parish has elaborately applied to all +forms of hallucination--there is a process of dissociation by which +ordinary channels of association are temporarily blocked and the +conditions prepared for the formation of the hallucination. It is, as +Parish has argued, in sleep and in those sleep-resembling states +called hypnagogic that a condition of dissociation leading to +hallucination is most apt to occur. + +The following dream illustrates the part played by dissociation: A +lady dreamed that an acquaintance wished to send a small sum of money +to a person in Ireland. She rashly offered to take it over to Ireland. +On arriving home she began to repent of her promise, as the weather +was extremely wild and cold. She began, however, to make preparations +for dressing warmly, and went to consult an Irish friend, who said she +would have to be floated over to Ireland tightly jammed in a crab +basket. On returning home she fully discussed the matter with her +husband, who thought it would be folly to undertake such a journey, +and she finally relinquished it, with great relief. In this dream--the +elements of which could all be accounted for--the association between +sending money and postal orders which would at once occur to waking +consciousness was closed; consciousness was a prey to such suggestions +as reached it, but on the basis of these suggestions it reasoned and +concluded quite sagaciously. The phenomena of dreaming furnish a +delightful illustration of the fact that reasoning, in its rough form, +is only the crudest and most elementary form of intellectual +operation, and that the finer forms of thinking only become possible +when we hold in check this tendency to reason. "All the thinking in +the world," as Goethe puts it, "will not lead us to thought." + +It is in such characteristics as these--at once primitive, childlike, +and insane--that we may find the charm of dreaming. In our sleeping +emotional life we are much more like ourselves than we are in our +sleeping intellectual life. It is a mistake to imagine that our moral +and æsthetic instincts are abolished in dreams; they are often +weakened, but by no means abolished. Such a result is natural when we +remember that our emotions and instincts are both more primitive and +less under the dominion of the external senses than are our ideas. Yet +in both respects we are removed a stage backward in our dreams. +The emotional intensity, the absurd logic, the tendency to +personification--nearly all the points I have referred to as +characterizing our dreams--are the characteristics of the child, the +savage, and the madman. Time and space are annihilated, gravity is +suspended, and we are joyfully borne up in the air, as it were, in the +arms of angels; we are brought into a deeper communion with Nature, +and in his dreams a man will listen to the arguments of his dog with +as little surprise as Balaam heard the reproaches of his ass. The +unexpected limitations of our dream world, the exclusion of so many +elements which are present even unconsciously in waking life, imparts +a splendid freedom and ease to the intellectual operations of the +sleeping mind, and an extravagant romance, a poignant tragedy, to our +emotions. "He has never known happiness," said Lamb, speaking out of +his own experience, "who has never been mad." And there are many who +taste in dreams a happiness they never know when awake. In the waking +moments of our complex civilized life we are ever in a state of +suspense which makes all great conclusions impossible; the +multiplicity of the facts of life, always present to consciousness, +restrains the free play of logic (except for that happy dreamer, the +mathematician) and surrounds most of our pains and nearly all our +pleasures with infinite qualifications; we are tied down to a sober +tameness. In our dreams the fetters of civilization are loosened, and +we know the fearful joy of freedom. + +At the same time it is these characteristics which make dreams a fit +subject of serious study. It was not until the present century that +the psychological importance of the study of insanity was recognized. +So recent is the study of savage mind that the workers who have laid +its foundation are yet all living. The systematic investigation of +children only began yesterday. To-day our dreams begin to seem to us +an allied subject of study, inasmuch as they reveal within ourselves a +means of entering sympathetically into ideas and emotional attitudes +belonging to narrow or ill-adjusted states of consciousness which +otherwise we are now unable to experience. And they have this further +value, that they show us how many abnormal phenomena--possession, +double consciousness, unconscious memory, and so forth--which have +often led the ignorant and unwary to many strange conclusions, really +have a simple explanation in the healthy normal experience of all of +us during sleep. Here, also, it is true that we ourselves and our +beliefs are to some extent "such stuff as dreams are made of." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] On Dreaming of the Dead. Psychological Review, September, 1895. In +this paper I reported several cases showing the nature and evolution +of dreams concerning dead friends. I have since received evidence from +various friends and correspondents, scientific and unscientific, of +both sexes, confirming my belief in a frequency of this type of dream. +Professor Binet (L'Année Psychologique, 1896) has also furnished a +case in support of my view, and is seeking for further evidence. + +[2] In Japan stories of the returning of the dead are very common. +Lafcadio Hearn gives one as told by a Japanese which closely resembles +the type of dream I am discussing. "A lover resolves to commit suicide +on the grave of his sweetheart. He found her tomb and knelt before it +and prayed and wept, and whispered to her that which he was about to +do. And suddenly he heard her voice cry to him 'Anata!' and felt her +hand upon his hand; and he turned and saw her kneeling beside him, +smiling and beautiful as he remembered her, only a little pale. Then +his heart leaped so that he could not speak for the wonder and the +doubt and the joy of that moment. But she said: 'Do not doubt; it is +really I. I am not dead. It was all a mistake. I was buried because my +parents thought me dead--buried too soon. Yet you see I am not dead, +not a ghost. It is I; do not doubt it!'" + +[3] Many saints (Saint Ida, of Louvain, for example) claimed the power +of rising into the air, and one asks one's self whether this faith may +not be based on dream experiences mistranslated by a disordered brain. +M. Raffaelli, the eminent French painter, who is subject to these +sleeping experiences of floating on the air, confesses that they are +so convincing that he has jumped out of bed on awaking and attempted +to repeat the experience. "I need not tell you," he adds, "that I have +never been able to succeed." + +[4] Other pains and discomforts--toothache, for instance--may, +however, give rise to dreams of murder. + +[5] It may be added that they also present evidence--to which +attention has not, I believe, been previously called--in support of +the James-Lange or physiological theory of emotion, according to which +the element of bodily change in emotion is the cause and not the +result of the emotion. + + * * * * * + + The harmonious and equitable evolution of man, says President + Dabney, of the University of Tennessee, "does not mean that every + man must be educated just like his fellow. The harmony is within + each individual. That community is most highly educated in which + each individual has attained the maximum of his possibilities in + the direction of his peculiar talents and opportunities." + + + + +THE BEST METHODS OF TAXATION. + +BY THE LATE HON. DAVID A. WELLS. + + +PART I. + +This historical survey of tax experience among peoples widely +differing in their economic condition and social relations, and this +examination of the scope and practice of taxation, with especial +reference to the tax systems of the United States as defined and +interpreted by judicial authority, prepare the way for a discussion of +the best methods of taxation for a country situated as is the United +States. General as are the theoretical principles underlying taxation, +the application of these principles to existing conditions must be +modified to meet the long usage and inherited prejudice of the people, +and the form of production or manner of distributing wealth. This +holds true in the face of appearances so opposed to it as to defy +definition and acceptance. No less promising field for an income tax +can be pictured than British India, and few more promising fields than +France. Yet India has borne such a tax for years, while France will +not permit a true tax on income to be adopted as a part of its revenue +system. In the latter country the plea is made that the upper and +middle classes already pay under other forms of taxation more than +their due proportion of the public burdens, and an additional and +necessarily discriminating duty laid upon them will only make this +inequality the greater. Class interest may thus oppose its veto to a +change that promises to reduce the burdens of one class of taxpayers +at the expense of another; or may even oppose a change that offers the +chance of collecting a larger revenue with less real difficulty and +sacrifice on the part of the taxed. No opposition can set aside even +temporarily the great rules that clearly define a tax from tribute, a +legal and beneficial taking by the state of a certain part of the +public wealth from a demand that involves waste or mischievous +expenditure, for which the state or people derive no advantage +commensurate with the cost, or from which individuals obtain a gain +not defensible in justice, and at the expense of only one part of the +community. + +After so many centuries of experiment, in which hardly a possible +source of state revenue has escaped attention, some knowledge of the +great principles of taxation might have been evolved. Unfortunately, +the experience of one nation is not accepted as containing lessons +applicable to the needs or conditions of another, and one generation +rarely appeals to history save to defend its own experiments. +Ignorance, half knowledge, which is quite as dangerous, and interest +guide or influence legislation, and those who predict failure or +danger are regarded as theorists, and denounced as unpractical. +Nowhere is the tendency to move independent of enlightened knowledge +more evident than in the United States. At every appearance of the tax +question, State and national legislatures are overwhelmed with +measures that have been tried in the past, and after a thorough test +condemned beyond any hope of defense. + +Yet history shows the gradual disappearance of certain forms of +taxation which enjoyed great popularity for a time, and accomplished +the end of their creation in a crude and often cruel manner. Looking +over long periods of time, it is seen that some advances have been +made, rather from a change in the economic condition of the people +than from a true appreciation of the principles in question. The +development of popular liberty has been an essential factor, and the +alterations in tax methods require a close analysis of the causes +leading to the rise and dominance of political and constitutional +principle. While it is true that a popular uprising against fiscal +exactions usually marked the limit of endurance of an oppressive +system, it is also true that the same uprisings marked the completion +of one stage of political development, and the readiness or even the +need of entering upon a new stage. In one sense the progress of a +people toward civilization in its highest meaning may be illustrated +by its fiscal machinery and methods of obtaining its revenue from the +people. It will be of interest to glance at some of these passing +phases which have generally come down to a late day, and are still to +be found in activity in some of the most advanced states of Europe. + +The practice of farming out the revenues of a state or any part of it +has become nearly obsolete, and where it does exist is the mark of a +fiscal machinery as yet not fully developed. The opportunities and +temptation which the contract system offered for oppressing the +taxpayers were apparent long before the state was in a position to +assert its ability to make its own collections. In France the +_fermiers généraux_ were a political factor, standing between the king +and his people, regarded as necessary to the former and as oppressors +of the latter. Their unpopularity, in part justified by their conduct, +was a not unimportant item in the arraignment of royalty by the +people. Wherever introduced, the farming of taxes proved in the long +run as unwise politically as it was unprofitable financially; and the +only reasonable defense for adopting it was the want of strength in +the state to command its own revenue--a want as likely to arise from +the dishonesty of its agents as from a political weakness. In early +times the most universal manner of supplying the treasury of the +state, the farming of taxes has become so rare as to be classed as a +curiosity. Italy still employs this machinery to collect her taxes on +tobacco, and Spain from necessity has mortgaged her taxes to the +bank, with the task of collecting them. + +Of the same general character are the state lotteries, of which some +few and quite important instances may still be found in action. Of the +immorality of these instruments there can be little doubt, and there +is quite as unanimous an opinion as to their inefficiency as fiscal +instruments. Yet it is only within very recent years that state +lotteries have been discarded even in the most advanced countries. The +machinery of lotteries has often been modified, but, no matter how +altered in details, they all have appealed to the love of games of +chance. Adam Smith asserted that the "absurd presumption" of men in +their own good fortune is even more universal than the overweening +conceit which the greater part of men have in their own abilities.[6] +Yet another assertion of the same writer is as true: "The world +neither ever saw, nor ever will see, a perfectly fair lottery, or one +in which the whole gain compensated the whole loss." Where the state +undertakes it, there is a profit generally assured to the state, but +that profit is by no means certain, and can not make good the +demoralization introduced among the people. State lotteries are still +a part of the revenue system in Italy and Austria (proper), where the +receipts are important, but show a decided tendency to diminish; +Hungary and Denmark, where they are of little moment; and in Spain, +where they are retained because of the general incapacity of the +administration to reach other and more profitable sources of revenue. +The experience of the State of Louisiana in connection with a State +lottery is too recent to require examination. It is not probable that +once abandoned such an instrument for obtaining money from the people +will be revived, save as a last resort. + +The state monopoly in the manufacture and sale of an article for +fiscal purposes holds a place in European countries of high +importance, and is met elsewhere under conditions not so favorable to +its maintenance. As an example of the latter may be cited the colonial +policy of the Dutch in their possessions in the East. After the +termination of the trading companies, the Government undertook the +entire control of the colonies, and sought to make them a source of +revenue. The natives were to be taxed, but, having little of their own +to be taxed, and practicing no occupation that could of its own +volition become a profitable source of revenue, the state undertook to +organize industry, and, by creating an opportunity for employing the +labor of the natives, to receive the profits of production for its own +uses. The native chiefs were made "masters of industry" and collectors +of the revenue; and a certain part of the labor of the natives, one +day in every five, was decreed to the state. In order to derive a +profit, this labor must be bestowed in cultivating some product as +find a market in international trade. Hence arose the importance of +the sugar, coffee, tobacco, and spice crops of these Dutch islands, +and for many years a handsome profit to the treasury was obtained from +the management and sales of product. With the great fall in prices of +sugar and coffee throughout the world, and the narrowing of the market +for cane sugar, the Government obtained a less income each year, and +has found it of advantage to relax the conditions surrounding +cultivation, and to throw the management of the plantations more and +more into private hands. To such an extent has this transition been +effected that the state can no longer be considered as controlling a +monopoly in product or sales, and is content with a revenue from other +sources, one that does not even cover the expenses incurred in the +colonial system. This experiment differs widely from those industries +undertaken with the aid or encouragement of the state to be found in +India. It was not with a fiscal object that they were established, and +not infrequently the state sacrifices revenue by releasing them from +tax burdens they would ordinarily endure. As one of the few remaining +instances of the direct participation of a state in the production of +products intended for foreign markets, yet undertaken and maintained +for fiscal reasons, the history of the Dutch colonies in the East is +instructive. + +In Prussia the working of certain mines is in the hands of the state, +and was originally looked upon as an important contribution to the +income of the state. As in the Dutch experience, the changes in +production throughout the world have greatly reduced the returns and +made the income variable; yet there is little disposition to dispose +of these possessions. "The danger of mineral supplies being worked in +a reckless and extravagant manner without regard to the welfare of +future generations, and the dread of combinations by the producers of +such commodities as tin, copper, and salt, with the aim of raising +prices, have both tended to hinder the alienation of state mines."[7] + +The more common form of state monopoly is that which occupies a middle +position, established for reasons of public safety or utility as well +as of revenue. The salt monopoly enforced in Prussia was only +abolished in 1867, and is still maintained in every canton of +Switzerland. The strongest plea in its defense has been the guarantee +by the state of the purity of the article sold, and this phase of the +question has superseded the revenue aspect. Few articles of prime +necessity, like salt, are subject to monopolies imposed by the state, +and by a process of elimination it is only articles of luxury or +voluntary consumption that are regarded as fit objects of monopoly for +the benefit of the state. + +A tax imposed upon an article at a certain stage of its production or +manufacture may enforce the expediency or necessity of a state +monopoly. Where the supervision of the state agents must be so close +as to interfere with the conduct of the industry, the state intervenes +and itself controls the manufacture and sale. Tobacco has long been +subject to this fiscal _régime_, and, proving so productive of +revenue, there is little to be said against a monopoly by the state of +its manufacture and sale. + +In Italy the tobacco monopoly is conceded to a company, but its return +of net revenue to the state is nearly as large as the revenue derived +from the taxes on real property (about thirty-eight million dollars a +year). Prussia imposes a charge on the home-grown tobacco by a tax on +the land devoted to its culture, but the return is very small, and +Bismarck wished to introduce a true tobacco monopoly, modeled on that +of France. But the conditions were opposed to his scheme, for the use +of tobacco is general throughout the empire, and a proposition to +increase its price by taxation or modify its free manufacture and +distribution excited a widespread opposition. France maintains a full +monopoly, and finds it too profitable to be lightly set aside unless +some equally profitable source of revenue is discovered to make good +the loss its abolition would involve. + +While historical support is given to the maintenance of a monopoly as +in France, it is not probable that the system will find imitators in +other states, however tempting the returns obtained might seem. Great +Britain has by her insular position solved the problem in another way. +By interdicting the domestic cultivation of tobacco, all that is +consumed must be imported, and a customs duty offers a ready +instrument for making the plant, in whatever form it enters, +contribute its dues to the exchequer. In Russia, as in the United +States, where tobacco is a domestic product, the tax is imposed upon +its manufacture, and this method requires supervision but no monopoly +of the state. + +The tobacco _régime_ is defended almost entirely on fiscal grounds, +and as a monopoly, an extreme measure, has proved its value as an +instrument of taxation. Other reasons, of a moral character, are urged +to induce the state to monopolize the manufacture and sale of +distilled spirits. Both France and Germany have considered this +question, and, in spite of confident predictions of a large profit, +have decided not to undertake it. Russia, on the other hand, has taken +it up quite as much on social as on revenue grounds, and is gradually +securing a monopoly of the trade in spirits. The initial cost of the +undertaking is large, and, as the system has not yet been perfected, +it is too early to give a judgment on its availability as a financial +instrument. + +The transit dues, once commonly used by different countries, have been +generally abandoned, and in China must they be sought for in their +original forms of vexatious and unprofitable force. They arose from a +desire to derive some benefit from a commerce permitted grudgingly, +and rarely attaining any high results. The same end was sought by +duties on exports, much employed when the country was supposed to be +drained of its wealth by what was sent out of it. The conditions +necessary for a successful duty on exports are not often found, and +only in a few countries are they now existent. In Italy, South +America, and Asia, exports of certain natural products are taxed, and, +as in the case of Brazil, yield a notable revenue. In view of the +rapid advancement of production in new countries and of inventions in +the old, whereby many natural monopolies have been destroyed and +competition made more general, such duties prove to be more +obstructive to trade than productive of revenue, and are rapidly being +abandoned. In spite of a formal prohibition of export duties in the +Constitution of the United States, they are sometimes suggested in all +seriousness. + +In thus clearing the path of what may be called dead or dying methods +of recent tax systems, the advantages enjoyed by the United States in +their freedom from such survivals become more evident. The practice of +farming taxes never gained a foothold in any part of the country. +Lotteries have been occasional, and with two exceptions have been +conducted on a limited scale--that of Louisiana is well known; an +earlier instance is less known. During the Revolution one of the means +resorted to by the Continental Congress for income was a lottery, but +the attempt proved disastrous to all concerned, and was finally +abandoned even more thoroughly than was the continental currency. +State monopolies of production and sale of any commodity have never +met with favor, and stand condemned in the desire for individual +initiative. As sources of revenue, the public lands, state control of +the post office, and of such municipal undertakings as the water and, +in a very few cases, the gas supply, has been employed, and in place +of profit the mere cost of management is sought. More than any country +of continental Europe, the United States has depended upon taxes, pure +and simple, unsupported or modified by state domains, state mines, +state manufactures, or state monopolies. Even Great Britain in her +local taxation is bound and hampered by precedent, and pursues a +system that is notoriously confused, costly, and vexatious. Long usage +and the erection of independent and conflicting authorities on +principles other than fiscal have imposed upon the local agents the +duty of assessing and collecting county and borough taxes which are as +indefensible in theory as they are difficult in practice. + +From this weight of tradition and precedent the United States has been +almost entirely free, and it was possible to construct out of small +beginnings systems of Federal and State taxation at least reasonable +and consistent, producing an increasing revenue with the rapid +development of wealth and the larger number of taxable objects; and so +elastic as to adapt themselves to such changes as are inevitable in +any progressive movement of commerce or industry. That no such system +has resulted after a century of national life, and an even longer term +of local (colonial and State) activities, these papers have tended to +show. That the time is at hand when the problem of a thorough reform +of both State and Federal taxation must be met, current facts prove +beyond any doubt. If I have aided in a proper comprehension of these +problems, and, by collecting certain experiences in taxation among +other peoples and in different stages of civilization, contributed +toward a proper solution, the end of this work will have been +attained. It is not possible to introduce a complete change of policy +at once; it is not only feasible but necessary to indicate the +direction this change should take, and the ends to be secured in +making them. And first as to Federal taxation: + +In a democracy like that of the United States, the continuance of a +mixed system of direct and indirect taxes is a foregone conclusion. +Not that there is an absence of change or modification in the details +of this double system, or in the application or distribution of a +particular impost or duty. To deny such modification is to deny any +movement in the body politic, or any progress in the industrial and +commercial economy of the people. There is a steady and continuous +movement in every direction, and the mere effort to escape taxation +results in a new adjustment of related facts. This development has, +partly through necessity and partly through a rising consciousness of +what a tax implies, been tending from indirect to direct taxes. Ever +restive under a rigid supervision by the state of private concerns, +there has been a wholesome opposition to inquisitorial taxes. But this +opposition has been carried too far, and is due more to the ignorant +and at times brutal disregard by the agents selected for enforcing the +law than to an appreciation of the injustice of the tax. Whether in +customs or excise, the same blunders of management have been +committed, and created a spirit in the people that is injurious to +their best interests. On the one hand, private enterprises have been +unduly favored by the removal of foreign competition, a favor that is +now disappearing through the remarkable development of domestic +competition. Thus taxes have been extensively used for other purposes +than to obtain revenue, and for private ends. On the other hand, there +has been created the feeling that taxation is a proper instrument for +effecting a more equal distribution of wealth among the people, and +readily becomes an instrument of oppression. + +The almost absolute dependence of the Federal Government upon the +customs duties for revenue through a great part of its existence was a +striking fact. The simplicity of collection and the comparatively +moderate scale of duties, although considered high at the time of +imposition, gave this branch of the possible sources of revenue a +magnified importance. The development of the country was slow, and at +times greatly hampered by the tariff policy; but until about 1857 no +other source of income was needed to meet the expenditures of the +Government in a time of peace. + +In recent years this has all changed, and not for the better. The +immense development in manufactures and financial ability accomplished +since 1860 has made a tariff for protection an anachronism. The +political features of customs legislation have been pushed so far as +almost to overshadow the fiscal qualities. The wave of protectionism +that followed the abrogation of the commercial treaties of Europe +about 1880 has resulted in tariffs framed with the desire to injure +the commerce of other states rather than to meet the needs of a +treasury. In the United States this policy has been carried beyond +that of Europe, and the tariff now in existence is more protective +than any hitherto enforced, short of absolute prohibition of imports. + +In more respects than one the tariff law of 1897 was an extreme +application of the protective policy. Each year the United States has +demonstrated its ability not only to meet the industrial competition +of the world on an equal footing, but to engage with it aggressively +and with complete success. It is not necessary to give the figures of +exports of manufactures to establish this fact; it is now beyond +question. To frame a measure of extreme protection was, therefore, to +overlook the most striking phase of the industrial situation existing +in the United States. With an ability to manufacture cheaply and on a +grand scale, and with a capacity to supply the demands of a market +larger than any home market, there was no foreign competition to +encounter, and the higher rates of duties meant nothing, either for +protection or for revenue. In carrying further into action a tariff +framed more for protection than for revenue, a twofold error was +committed. The provisions were so complicated as to make the +application difficult, and in applying these provisions inquisitorial +and vexatious regulations were necessary to assure even a reasonable +fulfillment of the requirements. In former tariff laws a general +description carried a large class of articles, and a uniform duty, +usually _ad valorem_, was collected. But under the demand for a more +scientific tariff, these general classes were broken up into a number +of enumerated articles, each one carrying a specific or mixed duty, +and an omnium or basket clause at the end to catch any article that +could not be included in any enumeration. This desire to fix specific +rates upon each imported commodity has been applied more generally in +the law of 1897 than in any previous tariff act. An examination of the +imports of manufactures of textile fibers will illustrate this +increase of complexity without any increase of revenue. Indeed, these +classifications and rates, being suggested by interested parties, have +for their object a reduction of imports, and as a rule a reduction in +revenue from them follows. + +The second objection to the increasing complexity of the tariff laws +is to be found in the petty annoyances imposed upon importers and +others in enforcing the not always consistent provisions of the law. +These vexations are made all the more telling by the fact that the +administration of the law is apt to be in the hands of those who are +openly hostile to foreign importations, and therefore regard the +importer in an unfriendly spirit. The power given to the customs +agents is enormous, and it is not remarkable that it is abused. The +demand for samples, the appraisement of articles, the classification +of new or compound commodities, all offer room for controversy, which +is not always decided by an appeal to the courts of justice. In +special instances, where a section of the law has been framed in +behalf of a special interest, the attempt to enforce it becomes petty +tyranny of the most intolerable kind. + +In operation the law soon exhibited its failure as a revenue measure. +Although duties were generally increased, the more important articles +taxed yielded a smaller revenue than under lower rates. The aggregate +collections under the bill did not meet the expectations of its +sponsors, and for two reasons: first, because the higher duties +discouraged imports; and secondly, the demand for imported articles +was steadily decreasing under the expanding ability of home +manufactures to meet the needs of the market. No measure short of a +direct encouragement to importations can change this situation, or +prevent the further shrinkage in the use of foreign manufactures. It +follows that the tariff, unless radically altered, can no longer be +depended on for a return sufficient to defray one half of the rapidly +increasing expenditures of the national Government. By refusing to +impose moderate duties on articles of general consumption, revenue is +sacrificed; by insisting upon imposing protective duties where little +revenue can be had, the tariff is converted into a political weapon. +Its dangerous qualities are strengthened by turning these duties +against the products of certain countries, a policy specially fit to +invite reprisals. + +Even the framers of this latest tariff entertained the belief that +some provision should be made for breaking its full effect. The +familiar scheme for reciprocity treaties, under which moderate +concessions in some of the duties could be made, was retained; but +France was the only power that could have an object in seriously +entertaining the proposition to enter into a negotiation. No real +reduction in duties could be given to Germany or any other country, +and it has become a recognized fact that Germany does not hesitate to +seize an opportunity to exclude the products of the United States, and +on the same grounds as support the high duties in the American tariff. +The system of drawbacks has ceased to be of much moment in our customs +policy, and in the export interest in canned goods finds its chief +exercise. Nor does a privilege to manufacture in bond affect more than +one article of importance--ores of lead containing silver. No matter +how it is regarded, the tariff of 1897 was not framed for revenue, and +in experience has not proved sufficiently productive to meet its share +of the expenditures of Government. The animus of its sponsors in +attaining the immediate political object sacrificed the more important +and permanent object of revenue. + +Were the true object of customs duties--revenue--to be kept in view in +tariff legislation, it would be a simple matter to devise a measure +that would be satisfactory and highly productive of revenue. In the +fifteen hundred or more articles enumerated in the tariff schedules, +more than fourteen hundred are nonproductive, or yield so small a +return as to have in the aggregate no appreciable effect on the total +receipts. The number left after so large an exclusion can be still +further reduced without reducing the revenue one tenth; and it is from +a small number of articles, hardly twenty-five, that the great part of +the customs revenue is obtained. By reducing the rates of duties on +these to a point of highest revenue efficiency, at which the import is +not interfered with and yet not encouraged, a higher return could be +had than from the existing complicated, overloaded, and political +compilation of duties, usually imposed for any reason other than what +they will bring into the treasury. + +When, therefore, the best methods of Federal taxation are broached, +the reform of the tariff stands first in importance. It is necessary +to bring it more into line with the industrial conditions of to-day, +which call for foreign markets rather than a domestic or closed +market; and for a liberal commercial policy in place of one that +regards the products of other countries, whether imported in the crude +or manufactured forms, as constituting a menace to American labor and +American interests. It calls for a systematic and intelligent +revision, which shall throw out such duties as are no longer of +service even for protection, and to reduce those that are hostile to +the products of other countries and bear in themselves the seeds of +reprisals in the future. Now that the United States is going into the +great markets with its manufactures, and obtaining a foothold against +all competitors, the invitation to retaliation holds a danger far +greater to its own interests than any that can be inflicted on other +peoples. The greater the advances made the more readily will recourse +be had to reprisals and hostile legislation; and in support of every +act appeal may be had to examples set by the United States.[8] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] Wealth of Nations, vol. i, p. 112 (Rogers's edition). + +[7] Bastable. Public Finance, p. 181. + +[8] "The old protectionist, with the stock arguments about the +influence of the tariff upon wages and all the rest of it, is +beginning to die out. He told us all he had to say about the 'pauper +labor' of Europe, by which he often meant the best educated and most +skillful artisans of the world. We got tired of hearing about how the +importer paid the tax, how it was Europe and England in particular +that was all the time squeezing our lives out, till nearly all of us, +being of English ancestry ourselves, wondered whether we, even, could +be so good as we hoped we were, if we had sprung from something so +essentially perverted and bad. We were told, too, that American +tourists who went to Europe and spent money there which they ought to +have squandered at home were not friends of their country, and that +they did us a particularly hostile act when they brought clothing, +statuary, or diamond rings back with them from foreign parts. A season +of high prices was a real heaven, and wars and fires were good things +because they destroyed property that would have to be replaced, and +this would create that demand which, reacting on supply, would +increase prices. To say that an article was cheap was to say that the +political party in power was no longer worthy of public confidence. It +was related that each government could make its people so rich, and +the idea was thought to have been traced down from Henry C. Carey, +that the rest of the world could be safely disregarded altogether. + +"Seriously, who believes any of this stuff nowadays? The protectionist +is not reckoning with such popular impotency and stupidity. He +believes in his fellow-man, and wants to give him a helping hand. He +does not care what effect it has on England or Ireland. He is not sure +that a protective tariff in and of itself will increase the wages of +the workmen. He is even inclined to think that less wages and profits +would do well enough for every man, if it were cheaper to live and +there were not such extravagant demands upon every person from all +sides--this without being a socialist. He is certain that 'a cheap +coat' does not necessarily make 'a cheap man,' but the cheaper the +coat the better it will be for the wearer. That is what we are all +trying to do, improve our processes, increase our effective working +power, which means, if you please, to make things cheaper."--_The +Manufacturer_ (organ of the Manufacturers' Club of Philadelphia). + + + + +MENTAL DEFECTIVES AND THE SOCIAL WELFARE. + +BY MARTIN W. BARR, M. D., + +CHIEF PHYSICIAN, PENNSYLVANIA TRAINING SCHOOL FOR FEEBLE-MINDED +CHILDREN, ELWYN, PA. + + +Periods of extraordinary efflorescence or fruitage are followed by +exhaustion and sterility not infrequently demanding the free use of +the pruning knife; and, just as we remark how frequent is idiocy the +offspring of genius, so do we find the same seeming paradox, of mental +defect in rank and increasing growth the product of this most +wonderful nineteenth century. + +True, science has contributed to numbers by revealing as mental +defectives the many "misunderstood," "the backward," "the feebly +gifted," as well as by showing what was once esteemed moral perversion +to be moral imbecility; but a truth to which science also attests is, +that unstable nerve centers uniting and reacting through successive +generations, producing various forms of neuroses, evidenced in +insanity, moral and mental imbecility, idiocy and epilepsy, do show +the influence of a highly nervous age. + +Our last census reports, although necessarily uncertain and +unreliable, yet show ninety thousand mental defectives, not including +the insane. Unrecognized and unacknowledged cases swell the number +easily to one hundred thousand within our present borders--how many we +are going to annex remains to be seen; but this is an enemy that +attacks not our frontiers but our hearthstones. We have reached that +point when we must conquer it, lest it should conquer us, and the +means to this end may be summed up in three words--separation, +asexualization, and permanent sequestration. "Diseases desperate grown +by desperate appliances are relieved, or not at all," and we must +recognize that heroic measures now are as essential to the welfare of +the unfortunate as to society, which will then naturally adjust itself +to new conditions. Viewing the separation and massing of these +irresponsibles--innocent victims of ignorance, debauchery, or selfish +lust--men will come to realize that a greater crime than taking is the +giving of such life; and so a greater reverence for the sacredness of +marriage, a deeper sense of the great responsibilities of parenthood, +will do more to avert this evil than the most stringent marriage laws. +That the present demands some restraint upon the ignorant and the +indifferent there can be no doubt, and laws preventing the marriage of +defectives and of their immediate descendants would go far to stem the +tide of harmful heredity. + +But what to do with those now in our midst is the vital question! They +must be provided for in a way that shall insure safety to society, +economy to the State, and protection and happiness to the individual. +The answer found in the experience of half a century is, briefly, +asylums for the helpless--training schools and colonies for those +capable of becoming helpful. These in very name and nature being +widely separate, just as separate as titles and names indicate, should +be their working systems. Work among the feeble-minded, a +philanthropic movement directed first toward the idiot, soon found a +limit in dealing with a subject not trainable and but slightly if at +all improvable. Thence, diverging and broadening as idiocy became +better understood and imbecility in various phases became recognized, +it found its true province in strengthening and encouraging feeble +intellects, arousing and stimulating indolent and weak wills, and in +training and directing into healthful channels the abnormal energy of +those destitute of the moral sense. How wide the divergence can +readily be seen, as also how entirely incompatible with union must be +work further apart in reality than is the training of an imbecile and +a normal child. + +[Illustration: EXCITABLE IDIOT. Practically unimprovable. + +APATHETIC IDIOT. Practically unimprovable. + +IDIO-IMBECILE. But slight hope of improvement.] + +For the idiot, who not only can not be trained, but who in many cases +is unimprovable even in the simplest matters of self-help, nothing is +needed but that care and attention found in every well-regulated +nursery of delicate children, the _sine qua non_ being regular hours, +simple nourishing food, frequent baths, and tender mothering. As many +are paralyzed, blind, lame, or epileptic, it is desirable that the +dormitories, well ventilated, be on the same floor with the living +rooms and of easy access to bathrooms and playgrounds. Covered and +carefully guarded porches should afford the much-needed fresh air and +outdoor life in all weathers. These, with cheerful, sunny playrooms, +provided with simple toys and furnished with bright decorations +varying with the season, will contribute the maximum of pleasure for +this life of perpetual infancy. Low vitality, general poverty of the +whole physical make-up, the prevalence of phthisis and epilepsy and +kindred diseases require the daily inspection of a physician, while +the comfort and well-being of the whole, both workers and children, +are insured by a capable and sympathetic house mother. + +The character of attendants is of the first importance, as these are +they who live with the children; it should combine that firmness, +tenderness, and balance that constitute an even temperament, capable +of recognizing and meeting an occasion without loss of self-control. +The duties involve not only the care of the idiots, but the training +and direction of idio-imbeciles as aids, and this dealing with natures +often wholly animal, requires a certain refinement and dignity of +character--at least an entire absence of coarseness--while a knowledge +of the simpler manual arts, and if possible of drawing and music, will +do much to soften and brighten these darkened natures. As these +qualities are valuable as well as rare, the remuneration should be in +proportion; certainly sufficient to induce permanency and to +compensate for such isolation. A life of constant wear and tear +demands also regular periods of rest, and the corps therefore should +be sufficiently large to give relief hours daily as well as vacations. + +The idio-imbecile, but one remove from his weaker brother, to whose +wants he may be trained to minister, finds here his fitting place, and +the domestic service of these asylums may be largely drawn from this +class and also from that of the low-grade imbecile. Working as an aid, +never alone, always under direction, he finds in a monotonous round of +the simplest daily avocations his life happiness, his only safety from +lapsing into idiocy, and therefore his true home. + +The relief to the home, the actual benefit to the State in this +housing and care of the idiot and idio-imbecile can never be fully +estimated. It is reckoned, however, in a general way that for every +idiot sequestrated the energies of two if not four normal persons are +returned to society. + +Imbecility, mental or moral, congenital or accidental, is either an +inherent defect or an irrecoverable loss, an incurable disease for +which hospitals can do nothing, nor can reformatories form again that +which never has been formed. Could language be made clear enough to +enable the public mind to grasp this fact, the work of training +schools, the only hope of the imbecile, would then be simplified, and +people might be willing to accept what they can give, in the only way +in which it can be given, to be of any permanent value. As it is, the +few charlatans who profess to train and in a few years send out an +imbecile ready to take a high-school or college course not only +deceive those from whom they may gather a few thousands, but their +representations, coupled with that of a sensational press, effectually +impede the progress of a work which must eventually find its true +place in the system of public education. + +Influenced by these misrepresentations, parents come with profound +idiots and high hopes of a course of training (here is one of the +misfortunes of an idiot asylum within a training school), and simply +refuse to accept a negative to their expectations. Again--to waifs and +strays, high-grade imbeciles, developing after years of labored +training proficiency in music, drawing, or some one of the industrial +arts, friends will suddenly crop up and, dazzled by what seems +phenomenal genius, seek to withdraw them just as they become useful to +the community. Little do they know of the weak will, indolent nature, +and utter lack of "go," that forbid competition with normal labor and +must forever be subject to the will of another; still less of the weak +physical build that is kept intact only by watchful care, and which +would succumb to any undue hardship. So much for the difficulties that +beset the work. Now as to the work itself. + +As this must vary according to the status of the individual, a careful +study and a correct diagnosis are of primary importance in order that +the work may be fitted to the child, not the child to the work. The +plan pursued is as follows: A thorough examination--physical, mental, +and moral--is first made by the chief physician in connection with +papers properly filled out giving personal and family history. He is +then sent to the hospital for a fortnight to insure immunity from +disease. There, while perfectly free and unrestrained among his +fellows, he is under constant observation of the nurses; these +observations, carefully noted, are returned to the chief physician, +who turns both over to the principal of schools, designating the grade +in which he is to enter for probation. Here under different +environment he is again tested for some weeks and finally placed. + +[Illustration: HIGH-GRADE IMBECILE. + +HIGH-GRADE IMBECILE. Very improvable--can read, write, draw, etc. + +LOW-GRADE IMBECILE. Only slightly improvable.] + +It is hard for the uninitiated to understand that the grade, be it +high, middle, or low, is not associated with promotion and advancement +as in schools for normal children. On the contrary, it signifies the +quality and status of the individual, his limitations, his +possibilities, and consequently determines almost unfailingly the +training for his life work; not by any hard-and-fast lines, but by a +general mapping out of means which experience has proved will best +insure his development, because best suited to his needs. Every +latitude is allowed and, as the comfort of both the teacher and the +entire class depends upon each going to his own place, there is easy +and natural transference according to the necessity indicated by +either progress or retrogression; but the varied occupations in each +grade give ample scope for indulgence of individual proclivity in the +means of development, and it is found that the original diagnosis, +based upon experience, rarely errs. + +The motto of the schools--"We learn by doing; the working hand makes +strong the working brain"--shows manual training to be the basis of +the scheme of development, varied for each grade to suit the +intelligence. Thus classified, various occupations are arranged and +presented with the double intent of securing all-round development, +and of giving at the same time opportunity for choice according to +individual bent, the child being gradually permitted to devote himself +more exclusively to that in which he shows a tendency to excel, and to +gain a certain automatic ease in what shall prove the initial of a +life employment. A knowledge of writing and of numbers is acquired +incidentally as a necessary part of these occupations in daily +practice, and arithmetic, taught with objects, is chiefly counting, +separating into fractional parts, and practical measurements. Books +are used rather as a convenient means of attracting and holding +attention while inducing habits of consecutive thinking than for a +knowledge of facts to be memorized. Those who can learn to read gain +naturally a means of self-entertainment, of self-instruction, hence a +certain amount of culture, so long as protected in an institution from +indiscriminate and pernicious literature. + +The low-grade imbecile, but a slight degree removed from the +idio-imbecile, is, like him, totally incapable of grasping artificial +signs or symbols. He can therefore never learn to read or write; +figures have no meaning for him, nor numbers, beyond the very simplest +counting acquired in the daily repetition of some simple task such as +knitting, netting, braiding rope, straw, or knotting twine. The +excitation of interest in these, which will also give hand and arm +power, the arousing of the sluggish, indolent will, through the +stimulus of pleasurable emotions, the physical development by means of +the various drills and the moral influence of refined, orderly +surroundings--these, together with some practical work of house, +garden, or farm, which forms part of the daily routine, are all that +school life can do for him. + +[Illustration: MORAL IMBECILE OF HIGH GRADE. + +MORAL IMBECILE OF MIDDLE GRADE. + +MORAL IMBECILE, LOW GRADE.] + +From this preparation he passes to the industrial department, where he +receives training in that occupation which the school has indicated +for him, becoming in his limited way a useful and contented member of +a community which should be his life home. As both of these types +develop either extreme docility or perversity--the one quiet, gentle, +obedient, following any suggestion even of a comrade's stronger will; +the other obstinate, indolent, often brutal and cruel--the necessity +for constant guardianship is therefore self-evident. + +When we consider that the training of a high-grade imbecile takes four +times the period commonly allotted to a normal child, some idea of the +vital energy expended on the training of the lower grades may be found +in the following example: + +I find in our museum of educational work a little ball which I am +inclined to regard the most valuable thing in the whole collection. +The boy who made it was a low-grade imbecile. His hand against every +man, he fancied every man's against him. Always under strict custodial +care, that he might harm neither himself nor others, he would vent his +spleen in tearing his clothing. His teacher, a woman of rare patience +and devotedness, sat beside him one day, tearing strips of old linen +and laying them in order. "See, Willie, let us make some pretty strips +and lay them so." His wonder grew apace at seeing her doing what he +had been reproved for doing; at once he responded, and a new bond of +sympathy was established between them. She was playing his game--the +only one, poor little lad, that he was capable of--and he joined in. + +"Now, we will draw out the pretty threads and lay them in rows." For +weeks the boy found quiet pastime in this occupation, and the violent +nature grew quieter in proportion. One day the teacher said, "Let us +tie these threads together and make a long string." It took him months +and months to learn to tie those knots, but meanwhile his attendants +were having breathing space. "Now we will wind this into a pretty +ball, and I will cover all you make for the boys to play with"; and a +new occupation was added to his meager list. + +The next link in this chain of development was a lesson in knitting. +Again, through months of patient teaching, it was at last +accomplished, and the boy to the day of his death found his life +happiness in knitting caps for the children, in place of tearing both +them and their clothing. You see the teacher was wise enough to +utilize the natural activities of the child and divert evil +propensities into healthful channels. Had she brought knitting and +bright yarn or anything foreign to him first, it would in truth have +been fitting new cloth to old garments and the rent would have been +widened: his obstinacy would have been aroused, and he would have +continued to tear to the end of the chapter. + +[Illustration: HIGH-GRADE IMBECILES (FEEBLY GIFTED) AT SLOYD WORK.] + +The imbecile of middle grade receives that fuller presentation of work +suited to fuller capacity. Some time is devoted to the three "Rs," as +it is found that attention may be aroused and concentrated in the +phonetic drills, more especially if associated with pictures, and the +drawing of the objects named free-hand; thus eye, ear, and hand are +encouraged to work simultaneously. Those who accomplish finally the +reading of short simple stories not only enjoy evenings in the +library, but may be enabled to glean suggestions for the various +handicrafts for which they are being trained. This effort at quick +observation and original thinking is further carried forward in the +ambidextrous movements of free-hand drawing, designing, and sketching +from life--finding ready and practical application in the daily use of +tools. The value of the rule and the try-square is tested in the +manufacture of the various useful articles in both paper and wood +included under the head of sloyd, and "a boy can not learn to take a +straight shaving off a plank," says Ruskin, "or to drive a fine curve +without faltering, or to lay a brick level in the mortar, without +learning a multitude of other matters which life of man could never +teach him." + +Equally useful to the girl in the workroom as to the boy in the shop +is this training of a ready eye, this quick intuition of balance and +proportion, this practice of obedience of hand and arm to brain, until +it becomes automatic. To both, therefore, the value of such +preparation will be incalculable. It is noticeable that boys of this +grade turn out as good workers in the ordinary crafts of shoemaking, +carpentering, and house painting as those of higher grade who, +although capable of grasping more intelligently the details of work, +yet do not bring to it that energy and perseverance of one who finds +in it "this one thing I do." With the imbecile of high grade, able to +accomplish studies equal to about the first intermediate of the public +schools, there is a diffusion of interest; the intelligence broadens +rather than deepens during the school period in natural response to +environment. With greater grasp of numerical values and of letters he +attains proficiency impossible to the lower grades in drawing, in +music, in printing, and in cabinet work. Other industries will +probably be provided for him as the demand increases, for it must be +remembered that this is a class whose needs have been the last to be +recognized in a work begun, as I have before said, for the idiot. +Regarded as queer, unlike other children--unable to keep up--he has, +after an unsuccessful trial at school, been kept at home, in some +cases an aid, in others a tyrant, to those relatives charged with his +care. + +Changed conditions of both family and school, fortunately for him, +combine to render this no longer possible, as absence of proper +training is always certain to result in deterioration. The pressure +upon the primary schools in the struggle for higher education leaves +no time to contend with dull, backward children. In the family the +care-takers grow fewer in proportion as the home-makers become +home-winners, and so these feeble ones are a burden instead of an aid +in the ordinary household offices. + +The next hope is a training school where, with false hopes fostered by +ignorance and sensationalism, they are entered, and after a few years, +a time all too short for any lasting benefit, a sentimentality equally +stupid withdraws them from that guardianship absolutely essential, +with just that little knowledge which will render them more dangerous +to society, because less recognizable--an evil element perpetuating an +evil growth. Under both conditions these unfortunates have suffered +from that lack of constant care and supervision which should be theirs +from the cradle to the grave. + +The separation of backward children in the schools and the placing of +them in special classes for special training is the first step in the +right direction. Here, after sufficient time for observation and +diagnosing by teacher and physician, the defectives so adjudged will +naturally drift to the training schools for the feeble-minded; these, +if relieved of the odium as well as the care of their helpless +population, will then be encouraged to arrange for this brighter class +of defectives industries which will provide not only for development +and happiness, but will largely aid in maintenance. The recognition of +the necessity for this weeding out of the schools, having place first +on the Continent, next in England, and later in our own country, marks +an era in the national as well as in the special schools. Both will be +benefited largely, and formal expression of this, found in the +addition to our National Educational Association of a department +representing the training of all classes of defectives, is one of the +most encouraging signs of the times. + +[Illustration: MIDDLE-GRADE IMBECILES.] + +The same experience which dictates the separation of the idiot from +the imbecile, the backward from the normal child, urges also that a +permanent sequestration would tend alike to the safety and happiness +of the normal and abnormal classes. The experiment made of preparing +and sending out into the world these irresponsibles has proved, to say +the least, not encouraging, and the advisability of their permanent +detention has become self-evident. + +The heads of training schools here are a unit in urging that provision +be made for those who have reached the limit of school progress. That +experience has reached a similar conclusion in England is testified +in the munificent gift lately made to the Royal Albert Asylum, and by +the opinion of its superintendent, Dr. T. Telford-Smith, thus clearly +expressed: + +"It is yearly more noticeable that the public mind is coming gradually +but surely to recognize the threefold value of the work of such +institutions as the Royal Albert Asylum. The educational and the +custodial aspects early aroused the sympathies of the charitable; but +the preventive aspect is another which must force itself upon all who +thoughtfully consider the subject. The far-reaching and inexorable law +of heredity is written large for those who study the imbecile." + +The following paragraph, from a daily paper, shows that, in America at +least, public opinion and the acts of the legislature have become ripe +for action: + +"The State of Connecticut is about to try a curious experiment in +social legislation, having passed a law forbidding any man or woman, +imbecile or feeble-minded, to marry under forty-five years of age, the +penalty being imprisonment for not less than three years; and persons +aiding and abetting are also liable. The hope of the legislature is to +keep down dégenerate families." + +That this experiment is wise and justifiable who can doubt? + +[Illustration: LOW-GRADE IMBECILES. No. 1, obstinate, perverse, +indolent; No. 2, gentle and obedient.] + +To glance at another and sadder, but not less real, side of the same +question, can any one doubt but that the adolescent and adult female +imbecile needs lifelong care and protection? Surely the noble gift to +the asylum by Sir Thomas Storey of a home for forty such cases is a +wise, far-seeing, and statesmanlike act. + +It is greatly to be hoped that this noble example may be speedily +emulated on both sides of the sea, and that each State may shortly +possess, in addition to its training school, its own colony farm with +all the industries of a village, drawing its workers from the +well-directed energies of a carefully guarded community. Cottages, +each with its house mother, would insure that sense of home, and that +affectionate and sympathetic oversight so essential to this society +composed of those who are always children, while measures, which +science has already pointed out and experience proved as advisable, +might, if protected by wise legislation, permit less vigilance on the +part of care-takers and consequent happiness because of greater +freedom to its members. + +It is a happy coincidence that Massachusetts, the pioneer State in the +work among the feeble-minded, should in its fifty-first year celebrate +the beginning of its second half century by the inauguration of this +most eventful step in the onward progress of the work. The training +school at Waltham has lately purchased sixteen hundred and sixty acres +of land for the establishment of a colony which is to have natural and +healthful growth from the fostering care of the parent institution. + +As these colonies increase, drawing from society a pernicious element +and transforming it under watchful care into healthful growth, may not +in time the national Government, finding these homes of prevention a +more excellent way than prison houses of cure for ill, be induced to +provide a national colony for this race more to be commiserated +because of a childhood more hopeless than that of the two others in +our midst on whom so much has been expended? + + + + +THE WHEAT PROBLEM AGAIN. + +BY EDWARD ATKINSON. + + +In a recent article in the North American Review, Mr. John Hyde, the +statistician of the United States Department of Agriculture, a +gentleman of very high authority and repute, presents this problem in +such terms as to throw a doubt upon the validity of any forecast of +the potential increase in the product of wheat, or, in fact, of any +crop in this country. Without referring to myself by name, he yet +makes it very plain that he does not attach any value to my recent +forecast of wheat production printed in the Popular Science Monthly +for December, 1898. + +On the other hand, he rightly says that since Tyndall's address to the +British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1874 no treatise +presented to that association has excited so general an interest or +provoked so much unfavorable criticism as Sir William Crookes's recent +utterances on the subject of the approaching scarcity in the supply of +wheat. + +Mr. Hyde disclaims any intention to give his own views, but yet no one +can read his treatise without noting a substantial agreement with Sir +William Crookes, perhaps almost unconsciously to himself. In his +closing paragraph he says: "To discuss the extent to which under +conceivable conditions the United States may, _notwithstanding the +somewhat dubious outlook_, still continue to contribute to the food +supply of other nations, would be little more than speculation." + +The Italics are my own. + +I venture to point out that the use of the word "speculation" is an +example of many instances. Like a dog, one may give a word a bad name, +yet it may be a good dog and a very good word when rightly used. In +the true and very innocent meaning of the word "speculation" we find +exactly what the public has a right to expect and even to demand from +the Department of Agriculture. In Webster's Dictionary I find that, +when used in such a connection as this problem of the potential of +this country in farm productions, the word "speculation" stands for "a +mental view of anything in its various aspects and relations; +contemplation; intellectual examination." + +If any "mental view" has yet been taken in the Department of +Agriculture of the proportion of the land of this country which may be +termed "arable," I have yet to find the record. If any "contemplation" +has been devoted to the proportions of this arable land which may be +devoted to different crops in each section, I have been remiss in not +securing the reports. If any "mental view" has been taken of the +relative area now devoted to each principal crop, and that which may +be so devoted hereafter in order to meet the prospective demand upon +the land, either for the supply of our own population or of other +nations, where is the record? If there is no such "speculation" now of +record, is it not time that a true agricultural survey corresponding +to our geologic and geodetic surveys should be entered upon? I have +reason to believe that such surveys have been made by many European +states in which all the arable land in some kingdoms is classified, +listed, and so recorded that any one wishing to know the best place +for any special product can get the information by reference to the +proper department of the Government. + +I have had occasion to make several studies of this kind. In order to +inform myself on the potential of the South in the production of +cotton, I undertook a study of the physical geography and climatology +of the cotton States and of other cotton-producing countries nearly +forty years ago. The results of this research were first given in +Cheap Cotton by Free Labor, published in 1861. In that pamphlet and in +many treatises following, finally in an address in Atlanta, in 1880, a +true forecast or "speculation" or "intellectual examination" will be +found of the production of the cotton fiber, the potential of the +future and of the cotton-seed-oil industry, then almost unheard of in +this country. In 1880 I also entered upon my first "speculation" (not +in the market) on the lines of a "contemplation" or forecast of the +effect of agricultural machinery applied to our wheat land, coupled +with the prospective reduction in the cost of carrying wheat to +England, upon the condition of the American farmer and the British +landlord. That forecast of prosperity to our farmers in the supply of +bread at low cost to our kin beyond the sea has been justified at +every point and in every detail. I therefore ventured to review Sir +William Crookes's address, and I am well assured that what Mr. Hyde +now calls a "somewhat dubious outlook" is subject to no doubt whatever +as to our ability to continue our full supply for domestic consumption +and export for the next century. + +Let me now repeat again what I have often said: statistics are good +servants, but very bad masters. I long since ceased to put any great +reliance upon averages of crops, wages, or products covering wide +areas and varying conditions, unless I could find out, _first_, the +personal equation of the man who compiled them; _second_, ascertain +what he knew himself about the subject of which his statistics or +figures were the symbols; and, _third_, unless I could verify these +great averages from one or more typical areas of farm land, or from +one or more representative factories or workshops, of the conditions +of which I could myself obtain personal information. + +General statistics and averages of farm products and earnings I regard +with more suspicion than almost any others because of the immense +variation in conditions. + +I have sometimes almost come to the conclusion that so many of the +figures of the United States census are mere statistical rubbish as to +throw a doubt on nearly all the schedules. Yet without accurate +statistics on many points, many of them yet to be secured, the conduct +of our national affairs must become as uncertain as would be the +conduct of any great business corporation without a true ledger +account and a trial balance. Hence the necessity for a permanent +census bureau and for a careful "speculation" or "intellectual" and +intelligent examination and "contemplation" or study of the facts +about our land by which our future welfare must be governed. + +A good beginning has been made by the authorities of many States, yet +more by the body of well-trained men in charge of the Agricultural +Experiment Station, in whose support too much can not be said. To them +I appealed when trying to get an adequate conception of our potential +in wheat. + +When we think of the blunders which have been made in very recent +years, we may well have some suspicion that we may still be very +ignorant on many points about our own country. Who really knows very +much about the great middle section of the South, what is called the +"Land of the Sky," comprising the upland plateaus and mountain +sections of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, +eastern Tennessee, and Kentucky? Within this area, as large as France +and twice as large as Great Britain, will be found timber and minerals +equal to both the countries named, and a potential in agriculture +equal to either, as yet very sparsely populated. + +Yet under a craze for centrifugal expansion we are now in danger of +trying to develop tropical islands far away, already somewhat densely +peopled, where white men can not work and live, to our detriment, +danger, and loss, while we fail to see that if we expand centripetally +by the occupation and use of the most healthy and productive section +of our own country, we may add immensely to our prosperity, our +wealth, to our profit without cost and without militarism. This +sparsely settled Land of the Sky is greater in area and far greater in +its potential than the Philippine Islands, Cuba, and Porto Rico +combined. Verily, it seems as if common sense were a latent and +sluggish force, often endangered by the noisy and blatant influence of +the venal politician and the greed of the unscrupulous advocates of +vassal colonies who now attempt to pervert the power of government to +their own purposes of private gain. + +Witness the blunders of the past: + +We nearly gave away Oregon because it was held not to be worth +retaining. + +When the northern boundary of Wisconsin was being determined, it was +put as far north as it was then supposed profitable farming could ever +extend, excluding Minnesota, now one of our greatest sources of wheat. + +The Great American Desert in my own school atlas covered a large part +of the most fertile land now under cultivation. + +What blunders are we now making for lack of "speculation" or +"intellectual examination" as to the future of American farming and +farm lands? + +On one point to which Mr. Hyde refers I must cry _peccavi_. He rebukes +the editor of the Popular Science Monthly for admitting an article in +which a potential of 400,000,000 bushels of wheat is attributed to the +State of Idaho. The total depravity of the type-writing machine caused +the mechanism to spell Montana in the letters I-d-a-h-o. What I +imputed to Idaho is true of Montana, if the Chief of the Agricultural +Experiment Stations of Montana is a competent witness, if all its +arable land were devoted to wheat. It will be observed that I +mentioned Idaho incidentally (meaning Montana), taking no cognizance +of the estimate given, because it was at present of no practical +importance. + +I have expressed my distrust of great averages in respect to +agriculture and farm products. + +In illustration of this fallacy, the figures presented by Mr. Hyde +will now be dealt with. It is held that in 1930, which is the year +when Sir William Crookes predicts starvation among the bread-eating +people of the world for lack of wheat (as if good bread could only be +made from wheat), the population of this country may be computed at +130,000,000. The requirements of that year for our own consumption Mr. +Hyde estimates at 700,000,000 bushels of wheat, 1,250,000,000 bushels +of oats, 3,450,000,000 bushels of corn (maize), and 100,000,000 tons +of hay; and, although other products are not named by him, we may +assume a corresponding increase. + +Subsequently Mr. Hyde gives the present delusive average yields per +acre of the whole country, and then throws a doubt on the future +progress of agricultural science, saying, "Whatever agricultural +science may be able to do in the next thirty years, up to the present +time it has only succeeded in arresting that decline in the rate of +production with which we have been continually threatened." Without +dealing at present with this want of and true consideration of or +"speculation" upon the progress made in the last decade under the lead +of the experiment stations and other beginnings in remedying the +wasteful and squalid methods that have been so conspicuous in pioneer +farming, let us take Mr. Hyde's averages and see what demand upon land +the requirements of 1930 will make, even at the present meager average +product per acre. + +Mr. Hyde apparently computes this prospective product as one that will +be required for the domestic consumption of 130,000,000 people by +ratio to our present product. He ignores the fact that our present +product suffices for 75,000,000, with an excess of live stock, +provisions, and dairy products exported nearly equal in value to all +the grain exported, and in excess of the exports of wheat. If we can +increase proportionally in one class of products, why not in another? +Whichever pays best will be produced and exported. + + _1897 and 1930 compared.--Data of 1897._ + ------+------------------------+-----------------+---------------------- + | Products. |Average per acre.| Area required. + ------+------------------------+-----------------+---------------------- + Maize | 1,902,967,933 bushels. | 23.8 bushels. | 125,150 square miles. + Wheat | 530,149,168 " | 13.4 " | 61,660 " " + Oats | 698,767,809 " | 27.2 " | 40,200 " " + Hay | 60,664,770 tons. | 1.43 " | 66,290 " " + | | |---------------------- + Total in square miles | 293,300 square miles. + -------------------------------------------------+---------------------- + +All other farm crops carry the total to less than 400,000 square miles +now under the plow, probably not exceeding 360,000. + +Prospective demand of 1930, at the same meager average product per +acre, without progress in agricultural science: + + ------+------------------------+---------------+---------------------- + | Crop called for. | Per acre. | Area required. + ------+------------------------+---------------+---------------------- + Maize | 3,450,000,000 bushels. | 23.8 bushels. | 226,600 square miles. + Wheat | 700,000,000 " | 13.4 " | 81,600 " " + Oats | 1,250,000,000 " | 27.2 " | 70,800 " " + Hay | 100,000,000 tons. | 1.43 " | 109,400 " " + | | |---------------------- + Total in square miles | 488,400 square miles. + -----------------------------------------------+---------------------- + +Assuming all land under the plow in 1930 in the ratio as above, the +area of all now in all crops 400,000 square miles--an excessive +estimate--that year (1930) will call for 667,000 square miles of +arable land in actual cultivation. + +I have been accustomed to consider one half our national domain, +exclusive of Alaska, good arable land in the absence of any +"speculation" on that point in the records of the Department of +Agriculture; but from the returns given by the chiefs of the +experiment stations and secretaries of agriculture of the States +hereafter cited, that estimate may be increased probably to two +thirds, or 2,000,000 square miles of arable land out of a total of +3,000,000 square miles, omitting Alaska. + +Assuming that we possess 2,000,000 square miles of arable land, +capable at least of producing the present meager average product cited +above, the conditions of 1930 will be graphically presented on the +following diagram: + + + _Prospective Use of Land in the Year 1930 on Present Crop Average._ + + [Sidenote: Arable land assumed to be 2,000,000 square miles in the + outer lines of the diagram.] + + +----------+----------+----------+--------------+------------+----------+ + | Oats, | Wheat, | Hay, |Miscellaneous.| Maize, | Wheat | + | 70,800 | 81,600 | 109,400 |Roots, cotton,|Indian corn,| for | + |sq. miles.|sq. miles.|sq. miles.|tobacco, etc.,| 226,600 | export, | + +----------| | |168,600 sq. m.| sq. miles. | 143,000 | + | +----------+----------| Excessive. | |sq. miles.| + | +--------------+------------+----------+ + |Arable land unassigned 1,200,000 square miles.| + |Deduct for cities, towns, parks, | + | and reserves of all kinds 200,000 " " | + | --------- | + | Reserve for future use 1,000,000 " " | + | | + | Forest, mountain, arid, etc., not counted, about 1,000,000 square | + | miles, not included in these lines or squares. | + +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ + + No reduction on area cultivated on prospective improvement in the + present methods of farming, although it may be assumed that the + prospective increase of crop per acre will exert great influence. + +If the facts should be in 1930 consistent with Mr. Hyde's +"speculation" it would therefore appear that our ability to meet the +domestic demand of 1930 with proportionate export of cattle, +provisions, and dairy products, and to set apart a little patch of +land for the export of 1,226,000,000 bushels of wheat raised at the +rate of only 13.4 bushels per acre from 143,000 square miles of land +will be met by the cultivation of not exceeding 700,000 square miles +out of 2,000,000 available. + +I should not venture to question the conclusions emanating from the +Department of Agriculture, or the deductions of so eminent a scientist +as Sir William Crookes, had I not taken the usual precaution of a +business man in studying a business question. I went to the men who +know the subject as well as the figures on which statistics are to be +compiled. + +Being supplied by the Popular Science Monthly with one hundred proofs +of the first nine and a half pages of the December article in which +the terms of the problem are stated, I sent those proofs to the chiefs +of the experiment stations and to the secretaries of agriculture in +all the States from which any considerable product of wheat is now or +may be hereafter derived; also to many makers of wheat harvesters; to +the secretaries of Chambers of Commerce, and to several economic +students in the wheat-growing States. This preliminary study was +accompanied by the following circular of inquiry: + + + BOSTON, MASS., _October 5, 1898_. + + _To the Chiefs of the Agricultural Experiment Stations and others in + Authority_: + +Calling your attention to the inclosed advance sheets of an article +which will by and by appear in the Popular Science Monthly, I beg to +put to you certain questions. + +If the matter interests you, will you kindly fill up the blanks below +and let me have your replies within the present month of October, to +the end that I may compile them and give a digest of the results? I +shall state in the article that I am indebted to you and others for +the information submitted. + +Area of the State of....................... square miles. + +1. What proportion of this area do you believe to be arable land of +fair quality, including pasture that might be put under the plow? + + Answer ................... square miles. + +2. What proportion is now in forest or mountain sections which may not +be available for agriculture for a long period? + + Answer ................... square miles. + +3. What has been done or may be done by irrigation? +........................................................................... +........................................................................... +............................ + +4. What proportion of the arable land above measured should you +consider suitable to the production of wheat under general conditions +such as are given in the text, say, a stable price of one dollar per +bushel in London? + + Answer ................... square miles. + +5. To what extent, in your judgment, is wheat becoming the cash or +surplus crop of a varied system of agriculture as distinct from the +methods which prevail in the opening of new lands of cropping with +wheat for a term of years? + +.................................................................... + +What further remarks can you add which will enable me to elucidate +this case, to complete the article and to convey a true impression of +the facts to English readers? + +.................................................................... +.................................................................... +.................................................................... + +Your assistance in this matter will be gratefully received. + + Respectfully submitted, + EDWARD ATKINSON. + +To this circular I received twenty-four detailed replies, containing +statistics mostly very complete; also many suggestive letters, in +every case giving full support to the general views which I had +submitted in the proof sheets. It has been impossible for me to give +individual credit within the limits of a magazine article to the +gentlemen who have so fully supplied the data. Space will only permit +me to submit a digest of the more important facts in a table derived +from these replies: + + -------------+-----------------------------------------+------------- + | FROM RETURNS MADE TO MY INQUIRY. |From United + |----------------+----------+-------------|States report + NAME. | Area of State. | Arable. | Suitable to | in wheat, + | | | wheat. | 1897. + -------------+----------------+----------+-------------+------------- + Minnesota | 84,287 | 66,000 | 50,000 | 7,189 + South Dakota | 76,000 | 42,500 | 40,000 | 4,187 + North Dakota | 74,312 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 4,300 + Illinois | 56,000 | 54,000 | 20,000 | 2,292 + Missouri | 68,000 | 64,000 | 64,000 | 2,448 + Wisconsin | 56,000 | 35,000 | 35,000 | 961 + |----------------+----------+-------------+------------ + | 414,599 | 311,500 | 259,000 | 21,372 + |================+==========+=============+=========== + Texas | 269,694 | 200,000 | 100,000 | 700 + California | 158,360 | 54,000 | 30,000 | 5,062 + Montana | 145,310 | 30,000 | 25,000 | 109 + Idaho | 87,000 | 30,000 | 15,000 | 192 + |----------------+----------+-------------+------------ + | 660,364 | 314,000 | 170,000 | 6,063 + |================+==========+=============+============ + Total | 1,074,963 | 625,500 | 429,000 | 27,435 + -------------+----------------+----------+-------------+------------ + +I do not give the data of the Eastern and Southern States, and I have +selected only the most complete data of the other States, choosing the +more conservative where two returns have been made from one State. + +The foregoing States produced a little over one third of the wheat +crop of 1897. They comprise a little over one third the area of the +land of the United States, excluding Alaska. + +The list covers States like Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, now +very fully occupied relatively to Texas, Montana, and Idaho, as yet +but sparsely settled. + +Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Oregon, and +Washington combined far exceed the above list in wheat production; +but, as I have no complete data from these States, I can only say that +the national or census statistics, as far as they go, develop +corresponding conditions to those above given. The very small product +of Texas and Montana, even of Idaho, as compared with the claimed +potential, will attract notice, and perhaps excite incredulity. But +let it be remembered that in 1880 the Territory of Dakota yielded less +than 3,000,000 bushels of wheat, while in 1898 the two States of North +and South Dakota, formerly in one Territory, claim to have produced +100,000,000 bushels. Perhaps it will then be admitted that the +potential of Montana, and even of Idaho, may be attained in some +measure corresponding to the reports from those States; but as yet +their product is a negligible quantity, as that of Dakota was only +twenty years since.[9] + +Again, let it be remembered that Texas will produce a cotton crop, +marketed in 1898-'99, above the average of the five ante-war crops of +the whole country, and nearly equal to the largest crop ever grown in +the United States before the war. Texas could not only produce the +present entire cotton crop of the United States but of the world, on +but a small part of her land which is well suited to cotton. When +these facts are considered, perhaps the potential of that great State +in wheat and other grain, in cattle and in sheep, as well as in +cotton, may begin to be comprehended. + +The writer is well aware that this treatment of a great problem is +very incomplete, but it is the best that the leisure hours of a very +busy business life would permit. If it discloses the general ignorance +of our resources, the total inadequacy of many of our official +statistics, the lack of any real agricultural survey, and the +necessity for a reorganization and concentration of the scientific +departments of the Government as well as of a permanent census bureau, +it will have served a useful purpose. + +If it also serves to call attention to the meager average crops and +the poor quality of our agriculture as a whole down to a very recent +period, it may suggest even to those to whose minds the statistics of +the past convey but gloomy and "doubtful views" of the future, that +the true progress in scientific agriculture could only begin when +substantially all the fertile land in the possession of the Government +had either been given away or otherwise distributed. So long as "sod +crops" and the single-crop system yielded adequate returns to +unskilled farmers, no true science of agriculture could be expected, +any more than a large product of wool can be hoped for in States where +it has been wittily said that "every poor man keeps one cur dog, and +every d--d poor man keeps two or more." + +Finally, if I shall have drawn attention to the very effective work +which is being done in the agricultural experiment stations by men of +first-rate ability, I shall have drawn attention to a great fact. This +work has already led to a complete revolution from the old practice +of maltreating land, and to the renovation of soils that had been +partially exhausted. Governor Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, long since +condemned the old methods of Southern agriculture by telling his +hearers, "The niggers skinned the land and the white men skinned the +niggers." We are changing all that by new and progressive methods. I +hope that in this recognition of the work of the experiment stations I +shall have made some return for the attention which has been given to +my inquiry by so many of my correspondents that the space assigned me +forbids a list of my authorities being given by name. + +When the suggestion is made from the Department of Agriculture that +all that science has yet accomplished has been to stop a tendency to a +lessened production from the land now under the plow, and when it is +even suggested that in 1930 the present meager average of crops per +acre may still exist, it seems to me that little credit is given to +the good work already accomplished in the short period in which the +separate Department of Agriculture has been represented in the +Cabinet, especially in the last five or six years, while the +suggestion itself shows very little consideration of the great work of +the experiment stations. + +Unless it can be proved that my correspondents and myself have entered +into a conspiracy to mislead the public in dealing with the potential +of this country in wheat production, nearly all the deductions from +the figures of the past must be considered mere statistical rubbish. +These statistics cover sections and States in which wheat should never +be grown or attempted in competition with the true wheat soils and +climate. As well might misplaced iron furnaces, built to boom city +lots where there are no favorable conditions for the production of +iron, be included in an average and held up as a standard of our +potential in iron and steel production. + +In my efforts to discover the rule of progress in the arts and +occupations of the people of this country, it has become plain that in +ratio to the application of science and invention to every art the +quantity of product is increased, the number of workmen is relatively +diminished, the price of the product tends to diminish, while the +wages or earnings of those who do the work are augmented. I have +investigated many branches of industry, and find evidence conclusive +to my own mind that such is the law of industrial development. This +rule is subject to temporary variations under the restriction of +statutes. In my own judgment, the so-called protective principle or +policy of interference with commerce by imposing fines on foreign +imports has retarded the progress of the specially protected arts, and +has in some measure obstructed the diversity of manufactures; but the +opposite policy of absolutely free trade in our domestic traffic over +a greater area and among a much larger number of people than have +elsewhere secured their own liberty has been so much more potent in +its progressive influence as to have lessened the evils of the +restrictions on foreign trade. + +According to my observation, all the efforts to regulate railroad +charges by State legislation and under the interstate commerce act +have greatly retarded the progress of the railway, and have deprived +great States, notably Texas, of any service at all commensurate to the +demand which might otherwise have been supplied to the mutual benefit +of the owners of the railways and the inhabitants of the State. The +most serious retarding influence, especially evil in its effect upon +farmers, was the useless panic of 1893, caused by the silver +craze--that is to say, by the effort to enact a force bill by which +the producers of our great crops would have been compelled to accept +money of half the purchasing power of that to which their industry had +been long adjusted. This caused a temporary paralysis of industry, in +which I think none suffered so much as the farmers of the country. + +But admitting these temporary variations, I find the same rule +governing the products of the farm that governs the mine, the factory, +and the workshop--namely, a lessening of the number occupied in ratio +to the product; a great reduction in the cost of labor; an increased +return in due proportion of the skill and intelligence of the farmer; +a rapid reduction in the farm mortgages, ending at the present date in +making the farmers of the grain-growing States the creditors of the +world, especially those occupied upon wheat. + +But in the development of this progress we find the reverse of the +practice in the factory and the workshop. The most important +applications of science and invention led first to what might be +called the manufacture of wheat on an extensive method of making a +single crop on great areas of land. That phase has about spent its +force; the great farms are in process of division; the single-crop +system has about ended; the intensive system of making a larger +product from a lessened area with alternation and variation in crops +is rapidly taking the place of former methods. + +Therefore, while many branches of manufacturing tend more and more to +the collective method, the tendency in agriculture is more and more to +individualism in dealing with the land itself, coupled with collective +ownership in the more expensive farm machinery, in creameries, cheese +factories, and the like. We are apparently at a halfway stage in this +revolution of agriculture. The intelligent and intensive methods of +breeding cattle and sheep is also rapidly taking the place of the +semibarbarous conditions of the ranch. + +If these points are well taken, the very suggestion that we must +compute the land which should be under the plow in 1890 in order to +supply the needs of 130,000,000 people on the basis of the imperfect +statistics and inadequate data of the past, becomes almost an +impertinence. It is much more probable that the 400,000 square miles +which now meet the needs of 75,000,000 people, with an enormous excess +for export, will in 1930 still suffice for the domestic supply of +130,000,000 people, with a proportionate export corresponding to the +present. + +If the product of the farms of the West now yielding the largest +crops, or of the renovated lands of the South now yielding the best +crops, be taken as the average standard of the near future, as they +should be, then it may be true in 1930, as it is now, that one fifth +of the arable land of this country when put under the plow will still +suffice for all existing demands, the remainder of our great domain +extending the promise of future abundance and welfare to the yet +greater numbers who will occupy the land a century hence. + +I may add that in the course of a very friendly correspondence with +Sir William Crookes, while we are still at variance in our estimates +of the area which may be converted to the production of wheat in this +country without trenching upon any other product, we are wholly at an +agreement on a most material point. I quote from one of his letters: +"Under the present wasteful method of cultivation there will be in a +limited number of years an insufficient supply of wheat. Apply +artificial fertilizers judiciously, and the supply may be increased +indefinitely." I would only venture to add to the judgment of so +eminent a writer the words "or natural," to the end that the paragraph +should read, "Apply artificial or natural fertilizers judiciously, and +the supply can be increased indefinitely." + +Many years ago I was asked among others, "What would be the next great +discovery of science or invention?" To which I replied, "A supply of +nitrogen at low cost." Has not that discovery been made in the recent +development of the functions of the bacteria which, living and dying +upon the leguminous plants, dissociate the nitrogen of the atmosphere +and convert it through the plant to the renovation of the soil? Is not +the invention of methods of nitrifying the soil by distributing the +germs of bacteria one of the most wonderful discoveries of science +ever yet attained? Can any one yet measure the potential of any given +area of land in any part of this country in the production of any one +of its great crops? That there is a limit may be admitted. Can any one +venture to say that any of our average crops yet approach beyond a +small fractional measure the true limit of production, whatever it may +be, either in cotton, maize, wheat, or any other product of the soil? + +In this, as in many other developments of the theory of evolution, the +factor of mental energy, which is the prime factor in all material +production, may have been or is almost wholly ignored. We are ceasing +to treat the soil as a mine subject to exhaustion, but we have as yet +made only a beginning in treating it as an instrument of production +which will for a long period respond in its increasing product in +exact ratio to the mental energy which is applied to the cultivation +of the land. + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[9] I have been permitted to review the detailed statements of the +accounts of one of the great enterprises which I have called the +manufacture of wheat on a large scale on various large farms, +separated one from another but under one control, aggregating more +than twenty thousand acres, in North Dakota. They are managed mainly +from a long distance through agents and foremen, therefore at a +relative disadvantage compared to a farmer owning his own land, acting +as his own foreman, and saving heavily in expense. Such farmers, +making no charge for their own time, are computed to have a cash +advantage of one dollar an acre. + +A large part of this land has been cropped in wheat for twenty-four +years, one farm of six thousand acres showing an average in excess of +eighteen bushels per acre for the term of seventeen years. The details +of the product of other farms are not given, but this may be +considered a rule. Of course, this cropping can not be carried on +indefinitely. The land is now being allowed to rest, and other crops, +such as maize, oats, barley, millet, and timothy, are to some extent +being raised in rotation, but not to the extent in which individual +wheat farms are now passing into rotation, especially in Minnesota. + +In this enterprise the manufacture of wheat is the main purpose, but +under the changed conditions on the small farms in Minnesota wheat is +becoming rather the cash or excess crop in a rotation of four; at +present, in North Dakota, wheat constitutes about three fourths the +total product. + +In these accounts of this great farm are included all charges of every +name and nature except what might be called the rent of land: the +labor, the harvesting and thrashing, the general expense including the +foreman and all other charges; the office expenses, the taxes, the +insurance, and, when summer fallow is introduced, the cost of the +summer fallow. Suffice it that these figures for 1898--a year of high +charge for seed and one which yielded a fraction over the average in +product--prove conclusively an average of all charges of less than +five dollars an acre for the cost of the product. In different years +under these conditions the cost of the wheat varies from a little over +twenty cents to approximately thirty-five cents per bushel. The cost +of oats, which are cultivated with the wheat mainly for use on the +farms, ranges from ten to fifteen cents per bushel. + +These are facts. The pending question in this discussion is, How much +land, occupied by owners but not now in use, is there in this section +of the country on which similar results can be attained, with better +results by individual farmers who possess mental energy and practical +skill? The figures given by the chiefs of the agricultural experiment +stations may rightly be taken in the solution of this question. + + + + +THE COMING OF THE CATBIRD. + +BY SPENCER TROTTER. + + +In southeastern Pennsylvania there comes a day in February that brings +with it an indefinable sense of joyousness. A southerly wind wanders +up the Delaware with a touch of the spring in its air that quickens, +for the first time, the slumbering life. It is then that those +mysterious forces in the cells of living things begin their subtle +work--hidden in the dark, underground storehouses of plants and the +sluggish tissues of animals buried in their winter sleep. On such a +day the ground hog ventures from his burrow, some restless bee is +lured from the hive to wander disconsolate over bare fields, a snake +crawls from its hole to bask awhile in the sunshine, and one looks +instinctively for the first breaking of the earth that tells of the +early crocus and the peeping forth of daffodils. The southerly wind is +more apt than not to be a telltale, for with all its springtime +softness it is drawing toward some storm center, near or remote, that +will inevitably follow with rough weather in its sweep. The country +folk rightly call such a day a "weather breeder," and even the ground +hog knows its portent in the very sign of his shadow. Come as it will, +the day is really a day borrowed in advance from the spring, as though +to hearten one through all the dreary days that will follow and, in +starting the growing forces of vegetation, to make ready for the +season's coming. + +With this forerunner of the year come the harbingers of the bird +migration. With the rise of the temperature to sixty or over, a +well-marked bird wave from the south spreads over the Delaware Valley. +On this balmy, springlike day we hear for the first time since +November the croaking of grackles as a loose flock wings overhead or +scatters among the tree tops. A few robins may show themselves, and +the mellow piping of bluebirds lends its sweet influence to the charm +of such a day. There is a sense of uncertain whereabouts in the +bluebird's note, a sort of hazy, in-the-air feeling that suggests sky +space. It does not seem to have the tangible element by which we can +locate the bird as in the voices of the robin and the song sparrow. It +is on such a day as this that song sparrows are first heard--cheery +ditties from the weather-beaten fences and the bare, brown tangle of +brier patches. The day may close lurid with the frayed streamers of +lofty cirrus clouds streaking across the sky--the vaporous overflow of +a coming storm--or a week of the same bright weather may continue with +the wind all the while blowing softly out of the south, but sooner or +later the inevitable winter storm must close this foretaste of the +spring. + +A decided wave of rising temperature usually reaches the Delaware +Valley from the middle to the last of March, maintaining itself longer +than the February rise, and ushering in a well-marked bird wave. It is +about this time that the vanguard of the robin migration scatters over +the country. The grackles or crow blackbirds, which have been more or +less in evidence since their first appearance in February, begin +renovating the old nests or laying the foundations of new ones in the +tops of tall pines. The shrill call of the flicker sounds through the +woods, and before the end of the month one is sure to hear the +plaintive song of the field sparrow. This is about the time that the +spicebush shows its yellow blossoms through the grays and browns of +the spring underwoods, and the skunk cabbage unfolds its fresh, green +leafage in rank abundance along the boggy course of woodland rills. A +week earlier the streaked yellow and purple of its fleshy spathes +shows here and there in the oozy ground by the side of the folded leaf +spikes. It is just at this time, too, that one must go to the woods +for the first spring wild flowers--bloodroot, hepatica, anemones, and +the yellow dog-tooth violet--if one would get the real freshness of +spring into his soul. The crows, that all through the winter filed +away each evening in straggling lines of flight toward the distant +roost, have broken ranks, and go rambling in small groups through the +woods and over the fields of green winter wheat. Like the grackles, +they have thoughts of courtship and the more earnest business of +family cares. The liquid notes of meadow larks sound clear and sweet +in the greening fields and pastures, and small flocks of vociferous +killdeers scatter in wheeling flight over the newly plowed lands. In +tangle covers the rustle of dead leaves here and there tells of the +whereabouts of a flock of fox sparrows halting in their northward +pilgrimage. The pewee is back, inspecting her last year's house under +the span of some old bridge, and the melancholy voice of the dove is +borne on the air from the fence rows and cedars along the farther side +of fields. + +After the 1st of April the tide of migration sets in with force, and +the earlier waves bring several species of summer birds--those that +come to build and breed in our woods--that rarely if ever make their +appearance before this time. It is an interesting fact that none of +the migrants that make their first appearance in April are ever found +in the Delaware Valley during the winter, though several, if not all, +of the species that come on the March waves are occasionally met with +in the winter months. It appears, further, that the winter quarters of +certain birds which are summer residents with us and some that are +transient, passing on to more northern breeding grounds, lie not so +very far to the south. If the last of March has been marked by warm +weather lapping over into the first days of April, then one may expect +soon to hear the familiar notes of the chipping sparrow from the +swelling branches of garden shrubbery and the trees about the lawn, +and a brown thrasher is sure to be heard volubly proclaiming his +arrival from some near-by tree top. Among the budding sprigs of +thickets the elusive chewink breaks into occasional fragments of song, +and from the red-blossomed maples and the jungle of pussy willows and +alders that fringe the meadow brook the metallic creaking notes of the +red-winged blackbirds sound not unpleasingly. This jargon of the +red-wing has a true vernal ring about it, suggesting the fresh green +of oozy bogs and the loosening up of sap. + +From the middle to the last of April there are several big waves of +migration that bring many of the summer residents as well as some +transient species, forerunning the greater waves that are to follow in +May. On certain warm April days the barn and the bank swallows appear, +and the chimney swifts are seen scurrying to and fro above the trees +and house tops. These are genuine signs of the coming summer, for +swallows and swifts feed only on the minute gnats and other ephemera +that develop under conditions of warm temperature. Whoever knows of a +martin box that year after year is visited by its colony has an +unfailing source of delight at this time in watching the lovely birds. +The martins are very prompt in their arrival, rarely coming before the +1st of April nor later than the 10th. We are aware for the first time +that the house wren has come back by the voluble song that greets us +some morning from the branches just beyond our window--a song that +only the lover of his own rooftree can fully appreciate, for the +wren's chant, more than any other bird song, seems to voice the home +instinct in a man. By the last week of April the woods are fast +closing up their vistas in a rich profusion of unfolding leafage. The +umbrellalike leaves of the May apple are scattered everywhere through +the woods and fields, forming conspicuous patches of green. During +this last week of the month a few straggling thrushes make their +appearance--the hermit thrush with its russet tail, the veery, and the +wood thrush. The first two are transients, flitting through the +underwoods or rustling among fallen leaves in search of their insect +food. To hear the incomparable matins and vespers of the hermit one +must follow to the bird's breeding range on the wooded slopes of the +Appalachians or farther into the deep recesses of the Canadian +forests. The wood thrush breeds with us, and the melody of its notes +adds a peculiar charm to our groves and woodlands that would leave an +unfilled blank in the choir if the bird were a transient like the +hermit or the veery. + +From the 1st to the 10th of May a succession of bird waves comes from +the south of such vast proportions as to the number of individuals and +variety of species that all the previous migratory waves seem +insignificant in comparison. It is the flood tide of the migration, +bringing with it the host of warblers, vireos, orioles, tanagers, and +thrushes that suddenly make our woods almost tropical in the variety +of richly colored species and strange bird notes. It would take a +volume to describe the wood warblers, sylvan nymphs of such bizarre +color patterns and dainty forms that one is fain to imagine himself in +the heart of some wondrous forest of a far-away land. Their curious +dry notes, each different in its kind and expression, yet all of the +same insectlike quality; their quick, active motions, now twisting +head downward around the branches, prying into every nook and cranny +in their eager search for food, or fluttering about the clusters of +leaves, add to the strange effect. Their names, too, are richly +stimulative to the color sense--the black-throated green, the +black-throated blue, the chestnut-sided, the bay-breasted, the black +and yellow, the cerulean, the Blackburnian, the blue-winged yellow, +the golden-winged, the blue-yellow-backed or parula warbler, and the +Maryland yellow-throat are each suggestive of a wealth of coloring. +Others have names that carry us to southern realms, like the myrtle +and the palm warblers; and others again tell of curious habits, as the +worm-eating warbler, the hooded fly-catching warbler, and the black +and white creeping warbler that scrambles about the tree trunks like a +true creeper. There is nothing in all the year quite like the May +woods. Then, if never again, you can step from your dooryard into an +enchanted forest. The light yellowish effects of new green in the +feathery masses of the oak catkins and the fresh, unfolding leafage of +the forest trees are a rich feast to the eyes. Against this wealth of +green the dogwood spreads its snow-white masses of bloom. In sunlit +spaces of greenness the scarlet flash of a tanager, the rich blue +coloring of the indigo bird, newly arrived from its winter quarters in +South America, and the glimpse of a rose-breasted grosbeak among the +high tree tops are strangely suggestive of a tropical forest. The ear, +too, is charmed with a multitude of curious notes. The weird cries of +the great-crested flycatcher among the topmost branches, and the loud +chant of the ovenbird with its rising cadence coming from farther +depths of the wood are two of the most characteristic bird voices of +the May woodlands. If one would have the famous song of the mocking +bird in this sylvan carnival he has only to loiter in the nearest +grove to hear the wonderful performance of the catbird. The catbird is +the real harbinger of summer. He is familiar throughout the +countryside, liked or disliked according to the dispositions of folks, +but when he appears amid the May-day throng every one knows that +summer has come. As a countryman once said to me: "You can't place any +dependence on the robin--it may snow the very day he comes; but a +catbird never makes a mistake--it's summer with him for sure." + +The passing on of the great warbler waves to the north and the ending +of the migration likewise mean the passing of the spring. It is summer +any time after the 15th of May, or, to be more accurate, after the +last of the migratory warblers, thrushes, and tanagers have passed +beyond our woods. To a New-Englander summer will come a little later, +nearer the true almanac date of June 1st. To a dweller in Virginia the +last of April is the passing of spring and the advent of summer. + +Some ten or more years ago several enthusiastic ornithologists living +in the neighborhood of Philadelphia began keeping records of the times +of arrival of the different species of birds, and at the same time +noted the conditions of temperature in relation to the abundance of +individuals. After several years of these observations they were able +to see clearly that these bird waves were directly related to the +waves of rising temperature marking the advent of warm spells of +weather. One of the most significant facts deduced from these +observations was the remarkable regularity in the first appearance of +certain species. For example, the Baltimore oriole in eight years of +observation never arrived before the 1st of May, and only twice later +than the 4th--viz., once on the fifth and once on the 7th. The list on +the opposite page shows the date of first arrivals extending over a +period of eight years, from 1885 to 1892.[10] + + -------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+ + | 1885. | 1886. | 1887. | 1888. | + -------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------| + Flicker | April 10 | Mar. 24 | Mar. 26 | Mar. 30 | + Chimney swift | April 22 | April 23 | April 22 | April 20 | + Hummingbird | April 29 | May 12 | May 12 | May 14 | + Kingbird | May 6 | May 11 | May 7 | May 6 | + Crested flycatcher | May 2 | May 12 | May 3 | May 1 | + Pewee | April 3 | Mar. 20 | Mar. 21 | Mar. 22 | + Wood pewee | May 6 | May 15 | April 30 | May 13 | + Red-winged | | | | | + blackbird | Mar. 4 | Feb. 19 | Feb. 19 | Feb. 21 | + Meadow lark | ....... | Feb. 10 | Mar. 19 | Mar. 21 | + Baltimore oriole | May 5 | May 4 | May 2 | May 2 | + Purple grackle | Mar. 16 | Mar. 7 | Feb. 19 | Feb. 21 | + Chipping sparrow | April 8 | April 9 | April 8 | Mar. 31 | + Field sparrow | April 11 | April 7 | April 9 | April 2 | + Chewink | April 22 | April 23 | April 27 | April 18 | + Indigo bird | May 16 | May 11 | May 7 | May 12 | + Scarlet tanager | May 9 | May 12 | May 5 | May 8 | + Barn swallow | April 22 | April 19 | April 21 | April 12 | + Red-eyed vireo | May 7 | May 11 | May 4 | April 29 | + Black-and-white | | | | | + warbler | April 30 | May 4 | April 27 | April 21 | + Yellow warbler | May 6 | May 4 | May 2 | May 5 | + Myrtle warbler | May 2 | April 10 | May 2 | April 25 | + Black-throated | | | | | + green warbler | May 2 | May 11 | May 5 | April 26 | + Ovenbird | April 30 | May 3 | April 29 | April 30 | + Maryland | | | | | + yellow-throat | April 29 | April 24 | April 28 | April 30 | + Chat | May 2 | May 12 | May 5 | May 5 | + Redstart | May 2 | May 4 | May 3 | May 1 | + Catbird | May 2 | May 4 | May 3 | May 5 | + Brown thrasher | April 24 | April 25 | April 28 | April 15 | + House wren | May 3 | April 27 | April 24 | April 28 | + Wood thrush | May 2 | May 1 | May 1 | May 1 | + Veery | ....... | May 11 | April 25 | May 3 | + Hermit thrush | April 13 | April 7 | April 9 | April 3 | + Robin | Mar. 7 | Mar. 10 | Feb. 28 | Feb. 19 | + Bluebird | Mar. 18 | ....... | Feb. 17 | Feb. 21 | + -------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+ + + -------------------+----------+----------+----------+---------- + | 1889. | 1890. | 1891. | 1892. + -------------------+----------+----------+----------+---------- + Flicker | Mar. 28 | Mar. 26 | Mar. 30 | April 2 + Chimney swift | April 15 | April 22 | April 16 | April 27 + Hummingbird | ....... | May 7 | May 11 | ....... + Kingbird | May 6 | May 14 | May 1 | May 4 + Crested flycatcher | May 8 | May 1 | April 30 | May 3 + Pewee | Mar. 27 | Mar. 27 | Mar. 31 | April 3 + Wood pewee | May 12 | May 14 | May 6 | May 17 + Red-winged | | | | + blackbird | Mar. 13 | Mar. 12 | Feb. 25 | Mar. 9 + Meadow lark | Mar. 14 | Mar. 12 | Feb. 23 | Mar. 17 + Baltimore oriole | May 7 | May 1 | May 1 | May 3 + Purple grackle | Mar. 2 | Feb. 13 | Feb. 18 | Mar. 6 + Chipping sparrow | Mar. 29 | April 8 | April 13 | April 4 + Field sparrow | Mar. 29 | Mar. 13 | Mar. 15 | Mar. 26 + Chewink | April 11 | May 1 | April 18 | April 24 + Indigo bird | May 12 | May 10 | May 8 | May 10 + Scarlet tanager | May 9 | May 4 | April 28 | May 3 + Barn swallow | April 22 | April 19 | April 19 | April 24 + Red-eyed vireo | May 5 | April 30 | May 2 | May 3 + Black-and-white | | | | + warbler | April 20 | April 30 | April 24 | May 1 + Yellow warbler | May 11 | May 1 | May 8 | May 4 + Myrtle warbler | April 20 | April 27 | April 18 | April 7 + Black-throated | | | | + green warbler | May 5 | May 2 | April 19 | April 30 + Ovenbird | May 3 | May 3 | April 29 | April 30 + Maryland | | | | + yellow-throat | May 6 | April 30 | May 1 | May 3 + Chat | May 11 | May 5 | May 1 | May 3 + Redstart | May 4 | May 3 | April 29 | April 30 + Catbird | May 5 | May 5 | May 4 | April 30 + Brown thrasher | April 22 | April 30 | April 19 | April 30 + House wren | April 14 | April 30 | April 19 | May 5 + Wood thrush | May 3 | April 30 | April 23 | May 2 + Veery | May 6 | May 2 | April 28 | May 4 + Hermit thrush | April 10 | April 13 | April 12 | April 3 + Robin | Mar. 7 | Feb. 26 | Feb. 24 | Mar. 9 + Bluebird | Mar. 8 | Feb. 23 | Feb. 17 | Mar. 9 + -------------------+----------+----------+----------+--------- + +Another fact of great interest which bears on the south-to-north +movement of migrating birds, and which these observations very clearly +brought out, was the earlier appearance of individuals of various +species at points nearer the river, the first arrival of the same +species at points back from the river being, in many instances, +several days later. The first report of the arrival of a given species +usually came from a low, marshy tract of land immediately bordering +the western shore of the Delaware. The second report came from a +locality several miles back of the eastern shore of the river, but +situated in the low plain of the river valley and within tide-water +limits. The third report came from a place some miles back from the +river on the uplands, but near the head of a stream emptying into the +Delaware from the west. The last two places to report arrivals were +situated farther up the river and some distance back from it. All this +confirms the general idea that in migrating most, if not all, of the +various land birds follow river valleys and invade the upland +districts, lying back from either side, by way of the smaller +tributaries. + +The fact of greatest importance resulting from these observations was +that relating to temperature. It was found that there was always a +marked increase in the number of individuals of a given species +following a warm wave of temperature as marked by a decided rise of +the thermometer. The following graphic representation, based on the +abundance from day to day of three common and easily observed +species--the brown thrasher, chipping sparrow, and flicker--affords an +interesting illustration of the relative movements of the two waves. +It will be understood that the numbers in the extreme left-hand column +refer to the relative abundance of individuals of the three species +collectively. The inside column refers to temperature. The period of +observation was twenty days, as shown by the line across the top of +the figure.[11] + +[Illustration: A, migration; B, temperature.] + +The advent of spring is marked by the northward progression of the +isotherm of 42.8° F., which is the initial temperature required to +awaken the dormant reproductive and germinating activities in animals +and plants. With the gradual invasion of the United States, from the +south northward, by temperatures above this, there passes over the +different regions the ever-old but ever-new panorama of the spring +with its opening blossoms, its unfolding green, and its waves of +migrating birds. The restlessness produced by the periodic development +of the reproductive function under the stimulus of increased +temperature causes the highly organized bird life to spread out from +its winter quarters, wherever those may be, and follow the zone of new +green that steadily widens northward with its increase of food supply +in the form of myriads of insects. The comparative regularity in the +recurrence of this phenomenon year after year is attested by the +observations just noted. Each species has a certain, definite +physiological relation to temperature, and its migratory movement +toward the breeding ground is determined by the movement of the +isotherm of this temperature. Just as warm a spell of weather may +occur in early April as in the first week of May, but it does not +represent the permanent summer rise; and the majority of the warblers, +the catbird, the tanager, the rose-breasted grosbeak, the two species +of oriole, the vireos, and the kingbird, are rarely if ever seen in +abundance in the Delaware Valley before the 1st of May. The migratory +movement of such species is as regular as any other periodic +phenomenon in Nature. + +It is hard to realize the enormous multitude of birds that form a +so-called "wave." During the whole period of migration there is a +general northward movement of all the migratory species, but under the +influence of warm spells of weather this more or less uniform movement +rises into a vast wavelike sweep of birds. These bird waves, as +already noted, _follow_ the rise of temperature appearing at any given +locality about a day or two after the first day of the warm spell. +Many species of land birds migrate at night--such, for example, as the +orioles, tanagers, warblers, vireos, wrens, the majority of the +finches, the woodpeckers, and the thrushes, excepting the robin. +During the passing of one of the May waves the darkness overhead is +alive with flying birds. One may stand for hours at a time and hear +the incessant chirping and twittering of hundreds of birds calling to +one another through the night as though to keep from getting +separated. The great mass of individuals are probably guided by these +call notes. + +The usually accepted notion that birds migrate from south to north in +traveling to their breeding grounds is largely true of shore birds and +waterfowl, but among many of the species of land birds conditions of +topography tend to deflect a direct northward movement. The Atlantic +coast plain, reaching up into southern New Jersey, and the Mississippi +basin, each offers a broad south-to-north highway for birds leaving +the Gulf shores of the United States on their northward journey in the +spring. A great majority of species find in the wilderness of the +Appalachian highland, from the Catskills to Georgia, breeding grounds +quite as well adapted to their needs as the forests of Maine and +Canada. Large numbers of birds, according to their regional relations, +will constantly turn from the Atlantic coast plain up the numerous +rivers, which become great highways of migration, leading to the +highlands. The northward movement has thus a large westerly deflection +on the Atlantic slope of the middle United States. It is also quite +certain that many birds winter in favorable localities on the Atlantic +coast plain much farther north than is generally supposed. This is +especially true of the holly thickets among the coastwise sand dunes +of southern New Jersey and the cedar swamps and pine barrens in the +vicinity of Cape May. Many of the finches, the marsh wrens, +red-winged blackbirds, meadow larks, thrashers, and myrtle warblers +are frequently seen in these localities through the winter. I spent +one first day of February some years ago among the dunes below +Atlantic City, N. J. At Philadelphia that morning it was bleak winter +weather, but two hours later we found ourselves in a warm expanse of +sunlight on the seaward beaches. The balmy air was filled with bird +notes, and the holly thickets and bay bushes fairly swarmed with +myrtle warblers. It seems to be a fact that many birds thus make +comparatively short migratory movements between the seacoast plain and +the mountains, up and down the river valleys. + +The phenomenon of the migrating bird has always appealed in a +wonderful manner to the human mind. The guiding geographical sense +that all animals, and wild animals and birds in particular, possess is +peculiarly attractive to men of civilized society, because they have +largely lost this same natural instinct of direction, and now look +upon it in wonderment. Birds have very sure landmarks; their senses +are keen for noting features of topography. They undoubtedly know the +Potomac, the Susquehanna, the Delaware, the Hudson, and the +Connecticut, and never confuse one with another. They know to which +side the sea lies and that the rivers flow down from a wild, wooded +region where there are plenty of food and the best possible places to +raise their young. All these facts get fixed in their brains. The +bird's brain-cell structure is built on these lines and is only +waiting to get the impressions of the first migratory experience. They +keep in with one another, follow their chirpings in the night, learn +to tell the Hudson from the Delaware, or where this or that stretch of +woodland lies, just as they learned when first out of the nest how to +tell good from bad sorts of food, or how to find their way about the +home woods, and that an owl or a fox was an undesirable acquaintance. +In the fall migration the young birds follow the older ones in the +general movement southward, and are often belated, showing that the +impulse to leave their birthplaces is forced upon them, rather from +necessity than choice, and is not the well-developed instinct +impressed by former experience which their elders seem to possess. The +old birds who have bred and reared these young ones set the example of +early departure which the birds of the year through inexperience are +tardy in appreciating. The habit waits upon experience. + +Each year, from midwinter, when the first warmth of advancing sunlight +calls to the sleeping life, on to the first fervid heat of the +reproductive summer, we have the joyous pageant of the spring. This +steady waxing of the new light appealed to the pagan mind of western +Europe with a far deeper sense than the modern mind can appreciate. To +our rude ancestors it was the goddess Eástre, bountiful in her gift +of warmth and the magic of reproductive life, that each year came with +the light to drive away the frost giants. And with the goddess, whom +we still love to picture as a maiden tripping lightly through the +budding groves in her wind-blown garments, came the birds. It was the +cuckoo that brought the summer with "daisies pied and violets blue," +and to-day, when its voice is heard for the first time in the year, +every one knows that summer has come again to the hedgerows of England +and the lands of the Rhine. So with us across the Atlantic, summer +comes when the catbird first pours out its babel of sweet notes in +green woodland ways and the tangled nooks of old gardens. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[10] The Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Prepared under +the direction of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club. By Witmer +Stone. Philadelphia, 1894. + +[11] Stone. The Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. + + + + +GUESSING, AS INFLUENCED BY NUMBER PREFERENCES. + +BY F. B. DRESSLAR. + + +About two years ago a certain progressive clothing company of Los +Angeles, California, procured a very large squash--so large, indeed, +as to attract much attention. This they placed uncut in a window of +their place of business, and advertised that they would give one +hundred dollars in gold to the one guessing the number of seeds it +contained. In case two or more persons guessed the correct number, the +money was to be divided equally among them. The only prerequisite for +an opportunity to guess was that the one wishing to guess should walk +inside and register his name, address, and his guess in the notebook +kept for that purpose. + +The result of this offer was that 7,700 people registered guesses, and +but three of these guessed 811, the number of seeds which the squash +contained. + +It occurred to me that a study of these guesses would reveal some +interesting number preferences, if any existed, for the conditions +were unusually favorable for calling forth naïve and spontaneous +results, there being no way of approximating the number of seeds by +calculation, and very little or no definite experience upon which to +rely for guidance. It seemed probable, therefore, that the guesses +would cover a wide range, and by reason of this furnish evidence of +whatever number preference might exist. It is undoubtedly safe to +assume, too, that the guesses made were honest attempts to state as +nearly as possible best judgments under conditions given; but even if +some of the guesses were more or less facetiously made, the data would +be equally valuable for the main purpose in hand. + +According to the theory of probability, had there been no preference +at all for certain digits or certain combinations of digits within +the limits of the guesses, one figure would occur about as often as +another in units' or tens' place. It was argued, therefore, that any +marked or persistent variation from such regularity in such a great +number of cases would reveal what might be termed an unconscious +preference for such numbers or digits for these places. + +The purpose of this study, then, was to determine whether or not there +existed in the popular mind, under the conditions offered, any such +preferences. + +After the very arduous and tedious task of collating and classifying +all the guesses for men and women separately had been done, the +following facts appeared: + +In the first place, marked preference is shown for certain digits both +for units' and tens' places. This statement is based on a study of the +6,863 guesses falling below one thousand. Of these, 4,238 were made by +men and 2,625 were made by women. By tabulations of the digits used in +units' place by both men and women, the following facts have been +determined: 800 used 9, while but 374 used 8; 1,070 used 7, and 443 +preferred 6; 881 used 5, and only 295 preferred 4; 862 chose 3, while +331 used 2; 577 ended with 1, while 1,230 preferred 0 as the last +figure. + +A tabulation of the figures used in tens' place shows, save in the +case of 2 and 3, where 2 is used oftener than 3, the same curious +preferences, but in a much less marked degree. To go into detail, 850 +chose 9 for tens' place, while 559 took 8; 907 used 7, while only 637 +selected 6; 748 took 5, while only 536 used 4; 601 used 3, and 634 +chose 2; 728 used 1, as against 872 who used 0. + +Were it not that the selections here in the main correspond with the +preferences shown in units' place, the significance of these figures +would be much less important; but the evidence here can not wholly be +ignored when taken in connection with the facts obtained in the +preferences shown in the case of the figures occupying units' place. + +We are enabled, then, as a result of the study of these guesses, to +say that under the conditions offered, aside from a preference of 0 +over 1 to end the numbers selected, digits representing odd numbers +are conspicuously preferred to those representing even numbers. How +far this will hold under other conditions can not now be stated, but +the facts here observed are of such a nature as to suggest the +possibility of an habitual tendency in this direction. However, +further investigations can alone determine whether or not this bias +for certain numbers is potent in a general way. + +The curve on the next page, exhibiting the results noted above, shows +at a glance the marked and persistent preference for the odd numbers. + +It will be noticed that of the digits preferred, 7 surpasses any of +the others. Not only, then, do we tend to select an odd number for +units' place when the guess ranges between one and a thousand, but of +these digits 7 is much preferred. In connection with this fact one +immediately recalls all he has heard about 7 as a sacred number, and +its professed significance in the so-called "occult sciences." I think +one is warranted in saying from an introspective point of view that +there is a shadow of superstition present in all attempts at pure +guessing. There appears to be some unexpressed feeling of lucky +numbers or some mental easement when one unreasoned position is taken +rather than any other. + +[Illustration: CHOICE OF DIGITS IN TENS' AND UNITS' PLACES (MEN AND +WOMEN). + +Vertical distance shows the number of times the figure on the +horizontal line immediately below was used.] + +It is impossible on the evidence furnished by this study to give more +than hints at the probable reason for the preference here indicated. +But it is worth while to glance backward to earlier conditions, when +the scientific attitude toward all the facts of life and mind was far +more subordinated to supernatural interpretations than it is to-day. +In this way we may catch a thread which still binds us to habits +formed in the indefinite past. + +The Greeks considered the even numbers as representative of the +feminine principle, and as belonging and applying to things +terrestrial. To them the odd numbers were endowed with a masculine +virtue, which in time was strengthened into supernatural and celestial +qualities. The same belief was prevalent among the Chinese. With them +even numbers were connected with earthly things, partaking of the +feminine principle of Yang. Odd numbers were looked upon as proceeding +out of the divine and endued with the masculine principle. Thirty was +called the number of earth, because it was made up by the addition of +the even numbers 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. On the other hand, 25, the sum of +the five odd numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9, was called the number of +heaven. + +It is generally true that, as lower peoples developed the need of +numbers and the power to use them, certain of these numbers came to be +surrounded with a superstitious importance and endued with certain +qualities which led at once to numerical preferences more or less +dominant in all their thinking connected with numbers. + +It would certainly be unjustifiable to conclude from the evidence at +hand that the preferences shown in the guesses under consideration are +directly traceable to some such superstition; and yet one can scarcely +prevent himself from linking them vaguely together. Especially is this +true when some consideration is given to a probable connecting link as +shown in our modern superstitious notions. I have found through a +recent study of these superstitions that where numbers are introduced, +the odd are used to the almost complete exclusion of the even. For +example, I have collected and tabulated a series of more than sixty +different superstitions using odd numbers, and have found but four +making use of the even. Besides these specific examples there are many +more which in some form or another express the belief that odd numbers +have some vital relation with luck both good and bad. + +It would be impossible to define precisely or even approximately just +what sort of a mental state the word "luck" stands for, but one +element in its composition is a more or less naïve belief in +supernatural and occult influences which at one time work for and at +another time against the believer. In its more pronounced forms, the +belief in luck lifts itself into a sort of a blind dependence upon +some ministering spirit which interposes between rational causes and +their effects. In a way one may say that the more or less vague and +shadowy notions of luck which float in the minds of people to-day are +but the emaciated and famishing forms of a once all-embracing +superstition, and that these shadows possess a potency over life and +action oftentimes beyond our willingness to believe. + +There is another interesting and somewhat curious thing to be noticed +in connection with these guesses. There is a persistent tendency to +the duplication of digits, or, if one thinks of the numbers as at +first conceived in terms of language, a tendency to alliteration. For +example, the numbers 111, 222, 333, 444, 555, 666, 777, 888, and 999 +occur oftener by sixty-seven per cent than any other combination +possible in the tens thus represented. That is to say, other things +equal, one would have a right to expect 334 or 332 to occur as often +as 333. But the fact is, in this particular case, 333 occurred +forty-eight times, while the other two put together occurred only +three times. Here, however, we have the combined influence of the +preference for the odd over the even and the digital sequence. Still, +if we select 444, we find that this number, made up though it is of +three digits in general least selected of all, the preference for +alliterative effect is strong enough to make the number occur 28 times +to 14 times for both 443 and 445. If we take 777, we find that it was +used more times than all the other combinations from 770 to 779 +inclusive, put together. + +Therefore, under conditions similar to those presented for these +guesses, one would be safe to expect these duplicative or alliterative +numbers to occur much oftener than any other single number in the +series. + +It would evidently be unsafe to generalize upon the basis of this +study, notwithstanding the large number of guesses considered. +However, it seems to me that the results here obtained at least +suggest a field of inquiry which promises interesting returns. If it +be true, as here suggested, that odd numbers are preferred by +guessers, advantage could be taken of this preference in many ways. +Furthermore, as I suspect, it may be that this probable preference +points to a habit of mind which more or less influences results not +depending strictly on guessing. It has been shown, for example, that +the length of criminal sentences has been largely affected by +preferences for 5 or multiples of 5--that is to say, where judges have +power to fix the length of sentence within certain limits, there is a +strong probability that they will be influenced in their judgments by +the habitual use of 5 or its multiples. Here it would seem that +unconscious preference overrides what one has a right to consider the +most careful and impartial judgments possible, based upon actual and +well-digested data.[12] + +Another thing is noticeable in these guesses. The consciousness of +number beyond 1,000 falls off very rapidly. The difference in the +values of 1,000 and 1,500 seems to have had less weight with the +guessers than a difference of 50 had at any place below 1,000. And so, +in a way, 1,000 seems to mark the limit of any sort of definite mental +measurement. This fact is more and more emphasized as the numbers +representing the guesses increase until one can see there exists +absolutely no conception of the value of numbers. For example, many +guessed 1,000,000, while several guessed more than 10,000,000. +Guessing means, with many people, no attempt at any sort of reasonable +measurement, but rather an attempt to express their guess in such a +way as to afford them the greatest amount of mental relief. And this +relief can not be wholly accomplished without satisfying number +preferences. Therefore, guessing is likely to exhibit, in a greater or +less degree, some habitual lines of preference subject to +predetermination. It may be that much practical advantage has been +taken of these facts in games of chance where number selections play +an important part. + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[12] See H. Le Poer. Influence of Number in Criminal Sentences. +Harper's Weekly, May 14, 1896. + + + + +CONCERNING WEASELS. + +BY WILLIAM E. CRAM. + + +[Illustration: A Weasel standing on the ground] + +Why is it that while popular fancy has attributed all sorts of uncanny +and supernatural qualities to owls and cats, and that no ghost story +or tale of horrid murder has been considered quite complete without +its rat peering from some dark corner, or spider with expanded legs +suddenly spinning down from among the rafters, no such grewsome +association has ever attached itself to the weasels, creatures whose +every habit and characteristic would seem to suggest something of the +sort? Now, fond as I am of cats, I should never think of denying that +they are uncanny creatures, to say the least. But, suppose it was the +custom of our domestic tabbies to vanish abruptly or even gradually on +occasion, like the Cheshire cat after its interview with Alice, that +would at least furnish some excuse for the general prejudice against +them, but would really be no more than some of our commonest weasels +do whenever it serves their purpose. I remember one summer afternoon I +was trout-fishing along a little brook that ran between pine-covered +hills. As I lay stretched on the bank at the foot of a great maple I +saw a weasel run along in the brush fence some distance away. A few +seconds later he was standing on the exposed root of the tree hardly a +yard from my eyes. I lay motionless and examined the beautiful +creature minutely, till suddenly I found myself staring at the smooth +greenish-gray root of the maple with no weasel in sight. Judging from +my own experience, I should say that this is the usual termination of +any chance observations of either weasels or minks. + +Occasionally they may be seen to dart into the bushes or behind some +log or projecting bank, but much more frequently they vanish with a +suddenness that defies the keenest eyesight. + +[Illustration: A weasel lying on a branch] + +In all probability this vanishing is accomplished by extreme rapidity +of motion, but if this is the case then the creature succeeds in doing +something utterly impossible to any other warm-blooded animal of its +size. Mice, squirrels, and some of the smaller birds are all of them +swift enough at times, but except in the case of the humming bird none +of them, I believe, succeed in accomplishing the result achieved by +the weasels. The humming bird, in spite of its small size, leaves us a +pretty definite impression of the direction it has taken when it darts +away; but when a mink, half a yard in length and weighing several +pounds, stands motionless before one with his dark coat conspicuous +against almost any background, and the next instant is gone without a +rustle or the tremor of a blade of grass, it leaves one with an +impression of witchcraft difficult to dispel; and best appreciated +when one sees it for one's self. Nor is the everyday life of the +weasel quiet or commonplace; his one object in life apparently is to +kill, first to appease his hunger, then to satisfy his thirst for warm +blood, and after that for the mere joy of killing. + +[Illustration: A white weasel] + +The few opportunities I have had for observing these animals have +never shown them occupied in any other way, nor can any hint of +anything different be gained from the various writers on the subject, +while accounts of their attacking and even killing human beings in a +kind of blind fury are too numerous and apparently well authenticated +to be entirely ignored. These attacks are said usually to be made by a +number of weasels acting in concert, and the motive would appear to be +revenge for some injury done to one of their number. There seems to be +something peculiar about the entire family of weasels. The American +sable or pine marten is said to have strange ways that have puzzled +naturalists and hunters for years. In the wilderness no amount of +trapping has any effect on their numbers, nor do they show any +especial fear of man or his works, occasionally even coming into +lumber camps at night and being especially fond of old logging roads +and woods that have been swept by fire; but at the slightest hint of +approaching civilization they disappear, not gradually, but at once +and forever, and the woods know them no more. If there is anything in +the theory of the survival of the fittest, why is it that not one +marten has discovered that, like other animals of its size, it could +manage to live comfortably enough in the vicinity of man? The mink and +otter still follow the course of every brook and river and manage to +avoid the keen eyes of the duck hunter, while for six months in the +year their paths are sprinkled with steel traps set either especially +for them or for the more plebeian muskrat. If a pair of sables could +be persuaded to take up their quarters in some parts of New England +they could travel for dozens of miles through dark evergreen woods +with hollow and decaying trees in abundance, while at present there +are almost no traps set in a manner that need disturb creatures of +their habits. Partridges, rabbits, and squirrels, which form their +principal food, are nearly if not quite as abundant as before the +country was settled, so that it would certainly not require any very +decided change of habits to enable them to exist, but evidently the +root of the matter goes deeper than that, and, like some tribes of +Indians, it is impossible for them to multiply or flourish except in +the primeval forest. + +[Illustration: A weasel on the ground] + +The common weasel or ermine, which is the only kind I have seen +hereabouts, would seem to have everything on its side in the struggle +for existence, and when one happens to be killed by some larger +inhabitant of the woods it must be due entirely to its own +carelessness. Nevertheless, they do occasionally fall victims to owls +and foxes, and I once shot a red-tailed hawk that was in the act of +devouring one. Still, these casualties among weasels are probably few +and far between. Fortunately, however, they never increase to any +great extent. Occasionally in the winter the snow for miles will be +covered with their tracks all made in a single night, and then for +weeks not a track is to be seen; but usually they prefer to hunt +alone, each having its beat a mile or more in length, over which it +travels back and forth throughout the season, passing any given point +at intervals of two or three days. This habit of keeping to the same +route instead of wandering at random about the woods is +characteristic of the family, the length of the route depending to a +certain extent on the size of the animal. The mink is usually about a +week in going his rounds, and may cover a dozen miles in that time, +while the otter is generally gone a fortnight or three weeks. When it +is possible the ermine prefers to follow the course of old tumble-down +stone walls, and lays its course accordingly. In favorable districts +he is able to keep to these for miles together, squeezing into the +smallest crevices in pursuit of mice or chipmunks. All the weasels +travel in a similar manner--that is, by a series of leaps or bounds in +such a way that the hind feet strike exactly in the prints made by the +fore paws, so that the tracks left in the snow are peculiar and bear a +strong family resemblance. On soft snow the slender body of the ermine +leaves its imprint extending from one pair of footprints to the next, +and as these are from four to six feet apart, or even more, the +impression left in the snow is like the track of some extremely long +and slender serpent with pairs of short legs at intervals along its +body. I have said that the ermine is the only true weasel I have found +in this vicinity, but this is not strictly true, at least I hope not. +One winter I repeatedly noticed the tracks of an exceedingly large +weasel--so very large, in fact, that I was almost forced to believe +them to be those of a mink. The impression of its body in the snow was +quite as large as that made by a small mink, but the footprints +themselves were smaller, and the creature appeared to avoid the water +in a manner quite at variance with the well-known habits of its more +amphibious cousin, while, unlike the common weasel, it never followed +stone walls or fences. I put my entire mind to the capture of the +little beast, and set dozens of traps, but it was well along in the +month of March before I succeeded. It proved to be a typical specimen +of the Western long-tailed weasel, though I can find no account of any +other having been taken east of the Mississippi. Its entire length was +about eighteen inches; the tail, which was a little over six, gave the +effect at first glance of being tipped with gray instead of black, but +a closer inspection showed that the black hairs were confined to the +very extremity and were partly concealed by the overlying white ones; +the rest of the fur was white, with a slight reddish tinge, and much +longer and coarser than that of an ermine. Since then I have +occasionally seen similar tracks, but have not succeeded in capturing +a second specimen. In all probability the least weasel is also to be +found here if one has the patience to search carefully enough; none, +however, have come under my observation as yet. All the small weasels +that I have seen have proved on close inspection to be young ermines +with thickly furred black-tipped tails; in the least weasel the tail +is thinly covered with short hair and without any black whatever. Late +in the autumn or early in the winter the ermine changes from +reddish-brown to white, sometimes slightly washed with greenish-yellow +or cream color, and again as brilliantly white as anything in Nature +or art; the end of the tail, however, remains intensely black, and at +first thought might be supposed to make the animal conspicuous on the +white background of snow, but in reality has just the opposite effect. +Place an ermine on new-fallen snow in such a way that it casts no +shadow, and you will find that the black point holds your eye in spite +of yourself, and that at a little distance it is quite impossible to +follow the outline of the weasel itself. Cover the tail with snow, and +you can begin to make out the position of the rest of the animal, but +as long as the tip of the tail is in sight you see that and that only. +The ptarmigan and northern hare also retain some spot or point of dark +color when they take on their winter dress, and these dark points +undoubtedly serve the same purpose as in the case of the ermine. + +[Illustration: A weasel catching a bird] + +An old hunter, one of the closest observers of Nature I have ever +known, once told me that female minks hibernated in winter in the same +manner as bears, though it was his belief that, unlike the bears, they +never brought forth their young at that season. At first I refused to +take the slightest stock in what he said; the whole thing appeared so +absurd and so utterly at variance with the teachings of those +naturalists who have made the closest possible study of the habits of +minks. Since then, however, I have kept my eyes open for any hint that +might have the slightest bearing on the subject, and to my surprise +have found many things that would seem to point to the correctness of +the old hunter's theory. To begin with, he said that late in the +winter he had repeatedly known female minks to make their appearance +from beneath snow that had lain undisturbed for days or even weeks, +the tracks apparently beginning where he first observed them, the +difference in size between the two sexes being sufficient to make it +easy to distinguish between their tracks at a glance; and, moreover, +since he first began trapping he had noticed that while the sexes were +about equally abundant in the autumn, the females always became very +scarce at the approach of winter and remained so until spring, when +they suddenly increased in numbers and became much the more abundant +of the two. + +[Illustration: A weasel on a log] + +This is also the experience of trappers in general, and may be +verified by any one who cares to take the trouble to look into the +matter. Evidently no one has ever discovered a mink in a state of +hibernation; at any rate, no such case appears ever to have been +reported; but this does not necessarily prove that it is not a regular +habit among them. + +The cry of the mink is seldom heard, even in places where they are +fairly abundant, as they have evidently learned that the greatest +safety lies in silence. It is a peculiarly shrill, rattling, +whistlelike scream, that can be heard at a considerable distance. + + + + +CARE OF THE THROAT AND EAR. + +BY W. SCHEPPEGRELL, A. M., M. D., + +PRESIDENT WESTERN OPTHALMOLOGIC AND OTO-LARYNGOLOGIC ASSOCIATION, NEW +ORLEANS, LA. + + +Hygiene is that branch of medical science which relates to the +preservation and improvement of the health. As the prevention of +disease is more important than its cure--in fact, superior to all +methods for its cure--this is a subject which demands our most earnest +attention. Hygiene is not limited to the preservation and improvement +of the health of the individual, but includes that of whole +communities. As, however, the health of a community depends upon the +state of the health of the various families composing it, and this +again of its members, the proper understanding of the hygienic laws by +each individual is of the utmost importance. + +For some reason, however, the subject of hygiene or the prevention of +disease does not create the enthusiasm caused by methods advocated for +its cure. A Koch, who publishes to the world a supposed means of +curing tuberculosis, or a Behring, who introduces the serum therapy of +diphtheria, arouses an interest which is limited only by the four +corners of the world. The modest worker in sanitation, however, who +explains the means of the development of these diseases, and the +conditions and laws by means of which they may be prevented, is looked +upon without interest and frequently with disfavor. But in spite of +these conditions, the laws of hygiene are gradually becoming more +farspread, and their influence is felt more with each advancing year. + +The nose, throat, and ear are so intimately connected with the other +parts of the body that their health depends to a large extent upon the +condition of the system in general. The laws of hygiene and their +application which refer to the body in general are also applicable to +these parts, and whatever condition benefits the former will have a +useful influence on the upper respiratory passages, and, inversely, +any injurious effect will injure the health of these organs. + +The physiology of this region is of much importance. Formerly the nose +was considered principally in its relation to the organ of smell. This +is a most important function, as it is a constant sentinel over the +air we breathe and the food we eat. It is a curious circumstance that +many of the functions that are referred to the organ of taste really +belong to that of smell. In eating ice cream, for instance, the sense +of taste simply informs us that it is sweet or otherwise, but the +flavor is perceived only by the sense of smell. A proof of this is +that where this function is destroyed, all ability in this direction +disappears, and the patient thus affected will frequently complain +that his sense of taste is defective, not realizing that it is the +sense of smell which performs this act. + +The nose, however, has a much more important function to +perform--viz., in respiration. Strange to say, however, this has only +recently been realized, and it is even yet not well understood. You +have all observed that, when you had a severe "cold" which prevented +nasal breathing, the next morning the mouth and throat were dry and +parched and frequently inflamed, the voice sometimes hoarse, and there +was a general feeling of depression. While the progress of the +inflammatory process may be a factor in this, still the mechanical +obstruction of the nose from any cause whatsoever will have a similar +effect. In patients in whom, for various reasons, an artificial +opening has been made in the trachea, the air of the room has to be +heated to an almost intolerable point and saturated with moisture, or +severe bronchial inflammation will soon develop in the patient, simply +because the nose has not taken an active part in the act of +respiration. These effects, therefore, clearly demonstrate that the +nasal passages have an important function to perform in the breathing +process. Summarized in a few words, it is simply to warm, moisten, and +clean the air which we inhale. + +The healthy nostrils are anatomically and physiologically so formed +that when the current of air passes through them it will have been +freed of its mechanical impurities, warmed to within a few degrees of +the temperature of the body, and moistened to saturation. This has +been experimentally demonstrated. + +The opening of the passage of the ear into the throat has several +objects, the most important being ventilation and the adjustment of +the atmospheric equilibrium. This passage leads outward until it +enters the cavity of the middle ear, which is closed by the drum on +the outside, thus separating it from the external canal of the ear. We +know that atmospheric pressure varies at different times and in +different altitudes. It is much less, for instance, at the top of a +mountain than at the seaside. The opening into the throat allows the +air to enter, and adjusts the atmospheric pressure within the ear to +these various external conditions. Those of you who have ascended +Lookout Mountain by means of the incline cable car may have noticed +the adjustment taking place by a peculiar click when different +altitudes were reached. + +So intimately are the nose, throat, and ear connected that it is +unusual to find one affected to any considerable extent without the +others being involved. While the rules of hygiene in general are +applicable to the nose, throat, and ear, there are certain special +conditions which deserve consideration. One of the most common causes +of injurious effects to the nose, throat, and ear is the so-called +"cold." The cold in this connection is, of course, understood to be +simply the cause, the condition itself being a peculiar inflammation +of the parts concerned. As cold is so frequently a cause of diseases +of these parts, it would be well to consider under what circumstances +it develops and the best mode of prevention. + +I have often noticed that persons who suffer most frequently and +severely from colds usually insist that they exercise the greatest +care to avoid exposure. They have dressed in the warmest clothing, +wrapped the neck in the heaviest mufflers, remained in the closest +rooms, and avoided every draught, and yet they continually "take +cold." The street urchin, on the other hand, with only two or three +garments and without shoes, and who lives out of doors, suffers less +frequently from this affection. + +"Colds" have truly been called a product of modern civilization. The +trouble was rare among the aborigines and is more common among the +cultured than among the laboring classes. If we make a plant an +exotic, we must keep it in the conservatory, and even here it is not +free from danger. On the other hand, if we wish to harden it and make +it proof against atmospheric and climatic changes, we must prepare it +by judicious exposure for these conditions. The warm clothing which is +thought to be a protection against cold is frequently the most fertile +cause. It relaxes the body, moistens the skin, and the perspiration +which is induced especially prepares the unresisting body for its +attacks. This applies especially to warm covering around the neck, to +which the air has periodic access. Except in unusually severe weather, +the throat requires no more covering or protection than the face. + +The method of having only two systems of underclothing, the heavy to +be worn until it is quite warm, and _vice versa_, is also a source of +danger. There should be three changes: one of the lightest texture for +the warm weather of summer, a medium for spring and fall, and the pure +wool for winter, which in this climate need not be very heavy. +Waterproof shoes, rubbers, furs, etc., are not recommended for +customary use, and should be worn only when absolutely indicated. + +The best preventive of recurrent colds is the judicious use of the +sponge or cold shower bath. The ordinary bath should usually be of a +temperature not disagreeable to the body, but after the question of +cleanliness has been attended to, an application, either by means of a +sponge or shower, of ordinary cold water should be made. This should +be of short duration, and friction with a coarse towel follow at once. +When properly conducted, a reaction sets in so that there is no danger +from this, and the toning effect of the method is of the utmost value +in the prevention of colds. This applies, of course, only to persons +in ordinarily good health. Even in these cases there are rare +occasions in which this method is not advisable, and it may on general +principles be stated that it should not be used by persons who do not +react promptly. As stated, however, the application of cold water +should be only momentary. The daily application of cold water to the +throat and chest is also a useful practice for strengthening these +parts. + +In addition to these means there are certain injurious conditions that +it would be well to avoid. One almost universally present in large +cities is that of dust. The constant inhalation of the small particles +of sand and of organic impurities of which dust is composed has an +irritating effect on the delicate lining of the nose and throat, which +may develop a chronic inflammation, resulting in injury to both the +throat and ear. This evil, however, can be prevented by the artificial +watering of our streets. + +Excessive tobacco smoking produces injurious effects in the nose and +throat. Of all forms of smoking, the cigarette is the most injurious, +and allowing the smoke to pass through the nostrils the most +dangerous. Occasionally ladies inhale the smoke of a closed room +where the male members of the household are smoking, and this is +injurious to a delicate throat. + +Loud and excessive talking is sometimes a factor in throat diseases. +The former is more apt to be exercised in transit in our steam or +electric cars, and members of the theatrical profession realize this +so well that they rarely use their voice while traveling. In excessive +talking, in addition to the mechanical wear and tear of the throat, +the respiration is usually spasmodic, a combination that is likely to +lead to evil results. At puberty, when the voices of boys and girls +are changing, the former sometimes almost an octave and the latter +usually a note or two, special care should be taken of the voice, and +singing or vocal exercises should be discontinued until the change has +been finally established. + +The effect of singing on the throat is of much interest, but it is one +of such an extensive character that it can be only casually referred +to here. The exercise required in singing improves the healthy throat +in the same manner that exercise benefits the body in general. The +diseased throat, however, may be injured by this practice, as no form +of vocal culture can remedy a mechanical interference in its action. +The method of singing is also of the utmost importance; an erroneous +one may not only injure a promising voice, but may also have a bad +effect on a normal throat. The subject of register requires careful +consideration. The placing of the voice in the wrong register is +fruitful of evil; the ambition of the singer to reach a few notes +higher or lower than her range may also work severe injury to the +throat. + +The throat may be improved or strengthened by any of the forms of +exercise, especially the out-of-door, which have been advised for the +health in general. In addition to this, breathing exercises are of +special value. These consist of taking deep inhalations through the +nose, holding the breath for a few seconds and then gently expiring +it, the body in the meanwhile being free from all restraint from tight +clothing. The practice of this exercise for five minutes mornings and +evenings will have a remarkable effect in developing the chest and +throat. + +In order to anticipate serious complications, children should be +taught to allow their mothers to examine their throats freely and +without resistance. I feel especially the importance of this subject, +as I have frequently seen children almost sacrificed on account of the +nervous dread of having their throats examined, or by their inability +to control themselves. The method is exceedingly simple: the child is +placed facing a bright window, and the handle of a spoon placed on the +tongue and so depressed that the posterior part of the throat can be +distinctly seen. At first this may be difficult, but the child soon +becomes accustomed to the manipulation and the throat may then be +examined without difficulty. Another advantage of this procedure is +that the mother becomes familiar with the normal appearance of the +throat, and can easily note any change due to disease. + +In view of the important function of the nose in warming, cleaning, +and moistening the inspired air, the greatest care should be taken to +teach children to breathe through the nostrils. When only a portion of +the air enters through the mouth, the irritation is not as marked as +when all the air is inhaled in this manner, but it nevertheless +develops a condition of chronic irritation which is easily recognized +by one familiar with its appearance, and which may lead to important +complications. In many cases, mouth breathing is not due to habit, but +to some obstruction in the nostrils or throat. These cases form a +proper subject for the consideration of the physician. After the +removal of any existing obstruction, children will sometimes, from +force of habit, continue to breathe through the mouth, but this can +usually be overcome by attention and firmness on the part of the +parents. + +The prevention of grave throat diseases, such as diphtheria, +necessarily forms a subject of much interest to the public in general +and to mothers in particular. The causation of this disease has been +much cleared up in later years, and we now know that the important +factor is a bacillus--a small organism of the vegetable kingdom--which +is the cause of this disease and a necessary material for its +propagation. Bacteriologic investigations have shown that the +so-called "membranous croup" is in by far the largest number of cases +identical with diphtheria, and the same precautions which apply to the +latter should therefore also be carried out in this disease. + +As diphtheria is strictly an infectious disease, and one which must be +directly or indirectly contracted from a similar case, there is no +sanitary reason why this dreaded malady in the course of time should +not be entirely eliminated from the earth. In view of the fact that +diphtheria is so frequently present in our larger cities, this may +appear at present a Utopian idea. It is not so many years ago, +however, when smallpox was almost universal, and yet we now but rarely +have it in our midst. Not only is this the case, but the health +authorities are severely criticised when a number of these cases +exist, as indicating that there has been a lack of watchfulness in +carrying out certain well-known means of prevention. + +While we have at the present time no means of inoculation that will +permanently protect against infection from diphtheria, still it is not +of such an infectious character as smallpox, as the cases are usually +limited to children, and its spread may therefore be more easily +prevented. Not only should children who have had diphtheria be +prevented from returning to school until infection is no longer +possible, but other children of the same household should also be kept +at home. A few years ago a certain school in this city was rarely +without a case of diphtheria among its pupils for many months. I am +convinced that had the principal of the school or the parents insisted +upon the other children of the infected household remaining at home, +the spread in this direction would have been arrested and much +suffering avoided. + +When a patient has recovered from diphtheria, thorough disinfection is +a most important measure. Unfortunately, however, many persons +consider it a hardship if articles which can not be disinfected are +destroyed, and many will even use every endeavor to prevent the +representatives of the Board of Health from carrying out their +regulations. In this way the germ of the disease remains on the +premises, and under suitable conditions again finds another victim in +the household. To illustrate this, I recall an instance some years ago +in which I was called in consultation to see a most malignant case of +diphtheria. The little patient fortunately recovered, and the premises +were thoroughly disinfected, the parents being anxious to avoid any +repetition of the dreaded malady. Five months later, however, a +younger child became ill, and was found to have diphtheria. In view of +the vigorous efforts which had been made to disinfect the house +thoroughly, and of the fact that the child could not have contracted +it elsewhere, not having left its home for several weeks, the cause at +first appeared a mystery. Careful inquiry, however, soon elicited a +fact which clearly explained the case. The first patient had used a +mouth-organ just before its illness, and when this was abandoned, the +toy was carelessly thrown on the top of a bookcase, the nature of the +child's illness at the time not being known. The second child, just +before its illness, had accidentally found this toy and used it +frequently. This experience explains the necessity of disinfection in +all its details, and also illustrates the tenacious character of the +germ which produces this disease. + +Our knowledge of the specific cause of scarlet fever is not as +complete as that of diphtheria, but we have much useful information +which is of importance from a hygienic standpoint. As in diphtheria, +the specific poison is probably produced in the throat of the patient, +and may therefore be spread by the dried secretion from the mouth and +throat. The most common means of contagion, however, is the skin, +which peels off in the later stage of the disease, infection being +produced by the inhalation into the nostrils of some of the diseased +particles. + +A predisposing factor which applies alike to diphtheria and all other +throat affections is the abnormal condition of the nose and throat. +When these important parts are in an unhealthy condition, where mouth +breathing exists and other conditions inimical to normal health, the +patient is more predisposed to all forms of maladies of this region, +and the attack when developed is more apt to be of a serious +character. The more ordinary forms of sore throat, such as tonsilitis, +are frequently due to defects in the sanitary conditions and +surroundings of the home. While modern sanitary plumbing, when +properly constructed, adds much to the convenience of the household, +it is a certain menace to all its members if, through improper +construction or defective ventilation, decomposing matter collects in +the waste pipes and vitiates the atmosphere of the rooms. Many +recurrent cases of tonsilitis are due to this cause. Even the ordinary +stationary washstands may be a source of danger, especially in the +bedroom, unless thoroughly ventilated and care exercised that the +traps are not filled with decomposing matter. A physician of large +experience in this city is so imbued with the danger of this form of +plumbing that he condemns it _in toto_. When well constructed and well +ventilated, however, they can not be the source of danger in the +household. + +Tuberculosis, which is responsible for so enormous a mortality, +frequently also affects the throat as well as the lungs. Although it +usually originates within the chest, it sometimes finds its primary +origin in the throat, and in a large percentage of cases the throat +affection forms a complication of tuberculosis of the lungs. In spite +of the numerous remedies which have been advocated for the cure of +this disease, it must be admitted that our chief reliance is in proper +nourishment and climatic effects, and that hygiene is the sheet-anchor +which will eventually rescue us from this terrible foe of the human +race. + +Recent investigations tend to prove more and more that tuberculosis is +inherited in but rare cases; that inheritance is simply a predisposing +factor, and that the real cause is infection. As an illustration of +this, all have seen instances in which there had been apparently no +cases in a family for ten or fifteen years, when from some cause one +case develops, and this is soon followed by other cases in the same +family. Whatever rôle heredity may play in these cases, this simply +shows that the first case produced the infectious material which found +a suitable soil in the other members of the family and developed a +similar disease. The inheritance theory has been the source of much +injury by causing members of the afflicted family to submit to the +apparently inevitable instead of instituting measures for its +prevention. The infectious product in tuberculosis is not the breath, +as is so frequently believed by the laity, but simply the +expectoration which comes from the diseased lungs or throat. When this +is allowed to come in contact with clothing or other material in the +room, it becomes dry and loads the atmosphere with a dust which +contains the infectious bacillus, which may cause a similar disease in +a person predisposed by heredity or sickness to this affection. + +The germ of tuberculosis is the seed, and the predisposed person the +soil, and it requires a combination of both to develop the disease. To +illustrate the necessity of suitable conditions for the development of +plants--for it is now almost universally admitted that the germ of +tuberculosis is a micro-organism which belongs to the vegetable +kingdom--I remember some years ago, while in North Europe, seeing in a +hothouse a plant which is here commonly known as the "four o'clock." +The gardener in charge of the conservatory considered it a remarkable +plant, but difficult to propagate, and stated that it was absolutely +impossible to raise it out of doors. In this part of the world, +however, we know that this plant grows so easily that once established +in a garden it is difficult to keep it within limits. In both of the +cases we have the same seed, the difference being only in the soil and +the conditions favorable for its development. The absence of either +the seed or the soil will absolutely prevent tuberculosis, and if the +laws of hygiene are properly carried out, both in destroying the seed +and in preventing the formation of a suitable soil, favorable effects +will soon be shown. + +Hygiene in regard to patients demands simply that the infectious +character of the expectoration be destroyed. The vessels for this +purpose should contain some disinfecting solution, should be cleaned +regularly, and handkerchiefs, towels, or other material with which the +expectoration has come in contact should be sterilized by being placed +for at least half an hour in boiling water. This is necessary not only +for those in the same room with the patient, but also for the patient, +as it is quite possible that a former expectoration may produce +reinfection of the patient himself. + +Another method of contracting tuberculosis is by means of animals, +such as cows, used for food and milking, which are known to be subject +to this disease. It has been shown in some localities that one cow out +of every twenty-five was affected with tubercular disease. This +suggests the importance of having competent veterinarians to examine +not only the meat which is sold, but also the cows used for milking +purposes. Where there is the slightest doubt as to the nature of the +meat or milk, the former should be thoroughly cooked and the latter +sterilized before using. + +In this connection it would be well to refer to the subject of +spitting in street cars and in public places. While this nuisance is +the subject of danger to every one in the street cars, especially in +winter, when the windows are closed and a large amount of impurities +is inhaled, it is more particularly so to ladies, whose skirts, in +spite of every care, are soiled by the filthy expectoration, thus +making them subject not only to the inhalation in the car, but also +to carrying the infectious material to their homes. + +The danger of this condition is not merely speculative. It has been +bacteriologically demonstrated that the organisms of various +contagious diseases thus find a lodging place in our cars and public +places, and experiments on animals, in which the inoculation has +developed diseases, have shown that these organisms retain their +vitality in these places and may propagate disease under favorable +conditions. + +A factor in the spread of diseases of the throat and mouth that should +not be overlooked is kissing. Unfortunately, this matter has usually +been treated with much levity, and where a sanitarian is bold enough +to condemn the habit he is frequently made the subject of all forms of +ridicule in the public press. + +The tender lining of the lips, mouth, and throat, and its large blood +supply, make it peculiarly susceptible to contagion, and I have no +doubt that the habit of kissing is responsible for many cases of +infection. Last year I noticed a lady coming from a house from which a +diphtheria flag was flying, who walked to the corner to take the +street car, when a nurse with a small child approached. The lady +without hesitation stooped down and kissed the little child. As it is +well known that a healthy person may transmit a disease without +incurring the disease himself, this lady voluntarily risked the danger +of inflicting this disease upon the innocent child. It is not an +uncommon thing for nurses to kiss the children under their charge, and +here in New Orleans even the colored nurses sometimes practice this +habit, occasionally with the permission of the parents. In fact, a +fashionable lady on one occasion told me, when I remonstrated with her +about this, that she feared to hurt the feelings of the old nurse, who +had been a valuable servant in the family for many years. + +How often this habit is productive of evil results is of course only +speculation. I recall, however, an instance in which two small +children of one family developed a specific disease which originated +in the mouth and affected the whole system. Examination proved this to +have been caused by a nurse, a white woman, who had been in the habit +of kissing the children. If women will voluntarily incur risks +by using kissing as a form of salutation in all stages of +acquaintanceship, I would at least request that the innocent children +be spared the possible consequences. + +The subject of the hygiene of the ear is so intimately connected with +conditions influencing the nose and throat, which have already been +explained, that but few words are needed to cover this part of my +subject. In general, the best care of the ear is to leave it alone. +Ear scoops are injurious; the ear should be cleaned simply on the +outside, and nothing, as a rule, should be inserted into the external +canal. I have seen many cases of abscess and the most severe +inflammation due to endeavors to clean the ear with the omnipresent +hairpin and other objects used for this purpose. The use of cotton in +the ear in general is to be condemned. It produces an artificial +condition in the outer canal of the ear which reduces its physical +resistance and makes it more liable to injury from exposure. The ear +is sometimes injured by the entrance of cold water. This happens +occasionally during ordinary bathing, but more frequently in outdoor +bathing and in swimming. In surf bathing, where the water is thrown up +with considerable force, it is much more liable to enter the external +orifice of the ear, and severe inflammation may originate from this +cause. + +Salt water has been claimed to be more injurious than fresh, but my +personal experience leads me to believe that it is more a question of +temperature than of the quality of the water. Some years ago a large +reservoir was built by an educational institute near this city, the +water, which was quite cold even in summer, being supplied by an +artesian well. The tank was used for bathing purposes, but earache +soon became so frequent among the boys that the use of the reservoir +for this purpose had to be entirely abandoned. In ordinary bathing, +the entrance of water into the ear can easily be avoided. In swimming +or surf bathing it is advisable to use a pledget of lamb's wool to +close the opening of the ears. Ordinary cotton soon becomes saturated +and is of no use in this connection, but the wool, which is slightly +oily, forms an excellent protection in these cases. + +The "running ear" is a diseased condition which should not be tampered +with by the inexperienced, but which should not be neglected. The old +idea that the child will outgrow it, or that it is a secretion of the +head which if interfered with would prove dangerous, has been fruitful +of many cases of deafness and even more serious complications. + +Another condition to which I would call your attention is the +incipient development of deafness in children. Where the capacity of +hearing is quickly lowered from the normal to fifty per cent, it is so +striking that the patient is much distressed and even confused. But +when this change takes place insidiously from day to day, it is +frequently not observed by either the patient or those around him +until it has greatly advanced. Children thus affected hear only with +difficulty and by straining certain small muscles of the ear, which +soon become fatigued, and the child becomes listless and inattentive. +I have seen numerous cases in which children have been severely +punished for inattention, when this was due to defective hearing. +Watchfulness and early attention in these cases will frequently +prevent the more serious forms of deafness. + + + + +THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE WEST INDIES. + +BY F. L. OSWALD. + + +I.--THE FAUNA OF THE ANTILLES: MAMMALS. + +The study of the geographical distribution of plants and animals has +revealed facts almost as enigmatical as the origin of life itself. +Water barriers, as broad as that of the Atlantic, have not prevented +the spontaneous spread of some species, while others limit their +habitat to narrowly circumscribed though not geographically isolated +regions. + +Tapirs are found both in the Amazon Valley and on the Malay Peninsula; +the brook trout of southern New Zealand are identical with those of +the Austrian Alps. Oaks and _Ericacea_ (heather plants) cover northern +Europe from the mouth of the Seine to the sources of the Ural; then +suddenly cease, and are not found anywhere in the vast Siberian +territories, with a north-to-south range rivaling that of all British +North America. + +But still more remarkable is the zoölogical contrast of such +close-neighborhood countries as Africa and Madagascar, or Central +America and the West Indian archipelago. The Madagascar virgin woods +harbor no lions, leopards, hyenas, or baboons, but boast not less than +thirty-five species of mammals unknown to the African continent, and +twenty-six found nowhere else in the world. + +Of a dozen different kinds of deer, abundant in North America as well +as in Asia and Europe, not a single species has found its way to the +West Indies. The fine mountain meadows of Hayti have originated no +antelopes, no wild sheep or wild goats. + +In the Cuban sierras, towering to a height of 8,300 feet, there are no +hill foxes. There are caverns--subterranean labyrinths with countless +ramifications, some of them--but no cave bears or badgers, no marmots +or weasels even, nor one of the numerous weasel-like creatures +clambering about the rock clefts of Mexico. The magnificent coast +forests of the Antilles produce wild-growing nuts enough to freight a +thousand schooners every year, but--almost incredible to say--the +explorers of sixteen generations have failed to discover a single +species of squirrels. + +The Old-World tribes of our tree-climbing relatives are so totally +different from those of the American tropics that Humboldt's traveling +companion, Bonplant, renounced the theory of a unitary center of +creation (or evolution), and maintained that South America must have +made a separate though unsuccessful attempt to rise from lemurs to +manlike apes and men. Of such as they are, Brazil alone has +forty-eight species of monkeys, and Venezuela at least thirty. How +shall we account for the fact that not one of the large West Indian +islands betrays a vestige of an effort in the same direction? + +More monkey-inviting forests than those of southern Hayti can not be +found in the tropics, but not even a marmoset or squirrel-monkey +accepted the invitation. In an infinite series of centuries not one +pair of quadrumana availed itself of the chance to cross a sea gap, +though at several points the mainland approaches western Cuba within +less than two hundred miles--about half the distance that separates +southern Asia from Borneo, where fourhanders of all sizes and colors +compete for the products of the wilderness, and, according to Sir +Philip Maitland, the "native women avoid the coast jungles for fear of +meeting Mr. Darwin's grandfather." + +The first Spanish explorers of the Antilles were, in fact, so amazed +at the apparently complete absence of quadrupeds that their only +explanation was a conjecture that the beasts of the forest must have +been exterminated by order of some native potentate, perhaps the great +Kubla Khan, whose possessions they supposed to extend _eastward_ from +Lake Aral to the Atlantic. The chronicle of Diego Columbus says +positively that San Domingo and San Juan Bautista (Porto Rico) were +void of mammals, but afterward modifies that statement by mentioning a +species of rodent, the _hutia_, or bush rat, that annoyed the +colonists of Fort Isabel, and caused them to make an appropriation for +importing a cargo of cats. + +Bush rats and moles were, up to the end of the sixteenth century, the +only known indigenous quadrupeds of the entire West Indian +archipelago, for the "Carib dogs," which Valverde saw in Jamaica, were +believed to have been brought from the mainland by a horde of +man-hunting savages. + +But natural history has kept step with the advance of other sciences, +and the list of undoubtedly aboriginal mammals on the four main +islands of the Antilles is now known to comprise more than twenty +species. That at least fifteen of them escaped the attention of the +Spanish creoles is as strange as the fact that the Castilian cattle +barons of Upper California did not suspect the existence of precious +metals, though nearly the whole bonanza region of the San Joaquin +Valley had been settled before the beginning of the seventeenth +century. But the conquerors of the Philippines even overlooked a +variety of elephants that roams the coast jungles of Mindanao. + +Eight species of those West Indian _incognito_ mammals, it is true, +are creatures of a kind which the Spanish zoölogists of Valverde's +time would probably have classed with birds--bats, namely, including +the curious _Vespertilio molossus_, or mastiff bat, and several +varieties of the owl-faced _Chilonycteris_, that takes wing in the +gloom preceding a thunderstorm, as well as in the morning and evening +twilight, and flits up and down the coast rivers with screams that +can be heard as plainly as the screech of a paroquet. The _Vespertilio +scandens_ of eastern San Domingo has a peculiar habit of flitting from +tree to tree, and clambering about in quest of insects, almost with +the agility of a flying squirrel. There are times when the moonlit +woods near Cape Rafael seem to be all alive with the restless little +creatures; that keep up a clicking chirp, and every now and then +gather in swarms to contest a tempting find, or to settle some probate +court litigation. San Domingo also harbors one species of those +prototypes of the harpies, the fruit-eating bats. It passes the +daylight hours in hollow trees, but becomes nervous toward sunset and +apt to betray its hiding place by an impatient twitter--probably a +collocution of angry comments on the length of time between meals. The +moment the twilight deepens into gloom the chatterers flop out to fall +on the next mango orchard and eat away like mortgage brokers. They do +not get fat--champion gluttons rarely do--but attain a weight of six +ounces, and the Haytian darkey would get even with them after a manner +of their own if their prerogatives were not protected by the intensity +of their musky odor. The above-mentioned _hutia_ rat appears to have +immigrated from some part of the world where the shortness of the +summer justified the accumulation of large reserve stores of food, and +under the influence of a hereditary hoarding instinct it now passes +its existence constructing and filling a series of subterranean +granaries. Besides, the females build nurseries, and all these burrows +are connected by tunnels that enable their constructors to pass the +rainy season under shelter. They gather nuts, _belotas_ (a sort of +sweet acorns), and all kinds of cereals, and with their _penchant_ for +appropriating roundish wooden objects on general principles would +probably give a Connecticut nutmeg peddler the benefit of the doubt. + +They also pilfer raisins, and a colony of such tithe collectors is a +formidable nuisance, for the _hutia_ is a giant of its tribe, and +attains a length of sixteen inches, exclusive of the tail. It is found +in Cuba, Hayti, Jamaica, Porto Rico, Antigua, Trinidad, the Isle of +Pines, Martinique, and two or three of the southern Bahama Islands, +and there may have been a time when it had the archipelago all to +itself. The Lucayans had a tradition that their ancestors found it on +their arrival from the mainland, and in some coast regions of eastern +Cuba it may still be seen basking in the sunlight-- + + "Sole sitting on the shore of old romance," + +and wondering if there are any larger mammals on this planet. + +Its next West Indian congener is the Jamaica rice rat, and there are +at least ten species of mice, all clearly distinct from any Old-World +rodent, though it is barely possible that some of them may have stolen +a ride on Spanish trading vessels from Central America. + +Water-moles burrow in the banks of several Cuban rivers, and two +genera of aquatic mammals have solved the problem of survival: the +bayou porpoise and the manatee, both known to the creoles of the early +colonial era, and vaguely even to the first discoverers, since +Columbus himself alludes to a "sort of mermaids (_sirenas_) that half +rose from the water and scanned the boat's crew with curious eyes." + +Naturally the manatee is, indeed, by no means a timid creature, but +bitter experience has changed its habits since the time when the +down-town sportsmen of Santiago used to start in sailboats for the +outer estuary and return before night with a week's supply of manatee +meat. The best remaining hunting grounds are the reed shallows of +Samana Bay (San Domingo) and the deltas of the Hayti swamp rivers. Old +specimens are generally as wary as the Prybilof fur seal that dive out +of sight at the first glimpse of a sail; still, their slit-eyed +youngsters are taken alive often enough, to be kept as public pets in +many town ponds, where they learn to come to a whistle and waddle +ashore for a handful of cabbage leaves. + +Fish otters have been caught in the lagoons of Puerto Principe +(central Cuba) and near Cape Tiburon, on the south coast of San +Domingo, the traveler Gerstaecker saw a kind of "bushy-tailed +dormouse, too small to be called a squirrel." + +But the last four hundred years have enlarged the list of indigenous +mammals in more than one sense, and the Chevalier de Saint-Méry should +not have been criticised for describing the bush dog of Hayti as a +"_canis Hispaniolanus_." Imported dogs enacted a declaration of +independence several centuries before the revolt of the Haytian +slaves, and their descendants have become as thoroughly West Indian as +the Franks have become French. A continued process of elimination has +made the survivors climate-proof and self-supporting, and above all +they have ceased to vary; Nature has accepted their modified type as +wholly adapted to the exigencies of their present habitat. And if it +is true that all runaway animals revert in some degree to the +characteristics of their primeval relatives, the ancestor of the +domestic dog would appear to have been a bush-tailed, brindle-skinned, +and black-muzzled brute, intermittently gregarious, and combining the +burrowing propensity of the fox with the co-operative hunting +_penchant_ of the wolf. + +Fourteen years of bushwhacker warfare have almost wholly exterminated +the half-wild cattle of the Cuban sierras, but the bush dog has come +to stay. The yelping of its whelps can be heard in thousands of jungle +woods and mountain ravines, both of Cuba and Hayti, and no variety of +thoroughbreds will venture to follow these renegades into the +penetralia of their strongholds. Sergeant Esterman, who shared the +potluck of a Cuban insurgent camp in the capacity of a gunsmith, +estimates the wild-dog population of the province of Santiago alone at +half a million, and predicts that in years to come their raids will +almost preclude the possibility of profitable cattle-breeding in +eastern Cuba. + +Still, the _perro pelon_, or "tramp dog," as the creoles call the +wolfish cur, is perhaps a lesser evil, where its activity has tended +to check the over-increase of another assisted immigrant. Three +hundred years ago West Indian sportsmen began to import several breeds +of Spanish rabbits, and with results not always foreseen by the +agricultural neighbors of the experimenters. Rabbit meat, at first a +luxury, soon became an incumbrance of the provision markets, and +finally unsalable at any price. Every family with a dog or a +trap-setting boy could have rabbit stew for dinner six times a week, +and load their peddlers with bundles of rabbit skins. + +The burrowing coneys threatened to undermine the agricultural basis of +support, when it was learned that the planters of the Fort Isabel +district (Hayti) had checked the evil by forcing their dogs to live on +raw coney meat. The inexpensiveness of the expedient recommended its +general adoption, and the rapidly multiplying quadrupeds soon found +that "there were others." The Spanish hounds, too, could astonish the +census reporter where their progeny was permitted to survive, and +truck farmers ceased to complain. + +In stress of circumstances the persecuted rodents then took refuge in +the highlands, where they can still be seen scampering about the +grassy dells in all directions, and the curs of the coast plain turned +their attention to _hutia_ venison and the eggs of the chaparral +pheasant and other gallinaceous birds. On the seacoast they also have +learned to catch turtles and subdivide them, regardless of +antivivisection laws. How they can get a business opening through the +armor of the larger varieties seems a puzzle, but the _canis rutilus_ +of the Sunda Islands overcomes even the dog-resisting ability of the +giant tortoise, and in Sumatra the bleaching skeletons of the victims +have often been mistaken for the mementos of a savage battle. + +Near Bocanso in southeastern Cuba the woods are alive with capuchin +monkeys, that seem to have escaped from the wreck of some South +American trading vessel and found the climate so congenial that they +proceeded to make themselves at home, like the ring-tailed colonists +of Fort Sable, in the Florida Everglades. The food supply may not be +quite as abundant as in the equatorial birthland of their species, but +that disadvantage is probably more than offset by the absence of +tree-climbing carnivora. + +Millions of runaway hogs roam the coast swamps of all the larger +Antilles, and continue to multiply like our American pension +claimants. The hunters of those jungle woods, indeed, must often smile +to remember the complaint of the early settlers that the pleasure of +the chase in the West Indian wilderness was modified by the scarcity +of four-footed game, and in the total number (as distinct from the +number of species) of wild or half-wild mammals Cuba and Hayti have +begun to rival the island of Java. + +[_To be continued._] + + + + +IRON IN THE LIVING BODY. + +BY M. A. DASTRE. + + +Iron occurs, in small and almost infinitesimal proportions, in +numerous organic structures, in which its presence may usually be +detected by the high color it imparts; and in the animal tissues is an +important ingredient, though far from being a large one. It is +essential, however, that the animal tissues, and particularly the +liquids that circulate through them, should be of nearly even weight, +else the equilibrium of the body would be too easily disturbed, and +disaster arising therefrom would be always imminent. Hence the iron is +always found combined and associated with a large accompaniment of +other lighter elements which, reducing or neutralizing its superior +specific gravity, hold it up and keep it afloat. Thus the molecule of +the red matter of the blood contains, for each atom of iron, 712 atoms +of carbon, 1,130 of hydrogen, 214 of nitrogen, 245 of oxygen, and 2 of +sulphur, or 2,303 atoms in all. Existing in compounds of so complex +composition, iron can be present only in very small proportions to the +whole. Though an essential element, there is comparatively but little +of it. The whole body of man does not contain more than one part in +twenty thousand of it. The blood contains only five ten-thousandths; +and an organ is rich in it if, like the liver, it contains one and a +half ten-thousandths. When, then, we seek to represent to ourselves +the changes undergone by organic iron, we shall have to modify +materially the ideas we have formed respecting the largeness and the +littleness of units of measure and as to the meaning of the words +abundant and rare. We must get rid of the notion that a thousandth or +even a ten-thousandth is a proportion that may be neglected. The +humble ten-thousandth, which is usually supposed not to be of much +consequence, becomes here a matter of value. Chemists working with +iron in its ordinary compounds may consider that they are doing fairly +well if they do not lose sight of more than a thousandth of it; but +such looseness would be fatal in a biological investigation, where +accuracy is necessary down to the infinitesimal fraction. The balances +of the biologists must weigh the thousandth of a milligramme, as their +microscopes measure the thousandth of a millimetre. + +The great part performed by iron in organisms, what we may call its +biological function, appertains to the chemical property it possesses +of favoring combustion, of being an agent for promoting the oxidation +of organic matters. + +The chemistry of living bodies differs from that of the laboratory in +a feature that is peculiar to it--that instead of performing its +reactions directly it uses special agents. It employs intermediaries +which, while they are not entirely unknown to mineral chemistry, yet +rarely intervene in it. If it is desired, for example, to add a +molecule of water to starch to form sugar, the chemist would do it by +heating the starch with acidulated water. The organism, which is +performing this process all the time, or after every meal, does it in +a different way, without special heating and without the acid. A +soluble ferment, a diastase or enzyme, serves as the oxidizing agent +to produce the same result. Looking at the beginning and the end, the +two operations are the same. The special agent gives up none of its +substance. It withdraws after having accomplished its work, and not a +trace of it is left. Here, in the mechanism of the action of these +soluble ferments, resides the mystery, still complete, of vital +chemistry. It may be conceived that these agents, which leave none of +their substance behind their operations, which suffer no loss, do not +have to be represented in considerable quantities, however great the +need of them may be. They only require time to do their work. The most +remarkable characteristic of the soluble ferments lies, in fact, here, +in the magnitude of the action as contrasted with infinitesimal +proportion of the agent, and the necessity of having time for the +accomplishment of the operation. + +Iron behaves in precisely the same way in the combustion of organic +substances. These substances are incapable at ordinary temperatures of +fixing oxygen directly, and will not burn till they are raised to a +high temperature; but in the presence of iron they are capable of +burning without extreme heat, and undergo slow combustion. And as iron +gives up none of its substance in the operation, and acts, as a simple +intermediary, only to draw oxygen from the inexhaustible atmosphere +and present it to the organic substance, we see that it need not be +abundant to perform its office, provided it have time enough. This +action resembles that of the soluble ferments in that there is no +mystery about it, and its innermost mechanism is perfectly known. + +Iron readily combines with oxygen--too readily, we might say, if we +regarded only the uses we make of it. It exists as an oxide in Nature; +and the metallurgy of it has no other object than to revivify burned +iron, remove the oxygen from it, and extract the metal. Of the two +oxides of iron, the ferrous, or lower one, is an energetic base, +readily combining with even the weakest acids, and forming with them +ferrous or protosalts. Ferric oxide, on the other hand, is a feeble +base, which combines only slowly with even strong acids to form ferric +salts or persalts, and not at all with weak acids like carbonic acid +and those of the tissues of living beings. It is these last, more +highly oxidized ferric compounds that provide organic substances with +the oxygen that consumes them, when, as a result of the operation, +they themselves return to the ferrous state. + +Facts of this sort are too nearly universal not to have been observed +very long ago, but they were not fully understood till about the +middle of this century. The chemists of the time--Liebig, Dumas, and +especially Schönbein, Wöhler, Stenhouse, and many others--established +the fact that ferric oxide provokes at ordinary temperatures a rapid +action of combustion on a large number of substances: grass, sawdust, +peat, charcoal, humus, arable land, and animal matter. A very common +example is the destruction of linen by rust spots; the substance of +the fiber is slowly burned up by the oxygen yielded by the oxide. +About the same time, Claude Bernard inquired whether the process took +place within the tissues, in contact with living matter in the same +way as we have just seen it did with dead matter--the remains of +organisms that had long since submitted to the action of physical +laws--and received an affirmative answer. Injecting a ferric salt into +the jugular vein of an animal, he found it excreted, deprived of a +part of its oxygen, as a ferrous salt. + +This slow combustion of organic matter, living or dead, accomplished +in the cold by iron, represents only one of the aspects of its +biological function. A counterpart to it is necessary in order to +complete the picture. It is easy to perceive that the phenomenon would +have no bearing or consequence if it was limited to this first action. +With the small provision of oxygen in the iron salt used up, and, if +reduced to the minimum of oxidation, the source of oxygen being +exhausted, the combustion of organic matter would stop. The oxidation +obtained would be insignificant, while the oxidation should be +indefinite and unlimited, and it is really so. + +There is a counterpart. The iron salt, which has gone back to the +minimum of oxidation and become a ferrous salt, can not remain long in +that state in contact with the air and with other sources of the gas +to which it is exposed. It has always been known that ferrous +compounds absorb oxygen from the air and pass into the ferric state; +we might say that we have seen it done, for the transformation is +accompanied by a characteristic change of color, by a transition from +the pale green tint of ferrous bases to the ochery or red color of +ferric compounds. + +We can understand now what should happen when the ferruginous compound +is placed in contact alternately with organic matter and oxygen. In +the former phase the iron will yield oxygen to the organic matter; in +the second phase it will take again from the atmosphere the +combustible which it has lost, and will be again where it started. The +same series of operations may be continued a second time and a third +time, and indefinitely, as long as the alternations of contact with +organic matter and exposure to atmospheric oxygen are kept up, the +iron simply performing the part of a broker. The same result will +occur if atmospheric air and organic matter are constantly together; +the consumption will continue indefinitely, and the iron will perform +the part of an intermediary till one of the elements of the process is +exhausted. + +This explanation was necessary to make clear the solution of the +mystery of slow or cool combustion, the existence of which has been +known since Lavoisier, without its mechanism being understood. That +illustrious student gave out the theory that animal heat and the +energy developed by vital action originated in the chemical reactions +of the organism, and that, on the other hand, the reactions that +produce heat consisted of simple combustions, slow combustions, that +differed only in intensity from that of the burning torch. The +development of chemistry has shown that this figure was too much +simplified from the reality, and that most of these phenomena, while +they are in the end equivalent to a combustion, differ greatly from it +in mechanism and mode of execution. By this we do not mean to say that +all the combustions are of this character, and that there do not exist +in the organism a large number of such as Lavoisier understood, and of +such as the combustions effected by the intervention of iron furnish +the type of. Lavoisier's successors, Liebig among them, tried to find +reactions conformed to this type. Their attempts were unsuccessful, +but they had the happy result of revealing, if not the real function +of iron in the blood, at least that of the red matter in which it is +fixed. + +The question of the presence of iron in the coloring matter of the +blood gave rise to long discussions. Vauquelin denied it. He made the +mistake of looking for iron in the form of a known compound, in direct +combination with the blood, while later researches have shown that it +is found almost exclusively in the red matter that tinges the +globules, in a complicated combination that escapes the ordinary +tests; or, according to a usual method of expression, it is +dissimulated. Liebig also failed to find this combination, and it was +not till 1864 that Hoppe-Seyler succeeded in obtaining it pure and +crystallized. But Liebig had already perceived its essential +properties, and was able to point out approximately its functions as +early as 1845; yet the single fact that there was no assimilation +possible between this substance and the salts of iron, cut this +question off into a kind of negative suspense. Different from these +compounds, it could not behave like them, and accomplish slow +combustions of the same type. It is a remarkable fact, and one that +illustrates well how iron preserves through all its vicissitudes some +trace of its fundamental property of favoring the action of oxygen on +substances, that this composition, so special and so different from +the salts of iron, behaves nearly as they do. While it is not of +itself an energetic combustible, it is, according to Liebig's +expression, "a transporter of oxygen"--a luminous view, which the +future was destined to confirm. Although the transportation is not +produced by the mechanism supposed by Liebig, but by another, the +general result is very much the same from the point of view of the +physiology of the blood. The coloring matter of the blood conveyed by +the globules fixes oxygen in contact with the pulmonary air, and +distributes it as it passes through the capillaries upon the tissues. +The globule of blood brings nothing else and distributes nothing else, +contrary to the opinion that had been held before. The theory of slow +combustion effected through iron, while not absolutely contradicted in +principle, was not entirely confirmed in detail, so far as concerned +iron, or the more prominently ferruginous tissue. + +No search was made for other tissues or organs presenting more +favorable conditions, for no others were known that had iron in +themselves. The liver and the spleen were supposed to receive it from +the blood under the complicated form in which it exists there, or +under some equivalent form. It was not, therefore, supposed till +within a very few years that the two conditions were realized in any +organ that were required to secure a slow combustion by iron--that is, +combinations resembling ferrous and ferric salts with a weak acid and +a source of oxygen. The doubt has been resolved by recent studies. The +liver fulfils the requirement. It contains iron existing under forms +precisely comparable to the ferrous and ferric compounds, and is +washed by the blood which carries oxygen in a state of simple solution +in its plasma and of loose combination in its globules. Thus all the +conditions necessary for the production of slow combustion are +gathered here, and we can not doubt that it takes place. A new +function is therefore assigned to the liver, and it becomes one of the +great furnaces of the organism. + +Compounds of iron are so abundant in the ground and the water that we +need not be surprised when we find them in various parts of plants, +and particularly in the green parts. Their habitual presence does not, +however, authorize the conclusion that this metal is necessary to the +support and development of vegetable life. Some substances, evidently +indifferent, foreign, and even injurious, if they exist abundantly in +a soil, may be drawn into roots through the movement of the sap, and +fix themselves in various organs. This occurs with copper in certain +exceptional circumstances when the soil is saturated with its +compounds, and if such a condition should be found to be repeated over +a large extent of country, we might be led, by analysis alone of its +vegetable productions, to the false conclusion that copper was an +essential or even necessary constituent of them. But the value of the +part performed by an element can not be determined by analysis alone. +Direct proofs are necessary for that, methodical and comparative +experiments in cultivation in mediums artificially deprived or +furnished with the element the importance of which we wish to +estimate. This has been done for combinations of iron, and the utility +of that metal, especially to the higher plants, has been made thereby +to appear. + +If iron is absent from the nutritive medium the plant will wither. If +we sprout seeds in a solution from which this metal has been carefully +excluded, the development will follow its regular course as long as +the plant is in the condition properly called that of germination, or +while it does not have to draw anything from the soil. The stem rises +and the first leaves are formed as usual. But all these parts will +continue pale, and the green matter, the granulation of chlorophyll, +will not appear. Now, if we add a small quantity of salt of iron to +the ground in which the roots are planted, or a much-diluted solution +is sprinkled on the leaves and the stem, the chlorotic plant will +recover its health and take on its normal coloration. Experiments of +this sort make well manifest that iron is necessary to green plants, +and they show, besides, the bearing of its action, and that what is +most special and most characteristic in the phenomena of vegetable +life may be traced exactly to the organization of that green matter. +It was long thought that if iron was necessary for the formation of +chlorophyll, it was because it had a part in its constitution. We know +now that this is not so. The metal does nothing but accompany the +chlorophyll in the granulation in which it is found. + +The influence which iron exerts in the development of the lower +plants, like the muscidenes, was illustrated with great precision in a +study made about thirty years ago by M. Raulin, who experimented with +the common mold (_Aspergillus niger_), to determine the coefficient of +importance of all the elements that have a part in its vegetation. +When the iron was removed from a medium that had been shown capable of +giving a maximum crop of that mold, the plants languished, and the +return fell off immediately to one third. Estimating the quantity of +metal that produces this effect, it was found that the addition of one +part of iron was sufficient to determine the production of a weight of +plant nearly nine hundred times as great. The suppression of the iron +further caused an irreparable loss, for when it was sought to remedy +the wilting of the plants by restoring the iron which had been taken +from the medium--an experiment which had been successful with higher +plants--the attempt was a failure, and the plants could not be +prevented from perishing. + +These facts are full of interest in themselves, and they further show +well the necessity or utility of iron in plant life, but they teach us +no more. They reveal nothing of the mechanism of the action, and if we +wish to penetrate further in the matter we always have to turn to +animal physiology.--_Translated for the Popular Science Monthly from +the Revue des Deux Mondes._ + + + + +THE MALAY LANGUAGE. + +BY R. CLYDE FORD, + +PROFESSOR OF GERMAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, ALBION COLLEGE. + + +A gentleman who had lived for several years among the Indians of the +Canadian northwest said that he went among them believing they were an +untutored race. But when they told him of a dozen kinds of berries +growing in a locality where he knew but two, brought him flowers he +could not find after careful search, and around their council fires +showed as deep an insight into the mysteries of life as the _savants_ +of his university, then he concluded they could no longer be called +untutored. + +And why should they be? Is there no culture or civilization outside of +the enlightenment of Europe or America? And because a civilization +does not exactly fit the grooves in which most of the world has moved, +may it not be a real civilization for all that? If such is possible, +then we vote the Malays a cultured people. Of course, their culture is +not like our own; it knows no railroads, no telegraphs, boasts of no +intricate political machinery, has no complicated social despotisms. +Native princes rule for the most part over peaceful states, and +politics means no more than the regulation of quiet village life. But +what need of railroads, when the rivers are avenues of trade and +communication? Why telegraphs, when the world is bounded by the jungle +horizon? Or why, in short, severe civil and social enactments, when +the common _Wahlspruch_ of life is, "Fear disgrace rather than death"? +Such a civilization, we admit, is a humble one; but it also has the +advantage of being a happy one. And where contentment dwells, where +honesty prevails, where the home is a stronghold, there are culture +and civilization, even though they may not coincide with our own. + +The Malays are not barbarians, and their language by its grace and +adaptability has shown its right to be. To-day it is the mother tongue +of more than forty millions of people, and the _lingua franca_ of +Chinamen, Hindus, European, and natives. It is spoken from Madagascar +to the distant islands of the Pacific, and from the Philippines to +Australia. With it one can barter in Celebes and sell in Java; +converse with a sultan in Sumatra or a Spaniard in Manila. Moreover, +it is soft and melodious, rich in expression, poetical in idiom, and +simple in structure--a language almost without grammar and yet of +immense vocabulary, with subtle distinctions and fine gradations of +thought and meaning; a language that sounds in one's ears long after +_Tanah Malayu_ and the coral islands and the jungle strand have sunk +into hazy recollection, just as they once dropped out of sight behind +one's departing ship. + +Malay is written in the Arabic character, which was adopted with +Mohammedanism, probably in the thirteenth century. Anciently, the +Malays used a writing of their own, but it is not yet clearly settled +what it was. There are now thirty-four characters employed, each +varying in form, according as it is isolated, final, medial, or +initial. Naturally, the Arabic influence over the language has been a +marked one; the priest who dictates in the religion of a people is a +molder and shaper of language. We have only to recall the Catholic +Church and the influence of the Latin tongue in the mouths of her +priests to know that this is so. Many Arabic words and phrases have +been adopted, but more in the language of literature than in that of +everyday speech. A large number of expressions of court and royalty, +and terms of law and religion, are Arabic; also the names of months, +days, and many articles of commerce and trade; nevertheless, the +language of common speech is still Malay. + +Another influence, also, has been felt in the Malay--that of the +Sanskrit language. The presence of many Sanskrit words has caused some +very ingenious theories to be constructed in proof that the Malays +were of Indian origin, and such word fragments the survival of the +primitive tongue. Such theories, however, have not stood the test of +philology, and the fact still remains that the language is essentially +unique, with an origin lost in the darkness of remote antiquity. +However, Sanskrit influence has been much greater, and has penetrated +much deeper into the elemental structure of the language than the +Arabic. In fact, the aboriginal language, before it felt the animating +spirit of the Aryan tongue, must have been a barren one, the language +of a primitive man, a fisherman, a hunter, a careless tiller of the +soil. As Maxwell says in his Manual of the Malay Language, the +Sanskrit word _hala_ (plow) marks a revolution in Malayan agriculture +and, one may say further, Malayan civilization. What changed the +methods of cultivating the soil, changed the people themselves. It is +probable that this change came through contact with people to whom +Sanskrit was a vernacular tongue, but whether through conquest by the +sword or by religion is hard to tell. Perhaps it was by both. At any +rate, it was deep and strong, and left a lasting impression on the +language. Sanskrit names fastened on trees, plants, grain, fruits, +household and agricultural implements, parts of the body, articles of +commerce, animals, metals and minerals, time and its division and +measurement, family relationships, abstract conceptions, warfare, and +fundamental ideas of religion and superstition. Such a conquest must +have been an early and tremendous one. + +Strangely enough, Malay is almost a grammarless tongue. It has no +proper article, and its substantives may serve equally well as verbs, +being singular or plural, and entirely genderless. However, adjectives +and a process of reduplication often indicate number, and gender words +are added to nouns to make sex allusions plain. Whatever there is of +declension is prepositional as in English, and possessives are formed +by putting the adjectives after the noun as in Italian. Nouns are +primitive and derivative, the derivations being formed by suffixes or +prefixes, or both, and one's mastery of the language may be gauged by +the idiomatic way in which he handles these _Anhängsel_. Adjectives +are uninflected. + +The use of the pronouns involves an extensive knowledge of Oriental +etiquette--some being used by the natives among one another, some +between Europeans and natives, some employed when an inferior +addresses a superior and _vice versa_, some used only when the native +addresses his prince or sovereign; and, last of all, some being +distinctly literary, and never employed colloquially. Into this maze +one must go undaunted, and trust to time and patience to smooth out +difficulties. + +Verbs, like nouns, are primitive and derivative, with some few +auxiliaries and a good many particles which are suffixed or prefixed +to indicate various states and conditions. These things are apt to be +confusing, and when the student learns that a verb may be past, +present, or future without any change in form, he does not know +whether to congratulate himself or not. Prepositions, too, are many +and expressive; conjunctions, some colloquial, some pedantic. + +We now come to a peculiarity which Malay has in common with other +Indo-Chinese languages--the "numeral co-efficients," as Maxwell calls +them, which are always employed with a certain class of objects, just +as we say "head" of horses, "sail" of ships, etc. They are very many +as compared with English, and very idiomatic in their use. For +instance, the Malay says, "Europeans, three _persons_," "cats, four +_tails_," "ships, five _fruits_," "cocoanuts, three _seeds_," "spears, +two _stems_," "planks, five _pieces_," "houses, two _ladders_," and so +on to fifteen or twenty different classes of articles or objects. By +some this has been regarded as a peculiarity of the languages of +southeastern Asia; but the same thing may be noticed in the Indian +languages of our own continent. + +As a language Malay is easily learned and has much to repay for so +doing. It is full of wonders and surprises--among other things is the +natural home of euphemism, where a spade is called anything but a +spade. For instance, to die is beautifully expressed in Malay as a +return to the mercy of Allah. The language is decidedly rich in +poetical expression and imagery. A neighbor is one whom you permit to +ascend the ladder of your cottage, and your friend is a sharer of your +joys and sorrows. Interest is the flower of money, a spring is an eye +of water, the sun the eye of day, and a policeman all eyes. A walk is +a stroll to eat the wind, a man drunk is one who rides a green horse, +and a coward a duck without spurs. A flatterer is one who has sugar +cane on his lips, a sharper is a man of brains, a fool a brain-lacker. + +In his proverbs also the Malay shows a matchless use of metaphor and +imagery, his words having the softness of the jungle breeze, and at +the same time the grimness of the jungle shades. Nowhere does the +nature of his race or the peculiar genius of his language show out +better than in these terse, pithy sayings which the Malay uses to +sweeten his speech or lend effectiveness to it. The real Malay is a +creature of the forest or the sea, whence he draws his livelihood, and +it is but natural that he should envelop his daily and perhaps +dangerous life with homely philosophy. He loves the freedom which he +enjoys; take him away from it and he eats his heart out in +homesickness. "Though you feed a jungle fowl from a golden plate, it +will return to the jungle again." In his humble life he has discovered +that blood, be it good or bad, counts for something, and he thinks of +the forest lairs; "a kitten and small, but a tiger's cub." He is beset +with dangers by sea and land; often he is between the devil and the +deep. "One may escape the tiger, and fall into the jaws of the +crocodile." He recognizes the inevitable, and draws what consolation +he can. "When the prow is wrecked the shark gets his fill"--a very +stoical recognition of ill winds. "For fear of the ghost he hugs the +corpse," is often the solution of his dilemma. Sometimes he indulges +in drollery, but is never unphilosophical. "To love one's children, +one must weep for them now and then; to love one's wife, one must +leave her now and then." The language is full of such expressions; +they are the natural products of the speech of a poetical and +Nature-loving folk. Without attempting a classification we give a few +of the most characteristic proverbs, drawing largely on a collection +made in the Malay Peninsula by W. E. Maxwell, at one time British +resident there: + + Will the crocodile respect the carcass? + Follow your heart, death; follow your feelings, destruction. + You find grasshoppers where you find a field. + Earth does not become grain. + Don't grind pepper for a bird on the wing. + The flower comes, age comes. + When the father is spotted, the son is spotted. + The plant sprouts before it climbs. + When he can't wring the ear, he pulls the horn. + The creel says the basket is poorly made. + Ask from one who has, + Make vows at a shrine, + Sulk with him who loves you. + When the house is done the chisel finds fault. + As the crow goes back to his nest (no richer, no poorer). + Whoever eats chilies burns his mouth. + Because of the mouth the body comes to harm. + If you are at the river's mouth at nightfall, what's the use of + talking of return? + A broken thread may be mended, but charcoal never. + The pea forgets its pod. + As water rolls from a _kladi_ leaf. + A shipwrecked vessel may float again, a heart once broken is broken + forever. + It is a project, and the result with God. + He carries a torch in daylight. + A slave who does well is never praised; if he does badly, never + forgiven. + It rains gold afar, but stone at home. + What if you sit on a cushion of gold with an uneasy mind! + When money leaves, your friend goes. + If you dip your hand into the fish tub, go to the bottom. + Whoever digs a hole falls into it himself. + If your legs are long, have your blanket long. + Like a frog under a cocoanut shell, he thinks he sees the sky. + If you can't get rattan, bind with roots. + The plantain does not bear twice. + He sits like a cat, but leaps like a tiger. + The tortoise lays a thousand eggs and tells no one; the hen lays a + single egg and tells all the world. + Those will die of thirst who empty the jar when it thunders in a dry + time. + Handsome as a princess, poisonous as a snake. + Small as an ant, wise as a mouse-deer. + + + + +LIFE ON A SOUTH SEA WHALER.[13] + +BY FRANK T. BULLEN. + + +Cachalots, or sperm whales, must have been captured on the coasts of +Europe in a desultory way from a very early date, by the incidental +allusions to the prime products spermaceti and ambergris which are +found in so many ancient writers. Shakespeare's reference--"The +sovereign'st thing on earth was parmaceti for an inward bruise"--will +be familiar to most people, as well as Milton's mention of the +delicacies at Satan's feast--"Grisamber steamed"--not to carry +quotation any further. + +But in the year 1690 the brave and hardy fishermen of the northeast +coasts of North America established that systematic pursuit of the +cachalot which has thriven so wonderfully ever since, although it must +be confessed that the last few years have witnessed a serious decline +in this great branch of trade. + +For many years the American colonists completely engrossed this branch +of the whale fishery, contentedly leaving to Great Britain and the +continental nations the monopoly of the northern or arctic fisheries, +while they cruised the stormy, if milder, seas around their own +shores. + +As, however, the number of ships engaged increased, it was inevitable +that the known grounds should become exhausted, and in 1788, Messrs. +Enderby's ship, the Emilia, first ventured round Cape Horn, as the +pioneer of a greater trade than ever. The way once pointed out, other +ships were not slow to follow, until, in 1819, the British whale ship +Syren opened up the till then unexplored tract of ocean in the western +part of the North Pacific, afterward familiarly known as the "Coast of +Japan." From these teeming waters alone, for many years an average +annual catch of forty thousand barrels of oil was taken, which, at the +average price of £8 per barrel, will give some idea of the value of +the trade generally. + +From the crushing blow of the civil war the American sperm-whale +fishery has never fully recovered. When the writer was in the trade, +some twenty-two years ago, it was credited with a fleet of between +three and four hundred sail; now it may be doubted whether the numbers +reach an eighth of that amount. A rigid conservatism of method hinders +any revival of the industry, which is practically conducted to-day as +it was fifty or even a hundred years ago; and it is probable that +another decade will witness the final extinction of what was once one +of the most important maritime industries in the world. + +In the following pages an attempt has been made--it is believed for +the first time--to give an account of the cruise of a South Sea whaler +from the seaman's standpoint. Its aim is to present to the general +reader a simple account of the methods employed and the dangers met +with in a calling about which the great mass of the public knows +absolutely nothing. + + * * * * * + +At the age of eighteen, after a sea experience of six years from the +time when I dodged about London streets, a ragged Arab, with wits +sharpened by the constant fight for food, I found myself roaming the +streets of New Bedford, Massachusetts. + +My money was all gone, I was hungry for a ship; and so, when a long, +keen-looking man with a goatlike beard, and mouth stained with dry +tobacco juice, hailed me one afternoon at the street corner, I +answered very promptly, scenting a berth. "Lookin' fer a ship, +stranger?" said he. "Yes; do you want a hand?" said I anxiously. He +made a funny little sound something like a pony's whinny, then +answered: "Wall, I should surmise that I want between fifty and sixty +hands, ef yew kin lay me onto 'em; but, kem along, every dreep's a +drop, an' yew seem likely enough." With that he turned and led the way +until we reached a building, around which was gathered one of the most +nondescript crowds I had ever seen. There certainly did not appear to +be a sailor among them--not so much by their rig, though that is not a +great deal to go by, but by their actions and speech. However, I +signed and passed on, engaged to go I knew not where, in some ship I +did not know even the name of, in which I was to receive I did not +know how much or how little for my labor, nor how long I was going to +be away. + +From the time we signed the articles, we were never left to ourselves. +Truculent-looking men accompanied us to our several boarding houses, +paid our debts for us, finally bringing us by boat to a ship lying out +in the bay. As we passed under her stern, I read the name Cachalot, of +New Bedford; but as soon as we ranged alongside, I realized that I was +booked for the sailor's horror--a cruise in a whaler. Badly as I +wanted to get to sea, I had not bargained for this, and would have run +some risks to get ashore again; but they took no chances, so we were +all soon aboard. Before going forward, I took a comprehensive glance +around, and saw that I was on board of a vessel belonging to a type +which has almost disappeared off the face of the waters. A more +perfect contrast to the trim-built English clipper ships that I had +been accustomed to I could hardly imagine. She was one of a class +characterized by sailors as "built by the mile, and cut off in lengths +as you want 'em," bow and stern almost alike, masts standing straight +as broomsticks, and bowsprit soaring upward at an angle of about +forty-five degrees. She was as old-fashioned in her rig as in her +hull. Right in the center of the deck, occupying a space of about ten +feet by eight, was a square erection of brickwork, upon which my +wondering gaze rested longest, for I had not the slightest idea what +it could be. But I was rudely roused from my meditations by the harsh +voice of one of the officers, who shouted, "Naow then, git below an' +stow yer dunnage, 'n look lively up agin!" Tumbling down the steep +ladder, I entered the gloomy den which was to be for so long my home, +finding it fairly packed with my shipmates. The whole space was +undivided by partition, but I saw at once that black men and white had +separated themselves, the blacks taking the port side and the whites +the starboard. Finding a vacant bunk by the dim glimmer of the ancient +teapot lamp that hung amidships, giving out as much smoke as light, I +hurriedly shifted my coat for a "jumper" or blouse, put on an old cap, +and climbed into the fresh air again. Even _my_ seasoned head was +feeling bad with the villainous reek of the place. I had hardly +reached the deck when I was confronted by a negro, the biggest I ever +saw in my life. He looked me up and down for a moment, then opening +his ebony features in a wide smile, he said: "Great snakes! why, +here's a sailor man for sure! Guess thet's so, ain't it, Johnny?" I +said "yes" very curtly, for I hardly liked his patronizing air; but he +snapped me up short with "yes, _sir_, when yew speak to me, yew blank +limejuicer. I'se de fourf mate of dis yar ship, en my name's Mistah +Jones, 'n yew jest freeze on to dat ar, ef yew want ter lib long 'n +die happy. See, sonny?" I _saw_, and answered promptly, "I beg your +pardon, sir, I didn't know." "Ob cawse yew didn't know, dat's all +right, little Britisher; naow jest skip aloft 'n loose dat +fore-taupsle." "Ay, ay, sir," I answered cheerily, springing at once +into the fore-rigging and up the ratlines like a monkey, but not too +fast to hear him chuckle, "Dat's a smart kiddy, I bet." On deck I +could see a crowd at the windlass heaving up anchor. I said to myself, +"They don't waste any time getting this packet away." Evidently they +were not anxious to test any of the crew's swimming powers. They were +wise, for had she remained at anchor that night I verily believe some +of the poor wretches would have tried to escape. + +The anchor came aweigh, the sails were sheeted home, and I returned on +deck to find the ship gathering way for the heads, fairly started on +her long voyage. + +Before nightfall we were fairly out to sea, and the ceremony of +dividing the crew into watches was gone through. I found myself in the +chief mate's or "port" watch (they called it "larboard," a term I had +never heard used before, it having long been obsolete in merchant +ships), though the huge negro fourth mate seemed none too well pleased +that I was not under his command, his being the starboard watch under +the second mate. + +I was pounced upon next morning by "Mistah" Jones, the fourth mate, +whom I heard addressed familiarly as "Goliath" and "Anak" by his +brother officers, and ordered to assist him in rigging the +"crow's-nest" at the main royal-mast head. It was a simple affair. +There were a pair of cross-trees fitted to the mast, upon which was +secured a tiny platform about a foot wide on each side of the mast, +while above this foothold a couple of padded hoops like a pair of +giant spectacles were secured at a little higher than a man's waist. +When all was fast one could creep up on the platform, through the +hoop, and, resting his arms upon the latter, stand comfortably and +gaze around, no matter how vigorously the old barky plunged and kicked +beneath him. From that lofty eerie I had a comprehensive view of the +vessel. She was about three hundred and fifty tons and full +ship-rigged--that is to say, she carried square sails on all three +masts. Her deck was flush fore and aft, the only obstructions being +the brick-built "try-works" in the waist, the galley, and cabin +skylight right aft by the taffrail. Her bulwarks were set thickly +round with clumsy-looking wooden cranes, from which depended five +boats. Two more boats were secured bottom up upon a gallows aft, so +she seemed to be well supplied in that direction. + +The weather being fine, with a steady northeast wind blowing, so that +the sails required no attention, work proceeded steadily all the +morning. The oars were sorted, examined for flaws, and placed in the +boats; the whale line, Manilla rope like yellow silk, an inch and a +half round, was brought on deck, stretched, and coiled down with the +greatest care into tubs holding, some two hundred fathoms, and others +one hundred fathoms each. New harpoons were fitted to poles of rough +but heavy wood, without any attempt at neatness but every attention to +strength. The shape of these weapons was not, as is generally thought, +that of an arrow, but rather like an arrow with one huge barb, the +upper part of which curved out from the shaft. The whole of the barb +turned on a stout pivot of steel, but was kept in line with the shaft +by a tiny wooden peg which passed through barb and shaft, being then +cut off smoothly on both sides. The point of the harpoon had at one +side a wedge-shaped edge, ground to razor keenness; the other side was +flat. The shaft, about thirty inches long, was of the best malleable +iron, so soft that it would tie into a knot and straighten out again +without fracture. Three harpoons, or "irons" as they were always +called, were placed in each boat, fitted one above the other in the +starboard bow, the first for use being always one unused before. +Opposite to them in the boat were fitted three lances for the purpose +of _killing_ whales, the harpoons being only the means by which the +boat was attached to a fish, and quite useless to inflict a fatal +wound. These lances were slender spears of malleable iron about four +feet long, with oval or heart-shaped points of fine steel about two +inches broad, their edges kept keen as a surgeon's lancet. By means of +a socket at the other end they were attached to neat handles, or +"lance poles," about as long again, the whole weapon being thus about +eight feet in length, and furnished with a light line, or "lance +warp," for the purpose of drawing it back again when it had been +darted at a whale. The other furniture of a boat comprised five oars +of varying lengths from sixteen to nine feet, one great steering oar +of nineteen feet, a mast and two sails of great area for so small a +craft, spritsail shape; two tubs of whale line containing together +eighteen hundred feet, a keg of drinking water, and another long, +narrow one with a few biscuits, a lantern, candles and matches +therein; a bucket and "piggin" for baling, a small spade, a flag or +"wheft," a shoulder bomb gun and ammunition, two knives, and two small +axes. A rudder hung outside by the stern. + +With all this gear, although snugly stowed, a boat looked so loaded +that I could not help wondering how six men would be able to work in +her; but, like most "deep-water" sailors, I knew very little about +boating. I was going to learn. + +The reports I had always heard of the laziness prevailing on board +whale ships were now abundantly falsified. From dawn to dark work went +on without cessation. Everything was rubbed and scrubbed and scoured +until no speck or soil could be found; indeed, no gentleman's yacht or +man-of-war is kept more spotlessly clean than was the Cachalot. + +On the fourth day after leaving port we were all busy as usual except +the four men in the "crow's-nests," when a sudden cry of "Porps! +porps!" brought everything to a standstill. A large school of +porpoises had just joined us, in their usual clownish fashion, rolling +and tumbling around the bows as the old barky wallowed along, +surrounded by a wide ellipse of snowy foam. All work was instantly +suspended, and active preparations made for securing a few of these +frolicsome fellows. A "block," or pulley, was bung out at the bowsprit +end, a whale line passed through it and "bent" (fastened) on to a +harpoon. Another line with a running "bowline," or slip noose, was +also passed out to the bowsprit end, being held there by one man in +readiness. Then one of the harpooners ran out along the back ropes, +which keep the jib boom down, taking his stand beneath the bowsprit +with the harpoon ready. Presently he raised his iron and followed the +track of a rising porpoise with its point until the creature broke +water. At the same instant the weapon left his grasp, apparently +without any force behind it; but we on deck, holding the line, soon +found that our excited hauling lifted a big vibrating body clean out +of the smother beneath. "'Vast hauling!" shouted the mate, while, as +the porpoise hung dangling, the harpooner slipped the ready bowline +over his body, gently closing its grip round the "small" by the broad +tail. Then we hauled on the noose line, slacking away the harpoon, and +in a minute had our prize on deck. He was dragged away at once and the +operation repeated. Again and again we hauled them in, until the fore +part of the deck was alive with the kicking, writhing sea pigs, at +least twenty of them. All hands were soon busy skinning the blubber +from the bodies. Porpoises have no skin--that is, hide--the blubber or +coating of lard which incases them being covered by a black substance +as thin as tissue paper. The porpoise hide of the bootmaker is really +leather, made from the skin of the _Beluga_, or "white whale," which +is found only in the far north. The cover was removed from the +"try-works" amidships, revealing two gigantic pots set in a frame of +brickwork side by side, capable of holding two hundred gallons +each--such a cooking apparatus as might have graced a Brobdingnagian +kitchen. Beneath the pots was the very simplest of furnaces, hardly as +elaborate as the familiar copper hole sacred to washing day. Square +funnels of sheet iron were loosely fitted to the flues, more as a +protection against the oil boiling over into the fire than to carry +away the smoke, of which from the peculiar nature of the fuel there +was very little. At one side of the try-works was a large wooden +vessel, or "hopper," to contain the raw blubber; at the other, a +copper cistern or cooler of about three hundred gallons capacity, into +which the prepared oil was baled to cool off, preliminary to its being +poured into the casks. Beneath the furnaces was a space as large as +the whole area of the try-works, about a foot deep, which, when the +fires were lighted, was filled with water to prevent the deck from +burning. + +It may be imagined that the blubber from our twenty porpoises made but +a poor show in one of the pots; nevertheless, we got a barrel of very +excellent oil from them. The fires were fed with "scrap," or pieces of +blubber from which the oil had been boiled, some of which had been +reserved from the previous voyage. They burned with a fierce and +steady blaze, leaving but a trace of ash. I was then informed by one +of the harpooners that no other fuel was ever used for boiling blubber +at any time, there being always amply sufficient for the purpose. + +We were now in the haunts of the sperm whale, or "cachalot," a +brilliant lookout being continually kept for any signs of their +appearing. One officer and a foremast hand were continually on watch +during the day in the main crow's-nest, one harpooner and a seaman in +the fore one. A bounty of ten pounds of tobacco was offered to whoever +should first report a whale, should it be secured; consequently there +were no sleepy eyes up there. + +At last, one beautiful day, the boats were lowered and manned, and +away went the greenies on their first practical lesson in the business +of the voyage. There were two greenies in each boat, they being so +arranged that whenever one of them "caught a crab," which of course +was about every other stroke, his failure made little difference to +the boat's progress. They learned very fast under the terrible +imprecations and storm of blows from the iron-fisted and iron-hearted +officers, so that before the day was out the skipper was satisfied of +our ability to deal with a "fish" should he be lucky enough to "raise" +one. I was, in virtue of my experience, placed at the after oar in the +mate's boat, where it was my duty to attend to the "main sheet" when +the sail was set, where also I had the benefit of the lightest oar +except the small one used by the harpooner in the bow. + +The very next day after our first exhaustive boat drill, a school of +"blackfish" was reported from aloft, and with great glee the officers +prepared for what they considered a rattling day's fun. + +The blackfish (_Phocæna sp._) is a small toothed whale, not at all +unlike a miniature cachalot, except that its head is rounded at the +front, while its jaw is not long and straight, but bowed. It is as +frolicsome as the porpoise, gamboling about in schools of from twenty +to fifty or more, as if really delighted to be alive. Its average size +is from ten to twenty feet long and seven or eight feet in girth; +weight, from one to three tons. Blubber about three inches thick, +while the head is almost all oil, so that a good rich specimen will +make between one and two barrels of oil of medium quality. + +We lowered and left the ship, pulling right toward the school, the +noise they were making in their fun effectually preventing them from +hearing our approach. It is etiquette to allow the mate's boat first +place, unless his crew is so weak as to be unable to hold their own; +but as the mate always has first pick of the men this seldom happens. +So, as usual, we were first, and soon I heard the order given, "Stand +up, Louey, and let 'em have it!" Sure enough, here we were right +among them. Louis let drive, "fastening" a whopper about twenty feet +long. The injured animal plunged madly forward, accompanied by his +fellows, while Louis calmly bent another iron to a "short warp," or +piece of whale line, the loose end of which he made a bowline with +round the main line which was fast to the "fish." Then he fastened +another "fish," and the queer sight was seen of these two monsters +each trying to flee in opposite directions, while the second one +ranged about alarmingly as his "bridle" ran along the main line. +Another one was secured in the same way, then the game was indeed +great. The school had by this time taken the alarm and cleared out, +but the other boats were all fast to fish, so that didn't matter. Now, +at the rate our "game" were going, it would evidently be a long while +before they died, although, being so much smaller than a whale proper, +a harpoon will often kill them at a stroke. Yet they were now so +tangled or "snarled erp," as the mate said, that it was no easy matter +to lance them without great danger of cutting the line. However, we +hauled up as close to them as we dared, and the harpooner got a good +blow in, which gave the biggest of the three "Jesse," as he said, +though why "Jesse" was a stumper. Anyhow, it killed him promptly, +while almost directly after another one saved further trouble by +passing in his own checks. But he sank at the same time, drawing the +first one down with him, so that we were in considerable danger of +having to cut them adrift or be swamped. The "wheft" was waved thrice +as an urgent signal to the ship to come to our assistance with all +speed, but in the meantime our interest lay in the surviving blackfish +keeping alive. Should _he_ die and, as was most probable, sink, we +should certainly have to cut and loose the lot, tools included. + +We waited in grim silence while the ship came up, so slowly, +apparently, that she hardly seemed to move, but really at a good pace +of about four knots an hour, which for her was not at all bad. She got +alongside of us at last, and we passed up the bight of our line, our +fish all safe, very much pleased with ourselves, especially when we +found that the other boats had only five between the three of them. + +Chain slings were passed around the carcasses, the end of the "fall," +or tackle rope, was taken to the windlass, and we hove away cheerily, +lifting the monsters right on deck. A mountainous pile they made. +After dinner all hands turned to again to "flench" the blubber and +prepare for trying out. This was a heavy job, keeping us busy until it +was quite dark, the latter part of the work being carried on by the +light of a "cresset," the flames of which were fed with "scrap," which +blazed brilliantly, throwing a big glare over all the ship. The last +of the carcasses was launched overboard by about eight o'clock that +evening, but not before some vast junks of beef had been cut off and +hung up in the rigging for our food supply. + +"Trying out" went on busily all night, and by nightfall of the next +day the ship had resumed her normal appearance, and we were a tun and +a quarter of oil to the good. Blackfish oil is of medium quality, but +I learned that, according to the rule of "roguery in all trades," it +was the custom to mix quantities such as we had just obtained with +better class whale oil, and thus get a much higher price than it was +really worth. + +We had now been eight days out, having had nothing, so far, but steady +breezes and fine weather. As it was late autumn--the first week in +October--I rather wondered at this, for even in my brief experience I +had learned to dread a "fall" voyage across the "Western Ocean." + +Gradually the face of the sky changed, and the feel of the air, from +balmy and genial, became raw and cheerless. The little wave tops broke +short off and blew backward, apparently against the wind, while the +old vessel had an uneasy, unnatural motion, caused by a long, new +swell rolling athwart the existing set of the sea. + +We were evidently in for a fair specimen of Western Ocean weather, but +the clumsy-looking, old-fashioned Cachalot made no more fuss over it +than one of the long-winged sea birds that floated around, intent only +upon snapping up any stray scraps that might escape from us. Higher +rose the wind, heavier rolled the sea, yet never a drop of water did +we ship, nor did anything about the deck betoken what a heavy gale was +blowing. During the worst of the weather, and just after the wind had +shifted back into the northeast, making an uglier cross sea than ever +get up, along comes an immense four-masted iron ship homeward bound. +She was staggering under a veritable mountain of canvas, fairly +burying her bows in the foam at every forward drive, and actually +wetting the clews of the upper topsails in the smothering masses of +spray, that every few minutes almost hid her hull from sight. + +It was a splendid picture; but--for the time--I felt glad I was not on +board of her. In a very few minutes she was out of our ken, followed +by the admiration of all. Then came, from the other direction, a huge +steamship, taking no more notice of the gale than as if it were calm. +Straight through the sea she rushed, dividing the mighty rollers to +the heart, and often bestriding three seas at once, the center one +spreading its many tons of foaming water fore and aft, so that from +every orifice spouted the seething brine. Compared with these +greyhounds of the wave, we resembled nothing so much as some old +lightship bobbing serenely around, as if part and parcel of the +mid-Atlantic. + +The gale gradually blew itself out, leaving behind only a long and +very heavy swell to denote the deep-reaching disturbance that the +ocean had endured. And now we were within the range of the sargasso +weed, that mysterious _fucus_ that makes the ocean look like some vast +hayfield, and keeps the sea from rising, no matter how high the wind. +It fell a dead calm, and the harpooners amused themselves by dredging +up great masses of the weed, and turning out the many strange +creatures abiding therein. + +We were all gathered about the fo'lk'sle scuttle one evening, a few +days after the gale referred to above, and the question of +whale-fishing came up for discussion. Until that time, strange as it +may seem, no word of this, the central idea of all our minds, had been +mooted. Every man seemed to shun the subject, although we were in +daily expectation of being called upon to take an active part in +whale-fighting. Once the ice was broken, nearly all had something to +say about it, and very nearly as many addle-headed opinions were +ventilated as at a Colney Hatch debating society. For we none of us +_knew_ anything about it. It was Saturday evening, and while at home +people were looking forward to a day's respite from work and care, I +felt that the coming day, though never taken much notice of on board, +was big with the probabilities of strife such as I at least had at +present no idea of--so firmly was I possessed by the prevailing +feeling. + +The night was very quiet. A gentle breeze was blowing, and the sky was +of the usual "trade" character--that is, a dome of dark blue fringed +at the horizon with peaceful cumulus clouds, almost motionless. I +turned in at 4 A. M. from the middle watch and, as usual, slept like a +babe. Suddenly I started wide awake, a long, mournful sound sending a +thrill to my very heart. As I listened breathlessly, other sounds of +the same character but in different tones joined in, human voices +monotonously intoning in long-drawn-out expirations the single word +"bl-o-o-o-ow." Then came a hurricane of noise overhead, and +adjurations in no gentle language to the sleepers to "tumble up lively +there, no skulking, sperm whales." At last, then, fulfilling all the +presentiments of yesterday, the long-dreaded moment had arrived. +Happily, there was no time for hesitation; in less than two minutes we +were all on deck, and hurrying to our respective boats. The skipper +was in the main crow's-nest with his binoculars. Presently he shouted: +"Naow then, Mr. Count, lower away soon's y'like. Small pod o' cows, +an' one 'r two bulls layin' off to west'ard of 'em." Down went the +boats into the water quietly enough; we all scrambled in and shoved +off. A stroke or two of the oars were given to get clear of the ship +and one another, then oars were shipped and up went the sails. As I +took my allotted place at the main-sheet, and the beautiful craft +started off like some big bird, Mr. Count leaned forward, saying +impressively to me: "Y'r a smart youngster, an' I've kinder took +t'yer; but don't ye look ahead an' get gallied, 'r I'll knock ye +stiff wi' th' tiller; y'hear me? N' don't ye dare to make thet sheet +fast, 'r ye'll die so sudden y' won't know whar y'r hurted." I said as +cheerfully as I could, "All right, sir," trying to look unconcerned, +telling myself not to be a coward, and all sorts of things; but the +cold truth is that I was scared almost to death, because I didn't know +what was coming. However, I did the best thing under the +circumstances, obeyed orders and looked steadily astern, or up into +the bronzed impassive face of my chief, who towered above me, scanning +with eagle eyes the sea ahead. The other boats were coming flying +along behind us, spreading wider apart as they came, while in the bows +of each stood the harpooner with his right hand on his first iron, +which lay ready, pointing over the bow in a raised fork of wood called +the "crutch." + +All of a sudden, at a motion of the chief's hand, the peak of our +mainsail was dropped, and the boat swung up into the wind, laying +"hove to," almost stationary. The centerboard was lowered to stop her +drifting to leeward, although I can not say it made much difference +that ever I saw. _Now_, what's the matter? I thought, when to my +amazement the chief addressing me said, "Wonder why we've hauled up, +don't ye?" "Yes, sir, I do," said I. "Wall," said he, "the fish hev +sounded, an' 'ef we run over 'em, we've seen the last ov 'em. So we +wait awhile till they rise agin, 'n then we'll prob'ly git thar' 'r +thareabouts before they sound agin." With this explanation I had to be +content, although if it be no clearer to my readers than it then was +to me, I shall have to explain myself more fully later on. Silently we +lay, rocking lazily upon the gentle swell, no other word being spoken +by any one. At last Louis, the harpooner, gently breathed "Blo-o-o-w"; +and there, sure enough, not half a mile away on the lee beam, was a +little bushy cloud of steam apparently rising from the sea. At almost +the same time as we kept away all the other boats did likewise, and +just then, catching sight of the ship, the reason for this apparently +concerted action was explained. At the mainmast head of the ship was a +square blue flag, and the ensign at the peak was being dipped. These +were signals well understood and promptly acted upon by those in +charge of the boats, who were thus guided from a point of view at +least one hundred feet above the sea. + +"Stand up, Louey," the mate murmured softly. I only just stopped +myself in time from turning my head to see why the order was given. +Suddenly there was a bump, at the same moment the mate yelled, "Give't +to him, Louey, give't to him!" and to me, "Haul that main sheet, naow +haul, why don't ye?" I hauled it flat aft, and the boat shot up into +the wind, rubbing sides as she did so with what to my troubled sight +seemed an enormous mass of black India rubber floating. As we +_crawled_ up into the wind, the whale went into convulsions befitting +his size and energy. He raised a gigantic tail on high, thrashing the +water with deafening blows, rolling at the same time from side to side +until the surrounding sea was white with froth. I felt in an agony +lest we should be crushed under one of those fearful strokes, for Mr. +Count appeared to be oblivious of possible danger, although we seemed +to be now drifting back on to the writhing leviathan. In the agitated +condition of the sea it was a task of no ordinary difficulty to unship +the tall mast, which was of course the first thing to be done. After a +desperate struggle, and a narrow escape from falling overboard of one +of the men, we got the long "stick," with the sail bundled around it, +down and "fleeted" aft, where it was secured by the simple means of +sticking the "heel" under the after thwart, two thirds of the mast +extending out over the stern. Meanwhile, we had certainly been in a +position of the greatest danger, our immunity from damage being +unquestionably due to anything but precaution taken to avoid it. + +By the time the oars were handled, and the mate had exchanged places +with the harpooner, our friend the enemy had "sounded"--that is, he +had gone below for a change of scene, marveling, no doubt, what +strange thing had befallen him. Agreeably to the accounts which I, +like most boys, had read of the whale-fishery, I looked for the +rushing of the line round the loggerhead (a stout wooden post built +into the boat aft), to raise a cloud of smoke with occasional bursts +of flame; so, as it began to slowly surge round the post, I timidly +asked the harpooner whether I should throw any water on it. "Wot for?" +growled he, as he took a couple more turns with it. Not knowing "what +for," and hardly liking to quote my authorities here, I said no more, +but waited events. "Hold him up, Louey, hold him up, cain't ye?" +shouted the mate, and to my horror, down went the nose of the boat +almost under water, while at the mate's order everybody scrambled aft +into the elevated stern sheets. + +The line sang quite a tune as it was grudgingly allowed to surge round +the loggerhead, filling one with admiration at the strength shown by +such a small rope. This sort of thing went on for about twenty +minutes, in which time we quite emptied the large tub and began on the +small one. + +Suddenly our boat fell backward from her "slantindicular" position +with a jerk, and the mate immediately shouted, "Haul line, there! look +lively, now! you--so on, etcetera, etcetera" (he seemed to invent new +epithets on every occasion). The line came in hand over hand, and was +coiled in a wide heap in the stern sheets, for, silky as it was, it +could not be expected in its wet state to lie very close. As it came +flying in, the mate kept a close gaze upon the water immediately +beneath us, apparently for the first glimpse of our antagonist. When +the whale broke water, however, he was some distance off, and +apparently as quiet as a lamb. Now, had Mr. Count been a prudent or +less ambitious man, our task would doubtless have been an easy one, or +comparatively so; but, being a little over-grasping, he got us all +into serious trouble. We were hauling up to our whale in order to +lance it, and the mate was standing, lance in hand, only waiting to +get near enough, when up comes a large whale right alongside of our +boat, so close, indeed, that I might have poked my finger in his +little eye, if I had chosen. The sight of that whale at liberty, and +calmly taking stock of us like that, was too much for the mate. He +lifted his lance and hurled it at the visitor, in whose broad flank it +sank, like a knife into butter, right up to the pole-hitches. The +recipient disappeared like a flash, but before one had time to think, +there was an awful crash beneath us, and the mate shot up into the air +like a bomb from a mortar. He came down in a sitting posture on the +mast thwart; but as he fell, the whole framework of the boat collapsed +like a derelict umbrella. Louis quietly chopped the line and severed +our connection with the other whale, while in accordance with our +instructions we drew each man his oar across the boat and lashed it +firmly down with a piece of line spliced to each thwart for the +purpose. This simple operation took but a minute, but before it was +completed we were all up to our necks in the sea--still in the boat, +it is true, and therefore not in such danger of drowning as if we were +quite adrift; but, considering that the boat was reduced to a mere +bundle of loose planks, I, at any rate, was none too comfortable. Now, +had he known it, was the whale's golden opportunity; but he, poor +wretch, had had quite enough of our company, and cleared off without +any delay, wondering, no doubt, what fortunate accident had rid him of +our very unpleasant attentions. + +I was assured that we were all as safe as if we were on board the +ship, to which I answered nothing; but, like Jack's parrot, I did some +powerful thinking. Every little wave that came along swept clean over +our heads, sometimes coming so suddenly as to cut a breath in half. If +the wind should increase--but no--I wouldn't face the possibility of +such a disagreeable thing. I was cool enough now in a double sense, +for, although we were in the tropics, we soon got thoroughly chilled. + +Help came at last, and we were hauled alongside. Long exposure had +weakened us to such an extent that it was necessary to hoist us on +board, especially the mate, whose "sudden stop," when he returned to +us after his little aërial excursion, had shaken his sturdy frame +considerably, a state of body which the subsequent soaking had by no +means improved. In my innocence I imagined that we should be +commiserated for our misfortunes by Captain Slocum, and certainly be +relieved from further duties until we were a little recovered from the +rough treatment we had just undergone. But I never made a greater +mistake. The skipper cursed us all (except the mate, whose sole fault +the accident undoubtedly was) with a fluency and vigor that was, to +put it mildly, discouraging. + +A couple of slings were passed around the boat, by means of which she +was carefully hoisted on board, a mere dilapidated bundle of sticks +and raffle of gear. She was at once removed aft out of the way, the +business of cutting in the whale claiming precedence over everything +else just then. The preliminary proceedings consisted of rigging the +"cutting stage." This was composed of two stout planks a foot wide and +ten feet long, the inner ends of which were suspended by strong ropes +over the ship's side about four feet from the water, while the outer +extremities were upheld by tackles from the main rigging, and a small +crane abreast the try-works. + +These planks were about thirty feet apart, their two outer ends being +connected by a massive plank which was securely bolted to them. A +handrail about as high as a man's waist, supported by light iron +stanchions, ran the full length of this plank on the side nearest the +ship, the whole fabric forming an admirable standing place whence the +officers might, standing in comparative comfort, cut and carve at the +great mass below to their hearts' content. + +So far the prize had been simply held alongside by the whale line, +which at death had been "rove" through a hole cut in the solid gristle +of the tail; but now it became necessary to secure the carcass to the +ship in some more permanent fashion. Therefore, a massive chain like a +small ship's cable was brought forward, and in a very ingenious way, +by means of a tiny buoy and a hand lead, passed round the body, one +end brought through a ring in the other, and hauled upon until it +fitted tight round the "small" or part of the whale next the broad +spread of the tail. The free end of the fluke chain was then passed in +through a mooring pipe forward, firmly secured to a massive bitt at +the heel of the bowsprit (the fluke-chain bitt), and all was ready. + +The first thing to be done was to cut the whale's head off. This +operation, involving the greatest amount of labor in the whole of the +cutting in, was taken in hand by the first and second mates, who, +armed with twelve-foot spades, took their station upon the stage, +leaned over the handrail to steady themselves, and plunged their +weapons vigorously down through the massive neck of the animal--if +neck it could be said to have--following a well-defined crease in the +blubber. At the same time the other officers passed a heavy chain +sling around the long, narrow lower jaw, hooking one of the big +cutting tackles into it, the "fall" of which was then taken to the +windlass and hove tight, turning the whale on her back. A deep cut +was then made on both sides of the rising jaw, the windlass was kept +going, and gradually the whole of the throat was raised high enough +for a hole to be cut through its mass, into which the strap of the +second cutting tackle was inserted and secured by passing a huge +toggle of oak through its eye. The second tackle was then hove taut, +and the jaw, with a large piece of blubber attached, was cut off from +the body with a boarding knife, a tool not unlike a cutlass blade set +into a three-foot-long wooden handle. + +Upon being severed the whole piece swung easily inboard and was +lowered on deck. The fast tackle was now hove upon while the third +mate on the stage cut down diagonally into the blubber on the body, +which the purchase ripped off in a broad strip or "blanket" about five +feet wide and a foot thick. Meanwhile the other two officers carved +away vigorously at the head, varying their labors by cutting a hole +right through the snout. This, when completed, received a heavy chain +for the purpose of securing the head. When the blubber had been about +half stripped off the body, a halt was called in order that the work +of cutting off the head might be finished, for it was a task of +incredible difficulty. It was accomplished at last, and the mass +floated astern by a stout rope, after which the windlass pawls +clattered merrily, the "blankets" rose in quick succession, and were +cut off and lowered into the square of the main hatch or "blubber +room." A short time sufficed to strip off the whole of the body +blubber, and when at last the tail was reached, the backbone was cut +through, the huge mass of flesh floating away to feed the innumerable +scavengers of the sea. No sooner was the last of the blubber lowered +into the hold than the hatches were put on and the head hauled up +alongside. Both tackles were secured to it and all hands took to the +windlass levers. This was a small cow whale of about thirty +barrels--that is, yielding that amount of oil--so it was just possible +to lift the entire head on board; but as it weighed as much as three +full-grown elephants, it was indeed a heavy lift for even our united +forces, trying our tackle to the utmost. The weather was very fine, +and the ship rolled but little; even then, the strain upon the mast +was terrific, and right glad was I when at last the immense cube of +fat, flesh, and bone was eased inboard and gently lowered on deck. + +As soon as it was secured the work of dividing it began. From the +snout a triangular mass was cut, which was more than half pure +spermaceti. This substance was contained in spongy cells held together +by layers of dense white fiber, exceedingly tough and elastic, and +called by the whalers "white horse." The whole mass, or "junk," as it +is called, was hauled away to the ship's side and firmly lashed to the +bulwarks for the time being, so that it might not "take charge" of the +deck during the rest of the operations. + +The upper part of the head was now slit open lengthwise, disclosing an +oblong cistern or "case" full of liquid spermaceti, clear as water. +This was baled out with buckets into a tank, concreting as it cooled +into a waxlike substance, bland and tasteless. There being now nothing +more remaining about the skull of any value, the lashings were loosed, +and the first leeward roll sent the great mass plunging overboard with +a mighty splash. It sank like a stone, eagerly followed by a few small +sharks that were hovering near. + +As may be imagined, much oil was running about the deck, for so +saturated was every part of the creature with it that it really gushed +like water during the cutting-up process. None of it was allowed to +run to waste, though, for the scupper holes which drain the deck were +all carefully plugged, and as soon as the "junk" had been dissected +all the oil was carefully "squeegeed" up and poured into the try-pots. + +Two men were now told off as "blubber-room men," whose duty it became +to go below and, squeezing themselves in as best they could between +the greasy mass of fat, cut it up into "horse-pieces" about eighteen +inches long and six inches square. Doing this, they became perfectly +saturated with oil, as if they had taken a bath in a tank of it; for +as the vessel rolled it was impossible to maintain a footing, and +every fall was upon blubber running with oil. A machine of wonderful +construction had been erected on deck in a kind of shallow trough +about six feet long by four feet wide and a foot deep. At some remote +period of time it had no doubt been looked upon as a triumph of +ingenuity, a patent mincing machine. Its action was somewhat like that +of a chaff-cutter, except that the knife was not attached to the +wheel, and only rose and fell, since it was not required to cut right +through the "horse-pieces" with which it was fed. It will be readily +understood that, in order to get the oil quickly out of the blubber, +it needs to be sliced as thin as possible, but for convenience in +handling the refuse (which is the only fuel used) it is not chopped up +in small pieces, but every "horse-piece" is very deeply scored as it +were, leaving a thin strip to hold the slices together. This, then, +was the order of work: Two harpooners attended the try-pots, +replenishing them with minced blubber from the hopper at the port +side, and baling out the sufficiently boiled oil into the great +cooling tank on the starboard. One officer superintended the mincing, +another exercised a general supervision over all. So we toiled watch +and watch, six hours on and six off, the work never ceasing for an +instant night or day. Though the work was hard and dirty, and the +discomfort of being so continually wet through with oil great, there +was only one thing dangerous about the whole business. That was the +job of filling and shifting the huge casks of oil. Some of these were +of enormous size, containing three hundred and fifty gallons when +full, and the work of moving them about the greasy deck of a rolling +ship was attended with a terrible amount of risk. For only four men at +most could get fair hold of a cask, and when she took it into her +silly old hull to start rolling, just as we had got one halfway across +the deck, with nothing to grip your feet, and the knowledge that one +stumbling man would mean a sudden slide of the ton and a half weight, +and a little heap of mangled corpses somewhere in the lee +scuppers--well, one always wanted to be very thankful when the +lashings were safely passed. + +The whale being a small one, as before noted, the whole business was +over within three days, and the decks scrubbed and rescrubbed until +they had quite regained their normal whiteness. The oil was poured by +means of a funnel and long canvas hose into the casks stowed in the +ground tier at the bottom of the ship, and the gear, all carefully +cleaned and neatly "stopped up," stowed snugly away below again. + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[13] From The Cruise of the Cachalot. By Frank T. Bullen. +(Illustrated.) New York: D. Appleton and Company. Pp. 379. + + + + +SKETCH OF MANLY MILES. + + +To Dr. Manly Miles belongs the distinction of having been the first +professor of practical agriculture in the United States, as he was +appointed to that then newly instituted position in the Michigan +Agricultural College in 1865. + +Professor Miles was born in Homer, Cortland County, New York, July 20, +1826, the son of Manly Miles, a soldier of the Revolution; while his +mother, Mary Cushman, was a lineal descendant of Miles Standish and +Thomas Cushman, whose father, Joshua Cushman, joining the Mayflower +colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1621, left him there with +Governor Bradford when he returned to England. + +When Manly, the son, was eleven years old, the family removed to +Flint, Michigan, where he employed his time in farm work and the +acquisition of knowledge, and later in teaching. He had a +common-school education, and improved all the time he could spare from +his regular occupations in reading and study. It is recorded of him in +those days that he was always successful in whatever he undertook. In +illustration of the skill and thoroughness with which he performed his +tasks, his sister relates an incident of his sowing plaster for the +first time, when his father expressed pleasure at his having +distributed the lime so evenly and so well. It appears that he did not +spare himself in doing the work, for so completely was he covered that +he is said to have looked like a plaster cast, "with only his bright +eyes shining through." A thrashing machine was brought on to the +farm, and Manly and his brother went round thrashing for the +neighbors. Industrious in study as well as in work, the boy never +neglected his more prosaic duties to gratify his thirst for knowledge. +He studied geometry while following the plow, drawing the problems on +a shingle, which he tacked to the plow-beam. Whenever he was missed +and inquiry was made about him, the answer invariably was, "Somewhere +with a book." He was most interested in the natural sciences, +particularly in chemistry in its applications to agriculture, and in +comparative physiology and anatomy, and was a diligent student and +collector of mollusks. + +Choosing the profession of medicine, Mr. Miles was graduated M. D. +from Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1850, and practiced till 1859. +In the meantime he became greatly interested in the subject of a +geographical survey of the State, for which an act was passed and +approved in 1858. In the organization of the survey, in 1859, he was +appointed Assistant State Geologist in the department of zoölogy; and +in the next year was appointed professor of zoölogy and animal +physiology in the State Agricultural College at Lansing. + +In his work as zoölogist to the State Geological Survey, in 1859, +1860, and 1861, he displayed rare qualities as a naturalist, so that +Mr. Walter R. Barrows, in recording his death in the bulletin of the +Michigan Ornithological Club, expresses regret that many of the years +he afterward devoted to the development of experimental agriculture +"were not spent in unraveling some of the important biological +problems which the State afforded, which his skill and perseverance +would surely have solved." He was a "born collector," Mr. Barrows +adds, "as the phrase is, and his keen eyes, tireless industry, and +mathematical precision led to the accumulation of thousands of +valuable specimens and more valuable observations." + +Mr. Bryant Walker, of Detroit, who knew Professor Miles well in later +years, and had opportunity to review his zoölogical work, regards the +part he took during this service in developing the knowledge of the +fauna of the State as having been very prominent. "The catalogues he +published in the report for 1860 have been the basis for all work +since that time." He kept in correspondence with the most eminent +American naturalists of the period, including Cope, Prime, Lea, W. G. +Binney, Baird, and Agassiz, and supplied them with large quantities of +valuable material. From the many letters written by these naturalists +which are in the possession of his friends, we take, as illustrating +the character of the service he rendered and of the trust they reposed +in him, even previous to his going on the survey, one from Agassiz, of +February 4, 1856: + +"DEAR SIR: As you have already furnished me with invaluable materials +for the natural history of the fishes of your State, I am emboldened +to ask another favor of you. I am preparing a map of the Geographical +Distribution of the Turtles of North America, and would be greatly +indebted to you for any information respecting the range of those +found in your State, as far as you have noticed them, even if you +should know them only by their common names, my object being simply to +ascertain how far they extend over different parts of the country. If +you could add specimens of them, to identify them with precision, it +would be, of course, so much the better; but as I am almost ready for +the press, I could not for this paper await the return of spring, but +would thank you for what you could furnish me now. I am particularly +interested in ascertaining how far north the different species +inhabiting this continent extend." On the back of this letter was Dr. +Miles's indorsement that a box had been sent. + +A number of letters from Professor Baird, of 1860 and 1861, relate to +the identification of specimens collected by Dr. Miles, and to the +fishes of Michigan, and contain inquiries about gulls and eggs. Dr. +Miles likewise supplied Cope with a considerable amount of material +concerning Michigan reptiles and fishes. + +While mollusks were the favorite object of Dr. Miles's investigations, +he also made studies and valuable collections of birds, mammals, +reptiles, and fishes; and he seems, Mr. Barrows says, "to have +possessed, in a high degree, that strong characteristic of a true +naturalist, a full appreciation of the value of good specimens. Many +of his specimens are now preserved at the Agricultural College, and +among his shells are many which are of more than ordinary value from +having served as types of new species, or as specimens from type +localities, or as part or all of the material which has helped to +clear up mistakes and misconceptions about species and their +distribution." Mr. Walker speaks of his having done a great work in +conchology. His catalogue, which contained a list of one hundred and +sixty-one species, was by far the most complete published up to that +time. "He described two new species--_Planorbis truncatus_ and _Unio +leprosus_. The former is one of the few species which are, so far as +known, peculiar to Michigan, and is a very beautiful and distinct +form; while the latter, although now considered as synonymous with +another species, has peculiarities which in the then slight knowledge +of the variability of the species was a justification of his position. +He was also the discoverer of two other forms which were named after +him by one of our most eminent conchologists--viz., _Campeloma +Milesii_ (Lea) and _Guiobasis Milesii_ (Lea)." Mr. Walker believes +that "in general, it can be truthfully stated that Dr. Miles did more +to develop the general natural history of that State (Michigan) than +any other man either before or since he completed his work as State +Geologist." + +As professor of zoölogy and animal physiology, Dr. Miles is described +by one of his students, who afterward became a professor in the +college and then its president, as having been thoroughly interested +in the subjects he taught, and shown that interest in his work and in +his treatment of his students. He labored as faithfully and +industriously with the class of five to which President Clute belonged +as if it "had numbered as many score." He supplemented the meager +equipment of his department from his more extensive private apparatus +and collections, which were freely used for class work; and, when +there was need, he had the skill to prepare new pieces of apparatus. +"He was on the alert for every chance for illustration which occasion +offered: an animal slaughtered for the tables gave him an opportunity +to lecture on its viscera; a walk over the drift-covered fields found +many specimens of rock which he taught us to distinguish; the mud and +the sand banks along the river showed how in the periods of the dim +past were formed fossil footprints and ripples; the woods and swamps +and lakes gave many useful living specimens, some of which became the +material for the improvised dissecting room; the crayon in his hand +produced on board or paper the chart of geologic ages, the table of +classification, or the drawing of the part of an animal under +discussion." + +Prof. R. C. Kedzie came to the college a little later, in 1863, when +Dr. Miles had been for two years a professor, and found him then the +authority "for professors and students alike on beasts, birds, and +reptiles, on the stones of the field, and insects of the air," +thorough, scholarly, and enthusiastic, and therefore very popular with +his classes. + +The projection of agricultural colleges under the Agricultural College +Land Grant Act of 1862 stimulated a demand for teachers of scientific +agriculture, and it was found that they were rare. Of old school +students of science there was no lack--able men, as President Clute +well says, who were familiar with their little laboratories and with +the old theories and methods, but who did not possess the new vision +of evolution and the conservation of energy, men of the study rather +than the field, and least of all men of the orchard and stock farm; +and they knew nothing of the practical application of chemistry to +fertilization and the raising of crops and the composition of feed +stuffs, of physiology to stock-breeding, and of geology and physics to +the study of the soils. + +With a thorough knowledge of science and familiarity with practical +agriculture Professor Miles had an inclination to enter this field, +and this inclination was encouraged by President Abbott and some of +the members of the Board of Agriculture. He had filled the +professorship of zoölogy and animal physiology with complete success, +and had he consulted his most cherished tastes alone he would have +remained there, but he gradually suffered himself to be called to +another field. The duties of "acting superintendent of the farm" were +attached to his chair in 1864. In 1865 he became professor of animal +physiology and practical agriculture and superintendent of the farm; +in 1869 he ceased to teach physiology, and gave his whole time to the +agricultural branch of his work; and in 1875 the work of the +superintendent of the farm was consigned to other hands, and he +confined himself to the professorship proper of practical agriculture. + +The farm and its appurtenances, with fields cumbered with stumps and +undrained, with inadequate and poorly constructed buildings, with +inferior live stock, and everything primitive, were in poor condition +for the teaching or the successful practice of agriculture. Professor +Miles's first business was to set these things in order. Year by year +something was done to remove evils or improve existing features in +some of the departments of the life and management of the premises, +till the concern in a certain measure approached the superintendent's +ideal--as being a laboratory for teaching agriculture, conducting +experiments, and training men, rather than a money-making +establishment. + +In this new field, Professor Kedzie says, Professor Miles was even +more popular than before with students, and created an enthusiasm for +operations and labors of the farm which had been regarded before as a +disagreeable drudgery. The students "were never happier than when +detailed for a day's work with Dr. Miles in laying out some difficult +ditch or surveying some field. One reason why he was so popular was +that he was not afraid of soiling his hands. His favorite uniform for +field work was a pair of brown overalls. The late Judge Tenney came to +a gang of students at work on a troublesome ditch and inquired where +he could find Dr. Miles. 'That man in overalls down in the quicksands +of the ditch is Dr. Miles'; the professor of practical agriculture was +in touch with the soil." + +Prof. Byron D. Halsted, of the New Jersey Agricultural College +Experiment Station, who was an agricultural pupil of Dr. Miles in +Lansing, characterizes him as having been a full man who knew his +subjects deeply and fondly. "In those days I am safe in writing that +he represented the forefront of advanced agriculture in America. He +was in close touch with such men as Lawes and Gilbert, Rothamstead, +England, the famous field-crop experimenters of the world, and as for +his knowledge of breeds of live stock and their origin, Miles's +Stock-Breeding is a classic work. Dr. Miles, in short, was a close +student, a born investigator, hating an error, but using it as a +stepping-stone toward truth. He did American farming a lasting +service, and his deeds live after him." + +While loved by his students, most of whom have been successful and +many have gained eminence as agricultural professors or workers in +experiment stations, and while receiving sympathy and support from +President Abbott, Dr. Miles was not appreciated by the politicians, or +by all of the Board of Agriculture, or even by the public at large. +Unkind and captious criticisms were made of his work, and it was found +fault with on economical grounds, as if its prime purpose had been to +make money. He therefore resigned his position in 1875, and accepted +the professorship of agriculture in the Illinois State University. +Thence he removed to the Houghton Farm of Lawson Valentine, near +Mountainville, N. Y., where he occupied himself with scientific +experimental investigation. He was afterward professor of agriculture +in the Massachusetts Agricultural College, at Amherst. In announcing +this appointment to the students, Dr. Chadbourne, then president of +the institution, and himself a most successful teacher, stated that he +considered Dr. Miles as the ablest man in the United States for that +position. In 1886, shortly after Dr. Chadbourne's death, Dr. Miles +returned to his old home in Lansing, Michigan, where he spent the rest +of his life in study, research, and the writing of books and articles +for scientific publications. + +During these later years of his life he took up again with what had +been his favorite pursuit in earlier days, but with which he had not +occupied himself for thirty years--the study of mollusks--with the +enthusiasm of a young man, Mr. Walker says, who being interested in +the same study, was in constant correspondence with him at this time; +"and as far as his strength permitted labored with all the acumen and +attention to details which were so characteristic of him. I was +particularly struck with his familiarity with the present drift of +scientific investigation and thought, and his thorough appreciation of +modern methods of work. He was greatly interested in the work I was +carrying on with reference to the geographical distribution of the +mollusca, and, as would naturally be supposed from his own work in +heredity in connection with our domestic animals, took great pleasure +in discussing the relations of the species as they are now found and +their possible lines of descent. He was a careful and accurate +observer of Nature, and if he had not drifted into other lines of work +would undoubtedly have made his mark as a great naturalist. As it is, +his name will always have an honored place in the scientific history +of Michigan." + +When Professor Miles began to teach in the Michigan Agricultural +College, the "new education" was new indeed, and the textbook method +still held sway. But the improved methods were gradually taking the +place of the old ones, and Professor Miles was one of the first to +co-operate in them, and he did it with effect. He used text-books, +"but his living word," President Clute says, "supplemented the book; +and the animal from the farm under his knife and ours, the shells +which he led us to find under the rotten logs and along the rivers and +lakes, the insects he taught us to collect and classify, the minerals +and fossils he had collected on the geological survey of Michigan, all +were used to instruct and inspire his students, to cultivate in them +the scientific spirit and method." + +Among the more important books by Professor Miles are Stock-Breeding, +which had a wide circulation and has been much used as a class-book; +Experiments with Indian Corn, giving the results of some important +work which he did at Houghton Farm; Silos and Ensilage, which helped +much in diffusing knowledge of the silo in the times when it had to +fight for recognition; and Land Drainage. Of his papers, he published +in the Popular Science Monthly articles on Scientific Farming at +Rothamstead; Ensilage and Fermentation; Lines of Progress in +Agriculture; Progress in Agricultural Science; and How Plants and +Animals Grow. To the American Association for the Advancement of +Science he contributed papers on Energy as a Factor in Rural Economy; +Heredity of Acquired Characters (also to the American Naturalist); +Surface Tension of Water and Evaporation; Energy as a Factor in +Nutrition; and Limits of Biological Experiments (also to the American +Naturalist). Other articles in the American Naturalist were on Animal +Mechanics and the Relative Efficiency of Animals as Machines. In the +Proceedings of the American Educational Association is an address by +him on Instruction in Manual Arts in Connection with Scientific +Studies. The records of the U and I Club, of Lansing, of which he was +a valued member for ten years, contain papers on a variety of +scientific subjects which were read before it, and were highly +appreciated. This list does not contain all of Professor Miles's +contributions to the literature of science, for throughout his life he +was a frequent contributor to the agricultural and scientific press, +and a frequent speaker before associations and institutes, "where his +lectures were able and practical." + +No special record is made of the work of Professor Miles in the +American Agriculturist, but the correspondence of Professor Thurber +with him furnishes ample proof that he was one of the most trusted +advisers in the editorial conduct of that journal. The familiar tone +of Professor Thurber's letters, and the undoubting assurance with +which he asked for information and aid on various subjects, well +demonstrate how well the editor knew whom he could rely upon in an +emergency. + +In all his work the great desire of Professor Miles was to find and +present the truth. His merits were recognized by many scientific +societies. He was made a corresponding member of the Buffalo Society +of Natural Sciences in 1862; a corresponding member of the +Entomological Society of Philadelphia in January, 1863; a +correspondent of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia in +1864; a member of the American Association for the Advancement of +Science in 1880, and a Fellow of the same body in 1890; and held +memberships or other relations with other societies; and he received +the degree of D. V. S. from Columbia Veterinary College, New York, in +March, 1880. + +His students and friends speak in terms of high admiration of the +genial qualities of Professor Miles as a companion. The resolutions of +the U and I Club of Lansing describe him as an easy and graceful +talker, a cheerful dispenser of his learning to others. "To spend an +hour in his 'den,' and watch his delicate experiments with 'films,'" +says President Clute, "and see the light in his eyes as he talked of +them, was a delight." "He was particularly fond of boys," says +another, "and never seemed happier than when in the company of boys or +young men who were trying to study and to inform themselves, and if he +could in any way assist them he was only too glad to do so"; and he +liked pets and children. Incidents are related showing that he had a +wonderful accuracy in noting and recollecting the minutest details +that came under his observation--a power that he was able to bring to +bear instantly when its exercise was called for. + +Dr. Miles kept up his habits of reading and study to the last days of +his life; but all public work was made difficult to him in later years +by an increasing deafness. He was tireless in investigation, patient, +and always cheerful and looking for the bright side; and when one +inquired of him concerning his health, his usual answer was that he +was "all right," or, if he could not say that, that he would be "all +right to-morrow." + +No sketch of Dr. Miles is complete without a word of tribute to his +high personal character, his life pure and noble in every +relationship, his unswerving devotion to truth, and the unfaltering +loyalty to his friends, which make his memory a benediction and an +inspiration to all who knew him well. + +He was married in 1851 to Miss Mary E. Dodge, who remained his devoted +companion until his death, which occurred February 15, 1898. + + + + +Editor's Table. + + +_SCIENCE AND CULTURE._ + +We do not know from whom the philosopher Locke quotes the saying, +"_Non vitæ sed scholæ discimus_," but he translates it well, "We learn +not to live, but to dispute." The adage has reference to the old +systems of education which had for their aim neither the discovery of +truth nor the perfecting of the human faculties in any broad sense, +but the fitting of the individual to take his place in a world of +conventional ideas and discuss conventional topics upon conventional +lines. In other words, the preparation was for school, not for life, +the whole subsequent career of the individual being regarded simply as +a prolongation of the intellectual influences and discipline of the +school. That system, which was ecclesiastical in its origin, has now, +save for strictly ecclesiastical purposes, passed away. We consider +life as the end of school and not school as the end of life. + +It may be questioned, however, whether we have as yet thoroughly +adapted our educational methods to this change of standpoint. Do we as +yet take a sufficiently broad view of life? If we conceive life +narrowly as essentially a business struggle, and adapt our procedure +to that conception, the results will show very little relation to the +larger and truer conception according to which life means development +of faculty, activity of function, and a harmonious adjustment of +relations between man and man. If, again, we make too much of +knowledge that has only a conventional value, having little or no +bearing on the understanding of things or the accomplishment of useful +work, we are so far falling into the old error of "learning for +school." The address by Sir Archibald Geikie, which we published last +month, gives a useful caution against undervaluing "the older +learning." The older learning can certainly be made an effective +instrument for the cultivation of taste, of sympathy, and of +intellectual accuracy along certain lines. It tends further, we +believe, to promote a certain intellectual self-respect, which is a +valuable quality. In the study of language and literature the human +mind surveys, as it were, its own peculiar possessions, and thus +acquires a sense of proprietorship which a study of the external world +can hardly give. Still, it is well to cultivate a consciousness of the +essentially limited and arbitrary nature of such knowledge. It is +important, we may admit, to have a good text of such an author as +Chaucer; but the minutiæ into which critics of his text enter can not +be said to possess any broad human interest. Whether he wrote this +word or that word, adopted this spelling or that, can not be a +question on which much depends; and could one know the exact truth on +a thousand such points, he would not really be much the wiser. Among +Chaucer scholars he could speak with a good deal of confidence; but +the knowledge of these details would not really help to round out any +useful _system_ of knowledge, nor could any single fact possess the +illuminating power which sometimes belongs to some single and, at +first sight, unimportant fact in the realm of natural knowledge. + +This is not said with any intention of disparaging the culture that +comes of literary study. It is a culture that tends to brighten human +intercourse and to sweeten a man's own thoughts. It is a culture +eminently favorable to flexibility of mind and quick insight into +human character. So far it is a culture "for life"; but too often it +tends to become a culture "for school"--that is to say, when things +are learned simply to meet conventional demands and conform to the +fashion of the time. + +A true and sufficient culture can never, as we conceive, be founded on +literature and language alone. No mind can be truly liberalized +without imbibing and assimilating the fundamental principles of +science. There is darkness in the mind that believes that anything can +come out of nothing and which has never obtained a glimpse of the +exactness with which Nature solves her equations. In the region of +mechanics alone there are a thousand beautiful and varied +illustrations of the unfailing constancy of natural laws. It is a +liberal education to trace the operation of one law under numberless +disguises, and thus arrive at an ineradicable conviction that the same +law must be reckoned with always and everywhere. The persistence of +force, the laws of the composition and resolution of forces, the laws +of falling bodies and projectiles, the conservation of energy, the +laws of heat, to mention only a few heads of elementary scientific +study, are capable, if properly unfolded and illustrated, of producing +in any mind open to large thoughts a sense of harmony and a trust in +the underlying reason of things, which are constitutive elements of +the very highest culture. Only, care must be taken to approach these +studies in a right spirit. There is a way of regarding the laws of +Nature which tends to vulgarize rather than refine the mind. If we +approach Nature merely as something to be exploited, we get no culture +from the study of it; but if we approach it as the great men of old +did, and feel that in learning its laws we are grasping the thoughts +which went to the building of the universe, and, by so doing, are +affirming our own high calling as intelligent beings, then every +moment given to the study of Nature means intellectual, moral, and +spiritual gain. When we look into literature there is much to charm, +much to delight and satisfy; and doubtless, in relation to what any +one man can accomplish, the field is infinite; but still we know we +are looking into the limited. On the other hand, when we are face to +face with Nature, we know we are looking into the infinite, and that, +however many veils we may take away, there is still "veil after veil +behind." + +It is needless to say that there are thousands of minds in the world +possessed of good native power, but laboring under serious disability +for the want of that culture which science alone can bestow. Some of +these are sick with morbid longings for unattainable knowledge, and +openly or secretly rebellious at the limitations of a Nature whose +powers they have never even begun to explore. To such persons anything +like an adequate insight into the harmony amid diversity of Nature's +laws would come with all the force of a revelation, and would, we may +well believe, clear their minds of the feverish fancies which have +made them so restless and dissatisfied; but, alas! it is rarely that +such enlightenment comes to those who have not in youth imbibed a +portion of the scientific spirit. In this class are to be found the +victims of spiritualism, of the Keeley motor, and even of that +grotesque satire, the success of which we remember almost with fear +and trembling, the "sympsychograph." Still, to all such we would say: + + "Come forth into the light of things; + Let Nature be your teacher." + +The "Nature" which we require to teach us for the peace and +tranquillity of our souls is the Nature of everyday phenomena, the +Nature that forms the clouds and rounds the raindrops, that springs in +the grass and pulses in the tides, that glances in the sunbeam and +breathes in the flower, that works witchery in the crystal and breaks +into glory in the sunset. The mind that knows what can be known of +these things has feasted full of wonder and beauty, and makes no +greedy demand for higher grace or mightier miracle. + +Then again there are those who for want of a little elementary +scientific knowledge, and particularly for want of an assured +conviction that Nature gives nothing for nothing, are continually +attempting the impossible in the way of projected inventions. They +catch at a phrase and think it must represent a fact; they fall +victims to a verbal mythology of their own manufacture. If there was +much hope of their learning anything of value through disappointment, +they might be left to the teaching of experience, costly as the +lessons of that master are. But they do not learn: their hopes are +blasted, their fortunes, if they had any, are wrecked, but their +infatuations survive. Where is the inventor of a perpetual motion who +ever ceased to have confidence in his peculiar contrivance? The thing +may be as motionless as a tombstone, save when urged by external force +into a momentary lumbering activity; but all the same, it only needs, +its misguided author thinks, a little doctoring, a trifling change +here or there, to make it tear round like mad. And so with other +inventors of the impossible: they take counsel not with Nature, but +with their own wholly incorrect notions of what the operations of +Nature are. The least power of truly analyzing a natural phenomenon, +and separating the factors that produce it, would show them the +falsity of their ideas; but that power they do not possess. + +We can not, then, plead too strongly for the teaching of science, not +with a view to results in money, but with a view to the improvement of +the mind and heart of the learner, or, in other words, as a source of +culture. Literature introduces us to the world of human thought and +action, to the kingdom of man; and science shows us how the thought +and powers of man can be indefinitely enlarged by an ever increasing +acquaintance with the laws of the universe. Literature alone leaves +the mind without any firm grasp of the reality of things, and science +alone tends to produce a hard, prosaic, and sometimes antisocial +temper. Each helps to bring out the best possible results of the +other; and it is only by their joint action that human faculties and +human character can ever be brought to their perfection. + + +_SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST._ + +It is singular what a propensity some writers have to misunderstand +and misrepresent the views of Mr. Herbert Spencer, even upon points in +regard to which he has made every possible effort to avoid occasion +for misapprehension. The term "survival of the fittest" is one which +Mr. Spencer himself introduced as being, perhaps, a little less open +to misunderstanding than the Darwinian expression "natural selection." +The latter seemed to imply purposive action, and Mr. Spencer thought +that this implication would be less prominent if the phrase were +changed to "survival of the fittest." From the very first, however, he +recognized that the difference between the two terms in this respect +was, if we may so express it, purely quantitative; and he took care to +make it clear that by "the fittest" he did not in the least intend to +signify any form of ideal or subjective fitness, but simply a superior +degree of adaptation, as a matter of actual fact, to environing +conditions. The conditions at any given moment are as they are, and +the "fitness" of any particular organism is such a correspondence with +those conditions as permits and favors its perpetuation. The +conditions do not create fitness; they merely eliminate unfitness; nor +does Mr. Spencer conceive any agency as producing _ab extra_ the +fitness which enables an organism or a number of organisms to survive. +He differs, however, from what is perhaps the dominant school of +biology to-day, in holding that the higher forms of organic life are, +as he expresses it, "directly equilibrated" with their surroundings +through the inheritance of physical features resulting from effort and +habit. + +To whatever cause it may be attributed, few writers whose intellectual +activity has extended over so long a term of years as Mr. Spencer's +have been so consistent in their utterances at different stages as he. +The "Synthetic Philosophy" is the realization of a scheme of thought +no less wonderful in its coherence and solidity than in its compass, +the author having planted himself from the first at a point of view +which gave him a clear command of his entire field. To say that no +other system of thought equally comprehensive and equally coherent +exists in the world to-day would be to make a statement which few +competent and dispassionate authorities would deny. Notwithstanding +this, there are writers not a few, particularly of the class "who +write with ease," who, as we said at the outset, have a propensity for +misunderstanding Mr. Spencer, and who consequently accuse him of +inconsistencies and self-contradictions for which nothing that he has +ever said affords any warrant. One of these gentlemen is the Duke of +Argyll, who has lately offered the world another superfluous book +under the title of Organic Evolution Cross-examined. The duke +particularly concerns himself with Mr. Spencer's teaching in regard to +the "survival of the fittest," and Mr. Spencer, in the columns of +Nature, replies to him in a brief but sufficient manner. It is safe to +say that Mr. Spencer's philosophy will show Cyclopean remains +generations after the name of his ducal critic shall have passed +forever into the mists of oblivion; and the "survival of the fittest" +will thus be illustrated in a sense in which Mr. Spencer himself never +used the words. + + + + +Scientific Literature. + + +SPECIAL BOOKS. + +The study of the methods through which the topographical features and +rock forms of particular districts have been worked out, as presented +in numerous popular monographs, is a fascinating one; and we can +hardly doubt that many persons who would never otherwise have thought +of it have been made interested in geology by some of these masterly +picturesque descriptions of regions with which they were superficially +familiar. Other treatises on the origin of surface features, dealing +with the subject more fundamentally, but likewise of limited scope, +are not wanting. Yet, as Prof. _James Geikie_ well says, there is no +English work to which readers not skilled in geology can turn for a +general account of the whole subject. Professor Geikie has therefore +prepared his elaborate book on _Earth Sculpture_[14] to supply this +want, to furnish an introductory treatise for those persons who may be +desirous of acquiring some broad knowledge of the results arrived at +by geologists as to the development of land forms generally. A vast +number of geological questions are involved in the exhaustive +treatment of the subject. All the forces with which geologists become +acquainted in the study of the earth, and their operation, come into +consideration. The effects of these forces assume aspects that vary +according to the nature of the material on which they operate, and +they are again modified according to the peculiar combinations of +forces at work. The subject is therefore not the easy one it may be +supposed at first sight to be, and the reader who peruses Professor +Geikie's work with the intention of mastering it will find he has some +studying to do. Yet Professor Geikie is clear, and it is only because +he has gone deeper than the others that he may be harder. The first +point he insists upon is that in the fashioning of the earth's surface +no hard-and-fast line separates past and present. The work has been +going on for a long time, and is still in progress, under a law of +evolution as true for the crust of the globe as for the plants and +animals. In setting out upon our inquiry we must in the first place +know something about rocks and the mode of their arrangement, of the +structure or architecture of the earth's crust. This leads to the +distinction between the igneous and the subaqueous, the volcanic, +plutonic, and metamorphic, and the derivative rocks on which epigene +agencies have performed their shaping work. These rocks have been +modified in various ways, and the surface appearance of the earth has +been affected by forces operating from the interior, and by external +factors, the work of which is called denudation. The agents of +denudation are described--air, water, heat, frost, chemical action, +plants, and animals--often so closely associated in their operations +that their individual shares in the final result can hardly be +determined. The various influences of these factors as exerted upon +different forms of geological structure and different sorts of rocks +are then taken up and described as applied to land forms in regions of +horizontal, or gently inclined, and of highly folded and disturbed +strata, and in regions affected by normal faults or vertical +displacements. Land forms due directly or indirectly to igneous action +and the influence of rock character on the determination of land forms +are subjects of special chapters. Glacial action is one of the most +important factors in modifying the forms of northern lands, and is +treated with considerable fullness. Æolian action--of the air and +wind--has peculiar and important effects in arid regions, and +underground water in limestone districts, and these receive attention. +Then come basins--those due to crustal deformation, crater lakes, +river lakes, glacial basins, and others, and coast lines. Finally, a +classification is given of these land forms as plains or plateaus of +accumulation and of erosion, original or tectonic and subsequent or +relict hills and mountains, original or tectonic and subsequent or +erosion valleys, basins, and coast lines, and the conclusions are +reached that we do not know, except as a matter of probability, +whether we have still visible any original wrinkles of the earth's +crust; and that some of the estimates of the time it has taken to +produce the changes of which we witness the results have been very +much exaggerated. + +The curious conclusions obtained by Dr. _Le Bon_ in his psychological +investigations,[15] delivered to us in startling language, are said to +be the fruit of extensive travel and of the personal measurement of +thousands of skulls. His memoir on cervical researches, published in +1879, upholds the theory that the volume of the skull varies with the +intelligence. This theory has perhaps suffered a permanent +adumbration. Facts seem to prove that the bony structure of the skull, +or even its cranial capacity, gives no positive indication of +intellect. + +In the present volume the theme of discussion is the soul of races. +Anthropological classification is set aside and mankind is divided +into four groups according to mental characteristics: the primitive, +inferior, average, and superior races--the standard of judgment being +the degree of their aptitude for dominating reflex impulses. It is +perhaps worthy of note that while the Frenchman belongs to a superior +race, the Semitic peoples are placed in the class below, or the +average sort. For the primitive varieties it is not necessary to +observe a South Sea islander, the lower strata of Europeans furnishing +numerous examples. When greater differentiation is reached, the word +"race" is used in a historical sense. It requires, however, more +complete fusion than some nations exhibit to earn this title; for, +although there are Germans and Americans, "it is not clear as yet that +there are Italians." The race having been once evolved, acquires +wondrous potentialities with Dr. Le Bon. He compares it to the +totality of cells constituting a living organism, asserts that its +mental constitution is as unvarying as its anatomical structure, that +it is a permanent being independent of time and founded alone by its +dead. It is a short step to endow this entity with a soul consisting +of common sentiments, interests, and beliefs--what in brief, robbed of +hyperbole, we should call national character. He states that the +notion of a country is not possible until a national soul is formed. +This, in time, like germ-plasm, becomes so stable that assimilation +with foreign elements is impossible. Like natural species, it has +secondary characteristics that may be modified, but its fundamental +character is like the fin of the fish or the beak of the bird. The +acquisition of this soul marks the apogee of the greatness of a +people. Psychological species, however, are not eternal, but may decay +if the functioning of their organs is troubled profoundly. + +The soul of the race is best expressed in its art, not in its history +or institutions, and, as it can not bequeath its soul, so it can not +impress its civilization or art upon an alien race. It was on account +of this incompatibility of soul that Grecian art failed to be +implanted in India. The unaltering constituent of the soul corresponds +to character, while intellectual qualities are variable. By character +is meant perseverance, energy, power of self-control, also morality. +The latter is hereditary respect for the rules on which a society is +based. This definition would make polygamy a moral notion for Mormons. +The knowledge of character "can be acquired neither in laboratories +nor in books, but only in the course of long travel." Whence it is +learned that different races can not have mutual comprehension. +Luckily for the student who is unable to travel, the same phenomenon +may be observed in the gulf that separates the civilized man and +woman. Although highly educated, "they might converse with each other +for centuries without understanding one another." These differences +between races and individuals demonstrate the falsity of the notion of +equality. Indeed, through _science_ "man has learned that to be slaves +is the natural condition of all human beings." Naturally he becomes +dispirited, anarchy seizes upon the uneducated and sullen indifference +the more cultivated. "Like a ship that has lost its compass, the +modern man wanders haphazard through the spaces formerly peopled by +the gods and rendered a desert by science." In France morality is +gradually dying out, while the United States is threatened by a +gigantic civil war. What to do is problematical, since we are informed +"that people have never derived much advantage from too great a desire +to reason and think," and what is most harmful to a people is to +attain too high a degree of intelligence and culture, the groundwork +of the soul beginning to decline when this level is reached. The +remedy suggested to us is "the organization of a very severe military +service and the permanent menace of disastrous wars." But if we fail +to see the improving tendency of this advice, it is probably because +we are like historians, "simple-minded," while Dr. Le Bon is much too +complex for our understanding. According to his own theory, there is +no hope that we may comprehend him, since the outpourings of a soul of +the Latin race can not be transferred by a simple bridge of +translation to the apprehension of an Anglo-Saxon mind, separated, as +he would term it, by "the dead weight of thousands of generations." + + +GENERAL NOTICES. + +In preparing the new edition of his _Text-Book of Mineralogy_[16] +first published in 1877, Prof. _E. S. Dana_ has found it necessary to +rewrite the whole as well as to add much new matter and many new +illustrations. The work being designed chiefly for use in class or +private instruction, the choice of topics discussed, the order and +fullness of treatment, and the method of presentation have been +determined by that object. The different types of crystal forms are +described under the thirty-two groups now accepted, classed according +to their symmetry. In the chapters on physical and chemical +mineralogy, the plan of the former edition is retained of presenting +somewhat fully the elementary principles of the science on which the +mineral characters depend, and the author has tried to give the +student the means of becoming practically familiar with the modern +means of investigation. Especial attention is given to the optical +qualities of crystals as revealed by the microscope; and frequent +references are introduced to important papers on the different +subjects discussed. The descriptive part of the volume is essentially +an abridgment of the sixth edition of Dana's System of Mineralogy, +published in 1892, to which the student is referred for fuller and +supplementary information. A full topical index is furnished in +addition to the usual index of species. + +The title, _The Story of the Railroad_,[17] carries with it the +suggestion of an eventful history. The West, in the author's view, +begins with the Missouri River. The story of its railroad is the story +of the line, now very multiple, that leads to the Pacific Ocean. The +beginning of white men's travels in these routes is traced by the +editor to the Spanish adventurers of the sixteenth century, who made +miserable journeys in search of gold or visionary objects, through +regions now traversed by some of the more southern lines. Then came +trappers; next costly and painfully undertaken Government expeditions +into the then regions of the unknown, the stories of which were the +boyhood delight of men now living. The period of practical traversing +of the continent began with the raging of the California gold fever, +when the journey of many weeks was tiresomely made with ox teams, in +the face of actual perils of the desert, starvation, thirst, and the +Indians. After California became important, stage and express lines +were put on; but still, at the time Mr. Warman takes up the story, +less than sixty years ago, the idea of building a railroad to the +Pacific was regarded as too visionary to be entertained, and Asa +Whitney sacrificed a fortune trying to induce somebody to take it up. +The first dreams were for a short route to the Orient. Eventually the +idea was developed that the American West might be worth going after, +and then the idea of a railroad to it began to assume practical form. +Young Engineer Dodge, afterward Major General, began surveys before +the civil war; after it General Sherman gave the scheme a great +impulse, and the Union Pacific Railroad was built--when and how are +graphically and dramatically told in Mr. Warman's book. Next came the +Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé, and other transcontinental lines, the +histories of all of which are related in similar style, with stories +of adventures, perils encountered, and lively incidents, including the +war between two of the lines for the possession of the Arkansas Cañon; +financial mishaps, and political scandal. Then came the settlement of +the plains, road-making in Mexico, and the opening of Oklahoma, all of +which were made possible by the railroads, and have in turn +contributed to support them. The beginnings and growth of the express +business are described, and the later lines that have penetrated the +plains are mentioned. + +Prof. _William Benjamin Smith's_ treatise on the _Infinitesimal +Analysis_[18] has been written, the author says, on what appeared, in +the light of ten years' experience in teaching the calculus, to be +lines of least resistance. The aim has been, within a prescribed +expense of time and energy, to penetrate as far as possible into the +subject, and in as many directions, so that the student shall attain +as wide knowledge of the matter, as full comprehension of the methods, +and as clear consciousness of the spirit and power of this analysis as +the nature of the case would admit. The author has accordingly often +followed what seemed to be natural suggestions and impulses toward +near-lying extensions or generalizations, and has even allowed them to +direct the course of the discussion. In accordance with the plan and +purpose of the book as given, "Weierstressian rigor" has been excluded +from many investigations, and the postponement has been compelled of +some important discussions, which were considered too subtle for an +early age of study. Real difficulties, however, have not been +knowingly disguised, and pains have been taken on occasion to warn the +reader that the treatment given is only provisional, and must await +further precision or delimitation. Where the subject has been found +too large for the compass of the intended work, or too abstruse or +difficult for the contemplated students, the treatment has been +compressed or curtailed. The book is, in fact, written for such as +feel a genuine interest in the subject; and the illustrations and +exercises have been chosen with frequent reference to practical or +theoretic importance or to historic interest. + +Mr. _George Jacob Holyoake_ has written with much enthusiasm the +_Jubilee History of the Leeds Industrial Co-operative Society_.[19] +Many schemes have been started on lines similar to those of this one, +but very few besides it have grown from the very beginning, and, +having become to all appearance a permanent institution, can look back +upon a career of fifty years with complete satisfaction. The society +began in times of public distress. The ground was prepared for it by +the "Redemption" Society, which was founded at Leeds in 1845, by +admirers of Robert Owen, after the experiment at Queenswood had +failed. It practiced a kind of co-operation and had some distinguished +friends to wish it well. Among the speakers at its meetings was Dr. +Frederic Hollick, still living, now a resident of New York city. The +co-operative society was started as a means of getting cheaper flour +for its members. On February 25, 1847, an appeal headed "Holbeck +Anti-Corn Mill Association" was issued to the working classes of Leeds +and vicinity by the "working people of Messrs. Benyon & Co.'s mill," +Holbeck, inviting combination and subscriptions for establishing a +mill to be the property of the subscribers and their successors, "in +order to supply them with flour and flour only." Meetings were held, +an organization was effected, and the mill was started. The history of +the society and how it grew, how "flour only" was stricken from its +scheme and other things were added and it branched out, how +co-operative stores were established, how it gained the confidence of +the public and the respect of rivals in business, its successes and +its mistakes, its triumphs and failures, are told by Mr. Holyoake, +year by year, in a detail in which everything is set down and nothing +covered up. In 1897 the cooperative society had productive departments +of flour, bakery, bespoke clothing, boot and shoe factory, brush +factory, cabinet making, building, millinery, and dressmaking, +employing 541 hands and turning over £26,949; 80 large stores for the +sale of these and various other kinds of goods in Leeds and vicinity; +drapery branches and boot and shoe stores; 43 butchering branches; and +37,000 subscribing purchasers. Its capital stood at £447,000; and its +sales for the year amounted to £1,042,616. + +D. Appleton and Company have added to their Home Reading Series _The +Earth and Sky_, a primer of Astronomy for Young Readers, by Prof. +_Edward S. Holden_. It is intended to be the first of a series of +three or more volumes, all treating of astronomy in one form or +another, and suited for reading in the school. The treatment is based +on the principle that "it is not so simple as it appears to fix in the +child's mind the fundamental fact that it is Nature which is true, and +the book or the engraving which is a true copy of it. 'It says' is the +snare of children as well as of their more sophisticated elders. The +vital point to be insisted on is a constant reference from words to +things." The volume is written as a conversation with a young lad. He +is first shown how he may know for himself that the earth is not flat, +though it certainly appears to be so. The next step is to show him +that he may know that the earth is in fact round, and that it is a +globe of immense size. Its situation in space is next considered, and +the child's mind is led to some formal conclusions respecting space +itself. It is then directed to the sun, to the moon and its changes, +to the stars and their motions, to the revolution of the earth, etc. + +In 1887 _E. S. Holden_ published through the Regents of the University +of California a list of recorded earthquakes on the Pacific coast, it +being the first systematic publication of the sort. The purpose of it +was to bring to light all the general facts about the various shocks, +and enable studies to be made of particular earthquake phenomena. It +was necessary at the Lick Observatory to keep a register of the times +of occurrence of all shocks on account of their possible effects on +the instruments. With this was associated in 1888, when the +observatory began its active work, the collection of reports of shocks +felt elsewhere on the Pacific coast. Mr. Holden now reprints this +pamphlet through the Smithsonian Institution in _A Catalogue of +Earthquakes felt on the Pacific Coast, 1769 to 1897_, with many +corrections and additions, including a complete account of the +earthquake observations at Mount Hamilton from 1887 to 1897, and an +abstract of the great amount of information that has been collected +regarding other Pacific coast earthquakes during the same interval. + +The _Psychologie als Erfahrungs-Wissenschaft_ of _Hans Cornelius_ is +not intended for a complete account and review of the facts of +psychical life, but rather to present the fundamentals of a purely +empirical theory, excluding all metaphysical views. Such an account +should not start from any arbitrary abstractions or hypotheses, but +simply from actually ascertained, directly perceived psychical +experiences. On the other hand, an empirical definition should be +required for all the terms that are used in a comprehensive +description of the experience; and no term should be used without the +psychical manifestation described by it being pointed out. After an +introduction in which the method and place of psychology, subjective +and objective, physiological and genetic, are referred to, the +elementary facts of consciousness are discussed. The coherency of +knowledge is treated of in the next chapter, and in the third, +Psychical Analysis and the conception of unobserved consciousness; and +the succeeding chapters are devoted to Sensation, Memory, and Fancy; +The Objective World, Truth and Error, and Feeling and Will. (Published +at Leipsic, Germany: B. G. Teubner.) + +An extremely interesting book is given us in the publications of the +Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Society of studies by _George +W._ and _Elizabeth Peckham_, of the _Instincts and Habits of the +Solitary Wasps_. These insects are familiar enough to us all, as we +meet them or see their nests of one or a few cells every day, and then +think no more of them. But Mr. and Mrs. Peckham, following them to +their haunts and keeping company with them, have found them +manifesting remarkable instincts and exercising curious customs, which +they describe in the style of persons who are in love with their work. +The opportunity for the studies was given in two gardens, one on the +top of a hill and the other lower down, with an island in a lake close +by and acres of woodland all about, offering a rich variety of nesting +places. There are more than a thousand species of these solitary wasps +in the United States, to only about fifty of the social ones, and they +live without knowledge of their progenitors and without relations with +others of their kind. + +The eighth volume of the report of the _Iowa Geological Survey_ +comprises the accounts of surveys completed during 1897 in six +counties, making up the whole number of twenty-six counties in which +the areal work has been completed. This does not, however, represent +the whole extent of the operations of the survey, for some work has +been done in nearly every county in the State, and in many counties it +will require but little additional work to make a complete report. In +addition to the areal work, too, special studies of coal, clay, +artesian waters, gypsum, lead, zinc, etc., have engaged attention. A +growing public appreciation of the work of the survey as illustrated +in the demand for the volumes of the reports and for special papers, +is recognized by the State Geologist, Mr. _Samuel Calvin_; and an +increasing use of the reports as works for reference and for general +study in high schools and other educational institutions is observed. +The survey is now collecting statistics of production of various +minerals mined in the State. + +One of the features most likely to attract attention in the _Annual +Report of the State Geologist_ of New Jersey for 1897 is the paper of +Mr. C. C. Vermeule on the Drainage of the Hackensack and Newark Tide +Marshes. In it a scheme is unfolded for the reclamation and diking of +the flats, under which an ample navigable waterway shall be developed, +and the cities which now stop at their edges may be extended and built +up to the very banks of the new harbor, made a highway for ocean +sailing vessels. An interesting paper is published by Lewis Woolman on +Artesian and Bored and other Wells, in which many important wells are +described with reference to the geological strata they penetrate. +Other papers relate to iron mining and brick and clay industries, +mineral statistics, and statistics of clays, bricks, and terra cotta. +The field reports describe progress in the surveys of the surface +geology, the Newark system, and the upper Cretaceous formations. + +On the basis of a reconnoissance made by him for Alexander Agassiz, +Mr. _Robert T. Hill_ has published through the Bulletin of the Museum +of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard University, a paper on _The +Geological History of the Isthmus of Panama and Portions of Costa +Rica_. He finds that there is considerable evidence that a land +barrier in the tropical region separated the two oceans as far back as +Jurassic time, and continued through the Cretaceous period. The +geological structure of the Isthmus and Central American regions, so +far as investigated, when considered aside from the paleontology, +presents no evidence by which the former existence of a free +communication of oceanic waters across the present tropical barriers +can be established. The paleontological evidence indicates the +ephemeral existence of a passage at the close of the Eocene period. +All lines of inquiry give evidence that no communication has existed +between the two oceans since the close of the Oligocene. + +The _Twenty-second Annual Report of the Department of Geology and +Natural Resources_ of Indiana, _W. S. Blatchley_, State Geologist, +embraces, in part, the results of the work of the several departments +of the survey during 1897. These appear in the form of papers of +economic importance on the petroleum, stone, and clay resources of the +State, natural gases and illuminating oils, a description of the +curious geological and topographical region of Lake and Porter +Counties, and an extended paper on the Birds of Indiana, with specific +descriptions. A large proportion of the energies of the department +were employed during the year in gathering data for a detailed report +on the coal area of the State, which is now in course of preparation. + +The _Report of the United States Commissioner of Education_ for +1896-'97 records an increase in the enrollment of schools and colleges +of 257,586, the whole number of pupils being 14,712,077 in public +institutions and schools, and 1,513,016 in private. The increase is +confined to the public institutions, the private ones having suffered +from "hard times." Among the numerous papers published in the volume +containing the report are those on Education in Great Britain and +Ireland, France, Denmark, Norway, Central Europe, and Greece; +Commercial Education in Europe; the Teaching of Civics in France, +Switzerland, and England; Sunday Schools, including accounts of the +several denominational systems; the Legal Rights of Children; and +sketches of Horace Mann and Henry Barnard and their work in furthering +education. + +Mr. _David T. Day's_ report on the _Mineral Resources of the United +States_ for 1896 appears as Part V of the Eighteenth Annual Report of +the United States Geological Survey, in two volumes of fourteen +hundred pages in all; the first of which is devoted to Metallic +Products and Coal, and the second to Nonmetallic Products except Coal. +The report covers the calendar year 1896, and shows only a slight +increase in total values over 1895. Of some substances, however--gold, +copper, aluminum, and petroleum being the most important ones--the +value was the greatest ever attained. Of other substances, including +lead, bituminous coal, building stones, mineral waters, salt, and +pyrites, the product was increased in amount, but the value was less. +A paper, by Mr. George F. Becker, on the Witwatersrand Banket, records +observations made by him in the Transvaal gold fields. + +_A Geological Reconnoissance of the Coal Fields of the Indian +Territory_, published in the Contributions to Biology of the Hopkins +Seaside Laboratory of Leland Stanford Junior University, by _Noah +Fields Drake_, is based upon a six months' examination made by the +author during the spring, summer, and fall of 1896, of the larger part +of the coal measures and adjacent formations of Indian and Oklahoma +Territories. The best maps that could then be had being exceedingly +inaccurate, sketch maps were made of areas that were especially +important. On account of features of particular geological interest, +nearly all the area south and east of the Canadian River and the +bordering areas of the Boone chert and limestones were sketched and +studied rather closely. + +The _American Catholic Historical Society_ at Philadelphia publishes +in its _Quarterly Records_ much that, while it must be of deep +interest to historical students holding the Roman Catholic faith, +possesses, perhaps, a strong though more general interest to all +students of American history; for the men of that faith have had no +small part in the colonization and development of this country. The +number for June, 1898, contains a portrait and a bibliographical +sketch of the Rev. Peter Henry Lemke, O. S. B., of Pennsylvania, +Kansas, and Elizabeth, N. J.; a poem on the Launch of the American +Frigate United States, whose commander was a Catholic; articles on the +Sir John James Fund, and Catholic Chronicles of Lancaster, Pa., and +Extracts from the Diary of the Rev. Patrick Kenny. + +A memoir on _A Determination of the Ratio ([Greek: chi]) of the +Specific Heats at Constant Pressure and at Constant Volume for Air, +Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, and Hydrogen_ gives the result of a series of +investigations by Drs. _O. Lummer_ and _E. Pringshein_, of +Charlottenburg, Germany, made with the aid of a grant from the +Hodgkins Fund of the Smithsonian Institution. Besides being of +exceptional importance in thermodynamics, the specific heat ratio is +of interest as affording a clew to the character of the molecule. In +the present investigation coincident results on the gases examined +appear to have been reached for the first time. (Published by the +Smithsonian Institution.) + +From the greater lightness of the air and the higher velocity of its +currents, it is evident that the materials it may carry and deposit +will be somewhat different in composition and structure from those +which are laid down in water. They are as a rule finer, they exhibit a +different bedding, and are more capriciously placed. Mr. _Johan August +Udden_ has made a careful study of the subject, the results of which +he publishes under the title of _The Mechanical Composition of Wind +Deposits_, as the first number of the Augustana Library Series, at the +Lutheran Augustana Book Concern, Rock Island, Ill. + +The _History Reader for Elementary Schools_ (The Macmillan Company, 60 +cents), prepared by _L. L. W. Wilson_ and arranged with special +reference to holidays, contains readings for each month of the school +year, classified according to different periods and phases of American +history generally, so chosen that some important topic of the group +shall bear a relation to the month in which it is to be read. The +groups concern the Indians, the Discovery of America, Thanksgiving, +Other Settlements (than those of Virginia and the Pilgrims), Dr. +Franklin, Lincoln and Washington, the Revolution, Arbor Day, and Brave +Sea Captains, etc., closing with articles in reference to Flag Day. +The insertion of an article on the War with Spain seems premature. +Public sentiment is not yet at rest on the subject. + + +PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. + +Agricultural Experiment Stations. Bulletins and Reports. Cornell +University: No. 160. Hints on Rural School Grounds. By L. H. Bailey. +Pp. 20; No. 161. Annual Flowers. By G. N. Lanman and L. H. Bailey. Pp. +32; No. 162. The Period of Gestation in Cows. By H. H. Wing. Pp. +120.--Delaware College: No. 43 (abridged edition). The European and +Japanese Chestnuts in the United States. By G. H. Powell. Pp. +16.--Michigan: Nos. 164 and 165. Methods and Results of Tillage, and +Draft of Farm Implements. By M. W. Fulton. Pp. 24; Elementary Science +Bulletin, No. 5. Branches of Sugar Maple and Beech as seen in Winter. +By W. J. Beal. Pp. 4; do., No. 6. Potatoes, Rutabagas, and Onions. By +W. J. Beal. Pp. 6.--New Jersey: No. 133. Peach Growing in New Jersey. +By A. T. Jordan. Pp. 16; No. 134. Fermentation and Germ Life. By +Julius Nelson. Pp. 24.--North Dakota: No. 15. Some Chemical Problems +Investigated. Pp. 28.--Ohio: Newspaper Bulletin 188. Sugar Beets and +Sorghum in Ohio. Pp. 2. + +Aston, W. G. A History of Japanese Literature. New York: D. Appleton +and Company. Pp. 408. $1.50. + +Berry, Arthur. A Short History of Astronomy. New York: Charles +Scribner's Sons. Pp. 440. $1.50. + +Brush and Pencil. An Illustrated Magazine of the Arts and Crafts. +Monthly. Chicago: Arts and Crafts Company. Pp. 64. 25 cents. $2.50 a +year. + +Bulletins, Reports, etc. Colgate University, Department of Geology and +Natural History: Announcement. Pp. 16.--Field Columbian Museum, +Chicago: Annual Report of the Board of Directors for 1897-'98. Pp. 90, +with plates.--Financial Reform Association: 1848 to 1898. Fifty Years' +Retrospect. London. Pp. 54, with plates; Financial Reform Almanac for +1899. London. Pp. 316. 1 shilling.--New York State Library: +Legislative Bulletin for 1898. Pp. 132. 25 cents.--New York +University: Catalogue and Announcements for 1898-'99. Pp. +358.--Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind: +Sixty-seventh Annual Report of the Trustees, to August 31, 1898. Pp. +305.--United States Department of Labor: Bulletin No. 20, January, +1899. Edited by Carroll D. Wright and Oren W. Weaver. Pp. 170. + +Byrd, Mary E. Laboratory Manual in Astronomy. Boston: Ginn & Co. Pp. +273. + +Cajori, Florian. A History of Physics in its Elementary Branches, +including the Evolution of Physical Laboratories. New York: The +Macmillan Company. Pp. 323. $1.60. + +Callie, J. W. S. John Smith's Reply to "Merrie England, Defense of the +Liberal Programme." London: John Heywood. Pp. 88. Sixpence. + +Chapman, Frank H., Editor. Bird Lore. February, 1898, Vol. I, No. 1. +Bimonthly. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 32. 20 cents. $1 a +year. + +Davenport, Charles B. Experimental Morphology. Part II. New York: The +Macmillan Company. Pp. 509. $2. + +Evans, A. H. Birds (The Cambridge Natural History, edited by S. F. +Harmer and A. E. Shipley, Vol. IX). New York: The Macmillan Company. +Pp. 635. $3.50. + +Egbert, Seneca. A Manual of Hygiene and Sanitation. Philadelphia: Lea +Brothers & Co. Pp. 368. + +Foulke, William Dudley. Slav or Saxon: a Study of the Growth and +Tendencies of Russian Civilization. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. +141. $1. + +Huntington, Elon. The Earth's Rotation and its Interior Heat. Pp. 33. + +Janes, Lewis G. Our Nation's Peril. Social Ideas and Social Progress. +Pp. 31. 25 cents. + +McLellan, J. A., and Ames, A. F. The Public School Mental Arithmetic. +New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 138. 25 cents. Boston: James H. +West & Co. + +Maltbie, Milo Ray. Municipal Functions. A Study of the Development, +Scope, and Tendency of Municipal Socialism. (Municipal Affairs, +December, 1898.) New York: Reform Club, Committee of Municipal +Administration. Pp. 230. 75 cents. + +Mason, Hon. William E. Speech in the United States Senate on the +Government of Foreign Peoples. Pp. 26. + +Patten, Simon N. The Development of English Thought. New York: The +Macmillan Company. Pp. 415. $3. + +Pittsburg Press Almanac, The, for 1899. Quarterly. St. Louis: The +Press Publishing Company. Pp. 536. + +Récéjac, E. Essay on the Basis of the Mystic Knowledge. Translated by +Sera Carr Upton. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Pp. 287. $2.50. + +Reprints. Caldwell, Otis W. The Life History of Lemna Minor. Pp. +32.--Calkins, G. N. Some Hydroids from Puget Sound. Pp. 24, with six +plates.--Cope, Edward D. Vertebrate Remains from the Port Kennedy Bone +Deposit. Pp. 75, with plates.--Fitz, G. W. Play as a Factor in +Development. Pp. 7; The Hygiene of Instruction in Elementary Schools. +Pp. 7.--Howard, William Lee. Double Personality; Lenten Hysteria. Pp. +8.--Howe, R. H., Jr. North American Wood Frogs.--Hunt, Charles +Wallace. The Engineer: His Work, his Ethics, his Pleasures. +(President's Address, American Society of Mechanical Engineers.) +Pp. 15.--Hunter, S. J. The Coccidæ of Kansas. Pp. 15, with +plates.--Krauss, W. C. The Stigmata of Degeneration. Pp. 360.--Lichty, +D. Thalassic Submersion a Means of Disposal of the Dead. Pp. +12.--McDonald, Arthur. Emile Zola. Pp. 16.--Phillips, W. B. Iron +Making in Alabama. Montgomery. Pp. 380.--Saunders, De Alten. +Phycological Memoirs. Pp. 20, with plates.--Schlicht, Paul J. A New +Process of Combustion. Pp. 32.--Stevens, F. L. The Effect of Aqueous +Solutions upon the Germination of Fungus Spores. Pp. 30.--Stock, H. H. +The International Correspondence Schools, Scranton, Pennsylvania. Pp. +12.--Urn, The. Modern Thought on Modern Cremation. United States +Cremation Company. Pp. 40.--Veeder, M. A. The Relative Importance of +Flies and Water Supply in Spreading Disease. Pp. 8. + +Robinson, Albert Gardner. The Porto Rico of To-day. New York: Charles +Scribner's Sons. Pp. 240, with maps. $1.50. + +Salazar, A. E. Kalkules de Kañerius de Agua (Calculations of Water +Conduits). Santiago de Chile. Pp. 246. + +Schnabel, Dr. Carl. Handbook of Metallurgy. Translated by Henry Louis. +2 vols. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 876 and 732. $10. + +Seligman, E. R. A. The Shifting and Incidence of Taxation. Second +edition. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 337. $3. + +Semon, Richard. In the Australian Bush and on the Coast of the Coral +Sea. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 552. $6.50. + +Spencer, Baldwin, and Gillen, F. J. The Native Tribes of Central +Australia. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 671, with plates. +$6.50. + +Technology Review, The. A Quarterly Magazine relating to the +Massachusetts Institute of Technology. January, 1899. Pp. 143. 35 +cents. + +United States National Museum. Annual Report for the Year ending June +30, 1896. (Smithsonian Institution.) Washington. Pp. 1107, with +plates. + +Weir, James. The Dawn of Reason. Mental Traits in the Lower Animals. +New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 234. $1.25. + +Westcott, Edward N. David Harum. New York: D. Appleton and Company. +Pp. 392. $1.50. + +Whipple, G. C. The Microscopy of Drinking Water. New York: John Wiley +& Sons. Pp. 300, with nineteen plates. $3.50. + +Wilkinson, F. The Story of the Cotton Plant. (Library of Useful +Stories.) New York: D. Appleton and Company. Pp. 191. 40 cents. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] Earth Sculpture, or the Origin of Land Forms. By James Geikie. +New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 397. Price, $2. + +[15] The Psychology of Peoples. By Gustave Le Bon. New York: The +Macmillan Company. Pp. 236. Price, $1.50. + +[16] A Text-Book of Mineralogy, with an Extended Treatise on +Crystallography and Physical Mineralogy. By Edmund Salisbury Dana. New +edition, entirely rewritten and enlarged. New York: John Wiley & Sons. +Pp. 593. $4. + +[17] The Story of the Railroad. By Cy Warman. New York: D. Appleton +and Company (Story of the West Series). Pp. 280. Price, $1.50. + +[18] Infinitesimal Analysis. By William Benjamin Smith. Vol. I. +Elementary; Real Variables. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 352. +$3.25. + +[19] The Jubilee History of the Leeds Industrial Co-operative Society +from 1847 to 1897. Traced Year by Year. By George Jacob Holyoake. +Leeds (Eng.) Central Co-operative Office. Pp. 260. + + + + +Fragments of Science. + + +=The Nernst Electric Lamp.=--Prof. Walter Nernst, of the University of +Göttingen, has recently devised an electric lamp which promises to be +an important addition to our present methods of lighting. The part of +the lamp which emits the light consists of a small rod of highly +refractory material, said to be chiefly thoria, which is supported +between two platinum electrodes. The rod is practically a nonconductor +when cold, but by heating it (in the smaller sizes a match is +sufficient) its conductivity is so raised that a current will pass +through it; after the current is once started the heat produced by the +resistance of the rod is sufficient to keep up its conductivity, and +the latter is raised to a state of intense incandescence, and gives +out a brilliant white light. As the preliminary heating by means of a +match or other flame would in some cases be an inconvenience, +Professor Nernst has devised a lamp which, by means of a platinum +resistance attachment, can be started by simply turning a switch. The +life of the rods is about five hundred hours. The lamps are said to +work equally well with either alternating or direct currents, and +there is no vacuum necessary. If this lamp proves a success as a +commercial apparatus, it will be but another example of how slight a +matter may make all the difference between success and failure. There +have been numerous experimenters trying for the last ten years, and in +fact ever since the appearance of the arc lamp, to utilize in an +electric lamp the great light-giving power of the refractory earths in +a state of incandescence; but, owing to their high resistance at +ordinary temperatures, no results were obtained until Professor Nernst +thought of heating his thoria rod, and this simple procedure seems to +have solved the whole difficulty. It is claimed that the Nernst lamp +is a much more economical transformer of electricity into light than +the present incandescent electric lamps. An apparatus called a kaolin +candle, which has been suggested as an anticipation of Professor +Nernst's lamp, was constructed by Paul Jablochkoff in 1877 or 1878. It +consisted of a strip of kaolin, along which ran a "match" of some +conducting material. The current was passed through this "match" until +the kaolin strip became heated sufficiently to become a conductor +itself. The lamp did not, however, prove a commercial success. + +=Laws of Climatic Evolution.=--The problem of the laws of climatic +evolution was characterized by Dr. Marsden Manson, in a paper read at +the British Association, as one of the grandest and most far-reaching +problems in geological physics, since it embraces principles and laws +applicable to other planets than ours. After presenting a formulation +of those laws, the author pointed out that in consequence of their +working, a hot spheroid rotating in space and revolving about a +central sun, and holding fluids of similar properties to water and air +within the sphere of its control, must pass through a series of +uniform climates at sea level, gradually decreasing in temperature and +terminating in an ice age, and that this age must be succeeded by a +series of zonal climates gradually increasing in temperature and +extent. The conclusions thus reached were that in the case of the +earth zonal distribution of climates was inaugurated at the +culmination of the ice age, and is gradually increasing in temperature +and extent by the trapping of the solar energy in the lower +atmosphere, and that the rise has a moderate limit; that the ice age +was unique and due to the physical properties of water and air, and to +the difference in specific heat of land and water; and that prior to +the ice age local formation of glaciers could occur at any latitude +and period. Dr. Manson then observed that Jupiter was apparently in a +condition through which the earth has already passed, and Mars was in +one toward which the climatic evolution of the earth was tending. + +=Poisonous Plants.=--Statistics in regard to poisonous plants are +lacking on account of a general ignorance of the subject, and it is +therefore impossible to form even an approximate estimate of the +damage done by them. Besides the criminal uses that may be made of +them, there are some other problems connected with them that are of +general public interest. The common law of England holds those who +possess and cultivate such plants responsible for damages accruing +from them; and a New York court has awarded damages in a case of +injury from poison ivy growing in a cemetery. In order to obtain +information on the subject, the botanical division of the Department +of Agriculture arranged to receive notices through the clipping +bureaus of the cases of poisoning recorded in the newspapers. Thus +through the persons named in the articles or through the local +postmaster it was put in correspondence with the physician in the +case, who furnished the authentic facts. A large number of correct and +valuable data were thus secured. It is proved by these facts that all +poisonous plants are not equally injurious to all persons nor to all +forms of life. Thus poison ivy has no apparent external effect upon +animals, and a few of them eat its leaves with impunity; and it acts +upon the skin of the majority of persons with varying intensity--on +some hardly at all, while others are extremely sensitive to it. A +similar variability is found in the effects of poisonous plants taken +internally. In some cases often regarded as of that kind, death is +attributable not to any poison which the plant contains, but to +immoderate or incautious eating, or to mechanical injury such as is +produced in horses by the hairs of crimson clover, or to the effect of +parasitic growths, such as ergot on rye. Excluding all which operate +in these ways, there are, however, a large number of really poisonous +plants, the properties of which are comparatively unknown. It is +concerning these that information has been sought by the botanical +division. Its report contains descriptions of about forty plants, with +figures, belonging to seventeen families. + +=The United States Biological Survey.=--The Biological Survey of the +United States Department of Agriculture aims to define and map the +agricultural belts of the country in order to ascertain what products +of the soil can and what can not be grown successfully in each, to +guide the farmer in the intelligent introduction of foreign crops, and +to point out his friends and his enemies among the native birds and +animals. For information on these subjects so important to him the +farmer has had to rely on his own experiments or those of his +neighbors, often carried on at enormous cost to persons little able to +bear it. The Survey and its predecessor, the division of ornithology +and mammology, have had small parties in the field traversing the +public domain for the purpose of studying the geographic distribution +of our native land animals and plants and mapping the boundaries of +the areas they inhabit. It was early learned that North America is +divisible into seven transcontinental belts or life zones and a much +larger number of minor areas or _faunas_, each characterized by +particular associations of animals and plants. The inference was +natural and has been verified that these same zones and areas, up to +the northern limit of profitable agriculture, are adapted to the needs +of particular kinds or varieties of cultivated crops. The Survey is +engaged in tracing as precisely as possible the actual boundaries of +these belts and areas, and in finding out and designating the +varieties of crops best adapted to each. In this undertaking it aims +to point out such exotic products as, from their importance in other +lands, are likely to prove of value if introduced on fit soils and +under proper climatic conditions. The importance of this work will be +realized when it is recollected that all the climatic life zones of +the world, except the hottest tropical, are represented in our +country. The colored maps prepared by the Survey furnish the best +guide the farmer can have for judging what crops will be best adapted +for his particular region; and in connection with the work of the +entomologist, show the belts along which noxious insects are likely to +spread. The report of the Survey, prepared under the direction of its +chief, C. Hart Merriam, though full of valuable information not before +presented consecutively, is preliminary and only touches the edge of a +subject which is susceptible of copious elaboration, and is destined +to be worked up with immense profit. + +=A Neolithic Lake Dwelling.=--A crannog, or lake dwelling, discovered +in the summer of 1898 on the banks of the Clyde, has received much +attention from English archæologists because of its unique situation +on a tidal stream, and of its being apparently neolithic or far more +ancient than any other crannog yet examined, in all others the relics +being of the bronze age. Careful excavations have been made in it and +are still in progress, and the refuse mound of the former settlement +has been sifted, with results that have made it plain that there were +design and execution in the building, and that it was occupied and +inhabited for a long period. Positive evidence of fire is afforded in +the shape of numerous firestones and calcined embers, and indications +of the condition of life at the period are given by the implements, +ornaments, and tools recovered. The crannog is about sixteen hundred +yards east of the Castle Rock of Dumbarton, and about fifty yards from +the river at low tide, but is submerged when the tide is in to a depth +of from three to twelve feet, and is one hundred and eighty-four feet +in circuit. The piles in the outer circle are of oak, which below the +mud surface is still quite fresh. The transverse beams and pavement +inside are of wood of the consistence of cheese--willow, alder, and +oak--while the smaller branches are of fir, birch, and hazel, with +bracken, moss, and chips. The stones in the outer circle and along the +causeway leading to the dwelling place seem to have been set in a +methodical order, most of the bowlders being about a lift for a man. +The refuse mound extends for about twelve feet outside for the +greater part of the circuit, and here most of the bone and flint +implements have been discovered. The largest article found in the site +was a very fine canoe, thirty-seven feet long and forty inches beam, +dug out of a single oak tree, which lay in what has proved to have +been a dock. A curious ladder was also found here, the rungs of which +were cut out of the solid wood, and which has somewhat the general +appearance of a post of a post-and-rail fence. The exploration of the +site is much interfered with by the rising of the tide, which covers +the crannog for a considerable time every day. All the relics +found--consisting chiefly of objects of bone, staghorn, jet, chert, +and cannel coal, with some querns, the canoe, ladder, etc.--have been +placed in the museum at Glasgow. + +=Portland Cement.=--The following facts are taken from an address +delivered before the Franklin Institute by Mr. Robert W. Lesley: "It +was not until the end of the last century that the true principles of +hydraulic cement were discovered by Smeaton, who, in the construction +of the Eddystone Lighthouse, made a number of experiments with the +English limestones, and laid down, as a result, the principle that a +limestone yielding from fifteen to twenty-five per cent of residue +when dissolved in hydrochloric acid will set under water. These +limestones he denominated hydraulic limestones, and from the principle +so laid down by him come the two great definitions of what we now know +as cement, namely, the natural and artificial cements of commerce. The +natural variety, such as the Rosendale, Lehigh, and Cumberland +cements, was first made by Joseph Parker in 1796, who discovered what +he called 'Roman cement,' based upon the calcination at low +temperatures of the nodules found in the septaria geological formation +in England. This was practically the first cement of commerce, and +gave excellent results. Joseph Aspdin, a bricklayer or plasterer, took +out a patent in England in 1824 on a high-grade artificial cement, +and, at great personal deprivation, succeeded in manufacturing it on a +commercial scale by combining English chalks with clay from the river +beds, drying the mixed paste, and after calcining at high heat the +material thus produced, grinding it to powder. This cement, which was +the first Portland cement in the market, obtained its name from its +resemblance when it became stone to the celebrated Portland stone, one +of the leading building materials in England. The rocks used in the +manufacture of Portland cement are very similar to those from which +natural cement is made. The various layers in the natural rock may +vary in size or stratification, so that the lime, alumina, and silica +may not be in position to combine under heat, or there may be too much +of one ingredient, or not enough of the others in close proximity to +each other. In making Portland cement, these rocks, properly +proportioned, are accordingly ground to an impalpable powder, the +natural rock being broken down and the laminæ distributed in many +small grains. This powder is then mixed with water, and is made into a +new stone in the shape of the brick, or block, in which all the small +grains formerly composing the laminæ of the original rock are +distributed and brought into a close mechanical juxtaposition to each +other. The new rock thus made is put into kilns with layers of coke, +and is then calcined at temperatures from 1,600° to 1,800°. The +clinker, as it comes from the kiln, is then crushed and ground to an +impalpable powder, which is the Portland cement of commerce. Portland +cement may be made from other materials, such as chalk and clay, +limestone and clay, cement rock and limestone, and marls and clays. In +every case the principle is the same, the breaking down and the +redistributing of the materials so that the fine particles may be in +close mechanical union when subjected to the heat of the kiln." + +=The French Nontoxic Matches.=--It is believed, by Frenchmen at least, +that the problem long sought, of finding a composition for a match +head in which all the advantages of white phosphorus shall be +preserved while its deleterious qualities are eliminated or greatly +reduced, has been solved in the new matches which the French +Government has placed upon the market. These matches are marked S. C., +by the initials of the inventors, MM. Sévène and Cahen, are made in +the factories at Trélazé, Begles, and Samtines, and have been well +received by the public. In preparing the composition, the chlorate of +potash of the old flashing and safety matches has been retained, and +the sesquisulphide of phosphorus is used instead of the white or red +phosphorus of the old matches. The latter substance, besides the +indispensable qualities of fixity and resistance to atmospheric +influences, has the two important properties of inflaming at 95° C., +much nearer the igniting point of white phosphorus (60° C.) than of +red (260° C.), and being therefore easier to light; and of having a +low latent or specific heat. With these properties embodied in the +inflammable composition of the head, the new match is expected to be +comparatively free from accidental explosions during manufacture and +export, to take fire by friction, and to burn steadily and regularly. +The expectation has so far been fulfilled. The phosphorus compound has +a special odor, in which the sulphur characteristic predominates, but, +not boiling under 380° C., does not become offensive in the shops; and +the match heads made with it do not emit the phosphorescence which is +often exhibited by matches made with white phosphorus. It is only +feebly toxic by direct absorption, experiments on guinea pigs +indicating that it is only about one tenth as much so as white +phosphorus. + +=Trees as Land Formers.=--John Gifford, in a paper presented to the +Franklin Institute on Forestry in Relation to Physical Geography and +Engineering, mentions as illustrating the way forests counteract +certain destructive forces, the mangrove tree as "the great land +former which, supplementing the work of the coral polyp, has added to +the warm seashore regions of the globe immense areas of land." The +trees grow in salt water several feet deep, where their labyrinth of +roots and branches collect and hold sediment and flotage. Thus the +shore line advances. The seeds, germinating on the plant, the +plantlets fall into the water, float away till their roots touch the +bottom, and there form the nucleus of new islands and life. The forest +constantly improves the soil, provided the latter is not removed or +allowed to burn. The roots of trees penetrate to its deeper layers and +absorb great quantities of mineral matters, a large percentage of +which goes to the leaves, and is ultimately deposited on the surface. +"The surface soil is both enriched by these mineral substances and +protected by a mulch of humus in varying stages of decomposition. As +the lower layers rot, new layers of leaves and twigs are being +constantly deposited, so that the forest soil, in the course of time, +fairly reeks with nourishing plant food, which seeps out more or less +to enrich neighboring soils." The forest is also a soil former. "Even +the most tender rootlet, because of its acidity, is able to dissolve +its way through certain kinds of rock. This, together with the acids +formed in the decomposition of humus, is a potent and speedy agent in +the production of soil. The roots of many species of trees have no +difficulty whatever in penetrating limestone and in disintegrating +rocks of the granitic series. As the rock crumbles, solid inorganic +materials are released, which enrich neighboring soils, especially +those of the valleys in regions where the forest is relegated to the +mountain sides and top, as should be the case in all mountainous +regions. In view of the destruction caused by mankind, it is a +consoling fact that Nature, although slowly, is gradually improving +her waste lands. If not interrupted, the barest rock and the fallowest +field, under conditions which may be called unfavorable, will become, +in course of time, forest-clad and fertile. The most important +function of the forest in relation to the soil, however, is in holding +it in place and protecting it from the erosive action of wind and +rain." + +=The Atlantic Slope.=--The Atlantic slope of the United States is +described in the New Jersey State Geological Survey's report on the +Physical Geography of the State as "a fairly distinct geographical +province. Its eastern boundary is the sea; its western boundary on the +north is the divide between the drainage flowing southeast to the sea +and that flowing northeast to the St. Lawrence. Farther south its +western limit is the divide between the streams flowing east to the +Atlantic and those flowing west to the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers." +The line between it and the geographical province next west follows +the watershed of the Appalachian system of mountains. It is divided, +according to elevations, into several subprovinces, all of which +elongate in a direction roughly parallel to the shore. Next to the +coast there is usually a belt of lowland, few or many miles wide, +called the _Coastal Plain_. Inland from the Coastal Plain is an +intermediate height, between the Coastal Plain to the east and the +mountains to the west, known in the South as the _Piedmont Plateau_. +The mountainous part of the slope constitutes the third province, +known as the _Appalachian Zone_. The Atlantic slope may be divided +into two sections--a northern and a southern--in which the Coastal +Plain is narrow and wide respectively. These two sections meet in New +Jersey, where the division runs from the Raritan River, just below New +Brunswick, to Trenton. South of this line the Coastal Plain expands, +and all considerable elevations recede correspondingly from the shore. +These three subprovinces are especially well shown in the southern +section of the Atlantic slope. They are less well developed in the +northern section, and even where the topography is comparable the +underlying rock structure is different. In New Jersey a fourth belt, +the Triassic formation, is interposed between the Coastal Plain and +the Highlands corresponding to the Piedmont Plateau. North of New +Jersey the Coastal Plain has little development, though Long Island +and some small areas farther east and northeast are to be looked upon +as parts of it. + +=American Fresh-water Pearls.=--The facts cited by Mr. George F. Kunz +in his paper, published in the Report of the United States Fish +Commission, on the Fresh-water Pearls and Pearl Fisheries of the +United States, give considerable importance to this feature of our +natural history. The mound explorations attest that fresh-water pearls +were gathered and used by the prehistoric peoples of the country "to +an extent that is astonishing. On the hearths of some of these mounds +in Ohio the pearls have been found, not by hundreds, but by thousands +and even by bushels--now, of course, damaged and half decomposed by +centuries of burial and by the heat of superficial fires." The +narratives of the early Spanish explorers make several mentions of +pearls in the possession of the Indians. For a considerable period +after the first explorations, however, American pearls attracted but +little attention, and "for some two centuries the Unios [or +'fresh-water mussels'] lived and multiplied in the rivers and streams, +unmolested by either the native tribes that had used them for food, or +by the pioneers of the new race that had not yet learned of their +hidden treasures." Within recent years the gathering of Unio pearls +has attained such importance as to start economical problems +warranting and even demanding careful and detailed inquiry. The first +really important discovery of Unio pearls was made near Paterson, N. +J., in 1857, in the form of the "queen pearl" of fine luster, weighing +ninety-three grains, which was sold to Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, +for twenty-five hundred dollars, and is now worth four times that +amount. As a result the Unios at Notch Brook, where it was found, were +gathered by the million and destroyed. Within a year fully fifteen +thousand dollars' worth of pearls were sent to the New York market. +Then the shipments gradually fell off. Some of the best American +pearls that were next found were at Waynesville, Ohio, where Mr. +Israel H. Harris formed an exceedingly fine collection. It contained +more than two thousand specimens, weighing more than as many grains. +Among them were one button-shaped on the back and weighing +thirty-eight grains, several almost transparent pink ones, and one +showing where the pearl had grown almost entirely through the Unio. In +1889 a number of magnificently colored pearls were found at different +places in the creeks and rivers of Wisconsin, of which more than ten +thousand dollars' worth were sent to New York within three months. +These discoveries led to immense activity in pearl hunting through all +the streams of the region, and in three or four seasons the shells +were nearly exhausted. The pearl fisheries of this State have produced +at least two hundred and fifty thousand dollars' worth of pearls since +1889. Another outbreak of the "pearl mania" occurred in Arkansas in +1897, and extended into the Indian Territory, Missouri, Georgia, and +other States. + +=Distribution of Cereals in the United States.=--To inquiries made +preparatory to drawing up a report on the Distribution of Cereals in +North America (Department of Agriculture, Biological Survey), Mr. C. +S. Plumb received one thousand and thirty-three answers, eight +hundred and ninety-seven of which came from the United States and the +rest from the Canadian provinces. These reports showed that in many +localities, particularly in the East and South, but little attention +is paid to keeping varieties pure, and many farmers use mixed, +unknown, or local varieties of ordinary merit for seed. In New England +but little grain is grown from sowing, owing to the cheapness of +Western grain, and wheat is rarely reported. Oats are now mostly sown +from Western seed, and the resulting crop is mown for hay, while most +of the corn is cut for green fodder or silage. On certain fine +lowlands--as, for example, in the Connecticut Valley--oats, and more +especially corn, are often grown for grain. While reports on most of +the cereals were rendered from the lower austral zone, or the region +south of the Appalachians and the old Missouri Compromise line, this +region, except where it merges with the upper austral or the one north +of it, is apparently outside the area of profitable cultivation of +wheat and oats. In Louisiana and most of the other parts of the lower +austral, except in northern Texas and Oklahoma, wheat is almost an +unknown crop. The warm, moist climatic conditions here favor the +development of fungous diseases to such a degree that the plants are +usually ruined or greatly injured at an early stage of growth. In +Florida, as a rule, cereals are rarely cultivated except on the +uplands at the northern end of the State. In a general way, corn and +wheat are most successfully grown in the upper austral zone, or +central States, while oats are best and most productive in the +transition zone (or northern and Lake States and the Dakotas), or +along the border of the upper austral and transition. The gradual +acclimation of varieties of cereals, through years of selection and +cultivation, has gone so far, however, that some varieties are now +much better adapted to one zone than to another. + +=Spanish Silkworm Gut.=--The business of manufacturing silkworm gut in +Spain is a considerable industry. The method of preparation is thus +described in the Journal of the Society of Arts: After the silkworm +grub has eaten enough mulberry leaves, and before it begins to spin, +which is during the months of May and June, it is thrown into vinegar +for several hours. The insect is killed and the substance which the +grub, if alive, would have spun into a cocoon is drawn out from the +dead worm into a much thicker and shorter silken thread, in which +operation considerable dexterity and experience are required. Two +thick threads from each grub are placed for about four hours in clear +cold water, after which they are put for ten or fifteen minutes in a +solution of some caustic. This loosens a fine outer skin on the +threads, which is removed by the hands, the workman holding the +threads in his teeth. The silk is then hung up to dry in a shady +place, the sun rendering it brittle. In some parts of the country +these silk guts are bleached with sulphur vapor, which makes them +beautifully glossy and snow-white, while those naturally dried have a +yellowish tint. The quality of the gut is decided according to the +healthy condition of the worm, round indicating a good quality and +flat an inferior one. + +=The Nests of Burrowing Bees.=--Prof. John B. Smith, having explained +to his section of the American Association a method which has been +successfully applied, of taking casts in plaster of Paris of the homes +of burrowing insects, with their branchings, to the depth of six feet, +described some of the results of its application. Bees, of the genus +_Calletes_, dig vertically to the depth of eighteen inches or more, +then burrow horizontally from two to five inches farther, and +construct a thin, parchmentlike cell of saliva, in which the egg is +deposited, with pollen and honey for the food of the larva. They then +start a new horizontal burrow a little distance from the first, and +perhaps a third, but no more. The vertical tubes are then filled up, +so that when the bees come to life they must burrow from six to +twenty-four inches before they can reach the surface. Another genus +makes a twisted burrow; another makes a vertical burrow that may be +six feet deep. About a foot below the surface it sends off a lateral +branch, and in this it excavates a chamber from one to two and a half +inches in diameter. Tubes are sent down from this chamber, as many +perhaps as from six to twenty together, and these are lined with clay +to make them water-tight. This bee, when it begins its burrow, makes +an oblique gallery from four to six inches long before it starts in +the vertical direction, and all the dirt is carried through this +oblique gallery. Then the insect continues the tube vertically upward +to just below the surface, and makes a small concealed opening to it +here, taking care to pile no sand near it. This is the regular +entrance to the burrow. + + +MINOR PARAGRAPHS. + +In a report of an inspection of three French match factories, +published as a British Parliamentary paper, Dr. T. Oliver records as +his impressions and deductions that while until recently the match +makers suffered severely from phosphorus poisoning, there is now +apparently a reduction in the severe forms of the illness; that this +reduction is attributable to greater care in the selection of the work +people, to raising the age of admission into the factory, to medical +examination on entrance, subsequent close supervision, and repeated +dental examination; to personal cleanliness on the part of the +workers; to early suspension on the appearance of symptoms of ill +health; and to improved methods of manufacture. The French Government +is furthering by all possible means new methods of manufacture in the +hope of finding a safer one; and a match free from white phosphorus +and still capable of striking anywhere is already manufactured. + +A mechanical and engineering section is to be organized in the +Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, to be devoted to the consideration +of subjects bearing upon the mechanic arts and the engineering +problems connected therewith. The growth of the various departments of +this institution--which has been fitly termed a "democratic learned +society," from the close affiliation in it of the men of the +professions and the men of the workshops--by natural accretion, and +the steadily growing demands for the extension of its educational work +during the past decade, have increased the costs for maintenance and +administration and have been the cause of a deficit in nearly every +year. A movement is now on foot, approved by the board of managers, +and directed by a special committee, to secure for it an endowment, +toward which a number of subscriptions ranging from two hundred and +fifty to twenty-five hundred dollars have already been received. + +The earthquake which took place in Assam, June 12, 1897, was described +by Mr. R. D. Oldham in the British Association as having been the most +violent of which there is any record. The shock was sensible over an +area of 1,750,000 square miles, and if it had occurred in England, not +a house would have been left standing between Manchester and London. +Landslips on an unprecedented scale were produced, a number of lakes +were formed, and mountain peaks were moved vertically and +horizontally. Monuments of solid stone and forest trees were broken +across. Bridges were overthrown, displaced, and in some places thrust +bodily up to a height of about twenty feet, and the rails on the +railroads were twisted and bent. Earth fissures were formed over an +area larger than the United Kingdom, and sand rents, from which sand +and water were forced in solid streams to a height of three or four +feet above the ground, were opened "in incalculable numbers." The loss +of life was comparatively small, as the earthquake occurred about five +o'clock in the afternoon, and the damage done was reduced by the fact +that there were no large cities within the area of greatest violence; +but in extent and capacity of destruction, as distinguished from +destruction actually accomplished, this earthquake surpassed any of +which there was historical mention, not even excepting the great +earthquake of Lisbon in 1755. + +The first section of the electric railway up the Jungfrau, which is +intended to reach the top of the mountain, was opened about the first +of October, 1898. The line starts from the Little Scheidegg station of +the existing Wengern Alp Railway, 6,770 feet above the sea, and +ascends the mountain masses from the north side, passing the Eiger +Glacier, Eiger Wand, Eismeer, and Jungfraujoch stations, to Lift, +13,430 feet, whence the ascent is completed by elevator to the summit, +13,670 feet. The road starts on a gradient of ten per cent, which is +increased to twenty per cent about halfway to the Eiger Glacier +station, and to twenty-five per cent, the steepest, after passing that +station. There are about 85 yards in tunnel on the section now opened, +but beyond the Eiger Glacier the road will not touch the surface +except at the stations. About 250 yards of the long tunnel have been +excavated so far. The stations beyond Eiger Wand will be built within +the rock, and will be furnished with restaurants and beds. At the +Eiger Wand and Eismeer stations passengers will contemplate the view +through windows or balconies from the inside; but at the Jungfraujoch +station tourists will be able to go out and take sledges for the great +Aletsch Glacier. The cars will accommodate forty passengers each, and +the company expects to complete the railroad by 1904. + +Alexander A. Lawes, civil engineer, of Sydney, Australia, suggests a +plan of mechanical flight on beating wings as presenting advantages +that transcend all other schemes. He believes that the amount of power +required to operate wings and the difficulty in applying it are +exaggerated beyond all measure. The wings or sustainers of the bird in +flight, he urges, are held in the outstretched position without any +exertion on its part; and many birds, like the albatross, sustain +themselves for days at a stretch. "This constitutes its aërial +support, and is analogous to the support derived by other animals from +land and water." The sole work done by the bird is propulsion and +elevation by the beating action of the wings. Mr. Adams's machine, +which he does not say he has tried, is built in conformity to this +principle, and its sails are modeled as nearly as possible in form and +as to action with those of the bird. The aid of an air cylinder is +further called in, through which a pressure is exerted balancing the +wings. The wings are moved by treadles, and the author's picture of +the aëronaut looks like a man riding an aërial bicycle. + +Carborundum, a substance highly extolled by its manufacturers +as an abrasive, is composed of carbon and silicon in atomic +proportions--thirty parts by weight of carbon and seventy of silicon. +It is represented as being next to the diamond in hardness and as +cutting emery and corundum with ease, but as not as tough as the +diamond. It is a little more than one and a fifth times the weight of +sand, is infusible at the highest attainable heat, but is decomposed +in the electric arc, and is insoluble in any of the ordinary solvents, +water, oils, and acids, even hydrofluoric acid having no effect upon +it. Pure carborundum is white. In the commercial manufacture the +crystals are produced in many colors and shades, partly as the result +of impurities and partly by surface oxidation. The prevailing colors +are green, black, and blue. The color has no effect upon the hardness. +Crude carborundum, as taken from the furnace, usually consists of +large masses or aggregations of crystals, which are frequently very +beautifully colored and of adamantine luster. + +A peculiarity of Old English literary usage is pointed out by Prof. +Dr. L. Kellner, of Vienna, as illustrated in a sentence like "the mob +is ignorant, and they are often cruel." This is considered a bad +solecism in modern English, but in Old and Middle English +constructions of exactly the same kind are so often met with that it +is impossible to account for them as slips and mistakes. They may be +brought under several heads, as, Number (the same collective noun used +as a singular and a plural); Case (the same verb or adjective +governing the genitive and accusative, the genitive and dative, or the +dative and accusative); Pronoun ("thou" and "ye" used in addressing +the same person); Tense (past and perfect, or past and historical +present used in the same breath); Mood (indicative and subjunctive +used in the same clause). Finite verb and infinitive dependent on the +same verb; simple and prepositional infinitives dependent on the same +verb; infinitive and verbal noun used side by side; different +prepositions dependent on the same verb, like Caxton's "He was eaten +by bears and of lions"; direct and indirect speech alternating in the +same clause. These facts, which are met with as late as 1611 (Bible, +authorized version), point to the conclusion that what to us appears +as a grammatical inconsistency was once considered a welcome break in +the monotony of construction. + +Mr. Fischer Sigwart is quoted in the _Revue Scientifique_ as having +studied the life of frogs for thirty years, and found that they are +night wanderers, keeping comparatively quiet during the day and +seeking their prey after dark. In the fall they leave their hunting +grounds in the fields and woods and take refuge near swamps and ponds, +passing the winter in the banks of rivers or the mud in the bottoms of +ponds, whence they come out in the spring, when the process of +reproduction begins. The frog is not sexually mature till it is four +or five years old. The coupling process lasts from three to thirty +days. Between its spring wakening and spawning the frog eats nothing +except, perhaps, its own skin, which it moults periodically. After +spawning, frogs leave the water and go to the fields and woods. They +can be fed, when kept captive, upon insects and earthworms. + + +NOTES. + +A relation has been discovered by Professor Dolbear and Carl A. and +Edward A. Bessey between the chirping of crickets and the temperature, +the chirps increasing as frequently as the temperature rises. The +Besseys relate, in The American Naturalist, that when, one cool +evening, a cricket was caught and brought into a warm room, it began +in a few minutes to chirp nearly twice as rapidly as the out-of-door +crickets, and that its rate very nearly conformed to the observed rate +maintained other evenings out of doors under the same temperature +conditions. + +C. Drieberg, of Colombo, Ceylon, records, in Nature, a rainfall at +Nedunkeni, in the northern province of Ceylon, December 15 and 16, +1897, of 31.76 inches in twenty-four hours. The highest previous +records, as cited by him, are at Joyeuse, France, 31.17 inches in +twenty-two hours; Genoa, 30 inches in twenty-six hours; on the hills +above Bombay, 24 inches in one night; and on the Khasia Hills, India, +30 inches in each of five successive days. The average annual rainfall +at Nedunkeni has been 64.70 inches, but in 1897 the total amount was +121.85 inches. The greatest annual rainfall is on the Khasia Hills, +India, with 600 inches. The wettest station in Ceylon is Padupola, in +the central province, with 230.85 inches as the mean of twenty-six +years, but in 1897 the amount was 243.07 inches. + +The Korean postage stamps are printed in the United States. As +explained in the United States consular reports, they are of four +denominations, and all alike except in color and denomination. Of the +inscriptions, the characters on the top are ancient Chinese, and those +at the bottom, having the same meaning, are Korean; the characters on +the right are Korean and those on the left are Chinese, both giving +the denominations, with the English translation just below the center +of the stamp. The plum blossom in each corner is the royal flower of +the present Ye dynasty, which has been in existence more than five +hundred years, and the figures at the corners of the center piece +represent the four spirits that stand at the corners of the earth and +support it on their shoulders. The national emblem in the center is an +ancient Chinese phallic device. + +A paragraph in _La Nature_ calls to mind that the year 1898 was the +"jubilee" of the sea serpent, the first mention of a sight of the +monster--whether fabulous or not is still undecided--having been made +by the captain and officers of the British ship Dædalus in 1848. They +said they saw it between the Cape of Good Hope and St. Helena, and +that it was about six hundred feet long. Since then views of sea +serpents have been reported nearly every year, but none has ever been +caught or seen so near or for so long a time as to be positively +identified. There are several creatures of the deep which, seen for an +instant, might be mistaken with the aid of an excited imagination for +a marine serpent; and it is not wholly impossible that some +descendants of the gigantic saurians of old may still be living in the +ocean undetected by science. + +The results of a study of the winter food of the chickadee by Clarence +M. Weed, of the New Hampshire College Agricultural Experiment Station, +shows that more than half of it consists of insects, a very large +proportion of which are taken in the form of eggs. Vegetation of +various sorts made up a little less than a quarter of the food; but +two thirds of this consisted of buds and bud scales that were +accidentally introduced along with plant-lice eggs. These eggs made up +more than one fifth of the entire food, and formed the most remarkable +element of the bill of fare. The destruction of these eggs of plant +lice is probably the most important service which the chickadee +renders during its winter residence. Insect eggs of many other kinds +were found in the food, among them those of the tent caterpillar and +the fall cankerworm, and the larvæ of several kinds of moths, +including those of the common apple worm. + +The Merchants' Association of San Francisco has been trying the +experiment of sprinkling a street with sea water, and finds that such +water binds the dirt together between the paving stones, so that when +it is dry no loose dust is formed to be raised by the wind; that sea +water does not dry so quickly as fresh water, so that it has been +claimed when salt water has been used that one load of it is equal to +three loads of fresh water. The salt water which is deposited on the +street absorbs moisture from the air during the night, whereby the +street is thoroughly moist during the early morning, and has the +appearance of having been freshly sprinkled. + +The Tarahumare people, who live in the most inaccessible part of +northern Mexico, were described by Dr. Krauss in the British +Association as ignorant and primitive, and many still living in caves. +What villages they have are at altitudes of about eight thousand feet +above the sea level. They are a small and wiry people, with great +powers of endurance. Their only food is _pinoli_, or maize, parched +and ground. They have a peculiar drink, called _teshuin_, also +produced from maize and manufactured with considerable ceremony, which +tastes like a mixture of sour milk and turpentine. Their language is +limited to about three hundred words. Their imperfect knowledge of +numbers renders them unable to count beyond ten. Their religion seems +to be a distorted and imperfect conception of Christian traditions, +mixed with some of their own ideas and superstitions. + +The directory of the School of Anthropology of Paris, which consists +chiefly of the professors in the institution, has chosen Dr. Capitan, +professor of pathological anthropology, to succeed M. Gabriel de +Mortillet, deceased, as professor of prehistoric anthropology. Dr. +Capitan's former chair is suppressed. + +The highest cog-wheel railroad in Europe and probably in the world is +the one from Zermatt, Switzerland, to the summit of the Görner Grat, +upward of eleven thousand five hundred feet above the sea. It is +between five and six miles long, and rises nearly fifty-two hundred +feet, with a maximum grade of twenty per cent. There are two +intermediate stations, at the Riffel Alp and the Riffelberg, and the +ascent is made in ninety minutes. The height of this road will be +surpassed by that of the one now being erected up the Jungfrau. + +Extraordinary advantages are claimed by Mrs. Theodore R. MacClure, of +the State Board of Health, for Michigan as a summer and health-resort +State. The State has more than sixteen hundred miles of lake line, the +greater part of which is or can be utilized for summer-resort +purposes; there are in its limits 5,173 inland lakes varying in size +and having a total area of 712,864 square acres of water. The many +rivers running through the State furnish on their banks delightful +places for camping and for recreation. + +An action of bacteria on photographic plates was described by Prof. P. +P. Frankland at the last meeting of the British Association. Ordinary +bacterial cultures in gelatin and agar-agar are found to be capable of +affecting the photographic film even at a distance of half an inch, +while, when they are placed in contact with the film, definite +pictures of the bacterial growths can be obtained. The action does not +take place through glass, and therefore, as in the case of Dr. W. J. +Russell's observations with some other substances, it is considered +probably due to the evolution of volatile chemical materials which +react with the sensitive film. Many varieties of bacteria exert the +action, but to a different degree. Bacterial growths which are +luminous in the dark are much more active than the non-luminous +bacteria hitherto tried. + +Telephonic communication, it is said, has been established between a +number of farms in Australia by means of wire fences. A correspondent +of the Australian Agriculturist from a station near Colmar represents +that it is easy to converse with a station eight miles distant by +means of instruments connected on the wire fences, and that the same +kind of communication has been established over a distance of eight +miles. Several stations are connected in this way. + +We have to record the deaths of F. A. Obach, electrical engineer, at +Grätz, Austria, December 27th, aged forty-six years. He was author of +numerous papers on subjects of electrical science in English and +German publications, and of lectures on the chemistry of India rubber +and gutta percha; Dr. Reinhold Ehret, seismologist and author of books +on earthquakes and seismometers, who died from an Alpine accident in +the Susten Pass; Dr. Joseph Coats, professor of pathology at the +University of Glasgow, and author of a manual of pathology, a work on +tuberculosis, etc.; Thomas Hincks, F. R. S., author of books on marine +zoölogy, February 2d; Major J. Hotchkiss, president in 1895 of the +Geological Section of the American Association and author of papers on +economic geology and engineering; Wilbur Wilson Thoburn, professor of +biomechanics at Leland Stanford Junior University; Dr. Giuseppe +Gibelli, professor of botany in the University of Turin; Dr. G. +Wolffhüzel, professor of hygiene in the University of Göttingen; Dr. +Dareste de Chavannes, author of researches in animal teratology, and +formerly president of the French Society of Anthropology; Dr. Rupert +Böck, professor of mechanics in the Technical Institute of Vienna; +William Colenso, F. R. S., of New Zealand, naturalist and author of +investigations of Maori antiquities and myths; Dr. Lench, assistant in +the observatory at Zürich, Switzerland; Dr. Franz Lang, rector and +teacher of natural history in the cantonal schools of Soleure, +Switzerland, and one of the presidents of the Swiss Natural History +Society, aged seventy-eight years; Dr. William Rutherford, professor +of physiology in the University of Edinburgh, and author of several +books in that science, February 21st, in his sixtieth year; and Sir +Douglas Galton, president of the British Association in 1895 and an +authority and author on sanitation, March 10th, in his seventy seventh +year. + + + + +INDEX. + +ARTICLES MARKED WITH AN ASTERISK ARE ILLUSTRATED. + + + Academy della Crusca, The. (Frag.), 572 + + Adulteration of Butter with Glucose. (Frag.), 570 + + Allen, Grant. The Season of the Year, 230 + + America, Middle. Was it Peopled from Asia? E. S. Morse, 1 + + Animals' Bites. (Frag.), 430 + + Anthropology. Decorated Skulls and the Power ascribed to them + (Frag.), 570 + + " Estrays from Civilization. (Frag.), 573 + + " Huichol Indians of Jalisco. (Frag.), 574 + + " Lessons of. (Table), 411 + + " Pre-Columbian Musical Instruments. E. S. Morse*, 712 + + " Superstitions, Aboriginal, about Bones. (Frag.), 572 + + " Superstition and Crime. E. P. Evans, 206 + + Archæology. Earliest Writing in France. G. de Mortillet, 546 + + " Lake Dwelling, A Neolithic, 856 + + " Stone Age in Egypt. J. de Morgan, 202 + + Architectural Forms in Nature. S. Dellenbaugh*, 63 + + Astronomical Photographs, A Library of. (Frag.), 717 + + Astronomy. Bombardment, The Great. C. F. Holder*, 506 + + Atkinson, E. Wheat-growing Capacity of the United States, 145 + + " " The Wheat Problem again, 759 + + Atlantic Slope, The. (Frag.), 858 + + + Bactrian Camel for the Klondike. (Frag.), 136 + + Barr, M. W. Mental Defectives and the Social Welfare*, 746 + + Bede, Chair of the Venerable. (Frag.), 283 + + Bees, Burrowing, The Nests of. (Frag.), 860 + + Bering Sea Controversy and the Scientific Expert. G. A. Clark, 654 + + Biological Survey, The United States. (Frag.), 856 + + Blackford, Charles Minor, Jr. Soils and Fertilizers, 392 + + Blake, I. W. Our Florida Alligator*, 330 + + Bombardment, The Great. C. F. Holder*, 506 + + Books Noticed 126, 274, 415, 559, 704, 845 + Agriculture. Michigan Board, Thirty-fifth Annual Report of, 423. + Alexander, A. Theories of the Will in the History of + Philosophy, 566. + Andrews, C. M. The Historical Development of Modern Europe, 126. + Anthropology. Indians of Northern British Columbia, Facial Paintings + of. F. Boas, 710. + Archæology, Introduction to the Study of North American. C. + Thomas, 420. + Arthur and Trembly. Living Plants and their Properties, 564. + Astronomy, A Text-Book of Geodetic. J. F. Hayford, 129. + -- Corona and Coronet. M. L. Todd, 418. + -- Earth and Sky, The. E. S. Holden, 850. + -- Tides, The. G. H. Darwin, 705. + Bailey, L. H. Evolution of our Native Fruits, 704. + Baldwin, J. M. The Story of the Mind, 565. + Barnes, C. R. Form and Function of Plant Life, 277. + Barra, Eduardo de la. Literature arcaica, 280. + Beauchamp, W. M. Polished-Stone Articles used by New York Aborigines + before and during European Occupation, 279. + Beddard, F. E. Elementary Zoölogy, 706. + Béker, G. A. Rrimas, 280. + Binet, Alfred. L'Année Psychologique, 129. + Björling, P. R. Mechanical Engineer's Pocketbook, 132. + Boas, Franz. Facial Paintings of the Indians of Northern British + Columbia, 710. + Bolton, H. C. Catalogue of Scientific and Technical Periodicals + (1665-1895), 566. + Botany. Familiar Life in Field and Forest. F. S. Mathews, 418. + -- Fossil Plants. A. C. Seward, 127. + -- Fruits, The Evolution of our Native. L. H. Bailey, 704. + -- Function and Forms of Plant Life. C. R. Barnes, 277. + -- Les Végétaux et les Milieux Cosmiques, 132. + -- Living Plants and their Properties. Arthur and Trembly, 564. + -- Practical Plant Physiology, 128. + Brain Weight, Indexes of. McCurdy and Mohyliansky, 709. + Brush, George J. Manual of Determinative Mineralogy, 707. + Butler, Amos W. The Birds of Indiana, 422. + Carus-Wilson, C. A. Electro-Dynamics, 277. + Catalogue of Scientific and Technical Periodicals (1665-1895). H. C. + Bolton, 566. + Chemical Analysis, Manual of. G. S. Newth, 708. + Chemistry. Inorganic according to the Periodic Law. Venable and + Howe, 567. + -- Qualitative Analysis. E. A. Congdon, 567. + -- Short Manual of Analytical. John Muter, 419. + Clark, William J. Commercial Cuba, 564. + Conant, F. S. Biographical Pamphlet, 132. + Congdon, E. A. Brief Course in Qualitative Analysis, 567. + Cornelius, Hans. Psychologie als Erfahrungs-wissenschaft, 850. + Costantin, M. J. Les Végétaux et les Milieux Cosmiques, 132. + Creighton, J. E. An Introductory Logic, 706. + Crook, J. W. History of German Wage Theories, 708. + Cuba, Commercial. William J. Clark, 564. + Dana, E. S. Text-Book of Mineralogy, 848. + Dana, James D. Revised Text-Book of Geology, 418. + Darwin, George Howard. The Tides, 705. + Davis, H. S. Star Catalogues, 280. + Day, D. T. Mineral Resources of the United States, 852. + Detmer, W. Practical Plant Physiology, 128. + Drey, Sylvan. A Theory of Life, 280. + Earthquakes of the Pacific Coast. E. S. Holden, 850. + Economics. Commercial Cuba. William J. Clark, 564. + -- German Wage Theories, History of. J. W. Crook, 708. + -- Public Administration in Massachusetts. R. H. Whitten, 422. + Education. Greek Prose. H. C. Pearson, 708. + -- Handbook of Nature Study for Elementary Schools, 130. + -- Harold's Rambles. J. W. Troeger, 567. + -- On a Farm. N. L. Helm, 423. + -- United States Commissioner's Report for 1896-'97, 852. + Electricity. Electro-Dynamics. C. A. Carus-Wilson, 277. + -- Industrial. A. G. Elliott, 132. + -- The Discharge of, through Gases. J. J. Thomson, 565. + -- The Storage Battery. A. Treadwell, 421. + Elliott, A. G. Industrial Electricity, 132. + Engineering. Mechanical Engineer's Pocketbook, 132. + Ethnology. Explorations in Honduras. G. B. Gordon, 133. + Forestry. American Woods. R. B. Hough, 276. + -- Conditions in Wisconsin. F. Noth, 709. + Geikie, James. Earth Sculpture, 845. + Geography. Natural Advanced. Redway and Hinman, 421. + -- Philippine Islands and their People. D. C. Worcester, 415. + -- Physical, of New Jersey. R. D. Salisbury, 422. + Geological Bulletin, Part II, Vol. III, of the University of + Upsala, 280. + Geological Survey of Kansas. Vol. IV. S. W. Williston, 709. + Geology. Earth Sculpture. James Geikie, 845. + -- Indiana, Twenty-second Annual Report of Department of, 852. + -- Indian Territory, Reconnaissance of Coal Fields of. N. F. + Drake, 852. + -- Iowa Survey. Eighth volume, 851. + -- Mineralogy, Manual of Determinative, 707. + -- Mineralogy, Text-Book of. E. S. Dana, 848. + -- Mineral Resources of the United States. D. T. Day, 852. + -- New Jersey State Report for 1897, 851. + -- Panama, Geological History of the Isthmus of. R. T. Hill, 851. + -- Text-Book of. J. D. Dana, 418. + Giddings, Franklin H. Elements of Sociology, 559. + Goldman, Henry. The Arithmetician, 279. + Goode, G. B. Report of United States National Museum for 1895, 710. + Gordon, G. B. Ethnological Explorations in Honduras, 133. + Groos, Karl. The Play of Animals, 274. + Harris, Edith D. Story of Rob Roy, 709. + Hayford, J. P. Text-Book of Geodetic Astronomy, 129. + Helm, Nellie Lathrop. On a Farm, 423. + Hill, R. T. Geological History of the Isthmus of Panama, 851. + History. Commune, The. Lissagaray. Translated by E. M. Aveling, 423. + -- Europe, The Historical Development of Modern. C. M. Andrews, 126. + -- Napoleon III and his Court. Imbert de Saint-Amand, 422. + -- Reader for Elementary Schools. L. L. W. Wilson, 853. + -- Spanish Literature. J. Fitzmaurice-Kelly, 275. + Hoffman, F. S. The Sphere of Science, 128. + Holden, E. S. Earthquakes of the Pacific Coast, 1769-1897, 850. + -- The Earth and Sky, 850. + Holyoake, G. J. Jubilee History of the Leeds Co-operative + Society, 849. + Hough, R. B. American Woods, 276. + Iowa State University Bulletin, Vol. IV, No. 3, 279. + James, William. Human Immortality, 708. + Jayne, Horace. The Mammalian Anatomy of the Cat, 278. + Jordan, D. S. Lest we Forget, 568. + Keyser, L. S. News from the Birds, 567. + Lambert, R. A. Differential and Integral Calculus, 421. + Lange, D. Handbook of Nature Study for Elementary Schools, 130. + Lantern Land, In. (Monthly.) Allen and Carleton, 708. + Le Bon, Gustave. The Psychology of Peoples, 847. + Leeds Industrial Co-operative Society, Jubilee History of. G. J. + Holyoake, 849. + Library Bulletin, No. 9, New York State, 133. + Lissagaray. History of the Commune. Translated by E. M. + Aveling, 423. + Logic, An Introductory. J. E. Creighton, 706. + Lyte, E. O. Elementary English, 279. + McConachie, L. G. Congressional Committees, 131. + Mathematics. Differential and Integral Calculus. R. A. Lambert, 421. + -- Infinitesimal Analysis. William B. Smith, 849. + -- Lectures on the Geometry of Position. T. R. Reye. Translated. + Mathews, F. Schuyler. Familiar Life in Field and Forest, 418. + Maurice-Kelly, James Fitz. History of Spanish Literature, 275. + Meteorology. Wind Deposits, Mechanical Composition of. J. A. + Udden, 853. + Mills, Wesley. Nature and Development of Animal Intelligence, 562. + Mivart, St. George. The Groundwork of Science, 563. + Music, A Short Course in. Ripley and Tupper, 133. + Muter, John. Manual of Analytical Chemistry, 419. + Natural History. Animal Intelligence, Nature and Development of. + Wesley Mills, 562. + -- Birds, News from the. L. S. Keyser, 567. + -- Birds of Indiana, 422. + -- Four-footed Americans and their Kin. M. O. Wright, 563. + -- Solitary Wasps, Habits of. G. W. and E. P. Peckham, 851. + -- Taxidermy, The Art of. John Rowley, 420. + -- Wild Animals I have Known. E. S. Thompson, 417. + Newth, G. S. Manual of Chemical Analysis, 708. + Ornithology. How to Name the Birds. H. E. Parkhurst, 131. + Overton, Frank. Physiology, Applied, 277. + -- Physiology for Advanced Grades, 566. + Paleontology. Fossil Plants. A. C. Seward, 127. + Parkhurst, H. E. How to Name the Birds, 131. + Pearson, H. C. Greek Prose, 708. + Peckham, G. W. and E. P. Habits of the Solitary Wasps, 851. + Philosophy. Immortality, Human. William James, 708. + Physiology, Applied. Frank Overton, 277. + -- Applied, for Advanced Grades. F. Overton, 566. + Psychology. Child, The Study of the. A. R. Taylor, 564. + -- L'Année Psychologique, 129. + -- Mind, The Story of the. J. M. Baldwin, 565. + -- of Peoples. G. Le Bon, 847. + -- Play of Animals, The. Karl Groos, 274. + -- Psychologie als Erfahrungs-wissenschaft. Hans Cornelius, 850. + -- Will, Theories of the, in the History of Philosophy. A. + Alexander, 566. + Quinn, D. A. Stenotypy. Second edition, 279. + Redway, J. W., and Hinman K. Natural Advanced Geography, 421. + Reye, Theodor R. Lectures on the Geometry of Position. + Translated, 419. + Rice, W., and Eastman Barrett. Under the Stars, and Other + Verses, 134. + Richter, J. P. F. Selections from the Works of, 279. + Ripley, F. H., and Tupper, T. A Short Course in Music, 133. + Rollin, H. J. Yetta Ségal, 278. + Rowley, John. The Art of Taxidermy, 420. + Saint-Amand, Imbert de. Napoleon III and his Court, 422. + Salisbury, Rollin D. Physical Geography of New Jersey, 422. + Science, Groundwork of, The. St. George Mivart, 563. + -- Sphere of. F. S. Hoffman, 128. + Seward, A. C. Fossil Plants, 127. + Smith, William B. Infinitesimal Analysis, 849. + Sociology. Congressional Committees. L. G. McConachie, 131. + -- Currency Problems of the United States in 1897-'98. A. B. + Stickney, 133. + -- Elements of. F. H. Giddings, 559. + -- The State. W. Wilson, 130. + -- Workers, The. W. A. Wyckoff, 707. + Stickney, A. B. Currency Problem of the United States in + 1897-'98, 133. + Still, A. Alternating Currents and the Theory of Transformers, 133. + Story of the Railroad, The. Cy Warman, 848. + Taylor, A. R. The Study of the Child, 564. + Thomas, C. Introduction to North American Archæology, 129. + Thompson, Ernest Seton. Wild Animals I have Known, 417. + Thomson, J. J. The Discharge of Electricity through Gases, 565. + Todd, Mabel L. Corona and Coronet, 418. + Treadwell, Augustus. The Storage Battery, 421. + Troeger, John W. Harold's Rambles, 567. + Udden, J. A. Mechanical Composition of Wind Deposits, 853. + United States National Museum, Report of, for 1895, 710. + Venable and Howe. Inorganic Chemistry according to the Periodic + Law, 567. + Waring, George E., Jr. Street-Cleaning Methods in European + Cities, 131. + Warman, Cy. Story of the Railroad, 848. + Whitten, Robert H. Public Administration in Massachusetts, 422. + Wilson, L. L. W. History Reader, for Elementary Schools, 853. + Wilson, Woodrow. The State, 130. + Winter, H. L. Notes on Criminal Anthropology, 280. + Worcester, Dean C. The Philippine Islands and their People, 415. + Wright, Mabel Osgood. Four-footed Americans and their Kin, 563. + Wyckoff, W. A. The Workers, 707. + Zoölogy, Elementary. E. E. Beddard, 706. + + Botany. English Names for Plants. (Frag.), 428 + + " Forest Planting on the Plains. (Frag.), 718 + + " Light and Vegetation. D. T. MacDougall, 193 + + " Plant Characters, Changes in. (Frag.), 286 + + " Poisonous Plants. (Frag.), 855 + + " Seeds, Dispersal of. (Frag.), 715 + + Boyer, M. J. Sketch of Clémence Royer. (With Portrait), 690 + + Brain Weights and Intellectual Capacity. J. Simms, 243 + + Brooks, William Keith. Mivart's Groundwork of Science, 450 + + Bullen, Frank T. Life on a South Sea Whaler, 818 + + + Canada, The Interior of. (Frag.), 141 + + Catbird, The Coming of the. S. Trotter, 772 + + Causses of Southern France, The. (Frag.), 138 + + Cereals in the United States. Distribution of. (Frag.), 859 + + Clarke, F. W. Sketch. (With Portrait), 110 + + Clark, George A. The Scientific Expert and the Bering Sea + Controversy, 654 + + Climatic Evolution, Laws of. (Frag.), 855 + + Collier, J. The Evolution of Colonies, 52, 289, 577 + + Colonies, The Evolution of. J. Collier, 52, 289, 577 + + Commensals. (Frag.), 716 + + Cooking Schools in Philadelphia. (Frag.), 428 + + Cordillera Region of Canada. (Frag.), 283 + + Cram, W. E. Concerning Weasels*, 786 + + Criminology. California Penal System. C. H. Shinn*, 644 + + Cuba, The Climate of. (Frag.), 426 + + Curious Habit, Origin of a. (Frag.), 286 + + + Dastre, M. Iron in the Living Body, 807 + + Dawson, E. R. The Torrents of Switzerland, 46 + + Death Gulch, a Natural Bear-Trap. T. A. Jaggar*, 475 + + Decorated Skulls and the Power ascribed to them. (Frag.), 570 + + Dellenbaugh, F. S. Architectural Forms in Nature*, 63 + + Dodge, C. R. Possible Fiber Industries of the United States*, 15 + + Dorsey, George A. Up the Skeena River*, 181 + + D Q, The New Planet. (Frag.), 426 + + Dream and Reality. M. C. Melinand, 96 + + " " " (Table), 103 + + Dreams, The Stuff of. Havelock Ellis, 721 + + Dresslar, F. B. Guessing as Influenced by Number Preferences, 781 + + Dutch Charity, A Practical. J. H. Gore, 103 + + + Earliest Writing in France, The. G. de Mortillet, 542 + + Earthquakes, Modern Studies of. George Geraland, 362 + + Economics. Cereals, Distribution of, in the United States, 859 + + " Conquest, The Spirit of. J. Novicow, 518 + + " Gold, Marvelous Increase in Production of. A. E. + Outerbridge, Jr., 635 + + " Wheat-growing Capacity of the United States. E. + Atkinson, 145 + + " Wheat Problem, The. E. Atkinson, 759 + + Education and Evolution. (Smith.) (Corr.), 554 + + " and Evolution. (Table), 269 + + " German School Journeys. (Frag.), 573 + + " History of Scientific Instruction. J. N. Lockyer, 372, 529 + + " Nature Study in the Philadelphia Normal School. L. L. W. + Wilson, 313 + + " Playgrounds of Rural and Suburban Schools. L. G. Oakley, 176 + + " Science and Culture. (Table), 842 + + " Science in. Sir A. Geikie, 672 + + " Series Method, The. A Comparison. Charlotte Taylor, 537 + + " Should Children under Ten learn to Read and Write? G. T. W. + Patrick, 382 + + " The Goal of. (Table), 118 + + Electricity. The Nernst Electric Lamp. (Frag.), 854 + + Ellis, Havelock. The Stuff that Dreams are made of, 721 + + Emerson and Evolution. (Alexander.) (Corr.), 555 + + " " " (Table), 558 + + Estrays from Civilization. (Frag.), 573 + + Ethnology. Was Middle America Peopled from Asia? E. S. Morse, 1 + + Evans, E. P. Superstition and Crime, 206 + + Evolution and Education. (Smith.) (Corr.), 554 + + " and Education. (Table), 269 + + " Extra Organic Factors of. (Frag.), 427 + + " of Pleasure Gardens. (Frag.), 717 + + " Social. What is it? Herbert Spencer, 35 + + " Survival of the Fittest. (Table), 844 + + + Fads and Frauds. (Table), 701 + + Fiber Industries of the United States. C. R. Dodge*, 15 + + Florida Alligator, Our. I. W. Blake*, 330 + + Ford, R. Clyde. The Malay Language, 813 + + Forest Planting on the Plains. (Frag.), 718 + + Fossils as Criterions of Geological Ages. (Frag.), 427 + + Foundation, A Borrowed. (Table), 273 + + French Science, Two Gifts to. M. H. de Parville*, 81 + + + Galax and its Affinities. (Frag.), 571 + + Geikie, Sir A. Science in Education, 672 + + Geography. Atlantic Slope, The. (Frag.), 858 + + " West Indies, Physical, of. F. L. Oswald, 802 + + Geological Romance, A. J. A. Udden*, 222 + + Geology. Death Gulch, a Natural Bear-Trap. T. A. Jaggar*, 475 + + " Glacial, in America. D. S. Martin, 356 + + " Siamese Geological Theory, A. (Frag.), 718 + + Geraland, George. Modern Studies of Earthquakes, 362 + + German School Journeys. (Frag.), 573 + + Glacial Geology in America. D. S. Martin, 356 + + Glaciation and Carbonic Acid. (Frag.), 135 + + Gold, Marvelous Increase in Production of. A. E. Outerbridge, Jr., 635 + + Gore, J. H. A Practical Dutch Charity, 103 + + Guessing as Influenced by Number Preferences. F. B. Dresslar, 781 + + + Hanging an Elephant. (Frag.), 286 + + Herrings at Dinner. (Frag.), 574 + + Hitchcock, Charles H., Sketch of*, 260 + + Holder, C. F. The Great Bombardment*, 506 + + Huichol Indians of Jalisco. (Frag.), 574 + + Huxley Lecture, The. (Frag.), 425 + + Hygiene. Rebreathed Air as a Poison. (Frag.), 714 + + " Throat and Ear, Care of the. W. Scheppegrell, 791 + + + Ide, Mrs. G. E. Shall we Teach our Daughters the Value of Money?, 686 + + Indian Idea of the "Midmost Self." (Frag.), 136 + + Ireland, W. Alleyn. The Labor Problem in the Tropics, 481 + + Iron in the Living Body. M. Dastre, 807 + + Iztaccihuatl (the White Lady Mountain). (Frag.), 569 + + + Jaggar, T. A. Death Gulch, a Natural Bear-Trap*, 475 + + Jastrow, Joseph. The Mind's Eye*, 289 + + Jordan, D. S. True Tales of Birds and Beasts, 352 + + + Kekulé, Friedrich August. Sketch. (With Portrait), 401 + + + Labor Problem in the Tropics. W. A. Ireland, 481 + + Lake Dwelling, A Neolithic. (Frag.), 856 + + Light and Vegetation. D. T. MacDougall, 193 + + Lockyer, J. N. A Short History of Scientific Instruction, 372, 529 + + + MacDougall. Light and Vegetation, 193 + + Malay Language. R. C. Ford, 813 + + Martel, M. E. A. Speleology, or Cave Exploration, 255 + + Martin, D. S. Glacial Geology in America, 356 + + Melinand, M. C. Dream and Reality, 96 + + Mental Defectives and the Social Welfare. M. W. Barr*, 746 + + Meteorology, Climatic Evolution, Laws of, 855 + + " Sahara, Winds of. (Frag.), 717 + + Miles, Manly, Sketch of. (With Portrait), 834 + + Mind's Eye, The. Joseph Jastrow*, 289 + + Missouri Botanical Garden, Additions to. (Frag.), 135 + + Molecular Asymmetry and Life. (Frag.), 139 + + Mongoose in Jamaica, The. C. W. Willis*, 86 + + Moon and the Weather, The. G. J. Varney. (Corr.), 118 + + Morgan, J. de. Stone Age in Egypt, 202 + + Morse, E. S. Pre-Columbian Musical Instruments.* (Frag.), 712 + + " " Was Middle America Peopled from Asia?, 1 + + Mortillet, Gabriel de, Sketch of. (With Portrait), 546 + + " " " The Earliest Writing in France, 542 + + + Names, Technical and Popular. (Frag.), 285 + + Naples Aquarium, The. (School for the Study of Life under the Sea.) E. + H. Patterson, 668 + + Natural History. Catbird, The Coming of the. S. Trotter, 772 + + " " Commensals. (Frag.), 716 + + " " Herrings at Dinner. (Frag.), 574 + + " " Origin of a Curious Habit. (Frag.), 286 + + " " School for the Study of Life under the Sea. E. H. + Patterson, 668 + + " " Scorpion, My Pet. Norman Robinson*, 605 + + " " Weasels. W. E. Cram*, 786 + + Natural Selection and Fortuitous Variation. (Frag.), 141 + + Nature Study in the Philadelphia Normal School. L. L. W. Wilson, 313 + + Nernst Electric Lamp, The. (Frag.), 854 + + Neufeld, Dr. (Frag.), 140 + + Nicaragua and its Ferns. (Frag.), 137 + + Nontoxic Matches, The French. (Frag.), 857 + + Novicow, J. The Spirit of Conquest, 518 + + + Oakley, Isabella G. Playgrounds of Rural and Suburban Schools, 176 + + Observation, The Science of. C. L. Whittle*, 456 + + Ocean Currents, Drift of. (Frag.), 716 + + Oswald, F. L. Physical Geography of the West Indies, 802 + + Outerbridge, A. E., Jr. Marvelous Increase in Production of Gold, 635 + + + Parville, M. H. de. Two Gifts to French Science*, 81 + + Patrick, G. T. W. Should Children under Ten learn to Read and + Write?, 382 + + Patterson, Eleanor H. A School for the Study of Life under the + Sea, 668 + + Pearls, American Fresh-Water. (Frag.), 859 + + Pedigree Photographs. (Frag.), 428 + + Physics. Utilization of Wave Power. (Frag.), 715 + + Physiology. Iron in the Living Body. M. Dastre, 807 + + Plant Characters, Changes in. (Frag.), 286 + + Plant Names, English. (Frag.), 428 + + Playgrounds of Rural and Suburban Schools. Isabella G. Oakley, 163 + + Pleasure Gardens, Evolution of. (Frag.), 717 + + Plumandon, J. R. The Cause of Rain, 89 + + Poisonous Plants. (Frag.), 855 + + Portland Cement. (Frag.), 856 + + Potteries, Doulton. (Frag.), 430 + + Pre-Columbian Musical Instruments. E. S. Morse*, 712 + + Psychology. Dreams. Havelock Ellis, 721 + + " Guessing as Influenced by Number Preferences. F. B. + Dresslar, 781 + + Pulpit, A Voice from the. (Table), 409 + + + Rabies Bacillus, The. (Frag.), 284 + + Racial Geography of Europe. W. Z. Ripley, 163, 338, 614 + + Rain, The Cause of. J. R. Plumandon, 89 + + Rebreathed Air as a Poison. (Frag.), 714 + + Ripley, W. Z. Racial Geography of Europe, 163, 338, 614 + + Robinson, Norman. My Pet Scorpion*, 605 + + Royer, Clémence, Sketch of. (With Portrait.) M. J. Boyer, 690 + + Russell's Photographic Researches. (Frag.), 139 + + + Saghalin, The Island of. (Frag.), 285 + + St. Kildans, The. (Frag.), 284 + + Scheppegrell, W. Care of the Throat and Ear, 791 + + Science, A Doubtful Appendix to. (Table), 120 + + " and Culture. (Table), 842 + + " Christian. The New Superstition. (Table), 557 + + " Education in. (Words of a Master.) (Table), 699 + + " Mivart's Groundwork of. W. K. Brooks, 450 + + " The Advance of. (Table), 415 + + Scientific Instruction, A Short History of. J. N. Lockyer, 372, 529 + + Scorpion, My Pet. Norman Robinson*, 605 + + Seasons of the Year, The. Grant Allen, 230 + + Seeds, Dispersal of. (Frag.), 715 + + Series Method, The. A Comparison. Charlotte Taylor, 537 + + Shinn, Charles Howard. The California Penal System*, 644 + + Siamese Geological Theory, A. (Frag.), 718 + + Silkworm Gut, Spanish. (Frag.), 860 + + Simms, Joseph. Brain Weights and Intellectual Capacity, 243 + + Skeena River, Up the. George A. Dorsey*, 181 + + Smell, The Physics of. (Frag.), 283 + + Smith, Franklin. Politics as a Form of Civil War, 588 + + Smith, Stephen. Vegetation a Remedy for the Summer Heat of + Cities*, 433 + + Social Decadence, An Example of. (Table), 412 + + Sociology. California Penal System. C. H. Shinn*, 644 + + " Mental Defectives and the Social Welfare. M. W. Barr*, 746 + + " Politics as a Form of Civil War. F. Smith, 588 + + " The Foundation of. (Giddings.) (Corr.), 553 + + Soils and Fertilizers. C. M. Blackford, Jr., 392 + + South Sea Whaler, Life on a. F. T. Bullen, 818 + + Spain's Decadence, The Cause of. (Table), 122 + + Speleology, or Cave Exploration. M. E. A. Martel, 255 + + Spencer, Herbert. What is Social Evolution?, 35 + + Spirit of Conquest, The. J. Novicow, 518 + + Stone Age in Egypt, The. J. de Morgan, 202 + + Submarine Telegraphy, Early. (Frag.), 569 + + Superstition and Crime. E. P. Evans, 206 + + " Aboriginal, about Bones. (Frag.), 572 + + " The New. (Table), 557 + + Survival of the Fittest. (Table), 844 + + Switzerland, The Torrents of. E. B. Dawson, 46 + + + Taxation, Principles of. Hon. D. A. Wells, 319, 490, 736 + + Taylor, Charlotte. The Series Method, 537 + + Throat and Ear, Care of the. W. Scheppegrell, 791 + + Toes in Walking, The. (Frag.), 429 + + Trade Hunting, Scientific. (Frag.), 140 + + Trait, A, Common to us all. (Frag.), 429 + + Travel. Up the Skeena River. George A. Dorsey, 181 + + Tree Planting in Arid Regions. (Frag.), 282 + + Trees as Land Formers. (Frag.), 858 + + Trotter, Spencer. The Coming of the Catbird, 772 + + True Tales of Birds and Beasts. D. S. Jordan, 352 + + + Udden, J. A. A Geological Romance*, 222 + + + Varney, G. J. The Moon and the Weather. (Corr.), 118 + + Vegetation a Remedy against the Summer Heat of Cities. Dr. S. + Smith, 433 + + + War, The "Hell" of. (Frag.), 718 + + Wave Length and other Measurements. (Frag.), 137 + + Wave Power, The Utilization of. (Frag.), 715 + + Weasels, Concerning. W. E. Cram*, 786 + + Weir, J., Jr. The Herds of the Yellow Ant*, 75 + + Wells, David Ames, Death of. (Table), 271 + + " " " Principles of Taxation, 319, 490, 736 + + West Indies, Physical Geography of. F. L. Oswald, 802 + + Wheat-growing Capacity of the United States. E. Atkinson, 145 + + Wheat Problem, The, again. E. Atkinson, 759 + + White Lady Mountain, The. (Frag.), 569 + + Whittle, C. L. The Science of Observation*, 456 + + Willis, C. W. The Mongoose in Jamaica*, 86 + + Wilson, L. L. W. Nature Study in the Philadelphia Normal School, 313 + + Winds of the Sahara. (Frag.), 717 + + Words of a Master. (Table), 699 + + + Yellow Ant, The Herds of the. J. Weir, Jr.*, 75 + + +THE END. + + + + +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, including inconsistent use of hyphen (e.g. +"co-operative" and "cooperative") and capitalisation (e.g. +"Fresh-Water" and "Fresh-water"). + +Captions added to captionless illustrations. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, +April 1899, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK APPLETONS' POPULAR SCIENCE, APRIL 1899 *** + +***** This file should be named 44544-8.txt or 44544-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/5/4/44544/ + +Produced by Judith Wirawan, Greg Bergquist, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by Biodiversity Heritage Library.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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